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July 27, 2012

A few links/stories not directly related to Pitt but putting out there.

Northwestern has been Under Armour-ized. It’s not good. It’s not Maryland bad, but in the Big 10 it is radical.

Want to see how a lot of teams will probably (or should) schedule in the ACC when they go to a 9 game schedule? Virginia Tech is a good example.

The 2015 Akron game that was listed on Tech’s website under future schedules has been canceled.

The Hokies’ nonconference schedule in the next few years looks like this:

2013: vs. Alabama in Atlanta, vs. Marshall, vs. Western Carolina

2014: vs. William and Mary, at Ohio State, vs. Western Michigan

2015: vs. Furman, vs. Ohio State, vs. East Carolina

2016: vs. Wisconsin, vs. Liberty, at East Carolina

By being pushed back, the East Carolina series would have one more home-and-home cycle in 2017 and ’18.

The Hokies also are scheduled for a trip to Wisconsin in 2017 to satisfy that home-and-home agreement…

Every year has one marquee non-con. VT relies a little heavy on local 1-AA foes for an extreme patsy for my tastes. The third game isn’t bad. Especially with the always dangerous ECU team out there.

The North Carolina academic scandal continues to be a huge stain. Probably too late to be a big deal, but it appears the basketball team spent a good deal of time in the questionable area before abruptly getting away from it in what appears to be the nick of time. The faculty at UNC is adding to the fire by insisting on the need for an independent audit of the intersection of academics and athletics.

The three professors who wrote the report called for an independent commission of outside experts in higher education to review athletics and academics at the university.

“It is our hope that such a panel of distinguished experts will both highlight what we are doing right and identify areas of deficiencies in organization and procedure,” the report said.

The report comes after a university probe found 54 courses within the Department of African and Afro-American Studies that had little or no instruction, and dozens of independent study classes that had little evidence of academic rigor. The classes were largely filled with athletes, and some had nothing but football or basketball players enrolled.

University officials have said the fraud does not merit an NCAA investigation because nonathletes also were enrolled in the no-show classes, though they represent a minority of the students and the class enrollments. But the report is almost entirely focused on what it called an atmosphere of distrust on a “campus with two cultures,” one academic and one athletic.

Increasingly embattled UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp is supporting yet another investigation, “It will complement the other activities and inquiries in progress.” While quietly whispering that he really, really wants to keep his job.

And finally, Pitt Blather gets listed among the better college football blogs by… someone.

For one more season anyway, Pitt is part of the Big East. And while this blog leaves something to be desired in the aesthetics department, the staff (Chas and Reed) does a great job of keeping Pittsburgh fans in the know about football and basketball developments.

Fine. Fine. The appearance is getting a bit dated. It’s on the list of things to do.





Chas, Tell them ……..it’s about the content……and that you have wonderful personalities!

Isn’t that what our mothers told us, when they want us to take out a girl they wanted us to date?

Comment by Justinian 07.27.12 @ 12:31 pm

What? They don’t like the Mutually Beneficial Girl?

Comment by Tossing Thabeets 07.27.12 @ 12:53 pm

What are they talking about aesthetics?! They clearly haven’t gotten a glimpse and at one of the past two mutually beneficial girls!!

Comment by BCPITT 07.27.12 @ 12:55 pm

Wow Thabeets!! In unison we both jump to defense of the MB girls

Comment by BCPITT 07.27.12 @ 12:57 pm

Wow. I didn’t realize the Mutually Beneficial Arrangements girl was back. Kudos to the ad sales department.

Comment by Scott 78 07.27.12 @ 1:00 pm

Content is what matters. Substance has more meaning than style. This is Pittsburgh we’re talkin about here. Leave the glitz to USC and Miami. We’ve got the MBA girl. That’s all the style you need. Maybe find one in a different position to mix things up…a minor fault.

Comment by TX Panther 07.27.12 @ 1:40 pm

Yeah………….and how many of those other blogs have a hot girl bending over?

Comment by Justinian 07.27.12 @ 2:10 pm

Aesthetics and MB girls be damned! Its all about content.

Comment by KeithS 07.27.12 @ 2:44 pm

KeithS, Amen………and they’re going to playing football soon. So we’ve have even more to talk about. Go Panthers!

Comment by Justinian 07.27.12 @ 3:36 pm

looks like its time for Script Pitt Blather

Comment by wbb 07.27.12 @ 3:38 pm

About the North Carolina academic scandal, the faculty there is being unreasonable. Expecting the student athletes to be in classes that have academic content. Outrageous!!!

I’m just pissed off that I didn’t get to take any of those “independent studies with little or no instruction and little evidence of academic rigor.” I’m sure taking Basket Weaving 101 could have helped boost my GPA.

The funny part is that North Carolina makes such a big deal about their academic reputation. I know that stuff goes on in the Big 12 and the SEC, but I would have expected more out of North Carolina.

Comment by Justinian 07.27.12 @ 3:52 pm

Every website I use is changing their look these days. It is disconcerting and truly a waste of my time trying to figure out how to navigate when they change where all the buttons are. I come to Pitt Blather to read Chas and Reed and the posters. Forget about the appearance. Just for the record, my appearance is getting pretty dated too. And that’s also unlikely to be getting an update any time soon.

Comment by Pitt Dad 07.27.12 @ 3:54 pm

When does fall camp start?

Comment by alcofan 07.27.12 @ 4:17 pm

Substance over form. I hope what you don’t spend on graphics gets wasted on booze and broads.
It would make me feel better if you did.

Comment by SFPitt 07.27.12 @ 5:04 pm

Hmmm…I find the setup and look of this blog to be amongst the best I have seen.

Comment by HbgFrank 07.27.12 @ 5:32 pm

Keep up the good work, you two.

Hail to Pitt!

Comment by Digdug 07.27.12 @ 5:34 pm

Hey Chas and Reed, they refered to “Pittblather” as a football blog. The blog is much deeper than that and I take exception to the comment. We spend just as much talking about basketball and and nonsence, as we do football. We’re openminded as well, we spent much of the week talking about Penn State and we don’t even like those guys.

Comment by Justinian 07.27.12 @ 6:02 pm

RE Northwestern: I actually really like those NU jerseys. Not saying I have a big allegiance to NU (recent masters grad), but I would consider buying one of those.

Comment by Big Time 07.27.12 @ 7:43 pm

Appearance now is like the old Pitt script; don’t change a good thing

Comment by Timmeh 07.27.12 @ 10:12 pm

Jazz Dance World Festival….awesome count me in for my jazz hands routine….I’m loving the new ads Chas!

Comment by Marco 07.28.12 @ 12:20 am

Ha ha ha. Chas, you know where to find me.

Comment by CNorwoodAZ 07.28.12 @ 12:53 am

Talking about uniforms I absolutely HATED those all white uniforms the Panthers wore at times. They aught burn those and do an exorcism, to make sure they don’t come back! They are even uglier the Penn State all white. If I’m not mistaken Pitt’s colors are still blue and gold. I’m fine with either the gold or blue pants when they wear the white jerseys, but please stay away from Penn state colors.

Comment by Justinian 07.28.12 @ 7:59 am

That’s nice that the NC faculty wants to take a look, however, I’m assuming with the NCAA in charge, UNC and Miami are probably looking at 2-3 years probation, no bowls, loss of scholarships and in lieu of financial penalties, I would figure no t.v..

Two less schools involved in the Coastal Division race, and some more possible recruits with two less schools to choose from.

Comment by Dan 07.28.12 @ 10:16 am

Franco Harris and two other PSU grads are going to publish a letter in the Wall street journal titled “Rush to Judgement” defending Paterno, how dissapointing from an ex Steeler. PSU grads claim to be so smart how can they not figure out that the old dog ruled with an iron fist.
I grew up in Somerset county and the Pitt/PSU week was the best week of the year half in Pitt jerseys and them in there jerseys. I was excited to see them play again but now that they have shown there @sses to the rest of the country I say get them off the schedule and get the hoopies back on. People now see WVU as our main rival and them being in the Big 12 and our move to the ACC could only make it bigger and better. Screw PSU and Hail to Pitt!

Comment by steve h 07.28.12 @ 10:35 am

Wow, I didn’t know how pre-meditated North Carolina was.

Guess NCAA doesn’t look at classes if they have regualar non-athlete students in the classes.

So, North Carolina, has former athletes registered in these classes, that now show up as non-athletes, so, even if they do get caught, they hope the NCAA will say, “can’t touch it, they have non-athletes in this class.”

UNC in big, big trouble!!

Comment by Dan 07.28.12 @ 11:51 am

Franco, sticking up for his old coach is understandable. He is entitled to his opinion, but we don’t have to buy into it, or agree with him. There are a lot of Penn State people that have no problem with how he ran things. There were issues in State College between the local police and Joe Paterno about players. Anytime your football coach has more power than the University’s Atletic Director or President, there is a problem.

Comment by Justinian 07.28.12 @ 11:53 am

Temple is closing the door on un-prepared recruits.

Six members of Temple’s incoming recruiting class could end up at prep school rather than the Owls football team this fall because of academics, according to multiple sources.

Running back Brandon Peoples (Archbishop Wood), safety Nate Smith (Wood), defensive end Kiser Terry (Neshaminy), linebacker Alkwan Williams (Johnstown), and wideouts Shakur Nesmith (Imhotep Charter) and Romond Deloatch (Phoebus) have yet to fully clear the NCAA Clearinghouse for freshman eligibility at Temple.

Comment by move_on 07.28.12 @ 9:49 pm

The Blather gets Starkey coverage this AM.

“The topic lit up the airwaves, where the overwhelming sentiment was to renew at least for the two games. The blog PittBlather.com received more than 600 replies to a poll asking whether fans still want to see Pitt-Penn State.”

link to triblive.com

Congrats Chas and Reed.

Comment by steve1 07.29.12 @ 7:27 am

Joe Starkey wrote an article in the Sunday morning Trib that Pitt should give Penn State a chance. In the article, he comments about Penn State’s arrogance towards Pitt. He mentions Joe Paterno’s ending of the series, the Penn State demand that Pitt play 2 games away for every game at home. Starkey goes on to say that when the two game renewal was announced for 2016 and 2017, Curley killed the buz by stating that his school had little interest in continuing the series beyond 2017. He says the arrogance was astounding. The series was once the biggest game in the year for the fans of both schools and was usually played to national audience on Thnaksgiving weekend. I loved the series and always looked forward to the game. But after this many years, I could care less if we ever play again. Unlike Starkey, I see no compelling reason to give them a break. If the attitude changes, and they want to play one for one, I would consider a game or two. When they moved to the Big 10 they thumbed their nose at Pitt. Now that we’re moving on to the ACC, I would rather look to the future than the past. My answer to Joe Starkey, it’s time for Pitt to move on.

Comment by Justinian 07.29.12 @ 7:38 am

IMO, Starkey is being as sanctimonious as he accuses Emmert and Pederson of being. If the game is dropped, it is more likely due to the fact that Pitt and PSU may only have 3 non-conf games to work with as opposed to a moral judgement by Pitt (It may well be a mutual agreement or even at the behest of PSU.)

But what really galls me is that he uses a poll from this blog as a basis for this article. We do not represent the opinion of the Pitt admin and have little impact on what Pitt officials or coaches do …. as evidenced by the fact that Voytik or Myers are very unlikely to be the starting QB.

Starkey is getting as bad as Cook when it comes to finding a tempest in a teapot. Neither seem to be creative enough to actually write a substantive stories anymore but instead have turned into gossip columnists.

Comment by wbb 07.29.12 @ 8:46 am

Aren’t we being a tad harsh on Starkey? He lays out both sides of the issue and gives a reasonable rationale for his position.

And he uses data as well. If someone has a problem with that then find better data.

Sheesh, it’s Sunday morning too.

I’m soon off to welcome 30 or so Jersey kids to Pitt at our annual Alumni Freshmen Send-off. Any inside info I can pass on? And, please, no bomb threat jokes.

Comment by steve1 07.29.12 @ 9:12 am

Wbb, You’re right on then money. With the ACC looking at 9 game conference schedule, there is not much room or flexibility for non-conferance games. Penn State has not been receptive to renewing the series in the past, and who knows what their position will be on the issue, in the future. In any event, if they want the game to be played, the ball is in their court. After all they are the party that insisted on a two for one ratio on home games.

Comment by Justinian 07.29.12 @ 9:20 am

I feel that Pitt should honor it’s agreed upon scheduling obligations. penn state has been sanctioned now by both the NCAA as well as their own conference. The courts are dealing with the criminal aspects of those involved, so lets get on with life. penn state still will be playing football and they require opponents to do so.

Now concerning the games themselves come 2016 & 17. I feel strongly that we should just worry about our own selves. Lets get our act together, step up to the improved competition that the ACC will present and be ready to play then again when the time arises.

And when it’s game time we should take no prisoners. Kick their asses up and down the field. Make them remember the last game that we played against them in 2000 when we blanked them at Three Rivers. Make sure that we impress on all the upcoming HS football recruits in PA just who is the best college football team in the state so as to solidify our recruiting advantage at that important juncture when penn state will be gearing up again for full scholarship numbers.

We take care of business like that, then we can thumb our noses at them there after and get on with our future schedules in the ACC all the while chanting penn state sucks!!!! or maybe expound on the clever SI cover and initiate a new updated Pitt chant of “YOU WERE PENN STATE”!!!! HTP.

Comment by Dr. Tom 07.29.12 @ 9:21 am

Dr. Tom, WOW!!! I’m impressed with you’re take no prisoners attitude. Of course, you’re absolutely right. The Panthers need to take care of business and solidify the program. If they do that, everything else will fall into place.

Comment by Justinian 07.29.12 @ 9:30 am

Steve1 … the data that Starkey uses is from this blog … that is my point. WE are a biased lot of anonymous commenters.

Comment by wbb 07.29.12 @ 9:38 am

Dr Tom
You are correct sir! Pitt needs to kick it up a notch or two and everything falls into place. Just win.
Starkey’s articles are horrible. My 9 year old has better insight.
That being said, IMO Pitt should sign a long term deal to play PSU. It was an awesome series and still would be one.

Comment by notrocketscience 07.29.12 @ 9:46 am

wbb, one component of the concept of attitude is understanding of the topic. This gangs has a better knowledge of the topic than most. So that’s one plus.

Of course, valence/direction is what we typically think of as attitude. How can you say we’re biased when the sentiments are all over the place?

Comment by steve1 07.29.12 @ 9:51 am

Is Starkey a PSU fan? Pitt should be a good neihbor and not kick psu when they are down? Pitt could always use a sellout? Every psu fan I know has kicked me when i’m down for whatever reason they could find when something bad happened to Pitt, look at all those empty seats, have fun in Birmingham again, how long do you think this coach will last, etc,etc,etc. You want Pitt fans to help the people they have been kicking whenever they could, no way. When they play at Pitt they will buy season tickets just to get tix for that game, then you have Pitt fans that can’t go to other big games, ND fans do it all the time. I’m tired of hearing the innocent are being punished thats BS, no one there is innocent, they all drank the kool-aid and they drank it out of martini glasses with their pinky’s out and noses in the air, you drank the poisen you deal with its symptoms. SCREW PSU should be the chant. Lets not be like them and continue to play our neighbor to the south. WVU is now are biggest rival plus the backyard brawl is cool name for a rivalry game. Replace PSU with WVU let them wallow in the manure they have been creating for years

Comment by steve h 07.29.12 @ 10:04 am

To hell with Pedo State. Kickem when they’re up, kickem when they’re down, kickem all around. Pitt doesn’t need to help them and Pitt doesn’t need them. I’d have to take a shower after playing them since I’d feel so dirty. And to think that a shower is now a dirty thing. Thanks State Penn for ruining it.

Comment by TX Panther 07.29.12 @ 10:56 am

Steve1, you’re still missing the point. The topic of his article is irrelevant, especially with all that is happening in Pgh sports right now. It would be relevant if the poll taken came from the U of Pgh Athletic site, or there were some rumblings from the Pitt Admin that they are thinking about dropping these games with PSU.

The fact is that I’ll guarantee that they don’t have a clue what they are going to do right now or probably even care about these games right now. The sanctions on PSU now have significant impact how PSU schedules it non-conf games between now and 2015, and neither school can predict what will happen between now and 2016.

Comment by wbb 07.29.12 @ 11:08 am

I like it Dr. Tom. No mercy. How awesome would it be during that game if they got the whole stadium chanting “You Were Penn State”? Gives me chills.

As I’ve been saying, the time is now gentleman. Pitt is in an excellent position to takeover the state power reigns once more. It’s now or never. Time to ascend to the elite once more. It has to start with this year. We need 9 wins this season to begin our ascent. Chryst has the talent to do it. The time is now. Great times to be excited for Pitt Football.

Compliment that with a great run in the Big Dance and hello Pitt becoming a real big time school.

Sustained success.

H2P.

Sorry, I am really excited for this year to start lol.

Comment by Timmeh 07.29.12 @ 1:17 pm

Dorian Johnson re-affirms his commitment to Ped State: link to espn.go.com

Comment by TonyC 07.29.12 @ 2:34 pm

Whether the topic is irrelevant is one thing, wbb, and I guess it’s just space-filler as nothing else is happening at Pitt these days.

But why exactly would the survey be relevant on the Pitt site and not on this one? Neither survey involves random sampling. It’s completed by anyone interested enough to take the time to weigh in.

Comment by steve1 07.29.12 @ 3:53 pm

I went to the South Florida Pittnic today to send off the 20 new students from South Florida. Its great that the university is sending out feelers to all the high achievers (which is how 2 out of 3 of these students even heard of Pitt) One student has a father who played for the Dolphins. It was a great day all around.

Comment by Palm Beach Panther 07.29.12 @ 4:29 pm

Palm Beach Panther, I had no clue that the university did anything like that. The Ivy league schools do similar things through their local alumni groups. It’s good for the students because they get to meet some others from their area that will also be attending with them in the fall. My daughter went to a picnic though an alumni group, met other Pittsburgh area students and remained friends all through through college. It’s good to hear and it’s even better that it was nice event.

Comment by Justinian 07.29.12 @ 5:05 pm

Palm Beach Panther, our NJ picnic today was well-attended too. 20+ bright kids, many of whom are going into health sciences.

And bright, because when asked to choose among the following

Pitt is
-a football school
-a basketball school
-a wrestling school
-an ultimate frisbee school

they chose basketball

Comment by steve1 07.29.12 @ 5:15 pm

From ESPN “rumor central”

At least one current Penn State player is interested in Pitt.

“Hearing that Penn State’s Mike Hull is on campus at Pitt,” Dale Lolley of the Washington Observer-Reporter tweeted.

Hull would have the opportunity to compete and possibly start if he transferred to Pitt. Hull is currently listed as a backup for Penn State, but Coach Bill O’Brien could make room for him to start.

“…the Nittany Lions also have toyed with a 3-4 defense, and Hull would be with the first unit if the coaching staff made that switch,” Lolley wrote.

Fellow Penn State linebacker Mike Yancich may have traveled to Pitt with Hull Saturday — although that has yet to be confirmed.

– Brent Sobleski

Comment by Matt D 07.29.12 @ 6:40 pm

Great news, Matt. Good to see our coaches being proactive.

Comment by steve1 07.29.12 @ 6:44 pm

Pitt is a city school. In a city consistently rated as most liveable. A city of diverse neighborhoods. A city of champions. I’m proud Pitt takes the city’s name. H2P!

Comment by TX Panther 07.29.12 @ 7:27 pm

A little off ALL PITT TOPICS…

But I’ll have you know that I’m a sports fan in the truest sense… A sports fan who at 9:15PM EST, happened to flip the channel to NBC, home to the London Olympics games, of course.

These games — olympic sports — are not my cup-of-tea; they hold little interest.

Yet TOTAL COINCIDENCE it happens to be WOMENS GYMNASTICS happening real-time. And, yep, I watched this event IN FULL. Which makes me want to take a shower, also (esp. in wake of PedoU).

But P’LEASE, do not even tell me you haven’t watched this event IN TOTAL from age 13 onward.

OK. Okay now. Rinsed my hands of this one.

Comment by Neil 07.29.12 @ 10:10 pm

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