The basics.

Game Notes for Pitt and Navy (both PDF).

How does Navy look on the national level?

And now, Pitt.

Well, basically on defense, the Midshipmen’s weakness is defending the pass. The one thing Pitt is afraid to do on offense right now. The stats also suggest that they don’t generate a lot of pressure up front. If Wannstedt and Cavanaugh are going to let Bostick pass, this is the game. It’s also the best chance to give him confidence.

The one concern is that the Navy defense will change it’s looks and that could cause a lot of confusion for Bostick in reading it. Not to mention, Pitt’s O-line hasn’t exactly distinguished itself in any facet. Adjusting to different looks may confuse them as well.

Coach Wannstedt had his press conference today, and was talking up how the defense isn’t being given proper respect in light of its statistical rankings.

On Pitt’s national defensive rankings:

It probably doesn’t show up in wins and losses, but we’re fifth in the nation in passing defense, 27^th in rushing defense and (ninth) in the country in total defense. We’re still in the top 10 in the country in total defense and when you look at the last three games, you say ‘well how can that be?’ Obviously we’re doing some real good things on defense, but you don’t get a chance to stand up here and talk about them when you don’t get the win. We’re doing some good things on defense and our defensive guys are confident. This is a different challenge, it’s exciting to them and I think they’re looking forward to going out there and executing.

I was going to blast away, but Kevin Gorman essentially beat me to it.

Pitt’s defensive statistics this fall can be misleading, considering it has allowed 57 of its 78 points in the first half the past two games as its opponents cruised to victory.

Granted, Pitt’s aptitude for turning the ball over has given its opposition prime field position. Both Connecticut and Virginia took advantage to score in the game’s first two minutes, the Huskies using an interception return to Pitt’s 6 to set up their first touchdown and the Cavaliers recovering an onside kick with a 10-yard penalty to start at Pitt’s 39.

“That’s no excuse,” sophomore cornerback Aaron Berry said. “You still have to keep them out of our end zone, hold them to three points. I feel we’re a great defense and we’re going to keep our heads up the rest of the season.”

Not to mention, we’ve seen these seemingly impressive starts on defense in past seasons quickly degenerate into pathos in the second half.

Not to mention, the biggest problem for Pitt’s defense in the last few games has simply been getting off of the field on 3d and 4th down. Guess what? Navy’s really pretty good on 3d and 4th down conversions.

Navy also completes a high percentage of plays on third (49 percent) and fourth downs (75 percent), which will repeatedly test the fortitude of Pitt’s front four.

Against UVa, Pitt allowed 6 of 13 and 2 for 2 on 3d and 4th down conversions. UConn was 7 for 17 on 3d downs (but a whopping 7-10 in the first half). Finally Michigan State was 8 for 19 on 3d downs and 1 of 3 on 4th. That seems problematic.

The title suggests plenty to cover, so let’s go.

During the last year or two, Pitt fans have been a bit upset at the Big East for making our conference home schedules so uneven. One year we’ll have the loaded side with Louisville, WVU, and Rutgers. Before this season we thought that the opposite year’s BE home games would be bad — not anymore (or at least this year).

We knew South Florida was going to be good, but I don’t think anyone could have predicted them to be “Top 5 good”. Cincinnati has seemingly come out of nowhere to become a ranked team with a great coach who knows how to get his players to play well. With this rotation we also get to see UConn, who might not be amazing but a team we seem to make into a National Championship caliber squad. Add in Syracuse, a team that we should be happy to play just because it might allow us to actually see a win at home, and it’s not all that bad. Now we just need to get that non-con schedule improved just a bit (or a lot)…

Speaking of the Pitt-Cinci game on October 20, kickoff is set for noon. TV coverage will be on ESPN Regional (WTAE locally) as the Big East Game of the Week.

This week’s game against Navy allowed Chas to talk with Adam from Pitch Right. The questions deal with Pitt’s numerous injuries, Pat Bostick and the offense’s troubles, our inability to do much of anything on first down, and a prediction. Good stuff.

Some fun from hoops alum Aaron Gray: at Chicago Bulls fan night, the rookies sang to the fans. A clip of Aaron’s performance can be found on OnlyTheBulls.com. (Sorry, my computer won’t let me embed the vid in this post — blame my somewhat outdated Dell.)

While perusing the Pitt online store, I came across this.

The description:

New for this season, our alternate home Vegas Replica Football Jersey by adidas

Expect to see them on the field some time this year (hopefully not Wednesday on national TV).

Update: Left in the comments by Tony in Harrisburg…

Solid stuff right there.

Another crazy weekend of action. This is just the rough draft. Hard, hard ballot. Lots of teams that did and even a couple deserving to fall out. Problem, what team to put in there instead.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	LSU	—
2	Ohio State	2
3	California	—
4	South Florida	1
5	Boston College	1
6	Oklahoma	4
7	South Carolina	6
8	Florida	—
9	Southern Cal	7
10	Cincinnati	6
11	Missouri	7
12	West Virginia	—
13	Wisconsin	6
14	Hawaii	—
15	Oregon	—
16	Florida State	6
17	Kentucky	6
18	Arizona State	2
19	Kansas	6
20	Illinois	6
21	Auburn	5
22	Maryland	4
23	Virginia Tech	3
24	Georgia	15
25	Texas	8

Standing By/Wait-listed: Colorado, UConn, Boise St., Indiana, Tennessee
Dennis offered his thoughts on his initial rankings that I tweaked for the draft ballot. Comments from me are in italics.

(more…)

Enjoy today. It’s one of the few Sundays this fall where you won’t be replaying every single Pitt mistake in your head after an ugly loss. Instead, we’ll save that for Thursday this week. How about some women’s hoops? Last year’s landmark season, which included our first-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament, put the women’s program on the map.

This year could be even bigger. All five starters are back plus the addition of All-Big East point guard Mallorie Winn who missed all of last year. Now we’ll be on TV a number of times this season.

“Playing on television seven times this year is a tremendous reward and opportunity for our program,” Berenato said. “It is very gratifying that networks like ESPN and CSTV have recognized the excitement surrounding Pitt women’s basketball and want to showcase our program to a larger audience. I know our players and fans are really looking forward to the season and this announcement is one more reason to be excited about what we are building at Pitt.”

Pitt’s ESPNU telecasts include its road game at DePaul (Jan. 6) and home contests against Louisville (Jan. 27) and Connecticut (Feb. 17). The Panthers’ Feb. 10 game at Notre Dame will be an ESPN2 telecast.

Other TV games are on the Big Ten Network and CSTV.

Expect a preseason poll ranking for the team.

The Pitt women’s basketball team continues to break new ground as it has received numerous preseason rankings, including a No. 18 ranking from Lindy’s Sports Annuals and a No. 21 ranking from both Athlon Sports Annuals and WomensBasketballMagazine.com.

A full team preview can be found here.

I definitely think I’ll come to at least a few women’s games this year — come support the program, too.

In case you were wondering, Coach Wannstedt used the free weekend to take in some Friday night football on the other corner of the state.

“I knew this would be a dogfight,” said West Scranton’s standout tight end Hubie Graham, who gave University of Pittsburgh coach Dave Wannstedt plenty to marvel at on his visit to Scranton Memorial Stadium.

Hubie Graham is a 4-star TE (possibly DE) recruit.

It always astounds me — and I can’t resist pointing it out — how Paul Rhoads disappears from interviews when the team fails or needs to show-up on defense. Facing Navy’s triple option with a typically fading defense on Wednesday, the Rhoads-man has been no where to be quoted.

Wannstedt said simulating the cut-blocking techniques was half the battle in getting the scout team prepared to run the Midshipmen’s offense — the other tough part is the execution He said Navy is near flawless in running its triple-optionoffense, which will put more pressure on Pitt’s defense.

“We have spent a lot of time teaching the execution part of it,” Wannstedt said. “Because it’s an option team, it’s real critical [for the scout team] to not just run plays but to keep the proper distance between the quarterback and the pitch back and the fullback.”

The staple of the Midshipmen’s offense is the fullback dive, which Wannstedt said Navy will run “30 times in a row” if the Panthers don’t show the ability to stop it. Navy has an excellent fullback in Eric Kettani, who is averaging more than 6 yards per carry (51 carries, 318 yards) but the leading rusher is quarterback Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada, who has 418 yards rushing and seven touchdowns.

But Pitt won’t be able to key on either player because the triple-option’s brilliance is that it is able to spread the ball around. The Midshipmen’s statistics prove the point. Navy has five players who have averaged at least 40 yards rushing per game. The Midshipmen average 348 yards on the ground as team — the second-best mark in the NCAA.

So, um, we are relying on a Rhoadsian defense to play disciplined? By far the best thing for Rhoads this season has been the struggles on the offense to take some of the attention away from his side of the ball.

Q: Paul, The O-Line is by far the weakest link on this team due to the lack of depth & injuries. Frankly, I do not see any signs of improvement this year, or even next year. Your thoughts?

Zeise: I just can’t figure out how there can be this many problems with a unit for such an extended period of time and there doesn’t seem to be much that can be done to change it. Otah has played fairly well at left tackle, CJ Davis is steady at left guard, the rest of the line has really been inconsistent – and that is being kind. You’d hope that as Mike McGlynn and Joe Thomas settle back in to their old spots they’d continue to improve and then they’d be able to give the center spot the help that it needs, but I’m starting to think that might be a lot of wishful thinking by the coaching staff at this point. There should be a little more depth next year at some of the spots, but given that they are losing McGlynn and Otah, tackle will be virtually starting over.

And that’s why 2008 is not what anyone can presume.

Huge day of football underway and continuing into the wee hours of the night. Wisconsin, ranked 7th in the BlogPoll, already lost to Illinois. Mark May has already pronounced the s in Illinois not one but twice. Penn State just kicked off against Iowa (go Hawkeyes!). Michigan State just lost in OT to Northwestern. Kansas is at 5-0 after defeating #22 Kansas State. Plenty of fun going on…

Quickly, some Big East picks (a little late but what I wrote down Thursday night — honest):

Louisville over Utah (The Cards are really falling apart…and killing my picks)
(14) WVU over Syracuse
(5) South Florida over Florida Atlantic
(23) Rutgers over (17) Cincinnati (So it looks like I’m finally hopping off the Cinci bandwagon)

Thankfully Pitt is not playing today — they tend to ruin my Saturday’s when they lose — which is more often than not.

Other news, notes, and assorted fun:

— In Mel Kiper Jr.’s top junior-class players by position, he has Conredge Collins ranked 1st at FB and Conor Lee as the #4 kicker. (ESPN Insider)

— Penn State’s Austin Scott might be involved in a sexual assault and isn’t playing today.

— Every single channel I turn on has a game worth watching…I love it.

— I’ve had my high-definition TV for a while but only recently have realized how amazing it is to watch football (and any sport) in HD.

Updates:

5:30 pm: This has to be a joke. Also, Penn State is winning 13-0 at the half and Tennessee is destroying (12) Georgia. I’m beginning to formulate a BlogPoll ballot, and it’s going to be a mess.

6:25 pm: The NCAA has a new all-time leading rusher in D-II Chadron State’s Danny Woodhead. I’m still waiting for USF to turn it on; I’ve supported them as a legitimate top 5 team so they better not let me down against FAU. The Bulls lead 21-17 with 11:46 left in the game.

11:15 pm: If you live in the Wexford, Franklin Park, or Cranberry areas you need to try out Patron Mexican Restaurant on Route 19. Great stuff. I come home from there and on CBS, ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2 I can see four games between ranked teams. Top ranked LSU is 12 minutes from losing, #2 USC already lost against Stanford, and one of the best Big East games of the year (Cinci vs. Rutgers) is close in the 4th quarter.

If you’re looking for some perspective on Pitt’s loss to Virginia last week, that same Cavaliers team beat Middle Tennessee by 2 points. On a field goal with 8 seconds left. Against Middle Tennessee. Against Middle Tennessee!

No Pitt game today. The present is bleak. The future nebulous. Time to take not of past Pitt greats.

As most are aware, Curtis Martin will be honored by Pitt at the Navy game on Wednesday.

Also attending the game will be two former teammates who will be rooting for different teams that night.

Navy’s last win over Pitt came in 1985 during the senior season of tailback Napoleon McCallum, a two-time honorable mention All-American who would play in the National Football League.

Navy and Pitt were once regular opponents, playing 19 consecutive games between 1961-1979 and seven straight times from 1983-89. The Panthers hold a 20-13-3 lead in the series, which dates back to 1912.

Two of the finest players to participate in the rivalry – former Pittsburgh tailback Tony Dorsett and ex-Navy quarterback Roger Staubach – will be in attendance at Heinz Field on Wednesday. Dorsett and Staubach were longtime teammates with the Dallas Cowboys, playing in two Super Bowls together.

The article added another tidbit that made me go, “What, 1, 2, 3, 4… crap.”

However, the once-proud program has never been quite the same since head coach Jackie Sherrill left after leading Pitt to an 11-1 record and Sugar Bowl victory in 1981. Longtime assistant Serafino “Foge” Fazio took over and mediocrity soon set in. The Panthers have suffered 14 losing or non-winning seasons since and gone through six head coaches.

Urp.

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.

One final bit from the Virginia game. The fake FG. Virginia Coach Al Groh has his explanation.

According to Groh, Pittsburgh was in a defensive formation on the field goal that made the fake field goal automatic.

“It was an opponent-specific call,” Groh said. “We could call ‘white’ any time that the look was there and the look was probably only going to be there on that hash mark. If we get other looks, we would have other possibilities to do things with Vic.”

At that point, with UVa leading 37-14, the call would not necessarily have come from the bench.

Or would it?

“I wouldn’t say ‘not necessarily; I wouldn’t say ‘necessarily,’” said Groh, who then invoked Kiraly. “You’re supposed to play your best on every play, regardless of the time or the score in the game. You’re just trying to win the next play.

“The play was there, Vic called ‘white,’ and it didn’t have anything to do with minimizing the score or maximizing the score.”

Of course after the game, Groh initially said it was, uh, “hash-mark relative” to go for the fake. You know, I wasn’t bothered by them running the fake. I am finding the fact that Groh won’t admit to calling it and just wanting to run it for whatever reason a little strange and annoying, though.

The UVa game also was a solid reminder of Pitt’s defense deficiency starting with the DC.

And a second poor performance this season means the coaching hot seat is resting beneath defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads.

Pitt has given up 78 points in the past two games and the defense has struggled to force turnovers or come up with big, game-changing plays.

Virginia’s statistics weren’t overwhelming — it had 342 total yards — but that’s mostly because the Cavaliers had several short fields in which to work. But for the second consecutive week, the defense failed to make stops on third-and-long. Virginia converted on each of its first five third-down attempts and was successful in six of its first eight.

But the shorter fields weren’t the reason Virginia scored so quickly. The Panthers’ defense provided very little resistance and looked virtually powerless to stop the Cavaliers. Virginia scored touchdowns on its first four drives and a field goal on its fifth.

The Cavaliers, who built a 30-0 advantage, were content to play conservatively…

I can’t wait for the next article from someone to say how Rhoads deserves another year.
That brings us to the most likely candidate to write such an article. Joe Starkey’s ESPN.com Big East notebook (Insider subs.) has little not known already.

It’s time to regroup for coach Dave Wannstedt and the slumping Panthers (2-3, 0-1), who have a bye before hosting Navy on Oct. 10. Pitt has lost three in a row — 8 of 10 dating to last season — and is looking like a candidate for last place in the conference. Even in the bye week, there is bad news. Starting right tackle Jason Pinkston is out for the season with a shoulder injury. He joins receiver Derek Kinder, quarterback Bill Stull and defensive tackle Gus Mustakas on the long-term injury list. “We can use the extra time [off] with all the young players we’re using,” Wannstedt said.

“Regroup.”  Sure why not. Oh, and the season isn’t lost either.

That isn’t much different than anything the Panthers have been saying to this point. But they still are showing a united front publicly despite mounting evidence that the season is rapidly spiraling out of control.

“Our season is not over yet,” Berry said. “We have to keep fighting. Right now we are at the point where we can either fold it up and give up or keep fighting and trying to get this thing right. And right now, it doesn’t seem like anyone here is ready to quit, everyone wants to turn this around, everyone wants to start winning and get to a bowl game.”

Berry’s sentiments were echoed by many of the players and coaches who, after taking a few days to heal and regroup, returned to the field yesterday for their first full contact practice in preparation for Navy (3-2).

The Panthers play host to the Midshipmen in a Wednesday prime-time affair, and Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said the outcome will go a long way toward determining the Panthers’ fate for the rest of the season. Wannstedt said the Panthers need a win, not only to get back to .500, but also to help the team regain its confidence.

And if Pitt doesn’t win, many fans will just be watching the sidelines to observe the body language and behavior of the players and coaches.

Coach Wannstedt is pleased with the progress and dedication QB Pat Bostick is already showing. Whether that translates into giving him a gameplan that actually lets him throw in the first half remains to be seen.

Okay, a bit more tweaking from the initial draft. Thanks as always to Dennis for starting it and everyone who offered thoughts on it.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	LSU	1
2	Southern Cal	1
3	California	3
4	Ohio State	5
5	South Florida	8
6	Boston College	4
7	Wisconsin	4
8	Florida	4
9	Georgia	3
10	Oklahoma	7
11	Kentucky	6
12	West Virginia	7
13	South Carolina	6
14	Hawaii	2
15	Oregon	1
16	Cincinnati	5
17	Texas	10
18	Missouri	—
19	Rutgers	11
20	Arizona State	3
21	Nebraska	1
22	Florida State	4
23	Miami (Florida)	1
24	Purdue	2
25	Kansas	1

Most of the tweaking came in the second half of the ballot.

Virginia Tech was always shaky and the more I thought about what I saw in the UNC game, the less comfortable I was with keeping them in it. Kansas takes the spot instead. They may not have actually beaten anyone either, but at least they are doing it with a comfortable margin.

Texas and Rutgers ended up taking a bigger tumble the more I thought it through. Oregon less of one.

I gave South Carolina more of a boost, but no they are still behind Georgia.

The full Blogpoll is here and as always, you can look here for individual ballots.

So Levance Fields is essentially in the clear as long as he keeps his nose clean. Obviously this is good for Pitt basketball. Fields had not been permitted to practice with the team or the coaches since it had happened. He is now, apparently back in the fold. All punishment by Coach Dixon will remain in-house according the brief statement released to the media.

“Over the last three years, I have viewed firsthand the very positive way Levance Fields has conducted himself as a person, student and athlete while at the University of Pittsburgh. The initial report of this incident did not reflect the young man I have come to know.

“We have let the judicial process run its course and acknowledge today’s decision. Levance has been, and will continue to be, held to our team’s disciplinary standards. Those disciplinary actions will remain within the confines of our program. I know he has learned valuable lessons from the experience and will be better for it.”

Did Levance Fields get any extra benefit because he is a basketball player on a top-25 team? Well, the most obvious one was that he was able to hire/retain/use the services of a well-known and very good defense lawyer. It made it easier to negotiate and work with the Allegheny County District Attorney’s office.
That the charges Fields was initially facing,

…aggravated assault, disarming a police officer, disorderly conduct and public drunkenness. The aggravated assault and disarming a law enforcement officer charges are felonies.

Ultimately were withdrawn by the DA and only a simple assault to which Fields pled guilty also suggests that the case wasn’t nearly as strong.
The judge’s role in this case was minimal. Despite the story saying Judge Firestone, “ordered Mr. Fields to be admitted to the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program for first-time offenders,” he was actually approving the deal. The Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition (ARD) Program is a Commonwealth program administered at local county levels across the state by the  District Attorney’s office in each county. That means it is primarily at the discretion of the DA to approve an applicant’s request.
I wouldn’t have minded a couple games suspension of Fields as well. The best thing, though, is that the case is already resolved. It isn’t being drawn out and hanging over his and the team’s head for the season. No games at delaying and putting things off. Fields has pled and accepted his punishment/deal.

That seems to be the growing question being asked. The media is even wondering about it.

Q: Do you really believe this team can even win four games, and if that is all, how can you justify keeping this pair of coaches – Wannstedt and Cavanaugh, who are trying to play 1950’s football — for another year?

Zeise: Four games, I just don’t know if they can win even another game unless a few things change dramatically. Take the Navy game for instance: Does anything you have seen from this defense over the past six seasons lead you to believe it has any prayer of consistently stopping an option team? And further, do you think the offense will attempt to score against Navy — a team it should be athletically superior too — or will we see more of the same passive game plans of the past two weeks in an attempt to win 3-0? I would hope the coaches are at the point where they understand that desperate times call for desperate measures, and make no mistake, these are desperate times.

And it isn’t as some half-hearted joke.

The scary thing is, things might not get better this season. It’s hard to call anything a guaranteed win with this team.

The Panthers have a week off to regroup before Navy visits in one of the two remaining games they have any kind of chance of winning. A Nov. 3 game with Syracuse is the only other contest in which they seem to have any shot. The rest of the schedule includes home dates with Cincinnati and South Florida as well as road trips to Louisville, Rutgers and West Virginia. Each of those teams is either currently ranked in the top 25 or has spent most of the season there.

In September I did a few brief taped Q&As with a Louisville radio station (1570 the Zone) about Pitt. They were doing weekly bits on each Big East teams and would talk to the team appropriate blogger. (Strangely, the bits stopped happening right after Louisville lost to Kentucky.) During the last interview with them, I was recounting the injury list and how unsure basically Pitt fans were about this team after the patsies and shaky play at times. I tried to put it in a positive way at the end by saying, “at least Pitt isn’t Syracuse.”

Yeah. Not so funny now with the realization that Syracuse is essentially going to be a toss-up. In 2004, I called the Pitt-‘Cuse game the “Lame Duck Bowl,” because the losing coach was sure to be fired. Turns out both were. This year’s game is still a month away. Is it too early to wonder if we will be looking at Part 2?

Amid all of the football ugliness, the news of Levance Fields’ attempted assault of an off duty police officer added to the misery. He was charged with aggravated assault, public drunkenness, disorderly conduct, and others. Luckily, it looks like he’s out of most legal trouble. Today, his charges were reduced to simple assault, which will require him to enter a nine month program. If he makes it through the nine months without another incident, his record will be cleared.

He hasn’t worked out with the team since his September 16 arrest, but how he’ll be able to participate.

“I think this addresses the government’s concern for punishment, but also allows us to earn a clear record,” DelGreco said.

In a statement, coach Jamie Dixon said, “The initial report of this incident did not reflect the young man I have come to know.”

“We have let the judicial process run its course and acknowledge today’s decision,” Dixon said. “Levance has been, and will continue to be, held to our team’s disciplinary standards. Those disciplinary actions will remain within the confines of our program.”

I’m feeling a bit better about the upcoming hoops season now that we’ll have our point guard with the team — not in prison.

With the season-ending surgery on Jason Pinkston because of injury, it’s time to once again point out how well that change in strength and conditioning program has worked out this season.

A significant portion of the S&C training load is dedicated to drills that serve to reduce the possibility of sustaining an injury. In this regard, a great deal of special exercises are performed during the advanced stage of the warm up, which precedes the primary phase of the workouts, that target the muscles that articulate the neck, shoulders, hips, and knees.

Warm ups prior to training are extensive and minimize the possibility of sustaining a non-contact related injury

That worked out well.

No, I’m not blaming Buddy Morris for this. I’m just observing what total BS it is to think you can realistically condition and train to minimize injury. Especially in football. You can warm up, stretch and condition to avoid many strains and maybe not pulling as many things. Aside from that, not so much.

Look, injuries have been really bad this year. No one can dispute that. The problem has been that the rest of the team hasn’t just failed to respond and show something. They seemed to have rolled over and folded.

That falls on the coaching. The lack of motivating. And simply, a little too much excuse making for horrid play.

“I just think this has been a combination of a couple of things,” Wannstedt said. “We have a veteran guy like Mike McGlynn who, because of injury, had no training camp and hasn’t settled into any one position. We have a fifth-year senior at center who is starting for the first time. Jeff Otah at left tackle is only in his fifth year of playing football and we’ve had three quarterbacks, two of which are freshmen, play in five games and they are giving the snap counts.

“We’ve had penalties … we just need to keep working and help these guys come together as a unit. I think if we can just settle in, we will be fine.”

Coach Wannstedt has been using some of those excuses since training camp. Whatever kernel of truth might be in there, it is a failure of the coaching that this is still happening. Vangas is not a good center, but there is no viable alternative — an even more terrifying thought since he is a senior and won’t be back. Thomas has thus far failed to develop. Otah’s skills are incrementally improving but at such a slow rate to be minimal. There’s no depth or anyone behind the players to challenge.

Even before the injuries, the line wasn’t believed to be that good. Now there is no choice but to play some of the non-injured freshmen linemen.

“I’ve come to the conclusion that if we have to, we’ll play Jordan Gibbs or John Fieger,” Wannstedt said. “The way it’s worked out with Pinkston and Gus (Mustakas), it’s come in handy that their redshirt was available down the stretch.”

Yippee.

Chris Dokish has some analysis of problems in Pitt’s recruiting — or what hasn’t been produced.

Pitt finally has highly recruited players along the offensive line this season, yet the play has not improved. Why are they not producing?

Jeff Otah started two seasons after transferring from junior college, but even though he has NFL size, he has not always played like a future high draft pick. Jason Pinkston and Joe Thomas also were highly recruited, but have yet to live up to their potential in their sophomore seasons. Pinkston was coming along very well until sustaining an injury in the third game of the season. He missed the last two games and will undergo season-ending shoulder surgery later this week. Pinkston, when healthy, may be forced to play the very critical left tackle position next year so his development is crucial. Thomas is one of the biggest disappointment in the program this season, a big talented lineman who has yet to play anywhere near his potential.

Add in a solid but unspectacular C.J. Davis, freshman Chris Jacobson, who has missed the season because of injury, and incoming freshman Lucas Nix, and the program has—on paper at least—five players next year that have all-star ability. There is a sharp decrease in talent after these five, but five talented linemen should be enough. If the coaches can’t get anything out of these five next year, along with jack-of-all-trades John Bachman and Purdue transfer Jason Kacinko, then you have to wonder why not.

[Emphasis added.]

I think the issue has become increasingly and painfully clear that blame lies in the coaching. Paul Dunn may be an alum and a nice guy, but he has done nothing that indicates he should remain. The O-line has remained a visible weakness. There has not been one game in the last few years where it can be even charitably said that the O-line has played “over it’s head.” I’ve yet to think that the line has come close to really being “coached up.” All it has been is cringe inducingly bad.