Wannstedt stalls out in his Pitt

A failure in his time as an NFL head coach in Chicago and Miami, Dave Wannstedt is doing even worse at the college level.

Wannstedt's latest blunder came Saturday, when his Pittsburgh Panthers were upset 27-17 by Bowling Green of the Mid-American Conference. Pitt was No. 25 and favored by two touchdowns.

"The warm seat that Wannstedt began the season sitting on has just become blazing hot," wrote Paul Zeise of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Not-so-super Dave's four-year record with the Panthers is 16-20, including 13-20 against Football Bowl Subdivision competition. Wannstedt has many faults, and one is that he's more conservative than a nun.

In the Bowling Green debacle, the Panthers twice were inside the Falcons' 35-yard line facing a fourth down -- and both times Wannstedt chose to punt. In addition, the Panthers drove to the Falcons 20 with 37 seconds left in the first half and played for a field goal despite having two timeouts.

• WEIS GUY OR DUNCE? -- Pete Carroll and Steve Spurrier are far more successful as college coaches than they were in the NFL.

But some coaches, such as Wannstedt, are so bad on both levels they should wear a dunce cap. Former Raiders coach Bill Callahan was a disastrous hire for Nebraska, and Greg Robinson, a former NFL defensive coordinator, is 7-29 in his fourth year at Syracuse.

The jury is still out on Charlie Weis, the former Patriots offensive coordinator who lost his genius label by going 3-9 last year at Notre Dame. But expect the Fighting Irish to rescue Weis and win eight or nine games this season.

• PARTY CRASHED -- Kurt Warner beat out Matt Leinart to be the Arizona Cardinals' starting quarterback. Leinart, often ripped for being immature and partying too much, is an angry backup.

"I know I'm criticized for a lot of stuff that I do, every single day, every snap," he said. "People can say what they want. It's all opinion. ... those things are so ridiculous sometimes."

Leinart had a dreadful 2.8 quarterback rating in an Aug. 23 exhibition against the Raiders. He was 4-for-12 for 24 yards with three interceptions.

Think that had anything to do with his benching?

• 49ERS DIG UP COAL -- Leinart, a former first-round pick, is in his third season. He's not a bust yet. Alex Smith is a big bust.

The San Francisco 49ers demoted Smith and made their starter J.T. O'Sullivan, who is with his eighth team in seven seasons.

According to the New York Times, Smith is the fourth quarterback since the modern draft began in 1967 to be the top pick but not start his team's opener in the fourth season. The others were Tim Couch, Jeff George and Steve Bartkowski.

Smith struck gold when he signed a six-year, $49.5 million contract ($24 million guaranteed). The 49ers found a lump of coal.

"Now it's time for me to go earn this money and prove that I deserve this money," Smith said in July 2005. "I don't think this team is paying me this money to sit on the sideline."

COMPILED BY MATT YOUMANS REVIEW-JOURNAL