As alumni of the University of Pittsburgh, it has been a strange thing to watch old haunts (mainly bars) disappear over the last 10 years. Lee and I are the only ones at PSB that actuall did the Greek thing at Pitt. Lee’s frat got kicked off; and mine — well I don’t even know if AEPi is still around or not. The Phi Delta chapter kept being reorganized by national for various reasons; and now I don’t know if there are Apes at Pitt. (But I digress.)

I mention this, because one of the oldest and most recognized frat — by virtue of the “green mansion” on Dithridge St. — has been “suspended.” Seems to have been some hazing.

Bummer for the guys at Delta Sigma Phi.

It seems to have been so long ago that I was actually thinking about the game on Saturday.

First up, looks like someone finally got around to wondering why QB Rod Rutherford isn’t running any more. Essentially, fear from the coaching staff that the backup, Getsy, would have to come in to the game if Rutherford was hurt. Considering the season is already circling the drain, and RB Brendan Miree may not be back for the rest of the season, they might want to reconsider that viewpoint. There is also a claim that his ankle was hurting for a couple games.

OF some interest, to me at least is the incident from the Notre Dame game. Here’s what I wrote.

On a 3rd and 10, Rutherford rolls out to the left (Notre Dame side) and runs for the first down down the line. Finally! Rutherford has speed, and he’s been staying in the pocket (such as it was) all day. Fans are standing in anticipation.

Then, as he nears the marker in front of him, he sees a defensive player coming at him.

Rutherford never shies away from contact before. He’s big, tough and strong — 6′ 3″, 225 pounds. We expect him to lower the shoulder and plow ahead for the first down. The stadium anticipates this. The fans were juiced, and I believe momentum would have swung.

Instead, he straightens up and cuts out of bounds 2 yards short.

Stunned disbelief. Dismay. Disgust. Anger. All of this moved quickly through the stands. There was no way he didn’t know where the first down marker was. It was directly in front of him. He chose to avoid the contact. Rod gave up on the play. It is safe to say, that was when the fans gave up. They showed the replay on the jumbotron, and there was no doubt. A blistering chorus of boos rained down on the field. People started moving to the exits.

That was really the end of the game. There was no faith left.

This never made it into a single story about the game. It is mentioned in the article.

Recently, Rutherford has taken some heat for a play late in the Notre Dame game because, on a third-and-10, he scrambled out of the pocket and ran for a first down but stepped out of bounds short of the marker rather than take a hit. Pitt was forced to punt and there were a smattering of boos from the crowd.

“Coach made a comment about it on the sideline and it was something I regret,” he said. “But I didn’t tell him that I was injured at the time. That’s still no excuse, I knew what the situation was. That one still bothers me.”

Rutherford said he won’t make the same mistake.

I hope so.

From the Syracuse viewpoint, they see 5 keys to the game.

Control the ball and clock, using play action. Don’t let Pitt stuff 8 men in the box to key in on stud RB Walter Reyes — this was what VT did to decimate ‘Cuse a couple weeks ago. Of course, this means the passing game has to be working. Something that you can never be absolutely sure of with Syracuse.

Contain Fitzgerald, by making Pitt one-dimensional. In a way the easiest and hardest thing for Syracuse to do. Shut down the running game, and allow the safties to help cover Fitzgerald. Even the most blinkered Orangemen fan knows that the best they can hope to do, is to limit Fitzgerald. No one has had much trouble shutting down Pitt’s running game without Miree. The question will be, can Pitt pass underneath to TE Kris Wilson, and will the other receivers make plays?

Keep Rutherford in the pocket. Now, I’m not sure I get this one at all. I don’t know if they’ve seen the same games from Pitt, that I have. Rutherford is much more accurate in the pocket then when he rolls out, or takes off. Yes, he has potential to take off and run, but as mentioned at the beginning, he isn’t doing much of that.

R.J. Anderson to Johnnie Morant. This is the Syracuse version of Rutherford to Fitzgerald. Uh, okay. Basically, they think this should be the tit-for-tat big play combo to respond to any Pitt quick strikes. Right.

I really don’t know what to say here, because it is just a stupid and contradictory point to controlling the ball and clock.

Don’t panic if you fall behind, just stay close. Pitt has shown in all but the Texas A&M game, that it doesn’t play as well in the second half, and especially in the 4th quarter. The fade, wear out, don’t adjust to new schemes. Even if Syracuse is losing going into the 4th, they still can win.

If I was Syracuse, here would be my one key to the game.

Walter Reyes running right. Reyes running left. Reyes running straight up the middle. Until Pitt shows that it can stop the run on a consistent basis, you just run him repeatedly and often. Maybe an occasional screen or short pass to keep Pitt off guard, but just run the ball. He’s their best weapon against Pitt’s weakest point.

Nights like last night make me wonder why I even bother picking college football games or ranking teams. I mean, I studied both Virginia Tech and West Virginia before I picked the Hokies to cover a 13 point spread. I thought that Virginia Tech was the second best team in the country, even though they had admittedly only played Texas A&M and a few local high schools. I ignored Virginia Tech’s long history of being ridiculously overrated, especially by its media god-parent ESPN. Boy, was I wrong.

But first things first. Congratulations to Head Coach Rich Rodriguez and the West Virginia Mountaineers for beating the living hell out of the #3 ranked Virginia Tech Hokies 28-7 last night. The loyal members of the Big East Football Conference sincerely thank you. Even though I picked against you, I spent the evening in front of the TV yelling my head off for you (unlike some other contributors to this site, who were almost certainly watching the World Series… as if we all don’t already know that the Yankees are inevitably going to win). I even taught my wife how to chant “LET’S GO… MOUNTAINEERS!”

The Mountaineers featured a terrifyingly balanced and effective offense. They piled up 264 yards on the ground (178 by running back Quincy Wilson) and 162 through the air (including that electrifying 93 yard touchdown pass to WR Travis Garvin). Quarterback Rasheed Marshall looked great picking apart the Hokies’s defense.

Meanwhile, the wheels just fell off of Virginia Tech’s offense. The Hokies could only muster 65 yards on the ground and 146 through the air thanks to Rodriguez’s well coached and fundamentally sound defense (very much unlike some defenses that I could mention). Of course, Hokie Quarterback Bryan Randall made Rodriguez look even better by throwing 3 interceptions and dropping 4 fumbles. Still, keeping VT’s star tailback (and Hall of Fame Penn State tormentor) Kevin Jones under 100 yards involved brilliant strategizing and a hard fighting defensive line that we Pitt fans apparently can only dream of.

So now Virginia Tech is 1-4 against Pitt/WVU since 2001 (hopefully they will soon be 1-5), losing their last two to each school. Yeah, you guys are ready to compete in a super-conference every year against the likes of Miami, Florida State, and heck, even Virginia. You’ll never get this close to a BCS bowl again, and soon be cannon fodder to your far better coached cross state rivals.

Incidentally, I’d love to see Hokies Head Coach Frank Beamer pull a complete Woody Hayes at Heinz Field and hit one of our players. I strongly agree with Chas’s assertion that Virginia Tech as a team has tended to throw temper-tantrums and self-destruct (through penalties, outbursts, and most importantly, a general lack of focus) when they get slightly outplayed as they did last night (and the last two years against Pitt). I would suggest that they are merely reflecting their Head Coach’s personality.

So anyways, my season record against the spread is now 14-15. Still, I’m happy that I was wrong and that WVU won. Unfortunately, I now think I see another Big East team that Pitt will not beat unless our defensive line, offensive line, and running game substantially improve.

Hail to Rich Rodriguez, Now One of my Favorite Coaches Once Again

Yes, this is still a Pitt blog, but the results and fallout of the WVU-VT game merit some more pixels.

Frank Beamer seemed to be on the verge of having a Woody Hayes/Bob Knight moment, but his player just walked away.

And Virginia Tech Coach Frank Beamer was caught by ESPN cameras on the sideline delivering a slap to Hokies wide receiver Ernest Wilford on his helmet late in the third quarter. Wilford responded by walking away from his coach with a look of disgust on his face.

“He was trying to explain one of the penalties,” Beamer said. “I should have been listening and not slapped him on the head. I shouldn’t have done that. I apologized. It was my fault all the way.”

In Syracuse, there is also a fair amount of glee, but annoyance at the announcers regarding the ACC raids on the Big East.

Today, however, I will spend my time talking about the pounding that West Virginia handed to Virginia Tech. In case you missed, just pop in a tape where VPI is undefeated and goes in to play an unranked team in any year, and completely collapses.

This game was humiliating for Tech (ESPN). Absolutely humiliating. National Championship=Good bye.
…
The only bad part- Sean McDonough took a shot at SU for criticizing BC’s move to the ACC. Top bad McDonough, an SU grad, didn’t take time to look at the real issues behind BC’s move (and their participation in Big East meetings). I felt like smacking him in the head the same way Frank Beamer smacked VPI’s star receiver Wolford in the helmet in the fourth quarter. Neither McDonough or Wolford seemed to have their heads in the game.

I digress, however, because this is all about VPI’s collapse. And yes, VPI lost their cool several times.

I can only hope that Hokie fans aren’t exactly shocked at the glee the rest of us are taking in this.

The Hokie school paper is very matter of fact and boring in its reporting. Disappointing. Of course, it is a school paper, it will probably take until Monday to get a good angst-ridden column written, edited and published.

Meanwhile, in the Commonwealth of Virginia there was plenty of commentary. over at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, there is a sense of familiarity to this story.

Nights turn colder. Leaves change colors. Virginia Tech’s football team loses.

Over the past three seasons, the Hokies’ slide has joined the two natural occurrences as sure signs the seasons are changing.

The quotes from the players were most illuminating. One player admitted they were straight-up beaten.

“I didn’t think a team could line it up, tell us they were going to run the ball on us and then do it. And do it to perfection,” Tech cornerback DeAngelo Hall said. “I don’t think nobody in the country thought so. They took me out the game, took Ernest Wilford out of the game, took Kevin Jones out of the game. And I don’t even know what they did.

“Maybe when we watch the film, I’ll find out. Great coaching, great strategy.”

Most though, were defiant, despite losing badly and for the second straight year.

“They weren’t the best defense we’ve faced this year by far,” center Jake Grove said. “We didn’t play well enough tonight to win a football game, no matter who we were playing.”

Said Randall, “I think they’re a good ballclub. I think we’re a better ballclub. They played better than we did. They played well enough to win.”

You were beaten. You were beaten badly. It was humiliating and revealing.

The Virginia Tech Hokies had planned to go to bed with visions of the Sugar Bowl dancing in their heads. Now, it looks like the Orange or Gator bowl instead.

If things don’t get worse before they get better.

The West Virginia Mountaineers pulled off a stunning trifecta last night. They severely damaged the national championship aspirations of the Hokies. They prevented what could have been the biggest game in the history of Virginia college football (Miami at Virginia Tech, hoping to be ranked No. 2 and No. 3 in the country on Nov. 2). And they ruined what would have been a ratings bonanza for ESPN on that first Saturday in November.
…
For the Hokies, the season could get very difficult now. They have time to regroup, but the first team they face after the regrouping process is Miami, currently ranked No. 2 in the nation. The Hurricanes will have had two weeks to prepare for the Hokies.

Yikes.

After that game, the Hokies travel to Pittsburgh, and few coaches seem to have a handle on how to handle the Hokies better than the Panthers coach Walt Harris. Pitt also has a potent passing game, something that seems to cause major headaches for Virginia Tech.

Well, it’s nice to know one team fears Coach Walt Harris.

The Roanoke Times called it a “beating.”

They call West Virginia “Almost Heaven.” Well, the place proved to be living hell for Virginia Tech’s third-ranked football team Wednesday night.

In a show that totally exposed them as the overranked team that some suspected they were, the unraveling Hokies committed mistake after mistake – physically and mentally – and paid a heavy price for their misgivings in a 28-7 loss to West Virginia in front of 56,319 fans at Mountaineer Field.

Millions more via an ESPN national television audience saw Tech undressed by a WVU team that had lost four of its first six games and was a 14-point underdog.

WVU (3-4, 2-1 Big East), which outgained Tech 426 yards to 211, beat Tech (6-1, 2-1) for the second straight year. Last’s year game in Blacksburg was close. This one wasn’t.

Finally, it seems Senator George Allen (R-VA) now owes Representative Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) some Virginia Peanuts as a result of a wager on the game. The FEC is looking into the matter.

Regarding Chas’s tongue-in-cheek defense of Joe Paterno’s comments on Tony Johnson’s DUI arrest, I stongly agree (hey, Chas and I both grew up in Penn State families, so we ARE Penn State!). Like Chas, I want Paterno to stay at Penn State’s helm. Hey, he deserves it! Besides, another ten years of that crackpot and Penn State will be so far behind Pitt that they’ll never catch up.

(On a side note, Joe Paterno didn’t build Penn State’s football program into a national powerhouse. His predecessor, Rip Engle, did. Second, even if he did build Penn State, it belongs to more than just him now. A local contractor built the Blair County Courthouse and was paid for it. That doesn’t mean that said contractor can just come back and tear it down today.)

I, unfortunately, didn’t listen to the Jim Rome Show yesterday. I wish I had. I’m sure Rome did a much better job of trashing Paterno than I did. What did Rome say, Chas?

Hail to… (snicker)…

O – VER – RATED! O – VER – RATED! O – VER – RATED!

And if it’s one thing Pitt fans know about this year, it’s being overrated.

We’re hoping our man in Morgantown will be able to give us a report on the local scene, the day after. That is assuming the city is still standing. Apparently, there’s been a little bit of rambuctuousness in the streets.

In less than an hour after the game, officials reported numerous furniture fires and other items burning in the city’s Sunnyside section, home to thousands of WVU students.

“We’re dealing with multiple rubbish fires right now,” said Dave Flanigan, Monongalia County’s public information officer.

Before midnight, fires began to pop up in other areas of the city, as the street celebrations spread. “It’s worse than last year already,” Flanigan said.

There were more than 30 fires set in Morgantown after the Mountaineers defeated Virginia Tech in Blacksburg last year. WVU and city officials had hoped to keep damage to a minimum this year.
…
After WVU’s 22-20 loss to second-ranked Miami in Florida on Oct. 2, a parked car was destroyed in one of several Sunnyside blazes.

This, despite a concerted effort by Morgantown authorities to collect couches from people’s front porches.

The important thing, though, is that the goalposts were saved, thanks to quick work by the police and pepper spray. Lots of pepper spray.

Police inside the stadium tried to disperse rowdy fans with pepper spray, which also blew into the stands and caused discomfort to bystanders.

Brad Anderson of Chester said he was hit by the pepper spray when he ran down onto the field.

“We can’t breathe. We’re hacking up our lungs, but it was worth it,” Anderson said. “It was a hell of a win.”

Fans retaliated by throwing debris at the workers. Some fans tried to use the sideline benches in an attempt to get to the goal posts before another round of pepper spray sent fans running.

As for the game itself, a stunning kick in the teeth for Virginia Tech. They were absolutely humiliated 28-7. There is much celebrating this loss throughout the remnants of the Big East.

Once again, the supposedly well coached and talented Hokies imploded in the face of adversity. Don’t get me wrong, Frank Beamer is a great coach and recruiter, but over the last 3 years I’ve seen his team seem to lose it collectively when they get outplayed — not beaten, but outplayed — plenty of penalties, emotional outbursts, the collective behavior of a petulant, spoiled 4 year-old who isn’t getting what he feels entitled to. It happened the previous two years against Pitt.

Kind of diminishes that big VA Tech-Miami showdown, huh?

Every time Penn State loses this year, yet another national sports writer seems to wonder if it is time for Joe Paterno to hang it up. They all say the same sort of thing. For what he has done for Penn State both on and off the field, he deserves the right to say when he’s done (of course this is followed by the inevitable) but…

Let me say it then. Joe Paterno should stay as long as he wants to. If he stays too long, and drags the Penn State program down, so that it takes years or even a decade or so to recover; well, then, so be it. Joe Paterno has earned that right. He built that program, he should be able to take it down.

If Paterno drags Penn State to the point where it ends up like Alabama some 20 years after Bear Bryant retired, well, he’s earned that right.

I mean this latest incident about the DUI for a Penn State player, and Joe Paterno’s comments are getting taken way too far. There is no need for Jim Rome to refer to Paterno’s comments as “senile rantings” (or something like that) [subscription only for the streaming audio — windows or real].

More respect needs to be shown to Joe Paterno. It just isn’t right to call him an idiot, senile, moron, jerk, hypocrite, and such. There’s just no call for that. It isn’t nice. We all must be nice to Joe. He needs us. All of us. Lay off the guy.

(…with apologies to Bloom County, easily the greatest comic strip of all time [and nobody chronicled the 80s better])

Yesterday, I mentioned that Penn State’s star wide receiver and team captain, senior Tony Johnson, had been arrested and charged with Driving Under the Influence of alcohol last Friday (October 17). This wasn’t good, either for Penn State Football or for those of us who have friends and relatives driving around State College every night. But get a load of Head Coach Joe Paterno’s reaction to the news at yesterday’s weekly press conference, as reported in today’s Altoona Mirror.

“I’m unhappy with Tony’s situation. He should not have been up that late. It will all get blown out of proportion because he’s a football player, but he didn’t do anything to anybody, and there are legal aspects as to how it’s resolved. I’ll probably have to suspend him for a game or so because I have to send a message to the squad that it’s inappropriate to be out in the middle of the week having a couple of drinks.”

So Johnson’s DUI is no big deal because nobody got hurt? And worse yet, the only message that needs to be sent about this incident is that its inappropriate for Penn State football players to be having a few drinks in the middle of the week!? Does Paterno have any idea how many innocent people are killed by drunk drivers every night? Does Paterno have any respect whatsoever the rest of us Central Pennsylvanian motorists who must occsionally share the highways with his football players?

But then Paterno really dropped into bizarro world, accusing local police of singling out his football players.

“I think a lot of these things that are happening there are people that say, ‘there’s a kid that looks like he’s a football player, let’s trail him.'”

When some reporters in the room raised their eyebrows, Paterno only partially backed off.

“Are they targeting football players? I really don’t know.”

If there is one generalization I can make about Centre County, it is that practically everybody up there would look the other way (given the chance) if any facet of the Pennsylvania State University (but especially a football player) did anything illegal. Really, the local cops showed some character in arresting Johnson after they learned who he was. Now I can admittedly see some local crackers targeting African-Americans (which Johnson is), but that isn’t what Joe accused the police of doing.

Rarely has Joe Paterno pissed me off this much. How the hell did this DUI excusing, double standard bearing (what if a drunk driver killed Sue Paterno?), paranoid, myopic, grudge-holding, nepotistic, senile, bitter old man become one of the most respected coaches in the United States?

Hail to Joe Paterno continuing to reveal his true self.

Just some assorted items and thoughts.

Pitt TE, Kris Wilson, hopes to continue to hear his number called in the huddle. I’ve made no secret of my frustration with the lack of utilization of Wilson. Apparently Coach Walt Harris has been hearing it from others. Not that it was really Harris’ fault for not using Wilson, after all, Harris only calls the plays.

Pitt Coach Walt Harris said he had been trying to get Wilson more involved in the passing offense this season but that circumstances didn’t always permit it.

He said Wilson’s success against Rutgers could set up some bigger days for him down the road. He also is hoping Wilson continues to emerge as a consistent safety valve for Rutherford.

“There are a lot of people who don’t think we throw to the tight end enough,” Harris said. “This week we did some things differently with him to try and get him the ball. He is a heck of a football player and he made some tremendous improvements in his game this year. Most teams don’t have a tight end that can run like Kris and make catches down the field. We’re hoping he’ll continue to run those little short passes better and we know he will.”

What? He was doing all of that last year. This year, he’s been stuck staying on blocking assignments because the offensive line sucks. Yeah, I am starting to really understand why some of the beat writers really get frustrated with Harris’s “not my fault” stance on everything.

Concern continues about Pitt kicker, David Abdul. He just can’t seem to find a way to split the uprights. And he’s not making excuses — right after the article lists all of his excuses.

Meanwhile up in Syracuse…

Syracuse University offensive coordinator George DeLeone had his laptop stolen from the locked car of one of his graduate assistant coaches just prior to the Boston College game. The police report says its value is around $24,000. The laptop itself is only around $3000, but the software on it is worth around $21,000. The Syracuse athletic office says that the laptop doesn’t have the Orangemen’s playbook on it. It’s primarily a lot of video analysis software.

Syracuse director of football operations Reggie Terry said the information stored on the stolen computer did not include any type of electronic playbook. He said the team is not worried about the computer winding up with a rival team, though police told the team to monitor eBay as a precaution.

Seems Syracuse is having its own problems with its kicker. Unlike Pitt, it isn’t that the guy is just missing kicks, he’s injured.

Finally, according to the Syracuse blog, the Hoopie fans are just a wee bit juiced for the game tonight against the Hokies.

Some may recall that last year the Hoopies beat the Hokies and burned Morgantown — and the game was in Blacksburg. I can’t even imagine what would happen to Morgantown if the Mountaineers actually win at home.

OK, so I was re-reading one of my college Kierkegaard books last night… (yes, I was a useless Philosophy major… that’s why I had to go to grad school at OSU)

Here are the games that I’m most interested in this week. I’ll briefly discuss each and then pick it, putting my absolutely stunning 14-14 season record against the spread on the line.

SYRACUSE (+7) AT PITTSBURGH: Chas provides a very detailed and (based on all that I’ve seen and read) accurate summary of the Orangemen’s strengths in his latest post.

Defensively, Syracuse’s line was extraordinarily tough against Boston College — holding Derrick Knight (then the nation’s leading rusher) to just 51 yards and frequently pressuring BC’s quarterback. The Orangemen’s tackling was vastly improved over their performance against Virginia Tech the week before (thus proving that you CAN improve fundamentals in the middle of a season, Pitt Defensive Coordinator Paul Rhoads!). However, Syracuse’s defense did have some occasional containment issues and did let a few passes get behind them.

Keeping in mind that Boston College’s offensive line is vastly superior to Pitt’s, I think we can assume that Syracuse will effectively shut down our running game and frequently pressure Rod Rutherford. Will they disrupt our aerial attack as much as Notre Dame did? Given how uncreative and unresponsive our offensive coaching staff has been thus far, I can’t see why not.

Offensively, Syracuse has a very balanced attack. Walter Reyes is, as Chas noted, one of the best tailbacks in the Big East. Although Reyes was out rushed by his own quarterback last week, the Orangemen still pounded out 182 yards on the ground. Through the air, Quarterback R.J. Anderson threw for 230 yards (21 completions on 28 attempts) and 3 touchdowns.

Unless our defense has learned to tackle and penetrate the offensive line in the past seven days (and since Paul Rhoads and his staff haven’t improved anything thus far this season, why should I assume that they will now?), the Orangemen’s offense shouldn’t have much trouble with us.

In conclusion, I can’t believe that Pitt is actually favored to win this thing. Give me the Orangemen and the seven points.

#8 OHIO STATE (-20.5) AT INDIANA: Twenty and a half points? Are you freakin’ kidding me!? Ohio State couldn’t hang that many on its own practice squad.

Offensively, Ohio State is now ranked 114th of the 117 teams in Division I-A. Its pitiful rushing attack — which has netted an average of 2.89 yards per carry and 108.7 total yards per game — is ranked 97th in Division I-A and is the worst rushing unit to come out of Columbus since 1966.

Not that I don’t think the Buckeyes will beat Indiana. They certainly will. But only because of their exceptional defense and special teams. This is a team that wins ugly, but not a team that beats anybody by 21 points.

PENN STATE (+11) AT #16 IOWA: Ah, the Blunder Bowl, the Generosity Game, the Anti-Beamer Brawl… Each one of these teams gave away its last game largely with its special teams… and each to a quality opponent (Wisconsin and Ohio State respectively). Who will blunder the most this week?

Well, I ain’t gonna stop picking against Penn State until they actually beat a spread. That being said, this pick does make me nervous. The emergence of Quarterback Michael Robinson has re-energized Penn State’s once pathetic offensive line and receiving corps. And jeez did Iowa’s offense screw up a lot in Columbus.

#3 VIRGINIA TECH (-13) AT WEST VIRGINIA: A little Wednesday night surprise? No way in hell. The Hoopies ain’t sneaking up on any more ACC-bound traitors. Besides, the Hoopies and the Hokies have already agreed to continue playing each other indefinitely due to their long-standing rivalry. So there’s little motivation for revenge. And like I’ve been saying, the Hokies are better than the Hurricanes anyways. So give me the Hokies and I’ll give you 13.

NOTRE DAME (+4) AT BOSTON COLLEGE: The Irish and the Eagles can both run the ball well, but BC has run it better throughout the season (I’ll take Knight and his o-line over Jones and his o-line any day). Plus, BC can throw the ball, and its o-line should protect the QB better than Pitt’s did against ND. I’ll take BC and give four.

So for this week, I got the Orangemen, Hoosiers, Hawkeyes, Hokies, and Eagles against the spread… two dogs and three to cover.

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Not that anybody asked, but here’s my top ten for this week.

1. Oklahoma: OK, so you didn’t cover against Missouri (score one for Lee). You’re still scary good on both sides of the ball.
2. Virginia Tech: Speaking of good on both sides of the ball, Tech is also good on the ground, in the air, and on special teams. The Castrated Turkeys still haven’t played anybody yet, but they will November 1…
3. Miami: You’re meat in 11 days.
4. Georgia: Clearly the toughest and best rounded of the one-loss teams. Besides, losing in Baton Rouge is no big thang.
5. USC: It’s so hard to rank these guys, since they have few common opponents with eastern teams. But damn, they looked pretty against Notre Dame, didn’t they?
6. Washington State: Ditto my comments for number 5… minus the Notre Dame stuff, obviously. But hey, you’re still better than…
7. Ohio State: OFFENSE, PLEASE!!! And will Tressel hire a real offensive line coach already? Jim Bollman has clearly proven that he can’t handle both that and his Offensive Coordinator duties. But even with no offense whatsoever, the Buckeyes are still better than…
8. Florida State: You’re very lucky that you’re in such a weak conference, Bobby. Remember that when both the Hurricanes and the Hokies start regularly kicking your ass next year.
9. Purdue: If you can beat Michigan in Ann Arbor, we will all finally begin taking you seriously.
10. Michigan State: Um… ditto?

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Hail to My Pitt-Syracuse Pick Being All Screwed Up

As you probably already know, the loyal members of the Big East Football Conference (Pitt, West Virginia, Syracuse, Rutgers, Connecticut, and probably Louisville, Cincinnati, and DePaul) will keep their automatic bid to a BCS bowl until 2005. What happens after that? Well, the BCS Commissioners are currently mulling that over. ESPN’s Ivan Maisel reports the following on their progress.

The BCS commissioners are looking at eight different plans to modify the Bowl Championship Series beginning in 2006. Among the changes being considered are a lowering of the qualifying standard for the non-BCS champions, a play-in game for the highest-ranked champions of the non-BCS conferences, an expansion to a fifth bowl, a post-BCS championship game, or some combination therein.

The most appealing to both sides is the lowering of the qualifying standard. Whether the BCS adds a fifth bowl or not, giving a team that finishes in the top 20 in the BCS standings an automatic bid makes competitive sense and puts the antitrust question to rest.

Assuming that the Big East Football Conference will lose it’s automatic BCS bowl bid after 2005 (and I now think that this is a fairly safe assumption), either (1) lowering the qualifying standards for non-BCS conference teams (which Pitt will likely become) to play in a BCS bowl, (2) starting a BCS play-in game for the highest-ranked non-BCS conference teams, or (3) expanding to a fifth BCS bowl (thus making more conferences into BCS conferences) would be acceptable. Of course, I’d prefer the last option. Maintaining a guaranteed Big East BCS bowl bid is always better than having to fight it out for a bid with the MAC and Mountain West teams.

However, adding a fifth BCS bowl may not fly because it would spread the BCS money to more teams than the current BCS conferences would like. So I’m currently betting that the BCS Commissioners will just lower the qualifying standards for non-BCS teams to play in a BCS bowl. This isn’t good for Pitt (and we still should be fighting to get in the Big Ten, which will obviously maintain its automatic BCS bowl bid), but it’s acceptable.

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Finally, under the “Laughing At Penn State’s Misfortunes” category (and don’t think that they weren’t laughing when we lost to Notre Dame), the Nittany Lion’s star wide receiver, senior Tony Johnson, has been charged with Driving Under the Influence of alcohol after he was pulled over at 3:00 AM last Friday morning. Thus, Johnson joins offensive lineman E.Z. Smith (who was cited for underage drinking twice in one week in August), defensive back Anwar Phillips (who was charged but later acquitted of sexual assault), and a long list of other Nittany Lion football players who have discovered that there is absolutely nothing to do in State College but drink and screw.

What makes Tony Johnson’s DUI bust so entertaining, though, is the fact that his father — Larry Sr. — is Penn State’s defensive line coach and a highly respected member of State College society who regularly and repeatedly speaks to Centre County’s churches and church groups. My parents, bible-thumpers themselves, love the Johnson family. Tony’s brother Larry Jr., of course, was the Lion’s brilliant tailback who rushed for 2,000 yards last season.

So the moral of the story is, don’t drive around State College after dark in anything smaller than a Hummer. That guy in the car coming the other way might just be a Penn State football player.

Hail to George Foreman’s Lean Mean Grilling Machine (Jen and I got one as a wedding present, and damn is it slick)

Pitt coming off a game that they started with a roar and ended with a whimper, will play a Syracuse team that seems to be playing better each week (notwithstanding the 51-7 drubbing at the hands of Virginia Tech a couple weeks ago). Against BC, Syracuse played a solid defense and strong offense.

On defense, SU took the nation’s leading rusher out of BC’s equation, sacked the quarterback five times – twice more than they had in their previous five games combined – and intercepted two passes.
…
“It was won up front,” SU defensive coordinator Chris Rippon said. “It was clear from the beginning that we were not going to be pushed around. Our front four was disruptive the whole game, and we tackled. It was as simple as that. Last week we didn’t tackle. This week we tackled.”

That was one of several encouraging signs displayed by the Orangemen. Here are some others:

Run defense. With the front four of tackles Christian Ferrara and Louis Gachelin – the unsung heroes of the victory – and ends James Wyche and Thomas controlling the line of scrimmage, BC’s Derrick Knight was held to 51 yards rushing, nearly 100 yards below his season average.

Overall, SU held the Eagles to 70 yards rushing, roughly 140 below their season average. This from a unit that had been run over for 337 yards by Virginia Tech the week before.

“Their D-line got after us all game long,” BC quarterback Quinton Porter said. “Give them credit, because we have a real good O-line.”

Much of the rushing yardage SU yielded to Tech came after plays designed to run inside got bounced outside and then Orange defensive backs missed tackles. The only place BC backs bounced Saturday was onto the turf.

Defensive diversity. The style of defense employed by the Orangemen against Boston College was light years away from the scheme they employed in their first few games of the season.

There were stunts, linebacker blitzes, safety blitzes, delayed blitzes, switches from man to zone coverage packages, all disguised well to keep Porter and BC coaches guessing.

“They were coming out blitzing, sending linebackers, giving us all kinds of different looks,” Knight said. “They were throwing all kinds of things at us.”

The result was a season-high five sacks and two interceptions, which made an otherwise fine performance by Porter (10-for-29 for 249 yards and two touchdowns) seem pedestrian.

There were a few danger signs. SU’s containment broke down several times, allowing Porter to scramble for first downs, and he hit Larry Lester with a 39-yard TD pass late in the third period.

With mobile Pittsburgh quarterback Rod Rutherford and superstar receiver Larry Fitzgerald up next, they could be ominous signs.

Brandon Miree is going to be out at least 3 more weeks. A new MRI revealed not a deep bone bruise in the calf, but a stress fracture. Pitt is going to have to figure something out to run the ball. Even if they can pass at will, the offense will need to find a way to eat some time. Syracuse appears to have a solid defensive line. Pitt’s O-line has yet to show any consistency and ability to give protection.

Syracuse has one of the best Running Backs in the Big East if not a top 10 in the country in Walter Reyes. After what Pitt has given up to Jumaine Jones of Notre Dame, you have to imagine he’ll be salivating at the chance to run at the Pitt defensive lines. This means Pitt absolutely must tackle. No hitting, no diving at legs. Wrap the arms around the body and drag his ass down. Tackle. Tackle. Tackle.

There is a weblog covering the Syracuse Orangemen, called Orange Juice — I’d mock the name, but I have this thing about throwing rocks from a glass house.

Conference USA, resigned to the fact that it will lose it’s 4 best basketball programs (and 3 of its 4 best football programs) to the Big East — Louisville, Cincinnati, DePaul, Marquette, and probably South Florida — is doing its own raiding.

Rice, Southern Methodist and Tulsa will leave the Western Athletic Conference to join Conference USA, presidents from two of the schools said Friday.

This is being done (1) to keep TCU from leaving for the Mountain West, and (2) so these schools can play more central time zone games.

Marshall appears to be poised for an invitation as well.

For Pitt and the short term, this is a good thing.

I think it is clear that Pitt will be in the Big East for at least 3-5 more years. (Even if the Big 11 does expand and invites Pitt, it will take some time before it all happens.) In this time period, the BCS will expand and change — the Big East will lose its automatic bid, but there will be an at-large bid specifically reserved for some of the other conferences. This is the best that can be hoped for right now, and it may for a while placate some of the non-BCS conferences.

The way I’d like to see the other BCS bid be offered is to just a few conferences — say Big East, Mountain West, and maybe C-USA or the MAC. Ideally, TCU would still leave for Mountain West, effectively cutting C-USA completely out of the BCS picture. Like I said, I’m looking at making the best of a bad situation.

OF course one thing Pitt has to do, is up it’s non-conference cupcake schedule. The problem is, that Pitt is working at a tier of just above a mid-major. Good luck in getting the schools from the BCS conferences to play home-and-home games.

Therefore, looking at this scenario, the best way to do it is to play teams in a similar position — some of the good Mountain West teams — BYU, Utah, Air Force and Colorado St.

This is something Pitt has to be doing right now in working out the schedule. Play real competition.

FOXSports.com/Sporting News columnist Trey Luerssen blasted the Big Ten’s 11 team structure in a scathing piece yesterday.

It [October 18] was supposed to be a day the Big Ten race became a little clearer. Instead, the only thing clear was that the Big Ten is a mess. Once again, the dinosaur of the BCS could make it through the season with co-champions that never play each other.

We’ve seen this before from the league that can’t count, the conference with 11 teams that says it has 10. Last season, Iowa and Ohio State made it through their respective conference schedules unscathed. Did the two teams play each other? No…

Big Ten teams can’t play all of the other conference teams each year. There are too many. Yet, there are not enough. The league could solve its problems by adding a 12th team, allowing the Big Ten to play a conference championship game. That hasn’t happened. Whether the conference is holding out hope that Notre Dame joins, or it is just clueless, it does a disservice to the schools, fans and most important the players and coaches who aren’t allowed to settle matters on the field.

The Big 12 and SEC have championship games. It works so well that the ACC wanted a championship game so much, it opened itself up to the scorn of the entire Northeast and the court system…

After Saturday’s action, two Big Ten teams remain unbeaten in conference play. Purdue, which defeated Wisconsin, and Michigan State, which beat Minnesota, sit atop the conference standings without a loss. Here’s a shock: The Spartans and the Boilermakers don’t play each other this year.

Right behind Purdue and Michigan State sit Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio State. All have one loss. The Buckeyes already lost to Wisconsin, and of course they play rival Michigan. But guess what? That’s right, Wisconsin and Michigan don’t play…

This is what we know: Until these leagues [Big Ten and PAC-10] are brought into the 21st century, the Big 12, SEC and ACC will be stronger, more exciting leagues to watch and play in. That’s right, most recruits have no desire to go schools where you have to kiss your sister. (brackets and emphasis mine)

Me? I love Big Ten football. It is the oldest, most tradition-laden conference in America. It has more attendance per game and sells more merchandise than any other conference. Three of the four on-campus 100,000-plus seat stadiums in the country are in the Big Ten. Nowhere are rivalries more heated. Remember, SEC fans, that ESPN ranked Ohio State-Michigan as the top sports rivalry of the 20th Century, edging out even Yankees-Red Sox.

All that being said, I can’t find a single thing in Luerssen’s diatribe that I disagree with.

It is time for the Big Ten to expand. And don’t even give me that crap about a conference championship game being a competitive disadvantage to getting a Big Ten team to the national championship game unscathed. Every other major conference except for the left coast PAC-10 already has that disadvantage. The important thing is that the Big Ten is in danger of becoming a tie-laden dinosaur that slowly fades into irrelevance due to it’s inability to crown a true conference champion.

And nobody has been victimized by Big Ten Conference Championship ties over the past decade than Ohio State. Ties cost us (I’m a Pitt and OSU grad) two trips to the Rose Bowl since 1995.

OK, now that we’ve established that the Big Ten should expand to twelve teams, we can get to what I really find interesting about Luerssen’s piece.

Are the Big Ten and PAC-10 guilty of being snobs? Is Pittsburgh somehow below the schools in the Big Ten? Are Utah and BYU somehow not good enough for the PAC-10? (emphasis mine)

I absolutely love it when any nationally syndicated columnist just assumes that Pitt is the best choice to become the Big Ten’s 12th team. Those of you who have been reading PSB for awhile (as if anybody reads us at all) remember that I’ve often worried that the Big Ten might pick Syracuse over Pitt for geographical reasons (the Big Ten already has a presence in the Pittsburgh marketplace [via Penn State], but not in New York State) — despite the fact that Pitt is academically, athleticly, and research-capacity-wise a far better fit for the Big Ten.

And incidentally, Pittsburgh is hardly beneath the Big Ten athleticly (wanna play hoops?), academically (wanna compare freshmen SAT scores?), or research-capacity-wise (wanna compare medical/psychiatric hospitals/schools?). Really, only our law school is a joke…

So, Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delaney, learn a lesson from Major League Baseball and increase competition before you, too, slowly fade into irrelevance. Expand to 12 teams and establish your conference championship game now. And when it comes to picking your 12th member, grab the one that brings the most to the table. After Notre Dame turns you down again (speaking of dinosaurs slowly fading into irrelevance), Trey Luerssen and I think your choice will be clear.

And maybe you’ll even get to create some stupid trophy for the Pitt-Penn State game (The Halushki Bowl?).

Hail to the Big Ten, and Hail to the Big Ten Doing What’s In Its Best Interest

In early August, I had the following comment on RB Brandon Miree after pointing out a puff piece on him.

Miree is one of the keys to Pitt having a great year. If he goes down to injury, or doesn’t play well, Pitt’s BCS hopes are shot.

As we’ve seen from the running game since he’s gone down to a calf injury back in the Toledo loss, Pitt has none. Even I didn’t know/think there would be such a drop-off in talent at the running back position.

More bad news, looks like he’ll miss the Syracuse game this weekend.

No one has really paid attention to this, in explaining how Pitt has been so disappointing and inconsistent. Partially,I think it’s because when you speak of Pitt’s offense it really seems to come down to Fitzgerald and Rutherford. The other part is that this was an injury that hasn’t gone away and lingered so there is no timetable for his return. It was thought that he would play at Texas A&M, but now it’s a month later and he’s still out.

Even when he comes back, it will likely take a game or so to get close to normal. Unfortunately, Pitt doesn’t have the time.