3:30 pm

ESPN

Morning. Going to put this up early because I have a lot to do before gametime. Heck, I still don’t know what beer I’ll be enjoying with the game. Just a lack of preparation on my part.

Here’s some alt-history to consider. After Pitt fired Foge Fazio as coach in 1985, the first place they looked was to Oklahoma St. head coach Pat Jones.

“I don’t know what would have happened,” [present OSU head coach Mike] Gundy said. “I liked Pat Jones. He was the reason why I came to Oklahoma State. If he takes the Pittsburgh job, he probably would have taken me up there with him.”

Rewind to November 1985, a few days after Gundy led Midwest City to the Class 5A state title:

Jones was OSU’s second-year head coach. Pittsburgh fired coach Foge Fazio. As OSU prepared for the Bedlam game (the infamous Ice Bowl), Jones was contacted by a Pitt representative about the Panthers’ job. At the time, the Cowboys were 8-2 and ranked 17th. Jones’ two-season record as the OSU head man was 18-4.

“I told the Pittsburgh people, ‘I don’t want to even think about it until after this OU ballgame,’ ” Jones recalls. “I did let them know that I would be interested and I did want to talk, but I didn’t want to talk yet. I told them to call Myron Roderick (then the OSU athletic director) because I didn’t want any under-the-table stuff going on.”

Jones admits to having been “intrigued” by the Pittsburgh possibility. Before moving to OSU with Jimmy Johnson in 1979, Jones had been a Jackie Sherrill assistant at Pittsburgh for one season.

After the Ice Bowl (a 13-0 Cowboy defeat), Jones met with the Pittsburgh athletic director in Dallas.

“My head was spinning,” Jones says. “ We were getting ready to play Florida State in Gator Bowl, we were recruiting and now we had this Pittsburgh thing. I was worn down. I was thinking, ‘Do I really want to do this?’ ”

OSU was having a run of coaching instability. Jimmy Johnson had came and went, and Jones was only in his 2d season. That prompted the OSU President to step in with a new contract for Jones and keep him in Stillwater.

If you are wondering why there is harping on Oklahoma’s lack of a running game. There is the historical nature of running backs at OSU. But it also stems from statements Gundy made after last season and during practices leading up to the season about committing to run the ball more. That just hasn’t happened.

Remember, too, that one major narrative entering the season focused on OSU’s commitment to become a better rushing team following two straight seasons of distressing decline in the run game. The Cowboys ranked No. 113 nationally in rushing a year ago. This season, albeit through just two weeks, they’re at No. 116, averaging 97 yards per game.

Used to be that 97 yards might represent a good half, individually even when it came to Barry Sanders or Thurman Thomas or Terry Miller or Ernest Anderson, even Kendall Hunter and Joseph Randle and Vernand Morency more recently.

It’s not like OSU’s current collection of backs has already been deemed lacking. None have been given a proper audition, at least in games. Despite the pledge to run the ball better, the Cowboys are running the ball less.

And don’t forget the offensive line’s place in the discussion, with much of the recent years’ struggles attributed to the men up front, who are working with their third position coach in four years.

I don’t know if OSU really will come out and try the run the ball to start, but if they do I like Pitt to stop them right away. While Pitt is very vulnerable to the passing game, getting the Cowboys to go one-dimensional improves Pitt’s chances at defending it better. At least in theory.

There’s no question that OSU will pass the ball a lot. That’s what Pitt is expecting.

“They like to chuck it deep, so we will be ready for that,” Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi said. “There are a bunch of different coverage adjustments we’re going to have to make. They’re fast, and their wideouts can play … There are some different things we need to do coverage-wise to eliminate the big plays.”

…

That downfield threat will keep Pitt’s defensive backs alert all game.

“It scares ya. If they connect on a few of those, they change the game,” Narduzzi said. “You can stop the run, stop the run. But those corners have a tough job locking up down there and doing their job.”

Just as OSU knows that Pitt will run the ball plenty.

Widely believed to be an area of strength heading into the season, the defensive line has delivered. It has been disruptive and disciplined in the first two games.

And in that group, no one is playing better than Motekiai Maile.

“He’s been a force,” Cowboy coach Mike Gundy said. “It’s been tough to move him.”

But on Saturday, Maile and the entire defensive line will be pushed like never before. Not only does Pitt have a power run game unlike anything OSU normally sees in the Big 12, but the Panthers also have gigantic and talented offensive linemen.

Three of the starters were on preseason award watch lists, and among the starters, center Alex Officer is the little guy at 6-foot-4, 335 pounds.

Things OSU fans/media will be watching to see will include the running game stopping Pitt’s and seeing if OSU’s can get on track, the big plays — which have actually been lacking in the first two games. And most importantly, the mood of OSU players and coaches after a week of not seemingly letting go of their CMU loss and the role the refs played.

Pitt, with a win will really start getting attention, nationally. Going from darkhorse/one of several possible contenders to win the ACC Coastal to sudden co-favorite with UNC. That would suddenly make next week’s game at Chapel Hill a remarkably early (potentially) deciding game for the division. But that is definitely getting ahead of things.