I’m flicking between the Washington-Syracuse game — still no offense from the Orange — and Navy-Temple — the offense makes me nervous, but the defense is definitely going to be an issue.

This time tomorrow, I expect to be back in the parking lot enjoying some post-game tailgating while waiting for traffic to thin out.

The Trib breaks out its college football previews. For the Big East, they (or at least Rick Starr) predict Pitt to finish 5-7.

Joe Starkey says the fans need something to believe things are going forward. Something I touched on earlier this week.

Kevin Gorman uses numbers and topics to ask a lot of questions about Pitt this season.

5. After losing all three starting linebackers, has the defensive line improved enough to win the battles up front and take pressure off the first-year starters?

We’ll get an idea in about two weeks.

A Q&A with cornerback Kennard Cox.

Center Chris Vangas has managed to earn the starting Center position. Whether it’s by default or for being the best guy available is still debatable. Vangas at least seems aware of that and doesn’t want to give it up easily.

A bit of Zeise give and take. His online chat from yesterday.

Deke: Despite losing Revis,Blades and Session to the NFL, do you think the defense will be better this season because of the improved depth on the D-Line and both safeties are healthy?

Paul Zeise: I do think the defense will improve — and let’s face it, after watching Connecticut, West Virginia and Louisville combine to put up about 135 points and like 1,500 yards in the final three games of the year I’m fairly certain there is clearly plenty of room for improvement — for a number of reasons. You mentioned one — the line is (or at least should be) better, the safeties are much better and the linebackers I think as a group will be much better than anyone is giving them credit for. I really think this group of linebackers could be as productive as last year’s group.

Deke: Is the offensive line a concern? Or specifically, the interior O-line?

Paul Zeise: The entire offensive line for as long as I have covered Pitt has been and will be a concern until they prove otherwise. This year, you’d think the tackles will be fine but both of those guys have been banged up throughout camp. You’d also think the guards would be OK but both of those guys have been banged up as well. And center has been very inconsistent throughout camp. This is an area I have said consistently — I have no idea how good they are until we see them perform on Saturdays. I think they have the talent to be pretty good, but I’ll take a wait and see approach before I make any definitive statements about them.

And his Q&A from today.

Q: I think back to the USF game last year where like 2 or 3 OL went down in the matter of a few plays. I think a similar scenario played out against Ohio U. the year before. What if something like that happens this year? Is there depth to keep the Pitt OL from looking like a mid-level MAC team?

Zeise: Great question. When McGlynn is healthy and ready to go (he’ll dress tomorrow but I’d imagine he is not going to play), they have, I think, one legitimate reserve tackle in him and I think Dom Williams gives them a legitimate back-up guard. Craig Bokor has also played well enough that coaches feel comfortable putting him out there at guard. So, in short, I think they can have one or two (at the very most) injuries on the offense line and survive, but it is still slim pickings behind the starting five.

The more things change…

7-5. 4-8? 5-7? 6-6? 8-4? 9-3?

The first is the most reasonable and expected record from Pitt this season. The rest are the other possibilities. I hate predicting the season — mainly because I suck at it. Still, even casually we all do it. Eyeball the schedule and pick the expected wins, losses and toss-ups.

Eastern Michigan — Win — Just imagine the empty seats if Pitt drops this game.

Grambling — Win — Or this?

@ Michigan State — Loss (?) — On the plus side, Pitt is 2-0 versus Mark Dantonio coached teams. Of course Pitt is 0-5-1 versus Michigan State. Drew Stanton is no longer the QB, and Dantonio isn’t a spread option Coach. Big negative, RB Javon Ringer is back along with 4 of the 5 starting O-linemen from last year. If you buy into Pitt’s D-line being better because of experience, then it works against Pitt considering how the Spartans O-line manhandled Pitt last year. Michigan State isn’t that good, so a win is possible but I just can’t see it.

UConn — Win — Trap game. Pitt should win this one, but is fully capable of losing this. I mean, UConn didn’t score more than 23 points against a D-1A team last year but Pitt made them look like an offensive juggernaut by the end. Useless/meaningless factoid: in the two years under Wannstedt, Pitt is 3-7 in night games.

@ Virginia — Win (?) — Their defense returns 10 of 11 starters, and their offense 9 of 11. That doesn’t seem to be that great a thing, other than to have more experience. Still not much to fear from their receiving corps, but QB Sewell is a dual-threat. Obviously that is something that has killed Pitt before. I just think Pitt actually matches up well versus the Hoos from the coaching down through the players.

Navy — ??? — I find this one to be a complete toss-up every time I try to break it down. Honestly, the Navy offensive schemes seem too far out of the grasp of DC Rhoads. He struggles with the option. A triple option? Oy. On the other hand, virtually the entire Navy defense from last year is gone. That gives Pitt a real chance. Especially if Pitt can generate a real ground attack and keep the ball from the Navy offense.

Cinci — Win — I think Pitt matches up well with the Bearcats. Their wide-open offense, though, does give me pause. If Pitt loses this, it should be the final nail in Rhoads’ coaching coffin at Pitt.

@ Louisville — Loss — Just not seeing it.

Syracuse — Win — Pitt’s chance to even the all-time series at 30-30-3 with a win. Now I’m scared.

@ Rutgers — Loss — This hurts. It would make 3 straight losses to them, but I can’t see Pitt holding them.

USF — Win (?) — Another useless factoid. The Bulls are only 1-5 when playing in temps below 40 degrees. Late November in Pittsburgh. If you saw them go, uh, brittle last November in Cinci, then picking a weather-related loss is quite plausible.

@ WVU — Loss — I wish. Oh, how I wish.

So there you have it. Seven wins is my baseline expectation with a +/- 2. If all goes exceptionally well and breaks go right, then 9-3 is possible. The other way could fall to 5-7.

End of season meaning of the records:

• 4-8 — Absolute disaster and major coaching overhaul.
• 5-7 — Significantly disappointing. Very hard to defend the team and direction.
• 6-6 — Frustrating. It means another season where Pitt was below .500 versus 1A teams.
• 7-5 — Finally some progress. At least no dropping a game that shouldn’t have been lost.
• 8-4 — Now we’re talking about heading in the right direction.
• 9-3 — Expectations going into 2008 will be big.
• 10-2 — Holy Crap!

Season starts in a little more than a day.

One of the infuriating things about the whole Paul Rhoads thing, has been the complete lack of blame he has gotten from the media. From Starkey saying Rhoads should get as much time as Wannstedt, to excuses for the talent, and no blame for the lack of same talent from a supposed good recruiter. There has been a tacit acceptance that Rhoads is under some pressure with making him responsible for the linebackers rather than the secondary in addition to the Defensive Coordinator duties, but it is almost thought of as unfair.
Finally, though, a Pittsburgh media member acknowledges that Rhoads is not just on the hot seat, but he should be on the hot seat.

Q: Since it has been made clear that Dave Wannstedt is not on the hot seat, is Paul Rhoads at least on the hot seat? I mean, if the defense were to fail again, would the university at least force some sort of a shake up?

Zeise: Yes Rhoads is on the hot seat, as is the rest of the coaching staff. That is how these things happen — the first step towards making a wholesale head coach change is to force a guy to change his staff. Wannstedt is clearly nowhere close to the danger zone, but if the defense doesn’t show some signs of marked improvement someone on that staff will have to go and Rhoads would be the obvious choice. There is no way you could justify keeping him around, particularly if you are going to try and make the pitch to your fans that they must have patience with Wannstedt.

…I think it is very telling that Rhoads got handed over the keys to the linebackers this year and thus it is all riding on his shoulders with nobody else to pass the buck to now since that group is a part of the run and pass defense. The linebackers, to a man, say they loved the move because they all think very highly of coach Rhoads. Frankly, he is very well respected and regarded as a good football coach but at some point he must produce results.

There’s a Schiano comparison which is often made. Now I wouldn’t be surprised if Wannstedt did make that move at some point, but I am not totally sold on the Schiano comparison. The defense was improving under the old DC, but not quickly enough by what Schiano expected. I’m not sure Coach Wannstedt would be willing to pull the trigger, even if he felt that way.

Statistically, I expect the numbers to improve on the run defense simply because they were so bad last year. The actual effect is what I will be watching.

Well, maybe Coach Wannstedt will get some results from moving DC Rhoads off the secondary to working with the linebackers. Shame it took the guy having to be moved, to figure his responsibilities as a DC extend to more than pass defense.

That is why Rhoads is stressing that his linebackers know not only their duties, but also those of the players in front of them and behind them. By making his players more accountable, he is putting a premium on the defense being more disciplined and, as a result, more effective. But he’s not just focusing on the linebackers. The defense is now spending more time operating as a unit.

“Coach Rhoads is the heart and soul of our defense,” fifth-year senior defensive end Chris McKillop said. “It shows because last year we would break meetings and go into our individual groups. Now, at least two or three times a week the whole defense meets together. You have a feel for where people are going to be.”

With all four starters returning on the defensive line, the Panthers are expecting a greater push up front. Nevertheless, Rhoads is preaching for his linebackers to be more aggressive instead of reading and reacting to plays.

“When we’re moving laterally, trying to dissect plays, you’re not pulling the trigger,” Rhoads said. “We want those guys to be physical and hard charging, and I think they’re showing that. In doing that, we’re freeing up defensive linemen sooner, we’re getting off blocks sooner and that’s allowing the guys up front to play, and the guys up front are playing awfully well.”

How the hell did this guy hold on to his job this long? Ostensibly in charge of the whole defense all this time, and only now thinking that maybe “read and react” or “bend but don’t break” defenses may not be the best idea.

Have to move on from this, or I’ll just start repeating the same rants about Rhoads.

Gene Collier notes that despite the game for Pitt expected to be a lopsided affair (I think the line is around 20), Pitt is under pressure not to have a bad night.

But somehow — and this is the one remaining beauty of college football — this Pitt-EMU fender bender is fraught with pressure. For Pitt, it’s a must win, as there is but a small handful of wins available on a schedule heavy with Big East obligations and road games at Michigan State and Virginia.

“There’s a lot of pressure, whether you’re a player or a coach,” Panthers safety Mike Phillips said yesterday on the South Side. “You can’t have an off night. In other sports, you can get away with one here or there. But it drives you to do your best.”

Uh-huh, and as it happens, there are few people under any more pressure anywhere in sports than a safety in a major-college football program, where simple mistakes can take you out of a game in a climate where one loss is often fateful.

Good bit after that with Mike Phillips talking about how his broken ankle happened and coming back from it.

Of course, Pitt has a very good history against MAC teams. Especially at home. On the road recently has been a different issue, but that isn’t really a concern for this game.

Adam Zagoria blogs a bit about Dan Jennings from New York. A class of 2009 or 2010 recruit at the power forward/center spot. He’s had a very good summer with his AAU team, the New York Gauchos.

Jennings has an application in at Oak Hill Academy (Va.) and could end up there this season, according to Book Richardson, the former Gauchos director. After that, depending upon his academic situation, Jennings could prep for a year before being a high-major D-1 player.

“He could be a Top 50 player because he works so hard and he’s a sponge,” Richardson said. “He’s a freak of nature. He’s big, he’s strong, he’s quick and very agile. He would probably spend a year at Oak Hill and then a year of prep if he’s not academically eligible.”

If he does go to play for Steve Smith at Oak Hill, folks can watch him on ESPN2 against St. Benedict’s on Dec. 13 in a game that will take place in Lexington, Ky.

In terms of Jennings’ college situation, the young man said he had received offers from Rutgers, Seton Hall, St. John’s, Pitt, Xavier, Memphis, South Florida and that Arizona had showed interest.

“I like Arizona a lot,” he said. “I also like Memphis and Pittsburgh.”

…

Jennings said he is tight with Theodore, the Seton Hall recruit, and with Pitt-bound guard Travon Woodall of Paterson and St. Anthony. Both have talked to Jennings about coming to their schools to form a strong guard/big man tandem.

Jennings has essentially ruled out Seton Hall, Rutgers and St. John’s at this time. Saying he doesn’t want to be that close to home. If you just go by the schools interested in him, obviously he has a lot of potential.

Looking to some alum, Aaron Gray has been working out with the Chicago Bulls conditioning and strength coaches since the summer league ended.

“Working with the staff here is a great opportunity,” said Gray, a 7-footer who spent four years at the University of Pittsburgh. “The work I put in this summer is going to be one of the keys to me being on the court.”

Given that he was a second round draft pick, there are no guarantees for Gray. The majority of players taken after the first round do not end up in the NBA; rather they either play in the NBA’s Development League or go overseas. And that’s exactly what is motivating Gray this summer.

“It’s great because I’m kind of the underdog again,” he said. “I’ve kind of played that role my whole life and had some good success at Pitt. Now I’m here, back at the bottom of the totem pole, where I’ve been before. I’ve worked my way up to the top before and hopefully I’ll have the opportunity to do the same here.”

Meanwhile, Levon Kendall played a bit in the summer league for the Utah Jazz. He will be heading to Greece to play professionally. Right now, he is playing on the Canadian national team. His hometown paper in Vancouver is giving him one of the biggest slurp jobs I’ve ever read.

It had to be a little frustrating for Vancouver’s Levon Kendall on Wednesday playing for Canada against Argentina.

The performance of the starters was so pathetic the game was virtually over by the time the big Kits grad got off coach Leo Rautins’ bench to put in his typical 18 to 20 minutes in a very effective role for a team trying to qualify for the Beijing Olympics.

Just what he’s doing there instead of starting is another matter, but presumably Rautins knows his personnel better than it appeared against the Argie,s who won 85-70.

…

That’s unlikely now. But this surely can’t diminish Kendall’s performance. The former Pittsburgh Panther has been outstanding for Canada, particularly in Monday’s second-round victory over Uruguay.

The 23-year-old is set to begin his pro career in Greece with Panionios and the way his development is going it wouldn’t be terribly surprising to see him get some NBA time before he ends his tremendous basketball career.

“I signed a two-year deal and it has an out after one if I get an NBA offer,” said Kendall, almost certainly being scouted closely by NBA teams at this competition given his rate of improvement, particularly at the offensive end. “I played with the Utah Jazz team in the summer league and did pretty well so hopefully they’ll be watching.”

Kendall took a lot of abuse at times for always getting the national commentators gushing about his intangibles at Pitt while fans just wanted something more tangible.

The downside to the opening game on Saturday night, is trying to make sure I have everything done around the house that I promised the wife. She’s going to be stuck with the 5-year old and 4-month old while I’m seeing friends, drinking, watching football, drinking. Generally having a good time and spending the night in the ‘Burgh. That she lets me do that — as others I know can’t escape their domestic situations for the game — still comes at a price. Not getting much time online today was one of them.

Let’s see, matching puff pieces on MLB Scott McKillop and his older brother DE Chris. Great, and Scott was going to tattle to DC Rhoads that Chris wouldn’t be quiet in the huddle. Moving on.

The P-G rolled out its college football preview stuff. Oderick Turner is listed as a key player for Pitt.

If he has a good season, it will force defenses to keep their safeties deeper in coverage and open things up for the Panthers’ other talented receivers. If he doesn’t pose a threat, defenses will give the Panthers’ receivers much less room to operate.

I guess Bill Stull would have been too easy a pick for that. Doesn’t mean it wouldn’t have been the correct one. Turner and the rest of the receivers can’t do much if the ball doesn’t come to them.  Besides, the deep receiving corps is one of the few areas where there isn’t vast concern even without Kinder.

At least this year, there is some more depth at more positions.  Talent level and drop-offs are different issues.

Scouting report on Eastern Michigan from the Detroit Free Press. Expect more of the same from last year.

EMU’s head coach is 9-25 in his 3 seasons. More good news for him, his AD gave him a vote of confidence. Start honing that resume.
As for 5 keys to the season, is there any shock that the O-line and D-line were 1 and 2? I didn’t think so.
Derron Thomas is playing a final season at Duquesne. The former Pitt linebacker is publicly saying all the right things about his former team and coaches.

AP Story on LaRod Stephens-Howling having to keep an eye on LeSean McCoy trying to get the starting tailback gig.

When McCoy signed in February, Wannstedt was asked what he expected. Wannstedt’s answer may prove to be telling.

“Get him here as fast as we can and get him the ball,” Wannstedt said.

With Pitt opening its season against Eastern Michigan and Grambling, McCoy could get enough carries to flash what might be ahead in his career.

“We’re going to play him. How much? I don’t know,” Wannstedt said. “We’ll see how LaRod is doing and take it one series at a time.”

LeSean McCoy is coming to Pitt with a lot of fanfare and with fans holding high expectations. The way Dave Wannstedt and the coaching staff actually handle him is important, though, for both this year and the future. Wannstedt is known to play upperclassmen over younger players, but is it a mistake having him behind LaRod Stephens-Howling? Stephens-Howling, a junior, is the starter as of now, but should McCoy, a true freshman with possibly more talent, be starting over him? LaRod is listed as the started on the two-deep depth chart with Shady as the #2 guy.

The way that McCoy’s situation unfolds under Wannstedt will be a huge factor in determining not only how we do this year, but how well we are able to recruit big name players in the future. If we show that we’re too incompetent to use McCoy well (and often), why should any other player like him come to Pitt?

I’m not saying that McCoy deserves the starting nod for the opener over Stephens-Howling, because frankly I haven’t seen enough of either. The time I watched them at Fan Fest was nowhere near the type of situation needed to make a choice. I’m counting on the coaches who see them in scrimmages to get them each the appropriate amount of carries this year. I think by the end of the year we’ll see McCoy listed over LSH on the depth chart to show that we’re starting our big name guy. They might get equal numbers of carries, but McCoy (and other potential recruits) want to be the star in the spotlight and saying that they are the “starter” is a big deal.

Those of you using Internet Explorer are experiencing some problems with the site. Really not sure why it is not working in IE. It is coming up without a hitch in Firefox, so if you have both go with Firefox. That is not really a solution so much as a work-around, I know, but this is not an area of expertise for me.

Checking the site in IE, I also get just two posts and the layout is screwed up. The error message says that there is a “Syntax Error” in line 147. Great.

My hosting company has been having some major network/router issues. I’m not sure if that is the reason for the problem. I haven’t done anything to the site in the last couple days, so I’m hoping this is temporary.

Personally, I highly recommend using Firefox anyways. Loads a lot faster. Runs smoother. It imports bookmarks from IE with ease. The add-ons and extensions are tremendous. The only time I use IE is for certain jobs that require it, along with the all-access site for Pitt (yet another reason I don’t look at it that much).

UPDATE: The offending code from an earlier post has been removed. Thanks to Stuart for letting me know. I use an extension called “Adblock Plus” in Firefox. Tremendously effective adblocker that doesn’t just block ads and pop-ups. It essentially keeps them from showing up by (I guess) suppressing the code. Unfortunately the code is still there, so when I cut and pasted a bit from a story, the code was still there and I put it in the post.

It might be time to shy away from recruits in upstate New York for a few years. There seems to be some bad karma or something going on with the kids from there.

Syracuse tight end Tom Ferron (Clyde-Savannah) and Michigan lineman Justin Schifano (Webster Schroeder) quit their respective teams. Pittsburgh receiver Derek Kinder (Albion) is out for the year with a torn ACL in his right knee, an injury that occurred Aug. 11 during a non-contact drill.

Now comes word that tailback Kevin Collier, Kinder’s Pitt teammate and Section V’s all-time leading rusher, also will miss the 2007 season after breaking his right wrist Thursday in the Panthers’ final preseason practice.

“I hate to use the word unusual or freak play, but we saw it on film,” Panthers coach Dave Wannstedt told reporters. “He fell on that wrist 10 times every day for the last month, and why this time it broke, I have no idea. So, we’ll use this as a redshirt year (for Collier).”

Add in McKenzie Mathews quitting last year along with the ongoing Greg Paulus ineptitude at Duke, and it just isn’t good times for those players right now.

Hopefully there will be a game Saturday, and hopefully the toilets will work at Heinz Field.

Sediment in the waterlines at the North Shore stadium caused a drop in pressure that prevented some of the 57,000 fans who attended the Sunday night game from flushing the toilets or washing their hands.

The sediment caused some urinal valves — called flushometers — to run continuously, resulting in the drop in water pressure, according to spokeswoman Holly Wojcik of the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority, which has not yet determined the source of the sediment.

Pittsburgh police Lt. Thomas Atkins, who ran police operations during the game, ordered the 40 officers working the event to their posts in anticipation of an evacuation shortly before halftime.

They don’t have it resolved at this point, so seriously, it could actually impact whether there is a game or not.

Steelers spokesman Dave Lockett said the team is not commenting on how the problem was handled or if it would be fixed before Saturday’s game between the Pitt Panthers and Eastern Michigan University.

So much for making fun of the toilets backing up at Browns Stadium.

The effort to puff up Eastern Michigan continues.

The same could be said for several players on the Eagles’ defense, which allowed Mid-American Conference opponents 21.8 points per game last fall. That’s one point fewer than the Panthers allowed opponents last season.

Eastern Michigan’s front four features 6-foot-5, 270-pound senior defensive tackle Jason Jones, who finished fifth nationally with 18.5 tackles for loss and had four sacks and two forced fumbles. Junior tackle Josh Hunt also proved disruptive, with 10 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks.

Junior middle linebacker Daniel Holtzclaw was 16th nationally with 114 tackles, and is joined by fellow two-year starter in senior strong-side linebacker Darran Matthews, who had 100 stops last season.

“Defensively, they really jump off the screen,” Wannstedt said. “I have an appreciation for what they do. They’re playmakers. That’s the thing that jumps out at you. They turn their guys loose.”

Obviously they are going to try and bring pressure defensively. They have to with a new center and QB lined-up against a team. Blitz, rush the passer, try and stop plays from even happening.

I’m not buying the “defense is good argument,” though. In their 4 non-con games — don’t even try to sell me on the MAC match-ups — they allowed: 52 points and 586 yards (Michigan St.); 33 points and 381 yards (Louisiana-Lft.); 27 points and 474 yards (Navy) and 14 points and 266 yards (the anemic Northwestern Wildcats that averaged 16.5 ppg). No reason Pitt shouldn’t put up right around 30 points.

Of course, the defense will have its own dealings in showing that it has some speed and discipline.

While the Eagles do not have the athletes the Mountaineers do at quarterback and running back, the Panthers often have struggled as much with missed assignments and poor tackling against spread and read-option teams as they have with controlling the speed of the athletes running it.

Middle linebacker Scott McKillop said the offense creates lots of gaps and running lanes in the defense. That means every player must know and execute his assignment on every play. If just one defender does not get his job done, it could turn into a big play.

“That offense puts a lot of weight on the quarterback’s shoulders to make the right reads, but the problem for the defense is if there is one person not getting to their gap it could go for a touchdown,” McKillop said. “[Schmitt] is probably not the caliber of athlete that Pat White is, but I’m sure he is a player, too, so we can’t take him lightly and think he is not as good as Pat White.

“He is a good player, he can make plays, he can pass, he can run and he is going to take this offense and, if we don’t play right, he is going to drive down the field on us every time. So we can’t take him lightly because he’s a great player.”

McKillop and Wannstedt both said the Panthers have worked on tweaking their defensive scheme in the offseason to give it a better chance of matching up with the read-option offense, but neither would say what specifically has been the problem in the past. McKillop said every day during camp, as well as some days in the spring, the Panthers worked on defending the read-option because they will play three teams that use it this season.

Geez, when they put it that way, I’m actually getting scared. Keeping assignments, tackling. Uh-oh.

Luckily, the Eagles envision showing that they have more than just a QB. They can run the ball when healthy. Maybe.

As focused as the Eastern Michigan University tailback is on the present, Walker’s mind can’t help but rewind to two season-altering plays that affected not only Walker’s output, but that of the Eagles’ efforts to establish the running game.

In 2005, Walker broke his foot on his fourth carry of the season against Cincinnati, ending a year when he was expected to be Eastern’s starting tailback.

Last year, he suffered a broken arm in the sixth game of the year against Western Michigan, forcing him to miss half of a season in which – despite the injury – he finished as Eastern’s third leading rusher.

…

Coach Jeff Genyk has placed a priority on limiting how much his quarterbacks run this season, so getting more out of the running back position will be the key in maintaining offensive balance.

There can be no excuse with this game.

It’s hard to get real serious about Eastern Michigan. They were 1-11 last year. ESPN.com had them #6 on their preseason bottom 10 (3 MAC teams made the list now that Temple is a football member)

Then, I read the bible — well, Phil Steele’s 2007 College Football Preview, but that is essentially the bible of college football preview mags. I actually began to worry about facing EMU. Just a little. He writes about how he believes they will be significantly better (granted, they were 1-11 last year so that wouldn’t take much). They lost 6 games by 8 points or less. They return 16 starters, including 9 on defense. They also had a ton of injuries last season.

Of course, even with all of that, they were still tabbed for the bottom of the MAC West. Plus, they are a “bend but don’t break defense.” It will be nice to play one of those.

There was essentially a training camp recap with the highs and lows. Then there was a piece on getting ready for EMU.

Still, Eastern Michigan’s 116-year football history is so underwhelming that the most notable fact about the Eagles, at least as far as people in Western Pennsylvania are concerned, is that it is the alma mater of Steelers backup quarterback Charlie Batch. It also produced two players — John Banaszak and Ron Johnson — who were key members of some of those “Super Steelers” teams of the 1970s.

Pitt, however, has many questions to answer, so the Panthers are in no position to take any team lightly.

The Eastern Michigan game will mark the first significant action for quarterback Bill Stull, and the Panthers also have a linebacker corps that has been rebuilt entirely. Pitt also finished camp with an offensive line plagued by injuries and inconsistency.

How about this factoid, EMU has only 6 winning seasons in its past 33. In the last 7 years they are 20-60 and 14-40 in MAC play. They are a team that screams, don’t take them seriously.

Gorman’s blog post late today may be accurate in that it is a good thing for Pitt to start. Dealing with the entry level for this season with a read-option/spread and dual threat QBs.

Not that the time invested preparing for Eastern Michigan’s scheme is going to waste. Actually, it’s quite the opposite. Pitt will play several teams with dual-threat quarterbacks – Virginia, Navy, South Florida and WVU come to mind – and it’s difficult to simulate game speed with the scout team’s freshmen and walk-ons in practice.

“With this first game,” redshirt junior middle linebacker Scott McKillop said, “it’s a good test for us to get confidence toward the end of the season when we play a team like West Virginia.”

Wannstedt acknowledged that, because of the schedule, the Panthers made a “concentrated effort” in spring drills and the summer practicing the read-option and studying schemes that give them “the best chance to defend it.”

Considering last year, Pitt’s defense was able to turn UConn’s DJ Hernandez into a seeming dual threat god last year, they need the work. [As a brief aside, notwithstanding the Pitt game, Hernandez was so underwhelming as a QB for the rest of the Husky season that he is now a WR for them. Bitter, bitter game.]

For direct stuff, there is the transcript from Coach Wannstedt’s Monday press conference.

On scheming against the read-option offense:

There are schemes out there, but our scheme is no different than any other one. You still have to get into a position to make plays and make sure you have the quarterback accounted for on every play because he is really the guy that makes it go. The handoffs are no different than any other type of offense, but the threat of the quarterback and his ability to run and make plays, that’s what separates this offense from others.

On EMU’s offense being a bad match-up for a new linebacking corps:

No. Our guys are well-prepared. It’s not a surprise for us and we’ll play well.

Coach Wannstedt gave a fine effort in trying to puff the Eagles.

Defensively, they really jump off the screen. I have a real appreciation for what they do on the defensive side of the ball. They run the 4-3 and, depending on who they start, they have about eight or nine of their defensive starters returning. They have a linebacker who is very highly regarded by the NFL. One or two of their defensive linemen, particularly the two tackles, are highly respected players around the country and can make plays. One thing that jumps out at you is that they turn their guys loose, they are aggressive and they make plays. From an offensive standpoint, they have nine returning starters. The quarterback from a year ago missed spring practice, but he is back and healthy now. They have a new starter at right tackle and at one of the receiver spots, but everyone else on their offense is back, so we are facing a team that has played together for a considerable amount of time.

It would have been an admirable build-up but he prefaced that with the statement, “When you look at Eastern Michigan on tape, you have to put the record aside.” That just kills the credibility. Lou Holtz would not approve.

Those of you who enjoy tailgating — getting to the parking lots early to relax, talk football, grill some hot dogs, and other such fun — before night games will be happier today. Those people, like me, were relieved by news that the UConn game on September 22 will be a 7 pm kickoff.

It’s also good to know that even if the game is televised (or gets the ESPNU/360 treatment), the game time won’t be changed. Everything else is beginning to shape up, too.

Pitt previously announced that its Sept. 8 game against Grambling has a noon kickoff and its Oct. 10 game against Navy, which will be nationally televised on ESPN, is slated for an 8 p.m. start. Game times for Pitt’s remaining home games — Cincinnati on Oct. 20, Syracuse on Nov. 3 and South Florida on Nov. 24 — have yet to be determined.

5 days to EMU.

Not sure, other than for filler, why the PG would do this “Five Questions Revisited” thing. The only real answer that was close to definitive was whether Thatcher and Phillips were back physically and mentally from their injuries. It seems in the piece to almost be acknowledging that the other questions can’t be answered until Pitt actually plays the game.

Seems to be a continuing theme from the AP story that I noted and added my own thoughts. Now Kevin Gorman notes the pressure on Wannstedt this year is up a bit more.

Wannstedt has done all he can to be an avid fundraiser, goodwill ambassador and, perhaps most important, persuasive recruiter for Pitt. He has the unwavering support of the university’s top administrators, who don’t want to compromise their credibility by cutting corners.

“Winning is extremely important to us,” said Pitt athletic director Jeff Long, who hired Wannstedt in December 2004. “We want to win the Big East championship. We want to play in a BCS bowl. We want to win a national championship. But we’re not going to do that at all costs.”

Yet Pitt fans are becoming restless, craving a winner after back-to-back six-loss seasons that included lopsided losses to arch-rival West Virginia. Not only has Wannstedt yet to claim a signature victory, but the Panthers have suffered demoralizing overtime losses at Ohio and Connecticut that cost them likely bowl berths the past two seasons.

…

Is it fair to call this a make-or-break season for Wannstedt?

“It’s probably not unfair, if you look around the country and see people have made those kind of changes,” Long said. “We brought Dave Wannstedt here because he’s a proven football coach, a proven winner. He loves Pitt, loves Pittsburgh. I think Dave is the right man for the right job. He’s leading us strong.”

Gorman does seem to want to blame the pressure on the nebulous things such as the “culture of college football” changing and increased expectations from fans for things to happen sooner. That’s a cop-out. The patience is there. As long as there’s something indicating progress is happening. It keeps coming back to showing some tangible signs of progress. Not just being told there’s a “plan” or that it will happen.

Well, I’ll do game notes (PDF) later. The important thing, initially, is the depth chart (page 3) for the game. Mike McGlynn isn’t listed on the depth chart at all. He might be there by game day, but as of today, he doesn’t play in the season opener. That means the O-line is: Otah, Davis, Vangas, Thomas and Pinkston.

The TE position is officially undecided. Byham is listed first but Pelusi and Strong are also listed as starters with bold and “OR.”

The two-deep for WR are Turner, Porter at Split End and Pestano, McGee for Flanker. No surprise with the starters. At least officially on the chart, they are giving the nod to the more experienced players over the freshmen — Williams and Wright.

Defensively, it looks as expected except that they are still undecided with the SAM LB. Gunn was expected to have gotten the nod due to a bit more consistency, but it is listed as “OR” with Dickerson.  Duncan still has a little work to keep Malecki from claiming the starting Nose Tackle as well.

Well, it isn’t just college football that is almost ready to start. High school football is closing fast, and that means stories on teams and their top players.

Hopewell’s Ryan Turnley — an offensive tackle — committed to Pitt a while ago, gets a nice story.

“I’m very excited about it,” he said. “They’ve always been my favorite team. I was waiting for them the whole time, even though I was pretty close to committing to Louisville or Maryland.”

Akron, Georgia Tech and Wisconsin also had been vying for Turnley’s services when he decided in June to make Pitt his choice.

Another offensive lineman, Rob Gumbita of Mt. Pleasant hasn’t been offered by Pitt at this poin, but has received interest.

Football is also fun for Gumbita, who said he enjoys taking the field on game nights and being the center of attention.

“I like the big stage,” he said.

So far, that stage has been good to him. As one of Mt. Pleasant’s top linemen, Gumbita has garnered interest from several colleges, including Rutgers, Buffalo, Maryland, West Virginia, Pitt and Penn State.

“I’m just going to wait and see what happens with that,” he said.

He has a 2-star rank (Rivals.com) and 1-star (Scout.com) but does have offers from Buffalo and Maryland. Judging by the interest around him, I’m guessing he’s a project with potential.

Out in Muhlenburg, a couple members of the team are Pitt targets.

The Muhls return two of the top players in the league, led by game-breaking receiver and defensive back Vaughn Carraway. The speedster has received serious looks from Michigan, West Virginia, Pitt, Syracuse and Connecticut.

Linebacker Jeremy Rodriguez anchors the defense. Georgia Tech, Pitt, Syracuse and Villanova are recruiting him heavily.

I know Pitt wants to get Carraway. Not sure quite how hard they are actually recruiting Rodriguez. He’s only listed as 1-star on Scout.com — and no offers on his page. He didn’t even turn-up in Rivals.com either under the linebacker lists or just searching the database. Have to keep an eye on that.