Yahoo Ranks Pitt Football No. 48 In Nation

Yahoo is working their way through their 2012 college football rankings and the site ranks Pitt No. 48 in the nation.

Usually when these types of things come out, I like to find a 'money' statement ... something that jumps out at me. So, yeah, I found it:

Their last season in the Big East should be OK; they're not going to win the league unless a couple of other teams fall on their collective faces. Still, they should finish in the top half of the league and have the talent to beat any of their league foes. But there are concerns, most notably on defense.

Questions on defense? Fine, I get it. But Pitt can't win the Big East unless other teams fall on their collective faces? Somehow I missed the memo that said Boise State is coming a year early and TCU is coming back. I've been over this a million times, but while I can see Pitt not being claimed as the favorite, I have a hard time believing that several teams are head and shoulders better than them. Louisville, South Florida, and Rutgers are all formidable teams capable of winning the conference, but I just don't see the apparent gap between them and Pitt if the Panthers have a healthy Ray Graham.

It seems that so many are looking back to last year as the standard, when the fact is that Pitt had a very good three-year run under Dave Wannstedt and in a pro style offense. Does Pitt get back to nine or ten wins? I don't know - that might be a bit of a stretch. But I would be extremely surprised if the Panthers were as bad as they were last season. That, not the other three years, was the anomaly, if you ask me.

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