Coach Wannstedt may have been happy about a bye week in terms of preparation and getting some players healthy, but I’d say it wasn’t a good thing from a PR perspective. It just gave Pitt fans a lot of time to really think about the job he’s done and bring everything into question. The consensus has not been very positive.

Well, all that has a chance to get washed away (somewhat) with the upcoming Iowa game.

Pitt offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh said that the offense fixed some of the problems that plagued it in the Bowling Green loss and spent last week working on refining some things and paying more attention to details.

“We executed better [against Buffalo] than Bowling Green].” Cavanaugh said. “We had a nice mix of run and pass. We didn’t get caught off guard and I thought [quarterback] Billy Stull was more accurate. For the most part, we made improvement and that’s what we’re trying to do.

“But you can always get better. And the bye week helped us clean more things up. I think the key no matter what is players have to make plays and you kind of go with what is working. We have to make our possessions count and we didn’t do it the first week, but we did a better job in the second week.”

No word on whether the coaches think they are doing a better job after the first couple of games. Oh, sorry. I forgot. It’s about the players executing and not turning the ball over. There were no other problems.

A big theme that can be run into the ground is that Kirk Ferentz grew up in the Pittsburgh area and was a graduate assistant at Pitt in 1980. So, he’s got lots of friends and family planning to be at the game.

“Basically, all it means is that I need more tickets,” Ferentz said after Iowa’s 17-5 win against Iowa State at Kinnick Stadium. “Going back home means Rita [Ferentz’s secretary] has a lot more work this week, because I don’t talk to anybody about tickets.

“It’s going to be a bad week for her. She handles the tickets — we’ve got a few things straightened out in our office.”

Ferentz was raised in the Pittsburgh suburb of Upper St. Clair. He worked as a graduate assistant at Pittsburgh in 1980.

“I’m sure he’ll have some flashbacks,” said Jackie Sherrill, the Panthers’ head coach in 1980. “I remember Kirk always wanting to watch film and asking questions.

“You kind of figured he’d go on to make a name, and a very good name, for himself.”

…

Ferentz’s brother, John, and his family will attend.

“Kirk’s wife (Mary) is from around here, too,” John said Sunday. “She’s making the trip, and all her family’s going to the game, too.

“What I initially heard was that he needed 72 sideline passes and 222 tickets, but more realistically, I think it’s something like 20 or 25 tickets.”

That’s funny. He tells his Iowa paper it’s no big deal. Then there was the early puffer in the Trib.

It will be a long-awaited homecoming for Ferentz, who hasn’t coached in Pittsburgh since 1998, when he was an assistant with the Baltimore Ravens.

“The only times I’ve been there coaching was to play the Steelers,” he said, “and we got nailed every time. … But returning is always special. Anybody will tell you that home is here. Pittsburghers feel that way.”

To recap, it’s nothing more than extra headaches for his secretary, yet special.

To be fair, Kirk Ferentz was nailed rather hard with a baseball bat to the head when aged 5, so you never know.

The thing about this game, is that it is entirely winnable. Iowa is the kind of team Coach Wannstedt can actually prepare to face his way. They are a straight forward basic football team. Ugly, even.

Embrace the ugly. Love the ugly. Hug it and kiss it and call it your own.

These are your Hawkeyes. This is who they are. Bloody knuckles. Broken nose. Missing teeth. Grind it on the ground, play-action the linebackers silly, punt the other guy into a coffin, and let the defense worry about the rest of the gory details.

Think last year with Michigan State. That’s what I can’t get out of my head. They will run the ball. Throw short. Play for field position and rely on the defense. Nothing fancy. No spread. No option.

The kind of team Pitt could beat — or lose by under 8 points and have Coach Wannstedt explain later how they were close except for some mistakes on execution and turnovers.