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Pittsburgh 41, South Florida 14. Nothing new here for USF: The Bulls' annual midseason slide arrived right on schedule, sullying their 5-0 start for the third year in a row. After blowing top-10 starts with three-game skids in both 2007 and 2008, the '09 Bulls are regressing to the mean in the same grisly fashion.

This counts as something of an eye-opener, however, for Pitt. In the standings, it was the Panthers' fourth straight Big East win to keep them on pace with Cincinnati and West Virginia at the top of the conference, which was expected. But in the vagaries of the polls and the wider conversation about the Big East championship, this is as good as Pitt has looked at any point in the Wannstedt era, across the board: The Panthers scored on all five of their first-half possessions, putting four of them in the end zone for a 31-7 halftime lead, while holding the Bulls to their worst offensive output (210 yards) since 2005, racking up four sacks and picking USF quarterbacks B.J. Daniels and Evan Landi three times. Freshman Dion Lewis' 110-yard afternoon made him the first player nationally over 1,000 yards rushing for the season and kept him well ahead of the pace that made LeSean McCoy an All-Big East star and a second-round draft pick last year; Bill Stull, already the highest-rated passer in the Big East, added a 245-yard, two-touchdown effort to his resumé. More than halfway through its first year under coordinator Frank Cignetti, the offense is now averaging 400 yards per game, and didn't punt today.

The knock on Pitt through the losing seasons in Wannstedt's first three years was that Wanny and his staff could recruit -- they brought in three straight top-30/best-in-the-Big-East classes in a row from 2006-08 -- but couldn't match that product on the field. Within the conference, this team finally looks what its alleged talent says it should be, and Cincinnati's presumed grip on the role of undisputed conference favorite is looking very tentative. The Bearcats could be heading for quite the showdown in Pittsburgh on Dec. 5.