Coming out of an admitted lackluster opening game, the next opponent is 1-AA patsy, Maine. For their troubles, the Black Bears will get a $375,000 paycheck. That kind of payout for a 1-AA patsy is part of why the Big East had to get to at least 9 teams, and why conferences are increasingly going to or leaning towards 9 conference games. It drives down the demand for the overall number of non-con games by BCS programs and will keep down the costs of paying for a guarantee game.

Obligatory, “not that Pitt is taking Maine lightly comment” (unlike me).

“We look at it as, any opponent that comes in, they have a chance to make this a signature win,” Graham said.

And, he added, “If you’re not humble, you’ll get humbled.”

“They’re a very well-coached football team,” Graham said of Maine. “The strength of their team is the offense of their quarterback (Warren Smith) and tailback (Pushawn Brown), who operate very, very efficiently.”

Maine head coach, Jack Cosgrove has a simple formula for beating a 1-A program.

“I’ve always felt that in order for a team of our stature to be successful against a team like theirs, they have to play bad and we have to play great,” Cosgrove said of playing and FBS team.

That might do it. Speaking of obligatory, here’s the “just because they are 1-AA, doesn’t mean they are intimidated by a 1-A team” story.

If you are wondering, Maine does own a win over a 1-A team. In 2004 they beat Mississippi State 9-7 (and got $350K as well). In the last 5 years Maine has become a popular Big East patsy team, with this being their 4th game against Big East teams in that spell.

Back to Pitt, the emphasis this week is on improving two units in particular: the linebackers and the offensive line. In the linebacker positions, Todd Thomas may be the more athletic and higher ceiling player than Greg Williams, but his understanding of what is needed at the position isn’t quite there, so Greg Williams has become the starter once more — for now.

Williams is one of the team’s most-experienced players, and, though he was listed as a reserve behind freshman Todd Thomas all week, the coaches decided to go with experience and see how it worked out.

“Every day is a new day, and Greg just kept progressing as the week went on,” said defensive coordinator Keith Patterson.

“He had a really good day on Thursday and, when we sat down as a staff, [we] felt like that was best for our football team.

“Sometimes, you just go with your gut feeling, and we had a good feeling about where he was.”

Williams must have played well because he still is listed as the starter.

He said he expects to start Saturday against Maine, but he also knows that competition for jobs is ongoing.

The bigger issue at linebacker seems to be at the inside linebacker position. Max Gruder was the best linebacker Pitt had last season after Dan Mason’s injury. He was still a bit of a target of fans (mainly because he was a target of opposing offenses by putting him in situations to become a pass defender). Now he’s struggling in the new defensive scheme and could easily become a back-up by season’s end if freshmen Laquentin Smith or Nicholas Grigsby make more progress. Heck, Graham seems to be considering moving Juan Price inside rather than backing up Brandon Lindsey.Both for speed, and because of Price’s talent (thank you, again, Jim Tressel for royally screwing up and having to resign).

“We want to be faster, play faster,” he said, explaining that senior inside linebackers Max Gruder and Tristan Roberts are adjusting to a new way to read keys. “They were trained to key a different way than how we play, and that’s really hard. It’s really hard for guys who have been playing the same way, trying to break them of that.”

There is a chance Price, who played 30 snaps Saturday, could move inside.

“We want him to play a lot more than 30 snaps,” Graham said.

Give Coach Graham this, he appears to be willing to to back up the talk of playing the best players now, and trying to win now.

Q: What is really going on with the linebackers? It seems like there is a lot of shuffling players around and that doesn’t seem to be because players are playing well.

ZEISE: Here is what is going on — the coaches are trying to find the best four and this coaching staff doesn’t seem to be particularly patient as they are searching for the best 22 guys — regardless of class. Todd Graham said Tuesday the inside linebackers weren’t playing fast enough — and that is why he’s talked about moving Ejuan Price in the middle and it is why two other true freshmen, LaQuentin Smith and Nicholas Grigsby, are going to play as soon as they are ready (both have had some minor injury issues).

I think this group has to get better and Graham said beyond reading and reacting more quickly to things, they need to tackle better. There is a group of players with experience, some talented youth and some guys who are capable of getting better so I’m fairly certain whatever the starting linebacking group looks like in a week or two when it settles in, it will be able to do the things Graham and Keith Patterson need from it.

So as much as Coach Graham talked about correctable mistakes after the first game, it does seem that there is going to be some accountability with playing time if those “correctable mistakes” aren’t. Now if Coach Graham is still talking regularly about correctable mistakes and this team in October I will have an issue with it. Right now, kind of what can be expected in coach speak after game one.

As impatient as the coaches may be at the linebacker spot, there seems to be a little more patience at the offensive tackle position. That may have more than a little to do with the difference in overall depth, but it also seems to be about keeping the confidence high for Juantez Hollins.

Pitt offensive line coach Spencer Leftwich said Hollins will get better as he plays more, but he stressed patience because Hollins is so inexperienced.

He said at times Hollins played well, but far too often he reverted to bad habits that led to breakdowns.

“I thought it was a typical first game; we had some fundamental breakdowns and some technical things,” Leftwich said.

“I was pleased with the way that [the tackles] run-blocked and came off the ball. It was the first time [Hollins] got to play in a game and those things, the lights get a little brighter and the crowd gets a little louder, but, all in all, we had some things to build from.

“We have to get better and clean up some technique things. Offensive line is a game of repetition, playing offensive line is a creature of habit and, when we had a breakdown, that’s what was happening [guys were not using proper technique.]”

Hollins is a redshirt sophomore, and admitted that this was the first real game he’s played since the end of his high school career. Hollins also knows he has to play a lot better, and Coach Leftwich stressed that Hollins doesn’t have an unlimited leash or time to get it together. Still, when you look at the options on the O-line, you know he’s going to have more time than at other positions.

Freshmen did see action in the first game, with more expected to get time as the season progresses. Juan Price, RB Corey Davis, punt returner Ronald Jones and DT K.K. Mosley-Smith got in the game. Definitely expect more in the coming weeks.

Graham said that Trey Anderson is not going to redshirt and will, provided the Panthers can get a big lead, play this weekend against Maine. He said that Anderson is the back-up quarterback and needs to be ready to play (yes, I know, he, like Bill Stull in 2005, needs work….).

“Trey’s going to play, he’s not going to redshirt this year,” Graham said. “He just showed up in August, we’ve only had a couple weeks with him. What has set Mark behind is that he’s had some tendinitis in his elbow, he hasn’t been able to throw all the time. Trey sits at the number 2, with Mark right there. I think they’re pretty close together I’m kind of the personnel director, but I’m also listening to Coach Dodge and I’m listening to Coach Magee. We would like for a guy to get some experience, but in that first game, unless we had a substantial lead, we didn’t feel like we’d be willing to put another guy in there. Hopefully we will have a chance to do that.”

Does Myers really have some tendinitis? We don’t really know. There is no official injury report for Big East teams (junked after trying it last year to ineffectual results). I’m sure many are eager to see Anderson get some time on Saturday. Just so they can make a better argument to bench Sunseri.