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Q: Do you expect to see more Mike Shanahan and less Oderick Turner? There is plenty of film evidence that Turner drops the ball an inordinate amount of time. Does Shanahan know the offense well enough to take more of Turner's snaps?

Chris Will, North Hills

ZEISE: I don't think less of Turner per se as much as I think more of Shanahan. There are enough different formations that the Panthers will have a need for four receiver sets. And Shanahan has a place in the red zone packages. He clearly is a player that the coaches like and trust so I would expect him to see more increased time. But remember, Turner and Cedric McGee have been a part of this since Dave Wannstedt arrived so both will continue to get in the games a lot and get their plays and touches. It is actually a good problem to have -- Pitt now has a lot of options and a lot of weapons and that means a lot of versatility on offense.

Q: Is Pitt's fan base the worst in the country? I'm glad the Post-Gazette has FINALLY begun to call them out publicly. I wasn't the biggest fan of Bill Stull at the beginning of the year, but the treatment of him, lack of noise, and lastly leaving in the 3rd quarter on Saturday was terrible. It's time for the Pitt fans to stop picking apart a football team that went 9-4 last year and is 5-1 so far this season, and start looking at what THEY can do in order to get this team to the next level. It's tough for any team in the country to win (or win recruiting battles) with the lack of support the Panthers have from their pointing the finger at the team fan base. Man up Pitt fans (and yes, I do drive four hours to get to these games from VA)!

Chris Bruno, Alexandria Va.

ZEISE: Wait a minute -- you mean a bunch of fans left early and booed Bill Stull after he threw the pick six? I thought that stuff didn't happen and was a creation of the media who clearly has a conspiracy to pick on Pitt ... Look, I don't think Pitt has the worst fan base in the country and frankly, there are only a few bad apples who seem to give the entire fan base a bad name. I thought the "booing" issue on Saturday was way overstated by some -- it was a few knuckleheads in the stands who want Bill Stull to fail but for the most part the fans were behind him. And for the most part, Pitt's true fans are good fans, they love their team, the support their team and they live and die with their team and I've had the pleasure to get to know and interact with many of them and for the most part they are indeed true fans. The problem is, there aren't enough of them and because of that, they get lumped in with front-runners who only show up when Notre Dame or West Virginia is in town and then feel like they get to speak for the whole fan base. Pitt has a good team right now, Pitt has won 15 of its last 20 games and really it deserves better than it got on Saturday in terms of crowd size for a Big East game.

Q: Do you think Phil Bennett's much talked about departure from the program after this year is hurting this defense? It just seems as a group they are falling way short of their potential. Is Phil Bennett's heart and attention already back in Texas?

Eric Haser, Columbus, Ohio

ZEISE: No I don't that is an issue, I know Phil Bennett's heart is in it and I think those rumors are just that at this point. There is no guarantee that he will leave after this season and if you think about it, if the defense doesn't perform well, where is going to go? I know, his family never moved here from Texas but there are a lot of coaches who are in "commuter" marriages just because that is the nature of the business so that doesn't necessarily mean he is looking to leave. The defense has struggled for three reasons -- 1.) The defensive line didn't show up until the past two weeks 2.) The secondary is limited and 3.) The linebackers, until Adam Gunn returned, lacked experience and made too many mental mistakes. I expect the defense to begin to play better and more consistently and in the past two weeks, it really has been pretty good minus a couple of big passing plays.

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