BIG EAST Panthers QB says some progress can be detected

Saturday's double-overtime loss to has Pitt stuck on five victories.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The losses are predictably close. The absence of a running game is a near-annual occurrence. The chances for an upper-tier bowl game are effectively gone.
Maybe it seems like another season, same old Pitt, but at least one player is tired of hearing that the Panthers aren't making the progress necessary to again become one of college football's best teams.
Sophomore quarterback Tyler Palko said Monday the Panthers (5-3, 3-2 in Big East) are inching closer and closer, even if Saturday's 38-31 loss to Syracuse in double overtime was like so many other close losses in recent seasons.
"We're getting better and moving forward and we're not taking steps backward," Palko said. "Again, we need to start winning big football games here and we're getting close. Close isn't good enough for me and it isn't good enough for coach [Walt Harris] and a lot of people on this football team."
When will it happen? Very soon according to Palko, who has been the offense's bright spot by completing 57 percent of his passes for 1,906 yards, 13 touchdowns and six interceptions.
Optimism
"We're going to get there -- believe me, we're going to get there," Palko said. "When I say something, I'm going to come through with it and we're going to get there, I really believe that."
If the Panthers are to break the pattern of predictable losses that has dogged them throughout Harris' eight-year tenure, a good place to start would be Saturday's game at Notre Dame (6-3).
The Irish have won 11 of 12 against Pitt, including a 20-14 upset victory in Pittsburgh last season that saw them outrush the Panthers 352-8. Pitt hasn't won in South Bend in 18 seasons -- or four Pitt coaches ago -- since coach Mike Gottfried's first team won there 10-9 in 1986.
Last season's loss came to a worse-than-ordinary Notre Dame team that finished 5-7, yet was able to turn running back Julius Jones loose for a school-record 262 yards rushing and two touchdowns at Heinz Field.
The Panthers' running game problems carried into this season, with six of their eight opponents outrushing them.
And when Pitt needed yardage the most, on a fourth-and-short in the second overtime, Raymond Kirkley was stopped a foot short of a first down to end the game. The loss all but ended Pitt's chances of winning the Big East title should they upset No. 13 West Virginia on Thanksgiving night.
Still, Palko isn't giving up on the run, even if Pitt has been outrushed 1,005-862. Harris isn't, either, saying, "We're trying to improve our plan and improve our players."
"I think the big thing about the West Coast offense is, if you operate it right, it doesn't matter if they know you're passing or not," Palko said. "Obviously it's easier if you can run the football, but, if you execute the offense, there's no need to panic."