At this point, I’ll keep it short. Pitt slayed them. Pitt with the early blow-out then cruise control.

Ron Cook appears to be willing to consider eating some crow while throwing laurels to Greg Lee and Joe DelSardo.

Josh Lay’s big game was a popular storyline. As was Joe DelSardo.

Mike Prisuta still sees room for improvement (it was only Rutgers, you know).

Goose Goslin gives much love to Tyler Palko — for both his game and his attitude.

Paul Zeise’s Q&A column seems to be a lot of arguments over bias. He does have solid defenses of Harris, Rhoads and even Dave Wannstedt.

Meanwhile in New Jersey…

Seems kind of weird to read this about another school this year.

Just when it seemed the Knights had something to play for over the second half of the season — which they had many fans believing heading into yesterday’s game against Pittsburgh — they no longer do. Not realistically anyway.

With four games left against opponents that are a combined 22-6, the only suspense now for Rutgers is whether there’s another victory left this fall.

It was hard to make a case for that after the erratic Panthers seemed to put it all together in a 41-17 laugher over Rutgers before a crowd of 41,232 at Heinz Field.

Truth be told, the Knights (4-3 overall, 1-2 Big East) were exactly what every homecoming opponent is supposed to be: Short work for the guys in the dark uniforms.

Even the disturbingly upbeat Rutgers weblog is feeling a darkened mood.

A QB throws 4 INT and fumbles, there are going to be questions about the wisdom of still playing him. Rutgers head coach is staying with Hart.

The overall “grades” for Rutgers are lousy for this game.

Please forgive a little too much sentimentality. In what has already been a strange season, it is even stranger that this was my last roadie to the ‘Burgh. Technically we have one more home game, but I’m now an old, settled fart with a family and kind of satisfied with that. I can’t take off on Thanksgiving day for the Backyard Brawl and expect to remain married (I know, seems unreasonable).

As was oft repeated on Saturday, by many, “I hate noon games.” Just doesn’t work well for tailgating. Too early to feel up to putting away much in the way of burgers, dogs and beers at 9:30-10 am. Afterwards, it seems too early in the afternoon to party when you still have the night ahead of you (either to go out or drive home).

The only recollection to the nooners from the student days was non-existent. Or as Lee put it, “I didn’t f***in’ go to them in college. Why the f**k am I doing it now?” The difference, I suppose, is we can only get together for the games, so the incentive is as much to gather to drink, talk and abuse Shawn as it is to see the game.

The weather was excellent. High 50s/low 60s. Mostly sunny, light breeze. Very warm for late October, and the last home game for a month.

Enough of that. On to the game. Unlike Lee, I haven’t watched SportsCenter or College GameDay this morning. Not really by choice, but that’s not the point (I really want to kill that red, furry muppet). I have 24+ hour recollections to work from with nothing but the boxscore, drive chart and play by play to help. I’m going to keep this short, because this game was effectively over in the first half. As *ahem* improved as Rutgers may be, to paraphrase Dana Stubblefield from the 49ers in the in the early 90’s, they are still the “same old sorry-ass Rutgers.”

Argument from the parking lot carried over prior to game time as to the over under on points in the game (45 1/2). There was a leaning towards taking the over based on the piss-poor pass defenses of both teams, but neither team has exactly translated the yardage to a lot of points this year. I think I was leaning towards under, because neither team could get to 20 in regulation last week. Good thing I don’t bet.

Pitt looked solid right from the start. First drive, right down the field for that amazing one-handed-snag in the endzone from DelSardo. 80 yards in just under 3 minutes. Palko was 4-4 for 71 yards on the drive. Rutgers’ pass defense was as porous as advertised.

Rutgers looked nervous and went 3 and out. But Pitt gave the ball back on a poorly thrown ball that was intercepted. Despite having the ball just in the Pitt side, Rutgers only got to the 30. They settled for a 48 yard field goal. 7-3 Pitt.

Pitt went backwards and 3 and out. Punting from the 11, Graessle punted a 49 yard hanger that was returned for -1 yards. The defense though, could expect the pass given Rutgers limited running game. Tyrone Gilliard, the defensive back, intercepted the ball to even the turnover battle.

The turnovers killed Rutgers. Their QB threw 4 interceptions and had a fumble. 3 interceptions in the first half led to 21 points including that spectacular interception by Josh Lay taken back 82 yards for a score. Lay finally cracked the starting line-up, displacing freshman Mike Phillips. Lay tends to try and hang back then break on the ball. He has great closing speed so he can take some chances like that.

I can imagine how sick to the stomach Rutgers fans were, by the end of the first half. Pitt was up 38-3. The game was already over. It would take a Houston Oilers vs. the Buffalo Bills playoff style collapse for them to win. In the stands we were laughing and arguing that if Pitt got up by 50 we would just go back to the parking lot for an early celebration.

I guess if Rutgers fans want to find a positive, it’s that their team at least put some second-half points on the board and actually made those of us in the stands start to rumble nervously in the 3rd quarter. Rutgers had two straight big drives for touchdowns, and Pitt seemed to be sitting on the lead rather than trying to step on their neck.

The Pitt defense stiffened, though, after that. They forced Rutgers into 2 straight 3 and outs; and Pitt added a field goal to make it 41-17. Then, as Rutgers seemed to be answering with another big drive, Hart threw his 4th interception to Darrelle Revis at the 1 yardline with a little less than 10 minutes left in the game.

That seemed to break their spirit. Even with 2 consecutive blocked punts and some great field position, Rutgers got nothing other than some yardage. They ended up with more total yards than Pitt (417 to 378), but they couldn’t get into the endzone.

For Pitt, this was a good, solid win. For once they never looked like they were clueless and struggling against a clearly inferior team. They actually appeared to know what they were doing. Pitt now has a bye week to get ready for Syracuse and then Notre Dame.

Only other thing to note, was that Pitt’s new merchandising deal with Adidas has yielded a great new throwback hat,

that Lee and I were drooling over. Neither of us could pull the trigger on the buy at the time. They also have a fitted version.

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…

So which Pitt team will show up tomorrow? The team with a struggling D that needed overtime to beat Furman and had to come from behind to beat Temple? Or the one with the questionable offense that lost to UConn and Nebraska? Or will the team that showed up on both sides of the ball last week to beat BC be returning for a second week?

How about Rutgers? The team that played one of its best games in defeating Michigan St.? The one that decided not to rollover and came back against Vanderbilt? Or the team that struggled to beat Temple? Perhaps the team that had Syracuse beaten, then gave it away in the final minutes? Maybe the team that lost to New Hampshire?

Fans on both sides should like their chances. Fans on both sides have no idea what will happen.

Rutgers does seem to know how important this game is. The winner would just need one more win in 4 chances to be bowl eligible and have a winning season. Something Rutgers hasn’t experienced since Bush 41 was in the White House.

Say this for being a Rutgers QB in the last 10 years. They produce quality NFL back-ups like Mike McMahon and Ray Lucas. Ryan Hart, the junior starting QB, is the latest.

Pitt tight ends, Erik Gill and Steve Buches, get a nice piece. They’ve done a nice job trying to fill the shoes of Kris Wilson, and especially doing a lot of blocking to help the O-line.

Starkey gives the Pitt D some love for their numerous goal line stands so far this season. The AP even has a wire article previewing the Rutgers-Pitt game.

Finally a puff piece on incoming Big East member Louisville’s AD Tom Jurich. Give Jurich the Pederson award for being a ballsy AD. He’s the guy that had to kick Denny Crumb to the curb, then replaced him with Pitino. He’s 2 for 2 on football coaching hires. First John L. Smith, then replacing him with Petrino after Smith left for Michigan St.

After this post, Lee left a couple of interesting comments:

But if Pitt beats either Notre Dame or (especially) WVU, I’ll concede that Walt should stay… of course, his problem with… …burning bridges in the WPIAL and throughout Central & Western PA’s high schools would still be with us, but one can always build new bridges I guess. Incidentally, Chas, I found Joe Bendel’s words chilling… only because they so closely echoed what I read for so many years in the Columbus Dispatch about Harris’s mentor. Each time John Cooper was about to get fired, he’d suddenly turn into Woody Hayes for five or six games and silence the critics. He’d even beat Michigan on occasion. The Dispatch would tell everybody to back off, and then Coop would drift right back to being John Cooper again. Finally, the frustration with this pattern (that stretched over 12 years) just exploded when he lost to the other USC in the Citrus Bowl and too many of his players got arrested. Those were always patched together excuses for getting rid of Cooper in my mind… Either way, I dread falling into a Cooper-esque pattern with Harris… not that this alone is grounds for dismissal, mind you… I’m just scared…

Of course, Lee’s words sent a chill down my spine. And shortly after reading that there were a couple articles discussing coaches on the hot seat. Rod Gilmore at ESPN.com (subs. req’d) brings up Harris in the context of how other than the hot seat, being a head coach doesn’t seem worth it.

Harris is on his way out at Pittsburgh even though he turned the program’s fortunes around (48-42 in eight years). Harris made the mistake of having a “disappointing” 8-5 record last year, and has “struggled” to a 4-2 record with a young team this season. Pitt’s athletic director gave Harris’ agent the cold shoulder when the agent requested a contract extension.

Then there was a mid-season review of what coaches were hot and what coaches were on their way out:

Harris worked his way off the “Farewell Tour” list with a 4-2 start, but he’s still on the bubble. If his team can win games against Rutgers, Syracuse and South Florida, Harris should be invited back. However, with the administration seemingly looking for any excuse to get rid of him, a 6-5 finish might not be good enough to save his job.

Last year, we saw the Auburn-Tuberville-Lousiville-Petrino fiasco blow up in Auburn’s face. That was about wins and losses and not meeting pre-season expectations. We also saw Nebraska fire it’s coach Frank Solich after a good season, because of questions about the direction (long term) the program was going in.

There are three reasons that coaches get fired: scandal, direction, but primarily wins and losses. The former 2 often lead to the last so many argue that it really is always about wins and losses. Either view is fine, but what Lee describes as happening at OSU was direction.

It was a long-term trend that took time to clearly see the pattern. It was hard to see, until it culminated in a horrible season where all the problems seemed to have been revealed at once because they weren’t winning to cover them up any longer. Then you look back at it, and wonder how you missed the trends. I used to give Lee (and my one brother-in-law) crap all the time about how insane he and his Buckeye fans were in their yearly zeal to fire Cooper. They were right, ultimately, but not for the reasons they often gave.

Pitt is at a point, where Harris — who should always be acknowledged and Pitt fans should be grateful to for helping to bring back this program to where it is — is no longer taking the football program in the right direction. His methods and approach for the long-term do not seem particularly healthy. When the beat writers are pointing out how Harris and his staff systematically ignore the recruits right in their own backyard, unless they are top blue chippers, to pursue the same level of talent elsewhere (Ohio and Florida) where there is more competition for the players. You have to worry.

Arguably, the cycle Lee described began for Pitt back in the 2001 season. A team with modest expectations that went 1-5 before recovering to salvage the season and earn a minor bowl bid. This means we aren’t that far along (as OSU was) . Considering the relative stature in programs, that is good, because Pitt can’t afford to wait as long if we want to see the program reach higher goals in the next few years.

Pitt has almost no choice but to fire Harris from a financial standpoint. He has 2 years left on his contract. They would have to give him an extension if he came back, and that would mean a higher buyout. Considering the level of confidence left in him, and the negative reaction that would get from the fan base (and ticket sales); that just isn’t going to happen.

The only good out of this, is that Pitt has the opportunity to face the issue now and make the changes.

It’s been a month and a half since I bothered complaining about Pitt’s weak-ass non-con schedule. Yoni, over at College Basketball Blog has given me reason to bitch a little more. He put together the Strength of Schedule for all top-25 teams in categories of non-con, conference and overall, based on last year’s RPI of each team’s opponents.

The good news, Pitt doesn’t have the worst non-con RPI. Notre Dame blows everyone out of the water for that. The bad news, is Pitt is the second worst non-con RPI.

How bad is it? Despite the excuse of Pitt’s difficult conference schedule, there are only 5 teams with worse overall schedule RPI than Pitt: Illinois, Michigan St., Texas, Gonzaga and ND. Four other schools — Ok. St., Ariz., Louisville and Washington — are a stone’s throw away in overall RPI but still better than Pitt. It’s embarrassing and it could end up looking worse by the time this season ends now that the NCAA tweaked the RPI to give more points for road wins — which Pitt only has one (Penn St.) and one neutral site (Memphis) .

Quiet day in the media. Puff pieces and non-news. This forces me to remind readers of Pitt Sports Blather not to go here. As I said last night this is just wrong and inappropriate. Again, do not go to this site.

Defensive Tackle Dan Stephens gets the puff piece for his academic achievement — nothing to sneeze at by the way — and dealing with Type I diabetes. Expand it further and you will have 3 “CoSida Academic All-Americans” on the field at one time. Dan Stephens and Vince Crochunis of Pitt and Center Ray Filch of Rutgers.

Freshman corners Darrelle Revis and Mike Phillips get a nice piece, that seems oddly timed as a notebook hit mentions that Josh Lay could end up starting over Phillips this week.

Finally, now it looks like Fullback Tim Murphy may not be playing again this week. He has missed 4 games.

Just as quiet in New Jersey. Their notebook leads with the observation that the back-up QB has never taken a snap in his 2-year career at Rutgers. Coach Schiano might want to give Coach Harris a call about how well not letting the back-up get any snaps works out. The story also noted that a Rutgers win would give them their first 2-1 start in Big East play ever. Their previous best start had been 1-2 in ’94. Until this year they had been 0-3 to start the following 9 times. As always, the key was to have Temple on the schedule early.

One of our readers, Matt, e-mailed this. Sooner fans farking Joe Paterno.

I am disgusted. I was repulsed as I went through the pictures on every page and then did it again. This is just disprespectful of a great coach. I for one think this sort of thing should not be tolerated. I am going back to the thread to see what other ones get added so I can again express my disgust and distaste. Shameful.

Long live JoePA at PSU!

For Pitt, part of the story from BC and this week is the team getting healthy. The offensive line (except for Rob Frederick) was the healthiest and strongest its been all year. While there was still pressure on Palko (and a couple no-call roughing the passer late hits), he was not sacked in the game. Part of that is attributable to his mobility and strength, but the O-line also deserves credit for at least slowing the down the advances. Now fullback Tim Murphy appears fully recovered from a high ankle sprain that had him sidelined since the first game of the season. This can only help the O-line with protection on passing and hopefully help improve the running game further.

Rutgers, on the other hand, has no depth in its secondary because of the accident last week. It’s running game has been virtually non-existent, in part due to its own problems with health on the O-line and its starting running back. While their RB, Brian Leonard, should be fully recovered they are still patching people in at the right offensive tackle position. As we’ve seen, shuffling offensive linemen into another spot on the line is not a great option.

Coach Harris, though, has irked the New Jersey media by either missing or skipping the teleconference with them.

Lots to talk about. Except Walt Harris wasn’t talking. The Pittsburgh coach has sealed his lips. Refused to indulge Rutgers’ media with the usual 10 or 15 minutes of phone Q-and-A yesterday.

It hasn’t been easy being Walt Harris this year, according to some reports. Pitt’s late-season slide last year, when a 7-2 start fueled by the brilliant Larry Fitzgerald and QB Rod Rutherford evaporated into an 8-5 finish, left a lot of Panther not-so-faithful disenchanted. Including, the rumors say, athletic director Jeff Long, who wasn’t there when the former Jets assistant was named head coach.

Then recruiting took a late hit with a number of critical defections. And both Sports Illustrated and The Sporting News in recent weeks have rumored Pitt grad Dave Wannstadt warming up in the Panther bullpen.

Maybe that’s why Harris copped out yesterday. It can’t be because he’s frightened of the Scarlet Knights, against whom his Pitt teams are 6-1 including five wins in a row.

Well, the Pittsburgh media is trying to take the Scarlet Knights seriously. I don’t know why Harris skipped out or missed. I thought he was required to do the teleconference under Big East rules. Seems stupid to miss it.

This brings us to the latest from Bob Smizik. With a Pitt win, there isn’t much to bash Harris for this week. So, instead he gets really ahead of the curve by complaining about how bad the Big East is, and will be. You know, this was standard predictable stuff back in June. By August it was overdone. To trot out this dog in late October? At the very least, you save it until the end of the season so it can be excused as a “look back” column. I would say he’s been saving it as a filler column, but it does reflect the current games.

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.

If you, like Lee, are wondering why the hell I am posting so much. It’s because I can. My wife and daughter are away for a couple of days which gives me a lot of extra time and no competition for the computer. This means I can bang out some things as they come, rather than save it all for one post.

So, despite my belief that Adam Graessle was going to win the Big East Special Teams Player of the Week on the basis of his 79 yard punt (they dropped it from 80, which would have tied the school record) and another overall solid week, it went to the Rutgers kicker who went 3-3 on his kicks in their win over Temple.

H.B. Blades, though earned co-Defensive Player of the Week honors. Blades, “made a game-high 13 tackles. The Panther defense allowed only 56 yards rushing. The Eagles went into the game averaging 183.6 yards per game.” He shares the award with Rutgers defensive back Ron Girault. Excuse my snippiness, but how does Rutgers in a 16-6 home win over one of the worst teams in all of college football generate 2 BE Player of the Week honors?

Just wondering.

Leaving behind thoughts of what would happen in a chess match between BC coach Tom O’Brien and Walt Harris…

For those who don’t want the stories and views filtered by us, and are here just to get the links you can go to the Rutgers Athletics Website; a Rutgers blog; and the Newark Star-Ledger.

While this is a Big East game of the week, if you don’t live in a Big East market or don’t have ESPN GamePlan (I think they’ll have it), and you don’t want to pay Pitt and Yahoo! to listen to the radio broadcast on the internet, Rutgers apparently is smart enough to make their radio broadcast available for free. You will need RealPlayer to listen.

Now for the biases.

Sadly, Rutgers will be having depth issues at defense. Several players were injured during a collision with a drunk driver.

Three Rutgers University football players were among seven people injured Saturday in an accident caused by a drunk driver traveling the wrong way on Route 18 in Piscataway, police said yesterday.

The crash, less than a mile from Rutgers Stadium, occurred just hours after the Scarlet Knights’ 16-6 homecoming victory over rival Temple.

Injured in the three-vehicle crash was defensive back Dondre Asberry, 20, who sustained a spinal fracture and head injury and remained in stable condition at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick last night, police said.

Also injured were two key players on the Rutgers defense, Plainfield native Manny Collins, 20, and Eddie Grimes, a 20-year-old recruit from Florida who lives in New Brunswick. Grimes rooms with Asberry.

Collins had only recently returned to the lineup after missing three games with a dislocated elbow.

The players, both cornerbacks, were treated for head and facial injuries at Robert Wood Johnson and released.

“I don’t know if they’re going to play this week or not,” Rutgers Coach Greg Schiano said last night.

I wish a speedy recovery to all of you. Grimes and Collins are not the starting CBs but 2nd on the depth chart.

Rutgers may be just as big an enigma as Pitt. Even Rutgers coach Greg Schiano doesn’t know what his team will do from week to week. This is as much a must win for Rutgers as it is for Pitt regarding getting to 6 wins and bowl eligibility. After Pitt they host WVU, go to BC and then Navy and end the season at home against UConn.

Pitt has to go to Syracuse, then to ND, before hosting WVU and making up a game in Tampa against USF. According to Gold Sheet, Pitt is favored in this game at -4 to -6 points.

Pitt has released its game notes (in PDF). Looking over some things, I see that WR Greg Lee leads the Big East in receiving yards per game and P Adam Graessle is the top punter. Pitt has been given up more yards than it has produced in all but the Furman game — yes, Pitt was outgained by Temple and Ohio. Statistically, Rutgers has an edge on Offense bit Pitt has the advantage on Defense.

This is just some afterthoughts to Chas’s four posts on Pitt-BC.

ESPN’s College Gameday Final — which airs either late, late Saturday night or at 7:30 AM Sunday morning, depending on whether you’re a night owl or a morning person like me — didn’t really offer a recap of Pitt-BC. Not an important enough game, I guess. However, Palko’s blasting Boston College cornerback Pete Shean out of bounds in the third quarter did make their top plays list. Mark May — who really is a great analyst, even if you’re not a Pitt fan — used that opportunity to quickly remark that Walt Harris had been under some heat from a lot of people, including himself. But then May said that this win shouldn’t change anything, and suggested that Harris really needed to win all of his remaining games except maybe (and then May repeated the word “MAYBE”) West Virginia to keep his job.

And you know, I kind of agree. Beating an absolutely terribly coached BC team doesn’t erase the facts that (1) this program is not progressing (especially along the lines), (2) our teams underachieve far too often, (3) Harris is a terrible and cowardly playcaller, and most importantly, (4) Harris has burned too many bridges in the WPIAL and throughout the Commonwealth. Really, we beat Boston College because, as Chas pointed out, we pulled our linebackers into the box to help our weak defensive line and Tom O’Brien was too stubborn or all-fired stupid to realize that the middle of the field was wide-assed open on every play. I’ll give our embattled defensive coordinator, Paul Rhoads, credit for coming up with that cute little card trick. But do you think that it will really fool Syracuse, let alone West Virginia? Rasheed Marshall will chuck it over the middle to Chris Henry all day long without any linebackers there.

Besides, as Chas pointed out, Walt did have another “slide right” moment when he wussed out and kicked a field goal from the two-foot line in the fourth quarter (this time, fortunately, it didn’t wind up costing us). And as if that wasn’t enough to piss me off, he actually chastised Palko for that big hit on Shean that got Pitt on College Gameday Final.

Coach Walt Harris was pleased with Palko’s effort, but was obviously not as
enthused as the players about the fact that his quarterback lowered his
shoulder. “He has a bit of hard-headness,” Harris said. “He really should avoid
the guy, give him a little dip and head back inside.”

Yeah, I know, it’s risky to let your quarterback take a hit. Tell that to Ben Roethlisberger. Look, football is a game a naked aggression, especially in Western Pennsylvania. People (including myself in high school) get hurt. Now either deal with it or go coach soccer. Either way, take off the dress, Walt.

Now to be fair, I’m only one Panther fan. A lot of fellow Panther fans who called into “Panther Hotline” on 970 AM while I was driving back home to Altoona said that this game totally vindicated Walt and that its time for fans like myself to get off him. Of course, I lost 970’s signal at freakin’ Murraysville because they apparently use a toaster oven to power their transmitter. So the show’s character admittedly could have changed after I disappeared into the wilderness of Central Westmoreland County.

As far as the yellow fliers asking our students to watch their mouths, what a laugh. As I approached our gate, I saw four ushers with reams of those things. They didn’t give me one (I apparently don’t look enough like a student anymore), so I just moved on and started up the ramp behind them. I was immediately confronted with the sight of thousands, perhaps millions, of those little yellow pieces of paper scattered across the floor of the ramp so densely that it was hard to see the concrete beneath. Way to kill a few trees for nothing, alma mater.

But seriously, the student section isn’t nearly as vulgar as the regular section next door in which the PSB crew resides. Really, all the kids do is chant “WE’RE GONNA BEAT THE F*CK OUGHTA YOU” at the end of each stanza of “Rock and Roll, Part II,” just like every other student body in the country has been doing since the mid-1990s (at least that’s when I first heard it at Ohio State). You hear a lot more obscenities screamed — generally in conjunction with the word “WALT” and some implication of sodomy — out of our section… and more precisely, out of me… than out of any student. Really, those four ushers should have just thrown the whole stack of fliers at my fat ass.

Seriously though, the kids are there to have fun. If you can’t take a few comments about Walt fornicating with his mother, go sit in the cheap seats in the second deck or just stay home, sip some lemonade, and watch The O’Reilly Factor with the rest of your Sunday School class.

On second thought, don’t watch The O’Reilly Factor…

Of course, on the other hand, what obscenity could possibly be as fun as chanting “A-C-C!” at Boston College as they very slowly walked off the field. Sometimes f-bombs truly are useless accessories…

Hail to all’s being well in John’s family.