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Recapping the rules. It is a moderated liveblog. I approve the comments unless you are a trusted commenter. In which case I will put you through as unmoderated. Repetitive comments will not be posted. So if everyone essentially says, “oooooh, great play.” I’m not putting them all out there. If you feel like your comments aren’t getting posted, it’s probably for that reason or excessively profane language.

Whining, “why aren’t my comments getting posted,” most likely will subject you to some sort of sarcastic comment from me. Nothing personal, but like the old Tony Kornheiser radio show where if a caller got through and wasted time by starting with “how are you doing?” the caller got disconnected right away.

I’ve added feeds from some twitter accounts that might be commenting on the game, so we will see how that goes.

A continuing issue from the last liveblog is that I’m still trying to figure out a way to sell/convince the wife to let me stick a mini-fridge in the basement to spare me the arduous trips upstairs to get beer or ice. Her contention is that combining a fridge with the other basic basement amenities in place — the HD big screen, bathroom and bar — I would not emerge from the basement between September and April. Apparently, arguing that this would be a good thing has not flown.

Anyways, the liveblog will start at 8(ish).

There will be the rare Friday night liveblog tonight around 8pm. That means I have lots to do during the day to be useless to the wife and kids during that time.

Greg Romeus’s Sporting News diary shares a little too much about the D-line and dancing. You can’t — you just can’t unlearn these things, and I can’t blackout drink at this hour.

Louisivlle paper has a piece on Bill Stull playing well this season.

The must-win theme for Louisville is very prevalent.

“Every game from here out is a must-win,” Tomczyk said. “I don’t think we’re looking at any game as one we can lose. We’ve made our mistakes and can’t afford any more.”

The Cards, who have committed five turnovers in the past two games, cannot build momentum off potential.

“We’re definitely in a position where we need to win this football game,” coach Steve Kragthorpe said. “It’s a big game for us. It’s on national television. It’s the first Big East Conference game, so there’s no doubt it’s important to us. We want to chase the (championship).”

Unsaid by Kragthorpe is keeping his job. Well, maybe not make-or-break for Krags, but he only has a couple more opportunities before the season is toast and the fans make last year’s anger and frustration a mere prelude to revolution.

Well, unless you think they have already given up.

So what’s my prediction for tonight?  Terrible football, groans, boos, fleeting hope and ultimately a 10+ point victory for Pitt in a 30s – 20s type game.  Vic will get his and we’ll get at least 2 touchdowns, but we won’t be able to keep Pitt off the scoreboard.  Burke’s first TAINT of the year seals it with 5 minutes to go.  Is it bad that’s what I HOPE happens of the reasonable alternatives?  My biggest fear is that Pitt comes out pissed after losing last week and hangs 50 on us while their defense pressures Burke all day and keeps us to a meaningless late TD.

OF course for Pitt to get this rosy outcome, the offense needs to sustain drives at 3d down and the defense needs to get the hell off the field at that point.

And there is no denying it, the onus is mainly on the defense. For all the kvetching about the offense, Bill Stull and missed opportunities this team is supposed to be defense first and expected a lot less from the offense.  Don’t talk about the defense being worn down late last game because the offense had 3-and-outs. The defense was far more culpable in not ending drives. They gave  NC State more opportunities and hurt the offense by letting the NC State defense rest and have a lot more time to adjust.

Aaron Berry sort of takes some responsibility for the poor performance by the secondary. His mouth has written a check.

“I think they are going to try me with (Long),” Berry said, “but I’ll do what I do best. I’ll lock him up. This is a situation for me to prove I’m one of the best corners in the country.

“I need to press him to disrupt his routes. When you give receivers a lot of room to work, the yards add up.”

The Pitt secondary, which has only three interceptions, will be challenged to overcome a bad outing against North Carolina State. The Panthers are aware of what is broken, and they’ll know if it’s fixed if the numbers add up in their favor.

First, however, Berry said Pitt’s defensive backs must tackle better. More importantly, they must communicate.

“We’ve got to stay on the same page with our corners and safeties,” Berry said. “Teams are hitting us with a lot of switch routes and plays up the seam. There’s no doubt that losing (free safety Andrew) Taglianetti has hurt us, depth-wise, and it’s left a few openings in the secondary because we’re not communicating.”

Well, Berry has the communicating down — to the media.

Really, for get needing a quick start for Pitt. Regardless of the Big East title goals. The Panthers need a strong finish in each game.

A bunch of links to get through ahead of the game tomorrow.

Interesting article on former Cards WR Mario Urrutia and his fall in Kragthorpe’s first year.

After catching 58 passes as a sophomore, he caught only 35 in Steve Kragthorpe’s first season as coach — and dropped some important ones. His head wasn’t in the game.

Instead of the long routes he had made his trademark under Petrino, he now found himself getting inside slants and wide receiver screens. Already during the Orange Bowl season, quarterback Brian Brohm had begun to lose some confidence in him. If Urrutia and Harry Douglas were both open, chances are Douglas was getting the ball, even if Urrutia was further downfield.

I’m not saying the parallels are perfect or the situation was exactly the same, but it does seem eerily reminiscent of Greg Lee after a breakout year as a sophomore and his disappearance in his junior year — Wannstedt’s first year — while Derek Kinder became the reliable go-to guy for Palko.

Apparently this is already a “must-win” game for the Cardinals.

This team hasn’t been as bad as its record suggests. Louisville twice led in the fourth quarter on the road against Kentucky before falling 31-27. Last week at Utah, the Cardinals fell behind 20-0 early after having a field goal blocked on their first drive and Trent Guy’s fumble on a first-quarter kick return. They battled back to make it 23-14 in the fourth quarter but could get no closer.

So at least they’ve been competitive, which is more than you could say for them at the end of last year during blowout losses to Pitt (41-7) and Rutgers (63-14). You could call it progress, but progress without victories isn’t going to satisfy a fan base that seems to have made up its mind about Steve Kragthorpe.

That’s why Friday’s game against the Panthers — designated by the school as a “Black Out” — is so pivotal, so soon.

The Cardinals are 0-7 in against 1-A opponents going back to last year. They are desperate.

Of course, this is a must-win in its own way for Pitt. Yes, if Pitt wants to make noise in the Big East as expected, but also because of they way they lost last week. Offense died in the second half for the 3d straight game. The penalties and of course the defense being a weakness. Is it an identity crisis?

What on earth has happened to Pitt? The twin hallmarks of Wannstedt’s program have always been discipline and defense, with offense sometimes as an afterthought.

Instead, this year’s Panthers are averaging a robust 37.5 points a game while their cornerstones are crumbling. Pitt is seventh in the Big East in total defense, ahead of only Syracuse, and ranks 115th nationally in penalty yardage.

The defense knows it has been a let down, but naturally they publicly are not worried.

Meanwhile the offense can’t convert 3d downs. It doesn’t help in the second half that they are all too often in 3d and long.

Pitt converted only 35 percent last year (94th out of 119 Division I-FBS teams) and has ranked in the bottom third in the nation in three of Wannstedt’s four seasons.

But it’s getting worse.

The Panthers were 3 for 10 in the second half against Navy. Take away the game against Division I-FCS Youngstown State, and Pitt has converted only 10 of 34 (29.4 percent) third downs in the past three games.

“I think it’s maybe a lack of focus,” Malecki said. “We’re not taking enough pride in third down. It’s huge for us. It’s pointed out weekly. We were very disappointed in third down (last week).”

The problems aren’t limited to third down. Struggles in earlier downs have left Pitt mired in third-and-long situations.

Against N.C. State, the Panthers faced third-down distances of 7, 10, 12, 13 and 8 yards in the second half.

It’s a shame the Pitt offense doesn’t get to face the Pitt D. They are allowing 43.3% 3d down conversions.

Good news for those agitating for some changes in the secondary, Buddy Jackson is returning to the field, after sitting for some time with a broken jay. He’s cleared for contact and Coach Wannstedt says he will see action on special teams.

Maybe it’s the nature of fans. Maybe it’s because with defense, it can be hard to judge what went wrong without seeing the field more. Maybe it’s because offense issues more often involved playcalling, but it sure does seem that  there was a lot more questions this week about the offense even though the defense was the bigger problem. Whether it was wondering about the lack of a fade to Baldwin when inside the ten (hint, you would asking Stull to do the one thing he has shown absolutely no skill or touch in executing), giving the ball to Hynoski in short yardage or predictably giving the ball to Lewis in the second half when teams started stiicking 8 or 9 in the box.

Okay, so the score predictions did not go so well last week. There were a few that picked 38 points as the winning score, and one person was very close having predicted a 41-31 score. Unfortunately, all of those picks had Pitt with the bigger number.

So, let’s try that again. Predict the final score of the Pitt-Louisville game and get a free “Baldwin for Heisman” t-shirt. Courtesy of PittsburghSteelRocks.com.

This time, if no one nails the exact number, I’ll provide a little wiggle room for a +/- 3 points from the actual score.

UPDATE: Unofficial entry from ESPN.com Big East guy, Brian Bennett goes 28-21 Pitt.

Seems that at least in Louisville there is a conflation of embattled head coach Steve Kragthorpe and Dave Wannstedt. Now, that is ridiculous. What could possibly be the similarities. I mean, sure both took over programs that reached a BCS game. Both had an outstanding college QB that they wasted. Both went from consistent bowl appearances to missing in their first 2 (and probably 3) seasons. Both have disappointed. Both seem way too stubborn in their ways. Both have unconditional backing from their AD regardless of the record. Both…

/slams head into wall.

Well, nevermind. Those are merely superficial similarities. I’m sure drilling down reveals differences. Like, most of the time Krags does not have a mustache.

In the meantime, the Louisville Cardinals have called for the Friday night game to be a “blackout.” After all, nothing is more intimidating in a night game like looking like no one is there.