Nothing much on the game. Just a lot of sidebar stuff in the papers. Quick rundown.
Palko’s grandma is a typical Catholic ND fan that wanted Tyler to go to Notre Dame. A couple years ago Pat and I did a roadie to South Bend. At a couple rest stops, Pat kept running into guys he knows in Pittsburgh — from his Hibernian order — going to the game to root for ND. As we were driving away, he just shook his head in frustration. None of the guys went to ND and a few even went to Pitt.
The missed 52 yard field goal by Cummings that Harris initially called a “flinch.” According to Cummings, the problem was the snap was late and he had to pause in his kick to wait for the ball to be placed.
Yesterday was Coach Walt Harris’ birthday. He turned 58.
About the only thing working in Pitt’s favor now, might be Notre Dame’s letdowns before big games. Before they beat Michigan and Tennessee, they lost to Bringham Young and BC. After they face Pitt they go to play USC. Sure, why not. This will be the last game between the two teams for a while. Both say they want to continue playing annually, but ND is looking at reworking its schedule to have 7 home games a year. Be nice if we could do to them what we did in a final game for the foreseeable future against Penn State.
Joe Bendel’s Big East notebook for ESPN.com
Coach Walt Harris, who is no stranger to the hot seat, is feeling the heat again in the aftermath of a 38-31 double-overtime loss at Syracuse. His team (5-3, 3-2) held a 24-21 lead throughout the fourth quarter, but yielded a late-game, 70-yard field goal drive that sent it to overtime. The shoe finally dropped when tailback Ray Kirkley was stopped short on fourth-and-one in the second session. Had the Panthers won, they’d be a victory shy of winning a share of the Big East title. As it is, they’re not sure if a bowl bid is in their future. They play at Notre Dame (6-3) on Saturday, then play host to WVU (8-1) on Thanksgiving night. They are expected to lose those games, which means their postseason hopes could ride on a Dec. 4 meeting at South Florida (3-4). Harris is being closely scrutinized, and the Syracuse loss might have sealed his fate.
Sophomore quarterback Tyler Palko might not make an All-Big East team — the league is loaded with QBs such as Rasheed Marshall (WVU), Dan Orlovsky (UConn), Ryan Hart (Rutgers), Paul Peterson (BC) and Walter Washington (Temple) — but he is the lifeblood of the Panthers. As he goes, they go, and he nearly led another comeback Saturday by throwing for 342 yards with three scores in overcoming a 21-6 first-half deficit. He called the game’s final play during a timeout — Kirkley’s failed run on a weakside toss — but you wonder why Harris didn’t veto and put the ball in Palko’s hands. Palko has a knack for making plays, and, it says here, he would have found a way to get that crucial first down.
Harris has dubbed Pitt Wide Receiver U. — and with good reason. He’s coached Biletnikoff Award winners Antonio Bryant and Larry Fitzgerald, while also producing the Big East’s top receiver in six of his seven seasons. His newest star is sophomore Greg Lee, who ranks eighth nationally at 104 receiving yards per game. Lee has posted four 100-yard games, including a nine-catch, 188-yard effort against Syracuse that saw him pull in a one-handed, 57-yard touchdown. Lee averages 20.8 yards per catch and has 40 receptions for 832 yards.
In his rundown of the teams he notes that Rutgers was held to under 100 yards rushing in 7 of its last 8 games and BC has gone 2 straight games with under 100 yards rushing. Kind of suggests that Pitt’s run defense was being padded by opponents with overhyped running games. Against better backs (Brockington of UConn and Syracuse’s two guys) Pitt’s run defense isn’t much better than last year.
