Pitt finally cracked the top 25 for the first time this season in three polls, but the Panthers must focus on their next opponent or their stay will be a short one.

The Panthers (6-1, 3-0 Big East) are ranked No. 20 in The Associated Press poll, No. 19 in the USA Today/Coaches poll and No. 20 in the initial BCS poll this season. The Panthers were ranked 20th in the final BCS poll last year before their Sun Bowl game.

The Panthers are one of three Big East teams in the top 25. The other two are Cincinnati (6-0, 2-0, No. 5 AP, No. 6 USA Today, No. 5 BCS) and West Virginia (5-1, 1-0, No. 22 in the AP and coaches' polls and No. 23 in the BCS).

Pitt plays host to South Florida (5-1, 1-1) at noon Saturday and the Bulls, despite coming off a 34-17 loss to Cincinnati, are probably the best team the Panthers will face so far this season.

The Bulls were considered by some to be the favorite in the Big East during the preseason but lost their starting quarterback, senior Matt Grothe, to a torn ACL the third game of the season.

Grothe was replaced by redshirt freshman quarterback B.J. Daniels, who led the Bulls to a 17-7 upset win at Florida State the next week.

Daniels has appeared in all six of the Bulls games and started the past three. He has completed 47 of 88 passes for 810 yards, 7 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. He has rushed 64 times for 365 yards (5.7 yards per carry) and four touchdowns.

But it is the South Florida defense which will pose the biggest challenge for the Panthers. The Bulls' front seven is led by defensive ends George Selvie and Jason Pierre-Paul. Both are among the top 10 in the conference in tackles for loss.

South Florida leads the Big East in scoring defense (13.5 ppg) and pass defense (167.2 ypg) and has 17 sacks.

The Bulls are a dangerous team and, given that they have one conference loss, a desperate team. A second conference loss likely would knock them out of contention for the Big East championship.

A victory against the Bulls -- assuming the Panthers can handle last-place Syracuse Nov. 7 at Heinz Field -- would set Pitt up for some big games down the stretch against Notre Dame, West Virginia and Cincinnati.

Those contests could have national implications riding on them.

It is all there for Pitt to grab but quarterback Bill Stull said the Panthers always seem to get in trouble when they start thinking ahead and they have enough on their minds trying to prepare for South Florida.

"This is a great situation for us now," Stull said. "Our goal is to win the Big East and that started with our first conference game. But now it is a new season each week and you can't look ahead and once you do that you start thinking about other things and you can't do that.

"We're excited to get home and try to get this next win and that's our focus."

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