The ever popular Paul Zeise Q&A is out. If Pitt is bowl bound, he’ll be keeping the Q&As going through the game. If not, the last one will be in early December.

Q: Will Pitt use Darrell Strong more in the future? And do you think the tight end will become a bigger weapon when Nate Byham gets here?

Zeise: Yes, Strong, Buches and Byham will be major weapons for the Panthers in the passing game next year, but I would argue that the tight end is more involved in Pitt’s offense this year than you think. Last year, Gill, Buches and Strong combined to catch 36 balls (and Strong was a receiver so his four shouldn’t really even count). This year the three have 49 receptions and would have about 55 if they would’ve come down with all of the balls they should have. And that’s with Gill being used more for his talents as a run blocker than as a receiver and with the team passing a whole lot less. In fact, if you look at it, the tight ends are a much bigger part of the passing offense percentage-wise than they have been in a long time. Last season Pitt had 232 passes completed which means the tight ends (including Strong) accounted for only about six percent of the team’s receptions. This year they’ve accounted for nearly 30 percent of the receptions (49 of 170). They are indeed a much larger percentage of the offense than they have been in a long time and they will get even more work as Strong and Byham gain experience and prove they deserve more touches. Matt Cavanaugh said earlier this year that he’d like to see the tight end position get somewhere between 60 and 75 catches (at a minimum) each year – which means the tight end will play a big role for the Panthers for a long time to come.

Interesting. Of course his math is off. 36 out of 232 is 16.4%. Still the point is well taken. Obviously, Pitt is throwing less, which isn’t a surprise. It also means that Pitt is not throwing nearly as deep if the TEs are seeing proportional and actual increases in the number of passes coming their way.

It’s difficult, though, to compare the offense from last year to this year. Last year, Pitt averaged 78.4 plays/game in the season. This year, it is down to 67.5. To be fair, the number of plays run by Pitt’s opponents are down by almost the same number: from 81.2 to 70.0.

It’s hard not to look ahead to next year and wonder what the offense will be like. The talent that should be there at TE. Then the possibilities at WR with Lee, Kinder and Dickerson. The weapons will be there for the passing game. It’s a question of whether they will be used.

In Zeise’s notebook column he wonders about whether it is good or bad to have the extra time off before a big game. It is the wrong question. It’s like asking whether an IPA is a better beer style than a stout. Obviously it depends on many things — the quality of the beers, the time of year, personal tastes, any food being consumed with the beer.

For Pitt, the break can only help. It’s not like Pitt was clicking on all cylinders and the extra time could disrupt the delicate rhythm they had working.

The regular season begins tomorrow evening and the school has announced the season has been sold-out. The important thing, though, is to have people show up for the game. Especially the students. A loud, continually sold-out joint is the key to Pitt maintaining the dominating home-court advantage it has had — even during some stumbles last year.

Pitt is not ranked. Expectations are modest, and the fans have a lot of questions. If Pitt has some early stumbles or even simply looks shaky, how quickly will the arena empty?

The opening night foe will be St. Peter’s of the MAAC. There is absolutely no past history between Pitt and the Peacocks. Pitt has its, game notes (PDF). (As an administrative, note, I see that Pitt appears to be shifting to the blog/link unfriendly policy of putting the PDF game notes under a “weekly release” heading. This means it will shift every game, rather than a true permanent link. Other CollegeSports based sites do this then later shift the notes into a “Game Notes” file I find it annoying because then the link I leave on this post will quickly become inaccurate.)

St. Peter’s is already off to an 0-2 start, but does feature the NCAA leading scorer for the previous 2 seasons in Keydren Clark.

Some of the Pitt players sat out practice with minor aches, but are expected to play Saturday (or at least be suited up and available).

Junior guard Antonio Graves (knee), sophomore guard Keith Benjamin (groin) and freshman forward Tyrell Biggs (knee) sat out practice at Petersen Events Center.

The players and coach are saying the right things heading into the start of the season.

Dixon said neither he nor any of his players will use youth and inexperience as a crutch this season. Dixon has four first-year players he is assimilating, including three freshmen who are expected to play significant roles.

“Our youth keeps being brought up,” Dixon said.

“We’re not going to use youth as an excuse. We’ve had to replace guys before. We can’t use it as an excuse. We have to embrace it and be excited about it.”
…
Pitt is unranked to begin a season for the first time in four years, and the Panthers are itching to prove the preseason prognosticators wrong.

“It’s definitely a different feeling,” center Aaron Gray said.

“Last year, we had a lot of hype. This year, maybe people are overlooking us.

“We’ll use that to our advantage. As the season goes on, I think people will stop overlooking us.”

Here’s a brief argument in support of Pitt getting the better deal over WVU in players who dipped a toe into the NBA draft but came back for their senior year.

Pittsnogle, on the other hand, isn’t expected to replace Tyrone Sally as West Virginia’s leader; the Mountaineers lean on Mike Gansey for that. Without Sally and D’or Fisher, Pittsnogle may be asked to rebound more, but he’s never shown he could consistently. Last season, he averaged a paltry 3.7 per game – a number hard to believe for someone who can dunk without jumping.

Pittsnogle is merely a 3-point shooter who got hot at the right time, namely the Big East and NCAA tournaments last year. He’s an excellent marksman, but he’s a dog with only one trick. Krauser, on the other hand, is a good shooter, a good passer, tenacious and mentally sound. He may not be the epitome of a college point guard, but he’s near the top at that position in the Big East.

Pittsnogle may have the better upside – the NBA loves big shooters because they provide match-up problems – but I’ll take Krauser for my college team.

For the record, Krauser averaged 4.8 rebounds/game.

Freshman Sam Young gets a puff piece.

Young, the prized player in Pitt’s top 25 recruiting class, is expected to play a major role on the team in his first season on campus. Young probably won’t start early in the season, but he will play 20 to 25 minutes a game off the bench. He scored a game-high 16 points in Pitt’s final exhibition game against IUP, most of which came via highlight-reel dunks.

Armed with a 35-inch vertical leap, a powerful inside game and a newly developed midrange game, Young has a unique mix of athleticism, tenacity and touch. Dixon yesterday compared him to Villanova forward Curtis Sumpter, a preseason Big East all-star who will miss the season with a knee injury.

“He’s got a long way to go to be Curtis Sumpter,” Dixon said. “Sam was more under the radar than Sumpter. But I see the same development. I’ve talked to Sam about Curtis being a guy he can strive for.”

When Young signed with Pitt last November, he was not one of the top 100 recruits in the country. But as his prep season went on at Hargrave Military Academy in Virginia — he was named a first-team Prep School All-America — his stock rose. By the time, the final recruiting rankings were published earlier this year he was one of the top 70 players in his class.

What made Young soar in the rankings was the midrange game he developed at Hargrave, where he helped the team to a 28-1 record and No. 2 national ranking.

Last year, the big thing Pitt lacked were players who could go inside and out. If Young develops into that kind of player, Pitt can become not only a better team in the next couple of years, but a team more capable of going deeper in the tournament.

The regular season begins tomorrow evening and the school has announced the season has been sold-out. The important thing, though, is to have people show up for the game. Especially the students. A loud, continually sold-out joint is the key to Pitt maintaining the dominating home-court advantage it has had — even during some stumbles last year.

Pitt is not ranked. Expectations are modest, and the fans have a lot of questions. If Pitt has some early stumbles or even simply looks shaky, how quickly will the arena empty?

The opening night foe will be St. Peter’s of the MAAC. There is absolutely no past history between Pitt and the Peacocks. Pitt has its, game notes (PDF). (As an administrative, note, I see that Pitt appears to be shifting to the blog/link unfriendly policy of putting the PDF game notes under a “weekly release” heading. This means it will shift every game, rather than a true permanent link. Other CollegeSports based sites do this then later shift the notes into a “Game Notes” file I find it annoying because then the link I leave on this post will quickly become inaccurate.)

St. Peter’s is already off to an 0-2 start, but does feature the NCAA leading scorer for the previous 2 seasons in Keydren Clark.

Some of the Pitt players sat out practice with minor aches, but are expected to play Saturday (or at least be suited up and available).

Junior guard Antonio Graves (knee), sophomore guard Keith Benjamin (groin) and freshman forward Tyrell Biggs (knee) sat out practice at Petersen Events Center.

The players and coach are saying the right things heading into the start of the season.

Dixon said neither he nor any of his players will use youth and inexperience as a crutch this season. Dixon has four first-year players he is assimilating, including three freshmen who are expected to play significant roles.

“Our youth keeps being brought up,” Dixon said.

“We’re not going to use youth as an excuse. We’ve had to replace guys before. We can’t use it as an excuse. We have to embrace it and be excited about it.”
…
Pitt is unranked to begin a season for the first time in four years, and the Panthers are itching to prove the preseason prognosticators wrong.

“It’s definitely a different feeling,” center Aaron Gray said.

“Last year, we had a lot of hype. This year, maybe people are overlooking us.

“We’ll use that to our advantage. As the season goes on, I think people will stop overlooking us.”

Here’s a brief argument in support of Pitt getting the better deal over WVU in players who dipped a toe into the NBA draft but came back for their senior year.

Pittsnogle, on the other hand, isn’t expected to replace Tyrone Sally as West Virginia’s leader; the Mountaineers lean on Mike Gansey for that. Without Sally and D’or Fisher, Pittsnogle may be asked to rebound more, but he’s never shown he could consistently. Last season, he averaged a paltry 3.7 per game – a number hard to believe for someone who can dunk without jumping.

Pittsnogle is merely a 3-point shooter who got hot at the right time, namely the Big East and NCAA tournaments last year. He’s an excellent marksman, but he’s a dog with only one trick. Krauser, on the other hand, is a good shooter, a good passer, tenacious and mentally sound. He may not be the epitome of a college point guard, but he’s near the top at that position in the Big East.

Pittsnogle may have the better upside – the NBA loves big shooters because they provide match-up problems – but I’ll take Krauser for my college team.

For the record, Krauser averaged 4.8 rebounds/game.

Freshman Sam Young gets a puff piece.

Young, the prized player in Pitt’s top 25 recruiting class, is expected to play a major role on the team in his first season on campus. Young probably won’t start early in the season, but he will play 20 to 25 minutes a game off the bench. He scored a game-high 16 points in Pitt’s final exhibition game against IUP, most of which came via highlight-reel dunks.

Armed with a 35-inch vertical leap, a powerful inside game and a newly developed midrange game, Young has a unique mix of athleticism, tenacity and touch. Dixon yesterday compared him to Villanova forward Curtis Sumpter, a preseason Big East all-star who will miss the season with a knee injury.

“He’s got a long way to go to be Curtis Sumpter,” Dixon said. “Sam was more under the radar than Sumpter. But I see the same development. I’ve talked to Sam about Curtis being a guy he can strive for.”

When Young signed with Pitt last November, he was not one of the top 100 recruits in the country. But as his prep season went on at Hargrave Military Academy in Virginia — he was named a first-team Prep School All-America — his stock rose. By the time, the final recruiting rankings were published earlier this year he was one of the top 70 players in his class.

What made Young soar in the rankings was the midrange game he developed at Hargrave, where he helped the team to a 28-1 record and No. 2 national ranking.

Last year, the big thing Pitt lacked were players who could go inside and out. If Young develops into that kind of player, Pitt can become not only a better team in the next couple of years, but a team more capable of going deeper in the tournament.

Specifically, West Virginia has one and Pitt doesn’t.

WVU is 8th in the country (236.78 yds/gm) and 1st in the Big East, while Pitt is 94th (116.30) overall and 7th in the BE (we can thank Syracuse for that). Strangely Pitt’s rushing yardage is actually up (110.6) from last year at this time and WVU’s is down (258.3) — and both teams’ passing yardage are down around 40 yards from last year.

Both teams are playing the kids at running back.

Mountaineers freshman tailback Steve Slaton: 659 yards rushing and 11 touchdowns, with 617 of those yards and every touchdown coming in the five games since he became a starter.

Mountaineers redshirt freshman quarterback Pat White, who runs like a tailback: 478 yards rushing and three touchdowns, 174 yards and two of those scores coming in starts the past two games.

Panthers freshman tailback LaRod Stephens-Howling: 389 yards in eight games, two starts.

Panthers freshman tailback Rashad Jennings: 342 yards in eight games, one start.

That list excludes others: Ballyhooed Pitt freshman tailback Conredge Collins, who has played in five games, plus sophomore Brandon Mason and Duquesne High’s Shane Brooks, both redshirting; West Virginia sophomore fullback Owen Schmitt, right behind Slaton and White as the team’s third-leading rusher with 202 yards; and West Virginia’s vaunted freshman tailback Jason Gwaltney, out a fourth game because of a sprained medial collateral knee ligament and also scratched from the regular-season finale because of academic deficiencies.

The difference is that WVU has a far better O-line. In the middle they have the likely all-Big East Center Junior Dan Mozes. Then there are the 300 pound senior tackles on either side. Experience on the line really helps them.

WVU may be running the spread, but what they are doing probably has Coach Wannstedt drooling with envy. They only average about 16 passes per game and complete 10. So, while their passing game is 113th in the country with only 127.6 yards/game, it is very efficient.

The Hoopies will be running a lot. It is their strength. And of course, it is Pitt’s weakness (74th in the country, and 6th in the BE) allowing 158.6 yds/gm.

And after another anemic performance on offense, where the running game was ineffective, Pitt will still be trying to run . Again, a lot of this is traced to the O-line that gets no push off the line and does not open holes for the running backs. Despite the ineffective running game, and facing the nation’s 5th best run defense, Coach Wannstedt sees no reason not to continue to emphasize the run.

Against Connecticut, the Panthers ran 34 times for 76 yards (2.2 per carry).

In the Huskies’ three games before their meeting with the Panthers — losses to Cincinnati, Rutgers and West Virginia — they were shredded for 689 yards on the ground. All three of those teams rushed for at least 200 yards in those games.

Pitt rushed for only 62 yards against Louisville in its previous game.

The Panthers seem to have some talented running backs in LaRod Stephens-Howling and Rashad Jennings and the offensive line has improved, but something is clearly not working.

Wannstedt said that it has been tough to pinpoint the reason.

“The commitment is there and we will stay with that commitment,” he said. “It has been tempting [to abandon the run] when you are in there preparing, and it is easy to say, ‘We are not very good at [running the ball] so let’s put our focus and our energy into something else.’

“That’s not going to happen. I don’t believe in that. It is not the right thing to do. It’s going to take some time, but we just have to stay with it. The better we get as a team, the better our run game will get.”

Well, maybe WVU Coach Rodriguez will suffer a second consecutive year of brainlock and try to throw on Pitt a lot more.

I feel like I am still playing catch-up with everything this week. The cost of starting the week very slowly. So, I’m almost to the point of just clearing out the tabs from my browser windows.

You have to love the synergy of a company owning papers in two different states. It allows them to use one reporter to cover the story then package accordingly. Take Community Newspapers Holdings, Inc. They own papers in Johnstown, PA and Beckley, WV. So regarding the Backyard Brawl, the same reporter does a story for each paper. The Pitt story is the already stock story about Coach Wannstedt knowing all perspectives of the BB as a player, fan and coach. The WV story also goes with the coach angle.

Rich Rodriguez isn’t concerned about West Virginia’s football team getting charged up for its annual battle with Pitt.

“As a coach, you’ve got to be careful not to put too much emphasis on one game,” he said. “Our guys hear it all the time (about Pitt), 365 days a year.

“I worry more about (how we’ll play) in games against a Cincinnati or Connecticut. Our guys know Pitt-WVU is going to be a very intense game every year.

“You just want them to go execute. They understand the rivalry, even our young guys. They know it’s a huge game for us.

“We want to win the Big East championship. So it’s critical. But we just want to win this game. I do just because I like to beat Pitt.

“You don’t have to mention it to our guys. For this game, I’m probably going to have to calm them down — tell them to relax a bit.”
…
Rodriguez pointed out that the ancient adversaries have split the last eight meetings. That was after WVU had won five in a row for its longest run in the series.

Pitt leads the all-time rivalry by a 59-35-3 margin. But the series for the last 50 years stands even at 24-24-2.

“Everyone will say what to expect, but it really doesn’t always come out that way,” he said. “I’ve found that Pitt-WVU in itself is enough motivation for both programs.”

Then, of course, are the player stories. Especially the Western PA kids who found themselves forced to settle for the being a Hoopie. It tends to eat at them. Of course, it has lately seemed to come back and bite Pitt on the ass but that’s another issue.

West Virginia wide receiver Vaughn Rivers didn’t have to drive far to fulfill a dream of playing in the “Backyard Brawl.”

Rivers, a Perry graduate, is one of five former WPIAL players who could play significant roles when the No. 13 Mountaineers (8-1, 5-0) host the improving Pitt Panthers (5-5, 4-2) Thanksgiving night in one of the nation’s longest running rivalries.

The Panthers passed up the chance to recruit Rivers, and he never forgot it.

“I don’t hate them, but I don’t like them,” Rivers said Tuesday following practice at Milan Puskar Stadium.

Other WPIAL standouts who made the hour drive south on Interstate 79 to join the Mountaineers’ starting lineup include linebacker Kevin McLee of Uniontown, center Dan Mozes of Washington, safety Eric Wicks of Perry and kicker Pat McAfee of Plum.

No. Not bitter about Pitt not recruiting him.

LaRod Stephens-Howling holds a grudge against the Hoopies and every other team that stopped recruiting him because they thought he was too small and couldn’t take the hits.

“They told me he was too small to play there,” Greater Johnstown coach Bob Arcurio said. “I told LaRod that, and he said, ‘Wait and see. Wait until Pitt plays ’em.'”

West Virginia wasn’t the only school that didn’t want to take a chance on an economy-sized (5-foot-7, 165 pounds) running back.

“All those phone calls to my high school coach still stick with me,” Stephens-Howling said. “I remember those teams.”

During the week leading up to the game, Coach Wannstedt is bringing in former players to talk to the freshmen about the rivalry. One of the first players was Rod Rutherford. At the same time, Coach Wannstedt is trying to keep things in check.

“There’s as much energy as we want to create right now. We’ve just got to make sure that we pace ourselves,” said Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt, who had arrived back in town Tuesday after a Florida recruiting trip this week.

The game against conference-leading West Virginia (8-1, 5-0) — Pitt’s last of the regular season — is expected to be played in a raucious atmosphere at Morgantown’s Mountaineer Field, where Pitt dropped a 52-31 decision in its most recent appearance in 2003.

It also will provide the Panthers with another national television game (8 p.m., Nov. 24, ESPN).

Yet, knowing all of that, Wannstedt insisted his players and staff will harness their emotions.

“If we had 10 wins right now or no wins, I don’t know if we’d approach it any differently,” Wannstedt said. “It’s West Virginia. It’s an important game. It’s national TV. It’s a conference game. It’s our biggest rival. There’s enough reasons to be motivated for this one.”

Yes there are.