After a while, you do have to convince yourself of that. I mean, otherwise, yet another revised top-25 list for college football in May would be, well, filler or just a waste of time. That — that just can’t be.

From the Viacom empire, Dennis Dodd at CBS Sports revises his top-25 and moves Pitt down a spot to #22.

The feel good vibe from the West Virginia win hasn’t diminished yet. Dave Wannstedt might finally be putting it together. Tailback LeSean McCoy was a freshman All-American who surpassed some of Tony Dorsett’s freshman numbers. Linebacker Scott McKillop led the nation in tackles.

From the Big East, WVU #9, USF #19, UConn #21, Cinci #25.

Then there is CSTV.com (another online arm of Viacom). Their college football editor moved Pitt from #24 to #20 in his revision.

The pressure is on Dave Wannstedt. He keeps bringing in these highly rated recruiting classes, but doesn’t have much to show for it on the field. But off of that impressive win over West Virginia in the season finale, and the duo of LeSean McCoy and Pat Bostick leading the offense, there’s reason to be very optimistic. Panthers’ defense should be strong.

Of course, no one else actually thinks Bostick will be the starter (or see playing time) this season (hello, redshirt). A fact even most national writers who paid any attention to things were aware.

“The question with Billy Stull was could he come back full speed after his thumb injury?” Wannstedt said. “He has proven that he can. With the year off and all the lifting he did in the weight room, his arm looks a little stronger to me. Right now, he is probably the most advanced of the group.”

Stull, a homegrown product of Pittsburgh, said his thumb injury might have been a blessing in disguise. Stull said he gained about 10 pounds and now weighs 212. “It’s definitely one thing I noticed when I was able to start throwing,” Stull said. “My arm strength is better.”

…

Still, it appears to be Stull’s job to lose. “He’s tough as far as reading the defense and hitting the targets,” McCoy said. “It’s going to help out the running game tremendously. It was tough last year because there were so many guys in the box. Everybody knew we were going to run the ball.”

McCoy isn’t the one calling the shots on offense, but it doesn’t hurt to have him speak with confidence on the likely starting QB.