It’s almost upon us. The opening press conference will be streamed on Pitt’s site for those with All-Access, starting around 9:15-ish.

The players really want to get back to a bowl game. At this point for them, any bowl game would do.

“It’s a big chip on our shoulder. When I came here, Pitt was on the rise. We pretty much figured every year we were going to go to a bowl game,” said fifth-year senior safety Mike Phillips, noting that Pitt played in six bowl games between 1997 and 2004. “For us to not even go to a bowl game is pretty ridiculous.”

The Panthers are coming off a season in which they became bowl-eligible after a 6-1 start but lost their final five games and didn’t receive a postseason invitation. Pitt hasn’t gone three years without a bowl since the mid-1990s, when a seven-year drought ended with a Liberty Bowl berth in ’97.

Does that make this a bowl-or-bust season?

“I think so,” senior receiver Derek Kinder said. “I think we have so much potential. We’ve been working so hard. We’ve got to get to a bowl game and get this program where it should be.”

And there are so many questions about this team. Just Five Questions going into camp hardly seems enough.

3) Who will snap the ball?

Coaches were uneasy with the way the centers struggled in the spring but believe if this position is shored up the offensive line could be a team strength. The emergence of sophomore Jason Pinkston at right tackle means coaches have the luxury of moving fifth-year senior and three-year starter Mike McGlynn to center or to right guard if junior C.J. Davis proves to be the best option at center. Fifth-year senior Chris Vangas and redshirt sophomore John Bachman will also battle for the center spot and both are capable of playing other positions if necessary.

The whole O-line just scares me as it seems so thin. The idea of McGlynn having to play Center is not something I like to consider.