The "Preseason" Continues

Yeah, I know - it's not really the preseason. Still, it kind of feels that way...even if Pitt struggles a bit at times.

Pitt was able to pull out a 71-60 win against Eastern Kentucky. The home team looked good in the first half, opening up a 15 point lead, then seemed to take it easy in the second. They came out really sluggish looking and only scored one basket in the first six minutes while getting outhustled by EKU. Not good, but I guess they'll learn and I wouldn't be surprised if slacking off cost them a game down the road.

While EKU closed the gap late, I never really got the feeling that they could pose a serious threat - mostly because our defense really stepped up when they wanted to and while their shooting was okay (40% from the field), it was by no means lights out. Still, overall, EKU played reasonably well and didn't back down.

Wisely, I think Jamie Dixon is playing down the inexperience factor:

“Most of our guys have been playing the most minutes that they’ve ever played at this level. I don’t think we’re inexperienced. There are teams that think they are and they continue to stress the fact that they are inexperienced. For us, I think we’ll play as experienced as we went to be. It’s just a term and it doesn’t define you unless you allow it to.”

It's an excellent point and while there will be growing pains with this team, by the time the Big East schedule rolls around, they should have a good feel for the college game. Plus (and I keep mentioning this), Jermaine Dixon and Gil Brown will help in a big way with leadership and playing down the stretch in close games.

Oh, and one of the most meaningless statistics in all of sports reared its ugly head:

Pitt tied a school record with 12 blocks in the game. Freshman center Dante Taylor and junior center Gary McGhee each had four blocks apiece.

Plenty of bright spots in the game including:

1. Rebounding - True, EKU's tallest player was 6'7". But a dominating 47-25 edge on the boards is the type of performance Pitt fans are used to.

2. Lamar Patterson looks like he could contend for minutes - 10 points / 4 boards in 19 minutes of action including hitting a few threes.

3. Nasir Robinson looks like the real deal and should be a very solid player for this year and beyond. With 15 points tonight, he's averaging 10+ points and 6 rebounds per game. One thing that worries me a little is that he looks really uncomfortable playing on the perimeter. He's going to eventually need to develop an outside shot as he had several wide open looks tonight and didn't take advantage. I may be dating myself a bit, but he kind of reminds me of a better rebounding version of Cedric Ceballos. Ceballos would get the garbage buckets and even averaged about 20+ ppg a couple of years with the Lakers in the 90s. Nearly all (if not all) of Nasir's buckets came right around the basket. Nothing wrong with that, though. Chevy Troutman had a pretty good Pitt career doing much of the same thing.

4. Ashton Gibbs may be Pitt's best player. He works well around the screens, hits shots, and doesn't play outside of the flow of the game. He doesn't force bad shots and is extremely patient. He had 20 more tonight and is averaging about 17 per game.

5. Travon Woodall shot horribly (1-8), but had six rebounds and seven assists. He was generally all over the court and played pretty well other than the shooting woes. I feel pretty comfortable with him running the team, but it will be interesting to see how he responds to better competition.

Before we get too carried away, there were some lowlights as well:

1. Free throw shooting at 58% - some things never change. One thing that puzzled me a bit was near the end of the game when EKU was trying to make things interesting. Down about 10 with two minutes left, they should have been probably trying to foul Pitt, forcing them to hit free throws. Instead, they let Pitt run the clock down twice and didn't go for the foul until about 40 seconds left.

2. Chase Adams again got about 20 minutes of PT, but only had five points. He doesn't look terrible out there, just not real aggressive offensively. Curtis Aiken had some sort of nonsensical comment along the lines of that anything he provides them offensively is a bonus because he's such a great defender. Well, he averaged nearly 15 points a game last year as a junior, so I'd be lying if I said I didn't expect more offense out of him - especially in these early non-conference games.

3. Dante Taylor really is going to need to assert himself a little more offensively. He really showed up on the boards (13) and was a huge presencec defensively (4 blocks), but didn't even get his first shot until about 12 minutes left in the game. I know it's going to take him a while to get adjusted, but I'd like to see him be a little more dominant against these lesser foes. Otherwise, the Big East frontcourts might give him a lot of trouble. I think he'll be fine, though.

All in all, it's hard to complain too much. The most encouraging thing for me was seeing the way they rebounded after Jamie Dixon seemed to put an emphasis on that.

Wichita State on Monday will really be their first road test. Even though it's technically a neutral site, it's in their home state and should probably be basically a home game for them. I could easily see Pitt dropping this one, but either way, we'll know much more about the team after that game.

No Respect

Well the good news about the Pitt / Cincinnati game is that it will be a national telecast on ABC. The bad news is that it's a noon kickoff.

I guess beggars can't be choosers. The other major game that weekend is Florida Vs. Alabama, but that gets a 4:00 p.m. start. It would have been nice for this to be a night game, but heck, in December, that might not be so fun after all.

Tickets are still available and it wouldn't surprise me all that much if this wasn't a sellout (though I expect it will be). Even if Pitt gets past WVU next weekend, it's still a noon kickoff against an opponent many casual fans aren't really all that excited about - even as a top five team. Oh yeah, and it will probably be in the neighborhood of about 30 degrees outside. Fun.

Still, if Pitt can't manage to sell THIS game out, it would be disappointing.

Settling In

Pitt looked much better and mroe relaxed in their 71-46 win today over Binghamton that had most of us rushing home from work in order to watch. Just a matter of getting that first game under their belts, I guess.

I was able to catch the end of the first half and the rest of game and have to say Pitt looked much better than the Wofford game. Of course, the reason is probably that Binghamton is playing with seven scholarship players and is not even a shell of last year's NCAA tournament team. Heck, their leading returning scorer didn't even average 5.0 per game last year. Still, it was encouraging to see something much more resembling the Pitt basketball we're used to. The defense was solid, and while the offense could have converted more shots, I was encouraged by the number of good passes and unselfish play.

Surprisingly, there was one similarity between both teams coming into the game. Binghamton held on for a five-point win against D-II Bloomsburg while Pitt struggled as well in the comeback three-point in vs. Wofford.

Ashton Gibbs played a heck of a game, leading all scorers with 22 (17 in the first half), and made 6 of 10 three-point attempts. Travon Woodall (10 points / 13 assists) and Nasir Robinson (7 points / 10 rebounds) also had pretty good games. Gibbs was actually close to a Pitt record for his first-half performance.

Dante Taylor still looks a little out of sync to me. He finished with six points and four rebounds in 18 minutes. Driving home during the first half, on the radio broadcast, Curtis Aiken said that he expected Taylor to be a go to guy within a few games. I'm not sure that's entirely accurate as he doesn't look all that aggressive yet. He should turn out to be a good player, but it's clear he's still in need of polishing.

I'm a bit surprised at Chase Adams' slow start - even though it's only been two games. In 42 minutes, he's only accumulated three points. While he looks like he's just trying to fit into the flow of the game and get a handle on the offense, at some point, he's got to make more plays if he expects to get that many minutes a game.

All in all, a much better performance (though that was to be expected). As I said before, Pitt will get better. With Jermaine Dixon and Gilbert Brown back, they'll have an even deeper team, though I'm curious to see whose minutes will be cut. I'm guessing that other than Lamar Patterson, everyone that is playing now will still see significant minutes - nearly everyone will probably just see a small decline.

Meanwhile, in the 'old news' section, Dixon is still at least a few games from returning. It'd be nice to get him back for the Wichita State game as I expect that to be a tough one...especially because it will practically be a home game for them.

Jamie Dixon gets some love for his coaching of the USA Under-19 basketball team from over the summer.

And it seems like the first PG basketball chat of the year was a bit thin.

CBSSportsline.com Blog Poll Week 11

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Texas
2	Florida
3	Alabama
4	TCU
5	Boise State
6	Cincinnati
7	Pittsburgh
8	Georgia Tech
9	LSU	1
10	Ohio State	3
11	Oregon
12	Iowa	3
13	Penn State	7
14	Brigham Young	8
15	Houston
16	Oklahoma State	1
17	Utah	1
18	Wisconsin	3
19	Virginia Tech	5
20	Stanford
21	Clemson	4
22	Southern Cal	10
23	Miami (Florida)	9
24	California
25	Rutgers
Last week's ballot

Dropped Out: South Florida (#18), Arizona (#19), West Virginia (#23).

With so many top 25 teams losing this week, it was an absolute disaster trying to rank teams properly. I'm sure I've got plenty of flaws this week.

Irish Eyes are Not Smiling

After a hot start, Pitt reverted a bit back to its old ways and nearly suffered a collapse of near-epic proportions before holding on for a big 27-22 win(anyone who predicted that score deserves a medal) against Notre Dame. True, the game had no bearing on their BCS bowl chances. But with all the momentum they've built up, the walk back to the car would have taken a lot longer.

On this night, the game belonged to super wideout Jonathan Baldwin. He did what many outside of Pittsburgh didn't think was possible: upstage Notre Dame receiver Golden Tate:

Until Tate broke loose, Baldwin upstaged Tate and fellow Notre Dame star receiver Michael Floyd. Despite being matched step for step by defender Darrin Walls, Baldwin stretched out all of his 6 feet, 5 inches to catch Bill Stull's perfectly thrown 36-yard touchdown catch late in the second half to make it 10-3. Stull went 15 of 27 for 236 yards and no interceptions.

Baldwin then made an even better grab, a soaring 51-yard grab over Walls -- like him, a former Pittsburgh-area high school star -- to the Irish 29 that led to Dan Hutchins' second field goal, a 38-yarder, and a 13-3 lead. After the Irish punted, Graham ran through half of the Notre Dame defense on a 53-yard run that led to his 2-yard score one play later.

Baldwin made five catches for 142 yards.

Not surprisingly, Baldwin was the one who kept things in perspective:

"We've still got a long way to go, and we've still got to take care of business," Baldwin said.

Baldwin did have some help in freshman running backs Dion Lewis and Ray Graham. Lewis had 152 yards and Ray Graham's Madden-esqe video game run of 50+ yards helped Pitt along the way.

After a questionable fumble call (and it was no doubt, questionable), seems like someone is getting a bit snippy. Can't say it's something that could have completely blame him. Even though Notre Dame would have been staring at a 4th and long after that overturned incomplete pass/fumble, with Pitt's secondary depleted, a conversion wouldn't have been out of the realm of possibility.

However.

Irish fans and apologists should remember that even if the play was an incomplete pass, you could make a strong argument that it should have been called intentional grounding. Intentional grounding would have resulted in a loss of down and Pitt's ball. So really, enough. And while I'm on the subject, the only thing more nonsensical than the incessant whining about the call was the near mass exodus of fans after falling behind 27-9, even while the game was fairly early into the fourth quarter and with a potent offense.

Back in South Bend, Weis' act could be wearing thin on fans:

This time, there was nothing to second-guess, nothing to what-if about, nothing that Notre Dame head football coach Charlie Weis could spin as pseudo-progress.

What has become a painfully tired refrain now reads like an epitaph.

Another November nosedive, ND's ninth in 12 such games. Another loss to a ranked team, Weis' 12th in 16 games. Another loss to a top 10 team, a school-record eighth straight after Weis won his initial top-10 clash at Michigan in game 2 of his Notre Dame career.

The first half was a defensive struggle for the most part - until Baldwin's touchdown. That showed the first strike against an Irish defense that struggled a bit.

Meanwhile, Pitt's win helped them to move up three spots in the latest BCS poll, while remaining at #8 and #9 in the AP and USA Today polls respectively. An interesting, further analysis shows that the computers aren't sure about Pitt, as they have the second-highest disparity among top ten teams. One computer ranks them as high as 10th while another somehow has them as low as 15th. Whatever.

Looks like I'm not the only one discussing the possibility of Pitt being considered as a national championship contender. As I broke down before, it'd be a long shot. But the fact that it can even realistically be discussed is unfathomable. Make no mistake, Pitt's best chance to sneak into the picture probably went by the wayside this weekend with TCU and Texas winning. But it was nice to think about it.

Dennis Dodd predicts some bowl matchups and mentions the possibility that the Big East runner-up could also make a BCS bowl. Given Pitt's and Cincinnati's history of TV ratings and record of not traveling well, I think this would be a reach.

Nice to have another bye week - more time to soak up the national spotlight in the top ten.

Well That Was Interesting

This season looks like it's going to be a little harder than anticipated. After a 63-60 nailbiter, the thing that you have to keep into perspective is that Pitt will get better - if only because Jermaine Dixon and Gilbert Brown should eventually be back and will fill important roles. This game looked bad on paper, but Wofford retruned all of its starters and may be a threat to make the tournament this year.

Ray Fittipaldo had it right, calling for a close game.

Just as I was ready to question Gary McGhee getting so many minutes, he was apparently the one who stepped in to score some late baskets. I say apparently because the game wasn't televised and the CBS All-Access froze up so much, I quit trying to watch online. Unless Dante Taylor really comes out and dominates, I think we're likely to see the ol' John DeGroat routine - Gary McGhee starts, but may get less minutes than Taylor. That's fine with me as long as Taylor gets his minutes. McGhee has shown flashes of good play in his first two seasons, but has never really been all that consistent. It would be nice if he can play some quality minutes for them this year - especially early on because the team is going to need some scoring with Brown and Dixon out.

Taylor had a nice game with 13 points on 5-7 shooting and played fewer minutes (19)than McGhee (21). I'd expect him to be playing more minutes than McGhee by the time the conference games come up. But then again, I also expected him to be starting immediately, so what do I know? Wanamaker led the Panthers with 15 and eight players saw at least ten minutes of action.

This year may prove to be Jamie Dixon's greatest challenge and I think any Pitt fan would be hard pressed to criticize him if they can make it to the NCAA's. It's a long year, though, and as I said, Pitt will get better. Maybe making the NCAA's won't be that difficult (though it's hard to envision an easy walk to the dance after this game).

Next up is Binghamton on Tuesday.

Lots of Notre Dame Stuff

Lots of Notre Dame stuff to get in with a short hiatus due to....stuff.

But first, Paul Zeise's Redshirt Diaries has a lot of interesting stuff including the deal about the Gator Bowl, Greg Cross redshirting, Dion Lewis possibly leaving earlier than anticipated, and non-conference scheduling. I always hesitate to declare 'must-reads', but this post has a lot of info in it not related to the game this weekend.

So, it seems there are a lot of questions this week.

Can Pitt get to Jimmy Claussen?

Why does the Big East allow Notre Dame to take bowl spots from the conference?

Who should Pitt fans be rooting for in the Cincinnati / West Virginia game on Friday?

Paul Zeise has answers.

Despite Dave Wannstedt saying the game doesn't have the meaning of some other rivalry games back in the day, (which, by the way, it doesn't) make no mistake that this is a big one. Pitt will have a large part of the country paying attention for it for perhaps the first time since last year's bowl game. We all know how that turned out. But seriously, Pitt has a legitimate shot to have an incredible season and even they go on to win the conference, a loss would be a disappointment.

I'm getting way ahead of myself, but a 10-1 season would mean so much to the program in my opinion. Perception is a funny thing. Dave Wannstedt has recruited well since he's been here, but a 10-1 record could legitimately show bigger recruits that Pitt might not be all that far from a run at a national championship. With the schedule getting tougher, this game is the beginning of a possible program-defining stretch.

This is the best way to sum up the game that I've seen:

The game against an unranked opponent falls right before No. 8 Pitt plays archrival West Virginia followed by perhaps the biggest of this season's Big East showdowns - against No. 5 Cincinnati.

Winning probably won't substantially boost the Panthers' ranking. Losing might derail all the momentum they've spent a half-season building. It's the kind of non-conference distraction many players and coaches dislike so late in a season.

There's also been a lot of talk about the different directions Wannstedt and Charlie Weis have gone since their first meeting four years ago, which was also their first game. Had you asked me back then which coach would be with his school longer, I probably would have gone with Weis. I wasn't sold on Wannstedt really until this year. But a lot can happen in four years. Wannstedt is now a trendy pick as a top candidate for Coach of the Year Awards (must be an insider to view) while the Notre Dame media has lots of questions regarding the fate of slumping coach Charlie Weis.

And speaking about coaches, does this mean if Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo takes over at Notre Dame, that Associate Head Coach Norwin Brown wouldn't be retained?

Defensive philosophies are different between each team. Pitt relies on its front four to bring pressure, while Notre Dame uses the blitz quite often. John Malecki and the offensive line will have their hands full. All-World Tight End Dorin Dickerson and the passing game will look to burn them on blitzes.

And speaking of defense, Pitt's secondary will be tested by the Michael Floyd / Golden Tate combination. We should have a pretty good idea whether the secondary's issues have been solved after this game. I think the secondary will be the key to whether Pitt wins or loses this game.

Meanwhile, the City of Pittsburgh officially jumps on the bandwagon with the Turn It Blue promotion. To be honest, it'd be nice if the City supported Pitt a little more in my opinion. You rarely hear of this type of stuff. I'm well aware that Pitt is only one of several universities in the area, but it's the main one as far as athletics are concerned. Despite being a solid football program and recent basketball power in a city that has no NBA team, Pitt always seems to get the short end of the stick when it comes to hyping up the major sports teams in town.

Quick hitters:

- Game preview from the Notre Dame side.

- Dion Lewis makes the cut for yet another award

- Ditto for Dorin Dickerson

- Speaking of Dickerson, here's another 'redemption' piece for Dorin Dickerson

- And I may be wrong on this, but I have a hard time believing Pitt isn't a little more excited than they're letting on about the top ten. It's a big deal.

Now onto a prediction since a post may not happen due to a visit from in-laws. I expect Pitt to win this game as I don't think Notre Dame is a strong as people have been making them out to be. I think the only thing that may keep it close is if the secondary plays poorly. I don't expect the ND defense to shut down Pitt's offense, but they are fully capable of outscoring them.

Let's go with 30 - 24, Pitt.

Movin' On Up and a National Championship Scenario

I tried to avoid that headline. I really did. But it's the only suitable one I could think of that required less than one minute of thinking, which is all I was willing to devote to it.

As expected, Pitt moved up in the polls, coming in at 8th and 9th in the AP and USA Today polls respectively. This is the first time since 1982 that Pitt cracked the top 10 in November.

What was more surprising was that they only managed to move up one spot in the BCS poll, even while three teams in their vicinity (Oregon, PSU, and LSU) lost. Now, they moved up over Oregon and PSU, but here's where it gets tricky. LSU who was 9th and lost actually moved UP in the poll. Huh? Ohio State moved ahead of Pitt based on their win vs. PSU, which I don't agree with, but can at least SORT OF understand.

I wouldn't get too concerned about the BCS poll because when you come right down to it, it doesn't really matter to Pitt. The only scenario that would have Pitt fans maybe up in arms is if Pitt somehow got in the picture for the National Championship game (Yes, I said National Championship). Barring something preposterous, the winner of the Florida/Alabama SEC championship game will be in the national championship. So without further ado, here's the only scenario I see for Pitt to play for the title:

- Pitt wins out beating a previously undefeated Cincinnati team giving them one excellent win. Yes, it would take a bit of work, not not entirely implausible.

- TCU loses next week to Utah - While it would be an upset, it wouldn't be impossible.

- Boise State loses one of their remaining games (Idaho, at Utah State, Nevada). Boise should win all of these, but not a huge stretch for them to fall to Idaho (7-3) or Nevada (5-3).

- That leaves Texas - this is the one that is least likely to happen: Texas somehow loses one of its remaining three games (at Baylor, at Texas A&M, and at Kansas), then loses again in the Big 12 title game. Texas really would need to lose twice for this to happen because I think voters would give a one-loss Texas team the nod over the rest of the teams above.

If all of that happens, you'd have a slew of one-loss teams including Pitt, Georgia Tech, Boise State, TCU, Iowa, Houston, and either Florida or Alabama (whichever would lose the head-to-head matchup in the SEC championship). The voters could be hesitant to vote the loser of the SEC championship game into the national championship as that would be an immediate rematch of the SEC championship. Out of the rest of the teams, you could make an argument for just about anyone with the exception of probably Houston.

Now, I've provided a somewhat reasonable scenario where Pitt could have a chance to play for the title. The problem is that even if ALL of the above happened, there are still some voters (maybe more than some) who would probably vote a two-loss USC or Ohio State team ahead of Pitt. Not to mention, they STILL would be in a large clump of one-loss teams.

Doesn't look like it will happen - I'd place the odds squarely at 2.7%. Still.

CBSSportsline.com Blog Poll Week 10

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Texas
2	Florida
3	Alabama
4	TCU	1
5	Boise State	1
6	Cincinnati
7	Pittsburgh	5
8	Georgia Tech	2
9	Iowa	2
10	LSU	2
11	Oregon	2
12	Southern Cal	1
13	Ohio State	2
14	Miami (Florida)	2
15	Houston	1
16	Utah	2
17	Oklahoma State	2
18	South Florida	2
19	Arizona	2
20	Penn State	9
21	Wisconsin	1
22	Brigham Young
23	West Virginia	2
24	Virginia Tech
25	Clemson
Last week's ballot

Dropped Out: Notre Dame (#17), California (#23).

- I moved Pitt up to #7 one spot higher than the AP Poll, moving them ahead of Georgia Tech. I didn't do this as a Pitt fan, but more so because of their dominant performance while Georgia Tech struggled, winning in overtime, versus a bad 4-6 Wake Forest team. Georgia Tech's signature win vs. Virginia Tech is also losing its luster as they've fallen a lot in the polls.

- I hesitantly jumped TCU over Boise this week for a couple of reasons. TCU won in a blowout while Boise struggled a bit. Boise's signaure win of Oregon also looks a little less impressive after Oregon's loss this weekend. The Boise/TCU issue could get a little clearer as TCU plays a one-loss Utah team next week. If TCU can put up an impressive win, I'd imagine more voters would put them ahead of Boise.

- I agreed more with the BCS poll than the AP and USA Today polls on Iowa. I still have them ahead of two-loss USC and Ohio State teams...for now. Iowa's loss to a 6-4 Northwestern team is better than OSU's loss to a 4-6 Purdue team or USC's loss to a 3-6 Washington team. I think OSU will end up beating them, but if you look at the body of work right now, I think Iowa still deserves to be ahead of both teams at this point in the season.

- Penn State took a big tumble, not because I dislike them (which I do), but because I consider a 17-point loss at home to another two-loss team kind of a bad loss. They also don't have one good win on their resume, while some teams I placed ahead of them do (i.e. Oregon who beat USC; South Florida who beat 7-2 West Virginia; Arizona who beat 6-3 Stanford and Oregon State teams, etc).

- Told you so about Oklahoma.

Now the Fun Begins

After escaping a sluggish start, Pitt was able to pull away from the Orange. Trap games are over now and here's where it gets serious for Pitt. Games vs. Notre Dame, West Virginia, and Cincinnati are all certainly losable, but also all winable. At this point, for me, Pitt needs to finish at least 10-2 before this season can be considered a success. Sure, 9-3 at the beginning of the season would have looked pretty good, but since they've started 8-1, that would be a disappointment.

Onto a very quick recap of what I recall from the game:

- Dion Lewis solved the Orange defense with 114 yards and a TD averaging 6 yards a carry. His numbers are starting to look pedestrian and that's a scary thought. Ray Graham looked pretty mediocre today and I'm starting to fall into the group that would be fine to see him only enter in for a few plays per game. There's no reason to pull Lewis at this point and even the announcers seemed confused when Graham came in for one series, thinking Lewis had an injury.

- And speaking of the announcers, I'm not the type to bash these guys. Most see different teams each week and there's no way they could be on top of everything. But they left a lot to be desired. A lot of botches today from them. The one that got me was the guy who announced the score as 21-3, then upon saying the score wrong (it was actually 20-3), promptly excused himself saying he meant to say the score was 21-3. Really - how hard can it be to at least get the score right. And if another announcer calls Henry Hynoski's hometown Elysburg (pronouncing it like it looks - Elies Burg when it's actually pronounced Eee-Lees Burg), I'm going to scream. Maybe I'm having a bad day.

- Syracuse was able to capitalize and keep the score close in the first half until disaster struck. You could literally FEEL the entire game get away from them after that Paulus interception that was a pick 6. That made it a ten-point lead and even though Syrcause had some success running the ball, it didn't seem like they were going to be able to overcome that. The sideline looked dejected, almost like they expected it to happen. The very next play on the kickoff return, the return man ran right into his own blocker. Talk about bad signs.

- Kick return game was disastrous and the bad news is that I don't think there's any easy fix. A couple of bobbles/drops and Aaron Smith calling for a fair catch when there's no one within 20 yards of him is inexcusable. Oh, and Cam Saddler catching the ball on the five as he's going out of bounds? That was my 'scream at the TV and hope they hear me' moment. Seriously though, I don't know who else they really have left to field kicks, so kick returns might be kind of a 'hold your breath' exercise for Pitt fans.

- It's hard to nitpick in a 27-point win, but I was really puzzled by some of the coaching calls today. I thought not going for it on their first drive of the game when it was literally 4th and inches was a mistake. They went for the short field goal to tie it up and while it wasn't a terrible call, you've got to trust Hynoski or even a QB sneak can get the first down. I was almost wondering if Wannstedt knew that he could get another first down and didn't need to get a touchdown there. The call for Ray Graham to run on 3rd and 9? I don't even know how to address this. And kicking the FG with 9 seconds left was a bad call. At that point it was only 3rd down and I there was plenty of time to throw a sideline route to get a little closer. There were others I questioned, but those are just the ones that stand out.

- I said it before, but I was unsure why Chris Burns came in again for mop-up duty. I guess to keep both Lewis and Graham healthy, but 1. I thought he was switching positions to either safety or corner, and 2., it would be nice to have preserved his redshirt if they think he is really going to be a good player in the secondary.

- So many players made good plays including Lewis, Bill Stull, Jonathan Baldwin, Cedric McGee - but Dorin Dickerson had an unbelievable game with 7 catches, 118 yards, and a TD. I've stopped being mad at the coaches for not using him properly before this and just have really been watching and appreciating his play. Pitt should have a good team next year with the return of a lot of guys, but Dickerson may be missed the most.

Looking forward to these next three games.

Syracuse Game Preview

One final look before the Syracuse game tomorrow. To be honest, for the first time in a while, I'm not overly concerned about this game. I think Pitt will come out strong and believe them when they say they're not looking past the Orange. Paul Zeise seems to believe it, too, answering this question in his weekly chat:

Frankie_CigsPack: I know the players have to say they are not looking ahead to Notre Dame, but what is the attitude of the team really like this week? They have to be looking ahead ... right?

Paul Zeise: No, they seem to be pretty focused to be honest. I think they sense they have a chance to do something special this year and they are really going to go after it one week at a time. If they are looking past Syracuse they are crazy because it isn't like they've been able to blow the Orange out the past few years. This will be a tough game.

Bill Stull sums it up pretty well:

"We lose this game," he said, "and our dreams are gone. All the hard work, it's almost like it was worth nothing."

Coach Wannstedt has been saying all the right things this week:

"Pitt had a long streak when they didn't beat Syracuse," Wannstedt said. "Syracuse is one of those programs with great tradition, great academics. They can go around the country and recruit. Last year we were down by 11 in the fourth quarter. The year before it was 10-10 halfway through the fourth quarter.

"It's a conference game and it's Pitt-Syracuse. And we better be ready to play better than we have."

But unlike a certain coach from central Pennsylvania, Wannstedt actually has good reason to show concern. In five of the past six seasons, Pitt has won by ten points or fewer each time. For some reason, the games with Syracuse for the most part are always uber competitive. Throw in the fact that Syracuse has been markedly better this year and you have, perhaps, a recipe for disaster.

One thing that continues to baffle me is the WWE-like turn on Greg Paulus by the Syracuse fans last week in the Cincinnati game. I understand that he didn't play well, but with the exception of a five-interception disaster against South Florida, he's played reasonably well, completing 65% of his passes this year. And let's not forget that last I checked, Cincinnati was a pretty good team. For Syracuse to have a chance this week, Paulus will need to limit the interceptions and let the defense try to keep it close.

And speaking of baffling, how did Syracuse end up with 8 of its 12 games at home (including 7 of their first 8)? I'm sure there's a reason for it, but frankly, I don't care to find out.

This week, the key matchup to look for in this game may be the Dion Lewis vs. the Orange run defense, which ranks 7th in the country and 1st in the Big East. They've got a pretty impressive resume:

• The Orange limited Penn State's Evan Royster to a season-low 41 yards on 12 carries and held the Nittany Lions to only 78 rushing yards, their worst showing of the season.

• They held Northwestern to a season-low 52 yards on 28 carries.

• They stopped Akron for zero yards on 24 carries, the best effort by a Syracuse defense in 18 years.

First-year coach Doug Marrone's team has not allowed a 100-yard rusher this year, and they are one of only two teams to hold West Virginia star Noel Devine under 100 yards.

Starting safeties Max Suter, a Greensburg Central Catholic graduate, and Mike Holmes are aggressive run-stoppers, and the Orange excel at taking away long runs. Opponents have 258 rushing attempts against Syracuse this year, and only five of those rushes gained 20-plus yards. The longest run all year against the Orange is 33 yards.

33 yards? That's kind of scary. But the good news for Pitt is that the passing defense has struggled, coming in close to last at 117th out of 120 teams. Ouch.

Quick Hitters -

Dave Wannstedt and Dion Lewis are up for Maxwell Awards. Lewis probably has no real shot to win, but I think Wannstedt could if Pitt runs the table.

Mike Shanahan has given Pitt another option at WR.

One of the focal points during the bye week seems to be ensuring the passing game doesn't miss a beat.

All season, it's started with the offensive line.

As I mentioned in my Q&A with the Syrcause blog Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician, I think the players realize that this could be a very special season. The NC State game was a good example of what happens when focus is lost. While I think they can't help but to look ahead to the Notre Dame game and rest of the season, I don't think it will affect the outcome of this one. The games against Syracuse have been close for the most part, but this looks like Pitt's best team in recent years. I do have some concern about Pitt getting an early lead and then turning complacent, but overall, expect a good win.

Prediction: Pitt 31 / Syracuse 13

Q&A With Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician

First, if you have never visited the Syracuse blog NunesMagician.com before, do it...now. This guy has a great blog and once you check out his Mike Williams timeline, you'll see that plenty led up to Williams' abrupt departure.

Sean at the Nunes Magician blog was gracious enough to participate in a brief Q&A for the upcoming game. See my questions with his answers below. Check out his site soon for my answers to his questions.

EYEOFAPANTHER: Obviously, I've got to ask about the Mike Williams saga. I was aware of some of his past issues, but has leaving the team in the middle of his senior season been something that fans thought was a possibility at any point during his career? What kind of personality does Williams have and how do you see this affecting his NFL draft stock assuming he still wants to play professionally?

NUNESMAGICIAN: The Mike Williams saga has been eye-opening to say the least. It's completely redefined the way we see Mike and his legacy at Syracuse. Remember, this is a guy who already had two strikes against him for the cheating issue last season and whatever it was he did to get suspended two weeks ago before the Akron game. So when he goes on his Facebook page and cries about not feeling wanted...it rings a little hollow and makes you wonder if Mike really gets it. I mean, the fact that his teammates allegedly almost didn't vote him back onto the squad after his latest transgression speaks volumes considering how good of a player he is.

As for his draft stock, we've seen players with worse transgressions get drafted high so I'm not sure just how much he hurt himself. He might have gone from a 1st-rounder to a 2nd-rounder. Possibly even worse. And he's probably cost himself a million or two. But, assuming he keeps in shape, he'll still get drafted. He's too talented not to take a risk on, though his attitude will be questioned every single day until the draft.

In other words, expect the Oakland Raiders to take Williams with their 2nd-round pick in 2010.


EYEOFAPANTHER: From what I've seen a couple of times on message boards and websites, it looks like Doug Marrone is already feeling some pressure from fans. Personally, from an outsider's point of view, it looks like Syracuse has really looked respectable this year. At 3-5 with still some arguably winnable games still on their schedule (although with the loss of Williams, additional wins may be a little tougher to come by), are the fans really that upset with how the season has played out so far considering the team has only averaged 2.5 wins over the past four years? If Syracuse can manage to get to five wins, would the season be considered a success in your eyes?

NUNESMAGICIAN: Considering the talent level and the schedule we played, if Syracuse gets to five wins this is a HA-YUGELY successful season. The problem is that Syracuse came out of the gates guns blazing this season. We almost beat Minnesota. We beat Northestern. We looked like we could hold our own with most teams on the schedule ahead. Then we got blown out by West Virginia and South Florida and all of sudden SU fans were disappointed. But not just normal-disappointed...they were disappointed as if Syracuse had previously been en route to the Orange Bowl. Our expectations had been raised and all of a sudden we were expecting 6 wins and a bowl berth. So...fans are frustrated again.

I admit, I get frustrated too. The thing about sports is that very few of us have patience. We want to win right now and if that's not happening then we're pissed off. Syracuse is on the right track and Doug Marrone has proven enough to show that he's got the staff and the plan to lead us back. This year is a write-off and it always has been. Doesn't mean we don't think we can win some games.


EYEOFAPANTHER: A lot of Pitt fans may be surprised to know that Syracuse ranks 7th in the nation (1st in the Big East) in rushing defense and haven't allowed a 100-yard rusher all season. Conversely, they are 117th in pass defense. Is Syracuse really that good against the run or are their low rushing totals due to teams passing the ball a lot more against them?

NUNESMAGICIAN: Can't it be a little of both? The strongest unit on the entire team is the defensive line, anchored by future pro Arthur Jones. Plus, linebacker Derrell Smith has emerged as a devestating hitter. So unto itself, that unit has been fantastic at shutting down opposing rushers all year. That said, our defensive backfield is argualy the weakest unit on the team. They've been carved up like Thanksgiving turkeys all year. It also doesn't help that we've gone up against some extremely talented receivers (Eric Decker, Marty Gilyard). That's still no excuse for the numbers though. Opposing teams would be crazy not to attack our secondary and so that's inflated the numbers on both sides. But that doesn' mean our run D isn't very good.


EYEOFAPANTHER: With Williams seemingly out of the picture for this Saturday, who are some offensive players that you expect to be featured this weekend?

NUNESMAGICIAN: First and foremost the Orange will be relying on RB Delone Carter. Carter is coming off his best game of the year, 170 yards and 3 TDs against Akron. All year Delone has been running hard but the offensive line hasn't helped him out too much. With back-up RB Antwon Bailey suspended this weekend as part of the car accident that Williams was involved in, the pressure is on Carter even more to keep those numbers up and keep the SU offense on the field.

Obviously you'll see Greg Paulus but also expect to see Ryan Nassib. Paulus is the start and Doug Marrone would never say that we have a two-QB system. Rather, Nassib comes in for certain packages, like our version of the Wildcat. Whereas Paulus bring leadership, Nassib brings a shoulder cannon that Greg can't match.

The wide recievers are going to be expected to step up in a major way and SU fans will be looking to Marcus Sales, Donte Davis and Alec Lemon namely to fill Mike Williams' shoes. Without Williams it's a young unit but they all have enough experience to be able to handle themselves.


EYEOFAPANTHER: How have fans reacted to Greg Paulus this year overall? For someone playing quarterback for a D-I football team in a BCS conference for the first time, I think he's played reasonably well. He's had some success, but games like this past weekend at Cincinnati and his five interception performance vs. South Florida have been costly. Are fans axiously anticipating the Ryan Nassib era next year where I would presume he'd be the full-time starter?

NUNESMAGICIAN: It's been a bit of a rollercoaster ride for fans with Greg Paulus. The opening game against Minnesota is a perfect metaphor for the entire season. For the most part, Paulus played well. He looked shaky at times, forced some throws at others but seemed to be able to find a way to keep the ball moving and control the offense. So much so that the Orange took the Gophers into overtime...where Paulus throw an inexcusable interception in the endzone that led to Minnesota's victory. That's been the thing with Paulus all year. He's a leader and a great binding force for the team the way a senior should be, but he's making a lot of freshman mistakes. That his back-up, redshirt freshman Ryan Nassib, seems to look more comfortable in the pocket makes us concerned. While Doug Marrone is sticking by Paulus, I'm pretty sure that if you took a vote right now, the fans would rather see Nassib in as the starter.

Make no mistake, the Paulus Experiment has still been a success. SU is better than we were last year and Paulus has done a lot for the university and the program. But that alone doesn't win football games.


EYEOFAPANTHER: I planned to end this after five questions, but I heard about the recent promotion this weekend where students were admitted for free and couldn't resist. The announced crowd was about 33,000, but we all know those numbers are usually deceptive and I figure that less were in attendance. At Pitt, we've had our fair share of games with lower than expected turnouts, so I can relate a bit to this. Playing a top five team in the country, with weather not a factor as Syracuse plays in a dome, how surprised were you that the stadium was realistically probably only a little more than half full?

NUNESMAGICIAN: I was shocked. Absolutely shocked. In all seriousness, I was convinced the student section would be packed or at the very least 2/3 full. When I saw that maybe 30 students showed up in spite of the free offer...I was just floored. I ended up penning an article where I basically said we have the worst student fanbase in the nation. A week later, I won't back down from that statement. Like a wrote on my site, why did you bother coming to Syracuse is you're not going to go to the football games? You might as well have gome to LeMoyne College (better basketball program, anyway).

They are an apathetic bunch thanks to the Greg Robinson Era. Luckily, some of them will be gone soon and we hope the incoming freshman start up a new trend of, you know, caring.