Excellent! The Notre Dame-Pitt Game for October 11 is going to be televised on ESPN, and more importantly will be a 6 pm start time. Plenty of time for a big tailgate, and I don't have to be on the road to Pittsburgh before 7 am.

Pat challenges Lee and I as to our opposition to the Big East's reported plan to expand to a 16 team league.

The main problem with this planned Big East conference, is that it is still very unstable. There would still be a sum total of only 8 football programs. This is simply too small a size for a BCS conference now. How happy do you think the SEC and the Big XII would be to give the Big East an equal shot when they have 12 teams to fight through? Same with the Big 11 and the ACC. I used to think that the Big East would have a shot at keeping its exclusive bid, but now I can foresee a change to make it so that the Big East would have to share it with the Mountain West and possibly the WAC conference. This would mean a fight with 20-30 odd schools for one bid. Not so great odds.

Another aspect of the instability is that conference raiding/expansion isn't done yet, and the Big East schools will be cherry picked. The ACC will add a 12th member in the next year, and you can bet it will be an offer to a Big East school. That school will and should jump off the sinking ship, for the safer and more lucrative deal. Higher exit fees will not be much of a deterrent. Do you think the Big East would still get a bid if Boston College, Syracuse or even Pitt was out of the mix? Who would replace that school in the Big East? Temple? Memphis? East Carolina? UAB?

There is also another expansion possibility in the Big 11. They can talk all they want about how they have no interest in expanding to 12, but sooner or later it will happen. They may be holding out for Notre Dame, and people can talk about how Notre Dame may change its tune when it's NBC deal expires; but if you have ever talked to the alumni and boosters of ND, you know that it isn't going to happen. They are passionate/insane about maintaining their independence. Eventually the Big 11 won't wait any longer. At that time Pitt or Syracuse will get the call. You can bet either will jump.

The bowl money will also start to dry up with only 8 teams. The Big East currently has tie-ins (with Notre Dame) to 4 bowls. It is, to be kind, highly unlikely that the Big East will be able to produce enough teams with winning records to qualify enough teams to fill the slots. Considering how poorly most of the Big East schools travel to bowl games, the Big East could quickly lose one maybe two of the tie-ins.

Over to the basketball side. You are talking about a 16 team conference with 2 eight team divisions. That is a scheduling nightmare for a league and a bad layout. A conference schedule is 16 games. You are faced with the choice of playing every team once and one team twice; or playing everyone in your division twice and two different teams from the other divisions each year.

Then try on how the conferences will look for competitive balance (and this is how it would look according to the reports):

Football
Pitt
UConn
WVU
BC
Syracuse
Rutgers
Louisville
Cinci

Basketball
Georgetown
St. John
Providence
Villanova
Seton Hall
Notre Dame
Marquette
DePaul

No question it would look like one of the deepest and strongest b-ball conferences in the country. It would also get killed in getting teams into the NCAA tournament. Last year, 7 of these teams got in (with BC and Seton Hall just outside the bubble), and 5 from just one division. The selection committee would/could not go more than 6 if they were all in the same conference, because there just wouldn't be enough slots to pick more than that from any one conference -- even one with this many members.

The so-called lucrative TV deal for this basketball conference wouldn't be so great when split 16 ways -- not to mention the difficulty of showing many marquee games -- that is unless the Big East pitches the rule saying all teams have to be shown at least once on ESPN/ESPN2.

No, the problem with this plan is that it is too small for football, and too big for basketball.

[Also published in Sardonic Views]

Inevitably it seems that I read something along the veins of this article every year.

This, I submit, is a very good thing for college football. The sport needs USC to be good. Needs Notre Dame to be strong. Needs Oklahoma and Alabama and Michigan to be competitive.
...
And the sport is stronger when those schools with the most powerful histories and traditions are strong, and not struggling. It's fun to see an outsider charge into the big room and challenge for a championship, like Virginia Tech did in 1999, but college football's touchstones are in places such as Austin and Norman and Columbus.

Every year it sets my teeth to grinding.

Part of it is the sheer arrogance in believing that college football and tradition only belong in certain places that are still producing winning teams. I don't read any stories about the grand old days of when Fordham, Columbia and the Ivy Leagues ruled. What about poor old Rutgers, one of the true founding schools of college football? Haven't heard much about missing the great old Southern Methodist University teams.

Part of it is the elitism in denying that college football doesn't or shouldn't become that big in other places -- that they are less worthy for some reason. Sure schools like Virginia Tech and Florida State have built top-tier programs, and they have created rabid and fanatical fans, but that doesn't mean they have any right to be treated like Nebraska, Penn St., Oklahoma, Michigan, Ohio St., Texas, or Notre Dame. Why, the nerve!

Mainly, though, it annoys me because what it is really just a chance for sportswriters to get lazy and pretentious. Who cares about really analyzing and writing about a present team, when you can just bask in the comparisons to teams of yore. Or to write about the great old traditions. They write their flowery prose with dreams of dime-a-dozen sportswriting awards, and fantasies of a Pulitzer dancing before them. Never noticing that they are writing the same generic piece that has been written dozens of times before in dozens of cities before.

And when things go south, the same writers quickly turn on the "storied programs" by bleating about how overbearing and unrealistic and arrogant the fans, alumni and boosters are in daring to compare today's situation to the days when Bryant, Schembeckler (sp?), Hayes, Rockne, Osbourne and so on strode the sidelines. As if.

Spare me.

For yet another perspective on the Pitt win over Texas A&M, it is time to look at what is being said in Texas.

Well, here's the positive spin on allowing 5 touchdown passes:

Here's the good news: You can't call Texas A&M's secondary untested any longer.

Most of the blame for this loss went on the offense blowing it in the red zone.

Texas A&M enjoyed lots of big plays, gaudy stats and momentum-building moments in the first half Saturday against No. 17 Pittsburgh. Everything except lots of points on the scoreboard.

So the Panthers capitalized on the Aggies' inability to capitalize by running away with a 37-26 win in front of 79,116 at Kyle Field.

Though some knew who was really to blame.

A remarkably mediocre defense, [former head coach] R.C. Slocum's legacy to A&M, buckled in the second half again. Two quarters from an upset, the Aggies allowed four second-half touchdowns in a 37-26 loss to No. 17 Pitt at Kyle Field.
...
On defense, the Aggies have nothing close to their skill level.

Given A&M's tradition and recruiting base, that should not happen. Blame it on the talent drain that began on Slocum's watch.

Of course part of the problem seems to be a second consevutive game where there is a total meltdown in the second-half.

Four games into the season, A&M's finishing kick has been more like a kick in the teeth.

Continuing a season-long trend, the Aggies melted in the second half Saturday. This time, No. 17 Pittsburgh overmatched Texas A&M and eased to a 37-26 victory before 79,116 at Kyle Field.

The Aggies were ahead 13-9 at halftime, but that lead vanished in the third quarter. The Panthers had two consecutive 80-yard drives to start the quarter and added a third touchdown after an A&M turnover to go ahead 30-13.

Pitt quarterback Rod Rutherford passed for five touchdowns, three of them to Larry Fitzgerald. Although the Aggies had 544 total yards, they were outgained 295-241 in the second half and outscored 28-13.

In four games, Texas A&M (2-2) has been outscored 83-44 in the second half. In the Aggies' last three games, it is 75-27. Both Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh had long drives to open the second half, setting the tone for a defeat.

Give the sportswriters in Texas credit. They didn't sugarcoat the loss. They didn't make excuses. They came out and wrote that Pitt beat A&M .

I was reminded about how useless the college football polls are once more. Oh, I think they are mostly accurate in the top 5, but after that, it's a joke and a crap shoot depending on the team's "name" and the "name" of the team you played that week. Pitt beats Texas A&M in College Station and moves up one notch in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll (to #18) and two spots in the AP Writers Poll (to #15). Fair enough, I suppose, though I wouldn't have minded seeing Pitt get a little more of a bump for winning in College Station.

Now, take Purdue which beat a pretty bad Notre Dame team, at home. They move from being unranked in the ESPN poll to being #23 (the AP had them at #22 and kept them there). How about Minnesota hanging on to beat a Penn State team that had only beaten Temple and Kent State in Happy Valley: ESPN -- from #20 to #16; AP #24 to #21. Tennessee, who was at home needed 2 or 3 overtimes to beat an unranked South Carolina team, moved up a notch. Florida gets some incredible luck to barely beat Kentucky and moves up in both polls from #25 to #24.

On the other side, TCU beats a bad Arizona team and falls 4 spots in the ESPN (#17 to #21) and 1 notch (#19 to #20) in the AP.

I'd say they don't matter, that only the BCS when it is released is what counts, but these two polls count 50% towards the BCS rankings.

I did not see the game.

Those wonderful ABC regional telecasts decided that the Cleveland area should be subjected to the Notre Dame-Purdue spectacle. I probably could have found a bar with a dish and enough TVs that they could have spared a monitor for me, but then I would hardly have been in any condition to evaluate the game by the end -- after the first half, I probably would have been seeing red, and drinking like it. Instead I watched Notre Dame lose and contented myself with the knowledge that I was serving as advanced scout on Pitt's next opponent; while waiting for updates and occasional calls to Pat and Shawn regarding the game.

I did end up catching ESPN College Game Day Scoreboard at 7pm and the late edition.

The early edition was illuminating for the, shall we call it, effusive praise of Walt Harris -- especially by Mark May (Pitt alum) and Kirk Herbstreit. The phrase "offensive genius" was bandied about by the two of them.

The late edition with just Mark May and Trev Alberts to comment was more rational. Mark May, while still praising Pitt, really had some questions about the Pitt defense. He pointed out that the Pitt D has allowed almost 1100 yards over the last two games. Let me also point out that except for the opener against the Golden Flashes, Pitt has allowed at least 20 points. Statistically, it seems clear that Pitt could have easily lost this game but for the turnovers. Texas A&M lost the ball 4 times on fumbles and interceptions to Pitt's 1 interception. Otherwise, Texas A&M ran and passed for more yardage (kind of reminds me of when Pitt lost to ND last year).

Tight End Kris Wilson, was again underutilized --only 2 receptions for 33 yards.

At first, I was a little annoyed for Pitt to have a bye week this soon -- after starting the season a week late -- but given injuries to several starters -- Brockenbrough, Miree, Claude Harriot, Lewis Moore and Justin Belarski -- this looks like a good time for a break.

I've got to say, that this was a very important win for Pitt, not just because of their rebound from last week's loss and the fact that they actually made some second half adjustments. No, because this game meant more than last week's game. Last week's loss actually doesn't look so bad insomuch as it was perceived nationally as just part of a fantastic weekend for the MAC. Pitt was just one of several top teams that lost to MAC teams that day. Toledo actually looked respectable (up until they laid an egg against the 'Cuse).

No, this game was important, because it was a game Pitt could have lost and wouldn't have been a big shock to lose in College Station to a decent A&M team. This was the kind of game Pitt needed, a win on the road against a quality team.

UPDATE: Looks like the issue of the defense is being picked up as a concern.

I forgot about the Brandon Miree vs. Dennis Franchione angle of this game.

Quick recap, Miree was going into his sophomore season at Alabama as the projected starting RB. Franchione took over as head coach, and changed the system -- knocking Miree down the depth chart. Miree asked out of his scholarship to transfer, Franchione (who later skipped out on his contract with Alabama to take the Texas A&M job) wouldn't let him. Miree went over his head to the AD and eventually got his release. He ended up transferring to Pitt.

Miree isn't saying much about the matter, but you have to hope he uses it as motivation. Of course, it would help if he got the ball enough times. He is averaging less than 20 touches a game.

Who will Time of Possession favor? Franchione likes to control the pace of the game. Against VA Tech last week, A&M held the ball for just over half the game (30:43) -- the first time this season they "won" the time of possession battle. Yet another reason for Pitt to mount a successful ground attack this week.

The Big 12 beat reporter for the Dallas-Fort Worth Star Telegram picked A&M over Pitt 24-21.

Otherwise, there isn't much of a buzz leading up to this game. Not too surprising since both teams lost last week. Gosh, can you imagine all the attention this game would have gotten if both had won? Damn.

Seems Sports Illustrated is talking about retro college unis. They cover 10 schools who they would like to see go retro -- but Pitt isn't one of them. Go get them, Lee.

You can sound off to them here. I don't know what they were thinking with the Marshall, Wisconsin, and Oklahoma -- which didn't exactly have radical shifts. Iowa State they conceded went through dozens of changes and just settled on the worst example they could find. The Va. Tech was particularly bad.

I have to admit, though, I kind of liked the old Miami helmet.

Well Lee, it just looks to be worse than you thought. The Big East is going to do the worst thing possible.

The Big East plans to invite four Conference USA teams to join the league in 2005, keeping the conference intact after defections of its two biggest football programs threatened to split it in two.

Cincinnati, DePaul, Louisville and Marquette will be invited in November, a source close to the expansion plans told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Wednesday.

Yes, that's right. The Big East will stay united as a Mega-Mess-Conference. Two divisions, eight teams in each, sixteen teams total. The divisions would be split into basketball/football and basketball only.

It will be one hell of an unwieldly basketball power conference. As an 8 team, football conference, though, it will absolutely blow (the lack of archived links is Blogger's fault).

Lee is worried that Boston College will be poached by the ACC, well the ACC is apparently shooting a little higher.

The ACC is having discussions with Notre Dame about becoming the league's 12th member, with concessions to allay the school's concern about giving up its lucrative independent status in football in the near future.
...
Meanwhile, Notre Dame has had membership discussions with the 11-school Big Ten, too.

Sources close to Notre Dame say the Big Ten hasn't pushed the football issue as hard as the ACC, though it also would ultimately want Notre Dame to become its 12th football member.

This is not good. While I don't think Notre Dame is going to the ACC, it could be using it as leverage against the Big 11 to keep the majority of its NBC football money if it would join the Big 11.

Getting back to the Big East decision to remain united. Why? Why? Why? Why? I've tried to be somewhat optimistic. I've tried to believe that Pitt and the other Big East football schools would finally understand that it is untenable to be a split conference.

But no. They have apparently drunk the kool-aid and are willing to create an unwieldly, geographically stupid, bloated league stretching from Providence, Rhode Island to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I am disgusted, demoralized, despondent and depressed. No sir, I don't like it.

It now appears that the last grasping hope for saving my beloved school from eventual college football irrelevance is a complete shake-up/revolution in the BCS system.

Shit.

It was a bad and frustrating loss, but it doesn't kill the season. It was a non-conference loss, and how they rebound will say a lot. They have a big game against Texas A&M who also lost. A&M played on Thursday night, so they got a couple days head start on preparing for Pitt. The players say they are still looking at the big picture, and I hope they are. The big picture starts with this game. They have to run the table for a real BCS bid. The woulda, coulda, shouldas of Pitt being 3-0 going into this game are history.

Quick offensive keys for Pitt:

Running game. Miree was lousy against Toledo. 62 yards on 20 carries. The O-line needs to be better, and so does Miree.

Spread the wealth when passing. Fitzgerald had 12 receptions for 201 yards (out of 315 total passing yards). The RB, Miree, was second on number of receptions with 6. The supposed number 2 receiver for Pitt -- Brockenbrough caught only 3 passes. Sooner or later, Fitzgerald will be shut down or some team will take a cheap shot to get him out of the game.

Use the Tight End. Kris Wilson is a stud TE, who will be a solid pro one day. Unfortunately, no one knows it, because he rarely seems to see the ball. He does a lot of blocking and running over the middle as a decoy. He's being wasted.

Quick Defensive keys:

Kill. Kill. Kill. The defense has not pressured the QB in 3 games this season. Herriot has only one sack. More is needed up front.

I've been pissed about this since Saturday night. I'm only now getting to vent a little.

Two years ago, Pitt Head Coach Walt Harris nearly torpedoed the entire 2001 season and his job by instituting the spread offense over the summer before the season. Pitt went 1-5 to start the season before Harris stopped being stubborn and arrogant, and junked the spread. It had been obvious to everyone but Harris that the team hadn't grasped the spread offense -- every game with featured numerous delay of games and lost time outs because they couldn't get the play in and everyone set up, and completely predictable playcalling. The excuses were that the team didn't have the right players and that they didn't have enough time to really teach the players.

Last year, West Virginia under second year coach, Rich Rodriguez, beat Pitt with the spread offense. They were able to continually move the ball on Pitt, and while the final score only said 24-17, Pitt was completely outplayed.

Now, Toledo, who also runs a spread offense and has the 4th largest offensive line in the country, generates well under 100 yards rushing (not including the QB -- though it still falls short of the century mark), but gets 461 yards in the air. Pitt was not able to sack the QB once, despite better than 2-1 odds that Toledo would pass on any given play. (Apparently others are noticing Pitt's problem with the spread.)

By far, to me, this quote from Harris was the most telling:

They had a great game plan and executed everything tremendously. They did a lot of things we hadn't seen before and didn't prepare for, so that is a tremendous credit to the way they executed.

Say what? That may be a credit to Toledo, but it's also a hell of an indictment against the Pitt coaching staff. As Pat pointed out, Toledo made second half adjustments to help shut down the Panther offense, but Pitt made no changes and gave up 98 and 83-yard touchdown drives -- each of which included a 4th and long that they got with the pass. In those drives, the Toledo QB, Gradkowski, went 20-22 on the drives. This has been a longtime criticism of Harris and his staff -- no halftime or game adjustments. It's maddening. The plan appeared to be build a lead and hang of for dear life.

Well, congratulations Toledo. You got screwed in both polls. The AP poll has you just outside the top 25, and the ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll really screwed you - by keeping you in the middle of the "others" including being behind Marshall -- the team you beat last week. Enjoy the win now, and start looking for a new head coach. I'm guessing Tom Amstutz will be getting a few job offers after this season.

There hasn't been much to say leading up to the game on Saturday night. Under normal circumstances, we might have even discussed a roadie to Toledo. Of course this won't be a normal time, since we will be attending Lee's wedding. Lee made his prediction, and I can't disagree. Toledo has the 4th largest offensive line in the country -- in terms of pounds.

Even though, this is only Pitt's third game of the season, the majority of teams are already looking at their 4th game. Pitt, it seems has been playing patsies forever this season. Toledo is no patsy, as they showed by beating Marshall.

Toledo has gotten juiced for this game. They are looking to be loud and take advantage of home field. A couple of the key Toledo players are Pittsburgh area natives, which has been the only angle even being played up in the Pittsburgh papers to this point.

Despite the worries, Pitt should win this game. Pitt has depth on the defensive line, which should lessen the impact of the Rockets' big O-line, unlike Marshall which was just worn down by the end of the game.

The big fear is looking past this game to the Texas A&M game next weekend.

In the mailbag for SI.com writer Stuart Mandel, there was an interesting response to what seems like the ongoing question: What happened to Penn State?

Obviously, the easy target is Joe Paterno's age, but I don't think it's that simple. Play-calling, philosophy, game-management -- these things are insect bites. The real disease is recruiting.

Simply put, Penn State no longer recruits at a national-powerhouse level. Period. But it's deceiving.

Every year, Penn State starts near the top of the recruiting rankings -- TheInsiders.com currently lists them No. 1 -- but by February, they're nowhere to be found. Why? Because they give out the large majority of their scholarships to kids who are willing to commit before their senior year. In doing so, they're missing out on the growing number of elite players who wait until January or February to announce their decision. Michigan, for example, had as many SuperPrep All-Americas in its most recent recruiting class as Penn State has on its entire roster.

"You don't see Penn State hanging on in the latter stages of these recruiting races for difference makers," said SuperPrep publisher Allen Wallace, who's ranked four of PSU's last five classes outside the nation's top 10. "People like [Michigan safety and Pennsylvania native] Marlin Jackson."

Clearly, the Nittany Lions need to revise their recruiting strategy. Unfortunately, it's safe to say that nothing will change as long as Paterno is the coach. Not that it's solely his fault, but when one man has control over literally every aspect of the program, it's hard to imagine his staff effecting any real change.

This is a really good point. The usual explanations for recruiting that I've heard have been: the move to the Big 11 backfired for PSU -- they thought this would allow them to recruit more from the midwest, but instead Michigan and TOSU have been raiding in Pennsylvania; Pitt's resurgence has added competition for players (gee, that it wasn't a problem in the 70s and 80s); other schools stress JoePa's age when they come calling (funny that it doesn't seem to hurt Bobby Bowden); and bad karma for ending the annual Pitt-Penn St. game.

Paterno doesn't want to hold scholarships up until the end. He doesn't want to compete for players on the fence. He'd rather know his roster for next season by November, than wait on a player.

Fastbreak recruiting is good when you are a program trying to build (or rebuild) or if you are a mid-major. After a point though, if you have succeeded in building the program, you have to be willing to hold off on some scholarships for the really big recruits who are basically trying to figure out where they can maximize and showcase themselves for the NFL. I look forward to the day when Pitt is at that point.

Pitt just landed a big verbal commitment for the 2004 recruiting class. A shooting guard that is already being labeled the heir apparent to senior Julius Page.

[Keith] Benjamin, a 6-foot-2 shooting guard renowned for his gravity-defying dunks, chose the Panthers after originally committing to Villanova. He also received offers from Providence, St. John's and Seton Hall.

"He jumps to the moon," said Mt. Vernon coach Bob Cimmino, whose school sits 10 minutes outside of the Bronx. "He's a high-wire act. It's a gift."

Rated the No. 57 player in the country by HoopScoop and the No. 19 shooting guard by Athlon magazine, Benjamin averaged 18 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.4 assists last season while shooting 44 percent from 3-point range. His high school team is 51-3 the past two years, including 26-1 last season.

He backed out of 'Nova because they have major depth at the guard position, while he stands a shot at starting at Pitt. Pitt has 2 other scholarships to offer for the 2004 class.

Apologies for not getting this out any sooner. Saturday night was the bachelor party for one of us, and that is all I can say on the matter.

The game was alternatingly frustrating and predictable. Pitt came out in the first half and were sleepwalking on both sides of the ball. No spark. No energy. Ball St. was not rolling over for them. At the end of the half, the score was 14-14; and there were boos in the stadium for the performance.

The 3rd quarter was different. Pitt showed some spark and pride. The defense shut down Ball St. and Pitt put 21 unanswered points on the board. Ball State added a 4th quarter touchdown to keep more fans from breaking for the parking lot early -- and insure that there would be no chance to cover the spread -- on a mild, overcast day.

Ultimately, Pitt won the game with ease; and there are plenty of excuses for being so sluggish and even looking past Ball State to the game against Texas A&M in 2 weeks. Still, there is that upcoming game against the Toledo Rockets in the Glass Bowl. Toledo just came off a great win against Marshall in Huntington. Toledo may actually give them more of a battle than expected.

For WR Sophmore sensation, Larry Fitzgerald. It's kind of superficial. It starts by pointing out that after the Kent St. game, Fitzgerald was the only athlete to come out an speak to the media in a suit -- the rest of the college kids were wearing t-shirts and sweats. Still, it's more notice for Pitt players.

She's got a point.

"Let's face it: Would you rather talk to me or some overweight dude with cheese-puff stains on his T-shirt?"

Pitt has announced it's 2003-2004 basketball schedule. It features a high profile, neutral site game at the beginning against Alabama (RPI #38) and a home game against Georgia(RPI #5, but wracked with scandal and transferred players). Aside from that the non-conference schedule features powerhouses St. Francis (PA) (RPI 221), Robert Morris (RPI 284), Albany (Albany 294), Duquesne (RPI 243), Penn St. (RPI 202), Youngstown St. (RPI 280), New Hampshire (RPI 309), William & Mary (RPI 265); and a bizarre holiday tournament hosted by Pitt -- Murray St. (RPI 135, but not actually scheduled to play Pitt), Florida St. (RPI 81), Wagner (RPI 103), Eastern Michigan (RPI 205) and Chicago St. (RPI 314).

RPI from the 2002-2003 season out of 327 schools.

Now the Big East schedule actually looks difficult because the new 16 game season means playing 10 of the teams only once, but 3 teams twice. The 3 teams Pitt will be facing twice are: UConn, Notre Dame and Syracuse.

Now Pitt has had really easy non-con b-ball schedules for a while, and it hurt them 2 years ago in the seeding for the NCAA tournament. Last year, despite being a Top 10 team, the strength of schedule (SOS) for Pitt was only 56. It doesn't look, judging by the non-con, that the SOS will be that much better. So to read this from Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon in the press release, just makes me roll my eyes.

"By far, it's the most difficult schedule we will play in my five years here," Pittsburgh head coach Jamie Dixon said. "The Big East will again pose a tremendous challenge. I'm excited about our non-conference schedule as well. We're bringing in teams from three of the major conferences -- the ACC, SEC and Big 10. I doubt there are many schools nationwide who can say that."

You're not exactly facing in Duke, Florida and Michigan St.

So let's keep the schedule in perspective. The doubters of Pitt will have every right to point at the schedule once again before conference play begins and ask "But whou have they played?"

Let me be clear about my feelings on the new co-branded, content splitting Fox Sports/Sporting News websites. Who the f**k got drunk and high when this was approved?

The whole system is keeping both foxsports.com and sportingnews.com urls, but you never actually know when you will be shifting from one to the other. The most immediate and noticeable effect -- the reduction of interesting content on team pages. There's a lot more reliance on the Fox junk. This means video and crap from the local Fox Sports affiliate.

The whole thing seems harder to navigate and in a moment of sheer, inspired brilliance, you still have separate sign-ins for the Fox Sports and the Sporting News sites. Great, work.

The first game of the season also means shaking the cobwebs and rust loose for tailgating. None of us have Steeler season tickets, so there was no exhibition season to start working on our preparation and get everything organized. So, there is a lot of false starts and hitches. A good example would be Pat after we got to the lot, and set up the table and some chairs. He cracked open his beer and put it in the cup holder in the arm of the chair -- one of those metal and nylon ones that you stuff into a nylon sack -- only to realize the rest of us had set up on the other side of the table and cars. So, he lifts the chair in the air and lets it collapse inward to carry it around the table and car. He hears a sloshing sound above his head and tips the chair to peak -- sploosh! His beer had popped out of the holder into the seat, the beer pooling, then pouring right onto him. Simple first game jitters. We're sure he'll be better as the season goes on.

Now one of the aspects of tailgating in the city, are the people who come by. Rather than just drunk fans, we get panhandlers, peddlers and bit players. People looking to hit up the drunks one way or the other. So, we've settled in and are talking -- Pat's using ice to clean his chair -- when a guy rides up on a mountain bike, pops off it, and plops himself amongst us.

Before we can even react he has thrown down three cards face up on the ground. 10 of Spades, 10 of Clubs and the 10 of Hearts. He wants to do a little 3 Card Monty! Keep in mind that our tailgating crew has a large contingent of lawyers who work or worked for the Public Defenders Office. The guy starts his patter. He starts sweeping up the well worn, length-wise folded cards then throwing them down with practiced ease trying to get us interested. Trying to get us to put a little action on it. One of our group -- "Timmy Gates" starts talking with him a little, letting him do his spiel. Free entertainment.

Our new friend, looks at him and says, "You look familiar. Do I know you?"

Timmy responds, "I may have represented you at some point."

Pause, then, "Oh, s**t! Gates!"

You can't make this stuff up. He still took Timmy for about $25.

Well, what can I say. A convincing win. Either Pitt's offense is a lot better than I thought, or Kent St. is even worse than I believed. Last week, Kent St. won against Akron in a shootout -- 52-48. Even if Akron also sucks, any team that could put up that many points has to have some weapons and will at least be able to score and cover the spread of 29 to 30. Not even close in a 43-3 rout.

Did you ever wonder what local coverage is for patsy teams? I mean the teams that are bad, will almost always be bad, and their athletic department's budget is based on being paid 6 figures just to do a roadie to be beaten up. Teams like Louisiana Tech, Akron, McNeese St. and Kent St. Here's a sample.

Kent State's 15 minutes lasted exactly that long.

After a quarter of level-headed football, it looked as if the Golden Flashes were genuinely going to put together some sort of upset bid against Pittsburgh on Saturday night at Heinz Field.

Then it came unraveled mentally and physically -- and did so quickly. It was as if the two parties seemed all too happy to settle into the anticipated roles and the Panthers ended up getting some fun for their $300,000 in a 43-3 victory.

Honest reporting. Got to love it.

Speaking of honest reporting, the Rod Rutherford misdemeanor assault charge is still fodder. Actually, Harris's handling of it is more the issue. Either he should have benched Rutherford or played him, period. His half-ass "punishment" of not letting him play the 1st quarter was idiocy.

Of course, as we've been saying, this is not a major incident regarding Rutherford, but that won't stop some from trying to make it bigger. Take this from the Palm Beach Post who seems to link Adrian McPherson (the disgraced former Florida State QB who bet on games and may have bet on/against his own team) with Marcus Vick and Rutherford.

Rutherford was charged with kicking out a car window and assaulting a 19-year-old woman outside a nightclub early Monday. Vick, the younger brother of Michael, was one of two Hokies suspended this week after violating unspecified team policies.

While Virginia Tech's Frank Beamer held out Vick the entire game, Pitt's Walt Harris showed a silly little incident like punching a woman and displaying a violent temper isn't going to get in the way of a football game.

Harris believed the way to penalize his quarterback was to sit him... for the first quarter of the season opener against Kent State. Rutherford threw four touchdown passes in a 43-3 victory after being "punished." Rutherford should have been sitting on the sidelines for Saturday's game and probably a few more.

Punched? Violent temper? The alleged assault was that he grabbed her arm, through an open window leading her to strike her head on the inside of the car. There was never a punch. Of course that would interfere with a good story.

Nice to see that reporters are looking closely at the facts.

Back to the game. The dark cloud, was that it is clear that Getsy is a tremendous drop-off from Rutherford. Getsy got the start (because they still hope to be able to redshirt Palko) and it was ugly. Getsy was 0-4 passing in the 1st quarter, and 3-11 overall with some mop-up duty. The stats show Rutherford to be the key. This worries the hell out of me. As I've said, before, one of Harris's weaknesses is his focus on one of his QBs to the exclusion and bad development of the others. Looks like the trend is continuing. Or Pitt better blow out Toledo and Ball State early to give Getsy lots of mop up time.

So, anyway, our QB is in the doghouse, and yet I still can't help but feel o.k. about my beloved Panthers. Why? Becuase they don't have to run around in those god-awful "Mellow Yellow Ligtning/Hunter Safety Gear" uniforms. Is Oregon punishing their players?

(When did I get this catty? I think I gotta go look at some Salma Hayek pictures to get some of my machismo back.)

Here's a debate topic: Charcol or propane, which serves football fans' needs better? Discuss...

P.S. Hey Chas, I finally posted, yeah?

P.P.S. Even more impressive, I'm doing this sober!

Anyone who has been tailgating for even a couple of years can see a steady, progressive change in the manner in which they tailgate. Part of it is experience, part of it is the people and number of people in your group, and of course preparing for the weather. This is my 6th season of Pitt tailgates. Pat is the group's master, as he has been a loyal attendee of games through all his schooling at Pitt and after graduating.

[Editor Note: I may have some of the timeline a little screwed up, I'm working from memory, such as it is.]

I went in with Pat for season tickets in '98. At the time, I was working in Youngstown, Ohio; so it was only a little more than an hour's drive into Pittsburgh. We suffered through a brutal 2-9 season -- the worst, watching them blow a lead to Rutgers (or was it Temple) in a cold, rainy October. I think it was the first and only time, Pat was ever convinced to leave a Pitt game before the bitter end. This was still at the late, old Pitt Stadium, right on campus. Our parking lot, was actually a parking garage, that had a partially open deck. It was not a problem to get a good spot on the deck. It was a great location, overlooking "The Hill." You look down on all the people (well, given the condition of the program at the time it wasn't a lot of people) heading up to the stadium. The tailgating was very basic. Maybe bring a grill and do some dogs; and just drink beer. More often, though, just stop down at Uncle Sam's for a cheesesteak to eat in the lot; or even drink and have lunch at one of the bars. Still, by the end of the season, Pat and I had the set-up and breakdown of the chairs, table and grill down cold.

The following year, we added Lee and some of the group started making it for some games. Everyone had to make an appearance by the end of the season -- the last at Pitt Stadium. We still hit Uncle Sam's at least once -- because of time issues, but we were doing more grilling, and preferring it. Scoring the "wake-up" became a point of pride between Lee and I.

2000 was when everything changed. Pitt would play a season at the late Three Rivers Stadium, before moving nextdoor into Heinz Field. The true meaning of this, was that Pitt would be playing its football games off-campus. A move I had genuine doubts as to what it would mean for the fans. How would the students handle going across town to see the games? Would the students be willing to go across town for games? How would the fans handle the loss of intimacy that Pitt Stadium provided? Most importantly, how would the tailgating change? We had to bring all of the stuff. There were no restaurants nearby that wouldn't be packed or absolutely suck. The plus side, was that the new lot had more space. Our group was now 6 plus 2 affiliates. Pat, Lee, Shawn, John, Harlan and myself. Lee still had his underpowered pick-up that made loading and unloading for tailgating a cinch. Meeting beforehand in the South Side, going to the nearby grocery store for the grill materials and then the beer distributor. We actually started using a cooler to keep the beer and food cold -- The Harlan Memorial Cooler. By the end of the season, we had two coolers. Harlan ran the grill and even cleaned it with military precision. Lines were defined, crossed and obliterated. Yuengling Lager became the "official" beer of our tailgating. Official/unofficial decisions were made as to tailgating guests.

2001. Peaks and valleys. The team got off to a horrible start-- I hate the spread offense. That loss to USF still haunts me. Our seats were not as good as we hoped. And they moved the majority of the starting times to 1 pm. Our group was at double digits. We made attempts to protect ourselves from the sun, by getting a freestanding canopy, but the parking lot fascists wouldn't let us use it (and no, Lee, you are not getting your portion back). Hebrew National Beef Franks became the "official" hot dog.

2002. Harlan left us for employment and partying in Georgia, but the cooler remained. Otherwise, our numbers remained the same. To compensate for the 1pm start times, we started making assignments on what to bring in advance, and expected everyone to have them when we met. More parking passes were purchased to accommodate those who might have to leave early or arrive late because of the new x-factor: newborns. An unofficial ban on children at our tailgates was instigated.

2003. Who knows.

The move to Heinz Field has worked for a lot of fans and alumni, because they have more room to tailgate. We show up roughly 2-3 hours before kick-off. The lots were barely half-filled in 2000. Last year, we were having trouble getting decent spots. This year, may be worse for parking since the season is sold out -- but I don't doubt part of it is that Pitt fans finally are having room to really tailgate rather than just be in parking garages.

Why this retrospective on tailgating? I started thinking about it after reading this article (subs. req'd) that focused mainly on NFL Tailgating:

Last year, before Houston Texans' football games, Hector Galvan hung out in the parking lot with a few friends and a charcoal grill. And this year? He's spent nearly $10,000 converting an old mail truck into a tailgating mobile, with wall-to-wall AstroTurf and a special grill-fridge combo. He's inviting not only dozens of friends to every game -- but clients, too.

"It's a great way to mix business and pleasure," says the Houston contractor.

The future of tailgating is here -- and it looks a lot like big business. With the NFL season kicking off next week, everyone from food conglomerates to camping suppliers is trying to get a piece of these ballooning pregame affairs. Coleman, which introduced its first tailgating grill last year, now has nine products in its RoadTrip line. A catalog just for this set, American Tailgater, features tailgate flags, tailgate tents, even a gas-powered margarita blender ($355). There are training camps by Ragu (hosted by John Madden) and parking-lot contests by Jack Daniels. The NFL itself says it sells $100 million a year of tailgating merchandise, including keg-shape grills. "Tailgating, Inc." has become so big, some folks are buying $75 scalped passes -- just for a parking space.

There is nothing new about tailgaters throwing fancier bashes, of course. But what's surprising is how quickly this has become its own industry, driven by corporations partying in the parking lot and vendors discovering the market's big-spending potential. A survey sponsored by Coca-Cola last season showed 41% of tailgaters spend more than $500 a season on food and supplies -- while Ragu found more than half prefer the party to the actual game. In all, those in the business estimate up to one-quarter of the 16.9 million people who attend NFL games are tailgaters, with some teams, such as the Houston Texans, saying it's closer to 40%.

The $500 figure seems low, unless they mean per person. I guess I'm not surprised by how it has become it's own industry. It seems more like the surprise is how quickly the bigger companies caught on to the popularity.

The change hasn't come without controversy. Some cities have complained about public drunkenness and mountains of postgame trash, while teams stand to lose concession revenue as more people eat outside. But even then, the response has been, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. The Buffalo Bills provide showers and changing rooms in the parking lot, while the Denver Broncos go so far as to pick a "most valuable tailgater" each home game. And in Houston, the Texans send out a quarterly "Tailgating Times" newsletter, sponsor "Tailgating 101" classes at a local sporting-goods store -- and run a Tailgate Village for big groups, starting at $95 a head. "It's become as big as the game," says NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy.

Indeed, teams that years ago frowned on the events now view them as an added bonus to $50 tickets and a way to keep the fans coming, win or lose. It worked for Philadelphia Eagles fan Russ Stevenson, who's already making plans for a December party in Miami (featuring two bands, 10 masseuses, a clown and an Elvis impersonator). He's expecting about 1,500 of his closest friends to dine on barbecue, mahi mahi and conch fritters. "It's going to be my best party yet," says the advertising executive.

Unfortunately, Pittsburgh hasn't caught on to this yet. Apparently they are still trying to be very restrictive at the lots (at least officially). Pat has the info.

Now, vendors are stepping in with gear that's, well, a bit over-the-top. About a half-dozen companies make big grills that tailgaters can hook to the back of their rigs; for $3,500, Texan Tailgaters' model also features a generator, fridge and TV. Too much hassle dealing with the trailer hitch? California customizer Galpin Motors has a pickup truck just for tailgating -- with a huge grill, taps for two beer kegs, a blender and flip-down TV screen. (It seats six, and costs $70,000.) Overall, American Tailgater, a catalog and Web site offering more than 100 items from tailgate grills to BBQ neckties, says sales have nearly tripled in the last year.

Okay, I want that pickup.

Food companies are tackling this burgeoning industry, too, with special promotions and tailgating events. After it lost its spot as official NFL cola, Coca-Cola decided that getting out of the stadium might be good for business. Beginning last season, it set up its own tailgating area at Atlanta games, and it's cosponsoring a contest to give away a Coke RV and tailgating kit. "We're looking to do more," says a company spokesman. Candy-maker Masterfoods USA, meanwhile, isn't satisfied having the usual corporate suites: As part of its sponsorship of the NFL this season, it's holding parties in a motor coach as well, complete with golf carts to haul clients around the parking lot. "It's a more intimate setting," says Scott Hudler, a marketing manager for the company. "You're not missing the tailgating like you would in a suite."
...
For the NFL, all of this has been a love-hate affair. Teams like the old Houston Oilers didn't allow tailgating, while even now some designate only a portion of the parking lot for pregame partying. And for teams that are run on a tight margin, concession sales are an important revenue center. The league itself admits that stadiums stand to lose food and beer sales to tailgaters -- losses one economist, Smith College's Andrew Zimbalist, estimates at as much as $750,000 a team annually. But teams and observers say the bashes help build loyal fans who pay in other ways, from boosting the league's TV ratings to buying season tickets. Plus, it doesn't hurt that tailgating helps ease local traffic, because fans start arriving as early as 6 a.m. and often drive home hours after the game.

The bigger question, though, is whether some companies might drop pricey corporate suites in favor of cheap seats and a party out front. Teams says suite sales are still strong, but so many companies are heading straight to the parking lot that there are even caterers specializing in corporate tailgate parties. (One, Showtime Motor Sports of Winston Salem, N.C., is holding 20 to 30 events this year at up to $10,000 a pop.) "It's a business reception in a parking lot," says Joe Cahn, who runs Tailgating.com. "They don't have to worry about VIP parking, they don't have to worry about spilling things on a rug."

Exactly, says Gary Scher. The head of a Baltimore medical-sales company says he uses his Ravens tailgate parties to boost business, inviting doctors and hospital staff to get a personalized keg cup, free T-shirts and lots of food. Total cost: about $4,000 this season. Do people buy his products? "They know if they don't, they won't get invited to the next tailgate," he says.

I'm not entirely sure what to make of this:

Though senior quarterback Rod Rutherford is expected to play in Pittsburgh's opener Saturday against Kent State, he won't be allowed to start because a dispute he was involved in violated team rules.

Coach Walt Harris said Rutherford will also be disciplined in other ways, but he wouldn't give specific.

"From the information we have, he has engaged in behavior that is contrary to those expectations, our team rules and the responsibilities he assumes as a leader," Harris said.

So, he won't play the first series? Quarter? Half?

Take the points and Kent St. Last I saw, the line was Pitt -29. Wonder how much it moved after this announcement.

There are now less than 3 days before Pitt finally kicks off the new season of college football. It's basically sucked to have waited an extra week longer than most of the country before the first game. Still, the tailgating assignments have been made.

Soon we will gather. We will drink. We will grill meat products. We will verbally abuse one another. Can't wait.

There are questions for the season:

Will Pitt really make a run at the BCS?
Will Harlan make it back to the 'Burgh for a game this year?
Who will miss more games due to family responsibilities, John or me?
How strictly will they be enforcing the parking lot restrictions?
Will the dance and cheerleading teams ever get their own web site?

Has it really been almost 4 years since that final game at Pitt Stadium?

We need a new picture.

The Congressional Hearings on the BCS will be held tomorrow. And even the people who are pushing for the hearing don't actually want Congress to do anything. They just want the publicity (big surprise). Hardly the stuff that would cause the BCS conferences to take their balls away from the Non-BCS conferences.

Apparently the Pitt men's soccer team is now nationally ranked. I still don't care, but Pitt decided it was worth a press release.

Pitt starting QB Rod Rutherford was only accused of assault, not actually charged (yet). He may still be charged, but right now it is a he said/she said thing. No real injuries reported, though there is apparently a broken car window.

Not that this hasn't stopped the Ron Cook of the Post-Gazette from deciding that Rutherford should immediately be suspended.

If ever there was a night for a Pittsburgh athlete to stay in and avoid the risk of trouble, it seemed as if it would have been Sunday night. But there Rutherford was, at a Station Square establishment late Sunday and in the early hours of Monday, perhaps in violation of Pitt's team rules. An incident with a woman allegedly took place. A car window was said to be shattered. The police were notified.

Suddenly, Rutherford was in the jackpot and had joined Porter in the headlines for all of the wrong reasons.

Pitt Coach Walt Harris should suspend him if for no other reason than sheer stupidity.
...
Harris has to suspend Rutherford at least for the Kent State game, doesn't he? This involves more than just the one player. It involves the team. Harris has to send a message that he won't tolerate that kind of behavior from anyone, not even the star quarterback. If being involved in an incident at a bar in the early-morning hours during a game week doesn't qualify as conduct detrimental to a college team, it should.

Oooooh. Sounds reckless and lurid. Shame, though that Cook couldn't be bothered to read his own paper.

The incident took place outside Philthy McNasty's in Station Square, where Rutherford and several other Pitt football and basketball players attended a private party Sunday night.

[Emphasis added.]

Oops. That does not exactly sound like he was out drinking and carousing without a thought. Of course, facts never interfere with a chance to complain about how college athletes are out of control and coaches need to crack the whip.