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.