Greg Romeus News

The NCAA postseason kicked off on Dec. 19, and will see 33 games played in a three-week span.

The Pitt Panthers have one more game ahead of them before concluding their 2009 campaign, but head coach Dave Wannstedt is confident one of his defensive anchors will return for his senior season.

Perhaps no team took as much of a costly tumble toward the end of the season as Pittsburgh, which was one defensive stand away from claiming the Big East's spot in the BCS.

Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly glances at the stat sheet and shakes his head. "Look at the time of possession," he says.

Pitt may not have won the Big East championship, but it walked away with more than its share of the conference awards yesterday.

Dion Lewis was named Big East Offensive Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year.

Pitt, which will play North Carolina in the Meineke Car Care Bowl on Dec. 26, swept both the Big East Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year awards today.

Cincinnati quarterback Tony Pike hopes to lead the Bearcats past Pittsburgh and hopefully find a way into the BCS title game.

Even on a dreary day, there seems to be a glow sparkling off the national championship ring that Dave Wannstedt wears with incalculable pride.

Pitt running back Dion Lewis has rushed for 1,446 yards this season. A great offense might be the best defense Pitt can provide Saturday when the Panthers encounter high-powered Cincinnati at Heinz Field with the Big East Conference championship and a berth in the BCS on the line.

The University of Cincinnati is the college version of the Greatest Show on Turf.

Pitt defensive end Greg Romeus has been named a finalist for the Ted Hendricks Defensive End of the Year Award today by the Ted Hendricks Foundation.

The University of Pittsburgh, the nation's ninth-ranked football team, has waited two weeks to play this 102nd renewal of The Backyard Brawl.

Maybe No. 8 Pitt will shake off the disappointment of its first Backyard Brawl loss to West Virginia since 2006, beat No.

Turnovers. Failed conversions. Hard hits. Late-game drama. A hyped team with a lofty national ranking, big-play offense, bruising defense and aspirations of a big bowl game.

Pitt junior defensive end Greg Romeus almost certainly will play in the NFL, perhaps next season.

Thanks for participating in the Pitt football Q&A. Keep the questions rolling in and I will answer them every day throughout the season and through whatever bowl game Pitt goes to and through signing day in February.

The 102nd edition of the "Backyard Brawl" is set to take place in Morgantown this Friday, as the eighth-ranked Pittsburgh Panthers tussle with the West Virginia Mountaineers in a Big East showdown at Milan Puskar Stadium.

During his weekly news conference yesterday afternoon, West Virginia coach Bill Stewart shed little light on the status of running back Noel Devine 's injured left ankle.

5. The Cincinnati-Pittsburgh showdown that day is the only game that matters for the league race.