Let me say, I don’t like the piped in panther growl. Never did. Found it annoying and stupid. That said, I’ve never forgotten this.

Sometimes it just seems like there is justice in the universe. Last year, White was completely stopped and knocked out of the Backyard Brawl that could have sent the Hoopies to the BCS National Championship game.

So, after Friday, let us drink deeply of the tears of his sorrow.

“I’ve been balling my eyes out,” White said after the game. “I felt my mistakes hurt us. Those two picks were the game.”

White threw a game-changing interception to cornerback Jovani Chappel with 8:39 remaining to let the Panthers back in the game. Tailback LeSean McCoy rushed for two fourth-quarter touchdowns to make White’s mistake even more costly.

“I feel like it was personally my fault for the loss,” White said.

Well, if you want, to blame yourself. Okay. You did do the number on Pitt almost singlehandedly the first couple times out.

So the quarterback who bolted for 220 yards in each of his freshman and sophomore season games against Pitt, West Virginia victories and 45 points apiece, was reduced to 41 yards and 93 yards rushing in his final two Backyard Brawls. The vaunted Mountaineers offense scored just two touchdowns in its past eight Brawl quarters.

Should coaches have run White more often? Should he have been given chances to run more to the wide side of the field, such as the third-and-goal trick play late in the second quarter? That’s when he took the hand-off from Jarrett Brown and rolled left to the short side for a high-ball throw to Woodland Hills’ Wes Lyons, who caught it out of bounds.

“If ‘if’ were a fifth [of liquor], we’d all be drunk,” White tried to joke.

At least the Hoopies have basketball season… Oh. Sorry.

Don’t worry Pat, most in West Virginia are blaming the offensive coordinator.

If you want to know how this team that had national championship aspirations and had in White a Heisman Trophy candidate could lose four games — as many as it had lost in the past two seasons combined — look no further than the bizarre play calling of offensive coordinator Jeff Mullen.

Success in football, as it is in most sports, basically comes down finding a way to take advantage of your best player’s greatest skill. Patrick White is West Virginia’s best player. His greatest skill is running the football and to not recognize that and have him run but 12 times while throwing 28 is simply not giving yourself a chance to win.

Really, I can’t blame the Mountaineer faithful for calling for Mullen’s head.

Don Ireland can smile a little more after this game.

Among them:

• “Attention fans: There is a tractor in the parking lot with its lights on. License plate EIEIO.”

• “This is a reminder to all fans that smoking is not permitted inside the stadium. That includes cigarettes, cigars and corncob pipes.”

No, I’m not dead from all the good stuff.

Was at the in-laws for Thanksgiving. No one thought to tell me that their internet connection was fubar-red.

Went to the the Backyard Brawl on Friday then back to the in-laws. Got back home this evening.

Now, I have a night shift chat over at FanHouse to do. Stop on by.

Otherwise, I’ll be trying to restore some normalcy tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving. This is actually unrelated to Pitt. I just want someone to take away the password to my blog if I ever reach the levels demonstrated below.

A couple things that almost defy belief.

From the “there’s always a hater” file:

Jay from Cincinnati writes: There was a small blog in the Cincinnati Enquirer with your comments about Coach Brian Kelly and the national coach of the year, Why? Now don’t get me wrong, I’m happy with the results from the team this year. But he’s only been here two years, hasn’t seen any action from his recruits, he was ready to throw the towel on Tony Pike and was forced to use him when other QBs went down. You don’t groom a QB after the season started and be forced to use him. What you’re seeing is all Tony Pike. One could question Coach Kelly’s ability to see talent by not naming him the starter from the very beginning. Take a look at the film from the West Virginia and Louisville games, there are some very questionable calls from the offense. Coach of the year for what? Being a salesperson for the team, school?

Brian Bennett: Thanks, Jay, for proving that no matter how much a coach does, even if he goes 20-5 and gets a program without much history to the cusp of the BCS and does so despite having to use five different quarterbacks in a season, there will always be someone to complain about it.

Wow.

From the frustrated fanbase has lost its mind department, Irish fans are a little unhinged.

Here are a couple of things he [new Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick] could do to forestall the uprising:

• Immediately renegotiate all game contracts to designate that only neutral conference officials be used in any game in which Notre Dame plays. It’s bleeding obvious, and today’s game was just one more log on that fire. Taking it one step further, he should lead the charge in taking officiating away from the conferences altogether.

…

• Demand that Notre Dame have some say (assuming it does not currently) in the selection of the announcers for NBC broadcasts. We don’t need homers, but we could live without the glee provoked by Notre Dame’s miscues evinced by the former Southern Cal quarterback and his figure-skating-devotee partner. We’d be better off with the actual Mitch Daniels and Bea Arthur. We should can their look-alikes.

That’s right, ND fans are complaining about not getting the calls in their own stadium. Forget the fact, that practically every non-con game in every conference goes by the following rules: conference refs from the visiting team are used. Oh, that’s right, the Irish don’t have a conference affiliation for road games.  They  — they feel that the NBC announcers are anti-ND?  So when in doubt, fall back on the fact that Pat Haden played QB at USC. I’m sure they don’t care, but no one else sees these things through that Irish prism.

It is not a totally uncommon occurrence for the boys of BGS — who I actually enjoy reading when they stick somewhere near reality. They just have a touch of paranoia and see conspiracy from anyone who went to a rival school.

A real classic example came way back when they still loved Charlie Weis. Remember the reported interest Weis had from an NFL team. The thing Weis never denied getting and which helped him get his ridiculous 10-year contract. Well, when the rumors first started, the messenger was clearly doing it to preemptively strike down the Irish before they could return to glory.

Why would he do this? Well, surprise, surprise…Schefter’s a notorious Michigan homer. (Check this out, direct from the annals of Wolverine nostalgia.) Schefter’s “developing story” was nothing more than buckshot from Ann Arbor, aimed not only at Irish fans who are feeling pretty good about their coach, but also directly targeting recruits who are considering the Irish. (“Despite the fact that he has one of the country’s most heralded recruiting classes coming in next season, Weis has positioned himself to leave Notre Dame after this season for the NFL…”) What better way to shake the foundation of an up-and-comer than insinuating he’s not long for college ball.

I don’t even know how to begin to address the substance of those delusions.

Or at least good to play.

Pitt sophomore center DeJuan Blair practiced with the team today and is expected to play Friday night against Texas Tech.

Blair sat out yesterday’s 74-60 victory against Belmont University because of some swelling in his right knee. Blair had an X-ray yesterday that concurred with a previous MRI that there was no damage to the knee.

Phew.

Shame on Pitt for letting down the Octonion. Now it’s up to Otto.

A fairly fluffy, airy story on Coach Wannstedt’s control of recruiting in Western PA. Just numbers. Not really differentiating too much between impact players, a starter and a guy buried on the depth chart.

Phil Bennett will be up in the box calling the defense. Okay.

No shock on Pitt’s defensive gameplan. Stop Pat White (again). Especially now that Stewart and the offensive brain trust at WVU realized they needed to just let Pat White be Pat White and run.

Here’s a big sloppy kiss of a puff piece for White. And one where White just expresses his love of just playing.

Bill Stewart live and in 3d person.

“Let me assure you, Pitt has Bill Stewart’s and our coaching staff’s attention,” the head man said.

And here I thought their attention was on the coffee cake stuffed pancakes at IHOP.

Bill Stull doesn’t impress, but he does win in this story.

Ultimately, Pitt still cruised to a 74-60 win, but there are worries.

So, which of the Big Three for Pitt can the team least afford to lose?

To be undermanned on the front line isn’t something the Panthers can easily rebound from. Not planning to be without Blair may be a chance they can’t afford to take.

“He’s a great presence,” Young said. “When he’s out, it’s taking away from our team.

“When he’s out, you don’t know what the guy next to him is going to bring.”

That next guy may not be McGhee, and more due to ineffectiveness than injury. Biggs, if he can stay out of foul trouble, is probably Blair’s new backup, a difficult situation made only slightly easier with the return of Gilbert Brown from a foot injury (Brown can play the swing position, moving Young to the four and Biggs underneath).

While what happens without Blair is primarily uncertain — the confusion Tuesday was evident — this much isn’t hard to figure: Blair, not Fields, not Young, is the Panthers’ most important player.

“We had to play it by ear today,” Dixon admitted.

That doesn’t happen if anyone else is out of the lineup. Dixon always has a backup and a backup plan.

He’ll work on getting both even before he hears back from those X-rays.

My answer to which player? Yes. They are all extremely valuable and if any of them are suddenly unavailable, Pitt will struggle with the loss. That’s what happened last night.

“We erred on the side of caution,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said.

Dixon said he learned at 6 p.m. — an hour before tipoff — that Blair wouldn’t be available. Blair, who felt no pain and told coaches he wanted to play, underwent an MRI on Tuesday afternoon and is scheduled to have an X-ray today. By all indications, the injury is not serious (Dixon said afterward that many coaches would probably have played Blair in a similar situation).

Blair is expected to be available when Pitt meets Texas Tech on Friday in Newark, N.J. in the semifinals of the 2008 Legends Classic.

“He said that he is going to practice (Wednesday),” Dixon said.

That meant no preparation or practice for the whole team. No chance to really get Biggs and McGhee mentally as much as anything else ready to go and play big minutes in the forward-center spots. It didn’t help that McGhee turned his ankle in the game and further limited what there was inside. Biggs had one of his games where he couldn’t avoid the cheap fouls.

So, Pitt was struggling with rebounding. An initial struggle with rebounding, then getting it better, but ultimately Pitt was outrebounded 44-34. The absurd 25-5 offensive rebounding edge for Belmont, though is arguably mitigated by the fact that Pitt shot 62% — only missing 17 shots on the night (28-45) — while Belmont was locked down by the perimeter defense so they shot 21-73. So yeah, miss a crap load of shots, you are going to have more offensive rebounds strictly on volume, volume, volume.

Sam Young was the story otherwise.

It was his most prolific game in a Pitt uniform and the most points by a Pitt player since Ricardo Greer had 33 in a game at Syracuse in February 2000.

“I always like to take on the challenge of taking over a game,” said Young, whose previous high was 28 last season against St. John’s.

A slow start that got scorching as he finished with 33 points on 13-17 shooting along with 7 rebounds. Really, if you want to nitpick, the downside was he could have had more but for the 5-10 free throw shooting.

The good news was that Gilbert Brown returned to action in the game. He didn’t exactly comeback on fire. He had 2 points, but 0 baskets on 3 shots. He had 4 rebounds, a block and an assist. He also had 3 turnovers in 15 minutes.

The holding out of Blair was the smart move. It’s always scary when a player has knee issues flaring. Especially one that has had surgery on both knees. Hopefully the medical exams will come back clean and it was just a little sore.

The problem with the Backyard Brawl taking place the same week of Thanksgiving — purely from a blogging/personal perspective — is that there is just too much other stuff taking place to give it the proper vitriol and hate it deserves. I’m distracted. The things that I need to do to get ready to travel. Responsibilities to other things. Kids off from school.

So, unfortunately, I think this week may have a lot of link posts.

It’s the last Brawl for the seniors. Lets see if the (four year) seniors can finish their career with a split in Backyard Brawls played.

As usual, the game matters a lot to the players from the region that grew up withthe brawl, knew and played with/against many of the players on the other side of the ball.

Pat White. Pat White. Oh crap, Pat White.

There will, apparently be a new turf laid down before the game. Damn. Pitt’s odds would increase with lousy field conditions. Of course, given how well it’s gone in the past when they’ve tried to do a late season new turf at Heinz Field…

Bill Stewart expects a good game. Dave Wannstedt expects a good game. Go figure.

It’s true, the Backyard Brawl had been rather one-sided lately. Of course, last year seems to have changed things.

There was the very reasonable article on Sunday from Cook that I wanted to get to, suggesting what everyone already thought. That LeSean McCoy almost had to turn pro after this year.

McCoy apparently has a different view.

“Everyone keeps trying to push that idea, that this is my last game at Heinz Field. I’m not going anywhere,” McCoy said. “There is a lot of stuff I have to prove and the thing is, I don’t think I’ve done enouhg here at this university and there is a lot of stuff I have to achieve here.

“It is something I want to squash and get it over with and not have to talk about it because I am kind of getting a little fed up with it. When you look at the [NFL] them guys, that’s what they do, that is their job. When you play college football, you just come out to have fun and play ball but to those guys, it is their job.

“I feel I am not ready yet. Right now, I’m in school, I’m enjoying myself, I’m not pushing to go anywhere.”

This is great news. It’s very responsible and makes you proud that he’s at Pitt. To say nothing of what it could mean for Pitt next season.

At the same time, I’m not even holding him to that. There is still plenty of time between now and when he has to decide. He should still do some due diligence.

A major reason, not mentioned often is that the NFL labor peace is nearing an end. It is likely that by 2010 it could be a capless year and a lockout in 2011. There’s a big risk of money to being left on the table, and a more restrictive rookie salary structure. That is one of the reasons that there could be a record number of juniors coming out this year.

Still, that’s a concern for another day.

No, seriously. They nearly knocked off Duke last year in the NCAA Tournament as a #15 seed. They are the class of the Atlantic Sun.

Belmont, which counts country music stars Lee Ann Womack, Brad Paisley and Trisha Yearwood among its graduates, is favored to win its fourth consecutive Atlantic Sun Championship. Last season, the Bruins beat a Big East school (Cincinnati) and an SEC school (Alabama), both on the road, before losing its upset bid against No. 2 seed Duke, 71-70, in Washington, D.C. in the NCAA first round.

Belmont, which went 25-9 last season, led the Blue Devils in the final minute, losing on Gerald Henderson’s coast-to-coast layup with 12 seconds to play. The effort earned the Bruins a standing ovation from the fans at the Verizon Center.

“I know how good they have been over the years,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon. “They are a very good shooting team.”

Belmont ranked fourth in Division I last season in 3-pointers made per game (10.5). The philosophy hasn’t changed this season despite the deeper 3-point line. If anything, the extra foot has helped a squad loaded with sharpshooters. In two games this season the experienced Bruins are shooting 41.1 percent from behind the arc, making 11.5 per game.

In other words, Pitt’s perimeter defense will get a test. And if they get hot from outside, it could be a rough ride.

This is the first of three games home games not to be televised. Depressing. Big props to the Pitt Athletic Department for making the video feed available on their site. Especially the FREE portion.

Pitt’s three-game PantherVision Network broadcast package will include the matchup against 2008 NCAA Tournament participant Belmont (Nov. 25), City Game rivalry against Duquesne (Dec. 3) and contest against Vermont (Dec. 6).

Internet game broadcasts will include live game action, post-game interviews, statistic graphics, score updates, live play-by-play and color commentary. John Sanders along with former Pitt basketball standout Curtis Aiken will handle play-by-play and color analyst duties respectively. Director of PantherVision Production Paul Barto will oversee production.

A link to the broadcast can be found prior to each game on the www.pittsburghpanthers.com home page, Basketball Game Day Central, and Panthers on the Air. The new Panthers All-Access platform runs on Microsoft Silverlight technology making it faster and easier to navigate.

I really have to credit the athletic department for making it free. This would have been an easy way to push the subscription to All-Access, but instead they are making it available to all.

It essentially sums up what kind of coaching tenure at WVU that can be expected when he quotes from ESPN’s halftime gimmick segment.

But talk of revenge? Doesn’t that just get in the way of what really matters in Friday’s 101st edition of the Backyard Brawl?

“There’s not going to be any talk of revenge,” Stewart said Sunday. “The word revenge, I don’t want our players to use that. … I agree with Lou Holtz. You spend all your life worrying about revenge, you’re going to spend your whole life as a pretty unhappy human being. They beat our butt last year in a football game, bottom line. What we have to do is worry about 2008 and play us a good football game.”

I’m just picturing Bill Stewart sitting home on a Thursday night, watching the college football game, and then sitting up with a notebook when the Dr. Lou segment airs. Jotting down notes and the pearls of wisdom that comes from them.

It’s not possible for me to hate Coach Goober at this point, but it easy for me to laugh at him.

Really, they are D-II. Of course Pitt beat the crud out of them. That’s part of why it took until today to even get to mentioning the game from Saturday.

The nice story, of course, was Maurice Polen playing at IUP with his last year of eligibility.

Polen wasn’t just any walk-on at Pitt. He made an impact on everyone in the program, including coach Jamie Dixon, who said awarding Polen a scholarship last year was one of the most rewarding moments of his coaching career.

Polen, who hails from Philadelphia, almost didn’t go to Pitt. Had it not been for a $5,000 donation from a woman at his father’s church he probably wouldn’t have had enough money to go to school across the state.

“Maurice is one of the best human beings I’ve ever been around,” Dixon said. “It’s been a pleasure and honor to coach him. [IUP coach] Joe Lombardi needed a big guy and a great person and great kid. It would be selfish of me if I was the only one who got to coach him. Everyone should get the opportunity to coach Maurice Polen because he is a great individual.”

Polen, a few credits shy from graduating from Pitt in the spring, is finishing up his undergraduate work at IUP this semester. Dixon and associate athletic director Donna Sanft worked it out so Polen will have a degree from Pitt when it’s all said and done.

This year’s walk-on, Sean Brown, got his own piece from his local area paper.

“I’m real good friends with Tyrell Biggs and some of the other guys on the team. I’ve been playing pick-up games with them for years,” said Brown, whose father, Darrell Brown, was part of Maryland’s 1972 NIT championship team alongside Len Elmore. “Everything just sort of fell into place.”

…

As Greg Hotchkiss, Pitt’s director of media relations for men’s basketball, puts it, every one knows Brown because he’s been around the team for years.

That and he shares an apartment off-campus with Biggs, so that probably didn’t hurt. Along with being around the players and the program for a couple years.

With Levance Fields forceful return to the lineup after an offseason of wondering whether he’d be ready for the season, it’s been noticed.

4. Levance Fields, Sr., G, Pitt: Fields’ play has been exceptional at the point. He dished out 12 assists in the win over Akron earlier in the week. He’s showing no signs that he missed most of the preseason with an injured left foot.

Fields also got a great story from Mike DeCourcy at the Sporting News.

With his thick torso and short appendages, Fields does not look like many, or any, of the great point guards, but he has added a different element to Pitt’s astounding run of success at the position this decade. Brandin Knight, the school’s career assists leader, was coolly cerebral. Carl Krauser was unpredictably, sometimes wildly creative. Fields provides a contagious brand of leadership derived from sheer force of will.

In a sense, Fields is the personification of the Pitt basketball renaissance. As generally has been the case with the Panthers since coaches Ben Howland and Jamie Dixon began rescuing the program in 1999, Fields is not blessed with the sort of aesthetically pleasing athleticism that appeals to the most prestigious college programs or NBA teams. As the Panthers generally have been, he is committed to team goals and blessed with astonishing competitive drive.

Finally, there is a chance Gilbert Brown might be cleared to play tonight.

Good news, it will be on either ESPN or ESPN2. The unknown is when. The WWLS won’t be making their decision until Monday, Dec. 1. It will either be a noon start or 8pm.

This is where the bowl structure works against Pitt and several other schools. It’s about who puts seats in the stands. Not wins and losses or rankings.

No one should be counting on the Big East heading to the Gator Bowl, period. With ND out of that, the Gator still has the right to take a Big 12 team. That means, assuming Nebraska wins this week, they and their well traveling horde will get the nod.

The Sun Bowl may have to invite a BE team, provided Rutgers gets to 7 wins. If the Scarlet Knights gag against L-ville then the Sun Bowl can and will grab a 6-6 ND team.

That leaves the Meineke Bowl, PapaJohns.com Bowl, International Bowl and St. Petersburg Bowl. There will be at least 4 teams (excluding Cinci) with 7 wins or more — but no more than 9. With the non-BCS bowls as long as the teams are within a couple wins of a team there is flexibility in who a bowl picks.

Meineke is the biggest and gets the first choice.

Meineke: The folks in Charlotte are going to take West Virginia unless the Mountaineers get routed by Pittsburgh and fall to Louisville and USF. In a bad economy, the ticket allure is just too big. The backup plan is Rutgers, but that might be difficult politically.

Papajohns.com: Rutgers or Pittsburgh. One of these teams may have to play outside the Big East tie-ins. See below.

International: UConn. Book it.

Now in other stories, it is also factored that if Meineke gets UNC from the ACC rather than Virginia Tech or BC, then Pitt would stand an excellent chance of getting picked for it.

USF is a lock for the St. Pete’s bowl after last night.

Frankly, I’m sure I’ve made a mistake somewhere along the line because this crap is so convoluted and subject to changes and much more, so this could be completely wrong.

Rutgers is the only team still trying to clinch an absolute lock bowl bid.

The point is, as long as Pitt wins there is less of this crap to be concerned.

Not too much to say after the Cinci game. I’m a little disappointed with LeSean McCoy for going with or taking the bait on the “better team didn’t win” line.

“[Is Cincinnati] a better team?,” McCoy asked defiantly. “No, not at all.”

Pitt middle linebacker Scott McKillop was a little more diplomatic and said, “I think today, from the scoreboard, they were the better team but there was some penalties and we shot ourselves in the foot. They executed today against us. We didn’t play our best game today.”

McCoy then attempted to answer the question again.

“I’m sorry, I am just a little bit upset,” he said. “But I thought it was us. Speaking from an offensive standpoint, we didn’t execute enough. It is sad, I think it was a lack of execution but they are definitely not the better team. I don’t think we played like we can, it has nothing to do with better team, it is just some of the things we do, we didn’t do today. I guess you can look at it like, for this game, they were a better team.”

That’s the only time it counts. On gameday. I’m not trying to be hard on the kid. Obviously he was hurting after the loss, as was the whole team. It’s just I have read it enough times elsewhere — and it’s been pointed out on this blog — when an opposing player or coach goes to that sort of thing after losing. I don’t buy it from them, so I can’t really buy it when it comes from players from my school.

Everyone pretty much knew when Cinci seized control of the game.

The Bearcats responded with a 16-play drive that covered 99 yards and 7:54, converting three third-and-longs and a fourth-and-short. On a third-and-4, Pike beat the blitz of defensive end Jabaal Sheard to find Marcus Barnett for a 20-yard touchdown pass and tie it at 7-7 at 14:09 of the second quarter.

“That set the tone for the first half,” said Pitt middle linebacker Scott McKillop, who had a game-high 17 tackles. “We knew we’d hit adversity. We just didn’t know it would be that soon.”

Cinci’s offense followed that up with an 11 play, 83-yard TD drive.

You could argue, though, that Cinci set the tone and asserted itself after the turnover on the kickoff. Down 7-0. Pitt starting at the Cinci 34. Instead of a defense that hung its head, they pushed Pitt backwards 12 yards to remove even the chance of a field goal drive. That was an impressive stop by their D with all the momentum going to Pitt. Cinci Coach Brian Kelly actually tabbed that as the changer.

During the liveblog, there was some annoyance with the accolades and love being given to Cinci QB Tony Pike. In cold reflection, though, they were well deserved. He was outstanding.

Pike completed 26 of 32 passes for 309 yards and three touchdowns and led Cincinnati to a 28-21 win against Pitt in the fourth edition of the River City Rivalry.

“Defensively we could not get them off the field,” Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said. “That kid [Pike], I have to give him credit, he played about as good as any quarterback has played against us in the last two or three years. Not only did he get away from our rush, and we got guys who can rush, he made throws, he found receivers down the field and made some excellent throws under pressure.”

Pitt middle linebacker Scott McKillop added, “You have to give a lot of credit to Tony Pike, he had a great day, he made some throws with his arm and he made some plays with his legs. If you watch some of his film from his previous games, he feels the pocket closing and he leaves and the receivers are very good when he gets out of the pocket, of running the routes. He has a good feel for them, he made big plays.”

Wannstedt’s statement about Pike’s performance is strong considering the way Rutgers’ Mike Teel sliced the Panthers’ secondary about a month ago, but he wasn’t exaggerating as Pike was near-perfect and made big play after big play to sustain drives.

A Cinci columnist compared his play to that of Ben Roethlisberger. He’s also still trying to absorb it all.

Pike went 10-for-11 in the second half. He has gone from being an afterthought in August to a potential NFL QB after next season. If you’re looking for a metaphor for UC football lately, that will do.

How impossibly surreal was the scene at The Nip Saturday night? The place was decked out in red-clad fans, as if someone had opened a vein in the South end zone. Traffic was backed up on Taft Road a few minutes before kickoff.

Kelly is the subject of rumors sending him to Tennessee. Local sports agent Richard Katz suggests eight or nine Bearcats will go in the NFL Draft next spring.

These are the Bearcats?

That wide-open TD catch by Dominic Goodman that gave Cinci the lead, was also the TD catch to set a new Bearcats record for TD catches in a career.

Both papers had a columnist at the game. The storyline from Cook was: bet Pat White and the Hoopies can’t wait for Friday.

The Pitt coach clearly has a stressful six days ahead. He has much to correct before the Mountaineers roll into Heinz Field. For one thing, he must find Pitt’s lost running game, gone for two games now. For another — and this is the biggie — he must figure a way for his defense to contain West Virginia quarterback Pat White.

From Starkey, the defense didn’t do its job right from the start.

Now, it is up to the team leaders and the coaches to get the players heads straight and not hang it up. This was not the sort of thing you want to read.

“We were thinking Big East championship and Orange Bowl, just like everybody else in the conference,” Pitt sophomore defensive end Jabaal Sheard said. “After that loss, it’s going to be difficult to come back.”

Yeep. Over to you Mr. McKillop.

“This being my senior year, this could be the toughest loss right now,” middle linebacker Scott McKillop said. “And it is one of those things that myself, the other seniors, the other leaders, we have to as a team regroup. We do have two games left, we can’t go into the tank right now, we can still go out there and finish second in the Big East.

“A lot of things could still go either way, but we have to take care of what we control and we know we have a big game on Friday at home against West Virginia. I’m sure they’ve been eyeing this game on the schedule for a while so I think we’ll be ready and it will be interesting.”

It does seem that after each loss, the season has appeared to be potentially circling the drain. Time for another bounce back.

Some more lists as the basketball season gets underway.

DeJuan Blair gets in among the best college centers.

4. DeJuan Blair, Pitt. There aren’t a lot of 6-7 centers at the highest levels of college basketball, but you just don’t find a DeJuan Blair on every corner. Blair’s combination of length and width more than compensate for his disadvantage in height. And he isn’t just strong, he is disarmingly skilled and unreasonably quick. Of all the statistics that defined his freshman season, the one that never ceases to amaze was his total of 62 steals. That’s just under two per game. Which is what Stephen Curry averaged as a quick guard playing in an uptempo system. Just saying.

Sam Young could get himself into the middle of the 1st round of the NBA draft this year. He ranks among the top-5 seniors according the NBADraft.Net.

Want to start an argument. Try and rank the Big East coaches from 1-16.

6. Jamie Dixon (Pitt) – Pitt has become a familiar name in the NCAA tournament thanks to this guy. He’s moved up a rung in the recruiting latter by getting big-time local talent in Dejuan Blair, who grew up a mile from the Petersen Events Center. Dixon is an Elite-8 away from becoming a premier coach in college basketball.

I can’t argue too hard against Coach Dixon being slotted there. I don’t agree with the order of the top-5. I’d put Pitino #1, Calhoun #2, Boeheim #3, Thompson III #4 and Huggins #5. Here’s what’s amazing about the coaching in the Big East. You look at the top half of the coaches (include Villanova’s Jay Wright and ND’s Mike Brey), and the majority of the fans of each program would still want to stick with their coach. A lot of very good teams and outstanding coaches.