So does anyone else think that when the coordinators were taking orders over the headsets from Coach Wannstedt, that every now and again they pretended the signal cut out and called what they wanted? Can’t help but think Cavanaugh did a couple times.

I loved this observation from the game.

Defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads looked like he was ready to pour a bucket of Gatorade over himself after the Panthers shut out the Bearcats in the second half. Rhoads, in fact, reveled in his increased camera time a little too much with injured head coach Dave Wannstedt in the booth upstairs.

Oh, come on. He had to be fired-up. He gets to turn on the sports radio in Pittsburgh during the season for the first time in quite a while, without hearing about how bad a DC he is.

Ron Cook, after finally giving up on Rhoads, is back on board.

Give Rhoads credit for keeping his guys together. We are quick to barbecue him when things go bad. It’s only right to applaud him after a performance like this.

“We” meaning everyone else. I also don’t think the criticism was that quick in coming. It’s just that it has been ongoing for a number of years, yet Rhoads is still there. One good game of play calling by the DC doesn’t erase the years of ineptitude in coaching and planning and play calling.

The story for Pitt, of course, was LeSean McCoy and LaRod Stephens Howling, but the other story was all the other things that finally happened in the Wannstedt era.

It was the first time the Panthers (3-4, 1-1 Big East) have had two running backs rush for more than 100 yards in a game since 1988, but there were a number of more significant milestones. Most notably, it is the first time Wannstedt’s Panthers have beaten a ranked opponent or a team they were not favored to beat. Pitt also snapped a four-game losing streak and, for the first time under Wannstedt, erased a halftime deficit and came back to win.

Which is all good, but also grounds things firmly back in reality. It took 2 1/2 years for those things to happen.

The interesting thing in the game, as everyone noted, was that Pitt actually used LeSean and LaRod within the same series rather than using one exclusively on a possession. They finally accepted that maybe a little change of pace in the running game might be a good idea. Something Coach Wannstedt had previously ruled out (lending some credence to the theory that OC Cavanaugh may have pretended the communications cut out from time-to-time).

“We’ve got two backs who can come in and do the same thing and keep the defense getting tired,” Stephens-Howling said. “I feel like we really wore the defense down. Coach got to a point where he only had to call three running plays because we were wearing the defense down.”

Then, of course on defense, the turnovers finally happened.

“Finally! We got some turnovers today,” said Pitt head coach Dave Wannstedt. “I thought the players did a great job in finding a way to force some turnovers. How? I have no idea except by playing hard.”

Oh, god. I’m, uh, going to chalk that up to some exuberance over the win and maybe the painkillers from the surgery. His players had something of an idea.

“It really was hard work and hustle. We did what we were supposed to do,” Duhart said. “All week long, we did turnover drills. Turnover drills, turnover drills, turnover drills. We worked on stripping the ball. What we did in practice showed.”

Not to mention actually being aggressive on defense. Attacking up front. Bringing blitzes and pressure. Not simply read and react.

Pitt did suffer some injuries. Joe Thomas went out with a hamstring injury.

On the Cinci side, the coach was unhappy. Very unhappy with the poor play of his team. And he knew who to blame.

“Poorly coached, sloppy football,” Kelly said. “Turnovers, mistakes, missed assignments, not being in good football positions. It’s bad football. I’m the guy that’s got to take responsibility and correct it. It’s easy to take responsibility. You’ve got to do something about it.”

…

“We were poorly prepared,” Kelly said. “We didn’t execute our offense, defense or special teams. We continued to make the same mistakes that we made last week. We turned the ball over, had penalties. I have to be accountable for that.”

I have to admit to being impressed by that. The coach took the blame completely. Didn’t just say that it’s his fault because he’s the head coach but took the blame for the preparation, execution and mistakes. Then said, that that isn’t enough. It actually has to be fixed.

He also knows how to shovel out a bunch of coaching cliches at once.

“We’re going to use this week to re-evaluate everything we do and how we do it,” Kelly said. “We will circle the wagons and close it down and close ranks and begin to chip away at the problems that exist.

“Our football team was poorly prepared and executed at a very, very low level, and that falls on me.”

I was very surprised to see Cinci play so poorly. Even more surprised to see them play so conservative on offense. Not to go no-huddle the entire game was an absolute head-scratcher to me. I’m not complaining, but it seemed that their offense got away from a lot of things they had been doing. Losing to Louisville the prior week and turning the ball over at key times seemed to have made the coaches get a bit more conservative on offense.