Greg Romeus Back Sooner Than Expected?

Dave Wannstedt sounded rather optimistic about the possibility of Greg Romeus' return:

Wannstedt said he coached a pair of NFL players who underwent similar surgery and they were back in the lineup in "four to six weeks."

Asked whether he expects Romeus back in time for the regular season or a bowl game, the Pitt coach said, "Regular season."

"I have been involved with players, in fact all defensive linemen, who have had surgery and have gotten back and finished out the season," he said. "They were (out) four to six weeks."

Added Wannstedt, "The plan is it's not a season-ending surgery. How many games he will get back for, we will just have to take that week to week. But I am very confident when Greg gets back, he will be playing at a high level and finish up a great senior year."

That's really good news not only for Pitt, but also for Greg. It will allow him to hopefully get back to the point so that NFL scouts feel secure enough to still risk a high-round pick on him. Of course, there's always the chance that Wannstedt isn't being completely honest in his assessment. But that seems unlikely for the reason that the sooner Pitt gets to the six-week point, that he'd merely have to answer questions about why Romeus is improving so slowly.

Assume he misses six weeks from now - that places him on target for the Oct. 30 Louisville game a few days later. If he stays on that schedule, you'd assume he'd miss that game since Pitt has a bye the following week and can rest him before the road game at UCONN on Nov. 11.

 

If that is indeed the scenario, it's a good one for Pitt as he would be back for the meat of the Big East schedule - road games at UCONN, Cincinnati, and South Florida as well as the home game against West Virginia.

Dominque Jones 1, Pitt 0

Real quick recap today, not much to point out. Pitt really didn't look good. I thought that Pitt could be in trouble if Jermaine Dixon didn't play, but really didn't expect them to allow one player to beat them. That's precisely what happened. That's not to say USF has only one good player - just saying that if Pitt can hold Jones to a reasonable game - even his average of around 20 ppg - they likely win. You can't give up 37 points to any one player and really expect to do that. I think we saw how valuable Jermaine Dixon really is on the defensive end for Pitt. On top of allowing him to run roughshod over them, they reverted back to their old selves on the free throw line shooting around 50%.

What was frustrating was the way they closed out the game. They really were getting USF on the ropes a bit and were unable to capitalize. In the last six minutes, they missed two layups, a dunk, five free throws, and had three turnovers, including a key one when Gary McGhee lost the ball after a stop when Pitt could have cut the lead to 2 or 3. You've simply got to take care of the ball and while Pitt had three TOs in the last six minutes, USF had three in the entire 2nd half.

This latest loss is enough to make you wonder where they'll end up. These are games that Pitt really need to, and should, win. Yet, they've looked bad lately and have struggled a bit. They're likely not a top ten team as they were in the polls recently, but I don't think they're a non-tournament team either. With several difficult games left, Pitt will really need to buckle down. Hopefully this gives them a reality check.

Congrats to USF for a statement win - I said before that they're really starting to make strides and this is turning out to be a good year for them.

Q&A With Astro's Bulls Blog

Ken over at Astros Bulls Blog inquired about a Q&A for the game on Sunday and helped put this one together fairly quickly - thanks to him for the invite. His answers to my questions are below - be sure to check out his site for my take on his questions.

1. South Florida has already won more games this year (13) than they have in any of the past seven. They've not been able to beat the upper-tier teams yet, but they're now starting to win some conference games. The team has taken a step up and is starting to compete a little. What's the next step you'd like to see the team take?

Depth. It's been frustrating the last few years to see us play teams like Pittsburgh, Connecticut, and Syracuse tough for 30 minutes, and then fall apart in the last 10 minutes due to us being tired. Coach Heath has had to go the JUCO and transfer route to try to help out, but every season it seems that one or two guys transfer out as well. This year it was Ron Anderson Jr. coming into the program from Kansas State, but we also had Jordan Dumars leave for Michigan, and Justin Leemow heading home.

2. I watched a bit of the USF / Seton Hall game and noticed there were a lot of empty lower-level seats. Having won those three out of their last four Big East games, what kind of buzz is around the area?

Unfortunately, there really hasn't been much of a buzz around Tampa about this team. You can see some of the football season ticket holders start to go to some games, but unfortunately a lot of the season tickets holders in the first level hardly go to any games. I really think the last decade of futility, along with football's meteoric rise, led to basketball being an afterthought in the area. As people say, winning cures all, but in a football mad state like Florida, it will take some time before the Sun Dome get to where it used to be in the early 90s.

3. USF has one of the top scoring duos in the country in Dominique Jones and Augustus Gilchrist (averaging a combined 40+ ppg) - at least before Gilchrist's injury. How highly rated were these guys as recruits? Any thought that either or both of these guys are NBA prospects?

Gus Gilchrist was the 8th rated center out of high school. He signed with Virginia Tech, but after the shootings he wanted out of his LOI. He then went to Maryland, but found out that he would have to sit out two years before he could play. After realizing this after the fact, he finally made his way to Tampa and did pretty well last season. His conditioning was called into question by some fans last year, but during the offseason the S&C staff found out he was anemic. An iron supplement later, and Gus is living up to his potential. I would consider him a pro prospect, but I think his game is better suited for Europe. Either way, he will be making a name for himself once he leaves.

Jones wasn't widely regarded as a prospect at all. He didn't have an AAU team, and Polk County, Florida isn't a hotbed for basketball. Once he did make it on campus, he has been an incredible steal for us. I really don't know where USF would be right now if Jones wasn't here. There are some draft sites that have Dominique going anywhere from the late first round to the early second round. There are some rumors that he might leave for the draft after this season, but I think he will be back for his senior year.

4. The road ahead for USF features a lot of tough opponents (Pitt, Georgetown, UCONN, and Nova, to name a few). An NCAA tournament bid isn't likely without some major upsets. But are there hopes for the NIT? Would that make for a successful season?

We haven't been to any type of tournament since the early 2000s when we had a couple of NIT bids, so ANYTHING would be a huge accomplishment to Heath and Co. All I have asked from this team is 16 wins, and barring a huge collapse, we should be able to reach that mark. You will see me doing backflips if for some reason we make it to the NCAAs, but I would love to see an NIT berth as well.

5. I'll sneak in one football question since the Jim Leavitt thing kind of took off and was a nationwide story. What are your thoughts? Were the majority of fans seemingly for him or against him?

I think most fans were for Jim Leavitt. The last couple of October collapses irked some people, but this was the father of USF Football, and most acknowledged that he would leave on his own terms. I really didn't think Leavitt did it until the report came out, and even then, it still leaves some doubt in your mind. The thing that killed Leavitt was the fact that tried to cover up the whole thing, asking players what they told the investigators and not cooperating at all. With everyone retaining lawyers, I don't think this is over with in the least. I know Leavitt will want to get paid for what he claims is wrongful termination, and if he does get a settlement from the university, the Miller family will most likely sue Coach Leavitt. Just a huge trainwreck on all accounts.

A Perfect Game?

Yes, I know basketball talk is starting up. But I've got to stick with football for now.

First, Pitt is moving on up in the polls.

Pitt was indeed able to reach the elusive 7-1 start they haven't seen since 1982. Not sure what if anything Pitt's detractors can pick out of this game. Pitt played well offensively, defensively and on special teams, covering the kicks and making their field goals. Paul Zeise of the PG goes back to 2001 to find a comparable win.

Pitt's offense was unstoppable, scoring on their first five drives. But USF couldn't seem to get anything going. Their dynamic QB, B.J. Daniels, couldn't seem to get anything going.

Yes, USF shot themselves in the foot with some penalties, but Pitt steamrolled over them all day.

Bob Smizik and Ron Cook are both offering praise to Pitt. And in Cook's column, South Florida linebacker Kion Wilson makes a somewhat intriguing statement when discussing who was the more impressive team they've faced - Cincinnati or Pitt:

"I would take Pitt," Wilson said when asked how the two teams match up. "Because of Pitt's diversity. They can run the ball and take time off the clock. They can pound the ball and pound the ball, which really fatigues a defense. Then, they can throw it at will."

I'm not sure how much stock I'd place in that statement. Pitt had played a nearly perfect game and it just happened to be against South Florida. How often will Pitt play that well? I'll put it this way - I don't know if Pitt has played that well against a good team in recent memory. Let's see if they can repeat it.

And speaking of strong talk, Mick Williams has changed careers. Sure to be much to the chargrin of Dave Wannstedt, he's now in the guarantee-making business:

"We're happy with 7-1," Williams said, "but when we're 11-1, that will be good for us."

Reporter: "Does that mean you'll get to 11-1?"

Williams: "We will get to it."

Somebody please tell Mick that 3 of Pitt's 4 remaining games are against top 25 teams. The competition is only getting stiffer here on out and now, being ranked is only going to put a bigger bulls-eye on your back. Even if you believe that, I'm not sure if it needs to be said.

Personally, I think South Florida coach, Jim Leavitt, got it right:

"They just whooped us," South Florida coach Jim Leavitt said in describing the Panthers' 41-14 destruction of his team before a homecoming crowd of 50,019 at Heinz Field.

All-World defensive end, Greg Selvie, also got it right:

"This shouldn't be happening,'' said USF senior defensive end George Selvie, shell-shocked after watching the Bulls give up 486 yards to the Panthers. "We didn't put any pressure on Pittsburgh. They had their way.''

I honestly don't know if Bill Stull was even knocked down all day.

Looking ahead to bowl games, it's basically BCS or bust because of the crappy bowl situation the Big East is in. I will scream about this until I'm blue in the face. The Big East needs to fix their bowl problem. Now.

Some quick hitters to close it out:

Pitt's mascot turned 100 years old.

Brian Bennett at ESPN.com has plenty of praise for Pitt.

Meanwhile, Jonathan Baldwin forced Wannstedt to use the word sick as a slang term.

ESPN.com has an interesting graphic up detailing USF's late season collapses.

And Bill Stull continues his best Dan Marino impersonation.

Dion Lewis' and Bill Stull's big days helped them to stay near the top of college football's best statistically.

Good, Better, Best

During the drive home from the game, I kept thinking about Pitt's insistence that they could play better.

There really are no words to describe this win. I never got to an official prediction this week, but told my wife on the way that I was going with 27-17 in favor of Pitt. I expected Pitt to win a hard fought game, but wouldn't have been all that shocked if they weren't able to get to that 7-1 mark, which has eluded them for nearly 30 years. This game was like the 'alternate universe' game of the Rutgers debacle last year. I was as incredulous of this one as I was that one.

Here's what stood out to me from the game:

- I was kind of surprised at the attendance for the game. We got over to the North Shore for lunch around 10:30 and the lots were only about half full. The announced crowd was 50,000, but that was with the presold tickets. Bob Smizik said the crowd actually there was about 40,000 and I'd tend to agree with that.

- Look what Pitt can accomplish if they play mistake-free football. Yes, Stull had an interception, but Pitt was comfortably ahead at that point. No fumbles either and only two penalties for 20 yards. And it wasn't just that they avoided mistakes - they moved the ball effectively all game, not punting even once. Here were Pitt's drives: TD, TD, TD, FG, TD, INT, FG, TD, and two turnover on downs as they were running out the clock. 7 of 8 of their drives were scoring drives. It would have been hard for ANYBODY to beat Pitt today. They were that good. How good? Well, I can't recall when Pitt played this well of an all-around game vs. a good opponent.

- How complete of a game did they play? The biggest negative was probably that Dion Lewis 'only' had 111 yards because he only played three quarters. It took 1 1/2 years, but Jonathan Baldwin finally had the breakout game that made you say 'WOW.' Yes, he's had some excellent games in the past, but 6 catches for 144 yards is an unbelievable performance and is his highest total at Pitt.

- South Florida looked downright awful. Their running game was non-existent and their passing game was even worse (90 yards passing, three INTs, and a TD with 10 seconds left in the game). One thing I will say - that team has some great athletes. Yes, they could not stop Pitt from moving the ball. But on some plays, their defenders got to the line so quickly. That team has a lot of speed on defense.

- I hope the few remaining people (yes, they are still there) who have questioned Bill Stull were watching today's game when Tino Sunseri missed two wide open throws (including one that should have been a TD). And those throws were not in pressure situations either.

- Nice to see Dan Hutchins get back on track, making both of his field goals today after his crucial miss in the Rutgers game last week.

- I was a little surprised to see Chris Burns come in at running back late in the game. There was a mention in the PG a while back that said he was changing positions.

- Finally, and I'm still a little hesitant to say this because I've not always been in this guy's corner - Dave Wannstedt may be the coach for this team. A caller to the local post-game show hit the nail on the head. He's an excellent recruiter and the coaching has gotten considerably better. And don't forget, last season was the first one in which his recruited players were seniors. How'd that work out? 9-4. This year so far? 7-1. Pitt is 16-4 in their last 20 games and Wannstedt has really developed some good players. Hiring Cignetti looks to have been a good move. Oh, and by the way, they have another very good recruiting class coming in next year. I like to call a spade a spade and the fact of the matter is that he's done as good a job as you can really ask for. As recently as the Sun Bowl, I wasn't so sure about him. But barring a total collapse, Pitt is on their way to having another very good season and has a pretty good shot at getting to 10 wins.

Depending on who loses, with a bye week and a win against Syracuse, Pitt could be knocking on the door of the top 10 heading into the Notre Dame game.

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.