Looks like Pitt will be in a position to find another prominent person for their athletic department. First it was the coaches; Dixon, then Wannstedt. Now, it’s the guy who hired/kept those two.

Pittsburgh athletic director Jeff Long will replace Frank Broyles in the same position at Arkansas, a person with knowledge of Long’s decision said Monday.

Broyles is retiring as the Razorbacks’ athletic director at the end of this year, and a person familiar with Long’s decision said he will leave Pitt to take over at Arkansas. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement had not been made.

Arkansas would not confirm Long’s hiring, but spokesman Tysen Kendig said a news conference was set for Tuesday afternoon regarding the athletic program.

Arkansas’ search had been a secretive one until last week, when Stanley Reed, chairman of the school’s board of trustees, confirmed that Long was “a strong candidate.” (The WWL)

It was looking more and more apparent that this was going to happen, but the press conference that Arkansas will hold tomorrow will probably confirm it. ESPN doesn’t usually put up items that turn out to be untrue (except saying Mike Vick wouldn’t plead guilty) so to me, this is a done deal. The AP story mentions that Long has few ties to Arkansas, a point echoed by a writer in that area. The question that matters — who’s the next Pitt AD?

Update: Two more stories from the local TV stations down there.

It’s Michigan State week, and not only am I pumped because we finally play a real team, but I’m also heading up there to see it. This will be my first time in a Big Ten environment and the first time in a (probably) full stadium since going down to WVU in 2005. The game will be on ESPN with Dave Pasch (play-by-play), Andre Ware (color) and Quint Kessenich (sideline).

Unless you dropped off the face of the Earth and didn’t see how the Grambling game unfolded, you’re aware that Kevan Smith is going to be starting under center. Coach Wannstedt, your thoughts…

On things that Kevan Smith needs to improve on:
As simple as this sounds, just hitting open receivers and taking what the defense gives him. He needs to work on those little things. It’s not sitting back there and reading the defense, that’s not the problem. He made some great throws on his deep balls. He had a great throw to Nate Byham. I think he just needs to continue to work on the little things, and he will.

On preparing Kevan Smith for his first game in a hostile environment:
We’ll bring noise out there on Wednesday and Thursday. That will benefit not just the quarterback but our entire football team, particularly the offense. He’ll be fine. We’ll continue to practice Pat Bostick. He’ll take half the reps in practice and we’ll continue to get him ready just in case we would need him.

On playing Pat Bostick:
We’ll play him if he’s needed, but we’ll have to see how the game unfolds.

There are some people out there who think Smith is even more talented than Stull, but I don’t see how any type of comparison can be made seeing them each in one game. Then taking into account the type of teams we played, and it’s nearly impossible right now to say one is more skilled than the other. Get used to Smith though, he’s going to be leading us through the next few weeks because Bostick didn’t look nearly as great as we expected.

How did the Spartans do last week? Saturday Sound Offs gives them a B letter grade.

Michigan State-They looked alright out there against the Falcons. Brad Hoyer was efficient through the air and the MSU ground game was the difference. The run defense also didn’t let Bowling Green do too much.

Pitt was graded as a B+.

EDSBS doesn’t buy or sell MSU at this point, but merely holds on them.

Michigan State Held off Bowling Green. Simmering until the inevitable collapse at some point over the next month. At the point the Spartans really start to look like a ‘buy,’ unload them. Fast.

Last year, after running all over Pitt (by using the same 2 plays — a RB dive and a RB stretch), MSU looked like a team to “buy”. They then proceeded to throw away their season by blowing a huge lead against Notre Dame. As Stuart said in the comments, “Can MSU please vomit away their season 1 week early this year? We all know they’re going to fold, its just a question of when.”

Here’s what the draft of the ballot this week looks like. It’s a little different this season with Dennis putting a draft version and then I come in and tweak a little. After that, it’s open for comments and I have time to change it a little more before the due time.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Southern Cal	—
2	LSU	—
3	Oklahoma	2
4	West Virginia	1
5	Texas	5
6	California	1
7	Florida	1
8	Louisville	4
9	Wisconsin	3
10	Ohio State	2
11	Rutgers	2
12	UCLA	2
13	Penn State	2
14	Georgia	5
15	Nebraska	1
16	South Florida	9
17	Georgia Tech	6
18	Boston College	4
19	Texas A&M	1
20	Hawaii	3
21	Clemson	3
22	Oregon	4
23	South Carolina	3
24	Virginia Tech	13
25	Auburn	7

Considered/getting close: Cinci, Missouri, Tennessee, Washington, Alabama

Dennis dropped USC down to #3 on their bye week, but as good as LSU has looked, I’m not totally convinced on them yet. They have faced two teams that are offensively challenged, with horrible QBs. I am very impressed by their defense and this time they came out fired up on offense. I just want to see a little more — that and Les Miles doesn’t scare me as a coach.Oklahoma looked fantastic to move past WVU and the concerns about the ‘Eers defense appear legit.

Texas moved up more than maybe they should, but a couple other teams slipped to give them a bigger boost then I actually feel about them.

Like Louisville (again no defense) and Wisconsin (no offense). By all rights Cal shouldn’t have moved up a spot for their weak win, but really there feels like a huge gap in who to put in the second half of the top-ten and where.

That gap is what kept Georgia from slipping further, though I’m still considering putting them lower.

Right now Rutgers and USF look like legit BE contenders because they can play defense. Of course, USF is going to have to hold open tryouts for a kicker.
The last 8 or 9 spots on the poll are just a mess.

GT shouldn’t have moved that high, but no place else seemed quite right either. Texas A&M even moving up a spot is inexplicable even as I look at the blogpoll. Expect them to drop when I think about it a little more.

Dennis completely dropped the Hokies from the poll, but I had to leave them back in. If beating the Hokies that badly was such a statement by LSU that they deserve #1 consideration, then there has to be a belief that VT is at least a top-25 team.

Auburn hangs in by a thread because their defense is excellent, as are special teams and even their running game — yet another reason why Tuberville is so conservative. That will get them some quality wins in the SEC even when they shouldn’t. The QB, on the other hand…

Whether Jeff Long will take the Arkansas AD job or is still merely considering it is unclear. It seems salary issues aren’t nearly that big a difference. Long makes somewhere around $200K at Pitt and it’s likely that Arkansas would be somewhere in the neighborhood of $250K.

I found this amusing old school rant on how retiring icon and AD Frank Broyles has been frozen out of the hiring of his replacement. Not to mention the next guy not being a Razorback

Long and Dickson have more in common than not being from the Broyles tree. Both have strong connections to private schools.

And none to the Razorbacks.

Dickson hails from Tulsa, played football there and was the AD there, but who knows if he has ever been in the state ?

Or if Long’s entry and exit by jet was the first time he had seen the Boston Mountains up close and personal.

Maybe the new tradition at Arkansas is to hire folks for athletic positions who have never called the Hogs.

No offense intended to either of the men, but do they know anything about the history of the Hogs ?

Or the passion that once seized almost an entire state every Saturday in the fall?

Those are things that guys like Scott Bull, Bill Montgomery and Chuck Dicus know personally, but if they got anything more than a courtesy interview, they are the only ones who know it.

It appears that to be a candidate for one of the most significant hires in recent history, you have to be null and void of Razorbacks red blood.

I’m trying to figure out Long’s “private school” connections since it isn’t at Pitt. It wasn’t at Eastern Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Michigan. I’m guessing old Wally believes Pitt is a private school, and has no idea what Long’s resume says. But dammit, he knows Tulane is a private school.

This leads to the issue of what do schools want from a modern Athletic Director. Broyles is the last (or one of the last) of the “old school” ADs in major college athletics. That is, a former coach who moved up to the AD position.
I’m sure many of you won’t be shocked to learn there is actually a dissertation related to ths matter by a doctoral student (PDF).

(more…)

Here’s the way things are looking right now:

• Derek Kinder — WR — ACL, out for year
• Chris Jacobson — OL — Dislocated kneecap, out for year
• Dan Matha — OL — Shoulder injury, out for year
• Bill Stull — QB — Torn thumb ligaments, out for about 6 weeks
• Elijah Fields — S — Team rules violation, suspended for the year
• Gus Mustakas –DT — ACL, out for year
• Kevin Collier — RB — Broken wrist, out for year

Then there are the walking wounded. Players who are playing with nagging injuries (already).

• John Pelusi — TE
• Aaron Berry — CB
• Joe Thomas — OL
• LaRod Stephens-Howling — RB

I’m not blaming it on the strength and conditioning program — at all. This stuff happens. Just feel it needs to be noted from the Pitt website for irony purposes:

A significant portion of the S&C training load is dedicated to drills that serve to reduce the possibility of sustaining an injury. In this regard, a great deal of special exercises are performed during the advanced stage of the warm up, which precedes the primary phase of the workouts, that target the muscles that articulate the neck, shoulders, hips, and knees.

Anyways…

3 starters and 23 others who were expected to be on the 2-deep all season. Only Matha would have been a question mark for the 2-deep, though with the play of the O-line so far, not as much of a stretch.

Some may point to this as yet another reason to say that this is why the coaches should just be looking at this season as getting ready for 2008. No. This is the reason you don’t count on a particular season as when things happen. Injuries happen, then everything changes. The team and program can’t assume.