Nov 27 2008
Last week: 7-1; Season: 41-27
Pitt vs. West Virginia: I remember talking to West Virginia QB Pat White in the moments after the Mountaineers beat Georgia in the Sugar Bowl in January of 2006. With White and RB Steve Slaton freshmen at the time I remember wondering to myself how many national championship games the Mountaineers would play in with those two players in the backfield. I asked White about the future and he said "It's time to start a dynasty." Well, the Mountaineers never made it to a title game and the dynasty never came, thanks in part to the Pitt Panthers, who knocked WVU out of the BCS title game last year with the 13-9 win in Morgantown. Nothing will ever avenge that loss, but the Mountaineers will pay the Panthers back a little bit. WVU 24, Pitt 17.
Georgia Tech vs. Georgia: Is the ACC just really bad or really competitive? My guess is a combination of both. This is not a great Georgia team, but I like the Bulldogs to get the job done at home, 23-17.
Florida at Florida State: The Gators have never had much success at Doak Campbell Stadium, but this Florida team can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Two more wins and that early-slip-up against Mississippi will be erased and the Gators will play for a national championship. Tim Tebow and Co. won't let the upset happen, 38-28.
Oregon vs. Oregon State: No one really wants to see Penn State play Oregon State again, do they? Penn State-USC is much more appetizing. So let's root hard for the Ducks to beat the Beavers. Wishing...wishing...wishing...Ducks wins, 27-24.
Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma State: The Sooners have been really impressive since their loss to Texas in the middle of the season. But this is a tough game in Stillwater. Of all the rivalry games with top-ranked teams involved I think this one could be the Upset Special. I like the Cowboys to shock the Sooners, 38-37.
Notre Dame vs. USC: Go figure. Pete Carroll couldn't hack it in the NFL as a head coach and he's got the Trojans rolling like no other program in the NCAA. Charlie Weis could do nothing wrong in the NFL as an offensive coordinator and he can't do anything right at Notre Dame. Carroll hammers the nail in Weis' coffin, 49-3.
Nov 25 2008
Five-star shooting guard Dominic Cheek, one of the top unsigned high school prospects, has arrived in Pittsburgh and will be in attendance for tonight's game against Belmont. He will spend the next few days in Pittsburgh with the team before departing to his home in New Jersey.
Pitt is one of four or five schools still in the running for Cheek's services. He also is considering Rutgers, Villanova, Memphis and Kansas. Cheek is not expected to make a decision until the spring signing period in April.
If Pitt does get him to sign on the dotted line come spring an already highly touted recruitng class gets much better. The class Dixon signed to letters of intent last week was rated as a consensus top 25 class. With Cheek, it could vault all the way to a top 10 class.
Nov 24 2008
Pitt’s 28-21 loss to Cincinnati Saturday night was a frustrating night for
Panthers fans no doubt but it probably is most disappointing considering the
amount of time the team had to prepare for that game and the fact that for at
least three quarters it appeared as if the Bearcats were far hungrier and far
more focused than Pitt. In fact, for two quarters in the middle of the game, the
Panthers played with so little passion and so little fire that I began to wonder
if they understood there was a championship on the line. Seriously, the final
quarter it finally hit them – but by then it was too late. Cincinnati outplayed
them and Tony Pike had a great game, but the Panthers spent far too much of the
game standing around and watching and didn’t seem overly motivated to try and
win until it was, well, just too late.
So with that, here is the Good, the Bad and the Ugly for the Cincinnati
game…..
The Good: LeSean McCoy averaged nearly 5 yards per carry and he was also
the team’s leading receiver with six catches . He is a special player, one who
fans should appreciate, a legitimate game-changing back.
The Special Teams were excellent on Saturday. The Panthers blocked two kicks,
limited the Bearcats return game and thus won the field position battle,
especially early, and Dave Brytus, outside of one shank, was great punting the
football all night. Pitt also forced a fumble on a kick-off return. You’d think
the kind of effort that the special teams gave would have been enough to give
Pitt an edge, but for the most part, the Panthers squandered field position
(like letting a 99-yard drive happen after a great pooch punt to the 1 by
Brytus).
T.J. Porter is the most underrated and under utilized player on the roster.
He makes very nice catches and he isn’t afraid to get hit and he can run after
the catch as well. There is no question he should be on the field more and he
should also have the ball thrown his way more.
Scott McKillop was credited with 17 tackles. I actually think he had more. He
was all over the field and he made some key tackles. He did a great job of
trying to keep Pitt’s defense in the game and did so without a lot of help.
Dorin Dickerson – Remember him? Yeah, he’s a pretty good player, a great
athlete and it only took ten games but the Panthers finally figured out he could
be a dangerous threat down the middle on a seam route or something similar. His
touchdown reception was an example of how he can be a major weapon --- and how
those of us who watched Kris Wilson play assumed he’d be used. Hopefully it is a
sign of big things to come for him.
The Bad:
I have been a very big defender of Aaron Berry. I still maintain he is a good
player and a good cover corner. But his head is somewhere else and he has become
the dreaded "good player who is playing very poorly." He just hasn’t had a good
year, by any measure, and he needs to get his head back into it before the
season is over. If he was entertaining thoughts about the NFL, he should forget
about it and worry about re-establishing himself as a top-flight cover corner
because the way he’s played this year has been very much disappointing. Saturday
he didn’t even really seem interested in trying to get inside his guy on a few
post patterns, in routes, etc. – he just has lost his technique or
something.
The defensive line – as good as this unit has been, this was certainly not
their finest hour. In fact, it might have been the worst performance by this
unit to date and here is why – at some point you’d think that when a guy
continues to step up in the pocket and move out of the pocket and make you guys
miss, the light would go on and the linemen would begin to take different
angles, be more sound in what they do in terms of containing a guy and stop
running past him, as if he is a bullfighter waving a towel at them. I thought
Rashaad Duncan and Gus Mustakas did some good things in stopping the run, but
the two rush ends especially seemed lost the entire night and never adjusted to
what Tony Pike was doing. Again, you have to tip your cap to Pike because he
made some great plays, but one has to wonder why the defensive line didn’t do
anything to adjust to make sure they kept him in the pocket.
The offensive line – This unit had been pretty good and pretty solid but
again, fell apart some. Both tackles struggled to stop pass rushes off the end,
Dom Williams was a non-factor for the most part and the team didn’t protect Bill
Stull, either. Then there were a few penalties – it was not a very good outing
for the offensive linemen, that’s for sure. The dead-ball personal foul penalty
that John Malecki got was a close call, but a mistake that Malecki – who has
been one of the best and most consistent players on this team by the way – can’t
make at that point in the game. I think he was probably still thinking the play
was going and thus he was blocking down the field so it is understandable how it
could happen, but it is just one of those penalties that really wasn’t very
smart and really was a killer.
Bill Stull, like Berry, I’ve defended the guy and still think he is a good
player. But he didn’t have a good game and even Dave Wannstedt admitted that
many of the seven sacks Pitt gave up were because Stull was doing his Ben
Roethlisberger imitation and holding the ball far too long in the pocket. Stull
also wasn’t terribly accurate with his passes.
The outside linebackers on this team are really struggling. Austin Ranson has
a lot of heart, tries hard and is a hard nosed kid but it is clear he isn’t good
enough to do some of the things they are asking him to do and Greg Williams and
Elijah Fields are both clearly still learning.
The Ugly:
The Panthers were also out hit, out-hustled, out-physicalled and beat up by a
far hungrier and far more intense team that simply seemed like they wanted it
more. Cincinnati’s receivers were laying it on the line to make catches, even
when they knew they’d get hit or had to lay out to do it. Can you say the same
about Pitt’s receivers? I know it is fashionable to blame all of the problems
Pitt had on Pitt, but the Bearcats deserve credit because they are responsible
for some of what went wrong for Pitt, they played a great game and deserved to
win. Tony Pike played a great game, the Bearcats receivers were great. There is
something to be said for good players making plays – but there is no excuse for
getting out-hustled and out hit and this is the first time this year I can say
that the Panthers effort was not what it needed to be.
While Aaron Berry is simply playing bad, the rest of the secondary, has been
this team’s Achilles heel because of (choose one, or more than one) (a) youth
(b) inexperience (c) miscommunications and (d) certain players just are not good
enough. I mean, how many more touchdowns is this unit going to give up where
there is nobody in the same area code of the receiver? Cincinnati had three of
them and of course the same reasons are given – Elijah Fields fell down on one,
Dom DeCicco made a rookie mistake on one and the safety/corner combination
didn’t communicate well on one – but my goodness, we are ten games into this
thing and this unit hasn’t gotten better. And the number of big plays it gives
up is scary and astonishing. Again, in Berry’s case, he’s not playing well and
he is playing like a guy who is not focused – but at least there is hope that
for the last two games, he could pull himself together and play like he is
capable. The rest of this unit – especially the corner spot opposite Berry – is
killing this team. There are far too many busted coverages and far too many big
plays given up, after which one or more guys are shrugging their shoulders and
pointing to others as if to say "I thought you had that guy" I don’t know if
Antwuan Reed is the answer, but he cannot possibly be worse than what we’ve
seen.
The receiving corps had its worse game, and I include the tight ends in that.
Bill Stull wasn’t great, but he also hit these guys on the hands (by my count)
five times and they dropped it. Jonathan Baldwin, for all of his talent, had a
couple of chance to make big plays but didn’t seem overly interested in laying
it on the line to make them. It is one of these things a freshman has to learn –
you have to go hard on every single play to become a great player. The other
receivers just had an off night and didn’t make catches you’d hope they’d
make.
Once again, the offensive game plan, particularly early in the game and on
first down, didn’t seem to play to the team’s strengths. The fact that LeSean
McCoy only carried the ball 17 times – in a road game that is a must win with a
championship on the line – is ridiculous. I know the company line "we had bad
down and distances" but you know why there was bad down and distances? Because
someone thought running a reverse to Cedrick McGee on first-and-10 (as opposed
to you know, handing it to McCoy or running a reverse to someone with
game-breaking speed like Aundre Wright) was a good idea – that is until it
became second-and-18 or because someone thought taking a ten-step drop and
three-different play actions on first-and-ten instead of handing to YOUR BEST
PLAYER was a good idea and that turned into second-and-20 when it became a sack.
Look, I get it, your trying to keep defenses off balanced but guess what – you
still have to ride the horse that got you here. It is as if the extra week to
prepare was a bad thing because it gave the staff too long to start trying to
think up ways to get clever – when in fact, this team plays its best ball when
it keeps it simple (i.e. hands it to McCoy a bunch) and just lines up and beats
teams physically. I mean, even if you give a great player like the ball ten
times in a row, they might stop it nine but the tenth he could take it to the
endzone. That’s what great players do and championship teams put the ball in the
hands of their franchise players. Some of the sacks Bill Stull took were his
fault, some were a result of him being put in harms way on a night when it was
clear they were struggling to block the other team.
McCoy, for as great as he is and well as he played, made one of the biggest
gaffe’s I have seen a player make in a long, long time and it may have cost the
Panthers a chance to get the game into overtime. On that final lateral play,
when Derek Kinder pitched it back to McCoy, he had the entire sideline with no
Bearcats defenders in front of him. He probably could have scored but instead he
stopped playing, as if he though the play was over. Then he just sort of chucked
the ball backwards once it was clear the play wasn’t over. Again, the sense of
urgency on that play was just not there – it seemed like Pitt sort of just gave
up on it when in fact, it looked like it had a chance to work – and that is
ridiculous considering it was do or die. McCoy should have ran until someone
tackled him or some official grabbed him and said the play was over. He said he
stopped because he thought he heard a whistle – if he just thought he heard a
whistle, that is even more reason to take off running to the endzone until
someone confirms to you that the play was actually over.
Speaking of that lateral play – what the heck were the officials thinking?
Why in the world was Cincinnati’s fans allowed to run on the field not once, but
twice, before the game was over. This should have been a 15-yard penalty – just
like at the end of the Texas-Texas Tech game when Big 12 officials had the
courage to enforce the rule and penalize the home team. I have no problem with
fans coming on the field to celebrate a big win – but wait until the game is
over. And officials need to make this call far more often than they
do.
Nov 23 2008
Now that President-elect Barack Obama has mandated a playoff for Division I-A football, it’s only a matter of time before the hypocrites who run the game – the presidents and chancellors – fall in line and institute a postseason tournament. But being that we’re stuck with the Bowl Championship Series for this year and probably a few more after that, let’s have a mythical national championship tournament of our own.
We propose a 16-team playoff with the higher seeded teams playing host to first-round games. After that, the usual bowl sites would begin playing host to the final four games. A semifinal round and a championship game would ensue. So without further adieu, here is how a mythical national tournament would play out this year.
First round
No. 1 Alabama (projected SEC champion) vs. No. 16 Ball State (projected MAC champion)
No. 2 Texas (projected Big 12 champion) vs. No. 15 Florida State (projected ACC champion)
No. 3 Florida (at-large) vs. No. 14 Cincinnati (projected Big East champion)
No. 4 Oklahoma (at-large) vs. No. 13 Oregon State (projected pac-10 champion)
No. 5 USC vs. No. 12 Missouri (at-large)
No. 6 Penn State (Big Ten champion) vs. No. 11 Boise State (WAC champion)
No. 7 Texas Tech (at-large) vs. No. 10 Utah (Mountain West champion)
No. 8 Ohio State (at-large) vs. No. 9 Oklahoma State (at-large)
Second round
No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 8 Ohio State
No. 2 Texas vs. No. 7 Texas Tech
No. 3 Florida vs. No. 6 Penn State
No. 4 Oklahoma vs. No. 5 USC
Semifinal round
No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 4 Oklahoma
No. 2 Texas vs. No. 3 Florida
Championship game
No. 4 Oklahoma vs. No. 2 Texas
National champion
Texas 42 Oklahoma 31
Here’s my AP ballot for this week
1. Alabama
2. Texas
3. Oklahoma
4. Florida
5. USC
6. Penn State
7. Texas Tech
8. Ohio State
9. Oklahoma State
10. Utah
11. Boise State
12. Missouri
13. Georgia
14. Ball State
15. TCU
16. Cincinnati
17. Oregon State
18. Michigan State
19. Boston College
20. Oregon
21. Pitt
22. West Virginia
23. Northwestern
24. Florida State
25. Mississippi
Nov 22 2008
An updated version of the artistry previously known as: Two teams that really don't like each other
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- As part of the friendly rivals' fire that resurfaced in pregame warmups and lasted into the aftermath of this 35-21 West Virginia victory Saturday, Mountaineers quarterback Patrick White -- who jawed at, looked back at and taunted (while running down the sidelines for touchdowns) and pancake-blocked most any Cardinals in his proximity -- had some not-so-nice words about one Louisville player in particular.
On a Noel Devine cutback run, White took a moment from his NCAA record-setting rushing day to block 6-foot-3, 285-pound Cardinals defensive tackle Earl Heyman and topple him to the stadium turf. Heyman took umbrage, grabbing White and rolling him over in what became a two-man somersault. They arose to jaw and posture at one another.
Said White afterward: "He tried to break my neck. No need for ignorant, dirty play."
Then White, still miffed that linebacker Preston Smith denied this incident happened in the teams' meeting last November, added this little nugget: "At least I didn't get spit on."
White admitted that after the last of his three touchdown jaunts he began snapping his fingers in the end zone, showing everyone that his 200-yard day was a "walk in the park." As for establishing the new NCAA Division I-A standard for rushing yards in a quarterback career, the senior shrugged and added that the record will mean something to him "maybe one day when I'm old and in my rocking chair with my grandkids." One last White tidbit: He finished with 1,115 career yards rushing/passing plus a 3-1 record vs.
Louisville.
More post-game doodads: Coach Bill Stewart: "I was so frustrated at half. Had 215 yards rushing,
two blown opportunities [inside the Louisville 11-yard line]. I wanted to cry, I really did. But I can’t do that." .
. . Offensive coordinator Jeff Mullen joked of White’s record-breaking, 4-yard run, which was two yards shy
of a first down: "That’s the only time he slid all year, the knucklehead." . . .
Mullen on West Virginia rushing for a season-high 376 yards against major-college football's heretofore eighth-stingiest rushing defense, all behind an offensive line with Seneca Valley's Don Barclay, in his first start, subbing for Greg Isdaner (head, though he played one series) and Eric Jobe, in his second start, subbing for Mike Dent (neck): "You kidding me? And you replace two all-Big East, All-American candidate guys. We didn't replace a couple of stiffs. That's crazy talk." . . . West Virginia allowed a third-quarter touchdown for only the second time all
fall, ending a string of four consecutive games and six of seven without a third-
or fourth-quarter score. . . Stewart pooh-poohed the pregame-warmup fracas between the teams, saying his Mountaineers didn't breach protocol by standing on Louisville's midfield Cardinal logo. A few wild punches were thrown, but coaches and game officials separated the two sides.
Nov 20 2008
Week 13 predictions
Pitt at Cincinnati: Cincinnati can take a big step toward claiming its first Big East championship by beating the Panthers. The Bearcats also have the added incentive never having beaten Pitt in seven previous tries. Pitt’s defense will keep it close, but the Bearcats will win, 21-17.
Penn State vs. Michigan State: The Spartans are the only obstacle between Penn State and its first Rose Bowl since 1994. If Darryl Clark can manage the game and not turn the ball over, the Lions will be on their way to Pasadena. Pack your bags, Penn State fans. The Spartans will make it interesting, but the Lions will prevail, 28-24.
West Virginia at Louisville: These two teams have played some classic games over the past few years, but this year’s contest doesn’t figure to live up to past ones. The Mountaineers and Cardinals are both experiencing down years, but the boys from Morgantown still have something to play for. Hey, it’s the Big East! WVU keeps its Big East title hopes alive, 27-21.
Michigan at Ohio State: They say you throw the record book in this game, but Rich Rodriguez would like to throw out some of his players. The Wolverines are not going to a bowl game for the first time in 33 years and will have a losing season for the first time since 1967. No matter what the emotions are for this game, I don’t see Michigan having enough to make this game close. I like the Buckeyes in a romp, 42-10.
BYU at Utah: Utah can clinch a second BCS berth in five years by beating the Cougars. The Utes have had the good fortune of playing all of their difficult games at home. They beat Oregon State and TCU by field goals. Now they’ll do the same to BYU, 24-21.
Texas Tech at Oklahoma: Get ready for another Big 12 shootout. The Sooners are averaging 51.4 points per game and the Red Raiders 47.9 per game. Oklahoma’s only loss came when Colt McCoy was able to take advantage of the Oklahoma defense. Texas Tech can do the same, but I’ll take the Sooners because they’re at home, 49-42.
Holy Cross at Colgate: Holy Cross has not won a Patriot League championship since 1991. That was the last great Crusaders team. They finished 11-0 and ranked No. 3 in the final Division I-AA poll that season, but they didn’t get to compete in the Division I-AA playoffs because the Patriot League did not allow its teams to take part at that time. Now the Patriot League champ gets an automatic bid. Look for HC quarterback Dominic Randolph to pass the Crusaders back to glory, 31-28.
Yale at Harvard: Another big Division I-AA game. Harvard can clinch at least a share of the Ivy League title with a victory. The Crimson’s only loss came at Brown back in September. Look for Harvard to pull it out at home, 24-17.
Nov 18 2008
The second-best college football starter from Jeannette High may have taken his last Division I-A snap.
West Virginia starting center Mike Dent on Tuesday night talked of having a doctor later this week re-evaluate the swollen pinched nerve in his neck, the malady that caused numbness down Dent's arms in the Connecticut game Nov. 1 and a few days later effectively removed him from the Mountaineers' lineup, This fifth-year senior since was erased from the two-deep depth chart and replaced in the starting lineup by Eric Jobe, who is practicing with the first team when left guard Greg Isdaner isn't taking a few snaps at center. Dent said he hopes to play Saturday at Louisville and prepares to start when he "goes to practice very day and takes mental reps. Watches film." But it doesn't sound convincing.
Another Mountaineers member said he thought Dent isn't supposed to see a doctor until next week, and Coach Bill Stewart continued to completely bypass the normal injury coachspeak -- aren't we all "day to day" on this planet? -- and again Tuesday labeled Dent's status as "week to week." Only three regular-season games remain for West Virginia: at Louisville, at Pitt the day after Thanksgiving, and South Florida at home on Senior Day Dec. 6.
"He's definitely going to be missed," said Jobe, who started and played the Mountaineers' Nov. 8 overtime loss to Cincinnati.
"You can't replace a Mike Dent," offensive coordinator Jeff Mullen added. "You're talking about a kid who's a probable NFL performer. An all-Big East player."
Dent, whose high-school basketball records were erased by the same Ohio State starting quarterback Terrelle Pryor who earns the most Jeannette collegiate attention, was second-team all-conference last year and a Rimington Trophy watch-list candidate this fall. He started 21 consecutive Mountaineers games until this ailment.
Nov 16 2008
For the thousands of you out there (ok, hundreds…ok, devoted family members) who are faithful readers of the weekly predictions column in this space, we finally did it: a perfect prediction on a game. Check out the Thursday post and the Notre Dame-Navy prediction. I wish I could tell you I negotiated an automatic bonus for such feats in my Post-Gazette contract. Alas, I did not. But this does deserve some kind of reward. So here’s to the Irish, a Guinness toast for making me look like I know what I’m talking about.
Here’s my weekly AP ballot:
1. Alabama
2. Texas Tech
3. Texas
4. Florida
5. Oklahoma
6. USC
7. Penn State
8. Ohio State
9. Oklahoma State
10. Boise State
11. Utah
12. Missouri
13. Georgia
14. Ball State
15. LSU
16. TCU
17. BYU
18. Michigan State
19. Pitt
20. Cincinnati
21. Oregon State
22. Maryland
23. Boston College
24. Oregon
25. Central Michigan
Nov 14 2008
While we're on the subject of basketball, West Virginia coach Bob Huggins was stumping in Fairmont, W.Va., and talked at length about the $25 million practice facility that is making glacial progress toward construction.
He was quoted thusly in the Times-West Virginian today:
“I’m out getting money for the practice facility and the way
I count, we’re at about $22 and a half million. . . . None of the people making these decisions ever goes out and raises any money. But still no earth has turned.
“The
reality is, we’ve done an unbelievably wonderful job with football, and
they deserve everything they’ve gotten. But the Coliseum hasn’t changed
since 1970. It’s the same as it was when I went in there [as a player]
in 1975.We’re not very fan friendly.
“We
don’t move very damn fast. To get something done, it’s always
painstaking. But we’re going to get it done. I promise you that. We’re
going to make it fun. And the most fun will come in watching us beat
those people who have beaten us all these years.”
Nov 13 2008
Once upon a time, Eric Moore almost played a part in a monumental upset of a Pitt team that was ranked No. 2 in the country. Now he’s going to try to do it again for the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights, who come into the Petersen Events Center tomorrow night looking to upset the fifth-ranked Panthers in the season opener for both teams.
Moore was at the University of Buffalo on December 9, 2006 when the Panthers played at Alumni Arena in Buffalo. Pitt trailed by 10 points with 12 minutes remaining, but mounted a comeback and averted the upset with a 70-67 victory. Moore played a big role in that game. He scored 14 points and made a number of big 3-point shots that staked the Bulls to an early lead.
“He made shots and had the game of his career,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon earlier this week. “I’ve known him since he was at Saint Benedicts. We know he can make shots. We probably know more about him than any of their other players.”
Moore is one of three transfers and four newcomers to FDU's starting lineup. Alvin Mofunaya from Saint Joseph’s and Terence Grier from Rhode Island are the other two transfers who will be in the starting lineup. Senior point guard Cameron Tyler did not play last season, but he was a productive player in his first two seasons.
DU coach Tom Green also returns starting guard Sean Baptiste, who averaged 18.5 points per game last season, and part-time starting forwards John Galvin and DeJuan Pursley.
Baptiste and Moore are the two most proven players. Moore averaged 12.5 points per game for the Bulls in 2006-07.
“I’m not sure what to expect,” said Green, a native of Brockway, Pa. “I’m just trying to introduce the players to each other in practice.”
Green, who is in his 25th season as head coach at Fairleigh Dickinson, is trying to rejuvenate his program, which is 22-36 the past two seasons, with the infusion of transfers. The Knights have been to four NCAA tournaments under Green and recently had back-to-back 20-win seasons in 2004-05 and 2005-06.
“I’ve done it every which way possible in my 25 years,” Green said. “I’ve done it with high school kids, transfers and junior-college transfers.”
Dixon said Green’s team almost always use the 3-point shot as a big part of the offense, so expect the Knights to fire up some long-distance shots.
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