6:40: Family (huge Duke fans) from North Carolina are here for Christmas and I’ll be watching the game with them tonight. I am prepared to win or lose excessive amounts of money tonight depending on the outcome.

6:50: On PTI today, Tony Korheiser gave Pitt a 4% chance of winning and Michael Wilbon gave us at 25% chance. Jay Bilas says on SportsCenter that Duke is also built more for the postseason. It’s still December…

7:02: The team looked fired up in the pregame.

We have tip-off. Go Pitt.

7:05: The clocks at MSG are performing about as well as the Knicks have this year. Still waiting…

7:08: Finally we’re actually going to play. DeJuan Blair gets an early 2 on a nice move. Already we’re seeing the Duke screen plays at the top of the key lead to a wide open lane. Can’t expect Blair to switch on a pick to cover a quick guard. Duke is picking up the defense at about 3/4 court, much earlier than we’ve seen from any other team this year.

7:11: Maybe Blair should have dished it to Fields for the break, maybe he shouldn’t. Oh well. Four offensive turnovers already — ouch.

7:16: Sam Young with a horrible missed dunk.

I feel like on at least two occasions, Ronald Ramon was maybe going to shoot a 3 but was confused by the NBA three-point line.

Stuart makes a good point in the comments: “Duke seems to have a good plan with making Ramon bring it up - its taking Fields out of the game and causing Ramon to turn it over way too much.”

7:28: Gil Brown has knocked down a jumper and blocked a shot which lead to Blair basically getting tackled. Both teams look sloppy — Pitt more than Duke, though. Duke is up 3 with 9:20 left in the half.

7:35: Even more turnovers. Traveling, stepping out of bounds, offensive fouls, bad ball handling…

Dixon takes his first timeout of the game after Paulus nails a three.

7:41: Duke is just a team of tall white dudes who know how to flop. The refs are starting to lean towards Coach K and we haven’t scored in about 5 minutes. The double teams on Blair are starting to work and he’s getting trapped in the lost post without a place to pass it to. On defense it looks like Pitt has never seen a team use a screen and Duke has all kinds of open shots and drives. The Duke family members have taken over my basement.

13 turnovers and counting.

7:55: So that was a pretty ugly half of basketball. We have no leader on the floor and the entire team needs to collectively calm down. Not at all impressed with Ramon, which makes me realize how much better I felt with Antonio Graves last year. If Ramon isn’t even going to hit his three pointers (0-3) then why does he even play? Sam Young and Mike Cook need to both settle for less jump shots and drive more. Too much of the offense is happening very far from the basket, which is a combination of Duke’s good defense plus Pitt’s offense which is playing like crap. The “help defense” being played on Blair has been working very well for Duke and ‘m sure we’ll see plenty more in the 2nd half. Oh, and hitting some free throws would be nice too.

Halftime: Duke 34 — Pitt 22
(more…)

Tomorrow night’s game is the one we expected to see in the second round of last year’s NCAA tournament until VCU stormed the party. Duke easily took care of Albany, but so has everyone else. Likely one of those games Duke scheduled knowing they needed to get back into the swing of things after a break for finals. Thursday at MSG is a good test for both teams though.
Duke’s probably starting five will look something like this:

G — Greg Paulus: Shooting 50% from three point land. In his first two years it began to look like he might have made a mistake by playing basketball instead of football. As a junior, he’s starting to show his worth.

G — Gerald Henderson: Has been hot lately, putting up 10+ points in 8 of last 10 games

G — DeMarcus Nelson: Only senior on whole team and plays the leader role. Season high 23 points on Monday over Albany

F — Kyle Singler: 6-8, 220 lb and one of the best freshmen in the nation; tied for team lead in points per game and has team lead in rebounds per game (6.1)

F — Brian Zoubek: Over 7 feet tall, which is 5+ inches taller than DeJuan Blair who will likely be the defender on him. Should be a great test for Blair on a big time stage.

Similar to Pitt, Duke will only go about three deep from the bench. Both teams are very comfortable with the rotation they’re in at this point regarding how many guys see the court.

In case you hadn’t heard, Dick Vitale will be out of action until at least February. Once, many years ago, before he became a caricature, Vitale was one of the best color analysts for college basketball. I don’t like listening to him any longer, but I still wish him a speedy recovery. That means Dan Shulman and Jay Bilas will have the call that night.

If you were watching ESPN stations ast night and tonight, you know that the game is getting full ESPN promotion. Including the in-game discussion while other games were happening.
Both Pitt and Duke have game notes (PDFs).

I’m not particularly bothered that Pitt isn’t going too deep on the bench right now. I think Wanamaker is struggling a bit to pick up the increased level. It will come in time, and for the past couple of years, a complaint has been that Dixon hasn’t had a good rotation and thrown too many guys out there.

Ray Fittipaldo is right because he agrees with me about the importance of Levance Fields.

…The second thing was Levance Fields picking up his third foul four minutes into the second half. Pitt is a very ordinary team without Fields on the floor. As soon as the lead got trimmed to seven, Jamie Dixon put Fields back in the game, and the Panthers resumed control.

Pitt played without Sam Young for 10 minutes in the first half against Washington and still only trailed by three at halftime. The Panthers have played without DeJuan Blair for long stretches because of foul trouble and still been successful. It became obvious to me Saturday that the player they can least afford to lose is Fields.

Basic rule, when the reporter or columnist agrees with your viewpoint, he is obviously right.

Duke had no problem on Monday with the Great Danes of Albany. They too, seem to be looking forward to the next game.

“This game was good to keep us sharp and give us a little something going into Pitt,” swing-man Gerald Henderson said.

By the way, Duke has won 36 straight games in Decembers. Almost makes me wish the game had been in November when Pitt hasn’t lost under Dixon.

Duke may be without New Jersey Sophomore Forward Lance Thomas who missed the Monday game with a high ankle sprain. The Blue Devils don’t have that much depth in the front court, so that could be a big issue.

DeJuan Blair apparently has a chip on his shoulder about Duke.

Blair is motivated for a couple of reasons. He said the Blue Devils didn’t pursue him at all coming out of Schenley High School. Instead, they focused their efforts at forward on Singler, who was named the ACC Pre-season Rookie of the Year, and 6-6 Taylor King, another McDonald’s All-American.

“They didn’t recruit me at all,” Blair said. “That’s another reason why I’m going hard on them. They have an excellent program. I wish I could have been recruited by them. But they looked the other way and got who they wanted. Pitt got who they wanted.”

I’m going to choose to view this as a competitive player looking to use any perceived slight as extra motivation.

Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski thinks the focus should be on the older players.

Krzyzewski brings his Blue Devils (10-0) to the Garden Thursday for a showdown against Pitt (10-0), and both teams have terrific freshmen in Kyle Singler and Taylor King for Duke and DeJuan Blair for Pitt. But I’ll heed Coach K’s words and keep on an Duke senior DeMarcus Nelson, who’s finally healthy and Pitt’s junior Sam Young.

While the players are clearly juiced for the game (almost as much as we, the fans), and I prefer them to concede the excitement. I just hope they get their emotions reined in for the game itself.
Finally, Dixon gets a puffer by Ron Cook.

This is why college basketball is ignored until after conference play really gets underway. Poor planning. There are a slew of good games worth watching starting tonight through Saturday (except for Friday which is dead). Yet, it is overlooked as minor bowls are starting at the end of the week. A bunch of great games, all while the students are on break and people are scrambling to get ready for Christmas. Or some &*@&@!%#% holiday concert you have to go to for your kid — not that I’m projecting.
For ESPN, Thursday is the big primetime game — though the Georgetown-Memphis game on Saturday at noon is the bigger impact game.

Rivals.com puts this at the top of their 5 games worth watching.

Andy Katz in the ESPN.com Weekly Watch is excited for this game.

[What I’m looking forward to this week…] If Pitt vs. Duke on Thursday night (ESPN, 7 ET) at Madison Square Garden can live up my expectations as one of the best nonconference matchups of the season.

Pitt and Duke remain in the same spots in both polls.

Mike DeCourcy at the Sporting News also makes this his game of the week.

Game to watch this week: When Duke and Pitt agreed to the game at Madison Square Garden that will be played Thursday at 7 p.m. EST, it appeared the game would involve two very good, Sweet 16-type teams. One word for that assumption: oops. The Blue Devils and Panthers have yet to lose, which means this should be the first of perhaps three games this week between undefeated teams. Unless Albany takes out the Blue Devils tonight; you never know. Both Pitt and Duke attack defensively and like to shoot from the perimeter. Both are led by freshman frontcourt players who have elevated their teammates: Duke with Kyle Singler, Pitt with DeJuan Blair. Neither team has great size, which eventually could be an obstacle to a national title, but it appears both will have something to say about who does win it all.

He also sings the praises of DeJuan Blair a little later in the post.

Say hello to: Pitt freshman bigman DeJuan Blair, who beat up the Oklahoma State Cowboys so badly it’ll be hard for him to fit into Santa’s “nice” column. Blair pounded OK State with 20 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks and only missed two of his 10 field goal attempts. In early October, my buddy Dave Telep of Scout.com called, and the first words out of his mouth were these: “I’ve got the Big East newcomer of the year for you.” He was pushing Blair, a wide-body with surprising quickness, length and explosion. I’d written extensively about Blair’s importance to this Pitt team during the summer, but never once thought of him for that honor. Shame on me. But where was Telep in August, when I had to make that selection?

To be fair, in a conference that had Jonny Flynn, Donte Green, Chris Wright, Corey Fisher, Corey Stokes and Dar Tucker in the freshman class; overlooking DeJuan Blair wasn’t nearly that obscene in August or even October.

People are noticing now. Everywhere.

Pittsburgh always seems to find players like DeJuan Blair — big, defensive forces who can dominate a game by rebounding. Blair might be the best of them all, with three double-doubles in his last four games and a 20-point, 10-rebound, five-block effort in Saturday afternoon’s victory over Oklahoma State. In a loaded Big East Conference, Blair could lift the Panthers among contenders Georgetown and Marquette for the whole regular season. He’s already survived one key test — with the Washington student section taunting him last week, he overwhelmed the Huskies with 16 points and 14 rebounds.

Coach Jamie Dixon does a Q&A in the NY Sun.

Do you think scheduling highly ranked non-conference opponents early in the season toughens players up for later in the year, and for tournament time?

You’re telling me that a game in November is going to help you in March, when we have 18 league games in play? We have 18 league games to play in January, February and March, those are what will get us ready. Our schedule is going to have us pretty toughened up by the time we’re done with conference play.

…

You’ve got a big matchup with Duke coming up — that’s another team that’s changed its style to something more up-tempo with their big man gone. Do you see this as an emerging trend in the college game, the way it’s been in the NBA with teams like the Suns and Raptors going with smaller guys at the 5 spot and athletes all around them?

Maybe there was a time when there were a lot of quality big men around, but that was before I started coaching. I think the three-point line being more and more used, teams spacing the floor, using quickness to defend more so than size, all of that has become pretty common. On the other hand, nobody’s turning down a big guy if you can get one.

Scheduling good non-con games is as much about getting early TV exposure. Getting the team out there and helping to sell the program to recruits. Most coaches if they could, would go the UConn/Syracuse/Duke route of nearly all the games at home against minor talent mostly, with one tournament and an extra neutral site or good road game for recruiting.

Pitt of course is excited about the game against Duke. Perhaps, nearly as much as we fans. Pitt’s radio color analyst, Dick Groat played b-ball at Duke but professes his partisan bias is with Pitt.

“So many people ask me who I’m going to be rooting for,” Groat said yesterday afternoon. “I’m a Pitt man. I love Jamie Dixon and his coaching staff. I love these kids. I spend so much time with them. My only association with Duke now is with coach [Mike Krzyzewski] and some of his assistants.”

…

Groat began broadcasting Pitt basketball games in 1979. And even though legendary Pitt coach H.C. Carlson did not offer him a scholarship coming out of Swissvale High in 1950, Pitt always has been a special part of his life.

“I’ve been a Pitt man my whole life,” Groat said. “This goes all the way back to when I was 5 years old. I’ll always be indebted to Bill [Hillgrove] for getting me back involved in college basketball. It’s been a godsend for me.”

Can’t wait.

The game on September 29 in Charlottesville is going to be a 7pm start and shown on ESPNU.

I said, I didn’t think A.J. Alexander would be coming to Pitt. So I’m not too disappointed that he made his choice and it wasn’t Pitt.
Some mild surprise, though, that the Altoona kid has opted to go to Florida State.

Verbal commitments are not binding under NCAA rules. Alexander could conceivably change his mind any time between now and whenever he either enrolls or signs a letter-of-intent. Most recruits, though, stick by their choice, and, reached Sunday afternoon, Alexander seemed sure of his decision to go to Florida State over Penn State, Pitt and Georgia.

“I called [Florida State] last night and told them, but I’ve known for a little bit,’’ Alexander said. “The main reason [I chose Florida State] is the people there. These are people I want to be around for the next four or five years.’’

Offensive line coach and West Virginia native Rick Trickett handled Alexander’s recruiting for the Seminoles. A quarterback at Altoona High, Alexander said he was being recruited as a wide receiver, running back and return specialist.

Trickett was hired away from WVU during the offseason. I’m sure this won’t sit particularly well with some Penn State fans that Alexander opted to go play for that other aged coach.

Somewhat uneventful day today, at least in the afternoon games. All of the better seeds won and by pretty large margins. You probably knew that already since most people are like me — get to a TV or computer as often as you can.

Pat Forde gives us the best and worst case scenario for each team. Pitt’s includes the best case of making it all the way to Atlanta while the worst case would be losing to Duke.

PITTSBURGH (3)
Best case: Panthers finally break through the Sweet 16 ceiling, riding their punishing defensive style to a validating Final Four. UCLA cannot handle Aaron Gray in the regional semis, and Pitt outmuscles Kansas in the regional final. Push to Atlanta lessens the Iron City dread of another oncoming Pirates season.

Worst case: Pitt team that lost three of its last six grinds to a halt in the second round against Duke. Gray is outplayed by the more skilled Josh McRoberts, and nobody can hit a key perimeter shot. Media vows to keep Panthers out of the Top 10 until they can prove something in March.

We can’t lose to Duke if they don’t even make it though. They hold a 40-38 lead at the half in what has been basically what we expected…a close one.

In the Western Pennsylvania market we can’t see the Marquette-Michigan State game but so far MU has looked really bad. Took them almost 10 minutes into the first half to put points up. UCLA was challenged by Weber State for about 10 minutes before breaking that one open at the half.

Pitt and Wright State in about an hour and a half. Have fun.

The Pittsburgh Media Recap is here. Now it’s a chance to look over the Virginia perspective of this loss. The setting, as long as you ignored the rains that had been there all day seemed perfect. A cool night, little wind and a semi-national debut on ESPNU.

The curtain rose at 7:06 p.m. Saturday on a new era of Virginia football. The Cavaliers’ offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and quarterback - all making their debut performances.

Virginia’s players lined the sideline, their jerseys neatly tucked, their ankles taped, their chin straps buckled. Place-kicker Chris Gould ran toward the football, kicked it off the tee and watched it tumble through the night sky.

Little else went right for the Cavaliers after that.

The Washington Post has a feature summarizing all the local schools and it seems useful.

Highlight: Well, Coach Al Groh proved to be an apt judge of talent: Through one game, this does appear to be a rebuilding season.

Lowlight: Two Cavaliers quarterbacks threw passes that resulted in touchdowns — for Pittsburgh. Christian Olsen was intercepted by Darrelle Revis, who took it back 19 yards to make it 24-10 midway through the third quarter. Olsen’s replacement, Kevin McCabe, entered late in the fourth quarter and immediately was intercepted by Clint Session, who ran 78 yards for a touchdown.

I have to be honest, there is a part of me that isn’t enjoying this. I read a quote like this.

“I’m disappointed,” Olsen said. “We thought we were going to play a lot better. Never in our wildest imagination did we think that we’d lose by 25 points.”

And all I can think is that it reads a lot like what Pitt players were saying after last season’s opener against ND. The players are confused and shocked and will have to deal with a head coach that put them in an awkward spot.

“If that’s who we are, we’re in for a long season,” cornerback Marcus Hamilton said. “We didn’t get it done, but I don’t believe that’s who we are as a team. If it is, then we’re in trouble.”

That seems to be a response from a question regarding this statement from HC Al Groh regarding the team.

On this game showing the status of the Virginia football team:

“There is no aberration in competition. It is what it is.”

The early answers on questions about Virginia were not ones they wanted.

New quarterback Christian Olsen? He spent much of the night backpedaling, looking in vain for open targets, dumping the ball to receivers who had tacklers waiting. He rushed some throws and overthrew a few others. He completed 17 of 34 passes but none went for longer than 20 yards. He also threw a game-turning interception that was returned for a touchdown midway through the third quarter.

That young offensive line? It didn’t create much daylight for Cavalier runners, nor did it buy much time for Olsen. Virginia rushed for 52 yards.

The rebuilt front seven of Virginia’s 3-4 defense? It was porous against the run and didn’t generate much pass rush. Pittsburgh rolled up 390 total yards.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment of the night was Virginia’s veteran secondary, which was considered the strength of the defense. The Cavaliers allowed two touchdown passes of more than 70 yards, giving up a 72-yard score in the second quarter and a 78-yarder in the third.

On the bright side their punter/kicker, Chris Gould, showed he can do both jobs and that he will have a very tired leg after each game.

Naturally a lot of attention was on the poor play of Cavalier QB Christian Olsen, there was some defense of him. Pointing out that you can’t expect a great deal from a 5th year senior who was making his first start since he was a high school senior, and not getting much help from anyone, anywhere.

The offensive and defensive lines were terrible; defensive backs misplayed balls and bit on play-action fakes.

Pitt yielded 30 sacks last season, at least one in every game. Yet Virginia rarely pressured Palko, registering one sack, that on an all-out blitz.

No surprise, really. The Cavaliers’ 19 sacks last season ranked next-to-last in the ACC.

Virginia’s defensive highlight certainly had nothing to do with its sorry pass rush. On a three-step drop, Palko threw an out route, but his receiver ran a slant, gift-wrapping an interception for Lyles.

Also kind of puts perspective on Pitt’s pass protection that this may be one of the bad pass rushing teams faced.

Coming out of halftime, receiving the ball to open the 2nd half, lucky to be down only 17-10 the team thought for sure things would change. Whoops.

“Coming out of halftime, we were going to come down the first series and score,” Olsen said. “It just didn’t happen for us.”

In fact, UVa lost two yards on three plays and was forced to punt. The Cavaliers defense, however, held serve, but on the Panthers’ punt, Tony Franklin ran into teammate and punt returner Emmanuel Byers, which allowed Pitt to down the ball at the Virginia 2.

One play later, Olsen delivered a gift that sent many of the 46,758 fans into a wild frenzy. Virginia’s signal-caller took the snap on the first-down play, fired a bullet to the left in the direction of wideout Kevin Ogletree. Unfortunately for Olsen, Darrelle Revis was standing in the way and picked off the pass and raced 19 yards untouched into the end zone.

Groh said, “it was an overall poor play by Virginia,” and pointed out that the play had worked in past situations.

I’m not sure if I would characterize that pass as a bullet. And pointing out that it had worked in the past kind of ignores that he was throwing to a receiver covered by one of the country’s top corners with a safety coming over to help.

Regarding the offense, they still think the tailbacks are good but there is the issue of the O-line.

Virginia’s offensive line simply didn’t get the job done. As Groh has pointed out for five-plus years, all running backs run the same when there’s no hole. And that’s how it was Saturday night.

There were no holes, thusly the Cavaliers rushed 21 times for 52 yards and averaged only 2.5 yards per rush.

“Fifty-two total yards of rushing defense allowed - I know this, that you have no chance if you don’t run the ball and stop the run,” said Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt.

With Virginia’s running game shut down, Pitt had a field day in gambling to stop the pass, blitzing and becoming the first team since Duke in 1956 to return two interceptions for touchdowns against the Wahoos.

“Not much worked,” said Groh of Virginia’s running game.

Certainly the Cavs planned to run the ball. They had the backs, they thought they had the line. But do they?

Man, that sure seems familiar.

This kind of loss means everything is up for reevaluation.

The scouting report on Virginia heading into the season was that quarterback Christian Olsen wouldn’t kill the Cavaliers with mistakes and the secondary was the best coach Al Groh has had in his time in Charlottesville.

After one game, some re-evaluation is required.

Olsen threw a back-breaking interception that was returned for a touchdown and the UVa secondary gave up two touchdown passes of more than 70 yards in Virginia’s 38-13 loss to Pittsburgh at Heinz Field on Saturday.

“We’re extremely disappointed and embarrassed in the outcome,” Groh said.

Luckily there is perspective for Virginia, courtesy of history.

Fact: Virginia lost its season opener Saturday night, 38-13 at Pittsburgh.

Shocking truths: It was the Cavaliers’ most lopsided non-conference, regular-season loss since 1988, when they fell 42-14 to Penn State. It was Virginia’s worst season-opening loss since ‘84 and a 55-0 defeat against third-ranked Clemson, which went 9-1-1 in ‘83. (Pittsburgh went 5-6 last season. Four of those wins came against Division I-A teams that finished a combined 16-29.)

Fact: Pittsburgh returned two interceptions for touchdowns - both on the first play of a drive. Shocking truth: The last team to return two Virginia passes for touchdowns was Duke in 1956.

Fact: Pittsburgh quarterback Tyler Palko threw touchdown passes of 72 and 78 yards - both on the first play of a drive - against a Virginia secondary that was supposed to be its defensive cornerstone.

Shocking truth: A team hadn’t completed a pass that long against Virginia - any pass, not just a touchdown pass - in the Cavaliers’ past 30 games. (Florida State had a 79-yarder in 2003.)

Expect for next season to read about how they circled the rematch shortly after this.

I gotta hit the road almost as soon as this post hits the net. The Trib site doesn’t appear to have updated this morning so nothing from them.

Paul Zeise’s Q&A is a good one today.

Q: You keep saying you think this team will struggle because they are young, but West Virginia had some inexperienced players last year and look how they fared. Why can’t Pitt do the same?

Zeise: Uh, I’m going to say this one more time for the cheap seats…..To try and compare what happened at Penn State and West Virginia last year and Pitt’s situation this year is apples and oranges. The situations are completetly different. In both cases, there was a veteran group of players, particularly on both lines, and the players who were the freshmen were at a couple of skill positions. West Virginia’s defense was a veteran group last year with a lot of returning players. They added a running back and a quarterback, whose main function was to run, and they ran behind a pretty veteran offensive line. Penn State added some speed at receiver, but had a bunch of fifth-year seniors on the offensive line and a defensive line that had been excellent for the past few years.

Pitt has far too many inexperienced players across the board, and in particular on the defensive line, to expect them all to step on the field and play at a high level. Adding a couple of freshmen to a veteran team is one thing. Pitt’s offense should be ahead of the defense because there is more experience there, but the defensive line is so young, and that is such a difficult position to play when you are a freshman that I can’t see it being very consistent, at least early. I look up and down this roster and see far too many places where the two-deep consists of players with very little experience or none at all. Think about it, the best defensive lineman coming out of camp is Doug Fulmer, a redshirt freshman who has yet to play a down in college football.

Q: I’m tired of seeing Pitt give up 200 yards rushing every week. Will this defense stop the run?

Zeise: Yes, the potential is there because there are finally some more athletic players at defensive tackle. In the past few years, the defensive tackles have made very few plays. Some games they’d hold their own, but not since Tyre Young has this team had a defensive tackle who was quick enough and strong enough to get off his blocks and plug some holes — or better yet, blow up a running play in the backfield. The guys, and again here is that disclaimer, in there now are young so they will be inconsistent and at times overpowered, but they are better athletes and they can move to the ball quicker. I don’t know that we will see something that reminds us of the 86 Bears but they’ll be better, maybe much better, by the end of the year.

Expect to find out about the lines early. The O-line will face a 3-4 defense.

Villani said alignment is only one of the many differences between a 3-4 and 4-3, but he believes the Panthers’ line is up to the challenge of handling whatever challenge the Cavaliers’ defense presents.

“Basically it isn’t that much different in terms of how many players are coming at us, it is more where they are coming from,” Villani said. “We’ve had some experience in the past against some three-man fronts, but the tough thing is, you don’t see it all the time. The key for all of us is to understand our assignments based on what front we see and that’s how it would be if they had a four-man front as well.”

Villani said the Panthers’ offensive line is getting somewhat of a break by facing Virginia in the first game because they’ve had all summer and part of the spring to watch film of the Cavaliers’ defense. They are well versed in what the defense is designed to do.

I’ve mentioned ad nauseum about the lack of exprience the QB for Virginia has coupled with the lack of experience of his receivers. In fact, he might be feeling a little bit of pressure.

Olsen declined interview requests this week, preferring to focus on the Cavaliers’ opener. Groh admits that he’s not sure what to expect from the 6-3, 222-pound graduate student, who began his career at Notre Dame and has attempted only 23 passes as a Cavalier. U.Va. has a better read on Pitt quarterback Tyler Palko.

“He was real good in high school, and he’s real good in college,” Virginia cornerback Marcus Hamilton said.

The other theme has been the similarities of both teams from their coaches to the rebuilding and new players.

…

Obviously, Las Vegas doesn’t think it will go that smoothly, posting Pitt as a 3.5-point favorite.

Certainly there’s no debate about Virginia’s youth. The fact that sophomore left offensive guard Branden Albert has the third-highest number of starts (12) by anyone who will wear a Cavalier uniform tonight is somewhat daunting.

Eight Wahoos will be starting for the first time in college ball, including Olsen, who many believe holds the key to victory or defeat.

Two starters, defensive end Jeffrey Fitzgerald and right offensive tackle Will Barker, will be playing in their first college game.

[Emphasis added.]
This 6 questions for Virginia going into the season highly mirrors Pitt’s (minus the QB question): Kicking game, O-line issue and loss of the top WR. Their top tailback was also the fullback. The situation reminds me a lot of the stuff coaches were trying to figure out with how to best use Tim Murphy in the past few years.

Apparently this is one of eight games this year featuring former NFL Coaches facing each other in college.

Finally, a puffer on Defensive Coordinator Paul Rhoads. I really wish I had time for this one.

But suddenly, it was as if Rhoads took stupid pills. Sure, there were extenuating circumstances. Aren’t there always? Pitt lost a lot of senior leadership from the ‘02 team. It lost four of the top eight tacklers from the ‘03 team. It lost what little strength it had on the defensive line from the ‘04 team.

Legitimate circumstances or not, Rhoads felt the fallout from the defense’s failures. He interviewed for the Utah State and Pitt head coaching jobs after the 2004 season, but it’s tough for an AD to sell his president and alumni on a coach whose defense had been getting torched fairly regularly.

“I understand the perception that’s out there, and I know that’s part of the business,” Rhoads said. “But the only way I can change that perception is by continuing to do my job.”

As you would expect, there is nary a mention of his responsibility in recruiting, and just how bad and unprepared the defense looks. It’s the players’ fault and former HC Walt Harris. Rhoads is the same and junior-super genius.

There’s the obligatory Groh and Wannstedt crossing paths stuff.

Wannstedt and Cavaliers head coach Al Groh have a tendency to find each other on the schedule.

Their careers have crossed paths almost every step of the way in the last 17 years, first with the Cowboys and Giants in the NFC East, later in the AFC East with the Dolphins and Jets and now in the college ranks.

“It seems like we’ve ended up in the same conference a lot,” said Groh, who has gotten the better of Wannstedt in their only two meetings as head coaches, both in 2000.

It’s more than that, though. Their coaching careers are near facsimiles. Both latched on to a successful head coach early in their careers (Wannstedt to Jimmy Johnson; Groh to Bill Parcells). Both are defensive specialists who eventually got NFL head jobs. And both opted to go back to their respective alma maters.

So both know what to expect from their coaching counterpart this weekend.

Like Groh and his affinity for the 3-4 defense and tall, lean, athletic types who fit in well at either linebacker or tight end, Wannstedt has his preferences.

Groh and his players had praise for Tyler Palko.

“[Palko] has a really good arm,” said UVa outside linebacker Clint Sintim. “He takes chances with the ball and he throws them in tight coverages, and he makes them look easy.

“He puts it right in there and his receivers make catches on it. He is a good quarterback and he is elusive.”

Palko, a junior, enters his third season as the starting quarterback and already ranks fifth all-time at Pitt with 5,472 passing yards. Earlier this week, Palko was one of 34 players to be named to the “watch list” for the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award.

Sintim said he has been thinking for months about sacking Palko and other quarterbacks who lie ahead on the Cavaliers’ schedule. That’s only natural.

“His receivers make catches?” They must have skipped the tape featuring Greg Lee and Erik Gill.

Both teams start a 5th year QB. Here, though, Pitt should have an advantage as Palko in that Virginia’s Christian Olsen has never started a game in college.

Olsen is a 23-year-old fifth-year senior, and he’ll start his first college game at 7 p.m. Saturday, when Virginia plays at Pittsburgh. He inherits from Hagans an offense that lost its starting running back and three starting offensive lineman. Olsen also will miss Deyon Williams, because the Cavaliers’ leading wide receiver from last season is out indefinitely with a stress fracture in his right foot.

All that uncertainty, and Olsen’s the focus of it. All these years of waiting, and still no answers.

“All the questions about Chris, any answers that I give … it’s just so much b.s.,” Virginia coach Al Groh said. “There are no answers that count about Chris other than what happens on the field.

“This is his chance. It’s now or it’s never gonna happen.”

Olsen came to UVa after transferring out of Notre Dame. I love this, in large part because the social scene sucked.

“It was a little uptight,” he said. “It was cold, it was gray, it was gloomy.”

Said McCabe, Virginia’s No. 2 quarterback: “He said the girls are walking around in sweatpants all day.”

An area of potential strength for Virginia is its secondary. Apparently this had been a weakness before.

When Virginia travels to Pittsburgh today for Saturday night’s season opener at Heinz Field, the Cavs’ secondary will be armed and dangerous. New secondary coach Steve Bernstein probably hasn’t had as many talented defensive backs to work with at one time in his 37 years in the business.

Not only does Virginia return All-America candidate Marcus Hamilton at one starting cornerback spot, the walk-on Byron Glaspy (who started at safety), the soccer player Ryan Best (who played in every game, mostly in the nickel and dime packages), and Mike Brown (who gained valuable game experience as a true freshman), but there’s a plethora of other talented players that potentially makes the Cavalier secondary one of the deepest in the country.

Hamilton is a player Coach Wannstedt and Pitt players have singled out as deserving praise.

Hamilton’s 10 career interceptions ranks third in the nation among active players. He had six last season, when he was named second-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference.

“A lot of his interceptions come from being aggressive, but he’s a playmaker, and you have to know where he’s going to be at all times,” Pitt quarterback Tyler Palko said. “He does it all. He can cover and he can be physical and he’s not afraid to stick his nose in there and stop the run.”

True, the 5-foot-11, 198-pound Hamilton has been known to blitz the quarterback, and is averaging 47 tackles the past three seasons, and 58.5 the past two years. Hamilton is an All-American candidate and an NFL prospect.

“He’s a big-time player. I’m sure if you would talk to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Philadelphia Eagles or Washington Redskins, he would be a guy that would be listed as a potential pro prospect,” Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said. “He’s a guy you better be aware of at all times because he can turn a game around in a hurry.”

Hamilton will almost assuredly be trying to lock up Derek Kinder. Both teams seem to have defenses where the strength right now is in the secondary. God help us, it may actually come down to the running game.