With Pittsburgh's 37-10 thumping of Syracuse this week, the Panthers moved to 8-1 on the season, and they sit atop the Big East with Cincinnati at 5-0 in conference play.The Panthers have finally become the team fans have been hoping for since Wannstedt was first hired, winning with a dominant running game behind Dion Lewis (1,139 yards, 12 td's), a strong passing attack led by Bill Stull (1,879 yards, 17 td's, 4 interceptions), and a solid defense giving up only 310 YPG.
The Panthers will face a tough stretch with their remaining three games against Notre Dame, West Virginia, and Cincinnati, all of which have been ranked at some point this season (Notre Dame and West Virginia were ranked until last week, respectively). With Notre Dame's defensive ineptitude and West Virginia's struggles the last two weeks, all signs point to a colossal showdown with Cincinnati on the last week of the regular season.
It must be noted that West Virginia still controls their own destiny in the Big East, as they face both Cincinnati and Pittsburgh in consecutive weeks. But with the way both Pittsburgh and Cincinnati's offenses have played this year (#1 and #2 in the conference in scoring), it appears that trend will continue until the end of the season.
A Pittsburgh win (and ultimately, conference title) would put the Panthers into a BCS bowl for the first time since 2004. It would provide them with a huge boost on the national recruiting stage, and of course a chance to prove the Big East's strength in regards to the rest of the BCS conferences. Whether or not they're ready to take down the Bearcats, who are averaging 482 yards per game and 40.0 points per game with a backup quarterback playing, remains to be seen.
If anything, Pittsburgh finally has the ability to fight back against vaunted offenses, which have haunted them since their last conference berth five years ago. Much-maligned quarterback Bill Stull has proven to be one of the best quarterbacks in the entire country, and freshman-phenom Dion Lewis has made people quickly forget about Shady McCoy, who graduated after playing for the Panthers for two seasons. The defense has shown plenty of signs of life, leading the nation in sacks with 39, and are giving up just under 17 points per game.
If both teams escape the next two games with wins and finish 10-1 and 11-0, then the Big East will be the stage for one of the titanic matchups since Pittsburgh knocked off then #2 West Virginia in 2007. Both Pittsburgh and Cincinnati enter the week in the top 10 of the AP Poll, with Cinci sitting strong at #5 and Pittsburgh jumping 6 spots (!) from last week to #8. When it's all said and done, both teams would likely finish near each other, providing the fans with a matchup few will want to miss.
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