The problem when you’re team is in a conference that is ostensibly in the BCS, but treated by everyone else as if it was a mid-major, is that the top team can’t blow it. Part (not all) of what has dragged the BE further down in terms of reputation the last couple of years has been the fact that the pre-season team pegged for big things has absolutely gakked it away.

This creates a conflict for a fan of another team in the conference. The usual joy one would take in seeing the presumptive conference winner, lose is tempered by the knowledge of what it means for the conference. Takes some of the fun out of it when you have to worry about a collective good.

Pitt in 2003 and WVU last year, both came into the season with big expectations. Expected to win the BE (or at least for Pitt in 2003 mount a credible challenge to outgoing Miami) by pundits and prognosticators. Instead both the teams and coaches wilted under the pressure and unearned respect. Giving everyone else reason to denigrate, mock and complain about the Big East.

Louisville entered the Big East with that mantle and has had the same fate befall it. Now obviously, this means the BE suddenly seems much more wide open for any team than before Louisville got humiliated by South Florida — even Rutgers suddenly believes it has a chance.

Pitt, also has a chance, just like last year. For Pitt, there is the added bonus that the loss to USF in 2001 is no longer the biggest win for the Bulls in their brief history. So, thank you Louisville and Bobby Petrino for taking that honor. That ’01 stain is not erased from my memory, but it has had a bit of bleach tossed on it.

WVU should be the favorite at the moment with 1 conference win, and winning on the road in Maryland. But nearly giving the game away to East Carolina this past weekend puts that in question. UConn, USF and Cinci just don’t seem capable. Syracuse may have hung close with UVA, but they already lost to WVU and outside of Damien Rhodes, they don’t have much of an offense. Pitt hasn’t proven anything yet. Rutgers, barely more than Pitt.

Louisville may still win the BE, but they aren’t helping it now.

Funny thing. The Steelers play a big game on Sunday, and on Monday there isn’t much on Pitt.

From the throwback game. Game worn jerseys, pants and helmets are on the auction block. All money goes to the Pitt Panther Club Athletic Scholarship Fund.

Senior Running Back Ray Kirkley, gets a puff piece. The focus is on his hard work and perseverance to once again earn the starting job.

So it was not a shock to him that, despite being the most experienced tailback heading into spring, he was not considered a favorite to win the starting job. By the end of spring, he was behind a freshman, Rashad Jennings, on the depth chart.

He fell behind sophomore Brandon Mason and Tim Murphy, and when true freshman LaRod Stephens-Howling got to campus for training camp, he vaulted Kirkley as well.

But as has been the case with Kirkley throughout his career, he never got down. He just worked harder and made sure every time he touched the ball, he ran harder than any other back and made coaches take notice of every carry.

His approach has paid off again. Four games into the season, he is the Panthers’ leading rusher and has been their most consistent performer on offense. Mason and Jennings have been bothered by injuries and Murphy has moved to fullback.

As the article notes, he is also the only RB who is not or has not been dinged up to any level this season.

Kirkley has really benefited from Coach Wannstedt emphasizing that the team get faster and leaner. Shedding some of the pounds has really increased his speed — hitting the hole, cutting and turning corners. It has made a big difference from last year, when at times he just seemed to be unable to make that cut or generate any speed.

Sophomore Tight End Darrell Strong also comes in for a puff piece on his growing role in the offense. Coach Wannstedt sees Strong as one of the potential playmakers on offense.

“Darrell Strong is a little bit like (running back) LaRod Stephens-Howling,” Wannstedt said. “We have a handful of guys, in my opinion, that give us an opportunity to make a big play. He’s one of those guys.

“Darrell has the ability to make the great finger-tip catch, and he’s probably a better runner with the ball in his hands than we give him credit for. But he’s just going through that whole transition.”

Strong has struggled to get on the field at time because he has not exactly been an enthusiastic blocker. Given the preferences for running the ball by Coaches Cavanaugh and Wannstedt, the TEs need to be willing and eager to block. Since I didn’t see the game on Saturday, I didn’t see how often Strong was in the game. In the first 3, though, the only times he was on the field it was a given that the ball was going to him. Pitt is going to have to show some more variety as conference play begins.

I wanted to write about this yesterday, but I was traveling back from a family visit in Pennsylvania. Top RB recruit, LeSean McCoy suffered a compound fracture to his ankle.

“I heard it pop,” McCoy said from his emergency room station at the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. “I was like, ‘What was that?'”

What it was was a broken ankle, one that required surgery late yesterday afternoon to repair ligament damage of undetermined severity and to strengthen the fracture. According to McCoy’s father, Ron, doctors said McCoy will have to stay off the ankle for 8-12 weeks before beginning rehabilitation.

McCoy has a long road back — if ever fully. While he recently eliminated Pitt from consideration, I wouldn’t wish this on a Penn State player. Hopefully one of the schools that offered him will still honor the scholarship offer, and give him a chance to at least get a college degree.

We all have that one thing. Something we have to do, despite knowing it likely won’t matter. Or we fight with blind optimism. It may be noble or just stupid.

Maybe it’s trying elect a fringe 3rd party candidate. Perhaps it is the elimination of all porn and other fun vices. Maybe it’s trying to stop a city from wasting money on a new convention center.

Sam, a Pitt Sophomore and reader, has his own windmill. He wants to get the Pitt Athletic Department to bring back the old unis and logo for good. Right now, he has an online petition. He is hoping to do more than just that, but it is a start.

Despite Pitt struggling to avoid being upset last year by Furman along with Rutgers losing last year to a 1-AA foe, the beating Pitt put on Youngstown State seems to have brought the Penguin faithful crashing hard. They aren’t even back to reality, they seem a few layers below that.

Youngstown State got exactly what it knew it was going to get out of playing the University of Pittsburgh in football: $350,000.

That’s the figure the Penguins’ athletic department will receive for last Saturday’s 41-0 loss to the Panthers and really nothing else.

That means in a couple of years when the Penguins head down to Columbus to play the Ohio State Buckeyes on a similar stage, the only thing they’ll gain is about $450,000.

As long as YSU remains a Division I-AA football program, it can expect nothing more than a big payday for playing teams like the Panthers or the Buckeyes.

These are not Mid-American Conference teams, or even Cincinnati or Marshall like the Penguins have played in the past. These are Division I-A BCS teams, and even the bad ones are going to take it to the Penguins.

Pitt is not a great football team; it might be pushing it to call the Panthers good. But they were still head-over-heels better than Youngstown State.

The article also indicates that YSU will be playing some more Div. 1-A opponents, likely from the Big 11 for the cash grab.