I hope no one is assuming Duke is a gimmee at this point. Duke is a good team that has noticeably improved from the start of this season to this point. It was expected to be a rebuilding year for Duke, and it has. But there have been improvements in this team as the season progressed

Duke is sitting at 4-6, but it is not the same team that lost to Virginia and barely eked out a win over Army. They upset UNC the week before. They lost by only 3 to Virginia Tech the week before that. And last month they held Louisville and presumptive Heisman winner Lamar Jackson to by far their lowest offensive production of the season in a loss. (Plus, they beat ND which even if ND sucks, is worthy of giving them some props.)

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Rough day yesterday. Bad news with Crisshawn Clark being announced out for the entire season.

The Pitt sophomore will miss the 2016-17 season with a torn MCL and torn meniscus in his left knee, the same knee in which he suffered an injury that forced him to miss all of last season at the junior college level. First-year Panthers coach Kevin Stallings said Tuesday it’s not known yet whether Clark also suffered a complete tear of his ACL.

“I’m really, really devastated for him because he had worked so hard to get back,” Stallings said. “Any time you see something like that happen, you hate it.”

The injury occurred Monday at Pitt’s practice on a non-contact play. He will undergo surgery at a yet-to-be-determined date to repair ligament and meniscus damage.

In the immediate aftermath of the setback, there’s no set timetable for Clark’s return and any larger impact the injury has on his future his uncertain.

“We’ll see what this means for him going forward,” Stallings said. “It certainly ends his season. What impact it has on his future, we’ll figure that out in due time. I’m disappointed for the team, but really disappointed for Crisshawn.”

The JUCO transfer was expected to be in the rotation at guard. He had a very good outside shot and would have fit well in Coach Stallings offense.

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The status of Jordan Whitehead is still an unknown. Not listed as injured, he did not play versus Marshall. He was dressed, but without a helmet. Head Coach Pat Narduzzi refused to say anything about why he didn’t play and remains vague as to whether Whitehead will play on this Saturday against Georgia Tech.

It got downright weird in the Monday presser.

Here are the questions posed to Narduzzi Monday on the subject, and his subsequent answers:

Question: Any update on Jordan with the depth chart change?

Narduzzi: “No. It’s nothing more than what I told you [Saturday]. We hope it’ll be soon.”

Question: “You said hope, you hope what?

Narduzzi: “You guys…”

Question: “Is he practicing with you guys this week?

Narduzzi: “You’ll see tomorrow morning. You guys know I’m not going to talk about it. I’m not talking about the injuries or anything else, about anybody.”

Question: “I respect your position on that Pat, but just wondering is whatever kept him out of the lineup Saturday…”

Narduzzi interrupts: “This seems like a hot topic?”

Question, again: “Has whatever kept him out of the lineup Saturday night been resolved?

Narduzzi: “It’s never resolved is it? It’s never resolved. We’re still working on it. Next.”

And that was it. There has been no information to indicate Whitehead is injured.

So is it an injury? Is it team discipline? Is there something else?

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Stripe-outs are the hot “new” trend in stadiums. I guess. Sure. Guess what Oklahoma St. has planned for Saturday afternoon?

The idea had been floated around in the Oklahoma State football offices a few years now. Discussions that never came to fruition. But Gundy kept pushing the idea, and on Saturday against Pittsburgh, his borrowed vision will finally become reality.

“I think college football is about striping the stadium and having orange pom-poms,” Gundy said. “I just think that’s the gameday experience.”

For the first time in history, some fans will be encouraged not to wear orange inside Boone Pickens Stadium. The Cowboys’ 2:30 p.m. kickoff is featured as the “Stripe the Stadium” game where alternating orange and white seat sections are planned for the ESPN telecast.

I won’t deny they look pretty cool when well-executed, but the optimism and enthusiasm for this in Stillwater is seemingly lukewarm.

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Reminder, this is a noon game because the Pirates are assholes who somehow think not even considering moving their game time will generate more fans to support them.

“We have not asked MLB to consider rescheduling our [Sept.] 10 game,” Pirates vice president of communications and broadcasting Brian Warecki said in a statement. “We are instead very excited about what should be a full and fun weekend on the North Shore. In addition to the baseball and football games on Saturday, we will have dueling Pitt and Penn State University Days on Friday night [Sept.] 9 in order to give the great Pitt and Penn State Pirates fans the opportunity to show their school pride on Friday night as well.

“Working together with Pitt, the SEA and ALCO Parking, we will ensure that Pirates fans have access to the North Shore and reserved parking well in advance of our 7:05 start.”

Be sure not to give the Pirates any money this weekend.

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Treatments finished. Cancer, beaten.

God is AMAZING. Just got the call that my body is clean of cancer!!! Been a long road but God had my back. Thanks everyone who said prayers!

— James Conner ? (@JamesConner_) May 23, 2016

James Conner gets the phone call he is cancer free. https://t.co/1YXtO3Rn4k (Photo courtesy @mikegallagher24) pic.twitter.com/gfNRGNBMmn

— Post-Gazette Sports (@PGSportsNow) May 23, 2016

Statement from Pitt football coach Pat Narduzzi.

“Over the past six months, James Conner fought cancer the same way he plays football: relentlessly and without surrender. He has inspired and touched so many people in how he has handled this challenge. James is an incredibly special person, and I’m not even thinking about his football ability when I say that. Everyone at Pitt feels blessed to know him and we are tremendously thankful for the wonderful news he received today.”

Don’t care how crappy work was. It is a good day.

Fuck.

Pardon me.

FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKF
UCKFUCKFUCFUCKFUCKFFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFU
CKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUC
KFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK

I mean, what else can you say.

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Somewhere this week, a bit of basketball had to be posted. Between Conner’s injury news at the beginning and the Backyard Brawl at the end, there was always something a little more breaking to post. Now, here we are a little more than 24 hours to a football game and you are looking at a basketball post.

Starting with the news yesterday that Damon Wilson was academically cleared by the NCAA. The news was initially tweeted out by Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com. But there could be more.

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Familiar names on the Zips team. No, not just Tra’von Chapman. One of their wide receivers has a very familiar name and has made an impression.

Passing wasn’t going to come easy to the Zips offense against the Sooners.

However, what little bit of promise displayed in that area came from the performance of Jerome Lane Jr. The former Firestone High School standout, caught three passes for 57 yards, including a long reception of 42 yards. However, coach Terry Bowden pumped the brakes on praising Lane just yet.

“If Jerome Lane would stay focused and learn his assignments and do the little things, he could be good at any one position on either side of the ball,” Bowden said.

It might also help if the coaching staff settled on where they want to use him. Last year, Lane was playing linebacker for the Zips. It doesn’t seem likely he will go back to the defense given the issues for Akron in the passing game. Akron quarterbacks completed only 6 passes for 88 yards the entire game (Chapman was 0-8).

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With the fine work by Justin and Reed, there isn’t much left for me to do at this point.

The pall cast over things with James Conner’s injury is noticeable. He’s having surgery, and because of the very cautious approach, he will not be coming back this season.

But Narduzzi said he had no problem coming to the conclusion that Conner needs to get the torn medial collateral ligament repaired immediately, regardless of the ramifications to the team.

Surgery is scheduled this week and will be performed by Dr. Volker Musahl, medical director at the UPMC Center for Sports Medicine. Musahl also performed knee surgery last year on Pitt center Artie Rowell.

MCL injuries typically heal between one to two weeks and four to six weeks, Charleston, S.C., sports medicine specialist and knee surgeon Dr. David Geier said.

That timetable would allow the MCL to heal nonsurgically and give Conner, the reigning ACC Offensive Player of the Year, a chance to return before the end of the season.

Narduzzi, however, said such a plan wasn’t considered.

“There are different ways to deal with it,” he said. “When you look at it for his sake and his health, doctors make that call. Ultimately, James makes that call. Certainly, it’s not a coach making that call.

“As a coach and a father, (for) his best interests and his future, he needs to get it repaired now.

“They could brace it up for five or six weeks and see how it works, and (Pitt could) lose him for half a season, but I don’t think that’s right for him, as a player and his future. He’s a guy who wants to play. If he could tape it up and go, he would.”

Narduzzi added, “There’s no question what the right thing to do was.”

Geier, who has no first-hand knowledge of Conner’s situation, said surgery “makes sense for a running back” because of the cutting and lateral motion required of players at that position.

Often, linemen who suffer such injuries are able to return in the same season.

As Narduzzi points out, this is about his future. First and foremost. If he were to try and just rest and rehab it, he could comeback this season, but that greatly puts his future in question and risks re-injuring it.

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Sorry to pop this over Reed’s new piece, but this is big, bad news.

Pat Narduzzi’s 12:30 pres conference dropped a bombshell.

Jame’s Conner’s “minor” knee injury that held him out of the rest of the YSU game as a precaution, turned out to be anything but.

It is an MCL injury to his right knee that will have him out for the rest of the year.

Horrible break for the kid. Not good for Pitt, but minor by comparison.

Odds are that first half against Youngstown State was the last we will get to see of James Conner on the field wearing Pitt. Next time he plays, it will almost certainly be in the NFL.

Here’s hoping for a full and successful recovery.

The Narduzzi Era at Pitt began yesterday and Pitt came out with a 45-37 win against the tough and persistent Youngstown State Penguins in front of 49,969 mostly yellow-painted fans.  Here are the official game stats in case you are wondering how what happened came about.

There is good news and bad news coming out of this ballgame.  Here are the highlights so that you can see some of each type of play we had Saturday:

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Busy day.

The Jonathan Milligan transfer is real.

The University of Pittsburgh men’s basketball team has added JUCO guard Jonathan Milligan for the 2015-16 season head coach Jamie Dixon announced Tuesday.

“We are fortunate to be able to add a guard of Jonathan’s caliber at this point in the year,” said Dixon. “He is a promising combo guard who received a lot of high major interest out of high school and while he was at Kilgore College. He has the ability to score from a variety of spots on the floor and break down defense by getting into the lane. He also has the quickness and instincts to be an outstanding defender in our program.

Milligan averaged 14.3 points, 2.6 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game last season while leading the Kilgore College to a 21-9 record and a Region XIV Tournament appearance. He increased his scoring to 17.5 points per game in conference play en route to claiming first team all-region and Region XIV all-conference accolades.

I love that the press release manages not to mention that he had to be released from his NLI with FGCU.

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Well this was a bummer of a press release.

Pitt sophomore tackle Jaryd Jones-Smith, expected to contend for a starting position on the Panthers’ offensive line, will miss the 2015 season due to a right knee injury.

Jones Smith (Voorhees, N.J./West Catholic [Pa.]) sustained the injury during an offseason conditioning session. He was a significant member of Pitt’s offensive front last year as a redshirt freshman, playing in all 13 games and making three starts.

“We are incredibly disappointed for Jaryd,” Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi said. “Our entire team will rally behind him as he works to overcome this challenge. Jaryd is a great young man and a tough competitor. Even though he is sidelined this year, he is going to remain an important member of our team this fall.”

It was expected that Jones-Smith would take man the right OT spot this season. It’s a tough, tough break for Jones-Smith. For the Pitt offense it hurts, but it isn’t that devastating.

Jones-Smith was a solid recruit (3-stars, offers from Arizona, NC State, Michigan), but not considered a linchpin to the O-line’s future. He developed much quicker than expected, and at times was one of the best O-linemen not named T.J. Clemmings on the field last year for Pitt.

If there is one thing that can be pointed to as a clear plus for the Paul Chryst period, it was the work done to build real depth on the O-line. Something not seen since… I don’t even know for sure.

Aaron Reese was named his back-up on the 2-deep coming out of spring practice. There are other options, though, that would require a little bit of line shuffling.

…redshirt freshman Alex Bookser, who played tackle at Mt. Lebanon, but was Pitt’s right guard this spring.

Moving Bookser would create more movement on the offensive line, with sophomore center Alex Officer possibly moving to guard and senior Artie Rowell regaining his accustomed spot at center. Rowell missed most of last season with a knee injury, but he could be ready for the start of training camp Aug. 10.

With a new coaching staff, I’m not as sure what they will do. Chryst and staff, I think would put Rowell back at center (if he’s healthy and ready), with the plan DiPaola laid out. Not sure what Narduzzi will do.

The good news is that there are options, and actual time to figure this out. It didn’t happen in season. It didn’t even happen in training camp. There will be some competition in camp to get the best five on the line.

According to Chris Peak of Panther Lair, Jaryd Jones-Smith suffered a knee injury and is out for the 2015 season. He will have surgery this week. Jones-Smith was set to start at RT this upcoming season. Unfortunately Jones-Smith has already used his redshirt, so he will lose a season of eligibility. Peak had this say about who could replace him:

The most likely option might be to move redshirt freshman Alex Bookser, who worked at right guard in spring camp but came to Pitt as a highly-regarded offensive tackle prospect. That scenario would probably mean a move for redshirt sophomore Alex Officer from center to right guard and a return to the starting lineup at center for redshirt senior Artie Rowell.

Other options could include junior Dorian Johnson, who started 13 games at left guard last season but played tackle as a freshman in 2014, as well as redshirt freshman Aaron Reese, who was Jones-Smith’s backup in spring camp.

This is a big loss for the team, especially given Jones-Smith was set to replace NFL starter TJ Clemmings. Thankfully the roster does have a lot of talent, albeit unproven, on the OL. This situation will be one of the key things to monitor this summer.