Not too much to say after the Cinci game. I’m a little disappointed with LeSean McCoy for going with or taking the bait on the “better team didn’t win” line.

“[Is Cincinnati] a better team?,” McCoy asked defiantly. “No, not at all.”

Pitt middle linebacker Scott McKillop was a little more diplomatic and said, “I think today, from the scoreboard, they were the better team but there was some penalties and we shot ourselves in the foot. They executed today against us. We didn’t play our best game today.”

McCoy then attempted to answer the question again.

“I’m sorry, I am just a little bit upset,” he said. “But I thought it was us. Speaking from an offensive standpoint, we didn’t execute enough. It is sad, I think it was a lack of execution but they are definitely not the better team. I don’t think we played like we can, it has nothing to do with better team, it is just some of the things we do, we didn’t do today. I guess you can look at it like, for this game, they were a better team.”

That’s the only time it counts. On gameday. I’m not trying to be hard on the kid. Obviously he was hurting after the loss, as was the whole team. It’s just I have read it enough times elsewhere — and it’s been pointed out on this blog — when an opposing player or coach goes to that sort of thing after losing. I don’t buy it from them, so I can’t really buy it when it comes from players from my school.

Everyone pretty much knew when Cinci seized control of the game.

The Bearcats responded with a 16-play drive that covered 99 yards and 7:54, converting three third-and-longs and a fourth-and-short. On a third-and-4, Pike beat the blitz of defensive end Jabaal Sheard to find Marcus Barnett for a 20-yard touchdown pass and tie it at 7-7 at 14:09 of the second quarter.

“That set the tone for the first half,” said Pitt middle linebacker Scott McKillop, who had a game-high 17 tackles. “We knew we’d hit adversity. We just didn’t know it would be that soon.”

Cinci’s offense followed that up with an 11 play, 83-yard TD drive.

You could argue, though, that Cinci set the tone and asserted itself after the turnover on the kickoff. Down 7-0. Pitt starting at the Cinci 34. Instead of a defense that hung its head, they pushed Pitt backwards 12 yards to remove even the chance of a field goal drive. That was an impressive stop by their D with all the momentum going to Pitt. Cinci Coach Brian Kelly actually tabbed that as the changer.

During the liveblog, there was some annoyance with the accolades and love being given to Cinci QB Tony Pike. In cold reflection, though, they were well deserved. He was outstanding.

Pike completed 26 of 32 passes for 309 yards and three touchdowns and led Cincinnati to a 28-21 win against Pitt in the fourth edition of the River City Rivalry.

“Defensively we could not get them off the field,” Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said. “That kid [Pike], I have to give him credit, he played about as good as any quarterback has played against us in the last two or three years. Not only did he get away from our rush, and we got guys who can rush, he made throws, he found receivers down the field and made some excellent throws under pressure.”

Pitt middle linebacker Scott McKillop added, “You have to give a lot of credit to Tony Pike, he had a great day, he made some throws with his arm and he made some plays with his legs. If you watch some of his film from his previous games, he feels the pocket closing and he leaves and the receivers are very good when he gets out of the pocket, of running the routes. He has a good feel for them, he made big plays.”

Wannstedt’s statement about Pike’s performance is strong considering the way Rutgers’ Mike Teel sliced the Panthers’ secondary about a month ago, but he wasn’t exaggerating as Pike was near-perfect and made big play after big play to sustain drives.

A Cinci columnist compared his play to that of Ben Roethlisberger. He’s also still trying to absorb it all.

Pike went 10-for-11 in the second half. He has gone from being an afterthought in August to a potential NFL QB after next season. If you’re looking for a metaphor for UC football lately, that will do.

How impossibly surreal was the scene at The Nip Saturday night? The place was decked out in red-clad fans, as if someone had opened a vein in the South end zone. Traffic was backed up on Taft Road a few minutes before kickoff.

Kelly is the subject of rumors sending him to Tennessee. Local sports agent Richard Katz suggests eight or nine Bearcats will go in the NFL Draft next spring.

These are the Bearcats?

That wide-open TD catch by Dominic Goodman that gave Cinci the lead, was also the TD catch to set a new Bearcats record for TD catches in a career.

Both papers had a columnist at the game. The storyline from Cook was: bet Pat White and the Hoopies can’t wait for Friday.

The Pitt coach clearly has a stressful six days ahead. He has much to correct before the Mountaineers roll into Heinz Field. For one thing, he must find Pitt’s lost running game, gone for two games now. For another — and this is the biggie — he must figure a way for his defense to contain West Virginia quarterback Pat White.

From Starkey, the defense didn’t do its job right from the start.

Now, it is up to the team leaders and the coaches to get the players heads straight and not hang it up. This was not the sort of thing you want to read.

“We were thinking Big East championship and Orange Bowl, just like everybody else in the conference,” Pitt sophomore defensive end Jabaal Sheard said. “After that loss, it’s going to be difficult to come back.”

Yeep. Over to you Mr. McKillop.

“This being my senior year, this could be the toughest loss right now,” middle linebacker Scott McKillop said. “And it is one of those things that myself, the other seniors, the other leaders, we have to as a team regroup. We do have two games left, we can’t go into the tank right now, we can still go out there and finish second in the Big East.

“A lot of things could still go either way, but we have to take care of what we control and we know we have a big game on Friday at home against West Virginia. I’m sure they’ve been eyeing this game on the schedule for a while so I think we’ll be ready and it will be interesting.”

It does seem that after each loss, the season has appeared to be potentially circling the drain. Time for another bounce back.

A screenshot of Bob Davie’s use of the telestrator to show how Dorin Dickerson scored in the final couple minutes. I’m just channeling my inner Beavis.

Telestrator Use

The offline world has been hectic today. Since I don’t know if I’ll be getting back before the game, just want to drop the TV info on the game.

7pm tonight on SNY and FoxSports Pittsburgh. It’s also on ESPN FullCourt (channel 720 on DirecTV).

ESPN casting call for college basketball commercial. It’s time to stereotype.

ESPN
Promo
SAG
PAY RATE: SAG PROMO RATE

Director: Matt Aselton
Casting Director: ERICA PALGON
Interview: Thurs 11/13 and Fri 11/14, Mon 11/17
Fitting: 11/21
Shoot: 11/24, 25
Location: New York

SUBMIT ELECTRONICALLY LIZ LEWIS CASTING PARTNERS

EVERYONE MUST BE STRONG WITH COMEDY/IMPROV. PLEASE WRITE ANY ADDITIONAL NOTES, IN THE NOTES PAGE, ABOUT ACTOR’S COMEDIC/IMPROV EXPERIENCE/TRAINING, THAT WOULD BE HELPFUL IN LOOKING THROUGH SUBMISSIONS

All roles are ages 18-22 yrs old. WITH THE EXCEPTION of PERDUE.

The concept: The spots take place in the ESPN College Basketball Call Center (CBBCC). All of these guys are there representing their schools, calling people on the phone to get them to watch more College Basketball. Basically they are selling college basketball.

…

[ PITTSBURGH ]
FEMALE. Pittsburgh is a tomboy. She obviously grew up in the neighborhood and isn’t going to take any guff from anyone and she’ll wallop you in the eye with a crowbar if you suggest different. So don’t. Think Tina Fey type.

Ohhhh-kaaaayyyyy.

Here’s some more from the Big East schools:

[ CONNECTICUT ]
MALE. Connecticut is all things Connecticut. He’s a little bit older.
He’s a little bit thicker around the waist. He’s WHITE. He’s also competitive. Very. Waspy, blue blood.

…

[ LOUISVILLE ]
MALE. Louisville is very true to place. He’s short. He’s HISPANIC. And one day he hopes to carry on in proud Louisville tradition and race thoroughbreds.

…

[ VILLANOVA ]
MALE. Villanova is the poor man’s Duke — he’s not quite as handsome, he’s not quite as rich, he’s not quite as dapper. After 2 or 3 beers though, who cares? As he’s friendly enough.

[ NOTRE DAME ]
MALE He’s an ASIAN kid who is in to all things Notre Dame, ridiculously so. Oh, and he’s always fighting. Every time we encounter him he always has some words or another, be it the faint traces of a black eye, or a scab or whatever. He epitomizes the fightin’ Irish.

…

[ SYRACUSE ]
MALE. Jewish kid from Long Island that is loving the college experience. It has opened up a world he never knew existed. All you can eat buffets in the cafeteria — who knew? To Syracuse, everything is a party.

[ GEORGETOWN ]
FEMALE. Georgetown, a 4.36 GPA who’s lived in 9 world-class cities, but all the time in her sister’s shadow (her GPA is 4.37). She’s sort of the female Duke, except most people like her. Think Reese Witherspoon.

…

[ MARQUETTE ]
FEMALE. Marquette, on a scale of 1-10, she’s a six. A B-, C in every category you can define a person by. Her defining characteristic is you don’t really remember her. You’re not breaking your arm to get to her, but you’re not chewing it off to get away. She does have a winning personality though. Midwest, sweet girl.

Apparently the plan has already been torched according to Awful Announcing’s update. ESPN apparently outsourced the plan and denies all responsibility for the stereotyping casting call.

Now this is a fun little thing. It’s called Pollspeak.com. Find out how they vote. For example, this is how AP voters picked Pitt.

Interesting breakdown. Love the Transparency.

Roger Clarkson writes for a newspaper in Athens, Georgia. He puts Kansas at #8. He only has 5 Big East teams ranked and Pitt was behind Marquette.

I got back late this evening from visiting family. I was able to see a good chunk of the 4th quarter and spent the all the overtimes away from family in the downstairs bar at the restaurant. Unbelievable.

My big regret from the screwed up schedule of being out-of-town. I couldn’t record College GameDay Final. I really wanted to see Holtz have to take crap from Mark May.

Since I’m tired and it’s late, I’ll keep the recap stuff on the brief side. I agree with Coach Wannstedt about this.

“I really can’t describe the heart that our football team has,” Wannstedt said. “We have been behind several times this year and fought our way back, but never against a quality football team like this, on the road against a full house. We’ve got wonderful kids. They never came unglued, as many adverse things that happened in the game, nobody ever folded.”

Pitt kept fighting back and it was a tremendous effort in the second half. That said, I can’t agree with him on going this far.

“All the legends are made in games like this,” Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said. “Big games, national TV games against great traditional teams like this. The great thing about this win is, the entire team will be recognized and remembered for this for the next 25 years because of the overtime and everything. It’s not just an individual. The entire team can share in it.”

Let’s not get carried away. This will not go down as a legendary win for Pitt, even as it gives Pitt it’s 10th win in South Bend.

This is a decent ND team, but it’s not like the Irish have shown a lot of heart in games this year.

“Right now, I’m not worrying about closing out the game; I’m worried about the psyche of the team,” Irish coach Charlie Weis said.

Yet there is a pattern developing, with the Irish’s inability to close out games against vulnerable opponents.

Against North Carolina three weeks earlier, the Irish had a 17-6 second-quarter lead, only to lose after being outscored by the Tar Heels 20-7 in the second half.

And in that game UNC was without their starting QB and had lost their best player in the first quarter. And that wasn’t the only time this year.

After opening up a 21-point first half lead on Michigan, the Irish gave up ten consecutive points, did not score in the third quarter and allowed Michigan to come within eleven twice, before a late score put the game out of reach.

After scoring 21 straight points on Purdue, the Irish gave up a touchdown and allowed Purdue to climb back within seven before they self-destructed.

After opening up a 21 point lead to Stanford, the Irish give up two scores to the Cardinal in the second half and narrowly hang on to win 28-21, failing to score in the fourth quarter.

Yes, believe it or not, Notre Dame seems to have trouble with that “Suuuuppper-genius” on offense, Charlie Weis going a little too conservative in the second half of games. To say nothing of a growing chorus of second guessing of Weis with more than a little bite:

Notre Dame had a chance to win in regulation, driving to midfield. Faced with a fourth-and-1, the Irish decided to go for it and called a pass because they thought Pittsburgh would blitz. The Panthers didn’t, leaving Clausen scrambling and turning the ball over on downs.

The play left Weis, who when he first arrived in South Bend said he’d have a “schematic advantage” in playcalling, decidedly schematically disadvantaged.

“They win the chalkboard on that one,” Weis said.

Then after Notre Dame trotted Walker out one too many times, Pittsburgh also won the game.

Yeah, they kept having to go back to their kicker, Brandon Walker. He struggled to start the season (1-8), but had been solid of late. When he nailed that 48-yarder, before missing the 38-yarder, he had saved the game for them.

This seems quite familiar.

What this loss pointed out for Irish fans is that progress here still isn’t linear.

We still don’t know what’s coming from week-to-week. We still wonder if or when they will beat a good team this year. Time is running out. Only Boston College and Southern Cal fit the good category.

What I believe is this: Notre Dame should be better than it is.

This is just what it feels like.

Weis, as he is prone to do, will break down every phase of the game and analyze it in a way that makes it seem like the sum of the parts wasn’t all that bad.

The Irish played well in the first half, not so well in the third quarter, when they ran just 11 plays and got just one first down.

These themes are becoming redundant after losses.

Yes, they are better than last year but still not as good as they should be this year.

This is the problem that Weis has to figure out quickly before it’s too late.

The difference between Pitt and ND. Pitt has shown more fight this year.

Pat Bostick started scary, but finished stronger. He did enough. As did the defense.

Jonathan Baldwin’s catch after 2 overthrows to tie the game didn’t surprise the anyone as to the play.

Dave Wannstedt said there are no secrets about what Pitt tries to do when it throws.

“That’s about the extent of our passing game,” Wannstedt said.

McNeil wasn’t surprised by the call. He was just disappointed with the result.

“I knew it was coming,” he said. “I just got a little too high on him and he made the catch.”

As usual, though, with a big Pitt win. It’s LeSean McCoy, LeSean McCoy, LeSean McCoy.

S is for Shady. LeSean McCoy earns the Mandom Award for the week: 32 carries, 169 yards and 1 TD. Most importantly: zero fumbles. McCoy does not have a problem fumbling the ball, but we mention it just to drive home the importance of not turning the ball over in a defensive-minded four-overtime game on the road. The Wannstache appreciates the attention to detail.

Pitt is -9 in turnovers this year. They only “won” the turnover battle against Syracuse. Otherwise it was even with Buffalo, and “lost” in the other 6 games.

Gary Parrish at CBS Sports puts Pitt #10 (4th in the Big East) in his rankings.

The uncertainty about the health of Levance Fields is enough to keep Pitt fans worried. But if Fields is good, the Panthers can be really good.

Everyone at Media Day, was apparently asking Fields about the left foot.

Fields must have repeated the line, “no timetable” at least 25 times on Wednesday each time he was asked his status following another surgery on his left foot – the same one he broke last season.

“I can’t really give you where I’m at,” Fields said.

Fields is doing a little shooting, lifting and also strengthening his leg. He’s not allowed to do any cutting yet.

“They don’t want me doing too much,” Fields said. “I’ve got to be patient.”

Sam Young maintains no regrets about not even considering the NBA last season. Mainly because he feels there is unfinished business.

“It definitely could have changed my outlook,” he said. “But when you have so much hope to go so far and you come up that short, I just feel like it’s unfinished business. It’s something that I needed to figure out, if I would come back for another season, because things didn’t go right at all, as far as the NCAA Tournament.”

Young was also ranked 5th by Parrish among the top “wing” players. Where Young will be playing more of this season.

While Gilbert Brown wasn’t at Media Day, this was left over from Pitt’s media day last week. Brown would really like to stay healthy.

Brown has been injured, ill or both simultaneously for most of his three-year Pitt basketball career. Asking him about his injuries is like asking him to talk about how his childhood dog died.

With a face that looked like he heard nails go down a chalkboard, Brown said he’d do “anything” to stay healthy this year.

He should start knocking on everything wooden, and considering he lives in a gymnasium, he’d be doing a lot of that.

“I’m crossing my fingers,” Brown said. “I’m hoping.”

We all are.

Coach Dixon spoke well of New Jersey — or at least the kids recruited from there.

As always, Big East Basketball Report has plenty of material. They have a link round-up from media day. And more links here. Plus Correspondant Zach Smart has the first of two capsule report on each team from media day.

They couldn’t schedule some collective bye week for Big East football or something. It would have made things a little easier. Not to mention allowed the spotlight to go to a little bit of hyping for basketball season. As it is, I’m way behind on catching up.

Okay. The basics. UConn was picked to win the Big East by the coaches. Pitt finished 3d in the voting.

1. Connecticut (9) — 214
2. Louisville (3) —– 205
3. Pittsburgh (3) —- 200
4. Notre Dame (1) —195
5. Villanova ——— 153
6. Marquette ——- 146
7. Georgetown —– 141
8. Syracuse ——– 139
9. West Virginia —- 121
10. Providence —– 99
11. Cincinnati —— 91
12. Rutgers ——– 53
13. Seton Hall —– 50
14. St. John’s —— 44
15. DePaul ——— 43
16. USF ———— 26

Not sure if that was taken before or after Nate Miles ended up joining the cast of CSI: JUCO.

I’m not bothered by being picked third. The voting for the top 4 teams is so close, and rightfully so. All four are fully capable of winning the Big East — or finishing 9th. I mean WVU down at 9th. Damn. That’s a fringe top-25 team in preseason. That just feeds the meme of how loaded, deep and tough the Big East will be this year.

While Luke Harangody was picked as the preseason Big East Player of the Year, he and Sam Young were the only unanimous selections to the all-Big East Team. No other Pitt players were put on the 11-player, plus 3 All-Big East team. Coach Dixon and Sam Young were bothered.

But when Dixon sees Fields, the team’s heart and soul, and Blair, his gregarious, always-smiling man-child, omitted from All-Big East honors, even the normally reserved sixth-year coach was left bewildered.

“How is Levance not an all-conference player?” he said. “He would be all-conference in any other conference in the country, and DeJuan probably, too. It’s hard to believe.”

…

“I don’t know,” Young said, “I don’t get that. I don’t even know what to tell you. I mean, there’s no way you can evaluate the situation. I mean, geez. Here’s a guy (Blair) that had 10-plus double-double games, and he doesn’t get it.”

Pitt is expected to be ranked in the top 10 in virtually every preseason poll. But the accolades clearly won’t be going to their heads — not with the memory of the snubs at Big East preseason media day.

“I’m sure Levance is already motivated by it,” said Young, with Fields sitting one seat away. “Once we get to Pittsburgh and DeJuan finds out about it, I’m sure he’s going to be furious.”

The simple answer is it’s a 16-team conference and even with 14 slots, I’m hard-pressed to see who gets bumped.

2008-09 PRESEASON ALL-BIG EAST TEAM

*Luke Harangody, Notre Dame (Player of the Year), F, Jr., 6-8, Schererville, Ind.

Deonta Vaughan, Cincinnati, G, Jr., 6-1, 195, Indianapolis, Ind.

A.J. Price, Connecticut, G, Sr., 6-2, 181, Amityville, N.Y.

Hasheem Thabeet, Connecticut, C, Jr., 7-3, 263, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

DaJuan Summers, Georgetown, F, Jr., 6-8, 241, Baltimore, Md.

Terrence Williams, Louisville, F, Sr., 6-6, 210, Seattle, Wash.

Jerel McNeal, Marquette, G, Sr., 6-3, 200, Country Club Hills, Ill.

Kyle McAlarney, Notre Dame, G, Sr., 6-0, 196, Staten Island, N.Y.

*Sam Young, Pittsburgh, F, Sr., 6-6, 215, Clinton, Md.

Jonny Flynn, Syracuse, G, So., 6-0, 185, Niagara Falls, N.Y.

Scottie Reynolds, Villanova, G, Jr., 6-2, 195, Herndon, Va.

2008-09 PRESEASON ALL-BIG EAST HONORABLE MENTION

Jeff Adrien, Connecticut, F, Sr., 6-7, 243, Brookline, Mass.

Earl Clark, Louisville, G/F, Jr., 6-8, 220, Rahway, N.J.

Dominic James, Marquette, G, Sr., 5-11, 185, Richmond,Ind.

There’s a lot of deserving talent. You may not like some of them, but those are great players. Besides if it helps motivate Fields and Blair a little more, I’m all for it.

Do you know what today is? It’s Big East Basketball Media Day in NYC. As is Coach Jamie Dixon’s MO, he’s bringing the seniors (PDF). So DeJuan Blair, but Tyrell Biggs along with Sam Young and Levance Fields.

The Big East is going all out with content.

In the days following men’s and women’s media day, fans will be able to watch a narrated behind-the-scenes look from each event, which will consist of “off-the-cuff” interviews with prominent media members, coaches and players.

Soooo… It’s scripted event, they are trying to make look spontaneous?

As Midnight Madness took place for some, SI.com’s Seth Davis asked questions about each top team.

With DeJuan Blair, Tyrell Biggs and Sam Young, the Panthers are as good up front as any other team in the country. In Levance Fields, they have as tough a point guard as you’ll find anywhere. But they lost three very good outside shooters off of last year’s team in Keith Benjamin, Ronald Ramon and Mike Cook, who together sank 56 percent of the team’s three-pointers. (And keep in mind Cook only played 11 games before blowing out his knee.)

Pitt’s dearth of long-range shooters could be an especially glaring deficiency with the new three-point line. Right now, Jamie Dixon will be looking to three possibilities to fill that role: Brad Wanamaker, a 6-4 sophomore who averaged 2.2 points as a freshman; Ashton Gibbs, a 6-2 freshman from New Jersey; and Jermaine Dixon, a 6-3 transfer from Tallahassee Junior College. Dixon, it should be noted, is the younger brother of my all-time favorite college player, the former Maryland guard Juan Dixon, but until one of those three proves he can make shots, this will remain a open question, dialed in from long-distance.

Not sure why he excluded Travon Woodall except that he might have him in as the back-up PG and so not as the guy to take Ramon’s spot.

While the new 3-point line’s likely impact has been minimized by many coaches — including Coach Dixon — there are some who aren’t so dismissive.

But the only data we have suggests the change could be radical. Those numbers come from U.S. participation in international play, which uses a 20-foot, 6-inch line for the 3-point shot. That’s closer to the goal than the 20-feet, 9-inches that’ll be the new rule for college, yet some of the best young American players have struggled terribly when adjusting to the international distance.

In the past three competitions for college-age players — the 2007 Pan-American Games, the 2007 Under-19 World Championships and the 2008 Under-18 FIBA Americas Championships, the U.S. shot a combined 119-of-393 (30.3 percent) from 3-point range. Now, that figure is deflated by the fact the international game uses a shorter shot clock, but it ought to have been inflated by the presence of elite players on those teams: Davidson’s Stephen Curry, Michigan State’s Drew Neitzel and Washington State’s Derrick Low.

The game could change more than coaches would have you believe.

If so, that’s a big advantage for Pitt, since the reliance on the perimeter shot by Pitt will not be as high as others.

Now ESPN.com has the team breakdowns from Blue Ribbon Yearbook (Insider subs.). Here’s the “Final Analysis” on PItt.

BACKCOURT: B+
BENCH/DEPTH: B
FRONTCOURT: A-
INTANGIBLES: A-

Dixon did an incredible job last year, guiding the Panthers to 27 wins and a 10-8 Big East mark despite the injuries to Fields and Cook. The program’s strength was evident as players like Benjamin, Ramon and Brown stepped into larger roles and filled them.

This year, Pitt will rely on its three all-conference candidates — Fields, Young and Blair — to lead what will otherwise be a very young team.

Pitt owes its recent string of success to the defensive-approach preached by Dixon. Now entering his sixth year as head coach, Dixon thinks this might be his best defensive team yet.

“I like this team,” Dixon said. “I’ve liked all our teams, but I like this team. I think we can be very deep, very tough physically. We’ve got some guys that can make shots and create shots on their own.

“The question to me is how good we can become defensively. I think this can be a good defensive team; as good defensively as any team we’ve had.”

If he’s right about that, Dixon might just take Pitt to its first Final Four.

Homecoming weekend doesn’t end Saturday night, by the way. In lieu of Midnight Madness for the students, there’s the FanFest Sunday afternoon at the Pete.

The University of Pittsburgh will host its fifth annual Basketball Fan Fest and Intrasquad Scrimmages on Sunday, Oct. 26, at the Petersen Events Center. The event will highlight the Pitt men’s and women’s basketball teams and feature autograph sessions, team scrimmages and various fan-oriented events. Admission is free to this family-oriented event. Free parking is available in the OC Lot. Doors open at 12:30 p.m.

So, there’s that.

I still think it will get picked up.

Right now, it will be shown on ESPN360.com, according to the Game Notes (PDF) press release.

Here’s the list of broadband providers that have an agreement with ESPN360.com.

If this stays untelevised, it’s just plain humiliating for the Big East.

I probably jumped the shark a long time ago, but this is just a clincher. It also shows how blogs, like radio and other mediums can be used for promoting and selling stuff. Sports Illustrated has a new book being released: The College Football Book.

I received a courtesy copy for review and a chance to talk to someone associated with the book. In this case, David Sabino. He does a lot of fantasy baseball and football these days for SI. This makes sense when you are the Associate Editor in Charge of Statistics. Some are really not impressed by his work. David and I talked on Friday over the phone.

You can listen to the 20 minute conversation — if you can put up with a slew of “ums” and “ahhh” from me. Clearly I need to work on this before I even consider more podcasts. I’ve broken it up into 3 parts, each 6-8 minutes long.

Part 1, is about David Sabino’s background and involvement in the book.

Part 2, covers some of the specifics on Pitt players in the book.

Part 3, is just a bit of a grab bag. Talking a little about the images in the book, future projects, and the changing media.

My thoughts on the book. The photos inside are beautiful as you would expect. There are some of the classic stories from Sports Illustrated through the years, including part of the essay on Tony Dorsett from 1976 written by Myron Cope — the accompanying photo of Dorsett breaking free of some gold helmet wearing defenders trying to arm tackle him is stunning. There are also pictures of Hugh Green and Dan Marino.

Sticking with Pitt players for a moment, the center of the book focuses on All-time College All-Stars. There was also the restriction of limiting it to only one player from a school. Dorsett did ton’t make that list. A tough call, but with Jim Brown and Herschel Walker ahead of him, it is hard to argue too strenuously. Especially since Hugh Green made the cut on the defense. As David Sabino explained, most schools consider their greatest players to be running backs or quarterbacks.

More shocking was Dorsett’s exclusion from the 70s all-decade team. Instead it was Johnny Rodgers (Nebraska), Billy Sims (Oklahoma) and Archie Griffin (Ohio St.). According to Mr. Sabino, that was pretty much by the numbers.

Obviously releasing the book around this time of the year, the hope is that it will be purchased as a holiday gift. It really is a beautiful book, and it is the sort of book that if you stick on a coffee table, will be picked up and paged through.

As I say in the conversation, I got the book a day or two before family came for a visit. My dad — who still loves SI — saw the book and just started paging through it. It just held his attention for a good 30 minutes.

Another bonus is on the decade pages, they show a sampling of program covers from the period. Some great historical stuff. It’s a little sad as program covers have gotten rather boring in my view. It’s hardly worth holding onto the same way.

If you want to get a copy of the book you can find it here and here. Suggested retail price is around $30, is actually sold online for about $20.

A mixture of lots of other things happening and well, I’m not feeling particularly rushed with no game this Saturday. Still, Zeise has kept up his Q&A and I feel obliged to highlight and comment.

Immediately after the USF game, the comparisons were made to the 2004 team. I made the comparison to the conference being down like in 2004, but I’m not so sure about a direct correlation with that Pitt team. That season started out with lowered expectations as much as anything else. Losing Fitzgerald, Rutherford, the recruiting class falling apart, the bowl loss to Virginia, the loss of VT and Miami to the ACC then BC, the increased dissatisfaction with Harris — everything. It looked like a complete rebuilding/transition/lost year.

To compare the two teams because of “grit” and “heart”  seems a bit weak. Those are cliched words thrown around all the time with football teams that win. It makes them seem tough and the kind of team the fans want to root.

Zeise does love playing the “voice of reason.” When Pitt fans were down on the coaches — the first 4 games — he was stressing that things weren’t that bad and everyone needed to be calm. Now he gets a nice softball to hit the other way.

Q: Paul, after the USF win, can we put a moratorium on publishing the “These coaches are too conservative!” cries coming from Panther faithful? Last night I saw the coaching staff call several shots down field, a fake punt, a wild cat formation, some risky shovel passes, and a change of pace series with Greg Cross. What more can you ask for?

ZEISE: Well let’s see — you are talking about sample size and right now the sample size supporting your point of view is about two games worth while the opposition can counter with, well, the other 38 since the start of the 2005 season. It is clear that there seems to be an effort to throw some caution to the wind and take some more chances, but like I just wrote, will this trend continue now that every game is crucial again? I do like the fact that they are taking shots down the field in the passing game because that seems to be loosening up things for McCoy and also for the underneath routes as well. As I said in my open, it was a tremendous game plan and Pitt made a lot of great plays so you do have to tip your cap to Matt Cavanaugh, which I know is something that is not always popular among some of the Panther faithful.

Cautious optimism is the general sense for Pitt fans right now, if I were to guess. There’s hope, but plenty of lurking fear that this is just a set-up for an even bigger disappointment. Or that could just be me.

We get an explanation for Jonathan Baldwin scaring the crap out of us with a near Leon Lett moment.

Q: What is the attitude of Jonathan Baldwin? I’m wondering whether he is kind of cocky and all full of himself. I admit, he looks like he is going to be a great receiver for Pitt but his first touchdown reception against USF could have turned ugly really fast when he showboated the ball out there at arm’s length just before crossing the goal line as he almost got it knocked away by the trailing defender. That kind of nonsense makes you wonder. You would think a freshman would be happy to just tuck it away and score rather than looking for style points at this stage of his career. How do you see it?

ZEISE: I completely disagree. First off, the kid is a very humble person. In fact, getting two words out of him is a chore as he is clearly not interested in talking about himself or his accomplishments. And we asked him about that play — sticking the ball out in front of him and he said — and this is actually pretty refreshing because sometimes you forget these are just kids — basically that he was trying to make sure that ball crossed the goal line because he didn’t want to mess up his first collegiate touchdown. So he wasn’t showboating at all, he was just trying to get into the end zone as quickly as possible. He’s a young kid and he obviously will mature, but it was funny to hear a player of his potential talking about how “awesome” it was to have an opportunity to score a touchdown and how he was just making sure the ball crossed the goal line. He’s got a good attitude, there is no question about.

Could be utter crap. Could be completely true. Maybe somewhere in the middle. I’m comfortable going with complete truth on this one.

How many people really wonder about whether Pitt should go to some sort of spread formation? Really? I happen to think that Wannstedt and Cavanaugh are just not wired to even conceive running that sort of offense. They treat it like it is a gadget — their words — rather than a whole offensive gameplan. I’m also not prepared to endure the ugly growing pains that switching to such a system would entail.

And about next week’s game.

Q: Paul, I look at this years defensive roster and I see a lot of the same names from last year. Aside from a year’s worth of experience, what does this team have this year that will stop Navy’s triple option?

ZEISE: Well first off — very few teams have a lot of success against Navy. This is a team that averages 29 points and 313 yards rushing per game — there is not a good way to “stop” this team. Like I said before, if you can force a few punts, it should feel like a win. Navy is going to score at least 21 or even 24 points almost every game, so Pitt’s focus needs to be on slowing them down, perhaps forcing a turnover or two and getting them into third and long if possible. If you remember last year, that dive play killed Pitt on first and second down and it seemed like Navy was constantly in third-and-2 or better and with that offense, they will make that almost every time. But having a year’s experience is a key as is the fact that Pitt has seen the cut blocking that Navy’s line does and Pitt already has an example of a defensive game plan that does not work. One of Navy’s biggest advantages is teams just don’t see that offense and so they only have one week to prepare for it all season and that’s tough to do. And the way the offensive line blocks and cuts, it is something that until you play against it, you have no idea how effective it is. Most of these guys have played against Navy now and will have a better feel for the precision with which the Midshipmen run their offense.

Last year, Pitt had a bye week before the Navy game. It didn’t help in the gameplan. I would say this game could be one of the big barometers of whether the problem was ex-DC Paul Rhoads or not.

You can watch the ESPN.com highlights of the game here.

The 13-9 upset of WVU last year was supposed to be the watershed game showing that Pitt was coming together under Wannstedt. There was the talk of how the team hadn’t quit all season. That, but for the injuries, Pitt would have at least won one or two more of those close losses. That the team had turned the corner by the end of the season and that 2008 payoff would be there. That built over the offseason and suddenly Pitt was the trendy “darkhorse” pick of the Big East. Even getting into the top-25.

Of course the team went out and laid a tremendous turd in front of the home crowd and ESPN-U against Bowling Green. And the narrative shifted to, nothing has changed. The three subsequent wins really didn’t do much to alter that perception.

Now, another national win over USF on Thursday night and it is a return to the corner turning for Pitt.

There’s a lot of season left for Pitt, but on one redemptive night in the Sunshine State, a beaten and bewildered football team finally bathed itself in radiant glory. It couldn’t have come a moment too soon, for now the pressured and panicky Panthers might actually be able to view a football season as a joy, and not a burden.

Why is this win so cathartic for everyone involved in the Pittsburgh program? Very simply, the Panthers — much like Clemson, Michigan State, Arizona State, Cal, and a handful of other programs one could readily rattle off — have found themselves frozen and fearful in the face of old demon pressure. Suffocated and stifled in the face of massive expectations, Pitt has languished in the middle of the Big East over the past few years, behind the likes of West Virginia, Louisville, Connecticut, Rutgers, and South Florida. And while Louisville and Rutgers now stand beneath the Panthers in the Big East pecking order, the fact remains that the Cardinals and Scarlet Knights did enjoy moments of supreme satisfaction in recent times. Pitt has not enjoyed real postseason success since the days of Walt Harris … and that one run to the 2005 Fiesta Bowl proved to be an aberration. The words “Pitt football” and “underachievers” have belonged in the same sentence for most of this decade.

…

The Panthers haven’t fully arrived, but with this big breakthrough now in their pocket, they might finally be able to display a mentally liberated brand of ball that could bring big things to the school that brought America the likes of Tony Dorsett, Hugh Green, and Dan Marino. One game does not a program make, but one game can enable a program to experience a change of character and confidence. Everyone associated with Pitt football can only hope that Thursday night’s triumph in Tampa will prove to be such a turning point.

Plus the media really likes Wannstedt. He talks nice to them.  So they want him to succeed.

“We needed this one so bad,” Wannstedt said.

This might be the program-changing win that Wannstedt so desperately needed. He came into the game bowless in three seasons. The high from the West Virginia win quickly wore off at the beginning of this season. But the Panthers are 4-1 and on top of the Big East, ready to jump back into the polls.

There’s some personality to these inconsistent Panthers. LeSean McCoy has now surpassed 100 yards for the second consecutive game and Phil Bennett’s defense is showing some grit.

And now, along with UConn, Pitt is in (oh, how I fear typing these words) control of its own destiny.

Jan Wannstedt planted a kiss under that glorious soup-strainer above her husband’s lip late Thursday night. “What does this mean for your bye week?” she asked her husband. “It means I’m going to see my grandson in Chicago,” Dave Wannstedt replied.

Oh, Thursday’s 26-21 win at No. 10 South Florida means much more than one happy kid in the Windy City getting a visit from grandpa. It means Wannstedt’s Pitt team, left for dead after an opening week clunker against Bowling Green, sits in the driver’s seat in the Big East after two conference wins – both on the road. It means the Panthers, architects of three consecutive fourth-quarter comebacks and three consecutive wins against ranked teams, might be made of the kind of stuff it takes to survive a potentially wild conference race.

Only a little more than a month into the season and we’ve had huge downs and ups.

In the blog exchange, both sides had similar thoughts about the feelings of the fans of the losing team.

Whoever loses is going to be very pissed off about it, thanks to a low score and frightening aerial displays on both sides. Stull should plan to be either very patient or very unproductive this weekend, and the Iowa passing game appears to be a mess once again.

And:

I predict that this could be a painfully frustrating game for both fanbases. Both coaches will play for field position, so there will be lots of punting and the score will stay very close. The fans of the losing team will fume and complain about missed opportunities and how this game was right there for them.

Okay, so neither of us exactly went out on a limb. But we weren’t wrong. As much as Pitt fans were expecting the worst in this game, given Wannstedt’s history at Pitt to date. Well, that’s nothing compared to the frustratingly low expectations from Iowa fans that even predates Ferentz.

If you underestimate the importance of this game, don’t; that’s a grave error. There are only two possible outcomes:

1. Iowa records their biggest non-conference road win since Penn State in 1983;
2. We must sit here and explain away the fact that Iowa just lost to the Wannstache.

And that’s it. Buck a quarter-century-long trend of reprehensible road play, or force us to drink suicidally and post a Wannstachalanche. No pressure, Hawks.

Iowa just doesn’t win non-cons of any significance on the road. That does put Pitt’s win in a slightly different context. And boy, they are pissed at the coach for this. Especially because of the curious decision with musical QBs.

Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz had a hunch Jake Christensen could rally the Hawkeyes to victory — despite misfiring on four of six first-half passes against Pittsburgh on Saturday afternoon.

He guessed wrong.

Iowa’s final drive of the game fell apart after Christensen fumbled at the Hawkeyes’ 28-yard line in the final minute.

A hunch? Really?

“Probably more of a gut thing than anything else,” Coach Ferentz said. “I just felt like at halftime Jake (Christensen) had a little better feel for what was going on, particularly what they were doing defensively. Thought he gave us the best opportunity to win the football game.”

This is where the “gut thing” gets a little confusing.

Sophomore Ricky Stanzi completed 7 of 10 in the first half, including his first six passes. He also led Iowa on its lone touchdown drive of the half, a Greene 6-yarder that pulled Iowa to 14-10 with 3:24 left before halftime. Well, Stanzi didn’t exactly “lead” on that drive. Six of the nine plays went to Greene, who gained 52 yards, including a 32-yarder on sweep.

Meanwhile, junior Christensen was 2-for-6 for 15 yards in the first half. After McCoy fumbled on Pittsburgh’s first play, giving Iowa first down at Pitt’s 19, Iowa could only go 11 yards and ended up with Trent Mossbrucker’s 26-yard field goal.

Despite the numbers, Ferentz’s gut told him to go with Christensen, who played the entire second half, finishing 12 of 24 for 124 yards with four sacks. Stanzi had his helmet on a few times, but he mostly stood outside sideline huddles with offensive coordinator Ken O’Keefe.

Remember, Ferentz has the final word on this. He said exactly that last week when Stanzi was pulled in favor of Christensen in the third quarter of last week’s victory over Iowa State.

It’s a gut thing.

“It was just the feel I had,” Ferentz said. “That’s just how I was feeling during the course of the game.”

They are taking this sort of executive decisionmaking well.

They won’t believe this in Chicago or Miami, where Dave Wannstedt coached NFL teams. They won’t even believe it here, where Wanny has yet to approach the penthouse of the Big East. But he out-coached fellow son of Pittsburgh, Ferentz. Or more accurately, he didn’t out-coach himself. Unlike his Iowa counterpart.

Yay, our coach didn’t outsmart himself in the game.

You do get the feeling that Wannstedt would go with Jake Christensen as well in the same situation. Or is that just me? He’s a year older than Stanzi. Tough mentally and physically. More experience. Just not as good.

Let’s make one thing clear: This is not Jake Christensen’s fault. He is what he is. He’s short. He’s inconsistent. He’s inaccurate. The next pass he throws with any touch will be his first.

It’s not for lack of effort. Or toughness. Or heart. Christensen is a stand-up kid. He’s faced tough questions from the media. He’s been booed at home by his own fans. He’s taken it like a man.

But, by God, if he’s the quarterback that gives Iowa the best chance to win, I’m Brad Pitt.

And if Christensen starts a game at home, he’ll likely be booed again. Not because the fans hate him. But, because the fans don’t have any other way to let the coaches know how stupid they think the decision is.

Pitt’s special teams were exceptional in the Iowa game. That’s a credit to Coach Wannstedt since he coaches special teams. Iowa. Not so much.

This week, special teams play in every facet lagged for Iowa. Iowa missed a field goal, suffered a blocked punt and gave Pittsburgh’s sports information department a reason to push punter Dave Brytus for the annual Ray Guy Award.

At least 11 different special teams plays were negatives for Iowa.

They have a list of screw-ups that includes the missed field goal. Is it worth noting that Iowa was also playing musical kickers as well?

So, apparently Coach Jamie Dixon spoke to the Pitt players to help with the motivation.

It is the Panthers’ first win against a Big Ten opponent since a 12-0 win against Penn State in 2000, and, as defensive tackle Mick Williams explained, the kind of victory the Panthers needed to prove to themselves — and to others — that they are capable of doing big things this year.

“Coach Dixon came in Thursday and talked to us about this being a big program-building kind of game,” Williams said. “And we all got together and said let’s go and do something to build our program. He talked about when Brandin Knight played, it was a win over Ohio State for them and he told us, this is Iowa for us. That was a big thing for us, that he came in and talked to us, and I’d like to thank him for that.

“[In the fourth quarter, when it got tight] that is all we were talking about there today, we knew we had to dig deep because this game is our program-builder right here.”

The Ohio State game Dixon referred to was in 2001 when Knight was a junior and the Panthers, coached at the time by Ben Howland (Dixon was an assistant), went to Columbus and upset the Buckeyes, 62-55.

However you want to give credit, it’s a significant event for Pitt under Wannstedt.

This was the kind of game Pitt has become accustomed to losing. It was playing a BCS opponent, getting outgained and trailing in the fourth quarter.

Most of all, the Panthers were coming off a bye week.

Instead of adding Iowa to its list of devastating out-of-conference defeats, Pitt came through in every phase for a 21-20 victory over Iowa before a crowd of 50,321 on Saturday afternoon at Heinz Field.

…

“There is no substitute for going through it yourself and having success,” said Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt, who improved to 1-5 after a bye and earned his first victory over a Big Ten opponent after losing to Michigan State the past two seasons.

“We’re down in the fourth quarter. We find a way to score, the defense finds a way to stop them, and special teams comes up with the play. That will stick in their minds.”

While the win was encouraging for Pitt (2-1), it wasn’t in impressive fashion. Iowa (3-1) outgained Pitt, 361-259, and held the Panthers to six consecutive possessions without a first down.

On the plus side, the defense made plays when it had to. Oh, geez that sounds very familiar. Didn’t Pitt have a DC that used to throw that out there a lot of times? Bend, but don’t break. It’ll come to me.

“The most encouraging part was the end where we had to make some plays,” Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said. ‘Two series right before the half, our defense stepped up and got two three-and-outs. Then, at the end of the game, the defense stepped up.”

The big question leading up to the game was whether Pitt’s undersized defensive front could compete in the trenches with a big, physical Iowa offensive line.

There were no doubts after an impressive fourth quarter.

Of course the defense had to do the work. Iowa held a 34:48 to 25:12 advantage in time of possession.

Greg Cross finally making an appearance was noted in a couple places.

“It was a nice play that Matt Cavanaugh and our coaches put together,” coach Dave Wannstedt said. “… They both had options depending on the defense. On one, Greg was going to motion out and Billy would be the quarterback. On another look, Greg was going to be the quarterback and Billy was going to be the wide receiver. That’s the look they gave us.”

At 6-foot-2, 210-pounds, coaches have been creating ways to get Cross onto the field. That never happened against Bowling Green and Buffalo.

“We have about a half dozen plays for Greg,” Wannstedt said, “but have never found the opportunity to get him in there.”

The other time Cross was out there, it didn’t work so well, but that may have had as much to do with the timing.

There is a time and a place for Greg Cross and second and ten from your own side of the field isn’t it.  Cross should be put in on a perceived running down and lined up in the WIldcat formation.  From this, they can go ahead and pass- that would actually take someone by surprise.  But to put him in on second and ten and try to drop him back shows that Wannstedt doesn’t understand that it isn’t about putting talent on the field but about putting talent in a position to be successful.

In Florida, that was the difference between Ron Zook and Urban Meyer. Arguably you could also make the same point at Ohio State with John Cooper and Jim Tressel. Zook and Cooper recruited plenty of talent, but it took a different coach to succeed with them.

Ron Cook has a man-crush on LeSean McCoy.

The kid really does get it.

It’s not as if McCoy didn’t make a sizable contribution to what has to be the second-biggest win of the Dave Wannstedt era, a win trumped only by the magic in Morgantown Dec. 1. Just when it seemed as if the Pitt offense had called it a day late in the third quarter with its five consecutive three-and-out series and an interception on the sixth, he took control of the game. He had six touches and accounted for 69 of the 80 yards that Pitt cranked out to get the winning touchdown against a stout defense that hadn’t allowed one in Iowa’s first three games. His 27-yard touchdown run — he started right and cut back — brought back wonderful memories of last season when he was the best freshman running back in America.

McCoy had the easy part, he said. He credited offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh with “a great call.” He said guard C.J. Davis “blew it up” inside and that wide receiver T.J. Porter had “a great block outside.”

Nothing wrong with a little humility, is there?

Joe Starkey wants to see more McCoy, but wasn’t impressed by the performance of Pitt.

This was billed as a statement game at Pitt, but the only statement one could decipher afterward was this:

We’re not as bad as Iowa.

You never know, though, maybe this will prove to be a momentum-turning victory, just like Jamie Dixon said it would. Dixon, Pitt’s basketball coach, gave the football players a pep talk two nights before the game. He told them that a 2001 win at Ohio State proved to be a program-changer in basketball, and that a win over Iowa could be the same in football.

Perhaps, but it’s worth noting that the Ohio State basketball team was coming off its second consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance in 2001, while the Iowa football team is coming off a bowl-less, six-win season that ended with a nine-point loss to Western Michigan.

Not to be a party pooper.

Momentum? I’ll believe it when I see it. After a bye week – sorry, a game against Syracuse – Pitt goes into South Florida. If it does something special there, count me among the converted.

Coming this week, Dave Wannstedt will talk about how the Syracuse game is a potential trap game.