Some articles and things I never got around to posting about yesterday.

Another piece asking for patience, mainly based on how Pitt rallied last season after a bad start.

Freshman offensive lineman C.J. Davis gets a puff piece concerning his quick climb on the depth chart.

At the Big East Coaches Teleconference on Tuesday, a reporter from Florida asked Coach Wannstedt about the pressures on coaches at programs. He’s been posing this question to various coaches for a few weeks now:

So, here’s the question posed to some of these coaches: If you had 10 times less pressure but made 10 times less money, would you take the trade?

This, apparently is what passes for a philosophical question on the Florida Space Coast. It seems the coaches all managed to be polite and not tell the guy what a stupid question that was. That if they wanted to make that trade, they’d be coaching at Division 1-AA or Division 2 schools. They all pretty much said that the pressure is self-imposed more than felt from others.

In the teleconference, the Coach Wannstedt’s answer was apparently much the same response given by Bob Stoops. It was during this question that he broke out the Chuck Noll quote.

Wannstedt said 90 percent of pressure is self-imposed.

“I think (former Steelers coach) Chuck Noll said it best 15 years ago,” he said. “He said pressure is when you don’t know what the heck you’re doing. When you get out there at game time, you’re confident in your game plan, that you’re going to be successful.”

A lightweight piece on the new Big East, where BE Commissioner Mike Tranghese and St. John’s AD deny that the BE will eventually split. Of course they would.

In ESPN.com’s Big East Notebook there were questions about Palko’s performance, and noting Kinder getting elevated to start at flanker. Starkey tries to add pressure to make sure LaRod Stephens-Howlings gets the ball more.

Speaking of speed, Wannstedt needs to make good on his intention to get true freshman tailback LaRod Stephens-Howling more involved in the offense.

Stephens-Howling made his first collegiate kickoff return a memorable one, taking the opening kick 95 yards for a score against Ohio, but he has only three carries for 17 yards.

Finally, an AP piece on Offensive Coordinator Matt Cavanaugh also feeling pressure about the lack of offense.

The move from the NFL to major college football hasn’t been as seamless or as successful as he wanted, with questions quickly arising about his plain-vanilla play-calling and the big falloff by one of the nation’s best quarterbacks last season.

Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt isn’t alone in feeling the heat during what has been a trying and, so far, victory-free move from pro football to NCAA Division I-A.

Pitt offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh, who was running the Baltimore Ravens’ offense a year ago, is getting plenty of questions about an underperforming offense. The running game has been ineffective amid a frequent shuffling of the running backs, and the passing game looks nothing like the innovative system Pitt had for eight years under coach Walt Harris.

Not that Baltimore was looking all that impressive on offense for the first week of the season without him. It may be grasping at straws, but apparently Cavanaugh is starting to realize one important thing.

“We probably should take some more shots down the field,” Cavanaugh said. “We need to give those guys an opportunity, and Tyler’s got to get the confidence that if he puts the ball up, his guy’s going to go up and compete for it and come down with it.”

Whether Pitt actually does, remains to be seen.

Some more from Struggling Joe, in a follow-up I commented to him about how the impression that I and others further away from Nebraska got from the media was a very disgruntled and unhappy fanbase with Coach Callahan and the team. I wondered whether it was just a vocal minority.

I guess I may have been speaking more from my perspective on that one. There are definitely a lot of old school fans at Nebraska and they’re going to be hard on Callahan no matter what he does. But from my perspective and from the people that I talk to, they definitely know that a change needed to be made and that there was going to be some down time until things get turned around. I think if I actually lived in Lincoln and sat in the stands, I would hear a different story I’m sure, but I think that is why I’m glad I’m not able to get to most of the Husker games. 🙂

Then, as if on cue you had SI.com’s Stuart Mandel’s mailbag starts off with this.

It’s only been two games, and, even though they both ended in Nebraska victories, it’s clear Huskers fans are becoming increasingly agitated with second-year coach Bill Callahan. A year after watching his offense bumble its way through the school’s first losing season in 43 years, the Huskers’ loyal legions — and lord knows there’s a bunch of them — were hoping for something more encouraging than an average of 273.5 offensive yards — ranked 99th nationally — against Maine and Wake Forest.

According to Mandel, “But from where I sit, it’s looking more and more to me like Callahan’s hiring was a potentially colossal mistake. Not because he can’t coach, but because he’s the wrong coach for Nebraska.” This is 1 season and 2 games into his tenure.

Struggling Joe responded to that on his blog.

I bring that up in part, because you can guess what the second issue from the mailbag was:

It seems like every job Dave Wannstedt gets, he finds himself immediately in hot water. I can’t remember the last week of football where fans in Chicago, Miami, or now, Pittsburgh, haven’t called for his head. How long will Wanny last at Pitt, and is it possible this Panthers squad isn’t the Big East contender we thought it was?
–Zack, Rockville, Md.

Wannstedt’s situation is similar to Callahan’s in one sense: Wannstedt walked into a program that wasn’t exactly broken and, therefore, won’t be afforded the same patience as a coach in a rebuilding situation (and ironically, the two face each other Saturday, after which one of them is going to be feeling even more heat). The difference is, while Callahan had no connection whatsoever to Nebraska, Wannstedt is a definitive Pitt guy, which is why I, like most people, bought into the hype — in spite of the fact that, as you mention, his sterling coaching reputation, due primarily to his role as defensive coordinator for the Cowboys’ 1992 Super Bowl team, seems to be impervious to actual wins and losses.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, folks. He’s been there two games. While the apocalyptic media reaction in Pittsburgh has certainly been amusing (“Pitt’s 16-10 loss to poor little Ohio University … was one of the sorriest chapters in the university’s athletic history,” wrote one particularly over-the-top columnist), there are still a lot of games left for Wannstedt to turn things around, and as of now the Panthers are still undefeated in the Big East. If we’re still talking about the same thing next year at this time, however … well, see the above comments on Callahan.

So it’s decided. A new coach has a little more than one season to make even a moderately successful program into a top-15 team.

Now back to some more Q&A with Joe.

You touched on the offenses struggles. Is it simply a matter of transition still. Players from the old system still trying to fit into the new along with new recruits learning the system at the next level? Is it something with the offensive coordinator? Is he coming in for the heat (or does Callahan call the offense)?

It’s definitely a little of both. It’s new players trying to fit into the new system. I mean you have half of the guys that were recruited to run the option and the other half are just new players period and are trying to learn the new system as well. Offensive Coordinator Jay Norvell calls the plays but I’m sure Callahan has a lot of input. That guy has his nose buried in the play sheet all game it seems, so I can’t imagine he doesn’t play a part. So while you have all this newness going on, you still have to execute on the field and that is the other half of the problem. Dropped balls have been the biggest problem as far as execution goes and the other problem is getting the offensive line to gel. I’m actually impressed with QB Zac Taylor’s performance so far. Last week he was victimized by six drops and three knockdowns.

Last year before the game, the beaten into the ground theme was your AD Steve Pedersen, since he left the same job at Pitt. He’s still very well regarded by Pitt fans and alum for revitalizing and modernizing the entire athletic department and key programs — football and basketball (aside from the decisions to go from Pitt to Pittsburgh, and junking the old colors for the boring color scheme — which we equate to the difference between San Diego Charger old school unis versus the dull new ones — but I digress). Again, this may be distorted by distance and simply a very vocal minority, but what is the overall feeling about Pedersen and the job he’s done in Nebraska? It seems he is getting much abuse for his moves (and the way they are done) even as most quietly concede the necessity.

Pedersen has definitely taken the brunt of criticism so far. First of all, he had to deal with the initial firing of Solich, (You know, the breaking away from the old guard.) and then he got taken through the ringer when the job was turned down a few times before finally landing Callahan. I’m personally glad he landed someone with “NFL” experience because I think that is kind of the new trend. It certainly has paid off huge dividends in the recruiting wars as we touched on earlier.

Getting back to Pedersen, it’s hard to gauge the public perception this season because he really has been left out of the media spotlight. But I’m sure if he were to get introduced before or during a Husker game, he would get boo’ed. You know, one of those deals. I’m sure his name gets cursed and will get cursed until the Huskers have a winning season. But I give him a lot of credit for basically being the guy responsible for this whole change. If the talent keep coming in, people will have no choice but to get on board.

You’ve mentioned how the defense has carried the team — and the stats bear that out. Where is the strength of the D? Is it up front with the D-line, or is it a strong secondary that leads allows more help to come up front and blitz more?

There’s no doubt that the strength of the defense is the defensive line. They’ve recorded 16 sacks in two games so far, including 11 against Maine which was a school record. They have all four starters back from last season and the depth has almost doubled from what is was last year as well. I really thought the LB’s would be the glaring weakness coming into the season but the d-line has made them look REAL good so far. Since the other team is worried about containing the d-line, the LB’s have been freed up to make more plays. And it’s reflected in the fact that the LB’s, themselves, have three interception returns for TD’s this season.

Leave it to me to find the a rational Nebraska fan to discuss this stuff.

Pitt’s O-line is sticking with the “we can’t worry about the other team’s stats, we have to do our job” approach when it comes to discussing the fact that the Husker D has 16 or 17 sacks in just 2 games.

As discussed a couple times over the week, Pitt is hoping to open up the passing game a bit more and free-up Greg Lee.

“It might help me out,” Lee said Wednesday, “but I’m not sure if Nebraska will really cater to the guy on the other side, seeing as how they really don’t know that much about him or he hasn’t really done that much here. Maybe it could (help) and maybe it couldn’t. I’m not sure what they’re going to do.”
…
“Sometimes when you’re struggling, you like to shake things up a little bit, and I think that’s what coach Wannstedt’s doing,” Palko said. “Joey’s still going to play a lot. He’ll play in our (three receivers) package.”

Nebraska’s blitzing defense could work in Pitt’s favor, if Palko can unload passes before being trapped in the backfield. Lee, mindful of the speedy Kinder’s presence on the field at the same time, thinks he can be there to gather them in.

“Because they blitz a lot and don’t leave so many guys in the secondary, it gives me a better chance of making some catches,” Lee said.

It’s just that niggling issue of Palko still getting enough time to throw.

Nebraska too, is trying to get their offense in gear. Despite being 2-0, and 56 points in the 2 games, half the points came directly from the defense on turnovers taken in for scores. Nebraska has yet to get much of a running game going. Presumably they will try to get that working better, but the receivers know they will be expected to step up against the strength of Pittsburgh’s defense — the secondary.

“They’re going to come up and get in our face,” Gilmore said. “We have to be good at getting off the line of scrimmage and using our hands and not letting them disrupt our timing.

“Our guys know what’s coming; we just have to answer the bell.”

NU receivers need to have a sense of urgency about reducing the number of dropped passes, Gilmore said.

The Huskers were plagued by drops in each of their first two games, both wins. The missed opportunities by receivers are partly to blame for NU’s lackluster pass completion rate of 42 percent.

Here’s a scouting report on Pitt from a Nebraska paper, including some commentary from the Ohio defensive coordinator.

Very much the theme of the stories today. Both in terms of short term and long term.

OK, 6-5 isn’t the ways most fans expected to open the Dave Wannstedt era. It isn’t the way Wannstedt expected to open it, either. But with a ragtag defensive line which lost two solid starters, and with an offensive line that never had any, there was only so much of Tyler Palko-to-Greg Lee that could be effective.

Wannstedt and his coaching staff must shoulder some of the blame. Despite the switch in strategies, the offense shouldn’t be this bad. The Panthers’ staff was outcoached by Charlie Weis and Notre Dame. And never, ever, should this team lose to Ohio – no matter where the game was played.
…
After the worst start in 20 years at Pitt – and those two decades in between include some awful seasons – fans are already looking for the bandwagon’s exit doors.

Wannstedt is trying to wean the Panthers off the West Coast offense and mold them into a power team. For the most part, he doesn’t have the players he wants. He may as soon as next season.

Patience is not often tolerated in major college football.

But, it’s just too early to show Wannstedt the exit doors. It’s too soon to cast this as a mistake.

Another long-view column.

The current coach and his previous two predecessors have had the same mission, and it’s not an easy one.

This is still Pitt.

How quickly hungry fans forget just how bad the Panthers were less than a decade ago. Does 72-0 ring any bells?

How fast so many people were to dismiss the advances the program made in eight seasons under Harris and to cheer his forced departure.

Yet what Harris did — taking Pitt from a doormat to a perennial bowl team, and doing it rather quickly — is more the exception, and it’s not something that should be forgotten because that’s in the history books now, too.

Harris, now at Stanford, took the Panthers as far as he could. It was time for a change.
…
Here’s the thing: We can’t pin it on Wannstedt, at least not yet.

Pitt is a work in progress, as it has been for some years.

To me, these columns should have run by Monday or Tuesday (or even held until after the upcoming game). I’m not necessarily disputing their points, but with only a couple days before the next game the longest view with which I care to even glance at is Pitt now at 8500-1 odds of winning the BCS Championship.

By Wednesday, the attention shifts to the upcoming game — what Pitt can do to win and what to expect from Nebraska. It’s now Thursday, the time for speculating and lecturing about the long-term and planning for the future is something done in a football week during the first few days after the last game. Now it is about the present situation and preparing for the opponent.

Now for the short-term, it’s about the offense.

Pitt quarterback Tyler Palko believes the Panthers’ offense is struggling because it is in a state of transition.

But he laughed at the notion that the new offense, which is more run-oriented than the offense under former coach Walt Harris, is restricting him from making plays or slowing his progress as a player.

Like anything in life, he said, there are growing pains the whole team is going through but that doesn’t mean the offensive system isn’t working.

It’s going to have to be a hell of a leap needed just to get the offense back to looking like it did against Notre Dame. There’s a reasonable question of just how much patience should be shown over the offense’s performance.

Offensive Coordinator Matt Cavanaugh tried to shift the blame away from Palko for the 2 interceptions run back for touchdowns against Ohio. The first he blamed himself for calling “a play using a route that works in the NFL, but not necessarily in college, because of the difference in the spacing of the hash marks.” The second he blamed DelSardo because he didn’t come back to the ball.

I’m not sure I buy either excuse, and that still doesn’t explain why Palko put so much air underneath the ball on both throws. Besides, Palko doesn’t need excuses to be made for him.

“It’s a feeling-out process with the offense,” he added. “As much as I study, it’s just a matter of getting used to the offense. We’re all working hard and putting in the time. We need to make better decisions. I made some poor decisions and got exposed.”

Pitt can’t afford the mistakes this Saturday.

I have to admit to being impressed with the amount of information the Husker’s Athletic Department makes available. All the direct communications from coaches and players is impressive. I suppose it is in part a reasonable response to loyal and rabid fans who hunger and demand such information, but it is still impressive that the Athletic Department was smart enough to go along with it and make sure the football program is on the same page.

How rabid? Well, how many programs have commemorative coins of a 2nd year coach?

Husker pride.

The Athletic Department even provides daily press releases on practices in preparation of the games.

It makes things a little trickier for the local media, though. The fans can choose to bypass them as gatekeepers of information and get closer to the source. This has forced some more creativity in how to repackage the content.

This multi-page release from the Husker athletic department is not just a full transcript of Coach Callahan’s press conference.

On Pittsburgh’s defense
“I think they’re just playing basic coverage, sound coverage. I don’t know that it’s anything that is out of the realm or that’s different in that respect. I think everyone is playing the same type of coverage. You’re going to rotate and try to disrupt them. You’re going to try to do things of that nature that most people do when you play those types of coverage, when you cloud coverage or you play tight ball press with help over the top. That’s a double team in a sense, but it’s basic structure in football coaching.”

It also has player comments, like from Sophomore Linebacker Corey McKeon:

On facing Pitt quarterback Tyler Palko
“I would never actually say I’m anxious to face Palko. He’s a tough guy, a tough kid. Coach (Kevin) Cosgrove always raves about him. He’s a good football player. Good football players make mistakes, too. He’s going to play well against us. Great players arise against great defenses like ours. I know a lot of players are aching to get at the Blackshirts right now, so you just can’t say, ‘well, he’s going to be throwing a lot of picks.’ We’ve got to make him throw a lot of picks.”

On getting pressure on Palko
“I know our defensive line got after him big time last year. He took a lot of hits from us, and we hope we’re going to deliver more and see if he can take anymore this year. Our D-line is really anticipating this game. They had a big game against him last year and they expect this year to be no different.”

Given the hits Palko has already had this season, I hope he has his insurance updated. That is unless the O-line pins this on the bulletin board and shows some major pride this week.

McKeon, by the way, has already earned a reputation as a media favorite for quotes.

One of the things the local media is doing is being more transparent. In their online stuff, they basically do a breakdown on parts of the press conference, providing more background for the basis of the questions and facts.

“When you can rotate those big fellas, it really helps you get more positive, quality play. Those guys don’t wear down.” — Bill Callahan

We mentioned in the preseason how more depth in the defensive line will help, and Callahan has been pleased with the early-season results.

No longer are Le Kevin Smith and Titus Adams playing 60-some snaps each game. Ola Dagunduro, Barry Cryer and Ndamukong Suh are rotating inside. On the edge, Ty Steinkuhler and Barry Turner are providing depth for Jay Moore, Adam Carriker and Wali Muhammad.

And the backups aren’t just in for a play or two late in the game, either. Dagunduro and Cryer were playing the second series against Wake Forest. Quality depth is indeed paying dividends.

Nebraska is expecting Pitt to throw more. The most inexperienced and perceived weakest part of the Nebraska Defense is in their secondary. What this means, for Pitt, most likely is a lot of pressure coming off the line to keep Palko from getting set and disrupting the play up front.

And Domers think jealousy is the reason they are so disliked? No, it has to do with this.

The votes are in and tabulated for the BlogPoll this week. JFC can rest easy knowing that his Sun Devils were ranked #18. You can see how individual bloggers voted by going here.

B.B. asked about the coverage maps for the ABC 3:30 game this weekend. I didn’t link to the coverage map the first week, because the damn thing wasn’t working. It is now (PDF)

Because of Pitt’s horrible start, ABC moved a couple more games into the 3:30 regional coverage. Earlier it had just been Pitt-Nebraska and OSU-SDSU

Almost all of the East Coast (except for Pennsylvania) and Southeast will get the Miami-Clemson game. The Great Lakes region will get the Ohio St.-San Diego St. game — as will San Diego, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. The West and Southwest have UCLA-Oklahoma. The Plains states, Louisville, the Western half of New York and PA have the Pitt-Nebraska game.

Looks like I’m springing for GamePlan this weekend.

UPDATE: In response to some e-mails, here’s the link to info on ESPN’s GamePlan.

A little late start on this, but I hope to make it up. Arguably, this is a more intriguing match-up of parallel storylines than even the Weis-Wannstedt stuff. The difference is that Nebraska has a year’s head start.

Fellow blogpoller Struggling Joe is a Cornhusker. He and I are going to be exchanging e-mails the rest of the week talking about the game and such. He has a post of some of my answers to his questions. If any of you know why there were so many Homer Simpson themed signs in the background of College GameDay in Pittsburgh, let him know.

Here are his answers to a couple of my initial questions.

With that in mind, what is the state of Husker Nation regarding the team, expectations, feelings towards Callahan (not to mention AD Steve Pedersen)?

Well I believe the state of Husker Nation is still in the honeymoon period with Bill Callahan for sure. I think that last year was written off as a “transition” year and that no one really minded the 5-6 record as much as if Tom Osbourne or Frank Solich were to muster up a 5-6 record.

The reason why such a grace period was given to the new regime is the quality of athlete that they’re bringing in there. When’s the last time the Huskers recruited a top 5 class? I think you’d have to go back to the early to mid-nineties to find one of those. Regardless of who took over, a change had to be made. As much as I love the option, and believe me nothing gets me more excited than to watch a perfectly executed option play, it was on the way out for two reasons. 1) You can’t run the option against the really good teams anymore because they have too much speed and 2) kids were starting to see that being in the option offense wasn’t going to get them to the NFL. So even though the Husker program was putting up a 9-3 record in Frank Solich’s last year, it wasn’t going anywhere. They could beat up on the Baylor’s of the world but when they got matched up with Texas or Oklahoma the running game was bein nullified because of the speed and the lack of a threat of a passing game. So they needed to modernize and that’s why Billy is at the controls. So like Wannstedt, kids see him as knowing what it takes to get to the “big show.” Or being someone that knows how to get them there.

In saying this however, I think they may be some initial disappointment in how the offense has looked in the first two games. Especially in the run game, where Husker fans expect to dominate. This hasn’t happened so far and I can maybe see the boo birds coming out in the next game or two if it doesn’t shape up. The one thing that can delay that negative reaction though is the blackshirt defense as it has seemed to regain the swagger that it had two years ago. And thank God, cause they have carried them through the first two games. And I think the expectations for the rest of the season have been raised a bit. As you know, the match-up with Pitt isn’t looking as daunting as it once was. Mizzou all of a sudden just become a lot more beatable as did Colorado when they struggled with CSU. I still think the Huskers will win at least 7 games this season minimum.

Also, how are feelings to the 2-toned field?

I totally DIG it! When I first heard of the two-toned field going in Memorial Stadium and how it would resemble Oregon’s field, I kinda had mixed feelings on it. But then I saw some pics over at huskers.com on top of seeing it for the first time on TV last weekend in the Wake Forest game. I think it looks really good. This may be because I absolutely cannot stand astroturf, which the Huskers had forever. So yeah, I think the new field looks great.

Adam Graessle is on the Ray Guy Award Watch List. The award is presented by the Greater Augusta Sports Council. No shock that he was one of the 40 players on the list. Graessle is an outstanding punter. Brendan Carney of Syracuse was the only other Big East player put on the list.

Starting running back Rashad Jennings has some sort of shoulder injury — the extent is not known.

This is interesting.

Freshman tight end John Pelusi got some playing time against Ohio. However, sophomore Darrell Strong remains Mr. Invisible. “We talked about Darrell getting involved, but it hasn’t happened,” Wannstedt said. “We’ve got plays in (the game plan) with him every week. Pelusi might be our second- or third-best blocker. Steve Buches can do it all, he’s a smart guy. Darrell is more of a receiver.”

I only saw Strong in for one play against ND, and a pass was attempted to him. Given the struggles of the O-line, it can’t be too surprising that Strong is not getting in there. The line needs as much help as possible and a TE that isn’t particularly enthusiastic about blocking is not going to get out there much.

Clint Session wasn’t expected to play on Friday. In fact, he didn’t get on the bus with the team when they left.

“As soon as they left, I just knew in my heart that I needed to be there,” Session said. “I felt like I came to Pitt to help this team win and I was letting the team down. I remember when coach Harris used to talk about being hurt and being injured and really my knee was just a matter of pain and being sore.

“The kind of guy I am, if there is a possibility I can play, I’m playing so I knew what I had to do.”

So he essentially decided to drive to Athens and convince the coaches to let him play. The problem was, the team was staying Parkersburg, WV.

“I went on Mapquest and looked up directions to Athens, Ohio,” he said. “I figured I’d just get there and then find the team. It just so happened there was a manager who I ran into and he told me they were staying at the Holiday Inn. I had no idea which one so I just headed out towards Athens.

“I’m sort of lost on this highway but I saw an exit sign that said Athens and got off and it just so happened when I looked up on this hill, there was a sign for a Holiday Inn and it had ‘Welcome Pittsburgh Panthers’ on a big sign hanging out front, so I figured that was the right place.[“]

I think that was the same approach taken in college to find a couple of the strip joints in McKees Rocks — except without the “Welcome Pitt” sign.

H.B. Blades is happy to have Session by his side again, and his groin seems good enough.

“Blades is better,” coach Dave Wannstedt said. “We expect him to play this weekend.”

The Panthers need Blades to be on top of his game against Nebraska, which tries to confuse defenses with a lot of shifting and motion. Blades said getting linebacker Clint Session and defensive tackle Thomas Smith back up to full speed also is key.

“I’ve been playing beside Clint since high school all-star games, so having him back there is something I’m used to,” Blades said. “Thomas Smith was a major bonus. He makes plays in the backfield and takes pressure off the linebackers.

“All the guys, just the whole rotation system and everything, can start flowing and everything can get back to normal.”

As soon as we determine what normal is.

Freshman offensive lineman C.J. Davis saw his first action of the year in the Ohio game.

Apparently strong consideration had been given to redshirting Davis, but when several players went down during the game, that got tossed out the window. Now, the plan is to start working him into the game more and not waste the year. The O-line is probably going to need all the help it can get with Nebraska.

In their opener against Maine, the Cornhuskers tied school records with 11 sacks and 18 tackles for loss. They tacked on five sacks last week against Wake Forest.

The Blackshirts have three returning starters — tackles Kevin Smith (6-2, 305 pounds) and Titus Adams (6-3, 300) and end Adam Carriker (6-6, 280) — on their defensive line. Three true freshman also have gotten playing time as third-stringers.

“Their two d-tackles are pretty big,” Davis said. “I don’t think they move as much as Notre Dame or Ohio’s fronts did, though. But they’re definitely big, so we’ll have to get low and try to move them.”

Final note, Pitt verbal commit Dorin Dickerson along with top CB recruit Darrin Walls were selected to play in the Army All-American High School Bowl. Seriously, is there any way we can stick Dickerson in some isolation chamber until February?

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.”
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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.