Several Pitt players have been named to the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District 2 Football Team. They are center Justin Belarski, nose tackle Vince Crochunis and defensive tackle Dan Stephens. Strangely enough, all three actually have graduated, but are taking grad school courses in their final year of eligibility.

From an ESPN.com chat with Beano Cook.

Joey (Pittsburgh): Any rumors on Wannstedt going to Pitt? He is a fellow Pittsburgher.

SportsNation Beano Cook: There are rumors, but in my opinion he would not be the right choice to make.

Wish he would have elaborated. I have some doubts, but when Beano doesn’t think he’s the right choice, I have to reconsider my position. He might be perfect for the job afterall.

The Wall Street Journal has a free open house this week, and this article about the MAC getting screwed slowly by the NCAA caught my attention. It’s from last Friday.

But the real suspense in Rubber City? Can Akron draw enough fans to avoid the threat of getting bounced from the top tier of college football. If the Zips — short for Zippers, the name of a kind of rubber boots, once — can’t boost their average attendance of 10,737 above 15,000 by season’s end, Big Brother NCAA will put Akron football on double secret probation.

Such is life in the lower reaches of Division I-A of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. If the NCAA isn’t threatening to revoke your membership — and not for recruiting shenanigans or academic scandals — it’s considering measures that could challenge you even more.
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The MAC is one of five other — smaller, lesser — Division I-A conferences. Its members mostly are academically solid institutions like Kent State, Bowling Green and Ball State. Their athletic programs are modest — budgets of around $11 million to $17 million, a fraction of sports-factory spending. They tend to do a better job integrating athletics with the rest of campus life. They have among the best football graduation rates in the country.

And they’re competitive. In the last three years MAC members Toledo, Marshall, Miami of Ohio and Bowling Green have finished in the nation’s top 25. Northern Illinois is 24th in a poll this week. Three National Football League starting quarterbacks — Ben Roethlisberger (Pittsburgh Steelers), Chad Pennington (New York Jets) and Byron Leftwich (Jacksonville Jaguars) — are MAC daddies. They’re a combined 17-5 this season.

The downside of being the MAC is vulnerability. Moves that benefit a Miami of Florida typically hurt a Miami of Ohio; the transfer proposal, for instance, would surely lead to big schools poaching, say, NFL-prospect quarterbacks. It’s enough to make one believe in grassy-knoll conspiracies to push the little guy out of Division I-A. “A lot of it feels like the end result is the rich get richer,” says Kent State’s athletic director, Laing Kennedy.
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Thanks to prodding from [Kent State President,] Dr. [Carol] Cartwright, the 15,000 attendance minimum, though only in its first year, is expected to get a second look.

That’s crucial to the MAC, which has two members below that Mendoza line and three others flirting with it. The conference has had seven of the 10 worst-attended Division I-A games this fall. Among the 117 I-A members, Akron, a commuter school whose Depression-era stadium is nine miles from campus, ranks dead last in fans per game.

Does that mean these schools don’t belong in Division I-A? Of course not. The attendance minimum neglects factors like region and weather — not to mention academic standing and on-field performance. And it forces schools to spend money they otherwise wouldn’t. To try to boost its gate, Akron this year hired a marketing consultant. For one game, it booked the “Animal House” band Otis Day and the Nights. Tonight, city employees get in free and the mayor will proclaim “Charlie Frye Day” (get it?) to honor the Zips’ stand-out quarterback.

If Akron doesn’t make the arbitrary 15K threshold — and it probably won’t — it will get a warning from the NCAA. Then, if it falls short anytime in the next 10 years, it will be barred from bowl games. If it fails again the following season, it will be kicked out of I-A. “No one doesn’t try to get people to come to their games,” Zips athletic director Mike Thomas says. “We’re sitting here looking at the weather map all week.”

I have a feeling that the attendance requirement may get removed in the next few years. It was something they instituted when a rash of schools jumped to Div. I-A. Most of those schools did so successfully and with much support. There is no way the big money schools, now can afford to have schools like Akron kicked out of Div. I-A. They are essential patsies who are willing to go on the road to give the paying school their Washington Generals type game.

It seems, according to Pantherlair/Rivals.com that all 3 of Pitt’s basketball recruits have signed letters of intent to play at Pitt. Pitt has one more scholarship available for the 2005 incoming class.

In other B-Ball notes. Tickets for Sunday’s 7 pm exhibition against Gannon University are still available for $25 a pop.

Also, Pitt has decided to open the doors to the Pete, 90 minutes prior to tipoffs this year. Parking lots will be open 2 1/2 hours before the game. Previously, they only opened the doors an hour before tipoff.

Apparently it is easier for Pitt to work out a one-for-one deal with probably the most attractive opponent — from a ticket sales perspective — than with Penn State.

Pitt and Notre Dame have already agreed to resume playing each other from 2008 to 2015. Not a 2-for-1 deal, but home-away. The two teams will not play each other in ’06 and ’07. Amazing how easy that was.

Correction. Yesterday, I said this was the last game between the two teams. My bad. Next season is the last game between Pitt and Notre Dame. It will be the season opener at Heinz Field, on September 3. The teams moved the game up to guarantee national coverage.

Pitt seems resigned to not being able to run the ball much against ND. While it may not make a difference, here’s a thought. Let Mason have a few touches. Just to see what happens. How much worse could it be?

As it stands, the big concern for Pitt’s offense will be keeping QB Tyler Palko from being killed by the pass rush. Rod Rutherford was sacked 16 times in 2002 and 2003. Over 1/3 of the sacks were credited to Defensive End Justin Tuck. ND comes in with 23 sacks on the year and the Panthers are second worst in the Big East in Sacks given up at 22. Keep Joe Flacco at the ready.

The thing that should give Pitt some hope is the fact that ND has been wildly unpredictable in which team will show up to play on a given Saturday.

Final, bitter point goes back to Syracuse, and the final play.

Syracuse linebacker Tommy Harris said Pitt left tackle Rob Petitti tipped off the play when he came to the line of scrimmage, pointed at Harris and told tight end Steve Buches, “You block him.” Defensive end James Wyche picked up the signal and yelled, “Toss! Toss!”

“I mean, it kind of helps to know what’s going to happen on that play,” Harris said. “You go a little harder when you know what’s going on already.”

Petitti said the noise inside the Carrier Dome prompted him to point out the assignment.

Pitt didn’t get the first down by an inch.