Happy Memorial Day to all who served, their families and our Active Duty members serving today.  Today is a when our thoughts should turn to more serious things other than sports and college football.  Let’s wish for safe passages to our current service members both home and abroad and give a hearty thank you very much to all who have served in the past.

One personal note: When you think of our service members and the missions they undertake remember that what our citizenry sees publicly is the tip of the iceberg of what their responsibilities and duties really are. It truly is a 24/7/365 job and let us also appreciate that at any moment their phone may ring and they could be on a flight within the hour to anywhere in the world to keep us safe and healthy.

Bravo Zulu to all!!

But hey- we are also Pitt football fans on this Memorial Day so here goes –

Everyone loves talking about the upcoming Pitt -Penn State game that will be played at Heinz Field on September 10th.  It will be a noteworthy game in many ways – first time the teams met since we beat them in 2000; a PSU coach who may be on the hot seat sooner than later; bragging rites for recruiting the state of Pennsylvania, and last, but not least, in Pitt fan’s books – James Conner’s return to playing in a big game.

All-in-all it will be a great day for college football even though some of the shine has come of both of the school’s programs as of late. That late season loss to Pitt back in 2000 gave Penn State a 5-7  record and shoved them into a tailspin the following years.  You can be certain that their fans remember that.

Jerry DiPaola of the Trib-Review was reporter Dustin Hockensmith’s  guest on a State College local news outlet: PENN Live’s Keystone Sports Radio Network, giving his insights into the renewed series.  As expected within the first minute or so the host states “You guys have had a problem filling up the place (Heinz)“.  Duh. Hey, even if it is true do we have to get that at the very beginning of what should be a non-biased discussion?

It was pretty typical neutered football talk – You guys are good, we have problems, blah….  Here are some interesting notes but listen for yourself here.

Penn State football podcast: Glancing at the Pitt-PSU rivalry with Jerry DiPaola of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

PSU is dealing with a new OC, DC and QB.  RB Saquon Barkley had a very nice true FR year with this record.  He isn’t the fastest guy but a 5.9 YPC average says he’s not easy to bring down either.

The media is extremely high on Barkley going into 2016.  ESPN has gone so far as to name him a Heisman candidate:

“With the exception of Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett, no player in the Big Ten is on the radar in early Heisman handicapping. Barkley could vault into the conversation with a big September. And he’s primed for a huge sophomore season as the Nittany Lions attempt to ease the transition for a new quarterback. Barkley emerged in a big way in 2015, shattering the Penn State freshman rushing record with 1,076 yards. He broke off runs of 56 yards against Michigan and Ohio State and led the Big Ten, ranking 11th nationally, with 16 runs of 20 yards or longer.

“At 5-foot-11 and 220 pounds, he’s built to endure punishment. And who doesn’t appreciate a physical back in the Penn State white and blue? The opportunity for statement performances arrive early at rival Pitt and in the league opener at Michigan.”

QB Trace McSorley has risen to take the departed, and drafted, Christian Hackenberg’s place behind a good PSU offensive line.  His FR year stats aren’t that great but he played in only six games and can build on that.  He reminds me of Trey Anderson a bit.

Speaking of fans DiPaola thinks it will be a 60/40 split, heavy on the Pitt side, of fans in the stadium.  Let’s hope not but it probably will be that way.  We need a quick 10 points at least to shut those PSU fans up right away.

ESPN has a short piece on the ACC’s Coastal division’s recruiting of wide receivers:

Pittsburgh

2016 signees: Three-star Ruben Flowers and three-star Aaron Matthews

2017 commitments: N/A

Overview: Pittsburgh will lose starter Dontez Ford following the season, and needs to add both depth and playmaking to the position. The Panthers have both in-state and out-of-state targets, with ESPN 300 Mark Webb and Darian Street high on the in-state board with Street a more likely option of the two.

Interesting that ESPN would leave out a kid who a lot of Pitt fans and media types feel may be the best of the ’16 WR class in Maurice Ffrench.  He’s a speedster as seen in those 100 yard dash records he holds.  With the WR corps being still undecided as to the two-deep past Ford and Challingsworth Ffrench may just sneak into some games and a true ffreshmen.

Switching gears: ESPN then goes on with an article about the revenue the ACC pulled in and how it was distributed to the various teams:

The ACC reported $403 million in revenue for the 2014-15 year, according to its federal tax return, up $100 million from the previous year.

The 14 full-time football-playing schools received an average of $26.2 million — putting the ACC third among the Power 5 conferences. Notre Dame, a member in all sports but football, received $6.2 million.

Why the increase? The added revenue includes the $31 million exit fee from Maryland and a much bigger payout from the College Football Playoff. In 2014-15, the ACC received $94.2 million in bowl payments alone. Television money accounted for $217.9 million.

Based on distributions to each program, Florida State received the highest payout at $27.6 million, while Syracuse got the lowest at nearly $24 million.  ACC commissioner John Swofford made $2.7 million, nearly $600,000 more than he made the previous year.

In addition, the league also paid its schools more than $11.6 million in championship reimbursements, which is not reflected in the payout figures.

The ACC has clearly benefited financially from expansion. In 2013-14, revenue increased $70 million with Pitt, Syracuse and Notre Dame in their first year as league members. So essentially, the ACC went from $232 million in revenue in 2012-13 to more than $400 million in its latest financial report. The next big target is trying to complete a long-awaited ACC Network.

The SEC and Big Ten both distributed more than $30 million to each of their programs. Both have their own television networks that provide extensive revenues.

Folks, this is quickly becoming the way of the safer football world…. The PIAA has dropped the limit of ‘hitting’ in football practices from 90 minutes per week to 60.

Concerning football, the PIAA’s new rule is a continuation of the organization’s effort to reduce the amount of hitting that goes on at practices. The PIAA first had a rule that teams could only hit three days a week during the regular season. Two years ago, the PIAA passed a rule limiting hitting to 90 minutes a week.

The new rule approved Wednesday limits the hitting in practices to 60 minutes a week.

The PIAA also considered a new rule that would prevent teams from allowing players to use shoulder pads in offseason workouts. Under the current rule, players can use helmets and shoulder pads in those workouts. A two-thirds majority was needed to pass the rule. There are 31 members of the PIAA board and only 27 were present to vote and the new rule was favored by only a 19-8 count, short of the two thirds needed.

This isn’t new and it won’t stop here either.  Successful coaches have had no-tackling practices and had their teams win championships even in college ball:

This is a very interesting read about St. John’s now-retired HC John Gagliardi who for 40+ years had a no-tackling, among other things, policy in place for his players.  Funny thing this – he focused on skills, talent and execution and won more games that any football coach ever:

Last week, Gagliardi, 86, retired. And with him goes a doctrine, completely foreign to most in his business, that isn’t likely to be adopted. Sad to say that — even in the midst of compiling a 489-138-11 record that blows away the records of Eddie Robinson, Bear Bryant, Amos Alonzo Stagg and Pop Warner — Gagliardi’s style was seen as “not transferable” by a St. John’s administrator.

“If it were,” said Father Roman Paur, the school’s vice president of student affairs and overseer of the athletic department, “it would have been transferred.”

Gagliardi had a “No” list that would shock anyone in the football establishment, including the edict that there would be no tackling allowed in practice. “We haven’t made a tackle on the practice field since 1958,” he said recently.

And here is the meat of the matter:

“I’d get some kids,” he said, “when they first came in, ask me, ‘How do I prove I can play? Who do I hit or kill?’ That’s not the way to make a tackle. First, you’ve got to line up in the right spot. You’ve got to go to the right spot. You’ve got to figure out where the ball is. You’ve got to not get blocked. You’ve got to pressure the ball.

“You do all that, eventually you’ll make the tackle. Besides, if you’re in the hospital, you won’t make the tackle. And I hate visiting hospitals. If we tackle in practice, who do we hurt? Our own quarterback and running back. They’re human. They’ve got knees and mothers.”

Now that may not fly in D1 college ball although I think we’ll see the NCAA keep lowering the limit of contact days in the spring and fall camps – but this approach certainly can, and has, worked both in high school and lower division college ball… Gagliardi isn’t the only winning coach with this style.

It is refreshing to read that a head coach looked closely at what were the considered ‘norms’ of football, thought outside of the box, instituted and executed those plans… and won championships.

In Saturday’s podcast I mentioned how Pitt did when a star WR departed and other(s) fleeted up into that #1WR spot.  Here is the table I read from.