Make no mistake, that is exactly what Saturday night’s game for Cinci is. Beat Pitt and the Bearcats are virtual locks for at least a share of the Big East title and the Big East’s BCS bid. Their remaining games after Pitt are home for hapless Syracuse and at Hawaii. Even if they lost to Hawaii, it would have no impact on the Big East or BCS issues.

A Pitt win on the other hand would merely be the first of three difficult games to finish the season. Pitt follows with WVU and then at UConn. Cinci faces the worst of the Big East and middle-of-the-WAC-pack. Pitt faces two bowl eligible teams with a combined 13-6 record.

Over the weekend there was an article in the Trib on Cinci coach Brian Kelly.

What Cincinnati has done this season has validated Kelly as one of the best and brightest coaches in the Big East. Only two seasons after leading Central Michigan to the Mid-American Conference title and five years removed from guiding Grand Valley State to its third consecutive Division II national championship, Kelly is considered one of the country’s hottest commodities.

Cincinnati has come a long way since Kelly arrived in December 2006 to replace Mark Dantonio. Kelly led the Bearcats to a 27-24 victory over Western Michigan in the International Bowl but found a media that turned a deaf ear to his pleas for giving the football program prominent play.

“If you wanted to buy a season ticket for basketball, you had to buy a football season ticket first,” Kelly said. “The program couldn’t stand on its own. It needed to break the tie of being held up by basketball. It was changing a perception that basketball was No. 1 and football was No. 2. If you’re truly a BCS team, if you’re truly a Big East team, your basketball and football have to stand on their own two legs. That was really the first thing.

“The second thing was setting expectations, and third was consistency. All of those things take time. We’re only into the second year of this, and we’ve got a lot of work to do. You can win a championship here at the University of Cincinnati. You just have to invest in it.”

He’s emerged as a hot coaching candidate this season for high profile gigs like Tennessee. A lot of writers last year at other pubs (Matt Hayes, Dennis Dodd, etc.) were talking about him being someone Michigan would have been smart to consider.

He has done a tremendous job at Cinci. Both in winning and generating excitement. This season he’s done it despite lots of injuries on the team — especially at QB.

For those of you who are still counting, the University of Cincinnati football team has used five different quarterbacks this season.

Quarterback No. 5 is Notre Dame transfer Demetrius Jones, who entered Friday’s 28-20 UC victory at Louisville late in the first quarter and rushed for five yards on second-and-16 from the UC 31-yard line.

Jones then returned to the sideline and Tony Pike trotted back onto the field.

“I’m really just doing it to set a record,” UC coach Brian Kelly said Saturday.

Actually, Jones’ appearance, his first in a UC uniform, probably will not be a one-time occurrence.

“We’ve been working on a package with him,” Kelly said. “The ball got a little wet out there and I was concerned about the ball going on the ground. If it was a dry-ball situation, he would have gotten more play.

“He can run it and he can throw it. He’s pretty dynamic when he runs the football. We think it can be a nice add-on to our run game and play action and gives us another offensive weapon. He’s definitely a part of our offensive structure now. We want to give the defense something else to worry about.”

As injuries have hit the UC quarterback corps this fall, Kelly has used three different starters – Pike, Dustin Grutza and Chazz Anderson – with Zach Collaros and Jones coming off the bench.

From what I have read, it looks like Tony Pike will get the start against Pitt. Oh, and Kelly isn’t trying to downplay the game.

“It is the biggest game in Nippert Stadium history,” Kelly said. “You put yourself in position for qualification for a BCS bowl game. There isn’t a bigger game than this one. We need that kind of support. This is where our Cincinnati fans have to come out and really give us a home-field advantage.”

I always prefer coaches and teams that don’t deny which games are more meaningful and are a big deal.

It’s something that many fans never thought possible, but that UC coach Brian Kelly predicts will become the norm.

“It’s where we want to go to each and every year,” Kelly said.

The Bearcats have won three in a row, putting them a half-game ahead of Pitt and West Virginia, which stand at 3-1 in the Big East.

“It’s obvious that Cincinnati is the team to beat,” said Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt.

Cinci has never beaten Pitt. Of course, prior to this season the Bearcats had not beaten Louisville and WVU since joining the Big East.

Now there’s a difference between embracing the game and screwing up your routine. Neither team is doing that.

And in preparation for this clash of the titans, both coaches have ordered up absolutely nothing special.

“We’re not going to do anything more (than usual) this week,” Panthers coach Dave Wannstedt said on Monday’s Big East coaches teleconference.

Said Bearcats coach Brian Kelly: “We’re not going to change anything. We’ve just tried to stay in the moment.”

That moment is getting close.

Let’s start in Western Ohio for the first recap.

It was about 8:15 p.m. Monday, Nov. 17, that reality came crashing down on the Miami University basketball team.

This reality came in the form of the sixth-ranked Pittsburgh Panthers, who opened the second half with a 26-6 run and went on to scorch the RedHawks 82-53 at Petersen Events Center.

Miami (1-2 overall, 1-0 against teams not ranked in the top six) had come close to taking No. 4 UCLA to overtime four days earlier, but this time there was to be no near-upset.

Levance Fields took blame for Pitt only leading by 5 at the half, DeJuan Blair asserted himself as a team leader in the locker.

“I took some rushed shots, and that kind of started it,” Fields said. “In the second half, we got out and ran. I know I can impact the game without scoring.”

Pitt outscored Miami, 16-2, in the opening 4:22 of the second half. Young, who had gone 12 minutes in the first half without a shot, scored six points during the run.

By the time guard Jermaine Dixon scored on a steal and layup, Pitt led, 51-32, with 15:38 to play and was cruising toward its 30th consecutive non-conference victory.

“We came out with a whole new attitude for the second half,” Blair said. “We came out and responded.

“At halftime, we were angry. Everybody had their head down. I tried to pick them up.”

It helped that he stayed out of foul trouble in the second half.

Coach Dixon was upbeat about the overall performance after the game.

Every conceivable facet of the game was dominated by Pitt in the second half, but coach Jamie Dixon was most impressed with his team’s defensive effort.

“I’m very happy with our defense tonight,” Dixon said. “I told the guys afterward that if our seniors continue to prepare our team the way they did the last couple of days this team can really take some strides. If they continue to stick with it and lead like they did we can really improve and become a pretty good team.”

Miami of Ohio forward Michael Bramos came into the game averaging 17.5 points per game, but the Panthers held him to only two points and without a field goal. He was 0 for 6 from the field and 0 for 3 from 3-point range.

“We didn’t want to foul him,” Dixon said. “About half of his points have come from the free-throw line. We really tried to stay at home and not over-help on penetration. I could see us understanding it and valuing the team defense. I felt very good about how well we were playing going into the game. I saw us improve defensively.”

It took Miami almost 12 minutes into the second half before they accumulated 10 points.

In the comments about and after the game, lots of love for Jermaine Dixon. Some of that I think is just relief that Pitt has an impact JUCO transfer for the first time since Ontario Lett. Another portion is just being pleasantly surprised at how he already seems integrated into the team. Dixon was big in the game.

“He’s a quite kid. He doesn’t say too much,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “He always seems to have more assists than I anticipated. We weren’t sure how good a defender he would be until we saw him on the floor. He’s got the toughness. He’s a physically and mentally mature young man. He’s a good addition to our team.”

Making his second start, Dixon scored 14 points on 6 of 9 shooting, made two steals and turned in one of the better defensive efforts defense-minded Pitt got from a newcomer in recent years.

“Dixon killed us,” Miami coach Charlie Coles said. “Boy, did he have a game. That’s what we weren’t counting on.”

What the Redhawks (1-2), fresh off a five-point loss at UCLA, nor the No. 6 Panthers (2-0) could not have imagined was Dixon’s effort in guarding Michael Bramos, Miami’s leading scorer (17.5 ppg) and a second-team All-MAC selection a year ago.

Bramos picked up two early fouls but managed only two points and did not make a field goal. Dixon and Sam Young spent most of the game guarding him.

“My focus was to come out, play defense and lock up their best player,” Jermaine Dixon said. “I think I’m coming along pretty good. It was my first time guarding somebody pretty good and I think I did a good job.”

It’s early, but things look very promising for this season.