No, not the Panthers. I’m sure they are fine. Ready to kill New Hampshire, rip the wings off of flies, whatever.  I’m talking the fanbase for the home opener. Sold out season. All student tickets snatched. Now it is time to show up for the game, despite the construction and parking fubar.

Let’s run things down.

Chris Gates asks and several answer his weekly itchy questions (I really can’t call them burning, but they do irritate). He also has a Q&A with a New Hampshire beat writer.

This is New Hampshire’s big time.

The Wildcats have beaten bigger schools in places like Muncie, Huntington and Evansville. But this week it’s Pittsburgh, one of the great pigskin cities, and home to one of college football’s true big boys.

“This one is a different breed of cat we’re playing against,” University of New Hampshire Coach Sean McDonnell said.

Love my school. Love the history. Still dreaming big. But… Ah, hell, moving on.

Despite the poor throw that was intercepted in OT, the majority of Pitt fans seem fine with Tino Sunseri’s performance. So a couple pieces stressing Sunseri’s unwavering confidence.

“I don’t remember saying it, but I wouldn’t change it. I’d want the ball in my hands again,” Sunseri said. “It was just one of those things when you’re in the zone. (Teammates) feed off of that. People watch your body language.”

If Sunseri’s debut as a starter is to be considered stellar, it’s because of his performance in the fourth quarter. Sunseri completed 8 of 14 passes for 127 yards, including a 44-yard touchdown to Jon Baldwin, who saw his classmate’s confidence increase with every play.

“This was his first game as a starter, but we’re all held accountable,” said Baldwin, who finished with four receptions for 71 yards. “He had never been in an environment like that, at Utah. As the game progressed, he got a little more comfortable and started making more plays.”

No reason for him not to be confident. He played well overall and the general feeling is that Coach Wannstedt should have let him throw sooner in the game. Especially, play-action.

Q: Have any of the Pitt football team coaches ever heard of play action? Seems with the Utah team being so concerned about Lewis, when they were inside the 15 as time was running out, a play action pass would have been called for. Never once during that entire game did the offense run any play action.

ZEISE: This is sort of a strange question — this is a pro-style offense and play-action passing is one of the most important principles of offensive football to both the head coach and the offensive coordinator. The play action passing game is something the Panthers have done well in the past although you are right, it was noticeably absent against the Utes. I think we will see much more of it as the season rolls on.

You would hope.