Q: In the esteemed history of college football can any Pitt fan cite an example of a more inept play caller in crucial redzone situations than current Offensive coordinator Matt "Fade Ball" Cavanaugh. And if that wasn't bad enough, in the last game there was the quarterback throwback to the extremely "athletic" William Stull. What video game has coach been playing to continually come up with long journeys into the universe of stupid?

Mike O'Hout, Ithaca, N.Y.

ZEISE: In Cavanaugh's defense, Pitt was among the best in the nation in redzone scoring -- the Panthers scored 41 of 45 trips into the redzone including 27 touchdowns. But your larger point is well taken as they left a lot of points out there (14 times in the redzone they settled for a field goal and four times they didn't get any points). I think it is time to put an end to the idea of throwing fade patterns as, like I had previously written, they are about 1 for 2000 or so since Rod Rutherford graduated in attempting these passes. And much like the quarterback sneak play from the 8 against West Virginia -- I agree, what would make anybody think it is a good idea to throw the ball to Bill Stull unless he is already standing in the endzone. But that is a minor detail -- the continued attempts at fades is a bigger issue because as long as Baldwin is on the roster we are going to keep seeing them -- even though the quarterback has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt he can't throw them.

Q: Just an observation but if it weren't for the uniforms (and some of the better talent of course), Pitt could pass for Alabama ... power offense, athletic defense, and a QB that doesn't lose the game. I wonder how many Alabama fans think Nick Saban needs to change his offense?

Jason Ranone, Arlington, Va.

ZEISE: Not many, but we saw this against Florida -- Alabama wasn't able to score enough points to win the game. So I am sure that Saban will go out and try to get some big-time receivers and a big-time quarterback so that when the Crimson Tide gets into these games in the future with some of these high-tech offenses -- they can not only dominate the line of scrimmage, they can score points in a hurry. That Alabama team was very impressive and very fundamentally sound -- but as we saw, no matter how good you are on defense, many of these college offenses are just too good to expect to try and win all the time with defense, running game and special teams. At some point, your quarterback is going to have to make plays and I think that is what Pitt is searching for -- a big-time quarterback who can ease the burden off of everyone else and maybe give the defense a little margin for error by making some big plays and scoring some points.

Q: Looking at the depth chart and taking sneak peak at next year, it looks like we should have seven returning starters on each side of the ball coming back from a nine-plus win team. It's hard not to be pretty enthusiastic about next year's squad, especially if McCoy returns. It looks like we will be hardest hit by graduation at linebacker and special teams.

How are we looking, either with back-ups or through recruiting, on filling the huge void left by Scott McKillop, Austin Ransom, Conor Lee and Dave Brytus?

Roman Trebon, Atlanta

ZEISE: The offense will be fine, with or without McCoy (I'm telling you, unless I and everyone else around are wrong, this Chris Burns is a player). The defense will have some rebuilding to do. Obviously Shane Murray is going to be a big part of the linebacker solution and Elijah Fields could slide in there and help as well. And there is the long shot chance that Adam Gunn gets a sixth year (Mike Cook didn't and most guys don't but he'll try). But the bottom line is some of those young kids -- Tristan Roberts, Brandon Lindsey, Max Gruder and even a guy like Nate Nix -- really need to get much better and get themselves ready to play. Also, Rashaad Duncan won't be easily replaced, though with Gus Mustakas and Myles Caragein coming back as well as Mick Williams and perhaps Tommie Duhart, the tackle position will be in good hands. Another guy is Eric Thatcher, who, if Fields becomes a linebacker will not be easily replaced. I'd look for some of the young cornerbacks, Ronald Hobby, Jared Holley and Antwuan Reed to also make a big push for playing time. As for the specialists, Dan Hutchins has been working as the back-up punter and he's pretty good at it and he'll also battle that heralded freshman, Kevin Harper for the placekicking job. Again, there are some holes to fill, but outside of middle linebacker and perhaps safety, there are guys on the roster ready to step in right now if need be.