ESPN College Football

Here's your lunchtime reading ...

• The chaos of conference realignment casts a shadow on this week's conference meetings, Greg Auman writes in the Tampa Bay Times.
• Sixteen Pitt athletes recently spent six days at an orphanage in Haiti, Jerry DiPaola writes in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
• Justin Goodwin is the latest to commit to Rutgers, Mike Vorkunov writes in the (Newark) Star-Ledger.
• Several former UConn players are getting exposure at NFL camps, Desmond Conner writes in the Hartford Courant.
• Recruiting has been off to a slow start for Temple, Keith Pompey writes in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Greetings from the Midwest. Let's see what's happening around the Beast.

• South Florida player Boo Simon quits football after being diagnosed with epilepsy. The Bulls are working at an accelerated pace this spring.
• Pitt's new defense is similar to the one employed by former coach Dave Wannstedt. Panthers RB Isaac Bennett gets a showcase opportunity in practice while Ray Graham is on the mend.
• Tavon Austin's versatility stands out for West Virginia. Donte Campbell could be the Mountaineers' next 1,000-yard receiver.
• Connecticut coach Paul Pasqualoni has no issues with taking transfers, as long as they fit his program.
• Kyle Flood's friends and family members weigh in on the new Rutgers coach.
• Cincinnati coach Butch Jones discusses the second section of spring football.
• Athlon Sports ranks the current and future Big East coaches.
• Louisville offers a defensive back from Florida.

The ACC has announced its future regular-season scheduling formats, which will keep the current divisional alignments the same but eventually include Pittsburgh in the Coastal Division and Syracuse in the Atlantic Division.

The current primary crossover partners will remain with Syracuse and Pitt becoming primary crossover partners with each other.

When Pitt and Syracuse join the ACC (the news release didn't state when that might be), the league will play a nine-game conference schedule. The format will consist of each team playing all six in its division each season, plus its primary crossover partner each year and two rotating opponents from the opposite division. This six-year cycle allows each team to play each divisional opponent and its primary crossover partner six times (three home and three away) while also playing each rotating crossover opponent two times (one home and one away).

Stay tuned for more on this.

Rutgers athletic director Tim Pernetti says he already has a short list of candidates to become the next head coach of the Scarlet Knights.

So what exactly is he looking for?

“I think there are a lot of criteria," he said Thursday. "No. 1, we want the right kind of person. Understanding and being able to have your arms around the culture of the tri-state area I think is critical to being successful at Rutgers. So much of it has been built around being able to recruit on a somewhat regional level, that I think not only having a great understanding, but having really deep and strong relationships in the tri-state area. I think those are two very critical factors in this whole thing.”

Who fits the description? Here are a few possibilities:

Temple coach Steve Addazio. In his first season as the head coach at Temple, Addazio went 9-4 and brought the Owls back to a bowl game. He has ties to the tri-state area, having grown up and coached in Connecticut. He also served as an assistant at Syracuse in the 1990s and he clearly has established ties in the past year in the Pennsylvania area. That state has been a huge recruiting area for Rutgers, particularly given what has happened to Penn State.

Florida International coach Mario Cristobal. One of the brightest up-and-coming coaches in the country, Cristobal has done for FIU what Schiano did for Rutgers. He completely resurrected a program mired in misery, taking it to its first-ever conference title and back-to-back bowl appearances for the first time, too. FIU is obviously a much younger program, but Cristobal has got the coaching and recruiting chops. Plus, he worked under Schiano at Rutgers from 2001-03, so he has a familiar with the recruiting area. Cristobal was also a candidate for the Pitt job before ultimately deciding he wanted to stay in the South Florida area. What could Rutgers say to change his mind?

Notre Dame defensive coordinator Bob Diaco. A defensive mastermind like Schiano (who also served as defensive coordinator this past season), Diaco is from Cedar Grove, N.J., and has some coaching experience in the Big East. He was an assistant at Cincinnati under then-coach Brian Kelly before leaving to join Kelly with the Irish.

With a little less than a week to go before the Big East kicks off bowl season, I figured I would give you some updated ticket sales numbers for each school.

Cincinnati: The Bearcats have moved about 9,000 tickets for their game against Vanderbilt in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl on Dec. 31 in Memphis, Tenn. Doug Mosley, associate athletic director for external and media communications, says: "Sales continue to be steady. Our student trip package did well and our fans have responded generously to the One Team, One Ticket offer, where they purchase tickets for students and spirit groups. Overall, we're very pleased with how UC fans and our community has stepped up to support the Bearcats' trip to the 53rd Annual AutoZone Liberty Bowl."

Louisville: The Cardinals are approaching 10,000 tickets sold for their game against NC State in the Belk Bowl on Dec. 27 in Charlotte, N.C.

Pitt: The Panthers have 2,100 tickets out for their game against SMU in the BBVA Compass Bowl on Jan. 7 in Birmingham, Ala.

Rutgers: The Scarlet Knights have passed the 10,000 ticket mark and counting for their game against Iowa State in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl on Dec. 30 at Yankee Stadium. If you need to be reminded, Syracuse sold around 8,000 tickets for its Pinstripe Bowl appearance last year. Who is New York's team again?

West Virginia: At last check, the Mountaineers had sold a little over 6,000 tickets from their allotment for the Discover Orange Bowl against Clemson on Jan. 4. WVU sports marketing director Matt Wells told the AP last week that the midweek slot had impacted sales because the game was after the holiday break. The Tigers are not burning up ticket sales, either, with about 8,000 sold.

It is important to remember that these numbers only count tickets sold through the university. There are lower-priced options available at other places, and that is a contributing factor in some cases to sluggish sales.

It appears that Arizona State's coaching search will end after 17 days with the hiring of Todd Graham, who coached Pittsburgh for a single season after being hired away from Tulsa in 2010.

Graham went 6-6 at Pittsburgh this year and is 49-29 overall. Graham told his players at Pittsburgh about his departure via text by assistant athletic director/football operations Blair Philbrick, which was first reported by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

"I have resigned my position at Pitt in the best interest of my family to pursue the head-coaching position at Arizona State," Graham said. "Coaching there has always been a dream of ours and we have family there. The timing of the circumstances have prohibited [me] from telling you this directly. I now am on my way to Tempe to continue those discussions. God Bless. Coach Graham."

Graham, who turned 47 on Dec. 5, will replace Dennis Erickson, who will coach the Sun Devils in the Las Vegas Bowl against Boise State on Dec. 22.

Graham is a native of Mesquite, Texas. Other than a stint at East Central University, he was a high school coach until 2000, but his rise through the coaching ranks was quick.

A defensive specialist, he worked under new Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez at West Virginia from 2001-2002. He was the defensive coordinator at Tulsa from 2003-2005. He spent one year as head coach at Rice in 2006, then was named head coach at Tulsa, where he stayed until he was hired at Pitt last year.

Obviously, we'll have more later.

SMU Mustangs (7-5) vs. Pittsburgh Panthers (6-6)

Jan. 7, 1 p.m. ET (ESPN)

SMU take from college football blogger Matt Fortuna: Following a Conference USA West division title, the Mustangs opened this season with a 5-1 record, including an overtime win at TCU. In the season's second half, however, things turned south. SMU lost four of its last six games and two of its final three to finish 7-5. A lot of that falls on the offense, which averaged 33.7 points per game through the season's first half before scoring just 17.7 points per game in its final six games.

Quarterback J.J. McDermott replaced Kyle Padron in a season-opening 46-14 loss at Texas A&M and has started every game since, throwing for 3,182 yards, 16 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. Running back Zach Line eclipsed the 100-yard mark in eight of SMU's first 10 games and led the conference in rushing, but he is out for the remainder of the season with a foot injury. Cole Beasley and Darius Johnson have emerged at receiver, with each just shy of the 1,000-yard mark for the season. Defensively, linebackers Taylor Reed (93 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, three sacks) and Ja'Gared Davis (11 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, two interceptions) lead the way for a Mustangs unit that ranks 37th nationally in total defense.

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Pitt take from Big East blogger Andrea Adelson: Expectations were high for the Panthers this season. First-year coach Todd Graham predicted his team would run a “high-octane” offense, a line he used over and over again to promote his program and the new regime hitting town. To be sure, it was a huge departure from the pro-style, smash-mouth football Pitt has been known to play. Graham says he has no regrets over ratcheting up hopes, even though Pitt failed to resemble anything high or octane. Simply put, he does not have the personnel to run the hurry-up, spread system that ran to perfection in his final season at Tulsa.

Quarterback Tino Sunseri never bought in or adapted to the changes, and that contributed to Pitt giving up 56 sacks this season. Injuries on the offensive line didn’t help, either, as Pitt used myriad different starting lineups to help fill in the gaps. The line wasn’t the only area that was impacted by injuries. The Panthers lost star tailback Ray Graham to a torn ACL against UConn in October and from that point on, it was an even bigger struggle for the offense to do anything with Sunseri behind center.

Pitt needed a 33-20 win over Syracuse in the final game of the season to become bowl eligible, but at least salvaged the season. What the Panthers do have is a much improved defense from Week 1. Defensive end Aaron Donald was a breakout star, with 10 sacks. The pass defense made a huge turnaround. After giving up more than 300 yards in two of the first three games of the season, the most they gave up in the final nine weeks was 271 yards to Rutgers.

Matt Fortuna takes a look at today's matchup between Notre Dame and Pitt.

Penn State and Pittsburgh announced this week that they would resume their once long-running rivalry for at least two years, beginning in 2016. The game is sure to be a hot topic for Pennsylvanians between now and then, and it's a perfect setup for a debate between Big Ten blogger Brian Bennett and Big East blogger Andrea Adelson.

Brian Bennett: Andrea, how is my old conference beat treating you? Good thing they didn't set us up as a blogger-in-waiting thing, because I may have started some rumors about your behavior at casinos.

Anyway, I think we both agree that the Pitt-Penn State game is a good thing for college football. Frankly, I was surprised to see it happen. The Nittany Lions had been holding out since the last game in 2000, wanting at least two out of every three meetings to be played in Beaver Stadium. Since the series was announced, I've heard from several Penn State fans who wonder what their school has to gain by this game. And while it's great for football in the state, I tend to agree that the Nittany Lions don't necessarily need this series.

What has been the reaction from Pitt fans, and who stands to benefit more from this rivalry resumption?

Andrea Adelson: Brian, you were not supposed to mention anything about the casinos! Thanks a lot for ruining my rep three weeks into the job.

As for the Penn State-Pitt game, I think the overwhelming majority of Panthers fans are excited because they never wanted this game to end. They also believe this means there is no way JoePa is coaching the team in 2016 because they are convinced he is the reason the series ended. But even with the excitement, there are those who say it is no big deal because it is just two games.

What do two games against a former rival really mean? In the time since the Penn State series ended, West Virginia has become a much more bitter rival. The "Backyard Brawl" is one of the nastiest rivalries in all of college football. I don't think that changes even though this series resumes. That being said, playing Penn State is extremely important for Pitt. Anytime a Big East team gets an opportunity to play a marquee team from a conference like the Big Ten, the stakes are much higher. Beating Penn State would definitely be a big win for Pitt and the Big East itself. The league can use all the big nonconference wins it can get.

BB: Andrea, we all know JoePa will be coaching for at least 20 more years, even if he's calling plays via Skype by then. Anyway, I agree that a win over Penn State would be big for Pitt and the Big East, potentially. But unless Todd Graham gets the Panthers playing at an elite level, beating Pittsburgh probably won't be considered a marquee victory for the Nittany Lions, while a loss could damage Penn State's reputation and recruiting efforts in Western Pennsylvania.

But you mentioned the West Virginia-Pitt rivalry, and I think that's an important point. Penn State doesn't really have a true annual rivalry game right now. The school still feels like somewhat of an outsider in the Big Ten as that league's far Eastern school. Sure, Syracuse and Temple appear at times on the schedule, but those games simply wouldn't move the needle as much as a duel against the state's other AQ team. College football is at its best when there are good old-fashioned neighborly feuds to follow.

I know Pitt would like this to be an annual home-and-home series (if for no other reason than to guarantee a rare sellout at Heinz Field). Right now, only two games are scheduled. Do you think the two schools should extend this to a yearly date like it used to be?

AA: Absolutely. I think both schools would have something to gain. As you mentioned, Penn State has no true rival and getting Pitt back on the schedule would certainly help. Fans would enjoy watching a game against Pitt, as opposed to the Cupcake U. flavor of the year. What does Penn State really have to lose here? I understand about the extra home dates, but how much money are we really talking about Penn State losing if they go on the road every other year to play Pitt? Florida State and Florida still play each other in a home-and-home series, and they have been able to maintain their strong rivalry and fill in the rest of their home dates without a problem. What does Penn State have to lose with this game, other than an old grudge from JoePa?

BB: Well, Penn State has to consider the very real possibility that the Big Ten will go to nine conference games by 2016. That means there are only three nonconference games available, and the Nittany Lions would want to schedule at least one guarantee game. If the school wants to have another big-name opponent like the current Alabama series, then all of a sudden the schedule becomes both very difficult and perhaps not financially feasible.

Then again, Penn State likes to believe its program is vastly superior to Pitt's. So why not prove it on the field?

The Mike Haywood era at Pittsburgh lasted all of two weeks.


Haywood, who was hired on Dec. 16 from Miami (Ohio) after producing one of the best turnarounds in recent college football history, was fired on Saturday, only hours after he was released from a jail in South Bend, Ind.

Haywood was arrested Friday on a domestic violence charge, which has been upgraded to a felony.

While the episode is an embarrassment for the Panthers, who will have to go back to scratch in their search for Dave Wannstedt's successor, they didn't have a choice.

In a statement released by the school, chancellor Mark Nordenberg said, "head coaches are among the University's most visible representatives and are expected to maintain high standards of personal conduct and to avoid situations that might reflect negatively on the University."

Haywood, a former player and assistant coach at Notre Dame, was arrested after an altercation with a woman who is the mother of his child. Pittsburgh can't have its new head coach sitting in a jail cell while other teams are playing bowl games on New Year's Day.

By keeping Haywood, Pittsburgh also would have sent the wrong message to its players. On Sept. 23, Pittsburgh dismissed freshman defensive back Jeff Knox from the team after he was arrested for assaulting a woman who had told him she was pregnant.

Haywood's firing is unfortunate. One of the brightest young coaches in the sport, he earned his way to a job at a BCS school by leading the RedHawks to a 9-4 record and a Mid-American Conference championship this season. A former assistant coach under Nick Saban at LSU, Haywood might have been capable of turning Pittsburgh into a consistent winner.

Now we might never know what kind of head coach he could be.

Big East blogger Brian Bennett looks at how Pitt will matchup with Kentucky’s Randall Cobb in the BBVA Compass Bowl.

Since we're going in reverse alphabetical order for this spring superlatives series, Rutgers should be up now. But there has been a lot of Scarlet Knights' content on here of late, so I'm going to flip flop and have Pittsburgh go today. Let's look at where the Panthers are strongest and weakest among position groups heading into spring practices:

Strongest position: Defensive end

Key returnees: Greg Romeus (eight sacks, 11.5 tackles for loss) and Jabaal Sheard (five sacks, 10.5 tackles for loss).

Key departures: None.

The skinny: Pitt has several strong groups, not least of which is running back with the return of Big East offensive player of the year Dion Lewis, plus Ray Graham and Henry Hynoski. But I'll give the slight nod to defensive end, where Big East co-defensive player of the year Romeus is back for his senior year, along with classmate and fellow standout Sheard. They give Pitt the best pair of ends in the league, and they're backed up by promising youngsters Shayne Hale and Brandon Lindsey.

Weakest position: Cornerback

Key returnees: Ricky Gary (16 tackles, one interception), Antwuan Reed (13 tackles, one interception)

Key departures: Aaron Berry, Jovani Chappell.

The skinny: Both starting corners from a year ago have moved on, and it wasn't exactly a position of great strength beforehand. Gary and Reed have playing experience, with Gary starting the final five games of '08 and once last season. But Pitt is counting on junior college transfer and midyear enrollee Saheed Imoru to claim one of the starting spots. If Imoru lives up to his billing, this could turn out just fine. If not, the Panthers may have to scramble to find answers in their pass defense.

It was a relatively stress-free signing day for Dave Wannstedt and his staff.

Pitt, which had wrapped up most of its 2010 recruiting weeks ago, signed all 24 of its commitments today, the school announced.

"We had an outstanding season on the field this fall and that momentum carried over to our coaches’ recruiting efforts,” Wannstedt said. “Prospects are recognizing the national emergence of our program and they want to be part of that."

Pitt will likely be ranked at or near the top of the class rankings in the Big East. Some of the headliners include the Pennsylvania all-staters like defensive lineman Aaron Donald, quarterback Anthony Gonzalez and receiver Kevin Weatherspoon, plus top New Jersey prospect and defensive lineman T.J. Clemmings, as well as prep school standout Todd Thomas.

1. Cincinnati (10-0, 6-0 Big East): The Bearcats have been No. 1 in these rankings ever since Labor Day and did nothing on their bye week to change that status.

2. Pittsburgh (9-1, 5-0): The Panthers didn't play last week. They could take this week off if they wanted to and still play for the Big East title on Dec. 5.

3. West Virginia (7-3, 3-2): The Mountaineers -- yawn -- were off last week, too. But they move up after the Rutgers fiasco. A 9-3 finish with a win over Pitt would look a lot better than 8-4 or 7-5 at this point.

4. UConn (5-5, 1-4): The Huskies have only one league win, but nobody would want to play them at this point. The oft-quoted statistic is that UConn's five losses came by a total of 15 points; three of its wins came by a total of 18 points.

T-5. Rutgers (7-3, 2-3): What exactly was that on Saturday, Scarlet Knights? You had worked so hard to establish a small semblance of credibility, which is now gone after an 18-point loss at Syracuse.

T-5. South Florida (7-3, 3-3): Yes, Rutgers thrashed South Florida 31-0 less than two weeks ago. But these two teams seem very similar, in that you'd trust them at home but would never bank on them beating a good team on the road.

7. Louisville (4-7, 1-5): One thing you can say for the Cardinals this year: they haven't been truly blown out of any game except those against Cincinnati and Pitt, who are both in the Top 10. It's not enough to save Steve Kragthorpe's job, however.

8. Syracuse (4-7, 1-5): I thought the ceiling for this team at the beginning of the season was five wins. The Orange are one upset of UConn away from bumping their heads on that.

Pitt got the big win it needed, both for its résumé and possibly for the Big East.

The Panthers beat Notre Dame 27-22, though they had to hold on late after grabbing a 27-9 lead. They also benefited from a controversial call, the second time in two days a Top 10 Big East team got a big break.

Officials ruled after replay that Jimmy Clausen fumbled even though it looked like his arm was going forward. The Irish might have been able to drive down for a go-ahead score if it were an incompletion, though they were facing a big down-and-distance hole. You can bet that call will be debated, as was Cincinnati's first-half touchdown on Friday night.

Still, Pitt proved its defense is for real, and Jonathan Baldwin and Dion Lewis showed why they are budding superstars. The Panthers now get a week off before the Backyard Brawl, a game that doesn't matter in the Big East race. And then Dec. 5, they'll face Cincinnati in what could be one of the biggest league games in a long, long time.

And by beating Notre Dame, Pitt may have knocked the Irish one step closer from Gator Bowl elimination. If UConn can pull off the same feat next week in South Bend, Notre Dame would have to win at Stanford in the finale to avoid going 6-6, which would make them ineligible for the Big East slot in the Gator.