Pitt football coach Dave Wannstedt has been a bit tense this week, but when one thinks about it that’s not difficult to understand.
Wannstedt knows that despite guiding No. 14 Pitt to the program’s best start since 1982, the Panthers basically haven’t accomplished anything.
Sure, they’re 7-1 overall with a disheartening come-from-ahead loss at North Carolina State the only blemish, but Pitt also is 4-0 in the Big East.
So, the conference title is still within reach with four games remaining, including one with Syracuse (3-5, 0-3) today at noon at Heinz Field.

Here’s what losing DeJuan Blair, Sam Young and Levance Fields means: Pittsburgh, one of the eight best teams in the country last season, is picked ninth in the Big East Conference coaches preseason poll.

JoePa vs. Jim Tressel. Daryll Clark vs. Terrelle Pryor. The best defense in the Big Ten against the league’s second-best unit.

No sooner had Ohio State and Penn State wrapped up their latest victories than both were looking ahead to their critical tangle at Beaver Stadium on Saturday.
“The crowd is going to be against us, especially against me,” Buckeyes quarterback Terrelle Pryor said of a showdown with Big Ten title implications. “But it really doesn’t matter. I got my family with me, all 75 (teammates) that travel, and we’re going to be ready to rock. I can’t wait.”

Evan Royster rushed for 118 yards, including a 69-yard touchdown during Penn State’s fourth-quarter surge, and the 12th-ranked Nittany Lions blanked Northwestern in the second half of a 34-13 victory Saturday.

Quarterback Zach Boedicker scored two first quarter touchdowns to get Gannon off to a quick start, and the Golden Knights held IUP to its lowest offensive output in 28 years in a 29-3 victory over the Crimson Hawks Saturday at Miller Stadium.

Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald may tweet and text and be up on all the ways of the world. Yet, he still has that old-school approach to the game he loves.
There’s the game face, the crew cut and the respect for those who’ve been coaching long before his short career began.
Like Joe Paterno.
“Coach Paterno is college football,” Fitzgerald said as his Wildcats got ready to meet the 12th-ranked Nittany Lions and their legendary coach here today.