I’ve said it last year, and I said it again this year. Do not let Pitt have control of their own destiny. At the very least, keep quiet so you don’t think about it. So what do the beat writers tell us?

Paul Zeise:

Suddenly, the idea of Pitt as Big East Conference champion doesn’t seem so far-fetched.

Sure the Panthers (4-2, 1-1 Big East) have a long way to go before they win the Big East title — which likely would punch their ticket to a BCS game — but, with a 20-17 overtime win against Boston College Saturday, they took a big step toward that goal.

First, the victory means the Panthers control their own destiny in the conference race. If they win their remaining conference games, they’ll win the championship no matter what other teams do. And, even if they would tie for first, they’d own the tiebreakers.

Joe Bendel:

The Panthers have a long way to go before carving their names into the league championship trophy, but they proved Saturday that they can play competitively with any team in the Big East after an eye-opening, 20-17, overtime upset of Boston College at Heinz Field.

Pitt enters its homecoming game against Rutgers with a 4-2 overall record, including 2-1 in league play. West Virginia and Syracuse are undefeated in the conference at 1-0. Rutgers and BC are 1-1, Connecticut is 1-2 and Temple 0-2.

The Panthers have only three Big East games remaining, and the next two are winnable.

Rutgers (4-2 overall) is improving, but lost to Division I-AA New Hampshire, and Syracuse (3-3), which plays host to Pitt on Nov. 6, is inconsistent. The Panthers have won their past five meetings with Rutgers and their past two against the Orangemen.

If those trends continue, Pitt and WVU could be playing for the league championship on Thanksgiving night at Heinz Field. Thus, Pitt not only controls its own fate, but also has the luxury of playing two of its final three league games at home.

I think I’m going to be ill.

While Palko still faced pressure, he wasn’t getting swarmed like the previous couple of games; and the running game was pretty good between Kirkley and Furman. Seems the O-line might actually be showing signs of improvement.

While Boston might not be paying any attention to BC and their coach, some in the Pittsburgh media noticed O’Brien’s shaky playcalling.

And in some catch-up, the Q&A with Paul Zeise from Friday has the usual good stuff, and a nice summary of the feelings about how Pitt has acted towards recruiting in Western PA.

Q: Can you expand on Pitt’s difficulties in recruiting local prospects? You made reference to their unwillingness to look at a number of top prospects and also a need to mend fences with local coaches.

ZEISE: Pitt has taken an almost arrogant approach towards recruiting locally in recent years and it has turned a lot of coaches and prospective recruits off. Pitt has also been very slow to offer a number of local guys they should have been on first. A prime example is Sean Lee from Upper St. Clair. Everybody knows the kid is a player. He recveived offers from Iowa, Wisconsin, West Virginia and a number of others over the summer. Pitt finally got around to offering him a few weeks ago – after Penn State had already offered him. The same thing happened with the John Bachman kid from Moon who just committed to Indiana. Pitt offered him, but way too late. He said he’d have considered Pitt had they got in on him early. There has been a feeling among a number of coaches in Western Pennsylvania that Pitt values second-rate kids from other states over kids in their own backyard. How this happened, I don’t know, but it needs to get corrected. The scouting of players needs to get corrected, too, because there are far too many guys getting out of Western Pennsylvania and going on to have excellent careers elsewhere who were never even offered by Pitt. It is a shame, because Western Pennsylvania used to be the top priority for this staff, but in recent years they’ve slipped. That doesn’t mean every kid in Western Pennsylvania deserves a scholarship from Pitt, but there are far too many that are good enough that don’t even get a look.

This is inexcusable.

Rutgers at noon on Saturday. It’s Pitt’s homecoming. Rutgers homecoming was this past weekend when they beat Temple 16-6. This should be an interesting game. Two teams that no one can be sure of what to expect from week to week.

Let’s talk some hoops. The Trib had a bunch of stories on Saturday about the basketball team. Let’s just say they were a tad optimistic sounding — not that there’s anything wrong with that. It’s just that as a Pitt fan, it can be hard to grasp immediately without looking for the gray clouds.

Coach Jamie Dixon really likes this team and the way it looks. Brandin Knight, still trying to make it to the NBA has been working out with Pitt again. He likes their chances come March. The team has set the goal higher this year. Good. Still, Joe Starkey notes the early rankings are keeping Pitt kind of low. Doesn’t matter yet, who ranks Pitt where. Pitt won’t exactly be sneaking up on anyone this year.

There are questions of who will do what. Freshman shooting guard Ronald Ramon looks sharp and is drawing raves from the teammates. Center Chris Taft has added about 10 more pounds of muscle. Not clear who will be taking over the power forward from vacated by Jaron Brown. Mark McCarroll has the inside track but will be pushed by Levon Kendall (who played well for Team Canada over the summer) and JUCO transfer John DeGroat.

And some good recruiting news. Pitt got a verbal from Tyrell Biggs from Nanuet, NY. Biggs is 6’8″, 270 pound power forward. Rivals has him ranked #71 in their top 150. This is PItt’s second commit for the 2005 class. Considering Pitt had a bunch of near misses in the last couple months, this was a needed commit. Pitt still needs to start getting some kids from beyond the NYC area, especially as new St. John’s Coach Norm Roberts has already made significant progress in repairing relations with the local schools.

The disadvantage of trying to put a post together mostly from memory, is you leave some big moments out. The biggest omission was Tyler Palko running, lowering his shoulder and bowling over a BC defender as he ran out of bounds. That was a huge moment for the Pitt team and the fans in the stands. There is a reason why the Pitt fans are deep in Palko’s corner, and it isn’t because of his local roots.

I also forgot about the near interceptions by Josh Lay — including one that bounced right off of his chest. Would have ended the game then and there.

Good game recap here. And here.

Notebook and tidbits.

Grudging respect and even a little admiration for Harris and how he was able to get the team to focus this week.

Now the Boston media notices a little. Not so good.

The record will show Boston College lost another overtime game at Heinz Field yesterday because Larry Lester fumbled at the Pittsburgh 19 to end the game. But in reality, the stumbling Eagles probably shouldn’t have been that close.

“We didn’t seem to make a play,” BC coach Tom O’Brien said after a Josh Cummings 27-yard field goal on the first possession of OT (followed by Lester’s fumble) gave the Panthers a 20-17 win in BC’s final Big East game here.

“We’re our own worst enemies,” said O’Brien. “We kept shooting ourselves in the foot. Sooner or later, you’re going to get beat and that’s what happened today.”

Apparently some Eagles remember 2002 as well.

Forget the Curse of the Bambino. How about the Curse of Heinz Field?

Haunted by the specter of its 19-16 overtime loss in its last visit to the Steel City two years ago, Boston College’s football team yesterday suffered its first Big East setback of the season, a disappointing 20-17 decision in overtime against the Pittsburgh Panthers before a crowd of 34,071.

“It brings me back to my freshman year,” said BC junior cornerback Will Blackmon. “We came down here and we came back towards the end, we brought it into overtime, and we lost in overtime again. It was like a flashback of the last time.”

BC is bummed. Really bummed.

Heh. Like VT, three straight on the way out the door.

The ushers were handing these out to the students before the game. We sit next to the students, and most obscenities come from frustrated fans in the regular seats, not the students.Can’t speak about the gestures, though.

Just before we joined in serenading the departing BC players with chants of “A-C-C” that was what we ended up saying to each other.

Let’s begin at the beginning. We weren’t upbeat about the prospects for the outcome. Strangeness from the get go. Hindsight suggests that the omens and portents were there to suggest how strange a day it would be.

Ugly morning. Not raining as I headed into Pittsburgh from Ohio, but already a biting wind. Shortly after I got to Pat’s the rain came. Lee, coming from Altoona, was stuck on 376 until about 9 am because of a deadly accident in the Squirrel Hill Tunnel. He called a couple times to say he wasn’t moving on the highway.

The rain that was coming down was cold and a biting wind added to the misery. Pat, our spiritual leader of tailgating and his house on the South Side is the nexus point of gathering before heading for the lot, was going to miss the game because of a wedding. Pat not attending a Pitt football game is something that just doesn’t happen. It just doesn’t. Pat is one of the most loyal and dedicated Pitt fans I know. He is also the only 2nd gen. Pitt guy in PSB. Guess there is something to it. Still, the wedding wasn’t until 2, so at the very least Pat was going to tailgate with us.

Then Pat looked outside at the dark skies, the wind and the rain and said something that was stunning. “You know, there probably won’t be a lot of people at the game. We could just tailgate in my place and then you could head over shortly before the game starts.” This from Pat. Pat, a guy I have been going to games on a regular basis for the last 6 years. A guy during the hideous 1998, 2-9 season, I had to practically beg to leave a horrible game at the half in cold rain/snow against Temple that Pitt lost. Even then, we hung out in the parking garage by Pitt Stadium listening to the game. Pat actually suggested we stay inside, watch some College GameDay and head to the game at the last minute.

Naturally we agreed. It was like receiving a blessing from a higher authority to take the easy way out. A sign that we are getting softer and lazier? Perhaps, though, I prefer to rationalize it as being older and wiser.

We did get to our seats before kickoff, so we did make it. It took some effort though. There was not a lot of enthusiasm about the prospects of the game. We know what Pitt has done so far, and Boston College was coming off a bye week. Except for that loss to Wake Forest, they looked like a team that would kill us. A strong running attack, great lines. Honestly, we all thought that BC at -9 1/2 was a steal. If any of us were actually regular gamblers, we would have taken BC. I mean, we were sitting down arguing about how many points Pitt would have to be down at halftime to justify leaving the cold and rain in the stadium to go back to Pat’s place and watch the second half on TV. We started at around 21, but after the rain picked up it dropped to about 15.

I don’t know how it looked on TV, but it was not much of a crowd. The weather and the way the team had played had killed fan enthusiasm for this one. They didn’t even bother to announce the always overstated “paid” attendance.

Oh, the game. You know the rules. Just the box score, drive chart and play by play data for the sake of accuracy.

The first series was not encouraging. BC ran it down Pitt’s throat and chewed up 6 1/2 minutes before they stalled out inside the 10, and had to settle for a field goal. That, however was the last time they actually ran the ball effectively. The Running Backs gained 40 yards on the ground in that drive, but ended up with only 76 for the game.

Pitt made a decision about their defense. They were going to shut down BC’s running game, and make BC beat them with passing. Until I had more time to think about it this morning, I was bothered by how many underneath passes and wide open receivers in the middle of the field Pitt had allowed. I hadn’t fully understood, but now it makes a bit more sense. Pitt didn’t drop any linebackers into coverage, and brought the safeties up to help the line. This meant the corners were one-on-one with the receivers all game, and it allowed the WRs to get free over the middle for 5-15 yard gains all day. You have to do this when you don’t have a strong defensive line, and you are facing a team that loves to run the ball and has depth at the position.

Pitt’s decision to stop the run threw BC off kilter. They weren’t prepared to throw in the first half. They had the ball for 5 other series in the first half, and they only had one other drive that lasted more than 3 1/2 minutes. The 3 of the remaining 4 were for less than 2 minutes.

Pitt wasn’t exactly lighting it up on offense, but they were surviving. Then in the second quarter BC went for it on 4th and 8 from the Pitt 36. Rather than try a long field goal or even punt, they presumed that their D could completely shut down Pitt. They failed. Arrogant, and it seemed to fire up the offense when Pitt took over on downs.

Pitt took advantage and drove 64 yards for a touchdown. Taking a 7-3 lead. Most of the yardage came when Kirkley busted a 37 yard run. Lee turned to me amazed, “Do you know what I saw? I saw a Pitt RB run through a hole. The offensive line gave him a hole.” He was just stupified. This reminded me of a Bill Cosby routine, when he was talking about playing RB for Temple (sadly the relevant portion of the track — #14, TV Football — is not available for listening. It went something like, “And I had never seen a hole before… Playing for Temple.”)

Pitt actually missed a chance to extend the lead, when they forced BC’s quarterback Paul Peterson to fumble on his own 16. Unfortunately, Pitt couldn’t move the ball and Josh “Sunshine” Cummings hit the left upright on the fieldgoal try at the tortuous open end of the field.

Neither team did much to start the second half. Then BC got arrogant again and went for it on 4th down. Things went awry and through some confusion they actually got to punt after a penalty. Tom O’Brien should be so grateful to the New England Patriots and Red Sox for helping to keep the local media away from covering his team. If anyone in Boston actually paid attention to BC this year, I have to think there might be some questions about his coaching. Pitt had the ball at midfield and again took advantage. Palko, on second down, through a deep pass that Greg Lee made a spectacular lay out to grab. Pitt, 1st and goal at the 6. On two straight carries, Kirkley pounded it and Pitt took a 14-3 lead.

Shock, confusion, excitement and then the cynicism as we wondered how Pitt could blow this game. We got our answer on the kickoff. 60 yard return from the 9, so BC began at the Pitt 31. 2:40 later, it was 14-10.

Then things really got weird. Pitt got the ball and went 3 and out, but on the punt, BC blocked. The ball however, skittered sideways and forwards — not backwards. Mike Phillips of Pitt, also the freshman starting cornerback, playing on special teams, picked up the ball and ran it for the first down.

Pitt took advantage of the mistake and put together a 6+ minute drive. The running backs Furman and Kirkley starred with their runs and catching the ball. Kirkley had an 18 yard run to put Pitt at 1st and goal at the 3. For the last play of the 3rd quarter, Palko kept and the line pushed forward for 2+ yards. Amazing. It looked almost like a QB sneak, and the line just surged. It was barely outside of the goalline Would they do that again to start the 4th quarter? Maybe run the ball to the outside? Perhaps even a fade pass to Lee?

No. Harris for all his offensive creativity, wouldn’t risk anything. He ran the ball straight up the middle with Kirkley for no gain twice.

We were all screaming for him to go for it on 4th down. A field goal wasn’t enough at this point, up only by 4 in the start of the 4th quarter. Better to try and fail and make BC start deep. Maybe play a little field position strategy at this point than merely kick the field goal and still make it a one possession game. Go for the kill. Make BC have to score twice.

Well, Harris is still the Pitt head coach. He kicked the field goal. 17-10. Immediate disgust from the fans. Don’t know what the ESPN2 crew was saying in the booth, but in the stands it was, “That’s why Harris is still gone after this year! This sucks! S**t!”

BC gets the ball and starts from its own 23. In a nearly 5 minute drive they get to the Pitt 4 for 1st and goal. They lose a yard on the first run. And here BC Coach Tom O’Brien shows that he is Harris’ equal. Despite 2/3 of the yardage to get to this point coming on the pass. He proceeds to run it 2 more times for no gain. 4th and 5, but O’Brien and BC goes for it. A quick pass to the right, and as Adams surges forward, he is hit and stopped outside the goal line. Despite the small crowd, this took place at the enclosed student section which erupts. I’m starting to think this is the 2002 BC-Pitt game all over again.

Pitt does nothing. 3 and out in a little over a minute. Punter, Adam Graessle, though, may have earned his second Big East Special Teams Player of the Week award with a monster of a punt. 80 yards total. 70 of which was in the air. Wow. Loudest cheering for a punt I ever heard.

Unfortunately, BC finally grasped that Pitt was fully committed to stopping the run and would leave the underneath and over the middle passes easy choices. BC marched 90 yards down the field in under 4 minutes for a touchdown to tie the game. 17-17.

Both teams got the ball back to do nothing, leading to overtime. BC won the toss and naturally chose to play defense first. Pitt chose to start on the enclosed, student end of the field.

BC’s defense, on the very first play lines up offside. They played a very sloppy game. It was like their 4th or 5th offside. Pitt got to the 10, but ultimately had to settle for the field goal.

BC takes their shot in the student section. The small crowd is doing its best to be disruptive. A run for no gain and an incomplete pass sets up 3rd and 10. We are screaming and hoping that they get someone to help cover the middle. Sure enough, a pass some 5-6 yards down the middle to an open receiver, but Mike Phillips hits and strips him of the ball as he starts to go down. Thomas Smith, a Pitt linebacker falls on the ball. The officials rule Pitt ball. Pitt wins!

We are turning to each other screaming and high-fiving. We missed some skirmishing between some Pitt and BC players who do get separated before we knew what happened.

Then the cheering of the Pitt players who gather in front of the student section, and then to the departing BC players and coaches: A-C-C! A-C-C! A-C-C! A-C-C! A-C-C!

I should end it here, but a few of us caught Team America: World Police. A definite must see. John had his cell phone off, so he didn’t know his wife’s water broke during the movie. Hope everything is okay, John.

Midnight Madness commences at many schools in less than an hour, but not at Pitt, which I may have mentioned once or twice. So, pre-season rankings galore. For Pitt, the best ranking received was #15 from Dick Vitale. ESPN.com’s top 10 and then 11-25 puts Pitt at #21.

What we like: Coach Jamie Dixon, point guard Carl Krauser and sophomore forward Chris Taft are all winners. Krauser, who always marks the sign of the ‘X’ when he hits a 3 to represent his native Bronx, gives the Panthers a chance in every game. He was not a heralded recruit, yet he came in and made the Panthers a better team. A year ago, he was the stud that pushed this team to a 31-5 record. Krauser is money at the free-throw line and isn’t afraid to take a late-game shot. Taft is developing into one of the top forwards in the country. He’s being billed as a possible lottery pick. He’ll get even more touches this season and could be a double-double player on a regular basis. Chevon Troutman is a glue guy who can board, pass and defend. Troutman will pick up the slack left by physical wings Julius Page and Jaron Brown. He brings the experience of multiple Sweet 16s and, like Krauser and Taft, is a winner. That will rub off on the newcomers, who are expected to come in and contribute.

Causes for concern: This team could use another lock-down defender and tough-guy. Troutman can serve in that role but the Panthers got so much out of Brown and Page. Their experience is hard to measure in simple numbers. They were the intangible pieces to this team over the past few seasons. There is room for another player like them to step up and become an enforcer, especially on the perimeter. Pittsburgh made a living of being physical at guard. The more they can repeat that, the more apt they are to keep their reputation as a physical team.

Keep an eye on: Mark McCarroll. He’s the least known of the Pitt returnees, but still could be a special talent. He’s incredibly long and could be disruptive, especially on the defensive end. His offensive game hasn’t been tapped that much, yet, but he has the potential, through putbacks, to double his production from five to 10 points a game. If he can do that, the Panthers have a shot to move up in the standings.

Non-conference nightmare: Dixon isn’t going to like this but there isn’t too much that should keep him up at night. The only truly difficult game is against Memphis in New York in the Jimmy V Classic. Playing South Carolina won’t be a walk in the park, but the game is at home. We’re not saying Richmond is a guarantee, either, but once again the game is at home, where Pittsburgh loses lately about as often as you would break out the suntan lotion in January.

Best-case scenario: The Panthers lost two key players but they are still a team that could be a very tough out come March. They play as hard as any team in the Big East and won’t give up their home court. Don’t sleep on this team and expect them to exit early out of the NCAAs. An Elite Eight visit, though, likely is one step out of reach.

Seth Davis at SI.com gives his top 20, but only in alphabetical order. Not by his guestimated rankings. Way to be bold, Seth. Pitt isn’t in his list. I can’t believe he thinks Wisconsin and Washington are top 20 teams.

I guess the bright side, is that expectations aren’t huge for Pitt, but respectable.

With Pitt’s abysmal non-con, they have to enter the Big East play undefeated or maybe(just maybe) one loss.

You know, with the heaviest rumors being Dave Wannstedt, I find myself looking more and more at the pro-football rumors. Wanny is a dead man walking in Miami, so the question becomes do the Dolphins fire him a few games early — in December — to get a jump on their coach search and let him get his own head start. Keep in mind, that Wannstedt via Jimmy Johnson is on very good terms with Dolphins owner Wayne Huzinga. Well, what does Pittsburgh native and ESPN columnist Paul Pasquarelli has to say?

In Miami, owner Wayne Huizenga visited the Dolphins complex last week, talked football with Wannstedt, but left no tacit indication of the wholesale housecleaning that is to come. As cited here last week, there is always the possibility Wannstedt will force the issue at some time, and end up departing early, as did Reeves in 2003, if the Dolphins owner tells him he won’t be back for the 2005 season.

Truth be told, such a scenario might be the NFL equivalent of a mercy killing, since Wannstedt is too good a guy to continue suffering through the current mess. Wannstedt is keenly aware that his record could be tarnished by the events of ’04 and might impact his ability to land a job (like at the University of Pittsburgh) in 2005. Don’t discount the possibility that, if Huizenga opens the door, Wannstedt, who has two seasons remaining on his contract, won’t bolt through it.

Like I said, I’m not sure how I would feel about Wannstedt being the Pitt head coach. I’m still sorting that out in my mind. Also in the article, it seems Pasquarelli thinks Butch Davis is on thin ice. He would be a hot commodity back in college if fired. I still doubt he gets the axe this season. He has control over all football decisions. If he’s fired, then whointerviews and hires the next coach? The owner would need to find a GM first. He has to let Davis back for another year.

Oh, yeah. Noon, ESPN2.

Just like last year, Pitt has to be worried about protecting the quarterback from BC’s star defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka. Pitt’s a question mark against any defense, so it’s hard to be more worried about protecting Palko and opening up holes for the run more than any other week.

Junior walk-on Kellen Campbell will be the back-up fullback behind Kirkley again this week.

Pitt RB, Brandon Mason, is looking forward to getting more playing time, and the rest of his career at Pitt.

BC’s own talented freshman RB, Andre Callender, appears healed from his groin injury and will play against Pitt. BC’s biggest recruit, Brian Toal — 2003 All-American for both USA Today and Parade, plus the 2003 Gatorade Player of the Year in New Jersey and the Newark Star-Ledger’s Defensive Player of the Year — has been living up to the hype.

Final note, Larry Fitzgerald seems to be adjusting well to the NFL. Big shock.

I have to wonder if other colleges where it is all but a foregone conclusion that the coach will be fired after the season have it get this ugly? I think it does, but when it is your school, your team, it just seems that much worse. Still, the fact that we could be heading to a rarity in football — the firing of the coach during the season is more than a little jarring and unnerving.

After the very public statements from Harris’ agent and the non-vote of confidence from AD Long, it has become crystal clear that Harris will not return to Pitt in 2005. The issue really is does he finish the year?

LaMonte’s calculated attempt to publicly force the university’s hand left little room for interpretation. By calling out the administration in the newspapers, LaMonte clearly was trying to either secure a contract extension for Harris (which he has to know by now is the unlikeliest of scenarios) or get this over and done with so all parties involved can move forward. Long’s response, the first from a Pitt official since it became open season on Harris among alumni and media (for the record, that commenced right about the time Tyler Palko hit the deck in Connecticut) was to acknowledge the contentiousness of the situation but put off dealing with it.
…
By declining to defend and support Harris, by offering only a not-so-cryptic “after the season we’ll sit down and talk,’ Long confirmed on Wednesday what many have long suspected.

Harris’ situation at Pitt is no longer tenable.

He hasn’t quit on his players, and they haven’t quit on him. But that’s not enough, and Harris knows it. Outside of the sideline and the practice facility, he’s clearly lost his passion to represent the university, to provide leadership. And on the field, whatever he has left, isn’t measuring up to the required standard, not unless collapsing quarterbacks, OT against Furman and the need to score 21 fourth-quarter points at Temple are considered acceptable.

If that’s the case, Pitt has bigger problems than how to solve the Harris issue.

I don’t think I’m the only one who remembers when Pitt fired Mike Gottfried in mid-season. The team did rally and backed the interim coach leading to him being given the job which was announced just before the Sun Bowl. This was how the Paul Hackett era at Pitt was born. I do not want to see a repeat of that. Harris is toast, but he needs to finish the season.

Change will come despite the questions, but the search for the next coach has to be done carefully. I am assuming that Pitt is quietly working on its list of candidates, and maybe even putting out feelers through surrogates. At least I hope so. Early termination of Harris puts everything out in the open way too soon.

Some, though, want Harris to jump. Yes, it’s Smizik.

Bob LaMonte, Harris’ agent, unleashed a series of charges at Pitt, one of which called for his client’s firing, and almost all of which made little or no sense.

But it wasn’t the intent of LaMonte, who represents NFL big-timers such as Jon Gruden, Mike Holmgren, John Fox and Andy Reid, to make sense. He was trying to better what he considers a poor situation for Harris, whose team is off to a poor 3-2 start that includes a loss to Connecticut and narrow wins against Furman and Temple. If LaMonte has to speak gibberish to get it done, so be it.

The most absurd charge leveled by LaMonte was that Pitt has Harris “hanging out to dry.”

Wouldn’t we all like to be hanging out to dry in such a manner? Harris’ contract calls for him to make about $600,000 through the 2006 season. Which means in the next three years, he’ll earn more than most Americans make in a lifetime, which makes it pretty hard to work up much sympathy for him.

The stupid, populist argument. Like it or not, coaches get extensions all the time and it is standard to have 4 or more years to sell recruits that they’ll be there for the full time of their collegiate career. Harris only had two more years on his contract beyond this season. It was hardly the outrageous statement Smizik pretends it is.

As a way to not leave Harris hanging, LaMonte suggested, “If they’re going to fire him, they should have fired him before the season.”

At the start of this season it was not, as LaMonte suggested, a foregone conclusion Harris would be fired at the end of it, although there probably was some sympathy for moving in that direction by the important people at Pitt. Today it is a virtual certainty he’ll be fired because of the way his team has underachieved this season.

Not that Smizik wasn’t leading the charge to get Harris fired from the start of the season. Taking shots wherever he could.

Based on their play in the first five games, the Panthers are badly coached, wildly under-talented or both. In every case, most of the fault rests with Harris.

There was no reason to fire Harris at the start of the season and if he is fired at the end of it — or sooner — it will be because he has earned it on the basis of his coaching performance.

LaMonte would have preferred Harris being fired after last season so his client could pick up about $1.8 million for not coaching as opposed to the $1.2 million he’ll walk away with if he’s fired after the season.

No disagreement here. No s**t on the last point.

If Harris is as miserable on the job as LaMonte suggests — and we can only assume Harris was aware of and approved of his agent’s comments — here’s a solution for him.

Quit.

That’s right, walk away from this miserable job. And if life is so unbearable, don’t wait until the end of the season. Do it today.

That might present a hardship for Pitt since Harris, as head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, is the only man who knows the offense. Regardless, no one should be made to suffer so.

That sound you hear is me banging my head against a wall. This is what Smizik is wasting his column space arguing? Shut up about your situation or quit? Harris is taking abuse from all sides. We are openly drawing up lists of possible replacements for him. Everyone is just waiting for the axe. So, the Harris camp finally fires back, and Smizik wants to go self-righteous about it? Give me a break.

The notion put forth by LaMonte that Harris is unable to recruit because he has only two years remaining on his contract is total nonsense.

Harris’ contract did not stop two of the best high school prospects in recent Western Pennsylvania history — quarterback Anthony Morelli and running back Andrew Johnson — from making verbal commitments to Pitt last year. Both eventually backed off those commitments but not because of Harris’ contractual situation.

It’s a fair point, not “total nonsense.” It is very easy to make that negative point to a recruit. The problem has more to do with the local coaches being alienated by Walt, and not winning when expected. That was why Johnson bailed. He saw an underachieving program and went to Miami where he might never get off the bench instead. Not winning takes it’s toll, and it costs you recruits. No matter who you are.

LaMonte also had a warning for Pitt. He said, “There aren’t that many good coaches out there to be had, especially for what Pitt wants to pay.”

If he is upset with Harris’ pay, he should look in the mirror at the man who negotiated the contract.

You may want to speak to your paper’s beat reporter about Pitt’s pay rates. It isn’t just the head coach, it’s his staff.

As for Pitt not being able to attract top candidates, that is more nonsense.

Any Division I-A job will attract good candidates. A Division I-A job at a school with a BCS affiliation, which is the case at Pitt, will attract a plethora of quality candidates.

Attract? Sure. Get? Another issue. There are going to be a lot of coaching changes at programs with better reps than Pitt, and others looking to move up in reputation. Got to love the consistency from Smizik. One week he spends an entire column stressing how important it is that Pitt get the hiring of Harris’ replacement right, the next week it is just like throwing a dart with the eyes closed to find a guy.

As for pay, there’s no question Pitt will have to pay more to Harris’ successor. It would have paid more to Harris, if it had been merited.

Harris’ long list of game-day blunders might have escaped the notice of some ardent Pitt fans. But those with their eyes open — and most certainly the Pitt administrators — are well aware of his coaching limitations.

Pitt will have to pay close to $1 million per year for its next coach. It’s not afraid to do that. That kind of money was dangled in front of basketball coach Ben Howland when he considered — and eventually took — the UCLA job.

Harris has done a lot of good things at Pitt. But he is in his current predicament because of his — and his agent’s — own doing.

Pitt didn’t act pre-emptively with Howland, and nearly lost Pitt’s top recruiter and assistant Barry Rohrssen over the summer because they were slow to react (and even then, still offered less money). While Pitt did make a good offer to try and get Skip Prosser, it has never stepped up with the money and gotten its man. You have to worry.

Harris has to finish the season.

Oh, dear God I really don’t want to have to mention this because I’m afraid spammers will find the comments and I dread what the hit counter will start showing on searches leading here. Pitt legend Tony Dorsett was in town to promote the NFL backed ED drug Levitra (you know, the one with the subtle commercial showing a guy throwing a football through a tire swing). The same one another Pitt legend, Mike Ditka promotes. He’s working through the NFL’s “Tackling Men’s Health” program.

Still, he was in town and he wanted to talk about the state of Pitt’s program. He did two interviews. One with Gene Collier of the PG and one with the Trib sportswriters. Obviously they are both must reads for the day, and if you live in Pittsburgh I have to believe these are big topics on the sports talk. Please leave your impression of what the mood/thoughts were from the callers and hosts in the comments if you listen.

From the Collier interview:

“I’d be willing to come back here — not as a coach because I never had any coaching aspirations, but you know Texas has Earl Campbell doing some things for them and South Carolina has George Rogers, and if there was a role for me where I could stop this thing where too many players are going away from Pittsburgh, if I could show recruits what it’s like to be part of something really special and memorable, I would entertain that.

“I don’t want to sound like I’m looking for a job. I’m not. But I do care enough about where this program is at that I would consider it.”

Dorsett’s aware of the public debate between proponents of having the next coach be a “Pitt man” and those who judge that wholly unnecessary. Even though he played for a hugely successful staff led by non-Pitt men Johnny Majors and Jackie Sherrill, Dorsett’s position on this couldn’t be more clear.

“I suggested years ago that the program be turned over to one of our own, and that’s the way I still feel. I think it should be someone with NFL experience. I’ve mentioned Matt Cavanaugh. I think it should be someone who knows Pitt football, someone who’s felt it, breathed it, smelled it, tasted it.”

He elaborated a little more on the relocating issue with the Trib.

“I don’t think I want to do any coaching, and I don’t even know if there’s a position that would be possible for Tony Dorsett back here at the University of Pittsburgh,” he said. “But I’ll tell you what, if it took me coming back here to help — if it all could work out from a financial standpoint and relocating and all that stuff — I definitely would do it.” Dorsett has an active career as a public speaker and dabbles in other businesses back in Dallas, where he starred for the Cowboys.

He also made clearer where he would like to help — recruiting (thank you)

“There are too many damn good athletes in the state of Pennsylvania, especially right here in Western PA, that need to start going to Pitt somehow,” Dorsett said. “I look around country and I see the people at LSU, they’re talking about, ‘I want to stay at home and make a difference, and I want to help change this program.’

“We need to get somebody out there to spread the word and make these kids understand and get them to stay here and want to be a part of something, a part of building something, like my class was. We were way down there and we took it way up here. And then it was easier for us to recruit … So, Walt, if you need me, I’m just a telephone call away.”

If AD Long or Chancellor Nordenberg aren’t on the phone with Dorsett today, every Pitt fan should be pissed.

After the final game at Pitt Stadium in 1999, we — along with half the stadium it seemed — crowded into C.J. Barney’s for the post game. Dorsett was at the bar with a small entourage (maybe 3 other guys). People were in awe and just excited to see him. He wasn’t mobbed or had people screaming his name. It was oddly respectful. Everyone, though, was aware of him and watching him. The man exudes dignity and class. The idea of him actively helping the school with recruits and some PR for the athletic department makes me drool.

Now, of course, I don’t agree with his insistence on having a “Pitt guy” be the next head coach. I just want the best guy for the job, and that the guy have the money and leverage to be able to hire and pay for good assistants/recruiters.

As for the coach at the moment, Walt Harris, his agent has begun to complain about the lack of an extension for Harris. This has forced AD Long to make some public statements, but not the dreaded “vote of confidence.” Here’s what Bob LaMonte, Harris’ agent said:

Harris has two years remaining on his contract after this season, which is virtual lame-duck status in college football, where recruiting is the lifeblood. If Harris is fired, Pitt would have to pay him for his two final years at an estimated $600,000 per year.

“The way things are now, they’ve left Walt just hanging out to dry,” LaMonte said. “They’ve made it virtually impossible for him to recruit, not just because they haven’t given him an extension, but also because not one person from the university has stepped out to publicly defend Walt through all of this.

“At the end of the day, that’s really ridiculous. If they were going to fire him, they should have fired him before the season. Everybody knew this was going to be a young team that would struggle some, so what really have they learned about Walt as a coach now that they didn’t know back then?

“We’re all adults, if they are going to fire him, fire him, and he’ll go get a job that pays him more and has a lot less headaches. If not, then end this speculation, give him a contract extension and give him a chance to salvage something out of this recruiting class. You can’t expect kids to sign up for four years when you only have two years left on your own contract.”

Now, I actually think all of this is essentially true. A little spin or putting some stuff in extremely favorable light (“struggle some”?), but the other side is that if they even began negotiating a contract extension season ticket renewals would tank.

AD Jeff Long said this much

“There has been a lot of speculation on the status of coach Harris. At the end of the year, I’ll sit down with coach Harris like I do with every one of our coaches. I do that with every coach, every year. So I’m not going to get involved in making comments during the remainder of the season about coach Harris’ status.

“He is our football coach, he has brought us a long way and again, after the season we’ll sit down and talk. I am not going to have any further comment on this stuff in the future.”

Might as well put the house on the market now, Walt.

In news on the periphery, Senior Vince Crochunis was selected by the NCAA to serve as a member of the Division I Elite Football Student-Athlete Advisory Group. Crochunis is a 3 year starter at nose tackle and a 2-time Academic All-American. Last year, Larry Fitzgerald, was selected to the group.

WR Princell Brockenbrough has been practicing, hoping to return to the field after the injury and knee surgery. Why? He has already gotten one medical redshirt in his career and it is unlikely the NCAA would give him a 6th year of eligibility.

Some actual game information, no really. File this part under the “But, I swear officer, she said she was 18” section. The BC-Pitt game will be Cheerleader Day, featuring area high school cheerleaders on the sidelines. Making all of us at PSB feel even older and creepier.

The Boston sports media might be slightly preoccupied with something else, and even in the best of times they ignore BC, so there is only a story about the depth at RB for BC.

A couple rumors and things seem to be swirling over who will replace Walt Harris at Pitt (it seems like fait accompli at this point that he is gone). From SI last week (Adrian Peterson of Oklahoma on the cover) in the “Inside the NFL” section there was this little snippet from Peter King.

I’ll bet you a conch fritter that a year from now the Dolphins’ Dave Wannstedt will be the coach at his alma mater, Pitt.

Apparently this is the strongest rumor out there. But take this rumor from the Cleveland Plain Dealer for what it’s worth.

While the early money is on current Miami Dolphins coach Dave Wannstedt replacing Walt Harris as the University of Pittsburgh’s boss next season, the smart money is on someone else: Youngstown native (and former Ohio State standout) Bo Pelini, now Oklahoma’s co-defensive coordinator. Oklahoma’s defense has been suffocating this season – much like Pelini’s former defenses at Nebraska, where he was a defensive coordinator and interim head coach.

When I was drawing up my list of potential replacements, I considered Pelini. I decided against including him, because he was interim at Nebraska last season for a game or two and I’m not sure how willing Pitt will be to hire anyone with any ties to Nebraska for a while.

Last year Pitt won in a game that was closer than it should have been, 24-13. Pitt missed 2 field goals and had an interception to keep the game close into the 4th quarter. Pitt dominated time of possession, and put the game away on a halfback option TD pass from Jawan Walker to Fitzgerald. The corner who bit on the play is still a little ticked about that.

In that game the most surprising thing was that Pitt’s O-line provided good protection for QB Rutherford, because BC’s defense had been talking about pressuring and dominating the O-line. The difference in that game to this, is that the fullback then — Lousaka Polite — was a superb blocker and did a great job on containing their star defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka. Unfortunately, Polite is gone but Kiwanuka isn’t. Regular FB Tim Murphy is still hurt, so it looks like RB Ray Kirkley will be doing a fair amount of time at the FB position.

Kirkley lining up at FB means Marcus Furman and Brandon Mason should get more touches in the backfield.

The key for the BC Eagles on offense has always been their O-line. They have sent 7 offensive linemen to the NFL since ’97. They felt Pitt’s best lineman, Rob Pettiti wasn’t good enough when he was being recruited. Bendel uses the story on BC’s O-line to hammer home how Pitt has wiffed with local talent.

Let’s face it, a down year for Pitt right now will not get the attention an average season for ND or the latest in a series of bad seasons for PSU. So, last week when the national media somewhat noticed — but only so far as making it into a Harris witchhunt story — it shouldn’t have been too surprising. Add in that Pitt only lost to a “positive” story in the UConn Huskies rising to Div. 1-A status and I guess it makes some senses. This week, though, after struggling to come back against the hideous Temple Owls views change.

Maybe Pittsburgh‘s Walt Harris is in trouble after all. Dogged in the local media, but given a pass here last week, Harris’ Panthers needed a late rally to fend off a dreadful Temple team playing without its best player, linebacker Rian Wallace.

Funny, in a sad way, how 2 wins (Furman and Temple) may cost Harris more than one loss.

Joe Bendel has two mid-season Big East reports on ESPN.com. One on the Big East as a conference:

Biggest Disappointment
Pittsburgh entered the season with mild expectations after losing eight starters on offense, but nobody could have predicted such a rapid free-fall. While it’s true the Panthers are 3-2, 1-1, they needed overtime to defeat Division I-AA Furman and barely escaped a Temple team that was coming off a 70-16 loss against Bowling Green the previous week. Quarterback Tyler Palko is emerging as an offensive threat, but he’s playing behind an offensive line that is allowing defenses to attack him nearly every time he drops back. Palko will have a difficult time making it through the season if this keeps up — and then, disaster will really hit. Coach Walt Harris continues to take heat for some off-beat play-calling, most notably a “slide” by Palko for field goal position in a loss at UConn. The Panthers will have a difficult time finding another win on their schedule unless they discover some serious toughness on both sides of the line. Harris is under fire, and a sub-par season could seal his fate in Pittsburgh.

[Emphasis added.]

That was a very polite phrasing by Bendel on Harris for the country.

His other mid-term report is team-by-team (subs. req’d):

Pittsburgh was supposed to be instrumental in keeping the Big East strong, but coach Walt Harris’ team has struggled from the outset. The Panthers sport a decent record (3-2, 1-1), but their victories have come against Mid-American Conference member Ohio, Division I-AA Furman (in overtime) and lowly Temple, which nearly upset them last Saturday. Sophomore quarterback Tyler Palko has been one of the few bright spots on a team that struggles to run the ball and misses way too many tackles. The Panthers even became the answer to a trivia question when they were on the wrong end of UConn’s first victory as a Big East member. Unless Harris finds a way to light a fire under this team, they could be in trouble Saturday against Boston College (ESPN2, noon ET). And, it could be the beginning of a nasty downward spiral.

Midseason MVP: QB Tyler Palko willed the Panthers to victories over Furman and Temple, leading fourth-quarter comebacks both times. The left-hander went 30-of-36 for 380 yards with three scores vs. the Purple Paladins and 13-of-18 for 191 yards and a TD vs. the Owls. His numbers are solid — 82-of-149 for 1,115 yards with 7 TDs — but what stands out most is his ability make plays at crucial moments. If he had better protection, his numbers would be even better.

What’s next: The Panthers will struggle to find three more wins, the amount needed to play in a bowl game. They get Rutgers at home, and Syracuse and South Florida on the road. Those games are winnable, but past that, nothing is guaranteed. Perhaps, Palko will find it in himself to spring a few upsets and put this program back on the Big East map.

Well, you have to be optimistic when you can.

Okay, the Pitt site wasn’t working when I got the last post out, so a bunch of good stuff wasn’t passed on to you.We have the Walt Harris Press Conference (Windows Streaming) and the partial transcript. The game notes are available (PDF), and the links to more BC info.

Back from my trip, and I see no point to recap the Pitt-Temple game. Nor the articles that followed. From what I read it was another bad game for Pitt, punctuated by flashes of brilliance by the end to allow Pitt to escape with a win.

So, to move on to the BC game this weekend, on ESPN2 at noon (ugh!).

As the defense has begun to collapse again, changes are afoot (they gave up how many yards to Temple?). Defensive Coordinator, Paul Rhoads may not start safeties Tez Morris and Ty Gilliard this weekend because of their poor play.

I know this may come as a shock to Pitt fans, but, get this, they weren’t tackling. They were playing out of position and missing tackles. Wow. Hard to imagine guys coached by Paul Rhoads the last couple of years doing that. This came directly from Paul Rhoads, when he actually was at the Harris press conference. Kind of odd, but it tells you about the pressure Harris is now feeling and also how much of a hit Rhoads’ star has been taking. This might come back to haunt him if the D doesn’t change soon:

Rhoads said his defense needs to find more passion. It’s yielded an average of 29.6 points and 425.3 yards to its past three opponents. “We have to analyze and say, why?” Rhoads said. “We think we came up with some answers with the staff and our kids are looking forward to moving on with those answers.” The answers? “Some are schematic and some are with our personality. We have to play with some juice and some emotion.”

Oh, hell, let’s haunt him now. Let’s see, we had the defense “contaminated” last year — glad they excised that problem — with not enough passion. In addition, this year, Rhoads is teaching more tackling this year unlike last year, and it is showing. Has it been mentioned that Rhoads coaches the secondary as well? Then there is that vow to stop the run this year. Not working out so well.

A story on WR coach Pete Carmichael. Is it me, or was there a couple little shots taken at Harris in this?

The Boston Globe does a nice enough story on Tyler Palko.

Don’t worry, though, Harris feels this could be a special Pitt team — someday.

He said it is still too early to tell how good the Panthers are because their upside is so great.

He said the most encouraging thing about his team is that the players don’t quit when things go bad.

“All season long we’ve showed our grit and our fight and our positive attitude towards being behind,” Harris said. “I really admire how hard they have fought back in a couple of games that looked rather bleak for us. I’m real proud of that fight and that competitiveness.”

Except when the defense doesn’t “play with some juice and some emotion.” Like the last 3 games.

My quick summary at mid-season: QB looks good, no O-line, RB weak, WR incomplete, Punting solid, Kicking solid, D-line no pressure or penetration, secondary incomplete.

As for the game on Saturday. Offensive Lineman, and allegedly the best player on the line, Rob Pettiti is still questionable for the game. So is Fullback Tim Murphy.

I hope Joe Flacco is staying ready,

Harris said the Panthers’ biggest challenge against the Eagles this week is finding a way to contain All-Big East defensive tackle Mathias Kiwanuka, who leads the conference with nine tackles for loss and is second with four sacks.

Sorry if I don’t seem more optimistic about the game.

Oh, and the Rutgers game the following weekend is also a Noon start.