Some stories regarding Pitt players.

Dion Lewis gets a little attention from New Jersey as the local flavor since the Albany kid played in New Jersey.

“I hate to say it, but you know who he reminds me of,” Rutgers coach Greg Schiano said, alluding to former Scarlet Knights running back Ray Rice. “He’s got good patience and balance and Ray did as well. … He’s very elusive.”

And Bruce Feldman at ESPN.com lists Lewis as #1 on his list of impact freshmen (Insider subs.).

LeSean McCoy, now of the Philadelphia Eagles, was a huge part of the Pitt offense the past two years. When he jumped to Sunday football, it seemed like a lot of the air could come out of this program. Enter Lewis, a fairly unheralded 5-foot-8, 195-pound recruit from Albany, NY. All he’s done is dart his way to almost six yards per carry, while sparking the Panthers to a 5-1 record. He’s fifth in the nation in rushing (123 ypg) and has run for seven TDs.

Late in mentioning it, but Punter/Kicker Dan Hutchins took home Big East Special Teams Player of the Week honors.

The game is personal for Bill Stull after last year.

Everyone remembers last year how Bill Stull was literally knocked out of the Rutgers game, but that game was also the one where Center Robb Houser suffered a brutal broken leg.

“Everybody has a little revenge for them,” Houser said. “I’ve got my own revenge.”

Houser suffered a broken right fibula and two torn ligaments in his ankle when he was hit with a blind-side block after a Pat Bostick interception in the second half of the blowout loss to Rutgers.

A transfer from Butte (Cal.) Community College prior to the 2008 season, Houser missed the final seven games in his first year at Pitt. He underwent two surgeries and spent 3.5 months on crutches. He followed that with a demanding recovery process.

“It was a lot of rehab,” he said. “Once I was (cleared to) work out, it was every day. I wasn’t taking days off.”

The loss of Houser was mitigated by C.J. Davis sliding in and doing a great job. It did, however, diminish the depth on the O-line which played a significant role in that which should not be mentioned in the Sun Bowl.

Unlike the rest of the Big East, Pitt has really good tight ends (that probably should be rephrased).

“Nate is such a great blocker, and he helps my game out so much,” Dickerson said. “People don’t even see how much he helps me out. I’m really happy for him that he got those balls, and look what he did — he made big plays. He’s a playmaker, too, not just a blocker.”

As far as the two tight ends go, though, Dickerson has been more of a playmaker this season. He was once a superstar recruit who opted for Pitt over Florida, Michigan, Penn State and others. But he and the Panthers coaching staff had trouble figuring out how best to use his skills during his first three years. He spent time at receiver, at linebacker and even in the backfield before finally switching to tight end last season.

This year, he has become a true weapon. He has 21 catches for 232 yards and is tied with Cincinnati’s Mardy Gilyard for the Big East lead in touchdown receptions with seven.

Of course, the guy that has the Rutgers secondary a bit worried is Baldwin.

Not since the opener against Cincinnati — a game that nearly ruined the Knights’ season before it truly got started — has Rutgers (4-1) faced the type of aerial test it will when 5-1 Pittsburgh visits on Friday night.

Panthers quarterback Bill Stull leads the Big East in passing efficiency and Baldwin has 27 catches for 532 yards. He also has complementary help at wideout from senior Oderick Turner and from tight ends Dorin Dickerson (21 catches for 232 yards and seven TDs) and Nate Byham.

But Baldwin — who had five catches for 81 yards against the Knights as a true freshman last season — is the one who strikes fear into secondaries.

“It starts with his physical skills,” said Rutgers coach Greg Schiano. “He reminds you of Kenny. He runs that dig pattern, the guy throws it 12 feet in the air and there’s no one on the field except him who can go and get it. And on deep balls he’s very good at adjusting. He’s fast and he’s big. He’s very much a Kenny Britt-type — and maybe bigger. I think he is better.

“He’s one of those special guys in the country.”

Given Rutgers propensity to blitz. Blitz often and unpredictably with the players, making the defense pay with the passing game is vital.

At the same time I was just posting on Rutgers being a grudge game, Brian Bennett at ESPN.com echoes my post intro as to Rutgers to this point. He points out that Rutgers is an even bigger question mark than any other Big East team because of that schedule.

Now here are some reasons for skepticism.

While Savage has avoided turnovers, the passing game is nowhere near as productive as it was a year ago. Rutgers is seventh in the Big East with 181 passing yards per game, and Savage is completing just 56 percent of his passes. This will be his first Big East start.

The running game has put up decent numbers, but you would expect the Scarlet Knights to bulldoze weak FCS opponents like Texas Southern and Howard on the ground. Schiano says the running game lacks consistency. And no matter how good the stats are, there’s no getting around that they were compiled against wildly inferior teams.

The total offense for Rutgers is for 1821 yards through 5 games. 885 yards (48.6%) came against the 2 1-AA patsies. Really, that seems about in line given the badness of the opponents. The questions come in the running game. 915 total yards, but 498 (54.4%) came in those two games.

That means for a team that is breaking in a true freshman QB and wanting to minimize the pressure on him to make all the plays as he is still learning, the running game is needed. Especially for a QB that admits to holding the ball too long, facing the conference leading team in sacks. Yet, in three 1-A games the rushing totals were 50 (Cinci), 160 (FIU) and 207 (Maryland). No shock that as the running game goes, so goes the Rutgers offense.

Rutgers has also benefitted greatly from their strong turnover differential. Including three defensive TDs so far. To the tune of being second in the country in TO differential.

Of course, Rutgers is aware that they are about to take their own jump in challenges.

“Any competitor I’m sure wants to get back there (on the national stage),” Rutgers coach Greg Schiano said Sunday, a day after his club shut out Texas Southern, 42-0, at Rutgers Stadium. “The last time people saw us we were 0-1. Now we’re 4-1. Hopefully we can go out and play better Friday night. As long as we play our best, that’s all I’m concerned about.”

Whether Rutgers (4-1) is ready for its nationally televised Friday-night home affair with Pittsburgh (5-1) is anyone’s guess. Not even Schiano knows for sure.

“It doesn’t really matter what I think — it’s coming,” Schiano said of his team’s litmus test with Pitt. “We’re going to do everything we can to be ready to play Friday I don’t know where that will put us in relation to Pitt. We are a work in progress — there’s no doubt about it. We’re not where we need to be.”

Rutgers coach Schiano is going to do what he can to find a 3d WR.

Particularly at wide receiver, where the Scarlet Knights have been searching for a capable third receiver to slide in behind Tim Brown and Mohamed Sanu. Freshman defensive back Quron Pratt received a few looks at wideout, along with Julian Hayes and another freshman, Mark Harrison.

Still, Schiano felt that while some progress was made, it doesn’t mean he’s satisfied.

“Quron made a play, like I said (Saturday) night,” Schiano said. “Julian played well. Mark had a little playing time but he didn’t get an opportunity to (catch a pass)… We are a work in progress.”

Injuries to Marcus Cooper and Keith Stroud are part of the reason for the continuing search. Rutgers WR Tim Brown hasn’t forgotten his game last year against Pitt.

Tim Brown can’t remember exactly what plays worked and how they worked from last year’s 54-34 win over Pittsburgh, but he can remember one thing:

His stat line.

“Four for 132,” Brown said after Tuesday’s practice with a grin, before adding: “Two touchdowns.”

And Brown was the 3d WR last year. This year he’s the #1 option.

Is Rutgers any good this year? I don’t know.

Coming into the season it was believed that they would at least be middle-of-the-pack in the Big East. With their schedule, it was thought that at least a bit above average would give them a great chance to win the Big East.

Of course, then the season started and they laid an egg in their nationally televised conference, season and home opener to Cinci. The second straight year of doing this.  Such a bad start that they were immediately dismissed from even half-hearted discussions as a player in the Big East this year (and forget the top-25).

Now, the Scarlet Knights have reeled off 4 straight wins, but that has come against two 1-AA teams and Maryland (2-4) and Florida International (1-4). Admittedly, if we start playing the schedule game, Pitt doesn’t look that great either — as UConn constitutes Pitt’s best win to date. Still, at least Pitt has one win against a team with a winning record.

It’s not like Pitt can run that much smack at Rutgers right now. They remain the only team in the Big East coach Dave Wannstedt hasn’t beaten at Pitt.

The Scarlet Knights have been a puzzle too complex for the Panthers to piece together. They’ve beaten the Panthers with both the run and pass.

The bottom line, says Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt, “They’ve made less mistakes than we have. I think every game has taken on a little different twist.”

While Coach Wannstedt did what he could not to make it a big deal in his weekly press conference, he was betrayed by reality and his own players. Starting with QB Bill Stull.

“This is personal, I’ve yet to be on the winning side of the ball and I am really taking it personal this week as are all of our seniors this week. It is obviously personal, but we are going to remain cool, calm and collected and make sure we give ourselves the best chance to win.”

Stull — who was knocked out of the game a year ago, giving him even more reason to make this one personal — and several of his teammates were made available yesterday after Wannstedt’s weekly news conference. They all recounted the disappointing ways they’ve lost to the Scarlet Knights over the past four seasons.

Wannstedt tried to downplay the significance of the game but it is clear his record against Rutgers is weighing on his mind as Stull, Gunn and Oderick Turner all talked about a team meeting Sunday night when he had all the seniors stand up and…

“He said to us — ‘Sit down if you’ve beaten Rutgers’ — and nobody got to sit down,” Turner said. “That said it all, so this year we’d like to do everything we can to beat this team. Just once I need to be able to go home [Turner is from New Jersey ] and have some bragging rights.”

Not to mention the fact that he has had tapes of the last 4 losses to Rutgers looping in the TVs at Pitt’s practice facility. But, you know, it’s just another conference game.

Of course, Rutgers can find their own slights for motivation.

A columnist who’s been one of Pittsburgh’s most trusted voices for nearly two decades now called Rutgers an inferior team. A national college football analyst, on a national broadcast, said Rutgers wasn’t on Pittsburgh’s level.

By early Sunday morning, Greg Schiano had heard the open-faced insults. And shrugged.

“I don’t know if we are in Pitt’s league. We’ll find out,” Rutgers’ head coach said, standing behind a podium he’d gripped just 15 hours before.

Surprisingly, I don’t think that “trusted voice” was Smizik, since he referred to Rutgers as “competition more difficult” than UConn. Turns out it was a throwaway line from Ron Cook at the end of this column. One of his space-eating single sentence ‘graphs.