Just some random thoughts on some things I saw from college football

Miami running a fake punt on Temple. Against Temple? What? Larry Coker couldn’t find a blind guy on crutches to trip?

Minnesota dropping another game to a Michigan school at home. Can you believe Mason still has support amongst some Ohio St. Alum over Tressel? Mason should be grateful that Paterno is still coaching, otherwise he’d have the title of most overrated Big 11 coach.

Akron beats Central Florida. That’s not going to help you get a bid over the Bulls of South Florida into the carcass of the Big East.

Northern Illinois and TCU both stay undefeated. Anything that pressures the BCS to open up further is a good thing at this point. Go Huskies! Go Horned Frogs!

You’d think that I’d be in a fairly good mood this morning. The Yankees lost game one (which I didn’t watch in protest… plus, you know the Yankees will just win it all anyways), Pitt won 42-32, Ohio State won 19-10, I got to spend the day with my charming baby niece in Baltimore (the armpit of the East Coast), and my picks against the spread for the week went 3-2 — taking my season record back to .500 (14-14). But I’m admittedly still smarting from last weekend’s disaster.

Nevertheless, let’s review my picks… especially the Pitt-Rutgers and Boston College-Syracuse (our next opponent) games…

PITT 42, RUTGERS 32: I took Rutgers plus 15.5 here because of Pitt’s weak defense, poor fundamentals (especially tackling), terrible Defensive Coordinator, pathetic offensive line, and one dimensional offense. I was right on the pick, but mostly because Pitt’s defense let Rutgers score 25 unanswered points in the second half.

Chas makes an interesting and possibly valid point about Pitt’s defense in his latest post. Chas theorizes that our pathetic offensive line and weak running game (apparent even at Rutgers) causes (in the best scenario) quick or (in the worst and all too common scenario) ineffective drives that keep the defense on the field for too much time during each game. Thus, the defense simply tires out and begins to play poorly. I think that Chas’s common-sense theory holds a lot of water, although it fails to explain the poor tackling and lack of intensity at the beginning of some games. Plus, Defensive Coordinator Paul Rhoads’s scheme-calling and halftime adjustments are terrible (by Pitt’s standards) even though he’s comfortably standing on the sidelines. Besides, doesn’t Pitt have the legendary Strength and Conditioning Coach Dave Kennedy and the best training facilities in college football on its side? Ohio State’s defense is regularly left out on the field all freakin’ day, but it still performs far better than Pitt in the 4th quarter.

At the very best, Pitt’s defense stinks. However, I agree with Chas that it is made to smell even worse partially by Pitt’s even stinkier offense. In any case, I’m worried about next Saturday (see my notes on the Syracuse/BC game below).

MIAMI 52, TEMPLE 14: I took Temple plus 31 points here because I was betting on a letdown between the Miami-Florida State game and the Miami-Virginia Tech game. I actually thought that this was one of my safer bets. Oh well. Maybe Miami is better than I thought it was. Maybe Temple’s just worse. Either way, I’m sticking with Virginia Tech for the upset against the Hurricanes in two weeks.

SYRACUSE 39, BOSTON COLLEGE 14: I took Syracuse plus 3.5 points here mostly because of the revenge factor. And boy was I right. How many Panthers fans didn’t crack a little smile when the Carrier Dome erupted into cheers of “A-C-C! A-C-C!” as the Orangemen returned a blocked punt for their final score?

But Pitt’s next opponent deserves more discussion than just that. Syracuse’s passing attack was pretty impressive: Quarterback R.J. Anderson threw for 230 yards (21 completions on 28 attempts) and 3 touchdowns. However, the Orangemen really outgained BC on the ground — rushing for 182 total yards vs. BC’s 72 (remember what BC did to PSU on the ground?). Intercepting BC twice sealed the deal for the Orangemen.

So next week, Pitt will be playing a competent and fairly well balanced offense. And Pitt will have to counter against a fairly strong Syracuse run-defense that will likely make the Panthers one-dimensional yet again. I’m nervous.

OHIO STATE 19, IOWA 10: I bet against my beloved Buckeyes here (taking Iowa and 3.5 points) because Iowa’s defense and passing game seemed so much stronger than those of the Wisconsin team that beat Ohio State in Madison last Saturday night. However, I badly overrated Iowa’s offense (which sucked golf balls through garden hoses). Furthermore, I wasn’t counting on Iowa to gift-wrap 9 points (via a punt-block and a high snap through the end zone) in the fourth quarter.

However, Ohio State’s offense clearly regressed for this game. Despite FINALLY having every starter back from the national championship team except Maurice Clarett, the Buckeyes had only 185 yards of total offense — including a pitiful 56 yards on 42 carries on the ground. However, OSU’s defense and special teams performed adequately.

By the way, Iowa’s Head Coach Kirk Ferentz is still the man. Talent against talent, Iowa shouldn’t have been anywhere near Ohio State. But despite the scoreboard, I know who I thought won the battle of coaching and of getting the most out of his team.

OKLAHOMA 34, MISSOURI 13: I took Missouri and 26 points here because I was betting on a letdown from the heretofore all-to-perfect Sooners. I was right… barely. Oklahoma hardly had a letdown. But Missouri stayed close enough to keep my day over .500.

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I always get up at 7:30 Sunday morning to catch ESPN’s College Gameday Final with Mark Mays and the always assinine Trev Alberts (plus some talking head who’s name escapes me right now). This morning, in a short outburst while he was bemoaning the fact that current (and may I predict, temporary) Big Ten leaders Michigan State and Purdue don’t play each other this year, Alberts demanded that the Big Ten add a 12th team adding that the current setup “IS A FRAUD!!!” So anyways, somebody out there besides Pitt fans wants the Big Ten to expand. Unfortunately, it is an immature, insulting (especially to Mark May) jackass who is universally despised across the Midwest (especially in BOTH Columbus and Ann Arbor, and that takes work).

In any case, I’m still betting on the Big Ten staying at 11 members for at least two or three more seasons.

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Hail to That Born-Again Hypocrite Good Ole Boy Bobby “Free Shoes” Bowden For FINALLY Tying Joe Paterno’s All-Time Win Record (so when do you have a bye week, Bobby?)

It’s a lyric from a song. Figure it out.

I realize a win’s a win. And no offense to Rutgers fans, but…

There was a lot to still worry about after that game.

Pitt had a 42-7 halftime lead. They failed to score in the second half and held on for a 42-32 win.

What has happened to Kicker David Abdul? He went into the season as one of the best kickers in the Big East. He missed both field goal attempts that were eminently makeable — 39 and 40 yard attempts. He is now 4-10 for the season.

The running game is still lost without Brendan Miree. Don’t let the stats fool you. Jawan Walker ran 16 times for 81 yards, but 55 of the yards came on one run. This means the rest was really 15 for 26 yards. Breaking it down further, Walker had 6 carries for negative or 0 yards, 4 carries for 1-2 yards, 1 carry for 3 yards, and 3 carries for 4 or more yards (excluding the 55 yard run).

The inability to provide a sustained drive means the defense is out on the field a lot more. Sure Pitt scored 6 touchdowns in the 1st half, but out of the 18 possessions by Pitt there were only had 4 drives of 7 plays or more (including punting on 4th down). They had 7 series where they went 3 and out. Pitt never held the ball for more than 4 minutes at a time. Little wonder the defense started giving up points and ground so much in the second half. (By comparison, Rutgers had 7 drives of 7 plays or more. Rutgers also had 5 series of 3 and out, but only 1 came in the second half.)

[I’m starting to feel some sympathy for the defense. Sure, they are still trying to hit rather than tackle, but it is becoming apparent that they are getting gassed from being out on the field so much.]

3rd down efficiency was abysmal. 3-12.

No defensive pressure. Only 2 sack for the Pitt D.

Being shut out 25-0 in the second half also suggests that Rutgers made adjustments at the half; and Pitt did nothing in response. Another longtime complaint about Harris at this blog (Longtime? This has only been up and running since August. — ed. So? It’s long been a complaint of the participants before the blog).

Even Coach Walt Harris knows that they won only because they were playing Rutgers.

“We’re thankful we won,” Pitt coach Walt Harris said.

Even the good stuff comes with the knowledge that it was mostly just from the first half. Rutherford was 22-38 for 381 yards overall, but in the second half was 2-10 for 34 yards. For the second straight week, Larry Fitzgerald was shut out in the second half. Of course that just makes his 8 catches for 207 yards and 2 TDs that much more ridiculous.

The offensive line did, however, give Rutherford protection this game, even as the running game was stillborn. He was sacked only once. More importantly, and something I have been screaming for, TE Kris Wilson wasn’t forced to stay and block. He had a big game with 9 catches for 110 yards and a touchdown. Wilson is an excellent weapon that must be utilized more often.

Next up, Pitt is at home against Syracuse. It will be homecoming. Noon start. Damn. Looks like I’ll be on the road by 7 am.

Lost amidst our collective angst over the Panther football season circling the drain, we seemed to have forgotten that college basketball’s “Midnight Madness” began last night. Since that only means practices for a few weeks, we can project hopes and dreams of a Final Four run on a basketball team that may only be 3rd best in the Big East (behind UConn and Syracuse). But we have to hope.

Those of you who have been with us for awhile (I am, of course, pretending that somebody actually reads this site) remember that I have a hate-hate relationship going on with the University of Oregon and their “Lightening Yellow” uniforms.

Now, ESPN’s Ivan Maisel has a story about why Oregon hasn’t worn it’s controversial new threads once since their debut at Mississippi State (which apparently chose white that Saturday for some reason). You see… uh… what happened… uh… was that Oregon’s Equipment Manager Pat Conrad apparently washed the uniforms in 122F water instead of the recommended 110F, and all the color bled out.

Uh-huh. Sure.

You just got embarrassed, but you didn’t want to tick off alumnus Phil Knight and Nike. So you just innocently miswashed them, right?

In any case, Maisel’s piece is cute. And our only four nominations for the Oregon Award remain Oregon, Purdue, Illinois, and Wyoming.

Hail to 122F water.

Okay, Lee. You wanted comments on baseball. You’re now going to start getting them.

It serves me right… trying to escape the humiliations of last week by temporarily embracing the only sport that is even more stacked against the underdogs than college football: major league baseball. I mean, several of the college football powers of 1970 are still powers today (e.g., Ohio State, Michigan, Texas, Oklahoma, and USC). However, a few schools who were hardly college football powers in 1970 have joined the top echelon since then (e.g., Miami and Florida State). Some schools have moved in and out of the top echelon since 1970 (e.g., Pitt and Florida), and even some non-BCS schools are threatening to crash the party today (NIU).

However, the New York Yankees are forever, and the only reason why is money. In the beginning, there was only the Yankees and the boatload of cash that they brought in merely because they were lucky enough to be located in the nation’s largest media market. The Yankees then built and maintained their tradition of dominance through especially (1) shrewd management, (2) perceptive scouting, (3) effective talent development, and (4) signing practically every major free agent they even halfway desired. However, all four of these things cost money. And the Yankees have more money to put towards these ends than anybody else. That is why they’ve won so many more World Series’s than anybody else.

Sure, other teams have had almost as much money, but little success (hey, a little luck might have been involved in the Yankees’s rise too, and like I said, shrewd management was key). And sure, every now and then a small market team like the Pirates can put together a few strong seasons (e.g., 1979, 1990-1992) or even have the best player ever to play the game (face it, Pittsburgh, it’s Bonds). But no small market team can stay at that level for long. It just takes too much money.

So every year, I root against the Yankees like an idiot. And every year they either win or just bounce right back while the previous year’s tormentors (e.g., Angels, Diamondbacks) slowly fall by the wayside. But not this year. I’m going to try not watching major league baseball at all anymore (including the Pirates) until an effective revenue-sharing system is worked out that gives everybody — not just the big market teams or the Yankees — an equal chance of winning (It’ll admittedly be hard not watching the Series).

Incidentally, I’m well aware that the Red Sox’s collapse last night had less to do with money than with Grady Little’s decision to leave Pedro Martinez in there a little too long. However, I might note that more money might have bought a better manager… as well as a little better bullpen. Besides, Boston is hardly a small market.

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Now on to a real sport where the underdogs can win it all (see Ohio State in the greatest college football game ever last January). I always read the Sporting News/Fox Sports’s Fearless Predictions (apparently somebody else has copyrighted “Fearless Forecasts?”) every Friday morning during the season, because they tend to be fairly solid (although I can’t help but notice that they don’t publish their overall prediction record against the spread like I do… typical Fox… hide the facts).

In any case, the Sporting News/Fox Sports disagree with three of my picks (Missouri +26, Temple +31, and most interesting of all, Iowa +3.5) and don’t even mention the other two (Rutgers +15.5 and Syracuse +3.5). I can let Missouri and Temple slide because they’re obviously sucker bets. But Iowa? OK… We’ll see… But were you guys watching that Michigan game?

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I’ve always wanted to see Pitt play at Rutgers… something about all those swamps and foul-mouthed, miserable people. And for several years, one member of our little group actually lived nearby. But we never went out to visit him and see Pitt at the same time. I regret that.

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Hail to Major League Baseball’s Continuing Slow Slide Into Irrelevance as Football, Basketball, and Heck Even Soccer Grow in Popularity

Not that either one of these items is directly related to Pitt Athletics (if you want to read our takes on the Pitt-Notre Dame debacle or the sinking Big East, see here, here, here, especially here, especially here, and here), but I wanted to briefly deviate from our main focus.

First, I couldn’t help but notice that this morning (Thursday, October 16) Pitt Sports Blather (or PSB) finally surpassed its parent blog, SardonicViews, in average number of visitors per day (click on the Site Meter buttons of each blog). Of course, it took a debacle of a football game to achieve 23 visitors per day, and I doubt that our readership will continue past the bowl game. But still, PSB beat SardonicViews if only for one day.

Of course, our total number of visitors (1,201) is still well behind SardonicViews’s (1,574).

Second, I’ll go ahead and broach the topic of major league baseball. Remember how only Nixon could visit China? Likewise, only I could bring up baseball. If Chas — the true baseball fan of our group — had brought it up, the rest of us would have jumped all over him.

Like most Americans, I’m very disappointed in the outcome of the National League Championship Series. I had been rooting for the poor Chicago Cubs to make it back to the World Series for the first time in 58 years. My new wife and I even stayed up late to watch Game 7 last night. We never watch any television baseball, and only occasionally go out to see the Altoona Curve (the Pirates’s AA team) in person.

However, I am more interested in the American League Championship Series for three reasons. First, the NLCS is over, moron. Second, I — like all God-fearing, apple-pie eatin’, non-bandwagoning Americans — hate the New York Yankees. Third, I believe that the Boston Red Sox are even more pitiable than the Chicago Cubs — even though the Sox’s last World Championship came nearly a decade after the Cubs’s last. Here’s why…

Over the past century, the Red Sox organization has actually tried to compete for a World Championship far more regularly and with far more sincerity (i.e., dollars) than the Cubs organization has. Furthermore, the Red Sox have a far cooler curse on them (Bambino) than the Cubs have (why the hell was that clod trying to get a goat into Wrigley Field in the first place?). But perhaps ESPN’s Jayson Stark puts it best…

As 8 billion New Englanders could tell you, the Cubs don’t hold the patent on Not Winning The World Series. But somehow, there’s a difference between Cubs fans and Red Sox fans. We’ve spent enough time around both of them to see it, to feel it.

Red Sox fans are somehow resigned to their fate. They know the next Bill Buckner fiasco, the next Bob Stanley wild pitch, the next gigantic black cloud is right over the horizon. But for some reason, Cubs fans allow themselves to dream.

Post-Buckner New England has largely given up hope of ever winning the World Series again. And I’d love to see that entire corner of the country lose its prime reason for acting miserable. Plus, I’d love to see the party in Boston if they won. If the Cubs would have won it all, Chicago would have merely rioted.

Tune in to Fox at 8:00 PM tonight. Pedro Martinez will face Rodger Clemens (oh Jesus, if they get to the Series by beating Clemens…).

Incidentally, Chas is the biggest Yankees fan I have ever met. There you go buddy. I broached the topic for you. Let her rip.

Hail to the Red Sox

Yes, last week was an absolute disaster for Pitt football, the Big East Football Conference, and my picks against the spread (my season record is now 11-12). However, I — like Chas — realize that it’s time to “cowboy up” (damn… that is irritating). So here are the games that I’m most interested in for this week.

(deservedly unranked) PITT (-15.5) AT (perpetually unranked) RUTGERS: How will the Panthers rebound from getting absolutely dominated by lowly Notre Dame last Saturday? My guess is that they won’t rebound for two reasons (or two sets of reasons).

First and foremost, Pitt Defensive Coordinator Paul Rhoads has proven over and over again that he cannot coach fundamentals (tackle, don’t just hit like you did especially against Notre Dame and Texas A&M), cannot improve any strategic facet of Pitt’s defense over time (has our run or pass defense really improved since Kent State?), cannot inspire (has our defense been fired up at any point this year?), and cannot make halftime adjustments of any kind (even when Pitt did make halftime adjustments for like the first time ever against Texas A&M, the defense wasn’t really part of it).

Second, I’m guessing that the Panthers will not rebound from the Notre Dame loss because our offense just demonstrated to the world how we can be stopped (just pressure Rod Rutherford and the running-back-of-the-day), our offensive line hasn’t improved all year either (and will thus likely continue to let blitzers and just plain defensive linemen past on a semi-frequent basis), and most frustratingly of all, our offensive/quarterback genius of a head coach hasn’t shown any creativity at all in playcalling. I mean, where was the shovel pass, bootleg, screen, or other blitz-countering play last Saturday?

So given all of this, I think that pretty much the same team that left Heinz Field last Saturday night will show up in New Jersey this Saturday (as well as against Syracuse, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, and Miami). Rutgers shouldn’t have much trouble staying within 15.5 points of that squad.

TEMPLE (+31) AT #2 MIAMI: Thirty-one points is one heck of a spread to cover when you’re sandwiched between a Florida State game and a Virginia Tech game. Plus, Temple didn’t look too awfully terrible against an admittedly-depleted Penn State squad in August. So I’ll take Temple and the points, please.

BOSTON COLLEGE (-3.5) AT SYRACUSE: Ah, poor Syracuse… She was once one of the prettiest and most popular girls in high school… a lock to join the ACC along with Boston College and Miami. But thanks to (1) a lot of groveling, begging, and pleading from Virginia Tech in Richmond, and (2) the graces of the University of Virginia (and don’t ever forget that, Hokie-fan), Virginia Tech got itself invited to the ACC dance instead. Now Syracuse looks like the fat girl who couldn’t even slut herself into a respectable date. No Big East school should feel as jilted as Syracuse.

So into the Carrier Dome comes Boston College, the last girl to get invited to the dance before the gymnasium doors closed forever. Do you think that the Orangemen and their fans are going to feel a little bitter?

So far this year, loyal Big East Football Conference members have performed pitifully against their departing-for-the-ACC foes. It changes here. Syracuse matches up fairly well against BC, and the Carrier Dome crowd should carry them the rest of the way. I’ll take Syracuse and the 3.5.

#9 IOWA (+3.5) AT #8 OHIO STATE: Lost in the loss to Wisconsin and the swarm of Robert Reynolds apologies to everybody but Jim Sorgi is the fact that Ohio State (unlike Pitt) definitely improved over its bye week. Although the Buckeyes couldn’t entirely stop Wisconsin’s run, they did slow it down and bring the Badgers’s passing game to a near halt (with one major exception).

Unfortunately for us Buckeyes, Iowa is a much better team than Wisconsin. The Hawkeyes’s solid defense should smother what little offense the Buckeyes have, and the Hawkeyes’s offense should pass their way to a close but comfortable victory. So I’ll take Iowa and give the points.

MISSOURI (+26) AT #1 OKLAHOMA: Jesus, the Sooners are good. I mean, they haven’t shown a single offensive or defensive weakness yet. So they’re more than due for a letdown, and the Tigers are hot coming off of that win against Nebraska. Gimme Mizzou and the points.

So this week, I got the Scarlet Knights, Owls, Orangemen, Hawkeyes, and Tigers. After going all out for the favorites last week, I’m going overboard on the dogs this week.

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Not that anybody asked, but here’s LEE’S TOP TEN FOR THIS WEEK.

1. Oklahoma: How far ahead of the rest of the country can one team be?
2. Virginia Tech: Like the Sooners, the Hokies haven’t showed any real weaknesses yet. Unlike the Sooners, the Hokies haven’t played anybody yet either. That’ll change next Saturday, when they beat the hell out of…
3. Miami: Damn good team. But not as good as last year’s team. Enjoy your last week in the national championship hunt, gentlemen.
4. Georgia: Losing to LSU in one of the at least six “Death Valleys” in college football was no big thing. It beats losing to Toledo in the Glass Bowl. Still, the Dawgs have looked hot every time I’ve watched.
5. Washington State: I’m serious now… how the hell did you guys lose to Notre Dame!?
6. USC: The Trojans’s hosting Washington State will be the second most important game of November 1 to me (Ohio State at Penn State being the first).
7. Iowa: Not as good as last year. But with Ferentz at the helm, the Hawks will always be deadly.
8. Ohio State: Yeah, so the bubble finally burst. This is still a talented team. At least they’re better than…
9. Florida State: You suck, Bowden. Any real coach would have passed JoePa decades ago.
10. LSU: Anybody who beats Georgia should be in the top ten, even if the Bayou Bengals collapse like clockwork every November.

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In case anybody didn’t catch my comment on Chas’s post from Monday, I have changed my position on Pitt and the Big East Conference. Previously, I believed that Pitt should stay in the Big East because the road to a BCS bowl game would almost certainly be easier from the new Big East than it would be from the Big Ten or the ACC. However, now that Boston College has fled to the ACC, I believe that the Big East will lose at least part of its access to the BCS bowls after 2005. I think that the Big East will likely have to share a bowl berth with the suddenly (thanks to BC) more deserving Mountain West and MAC. And this will NOT be an easier road to the BCS bowls than the Big Ten or ACC.

So it’s time for Pitt to start kissing up to Park Ridge, Illinois and (if need be) Penn State. We should want in the Big Ten now.

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Hail to Firing Paul Rhoads Now, Dammit

I started looking at the Pitt Panther stats through the first 5 games (PDF). There are some numbers that just jump out at you.

Opponent Total Offense (Pitt/Opp.)
Kent State 522/161
Ball State 473/284
Toledo 389/551
Texas A&M 478/544
Notre Dame 175/385

After the first 2 games, Pitt’s vaunted offense has been outgained every game.

Or how about through 5 games Pitt’s Defense has 5 sacks and 4 interceptions.

Suddenly the question isn’t, “How is Pitt only 3-2?” It becomes:

“How is Pitt not 2-3?”

I’m now very worried about Rutgers.

I just found some of Walt’s actual quotes (at least as released by the Pitt Athletic Department) to help deal with the “confusion.” Here’s a doozy.

Are you concerned that the defense can’t pick up on offensive schemes?
“Notre Dame found out their problem over their first four games and we thought that we had improved offensively. Our problem was that we really didn’t know what our problems were as well as Notre Dame did. We thought that that wouldn’t be our problem. We know that they were good and we alerted the players as well as everybody else in this room. We knew that they were a good defensive team. When we play our game, we don’t turn the ball over. Our defensive saved us by stopping them deep in our territory near the end of the half. They scored on a dropped punt. A couple plays each way made it difficult.”

Emphasis added.

Soooooo … Pitt was outcoached, and outprepared in addition to being beaten off the lines. I feel better.

In the days leading up to the game, the Pitt Athletic Department decreed requested that fans wear gold clothing to the game to support the team. Presumably it was trying to create it’s own version of the “white out” (an NHL tradition started by the Winnipeg Jets, brought to Phoenix when the team moved, and subsequently used by college basketball arenas everywhere), or “orange crush,” “green wave,” with, with a … “golden shower?”

Needless to say, it failed miserably. Since Pitt went to incorporating the worst aspects of Indiana athletic teams (Purdue Gold and ND Blue) almost all the apparel Pitt sells is blue with gold accents. Oh, some tried, but they tended more to yellow than gold. Dumb, dumb, dumb idea. Someone in marketing needs a beating.

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review columnist, Joe Starkey has a great column on confusion and Walt Harris — with Harris supplying the material from his Monday press conference.

Walt Harris wanted to make something clear at his mind-boggling news conference Monday: His players are hesitant, not confused.

He was speaking in the aftermath of Pitt’s 20-14 loss to Notre Dame, in which the Panthers were pushed around like lawn furniture.

“I always say a confused football player is not an aggressive football player,” Harris said. “I think ‘confused’ is probably a little bigger word than I thought would happen. I just think we got a little hesitant and weren’t as physical as we needed to be, especially on offense.”

Huh?

If Harris was trying to convince us that he doesn’t confuse his players, he had a rather, um, confusing way of demonstrating it.

It’s no wonder his record after off weeks is 5-8, including a loss to Temple. More time off obviously means more time to confound everyone.

The whole column is like this. Great fun.

Meanwhile at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Ron Cook picks up my thoughts on Harris’ play-calling/time-out burning play calling problem in a column detailing some depressing figures about Harris and big games at home.

Harris’ startling admission about the confusion on the Pitt sideline, which resulted in the Panthers wasting their three timeouts early in the second half, was telling: “It is difficult to call plays when you are not sure what is going to work.”

A rough translation: “I froze when things got tight.”

Apparently, confusion is a team-wide problem at Pitt. Harris’ explanation for poor defensive performances against Texas A&M and Toledo? Alignment difficulties. How can a well-coached team not align properly? By all accounts, that wasn’t a problem Saturday night. Unfortunately, it didn’t keep Julius Jones from rushing for a Notre Dame record 262 yards or keep the Irish from killing the final 9:14 of the game.

Hard to imagine that after last season, Pitt fans were worried that Defensive Coordinator Paul Rhoads might leave for a head coaching job at a mid-major or take a similar position at a bigger school. I’d say the bloom is off his rose.

On Sunday morning I had some time before heading back to Cleveland. I stopped for a walk in Oakland (the part of Pittsburgh where the campus is located for those who are unaware). Decided to look around the Pitt Shop. In the discount bin were t-shirts puffing the Pitt-ND game (white t-shirts, btw) with the phrase “History will be made at Heinz Field.” These $18 t-shirts were only marked down 40%. Really, they should have been boxed up and sent overseas to the poor like they do with the superbowl attire they print up for the losing team. Take the loss and get them out of sight.

This will be a long one.

Okay, I’ve wasted enough time. I’ve put it off long enough. The wife and daughter are out of the house so I can vent without offending. I’ve got some rum courage going via the Glenfiddich, and to use the most annoying phrase of 2003, it’s time to “Cowboy up” like in Boston — the new west.

Pregame
I don’t care much for omens and portents, but I suppose I should have started to worry when the “Check Engine” light on my Explorer came on halfway between Cleveland and Pittsburgh.

A big extended tailgate with the 6pm start. We got to our lot near 2pm and walked over to another lot to tailgate with some others. A big, special game; some bigger fun. They were even selling t-shirts that included the phrase “In Rod We Trust,” in reference to Pitt QB, Rod Rutherford. This lot was much louder, dustier and more crowded than our usual — who knew we were in the sedentary lot — still it was a change.

The next bad sign came around 4 pm. Plugged into my walkman so I could listen to the Yankees-Red Sox Game 3 playoff. Instead, the ESPN Radio station was carrying the goddamned Penn State-Purdue game. Are you freakin’ kidding me? Clemens vs. Martinez at Fenway, and I can’t even hear the game. Then it turns out to be the wildest thing so far. Damn. Well, at least the Yankees won.

The Game
Going into the game, I said that ND had a pretty good defense. Like everyone else, though, I figured their offense would be no where to be found — a true freshman making only his second start at QB, and a running game that hasn’t existed all year long. Well, ND quickly established that they couldn’t pass, but surprisingly, they could run. And did they ever.

[Julius] Jones averaged 10.9 yards per carry – including runs of 25, 39, 49 and 61 yards – and became the first Notre Dame running back to rush for over 200 yards in a game since Reggie Brooks did it twice in 1992.
…
As a team, the Irish ran for 352 yards, including 49 yards on the final drive of the game.

Notre Dame actually stalled on their first possession because they tried to pass as was expected, but Pitt immediately helped by fumbling the punt in an incredible brainlock. The punt was not particularly strong and was drifting towards the ND sideline near the 31. For some reason, rather than let it bounce out of bounds as it would have, William “Tutu” Ferguson signaled for a fair catch — and let it bounce straight off his chest into the arms of a ND player who promptly fell on it. ND scored a touchdown off of that turnover.

Pitt did respond, late in the 1st quarter, with the favored Rutherford to Fitzgerald connection; so it was still only a 7-7 game. Not too worried yet. Sure Pitt hasn’t been able to run the ball, there seems to be a lot of pressure on Rutherford, and the receivers are dropping some passes, but it just means that Pitt got off to a slow start after a bye week; and will shake loose now that they scored.

In fact, after the start of the 2nd quarter, Ferguson redeems himself somewhat, with a 71 yard punt return to the 4 yard line — I don’t think they kicked to Ferguson after that. Rutherford to Fitzgerald for another score. Now it’s 14-7 Pitt. Feeling a little better.

But the offense is still sputtering. Princell Brockenbrough, the other WR for Pitt keeps dropping passes. Running Back, Jawan Walker (filling in for the still injured Miree) is not getting much yardage, and the offensive line is giving Rutherford no time to throw.

ND gets the ball, and is all but abandoning the pass. With good reason. Brady Quinn is horrible. He finished 5-17 with an interception. Not that he needed to do much. Notre Dame suddenly has a running game, and Jones breaks off a 49 yarder to tie the game at 14.

Notre Dame is having its way with both the offensive and defensive lines of Pitt. We are getting edgy and angry in our seats. Pitt is missing tackles, leading to this observation in an exchange between Lee and I as the second quarter winds down.

Lee: He [Jones] is running right through us.

Me: We’re just trying to hit him, not actually tackle.

Lee: That’s all on the coaching. Fundamentals.

Me: It’s like Harris can coach talent, but he can’t teach.

Lee: FIRE HARRIS!

Still, despite how bad Pitt has continued to play, it’s a tie game. The Kicker, Abdul, usually very good even missed a 38 yarder. Then, with under a minute to go, and Pitt has the ball inside Notre Dame’s 20, Harris elects to call for 3 straight pass plays. Incomplete, incomplete (there was a drop on won of those), then a sack and fumble of Rutherford. ND has the ball on the 9 yard line. Somehow the Pitt D actually holds ND to a field goal.

Pitt runs off the field to a chorus of boos at the half.

Pretty good halftime, though. Honored a former Pitt great, and new college football hall of fame inductee, Jimbo Covert; and presented Big East Championship rings to the 2002-2003 basketball team.

The 3rd quarter. Against Texas A&M, Pitt was down by 4 at the half, but came roaring out. Harris actually made halftime adjustments. Surely he’d do it again. Something, anything to give Rutherford time; and maybe, just maybe, remind the defense about tackling rather than hitting.

Uh, no.

The defense knew what was coming, but still could not stop the run. ND wasn’t even hiding it, and the Pitt players knew it.

“They just kept coming at us with the same four running plays they used all game,” [Pitt defensive tackle Vince] Crochunis said. “We couldn’t stop it.”

Crochunis claimed that Jones was just too fast for them to get their arms around him to tackle. B***s**t. I watched the game, I’ve suffered the lowlights. They weren’t trying to tackle. They were trying to hit.

Pitt managed to burn all 3 of their time outs in the 3rd quarter because they couldn’t get the plays in. Even if Rutherford tried to take the blame, That goes straight on the coach.

“The lack of timeouts is all on me,” Harris said. “It’s difficult to call plays when you’re not sure what will work. I will continue to try to improve.”

Harris added that on two of the timeouts the play came in late, and he blamed himself.

That’s fine, we blame you too. The problem is, Harris isn’t a rookie coach. He’s been at Pitt since 1997. Now is not the time for looking to improve that. It shouldn’t be an issue any longer. And how about admitting he no longer knew what would work, but he will try to improve? Say what? I’m just stupified.

A little later in the 3rd quarter, despite ND continually shoving the Pitt lines about, they could only manage another field goal to go up 20-14. As an aside, let me say that as bad as Pitt played — and they stunk up the joint. ND is really bad. To have only managed 20 points in that game is amazing (I concede that they could have added a garbage score at the end when they just held the ball for the final 9 minutes of the game, and I respect the hell of Tyrone Willingham — even more than before — for not; but they really blew some chances to end the game in the 3rd quarter).

Rutherford looked worse in the second half. In the first half, he was shaken by the rushing and blitzing, but especially by drops from many of his receivers. Even Fitzgerald dropped a couple. Fitzgerald was shut out in the second half. Inconceivable! The effect of being sacked 8 times and no time to pass, led to a lot of bad passes in the second half. Most behind the receivers. I’m willing to ascribe part of this to Rutherford not having confidence in the receivers, and trying to be too perfect with the pass.

As I said, the 4th quarter, despite being absolutely abysmal, Pitt was only a score from leading the game (shades of Boston College from last year?). Fan mood was getting down, even in what had been a very raucous student section

The end of the game and beginning of complete disgust for the fans in the stands came at the end of the 3rd quarter (Pittsburgh at 00:53) (yet I find no mention in the various accounts of the game). Pitt got a quick first down and was near midfield. Then two incompletions. 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.

Post-Mortem
Too bummed and angry to drink.

We just sat in the lot looking at each other for a while, waiting for the traffic to die down.

Later an incident on the South Side.

Post-Game Analysis
This piece, effectively sums it up.

Offensive line/running game — The Panthers’ running game has been almost nonexistent, except for one half against Texas A&M. Brandon Miree might have helped against the Irish, but the way the line was dominated it probably didn’t matter. Sophomore tailback Jawan Walker was hit 2, 3 yards behind the line almost every play. And Rutherford was sacked eight times and was forced out of the pocket on countless others. This is a problem that might not be easy to fix because the five starting offensive linemen are likely the best five the team can put out there..

Defensive line — Defensive end Claude Harriott was billed as an All-American candidate, but he has yet to resemble one. He played hurt against the Irish, but even before that he had only one sack in four games against pedestrian competition. But he isn’t getting much help as opposite end Thomas Smith hasn’t made many plays, either, although he was fairly active Saturday. And while the tackles are serviceable, they were handled by the offensive lines of their previous three foes. The Panthers need to impose their will physically up front on defense.

Tackling — This is a problem that just won’t go away. Notre Dame’s Julius Jones ran for a school-record 262 yards against Pitt and many of those came after he was initially hit. On his 49-yard touchdown run, he was stopped for about a 2-yard gain, but shed two tacklers and sprinted to the end zone..

David Abdul — At one point last season, he was nearly automatic on field goals. But he has made only 4 of 8 attempts this season and has missed an extra point as well. His two misses against the Irish were crucial as one would have given Pitt a lead and the other would have tied the score. Pitt needs to be able to score points when teams take away its big plays and Harris needs to have confidence in Abdul from beyond 40 yards.

Coaching — On game day, the Panthers have looked confused and that has led to mental mistakes, poor use of timeouts and an endless string of delay of game and procedure penalties. And the defense’s problems have been blamed on poor alignment before the snap.

Suddenly this looks like a bad year. Pitt fell out of the top 25 (deservedly), and will not easily be let back.

Coach Harris may be an “offensive genius,” a “quarterback guru,” and a very good recruiter; but he is not looking like much of a gameday coach. There has continued to be inconsistency, unfocused play, and unpreparedness in big games. He can win the easy ones, and will even surprise with a couple when not expected, but when Pitt is expected to prevail in a tough game — he flops.

Other
Boston College accepted the bid to join the ACC. I can’t blame them.

I can rail at this, and only hope it has as much wiggle room as I want to read into it.

The University of Pittsburgh remains committed to the Big East Conference despite the loss of a third school to the Atlantic Coast Conference.
…
Even before Boston College’s decision, there were rumors that Pitt might be interested in leaving a weakened Big East, perhaps to join the 11-member Big Ten. But athletic director Jeff Long said Monday that there are no signs the Big Ten has any plans to expand.
…
Upset with Boston College’s abrupt decision to rescind its months-old commitment to the Big East, Long issued a strongly worded statement. Boston College expected an ACC invitation in June, only to be voted down by conference members.

“We are disappointed with the ACC’s continued attack on the Big East Conference and in Boston College’s decision to turn its back on its fellow members of the Big East,” Long said. “This is especially disappointing given the fact that Boston College had repledged its loyalty to the conference just a short time ago. Given this pledge, and the very public and very embarrassing rejection they received earlier from the ACC, it is somewhat surprising they have decided to depart.”

Here’s Long’s full statement on BC.

I am very disturbed that Pitt seems to be leading the charge to keep the Big East intact. We must get out at the first chance.

I’m not sure which of the following events from this weekend sucked worse…

1. …that Pitt not only got upset by Notre Dame, but that the Irish absolutely dominated us. Throughout the entire second half, we knew that they were going to run the ball, yet we could do nothing to stop it on play after play. Our offensive line was dominated worse than I’ve ever seen any offensive line dominated outside of high school ball (and keep in mind that I am an Ohio State fan who lives in the shadow of Penn State). In one key 4th quarter incident that everybody in Heinz Field saw, Rod Rutherford clearly gave up on running for a first down because he didn’t want to get hit. Our receivers had hands of stone. Defensive Coordinator Paul Rhoades was outcoached yet again, and now should be fired. Heck, Walt Harris’s entire staff was outcoached by Ty Willingham’s staff. But Rhoades has failed us one too many times.

This was supposed to be Pitt’s special year, where we proved that we belonged in a BCS conference after all. Now, we, West Virginia, and Syracuse have proved that the loyal Big East Football Conference is actually weaker than both the Mountain West and the MAC. We should be outside of the BCS. We will not beat either Virginia Tech or Miami in November. Not with Paul Rhoades’s defense. Not with that offensive line. We were truly the most overrated team of 2003.

2. …that I had to watch Notre Dame upset us two seats away from the loudest, most arrogant Notre Dame fan in all of Heinz Field. That I didn’t hit the a-hole is more of a tribute to my wife (she was there attending her first Pitt game ever) than to any maturity that I might have. I mean, I expected Irish subway alumni and other nerds who bandwagon on teams like Notre Dame, the New York Yankees, and the Dallas Cowboys because they have basic inferiority complexes or their penises are simply too small to permeate Heinz Field. But that they were there, that they were that loud, and that they were that right about Pitt…

3. …that my other alma mater got upset too. OK, so we all knew that Ohio State was not going to make it through this season undefeated. Maurice Clarett was just too important to this team, and sooner-or-later those close calls were going to catch up. Furthermore, everybody from the Sporting News to ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit had picked Wisconsin to upset the Buckeyes. I myself said that the loss of Clarett was going to get us against either N.C. State, Wisconsin, or Michigan. So I was hardly surprised when I heard about the loss on Cresson Mountain on the way home from Pittsburgh. Still, it hurt. I was hoping against hope for OSU to pull it out yet again.

Incidentally, Robert Reynolds should be expelled from Ohio State and should face criminal charges in Wisconsin. To me, he embarrassed Ohio State and its honest, proud alumni more with one move than Maurice Clarett did all summer long. Get out, asshole.

4. …that my picks for this week went 2-3, taking my season record to a dismal 11-12. I never saw Pitt losing to Notre Dame, because I never realized how terribly overrated we, our offensive line, and Paul Rhoades’s defense were. I also completely overestimated Florida State’s defense and Wisconsin’s passing game.

5. …that Boston College was invited to join the ACC, and accepted the invitation. I can hardly blame BC for leaving. Still, this sucks beyond belief. Now we have clearly fallen behind both the Mountain West Conference and the MAC in the line for BCS status.

Incidentally, ESPN columnist Ivan Maisel makes some solid points here about why Boston College made a mistake by joining the ACC (he thinks that BC could combine Baylor’s athletic problems with Miami’s Big East travel woes). Really, BC will likely become but a doormat in the new ACC. So I don’t envy their fate. However, I fear for Pitt’s future.

Hail to Sleep: I Worry Less About College Football There

I’m not sure any of us are quite yet up to writing about what we witnessed at Heinz Field last night. Posting will return soon, after the feelings of loathing and bitterness and the taste of ash in my mouth fade enough to get something written about it that doesn’t simply end with [explitive deleted].