Pitt's 19-15 victory against West Virginia Friday was similar to the Panthers' 13-9 victory against the Mountaineers last December.

Pitt relied on a heavy dose of LeSean McCoy to carry its offense and frustrated the Mountaineers' offense in both games. The Panthers were the more physical team each time.

There was one major difference between the two games: While Pitt's victory last year was an upset, Friday's win was not. It is clear the two teams are now on equal footing in terms of talent.

Looking at the returning talent the two programs will have going into next season, it would seem the immediate future for the Panthers (8-3, 4-2 Big East) is brighter than that of the Mountaineers (7-4, 4-2), who have to adjust to life without quarterback Pat White, a four-year starter.

Just two seasons ago, the gap between the programs seemed enormous. West Virginia had won four of five games in the series from 2002-06 and the last two in that run, the 2005 and '06 games, by a combined score of 93-37. And worse, White and running back Steve Slaton were sophomores in 2006. Given the mind-boggling numbers they had put up in their first two Backyard Brawls, there was a feeling that it would be at least until the 2009 season before Pitt would have a shot to catch the Mountaineers.

Slaton, of course, left for the NFL a season early, but he was replaced by Noel Devine, an highly recruited and equally fast tailback.

But Dave Wannstedt helped cut the arrival time of the Panthers by doing what he is one of the best at: recruiting. He signed fast, athletic players capable of running with the Mountaineers.

"The one thing about Dave Wannstedt is, if you look at his history, he likes those fast players, he likes speed, his teams are always fast on defense," said defensive end Greg Romeus, a player who exemplifies the kind of speed and athleticism Wannstedt desires. "I think last year we showed that we can run with them and that was a major breakthrough for us because for a few years there, they were a lot faster than us and they did what they wanted against us.

"I don't think there is any question right now we're a much faster defense, a much faster team overall, and games like [West Virginia] just show that we're getting better."

"Dave Wannstedt's recruiting has been big and this is the first year he really has everything clicking together, and we have the athletes who coach wants out there on the field," Pitt cornerback Aaron Berry said. "The next few years, we should be pretty tough. We have a lot of young athletes and you need to have a lot of great athletes out there who can run around and make plays."

Wannstedt agreed that the Panthers are better equipped to handle the Mountaineers' speed and athleticism than they had been in recent years, but he believes they are just starting to scratch the surface in terms of what they can become.

"I think [Pitt's speed is evident] because we didn't do anything different with our scheme last year than we did the first two years," Wannstedt said. "The better we recruit, the faster guys we recruit, the better we'll match up with them. We understand what we are doing, we have good, sound schemes, but players have to make plays and they did again today, remarkably."

NOTES -- The Pitt-Connecticut game Saturday is a noon kickoff and will be broadcast nationally on ESPN. ... Although Pitt beat West Virginia and Notre Dame lost to Southern California (and thus the Irish fell to 6-6), not much was cleared up about the Big East's bowl lineup. One thing that seems clear is that the Big East needs Rutgers to beat Louisville Thursday in order to keep the Sun Bowl out of Notre Dame's grasp. As for the Panthers, it looks as if they are headed for either the Sun Bowl (El Paso, Texas) or the PapaJohns.com Bowl (Birmingham, Ala.), as the Meineke Car Care Bowl (Charlotte, N.C.) seems to prefer either West Virginia or Rutgers.