Pitt is a 12 point favorite. No Pitt fan can believe that. It just doesn’t add up. It’s frustrating to be this worried about a game that going into the season was a gimmee. It should still be a gimmee — and given the line some still think that way — but after everything seen this season it is anything but.

So the questions are what will the offense do?

The Panthers’ fate is in the hands of the offense. If the Panthers produce points and don’t turn the ball over, there is a good chance they will beat the Bearcats. The defense has been reasonably consistent since the opener, although there were some breakdowns last week.

Even in that positive half against Rutgers, Pitt’s offense still made too many mistakes. There was a fumble by quarterback Tyler Palko, at least two dropped passes by Greg Lee, a number of sacks allowed and a critical illegal procedure penalty.

The good things Pitt did in that half, however, far outweighed the bad.

Cinci does not get much respect as a football school.

And as a football school, Cincinnati is, well, a good basketball school, having won as many as eight games only twice since 1964. And ask most Pittsburgh football fans to name a Cincinnati football player, the answer will most likely be Carson Palmer or Chad Johnson of the Bengals.

They really don’t get much in their own city. The local papers are all over the basketball team in terms of coverage, but the football team is minimal. Even this weekend, the supposed big starting point. The debut of the Bearcats in the Big East, maybe one short article each day.

Senior wide receiver Derick Ross remembers that day in November, 2003 when he first heard about UC’s move to the Big East.

“When they said the Big East, I didn’t know if it was going to be the next season or two seasons,” Ross said. “When they said it was going to be two seasons later, you start looking at some of the teams you’re going to play and say, ‘Wow!’ This is my chance to play against the big guys. A lot of the guys are excited about that.”

Right now, Pitt should not be considered one of the “big guys.”

I guess, this is why you have to believe Pitt can win this game.

Another story that goes with the “just like in 2001 theme.” Well, only in the headline and first quarter of the story. Then it gets to some details

Wannstedt cautioned that the Panthers need to move ahead and get that first win in the Big East and against a Division I-A opponent. Cincinnati has some talent, but the Bearcats aren’t unbeatable by any means.

Pitt defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads said Cincinnati rotates several runners in the backfield and spreads out its passing game with two quarterbacks to a handful of receivers with three tight ends in the mix.

Freshman Dustin Grutza started all four games at quarterback for the Bearcats, while junior Nick Davila has played in two games. Grutza has nearly completed nearly 56 percent of his passes for 749 yards and three touchdowns with eight interceptions, while Davila is 7-for-9 for 92 yards and two scores.

Sophomore Bradley Glatthaar leads Cincinnati with 221 rushing yards and four touchdowns. Brent Celek, Derek Ross and Antwuan Giddens each have 15 receptions. Ross and Giddens have one touchdown apiece.

Cincinnati’s defense was shredded in the two losses.

Then, there are the local connection storylines. Cornerbacks with the Aliquippa connection.

At least once a week, Antoine Horton will call his friends to talk football. They share game stories, compare statistics and complain about practice schedules and film sessions.

Horton didn’t call Darrelle Revis or Josh Lay this week. On Saturday, these childhood friends become enemies for a few hours when Horton’s Cincinnati Bearcats meet Pitt with Revis and Lay at 2 p.m. Saturday at Heinz Field.

“We haven’t talked much lately,” said Horton, Cincinnati’s starting cornerback. “It’s serious now.”

Fifteen years ago, Horton lived in Aliquippa and knew Lay especially well. He moved to Rochester after kindergarten, but often visited his grandmother’s home in Plan 11. Lay lived in Plan 12.

Horton remembers playing with and against the two current Pitt cornerbacks. He recalls that Revis was a star on the basketball court, and that Lay wasn’t bad, either.

Now, they are all standouts on the football field – and all playing the same position. Revis and Lay are possibly the best cornerback tandem in the Big East Conference. Lay’s an All-Big East pick, and Revis was one of the best freshmen defenders a year ago. Horton took over as Cincinnati’s starting cornerback in the fourth game last year and helped lead the Bearcats to a Fort Worth Bowl victory over Marshall. This year, he has 13 tackles and a pass breakup in four games.

Another Cinci player, 5th-year Senior OL Joel Yakovac, is from Mt. Lebanon.

“The opportunity to come back is one of the biggest things of the season for me,” he said.

“It’s funny, but I really didn’t appreciate Pittsburgh until I left. I love the Steelers and all that, but I didn’t really appreciate everything Pittsburgh has to offer, like Primanti’s (sandwiches), until I came here.”

The Bearcats’ offensive linemen gather regularly for dinners, and that is how Yakovac first experienced Skyline chili, a Cincinnati favorite.

Personally, for regional chili chains, I prefer the various chili options at Hard Times around the DC area, but Skyline isn’t bad.

Finally, at halftime Pitt will be honoring the 1955-56 football team. This team played Georgia Tech in the Sugar Bowl, losing 7-0. That team featured fullback/linebacker Bobby Grier.

“Bobby Grier’s story was national headlines, it was on the front page of every major newspaper in the country,” said Beano Cook, college football historian and former sports information director at Pitt. “This was a major, major story — this was the South in 1955 and this was the Sugar Bowl. Think about it. The governor of Georgia urged Georgia Tech not to play in the game because Pitt had a black player, and he said it because he figured it would help get him re-elected. That’s just where we were in this country.”

The governor was Marvin Griffin, who, on Dec. 2, 1955, began a speech to the Georgia State Board of Regents with “The South stands at Armageddon. The battle is joined. We cannot make the slightest concession to the enemy.”

The enemy Griffin spoke of in his speech was Grier and his motivation was to convince administrators at Georgia Tech to boycott the game unless Grier was forbidden to play. Reaction to his speech was mostly negative, and 2,000 Georgia Tech students marched to the governor’s mansion and hung Griffin in effigy.

Across the country, the reaction was similar to that of the students. Newspapers decried Griffin as being a bigot and out of touch, and the board of regents voted to allow the Yellow Jackets to play in the game. At the same time in Pittsburgh, the Panthers players were holding a vote of their own and, like the Georgia Tech students, were ready to take a stand.

“We all got together and voted not to go to the Sugar Bowl if Bobby Grier was not allowed to play,” said Bob Rosborough, who was a right end for Pitt and a teammate of Grier. “He was one of us and we would rather not play than leave one of ours behind.”

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