I have to admit, I like bravado more than cliches. It’s refreshing and much more honest.

“We’re not playing for co-championships,” Kelly said Monday.

As they prepare for Saturday’s showdown against No. 14 Pitt at Pittsburgh’s Heinz Field in the fifth installment of the River City Rivalry, Kelly and his players are interested in only one thing: winning the league title outright and securing the automatic BCS bowl berth that goes with that title.

If the fifth-ranked Bearcats lose to Pitt (9-2 overall, 5-1 in the league), UC (11-0, 6-0) will share the league championship and will then have to hope to land one of the four BCS at-large bids, which could be an iffy proposition.

“You can put it any way you want and I’m sure it will go in the media guide that way,” Kelly said of the possibility of being co-champs. “But I know this: we’d be extremely disappointed. There’s only one thing we go into with a goal and that is to win a championship.”

Of course when it comes to the ND job, then cliches and non-denials are a different thing for Kelly. He’s been the rumored pick since last season. Though, the rumor mill seems to be swinging to the defensive minded pick like TCU’s Gary Patterson.

The Big East scheduled with the expectation that Pitt, Cinci, WVU and/or Rutgers would be fighting for the Big East title. Cinci Coach Kelly saw it coming.

“When I saw Dec. 5, I told our guys that we’re going to have to be at this all year,” the UC coach said. “This is probably going to come down to the last game of the year.”

And now Pitt has to see about not ending its season poorly.

Q: Paul, I think 10 wins is a must for this team and they have, or will have had three shots to get it. If that doesn’t happen would you consider the season a failure in terms of next steps?

ZEISE: I agree with you. If Pitt finishes 9-4 — with a loss in some non-descript bowl game to some mediocre SEC or Conference USA team — it will be a huge disappointment. I don’t know if failure is the right word, because they did win nine games — though the competition had something to do with that — but to me it would be a disappointment. Losing to West Virginia this year was not a good thing and there isn’t a positive spin to be put on it. I think if Pitt had beaten WVU, then the season is a success and this week is just gravy win or lose. But in losing that game, the Panthers really need to win this one in order to make a definitive statement about where the program really is and that it is indeed in better shape than it was six or seven years ago.

Ending the season on a 3-game losing streak would render all criticism that Pitt built its record on bad to mediocre teams completely valid. It would mean Rutgers would likely constitute the best win of the season and not a single win over a team that finished in the top-25.

There is no sense in worrying about a bowl game and what would happen there. Right now the attention is on Cinci.

“We want to turn it loose on Saturday and play as good as we can,” Wannstedt said. “We just didn’t make enough plays (against West Virginia), but we’ve kind of moved on.”

“This week, because it’s like a playoff game, I try to reflect back and give them a few scenarios of what I’ve been through — NFL playoffs and college championships. I tell them what we need to do to be ready. Right now, they have a thousand thoughts going through their minds. They all want to play their best game. They all want to win the championship.

“I want them to just clear their minds, and think of the one, two or three things we need to do to be prepared to win,” Wannstedt added. “Basically we’ll be ready to play as good as we can play. Obviously, the kids are excited. This is going to be a unique day.”

Okay, fine. Might as well get this out of the way since Coach Wannstedt made the comparison. Coach Wannstedt had 3 appearances in the playoffs as a head coach — once with the Bears and twice with the Dophins. His overall playoff record is 2-3 and 1-1 at home. Take from that what you will.

That message of moving on and letting go of a disappointing performance in Morgantown seemed to be the team them.

While the Panthers gathered Saturday morning to sort through their issues before the Big East title game against No. 5 Cincinnati next Saturday at Heinz Field, they left Milan Puskar Stadium without pointing fingers.

Instead, defensive end Greg Romeus pointed toward what really matters. If the Panthers can survive the Bearcats, they can clinch a Bowl Championship Series bid.

“You learn from every game,” said Romeus, who had seven tackles and a sack. “We’re blessed to have an opportunity to win the Big East.”

Time to take that opportunity.