I’m trying to figure out how to handle Saturday. Pitt plays Cinci at noon in football and then basketball starts at 2pm. Clearly an overlap will occur. Both will be on TV. Pitt and Cinci are the ESPN game. Rider-Pitt is on SNY and FoxSports Pittsburgh.

This should have been a no-brainer. The end of the regular season, conference football game against a team that has beaten Pitt the last two years should be the call. Not some non-con against a MAAC team (a decent one, but still a MAAC team). Instead, I’m genuinely torn. I guess we’ll start a liveblog with football and see what happens.

I see that Phil Steele placed a bunch of Pitt players in his various All-Big East squads.

Four Pitt players earned first-team honors on Phil Steele’s All-Big East squad. Flanker Jon Baldwin is a repeat selection, joined by defensive end Jabaal Sheard, free safety Dom DeCicco and punter Dan Hutchins. Punt returner Cameron Saddler, defensive end Brandon Lindsey and strong safety Jarred Holley were second-team picks; third-team selections were quarterback Tino Sunseri, tailback Ray Graham, tackle Jason Pinkston and linebacker Max Gruder.

Pitt fans have decried the play of several of these players at times this year, but this selection should reinforce why Pitt was expected to win the Big East and why this was such a huge disappointment. Even with some of the weaknesses and question marks at positions, there was still enough talent throughout this team for a coach that knows how to play to the strengths and minimize exposing the weaknesses. I have seen during the season reference to Phil Steele’s preseason ranking of Pitt at #27 as showing that some knew this team wasn’t that good.

That was only on the national level. Not within the Big East. Steele based that national ranking on the non-con. Here’s what he wrote:

Once again, these are my year end rankings. I have Pitt winning the Big East beating WV at home which would give them the tie-breaker. They have just 11 ret starters but have to face Utah and ND on the road and Miami, FL at home.

Steele had Miami #9, ND #16 and Utah #28 in his national rankings. Steele had also listed ND as his #4 surprise team (in a good way) for 2010.

The scary thing about tomorrow’s game. Despite playing a 4-7 Cinci team that has been just as injured (if not more so) than Pitt, and disappointing. They may prove to be a painful match-up for Pitt with their passing game being their offensive strength.

Cincinnati’s passing offense is the Big East’s best.

Cincinnati averages 431 yards of total offense, 275 yards passing and 28.6 points per game, which are all highs among teams in the Big East. Bearcats quarterback Zach Collaros leads the conference with 279 yards passing per game and has thrown for 25 touchdowns and only 11 interceptions.

Panthers cornerbacks Ricky Gary and Antwuan Reed and safeties Jason Hendricks and Jarred Holley have missed tackles, blown some assignments and been beaten for big plays in Pitt’s past three games, two of them losses (6-5, 4-2).

And that’s especially true of Reed, who was beaten for what turned out to be the winning touchdown in the Connecticut game, was penalized four times for pass interference against South Florida and was victimized by West Virginia’s Tavon Austin for a long touchdown pass in Friday’s defeat.

“We just aren’t making enough plays,” Gary said after the West Virginia game. “We just need to start making plays.”

Yes. That’s all they need to do at this point in the season. “Start making plays.” Added bonus, the expectations that by game 12, Pitt might play its best game.

Center Alex Karabin said the Pitt coaches’ emphasis on the importance of playing their best game of the year in the last game is coming to fruition.

“It’s the last game of the year, and we’ve got no choice but to play our best game,” Karabin said. “It is a big motivation, but hopefully we can play a good game and come out on top this week.”

As for the idea of playing for some pride after not doing so in the Backyard Brawl, well Coach Wannstedt shows his leadership by dismissing such talk — that comes from his own players.

“I think there’s only one real thing to focus on, and that’s finding a way to win this game,” Wannstedt said. “What happens in bowl games, last year’s game, is that all part of it? It is, I guess, but not from coaches’ or players’ standpoint. Our focus needs to be on playing as good as we can play this week and finding a way to win this game. It’s really pretty simple.”

Wannstedt delivered that message to reporters after several Pitt players mentioned in interviews that pride is a motivating factor for finishing their season with a victory.

A beer with a high ABV for tomorrow it is.

So with a terrifyingly shaky secondary, that means the defensive line has to get the pressure on Zach Collaros.

Sheard, though, is focusing on Collaros. He figures the Panthers must harass him to short-circuit the conference’s highest-scoring offense.

“We’ve got to slow down the quarterback, because he can run and throw,” said Sheard, who this week was named to the American Football Coaches Association All-America team. “He’s got great receivers around him, but I think we have one of the best defenses in the Big East if we show up to play.”

The Panthers’ pass-rush didn’t deliver under pressure last year. The Panthers had two sacks but didn’t apply enough heat to protect a 21-point lead.

The Bearcats struggled some earlier this season with their blocking schemes. They have seemingly made the adjustments, particularly in pass blocking.

At this point I should ask if or whether Pitt should blitz Cinci a little more, but I think we all know the reality of the gameplan.

He may be there solely as a decoy, but it looks like Vidal Hazelton will also be available for the game. I fully expect Coach Wannstedt rotate the safeties over to help cover a guy coming back from a torn ACL in the first game of the season.

As for Cinci, where they actually have won things the last couple years the new head coach has had a rough year. One of the seniors admits that the team may have taken things for granted.

Departing senior center Jason Kelce is one of the most honest and outspoken players on the UC football team. Here’s his take on what went wrong this season.

“I don’t want to say that we were complacent,” Kelce said, “but I think there was a little bit more complaining this year when it was cold outside, where those two years previous that wasn’t going on because guys were a little more hungry.

“The seniors and juniors, we understand that hunger because we came in when (the program) was at such a low point. But the guys that came in, sophomores, freshmen, redshirt freshmen, when they came in the program was already established.”

The Cinci defense has been hideous. Whether Pitt can do anything against it remains to be seen. The good news and bad news for Cinci is that this bad defense mostly can only get better and will be back next year.

That’s what this game ultimately is. The, “Wait until next year” game.