A couple rumors and things seem to be swirling over who will replace Walt Harris at Pitt (it seems like fait accompli at this point that he is gone). From SI last week (Adrian Peterson of Oklahoma on the cover) in the “Inside the NFL” section there was this little snippet from Peter King.
I’ll bet you a conch fritter that a year from now the Dolphins’ Dave Wannstedt will be the coach at his alma mater, Pitt.
Apparently this is the strongest rumor out there. But take this rumor from the Cleveland Plain Dealer for what it’s worth.
While the early money is on current Miami Dolphins coach Dave Wannstedt replacing Walt Harris as the University of Pittsburgh’s boss next season, the smart money is on someone else: Youngstown native (and former Ohio State standout) Bo Pelini, now Oklahoma’s co-defensive coordinator. Oklahoma’s defense has been suffocating this season – much like Pelini’s former defenses at Nebraska, where he was a defensive coordinator and interim head coach.
When I was drawing up my list of potential replacements, I considered Pelini. I decided against including him, because he was interim at Nebraska last season for a game or two and I’m not sure how willing Pitt will be to hire anyone with any ties to Nebraska for a while.
Last year Pitt won in a game that was closer than it should have been, 24-13. Pitt missed 2 field goals and had an interception to keep the game close into the 4th quarter. Pitt dominated time of possession, and put the game away on a halfback option TD pass from Jawan Walker to Fitzgerald. The corner who bit on the play is still a little ticked about that.
In that game the most surprising thing was that Pitt’s O-line provided good protection for QB Rutherford, because BC’s defense had been talking about pressuring and dominating the O-line. The difference in that game to this, is that the fullback then — Lousaka Polite — was a superb blocker and did a great job on containing their star defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka. Unfortunately, Polite is gone but Kiwanuka isn’t. Regular FB Tim Murphy is still hurt, so it looks like RB Ray Kirkley will be doing a fair amount of time at the FB position.
The key for the BC Eagles on offense has always been their O-line. They have sent 7 offensive linemen to the NFL since ’97. They felt Pitt’s best lineman, Rob Pettiti wasn’t good enough when he was being recruited. Bendel uses the story on BC’s O-line to hammer home how Pitt has wiffed with local talent.
