I know that there have been various countdown clocks to the start of college football season and specifically Pitt. Must admit that I have had a hard time getting too jazzed up when the first opponent is 1-AA Youngstown. Even a MAC bottom feeder would be better since they are ostensibly 1-A. And let’s face it YSU hasn’t been the same since they lost Tressel.

Starting tomorrow are the depth charts, the start of specific opponent practices and press conferences addressing those things. So, this final football-free weekend is the local media’s chance for one more look ahead on the season and a bit of a recap of training camp stories.

Paul Zeise started it off yesterday with his 5 nagging questions. Surprise, the QB issue is the lead. Who could have seen that coming? I’ll skip that since we have discussed angsted debated suffered endured beat this into the ground and go to one other on the list.

Will the offensive line be as good as advertised? The answer is incomplete. Right tackle Lucas Nix missed about six days with a leg infection. That was the worst development for the line because, of the slated starters, Nix was the one who least could afford to miss one day. Nix needs to play better than he did early in camp and should improve with experience, but missing that much time has put him behind schedule. Left guard also appears to be unsettled as neither Joe Thomas nor Chris Jacobson did enough to make a case for why they should be the starter over the other. One positive development is that center Robb Houser appeared to have no lingering issues despite the fact that he was coming off a lost season because of a broken leg.

I remain more concerned about Houser and the center more than any other player and position. He cannot get hurt this year, and somehow, someway Pitt needs to work on figuring out who will be the center next year. There is no true center on the roster. As Pablo noted in his breakdown of the O-line, there is no reall plan B other than moving Malecki over. That still leaves a mess for the future.

Other concerns include whether Gunn can handle middle linebacker, who will emerge as the feature back and whether Pitt will avoid any stupid off-the-field problems.

Joe Starkey comes in a timely fashion to repeat what everyone has been saying since the end of last season: the Big East needs a team to step up this year and do better than the projected mass of mediocrity. I’d almost skip this regurgitation entirely if not for one final point he makes.

Speaking of Pitt, it is an original Big East member that has mostly been a drag on the reformed conference. It’s about time the Panthers did some heavy lifting.

We can debate the problems of the early days, the missed opportunities and much else, but the truth remains. Pitt has done very, very little and had just about as much success in the Big East in all permutations.

Zeise also rants on Big East scheduling and that it needs to improve. When compared to the rest of the BCS programs, it isn’t so bad. The problem is the conference and perception kind of demands a more aggressive non-con scheduling to offset.

Of course no matter how you look at Pitt the questions may be on the offense, but the answers are all on defensive front.

Now, Pitt’s front four of Mustakas, tackle Mick Williams and ends Greg Romeus and Jabaal Sheard is the catalyst of a defense that is expected to be the best in the Big East Conference and one of the top 10 nationally.

That’s the goal, anyway, for the Panthers.

“We want to be the best d-line in the country,” Mustakas said. “We want to lead the nation in sacks and (tackles for loss). We want to be looked upon when there needs to be a big play. We want to lead this team as far as we can take us, a Big East championship, a national championship.

“We like the pressure.”

No question they have it on them.