I know, I never got around to getting John a house warming gift, maybe we should get him this

I’d be curious to see how long it lasted until someone came by with a baseball bat.

Well both Pittsburgh papers are trying to help generate some excitement about the final two games Pitt will play in its own tournament by pointing out the fact that both opponents, like Pitt are unbeaten. Of course neither team is ranked, but that isn’t important.

I’ll concede that the final two games actually have potential, Murray State is one of the best mid-majors, and Florida State had one of the best recruiting classes last year. Still, like Pitt, they really haven’t played anyone of significance to this point.

Checking College RPI, I see that Florida St. has an RPI of 13 and Murray St. has an RPI of 109. Pitt has an RPI of 82. All of these are prior to the games played this week. This means, that Pitt’s RPI has dropped by beating two really low RPI teams. Florida State’s high RPI is a bit of a surprise, but it may be illusory since it gets a boost from being in the ACC and benefits from the big wins in that conference.

I bitched about this tournament when I first heard about it. I still don’t like it. Pitt has to win both of these games, or they will tumble right out of the top 25 and their RPI will plunge — potentially to the triple digits. These are also the closest Pitt will come to a true test until Big East Conference play begins.

Even the Pitt players know they have played a pathetic schedule that tells them nothing.

[Julius] Page went on to say that he’d have preferred a tougher non-conference schedule to this point, and that the next couple of games will give him a true gauge of where the team is heading into conference play in less than three weeks.

“We need some tests before January,” Page said. “We really get to see where we stand right now. We’ve been playing a lot of games in a short time, so it’s hard sometimes to point out to guys what they’re doing wrong because we’re not practicing. These things are actually happening in games and you can’t stop things. For Chris (Taft, freshman center), he’s not going to guard guys three inches shorter than him in January. He’s seeing that now, but that’s not how it’s always going to be. But that’s why our practices are so good, we get at each other. And it helps everybody learn what to expect.”

And of course, none of these games are on TV. Not even in the Pittsburgh market.

No real news, but a puff piece on two freshmen wide receivers — Greg Lee and Terrell Allen — who stand great chances to end up as Pitt’s #1 and #2 WRs for 2004. Allen was the more heavily recruited and bigger fish from South Carolina, but was injured when an opportunity to be the #2 receiver in place of Princell Brockenbrough occurred.

Lee has played well when given the chance, and looks to be the leader for the #2 receiver position even if Fitzgerald returns for his Junior season.

Brockenbrough will be hard pressed to keep his job. He has good hands and speed, but is sloppy on his routes and despite his good hands tends to drop a lot of easy passes because he is looking upfield or for the hit before he has the ball.

Allen has thrived in the second half of the season as a kick returner. He has shown great cutting and bursts of speed.

Other Notes

Column from Mike Prisuta on how the Continental Tire Bowl is more important to Coach Harris than it is to Pitt. It makes a good point:

…the Continental Tire Bowl can provide for Pitt, specifically for coach Walt Harris, something that would go a long way toward healing the wounds opened up by Toledo, Notre Dame, West Virginia and Miami.

Redemption.

Harris could use a little of that right about now, and his recent record in bowl games suggests he’s capable of grabbing enough of it to temporarily quiet the wolves growling at his door.
…
Wins such as those are very effective.

I think he overstates things when he suggests that it would “go a long way toward lessening the disappointment Pitt has endured since coming so close to the BCS and yet winding up so far away.” It won’t do that, and there will still be plenty of “what ifs” to contemplate. It will, however show that Pitt can win against a good team (other than Virginia Tech) that is equal or perhaps considered better than Pitt.

I think it will also be an important message to show just how much the team is still with Harris. They come out flat and play poorly, and everyone will know Harris couldn’t get this team to rebound from their bad games against Miami and West Virginia.