Congratulations, guys:

A day after being named to the All-Big East Football Team, Pittsburgh senior defensive tackles Vince Crochunis and Dan Stephens were selected to the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America Football Team. Both players were first-team honorees.

With the selection, Crochunis becomes the first three-time Academic All-American in Panthers football history. Stephens was honored for the second time.

The ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America Football Team is selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). To be eligible, a student-athlete must be a starter or key reserve and maintain a cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.20 on a scale of 4.00. He must have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at the institution and completed at least one full academic year at the school.

Both have moved on, academically, to graduate school.

The Pitt-USF game has Pitt favored by 7 points. The predictions are out there.

Why Pittsburgh might win: Turnovers. The Panthers have forced 21 takeaways so far while only giving it up 12 times. South Florida has forced ten turnovers but has given it up 17 times. Pittsburgh’s biggest weakness is pass defense, but the Bulls can’t throw and need to run to win. The Panther run D has been solid.
Why South Florida might win: All of the pressure is on Pittsburgh and as Boston College showed last week and West Virginia proved the week before, the Big East lead dog has a problem holding on. This is USF’s bowl game and will can make a big national splash. To do that, the running game has to get rolling early and QB Pat Julmiste must come up with one of his better performances. That might happen against the porous Panther secondary.
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What will happen: Don’t be shocked if South Florida plays above its head and gets up early. The problem is that the Bulls aren’t very good and don’t have the defense to handle Palko and the Panther passing game.
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Fearless Prediction: Pittsburgh 31 … South Florida 23

Seems to be the most accurate assessment I’ve read.

This one goes with Pitt, pointing out that any home field advantage USF had shown previously is non-existent this season. Only 2-3 at home. It also wonders if Pitt will be a little too tight, but still expects a Pitt W by the end.

Finally this one, predicts a Pitt 10 point win, but considering the factual errors: “Jim Leavitt’s Bulls are riding a three-game winning streak…” Um, no. They have lost 2 straight, and at 4-6 haven’t won 3 in a row this season. I wouldn’t trust that prediction.

Okay, thanks to one of our readers, we have the actual article with the insane ramblings of the NJ temporary Gov. Too dumb for words.

The idea of Jim Fassel as head coach at Stanford is very appealing to some. The idea of a link back to the glory days with John Elway. Considering the strong support that seems out there for a “Pitt” guy to be head coach at Pitt, I guess I can’t criticize. I just think that Fassel wants to remain in the NFL. Why else would he have made an open play for the Dolphins job already?

This article, though, suggests Stanford is going to make a play for Harris:

Stanford made arrangements Wednesday to interview its top choice, Pittsburgh coach Walt Harris, for its vacant coaching position.

Harris might be interviewed after the Cardinal interview Norm Chow either Sunday or Monday. Former New York Giants coach Jim Fassel also is a candidate, along with former Stanford wide receiver James Lofton, currently an assistant with the San Diego Chargers.

Chow said he didn’t speak to anyone from Stanford on Wednesday.

Harris must have had a busy day, yesterday.

Pitt’s Bowl Central press release also has info on ordering bowl tickets and who has priorities and how many they can get. So, where are you in this, Pat?

Regarding that actual game that still needs to be played on Saturday, here’s the Pitt Game Central release.

Rutgers, which was starting to get oddly cocky about its basketball team, suffered a humiliating home loss to Penn State, 83-80. A Penn State team picked to finish last, again, in the Big 11 — just like the previous 3 years. I only bring this up because I read one damned weird thing:

But acting New Jersey Gov. Richard J. Codey takes the sports-politics connection too far. We speak of his announcement Tuesday, to the Gannett state bureau there, that he plans to invite Penn State to join the Big East “after the season’s over, when things settle down.”

The Penn State football season is over, it has settled down and out, at a 4-7 record. But acting Gov. Codey is barking up the wrong tree.

Why attempting to lure Penn State to the Big East would be prominent on Codey’s agenda is a matter for his New Jersey constituents to consider.

It’s not like he’d be doing Rutgers, the state’s Big East member, any favors. The benefit for Penn State is unclear, too. Even in a watered-down Big East, Penn State wouldn’t have been a contender this season.

There is also the matter of Joe Paterno holding a grudge over his dream of an eastern sports conference being spurned at first, then implemented without Penn State.

This seems too bizarre and stupid to be true. Nothing at the NJ Gannett site. Nothing via Google news.

Anyone know anything about this, or is Sam Ross just insane?

The Pitt win last night, was dominated by Troutman on the stats and in the game (PDF), so when you look at the quotes, everyone was asked about Troutman’s play (PDF). Pitt got off to something of a slow start on offense and was down 17-14, but then went on a 17-2 run to end any thoughts of an upset.

A glance at the splits, shows that the starters played most of the first half and then no more than half of the second. I suspect I will be watching the minutes of the starters very closely all year. I really want to see Pitt use more of their bench and keep the starters fresher.

Freshman CB, Darrelle Revis, is eyeing a place on the Pitt basketball team’s bench after the BCS bowl. I wonder if he’ll get off the bench. He will, essentially be joining the team as Big East play begins. I expect by that point, Coach Dixon will have a shorter bench.

Nothing in the Pittsburgh papers concerning the actual game on Saturday. That kind of makes me nervous.

Mainly stories about Harris winning coach of the year honors in the BE; and the players named to the All-Big East Team. A topic discussed yesterday. Of course the articles have some nice quotes and comments from Harris and some of the players.

Rasheed Marshall of WVU was named the First Team QB. Again, I would have picked Walter Washington of Temple, who is also on the Second Team with Palko. The First Team WRs are Chris Henry of WVU and Tres Moses of Rutgers. I disagree with the Moses pick. He has, far and away, the most receptions of anyone in the BE, but Lee has a higher yards/reception average more TD catches, and after the USF game will have more total yards. Moses was in a pass happy system.

Gene Collier gives much love to the play of TE Eric Gill.

Tony Dorsett, who back in October ripped the state of the Panthers, has changed his tune.

“Pitt is it,” he said, laughing. “It’s good to see them winning games that they should be winning. I’m really happy for Walt Harris and his staff. I’m happy for the players. At this point, it looks like they have it together.”

Pitt has all but clinched a spot in a BCS bowl by winning five of its past six games. Should Harris, who has two years left on his contract, be rewarded with a contract extension?

“Personally, from this vantage point, it looks like Walt should be there,” Dorsett said. “I’m not there day to day. I don’t know exactly what’s going on, but, from my vantage point, it looks like they’re back on track.”
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“It’s always good to see them whip the Irish, let me tell you, whether it’s one point or 25,” said Dorsett, who retired from the NFL in 1988. “It’s even better when you do it in their backyard.”

Dorsett, speaking by phone from Dallas, said this Pitt team is making its fans proud.

“I always said the only way to get out of it is to rally around each other,” he said. “Take a look in the mirror, look at what needs to be done. Obviously, it seems like that’s what they’re doing.”

Winning makes everyone feel better.

Of course, winning also makes your coach a hotter commodity. Especially this year, where the number of vacancies is already rising quickly. The Stanford job appears to already have a short list:

The short list includes USC offensive coordinator Norm Chow, Pittsburgh head coach Walt Harris, former New York Giants head coach Jim Fassel and Boise State head coach Dan Hawkins.

Hawkins should be a guy in demand this year. I had him on my list of potentials for when we all believed Harris was going to be fired.