Paul Zeise won’t say who, but he seems increasingly to believe that there has to be and will be some sort of move made/forced to shake-up the coaching staff.

Q: I know you said Wannstedt is safe for at least another year but if we should we go 2-10 or 3-9, will we at least see a house cleaning of some of the coaching staff?

ZEISE: I think at this point there are a few changes coming almost regardless of what happens from here on and, yes, I’d expect a few major changes if the floor completely falls out of it like it appears is in the process of happening. That has to happen – it is the first step for a university to send a message to a faltering football coach that the direction of the program needs to change.

That theme was repeated a bit Zeise’s online chat. As was a bit of wistfulness for Walt Harris. You know, before this season I was talking with someone about how I didn’t always get the constant drumbeat of denigrating Harris. The answer I got was that in time, people will appreciate a little more what he actually accomplished. Have to admit he or I didn’t expect it to happen this season. Also PantherRants gave itself a little link in the chat.

In another Q&A Zeise was asked about Wannstedt’s seeming penchant to prefer upperclassmen over youth. It’s hard not to reach that conclusion. Several players with seemingly better physical ability still find themselves not starting or playing as much because of an upperclassmen who doesn’t seem to be doing very well. This, I think, is as much due to Coach Wannstedt’s conservative approach. He would rather see a guy beat on a play then a risk a mental error that is a greater chance of occurring with a younger player. I don’t necessarily agree considering the returns lately, but that seems to be how the equation works.

Sure as the leaves changing colors, when the defense starts to struggle Paul Rhoads suddenly stops being quoted in all news articles and disappears from the media. Matt Cavanaugh may not be doing the job as the OC, but at least he will still talk to the media when things go in the tank (I admit to being more willing to cut him a little more slack given the injuries to the offensive side of the ball, and the fact that I would like to see what would happen if the O-line ever performed).

Cavanaugh says that this coming Wednesday, QB Pat Bostick will actually have a chance to throw the ball in the first half. Maybe even in the first quarter.

“I know it’s not much fun for a quarterback when most of second-and-medium and second-and-long and third downs, we were handing the ball off,” Cavanaugh said of the Panthers’ game plan last weekend.

The Panthers trailed, 27-0, at the end of the first quarter and 30-7 at halftime, yet Bostick threw just three passes in the first half.

“We’re certainly not going to let him cut loose and air it out on every down,” Cavanaugh said. “But there’s going to be a better balance, hopefully, in the play-calling. So I’ve got to do a better job of that, and as long as he’s making good decisions and getting completions, we’ll try to be a little more balanced.

“Last week, we went in trying to keep the game close and being very conservative and running the ball as much as we could, to give us a chance to win at the end. Obviously, that didn’t transpire.”

No. No it did not.

Does anyone else start to cringe just a bit when Coach Wannstedt starts comparing games and teams today to match-ups that were around 20 years prior?

Wannstedt compared Pitt’s preparation for Navy to his days at the University of Miami, when the Hurricanes had to play against Barry Switzer and Oklahoma’s Wishbone.

“We played them in a couple national championship games, and we went full speed with the scout guys cutting,” Wannstedt said. “You can’t simulate that. And if you don’t do it, it’s tough enough adjusting to that when the game starts, so you have to do some of that in practice.”

Yeesh.  It’s time to move on. All that does is remind everyone that Coach Wannstedt was a hell of a defensive coordinator. And that Jimmy Johnson isn’t coming through that door.

Okay, the Pitt-Duke game at Madison Square Garden has Pitt making some tickets available to the big boosters, but the general ticket sales will start next week.

Pitt was allotted 3,000 tickets, which it plans to sell to Panther Club members. If tickets remain, Pitt will open sales to its season-ticket holders for all sports and to alumni association members Oct. 22, but not to the general public.

Duke is selling tickets through its Web site (www.goduke.com). Associate athletic director Mike Cragg said Duke’s ticket sales are usually restricted to Duke alumni and donors for neutral-site games, although he did not know the specifics for the Dec. 20 game or whether Pitt fans would be able to get tickets through Duke.

For now, it appears Pitt fans must wait until Madison Square Garden has its general sale. MSG is expected to begin selling tickets to the game next week. Fans can call Ticketmaster or go to msg.com to purchase tickets at that time.

Even though the game is being played at a neutral site, Duke is the de facto home team. The Blue Devils were given the majority of tickets to sell for the game.

Duke has an arrangement with MSG to play in New York or New Jersey every year. This is the fifth consecutive year Duke is playing at Madison Square Garden or the Meadowlands.

So there’s your ticket update for that game.

Over at College Basketball FanHouse I took a look a brief look at all 16 Big East schedules. The Pitt schedule snippet is here.

Another Big East topic I just put on FanHouse seems worth mentioning here.

Last month the Big East changed hosting organizations as it looks to get into more broadband multimedia stuff. They went with a company called JumpTV that is has really done a solid job with soccer content worldwide. Actually sounds like a good strategy.

The problem for the Big East is that all the media rights for football and basketball were granted to ESPN until 2013 under the latest contract. That’s why, even for football games that ESPN regional doesn’t even broadcast, no one else can pick up or show. Including the member schools on webcasts. ESPN holds the rights and as a policy doesn’t release them. I’ve pointed out how shortsighted this approach was back when the contract was announced.

That means most live events or even sporting events you could watch later on your computer are limited to field hockey and soccer. The best they offer for the marquee sports are highlights, audio broadcasts of the Big East game of the week, the weekly audio teleconferences between the media and Big East coaches (formerly free) and video interviews from the media day events. Oh, and the press conferences during the Big East Tournament. Whee.

For the full package they want people to pay $79.95 a year. Or $9.95 a month. You can buy football or basketball specific packages for $25. Yet the actual live or even archived video football/basketball game content is nil and won’t be changing for some time.

Quite the waste. It’s also worth noting that the Big East still doesn’t get online dealings. I actually made an effort to contact the Big East to find out more about the program. Whether, perhaps, there was any attempt to work out something with ESPN to loosen the restrictions. You would think with a new program and a questionable price point they would want to do what they could to sell and promote this to the hardcore junkies who actually spend a fair amount of time with online and broadband content. I actually waited a few weeks before doing the post hoping to give the other side of this.

Instead, silence. No response. Not even bothering with a form e-mail. It’s like they are just now realizing how stupid their deal on this front is and don’t really want to let people know about how little they offer.