After Pittsburgh's defensive meltdown last week, I decided to glance at their schedule and try to decide who they really are:  a good team screwed up by Dave Wannstedt's defensive playcalling, or a not so good team screwed up by...well, you get the drill.  Let's look:

L - Bowling Green, 27-17.  Bowling Green is not a terrible MAC team, and I don't think this loss is really that inexplicable.  They only got destroyed by Minnesota, who is better than advertised by quite a bit this year, and held Boise State to 20 points.

W - Buffalo, 27-16.  Buffalo is a better MAC team.  So far Pitt is .500 in MAC East play.  I thought only Big Ten schools had schedules like this.

W - Iowa, 21-20.  Speaking of Big Ten schools, Pitt squeaks this one out over a very middle-of-the-road one.

W - Syracuse, 34-24.  I find this one interesting.  Syracuse led through three quarters, but then Pitt woke up and reeled off three straight scores to pull away.  FWIW, the only other teams Syracuse has hung 20 on are Akron and Northeastern.

W - South Florida, 26-21.  Note that the final score is due to a failed 2 pt conversion attempt.  This is the win Pitt hangs their hat on; the Bulls were ranked #10 that week.  And the only reasons I can see for that are carryover from the season before and beating an overrated Kansas team.  I mean, South Florida is a solid team, hard to say how solid, but not #10 caliber.

W - Navy, 42-21.  Maybe this is the win Pitt hangs their hat on?  Navy's got a nice little team again this year, beat Wake Forest, losing to Ball State is no crime...losing to Duke isn't as bad as in years past...  Anyway, Pitt obviously can deal with the option; bully for them.  And then...

L - Rutgers, 54-34.  Now, this is obviously something of a hard-luck Rutgers team, a throwback to yesteryear, but still, Schiano isn't a bad coach.  I'm pulling for them to dash off four straight and go to another bowl, but we'll see.

So let's see...their big wins are against Navy and South Florida, and let's throw in Iowa.  The Bulls are running for 170 a game, 4.2 a carry; Iowa is going 190 yards per game each way--so maybe the theme is Pitt can stop the run enough to outduel rushing teams?  But that's not the game we'll be bringing.  Obviously Rutgers aired it out, and we have more talent than Rutgers this year.  Bowling Green...hey, check it out, 100 yards a game rushing and 220 in the air, peas in a pod with Rutgers.  So let's just say I'm more hopeful than I was about an Irish victory on Saturday.  Here's to Jimmy with five touchdowns to four different receivers and a burst of confidence heading into Boston College...