It has to be hard. I mean it seems hard to believe Pitt could lose at home to Syracuse. What with all that has abruptly hit the Orange.

Pitt opened as a 18.5 – 19 point favorite. The line has already moved to around 20 to 20.5 after this morning.

Their best player, WR Mike Williams has suddenly quit the team. No official reasons are given. Williams has had academic issues, and was suspended for the Akron game — rumored to be for academics. Don’t expect an official reason. Williams now gets a jump on training for the NFL draft and becoming the latest $1million dollar talent/10-cent brain diva WR in the pros.

Starting senior QB Greg Paulus was booed at home  and the crowd cheered when redshirt freshman Ryan Nassib was sent in — that never happens anywhere. I mean, what kind of fans do that?

So bad that 1st year head coach Doug “tremendous” Marrone gave a tearfilled defense of Paulus this morning. This after the students didn’t show up for free tickets and the official turnout on “fan appreciation day” was somwhere around 33K.

Just turning into an ugly stagger to the final month in Syracuse football. This despite everyone knowing they would struggle, but actually playing hard for the new coach. As they try to dig out from 4 years of Greg Robinson’s attempt to kill the program. I mean, I almost feel pity for them.

Aw, screw it. It means that the next episode of the Octonion will be that much better.

Turning to Pitt.

Pitt won’t be looking past them. They are dangerous. They play hard. They play Pitt tough. That was your condensed version from Coach Wannstedt.

Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt has made it very clear that nobody at Pitt is looking forward to Notre Dame, West Virginia or Cincinnati because they are all focused on the Orange.

He said he expects this to be one of the toughest games the Panthers have played to this point and he has had his team focused on the Orange almost since the final seconds ticked off the clock from their 41-14 win against South Florida Saturday.

Wannstedt said the Orange may not have a great record, but they have a great history and they also look like a team on the rise again.

“Pitt had a long streak when they didn’t beat Syracuse,” Wannstedt said. “Syracuse is one of those programs with great tradition, great academics. They can go around the country and recruit. Last year we were down by 11 in the fourth quarter. The year before it was 10-10 halfway through the fourth quarter.

“It’s a conference game and it’s Pitt-Syracuse. And we better be ready to play better than we have.”

I have to admit. I don’t think Pitt will cover. Syracuse will give a fight for the first half. I do expect Pitt to be more conservative. Dare I say, a little frustrating. Still, for the first time in a long time, I am still expecting an easy win in conference. Don’t make me look foolish for open optimism.

Hey, the guys are in shape. All hail Buddy Morris.

“When we first got here,” Morris recalled, “I looked around and said: ‘What have we gotten ourselves into?’ ”

Morris, now in his third stint with Pitt, didn’t panic. But he was concerned the Panthers had too many overweight linemen, who were poorly conditioned and lacked sufficient strength to make it through the season without sustaining injuries.

Morris immediately changed Pitt’s workout plan. More importantly, he altered the attitude in the weight room.

“I’m the one who gets excited and throws fits,” said Morris, who spent four seasons (2002-2005) with the Cleveland Browns. “James is the one who calms everyone down.”

There is no yawning. No sitting. No jewelry. No do-rags.

And no one is allowed to bend down during an exhaustive workout.

“There are some guys who come to conquer the workout,” Morris said. “Then, there are those who come to survive the workout with minimal effort. We used to have too many survivors, but now the conquerors outnumber the survivors.”

The ‘Cuse game is the 65th meeting and only in the last few years has Pitt gone above .500. The record stands at 31-30-3.