Okay, perhaps more like venting. Whatever, it’s good for the soul to get this out of my system before 2009 gets underway.

First, congrats to the Oregon State Beavers. They did just enough on offense, and persevered even when some key plays and calls didn’t go their way. It may have been an ugly 3-0 win, but it was still a win. As a Pitt fan, I’m not exactly going to blast them for not having the style points. Nor am I going to go to the “they got lucky” bit. They didn’t. They made more plays on offense, and left at least 6 points on the field in two drives that failed deep. Pitt’s offense, by contrast was never in a spot where you can that they were going to come away with anything, but for a little bad luck, a call going against them or just a great effort by the opposing player to stop them.

Pop quiz. A day or two before the bowl game and a member of the starting O-line goes down. In such a situation, do you lean heavier on the stud running back that has shown he can make things happen with just the barest openings on the line, and sometimes even with less than that? Or do you come out firing deep with a QB that at his best this season was adequate and before the bowl game the head coach admits he doesn’t know where the QB is mentally?

I don’t think it is any exaggeration, that whatever goodwill OC Matt Cavanaugh had built up in the course of the season after another rough start, has been shot, stabbed, beaten with a meat tenderizer, kicked around the blocks with steel toe boots and just otherwise left bleeding and pulpy somewhere deep in South Oakland.

Apparently giving OC Matt Cavanaugh more than a couple weeks to gameplan is not a good thing. I mean it was just stupifying. You can justify one, two or even three series in the first half to take a shot deep. To try and open things up and give the QB some confidence. But at some point, there has to be a realization that he doesn’t have it. That if they are going to stick with Stull, they can’t put him in the position to have to make plays. Let alone plays that he rarely made most of the season. The lack of throwing in the 7-15 yard range with Stull was stupifying.

As ticked as I am at Stull’s performance, I am far more disturbed and bothered by the playcalling. It was a lot like the Cinci game, where the playcalling  took LeSean McCoy out of the game even more than the opposing defense.

Fans never forgave Walt Harris for many things. One of which was in the Meineke Bowl (or whatever they called it in 2002), trying to get too cute on offense and forgetting the most important weapon — Larry Fitzgerald. At least Pitt moved the ball and occasionally scored in that bowl.

In the first quarter, McCoy touched the ball 3 times — 2 rushes and 1 pass. McCoy ran the ball a total of 8 times in the first half. Stull was 5-14 with an interception and a sack in that half.

In the second half, McCoy got 16 touches, but 5 of them came in the second last series after Stull was pulled due to injury. Meaning, everyone knew and the Beavers were not even bothering to worry about covering the receivers.

We can blame Stull for not making passes anywhere near the receivers. For locking in on his target at the line of scrimmage. But, put the blame on the guy making the decision to keep doing it when it was obvious and apparent very early that it wasn’t going to work.

Oregon State was without their best player and best offensive weapon in RB Jacquizz Rodgers. To say nothing of WR  James Rodgers.  Yet, they still did enough without the two players that accounted for 21 of the Beavers 46 TDs and over 2500 yards. I don’t even want to imagine what Pitt’s offense would have looked like without McCoy.

Pitt’s defense kept it so close that you could believe that one break. Be it a pick six, breaking off a punt return, or a picked up fumble could be the difference. The sad thing was that all of those scenarios were dependent on doing it without having to turn things over to the offense.

The defense held Oregon State to under 300 yards and created 3 turnovers. Pitt couldn’t get 200 yards in the game.

While I’m liveblogging the Sun Bowl, I have the DVR recording the start of Pitt’s Big East Conference. I’ll be watching the basketball game after Pitt-Oregon State. The stories of the day are rather stock as you would expect with the distraction of the Sun Bowl. There’s the opening of conference play for Pitt — along with sidebar story with the Big East Associate Commissioner spinning that they couldn’t do any adjustments to the time of the Pitt-Rutgers game. Right. No changes are possible unless ESPN says so. Then, of course, there is the whole payback/not taking anything lightly storyline.

Feel free to talk about the basketball game here.

Here’s the first rule about this liveblog. If anyone even tries to give a score update on the Pitt-Rutgers basketball game, I’m blocking them from the liveblog for the duration. I have my DVR taping the game, and I intend to watch it after the Sun Bowl. I would appreciate it if you left me in the dark. If you feel you must talk about it, here’s an open thread for the game.

I’ve been waiting quite a while for this. Just before the season started in 2004, I picked up a bottle of Unibroue 2004. I figured on cracking it open for Pitt’s first bowl game in the Wannstedt era. I was beginning to worry. It’s a good thing this beer is one that was bottle conditioned to allow it to age. Hopefully, it has aged well.

I use Firefox for almost all browsing, but Chrome from Google is the best for stability in the Cover it Live format. I never get any crashes or lock-ups using it.

Here’s the link for the live blog. Let’s go Pitt.

Scott McKillop gives his final “as told to” first person thoughts.

McKillop Looks to the Future December 31, 2008

McKillop also gets a puff piece in the El Paso paper.

No, really, Oregon State is happy to be here. Honest.

Even with out the Rodgers brothers, it is still a match-up of top-25 teams.

State of the Sun Bowl. They want to continue as is (as long as ND is included in the Big East portion).

Just, why exactly, is Pitt a 2 to 3 point underdog?

Line play, line play, line play. That is the key for both teams — shocking revelation.

No one is exactly sure how well Oregon State will be able to run the ball.

Oregon State media unsure on the outcome. Seem to be leaning more towards Pitt for this game.

More on Wannstedt being positive about it taking him 4 years to get Pitt into a bowl game.

So, anyone else start breaking into a cold sweat when reading this story on Stull. Even Coach Wannstedt doesn’t seem to be that confident in what to expect.

Yesterday during a news conference, Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt was asked if he thought the extra time off and the fact that the players took some time completely away from football had helped Stull recover fully, clear his mind and get refocused.

“I hope so, and I really wish I could tell you,” Wannstedt said. “His arm is rested, I can tell you that; I just hope his mind is rested as well, but I just don’t know.”

Erp.

I don’t know if the Beavers themselves are going to play as if the Sun Bowl is a letdown after being one game from the Rose Bowl. I do know it is a media obsession for the local coverage.

The 24th-ranked Beavers may in fact be excited to play No. 18 Pittsburgh, but it’s hard to dismiss a loss that figures to resonate for years.

Oregon 65, OSU 38. Beaver Nation wishes that was a misprint.

A 27-21 upset of then-No. 1 USC on Sept. 25 — the Beavers were 25-point underdogs — altered the landscape of OSU’s season. A third straight 2-3 start was followed by a six-game winning streak, and the Beavers were one win away from their first Rose Bowl game in 44 years.

OSU took momentum and home-field advantage into the Civil War on Nov. 29. What followed was a defeat that ultimately dashed the Beavers’ Rose Bowl dreams and sent them to El Paso, Texas, for the second time in three years.

More of that “what might have been” stuff. The coach and players say they have moved on and there should be no whining. There doesn’t seem to be much buying of it.

The Oregon State fans sure are treating the game as a letdown (though, it doesn’t help that this is the 2nd time in 3 years that they are in El Paso).

T here seems to be a feeling among some Oregon State fans that the Sun Bowl isn’t quite good enough, which goes to show if you live long enough anything is possible.

Ten years ago, Oregon State was a college football punch line. The Beavers had wrapped up a 28th consecutive losing season. Mike Riley, considered some sort of miracle worker for guiding Oregon State to five wins in 1998, jumped at the opportunity to coach the San Diego Chargers.

The day Riley bolted, the idea of Oregon State ever being successful enough to reach a mid-level postseason game such as the Sun Bowl seemed as remote as a trip to the moon.

Then came Dennis Erickson, the Fiesta Bowl romp over Notre Dame, Riley’s return and four consecutive bowl victories. Now, this whole late December in west Texas thing seems sort of anti-climactic.

Two years ago, the Beavers brought somewhere between 3,000 and 4,000 fans to El Paso for a memorable Sun Bowl victory over Missouri. This time there might not even be 1,000 Oregon State fans in the stands, if you don’t count the band members, the athletic department employees and their families.

If that underwhelmed feeling carries over to the football field, this could get ugly fast, because Pittsburgh is making its first bowl trip since the 2004 season. The Panthers want to be here.

Oregon State fans, meet Rutgers fans that feel offended that at 7-5 they had to go to Birmingham after years of not even sniffing the possibility of a bowl game by late September.

Time has been a lacking for the past couple weeks. I’m feeling a bit like Coach Wannstedt trying to juggle actually having practices and game planning in December with recruiting.

Let’s start with the seniors. That’s where Coach Wannstedt has a lot of love for the seniors who bought into what he was selling when he took over in January.

Now, he’s doing as much as he can to get them the opportunities to show they can play at the next level. While C.J. Davis and Conredge Collins will return to El Paso in exactly a month for the “Texas vs. the Nation” game; and Scott McKillop and long snapper Mark Estermyer will play in the Senior Bowl in Mobile. There are still other players to get in some showcase games.

“We’re working like crazy on (nose tackle) Rashaad Duncan and (receiver) Derek Kinder and (safety) Eric Thatcher and (kicker) Conor Lee,” Wannstedt said, “but the problem is there’s only three all-star games. There used to be five. Now, it’s down to three. Those things have gotten more competitive, but I’ve called the people in charge of all three of them and I do everything I can to push our guys and get our guys on them.”

Not to mention punter Dave Brytus, who as has been noted put on a show earlier in the week to the fascination of Oregon State beat writers.

He has his pro debut coming up on Feb.21 in Washington, D.C. Mixed martial arts is a career option if he doesn’t kick his way onto an NFL roster, which he has a real chance to do.

Another beat writer dug up a YouTube of a Brytus fight. Yes, I’m sure CBS will run with the Brytus-MMA stuff during the telecast.

Senior LaRod Stephens-Howling gets some more love from his hometown paper and helping to start a line to Pitt.

The four years certainly weren’t wasted for people like Scott Corson, Wayne Jones, Antwuan Reed, Mike Cruz or Marco Pecora. Those are the Johnstown-area players that are now on the Pitt roster, and Stephens-Howling takes great pride in helping to draw some attention to Flood City players.

“I think it’s just about getting the recruiters to our area,” he said. “I’m proud I can say I was one of the first guys to get them back to our area. Now they’re giving us a chance, and I’m glad, because there’s a lot of talent in our area.”

Plus another story on LSH trying to get to the NFL. Just a blitz from the Johnstown paper with stories on Marco Pecora and Antwuan Reed.

It looks like Coach Wannstedt is just having fun with reality.

He joked Tuesday during a Sun Bowl news conference that his previous two stints – as head coach of the NFL’s Chicago Bears and Miami Dolphins – started well, but ended with him being fired or resigning.

“We would have liked it to have happened quicker,” he said of Pitt’s first bowl game under him. “Maybe this is a good omen. When I was in Chicago, the second year we went to the second round of the playoffs and (won) coach of the year. Everything was hee-hee, ha-ha. Five years, later, it was not hee-hee, ha-ha.”

…

“I think this might be a good omen that we started off slower in Pittsburgh, and then we kind of got it going now,” he said.

Sure. Why not.

According to the Zeise chat today, there are more Pitt fans than Oregon State fans in El Paso. I guess we’ll see how it looks on TV.

This can’t be easy. After UNC blitzed them, they start the Big East with Pitt and then UConn. In a one week span they will face the Nos. 1-3 ranked teams (for this week). That’s unprecedented in that kind of time span. And just for good measure they have to play Marquette and Syracuse in the two games after that.

That said, especially after last year, I don’t really feel any pity for the Scarlet Knights. A bit of revenge is what most want. It also means that Pitt won’t be taking Rutgers lightly.

Despite the Scarlet Knights’ upset losses at home, Pitt coach Jamie Dixon doesn’t have to look far to motivate his team for Wednesday afternoon’s game. Last season, Rutgers had a 9-11 record before it went on a 20-2 run in the second half to upset then-No. 13 Pitt 77-64 in Pittsburgh.

“You can’t have any type of letdown, because as our Rutgers game proved last season, it will result in a loss,” Brown said.

Naturally, any trip to New York or New Jersey involves a homecoming and stories of former teammates/close friends facing off. The reigning Big East Rookie of the Week, Mike Rosario and Travon Woodall are in slightly different places.

While Rosario leads the Scarlet Knights in scoring and minutes, Woodall sits behind Levance Fields at the point guard spot for a Pitt team that is the defending Big East tournament champion and is looking to make a run at an NCAA championship.

“I’m just trying to work my way back into the rotation,” Woodall said. “Playing behind Levance is tough because he rarely comes out of the game.”

“He just has to wait his turn,” Rosario said. “When you have older, experienced players in front of you, the only thing you can do is observe and pick up things. And that’s what he’s doing now, he’s picking up a lot of things that Levance does well and a lot of things that will help them win at the point guard spot. So that’s what’s making him a better player, too, because he’s getting better in practice by just going against him.”

Woodall also needs to get some confidence back. In the limited minutes he has seen, he has looked very unsure of himself out there. Not uncommon for a freshman, but he’s not going to be seeing a lot of minutes to find his bearings.

On the subject of point guards, Levance Fields says he is all the way back from his injury. Coach Dixon, would not say that when factoring in conditioning issues.

“I’m good,” Fields said. “I’ve been 100 percent since I got on the court. Every time I’m out there, I’m fine.”

But while Fields said he is fully healed — his foot is healthy and he’s in top condition — coach Jamie Dixon said his star point guard isn’t quite there yet.

“No,” said Dixon, when asked if Fields is back to his former self. “There’s no question. I mean, 11 months is 11 months. He’s getting better, and that’s all we can ask.”

Coach Dixon also felt the need to issue a correction on something else.

Never once, Dixon said, did he tell anyone that this Pitt basketball team is the best team that he has had.

“I’d never say that now,” Dixon said. “Best teams aren’t determined in December or January or February.”

It’s a good thing Dixon doesn’t hold grudges. That’s especially true in this case because the guy who misquoted him was Pitt forward Sam Young. It’s never good to be mad at your star player.

…

“What I said was they could be our best team,” Dixon said. “I made that real clear. I say that every year. It’s up to them …

“I made it real evident to the seniors that they have to do things they haven’t ever done before. They have to lead like never before. They have to do all of the little things like never before. They have to limit distractions like never before.

“They’ve done a good job so far, but there will be more [challenges] along the way.”

Sam Young was quoted, uh, paraphrasing what Coach Dixon has been saying.

Here’s CBS Sports’ Spencer Tillman’s breakdown of the Sun Bowl (he picks Pitt).

Watch CBS Videos Online

One of Oregon State’s concern is to not have punts blocked. OSU Coach Mike Riley knew exactly who Andrew Taglienetti was.

Coach Wannstedt acknowledged Duncan’s comments about the Oregon State O-line. He didn’t try to change their meaning.

Wannstedt said: “As we always used to say, if you talk the talk, you better be able to walk the walk. But I wouldn’t read anything more into it other than he is a senior, this is last game and he wants to play good … and now he better be ready to play good.”

And then some.

Coach Wannstedt, refuses to say that there is any change of plans with the Rodgers boys out.

The University of Pittsburgh football team won’t make changes to its game plan, despite word that Oregon State star running back Jacquizz Rodgers and his brother, receiver James Rodgers, will not be playing Wednesday.

“I don’t think they’ll change their offense at all,” Pittsburgh coach Dave Wannstedt said. “We’ve been down that road too many times, and that’s something that you don’t talk about because you really don’t know until you kick off, and you just have to be ready to adjust on the move”

With Duncan’s comments, all the attention has shifted to the OSU O-line. Pitt’s O-line, though, gets their own moment of attention.

“Coach Wise has brought a lot of technique to us that we didn’t necessarily use before, so it’s been great,” Williams, the left guard, said. “We’re just more mature this year. We’re learning more about football now. Things that might have been a problem in the past are not necessarily as challenging as they have been.

Wise said he’s happy with how the Panthers’ piecemeal offensive line has jelled.

“I would say it’s come together really well,” he said. “The big (change), obviously, was when Robb Houser went down, because he was just coming into his own at center. And he was just truly starting to play well when he got hurt at Rutgers.”

But Davis was quick to step in and give the line some continuity.

“The wonderful thing about C.J. is he just jumped in and just took over,” Wise said. “He’s a smart guy, a veteran guy, a very good athlete. So he just went in and took over. So that was a real godsend the way he did that.”

I found this amusing. One of the OSU beat writers has some fun imagining the coaches press conferences with other questions and honest answers.

Follow-up for Wannstedt: Dave, the Oregon State guys thought they had seen some ugly passes from their own guy, Lyle Moevao, but then they got a load of Bill Stull and they practically fell out of their chairs. Is that the best quarterback Pitt could come up with? What do you do on the deep routes, call FedEx?

Wannstedt: You sound like one of the message board crazies back home. Next question!

…

Question for coach Riley: Mike, if you couldn’t stop Jeremiah Johnson, how on earth will your “gap control” defense handle LeSean McCoy? The kid is liable to rush for 350 yards against your defense. … and what about that mismatch on special teams? Will you have (punter) Johnny Hekker just run out of bounds to avoid getting a kick blocked?

Riley: “All we need to know about Pitt is that they beat UConn. We know how good UConn is. … but yes, we’re thinking about having Johnny just down the ball.”

Follow-up for coach Riley: “Mike, that’s great, but what about McCoy? How do you stop him?”

Riley: “Well, you would hope that an old friend like coach Wannstedt would do the decent thing and not play LeSean McCoy. We can’t use Jacquizz Rodgers, so why should they be able to use McCoy? … but that’s all off the record.”

It also seems that LaRod Stephens-Howling will not be returning punts, but will be on the punt return unit.

The defense is going to have to back up the words of the senior defensive tackle.

“[Oregon State’s offensive line] is a tight unit and seem to know where they are at,” Duncan said. “But the thing I see when I watched them is that I don’t think they have faced a defensive line like us. I mean, the last defensive line they played like us was Penn State and the results speak for themselves.

“Like [Southern California], for instance, they had some big [defensive linemen] guys, but they weren’t as quick as us. They might have been as strong us, but they are not as quick as us. Like I said, I don’t think [Oregon State] has faced anyone like us and that will be our plan, to surprise them [with athleticism].

“If not, if they want to make it a fight, we’ll strap it up like we do.”

Duncan continued to say that the Beavers’ offensive line is good, but that it struggled against speed and he talked about the speed of the Panthers’ defensive ends, Jabaal Sheard and Greg Romeus, as well as the athleticism of defensive tackle Mick Williams.

He said that Penn State’s defensive line exposed some holes in Oregon State’s line and he believes the Panthers’ defensive line will be able to duplicate the Nittany Lions’ strategy because they are similar in speed and athleticism. Penn State beat Oregon State, 45-14, Sept. 6, and in that game the Nittany Lions held the Beavers to 92 yards rushing.

“Looking at the film, Penn State did some twists and had all kinds of things like that going on and [Oregon State’s] O-line couldn’t adjust to it,” Duncan said. “Their O-line is still young, besides the one tackle, who is a senior. So the mixture of Penn State being quick and with them moving around, I don’t think it was a combination that Oregon State could handle, so hopefully that’ll be our game plan going in.”

Okay. And yes, the Oregon State O-line is aware.

Some OSU response: From left guard Adam Speer … (Laughs when told what Duncan said) “That’s kind of funny. Go ask USC, UCLA, ask them what they thought of us. I hope he thinks we’re not any good, and we’ll see afterward what he really thought.”

From right guard Gregg Peat ... “I think they’re a great defense. Surely, they have a season to be proud of and a defensive line to be proud of. As far as him saying whatever he’s going to say, it’s a football game. We’ve faced great defenses. They are a great defense. We’ll look forward to the challenge. Talk it up all you want, it’s another defensive line.”

Of course that Penn State game was in the beginning of the season. You would think that Pitt players, especially would take into account a performance at the beginning of the year as not indicative of the end of the season performance.

Not that Duncan didn’t have a spark of truth in what he said.

But the Pitt nose tackle put his finger on what probably is this game’s most important matchup.

If the Beavers can’t clear running lanes for backup tailback Ryan McCants by blocking Duncan, defensive tackle Mick Williams and quick defensive ends Jabaal Sheard and Greg Romeous, Oregon State could be in for a long day.

McCants will start in place of injured Jacquizz Rodgers, the Pacific-10 Conference offensive player of the year. Rodgers, who has a cracked shoulder blade, didn’t play in the Civil War, a game in which McCants carried 10 times for 32 yards.

It was a significant drop-off. Jacquizz Rodgers gained 186 on USC, 144 against UCLA and 144 against California.

When Oregon State’s running game gets stuffed, the play-action passes stop working, the offense gets out of sync, the defense spends more time on the field, and the Beavers’ chances of winning start to unravel.

All of which means there is a lot riding in Wednesday’s Sun Bowl on the Beavers’ Big Uglies, and they have been called out.

Now we know the Oregon State O-line will be out to prove something.

It’s a nice goal to have. You don’t exactly want the players not believing they will lose games. Much rather have them believing they can and even will win every game. Still, after watching the Georgetown-UConn game, I can say with great confidence that a perfect season is just not going to happen for Pitt.

“We’ve talked about being undefeated,” Young said. “This is the best team we’ve been a part of. Coach [Jamie] Dixon said it’s the best team he’s ever had. We’re talking about the possibility that we can be undefeated and continue this winning streak. If we keep growing as a team anything is possible. The sky is the limit for us. I’m really trying to stay humble, but it’s hard not to look to the future with the team we have.”

…

But his remarks speak to this team’s expectations. After a disappointing loss in the second round of the NCAA tournament in March, Young and the Panthers have their sights set on making the Final Four for the first time in 67 years.

It may very well be the best team of Dixon’s tenure, but he’s not thinking undefeated in the Big East.

The consensus is that getting through this league unblemished isn’t possible. As well as Connecticut and Pittsburgh are playing, no one in either camp, as well as the rest of the league, truly believes either team could run the table.

“I’ve said all along that we’re going to lose a No. 1 or 2 seed because we’re all going to lose games,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “This conference is too good and we play 18 games. We’ve got too many good teams and we’re going to have losses. It’s a given.”

No one is safe from getting beat, at home or on the road, according to Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim.

Oh, yeah. No house is safe this year. Not the Pete. Not the Bradley Center. Not the Joyce Center. It will be tough in the Big East on every game.

That’s not to say that the team shouldn’t be shooting for winning the conference as well. If you want to flash back to the last game, from over a week ago, the reassuring thing was that they still won even as I am sure their minds were elsewhere.

“I can’t cancel Christmas,” he said. “We’re going to go ahead and let them get with their families. I don’t want to be the Grinch.”

Many of the Pitt players started their break after the team’s first road game of the season, leaving from Tallahassee to spend the holiday at their homes.

The good news for Pitt, is that even if the offense isn’t there on a particular night, they still do the other things.

The Panthers’ recipe for success — defense and rebounding — remains the same as they stay undefeated in a season holding as many high expectations as any in the program’s history.

“That’s what we do,” said Pitt center DeJuan Blair, second in the nation with 13.0 rebounds per game. “If the shots go down, they are going to follow. If they don’t, we have a good rebounding team. If we keep doing that, we are going to win a lot of games.”

Still rather avoid many of those nights.

Now, after years of complaints that Pitt lacks a dominant player. One player who definitely can and will take over the game when needed, rather than always trying to have purely balanced scoring. Well… you knew it was coming.

…so why in the world does 70% of the offense go through Sam Young? It seems that Dixon does not give any of his players except Young an opportuntity [sp] to find there shooting groove which I think will come to haunt them late in the season. Dixon leans on Young too much and he will be beat up tournament time…

You just have to laugh. Really, that’s all you can do.

Time to review some player puffery and respecting achievements from stories of the past couple weeks.

Jabaal Sheard has done a great job starting at defensive end after Doug Fulmer went down in training camp.

Pitt defensive line coach Greg Gattuso said he never had any question about Sheard’s ability — he just didn’t think that Sheard, given what he’d be ask to do, would be able to play consistently at a high level.

“We like to rotate our guys, so that was the first thing — he, and Greg [Romeus] for that matter, played way too many snaps,” Gattuso said. “I think we have some other guys who are younger and will be more ready next year, but, this year, we just didn’t have a lot of depth. So to ask those two to play that many snaps and then expect them to be as effective in the fourth quarter as they were in the first — that’s tough.

“But the great thing about Jabaal is that he not only got stronger as the game went on, he also got better every week. He made a lot of mistakes early but he learned from them and he’d even learn within games — he might get fooled once, he wouldn’t get fooled again, that’s just the kind of kid he is.”

Sheard added, “yeah, at the beginning I was getting by on my ability and trying to figure out what I was doing. But I feel like I became a much better football player by the end of the season, I understood things better, I understood the position better.”

Gattuso still seems plenty of room for growth in Sheard’s game, and expects him to be worked over by Strength and Conditioning Coach Buddy Morris this offseason.

Scott McKillop gets the full-on puff piece from Starkey.

The senior middle linebacker is so destructive that he has torn through five facemasks and two helmets this season. As a last resort, late in the year, McKillop began wearing a titanium facemask (“If I ever bent a titanium facemask,” he said, “something’s wrong.”).

What’s next, a medieval suit of armor?

Actually, it wouldn’t be a stretch to picture McKillop riding a horse and wielding a battle-axe as he bore down on an unsuspecting tailback.

McKillop has earned the praise, but it still gets a little uncomfortable to read. The piece also has praise coming from a Pitt walk-on McKillop helped get through early drills. Scott Shrake plays on the scout team while pursuing his Ph.D in engineering.

The valedictorian of his class at Ingleside (Ill.) Grant Community High — he graduated with a 4.78 grade-point average — Shrake was a three-sport athlete who burned out on football and eschewed small-college interest.

He soon realized how much he missed the game, but the demands of completing his course work in the four years of tuition covered by being a finalist for the Chancellor Scholarship prevented him from playing. In one three-semester sequence, for example, he took 23, 19 and 22 credits.

After being accepted to Pitt’s Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation Program on a Pittsburgh IGERT Sustainable Engineering Fellowship — focusing on designing communities to become green and the conservation of energy and water — Shrake decided to give football a go. His persistence paid off when he was the only candidate to survive a tryout in January.

“People told me, ‘You’re going to be a tackling dummy. You’re just going to get hit.’ If I wouldn’t have done it, I would have regretted it,” Shrake said. “At least I bring up the team GPA.”

Shrake will have his Masters by next year and a doctorate in 3.

Pitt also has a finalist for the “Rudy Award” in Dan Cafaro.

Cafaro is a past recipient of Pitt’s Demale Stanley Award, which goes to the team’s most inspirational player. He earned the admiration of his teammates last year while making the Pitt’s squad as a walk-on and persevering through the various season’s regimens while simultaneously undergoing treatment for cancer.

As a Rudy Award finalist, Cafaro will be honored at a breakfast to be held in conjunction with the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Convention on January 12, 2009, at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tenn. Rudy Ruettiger will personally present each finalist with an award and a collegiate scholarship. An overall winner will be announced during the event and presented with the top scholarship and first-place sculpture trophy.

The other two Rudy Award finalists for 2008 are Texas Christian University senior kickoff specialist Drew Combs and University of Oklahoma senior safety and linebacker Nic Harris.

Cafaro overcame Hodgkins lymphoma. Cafaro transferred to Pitt from Virginia Tech after the campus shootings that killed 33, only to have the cancer hit him. This season he’s seen action in 10 games on special teams.

A little love sent Derek Kinder’s way in El Paso as they recount his ACL injury.

Kinder finished the 2008 regular season leading the Panthers with 410 yards and three touchdowns on 35 catches.

“There have been a lot of ups and downs personally as well as with the team,” Kinder said after Pitt’s practice on Saturday. “We started off on a bad note (with a loss to Bowling Green), then we turned it around and we were able to finally get to a bowl game, the first one we’ve had in like four years. So it’s good to be here.”

Kinder enters Wednesday’s Sun Bowl with a chance to move into the top five on Pitt’s all-time receptions list. He is at No. 7 with 130 catches, while Dwight Collins and Gordon Jones are tied at No. 5 with 133.

Pitt head coach Dave Wannstedt said Kinder has filled an important role as one of the team’s most solid senior leaders.

“Most skill guys, it takes them two years to get back (from a torn ACL). And Derek’s really had a great year, in my opinion,” Wannstedt said. “He hasn’t missed a game. He hasn’t missed a snap He’s done everything in practice.”

Raise your hand if you knew for certain that Kinder was the leading receiver this year.

The Oregon media got a chance to look at LeSean McCoy’s scar.

LeSean McCoy obligingly pushed down his sock to show several reporters the scar that doctors left when they put his right ankle back together.

The scar is long and ugly, but there wasn’t a pretty way to fix that injury.

McCoy’s suffered a compound fracture in the fourth game of his senior season at Bishop McDevitt High School in Harrisburg, Pa. When the pile untangled, he could see bone sticking through his skin.

The metal plate and screws the doctors inserted are still there. But as gruesome as the injury was at the time and as devastating as it was for his national recruiting profile, it’s turned out to be a lucky break.

“Everything changes when you get hurt,” McCoy said. “I decided I wanted to stay close to home, because when I was hurt my family always was there for me. I think I made the best choice, going to Pittsburgh.”

Definitely the best choice for Pitt.

In a recap of 2008, Pitt made the list of top surprises for 2008.

5. It’s not a sprint, it’s the New York marathon. Recovering from an injury-riddled season in which forward Mike Cook was lost for the season with a torn ACL and point guard Levance Fields missed six weeks with a broken foot, Pitt had to win four games in four days to conquer the Big East Tournament. And the Panthers did. When Cook celebrated that unlikely championship with his teammates, it was a great reminder that not all the important basketball is played in the NCAAs.

It was arguably one of the most important victories in Coach Dixon’s tenure. Here’s hoping for bigger ones this March.

Meanwhile, Big East conference play kicks off tonight with UConn-Georgetown. That’s the way to kick off conference action.

UConn is the favorite in the Big East at this point. But the gap isn’t that far.

Favorite: In a slight nod, it goes to Connecticut over Pitt. The Huskies have the most intimidating force in Hasheem Thabeet (when he wants to be assertive). And they still have a healing all-conference guard in A.J. Price and plenty of depth at every position. Connecticut also proved its toughness and March capability with one of the most impressive wins of the season by beating Gonzaga in Seattle. Its win over Buffalo, on the road, also was gritty, even if it was against a middle MAC team. But don’t for a second think that Pitt can’t win this conference. The Panthers are equally tough, as they survived a poor-shooting game to win at Florida State and have as many veteran players as — if not more than — the Huskies. Circle March 7, because that’s when the Huskies and the Panthers could be deciding the regular-season title in Pittsburgh.

Sam Young got the nod as the best player in the conference at this point.

Then there’s next year. A great story on commit Lamar Patterson and his decision to leave McCaskey and the Lancaster-Lebanon League to get better at St. Benedict’s.

It was a very laid-back workout for us,” St. Benedict’s coach Dan Hurley said. “He only got halfway through it.”

Patterson started cramping, and had to sit down, sweating and gasping and embarrassed.

“These guys were doing it like it was nothing,” Patterson said.

Hurley wasn’t surprised by that. He was surprised, and impressed, by what happened next.

“I imagine he was embarrassed, but I talked to him, and he said that he knew this was exactly what he needed,” Hurley said.

“We’ve had kids do that before, and I never hear from them again. I wasn’t disappointed. I was more pleased with his reaction.”

Patterson verbally committed to take a scholarship from the University of Pittsburgh early in his junior year. But by the end of that year Patterson, a 6-foot-5 swingman, was struggling with his shot, his game, and seemingly to stay out of his own way.

McCaskey won a fourth straight L-L League title, but lost in the first round of the District Three playoffs.

“Lamar’s mind-set in coming here was to embrace the things he needed to do to prepare for a place like Pittsburgh,” Hurley said.

Patterson has excellent talent. Just as important — especially at Pitt — he has the desire and work ethic. He may not be able to crack the rotation as a freshman, but you know he will be pushing the starters.

In case you hadn’t heard, this time a trip to El Paso is a little more limited with the warnings about not crossing the border to visit Juarez, Mexico.

The Sun Bowl ended a longstanding tradition of taking parties from participating teams across the border, citing safety concerns from the alarming homicide rate in Ciudad Juarez. That means the Pitt Panthers, who play Oregon State in the 75th Sun Bowl on Wednesday, and many fans are staying stateside while on their first Pitt bowl trip in four years.

Ciudad Juarez has devolved into a war zone between rival cartels battling to control drug trafficking along border towns. U.S. Customs and Border Protection reportedly seized more than 84 tons of marijuana, 774 pounds of cocaine and $2.8 million in cash in the most recent fiscal year.

The number of homicides for 2008 is approaching 1,600 and, in October, the Department of State issued an alert for citizens traveling and living in Mexico, noting “the situation in Ciudad Juarez is of special concern.”

That means no nights at the bar where the margarita was born, and a bit less of what has historically made the Sun Bowl a much more attractive bowl than would otherwise be expected.

Meanwhile, the speculation over what the Big East plans to do with it’s bowl tie-ins means there is speculation that Pitt could be the last Big East team in El Paso for a while.

“After [this agreement ends], we don’t know what is going to happen,” [Sun Bowl Executive Director Bernie] Olivas said. “The Big East is a good conference for us, they are on the East Coast and turn on a lot of television sets. They’ve been great to work with, but at this point we have no idea where we are and what we are going to work with.

“I read an article where they said they don’t want to have the flip-flopping arrangement [with the Gator Bowl and Big 12], so we have to sit with them and see what they have in mind.”

Olivas said the arrangement has worked well for the bowl because it offers a variety of teams to choose from every year. He said the Big 12 brings a lot of regional teams, the Pac-10 brings in the West Coast and the Big East brings the east coast, so the bowl would have some “tough choices” to make if it came down to having to choose two of the three conferences.

It is a good deal for the Sun and Gator. They have more options. That’s the problem for the Big East. The fans of programs in the Big East are stuck waiting on their travel plans later than most. Not sure where they are going. Additionally, there is the whole pick-up game, “you take the girl, we’ll *sigh* take the Big East” feel to it when the Big East team is finally selected.

As this is Pitt’s third trip to the Sun Bowl, they and WVU have played there more than any other Big East team (Cinci — twice, USF, Georgetown and L-ville once). Something that isn’t a particular shock though the fact that Syracuse has never played the Sun Bowl is a little surprising.

While the Beavers and Panthers gathered for a joint activity, you think Punter Dave Brytus was trying to psyche out Oregon State.

Pitt punter Dave Brytus stole the show at a joint-team activity Friday night when he put on a martial arts display by breaking a dozen boards with a variety of kicks and chops. For his finale, he broke three cinderblocks.

…

“My hands are still a little bit swollen from it and I have a couple cuts, but aside from a few bumps and bruises, I’m fine,” Brytus said. “My nose took a little bit of a beating, though. I did a head break, and it’s supposed to just be your forehead, but I was so hyped up because there were so many people there that I hit it with my face. I thought I broke my nose at first.”

Lovely.

Hope everyone enjoyed the holiday weekend. Got back from a weekend at the in-laws this evening.

The Pitt football players had a little time-off around Christmas, but that is over. The Panthers have been in El Paso for a couple days and happy to be there.

Cameron Saddler saw the mariachi band leader coming his way with an oversized sombrero and a request to sing the chorus. As his teammates parted ways, Saddler stepped forward.

The Pitt freshman receiver embraced the opportunity to sing along as the Panthers were welcomed Friday afternoon to the 75th Brut Sun Bowl in traditional Mexican style in the lobby of El Paso International Airport.

“You know I don’t get embarrassed,” Saddler said. “Any time they give me attention, I’m soaking it up. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

“I’m just happy to make a bowl my first year.”

The Panthers, led down the escalator by Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt and his wife, Jan, arrived to the sound of trumpets, vihuelas and violins played by the Mariachi Chapala de El Paso. The Viva El Paso Folklorico, wearing a colorful array of dresses, danced with Wannstedt and his players.

“That was fun,” Saddler said. “I could get used to this.”

Not much of a shock that Oregon State plans to focus their defensive efforts on stopping LeSean McCoy.

“There’s definitely a redemption factor,” said Oregon State senior defensive lineman Slade Norris. “We’ve got to come out and show how we play to the nation because that last game definitely didn’t illustrate what we are. We still have a sour taste in our mouths.”

Norris has a point, as the evidence isn’t as damning as it seems on the surface. Oregon State is allowing only 134.8 rushing yards per game and has held seven opponents to fewer than 100 yards. Another, Washington, had 101. The Beavers have allowed eight 100-yard rushers this season, but only Stanford, Penn State and Oregon have had both a 100-yard rusher and 200 or more team rushing yards.

Oregon State has proven susceptible in allowing big gains. It has given up scoring runs of 46, 28, 58, 65 and 83 yards, as well as a 54-yarder that didn’t reach the end zone. That should have McCoy licking his chops, considering he has six 100-yard games and eight runs of 20-plus yards, including touchdowns of 27, 58, 33, 22 and 47 this season.

…

“I think with a guy like McCoy you’re going to have to persevere because, in their formula for winning, they will not stop giving him the ball,” Riley said. “Even if they are not having great success early, they will continue to give it to him. They try to break your will running the ball.”

While Jacquizz Rodgers won’t be carrying the ball for Oregon State, they will have Jeremy Francis back. He was taking care of his mother after heart surgery. Francis and Ryan McCants will be splitting carries.

Not a shock, but LaRod Stephens-Howling will be returning punts as well as kickoffs. A chance to spark more on special teams, but also give NFL scouts more to consider with the senior.

“That’s what makes our coach special,” Stephens-Howling said. “One of the things that made me excited about coming to Pitt once he was here is that he knows what it takes, he was in the NFL for a long time and he’ll put us all in the best situation he can in order to give us a chance to get there.”

Finally, I file this under, “you aren’t fooling anyone.”

That has raised the possibility that Cross could be a candidate for a position switch, perhaps to receiver. During the 30-minute open window of Pitt’s practice yesterday — the rest of the Panthers’ practice is closed to the media — Cross was returning kickoffs for the scout team.

Wannstedt was evasive about whether Cross could play in the bowl game.

“I don’t know,” Wannstedt said. “We’ve been working him at some different positions. He’s such a great kid. We still have our Wildcat package in, so we might see him at quarterback. This might be the week.”

Right. Sure. That seems likely.

Plenty of people questioning the ability of Pitt to go deep in March with their offense. Specifically the struggles on the perimeter. One exception would be Mike DeCourcy. He points out that Memphis got to the national championship game shooting nearly the same clip. Pitt at least shoots less 3s than Memphis. Which means that the team is less dependent on them or necessarily doomed if it is a cold shooting perimeter night.

But typically you can find — even in the most supportive writers — this from Fran Fraschilla (Inisder subs):

Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon: One more outside shooter
I love a lot about the Panthers, most of all their toughness. The defense and rebounding will keep them in virtually every game this season. And Dixon’s “foundation” of DeJuan Blair, Sam Young and Levance Fields rivals anyone this side of Chapel Hill. If there is an Achilles’ heel, at the moment, it is their inconsistent 34 percent outside shooting. Freshman Ashton Gibbs, who hails from the same high school as former Panthers star Brandin Knight, might be the guy who can help the most.

Or FoxSports.com’s Jeff Goodman:

Pittsburgh (12-0) — I’m not sold on the fact that Pittsburgh is the No. 3 team in the country, but the Panthers are certainly a team capable of making an Elite Eight or even a Final Four run. Jamie Dixon’s team is built around three players — point guard Levance Fields, versatile forward Sam Young and big man DeJuan Blair. Jermaine Dixon gives the Panthers a lock-down defender on the perimeter, but Pittsburgh still needs to find a consistent perimeter shooter.
Notches: Siena, Washington State, Texas Tech
Formidable Test: Jan. 3 at Georgetown
Key Question: Will the Panthers make enough perimeter shots when it matters?

I’m not saying I’m not concerned. I’m just waiting to see how things play out after the first week or two of Big East play. That’s when we’ll have a better sense of how things are really going.  Not to mention seeing the rotation really settle more.