May 12, 2023 4 min read

So, we now know the Steelers will open the season at home for the first time since 2014 when they host the San Francisco 49ers at Acrisure Stadium Sept. 10.

That’s important, especially considering who the Steelers open with.

San Francisco is unsettled at quarterback. Trey Lance, whom the 49ers traded up to acquire in the draft in 2021, suffered a season-ending ankle injury last season, and Brock Purdy, Lance’s replacement, tore the UCL in his throwing elbow in the 49ers’ NFC Championship game loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.

The 49ers are so uncertain if one or either of those two will be ready to start the season that they signed Sam Darnold in case they aren’t.

Outside of the quarterback position, the 49ers have a talented and deep roster. But if they’re unsettled at quarterback early in the season, it could be the perfect time at which to play them.

That’s why when you play a team matters.

By the same token, the Steelers face the Arizona Cardinals Dec. 3. By that time, quarterback Kyler Murray should be back on the field after suffering a torn ACL last season.

The Cardinals will be a much different team with Murray at quarterback as opposed to Colt McCoy or rookie Clayton Tune. McCoy or Tune will be expected to hold down the fort for the first six or so games that Murray misses this season.

n Overall, it’s not a bad schedule for the Steelers. They’ll have back-to-back home games to open the season for the first time since 1997.

After an Oct. 22 game at Los Angeles against the Rams, they don’t travel beyond Ohio until midway through December when they go to Indianapolis.

And given the strength of their opponents – the only top-rated quarterbacks the Steelers will face this season are in their own division – it’s not ridiculous to suggest the Steelers should win 10 games.

n How desperate is West Virginia for a winner? Enough so that it was essentially willing to give head men’s basketball coach Bob Huggins a slap on the wrist for some ridiculous comments he made on a radio show in Cincinnati last week that referred to both homosexuals and Catholics in an offensive manner while describing Xavier University.

We won’t repeat what Huggins said on the show, but let it suffice to say that he certainly should know better.

In response, West Virginia suspended Huggins for the first three games of the 2023-24 season and reduced his $4.15 million salary by $1 million.

Wow. Way to come down hard on him.

So, Huggins will miss three home games to open the season – all at home – against Missouri State, Monmouth and Jacksonville State and have his salary reduced.

Big deal. The players could coach themselves and win against the three tomato cans for which Huggins is suspended.

But, hey, Huggins has one of the top transfer portal classes in the country coming into Morgantown this fall. The Mountaineers are going all-in to win in the Big 12 next season. Can’t let anything – including some ridiculous statements made to a radio station – derail that.

Even if you don’t think what Huggins said was a big deal – and you must be a joy to be around if you don’t – the fact that he went on a radio station and said what he said shows an extreme lack of judgment.

It certainly makes things problematic for Huggins to police anyone on his team for saying or doing something questionable.

Huggins is supposed to be the adult in the room.

n With last year’s Washington County coach in the Pony League World Series, Tyler Rubasky, accepting a position as assistant baseball coach at Trine University in Indiana, there was a need to find a capable replacement for this year’s team.

But that replacement didn’t have far to go.

Canon-McMillan High School graduate Anthony Wuenstel, an assistant on last year’s team under Rubasky, will manage Washington’s entry in the Pony League World Series this year.

Wuenstel played four years at Geneva College and was a graduate assistant there this season. He also has an extensive background coaching youth baseball and will do a great job with this year’s team, which with the additions of Burgettstown, Avella and Fort Cherry as full members of the Founder’s League this season, could be the strongest Washington County entry to date.

With those programs now being full members, there are approximately 175 players in the Founder’s League.