Just around 10:00 this morning, the Post-Gazette broke that Pitt will bring back Steve Pederson to fill the vacant athletic director position. He held the position at Pitt…ahem, excuse me…”Pittsburgh” from 1996 to 2002. One thing he’s remembered for is lobbying (rather successfully) for the change from “Pitt” to “Pittsburgh” — other things include getting rid of Pitt Stadium, building the Petersen Events Center, moving to Heinz Field, and hiring Jamie Dixon Ben Howland.

And then he left for Nebraska. He was gone in an instant. And that was it, until the Huskers football team fell apart under coach Bill Callahan, who was hired by Pedersen. He was fired back in October, and here he is now.

The hiring seems like it came out of nowhere, and it looks like Pitt didn’t even interview any other candidates, something that some people won’t be happy about.

Many more reactions to come over the next few days.

Update: First day and he’s already extended Wannstedt’s contract.

As BigEast.org comes up on my screen, I see the Pitt and West Virginia logos near the top. You would think it might say “Listen Live For Free To The Backyard Brawl”.

Nope…

No doubt the higher-ups of the Big East offices want to see West Virginia advance to the BCS title game. Will the refs give the Mountaineers a few calls? Conspiracy theory? Or am I just looking for an excuse after White/Slaton put up 600 yards and 50 points on us?

59-37-3 is Pitt’s all-time record against that school from Morgantown. Don’t forget that.

Naturally with one team looking at a chance to play in the BCS Championship game and ourselves sitting at 4-7, the Mountaineers are the ones who will have their names on ESPN and such.

Scouts, Inc. (subscription, naturally) breaks down the game by positional groups. Plenty of the stylized WV and only one advantage for Pitt, at wide receiver.

Darius Reynaud is not a bad WR for the ‘Eers, but other than him there seems to be very little depth. The combination of Steve Slaton and Noel Devine trump Shady, which is perfectly fine in my mind. The rest is pretty self-explanatory, as if the way each team’s season has unfolded wasn’t enough information.

On Todd McShay’s weekly stock report, he gives love to WVU’s smaller but quicker offensive line.

Speaking of offensive lines, West Virginia’s is the most underrated in college football. Coach Rich Rodriguez’s scheme values mobility over size, which is why this unit doesn’t land many five-star recruits or pipeline many prospects to the NFL. However, there isn’t a more efficient unit in the country right now than the one playing in Morgantown. Positioning and effort are the biggest keys to West Virginia’s offensive success up front.

One matchup to watch will be LeSean McCoy against West Virginia safety Eric Wicks, a Pittsburgh native from Perry HS. Wicks positions himself on the field similarly to the Steelers’ Troy Polamalu — meaning anywhere and everywhere. His pre-snap positioning will definitely be enough to confuse our offensive line for sure. Not only will Wicks face fewer blocks en route to a tackle but the linebackers will also take full advantage of the confusion. Wicks is an “aggressive run stopper” and will be a huge part of the Mountaineers efforts to stop Shady from running wild.

Maybe we’ll at least get to something like this again.

I have been trying to catch up with reality after a long break away over Thanksgiving. That has meant a bit of neglect here on one of the most important weeks for Pitt football. I’m feeling a bit of guilt, so it’s time to kick off a little hate.

The ‘Eers are in the hunt for going to the BCS game. They benefited from the Big East scheduling them to have 3 of their final 4 games at home. Something most teams in a national title hunt would happily welcome. What team wouldn’t want to come down the final stretch and be in front of a home crowd? Apparently the team with a buckskin-clad mascot and like to stress their hale and hearty constitutions are a wee bit put off by having to play so many games in the cold. Seriously?

WVU athletic officials have brought this matter to the conference’s attention, according to coach Rich Rodriguez. He believes the fans deserve a better shake. “I would have preferred to have more Big East home games during the season in the month of October,” he said a week ago. “I think it’s the second year in a row we’ve had more games in November and December.”

Would he? Really? He would rather have more road games at this point for the comfort of fans? Fans who would otherwise be pissed at not having their team at home very much as they approach heading to the BCS Championship? Personally, while I grudgingly admire the coaching of Rodriguez — developing players for his system, teaching them and becoming the Yoda of the spread option — I think Rodriguez is more than a little bit of a whiner who would be complaining if the team had only one home game in November.

My fellow Fanhouser and unfortunate WVU alum, John Radcliff (who wrote the post linked above) has seen Mountaineer Stadium lose its edge in the last couple years. So, he seems to believe that it is the moneyed alum are responsible for bitching to the WVU officials.

Perhaps. Like I said, Rodriguez is a whiner by nature it seems. Whine, whine, whine.

Coach Rich Rodriguez is not exactly giddy about playing a game amid hunting season.

Not so much deer-hunting season — and a host of West Virginians and Western Pennsylvanians partake in that — but rather the period for tracking down prospective Mountaineers still in high school or junior colleges.

“This is the third year in a row West Virginia has missed a week” of the recruiting period, Rodriguez said yesterday. “When we only have six weeks of a recruiting-contact period, losing a week hurts.”

…

“I see a lot of people doing it,” he added of a rivalry finale. “I just don’t like playing it in December. Playing it this late, I don’t know if it’s that fun for our fans out there.”

Pathetic. Mountaineer fans not liking the cold. WVU officials complaining about too many home games late in the season. And a coach always complains about something.

Ahhhh. I feel better.

Hate to agree with any WVU coach — especially this week — but former Mountaineers basketball coach turned Big East color analyst Bucky Waters was right at the end of the Boston U game last night. The game told us nothing about Pitt. It was a stat-sheet filler game against a completely overmatched team.

The two best things about the game were that no one got hurt and Ronald Ramon found his stroke.

“It feels great. I know my teammates have confidence in me,” Ramon said. “They know I’m going to put the time in to get my shot back.”

For Ramon, the five three-pointers are the most for him in a game since Pitt beat Western Michigan in the 2006-07 season opener.

“Not that we had any concerns about Ronald but 5-for-5 was good to see,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “I think it answers any questions.”

Ramon had shot only 7-24 on 3s. Not a huge concern, usually, but just so low and against competition that was leaving him rather open. It was a little disturbing. Yes, he’s had a sore ankle but that’s never stopped him before. Ramon has regularly played through those things in the past.
Levance Fields knows the team hasn’t been tested yet.

“The competition hasn’t been the best,” Fields said, “but it’s not easy just to continue to win by the margins we’ve been winning by. We’ve been that much better than the other teams we’ve been playing and we’ve been showing it.”

I think the team is looking forward to a real challenge soon. Keeping interest in the game was difficult and it was obvious at times last night that the team was getting bored.

Coach Dixon may have eased up on the Terriers, but he wasn’t falling into complete positive coachspeak as he used to after this game.

Even though Pitt coach Jamie Dixon reinserted his starters with about eight minutes to go with a 24-point lead, Wolff thought Dixon was letting up on the gas pedal a bit.

“My first thought I think they were taking it easy on us,” Wolff said. “We’re kind of friends with those guys and I appreciate it. They subbed very liberally.”

So no one will be confusing Dixon with Bill Belichick. Still, there was reason for Dixon to have some concern with his team’s play. The Panthers committed 16 turnovers and allowed the Terriers to score 34 points in the second half, including a 14-2 run that triggered Dixon to get his starters back in the game.

“I don’t think we were playing well,” Dixon said. “But we were going to have to put them back in there anyway. Sometimes that’s the hardest time to figure out your substitutions. You want to do things right and be respectful of the other team.”

Really, though, who schedules the next game to be on the same day as the Backyard Brawl?

Long, long day. Only settling in to watch the game and get the basketball stories rounded up at the same time. Weak.

How far under the radar does the BU program operate in Boston? Well, their loss to Marshall was the lead capsule in a round-up of “other” college basketball games in one of the local papers. Putting it this way, Robert Morris gets more coverage in the ‘Burgh. I don’t care if the Terriers are favored in the American East, they don’t have a point to compete. Fields is looking to take another step (so to speak) in his game.

Fields dropped 15 pounds during the offseason, down to 190. He is noticably quicker on both sides of the floor. Fields wore down his teammates during summer games.

“It’s real difficult to stay in front of him,” senior forward Mike Cook said. “He lost weight and he’s a lot quicker. You combine that with the ball-handling and the way he shoots the ball, and it’s real hard to check him.”

Keith Benjamin got the love the last couple days as he was made available for the media.

“A couple of times, when I come here late at night and I think nobody’s in here,” Young said, “I’ll walk in, and Keith is already here working on his ball-handling drills.”

On Friday night, about 10,596 fans walked into Petersen Events Center and saw Benjamin perfect his game some more.

Benjamin has carried over a breakthrough summer and his nocturnal visits to the gym into his senior season for the No. 17 Panthers (5-0), who play host to Boston (1-3) on Tuesday.

Outside of Sam Young, Benjamin has to be the biggest beneficiary and most enthusiastic supporter of playing up-tempo. Often the last couple years., it seemed as if Benjamin would forget the team tempo and rush things.

But now that the Panthers are playing at a higher tempo, Benjamin’s level of play has risen as well. He is excelling when the Panthers play the transition game and get into high-scoring affairs. He set a career high with 17 points in the 92-45 victory against the University of Buffalo Friday. When Pitt thumped Houston Baptist in the season opener in another high-scoring, up-tempo contest, Benjamin scored 16 points.

Benjamin credits Pitt’s change in philosophy for allowing him to showcase his skills.

“In the past we were more of a patient team,” said Benjamin, a 6-foot-2 shooting guard from Mount Vernon, N.Y. “But now coach [Jamie] Dixon is putting onus on the guards to get out there and make the game better. That benefits me more, the things I like to do.”

Dixon is using Benjamin as his sixth man. He is usually the first reserve off the bench for starting shooting guard Ronald Ramon and is making the most of his opportunity.

Speed and playing faster — but smaller — is something of a necessity as the big players are just not ready for prime time.
It became obvious that Pitt would be playing smaller this season because of the wealth of guards and lack of true centers in the program. But five games into the season it is looking more and more as if the Panthers will be playing even smaller than anticipated.

It looks like Pitt will play most of its games without a player taller than 6-8 in the regular rotation.

Coach Jamie Dixon recruited 6-10 junior-college transfer Cassin Diggs and 6-10 freshman Gary McGhee to play center, but they do not appear ready to take on significant minutes. Diggs is averaging 9.2 minutes per game, but most of his minutes recently have come in the second halves of blowout victories. He played one minute against Saint Louis, the one game that was close in the second half. McGhee has played even more sparingly.

As noted in yesterday’s Q&A Pitt’s luck with JUCO’s has been missing since Ontario Lett.

It’s worth noting, Diggs is getting some time in this game with the Terriers. A good time to give him some work. Pitt is a bit ragged out of the gate overall. Despite that, slightly more than halfway through the first half, Pitt is up 19-5.

And I’m talking about myself.

I’m going to Morgantown.

Yes, Pitt is 4-7 and WVU is 10-1, and the game has opened with Pitt as a 28 to 28.5 underdog.

Yes in WVU’s last game they whupped up on UConn 66-21. A UConn team that humiliated Pitt 34-14.

Yes history isn’t helpful either. Pitt hasn’t beaten West Virginia under Coach Wannstedt, lost by a combined 90-40 in those two contests, last won in Morgantown in 2001 and is 2-5 in Morgantown in the last 7 games.

I have no sane reason to go. I have little hope of actually expecting a win in this game. Most likely it will be cold and potentially wet.
Nonetheless, I’m going.

I’m going because there is a chance to see history.

-100th Backyard Brawl (Pitt still holds a 59-37-3 advantage despite an 8-15-2 record over the past 25 games).
-WVU is either going to play for the national championship or have their dreams destroyed by a huge underdog that happens to be their most hated rival. I have the opportunity, so why not be there.
-Morgantown potentially burning in an orgy of couch fires and a series of meth lab explosions around and outside of the city with either result.
-A game that will have a huge impact on the pressure/confidence in Coach Wannstedt from the fans going into 2008.
Finally, and most importantly I’m going because 10 years ago I went down to Morgantown with a group of friends on something of a whim, and had my interest and love of Pitt restored.

The previous 5 years had me completely out of touch with Pitt athletics. I had left the area and the team sucked so there was very little news about the team making it outside of the Pittsburgh area. Especially in those pre-internet days.

I had been paying a little closer attention that season after moving to Youngstown. I watched and enjoyed the Pitt upset of Miami that Thursday night in some generic sports bar in Boardman after begging a bartender to give me one TV for that rather than the Pirates game.
I went down with friends, mainly to get drunk and have some fun.  We accomplished the drunk part — and then some.

[Brief aside. The original plan for the group was to grab a couple hotel rooms in town and go out in Morgantown — just for the hell of it. Somewhere in the course of the game we just decided that it would be best to go back to the ‘Burgh and not waste money in Morgantown. Then, as we had to wait for traffic to thin and for one of our group to reach the point where he was no longer going to be puke risk in the car, it became just go out for a couple beers near the apartment we were all crashing. By the time we got back and the emotional and physical drain in full effect it just became have a beer in the apartment, watch the highlights on TV a few times and crash. That was 10 years ago. It’s only gotten worse with time.]
What also happened was seeing the greatest game I ever attended. A triple-OT 41-38 win. Certainly the most enjoyable.
It completely brought the joy and hope back in that one game. I committed that night to season tickets with one friend who’s loyalty and attendance never waivered in all his years. Been holding since.

I guess, I’m hoping that there might be a chance to have a little faith restored.

…at least for a week.

With LSU’s 3OT loss to Jeff Long’s Arkansas team on Friday, the BCS Championship picture has become much clearer. The newest BCS rankings look like so:

1. Missouri 11-1
2. West Virginia 10-1
3. Ohio State 11-1
4. Georgia 10-2
5. Kansas 11-1
6. Virginia Tech 10-2
7. LSU 10-2
8. USC 9-2
9. Oklahoma 10-2
10. Florida 9-3

Our Panthers have a very rare opportunity on Saturday — the ability to knock a team out of the title game simply by beating them. Too bad actually beating them won’t be too simple.

If either Mizzou or WVU lose, Ohio State will back into the Championship game. The chance of Missouri losing to Oklahoma in the Big XII conference championship is very possible. That would mean Ohio State plays WVU for the title. What about Pitt beating the Mountaineers? Dan Shanoff says no way.

If BOTH Missouri and West Virginia lose… well, that’s just not happening.

Did you see what West Virginia did to the next-best team in their conference, when WVU realized they had to impress the nation? They hung 66 on them.

They ran up the score, because they knew they had to, in order to silence any doubt spread from, say, Columbus. Those ‘Eers are one cut-throat bunch of s.o.b.’s; they ain’t losing to Dave Wannstedt with a trip to the national championship game on the line.

Since the Backyard Brawl starts at 7:45 and the Big XII game starts at 8:00, there won’t be time to know if Missouri wins or loses though. That means Buckeye Nation not only roots for Oklahoma, but also for Pitt. Other teams hoping that both OU and Pitt win are Georgia, Kansas, LSU, and Oklahoma themselves.

Pitt hasn’t had this many fans in a long, long time. We gladly welcome all of them — maybe someday they’ll come help us fill Heinz Field to more than 35% capacity.

Long, long drive home today. Feeling a bit punchy at this point. Much like the Stanford QB yesterday.

As usual, the note that there is no way Wannstedt is fired. Logisitics-wise it doesn’t  happen because of administration support and lack of an AD makes it a given he is back. I’ll get into how I feel about this with more detail after the season ends. Simply, I am decidedly ambivalent.
I’m still coming to terms with the reality that Paul Rhoads won’t be fired. Sure the past has sucked, but this year has saved his job. I am holding out hope that this will be the springboard to some minor head coaching gig (maybe Utah State will look for a new guy) or some other school will pursue him as their DC — impressed by the numbers this year. That Rhoads finally decides he better move soon before it is too late. I can dream.

At the same time (and perhaps hypocritically), I’m at least willing to give OC Matt Cavanaugh one more year. His side of the ball suffered painfully with all of the injuries — Stull, Kinder, Pinkston, Jacobson and Matha. He also made better adjustments to the college game and his players last year after a rock first season.  A freshman QB that desperately needed a redshirt year and no O-line really don’t permit much. Yes, he has to do more with the TEs and playcalling overall, but all the goodwill hasn’t been completely burned at this point.
That said, offensive line coach Paul Dunn has to be history. Nothing he has done has warranted his return.
Other coaching embarrassments from this game started on special teams.

It isn’t a surprise that South Florida was able to pull off a fake punt in the first quarter — the Bulls successfully ran two fake punts for first downs a year ago against Pitt.

And South Florida coach Jim Leavitt said that if the Bulls had needed to run another one yesterday, he had no doubt it would have worked because of the way the Panthers line up to defend punts.

“We practiced it all week and we really felt like it would be there. It worked out pretty good,” he said. “We saw it on film. We really thought there was a chance for it. We really felt like we could have run it even after that. It was still there. We just didn’t run it. The guys are probably mad at me for that. It was still there on a fourth-and-1 from our own 20.

“We probably could have got it but we could have had a bad snap. I don’t know if you want to go to the well that many times.”

Essentially, more afraid they would stop themselves than Pitt would on that play. Lovely.

Grothe’s 80 yard run, untouched was cited as the game-changing, shoulder-slumping moment for Pitt.

Then Grothe started the second half with the 80-yard scoring run on a quarterback counter to give the Bulls a 17-10 lead. Wannstedt said the Panthers made two mental mistakes: missing Grothe at the line of scrimmage and failing to have a safety cover the middle of the field.

“Pitt overreacted a little bit at the snap of the ball,” Grothe said, “and everything just kind of came together from there.”

Or, in Pitt’s case, fell apart.

…

“You look at the game and you’ve got the 80-yard run, the fake punt that leads to a touchdown and the three interceptions, all big plays,” Wannstedt said. “We just didn’t finish. We did not finish the game.”

Coach Wannstedt put the 80-yard TD as the moment the offense fell apart.

“It is disappointing, the way the game unfolded,” Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said. “I really thought we were focused to start the game and at the half. And then we went out there in the second half and we give up that one big play and then for whatever reason, after that, offensively just came totally unglued.”

I put a lot of this on the coaches. USF came out in the second half, making adjustments on both sides of the ball. Pitt didn’t make adjustments out of halftime. That was obvious. They went with a “stay the course” and assume the other team would keep doing the same thing.
Coach Wannstedt wants the offense to avoid mistakes, and have the defense win the game. So, then when the defense isn’t able to hold, it’s hard to expect that the offense has to go win the game on demand. Especially when it means throwing the ball twice  as much in the second half against a defense that is a leader in the country in interceptions.

A few minutes to gametime. I’m at my folks house and the game is being shown locally.

12:14: Grife, is USF’s defense is just faster and better than Pitt’s O-line.

12:16: Greg Romeus with the sack to force an obviously frigid USF punt.

12:19: Noooo! Collins trips over his own feet on a wide open, well-placed pass that would have been a TD down the line.

12:21: A well-excuted screen. Who knew? McCoy with a great run for 40+ yards and inside the 15.

12:23: Are the USF players getting too cold? The Wildcat formation for McCoy picks up 5 yards to give Pitt 1st and goal at the 1. How could that happen? Everyone knew what was coming.

12:25: Pitt scores a TD! McCoy on a quick toss outside and in he goes.

7-0 Pitt.
12:35: Great special teams work. Giving up 35 yards on a fake punt. Ugh.

12:36: And then Mike Ford takes it in on for the TD — untouched.

7-7. 48 seconds left in the first quarter.

Pitt isn’t playing badly so far. The Bulls are definitely bothered by the cold. Ah, the joys of getting warm weather teams up north late in the season.

12:41: End of the 1st Q. Tie game. LaRod Stephens-Howling in for a series it seems. You know, because it wouldn’t make sense to switch backs within the series to keep a defense off-balance.

12:45: McCoy actually throws out of the wildcat, but just out of Porter’s grasp.

12:52: Just like they drew it up. Lousy 4th down play and then get the fumble to have a fresh set of downs.

12:53: Another screen works. This time to Shane Brooks down to the 25.

12:55: Shane Brooks seems to be getting a lot of work in the second quarter. Collins had a horrible first quarter, and some coaches must be feeling the heat for poor performances. Shorter leashes for players has become very noticeable the last couple of weeks.

12:58: Fake FG attempt. Pitt is close. Waiting for the measurement. Just as I wrote Collins was out, he was the one taking the ball. Figures.

And the ball goes over to USF. Well, at least they have to go 97 yards.

1:00: Just for good measure, Wannstedt challenged the ruling and of course lost.

1:08: 19 yard gain on an end around for Maurice Williams. Bostick sold it well and took a hit for it. Pitt inside the USF 20.

1:10: Crap. Byham is down. He’s being helped off. left leg.

1:11: It figures. Bostick had time to throw and McGlynn called for holding.

1:12: Now Turner has a hold on a screen. Pitt is taking themselves right out of FG range. 2nd and 23 from the 33.

1:13: Draw play for 12, but of course. Holding. This time on Strong.

1:14: Nice touch by Bostick to Turner, but that was solid coverage. There’s a reason for that. USF has one of the best pair of corners in the country.

This time, they do it again, but to Mo Williams. He used his height and took it away for the TD. Pretty.

14-7 Pitt, 2:56 to halftime.

(more…)

Good news, the Bulls are paying attention and trying not to be concerned about the weather.

The Bulls have never played well in inclement weather, and the thermostat should hit no higher than the upper 30s at Pittsburgh. There is also the possibility of rain.

USF coach Jim Leavitt isn’t spending his time watching weather on the nines.

“We don’t play in a lot of cold weather, and I don’t want to bring it down here to practice in,” Leavitt said. “We are just mentally envisioning cold weather in practice. We have won in some cold games and lost in some cold games, so there’s nothing you can do.”

Quarterback Matt Grothe, who grew up in central Florida, said he would prefer something warmer than he will face today.

Even though the season actually turned into disappointment it is still a record setting season for USF.

The Bulls (8-3, 3-3 Big East) will try to tie their best record for wins in the regular season in today’s noon game.

More importantly, their senior class will have set the bar high in terms of most wins.

The 16 seniors have made history during their five years of buckling their chin straps and tightening their shoulder pads.

There’s the school’s first-ever national ranking – not to mention climbing the polls to the second spot in the college football world – coupled with big-time wins over highly ranked opponents. There’s the first bowl victory in the school’s 11-year program, followed by multiple sold-out games at Raymond James Stadium and several national television appearances.

Part of what had USF on its slide was that they had stopped letting anyone else other than Matt Grothe run the ball. They finally started getting back to giving the ball to the backs. Especially Mike Ford.

Despite getting 21 carries in the second game at Auburn, Ford’s playing time fluctuated until the past two weeks.

“Part of that is attributed to the development of a very talented freshman football player,” USF running backs coach Carl Franks said. “I think that’s what people tend to forget because he’s been out of high school for a couple of years – he’s a true freshman. He’s still learning what to do, how to run.

“When they come out of high school, they don’t run with the body lean you need to in college football. Now that he’s able to get his pads down, it’s made him a lot more effective.”

Bull.  That’s on the coaches not giving him the ball. Leavitt got very conservative as the team was winning. Trusting only Grothe on the offense. Unfortunately, they finally realized that teams were completely keying on Grothe and not even bothering with the tailbacks.

Not that Grothe can or will be ignored.

Grothe is second in the Big East in total offense (280 yards per game) and is the Bulls’ leading rusher (69.5 yards per game). He has accounted for 22 touchdowns (13 passing, nine rushing) and passed for 2,314 yards.

Pitt defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads said his team has prepared well for the Bulls (8-3, 3-3), but he will have to hold his breath and hope every time Grothe has the ball in his hands.

“What you have is a quarterback who is accounting for roughly 75 percent of the offense,” Rhoads said. “And the scariest thing is, as we have all seen firsthand, is the ability to defend something then have a quarterback that can ad lib and then you are just holding on and hoping someone gets him down and we stay in coverage.

“You could spend seven days and 20 hours each day preparing and still not defend that, and that is the unknown that you are hoping doesn’t take place too often for those three hours on Saturday.”

Now feeling like I should start drinking now.

What else to say about the game. Pitt absolutely decimated Buffalo 92-45.

“We didn’t know it was going to be that much of a blowout,” said senior guard Keith Benjamin, who scored a career-high 17 points and posted three of the Panthers’ 16 steals. “We just wanted to go after them.”

The 47-point margin was the Panthers’ biggest victory at the Petersen Events Center, eclipsing a 45-point victory over Norfolk State on Dec. 3, 2002. It was the third largest rout in the past 21 seasons, and equals the ninth-best in school history.

Pitt’s defense, which I noted after the St. Louis game, seemed to be more aggressive and gambling on steals really went after the Bulls.

The No. 17 Panthers (5-0) were trapping, jumping into passing lanes and tied a season-high with 16 steals. The aggressive approach led to 25 Buffalo turnovers and another blowout victory. Pitt has won its first five games by an average of 32 points per game. All but one of Pitt’s games has been decided by 27 or more points.

“We like to get after people,” said Pitt senior guard Keith Benjamin. “That’s what we want to do. We don’t want to lie back no more. We want to blitz ball screens like you saw tonight and trap them. We want to try to get every steal we can get our hands on and just be the aggressor and don’t lie back and wait for somebody to attack us.

“It’s definitely a new approach. We work every day on denying the pass. Coach says if you feel like you can get it, go for it. We’re just trying to be more aggressive. You see the teams that go far are the more aggressive teams. We’re still going to be more patient on defense, but if there are opportunities to take, we’re going to take it now.”

The Buffalo team, of course, was not even comparable to St. Louis in terms of coaching and player talent. That would explain part of why Pitt could be even more aggressive against Buffalo. Not to mention more practice and comfort with it.

It’s about adjusting the game with the players. The players want to play more up-tempo. Are more comfortable with a faster pace. Especially getting out on offense. Well to get those extra possessions they have to stop the opposing team on defense faster.

A few player focus stories the last few days.

Scott McKillop gets attention, mostly for his on the field performance.

McKillop has sparked Pitt’s defensive resurgence in the past four games, when the Panthers have allowed an average of 19.5 points and 299.5 yards. In the previous four, all losses, Pitt gave up 35.8 points and 363.8 yards a game.

“Hopefully, we erased some doubts,” McKillop said. “I know there’s still probably some doubts in people’s minds, with these next two opponents. Hopefully, we can finally erase some of the doubts and questions people have about our defense and where we’re at right now.”

I admit to being guilty of that doubt, and it hasn’t gone away. The remaining games are against spread option teams with very athletic and mobile QBs. Something Pitt hasn’t proven capable of handling.

Then Tommie Duhart III gets attention for his relationship with his father.

Tommie Jr. passed along to his son his name and likeness, his massive frame and his passion for football. What worries the old man is that his son is susceptible to inheriting the disease that stole his eyesight and destroyed his kidneys to the point he was on dialysis three times a week for the past two years and two months.

Diabetes runs in the Duhart family, which is why both Tommies are giving special thanks this holiday for the kidney transplant that saved the life of the father and allowed him to fulfill a dream by watching the son play college football for Pitt.

Finally Joe Clermond has already earned his degree from Pitt, and wants to do things for his community.

Clermond views himself as a role model, not because he is a college football player, but because he is a college graduate.

That is something that is rare where he comes from, which is why he beams when he talks about the fact that he has earned a degree.

“Football is one thing, but I think it is cool that I not only got to go to college, I earned a degree, I finished the job,” Clermond said. “Where I am from, not too many people I knew went to college or even knew much about college, so the thing that makes me feel very good about myself is that, when I go back there, people will know that I did something productive, I made it and I hope it is a positive reflection on the people in the area where I am from.

“Matter of fact, when I go back home, I spend most of my time babysitting kids, some of them from the neighborhood who I don’t even know, but I just spend time hanging out with them. The fact that I have done it is a good tool for me to use to talk to a lot of people who don’t think college is possible or don’t think they are smart enough to get into school.”

Yeah, I’m not working particularly hard on the titles. Considering the way my brother-in-law and I have been hitting my dad’s Scotch selection so far, just be happy I can spell and post. Yes, I’m enjoying Thanksgiving.

USF Coach Jim Leavitt is either blowing smoke or smoking something.

University of South Florida coach Jim Leavitt said the Bulls will face a “tremendous” challenge when they visit Pittsburgh on Saturday.

“Offensively, their offensive line is as good as we’ve seen this year,” Leavitt said. “They are a very good group. LeSean McCoy is a tremendous running back. They’ve been going between two quarterbacks who have got a lot of talent.”

[Emphasis added.]
Right.

Here’s the catalog of offensive problems in story form the last few days. Here, here and here.

Meanwhile, Paul Rhoads has appeared to have saved his job.  I am now starting on the Macallan single malt Cask Strength (117 proof).

As pointed out a few months ago on a West Virginia blog (talk about an oxymoron) and recently discussed again over at Panther Rants, The University of South Florida is actually not in Southern Florida. Places such as Miami and Fort Lauderdale are in the southern part of the state, while Tampa Bay is in the middle of the state. Very nonsensical.

Back on October 18, I admitted my man-crush on Matt Grothe. That was back when I was on the USF bandwagon, but after a few losses I decided to jump off. Now they’re playing Pitt and I’m officially done with them.

A huge factor in Staurday’s game won’t be the players but the weather and field conditions. Even though they’re not from South Florida, Tampa is still a bit warmer than Pittsburgh, and any help we can get from cold weather will be helpful. Weather.com claims Saturday will see temperatures in the low 40’s with a very small chance of precipitation. The other huge factor is the condition of the actual field. Tomorrow are the WPIAL Championship games at Heinz Field, which means four games on Friday before Pitt’s noon game on Saturday. They’re going to re-sod the field for the Steelers’ Monday nighter but Pitt will be playing on mud that’s spray painted green to look like grass.

A few other notes:

— The Cowboys and Jets play at 4:00 this afternoon which means a lot of Darelle Revis covering Terrell Owens…but T.O. doesn’t know who Revis is (Fanhouse).

— Things are crazy in Louisville. First, the rumors of coach Steve Kragthorpe leaving were confirmed until he called a press conference to say he’s committed to UL. Usually when coaches say they’re staying at a school the fans are happy — not this time.

— Pitt hoops plays 4-0 Duquesne in the City Game on December 5. The team has reached enough credibility to have their own blog, Dukes Court.

— The Post-Gazette’s annual Fabulous 22 came out today. Familiar names include Pryor, Nix, Saddler, Baldwin, and Williams.

— My picks for the WPIAL games tomorrow: AAAA — Gateway, AAA — Thomas Jefferson, AA — Jeannette, A — Serra.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving, everyone.