A couple mentions of Pitt to pass along from ESPN’s Insider subscription. Joe Starkey’s Big East notebook regurgitates the Revis struggling with punt returns story that was covered by both papers today, puffs Palko’s performance against The Citadel, Coach Wannstedt not bothered by the rule change to speed up the game and in discussing the Toledo game, the editor missed something vital.

Pitt has a dangerous home game against Toledo on Saturday (ESPNU, noon ET). The Panthers have lost two of their past three games against Toledo, including a 35-31 upset on the road in 2003. One key will be stopping Toledo’s screen passes, which killed the Panthers in 2003. Then-Toledo quarterback Bruce Gradkowski was 18-of-20 on his team’s final two drives.

[Emphasis added.]

Pitt and Toledo have only played twice before in 2002 and 03. I believe it was supposed to be the MAC not Toledo that Pitt has lost 2 of 3.

Bruce Feldman in his blog lists 10 most improved units in CFB.

9. Pittsburgh’s offense: Veteran QB Tyler Palko now has a better handle on what Dave Wannstedt and Matt Cavanaugh expect and they no doubt have a better grasp on him, too. Maybe more importantly, the Panthers young receiving crew is starting to emerge and everyone else is feeding off that. Pitt, which was 85th in total offense last season and 85th in passing offense, is now 30th and eighth, respectively. Last season they were 85th in sacks allowed. Through the first four games, they’ve only allowed three sacks.

As long as you ignore the pesky lack of a run game, that is.

Last week, I took note about the football class for women taught by Jan Wannstedt. It seems she has been doing this sort of thing for quite some time. Dating back to when Coach Wannstedt was the DC with the Dallas Cowboys. This inaugural event for Pitt had over 180 women attend. Alcohol of some form was served. That makes a lot more sense.
The women got a tour of the practice facilities and locker rooms along with meeting some of the Pitt players including QB Tyler Palko.

Marianne Hindman, 64, of West Mifflin walked into the locker room and went straight for quarterback Tyler Palko’s locker.

“His locker is so nice and neat,” said Hindman, who has attended Pitt, Steelers and high school football games since she was 5 years old. “I bet it is always that way, because (the position) is the brains of the team. He needs to have everything organized. I really enjoyed this because I learned some things I didn’t know about the game. Women need to do more things like this. We can’t go to the mall every day.”

Okay. I’m going to let it go. Backing away. Slowly.

Not exactly a surprise that John Pelusi will likely redshirt at this point. As he is still coming back from an ACL tear and Pitt isn’t exactly desperate for depth at TE, there is no real reason to rush him back.

It also seems that Coach Wannstedt isn’t promising Tommie Campbell his starting job back at Weakside (Will) Linebacker. Might be a motivation thing as much as anything for practice this week.

Darrelle Revis has been struggling with his punt returning duties. Seems that Revis is trying too hard to break a big one that he has forgotten what made him a top punt returner in the first place.

Pitt coaches watched Revis go right, left and backwards instead of straight up the middle against The Citadel on Saturday — he finished with 33 yards on six returns — and told him not to try to break one every time.

“When you have exceptional ability — and Darrelle Revis has exceptional ability — and you’re such a competitor, in your mind, you get the ball in your hands and you don’t want to settle for a 5-yard return. You’re trying to make a big play,” Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said. “He came in and saw the film, and I think he realizes he has to take what he can get and the big plays will come.”

Seems like one of those things where it’s “don’t think, just pitch.” Pitt’s special teams just aren’t at the level where he should be dancing around looking for a seam and lining up his blockers.

Antonio Bryant has been a bit demonstrative at points in this still young NFL season. Looking for teammates — especially QBs — who hate him, though, has proven difficult.

You call David Priestly, a quarterback at the University of Pittsburgh in 1999-2001. He recalls that Bryant would frequently come back to the huddle complaining that he was open. Other receivers did that, too, but there was a difference with Bryant.

“He was almost always right,” Priestly said. “I played with some pretty good Division I receivers and Antonio was by far the smartest. He watched a ton of tape, he prepared hard — and he expected a lot of you.”

There were some plays when Priestly thought Bryant was wrong. The quarterback would read the cues, react to the coverage properly and throw to the opposite side of Bryant.

But later, in the film room, Priestly would see what Bryant had seen: a fallen defender, a broken coverage or some other quirk that allowed the receiver to slip free.

“Did I get mad at times? Sure I did,” Priestly said of those heat-of-the-huddle moments. “I think any time you play with guys who are intense, that’s going to happen. But it’s up to the quarterback to keep a level head in those situations. What the job comes down to is getting the ball into the hands of the playmaker.

“And if we were winning, Antonio wouldn’t say a word even if he wasn’t getting the ball. He was incredibly smart, a rare breed.”

Stanford HC Walt Harris also has good things to say about Bryant. It seems that there is some quality in Bryant, that T.O. lacks (along with not attempting suicide???) that at least keeps his relationship with teammates and QBs in better shape. Even when he seems to be showing them up. Maybe it’s simply talking directly with the QB after calming down. Not the media. Something Owens has never comprehended.