In case you didn’t think it was official yet.

The University of Pittsburgh has accepted an invitation to play in the 75th annual Brut Sun Bowl, announced Sun Bowl Association executive director Bernie Olivas. The game will pit No. 23 Pittsburgh against a team from the Pac-10 Conference on Wednesday, Dec. 31 at noon (MT) at Sun Bowl Stadium.

“We are extremely happy to have extended an invitation to Pittsburgh to play in the 75th anniversary of the Brut Sun Bowl,” said Sun Bowl Association executive director Bernie Olivas. “Pittsburgh has a storied football program and will be making its third trip to El Paso. They area team on the rise and we could not be more excited.”

Pittsburgh (9-3, 5-2 Big East) secured the selection with a 34-10 road win over Connecticut. The win marked the fourth win in the last five games for the Panthers. Pittsburgh’s opponent from the Pac-10 will be announced on Sunday at 5 p.m. MT.

“Everything about Pittsburgh right now is a positive. They really bring so much to the table,” said SBA football chairman John Folmer. “Running back LeSean McCoy will remind a lot of people of Tony Dorsett, who rushed for 142 yards in the 1975 Sun Bowl for Pittsburgh. Local fans will also remember (head coach) Dave Wannstedt, who spent four seasons as the defensive coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys.”

This marks Pittsburgh’s first nine-win regular season since 1982.

“Pitt football and the Sun Bowl are synonymous with great football tradition,” said Pittsburgh director of athletics Steve Pederson. “It is an honor for us to be playing in the 75th anniversary of a game that has meant so much to college football. We can’t wait to bring our fine team to El Paso.”

It is still not official as to who Pitt will face. Oregon State, though, seems a lock. USC is going to the Rose Bowl. Oregon played in El Paso last year. They could, I suppose invite Cal or Arizona, but no one seems to even think that’s what will happen.

I’m on FanHouse LiveBlog duty this evening. That’s two liveblogs in one day. I’m planning on doing very little near the computer tomorrow.

Hopefully Pitt can continue a very good day.

Game at 4pm today. Remember, Pitt’s website will stream the video live and for free at 7pm. Once more, props to Pitt’s athletic department for doing this.

Vermont has been a good team so far, despite their 4-2 record.

But Vermont could easily be undefeated. The Catamounts’ losses came in overtime — to Maryland and George Mason.

Vermont fell to George Mason, 80-79, in the opener. Six days later, the Catamounts took Maryland to the brink in an eventual 89-74 loss on Nov. 21 in College Park, Md. Maryland needed a 3-pointer with six seconds left in regulation to force overtime in coach Gary Williams’ 400th career victory.

“We’re two points away from being 6-0,” Lonergan said.

The Catamounts own a 31-point victory over Yale — the same Ivy League team that won at Oregon State two weeks ago — and handed host Delaware its most lopsided loss of the season (78-63), more than Big East teams Rutgers and Seton Hall.

Vermont has won three in a row since losing to Maryland.

“We matched up well with Maryland — they aren’t proven inside,” Lonergan said. “Pittsburgh may not have the height, but they are big inside. That is really concerning to us.”

A pair of All-America East players — junior forward Marqus Blakely and senior guard Mike Trimboli — lead Vermont. Blakely averages 18.3 points and 9.0 rebounds per game and ranks in the top 20 in the nation in blocked shots (2.8) and steals (2.8).

And of course, they are saying that their goal is to win the game.

There are questions about the guard rotation for Pitt after Fields and Jermaine Dixon. Coach Jamie Dixon says it is still unclear and unset.

“They haven’t separated themselves,” coach Jamie Dixon said. “Travon, Ashton and Brad, no one has really separated themselves from one another. … We don’t have all the answers today.”

In the power polls. Luke Winn at SI.com keeps Pitt at #6.

It’s weird how these Panthers are almost statistically reminiscent of last season’s Memphis squad, which shot 34.9 percent from long-distace (ranking 170th) and 61.4 percent from the free-throw line (ranking 329th) but was still very offensively efficient (ranking fourth overall). Pitt is slightly better in both cases, shooting 35.2 percent on threes (ranking 121st) and 66.7 from the stripe (ranking 207th), while sitting at No. 1 in the offensive efficiency rankings.

As Winn noted, little has changed with Pitt’s 3-point shooting. That trend is national despite an extra foot.

ESPN.com returns with theirs and Pitt is at #4. Mark Schlabach put Pitt at #2 in his ballot — the highest spot for Pitt. Three of the ten voters had Pitt at #5 — the lowest.

You really didn’t think I’d skip liveblogging this did you?

One slight change, I’m going to be a little more aggressive at moderating comments. What I mean by that is, when there is a play and say six people all type “wow” or “tackle” or essentially the same comment within a couple seconds of each other, I’m not going to approve them all. It’s nothing personal, it just creates clutter. I’ll approve one or two but not all of them. Hopefully it will allow things to flow better.

Still haven’t figured out why CIL’s “iframe” won’t embed on my blog. If anyone has any skill with this send me an e-mail to explain how I can make it work.

Otherwise, you will find the liveblog starting around noon right here.

Last minute links and some other stories I never posted.

Nate Byham actually played a role in the offense last week. After a season of the TEs being little more than extra blockers in the offense, he gives a lot of “it’s all about the team” answers.

Most of the “Buddy Morris really worked these players into shape and changed their mentality over the summer” stories were written last year. So this year, where the impact is so much more visible, there haven’t been as many. Here’s one from the past week. It ties in to the UConn game, since Coach Wannstedt made the decision to change the strength and conditioning program after the 4th collapse against UConn at the Rent. (Not that I disagree that the players ran out of gas and a change was needed, but it is still worth remembering and not giving in to total revisionism that the horrid playcalling by the offense in the 4th Q had more than a little to do with things as well.)

It’s hard to believe Pitt has only played (and lost) two games at the Rent. It already seems like a house of horrors.

Connecticut was 7-0 at home last season – a feat matched in the Big East only by West Virginia in 1993 – and had an 11-game home winning streak snapped Nov. 1 in a 35-13 loss to the Mountaineers. This marks the final home game for the Connecticut’s 20 seniors, who have played in three bowl games and helped the Huskies win a share of a Big East title.

Not that Pitt needs any extra incentive.

“They’re all tough places to play, but we have had some success on the road this year,” Pitt middle linebacker Scott McKillop said. “They present some problems when you play them, but it’s a good atmosphere. It’ll be cold, but we’re used to that from the past couple of games, so we have to go up there and take care of business.”

UConn is 11-1 in the Rent over the last couple years. Of course, Pitt only has one road loss this year.

Getting to 9 regular season wins would be something Pitt hasn’t achieved since 1982. Counting a bowl game Pitt has not won 9 games since 2002.

Paul Zeise is sick of QB questions. Here’s why the topic is such a rager — beyond simply Stull’s performance at the Brawl — it’s the talent around the spot. Dickerson and Byham at TE. WRs like Kinder, Baldwin and even Wright, McGee and Turner. Add in a talented backfield and an O-line that has improved during the season. That puts the attention on the QB spot to make it all work along with the offensive coordinator figuring out all of this out.

Back, briefly to UConn, they do have injuries and issues. Their best corner, Darius Butler, has been out with an injury. Back-up tailback Andre Dixon was suspended after his arrest for a DUI. Starting MLB Greg Lloyd, Jr. (yes, he is that Greg Lloyd’s son)  is out with “personal reasons” so walk-on Aaron Bryant will be the starter.