Pitt seeks signature victory vs. the Irish

PITTSBURGH (AP) — There wasn’t a hint of sunshine Tuesday at the University of Pittsburgh, which is enjoying the football team’s first top-10 ranking in November since 1982.

At least the Panthers can take comfort in this: It’s looking a lot brighter now than it did 27 years ago.

The Panthers are 8-1 and ranked No. 8, just as that 1982 team was on this day back then, but the similarities appear to end there.

The ’82 Panthers were a star-laden team coming off three consecutive 11-1 seasons, a preseason No. 1 that had nine seniors drafted by the NFL — including one of the greatest passers in football history. Regardless, that team is remembered as one of the most disappointing in school history.

By contrast, these Panthers are on the rise, with their best games and best teams apparently still ahead of them.

For now, there’s nothing for this 2009 team to take out of 1982 except this cautionary note: That season began to unravel with an unexpected home-field loss to Notre Dame, which coincidentally plays at Heinz Field on Saturday night.

Just like then, the Fighting Irish (6-3) were ranked early in the season, but no longer are. Just like then, Notre Dame’s hopes of going to a major bowl are gone. Just like then, Notre Dame’s coach, who wasn’t in college football when he was hired, is under considerable scrutiny; then it was Gerry Faust, now, it’s Charlie Weis.

Warning enough, Panthers?

“They are college football,” linebacker Adam Gunn said. “They’re the leaders of college football. So this is a chance to show that we are, too, now.”

That 1982 season has long been considered the beginning of the end; since then, Pitt has played in a major bowl only once.

This season seems much different.

The Panthers have won 18 of 23 games since upsetting then-No. 2 West Virginia at the end of the 2007 season and they look to be primed for a string of successful seasons.

They’re rising as the season winds down, not fading, with five consecutive victories. A number of key players are underclassmen. The 1,000-yard running back, Dion Lewis, is a freshman.

“You can’t tell the future, but I know that coach [Dave] Wannstedt has a vision of where he wanted the program to be,” Gunn said. “Once we all had time to buy into that vision, well, here we are. ... To be back in the top 10, where Pitt lived for a long time back in the day, that says a lot about this program.”

Back in the top 10, too, less than a month after the Panthers weren’t ranked at all.