12:00 ACC Digital Network Extra/ESPN3.

I’m rationalizing attending the Rice-Pitt game on Yom Kippur as its own form of atonement after what Pitt has done for the first 4 games.

This is a family game for me. My sister did her graduate and doctorate work at Rice (applied mathematics, and yes, she’s the smart one in the family) and her husband has a masters from the school.  They still live in Houston, and my parents moved down there a few years ago. They were fine during the hurricane and flooding, if you are wondering.

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12:20 pm, ACC Network Affiliates or ACC Digital Network/WatchESPN.

Sorry about the last minute thing. Did a nice long run this morning with my daughter. Got a shower. Had some coffee. Felt good. Sat down for a minute, and promptly fell asleep on the couch. Getting old is something.

Ben DiNucci gets the start at QB. No one (including me) seems to have a problem with this. DiNucci has simply been more of a spark. He’s shown more confidence. And just seemed to be more of the leader on the offensive side. Max Browne simply seemed to lack confidence out there. Especially when Pitt got into the redzone.

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Sorry, it’s been a week — and it stayed that way.

During the game this past week, a lot of frustration with QB Max Browne. I’m not in favor of benching him and moving on at this point. Head Coach Pat Narduzzi has made it clear that isn’t going to happen.

I don’t believe he is a bad quarterback. But he definitely is not as good as Nate Peterman or Tom Savage. There are clearly some limitations on him, beyond his, uh, limited mobility. The most glaring is the way his passes tend to sail. It works on longer throws where the receiver has time to get under them. When it comes to being in the redzone or making shorter passes…

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3:30, ABC.

Pitt is a heavy underdog.

Penn State is ranked #4 nationally, Pitt is unranked.

PSU looked great at home against an overmatched opponent last week. Pitt, not so much.

Nit partisans are highly confident in this game. Ranging from blowout win to a mere tune-up.

Pitt fans won’t be surprised by a loss, but won’t exactly view it as an impossibility to pull off a win.

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1:00, ACC Network Extra/WatchESPN.

Morning, all. The first turnpike AM run into the sun and the new season. Feel the optimism, excitement and potential. Followed by those moments of doubt, dread and cynicism.

We’re all trying not to look past this game to the one the following week, right?

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9pm, ESPN2.

The last time these two teams met, all of five days prior, it didn’t go so well for Pitt. Senior suspensions. Blowout loss. And the look of a team that just wanted to pack it in.

I know, getting hyped for this game, huh?

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7pm, ESPNU.

Wait. Pitt’s favored in this game?

I suppose when a team has only 2 wins away from home the entire season, there is reason to be skeptical. But against Pitt? Pitt has 4 wins outside the Pete, but only one in conference — against BC. Someone has to win.

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UPDATE (11:58): Worth tossing to the top. Starting lineup will exclude Artis and Young. Milligan and Luther starting in their place.

12 pm, ACC Network Syndication or ACCN Extra/Watch ESPN.

Last regular season game and then an opening round game in Brooklyn for the ACC Tournament. Sadly, with the effort and outcomes in prior games, it is hard to believe Pitt will make any noise at the ACC Tournament.

Pitt goes into Charlottesville looking to lock down that 13th seed and meeting Clemson in the opening game. A loss would put them in a tie for 14th with NC State, and presumably because they lost in head to head against the Wolfpack drop them to the 14th seed. That would mean playing either Georgia Tech or Wake Forest.

I know, high drama.

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9pm, ESPNU.

As disappointing as ending up in the NIT is, there is one thing more embarrassing. Not even being able to qualify for it. To make the NIT, a team has to finish with a record at .500 or better. Pitt is poised not to make it, if they can’t win at least 2 games. With only 2 regular season games left and the ACC Tourney, the odds are getting longer.

Pitt is still looking for that second ACC road win (Boston College still counts). Georgia Tech is trying to clinch a first round bye in the ACC Tournament and possibly get into the ACC Tourney.

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12 pm, ACC Network affiliates or ACC Digital Extra/WatchESPN.

Yeah, I have no idea.

It’s reasonable to expect a loss, but it is the final home game of the season. This team could rain down 3s and win big against an expected #1 seed for the NCAA Tourney. OR they could roll over 10 minutes in. And anywhere in between.

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Tossing this up a bit early. Will be a tight window to get home for the start of the game.

7pm, various RSNs (ROOT, YES, NESN, Multiple FOX Sports) and ACCN Extra/WatchESPN.

I was watching a some games last night — Clemson-VT and Indiana-Iowa, primarily — and it seemed like half the conversation between the announcers (and 100% when they went to the studios) was about how teams needed this win to get off or stay on the bubble. They were talking about 4-10 (now 4-11) Clemson  in the ACC and the now 5-10 in the B1G, Indiana.

I know that bubble talk is always a big driver of interest late in the season. Especially in games with middling to below-average programs. But it is making me a little crazy. I swear, when 6-20 Mizzou was playing their best game of the season against Kentucky (ultimately losing), the game calling crew started talking about how if the Tigers kept this up and made a deep run in the SEC Tournament…

STOP!

There is no basis in reality, but the talking point is all about the bubble. I know in the cases of Indiana (big non-con wins) and Clemson (great numbers in statistical analysis). But in the end these are not good teams. Indiana between injuries and horrid inconsistency. Clemson is just good enough to lose. Painfully, heartbreakingly (possibly Faustian in nature for college football, but I can’t be sure), but still losses. Over and over again.

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Sartorially speaking, I mean.

4pm, ESPN2.

It’s the retro game. Old colors to go with the Script. Sucks when that seems to be the best thing to say about this game.

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7pm, ESPN2.

After the euphoria of  VT’s 2OT victory over Virginia made them a virtual lock for the NCAA, reality set in. First with the loss of their wing guard and leading rebounder Chris Clarke with a torn left ACL. Then there is the fact that they still need to win games in no small part due to a non-con that compared worse than anything even Jamie Dixon did.

That said, the Hokies’ lone victories over top-50 RPI opponents are Duke and Virginia, both at home. Most problematic, as noted earlier this season, Virginia Tech’s non-conference schedule was the ACC’s tamest, and at No. 308 on Monday’s RPI was ahead of only No. 326 Rutgers among Power Five teams.

As Hokies faithful know all too well from the latter stages of Seth Greenberg’s coaching tenure, those are numbers that can cost you a bid.

Tech’s games prior to the ACC tournament are at Pitt on Tuesday and at Louisville on Saturday, followed by Clemson at home, Boston College on the road, and Miami and Wake Forest at home — the Hokies are 12-1 at Cassell Coliseum, stumbling only against NCAA-bound Notre Dame.

It’s never a good sign when you are being compared to Rutgers in… anything.

They do have a road win over Michigan, so there is that. But, yeah. They need to hold serve at home and either beat Pitt and BC or just win one and and a ACC Tournament game to clinch it.

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1pm, ACC Network syndication (ugh) or ACC Digital Network Extra/WatchESPN.

Hard to find this one on regular TV across the country. Clemson-Duke is on the ACCN syndication at the same time. Guess which game most stations outside of Pennsylvania and New York seem to be favoring?

Last time against the Orange, Pitt looked like it had never seen a zone defense before. Settling for nothing but outside shots and not able to work the ball inside at all. On top of that, they still couldn’t rebound. And that was just in the first half.

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7pm on RSNs (ROOT, NESN, various FOX Sports) or ACC Network Extra/WatchESPN.

In the last week, Pitt hasn’t looked… horrible.

It’s damning with faint praise when the media notes tries to spin positive road losses at UNC and Duke by a combined 10 points, but when you are harnessed to an 8-game losing streak and yet to win on the road in the ACC, you take what you can get.

The thing with a good, bad team like Pitt is this year. You don’t know anything about the team from game-to-game. Effort, energy, streakiness… It’s all a question mark. Did they play up to their opponents in the last week? Will they have a complete letdown in effort against a team like BC?

I have no idea. I’m guessing the coaches don’t either.

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