MariusJanulisForThree is the operative behind the always excellent Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician blog. Detailing the highs and lows that are Syracuse athletics. Well MJFT and I are sporadically going to exchange questions about the Big East this season. Or it might just die quickly depending on whether we lose interest.

This week, he answers some of my questions.

1. Which fanbase is more fun to see baited and lathered-up on the subject of their coaches and why?

A. Rutgers fans with Greg Schiano going to Penn State after this season.
B. UConn fans with Randy Edsall going back to his alma mater after Greg Robinson is fired from Syracuse.
C. West Virginia fans on the subject of life with Bill Stewart within a couple years without Rich Rodriguez around.
D. Louisville fans at the idea of Steve Kragthorpe getting a contract extension.
E. Pitt fans with the suggestion that Dave Wannstedt may never get Pitt to anything more than the PapaJohns.com Bowl.

Well, I’d say West Virginia except the question asks which one is the most “fun” to watch and West Virginia fans fall into the “friggin’ insane to the point where you never want to visit that backwards state…ever.”

Being that I grew up in NJ I have to go with Rutgers. It’s unbelievably hysterical to me the overreaction that Rutgers fans have had to Greg Schiano in the last couple years. No doubt, they’ve improved leaps and bounds, but a Texas Bowl and an International Bowl do not a powerhouse make. Schiano is clearly just biding his time until the Penn State job opens up. He’s got that cushy clause in his contract that basically allows him to walk anytime and without much of a penalty. And when he does leave, so goes Rutgers with him. They probably won’t stoop to the levels that they used to wallow in (and Syracuse currently trolls) but they’ll probably be looking back at the Texas Bowl as their crowing achievement. And that’s awesome.

2. It didn’t get much publicity, but the Big East adopted a new wrinkle to the instant replay rule. Essentially it is supposed to be a way to correct the big screw-ups. Where the officials can use replay to correct “egregious errors” on plays that aren’t actually reviewable. The upshot, though, is making everything reviewable. It’s seems that it is subject to the whims of the officials (and how loudly ESPN playcalling crews make it known how bad the call was or wasn’t). Your thoughts?

With instant replay policies you’re always a bad call away from loving them or hating them passionately. I don’t like the idea of there being some abstract reason to call a replay. I want hard, cold irrefutable reasoning for each and every time they decide to stop play and review. It does sound like this play could end up being something of a “common sense” checker, something that referees sorely need from time to time.

And as for whether or not this allows the ESPN to influence the outcome of the game, well, we all know it’s heading that way eventually…

3. Your choice for the next Big East commissioner and why?

Honestly, I don’t have a clue. The “candidates” as best I can tell seem to be Big East senior associate commissioner John Marinatto, associate commissioner Nick Carparelli, associate commissioner Dan Gavitt, Louisville Athletic Director Tom Jurich and Connecticut Athletic Director Jeff Hathaway. And if I could tell you one thing about any of them its that I don’t know one thing about any of them.

If there’s qualities I am looking for in the next Big East commish, it’s someone who is going to be dedicated to growing Big East football…not just in quantity but in quality, someone who is going to nurture Big East lacrosse which I think is going to become a cornerstone of the sport very quickly, and someone who is going to be there to make the tough decisions regarding Big East basketball. Those decisions may be about looking to the future and the sustainability (word?) of the conference and losing some “old” baggage that’s holding us down (Hi, St. John’s). Or maybe it’s just about someone who will not let the football side completely dictate the basketball side.

At the end of the day, we need someone who can stand up to the other BCS conferences when it matters. We need someone with big brass ones. Is Roger Goddell really locked into that NFL deal?

4.
A. Team that will overachieve?

I’m gonna go with a Pitt team that will finish 8-4. I know they’re Team Frisky right now for everyone but I think 8 wins with their schedule is going to be quite a nice season for you guys.

B. Team the media say overachieved?

Probably South Florida, when they win the Big East and finish the year in the Top Ten. They’re that good now but no one’s gonna buy it until they see it.

5.
A. Team that will underacheive?

Would a 10-2 West Virginia team in the Gator Bowl be considered a underachiever? Based on the predictions and expectations, I’d say so.

B. Team the media will say underachieved?

How bout Cincinnati, who is coming up a very quietly impressive season, but who will not-so-quietly fall back to the Earth this year.

6. Best coach in the Big East?

Greg Robinson.

(wait for it…)

Okay, seriously…gotta go Jim Leavitt. I mean, the dude built the entire football program. He didn’t just take a 1-AA team and turn them into a 1-A nationally-ranked program. He STARTED THE FRICKIN’ PROGRAM FROM SCRATCH and turned them into a 1-A nationally-ranked program. If South Florida does as well as I think they will, he will have his pick of the litter of coaching jobs across the country…and I have a feeling he’ll turn them all down. I get the sense he’s in this for the long haul and that’s great for a conference that most coaches still see as a stepping stone to better things (ahem, Rodriguez. ahem, Petrino). We desperately need more coaches like him. Stable winners.

Also, I think Edsall’s done pretty well turning UConn into a viable program…that’s impressive. Can’t wait until we introduce him as Syracuse’s new coach next season.

Okay, I guess some of the freshmen guards will get a lot more work in practice early.

Pitt point guard Levance Fields is recovering from bone graft surgery on the foot he injured last season, and is expected to recover in time for the team’s season opener in mid-November.

Fields missed nearly seven weeks after breaking a bone in his left foot Dec. 29 during a game at Dayton.

A spokesman says Fields had the surgery last weekend and now faces about eight weeks of rehab.

Organized practice starts on October 17.

What makes me nervous was the need to get additional surgery, months later. The possibility that this injury lingers and slows him down seems possible.

How desperate is Bobby Gonzalez at Seton Hall? This desperate.

Herb Pope has been granted a release from New Mexico State and is considering a transfer.

I think I’ll have more thoughts on this subject later, like on Friday.

But either way, it’s gonna be tough on second-year coach Marvin Menzies if he loses his most-talented player less than three months before the season. Pope averaged 11.1 points and 6.8 rebounds per game as a freshman in 2007-08. But the most telling stat was that New Mexico State went 9-10 before Pope joined the team and 12-4 with him in the lineup.

For what it’s worth, Pope has already visited Seton Hall.

That will be fun for Seton Hall fans to spin. Talent, but a lot — a hell of a lot – of baggage.

UPDATE: Should this be a shock? Pope isn’t going anywhere. Apparently he wanted to get the NCAA to give him a waiver to play right away before any transfer. The NCAA doesn’t do that. You have to transfer first, then apply for the waiver. So, rather than risk denial, he’s staying (apparently and for now). Duquesne was also considered by Pope.

Sigh, backed up again. Spent last night watching mostly bad college football games late — though, that Oregon St.-Stanford game was enjoyable.

*Local kids coming home is always a popular storyline. Marques Parks is from Western Pennsylvania, plus he’s a good story as a walk-on at BGSU who earned a scholarship and was the Falcons’ fourth leading receiver last year.

*Then there’s BGSU’s starting left guard Shane Steffey. Another Western PA product. Extra fun was that his older brother, Charlie was a walk-on defensive lineman for Pitt from 2000-02.

*Zeise Q&A from Thursday had all defense questions. Young linebackers not consistent, Adam Gunn is, and the young defensive ends — plus a prediction that in the end Jabal Sheard might be better than Greg Romeus.

*Buddy Jackson’s resurgence at the end of camp likely means scout team/redshirting for Jared Holley, Antwuan Reed and Ronald Hobby.

*Finishing the Zeise-ian interaction with fans and readers, his chat from yesterday. No shock, the one place Pitt can’t afford an injury is Center Robb Houser. God, that thought terrifies me. Also tries to dampen comparisons to Antonio Bryant and Larry Fitzgerald for Jonathan Baldwin. I do agree, but think Baldwin has to be lined up any time Pitt is inside the 20. Yes, he’s still learning routes, but he is such a big target and a threat, that teams have to stay close to him and it will definitely help open up the rest of the offense.

*Lists and numbers. 5 Keys for Pitt to Have a Good Year. No disagreements with any of them. Grading the units and watching things. Best/worst case scenarios for Pitt.

*The Pitt offense has lots of potential weapons. Choices, choices, choices, and dare we say diversity. Seems to be a theme. The questions remain, though, as to whether OC Cavanaugh and HC Wannstedt can use them. We know they can pound the ball with McCoy, but can they call a good game, with balance and keep defenses guessing. The O-line just isn’t good enough to simply run them over. Even as good as McCoy is, and how well he held up last year.

*The offensive line is a question, but the defensive line is not. Big things expected from the D-line this year.

*No wonder new DC Phil Bennett wants aggressiveness and domination. He sees plenty of room for improvement from last year (so do most fans).

He credits Pitt’s rushing attack, led by All-Big East tailback LeSean McCoy, for helping the Panthers win the time-of-possession battle in eight of 12 games. Although Pitt allowed an average of less than 300 yards per game for the season, it gave up 300 or more yards four times, including a season-high 497 yards (331 rushing) in a double-overtime loss to Navy.

“You’ve got to play with a presence, every snap,” Bennett said. “I’ve been around some great defenses, as has Dave, and we talk about how those kids all had presence. When they took the field and they lined up, you could see that somebody was going to get their butt kicked across from them. We’re starting to get that.”

So no shock that Kevin Gorman will be watching Bennett’s debut as DC closely.

*Derek Kinder talks with ESPN.com’s Big East blog guy.

*Wannstedt acknowledges that recruiting has built up some depth, but wants more. What coach doesn’t? Still, a payoff is at least partially expected this season.

*Bowling Green faithful will also be curious how their offense — especially how the O-line handles Pitt’s front seven. They are closer to worried more than curious, about how the Falcon defense will do this year.

*Finally, if you love old school in football, then you’ll love this story about Ernie Bonelli, one of only two remaining players who played under Jock Sutherland at Pitt in the late 30s.

Please, please, please. Don’t make it this easy.

Q: OK, cut through the BS — what is your prediction for this team?

ZEISE: I usually don’t give predictions per se, other than to give a range of where a team should be and so here is what I’ll say. I see a team, who, if it plays well, should be 8-4. In other words, the talent level on this team is, from what I can see and based on experience and knowing what kind of schedule it is going to face, good enough that it is very fair to expect eight wins from it. So eight is the cut-off in my book and less than eight is underachieving while more than eight is overachieving. So if you ask me what I am expecting from this team I’ll say 8-4, though I could make a very strong case for 10-2 or 5-7 if you’d really like me to.

So, that isn’t a prediction. Just an expectation.

Then don’t. Don’t do a write-up for preseason magazine where the “Overview” part has you writing, “It is hard to imagine this team won’t get to at least eight wins.”

I actually like Paul Zeise’s writing. I think Pitt is rather lucky that both dailies have good writers on the Pitt football beat. Zeise, however, can’t pretend that his freelance writing gig is totally unconnected.

Like it or not, the preseason mags aren’t just about providing a synopsis on a team. People buy them to see what the expectations and predictions are. I’m sure Zeise did not have anything to do with the slotting of Pitt at #23 in Lindy’s. But he took the work-for-hire, and associated with them. The language can be parsed, to say there is no prediction. It sure seems that way, though.