Posts from the Pittsburgh Category at FanHouse

As FanHouse previews each BCS conference, the college football songbook will cast an unflattering light on each conference in the only way we know how. It's getting hot for Big East coaches.



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LSU Freak via Every Day Should Be Saturday
Bastard Sons of Pinfall Marks
Coaches Hot Seat
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13-9. 13-9. 13-9.

That upset of West Virginia in Morgantown was one of the great moments in the Backyard Brawl. There is no understating how big that game turned out to be.

It completely changed the direction of the West Virginia program. No national title game. Rich Rodriguez bolting for Michigan. The buyout fight that dragged into July.

For Pitt, it still remains to be seen whether it changed where they were. It had an impact on recruiting as Pitt suddenly collected a slew of late, highly sought recruits from Western Pennsylvania. For the fans it renewed hope that the program was building for something bigger. For the national sports punditry, it becomes a discussion point as to whether it was just a freak aberration that happens in long, bitter rivalry games, or the springboard to a big season the following year.

So, after everything, the moment is over. It means nothing to this season.

Yummy! The sweet dairy goodness of tasty cupcakes. To an extent everyone schedules at least one gimme on their schedule. So we'll overlook that 1-AA warm up game at the beginning of the season and move on to more important things. Seeing as how this is the Big East we'll just say that everyone will play two quality opponents in West Virginia and South Florida, three potentially good teams in Pitt, Cincinnati, and Rutgers, and three teams that shouldn't make anyone's top 25.

1. Connecticut- Starting off with the fat dough boys that got way too much credit for their record last year and look to do the same this year. Did I say that I wasn't going to mention the 1-AA teams? I'm sorry, because the Flying Dutchmen of Hofstra has to be one of the best names in all of college football. Unfortunately, they're not one of the best teams in college football. And that's who UConn starts their season off with. Oh, but it doesn't get much harder from there. The next three weeks they play @ Temple, and then get Virginia and Baylor at home. Any team worth their salt should easily be 4-0 at this point. Aside from having an easy schedule last year, UConn also got every break including a rather nice no call on a fake fair catch that helped them beat their fifth opponent in 2008, Louisville. Circle that game if you want to savor the sweet smell of revenge. UConn closes out their non-conference schedule with what should be a much improved North Carolina team. I don't know that they will crack the top 25, but for the sake of argument we'll count this one as a quality opponent. So that's one up and four down for UConn. Remember this at the end of the year when you look at their record. It will be deceiving.

2. Cincinnati- But they play @ Oklahoma! Yeah, well that's about it. Let's not forget that Oklahoma has proven themselves susceptible to Big East speed. All kidding aside, Cincinnati starts out the season hosting Eastern Kentucky, then travels to Oklahoma. In their next three games they host Miami (OH) and play @ Akron and @ Marshall. Ha! Marshall? They shouldn't be scheduling two 1-AA teams in one year. Cincinnati then plays their conference schedule and ends the year @ Hawaii. That might have been a tough game last year, but this year it shouldn't take a lot of effort. To be honest, I had to think long and hard about Cincinnati being number one on this list, but the Oklahoma game saved them in the end.

If you find yourself in this position it's probably at least partly your fault. Whether you're the coach of one of the most storied programs in college football or you inherit the head job at one of the nouveau rich schools, your fans expect you to win now. You had high hopes of continuing the tradition when you took over, but now you could turn a lump of coal into a diamond if inserted into the proper body cavity.

Greg Robinson - Hot Seat

If you took over a team that fired the last coach because he went 6-6 and it took you three years to get seven wins, you might be in trouble. If you took over the 14th winningest program in college football history and you are about to give up that distinction to a conference foe, you really need to produce. If any of this sounds like you, Greg Robinson, come on down. You're our first choice for coaches on the hot seat.

Syracuse was a team that had already fallen on hard times when Greg Robinson arrived. But still, this is Syracuse. You should be able to roll your helmet out there and get six wins. Right? Syracuse has gone 1-11, 4-8, and 2-10 under Robinson, and the prospect of that changing anytime soon are not good. Syracuse bloggers, for their part, are making the best of the situation. Robinson's attitude has been mostly positive through the whole ordeal. If not, at least a little cryptic. I hope he has that same attitude when this season is over. Because the world needs ditch diggers too.

Big time players often hear the chant, "overrated" when they fail to produce in a game. While other players shine in the shadow of a superstar without every having to carry the load themselves. They step up big on those one or two plays a game and let the big man do most of the heavy lifting. When the big man moves on we expect them to continue the success as if nothing had changed. This is the true test of a player being overrated.

Noel Devine, RB - West Virginia

With the realization that West Virginia doesn't lose many games when Pat White doesn't get injured, the running back position is going to be called on to do more this season. For all his many talents, Noel Devine doesn't strike me as someone that's going to be able to carry the load for West Virginia for a 13 game season.

There's some talent behind Devine at the running back position. But none have spent serious time in the backfield in games that matter. So for now, the only answer is Devine.

From the time he stepped on the field in Morgantown, he's been hailed as the second coming of, or better than Slaton. But for most of his career, Slaton was the every down back you could give the ball to 25-30 times a game. He did this while playing some of the 2005 and all of the 2006 season with a broken bone in his wrist. We haven't seen that kind of toughness and durability out of Devine yet. In fairness to Devine, he hasn't been given that chance. Until we see it on the field, though.....

Unless you are talking pay scale, it's generally better to be underrated rather than overrated. The expectations are more manageable. There's a lot more anger at teams and players considered overrated. The overrated are blamed for the expectations they are not meeting. The overrated teams and players bare the blame for the hype given to them.

The underrated have no problems. The expectations are actually below what they can do and so they constantly seem to be exceeding them. At least until everyone notices and then swings the whole thing the other way.

The Big East has plenty of players that are underrated. In no small part because the Big East has several teams to whom few people pay much attention -- quick, name the best player for UConn, Cinci and Syracuse.

Here are some of the players that you should know in the Big East.

Not the most NFL ready or likely to be drafted at the top -- though there is some overlap. This is about the best in the Big East. The players who have the biggest impact and coordinators spend late nights trying to game plan specifically to address.

That said, here's the FanHouse view of the five best players in the Big East for 2008.

1. Pat White, QB, WVU

There was no doubt who would be at the top of the list. Pat White is the most important Mountaineer. You could argue his total numbers don't look particularly amazing for a QB. His 3059 total yards and had him 5th among QBs in the Big East. His 28 total TDs was only 3d in the conference. He was, however, the leading rusher in the Big East. That's deceptive as the head of the top offense in the Big East. In the spread, White would read the defenses on the fly. Determining whether to keep it, pass, or hand off. More often than not, White was making the right calls and not making mistakes. No one caused more sleepless nights for defensive coordinators in the Big East. White is something of an underrated passer. His arm isn't the strongest, but he is accurate when he did throw. While only passing for 1724 yards, but he completed over 66% of the passes and only had 4 INTs to 14 TD passes. He was one of the most efficient QBs in the country.

As usual, a new season means new players and coaches.that you'll want to keep an eye on. For most of the Big East, the impact of these new faces could be the difference in going to a BCS bowl or playing in Birmingham, Alabama in the PapaJohns.com Bowl. Well, except for Syracuse which is looking at trying to win more than one game.

1.) Bill Stewart, Head Coach -- West Virginia Mountaineers: Everyone will be watching 'Coach Stew' this season. He brought the Mountaineers together following the extremely insane departure of Rich Rodriguez last December and got them ready to play and dominate the Fiesta Bowl over Oklahoma. The next day, Stewart had the interim tag removed. Most viewed it as an emotional and questionable move by the West Virginia powers. That puts him under a surprising national microscope in a less than scrutinized locale.

His every decision will be watched to see if he can maintain what has been built in Morgantown, and every mistake will be second-guessed and at least debated as evidence that he was the wrong man for the job.

As the 2008 season approaches, fans are officially in preview mode. It's just a couple weeks away from the start of the season. As we look back on the Big East's 2007 season in condensed format, we offer something special.

No discussion of the Rich Rodriguez-West Virginia divorce/soap opera. It, admittedly, started in 2007 after blowing the chance to play for the national title with a shocking 13-9 home loss to Pitt in the 100th Backyard Brawl.

Most of it took place in the 2008 calender year, and frankly it got tiresome. Actually, even beyond tiresome. Annoying, boring, petty and just plain uninteresting. It had its moments. Allegations of shredded files; equating buyouts to slavery; the WVU president having to resign after awarding work-free MBAs to the kids of big donors. All the trappings of a nasty divorce, without any children to fight over (unless you count Terrelle Pryor who chose to go live with his Uncle Jimmy in Columbus). Really, how many times does it have to be rehashed?

Okay, for Mark May and Pitt fans like myself, it probably won't get old for another couple of years. For everyone else, it's probably time to move on.

Most Ridiculous Moment

The fair catch signal by UConn punt returner Larry Taylor that was taken for a touchdown. Sometimes a YouTube is worth the entire description.


Considering UConn won that game 21-17, it is no stretch to say that cost Louisville the game and was one of the major reasons the Big East revised its replay rules to allow "the discretion to 'correct egregious errors,' including plays involving fouls that are not specifically reviewable." In other words, events where there was such a botched officiating moment, that common sense dictates fixing it.

There were 24 ballots for the Big East Pre-Season Media Poll. It's the typical point system where 1st place is worth 8 points and last place (8th) is worth 1 point. There was no doubt about it with Syracuse. The Orange received 24 points to be the pick on every ballot to finish dead last in the conference. It is a safe bet.

As for the 1st place voting, it was a landslide for West Virginia which received 22 of the 24 1st place votes. USF was the clear choice for 2nd. That mirrors what all the preview mags have been saying. Here's the predicted order with the number of points and first place votes received in parenthesis.

1. West Virginia -- (22) 189
2. USF -- (1) 149
3. Pittsburgh -- (1) 128
4. Rutgers -- 110
5. Cincinnati -- 98
6. Connecticut -- 97
7. Louisville -- 69
8. Syracuse -- 24

Pitt being picked for third is not a shock, but the vote does raise an eyebrow. A member of the media actually gave Pitt a 1st place vote. Let that sink in for a minute. Somebody picked Pitt to win the Big East and go to a BCS bowl this year. Pitt, which has finished no better than a 3-way tie for 3d in the three seasons under Dave Wannstedt received a 1st place vote.

Otherwise the pre-season poll looks about what would be expected. Judging by the points, though, it's clear that the media -- much like Louisville fans -- don't have much faith in Steve Kragthorpe getting the job done.