Six weeks short of a year it had been since Pitt previously won a football game, but a victory finally arrived on schedule last night at Heinz Field, so nobody fretted much that it came in a raggedy little package that wasn't exactly bursting with promise.

The record must show that the Panthers put a mannerly 27-3 slapping on Eastern Michigan's plummeting Eagles, but it wasn't anywhere close to the kind of spirited thumping that competition this inferior deserves. When you're capable of serious destruction in a season opener against a pinata such as EMU (shouldn't they be the Emus?), you win the way Louisville did yesterday, the way Nebraska did, the way West Virginia did, or something in the manner of the most feared teams in the land, like, uh, Appalachian State for pity's sake.

Though this particular Pitt premier came with a decided lack of cache, finding a marginal broadcast presence somewhere out there on semi-serious satellite radio, it quickly developed the potential to become a landmark moment in Panthers history. It might easily have marked the Pittsburgh debut of quarterback Pat Bostick, last year's Gatorade Pennsylvania Player of the Year, but even with a third-quarter injury to starter Bill Stull, Dave Wannstedt kept Bostic on the sideline. Similarly, it might well have marked the first 100-yard game for the highly intriguing talent that is Shady McCoy, whose modest 10 carries still produced 68 yards, 60 of them in a second half in which the Panthers offense seemed to inch toward competence.

But before you get impatient with Wannstedt for essentially keeping those weapons in the gun closet, consider that he was more prudently trying not to get either Bostick or McCoy killed behind an offensive line that was for too much of this first performance embarrassing.

"We were inconsistent in our running game on offense," is the way the head coach put it, which is the more palatable synonym for "stunk."

Aside from Shane Brooks' 1-yard plunge that overturned a 3-0 Eastern Michigan lead with barely two minutes left in the first quarter, Pitt tried 10 running plays in the first half. Three went backwards a total of 7 yards, five others went forward at an average of 5 feet, and two -- wait a minute -- two actually worked, gaining 6 yards apiece.

Stull played well enough without much time to throw and until someone yanked his thumb, but offensive conclusions were simply not to be drawn due to an overall lack of evidence. Fortunately for Pitt, its defense played the way a good defense plays against a team like Eastern Michigan, failing to allow a touchdown and rallying the Panthers out of potentially sticky situations.

"It's hard when you're facing a team in the first game because you just don't know what they're going to do," said senior cornerback Kennard Cox, who helped Pitt limit Eastern Michigan to 145 yards of offense, the fewest Pitt has allowed in an opener in 18 years. "All you can do is look at the film of them from last year, but you still don't know. Basically you have to read your keys and then technique becomes the biggest thing."

Freshman Ricky Gary, substituting for injured sophomore Aaron Berry at the other corner, used that proven technique whereby when an opposing receiver tips a pass into the air in front of you, you catch it. That was right after Pitt had taken that 7-3 lead. Eastern Michigan quarterback Andy Schmitt whipped it, wideout Dontayo Gage tipped it, and Gary turned it into the first critical turnover of the season, presenting the balky offense the football at the Eastern Michigan 35.

Four plays later, Stull fired toward the end zone on third-and-14, which is where Oderick Turner outjumped strong safety Jacob Wyatt for the 21-yard touchdown that gave Pitt its first good grip on things.

Even after Gage returned the second-half kickoff to the Pitt 49, the Panthers defense slapped EMU with still another three-and-out, and the inevitability of this game had been established.

"Hopefully the performance we had erased some doubts about not being able to stop the run," said junior linebacker Scott McKillop on a night when the opposition managed just 39 yards on 23 carries. "We still have long way to go, but we build confidence in ourselves and we want to carry that throughout the season."

Wannstedt said he was happy with his defense, particularly with all the aggressive components he rotated into the line, noting that Schmitt's drops were too short and his release too rapid to have illustrated the kind of pressure Pitt might have brought. Wannstedt's third edition pretty much defied interpretation in this opener, but his defense at least looked the part of a winner.