Sorry for just quick stuff. I’m a bit overloaded and even a bit behind on things — including a slightly delayed preview week for college basketball at FanHouse.

I still need to put some more thought into the Big East choice of commissioner. For the record, Chancellor Nordenberg has been great for Pitt and Pitt Athletics. That isn’t an issue to me. I do question his decisionmaking with regards to the Big East conference, which is something different. So, the fact that he was co-chair of the search committee that made this decision puts a lot of the responsibility on him.

In the semifinals of individual awards, it is no surprise that Scott McKillop has been named a semi-finalist for the Trent Ronnie Lott award and the Chuck Bednarik Award. Both are for outstanding defensive player.

LeSean McCoy made it to the final-15 for the Maxwell Award — the top collegiate player — which is something of a minor surprise. No surprise, that he was named one of 10 semifinalists for the Doak Walker award for best running back. He’s got a shot, but at the same time he isn’t a lock. If you look just in the Big East, he’s behind Donald Brown in YPC and total yards.

The Cinci game is a 7:15 ESPN2 primetime game. Pitt made the wise decision to move the IUP-Pitt basketball game to a 4pm start from 7 pm. Good call.

Pitt also put up a link page to all the potential bowls Pitt could be attending — sort of. More precisely, all the bowls the Big East is directly tied-in to. After all, the BCS Championship game and Rose Bowl are not even realistic should Pitt win out the season.

I’ve said it before, I like both beat writers for Pitt football. Both do a good job overall. It’s also fun to dissect things. This week, Paul Zeise has been focused on the secondary issues. It came out in his “Good, Bad & Ugly” review of the Louisville and the question answered in a Q&A.

Q: In your “Good, Bad and Ugly” summary you hit the nail on the head with the ugly — On the touchdown pass [in the Louisville game] Aaron Berry threw his hands up in confusion immediately after the play, during the extra point and the whole way over to the sideline where he met with Phil Bennett. It also appeared that Cantwell and Simms were throwing at Berry every chance they had. And when the kid is visibly showing his confusion, it’s hard to blame teams for throwing his way. You also mentioned some time ago that it looks like Eric Thatcher is getting beat (since he usually has to make the TD saving tackle or is the closest guy to the play), but in reality he may be just cleaning up. My questions are: How much of the blown coverage is truly Aaron Berry and how much in safety coverage? Is it a matter of confidence with Berry or does he not understand the playbook?

Jim Raible, Irwin

ZEISE: Those are great questions — and the answers are simple — some of it is on the corners and some of it is on the safeties, hence the confusion back there. On certain plays it has been the corner just getting beat, or worse, thinking he had zone coverage when the play called was for him to be in man coverage, but sometimes it is a corner knowing he was supposed to have safety help over the top and the safety isn’t there. It has been a real issue because the breakdowns are so easy to see from the press box. This is something that really needs to get solved. I think it is simply a matter of communication and making sure before the ball is snapped every player is on the same page. There have been plays when Berry was at fault, but there have been plays when it has been Thatcher or Dom DeCicco or Elijah Fields as well. And on the other side — with Ricky Gary or Jovani Chappel — it is just simply that both are struggling in man coverage and probably would be better off if they had safety help over the top on most plays. These things can get resolved, but if Pitt is going to win the Big East they need to make sure the touchdown pass thrown by Louisville is the last time this year a receiver is running down the middle of the field with nobody in the secondary even close to him.

That developed into his story in the PG today.

“It has become personal because guys think they can come in here to Heinz Field, or even when we are on the road and throw a lot of deep balls at us now,” Gary said. “We had what you would call a little tweak in our defense against Rutgers and some guys got behind us so now a lot of guys think they can get behind us.

“But it isn’t like people think it is. Sometimes receivers get the best of corners in certain games so we just need to regroup. We are going to redeem ourselves and show the world that our secondary is better than what people think it is.”

Part of the problem, according to Gary, is miscommunication, but it is also that players try too hard to make big plays.

He said the 30-yard touchdown pass the Panthers gave up against Louisville Saturday, for instance, was an example of miscommunication between a safety and a corner, resulting in a bust and a wide open receiver.

Gary said defensive coordinator Phil Bennett has made it clear that those kinds of busts will no longer be tolerated.

Or else what? That actually wasn’t answered.

Meanwhile if you have read Kevin Gorman this season — especially his notes in his blog — he has cast a dubious eye towards Coach Wannstedt’s constant refrain from week one about winning the turnover battle. That led to this week’s story.

The statistic is such a prominent part of his philosophy that Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt finds it inconceivable that a team can win games without likewise owning the turnover battle.

Yet his Panthers have proven it’s possible on a near weekly basis.

“We pretty much made a joke of the turnover ratio,” Pitt quarterback Bill Stull cracked last week.

That explains why Wannstedt was so relieved when No. 21 Pitt (7-2, 3-1 Big East) forced five turnovers – and committed none – in a 41-7 victory over Louisville Saturday.

“Finally, we play a game where we win the turnover battle,” Wannstedt said. “It was a long time coming. This was a game where we needed to force some turnovers, and we did.”

In the previous eight games, the Panthers had confounded Wannstedt. They won the turnover battle only once, against Syracuse, and finished even another time, against Buffalo.

Even after the lopsided Louisville game, Pitt has four more turnovers lost (17) than gained (13) and is in a six-way tie to rank 85th nationally with a minus-.44 average per game.

I’m not so sure that Pitt truly needed to force turnovers to win. It made it look easy, but “needed?” Um, not really.

Nice story on the defensive line — focusing on DTs Rasheed Duncan and Mick Williams.

In another Q&A, Zeise notes the impact of strength and conditioning coach Buddy Morris, including admitting he had been dismissive of the change in that before Morris returned.

And of course cursory stories about getting ready for Cinci. Hard to do much yet with that on a bye week and Cinci playing L-ville tomorrow night. Brag about the trophy?

“It’s the River City Rivalry for a reason,” Pitt linebacker Scott McKillop said. “We’ve been lucky enough to have the trophy the past three years. … No matter what the trophy looks like, we want to keep it in-house. I just wish we could pick it up and carry it around, but it’s a little bit heavy.”

The “reason” is that the Big East wanted to show everyone that they can jury-rig a rivalry/trophy game to match the Big 11’s Land Grant Shelving Unit.

I have to say I had a feeling. Apparently LeSean McCoy and Scott McKillop can’t win the Big East Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week Award every week.

Instead the Big East went with USF’s Matt Grothe and Rutgers’ linebacker Ryan D’Imperio.

I suppose I have no big problem with D’Imperio getting the defensive award, since they shut down UConn’s Donald Brown for a whole half. And even though the real reason for the Rutgers win was UConn’s kicking game — 3 misses out of 4 including a game winner in the final minute.

A bit more annoyed that Grothe got the offensive when he piled up those numbers against Syracuse. I think that has to discount things a bit.

McKillop and McCoy were tossed the weak bone of “Weekly Honor Roll.”

Whether it’s a midseason review:

Defensive MVP: MLB Scott McKillop. The senior has already won Big East defensive player of the week honors three times and ranks second nationally in solo tackles (7.4 per game). He’s accomplished this despite playing with two newcomers at the outside linebacker spots. He’s not just the defensive MVP of the team but of the league as a whole in the first half.

Or talking about underrated guys, nationally.

Matt Hayes: I love the unsungs.

Spencer Hall: McKillop’s a nice place to start.

Matt Hayes: He’s bad man. Tackling machine. He’s the perfect player for Pitt: a tough kid, works his ass off, wants to win, hates to lose. No better ambassador for the steel city.

Yep. Half-season All-American list.

Leads Big East with 52 tackles. Ranks second in nation in solo tackles per game (7.4). Also has nine for loss.

That last number was a surprise. 9 TFLs out of 52 overall. There seems to be a perception — maybe based on last year — that McKillop is getting the tackles late. Especially at the end of runs. Reality suggests something else.

If the coaches are smart, they should work Scott McKillop extra hard for the next week. He’s just collected too many darn honors in one week. In addition to everything he collected earlier this week, he collected one more thing just for good measure.

University of Pittsburgh linebacker Scott McKillop has been named the FWAA/Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week for games of the weekend of Oct. 4.

McKillop, a 6-2, 240-pound senior from Export, Pa., collected a team-high 12 tackles (all unassisted) and had two sacks and three total tackles for loss. He also stopped a run on a fake field goal attempt in Pittsburgh’s 26-21 upset victory at South Florida.
…
McKillop is already on the 2008 Bronko Nagurski Trophy Watch List. The Bronko Nagurski Trophy will be presented to the best defensive player in college football on Dec. 7 by the FWAA and the Charlotte Touchdown Club at the Westin Hotel in Charlotte, N.C. Five finalists for the Nagurski Trophy will be announced on Nov. 17.

He also returned to the pages of Sporting News Today with a first person story talking about winning on the road — and a not too subtle suggestion that the USF fans were colorful in taunting the players.

1st Person, McKillop October 9, 2008

Oh, and in a nice addition, Defensive Coordinator Phil Bennett was named “coordinator of the week” by Rivals.com for the gameplan to deal with USF.

A bunch of nice honors thrown to Scott McKillop after this past week.

Pitt senior middle linebacker Scott McKillop has been named the Walter Camp Football Foundation National Defensive Player of the Week for his performance in the Panthers’ 26-21 upset of No. 10 USF this past Thursday.

McKillop (Export, Pa./Kiski Area) collected a team-high 12 tackles – all solo -and had two quarterback sacks, three total tackles for loss and snuffed out a fake field goal against the Bulls. He played a prominent role in grounding one of the country’s most powerful offenses, including its dangerously elusive quarterback Matt Grothe.

USF entered the game averaging 464 yards in total offense, but produced just 245 against Pitt. Grothe was sacked twice by McKillop for losses totaling 24 yards with both sacks coming at critical junctures.

McKillop’s first sack went for a loss of 10 yards, ending a USF threat at the Pitt 43 in the third quarter and forced a punt. The second was a 14-yard sack with under four minutes to go on 3rd-and-3. USF was forced to punt and Pitt was able to burn the clock down to 22 seconds and ultimately claim the victory.

McKillop also snuffed out a fake field goal in the second quarter, stopping Gregory Grant for a one-yard gain on 4th-and-5 at the Pitt 29.

McKillop was also named The Lott Trophy “IMPACT Player of the Week” and picked up Big East Defensive Player of the Week.

LeSean McCoy grabbed the Big East Offensive Player of the Week honors.

Facing a USF defense that had only been yielding 58 rushing yards per game, McCoy ran for 142 yards and two touchdowns on 28 carries (5.1 avg.). His TDs covered six and three yards, the latter providing the winning points with 4:43 left in the game.

McCoy figured prominently in the winning drive — he set up his own winning TD run with a 19-yard burst through the USF defense to put the Panthers at the Bulls 3. It was his second consecutive 100-yard effort of the season and the ninth of his brief career.

McCoy is averaging 106.60 rushing yards per game to rank 18th nationally and second in the Big East. In five games he has totaled 533 yards on 117 attempts (4.6 avg.) and seven TDs.

A couple good weeks really brought his average back closer to expectations. In the past 2 games McCoy has had 291 yards. He had 242 yards in the first 3 games.

No real shock here. Connor Lee took Big East Special Teams Player of the Week for his 14 point performance against Syracuse. That’s the most points accounted for by a kicker in the Big east this year.

Mike Holmes of Syracuse who returned the 90-yard kickoff for a TD and 207 total return yards made honor roll.

Oh, and Matt Grothe the USF QB took offensive player of the week honors for the second time this season.

Well, Kevin Gorman noted nearly a week ago that Stewart Mandel from SI.com was at a training camp practice, so you knew a story was coming from him. The focal point, of course, has to do with LeSean McCoy.

When the backups came in, No. 25 morphed into the team’s loudest, most exuberant cheerleader, waving a towel, letting out a whoop and demonstratively signaling every first down.

No. 25 is LeSean “Shady” McCoy, a preseason All-America tailback whose path to prominence closely mirrors that of the Pitt program for which he’s quickly become the indisputable face.

…

Fast forward a year and you can see the pieces starting to fall in place around McCoy and McKillop.

The return of a healthy Stull and Kinder, the presence of talented tight end Nate Byham and veteran receiver Oderick Turner, and, in particular, the arrival of highly touted receiver Jonathan Baldwin should provide for a more balanced offense. The 6-foot-5, 220-pound Baldwin, from longtime Pitt pipeline Aliquippa High, is an incredibly gifted athlete who, in a red-zone drill last week, twice leapt over defenders and artfully kept his body inbounds on touchdown catches in the corner of the end zone. Physically, he resembles former USC standout Dwayne Jarrett. While he’s still learning the intricacies of a college offense, he will undoubtedly become Pitt’s go-to receiver sooner than later.

Defensively, the Panthers’ most important recruit may be their new coordinator, former SMU head coach Phil Bennett, whom Wannstedt lured after Harris holdover Paul Rhoads left for Auburn. Prior to his six-year tenure at SMU, Bennett served as Bill Snyder‘s defensive coordinator at Kansas State from 1999-2001, when the Wildcats never finished lower than fourth nationally in total defense.

Seven starters return from last year’s surprisingly successful unit, and Bennett said he recently told Snyder in a phone conversation that “I think we have the same type of players here that we had [at K-State].” They include not only McKillop but also freshman All-America defensive end Greg Romeus, versatile safety Eric Thatcher, lockdown corner Aaron Berry and physical defensive tackle Mick Williams.

Health and the offensive line. The two question marks.

Bruce Feldman at ESPN.com listed his top-10 impact defensive players. At #6…

Scott McKillop, Pittsburgh, LB: He’s been called a huge overachiever, but that actually takes some credit away from just how instinctive and tough the Panther middle linebacker really is. He led the nation in tackles in 2007, averaging 12.6 tackles per game and sparked the Panthers to be the country’s fifth-ranked defense. The latter point is pretty amazing when you consider the injury-ravaged Panthers (5-7) were the only team among the nation’s top 14 defense to win fewer than nine games in 2007.

This seems like a good time to note that McKillop and McCoy were both put on the watchlist Walter Camp Player of the Year Award. The award goes to the best player in college football. Past Pitt winners include Tony Dorsett, Hugh Green and Larry Fitzgerald.

Here’s the list of the all 35 candidates. Florida, Clemson and Wisconsin also have 2 candidates on the list. Ohio State has 3. From the Big East, George Selvie of USF and Pat White from WVU are also on the list.

The ESPN.com Big East blog (now manned by ex-Louisville beat writer from the Courier Journal, Brian Bennett) has a fairly entertaining Q&A with kicker Conor Lee.

How did you become a kicker?

CL: I played soccer my whole life and just started kicking on my grade school team. I actually quit football, and my freshman year of high school, the kicker for our team tore his ACL. That was the second game of the season and they asked me to come out, and I was playing varsity the third game of the season. It was almost meant to be.

Then I went to Fork Union Military Academy to try to get recruited more. But the recruiting didn’t go like I had hoped and I kind of got sick of it, so I walked on here in January of 2004. I just wanted to go somewhere and try to get the job.

…

Do people ever ask you how one brother [Penn State’s Sean Lee] became a linebacker while the other is a kicker?

CL: Yeah, and I would switch sides and be a linebacker if I could, to be honest with you. (Laughs). I was a pretty good football player when I was younger but I was pretty the much same size back then as I am now. The growth stopped for me and kept going for him.

You had two big field goals, including a 48-yarder at the end of the first half, in Pitt’s 13-9 win at West Virginia to end last season. How big was that moment for you?

CL: After that win, a couple days later it kind of sank in how important it was. I used to go to Pitt games when I was a kid, and I remember the game against West Virginia that went to four overtimes and Pitt won, and when we upset Miami at home. But that was quite possibly the biggest win in university history. I mean, I realize there was a national championship here, but what went down that night, how we were 28-point underdogs in their place, they’d never lost a night game under coach Rich Rodriguez and they were going to go to the national championship game and we just ruined it. Being a part of that was amazing.

…

You’ve already graduated and are currently working on your MBA. Is that tough to balance with football?

CL: The materials are similar to my undergrad — I was a business and economics major — but the amount of work is doubled. But I have a lot of time. I’m only taking three classes and also, being a kicker, it’s not like I really need to study the opponent as much as a quarterback would.

Nice honor for Nate Byham to even be named to the Mackey watchlist for best Tight End in the country. Hate to say it, but he has little chance of being even a finalist this season. I think he simply won’t see the ball enough. Between the receivers, running game and that Dorin DIckerson and John Pelusi will also see time at the spot his opportunities will not be in the volume that Kris Wilson had 5 years ago.

That brings things to this piece on Dorin Dickerson.

“This,” Dickerson said, “is the most comfortable I’ve ever been here.”

The move started when he told coach Dave Wannstedt before spring practices that he’d feel more comfortable playing offense. Pitt was missing injured tight ends Nate Byham and John Pelusi, so Wannstedt made the offer.

Dickerson agreed.

He excelled during spring practices and was an offensive star during the spring game, catching three passes for 35 yards. Now he’s starting to feel like a tight end, even though his No. 2 jersey gives him away.

“Everything is working out as well as it can right now,” Dickerson said. “Me and Coach Wannstedt are both happy with the decision. Hopefully good things will happen this year.”

Byham and Pelusi have both returned but Dickerson has established himself as a serious player at the position. How much he’ll play isn’t known. Dickerson still runs like a receiver, making him the fastest at his new position.

“There should be an excellent battle for playing time,” Wannstedt said. “I expect him to have an excellent year. He has enough talent to be a difference maker.”

Not that a TE shouldn’t see lots of work in a West Coast style, especially with Cavanaugh. You have to imagine that Pitt will use 2 TEs at time with Byham and Dickerson really able to do something to defenses.

I did like this piece on Pat Bostick.

Bostick still declines to talk about the “personal issue” that prompted him to drive back to Lancaster, accompanied by a member of Pitt football’s support staff. But he said that “it might have been the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“It’s completely changed who I am,” he said. “It made me take a step back and realize how good I have it, and get the help I needed to get and do what I had to do.”

Bostick said the transition to major college and the pressure of battling for the starting job — combined with everything else — were overwhelming.

“It was more than I expected,” he said. “Looking back, I would have changed how I handled it. I know it’s something people talk about, but, at the time, it’s what I did and I’m better for it today. I’m a better man today.”

…

Bostick’s entire outlook has changed since last year, when he was a frazzled, homesick teenager, to become the team’s most experienced quarterback.

“You can tell he’s a different personality than last year,” All-American linebacker Scott McKillop said. “He’s way more open and friendly. He’s talking to everybody and not keeping to himself.”

I kind of wish that he would disclose exactly what happened to stop speculation, but it is his business and choice. Obviously he has dealt with whatever it was and has a better handle on everything.

Finally, there is a transfer practicing with the team to get ready for next year. Josh Novotny transferred from Navy to Pitt when he realized that his choices of majors at Annapolis were more limited.

But Novotny’s career interests had the 6-3, 275-pound guard looking to transfer.

“I came to Pitt because they had what I was looking for,” Novotny said. “I wouldn’t change anything I did. I wouldn’t redo a thing.”

Even if it means Novotny, a health and physical activity major, can’t play a down for Pitt this fall and loses a year of athletic eligibility in the process.

Novotny, who turns 24 the day before Pitt’s Nov. 8 home game against Louisville, arrived at Pitt in January and, because of NCAA guidelines, must complete two consecutive semesters before becoming eligible.

Novotny actually participated in the spring game. Any offensive lineman who started for Navy sounds like a good pick-up for Pitt.

Via press release, this week the USA Today Sports Weekly will be a college football preview.

LeSean McCoy will be the cover boy for one of the 6 regions. (Dammit, Laurenitis is one of the others, so I know which will be the cover in Ohio.)

Brief aside, sorry for the silence this weekend. My daughter’s 6th birthday. Which meant family visiting and a day full of hyper, sugar-hopped kids. To say nothing of trying to open out of the packaging and then assemble lots of toys. Still, the fact that there were no tears — by the kids or me — was a good thing. Added bonus, the realization of knowing I’m raising my daughter correctly. Sunday she got dressed and put on her Pitt t-shirt before coming out to greet her grandparents — both Penn State grads — that morning. And I had nothing to do with it. Honest.

Camps are the big theme right now. Pitt’s present star players got to go to various top camps.

Seniors Levance Fields and Sam Young and sophomore DeJuan Blair were picked to attend prestigious Nike Skills Academy invitational-only camps at four sites around the nation.

“I’m hyped,” said Fields, who along with many of his teammates, worked Pitt’s team camp for high school-aged players that concluded Sunday at Petersen Events Center. “With the exposure, it’s a great opportunity.”

Fields will be at Steve Nash’s point guard camp in Newark, N.J., and Young will attend Vince Carter’s small forward camp in Orlando, both starting Wednesday.

Blair is scheduled to return today from Amare Stoudemire’s three-day big-men camp in Phoenix.

The camps include between 10 to 14 of the top college players at their respective positions, along with one of the NBA’s best, to work on defined skills. The college players also work as instructors at the skill academy, which includes two dozen of the top prep players at each position.

“It’s reflective of how well-thought of our program is,” said Pitt coach Jamie Dixon, whose Panthers are a consensus top-10 pick in the preseason polls.

…

The news about Fields, Young and Blair is all part of a busy week for Pitt basketball. Senior forward Tyrell Biggs and sophomore swingman Gilbert Brown are working at LeBron James’ camp for youngsters in Akron, Ohio. Brown twisted his ankle Saturday, but it was overshadowed by a pick-up game with the NBA great later that night.

“He seems all right,” Dixon said. “He said it was fun.”

Incoming freshmen Travon Woodall, Nasir Robinson and Dwight Miller arrived on campus over the weekend and played in open gym Saturday night. Guard Ashton Gibbs was due in Sunday or today.

As the story pointed out, Pitt players being invited to a Nike camp is extra-impressive since Pitt is an Adidas school.

I’m not sure how much that actually helps with recruiting top high school talent, with interaction with present players. It sure can’t hurt.

Of course there are the camps that are about the high school players and kids Pitt would like to recruit. The NBA Player’s Association Top-100 camp from this past week included Pitt commit Lamar Patterson and several other Pitt targets including Aaric Murray. Though, it seems Murray doesn’t have Pitt on his cut down list.

New Big East Basketball Blog has a report from the camp and how specific players looked. Including Omari Lawrence, Durand Scott and Dante Taylor — all with offers from Pitt. The bit on Scott is definitely worth an excerpt.

Pittsburgh is on this combo guard hard (with the love being reciprocated) and it shows – he’s tough, runs a team, and is vocal. Time and time again, Scott, hailing from New York, NY found open teammates, including several nice dimes in half court traffic during evening play. Of course ACC schools are drooling as well.

To recap on Scott, he’s a 4-star in both Rivals and Scout. Rivals has him #83 overall and the 20th best SG. Scout puts him as the #10 SG. ESPN/Scouts, Inc. has him as the #14 SG and 56th overall in the class (Insiders subs.).

I’ve been slow to post about the Big 33 game. I think some of it dates back to high school, when it was never that big deal at Lebanon High. Sure the contest would be held in Hershey, some 20 minutes away. But when the only time your high school got mentioned in USA Today was for snapping the nation’s longest HS football losing streak, you don’t send too many players to a state all-star game. Consequently, the interest was never that high. Unlike in Western PA where the WPIAL is always strongly represented.

I also think that the HS All-Star games in the early summer have no where near the cache they once did. Plus, the most important thing for Pitt is that none of the incoming kids get hurt in an exhibition game (i.e., Dorin Dickerson a few years back).

Still, the Pitt kids on the team were the big impact for whatever that is worth.

Performance in the Big 33 game is by no means a portent of individual success in college football.

Dave Wannstedt can hope, though.

Wannstedt’s University of Pittsburgh recruits were making plays all over the place as Pennsylvania blasted Ohio 31-16 in the 51st, and certainly longest, edition of the annual high school all-star game.

The story suggests that the conflict with the North-South game on the same day in Ohio led to diminished talent on the Ohio side, and the one-sided nature of the game. The flaw in that theory is that the Ohio squad had 4 or 5 players heading to Ohio State and another 14 to BCS programs. Ohio’s in-state all-star game the same night, none of the participants will be attending Ohio State. The simpler explanation was that Pennsylvania’s 2008 senior class was one of the most talented in the state in years.

Brief note, in the North-South game, Pitt commit kicker Kevin Harper was 4-4 on PATs and had a 30-yard FG.

Most of the attention was on the offense, where Pitt players got the most attention.

A trio of Pitt recruits did most of the damage for Pennsylvania, which led 24-0 at the half.

Quarterback Tino Sunseri (Pittsburgh Central Catholic) hit Jonathan Baldwin (Aliquippa) on a 10-yard TD pass for the game’s first score. Sunseri rambled 50 yards to the 1 two possessions later and, after a penalty, connected with Cameron Saddler (Gateway) for a 5-yard score to make it 14-0.

Sunseri and Saddler combined for the game’s highlight in the fourth quarter. Sunseri hit the receiver in stride on a middle post pattern, and Saddler broke a tackle sprinting to a 79-yard TD.

Then there was the defensive showing of Jared Holley.

On almost any another night, the individual performance by Pennsylvania defensive back Jarred Holley against Ohio would have been good enough to win the former Easton star MVP honors.

…

Over the years, Holley has also played tailback and wideout for the Red Rovers. But used exclusively at his college position — cornerback — against Ohio, Holley shut down the visitors’ deep pass attack and saved a touchdown with a tackle of tailback Isaiah Peat in the secondary.

Peat broke through the Pennsylvania’s second layer and almost scored before Holley tackled him following a 22-yard gain.

“The Pitt guys came ready to play, we had a lot of fun out there and we were joking the whole game about how the Pitt boys shut [Ohio] down,” said Holley, who was also pursued by the Penn State program, but opted to play for the Panthers and Dave Wannstedt.

Holley had two interceptions as well. The PA MVP was actually a Temple commit in DE Adrian Robinson. For Ohio, it was Michael Shaw who signed with Michigan on signing day — backing out of a verbal to Penn State.

Temple commits actually had a great showing on defense. In addition to Robinson, Defensive Lineman Shahid Paulhill had two sacks, five tackles and four quarterback pressures. Still, even the Philly papers noted Pitt’s incoming talent.

If this game was a glimpse of the future, the University of Pittsburgh will become a Big East contender.

Pitt recruits quarterback Tino Sunseri, wideout Jonathan Baldwin and multi-purpose player Cameron Saddler accounted for most of Pennsylvania’s fireworks.

Sunseri completed 6 of 12 passes for 189 yards and three scores.

Saddler had two receptions for 84 yards and two scores. The 5-7 speedster also carried twice for 14 yards. Baldwin had three receptions for 55 yards and a touchdown.

Baldwin scored on a 10-yard pass from Sunseri that made it a 7-0 contest with 9:00 left in the first quarter. Two possessions later, Sunseri threw a 5-yard TD to Saddler, making it a 14-0 contest with 1:07 remaining in the first quarter. That play was set up by Sunseri’s 50-yard scamper to the 1.

Saddler later caught a 79-yard touchdown pass from Sunseri to give Pennsylvania a 31-10 lead with 9:08 remaining.

Mike Shanahan, another Panthers recruit, also shined. The Norwin wideout caught three passes for 70 yards.

Another amusing aside. Check out the comment at the bottom of the column. Even though, most papers covering the game mentioned how the future Pitt players had a huge impact, since the Philly writer is a Pitt grad — the bias accusation comes from Temple fans. Keep in mind, the excerpt was the only mention of Pitt, and 3 of the 4 TDs by PA involved at least one Pitt commit. Oh, and Sunseri ran for a 50-yard gain to the 1 that set up the other TD.

Ah, the fevered mind of fandom. Something of which apparently has some Penn State fans grumbling about the appearance of the PA team’s unis.

A few Penn State fans have complained in recent years that the Pennsylvania team, while wearing blue and white in its uniforms, has gone with gold helmets, giving the team a serious Pitt flavor.

Gasp. They have found out about the secret propaganda and indoctrination program.

Andrew Taglianetti also made a play on special teams by blocking a field goal attempt. That should be something to help him get on the field early, at least in special teams.

Only Pitt commit not to make a name was Antwuan Reed out of Johnstown. He played both RB and DB in high school but played only on defense in the game. As the only Johnstown area player in the Big 33 game, he did get the local love before the game.

Reed has 129 tackles, five interceptions and two fumble recoveries. As a senior, he rushed for 1,915 yards with 55 tackles and an interception and was chose as The Tribune-Democrat Offensive Player of the Year. He was twice named to The Associated Press Class AAA All-State team.

Hours after signing his letter-of-intent to play at Pitt in February, Reed was named an Old Spice Red Zone Player of the Year. Photos of him and 49 others similarly honored appeared as a full-page ad in The USA Today.

Jonathan Baldwin got his own puff piece just before the game.

“Obviously, we’re going to try and do some things to get him the ball because he can make a difference,” [North Allegheny Coach Art] Walker said. “I think Pitt has a definite gold mine with him. They should be extremely excited they have him.”

Walker believes Baldwin could have an impact at Pitt early in his career. Baldwin is listed on the Big 33 roster at 6 feet 6, 215 pounds.

“Once he’ll be able to just work on being a receiver every day, he’ll be able to work on little things, like routes,” Walker said. “But he has a great knack already to just go after the football. I have not seen him wait for a pass yet. He goes and gets it, and his hands are amazingly soft for how big they are.

“But the most impressive thing about him, besides being a tremendous athlete, is he is so coachable. We’ll run something, and he’ll say, ‘Coach, I never really ran that route before. Will you show me?’ ”

Baldwin, a two-time Post-Gazette Fabulous 22 selection, also has opened the eyes of his Big 33 teammates.

“I’m in love with Jonathan Baldwin because this dude is freakish,” said Gateway slotback Cam Saddler, also a Pitt recruit. “As long as the ball is in the air and it’s intended for him, he’s going to get it.”

Saddler, never at a loss of words, is one of the emotional leaders of the Pennsylvania team. “At the beginning of the week, Jon was real sensitive,.

“I was throwing jokes at him, and he was taking them deeply. I said, ‘This dude is super sensitive.’ By Tuesday of this week, he caught on. That was the last day he got mad at me.”

Pennsylvania’s other starting receiver is Norwin’s Mike Shanahan, is a Pitt recruit, too.

“I’ll tell you what, Shanahan is a good player, too,” Walker said. “He’s almost the same size as Baldwin, but Mike is actually more polished with his routes. Jonathan just has more speed. I think [Shanahan] is a real sleeper at Pitt.”

Lots of options at WR this fall and into the future.

I love regional hall of fames. You never hear or read about most of them until there is a press release combined with a slow news day. Maybe a little more attention at a smaller paper that has a local connection to one of the inductees.

Take, oh I don’t know, the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame. You knew one had to exist. Just never really heard of it.

Well, this year one of the inductees includes Walter Hynoski who starred at Penn in the 50s. Yes, he’s related to Pitt fullback Henry Hynoski — cousins.

Walter gets a pleasant enough piece in his local paper and it lists some of this year’s other inductees.

Hynoski, who is retired and lives in Holland, Pa., was notified of his election recently. The induction ceremony will be Nov. 1. Two others from the area to be inducted with him are Dick Purnell, former Shikellamy High School football coach, and Bob Unger, a Pottsville High graduate who was an All-American in football at Princeton in 1952.

Other members of the 2008 class are former Wisconsin football coach Barry Alvarez, former Minnesota Vikings placekicker Fred Cox, ex-NFL quarterback Joe Pisarcik, Pete Vukovich, who won the American League Cy Young Award in 1982; former Pitt football coach Walt Harris, former NFL running back Doug Kotar, Jim Mutscheller, Elaine Sobansky-Blackhurst and Leroy Hennon. Ted Meredith and Franco Harris will be honored as Atletes of Distinction.

I guess it’s something else to add to the old resume.

The meme on how loaded the Big East will be in basketball for 2008 continues to worm its way around. Per Jay Bilas at ESPN (insider subs.)

It’s still too early to put together a coherent Top 25 for next year, but it is not too early to determine that the Big East will be the best league in the country.

By October, expect the backlash. At the first stumble of an expected top team in the Big East there will be the “ah-ha, see the BE isn’t that good!”

One of the stories I have always been fascinated, because of the consequences and that shows how effed up college sports can be has been the Baylor-Dennehy scandal. This was where a Baylor basketball player was shot by one of his teammates in the off-season. As the investigation was getting underway, the then coach, Dave Bliss, wanted to cover-up how he was secretly paying the way for walk-ons who had transferred — including Dennehy. That included trying to mislead investigators that Dennehy was shot because of a drug deal — despite Dennehy having no involvement in that. He even wanted the assistants to help with the cover-up. One young assistant and former Baylor player was so disturbed by this, he taped one of the conversations.

He went to see a lawyer who eventually leaked the tape, and helped blow the whole thing up. In the fallout, Abar Rouse became blackballed in D-1 because he “betrayed” his head coach. This long piece on what has happened to him is a hell of a read.

Many coaches, including Hall of Famers Jim Boeheim and Mike Krzyzewski, have said that Rouse had crossed the line. “If one of my assistants would tape every one of my conversations with me not knowing it, there’s no way he would be on my staff,” Krzyzewski told “Outside the Lines” in 2003. The rank and file has fallen in step.

Despite beating down seemingly every door and mailing out countless résumés, Rouse has had only one basketball job in the past five years, a graduate assistant position at Division II Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls. In October he made the agonizing decision to quit, unable to survive on the $8,000 annual salary.

…

Assistant coaches are basketball’s Secret Service, there to step in and take a bullet when one is fired at the man in charge. Indiana’s Senderoff was sent packing long before the NCAA’s tentacles reached Sampson; Dwane Casey took the initial heat for Eddie Sutton at Kentucky in 1989. Taking the fall is an act of honor, despite the fact it usually means some sort of violation occurred.

Turning a coach in, deservedly or not, is viewed through an altogether different prism. Among coaches who pontificate about integrity and ethics — the NABC, then headed ironically enough by Sampson, called an emergency summit the fall after the Baylor scandal to discuss the very thing — there is a hypocritical silent code: Thou shalt not drop a dime on one another. Or at least get caught doing so.

And in a career in which networking is critical for job placement, those who go against the silent code are exiled, left to scrap their way back or wait in hope that someone offers a lifeboat.

Bliss, by the way, got to coach in the NBDL for a year and actually felt like he has re-habbed enough to start showing up at the Final Four once more. Read it all.

East Carolina desperately has wanted in to the Big East since the re-formatting a few years ago. They still want to find their way in. Even if just in football.

OK, but what if a deal too sweet to beat existed? Just for kicks, let’s put one on the table in the form of, say, a job application. The school should be willing to:

• Play a conference football schedule with zero compensation from the Big East so current members don’t have to give up any of their share of revenue.

• Be responsible for negotiating a television contract for home games until the league wants the school to be a part of its package.

• Not expect any of the league’s BCS revenue until earning a BCS bid of its own representing the conference.

• Come in as a football member only. Other sports would play in another league in order to not interfere with the league’s current 16-member setup for all other sports.

• Show a solid track record of putting fans in the seats at home, on the road and at bowl games — all on a trial basis for a few years.

The Big East still won’t bite. They don’t have to. As much as it makes things difficult to schedule in football,  even a provisional, part-time new member would likely upset the delicate balance with the basketball schools. Until the conference realizes it has to split, ECU has no chance.

Finally, congrats to Dick Groat and Pitt great Don Hennon on being included for induction into the WPIAL Hall of Fame. That they weren’t been inducted years ago is more of a shock than anything else.

While I try to shake the idea of Playboy planning a “Girls of Olive Garden” pictorial out of my head — strategically placed bread sticks — a couple recruiting kudos for the 2008 class.

Nasir Robinson was named to the Second Team EA Sports All-American squad. Granted, the 1st team had 20 members and there are 30 players listed for the second team. Still that puts the Pitt commit in a top-50 class. I mean, if you care about these things.
Meanwhile, one of the gems of Pitt’s football recruiting class continues to make noise about walking on to the basketball team while at the State Farm Roundball Classic.

One of those players who definitely showed he belonged to be considered among the best around was Aliquippa’s Jonathan Baldwin, who captured MVP honors for the winners, scoring 27 points, including five 3-pointers.

“This was my last high school game so I wanted it to be a good one,” said Baldwin, who earlier in the day had set a record at the Center Trojan Track Classic as part of the 400 relay team. “Everyone wants to win and we’re all hard-nosed about it.

“I wanted to show everyone I could shoot three-pointers. I’m thinking about walking on at Pitt to play basketball, too, so I wanted to work on my threes.”

Baldwin is already committed to playing wide receiver at Pitt, but based on what the fans saw at Geneva College’s Metheny Fieldhouse, it’s hard to say his basketball career should be over.

With him and Mike Shanahan, it looks like there will be some real competition for the walk-on spots this year.

Belated congrats to Sam Young for making the AP All-American Honorable Mention list. Reminder that the declaration date for declaring for the draft is April 27.

Tyreke Evans is one of the top HS guards in the country. He’s the top unsigned guard. He’s not considering Pitt (unfortunately) but the Philly kid did another interview and this was worth noting.

Evans has played with a number of great players at American Christian, so I asked the star who he felt was the best of all, and he told me it was “Nasir [Robinson].” Although Robinson is currently at Chester (PA), he did spend some time at ACA with Evans. I asked Evans if he knew why Nasir left the school, and he simply said “no.”

Some of the players he’s played with at ACA included Martez Walker (decommitted from Louisville), Jerimiah Kelly (signed with DePaul), Kennan Ellis (UAB), Oscar Griffin (undecided SG for 2009), Lamont Jones (decommitted from Louisville).

The ESPN.com/Scouts, Inc. profile of 2009 Pitt commit Lamar Patterson is most encouraging.

A strong and athletic wing scorer with a solid handle. Patterson has three-point range and a nice mid-range pull-up. Given the slightest bit of daylight, Lamar will attack the rim with his long arms and explosiveness. He also has fine court vision to find open teammates.

Lamar is a strong and skilled wing. He is a good shooter and rebounder for his size. He is very talented and a better than average athlete. Lamar is also a very good passer with a decent handle. Rebounded and scored inside here. Talented with a great upside. Lamar is a top 75 talent in the 2009 class nationally.

There are days when I really despise the absolute prohibition by the Big East on recruiting any player who has even so much as signed a letter of intent with another Big East school. The BE has the harshest rule in all the conferences. Even in the Big 11, if a player wants to transfer to another member school he can as long as he pays his way.

This is a rule that dates back to the Conference’s earliest days. When recruiting was even more local and just as vicious. The fear was that teams would actually seek to raid each other to get players. The BE rejected even a minor tweak last year to allow players who had only signed the LOI, but was released following a coaching change.

PG Tyshawn Taylor wants to at least explore options now that Crean left Marquette. I have to believe that if the rule wasn’t there, ND would never been able to get McAlarney to come back after they kicked him out of school for a semester for Pot possession. They had to re-recruit the Long Island native, but no BE team could even approach him.

More attractive, though, would be the now former Villanova SG Malcolm Grant. He’s the one who torched Pitt from outside in January, and shot 46.6% from outside on the season. For whatever reason, he got buried on the bench by Jay Wright later into the season, and with it looking likely that he would stay there has asked for and received permission to transfer.