First Call: Pitt, Notre Dame ACC odds, Big Ten coaches exchange barbs, Gerrit Cole vs. Tyler Glasnow

Friday’s “First Call” gives us gambling odds for Pitt football in the ACC. And for Notre Dame, too. We also try to scout the Pittsburgh Pirates’ next opponent. A pair of former Pirates pitchers square off this weekend. And an epic Big Ten rivalry just got more salty.

Irish odds are smiling

In its first year of ACC competition, Notre Dame isn’t favored to win the conference.

But the Irish aren’t far off. They trail only Clemson when it comes to being the gambling favorite.

The Tigers are the only ACC team in minus-money territory, as a significant -400 favorite, via Fox Bet. Notre Dame is next at +550.

Pitt has the seventh longest odds in the conference at +5000.

The Tigers and Irish play each other in the regular season and may have to meet again in the championship game.

Clemson has suffered just two ACC losses over the past five years. Those defeats came to Pitt in 2016 and Syracuse in 2017.

Rivalry ramping up

It’s not exactly news to state that the Ohio State and Michigan football teams don’t like each other.

But even in this era when we keep saying that “we’re all in it together,” that doesn’t seem to extend to the Buckeyes and Wolverines.

This story was first reported by “Bucknuts,” which is the Ohio State 24/7 sports affiliate, and was picked up by ESPN.com’s Mark Schlabach.

Via ESPN’s account, on Monday, Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh reportedly interrupted Ohio State’s Ryan Day during a conference call among Big Ten coaches. He accused the Buckeyes of breaking rules regarding on-field instruction.

Bucknuts reports Day replied, “How about I worry about my team and you worry about yours?” Then, in a team meeting later on Monday, Day “purportedly told his players that the Wolverines better hope for a mercy rule this season because his team was ‘going to hang 100 on them.’”

This dust-up started because Harbaugh apparently was peeved about a photo that is alleged to have caught Buckeyes assistant Al Washington working with Ohio State’s linebackers. NCAA rules don’t permit on-field instruction until Friday.

The teams play in Columbus on Oct. 24.

Familiar faces

At different times in their Pirates development, both Tyler Glasnow and Gerrit Cole were positioned as potential aces of the Pirates staff.

Cole got there for a brief time. Glasnow never did. Both went onto to better things once they left.

Cole got to a World Series in Houston and a $324 million contract with the New York Yankees. Glasnow resurrected his career with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2019. Despite enduring injury, Glasnow went 6-1 with a 1.78 ERA in 12 starts.

The two right-handers square off Saturday afternoon in Tampa. In two starts so far, Glasnow doesn’t have a win or a loss. He does have a 3.12 ERA and a 14-5 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Cole has won all three of his starts with the Yankees so far, compiling a 2.55 ERA. He has 12 strikeouts while walking only three batters.

If you are a Pirates fan who is a glutton for punishment, the first pitch is scheduled for 2:10 p.m.

Welcome back

After winning 6-5 over the Minnesota Twins on Thursday afternoon, the Pirates turn their attention to the Detroit Tigers.

The weekend series will start under odd circumstances.

The Pirates are in the midst of a 17-day consecutive stretch of games. Meanwhile, the Tigers haven’t played since Aug. 2. That’s because Detroit had an entire series with the St. Louis Cardinals canceled because of coronavirus concerns within the St. Louis organization.

Detroit was predicted to be one of the worst teams in baseball at the start of the season. But they got off to a surprisingly decent 5-5 start before their campaign was put on pause.

Pirates manager Derek Shelton admits scouting the Tigers will be a bit odd.

“Having been in the American League Central Division (on the Minnesota staff) last year, I do have a little bit of knowledge of the Detroit group,” Shelton said Thursday. “But it’s weird. We don’t know how they are going to be. How their bodies are going to be. It’s going to be different for them because they haven’t played,”

The Tigers were allowing a fair amount of runs per game before their shutdown — 49 in 10 games. That 4.9 runs allowed per game is 19th in MLB. That’s one spot better than the Pirates at 4.92.