Not to bore anyone with stories of homeownership, but somewhere along the line somebody who owned our house decided that speaker wire would work just fine as the grounding wire for the wiring in the bathroom.

Been a bit crazy with things that need to be done at the new house, while getting everything cleaned out and up at the old rental by today.

So after being unable to post for a couple of days, I’m not sure how much it is worth going back over the NC State game.

I’m just going to touch on a couple things here. Forgive the rambling. Not enough coffee or sleep.

As usual, Bob Smizik likes to act like the contrarian by making strawmen.

At the highest levels of the University of Pittsburgh, where wise and cool heads prevail, Dave Wannstedt is not in trouble.

At any level of the blogosphere, where hot heads and insanity often prevail, Wannstedt would have been fired around 7:00 p.m. Saturday after Pitt blew a 14-point lead in the final 18 minutes and lost to North Carolina State.

Exactly where in the blogosphere are they calling for Wannstedt’s firing after the loss? Can you actually cite a post where Wannstedt’s head on a platter is demanded? Are people pissed? Yes. Were there comments made to that effect by readers? Of course. Just as there are on any message boards. If you are claiming that people who comment on the posts are that blogosphere, then congratulations Smizik, your blog has contributed to this. In other words, you share the blame.

That’s really only a minor thing that just bugs me.

This is the part I really wanted to note.

From all indications, Pitt Chancellor Mark Nordenberg and athletic director Steve Pederson are happy with Wannstedt.

They appear to be satisfied with a coach who’s usually going to win seven, eight or nine games, recruits well, keep his players mostly out of trouble and conducts himself in an outstanding manner.

They’d love to go higher, to be in contention for a national championship every year, but changing coaches is not always the answer.

This jibes with other things that have been said in the past by others and what has been relayed to me at times. In other words, they wanted Walt Harris only with more personality and better relations with the media and alumni.

It may not be true, but at the same time I think that perception is beginning to harden as conventional wisdom and as reality.

I did wonder what Coach Wannstedt would single out for the reason for Pitt’s loss. Afterall, Pitt had no turnovers. So that excuse was no good. Instead it was penalties and the injury to Adam Gunn. I’m not downplaying the importance of either, but the injuries compared to NC State and plenty of other teams are relatively minor.

All through camp, we heard how this was completely Wannstedt’s team and his players. How the depth was there. Instead, the loss of one of the last Harris holdover players and a player that was a hair away from being a grayshirt are differences? That does irritate me.

As for the penalties, well they aren’t good. The pass interference calls were earned by the poor positioning of the secondary. The officials see the corners playing out of position and late all game. So, when they finally play up and get there with the player, they lose the benefit of the doubt.

That said, NC State had no shortage of penalties of their own to offset, but in the second half both the offense and defense couldn’t do anything with opportunities.

The offense does need to finish games. That’s on the players as well as the coaches not to let up. Too predictable play calling and not particularly strong play in the second half worries me that the offense has taken the personality of their head coach. Just try and run out the clock.

And once more the secondary was wandering aimlessly. Probably one of the most disturbing press box observations.

Sitting up here in the press box and watching the plays develop – I’m not sure if Pitt’s secondary has any idea what it is doing. There are plays when some guys are in man, some look like they are in zone and after ever reception there seems to be at least one guy waving his arms as if to say “what the heck just happened?” I don’t know what the problem is, but it needs to get solved quickly.

Don’t ask Aaron Berry, though, he’s as stunned as anyone else.

“Honestly, I can’t tell you [what went wrong in the secondary],” Berry said.

“We’re in position to make plays, we’re just not making them. [The interference call], I don’t even think I touched him, I don’t even know what I did and the one on [Jared Holley], I thought that was a horrible penalty, too.

“That’s part of the game, we can’t dwell on that, that did not lose the game.”

No, it didn’t. Yet Berry seems to not have any grasp of why the secondary looked like it was absolutely clueless. Where’s Paul Rhoads to kick around when I need him?

Mick Williams, though, has an idea of what was part of the problem.

“It comes down to tackling,” said defensive tackle Mick Williams, who had eight tackles. “We missed too many tackles. We didn’t play disciplined enough to win this game.”

Congrats to the Pitt defense and secondary in particular for making Russell Wilson the odds-on-favorite for ACC Offensive Player of the Week. Oh, and one of the nominees for national player of the week honors. Well done.

Not that Wilson didn’t have help. Remember when Rutgers came into town last year, and after the game Coach Wannstedt expressed surprise at how much Rutgers threw the ball rather than run. This despite everyone else knowing that the Scarlet Knights had no real running game, a pretty good QB and two outstanding receivers.

Well, apparently Coach Wannstedt’s game preparation failed to notice Russell Wilson can do a lot more if you look at game tape from last year and note that he was getting a key member of the O-line back for this game.

After staying in the pocket for most of the first three games, Wilson showed off the speed that made him the ACC’s most feared dual-threat quarterback last season.

“We didn’t see him scramble like this at all this year,” said Pittsburgh coach Dave Wannstedt. “He made things happen on his own. He’s a leader, and a winner.”

Biting tongue. Biting tongue. Not going to say anything. Moving on.

As gut-wrenching and painful a loss as this was to Pitt, you would think that in Wolfpack land this would be a significant win that speaks to a team on the rise and making noise. Or not.

The only thing that made the N.C. State football team content Saturday evening was the outcome.

The path the Wolfpack took to its third consecutive victory of the season wasn’t all that pretty.

N.C. State had nearly as many penalties as points in the first half.

The Wolfpack missed a pair of not-so-long field goals.

A poor snap in the game’s final three minutes nearly ruined the day.

In the face of it all, N.C. State somehow came away with a 38-31 victory over previously-undefeated Pittsburgh beneath a dreary sky at Carter-Finley Stadium.

Even Wolfpack coach Tom O’Brien was somewhat baffled at the end result.

“In the final analysis, we’re not a very good football team right now,” O’Brien said. “We’ve made too many mistakes, and I’ve done a bad job coaching. We have to face up to some facts. We were lucky enough to escape with a victory today, but going into the ACC, I don’t think that performance will get it done.”

It was a harsh, but honest, assessment by O’Brien…

And no, this wasn’t an isolated storyline. The theme was that Wilson is a god, and the Wolpack needs to be very grateful he’s theirs.

An incredible athlete saved a “bad” team from defeat Saturday at Carter-Finley Stadium.

Quarterback Russell Wilson put on a dazzling display of running and passing in the final 19 minutes to help N.C. State wipe out a 14-point deficit and pull out a 38-31 non-conference win against previously unbeaten Pittsburgh.

Hell, even a stubborn, boring offense, run-first guy like NC State Coach Tom O’Brien knows enough to stay out of the way.

“With the quarterback, the way he’s playing, we’ll keep slinging it around the yard and see what happens,” coach Tom O’Brien said.

Even as he’s down on himself and the rest of his team.

“Right now, we’re not a good football team, and I’m not a good coach,” Wolfpack coach Tom O’Brien said. “I have a lot of work to do this week.”

Which says, exactly what about Pitt?

Not that some weren’t expecting Pitt to have this kind of seizing defeat from victory moment.

I can’t be the only one who spent the first month of the season wondering when the requisite Pitt choke job would bite the undefeated Panthers.

All those who expected it to come in the form of a defensive implosion take two steps forward. Not so fast, Mr. Cook.

“I thought defensively we didn’t make any plays,” Wannstedt said, ever the master of the obvious. “Their offense made all the plays.”

It’s a crying shame because Pitt’s offense — especially quarterback Bill Stull — played well enough to win. If you’re like me, you’re probably feeling a little foolish for thinking he would be Pitt’s big weakness this season. Really, Stull threw only one bad ball all day — an overthrow out of the end zone on fourth-and-goal in the final 80 seconds after Pitt recovered a fumbled shotgun snap by the Wolfpack at the North Carolina State 8 with 2:45 left. A play earlier, he threw a pretty pass that tight end Dorin Dickerson could have caught for the tying touchdown, although it would have been an above-average catch.

But the game shouldn’t have come down to that final Pitt series. When Stull threw a 79-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Jonathan Baldwin late in the third quarter to give the Panthers a 31-17 lead, it should have been enough for the defense.

Great defenses rise to the occasion at that point of the game, right?

Not Pitt’s.

North Carolina State went 45, 83 and 71 yards on its next three possessions for touchdowns.

Yeah, that’s some defense.

It’s safe to say the defense is in crisis mode. Probably best to have a short week with a Friday night game. Not time to dwell. At least that’s what I’m telling myself.

First off, this was a win for NC State. They have the scoreboard. They made the plays on offense and did enough on defense. The post-mortem is about what Pitt did wrong (and occasionally right).

Maybe this is about the post-Navy hangover for the defense. Afterall, last year after Navy they let Rutgers hang a huge number on them. Eh, I’m grasping.

You know, in a way Bill Stull is the ultimate QB for Dave Wannstedt. A pure reflection.

If you looked at Wanny’s record in Chicago and Miami without any context, you would see a mediocre head coach in the NFL. Surely not a good one, but not one that has engendered such anger years later at his very mention. It almost seems so outsized from the results. Of course, the reality is it wasn’t just how many wins and losses it was the way it happened.

Now Stull had a decent game. The loss should not be on him. He led Pitt to 31 points and was effective most of the game. The supposed big time defense got gashed on the ground and air. Yet, all most of us can see is Stull inconceivably throwing the ball away on 4th and goal from the 8 in the final minutes. Not trying to make the hero play. Not trying to give a receiver a chance or maybe draw a pass interference call. A boneheaded decision that I can’t wait to see defended by Coach Wannstedt. In the end, it seemingly reinforces everything thought about Stull before the season and wiping out his performance in the rest of the game.

Really, though, this was about a hideous defensive effort. In case the Pitt D did not realize it, the main guy to stop was Russell Wilson. The guy under center in the red. He threw for 322 yards and 4 TDs and ran for 91 more. That’s 413 of the 530 yards of total offense that NC State had. You know 78% of their offense. You might want to base the game plan on limiting him. The D-line rarely got pressure on him, and definitely struggled with containing him when he left the pocket. As bad as the secondary for Pitt was — and it was putrid — the supposed strength of Pitt’s D gave little help.

This was not a game where NC State had all the breaks. The officiating was not even close to the reason Pitt lost the game. Pitt had the field position all through the first half. They got the one big turnover. NC State missed two field goals.  The fact is, the Pitt defense was unable to stop Russell Wilson and the rest of the Wolfpack.

All through the game, you would see the Pitt defense make a play. Maybe even two straight. Only to get gashed and give up another drive sustaining first down. NC State only had to punt three times in the game.

I honestly don’t know what the answer is. Unlike the D-line or the linebackers there just isn’t a lot of depth or talent with the corners or safeties. Who exactly would you move ahead of the present starters for any reason other than pure frustration with the starters? Purely on talent, I’m only seeing Jared Holly getting more playing time.

I think the embed is working this time. If it isn’t you can find the direct link to the liveblog by Clicking Here.

In case you are new to this or forget the rules, comments are moderated unless I know you to be a trusted commenter. In which case I will clear you to unfiltered commenting.

I generally will not bother approving a slew of comments after a play that repeats the same thing. Nothing personal, but it really adds nothing and keeps me from doing any commenting as the game goes on if I just have to keep clicking them through.

This is part 2.

Bill Stull gets a media blitz and some love. Obligatory observations on being booed in the first game. Plenty of love for new OC Frank Cignetti by Stull. A Q&A with ESPN.com. AP wire story. It helps that Stull has lots of targets and is hitting them.

One of those targets, TE Nate Byham is glad to be back out on the field after the concussion that erased most of camp.

MLB Adam Gunn is still a question mark for the game. Not that anyone seems to be sweating too much if it is Dan Mason taking the spot. But Mason does admit he has work to do against QBs with mobility.

While Coach Wannstedt has publicly dismissed (after hinting at it) moving Gunn to an outside linebacker spot to give Mason more reps, Max Gruder is not concerned about losing his starting spot as the Weakside Linebacker. Gruder is also a native of NC, so he does have a bit of a homecoming — even if his parents now live in Tampa and he went unrecruited by the NC programs.

Is it wrong to be this cynical? Didn’t we have this sort of story last year? A puff piece on how Elijah Fields is finally “getting it.”

Meanwhile, Gus Mustakas has his confidence back, now that he is sure his knee won’t burst.

Dion Lewis gets a puff piece from the Albany paper.

Left guard, Joe Thomas is feeling paranoid. This is a good thing.

Love for Pitt, even if most aren’t watching closely.

NC State WR Donald Bowens is actually back from an injury.

All Zeise the rest of the way. His break down of key battles give sthe edge to Pitt. His chat from Thursday notes that he thinks wet conditions will favor Pitt. AS for the Q&As, there is delusional questions about Pitt leaving the pro-style for the spread. Right. Then there is containing Russell Wilson.

This is part 1.

So far behind, and so many tabs. Time to just point people in the direction of the stories.

Now NC State is the first significant test of the season. Amazing how Navy has been downgraded despite the game they gave Ohio State. Bob Smizik is his usual glass-half-full self on Pitt’s schedule to date.

Of course, for NC State after two straight 1-AA opponents they have their own leap to make.

The ESPN.com Big East and ACC beat bloggers debate the three Big East-ACC match-ups and split on the Pitt-NC State game.

NC State coach Tom O’Brien is hoping that playing Pitt and the trip to Pittsburgh in 2013 will help him recruit Pennsylvania kids. In other news, and I am not making this up, the same newspaper that ran that story had a story about how the best players in North Carolina were spurning schools in NC. Awesome.

Pitt players from 1979 are still ticked about losing to UNC. NC State that year. What? The Tangerine Bowl victory in 2001 didn’t take care of that? Not sure what that has to do with NC State, other than being in the same state. But then that would be like some old team holding bitter memories of losing to FSU when the present team is getting ready to play Florida.

Russell Wilson does not throw interceptions. I wonder if it ends up making the DBs a little too eager to be the one to break the streak rather than pressuring Wilson to be perfect.

While Wilson is a scrambler and can make things happen with his legs, he does have a very quick release. Something that can only help against Pitt’s front four.

Pat Forde lists teams outside the top-25 and evaluates whether they are contenders or pretenders. Pitt gets jinxed as a contender. Damn.

Offline world interfered yesterday and all morning.

Right now it is time for the first cultural exchange of the 2009 football season. James of Yet Another NC State Sports Blog contacted me about swapping questions. You can find my responses to his questions here. This is what he had to say in response to my queries.

1. Pitt fans and local media are not sure about this Pitt team, given the competition faced. NC State seems even harder to get a sense of where they rank given the — let’s be honest — egg they laid against the Gamecocks to open the season and then smacking around a couple 1-AA patsies. So, what is it about this team that should make Pitt nervous?

The very fact that they’re such an unknown commodity. I do want to address the South Carolina game for a second…I know it wasn’t a pretty game with a lot of offense, but I think folks in Raleigh underestimated how good South Carolina was defensively, and were pleasantly surprised at how well State played defensively. The theme I’ve heard constantly about that game was how poor job both offenses executed…but let’s give a little credit to both defenses for taking away what the opposition hoped to run. And as we saw last night, South Carolina is a capable football team, so I think that SC loss will look better with time, for both teams.

Getting back to your question, I think it’s the return of our starting left tackle, Jake Vermiglio, to the lineup. He left the SC game early on with a calf injury and hasn’t played since, but he was absent on the injury report released yesterday and should play this weekend. His return should give Russell Wilson better protection and allow him a split second more time to let the passing plays develop down field.

2. Is the NC State offense Russell Wilson and 10 other guys? Does the Wolfpack have a guy that can run the ball, or are the O-line injuries wreaking havoc with the running game?

Well, it’s not much more than him. But as I mentioned above, Vermiglio’s return should help improve the line play, meaning Toney Baker may be more effective than he was in the SC game. Baker was playing in his first game in nearly two years following two knee surgeries, and I think he’s knocked off almost all the rust over these last three games. There’s a certain level of trust a player has to regain in their surgically repaired knee before he can regain the form he once had…I think Toney’s on the verge of being there. Establishing the run game against Pitt’s defensive front will be tough but necessary, so the O-line and Baker have to step up if State is going to be effective offensively.

3. The secondary for NC State is young and injured. How does the D-line look and can they generate the pressure to mask the secondary? Or am I doubting the secondary too much?

I think the secondary is young but talented. You never like to trust your last line of defense to a group of freshmen and sophomores, but I think these kids are good enough to compete with just about every team on the schedule. I mentioned getting an o-lineman back from the injured ranks — starting safety Clem Johnson is back off the injury report, as well, giving State some experience and leadership in the defensive backfield they were missing in his absence. I think the secondary will be tested but should play well.

The front four of State is the strong suit of the defense. Willie Young is strong and athletic at one end and Shea McKeen is disruptive at the other end spot. Expect to see a constant rotation at these spots, with Michael Lemon and Audi Augustine getting a lot of snaps. There’s not much drop-off in talent with these two (Lemon once played at Georgia) and O’Brien will try to keep all four fresh throughout the game. The tackles are solid, as well, with Alan-Michael Cash anchoring the group. In looking at Pitt’s offensive line, they look capable of handling State’s front four but don’t be surprised if Mike Archer dials up some zone blitzes to bring added pressure to Stull. He showed several blitz packages against our FCS opponents and should use some against Pitt, as well.

4. When was the last time NC State beat a Big East team? (Keep in mind that UConn was not a BE football team in 2003.) What does the Big East have on NC State?

You would have to make me do some research, wouldn’t you…unless I missed one somewhere, I think our last wins against the Big East came in ’97 and ’98 when we stunned Donovan McNabb’s Syracuse Orangemen two years in a row. (I actually covered that overtime win at the Carrier Dome for the school paper as a sophomore…probably my best memory as a young sports writer.)

The short answer is: I don’t know. We stood a great shot to beat Rutgers last year in the PapaJohns.com bowl and were leading by 11 at the half, but State fans all knew when Russell Wilson left with an injury and we had to rely on our two backup quarterbacks to hang on for dear life, the game was already lost. As close in proximity as our two conferences are, we don’t play a ton of Big East opponents. It seems like a natural fit, and I think Tom O’Brien — based on his comments regarding recruiting in the Pennsylvania area earlier this wekk — would love to play some more Big East opponents.

5. With year 3 of the Tom O’Brien era underway, how would you describe expectations at this point?

I would use a very commonly heard phrase among State fans — “Cautiously Optimistic.” I think some media publications went a little far in their preseason expectations for State based on the solid finish to last season to become bowl eligible. They started picking State to win the Atlantic division, had Russell Wilson in their preseason P.O.Y. discussions and predicted 10 wins. The truth of the matter is that this team is still lacking depth at critical positions and given our injury woes in the last three years, we’re not to the point where we can lose 5-10 starters over the course of a season and not have a drop-off in production.

Before the season I looked at our out-of-conference schedule and predicted a 3-1 mark, and predicted a 5-3 mark in-conference for a total record of 8-4. Losing that South Carolina game hurt our team’s perception nationally, and it stings to hear folks on the outside discount this team, but in the long run it might benefit this team to have lower expectations while O’Brien continues his rebuilding project. He’s not a fly-by-night architect, by any means…he builds teams slowly and methodically. I could see it taking all the way until year five before we get a true read on O’Brien’s potential as a head coach here. He’s got a tough job recruiting in-state against Butch Davis, but he’s beaten him twice since both coaches have taken over and that should help locally.

This is weird. Tom O’Brien’s BC teams are still rather familiar to me. It also creates a sense of confidence because Pitt owned BC in the years leading up to their departure from the Big East. I’m simplifying, but most of the time it was simply that O’Brien’s BC teams were so devoted to stopping the run that they struggled mightily when it came time for Pitt and a strong passing game.

That’s no longer the case for Pitt, which is a run-first team now. O’Brien left BC for NC State and he has not deviated from his approach. Focus on the lines and look to run. So, there will be a lot of similarities to the way both coaches want to have the game go.

What is different for an O’Brien team is the presence of Russell Wilson at QB. An athletic dual-threat QB that can run with the ball. This year, Wilson has run a lot less. Whether it is a conscious effort by Wilson and the coaching staff to keep him from getting hurt or to be a more traditional QB is not clear. Wilson also does not throw interceptions. Something that makes a coach drool.

The NC St. offensive line, though, has had trouble. Trouble staying healthy. The offensive line will go to its 4th different starting group in game four.

Heading into Saturday’s game against Pittsburgh, the status of left tackle Jake Vermiglio (lower leg), safety Clem Johnson (thigh) and corner Rashard Smith, who was on crutches last Saturday with an ankle injury, are still uncertain and expect to be updated in Thursday’s injury report.

“We really haven’t gotten the continuity at the two most important positions on our team, especially the last two weeks,” said O’Brien. “The only thing we have gained is we’ve gotten some young guys in the football game, which is down the road stuff, but for immediately getting better as a football team, with your fourth different offensive line, and your fourth different secondary, that’s not a good situation to be in.”

The left side of the offensive line is where the problems have been. Vermiglio injured his calf in the season opener against South Carolina, and that forced Julian Williams to slide over from guard. Williams, who had the flu last week, is back and is listed as the starter at left guard on the depth chart for Pitt. When Williams caught the flu last week, Andrew Wallace became the third player this season to start at left tackle.

Given how little Pitt likes to rotate players on the O-line, I can’t begin to imagine Coach Wannstedt’s reaction if he was dealing with that.

Additionally, just as they get one WR, Donald Bowens, back from injury, they lose Owen Spencer (concussion). Oh, and Jamelle Eugene their second leading rusher from last year (2008 leading rusher Andre Brown was a senior), has missed the last two games.

On defense, NC State will offer Pitt great temptation to throw. The Wolfpack secondary is both young and injured.

Meanwhile, N.C. State’s secondary is inexperienced and battling injuries. Freshman starting cornerback Rashard Smith left Saturday’s game with a sprained ankle in the first half.

Another freshman, Brandan Bishop, started at free safety because senior Clem Johnson had a thigh injury. N.C. State’s other starting safety, Earl Wolff, is a redshirt freshman.

“We just played Gardner-Webb and we just played Murray State,” Wolff said. “Pittsburgh is a little better team, so we have to practice better and practice harder.”

They did get back another starting cornerback in DeAndre Morgan from an ankle sprain.

Now, both teams are expecting old-school football. The players say the things you expect — even if they seem to be focusing on the wrong guys.

The prospect of meeting a Pittsburgh team that’s expected to try to overpower N.C. State on Saturday brought a twinkle to middle linebacker Ray Michel’s eye.

“Taking on the big, 260-pound fullback (Henry Hynoski) is something I’m looking forward to,” said Michel, who’s tied for the Wolfpack’s team lead with 22 tackles.

Delighting in an opportunity to play “old-school football,” N.C. State coach Tom O’Brien also was revved up during his weekly news conference Monday about Saturday’s 3:30 p.m. game with Pittsburgh at Carter-Finley Stadium.

Michel is about 30 pounds lighter than Hyno. Hey, if you want to knock heads with the guy who’s doing a lot of blocking, great. Hopefully while he’s doing that, Dion Lewis will be scooting right past.

I’m still just trying to picture the stoic and occasionally somnambulistic O’Brien  “revved up.” Last time I saw that, was when he was whining about the treatment of his team by opposing fans when BC was bolting the Big East.

It is an interesting thing with Greg Cross. In a way he is an ink blot by which Dave Wannstedt gets judged.

A JUCO transfer brought in to provide more competition and depth at QB. Specifically, a dual threat QB with some major wheels. A player obviously and even acknowledged to be used in the “Wildcat” formation.

Instead, he spends the year doing very little. As Coach Wannstedt and his disdain for offensive “gimmick” plays appears to have overruled his own ideas from the offseason when Cross was recruited.

Given Cross’ obvious athleticism and the vital TD he did score against Iowa last year, he looms large in Pitt fans imagination (including my own) as to what he might have been able to do if used.

Excuses such as the game flow, and that he didn’t know the offense well-enough were offered. Most didn’t buy it, because when you bring in a JUCO, there is an expectation that they are to be plugged in. Not molded over time since they are already on a shortened clock for eligibility.

Crosswas moved to WR after it became obvious that he would never see the field as a QB. Of course, Pitt has depth and experience at the position, so naturally he is buried there.

Everyone wants to somehow see Cross get on the field.

Q: Do you think with the lack of depth and the lack of height at defensive back that maybe Greg Cross should be moved to that position?

ZEISE: I don’t think with two safeties who are 6-foot-3 or taller there is a lack of height at that position, which is where he’d be moved to and I’m not sure how Greg Cross became the Michael Jordan of Pitt’s team. Quarterbacks struggle? Cross is the answer!!! Bad receivers? Cross!!! Need help at tight end? Cross!!! Defensive backs stink? Cross!!! Look, he is a good athlete, it is ridiculous they couldn’t find a role for him in the offense as a change of pace quarterback in certain formations. I get it and agree with it. But as we’ve found out this training camp — being a good athlete and making a transition to new position and being ready to play at a Division I level are two completely different things.

The hindsight of looking back on this, says that Coach Wannstedt’s recruitment of Cross was a mistake based on a trend not fully embraced or understood by Wannstedt.

In the late-90s lots of businesses saw the internet taking off and decided they should have a website. They had no plan or idea how to use it, though. So they bought their domain and slapped a poor looking site that maybe reprinted a brochure and offered nothing but a phone number and address for people to contact for prices on products and services. Then let it languished and wondered what the fuss about it was.

Eventually, someone else in the business or someone else helped make the business owner understand ways to make it work for the company.

That seems to be the way Wannstedt is. He knew he was supposed to look at this, but he had no clue what to do with it. So even as he acknowledged the need and idea at times, it left most wondering if he actually would be able to reconcile it with his own conservative approach to offense. The guy who should have explained it and made it useful was Matt Cavanaugh — who also never grasped the concept.

Now Wannstedt appears to have an offensive coordinator in Cignetti that can make him understand the usefulness and how to use a dual threat QB beyond simply considering it a “gimmick.” (I must admit, however, a bit of concern that we may be overstating Cignetti’s abilities simply because he gets the college game so much more than Cavanaugh).

This is vital since Pitt has made another commitment to using a QB that moves and does not just drop back or hand-off. The verbal from Anthony Gonzalez, was big news last week. A dual-threat, 3- or 4-star QB recruit from Bethlehem, and the second-best QB recruit in Pennsylvania.

A kid loaded with potential (Insider subs) who turned down offers from schools like Mizzou and Oregon, that have previously demonstrated an ability to utilize dual threat QBs in their offensive system.

The thing that stands out about this kid is his competitiveness and football savvy. Some guys are just football players regardless of where you line them up and Gonzalez is one of them. As a passer he is going to have a lot of refining to do in terms of his throwing mechanics. He must tighten up his release and get rid of the ball in a compact manner that eliminates wasted motion. This will be a big part of his development, but as far as football players go, he is one of the better ones we have seen in this class because he just makes plays and gets things done despite being very raw. Excellent prospect that could end up being a very productive and exciting player at the next level in an offense that accentuates his strengths.

[Emphasis added.]

That is what will be watched over the next few years.

The good folks at PittsburghSteelRocks.com came into the season high on Baldwin. How high? This high.

A little overly optimistic in 2009 for a sophomore? Perhaps. But it is never too early to plan for Baldwin’s junior year.

So, here’s the deal. PittsburghSteelRocks.com has supplied me with some of these shirts. For about the next six games I’ll be giving away a shirt to the person that accurately predicts the final score.

In the case of a tie, the winner will be determined by the cruel fate of a coin toss or roll of dice by me.

So, if you want to play, make your predictions for the Pitt-NC State game in the comment section below. Winner announced on Monday.

If Coach Dave Wannstedt and NC State coach Tom O’Brien had their druthers, the teams would just line-up the lines and run at each other to see which side could push the other out of the way. That or just beat on each other with clubs.

Pittsburgh will play with a “smash-mouth” attitude in trying to stay unbeaten, a proposition that Coach Tom O’Brien of N.C. State finds most appealing for his improving team.

“It’s going to be a hard-fought, slug-it-out, hit-them-in-the-mouth type of game,” O’Brien said. “This is old-school football. I love it. They’re attacking the line of scrimmage. It’s not this ‘spread the field and play touch football’ stuff.”

O’Brien and Wannstedt don’t plan to exchange pleasantries before the game, so much as grunt and gesture.

Well it looks like the reigning Big East Defensive Player of the Week won’t go Lou Gerhig on Adam Gunn (yet). Not bad for a freshman making his first start and not being told until a few hours before the game.

It was clear to Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt that Mason would be inserted into the starting lineup when senior Adam Gunn limped about the practice complex last week. But Mason didn’t know for sure he’d start until hours before kickoff.

“I know I’m a freshman, but I don’t want to play like one,” Mason said. “I was a little nervous, but who wouldn’t be? I got my first bit of contact, and I got over.”

Mason wasted little time introducing himself to Navy quarterback Ricky Dobbs. With Navy threatening to erase Pitt’s 14-7 lead early in the second quarter, Mason rushed past three Midshipmen to sack Dobbs on third-and-5 to force a Navy field goal attempt that Joe Buckley pushed wide right.

Granted, Gunn had the BEDPoW the week before Mason. Still, Coach Wannstedt may publicly declare now that there won’t be an increased effort to get Mason more work by altering the substitution patterns of the linebacking corps. The whole reason was  in response to Wannstedt’s immediate comments after the game.

Because of his quick rise, Wannstedt feels his playing situation will have to be addressed in order to get him on the field more often.

“We need to take a look at Dan’s situation,” Wannstedt said. “He certainly needs to play more.”

After Gunn’s return, Mason may stay at middle linebacker with Gunn moving to outside linebacker, so the linebacker situation should be a key area of focus during Pitt’s practice this week in preparation for their next game, which is at North Carolina State on Saturday.

“I think I made some mistakes today, but they’re correctible,” Mason said. “I just want to continue to be aggressive and get better.”

The reality is, that Mason has to get more playing time. Everyone knows it. It is simply a matter of managing egos and team chemistry.

Well, here’s one cliche you can almost certainly count on hearing and reading this year about Coach Jamie Dixon: “This may be Jamie Dixon’s best job of coaching a team, ever.”

The odds of this sort of cliched comment in a telecast or entire puff piece will increase exponentially starting at about 16 wins.

It fits. You have three starters in Fields, Young and Blair gone. The top reserve player, Biggs gone. Gilbert Brown suspended until late December. Lots of youth on the team. Now Jermaine Dixon has a setback that keeps him from rejoining the team until at least mid-November.

The latest was Dixon, who will miss a minimum of eight weeks after undergoing foot surgery Wednesday morning at UPMC South Side Hospital.

Dixon, the team’s lone returning starter, reinjured the same fifth metatarsal bone he initially broke in July. He had been back playing for about a week and was reinjured Tuesday night during a pickup game with other Pitt players.

Coach Jamie Dixon said Jermaine Dixon was jumping when another player landed on the foot “with heavy, major force.”

Pitt opens practice Oct. 16. Its first regular-season game is Nov. 13 against Wofford. Eight weeks would put Jermaine Dixon’s return in the middle of November.

I would dispute the cliche, though. If Pitt has a season that still manages to finish .500 or better in the Big East it would be his best job as a teacher.  Preparing the kids. Working them in the practices. Teaching them. Not as a coach in the games themselves.

It all leads to a less than serious question as to whether forces beyond the those of mortal men have aligned against Pitt.

3. It seems as if Pitt has been snakebit since Scottie Reynolds beat the Panthers at the buzzer in the Elite Eight. Should Jamie Dixon be worried?

DeCourcy: In the bad karma department, you really need to take it back a bit farther, to when the Panthers held a 67-63 lead and the ball with 3:05 left. The Panthers advanced the ball against a Wildcats press, Levance Fields gave it up too soon and guard Jermaine Dixon dribbled into a midcourt trap. Instead of calling an immediate timeout, he surrendered the ball. That’s where the bad news began for Pitt.

Since Reynolds’ shot went down, though, there’s been at least as much good news.

It’ll be tougher for them to reach their potential with Dixon missing most or all of the preseason with a broken foot and Gilbert Brown suspended for the fall term. But with the United States U-19 team, Jamie Dixon demonstrated once again that he’s an outstanding coach by leading the Americans to the gold medal. And Ashton Gibbs, recruited essentially to be a backup guard at Pitt, started at point for that team and played exceedingly well.

The Panthers will begin the season with their most coveted recruit in two decades: 6-9 power forward Dante Taylor, a McDonald’s All-American. They’ve got three excellent commitments for 2010 and 2011.

It’ll be a struggle to extend the string of NCAA Tournament appearances to nine, but the future at Pitt remains promising.

It’s admittedly been a bad few weeks. I suppose there could be a bigger case made with both Young and Blair slipping on draft night about things, but I think most Pitt fans were happy with the offseason. The USA U-19 squad coached by Jamie Dixon took gold. Not to mention that Dixon rebuffed overtures from Arizona and USC to stay at Pitt. Plus the transfer and immediate playing time for Chase Adams to help at point guard.

And Dante Taylor made Andy Katz’s list of freshmen who need to have an impact.

Panthers coach Jamie Dixon knew DeJuan Blair was likely headed to the NBA after his sophomore season.

Sure, there could have been a meltdown, an injury, something that would have kept him in Pittsburgh. But Dixon went hard after Taylor, and Taylor committed, knowing full well he could come in and make an impact. The difference between Blair and the new guy is this: No one expected Blair to be a star and off to the NBA in two seasons. Taylor? He comes in as a McDonald’s All-American with a lot of hype.

“Nobody was writing about DeJuan as an impact freshman,” Dixon said. The Panthers will likely pump up Taylor in the preseason, and they should, but Dixon isn’t going to put too much pressure on him. He arrived at the USA Basketball trials in Colorado Springs last June for the team that Dixon ultimately coached to the gold medal at the Under-19 World Championships in New Zealand. Playing a few days there was a good experience, but Taylor wasn’t ready to make the squad and was not in the best shape possible. “He was a little heavy then at 250, but he’s lost about 15 pounds,” Dixon said. The Panthers did receive some bad news this week when their one returning starter, senior guard Jermaine Dixon, broke his right foot again; he will be out for the next eight weeks. Pitt was already down a wing after Gilbert Brown was deemed academically ineligible by the school for the first semester. Still, the experience Ashton Gibbs had on the gold-medal team this summer and the return of scorer Brad Wanamaker still make the Panthers a threat on the perimeter. But if they’re going to make it back to the NCAA tournament for a ninth straight year, Taylor will have to produce in the post. “He needs to rebound,” Dixon said of his prized recruit. If Taylor rebounds, he’ll score. This is a good year to come into the Big East as a freshman big man. The league suffered a big-man vacuum in the offseason as forwards Hasheem Thabeet and Jeff Adrien of Connecticut, Dante Cunningham of Villanova, Blair and Sam Young of Pitt, and Earl Clark and Terrence Williams of Louisville all left for the pros. There are still plenty to deal with, such as Gates, Georgetown’s Greg Monroe, Notre Dame’s Luke Harangody, Marquette’s Lazar Hayward, St. John’s Anthony Mason Jr., and Syracuse’s Arinze Onuaku and Rick Jackson. But Taylor has the body to compete with all of them. “He’s got good hands, he runs well, his post-moves are developing, and he’s a great kid,” Dixon said. If he can handle the hype and board — score on plenty of putbacks — he’ll be even more celebrated by March.

As for further in the future, John Johnson (noted back in late August as being a likely commit) made it an official verbal for 2011. Expect a lot of talk about his grit — like Wanamaker and Robinson — other recent Philly area recruits.

But in Philadelphia circles, he is considered the second-best player in his class behind Rakeem Christmas of Philadelphia North Catholic. He averaged 21 points, 5 assists and 3 steals per game as a sophomore last season. He scored 30 in the PIAA Class A championship game victory against Kennedy Catholic.

“His heart is his biggest asset,” said Jonathan Stewart, an assistant coach at Girard. “When he steps onto the floor he’s going to bring it 150 percent. He has that constant aggression.”

Johnson chose Pitt over Saint Joseph’s, Virginia Tech, Penn State and Georgia Tech. All had offered scholarships.

This is the quote that makes me really want to see Johnson at Pitt and succeed.

Johnson made his decision yesterday, a day after Pitt assistants attended a Girard College open gym.

“When Pitt started [recruiting him], you just saw his whole personality change,” [Girard College coach Tyrone] Morris said.

The 16-year-old is a good long-range shooter and has a great burst off the dribble. His quickness and playmaking ability make him a good fit.

The two-time Associated Press Class A all-state performer led the Cavaliers to their first PIAA Class A state title last season. Johnson averaged 21.3 points, 5.5 assists, and 3.4 steals en route to garnering third-team all-Southeastern Pennsylvania.

“I felt like I was already on the team,” Johnson said of Pitt. “They didn’t fill my head up with dreams like you are going to be this and that. They told me I have to work for what I want. That’s what I wanted to hear.”

[Emphasis added.]

Pitt will also be part of ESPN’s November 17 college hoop marathon with the game against Binghamton (my old law school roommate’s alma mater) on ESPN2 at 5:30 pm.

Boxes are everywhere. The wife bought 3 pieces of unfinished furniture, that are out in the garage that she expects me to stain and poly-coat in the copious spare time. To say nothing of painting, organizing and finish clearing and cleaning the old place. All with children constantly underfoot. Probably still going to be a reduced output for a while but somehow, someway I will be setting aside the time on Saturday to watch and liveblog the Pitt-NC State game at 3:30 on ESPNU.

3-0. That is nice. Something Pitt hasn’t done under Coach Wannstedt and just has not happened since 2000. Hard to believe that the schedule is 1/4 complete.

Is it what was expected, considering the schedule and the team? You bet. Still, that has never stopped Pitt before.

After 3 weeks, though, the questions/concerns/fears actually seem to have shifted away from the offense and quarterback to the defense and secondary. I don’t think anyone saw that coming.

Bill Stull has done something you hope to see, but few expected. He has improved each week. A shaky start, a solid performance last week and then an excellent game on Saturday. 17-24 (70.8%), 245 yards, 1 TD and 0 INTs. For the season he is 49-70 (70.0%) for 540 yards, 6 TD and 1 INT.

The competition may not have been topflight, but it is clear that Stull is playing with more confidence and even something approaching a swagger. The support of his teammates and coaches has probably helped.

With teams looking to stop the run, as Dion Lewis and the running game remains a strength, teams have obviously looked to make Stull and the passing game beat them.

The secondary, however, has become extremely worrisome. Not much of an issue against Navy and their triple option, but it has been clear to anyone watching that the corners and safeties are struggling. They are playing very soft and the tackling has been inconsistent.  Teams starting with NC State and including Rutgers, ND, and WVU are fully capable of brutally exploiting the secondary if adjustments and improvements are not made. Even UConn might be able to air it out a bit (USF as well, but with Grothe out for the year, I now have my doubts).

Having a dominant front four and linebckers that look to be getting better each week won’t do much if teams go with quick drops and shotgun snaps to get the ball out to the receivers quickly.

Still, if there is one side of the team where I believe the coaches are capable of adjusting to fix a problem it is on the defense. It will, however, come down to  the players.

Days of being without DSL. Now in the midst of moving into a new place and about 15 things that need immediate attention as well. I have this giant HD projector TV, and no opportunity to use it.

Lots of news, and no time to comment.

Just trying to survive. Here’s to a win.