Odds and ends before I start drinking early to brace myself for Yankees-Red Sox, Game 6.

The start of basketball practices was this past Saturday. On Friday, the coach and players talked to the media. Pitt finally got around to putting up some of the comments from Coach Jamie Dixon and some of the players like Krauser, Taft and Troutman. I liked this comment from Krauser about practices this year (Pitt got to do some early practices because of their early trip to Canada)

“It’s same old Pitt defense, same old Pitt practices. We’re going to continue to work hard, play hard, and go out there be aggressive like we usually do, and go to work.”

If the offense improves as expected and the defense is even close to what it was last year, I see no reason why this will not be a top-10 team.

Walt Harris’ press conference is now available in video feed (Windows Media).

Former Pitt star wide receiver, Antonio Bryant was traded to the Cleveland Browns. Dallas must have just wanted to get rid of him and clear a little salary for next year. Dallas got WR Quincy Morgan, who is inconsistent at best. Morgan is also in the last year of his contract. Well at least there will be someone for me to root for on the Browns when the wife is watching them.

Finally Joe Bendel has his ESPN.com Big East Insider column posted. He uses the dreaded D-word.

Coach Walt Harris endured heavy doses of criticism last week due to remarks made by his agent (“resign him or let him go.”) and by all-time great Tony Dorsett (“Pitt is not it.”). The veteran coach never flinched. He got his highly criticized team ready for Boston College and led it to a 20-17 overtime upset at Heinz Field. All of a sudden, the Panthers (4-2, 2-1) control their own destiny in the conference and have an air of confidence about them. Two of their final three league games are at home, starting with a Rutgers team they’ve beaten five years in a row. Senior left tackle Rob Petitti said adversity brings out the best in Harris. “When we start having problems and things are bad, he gets it going,” said Petitti, who recalled the 2001 season when the Panthers opened with a 1-5 record, but came back to win six in a row. “He has this way about him.”

If the Big East gave out a “Warrior Award,” Panthers sophomore quarterback Tyler Palko would be a leading candidate. He is as gritty as it gets and he proved as much when he sprinted down the sideline and drove his shoulder into BC cornerback Peter Shean. The latter ended up flat on his back, with his helmet off of his head. The Pitt bench went wild, and the collision signaled that these Panthers would not be bullied. Pitt went on to control the line of scrimmage, something it’s rarely done in two years, and might have found an identity. The offensive line, intact for the first time this season, paved the way for 177 rushing yards against a BC defense that ranked No. 8 in stopping the run. “Things are changing for us,” Petitti said. “I don’t think we’ll get pushed around anymore.”

The Pittsburgh defense got stellar play from linebacker H.B. Blades and lineman Dan Stephens in holding BC to 56 rushing yards, 128 below its average. The Panthers also held BC scoreless during two trips inside the 4-yard line. Blades, the son of former University of Miami and NFL star Bennie Blades, had 13 tackles. His average of 9½ tackles per game ranks third in the league. Stephens contributed five tackles, including two for losses. BC came in with a reputation as “O-Line U.,” but Stephens repeatedly beat the Eagles up front.

As for Rutgers, well Bendel notes that Pitt should be looking to pass, not necessarily run, against a Rutgers team that was already 106th against the pass before the accident. Of course, Pitt is 100th, so there might be a lot of throwing in this game (Pitt is 69 and Rutgers 86th in Total Defense; 83 and 52 in Total Offense) . Note, that those stats do not include games from this past week.

I’m not sure I can even try to top this from Paul Zeise about Rutgers:

Much like the Energizer bunny, this particular story seems to go on and on and on and on with no end in sight …

“Rutgers is much improved; they are on the verge of great things.”

And those Scarlet Knights are just a year or two away from becoming a perennial powerhouse.

At least that is how the story goes, and usually it is the coach of the team that is getting ready to play the Scarlet Knights that wants to tell it.

The reality has been that the Scarlet Knights never get better and continually seem to lead the country in the unofficial categories of moral victories and heartbreaking losses.

Now Rutgers (4-2, 1-1 in the Big East) is off to its best start in years, and once again there are rumblings that this is the year the Scarlet Knights will earn their first bowl game outside of New Jersey. And since they visit Pitt (4-2, 2-1) Saturday, it is Panthers coach Walt Harris’ turn to tell the world how good Rutgers is.

I approve this cynical and sarcastic take. You know, I think Zeise has been given more freedom in his style by his editors this year, and it is definitely a good thing. He will still do the perfunctory notebook reporting pieces on players and status as required from a beat writer, but his other pieces and especially his Q&A are much more entertaining and interesting.

I think the P-G has had no choice but to loosen things up a bit. The Trib. and Joe Bendel has been doing some solid reporting and writing about Pitt the last few years, in fact they generally produce more pieces about Pitt in a given week, so the competition has to have had some effect.

Harris, though is making it clear that Pitt can’t sit back and be satisfied with one good game. They have to keep pushing and getting better each time.

Running Back, Ray Kirkley believes the team and the line are definitely getting better. He is now stating that he wants 1,000 yards and to lead the Big East in rushing. Wow. Um, that’s quite a pair of goals at this point in the season. It’d be nice, but I don’t see that happening. Kirkley has 432 yards and 5 games left. I suppose it could happened, but I doubt either will. UConn’s Cornell Brockington has 590 yards on the season to lead the Big East.

Here’s something to make you scratch your head. Pitt actually got a vote in the latest AP Writers’ poll. And the polls are better than computers because?

On the Rutgers side of things, their head coach, Greg Schiano, seems concerned about containing Tyler Palko both passing and running.

“You see him getting better and better every game. He’s not a madman trying to run every play out there,” Schiano said of Palko. “And when things aren’t there for him, and he (runs) himself, he’s very elusive. He’s a big man, and when linebackers and defensive backs are smaller than you, it puts you in an advantageous position. We have to make sure he’s accounted for. Big, mobile quarterbacks seem to be a trend in college football.”

Bigger, faster is the overall trend in football last time I checked.

Rutgers may be very vulnerable to the pass because of the drunk driving accident that hurt two of their cornerbacks. Rutgers was already giving up a lot of passing yards.

The selected transcript of the Walt Harris Press Conference is up (but not the video yet). The first part of his opening statement is well worth reading

“Thanks to all of you people who came today. I appreciate all of you coming. We’re excited about playing more four-quarter type football than what we’ve played so far this year. I think there were some areas of our team that really stepped up and I think you have to give a tremendous amount of credit to the players’ preparation. In order to play against Boston College you have to be physical. I think we measured up extremely well in that part of the game. I thought our defense played the run the best we have in a long time. To give up 56 yards and 26 of them in the first drive on one carry and only 30 yards the rest of the day against Boston College is a really significant accomplishment and the couple of jobs they did on the goal-line to keep them out were instrumental in the victory.

“I thought for the first time this season to have an offensive line finally intact that we thought was going to start for us was great. We had 177 yards rushing which is really a good performance by everybody. I thought our backs ran hard. I thought Marcus Furman played real good as well as Ray Kirkley. Our specialists came through. We missed a field goal but Josh (Cummings) hit everything else. Adam (Graessle) did an unbelievable job on holds. Thank God he’s 6-3 or however tall he is; he’s got long arms and boy he made a tremendous punt.

“The overtime period became significant. There were a couple of big, great plays by Mike Phillips. That punt block he picked up and got the first down…the only time I’ve seen that before was when it happened to us.

“The last part that I thought was very significant was the enthusiasm of the crowd. I think our crowd and our fans were ready. I think as the game unfolded and some of the physicalness of the game came out, I believe they really got into it and were a factor in the game, which is tremendous for us. I can’t tell you enough how important that part of the game is in helping our football players play better. When Tyler Palko had his sideline hit against their cornerback that helped ignite our fans and everybody on the sideline. It was truly a statement by him that he was going to do whatever it took to win the football game. It was tight game that we were fortunate to win but our guys really fought and showed the same kind of spirit with better play — not yet quite good enough but better play and we were able to find a way to win.”

No talk of how the plan worked or that the players executed the plan. This was all credit to the players, the crowd and the team. It may have taken him until he’s halfway out the door, but he seems to have finally started to “get” that.

But even the national media knows this is it for Harris

It’s probably a case of too little, too late, but Pittsburgh’s 20-17 overtime win against Boston College couldn’t have come at a better time for embattled coach Walt Harris. In the most intense week of speculation yet surrounding the eighth-year coach’s job status, Harris’ agent, Bob LaMonte, criticized the school for leaving his client “hanging out to dry” by not defending him publicly. More damning, Pitt legend Tony Dorsett went public with his displeasure about the program. “It’s sad. It’s god awful,” said Dorsett, whose statement “I didn’t even know that Connecticut [which beat the Panthers] had a football team” lessens his credibility just a tad. While the Panthers have certainly looked bad much of the season — even against BC they got outgained 423-308 — but the reality is, by handing the Eagles their first conference loss, Pittsburgh (4-2, 2-1) now has as much a shot at the Big East title as anyone.

Pitt has the Rutgers “Game Day” press release with links to info on the teams available.

The Pitt-Syracuse game on November 6 has been picked up by ESPN Regional and will be played at noon.