Q: At some point in the not so distant future, the Big East is going to have to make a change and add a team. Either that or some essential Big East team will escape to the Big Ten. Besides the unlikely possibility of adding Notre Dame to the football line-up, what are some other likely cases? What might be the best situation for Pitt football? I suppose this is something the new athletic director might have to think about during his tenure.

Will Pluta

Piscataway, N.J.

Zeise: The Big East had a built-in answer to its scheduling problems -- Temple -- and chose to throw it away because of some pettiness. Had they kept Temple -- and really should have once it was clear it was going to have to lose itself -- it would have a ninth football team, in a large market that makes sense geographically and every team could have four home and four away games every year and there'd be no talk of adding teams. And the beauty of it was Temple is already in a conference for its other sports, so you wouldn't have had to go to 17 teams in basketball. As it is, finding another team willing to accept football membership only will be next to impossible so the Big East will continue to be a league that is rumored to be in transition because of the scheduling problems its current make-up presents.

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Q: I watched portions of the Penn State game on Saturday and came away impressed with the play of the offensive line even though there were concerns coming into the season, do you see that kind of progress developing at Pitt with the offensive line?

Tim Novak

Pittsburgh, Pa.

Zeise: Pitt's offensive line should improve as the season wears on just because I think Mike McGlynn will settle in at tackle and you'd think Joe Thomas will get better as he continues to play more. I think the left side of the line has been pretty good, so if that right side comes together, things will improve dramatically.

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Q. Two things about Pitt's last play against Navy, and going forward. One, if Dan Marino could rollout or bootleg, then certainly Bostick should be able to, especially when no one is expecting that play. Agree? Two, why not pitch to McCoy and let him option pass/run?

Kerry Bowser

Pittsburgh, Pa.

Zeise: Dan Marino rolled out? I don't remember that happening too often. But yes, you could have rolled out Pat Bostick or tried some sort of pitch play to McCoy and let him run or pass or you could have gone to the "Wildcat" or used one of your quarterback/receiver types (like a Mo Williams or TJ Porter) and run an option play or a bootleg???...Or you could have done what BCS conference teams are supposed to do against undersized defenses on teams from smaller conferences like Navy -- you could have lined up in an "I" formation, handed the ball twice to your freshman All-American running back and let him follow your fullback -- who is rated as one of the best in the country at his position -- as well as your 6-foot-6, 340-pound left tackle into the endzone. No need to trick, no need to try and make them guess, just line up, man up and win the game. That is football 101, if you ask me, and I would be willing to bet a lot of money that my sentiments aren't that much different than most people who watched that game -- including guys like Lou Holtz, Mark May, Gary Barnett, who is now a Fox analyst, just to name a few.