Why couldn’t all of this conference stuff happened in June and July when I was scraping for content? I just cannot get over how much this stuff is dominating all week, after week, after week. Do you realize the Big East Media Day for basketball is in less than 2 weeks?

Time to clear some tabs just to make the room for the final push before the Rutgers game. A bit of emphasis on the ACC.

A little history from the 2003 ACC raid on the Big East. How close Syracuse was to going, but for the lawsuit that gave VT time to get the lobbying effort in full swing.

According to ACC bylaws, seven of nine schools needed to vote yes to admit another school. Duke and North Carolina were traditionally opposed to any expansion. Virginia and [UVa President] Casteen, in essence, were that seventh swing vote. But one thing is clear: The suit had some effect.

It gave [Virginia Governor Mark] Warner time.

“I do remember that we thought we were out (of luck) a number of times,” Leighty said. “But there was additional time, and I guess the lawsuit was why that happened.”

Eight times, Leighty recalls, he and Warner thought it was over. Eight times, the prospects of Syracuse joining the ACC would have been better had they given up.

ACC officials had visited the Syracuse campus on June 4, and the deal was all but official. Then the Connecticut Attorney General filed the lawsuit, ultimately joined by other Big East schools. That put things in flux and was the time that Virginia politicians and the University of Virginia’s president needed to get VT into the ACC. If you want to know why I don’t believe the Hokies would go to the ACC, just read this story to get an idea of how much political capitol, favors and support from UVa was expended to get VT to the ACC. Too many favors are owed by VT to bolt the ACC and UVa now.

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Burning up all over Twitter.

TCU is getting an invite to the Big 12, regardless of what Missouri does. Press conferences and announcements coming today.

Quickie analysis.

Good for TCU. This makes sense, and is where they should be. Since they had given the MWC notice of leaving the conference last year, they can be playing in the Big 12 in 2012. No waiting.

Good for Texas A&M and possibly Missouri. This assures that the conference will have at least 8 teams for 2012. That means keeping BCS bid with minimum number of teams. It makes negotiating an exit in time for 2012 easier for both teams. Still will pay plenty of money for the early exit, but conference isn’t forced to hold them.

Also good for Jamie Dixon. That is still his alma mater. I know I would have been feeling a lot of guilt if I had been the one to help facilitate the move to the Big East, only to see Pitt take the opportunity to go to the ACC. All out of his hands, but still had to be gnawing at him a bit.

Bad for Pitt and Syracuse. Since TCU will not be a member of the Big East in 2012, the Big East will be at 8 members with Pitt and Cuse. The minimum to maintain an automatic bid issue makes leaving next season almost impossible unless there are two other teams the conference can bring in by next fall. Even if Navy joins immediately (big if right now), that only takes it to 7 without Pitt and Cuse.

At this point, Pitt has to hope that Mizzou does get into the SEC; and the Big 12 goes to 12 grabbing Louisville, WVU and Cinci. Only way Pitt and Syracuse isn’t playing in the Big East next year with this news is with the complete disintegration of Big East football.

Good and bad for Big East. Obviously losing a potentially valuable addition — though it does explain the weekend leak of interest in SMU if they had an inkling of this happening — and keeps them in a precarious position. Good because while TCU doesn’t have to give 27 months notice, they still pay Big East $5 million.

Pitt has officially finalized and released its basketball schedule. That is to say, the TV stuff is established. Hope you have ESPN3.com and Pitt Panther Television if you want to watch much of this year’s non-con.

Four non-con games (not even including the exhibition games) are on Pitt Panthers TV and four are on ESPN3.com out of 13 non-cons. The other five are on various other places like Comcast-Philadelphia (Penn), CBS College Sports (Duquesne), ESPN2 (Oklahoma St.), ESPN (Tenn) and ESPNU (Wagner).

I’ve already stated that this year’s non-con is on the weak side. ESPN breaks down the individual Big East teams’ non-con schedules, and see the same thing.

Toughness scale (1-10): 1 — The Panthers won the Big East last season and return a core that could challenge for yet another title. So why not a better nonconference slate? The Panthers were expecting an ACC team to play in the Philly HoopGroup Classic but that fell through, leaving them to play host Penn. Winning at Tennessee in the SEC/Big East Challenge won’t be a walk, but the Vols will be picked in the bottom-third of the SEC. Oklahoma State is a decent opponent at the Garden, and neighboring Duquesne always play the Panthers tough. Long Beach presents a decent mid-major challenge. But as a whole, this nonconference schedule is about as bad as it gets for a top-10 program.

Pitt has done a very, very good job of non-con scheduling the last few years. A clunker happens, but this is worse because the schedule is completely devoid of any decent games at home. The few decent ones are neutral sites or away.

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It was probably more apt when Pitt was a Dave Wannstedt coached team. The teacher and a pupil. The similarities and differences. Now they have a lot more differences than similarities. Yet there is one area where they are now a lot more similar than in the past. A love of blitzing and attacking defenses to get turnovers. Really, it’s been the only thing that has Rutgers with a winning record.

Schiano’s decision to overhaul the defense, making it faster and more athletic in the aftermath of last year’s 4-8 showing, appears to be one of the key factors for a unit that has eight interceptions and 10 fumble recoveries already.

“The more comfortable you are in a scheme, the less you have to think about your assignment, the more you can play with speed and confidence,” Schiano said. “I think putting faster people at the positions, by moving guys down a position, (it helps).

“Takeaways are such a fine line. It’s a tipped ball here and a recovered fumble there. If you’re a little bit faster you get to the ball faster. If you’re a little more comfortable, you react faster. I think that’s why good defenses (create turnovers). Very rarely do you see an inexperienced, run-of-the-mill defense have a lot of takeaways. It just doesn’t happen very much.”

While Schiano is a Wannstedt disciple with speed on defense and valuing the turnover battle, his biggest difference has been using that speed to bring blitzes and attack up front a lot more. Coach Graham is expecting it, if not more than in most games so far from Rutgers.

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I’ve railed for a little while about the horror of the Pitt-Rutgers game landing on Yom Kippur. Especially with the USF-Pitt game on Rosh Hashana. Not nearly as upset as On the Banks may be, but I have been relatively peeved about having to be fasting and booze free for the game.

Apparently my resolve and faith were not being tested enough. Calling the 3:30 game on ESPNU will be the unbearable duo of Pam Ward and Dan Hawkins.

Sunset is at 6:57. I will try to make it.

Here we are in week six, coming up on the halfway point of the 2011 season.  There are still a lot of questions surrounding this team and while some fans may think they have been answered, that is surely debatable.

To recap:  We beat our two creampuffs, Buffalo and Maine to start out the season in rather easy fashion.  Both teams scored 4^th quarter points against us and in both games the offense got off to a pretty sluggish start in the 1^st half.  It isn’t a reach to say that PITT underachieved in those games based on the pre-season hype surrounding the new offense being installed by Todd Graham.  Buffalo: 35-16 & Maine: 35-29 wins.

In our third game against Iowa we started out like gangbusters with our offense showing some real cohesiveness by scoring 24 points, against a decent BCS team, through the 3^rd quarter.  That’s when the wheels fell off both offensively and defensively.  Iowa passed their way back into the game and took a 27-24 lead.  In a complete turnaround our offense couldn’t get a single first down and was shutout over the last 12 minutes of play.  31-27 loss.

At home against Notre Dame we reverted back to stumbling around on offense, scoring six points by the half and six more in the 3^rd quarter and … you guessed it… skunking the 4^th quarter with no points.  Our defense came to play finally and we held ND to 15 points, certainly enough to win had our offense not stunk out the joint.  15-12 loss. (more…)

It seems like forever that the Big 12 has been evaluating its options. Will it expand to 10 teams or 12? Is Mizzou staying or leaving for the SEC? What happens then? If Mizzou stays, then what? Texas wants the Big 12 at 10. Oklahoma prefers 12 teams. Is BYU really going to join? Is TCU on or off the table? If Mizzou leaves, does it make it more or less likely to go to 10 or 12.

What does the SEC do if Missouri doesn’t take their embrace? Stay at 13? Grab an ACC team? Will they be able/willing to take one from a state they already have a presence (Florida or South Carolina)? Settle for WVU?

And if the ACC does lose a team? Well, then UConn is there with bags packed. Rutgers trumpeting their NYC market proximity — while hoping no one looks too closely.

Then it is down to the Big East. Just trying to stay above water for a little bit longer.

Everyone likens it to dominoes falling. I see it as a “Choose your own adventure” story. Each option taking you to a different story and ending.

Since I can’t seem to quit the unhealthy fascination with the subject, time for a rundown.

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Let’s face it, until Pitt gets consistently better. Until the team starts the season strong, the Mouse Monopoly is not going to be interested in airing Pitt games in the late afternoon or at night. Utah isn’t too good this year, and may not even have its starting QB for the game.

About the only reason for the Utah-Pitt game not to air at noon would be a concession to the Pac-12 and Utah to not have a team playing at 10 am by their internal clocks. But, this is not to be. The Big East Tweeted that the Utah-Pitt game on October 15 will be a Noon game on ESPNU. I will be curious how lethargic Utah will be with that starting time.

Amazing how a win can change the outlook.

The reigning national offensive player of the week, and Big East Offensive Player of the week — for the second time in five weeks. Ray Graham is doing things not seen before from a Pitt RB.

Ray Graham’s 734 yards rushing represent the best five-game start to a season in Pitt history.

Consider that for a moment.

Curtis Martin didn’t do it. LeSean McCoy fell short; so did Dion Lewis. Not even Tony Dorsett could match it.

Dorsett held the best numbers with 717 yards in five games of 1973. I wish I knew what stretch that was so there could be a better comparison of competition, but I’m not going to go looking for 38 year-old box scores for a side note. Read the rest of the article for a bit on his high school days and recruitment. One more NJ player we can say thank you to Jeff Hafley.

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A dominating nationally televised effort on Thursday night earned Ray Graham a national offensive player of the week honor.

University of Pittsburgh junior running back Ray Graham has been named the Walter Camp Football Foundation’s National Offensive Player of the Week for his performance in the Panthers’ 44-17 victory over USF this past Thursday.

Graham (Elizabeth, N.J./Elizabeth) rushed for 226 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries (8.7 avg.) against previously unbeaten USF. He added four receptions for 42 yards.

The Walter Camp National Players of the Week are selected by a panel of national media members and administered by the Walter Camp Football Foundation.

A cool honor. I would assume that Graham will also be given his second Big East offensive player of the week honor tomorrow. The only competition is WVU RB Dustin Garrison who ran for 291 yards and 2 TDs on 32 carries, but it came against Bowling Green.

Can I get that Big East office paranoia out there now by wondering if the Providence offices would bypass Graham in favor of Garrison out of petulance towards Pitt? Too soon?