Pitt ended up crushing Robert Morris 83-59. Now 37-1 at the Pete, Pitt was actually down 30-26 with 6:17 left in the first half (PDF version of box score and play-by-play). Pitt then shut out RMU for the rest of the half and went into halftime up 42-30. In the second half it took Pitt nearly 3 minutes to get its first points, and the Colonials closed to within 4 points before Pitt started opening the lead up again and holding RMU to only 19 points over the last 15 minutes.

Looking at the box score, it was a big night for Taft and Krauser. They combined for 39 points. Actually, the big men of Pitt all scored at will. Aaron Gray was 3-3 with 6 points. Troutman had 10 points. I’m not sure why Levon Kendall tried to take a 3-pointer, but it might explain why he only played 3 minutes.

Antonio Graves got back into the game off the bench. He did very well in 21 minutes with 7 points on 3-4 shooting. Ronald Ramon had a bad shooting night (3-9 overall, and 2-8 on 3-point shots) but still had 8 points.

Yuri Demetrius had a solid game off the bench and provided some solid defense, that the coach and some of the players were talking about afterwards (PDF).

For WVU, they don’t use dump off or outlet passes much. When the play breaks down, QB Rasheed Marshall takes off. That’s why their starting TE has only one catch for the year, and now he is doubtful for the game. Their RB Kay-Jay Harris is banged up, but seems healthy enough to go in this game. If he doesn’t touch the ball at least 20 times in the first half, I will have to assume he isn’t in great shape.

A bit of a puff piece on Tyler Palko, but a clueless dis of WR Greg Lee:

When West Virginia and Pitt play Thursday night at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, it will be Palko that worries West Virginia most. Pitt has no standout receiver anymore, although Greg Lee has 45 catches for almost 1,000 yards.

Lee is 6th in the country in receiving yards per game and is the Big East’s leading receiver, and he isn’t a standout receiver? He has 4 less catches than WVU’s Chris Henry but for 117 more yards. Right, not a standout if you mean getting unsportsmanlike penalties and suspensions. I’m sure the WVU coaches are planning to line Pac-Man Jones up against DelSardo instead. I can only hope that the Hoopies are that dumb.

Speaking of clueless, it seems another writer in West Virginia just figured out that Pitt could make it to the BCS bowl. In depth sports reporting to match the fan intelligence. Can’t give them too much info too soon.

Final useful feature. WVU’s “5 Keys to Victory”

1. Running the Football
2. Containing Tyler Palko
3. Creating Turnovers
4. Special Teams
5. Field Position

Run. True enough. The Mountaineers should have at least a 3-1, run to pass on their play calling. Be it Harris running left, right, middle or QB Marshall just rolling out or running on a draw. Hoping for brainlock or a little ego in Rodriguez to show that they can still throw the ball without Henry to catch the passes.

Contain Palko. Hopefully they will try to do that with a lot of blitzes. The Pitt O-line has gotten much better at providing pass protection, and when things finally break down, Palko has gotten loose. The more dangerous thing might be if they just drop a lot of guys into coverage and have a spy waiting for Palko to run when the protection finally breaks down. That scares me more.

Turnovers. 7-2. The last two Backyard Brawls, WVU has a +5 turnover margin against Pitt. Pitt has only committed 6 interceptions and lost 5 fumbles this season. WVU has committed 7 interceptions and 9 fumbles. Conversely Pitt has recovered 6 fumbles has 13 interceptions (a +8 turnover margin). WVU has recovered 8 fumbles and also has 13 interceptions (+5 turnover margin). Pitt has to continue to be careful with the ball.

Special Teams. WVU fans, and hopefully the coaches, are spooked over what BC did on returns. Seems to be a bit of overemphasizing it this week. Pitt is not a particularly good return team. As long as Allen Richardson is returning punts, they should be happy. At this point, all Pitt wants to make sure happens is that there are turnovers when receiving a kick or punt. WVU should be more concerned with Graessle’s punting and Cummings FG kicking.

Field Position. Against ND, Pitt showed it can march right down the field, controlling and protecting the ball. Field position takes care of itself depending on everything else. A stupid “key” to victory.

There are 13 seniors on the Pitt roster. Their last home game. Time to show some more love to these players. Guys like Malcolm Postell and Ty Gilliard who committed to the school before Heinz Field, and after the end of Pitt Stadium.

Justin Belarski, Princell Brockenbrough, Vince Crochunis, Tuazama Edwards, Rob Frederick, J.B. Gibboney, Ty Gilliard, Keith Hill, Jake Holthaus, Matt Maiers, Rob Petitti, Malcolm Postell and Dan Stephens make their farewell tour at home tomorrow night in the Backyard Brawl.

Pitt has one more regular-season game after this one, vs. South Florida on Dec. 4 in Tampa.

It could be argued that this group of seniors is part of one of the more significant turnarounds in college football – on and off the field. The Panthers now practice at a state-of-the-art facility on the South Side (which opened in 2000) and play at an NFL venue in Heinz Field (which opened in 2001).

Their record in the past four-plus years is 37-22 (.627 winning percentage) and they’re on the verge of a fifth consecutive bowl bid. West Virginia, the school’s heated rival, stands in their way.

“Beating them would be icing on the cake,” Gilliard said.

All nine scholarship players are on target to graduate, including three (center Belarski and Academic All-American defensive tackles Crochunis and Stephens) who are already in grad school.

Much like when an officiating crew is calling a good game you tend to forget, one of the things to give credit to Coach Walt Harris is that the Pitt football program is clean and graduating players.

Senior Defensive Tackle Dan Stephens gets his own story.

The alarm clock in Dan Stephens’ apartment goes off at 3 a.m. every day. He promptly gets out of bed, pricks his finger and checks to make sure his blood sugar is at the proper level.

If it is not …

“I take a shot of insulin,” said Stephens, a senior defensive tackle at Pitt who must then submerge a needle into his abdomen.

Stephens follows the same procedure three hours later. And, he continues the process throughout the day, as many as 18 more times.

He must shoot his stomach with insulin each time he sits down to eat.

“That’s life as I know it,” Stephens said.

This is what it is like to be a Type 1 diabetic, which is the most severe form of juvenile diabetes. If Stephens does not do these things, he will die.

Damn.

As for the actual game, WVU’s focus has been on getting their special teams in order and stopping Tyler Palko. They also need to get another wide receiver ready to play.

The Backyard Brawl, at least from West Virginia’s side of the tussle, could turn on the performance of a backup quarterback who has never taken a snap at the position.

No, Rasheed Marshall isn’t hurt. Neither is Charles Hales, who’s the Mountaineers’ true backup at quarterback. For that matter, Adam Bednarik, who’s probably West Virginia’s third quarterback, is quite healthy, too.

We’re talking here about Dwayne Thompson, a redshirt freshman quarterback who this week became a starting wide receiver.

Thompson, 6 feet 2, 195, will succeed the suspended Chris Henry at a wideout spot for the Mountaineers tomorrow night at Heinz Field.

From a storybook perspective, this has all the makings of a big game for WVU. Just starts making me nervous.

Coach Harris thinks that the key to the Mountaineers winning the last two Brawls has been the Hoopie defense.

The Mountaineers’ defense has given many teams fits the past few years, but few more than the Panthers. West Virginia operates out of a rare 3-5-3 (three down linemen, five linebackers, three defensive backs) base alignment.

It is the only time this season Pitt will face the alignment, therefore the Panthers haven’t had a lot of opportunity to practice against it.

Harris said it has helped to have had a couple of extra days to prepare (Pitt was off Saturday) but that the defense requires a lot of patience to beat.

On some plays, the five linebackers act like down linemen or linebackers. On other plays, they act like safeties. The end result is that there could be seven or eight guys rushing the passer or seven or eight dropping into coverage on any given play.

This means that the defense is always trying to disguise what it is doing. In a way, it is a defensive equivalent to the spread offense WVU runs that tries to keep defenses off guard with quick alignments and play calling.

Wish I could be there on Thursday night.

That there’s a basketball game tonight. Part of the problem with the lousy non-con is that it is hard to get enthused for basketball season when you know the outcomes are givens. And of course, the games aren’t even being televised locally. No broadcasts until the December 4 game against Duquesne (FoxSports Pittsburgh). Tonight, it’s the Robert Morris Colonials. Game Notes here (PDF). For Robert Morris, it’s a chance to play against the big boys with no pressure on them. They are 0-23 in their games against Pitt.

Robet Ramon, the freshman, will again get the start at the 2 guard, as Antonio Graves is still bothered by his left ankle sprain. Dixon sees Ramon still getting a lot of minutes even after Graves is healthy because Ramon can also run the point when Krauser needs a break. It also doesn’t hurt that Ramon looks like Pitt’s best threat from the outside. Dixon has also been encouraged by Ramon’s willingness to embrace the defense quickly.

John DeGroat is having a little more trouble adjusting to the role he needs to play on defense at the 3 guard. He has a lot of speed and a great shooting touch, but the defensive assignments have been a little more difficult. This has him splitting time with Senior Yuri Demetrius who has the defense down, but is not much of a scoring threat. Coach Dixon says he is trying to work in a mix of players right now.