The Aftermath

The morning after isn't any easier, even right before a three-day weekend. Okay, so maybe the long weekend makes it a little better. Still, plenty to complain about.

For starters, as I noted before, Pitt has nothing to gain by scheduling these types of 1-1 series with a team like Utah. As Chas at Pitt Blather correctly points out, college football is a different animal entirely from the NFL. I'll take it a step further and also throw college basketball in the discussion. You have playoffs in those two leagues where as college football is essentially one and done - at least for teams in leagues like the Big East where respect is already an issue.

I've been on the record as saying it was a bad move to play Utah. If the goal is a national championship, it just makes little sense from Pitt's end. The schedule this season is already difficult enough with road games at Notre Dame and UCONN and home games again Miami and WVU. Pitt still probably wouldn't run the table even without the Utah game, but that isn't the point. The point is that you want to give yourself the best chance of winning a championship and scheduling games like these, while nice for the fans to see, is akin to chopping off your right leg before attempting to run a marathon.

There's a reason that Ohio State opened up with Marshall. There's a reason Miami opened up with FAMU.

I know, I know, it's easy to kick and scream about this after a loss. But the fact is I've been beating this drum for a while (most recently briefly questioning it in my look ahead to 2010 after last year's season ended).

Bob Smizik of the PG, while not agreeing completely, discusses the fact that playing Utah in an opener is less than ideal. But it's after the fact, so let's move on.

Dave Wannstedt hit the nail on the head with this quote:

"We didn't play good enough to win. We really didn't," Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said. "Down the stretch Utah made less mistakes than we did."

I couldn't have said it better myself. Pitt played alright, but as I said last night didn't make enough big plays and gave up too many.

And the more I think about it, the more I can't praise Tino Sunseri enough. He got better as the game went along:

And Pitt quarterback Tino Sunseri, who grew up a little bit as the game wore on, had a chance to etch his name in Panthers history by leading a dramatic come-from-behind victory after they trailed most of the game and had not looked very good for a lot of it, either.

Sunseri calmly led the Panthers to two first downs and then hit Mike Shanahan with a 20-yard pass to the Utes' 14 to set the Panthers up with a first down-and-10 with 40 seconds to play.

I think his play was the biggest unknown heading into the game. We knew the offensive line and secondary were going to struggle at least a little bit (it turned out to be a lot on both fronts), but really had no idea what to expect from Sunseri. He wasn't great, but there were signs of a good QB in the making. Playing in that environment off the bat should, if nothing else, make the rest of the games much easier. Sure, there was the costly interception, and Sunseri just didn't make the throw he needed to:

"Shanahan was open," Sunseri said. "I missed it inside. It was my fault. I take the blame. Everyone put us in position to win and I've just got to finish."

No one can (and I haven't heard this) blame Sunseri for this loss. He played about as well as he could given the circumstances and I was pleased with what he gave the team. Before his long TD reception, Jon Baldwin couldn't do a good enough job of getting open and on the balls thrown his way, he couldn't make the big play. One in particular stood out to me where he completely mistimed his jump and despite having a shorter man covering him, couldn't get the jump ball. On the one big play he did make on that TD, it was due to a complete defensive breakdown - not so much from anything he did. And the team will need to get more from Dion Lewis who could average no more than three yards a carry. Look, both will be fine. But on this night, neither played particularly well.

And then there was the fact that Pitt's vaunted defense, even with an offensive lineman built more like a large safety, couldn't get a single sack on the night.

Oh yeah, by the way, let's not forget that Utah didn't play particularly well either. That's got to make the loss a little more troubling. In a year Pitt is supposed to take that next step, they couldn't pull out a win despite a Utah team that, at times, couldn't get out of it's own way.

To me, it wasn't so much the fact that they lost, but how they couldn't capitalize on Utah's many mistakes:

"I'm very proud of the way our guys hung in there," said Utah coach Kyle Whittingham, whose squad overcame three turnovers, a blocked punt and 11 penalties.

The miscues, he added, were all things that can be improved upon before the Utes open their final Mountain West Conference campaign Sept. 11 at home against UNLV.

"We made enough mistakes tonight so we'll have plenty to work on," Whittingham said. "We had unintelligent penalties at inopportune times. But the good thing is that all of these mistakes are correctable issues. It's always better to work through these issues after a win."

That was the key. As Wanny said, the team played well enough, just not well enough to win. For the Utes, they got the 1-0 start coveted by every team in the country. For Pitt, it's back to the drawing board.

Well, That Thoroughly Sucked

Not much more to add to the title, but I'm sure this post will go on for quite a while.

So Pitt lost tonight against Utah. Unfortunately, I predicted this dead on in my Q&A with Block U earlier this week. I don't know, I figured Pitt would play well but I thought there would be something that kept this team from winning.

Had you told me that Tino Sunseri would play pretty well and Pitt would win the turnover battle, I would have expected a win. During the game, they mentioned that Pitt wins 89% of its games where they win the turnover battle. I would have figured the team would hold serve.

Problem is, the team just gave up too many big plays and didn't make enough of their own. For starters, I'm not entirely sure who kidnapped Frank Cignetti and replaced him with Matt Cavanaugh in the first half, but Pitt's offense played about as unimaginative as they possibly could. I understand the need to simplify things for Tino Sunseri's first start. And frankly, I would have done the same thing. But I expected the team to throw a few more passes that were, you know, longer than five yards. Part of the problem was that even though the offensive line started off okay, they got progressively worse and Sunseri had less time to throw. But Pitt was stuck in some sort of time-warp, Johnny Majors 1990s playcalling funk. I saw very little creativity and it seemed the offense was dumbed down too much.

And then there's the secondary. Oh, boy.

What a disaster from basically start to finish. Jarred Holley managed to get a key interception in the end zone to keep the game close before the half, but other than that, it was a complete train wreck. All the talk in camp was that the unit should be markedly better than last year's. Maybe it was just me, but I didn't see it. Sophomore QB Jordan Wynn went for nearly 300 yards and 3 TDs. Fellow soph DeVonte Christopher, who had a grand total of two catches last season looked like Randy Moss on steroids. Eight catches for 155 yards? Jerry Rice thinks that's a career day.

You might be thinking to yourself, "Well, self - at least they shut down the main guy instead."

Wrongo.

The defense also gave up five catches and 87 yards to big-play guy, Jereme Brooks. Worse, however, was the number of big passes: 19 yard TD, 24 yards, 32 yards, 46 yards, and then the 61 yard TD bomb.

One thing that stuck out at me in looking at the play-by-play was the progression of those plays. That's the exact order in which they happened. Yes, there were shorter passes in between, but as the game went on, the secondary got worse, giving up progressively bigger plays.

The thing that killed the team more than anything was getting inside the ten-yard on successive possessions in the 3rd and 4th quarters and only getting six points out of it. If Pitt scores a TD on one of those, they possibly win. Who knows how the game plays out, but they would have had a good look at it. You can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, CAN'T get that close and come away with FGs. Period. Heck, on one of the possessions, they had a first and goal from the four. FROM THE FOUR.

Another killer was obviously the penalties. Too many times the team had drives stalled because of penalties. 12-75 was simply too many. But, it's the opener, so you hope it gets better from here.

Moving to the offensive side of the ball, Pitt's stars were really held in check. Dion Lewis had not only a pedestrian night, but a below average one of only 75 yards on 25 carries.  The offensive line really didn't help that and Utah was stacking guys at the line giving him virtually no chance to succeed. He'll be fine. Jon Baldwin was virtually non-existent early on and only made an impact late in the game when secondary coverage broke down, leaving him wide open for the long TD catch.

And I heard the comment about Ray Graham not playing really affecting the team. I don't know. Yes, he's a change of pace back, but if Lewis had that much trouble finding room to run, I think Graham would have fallen into the same problems. Utah just stacked the box and made running extremely difficult.

A bright spot for me was the play of Tino. He struggled a little early, but I don't place any blame on him. A few of his early passes were off, but he was under pressure as the first half went on and the playbook was really limited. He avoided mistakes until the final, extremely-costly, interception and looked like a leader out there. I really think he's going to be good and I think the QB position is in good hands for the next few years. He was an assassin late in the game, and made two great throws to Baldwin on that last TD drive. He came right back and got Pitt within in field goal ranging making another great throw to Mike Shanahan. It was only one game, but he's looking like he can play.

And the good news is that this doesn't severely damage Pitt's season. All of the silly talk about the team going undefeated and winning a national championship can officially stop now.  If this team goes 9-3 and wins the Big East, mission accomplished. The key thing to remember is that things get easier from here. Miami and WVU will be difficult but Pitt will at least have the luxury of playing at home. This is one of Pitt's toughest games on the schedule and the team will get better as the season moves on.

Still, it was a bit of a disappointment to see Pitt lose this one.

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.

Spring Notes

Lots of Spring football notes over the past week or so. The themes seem to be focusing on players with increased roles to play.

First up, though, I've never seen an official site for a college team make an official announcement that someone is EXPECTED to join their coaching staff:

CALIFORNIA (April 7) – Although details have yet to be finalized, California University of Pennsylvania anticipates adding Walt Harris to its football staff under the direction of head coach John Luckhardt.

Harris, former head coach at the University of Pittsburgh and Stanford University, is noted for his ability to produce talented quarterbacks. His title and duties at Cal U have not yet been decided.

Wow, talk about being excited.

Now, moving onto Pitt's team:

The guy who may benefit the most from Jonathan Baldwin:

Shanahan's role in the offense might be labeled as a "possession" receiver because, as Wannstedt notes, Shanahan has the ability to hurt teams that underestimate his athleticism.

"He's a big guy who, because of his basketball skills, can position you," Wannstedt said. "If they're going to double-team Baldwin and leave Shanahan one-on-one, the guy covering him is going to have to go up and be able to make a play on the ball, or [Shanahan] is going to beat you."

I'm really torn on how much of an impact Shanahan will make. If he's the starter opposite Baldwin, who will obviously draw a lot of attention, a lot of people are calling for him to have a great season. But with an inexperienced line and quarterback, I don't know how much the passing game will be relied upon. Part of that, of course, will depend on the individual games, if Pitt is ahead or behind, and down and distance. But while I expect Shanahan to have a good season, it will be interesting to see just how much the passing game is utilized. Still, I like his game enough to think that he will make a sizable impact. So how good will he be? I don't know, ask me tomorrow.

And speaking of that inexperienced offensive line, walk-on Alex Karabin could be the starting center. The somewhat surprising thing to me is that he might STILL be a walk-on:

That leaves Karabin as the starter entering camp in August. Even if he does earn the job, he might not get a scholarship. Last season, Wannstedt gave scholarships to three former walk-ons -- kicker Dan Hutchins, reserve quarterback Andrew Janocko and defensive lineman Chas Alecxih.

"If we have one, nothing would make me happier than to give one to Alex," Wannstedt said. "He's deserving."

Karabin would like it, too, to take some of the financial burden off his parents.

I'm sure Wannstedt will do his best to get him a scholarship. I think you've got to find one for anyone who starts for your team.

Shayne Hale and Brandon Lindsey will see time as backups this year.

And of course you've got fan favorite, Henry Hynoski:

After two seasons of being mostly a battering-ram blocker for Dion Lewis and LeSean McCoy, Hynoski is champing at the bit to being a bigger part of the offense.

"I'm thrilled about it," he said. "I love when the ball is in my hands. I was used to that all throughout high school. Now I have the opportunity as a fullback to run, block and catch equally. I'm just thrilled to death about it. I'm just very excited that I have the opportunity."

I love what Hynoski brings and would love for Pitt to find a few opportunities to not only get him the ball in short distance situations, but think they might be surprised if they can find a way to get the ball in the open field on things like short screen passes. That might be unrealistic, but man, would it be scary for an opposing cornerback to try to take him down one on one.

And could little-used Greg Cross turn into this year's Dorin Dickerson - a skill player making an impact at another position? He apparently didn't mind the move:

"I got stuck playing quarterback," he said. "I love (playing receiver). I'm learning every day to go out and compete."

Also, the Blue-Gold game is next Saturday - free admission.

WR Coach Out

Paul Zeise of the PG broke the news that Bryan Bossard, Pitt's receivers coach, is apparently moving on.

Tough to say what really went wrong. He seemed to do a fine enough job - Baldwin has been great and Mike Shanahan looked good in his first year. But like Paul says, there's also the personality factor that we never really think about unless we hear of conflicts.

Either way, good luck to Bossard down the road.

Paul also has some news in there on Phil Bennett and running backs coach, David Walker.

Pitt Ends Successful (Yes, Successful) Season

That was the feeling after Pitt wrapped up a 19-17 Meineke Car Care Bowl win over North Carolina on Saturday. Regardless of what anyone may try to argue, this was a fairly big win for Pitt. To get to ten wins for the first time since 1981, and 19 wins over the past two years, was pretty significant. No, it's not a BCS bowl win. But it is a nice win to end the season.

Let's recap - Pitt goes 10-3 along with picking up some nice wins against teams like North Carolina, South Florida, Rutgers, and Notre Dame. The losses against WVU and Cincy were tough, especially considering Pitt had the talent to win both of those games. But 10-3 is Pitt taking the next step. It didn't happen in the late 80s, or even in the Walt Harris era where Pitt experienced somewhat of a resurgence. The way the season ended was disappointing, but if you look at everything, it wasn't a bad year.

I'm normally with Bob Smizik, but I've got to respectfully disagree with him this time. I agree with much of what he says, but not this:

Pitt reached the 10-win plateau for the first time since 1981, which seems like a big deal to some. I’ll regard it as a big deal when they once gain reach the one-loss plateau, which was the case in 1981 when they were 11-1 in Jackie Sherrill’s final season as coach. Ten wins in a 12-game season isn't the same as 10 wins in an 11-game season.

The one-loss/undefeated seasons are another plateau. Pitt isn't there yet and rarely do teams go from several straight bowless seasons to those types of years. The progress Pitt has made over the past two years has been significant and they have taken the next step over the Walt Harris era in my opinion. Further, the talent Coach Wannstedt has been bringing in has also been upgraded. One step at a time and the next step Pitt needs to take is getting to those one-loss seasons.

I'm not sure I agree completely with Dion Lewis, though:

"It's back," Lewis said of Pitt football, moments after he was voted bowl MVP.

I think we need to see at least another strong 9-10 win season before we can declare Pitt back in the national spotlight. And even then, as I pointed out, Pitt is still another big step away from being considered among the best in college football. But, point taken - Pitt is definitely getting back on the map.

There were plenty of stars for Pitt in this one:

Dan Mason getting the start and a key interception.

Mike Shanahan pulling in five big catches for 83 yards.

Dan Hutchins kicking four field goals to push him ahead of Conor Lee's single-season record.

But none bigger than Lewis, who took home the game's MVP award. He was unquestionably the MVP for the team all season, and with 159 yards yesterday, kicked off his 2010 Heisman campaign a bit early. I'd like to say more about Lewis...I really would. But there's not much I can say to describe the type of season he had. 1,799 yards? Sick. I picked him back in the preseason blogger poll conducted by Bleed Scarlet in the beginning of the year as the Big East Rookie of the Year, but of course didn't predict this kind of season. It will be interesting to see what kind of season he has next year now that teams will likely key in on him a bit more.

Even though Lewis was the hero, he could have turned into somewhat of a goat had Pitt not been able to pull this one out. After the game, he acknowledged his fumble through the end zone was costly:

It changed the game. We would have been up, I don't know what the score would have been at the time but we would have been up. It would have been a touchdown but I fumbled. It was tough for me but I had to come back and respond. I just needed a little time to calm down and forget about it and go back out there and play.

I think the biggest play of the game may have been the offsides penalty on North Carolina prior to the long field goal attempt. I had doubts whether Dan Hutchins would have made that kick, but fortunately for Pitt, he didn't have to. That also allowed Pitt to run some more time of the clock and forced NC to burn two timeouts:

The drive stalled at the 30, forcing Wannstedt to make another tough decision with 1:56 remaining.

This time, he put his faith in Hutchins, who set a single-season school record with 22 field goals, including conversions from 31, 31 and 42 yards yesterday. Hutchins, whose career-high had been a 45-yarder, would be tested from 47.

But the Tar Heels flinched under pressure, and the offside penalty gave Pitt a first down at the UNC 25.

"We were trying to draw them offsides," Hutchins said, "but I had planned on kicking that ball."

Said North Carolina coach Butch Davis: "We shot ourselves in the foot, and that was my fault. I have to take responsibility for us losing composure."

All in all, a solid season for Pitt. Now it's time to take that next step.

Syracuse Game Preview

One final look before the Syracuse game tomorrow. To be honest, for the first time in a while, I'm not overly concerned about this game. I think Pitt will come out strong and believe them when they say they're not looking past the Orange. Paul Zeise seems to believe it, too, answering this question in his weekly chat:

Frankie_CigsPack: I know the players have to say they are not looking ahead to Notre Dame, but what is the attitude of the team really like this week? They have to be looking ahead ... right?

Paul Zeise: No, they seem to be pretty focused to be honest. I think they sense they have a chance to do something special this year and they are really going to go after it one week at a time. If they are looking past Syracuse they are crazy because it isn't like they've been able to blow the Orange out the past few years. This will be a tough game.

Bill Stull sums it up pretty well:

"We lose this game," he said, "and our dreams are gone. All the hard work, it's almost like it was worth nothing."

Coach Wannstedt has been saying all the right things this week:

"Pitt had a long streak when they didn't beat Syracuse," Wannstedt said. "Syracuse is one of those programs with great tradition, great academics. They can go around the country and recruit. Last year we were down by 11 in the fourth quarter. The year before it was 10-10 halfway through the fourth quarter.

"It's a conference game and it's Pitt-Syracuse. And we better be ready to play better than we have."

But unlike a certain coach from central Pennsylvania, Wannstedt actually has good reason to show concern. In five of the past six seasons, Pitt has won by ten points or fewer each time. For some reason, the games with Syracuse for the most part are always uber competitive. Throw in the fact that Syracuse has been markedly better this year and you have, perhaps, a recipe for disaster.

One thing that continues to baffle me is the WWE-like turn on Greg Paulus by the Syracuse fans last week in the Cincinnati game. I understand that he didn't play well, but with the exception of a five-interception disaster against South Florida, he's played reasonably well, completing 65% of his passes this year. And let's not forget that last I checked, Cincinnati was a pretty good team. For Syracuse to have a chance this week, Paulus will need to limit the interceptions and let the defense try to keep it close.

And speaking of baffling, how did Syracuse end up with 8 of its 12 games at home (including 7 of their first 8)? I'm sure there's a reason for it, but frankly, I don't care to find out.

This week, the key matchup to look for in this game may be the Dion Lewis vs. the Orange run defense, which ranks 7th in the country and 1st in the Big East. They've got a pretty impressive resume:

• The Orange limited Penn State's Evan Royster to a season-low 41 yards on 12 carries and held the Nittany Lions to only 78 rushing yards, their worst showing of the season.

• They held Northwestern to a season-low 52 yards on 28 carries.

• They stopped Akron for zero yards on 24 carries, the best effort by a Syracuse defense in 18 years.

First-year coach Doug Marrone's team has not allowed a 100-yard rusher this year, and they are one of only two teams to hold West Virginia star Noel Devine under 100 yards.

Starting safeties Max Suter, a Greensburg Central Catholic graduate, and Mike Holmes are aggressive run-stoppers, and the Orange excel at taking away long runs. Opponents have 258 rushing attempts against Syracuse this year, and only five of those rushes gained 20-plus yards. The longest run all year against the Orange is 33 yards.

33 yards? That's kind of scary. But the good news for Pitt is that the passing defense has struggled, coming in close to last at 117th out of 120 teams. Ouch.

Quick Hitters -

Dave Wannstedt and Dion Lewis are up for Maxwell Awards. Lewis probably has no real shot to win, but I think Wannstedt could if Pitt runs the table.

Mike Shanahan has given Pitt another option at WR.

One of the focal points during the bye week seems to be ensuring the passing game doesn't miss a beat.

All season, it's started with the offensive line.

As I mentioned in my Q&A with the Syrcause blog Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician, I think the players realize that this could be a very special season. The NC State game was a good example of what happens when focus is lost. While I think they can't help but to look ahead to the Notre Dame game and rest of the season, I don't think it will affect the outcome of this one. The games against Syracuse have been close for the most part, but this looks like Pitt's best team in recent years. I do have some concern about Pitt getting an early lead and then turning complacent, but overall, expect a good win.

Prediction: Pitt 31 / Syracuse 13

Nice to Have an Off Week

BSo it's been a slow week in terms of football...but in a good way. It's nice not to have to worry about a game for once. Pitt is starting to get some national attention now and as I mentioned before, with a bye week this week and hopefully a win next week Vs. Syracuse, Pitt should be knocking on the door of the top 10 in the polls. One team in front of Pitt already lost earlier this week.

Now, the Notre Dame game isn't perfectly meaningless. It's just not as important as even the Syracuse game because it's a non-conference matchup. I am with Paul Zeise in his assessment that Pitt needs to get to 10 regular season wins this year to be called a success:

ZEISE: If Pitt finishes 8-4 then really what will we be talking about? It would be a huge disappointment at this point given how well this team has played. It would also mean they finish the season without a truly quality win, other than perhaps South Florida, and if that is the case then how much progress has really been made in the past five years? Pitt needs to finish this off and get to at least 10 wins which means win two of those last three over the top teams on their schedule. Pitt has an opportunity to really take a step forward as a program and as that saying goes it is time to seize the moment. Anything less than a 10-2 record will be disappointing at this point.

This is a perfect example of expectations changing. At the beginning of the year, I would have said nine wins would have fine. But with the way they've looked and the start they've gotten off to, a 2-2 record to finish the year would be disappointing.

Earlier this week, the Pitt Vs. Penn State movement got some steam with some looking ahead to a potential BCS matchup. Gene Collier explains it would take the perfect storm to happen. Now, Pitt fans have a horrible reputation for traveling to bowl games, but I think if this matchup happened, there might be quite a few (including probably myself) that would make the trip. But this isn't even worth discussing at this point. *Cough* 12-0 *Cough*

Quick mental note to myself - drop Iowa in the blogger poll even if they go on to win this game. Okay, all done now.

Pitt's pass defense has gotten better while the O-line has looked strong all year:

"It's just awesome," Stull said of the way he is being protected. "For the season to come together like this is very encouraging. We always say it starts up front and ends up front. If they keep playing the way they're playing ... keeping my jersey clean, Dion's jersey clean, Ray [Graham's] jersey clean, it's going to be pretty exciting."

You can say this about any football team, but for this one especially, I think the offensive line play has been the #1 strength of this team. Stull makes mistakes when he doesn't have time to pass. No passing game, and there's no way the running game is as successful as it has been. The defense has been good, but has shown lapses at times.

Meanwhile, BCS and conspiracy theories abound:

Andrew from California writes: Since you keep getting questions about the Gator Bowl, here is an interesting predicament for Pitt. If they beat Notre Dame and then split WVU and Cincinnati they would have a better record than Notre Dame, would have beaten Notre Dame and would most likely still get rejected by the Gator Bowl. If they lose to Notre Dame and split WVU and Cincinnati, Notre Dame could likely make a BCS Game and Pitt would get the Gator Bowl. Since the Gator Bowl pays about $3 million and the next bowl pays about $700,000, Pitt has a $2.3 million incentive to throw the Notre Dame game.

Brian Bennett: You're not really suggesting that Pitt lose on purpose, are you Andrew? We know that will never happen. If I'm a Pitt fan, I root for the Panthers to beat the Irish and to go on and win the Big East, and I wouldn't worry about anything else at this point.

I don't even know how to address this.

Some quick hitters:

Pitt announced its 2009 (yes, 2009...not 2010) senior captains. If someone can explain to me why this just now happened, please feel free to enlighten me.

A look at Mike Shanahan and the wideouts.

Myles Caragein is the focus of this piece on the D-Line.

And I don't know which has been beaten to death more - the stories about Bill Stull struggling or his resurgence. Here's another one.

After setting a personal best with 144 yards, Jonathan Baldwin gets a look in the Beaver County Times.