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.
