Considering the Big East just got $20 million from West Virginia, another $5 million from TCU and $5 million more from Pitt and Syracuse as part of their initial money pay to depart, you would think the Big East would have no excuse for repeating last year’s inexcusable screw-up of running out of lobsters in the Big East clambake. But no, for a second straight year the lobsters were gone before the players were done trying to set records.

Pitt, however, finished an embarrassingly bad last place in the unofficial rankings. Only 2 lobsters consumed? Can’t tell you how disappointed I am in this performance.

Thanks to Twitter the results of the Big East Media Poll are already known. Pitt is picked to finish 5th in the conference this year.

1. Louisville
2. USF
3. Rutgers
4. Cinci
5. Pitt
6. UConn
7. Syracuse
8. Temple

On the plus side, it will be harder to disappoint expectations with that as the preseason spot.

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It’s the start of Big East Media Days today. Next week, Pitt starts fall practices. That means camp updates, obsessing over the smallest things. Blowing things out of proportion when it suits our notions (Sunseri had a bad day! Voytik and a good day! ZOMG! Chryst is totally going to start Voytik over Sunseri! That is unless the Sunseri family doesn’t use their booster connections to force Chryst to play Sunseri!).

The Big East gets to put on its happy face with two lameduck teams, a team they had to bring back after kicking them out nearly a decade ago. And all of their myriad of problems.

That’s because Big East football will have teams in four time zones, will have three members who are football-members only (Navy, Boise State and San Diego State) and 10 schools which are full members (Central Florida, Houston, Memphis, SMU, Rutgers, Connecticut, Temple — the Owls will be a football member this year and a full member next year — Cincinnati, South Florida and Louisville).

And the conference also has to appease Notre Dame — for the time being at least — which plays everything but football in the conference as well as seven other schools (Villanova, Georgetown, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John’s, DePaul and Marquette) whose primary revenue sport is men’s basketball because they don’t field Division I-A football teams.

The Big East will be a 21-team league, starting in 2015, yet Bailey has told anyone who will listen that the league can survive in this fashion and said that the league’s strength is in its diversity.

…

Beyond that, the two biggest challenges facing the new commissioner will be negotiating a new and lucrative television package as well as finding a way to remain relevant in the national championship discussion and major bowls.

That is when they can find a commissioner that fits what they want.

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So, yes. Joe Starkey noticed the poll I ran just after the Freeh Report and  a week before the Paterno statue was removed. Just part of his overall piece he wrote why Pitt should play PSU.

The topic lit up the airwaves, where the overwhelming sentiment was to renew at least for the two games. The blog PittBlather.com received more than 600 replies to a poll asking whether fans still want to see Pitt-Penn State.

The No. 1 answer (29 percent) was yes, depending on “what steps Penn State takes in light of the Freeh Report.” That was followed by 25 percent saying yes unconditionally and 21 percent saying absolutely not.

Now, Joe Starkey did me the unnecessary courtesy of e-mailing me several days before his column with some questions about the poll, and letting me know he was planning to mention it. (Not the content of his column, just that he was going to mention it.) So I knew something was coming.

Do I agree with what he said? That Pitt should play PSU “first in the name of collegiality”? No. To put it bluntly, screw that.

Playing the game to guarantee a sell out? Um, isn’t that just about the money? That’s not far removed from the reasons Penn State’s powers did what they did with pretending Sandusky wasn’t doing obscene acts with minors in their own football building. That’s the worst reason to play.

Overall, I am still undecided about my feelings on those games in four years. My impulse is still to play. The history. The connections within my family. That all means a lot, and comes into play. It colors my perspective rather strongly in favor of playing PSU.

But when I think about the actions by the powers at Penn State. All to protect the legacy of Paterno. To protect their reputation. To protect their cash cow. It becomes a bit harder to justify resuming playing PSU. Even for only a couple years.

A few links/stories not directly related to Pitt but putting out there.

Northwestern has been Under Armour-ized. It’s not good. It’s not Maryland bad, but in the Big 10 it is radical.

Want to see how a lot of teams will probably (or should) schedule in the ACC when they go to a 9 game schedule? Virginia Tech is a good example.

The 2015 Akron game that was listed on Tech’s website under future schedules has been canceled.

The Hokies’ nonconference schedule in the next few years looks like this:

2013: vs. Alabama in Atlanta, vs. Marshall, vs. Western Carolina

2014: vs. William and Mary, at Ohio State, vs. Western Michigan

2015: vs. Furman, vs. Ohio State, vs. East Carolina

2016: vs. Wisconsin, vs. Liberty, at East Carolina

By being pushed back, the East Carolina series would have one more home-and-home cycle in 2017 and ’18.

The Hokies also are scheduled for a trip to Wisconsin in 2017 to satisfy that home-and-home agreement…

Every year has one marquee non-con. VT relies a little heavy on local 1-AA foes for an extreme patsy for my tastes. The third game isn’t bad. Especially with the always dangerous ECU team out there.

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Can we please put to rest the asinine argument that the NCAA somehow over stepped its authority to levy sanctions against Penn State for PSU’s actions during Sandusky’s period of committing child abuse and for their role in covering that up?

We have read time and again in the past five days from people who don’t agree with what happened that Mark Emmert and the NCAA boards circumvented established NCAA bylaws when they determined that PSU was responsible and thus punishable in regards to the findings of the PSU commissioned and accepted Freeh Report.  It is complete misdirection by Penn State apologists and by others who fear that the same type actions could be levied against their schools for similar infractions.

May I suggest these people go to the source itself to see just how the NCAA arrived at their decision making and for what basis they had in doing so?  I believe that the most vocal protesters of the NCAA’s actions in this case don’t want to read or discuss what is found there for fear they would lose a public platform to try to keep Penn State’s reputation, such as it is now, intact.

If anyone has a computer and two working fingers one can find the NCAA’s Constitutional References that PSU did not comply with in this case and how that non-compliance was used as a basis for NCAA sanctions.  These are listed under the NCAA’s “Authority to Act” explaination.  Thus is the meat behind this statement from Emmert at his press conference before he announced the sanctions on Monday:

Our Constitution and bylaws make it perfectly clear that the Association exists not simply to promote fair play on the field, but to insist that athletics programs provide positive moral models for our students, enhance the integrity of higher education, and promote the values of civility, honesty and responsibility.  The sanctions we are imposing are based upon these most fundamental principles of the NCAA.

With these intentions in mind, the Executive Committee, the Division I Board and I have agreed to the following sanctions…

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Still no Pitt basketball schedule. Most of the hold-up has been presumed to be because of the quest to find a halfway decent team to play at home after Pitt foolishly counted on playing in the SEC/Big East challenge. It also seems that the Preseason NIT hasn’t quite figured out the way they want to set things.

The other holdup is the preseason NIT, a four-game event. Pitt will play two of the following teams at the Petersen Events Center: Robert Morris, Fordham and Lehigh.

Given Pitt’s annual series with Robert Morris, I am guessing event organizers will do everything they can to make sure RMU is one of those teams to play the Panthers.

If the other team is Lehigh, the Panthers will be in for a tough game. Lehigh upset Duke in the first round of the NCAA tournament in March and returns its best player – C.J. McCollum, who decided to return to school rather than enter his name in the NBA draft.

If Lehigh is the opponent it could end up being one of the most important games of the year. Teams in the preseason NIT have to go 2-0 in pool play to advance to the semifinal round at Madison Square Garden.

Should Pitt be upset, the Panthers would not get to play two of the following three BCS opponents (Michigan, Kansas State and Virginia) at the Garden and instead would have to settle for two more games against mid-major or low-major teams at the Petersen Events Center.

That could be disastrous for Pitt. It would be entirely possible then that the Panthers would not play one BCS conference opponent in non-conference play.

Yes, it’s a risk for Pitt to play Lehigh, but given the rest of their non-con it seems worth it. Pitt will need bumps to its non-con and Lehigh — beyond simply the games at MSG — would help. Just something to add to the urgency.

ESPN.com’s college basketball side of things has been doing conference looks for the past week or so. The Big East came in for its look.

In the best-case/worst case scenarios there is the one reason to worry.

Pittsburgh

Best-case scenario: It’s time for the Panthers to reboot after an uncharacteristically bad season. The good news? The No. 4-ranked center in the class of 2012, New Zealand-born Steven Adams, has been enlisted in the cause, as has No. 4-ranked point guard James Robinson, both of whom should be ready to contribute right away. Point guard Tray Woodall is back and healthy, while Talib Zanna and Dante Taylor form a fearsome offensive rebounding force — the one redeeming aspect of Pitt’s 2012 season. This team may not compete for the Big East title, but with all this talent, a return to the normalcy of the NCAA tournament is well within reach.

Worst-case scenario: The Panthers have incoming talent, sure, but freshmen are rarely great defenders out of the box, and what the Panthers need is defense: They finished ranked just No. 151 the country in defensive efficiency last season. If Pitt doesn’t guard someone, its fans may have to swallow a foundation-building transition year, which is a polite way of saying a bad one.

The defense is not something that we’ve thought about/discussed too much. Ashton Gibbs was not a good defensive player, yes. But all the defensive problems cannot be pinned on him (or Nasir Robinson). We don’t know how well Trey Zeigler plays defense at this level. None of the returning players were consistent on defense. There’s hope based on the CBI that Zanna is “getting it” on the defense. But, we just don’t know for sure.

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Pitt wasn’t there. But they and Syracuse came up in the conversation. Primarily in the context of how well they fit in the shape of the conference.

In the days before their 2003 and 2004 expansion, the ACC liked that they could claim that all their members were geographically contiguous.  Then they added Boston College and they had an outlier. With the addition of Pitt and Cuse, the connection is reestablished and the ACC really does live up to its name.

And Pitt and Syracuse were natural additions to the league because they fit the profile academically and athletically. He said the geographic fit was perfect as well because the two schools fill a gap between Maryland and Boston College.

Swofford said that it was easy to add Pitt and Syracuse because both schools are so similar to most of the current schools in the ACC and that both have plenty of potential for growth.

“I think what attracted this conference to Pitt as well as Syracuse relates to the balance or athletics and academics, their history of athletics and the potential of that program to grow going forward and the quality of the institutions,” Swofford said. “I know a lot of people are cynical about [the importance of academics] in terms of expansion, but if you sat in and listened to an expansion discussion with our presidents it definitely does matter.

“And Pitt and Syracuse both fit the profile collectively of the other 12 schools in the ACC as far being in the top 100 of academic institutions, their athletic numbers were good in terms of graduation rates, etc., and geographically the two schools have given us the opportunity to be contiguous from state to state, and competitively we felt like they fit well.

“A lot of it was about fit. I mean institutionally and academically as well as athletically and certainly, in this instance, geographically as well.”

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In the first 24 hours or so after the NCAA announced the sanctions on Penn State, there was a feeding frenzy expected for Penn State football players who had the freedom to transfer without sitting a year. Some top targets are almost viewed as rentals — juniors and seniors.

No surprise that PSU Coach Bill O’Brien is putting on a brave front, and talking of keeping the players together. It’s not so easy with the present recruiting class, as you would expect. But so far it seems to be working with plenty of present players saying they are not leaving.

Starting quarterback Matt McGloin, starting cornerbacks Stephon Morris and Adrian Amos, running back Bill Belton and wide receiver Allen Robinson all said they are staying at Penn State through social media.

Offensive tackle Mike Farrell, a Shady Side Academy graduate, and Fox Chapel product Miles Dieffenbach each told the Tribune-Review that they will remain at Penn State.

This shouldn’t be a big surprise. It also shouldn’t stop coaches at other schools from staying in touch with these players. This is a year-long courtship. Not a two week window.

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In case you missed it, Pitt fans got to have a bit of fun on Twitter yesterday.

The Panther faithful hijacked a Twitter thread designed for fans to ask questions of Arizona State coach and former Pitt coach Todd Graham at Pac-12 media day on Tuesday afternoon, Within an hour, the #AskASU hashtag became one of the top trending stories in Pittsburgh on the social website.

Initially set up by the Arizona State social media director to take serious questions for the first-year Sun Devil coach, the #AskASU thread was quickly bombarded with hundreds of “questions” from testy Pitt fans.

Graham, who unceremoniously left Pitt for Arizona State after one year and informed his players by text of his decision, was derided for everything from his high-octane offense to his lack of loyalty.

The hashtag was the No. 2 trend in Pittsburgh on Twitter by mid-afternoon Tuesday, getting upwards of 20 new tweets every minute. There were roughly 300 “questions” in the first hour and the traffic increased rapidly after that, drawing interest from national college football writers.

Deadspin posted on the bit too. A lot of credit should go to the guys at Cardiac Hill, who really led the dog pile of fun then kept it going. Some small factual corrections/background to the story, though, is needed.

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I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on. I will not pile on.  I will not pile on…

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Some of the choice words from NCAA President Mark Emmert:

“As we evaluated the situation, the victims affected by Jerry Sandusky and the efforts by many to conceal his crimes informed our actions,” said Emmert. “At our core, we are educators. Penn State leadership lost sight of that.”

According to the NCAA conclusions and sanctions, the Freeh Report “presents an unprecedented failure of institutional integrity leading to a culture in which a football program was held in higher esteem than the values of the institution, the values of the NCAA, the values of higher education, and most disturbingly the values of human decency.”

…

“We cannot look to NCAA history to determine how to handle circumstances so disturbing, shocking and disappointing,” said Emmert. “As the individuals charged with governing college sports, we have a responsibility to act. These events should serve as a call to every single school and athletics department to take an honest look at its campus environment and eradicate the ‘sports are king’ mindset that can so dramatically cloud the judgment of educators.”

Strong words, but do they really mean anything in the big picture of trying to send a message about the culture where, ” ‘Sports are the king’ mindset”?

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Earlier this morning the president of the NCAA, Mark Emmert, made public the sanctions against Penn State university for their administration’s action and inaction in the Jerry Sandusky scandal.  They are as follows:

1. A fine of $60 million dollars to be held in trust for child abuse awareness and prevention organizations.  The monies cannot be taken out of the athletic department funds nor can it impact any of the sports teams at PSU.  This is what he meant when he said the sanctions would also be “against the school” as opposed to only the football program.

2. Four-year reduction of grants-in-aid. For a period of four years commencing with the 2013-2014 academic year and expiring at the conclusion of the 2016-2017 academic year, the NCAA imposes a limit of 15 initial grants-in-aid (from a maximum of 25 allowed) and for a period of four years commencing with the 2014-2015 academic year and expiring at the conclusion of the 2017-2018 academic year a limit of 65 total grants-in-aid (from a maximum of 85 allowed) for football during each of those specified years. In the event the total number of grants-in-aid drops below 65, the University may award grants-in-aid to non-scholarship student-athletes who have been members of the football program as allowed under Bylaw 15.5.6.3.6.

3. A four year ban on playing post-season bowl games.

4. All current players can transfer without eligibility restrictions.

5. Vacating of all wins from the 1998 season to the 2011 season and recorded in the record books. This appears to be completely punitive but IMO fits the transgressions.  This drops Paterno to 5th in all time D1 wins.

The key punishment here as far as playing football goes is the cap of 65 scholarships on the roster starting with the 2104 season and for four years until the 2017 season.  Suffice to say the quality of Penn State football will be down for at least a decade

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Well, it has been an active 24 hours or so, hasn’t it?

The Joe Paterno statue has been removed. Reports swirl of unprecedented sanctions from the NCAA — that Penn State won’t fight — and quickly verbal commits start hedging on their future.

NCAA President Mark Emmert is going to be conducting a press conference this morning at 9am to lay things out on Penn State. This is all uncharted territory, but everything about this Penn State scandal is uncharted territory for college athletics and the NCAA.

Yahoo Sports reported on Sunday, citing two sources, that Mr. Emmert has been able to skip the normal enforcement procedure as part of a provision allowed in the NCAA constitution by getting permission from the NCAA’s board of directors. The board comprises 18 university presidents and chancellors.

Coincidentally, former Penn State president Graham Spanier endorsed the need for swift decisions by the board, like the type it has reportedly taken, at a summit of NCAA presidents last August.

“The board needs to be prepared to take stronger actions directly,” he said.

We’ll all find out in just a short while. Twitter may break on this one.

Yes, I am blatantly stealing this idea from Nunes. Too good not to do an info-dump version for Pitt.

The final year for Pitt in the Big East. Next year, it’s the ACC. So, time to take a historical look at the most played teams, the past and future. The list is of the teams Pitt has played 20 or more times.

Most Played Teams in Pitt Football

1. West Virginia: 104, 61-40-3. Like it or not, you know at some point the Backyard Brawl will be played once more.

2. Penn State: 96, 42-50-4. Unless this resumes as a full-time series.

3. (tie) Notre Dame: 67, 20-46-1. Sadly, this is not the most lopsided historical record on the list.

 3. (tie) Syracuse: 67, 34-30-3. You would think both sides would care more about this series, as within the next 5 years or so Pitt will be their most played opponent and Cuse remains a top-3. Yet you would be hard pressed to find a fan on either side who circles this game on the calendar.

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