On paper, this should be a relatively easy win for Virginia Tech. They have been slowly, steadily, ploddingly improving in their offense. Their defense has been outstanding all season. They are at home. They have revenge on their mind. By contrast, Pitt is still a big question mark. Inconsistent performances on both sides of the ball in consecutive games. Barely surviving their one road game this season.

And yet…

Virginia Tech fans want to be confident but can’t help but worry. They haven’t beaten Pitt in the last four tries. Not since a nail-biter in Blacksburg in 2000. Which feeds into a rare sense of confidence by Pitt fans. Not that Pitt will beat VT, but that it isn’t going to be a one-sided blowout.

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No game for Pitt, but their next opponent is playing Virginia Tech gets to see about how healthy they can make their offense look against North Carolina. This is the ACC Game of the week, so if you want to track it down, here’s the list of affiliates for the game.

Otherwise it’s just a day to sit back with the beverage of your choice (growler of Southern Tier’s Unearthly is my pick this weekend).

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Just because, it seems that I should at least say something….

I don’t know.

It’s not like the details from the charges filed based on the complaint make this any clearer. I know what Tyrone Ezell is accused of doing, but there is nothing reported as to what he said happened, other than claiming innocence on the charges.

This is a domestic dispute that will be a he-said/she-said. The police arrived afterwards so they only see the aftermath and the statements taken from the involved parties.

Nothing about this is neat and tidy. I doubt the hearing — if/when it finally happens — will clear this up any more than the allegations in the complaint.

I think Coach Paul Chryst adopted the wait-and-see on this matter for the simple reason that it is too messed-up to draw a clean conclusion. Do you suspend him because he was with his father to confront the person believed to have assaulted his sister, and it all went south? Do you even let him play if he is alleged to have punched a woman in the face in the midst of this?

The only thing that has me truly surprised is that this has been unknown and unreported for over two months.

Pitt has its 18th recruit in the 2014 football class. JaQuan Davidson from Elizabeth Forward gave his verbal yesterday. For his high school, Davidson plays quarterback, but that is mainly because he is an outstanding athlete/playmaker and the goal is to make sure he has the ball as frequently as possible. He’s classified as an “athlete” by recruiting sites, with the expectation that he will either play wide receiver in the offense or could be a safety on defense.

He’s a 2-star player per Rivals.com. Scout.com, ESPN.com and 247 have him at 3-stars. His size is anywhere from 6-2 to 6-4 and 170-180 pounds.

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Tyrone Ezell, he of the earlier suspension, just got arrested for punching a woman in a ‘family brawl’.   This is like one of those math questions that are so confusing there is no real answer:

“Police responding to a report of a fight went to the East 16th Avenue home of Michelle Butler. Butler told police Heaven Franklin-Pitts and her relatives, Tyrone and Albert Ezell, came to her home and accused her daughter of jumping Franklin-Pitts earlier that day. Butler told police she had her daughter, Rayon Williams, 14, step outside and Franklin-Pitts attacked her. When Butler tried to help, she said Albert Ezell punched her. When another daughter, Fendi Taylor, 21, stepped in, Tyrone Ezell punched her in the mouth, according to the criminal complaint filed against Tyrone Ezell.”

Here is a bit more on it:

http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/4818891-74/ezell-police-butler#axzz2gNC4putm

Ah, the pause. It’s Thursday and by now it is usually all about the game on Saturday. About the match-ups. What the teams thinks. The injuries.

Instead it is merely a review of what games are on for Saturday. The best viewing options at each step (Noon/12:30: Md-FSU, PSU-Ind,  NC-VT with MSU-Iowa likely to reprise the UVa-Pitt game in terms of slogging; 3:30: GT-Miami, K-State-OSU; Third shift: ASU-ND, OSU-Northwestern, Ole Miss-Auburn, Wash-Stanford).

It gives Pitt a chance to rest and regroup. Not to mention coaches hitting the road for recruiting trips. Not to mention some more recognition for Tyler Boyd.

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In the end, Kevin Stallings and Vanderbilt’s vindictiveness will cost Sheldon Jeter around $8000 and a delay to his education by a year. That’s my rough estimation of the costs Jeter and his family are probably incurring for this year. The travel costs to and from Florida, living expenses and tuition down at Polk Junior College. That may not sound like much in the big picture. But keep in mind this is because of the vindictiveness of a coach that makes nearly $2 million per year and a university that has an endowment of over $3 billion.

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Not really that much needs to be said on the Pitt side. I mean, it’s a win. The defense feels better about itself than it did after Duke. Pitt did just enough on offense to get the win. The cost being Tom Savage getting hit a lot. Eventually suffering “concussion-like symptoms” which has now been upgraded to a mild concussion.

It still amazed me that no targeting penalty was called on that hit. From the press box, there was a lot of amazement that no call was made. Coach Paul Chryst was asked about it after the game.

Chryst said Virginia linebacker Daquan Romero’s hit to the head of quarterback Tom Savage is what the NCAA is trying to eliminate with its new rule that calls for the offending player to be ejected.

“Yes, I think so,” he said.

Romero wasn’t ejected, however and no penalty was called. Chryst spoke to the official after the play, but he declined to reveal their conversation.

“I really believe there is not one official that isn’t for that (making the game safer),” he said.

Those comments came from a question during the post-game the press conference. Chryst also added after that, “And… I’m going to stop there.” He just decided that he wasn’t going to finish the obvious thought that the officials really, really missed that call.

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