The Walt Harris press conference is posted (Windows Media), as is the abbreviated transcript. Not sure if this was the full answer, but I think there should have been more of an explanation than this.

Furman had success against your defense.
“We have to upgrade. We’ve had guys who didn’t execute their assignments as they were supposed to. We just have to fight, not quit, and keep working on getting better.”

They just didn’t do their job? That’s reassuring. Pitt also has a press release with links to the UConn site, roster and stats.

Maybe this is why the more rabid get called Nittany Nazis with a story like this.

A woman told police a group of cheerleaders standing in front of a downtown business plastered her with stickers and one hit her in the face Friday, police said.

Police said they are investigating the allegations after an independent witness came forward and verified the woman’s story. Both said that after the woman refused to take a sticker being handed out by Penn State cheerleaders Friday afternoon in front of the Student Book Store, she went inside the business and left via another exit to avoid the group.

The cheerleaders saw the woman leave the store and followed her, police said. They surrounded the woman and put stickers on her, and one of the cheerleaders hit her in the face, the woman told police.

Officers are attempting to interview several of the cheerleaders to get their version of events, said Cpl. Mark Argiro with the State College Police Department.

The thuggery now goes beyond their football team.

I actually felt kind of bad for my dad (a PSU alum) while we watched the Badgers physically whup the Lions. He just looked so depressed watching the game, and would mutter things under his breath about Paterno.

Short week. Thursday night game against UConn to open Big East play for Pitt. No one really knows how Pitt will play or if they are ready.

The short week to prepare theme is being pushed by both sides.
UConn quarterback Dan Orlovsky said he was going to return to campus Saturday night and start watching tape of Pittsburgh.

It was a good idea considering the Huskies are pressed for preparation time for Thursday night’s game against the Panthers.

“We get two days cut off,” Orlovsky said. “You’ve got to step your preparation up two days.”
UConn seems to be pushing harder on it. Or at least the papers have already started talking about it. UConn does appear to have worries (at least they were concerns before they thrashed Army 40-3).

Special teams have been atrocious.

Red zone efficiency has been mediocre.

The defensive line does not have a sack.

Injuries have started to take a toll.

Almost makes you think we have a shot.

Anyways, here are game notes from UConn, and Pitt (in PDF). There’s no history between these two teams on the gridiron, and I doubt the basketball rivalry in recent years will be much of a spillover.

Thanks Lee, that helps and interestingly enough, it goes opposite some of what was written. I just wish someone published the stats on a quarter or even by the half split. That’s the sort of thing that tells you a lot more than just the box score, or even drive chart.

The news for today. Josh Cummings was Big East Special Teams Player of the Week. The final paragraph of the press release may make you laugh at the spin, or cry at the reality:

Pittsburgh is 25-10 (.714) over its last 35 games, its winningest stretch in nearly two decades. The Panthers have won 12 of their last 17 road contests (.706) and 14 of their last 18 Big East encounters (.778).

The tight ends were definitely used often and well by the Pitt offense and Palko. Generally, it’s something I favor, because they tend to be better going over the middle and keeping the defense off to allow the running game to have a chance. I have to wonder, though, how much was because the receivers weren’t getting open or just to dump off to avoid the rush.

Statistically, Palko had an amazing game, with 380 passing yards and no interceptions. That makes Coach Harris 6 for 6 with his starting QB having a 300+ yard passing game during his time at Pitt. The fact that the defense allowed 417 yards of total offense makes you wonder. Did they forget to tackle again? Was Nebraska even more inept than we realized? Did they start to believe their brief moment of positive press?

In a bit of a contrast to what Lee said about the team quitting on Harris, Kevin Gorman writes that he doesn’t think the team quit on Harris. The problem is, that Western PA recruits seem to have quit on him and Pitt.

Western Pennsylvania football prospects have spoken loudest by saying nothing. Of Pitt’s eight verbal commitments, only one is from the WPIAL. That player, Burrell offensive tackle John Brown, is a legacy whose father was the hero of the 1982 Sugar Bowl.

There is an overriding belief among top WPIAL prospects that Harris will be gone by December, whether it’s by his choice or that of the administration. That another legacy, Central tight end John Pelusi — the son of a Board of Trustees member — hasn’t committed speaks volumes.

Why choose a lame-duck coach?

The damage done by defections of recruits Anthony Morelli, Andrew Johnson, Johnny Peyton and Alphonso Smith was mostly from a perception standpoint. None were as ready as Darrelle Revis or Darrell Strong, two players who kept their commitments and are playing regularly.

Yet the reneging of the recruits devastated Harris. He was visibly disturbed on signing day, and has either been unable or unwilling to leave it behind him.

As a result, Pitt is having trouble recruiting in its own backyard, which is the lifeblood of the city-based program. WPIAL players are quietly being advised not to commit to a coach who might not be there on signing day.

Unless Harris receives a contract extension or a vote of confidence, the Panthers’ commitments from out-of-state recruits might as well be treated as an afterthought, as well. A new coach isn’t going to take borderline prospects.

Which is why Harris needs to adopt the same circle-the-wagons attitude with recruiting that he has with coaching. It’s time to rebuild the fence around Western Pennsylvania.

I don’t know if the players have quit on Harris or not. I do know that this article is more disturbing for the long term.

The announced attendance was over 35,000, and the stories did nothing to dispel that notion.

In response to Chas’s prompting, I’m too busy at work to do a decent write-up of the Pitt-Furman debacle right now. But I can give you my quick impressions: it wasn’t good. On the bright side, it was a great game and I definitely got my entertainment dollar’s worth. But it was humiliating. Our offensive line was completely dominated by a I-AA team. Palko spent much of Saturday running for his life. Harris’s playcalling was, yet again, laughably predictable. And our secondary got repeatedly torched. I left with the feeling that we just wore down Furman’s defensive line over the course of the game or we wouldn’t have been able to come back in the fourth quarter. And I definitely got the feeling that Harris has “lost” this team, perhaps by insulting its players in public once too often.

At times, our crowd was so quiet that the 200 or so Furman fans over in the corner of Heinz Field dominated the sound of the place. However, our crowd did, to its great credit, get loud enough to completely disrupt Furman’s offense at the end of the 4th quarter and in overtime. The 15,000 or so gentiles who showed up were still louder than anything a little I-AA team had ever heard.

Speaking of gentiles, why does a university with as many Jewish students and alumni as Pitt seem to always insist on having a home game on Yom Kippur? I mean, it does hurt attendance. Only 5 of the dozen or so members of our group could even show up… although, laughably, one did have to attend a pig roast afterwards.

So anyways, the tailgating was quiet, the Field was mostly empty, and chants of “FIRE HARRIS” started earlier than usual (end of the 1st quarter). Unlike Shawn, I didn’t bother to listen to the marching band (I was too busy daydreaming up ways to kick both Walt Harris and Paul Rhoads out into the snow). But it was still worth the ticket price and the gas to and from Altoona.

Incidentally, which version of College Gameday were you watching, Chas? On College Gameday Final late Saturday night on ESPN (or 7:30 AM Sunday morning), Rece Davis, Trev Alberts, Mark May went out of their way to highlight the Pitt-Furman debacle. While Davis and Alberts openly snickered at poor Mark May, Mark merely looked down and said “talk about a coach on the hot seat… they need to make some major changes at Pittsburgh now… I mean, you shouldn’t have even been playing Furman.” Amen, Mark.

The line for Thursday night opened up this morning at UConn -6 and quickly grew to UConn -6.5. I could have never imagined one year ago that we would be nearly a touchdown underdog to the Huskies in FOOTBALL. Then again, heck, I’d take UConn and give up ten based on what I saw Saturday.

Finally, not to bring up an old tread, but despite crushing James Madison 45-10 last Saturday, West Virginia fell one spot yet again in this week’s ESPN’s mock BCS rankings. More disturbing, they fell BEHIND Florida State, which has already lost once. The inherent lack of respect for the Big East is frightening (remember that our champion has to finish in the top 12 over the next four years for us to retain our seat at the BCS table). And, as I’ve said before, I couldn’t agree more with this lack of respect. We need to slut our way into the Big Ten now.

Hail to Walt Harris just getting the hell out of town already.

I’m back, but in the dark. Rather than show the Pitt game on the local Comcast channel at my parents’ house, I was treated to the Delaware-UMass game. So I saw nothing of the game. They weren’t exactly talking this one up on College Gameday. Sure there are articles and wire stories in the paper, but it doesn’t tell me what happened. I need the game report from one of the guys who was there. Lee? Shawn? Pat?