The kicking job is still up in the air, and it doesn’t make anyone feel better about it improving when the back-up punter, redshirt freshman Lucas Stone is now getting mentioned into the mix.

Senior WR Joe DelSardo was back with the team and practicing. He’s still suspended for the opening. DT Mick Williams was also back on the field after dealing with headaches and problems after sustaining a concussion early in training camp.

The Big East has the audio of the weekly coaches teleconferences (link on the right side of page, about halfway down). No archives, but they will keep each Monday’s conference up for the week. There’s something amusing about listening to the whole thing as you hear which writers are looking for their storyline. Not to mention, some strangely loaded questions — one WV based writer — with a long deliberate drawl — asked WVU Coach Rodriguez if “his boys were ready for the intensity in the Marshall game.” Nothing like a leading question to get the sort of quote needed.
This writer was after comments on the screwed up new rule in the game where the game clock will start after a change in possession rather than from where the ball is kicked.

Strangely, Bob Petrino didn’t get nearly that many questions you would expect. Petrino seems like a decent quote. I wonder if it’s because of the rest of the BE is still uncomfortable with the newcomers. Dave Wannstedt faced more questions. The most questions and plenty of media beyond simply the BE Beat writers was of course for Rich Rodriguez. They eventually had to cut off questions.

USF continues to have issues. More players suspended, and their starting QB has been dealing with back spasms.

Pitt has put out its game notes for the UVa-Pitt game (PDF). This is likely the Cavaliers toughest non-con game. Their other non-con foes are Western Michigan, Wyoming and at East Carolina.

The depth chart for Pitt is listed. Oderick Turner gets the starting WR spot over Marcel Pestano. Jeff Otah is not the outright starter at Left OT, instead listed with an “OR” with John Bachman. Jovani Chappel and Aaron Berry are both listed to be behind Darrelle Revis at CB. These aren’t even surprises, but might reach mild interest.

In Coach Wannstedt’s press conference, the discussion was mostly about his own team, not Virginia. Lots of stuff to point out. Best if you read it all.

On how many carries LaRod Stephens-Howling will get during a game:

To his credit and our strength program, he is about 10 pounds heavier than he was a year ago. I believe he’s stronger. He’s plenty tough enough, we know that. I’m optimistic that he’s going to be more durable. Will we spell him? Yes. Shane Brooks is going to play some, Kevin Collier is going to play some. There is no question that it’s going to be running back by committee.

On the importance of winning the season opener:

There’s two ways of looking at an opener when you have a very good opponent like Virginia. It’s easier from the standpoint of when you’re going through your summer drills, you’re running, you’re conditioning, your training camp. You kind of got Virginia in your sights. They’re an easy team to talk about, they’re a very good team. We’re playing at home. Obviously the 30-year reunion (of the 1976 national championship team), the ’76 team is coming in. There’s excitement in the air. We expect to go out and play well.

[Emphasis added.]

Of course it was expected Pitt would go out and play well in last year’s season opener…

Running back by committee is not at all surprising, but it’s the first time he’s openly admitted that will be the way it is.

He also addressed the T.J. Porter situation that was reported earlier this morning.

On the status of T.J. Porter:

He is part of the team. He will practice today. We’re just working through some growing pains. It really doesn’t have anything to do with football. I mentioned before, with these young kids it’s more transition adjustment. I really feel an obligation to the player and just as importantly, his parents and our university to try to do everything we can to help these young kids with the transition, if there’s problems, as long as it doesn’t compromise anything we’re trying to do as a football team. You have to be able to separate the two. It has not been determined yet (whether or not he will dress on Saturday vs. Virginia). I expect him to come out and practice today, have a good practice and we’ll go from there.

I think Coach Wannstedt is handling this exactly right. Consider that part of the pitch any coach, but especially Coach Wannstedt makes to the kid and the family during recruiting. That he will be part of a family. That he will be looked after and people will be there for him. Porter is apparently having a harder time than most. This is something Coach Wannstedt can point to as tangible evidence on the recruiting trail that he keeps his word. Also, consider that while Porter is having issues and maturity issues, he is not behaving like a thug or punk. He just seems like a scared, overwhelmed kid.

Other stuff: Conor Lee still looks like the favorite to kick as long as his groin is fine; the D-line is not written in stone, other players can and will work their way in to playing time including Jason Pinkston and McKenzie Mathews; yes, the receiver position is a bit thin;

Well this should be interesting.

The BIG EAST Conference and ESPN will announce a major new media agreement from ESPN Zone in New York at noon on Tuesday, August 29. The press conference announcing the agreement will be streamed live on ESPN360, ESPN’s customized broadband service.

Michael Tranghese, BIG EAST Conference Commissioner, and John Wildhack, ESPN Senior Vice President, Programming Acquisitions and Strategy will participate in the press conference. Bill Raftery, college sports personality and winner of the 2006 Curt Gowdy Media Award from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, will serve as host.

It seems that some of ESPN360 is generally available to view and some is “exclusive.” Meaning that your highspeed ISP has to be a partner with ESPN on this. Verizon appears to be a partner, but AT&T (formerly SBC) is not. The BE website will post details after the press conference.

We’ve been waiting on this for most of the summer. Rumors have been plenty, but not particularly clear.

Some stories on key Pitt verbals for the next recruiting class.

Pat Bostick always wanted to be a quarterback.

Last year’s 9-2 mark was one of Manheim Twp.’s best marks in years and resulted in the Blue Streaks’ first District 3-AAAA playoff ap pearance.

All of that has led to Bostick be ing chased by re cruiters last win ter, a process he ended on July 11 when he told everyone that he was going to attend Pitts burgh.

“It was just a really good situation for me there,” Bostick said. “Plus, I really like [Pitt head coach] Dave Wannstedt. He’s a really down-to-earth guy, and he has a good eye for talent.”

…

“I’m just a normal guy; I don’t take that notoriety into account at all,” said Bostick, who grew up in Manheim Twp. “I have kind of a boring life outside of football. I’m not the most social guy around.

“I grew up wearing a football jersey [future trivia answer: Randall Cunningham’s], so football has been my focus for a long time,” Bostick said.

The other story is a longish “day in the life” with Henry Hynowski, Jr. in his local. The “day” in question was about a week before he verballed to Pitt. It’s just a little on the fawning side with sentences like, “His arms are thicker than a San Francisco fog, his shoulders would give Atlas pangs of envy.” (I’m not making that up.)

Although Hynoski isn’t a nationally known superstar like the fictitious Ricky Bobby — not yet, anyway — he’s already made enough amazing plays to count as a local legend. Entering his senior season, he’s rushed for nearly 5,000 yards and scored 72 touchdowns. He played arguably his greatest game while just a sophomore in 2004, when Southern met Pius X in the state quarterfinals; Hynoski ran for 419 yards and scored six touchdowns in the Tigers’ 76-47 win. In a regular-season game last year, he rushed for 238 yards and two touchdowns as Southern rallied from 15 points down to beat rival Mount Carmel 32-21. Three months later, he led Southern to its fourth consecutive state title by running for 271 yards (setting the record for a Class A final) and four touchdowns (tying another record) in a 50-19 win over Duquesne.

Yes, being a local legend has its privileges, but you wouldn’t know that by watching Hynoski this morning, just 12 hours before finishing his day by downing a few hot wings with his friends. Hynoski is working coach Jim Roth’s football camp for middle-school kids. The youngsters want to learn football, but they’re still kids, which means they chat with one another as Hynoski tries to show them how to run a proper pass route out of the backfield. “Yo! Pay attention! Hey!” Hynoski yells to get them focused again.

The kids, who are all assigned to different teams, go through a few drills, then they play 7-on-7. When lunchtime comes around, Hynoski and some of the other players file out and go to Sheetz for lunch. Hynoski will make three trips to Sheetz on this day, and each time he runs into a handful of people that he knows. One person ends their discussion by saying, “I’ll see you out on the field this fall.”

The conversation is reminiscent of a scene in “Dazed and Confused,” when an old man runs into the town’s star quarterback, grabs him at the elbow and says, “This arm ready to throw about 2,000 yards next fall?”

Later, when it’s suggested that he’ll be in a much larger pond in college, Hynoski doesn’t seem fazed. “I’m the kind of kid, I can adjust to anything,” he says. “I don’t think I’ll have any problem.”

Hynoski and a few friends make their way to his home in Elysburg. His cell phone goes off as he turns into his driveway. Staring at the origin of the call, he says, “It’s an (Internet) reporter. I’m going to ignore it — they call 10 times a day.”

But the important thing is he’s just a regular guy.

Since everyone loves list, Chris Dokish for PSR has the top-50 preseason recruits in Pennsylvania. Six of the top-20 are already Pitt verbals (out of the 8 verbals on the list):

1. Pat Bostick

7. Chris Jacobson

11. Myles Caragein

17. Dom DeCicco
19. Dan Matha
20. Henry Hynoski

29. Greg Gaskins

46. John Fieger

Penn State has 5 verbals (all 5 are top-20)

WVU has 3 (0 top 20)

ND has 1 (1 top 20)

Virginia has 3 (2 top 20)

UConn has 4

UNC has 2

‘Cuse has 2

Michigan St., Northwestern, VT, Ohio St., Colorado, Temple and Rutgers each have 1 from the list.

There are 15 undecided at this point (6 in the top 20).

It isn’t exactly shocking to read this.

The Panthers are among the youngest teams in the Big East, if not the nation, with seven freshmen and four redshirt freshmen among the top players on their depth chart.

Redshirt freshman Oderick Turner will start at split end. Another redshirt freshman, Doug Fulmer, is the starting right defensive end.

Wannstedt had to play many first-year players last year, meaning there are several sophomore starters this year — tailback LaRod Stephens-Howling, fullback Conredge Collins, nose tackle Gus Mustakas, defensive tackle Rashaad Duncan and weak-side linebacker Tommy Campbell.

Haven’t seen the latest depth chart yet. Apparently some have.

Wannstedt had maintained all along that the best player for each position, regardless of class, would win the job, and he came through on that promise. At least 11 members of the recruiting class will play Saturday against the Cavaliers and the number of newcomers who play could grow to as many as 14 by the end of the season.

…

Although many of the newcomers are being counted on to play, they will be mostly be reserves. That doesn’t mean that many of them won’t get plenty of playing time or earn starting roles in the near future.

Only two newcomers, junior college transfer left tackle Jeff Otah and freshman defensive tackle John Malecki, likely will be in the starting lineup Saturday and a third, freshman tight end Nate Byham, could start depending on which formation the Panthers open up.

The other newcomers who will be in the rotation on offense are tailback Kevin Collier, tailback/receiver Dorin Dickerson and offensive guard Joe Thomas. The newcomers in the rotation on defense are tackle Jason Pinkston and cornerbacks Aaron Berry and Jovani Chappel. Linebacker Nate Nix and safety Elijah Fields will play mostly on special teams.

Three other newcomers — freshman kicker Dan Hutchins, freshman defensive end McKenzie Mathews and junior college transfer receiver/kick returner Lowell Robinson, also are likely to play this season.

I’m going to go with the conventional wisdom that Pitt will be relying heavily on the tight ends, at least to start the season to key the passing game.

Fifth-year senior Steve Buches and junior Darrell Strong return. Buches had 17 catches and two scores, while Strong added 16 and one. Those numbers should double, at least, with freshman Nate Byham also in the mix.

Byham is probably more than “in the mix.”

After an up-and-down training camp, Tyler Palko is in the difficult position as the Senior QB. Not to lead the team, but to have trust in the younger players.

“He’s got high expectations of himself,” Cavanaugh said. “There’s times when his mentality is, ‘I’ve got to be perfect.’ I try to tell him that’s not going to happen, just make sure the mistakes you make don’t kill us.”

Palko plays a position often scrutinized and requiring a short memory. His final training camp was something of a roller coaster ride, one that tested his patience and showed his resolve.

He played behind an improved offensive line that continued to be overwhelmed at times, handed off to backs that struggled to find running room and threw to young receivers that showed talent in flashes but were inconsistent.

As a result, Palko pressed early in camp. He held onto the ball too long, either taking sacks or throwing into coverage. His emotions showed in his body language, whether it was hanging his head or throwing the ball away in frustration after another play ended in a whistle.

…

The problem, teammates say, wasn’t Palko.

“Tyler’s not one of the concerns,” redshirt junior right tackle Mike McGlynn said. “Tyler’s a fiery guy and he wears his emotions on his sleeve. He’s a leader. There’s not a guy on this team that works harder than him. When (Saturday) comes around, we’re not worried about him on the field.”

Added senior tight end Steve Buches, “I trust Tyler. I’m not worried about him. I think what’s going on is, we’re surrounded by young kids. A lot of these young guys don’t know what’s going on. They’re throwing a lot of guys in there, a lot of new faces who don’t know what’s going on. The veterans know what the deal is. With new guys, you have to explain the same thing over and over.”

Trusting the new kids after they make a mistake will probably be the toughest thing for Palko.

Buried at the bottom is some disappointing news.

One freshman who would have been in the lineup Saturday is receiver T.J. Porter, but he walked off the practice field Friday and his status with the team is uncertain. Porter, who is from Pahokee, Fla., was a heralded receiver and one of the team’s fastest players, but he struggled making the adjustment to college football.

Porter had left the team once before, but he returned a day later.

Earlier this week, however, there were some signs that Porter’s heart was not in it as he began to sit out of practices and miss drills because he said he wasn’t feeling well. The final straw came Friday when he walked off the field and went back to the locker room in frustration after Revis lined up opposite him in press man coverage and wouldn’t let him get off the line of scrimmage.

That’s a shame if he quits. There’s no question he’s got some growing up to do. From a talent standpoint, he appeared to be the top freshman receiver. It isn’t clear what the problem was — whether it was having to work so hard, homesickness, immaturity or what. It’s no longer simply being overwhelmed.

Given his talent and how he could still potentially help the team, do they just let him go? Do they work with him, maybe have him redshirt this season while he tries to get a grip on everything with a little less pressure and another season to mature?

The Citadel is getting $350,000 to come to Pittsburgh for the D1-AA patsy game that is now an annual event for Pitt.

“Why are we playing 12 games? Let’s not kid ourselves,” West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez said. “It’s not for the excitement of college football. It’s to make more money.”

For West Virginia and Pitt, one home game generates between $1.5 million and $2 million for the athletic department.

With eight members, the Big East is the smallest of the BCS leagues. Some years, Pitt has just three Big East home games. That means Long must set up five nonconference games every season — and at least three of them had better be at Heinz Field, to maximize the cash flow.

But to make money, Long must spend money.

“The bidding is more intense now,” Long said. “Price-gouging is out there. I would say that $300,000 is not exorbitant. In fact, for a lot of those I-AA schools, that’s the low end. Some schools with huge stadiums are really driving the market upward. For those with 50,000- and 60,000-seat stadiums, like ourselves, it’s hard to compete just because we can’t generate the same revenue.”

This isn’t anything new, but that is definitely sour grapes from AD Jeff Long. It’s not price gouging. It’s the marketplace.

Add a 12th game to make more money, the demand for the money-maker (i.e., easy home game, without a return trip) among BCS schools goes up. Ergo the price for such opponents go up. If schools are willing to pay the asking price, and they still make money then they aren’t paying an “unfair” price. What Long is complaining about is that the amount of money the Pitt Athletic Department is making from the game isn’t as high as it used to be when there wasn’t as much demand for the games and the prices were lower.

I doubt he’d accept claims from Pitt season ticket holders that they are being price gouged for having to pay the same face value price for a game against the Citadel as they do for the Backyard Brawl.

This season, Troy State will get $750,000 to play at Nebraska. Buffalo broke its contract to play West Virginia to accept a bigger payday from Auburn. To fill the open date, WVU gave a $450,000 deal to Eastern Washington.

Last year, Youngstown State got $250,000 to play Pitt at Heinz Field. YSU squeezed every dollar it could out of the game, busing to and from Pittsburgh on the day of the game to hold the line on travel expenses.

Next month, Youngstown State will face Penn State, its first Big Ten opponent. Curley lined up YSU — the Lions’ first I-AA foe since 1984 — after Louisiana Tech backed out of its contract with Penn State due to scheduling conflicts in the realigned Western Athletic Conference.

Youngstown State will receive $350,000 for the overnight trip to Happy Valley. YSU also announced it will open its 2007 and ’08 seasons against Ohio State in Columbus, and collect $650,000 for each game.

“The 12th game for Division I, obviously, has helped us,” Youngstown State athletic director Ron Strollo said. “We going to be smart about it. We’ve got to be able to make a dollar on it. It’s got to help our recruiting. And we try to keep it close, so our fans can get there.”

In a twist, Youngstown State, a I-AA program, also pays a smaller, local school for a game. In 11 days, the Penguins will open their season against Division II Slippery Rock.

Interesting in the story how Penn State won’t be taking advantage of the scheduling relationship with the MAC that the Big 11 has established because the MAC is insisting on getting a home game out of any arrangement. Good for them.

Then there’s this almost wonkish piece on the digitial video taping of practice and breaking down film for the players.

Palko is a game-film addict who runs down a checklist of things he reviews on film, from his footwork on five-step drops to whether he opens his stance at a 45-degree angle on throws or if his shoulders and hips are aligned to his intended target and if his eyes can fool a safety.

Pitt’s DVSport digital equipment allows video coordinator Chad Bogard to load the video onto its computer system and send it to coaches’ laptops the moment practice ends. The coaches break down the video and make their assessments before each position and team meeting.

“Whatever you see on the field happens in a split-second sometimes,” Pitt offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh said. “As coaches, we’re quick to always have an answer. I may scream at somebody for doing something wrong and I look at the tape and they did it right or vice versa.

“It’s made us a lot more efficient. We’re able now as coaches to go in and, within five minutes, take a 100-play game and make cutups so we know what we want. In the old days, we literally had to splice the film, where you had canister after canister after canister of cutups.”

The All-22 shots are especially helpful to the offensive and defensive linemen, who can see how they handled their assignments and whether they are working cohesively. They can zoom in on body parts to study their foot work or hand placement, essential parts of their technique.

It’s almost buried behind the fascination of the cameras being up on 60-feet and 40-feet cranes. The stuff that can be done with digital video is just tremendous. I know I only scratch the surface when I play with it at home. The stuff Pitt is using, from the cameras to the software is so advanced.

[Editor Note: I apologize for the photos not showing up. I’m having similar problems. It’s very frustrating. Simply put, I haven’t acquainted myself well enough at the moment with all the FTP uploading stuff I should have learned. In an attempt to get the photos up and published, after spending a chunk of time editing and tweaking them, I tried to short-cut and upload them onto one of my Yahoo! accounts. From there I just attempted to directly link them. It appeared to work at first in the editor space, but on the blog itself: not so much. It probably wouldn’t take me long to learn (I’m told), but I have been very time crunched the last couple weeks. So until I make the time to learn FileZilla, the best I can offer at the moment is a direct link to where the photos are stored on Yahoo! Photos. I have them all set for public access, so you should be able to see all photos here. The problem is solved. Keith W. called me to suggest PhotoBucket.com, which allows free uploading of photos and provides a URL so you can post them to a blog. I’ve gone back to part 1 and 2 and changed the photo links. Thanks, Keith.]

Part 1 was here.

The first hour or so of Fan Fest was for autographs. Lots of deep lines. I’ve never been that big on that sort of thing, so I just wandered around snapping more pictures. The Seniors were all set up right as you came into the open end of the stadium (Gate A).

The rest of the players were in the stadium concourse. Specifically, in the “Great Hall.”

104.7 had a live show from 6-7 there. Naturally they had various interviews taking place. The first interview was with Coach Wannstedt. While he was waiting to go on the air, an impromptu autograph session broke out. Coach Wannstedt was obliging and friendly, talking with people while signing anything. All the while he is about to go on the air and do a radio interview. The band is playing right next to the radio set-up, in the enclosed concourse area. I was feeling sensory overload and I was just sitting there watching with some ear buds in place to hear the actual radio broadcast and muffle the band a little. I don’t know how you can take doing that without snapping at some point.More photos to follow below the fold (more…)

The 30th anniversery of Pitt’s ’76 national championship is this year, and the team will be honored at the season opener this Saturday. The Trib. goes full-feature in looking back at the team. They start with how new Head Coach Johnny Majors recruited the class of ’73.

Pitt’s once-proud program had sunk to unfathomable depths. It hadn’t produced a winning record in a decade, hadn’t beaten Penn State since 1965 and was coming off a 1-10 season in which it was outscored 350-193.

The first key to the renovation project was a change in the school’s scholarship policy. Previously, Pitt had been locked into the so-called “Big Four Agreement” with West Virginia, Penn State and Syracuse. It was designed to regulate the schools’ football programs and limited each to just 25 scholarships per year.

Then-Pitt chancellor Wesley Posvar and athletic director Cas Myslinski sparked the program’s revival by removing the self-imposed scholarship cap and by hiring the charismatic, 38-year-old Majors after the 1972 season.

In part because Pitt gave out such a slew of scholarships — anywhere from 65 to 100 — the NCAA set caps on scholarships per year after 1973. The numbers are a little unclear, in part, because Pitt washed out a bunch of kids in training camp. There’s a great little note about what helped Pitt be able to get Tony Dorsett to stay local and come to Pitt.

Sherrill was the lead recruiter on Dorsett, and he quickly discovered that Dorsett’s closest friend and Hopewell teammate, Ed Wilamowski, was critical to the chase. He was a pretty good player, too.

“Ed was white and Tony was black, and at every school they visited, they were separated (in the college dorms),” Sherrill recalled. “I don’t know if I was smarter than the others, but I didn’t separate them. I knew Tony was very, very close to Ed. We kept them together.”

Dorsett remembers.

“There’s a whole lot of validity to that,” he said in a recent phone interview.

The end of the article features capsule reviews of every game from the ’76 season.

There’s also a “where are they now?” piece covering 11 members of the team. Plus a full feature on another member, Jim Corbett, who at age 51 is now doing relief mission work to Nigeria. He will be at the game on Saturday then leave for another trip in less than a week.

Several little things I need to get out of the browser tabs.

H.B. Blades has been put on the Butkus Award Watchlist for the top linebacker. He’s one of 65 candidates. I’m reasonably sure he was on the list last year. CBS Sportsline also named him the 3d best pro prospect at linebacker.

3. H.B. Blades, Pitt, 6-0, 240, Sr.

Blades enters his senior season with 286 tackles, including 18.5 for loss, and 24 career starts. He also has strong football bloodlines: His father, Bennie, and his uncles Al and Brian were standouts at the University of Miami and went on to successful careers in the NFL.

They also listed Darrelle Revis as the 4th best DB pro prospect.

4. Darrelle Revis, CB, Pittsburgh, 6-0, 190, Jr.

Revis is an exciting young cornerback who established himself as a quality prospect almost immediately. He earned freshman All-American honors in 2004, starting all 11 games and finishing with 14 passes broken up. Opponents learned not to test Revis last season, instead choosing to pass against future sixth-round pick Josh Lay. Revis was the only sophomore to earn first-team Big East honors, coming through with four interceptions and nine passes broken up. He also became one of the better young return specialists, averaging 11.6 yards per punt return.

Revis not only has the size teams like, but his short-area burst, vertical speed and flair for the dramatic are noteworthy. Like Arizona’s Cason, Revis has NFL bloodlines. His uncle is former Pitt defensive tackle Sean Gilbert, who went on to play for four teams in the NFL.

Rivals.com does a sleeper team prognostication. The surprise is who tops the list.

1. Pittsburgh: Last season’s record: 5-6. Returning starters: Six offense, six defense.
Outlook: All the preseason hype in the Big East centers on West Virginia and Louisville, but the Panthers have a realistic shot at winning their first 10 games before closing with the Mountaineers and Cardinals. The Panthers started slowly in coach Dave Wannstedt’s debut season, losing four of their first five. This year, four of their first five games are at Heinz Field, and Notre Dame and Nebraska aren’t on the schedule. Until facing West Virginia and Louisville, the only Pittsburgh opponents to win as many as eight games last season are Toledo and Central Florida. Quarterback Tyler Palko and All-American caliber linebacker H.B. Blades are proven commodities and good leaders.

It is true that the first 10 games contain none that should be thought of as “sure losses,” but there are a slew of “toss-ups.”

P-G beat reporter Paul Zeise’s Q&A shows a little testiness at being asked about his prediction for the team this season.

Look, if I could predict the future I’d be on one of those Vegas handicapper shows on the radio on Saturday mornings screaming “I LOVE THIS GAME. CALL ME!” That being said, I have been at camp every day, I’ve seen every practice and I have a good idea of the team’s strengths and weaknesses.

I think the team will struggle to score a lot of points because I just don’t see enough big-play threats. I also think the kicking game is going to be an adventure, at least until one of those two kickers gets settled in. That doesn’t mean the offense can’t be productive and efficienty — there are a lot of good players and veteran players, so it will be. In college football, though, to try and grind it out every time you touch the ball is tough, and Pitt is going to have to do a lot of grinding. Those 10-play, 70-yard drives are great for controlling the ball and the clock, but to pull them off you have to be near perfect in execution. You can?t take any penalties or negative plays, and that’s asking a lot.

The defense will be better. It can’t be much worse than it has been in the past few years, particularly against the run.

He could just tell them to pick up the Sporting News or Lindy’s preview guide since he made his predictions then. He sticks with his 7-5 call.

Q: With so much inconsistency at wide receiver, do you see coaches using other skill position players, such as Darrelle Revis, to help the cause?

Zeise: Last year they had some packages to use Revis as a wide receiver in the game plan for West Virginia but didn’t use them. I don’t know that they would go that route simply because the biggest problem the receivers have is inexperience, not talent. And thus, the only way to get them better is to let them get out there and play. When you take an honest look at this team, it will be much better in week eight than it is right now. There are just so many young players being counted on that they can’t help but get better with more experience.

That also means a lot of mistakes to be expected in the first few weeks.

The expected media spin, as mentioned earlier will be the Wanny-Groh stuff. There’s plenty of other things to see similarities shared.

Chris Gould will kick off for U.Va., and the junior from Lock Haven, Pa., hopes to handle extra points and field goals, too. But Noah Greenbaum, a senior from Richmond, is battling Gould for the job, and Groh has yet to announce a winner.

“It’s just such a close deal,” said Groh, who indicated he’ll decide closer to the Pitt game.

Greenbaum, a Collegiate graduate who came to U.Va. as a walk-on, was awarded a scholarship this year, and he’s “certainly acquitted himself very strongly” in training camp, Groh said.

Against Temple last season, Greenbaum booted a 41-yard field goal.

This game could see more attempts at 2-point conversions than we think, and some really ugly FG attempts.

Both offensive lines are question marks. Pitt, because it’s the mostly the same group as last year. Virginia because it isn’t.

“We have a significant rebuilding job in front of us,” Groh said. “We’ve had some losses, some pretty huge losses.”

It’s hard to figure which losses will be the toughest to overcome. A glaring deficiency is the offensive line, which lost Ferguson and two others who combined for 124 career starts. Virginia has had a ball-control offense under Groh, using big, punishing linemen and big backs to grind out yardage and set up the passing attack. Can the Cavaliers continue that practice?

Guards Marshal Ausberry and Branden Albert are the only returning starters on the offensive line. Zak Stair spent some time at tackle last season but could wind up at center. There’s no Heath Miller in sight at tight end, but juniors Tom Santi and Jonathan Stupar have ably manned the position and last season combined for 30 catches.

The wideouts will be steady. Deyon Williams was Hagans’ favorite target last season, catching 58 passes for 767 yards and seven touchdowns, but he has been sidelined for much of the preseason with an injury. Fontel Mines caught 28 passes in 2005, and Andrew Pearman, a transfer from Hawaii who played at Charlotte’s Providence High, will be a receiver to watch.

Hagans’ replacement is Chris Olsen, a 23-year-old grad student who has thrown 23 passes in two seasons since transferring from Notre Dame. Olsen (6-3, 234) backed up Hagans for two seasons.

They are also shaky at Running Back. The talk is no clear starter, but it looks like at least one of the three competing backs is making noise.

This is tailback Michael Johnson’s final year at Virginia, and he wants to carry the ball often. “Something might happen if I don’t,” he said. “I will be ticked.”

Virginia coach Al Groh has said he likely will use multiple tailbacks this season. But unless the Cavaliers equally split playing time between three players, Johnson appears to be out of the mix.

Groh said Wednesday that senior Jason Snelling and sophomore Cedric Peerman are still first and second on the depth chart – which were their positions heading into preseason practices. Their status probably won’t change.

His only option at this point — other then bluster or being a disruptive malcontent — would be to immediately transfer to a Div. 1-AA school.

This could be a very ugly game. Both teams seem to have a lot of question marks, issues and new players trying to figure things out.

Only a week of this sort of thing. Their NFL connections, alma mater, AFC East… Not quite the same level as last year leading up to the season opener between Wannstedt and Weis, but the drill is the same.

Groh was an assistant coach for the New York Giants from 1989-1991, the same period Wannstedt was defensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys. The two also spent time in the same division in 1999 and 2000, when Groh was with the New York Jets and Wannstedt with the Miami Dolphins. Then, Groh was head coach of the Jets in 2000, while Wannstedt was in his first season as the Dolphins’ head coach. Groh’s Jets won both times those teams met.

As a result of such familiarity, there won’t be many surprises next Saturday.

Groh said he is sure the Panthers will be well coached, well prepared and ready to put up a fight.

“I have a great deal of respect for Dave,” Groh said. “He is very professional in his approach, is well organized and understands the game very well. I have always admired his defenses, and they have always been outstanding, whether in Dallas, Chicago or Miami.

“They are always tough to deal with. I expect they will be hard to run against and will bring a lot of pressure on the quarterback.”

Obviously Al Groh has not looked any film of Pitt from last year.

Apparently both beat writers listened in on the same conference call.

Those were two of the Panthers’ biggest weaknesses last season, so it will be interesting to see if Wannstedt can put his signature on those areas in his second season at Pitt.

Neither has any comment from Coach Wannstedt about Groh in their stories. Expect that on Tuesday after the Big East Coaches conference call.

There are the obligatory tie-ins to Western PA for any Virginia players. The back-up QB came out of Pine-Richland in the WPIAL.

McCabe said he wouldn’t wish an injury on anybody, but he realizes he’s one play from being in a game. At Heinz Field, also the site of the 2002 WPIAL title game, he figures he’ll know at least 200 people in the crowd.

Of the nine scholarship Pennsylvanians on the U.Va. roster, McCabe is the only one from the greater Pittsburgh area, though starting nose tackle Allen Billyk made Pittsburgh all-area teams. Billyk is from New Castle, which is 46 miles from Pittsburgh.

“He let out a ‘yunz ‘ every once in a while,” McCabe said. “That’s Pittsburgh slang for you ‘guys.’ If a guy wants to consider himself a Pittsburgh guy, I’ll let it slide. I think it’s a culture that grows. People always want to attach themselves to Pittsburgh. We’ll give Allen this one.”

Damn Southerners. It’s “yinz” not “yunz.”
While still about the Commonwealth, not the school, former Pitt player Tyler Tipton nearly joined Rashad Jennings at Liberty. Instead he has chosen to go to Western Kentucky.

Crap. Looks like those of us not living in the Pittsburgh area will be on the road really early for the Michigan State game.

University of Pittsburgh athletic director Jeff Long announced today that Pitt’s Sept. 16 football game with Michigan State at Heinz Field, originally scheduled for 3:30 p.m., has been switched to noon.

“In our previous five seasons at Heinz Field, we had dealt with two scheduling conflicts,” Long said. “In each case, cooperation between all of the parties involved created a resolution that ensured an enjoyable experience for the fans attending games at both Heinz Field and PNC Park.

“Since May 31, when we learned that ABC had selected the Pitt-Michigan State game for a 3:30 p.m. broadcast, we have been working quietly and constructively with the network and the Big East Conference to find a resolution to the conflict this created with the Pirates’ scheduled game against the New York Mets that evening.

…

The Michigan State-Pitt game will be seen exclusively on select ABC affiliates in Michigan and Pennsylvania and in other parts of the nation on ESPN2 at noon as part of a regional telecast with the previously scheduled game between Boston College and BYU.

The good news for Pitt is that there will be no penalties that the athletic department needs to pay.

Long said the Big East Conference and its television partner, ABC/ESPN, will not penalize Pitt financially for moving the Michigan State game time. Long doesn’t expect the earlier kickoff time to hurt the Panthers at the gate.

In fact, he expressed confidence that Pitt could draw a wider television audience by playing opposite the Boston College-Brigham Young game on ESPN2 regional than going against Oklahoma-Oregon or Louisville-Miami at 3:30 p.m. on ABC regional.

“This was not a decision that was made to enhance our television,” Long said, “but, actually, as things worked out, this will result in a wider exposure for us.”

If there is any silver lining in this — and believe me, the prospect of rolling out of the house around 6 am on Saturday has me having a hard time seeing it — is that the multitude of top-flight college football games that you can now catch on TV.  Consider the possibilities of 3:30 — Miami-Louisville, Michigan-Notre Dame, and Auburn-LSU — and in the evening — Nebraska-USC and Florida-Tennessee — and see the good news.

Make no mistake, though, the Pitt Athletic Department screwed up and was lucky to not eat a big penalty. No one is buying AD Long’s claim that Pitt has been working quietly behind the scenes since the end of May. Long continued with the hind-quarter covering.

“This serves as good notice for us to put our heads together with the Pirates, with the Steelers, with the (Sports and Exhibition Authority), to make sure going forward our plans are more firm should we get to this point,” Long said. “The partnerships, from my point of view, have been strong, have been good. I think there’s a spirit that we’re going to work together. We have a sprit of cooperation and I’m thankful for that.”

Uh-huh.

It kind of worked out that I got a slightly later start. It meant I was in a tweener point, so I was able to just walk around the outside of Heinz Field for a little bit. Take in some of the things that I never do. Usually it’s just tailgate in the lot. Get into the stadium just before kickoff, stay there other than the occasional piss breaks, go back to the lot after the team leaves the field, tailgate some more.

So, for instance I never knew about the Pitt Panther at the river/open end of the stadium — never go to that side.

I didn’t get a good shot of it, but the stone pattern stretching out as if from the sculpture base is a stylized Cathedral of Learning image.

Then there are the gates to Heinz Field themselves.

I take some measure of joy in thinking about Steeler fans who are Penn State fans. It has to be a bit galling to be constantly reminded that this place is also the home of Pitt football wherever you go inside and outside.

When I first got there, I assumed that the players and their family were already there.
The rest of the photos will be below the fold.

(more…)

[Editor Note: Here’s one of the posts I was trying to put out on Thursday before I left.]

I’ve been keeping a light eye on the Cavaliers, and I’m heistient to write much since I haven’t followed them that closely — it’s easy to miss key things. Still some things to pass on.

If you think Pitt has questions, how about WVU UVa? Their linebacker corp has been severely depleted and downgraded.

Rather than watching him on television, Sintim could have been playing next to Brooks this fall. But Brooks turned pro after he was dismissed from the team following his injury-riddled junior season. Had Brooks and Kai Parham, who also turned pro after his junior year, returned, the Cavaliers would have had perhaps the best inside linebacker duo in the nation. Instead, the Cavaliers’ inside spots, crucial to the team’s success with its 3-4 defensive formation, will be filled by a pair of sophomores who have combined for 37 career tackles.

With Sintim and junior Jermaine Dias on the outside, Antonio Appleby and Jon Copper likely will start in the middle, meaning two mostly unknown players will replace the team’s biggest names.

The O-line lost some depth when a player bitterly departed.

Junior offensive tackle Eddie Pinigis transferred to Liberty yesterday after deciding to leave the Virginia football program over the weekend. He entered the season first on the depth chart at right tackle, but redshirt freshman Will Barker recently overtook him.

“I feel like I’m a starter. I feel like I should be a starter up there,” said Pinigis, who started five games last season. “The other day they came out with the depth chart, and they had me on the second team. I feel like I didn’t do anything to lose my first-team spot. I played against some of the best defensive ends in the ACC. I felt like I proved myself with my game experience.”

The starter at QB will be a Senior.

Virginia is entering what in all likelihood is a rebuilding year with a mediocre senior (Christian Olsen) set to start at QB. Why wouldn’t Al Groh opt to take his lumps with freshman Jameel Sewell, a younger, athletic QB with more upside, to get him some experience?
— Lance T., Davie, Fla.

This is kind of similar to the Georgia question I answered last week. You and I may think the Wahoos are in for a rebuilding season (in fact, it could be really, really rough), but the coach isn’t going to concede that before the season even begins. What kind of message would that send to his team? He’s going to put the guy out there who he thinks gives him the best chance to win right from the get-go, and obviously a senior who’s been in the program for three years (after transferring from Notre Dame) and seen game action has a huge edge in that department over a redshirt freshman who’s never stepped on the field. Now, if things do indeed get off to a rough start and it becomes apparent the Cavs aren’t headed anywhere special with Olsen at the helm, then he might think about turning it over to the frosh and seeing what he can do. As of this writing, however, it wasn’t even certain that Sewell was going to beat out fourth-year junior Kevin McCabe for the No. 2 spot.

So it will be Olsen (who is actually a graduate student at this point), at least in the opener. It will be curious to see if Groh has him on a short leash. Actually, who knows. They still don’t know who the #2 QB is.

Sophomore Scott Deke is lagging behind redshirt freshman Jameel Sewell (Hermitage High) and junior Kevin McCabe, Al Groh said, in the competition to determine the Cavaliers’ No. 2 quarterback in the Sept. 2 opener at Pittsburgh.

Groh said yesterday that he wasn’t ready to choose between Sewell and McCabe, but he expected to be closer to a decision after last night’s scrimmage.

I wonder if Pitt or UVa fans will be the more unsure group about their own team.