Football Footnotes: AFC North looks to rebound; WVU's Marc Bulger recalls Backyard Brawls; ACC transfer QBs making impact

This week’s Friday “Football Footnotes” post examines how AFC North teams besides the Pittsburgh Steelers will try to respond to a winless opening weekend.

Kirk Cousins may have tipped-off lingering issues from his recovery during Atlanta’s loss to the Steelers last week. Central Catholic graduate Marc Bulger recalls his Backyard Brawl games against Pitt as the West Virginia quarterback.

Plus, ACC schools are getting a boost from transfer quarterbacks, and Duquesne is taking on another big-time foe on the road.

Looking to rebound

As the Steelers hope to improve to 2-0 with a win in Denver, the rest of the AFC North is hoping to bounce back from a collectively poor performance in Week 1 of the NFL season. The Baltimore Ravens, Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals all dropped their season openers.

At least the Ravens put up a good showing in the NFL lid-lifter last Thursday night, losing to the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs by one score on the road — narrowly missing a touchdown at the end of the game that could’ve forced overtime or a game-winning two-point conversion attempt.

LAMAR TO LIKELY???

????: #Kickoff2024 on NBC/Peacock
????: Stream on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/vCRoiX08rO

— NFL (@NFL) September 6, 2024

But tight end Isaiah Likely’s big toe was ruled out of bounds, so the Ravens lost.

Of the three teams, they are in the best position for a win this week.

• Baltimore hosts the Las Vegas Raiders at 1 p.m. and is a 7½ -point favorite.

• Meanwhile, the Bengals, after a surprising 16-10 loss to the New England Patriots, have to visit the Chiefs. Cincy is a 3½-point underdog.

• The Browns are in Jacksonville. The Jaguars are favored by 1½ points. The Jags narrowly lost in Miami, 20-17, in Week 1. The Browns were throttled by Dallas, 33-17.

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• Aaron Donald, Jeff Capel named to Pitt AD advisory committee

What went wrong?

Why were the Steelers so effective at rattling quarterback Kirk Cousins last week? At least one former NFL quarterback thinks that there may be some residue from Cousins’ Achilles surgery last year.

Chase Daniel was on FS1 this week and he says that it appears that Cousins has changed his stance in the shotgun in the wake of his recovery.

Whether that has resulted in flawed technique, or less of a base when he moves and throws, Daniel says if Cousins has consciously made that tweak to protect the injury, it may continue to impact his performance.

Kirk Cousins is clearly NOT healthy.

The Falcons were in Pistol/Shotgun on 96% of their snaps Sunday!!

He has a NEW stance in the shotgun & it tells you everything you need to know about his health.

Let me show you @TheFacilityFS1 #RiseUp pic.twitter.com/U3HYTBElPY

— Chase Daniel (@ChaseDaniel) September 11, 2024

Cousins went 16 of 26 for 155 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. He was sacked twice, which could’ve been more if the officials hadn’t eliminated two T.J. Watt strip sacks.

The 36-year-old managed just 6 yards per attempt and a passer rating of 59.0.

Bulger on the Brawl

Marc Bulger has one of the more unique perspectives on the Backyard Brawl. The former West Virginia quarterback played high school football at Central Catholic, in the shadow of Pitt’s campus. Then he enrolled in Morgantown and beat Pitt twice as the starting QB of the Mountaineers.

Bulger played in four Backyard Brawls, started three and threw 11 touchdowns along the way in those games. This week he appeared on the Mark Madden show on 105.9 The X and recalled what made that rivalry so intense.

“West Virginia actually has more resentment toward Pitt than Pitt does toward us,” Bulger said. “They think we are just a bunch of hicks, even though I’m a Yinzer. We just think that Pitt fans, (and) the city looks down on West Virginia. That’s the issue.”

Bulger said his favorite Backyard Brawl memory was throwing six touchdowns en route to beating Pitt, 52-14, in 1998 at Three Rivers Stadium after the Panthers had won the previous year 41-38 in overtime at Milan Puskar Stadium.

Marc Bulger and the West Virginia Mountaineers destroys the Pittsburgh Panthers 52-14 in the 1998 Backyard Brawl pic.twitter.com/122sqpNz5D

— The Mountaineer Guy (@mountaineerguy8) July 17, 2023

“I could have thrown for 10 touchdowns, probably. But Coach (Don) Nehlen pulled me. It was just good getting revenge on them,” Bulger said. “Just growing up seven or eight minutes from Three Rivers Stadium and getting to play there. The Allegheny Club and everything, my family was up there. It was just fun because Pitt had a good team that year, and we handled business.”

For as much as the fan bases and the players may not like each other, everyone loves the game. But because the two schools are in different conferences, it isn’t played annually anymore. In fact, after next year’s matchup, the rivalry goes dark until 2029-32.

“Having rivalries like that is so great,” Bulger lamented. “There are just so many games that should be automatic.”

Heading into Saturday’s contest, the Mountaineers are two-point road favorites according to ESPN Bet.

Getting some momentum

Pitt is one of the former Big East schools with some early traction in the ACC. Like the Panthers, Syracuse, Boston College, Louisville and Miami are all 2-0 to start the year.

Miami (10th), Louisville (19th) and BC (24th) are all ranked. And the schools are all doing it with transfer quarterbacks who are getting off on the right foot.

Locally, Pitt fans are getting familiar with signal caller Eli Holstein very quickly. The Alabama transfer has completed 50 of his first 75 passes with the Panthers, totaling 635 yards and six touchdowns.

At Louisville, Tyler Shough, formerly of Texas Tech and Oregon, is 39 of 57 for 581 yards, six touchdowns and no interceptions. Under former Penn State coach Bill O’Brien, Thomas Castellanos, a one-time Central Florida QB is 19 of 26 for 340 yards six touchdowns, no interceptions and 81 rushing yards.

Miami’s Cam Ward showed up at Coral Gables after a two-year stint at Washington State, going 46 of 61 for 689 yards and six touchdowns against just one interception thus far in 2024. And former Ohio State Buckeye Kyle McCord has the Orange’s offense in gear under first-year coach Fran Brown. He is 59 of 85 for 785 yards and eight touchdowns.

Aside from the Panthers taking on WVU, BC has a huge challenge as they travel to No. 6 Missouri. Miami hosts Ball State. Syracuse and Louisville are idle.

Murderer’s Row

Duquesne continues its brutal pre-conference schedule. After losses against FBS schools at Toledo (49-10) and Boston College (56-0), the Dukes now head out to Youngstown State.

The Penguins are ranked 20th in this week’s FCS coaches poll, having beaten Valparaiso, 59-25, last week. They lost to No. 4 Villanova, 24-17, to start the year. They feature quarterback Beau Brungard, who ran for 194 yards last week.

The Dukes have visited Youngstown State in each of the past three seasons, with the Penguins winning all three contests. That includes a 40-7 win last year over Duquesne in the FCS playoffs. In that game, YSU held the ball for over 42 minutes.

Meanwhile, also in the NEC, Robert Morris hosts Mercyhurst at noon.