Y'all wanna hear what I have to say?

Want to know how I really feel??? Well let me tell ya.

PITT WILL BEAT NAVY!

Yeah, I said it, Pitt will beat Navy. I haven't done too much research on it and this isn't my "official" preview, but really, just looking on the surface, Pitt will win.

Navy is 3-2 with solid victories over Air Force and Temple. They barely squeaked out a win by 3 points over Pawr Haas (powerhouse) Duke. They lost to Rutgers and Ball State. Thats right, they lost to that little crummy school in Indiana. Granted we got destroyed by Uconn and UVa, but at least those two teams know what it's like to win a bowl game recently.

I also think that if Matt Cavanaugh is not lying, and can get Shady 25-30 carried and let Bostick take the reins and open up the playbook, this game should not be a problem. I really think the defense will be able to stop the crazy option that they run. If you want my advice, every time they run the option, make sure Dorin is out there and have him hit the quarterback every single play as hard as he can. Eventually he will get tired of being smashed by Dsquared and that option becomes a little less successful. Think about it, do you think a quarterback named Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada can take a pounding from Dorin all day long? I sure as hell don't think so.

Their fullback is their secret weapon and I really think that if we aren't going to blitz, let Dorin cover Kaheaku-Enhada and let McKillop Jr. shadow the fullback to prevent any surprises. That lets the rest of the defense free to fill their holes and keep the schemes somewhat similiar.

I really don't expect there to be a huge crowd given the past 2 disappointing games. We also have to compete with the Penguins that night (go pens) so that's more of a reason to not show up to the game. I have one request for the 15,000 that will be in attendance.

SHOW RESPECT TO NAVY!

Rutgers embarrassed themselves a few weeks ago when they traveled to New Jersey, lets not make the same mistake. When they come out of the tunnel, don't chant anything embarrassing. I'm not going to cheer for Navy either though. My sister is in the armed forces and I respect the men and women who choose that path in life. So when Navy comes out, I won't cheer for them, I won't boo them, I won't say I hope they win, I won't say any obscenities towards them. I'm merely going to ignore them. I'll chat with Jason Jones and my other friends who will be with me in the Cat Basket. I hope everyone that reads this blog, or knows of anyone who is going to the game can pass the word along to respect the opponent this week by not booing or cursing at them. Lets win this game with some class.

~ The One and Only ~

DEFENSE! DEFENSE!

While we are all complaining about the offensive problems we had last week, lets give some cred to the defense. I thought with the loss of Ba Ba Booey (Gus Mus) we would give up a ton of rushing yardage. I was wrong. Malecki, Duhart, Duncan, McKillop and Mick Williams all showed up big time. They were able to get pressure on the qb despite Rhoads refusal to blitz. Even with out the top dlineman in the game, the running game was snuffed out. When is the last time you could say that Pitt's front four was a solid unit that impacted the game in a positive way? Kudos to all of you keep up the great work.

The linebackers, while still young and green played a solid game too. Everyone is complaining about Dorin messing up one arm tackle, but he also played a good game. He was rarely out of position and covered his assignments well. Dell and McKillop played well also. Heading into the this season we all knew that Qb and LB would be our two biggest question mark areas. After 3 games though, I think that our linebackers are all starting to ease our fears a bit. I'm just wondering is this whole improvement to the defense a credit to Paul Rhoads? He did take over coaching the linebackers, so there has to be some impact. Maybe P.R. just needed some quality defensive players under Wanny to do what he told us he planned on doing.

The Cb's and Safeties did not have their greatest game, but they were far from horrible. We are all spoiled with having Revis, Torrie Cox, Shauntae Spencer, and the other recent defensive backfield greats over the last few seasons, but the new guys aren't playing too bad. Ricky Gary, despite having some criticism from us at Cat Basket has really played great, yes I said it, he has played great. Kennard is playing exactly like we expected him too. I'm not sure how much Aaron Berry's injury is hampering him but once he gets to 100% I believe he will step it up and over come some of the early mistakes.

Thatcher and Phillips are solid at the positions. It hurts not having Elijah Fields back there but it is not a huge drop off in talent. Phillips should have had an int last game, but if he was so good at catching the ball he would be a WR instead of safety. Thatcher is still one of the biggest hitters on the team and I'm glad I will never be asked to go over the middle against him.

Overall, a great job thus far by everyone on the defensive unit. I hope we are able to carry this through the rest of the season, and I hope D.J. Hernandez has to catch a ball over the middle while being shadowed by Thatcher.