The preseason blogpoll is out. You can see the individual ballots here. My vote is here. During the season I will make an effort to get a draft version of my ballot posted earlier to get more feedback from everyone before submitting my ballot. I really do want some feedback and help this year. It gets to be a pain in the ass after a while to have to think about this.

Penn State bloggers did their best to push their team high in the polls. That was hardly the shocking thing.

What blew me away was seeing Pitt listed in the “Also Receiving Votes.” Let’s give a thank you to Matt of Statistically Speaking. Matt put Pitt at #15 and tabbed them as one of his sleeper teams. Whatever he’s drinking, I’ll take a double.

The latest press conference from training camp. Nobody panic because McKenzie Mathews went home.

On McKenzie Matthews’ absence from practice:

I’ll tell you what happened with McKenzie. When all of this happened without getting into a lot of details, he obviously stayed and practiced through everything. I had conversations with his coach, his mom and everything. I had pre-arranged for him to go home and see his mother and his coach. This was set up four days ago, and he’ll be back. It was a personal thing that I just felt was important to do at this time. That’s where that’s at.

Everybody breathe. This is not a big deal. It jibes with what his HS coach told the Syracuse beat reporter on Monday.
Brandon Mason was excused for personal reasons that Coach Wannstedt says will be explained later. Cue ominous music.

Linebacker Tyler Tipton is going to transfer. Pitt will help him. I would guess he sees an opportunity to crack the line-up fading quickly.

Darrelle Revis has a sore hamstring. Dexter Davidson needed to have both his knees scoped. I’m guessing he’s heading for a red shirt.

Bill Stull apparently gets the pin out of his finger on Friday, so he is getting closer to returning to full practice.

On the bright side Kicker David Abdul is apparently getting close to being cleared to practice. That’s great news for Abdul.

Other players returned or are close to returning.

On injured and returning players:

Dorin Dickerson came out today and got some work today which was encouraging. We expect that Conredge Collins will be back tomorrow. [Jason] Pinkston and Mick Williams are still slowed up because of the concussions. Hopefully Pinkston will be back tomorrow. Mick – it’ll be another day or two. For the most part guys are showing up. We don’t have any serious injuries. We’ve got a lot of guys out here that are banged up, beat up and practicing. That’s part of training camp. It’s what separates the men from the boys as we say. Dorin came out today and worked through some individual [drills] and did some things. He’s obviously not 100 percent. It’s going to take him a couple of days, but he’s back at it. I asked him at the end there, and he said he did feel good so that’s encouraging.

Coach Wannstedt had plenty of praise and encouragement.

On his thoughts after viewing the film from yesterday’s scrimmage:

After the film, the guys that jumped out that made some plays were Tommie Campbell, big John Malecki, Jovani [Chappel] did some nice things at corner and on special teams. Jeff Otah did some nice things on the offensive line. Shane Brooks, I think, has kind of turned into that tough guy. Kevin Collier showed up and scored two touchdowns. Doug Fulmer continues to make plays. I was really encouraged by, if you want to look at positions, probably our defensive line. But we still haven’t settled on anything yet. And the neat thing about it right now is the competition is so fierce – Rashaad Duncan, Corey Davis – everybody’s playing better. They’re all playing. It’s going to be a real, kind of interesting thing when we can say, `Okay, it’s game week guys, and here are the four tackles who are going to play and the four ends.’ It’s going to be a good thing, and we’re going to play a lot of guys and keep guys fresh. I kind of like that thing. I think Greg Gattuso and Charlie Partridge are really doing a great job of bringing those young kids along but at the same time keeping that healthy competitiveness.

Coach Wannstedt is relentlessly positive about his players. So I think it will be a cold day in hell before you see him really call out individual players. It does, though, breed a certain reading between the lines or reinterpretation of what he actually means when he doesn’t completely praise a player.

Just a couple things that kind of blend lines.

Since it’s completely anti-climactic at this point, it’s not worth its own post. Still, something worth noting. The Big East does not permit transfers of football players from one school to another within the Big East — ever. Incredibly harsh. Once they practice with the BE team, that player is forever off-limits to other BE schools.
Over the weekend was the Big East sponsored honoring of Basketball HoF inductee Dave Gavitt, the force and first commish of the Big East. Coach Dixon was on hand for Pitt, along with AD Jeff Long. Also attending was former BC and disgraced OSU head coach Jim O’Brien — can’t even imagine how awkward any conversation with him was. Even more stunning than O’Brien being on hand was BC AD Gene DeFilippo.

Actually, maybe DeFilippo feels good about making an appearance as the stories appear to be that Syracuse and BC will start playing annually maybe in 2010, ’11, or ’12. Matt at Orange 44 is right that the rest of the BE teams (and their fans) probably won’t be too thrilled with that. The bright side, if Tom O’Brien is still on the sidelines for BC, neither will he.

If BC coach Tom O’Brien has anything to do with it, however, when BC moves on to the Atlantic Coast Conference, never shall the twain meet again. Even as nonconference opponents.

“No, I’m not going to play anybody in the Big East, for what we went through,” O’Brien said, when asked if he’d ever consider playing Syracuse in the future. “Absolutely not.”

If, when this goes down, someone needs to make sure to tape the press conference when O’Brien swallows hard and talks about looking forward to it. Then they need to send me a copy. Really, it’s an underrated joy to see a red-ass being forced to eat his words.

Now for the annoyance factor of a BE school playing BC in football in basketball. I would be more pissed if it was basketball. BC is going to run up huge travel costs because there are no local games other than patsies without the Big East schools. This is more of an issue in basketball than football. Still, I’m bothered.
While I understand the logic for Syracuse as Matt gives perfectly reasonable explanation. I don’t have to like it. I also think it’s just too soon. Inevitably there would be a thaw, but this is just too soon in my view.

The faux belt buckle logo is the symbol and shows the name of the new/old bowl that will be taking the place of the Houston Bowl. The bowl website, is very much under construction. According to the site, the Texas Bowl will be “A celebration of the culture, heritage and football tradition of the Lone Star State.” Lone Star Sports & Entertainment President Jamey Rootes had this to say about the bowl:

“We believe we will look back at today’s event as the launching pad for the next cherished Houston sports tradition.”

What were the previous ones?

A dumb screw-up by the Pitt Athletic Department.

Pitt may have to move the kickoff for its Sept. 16 home football game against Michigan State from 3:30 p.m. to noon because of poor planning by the athletic department. If that happens, and at this point it is a definite possibility, it likely would cost the school thousands of dollars in television revenue and penalties as well as from the dropoff in ticket sales generally associated with earlier kickoffs at Heinz Field.

The sticking point is a lack of available parking spots because the Pirates play host to the New York Mets at 7:05 that night and, by contract, are guaranteed to have a large number of the parking spaces in the lots between the two stadiums available to their customers at least two hours before the first pitch. That means many of the parking lots that Pitt sells pre-paid parking passes for will be locked when Pitt fans arrive for the football game earlier that day.

The MSU game is supposed to be a regional ABC game. If Pitt has to move the time, they’ll have to pay penalties to ABC and to Michigan State (and likely the Big 11). Not to mention losing a big telecast opportunity.

I’m not sure how many parking lots/spaces would be lost. I would guess there is actually enough parking in the area to accomodate, but Pitt would have to shift some people — and the lots in question are definitely some of the pricier lots — meaning better paying fans and a decent amount of anger from them for being moved somewhere much further away.

Part of the major problem was that Pitt never communicated with the Pirates over the time. The Pirates claim they only found out about the game time problem recently by reading the paper. Still, why do the Pirates need that much parking for a mid-September game when they are on pace for what, 100 losses? Normally, they’d have what? Maybe 15,000 actual people in attendance? Answer: it’s a giveaway night.

In the past, the Pirates have moved their games in order to accommodate scheduling conflicts with the Panthers. But the Pirates aren’t budging this time because 1. It is Jack Wilson Bobblehead Doll Night. 2. They expect a crowd in excess of 30,000 fans that night. 3. The conflict is Pitt’s fault.

Please note, it’s Jack Wilson. Not Craig Wilson who they gave away to the Yankees. Jack is still with the team. Really, hasn’t the whole bobblehead thing played itself out? People really crave these things? And if it’s such a primo item, why would they have planned it for a Saturday night game when they should expect to draw somewhat decently. Isn’t that the sort of giveaway you use for a weeknight game?

Right now, everyone is claiming that it is an impasse that doesn’t seem to be resolvable. My thought is that Pitt cut a deal with the Pirates for use of the parking lots. It’s going to cost Pitt, but it is very clear at the moment, that anything done is going to cost Pitt money.

You know, as late as Monday, I was reading and posting on stories about how the offense was looking better than the defense. Now, after the first scrimmage the defense was apparently a little ahead of the offense.

On the scrimmage in general:

I think we got about 60 plays in. It was good. For the first scrimmage out of the block, I think the encouraging thing was, and history has proven, that your defense had better be a little bit ahead of your offense. I haven’t been involved with a good football team on any level where you’re watching the first scrimmage and the offense is going up and down the field and scoring a bunch of touchdowns and then all the sudden you become good on defense. I was pleased. I thought both quarterbacks threw the ball well. We didn’t have an interception. We didn’t have a turnover. We had two penalties, and they were both by the same guy. So for the most part, there were no penalties for the first group. No penalties for the first group, no interceptions, no fumbles. When you come out of the block and have the first scrimmage, that’s something that’s important. It’s important all the time, but particularly early. I really thought our defense played with a lot of emotion – the first group from time to time. We got an opportunity to look at a lot of young players.

That’s fine, if a little disconcerting. Once the team started scrimmaging the defense looked better. Everything else was just practice and drills. At most 11-on-11 drills.

It’s not like there’s some sort of revisionism going on.

Pitt’s defense has been dominant throughout training camp, while the offense — and quarterback Tyler Palko in particular — has been erratic. And that didn’t change in the scrimmage. But the offensive came on strong down the stretch behind second-team quarterback Kevan Smith.

Smith, a freshman, has taken plenty of snaps because Palko’s backup, sophomore Bill Stull, has been slowed by a broken finger.

Um, well that’s just one view.

The Panthers defense has been dominant throughout training camp, while the offense — and fifth-year senior quarterback Tyler Palko, in particular — has been inconsistent at best.

Palko and the offense showed improvement during Pitt’s first extended intrasquad scrimmage yesterday afternoon at the UPMC Sports Complex, but the best players on the field were on defense.

The former was an AP wire story — no byline — while the latter was from Dale Grdnic (who regularly covers Pitt stories for the Harrisburg Patriot and Johnstown Tribune-Democrat). I really hope Grdnic wrote the AP piece as well, because there are a few too many similarities in the stories.
In the scrimmage itself, the offense was able to move the ball but not able to get it into the endzone. Instead it was a couple field goals, and the kickers struggled overall for the day.

Both kickers vying for the starting job — Conor Lee and Dan Hutchins — struggled again (Lee 1 for 4; Hutchins 1 for 2) which has Wannstedt concerned.

Both walk-ons. Lee had nearly battled Abdul to a draw in the spring. Of course, maybe it’s because they were looking over their shoulders.

On the placekicking competition:

[Dan Hutchins] has done a nice job. It’s between him and Conor Lee right now. David Abdul was here today. He’s going to meet with the doctors, and we should get word on him by tomorrow whether he’ll be cleared medically or not. But it’s right now between Hutch and Conor, and nothing has been decided.

After two very good years of kicking, looks like this year could be something of an adventure.

Dorin Dickerson has been slowed in camp by injuries, but there is little chance Coach Wannstedt will redshirt him. He’s still too versatile and too potent a weapon on offense to not use right away. Other injuries included

Cornerback Kelvin Chandler, fullback Conredge Collins (hamstring), receiver Joe DelSardo (hamstring) and defensive tackle Jason Pinkston (concussion) joined the injured list and did not practice or scrimmage yesterday. Defensive end Chris McKillop (shoulder) practiced but did not participate in contact drills.

Mick Williams who has missed a few practices with migraines has been re-diagnosed and it seems is suffering from a concussion. He won’t be back practicing for a few more days.