We actually have to wait another week before Pitt plays its season opener. For just about everyone else, the college football season opens this weekend (or last night). This means a veritable cornucopia of articles for "previewing" the upcoming season of football in Pittsburgh. Quick summary of the articles today:

A couple articles out there on Big East transitions (again?) with Miami and VT leaving, and how that can be good for the other teams starting next year -- provided they get to stay in the BCS after 2005. The PG article also predicts the Big East this year: Miami, Pitt, VT, WV.

A coaching puff piece on rising coaching star, Defensive Coach Paul Rhoads (who also turned down the same position at Nebraska during the offseason).

A couple stories about how Pitt has been rising -- it's the talent, stupid -- and that the national media is noticing -- along with a companion column, that may as well be titled, "Don't Get Cocky, Kid."

Pitt Sports Blather: We summarize, so you can read less.

I think I just heard the sound of a brainpan hitting the floor in Altoona, after seeing this list.

WHAT'S HOT, WHAT'S NOT IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL 2003
Category ----- Hot -------------------------------- Not Hot
...
Uniforms ------ Oregon's "lightning yellow" -- However Nebraska is tweaking 'em this year

QB Rod Rutherford has been put on the pre-season watch list for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award with 25 other candidates. Rutherford is also on the watch list for the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award.

Realistically, I don't think he's got much of a chance. The QB awards tend to favor the traditional, pocket passer over scrambling, dual threat quaterbacks.

The ESPN/Beano Cook chat was completely predictable. Note the following

Jordan (State College): Hey Beano, Notre Dame, Penn State, Florida State. Will we ever see these traditional powers back to form? Will any of them be "back" this year?

Beano Cook: Well, let's take ND, first -- they will finish 10-2. Penn State will finish 9-3 with a chance at 10-2. Florida State will win the ACC. FSU has a very very tough non-conference schedule, unlike Penn State, they like easy non-conference games.
...
Adam (Gainesville): Three things you can always count on every year: Beano hyping Notre Dame and Penn State, Beano never picking Miami to win the NC out of either spite or jealousy, and the Clippers missing the playoffs. Sound right?

Beano Cook: Let's get one thing straight ... I like Miami. The biggest story in the last 20 years in college football is Miami. 5 national titles out of 8 tries. That is absolutely unbelievable. Picking teams is not about me liking them or not, it's about who I think will win. If Germany and France are fighting a war, I root for France ... and pick Germany.

Notice he didn't respond to the comments about ND and PSU. The fact that there is a press room in the Peterson Event Center named for this man is just galling.

Matt Hayes is one of my favorite sports columnists. He covers college football for The Sporting News, and his weekly "Pickin' and Grinnin'" columns during the season are must reads. This column, though, just plain misses the mark. It's a somewhat defense of the present have/have not system of college football and the BCS. Well, it's not so much a defense as a caution of how things could be made worse.

Here's what is happening. There are BCS and non-BCS schools. The BCS schools are schools in major conferences that have an automatic bid to the lucrative Bowl Championship Series. They are a slight majority of the 117 Division I-A football programs. The non-BCS schools are seeing themselves minimized and excluded from the BCS (read: money). You can see where this is leading -- mostly pious, self-righteous posturing.

The non-BCS schools have wrapped themselves in the noble sounding group, the Presidential Coalition for Athletic Reform (PCAR). It is headed up by Tulane University President Scott Cowen (Tulane narrowly averted giving up it's football program because of the costs this year).

Both sides have highly educated, well-connected members. This being America, and involving money, university institutions and football (and alumni pride) -- well members of Congress are getting involved. On September 4, the House Judiciary Committee will hold hearings on how all of this works.

Hayes warns that could cause a seismic change in the landscape of college football, but not in the way the PCAR wants.

Here's another way to look at it: The more the have-nots push, the more they lose. And the ramifications could change the face of college athletics profoundly.

"If they continue on this course and Congress gets further into this," one prominent BCS source says, "at some point, we have to draw a line in the sand."

That line could end the NCAA as we know it. The sport's governing body has no real power over the universities other than to police their practices, which is why it has been conspicuously silent in this offseason of turmoil. What now is being discussed quietly among BCS athletic directors and conference commissioners is the top 50 to 60 teams in college football breaking away from the NCAA and forming their own league, forcing the rest of college athletics into the ice age. Don't think it can't happen. When money is the mitigating factor, there are no rules and no reason.

The have-nots want greater access to the multimillion-dollar BCS system and are hoping to build a case with antitrust laws, saying the system has monopolized the postseason because no non-BCS team has played in a BCS bowl since its inception in 1998. Now, the BCS schools don't want to break away, don't want the headache of forming a new governing body and dealing with logistical nightmares in other sports, particularly men's basketball and its highly successful tournament. The have-nots know this, but their case gets stronger in the public eye when Congress is debating it live on C-SPAN.

The first thing, and Hayes knows this, is this isn't BCS schools versus non-BCS schools. It is BCS Conferences versus non-BCS Conferences. A small but important difference, I will expand on later.

I won't say, no way that this break-up would happen, but it is a little too far-fetched. The BCS conferences need the NCAA to confer the legitimacy and illusion of the student-athlete, no matter how hypocritical, eye-ball rolling inducing, snickering causing that phrase evokes in people. Breaking away solely for the money strips away their last argument against paying college athletes. They would be leaving themselves open to new litigation, problems and costs. Since Hayes is talking about unintended consequences, he should also consider the ones the BCS conferences would be facing.

As for the top schools leaving, does this mean the Big XII abandons Baylor? The ACC lets Duke go? The SEC, Vandy and Kentucky? No. Of course not. So you will still have programs that only serve to suck money from the better programs (and in Duke and Vandy's case help make the Conference's academic ranking of student athletes look better).

The small-school presidents want a national playoff modeled after the basketball tournament. But that tournament works because the competitive gap can be squeezed when a school has a dominant player. One such player means next to nothing in college football. Consider this: Four years ago in the NCAA Tournament, Wally Szczerbiak carried Miami (Ohio) to the Sweet 16 and scored 43 of the RedHawks' 59 points in a win over Washington. Ben Roethlisberger, the RedHawks' current quarterback and a potential No. 1 pick in next year's NFL draft, faces a huge task to get his team's offense to score at all in Miami's season opener at Iowa.

Whether we want to admit it, there are certain teams that can't cut it in I-A football. That's why the NCAA recently set up Division I eligibility requirements to weed out those who don't belong. Yet these are the same teams the non-BCS presidents believe deserve access to the more than $500 million in annual income the BCS conferences are paid. In their dream, each conference champion would earn a spot in the tournament, and No. 16 seed Middle Tennessee could lose to No. 1 seed Oklahoma by 50 and still pick up a couple million for its troubles.

By focusing on the fantasy, extreme version of a playoff, Hayes makes the whole thing look ridiculous. That plan wouldn't happen. Just because that is the system in Division I-AA and II and III, doesn't mean the BCS Conferences would go with agree to it. Obviously, there would be a compromise.

AS for admitting some teams can't cut it in Div. I-A football, no question. So what. There are teams that don't belong in BCS Conferences -- Rutgers, Vanderbilt, Duke, Baylor, Indiana -- but because they are in the BCS conferences, they always have a potential to get better and get a chunk of the BCS money. Kansas State went from bottom dwelling, joke team to perennial BCS/Big XII potential in 10 years. In part, because they play in a national, BCS conference.

Understand this: Television drives the BCS deal, and advertisers drive the BCS. Advertisers don't want to shell out huge chunks of money for Oklahoma's jamboree against North Texas. And ABC doesn't want to show Tulane vs. Tennessee in a BCS bowl; it wants Tennessee vs. Southern California. Those who direct the deal and pay the bill want major teams or major television markets -- preferably a combination of both -- in those four games.

The BCS conferences have the product, and they're selling it to the highest bidder. That's free enterprise, not a violation of antitrust law, which is defined as a group monopolizing trade or commerce through unreasonable methods. This is a waste of taxpayer money by a group of university presidents who are upset because the mean men at the BCS won't let them play with their ball.

Actually, there is a plausible antitrust argument. Just because "free enterprise" is involved, doesn't mean antitrust activity doesn't occur. Ever hear of Microsoft?

They are freezing out any other competition. Tulane, Toledo and Marshall could be as good as any team in a BCS Conference in a given year, but they wouldn't be allowed to prove it, because they aren't allowed to compete. The system, as set up keeps them from getting the shot. If a mid-major school gets better, the bigger schools won't play them and risk a loss. This keeps the mid-major's strength of schedule down, so they can't get high enough in the calculations to qualify for the "at-large" BCS bid. I won't disagree that it's a waste of taxpayer money, but you could say that about most of the hearings Congress holds.

My personal views are on the fence over the whole thing. In part because Pitt is in a weird limbo at the moment. They are in the BCS right now, but there is a chance (maybe 25%) that they could be locked out in a couple years. Even the chance that could happen chills me.

This may make our resident uniform fashion critic envious and happy, but at least one school will be doing a retro uniform day. Naturally, it isn't Pitt. No. The University of Oklahoma will be wearing old unis from the Bud Wilkerson era for the first game of the season.

The 2003-2004 season could be a big year for Pitt sports. Not just as far as what they can accomplish on the field and the court. I'm thinking about their place in the local Pittsburgh sports scene. Locally, no one has given much ink or airwave time to Pitt outside of complaints of how they don't measure up to teams of yesteryear. It didn't matter because there was always a pro team to hold the interest at any time. But look at things right now.

The Pirates are an embarrassment, selling off the expensive talent and rebuilding yet again on the cheap.

The Penguins, well, outside of Mario Lemieux, is there any real interest in this team. They are just trying to keep afloat financially, trading players for draft picks, until the lockout/strike comes after this season.

The Steelers. Ah, the Steelers. The lifeblood of all Pittburghers (Pittsburghians?). Aside from the fact that they are playing in a weak division, there is hope but a lot more questions about the team. The defense. The running game. Special teams. Lots of questions.

Meanwhile at Pitt. There are potential top 10 teams in football and basketball. Definitely top 20. There should be a lot of excitement and expectations for both teams. Everyone loves a winner, and bandwagon jumpers should be lining up around the 'Burgh.

If. If, Pitt can meet those expectations. Then this could help reshape the dynamic in the area.

Well it seems there are some other doubters as to how Pitt will do this year.

1. Pittsburgh will wilt under the weight of expectationsAfter last season's surprising second-place finish in the conference standings, the Panthers are a fashionable choice to win the Big East this year. But talking about it and doing it are two completely different things. To win the conference, Pittsburgh will have to beat Miami and Virginia Tech, something the Panthers have done only once (1997) in the same season since they joined the Big East in 1991. Pittsburgh will also have to prove it can sidestep the upsets -- West Virginia last season and South Florida in 2001 -- that have been an obstacle to greater success the past two seasons.

There is a reflexive, defensive part of me that just wants to be snide and say this is because the Big East beat writer for ESPN is also a sportswriter at the Palm Beach Post, i.e., he's a Miami homer. But I'm not going to do that. Instead, I'll concede the possibility, but disagree and hope he's dead wrong.

The rest of the list of 10 things to watch in the Big East is mostly rather obvious. It's more an overview of story lines for the year, for those not following the Big East.

PSB has only been up and running a few weeks, but the search engines are moving us up. Here's how some search results have arrived here (the number in parenthesis is where we ranked on the search).

Pitt Panthers (#52)

Pitt is It! and Sports Illustrated (#8)

pennsylvania+hoopies (#9)

pitt panthers recruiting (#8)

PGH PANTHER FOOTBALL SCHEDULE (#3)

Pitt Panther Brandon Miree (#5)

pitt panthers "webster" (#1)

pitt panther font (#2)

pittsburgh panthers cheerleading (#10)

kirk herbstreit hates penn state (#3)

You can draw your own conclusions about the state of mind of whoever reached that conclusion for the last search.

Pitt Running Back Brandon Miree was named one of 39 pre-season candidates for the Doak Walker Award, that goes to the top college running back. Here's the full list and Pitt press release.

Pitt and Walt Harris has landed a couple more verbal commitments for the 2004. A solid all-state DL from New Jersey, Chenry Lewis

Lewis, who chose Pitt over Boston College and Rutgers, is the Panthers' 12th recruit from the Class of 2004. He is the third player to commit in the past week, joining Penn Hills quarterback Anthony Morelli and Upper Merion offensive lineman Dave Weber.
...
He was named first-team all-state by The Associated Press and first-team All-Passaic by the coaches. While Tom Lemming ranks Lewis the No. 14 linebacker in the nation, SuperPrep ranks him the No. 20 player in New Jersey.

A huge 6'4" 310 pound OL, Dave Weber, from the Philadelphia area committed to Pitt over Syracuse, Georgia Tech, Northwestern and Rutgers.

Pitt now has verbals from 12 recruits for 2004. Apparently the BCS fear isn't stopping Harris.

This story is already a month and a half old, but I just noticed it. A CBS Sportsline story on Pitt's new b-ball coach, Jamie Dixon. Most of it is spent focusing on his acting in TV commercials to give him the human, light touch story. That would have been fine, but it's the rapid revisionism that the piece does in how Dixon got the job.

Which is why when Skip Prosser turned the Panthers down to stay at Wake Forest, the Pitt administration turned to Dixon despite interest from a number of proven head coaches.

"As anticipated, some very high-profile parties expressed interest in the job," said Pitt athletic director Marc Boehm. "In the end, discussions on who would be the best fit kept coming back to Jamie. Over the last four years, our basketball program has reached heights some people once considered impossible. In Jamie, we have a person who helped us reach those heights and will help us reach even higher in the future."

The run that Dixon was a part of the past four years is, indeed, amazing. The Panthers were a struggling, almost forgotten power in the Big East. But the past two seasons, they captured at least a share of the Big East title, reached the Sweet 16 twice and put together a ridiculous 57-11 overall record.

No wonder UCLA made Howland its first choice. And Pitt had few reservations about handing over its program to Dixon. That's something Dixon, who figured his first head-coaching job would be at a good mid-major or a rebuilding big program, is grateful for. All the work he did to get Pitt to this level, he now gets to reap the benefits of.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

Pitt totally flubbed the hiring so many ways. Dixon may work out, and I hope he makes me look foolish about this, but my main problem was and still is with the way they went about the whole damn thing. This article makes it seem like the administration had a solid plan the whole time.

I may have worried needlessly and thoughtlessly at a potential WR curse at Pitt, after reading about how Pitt WR and best in the Big East lost his mother to breast cancer last spring. More important things for Larry Fitzgerald than that. Also, nice to note that he is carrying a better than 3.0 GPA in school -- living amongst Buckeye Fans (Motto: "classes and exams, optional") it's nice to read.

Pitt and coach Walt Harris are getting more national love. A piece in the Sunday New York Times. The focus is on two aspects. The rebuilding of Pitt to national prominence by Harris; and the loss of Miami and Va Tech from the Big East as a danger to Pitt's future football prominence. Nothing earthshatteringly new in the piece except for this nugget.

Despite the departure of Miami and Virginia Tech, the Big East will have a Bowl Championship Series berth through the 2005 season.

A split, in which the six remaining Big East universities with football teams would recruit two programs to form a new conference, remains a possibility.

With a new B.C.S. contract due to be negotiated about a year from now, officials from Big East universities need to find a solution quickly, and [Pitt Athletic Director, Jeff] Long said the conference had a timetable of Sept. 1.

"Some people perceive us to be in limbo," Long said, referring to the remaining members of the Big East, "but it's not really limbo. It's a question of what our new direction is going to be."

A week to a decision. I hope so. And it better be the right decision.

The NYTimes also put out it's preseason top 20. Pitt is #11. The NYTimes is always a little weird -- Auburn #1, VA Tech #2 (?), NC State #5(??), Miami #6, Ohio St. #7. It just gets stranger.

After letting a good recruit walk -- since he had second thoughts, Pitt has depth at his position and, probably most important, he has yet to academically qualify -- Pitt has used that freed up scholarship to get a point guard to back-up Krauser this coming season.

They have signed, Antonio Graves of Mansfield High School in Mansfield, Ohio. Graves was first-team all-Ohio last year. He's 6-3. He was a late qualifier. Not a blue-chip recruit -- his main offers were from Rutgers, Charlotte and Bowling Green (though Ohio St. and Cincinnati started showing some late interest). Still, he fills a big need for Pitt.

Living in Ohio in just the last couple months has led to much in the way of thoughts on NCAA compliance. So, it partially amused me to note that the Pitt Athletic site has a section on "Compliance." Most of it appears to still be under construction, i.e., no content.

Of course, when talking of compliance and NCAA violations, there is no one that knows it better than the man that leaves a trail of slime wherever he goes, a man who causes other attorneys (like myself) to say about him, "sure he went to law school, but he's not really a lawyer. He's not one of us." I'm speaking of course of Rick Neuheisel.

Neuheisel is now suing his last employer, the University of Washington, and the NCAA over his termination for cause. This comes, just as Washington released a series of tapes, pursuant to public disclosure laws via requests from The Seattle Times and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

The tapes tend to show Neuheisel lying to direct questions.

Former Washington football coach Rick Neuheisel told NCAA investigators he never gambled, then later acknowledged his involvement in neighborhood NCAA basketball pools.

Audio tapes released Thursday showed Neuheisel lied when initially questioned by the NCAA about gambling. The organization considers gambling a major rules violation.

The tapes support handwritten notes, released last month, from the meeting. Neuheisel was fired July 28 as Washington's coach for participating in the pools and for not being forthcoming with NCAA investigators.

"I never placed a bet on anything," Neuheisel said early in the tapes, recorded June 4 when NCAA investigators first met with him.

A short time later, he was asked whether he had any concerns about going to the event in 2002 and 2003. Teams of neighbors pooled money and bid on NCAA Tournament teams in an auction-style setting.

"I won't go again, if that's the question," Neuheisel said, laughing. "No, I didn't have any concerns at all. I know we can't gamble. I know I can't place a bet or anything like that, but I wasn't. I was just there watching."

He kept changing his story the deeper it got. His lawyer is arguing in the lawsuit, much the way Neuheisel did when he was publicly fighting to keep his job (actually, he was just trying to get a buyout rather than dismissal for cause). That he never really violated any rules, and if he did it was based on mistaken advice given by the University of Washington's compliance officer.

It's consistent with Neuheisel's violations of recruiting and ethics at Colorado and Washington. Skate up to the razor's edge of the line, and maybe fall over it just a little, but not so much that it can't be argued that there was a gray area -- thus precluding major penalties, only continual paper cut, minor ones.

I've always thought that was in part because of Neuheisel taking the wrong lessons from law school (the majority of it is because Neuheisel is a slimy, corrupt, and doesn't think the rules apply to him kind of guy) -- the line can be blurry and as long as you don't go over a clear line, you can wriggle free.

This was phoned into me on my way out the door Shawn, but now that I'm back I can confirm. Anthony Morelli, one of the top HS QBs in the country has made a verbal commitment to Pitt.

Morelli was part of a heated recruiting battle that saw the superstar QB receive an amazing 43 scholarship offers. He chose Pitt over Notre Dame in the end. Morelli had offers from schools such as Florida State, Ohio State, Tennessee, Notre Dame, and UCLA, among others.

The "others" included a late in the game run at him by Penn State after their targeted QB, picked Michigan.

Depending on which recruiting site and/or "expert" you look for this sort of information, Morelli is either the #10, #14 or #41 (subs. req'd for this one) overall recruit in the country (ranking as the #2, #3, or #9 QB in HS).

It's still a great commitment for Pitt... when he actually signs the letter of intent.

Remember when Jimmy Johnson stomped all over a box of "Flutie Flakes" after the Dolphins beat the Bills? It was a double bonus for me. I found the action amusing and childish, and well deserved after seeing way too many Doug Flute "10-10" commercials; but then I got to watch Johnson -- who I intensely dislike -- squirm as he was berated for being insensitive because the proceeds of the BC legend corn flakes were going to autism research and treatment. Well, now members in the Big Eleven can line up to stomp some cereal boxes.

Penn State coach Joe Paterno will join the legions of sports heroes who have been honored with one of the sports world's most recognized awards -- the front of the Wheaties cereal box.

I can only imagine the carnage if Pitt and Penn State actually played against each other.

In light of the injury to Mike Vick of the Atlanta Falcons, there is a good question being asked: what happens to Pitt if QB Rod Rutherford goes down?

The highly anticipated 2003 season could quickly dissolve, unless backup quarterbacks Luke Getsy or Tyler Palko proved capable of leading a team that some project as a BCS contender.

"Rod can carry us," senior wide receiver Chris Curd said Monday, the eighth day of training camp. "We just hope the other guys can do the same thing."

It would be difficult for sophomore Palko or redshirt freshman Getsy to duplicate what Rutherford did last season in leading the Panthers to a 9-4 record and No. 18 ranking. He passed for 2,783 yards, ran for 398, and amassed the third-highest combined total in Big East history.

It was his emergence that prompted many preseason prognosticators to deem the Panthers national championship contenders.

With Palko or Getsy at the controls, those aspirations might be far too ambitious. That's not to discredit either, but Palko has thrown only three college passes, completing two, and Getsy has thrown none. He's never even played in a collegiate game.

This is where I worry. Harris never seems to give the back-up much work. Even in mop-up duty. This leaves them ill-prepared to do much when they do get into games. Looking back on the 2001 season, a season of much frustration. Harris would make a big show, of subbing out the starting QB (David "Jason" Priestley) for Rod Rutherford. The problem is everyone in the stands and the field knew that Rutherford was out there to run the ball. Rutherford was the second leading rusher on the team in terms of carries (81) and yards (255). He only made 59 attempts the entire season (completing a paltry 19 and 4 interceptions). Rutherford was never given more than 2-3 plays in the offense before he was yanked back out of the game. You could hear audible groans from the fans the minute he started running -- because everyone saw it coming. It took Rutherford a couple starts in 2002 before he really started getting comfortable in the game situations.

Now Palko (a much heralded recruit) has gotten practically no game experience -- despite a couple games that Pitt had complete dominance and would have been perfect scrub time. Hopefully, Harris will have figured out the importance of giving Palko or Getsy some real playing time before it becomes necessary.

So Pitt has decided to host a basketball tourney this December. Forgive me if I'm not exactly overwhelmed with the teams competing.

Florida State, Murray State, Eastern Michigan, Chicago State and Wagner. I see at least two teams where the net effect of playing is to drag down Pitt's RPI (Chicago State and Wagner). There are two teams that have been good mid-majors, thus being a risk to play; and don't hurt/help the RPI (Murray and EMU). Then there is the name school, but in the wrong sport -- Florida State -- does anyone know if there are any expectations for FSU this year?

Couldn't Pitt have wrangled an invite to a better tournament, rather than hosting this dink?

An ongoing concern at this blog will be the reformatting of the Big East and beyond. This is something we've been arguing over since May.

Basically, it's a given that the Big East will raid at least two schools from Conference USA for football. Most likely Louisville and Cinci. Of course other members of C-USA that play both football and b-ball are looking to get in on it.

Schools are positioning themselves for another shakeup of the conference landscape once the Big East completes its expansion plans, which could happen as soon as late October. C-USA member East Carolina is interested in joining the Big East, and it took a serious step toward making that happen when it hired former SEC commissioner and BCS czar Roy Kramer as an athletic department consultant.

I don't care who they freaking hire. East Carolina would be a pathetic choice to include in Big East survival expansion.

I have nothing personal against ECU. I don't even know ECU -- but what are they, the sixth choice for North Carolina kids (Duke, UNC, NC St., Wake, UNC-Greensboro). The last thing Big East expansion needs is another team that really pines to become a part of the ACC. On the plus side, they actually have a real site with pictures for their cheerleaders (pay attention, Pitt).

Besides that, they bring absolutely nothing to the basketball side of things. Football wise they have been better than I thought, but they are a poor fit. No name recognition; no cache; nothing. The Big East would be better served keeping Temple.

It used to be that a fan of Pitt would only get to glance at the team media guide, unless you knew somebody in the athletic department or won a free copy on a local sports radio show. Then, it evolved to where you could buy your own copy -- which still seemed unfair since the media and the entire athletic department got the propaganda free.

Now, the entire Pitt media guide is available for free download in PDF. It's great to actually have all the historical information and present roster and coaching information easily available. The 386 page media guide is broken up into separate sections, with the 386th page containing the vital information "NCAA Guidelines for Panther Boosters." Maybe it's related to reading too much about Maurice Clarett and OSU out here in Cleveland, I just like that at the end of the media guide.

I don't know if other schools do this, but it makes a lot of sense.

Lee mentioned how much we miss the old Pitt unis. It's a sad loss. Pitt abandoned the old colors that you couldn't really identify. The blue was kind of a darker, dingier royal/medium blue, while the yellow was a mustardy but not quite yellow. Even in our banner at the top, it is just a rough approximation using HTML colors of Mediumblue and Gold. I'm lucky, in that I have an old color jersey (#20 - Billy West) that I got just before the color shift in '97.

The new colors are boring, corporate, and commonplace. It reminds me of the San Diego Chargers present colors (Navy/dark blue and gold), versus their old baby/powder blue and light yellow. They now break them out once a year as throwbacks, and they just look so much cooler. That's all we would want at this point. Just once a year. Preferably at the Backyard Brawl.

Here's what a couple college kids who decided to evaluate college football jerseys had to say:

It all went to pot for Pittsburgh when they made a big deal of changing the name of the school to "Pittsburgh" because "Pitt" sounded too negative. College boards have too much time to think, I guess. When they were Pitt, their mascot was always mentioned with the name. Panthers was the official mascot, but for all intents and purposes, the mascot was the Pitt-Panthers, like the Nittany Lions. Pitt-Panthers was cool. Panthers, by itself, is lame. The corresponding uniform change was one of the worst uni changes ever seen in collegiate sports. They used to have a late-70's early-80's kinda funky, kinda ugly, off-blue, off-yellow affair going on. The "Pitt" on the side of the helmet was done in a charming Comic Sans bold meets cursive font. It is important to realize that just like tough doesn't make a good mascot, ugly does not make bad uniforms. The new uniforms are amazingly bad. Gold and black are not cool if you come to these colors late in the game, and the panther-head thing on the helmet looks like Beowulf's Grendel as drawn by the troubled comic book fan at the back of the class.

Ouch. They also make a point in noting that the Big East teams may have the worst collection of uniforms of any conference. They have a point.

Lee will be getting married in about six weeks. This lengthy excerpt is for him.

Q: What types of non-sporting events do you bet on? We recently attended a wedding in Atlantic City, and had the following lines in play:

1. Number of bridesmaids: +/- 6
2. Number of ice sculptures: +/- 3
3. Length of church service: +/- 45 minutes
4. Time when first drunk guest makes a fool out of themselves: +/- 9.30 p.m.

Any ideas for other events? -- Mike K., Philadelphia

SG: You came to the right place. I've attended so many weddings over the past 10 years, they've all merged together into some sort of drunken haze. And let's face it: Every wedding is pretty much the same. By the time you hit your late-'20s, you could care less about who's getting married; you only want a fast ceremony, an open bar, and a cool balcony or deck outside where everyone can smoke butts.

So sprucing the festivities up with gambling. ... I mean, that's inspired genius. Let's assume that we're working with a 5 p.m. wedding ceremony, just for the sake of accuracy. Here are some other things you could gamble on:

1. Quality of the best man's toast vs. quality of the cake (even odds): This one could be especially fun if you wagered heavily on the best man, then he choked in his speech, and you wanted to kill him afterward. And yes, few things in life are more enjoyable than someone screwing up a best man's speech. I can't believe somebody hasn't turned "Worst Best Man Speeches" into its own TV show yet.

2. Girl who catches the bouquet hooks up with the guy who catches the garter (10-1 odds): I've only been to one wedding where this ever happened, so the 10-1 odds seem generous here.

3. Groom's horny friend starts grinding on the dance floor with somebody's attractive cousin who isn't 21 yet (even odds): And somebody's mother is always horrified. You can usually see this one coming. As an aside, I was delighted when this exact scenario happened at my wedding. It was a dream come true.

4. Band plays "I Will Survive" (+/- 8:45pm): I hate this song. There's always that one girl on the dance floor who just broke up with someone and gets a little too into the lyrics. Calm down, honey.

5. Token slutty bridesmaid goes after a waiter, band member, or any friend of the groom attending the wedding without his girlfriend (wager $400 to win $100): Easy money. When you mix the emotions of "I'm sad because my friend's getting married and I'm still single" with "I'm horny and drunk" and "Everyone looks good because we're all dressed up," just about anything's possible. They probably can't make these odds high enough.

6. Groom cries or faints during the wedding ceremony (3-1 odds): And here's the worst thing: You can't really make fun of them afterward. It was too big of a moment. So you might as well wager on it.

7. Puking or fisticuffs during the reception (10-1 odds): Although these odds drop to 3-1 in the general Boston area.

8. The Mother-Groom dance is "You Look Wonderful Tonight" (20-1 odds): We needed a long-shot wager on here. Imagine the excitement if you had 20-1 on Clapton and those first few seconds of the song started playing.

9. Fat guys dancing without their jackets and sweatstains under their arms (+/- 2.5): Another great part about weddings. Huge, sweeping sweatstains are always funny.

10. The token "couple who's been dating for three years and either need to get engaged or break up" have a huge blowout during the wedding reception (even odds): Not good times. Uh-oh ... I'm having flashbacks ...

And the ultimate long-shot bet...

11. Wedding called off at last minute (50-1 odds): It's dark, it's evil ... but a $10 bet wins you $500. More than enough to pay for your tux.

Just so you know what we're talking about during the reception.

I'm starting to wonder.

Sophomore receiver Larry Fitzgerald, a first-team All-Big East Conference selection last season and widely regarded as the top wideout in the country, injured his left hamstring after being tackled in a drill early in practice.

"We'll have to wait to get it evaluated by the doctor," Coach Walt Harris said. "We hate to see anyone get hurt. Anytime your top player gets hurt, hopefully, it's not very serious. We don't have any idea, yet."

Fitzgerald, who had 69 receptions for 1,005 yards and 12 touchdowns last season, caught a pass near the sideline and was tackled by linebacker Joe Dipre. Fitzgerald went down awkwardly and immediately clutched the back of his leg.

He gingerly limped across the field, had ice applied by the training staff and spent the rest of practice with his leg elevated on a Gatorade bucket.

This goes back to Latef Grim in 2000. He was all-Big East, supposed to be the go-to guy. He all but disappeared in the season. Of course Sophmore, Antonio Bryant, stepped up and was huge. So big expectations for him in 2001. What happens? In the first or second game, he goes down with a leg or foot injury. A virtual non-factor until the last game of the year. That left Pitt with R.J. English as the go to guy (R.J. will deserve his own blog entry at some point).

Last year, Fitzgerald seemingly came out of no where to amaze and astound. He's pre-season all-American and Big East this year. Considered one of the best WR in college. Oh, boy.

Update: It doesn't appear to be a serious hamstring injury. Still, I'm going to be holding my breath everytime he sprints down the sideline.

Pre-Season rankings are mostly meaningless. It's nice to be listed, and it tells you a lot about the expectations of the team; but it is really just a guess. Besides there are so many pre-season rankings, it's hard to get a feel for where the team is really expected to be. Pitt's athletic site collected 12 different preseason rankings (PDF). The rankings vary from #5 to #19. Like figure skating, throw out the top rank and the bottom, and what you are left with are 10 rankings between #8 and #12. Roughly speaking, Pitt is expected to be the #10 team. That is BCS fringe -- can either fall in or out.

Not necessarily what I want to hear from Pitt, but not unexpected. They are saying they "not looking at all at leaving the conference." Despite the loss of VT and Miami, but it doesn't say they won't listen or consider an offer (link via Derek Willis at Big East Fanblogs). It also points out that Harris is already using Pitt's strength compared to the rest of the Big East, coupled with the BCS as a selling point to recruits. In the short term, that has to help.

ESPN.com is doing conference previews this week. The Big East is up. Basically, it is saying that this is probably the most competitive and balanced the conference has ever been -- in its final year in present form. It also pushes the fact that the Big East has been a hell of a good conference for a while in other ways.

Whether or not supporters of the SEC, Big 12 or Big Ten will admit it, the Big East, pound for pound, is as good as any of them.

Check the facts:

The eight-team Big East finished last season with half of its members ranked in the Top 25. No other conference -- all of them bigger than the Big East -- had more than four. Big East schools also won six games against ranked opponents, a number surpassed only by the Big Ten which registered seven victories.

In the past three seasons, Big East schools have won 73.3 percent (11-4) of their bowl games. The Big 12 comes in a distant second with a 52.2 winning percentage (12-11).

Since 2000, the Big 12 and SEC have won 12 bowls games. The Big East has 11 victories despite playing nine fewer postseason games than the SEC and eight fewer than the Big 12.

It picks the Miami-Pitt game at the end of the season as the game of the year, and DE, Claude Harriott, of Pitt as pre-season defensive player of the year.

The headline for the capsule summary of Pitt

Anything short of a BCS bowl may be disappointing

is very similar to what I said a couple days ago (though with less ambiguity)

Anything less than winning the Big East will be a disappointment this year.

There's also a companion article on whether the hard feelings of the remaining Big East schools fans at Miami and VT bolting for the ACC after this year will affect the games. It ends with moronic coachspeak from Walt Harris:

Pittsburgh coach Walt Harris thinks all the talk about Big East teams possessing added motivation for games against Miami and Virginia Tech is silly.

"We just want to play football," Harris said. "There is no extra incentive to beat Miami or Virginia Tech or no animosity because what happened had nothing to do with the players or coaches. It was beyond our control. We want to beat those teams because we want to win the conference."

I suppose Walt, feels a need to say these things publicly, but --

BULL-F***ING-S**T

The thing about college football is the fans help drive the intensity more than in pro football. The fans will be so juiced for these games, that if it doesn't carry over to the players, then there is a real problem with the players and the coaches. I want the coaches to have to be scrambling on the sideline reining in the smack and the woofing from the players when Pitt plays VT and Miami. I want an ugly, angry mood in the stands. I'm not talking soccer riots; but I am talking waves of intense passion and hatred cascading down from the stands.

There seem to be some glitches with blogger's invitation system that has kept the other members of Pitt Sports Blather from signing on. Hopefully, they will be able to get through soon and join in the fun.

Reading this, really, really pisses me off.

A month ago at Big East media day, Commissioner Michael Tranghese said a decision on the matter would be made by early September because it was the conference's first step toward rebuilding after the loss of Miami and Virginia Tech to the Atlantic Coast Conference. At the time the split was widely thought of as being inevitable.

"I'm not sure that is still the timetable because [a split] is a much more complicated issue than anyone would think," Long said. "And let me say this split is not a foregone conclusion. The discussions now are more about perhaps the possibility of [the Big East] staying together and all the schools working together to becoming a stronger conference."

Long did not comment on whether or not he or the university was in favor of a split but said that Pitt's status as one of the top remaining football programs in the conference gives it a position of strength within the negotiations.

I was heartened when I first read that the Big East was going to do what it had to do. I mean even Smizik in the Post-Gazette can realize it. As soon as the ACC raid started, I was saying this. And I realize, this could merely be posturing and soothing hurt feelings of b-ball only ADs in the Big East, but so what. If they even try to go to some 16 team monstrosity with 8 football/b-ball schools and 8 b-ball only schools it will be the ugliest, worst thing for Pitt.

As it stands now, Pitt has to wait and hope the Big 11 comes calling for Pitt fans to actually feel any real long term hope of the program thriving. Right now, every month brings a new fear that the BCS will push out the Big East and Pitt.

In a statement of the obvious, a column declaring the need for Pitt to win the whole Big East for the good and future of the Big East after this season. Of course, for some, this has been readily apparent for a while.

I'd like to declare that the terms "sleeper" and "dark horse" are no longer applicable to Pitt this football season, after something like the 50th article mentioning them as a possible BCS team.

Pitt will not be playing Penn State until Paterno is gone.

As state politicians got involved in Virginia Tech's ACC romance, Pittsburgh coach Walt Harris could use similar help with the disappearing Pitt-Penn State rivalry. "They should be forced to play us," he says. Penn State recently added games against Central Florida, Cincinnati and Notre Dame to future schedules, but it continues to duck rival Pitt, which it last played in 2000. In some instances -- the annual Florida-Florida State game is a prime example -- schools are bound by state law to play every season.

I remember around the final time Pitt played Penn State -- Pitt won 12-0 in 2000 -- I think some state legislator proposed a requirement, but it failed. I did not know that Florida has that law.

Even the editor of the PSU bible concedes that Paterno is an idiot for not playing Pitt (of course he would still, rather blame Pitt).

Neil:
Speaking of non-conference rivalries, it's a shame that Pitt and PSU don't hook up in a season like this. While both schools play the Central Florida types every year anyway, there is simply no excuse not to continue the old rivalry for the benefit of both schools as well as for greater Pennsylvania.
Alan Saltzman
Atlanta


Alan:
Second. In the end, being able to wipe out the Pitt series will be a black mark on Joe's career. At the same time, Pitt arguably should have followed PSU's lead toward an Eastern Conference in the early '80s.

Even Neil Rudel, has to admit the series ended because of a unilateral Paterno decision.

The other part of puffing a team, is puffing up the coach. That's what this piece on Walt Harris is all about. It talks of Harris's personal growth and changes since he came to Pitt. Harris claims that this year will be different. This year he won't be micro-managing the QB. He won't be breathing down the guy's neck each time. It doesn't say whether Harris will finally figure out how to make halftime adjustments and change things that aren't working when the other team adjusts to them.

I'm still having mixed feelings about Harris. He has done a lot of positives. He has rebuilt the football program. He is a hell of a good recruiter. He does a great job with the QB and WR. He has let the defensive coordinator do his job, and do it well. As far as his coaching, though. Er, um. I'm still not sold. He does not like or appear willing to make adjustments to his game plan once the game starts. It is a certain inflexibility that can cost games, or make them much closer than they should be.

The article talks about the 2001 season, when Pitt had a 1-5 start after high expectations for the year. It lets Harris downplay the whole thing.

"We lost to a South Florida team that, if people did their research, was a good one. Then it was Miami, Notre Dame, Syracuse and Boston College. It was a tough road to travel. We were affected emotionally by the South Florida loss, but we faced some tough teams afterward."

I was at or watched these games. It wasn't that Pitt lost. It was how badly Pitt was beaten in these games. They were all embarrassing losses. Not truly close. It was because Harris had decided to go with the latest offensive fad in college football -- the spread offense. The problem was, the players had no clue. It was painful to watch: delay of games, false starts, wasted time-outs, predictable play calling, ugh. But Harris was sticking with it, come hell or high water. Finally after the 45-7 drubbing by Boston College, Harris dropped the spread offense and they went back to a pro set offense. The result was a big win over a top 15 Virginia Tech team.

I'm hoping he makes me eat my words.

Training camp for Pitt football is Monday. It appears the local media in Pittsburgh has decided to start looking at the Panthers a bit more. The Post-Gazette does two player pieces. One on QB Rod Rutherford. The article basically credits the successful recruiting of Rutherford to Pitt over Penn State and Michigan State in 1999 as being the key to resurrecting Pitt as a good football program.

Rutherford's decision helped to change the perception of Pitt for other top high school players. Every year since then, the Panthers' recruiting classes have gotten better. Not coincidentally, the team also has improved each season and has reached the brink of college football's elite.

"Rod's decision was a landmark decision for this program," Pitt offensive coordinator J.D. Brookhart said. "You can't begin to quantify the intangible benefits that we've reaped. To be able to sign a blue-chip local player with Joe Paterno sitting in a restaurant across the street waiting for his decision put us on the map. After that, a lot of other top players began to consider us. That was a big day for us and one of the most important days in this program's modern history."

Rutherford's decision re-energized the Panthers and gave their fans, who had suffered through one of the worst decades in the school's history, reason to believe better days were ahead.

There is no question that when Rutherford announced he was going to Pitt, it was big -- for the fans. I tend to discount how much an individual player has on recruiting other players.

Success and connecting with the players and promises made during recruiting visits are the keys.

Michael Jordan didn't get big free agents to the Wiz as people predicted when he went there to oversee b-ball ops. and then play again. What key free agents signed with the Detroit Lions when and because of Barry Sanders? How are the Texas Rangers doing with Alex Rodriguez?

No, Rutherford coming to Pitt showed how quickly recruiting by Pitt had improved.

The rest of the piece just talks about how Pitt is set up for a great run; and that Rutherford is looking forward to the season and being a leader, yadda, yadda, yadda.

The other puff piece is on running back, Brandon Miree. This is basically, your standard "this is a true student-athlete, the rare exception in this corrupt age of college football." An especially common topic I'm guessing this year, in light of Ohio State's Maurice Clarett.

It talks vaguely of Miree's political bent, only in a political celebrity context -- not in any actual discussion of where he stands.

But that's the story of dozens of college running backs. It's what Miree does off the field that sets him apart.

Like driving a van in the Presidential motorcade when President Bush came to Pittsburgh recently to speak to the Urban League. Miree got his spot behind the wheel through a friend's connections. Once there, he made the most of it.

"I thought I'd be driving the media," he said. "Instead, I got some top advisors. Karl Rove was one of them. So was the new press secretary and the presidential nurse."

A lot of college students would have shut their mouth, been in awe and just driven the van. Not Miree. "I wanted to soak up as much as I could," he said. "If I wouldn't have said anything, I wouldn't have got as much out of it.

"When everyone got into the van, I was joking and I asked if they have any musical preferences. One of the women said, 'Karl, why don't you have him play your favorite Norwegian folk music.'

"After that, he was cracking jokes. You could tell he was the man of the hour.

"They found out I was a football player and that I had been at Alabama. Karl Rove asked, 'What were you doing down there?' It turns out he spent some time in Alabama. We talked about restaurants we'd been to.

Miree is interesting, in that he has his undergraduate degree, and is already in GSPIA. He is a fifth year senior on the team -- he transferred from Alabama after his three years, but with two years of eligibility remaining.

Miree is one of the keys to Pitt having a great year. If he goes down to injury, or doesn't play well, Pitt's BCS hopes are shot.

Oh, this is great. A Syracuse alum living in Virginia filed a state version of the Freedom Of Information Act to get emails from Virginia Tech officials regarding joining the ACC (link via the new Big East Fanblog). He excerpted some of the juicier comments. The best/worst

June 19, 2003, after rumors of a VT offer from the ACC

Email from Ralph Byers[, the VT Director of Government Relations,] to someone in the Virginia legislature, probably by the name of Phil Leone: "Obviously if we have a serious offer to join the ACC it would be tough not to do it, even with what's happened. We all have demonstrated what this is about anyway, and it ain't integrity."

My feelings about VT 's actions are quite clear.

Looking over the preseason rankings at Athlon Sports, there was a link to "Cheerleaders" There I found this:

Please take some time to look over some of the very best in College Football Cheerleading.

Be sure to vote for your favorite one using the poll on the far right of the screen.

There are six head shots of cheerleadrs, with their name and school. Clicking the image only gives you a bigger picture. Wonder how they chose these six as the best.

Here was a past poll (no pictures) but the comments below are hilarious.

This is the TV schedule for college football, 2003. Guess which team you cannot find on the schedule?

On the heels of expectations, ESPN has listed Pitt as one of 5 potential breakthrough teams for the BCS

Pitt has lived in the shadow of Miami and Virginia Tech long enough. The Panthers have arguably the best receiver in the country in Larry Fitzgerald, the most underrated RB in the conference in Brandon Miree. And if QB Rod Rutherford can just be a little more consistent, this team could sneak up and spoil the Hurricanes' and Hokies' farewell tours. Walt Harris has loaded the Panthers with talent. They get Miami, Virginia Tech and Notre Dame in Heinz Field and travel to Texas A&M, West Virginia and BC. The season -- and a BCS bowl bid -- may come down to how well the Panthers play at home.

The others were NC State, Oregon St. (are you kidding me?), Oklahoma St. and Virginia.

There are fairly high expectations for Pitt, both in the national media and by the fans this year. The ever meaningless pre-season USA Today/ESPN/Coaches poll puts Pitt at #11. (The only useful thing about being rannked in the pre-season poll, is that it's easier to stay in the poll once the season starts then it is to crack in from the outside). Despite being considered as the 3rd best team in the Big East, Pitt is considered one of the sleeper teams to contend for the BCS; to be this year's Ohio State.

The undercurrent to that, is the fact that based on the polls, the two top teams in the Big East -- Miami and Virgina Tech -- are bailing for the ACC next year. For the Big East to hope to survive as a football conference, Pitt has to step up this year to show that the teams still in the Big East can compete on a national level.

So, let's be clear.

Anything less than winning the Big East will be a disappointment this year.

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To Pitt Sports Blather. A name we chose because we couldn't seem to agree on anything else, and this generated the least amount of opposition. With the exception of myself, the guys are blog newbies. Since this is a new site, things may change -- get added, removed, moved, etc. Please bear with us as we try to figure this out. Hopefully, I'll be able to get comments on the site as well.

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