You may want to gaze longingly at these rankings for awhile. Given that Pitt is likely to lose its best two recruits to Miami (damn) and Penn State (@#%*@#!) on National Signing Day tomorrow, this is probably the last time that you’ll see our 2004 recruiting class ranked anywhere near the top 25.

First off, here’s the Official College Sports Network ranking (top 25 only) by ESPN’s Bill Hodge. Pitt is barely hanging on here at #25. Losing Morelli and Johnson will certainly knock us right out of this one.

No. 1 Southern California (Top JCs)
No. 2 LSU
No. 3 Michigan
No. 4 Florida State
No. 5 Ohio State
No. 6 Oklahoma
No. 7 Georgia
No. 8 Miami-Florida
No. 9 Texas
No. 10 Tennessee
No. 11 Texas A&M
No. 12 Alabama
No. 13 Florida
No. 14 Oregon
No. 15 Maryland
No. 16 Penn State
No. 17 Michigan State
No. 18 Washington
No. 19 Kansas State (Top JCs)
No. 20 Arkansas
No. 21 California
No. 22 Missouri
No. 23 Texas Tech (Top JCs)
No. 24 UCLA (Top JCs)
No. 25 Arizona State
Tie No. 25 Nebraska
Tie No. 25 Oregon State
Tie No. 25 PITTSBURGH
Tie No. 25 Purdue
Tie No. 25 Washington State

Next we have TheInsiders.com’s ranking (once again, top 25 only). Pitt has never been ranked in this one all year long.

1 LSU
2 USC
3 Michigan
4 Florida State
5 Georgia
6 Oklahoma
7 Miami
8 Ohio State
9 Texas
10 Tennessee
11 Florida
12 Penn State
13 Maryland
14 Texas A&M
15 UCLA
16 Washington
17 Notre Dame
18 Oregon
19 North Carolina
20 Arizona State
21 Washington State
22 Alabama
23 Texas Tech
24 Michigan State
25 NC State

Finally, we have Rivals.com’s ranking. Unlike the other two rankings discussed here, Rivals ranks college football classes all the way up to #124. This is important because unlike the other two rankings, Rivals has already taken Morelli and Johnson off of Pitt’s list of commitments. This dropped us all the way down to #44 on their list.

1 Southern Cal
2 LSU
3 Florida State
4 Michigan
5 Ohio State*
6 Oklahoma
7 Georgia
8 Miami-FL
9 Texas
10 Tennessee
11 Oregon
12 Texas A&M
13 Alabama
14 Maryland
15 Florida
16 Penn State
17 Michigan State
18 Washington
19 Kansas State
20 Arkansas
21 California
22 Texas Tech
23 Nebraska
24 Oregon State
25 Missouri

41 Virginia Tech
44 PITTSBURGH
49 West Virginia

*(Incidentally, the main talk about Ohio State’s recruiting class on Sports Radio 1460 (WBNS) Columbus centers around how well the Buckeyes have done in Pennsylvania after years of absolute futility. Tressel now has four Pennsylvanian recruits (3 of them 4-stars), including Woodland Hills’s Devon Lyons.)

Sports talk radio in Central Pennsylvania is, of course, ecstatic over the potential defection of Anthony Morelli to Penn State. At least one Nittany Lion fan that I overheard while driving around Altoona this week declared that with Morelli’s change of heart, Penn State has once again reasserted itself over Western Pennsylvania and that Pitt will soon be but a basketball school. Whatever. However, I can’t deny that it hurts us.

Anthony Morelli may or may not be overrated, as John from Fox Chapel so strongly suggested earlier this week. Likewise, Johnson may or may not be overrated. However, Chas is right about perception being reality in the strange world of college football. If Pitt loses its two most touted recruits (each right out of its own backyard), and moreover loses one of them to Penn freakin’ State, our name recognition as well as our reputation as the up-and-coming football program in Pennsylvania will take a hit. Perceived recruiting success is important to building a program, even if it isn’t quite as important as success on the field (not that Pitt has had enough of that lately). And as a member of a conference that almost certainly will lose its BCS bowl berth as well as most of its credibility in a year, Pitt football is desperate for any sign of success right now.

Next year’s recruits will remember what happened this year and wonder why Morelli and Johnson suddenly changed their commitments. Wouldn’t you?

That’s why I’m sad to see Morelli go, even if he may not be the best intellectual fit for Walt Harris’s complex offense (by far, the strongest part of John’s argument).

Hail to Skipping Work on Snow Days (We’re getting at least a foot in the Southern Alleghenies).