Kyle Flood downplays a rivalry with Penn State

CHICAGO — Last year Kyle Flood referred to Penn State as “the school in Pennsylvania,” but Friday morning at Big Ten media days the Rutgers’ head coach wasn’t pushing to create a rivalry.

“I know it’ll be a great environment out there,” Flood said about his team’s Sept. 19 game at Beaver Stadium, the Nittany Lions’ first night game of the season. “They’ve got a very exciting fan base, so we’re looking forward to that game, but we’re not looking at that game right now because we’ve got two that we’ve got to play before it.”

Last season the Nittany Lions beat Rutgers, 13-10 in Piscataway, N.J. and given Penn State’s recruiting success in New Jersey Flood shed light on the three keys that could lead to a Penn State-Rutgers rivalry.

“Geography. Certainly the geography is there,” Flood said. “Recruiting. Do you have players in both programs that were recruited by both schools? We do, certainly the case. And then competitive football games, which we had last year.

“Is it the start of something like that? It might be, but I think those things have to happen organically, I don’t think you can create them.”

Audrey Snyder: asnyder@post-gazette.com and Twitter @audsnyder4