Happy Labor Day. Nothing like your boss announcing around noon, that, hey it turns out there’s a special project that needs done before 6 am on Tuesday. Just as I poured that first pint from a growler of Omnipollo Nebuchadnezzar. Let’s celebrate the American worker.

The Albany game was excellent in the first half and was at best perfunctory in the second. Not really complaining. Pitt put away an overmatched team early and never really gave them a chance for hope.

Maurice Ffrench began the season taking over as the primary kick returner with aplomb. Going 91 yards with the opening kick for a TD. He showed really good speed and vision. The entire special teams unit put out excellent blocking to spring French and make the score look easy.

Albany made Pitt worry a little as Vinny Testaverde, Jr. marched Albany down the field, only to be intercepted at the 2 yard line by Damar Hamlin [Insert all the jokes about Testaverde’s father, here]; and almost took it back for the full pick six.

Qadree Ollison showed off a somewhat slimmer — or at least more toned — physique and definitely played with more decisiveness. Hitting holes hard and quickly. The last year or so, Ollison seemed to be trying to pick his holes or wait for something bigger to develop. This game, he went where he was supposed to go and did not hesitate. The result was 73 carries on only 73 yards as he earned the spot of top tailback for now.

He and Darrin Hall both looked solid, but it was clear that both were going to be getting a light load. Ollison got his carries in the first half. Hall in the second. A.J. Davis got the work in between. He also looked very promising. The running backs piled up nearly 200 yards on the ground (238 total, but 42 were courtesy of QB Kenny Pickett). I know, hard to be absolutely sure when facing a 1-AA team that isn’t Youngstown State (or Villanova, right Temple?).

Pickett looked solid, not going deep very often but did connect with Taysir Mack on a good pass, and Araujo-Lopes looks as good as last year as the slot receiver. The cramp Pickett suffered late had a few held breaths, but wasn’t a great concern.

Overall, the passing game kept it short and vanilla. Just as expected. Only 169 yards in the air on 16-22 (with one interception) by Pickett for 154 yards, while Ricky Town added 15 with the one pass he threw.

Defensively, there weren’t any big complaints about the D-line and linebackers. The secondary, though, was a bit unnerving. Some of that was scheme. The DBs were definitely dropping back to keep the receivers in front of them. Playing off quite often which stopped most of the big plays, but allowed the passing yardage to pile up. Hard to say any of the DBs stood out in the game.

Certainly Hamlin had the INT with the return, along with Damari Mathis’ interception; but none of the players looked like they were locking down Albany’s receivers. Again, scheme played a role in that. Just if we are looking for the concern/issue coming out of the game. The DBs are the focus.

Now, it is time for Penn State week.

Amusing story from the press box: As the Pitt game ended and everyone was packing up to go down for the post game press conference. I saw on twitter that Appalachian State had come back from 31-17 to tie up Penn State. Instead of heading downstairs, I went into the cafeteria area where there is a bank of TVs. But, the BTN wasn’t on any channel.

Others — some of the interns and ACC/Pitt employees were there. One thought that BTN had been dropped from the package and pulled up the game on his phone. A growing crowd of us started standing around one guy’s phone watching the last 7 minutes or so of the game — well until with about 2 minutes left another person came in and found the remote and BTN on the TVs.

Still can’t believe that App State opted to try that 56 yard field goal on 4th and 4 with 15 seconds left. The whole crowd was exhorting ASU to go for it on 4th. They still had another timeout and could have gotten closer. Ah, well. Guess it’s better for this Saturday’s game.