Today was the final scrimmage. The starters were just put in situational scrimmages — 2 minute drills and such. Second and third team got much more action. Apparently really going at it at times.

Coach Wannstedt had some nice things to say about TE Darrell Strong and WR Derek Kinder:

On Darrell Strong:

He’s a guy that can play a lot of different positions because he’s such a good athlete. He was a receiver last year. You guys know better than me. You can put him a lot of different places and he gives you a chance to make a play. I was very encouraged by the way he responded. He got banged up a little bit and came back in there so it was good to see his toughness.

On Derek Kinder:

At the end of spring I felt like we had Greg Lee and Kinder and (Joe) DelSardo (at receiver). Kinder ended up the spring real strong. He had a slow start but has picked it up the last couple days so that’s encouraging. We need one more guy to come through so we can use some of our four wide receiver sets. We want to be able to spread people out and do some different things. It is encouraging that we feel real good about three right now.

I won’t be surprised if Strong is second on the depth chart at tight end. Kinder having some good practices is encouraging, especially since Marcus Furman had stiffness in his back after only one practice at WR. Of some concern, Linebacker Clint Session had his knee scoped. His status is day-to-day.

Wow.

Bob Huggins was ordered Tuesday to resign or he’ll be fired as Cincinnati’s basketball coach, culminating a power struggle with the school president.

In a letter sent by the university, Huggins was given 24 hours to resign, or he would be fired and get a buyout.

Huggins told ESPN’s Jay Bilas that he hasn’t been contacted directly on the matter.

His lawyer received a letter from the university on Tuesday afternoon with the ultimatum.

According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, associate head coach Andy Kennedy will be asked to replace Huggins in the interim.

Define interim. Believe it or not, Midnight Madness hits October 14. That’s a little more than 7 weeks away. If I’m Kennedy, and if I want that job, I am demanding more than an interim offer.

Can you see Cinci or any school for that matter scrambling to find and hire a coach at this point? If they don’t hire Kennedy, anyone else they bring in won’t be able to do jack. The players can’t practice until October. The new coach would barely have a month before their first game on November 19. You almost guarantee a flushed season. Fans, alumni, students would be braying for blood.

Regardless of whether you like Huggins or not, the way it was handled was pure idiocy. If they were going to do this, at the latest, it should have been done back in May when the crap first went down. They bluffed then trying to get Huggins to leave (and low balled on the buyout) and he called. It took them until now to finally act — and they are still lowballing if you read the letter.

Cinci President Nancy Zimpher has screwed up big time. She will be taking the fall in the next couple of years. To follow this story go to the Bearcats blog, where Brandon is now grabbing local media attention thanks to his other site.

The wife (Cinci alum) is going to be pissed when she gets home from work.

The inaugural BlogPoll debuts. Big props to Brian for the time and effort in putting this project together. You can see every voter’s ballot here, by clicking the green checkmark. Here’s my ballot with my comments from last week.

In the Poll, Pitt is ranked at #24. Apparently, Pitt had one of the lowest variations of rankings from poll to poll. I ranked as having high bias (defined as where you put your team versus where they came out on the blogpoll) for putting Pitt at #15. I’m not surprised where Pitt ranked. To some degree it’s my own fault for not getting around to doing a blogpoll question on the subject of making a case for why a team(s) should or shouldn’t be ranked in a spot. I like to think I could have made a persuasive case to have at least gotten Pitt to #21 with the voters.

Still, this should be an interesting venture.

Another practice notebook piece. The focus is primarily on the receiving corp.

The wideout corps was hampered by injuries to junior Greg Lee (shoulder) and redshirt sophomore Terrell Allen (hamstring), the past week or so. Lee and junior Joe DelSardo were set as starters when camp began, but sophomores Derek Kinder and Kelvin Chandler and redshirt freshman Marcel Pestano were expected to push for playing time. Neither stepped up, despite the increased reps, while frosh Oderick Turner made progress.

“The receivers are getting better, but there’s still a lot of work to do,” Cavanaugh said. “Losing Greg for about a week set us back a bit because he’s just not our most explosive receiver but he’s one of the leaders.

“That left a big hole to fill. … There were signs that some guys would step up. Instead, they reminded us just how young and inexperienced they are, but they’re working hard and getting better every day.”

If Allen could get and stay healthy I would love to see what he could do as a receiver.

Athlon finally put their Player’s Forum story online. This was a feature in their college football preview magazine. Tyler Palko was one of the participants, but he only answered some of the questions.

Do players read the Internet?
Palko: I can’t speak for everyone but I don’t have enough time to read it myself. I try not to pay attention to stuff like that. It ends up being a distraction. To tell you the truth, it really doesn’t matter what anyone else says or feels except for your team and your coaches.
…
Did you enjoy the recruiting process?
Palko: No, I hated it. I just wanted to pick a school and start playing football.

Worth a look.

Finally, USA Today has a story on Coach Wannstedt taking over at Pitt (hat tip Smith). The article starts out and ends with stock material we’ve already heard. The stuff about the steel mills where Coach Wannstedt worked and how much the area has changed, and the ability to eat, drink and schmoose at the Duquesne Club then down to the South Side. The rest of the article, though is pretty good.

Former coach Walt Harris “did a great job,” Wannstedt says of his predecessor, now at Stanford. “We’ve got a good foundation.”

The current players are already enthused.

“Every time (Wannstedt) comes out to the practice field he’s ready to teach,” says Blades, whose father, Bennie, played for Wannstedt at Miami (Fla.), where the coach was on the Hurricanes staff from 1986-88. “My dad told me that whole staff with Coach Wannstedt would do anything to win, and that’s what we want.

“It gives us that much more energy, and we want to learn. On the first day of practice, he ran out clapping his hands and ready to go. I thought he was ready to suit up and hit somebody. Everybody wants to play for a winner, and Coach Wannstedt is a proven winner.”
…
Still, Wannstedt was hesitant about taking the job. He had been away from Pitt and the college game a long time and wanted to be sure he wasn’t acting only on emotion.

“I know the responsibility that comes with being a head coach, and knew the work and commitment it would take to build a top-10 program. And that’s the goal,” says Wannstedt, who was an assistant coach with Pitt’s 1976 national championship team.

“The (ex-coaches) Johnny Majorses and Foge Fazios and ex-Pitt players, all these guys were calling, friends and family members — but at the end of the day, I’m the guy who has to walk in that office and deal with it.”

It also talks about his fast start on recruiting, and how much he enjoys doing the full circuit required of a college football coach today.

“I know I can help them play pro football,” he says. “But for the vast majority, they’re going to have to go out and get a job and have a family and make a contribution to society, and I really believe I can help these kids do that.”

Another refreshing change, he says, is breaking up the 12-month football year with things other than game planning and film grading.

“I spent a month on the road at golf tournaments with alumni, and I loved that,” says Wannstedt, who also has enjoyed interacting with students on Pitt’s campus.

“Now football’s starting, so for the next five months I’m ready to go and start X-and-Oing and coaching football.

“The change has been good for me as compared to the NFL, where you have one month for the draft and the rest is all X’s and O’s. You can only draw up so many blitzes, you know.”

11 days until kick-off.

Apparently this is no longer the offensive line of last year.

With a little more than a week to go before the Panthers play their first game, most of the offensive linemen appear to be in excellent shape, and that’s a big reason why the depth chart at offensive line — which once was in disarray– is shaping up. And rather nicely, at that.

The Panthers’ starting offensive line from left to right is Charles Spencer, Dom Williams, Joe Villani, John Simonitis and Mike McGlynn. This unit mostly has played together since the start of spring practice.

But a bigger concern coming into camp than the starting line was identifying quality depth behind them. Early in preseason camp ,Wannstedt said he wasn’t sure if the Panthers had many legitimate backups and hinted that perhaps one or more true freshmen would make their way onto the two-deep roster.

His tune has changed, however, as the Panthers now have a veteran backup at all five positions. The talented trio of freshmen Wannstedt spoke of are still on the outside looking in. That means Wannstedt likely will be able to redshirt at least one, if not all, three.

A big reason for the improved play of the backups is their commitment to the offseason strength and conditioning program.

The emphasis on speed on the lines resulted in the slimming down of the players. I’m still worried about depth — the drop-off from 1st to 2nd team is still significant. I still expect at minimum one of the freshman to at least move to second team.

Another article on the o-line focuses on the 1st team. Specifically, the attention falls on Tackles Charles Spencer and Mike McGlynn.

After what turned into a spirited afternoon practice that had some Pitt players gasping at the conclusion, McGlynn praised his teammates and Wannstedt’s staff for the intense atmosphere.

“Coach Wannstedt has brought a lot of excitement to the offensive lineman, and he knows a lot about that position,” McGlynn said. “Coach Wannstedt is a great coach. He takes us toward that goal we want to achieve, and that’s to have a great season.”

McGlynn didn’t stop there.

“There’s a different view on our season this year, a different goal,” he said. “This year, we’re all striving for that same goal. I’m not saying anything bad about last year’s team, but I’m just looking at the future.

“I’m just really excited about this year and this group and how we’ve been working.”

Now all they have to do is actually open holes to give the running backs a chance and still protect Palko.

Freshman Gus Mustakas gets a nice piece today.

Wannstedt was impressed by Mustakas’ athleticism enough to consider moving him to center. Defensive tackle was another possibility. The coach also thought Mustakas might make a good linebacker if he didn’t put on enough weight to be a lineman.

“It was one of those deals where you say, ‘Geez, we’ll find a place for him,’ ” Wannstedt said. “Finally, we put him at defensive end because we needed a little bit of help there, and I think he’s found his spot.”

He has found some playing time, too. Mustakas, a freshman, has gotten plenty of reps with the first- and second-team lines during preseason camp.

He’ll probably start out at best 2nd on the depth chart. Considering the defensive end position has some question marks and is one of the weaker places for Pitt, though, he could be starting before the season is at the halfway point.

Other notes say that Coach Wannstedt will wait to decide who to move from tailback to fullback — Conredge Collins or Shane Brooks. Today is the final scrimmage for the team.

A couple things.

The BCS-Harris Interactive group released its list of voters (PDF, Via B&G Sky). It, uh, stretches its credibility when you see Terry Bradshaw, Rocket Ismail, Steve Largent, Boomer Esiason and some of the other names on the list. I mean, I see a Kenny Roda listed. The same Kenny Roda who is a sports talker on WKNR in Cleveland (from Pittsburgh, went to Baldwin & Wallace, totally slurps Tressel and OSU)? Grife!

And yet they will almost assuredly ignore the forthcoming blogpoll.

There are a couple Pitt guys on the list: Foge Fazio and John Congemi.

As the first game starts getting closer, I need to look in on some Notre Dame stuff. Now, maybe, I’m not the right messenger to tell the Domers this, but I think some of the “analysis” is going a wee bit over the edge.

The Notre Dame depth charts are still fuzzy, and that’s largely by design — to keep players hungry, to keep Pitt head coach Dave Wannstedt guessing, to keep the media at arm’s length.

First-year coach Charlie Weis hasn’t just put his signature on the Notre Dame football program, he’s imposed a manifesto on it, changed its personality, created a new culture.

I know they have elevated him to super-duper-genius in South Bend, but this is a bit much. Of course the ND depth chart is vague at this point. So is Pitt’s (but I don’t read anybody suggesting some super-secret-masterful plan as the reason).

You have a new coach, new system, plenty of transfers and kids leaving the program, some injuries, position switches and just the unknown of a new season looming. Ever hear of Occam’s Razor? Look into it.

I don’t know, the more I think about it, the last time I remember a top assistant rising to a top job with all the accolades of “super-genius” on offense and a god-like ability to make a QB awesome. Who was that guy?

Hmm.

Totally different. I know. Unfair comparison. Weis is totally different. He’s unpredictable. He’s wild. He’s, he’s —

Yeah, yeah!