That is the big question facing the team this week, as it prepares to play at Rutgers on Saturday. But the task is not so much about backing up what they did in a 44-17 win over the Bulls Thursday night. The challenge is about building on the success; realizing what can happen when the system in place is executed properly.
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AP Photo/Keith SrakocicTino Sunseri's ability to run was one of the reasons why Pitt was able to dominate South Florida.Players gained a great deal of confidence last week, something that was missing after its two heartbreaking losses to Iowa and Notre Dame. Coach Todd Graham brought wildly different offensive and defensive schemes for his players to learn, and they faltered at understanding them. But everything came together last week, and Pitt had its most complete performance. That in itself is a confidence booster moving forward.
"We're coming together," Graham said. "The guys are really committed to one another. We are a close-knit team and you had to face a little adversity for that to happen. When you face adversity you realize that at the end of the day you have to be arm-in-arm and to depend on each other. When you face great adversity like we did at the Iowa game and losing two close games then that helps.
"The thing we're facing is time. We're trying to develop relationships with this team but relationships and building a team takes time. We wanted it to happen early on so I think those two losses helped us. We have not faced the entire adversity we will this season, but this team has the makings of a championship team. It is going to be about us getting better every single day from me as a coach to the very last player to take the field. These guys are coming together and transforming."
Two of the starkest transformations from the USF game: the play of quarterback Tino Sunseri, and the overall performance of the defense. Sunseri executed more run options than he had all season, in part because he had to start believing he could be a runner and a passer. That is something he never had to do in the old offense.
"I felt I could only run if certain things opened up very clearly," Sunseri said.
He had to completely change his mind-set. He had 12 carries for 35 yards, and USF coach Skip Holtz said his designed runs "discombobulated" his team and caught his players off guard. Teams will be more prepared for that now that they have seen him do it.
But having that option makes Pitt much more difficult to prepare for because of what the Panthers have in Ray Graham. Talk about a workhorse. Graham has 126 carries and leads the team with 25 catches. If Sunseri can get the deep passing game going -- something Pitt has yet to do -- you will see an offense that can reach its full potential.
"We just have to keep on staying hungry, keep on learning, keep on going back to the film, learning as much as we can, trying to make sure we can get our mistakes fixed, and keep on trying to play as hard as we can for 60 minutes each and every week," Sunseri said.
As for the defense, the Panthers had surrendered a whopping 49 points in the fourth quarter in their first four games. Many of those came on big plays in the pass game. But they shut the Bulls out in the second half.
"We finally learned how to execute the fundamentals," defensive tackle Myles Caragein said.
Pitt is trying to get to 2-0 in the Big East for the seventh time since round-robin play in the conference began in 1993. The Panthers have won the last two games against Rutgers, but have dropped two of their last three games at Rutgers.
"Our philosophy is to stay in the left lane, put the hammer down and to try and get better each week," Graham said. "I have been pretty consistent in what my beliefs are in this team and the system we have in place. Our deal is we have to go out and face a unique and different challenge. Just like South Florida was very unique in what they did, Rutgers is very unique in what they do. The bottom line is if we execute this system, take care of the ball and play Pitt football the way we know how then were are going to be successful."
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