A few items to toss out. Some obviously need to be looked at later in depth, and some can be taken for what they are.
The Rutgers win gave Pitt two more Big East Player of the Week Honors.
Josh “Sunshine” Cummings received his second Special Teams Player of the Week award. Reading the press release, you can see that Pitt is now starting to push him for the Lou Groza Award (“The emerging Lou Groza Award candidate…”).
Josh Lay earned co-Defensive Player of the Week honors. He shares it with West Virginia’s Adam “Pac-Man” Jones.
SI.com’s Stewart Mandel puts Pitt amongst 5 teams on the season turnaround.
Pittsburgh (5-2): A quick refresher: The Panthers, facing the daunting task of replacing QB Rod Rutherford and WR Larry Fitzgerald, opened the season completing just six passes against Ohio, then lost to Nebraska, squeezed by I-AA Furman and lost to Connecticut. But after upsetting Boston College and routing Rutgers, Walt Harris‘ team actually controls its own destiny in the Big East (they host first-place West Virginia on Nov. 25). Sophomore QB Tyler Palko had his best game so far against the Scarlet Knights, going 27-of-43 for 318 yards and three TDs.
This turnaround is only good until next week’s game. Stumble up in Syracuse, and the season is back in the toilet. Not trying to be negative, I’m just not taking Syracuse for granted at this point.
With Zook being fired at the end of the season at Florida, yet another top program will be looking for a new coach. To some degree that will impact Pitt and the rest of the Big East. ESPN.com’s Ivan Maisel lists 5 candidates. No. 1 is obviously Steve Spurrier. Bob Stoops is #2. Urban Meyer is getting priced up to the penthouse at this rate at #3. The last two are a bit more intriguing.
4. Rich Rodriguez: He’s home at West Virginia, and he’s winning, and he’s a big fish in the smaller Big East pond. Would he be interested in the bigger pond?
5. Bobby Petrino: His Louisville team made Miami work for 60 minutes, and he proved last season that he’s willing to leap at an SEC job, even if it’s still filled.
Guess it’s time for the Hoopies and Cardinals to re-re-work some contracts.
This final tidbit is for Pat to help fill in the details.
For what it’s worth, Brad Cline, a candidate for the Pennsylvania legislature, promises that, if elected, he will introduce legislation requiring Penn State and Pittsburgh to play every season. . .
Cline was endorsed by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. I know nothing about him (though apparently Turzai, his opponent, is a little worried). Here’s his site, and a press release on it. I know Florida and FSU are required by Florida law to play annually, so this isn’t unprecedented. This sort of thing has been tossed around a few times, but nothing has ever come of it.
