The offensive line, in preparing for Utah knows it will not be the same as going against the defense in camp and practices.

The philosophy for Pitt’s defensive line is to get off the ball and whip the offensive line straight up. Wannstedt’s defenses rarely blitz and, when they do, the blitzes are reserved for certain situations.

Utah, however, will bring extra guys from all different directions, and Wannstedt said he expects to see a steady flow of run blitzes, blitzes off the edge and stunts from the Utes. That is why he said he is glad the Panthers’ offensive line has had extra time to prepare for the game.

“They are similar to a lot of teams we will face in that they do a lot of fire-zone pressure and whatnot,” right tackle Lucas Nix said. “The whole thing is they will have eight [players] in the box the whole time, or at least we’re expecting that, and then it becomes a matter of picking up tendencies.

“They are pretty much an edge rush team. We will see a little bit of pressure from the middle, but, for the most part, they are going to bring strong pressure from the tight end side and try to get in the way of our bread-and-butter plays.”

Karabin added, “Since it is the first game of the year, they will come out with some different things, some things which aren’t expected, but we’re going to try and prepare for anything they can really throw at us.”

I would say the best comparison to how Utah likes to attack on defense is Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights are a blitz-happy team that attacks and brings pressure as much as possible. Corner-blitzes, safeties, overloading a side. That has been the style of Schiano’s defenses and it seems much like what Pitt will see from Utah.

Keeping with Pitt and Coach Wannstedt’s philosophy, the offense will want to counter the speed rushes and defense built on it with power and force.

“I think if you walked in there right now and asked our kids to call a play, to a man it would be 16-power,” Wannstedt said. “That for us is a way of life. You live with things and you die with things, but if you have confidence in them and do them well enough that kids believe in it [you keep doing it].

“The bottom line is there is no easy, finesse way to run 16-power. It is a combination of players mentality we want to have here at Pitt plus the kinds of plays that we run. There aren’t many teams who use a fullback like we do, and all of that adds up to having physical practices.”

It helps to have a big blocking fullback to open things up. One who has embraced the role.

“He’s a better athlete than anyone would probably realize,” coach Dave Wannstedt said. “Because of his size and the position he plays, you tend to say ‘He’s a fullback. He’s just a blocker.’ But … we are going to need him to be more than blocker for us.”

…

Hynoski’s biggest impact — other than opening holes for Lewis, of course — could come in the passing game. He always has had good hands, but most of his receptions were screens. This season, he is getting more reps lined up wide. Hynoski improved his versatility during the offseason. He caught about 50 balls once a week running a variety of routes, while honing his footwork and taking the correct steps and angles.

“They have talked to me about stepping up my role in the pass game as a receiver,” Hynoski said. “Catching passes in the flat and running the ball in single-back sets. … Catching the ball is something that’s always come natural to me. But I’ve been working on my hands and my routes. It’s something I’m definitely prepared and ready for.”

Pardon my skepticism, but while there is plenty of talk about using Hynoski for more than blocking, I don’t expect it. Especially early. Not with a line that will likely need help in the middle. I expect that Coach Wannstedt in post-games and weekly pressers will speak of wanting to to get get him more touches. More mixed utilization of him, but the opportunity wasn’t there in the last game.

Besides, we all know who will be seeing the work carrying the ball.

That’s what Lewis is focusing on, which is why he spent the offseason answering his coaches’ challenge to improve his blocking in blitz protection and become a better receiver out of the backfield. He has his eye on leading the Panthers to a Big East championship more than winning the Heisman, knowing that the two titles could go hand-in-hand, especially if the Panthers can beat out-of-conference opponents Utah and Miami in September.

“All the ingredients are in place for Lewis to make a Heisman run,” Sporting News college football writer Dave Curtis said. “He’s shown he’s durable and capable of big numbers. Pittsburgh’s got a schedule with enough high-profile games for him to be seen and earn national respect. His team should contend for a championship, meaning he’ll be relevant into December.”

Here’s an upstate NY newspaper puffer on Dion Lewis.

Lewis says there’s still room to improve. He’d like to develop into a better blocking back in his overall quest to become a more complete running back.

Lewis says he can’t imagine being anywhere else but Pitt because he’s fit in so well. He’s also glad that people from the Capital District are behind him.

“It feels good to know that people back home look up to me and I’m representing where I’m from,” he said.

If Lewis has another great season, it stands to figure that the Panthers will have

“There’s no doubt that he has amazing talent,” said former Pitt Panther Curtis Martin, the fourth all-time leading rusher in NFL history. “I think that he’s the best to come through here since Tony Dorsett. This guy has something special about him.”

It really is hard to believe just how quickly Lewis has made everyone forget LeSean McCoy.

Still, when it comes to the offense, the pressure is on Frank Cignetti to make it all work. He gets the big puffing from Ron Cook.

True. All true. But that doesn’t change the bottom line here this morning: Cignetti will give the Pitt offense its best chance to pull the upset at Utah.

Not quarterback Tino Sunseri or wide receiver Jon Baldwin or even Heisman Trophy candidate running back Dion Lewis.

Cignetti.

The man works miracles with quarterbacks.

Whoa. Whoa. Whoooaaaa.

I’m a fan of Cignetti. I had no problem all of last year taking cheap shots at the guy he replaced, because of the job he did. Let’s just keep some perspective here. This is all but, unintentionally, setting it all at Cignetti’s feet if Pitt loses.

First of all, Stull was not a complete failure B.C. (Before Cignetti). He was injured early in his first start, and the year before had been decent most of the season — as long as you didn’t ask him to throw a fade route. He never seemed to get it back after a concussion, and yes he tanked in the Sun Bowl.

Then there is an important component that Cook’s piece doesn’t even mention. The offensive line. Go ahead, look. Not a word about the O-line. I would say more of us are concerned about the O-line than Sunseri. No QB is going to look good if he has no time. Sunseri will be screwed if the line is weak and they can stack against Lewis to force obvious throwing downs. No game-planning and “miracle-working” with QBs by the OC will can mask that.