Looks like the only player likely to miss the game for Pitt is Defensive Tackle Thomas Smith, while Sophomore RB Brandon Mason may try to receive a medical redshirt. I think the redshirt is 50-50 since he did get some playing time before the injury.

Like Louisville needs more help on the offense, but RB Kolby Smith returns to back-up Michael Bush.

Fellow running back Michael Bush, second in the nation in touchdowns with 18, has averaged almost 25 carries per game and run for nine touchdowns in the last three games. Bush has told Smith every day since he was injured that he needed Smith back.

“All he was saying was, ‘I need you back. I need you back to help me carry some of this weight,'” Smith said.

Smith couldn’t describe the frustration of being stuck on the sideline, watching his team lose, while Bush ground out 37 carries, he said.

“I just felt like, in some situations, I could’ve been the back to help Mike out because he had so many carries,” Smith said.

He averaged nine carries per game for 6.3 yards per carry in the four games before the injury.

The added risk is that Smith is also a threat to catch the ball.

“We adjusted quite a bit,” Petrino said. “We used a lot more of our two-tight-end sets and motion, a lot more one-back, three-wide receiver sets. It was hard to get used to initially, because we ask Kolby to do so many things — not just running the football but things in protection and the passing game. So we missed that a little bit.”

More than just handing Smith the ball or throwing to him, however, the threat of Smith running with or catching it out of the backfield is a major weapon.

And to think, Bush came to Louisville with hopes of being a quarterback.