Strange school in a way. First, it’s the University at Buffalo. Not “of.” They can get touchy about that.

Second, they make you think of malt liquor.

Buffalo Bulls Mascot vs. Schlitz Malt Liquor Blue Bull

Maybe colored by experience of knowing which one has kicked my ass, I find the Schlitz bull more fearsome.

Pitt of course, needs a win. Buffalo actually kicked the crud out of UTEP 42-17, so they can score and play some defense. Pitt is saying what is expected.

“I will be the first to tell you, we aren’t looking past UB,” said Pitt receiver Derek Kinder, a product of Albion High School. “We have to get a victory to get the season started. Buffalo is an up-and-coming team, they’ve made strides and they’re looking to come in with a victory on Saturday and feel they have a good chance at winning.”

Pitt’s 2007 season crumbled with losses to Michigan State, Navy, Cincinnati and Rutgers by a touchdown or less. Its breakthrough came in the regular-season finale against West Virginia, ruining the Mountaineers’ national championship hopes.

According to Kinder, the positive feelings that came with beating West Virginia haven’t ceased. That speaks to Pitt’s confidence; even after the loss to the Falcons, the Panthers insisted they were the better club.

“After Saturday’s game, everyone was down, but Sunday’s practice was a real turning point,” Kinder said. “We had an upbeat practice and we turned the page to get ready for Buffalo.”

Glad they were.

For Buffalo, they are known these days from actually rising from sub-Temple-esque joke to nearly middle-of-the road in the MAC under Turner Gill.

Now in his third season, Gill is making people believe by leading the Bulls to respectability. Buffalo had won only 12 games in seven seasons since moving up to Division I-A in 1999 before Gill’s arrival in 2006. The Bulls have won six of their past 13, including five in Mid-American Conference play last season, and opened this season with a 42-17 victory over the University of Texas-El Paso on Thursday.

Gill was the 2007 MAC Coach of the Year, and appears poised to follow Florida’s Urban Meyer and Missouri’s Gary Pinkel and use his success as a springboard to a Bowl Championship Series conference.

“Obviously, (Gill) was an outstanding football player,” said Syracuse coach Greg Robinson, whose Orange beat Buffalo, 20-12, last season, “but he’s been able to take it to the coaching world.”

Gill has done so by taking a page from his mentor, legendary Nebraska coach Tom Osborne, and communicating with his players how to perform at a high level on a consistent basis. One method was to create individual highlight tapes so players can see their productivity and eliminate any doubts with continuous positive reinforcement.

Gill is a disciple and played for now Nebraska AD Tom Osbourne. Gill brought his own ideas to Buffalo, but also brought a couple Husker classics. Walk-ons.

Among the program’s most successful walk-ons was defensive end Jimmy Williams, an All-America selection in 1982 who went on to play 12 seasons in the NFL, twice being named MVP of the Detroit Lions.

Williams now works as the defensive coordinator for the University at Buffalo, where head coach Turner Gill has transplanted the Cornhuskers’ appreciation for football players without scholarships.

UB got plenty of contributions from current and former walk-ons in Thursday’s season-opening 25-point blowout of Texas-El Paso, especially from a trio of linebackers: Justin Winters, John Syty and Raphael Akobundu.

Appropriately, Williams also serves as the Bulls’ linebackers coach.

Hey, we have Austin Ransom.

They have a local high school player on the squad, so naturally he gets attention. It helps that he is also a All-MAC 1st teamer (the first in Buffalo history).

Davonte Shannon didn’t know the Buffalo Bulls from the Buffalo Bills, but the Jeannette star was willing to listen when they offered a Division I scholarship and the opportunity to play early.

All along, though, he was hoping to play at Pitt.

Instead, Shannon ended up to Buffalo, where he started at safety and led the Bulls with 123 tackles — the most by any freshman in the country last season — and became the first player in school history to earn first-team All-Mid-American Conference honors.

Wow. A freshman making an impact on a team, despite a lack of experience. What are the odds?

Well, Pitt doesn’t have much of a choice at Linebacker to start and play kids lacking in experience. Shane Murray’s knee looks to keep him out and Adam Gunn is done for the season.

Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said yesterday that starting outside linebacker Adam Gunn is likely out for the remainder of the season after an MRI revealed a fracture in one of the vertebrae in his neck. Gunn was injured during a helmet-to-helmet collision with teammate Scott McKillop in the third quarter of the Panthers’ 27-17 loss to Bowling Green Saturday.

“He met with the doctor this morning and he does have a small fracture in one of his vertebrae,” Wannstedt said. “He is out indefinitely and it could be the year.”

That just sucks. A senior. Injured by colliding with a teammate. A legit student-athlete — twice selected as an All-Big East Academic football player.

Now, Coach Wannstedt has to do something he hates. Play underclassmen and inexperienced kids.

Redshirt freshman Greg Williams, who had three tackles and two quarterback hurries, is expected to replace Gunn in the lineup, opposite fifth-year senior Austin Ransom. Wannstedt said redshirt sophomore Nate Nix and redshirt freshman Brandon Lindsey also could see playing time.

“You can’t protect outside linebackers, and I say that not being a smart aleck,” Pitt defensive coordinator Phil Bennett said. “With what these guys do, they’ve got to react, to play coverage, to play perimeter. They’ll be involved in some inside-run game. Are there certain things that you can dictate what they do? Yes. Play in and play out, they’ve got to play their technique, they’ve got to play fundamentals, they’ve got to execute what they’re trying to get done.”

Scott McKillop is going to have have a big game to help them.

Okay, blogger cultural exchange time. It’s been a while since we had one of these. Bowling Green may be in the MAC. They may have a stadium that seats 24,000 (115th out of 119 1-A). That doesn’t mean they don’t have passion and pride. Bowling Green these days is known as the place where Florida coach Urban Meyer got his first HC gig. Greg Brandon took over after Meyer and is still there entering year 6. BGSU is expected to be one of the top teams in the MAC and, um, they actually went to a bowl last year.

So, Orange, the proprietor of Falcon Blog and I exchanged questions and and answers ahead of this week’s season opener. You can see my answers to his questions, here.

1. The GMAC Bowl — 63-7 (loss to Tulsa)? What the hell happened? It wasn’t just 44 days off, what happened to the offense? I know the defense was iffy last year, but geez. I assume the team and coaches are using that as motivation for this year, but is there a fear of a hangover or carryover for that? In general, how’s the mindset of the team?

Ah, yeah, ahem, cough cough. Loosen collar. About that. Certainly, not our proudest day, that’s for sure. In fact, it was one of the worst defeats we’ve ever had, and it was in a bowl game. To answer your question more specifically….what the hell happened? Well, we just came out as flat as I have ever seen us. I think we turned the ball over four times in the first quarter, and then our starting QB got injured, and Tulsa kept its foot on the gas pedal the whole way and our guys are done, and you mix all that together, and you have a debacle.

I think that everyone associated with the program would like to make it to a bowl game and erase that memory. But, I don’t think it is weighing on their minds. The whole thing had a Playstation feel to it, and we know we weren’t that bad, and it was so one-sided its easy to recognize it as an aberration. I’m not personally worried about a hangover. I think our guys are ready to bounce back.

2. You have 9 starters returning on defense (at least, according to Phil Steele). At the same time, the defense has allowed more scoring each year under Greg Brandon. Is there pressure on 2nd year DC Mike Ward to get this fixed? Will the defense actually be improved this year and how? Which players on defense do you see poised to be playmakers?

Most of the pressure on this year’s team is to win a MAC Championship, which has not happened here in 14 seasons, and not at all in the Meyer/Brandon era, despite having some pretty good teams. I don’t think the pressure is any more than that. In fact, if there was recent pressure on anything, it would be to bring special teams around, but that’s another story. Coach says the defense is looking improved, with improved playmaking. Most Falcon fans would be happy to see some tackling. We have been very poor at stopping the run, which is a problem in college football. Supposedly, we are going to benefit from the seasoning these players got two seasons ago when they were rushed into action to fill a hole in our recruiting. We’ll see. I have my doubts.

On the plus side, almost no one plays D in the MAC, and if we can move the ball, then we can still win a championship.

Furthermore, our defensive line–already thin–has been weakened further by, well, legal problems you have noted below. We also lost a really good young LB to grades.

Our playmakers are our CBs, Antonio Smith and Kenny Lewis, our LBs John Haneline and Erique Dozier, DE Diryal Briggs (pash rusher) and S PJ Mahone (pass stealer).

3. On paper it looks like BG uses a two back system with Turner (6-2 227 pounds) being the power back and Geter (5-7 167) coming in as the change-of-pace or small speedy back. Is this accurate and how effective will they be with the offensive line being the most inexperienced unit on the team? How much of a concern is the offensive line, generally?

Actually, the last word is that Turner has been moved to WR, where he may or may not even be on the two-deep. His time at RB came last year only because Geter was injured, Bullock was unproductive, and we needed to establish the run. And, he helped to salvage our season. Now that Geter is back, he was moved to WR. (At the time the decision was made, Eric Ransom, a JUCO RB was also around, but he is injured again). I think we were all suprised that Turner was moved and asked to learn a new position at this point in his career. So, as of now, the rotation appears to be Geter as the main back, Bullock between the tackles, and Turner as “slash” type (know you get that one) back who is dangerous in numerous ways, even as a passer (he was recruited at QB).

The offensive line is a huge concern. We graduated some really good players, and we have young players coming in. They seem to have potential, but they are young. And, the line has been an unwavering constant during the entire Meyer/Brandon period. Our hope is that by spreading people out, throwing the ball quickly, and then running to the gaps that are created, we can neutralize this until the line gels.

4. Greg Brandon’s been at BG for the past 5 years and only 1 losing record after following Urban Meyer. To an outsider, the Falcons seemed to have been rebuilding the last few years. Is that an accurate statement? What are the expectations like for BG this year? And is there concern (or hope) that Brandon will move on from BG with a strong season?

The expectations are high. They are not as high as they were at the end of last season, due to things like Tulsa, losing a top LB, and the loss of D-line depth. Still, most observers pick BG to win their division. And Falcon fans are pretty much expecting the same thing. Because, to our perspective, we have been close to winning–not rebuilding–for the past few years. For example, Meyer left a really good team, and BG won the division and lost the MAC Championship on our field to a Big-Ben led Miami team. The next team was also very strong and underachieved a little, but won the GMAC Bowl. The team the following year, well, that team was a tragedy, lots of talent and underperforming a lot. The following year we were poor, and then last year we were better. I think we would only view that season two years ago as a rebuidling year. The rest have been years when our teams have been strong and good enough to win our division, at least.

If Brandon wins enough, it is inevitable he will move on. He just signed a contract extension last year, which he earned. However, those are one-sided deals, and I’m sure he has a buy-out in there that would be loose change to a bigger school. Falcon fans have the same feelings about Brandon that most teams have about their coach–highly ambivalent, and generally unfairly disdainful. My opinion is that he is a good coach and we could easily do worse. If he does end up making a career here at BG, then I think he is capable of winning the MAC.

5. Which players should Pitt fans be paying special attention in the orange and brown? Why?

We’ve covered a number of players above. On offense, WR Corey Partridge is probably our best skill player, when healthy. I have not seen anyone cover him consistently. Also, WR Freddie Barnes had a quiet 82 catches last season. Our KR Roger Williams is the first decent KO returner we have had in years, and our kicker Srinisi Vrvilio has shored up was what a disasterous postion. Finally, just to repeat one, PJ Mahone, who was an all-state RB in Elyria, has a spooky knack for making interceptions.

6. Extra question, Orlando Ray Barrow. Huh?

Three armed males entered an apartment at the Enclave Two on June 2 and demanded the residents give them marijuana.

The three residents, who all were international students, replied they had no drugs.

The armed males continued to search the house, but nothing was reported stolen.

University student and football player Orlando Ray Barrow was arrested for aggravated burglary and abduction in relation to the robbery.

He was found with an airsoft gun in his possession.

Uh, yeah. Not a proud day for our program. No one wants to see that. If the allegations end up being true, we’ll all certainly be very disappointed. All I can say is that our program handled the situation the right way and that’s good. We had a tough off-season for this type of thing, and all Falcon fans certainly hope we are not compromising the pride of our program to get players.

Thanks again to Orange. He will be coming to the ‘Burgh with his son to see the game this weekend. A spirit of support and a painful morning drive that shows the kind of loyalty you have to respect. If you see a father and son walking around in orange and brown, be nice.

Can’t resist. I’m sure it’s just an aberration. Noting indicative about the community, the school or the team.

A University of Akron basketball player is accused of firing a gun at police following a traffic stop this weekend.

Rydell Brooks, 20, was arrested following a foot chase with Akron police just after midnight Sunday. Police said Brooks fled from the vehicle and fired shots at the officers in pursuit.

No other details of his arrest were immediately available. UA coach Keith Dambrot was not immediately available for comment.

Brooks, a sophomore at UA, is in the Summit County Jail pending an appearance in Akron Municipal Court.

A 2006 Buchtel grad, Brooks has yet to play for the Zips after transferring last season from Niagara University.

Sometimes local kids should just never come back home to play.

That’s exactly what this game was. Sure, Pitt had a horrible night (both by their own doing and some back luck) but Dayton — especially Roberts — played very well. Exceptionally well, maybe even reaching “unreal”. He finished with 31 points with 15 of those coming from three pointers, some of which were taken from very deep. It seemed like he couldn’t miss all game, but neither could any other UD players. They shot 52% from the field compared to Pitt’s 29%. Marcus Johnson (15) and Kurt Huelsman (12) also hit double figures. Add in the fact that they hit 22 of 28 free throws and out-rebounded us 41-34, even though coming into the game we were at +11 rebounds per game against our opponents.

That was the tip of the iceberg during a flat our horrible game for Pitt. Pitt settled for some of the worst shots I’ve ever seen a basketball team take. Tyrell Biggs is not a three point shooter, but that’s not what he seems to think. Sam Young is a forward too, but he threw up two treys. Ronald Ramon, who’s job is to hit a damn three, went 0-6. As a team, we were 3-25 from deep. Ouch.

Moving to DeJuan Blair, who came back down to Earth after a great game against Duke where I think a lot of people forgot he’s just a freshman. He picked up two fouls early, sat most of the first half, and had to play most of the second half with four fouls. This was the first really hostile environment he’s faced and he made plenty of “freshman mistakes”.

Back to Ronald Ramon though. Oh geez, Ronald Ramon. Ramon is basically worthless if he’s not going to hit threes, especially some of the wide open looks he got tonight. He’s a liability on defense and has no real speed or quickness. At 6-1 (6-4 with the hair) and 180 pounds, he definitely has no size and when Fields went out he looked lost while running the offense at PG. He misses hitting wide open players with passes because he lacks court vision and always seems like he’s a step behind everything else. Problem is, with Gil Brown and Keith Benjamin filling in for Mike Cook and Brad Wanamaker only a true freshman who needs some work, our options are limited and Ramon will continue to see the minutes.

As TMG says in the comments:

Ramon didn’t play tonight, but some walk on was using his jersey.

No, my 7 year-old brother isn’t even a walk-on yet. [/Ramon rant]

Of course, Ramon only played the point because of Field’s injury. Obviously it looked like a foot or ankle type of thing but it seems like no one has any real information. The AP report said nothing of value and the radio guys didn’t seem to know much either except it’s some type of sprain. The severity is the big question. Losing Cook for the season was bad, but losing Levance for an extended time (which hopefully isn’t the case) is just horrible. I know this debate has been going on for a while — Fields is one of the best point guards in the nation. He’s the man on this team.

None of the views ESPN had showed the actual injury but he backed into where the cheerleaders were sitting so a good guess would be he stepped on one of their feet or something. A bit surprising that ESPN only had three camera angles, since usually they have a camera to focus on every single player. I guess the other five hoops games plus three bowl games used up every resource the network has.

Lastly, with the way college basketball games are broadcast today, trying to fit them into a two hour time slot and hoping they don’t spill into the next game’s air time is not working anymore. Commercial breaks at every chance they can get (media time outs every four minutes) make the games run longer and longer. Add in the general rule of thumb that every minute of game time ends up translating into about two minutes of real time and a smaller number of games are going to fit into the time slot. Although it’ll never happen (having less teams play means fewer markets are interested), networks like ESPN should show fewer games but give them each a 2.5 hour window. [/ESPN rant. Two of those in one post — I need to cut back a little.]

To end this great night, Penn State won the Alamo Bowl. Still, the sky is not falling. We’re 10-1 and it’s just one non-con loss against a good team.

Starting with the National stuff and narrowing.

Gary Parrish at CBSSports.com in his Friday column gives some love to Dayton, but doesn’t exactly sound convinced of the upset potential.

Some non-BCS love: I’ve had Dayton ranked for a couple of weeks now and am not sure why AP voters aren’t following suit. The Flyers are 10-1 with their only loss coming at George Mason, and they’ve got some better-than-you-think wins against Holy Cross and Miami-Ohio to go with a hard-to-ignore victory at Louisville. Simply put, I like this team. But if Brian Gregory wants the rest of the nation to pay attention, he’ll have to beat sixth-ranked Pittsburgh on national television Saturday.

…

A crazy prediction (but it might happen anyway): How about Dayton over Pittsburgh? I mean, if I’m going to have the Flyers ranked higher than every other entity in the business of ranking teams, then I should be willing to back them with an upset pick, right?

Reggie Rankin at ESPN.com/Scouts, Inc. had a chat on Friday (Insider subs).

Shaun (Dayton, OH): How do you like UDs chances tomorrow night at home versus a fast PITT team?

Reggie Rankin: I think the Flyers have a chance. They will play tough team defense and if they can get Brian Roberts some help scoring from Chris Wright and charles Little the Flyer Faithful will pull them over the finish line.

…

Ronnie ((MD)): Does PITT have a chance to win it all ?

Reggie Rankin: I think Pitt could win it all because they are a great defensive team and with the experience in the backcourt and Blair cleaning the glass with the right seed they could get on a roll.

So Pitt could lose but win. I think I’d take that trade.

Want to learn more about basketball plays and the way things are coached and executed (or at least fake it better), then this site is worth reviewing regularly. Here, is a breakdown of one of Dayton’s inbounds play in the face of tough man-to-man defense.

Dayton has a sellout, and a lot of media attending this game.

UD planned to put up extra tables to accommodate all the media coming to the game, but sports information director Doug Hauschild also has had to reserve a row in the stands to make sure they all have seats.

“I’ve never had to do that before,” said Hauschild, the SID since 1983.

Dayton plays tough defense that has Coach Dixon’s attention.

“I think that stands out — how physical they are,” Dixon said. “When you watch them, they play with a purpose. They bang cutters, they’re physical on their drives and they really defend.”

UD is second in the 14-team A-10 in scoring defense, giving up 60.5 points per game, while Pitt is third among 16 schools in the Big East with a 59.1 average.

One theme being played is that Dayton wants to avenge last year’s embarrassing loss.

Roberts is one of two seniors in the starting lineup. Gregory also starts two sophomores and a freshman. The freshman, 6-foot-8 small forward Chris Wright, is second on the team in scoring behind Roberts. He is averaging 12.5 points per game but is questionable for the game tonight because of a sprained ankle.

Wright, who was first-team all-Ohio last season as a senior at Trotwood-Madison High School, has a 39¹/₂-inch vertical leap and was rated as one of the top high school prospects in the country last season by several major scouting services.

“He brings more athleticism and size than what they had there last year,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “He’s athletic and goes to the boards. Those are the two things that really stick out. He can put it on the floor and get to the basket. We recruited him out of high school, so we know all about him.”

Gregory said Wright has added a different dimension to his team.

“His athletic ability has helped us out a lot,” Gregory said. “The thing that impresses me is that he received a lot of publicity in high school and coming here, but he has fit in perfectly. He is an extremely hard worker. He’s the only freshman in our lineup and he’s done a great job of impacting us without disrupting us. A lot of times, when you have someone with his ability come into a situation, it can be a disruption, but he’s a nice fit for us.”

Beside Wright, the other big difference between the game last year and the one tonight will be that it is at University of Dayton Arena, where the Flyers are 22-2 since the beginning of last season, including 7-0 this season.

It should be a great atmosphere. The game might mean a higher ranking for Pitt, but it would be a huge boost for Dayton.

3. If Pittsburgh wins tonight . . .

The Panthers deserve to rise a little higher than their No. 6 ranking in both major polls. Winning at Dayton when Dayton has a strong team is a feat, and the Flyers are 10-1. For their part, the Flyers get a chance to break into the national rankings by showing that their win at Louisville on Dec. 8 wasn’t just the result of the Cardinals’ being in disarray.

Live blog later tonight.

Ray from the excellent Flyers Fieldhouse Blog contacted me about doing a little Q&A after the Pitt-Duke game — he apparently couldn’t sleep. I fired off the first questions.

1. Brian Roberts seems to have picked up where he left up last year, but with a couple more assists per game. Freshman Chris Wright appears to be as good as his recruiting ranking. So, who else should Pitt fans be wary/get to know on this Dayton squad?

I’ve been overwhelmed by the transformation of Charles Little over the past year. Charles was the A-10 Sixth Man of the Year last year, and still comes off the bench. He’s currently averaging about 7 points and 5 boards per night, but that doesn’t even begin to do justice to the player he’s become. At 6-6 and 230, the guy is built like a prototypical tight end, and moves like one, too. The problem used to be he’d get in foul trouble for being too physical, rather than relying on everything he’d been taught. This year he’s moving without the ball better, posting up better, and taking his man off the dribble better as well. He’s a matchup problem for nearly anyone he sees.

He still can’t shoot free throws to save his life. I think he’s gotten bored and is actually trying to fire them through the backboard.

2. Dayton’s tempo is not that of a run-and-gun team. Is it based primarily on a hard, tough defense or from a deliberate, half-court, set offense? How has Dayton been able to control the pace of games against opponents?

While they don’t prefer to run and gun, they can get it up there if need be. But you’re right; we’d rather slow it down and make teams beat us from the perimeter if at all possible. Someone the number of passes on the offensive end have made me feel like we’re watching Hoosiers. And it’s very effective; they won’t settle for bad shots. They’re perfectly content to keep on lobbing it around until they get the shot that they (and Brian Gregory) want.

On defense, we haven’t played much zone. The athletes on the floor almost demand you play an up front, physical man-to-man. This makes it hard to get off shots that are both quick and high-percentage. I’ve always been a proponent of the effectiveness of a good 2-3 zone in the college game, but I can’t argue with results. The Flyers have held teams to a very low percentage from the floor.

3. I’ve heard and read rumblings of dissatisfaction with the overall performance by Coach Brian Gregory. Can you explain the reason(s)? Is it his personality, style of play and/or not meeting expectations? Is this a make or break year for him with the talent on the team? What kind of impact do you think adding Anthony Solomon to the coaching staff is/will have on the team from a coaching/preparation/recruiting standpoint?

I’ll admit that I’ve always been the first to question Brian Gregory. The problem in my eyes had been the development of athletes into players. We’re finally beginning to see the type of real players that Brian Gregory saw when he recruited these kids. They’re smart and disciplined, and that’s the first sign to me that Brian Gregory is finally getting through. I think the recruits that Brian has brought in, coupled with his enthusiasm and dedication to the program, have bought him several more years. But, in the end, we need to keep seeing the results in the W column.

I think Anthony has been great for this staff. He was in a virtual no-win situation at St. Bonaventure. The fact that he managed to help keep that program alive after Weldergate is a credit to his worth as a coach. He has east coast ties, which is great for recruiting. Also, it never hurts to have a former A-10 head coach in your ear when you’re preparing for the conference slate. Excellent hire, in my opinion.

4. The A-10 has had well-deserved attention so far this season with Dayton, Rhode Island, Xavier and UMass all scoring some quality wins. That said, with 14 teams it seems that the A-10 is nearly as unwieldly as the Big East. Peering into your Crystal Ball, how do you see the A-10 looking in 5 years?

To be honest, I hope to cut back down to 12 teams. I liked the addition of Charlotte and Saint Louis, but as you said, the conference is just too saturated right now. It’s really hard for teams to rise above the middle of the pack in such a large conference, as the conference slate is almost big to avoid notching four or five losses. This is fine in a conference with the repute of the Big East, but the A-10 is not of that caliber from top to bottom. If you don’t separate from the pack, getting the attention of the selection committee is a tall task.

That said, booting any teams from the conference is something that is bound to end up in court. Say we take two perennially in the cellar, like St. Bonaventure and La Salle. It’s not like they have a conference they could jump to that will match the revenues they’re sharing now in the A-10. Unfortunately, I think the room is bound to remain crowded for the foreseeable future

Look for his questions and my answers later today.

I’m a bit late on this.

Linebacker Scott McKillop was the leading tackler in the nation.

He was a unanimous 1st team Big East player.

Sports Illustrated put him as a second-team All-American.

The Associated Press had him as a third-teamer.

Scout.com had named him a 1st teamer.

CollegeFootballNews.com (which is affiliated with Scout.com and FoxSports.com) named him the Big East Defensive Player of the year.

In the Big East, LeSean McCoy was named the Rookie of the Year in addition to being named to the 1st team All-Big East. McCoy also merited “honorable mention” in the Sports Illustrated All-American teams.

Jeff Otah was also named to the first team All-Big East and made the Sports Illustrated “honorable mention.”

Joe Clermond made second team All-Big East.

I didn’t do this last week, but I’m hoping to make this a weekly thing.

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Middle Tenn. St. vs. (8) Louisville, 7:00 pm EDT
MTSU gave up over 400 yards in last week’s loss to Florida Atlantic, while Louisville’s offense picked up 655 over Murray State. Brian Brohm will tear this defense apart.
Pick: Louisville

Oregon St. vs. Cincinnati, 7:30 pm EDT
Oregon State’s running back Yvenson Bernard looks good this year, and although Cincy beat up on Directional Missouri, I’m not completely sold on them.
Pick: Oregon State

Friday, September 7, 2007

Navy vs. (18) Rutgers, 7:00 pm EDT
ESPN’s Friday night game is an interesting one for Pitt fans since we play both teams. Rutgers beat up on Buffalo while Navy beat Temple 30-19. I have Rutgers for the win because of their evolving, multi-demensional offense.

While Ray Rice rushed for 184 yards and three touchdowns, the Scarlet Knights showed there is more to the team than just their senior running back – who’s rushed for 2,914 yards in his previous two seasons. Junior quarterback Mike Teel was 16-for-23 for a career-best 328 yards and two touchdowns, and junior receiver Tiquan Underwood caught 10 passes for a school-record 248 yards and two TDs.

Pick: Rutgers

Saturday, September 8, 2007

(3) West Virginia vs. Marshall, 11:10 am EDT
Five words: Pat White and Steve Slaton.
Pick: West Virginia

Grambling State vs. Pitt, Noon EDT
Watching Michigan lose to a I-AA (or whatever they call it now) team puts the smallest slice of doubt in my mind. In reality, I expect us to win by at least 3 touchdowns — even with Smith or Bostick starting under center.
Pick: Pitt

Maine vs. Connecticut, 7:00 pm EDT
UConn quarterback Tyler Lorenzen (any relation to Jared?) threw for 298 yards and a pair of touchdowns against Duke. In my book, Duke and Maine are comparable.
Pick: UConn

Syracuse vs. Iowa, 8:05 pm EDT
The ‘Cuse managed to make people feel embarrassed for them last week. Iowa, while not amazing, managed to receive one vote (one whole vote!) in the AP poll. If the Orange manage to keep the loss to 16 points or less, we’ll call it a moral victory.
Pick: Iowa

South Florida vs. (16) Auburn, 9:00 pm EDT
Everyone’s Big East sleeper team will have a tough test playing War Eagle on the road. One guy who can make a difference for USF is freshman RB Mike Ford, a former Alabama recruit. Meanwhile, Auburn’s ground game was nonexistent (62 yards) against Kansas State. Matt Grothe and his great passing accuracy helps the Bulls knock off the ranked Tigers for the upset.
Pick: South Florida

Track the scores here.

(Rankings used are from the BlogPoll.)

Well folks, it could be worse — we could be Michigan fans. Luckily, the Panthers came out pumped up and ready to win. Although we didn’t have anyone dominate the game, we consistently played better that Eastern Michigan and wore them down for a 27-3 victory. I know, the game almost seemed like it was last month but the weekend and Labor Day went too fast.

Obviously, we’re going to be talking about Stull’s injury in this game longer than any other story to come from it, and it’s really a disappointment. I didn’t expect much from Stull, because I’m a huge Pat Bostick fan. However, as I objectively watched, I was pleased with his play for only his first start and meaningful time, so it’s a shame that he won’t be playing for a few weeks.

With Derek Kinder out, it was assumed that his new biggest targets would be Oderick Turner and Marcel Pestano. It was true, with Pestano catching 4 for 75 yards (leading all players) and Turner pulling in a 21 yard catch for a touchdown. What wasn’t expected was the way the tight ends would factor into the passing game. Out of 17 total receptions, the combination of Byham-Strong-Pelusi caught 10 of those — almost 60%. If the tight ends are going to make this type of impact all year it’s a good thing. If opposing defenses have to concentrate on more weapons, it could lead to more openings for our playmakers.

Speaking of those playmakers, does LeSean McCoy look like he’s going to be a special player or what? I would have liked to have seen more first half playing time for Shady, but as Chas touched on, there’s only so much you can do with a porous offensive line. I loved what Shane Brooks was able to do down near the goal line, and I think he showed the coaches that he can be counted on to put the ball in the end zone.

One thing that I don’t think gets enough attention (but should maybe get more concern) is our inability to put the ball deep on kickoffs. With the kickoffs being moved back 5 yards, a guy with a huge leg is more important than ever. EMU might not make us pay but teams with good return guys can give their team some exceptional field position.

Other Notes:

— Interesting punt formation by EMU, being so spread out and all.

— Very early in the game, one of our defenders (Scott McKillop I believe) picked up a EMU receiver shortly after the ball hit the ground and pretty much body slammed him. I was surprised to see no flag on the play.

— Oderick Turner seems much bigger and stronger this year as exemplified on his only catch of the night; going up with the EMU defender and pulling it down for the touchdown.

— Taking away more credibility from this win, Eastern Michigan made ESPN’s “Bottom Ten” as part of “Direction Michigan”.

Two years ago, the Iona Gaels were in the NCAA Tournament. Last year, they started the season 0-22 and finished out 2-28. They played mostly all freshmen, but they were still shocked by the amazing drop off from one year to the next. Enter new head coach Kevin Willard.

Kevin Willard was hired yesterday as the basketball coach at Iona, which hopes the former Rick Pitino assistant can revive a team that began the season 0-22 and finished with the worst record in the program’s 62-year history.

Willard spent the past six seasons at Louisville as an assistant and is a head coach for the first time. He succeeds Jeff Ruland, who was bought out of the final two years of his contract.

Willard is a former Pitt player (1995-97), having played for his father, Ralph Willard.

“Last year doesn’t concern me,” Willard said at a campus news conference. “I know they went through a hard time, but this is a clean slate.”

So now the older and younger Willard’s take their Pitt connection to different schools in NCAA hoops as head coaches.

(OK so that sentence didn’t completely make sense but hey, it’s only 5:00 in the morning. Cut me a little break…)

A few months back, Chas posted about the Cinci-Xavier game and who to root for. In the comments, a few people said they think Miller will coach at Pitt someday, to which I said won’t happen. I don’t want to get into that argument again, especially since his name will be in the hat for the gig at Michigan.

Various reports are linking Xavier head coach Sean Miller to the vacant head coaching position at the University of Michigan. Xavier finished this season with a 21-11 record, an A-10 Championship and a berth in the NCAA Tournament. In two season at Xavier, Miller has a overall record of 38-23. Miller’s strength is his ability to recruit, in fact, Ohio State coach Thad Matta told the Cincinnati Post that Miller “taught me everything I know about recruiting.”

He’s also on the list compiled by Michigan Sports Center.

In all seriousness, Miller would be a great choice. As I hinted, just look at what the last Xavier coach is doing now. Imagine if that type of thing could happen to Michigan. Bring in a new coach from Xavier and quickly become an elite program. The only thing is would he want to come to the Big Ten to coach against a friend in Thad Matta. That could work for or against Michigan.

Other names include John Beilein, Lon Kruger, and Steve Lavin, among many others.

Be excited — under 14 hours to tipoff.

VCU’s upset over Duke has been chronicled all over the internet and TV for the last 8 hours. From what I saw and what you probably already know, they can beat Pitt. Conversely, Pitt can beat them. From what I saw, here’s a bit of a scouting report for you all out there.

— They play a great high tempo defense. Combining a nice full court press with a nice half court trap is one of their calling cards. At times I felt we were sloppy on the offensive side of the ball. Maybe it was because we got into that popular Pitt thought process that “we’re the higher seed so we don’t need to worry”. If we do the same thing against VCU they’re going to make us pay with those defensive strategies.

ESPN’s team page for the Rams tells us how to beat a team like this.

Will Lose When …
Teams are able to handle the VCU traps all over the court and slow the tempo of the game. If the Rams can’t create turnovers off their pressure, their offense can become stagnant.

Yup, that pretty much sounds like how it needs to go for Pitt. Now as for how it actually WILL go…

— Eric Maynor feels no pressure. He is their main man when it comes down to the end of a tight game. If you need to see it in video form, click here to watch the Eric Maynor Show.

He’s not even their leading scorer this year though. B.A. Walker leads with 14.6 per game, Maynor with 13.9, and followed by Jesse Pellot-Rosa with 13.1.

—They play pretty physically for a guard dominated team. None of the three guards mentioned above are afraid to get a little bruised up both on offense and defense. This Pitt team doesn’t have the toughness of past teams so this could be something to watch for. Chances are also that someone from either team will get a little bloody. There were 3-4 times when players from both teams had to leave the game to get some blood cleaned up.

–Wil Fameni might be prone to doing this. He is going to be starting at one of the forward positions and picking up 4, 4, 3, and 5 fouls in the last four games could leave us matching up someone like Mike Cook, Levon Kendall, or Sam Young on him in foul trouble or his lesser talented backup.

–All of America will be rooting against us. If you’re trying to find the way it affects the game, not only will VCU fans be vocal for their team but so will fans from Maryland and Butler who play in the game before and end up sticking around.

Anyways, tomorrow’s game is slated for a 5:50 tip so expect something 10-20 minutes later that originally planned.

Today’s shoot-arounds, practices and press conferences for the Tournament teams playing tomorrow. The Raiders left yesterday afternoon, and got to Buffalo. The disrespect, mid-major mistreatment perspective already being played.

Once in snow-free Buffalo, the team took a short bus ride to the Airport Holiday Inn, where they were greeted by a few clumps of green and gold balloons. Accommodations are doled out according to seedings — lowest seeds get the plushest digs — so Pitt is in a fancy downtown hotel a half hour away.

Hey, if you were a beat writer covering the team, you’d be pissed too about the team you cover getting stuck in the crappy hotel — because that means you are there as well.

The Dayton paper is doing what it can to find the local connections in the teams playing in Buffalo. Not to mention what could be a bad omen for Wright State.

At least two of those teams have Dayton connections, and I’m not talking about Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon’s flirting with the WSU job when Paul Biancardi got it four years ago. Pitt’s athletic director is Jeff Long, a Kettering native, and Virginia Commonwealth’s coach is Anthony Grant, a former basketball star at UD.

Oh, and Maryland’s coach is Gary Williams, who once coached an Ohio State team that played UD in UD Arena — and lost.

Once the Raiders arrived, they checked into their rooms, had lunch, rested, then went to practice.

The only bad part was on the way back to the hotel. Two cars in front of their bus slammed into two fawns trying to cross the street.

It wasn’t a pretty sight, according to sports information director Bob Noss.

Roadkill. Excellent.

Wright State was 13-15 last year, and then hired Brian Brownell from UNC-Wilmington (Sun Belt Conference CAA). Now they are 23-9 and going to the NCAA Tournament. That’s a turnaround, and the sort of thing that puts a coach on the “hot” list. Which, of course, means it is time to deny, deny, deny.

WSU athletic director Mike Cusack said that he has not been contacted by any schools hoping to talk to Brownell.

“I’m not a high-profile coach,” Brownell said Tuesday after he and his team arrived in Buffalo by charter flight. “I didn’t play at a big school (DePauw) or coach as an assistant at a big school. I’m not a known commodity.”

He’s becoming one after leading the Raiders to the regular-season and Horizon League tournament championships on the way to a 23-9 record and the school’s first NCAA tournament since 1993.

Supporters in his hometown of Evansville, Ind., think he’s a natural for the vacant job at Evansville University, a member of the Missouri Valley Conference.

Brownell said he isn’t looking.

His Wright State contract pays him $220,000/year, base salary. That actually seems pretty good for the Horizon League. One of his bonuses is another month’s pay for each NCAA Tournament game the team plays. That also applies to his assistants.
At least one of the WSU booster’s knows the score:

“Brad went out and did exactly what we were paying him to do,” said Bob Mills, whose name is one of three on the team’s practice facility. “But, you know, he went a little bit overboard. He did more. I really think you have to have a system that will reward clearly outstanding behavior in job performance.

“We may not be able to keep Brad (and his assistants) forever, but let’s try to keep him as long as we can, knowing he’s going to leave this place in a better situation than he found it.”

That’s what you have to hope for as a mid-major.

At this time, I’m not aware of any Wright State blog. The best news source on the Raiders comes from their section in the Dayton Daily News (annoying free registration).

Of course, there is their official website.

A message board.

Wright State car mats available on eBay. Because, personally, I think the best way to show love to my school is put wet and muddy shoes all over the logo.

Raider fans discount their whuppin’ by LSU (in the comments) as just one of those things from December when they were still learning the system.
Now, you might think that as I live in the Cleveland area and Cleveland St. is in the Horizon League with WSU, I might have some knowledge. No. Watching Horizon League action was never high on my “to watch” list for basketball. Bad basketball is hard enough to watch, but couple it with poor coverage quality and the only way to somewhat enjoy it is completely sauced. And at that point, I’m just not getting much insight into the teams. But I digress.

The break down from the YSU assistant coach is encouraging. While DeShaun Woods seems to be the kind of guard that can cause problems for Pitt, their game is the kind that is what Pitt wants.

Wright State plays a similar game as Pitt. The Raiders like a half-court tempo with aggressive man-to-man defense, which they play about 80 percent of the time.

“They don’t want to get up and down,” Thorne said. “It’s strange. It’s the same thing as Pitt. They grind it out. They both run set plays. Wright State prides themselves on defense, similar to Pitt. They are very good defensively. They are always where they should be.”

Todd Brown, a 6-5 guard, and Vaughn Duggins, a 6-3 guard, were both named to Horizon League All-Newcomer team.

Naturally with Wright State making the Tournament for the first time in 14 years, they are giddy over their coach. Even as the whiff on Dixon was noted.

Four years ago, WSU athletics director Mike Cusack narrowed his coaching search down to two guys — Paul Biancardi and Jamie Dixon — as the replacement for fired Raiders’ coach Ed Schilling.

He chose Biancardi and you know how that worked out thanks to an NCAA violations mess that eventually followed the former Ohio State assistant from his days in Columbus.

Had Cusack hired Dixon — who now will coach his No. 3 seeded Pitt Panthers against the 14th seeded Raiders in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Thursday in Buffalo — there wouldn’t have been the headaches of the past couple of seasons. But then there almost certainly would be no Brad Brownell now either.

The present coach has been studying tape since the seedings were announced.

So instead of being happy with crumbs, he probably wanted a little more of the tournament cake — something better than a 14 seed.

Of course, some of that tightness behind the smile had to be because, as he put it, “We’re going to be here most of the night.”

Everyone at the paper seems to think it might be a good idea to definitely review the game tape of the Dayton-Pitt game.

Here are the game notes from Wright State (PDF). The entire history of the two teams are two meetings in 1998 and 1999. Pitt won both of them.

I looked around a Wright State message board that we got a few hits from (one of their fans found us and pointed it out) and here are some things being said.

My main concern is Gray — how do we stop somebody like that given our limited “big” men? get him into foul trouble? Deny him the ball? Control the tempo? Anyone with a better basketball sense than me can offer some insight here?

If the “What will Wright State do about Gray?” question isn’t the main storyline/focus for this game then I don’t know what is.

I personally like the match up with Pitt. Aaron Gray is prone to foul problems.

Gray in foul trouble aginst guards driving right at him will probably be their main plan. He sometimes fails to move his feet (and when he does it’s very slow) and instead he fouls to compensate.

Will Brad go small against Pitt? I think he should. Take the 7 footer out of the equation as much as possible. Let our shooters control the game and leave it in their hands. I think that is our best shot.

My response to this is, “Go ahead, let our seven-foot double-double machine have a 6′ 6” defender on him. Please, be my guest. No way Wright State shoots lights out enough to cancel out the 20+ points Gray would put up if WSU goes with a small lineup.

Man, I love ‘big’ schools. This is entertaining stuff. If you can’t go here and laugh, then life just isn’t fun.

I might as well be going to comedycentral.com. lol

If I were in this guy’s shoes I’d probably say the same thing. There’s always going to be some guy on a message board under some fake name like PittExpert12345 who says we’re tops in the nation when we play well and puts us out of the Top 25 after a loss.

There’s a thread that discusses the start time on Saturday, hoping that it’s not too early. Not one fan warning the others to not overlook us. Keep it up, Pitt.

Probably true enough.

With all of this NCAA tourney talk, let me take this time to remind you to sign up for the Pitt Blather Bracket Challenge.

(By the way, the title only took me about 2 hours to come up with.)