I have a lot to do before game time.

With all that has happened, getting satellite was delayed. Unfortunately, the cable hook-up in the new/temp place won’t be until Tuesday. Instead I bribed a friend to let me hijack his TV for the day. In return, I bought Gameplan for the day for them (so I can see the Pitt-Syracuse game) and a 12 of Newcastle. I’ll be live blogging the Pitt game for AOL, then doing more liveblogging of the rest of the CFB action from about 3:30 to 6:30. I really need the cyberpunk era to get to reality so I can just jack the computer directly into the base of my skull and be done with it.

Since that hasn’t happened yet, maybe I should just do a weekly “host the homeless blogger” thing where I travel to people’s houses glomming off their broadband, commandeering their TV and becoming the houseguest from hell.

Either way, time is a little short so I’m just going to do the links quickly. By the way, you can look at all the Q&A between the ‘Cuse blogger and I through this link (it’s given me the excuse to seek and post photos of old Pitt unis from the Getty archives).
Lots out of Syracuse and upstate NY for this game. Not so much from the ‘Burgh.

Base, simple preview from the Trib. The P-G is about how Syracuse’s improvements from last year to this, to a large degree mirror Pitt.

Syracuse football players like to visit men in prison.

Some are thinking bowl for the ‘Cuse if they win.

More talk about how Syracuse gets a lot of sacks.

Finally, the ‘Cuse are still talking payback for the entire last season of winless ineptitude in the Big East. A bit of respect for Palko though from their lineman.

Syracuse linebacker K.J. Smith said Palko reminds him of Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre. He said Palko was quieter last year at Heinz Field. But two years ago at the Carrier Dome, Smith said Palko talked plenty of smack with former SU safety Anthony Smith, who now plays for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Smith called it, funny.

“He’s a tough dude,” said Smith, who is No. 2 in the Big East in tackles behind Pittsburgh’s H.B. Blades. “I respect his game. I like his game. I like to play against a quarterback like that. You can look at him and you know he’s ready to play. Not many other quarterbacks do that – look a linebacker in the face and know what it is.”

What kills me in the article is it talks about how Syracuse wants to take away Pitt’s run and make them pass. That’s what Pitt already does.

Upstate NY products playing for Pitt get some love from the locals ahead of today’s game. Kevin Collier is asked if he still loves Pitt.

Yeah, he’s pretty happy with his decision.

“It’s the place I want to be,” says Collier, who is averaging 3.2 yards per carry in a backup role. “I love it here.”

Plenty of family will be on hand at the Carrier Dome, but not all.

Collier will have some, but not all, of his family present. He expects “more than a dozen” on hand, including his parents, but younger brother Averin will be busy. The Churchville-Chili junior has emerged as a top college prospect himself and will be playing at Webster Thomas today.

“He’s having a great season,” Kevin says of Averin. “I’m very proud of him.”

As for McKenzie Mathews, he kind of dodges and weaves around discussion of what had him leave the team in training camp.

“I wasn’t homesick. I never thought about transferring to Syracuse, never made any inquiries about it,” he said this week. “I made the right choice coming to Pittsburgh. I like the school and I like the football program. I was just going through some personal issues.”

Mathews, a freshman defensive end, will return home again this weekend, when the Panthers visit Syracuse today in the Carrier Dome. He has played in two of Pitt’s five games and is credited with two tackles.

…

Mathews said he slid down the Panthers’ depth chart after his Syracuse visit a couple months ago. Coaches, he said, allowed him a week off from practice to deal with his issues. Mathews said he stayed in Syracuse for three or four days before heading back to Pitt and practice.

During his time home, he visited CBA football practices and talked to coaches there about his situation. He said he also had long talks with his mother, Sonia Williams.

“It helped,” he said. “It was something I needed to get through and it helped a lot. To play well, I needed to go home and take some time away from everything.”

Well, he may not have considered transferring to Syracuse — and actually the Big East prohibits that — but he did debate leaving Pitt and football behind.

I wish I was making this up. This morning’s “trivia question” in the LA Times Sports section.

What is Pitt’s football rivalry with West Virginia called?

Deep, deep sigh.