Cardiac Hill

Former Pitt AD Jeff Long Could Be Candidate At Stanford

2012-05-18T03:15:19Z

Former Pitt AD Jeff Long Could Be Candidate At Stanford

Former Pitt AD Jeff Long has had a busy spring with the whole Bobby Petrino incident. Now, Stanford appears to be interested in his services.

Big East Confab: Which Big East Football Team Travels The Best?

2012-05-17T15:00:04Z

This week's Big East Confab question dealt with traveling attendance for road teams at Big East football games. It's pretty clear, at least to me, that West Virginia topped this category. Not only at games at Heinz Field, but in bowl games. I was even at a West Virginia-Temple game back in the original days of the Owls being in the Big East when Mountaineers fans went in droves to Philly.

With them out of the league, though, the answer's not so simple.

In a nutshell, I have no clue who it is anymore - here was my answer:

Man, maybe I'm just oblivious, but I've really got no idea. West Virginia was clear and away the best before, but with them out of the conference, I'm not sure. About the only gauge I have is road teams coming into Heinz Field and of the Big East members, I'd probably go with either Cincinnati or Louisville since I've seen a decent amount of fans from those teams in town.

As much as I'd like to say Pitt's in the running, they're not. Pitt fans don't travel well and I'd throw myself in that mix. I don't go to road games and it's clear I'm not the only one. Not that I wouldn't if the right situation arose, but so far, it hasn't. The only team within a reasonable driving distance was West Virginia, but I'm always out of town over Thanksgiving weekend when the game is played.

And as far as bowl games go, Pitt hasn't pulled its weight in recent years. In 2011, fans failed to show up for the BBVA Compass Bowl, and that was again the case this past year. If the Panthers reached the BCS again, attendance would obviously be much better, but they haven't and fan interest has waned.

I wasn't the only one who struggled with the question. Head over to Big East Coast Bias to see the other answers from various blogs.

Be sure to join Cardiac Hill's Facebook page and follow us on Twitter @PittPantherBlog for our regular updates on Pitt football and basketball.

Q&A With Pitt's Lucas Nix

2012-05-17T12:30:03Z

SB Nation's Oakland Raiders blog, Silver and Black Pride, has a Q&A up with recent undrafted free agent, Lucas Nix. He answered some questions after a practice as part of the Raiders' rookie mini camp.

Nix, was expected to be taken in the draft, but that didn't happen. Naturally he was asked about it, but didn't give away much in his response.

Via Silver and Black Pride:

Q: You were projected a mid-round draft pick or better but had knee injury as senior . . . did Raiders get themselves a bargain?
Nix: We'll see as it goes along.

Hard to not see getting Nix as a free agent as being a bit of a steal. And the knee injury he sustained last year probaby didn't help matters all that much. But I can see becoming a contributor in the NFL.

Head over to Silver and Black Pride for the full Q&A.

Be sure to join Cardiac Hill's Facebook page and follow us on Twitter @PittPantherBlog for our regular updates on Pitt football and basketball.

Pitt's Ashton Gibbs Participating In New Jersey Nets' NBA Draft Combine

2012-05-17T01:10:34Z

Last week it was the Los Angeles Lakers giving Ashton Gibbs a look. Next up for the former Pitt guard? The New Jersey Nets.

Gibbs will be participating in the Nets' NBA Draft Combine this weekend. The team will host four groups of players over Saturday and Sunday mornings spaced about an hour and a half apart, so they're not terribly long workouts. Further, each group has 11 players so the Nets aren't getting a great look at any of these guys.

Other players in Gibbs' group include fellow Big East guard Darius Johnson-Odom from Marquette and Penn's Zack Rosen. Additional Big East players in other groups are Marquette's Jae Crowder, Syracuse's Kris Joseph, and Villanova's Maalik Wayns.

The Nets are pretty deep at guard and have lots of younger options, so I don't know that Gibbs fits in there as well as he might with a team like the Lakers in need of a sniper or two. But if he impresses enough at the combine, maybe he'll get called back for an individual workout.

Be sure to join Cardiac Hill's Facebook page and follow us on Twitter @PittPantherBlog for our regular updates on Pitt football and basketball.

ACC Football schedule format released

2012-05-16T20:53:34Z

ACC Football schedule format released

When Pitt joins the ACC next season, they (and the other Coastal schools), will host 4 conference games for all odd-numbered years and get 5 home ACC games for even years. The Atlantic schools will have the reverse of that.

Tino Sunseri Gets Starting Nod; Sun Also Rises

2012-05-16T18:00:22Z

This was about the worst kept secret, but Paul Chryst has officially named Tino Sunseri as his starter. For those holding out hope that Chad Voytik would come in and impress so much this fall that he might be considered (which was always a pipe dream), Chryst appears to have shut down that notion.

In speaking this week, Chryst says Sunseri is his man:

"The biggest thing for quarterbacking is being able to do it and doing it on a consistent level," Chryst said. "That’s your normal progression. He clearly was the best this spring that we had. You’re aware of the history but it doesn’t really matter for us. What do you have right now? It’s our job to coach them and how can you help everyone get better? He’s got a great opportunity. He has played in a lot of games, he does have experience. He’s got room to grow. If he chooses to grow, and I know it’s easier for us to say last year or two years before that doesn’t matter. It matters in the sense that you should learn from all of it, positive or negative. But it doesn’t matter going forward.

Don't get too excited, though. This:

"Right now, if you were to say who gives you the best chance to have success, it would be him. So coach the heck out of him."

Backhand compliment much?

This has been beaten like a drum, but Sunseri really is the team's best option. Neither Trey Anderson nor Mark Myers did anything of note last year when given the opportunity and it sounds like they didn't do enough this spring, either. To me, there was never really much question about Tino starting. But there's a much better question to ask when it comes to Sunseri.

And that is - can he hold onto the job the entire year? Anderson and Myers will no doubt be pushing Sunseri from the start. And while Voytik playing in his first season is probably a bit of a long shot, if things go bad enough ...

I think we can all agree that Sunseri will be better than under Graham's system. He's also a year older (and hopefully wiser) and he also gets his top targets, Devin Street and Mike Shanahan, back. The passing game almost has to be better by default, but the only question is, by how much?

Be sure to join Cardiac Hill's Facebook page and follow us on Twitter @PittPantherBlog for our regular updates on Pitt football and basketball.

Pitt Football Questions Heading Into 2012 ... Continued

2012-05-16T13:28:42Z

Pitt Football Questions Heading Into 2012 ... Continued

Earlier we had a post briefly mentioning some of Pitt's questions heading into the 2012 season. But over at SB Nation Pittsburgh, I took a deeper look at them and added a few. Be sure to head over and take a look.

Questions For Pitt Football Heading Into 2012

2012-05-16T12:00:14Z

Andrea Adelson at ESPN looks into questions and answers for Pitt football heading into 2012. Hard to disagree with any of the questions (Ray Graham's return from injury, new defensive line, and, of course, Tino Sunseri's ability to be better).

She limited the questions to only three, but I'd add a couple more.

I still find Pitt's running back situation to be fascinating. With Graham, big-time freshman recruit Rushel Shell, and the emergence of Isaac Bennett in spring ball, what will Pitt do with all of those guys? I've pushed for the redshirt of Bennett if Graham and Shell can both play, but I don't know that it will happen ... in fact, I'd lean against it, but you never know.

The other question is about head coach Paul Chryst. Chryst, surprisingly, is one of Adelson's answers in that she thinks he's comfortable at Pitt. That may be true, but how he handles his first season as a head coach is certainly a bigger question an answer right now.

Be sure to join Cardiac Hill's Facebook page and follow us on Twitter @PittPantherBlog for our regular updates on Pitt football and basketball.