I’m a little tied up with some things. Working on some Big East preview posts at FanHouse for the week.

Meanwhile, the Rocky Top (Tennessee) blog went with a series of lists to kill time related to mascots and logos. Clearly you have to question his judgment when his color scheme uses creamsickle. So, I guess it shouldn’t be too stunning that he actually chose the dino-cat as the 10th coolest college logo.

I once saw a house cat with its ears pinned back like that topple, tie, gut, and quarter a black angus bull in under 45 seconds. Add 100 pounds and call it a panther, and you have Pittsburgh.

The secondary logo that is not exactly revered by Pitt fans themselves somehow makes the list. I’m stunned.

I was somewhat bemused that Trib columnist Joe Starkey — who spent such effort into defending ex-DC Paul Rhoads by saying wait until 2008 to judge him, Wannstedt and PItt — is now seeking to limit expectations for the goal year.

Eight is enough.

Check that. An 8-4 regular-season record won’t be nearly enough to satisfy those who expect the Pitt football team to double its win total from a year ago and go 10-2 or better.

But it should be enough to satisfy the realists among us.

Seriously, how could anyone have a problem with Pitt going 4-1 in non-conference games, 4-3 in the Big East and maybe winning a bowl game to pump that total to nine?

Now, I’m not saying that 8 wins is a bad season. I am a little amused to see a fake argument — that realists should be satisfied with 8 wins and only those who are out of touch with things would expect more.

At this rate, I assume Starkey thinks Pitt should challenge for a BCS bid in maybe 2012.

Bruce Feldman lists his 10 most indispensable players to a team (Insider subs), and LeSean McCoy is on the list.

With all due respect to little LaRod Stephens-Howling, McCoy turned a dismal offense into a force late last season and the shifty 210-pound sophomore looks good enough to make Pitt into a Big East title threat. McCoy’s showed his worth in the Panthers’ huge upset at WVU when he ran for 148 yards against a defense keyed on containing him. McCoy also is a very underrated receiver, and as Dave Wannstedt likes to remind people, he’s a believer in hitching his wagon to a team’s star as was the case when he was with the Miami Dolphins and Ricky Williams led the NFL in touches and when he worked with the Cowboys and Emmitt Smith led the league in touches as well. Look for Wannstedt to try and let McCoy led this program back into the top 25. Without him, though, it could be another sad season.

Pat White (WVU), Jake Locker (Washington), Brian Hoyer (MSU), Jevan Snead (Ole Miss), Chase Daniel (Mizzou) and Tim Tebow were on the list as QBs naturally dominated. The only other running back was Chris Wells (OSU). Macho Harris (VT) and Alex Mack (Cal) were also on the list.

I’m not going to disagree with the inclusion of McCoy on the list. Given expectations and how bad Washington will likely be, I’d sooner put Matt Grothe of USF on there. I mean, what happens to the Bulls if Grothe goes down?

Finally, this article cites a need for the Big East to have a coach to step up and be the face of the football conference. I find it kind of silly.

Who is the face of Big East football?

It’s probably outgoing commissioner Mike Tranghese. The league is taking applications for Kingpin Coach.

I imagine the first interview goes to Bill Stewart, the former assistant who took over for Rodriguez at West Virginia before the Fiesta Bowl, then beat Stoops and Oklahoma.

Jim Leavitt of South Florida is poised to cut the line. He’s the only coach to direct the Bulls’ program, giving him gallons of sweat equity.

Bozich notes that there is no Big East coach that has even won the conference (technically UConn was co-Big East champ last year so Edsall could count).  Here’s the short answer why the league lacks one. Money.

The Big East as a conference spends the least on coaches — especially assistants. That means, coaches are moving on, more often than not.