I’m not still bitter. I’m not still bitter. I’m not still — aaarrrgghhh!!!!

For many University of Cincinnati football fans, it ranks as the greatest game in the 124-year history of the program.

On Dec. 5, 2009, after trailing by 21 points late in the first half, the Bearcats rallied to beat Pittsburgh, 45-44, at Heinz Field to win the Big East championship, completing an unbeaten regular season and earning a trip to the Sugar Bowl.

Two years later, the Bearcats return to Heinz Field on Saturday for the first time since that memorable game.

Great. Pitt holds a special place in their lore for that. Fantastic. Trust me Cinci, last year didn’t begin to make up for 2009.

In some ways, it was the worst moment in their 4-8 season.

“They were doing snow angels on our field, dancing with the trophy, they stormed the field,” running back Isaiah Pead said. “And hearing them in the locker room singing their fight song — that hurt. Everything hurt. Losing that game, going 4-8, not going to a bowl game, it was just a bad feeling all around.”

Okay, maybe this bit, helped a little.

That will never, ever get old.

Now, with Ray Graham out for the season. A patchwork offensive line, that may or increasingly seeming like may not have Lucas Nix back, Pitt will have to do more than a little throwing the ball. Some good news there.

The blueprint for breaking the Bearcats defense has been laid out. It’s no secret.

Find a way to buy time for the quarterback and attempt to throw on the Bearcats secondary. The pressure placed on the back line is evident. The UC coaches know it. The Pitt coaches know it. And most assuredly, the UC DBs know it.

Check that — the UC DBs love it.

“I don’t think it is pressure, I think it is a means of opportunity,” junior safety Drew Frey said. “It is going to be a hostile environment; they got to throw the ball and we got to try to take it away. That is what football is all about.”

Boasting the nation’s second-best run defense, Cincinnati forces opponents to beat them through the air. The only two teams topping 16 points against UC racked up more than 400 passing yards apiece to do so.

The bad news, Cinci likes to blitz and is third in the Big East in sacks.

And for Pitt, they face the guy who is probably the best uninjured running back in the Big East along with the best passing QB. Pitt’s secondary has been very good — albeit against less than impressive QBs — after a rocky start.

Defensive coordinator Keith Patterson said the difference has been that the staff was able to settle in and decide on a lineup of players who could play at a high level as well as a rotation that made sense based on the individual talents of the primary players.

“We’ve just been trying to bring things along slowly and at a pace they can digest it,” he said. “But we’ve got them all in the right spots now, and I think the more consistent you can be, the more we can add, and things have sort of slowed down a little bit for them in the games. There is nothing like game experience, and through the evaluation of who can handle what, that has helped us get people where their strengths are.

“What happened to us early, we have three basic packages and moved people around to try and get speed on the field. But that’s a lot to comprehend in a three- or four-game stretch and it started to snowball, so we started to reduce the number of people we’re putting in, and that has allowed us to become a little more consistent and not have as many mistakes.”

Hopefully that is true. Rather than the opponents’ passing games were suspect at best.

Finally a little love for Aaron Donald, who has thrived this season. It doesn’t hurt that Brandon Lindsey gets a lot of the defenses’ attention, but Donald is making the plays when he is out there.

The 6-foot, 270-pound Donald has posted seven sacks this season, ranking first in the conference and ninth in the nation (0.88 spg). He has a team-high eight quarterback hurries — no one else has more than five — and 9.5 tackles for losses and has knocked down three pass attempts.

Donald is coming off the two best games of his young career. He posted nine tackles and three sacks, both career-highs, against Utah, then added two sacks and earned a defensive game ball against Connecticut.

Graham said the Panthers have slightly adjusted the defense to take advantage of Donald’s strengths. Cincinnati has allowed only nine sacks all season, and Collaros is one of the most elusive quarterbacks in the Big East.

“I’m just listening to what the coaches are saying and getting a feel for the game even more and learning,” Donald said. “I’m maturing.”

Donald always possessed strength and explosiveness since arriving from Penn Hills as a two-time, all-state selection. He has added improved technique to his physicality while getting equal snaps at defensive end and nose tackle, backing up Brandon Lindsey and Myles Caragein, a pair of fifth-year seniors.