I was out of town over the weekend, and busy Monday. Posting for the rest of the week may be hit and miss. Hitting the highways today for Thanksgiving.

First off, I can’t decide which stat about the Pitt-Temple matchup is harder to believe: (1) that Pitt ran the ball 41 times (for 253 yards) but only attempted 22 passes (completing 10 for 147 yards), or (2) that 22,934 fans actually attended a Temple game. BS. That many people haven’t seen Temple play in Philadelphia over the past five seasons combined.

Jeez. Given our stunningly improved ground attack with Brandon Miree back, I don’t know which way to lean on this week’s Pitt-Miami pick. The early line favors the Hurricanes by 3.5. I might actually be leaning towards the Panthers.

Say, can somebody explain to me how this game will influence who the Big East sends to the BCS? If Miami wins, I understand that Miami will go. But what if Miami loses?

Just asking. I’m sure that some professional sportswriter will explain this to me in some fish-wrap in a day or so anyways. I’m just impatient.

Hail to Miami not representing the Big East in the BCS.

I’m not going to pretend that I actually watched the Pitt-Temple game, since it wasn’t available in Central Pennsylvania, and I was obviously watching Ohio State-Michigan anyways (painful… just painful…). So I’ll either let Chas wrap that one up or wrap it up myself later.

As for my picks against the spread, I went 3-1 on the week. This improved my season record to 23-23-1 (0.500, baby).

Of course, this also means that Chas went 1-3 on his bizarro picks, decreasing his season record to God knows what.

As far as my specific picks, I thought that Michigan would prevail over my Buckeyes because of John Navarre and his short passing game. I never foresaw Chris Perry’s absolute domination of what had been the best run defense in the nation. That made this loss particularly painful.

Temple always plays Pitt tough, so that pick was money in the bank. And until the oddsmakers start taking the Mountaineers seriously, I’ll continue to pick Rodriguez and company against the spread.

My only foul-up was Penn State-Michigan State. Jeez. This is the hardest-to-figure-out Nittany Lion squad ever. They have gone back and forth between quasi-sucking and full blown black hole sucking on a near weekly basis. Tough against Ohio State and Wisconsin. Keystone Kops against Northwestern. Look impressive at home against admitted Big Ten whipping boy Indiana. And against Michigan State, the Lions couldn’t stop PA native Jeff Smoker and a simple passing scheme to save their miserable, drunk-driving lives. If I had only stuck by my own rule of always picking against Penn State this season, I would now be 25-21-1.

At least Penn State was able to close out their season in true Nittany Lion fashion… with an arrest. I wonder what Maurice Humphrey was so mad about Sunday morning? Perhaps a fellow student wanted to discuss what happened out in East Lansing?

See ya next fall, Lions. We Pitt fans have a bowl game to worry about.

Hail to Pitt.

So Brandon Miree will play against Temple. This comes on the heels of Harris all but calling Miree “soft” by saying he’s physically healed, but not mentally. I’m not sure Miree will do much against Temple. But then, I think this is a “shake off the rust” game that Pitt won’t put him in much of a position to be the game breaker — and hopefully, it wouldn’t come to that.

Of course, while the problem in all of Pitt’s losses hasn’t so much been the inability to run, it has been the inability to stop the run. With all the questions and a defense rated 87th against the run, some members of the defense are getting testy. Defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads attributes it to a lack of “playmakers” on defense who can make up for screw-ups by other parts of the defense. Uh, yeah. This just isn’t translating well. He may have a point somewhere in there, but comparing the defense to Oklahoma’s will not work.

“A year ago, we had guys who I would refer to as erasers,” said Rhoads, whose defense returned three fumbles for touchdowns last season and did not yield 450 yards in any of its 13 games. “If we left a gap open and somebody didn’t get there, Gerald Hayes might have shown up. Or, Torrie Cox would have got over top of his own block, beat his guy, then showed up somewhere else to make the play.

“If you would put on (No. 1) Oklahoma’s tape, there’s going to be a fair amount of mistakes on that film, but erasers show up. Unfortunately, right now, we don’t have too many of those guys on the field. And if one guy or two guys don’t quite get it, then it’s the potential to be a breakout play.”
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Because the defense is inexperienced — Rhoads has used as many as five first-year starters — the Pitt coordinator said it’s been tough to implement blitz packages, limiting the opportunities to make big plays. He said every one of the long runs by Notre Dame’s Julius Jones en route to 262 yards came off of failed assignments on blitzes.

Except that Oklahoma isn’t making the same number of mistakes each play, which means the “erasers” don’t have to be worn down to a nub. Stupid metaphor.

Apparently, Notre Dame has recently made “overtures” to the Big Ten and the ACC about conference membership in all sports. I’m not sure if I believe these stories, insofar as I can’t believe that Notre Dame would be so stupid as to proposition the ACC but not the Big East. I mean, (1) the ACC already has 12 members, (2) splitting TV money 13 ways would just be too much, and (3) the ACC is simply too geographically distant from northern Indiana.

But let’s take these stories seriously for a moment. FoxSports.com/The Sporting News has two interesting pieces on Notre Dame’s dilemma today: one by PSB favorite Matt Hayes and one by Mike DeCourcy and Tom Dienhart. Both pieces dismiss Notre Dame joining the ACC out of hand, just as I did. Hayes makes an interesting point that Notre Dame had a lot more bargaining power before the ACC invited Boston College to become its 12th member. Really, the Irish should have played the Big Ten, the Big East, and the ACC against each other two or three months ago. Now it is too late, and the Irish must choose between freedom and money.

Let’s rob DeCourcy and Dienhart’s format and list the advantages to Notre Dame of joining each league separately. And please let me know if you think I overlooked one.

WHY NOTRE DAME SHOULD JOIN THE BIG EAST

–Notre Dame would automatically become the leader of the Big East Conference. As such, it could call many of the shots. In the Big Ten, the Irish would always be third chair fiddle to Ohio State and Michigan.

–As DeCourcy and Dienhart point out, Notre Dame could use the Big East to rebuild its football program the same way that Miami did. Even a mediocre Notre Dame team would be an automatic favorite to win the Big East’s BCS bowl bid. The exposure gained by these quasi-automatic BCS bowl appearances would help the Irish recruit better.

–The Big East would have no problem whatsoever with Notre Dame keeping its TV money.

–The Big East would have no problem with the Irish limiting their number of conference opponents each year so that Notre Dame could keep as many out-of-conference “national” opponents (e.g., USC, Purdue, Navy) on the schedule as possible. As DeCourcy and Dienhart note, “If Notre Dame suggests the Big Easters play on one foot, with no helmets, it probably can get that passed.”

–Notre Dame already belongs to the Big East in every sport but football.

–There are already several other Catholic institutions in the Big East (DePaul, Georgetown, Seton Hall, etc…).

–The Big East is a better hoops conference (hey, it was one of Miami’s reasons for originally joining).

–DeCourcy and Dienhart suggest that joining the Big East would give Notre Dame a wider geographic exposure than joining the Big Ten. However, I don’t buy their logic here. Both leagues are both Midwestern and Eastern (thanks to Penn State).

WHY NOTRE DAME SHOULD JOIN THE BIG TEN

–Money, stupid. The Big Ten is the strongest, richest conference in America. It currently has the biggest TV contract of any conference. This contract would only get bigger with Notre Dame in the mix.

–Notre Dame currently plays more Big Ten football teams than teams from any other athletic conference, including the Big East. Notre Dame has long-standing rivalries with Purdue, Michigan State, Northwestern, Penn State, and especially Michigan. That’s almost half the Big Ten right there.

–Geography. South Bend, Indiana is almost the geographical center of the Big Ten’s turf. Purdue, Indiana, Illinois, Northwestern, Michigan, and Michigan State are all an easy drive from Notre Dame. The Big East (which is admittedly so scattered as to not really have a “turf” to begin with) is still primarily a Northeastern conference.

–The Big East Conference’s stock isn’t exactly growing these days. Does Notre Dame really want to join a group of leftovers who weren’t good enough for the ACC?

–As DeCourcy and Dienhart note, playing a national football schedule has never really helped Notre Dame anyways, so why not just join a regional conference? So what if the Irish’s schedule would be largely limited to Big Ten teams? That didn’t stop both Ohio State and Michigan from winning national titles in the past six years.

So what do I think will happen? I think that the most probable futures would be (ranked from most probable to least probable)…

1. Notre Dame stays an independent. I think that the Irish and especially their fans are far too proud of their historically independent tradition to give it up, even at the cost of financial solvency.

2. Notre Dame joins the Big East. It’s the easiest conference to join, since they’ll bend over backwards to get the Irish on board.

3. Notre Dame joins the Big Ten. Yeah, the Irish know that joining the Big Ten would be in their best long-term interest. And I knew that it was in my best long-term interest to keep my pants on in high school too. Maintaining as much of that independent tradition as they can now means more to the Irish than financial solvency twenty years down the road.

4. Chas makes a decent pick against the spread, relative to my picks anyways.

Personally, I’m still rooting for the Irish to stay independent and slowly slide into irrelevancy as their profits dwindle. Then, I’m hoping that the Big Ten invites Pitt to join. Hey, I can dream.

Hail to Dave Barry’s blog, easily the funniest on the web.

Okay, Lee has made his weekly picks. I’ve decided to go opposite him on each and every pick. Explanation to follow

Ohio State (+6.5)at Michigan. John Navarre is Michigan’s answer to Alex Van Pelt. For those who are unfamiliar with the name, and history, he was the Pitt QB from 1989 to 1992. He ended up starting as a freshman and by the time he finished, passed Dan Marino for most of the career passing records at Pitt, by the shear number of games he played. Van Pelt could throw, but he was error-prone and completely unreliable in the big games. I think you see where I’m going with this.

I am rooting for and against Ohio State.

For: because it will help make more of a mockery of the BCS. Everyone knows that USC is better than OSU, but the BCS system now has OSU ahead. An Ohio State win cements that, and finally the BCS “fails” to get the consensus #1 versus #2 match-up. This is the kind of problem the BCS couldn’t handle — a bunch of one-loss teams where who’s better/best is subjective. Of course anything that hurts the BCS helps Pitt and the Big East right now.

Against: I live in Ohio. Everyone roots for OSU and it gets on my nerves. Even my wife, a Cinci grad roots for Ohio State if she watches the game. It is like dealing with the Penn State thing in Pennsylvania.

That said, Ohio State and Jim Tressel are in the Wolverines’ heads right now. Michigan knows they should win. They are expected to win. Even the most loyal Buckey fans are bracing for losing. Michigan looks like the better team. But they expected to win the last 2 years.

All of the pressure is on Michigan. I can see Michigan losing this game outright, but since I have points, let’s just say Michigan wins by a field goal.

Pitt (-15) at Temple. Who is more down following the loss last week? Pitt after being humiliated in the second half by their rival team, facing a line-up shake-up, but still having the possibility of being Big East Champs with Miami a week later. Or is it Temple, who gamely came back to tie VT, only to lose in OT when their kicking game failed them — again. I see a pissed off Pitt team, that will pound the crap out of Temple and be able to run against this bad team. For a day, at least Pitt will be able to kid itself about its running game.

Pitt and give the points.

Penn State at Michigan State (-5). I wonder if even people in East Lansing care about this game when the Ohio St.-Michigan game is going?

Lee knows better. He picked Penn State. Now as much as I’d like to see the Nittany Nation convince itself that things aren’t so bad for a little longer, and not have to hear about the poor Penn Staters as I stare a roadie to the family for Thanksgiving in the face; I can’t.

Michigan State has looked worse each week in their 3 game skid. But if there is ever a rebound game this is it. So, Penn State pasted Indiana. Uh-huh. After losing to Northwestern. Penn State peaked in their squeaker loss to Ohio St. If John Smith is half the coach he seemed before the skid, MSU will pound PSU.

West Virginia at Syracuse (+2). Um, let down for West Virginia after the Backyard Brawl? Okay, even I don’t really buy that with Rich Rodriguez as their coach. All I can say about this bizarre line, is that ‘Cuse gamblers have more money to spend than Hoopies. Analysis-wise, West Virginia further depleted its defense during its beatdown on Pitt. Surely Paul Pasqualoni will ride Reyes the entire game, and not try to throw so much like he did against Pitt. Right? Right?

Only a handful of college football rivalries are simply too big for cute little names like “The Iron Bowl,” “The Egg Bowl,” or “The Backyard Brawl.” Only a few are simply too bitter for the exchange of some silly trophy like “Floyd of Rosedale” or “Paul Bunyan’s Axe.” But only one was selected as the greatest sports rivalry of the Twentieth Century, beating out even Yankees-Red Sox, Packers-Bears, Steelers-Browns, Lakers-Celtics, and USC-Notre Dame. Let me put my 20-22-1 record against the spread for the season on the line and tell you about what is referred to across the Midwest only as “The Game.”

#4 OHIO STATE (+6.5) AT #5 MICHIGAN: Nine years ago this November, I was a first year graduate student at The Ohio State University when the Wolverines came to town. Being a recent graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, I naturally assumed that Ohio State-Michigan would be no different than the bitter Pitt-Penn State games I grew up with.

I was wrong.

High Street turned into the closest thing to a combat zone that I’ll probably ever witness. Fistfights and shoving matches spontaneously erupted everywhere, whenever groups of Buckeye fans and Wolverine fans just passed and happened to look at each other the wrong way. The Columbus Police sprinted from one skirmish to the next, firing pepper spray as they went, in a failing attempt to keep order. Any car with a Michigan license plate had its windows smashed in (including one I saw that also had an OSU student parking pass). Bonfires erupted around campus before, during, and after the game — some allegedly set by Michigan fans on park benches near buildings.

And we won that year… one of John “Deer-In-The-Headlights” Cooper’s two wins in 14 tries against Michigan.

In comparison, I didn’t see a single fistfight last Saturday night at the Backyard Brawl. As a matter of fact, I both entered and left Mountaineer Field completely unmolested. Panthers and Hoopies may officially hate each other, but it rarely comes to blows or widespread vandalism (well… against the other team anyways).

This Saturday will mark the 100th Ohio State-Michigan Game. Since 1951, the series is tied — no thanks to the aforementioned stammering idiot Cooper. However, Cooper’s successor — Jim “I-Could-Run-For-Governor-Of-Ohio-On-The-Communist-Party-Ticket-And-Win” Tressel — is 2-0 against Michigan. Can he go 3-0?

I’m guessing no. Michigan’s stud tailback Chris Perry will have trouble running against the best run-defense in America. However, Quarterback John Navarre should be able to complete just enough short passes underneath the secondary to Braylon Edwards to keep his offense moving on a few drives. Ohio State’s lethargic offense, on the other hand, will have to come out with a whole new bag of tricks to move the ball against Michigan’s speedy defense. While trick plays are a staple of this series, I still don’t think it will be enough.

When Maurice Clarett was tossed off of the team, I said that it would hurt the Buckeyes in three games: North Carolina State (which we were lucky to win… even by Ohio State’s standards of “lucky”), Wisconsin (which we lost), and Michigan. Here comes the Wolverines, with both Lloyd Carr (a national championship coach who was actually on the hot seat after last year’s game) and John Navarre (one of the best quarterbacks in Michigan history who is still sometimes seen as a failure) hungry for redemption from two straight losses to the Scarlett and Gray.

I’ll (gulp) take the Wolverines to cover and pray to be wrong.

#21 PITTSBURGH (-15) AT TEMPLE: Call me lazy, but I’m not going to go through my standard, detailed, number-crunching analysis for this game. Besides, all the numbers would show is that Temple really sucks, whereas all knowledgeable Pitt fans know that the Owls always play us tough no matter how bad they suck. Plus, our Panthers have to feel a little deflated after they got sodomized in Morgantown. And did you see that Temple-Virginia Tech game? So I’ll take Temple and the 15 points, please.

PENN STATE (+5) AT MICHIGAN STATE: At the opposite end of the college football rivalry spectrum from Ohio State-Michigan is this absolute snoozer. The Governors of Michigan and Pennsylvania had a “Land Grant Trophy” built in a desperate attempt to fire something up between these two schools that have absolutely nothing else in common besides (1) being the two most recent additions to the Big Ten, and (2) being the nation’s two oldest land grant universities (look up the Morrill Act on your own time, dammit, and only if you’re really bored). However, Michigan State has understandably always been more concerned with its cross-state rival Michigan, and Penn State has always been more concerned with the nearest Big Ten outpost, Ohio State (as has been discussed here before). Thus, there have always been two bizarre love-triangles in the Big Ten, with Penn State being the odd woman out in each. Perhaps she should start sleeping with Pitt and WVU again.

In any case, Penn State’s season of sorrows suddenly came alive last Saturday when the Nittany Lions got their first Big Ten victory in blowing out hapless Indiana 52-7. The Lions now have one last chance to spend the winter without an entirely bad taste in their mouths. This is what passes as their bowl game. Meanwhile, the listing Spartans — who have lost their last three games to Michigan, Ohio State, and Wisconsin — have, as usual, no motivation going into this pseudo-rivalry game whatsoever.

Given the motivation factor and Penn State’s solid performances against Indiana and (to a lesser extent) Ohio State, I’m going to go against my long standing (and largely successful) tradition of picking the Lions not to beat spreads and take Penn State and the five points here. This is my upset special of Rivalry Week.

WEST VIRGINIA (-2) AT SYRACUSE: So let me get this straight… After that performance against Pitt, the Mountaineers remain unranked in the Coaches Poll and are only favored by two points going into the Carrier Dome against the 5-4 (2-3 in conference) Orangemen? Quincy Jones, Rasheed Marshall, and company are better than that. Although I’ll be rooting against them for Pitt’s sake, the Mounaineers will cover.

Hail to “The Game,” Hail to a Buckeye upset, and Hail to each Wolverine grad actually having to stay in Michigan after they graduate.

P.S. Before we all laugh too hard at “Stuttering John” Cooper, remember who his chief protege is.

Both Pittsburgh papers reported the same thing: the starters are changing at some position. The only difference is do you want the news straight or laced with sarcasm.

I’ll take mine with sarcasm, please.

Walt Harris has reverted to the greatest motivational tactic known to football coaches: He is sending players to the bench.
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It is the first time this season that the seventh-year Pitt coach has tinkered so heavily with his lineup from one week to the next. These things tend to happen when your defense sinks toward rock bottom — 75th worst in the nation — and when select offensive personnel fail to make plays.

Here are the changes:

Pre-season All-American Candidate, Claude Harriott, DE is now a co-starter. Harriott was bothered by injuries early, then subject to double teams, and lately has just sucked.

Weakside Linebacker, Malcolm Postell, the guy beaten at the end of the first half for the touchdown against WVU, is benched for J.J. Horne.

The #2 WR, Princell “Blockhands” Brockenbrough, has been benched in favor of freshman Greg Lee. Blockhands dropped an easy TD against WVU, and all season long has made it a habit of dropping easy passes because he is trying to look upfield without the ball.

Free Safety is now an open position. Tez Morris has had the job.

Strangely enough, Jawan “tap dance” Walker is the starting RB, rather than co-starter with Tim Murphy. I’d love to know what the Pitt coaches saw on game film to merit that decision.

Brandon Miree, the Pitt starting RB who has been out most of the season with a stress fracture, was listed on the depth chart for the Temple game, but isn’t expected to play. He did practice a little last week. There have been unconfirmed and unreported rumors that Miree has been physically ready for some time, but has been mentally “soft” about feeling any pain. There might actually some truth to that, if you want to read between the lines:

Harris said that the stress fracture in Miree’s leg has healed, but he is not mentally ready to return to action.

“We scrimmaged to try to get him confident that he can take a hit and make sure he can hold onto the football while getting hit,” Harris said. “He’s been away from it for a long, long time. But to me, it is still up in the air whether or not he feels he is ready to go. We know he is physically ready to go, that is why he is practicing and scrimmaging, but the mental healing has to take place.

“When you are a tailback, you are a marked man. He wants to play well and, hopefully, he feels more and more confident in his health.”

Well, maybe not even bothering to read between the lines.

Then there is this warning from Harris to his team about playing Temple. I love this:

Harris said Temple has a distinct home-field advantage because the lack of a crowd lulls opponents to sleep. “You can see when you watch the tape, there is nobody in the seats up high,” Harris said. “Fans don’t play the game, we do and Temple uses that as an advantage, an edge. People are going in there thinking ‘this is a scrimmage.’ If you have that attitude, you will get yourself beat.”

Beware the empty stadium. Beware.

Finally, Harris wants Rutherford to stop trying to do too much — something that seems rather difficult when there is no running game — because the interceptions were the result of Rutherford trying to force the ball.

When Pitt played Boston College at the start of the month, I mentioned how they were completely ignored by the Boston media. That’s nothing compared to the way Temple football is ignored in Philly. The Philadelphia Daily News has them in a day old piece just rounding up local colleges (though Wednesday is the last day to pick up seats purchased from now abandoned Veterans stadium). The Philadelphia Inquirer has a “Temple” section, but most of it concerns the basketball team. And the PhillyBurbs.com coverage of Temple is downright pathetic.

There was a column recently in the Philadelphia Daily News, from Temple alum, and the ancient, perpetually cranky, and large sportswriter Bill Conlin. His message. Quit.

The Owls will go looking for a new conference lugging the leper’s bell: Nobody cares. Nobody goes.
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I have lost track of the times I have delivered this message, but here goes again: Drop your pretensions and the grandiose Division I dreams a fanatical cadre of alumni keeps gulping like methadone. Wallace is the latest of many good coaches holding his fingers inches apart to indicate how close the Owls are to being really big time. Just a good recruiting class here, a few breaks there, a little bit more of a commitment from alumni, students, the media and area high school coaches.

Nobody told the Temple people that urban college football began a rapid death when University of Chicago egghead Robert Maynard Hutchins dropped football and such powerhouses as NYU and Fordham dropped out or downsized. I get the argument that Southern California is proof an inner-city university can field consistently great football teams. The only difference between the Owls and the Trojans is that USC is among the wealthiest private universities in America, a depository for conservative, Republican money. Richard Nixon tapped USC for brain power the way John F. Kennedy tapped Harvard.

Temple has Bill Cosby…

So, don’t give up football, Owls. Instead, give up the delusion you can ever be a successful, big-time program. Get back with Delaware and Villanova, William & Mary and Northeastern. Give a call to Georgia Southern. Keep scheduling the Daytons and Akrons. You’ll need to be good to beat any of them.

Definitely going to be a light week.

Bad enough that I can’t make the final home game of the season against Miami on November 29, because I’ll be travelling home from Thanksgiving with the wife and kid. Now the Disney conglomerate has decided to make the night game an ABC regional telecast rather than the ESPN game. This absolutely sucks because I live in the Cleveland area. Regional telecasts mean that I will end up seeing the Notre Dame – Stanford match-up, because it will be of more “local” interest.

This wouldn’t be a problem if John was still living in Pittsburgh.

The trip to Morgantown ended in defeat – again. Somehow, though, I just can’t bring myself to hate the Hoopies in the same manner that I hate Penn State and Notre Dame.

Maybe it’s the time that I grew up, watching Pitt dominate – WVU was always an inferior program, and considered an expected victory, back in the Majors I, Sherrill, and Fazio eras. Even though Pitt lost a few of those games, it was expected that Pitt would win. When Pitt started losing to them regularly, it was a sign of how bad Pitt had become, not how good WVU was.

Even in the 1990’s, when Pitt was god-awful and WVU was beating us nearly every year, most WVU recruits went there because Pitt (or PSU) didn’t offer them a scholarship. I never hear of Pitt and WVU going head-to-head for a recruit and the guy ends up choosing WVU.

I like their fans (I echo Lee’s comment here). They root for their school, or show in-state loyalty, because that’s what you’re supposed to do, damn it! They are loud – when Mountaineer Field is full, it’s as loud as anyplace in the country (and even when it isn’t full, often). They are proud of their school – unlike a lot of Pitt students and alumni who either don’t give a damn about football or b-ball, or are outright traitors and root for other college teams. And most of all, they don’t have that superior attitude that Penn State and ND (and OSU, Michigan, etc.) have about their team or their school. Granted, WVU isn’t all that good, and the academics suck, so how could they, right? But they have that “Yeah, I’m a Mountaineer, what of it?” attitude that I like. I guess I see them as a constant underdog, and I always like the underdog. Even though they hate Pitt more than any school (although lately VaTech, Miami, and in years past, Penn State earned much hate from the Hoopie faithful), I still can’t bring myself to hate WVU back.

Sure, they are easy to pick on. West Virginia jokes abound, and have nothing to do with football or basketball. As we walked away from the stadium Saturday, looking at the subtle poetry to the t-shirt vendors’ products (“Shit on Pitt”, “Pitt Sucks”, and the sublime “Fuck Pitt”), and listening to the taunts of the drunken WVU faithful as they saw us in our Pitt gear, I could still mutter (not quite under my breath) “we may have lost the game, but you still live in West Virginia” as I walked on by. It wasn’t out of hate, but almost empathy and pity. I became more irritated at the rest stop on I-79 on the way home, which was full of WVU fans, most of whom were talking shit. All I could think of was “Yeah, but the degree hanging on your wall still says ‘West Virginia University’, ass-hole” as I walked back to the car. But, they won, and we have to eat crow until next year. Such is the way of things.

Game and Stadium comments:
The lines to get into the stadium were ridiculous! We left John’s house, not a mile away from the stadium, at a little past 6pm. Somehow I maneuvered my way though the throngs and was the first one of our group to the seats, and I was barely there by 7pm. Some of the guys missed the first TD of the game because they were still in line. The entire home side of the stadium, probably close to 30,000 fans, were expected to file past a total of four ticket takers. I thought that Beaver Stadium was the worst, but this set up took the cake. And it wasn’t because of the stadium design – there were plenty of gates, just too few of them open.

I again echo Lee’s comments, but I do like the stadium. It is a great place to watch football. The Steelers played some exhibition games there when Heinz Field wasn’t ready a few years ago, and I envy those fans. The stands are on top of the field, great sight lines, the bleachers aren’t nearly as cramped as other college stadiums, and there is plenty of leg room (unlike Pitt Stadium). Lots of bathrooms and concession stands, and just a great atmosphere. They expanded their scoreboards, and now have a large instant replay board at the south end zone.

The game, well Pitt’s run defense sucks. It sucks ass. But why? Are they too slow? Are they not big enough, or strong enough up front? Is it a matter of mechanics, that they can’t shake blocks or tackle? Are they not on the good steroids anymore? As I said earlier, Pitt always wins the recruiting battles with WVU, so there shouldn’t be a talent gap. Perhaps their players are weak academically, so Pitt stayed away from them, or perhaps they were late bloomers that Pitt didn’t notice because they didn’t play much their junior or sophomore years in HS. I can’t figure it out. Rhoades was a fine coach last year, and he didn’t forget how to coach after one season. There has got to be a reason – I just don’t know what it is.

The fans:
I was a little disappointed that they didn’t riot. Plenty of cops on the field and in the stands near the end of the game – some sporting riot gear right out of a South Korean newsreel – big, long wooden sticks. No pepper spray, just John Denver piped over the PA system. As the night went on, things stayed relatively calm. That’s relative, for in Morgantown a few fires on a Saturday night are just a normal occurrence.

In West Virginia there are some storylines coming off the big win, that Pitt fans understand. The predictable is like this piece on how the seniors led the Mountaineers to victory. The kind that Pitt fans may understand better is “great that WVU won, but what if they could have avoided the dumb early losses?” What if WVU hadn’t blown the lead against Wisconsin? What if they had actually been awake when they gave the game to Cinci? Good questions that Pitt fans would have been asking regarding Toledo and ND if Pitt had won the Backyard Brawl.

In Pittsburgh, the blame is falling on the defense and its inability to stop the run.

Walter Washington is a relatively unknown player among college football fans across the country, but by this time next week he could be one of the leading candidates for the Heisman Trophy.

That’s because Washington is the starting quarterback for the Temple Owls, and he is also their leading rusher. And the Owls’ next opponent, the Pitt Panthers, have excelled this year at making the Heisman dreams of opposing rushers — and sometimes even passers — come true.
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And considering Washington ran for 151 yards against Virginia Tech this past weekend, he has to be thinking he’s headed for a 300-yard game come Saturday.

Not that the offense’s running game isn’t taking some heat.

As bad as the Panthers’ run defense was Saturday night, their run offense may have been worse — and that, too, has been a consistent issue for them this year. Pitt ran 26 times for 10 yards (0.4 yards per carry) and its leading rusher was fullback Lousaka Polite, who ran five times for 9 yards.

Both problems — the inability to stop the run and run the football — are the main reasons the Panthers are 7-3 as opposed to 10-0. Pitt is ranked 86th in rush defense (183.7 yards per game) and 79th in total defense (394.9) and they average only 110 yards rushing per game, which is worst in the Big East Conference and 98th in the NCAA.

The root of both problems can be found up front, where the Panthers have been consistently manhandled on both sides of the ball.

Gee, line play was a key. What a shock. Can’t believe that was the case.

Of course, credit must be given to WVU’s defense in the second half making, you know, adjustments to deal with the passing game.

“The defensive staff did a great job making adjustments,” WVU coach Rich Rodriguez said. “In the second half, we played some different coverages and used a couple blitzes. We didn’t want to use three-man pressure. We wanted to try to mix in four- or five-man pressure.

“In the second half, we did a little better job of getting more in [Rutherford’s] face. I don’t think any quarterback likes pressure. It was a chance to disrupt his rhythm. He was in such a rhythm in the first half. We wanted to try to make Rutherford hold onto the ball a little longer.

“I thought in the second half we did a better job of getting off the blocks and we did a better job of breaking on the ball. In the first half, we were kind of standing around too much.”

Shame Pitt couldn’t make any.

Of course, Pitt could still win the Big East, but even Harris knows that problems on defense are not going away.

The only thing worse than Pitt’s offensive inefficiency, particularly along the line, was a defense that might not look the same when the Panthers play a Temple team coming off a near-overtime upset of Virginia Tech on Saturday.

“We missed more tackles than I’ve ever seen us miss,” coach Walt Harris said

“We have to go back and try to fix whatever we can fix.”

The Panthers got little production from their front four Saturday, most notably senior defensive end Claude Harriott, who struggled so mightily that backup Azzie Beagnym replaced him on numerous occasions. Harriott, a preseason All-America candidate, has only two sacks. He had 9 1/2 in 2002.

The starting defensive front of Harriott and Thomas Smith at the ends, and Dan Stephens and Vince Crochunis on the inside, combined Saturday for only 10 tackles, none of which occurred behind the line of scrimmage.

WVU tailback Quincy Wilson (208 yards on 34 carries with four scores) became the third back to run for 200-plus yards against the Panthers.

As for the guys behind the line, linebackers Brian Bennett and Lewis Moore both finished with double-digits in tackles, but weakside backer Malcolm Postell (5 tackles) found himself out of position on a number of occasions and got beat on a number of passes, including a sensational 28-yard grab by WVU’s John Pennington that tied it at 24-24 with 31 seconds left in the first half.

Of course, just to depress further, there is still the issue as to whether Larry Fitzgerald will be back next year. Some are already saying goodbye.

Pitt’s next game is against Temple. Somehow, I don’t think it will be on national TV.

The basketball team plays St. Francis (PA) on Saturday also. Could be a light week.

Just a brief listing. I’ll give more tomorrow when a couple more West Virginia papers publish again (I’m not kidding, the Charleston Daily Mail and Charleston Gazette both lack Sunday news on their sites).

The Dominion Post has the story as a “mauling,” and a Nyah-Nyah story of sure Fitzgerald is amazing, but WVU won.

Meanwhile in Pittsburgh. The focus was on the failure to run and stop the run. Rather than a mauling, it was a “rout” or a “pounding.” A lot of credit was given to WVU’s final drive in the 2nd quarter to tie the game. Specifically the 4th and 4 touchdown pass.

Finally the notebook reports. Pitt still leads the all-time series with WVU, but has lost 9 of the last 12. Fitzgerald continued to set records in the NCAA, Pitt, and Big East.

WVU is denying rumors that it is looking into joining the SEC.

I’ve stayed away from SportsCenter in the morning, the computer to this point, and the radio. I haven’t read any other accounts of the game yet, aside from Lee’s observations. For some reason, Lee felt like bragging that he picked the Hoopies to win, unlike me. In my defense, I also picked the final score, and was right, as far as the points Pitt put on the board. This was going to be the first time I had seen Pitt on TV all season. I was grateful for ESPN2, because I was just damn sick of Big 11 games all day — I mean, talk about ridiculous, one of the local channels showed the thrilling Indiana-Penn St. thriller rather than old episodes of Quincy. Just sick.

Lee even called me up as he was driving back from Morgantown to bitch about the game. It was a spectacular second half collapse, and yet another example of Pitt taking two steps back after taking a step forward. I still feel bitter, and the game helped cost me a decent night’s sleep. Woke up around 3 am, because the daughter was fussing, and it took over an hour to get back to sleep because my mind started thinking about the game and all the things Pitt did wrong or was incapable of doing. Just not right.

Back to the game. I took notes, and I am supplementing with the box score and the play-by-play info to keep the facts straight.

The game kicked off about 7:05 with Dave Barnett calling the game, Bill Curry with analysis, and Rob Stone on the sidelines. ON the first drive they flash the numbers on WVU QB Rasheed Marshall along with his major — “Coaching Education.” Uhhhh, yeah. That’s just too easy. Skip it.

WVU marches right down the field. Running well, and screen passes are working well against the Pitt Defense. Looks like Pitt is still overpursuing. Especially on the screens and short passes that are going for big yards. The other thing though, the officials are calling a tight game. Pitt got called for pass interference, that was questionable since the replays looked like the ball was uncatchable. Of course on the very next play WVU was called for holding. WVU scored on the 9th play with a screen that went 18 yards for a TD — untouched by the defense. The drive took 4:03. Looks like the WVU coaching staff was well prepared on offense.

Pitt takes the kick-off and Allen has a 53 yard return. Nearly longer, possibly to the endzone, but a foot stepped out of bounds. Pitt starts at the WVU 41. Pass to Fitzgerald for a first down. Jawan Walker carries the ball twice for 7 yards. Walker actually looks halfway decent, when he doesn’t dance waiting for a bigger hole and just drives forward. 23 yard TD pass to Fitzgerald. Beauty. 7-7.

During the drive, Bill Curry mentioned that Pitt hasn’t used TE Kris Wilson much because of Fitzgerald. Said that Wilson will be in the NFL next year. No doubt.

WVU and Pitt swap 3 and outs. Watch Walker run forward for 8 then dance backwards to lose 6 on the next play. Idiot. During this time, Stone on the sidelines says that they have doubled the number of state troopers at the game to over 80.

Rasheed Marshall is looking good as he runs for 19 yards on a fake, when Pitt overpursues. Then hits Chris Henry with a 42 yard pass to the Pitt 6 yard line. Shawntae Spencer was beat again. Marshall is now 6 for 6 passing. He looks very sharp. Ooops, first incomplete. WVU settles for a field goal. 10-7.

Pitt takes the ball and scores on a 45 yard TD pass from Rutherford to Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald was interfered with, but he still made the catch — though the interference wasn’t much, and would not have been called in last week’s game. The refs are definitely calling a tighter game — though it may just be the camera angle, it seems that WVU defenders are lining up in the neutral zone, I mean it looks like their hands are on the other side of the ball at times. Also saw Jawan Walker get a screen pass, where if he fell forward immediately he could have picked up 5 yards. Instead, he stood his ground trying to juke and dance, and got 1 yard. Not good. He is regressing in the first quarter, again. 14-10.

On the next series Quincy Wilson proceeds to gash the Pitt Defense for a 36 yard gain amidst missed tackles. The only plus, was that he was slow getting up. Aside from the big run, there was no gain. Marshall threw 3 straight incompletions. The last one hung up, and allowed Tez Morris to recover (after he let himself be beat) to knock it down.

Pitt goes 3 and out, luckily. Adam “Pac-Man” Jones should have intercepted a pass.

WVU goes 3 and out, as the Mountaineers are trying to pass a lot more. This benefits Pitt, if they aren’t running the ball.

Princell “Blockhands” Brockenbrough lets a perfectly thrown ball go through his hands on 1st and 10 from the Pitt 16, at 13:45 in the 2nd quarter. He was wide open some 15 yards down the field on the left and would have been able to run it all the way for a touchdown. As he often does, though, he looked upfield and let the ball fall through. About a minute later, he makes a 15 yard reception for a first down, and even play-by-play guy sounds vaguely contemptuous when he says, “He hangs on… this time.” Pitt ends up punting, and Andy Lee doesn’t kick a good one. WVU takes over in decent field position, and I get my first sinking feeling about a missed opportunity to take an 11 point lead.

Sure enough. Quincy Wilson rips off another big run for 37 yards where tackles were missed because the defense was trying to hit more than tackle. Wilson then runs in with ease on the left side for 5 yards and the TD. 17-14.

Just before WVU kicks the ball to Pitt, they show that Wilson has 12 carries and 101 yards. This is at the 9:21 mark in the 2nd quarter. He is just gashing the Pitt defense. I am now very worried.

Terrell Allen has another big kick-off return for 49 yards. Where has he been all season? or is WVU’s kick coverage that bad?

Fitzgerald makes an outstanding catch in double coverage with what appeared to be pass interference (though they picked up the flag) for 34 yards. He now has 5 catches for 124 yards and 2 TDs. He is completely amazing. A TD pass to Kris Wilson. Pitt 21-17.

This game has moved quickly to this point, I haven’t had much of chance to breakdown the game.

Pac-Man Jones of WVU takes the kick-off 50 yards and a 5 yard face mask penalty added. Replays showed, that both sides committed face masks.

Marshall hangs another pass while trying a fake reverse, and this time it is intercepted by William “Tutu” Ferguson.

Rutherford throws a perfect pass and great catch to Greg Lee with 3 defenders around him for 32 yards. Rutherford is just on his game right now. He is throwing with precision. Wow. On a 4th and 1 from the WVU 17 Rutherford throws to Fitzgerald for 6 yards. WVU didn’t see that coming.

Oooh. Rutherford nearly gave it right back to the Mountaineers with what should have been an interception. Pitt settles for a field goal. 24-17. This worries me that Pitt didn’t get the touchdown — again missing a chance to go up by double digits.

A good WVU kick return comes back. They start at their own 18 with about 4 minutes left in the half. WVU proceeds to march down the field with great ease. Just using runs, screens and the short passes to shred the Pitt defense. Only thing I note that could be positive for Pitt is that when the defense actually manages to pressure Rasheed Marshall he tends to hang his passes.

4th and 4 from the Pitt 28, and WVU is going for it with 37 seconds left. Oh my god! How do you let a receiver get behind you in the endzone? It was a beautiful catch, on another hanging pass, but dammit. Piss poor coverage by the secondary. 24-24

Halftime comes and they talk to Walt Harris as he jogs off the field. He says that Pitt hasn’t been able to stop the run and Pitt hasn’t been able to run. Says that needs to change. No s**t.

I’m still thinking about Blockhands dropping a sure touchdown. Pitt didn’t play a bad 1st half, but they missed some big opportunities. The game is tied and it will all come down to second half adjustments.

Second Half, and Pitt starts out with the ball. Hey, on the very first play, WVU whistled for being offside. Maybe Walt said something before the kick-off. Pitt quickly marches down the field via the pass. Another beautiful catch by Fitzgerald for 37 yards in double coverage to the WVU 5. Augh! Intercepted in the endzone. Rutherford was trying to throw to Brockenbrough who had 3 defenders around him. A bad decision by Rutherford. A big miss on the opening drive.

WVU goes 3 and out. Pitt moves backward 22 yards on penalties on 3 straight penalties. Still looks like WVU is lining up in the neutral zone. Another interception when Rutherford tried to throw to Wilson who was double covered. Looks like WVU’s secondary has made some big adjustments. Not a good sign.

WVU has a short field and runs another screen for big yardage.

Hmm. Halfway through the 3rd quarter and they just showed a comparison of rushing yards WVU 160. Pitt 36. Ewww.

Marshall just ran 12 yards for a TD. It looked like there was a fair amount of holding on that run. Descent into pathetic homerism? Maybe. Instead, Pitt commits a personal foul. WVU 31-24.

Jeez. Pitt’s losing its composure against WVU just like Virginia Tech did against WVU. Pitt penalized 10 times for 86 yards in this game.

Pitt does nothing with the ball. Instead, on the punt it is returned for 72 yards to the Pitt 3.

At this point, WVU has all the momentum and Pitt is imploding in all phases of its game. It is becoming abundantly clear who made second half adjustments, and who doesn’t seem to have a clue.

It takes Quincy Wilson two tries to run 3 yards for the touchdown. WVU 38-24.

Still more than 4 minutes left in the 3rd quarter. This is the first time all year that Pitt has been behind by this many points. The previous time was against Notre Dame and that was only 6 points in losing 20-14. Given the way the defense has rapidly worn down this half and the way WVU’s secondary has adjusted to play their zones properly, it doesn’t look good for a Pitt comeback. Especially if Pitt can’t answer.

Pitt’s next possession is a mess. They go 3 and out. WVU returns the favor, but Pitt has another 3 and out. WVU gets the ball with a few seconds left in the third quarter. WVU after a complete pass to end the quarter, goes with Quincy Wilson for 8 consecutive carries for 45 yards. WVU takes a time out. (I think you can officially declare without a doubt that Wilson has helped kill Pitt at this point.) The back-up RB then runs for 9 yards. Surprisingly Pitt’s defense stops the run 2 times in a row for no gain, then Quincy Wilson fumbles.

It could be the big break Pitt needed, as WVU was sure to score on that possession. Still, they ran 5:30 off the clock on that possession.

Nope. Rutherford is now totally off his game. Intercepted at midfield and returned to the 2.

Touchdown, Wilson. WVU 45-24.

The game is unofficially over. I stopped taking any notes on the actual game.

Final score, WVU 52, Pitt 31. It wasn’t even that close.

The game came down to second half adjustments. Specifically, Pitt made none.

WVU stayed the course on offense, which made sense. Pitt’s defense was being worn down by a superior offensive line and good running back. Quarterback Rasheed Marshall played a very smart game. He was a respectable 14-23, 216 yards, 2 TDs, and 1 rushing TD. He was only sacked once and ran for 40+ yards. Marshall didn’t try to do too much in the second half. WVU wisely kept the ball on the ground and used short passes. Running Back Quincy Wilson ran for 208 yards and 4 touchdowns, along with an additional 22 yards receiving. WVU ran for a total of 307 yards.

WVU made adjustments on defense in the second half. They stopped worrying about the run and concentrated on getting pressure on Rutherford. At the same time, their secondary got more disciplined and stayed in their positions, rather than trying to show they could go one-on-one with Larry Fitzgerald. The pressure on Rutherford helped throw off the timing and led to throws being off, just enough that the secondary could make plays on the ball. Pitt had no answer because their inability to run the ball caught up with them once again.

On offense, Pitt could do nothing on the ground. They had to rely completely on passing. So Rutherford had 419 yards on 25-47 passing and 4 TDs, but also 3 INT — all in the second half — to kill any chance of staying with the Mountaineers. Arguably, Pitt was in no position to make offensive adjustments, but that’s why Pitt couldn’t afford to miss the opportunities it did have. Especially in the first half.

On defense, we’ve been worried all week about the defense and defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads public front that there were no real problems (look at the bottom of the post). Yes, Pitt once again failed to tackle and tried to hit. Once again, overpursued and got burned. The defense has been an Achilles heel. Especially against the run. This can’t be emphasized enough. This was the 3rd game where Pitt allowed a single back to run for more than 200 yards in a game in the season. Pathetic.

WVU outplayed and outcoached Pitt.

Unlike Chas, I actually picked the West Virginia Mountaineers to upset us last week (see the comment after the post). Although I never foresaw us getting absolutely dominated like we did, I’m not surprised in retrospect.

I said that because West Virginia had a solid running back and an offensive line that was even stronger than Virginia Tech’s, our defensive front would have to genuinely step it up or the Mountaineers would run all over us. Our defensive front didn’t, and the Mountaineers buried us alive for 307 freakin’ yards on the ground. To be fair, I’m not sure if our defensive line could have ever handled that offensive line anyways. We are simply too weak physically.

But fire Paul Rhoads anyways.

I said that our offensive line would have to genuinely step it up or Rod Rutherford would get pressured and start to panic just like he did against Notre Dame. Our offensive line didn’t, and our finesse passing game (while still piling up 419 yards) came apart and quickly fell behind the Hoopies’s powerful ground game. Of course, our easy-to-defend-completely-one-dimensional offense and the roaring Mountaineer faithful were hell on our aerial attack too.

I said that West Virginia would have a clear advantage on special teams. And boy, did they ever. Adam “Pac Man” Jones damn near took it to the house every time he touched it.

Here’s a few more random thoughts while I try to put last night’s train wreck together in my head…

–Mountaineer Field is still one of the most comfortable on-campus stadiums in college football. Plenty of leg room, plenty of bathrooms, and good sight lines. But it sure ain’t no Heinz Field. I had forgotten how much I appreciate arm rests and seat backs (yeah, I’ve admittedly gone soft in a pro stadium).

–However, Mountaineer Field’s security was an absolute joke. At kickoff, probably 10,000 fans (including me) were still standing in long lines outside waiting to get in. When I finally did get up to gates, there were only two guards frisking the approximately 25,000 fans that had to sit on the press box side of Mountaineer Field. After waiting for a half hour in one frisking line, I just walked behind the security guard in the other while he was frisking somebody else. I didn’t even show my ticket. All that security, and they never even checked to see if I had paid to be there.

–John, who most of you know teaches at WVU, gave me a great tour of the campus yesterday afternoon. And you know, I genuinely liked the place. A bunch of neat old buildings piled on a steep hillside overlooking the Monongahela. And as much as it may be a Robert Byrd-sponsored pork barrel waste of taxpayers money, the PRT lines give that campus a look unlike anywhere else in the country. I really think that I could have gone to WVU and liked it. Too bad the academics absolutely suck. (Besides, the Cathedral of Learning trumps all the buildings of Morgantown put together.)

–Even though they hate me, I do like Mountaineer fans. They are much louder, drunker, and more supportive of their team than us Pitt fans often are. And I like the “WAAAAAAAAAH… WOOF, WOOF, WOOF, (clap), FIRST DOWN!” chant too. It’s a lot cooler than the “YELL, YELL, YELL… OOP!” crap that Texas A&M does. And it certainly beats “LET’S GO PITT! LET’S GO PITT!” ad naseum.

–Speaking of alcohol, I’ve never seen so much public drinking or empty glass bottles scattered on the ground anywhere in my life (and keep in mind that I went to grad school at Ohio State). If WVU really is serious about curbing its image as a hard-drinking party school, they got a lot of work to do.

–WVU’s Marching Band is the best in the Big East, period.

— I-68 from Cumberland, Maryland to Morgantown, West Virginia is perhaps the most fun-to-drive Interstate in America. It goes up, down, left, and right like any good Appalacian road. However, it does so at Interstate highway geometry standards with (usually) six lanes. Thus, you can easily handle it at 80-plus MPH… not that I did, mind you…

Incidentally, I got one win (WVU beat Pitt), one loss (did anybody foresee Penn State just getting off on Indiana like that?), and one push (Ohio State beat Purdue by a field goal) on my picks for the week. This takes my season-long record against the spread to 20-22-1.

Hail to the Hoopies. They certainly deserved to win that one as well as the Big East Conference. Hail to Firing Paul Rhoads. And Hail to Walt Harris’s realizing that he has to recruit good linemen as well as good quarterbacks and receivers if Pitt is going to win.