I have mixed feelings on this. I love that Stull has really played well this season. He’s had some rough patches, but compared to expectations he has been much better. That said, every column that praises him keeps repeating the “he was booed by the fans in the first game” bit. Even when they are talking about his improved confidence and footwork. That gets more than a little tiresome. Even more tiresome is repeating the lie that he was booed louder in the second half when he was inexplicably reinserted after Sunseri played a series. He wasn’t Smizik, and you were not there to even claim you witnessed it.

It was a solid win. It was great to see a strong finish and Pitt did what they should. That said, no one should claim it was a win against a good team. Louisville is bad. They have now lost 8 straight to 1-A opponents. Their coach is (or should be) a lame duck and gone after this season. On top of that, the Cards quit.

Pitt tight end Dorin Dickerson said the Cards “flat-out quit” toward the end of the game…

There is no greater insult to a team than for the opponent to say you gave up. Whether it was Pitt that made them quit, or their own problems it is a brutal indictment on the Kragthorpe time in Louisville. Sloppy, undisciplined and getting worse deeper into the game. Not good signs for the rest of the Louisville season.

As for Pitt, it was needed to reestablish the defense. It was also the first time in a few games that Pitt’s offense finished strong. Reeling off 28 unanswered points in the second half. There’s no doubt that trailing at the half helped make sure Pitt kept the foot on the gas in the second half. No letting up this time.

On the defensive side, the D-line had a much-needed big game.

“We had a team meeting on Monday,” said middle linebacker Adam Gunn. “We made a promise to the offense — we will never have a performance like we did against Buffalo or N.C. State again.”

It then went from words to actions as a defense that had been shredded for 500 yards in a win at Buffalo and more than 500 yards and 38 points in a loss at North Carolina State went out and had perhaps its best week of practice since early in preseason training camp.

The result was a defensive unit that showed up at Louisville’s Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium Friday night with a chip on its shoulder and resembled the dominant unit most people predicted would carry the Panthers this year.

Particularly dominant — at last — was the front four.

Every Pitt watcher knew the D-line had to be stronger. Or else the real problems in the D would get exposed.

“We’ve kind of dominated here and there, but this was a total performance by the whole D-line,” Romeus said. “We’re still not satisfied. Next week, we are going to try to come stronger.”

Strong play by the front line takes pressure off a Pitt secondary that was exposed against Buffalo and N.C. State. It will be critical in the future as the Panthers meet Notre Dame’s Jimmy Clausen, West Virginia’s Jarrett Brown and Cincinnati’s Tony Pike, who all rank in the top 6 in the nation in total offense or passing efficiency.

“If we can’t make plays up front,” Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said, “we’re not going to play very good defense.”

Over the last couple games — and especially in the Louisville game — there was a very encouraging trend in the backfield. Using more than one back.

It is no secret that Coach Wannstedt wants to run on offense as much as possible. It is also no secret that Wannstedt would prefer to have one workhorse back, a blocking fullback and an occasional change-of-pace back for a series or two. That’s what he has always preferred and had the last two seasons in McCoy, Collins and Stephens-Howling.

This year he does not have the workhorse back and change of pace back. Dion Lewis and Ray Graham are very similar in size and speed. While they have slightly different running styles, it isn’t so dramatic to constitute a change-of-pace.

In the first 4 games we saw the offense try to use Dion Lewis as a workhorse back, since he was the starter. The problem — which especially became more noticeable in the Navy and NC State games was that Lewis was clearly getting worn down in the second half. A mix of hard running in the first half, teams adjusting in the second and the slow wear of the first third of his first college football season.

To that extent, we saw in the Louisville game, more utilization of Ray Graham. An appearance for a series in the first half and more touches in the second. It made a huge difference. More than as a change-of-pace, it was fresh legs to attack.

I think going forward, there will be more of that. A roughly 60-40 split in carries between Lewis and Graham. Between simply keeping talented backs happy by giving them both touches, and allowing more productive running in the second half this should continue.

We (I) criticize Wannstedt often for refusing to change his approach on offense — even if he pays lip service to it. In this case he has appeared to make an adaptation. Whether you want to credit new OC Cignetti or RB Coach Walker for helping push for the change, it is still Wannstedt’s team and his call so he gets some credit for going with what can only help the running game.

There is still the change-of-pace issue and that brings it to the fullback Henry Hynoski. For Pitt, he should be the guy to change styles from the quick and shifty/quick and explosive to power-bruising.   The big bruising fullback is clearly doing great as a blocking back, but through 5 games has only 6 touches. Especially late in the game, it seems that it would be an ideal time to use Hynoski. Have him hit that line and deliver some blows to the D-line.