Joe Starkey had a … column, with this final thought.

Not sure if Dave Wannstedt stepped further in or further out of Pitt’s defensive game plan Saturday, but something looked drastically different. Here’s what Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly said when I asked his opinion of defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads and the Panthers’ scheme: “I can tell you this: They had not shown the versatility within their defensive scheme that they showed against us. … They never gave a static look. Their plan was excellent.”

Something tells me Navy coach Paul Johnson didn’t leave Heinz Field with a similar feeling.

Pitt fans hadn’t seen it either. So, when Coach Wannstedt talked on Monday about not being as interested in blitzing and bringing pressure, it created a natural anxiety. Concern that Coach Wannstedt was being stubborn and blind to what had worked. Zeise was asked about it in his Q&A.

Q: I was listening to DW’s press conference from Monday, and was getting a little concerned. It sounds like he does not want to bring as much pressure this week. I felt like the reason the defense started to play well was because of the extra guys they were bringing, especially in the middle. What is your take? Clearly, not bringing pressure has not helped, so why not go with what seemed to work? What is the worst that could happen that has not already happened the past 3 years?

ZEISE: Well, you’d hope he is just trying to throw Louisville off because if you sit back and let Brian Brohm stand in the pocket and throw it, he’ll light it up. I think that is the wrong approach. Again, I go back to last year when Rutgers played Louisville and came from way behind to hand the Cardinals their only loss. The key to that game? Greg Schiano blitzed and blitzed and blitzed and got Brohm out of his comfort zone. That’s so important. But we’ll see. Again, part of me thinks that is just pregame coach speak, though there is a lot of precedent suggesting it is not.

Hopefully that’s all it is, but Zeise is correct in suggesting that Wannstedt has not been much for gamesmanship in saying one thing in the strategy and doing another.

The Zeise chat today, following a win actually had a lot more centered on the Louisville game.

jimmy_g: Was last week’s game just a fluke or has the defense gotten better?

Paul Zeise: The defense played well last week. Did it get better? Log in and ask me next week after we watch it play against Louisville….

shady_is_sweet: How do Pitt’s corners match up with Douglas and Urrutia?

Paul Zeise: From what we’ve seen this year — I don’t like that matchup at all. Not for a minute. I think this is an area that has to improve for Pitt — the coverage of the corners and the coverage of the safeties. It hasn’t been terrible, but it hasn’t been great either and it needs to be great this week because the Cardinals receivers are special.

panicbutton: What about Pitt’s offense versus Louisville’s D? The focus is on Pitt’s D this week, but I’m hoping to see a big game from Shady and company.

Paul Zeise: Well that’s what we have been talking about. It all comes down to Pitt posession the ball, the taking some time off the clock with nice long drives and not turning it over or settling for field goals. Louisville will score some touchdowns so Pitt needs to match that.

Lots of pressure on the secondary this weekend.

Kiss of death. Some think Pitt might be turning the corner and picking Pitt. Of course it could just be the lack of faith in Louisville these days.

Pitt 27, Louisville 24: Did the young Panthers turn the corner last week? I’ll say yes. Their pass defense is very good (sixth in the country) and I really like their ground game against a suspect Louisville D.

Bruce Feldman really hasn’t seen Pitt play, has he?

Finally, in 1-AA, the University of Northern Iowa Panthers are #2 in their polls. Here’s a puff-piece on former Pitt Panther, now UNI Panther WR Terrell Allen. At least he’s happy now.