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.