7:30 PM. Root Sports and assorted other RSNs.

Greetings from my couch.

Wife has bronchitis and the kids have been a special kind of crazy. So with her laid up, I have to be here to keep the peace. Does it serve me well later in the season when I will go to a game on her birthday and one of the kids is having a sleepover? Maybe, but that’s not important right now. What’s important is me being a good husband and father today — at least until the game starts.

This game has intrigue insofar as what Pitt’s much-maligned secondary can do. They have been torched, nuked, destroyed, exposed… whatever adjective you wish to use. Those were against three legitimate major conference teams, so what happens tonight?

I don’t know. You have a rather well-coached mid-major team with a QB that arguably could be playing in a major conference.

Litton threw for 2,605 yards as a freshman last season while leading Marshall to a 10-3 record.

Narduzzi stopped short of comparing the 6-foot-6, 211-pound Litton to another quarterback area fans know well. But he’s nonetheless impressed.

“I don’t want to say he’s (Ben) Roethlisberger,” Narduzzi said, “but he’s a tall guy who surprisingly eludes defenders.”

Litton wasn’t a high-profile recruit due to an injury during his junior year of high school in Tampa, Fla., but he had an offer from LSU.

“If he wasn’t injured as a junior,” Narduzzi said, “he might be playing at Alabama. I think he has a future. He has a lot of moxie.”

Perhaps a bit of hyperbole from Narduzzi, but until Pitt can stop the pass against a FBS team I can’t judge.

The Thundering Herd is nearly as bad as Pitt at defending the pass, so this could be a chance to see Pitt open up the offense a bit more. Not that Pitt will stop running the ball but it will be a chance to run a more balanced offense for at least a week.

Still, all eyes will be on the pass defense.