INSIDE SLANT

   It may be an off week for the Pitt Panthers, but when you are 9-1 and holding your BCS fate in your own hands with your arch-rival coming up, it’s hard to get too far away from it.

   The Panthers have a tough, tough road left, playing at West Virginia in the Backyard Brawl and doing it with the fifth-ranked and undefeated Cincinnati Bearcats looming behind it. They must concentrate on the 7-3 Mountaineers before thinking about any showdown for the Big East Conference title.

   “It’s going to be tough, coming to West Virginia,” Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt admits. “I can relate to when I played down there. Nothing’s changed. It’s The Backyard Brawl. Throw the records out the window. For 60 minutes, it’s a dogfight.”

   “It’s a very intense rivalry, it’s going to be one the fans enjoy and one the players and coaches enjoy,” West Virginia coach Bill Stewart said.

   Two years ago Pitt came to Morgantown as a four-touchdown underdog, facing a team that needed only to win at home to go to the national championship game, but stuffed Patrick White and Steve Slaton and walked off with an epic 13-9 upset.

   Since then Pitt has soared into national prominence and been nearly unbeatable on the road.

   “I think it’s a combination of a team maturing, No. 1, and you have to have enough players to win on the road. I’ve been involved with teams that couldn’t win on the road because they just were not good enough. Sometimes you have to be a little better on the road. It’s maturity, yes; mental toughness, yes; and good players,” Wannstedt said.

   He has built a team patiently, building it the way he wanted it to be. In an era of spread offenses, he went pro style. He built defense first, then offensive line. He got an efficient quarterback in Bill Stull and showed confidence sticking with him through tough times, gave him a star running back in Dion Lewis and star receivers headed by Jonathan Baldwin and Dorin Dickerson.

   He has it all, except the two victories he has to have to close out the deal.

NOTES, QUOTES

   —TE Dorin Dickerson was named one of eight semifinalists for the Mackey Award, presented the nation’s top tight end. He has 43 catches for 496 yards and 10 touchdowns, the most TDs by a tight end in the nation.

   —Freshman RB Dion Lewis ranks sixth in the nation in rushing yardage and has seven 100-yard rushing games in his first 10 as a collegian.

   —QB Bill Stull, who was hardly a popular choice to start this year, has won over the fans and is ranked fourth in passing efficiency in the NCAA.  

   NEXT GAME: Pitt at West Virginia, Nov. 27—It’s Backyard Brawl time again, and Pitt goes into the game flying high. The Panthers probably will be favored in the game, which shows something, since two years ago they came into Morgantown a four-touchdown underdog and upset the Mountaineers to keep them out of the national championship game. Pitt has thrown a lot of defense at West Virginia the past couple of years.

   THIS WEEK’S MISSION: Pitt will spend the early part of this week to rest up both physically and mentally to prepare for a grueling finish, both physically and mentally. The Panthers, whose only loss came after blowing a 31-17 lead at N.C. State, must beat both West Virginia on the road and No. 5 Cincinnati at home to win the Big East Conference and land a BCS bid. Late in the week, Pitt will begin its preparation for the Mountaineers, who figure to be an angry, hostile bunch after losing a close game at Cincinnati on a controversial overruling of a play on the field.

   NOVEMBER/DECEMBER AT A GLANCE: Pitt has itself exactly where it wants to be as the season comes to a thrilling—but not easy—conclusion. The Panthers are ranked in the top 10, are tied for the Big East Conference lead with Cincinnati at 5-0 and have won nothing yet. “I don’t know if we don’t have as tough a finish as anyone in the country,” coach Dave Wannstedt said. Indeed, they first play the Backyard Brawl at West Virginia, facing an angry group of Mountaineers who are looking for revenge from two years ago when Pitt came in and beat them to keep them out of the national championship game. Of course, if Pitt gets past that, all that’s left then is a regular season-ending showdown at Heinz Field with Cincinnati for the conference title and the BCS bid.

   QUOTE TO NOTE: “It was a great experience for the seniors who have stayed the course over the last four or five years and who initially made the decision to come to Pitt and play in games like this.”—Coach Dave Wannstedt on his seniors beating Notre Dame in front of a sellout crowd at Heinz Field on national TV.

STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL

   LOOKING GOOD: There is so much clicking for Pitt right now that it’s hard to single out anything in particular. The offense is running smoothly with QB Bill Stull looking like a senior in control, among the top five quarterbacks in passing efficiency in the nation, seldom turning the ball over and making use of a host of receivers, led by the dangerous Jonathan Baldwin and dependable TE Dorin Dickerson. Freshman RB Dion Lewis has been spectacular in roaring past 1,000 yards and is threatening all of Pitt’s freshman running back records set by Tony Dorsett and LeSean McCoy. At the same time, the defense has been rock solid, especially with a front seven that is led by Greg Romeus, Jabaal Sheard and Mick Williams.  

   STILL NEEDS WORK: Honest to goodness, it is hard to find something that still needs work. When the worst thing you can say about a team is that its net punting yardage ranks 99th in the country, you can figure out that there really isn’t too much wrong. When you consider only 11 teams in the country have punted fewer than the 35 times you have, often from inside an opponent’s territory, it isn’t exactly the kind of problem that is going to keep a coach up at night trying to find a solution for.

   STAR WATCH: Normally, QB Bill Stull is doing the throwing and WR Jonathan Baldwin is doing the catching and that’s spectacular enough, but against Syracuse and Notre Dame, the two showed a different side to their football personalities as they turned into blockers. Baldwin, who was the Big East Offensive Player of the Week for five catches and 142 yards and a touchdown, won an almost more impressive award when he took down the team’s Big Block Award in the Syracuse game. “Two weeks ago, against Syracuse, we gave out the Big Block Award, where it’s an offensive player that makes a block in a game that is an attention grabber or makes a difference in a big play,” Wannstedt said. “Jonathan got that award on a run, and I say that because I think that Jonathan is becoming—hasn’t become, but is becoming—a more complete player. Whether he’s getting the ball or he’s not getting the ball or it’s a run or a pass, he’s doing all of those things much better. Last year was really a situation where we would basically throw him the ball deep or on one or two routes. He’s learning the game, I think he’s matured as a person, and I can’t wait to see him a year or two from now. I think he’s just going to get better.” Let’s just say that Stull is in line to win this week’s Big Block Award for the block he threw on RB Ray Graham’s spectacular 52-yard touchdown run against Notre Dame. Stull leveled Irish S Sergio Brown on the play.

   CRITICAL DECISION: Coming into this season, coach Dave Wannstedt had an All-Big East tight end in Nate Byham, but he also had a big, talented, athletic player in Dorin Dickerson who tried a number of positions. Wannstedt decided to use him as a hybrid type of tight end, an H-back who could block or catch passes. The move proved to be genius, as Dickerson has been QB Bill Stull’s favorite red-zone target, hitting him 10 times with TD passes, which leads all tight ends. Dickerson has caught 43 passes on the year and is among the final eight candidates for the Mackey Award, presented to the nation’s top tight end. 

Roster Report:  

   —WR Jonathan Baldwin was honored as the Big East’s Offensive Player of the Week after he caught five passes for 142 yards and a touchdown against Notre Dame. The touchdown grab was a spectacular diving catch.

   —Now the bad news on Baldwin. On the day he was named Big East Offensive Player of the Week he was supposed to be in court for a hearing on an incident last April where he was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor indecent assault and summary disorderly conduct and harassment in an incident involving a female student at a campus bus. The hearing was delayed until Jan. 11.

   —Senior CB Aaron Berry, one of the rocks of the Pitt defense, injured his shoulder against Notre Dame. It appeared serious at the time, but Wannstedt said he is day to day. “It is not a season-ending inury or anything like that,” Wannstedt said. Berry injured the same shoulder earlier this season.