In Friday’s “First Call,” Kendrick Green responds to Ben Roethlisberger’s podcast shot, the Pittsburgh Penguins look to hold onto first place in the Metropolitan Division, and we check out what is on the college football slate while Pitt is off.

Robert Morris’ basketball team makes a big early season splash. Plus, a trio of local college hockey teams all try to stay hot.

‘Green’ with envy

During his most recent “Footbahlin’”podcast, retired quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was bemoaning how the Steelers got receiver DK Metcalf for Aaron Rodgers in advance of his arrival in Pittsburgh.

Meanwhile, before his final year, the franchise drafted Illinois guard Kendrick Green (now on Buffalo’s practice squad) to play center as a replacement for Maurkice Pouncey.

“Aaron got DK Metcalf. And I got a center that never played center before my last year. It’s amazing,” Roethlisberger quipped.

On social media, Green tried to laugh off the jab.

Damn talk about catching stays jeez Louise lol https://t.co/kZ7ZVkFCc4

— Kendrick J. Green (@The_fridge53) November 5, 2025

Kudos to Green for taking the barb in stride.

That’s classic passive-aggressive sarcasm from Roethlisberger right there.

Actually, who am I kidding? There’s nothing “passive” about that one. That was a direct shot.

It’s also a comical misrepresentation of the tools that Roethlisberger was given during his playing days. The guy had Hines Ward, Le’Veon Bell, Plaxico Burress, Antonio Brown, Santonio Holmes, Heath Miller and James Conner as skill players to work with over the years — not to mention Najee Harris and Pat Freiermuth, who were drafted before Green in 2021.

That is to say nothing of how long the team kept Roethlisberger’s line that featured the likes of Pouncey, David DeCastro, Al Villanueva, Max Starks and Ramon Foster together in front of him.

But, sure. Let’s fixate on one year of Kendrick Green (insert rolling eyes emoji here).

Early showdown

After their 5-3 win over the Washington Capitals on Thursday night, the Penguins are in New Jersey on Saturday afternoon (12:30 p.m.) to play the Devils.

The Penguins (9-4-2) have 20 points. The Devils (10-4-0) have 20 points as well. The two teams are co-leaders of the Metropolitan Division.

As the Penguins were winning against Washington, the Devils were beating the Montreal Canadiens, 4-3, at home Thursday night. Jesper Bratt had the game-winning goal for New Jersey in overtime.

JESPER BRATT WINS IT IN OVERTIME FOR THE NEW JERSEY DEVILS ✅ pic.twitter.com/ka8Warb1ck

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) November 7, 2025

This is the first of four meetings between the division rivals. They won’t match up again until Jan. 8 in Pittsburgh.

Meanwhile, right behind those two teams is Carolina. The Hurricanes (9-4-0) also won 4-3 at home against Minnesota. They have 18 points.

Scoreboard watching

While Pitt is off this week, Panthers fans will be watching results elsewhere in the ACC.

The 24th-ranked Panthers are 5-1 in conference play, tied for second in the ACC with No. 17 Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets are also idle this week. First-place Virginia (5-0) is in action at home against 5-3 Wake Forest. The 14th-rated Cavaliers are 6½-point favorites.

Meanwhile, Penn State (3-5) is a 14½-point home underdog at noon Saturday against second-ranked Indiana (9-0).

West Virginia also kicks off at noon Saturday at home against Colorado. The Mountaineers are 6½-point favorites. Both teams are 3-6.

On the FCS level, Duquesne looks to bounce back from its first loss of the conference season against Wagner two weeks ago. Coming off a bye, the Dukes (5-4, 3-1) are heading right back out to New York to play Long Island University (3-6, 1-3) at noon Saturday.

Robert Morris hosts Wagner at noon in NEC play as well. Both the Colonials and Seahawks are 3-6 overall and 2-2 in the conference.

More sports

• Stat sheet shows Aaron Rodgers not playing favorites in Steelers passing game • Steelers add Kansas City practice squad DT Brodric Martin-Rhodes to 53-man roster • Alex Highsmith, Darnell Washington return to Steelers practice; Connor Heyward absent

Is this heaven?

No. It’s … Des Moines.

Which, apparently, is closer to heaven than Iowa City if you are Robert Morris basketball coach Andy Toole.

After their season-opening loss at Iowa on Tuesday, the Robert Morris basketball team stayed in the state to play Drake on Thursday night. They won 81-79. The Bulldogs were an NCAA Tournament team last year and were an 8½-point favorite.

Nikolaos Chitikoudis led RMU with 18 points and 10 rebounds. DeSean Goode also had a double-double with 13 points and 10 boards, and Albert Vargas knocked down four three-pointers.

Knocking down another 3! @Albert_vargas20 | #GRIT pic.twitter.com/ayUS4tIFVz

— RMU Basketball (@RMUMBasketball) November 7, 2025

Drake went 31-4 last season, won an NCAA Tournament game and had a 49-game nonconference home winning streak.

As for Pitt, the Panthers play their second game of the year against Longwood at the Petersen Events Center. That’s after the Panthers dropped Youngstown State, 74-59, on Monday. Longwood is in the Big South and beat Division III Mary Baldwin, 92-55.

Also, Duquesne looks to beat a second MAAC school in as many games to open up the 2025-26 season. The Dukes toppled Niagara, 83-63, on Monday night. On Friday, Dru Joyce III’s team will tangle with Sacred Heart. The Pioneers won their first game Tuesday against the United States Merchant Marine Academy, 103-46.

On the women’s side of things, Pitt hosts Mount St. Mary’s at 1 p.m. Saturday. Duquesne beat Slippery Rock Thursday night, 108-53, behind 17 points apiece from Mackenzie Blackford and Gabby Grantham-Medley. Dan Burt’s Dukes visit Western Michigan on Sunday afternoon. Akron is at Robert Morris at 6 p.m. Friday.

Sharks in the water

While Duquesne visits Long Island in football, the Sharks hockey team is in Pittsburgh to play Robert Morris at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

The Colonials (2-3-1) are coming off a weekend sweep of Niagara in their first conference series of the year. LIU is 2-5, having just won two exhibition games against Maryville.

The RMU women’s team (5-7) just lost back-to-back 4-0 games to unbeaten Penn State last weekend. They host Mercyhurst (5-6-1) at 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Meanwhile, the third-ranked Penn State men’s team (9-1) visits top-ranked Michigan State (5-1) for a pair of games, while the women (12-0) welcome 5-6 Syracuse.

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