Some reshuffling after this past week. Games I actually saw at least a portion of this past weekend: Pitt-Ohio; Wake-Nebraska; Texas-OSU; SC-Georgia. Heard on the radio, ND-Michigan.

1. Southern Cal — DNP
2. Texas — Firm with that win over TOSU
3. Tennessee — DNP
4. Florida– Clean patsy game. Big test this weekend.
5. Louisville — DNP
6. Ohio State — But for a dropped pass in the endzone. Still look like the best in the Big 11
7. Louisiana State — Big win. Sentiment may have pushed higher.
8. Virginia Tech — Easy game, but I still don’t believe.
9. Notre Dame — Yeah, I know beating Pitt wasn’t impressive any longer but 2-0 in big road games to start is impressive no matter what.
10. Miami — DNP. Lose to Clemson and they’re out of the top-25.
11. Michigan — I’m probably being too kind to keep them this high, but…
12. Purdue — 21 of their 49 points came in the 4th quarter against Akron — when the 2nd team should have been in. Not impressed.
13. Iowa — I’m not going to kill them for losing a rivalry game.
14. Georgia — That blow-out of Boise St. looks less impressive, as does squeaking out a home win against South Carolina.
15. Florida State — Some questions since they didn’t blow out the Citadel until the second half. Loser of the FSU-BC game on Saturday falls out of the top-25.
16. Cal — Right now, losing the QB isn’t hurting them.
17. Oklahoma — I probably should have put them lower, but I still dinged them 3 more spots for a lackluster win against Tulsa.
18. Georgia Tech — At this point I’m just looking for optimism anywhere regarding Wanny, so seeing GT and Gailey have some success gives me hope.
19. Iowa State — Big win.
20. Clemson — Strong conference road win.
21. Boston College — Unlike FSU, they put their military patsy away in the first half.
22. Texas Tech — I nearly dropped them out of the rankings just for playing such a weak ass non-con.
23. Fresno State — Easy win.
24. Toledo — I think this team is underrated.
25. Arizona State — Tough home loss to LSU.

Well, I never had TCU in the top-25 and they came through with a loss, making me look good on that hunch.

Still feel like I’m feeling my way through this.

Remember earlier in the day, the post regarding the Big East Coaches teleconference?

Now here are most of the “Big East Notebook” stories based on it. Pitt’s problems leads in just about all of them. The stories are focusing on the struggles of Tyler Palko.

“I think there are several things” contributing to Palko’s poor start, Wannstedt said. “No. 1, he’s learning a new offensive system. A growing period takes places. No. 2, our offensive line … four of the five starters are new, and we have a new fullback and a new tailback from a year ago. So there is a transition for our offensive personnel. That has contributed to Ty’s slow start.

“He will bounce back. He started slow last year, they tell me. He’s a competitor. He’s a leader.”

And here.

For those thinking that coach Dave Wannstedt is the most frustrated person at the University of Pittsburgh right now, think again.

That honor may go to Pitt quarterback Tyler Palko.

During the final five games of his sophomore campaign last season, Palko averaged 314 yards passing. He threw 16 touchdowns and just two interceptions, and was named second-team All-Big East.

Entering this season, big things were expected out of Palko and the Panthers. But entering Week 3, the Panthers are 0-2. Palko is averaging 170 yards passing and already has four interceptions.

Wannstedt, the NFL coaching veteran who is in the midst of his first season as head coach at his alma mater, said that Palko is definitely frustrated.

“Tyler Palko is about as competitive a kid as you’re going to be around,” Wannstedt said Monday. “If he throws an incomplete pass there’s frustration on his part. Let alone two touchdowns the other way.”

The one thing you can count on with Coach Wannstedt, is that he will defend and back his players. It’s one of the reason they remain very loyal to him.

The plight of Pitt and Coach Wannstedt are also the lead here.

Pittsburgh’s first-year coach takes his Panthers, 0-2 for the first time since 1984, to Nebraska on Saturday. While you won’t mistake these Cornhuskers for those of Tom Osborne, it’s also hard to imagine Pitt was picked as the prime challenger to Louisville in the Big East.

Pitt alum Wannstedt more highly regarded as defensive coordinator with the Miami Hurricanes and Dallas Cowboys than as a head coach in the NFL took little time to come under fire. Comparisons were evident after his team was shredded at home by Notre Dame and lost in overtime at Ohio U.

The Irish hires Charlie Weis, and ND’s offense resembles the Four Horsemen. Ohio University grabs Cornhuskers reject Frank Solich and makes Tyler Palko look anything but an all-league quarterback.

Yet, Wannstedt suggests there’s no reason to panic … or feel the pressure.

“Chuck Noll used to say pressure is something you feel when you don’t know what you’re doing,” Wannstedt said.

That infers Wannstedt feels he knows what he’s doing. Certainly, it’s too early to conclude otherwise.

You know, when he busted that quote out during the teleconference, I winced and shook my head. All I could think was how the message boards are going to love that one.

Even in Fortune Magazine, Pitt gets it.

Be Careful What You Wish For Part II: Last winter when Walt Harris left Pittsburgh to take the head job at Stanford, Pitt athletic director Jeff Long approached Pittsburgh alum (and then-recently-fired Miami Dolphins head coach) Dave Wannstedt about the job. Wannstedt declined, then reconsidered and took the job. Pitt fans were pumped. Now they’re distraught. After getting blitzed at home by Notre Dame in Week One, Pittsburgh lost 16-10 in overtime to Ohio University on Friday night. Not THE Ohio State University (who, of course, lost to the Longhorns on Saturday). We’re talking about the Ohio U. Bobcats, now coached by one Frank Solich, the former head ‘Husker. The MVP of the game was Ohio’s Dion Byrum, who scored both of his team’s touchdowns (including the game winner in OT) on interception returns. In fact, he has three interception returns for touchdowns in the first two games.

This weekend in the Big East, only Rutgers is considered to have a “gimmee.” They play Buffalo.
And finally, ESPN.com’s bottom 10 puts Pitt right there at #10. We’re in no position to dispute right now.

Well, no. Not really. Mostly just some minor tweaks to the depth chart. Let’s face it, there isn’t that kind of depth for major shake-ups. As I noted yesterday morning, Derek Kinder was moved ahead of Joe DelSardo at flanker on the depth chart with the hoped for plan of stretching the field more and taking some pressure off of Greg Lee. That appears to be exactly the idea.

“Joe’s a good player for us, and Joe will continue to be a good player for us, but we need to threaten people,” Panthers coach Dave Wannstedt said Monday. “We need to have speed on the field. That wasn’t happening.”
…
By making the switch to Kinder, Wannstedt hopes to stretch the field more often.

“Joe is going to be a major part of the game plan,” Wannstedt said. “But we need to juggle some things around and see if the younger guys will develop and help us.”

In DelSardo’s defense he was not being used well — screens and short routes along the sidelines.Tthe kind of patterns they were having him run did not play to his strengths — running a clean route and sure hands — and exposed his weaknesses — lack of speed and size. When he is used on routes that bring him across or over the middle plays to running a good route and allows DelSardo to keep his body between the defender and the ball.

Pitt wants to throw the ball a little more downfield and this will help.

“We need to be more of a threat with speed on the field,” Wannstedt said of the change. “Kinder and Marcel Pestano will get a chance to see if they can help push the ball down the field. Teams are going to roll coverage to Greg Lee on every play and we need other guys to step up.”

This also means Greg Lee has to get aggressive.

Lee, who was the only receiver to catch a pass Friday, is supposed to be the Panthers’ big-play receiver but he has yet to make his presence felt. Through two games, he has eight catches for 107 yards (13.4 yards per catch, 53.5 per game) and one touchdown.

Last year Lee averaged 19.1 yards per catch and 108 yards per game. But he has been the victim of his own success as defenses have double-teamed him or used safeties to help defend him, limiting his effectiveness.

Some of this is on Lee. He has to fight through some of the coverage and fight for the ball. Much like the beginning of last year, he has been slow to do that.

Coach Wannstedt also wants to get bigger bursts from the running backs.

So far the only running back who has made a couple of big runs is Kirkley, but starter Rashad Jennings has been slowed by a nagging knee injury and sophomore Brandon Mason has yet to carry the ball.

The need for speed likely means that Mason will get some more action this week and Wannstedt said freshman LaRod Stephens-Howling, who had a 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown Friday and is one of the fastest players on the team, will get some more action as well.

“When I first saw Kirkley in the spring I wasn’t sure,” Wannstedt said, “You’d watch him and say, ‘those 10-yard runs, boy you’d like them to be 30-yard runs.’ But I think we have to continue to play him and we have to find a way to get LaRod Stephens the ball because he is a guy who has a chance to make a 40-yard run.”

While Coach Wannstedt is likely to give Stephens-Howling more touches, I think that Mason getting the ball might be a little wishful thinking/subtle hinting from Paul Zeise. In the transcript of Wannstedt’s press conference, Mason isn’t mentioned.

The number of penalties, especially in the Ohio game is a concern.

H.B. Blades should be fine for the game despite a sore groin.

Alan Robinson of the AP has a solid piece on Pitt’s struggles. He doesn’t sugar-coat things.

If Notre Dame was a bad game, last Friday’s 16-10 overtime loss at Mid-American Conference bottom-feeder Ohio U. was an abomination, arguably one of the three worst losses in school history. Only a 2001 defeat to Division I-A newcomer South Florida and a 1984 defeat to Temple, two years removed from Pitt being No. 1 in the country, were worse.

And, for all the rah-rahing about n’er-do-well Ohio winning before an excited, loud crowd — the kind of atmosphere that exists at most college campuses every weekend, not just once in a lifetime — Pitt knows it lost the game more than Ohio won it. Two interceptions returned for touchdowns against Tyler Palko, who lit up Notre Dame for five TD passes and was intercepted only twice in his final six games last season, will do that.
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What most concerns Pitt followers is the breakdown of what always was its strongest asset during the Harris days: an innovative, well-executed and tough-to-stop passing game. Palko, now in former Ravens offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh’s system, doesn’t resemble the player he was a year ago, when he became the first Pitt sophomore quarterback to throw for more than 3,000 yards in a season.

With defenses keying on his only reliable receiver, Greg Lee, Palko looks lost without Harris’ guidance and game-planning. He also can’t like what Wannstedt said Monday about putting an even greater emphasis on running the ball.

“We’re confident we can run the ball. We’re going to line up and run the ball,” said Wannstedt, who committed before the season began to being run-oriented. “We’re not going to back away from anything.”

It’s hard to disagree with the assessment. Pitt is 92nd in passing and 95th overall in offense. That isn’t balance. That’s just bad.

Mike Prisuta does his best to defend Wannstedt by saying that Pitt just wasn’t that good of a team and that as Palko goes, so goes the Panthers.

Pitt’s new coach had been even more resigned in the wake of what most perceived to be the unthinkable Friday night in Athens, Ohio.

“It is what it is,” Wannstedt had acknowledged then. “We are what you saw. Unfortunately, we’re not a very good football team.”

On one hand, that’s a cop-out on the part of the new head coach.

On the other, that’s the hand Wannstedt’s been dealt.

Pitt isn’t a very good team.

If the administration had perceived the Panthers as such, Walt Harris would still be here.

That was easy to lose sight of in the wake of the phenomenal enthusiasm generated by Wannstedt’s arrival, and when recalling the magical performances by Tyler Palko against Boston College, Notre Dame and West Virginia that helped prevent what turned out to be an 8-3 regular season from degenerating into 5-6 or worse.

Pitt was reminded Friday night just how much it depends on its quarterback to be brilliant.

The thing is, Palko was far less than brilliant last year against Ohio and Pitt won 24-3. Prisuta only concedes as far as the coaching goes, that the number of penalties are a problem and that the play calling at the end of Ohio got a little too conservative. Gee, you think?

Let’s face it, this is all about the Ohio loss. Even the energy sucking loss to Notre Dame doesn’t compare in terms of demoralizing and giving rise to more than merely questions than losing to Ohio.

Ron Cook, actually has a good column.

But there’s no getting around the loss at Ohio. It was just horrendous.

That’s why it was hard to buy into Wannstedt’s attempt at a positive spin yesterday. “You can’t lump the whole team into this,” he said. He talked of the strides Pitt made against Ohio with its defense, running game and special teams. Well, guess what? Pitt is supposed to make big strides against a weak opponent. Beyond that, it has to win the game, no matter how poorly it plays. It failed miserably.

It was a lot easier to believe Wannstedt when he predicted quarterback Tyler Palko will bounce back from his awful performance. “He’s our guy. He’s won a lot of games around here and will continue to win a lot of games.” To give Palko a better chance, Wannstedt has replaced wide receiver Joe DelSardo in the starting lineup with Derek Kinder, more of a speed guy. “We need to threaten people. That wasn’t happening,” Wannstedt said. Palko was throwing for DelSardo on each of his three interceptions at Ohio. That was a big part of his problem. He needs to look more for Greg Lee — his best playmaker — especially in the red zone and in overtime.

It would be nice if Wannstedt could plug in a few new offensive linemen, but that won’t happen until next season. Palko was under pressure all night at Ohio. Walt Harris didn’t exactly leave Wannstedt much in terms of big people, offensively or defensively. That’s no excuse for losing to Ohio. There is no excuse for that. It just means Wannstedt needs to do a better job recruiting big guys.

In the meantime, Pitt’s coaches and players need to find the resiliency and mental toughness they showed last season.

It pains me slightly to agree this much with Cook, but he’s right. The players need to overcome this more than the coaches do. They need be the ones to find some pride and start showing something more when they put on the helmet.

Just a thought, but where has Paul Dunn been hiding, anyways? Haven’t heard from the offensive line coach since he was getting puff pieces back when he was hired. Shouldn’t he be coming in for some criticism at this point? Shouldn’t he be out there explaining things a little. The O-line, in its attempts to do more run-blocking has become a sieve for pass protection, and it hasn’t looked that great in the run-blocking.

Just some of the info and quotes you will see in stories for this week.

Coach Wannstedt’s weekly press conference transcript is, as should be expected, stunningly positive despite the Ohio debacle. It’s just the way he is, and its part of why he has had success he in recruiting. (Just a thought, can we steal the recruits cell phones or is that unethical?)

Opening Remarks:

In reference to the Ohio University game, after studying the film I was very pleased with our defense. We know how disappointing the Notre Dame performance was and we knew that we were better than that on defense. The key for the Ohio game was to come out focused and play with the intensity it was going to take and I feel like they did that for the entire football game.

When you look at the statistics, Ohio’s longest play from scrimmage was the 18-yard screen pass. We held them to seven first downs (excluding four gained by penalty) and a field goal. After we went for it on fourth and one and didn’t get it, the defense kept them from gaining any more yards and Ohio missed a field goal to give our team an opportunity to win the game. I feel like they made some strides as a defensive unit, while we continue to play young guys. It was good to get Thomas Smith and Clint Session back in action, but players like Gus Mustakas, Rashaad Duncan and Nick Williams will also see time.

The turnovers are what I was disappointed in. When you turn the ball over for touchdowns or in the red zone, you are not going to win the game. Tyler Palko is our leader. He has won a lot of games around here and he will continue to win a lot of games. The two of us sat down and went over the film and saw what went wrong. A lot of the problems are not just on the one person making the decision. As a team we need to run better routes and protect Palko better. Our passing game was not balanced. There was pressure on the passer, we missed some throws and dropped passes. We really didn’t throw, catch or protect the ball the way we needed to. …
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On the slow start:

Notre Dame may be better than everybody thought. Last week’s disappointment falls into that category for us. I don’t want to lump the whole team (in that category) because we did make progress in certain areas of our team. We need to continue to clean up in the other areas and put it all together. We need to play all three phases at a high level to beat Nebraska.

To date, Pitt has only gotten one turnover (an interception by Revis against ND) and given away the ball 4 times (3 INT and 1 fumble). On 3 of the 4 turnovers touchdowns were scored either directly or on the ensuing possession. That’s what you might call a disturbing trend.

On the defensive side, not only has there been little pressure on the quarterback, but there has been no forcing of mistakes on the QB or getting takeaways.

On the Big East Coaches weekly teleconference (you can listen here — Wannstedt comes on at about the 25 minute mark after 17 minutes of elevator music and Cinci Coach Dantonio), Coach Wannstedt admitted that the defense has not been able to force any turnovers.

There were a few questions about the trend and transition from the pros to college for him and coaches in general. These came from non-Big East beat writers including a couple from Nebraska.

Coach Wannstedt defended Tyler Palko saying that he was learning a new offense, playing behind a new O-line and with a new tailback.

Someone asked him if he saw a common thread in both losses, but he didn’t see any.

Let’s see, poor O-line, not good tackling, too many penalties, no pressure on the opposing QB, and conservative play calling. Yeah, other than that I didn’t see a thing.

Pitt has a “Game Day Central” page for the Nebraska game up. It has links to the Nebraska website and more Pitt info. Nebraska has a press release and game notes (PDF) available. In the notes I see that Nebraska forced 4 turnovers — with 3 defensive touchdowns — and sacked Wake’s QB 5 times. Ugh.