That’s a credit to Pitt’s Associate AD for Media Relations, E.J. Borghetti and his staff making them happy.

The Football Writers Association of America polled themselves to find out which sports information departments really stood out.

The Football Writers Association of America has announced its first “Super 11” field of sports information departments, which were deemed the best in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision during the 2009 season.

In alphabetical order those 11 schools are: Buffalo, Clemson, East Carolina, Georgia, Nebraska, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, San Jose State, Southern California (USC), Texas and Utah.

“There are clearly many outstanding sports information departments across the country,” said Tim Griffin, 2010 FWAA President and chairman of the Super 11 Committee. “But our group felt there was a smattering of schools that merited commendation because of their exemplary work above and beyond the call of duty. This is our first collection in what will be an ongoing process.”

I can attest that E.J. Borghetti does a fantastic job at dealing with people. He knows how to engage them and makes them feel like he is on their side/helping them. All the while he is putting Pitt, the team, the players and the coaches in the best light possible.

Just some assorted things relating to football that I’ll lump in a short link-dump.

The rest of Coach Wannstedt’s interview with ESPN.com’s Brian Bennett. Kevin Harper will at least take over kick-off duties it seems. Mike Cruz comes in as the #1 tight end with Devlin #2. Mason to no one’s shock will be MLB.

How about the offensive line? You lost three starters but it seems like you’ve been grooming some young guys to take over.

DW: Center will be the biggest position. Left guard will be fine. Chris Jacobson, he started the bowl game and can play. He’s a big, talented kid. Three years ago, he was the most highly recruited offensive lineman in the state of Pennsylvania. So he’ll be fine. There’s competition at right guard and the same thing at center. So we’ve got to fill two spots, but we’ve got some young guys who’ve been waiting for that opportunity. We’ll see. I’m not sure how it’s going to pan out.

Not even a hint as to who will be competing at the center spot. Meanwhile Robb Houser, who did a fine job in his brief time, is gearing up for Pitt’s pro day to show he can play in the NFL.

A major inspiration for him has been former Pittsburgh teammate C.J. Davis, now a guard in the league with the Carolina Panthers. Davis wasn’t drafted last year and like Houser doesn’t have exceptionally imposing size.

Being from the Pittsburgh system evidently provided quite a lift. Dave Wannstedt, with his 22 years worth of professional experience as a former NFL coach and player, runs the program and has been preparing college players well now for the business.

“C.J. couldn’t believe how simple it was when he had to first study the Carolina play schemes,” Houser said. “They’re very complicated at Pitt, it took me a year and a half to get down. I think that some of the coaches and players at Carolina were amazed how C.J. was able to master that system quickly and I’m not surprised because I know how complex the plays we run (at Pittsburgh) are.”

Former players from the school now in the NFL include New York Jets defensive back Darrelle Rivas, Philadelphia Eagles running back LeSean McCoy and Carolina Panthers left tackle Jeff Otah. Those three are considered among the league’s best under 25 years of age and were manufactured by Wannstedt during their college careers.

Needless to say, Houser is hoping to join the tradition…

“Manufactured?”

Nate Byham gets discussed among TE prospects at the Patriots site.

“Smash-mouth football, the kind of guy who’s down in the trenches doing the dirty work,” was how Byham described himself and his game Thursday. “Not too many tight ends are known for getting all gritty and moving d-ends and throwing linebackers. That’s why I take pride in being able to get down there and maybe get out in the pass when people least expect it.”

Byham also pointed out that his head coach at Pitt, Dave Wannstedt (a long-time former NFL assistant and head coach) has been instrumental in molding him into a prototypical NFL blocking tight end. Scouts, he said, have told him that they can see how much more developed he is as a blocker than other college players at his position.

This article on Dickerson raising his stock at the combine also provided unintentional insight as to why Coach Wannstedt struggled with figuring out the right place to play him.

Still, it remains to be seen if he improved his draft stock because, at 6 feet 2, 226 pounds, Dickerson will have to add at least 15 pounds to be a flex tight end or H-back in the National Football League. If so, he thinks he can be a tight end on the order of Dallas Clark of the Indianapolis Colts or Vernon Davis of the San Francisco 49ers.

“They’re smaller type tight ends,” Dickerson said. “That’s what I classify myself as, a smaller receiving-type tight end.

“I think they’re going to look at me as a flex tight end. I’m probably going to put on some weight. I’ll be used in the slot and as a wing, all the H-back stuff. I think that’s how I’ll be used. But some teams might want me as a bigger receiver, I don’t know yet.”

Because of his athleticism and unique skills, Dickerson lined up at a number of different positions at Pitt, including wide receiver, H-back and running back. Nate Byham, who also attended the combine, was more of the natural tight end, primarily because he is a better blocker than Dickerson.

They apparently don’t know where to play him or classify him. It really seems to be an issue in the NFL as to body types and “prototypical” sizes. Coach Wannstedt (and to some degree former OC Matt Cavanaugh) with an NFL background struggled to recognize the potential at the TE spot in college until late.

At SI.com, Andy Staples managed to put together a team of top players who were so missed by the recruiting sites that they had 2-stars or less. Dion Lewis didn’t make the cut because even he got 3-stars. The only Pitt player, Greg Romeus.

Romeus played basketball for most of his life and didn’t take up football until his senior year at Coral Glades High in Coral Springs, Fla. The school was playing its first year of varsity football, so it wasn’t a destination for college recruiters. Romeus was set to sign with Central Florida, but Pitt made a late push and snagged a raw athlete who would grow into a fearsome pass rusher.

Former Big East Commish Mike Tranghese got $30,000 for six months consulting work to Memphis for how they can get into a BCS conference. Tranghese did not have to produce a written report, and his informed, measured advice seemed to boil down to: win more football games.

Sometimes I think gimmee games make me more nervous than the big, tough ones. I am finding myself getting increasingly edgy the more I think about Pitt playing Providence. You would think that Pitt players would want revenge and  still have the memories stuck in their heads from last year at the Dunk.

“We’re just going to move the ball,” Panthers guard Ashton Gibbs said. “We’ll continue to be unselfish and penetrate and dish and look for open teammates. That’s what we’ve been doing, and we’re going to continue to do it.”

Twenty-nine players have scored at least 20 points against the Friars this season.

South Florida’s Dominique Jones scored 46 points against Providence — the second-highest point total in Big East history — and Georgetown’s Greg Monroe became the first Big East center to record at least 10 assists in a game when he had 12 against Providence.

The Friars can turn ho-hum players into high-scoring stars.

DePaul’s Mike Stovall, who averages 6.6 points, scored 30 against Providence. Cincinnati’s Cashmere Wright, averaging 5.7 points per game, netted 24.

Still, Pitt can’t take the Friars lightly. The No. 1 Panthers started out “lackadaisical” at Providence last season and lost, 81-73.

“We came out really lazy, and they took advantage of it,” Gibbs said. “Before you knew it, we were down 20.”

What has me worried is that Providence plays such bad defense. Expending all its energy on scoring. It is a hard temptation for players to resist the urge to just try and match the scoring and slip on the defensive end.

Consider this: Marquette Providence is riding an eight game losing streak. In four of the games they had a halftime lead (USF, G-town, Syracuse and Marquette). One game was tied (Cinci), and in three games where they trailed at the half (WVU, Nova, Cuse) two of them had the Friars within 5 points. Only WVU blew them out of the water in the first half and shut down their offense.

It took for most of these teams a halftime of their coach getting in their faces to remember to play defense and not let Providence dictate the tempo. Considering the offensive funks Pitt can fall into, it does have me a bit concerned.

You add in just the level of public humiliation Providence is taking over their defense. Plus second year coach Keno Davis seems to be losing his honeymoon grace period with the play.

But they aren’t, and there are no repercussions coming from Keno.

“There’s a point where guys make mistakes,” he said the other day, “and as a coach you can sit them, but are you ruining your chances of winning a game?”

Last time I looked, the Friars had lost eight straight conference games, and 10 of their last 11.

Because Keno is soft on his players, they play soft defense.

Can you picture Jim Calhoun or Jim Boeheim, Jay Wright or Jamie Dixon, Bob Huggins or John Thompson III, putting up with efforts they felt were insufficient and unacceptable?

Keno Davis’ quote came from his discussion of lack of depth on the squad that benching the guys won’t help the team win. It’s a tough line. Will the players actually respond to the benching? Just quit?

I know the broader point being that they were going to lose anyways so at least do so witha  message. As I pointed out with their first half, they were actually leading or still very close. Only one game was a blowout from the start. That’s what has to make it so hard. For at least a half, they were in these games.

Well, at least we know Jermaine Dixon will do what he can on defense and to keep the team in line. He has a goal.

Dixon, a 6-foot-3, 200-pound guard who came to Pitt from Tallahassee Community College last year, can complete his two-year career at Pitt with a 36-1 home record if the Panthers can win their final two games Thursday against Providence and Saturday against Rutgers.

“That would be big,” Dixon said Tuesday after practice. “I told them I never wanted to lose in the Pete. But we took one loss this year. Not losing [another] game in this building would be great. It’s something I want to do.”

The team from a year ago became the fourth in school history to complete a season with a perfect home record. The current team can join select company by finishing the season with only one loss at home.

Since the Petersen Events Center opened in 2002, four teams finished undefeated or with one loss. The 2008-09 and the 2002-03 teams did not lose at home. Coach Jaime Dixon’s first team in 2003-04 and the 2005-06 group finished with one loss.

Not that he’s actually seen the court much — and now the presumed odd guy out to make room on the next recruiting class — Dwight Miller has reinjured his heel that was the official reason for his redshirt last year.

In other stuff, Gary Parrish lists his top-eight candidates for National Coach of the year. Tough group.

In a dubious distinction for Coach Dixon, he gets mentioned as the “best coach never to make the Final Four.”

Coach Dixon has been doing the media rounds and on the Dan Patrick show he engaged in hyper-conference partisanship.

“I think we’ve got like 11 teams that are NCAA tournament teams,” Dixon told Tony Bruno, a fill-in host for Patrick.

“I think this conference is actually stronger this year from top to bottom, I really do,” Dixon said. “I don’t think we’re as top heavy this year, but top to bottom there is just better teams.”

But Dixon acknowledged that the league likely won’t actually get that many bids to the Big Dance.

“Now I know that many aren’t going to get in. It’s just pure numbers, plus beating each other up,” he said.

Dixon also remained lukewarm on conference expansion.