Athlon Sports is releasing its pre-season top-25 one-by-one. Pitt is in at #23. They circle the November 7 game at Louisville as the deciding game for the Big East.
While not on their site yet, they also give some love to Pitt on their all-Big East team and more.
Individually, junior receiver Greg Lee (Tampa, Fla./Chamberlain) was named to AthlonÂ’s All-America Team. A second-team selection, Lee led the Big East and ranked fifth nationally with 1,297 receiving yards last year. He had 68 total receptions (19.1 avg.) and 10 TD catches.
Lee also was one of seven Pitt players named first team All-Big East by the magazine. He is joined by junior quarterback Tyler Palko (Imperial, Pa./West Allegheny), senior offensive lineman Charles Spencer (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Trinity-Pawling School), junior linebacker H.B. Blades (Plantation, Fla./Plantation), senior cornerback Josh Lay (Aliquippa, Pa./Aliquippa), senior placekicker Josh Cummings (Newhall, Calif./College of the Canyons) and junior punter Adam Graessle (Dublin, Ohio/Dublin Coffman).
Additionally, the Panthers’ quarterbacks and receivers are rated No. 1 in the Big East.
Palko is one of the featured players on Athlon’s Eastern edition cover. The magazine includes an article on new Pitt head coach Dave Wannstedt and will hit newsstands June 7.
On the subject of the Big East and ACC settling things. There’s a reason why there have been no press releases from Pitt or the schools:
Under the agreement, the Big East and ACC agreed not to “alert the media of this settlement” or hold a “press conference or briefing.”
Pitt athletic director Jeff Long declined comment and referred all queries to the public affairs office. Public affairs spokesperson Robert Hill could not be reached for comment.
Mike Parsons, West Virginia’s deputy athletic director, said, “We’re glad we’ve been able to resolve it and we look forward to moving on.”
Pitt, Rutgers, WVU and UConn also get some key non-con games.
Home-and-home series with appearance fees of $150,000 between Florida State and West Virginia, Rutgers and North Carolina, Connecticut and Virginia, and North Carolina State and Pittsburgh are scheduled to be played between 2008 and 2012. A single game sends Miami (Fla.) to Pitt on Sept. 11, 2010. Miami will be paid $225,000.
Other than the Miami game, there are no dates actually set. It was noted that FSU has never traveled to Morgantown under Bobby Bowden. Who’s to say Bowden will even be alive by the time they do.
Finally, a sort of Q&A piece from Matt Hayes explaining the new BCS system:
OK, let’s get this one out of the way: When will a playoff happen?
Never. Say it with me now: Never.
N-e-v-e-r.
Deal with it.
What is the main issue at the meetings?
Replacing the Associated Press poll because AP decided after last season not to be part of this lovely process. There were a handful of ideas of how to do it, but the winner is a new human poll from the National Football Foundation that will include votes from former players, coaches and administrators.
Believe me when I say this idea was the best of the lot. Among the other gems: a selection committee (read: smoked-filled room, secret deals) that would render polls useless; having the coaches and computer polls stand on their own (read: the wizard behind the curtain). Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione suggested having all 117 coaches vote, then having a computer randomly pick a set number of votes every week that would count toward the poll. He called it a “Supreme Court” formula. Supply your own Supreme punch line here.
What makes this new poll more legitimate than the AP poll?
It’s not, but look at the alternatives. The BCS fathers want to eliminate “integrity” issues that cropped up last year with some strange happenings in the AP poll (see: Texas media voters jumping the Longhorns over Cal in the last poll of the season). The new poll will use a set number of voters from each region.
Then again, is someone going to try to tell me Tom Osborne wouldn’t have voted Auburn over Oklahoma last year because, well, he never liked that Switzer guy anyway?
…What about automatic qualification for the BCS?
This is tricky. In previous years, the automatic qualification for the BCS conferences was based on their champions having an average ranking of at least 12 over a four-year period. Now, that stance is softening a bit.
Weiberg says any BCS conference champion (read: the Big East) that doesn’t reach the average ranking can appeal. The appeal can be based on numerous factors, including — ta-da! — television market value. In other words, the Big East-firmly planted in the Northeast-isn’t going anywhere, no matter how pathetic it becomes.
Bottom line: The appeal process was instituted so the BCS didn’t have to eat one of its own and look even worse than it already does.
All that matters is that Pitt and the Big East isn’t going anywhere in the BCS.
