College football to kickoff this weekend
This is the first in a weekly series looking at college sports.
We will look at local teams like Pitt, Penn State, West Virginia, Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus, Cal U and Waynesburg, local athletes who are playing sports elsewhere, and those who have roles in college athletics in other areas.
The official opening weekend is upon us, finally!
PSU, WVU ranked, Pitt receives votes
Penn State comes in ranked sixth in both the AP Top 25 and the Coaches Poll while West Virginia is 22nd in the AP Top 25 and 20th in the Coaches Poll.
Pitt is just outside the Top 25 in both polls as it is 32nd in both polls.
PSU now the hunted
As a longtime Penn State season ticket holder, last season happened a year earlier than I expected.
But now, the team has gone from a surprise team and a hunter to the hunted.
How will the team handle this adversity?
I am cautiously optimistic that the team will have another solid year, and a lot PSU fans feel that the team will once again win the Big Ten.
While most people talk about Joe Moorhead蘑菇视频 offense behind the play of Saquon Barkley and Trace McSorley, the defense could be the reason why the team has another amazing run or come up short of expectations.
Will PSU pull out another Big Ten title and make the playoff, or will it still be looking up to Ohio State and Michigan in the East Division?
Akron heads to Happy Valley Saturday before Pitt comes to town on Sept. 9.
Pitt expectations lower than usual?
Talking to friends who are Pitt diehards, the general consensus is that there is not a lot of expectations and that a third-place finish in the ACC Coastal Division is the ceiling.
The biggest keys for Pitt to have a successful season will be the play of transfer quarterback Max Browne and All-American returner Qadree Henderson.
A fifth-year senior, Browne was once a five-star QB who attended to USC.
The Panthers will have to get the ball into Henderson蘑菇视频 hands downfield, and just not on jet sweeps or special teams.
Pitt hosts Youngtown State Saturday, and the Panthers have had issues with the Penguins in the past.
After heading to Penn State in Week 2, Pitt hosts Oklahoma State, ranked 10th in the AP Top 25 and 11th in the Coaches Poll.
The Cowboys are a trendy pick to win the Big 12 and make the playoff, so Pitt definitely has its hands full early.
WVU to contend for Big 12 title?
The Mountaineers are the fourth-highest ranked Big 12 team, but I can see them being in the mix at the end of the year.
Will Grier, a transfer from Florida, is the signal caller and he should have a productive season in the Big 12 where defense is not a priority.
Moorhead蘑菇视频 classy gesture
When I first met Joe in 2003, he was an assistant coach at Georgetown and I was an assistant on Monessen蘑菇视频 football staff.
He recruited Mikey Blainefield, now Monessen蘑菇视频 head coach, to Georgetown although Joe never got to coach him.
Despite this, Joe reached out to Mikey last week to wish him good luck in his head coaching debut at Charleroi.
鈥淚 really appreciate that,鈥� Mikey mentioned during a brief pregame conversation about 40 minutes before kickoff Friday. 鈥淚t means a lot that he would contact me.鈥�
Joe will be a head coach when the time is right for him and his family, but the fact that he reached out to a former player that he never ended up coaching shows what kind of person he is.
Dountas鈥� long weekend
Cal U grad Chris Dountas traveled with the Stanford football team last week to Sydney, Australia, for the team蘑菇视频 62-7 win over Rice.
Dountas, the Assistant Athletics Director-Equipment Manager at Stanford, and the team took the 14-hour flight on Sunday, the 20th and returned Monday morning after the 12-hour flight home.
鈥淚t was one of the hardest challenges of my career,鈥� Dountas said Monday morning. 鈥淗owever, it was also one of the greatest experiences of my career.鈥�
The Cardinal have this week off and that is a good thing considering they head to USC on Sept. 9 to take on the fourth-ranked Trojans.
BVA grad working his way up as an official
Shane Snyder, a 2006 Belle Vernon Area graduate, is officiating the Charleston at West Virginia State game on Saturday.
The Division II game is a Mountain East Conference game contest.
Other games
Cal U, ranked eighth in Division II, hosts Ohio Dominican Thursday night while Waynesburg opens at Muskingum Saturday.
All collegiate fall sports debut this weekend at the latest.
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If you know someone playing a sport in college, coaching one, or holding another role, email me or tweet me and we will get them mentioned in this column!
Email questions/comments to Bill at powerhousehughes@gmail.com or tweet them to me @BillHughes_III