Here’s the draft ballot. Dennis did the heavy lifting. I tweaked initially. Feedback will be considered for the final ballot due Wednesday morning.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Southern Cal	—
2	LSU	—
3	Oklahoma	—
4	Florida	3
5	West Virginia	1
6	California	—
7	Texas	2
8	Wisconsin	1
9	Rutgers	1
10	Ohio State	1
11	Penn State	1
12	Boston College	6
13	Georgia	1
14	South Florida	2
15	Texas A&M	5
16	Clemson	3
17	Oregon	6
18	South Carolina	3
19	Louisville	11
20	Hawaii	2
21	Missouri	3
22	Georgia Tech	5
23	Nebraska	8
24	Alabama	2
25	Cincinnati	1

Considered/Waiting for an opening: Kentucky, Purdue, Texas Tech, Air Force
I can already tell you that Texas A&M will have to go down. Again, the problem isn’t finding teams that are too high. It’s finding teams that are better/should/deserve to be ranked ahead of them. Clemson is a team I can’t buy into, but don’t know what to do with them.
WVU ended up dropping a spot on the strength of a dominating Florida team that looks damn impressive. Yeah, I think it’s safe to say that more than a few ND fans are wondering “what if” with Urban Meyer.

Have to admit, that BC looks damn good this season with a more opened up offense.

Can’t help but think that Kentucky should be ranked.

Well, this doesn’t look good.

Levance Fields was charged with one count each of aggravated assault, disarming a police officer, disorderly conduct and public drunkenness.

The incident took place at 1:50 a.m. at Pure nightclub. According to a police affidavit, an officer working an off-duty detail at Pure spotted Mr. Fields yelling at another police officer. The officer approached Mr. Fields and asked him to stop yelling and using offensive language.

Mr. Fields then went into the street and began arguing with an unknown black man. The officer approached Mr. Fields again and repeated his request that he stop yelling and using offensive language, at which time Mr. Fields cursed at the officer and struck him in the chest, police reported.

Mr. Fields then grabbed at the officer’s duty belt and reached for the officer’s weapon, according to the affidavit. The officer pushed him away, and a security officer shot Mr. Fields in the chest with a Taser.

Fields has a court date on the 24th. Like Coach Dixon, I’m fine with a bit of wait-and-see on what happens, especially considering the preliminary hearing is next Monday.

“Earlier today I was informed of an incident at an off-campus location involving Levance Fields. At this juncture, we will let the judicial process run its course before determining what disciplinary action is necessary. We have built a successful program at Pitt, on and off the court, by prioritizing personal accountability and responsibility. We will not compromise when it comes to those values.”

There is no immediate need to suspend Fields since they aren’t even at formal practices right now. I do expect some sort of suspension for Fields regardless of how the charges are eventually resolved/pled down. Fields clearly messed up, badly.
Seeing the Yuri Demetris comparisons are way off to me. Demetris was stalking, purposefully breaking into an ex-girlfriend’s place. It also took place in the season, necessitating an immediate suspension then being kicked off of the team. The Demetris comparisons are just not apt in my mind.
I’m not trying to diminish the seriousness of what Fields may be facing in charges. Especially with the accusation that he reached for a police officer’s weapon. That’s the part that takes it beyond drunken stupidity.

I guess, Fields was sick of seeing Duquesne get all the fun headlines the last few weeks.

Running quickly through the stories after the loss.

The interception that Michigan State ran back for a TD, the defender doesn’t even remember it.

Safety Travis Key picked off a pass that glanced off the hands of Pitt receiver Oderick Turner and took it back 31 yards to put the Spartans up 14-7 early in the second quarter.

“I just caught the ball and ran with it,” Key said. “I can’t even remember the play to tell you the truth. I just saw the ball, grabbed it and ran it in.”

Late in the game, Michigan State’s pornstar named linebacker kept coming up big. They may call him the “Sack Man,” but when your last name is Saint-Dic there has to be a better name.

It’s not like anyone thought Michigan State was that impressive. Just that Pitt screwed up more than the Spartans.

Three turnovers by Pitt, which hosts Connecticut next Saturday, led to all of the Spartans’ scoring. Caulcrick’s TD was set up by an interception, while Travis Key ran back another pick for a score. A fumble recovery led to a field goal by Brett Swenson.

Michigan State (3-0) shut down the Panthers (2-1) on all 12 of their third-down conversion attempts, often just as Pitt appeared poised to take the lead in the hard-fought game.

“The key to the game obviously was the turnovers, and our play on third downs was pretty good — actually, great,” said Mark Dantonio, the Spartans’ head coach.

Pittsburgh head coach Dave Wannstedt said turnovers cost his team the game.

No kidding.

With a national game on ESPN, many college football fans saw it. Sunday Morning Quarterback had some good observations about the game.

As mentioned, Pitt has serious quarterback issues, so much so that, when it got the ball back on its own 31, down 17-13 with 2:54 remaining and no timeouts, I wrote: “Can’t throw well enough to move for a TD.” As it turned out, I was wrong: Smith completed a well-conceived 19-yard pass Darrell Strong and then, improbably, a 26-yard completion to Marcel Pestano on fourth-and-17 as he was falling over two MSU linemen at his feet. Instead, the Panthers couldn’t block – Smith was in 4th-and-17 because Jonal Saint-Dic had abused Pitt’s right tackle on consecutive plays, causing a fumble on second down and forcing Smith into another loss on third.

He also notes that the Pitt pass rushing was much more impressive. He has some questions about the run defense, though (while admitting the numbers disagree with his doubts), because while the rushing total reads 144 that includes QB Hoyer’s 6 sacks for -40 yards.

Former Michigan State HC and Steeler assistant in the 70s, George Perles considers Dave Wannstedt a friend.

MSU Coach Dantonio was bothered by the number of penalties by his team, but he’s not complaining about the win. MSU QB Bobby Hoyer must not be thinking about the two drops by Pitt defenders on his throws when he spoke of how he was more willing to take six sacks than throw an interception.

In the “half-full” view, Pitt went on the road for the first time since the UConn game last year without an experienced QB, no #1 WR, the starting DT out for the season, and playing a team that has traditionally played well in September before fading at some point in October; and still nearly pulled it off despite all of that and going -3 in the turnover battle that led to all of MSU’s points. Of course, you really have to want to see it.

No one is pretending Kevan Smith had anything other than a horrible game. The one good thing to say is that he didn’t hide from it or the media after the game.

“The turnovers did kill us,” Smith said. “In my eyes, I’m seeing that I gave them 14 points.”

Senior Safety Eric Thatcher spoke the obvious.

“We’ve got to start winning some of these games,” Pitt safety Eric Thatcher said. “We’ve got to step up and make the plays at the end to get the Ws.”

Yep.

A little more about Pitt’s “wildcat” set.

I hate using injuries as an excuse for a loss, but Kevin Gorman depresses the hell out of me with the O-line.

Now that McCoy has proven to be the big-time back Wannstedt has wanted, Pitt’s offensive success, or lack thereof, will be determined by the play of its offensive line.

“We’ve got to bring that group along a little bit,” Wannstedt said. “They’re getting better, they are. I don’t know what the numbers were but I thought our offensive line has improved week after week – not to the point where we’re happy about it and getting excited. That’s, unfortunately, the last group to get together.”

…

Pinkston appears to have a separated shoulder and was replaced for a few plays by redshirt sophomore John Bachman, but later returned to play the final series.

“Jason Pinkston, his shoulder slipped out of the socket,” Wannstedt said. “He goes back in and tries to play with one arm at the end. They’ve got a couple guys that are good players. We got into some mismatch problems. They pressured us a lot and we got into some pressure problems, which we anticipated.”

Now, Pitt has to determine what to do about its line. It could leave Vangas at center, but he was overmatched against Michigan State and could have trouble handling Big East play. It could move McGlynn to center and return Joe Thomas to the starting lineup at right guard, but McGlynn might have to play right tackle if Pinkston is unable to play. The other options are Bachman and Chase Clowser.

It gets scarier when you read more about the injuries on the D-line.

Gene Collier, seemed to think part of the problem for Kevan Smith was that the O-line was still part of the problem.

In a star-crossed football season in which Pitt has already lost three starters to injury, the much-anticipated arrival of the freshman from Harrisburg would be a majestic highlight were it not timed concurrently with the fitful progress, a term used advisedly, of the Panthers’ offensive line. Coach Dave Wannstedt finally has the kind of running back around which a coherent ground-based offense can be built, but he doesn’t have the road-pavers.

“We have to bring that group along a little bit,” Wannstedt said. “They are getting better. Our offensive line has improved week by week, but not to the point that we are happy or excited about it.”

The coach pointed out that Jason Pinkston had his shoulder yanked out and was playing with one arm, and that part of the reason Michigan State sacked freshman quarterback Kevan Smith six times was breakdowns by the fullback and tight ends, but Pitt’s primary blockers are the reason this team will remain less than the sum of its parts for awhile.

Joe Starkey is all but begging Pitt to explore some variation of the spread-option offense.

Wannstedt said the offense could be expanded in future weeks. Question is, could it be used full-time, or close to it?

“Well, no,” he said, “because we have to throw the ball at some point.”

OK, but less is better. And if shifty tailback LaRod Stephens-Howling, who missed yesterday’s game with a rib injury, is ready this week, Pitt should think hard about matching him with McCoy and even speedster Maurice Williams — a former high school quarterback — in a spread-option package. Any one of them could take direct snaps.

Pitt has athletes. They might as well use them. Speedy receiver T.J. Porter took some inside handoffs from McCoy — the kind West Virginia’s Pat White often gives to Steve Slaton — and gained 36 yards on three attempts (he also had a costly fourth-quarter fumble).

McCoy likes the possibilities of a run-and-Shady offense.

“We have an offense where me and (Stephens-Howling) are in there together,” he said. “I don’t want to give up too much information, but it’s most likely we’d both be in the offense, with the spread, and the running back at the quarterback position.”

These kinds of packages usually are best-utilized as a change of pace, but Pitt is plain desperate. Plus, McCoy insists he and Stephens-Howling are capable of throwing a decent pass.

I don’t think that Wannstedt and Cavanaugh are wired to go that way. I think their brain pans would go “sproing.”

Sorry, very late start this morning. Missed the first few minutes trying to finish other things.

Hmm. The Pitt white jerseys. Don’t really like those gold shoulder accents.

McCoy looks good running so far.

12:27: Aargh. Damn, that was a gift that Phillips dropped.

12:33: Oh, my god, a sack. A real sack. Clermond got there. The MSU O-line not exactly assertive early.

Crap. Soft coverage allowed nearly 20 yards to at least give them a FG or even go for it. Going for it. Wow. No trying to draw offside, but Cox jammed receiver 3 yards and he dropped it.

Mick Williams can’t stay healthy can he?

12:38: (^^$&#$@%@%. Interception. Smith threw that poorly right to the defender.

Was that Smth’s first pass attempt?

12:40: Then Hoyer scrambles to buy time and hits a receiver down at the 3. End of the 1st Q and MSU has 1st and goal. If there’s any silver lining to what I’m seeing to this point is that MSU will stay conservative and that will keep the score close. That, at least will give Pitt a chance.

12:44: Almost a big stop inside the 5, but no. Instead the Caulcrick just busted through the arm tackle of Phillips for the score.

7-0 MSU 14:15 left in the half.

12:49: Holy crap! McCoy blew past a sealed block to the outside. An actual, goddamned block. And then he really hit it and went 64 yards for the TD

7-7 13:54 to go in the 1st half.

1:00: Aiigghhh! Interception. High and away from Turner, off his hands. Returned for a TD. 0 passing yards.

14-7 MSU 11:00.

1:04: Wow. McCoy gets outside and nearly 20 yards.

Dare I suggest to help Smith, that they roll him out and let him run? Give him a chance to use his athleticism to do something and maybe get his head back into the game.

Have to admit, Andre Ware is dead-on with his observations from the booth with Smith. He just got happy feet about the pocket and didn’t look downfield at all.

1:10: Tough decision for Cavanaugh. He needs to have Smith get his confidence, and maybe throw in something other than on 3d and long — when the Spartans know it’s coming. But that would mean not giving the ball to McCoy .

1:11: Jeez. Pitt has its 3d sack. What the hell? I’m seeing the line and the linebackers getting into the backfield? How is that happening?

Berry has a nice return on the punt to get it to about mid-field.

1:13: Yeah! A reception by Pestano for positive yards in the passing game. Great Pinkston “shaken up.” Just what the O-line needs.

1:17: I’m surprised to see Smith struggle mentally so much. His head/confidence seems so shaken.

1:20: Ergh. Screen worked beautifully for MSU. Picked up the 1st down on 3d and 10.

There! What Hoyer did for MSU on the roll-out. Just run a little. I’d like to see Smith give that a shot just to feel like he is actually contributing to the offense.

1:30: Two straight false start penalties, just as Pitt moves a little in the two minute drills.

Then Smith sacked. That ends the half.

14-7 Michigan State.

Wannstedt was asked about whether Bostick will be coming in for the second half. Completely non-committal.

2 INT. One returned for a TD and the other leading to the score.

(more…)

Two weeks ago I wrote about how the way the coaches handle LeSean McCoy would be of high importance. It was speculated that he might get the “start” this week, but the two-deep in the game notes still has him listed below LaRod Stephens-Howling. LSH has some type of rib bruise and that perhaps could have lead to McCoy listed as the starter. No matter who is on the field first, they are each going to get the number of carries they deserve, but Shady being able to say he’s the star could really boost his ego — for better or worse.

Pitt isn’t the only school who has a recently vacated AD position. Michigan State filled their’s yesterday with senior associate athletics director Mark Hollis. He replaces Ron Mason who retired in late June.

More people want to see the Pitt offense attack the opposing DB’s with deep passes.

ShadyForHeisman: Paul – If need be on Saturday against MSU and Kevan Smith needs to complete a deep pass – can he do it? Or they are going to pretty much try to throw everything underneath and run the ball to keep things simple?

Paul Zeise: He did complete a long one to Oderick Turner on Saturday so yes.

He hit Turner nicely, but I think more than one or two attempts per game would be in line. Smith has the arm — we’ve seen that — but do the coaches believe in him enough to let him work the defense?

New Spartans head coach is Mark Dantonio from Cinci and you knew that. He reiterated that point in his press conference this week. He’s familiar with what Wannstedt is trying to do and with most of the players. There is one very important guy he hasn’t seen — LeSean McCoy.

Q. What type of different look does Pitt’s freshman running back give them compared to their starting tailback?

COACH DANTONIO: I think McCoy is a little bit bigger guy. Howling is a little bit of a scat back, more in that form. Both of them catch the ball pretty well, and there’s been times where they’ve used both of them in the game at the same time, even this early, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of that. But just a little bit different tempo, a little bit bigger. McCoy reminds me a lot of Ashton Leggett, the way Ashton runs for us. He’s a good back, he’s got some speed, and he’s confident.

One guy who can play a huge part in the day our running backs have is TE John Pelusi, but his status for the game seems up in the air. Zeise says in his Q&A that Pelusi is expected play but when I asked one of his family members if he is, their answer was one of those “Ehh…” with a shoulder shrug. Pelusi is our best blocking tight end and can be a huge help against MSU’s huge d-line.

Last post before I hit the road for East Lansing at about 2:00 this afternoon. Hopefully we come home with a win — it’s a long ride home after a loss.

Briefly running through the stories.

The hostile road crowd angle for a new QB is explored, and dismissed by the players. Standard stuff.

The day before, Kevan Smith got a story on learning from his first college start.

Here’s what the Michigan State game, increasingly feels like it will come down to:

Q: Would all of Pitt’s problems — inexperienced quarterbacks, thin linebacking corps, inability to focus for four quarters, poor kick coverage — go away or at least be reduced in significance if we could just block someone?

ZEISE: Not all of them, but that would sure help. I think that’s the most interesting aspect of this week’s game — watching to see how this offensive and defensive line stack up against big, physical lines with speed. Pitt has to be able to block someone this week or it is going to be a long, long game.

To that end, not one but two stories on the Michigan State running backs getting off to a great start. Yes, Javon Ringer and Jehuu Caulcrick are good backs. The issue, though, is that they are running behind a veteran and very good O-line. Worth repeating: 4 of the 5 starters from last year’s Spartan O-line are back.

Unrelated but this bit annoyed me a bit.

The Pitt-Connecticut game, which will be played at 7 p.m. on Sept. 22 at Heinz Field, will be televised on ESPNU. Let’s call it a parting gift from former Pitt athletic director Jeff Long, who left Tuesday to become head of the athletic department at the University of Arkansas.

Long explained late last month that there were three reasons behind Pitt’s decision to make it a 7 p.m. kickoff:

“One, it is partly based on Jewish holiday and we scheduled it in the evening to try be sensitive to Yom Kippur. Secondly, night games are better attended, so we wanted our fans to enjoy it. Third, there’s a possibility for ESPNU to broadcast this game.”

[Emphasis added.]

Considering that for the last 8 years (at least) a Pitt home game has landed on one of the High Holy Days, they need to keep working on that sensitivity. Or at least try and be on the road for once.

As I said, I don’t have a clue who the next AD will be. I’m not buying that Wannstedt will be looking to fill the role now or in the near future. Old names from the last search are brought up again.

Potential candidates could include Pitt’s last interim athletic director, Marc Boehm, now an executive associate athletic director at Nebraska, as well as three athletic directors who interviewed in ’03: Cincinnati’s Mike Thomas, Central Florida’s Keith Tribble and Florida Atlantic’s Craig Angelos.

Another notable name that has surfaced is Tom Donahoe, a former Steelers director of football operations and president/general manager of the Buffalo Bills. Donahoe received a personal guided tour by Wannstedt during a visit to Pitt’s Duratz Athletic Complex last month.

Not quite following why Donahoe would take a pay cut and prestige drop from the NFL, but let the rumors fly. As for Marc Boehm, returning if offered. I think that would be awkward.

Boehm is well-acquainted with Pitt, having been Steve Pederson’s right-hand man for six years before Pederson left for the athletic director’s job at Nebraska in late 2002. Boehm served as Pitt’s interim athletic director for 4¹/₂ months and was the top candidate to replace Pederson.

But with Nordenberg and the rest of the university administration preoccupied with the search for men’s and women’s basketball coaches — a process Boehm helped facilitate — Boehm grew weary of waiting for Nordenberg to hire him full-time and followed Pederson to Nebraska in May 2002 to accept a position Pederson created specifically for him.

Unbeknownst to Boehm until late in the process, the eight-person search committee had unanimously voted to name him as the successor to Pederson. Nordenberg asked Boehm to reconsider, but the chancellor never offered him a contract. That led to a hasty search by the committee that ended two weeks later when Nordenberg appointed Long as Pederson’s replacement.

Chancellor Nordenberg really does dawdle over these contracts for ADs, doesn’t he? I realize money and time can heal a lot of wounds, but Boehm coming back would seem uncomfortable. How much would he really feel he could trust Nordenberg to back him and not, ultimately, undermine him.

I also don’t by the revisionism that the school was “preoccupied” by the men’s and women’s coaching job vacancies to deal with the AD issue. The coaching vacancies came well after the AD vacancy.  In fact, part of why you have an AD is to lead the search for new coaches. The more I read that bit, the less sense it makes. Pitt’s men’s basketball coaching search had Skip Prosser at the top of the list and part of why he didn’t take it was that Pitt had no full-time AD and Nordenberg didn’t even assure Prosser that Boehm would be the guy.

That said, revisionism, doesn’t just apply to the time with Boehm. Long gets ripped on his way out the door.

Long’s biggest failure was his inability to maintain the season-ticket base for what should be the school’s flagship athletic program — football.

Pederson’s marketing initiatives led to the sale of 42,544 non-club season-tickets in 2003, a school record, and the establishment of a waiting list to buy season tickets for 2004.

Today, one literally cannot give away Pitt football tickets.

Puh-lease. At least rip on Long for things he actually did wrong. Heading into 2003, what had the season tickets sold-out was not any marketing initiatives, it was that Pitt was a preseason top-20 team that had the label of “darkhorse” Big East champion. A team that finished 2002 so strong, and looked poised to go farther. Instead, the season went to crap, the recruiting class was trashed and the head coach lost the majority of fan support.

Winning puts people in the stands, not “marketing initiatives.” Those only get their attention and might attract some first-timers.

Pitt is struggling with home attendance because the team isn’t that good and the home schedule is worse this year. Some of that is the weirdness of the Big East putting Louisville and West Virginia (and now Rutgers) all on the same home/away pace for Pitt so the Big East portion of the schedule is pitiful. The non-con  is distinctly bad as a consequence of balancing the road games to Michigan State and Virginia. That part you can pin on Long.
Smizik also goes after Long, for being a caretaker rather than dynamic.

His two most notable undertakings were the hiring of Dave Wannstedt as football coach and a fundraising campaign tied to season-ticket purchases for men’s basketball. Wannstedt, who also was enthusiastically endorsed by Chancellor Mark Nordenberg, remains a work in progress. He has been a disappointment thus far, but it’s too early to make any kind of final judgment. The fundraising program was a success but not before it enraged some fans and forced a lawsuit that, in effect, was won by the plaintiffs.

Under Long, the men’s basketball program continued to flourish and he was able to fend off schools, notably Arizona State, trying to hire coach Jamie Dixon. The women’s program grew significantly under coach Agnus Berenato, who, like Dixon, was at Pitt before Long. Pitt’s hosting of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament first- and second-round games last season was a major step for the program and that success came on Long’s watch.

Let’s be somewhat realistic. The football and basketball programs had already been revised and dragged into the modern world of college athletics. There was success occurring in those sports. Exactly how was the AD supposed to do more with those parts, other than just try to make sure they keep moving in the right direction and keep the money moving? You really want an AD to tinker with what was going in the right direction? Jeff Long had been focusing on the rest of the  athletic department that needed updated facilities, money and direction — which meant taking the hit for the fundraising by reseating for the Quest for Excellence.

College baseball is getting more attention each year. Pitt is finally on the way to having a modest ball field. Not to mention on-site facilities for the other sports to have practices and games — rather than going out into the burbs to high school fields.

Again, if you want to rip Long for being somewhat aloof, tin eared and actual sins committed that’s fine.  To essentially make crap up, bothers me.

Well, the praises of Buddy Morris are being sung going into the Michigan State game, hopefully with good reasons.

Wannstedt hired Morris in December to get his players in better condition. That meant more time in the weight room and running in winter, spring and summer, but the end result is more confidence among players going into this game.

“Buddy has done wonders around here,” free safety Eric Thatcher said. “You can really tell with the lines.”

Michigan State has two big backs who are averaging more than 70 yards per game. Javon Ringer has 163 yards on 35 carries and Jehuu Caulcrick has 146 yards on 24 carries.

Sophomore defensive tackle John Malecki said the Panthers are better prepared for the Spartans’ run-first offense this season because of their improved conditioning. The game last year was tied, 10-10, at halftime, but the Spartans scored four touchdowns in 16 minutes to blow the game open.

“We all feel great in the fourth quarter,” Malecki said. “You can turn on the tape and we look just as good on snap 60 as snap one. We took conditioning more seriously than we used to around here.”

I’ll be happier if the team takes tackling “more seriously than we used to around here.”

Pitt has taken a bunch of penalties in their first couple games. By contrast, the Spartans only have 7 in two games — the lowest in the Big 11. Big, fat, hairy deal.

Certainly, a team that has a very small margin for error, such as MSU, probably wants to avoid penalties as much as possible.

However, the least penalized team in the Big Ten last season was Northwestern with just 39 total fouls.

Avoiding penalties obviously didn’t do the Wildcats much good because they finished 4-8 overall and 2-6 in the Big Ten. In fact, Northwestern led the nation in fewest penalties per game, and for what?

And guess which team was 118th in the nation with 8.29 penalties per game?

Drum roll please …. none other than your national champion Florida Gators.

…

Penalties, while annoying and at times downright infuriating, haven’t been the problem.

No, not at MSU, but they were a symptom of the problems of the Spartans under Slappy Smith.

Both Wannstedt and Dantonio are similar minds in what they want their teams to be and do.

Mark Dantonio, however, likes his chances a little better this time entering Saturday’s game at Spartan Stadium.

“We’ve got a little more ammunition (than Cincinnati had),” said Dantonio, in his first season coaching MSU.

…

“We’re going to play a running football team,” Dantonio said. “We’ve talked about that we need to stop the run and make a team one-dimensional. This is probably the first team that will come out and try to establish that aspect. It will be a good test for us.”

Said Wannstedt: “This will be our first big, big challenge. These guys (Michigan State) are a physical team.”

The focus on the Michigan State offense is obviously their running game, but with QB Brian Hoyer throwing well, it would be foolish to overlook WR Devin Thomas.

Thomas ended up with four catches for 156 yards, 76 of which came on a first-quarter reception to set up the Spartans’ first score.

With the 106 yards he had in the season-opener against Alabama-Birmingham, Thomas leads the Big Ten in receiving yards with 131 per game. His 29.1 yards per catch is second.

“I just feel like when the ball is in the air, I have the ability to get it,” Thomas said. “Regardless of the situation, if the quarterback puts it in my area I can get it. That’s just my mindset.”

The Zeise Q&A is back.

Q:Is our only chance to win this game against Mich. St. is to have McCoy have a Heisman trophy day and we get turnovers and a few Defensive/Special Teams TDs?

ZEISE: LeSean McCoy needs to have a big day for Pitt to have a chance for several reasons. One, to help protect Kevan Smith — you obviously don’t want a situation where he has to drop back and pass every down because you’ve fallen behind, and if you are running the ball successfully it means you are still in the game. Also, a big day running the ball will help protect the defense by keeping it off the field and fresh. And one other thing – if Pitt can control the line of scrimmage against Michigan State, it would be a huge confidence boost going forward. I think Pitt can win without getting help from the defense and special teams scoring points, but a few easy scores sure would help the cause.

Actually, I don’t feel as confident in Pitt winning without a little extra help from the defense and/or special teams with points. Those seem vital. At least get some turnovers and have a chance to convert them. Few teams are going to pull a USF and win a game with 0 points off of 5 turnovers as they did with Auburn.

Okay, here’s how the Pitt Blather ballot finally went.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Southern Cal	—
2	LSU	—
3	Oklahoma	2
4	West Virginia	1
5	Texas	5
6	California	1
7	Florida	1
8	Louisville	4
9	Wisconsin	3
10	Rutgers	3
11	Ohio State	1
12	Penn State	3
13	UCLA	1
14	Georgia	5
15	Nebraska	1
16	South Florida	9
17	Georgia Tech	6
18	Boston College	4
19	Clemson	5
20	Texas A&M	—
21	South Carolina	5
22	Hawaii	5
23	Oregon	3
24	Missouri	2
25	Auburn	7

On the Cusp/Watching: Washington, Cinci, Alabama, Tennessee, VT

Washington and Cinci just missed making my poll. I did move Missouri in, while dropping VT from the draft ballot.

You can see what the full ballot results look like, here. Every blogpoller’s ballot can be viewed here.
There are plenty of teams that I wanted to rank lower, but the problem was that there was a lack of teams that I could justify putting ahead of them without thinking how overrated that would make those teams. That was the one factor that mitigated against fully embracing some of the comments.
Keep in mind that several teams still moved up simply by virtue of other teams being knocked way down or out of the poll.
Did teams like Cal, Florida, Ohio State and UCLA really deserve to rise in the polls even one spot after this past week? Not really but Louisville, Wisconsin, VT and Georgia all deserved to fall further — which is how the others moved up.

Last week’s record; season record: 7-1 (including the USF win); 7-1

Thursday, September 13, 2007

(5) West Virginia vs. Maryland, 7:30 pm EDT
WVU struggled a bit in the first half at Marshall last week. Their ability to adjust is very valuable, though.

“A lot of teams come out with a good defensive scheme. It takes a bit to fix it,” said All-American junior running back Steve Slaton, who has rushed for 23 yards combined in the first half of both games this season. “Every team will give us a shot.”

Maryland will give their best shot but White and Slaton will shake it off for the win.
Pick: West Virginia

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Temple vs. UConn, Noon EDT
Connecticut is bad — Temple is worse. UConn will start the season with three straight blowouts, and yet their record and point differential will be misleading to the casual observer. They come to Pitt next week.
Pick: UConn

Pitt vs. Michigan State, Noon EDT
If I’m not a Pitt fan is this an easy game to predict? Probably. But I’m a homer and I have “that feeling” that Pitt could pull it off. I’d rather just call it a toss-up, but I need to make a pick. The list of injuries is a killer for Pitt, especially the loss of Mustakas against a team that was going to run against us anyways. Add that we’ll be on the road with an inexperienced QB and it looks like a loss. (I’ll be cheering when they prove me wrong.)
Pick: Michigan State

Cincinnati vs. Miami (OH), Noon EDT
Cinci is getting a lot of love, and much of it is justified.

Cincinnati in two games has displayed something the glamboy frontrunners in the Big East haven’t: a defense.

Last week’s huge win over Oregon State included holding their star RB to only 30 yards on 16 carries.
Pick: Cincinnati

Illinois vs. Syracuse, Noon EDT
Syracuse is the embarrassment of the Big East this year. The AD there, Daryl Gross says be patient.

Sometimes you take three steps back before you move forward. The thing I do know is these kids worked so hard in the offseason, as hard as any team in the country. I’ve been around teams and I see how they work, and these guys work really hard. The whole program deserves better. I think there are better days ahead.

This will be that third step back…the try for the forward step will be next week against Louisville.
Pick: Illionois

Norfolk State vs. (13) Rutgers, 3:30 pm EDT
Hey Rutgers, you haven’t been good for that long. You have no reason to do this to anybody, especially the Navy.

Navy was booed and peppered with “You suck!” chants when they stepped on the field for both halves. Toward the end of the second half, Rutgers students in the new bleacher section began to serenade the adjacent section of Navy fans and uniformed Midshipmen.

”F— you, Navy. F—you, Navy. F— you, Navy.”

I hope Norfolk State beats you…but they won’t.
Pick: Rutgers

(10) Louisville vs. Kentucky, 7:30 pm EDT
The Cardinal’s 58-42 didn’t impress BlogPoll voters (down two spots), but don’t blame the offense. If anyone on Louisville’s non-con schedule is going to pull an upset on them, Kentucky is the team. I just don’t think they have the defense to keep up with Brian Brohm and WR Mario Urrutia.
Pick: Louisville

Track the scores here.

(Rankings used are from the BlogPoll.)

So yeah. I’m tired of the Pitt-Penn State thing for this calendar year. Unless they actually draw up a contract, I think we’ve gone deep enough into the issue (especially in this post). Until anything is made official (probably shortly after Paterno is buried), we’ll get this type of thing.

Yesterday, Paterno was asked during his weekly news conference if he would be in favor of playing Pitt on a six-and-four basis — six home games for the Nittany Lions and four away — over a 10-year period.

I’m exhausted of talking about the Pitt-PSU subject, and I don’t think that Paterno is actually serious with what he says. All this does is deflect some of the criticism directed at him, and he even tries to pass it off as AD Tim Curley’s choice. They have a home and home series with Syracuse starting next year — if we’re so “inferior” to them, why do they go and schedule a series with a team that is similar if not worse than us. Scared we’ll pull an upset?

According to this article (most is subscriber only) Eloy Vargas was blown away on his recruiting visit to Florida. Vargas reportedly  has it down to either Pitt or Florida, but the Gators now hold the edge after the visit.

The only amusing thing about this, since many seem to treat recruiting issues as life-or-death issues, is that both Pitt and Florida don’t actually have an available scholarship to give Vargas for the 2008 season. Neither, though, seems too concerned.

The theme is still the injuries, though, while the list keeps growing the players and Coach Wannstedt don’t seem to want to use it as an excuse.

“The players stepping in have to pick up the slack and pull their weight,” senior offensive lineman Mike McGlynn said. “This presents an opportunity for other people to get playing time. That’s why they came here: to make plays. We’ll see how they play. I believe they’ll do a good job.”

Free safety Eric Thatcher knows what the injured players are going through. The starter missed the second half of last season with a broken ankle.

“It’s tough to lose all these guys this fast,” Thatcher said. “We just have to let it go. The guys out there now are the only ones who can help us out. We have to show we’re a strong character team. We have to show we have backups who are ready to play.”

…

Wannstedt has faith in Duhart and Williams.

“They’ve both played in both games,” Wannstedt said. “It’s not like it will be the first time they’re playing. They’re both very talented.”

I may be reading (hoping?) too much into this, but this strikes me as a message of accountability to DC Paul Rhoads about what Wannstedt expects from the defense on Saturday.

“We have to tackle well this week,” Wannstedt said. “Our tackling will be challenged this week. Both of these guys have the ability to run through arm tackles. They’ve both got very good quickness. They both can catch the ball well. The thing that jumped out at me was the toughness and the ability to break tackles after being hit.”

The tackling goes to the coaching and poor tackling has been one of the hallmarks of a Paul Rhoads defense.

Up in East Lansing, the Spartans are hoping that with new coach, a new identity is forming.

Since Nick Saban bolted at the end of the 1999 season, the Spartans have been known for a fragile psyche and an inability to stare down adversity. They were cruising along last season with a 3-0 record and on the verge of upsetting 12th-ranked Notre Dame when they unraveled in front of a national television audience.

“I don’t feel like we’ve proved anything yet,” said quarterback Brian Hoyer, whose team plays Pittsburgh at home Saturday. “There’s a long way to go. We’ve been 3-0 and then the bottom falls out, so we’ve got to take the initiative and make sure people are playing hungry and playing with that chip on their shoulder.”

I’m guessing most Spartan fans are hesitating just a bit before they absolutely declare the team mentality has shifted and gotten tougher.

Worth noting, one of the immediate impacts under Dantonio is that so far, the Spartans only have 7 penalties for 61 yards. The usually sloppiest team in the Big 11 is the least penalized in the conference. That’s something different.

Then there’s still the usual coach/team hypocrisy. Mark Dantonio is pissed that a former Cinci player wasn’t released from his scholarship to follow him to MSU.

New Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly did not release [Trevor] Anderson from his scholarship with the Bearcats, and Anderson has to pay his own way at MSU for a year. Anderson, a defensive end from Detroit Crockett, enrolled at MSU late last month and is practicing with the team.

Anderson must sit out the 2007-08 season under NCAA transfer rules. He was a two-year starter for Dantonio at Cincinnati.

“I think you probably need to ask him, but I was very disappointed in how that all transpired,” Dantonio said. “I think you try and do what you can for young people and you try and help them through their lives, and I don’t think that was done there.”

Yeah, this never happens. Not many schools I can think of would happily release a kid from scholarship to follow his coach to a new school. There has been no news suggesting he left Cinci for reasons involving hardship, family or such. This seems, simply, about a kid wanting to follow his coach.
Dantonio would have been better served not saying much in this case. He now sets himself up for having his words tossed back at him when he doesn’t release a kid from scholarship who wants to transfer. But, of course, that will be different.
Final notes, the Michigan State “honorary captain” for the game will be former MSU HC George Perles (1983-94). Perles was also a defensive coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 70s. And MSU has declared the game a “white-out.” Have to make the most of that one home ESPN appearance.

Jeff Long is gone as expected at this point. Hell of a bump in salary. He was making around $200 K at Pitt, and Arkansas came in with $450,000. That sort of cash will go a long way at Wal-Mart.

No way Pitt was going to match that — especially when Pitt’s extension negotiations stalled out earlier this spring/summer. That kind of bump in salary  comes at a cost. Dealing with the Houston Nutt/Las Cronicas Locas De Boss Hawg stuff. Not to mention a fanbase with contingent unable to distinguish reality from satire. Wow.

I have no idea who will be the next AD. I can tell you it won’t be any former player now doing commentary for the WWL. As I tried to point out earlier, the nature of the AD job is so different from even 15 years ago. Gladhanding and raising money for the Athletic Department is vital, but it is only a component of what the job demands these days. I only want Pitt to find and hire the best person for the job.
In the interim, Donna Sanft, the Senior Associate Athletic Director for Administration, Compliance and Student Life can add “interim AD” to her resume.

Chancellor Nordenberg has already formed an athletic director search committee to be chaired by Jerry Cochran, Pitt’s executive vice chancellor and general counsel. The committee will include Susan Albrecht, Pitt NCAA faculty athletic representative; Tom Bigley, a member of the Board of Trustees and former chair of the athletics committee; Marcus Bowman, director of athletic business operations and former walk-on basketball player under Coach Dixon; Kirk Bruce, assistant athletic director for Olympic sports and former Pitt basketball player in the early 70s and Pitt women’s basketball coach in the 80s and 90s.; John Conomikes, a member of the Board of Trustees and chair of the athletics committee; and Carol Sprague, senior associate athletic director.

They have, apparently, started work immediately. Whether Chancellor Nordenberg will do anything with their recommendations is a different issue (see, 2003). I do expect the job to draw a fair amount of interest. There are still only 65 BCS schools (and only 64 of them have athletic director positions).

A quick look at stories and links relating to the Michigan State game this Saturday.
Michigan State was installed as an early 8.5 to 9 point favorite. Can’t say I’m surprised, and I expect the number to rise as people look closer at the injuries for Pitt and the questions about the O-line. Add in MSU’s domination of UAB followed by UAB giving FSU a hard time the following week, along with a respectable Bowling Green team being taken down by MSU; versus Pitt’s soft and chewy opening games.

Even the Pitt defense had to acknowledge that they haven’t exactly been challenged to this point.

Pitt middle linebacker Scott McKillop agrees that it is impossible to tell just how good the Panthers are on defense until they play Michigan State. He said the Spartans embarrassed the Panthers’ defense last year and could do it again Saturday if Pitt doesn’t make tackles.

“There is no question we are aware of the fact that we’re stepping way up in class [Saturday] from the level of competition we’ve faced so far,” McKillop said after the Panthers’ 34-10 win against Grambling Saturday. “But at the same time, it was important that we took care of business in these first two games and that’s what we did. We know Michigan State is our third game, but we didn’t want to get caught looking ahead and I think we’ve played very well.

“Now, we can focus on Michigan State and we can use that as a gauge to see how far we’ve come and how much we’ve actually improved in stopping the run because, ultimately, our ability to stop the run will dictate how successful we can be. And I’m sure the coaches are going to remind us a lot about last year [against Michigan State] because that was a game where I felt like we got a lead and then shut it down and they made a lot of plays.”

We’ll all get an idea. Michigan state returns 4 of the 5 starters from last year’s O-line. There’s a big difference in the style this year for Michigan State. If anything, it might be a reason for some hope. Mark Dantonio is now in charge and he’s got the Spartan followers believing.

Oh, sure, there was a flashy offense in Spartan Stadium. But it belonged to Bowling Green. The Falcons spread the field, passed twice as much as they ran … and Michigan State was fine with it. Dantonio figured that as long as the Spartans kept Bowling Green’s receivers in front of them that eventually Michigan State would make a big play to end a drive.

“You’ve seen it here for the past number of years,” Dantonio said of Bowling Green’s spread. “You can convert, convert and convert. But at some point if you take a sack, or if you have to run the ball and you can’t run it, then it becomes long-yardage situations. So it wears on you over the course of the game.”

I’m not ripping the spread or pass-first offenses. The point is that, no matter the style, a team has to play with intelligence and discipline.

The spread is dead. That’s some good news. The offense is straight ahead, run first, traditional style. It means, it is at a level DC Paul Rhoads might comprehend (I know, gratuitous cheap shot). Pitt will still have to show that it can stop a real running game, but the good news is that the runner won’t be the QB.
I’m also hoping the Spartans like this writer, might be peeking ahead on the schedule.

But had Dantonio been around 10 years ago when opponents were penciled in — or even within the past year when a second-week replacement for Western Michigan had to be found — he couldn’t have set things up much better for his first season.

…

Next up is Pittsburgh (2-0) at noon Saturday in Spartan Stadium (ESPN). The Panthers, of the Big East, will be MSU’s first opponent from a BCS conference.

The following week the Spartans will make their first road trip to play traditional rival Notre Dame before opening conference play at Wisconsin, which has been picked to contend for the league championship.

I just wish the ND-Michigan game was on at the same time, rather than at 3:30. That would be a good distraction for Spartan fans and hopefully the players. Not surprisingly, Spartan fans have been really enjoying the Michigan woes.
With Dennis heading to the game to be an eye-witness, he would be advised to make sure he claims his seat early (read the article and the comments underneath).