Two games, over 300 rushing yards. Even with a 1-AA team in that mix, that’s a nice start to a college career. It gets some attention. Yet despite this start, he hasn’t gotten Big East Player of the Week honors yet. Only “Honor Roll” for the first two weeks.

Last week Pat Forde at ESPN.com took note.

Pittsburgh running back Dion Lewis (27). The diminutive (5-foot-8) heir apparent to LeSean McCoy scored three touchdowns before halftime, two rushing and one receiving, and finished with 129 rushing yards in the Panthers’ walloping of Youngstown State.

Echoed this week by Stewart Mandel at SI.com.

Pittsburgh wasted little time finding its next great running back now that LeSean McCoy‘s in the NFL. True freshman Dion Lewis carried 24 times for 190 yards and two TDs and caught six passes for 72 yards in a 54-27 win over Buffalo. That’s following his 129-yard debut against Youngstown State.

And getting a little Q&A time from Sporting News.

On succeeding LeSean McCoy: I don’t really think about it. We’ve talked a little bit, and he told me to just work hard and trust the coaches. But I only care about the guys who are here now. It’s not time to think about who used to be here.

Biggest on-field adjustment to college: Learning about defenses. It’s a little bit more complicated in college because the coaches are so good. I got here in January, so it’s made things easier. I’m still working at the mental part of the game.

Biggest off-field adjustment to college: You have a lot more freedom. There’s nobody telling you what to do. You’ve got to make good decisions about your time and try to be everywhere you’re supposed to be when you’re supposed to be there.

The thing about Lewis is he has been such a revelation, despite seeming like an initial afterthought. He got to campus early and was the surprise in spring practice, managing to outwork and outplay Chris Burns who seemed the clear choice to at least start the year as the #1 back.

Even then, there was a belief that Burns got a wake-up call and would reassert himself in the training camp. In the alternative, Lewis would be passed by the more highly-starred/heralded Ray Graham once training camp got underway. Instead, Lewis stayed ahead of Burns and made fewer mistakes than Graham.

He earned the coaches trust and has simply been outstanding as the starter. Lewis will still have doubts until he faces some better defenses and can show that he can take a full season of pounding as the featured back despite his size.

I’m paraphrasing, but it is something of the question that keeps getting asked. Whether it was before the season:

Hi Stewart. As you know, there is no clear-cut favorite in the Big East this year. You called Rutgers your “gun-to-my-head” pick to earn the Big East’s BCS bid. My question is — Why Rutgers over Pitt? Pitt has had the best recruiting class in the Big East for four straight years under Wanny. At some point, don’t you think that talent starts to equal wins?
— Dave Moser, Pittsburgh

It’s pretty simple: I don’t have faith in Dave Wannstedt. I want to. Really, I do. He’s a great guy who bleeds Pitt football. But every time I think the Panthers are about to turn the corner (upsetting West Virginia in 2007, winning nine games last year), they follow it up with something mind-numbing (losing to Bowling Green in last year’s opener, losing a bowl game 3-0). The Panthers probably do have the most talented roster in the Big East at this point; I just don’t have faith in Wannstedt to maximize that talent.

Honestly, no one likes to read that from a national writer or some “outsider.” At the same time, that echoes the thoughts of many fans.

Q: Is Dave Wannstedt the right coach for Pitt?

ZEISE: I think I mentioned this the other day — Pitt is 11-4 in its last 15 games. The Panthers have acquired a lot of talent. There is depth on this team. This team should be able to compete with every team in its conference. I think there is no question the talent base has been rebuilt to the point where this team should be a perennial bowl contender again. So Dave has certainly delivered all of that and has the program moving in the right direction. The bigger question, the one I think you are asking is this — he was hired to get the program to the “next level” and he has yet to do that. Well there is no way to know this and just when I think I know the answer, it changes. The one thing I will say is that this is a very big season for Wannstedt because I think he needs to prove last year was not a fluke and, more importantly, that he can indeed build on last year…

Whether fleeting or just full-grown belief system (I’m somewhere in the middle), this seems to be a disturbing issue at this this point.

In Wannstedt’s 4th year at Pitt the view is starting to harden, so even when Pitt doesn’t flub it seems like a surprise (Insider subs).

In the same spirit, nice win for Pitt routing Buffalo. That felt like the kind of game the Panthers used to botch.

Also known as the backhanded compliment. As also seen here.

In previous years, Pitt goes to Buffalo and either A.) loses, or B.) plays so badly it should’ve lost. A different Pitt team, a different attitude.

We hope. We will see.

This is the kind of game that makes me feel wishy-washy. Plenty to love. Plenty to hate. Things that are promising. Things that look ominous. You get the picture.

Ultimately it was a win and it was not a true nail-biter (moments of angst, but not the same). That makes it more of a half-full view over half-empty.

The offense looked great. New OC Cignetti has grasped what he has in Dorin Dickerson and the best way to use him. It’s about getting him touches and giving him a chance with the ball. Dion Lewis has been a revelation so far. Bill Stull has done his job. The O-line has been solid.

Yes, there are things that can be improved — an intermediate passing game, using the middle of the field occasionally. Can Lewis take this kind of load?

There are things of outright concern — like the entire secondary. Or what is going on with the snaps for extra points?

The really bad news, Andrew Taglianetti is out for the season with a torn ACL.

Pitt starting free safety Andrew Taglianetti is out for the season because he has a torn ACL in his left knee. Taglianetti injured his knee in the Panthers 54-27 win over Buffalo yesterday.

It was initially diagnosed as a sprain but an MRI this morning revealed the ligament was torn and will require surgery.

Taglianetti will get a medical redshirt, so he keeps his eligibility. The loss, though, is of the smartest and most aggressive safety on the the team. Dom DeCicco has struggled with the physical play, while Elijah Fields just struggles to think about what he should do. Still relying only on his physical talents.

The offense was the story as they not only piled up the rushing yards, but took advantage of the turnovers handed to them by Buffalo.

The difference, however, was turnovers as Buffalo committed four and the Panthers had none.

Not only did the Bulls turn the ball over four times, the Panthers capitalized on them, turning them into 27 points.

“I wanted to see how we would operate on the road, coming into an environment like this, against a good football team,” Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said. “When we created some turnovers early and were able to capitalize on them and score, that was huge.”

Those turnovers were vital as the defensive line never could get pressure on Buffalo’s QB with the Bulls using a quick drop. The secondary. Wow. Just a miserable day.

The Pitt defense allowed 500 total yards — 433 passing — as Buffalo rewrote much of its Division I-A record book at UB Stadium.

“We didn’t play good at all in the secondary,” junior strong safety Dom DeCicco said. “We can’t play like that every week and expect to win.”

Because Pitt scored 54 points, the most by the Panthers since rolling up 55 against Temple in 1999, the defensive breakdowns weren’t as glaring.

Still, the missed tackles and gaudy passing numbers by a sophomore making his second career start were a point of concern outside the Panthers’ locker room. It was the fourth-highest yardage total allowed in coach Dave Wannstedt’s four-plus seasons.

Shades of the Rutgers game from last year, only this time a win and no concussions.

At least Greg Williams had a good day on defense.

Williams redeemed himself Saturday. He had five tackles and returned a fumble 50 yards to give Pitt a 40-20 lead with 8:42 left in the third quarter.

Said Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt, “[Williams] needed that. He was real serious all week. He didn’t play well last week and bounced back.”

The big thing is that the defense is so geared to stop the run. The games where the defense was at its worst last year was against teams that could throw the ball — Cinci, Rutgers, and even ND. That remains disturbingly unchanged.

Unfortunately, there are two sides to the ball and the defense was putrid. That is especially true for the secondary, which I wrote about after last week’s game because I didn’t think it played particularly well, but the missed tackles, blown assignments and bad angles added up to a very, very long day for that unit.

You cannot give up 500 yards to Buffalo, a team which has not had 500 yards in a game since 2001. The secondary missed a lot of tackles today but much like last week, it really didn’t cover very well at all the entire game.

The defense got bailed out a few times by turnovers and also by some errant throws by Buffalo quarterback Zach Maynard, who was making his second career start.

In fact, with about five minutes to play and Pitt leading only 40-27, Maynard missed an easy touchdown pass to a wide open Terrel Jackson in the corner of the endzone. As soon as Maynard let it go, you could see he was upset with himself becuase he knew it should have been seven. And if those two connect, then it becomes a 40-34 game and things get much, much more interesting for everyone involved.

This is something that needs to be fixed and immediately because the Panthers won’t survive many more games with their back four missing tackles, falling down and missing assignments.

The turnovers will haunt Buffalo, as they can wonder what might have been if they had taken better care of the ball.

Before the offense even took the field, UB was down, 14-0. That made for a long day in a game where the Bulls were clearly under the spotlight, hoping to shock the Panthers from the Big East.

Pitt (2-0) is the lone Bowl Championship Series program on the Bulls’ schedule and a win over the Panthers could have propelled the program closer to the Top 25. Instead, with the spotlight glaring, the Bulls (1-1) forgot their lines.

“It hurts, it really hurts because we thought we had a shot to go out here and beat a BCS school and that was one of our goals this year,” said senior free safety Mike Newton, who led the Bulls with 10 tackles. “We have to come back and rebound from this.”

The good news for Buffalo, is that their future looks bright. At least at the QB spot.

Might be watching the game. Might have to DVR delay. Packing and lots that have to be done. The need is to stay focused on this one game. Some seem to want to predict the season and look to the next couple in a Q&A.

Today the local stories are coach-centric. One focused on Turner Gill of Buffalo. Then there is Coach Wannstedt worrying about the game today.

Here’s a shock, Buffalo will be looking to stop the running game first. Specifically, Dion Lewis that the locals note is an Albany native to give the local hook.

So, hopefully there will be lots of positives and the offense will be little more interesting (of the good kind).

You won’t be able to enjoy Smith’s weiner at a Pitt football game (unless you get the tailgate Panther Pack), but at the basketball game you can enjoy the “official hot dog of the University of Pittsburgh.”

The University will be providing “Panther Packs” featuring Smith’s Legendary Natural Casing Wieners to tailgating students prior to every home football game this fall. Smith’s will also be a co-sponsor of the radio and internet broadcasts of the fall games, as well as Coach Dave Wannstedt’s radio program. The agreement includes branding opportunities at the consistently sold out Petersen Athletic Center, as well as “Official Hot Dog” Status, and will be featured at the concession stands. Smith’s will also be a co-sponsor of the radio broadcasts of the men’s and women’s basketball games, … as well as Coach Jamie Dixon’s radio program.

I just caution Coach Wannstedt and Dixon to be very careful about how they pose with the hot dog.

Lots of links to clear. So, it is time to just quick hit this stuff.

Plenty of stuff on how Pitt takes the Bulls of Buffalo seriously. Whether it is last year’s loss to BGSU or painful reminders of road losses to MAC teams.

Buffalo has a talented receiver that should get plenty of attention from Pitt’s secondary. Of course, Pitt has their own stud receiver and a lot of other receivers with talent that hope to actually see the ball — you know — thrown.

“I think we can live with our passing game,” Cignetti said. “If we get into a football game, and have to rely on the passing game, we’re more than willing to do so.”

Turner, a 6-foot-3 senior, had one of his most productive outings (five catches for 69 yards) last year in the Panthers’ 27-16 victory over Buffalo at Heinz Field.

“If we have to lean on the passing game, it won’t be a problem,” Turner said. “We can make a lot of things happen.

“We didn’t open up the playbook against (Youngstown State). We don’t have to demand the ball, but we’re going to open things up real soon.”

You dream that dream.

The O-line needs to pick things up a bit, and they know it. They were okay against YSU but that isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement.

The defense might actually leave its base 4-3 when playing Buffalo. Can’t blame them for just staying basic against YSU. Not just mercy, but a lot less film to review and prepare as Pitt’s speed on defense will seem that much faster (hopefully).

Those players in the 4-3 are what worry Buffalo coaches.

“Their front seven is probably the best we’re going to face,” UB coach Turner Gill said Tuesday. “Size and strength … those are the first two things that stand out. They’re able to rush the passer and play the run very well.”

The offensive players have a little more bravado.

“Well, something to say about that is, we’re not Youngstown State,” said senior co-captain and right tackle Andrew West.

Said sophomore quarterback Zach Maynard: “That’s a small school and Pitt is a big-time program so usually the results are going to come out like that.”

Surprisingly confident for an O-line with 3 new starters.

I love that the Bulls are looking at a packed house. Everywhere.

“Seeing that is our only BCS opponent on the schedule,” first-year quarterback Zach Maynard said, “we’re going into this game full speed.”

The game is so anticipated in Western New York that Buffalo athletics communication director Jon Fuller said a record-high 30 media credentials have been requested, more than twice the typical number.

To accommodate the overflow, an auxiliary press box is being set up. “We don’t have enough room,” Fuller said.

Well considering the Buffalo papers don’t even give the Bulls their own online section, that shouldn’t be too surprising.

You have probably noticed that my posting has been a bit slow this past week or so. It is likely to be that way for at least a couple more weeks. We are in the process of packing and moving to a new home. Today was the closing, so over the next couple of weeks my spare time will be extremely limited as we do all the things that have to be done.

Why? Why would I even consider trying to move as football season gets underway? What kind of poor planning was involved?

Believe me, I tried very hard to get all of this done a month earlier. Reality, of course, disagreed with my schedule.

Did I mention that the house comes with a media room with a 93″ screen a DLP HD projector and surround sound? I’m looking forward to getting to the point where I can enjoy that.

Hopefully things will come together quickly and posting will get back to its slightly more consistent ways.

The Big East released the full schedule, which means all the Big East team skeds are final. Including Pitt’s.

As this is a rebuilding year for Pitt, the national TV coverage dips a bit. The Panthers are “only” on national TV 11.5 times (I’m not sure if the CBS Sports channel should counts as  national) out of the 31 games. For those of us out of the Pittsburgh market, that’s 19 games that we can hope Fox Sports Pittsburgh picks up so that it will be part of the ESPN Full Court and 360 packages.

O’Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic (Pittsburgh, Pa.)

O’Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic Semifinals and Finals (Kansas City, Mo.)

Jimmy V. Classic (New York, N.Y.)

Overall, looking at the full schedule for the Big East (PDF), it is Villanova with the major media love this year. They appear on the ESPN group and CBS a whopping 18 times. Louisville, UConn and WVU do it 15. Syracuse has 14. Georgetown and Pitt have 12 appearances. Cinci is the last to reach double-digits with 10.

The honor of fewest appearances (unsurprisingly) goes to USF with 2. Providence, Rutgers and DePaul each have 3. Then it is St. John’s with 5, Seton Hall and Marquette with 7 and ND with 9.

So the fun is about 2 months away. A season with a lot of questions, but lots of anticipation despite the lower expectations.

Actually something of a good get in terms of potential and need in terms of depth. Eric Williams is a consensus 3-star recruit. Rivals.com lists him as the #23 recruit in PA. He’s a wide receiver and safety and there is no question that he was wanted by Pitt to play on defense.

Williams (6 feet 3, 210 pounds) chose Pitt over Temple and also had scholarship offers from Syracuse, Vanderbilt, Akron and Kent State.

Some schools liked Williams as a receiver, but Pitt wants him as a defensive back. He could also grow into a linebacker.

“There was a reasonable amount of schools recruiting me as a receiver,” Williams said. “I feel comfortable on both sides of the ball. Whatever comes doesn’t matter to me. I just want to be on the field.”

His size is excellent for a safety. Plus, Pitt does not have a lot of depth at safety — especially with size.

I know. I know. Weak. Cliched. Trite. And all of that. It’s just that since this isn’t an NFL, NHL or MAC blog, how often will there be road trips to Buffalo for the team?

It’s not much of a series or history. The two teams met for the first time last year.

Despite the low wattage of this kind of game, it actually will be available in more places (Full list in PDF) than I would have thought — including Cleveland, Chicago, Philly, Tampa and Milwaukee. It will also be on ESPN360 if your broadband provider has signed on with it.

Naturally Buffalo is talking about the challenge of playing Pitt’s defense.

UB’s rebuilt-on-the-fly offense will face perhaps its stoutest opposition of the season in Saturday’s home opener against Pittsburgh.

Coach Dave Wannstedt’s defense has seven starters back from a unit that ranked among the nation’s top 30 in six statistical categories last season. Over the final five games of 2008, the Panthers gave up an average of 12.6 points. In Saturday’s 38-3 win over Division I-AA Youngstown State, they allowed just 159 yards.

“Their front seven is probably the best we’re going to face,” UB coach Turner Gill said Tuesday. “Size and strength … those are the first two things that stand out. They’re able to rush the passer and play the run very well.”

Pitt didn’t blitz at all in its opener, Wannstedt said, but is prepared to put pressure on Zach Maynard, the sophomore quarterback who will make his second start for UB. The Bulls made blitz preparation a priority for Maynard in training camp, due to his inexperience as well as the pressuring scheme used by their first opponent, Texas-El Paso.

They expect their stadium to approach a sellout. It holds about 25, 500.

The front line of the defense isn’t an issue. There is, though, questions of whether the secondary can be consistent.

Q: The defense seemed to play well against Youngstown State for the most part, but the secondary seemed to struggle with coverage at times. Do you think this is something that will work itself out over the next few games or will this be an ongoing problem all season?

ZEISE: I think this is a great question. You are correct, the secondary didn’t cover like it needs to once the varsity games begin. YSU had guys open. They also had a few chances to make some places but couldn’t connect. I think if you look around the Big East and at Notre Dame and even N.C. State (despite their awful performance the other night) you’ll find that Pitt will face some really good wide receivers and far better quarterbacks than Brandon Summers. For that matter, Buffalo has a kid, Naaman Roosevelt, who is going to be in the NFL some day and will be one of the better receivers the Panthers face. It will be very interesting to see how the secondary responds this week, especially since Buffalo, unlike YSU, will be able to get Pitt’s defensive front blocked, at least occassionally. This is an area of the team to keep an eye on because it clearly needs to improve from the way it played Saturday.

Recent history has been terrifying with road games and the MAC.

If recent history is an indicator, the Panthers be in for a tough game because the past two times the Panthers visited a Mid-American Conference team, they lost. In both cases, the game was treated as if it were the game of the century by the home crowd, creating an extremely hostile environment.

The first of those two games was in 2003 when the Panthers, ranked No. 9 in the country, visited the Glass Bowl in Toledo and were stunned by the Rockets, 35-31. In 2005, the second game of The Wannstedt Era, the Panthers visited Peden Stadium in Athens, Ohio, and lost a 16-10 overtime decision to the Ohio Bobcats.

In both cases, the crowd rushed the field and tore down the goal posts, and that is the kind of reaction the Panthers should expect Saturday if they lose.

One thing that should help Pitt’s cause is that, unlike those two games which were played at night, this one has a noon kickoff. That should take some of the edge off the festive atmosphere.

Yeah, that’ll be the difference maker.

On the bright side, they are breaking in a new QB.

Zach Maynard has replaced record-breaking quarterback Drew Willy at Buffalo, which is coming off its first-ever bowl appearance at any level.

The Pitt Panthers (1-0) will get their first look at Maynard when they visit the University of Buffalo (1-0) at noon on Saturday at UB Stadium.

Last week, in his first collegiate start, Maynard completed 12 of 19 pass attempts for 159 yards and one touchdown in a turnover-free 23-17 victory at UTEP on Saturday.

“The great thing is that he got some playing time and he didn’t turn the ball over,” said Gill, the fourth-year coach and former Nebraska star quarterback. “That is obviously what you stride for, but you don’t think it’s going to happen with a guy playing his first ballgame against a busy type of defense that UTEP has.”

The Buffalo coaching staff is helping Maynard’s transition by using an offensive scheme with some built-in protections. Maynard, a Greensboro, N.C., native, is doing more sprint outs and throwing more quick, confidence-building screen passes, including one that all-conference wide receiver Naaman Roosevelt turned into a 42-yard touchdown in the victory over UTEP in the Sun Bowl.

What? A sophomore with no starts being effective and trusted to run the offense? Preposterous. Give us a guy that can handle a warehouse.

On Bill Stull:

“He managed the game well. He got guys in and out of the huddle. There weren’t any delays, or miscues on snap count. The turnover he had was both a quarterback and receiver miscommunication. I was pleased with Bill’s performance. He didn’t make any major mistakes. It was a good start for him. He’s worked extremely hard in the summer and through camp. He’s doing the best he can do and that’s all you can ask for from my point of view. He’s doing all he can in order to prepare and he’s got to go out there and perform.”

Dave Wannstedt channeling his inner-Woody Hayes.

And once more this is why it doesn’t seem fair to say the fan ire should really be directed at Stull. It is really hard to imagine that Wannstedt would want anything different from the position.

It is that kind of statement that really brings me down with regards to just how far Pitt can go. Wannstedt is so inflexible on what he wants from a QB. That even if Pitt somehow lands a QB of significant talent, he wouldn’t be allowed.

Really not much to say about it.

Dion Lewis was the stud. It may have been against 1-AA competition, but it was impressive with gaudy numbers of 129 yards and 3 TDs. A great debut for the freshman.

The offensive line had no problem with run blocking. Pass protection, however, was a different issue.

“We have work to do. When we had to throw the ball, I wasn’t happy with the passing game on third down from a protection standpoint.”

Said Pinkston, “They brought a lot of fire-zone blitzes, but we’ll be better at it next week. We missed a couple of calls. It’s something we have to work on, but we’ll pick it up next week.”

YSU still has not scored a TD against 1-A foes, as the best they could do was a FG.

Pitt’s D-line gets the credit for stuffing YSU all game. Especially not letting the YSU QB get outside the pocket to create or do much of anything. That’s the goal all season.

Before the game, an article about how Pitt would use screens among other things.

…but fans who are expecting big changes in either scheme or philosophy surely will be disappointed.

Cignetti said he and Cavanaugh share a lot of the same ideas about offense, and the changes he has made have been subtle.

“There might be some different formations and some different shifts and motions,” Cignetti said. “And maybe there is a little more wide-open approach in terms of screens and deceptives, but the foundation is the same. Make no mistake, the foundation that Matt Cavanaugh built here in the run game, protection system and passing game is the same.

“You will see some wrinkles that our offensive staff put together.”

Cignetti said he comes from the same mold as Cavanaugh and has always favored a pro-style offense which is centered around a solid run game and uses multiple-personnel packages and gives opposing defenses a variety of looks.

And he also made it pretty clear that the offense he installed had to first receive a stamp of approval from his boss, head coach Dave Wannstedt.

The screens were there, but the most noticeable thing to me was that they were not slow developing screens that relied on deception or overuse of the bubble screen. Instead, they were quick and fairly crisply executed. Get the ball out there and let the athlete do what he can. This definitely works well with a player like Dorin Dickerson.

There was also that bit of foreshadowing about it is still a Wannstedt team. So, as usual there are always questions about the coaching and decisions.

* The passing game is not ever going to be dominant. I think we all can see that the deep ball is never going to be a strength of Bill Stull’s. But once the game was in hand, say at 21-3, I’m not sure why this wasn’t worked on more. Yes, it is nice you can line up and knock a I-AA team off the ball and run it at them and it is nice that your receivers could make their corners miss on those wide receiver screens. But a game like this enables you – almost like an exhibition game in the NFL — to work out some kinks and I’m not sure Pitt did any of it. Instead, they proved what we already know — that they can beat a physically inferior opponent by running the ball and playing defense.

* I’m not sure what was worse — the fact that there was a mix-up with putting Bill Stull back in the game or the fact that Dave Wannstedt admitted as much. Luckily Stull didn’t get hurt or throw a pick six or something because someone would have had some explaining to do had something bad happened.

I don’t think there was any way that Wannstedt could plausibly deny the mix-up occurred. Stull was out of the game. He had a baseball cap on. Sunseri was holding his helmet on the sidelines. It was clear to anyone watching the sidelines that Stull was done for the day — until he wasn’t.

Still don’t know how that could have happened, but as far as inexplicable Wannstedtian coaching brain farts go, this one was of little harm other than some booing the action and creating this hand-wringing over booing. I, however, find this explanation highly plausible.

I am stunned that this is taking any semblance of an issue. I really am. Yes Bill Stull was booed. He was booed early. He was booed late. He was not, however, booed incessantly or mercilessly.

Do I agree with the booing? Eh. In general I don’t have a problem with it, but it seemed a little premature.

I didn’t boo during the game. I was not surprised, though, even on the opening drive that quickly died. The early poor throw was not going to help him with the fans.  When I pulled into the lot that morning, the attendant said he was taking a poll: How soon until Stull gets yanked?

In the parking lot, waking into the stadium and in the stands, I kept hearing similar questions. People talking about “Tino time.”

The whole time, though, I never thought of it as hating Stull. Just simply that he had proven to most that he was not the guy to be the starting QB.

Yet the whole thing has taken on a ridiculous life. It now seems that Stull was being booed non-stop in the game from the moment he ran on the field to garbage being thrown on him as he was leaving the field.

Both the Trib and P-G columnists focused on it for their Sunday columns. Ron Cook:

I had to check three times yesterday to make sure Kordell Stewart wasn’t playing quarterback for Pitt.

That’s how rough many in the home crowd at Heinz Field treated Bill Stull in Pitt’s easy, 38-3 win against ridiculously overmatched Youngstown State.

It was pretty pathetic, actually.

At least Stewart was a highly paid professional when he was booed and jeered by Steelers fans. Stull is a college kid. He deserved better from those in the stands who jumped his stuff as soon as his second incompletion ended Pitt’s first possession.

“That’s not giving a person much time,” Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said, clearly saddened by the Stull treatment on an opening day when just about everything else went right for the Panthers, the lame competition considered.

Stull’s teammates weren’t thrilled, either.

“I was really disappointed that our fans would boo our starting quarterback,” offensive tackle Jason Pinkston said. “They are supposed to be our fans and be up screaming for us. But, instead, they boo him.”

Pathetic, I tell you.

That’s pathetic? Cook had to check 3 times because there were 3 instances during the game where there were boos. The opening series when Stull looked like he hadn’t changed a whit from the Sun Bowl. The interception where Stull threw it right to the DB. Regardless of whether there was confusion on the route, the DB read Stull’s eyes and stood there waiting for the throw. Then a half-hearted booing when Stull inexplicably came back in after Tino Sunseri was in for one possession.

I get Pinkston and Wannstedt defending their guy. He’s part of the team and to them it is unfair.

Joe Starkey treated it as a meditation on when booing is appropriate.

But the most pertinent question to arise yesterday was this: What is acceptable and what is not when it comes to criticizing a college athlete?

Like Wannstedt, I thought the booing was a bit premature. But I’ll say this: Like it or not, dealing with boos and calls for the backup are part of the deal in big-time college athletics.

I don’t think it’s wrong or bad for fans to do that.

It’s the other stuff — the name-calling, the vicious message-board attacks, the insults that Stull’s family surely must hear in the stands — that is beyond uncalled-for.

It is pathetic and needs to stop.

“Yeah, it’s rough,” said tight end Dorin Dickerson. “(Stull’s) my roommate. I live with him, see him every day. I feel bad for him. He deals with it really well, you know? He’s trying so hard.”

Pathetic seems to be a favorite word from that day.

On the subject of Stull getting booed for coming back in the game in the 3d quarter. Both Cook and Starkey seem to acknowledge that it was on Wannstedt to some degree.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Tino Sunseri played three of Pitt’s final four possessions, but he should have played all of them. Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said Sunseri was supposed to play the rest of the game after he replaced Bill Stull up, 21-3, with 6:44 to play in the third quarter. But Stull returned after Sunseri’s first drive culminated with a 26-yard field goal. Stull led Pitt to a touchdown on his final series. “I was tied up doing something else,” Wannstedt said. “Tino was supposed to play the rest of the second half. That was a miscommunication on my part.”

Exactly how hard is it to communicate: Sunseri’s in there for the rest of the game? Stull was on the sidelines with a baseball cap on, and everyone knew he was done for the day. Yet his inexplicable return provoked a confused and WTF response. Yet, in terms of volume of booing, it was definitely half-hearted.

The booing, was clearly not directed at Stull that time. That time it was at Wannstedt and the coaches for putting Stull back in. Mainly because it made no sense and seemed to be about holding Sunseri to a standard Stull wasn’t held to.

Sunseri went 2-4 and had to settle for a FG. Not horrible, but since they blew a TD opportunity from 1st and goal he got yanked.

Then Bob Smizik felt it wast time for him to go off.

There might be some discussion about the runnerup, but from what I’ve seen and read it happened at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.

That’s where the so-called fans of the Pitt football team booed the team’s starting quarterback following his second pass of what was a scoreless game. That’s the quarterback who helped lead Pitt to a nine-win season last year.

Slight factual correction, it was his second incomplete pass. What offends me is that he flat out lies in his description of events.

It was worse: With Pitt leading, when Stull came back into the game in the third quarter, he was booed again and this time more loudly.

I know you are still learning how to blog Smizik, and I’m guessing you don’t hold the format in the highest regard. That said, like anything, factual accuracy only helps a position. In what report do you base that the booing was loudest when he came back in late in the 3d quarter?

The loudest boos for Stull was on the opening drive of the 3d quarter when he threw that hideous interception. If you think boos then were without logic or reason, then I don’t think we can effectively discuss the issue.

I really feel that the only reason that this is an issue, is not that it is necessarily media driven. It’s that the trade-off for having an easy warm-up game against a 1-AA patsy is that it results in the on-the-field stuff is discounted because of the competition.

That leaves the other stuff. The most significant — Stull not a beloved icon by Pitt fans.

It’s hard to take a lot away from Pitt’s 38-3 win over YSU. Pitt did what it was supposed to. They won in an ultimately lopsided way. They were never in danger against a clearly inferior team.

I’m not knocking anything. It’s just that I still don’t know what this team can or will do this season.

Dion Lewis is the starting tailback for the foreseeable future. He performed very well.

The defense was solid, but showed some lapses in concentration.

The O-line still makes me nervous. There were a couple moments where they absolutely failed against YSU.

Bill Stull does not inspire, and the fans are waiting for him to fail. He probably wasn’t as bad as it seemed. At the same time, Sunseri did not do much to convince me why he should be starting either.

The offensive playcalling was solid. Heavy emphasis on the run as expected, but the ball was spread around and definite efforts made to get the ball to Dickerson and Baldwin. Nice use of the middle of the field.

This very much had the feel of an exhibition game.

By the time you read this I’ll have been in Pittsburgh for a while. At this point, I’ve probably been drinking a bit and just enjoying a beutiful day in Lot 23.

Comment are open, but keep it relatively clean.

I’ll be tweeting most of the day, and I’ve put a widget to accompany the open thread.

True, no Pitt football tonight. Not even a Big East team playing (unless you count 1-AA Villanova playing Temple in the Mayor’s Cup). Still, meaningful football starts tonight. No scrimmages. No NFL exhibition games. Real college football, and some good games to boot.

As for Saturday, the Penguins are going to be without a few players. Not sure which ones, but that’s how suspensions at YSU roll.

As if going up against the preseason favorite to win the Big East Conference wasn’t hard enough, Youngstown State will be at an even bigger disadvantage against Pitt after an undisclosed amount of players were suspended for Saturday’s game due to a violation of team rules.

YSU coach Jon Heacock did not divulge the names of the players nor the number.

“It’s a handful of guys,” Heacock said. “It’s a one-week thing, but I always take these things under review. I’m obviously disappointed it has to happen, but we have rules that have to be followed.”

I know I’ll be closely comparing the depth chart to who is on the field.

The Penguins’ head coach has also reassumed his duties as defensive coordinator. Something he hasn’t done since Jim Tressel was still running things in Youngstown.

The game does provide a warm-up in facing a dual threat running/passing QB.

Pitt won’t play another team like Youngstown State this year, but the Panthers may face a quarterback like Brandon Summers again.

The dual-threat senior at Youngstown State – Pitt’s only non-Division I opponent this season – will provide the Panthers a hint of what lies ahead.

“He can throw, and he’s a scrambling threat,” Pitt defensive coordinator Phil Bennett said. “It’s a very good test for us because we are going to see a lot of the things throughout the year.”

Summers and senior Donald Jones, an NFL-caliber wide receiver, will be the focus of Pitt’s heralded defense when YSU visits at 1 p.m. Saturday at Heinz Field for the 2009 opener.

To varying degrees Pitt will face dual threat QBs from Navy, NC State, USF and WVU. Plus there’s alwyas a possibility with Rutgers using Jabu Lovelace (maybe not, but I haven’t had a chance to type in one of the best names in CFB yet this year).

Shariff Harris has been reinstated to the team after his 2-week suspension. He has not transferred. Unlikely he will see any action. No word as to whether he will be changing positions yet.

DC Phil Bennett is trying to reign in the defense’s confidence in light of all the attention and expectations on them.

“We’ve gotten some accolades that are undeserving,” Bennett said. “When we played Oregon State, we were a damn good defense and some of these guys weren’t even on the field. You have to earn respect and, to do that, we’re going to try and be perfectionists and we’re going to coach them hard.

“This is a fun group because we can get there and we know we have a lot of room for improvement. We expect to get better, but it does not happen without hard work.”

Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt echoed Bennett’s sentiment and issued a challenge to his defense, saying nothing matters until the games start.

“This time of year, it is all just talk really,” Wannstedt said. “[The media] has to pick top teams, and they have to talk about positions and individuals. But the great thing about this game of football is that you have to go out there and prove yourself, and you are only as good as your last play.”

And very likely we won’t know anything for certain after this week. No matter how it is sliced, this is against a middling 1-AA team. A team that I will mention again has yet to score a TD against 1-A opponents in four games.

Joe Starkey feels like being a downer today.

Bennett’s defense has a chance to be dominant, though a lack of experience at linebacker and a lack of height in the secondary could prove problematic.

Offensively, you never know what you’re getting with freshmen, and Pitt will have two (Dion Lewis, Ray Graham) sharing the tailback duties. The line should be decent. The tight ends and receivers are plenty talented.

Which brings us back to quarterback, where fifth-year senior Bill Stull will start Saturday’s opener against Youngstown State, with redshirt freshman Tino Sunseri as the backup.

If Pitt gets above-average play from that position, look out. Otherwise, I believe we’re looking at 9-4 again.

That would give Pitt back-to-back seasons of nine-or-more wins for the first time since 1981-82, but it would not constitute a return to the glory days.

Wannstedt’s promise would remain unfulfilled.

Not sure what the point of this column is except to point out that obviously Pitt is not where Coach Wannstedt and everyone would love for this team and program to be: a juggernaut akin to the mid-70s into the early-80s.

Frankly, even with the conference the way it is, another 9-4 season (provided one of the wins was a bowl win) would still be a big positive and another step forward.

There just is no way, in my view, for this team to be taking giant leaps as constituted and coached. Frustrating as it frequently is, and as disappointing as it has been at many spots, this is Coach Wannstedt’s team. His construction of them and the way it operates is very much the slow growth. There are plenty of questions about it.

In some ways — building depth, teaching and defense first — this is proper./ In other ways — kids turning pro early, not putting talent on the field and using it best before their eligibility is over, failing to adapt to present  football that encourages offense and some imagination — it has been poorly thought out.

Starting this weekend, we all get to start finding out how reality meets our expectations and perceptions once more.