Despite all of the great plays that happened in both college football and the World Series yesterday (including Paul Peterson’s last second pass to Tony Gonzalez to take Boston College past Notre Dame and Mark Belhorn’s 8th inning home run off the foul pole that put the Red Sox over the top in game one), SportsCenter’s number one play for October 23 (given during the “Top Ten Plays” segment) was Joe DelSardo’s jaw-dropping one-handed catch that put the Panthers up 7-0 at the end of their first drive. Given that Pitt-Rutgers was a relatively unimportant, second-tier, blowout game to most of the country, that’s kind of impressive.

From where the PSB crew sits in Section 132, we had the perfect angle to catch DelSardo’s full extension. I’d swear that I saw the nose of the ball being grasped by only his index and middle fingers at first. In any case, I’m not sure if I ever saw Larry Fitzgerald make that good of a catch… although that one in triple coverage against Texas A&M would have to be a strong contender…

However, I think that the crowd might have been louder for Josh Lay’s 82 yard interception return. It helped that he was running into the student section, whereas DelSardo’s catch happened at the far end of the field (towards the river).

Overall, it was a great day. Sensational weather for late October in Pittsburgh, good friends, lots of laughs, and a Panthers win over a potentially troubling opponent. However, our ground attack was still very weak (we got 317 yards through the air, but only 82 on the ground). At times, it seemed futile to do anything but throw the ball. And this was against Rutgers, mind you. Just wait until Notre Dame or West Virginia comes around.

Overall, my position on Walt Harris remains unchanged. He should have beaten Rutgers and he did. Unless he beats either Notre Dame or West Virginia, Pitt should let him move on to a likely successful career as an offensive coordinator in the NFL. 6-5 or even 7-4 aren’t good enough, given the disappointment of last year and (as Chas put it) the overall direction (or lack thereof) of the program.

So hail to Pitt’s upsetting the Irish or the Hoopies. Heck, if Boston College could win in South Bend…