Several Pitt football players seemed to have found part-time jobs at the Senior PGA. They are working security.

Notre Dame is strengthening its unofficial ties to the Big East in football. They will play at least 2 more BE teams (in addition to Pitt) each year starting in 2009. The deal is for about 8 years.

West Virginia is already getting anxious about its secondary. Especially for the Backyard Brawl. No really.

Lee — who joins Antonio Bryant and Larry Fitzgerald as notable receivers at Pitt in recent years — could spell trouble when he brings his game to Morgantown on Thanksgiving Day.

Sure, his 1,297 yards on 68 catches — 10 of which hit paydirt — last year make him a potent threat. But that’s just the black-and-white of it.

Consider this: with a secondary that was much better than this year’s unit is expected to be, the Mountaineers could do absolutely nothing with Lee during a 16-13 loss at Heinz Field last November.

He caught six passes for 124 yards, despite miserable on-field conditions, a lackluster game from quarterback Tyler Palko and the presence of Adam “Pac-Man” Jones, now prepping for his rookie season with the Tennessee Titans.

Sure, this is way early, but at first glance the Backyard Brawl this year might come down to Greg Lee vs. the WVU secondary.

Give the early advantage to Lee.

Never too early to rattle a rival.

Pitt AD Jeff Long is confident that Pitt will sell out its season tickets this season. This despite the fact that sales are about where they were last year (when the sales dropped by about 8,000) and the increased mandatory donations.

Seems like a toss-up to me. On the one hand you have what is expected to be a pretty good team with a new coach who has already brought a lot of energy and attention to the program. On the other hand you have increased overall prices and a home schedule that, outside of ND, is not exactly one built to excite — Youngstown St., UConn, ‘Cuse, Cinci, and USF.

Even Coach Dave Wannstedt is tired of all the talk about the Pitt-Penn St. stuff:

“I don’t see it happening,” said Wannstedt, a former Pitt player. “I really think it’s a dead issue.”

Penn State has already filled its 12th game with Temple, getting two home games out of the three-game series. The Lions reportedly want a similar deal with Pitt, but athletic director Jeff Long has publicly said that Pitt will not accept anything less than a home-and-home series with the Nittany Lions.

“We’ve expressed how we feel about it and our reasons why,” Wannstedt said.

Penn State coach Joe Paterno was in Pittsburgh earlier this month, and he said scheduling Temple was as important as scheduling Pitt because of the Penn State fan interest in Philadelphia. Wannstedt seemed peeved that Penn State would put Pitt into the same class as Temple, which was ousted from the Big East Conference after consistent futility.
…
“I don’t see it going anywhere,” Wannstedt said, “at least in the near future.”

The near future being the rest of JoePa’s life.