Pitt offensive line coach Tony Wise believes that even though a key injury has forced the Panthers to do some shuffling with the unit this week, it won't miss a beat regardless of who is in the game. Pitt (5-2) will play Saturday at Notre Dame (5-2), and Wise has spent this week trying to get his unit ready for the Irish's stout defensive front while breaking in a new center and new left guard.

That's because center Robb Houser suffered a broken ankle against Rutgers and will be replaced by starting left guard C.J. Davis for the remainder of the season. The player who will get the first crack at the left guard position is fifth-year senior Dom Williams, who was the starter there in 2005 when the Panthers last played the Irish.

"The second-team guys don't usually get all the work during the week, so this will be a chore for Dom: He gets more snaps than he's used to," Wise said. "And with C.J., when you're a good athlete, you adjust to a lot of things. ... So when you see a guy that can do that, he's just one of those guys who can take the ball, put it between his legs, and start playing the position just like he had been. Guys that aren't that same kind of athlete, it's a chore for them to snap the ball. So he's handled it very well.

"You put the best guy in there. I know that's an old cliche, but you truly put the best guy in there. Dom is the next guy in line who has played and done a good job in the spring, so he became the next guy."

Wise said that if Williams doesn't pan out or needs a rest, the next guy down the list is likely to be freshman tackle Lucas Nix. The other option would be to move right guard John Malecki to left guard and move reserve guard Chris Jacobson in at right guard.

The Panthers' secondary did not have much success Saturday against Rutgers as Scarlet Knights quarterback Mike Teel threw for 371 yards and six touchdowns, leading his team to the 54-34 win. Pitt gave up a number of big plays and had a hard time covering Rutgers receivers.

Pitt senior safety Eric Thatcher said yesterday to blame that loss on him and his teammates in the secondary because they didn't get the job done -- but he also said they've already put it behind them and are working hard to make sure it doesn't happen again.

"That was kind of tough on us as a group but we have to get back out there and work hard on our coverages and our cover skills," Thatcher said. "We have to get our swagger back, our confidence back in covering people. It was just one of those days, it just wasn't a good day for us. But I think we put that behind us.

"And really, we watched the game tape Sunday and really, it was four plays that really killed us. Other than that we covered them pretty well. We were in position, we just didn't make enough plays."

Coach Dave Wannstedt said yesterday that the quarterback situation is still up in the air. "I'm optimistic that we'll know a lot more before [Saturday]," he said. "But we're just going to have to take it a day at a time and make the announcement Saturday." ... Wise, who spent much of his career in the NFL, talked about some of the challenges of working with college kids and figuring out if they are listening and understanding. "They've got a lot of things going on in their lives; it's been a process for me to learn," Wise said. "I had to learn what they didn't know and why they didn't know it. Obviously some guys may have slept at a meeting and they just may not have understood it. So there's been about two or three things: Why didn't they know it? Were they taught it but didn't understand it? Or are they just a knucklehead and not concentrating?" ... Pitt practiced indoors yesterday due to the rain and cold weather.