The Pittsburgh Football Show, Episode 1, Sept. 11, 2026

0:00Hey folks, good morning and welcome to something completely new. I am very, very proud to present the first episode of the Pittsburgh football show. You know, we're going to go with the because we can't just give things like that to Ohio. We can be pretentious about our articles as well. And I am so excited to bring you guys this show. I have been thinking about this and working about on this for so long. And last week we were all set to debut this show. And then, well, Mother Nature had some other plans as I did not have any electricity last Friday. And well, you do sort of need that to do this. But we are going to talk on this show about the Pittsburgh Steelers. Of course, you spend most of your time interacting with me on this platform or another platform talking about the Pittsburgh Steelers. But we're going to go way beyond that as well. We're going to talk College Football. We're talking a little Penn State, a little West Virginia. Maybe we'll talk about Ohio State.

1:00I don't know. We'll see how they do this Saturday. We are going to talk about some high school football. We're going to bring in some guests, some players involved in some of my pals from the media. Look at this rundown over here on the right hand side. We've got Donnie Chedrick from 937, the fan and KDK radio. We've got Central Catholic Cornerback and West Virginia Commits, Zachary Gleason. We've got Nick Fairboff and PennLive.com. We've got Pit Cornerback, Rashon Murray. It was an Obamac grad. We've got Brendan Howe from Pittsburgh Sports Now and Steelers Now. I'm going to talk about the Pit Panther some more. We've got Zachary Smith in his six pack of standalone topics. We've got Chris Carter, the man in the myth of legend Carter critiques from the Post Gazette and from Laugh Down stairs. He's going to talk with me about our College Football Poles, which both he and I are doing for the first time this year. We've got Bob Karnarski, Burke Betts, talking some gambling. We've got Jordan Hill from Rotoball, we're talking about fantasy football. We've got Joe Smeltzer from Nittany Sports Now, talking about Penn State, Mike Astie from

2:03Lester, Virginia Sports Now. And the grand finale is going to be me and Joe, Zach Hill Grove at the end of the show, three hours of football talk right here from Pittsburgh as we get you through your Friday morning through what is going to be a glorious weekend of football. We've got two of College Football, a full slate of games and it looks like some fantastic ones. And then we've got week one of the NFL season, which I mean, for me is one of the best weekends of the year in sports. It's right up there with, you know, the first weekend of March Madness in terms of the level of excitement of the sporting community for this week is off the charts. And I really, really am excited to take in some of those scenes. Of course, I will be not like you guys flipping through Red Zone. I'll be in the press box at Accresure Stadium, one PM kickoff for Steelers Falcons. And so we are going to talk about that, especially when we get Nicky and here later in the nine o'clock hour. But I, you know, I've been so excited about the show and I've been working so hard on

3:07this show for a very long time. And the first segment of this show every week is going to be a monologue that is going to sort of replace what I normally do on Steelers Morning Rush. I'm Monday through Friday. If you aren't familiar with that show, somehow you found this one without finding that one here on the YouTube platform. You can find and on audio platforms, you can find it every weekday. And I think, you know, I've been so excited, so working, working this so long. And I did not have a monologue written. I don't normally write my monologues, but I didn't have a monologue written. And then I started to get into it last week. And I sort of outlined some things about what I wanted to talk about. And then I moved things forward to this week. And I realized that last week's cancellation meant that this show is debuting on the 2050 anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks. And I thought, man, you can't just let that pass. You have to talk about that.

4:09One of the defining moments of my lifetime, certainly, and probably in our entire countries. And I wanted to tie in the things I had written for last week with today's moment. Because for me, I think one of the things that I think about on September 11th is not just the horrifying scenes that we watched unfold in New York and Washington, DC and in Somerset County. But also the way that we as Americans responded to those acts. And I do think there was a togetherness, a sense of community in some of those moments. I think about things like the New York City fireman getting a standing ovation at PNC Park in the first baseball game back there after the attacks. I think about things like President Bush throwing out that first pitch in New York.

5:13For me, one of the greatest sporting moments of my lifetime is the 60-mile-an-hour pitch thrown by an aging man wearing a bulletproof vest. And I think the reaction that we had as a country, the togetherness that we felt in those moments is something that we can look at as this is what sports does for us as a community and a society. It's provide us this platform that is greater than the individual sports. And I think that's what's so special about sports. It is a way that brings us together, even though we might want to fight one another sometimes over those sports. And we're going to argue about sports all the time and here on this show too. But it is, I think, at its core community building. And I think that's what we love about it. And that's why I think it's so special. And I think for me, when I think back, those are the moments that really stand out to me

6:16in my memory. And so I know that Smitty and I on afternoon drive, we have a story time segment where I talk about things that happened a long time ago because Smitty is a lot younger than me and some of our audiences more his age and they're probably not aware of things that happened back in my day, which I'm not that old. I shouldn't have it back in my day. But it seems that I do. And for a lot of people, September 11th is back in my day. And I hope that young people who aren't familiar with the events of the day who are going to spend the day learning about or being reminded of things that happened. I hope you get some of this stuff that I'm talking about too because there were some of those moments that to me, I'm really most proud of as Americans the way we responded to some of those things. Certainly, we haven't gotten everything right. But when I think about what's happened more recently, you know, I think people that try to attack our country now, they do it in insidious ways to divide us.

7:20That was a horrific attack, but it also united us. And I think sports can be a vehicle for that. The other thing that most of this monologue was written about is the football town documentary that was produced by NFL films ahead of the draft. He was playing at the Carnegie Science Center. It's now over on the Steelers YouTube channel. And at 1205, if you still haven't gotten your football fix, go over there and watch it because it's fantastic. It's narrated by Pat McAfee and he does a phenomenal job. And it also just does a phenomenal job of capturing what football means in Pittsburgh. I think that football and Pittsburgh are so intrinsically linked. I fight with fans who maybe care a little bit more about the other two pro sports teams in Pittsburgh than the Steelers all the time. And I'm sorry, but this is a football town. It is deep in our roots and our culture down to the very first professional football player

8:24ever from the north side of Pittsburgh. This is a city that is about football and football is a sport that's about Pittsburgh in a way that I'm not sure will ever change. Certainly I'm not expecting you to in our lifetimes. And I think we spend a lot of time and a lot of energy talking about the Pittsburgh Steelers and they deserve it. They are the best franchise in the Super Bowl. Aira, no one's one more in the regular season, no one's one more. Super bowls, I think that says most of it. They also generally are franchise that has done things the right way. And that you all as fans and as members of this community should be proud of. They are an organization that you should be proud of the way they run things, the way they do things, the respect they have around the league and the sporting community at large is significant. And I think that does build that community.

9:25If you are from Pittsburgh, you're going to wear your black and gold on your sleeve. You know, I think that's probably going to be pretty hard for the Cleveland Browns fans right now. And it's not just about the success of the teams. It's about that feeling that you are a part of this. They are a part of you. And that is I think what we have in Pittsburgh, but it goes way beyond the Steelers. And when people tell me, oh man, if the Pirates could just win a couple more games, this would be a baseball time. I'm like, nope. And I love the Pirates and I love baseball. I played baseball as a kid. I think everybody did. But look at the participation and the in the attention that football at this, that all levels in this town gets. There are going to be more people at some high school games tonight than there were at some pirate games over the course of the season. What other town in America can you say that about? High school football is big in other places, certainly. But we are not a big place.

10:26It's a town of 2 million people and we care a lot about football all the way. The pit panthers who have had one really, really good season, basically in my lifetime, are going to put 50,000 people in the stands tomorrow afternoon and an extra stadium. And they're going to do that while a third of the area roots for Penn State and is going to help fill happy valley next week with 108. Actually, I'm not sure what the new capacity is. Somebody update me on that. We'll talk to Smeltz about it a little bit later. But the idea that this little town, the 28th largest city in America, punches so far above its weight as we watch Larry Fitzgerald going into the Hall of Fame this year. Aaron Donald making an incredible comeback. The number of Hall of Famers, the number of players at all levels, the number of coaches that come from this area. Football in Pittsburgh goes down to the roots and I want to celebrate all of it.

11:28And so we're going to talk high school football in the show with Donnie coming up next and with Zachary Gleason. We're going to talk college football. We're going to talk about pit Penn State, West Virginia every week. We'll talk about the national scene in college football. We'll talk about the Steelers. We'll talk about the national scene around the NFL as well. I'm super excited to bring you guys this show each and every week. I worked really hard about it. And there is going to be an opportunity for you all because the show is live. There's going to be an opportunity for you. Now you look, there's a lot of guests here. This is packed full. You can't get more than that in the three hours that we have. I know I tried and honestly I want to get some more in. There is going to be time for some audience participation here. Very specifically the end of the show with Jack Hillgrove. There's going to be time for some questions and they're going to be pretty rapid fire. Since we're going to have three hours with the comments built up and what is going to be about a 15 minute segment with Jack who will be on the south side for this.

12:31So I'm excited about that. Should be pretty fun. So you know, you guys can get in here too. Leave your questions, leave your comments. Let me know also just in general. What you want to see what I might not have thought of, what I might not have for you that you want because this is going to be your show as much as mine. The only reason I feel like still is afternoon drive with me and Smitty has been such a success is that we have the participation, the inclusion and the love of the audience and it doesn't go anywhere without that. So I hope you guys can be a big part of this show as well. I'm really looking forward to it. We are right now streaming live on YouTube, Facebook and on X. That'll probably be the game plan every week. And then after the show is complete, I will upload some of the individual segments talking about the Steelers, talking about Pitt, talking about Penn State, talking about West Virginia to the individual YouTube channels that we have for those shows. And of course, I can't not talk about our companies.

13:32Steelersnow.com, Pittsburgh Sports Now, NITNI Sports Now, West Virginia Sports Now. We are doing it like nobody else is in terms of covering football in this area. We devote more resources to the sport from the bottom up than anybody else does. We are the only Pittsburgh outlet that has a full-time Western junior writer, a full-time Penn State writer, a full-time Pitt writer, full-time Steelers writer, not to mention a staff of about 20 that is mostly just covering football. Obviously, we do cover the other college sports, but we are all about football. We're doing it at all levels and like nobody else is. And I really hope that we can use this show to combine those efforts and make it sort of like an Avengers situation where we get the whole gang in here, talking football every week. Again, really excited to keep doing this with you. Let me know what you guys think. Up first, we have the May of the Myth of Legends, Donnie football, talking Whipioe tonight,

14:36a Pittsburgh Central Catholic, Pine Richland in week two. We are moving things along here with our delay, but still very excited. First episode of the Pittsburgh football show, and join us in the 1-0-5. The man in the middle of the level, Donnie football, Donnie Chedrick, 97-7-7-7, a man who I'm sure are much like me. You are most familiar with Donnie's take-son. And Elwin, that would spend most of our day day off side by, but Donnie's guy who's football, no, no, no, no, no, no. But he also is on the side for the KTA high school football game the week every week. And so we're talking Whipioe ball here with Donnie every Friday morning. Donnie, welcome. Hey, Elwin. Hopefully this goes better than the first time we tried it. Unfortunately, a little bit of a delay start because of the massive storms in the area last week. But excited. I'm ready to go. Yeah, I got pretty hard here in our run. And you're hometown of Greensburg also.

15:39Have they finished failing out off the field? Is it fine when you're right? So anybody that's from Greenburg area, I think they know that even though Off the Field is where the high school team plays, anybody out there knows about Lynchfield, which is like the park, the city park that has swimming pool, whatever, a bunch of fields. I've never seen a place flood worse than that. Like I bet every field was just under water entirely. It's normally pretty bad down there. This is a football show, but the ice rink was under water. To the head, like several feet of water inside the ice rink. Yeah, that doesn't surprise me at all. Crazy. But yeah, I mean, hey, if people don't know, Greensburg Salem alum and a pretty good ball player in his day, Donnie was also played at the D3 level in college. But we're in talk high school ball. And boy, did you have a great game last week? A key sport at Montor.

16:40We did get to talk about it even though the people didn't get to hear us talking about it. Thought that might be a pretty good game that turned out to be. What did you see from that game? And I think especially the person that people want to hear about is, come on spell from a key sport, the five star and probably the best player in Wippieville going into this season. Yeah, so what I found interesting there, Alan, in what was a Montor win and they ended up winning by two scores in the end. But it was a three score, three point McKeesport lead going into the locker room. Something that I did notice, and we noticed on our broadcast, that in the second half, especially, Kim on spell was either undergoing some issues with cramping or whatever it may have been. It was a warm night. It's early in the season. That does happen. But there were some real key points in that game where he was not out on the field. And you could just tell that that had McKeesport all out of sorts. And Montor took full advantage to the credit of the Spartans.

17:44They were able to combat really the other 10 or 11 guys if spell wasn't on the field. And they shut out the Tigers in the second half. They scored a couple of touchdowns up their own. And they won the football game 28-17. I didn't really see it coming because in the first half, we saw just what Kim on spell was all about a couple of long touchdowns. But nothing for the Tigers in the second half. A really fun game, though. Yeah, and Montor for me is a team when you look at the landscape of Wipio football, it's on the rise. That's a program that hasn't traditionally been one of the powerhouses. But I think Brandon Bennett, the quarterback, and also played really well on defense in that game. He's a real guy that you can follow into battle, I think. And Archie Collins, son of the Pit Defensive Coordinator,

18:44a really, really high level division one prospect in an underclassmen. At that, I think he's only a sophomore. I think that's a team that people need to watch out for. Not just this year, but going forward. Yeah, I was really impressed by that Montor squad under Lou Serro, who is a long time head coach in Western PA. If you've been around football in the Wipio, you know who that guy is. Brandon Bennett, three interceptions last week against a team that doesn't throw the football a whole lot. That's pretty impressive. He has five on the season in two games. And you said at Archie Collins, he has D1 athleticism in his blood. He has shown it a ton. And they have a lot of young players, as you alluded to. So not only do I think Montor could be a player, I think Montor could be a champion if all of the stars align. This obviously, you know, a slow start to the season

19:46or whatever is not going to derail anything for Kimon Spell. But McKee Sport is a proud program. Been a really good team for a long time. That's going through a ton of adversity in terms of the, you know, changing over the coaching staff this off season. Where do you feel like the Tigers stand right now after to me a pretty surprising loss? Well, you could notice if you were taking in that game, it was pretty easy to notice that they didn't have like an official head coach until a month or so ago. Whenever all that dust settled because of everything that took place with former head coach Matt Miller and, you know, the ongoing saga that was during the off season because when Spell wasn't in the game, they, I hate to say because it's high school kids, but they just looked clueless. You know, they, they, they were very sloppy, disorganized. There were just common plays again and again,

20:46where they didn't know who was supposed to be on the field. You get that early in the season with high school teams. I mean, you get it with, with high school and even sometimes pro teams. We saw last night the Patriots of the sea ox. Right. But you could tell a little bit more, I think, because they didn't have that cohesion that you would normally have if there was a quick coaching change or, you know, just the same coaching staff altogether. Let's, let's turn the page to this Friday night's game because this is a really fun one. You've got Pine Richland at Central Catholic. And I think this is the first time in a very long time. You can write down at Central Catholic and it actually means at Central Catholic. Now, they're not playing on campus in Oakland, but Central Catholic that they have a new home field, US Steel Community Field in Hazelwood, brand new facility, built in partnership with the Pittsburgh Steelers,

21:46officially opened over the weekend of the NFL draft. The spring I was there to check it out. It's absolutely wonderful, a real home for the Vikings, which have been one of the best teams in all of Whipiole for decades, despite being, well, Vikings are nomads. So I guess it makes sense in that regard, but without a real home field, that should be a real fun one in Hazelwood tonight. Yeah, I'm excited to check the place out. I'm excited to, you know, see this stadium for the first time. It's always cool when you get to go to a new venue, you know, and even at the high school level, I think it's absolutely true. A little bad at bonus. It's one of the shorter drives for me. It's only like 10 to 15 minutes from my front door. So I never complain about that, but it's going to be a star stud and matchup. And I expect that place to be jam packed, no matter what the capacity level is. Yeah, I was talking to some guys in the Steelers locker room

22:47who are supposed to be making appearance. So I want to check that out. That's how you know it's a big ticket right there. And we could spend the entirety of this three-hour show talking about the power five prospects on the central Catholic team because that's about how deep they roll. But I want to talk about the offensive line because I think in terms of a five-man unit, this has the opportunity to be one of the best in the history of the WIPU. Yeah, I mean, you just have big name after big name up there. Now, they are without one of those guys. John Sassick suffered an injury on one of the first days of camp. So unfortunately, he is down for what we were told is the entire season. But you think of a player like Jimmy K. Liss up front. He's going to be the big dog now of that group. But it was a really cool visual every time we saw them last year because you just had two tackles that were 6'6, 6'7,

23:50you know, working inside like every guy, the shortest offensive line and I think was 6'3 or 6'4. I mean, there is the legit argument to be made that maybe outside of the Steelers and the Eagles, they have the best offensive line in the state of Pennsylvania. And yes, I'm including Pitten Penn State in that because there are guys in that offensive line that will play at bigger programs, more prestigious programs. So there's the argument there that they obtain maybe the third best offensive line in the entire state of Pennsylvania. Yes, Sassick is a Penn State commit. James Halter going to Notre Dame and Kayla's going to Ohio State. So yeah, I mean, you've got that's about as good as it gets right there. In terms of guys going to the next level, I don't know that that Pine Richland has the guns to match up

24:51in this game to be perfectly honest. This feels like the talent is lopsided. But I think the Rams do have something that maybe even central doesn't and that's a pretty dynamic quarterback. Ubie Strader, who is the younger brother of Pitt Defensive Back, Rayon, he's a dude at 2027. So he's a senior. I think he's got some juice there at the quarterback position. But it may be a lot of hero ball if he's going to make a game of this. Yeah, and we've seen him really since he was a freshman. He came onto the scene early. He has won plenty of games. He has won some really big games, some championships in the district for Pine Richland and Coach LaDonne Squad. But he's facing a massive challenge just because you know the talent that is all over that field for central Catholic. Not that Pine Richland is lacking, you know, talent on their end. But when it just comes down to star for star, you make the fair point,

25:55Alan. I don't think they quite stack up. I mean, you got Ubie Strader. You have Khalil Taylor, some other talented kids on that Pine Richland squad. But it's just overwhelming when it comes to central Catholic. All we did was talk about their offensive line. And we mentioned Ohio State Notre Dame in Penn State. And it was just the offensive line. And I got plenty of others too. It's not like that's the whole thing. And in fact, we are going to just after this talk to Zachary Gleason, the cornerback who's going to West Virginia, another very good athlete. They're just chock full of them. Like I said, it would be a full show to just talk about that. If Pine Richland is, and I think it's fair to say would be an upset, if Pine Richland is able to come up with an upset, how does that game go in your mind? How are they able to do it? We have seen the central team, which is very talented over the last few years. It's not like the one-ever game that they have been beaten. How does it happen? You mentioned Hero Ball for Ubie Strader.

26:55It would have to be some of that. It would have to be Khalil Taylor having a monster game too, where I think they could possibly get central Catholic a little bit as if Owen Haric, who is another D1 prospect, the quarterback for central, if he puts the football in harm's way, if he is pressured, if he's uncomfortable, I think that's about the only way that Pine Richland could pull it off. And I'm not saying it is impossible. And I don't want to make Owen Haric sound like the weak link of the offense. I mean, he's a Division I recruit at quarterback for crying out loud. But that's about the only way I think they get it done. Because when you look at the central backfield, Roman Thompson is a remarkable player. He's been so fun to watch the last few years. Chris Black, I think, is one of the best players in the entire whipy old that not enough people talk about. He really underrated. So I think getting to Owen Haric and causing the quarterback to make mistakes

27:57is the way that Pine Richland could get it done. Absolutely. The last thing I want to touch on here, central we did talk about is the elephant in the room when it comes to whipy old football. They have been absolutely dominant. And now with a true home field to have home field advantage, I think it's reasonable to expect them to be even a little bit better. I mean, I know that sounds hard to do. Is there a point where you feel like central Catholics dominance takes away from the rest of whipy old football? And is there or should there be anything that anyone can do about it? Taking it away from the rest of the whipy old, you know, all six classes. I don't know if I would say that. But unfortunately, I think it has made the classification of 6A uncompetitive. I mean, you know, because outside of central, nobody can touch them.

28:58I mean, we've even seen North Allegheny in the last couple of years. They will, you know, kind of take care of everybody else, you know, whether it be Seneca Valley, Canon Mac, you know, whoever else, they have to worry about. Then they reach central and they get bullied in the championship game. We've seen it for the last couple of seasons. Anybody who steps in the way of central Catholic gets wiped away. So I feel like the whipy old class 6A level has fallen victim to that. Because it's turning into the central Catholic invitation. You know, who's playing for second? Yeah, I wonder if the six classes itself is part of the issue there. Because I mean, I don't even think the rest of the 6A teams outside of maybe NA are among the whipy old's best. I mean, I think central will get as good of a game out of Pine Richland as they do anybody else. And that's probably part of the issue there. Yeah, I absolutely agree with that. I mean, we saw it last year, in fact, we had the games where Pine Richland

30:01played central Catholic and then we had Pine Richland against North Allegheny and we had central Catholic against North Allegheny. So we kind of saw all of them play each other and conservatively North Allegheny, let's just say they were in third place there. We saw competitive games from... We saw a competitive game between central Catholic and Pine Richland. The games that included North Allegheny, I would not put under that category. Well, Donnie, I think everybody knows where they can find you during the week, in fact, just after this show. You'll be on with Joe and Midday on 937 The Fan. But let her know where they can find that game of the week because that's over on KDKA and you got to... You know, it's with the dial if you're one of us old school people that still listens to the radio on the radio and let her know where they can find it streaming as well. Yeah, that's right. So it is KDKA AM, so that's 1020. There is also an FM signal at 100.1.

31:02You can find it on the Odyssey app, AUDACY. Again, just search KDKA 1020 or 100.1 FM KDKA and you'll find it there. The game of the week coverage pregame starts at 6 every single Friday night and then kick off almost always at 7 p.m. Also follow the KDKA radio social pages. We do a lot of good content stuff there, whether it's player of the game interviews. They have me try food at all the concession stands. I know you'd like that one Allen. So some really good content on our social pages as well. You have to see if that new stadium has any good concessions. We need a report on that next. I'm looking forward to that. All right, that's Donnie football. You don't well go check out the Whip Youll Game of the Week central and kind of you can get a ticket. I'd go, but if not, go check out on the radio. Because that might be a tough ticket to get at this point. We're going to keep things rolling here on the first official episode of the Pittsburgh football show, More to Come,

32:03as we talk about pit Steelers. Get a little Penn State and West Virginia later on. Stay tuned. And we're back and thank you so much Donnie for jumping in there and joining me. And we're going to keep things rolling. We're actually going to keep things rolling talking about central Catholic is right now, central Catholic corner back and WVU commit Zachary Gleason. Joining the show and talking about that first game, that first home game for central Catholic at US Steel Community Field tonight. süstah. Where's the sum as regards regulation and the presentime maximum Block use of wspiока

33:04We came on. We got that done. Our team can break right. Has it all set up for us to take it all? How fun is this going to be the first time in the game? That's a real good game. That's going to be amazing. Everyone out here versus, you know, Pine Ridge, that's going to be a great game. It's going to be great. When it comes to season three, you get a team coming in with Andrew Jersey. How do you prefer that game? It's sort of one off, but you have to have your team win it. What's going on in that one? I mean, coming off of last year's losing championship, we came out hungry, ready-winged, it's a win-win, it's a great game. We treat this like every game, you know, it's just another team. The English was a good game. We just brought that player, but that's played together. Really played one in one, as a brother, as we are. When you're playing Pine Ridge, you're playing Pine Ridge on North-East. You're playing guys that you know for the most part.

34:04You train with them sometimes, you may seem in 7 on 7 over the summer. When you get a team coming in from out of state, you sort of feel like, okay, this one is just us against them. We've got to beat these guys. We just show what Pittsburgh is all about. Yeah, I'm just saying, we're trying to represent for Central Catholic, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, you know, trying to put them on for the whole city, and I feel like we did that. You guys have a very talented team. The Central Catholic usually does. There's a bunch of you guys going to the next level. You talked about losing in that state championship game last year. Is that the thing? Do you feel like that's where this team needs to be headed? Yeah, I feel like, you know, after losing back to back in your city championship. I mean, that's what it means everything to me. And I'm going to do everything in my power, and the whole team is going to have their power, and get back there and finish it. What's the difference for you, maybe when you're at camp, for practice, and having so many good teammates? How do you feel like it makes you all better than you might have been individually? I mean, we all know that we have a lot of talent on the team.

35:04I mean, everyone sees that, but it just comes down to how hard are we going to push each other? How hard are we going to practice? Because the way we practice and push each other on the field, that's the way we're going to play. And that's how we approach every week of practice in every game. What has you been trying to work on with your games, specifically the soft season coming into your last year, Fyskall Football? Honestly, I worked on everything. You know, me and my teammates, you know, Roman Thompson, great player. We wake up, you know, five a.m. Go work out with four school, work out at four school, like three times a day, and it's really just putting everything, doing everything in all seasons when the season comes, everything just comes together. So I wasn't really working on one specific thing, but I mean, way lifting to speed, to DB drills, to just try and just better my whole entire play style. What do you think of your strengths as a DB, and what do you feel like are areas that you can improve on? I think improve on everything, first of all, you know, you're never good enough. You know, you always can get better, and there's always room for improvement. I feel like I have a lot of strength. You know, my speed, I'm really blazing corner. I can run. You know, I can run with any receiver on the field. I'm really good press corner, zone corner,

36:05have great vision, good reach, good size, and I feel like I'm just one of the better corners that you know, just fit the description. I can put anywhere on the field in the secondary. Tell me about the recruiting process for you. You had some twists and turns, and I'm glad I was there. How did that go down? So my recruiting process started early. You know, I got to pay it off as a freshman at CAM, and then I started just being rolling from there. I've been hungry, and I finished like 32 offers, but I was originally committed to Penn State. And then West Virginia kept knocking on the door, kept pushing, and I fell in love with the program, fell in love with the coaches, fell in love with the atmosphere. It's really close to home. And, you know, I just felt like West Virginia is where I need to be, and that's where I want to be. And that's where I'm going. The Big 12, there's a lot of high-powered offenses. There's a defensive act. You kind of look at that schedule. It just feels like that's going to be the test for me. 100%. And that's what I want. I want to get tested. I want to prove what I'm about, you know, going into West Virginia. I'm trying to earn a starting role as a freshman in the freshman.

37:06Like, I have a bunch of goals for set to one of them. I've got West Virginia. I can't wait to play at Big 12 football. You talked about the atmosphere. What was your experience like in Morgan Town? Did you get to go to a game? Yeah. It was like, so I've been in a few games, been in a few practices, but the game time atmosphere is like, it's great because there's nothing else in Morgan Town, besides the football. So it's like, you go there, and everyone in the whole state is there for West Virginia football. There's no other things they go to. So everyone just lives, breathes, you know, so it's West Virginia football. And it shows that the game, I mean, it pack out every single home game. Now that you're committed, do you watch the team a little bit differently? Are you excited about the season opener? No, 100%. I'm just going to play in the team. Players that are playing. So it's like, I'm more invested into what's in front of me. Like, especially going there, knowing I'm going to be there with them, you know, in January. Like, it's just crazy. So after so much, thanks so much for joining us. This has been awesome. And having you will keep things rolling here on V-Pit's football show.

38:06Football is back. And so are the predictions who makes the playoffs, who wins their division, who takes home the title on call sheet. America's number one prediction market platform. It lets you trade those predictions in a live market. Maybe you like the Steelers in week two going to England. A hundred dollar trade pays out over three hundred dollars if they pull out the upset win on the road against last year's AFC championship patriots. On call sheet, you're trading against peers in a live market, meaning there's no house. And as the probability changes, you can buy in and out of your position. Trade the draft pick the game and more on call sheet. Download the call sheet app and use code FFSN to get twenty dollars when you trade twenty dollars. K-A-L-S-H-I call sheet. Trade on anything. Eighteen and older only, restrictions and eligibility requirements apply. Event contract trading involves risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Call sheet products are not available in all jurisdictions. Prices, values, and available markets may differ from those mentioned.

39:07For more information, see call sheet.com backslash regulatory. Talking to Zachary talking to Donnie about that huge Whipfield football game happening tonight at the new US Steel community field. I don't know like I said if you're going to be able to get tickets to it. If you haven't got an opportunity to get down there to A'slewood to check out that new field, it is awesome. I'm really excited for that one. And of course we're going to talk a little bit more WVU football as Zachary is a mountaineer commit a little bit later when we bring Mike Astie onto the show. But let's get to the Steelers because I know we can't make you guys go too long without giving you the red meat. I know what everybody wants to talk about. It's the first week of the NFL season. I get it. There is an excitement in the air about Mike McCarthy's team about a very, very new Pittsburgh Steelers experience because I'm not even sure that the you know I've been watching this team and I'm around this team every day since the end of July.

40:17And I know some of you guys have been right there with me on that journey for sure and interacting every day. But I think when people see how different this football team really is when we get to week one, they're going to be very surprised. And I am really I'm really interested to see what people's reactions are going to be to just how almost unrecognizable their Pittsburgh Steelers are based on how different everything is going to look from Mike McCarthy and this new offense to completely changed over offensive. Line to a new defensive coordinator and Patrick Graham. And yeah, it's a lot of the same players, but you know, if if a new season brings hope for everyone and let's be honest, it shouldn't really bring hope for everyone. There's there's still some hopeless NFL teams out there. But I think it really hits home when you have as much new going on as the Steelers do that this really is a time for that hope.

41:18All right, let's keep rolling on the Steelers and bring in a friend of the show, friend of the channel, friend of mine, a friend of yours should be if he's not Nick Fariboff from penlive.com. Nick, what's up, man? Thanks for joining the first episode of the pit. What's up, man? It's it's good to be here. This is this is nice seeing you launch this new thing. I can't believe I'm in the middle of this stack guest list. It's crazy. I didn't realize we were going to do like 20 guests, man. You're crazy for this, but it's good to be on. Yeah, it's awesome. I'm really excited. I think we're we've got the whole band together. We got all we got that we got the gang all all in here. So should be a lot of fun. Nick, let's talk about the Steelers. Let's talk about the Steelers in general before we get into the Falcons. I was just talking about how I think people around Pittsburgh are probably underestimating how different this football team is than it was a year ago. I understand it's Pittsburgh Steelers and they are a a stayed franchise and conservative in some ways and and hasn't changed in some ways.

42:26But man, they couldn't have made a more different pivot this off season than they did. And I think it's going to take some people by surprise at 1 p.m. on Sunday. Yeah, I mean, I think it's very different just in terms of the coaching staff. What they're going to do defensively, even though I mean, Patrick Graham has talked about for example, oh, we're just going to tweak it. I'll tell you what we saw in the preseason was pretty different. There's a pretty different stuff, the sim pressures and stuff that we saw. That's different. And then personnel wise, there's a lot of different. I mean, the offensive line to out of the five are different. They're flipping sides from left to right with autonome. And then you bring in pitman and then you're going to do so many different things. There's a lot of new on this football team. And the secondary, there's a lot of new. There's new leaders. There's new voices. It's going to be different. So I do think there's kind of people that are also looking at it from a different way, which is is the newness going to make them come out slower. And I think that's the real questions we don't know. How do they look? Are they going to look great? I don't know because wide receiver, you know, had a lot of injuries. This training camp and pitman and Rogers haven't been able to build a rapport necessarily. And then in the secondary, I think every single starter pretty much outside of Jamal Dean has been hurt.

43:41So how's that secondary jelly together? So there's just so much new really on the back end of that defense, the schemes. And yeah, we're going to see all this looks. It's going to be a different team. And it's not going to look the same as Mike Tomlin's scene from last year. At all, despite there being a lot of familiar faces. Yeah, and I think, you know, as we move into talking about the Atlanta Falcons in this week, I do think there should be some concern about the level of newness on this team. And the fact that the way their schedule lines up, they really do have to win these games early in the year. Like this is a very important game for the Steelers in their in their 2026 season. They cannot really afford to fumble games against teams that they ought to beat in the Falcons at home or a team they ought to beat. The Falcons are also going through a lot of the same newness that the Steelers are. They have a new head coach, although he's not unfamiliar to Steelers fans and Kevin Stofansky, but you know, they have some newness. They also have or maybe had a new quarterback and two a tongue of eye.

44:48He left practice yesterday, not sure what his status is, but whether it's two or whether it's Cooper Rush or whether I don't know, maybe they'll bring Michael Panics back. Maybe we'll see Jack Strang, who honestly, I think is probably the one of those guys I would be the most interested in seeing. The Steelers going to the better quarterback on the field on Sunday. There are going to be so many times they can say that over the course of this year with Aaron Rogers turning 43 later this season. They really have to take advantage of these ones when they get these opportunities. But I do think compared to a different type of opponent, these Falcons do seem like their newness should offset some of the Steelers newness at least in week one. It should I do think Kevin Stofansky being from the Browns and having a kind of knowledge of the Steelers personalities does help them a little bit. I think he'll be able to do some things to minimize it. And we've seen Kevin Stofansky lead teams beat the Steelers with some optimal quarterback play should or Sanders last year, Dorian Thompson, Robinson, James Winston, all players that have played for for Kevin Stofansky that beat the Steelers and Cleveland.

45:52Now that was in Cleveland and Thursday nights were involved in some of those, but I do think that's part of it. But I also think the Steelers have more continuity in terms of what they're doing from quarterback down at least this year. The fact that Rogers at least is being here for a second straight year, I think that helps a little bit. And he's a guy that played with Mike McCarthy. So the quarterback part of this is the one that's actually the one that has the most continuity. And I do think that helps the Steelers a little bit. Plus you have the second year where DK Medcalf and Friar Mooth and Warren and those guys building chemistry. So any that side of it will help a little bit. I do think though that the the Falcons also have some defensive continuity Jeff Alberg still there they face all these systems. So I'm really interested to see how that goes and with the lack of past Russian and they were second in the league in Blitz rate last year. Alberg's entire identity throughout his career has been a blitz kind of a blitz first guy. Certainly would see this is going to be a team that ratchets up the pressure and that regard.

46:56So there's going to be a lot of newness on both sides of the ball for the Falcons, but that defense is going to be a little bit more kind of it's it's I would seem that there's not going to be as much change defensively for the Falcons as say maybe the Steelers on both sides of the ball. So I'm interested to see this how that plays out too. And you know the there is notice in the scheme and continuity the players and I think the Falcons have one of the best groups of playmakers in the NFL when you look at beach on Robinson, Kyle Pitz, Drake London like those are guys that can really challenge a defense. Some of their pieces on offensive line are pretty good I think right tackle is a big question mark, but I mean that they've got some dudes there as well. This ought to be an offense that that is pretty good outside of the quarterback position. Like you said, Kevin Stofansky does have some experience in getting some success out of teams that have not had good quarterback play. I want to talk specifically about some of those matchups when we talked about the secondary of the Steelers, don't know what's going to happen with Joey Porter Jr. Whether he's going to play, whether he wants to play, whether he's actually hurt or not, honestly, no, nothing.

48:09We know Jamel Dean's going to be out there and he has some history with Drake London. It's a pretty good history with Drake London. How do you expect the Steelers to match up, especially when terms of coverage against those three really dynamic past catching weapons? I think that they have to really focus on pits. I do and that's kind of interesting to say that because I think obviously you can't let be Jean take over the game. I think they're going to really rely on Kyle Pits. If you know Kevin Stofansky's offenses and really watched him in Cleveland, you would see guys like David and Joku and others like Harold Fan in last year, became real featured pieces in their quick game to try and allow these quarterbacks to stave off past rushes and really just kind of utilize their mind. And so pits is going to be a big part of that. So I would wonder how the Steelers are going to try and shut off Kyle Pits in the quick game. Because to me, that's the most dangerous run after catch guy in the receiving core. He's someone that I would be worried about there with his four or five speed and someone that can really run on drag routes and turn what is a five year round to 20 or gain right down the sideline if you can't keep up with them.

49:17So I'm interested to see what they would do there. My guess is to Juan Briskler and Jalen Ramsey are going to have a pretty big role in that area with London, you know, Porter plays. I'm not sure, you know, he's going to be on the full snap count even if he does play a pitch count makes some sense given where he's at right now. I think he that's kind of my prediction right now is he plays on a pitch count. And so I'm not concerned about, you know, like Jalen Dotson or Alamedez Kies who are some of the other guys Sam, you'll should be fine on those. But Porter plays, I think Porter Dean is going to be fine with trick one. I don't think you need to travel necessarily, especially for a guy like Joey who's coming off, you know, just not even practicing for most of the summer. So I'm not sure traveling with London's a good idea there. But I am, I think the one thing I keep coming back to with this is if they let B. Jean Robinson take over this football game, the seals are going to be in trouble. I mean, that's really the object of this. They can slow down B. Jean and force to a Cooper rush, whoever it might be quarterback to do 30 longs and the Steelers can just pin their ears back and rush the passer, advanced Steelers all the way.

50:23So they have to stop the run and really the key is they cannot let B. Jean get the space and create explosive place because Kevin's to fans gives a very, very, very vast screen game. They'll get screens out to him. They'll get swing passes out to him in space. And B. Jean to make you defend every single blade of grass with his athleticism and contact balance. So to be while it's a really impressive group, I think the two objects should be do not let B. Jean take over the game on the ground or in space in the quick passing game. And then do not let them have conduits really to call pits in the quick passing game. Because to me, that's the way that they can stave off the Steelers pass rush, which I think has an advantage of this game, especially when you look at, you know, Joanne Taylor, right tackle who's certainly struggled over his career. Jake Matt is still right. I mean, Jake, and he's, yeah, he's didn't practice. He should be fine. I think from what it sounded like, but is he 100% that's another question. And Jake Matthews is still there, but he's not the same Jake Matthews. He was at his prime. So, you know, you should really feel good about both your matchups attack. Well, the interior of that line, I think, pretty solid, but like the Steelers should have an advantage of front in this game.

51:30But if B. Jean and Kyle pits are winning the quick game, that's that's really how you struggle against the team like this. I think this is really a big game for that reason for Peyton Wilson and Patrick Queen. You know, the Steelers linebackers, I think it's very safe to say, did not perform up to expectations last year with Queen. It's the contract with Wilson. I think everybody was looking for a big jump for him that just really never happened. And to me, if you say, well, you can't let B. Jean Robinson take over this game. And I completely agree the guys who need to contain B. Jean Robinson are those two offball linebackers, both in terms of stopping the run and covering him in the passing game where honestly he might even be better than he is as a ball carrier. He is such a dangerous weapon in the short passing game. What have you seen from those two guys since the start of this offseason process. The Steelers showed a lot of faith in them by bringing them both back. They added nothing to the room. The one guy they added, a land in Roberts doesn't even make the team. They seem to have planted their flag with Wilson and Queen. How do you think that's going to go?

52:33Well, I think Peyton Wilson's had a nice nice summer. I think he looks good. But the real question I have about this whole room is, is there any consistency to it? Well, to me, this room really came and went last year with how Patrick Queen did. He was a guy that you didn't know what you were going to get with you literally until you showed up on the football field. Sometimes you got one of the best linebackers in football. And other times you got a guy that was flying with his head off, missing tackles. Like if they come out in this game. And when we see Patrick Queen, Missing tackles in space on B. Jean Robinson, that's how B. Jean Robinson gets out of the gate and makes an exposed play happened. And so that's going to be something. But I have seen a Patrick Queen, I think embrace a new scheme. I think it fits him a little more. It's more downhill. You know, when he was at his best, he was in that Mike McDonald scheme where he could blitz and just kind of uses speed. I think you would hope with maybe the addition of Sebastian Joseph Day with the second year, Derek Carmen that maybe this D-Lonk can keep those guys clean.

53:33Because these are not stack and shed linebackers. They are guys that kind of need to be free and loose and can use their speed to shoot gaps. I think the students are going to use more run blitzes to try and get those guys free. So I think that's one thing. And we did see PQ blow a touchdown, you know, against the jets in the preseason. That was a miscommunication. I've long held the belief that I think PQ while being a very talented linebacker is probably better off not being the green dot. I think he's better when he's kind of just the second off ball guy and can think of that way rather than having to call a defense while doing it. So we'll see. I'm a little worried about that room though. I think the spine of the series defense. If you have a worry about this defense, I think it's perfectly fine to be worried about the spine of it. You know, Wilson, I think Wilson looked really good in the training camp sessions we saw. And then I thought we know when we got to the preseason, I thought there were some rough tape, you know, and stack it sheds. He's getting swallowed up by some double teams and combos. I think he's going to be really good in coverage. That will help with the very least, you know, against guy like pits or a guy like be Jean.

54:37I think his coverage reps have actually been fined pretty phenomenal. So I feel very confident in that. But I am a little bit questioning the consistency of this room, especially with a safety room behind them that kind of needs the help. Yeah, let's let's I agree with all of that. And I really think one of the that's one of the things to watch is like this. Still is can probably win this game, even if the middle of the defense gets gets beat up a little bit. But if they do, I think it's a real bad sign for this team going forward. But if those guys, like we said, like all new scheme, you know, take to take to what Patrick Graham is doing, the safety position holds on and looks. It looks passable given the injury there. That that to me is a very good sign. And you know, I'm not sure what they're going to get next week with AJ Brown looking like he's not in for that one with that high ankle sprainy suffered in the opener. But since the night he's only two weeks after two weeks after this game. So there's not like a friendly warm into the season.

55:40Can he's into the season for the Steelers past defense? They have figured it out real quick. Let's move over to the office side of the ball. I want to talk about that because one of the things I think we all noticed from very early on in training camp was, oh, this this offense is going to use the middle of the field, a heck of a lot more than it did in the past. But very specifically, I remember this game in Atlanta two years ago, Mike Tomlin talking about not throwing the ball in the middle of the field and Jesse Bates being the reason why they didn't he's still out there. And now you're going to see your watch who is a very good second safety. It's a good Atlanta secondary. It feels like that's the key match up here to me. I think the Steelers in general this year are going to struggle to run the ball. And they do what they want to do and use the middle of the field, even though that's where the best part of this Atlanta past defense lies. Not only that Devon Diablo really out on the radar last year, Lomback or I just, I mean, if I were the Steelers, I get what they want to do, but that's just not where I would attack this defense.

56:45I would attack them on the outside. You know, I'd go after Mike Hughes and in some respects there. Second, you know, trust pitman to win underneath. I would go despite this past rush. Not being good. I would do a lot of quick game stuff because I think throughout being a good player, can you get DK free on some of those slants. I think that's kind of where I come in on the middle of the field. Are they going to be throwing up the seam of time in this football game? I don't know. I don't know about that. They do have a rookie nickel corner and a beyond to realm. Maybe you can get the rookie nap in a little bit in his first game. I think that would be something, but I'm not sure you're going to see, you know, throwing the ball five times up the seam to pass where I moved in the door now Washington in this game when Jesse Bates and Xavier Watts are there. I mean, you can look at the guy that the teams are going to face this year. They may arguably not face a better safety duo on their schedule. Maybe the Texans, but even then, you know, I mean, it's just a really good duo that they have. And so to me, you know, I would try and attack them in a little field more so in that 10 to 15 yard area, you know, on slants on a little look kind of digs things like that where you can maybe get easy passes.

57:52I would try and set the easy button up in this game because I do think, you know, you can scheme that up, especially against an aggressive defense. That's probably going to play a lot of man and man coverage like Jeff Olberg's defense does run some pick plays right do do some things like that and try and get these guys free and utilize their speed. So that's kind of what I would do the Steelers very well might try to do some play action under center. I think that's fine to do, you know, because I mean, you can get the linebackers to come up and maybe hit them behind that. I think that could be something that would also work in this game and they shouldn't have to worry about the past rush here that much. Maybe the interior past rush. There are some guys that at least are fine on the interior for them with past rush wise with like Brandon Dorillus, Gravon Dexter is now there. They're big on the interior. So I'm not sure they're going to be able to run the ball just because there's a lot of size for the Falcons on the interior D line. But I do think, you know, when I kind of think of how you attack this Falcons team, I really kind of think, you know, you get them moving horizontally and then you beat them after the catch you schemes stuff up that beats man and man coverage and your playmakers have to make some plays on top of that.

59:01And I think the series do have enough playmakers that they can make some big time plays. And I do think in this game because it's week one, there's so much newness, you know, the difference between a win and a loss can be that one explosive play. So if you get DK Metcalfry and he takes of all 70 yards for a touchdown. I mean, that's a that's a game changing play in a match that I think is going to be so sloppy and probably loads scoring honestly. Yeah, I think to me, the big thing for the Steelers offense is they should feel like they can protect Aaron Rogers in this game. And when he struggled in 2025, it was when teams were able to pressure him. I do not think the Atlanta Falcons will be able to pressure him. And I think that opens up so much more for the offense. Unlike the defense, I think the Steelers offense should have a pretty easy time with this. And I think it's going to be it's it's it's it's a bit of it could be a bit of a red herring. If Aaron comes out here and throws four touchdowns this week, I'm not going to annoy him is like always back to old Aaron Rogers because I think this defense does not present a lot of the things that challenged him and them significantly in 2025.

1:00:05Nick, that's all the time we got for today. Thanks so much for being a part of this for a show. You're going to be with us every week if we can make the schedules line up, which is awesome. I was so excited. Go check out Nick's stuff at penlive.com also you can check out his video works. Steelers break down. This is full link podcast. And what do you call the thing where you just put bad thumbnails on a five minutes video. Steelers rewinds or check out there you go. Steelers rewinds. Check that as well. Nick, thanks so much for joining us and we'll we'll catch up with you on Sunday. It takes you have me on man. Appreciate it. Let's keep things moving here. We're now talking some college football. We're going into the indoor facility. UPMC, Rumi sports complex where yesterday I sat down with pit corner back and Pittsburgh native. Rashan Murray who had an interception last week and wants to be building on a strong 2025 season. It's very, very strong. Sorry. I haven't talked to you on line and about for very, very long time. This is the first time we actually got to sit down next to each other. Nice to meet you.

1:01:08You had a unique journey to get to pit. What what about that process? I guess well, first of all, take us through it beginning to end. You were a guy that kind of always I feel like one of them that pit it didn't work out if you coming out of high school. Then it didn't transfer portal. Talk to me through that whole process. Coming out of high school I always wanted to be a pit guy for sure. Pit was always one of my biggest schools. I was one of the big athletes. I was always on top of the coaches. Reach them out to them. Reach them out to them. Reach them out to them. You too is well to ask. It didn't work out as planned but I felt like God I was just a plan to do for everything they do as well. I ended up going to D2, wanting to D2, wanting to go to all American and bought out there as well. After I got to America, I took portal because I was doing my phone. When I heard them come up from home, I was like, I want to come now. You were a guy who was really aggressive and recouped. You wanted to come here. What was that disappointment like when that didn't happen for you at first? I felt it wasn't too much of a disappointment. It was more like understanding of, okay, I need to put in a little more work to D2's world. Maybe I wasn't aware. I wanted to be at the moment D2. Just put in a little more work to get there.

1:02:18And then to get that call this time around, what was that like? It was like a dream come true. I remember it now. D2 was on New Year's Day. I'm watching a football game D2 as well. Just in my room, I ran down. I get a call from a 4-1-2 number. I'm like, who is this? I picked it up and it was because D2 was one of the greatest moments of my life. I ran to my mom's room, told her, yeah, because D2 is just calm. I was really excited there for sure. What do you feel like you learned or did improved a bond that made you able to get this opportunity this time around? I feel like I just grew more so. Just made my short D2 as well. I grew up in my body. I was taking care of my body getting bigger. I was in the weight room as well. I was just honing in to everything. To my technique, to everything. I was just going to make sure I could be clean then for sure. When you got to the division 2 level, what stood out to you about that opportunity? Was there a moment in that process where you thought, hey, I can do this at a higher level? I'm one of the better players here on this field right now.

1:03:20I really feel like when I first got there, I could feel it through. Me just going out there, I was ballin' those off the rip, those afreshment, those two as well. I never sat out there, never reassured it. I traded my first year too as well. I played early as afreshment too as well. I just felt like I separated myself from others, those two on that team, which made me a little bit different there. It's a pretty big jump from there to the ACC. How did last year go? Last year started off pretty rough. I was a little bit big down there, but other than that, I feel like I've just been doing my job there now, those two as well. So it's just made me a lot better there for you. How do you feel like you're in a better position to make an impact on this team in 2026? I feel like I'm really there now, though. I'm more confident and my body's bigger than those two as well. I put in a lot more weight though. When I came from cows about maybe 175 at most. Right now, I've been weighing in at 189, 188. So I've been really up there now too, to make sure I'm on top of everything. What's the biggest difference between playing at the Division II of I'm playing in the ACC? Like in your day to day life?

1:04:21In a day to day life, I'll say resources. There's a lot more trainers. The mares we had though too as well. The protein, the nutrition, everything though too. I think Miss Kay to those two, she's a great woman, though she always make a shoulder pad, and she'll make a shoulder on top of everything. The nutrition, the vitamin is everything they choose. That's what we didn't have back then. As a guy who's from Pittsburgh, what's it like getting to play in your hometown every Saturday? That's a dream come true. I always thought it's a story to my first game, Leia Scherven, not the ton of actually cracked it. It was like just seeing everything they took to start with great things. What would you tell a young guy who's from the city, from the area, about how different it is, putting on this uniform, playing an extra stadium and all that, and you probably had the opportunity to go other places, but you saw the value in playing at home all the way, but maybe other people don't? I feel like just go with your heart, though, of course, though. I feel like personally home, you can't be home, though, for sure.

1:05:25You play in front of your family, front of the fans, front of your hometown, your city, when you go up, it's just different feeling to a person. As a city-lead guy, you feel like you get to wear that, you get to put on for the city league, every opportunity you get. Every chance I get, you put on for the city, for sure. There's not that many teams in the city league, and not as many as I used to do when I was growing up, but there's still a lot of players that come out of there that compete at a high level. What makes Pittsburgh City League football special? Yeah, dogs over here. They have dogs. They have real dogs. I'm going to say there's a lot of gritty guys, a lot of people who's just heart-knows, football, they're ready to play. Who's going to go out there and do whatever you tell them to do, for sure. If you had to pick one place to play a game, AcroShirt or Couples? AcroShirt Couples? I'm going to say AcroShirt. You like to grasp a little bit better? All right. Thank so much for joining me, and everybody can check him out on Saturdays now. Of course, some of you were watching them on Thursdays and Fridays back in the day.

1:06:25Thanks so much, and we'll be back with more on Pit Football with BeatWriter Brennan Howell. And we're going right to Brennan right now, who joins us for the first time on this first show. Brennan is, you may recognize him here on this YouTube channel for his takes of the Steelers, but he's also covering Pit Football for Pittsburgh Sports now this season as well. And unlike Rashan, who I think wanted to be at Pit for a very long time, this was something completely new to you, Brennan. You jumped in at the last minute here. We had an opening, and you were willing to fill it. You covered your first Pit game on Saturday. What's it been like jumping into the college football world right at the eve of the season? So I thought it would be harder to get a grasp on the team itself, but just over the past two weeks of talking to players and talking to our dudes a few times, I think four times now, five you count after the game. Like, I've got a good handle on what's going on inside that locker room inside that team.

1:07:26And you mentioned covering the game for the first time last Saturday. It was a whirlwind. It was a little different. I was actually talking earlier or talking yesterday with some of like our writer friends, Steelers of like high school might be easier to me at this point, with taking the stats and because I'm just comfortable with that. So I'm sitting there and usually I have you by my side. So I have an iPad up with the broadcast on the air plot in. So I don't miss any injuries like watching everything going on, writing the stories during the game. I get used to it, but it was it was a very stressful experience for us time. I'm sure it'll get better. Hopefully here tomorrow. Now, obviously, a Pittsburgh area native grew up in Butler County. You've been here your whole life. Pit football, of course, is been around. But you know, not not a team that you ever covered before. Not a team that you grew up a fan of. What's it been like trying to dive into this program and and become an expert on it very quickly? Because that's in my mind, one of the most difficult things you can ask for a journalist to do.

1:08:30The first week I had a notebook where I would write down basically every storyline from each press conference or each time a player talked. And I found out like I've been able to store away a lot of those like tidbits and stuff in my head to where like now I'm following storylines I talked in our news yesterday about the running backs. If we're running back to he believes all can play and we saw all play against Miami, Ohio. And I want to like I wanted to know how he's going to use those guys going forward because he can't I'm doubting you play for running backs every game, especially with the workload that they got. He said he's kind of go with the hot hand there. I would say the biggest thing like the biggest point of learn from our newsy and this was what I wrote about last night went up this morning. He doesn't seem to care about a whole lot except for what's ahead like he he's going to tie jox out of one's record for games coach tomorrow when he steps on the field. He joked when he he was talking about that that unless like he gets in a car accident or something which was a little bit of dry humor.

1:09:34We weren't sure whether to be like it was interesting. So I'm learning about his personality there. And along with that he said he didn't know that he was going to tie that record like his kid didn't tell him. He doesn't really pay attention to that sort of stuff. Then makes an financial who is the big sticking point right now. Obviously with his performance that he had he went to Maxwell award player of the week the David Bryan award of the week which all very impressive ACC quarterback of the week. I asked obviously he seems like a guy who doesn't really put much stock into at least publicly into these awards. And I asked him yesterday and he goes I haven't graduated Mason. I haven't talked to him about it. So I think it's an interesting old school sort of mindset from him that I'm learning about as we go on here because I've known Pat Narduzia as the pit football head coach since I was in high school. Like being in the same room with him kind of seeing the personality seeing how he jokes and stuff like that. That's that's probably been the most interesting part to me.

1:10:35Well, I promise you that every game you cover is not going to include the quarterback throwing for seven touchdowns. I'm pretty sure that was a unique experience that you may do this a very long time and never see again. But man, I'll tell you I think I've told the pieces of this story here before but last summer I went to a pit training camp practice and I was going to write an article about Eli Holstein. And I went and was watching the quarterbacks just warming up and I'm standing there and I'm going who the heck is six. I'm here writing about the wrong guy. It was very obvious right away to me that he was a very, very talented passer. But you know, arm talent doesn't really tell the whole story. But what did you see from Mason, Hainchill in that first game and and what was your sort of immediate reaction to watching him. I just gave you a mind. What what have you thought about what you've seen so far about Mason, Hainchill?

1:11:37Well, you mentioned the throws that he can make. I texted into our group chat whenever he hit sincerely down the sideline on the left side line and that throw was just incredible to me. I saw it on the replay and it wasn't as tight a ball as I thought it was, but he still fit it in there. I learned he can really and this isn't something you can see during practice because there's nobody sacking him, which I say, Neil can't talk about yesterday, but he can move around and he can make plays with his legs. He can extend plays and finally we're going to see which sincere said helps receivers break off their routes, get some separation. And Isaiah Neil even went as far as to call him magical. He gave him the nickname Magic Mason, which I thought nice little alliterative nickname Mary. You always love those. And it's cool to see like my impression of him was I heard about him last year. I didn't watch any pick games last year or if I did it wasn't like the full game. I had the quad screen on on my TV. You know, was one of the days kind of relaxed there like what I took away from it.

1:12:38I know it's a max school, but it's a max school that made the max championship. I think each last three years and has a defense that Pat Narduzzi really respected. I was just off the run, or they aside from that Justin Cook, if you are touch on that they did no cage all, but my takeaway was like, it has a real quarterback like that. That dude is real. So tomorrow against UCF will kind of tell me more about where he stands and everybody's been kind of praising him and his development over the offseason and heading into this season. I think it will be really it will be the biggest storyline tomorrow for me going in see how he does against the power for defense for the first time with me watching there. Yeah, I think obviously, you know, the competition is stepping up pretty significantly this week in UCF. They obliterated the food cookman last week. So that tells you nothing about anything. But what are you looking forward to seeing about this pit team against better competition?

1:13:38What are the areas where they did well against Miami, Ohio, but in your mind, you got to say, well, yeah, but it was a Miami, Ohio. There were only two splash plays at the defense lot of that game. One of them, Narduzzi explained that it was a deep pass that the defensive back tried to break away. And then because of that kind of the receiver was able to break loose for a touch on there. The speed that UCF brings is obviously a lot different. They have a lot of Florida guys who, you know, that state is always big into that sort of trait. Like you're going to have fast players there. So they have a lot of those guys and I'm just seeing this defense can do against them. Like the defensive ends, they say, are they feel they're pretty deep? Is anything I'll talk about that yesterday too with Jimmy Scott on the other side? Is that brother using J to more? I want to see how they cycle them out again. I want to see how that kind of moves. But yeah, I think the biggest thing is I want to see how the defense does against a faster team because we saw a fast guy in scoop Smith with Miami, Ohio.

1:14:38There's going to be a lot of fast guys for UCF. There's going to be a lot of scoop Smiths who are probably taller. So definitely tell it. There's not many guys as short as him in college football. So that'd be my biggest thing. The defensive side of the balls. I want to see if they can still limit those big plays and kind of smother their opponent like they did last week. What, what did you learn about the difference in the fan base? That's a lot of the same people. But what did you take away from just being an accurate stadium for a pit game? What have you learned about the people that interact with your coverage and that kind of thing so far and in a couple weeks of covering the blue and gold? It seems like we kind of talked about this too. It's a very passionate fan base from what I've learned. Like it may not be as big as a Texas or Ohio State and Alabama, but like the people I care about pit football care about pit football. And I thought it was really cool going in and being on the field last week. And I've been to a pit game. I think I went to the opener against Wofford a few years ago, which is another game you don't learn much from.

1:15:38But the student section really impressed me too. Just the fact that they kind of take up that whole end zone and there's a ton of them. So that was really impressive to me. But yeah, I, I would admit like I walked as I was walking in the atmosphere before that game felt really cool. Like I only walked from like the gold garage around Acresure to get in. I was trying to get in early and see what that game day like preparation is like. And everybody's wearing a everybody's wearing blue. Everybody's kind of excited to see them get off the bus and walk into Acresure. So what I've learned is it's a very passionate, but like I don't want to say small, but not as big fan bases the rest of course. I've seen that I want to slip a rock. So I've seen fan bases that you know might not be nation wide, but it's cool to see that these people in this area care about this team. Now obviously you don't have a ton of experience of what it looked like before, but what did you think of the tarps?

1:16:42So I didn't think they looked terrible like it is an odd concept to have enough there, but fit. And I'm not sure how many people would be fan of me saying something like this, but like if it pushes fans down and it makes it louder down there for the opponent, like you probably want that, like especially more people, I think it looks better than scattered scattered people up in the upper deck. Like I don't think it looked terrible and I guess they're going to condense it a little this week from what I heard. So it's not going to be as big, but we'll see there. I'm interested to see what they look like again. And if it makes a better game to experience and I'm probably going to ask Nardus about it again at some point being that he'll have two games under his belt to kind of say what he thinks of that. Because when I asked him the first time, he didn't care back to that subject here. Yeah, I think it makes for better game day experience. We'll see how it goes more. Yeah, it's an interesting schedule for pit this year because usually you have at least one of those kind of big ticket games, whether it's a Penn State, a Western, Jania, Notre Dame, someone like that,

1:18:18or opponents in football, but man, that program has fallen on tough times. Then you get the, the, I, listen, I am not generally opposed to power five teams playing FCS teams, but my thoughts are, don't do it after week one. You hit that bucknell game in the middle there coming up in a couple of weeks and like that, then they don't, no, Carolina on October 10th is the first time where I feel like you're really going to get like a rock and Acres or Stadium for a pit game in that in order to get there, they're probably going to be five and oh otherwise they're going to lose some of the enthusiasm between now and then. But hey, Mason, I ain't sure keeps throwing seven touchdowns a game. I very much like their chances of being there, but I do hope you get to one of those because it is really, I mean, obviously, the extra stadium is, is a great venue. We see it every week for the Steelers, but it is a different vibe for a real rock and college football game there. I hope you get to experience one of those soon.

1:19:18Yeah, Mike Astey, who covered us, West Virginia for us, whenever I kind of took this job because it's like you miss the brawl. It's like, we'll hope them around for the next one because I think that would be a really cool atmosphere to be at. Yeah, the brawl is definitely one of the cooler things. I don't know if you get into the the right. If you've gotten into the fan base, the rivalry thing yet, but that is one of the best parts of covering college football is that when every article you write or video you post starts getting trolled by the rivals and the opposing fan. Have you had any UCF fan interactions this week because they are from my time covering pit. And if you guys don't know if you're just just joining me because I covered the Steelers, I covered pit from 2015 to 2021 on a daily basis. UCF might have one of the punchiest fan bases I can remember in terms of like their very online and they're sort of obnoxious and they kind of like that about themselves.

1:20:22I know some UCF fan tweeted under one of my posts of something that I wrote of like they tweeted under somebody else's ass out to that at least UCF is making pit relevant. Which I didn't really understand because it's a power for you mentioned the rivalry like seeing how the fan bases are after each other. I got to taste that last year with beanie bishop whenever he went in and stole my elbow and then the West Virginia fans were all for it and the pit fans were obviously even if they're Steelers fans. They were not caring for him like when he left somebody actually came back whenever he was cut somebody actually came back to that tweet and said we want like it took a little while but we want to hear so I've seen that and I do think that's very fun because some of the insults that get thrown are just yeah they're crazy. I appreciate it to a point like I was obviously been right about Joey Porter Jr. I feel like every four hours for the last three weeks but I know it's weird about Joey and there'll be some pit fan under there's like just cut this bum and I'm like okay okay okay like I get it but I just just chill out like that's you can take it too far but you know and I can he pick it was a lightning rod in that regard too.

1:21:39I think a lot of pit fans still kind of feel badly about the way that went down and the way he was treated and getting to arguments about his time and with the Steelers and I'm sure the pit fans are now giving it feeling they're giving it back to him about him and Drew Aller and all the rest it's always a blast. Of course we'll have a full weekend for you over to Agra Shore with pit and UCF that one 330 on Saturday ESPN to on your TV then turn it around for Steelers Falcons you just camping out on the North Shore is that is that your game plan. I don't have it anywhere to stay I don't know maybe you can sleep by the river there. There are enough I mean you can make some friends sleeping down by the river on the North Shore under that railroad Tressel there's a few there's a few fellas you could join up with. I think it's really cool this is the first weekend for me that I'm covering high school football tonight I have Santa Claus 10 hills college football tomorrow pit UCF and NFL with Steelers and Falcons so you know me I can't really get enough football I love doing this and it's definitely enjoyable.

1:22:49Yeah I mean I'm so glad to have you as part of this I don't know if we're going to be able to do it every week I think you're actually they moved up the Steelers practice without telling anybody so I think you're actually. Get going to need to be jetting here but I hope we can have you on as much as possible because I think you like me or someone who loves football you actually still play flag football right still out there on Sunday mornings like a maniac. It 8 a.m. so that I can fit that in and then get the aggressor in time so you are are you playing this Sunday now it doesn't start on November so okay so you're out there just just pull in your hamstring on purpose basically at this point trying to get some get some good football in love that Brendan you can find his pit work at Pittsburgh sports now part of the on three rivals network and of course the Steelers work at Steelers now dot com also. Still doing some freelance high school work as well over the Butler Eagle and the trip so he's got a full plate but Brendan thanks so much for being part of this and part of the first show and.

1:23:53Excited for your big football weekend definitely people like to know talk you soon. Brendan how he is I don't want to say this was here because I don't like him to hear what when I say good things about him I usually just try to kind of keep his ego down as much as I can. Brendan is one of the best young writers I've ever had in this company and I've ever had the pleasure working with I hope you all really get to like him and some of you do not like his videos give him time give him time it'll get better I promise but he's really talented and it loves ball and I think that comes through in everything he does someone else who loves ball who had to be a part of this who is not available to join me live on Friday mornings because I like a day job or something else. It's irrelevant it's not really an excuse Zachary Smith my regular co host of Steelers afternoon drive when he came out the training camp with us he did a stand up video he called it smiddy stand alone everybody loved it everybody said he should do more of it and when we were looking for a way for him to contribute as part of this show we said why not do more of that so yeah let's let's get to the smiddy six pack as he has named this.

1:25:08Which is going to be his thing every week where he chimes in with his takes on the weekend ahead and football. I'm not going to respect. It's finally here in a full season as kicked off and we got Steelers foultons week one coming up for you so let's crack open a smiddy six pack and get into this let's dive into this match up I have a ton of respect for Jeff Albrek in the defensive side what he brings to the table the multitude of defenses the way he shares between three four and four three so that's where I want to start my first thought is thinking about that think about the how much they blitz. Second highest blitz rate last year behind only the Minnesota Vikings I would expect that will continue to be the case this year they have the dudes in the secondary but don't really have them up front and still some concern about is the very smith even going to be available to them and that would be very depleting for an edge group that our he is incredibly depleted so that'll be something to watch and all of the fact no Kate and Ellis obviously he has moved on to I would guess greener pastures in the NFC South.

1:26:17Going to the New Orleans Saints will see in regard to that but definitely a big loss for them was kind of the straw that started that drink at the second level of that defense sticking on the defense of side though I think the red zone is going to be a big area for me to watch here. It land last year 14th and red zone defense 55% touchdown percentage in there and the Steelers if you guys remember started off the season super hot in terms of their red zone offense but they kind of called off the end of the middle of the pack by seasons and they were 21st and red zone trips in 2025 I think they just needed the red zone a lot more this year I still like the personnel in terms of being able to convert there with the bigger bodies that they have in terms of their past catchers so we'll see in regard to that but that is something that I think is going to be a big loss for them. I think it's going to be a big loss for them and it sticks out to me right away is who wins the battle in the red zone sticking on the Atlanta defense side of things against the Pittsburgh offense side of things I think this is a big game for the complimentary pieces of the Steelers offense I expect a J Tarell who I think is a very good player.

1:27:18You think about that secondary as a whole Jesse Bates Xavier Watts a J Tarell really it's the third level that defense the secondary is where the playmakers are but I think the complimentary pieces when I look at like a Michael Pittman Jr's Roman Wilson's Jeremy Bernard's other world and of course the back. Jalen Warren and Rico Dowdell I think they're going to have to have big days the Falcon last year bottom five and the explosive runs given up 7th worst in yards per carry and then I looked at like I said the complimentary pieces because Billy Bowman Jr has been on the injury report this week we'll see if he's able to go with that Achilles. Even so I would question the effectiveness that's their primary slot defender Mike Hughes is their CB two was kind of miscast last year had to play operate as CB one with the AJ Tarell injury and he was good in 2024 got an extension with Atlanta due to that but boy was a disastrous last year. So we'll see in regard to that next up I really am looking forward to this battle between in the trenches between the Falkens offensive line and the Steelers defensive line because I think they got some pretty good pieces there I mentioned the three pieces that I like in the Falcon secondary like three pieces on the Falkens offensive line quite a bit to Matthew Burzoran Jake Matthews Chris Lynch drum Lynch drum is probably as good as it gets in terms of guards in the lead.

1:28:32But Burzoran is got a nice payday he's a very to player Jake Matthews just got a payday and he's just pretty steady player that left tackle spot and then but I looked at these other spots to wantaylers on the injury report right now don't know if he's going to be able to go but he is slated to be their starting right tackle. He's not very good third last year in terms of most penalties in the lead and probably could be higher infamously he is the guy that everybody points to in terms of that first step the quick step think that he's always starting early probably to have a bunch of false starts against him. Yeah that's who I'm talking about there to wantayler coming over from the chiefs certainly an upgrade upon what they had last year in Elijah Wilkerson but I don't know how much of one that he's going to be and I don't know if he's going to be available. You think about him not being very good boy what does that say about the guys that are behind him wrapping up here on can number five I look at special teams both teams have special team a new special teams coordinator this year coming over from Miami for them they were eight in special teams impact last year they blocked two kicks pretty moderate in terms of return yards allowed as well middle of the pack there can we get an explosive of our own contain we gin get explosive that's what he was drafted to do that's why he was drafted in the fourth round despite very little

1:29:45limited receiving ability so he's going to have to create explosives can we get one right out of the gate here in the teams opener yet to be wary of them again they blocked two kicks that's something to keep in mind a lot of turn over on both sides here in regard to these groups who's got the advantage I always think this this field is have the advantage when it comes to kicker obviously but in terms of the overall group I think that's going to be one to watch and then to wrap up here can number six the last one and recycle please I think about JPJ is he going to go in this one still up in the air and it might be up in the air until Sunday if he is going to go do we see him on a snap count. The Sunday Samuel Jr. has had a great summer he's been talked up a ton listed as a co starter with Joey Porter Jr. right now if Joey Porter Jr. Jr. is even able to play in this one I think today is still very much a question mark is it in a limited capacity do we see him on a snap count is it like strictly obvious passing situations when he comes on the field that's to be something the monitor I hope at the time you guys watch or listen to this we don't know the answer to that yet and this is an annal and void conversation

1:30:54but yeah that's my six pack for this week those are my six thoughts again please recycle throw them in the recycling bin on your way back to watch the rest of the Pittsburgh football show with Alan Saunders and of course if you haven't already at this point in the show what are you doing like subscribe hit that notification bell that's all I got I'll see you guys next week. I appreciate the hustle from smitty there always got to get a good sales pitch in he's he's the go to that and yeah no still still don't know what's going on with Joey Porter Jr. we could probably have aired this show at 11 45 on Sunday morning and I am not sure we would know at that point and next up we're going to have our friend Chris Carter join the show to talk a little bit of college football and just like Donnie I feel like you know everybody knows Carter for his Steelers takes and he also covers the pit panthers has for a while and is is really good at that and this year both Chris and I have top 25 votes well this is the top 25 vote mine's at top 16 vote but for the first time he is voting for the AP top 25 I'm voting for the NFF

1:32:10and FWA a super 16 poll both of which are national championship selectors in their own right although we don't have a formula for college football anymore maybe we'll discuss that I think that probably should be but we're going to talk every week here about college football and about our top top picks because ours a little bit different I just wanted to give us a place where we could talk about what it is we're doing let's bring Chris in right now and let's get our top 25 up there Chris let's welcome to the show please from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette and the lockdown Steelers podcast Chris Carter I feel good to get down on the other side it's nice to be here football is back and so are the predictions who makes the playoffs who wins their division who takes home the title on call she America's number one prediction market platform it lets you trade those predictions in a live market maybe you like the Steelers in week two going to England a hundred

1:33:20dollar trade pays out over three hundred dollars if they pull out the upset win on the road against last year's AFC championship patriots on call she you're trading against peers in a live market meaning there's no house and as the probability changes you can buy in and out of your position trade the draft pick the game and more on call she download the call she app and use code FFSN to get $20 when you trade $20 KAL S H I call she trade on anything 18 in older only restrictions and eligibility requirements apply event contract trading involves risk and may not be suitable for all investors call she products are not available in all jurisdictions prices values and available markets may differ from those mentioned for more information see call she dot com backs last regulatory and it seems like we might have lost Chris hey this is a live show and we're going to have to go through this from time to time not sure why this is a wonderful screen

1:34:26we're somebody take a screenshot of this moment right now we'll use this again hopefully we can get Chris back and see what happened or didn't happen I don't know I know it was having some future issues but I'll talk about my top 25 and the midway and get Chris back in here to talk about his as this is a a very difficult process early in the season I'm personally the belief that we shouldn't even have a poll right now but we do we have to and when you're ranking teams in preseason my process is basically about just go with what I know and what I know and hey Carter's back there we go what I know is quarterbacks and so when I'm ranking teams for the preseason you know I don't think anybody especially in the age of the transfer portal can be considered an expert on 138 lineups like it's just impossible no what I looked at the so when I was doing my pre-simple I was like who are the best quarterbacks like where do they where they and then where do the other really good teams fit in and how do I balance that what was your

1:35:42process for trying to come up with an initial preseason top 25 so my first thing that I did was I looked up you know you know me I'm a draft guy this was I got asked to do to do the AP poll in the middle of Steelers training camp and I was like oh okay cool let me let me get adjusted to that so I kind of got adjusted and I had to figure some things out but what I did was I used my draft knowledge and I said okay let me look at all the guys that I had notes and I can find notes on who should be major people for the for the draft and that's where I that's where I started looking okay let me look at all these different prospects even either 2027 or 2028 draft prospects and I lined up okay I'll all the teams that I know should be competing you know looking at the coaches poll look at other things like okay let's let's start rank let's start stacking up who are like definite draft guys maybe draft guys and then going from there and then going down from that list then I also looked at quarterbacks like okay

1:36:47quarterbacking is really important who has the best quarterback who are the guys that I need to look out for and that sort of allowed me to sort of make my my list and I also acknowledge that like preseason lists they are so out there like everything is going to change it really quickly but this is you know if we want to do a preseason list I think that's the best way to go off of a talent go off a quarterbacks go off of what you what you know what you can see and then just go from there and you know one thing that that one of the notes they gave us when I first took the AP role was you know saying like one of the notes they said was hey don't be afraid to like flip everything upside down if if things happen don't be afraid to be aggressive with your changes based off of what you see and so that kind of led me to you know where where we're at now yeah I wanted to have that mindset I had it in my head like don't don't like feel like this preseason list needs to stay because it because I made it just because I didn't have a lot of faith in my own preseason pull like I was like this doesn't mean anything

1:37:52but then every single team I had ranked in week one one so so then I guess they're all going to be here but I want to talk about a couple places where we're pretty different and there's two teams in the top 10 that we have ranked very differently one of those is Georgia which I have seventh and you have third the others in Indiana which I have third and you have eighth what do you see about the dogs and the reigning national champions that you have them where you have I just think that Georgia they look like a complete team again and like they they have so many guys that I'm interested in bold is going to be a nasty dude the secondary all year I think he's someone that people should be looking at for the draft I love the the way that they're put together I think Georgia is going to win the SEC and well no Texas could could beat them so like they but Georgia it's going to be Georgia in Texas like they're they're going to be battling up against each other I wouldn't be shocked if Georgia you know edges them out and then they see each other again in the playoffs

1:38:56but I just think that they're stacked Indiana I just think that I know everyone's excited for Josh Hoover I just think that they have to take a step back after last year I think that that's most likely what's going to happen but you know I trust me I've gotten it from a lot of Hoosiers fans who are like oh man you hate Indiana like no I don't I just think that's also that many stacked teams like for example you know I came into this year thinking Oregon was going to be the number one team well I looked at all the guys and I'm like oh my gosh this guy this guy this guy this guy this guy and going down the list I was like oh wow that they're stacked you know Dante more is going to be a problem again and he's going to have another year of experience but you know they struggle with boys he states so I dropped them down a little bit in my week one ranking so you know again it's all kind of moving things around but yeah I just I think George is kind of set to win right now I think Indiana is absolutely going to be in the playoffs they're going to be a problem but I just with these other teams I think that I like some of the things that they have lined up to win this year whereas I think Indiana is just going to be that consistent presence that's going to be around

1:40:00for years to come the team that I think it should be scaring people a little bit more though is Miami because I did not know how good Daria Mensa would be for them and granted they you know they they played who they played but he's looked so good him and Malik Itoni have clicked like that and I'm like oh man that that's going to be a problem when they go up against the big dogs and Miami Miami's like my team that I don't like I have them at four right now I would not be shocked if they're again in the national championship game yeah I like Miami that's a good shout for me Indiana I'm ranking the coach I mean I think Kurt's again at the job he did over the last two years is the greatest college football coaching job of all time Indiana's a dormant for 80 years and he comes in and they're national champion two unbelievable and I do like Josh Hoover I think he has some things to work with there for me Georgia I think the weak link is the quarterback I don't have faith in gosh I think they have a really good team and they have a lot of talent

1:41:05and a lot of good players and that defense you're seeing the NFL next year but I just don't know and you know it looked they're going to win a lot of games they're going to be right there absolutely I still got them on top 10 for sure but I think like compared to a team in the like they don't have a saying or a Mensa or a car or or you know a manning right like they don't have one of those and I think at the end of the day right now I'm most comfortable ranking the quarterbacks we'll see about the rest of the teams but I'm most comfortable ranking the quarterbacks my only thing with Georgia is I don't know if I've ever been impressed by Georgia's quarterback when they've been whooping up on everybody it's so like like that's and bad it's not I mean some a little bit last night it's not great it's not great Jake from and like you know like like just that that's my only thing I agree with you that like of the quarterback situation like I like CJ Carla better I like Fountain Morale but I think Sam Levin about better Trinidad Chameless I like a lot

1:42:09better you know again Josh Hoover I like I like better I just think that Georgia I mean they are the dogs they are some dogs it's so many of those positions they just they whoop you up so much that it does not matter that their quarterback is meh I hear that you mentioned hearing it from the Indiana fans and one of the great parts of college football it's that no matter what you say when you're ranking the teams you're gonna hear it from somebody who else has been in your ass this week who's been after you about where you ranked their team so I got a little bit from some Alabama fans I put y'all a 10 calm down like like you know I that that's when you respect tameless empire the coach year for Alabama though that is a good point they but again it's different for different schools so like I get that um BYU fans have by far been the loudest about me because there was a bit of a clerical error on my part I haven't been public about this but as you know you know I got the I got the pole during you know I got the invite to join the pole in the

1:43:11middle of Steelers training camp you know we're sweating our our butts out there and um I'm trying to submit the pole to get the deadline and I originally had a pole that had BYU in it and I thought I submitted it but then like I got a notice that like hey you having submitters and like what do you mean and the place that I was staying ahead terrible in it and with me and you and I we were experiencing that because I was having just records shows with you about the Steelers at the on campus because my the Airbnb I was staring at was just terrible Wi-Fi and I couldn't upload or get things done regularly so when I realized oh man I have to meet this deadline I reassembled my list and I left the U.I. U of it and the BYU still isn't that high for me like they weren't like 11 or 12 I think I had them at like maybe like 19 or 21 or something like that but when I reassembled a list really quickly I left them off and I was like and then I saw the list come out like oops that's my bad and so BYU fans were letting me hear it and I'm like I might even go argue with them I'm just gonna let them get it out I get it you know but I put them at 19 in my in my second

1:44:15in my second rankings because that was or 18 I put them at 18 in my in my second rankings they're like oh you know get you know to escape us you hate Mormons and I'm like buddy like I it ain't that deep like sometimes it's just happening there was a there was I'm not going to name but there was a certain person who left Miami unranked in their week one rankings this week so like you know clerical errors happen things things go down it's just it's it's part of the process you try your best not to let it happen but you know that's that's what occurred with with with that one so I've heard some from them some people think I've ranked too many SEC teams um I want to get your thoughts on this South Carolina hmm they should be so much better I I feel like they had 15 Chris you have a 50 I see I'm going to 25 and like people were saying oh you're trying to talk too much like to the SEC I'm like they are so stacked they're so good I just prefer the way that the way that the North sellers which is constantly under pressure last year

1:45:17it makes it gives me like I understand how he stands in the confident in the pocket confidently because what just thinking about him being in the pocket makes me scared for him so like that's where I'm a little nervous but like South Carolina is going to be a problem this year they're probably going to rise up the rankings so yeah like the I've gotten it from my parents I'm giving too much respect to SEC schools but I mean like they win and know so what am I supposed to do yeah now I don't I don't have 16 of my official ballot but when I write out my picks at Pittsburgh sports now every week a list the rest that I would have put through to 25 and at the very end I had pit the Y Chris have you disrespected your own one of your two on the water you you anti-homer you you're trashing your own beat no ranking for pit after seven touchdowns from Mason Hainsel no not yet um particularly because I have covered pit for too long and watched pit for too long

1:46:17to know that whenever so I am so waiting for like the death with the words of death which anytime a pit player in football or basketball says pit is back I know something bad's about to happen what does it matter back yet but but that's what I'm saying like I'm like hey guys I'm not trying to I'm not trying to feed into that or anything like that I think Mason Hainsel looks super legit I think that you know he is he's showing that he can work K Bell's offense I think that they're still going to be nasty on defense this year with how aggressive they are I think they're going to match up well with a lot of these teams in the ACC I think there's a good chance they could start this season 4-0-5-0 you know and and and get on a run this year but they got to prove it and there's these other teams right now they just have more draft picks lined up more guys that I think will translate quickly to the NFL and make them a big competitor but if pit and and the biggest things I worry about pit are a the offensive line it gave up a lot of pressure against Miami of Ohio and Greta Miami of Ohio it's kind of like pit and how they just want to

1:47:19stuff the running blitz stuff the running blitz and we'll worry about the rest later and so that's a thing but as you get him go as they if they were to go up against some of these other teams that are ranked those defensive fronts are going to present more problems and I don't know how that offensive line matches up with that similarly the offensive weapons that they have I love Boosey Turner I think he's a bad man I think that Carson Tenelage lag looked really good in their first additions I got to see more from this Y receiver group you know blue hicks you know dropped a wide open touchdown made up for it with a spectacular score later but to me there are things that they that these Y receivers I need to see them win by winning one-on-ones not necessarily breaking open because a play broke down or because that other other players you know is from the match I need to see them win against power four dudes that are really good corners and if they start doing that then to me I will start putting pit up high but trust me pits like just outside of my top 25 like they're one of my teams that I was like yeah but

1:48:19I'm I'm not trying to be a homer here because you know I get you're right I have a pit I have a pit law degree I grew up in the city of Pittsburgh I've covered this team since 2020 so like you know and like I through that you develop you know relationships with players there's players that are in the NFL now who you know when I see them out in a ball that you know by bumping to them on the in my pro beat work they're like oh what's up man so like that's always cool so you know you have those ties but like that doesn't impact my ranking but when it impacts by rankings is how do I think that you're gonna match up against these other teams how does your roster stack where your strength where your weaknesses pit is being propped up by its quarterback but I need to see more from the other parts of this team more from the offensive line more from the playmakers and you know more consistency on defense if they if they if they here's the I will say if they dismantle UCF on Saturday that would change that would change because to me I expected them to beat my amiville highal pretty soundly I didn't expect 59 points I did I that like that did whoa me a little

1:49:20bit and I was like okay I'm excited to see more more that if they dog UCF by like 20 to 30 points or something crazy like that then I'll be like all right you know that the UCF ain't like you know someone I was gonna rank this year but that's a power four point and if you're dogging them like you dog a mat team that that that impresses me and so then it'll be about you know who loses in in my current top 25 so you know maybe if I got a Houston drops or if I or Washington or one of these other schools out here drops a game them that that could that could be something interesting there but yet pit at their close in Mason high chose a big part of why they're close but they got to keep it up because one one blowout went over a max school doesn't put you over a lot of these other teams that are a little bit more established right now yeah 3 30 on Saturday and then right back at Acresher on Sunday one Steelers Falcons Chris thanks so much for being a part of this hoping to have you on every week and we can keep the schedules lined up and this is a lot of

1:50:22fun love talking ball with you in any form and I think this is a cool thing for us to do together with these polls that we're both doing so excited to bring that to everyone you can find Chris at the Pittsburgh Post Gazette where you get his cover to pit and the Steelers as well as a lot downstairs podcast we can find me every Tuesday Chris thanks so much for being part of this thanks for having me having well let's keep things rolling right now we're gonna talk about if football is America's number one sport betting on football is number two let's talk with Bob Kynarski Bergbetts of CBS Sports Line about our wagers for this week moving things rolling here on the initial episode the Pittsburgh football show join by Bob Kynarski at Bergbetts on social media Bob is with CBS Sports Line he is a better and a picker and you know for me football and betting on football are like this far apart like those are things that just go naturally together and we

1:51:23are gonna spend three hours talking about football without talking about betting on it at all I need to bring in someone with some Pittsburgh perspective and Bob has well he has enough of that didn't grow up here but he's a transplant to the region coming to us from just up the the way there in the the North Hills Bob welcome to show thanks for having me on good to be here again yeah um people don't know exactly where I'm from so I'm from northeastern PA but to make it easier I say I'm on from where the show the office is from oh yeah we love we love northeastern PA and people people love the baby pens here in Pittsburgh so they know where that's that's that part of the world is all about Bob it is is this is this Christmas day for betters is this the first week of the NFL schedule I feel like there's there's hope and everyone thinks they have it figured out and and everybody's in in the green at this moment I feel like this is the this is the week right I would say that this is Christmas for for betters until you most likely have that first bet lose

1:52:27and then you're like I guess I didn't do all my research I really don't know maybe what I was thinking I was all over on the on the public side maybe I should have faded myself but um it's really good to see what other people are going to be doing and then you make your own judgments on you know I always go by my gut you know sometimes you look at what other people are doing but you always got a treasure gun this is I think a very fascinating time because as we go into the season we're gonna learn so much about these teams and you do have to I think you do have to treasure gut that's important and I think one of the the toughest things to do is to learn when to let like go your gut like you know what I was actually wrong about this team or this guy or whatever it is and that's something we're gonna keep an eye out here as we get through the early part of the season there's certainly going to be some missteps uh something that I want to talk about that came up this week for the Pittsburgh Steelers playing the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday and this line came out in May when the schedule comes out the first week comes out early and it had stuck at three points for months and months and months at the beginning of this week it moved to half a point

1:53:32to three and a half news comes out today uh on Thursday excuse me to a tag of Ioloa injured in practice not sure if he's gonna play Cooper Rush taking first team reps and the line bolts to five and a half how should casual bettors approach a line that is swinging drastically in the middle of a week so if you're if you're gonna bet I know injuries always happen it's always better especially NFL if you like a certain side or total you bet early you bet often typically that's not my style I like to see where the market goes I like to see where the public perspective goes I like to see where all the money goes but in this case you know I thought the line was gonna be moving I didn't know about the two of the news until obviously recently and I was like you know even still thinking about the Steelers I'm not a Steelers fan my wife's a Steelers so I am invested in the Steelers I always have action on on the Steelers to have myself invested in the game but the thing is like I don't know how much I trust the Steelers to cover a five and a half line yes that jumped and some

1:54:36people might be like oh well Vegas must know something even even if the injuries are out there the line's gonna the line's gonna jump but then you missed you you missed your chance obviously we're not gonna know that there's gonna be injuries but if you are so set on the Steelers at minus three and a half obviously they could win by four you win your bet you just have to think about what what is going to happen by where's the market gonna move it typically moves in the middle but this was injury related are we really gonna trust Cooper Rush I really don't know but then again are we really gonna trust the Steelers who based on all the years have had very close games yeah I mean you as a Steelers fan do you trust them to cover minus five and a half yeah I mean I wouldn't normally I think this is an interesting year for the Steelers as well I don't think we know a lot about what these Steelers are gonna be like there's a lot of history here that we can talk about the Steelers history I mean if this was a Mike Tomlin Steelers team I would be staying

1:55:38away from minus five and a half I'm not sure what the right answer is for the Mike McCarthy Steelers team I don't think we have enough information really know what the right answer is this is a team in years past I think has really made a hallmark of itself of sort of playing down to the level of competition they are not a team that you could trust to run up the score if they get ahead against the inferior opponent maybe that'll change I don't know there's a lot of history the students have never lost to the Atlanta Falcons at home never seven oh and one all time at home you have to see Atlanta Falcons does that mean anything this week I don't know I don't need the Falcons by the way none of these Falcons have ever been played here I don't think there's a single Falcon maybe was Chris Limstrom here eight years ago I don't know I doubt it like you know almost the whole franchise has changed over in that time so I don't know those things mean anything but I do think with the Steelers especially early in the season it is difficult to just think about the Pittsburgh Steelers the way they existed in your head and try to bet on them because this

1:56:41is a very different team with very different tendencies under Mike McCarthy and I don't know what's going to carry through them what's not because it's like all right is it kind of are they going to turn back the clocks are Aaron Rogers at Mike McCarty they're going to turn back the clocks and they are they're going to have like a you know pretty a pretty good offense are is he going to be thrown it out to mechap he has a nice fun weapon in Michael Pittman Jr are they are they going to be putting up points unlike last year I always bet Steelers unders that's just me the total is sitting I think right now at like 41 and a half pretty pretty much everywhere I know four out of the last five times these these teams have met it has gone under the total especially if Cooper Rush is possibly starting depending on on how he looks what is Michael Penn is going to give you if he happens to come in I think he was dealing with some injuries as well we don't know what this offense of the steel is just going to look like my gut says under all the way that's pretty much what I bet all Steelers games I would lean under yeah I mean if if if my McCarthy gets a you know

1:57:48what a resurgence out of Aaron Rogers certainly the students I mean I don't think this Atlanta defense with no pass rush by the way Zadaria Smith were watching his status for this game as well he didn't practice on Thursday they're now top edge rusher with the with the other top two guys one injured and one suspended out for a while I don't think the Atlanta defense is you know a dominant unit I think Jeff Olberg's a good coordinator but if you I mean the big thing that gave Aaron Rogers trouble last season was the pass rush and if Atlanta can't do that I do think he has the weapons to sit there and pick him apart I just think the tendencies are very difficult I don't know what the Steelers defense is going to hold is Joey Porter Jr. going to play that's a big question so much unknown always in week one but I feel like especially in this game I agree with you that I mean I I generally think Steelers under is a move 41.5 is very low I personally would would feel like staying away from that one I don't I don't know that I trust the Steelers minus 5.5 either I

1:58:52do like the Steelers money line here minus 230 is not great money but I think it's it's a pretty safe bet for me the Steelers will have a significant home field advantage Atlanta has you know as much new as the Steelers do have and as much uncertainties we have about the Steelers you have all that with Atlanta too they have a new head coach as well and so I feel better about the Steelers playing in week one against another team that has a new head coach and so I think I like the Steelers money line but to me this is a tough line and a tough total to pick if you don't also like either total or spread you can always look obviously Pittsburgh's Sports Show you could look at the Falcons team total under so you know Steelers you know historically even in when they you know the last couple of years maybe not their best defense they still had a very good defense they could still shut down the defense especially of Cooper rushes on there and Falcons team total could be another

1:59:53way to tackle this game yeah I like that too because you know one of the ways that I think is like a a gotcha trap that betters fall into is like oh the backup quarterbacks playing so play the under but then sometimes the backup quarterback turns the ball over a lot and that leads to points and then the under doesn't hit so the team total is actually a good way around that I like that anything else about this game that you see that you want to bring up or you want to mention so I'm typically not a player prop guy but just from getting Michael Pittman Jr obviously DK Macap is going to be the big the big target Michael Pittman Jr he's going to be the second option I think instead of looking at DK even though him and Aaron Rogers now with all their conspiracy theories and how that they have been like you know their best buds now he's going to be looking towards him check downs or down especially down the field Michael Pittman could be your guy so you can maybe look like longest reception you could look like 25 35 maybe even 50 plus yards for Michael Pittman Jr

2:01:01which you could also parlay with the Steelers money like yeah he's plus 20 plus 235 anytime touchdown as well which he's a big guy good red zone threat pat for arm with plus 400 anytime touchdown I think I like both of those move move any time touchdown in in the red zone I would be all over that yeah yeah I agree let's let's let's jump to college football come back to the NFL in a minute here this is a line that had I've been staring at all week and scratching my head Pitt UCF Panthers at home coming off a huge win over Miami-Go-Hio Mason Hainchal getting Heisman hype out out of nowhere wins the Maxwell award player of the year or play of the week for the best offensive player in all of college football high times the Panthers going into week two a UCF team that played Betoond Cookman and did what you're supposed to do against Betoond Cookman Panthers by seven at home I do not know what to make of this line that line that line seems kind of low

2:02:05in my opinion just from how dominant Pitt was with the seven touchdowns coming coming from their quarterback um you know you have UCF planned a swag team you get nothing out of that the only thing that is making me lean Pitt and I typically don't like to lay touchdowns if this was six and a half it would be I would I would be on Pitt however Narduzzi you know he always starts off strong pretty much um especially against teams teams like this Pitt at home this isn't the best analysis but I could just see some carryover but with that line being that short I would not be surprised if maybe it could be like you know a UCF first half and then Pitt pulls away late where they're like hey maybe this is actually like a big boy team now we're not playing Miami Ohio even though that they played Betoond Cookman I could see Pitt maybe coming off through a slow slug slugger start especially with the line being seven I mean if they if he had seven touchdowns and

2:03:07he's already some people are throwing him in the Highestman conversation why isn't that line higher that's that's sometimes the mindset that I have to have I would have thought that maybe this amlying would have been maybe eight nine maybe even ten yeah I agree uh and and that makes me what I always you said earlier you're talking about like what does Vegas know that I don't you know and and when I see a line that is three points from where I expected it to be I do think that kind of gives me some pause um but I do uh like the Panthers to win this game straight up their minus 278 so that's an awful lot um the total in this one 56 and a half you that is an absurdly high total for a game where Pat and Arduzius coaching UCF does run a lot of tempo it should be a high play game and again they scored 73 against Betoond Cookman it's Betoond Cookman that's not even like a that's a below average FCS team um but 56 and a half feels very high

2:04:13unfortunately that's the only way that I would look I got I mean I don't think Pit is a team that you you want to play under unless they're playing like some big boy competition like some teams with some really good defenses and you can't gauge what UCF defense is obviously going to look like because they did play Betoond Cookman and for I'm I'm I'm I'm an under guy throwing through but if I had to look at this game it's going to be over he's going to be throwing the ball pit's pit's defense do we really know what they look like yet no because we didn't get a get a good a good gauge from them and I have questions about their pass rush I think their secondary is pretty good but I have questions about their pass rush they're usually good at stopping the deep stopping the run but that's usually yeah I make some good points there I think I like the Panthers seven seven's that could be a Pennsylvania parlay right there that that could be a pit Penn State parlayer there you go well let's move to the lines next there playing a road game at temple which will not be a road game I expect the link to be about seven eighths full of Penn State fans at least

2:05:19their minus 23 and a half on the quote unquote road to me a very impressive performance by that Penn State offense against what I think is a pretty good defense in Marshall I don't know what to make of this temple squad but where do you fall on the lines here you I mean temple temple man handled Rhode Island 38 to 14 do we do we know much about Rhode Island is anybody plugged into Rhode Island football I don't know more than us season of love maybe I could ask him for some tips on this one however Penn State offense did look great they pulled the starters pretty quickly I thought maybe that Campbell was going to make a statement and even run it up even higher but they didn't do that their offense did look ten times better than what I expected I when me and you were talking previously I thought this was going to be more of like a Penn State Ohio State cyclones where it's going to be we're going to run the football and we're just going to run it down your throat that

2:06:22was not the case however it was Marshall so do we really think that this team that we don't that this is Mack Campbell's first game on the road yes it is temple this is this is a pretty pretty big number it jumped up it jumped up from 23 to 24 probably 24 and a half right now in some spots that's too many points to be laying on the road this is going to be one of temple's big games they're all going to be high for it neutral neutral yes probably majority Penn State I've even bias as a Penn State fan I do not feel comfortable laying 24 on the road maybe this could be like a first half situation for Penn State maybe even temple depending on where you lean I know a couple of my buddies are like you could don't be sleeping on the owls don't be sleeping on the owls and these are some guys who are really plugged into temple out of football so that's giving me pause a little bit but I still don't feel comfortable laying more than three touchdowns and a field goal

2:07:22on the road temple did beat Penn State in 2015 27 to then and the last time they played it was a loss in and happy valley but a close with 34 27 and 2016 of course again a whole new coaching staff at Penn State with Mack Campbell this year and a whole new coaching staff since any of those games Casey Keeler of the new guy at temple this is his second year I went six and seven last year I think I like to over 50 and a half here that's the number that strikes me I was so impressed by that Penn State offense last week like you said they scored 45 it could have been 60 honestly if that had kept going and if temple has any offense at all I think this game can get over 50 pretty quickly even that again going back to team totals Penn State team total over if you don't feel comfortable laying 24 and a half on the road who knows if they pulled the starters again or God knows what could happen in college football we saw a crazy week one thank God I didn't bet almost

2:08:25like any game because I want to see what was going to happen that was a great decision on my part so maybe a Penn State team total over could be the other way to look at it we've got the last college game I want to touch on here West Virginia hosting UT Martin all right I don't think you know anything about UT Martin I don't know very much about UT Martin they're the sky hawks I know that if this was college basketball I would be all I would be all down to talk about UT Martin yeah there you go okay so let's say though you're a West Virginia fan and you don't know anything about UT Martin either but you want to find a way to put some money on this game what do you do in this circumstance where maybe you're familiar with one of the teams and you just don't know anything about the other one 40 41 and a half creep creeped up one first off West Virginia almost blue that game against coastal against coastal Carolina they probably should have lost from from what I saw in the highlights because you know I was watching Penn State and I was and I was watching pit

2:09:27but 41 and a half with a with a total of 55 and a half do we do we trust West Virginia to cover 41 and a half after a close call with coastal Carolina I really I I I would not do that yes the line is big for a reason again going back to team totals this would either be a team of West Virginia team over because base off the first game and the highlights that I saw from West Virginia I would not feel comfortable laying 41 and a half unless that was a get right spot and then Rich Rod coming back he's just gonna lay the hammer down now I think this would be more of a team total West Virginia over their team told us compared to laying 41 and a half and it might go up before kick let's talk about one more NFL game before we wrap things up here I know you want to want to mention the Giants Giants Cowboys Sunday Night Football first game for John Harboh up there in New York I saw ticket prices through the freaking roof the Giants fans are taking words out of my mouth

2:10:30that they're fired up what this is a game that I'm very interested in first of all Sunday night is always that sort of hey you're having a tough day let's get right now what what do you this is a game that I think is very interesting because I look back at the Cowboys over the years and I feel like there's a lot of these games where Dak Prescott has been in where they're planning team that they probably should be especially in their division and prime time and they don't just they just don't get it done but he's been very good against the Giants this line is another one that you look at and you kind of scratch your head and and I want to know what you make of it so Dak Prescott is 14 and three in his career against the Giants that is not good for me as as a diehard Giants fan the line is moving down though the line is moving in the in the Giants favor it opened up a three and a half it's three everywhere now I see some two and a half I think that's a fandal currently yes fandal

2:11:35plus two and a half minus minus one oh five ticket prices are the highest they've been for a prime time game since I think 2011 which is wild being in New York neighbors neighbors should play however John John Harbaugh was very feisty in his interview he wasn't giving literally anything away yesterday that that I watched he wasn't giving any schemes who's playing who's not playing anything like that that's exactly what I want my head coach speaking of that the only thing that worries me for the Giants coming in this game is the corners they are starting Tay Banks who has been in my opinion historically bad as a first round pick at corner and then opposite him is going to be a great news on the second who came over from I think he did a stand in Baltimore and he was also in Cleveland. Giants Pass Russis is going to be very good Tyrone Smith all pro left guard he's out I think that is absolutely massive for the for the Giants Pass Russ they are they are going to get to him they should Dakhan Scramble he's going

2:12:39to have a lot of dump he's going to have a lot of dumper outs this is going to be a bias take I've gotten crushed with these bias takes before there's it just feels different about this team my only worry is the is on the offensive side of ball is jacks is jet jacks and dark is he going to be able to get it out there from everything I saw in camp the offense did progress as the camp went on especially in West Virginia do I have the utmost confidence in the offense right now no but then again I don't know what this offense is going to look like because I don't like because nobody has gotten anything unless you were at camp watching it first hand you don't know what this offense is going to look like I do know that the defense is going to be good but the way the lines move and I personally have a money line ticket already in my pocket I'm forgetting about the points something's telling me that the Giants are going to come in here everyone's talking about them being a sleeper team to go to the playoffs do not like that but I think the pass rush the stadium's going to be rocking Dak has owned the Giants lines coming down I think the Giants are going to

2:13:44they're they're they're they're going to do something good here and I think Harbots like 16 and 5 and is in like home openers some some crazy stat so if he's going toe to toe with Dax record against the Giants Harbots been awesome in home openers something's something's different about this team people are excited Giants money line like the Giants money line as well and I think great news I'm glad you brought up a Craig Newsom George Pickens last game against Greg Newsom in Cleveland I think he had like 40 yards something like that was wasn't a dominant performance at all and Newsom got in his head and made him take a penalty he got into a fight at the end of the game I'm really looking forward to seeing if he can keep that going I assume that that's going to be the matchup because of course you got Lamon the other side and then Sunday night football sorry to cut you off the center Sunday football OBJ back the blonde hairs back when was it when was when was the

2:14:45best catch besides the helmet catch almost in NFL history it was Sunday night it was on prime time and it was against the Cowboys and I think the Giants lost that game but if I'm if if I'm John Harbaugh I'm coming out and I'm doing the same exact play the very first play I think John Harbaugh is a very good early season coach I think his message can get stale as things go on I don't think he necessarily handles like adversity so well but I think like you said like great record early in the season I think is a very good early season coach I agree I like the Giants Bob thanks so much for joining me glad we got this time to do this this week and we're gonna keep doing or you keep rolling along every week and and hopefully uh helps some people make some better bets absolutely thanks for having me again Alan that's Bob Karnarski in front of ad Berg bats you also find his picks at CBS Sportsline thanks so much for keeping his rolling here on the first episode of the Pittsburgh football show and let's keep it right going here we are going to

2:15:52talk to Mike Astie of West Virginia Sports now let's bring Mike in like thanks so much for joining me yeah man star studded first the Pittsburgh football show glad to have you a part of this glad to talk some mountaineer ball love that place and the environment down there uh didn't necessarily get a great performance out of the years of me once the win and uh that is unless you turned your TV off after the first half then nobody remembers if you win ugly in September in college football I always say that to just just get them win this week you know I mean you team Martin coming in I don't know much about the sky hocks as I was just talking with Bob about but what did you learn about this West Virginia squad from a bit of a struggle against coastal Carolina last week yeah Alan happy to be part of this with you and if a lot of these teams in the region aren't going to have exciting games and not a conference play if we're not going to have the backer brawl this year I'm wearing the central verse everyone shirt for this

2:16:55so at least we're going to have a rivalry in the region oh we talked about the game talk was that regleason who next those two pieces for you uh I'm gonna be there tonight I had to check it out stadium debuted I was there for some championships but we didn't have a stadium so we're gonna have a stadium debut in a big rivalry game but yeah speaking of a game that's not so much in terms of the limelight being on it for the mountain years in week two they have UT Martin it could be the week one game you could argue but this should be a game they should get right because and that's what you guys were mentioning in the last segment it was a tale of two halves against coastal Carolina I mean that was kind of a pesky opponent that historically does compete in these big time games but for anyone who's not aware they're dealing with a first year head coach a roster overheal overhaul of their own and yet they made it very very close and Alan it's one of those games the box score does not tell you what happened there the first half it looked like rich rott of old first play on offense came coach 72 yards along his play from

2:18:01a scrimmage for a for a mountaineer in his debut with the program and its history as insane as that sounds flashes of Steve slight and doing it with pat white there standing on the sideline and being honored and I even had people in the press box who have nothing to do with West Virginia that just covered the program and aren't alone saying are they actually back did he finally recruit players that fit if he didn't do it last year Michael Hawkins looked great he was doing it through the air on the ground they were clicking and they were scoring they were dominating and then you get to the second half and it looked kind of like West Virginia last year where they got sluggish the offense couldn't get it moving defensively their past defense was really suspect and doose Bailey whom people joked that rickshaw was trying to recruit after the game was slicing and dicing and and picking apart the mountaineer defense and it honestly looked like they ran out of time they just waited too long and then the game ended so this is a game that I'm not saying they're going to go ahead and win by 40 that that's just insane but they really need to have a solid performance because the true barometer of this team is week three as you know neutral site charlotte we've talked about

2:19:06it when we were there it's two us camp together that's probably advantage fan base wise west Virginia but Virginia's been a better team in recent years and so far as this year so if West Virginia can do what they did in the first half against Virginia they have an easy opening conference schedule can get ranked and can really get this thing moving if they don't and they look like the second half team or they don't win enough and don't impress enough against UT Martin and that shows against Virginia then maybe this is going to be a longer journey than even rich rod think so unfortunately we really don't know how good or bad this team is or what mountaineer teams going to show up week to week off of a win but I will say Alan they probably would have lost that game last year so they I do think they showed a ceiling that they're certainly better than last season's team there's a wood if story and a possibility of being better than last season's team already that's evident in terms of the talent but that second half is to be desired and it cannot happen if you're going to really contend. Tell me a little bit more about Michael Hawkins the quarterback

2:20:06transfer from Oklahoma won a competition through training camp it was announced late in camp although I think it was trending toward him being started for a while there you look at the stat line it's interesting 11 of 14 132 so high consistency of completions but I mean 132 is not exactly lighting up the stat sheet also ran for over a hundred yards what did you make his game would you feel like you learned about him in week one yeah it was typical rich rod as you know I mean it was Michael Hawkins job to lose he was the power for transfer he's the guy getting paid he's the guy with all the talent he was a four star recruit Scotty Fox was that other quarterback that you mentioned that he was competing with in the off season and he started a few games last year because of all the injuries he's kind of a rich rod guy but the ceiling is is higher with Michael Hawkins I do believe that I saw that against coastal it was always going to be Hawkins we're all we're reporting it locally nationally regionally whatever you want to say and rich rod just didn't want to announce it until kickoff he got making jokes so whatever but Hawkins showed he can be

2:21:11efficient he showed why he's the right choice because he has the arm strength and can fit the ball through the needle and throw it on a rope but he also missed some spots in the second half and I think what rich rod touched on too the issue is him to learn when to throw when to pass with the rich rod offense it's a spread but it the RPOs are there pat white could choose what to do he wants his guy when they're really a container to choose what to do Hawkins kind of shied away for some moments where he could have broke it through people think he's faster than pat white he's a burner so he could have shown that it maybe ran for 140 instead but that's a that's a line in stats that are similar to what occurred 20 years ago like 100 plus on the air 100 plus on the ground few touchdowns etc so he had a good day it's not a day that right now makes me stamp that he's you know going to be the future forever but it was a solid day for sure you got to see more of it I'd imagine you got to see Scotty Fox in the second half against UT Martin or something

2:22:13went wrong I know they wanted to play him and against coastal but the game didn't dictate that so Michael Hawkins is a dual threat quarterback who was once thought to be maybe the guy at Oklahoma and we'll see now what he does when they get into tougher competition but he's a dual threat guy and I think he fits rich rod I think there's a ceiling there and him and Cam Cook really have a chemistry so nothing to hate on from week one but that second half was just different than the first so we're going to see moving forward what's the receiving great down look like jaden brae I assume is kind of going to be the number one guy sure but I'm not very familiar with the group behind him and he had four catches with 29 just 29 yards though I mean that's not like number one receiver numbers and itself and I think it's a pretty under the radar group behind him what do you make of the collection of talent of wide receiver so it's a collection of talent but there's question marks there there's a lot of inexperience there certainly at major conference ball jaden brae is a guy

2:23:14he's probably best suited to be a number two but he's going to probably I mean he is the top receiver on West Virginia he was an integral part of Oklahoma state the last time they were in a big toe championship game he is a veteran in this sport the reason why people watching and listening may not remember him that much you're certainly Pittsburgh fans who are pit fans may not remember him that much he's been incredibly injured the last two years he was recruited by Neil Brown he's one of the carryovers he's been hurt two years has missed these big games hasn't been part of the team really he's stayed the course he's still there with eligibility and now he's fully healthy he has a big muscular body they can try him outside they can try him inside they talked about doing both he's an impact player and adds an extra dimension there john niders also on this team they need more though I would think this will be why they're not really a big 12 contender they don't have a big threat wide receiver to take the top off they tried to bring him Chris Henry junior they offered him a lot of money he still went to a high old state that's

2:24:15really the difference here for me but prince prince straining who is somebody they got over had time at boys he stayed and has some has some big game experience he's been hurt he's not going to play this week but Alan as you know with an FCS game there there's some that believe that he's basically just being held out because you're going to win this game even if you have none of the guys we mentioned because it's an FCS opponent so we'll see against Virginia what goes on but this is a very inexperienced receiver group behind jayden bray who's incredibly experienced at least having been called football but has been so hurt for recent years so it's it's important to see what they do through the air and what Hawkins allows them to do through the air even though this is a very much ground first offense and I'll even add outside of camcook at 32 carries in week one you can't do that every week they got to have more behind him lad more could be behind him Chris tally could be behind him one of those guys got to step up and give more behind him it can't just be the camcook on the show on offense and the whole let cam camcook t-shirts that are out there

2:25:21that's great but like they're going to kill this man he was a leading rusher in the country last year it just cannot be him on his own so they need more behind him and more consistency even from him the big play to start off his career but no other carries with over 10 yards from that point on even though the total was great so it'll be on the ground but yeah they need something through the air yeah I think maybe like get cam a sous chef with maybe that would work of a t-shirt but I like the sense of it Mike thanks so much for joining us I know you got to run but excited to have you here on the first episode you can check out Mike on Twitter right there at Mike as the 11 and also of course go to West Virginia sports now for all of his uh West Virginia coverage and you can also check him out on yard barkers as well Mike thanks so much for joining us and we'll see you next week yeah appreciate the time man in uh roe bikes there you go now we're moving things right along here we're talking with Joe Smeltzer of Nittany Sports now next is we're moving from one uh college football beat to the other Smeltzer what's going on

2:26:24welcome to the show happy to have you here in the first episode of the Pittsburgh football show title open state ball yeah uh happy to be here I'm just realized I wrote my name in a lower case I don't know why I did that but um yeah we're uh we're rolling it's fine they all do it uh you you look hip uh Joe I want to ask you two two big questions I've got because let's be honest Marshall did not put up a lot of fight for the Nittany Lions last week and I'm not expecting temple to this week either honestly there's not a whole a heck of a lot of fight anywhere to be found on this Penn State schedule we'll talk about that more at some point but two big things I want to talk about that the we maybe we have learned if not in week one over the course of the season is the big thing the big change in happy valley you do it uh I think just for the uh fourth time in my lifetime a new head coach and Matt Campbell what do you make of his thumbprint on this program what is different about this Penn State football team because of the head coach yeah well I think the first

2:27:29thing everybody's noticing um is embracing Penn State tradition right when James Franklin was the coach um it was and it's understandable why this happened because of the circumstances and what you took over but it was very clearly James uh Franklin's Penn State um Matt Campbell um seems to me you know there's not the head coach is never going to be a background character but Matt Campbell's kind of trying to fade into the background as much as realistically possible his name wasn't introduced at the end of the starting lineup that became customary uh during the Franklin era he didn't lead the team out he was running kind of to the side uh the captains were up front and center um things like that and then obviously um going back to spring practice um the amount of letterman that came back I think upward of 400 showed up at some point back on campus during a spring practice and then um you saw some of the subtle Joe paterno tributes on Saturday I don't know how much uh of that was Matt Campbell's doing but um I think Penn State needed uh to kind of uh get back to embracing um why it is uh one of the more prominent brands in college football and

2:28:35I think um Matt Campbell's doing that um and um you know he assembled this roster and the roster looked pretty solid as you mentioned it was only Marshall but um if you remember last year Penn State was a team that a lot of people thought was gonna win the national title and they looked flat and really all-free non-conference games against teams that were no better if not worse than Marshall so I think Penn State's already done more than a non-conference uh the kind of make a statement than they did at any point last season um and um it's you know it's easy to like Matt Campbell before he's lost the game um by I think um definitely uh the difference uh the difference is noticeable and um he's pretty much a perfect cultural fit um at least from what we see right now the other big change to the Penn State program and Penn State is a place look we're talking Pittsburgh ball here we know Pittsburghers and change are not really friends right I mean that's sort of how we roll and if there's a place that is even less friendly with change it's Penn State

2:29:37and you've got a lot of changes to bever stadium to me I think for many of the 100 plus thousand people headed up the state calls last weekend the building was as much of a draw as as Penn State Marshall was what did you make of the new digs that were unveiled uh last Saturday oh yeah I think thing was pretty good it's um not as easy to tell um as you know I'm sitting in the press box so when you're not you know out in the open but um yeah it's uh you know the seats at the top of the stadium I really like the view from up there I'm not the biggest guy on the heights but um you know the scenery around beaver stadium is great I think that's uh showcase uh more now there are some problems uh somebody posted some instructive views uh which you're always going to see right we saw with the new bill stadium too on mine it's first preseason game but um the sound on this better I think it's safer overall to get around on there's still work uh being done on the stadium I'm excited to see what it looks like next year when phase one that they say is supposed

2:30:40to be completed but um yeah from uh everything outside I think a beaver stadium is a better place to watch um a football game uh then it was uh two years ago and things seemed to be moving right along um as they should be considering that this is uh 700 plus million dollar uh renovation they're doing so what if anything do you think you can learn about the Nintini Lions this week against temple that you didn't learn last week in a shutout win over Mars. Yeah I think um you know as Jen Shrenkel used to say this would be a bring your own juice type of game it doesn't have the pumpkin pumpkin circumstance of week one you're not playing in beaver stadium there's not going to be a hundred thousand plus people it's um not a first game for a new coach and it's against an opponent um that um isn't a big time uh isn't a big time foe uh to say at least but um I think what we can learn on is how Penn State is able to start um when there's an early kick um there's been times in the past where there's been a new game on the road or even

2:31:40at home where Penn State's been a little sluggish there's going to be a few new games uh Penn State has a new game again I'm against Buffalo I'm not sure when the next one is after that did they get times haven't been finalized wherever game but um I I'm excited to see how Penn State starts out and whether or not they're kind of sleepy for the first half or whether they get after a right away like that then against Marshall and I think uh you could uh learn that and I think this is the best team Penn State's played um up to two I mean there's not a lot of competition but this is a well coach team uh Casey Keeler has uh won a lot um I'll be at a lot of it at the D free level uh but this is a guy who's been a head coach uh for a long time and that they're playing an opponent um that's gonna get up for Penn State um especially Dan the land who played in I think four Penn State temple games when he was there he said matter of factfully this is a super bowl for temple and he's not wrong temple was gonna come out firing um they know Penn States is a bigger brand they know they're gonna be probably outnumbered attendance wise in their own stadium uh temple's gonna be ready to go and um so that's that's probably what I'm most

2:32:44interested to see is how how much would Penn State be affected by an early kick um and how they respond uh when the teams are coming after them the way temple's gonna be here we're just talking with Bob Karnarski and temple's been a tough out and they beat Penn State uh in was it 2016 and then uh 2015 and then 2016 back at state college not an easy now you're not not not a walk over win like you would normally assume uh there was another tight game uh infill to help you back in 2011 that was the so the last two times that Penn State played this game against temple in Philly a 14-10 win and a 27-10 loss uh probably uh do you sense some trepidation from the Penn State fan base or is just the uh the the good vibes of a new head coach and a giant win of a week one of writing all that yeah I think maybe a little bit uh with the trepidation um I seen references to 2015 uh hackenburg being sacked I think it was 10 times and then what they did afterward with

2:33:47literally buried that I was actually playing left tackle in that game you might as well have been but um yeah uh the the references to 2015 uh burying the game film which they literally buried the game film after that game uh that's a come up uh by I think overall the mood is generally good there's not too much uh too much concern uh for uh for a repeat but yeah as you mentioned a temple's played Penn State tough really to last several times in uh 2016 it took a big sake on Berkeley run late to put the game away uh there's a game I think it was 2010 where temple was ahead at the half and beaver stadium so um granted that was in uh the outgolden uh Matt Rool um era of uh temple football and they're probably a little stronger than they are now but um yeah this is still a well-coed trip all team I think they look good uh for whatever it was worth from against road island but um overall um I don't think that there's too much concern uh for an upset I think Penn State showed a lot um in a week one as much as you can at least against some or show and I think uh yeah the vibes um the vibes are pretty good as with every team in football

2:34:55uh Penn State is going to go largely as a quarterback does what did you make out of Rocco Bex performance in week one and what do your expectations for his season change at all based on what you said against Saigon's Mars. Ah it looked he looked great uh Rocco was fantastic out four touchdowns no interceptions uh over 200 yards in a little over a half a football I think he got pulled midway for the third quarter but um Rocco looked really good I don't know what the expectations have changed because uh this guy um is uh I don't want to say he's a finished product but he's closer to most um he's started more games I think than anybody um in the country he was the winningest quarterback among the reserves in college football um is uh you covered uh the Kenny Pickett led uh 2021 pit team uh could we see something like that uh potentially he has uh this players around them uh they make it happen I think the offense aligns really good um I think the receivers for once at Penn State are actually solid the tight ends um are continually solid in fact

2:35:55Penn State has two at the best block in tight ends I think in college football and um the running game didn't show it done against Marshall but I think that's going to get going too so uh yeah Rocco is more experienced now he has a lot um around them he is healthy uh which that's a big deal and um I think at the very least uh Penn State can expect the replication of what he was able to do in 2024 when he led I will say to uh to a big ten but sorry big twelve championship game but um overall it's hard to say the expectations I'm gonna change too much uh because again it was Marshall and we've seen a lot of what Rocco Beck could do but um yeah I think um I think there's um definitely a possibility of for Rocco Beck to break out and um be uh be a lot better uh then maybe some people think uh this guy um is a winner he's not gonna make mistakes um and uh he's the type of guy that you can win with on that quarterback it's just a matter of what his ceiling is from you know an athletic and uh physical standpoint Joe thanks so much for joining us time low Penn State ball enjoy your trip to Philly uh are you going to get a cheese steak what's

2:36:58the game plan on that front oh good question uh I'll try my best uh to get a to get a cheese steak it's not gonna be a particularly long trip I'm gonna cover the game uh do my post game after I and then I get back um get back uh at some point I was out there some day but uh yeah I I hope there's some time I've for a cheese steak in there I think uh the game being a new kick uh kind of helps the chances uh maybe some uh post game uh who knows but uh yeah that's that's something I had out on my radar so check out Angelos if you get a chance that's to me one of the better I already talked about Pats and Gina there's better there's better explore get get further afield find find something uh better than the top line Joe thanks so much for joining us uh and joining us regularly here is we talk Penn State ball every week on this first episode of the Pittsburgh football show you can find Joe on uh the socials uh at Joe Smeltzer 775 on Twitter and you can check out his uh uh Penn State content at knitney sports now dot com Joe thanks

2:38:03so much for joining us yep thanks Alan and now we're gonna move things along talking some fantasy football with Jordan Hill of Roto baller he's going to be our resident fantasy football expert as we move things along on this first episode of the Pittsburgh football show by by Jordan Hill Jordan is going to be talking fantasy football with us here uh on the Pittsburgh football show Jordan is with Roto baller and is another Pittsburgh guy Jordan welcome so glad to have you thanks Alan appreciate it uh happy to be here so uh you know part of this show is we're talking about the students we're talking about local college sports uh we're gonna talk about fantasy football a lot in this segment but we want to keep it Pittsburgh and so I found some some people in the content creation space with some Pittsburgh backgrounds that are beyond the sort of usual beat reporters you're the one of the guys that I came up with tell us a little bit about your background I know you're from Pittsburgh uh I knew you grew up a Steelers fan obviously as you can see with the

2:39:06backdrop there uh but give me a little bit of of what brought Jordan Hill to to this place sure yeah so I mean just really grew up a Steelers fan my dad was always a huge into football and he um he's had a fantasy league that's been around longer than me um and so I'm of course I'm in that league but I was introduced to it at a very young age you know like just going to some of the live drafts and stuff so um just really been really interested in fantasy my whole life um my mom got into it me and her actually have a team and my dad's league so it's really brought our our whole family together and it's it's been just a big part of my life ever since so um I'm in more leagues than I'd like to admit now but um have a lot of fun with it and um you know it's it's been great getting to do some work with Roto baller two and cover the Steelers over there so what uh what's your experience with real football did you play did you watch as a kid were you a TV watcher a a a stadium attendor where's the where's the love go back to yeah uh I never played

2:40:10like real tackle football I played flag football as a kid um still played as an adult just a couple of years ago I played um but yeah I just really just watching a lot of TV um once who a few games as a kid um one that sticks out I was really young but I went to um the playoff game I want to say it was like 2000 against the Browns um and with the Browns uh came back and and won that game and it was uh I don't think they won but they came back and it was a crazy comeback but um just just kind of remember that when I was really young and now a few other games I went to as a kid but mostly just you know watching all on TV with with my family when did fantasy football like did were you hooked immediately was it something did you have to win once what what was the kind of thing that was like hey this is something that's just that's more than just a little hobby for me the way it is for most people yeah um I definitely think winning once pretty early on kind of got me hooked um I remember you know being young and and pretty new to

2:41:14my dad's league that I've mentioned and and we won uh one of the first years in the league so I think that probably had a pretty big impact um and yeah I it's just kind of you know spiraled from there just started a few leagues my own with with friends um I think just you know meeting a lot of people that also have a similar interest in it and um just finding time to to set up live drafts really really got me hooked the whole event of it I think is a lot of fun so you said you're in a lot of fantasy football leagues is it the number is it who you're in leagues with is it maybe the way the leagues are run what's the most sort of fantasy football sicko thing about what Jordan Hill has going on right now oh it's it's definitely the number of leagues so um I I try to explain it by most of my leagues are dynasty leagues um and I think the biggest commitment for people with fantasy is the waiver wire right like every week you're looking at

2:42:15the free agents you can pick up um and that's you know a good portion of of time spent looking at that um and I think with dynasty it's a little bit less of a commitment in that regard because the waiver wire is usually pretty thin um that uh benches are deeper so there's a there's a lot of players that are already accounted for um so that's kind of how I excuse it to my wife and my family but um no I'm still in way too many leagues and it does get to be quite a lot during the season but it's it's really all about having fun for me and if I can you know make back what I what I paid to be in a certain amount of leagues and and pay for my dues in the next year I'm usually pretty happy how did your work with rhodoball or come about and when did you sort of think oh I you know I'm not just gonna play this I'm gonna I'm gonna talk about it too yeah I think it was around uh it was 2022 that you know I just decided I've always been interested in writing and I've enjoyed writing and creative writing like that so um I saw uh uh I it's probably a tweet just saying

2:43:16that they were looking for writers for the upcoming season and I decided to give my first go at like just writing some articles um and just submitted some samples to them and and that was it so ever since then you know I've been I've been doing a trade target articles for them during the season and then just uh Steelers news like recaps and and outlooks from a fantasy perspective how has sort of working in that space changed the way you perceive fantasy football change the way you perform that kind of thing I definitely think it's helped um just sort of just staying on top of things and um being you know I I see so much news come across and I I've had a lot of notifications on Twitter on my phone for a long time at this point but I think you know being committed to that and uh just seeing all of that come through we have group chats that you know a lot of people are sending things in all the time um not that I really get any insider information but I do feel like I'm I'm first to see news when it when it's reported so um yeah I think that

2:44:18definitely helps me stay on top of things I'm usually the first one to run and grab a free agent in my fantasy leagues if I you know here's somebody went down I'm I'm getting their backup right off of uh uh the waiver wire as soon as I can so I definitely think it's helped there do you feel like there's a pressure when you're in like I don't know a league with your buddies from high school or whatever like you feel like you should win it I feel like I should win those leagues based on my job I I gotta feel like it's even through more significant for you yeah no there's a lot of pressure and the crazy thing is so the one league that I commissioned that has uh some of my family and a lot of my best friends in it we've been doing it for probably six six or seven years now and I have not won yet so that really but I think I make the playoffs every single year but I cannot win that league so yeah no there's there's always a lot of pressure in that regard um but yeah it's it's a good time more than anything you know I just I want to have fun talk trash and and compete with my friends so I mean that's what it's all about really at the end of the day I think that's what makes it such a universal appeal for so many people and watching football you know I think it gives

2:45:21your reason when Thursday night is uh Brown's Saints you know for you to be like oh I'll watch this I get to see how uh you know you know my Jerry Judy is gonna do you know I I need those points and so I think that's that's part of the the allure as well uh we argue to talk about college football on this show a good bit I don't know how much we're gonna talk about on this segment have you dabbled in college fantasy football at all not not at all no I I enjoy watching college football but I will be the first to tell you I I don't know that much um like I I want to pit I'm a pit fan if I if I have to pick but I I don't keep up with with pit football as much as I probably should well maybe you'll uh you'll will reignite your fandom here based on uh you watching this show every week we're gonna talk a lot of college football especially with Chris Carter here in this space and Jack kill so that's gonna be a lot of fun as well Jordan this has been great uh what's one last thing that the people should know about you before uh next time we come in and we'll actually talk some

2:46:25real fantasy football hmm I'm I'm really excited for the Steelers this year I I guess we'll we'll go with that I'm I'm just I I'm looking forward to what that offense is gonna look like um you know I'm I'm encouraged by some of the things I've seen in the preseason so um yeah I mean I'm excited to talk about it more and and see how they can do for fantasy but I'm I'm pretty optimistic I think a lot of guys can surprise there so that's that's one little thing I'll throw out there um I'm leaving for Italy in a few days so you know I I have a big trip ahead of me but I'm gonna be keeping up with football as much as I can while I'm out there there you go Jordan Hill you can find him on Twitter at Jordan with an e hill 95 or at rotobuller dot com Jordan thanks so much for joining can't wait to have you back and talk more fantasy football next time this has been awesome we're headed to the grand finale of the first episode of the Pittsburgh football show Rowland right along here can't believe it's been almost three hours already this has been so much fun

2:47:28and we're gonna wrap things up the way we are going to every week by bringing in our buddy Jack Hillgrove Jack Hillgrove uh who has you know this is a wonderful uh addition to this because this shows all about Pittsburgh football and we're welcoming Jack back to Pittsburgh football now I didn't go far but uh Jack of course grew up in the south hills and has been working uh out in Ohio for the last few years but it's now back on your Pittsburgh airwaves a new show on WPGH channel 53 uh Fox and it's gonna be every evening uh seven p.m. just started called Pittsburgh sports tonight uh so Jack's got a new thing we've got a new thing happy to bring you on as part of it Jack welcome to show welcome back to Pittsburgh Alan I appreciate it good sir thanks for having me a part of this uh I'm excited to do it every week the grand finale I feel very honored to be a part of your grand finale and uh yeah I appreciate the plug Pittsburgh sports tonight every week night at seven o'clock on Fox 53 uh we're getting ready to wrap up our second week second full

2:48:32weeks or a tenth live show uh it's been a blast uh a new and exciting young cast and uh we've been having a lot of fun you know before we get to the grand finale and we're gonna get to it uh the the the pool of Pittsburgh uh is strong and in our business it is a lot easier to live your life if you are willing to go take a job anywhere and uh you certainly had opportunities to go to other places and you always stuck pretty close to home uh it's got to be pretty rewarding for you to get this opportunity back in Pittsburgh which is what does it mean uh for you to be able to do that and and how tough was that process of maybe you know not getting that opportunity when you thought you might and having to consider maybe whether you wanted to go other places yeah absolutely I mean there's a lot of things you had to consider right I mean I've had a girlfriend for three years and I've had those conversations like hey do you want to move to Columbus or hey do you want to move to Cincinnati or Charleston West Virginia and um you know none of those opportunities

2:49:34I thought were were better for me at the time and you know there were a couple of full-time opportunities in Pittsburgh the last couple of years that I missed out on and then and face some rejection and uh you know this new one it makes all of that a little bit sweeter and you know in my previous capacity doing sports for WTOV in the Ohio Valley like I would get to some stealer stuff like home games and like maybe a practice here there and you know we've got a presence here every day now which is it's it's a lot of fun and yeah I mean it's to to be able to do this in my hometown and try like heck to uphold a legacy it's uh it's been a lot of fun a lot of pressure but uh you know we'll we'll take it all and stride and uh you know try to try to do the best we can for sure I'm I'm sure you're gonna do a fantastic job I'm really uh excited about the new show and uh and everything you got going on over there channel 53 so the way we're gonna format this grand finale every week is that I am going to bounce uh some topics off jack we're gonna kind of go as rapid fires we can as we get through to the finish line at 12 and hey today's a hard finish line

2:50:38because you're there at the Steelers facility and you gotta go to the locker room uh their ending practice early so we gotta get you out of here uh but uh jack I want to start with college ball you mentioned the legacy of course your grandfather played by play voice of the panthers they had an awfully strong start to their season Mason Heintel seven touchdowns in the opener against Miami of Ohio it is very early in his college football career still just a soft more but it's hard to be not excited about the progress where do you think things go from here with Mason Heintel what's your gut feeling about where this journey is going to take him right now yeah I mean I've seen a lot of people like put Heisman power rankings or in quarterback power rankings out there after one I mean obviously he burst onto the scene last year as a freshman and through seven touchdowns last week and I've seen a lot of you know Heisman mentions with Heisman and I think it's a little early for that I don't know how realistic it is for him to be in New York in December it'd be awesome if he was uh but I think you know right now he's

2:51:40the best quarterback this program has had since Kenny Pickett as a senior in 2021 and you can buy that with I think a relatively favorable schedule especially early on for Pitt like if he keeps this up maybe just a ticker two down from 450 yards and seven touchdowns against Miami Ohio you know I think it's out of the question that they're like five or six and oh going into the latter half for the regular season um but for him personally you know I think you're going to see a lot of a lot of statistical stuff where he ranks near the top of the conference in the top of the country and you know if he stays healthy you know I think this guy really do think this guy's the limit to the extent of again I don't know how realistic it is for him to be in New York because you got a lot of the lead quarterbacks at the college level that play at bigger programs and better conferences but you know it's a senior offensive line a lot of fifth and even some 60 year guys um if they can keep him upright they're gonna be really really good and also too like they're gonna be able to run the football a lot better with a bunch of different guys so I'm sure

2:52:42I think it's trending obviously in the right direction after a big big week but you know I think really this guy's the limit for a guy like him and and what he can accomplish but you said he's the best pit quarterback since Kenny Pickett and I definitely think that's not a lot of competition yeah pretty obviously true but how about this I think he's going to be the best sophomore pit quarterback since Dan Marino I mean he like Kenny Pickett turned out to be a good quarterback and and made himself a first round pick based on that 4,000 yard 50 year season and his his sophomore year in 2018 he was not particularly good the the team was okay they made it to the ACC championship game and he famously finished that game with single digit passing yards I think Hainchal in terms of a young pit quarterback man I think you're gonna go way back yeah I mean I'm thinking off the top of my head like guys that got opportunities as sophomores I mean he like Holstein did and got benched uh Tino Sincere wasn't very good until he was a senior

2:53:45uh I don't know that he was better than Rod Ruffford or Tyler Talco yeah I agree with that statement wholeheartedly I mean that's some pretty elite company to be in and you know in this day and age Allen like NIL and and guys getting poached it's a serious thing but he could potentially start in in a pit uniform for three full seasons and you got a wonder like when it's all said and done way down the line like where he's ranking as far as records for pick quarterbacks go which you know it's excited to be talking about that with a young guy for sure and we'll see about the third year if he keeps playing this well there's going to be some awfully big programs Anokin with some NIL money uh we'll see uh we'll see how that goes uh this Saturday Pat and Arduzi is going to tie the all-time pit program record for games coached as a head coach which just feels insane to me like it just doesn't feel like that long of course my first year covering college football was his first year on the pit beat so maybe that's just why I'm in denial about how old I am and how long

2:54:50I've been doing this but what do you make what is right now Pat and Arduzi's legacy at pit? I think it's defined by stability I mean whether you like it or not I mean and I've seen a lot of opinions swayed one way or the other on Pat and Arduzi for the last 12 years I think stability and bringing stability to a program it is his legacy and obviously the ACC championship is pretty darn cool that he was able to accomplish as well but like Alan think about it Paul Christ preceded him and never I don't think really ever had his heart in this job he was the second is Alma Mater and Wisconsin opened up he was gone and before that they hired a guy that was here for one year and before that they hired a guy that was here for 17 days and there was a lot of frustration in the fan base at the time like there's no stability why can't this program sustain stability it had coach and here's Pat and Arduzi for 12 years and he's about to tie jock Sutherland for the most games ever coached at pit uniform and typical Pat Arduzi fashion when we asked him about it yesterday

2:55:50he completely played it off said he didn't care but I think it's a big deal I think it's a big deal for him and I think it's a big deal for this program and you know not only just for him personally but like think about how many guys really good enough or college football coaches just stopped because they got tired of the NIL or just were run out because of NIL the transfer portal and all that I think the latest one or the the next one's going to be Davos Swinney in Clemson and Arduzi is still the test of time in that regard has a winning record only two losing seasons you know in 11 four years as the head coach I think stability is what defines his legacy and I think that's really important for this program smooth the high school football real quickly Sean Doyle says shout out to the Highlanders shout out to the Highlanders Baldwin not playing wipiol football this year is this dumb and is this Baldwin's fault for not being very good or is this P.I. double A's fault for going to six classifications and upsetting the entire apple card I think you could kind of break that all down equally it is Baldwin's fault because they've never been good at football I

2:56:56mean they're they're bad now they're historically bad like the with all due respect to that student body right now what are we doing rushing the field and storming the field for beating Karek I laughed at that one last week especially as a you know a school that's five six a and every other sports you know they they were a two three win team when I was in high school 10 years ago and they have one conference title that came back in the 90s so I don't blame them for becoming a wpio independent especially when they only dress like what 20 to 30 kids last year it's a shame that that you know a big school like that and they're not the only one I mean Butler is as fell victim to that there have been other smaller schools that are wpio independent it's a shame but I give the administration credit for doing that because why suit up and play you know rosters double and triple your you know your numbers and bigger kids that just get your kids hurt for 10 weeks doesn't make a whole lot of sense so it's a shame that they have to do it but I totally understand it

2:57:56let's let's go to the Steelers where Randy Tobias wants to know does the Steelers winning the Super Bowl count as fantasy football is there any is there a chance for the black and gold this season there's a chance I don't think it's very high but I mean I always think of it this way if you're not the worst team in your division I think you've got some at least small sliver of a chance of winning a Super Bowl like when I think of teams that have absolutely no chance of winning the whole thing it's like the Cardinals the Browns the Jets um sure I'm missing some other teams out there that aren't very good but like yeah there's a chance but you know how likely is it I think less than 3% you know I mean they're just what have they given us the last 10 years to believe that they've been knocking on the door for a Super Bowl not a whole lot so you know they've got a win-now roster they're talented in that regard but I mean as far as being a Super Bowl contender a legit one I don't know about that how about Aaron Rogers can Mike McCarthy get a little bit more out of him

2:59:00than we saw in 2025 or is a 43 year old or going to be 43 year old quarterback uh just not cut out for the NFL anymore at this point what are you expecting for Aaron Rogers in 2026 is finally in the NFL you can stay upright I think you definitely Mike McCarthy gets definitely more out of Aaron Rogers than maybe Arthur Smith and Mike Tomlin did last year but that's a big if it's an offensive line that's moving to young guys from the right side to the left side questions on the right side now like how long are Spencer Anderson and Dylan Cook going to be able to be starters on the right side of that offensive line and I don't know if that adds up to trouble for Aaron Rogers you know getting pressured a lot getting sacked a lot and you know if he gets a lot of pressures and and a sacked a bunch like then you ask the question of how much can the 42 going on 43 year old guy take um so if they can keep him upright and obviously that's a big if but I think he's got better weapons on offense and Rico Dattle and Michael Pittman and a more you know competent offensive scheme and a guy and an scheme that he's unbelievably familiar with so yeah I think there's the potential

3:00:05was 100% there to keep him to get more out of him they just got to keep him protected keep him healthy and give him time to throw the football last thing the thing everybody wants to know that I don't have any idea so I'm interested to know what you what's gonna happen with Joey Porter Jr. where are we going with this uh is he had practiced today you I don't know if you can tell us that yeah you probably can uh but what's gonna happen uh this Sunday and and going forward with the steelier star cornerback yeah he was out there but uh today with the mock game and stuff we were only allowed to see them stretch and then they kicked us out so I don't know the the participation um I think he plays I mean like here's the deal I I have absolutely no idea if he's gonna get a contract before Sunday or not and even if he doesn't I think he plays I just think that the war on the depth chart where the Sanjay's and Samuel junior was indicative of Joey Porter Jr. missing time and training camp in the preseason and whether or not you know he was on the populace because of the back or more so because of a potential covered up hold in I don't know but because he missed time I think it's an

3:01:07war so if he plays without a contract on Sunday I think it'll be in a limited capacity um but I don't know I I have a feeling that maybe by the time we're getting ready to prep for our show tonight at seven o'clock or on my drive home once everybody's out of the facility you know maybe maybe we get a chef for a rap report bomb that something gets done I don't know we'll see but it's either tonight or tomorrow because we know they won't negotiate in the season so I don't know I might gut tells me I think something gets done at the like 11th hour up against the clock but we'll see yeah I'm off Saturday so that like just be where right that that can't happen right something's got to happen on Saturday so maybe that'll be it Jack thank you so much for joining us uh let everybody know again where they can find your show tonight yep UPFC Pittsburgh sports tonight seven to seven thirty on Fox 53 it also airs on Fox nine in the Wheeling stupid mill market WJC MB6 and NBC6 and John's down in Altoona so it's all over the region three markets uh we're also on YouTube and all the socials at PGH underscore sports TV give us a watch uh it's uh it's a fast

3:02:10pace show it moves pretty quick but we try to pack a lot in there so there you go Jack Helgrove thanks so much for joining us now you gotta run get to get to the locker room we'll see you around sounds good Alan thank you man and that is it that's a wrap for the first episode of the Pittsburgh football show so happy so excited to get this one in after what happened last week and uh hopefully we can maybe you know keep improving keep getting things better just think about how much better we made still is after the drive over the last three years I think this uh a bigger platform has a lot of room to grow as well really have a great lineup of guests today thank you for everyone who joined the show thank you for everyone who watched and listened to long pieces of this will be go we will be posted as podcasts uh over on the audio platform as well as bits and pieces of it posted reposted to YouTube here so if you can't stick around for the full three hours you just want to get the highlights you can do that as well thanks everyone so much for joining in and being a part of this and we will see you a little bit later today after the drive coming up normal time

3:03:15at six o'clock and uh so stay tuned for that as well Brennan should have a practice report from the south side between now and then until next time thanks for listening thanks for watching and enjoy