That oft-mocked Wannstedt comment from the halftime of the 2005 edition of the Backyard Brawl was not actually incorrect. Pitt needed more speed. They needed faster players. Better athletes. The speed was needed to make plays on both sides of the ball.

Now, with just a few weeks to the debut of the High Octane era, “get faster” has a different meaning. National writers have noticed: it’s about the pace.

The way he figures it, if Pitt gets 80 offensive snaps a game, it should have no trouble scoring 35 points, a number the team only occasionally hit under Wannstedt.

It’s a style of play that’s a marked departure from the pro-style offense the Panthers used with effectiveness under Wannstedt. It will require Sunseri to make good decisions, and Ray Graham to follow in the footsteps of predecessors like Dion Lewis and LeSean McCoy.

“We’ve got to play fast,” Ray Graham said. “That’s what he wants. He wants us to play fast, fast, fast. Those are his three things.”

That means all the time.

“We run everywhere,” he said. “There’s no walking. We run to every drill. No breaks.”

It’s part of a relentless ethos the coach is preaching. Caragein points out it’s not just the offense that will be no-huddle this fall, but the defense, too.

The expectations of 80+ plays on offense each game would be — and this is a very obvious understatement — something of an increase.

In 2010, West Virginia led the Big East averaging 69.8 plays per game and the Panthers were fifth averaging just under 64. If the new no-huddle attack does produce 81 or 82 plays per game, it would rank them among the top offenses in the nation – where Graham’s Tulsa team was a year ago.

There is no reason to think that the Panthers can’t achieve their goal with the personnel on the field. Junior quarterback Tino Sunseri, son of Alabama linebackers coach Sal Sunseri, is a fast learner and has reportedly improved with the move to a shotgun formation. All-conference receiver Jon Baldwin may be gone, but Mike Shanahan (43 catches, 589 yards in 2010) and 6-foot-4 sophomore Devin Street will serve as the perfect compliment to the speedy return man Cameron Saddler – who will likely takeover the “Z receiver” position in the spread.

Ray Graham returns after a breakout 2010 that earned him 3rd Team All-Big East honors while sharing the load with Dion Lewis. The high play count will mean that some of the other running backs will need to step up, but there is no doubting Graham’s playmaking ability on the field.

The Big East is filled with multiple looks on offense and defense, with no clear cut trend across the league.

A great final point, because, there will be a trend to lump all the offenses together. Pitt’s, Cinci, WVU’s as being all the same. Even though the only real similarity is that they are not a traditional pro-set.

Just, don’t call Pitt’s offense a spread. Even the players are saying that.

Despite the differences in philosophies, certain principles remain the same from the pro-style to the no-huddle.

“We’re still going to run the ball. We’re still going to run the power,” senior lineman Chris Jacobson said. “It’s not just a spread offense, but it is an upbeat tempo.”

The offense also wants to be able to alleviate pressure on the defense. Too many times last season, Pitt’s defense was left out to dry by an anemic offense, and the Panthers suffered being unable to keep up with the scoring of other teams.

This season, Pitt wants to put pressure on their opponent to stay close to this high-powered offensive attack.

“We scored last year, but not enough,” junior quarterback Tino Sunseri said. “We want to take some pressure off the defense and force a little bit of pressure on the (opposing) offense. We want to make sure they know we’re going to be going down the field, scoring points, and they’ll have to keep up with us.”

Finally worth noting. Mike Shanahan wins the mangled phrasing award for the week.

“It’s kind of been a complete 360,” junior receiver Mike Shanahan said of this season’s different approach.

Back to your math class.