The expected media spin, as mentioned earlier will be the Wanny-Groh stuff. There’s plenty of other things to see similarities shared.

Chris Gould will kick off for U.Va., and the junior from Lock Haven, Pa., hopes to handle extra points and field goals, too. But Noah Greenbaum, a senior from Richmond, is battling Gould for the job, and Groh has yet to announce a winner.

“It’s just such a close deal,” said Groh, who indicated he’ll decide closer to the Pitt game.

Greenbaum, a Collegiate graduate who came to U.Va. as a walk-on, was awarded a scholarship this year, and he’s “certainly acquitted himself very strongly” in training camp, Groh said.

Against Temple last season, Greenbaum booted a 41-yard field goal.

This game could see more attempts at 2-point conversions than we think, and some really ugly FG attempts.

Both offensive lines are question marks. Pitt, because it’s the mostly the same group as last year. Virginia because it isn’t.

“We have a significant rebuilding job in front of us,” Groh said. “We’ve had some losses, some pretty huge losses.”

It’s hard to figure which losses will be the toughest to overcome. A glaring deficiency is the offensive line, which lost Ferguson and two others who combined for 124 career starts. Virginia has had a ball-control offense under Groh, using big, punishing linemen and big backs to grind out yardage and set up the passing attack. Can the Cavaliers continue that practice?

Guards Marshal Ausberry and Branden Albert are the only returning starters on the offensive line. Zak Stair spent some time at tackle last season but could wind up at center. There’s no Heath Miller in sight at tight end, but juniors Tom Santi and Jonathan Stupar have ably manned the position and last season combined for 30 catches.

The wideouts will be steady. Deyon Williams was Hagans’ favorite target last season, catching 58 passes for 767 yards and seven touchdowns, but he has been sidelined for much of the preseason with an injury. Fontel Mines caught 28 passes in 2005, and Andrew Pearman, a transfer from Hawaii who played at Charlotte’s Providence High, will be a receiver to watch.

Hagans’ replacement is Chris Olsen, a 23-year-old grad student who has thrown 23 passes in two seasons since transferring from Notre Dame. Olsen (6-3, 234) backed up Hagans for two seasons.

They are also shaky at Running Back. The talk is no clear starter, but it looks like at least one of the three competing backs is making noise.

This is tailback Michael Johnson’s final year at Virginia, and he wants to carry the ball often. “Something might happen if I don’t,” he said. “I will be ticked.”

Virginia coach Al Groh has said he likely will use multiple tailbacks this season. But unless the Cavaliers equally split playing time between three players, Johnson appears to be out of the mix.

Groh said Wednesday that senior Jason Snelling and sophomore Cedric Peerman are still first and second on the depth chart – which were their positions heading into preseason practices. Their status probably won’t change.

His only option at this point — other then bluster or being a disruptive malcontent — would be to immediately transfer to a Div. 1-AA school.

This could be a very ugly game. Both teams seem to have a lot of question marks, issues and new players trying to figure things out.

Only a week of this sort of thing. Their NFL connections, alma mater, AFC East… Not quite the same level as last year leading up to the season opener between Wannstedt and Weis, but the drill is the same.

Groh was an assistant coach for the New York Giants from 1989-1991, the same period Wannstedt was defensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys. The two also spent time in the same division in 1999 and 2000, when Groh was with the New York Jets and Wannstedt with the Miami Dolphins. Then, Groh was head coach of the Jets in 2000, while Wannstedt was in his first season as the Dolphins’ head coach. Groh’s Jets won both times those teams met.

As a result of such familiarity, there won’t be many surprises next Saturday.

Groh said he is sure the Panthers will be well coached, well prepared and ready to put up a fight.

“I have a great deal of respect for Dave,” Groh said. “He is very professional in his approach, is well organized and understands the game very well. I have always admired his defenses, and they have always been outstanding, whether in Dallas, Chicago or Miami.

“They are always tough to deal with. I expect they will be hard to run against and will bring a lot of pressure on the quarterback.”

Obviously Al Groh has not looked any film of Pitt from last year.

Apparently both beat writers listened in on the same conference call.

Those were two of the Panthers’ biggest weaknesses last season, so it will be interesting to see if Wannstedt can put his signature on those areas in his second season at Pitt.

Neither has any comment from Coach Wannstedt about Groh in their stories. Expect that on Tuesday after the Big East Coaches conference call.

There are the obligatory tie-ins to Western PA for any Virginia players. The back-up QB came out of Pine-Richland in the WPIAL.

McCabe said he wouldn’t wish an injury on anybody, but he realizes he’s one play from being in a game. At Heinz Field, also the site of the 2002 WPIAL title game, he figures he’ll know at least 200 people in the crowd.

Of the nine scholarship Pennsylvanians on the U.Va. roster, McCabe is the only one from the greater Pittsburgh area, though starting nose tackle Allen Billyk made Pittsburgh all-area teams. Billyk is from New Castle, which is 46 miles from Pittsburgh.

“He let out a ‘yunz ‘ every once in a while,” McCabe said. “That’s Pittsburgh slang for you ‘guys.’ If a guy wants to consider himself a Pittsburgh guy, I’ll let it slide. I think it’s a culture that grows. People always want to attach themselves to Pittsburgh. We’ll give Allen this one.”

Damn Southerners. It’s “yinz” not “yunz.”
While still about the Commonwealth, not the school, former Pitt player Tyler Tipton nearly joined Rashad Jennings at Liberty. Instead he has chosen to go to Western Kentucky.

Crap. Looks like those of us not living in the Pittsburgh area will be on the road really early for the Michigan State game.

University of Pittsburgh athletic director Jeff Long announced today that Pitt’s Sept. 16 football game with Michigan State at Heinz Field, originally scheduled for 3:30 p.m., has been switched to noon.

“In our previous five seasons at Heinz Field, we had dealt with two scheduling conflicts,” Long said. “In each case, cooperation between all of the parties involved created a resolution that ensured an enjoyable experience for the fans attending games at both Heinz Field and PNC Park.

“Since May 31, when we learned that ABC had selected the Pitt-Michigan State game for a 3:30 p.m. broadcast, we have been working quietly and constructively with the network and the Big East Conference to find a resolution to the conflict this created with the Pirates’ scheduled game against the New York Mets that evening.

…

The Michigan State-Pitt game will be seen exclusively on select ABC affiliates in Michigan and Pennsylvania and in other parts of the nation on ESPN2 at noon as part of a regional telecast with the previously scheduled game between Boston College and BYU.

The good news for Pitt is that there will be no penalties that the athletic department needs to pay.

Long said the Big East Conference and its television partner, ABC/ESPN, will not penalize Pitt financially for moving the Michigan State game time. Long doesn’t expect the earlier kickoff time to hurt the Panthers at the gate.

In fact, he expressed confidence that Pitt could draw a wider television audience by playing opposite the Boston College-Brigham Young game on ESPN2 regional than going against Oklahoma-Oregon or Louisville-Miami at 3:30 p.m. on ABC regional.

“This was not a decision that was made to enhance our television,” Long said, “but, actually, as things worked out, this will result in a wider exposure for us.”

If there is any silver lining in this — and believe me, the prospect of rolling out of the house around 6 am on Saturday has me having a hard time seeing it — is that the multitude of top-flight college football games that you can now catch on TV.  Consider the possibilities of 3:30 — Miami-Louisville, Michigan-Notre Dame, and Auburn-LSU — and in the evening — Nebraska-USC and Florida-Tennessee — and see the good news.

Make no mistake, though, the Pitt Athletic Department screwed up and was lucky to not eat a big penalty. No one is buying AD Long’s claim that Pitt has been working quietly behind the scenes since the end of May. Long continued with the hind-quarter covering.

“This serves as good notice for us to put our heads together with the Pirates, with the Steelers, with the (Sports and Exhibition Authority), to make sure going forward our plans are more firm should we get to this point,” Long said. “The partnerships, from my point of view, have been strong, have been good. I think there’s a spirit that we’re going to work together. We have a sprit of cooperation and I’m thankful for that.”

Uh-huh.

It kind of worked out that I got a slightly later start. It meant I was in a tweener point, so I was able to just walk around the outside of Heinz Field for a little bit. Take in some of the things that I never do. Usually it’s just tailgate in the lot. Get into the stadium just before kickoff, stay there other than the occasional piss breaks, go back to the lot after the team leaves the field, tailgate some more.

So, for instance I never knew about the Pitt Panther at the river/open end of the stadium — never go to that side.

I didn’t get a good shot of it, but the stone pattern stretching out as if from the sculpture base is a stylized Cathedral of Learning image.

Then there are the gates to Heinz Field themselves.

I take some measure of joy in thinking about Steeler fans who are Penn State fans. It has to be a bit galling to be constantly reminded that this place is also the home of Pitt football wherever you go inside and outside.

When I first got there, I assumed that the players and their family were already there.
The rest of the photos will be below the fold.

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