I don’t feel so bad getting to the stories in the paper today, because nothing particularly big is going on.

There are 2 puff pieces on members of the offensive line in the Trib. One on lineman Justin Belarski and the other on guard Matt Maiers.

Pitt released its latest graduation figures for the football team a few weeks ahead of when the NCAA will. The good news, they are almost double the number from last year. The bad news, that is still only 31% — the average is about 54%. I’m not a big fan of the way the NCAA calculate graduation rates. They don’t count transfers to a program in the rate, but if the player transfers out it counts against you. Go pro early, goes against you. The other problem of course, is that the data is quite stale. These latest figures are based on the class from 1997.

Final article is one worth reading. About how the latest talks to revive the Pitt-Penn St. game blew up. Coach Walt Harris gets blamed for this too — he pissed off the ultrasensitive Paterno. You know, at this rate, Harris is going to be blamed for the City of Pittsburgh going bankrupt.

In June Penn State athletic director Tim Curley and Long discussed the possibility of the teams playing again and promised to revisit the subject again at a later date. By accounts on both sides, talks were headed in the right direction.

But then Paterno got wind of some of the comments Pitt coach Walt Harris made at Big East media day in late July and any enthusiasm for renewing the series on Penn State’s side was curtailed.

Harris was quoted in the July 29 edition of the Daily Collegian as saying: “I think it is a selfish act on [Penn State’s] part, not playing us. But from their perspective, I can see why they wouldn’t want to play us. I’m not saying we would beat them every time, but we would be pretty competitive.”

Harris also said, “I don’t think there will be any communication on playing [Penn State] as long as one man is running the program.”

Harris said last week that he made those statements without knowing Long and Curley were involved in discussions. Had he known, Harris said he would have kept quiet. His intent was merely to spark up conversation about the series.

Of course, we know what Paterno is now saying about the game. I also find this a refreshing piece of truth from Fran Ganter, Penn State’s associate athletic director for football administration — and the former PSU offensive coordinator who got booted from that position:

“We’re in no big rush for 2010 or 2011 for a game like Pitt or a Notre Dame,” Ganter said. “We’re always looking for guarantee games. Games like Akron. Those games are harder to get.”

That’s because those are games that are in demand by about 40-50 programs and there are maybe 20-25 of those Akron-esque programs out there. Those schools that you know when you schedule them they will still be a bad team when it comes time to play them in 3-5 years.

Well on the bright side, what a great start to the 2004 college football season. USC — the game’s most dominant program at the moment — got a solid scare from Virginia Tech — the game’s most consistently overrated program (thanks largely to ESPN) — but still prevailed 24-13. And it ain’t like the Hokies, who were 17.5 point underdogs, did it with smoke and mirrors either. Frank Beamer and his staff — easily the most schizophrenic group in college football (can anybody argue that they didn’t just mail it in against Pitt each of the past three years?) — used a solid game plan built on their team’s strengths: a highly mobile quarterback (Bryan Randall wound up being their top rusher with 82 yards) and good tight ends (I hope Walt was watching). So did Virginia Tech surprise me by being a little better than I expected? Sure, I’ll admit that much.

But what really surprised me was how badly overrated USC was. Neither their vaunted receiving corps nor (more importantly) their offensive line was anywhere near national championship caliber. Matt Leinart looked thoroughly average in the first half, although most of that must obviously be blamed on his relatively slow, blockhanded receivers and his absolutely porous offensive line (I admittedly have to give VT’s usually terrible defensive coordinator Bud Foster some credit for his blitzing package). In the end, the #1 ranked Trojans were barely saved by their halftime-adjusted defense (Tech only got about 70 yards in the second half), a few gimmick passes to their tailback Reggie Bush, and a @#%*@#! offensive pass interference call on Tech’s Hyman.

So anyways, like I said above, what an entertaining game… on the bright side. On the bad side, I obviously picked USC to cover against what I thought was an absolutely pathetic Virginia Tech squad after they ended last season going 1 for 6. Well, at least I consistently suck, unlike Virginia Tech.

Finally, and most importantly, I must request — nay, demand — that all good Pitt fans read Crazy Paco’s review of Paterno’s most recent comments concerning the renewal of the Pitt-Penn State rivalry (mentioned here first by Chas last evening). Absolutely genius, funny, and most importantly of all, factual. The part where Paco completely debunks the Paterno-born myth that Allegheny County has more Penn State alumni than Pitt alumni is the high point. From one Blair County Penn State debunker to another, you’re the best, Paco.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the Centre Daily Times neither covered Paterno’s comments nor made any attempt to rebut them.

Hail to Joe Paterno continuing to make himself look like an idiot without any help from anyone else.