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Q: In your "Good, Bad and Ugly" summary you hit the nail on the head with the ugly -- On the touchdown pass [in the Louisville game] Aaron Berry threw his hands up in confusion immediately after the play, during the extra point and the whole way over to the sideline where he met with Phil Bennett. It also appeared that Cantwell and Simms were throwing at Berry every chance they had. And when the kid is visibly showing his confusion, it's hard to blame teams for throwing his way. You also mentioned some time ago that it looks like Eric Thatcher is getting beat (since he usually has to make the TD saving tackle or is the closest guy to the play), but in reality he may be just cleaning up. My questions are: How much of the blown coverage is truly Aaron Berry and how much in safety coverage? Is it a matter of confidence with Berry or does he not understand the playbook?

Jim Raible, Irwin

ZEISE: Those are great questions -- and the answers are simple -- some of it is on the corners and some of it is on the safeties, hence the confusion back there. On certain plays it has been the corner just getting beat, or worse, thinking he had zone coverage when the play called was for him to be in man coverage, but sometimes it is a corner knowing he was supposed to have safety help over the top and the safety isn't there. It has been a real issue because the breakdowns are so easy to see from the press box. This is something that really needs to get solved. I think it is simply a matter of communication and making sure before the ball is snapped every player is on the same page. There have been plays when Berry was at fault, but there have been plays when it has been Thatcher or Dom DeCicco or Elijah Fields as well. And on the other side -- with Ricky Gary or Jovani Chappel -- it is just simply that both are struggling in man coverage and probably would be better off if they had safety help over the top on most plays. These things can get resolved, but if Pitt is going to win the Big East they need to make sure the touchdown pass thrown by Louisville is the last time this year a receiver is running down the middle of the field with nobody in the secondary even close to him.

Q: Considering how the back-up quarterbacks have played -- that being, not really the best -- and with Bill Stull having only one more year, is a top notch quarterback a recruiting priority?

James Grinter, Queensbury, N.Y.

ZEISE: Well, they are very, very high on Tino Sunseri who is a true freshman so it isn't like they have no other options beyond the back-ups you've seen play. He is redshirting which means he'll have at least another year to grow and mature before he's thrown into a true quarterback competition. And it is for that reason that they are not going to take a quarterback in recruiting this year but you are correct, recruiting a top tier quarterback for next year's class -- in other words a current junior in high school. Obviously the kid from Sto-Rox, Paul Jones, is high on that list but there are a couple of others who are on the radar as well.

Q: Paul, yesterday you talked of the real impact of parity and that there is more equal talent levels between college teams. If that is true than coaching is a factor that becomes more important to a college team's success. In light of that, how do you feel the Pitt's coaching staff has done so far now that we are at the 3/4 point of the 2008 season?

Reed Kohberger, Columbia, Md.

ZEISE: I'm probably in the minority when I say I think outside of the two obvious hiccups the coaching staff has done a very good job this year. I think the coaching staff has shown it can be flexible, I think the coaching staff has been more creative and imaginative on offense and has truly adapted to the college game. You see them doing more things -- like the reverses and Wildcats and things -- to keep defenses guessing and they have also tinkered with some schemes on defense and a lot of the credit for that goes to Phil Bennett. Now the Bowling Green game, you can give a little pass to the coaching staff for being so conservative and making some of the decisions they made because it was the first game and they weren't feeling comfortable with the new players at starting positions. The Rutgers game, however, was inexcusable, though I think we've all come to the conclusion it was probably just a bad day at the office and the team has seemingly moved on. My thing is -- as much as coaching was a factor in the two losses, the coaching staff deserves a lot of credit for wins over South Florida, Notre Dame and Louisville because I thought they made some very key decisions that influenced the outcomes of those games. So all in all, I think the staff deserves a lot of credit for the team's success this year.