Looks like PG Chris Wright chose Georgetown over Pitt and NC State. At least, unlike NC State, we didn’t have him then lose him. Pitt entered the picture late, but I really thought there was going to be a surprise with this one.

Pitt swept the Big East weekly honors this week. LaRod Stephens-Howling named Offensive Player of the Week. Chris McKillop took Defensive POW.

In light of the season ending injury to redshirt sophomore, safety Eric Thatcher, Coach Wannstedt’s messge was to remind many players in practice that they could be expected to step in and perform as a starter. Obviously that message was one Chris McKillop heeded a while ago.

“I went out there every day and, even though I wasn’t a starter, I played like I was,” McKillop said. “I practiced hard and let the chips fall where they may. It was unfortunate we lost Doug, because he’s a great player, but it gave me an opportunity. I can’t let the window of opportunity close. I seized the opportunity.”

McKillop’s inspired play has been paramount to the Panthers’ improvement on the defensive line. After getting manhandled in his first season at defensive end, the 6-foot-3, 250-pound converted middle linebacker spent the offseason adding 15 pounds of muscle to his frame.

McKillop lost the starting job at left end to Joe Clermond in training camp, but he was ready when called upon after Fulmer was injured against The Citadel.

“That was a tough situation,” Pitt defensive line coach Greg Gattuso said. “That’s a hard thing to do, lose a starting job and to keep working as hard as he worked. It should send a message to not only our defensive line but, hopefully, all our team that you never know when your number is going to get called again and it’s important to be ready.”

Assuming that Pitt beats UCF on Friday and Rutgers beats Navy on Saturday (netither, especially the latter, is a given), the Homecoming game (Oct. 21) with Rutgers should be a very big game in the Big East and for the top-25 rankings. If so, it will likely end up on ESPN2 and move the gametime to 5:45 pm from noon. Apparently ESPN2 is going to show a BE game in that slot. The other choice would be Louisville-Syracuse.

It’s all about making the most of the chances being given.

As usual, Lee drafted the ballot, I made a couple tweaks. Lee’s explanation below, along with some occasional commentary from me in italics especially where I made changes. Give reasons to make changes in the comments and I have time to make changes if found meritorious by tomorrow morning.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Ohio State	—
2	Florida	—
3	Michigan	—
4	West Virginia	3
5	Southern Cal	1
6	Texas	2
7	Louisville	3
8	Tennessee	8
9	California	8
10	Clemson	5
11	Notre Dame	1
12	Auburn	7
13	Missouri	11
14	Georgia Tech	4
15	Arkansas	11
16	LSU	7
17	Georgia	6
18	Oklahoma	4
19	Rutgers	2
20	Iowa	1
21	Boston College	5
22	Boise State	2
23	Virginia Tech	2
24	Nebraska	2
25	Oregon	12

1. Ohio State: Just keeps on rolling towards November 18th. This Saturday’s matchup against the schizophrenic Spartans isn’t scary anymore, as this is not the same MSU that crushed Pitt in the second half. Fire John L. Smith now.

2. Florida: The quality of the Gators’ wins puts them slightly ahead of Michigan. Now admittedly, Auburn was sorely overrated. But still, who has Michigan really beaten besides Notre Dame? Leak and Tebow are scary-good as a combo.

3. Michigan: Probably the most well rounded team in the country. This Saturday will be dangerous, and the crowd will be loud. But Michigan just matches up too well against Penn State on paper, even without Manningham. Penn State can’t cover tight ends, and Michigan loves isolating and throwing to its TE’s. Incidentally, it’s nice to see Penn State shut down Paternoville, one of the few unique, excitement-generating traditions of Beaver Stadium, right before the big home game against Michigan. Couldn’t that have waited a few weeks? Idiots.

4. WVU: Beyond beating Louisville, all the Hoopies have to do is root for Florida to lose somehow. Ohio State and Michigan won’t both win out, obviously. The secondary looked very suspect again against Mississippi State, and teams like Florida, Ohio State, or Michigan could easily throw on the Mountaineers. But they’d have to keep up with that offense…

5. USC: I am SO not impressed by the Trojans right now. In fact, I’d rank Texas ahead of these slackers if I thought Chas would let me get away with it. Last Saturday, the best team in the PAC-10 was California, by far.

[I actually wouldn’t have much of a problem with it. USC has not looked good the last couple of weeks.]

6. Texas: Big win, in a big way. Still hanging around the national championship race. Nice to see Mack Brown get that Sooner monkey off of his back. Colt McCoy is a year or two away from becoming a force to reckon with.

7. Louisville: For the second week in a row, a Big East power played a Friday night game and looked less than impressive (RU was last). Last week, I put Louisville ahead of WVU. But not now. Not after a school that I never heard of before (and why not Central Tennessee State instead of Middle Tennessee State?) gave the Cardinals all they wanted for a half. This team maybe misses Brian Brohm more than I had thought. Unless he gets healthy, back, and back into a rhythm again before the Hoopies come calling, WVU wins the Big East.

8. Tennessee: Boy, that one-point loss to Florida is looking bigger and bigger these days, huh? Coulda been a contender… Either way, huge win against Georgia.

9. California: Chas, Chas, Chas… Hey, don’t worry about it. All self-appointed prognosticators are wrong sometimes, especially regarding Cal. Just ask Corso. Although I may have been correct in thinking that Oregon was sorely overrated, at least I didn’t pick the Bears to win it all. Berkeley looked like PAC-10 champions on Saturday. It’s too bad they don’t play USC sooner.

[For the record, I don’t believe I picked Oregon to win the nationial championship. I just thought they were the likely/darkhorse BCS bid from the PAC-10. Suffice to say, I was wrong.

I’m kind of surprised Lee put Cal this high. I would have thought the unis they wore — actually making Oregon look conservative — would have cost them a few spots.]

10. Clemson: Phil Fulmer at least has some company in regretting a one-point loss to an inferior opponent that’s keeping someone out of the national championship hunt. OK, so they weren’t that impressive against I-don’t-care-if-you’re-undefeated-you’re-still-Wake-Freakin’-Forest. But I can’t put Notre Dame in the top ten with their defense, and this was the best alternative.

11. Notre Dame: Grow a defense. Now. The Irish should easily win the rest of their games, but then, just as guaranteed as the changing of the seasons, they’ll get blown out in their bowl game. Why? Yeah. No defense.

12. Auburn: (CHOKE!)

No, Arkansas was not that good. You were that bad. Nice tackling. You know who really needs a playoff system, Tuberville? Teams with one loss.

13. Missouri: Sneaking into my top 15. And they should stay there for at least two more weeks, with only Texas A&M and Kansas State on the schedule. Beating Oklahoma and Nebraska, the only two real teams left on their schedule, is well within reach — as is the Big XII North championship.

[Um, okay.]

14. Georgia Tech: Dropped out of my top ten after struggling mightily against hapless Maryland. Now, the Wreck has two weeks to prepare for a Clemson game that could decide the ACC.

15. Arkansas: I just can’t convince myself that these guys are all that good — hey, I saw that USC massacre. But they sure looked good against Auburn on Saturday.

16. LSU: Nice defense. Whatever happened to that once-genius Bo Pelini? Thank God Pitt didn’t hire him.

[I have to say I’m leaning towards flipping 15 and 16. If Florida is the #2 team, how hard do you ding a team that lost to them on the road? Plus, I think that’s just too high for Arkansas for one win, albeit a really big win.]

17. Iowa: Can’t get past third place in the Big Ten no matter how hard they try. Too much talent in Columbus and Ann Arbor. Maybe too much talent here in State College too.

[I dropped Iowa a few more spots. They just weren’t that impressive to me this year.]

18. Georgia: (HACK!)

19. Rutgers: I moved the Knights up mostly because other teams lost. That near-loss to USF last Friday night still haunts me. But a great rushing attach still makes RU a legitimate top 25 team. Don’t look past Navy to Pitt. Of course, does anybody look past anybody else for Pitt?

20. Oklahoma: Physically dominated. But Peterson still looked good.
[Oklahoma is a little better then this.]

21. Boston College: A solid team… for the ACC…

22. Boise State: Only because they’re 6-0. Not because they’ve played anybody or impressed me all that much.

23. Virginia Tech: Coming off a bye after an ass-kicking by Georgia Tech, what else can I do but still think you suck?

24. Nebraska: Putting along. The November 4th game against my Tigers will decide who gets mauled by Texas in the Big XII Championship game.

25. Pitt: OK, who else could I realistically put here? Penn State? (Overtime against Minnesota? And I never want to hear about the Lions getting screwed by the Big Ten officials again.) Oregon? (Chas?) FSU? (HACK!) Maybe Wisconsin, but hey, I’m allowed to be a homer occasionally. Hey, the team looked great on the road… admittedly against mere Syracuse…

[Yes, I put Oregon here in place of Pitt. I would love to leave Pitt in, but I also can’t get that showing against MSU out of my head. Too big a question on defense against the option. Besides if you are going to shoot Cal up that high for a home win, then presumably it’s for beating a quality opponent. ]

The recruiting decision to watch for today is Chris Wright.

Chris Wright, a senior from St. John’s in Washington, D.C., will hold a news conference to announce his college choice. His finalists are Pitt, Georgetown and North Carolina State. The 6-foot, 190-pounder, regarded as one of the top five point guards in the country, has not spoken to the media in the past two months about his recruitment, but Georgetown is considered the front-runner.

Wright made an early commitment to N.C. State in January, but reopened his recruiting when coach Herb Sendek left for Arizona State. Wright took an official visit to Pitt on Sept. 8.

Pitt’s first-year director of basketball operations, David Cox, came to the Panthers from St. John’s, where he worked as an assistant principal.

Chris Wright would be Pitt’s fifth verbal. I think that would finish the class, though, I imagine they might find a way to make room for a player like Michael Beasley if he were to decide to come to Pitt.

Yes, Jordan Mabin chose Northwestern.

Mabin, a 5-foot-11, 185-pound tailback-cornerback and four-year starter, said he seriously considered 10 offers before narrowing the field to Pitt and Northwestern. He visited Pitt during the weekend but could not forget his previous experiences in Evanston, Ill.

“The first time I went up there, I fell in love with the place,” he said. “They have great academics. They have a great program, one that is headed in the right direction. And they have a good coaching staff… a young coaching staff.”

As someone who lived in Evanston for a year while working in Chicago, I understand how you can fall in love with the campus. Especially since the city is not dry any longer. Add in the attraction of Chicago itself, and if you are looking at campuses close or in urban areas, Northwestern has a lot to offer.

None of that is to slight Pitt. I’m just saying if your choices were Pitt or Northwestern beyond simply athletics, I don’t think it’s a clear decision or one where you can really go wrong.
Toney Clemons, though, hasn’t decided. He has just simply stated that Michigan is at the top of his list.

Clemons, who made an official visit to Ann Arbor over the weekend with his mother, Tonie, said Michigan is now the No. 1 team on a list that he has narrowed to 10 schools. His stating that fact likely led to the confusion and the Internet report.

“(Rumors) are something you have to adapt to in recruiting,” Clemons said. “We cleared it up with (GoBlue). I have not committed, but Michigan is a heavy favorite.”

Clemons (6-foot-3, 190 pounds) said his top 10 list — “in no order other than Michigan at No. 1,” he said — also includes West Virginia, Tennessee, Colorado, Purdue, Mississippi, Akron, Rutgers, Pitt and Ohio State.

Ohio State is the only school on the list that has not yet offered a scholarship.

“I’m going to continue to travel and see what else comes up,” Clemons said. “My plans have not changed. I still plan to commit in December.”

I don’t think Pitt will get Clemons, but receiver is not a vital need position this recruiting year.