Everyone here at Pitt Sports Blather wants to wish our friend and occasional contributor Harlan well and to hope he stays safe. Harlan, an army reservist, has been recalled to active duty. He will be going to Germany within the next few weeks in the JAG. In Germany he will have the unenviable but necessary duty to prosecute US soldiers who have committed criminal acts while in Iraq.

Good luck Harlan, all of us respect what you will be doing and are proud to call you our friend.

Lee did a fine analysis on the game while making his weekly picks. The Hokie faithful also have a pretty good analysis on the game. Lee wisely hedged, while picking Pitt to cover but lose. This year when and wherever VT plays, the home team covered. Just an interesting point.

I realize Pitt has played VT the best (outside of Miami) the previous 3 years, and winning the last 2 games, but I am shocked at how much Pitt and Coach Harris seems to be in their heads. The TechSideLine folks are bordering on neurotic over this. Apparently the scars of the last two years worth of November collapses are a big cloud. Still, even they seem to think VT will win this one.

Randy King, the Roanoke Times VT beat writer provides a weekly “Insider” column online. Most of the column is devoted to defending Center, Jake “Dirty” Grove against the charges of being a dirty player — by arguing that the whole thing has gotten out of hand. (I’ve rarely seen such a butt-kissing article to a player, this side of NFL writers talking about Brett Favre — like, say, Peter King. Good God, man, a little detachment, please).

King, Randy, not Peter, decides that BC had the right approach and starts the jockeying for the officials to be “fair” to the Hokies.

One would have to be naive to think that the Big East football office isn’t pulling big time for Pittsburgh to win the league title and earn the conference’s BCS bowl ticket. With Tech, Miami and Boston College defecting to the ACC, Pittsburgh automatically inherits the role of the league’s marquee program.

Particularly with the loss of Tech and Miami, the Big East desperately needs Pittsburgh — not to mention a rebound by onetime power Syracuse — to remain on on the rise in order to maintain any hope of keeping its automatic BCS bid down the road. Certainly, a trip to the Orange Bowl this year would help Walt Harris when he goes into homes in January and tries to sell recruits in regards to the future of his program and the league.

Floating that theory, I can’t help but wonder if Tech will get a fair shake from game officials Saturday night at Heinz Field. Certainly, I would like to think that would be the case. Still, I can’t forget how Boston College coach Tom O’Brien was quick to raise that point on the heels of his school’s recent announcement it was bolting to the ACC.

After BC lost 24-13 at home to Pittsburgh last Saturday, I can only wonder what was going through O’Brien’s mind when he looked at the stat sheet and saw the visitors were penalized only twice for 10 yards.

Hmmmm … just a thought. Nobody could be that shady, could they? Well, unless you’re talking about the folks of the ACC.

Let’s see, Pitt is the least penalized team in the Big East, and King knows that. Still, he backs his “theory” with the only had 2 penalties in a game. Funny that he fails to mention that BC had a gargantuan total of 4 penalties in the same game. Nice context. Set up the whining early.

Really, both Lee and the TSL boys see the game breaking down the same way:

Line play will be key — okay, when isn’t it?

VT will run the ball like crazy. They may not attempt only 8 passes like last week against Miami, but you can be sure that they will be overwhelmingly favoring the run.

Pitt will look to pass. Whether up top to Fitzgerald, or underneath to Wilson, the backs, or the other wide receivers. Especially look for Pitt to do a lot of passing in the first half with VT’s stud CB DeAngelo Hall sitting.

VT special teams will look to block punts as they always do. Pitt is susceptible to this, anyways, and VT excels. Really, this could be the difference in the game.

VT will try to force Rutherford out of the pocket to get him moving, because he’s less accurate when he rolls or can’t sit in the pocket.

Pitt knows the run will be coming, and will rely on a lot of one-on-one coverage even on WR Wilford; trusting in CB Shawntae Spencer and the other corners, and the inaccuracy of Randall and/or Vick.

Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald. All they have heard is Fitzgerald. The Hokie secondary has been dealing with the Fitzgerald question all week. They are talking a good game. And I like that. Corners and Receivers need to have an arrogance bordering on the absurd. Of course I still wonder what they mean when they say something like this:

“I don’t think anybody really went out and played Fitzgerald like they should have been playing him,” [Eric] Green said. “They get caught up looking at the rankings and where he is on the Heisman list. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a great receiver, but I don’t think people have tested him. We have to play our football. This isn’t about Larry Fitzgerald, it’s about Virginia Tech and what we have to do to win.

“I figure if I can cover this guy, the nation’s best receiver, I can definitely make a name for myself.”

Two things: (1) What? Has he seen the kind of coverage and people all over Fitzgerald? I mean short of trying to take out his knees, what does he mean by that? (2) Seeking to make a name for yourself is not the sort of thing the VT coaches should want to hear or read. It suggests some extra gambling and perhaps reckless play trying to beat Fitzgerald. I think there will be some early pass interference calls against VT.

Despite the 31 points VT put on the board last week, the VT offense has been practically nothing the last two weeks. It has become extremely one-dimensional, and overly reliant on special teams coming up huge. I see this costing them again.

I’m going to pick Pitt to win this game 31-27.

I mentioned yesterday the stupidity of the parking at Heinz Field with ESPN College GameDay. The point was further driven home by a Pitt AD spokesman

“If they come to see you, you’re on the major college football map,” said E.J. Borghetti, a Pitt athletic department spokesman.

“This is the lollapalooza of college football,” he said. “It’s almost a Woodstock-like environment the way people come early and stay throughout the day and into the night for the show.”

Emphasis added.

Come early, stay all day. Got it. They know that the people who come want to stay there. So, Pitt and Heinz Field do the following.

Hoping to encourage as much blue-and-gold presence as possible, Pitt said it would run morning shuttle buses for students from Bigelow Boulevard to Heinz Field starting at 9:30 a.m., returning to campus at 12:30 p.m. Pitt said it will then run student shuttles to the game starting at the normal time — three hours before kickoff.

Fans who drive to Heinz Field for the morning telecast can park for free in the Gold 2 lot, adjacent to The Great Lawn, from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Borghetti said. The lot will then be closed and all cars must exit to prepare for the 2:45 p.m. opening of all parking for the game.

Arrrgghhh! Don’t they get it? Students who come down will be shuttled back (roughly a 1/2 hour trip back, but obviously there will have to be multiple trips back and forth — to the point where they’ll just have to turn around to come back to the stadium. As for those who drove, they can’t get into their lots for over 2 hours. So, they have to find some place to park and hang around on the North Side or drive and come back later.

Complete stupidity. It discourages people from coming early because it’s such a hassle in the intervening time. Can’t stay, might too long a trip back. Stuck in a limbo.

Idiots.