Count me among the people who wouldn’t mind college basketball moved about a month later and end in May. Yes, May Madness may take some getting used to, but these November games get lost in the shuffle of football season.

Fresno St. and Pitt is getting a nice bit of regional TV.

Pittsburgh (Root Sports), New York City (YES Network), Cleveland, Ohio (SportsTime Ohio), Washington D.C.-tape delay (Comcast Sports Net/Mid-Atlantic), Boston, Mass. (New England Sports Network), Atlanta, Ga. (Fox Sports South), Raleigh, N.C. (Fox Sports Carolinas), Detroit (Fox Sports-Detroit Plus), St. Louis, Mo. (Fox Sports Midwest), Miami-South Florida (Fox Sports Florida), Phoenix, Ariz. (Fox Sports-Arizona), Minneapolis, Minn. (Fox Sports North), Seattle, Wash. (Root Sports Northwest), Denver, Colo. (Root Sports Rocky Mountain), Indianapolis (Fox Sports-Indiana)

If none of those are available it is also on ESPN3.com. Game time is 7pm.

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The past 24 hours, I’ve had this one thought in my mind: this win can’t be for nothing. If Chryst and company lose the next three games, the Notre Dame victory won’t mean much. While I’m not a fan of statements like “program changing” or “stepping stone” because they put too much emphasis on one game, it is vital that this team gets to six wins. A huge win has to be followed up with meaningful results. Three straight losses is anything but that. (more…)

This is apparently what Paul Chryst’s victory dance looks like. Post to twitter with the hashtag #ChrystDance. Enjoy the .gif after the jump.

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First off, a heartfelt thank you to veterans. Thank you for allowing me the freedom to be focused on football today. Let’s abuse our freedoms by focusing on the whims of teenaged man-children and where they will go to college!

Not only was the victory over Notre Dame a huge win for 2013, it was a huge win for the following five years due to the impression it made on recruits. I mentioned early Sunday morning that there were upwards of 50 recruits at the game. I’ll stick to only available 2014 recruits for now, but needless to say this victory will go a long way towards closing a few key targets. (more…)

The nice thing about doing this blog and it being a labor of love. I don’t really have to do deadlines. Oh, I can impose them on myself. But — as in the case last night — I could bag some late write-up and just head to a bar with some friends and have a celebratory drink. So thanks Justin for taking it upon yourself to cover for me.

There’s plenty to digest about this game, but I’m going to focus on the other aspect. How much Pitt and the fans needed this win. Not just beating ND, but the way it happened.

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Down 21-6 after a two yard touchdown run late in the third quarter, things didn’t look too bright for Pitt. Then, an eight play drive was capped off by a 26 yard touchdown throw and suddenly it was a one score game. That touchdown was the catalyst to a come from behind victory, one that was finalized with an 18 yard field goal as time expired. The win kept Pitt alive in the race for the conference title. Of course that wasn’t yesterdays Pitt-Notre Dame game. It was Pitt vs UConn on October 10th, 2009. Why is this relevant? It was the last time Pitt won a game they were trailing at half time.

Savor that for a second. It feels good, doesn’t it? It’s like a cold beer after a great day.  (more…)

Sorry everyone. You would think that with an 8pm start there would be plenty of time to just toss up a couple paragraphs of babble. Instead, I spent most of the morning with the kids and just doing dad things. Then the drive out to the ‘Burgh. And go figure I couldn’t be bothered to post while enjoying a bit of tailgating rather than looking for an open wireless connection.

Needless to say this is a bit of half-assery. So moving on.

Got a nice spot in the press box tonight. Pity the poor kids from the Pitt News stuck next to me.

College basketball kicked off today. Pitt is opening with Savannah State. It’s 7pm It’s on ESPN3.com. SVSU is a MEAC team.

Figure it should be a sloppy game. Even with a couple exhibitions under the belt, there’s plenty of changes on the roster. Add in the rules and enforcement changes for officials and there should be plenty of opportunities to see Pitt players practicing free throws.

Just going to chill in front of the computer and pop open a deuce of Tenacious Wee Aged in Eagle Rare Barrels from Voodoo Brewery  (thanks again to Curt).

I don’t like Notre Dame. I try to be professional and I won’t use some of the insults I’ve seen my fellow Pitt fans post on twitter and Facebook, but trust me, they’re in my head. I’d love to say a few things about that videographer murderer smug jerk Brian Kelly, but I won’t. The one thing to keep in mind is that the football team has to beat Notre Dame and the zebras. Last season, they beat the Irish but they didn’t beat the Irish and the zebras. Let’s look at the filth Notre Dame will put on the field. (more…)

Sophomore TE J.P. Holtz got some minor attention for admitting to not liking Notre Dame and finding the school/coaches arrogant.

Holtz, who scored a touchdown in Pitt’s triple-overtime loss last season at Notre Dame Stadium, said playing the Irish gives him extra motivation. “Personally, I don’t like Notre Dame at all,” he said. “It’s just going to make me go harder. I just think they’re really cocky and their coaches are really cocky. I just don’t like that. They’re just different people there.” Holtz said he took a recruiting visit to Notre Dame while he was a senior at Shaler. “It’s awesome up there, but it’s not somewhere I would want to go to school,” he said.

This was manna for Irish coaches and fans. It plays into the persecuted ND complex, how every one is jealous hates them. How every game they play, they get a team’s best shot because of that.  Yadda-yadda-yadda.

By the same token, it’s not like teams don’t want to win every game. It’s not like the fans want to see their team lose to some other team. And really, you would think we have something of a right to severely dislike ND beyond their national rep.

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There are jokes that can be made about emotional outbursts, depression, thoughts of suicide, dementia and loss of short term memory. Even more when they are tied to Pitt football.

But not when they are related to Tony Dorsett and his recent diagnosis of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

The three former stars underwent brain scans and clinical evaluations during the past three months at UCLA, as did an unidentified ex-player whose test results are not yet available. Last year, UCLA tested five other former players and diagnosed all five as having signs of CTE, marking the first time doctors found signs of the crippling disease in living former players.

CTE is indicated by a buildup of tau, an abnormal protein that strangles brain cells in areas that control memory, emotions and other functions. Autopsies of more than 50 ex-NFL players, including Hall of Famer Mike Webster and perennial All-Pro Junior Seau, who committed suicide last year, found such tau concentrations.

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So this is a nice addition to the future football schedule.

Pitt and Oklahoma State will play a home-and-home football series during the 2016 and 2017 seasons, the schools announced today.

On Sept. 17, 2016, the Panthers will play at Oklahoma State in Boone Pickens Stadium.

The Cowboys will visit Heinz Field in Pittsburgh the following season on Sept. 16, 2017.

I do like that the dates of the games are 9/17/16 and 9/16/17. But then I’m a little tired and at this point easily bemused.

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Yesterday’s verbal of Damon Wilson to Pitt basketball was more positive recruiting news. A 3-4 star point guard with what appears to be a high ceiling for the 2015 class. A kid with the potential to grow to as much as 6-6 by the time he reaches Pitt in 2015.

Like Mike Young, Wilson came to the New York/New Jersey prep scene to raise his recruiting profile. Wilson, in this case, came from Georgia. It worked.

Wilson picked the Panthers over Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Miami, Stanford, Virginia and Virginia Tech. His father, Damon Sr., played football at Georgia Tech; his older sister, Dominique, plays basketball at N.C. State.

Wilson is Pitt’s first commitment from the Class of 2015.

A native of Powder Springs, Ga., Wilson transferred from McEachern High to St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark, N.J., last year.

This year he is playing at Centereach (N.Y.) Our Savior New American. In addition to those offers he also was getting interest from Louisville, UCLA, Ohio St., UNC and NC State.

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I saw someone on one of Pitt’s message boards talking about silent snap counts and how the OTs struggled to get back in time against Georgia Tech. I brought this up as an issue after the Virginia Tech game. But, I think it may go deeper than that. I think the offense struggles in an environment with any type of noise, which is every away game thus far except for Duke, because that stadium was emptier than even the worst Pitt fan’s nightmare. When I looked at the stats, it gave me a glimmer of hope that maybe the offense can turn it around against Notre Dame. (more…)

Jamie Dixon (thanks to superb recruiting from Brandin Knight) recevied a 2015 verbal from 6’4″ SG Damon Wilson. Wilson is a 4* player on Rivals, a 3* player on Scout and will likely be a top 75-100 player in the 2015 class when it’s all said and done. His AAU squad is the NJ Playaz, whose alumni include future Pitt star Mike Young and a nice NBA lineage. (more…)