Saquon Barkley shades Pitt’s efforts of stoking Penn State rivalry

Saquon Barkley is clearly of the belief that rivalries must be competitive.

The New York Giants running back took a shot at Pitt on Thursday, saying that despite their best efforts, they can’t call themselves rivals of Barkley’s alma mater, Penn State.

Barkley did so by noting that the Giants’ upcoming game against the Dallas Cowboys is his first taste of a real rivalry.

“At Penn State, we really didn’t have a rivalry game,” Barkley said Thursday, transcribed by Mark Wogenrich of the Morning Call. “Pitt tried to be a rival with us, but I think that we established this week that they do not have a chance of being a rival team.”

The Panthers fell to Penn State 51-6 on Saturday. To back Barkley’s point further, the matchup looks set to potentially take a lengthy hiatus after 2019, and that’s after not meeting at all between 2000 and 2016.

In Pitt’s defense, they did beat Penn State in 2016. The drought isn’t that long.