They must have loved the Pitt-Ohio game Friday night in South Florida. The e-mails poured in over the weekend from the same people there who laughed at Pitt when it hired Dave Wannstedt. They called him a loser then. You might guess what they're saying now.

Sadly, there's not much to offer as a response.

Not at the moment, anyway.

Wannstedt has lost 10 of his past 11 games, going back to last season when he coached the Miami Dolphins. It's his two losses at Pitt that are troubling to us. The one against Notre Dame, though disappointing because Pitt was ranked No. 23 and coming off a Fiesta Bowl bid, is at least tolerable, especially after the Irish beat Michigan at The Big House Saturday. But there's no getting around the loss at Ohio. It was just horrendous.

That's why it was hard to buy into Wannstedt's attempt at a positive spin yesterday. "You can't lump the whole team into this," he said. He talked of the strides Pitt made against Ohio with its defense, running game and special teams. Well, guess what? Pitt is supposed to make big strides against a weak opponent. Beyond that, it has to win the game, no matter how poorly it plays. It failed miserably.

It was a lot easier to believe Wannstedt when he predicted quarterback Tyler Palko will bounce back from his awful performance. "He's our guy. He's won a lot of games around here and will continue to win a lot of games." To give Palko a better chance, Wannstedt has replaced wide receiver Joe DelSardo in the starting lineup with Derek Kinder, more of a speed guy. "We need to threaten people. That wasn't happening," Wannstedt said. Palko was throwing for DelSardo on each of his three interceptions at Ohio. That was a big part of his problem. He needs to look more for Greg Lee -- his best playmaker -- especially in the red zone and in overtime.

It would be nice if Wannstedt could plug in a few new offensive linemen, but that won't happen until next season. Palko was under pressure all night at Ohio. Walt Harris didn't exactly leave Wannstedt much in terms of big people, offensively or defensively. That's no excuse for losing to Ohio. There is no excuse for that. It just means Wannstedt needs to do a better job recruiting big guys.

In the meantime, Pitt's coaches and players need to find the resiliency and mental toughness they showed last season.

Wannstedt pointed out Pitt started slowly a year ago, playing badly against Ohio -- though it still won -- and losing at home to Nebraska. It was 2-2 and still playing badly after a loss at Connecticut in the infamous "Palko Slide" game. Somehow, Harris and the players found a way to win six of their final seven regular-season games to make it to the Bowl Championship Series.

Pitt needs that kind of turnaround now.

Wannstedt really needs it.

He's trying to build something at Pitt and needs his players to believe in what he and his coaches are doing. The loss at Ohio makes that a tougher sell. And it will become tougher still if Pitt loses at Nebraska Saturday -- it's a 9¹/₂-point underdog -- and starts 0-3 for the first time in more than two decades.

It's also important for Pitt's always tenuous relationship with its recruits. The embarrassing loss at Ohio on national television has to slow the recruiting momentum that Wannstedt and his staff had worked so tirelessly to build. It's safe to say Wannstedt worked the phones hard over the weekend, telling recruits not to bail on him and Pitt after one lousy game.

That's why Pitt needs to have some success, sooner rather than later.

It says here that's not out of the question.

It's easy to believe in Palko. He proved he was a winner last season and will prove it again. He just needs a little help from his line and his receivers.

It's also still easy to believe in Wannstedt. Those e-mailers from South Florida love to point out his 1-8 record with the Dolphins before he resigned last season -- thank you very much, Ricky Williams -- but they fail to mention that his Dolphins won 41 games from 2000-03, an average of little more than 10 per season. Bill Cowher's Steelers won 38 during that same period.

That hardly makes Wannstedt a loser.

Yes, his job became significantly more difficult because of that loss at Ohio. But that doesn't mean it's too tough for him to handle.