A story in the NY Times on Pitt and Rutgers. Lots of attention on Tyler Palko.

“We’re trying to find out who we are,” Palko said at a news conference this week. “We’ve been fortunate enough to play pretty well in the last couple of games and put up some points on these last couple of opponents. But let’s not kid ourselves, Rutgers is a different animal. They’re a top 25 team, and they’re undefeated. They’re a heck of a football team. We’re going to have to play our best football game to be in this game.”

…

“They’re confident and they’re physical,” Palko said. “Every time you turn the tape on, you see someone else making a big play. The speed of their defense is going to be tough to match up against. The complexity of it makes it hard to get a feel for what they do because they do so much. Any time you face a team like that, you’re going up against a different animal. They know that, as well. They know they’re pretty good.”

Yet Rutgers has not had success stopping Palko so far. He has thrown for 689 yards and 7 touchdowns against the Scarlet Knights over the past two seasons. In 2004, he led Pitt to a 41-17 win. Rutgers did enough last year to pull out a 37-29 victory over Palko and the Panthers.

I made the point earlier in the week about Palko’s numbers against Rutgers.

Blades also has to have a big game. If he wants to make it to be a Butkus Award finalist, this is the kind of game he has to come up big. Right now, I don’t think he would make the final 3 (my AOL boss quizzed me in the comments with who I think will be named a finalist at this point).

I’m heading in to Pittsburgh reasonably early tomorrow. I want some time on campus before going tailgating. Not to mention some final blogging. Mainly, I just want to go and get there and stop thinking about going. I’ll probably just go to the Panera for the free wireless sometime around noon. Look for a red-haired guy with a beard. It’s not me, but my buddy John stands out more than one other undistinguished short geek with glasses, goatee and a laptop. Otherwise we ‘gate in Lot 23.

Okay, before I get to the main stuff, a couple more picks worth noting. Stewart Mandel at SI.com goes with Rutgers to my relief (he also picked Toledo to upset Pitt a few weeks ago). Of course that was spoiled by seeing Bruce Feldman pick Pitt (ESPN Insider).

Pitt 24, No. 19 Rutgers 20: It pains me to pick against the Scarlet Knights, but even though RU QB Mike Teel is coming off a career game, I think the Panthers speedy and talented back seven will give him a long day. Keep an eye on Knights RBs Ray Rice and Brian Leonard against Pitt LBs H.B. Blades and Clint Session.

Thing that has me sold: The Panthers hard-hitting duo is the best tandem Rutgers will face all season.

Damn. I’m getting all freaked and superstitious ahead of this one.

Interesting little tidbit about Pitt from Ivan Maisel’s blog.

Pittsburgh is tied for second in the Big East with nine interceptions. What’s odd is that those nine picks had been made by eight different Panthers, from defensive tackle Gus Mustakas back to left corner Darrelle Revis, the Panther with two interceptions.

Yeah, wow.

The Big East Notebook from Joe Starkey (Insider subs)doesn’t have much that hasn’t already been discussed or particularly interesting: Pitt hasn’t played anyone, attendance issues, good punters on both sides, Palko has 58 TD passes Rutherford 59, Van Pelt 66 and Marino 79. For Rutgers it’s QB Mike Teel needs to play well, so will DT Ramel Meekins.

Finally, and while I would love to excerpt the whole thing because it alternates between interesting and clueless it would definitely exceed the bounds of fair use, the ESPN.com/Scouts, Inc. breakdown of the Rutgers-Pitt game. It was this passage when talking about the Rutgers offense versus Pitt defense that made me laugh bitterly.

MLB H.B. Blades plays with a mean streak and he takes the shortest path to the ball but DT’s Rashaad Duncan and Gus Mustakas lack ideal size. They won’t be able to hold their ground when the Scarlet Knights run right at them. That will allow one of the interior offensive linemen, whether it’s LOG Mike Fladell, OC Darnell Stapleton or ROG Cameron Stephenson, to release up to the second level. Even if Blades is able to shed the block quickly, he’ll be forced to wrap Leonard up three-to-four yards downfield rather than at the line of scrimmage. However, it’s important to note that SS Sam Bryant is a powerful open field tackler who is big enough to line up close to the line of scrimmage. Rhoads will likely move Bryant into the box regularly and that should help limit the production of Rutgers’ ground game.

[Emphasis added.]

Now check a little lower over what Zeise wrote in response to the Q&A about stuffing the box against the run. Yeah, Bryant would be the eighth man in the box. The odds of him being brought up regularly are…?

One other part that I found interesting since there has been some talk about Rutgers pass rush.

The good news for Rutgers is it recorded seven sacks last week with Meekins and DE William Beckford finishing with two each. The bad news is it recorded just 12 sacks over the first five games of the season and Pittsburgh’s pass protection has been sound for the most part. In addition, the front four must stay in their rushing lanes because Palko is mobile enough to make plays with his feet when he breaks contain or a seam opens up between the tackles.

Navy was playing with a back-up QB in a scheme meant to have the QB move around a lot, and take off fairly often. Palko should have time with the shorter drop that has been utilized all season.

The “holy s**t, this game is actually meaningful” meme continues its national run with this AP article.

Rutgers and Pittsburgh are two of the East’s oldest college football programs. Rutgers played in the very first game against Princeton in 1869, and Pittsburgh has regularly fielded nationally ranked teams since taking up the sport in 1890.

Despite their long histories, Rutgers and Pitt have never played a game against each other as important as their contest on Saturday. Or one that’s been remotely close to this one.

The article says the game could be bigger for Rutgers, because with a win they could move into the top 15. It would also be the first time in Rutgers history to be ranked for more than 4 weeks in a season.

Pitt gets a nice story in USA Today about the turnaround from last year,

“We have a great senior class of guys,” Wannstedt says, “It’s not a big class. We have 12 seniors, but from Jan. 1 until today, those kids have been committed. They’ve done whatever has been asked of them.”

Two in leadership positions are quarterback Tyler Palko and linebacker H.B. Blades.

Palko leads the nation in passing efficiency, having completed 70.8% of his throws for 1,661 yards and 17 touchdowns with three interceptions. Blades leads the team in tackles with 78, pacing a defense that is tied for first nationally with 20 turnovers forced.

“Everybody asks the question (as to what’s responsible for the turnaround), but it really comes down to hard work and guys putting in the effort and believing in the system,” Palko says.

“We’re not trying to do too much; we’re just trying not to beat ourselves and do what we can. Probably one of the main reasons for the losing last year is we were turning the ball over and putting ourselves in bad position.”

One of the more galling setbacks came at Rutgers, where the Scarlet Knights used a 37-29 victory to help propel themselves to their first bowl game since 1978.

“They whipped our tails last year in the first half,” remembers Palko, whose team trailed 27-0 at halftime. “It’s not like we took anything for granted. We just didn’t play well, and they played extremely well. They embarrassed us on national TV, and we hope that doesn’t happen again. But they’re better this year, and we need to stay in the game.”

I am getting more nervous, the more I see Pitt being picked against Rutgers. It reminds me too much of what was leading up to the Michigan State game.

Another story talking up the relationship between Wannstedt and Schiano. It’s worth pointing this one out because they do a nice job on pointing out the similarites of the two in many ways.

Schiano and Wannstedt have remained close friends since, so it is no surprise their coaching philosophies are similar.

So are their personalities.

Wannstedt grew up eight miles from the Pitt campus, where he went on to block for All-America running back Tony Dorsett. He was drafted into the NFL by Green Bay but an injury ended his career in 1974.

Thirty years later when introduced at a press conference, Wannstedt said, “Pittsburgh never really left me. It’s always been a special place in my heart.”

Schiano, a Jersey guy, reached All-East Coast Conference status at Bucknell. Thirteen years later at his initial Rutgers press conference he was saying, “This is where I started; this is where I was striving to get back to.”

Of course, the question for Schiano is will he be staying after this season. Rutgers fans may be expressing confidence, but there will be a lot of sniffing after him.

His Q&A is up with questions about filling the stadium, how good is Rutgers, and from the department of “because that would make too much sense.”

Q: I don’t think Rutgers is very deep at receiver. Can Pitt cover man-to-man and then load the box and bring the house to stop the run?

ZEISE: That’s not been Wannstedt’s style. He doesn’t like to commit too many guys to any one area and he doesn’t like to blitz a lot because it leaves a defense vulnerable. I’d expect they’ll play a lot of their normal cover two and cover three stuff as well and let their corners play up in bump and run. I’d be shocked if they commit more than eight guys up inside to stop the run on a consistent basis. The defense is built on the concept of your defensive line getting the job done by winning one-on-one match-ups and thus allowing the linebackers to clean up all the rest. The line has played fairly well and it has worked so we shall see what happens now.

Aaiigh!

Rutgers hasn’t played from behind all year. They have yet to be put in a position where they are forced to throw. They are weak at receivers and Mike Teel has been inconsistent at best. This is not about blitzing. Like committing to the run, it’s committing to stopping the run. You have to at least bring the safeties up and force TE Clark Harris to stay in and block — taking away their best receiver in the process.

From his chat yesterday.

FearTheStache: Hi Paul, If Rutgers double teams Kinder then Turner will kill them deep and vice versa. how do you see Rutgers defending the pass?

Paul Zeise: They like to play a lot of man coverage, which Pitt has eaten alive any time any team has tried to do it. They will certainly need some safety help to stop Pitt’s passing game, but their real strength comes in the fact that they can put lots of heat on passers without having to bring the kitchen sink since their front seven is so good. If Pitt’s O-line can block well, which they have all year, I think Palko could have a big day.

I expect a couple early deep balls. To test their corners and also see how the pass protection looks against Rutgers.