Times have changed in the past quarter century for the Pitt Panthers.

Consider that they entered the 1982 season ranked No. 1 in the country, favored to win their second national championship in six years.

The Panthers featured Dan Marino and it was the first season of the Foge Fazio era. But they underachieved and finished 9-3, were ranked No. 9 and suffered a 7-3 loss to SMU in the Cotton Bowl.

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Scouting report

Matchup: No. 23 Pitt (8-3, 4-2 Big East) at Connecticut (7-4, 3-3), noon today, Rentschler Field, East Hartford, Conn. The Huskies are favored by 2 1/2.

TV/Radio: ESPN; WWSW-FM (94.5), WBGG-AM (970) and Channel 127 on Sirius Satellite Radio.

Pitt: Has never won at Rentschler Field (0-2). ... Is searching for first nine-win regular season since 1982. ... Has blocked a school-record nine kicks this season. ... Has come from behind to win five games when trailing in the fourth quarter. ... Is 13 of 18 in fourth down attempts, a Big East leading 72.2 percent success rate. ... MLB Scott McKillop is leading the nation in solo tackles (6.91 per game).

Connecticut: Leads the all-time series, 3-1. ... Began the season 5-0 but has lost four of past six games. ... Is coming off a 17-13 loss to South Florida. ... RB Donald Brown (pictured) is the nation's leading rusher (148.5 yards per game). ... Leads the Big East in total defense (286.3 yards per game) and pass defense (166.6).

Hidden stat: Pitt leads the conference in scoring offense (28.9 points per game); Connecticut is second in the conference in scoring defense (18.5 points per game).

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That season, given the talent on the roster and the expectations, was considered a failure, despite nine wins, a top-10 ranking and a berth in a top-tier bowl game.

Pitt has not won nine regular-season games since 1982. Back then, a nine-win season was considered underachieving. Today, nine wins would be celebrated, a good glimpse of where the program is at today and just how long it has been wallowing in mediocrity or worse.

That's why today's game between the 23rd-ranked Panthers (8-3, 4-2) and Big East rival Connecticut (7-4, 3-3) at Rentschler Field has plenty of significance to the Panthers.

With a win, Pitt can punch its ticket to the Sun Bowl in El Paso, where it will face a good Pac-10 team on a CBS national broadcast in the afternoon on New Year's Eve.

The Panthers could end up in El Paso regardless of the outcome based on the way the Big East's bowl bids seem to be shaking out, so it goes deeper than even trying to improve their bowl positioning.

This is a quest for that elusive ninth regular-season win, a chance to finish the season ranked in the top 20 for only the fourth time since that 1982 season and send a message to the rest of the country that the Panthers are on their way back to national prominence.

"Coach brought up a great point in our team meeting the other day, at least we think so," quarterback Bill Stull said. "If and when we win this game, it will be the first time since 1982 that Pitt has won nine regular season games.

"I mean, we're happy we are going to a bowl game and everything like that, but when Coach brought that fact to our attention, we all looked at each other and that made us wonder, 'Wow, we can make history here.' And so we know we can be a part of something even more special than what we thought."

Pitt tailback LeSean McCoy said that beyond what the nine wins would mean to the Panthers this season, it would be a building block heading into next year when they'll return plenty of experienced players.

"That ninth win is very important to us, we haven't done it in a while," McCoy said. "It will set us straight for the season because we can finish up on an excellent note. I mean, nine wins and hopefully we can get a 10th win in a bowl.

"Hopefully next year we can come out and sort of build off that like this year we built off that big win over West Virginia [last season]. Each year we want to build something different and it starts [today]."

Coach Dave Wannstedt said a ninth win is a big deal for the Panthers because it would be a nice reward for a team that has worked as hard as any team he has been around.

He said to finish 9-3 and ranked, especially considering the way the season began -- with a tough 27-17 loss to Bowling Green in which the Panthers were booed out of Heinz Field by their fans -- would be a great accomplishment.

"That would really be great for these kids to accomplish that ," Wannstedt said. "You say that and then you hope that you see things during the course of the week, and I like what I saw because our guys are loose and confident and we're ready to go."