The lack of “star power” in the conference is noticeable this year. Hard to argue when the top players are George Selvie, Matt Grothe, Mardy Gilyard, Nate Byham and Greg Romeus. Fine players, but not the ones that get much national buzz. When Greg Paulus is the most well-known player…
The Big East prepped for that. They even had a talking points memo for the coaches — as WVU’s Bill Stewart revealed when he pulled it out to talk from it.
When talking about the league this year, West Virginia Coach Bill Stewart pulled out a piece of paper with “talking points” provided by the league.
Among those Stewart and other coaches repeated throughout the day were the league’s victories in three of its past four B.C.S. bowl games, its 12-4 record in bowl games the past three seasons, and its having more players drafted per team than any other league. (The Big East had 27 players drafted, which comes out to 3.4 players per team.)
Way to prepare Stewart. Everyone has the talking points, but it’s bad form to not even bother to memorize and try to paraphrase.
Seeing Pitt picked first in the preseason media poll was also a big topic. Mainly, in the way that it reflects how unsure everyone is as to who will emerge from the conference this year.
The difficulty in predicting the league was seen in the preseason media poll.
Two dozen media members from around the league voted and didn’t find much to agree on at the top.
Pittsburgh and Cincinnati each received eight first-place votes, but Pitt got the nod based on points. Cincinnati was picked for third behind West Virginia, which received five first-place votes.
South Florida was picked fourth with three first-place votes. It was followed by Rutgers, UConn, Louisville and Syracuse.
The point totals highlight the assumed dichotomy between the top and bottom of the league. Just 35 points separated Pitt from Rutgers, but 48 points separated Rutgers from UConn.
“We don’t have one dominant team,” Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said. “We beat each other up.”
The Pitt players take some small pride in the pick was there along with awareness as to the downside.
“We’ve worked hard to get back to where Pitt has been in the past,” junior defensive lineman Greg Romeus said. “At the same time, we have a bull’s-eye on our back, so we have to go out and prove it.”
Yeah. Pitt’s going to be a target. And the poll will mean little after the season gets underway.
“Whatever the polls say at the end of the season is really what matters,” Pitt senior offensive lineman John Malecki said. “The Big East is wide open right now. There’s a lot of talent, a lot of good teams and it’s going to take a push to win it all.”
Always trust the cliches. Greg Romeus also admits that even among the players, the Wannstache can be a source of great amusement.
‘Pittsburgh coach Dave Wannstedt has one of the most recognizable mustaches in all of college sports. It appears thinned out on one side and never is neatly trimmed.
Just the mention of it provoked laughter from junior defensive end Greg Romeus. But asked if the players joke with Wannstedt about it, he said, “Not to his face.”
A decent breakdown of the teams in the conference, lightly touching on the pros and cons of each team’s chances.
Was asked about the Sun Bowl and its obvious that he and the other players are still thinking about it as a major disappointment. He did sort of defend stull by saying one thing that nobody mentions or you couldnt see on tv was how windy it was making it difficult to pass. I dont remember the announcers making any comments to that but who knows….
He was also asked about his status as an nfl prospect and basically defered saying he was simply focusing on enjoying his last year at Pitt and winning the BE. I hope they take advantage of Nate this year, he has a ton of potential.
Pitt BB OOC schedule announced … also note Pitt’s RPI over last 7 years (4th overall)
I will absolutely admit to being pretty hard on Stull, but we can’t ignore the writing on the wall. He made some of THE worst passes/plays I’ve ever seen a college qb make. Yes, Cav should take some of the brunt, if not more than some. The fact remains the same that we need a significant impovement in confidence from Stull.
HTP
It’s not fair to pin all the blame on quarterback Bill Stull. He was running for his life most plays, got knocked down a ton and even hurt his wrist. The biggest factor was that Pitt played without left tackle Jason Pinkston, who had a shoulder injury. Oregon State’s defensive line absolutely decimated the Pittsburgh offensive front, which had been a strength of the team most of the season. Then there was a snapping wind that made throwing long patterns difficult, if not impossible, for both teams.
Still, Stull had been very shaky down the stretch this season, and he didn’t have a strong enough arm to combat the wind. Why offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh didn’t call more short passes or over-the-middle routes is a mystery to me. The long fades to Jonathan Baldwin had no chance of working.
I’m really hoping to see Cignetti’s offense take advantage of that two-headed monster they may have at tight end with Byhan and Dickerson. This team seems to have a good balance of wideouts who can get deep (JB, Turner) and guys who can work underneath (McGee, Wright and potentially Cam Saddler). The fact that they have two tight ends who can both stretch the field down the middle seems to be something that was never completely utilized under Cav. I’d think both of those guys would provide good safety valves for Stull/Bostick/Tino/whoever.
I’ll be interested to see how the three QBs respond to Cignetti’s offense over the next few weeks of practice. To be, Stull always seemed to short-arm/underthrow the ball (even on the short-to-intermediate stuff). Bostick seems to have the opposite problem…it seems like too many of his passes float on him and leave the receiver prone in the air. If Cignetti and Co. can get either of those two to reign it in a little bit, I think we’ll be OK.
