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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/CarsonBeckisUgly on 2025-09-25 01:09:57+00:00.

Neither has won anything of significance in 30 years and is known for struggling in big games. Neither wears names on their uniforms and both are very traditionalist brands. Both are big in the Northeast. Both are affiliated with institutions with problematic histories in regards to certain issues (I’m not getting into this any further). Both are in small rust belt communities but their fans are mostly in northeastern cities. Yes obviously one is a Catholic school and one is a state school and Notre Dame has a longer history of success (though I looked up Penn State’s history and it’s more impressive than it looks at surface glance).

Living in New Jersey now, pretty much everyone I meet who is a college football fan, especially if they’re not tied to a university, is either a Notre Dame or a Penn State fan. There’s some Michigan/Ohio State fans but they almost always went to school there or had a parent that did in my experience. The biggest differentiator I can tell between someone being a Notre Dame fan or Penn State fan is whether they’re Irish or Italian, especially amongst those over 40. Irish Americans love Rudy Lou Holtz and the fighting Irish, while Italian Americans seemed to love the Nittany Lions

I guess a lot of Penn State’s most iconic players like Franco Harris and John Cappelletti were Italian. Franco with the Steelers had “Francos Italian Army.” Joe Paterno ofc was also Italian (not making any judgement on Joe Paterno,just a neutral observation).

When I went last year for the Washington vs Penn State whiteout they also used a lot of Rocky hype stuff which makes sense because it seems like a lot of their fans have ties to the Philly area. I also saw that Martin Scorsese is producing a Saquon documentary adding more fuel to my theory.

Anyhow, I’m sure this is just a generalization and there’s plenty of Irish Penn State fans and Italian Notre Dame fans but still, just an interesting observation. Best of luck Penn State bros, beat those quackers please. And Fighting Irish bros, win out so we can host you at Husky Stadium for a playoff game because that would be a cool uniform matchup and Dubs needs to meet your little leprechaun dude. Everyone have a nice rest of your week and stay positive.