A week off from football before Thanksgiving and the Backyard Brawl. The win definitely helps with a sense of overall calm. It’s been a rough season to date. The transition on the offense has been painful at times. The injuries have also been, well, painful. I’m reasonably certain almost the entire Pitt fanbase has watched Sunseri drop back this year and uttered, “1… 2… 3… Throw the damn ball!”

Yet, a good win on the road helps. Even if it was aided by a video game or what not.

“I said on Tuesday we have guys that miss class because they want to stay (up) all night and play that video game, whatever it was,” Strong said Monday at his weekly news conference. “I didn’t even know what it was, but it’s such a big deal.”

Gamers can participate online and play at the same time or on teams. “Modern Warfare 3” has a storyline that makes the player part of a special forces operation in search of a terrorist.

Strong said he knew it had engulfed the team by hearing players talk about the video game, most simply refer to as “MW3,” and seeing their posts about it on Twitter.

Sophomore strong safety Hakeem Smith was so excited he posted this tweet the night it was released: “Call of Duty at midnight!!!! #Gamerwithapassion.”

Receiver Damian Copeland tweeted at Smith: “Boi You Know U A Gamer When U have To Tape Your Fingers Up Before You Play The Game” — that was in reference to “Modern Warfare 3,” not actually taking the field to play football.

Kicker Chris Philpott posted “On that dutayyy with @G_Scruggs (defensive end Greg Scruggs) scruggy,” that prompted a retweet from quarterback Will Stein that he was “jealous.”

While he was at it, Strong also blamed the midnight release of the final Harry Potter movie on DVD on Friday as playing a role. What happens if the Cards lose to UConn this weekend? Will the opening of the final Twilight movie be cited?

After beating Louisville, Coach Graham said nice things about the O-line.

The Panthers have used six different offensive line combinations because of injuries.

“We’ve now had a few weeks with the same group of guys,” said Graham, citing offensive line injuries as a reason for early struggles. “I thought we blocked really well, came off the football. Repetition in the lineup helps.”

Center Ryan Turnley and tackle Greg Gaskins earned special mention for their performance in the 21-14 win over Louisville.

“Greg Gaskins really sticks out to me. A sleeper,” Graham said Monday. “Him and Turnley.”

And he’s still hoping that Lucas Nix might finally return to the lineup.

“I’ve been saying for three weeks we’re hopeful about Nix,” Graham said. “He was real close coming back last week. He was able to practice some and get some reps, he just wasn’t able to be 100 percent. I am anticipating that he would be back with the extra time. I’d be surprised if he wasn’t.”

And we’ll keep wondering.

Not to diminish the good work of the O-line, but it also has to be noted that it was injury ravaged weakness vs. injury ravaged weakness with Louisville.

Linebacker Preston Brown didn’t practice until Thursday during week he was the league’s defensive Player of the Week. Defensive end Marcus Smith, who leads the team in sacks, suffered a high ankle sprain that cost him the start against West Virginia and kept him out entirely against Pitt.

Linemen Randy Salmon, Roy Philon and Greg Scruggs all have played through ailments.

Add the disciplinary issues — safety Shenard Holton has been suspended indefinitely, and cornerback Adrian Bushell was held out of the Pitt game — and all of a sudden the depth thinned out considerably.

Annoying to put it back into perspective, but no one should be operating under any delusion that the O-line has suddenly found its way.

In general, Coach Graham seemed to be in a fairly upbeat mood. Especially when it came to talking about the future for the team.

Few positions have Graham as excited about the future as the defensive line, and that’s because that unit has plenty of young players who he said fit into the “explosive” category.

Sophomore defensive lineman Aaron Donald has been a fixture since the start of the season, and a few others, specifically freshmen Khaynin Mosley-Smith and LaQuentin Smith, have come on strong in recent weeks.

Graham said those young players, as well as freshman Ejuan Price, are getting experience and improving.

“It is exciting, the power that Aaron Donald has, his potential is off the chart,” Graham said on his weekly teleconference. “Then Juan Price is going to be really special. He is one of the most gifted players we have. LaQuentin has been just phenomenal when he has been in there, and he is guy I’d have no problem playing him every snap.

“And then [Mosley-Smith] is a guy we continue to get more snaps out of. He is an explosive guy and he is very athletic for a big guy and that bodes well for that group.

“The athleticism of those guys up front is impressive and to be so young, is exciting for the future.”

Coming up is the Brawl, and questions are starting. WVU Coach Dana Holgorsen was asked how the transition for his offense has been going and about comparisons to what Pitt has had to do.

On how his start at West Virginia has compared to other places he’s coached

Offensively, slower. This is more like how it was at Texas Tech in 2000 than it was when I went to Houston or Oklahoma State. The philosophy offensively at Houston and Oklahoma State were similar. There were guys that were used to doing things similar to how we run them. The personnel was in place to where we could handle that. We’re not there offensively. It goes back to Texas Tech when we were changing a lot of philosophies and changing the way things were done offensively.

The biggest thing is finding out a way to win. I don’t care where we’re at offensively. It’s about what we’ve got to do to win. We’re not happy with the three losses, but it’s better than four. We’ll keep trying to get better and keep trying to figure out how to put our guys in position to win, which is ultimately the only thing that matters. Things will get easier and easier the longer we’re here.

On if he’s had to slow down the offense a little bit like Pitt coach Todd Graham has done

I’ve changed a lot about how we call plays and how fast we call them. There are times that we try to change it up and try to catch people off guard. I know that Pitt coach Todd Graham has the same philosophy as far as what he’s done for the last three years and what he’s trying to put in. He’s dealing with the same thing that I am as far as changing up what it used to be.

I wasn’t aware that he does that. I haven’t watched film yet, but I know what his philosophy is and what his schemes are. We’ll learn more about how they do it in the next few weeks.

I’ve changed quite a bit in what the play-calling is and how fast it gets done and the amount of plays that we’re running. All that stuff is a little different than what I’ve been used to.

It gives you an idea of how far from the spread offense of Dick Rod, WVU had actually moved in Stewart’s time. Despite having potentially excellent fits for his system in Geno Smith, Tavon Austin, etc. It hasn’t been that simple a transition when they have been playing a completely different style.