It’s been a while since Louisville has won a conference road game. Over three years and ten games, in fact. That’s an effective summary of the Steve Kragthorpe era. New Coach Charlie Strong is using that to motivate his team this week.

“Coach Strong does an excellent job at finding something that will just itch at you all week,” left guard Josh Byrom said. “Every week he has something.”

Strong gave the Cards a similar nudge going into their game at Arkansas State. Before that 34-24 victory, they had lost 10 straight road games since a 35-28 win at Memphis in 2008.

It’s his way of keeping them focused on the task at hand. With five games left on the schedule, Strong admits stressing the clichéd one-game-at-a-time approach. He has resisted using the league’s parity as a motivator.

It’s early, but I get the feeling that Strong’s Louisville tenure is going to make a lot of other programs that passed on him have some buyers remorse.

Pitt on the other hand, is feeling better about itself after two straight conference wins.

“We’re feeling better every week,” said DeCicco, who had eight tackles against Rutgers. “If we can keep this up, we will be a difficult team to beat. We’re confident right now. But at the same time, we realize that one slip up can cost us a shot at the Big East.

“I know that everyone on this team believes that there is room for improvement. We’ll be looking at film and preparing for Louisville.”

And there will be no doubt that Louisville and others in the Big East are now gunning for Pitt. Aside from all the preseason lauding, Pitt is the team at the top of the conference. That, naturally, has the players downplaying that sort of thing.

“We’re well aware that everything is in front of us, but we have to approach this game like it’s any other game and not get caught up in records,” sophomore safety Jarred Holley said. “You never know what’s going to happen. The Big East is a tough conference. There will be a lot of big challenges for each and every team. We’ve been approaching every game like it’s the Big East championship game. We have to play every game like it’s our last game.”

Senior fullback Henry Hynoski said Pitt’s place in the standings has not been a topic of conversation in the locker room.

“No one even mentioned that we’re at the top,” Hynoski said. “We’re so dialed in on every week, step by step. That’s what’s going to get us where we want to be. When we look ahead that’s where things can potentially go wrong.”

Both sides of the ball have noticeably improved since conference play has gotten underway. It isn’t simply the lesser competition as opposed to the teams against whom Pitt lost. They look clearly better than they did against FIU and New Hampshire.

The defense has been a lot sharper. As long as you toss out the opening drive or two for opponents.

It was the third game in a row and the fourth in five games that the Panthers have given up a touchdown on either the opponents’ first or second drive of the game. That, players said, is a trend Pitt will need to change if they want to extend this current two-game winning streak and win the Big East championship.

All of the drives have been eerily similar: The Panthers look a bit out of sync and powerless to stop the other team as they move the ball right down the field.

“I don’t know what it is, but we have to get it solved,” Pitt safety Dom DeCicco said after Saturday’s game, which the Panthers won, 41-21. “We get out there and it is like we are nervous and not on the same page and we just have to get that out of our system and once we do we seem to settle down and play a good game.

“But we have to figure out how to get started quicker. We can’t just let teams go right down the field. We have to be ready to play from the start of the game. It is something we need to really work on.”

It really is disturbing. They have that series where the defense looks absolutely clueless. Not sure where to line-up. Unable to figure things out, and then getting tentative when the action happens. It sure makes you think the team (and we fans) is in for a long day.

It has helped with Dom DeCicco moving to weakside linebacker more often in passing downs and the defensive line looking a lot better. Brandon Lindsey had a great game against Rutgers, while Jabaal Sheard has been an absolute beast. Garnering a lot less attention has been the solid, consistent play of guys like DTs Myles Caragein and Chas Alecxih along with middle linebacker Max Gruder.

Then there’s the offense. Despite rotating the backs of Graham and Lewis — and plenty of questions about the wisdom of that — the running game has been producing since the O-line has been reworked. In turn so has the passing game.

Since losing to Miami, 31-3, a month ago, the Panthers have enjoyed the second-best day by a running back in Pitt history, posted the program’s first-ever consecutive 40-point Big East games, gained 500 total yards in a Big East game for the first time in a decade and got a 300-yard passing game from a sophomore quarterback with seven career starts.

“I think we are just starting to jell now as an offense in all areas,” said fullback Henry Hynoski, who had seven receptions for 51 yards, both career highs, against Rutgers. “Everyone is just playing better.”

Whether it’s the shuffled offensive line, a rejuvenated Dion Lewis, a confident Tino Sunseri or an inspired Jon Baldwin, the same Pitt offense that didn’t get a first down on its first five possessions against Miami in a national television embarrassment has turned into a balanced, 40-point-a-game juggernaut.

Like, loathe or tolerate Sunseri; he has improved over the last two games. Part of it is the O-line. Not just its improved play, but that Sunseri seems more comfortable behind it. I’m not going to defend or rehash the QB competition. I also don’t want to get into whether Sunseri will or should be the starter beyond this year. (Things that inevitably get brought up repeatedly in the comments.) He is the starter this year, and that is the way it is.

“The growing confidence comes with me being able to get the ball in the receivers’ hands,” he said. “I felt early on that I kind held onto it a little bit. I got ripped by (Cignetti), and I learned from that. He has more faith in me to dial more stuff up. It’ll take some pressure off the running game.”

An improving offensive line has made life somewhat easier for the first-year starter.

“The offensive line has opened up holes every week and provided protection for me,” Sunseri said. “We’ve given up some sacks, but they’ve mostly been my fault. They have given me ample amount of time, so I need to help them out a little more.”

Whether the threat of losing his job actually played a role or not is debatable. As much as anything, it seemed to coincide with the team as a whole playing better.

As a sidebar, I heard on local sports talk after the Rutgers game about how Mike Cruz has responded since being benched. Drove me nuts. Cruz was never benched. He just did not start for one game. Big, big difference. He did respond to it, but don’t call it a benching.

Back to Sunseri, Coach Wannstedt expressed his pleasure on Monday by bestowing the highest compliment he has for a QB: game manager.

“The thing that Tino is doing right now is that he’s managing the game. He’s taking what the defense gives you. When we have the opportunity to take shots he’s making good choices.

“For a young quarterback you couldn’t really ask for anything more. I think that everybody just evaluates the quarterback position by how many passes you complete, and there’s so much more to it. He’s getting the call, managing the huddle and getting us in and out of plays. We’ll have run checks; we’ll have pass checks all depending on what the defense does. Pressure-wise, coverage-wise or front-wise, all those little things that go unnoticed he has truly improved on week after week. Obviously, we can’t win without good quarterback play on any level.”

Insert your own joke about Wannstedt and good quarterbacks here.