A sellout crowd of 65,374 showed up last night at Heinz Field to see another classic between Pitt and Notre Dame.

Instead, the fans saw an inspired effort by a Pitt defense that had grown tired of hearing how good Notre Dame's offense was, another stellar display by tailback Dion Lewis and a big-time performance by wide receiver Jonathan Baldwin.

That added up to a 27-22 win for the Panthers who took one more step in their quest to become a legitimate national power again.

"This was a good win for our program," coach Dave Wannstedt said.

"The attitude of our football team to handle the ups and downs against a talented opponent is special. We knew Notre Dame was going to strike and score some points, and I think I said it in my press conference on Monday that the most dangerous opponent we'd see was Golden Tate and he didn't disappoint us. He made some great plays.

"But I thought our guys handled the ups and downs. This was a great win for our kids, particularly those who were around five years ago when we had a bad experience."

Tate, the Irish's talented receiver, had a big night, catching nine passes for 113 yards and a touchdown. He also put his team in position for a come-from-behind win with an 87-yard punt return for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter.

But Tate was not the most impressive receiver on the field last night as Baldwin put on quite a show of his own. Baldwin caught five passes for 142 yards including two -- a diving 36-yard touchdown reception and a 51-yard reception down the sidelines -- that would have made former Panthers great Larry Fitzgerald envious.

Lewis also had another spectacular night as he rushed 21 times for 152 yards and broke open the game with a 50-yard touchdown run with 12 minutes to play that gave the Panthers a 27-9 lead.

But the real stars of the night were on the Panthers' defense, which held an Irish offense that had been averaging 464 yards and 30 points per game in check most of the night.

The Irish (6-4) scored three points through three quarters and scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns when the Panthers were playing some prevent defense. And then Notre Dame could not move the ball late in the game when it had a chance to take the lead.

Notre Dame managed 283 yards passing and 349 total yards, and Pitt sacked Jimmy Clausen twice, forced two turnovers, blocked an extra point. Furthermore, the Panthers applied pressure on Clausen the entire game.

"That was the kind of defense we've wanted to play all season," Pitt defensive end Greg Romeus said. "But we can even play better, and I think that's why we are so consistent right now -- we always want to play better. I think it was a team effort, the line got pressure, the backers made tackles in the run game and big plays, and our secondary didn't get rattled."

The victory was a big one for Pitt (9-1, 5-0 Big East Conference) as it gave the Panthers nine regular-season wins for the second consecutive season. It's the first time Pitt has accomplished that feat since 1981-82.

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PDFs

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• Stepping Up

• Average Clausen

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The next target is to get 10 wins for the first time since 1981, when it finished 11-1. The Panthers, who entered the game ranked No. 8 in The Associated Press poll and No. 12 in the BCS, should move up into the top 10 in the BCS after No. 9 Souther California and No. 10 Iowa lost yesterday.

The Panthers are off next week, giving them nearly two weeks to prepare for the annual Backyard Brawl with West Virginia (7-3, 3-2 in the Big East) Nov. 27.

That game is usually one of the biggest on Pitt's schedule, but this time it is meaningless in some respects after the Mountaineers' loss Friday to No. 5 Cincinnati eliminated them from Big East title contention.

Pitt will play host to the Bearcats (10-0, 6-0) Dec. 5, and the winner will own the Big East title and head to a BCS bowl, likely the Sugar Bowl to face the loser of the SEC championship between Alabama and Florida.

"I think one key to our success is we haven't got caught looking ahead," Wannstedt said. "And we won't start now. We'll take them one at a time and see where they go."

Defensive tackle Gus Mustakas added, "Cincinnati? The only thing we are focused on is the Backyard Brawl. I know that other game [Cincinnati] is for the Big East, but the Backyard Brawl is the only one we're worried about for the next two weeks."

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