The Trib. columnists have mostly ignored Pitt to focus completely on the Steelers, with occasional bitching about the Pirates. Joe Starkey mails one in with a quick snippet piece about the Big East. Predicts Pitt will go 8-3; Louisville runs the table; Rutgers with a winning record; and WVU tanks this year.
Another piece just goes 5-up and 5-down as to Pitt getting a bowl bid. Odd thing.
This piece discusses whether Pitt will be an offensive juggernaut in the Big East this year.
“There’s enough weapons there,” offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh said.
Enough to score at a dizzying pace? Enough to have something special this season? Enough to repeat as conference champs and go back to a BCS bowl?
Cavanaugh paused.
“It’s too early to answer that,” he said, finally.
“I’m not saying we don’t have it. I’m saying there are still some young guys that have to develop to fulfill some of those expectations. They’ve got a long way to go. They’re working real hard at it.”
Tyler Palko gets a puff piece focusing on his drive and focus on football.
“I pride myself on being someone who’s going to do whatever it takes to win,” Palko said. “I don’t want people to look at it like, ‘Oh, Tyler is here ’till all hours of the night.’ No. I’m here because I have a responsibility to this football team to get my job done. If that means staying here all night, well, then, I’m not getting any sleep.
“That’s what I owe to my team. I do push people. I do look at it like a job. I do enjoy that stuff. Because that’s what I need to do.”
Meanwhile Matt Cavanaugh has been watching tons of game film to suss out the ND Defense.
That is not a misprint, in order to prepare for Notre Dame, Cavanaugh spent countless hours watching film of South Carolina.
He also watched tape of the Miami Dolphins’ and New England Patriots’ defense from the past two years, some of the Cincinnati Bearcats’ defense from 2003 and, once he finally got around to it, Notre Dame’s defense from last season.
That was necessary because the coaching staff at Notre Dame, like Pitt, is in its first year with the Irish, so there is a lot of mystery involved in preparing a game plan.
Cavanaugh said the first move in preparing to face a new coaching staff is to take a look at who the key members of that staff are. Then, he pieces together what defenses they have run in the past. After that, he takes his best guess of what those defensive ideas might look like once they are combined.
…
“Now, if they do some things that are drastically different than what we’ve prepared for, we will have to adjust on the fly.“The good thing is they are going through the same thing, so I think adjustments will be crucial throughout the game.”
Looks like ESPN2’s “Cold Pizza” will be broadcasting live from Heinz Field this morning.
