For those worried about what the ND loss meant for recruiting, it apparently hasn’t changed the minds of those who have already committed. It remains to be seen what, if any, effect it has on potential recruits.

The pressure is on the defense to show improvement. Even if it is against Ohio.

Palko and the offense are the least of Pitt’s worries. The defense was a sieve against Notre Dame by allowing 502 yards, 275 rushing.

The return of senior tackle Thomas Smith and junior linebacker Clint Session should bolster Pitt’s run-stoppers, but several other players were added to the mix this week.

Freshman Mick Williams was moved from linebacker to tackle and is on the traveling roster, while freshman Doug Fulmer switched from linebacker to defensive end.

Another freshman, Gus Mustakis, played his way into the two-deep as a backup end.

“I think their effort was and is tremendous,” Pitt defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads said. “They’re learning. They’re young guys, and they’re trying to capably fill all those four down positions. I think their approach this week has been very blue-collar, and we expect it to be. We know it will be that way.”

The freshmen will join junior Charles Sallet and sophomore Chris McKillop at defensive end, while redshirt freshmen Nick Williams and Corey Davis and true frosh Rashaad Duncan are the top tackles with Smith. Seniors Ron Idoko and Phil Tillman will also play.

Rhoads said Solich’s offense contains some key components from what he ran at Nebraska but is more diverse than just an option attack. He said quarterback Austin Everson runs extremely well for a big guy at 6-2, 222 pounds, while sophomore tailback Kelvin McRae makes the running game dangerous.

I can’t be sure if this isn’t just a bit of puffery about the Ohio running game. Against Northwestern, Ohio had only 62 yards on the ground, on 23 carries. Regardless, the defensive line needs to show it can penetrate and break the blocking.

Meanwhile, Athens and Peden Stadium are preparing for their close-up.

Except tonight’s game will be, nationally on ESPN 2. That’s why those television trucks are here, which is why OU employees swarmed Peden on Thursday morning. They powerwashed the sidewalks, cleaned the bleachers and spruced up the flowers in the North end zone.

Peden needs to look good.

“Being on national television allows us to expose our fans and alumni across the country to the exciting things going on here,” Hocutt said. “It also provides us with an avenue in our recruiting efforts in all sports.”

Added Solich: “It’s going to pay dividends for the university, dividends for our program and, I hope, dividends for the other athletic programs in our system.”

Their actual performance almost seems incidental to everyone but the players.

The Bobcats pass defense was identified as an area to improve during fall workouts, and Ohio’s defense will be tested with another seasoned veteran at quarterback this week from Pittsburgh’s Tyler Palko.

“We really hit those areas hard through fall camp,” Solich said. “Some of it comes down to matchups. Some of it comes down to the fact that we faced an experienced quarterback (at Northwestern) and have to play another one.”

Despite being a large underdog against Northwestern, the Bobcats were disappointed with the loss.

“I like the way they’ve responded,” Solich said. “They’re not pleased with the loss. They’re not pleased with how they played. They want to play well and get better.”

Besides an upset victory, Ohio will also be trying to showcase the university in front of a national audience for the first time in more than 30 years.

“The only way that people will start to find out about Ohio University is to get some national exposure,” Solich said. “People around the country will see us, and hopefully we represent Ohio University in a manner that is going to be a plus.”

The MAC does have instant replay, just so you know.

Pitt will be just the 3rd BCS team to venture into Athens.

Tyler Palko isn’t worried about the defense. He just wants to see the offense cash-in better.

Palko said the frustrating part of the 42-21 loss to Notre Dame game was that he believes the Panthers could have scored more were it not for some misfortune or miscommunication. The Panthers dropped two possible touchdown passes — one by Greg Lee and one by Derek Kinder — and had a number of plays that just missed for a variety of reasons.

He’s confident those miscues will be corrected and that the offense will run like a well-oiled machine because of the talent of its personnel.

“We have good players at every position,” he said. “There is no reason we shouldn’t be a good, productive offense. We should be able to beat teams in a lot of ways and we will. The key for us is to watch the film, which we did, and learn from our mistakes.”
…
“We just missed on some big pass plays, but those will come,” Palko said. “We need to be able to pass the ball well because I think our running game is coming along well. Once we’re able to do both, we’ll be very dangerous, and I really believe we are very close.”

The offense looked rusty last week, but there is a general belief that it will be okay. I think Palko pretty much echoed the sentiment of the fans though in a more forgiving manner. It’s the defense that’s the issue. Especially on the line.

It would appear at least one columnist is tired of seeing the defense suffer the slow death out of fear of giving up the big play and wants to see some blitzing.

Still, it’ll be up to Wannstedt and Pitt defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads do what must be done to avoid Notre Dame repeats.

“The obvious answer is, can you blitz ’em?” Wannstedt said. “Or, do you defend? We defended (against Notre Dame). We weren’t getting there, we didn’t want to take a chance of the big pass play, so we rushed three and we covered everybody. Twice (quarterback Brady Quinn) had no place to throw the ball, and he tucked it and ran for 15 yards.

“That’s your choices, you either defend and cover, which we did and we can do well. Or, you blitz, and you take those chances.”

Sending the house from here on out is really Pitt’s only alternative.

Even with a healthier, more productive Thomas Smith, the Panthers have a much better chance of out-numbering opponents than they do of overwhelming them.

On passing plays, they might generate a rush if they’re coming.

On running plays, they might at least get in the way if they happen to blitz the right lane.

Failing that, it’ll be up to the secondary, the strength of the defense, to keep the big plays allowed down to a manageable number.

But even a big play against beats being systematically bled to death.

The Panthers have already endured enough of that to realize any alternative is more appealing.

Pitt is supposed to have one of the better secondaries in the country. The coaches have all said that the secondary is a strength on defense. At some point, they are going to have to trust them if this team is going to get better on defense. Simply put, the line needs more help.

The questions right now are with the defense. While playing Ohio might help the defense feel better, it will be more important to see how they do with fundamentals. Not simply using superior physical tools to beat Ohio. Nebraska is in a week and while they may not be the force they were in the ’90s, they still have a strong and beefy O-line.

It’s okay. You can admit it. You’re among friends. Here’s a game that’s some 12 hours from kick-off on ESPN2, and you are having trouble getting juiced for it. That beating from ND deflated things a little more than you realized as you try and think about the game tonight.

A game Pitt should win with ease. Who cares that this is Ohio U’s and Frank Solich’s home opener. Who cares about the thundersticks, rally towels and t-shirts the school plans to give away. On simple talent alone, Pitt is noticeably bigger, faster and stronger.

This is an Ohio team that got blown out by Northwestern. An Ohio team where their players spoke of the “hostile” Big 11 atmosphere afterwards. This hostile location where some 20,000 Wildcat fans, uh, milled about in a place that can hold nearly 50,000.

About the only ones outside of Athens, Ohio treating this like a big deal are gamblers who have this game or the Washington St.-Nevada match-up as their only options. And even they are heavily favoring Pitt.

And yet…

There was that stunning loss to USF in 2001. In 2003, Toledo first exposed Pitt’s defense — that continues to struggle. Now it’s 2005 and you begin to wonder if there is something about odd-numbered years and taking a non-con team too lightly.

There’s the fact that the lines looked bad. There’s–

No. It’s different now. Different team. Different coach. Everything’s different.

Screw the doubts. Stop worrying and enjoy the game.

The b-ball schedule was released. Pitt won’t even leave Pittsburgh until a few days after Christmas. Then, not again until mid-January.

The first real game is on November 19 against St. Peters. Practice begins on October 15.

Right now there are only 4 games on ESPN: hosting DePaul on Jan. 12, home against Syracuse on Jan. 23 and both WVU games (home, Feb. 9; away, Feb. 27).

Right now there is no indication as to whether CBS will air any of the games, or which games Fox Sports Pittsburgh is carrying.

No. No one committed. All stuff from the Trib.

A story on recruiting and text messaging usage by coaches. What? Doesn’t this story belong some 6 months ago? Man, it turns out that they use this thing called e-mail too. Amazing.

In more useful information, the courting of High School Juniors has officially begun for college football coaches.

Paskorz, a 6-foot-2, 215-pounder who led the WPIAL in rushing as a sophomore, received letters and yearbooks from Pitt, Penn State and Ohio State on Thursday and Michigan, Notre Dame and UCLA on Saturday.

Other top juniors to get personal letters were Gateway receiver Jon Ditto from Pitt, Penn State, Michigan and Notre Dame and Valley receiver Toney Clemons from Pitt.

They also list the top WPIAL CBs. No shock that Darrin Walls is at the top of the list.

Expect to see the defense shuttle more people in and out of the line-up to try and find players on the D-line.

Additional personnel could be used. Rhoads, like Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt earlier this week, noted that freshmen Mick Williams and Gus Mustakis earned more playing time on the defensive line against Ohio.

Freshman Tommie Campbell, Aliquippa High School graduate, played on special teams against Notre Dame and also earned additional time this week, Rhoads said. But freshman Craig Bokor, a Hopewell graduate who enrolled early and practiced with the Panthers in the spring, has contributed primarily on the scout team.

“He’s probably behind some of those other guys right now, but he’s given us a great look in our preparation,” Rhoads said. “But he’s probably not yet pushing for playing time (at defensive tackle).”

After the ND game, an opponent like Ohio will probably afford the opportunity to see what some of the other kids on further down on the depth chart look like. It also gives the coaches a chance to get the younger players an actual taste of the game and playing.

The Ohio U paper has a brief piece on Coach Wannstedt with some comparisons to the situation with Frank Solich.

Consider these comments from a top University official.

“If we are concerned with our public image, and indeed, we are,” he said during that interview in August 2004, “we have to pay attention to our athletics. … (They are) as important as any other aspect of the university, because when people learn about a university, often they learn about it through athletics. They are looking at TV, they listen to the radio, they read the newspaper.”

No, that didn’t come from Chancellor Nordenberg or anyone from Pitt. It came from Ohio University President Roderick McDavis. It’s a column exhorting Bobcat fans to pack Peden Stadium on Friday. A chance to show off the school, the fans and the team.

Students, faculty and Athens residents alike need to pack Peden.

This game is essentially a three-hour commercial for OU. Everything the cameras pick up -and that includes far more than just the team and its performance -will reflect back on the school. The signs and the tailgaters will be important. So will the stadium’s atmosphere and the number of bodies in its seats.

It’s the first time Ohio U football has been on any ESPN channel and the first time they have been shown beyond local community cable access since 1969.

What they needed to do was get one of their famous alum in for the game. They needed Peter King.

Well, I’m glad the players (at least publicly) aren’t being overconfident about the game against the Bobcats.

The idea that Pitt playing at Ohio tomorrow night might serve as a breather on the schedule is one embraced by no one from Wannstedt to the last man on the Panthers’ depth chart.

“We better be hungry every week,” quarterback Tyler Palko said. “It shouldn’t take a loss to make anybody more hungry or less ready to play.”

Leave the overconfidence to the fans.

Palko, apparently wants to have a much more efficient offense, this game.

There will be pressure on Pitt’s defense to play better, regardless of the opponent.

“We should be scrutinized,” he said. “I mean, 500 yards? I think the last time I was close to giving up 500 yards in a coaching day was [1991] when Warren Moon was the opposing quarterback [for the Houston Oilers] and I was the defensive coordinator for the [Dallas] Cowboys [in a 26-23 loss in overtime]. I don’t remember another day like that.

“So we should be scrutinized, everybody on defense, because that is unacceptable.”

Yeah, the more I read in his comments, the more I can see Coach Wannstedt taking over the defense by next year. He’s taking problems on the defense very personally.

Ohio, though, is a very young and inexperienced team. Not to mention a new coach of their own.

Solich is in his first year as the Bobcats coach, and patience is one virtue he’ll need to have to get through this season. He, too, has a young team that will go through some growing pains early on.

The Bobcats (0-1), who play host to Pitt (0-1) tomorrow night, lost, 38-14, Saturday at Northwestern, and Solich said most of their problems were because of inexperience. Ohio starts seven players who are true sophomores or younger, and only four seniors, and has 23 players who are true sophomores or younger on its depth chart.

But, they now feel more ready.

Hartke, who is a backup to senior Seth Ream, is one of five freshmen on the defensive two-deep. He said the unit got stronger as the Northwestern game went on because players started to get comfortable with what they were doing. He said playing at home this week will be a big help.

“Our first game was in a hostile Big Ten environment, so that added to it,” he said. “This week, we have the crowd on our side, we are in a familiar place, and that will make a big difference. We’re going to need it because Pitt is a big, physical team and they will present us with a big challenge.”

“Hostile Big Ten environment”? This was Northwestern. The crowd was just over 20,000 and they are not exactly considered rowdy (especially considering the lack of bars not just near the stadium, but in all of Evanston).

I mean, Ohio should have more fans jamming their own little place for the Pitt game. Afterall the Mayor of Athens, Ohio declared all Fridays “Green and White Day.”

I’m shocked to report that Pitt has returned a block of its allotted tickets to Ohio — about 1100. Let’s see… about a 3 hour or more drive as I recall — a good hour of it on rural roads — a Friday night game, no where near enough hotels in the area. Can’t understand Pitt fans not traveling to this one.

Coach Wannstedt gave scholarships to two more walk-ons. Both Seniors — linebacker/special teams specialist Doug Roseberry and fullback Justin Acierno. Always cool.

Things that accumulated from yesterday.

Well, at least now I know why it was Joe Starkey at the Trib. asking questions during the Big East Coaches Conference call rather than Mackall or Biertempfel. He’s freelancing for ESPN.com this fall with the weekly Big East Notebook. Apparently the Wannstedt honeymoon is over. Other than the fact that Pitt lost, he doesn’t really give an explanation. If you saw the streaming number of dispirited fans heading out starting in the 3rd quarter, then it might not need an explanation. He does, however, call out Greg Lee.

Junior wide receiver Greg Lee made a 39-yard touchdown reception but also dropped a potential TD pass late in the first half, making it two straight games in which he has dropped one (the other came in the Fiesta Bowl).

If Lee truly wants to be considered an elite receiver, he needs to make those catches. He is aiming to become the second receiver in Pitt history (after Larry Fitzgerald) to post two 1,000-yard seasons.

Another article about Pitt needing to shore up the D-line. I find this paraphrase attributed to Coach Wannstedt a little disturbing.

Wannstedt said the Panthers defense gave up too many big plays last season, so he determined that less blitzing would help cut down on those.

Say what? I admit that as I’ve gotten older, the memory isn’t what it was. Still, I recall the problem last year wasn’t the big play so much as the long drive because of the passive defense that allowed teams to stay out on the field picking up medium chunks of yardage. The reason was apparently to prevent the big play.

This piece is about Pitt regrouping and eager for the Friday game.

Looking for information from newspapers about the Ohio Bobcats? Yeah, me too. Let’s just say the interest is limited.

Best I can find is the OU student newspaper has an article devoted to MAC loving.

Actually, given the fascination with recruiting, here’s the “read it all” article about the “Recruiting Realities Tour.”

He was funny, sarcastic and interactive.

Most important, Jack Renkens was blunt during his Recruiting Realities Tour, which stopped in the Akron area last week.

In case you missed it, here’s a summary of Renkens’ hour-long session in 18 sweet inches.

Renkens, a former high school and college coach and athletic director, spoke at Wadsworth High last Tuesday night, Tallmadge High on Wednesday and Stow High on Thursday night. Fewer than 60 families attended the first two sessions, while nearly 300 listened at Stow.
…
He started speaking across the country in part because of the recruiting adversity he faced at lesser-known schools, but mostly because he saw a need when parents asked his advice as he watched his children compete.

Renkens’ presentation was informative and much needed.

He talked about the unrealistic student-athlete and parent. Twenty letters a week is a moderate recruit, 300 per week is a legitimate Division I recruit, Renkens said.

“Colleges recruit the world,” Renkens said. “One in 100 will get a fully funded college education. That’s the reality.”

Here’s the website. It doesn’t look like he’s stopping in Pennsylvania this month.

But if Herb Pope goes to Memphis or wherever Bob Huggins coaches next there should be some investigations.

An interesting article from Greg Doyel at Sportsline about Eddie Lau, a recruiter for a NYC AAU team, who also just happens to have been advising one of the top players Derrick Caracter who recently committed to Louisville.

For years Lau has been a covert operative, working as a recruiter for AAU-type programs like the Long Island Panthers, but in recent weeks he blew his cover by serving as Caracter’s “adviser,” telling CBS SportsLine.com, “he’s like my godson.”

On the surface, Lau’s advisory role to Caracter means little. But what you see isn’t necessarily what you get when it comes to Eddie Lau, or those like him.

Lau is more than an adviser, more than an AAU recruiter. He works for powerful NBA agent Dan Fegan, whose client list includes Gilbert Arenas, Jason Richardson and Erick Dampier. For Fegan and Associates, Lau is a consultant — servicing current clients and trying to rustle up new ones from the New York City area.

And the best amateur player in the New York City area is … Derrick Caracter.

That connection ought to curdle the Louisville compliance department’s milk — and pique the interest of the NCAA, which has investigated Fegan before. Two years ago, Fegan’s relationship with Charlie Villanueva cost Villanueva the first six games of Connecticut’s 2003-04 season. Villanueva’s AAU team? The Long Island Panthers. Villanueva’s connection to Fegan? Eddie Lau, according to multiple sources in New York City.

So this led me to wonder about the AAU Coach of the Pittsburgh J.O.T.S. — J.O. Stright. Could there be the similar hanky-panky?

It is not the same situation, but there are flags.

J.O. Stright is also a successful businessman who lives in Mt. Washington and owns an Etna insurance business. Stright may have gained most of his notoriety for becoming the legal guardian for a young high school star in the Pittsburgh area in the ’90s — Danny Fortson. By remarkable coincidence, Stright is a close friend of Coaches Bob Huggins and John Calipari — as this disturbing anectode reveals.

Summer 1991. AAU tournament in Memphis. Stright, a Pittsburgh businessman, is coaching a team that includes 15-year-old stars Danny Fortson and Tino Hunter. Huggins attends the tournament. He likes Fortson, a tough kid who fits UC’s physical style. Calipari, then coach at Massachusetts, attends the tournament. He likes Hunter, a great athlete who fits the Minutemen’s athletic style.

Stright, who had taken to looking after both inner-city kids, becoming Fortson’s legal guardian, remembers he, Calipari and Huggins went out for a beer to discuss Fortson and Hunter.

Stright vividly remembers the three reaching an agreement that night.

Calipari: “Look, Bob loves this guy Danny, and I love Tino.”

Stright: “I’ll do everything in my power to get these guys to sign with you guys.”

Huggins: “Fine with me.”

They shook hands and had beers to celebrate the recruiting coup. …

Wow. And this is/was apparently kosher?

Stright, by the way is also a very generous donor to Pitt educational funds. He gets mentioned in the local society/gossip pages.

Danny Fortson, Stright and another have engaged in real estate/business ventures in the area.

Now what this means with Herb Pope, I am not sure. It does bear watching and maybe Stright’s relationship with Pope needs further scrutiny.

The latest BlogPoll has been released.

Nothing too surprising about it. You can see how individual blogpollers voted here. My ballot with comments was here.

I’m not even going to pretend that I am anything but happy about this.

ESPN fired Trev Alberts on Sunday after the college football analyst failed to show up for work at ESPN’s studios in Bristol, Conn.

“He phoned and said that he wasn’t going to show up,” Mark Shapiro, ESPN’s Vice President of Programming and Production, told SI.com on Tuesday night, “and when he didn’t, he was in breach of his contract and we terminated him.”

Alberts, a former All-American defensive end at Nebraska and member of the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts, was embarking on his fourth season as part of ESPN’s popular College Football Scoreboard and College Football Gameday team. But on Sunday morning, in the midst of college football’s first big weekend of the season, Alberts phoned ESPN’s coordinating producer of college football, Ed Placey, and voiced his discontent.

Now we know why it was just Rece Davis and Mark May in the studio.

I wish I could locate the blogger and post I read the other day who commented that May is actually better without Alberts around because he doesn’t have defend his every utterance every 4 seconds.

In the next couple of weeks, they will have someone else from within ESPN’s ranks fill in for the year. After that they plan to open it up again. Oh, goody. Now we know what the next “Dream Job” will be.

Variety of topics in the papers.

The team has moved on to focus on the next game (though the headline used for the AP story makes it seem as if the team is actually still dwelling on ND).

Trying to focus his team on Friday night opponent Ohio University and away from one of the school’s worst opening-game losses ever, Wannstedt said nothing can be gained by talking any more about the then-No. 23 Panthers’ confidence-shaking 42-21 loss Saturday night.

Notre Dame, verboten.

“We watched the Notre Dame tapes, and I brought them back in here at 7 p.m. on Sunday night and I personally gave them a scouting report on Ohio University, and that was it,” Wannstedt said Tuesday. “And I said, ‘I didn’t want to hear another word about that game.’ I think it’s my approach, and the assistant coaches, and the leaders on this team, how quickly we turn it over and move on and learn from it.

“Right now the feeling in our stomachs is not good, and the only way to make it feel good again is to win.”

You know, that is true. The last time Pitt lost a home opener this badly was in ’96. A 34-0 drubbing by WVU. Before that, you have to go all the way back to the grim days of 1967 and a 40-8 loss to UCLA.

The lack of a pass rush by the defense was noticeably missing from the ND game. Coach Wannstedt was asked about that and what changes were possible.

“If you look at the defenses I’ve run over the last 15 years, we’ve always just lined up and kicked people’s tails across the board up front,” he said yesterday at his weekly news conference. “We’re going to get there. Now, are we there right now? Can we do that right now? Not today, which means we’ve just got to adjust and do some things to help ourselves [generate a pass rush].”

Generally, doing things to help a pass rush means blitzing more. The Panthers rarely blitzed against the Irish and, because their defensive front was overmatched, they weren’t able to put much pressure on Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn.

As Pitt (0-1) prepares to play at Ohio (0-1) Friday, Wannstedt said blitzing is one way to jump-start the pass rush, but there are other options as well.

“The obvious answer is to blitz, but you can also defend,” he said. “We defended. We weren’t getting to the quarterback so we rushed three and we covered everybody to the point where he had nowhere to throw the ball, but he escaped and ran for the first down. We covered because we can do that well.

“But you can also blitz and take those chances. I think we’re capable of both. We had both in the game plan and we’ll pick and choose and mix it up as we go on. A lot of it has to do with experience, just being experienced enough to do that.”

I was surprised by the lack of blitzing by Pitt. I expected some more aggressiveness from the defense. It reads to me, that he wants to be more aggressive. Perhaps with more play by Thomas Smith and Clint Session returning to action this week, there will be more blitzing and attacking on defense.

There was a brief article about Coach Wannstedt’s handling of his players’ off the field stuff — Kicker Josh Cummings and Tight End Eric Gill.

Wannstedt said yesterday that while he believes strongly in discipline and player accountability, he must deal with each case individually. He said there are too many questions about Gill’s case to make a judgment about it, and Cummings was disciplined based on university and athletic department procedures.

“Josh was dealt with immediately, thoroughly and aggressively,” Wannstedt said.

I think he handled the Cummings matter properly, given its occurrence and immediate publicity and handling in the off-season.

The Gill stuff is troubling because there would appear to have been some attempts to cover it up by Gill and his father. It came out the day before the ND game. I don’t think it was a distraction, but it called for more action. At the very least, naming him team captain for the game — and letting him keep it — was a mistake.

Defensive End Chris McKillop has a nasty gash in his head because, well, because he must like playing concussed.

Above McKillop’s left eye is a large, black and purple bruise and a gash that took three stitches to close. The sophomore defensive end sustained the injury when he was dog-piled in the end zone after a Notre Dame touchdown.

“I wear my helmet so loose, so when I fell on the ground, it came up toward my eye,” McKillop said, wincing. “An offensive lineman fell on me, and it just sliced me open.”

Good plan, keep the helmet loose in a violent, jarring game. No worries.

What were those old commercials where the concussed football player said, “I’m Batman.”? Snickers? Part of the ‘Not going anywhere for a while’ campaign?

One of the few surprisingly good things from the ND game was Ray Kirkley showed some speed and got in the rotation at tailback.

When Wannstedt ordered many players to lose weight over the offseason, Kirkley wondered how it would affect his running ability. But after dropping 15 pounds — he checks in these days at 213 — Kirkley is happy with the results.

“Earlier in my career, I thought that heavier backs could take the punishment better,” Kirkley said. “But I’ve realized that I’m a lot quicker now and I can still take the punishment. I can run around people now. But I can still break tackles and run through people, too. Losing the weight is definitely working for me.”

Kirkley’s speed to the outside is a fine compliment to Jennings’ inside power style.

Just finding enough touches to figure out who should be playing more will still be an issue.

Yesterday was the weekly Big East Coaches Conference Call. You can listen here (Coach Wannstedt came on at 7:30 — following Dantonio [Cinci]). The conference call, according to the Big East website is only up for a week until the next call.

In the call, Coach Wannstedt was nice about Frank Solich and the Ohio QB.

Thomas Smith is still considered questionable but expected to play.

The primary issue for Coach Wannstedt reported in a couple BE notebooks is that Pitt is playing a Friday night game.

Pittsburgh head coach Dave Wannstedt is sensitive to this, and insists efforts were made to avoid interference with the local high schools.

Because of the national television coverage associated with the two high-profile coaches – Wannstedt at Pitt and former Nebraska head coach Frank Solich at Ohio – the game was slated for the prime-time audience.

Wannstedt said the area high school coaches understand the situation, and by no means is the scheduling a slight to Friday night football.

“No one is more sensitive to high school football in western (Pennsylvania) than me,” Wannstedt said. “Sometimes you get into situations because of scheduling and TV. Some of these things we have to do because of the conferences and the program.”

Not related, but something to keep in mind when offseason coaching changes occur, Rutgers Head Coach Schiano is also the Defensive Coordinator — not good when your team blows a 27-7 lead.

As for comments about the ND game, he tried to be philosophical.

“The only comment I will make is how much work we have to do,” he said. “When you are playing a team like Notre Dame you are going to find out real quick, and we did.”

Then there is Coach Wannstedt’s regular press conference, and transcript.

On the receivers:

We’re making some progress. I think we know where all of our guys are. Greg Lee, it’s kind of a shame he didn’t make that one catch in the end zone. I mean, he’ll make that 99 times out of 100. We all know that. He played well. On the touchdown, on the opening drive, he really ran a great route. He beat the guy and got open. Joey [DelSardo], we know where he is. Joey’s going to be a good, consistent player for us. The third guy is really unknown. There’s [Derek] Kinder, [Marcel] Pestano. That’s where we’re at. It’s between those two guys. Kinder, probably right now, is probably faster. He’s more of a natural receiver. You know, Kinder was a running back in high school. He’s a guy that smart, and he’s always in the right spot. So from a coach’s standpoint, that’s kind of what we’re looking at.

To be honest, when Lee didn’t make that catch, it was hard to be too upset considering he’d been doing nothing but windsprints and decoys for the majority of the game. He was probably shocked the ball was actually coming to him.

Greg Lee, however, does need to start dominating again or get help. He’s going to face a lot of extra coverage.

Pitt must develop another receiver with speed to take pressure off WR Greg Lee. After Lee caught a 39-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter, Notre Dame rolled a safety toward Lee almost every play to help in coverage. Lee caught three passes for 24 yards the remainder of the game. Joe DelSardo, who starts opposite Lee, is a solid possession receiver, but Pitt has to look at freshman Marcel Pestano to stretch defenses.

In the ND game, it also didn’t help that Palko rarely had time to wait for him to break the coverage.

Image now removed.

As per the bet with the boys of BGS, this painful item will be here all day — at the top of the blog.

Listen. Do you hear that? It’s the sound of punditry trying to read too much into one game.

I made the mistake of watching some of the gab shows and the talk of the ND-Pitt game today. It kind of compelled me to add a coda.

Some sportswriters probably sprained something jumping off the Wannstedt bandwagon (or backpedaling from frontrunning attempts to claim that they identified the “next” Pete Carroll).

Except for the push-broom mustache, Dave Wannstedt was channeling Walt Harris. The Panthers lost another big game and got pushed around doing it. So much for Wanny’s tough defense and power running game. Talk about sucking the life out of a team. Notre Dame strung together a 20-play, seven-minute drive in the third quarter.

Then you have plenty of mention of this:

Notre Dame goes to the East Coast and pulls a surprising rout of the No. 23 team in the country, a defending conference champ at that. Where have we seen this before? Oh, right: Tyrone Willingham‘s debut, a 22-0 rout of then 21st-ranked Maryland, the defending ACC champ, three years ago this weekend.

Which the boys at BGS seemed to expect. Unsurprisingly they completely reject such comparisons.

Here’s the thing. It means nothing of the sort for anything or anyone.

If Pitt had won, someone would have pointed out that Wannstedt and the Dolphins beat the Patriots under Belichick and Weis the first 3 times they took over as coaches. Or the fact that the last time Pitt beat ND in the first year of a new ND coach was in ’86 under Lou Holtz — and how well Holtz ultimately worked out for ND.

All it means is that ND beat Pitt this year.

We can compare it, try and make sense of it. Claim to put it in some grand perspective or scheme. But we don’t know right now. History and time will determine it’s “greater” meaning for both schools.

I hope that is all.