Penn State made the official announcement that it will be playing Temple in football. Renewing that “old rivalry.” Even PSU beat writers had to deride them for it.

The addition of “old rival” Temple, which was announced by Penn State’s sports information office this week, to the Nittany Lions’ future schedules caused the tiniest of blips on the national college football radar (outside of the Temple campus itself), but to some Penn State fans, it is a sign that the team’s nonconference schedule isn’t getting any more demanding.
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Having the likes of Akron, Central Michigan and Kent State filling up September home dates didn’t help, either. But all of that might have been forgiven if, instead of the Owls (who have defeated or tied the Nittany Lions just four times in 35 tries), Penn State had added a certain team from the western part of the state to fill its first NCAA-approved 12th game.

So the logic went pretty much like this — If Penn State adds Pitt, no one talks about the schedule. If the Nittany Lions add Temple, they haven’t played anyone but patsies in years.

Patsies it is, then.

Some small note on the Pitt basketball non-con. The actual schedule hasn’t been released, but one date has been confirmed independently. Pitt will host Wisconsin on Saturday, December 31. In 2006, Pitt will go to Wisconsin. Pitt has an away game in Columbia, SC to play the Gamecocks. Other expected games: Duquesne, St. Francis (PA), Penn State, and Robert Morris. I’m not sure if Pitt goes to Richmond this year to play the Spiders.

Last year, Pitt had 11 non-con games. That means, Pitt has 4-5 more games to schedule. Somehow, I doubt they want to play Bucknell again.

Just as I figured on crashing, there is this.

Carl Krauser had been going back and forth for weeks about his future in basketball. A month ago he was almost sure he would be playing next season overseas for a professional team.

But when it was time to make a decision yesterday, Krauser said it wasn’t the money but the relationships he had forged in Pittsburgh the past four years that ultimately swayed him in favor of returning to the Panthers for his senior season.

Krauser has a son who will have his first birthday in two weeks, and the opportunity to be around him for another year while playing in front of what he described as “great fans” was enough to leave the offers he had on the table.

“I’d rather not talk about the offers I had,” Krauser said yesterday afternoon. “But everything was going to work out fine if I pursued [professional basketball]. I had great options. But I wanted to come back for another season.

“I had a long talk with my family [Thursday] night and [Friday] morning. I asked the players on the team about it, and they were cool with me coming back. I get to watch my son grow up for another year. I get another year of playing in front of these great fans in Pittsburgh, where I have been treated great. The fans are the ones who really brought me back. Everyone was asking me if I was coming back. I was at coach Dixon’s camp the other week, and the kids were all asking me what I was going to do. Everyone kept telling me how much they needed me.”

Who needs coffee? Well, I do, but it can wait. I’ve said my good-byes to Krauser a few times already. Now I need to readjust my whole worldview on this. I’m not going to hate on him for this. I have my worries, but it is what it is and I just need to look at the positives. He appears to be academically fine.

There’s the implication that Levance Fields could be redshirted. I’m not so sure about that. Ramon seems more like a shooting guard and Fields could be a hell of a good back-up and come off the bench like Krauser did when Knight was still running things.

Quick Late Analysis, subject to change after some sleep: It does seem clear, though, that Pitt will be a very different team regardless. With Krauser back, the depth and potential strength will be in the back court for Pitt. Opportunities will be there for Biggs, DeGroat, Gray and Kendall to make the front court a factor and really get on the glass, but the back court should be where it is at.