Okay guys, last minute thing. Ian Cohen of Sexy Results and a fellow AOL Fanhouse blogger answered 5 questions about UVa for me.

This will be the open thread to comment on the game tonight.

I gotta hit the road almost as soon as this post hits the net. The Trib site doesn’t appear to have updated this morning so nothing from them.

Paul Zeise’s Q&A is a good one today.

Q: You keep saying you think this team will struggle because they are young, but West Virginia had some inexperienced players last year and look how they fared. Why can’t Pitt do the same?

Zeise: Uh, I’m going to say this one more time for the cheap seats…..To try and compare what happened at Penn State and West Virginia last year and Pitt’s situation this year is apples and oranges. The situations are completetly different. In both cases, there was a veteran group of players, particularly on both lines, and the players who were the freshmen were at a couple of skill positions. West Virginia’s defense was a veteran group last year with a lot of returning players. They added a running back and a quarterback, whose main function was to run, and they ran behind a pretty veteran offensive line. Penn State added some speed at receiver, but had a bunch of fifth-year seniors on the offensive line and a defensive line that had been excellent for the past few years.

Pitt has far too many inexperienced players across the board, and in particular on the defensive line, to expect them all to step on the field and play at a high level. Adding a couple of freshmen to a veteran team is one thing. Pitt’s offense should be ahead of the defense because there is more experience there, but the defensive line is so young, and that is such a difficult position to play when you are a freshman that I can’t see it being very consistent, at least early. I look up and down this roster and see far too many places where the two-deep consists of players with very little experience or none at all. Think about it, the best defensive lineman coming out of camp is Doug Fulmer, a redshirt freshman who has yet to play a down in college football.

Q: I’m tired of seeing Pitt give up 200 yards rushing every week. Will this defense stop the run?

Zeise: Yes, the potential is there because there are finally some more athletic players at defensive tackle. In the past few years, the defensive tackles have made very few plays. Some games they’d hold their own, but not since Tyre Young has this team had a defensive tackle who was quick enough and strong enough to get off his blocks and plug some holes — or better yet, blow up a running play in the backfield. The guys, and again here is that disclaimer, in there now are young so they will be inconsistent and at times overpowered, but they are better athletes and they can move to the ball quicker. I don’t know that we will see something that reminds us of the 86 Bears but they’ll be better, maybe much better, by the end of the year.

Expect to find out about the lines early. The O-line will face a 3-4 defense.

Villani said alignment is only one of the many differences between a 3-4 and 4-3, but he believes the Panthers’ line is up to the challenge of handling whatever challenge the Cavaliers’ defense presents.

“Basically it isn’t that much different in terms of how many players are coming at us, it is more where they are coming from,” Villani said. “We’ve had some experience in the past against some three-man fronts, but the tough thing is, you don’t see it all the time. The key for all of us is to understand our assignments based on what front we see and that’s how it would be if they had a four-man front as well.”

Villani said the Panthers’ offensive line is getting somewhat of a break by facing Virginia in the first game because they’ve had all summer and part of the spring to watch film of the Cavaliers’ defense. They are well versed in what the defense is designed to do.

I’ve mentioned ad nauseum about the lack of exprience the QB for Virginia has coupled with the lack of experience of his receivers. In fact, he might be feeling a little bit of pressure.

Olsen declined interview requests this week, preferring to focus on the Cavaliers’ opener. Groh admits that he’s not sure what to expect from the 6-3, 222-pound graduate student, who began his career at Notre Dame and has attempted only 23 passes as a Cavalier. U.Va. has a better read on Pitt quarterback Tyler Palko.

“He was real good in high school, and he’s real good in college,” Virginia cornerback Marcus Hamilton said.

The other theme has been the similarities of both teams from their coaches to the rebuilding and new players.

…

Obviously, Las Vegas doesn’t think it will go that smoothly, posting Pitt as a 3.5-point favorite.

Certainly there’s no debate about Virginia’s youth. The fact that sophomore left offensive guard Branden Albert has the third-highest number of starts (12) by anyone who will wear a Cavalier uniform tonight is somewhat daunting.

Eight Wahoos will be starting for the first time in college ball, including Olsen, who many believe holds the key to victory or defeat.

Two starters, defensive end Jeffrey Fitzgerald and right offensive tackle Will Barker, will be playing in their first college game.

[Emphasis added.]
This 6 questions for Virginia going into the season highly mirrors Pitt’s (minus the QB question): Kicking game, O-line issue and loss of the top WR. Their top tailback was also the fullback. The situation reminds me a lot of the stuff coaches were trying to figure out with how to best use Tim Murphy in the past few years.

Apparently this is one of eight games this year featuring former NFL Coaches facing each other in college.

Finally, a puffer on Defensive Coordinator Paul Rhoads. I really wish I had time for this one.

But suddenly, it was as if Rhoads took stupid pills. Sure, there were extenuating circumstances. Aren’t there always? Pitt lost a lot of senior leadership from the ’02 team. It lost four of the top eight tacklers from the ’03 team. It lost what little strength it had on the defensive line from the ’04 team.

Legitimate circumstances or not, Rhoads felt the fallout from the defense’s failures. He interviewed for the Utah State and Pitt head coaching jobs after the 2004 season, but it’s tough for an AD to sell his president and alumni on a coach whose defense had been getting torched fairly regularly.

“I understand the perception that’s out there, and I know that’s part of the business,” Rhoads said. “But the only way I can change that perception is by continuing to do my job.”

As you would expect, there is nary a mention of his responsibility in recruiting, and just how bad and unprepared the defense looks. It’s the players’ fault and former HC Walt Harris. Rhoads is the same and junior-super genius.