Todd Thomas To Start At WR

Dave Wannstedt confirmed that there was some debate about where incoming freshman Todd Thomas would play, but in the end, it looks like he's starting out at wide receiver:

Although Wannstedt doesn't expect many of his incoming freshman to make an immediate impact this fall, he left the door open for former Beaver Falls star Todd Thomas to make his mark, surprisingly enough, on offense.

"I wasn't sure where we were going to put him," Wannstedt said. "We've got him playing wide receiver and the guy is a playmaker. We were thinking about playing him at safety or linebacker, but the plays he's making on offense right now I think we're going to leave him at wide receiver."

I previously said that I had hoped Thomas would start out on defense and I still feel that way.  Next year, Pitt has All-American candidate Jonathan Baldwin starting at WR.  He'll be joined by Mike Shanahan who should be very productive and converted ex-QB Greg Cross.  After that, you've still got potential playmakers in Cameron Saddler, Devin Street.  From there, you've got some lower tier guys like Ed Tinker or Aundre Wright.  Next year, you've got super athlete Bill Belton coming in.

And that's not even factoring in the tight end position, which Pitt will hopefully utilize as a key part of the offense.

I don't have a major problem with this because Pitt will likely get production from him no matter where he plays.  And after this year, Pitt doesn't have a guaranteed superstar at that position as Baldwin is likely NFL-bound.

Still, I think there is more of a pressing need in the secondary and his services would be better utilized there.

Football Talk

So after a long hiatus from football discussion, with basketball out of the way, let's get into it.

For starters, former Panther Elijah Fields could end up at California University. There were some grumblings of this as a possibility almost immediately after he was dismissed from the team and it looks as if it could be a possibility:

Elijah Fields, who was dismissed from Pitt's football team last month for violating team rules, might end up at California University.
Head coach John Luckhardt said Fields has shown interest in transferring to the university. The 6-2, 225-pound safety would have one season of eligibility remaining.

"Everything is still in the processing stage," Luckhardt said.

As much as he botched his chances at Pitt, I still try to convince myself that he's young and still learning. I hope he can turn things around there.

Paul Zeise of the PG thinks that while Tino Sunseri had the first crack at reps with the first team, that Pat Bostick seems to have the slight edge in terms of knowing the system. It's been documented that Coach Wannstedt would like this battle to be settled this Spring. I don't know - with the way last year's competition went on, I'd be kind of surprised if that happened. Both quarterbacks say they're ready.

ESPN.com blogger, Brian Bennett, goes over the usual questions in his Pitt spring preview video. He also talks to Offensive Coordinator, Frank Cignetti, about Pitt's many offensive weapons.

SI.com wonders if Pitt is ready to dethrone Cincinnati. More Pitt-Cincinnati talk. Everything I've heard this offseason has been about Pitt and Cincinnati. I'm a little surprised that it appears West Virginia isn't even being passively seen as a contender with both Jock Sanders and Noel Devine coming back.

Cam Saddler's opportunity to get on the field more comes - at wide receiver: I really think he could turn into a great kick returner and hope his focus remains there. But with the losses of Oderick Turner and Dorin Dickerson, there's definitely a need there for another receiver.

And with all the NFL Draft talk about Dorin Dickerson and Nate Byham getting drafted, after Bill Stull's season and experience with a pro-style system, he is getting some looks as well:

Stull, who was one of 15 former Panthers who worked out Tuesday for scouts representing 27 of the 32 NFL teams, is considered a late-round draft pick or a desired free agent.

After the year he had, I'm a little surprised there hasn't been more discussion about him as a middle-round draft pick. He has experience in a pro system, made very few mistakes last year, and despite his weaknesses such as throwing an accurate deep ball, makes for a reasonable NFL prospect.

Meanwhile, speaking of Dickerson, he's having a hard time gauging where he might be selected because of all the interest he's received.

More to come...

Latest Test of the Year

That's the first thing I think of when I see the matchup this weekend Vs. South Florida. It seems like literally since the beginning of the season, each game has been more important. Not just because of the roll Pitt is on, but because the opponents have almost always been tougher.

Pitt started out with Youngstown State, a I-AA team before moving onto Buffalo. Week three represented another step up against an always tricky Navy team and the following week, Pitt played its first BCS conference opponent in NC State. Yes, you can argue that the next opponent, Louisville, may not be as good as NC State. But it was a conference road game on a Friday night, so you could argue that it was more important. Pitt then played a better team in UCONN and possibly a bettter team in Rutgers. This week, it gets tougher with a visit from South Florida. It's a good thing Pitt thinks more is left in the tank, because they'll need it.

Dave Wannstedt said it after Pitt's 24-17 win against Rutgers Friday night.

So did Mick Williams, Bill Stull, Dorin Dickerson, Dion Lewis and every other player who entered the media interview room at Rutgers Stadium after the game.

"We haven't played as well as we can play. We haven't played our best football yet."

Pitt has been somewhat fortunate in getting by with some crucial mistakes. Just when you think it's going to cost them, they stepped up and fought their way out of it. But I can't help but think that the mistakes are going to cost them in another game down the road.

Head-to-head, the teams are pretty even on paper.

Unknown to Dave Wannstedt at the weekly press conference, Pitt is trying to do something it hasn't in nearly 30 years.

Pitt faces another freshman QB, albeit a redshirt, in B.J. Daniels. Make no mistake, he's pretty good.

Paul Zeise at the PG says Pitt expects a good turnout. To be honest, I do, too. Pitt is 6-1, ranked in the top 20, playing a good team, and it's homecoming. Yes it may be a little rainy on Saturday, the temperature is supposed to be fairly warm in the neighborhood of 60 degrees. The game is televised, but Pitt should get a good draw for this one.

This comment by Bulls' coach Jim Leavitt seems a bit off to me:

"They do everything off the run game," Leavitt said. "I don't see any weaknesses in their offensive line. We're looking at film trying to figure out what to do."

Yes, the running game is strong. But Pitt has shown they can pass when needed. Bill Stull continues to play mostly error-free football this year and if Pitt doesn't turn the ball over, they're dangerous.

A few quick hitters:

ESPN.com's Brian Bennett's latest tidbits include Dion Lewis appearing on some Heisman ballots and picking Pitt to play in the Meineke Car Care Bowl.

Jared Holley has stepped up big time.

Cam Saddler may be back this week. If he is, Pitt will have two dangerous kick returners in he and Ray Graham.

Dorin Dickerson gets some love as a nationally-recognized TE.

The Petersen family steps up again.

Some quotes from Wanny.

Mark Cuban made a guest appearance at Pitt while in town for the Cavs/Mavs exhibition game.

This is old news, but Dion Lewis got some more accolades this week. Pat Forde also has some respect for Dion.

Well That Was Interesting

I can't be the only one who has a hard time getting a true pulse on this team. I expected Pitt to win a close game, but I purposefully left out predicting a score because I thought it was completely possible that Pitt would lose this game. Add up the facors - Friday night game, on the road, conference game, vs. an offense that has struggled, but still had two possible All-Conference WRs and an All-Conference RB.

Pitt really came out after a very shaky first half and impressed. Yes, the first half was no picnic - the defense was not all that great (even though Louisville only had ten points) and was downright terrible on that first drive. They really tightened it up in the second half and the offense was much better then as well. A few things:

- Holy penalties, Batman. And dumb ones, too. Peronsal fouls, holding, etc. Both teams were guilty, but Pitt has to get this fixed. There's no reason for this to happen.

- Bill Stull was very impressive again and had maybe his best game of the year. 16 for 23, 242 yards, 3 TDs, and again, no picks. For the naysayers, Stull now has 11 TDs and 1 INT on the season. His passer rating is over 159 and has to be one of the top in the country I'm sure. And he's now already thrown two more TDs than he did ALL OF LAST SEASON. That's unbelievable when you think of it. He's really come a long way and there should be absolutely no one criticizing him now.

- And speaking of Stull, he was able to do something I've criticized him for - throw the deep ball accurately. The two big strikes he hit on to Dickerson and Baldwin were right on the money. The defenders made two horrible plays on those passes, but Stull still made the throws. And if you don't think it's possible to miss wide open guys, look for a replay of the West Virginia game on Thursday night - their QB missed two wide open receivers on deep balls.

- Now onto Wanny, the coordinators, and the offense/defense - Again, I think he called a heck of a game. Not sure who was responsible for calling the offensive deep balls, but it was good to see Pitt take shots down the field. Yes, the defense is still a ways away, but they played pretty well tonight if you look at the entire game. 200 yards passing and 100 yards rushing is pretty solid. The offensive playcalling has been great. The only thing I might slightly disagree with was Wannstedt going for it on fourth down in the first half rather than kicking a fairly reasonable field goal (of about 40 yards I think). Not sure if that was lack of faith in Hutchins or what, but I would have went the other way on that one.

- I think the stop at the end of the half was big. To hold them to a field goal at that point in the game, was big for Pitt.

- Dion Lewis essentially split carries with Ray Graham tonight. Graham actually had a higher yard-per-carry, but also had the big fumble in the first half when Pitt was driving. I was glad to see Wannstedt talk to him immediately and not get too much on his case. I'm curious to see how the rotation will play out the rest of the year, but we could see another game of seeing the backs basically split the carries. Oh, and Dion Lewis is a freak. Not sure if anyone else caught it, but there was like a 3rd and 2 or something...I don't even remember when it was. But he put on a quick juke in what appeared like it was going to be a loss to get the first down. He made several similar plays making defenders look silly. Five games in and now seeing him against to BCS-Conference Teams, and I'm a believer.

- The more I see Dorin Dickerson succeed, the angrier I get. This guy could have been a big weapon over the past three seasons. You've got to think he could be one of the top tight ends taken in the NFL Draft. And on the other end, Nate Byham has been virtually non-existent, with only three catches this year.

- Cam Saddler is eventually going to break one of those punt returns (assuming his injury wasn't too serious). He seems like he always takes the right angles and it's just a matter of time. That could really end up being a great weapon for Pitt this year.

- Not sure what the atmosphere was like in person, but it seemed like the crowd was really out of it most of the game. I know Pitt eventually ran away with it in the 2nd half, but it didn't seem like it was really all that raucous.

- A great win for Pitt. As I said before, it was much more important that they win this game than the NC State game because it was in-conference. Pitt now gets a mediocre UCONN team at home and should have a good chance to get to 5-1.

- Kind of a side note, but I was kind of surprised to hear one of the commentators say that Pitt was the, and I'm paraphrasing here, 'main traditional power' or something to that effect in the Big East. That may be true I guess, but I don't think fans around the country necessarily see it that way. West Virginia has had more success recently and the year they could have gone to the National Championship with Pat White and Steve Slaton was the best Big Team in a while. I'd have to give that one more thought.

What More Is There To Say?

500 yards - that number still boggles the mind...especially since Pitt has given up that many yards in TWO games already this year.

First, I think Bob Smizik in the PG has it right when he says Dave Wannstedt should not be fired. You've got to give him this year to see what direction Pitt is headed in. Since the 13-9 win over West Virginia, Pitt is 13-5 - not too shabby.

Paul Zeise has an interesting list of top ten Pitt losses and includes the N.C. State debacle. The only comment I have is that I think he has the Sun Bowl loss way too low (#9). Yes, it was a postseason game after a pretty decent season, but it was disappointing because it kept Pitt from reaching ten wins for the first time in I think about 25 years AND because all they needed to do was score more than three points to win. That game was agonizing and I'd put it at least in the top five.

Besides the defense, the offense's 2nd half performance has to take some blame. Oh, and penalties didn't help either.

Cam Saddler looks like he's the real deal.

Brian Bennett at ESPN.com has a slew of Pitt-related tidbits including Dion Lewis' national rankings, ranking Pitt fourth in the conference, and stating the obvious - that Pitt is having serious defense issues.

Then there was the Wannstedt press conference today. It was amazing how many times Adam Gunn's name was brought up. Kind of ironic considering the game Dan Mason had last week. It really seemed that while Wannstedt wasn't blaming Mason for the loss obviously, to me, he made it seem like it could have been a whole different ball game if Gunn was available. Of course, I'm not buying that. I don't even think I can buy the fact that it would have mattered much at all.

After the loss, Pitt comes in at #36 in the Sportsline.com's rankings of all 120 teams.

On a side note, Pitt's next home game vs. UCONN will either be noon or 3:30. Please be 3:30.