Instant Analysis: Pittsburgh-South Florida

The night was still young in Tampa, Fla., and everyone in Raymond James Stadium could tell that the South Florida Bulls lacked the mustard on their fastball. A season now one month old stood at a crucial pivot point, and the way the Pitt Panthers performed under pressure would determine if they had any future in the Dave Wannstedt era. Evidently, the future is now for a revived program.

After less than 20 minutes of game time--in the early moments of the second quarter--it became clear that USF, the tenth-ranked team in the nation, had not recovered from its short turnaround. At a point in the year when postseason baseball is forcing some pitchers to work on three days' rest, the Bulls had to take the field with just four days of recuperation time. After Saturday's win at North Carolina State, Jim Leavitt's lads--back in the top ten for a second consecutive season--had to uphold their lofty ranking just five days later. This immediate transition posed a challenge that was as mental as it was physical for a crew that had conquered defending Orange Bowl champion Kansas earlier this season. The question was not if USF had the talent to beat Pitt; the key query, in theory, was if USF would be weary, and sure enough, tiredness did seem to affect the guys in green.

USF quarterback Matt Grothe and his offensive teammates played tortilla-flat football on Thursday, so much so that short fields and sudden-change situations didn't improve the Bulls' fortunes. Early in the second quarter--when the contours of this contest came into full view--Grothe, after seeing his offense stall inside the Pitt 30, watched in horror as the Panthers blocked a 43-yard field goal by Kansas-slaying placekicker Maikon Bonani. But just two snaps later, Pitt's stud running back LeSean McCoy coughed up the pill to give the Bulls a fresh--and advantageous--drive start at the Panther 34. Surely, after a stalled drive, Grothe--an impressive quarterback who, in his best moments, can play the position as well as anyone in the country--would not allow his highly-touted team to squander a golden opportunity to take control of the proceedings.

But that's exactly what happened. A South Florida offense that would suffer four "three-and-outs" on the evening, plus three more non-scoring drives of four plays or fewer, immediately proved that it couldn't stand prosperity. Two Grothe incompletions put South Florida in a 4th and 5 situation, and just one series after suffering the blocked field goal, Leavitt--made impatient by his team's inability to put Pitt away early--pushed the panic button. The USF coach ordered up a fake, and Pitt--having just defensed a field goal a few minutes earlier--was ready for the gamble, easily stuffing USF holder Grant Gregory for a one-yard gain. In that significant sequence, the Panthers gained the belief and confidence they needed to stay in the ring for 60 minutes and beat back the toughs from Tampa.

Following South Florida's two ill-fated field goals--the blocked kick, and the foiled fake--McCoy, who had been quiet up to that point, took over. Shut down in the game's first 20 minutes, McCoy ran wild in the final 40, good enough for this tremendous trifecta of girdiron glories: 142 yards rushing; the game's winning touchdown with 4:43 left in the fourth quarter; and a victory-sealing first down with just over two minutes remaining, a deliciously devastating dash for 12 on and 3rd and 9 draw play that snookered South Florida's deflated defense. With McCoy providing lunch-pail production from the setback spot, Pitt quarterback Bill Stull was able to relax a little more in the pocket, and this factor proved to be significant when the Bulls--for all their mistakes and shortcomings--grabbed a 21-20 lead with just under six minutes to play.

After Grothe made one of his signature never-say-die improvisational plays--a fabulous 22-yard touchdown pass to receiver Jessie Hester--to give the Bulls their late-game lead, the Panthers faced their one true crisis point since that early second-quarter sequence when they established their control of the game. It was at precisely this moment that Stull--given a nice protective cup in the pocket as a result of McCoy's ability to run the ball--threw a 38-yard dart to wideout Oderick Turner. That one thunderbolt put the Panthers in field goal range at the USF 22. Back in a commanding position--good enough to take the lead without having to gain another yard, at least--the Panthers went back to McCoy, who strolled into the end zone with the easy self-assured excellence of a winning performer. In the blink of an eye, Pitt turned its mini-crisis back into a portrait of poise and perseverance. A South Florida offense that generated just 14 points all night long (with seven coming from a block of a Panther punt in the first quarter) could not get off the deck, and Dave Wannstedt--at long last--gained the reviving rush of renewal and rejuvenation his program so desperately needed.

No, one can't quite say that the Panthers are "back." Not if being "back" means winning Big East championships or playing January bowl games. But with Thursday night's season-saving, reputation-restoring triumph over the Bulls, Wannstedt's wonder-boys erased the black mark caused by their ugly season-opening loss to Bowling Green. They proved themselves capable of springing a big upset for a second straight season, after vanquishing West Virginia in the 2007 season finale. There's a lot of season left for Pitt, but on one redemptive night in the Sunshine State, a beaten and bewildered football team finally bathed itself in radiant glory. It couldn't have come a moment too soon, for now the pressured and panicky Panthers might actually be able to view a football season as a joy, and not a burden.

Why is this win so cathartic for everyone involved in the Pittsburgh program? Very simply, the Panthers--much like Clemson, Michigan State, Arizona State, Cal, and a handful of other programs one could readily rattle off--have found themselves frozen and fearful in the face of old demon pressure. Suffocated and stifled in the face of massive expectations, Pitt has languished in the middle of the Big East over the past few years, behind the likes of West Virginia, Louisville, Connecticut, Rutgers, and South Florida. And while Louisville and Rutgers now stand beneath the Panthers in the Big East pecking order, the fact remains that the Cardinals and Scarlet Knights did enjoy moments of supreme satisfaction in recent times. Pitt has not enjoyed prize postseason parties in college football since the days of Walt Harris... and that one run to the 2005 Fiesta Bowl proved to be an aberration instead of a regular occurrence. The words "Pitt football" and "underachievers" have belonged in the same sentence for most of this decade. The win in Morgantown last December--which knocked Rich Rodriguez's team out of the BCS title game and made an already-cold Morgantown night far more frigid--only seemed to illustrate how severely the Panthers had stumbled under Wannstedt, the NFL refugee called home to revive the football fortunes of his alma mater. When Bowling Green ruined Pitt's home opener in Heinz Field on Aug. 30, the bad mojo surrounding the program only increased to an exponential degree. Few achievements would pack enough of a punch to expunge the sour stench pervading Pitt football.

A win over South Florida was one of them.

A season now offers fresh promise for the Pittsburgh Panthers. The sons of the Steel City haven't fully arrived, but with this big breakthrough now in their pocket, they might finally be able to display a mentally liberated brand of ball that could bring big things to the school that brought America the likes of Tony Dorsett, Hugh Green, and Dan Marino. One game does not a program make, but one game can enable a program to experience a change of character and confidence. Everyone associated with Pitt football can only hope that Thursday night's triumph in Tampa will prove to be such a turning point.