Pitt fell behind Louisville by 14 points in the first quarter Saturday, which isn't much of a surprise because that has become common for the Panthers, who eventually lost to the Cardinals, 24-17.

In fact, through eight games, the Panthers (3-5, 1-2 Big East) have scored first only one time -- against Grambling State in the second game of the season. The Panthers, who have been outscored, 123-59, in the first half in their past six games, are constantly falling behind and have to fight their way back, not exactly a formula for success considering their offensive woes thus far.

The Panthers rank seventh in the Big East Conference in scoring offense (23.5 ppg), seventh in passing offense (182.6 yards passing per game), sixth in rushing offense (153.6 yards per game) and seventh in total offense (336.2 yards per game). The Panthers are also last in pass efficiency (115.3 rating), seventh in first downs (147) and last in third-down conversions (30 percent).

If there is any good news to come out of the latest updated statistics, it is the only offense that appears below Pitt in those rankings is the Panthers' next opponent, Syracuse. Compared to the Orange (2-6, 1-3), who average only 16.5 points per game, the Panthers have been a juggernaut.

Part of those numbers reflect the problems the Panthers had early in the season when they were struggling to find a quarterback after junior Bill Stull went down with a thumb injury in the opener against Eastern Michigan.

A bigger problem, at least recently, however, has been the Panthers' reluctance to open up the offense early in the game since consecutive losses to Michigan State and Connecticut earlier this season. In those two games, the Panthers turned the ball over early and that led to easy scores for their opponents.

Since then, coach Dave Wannstedt has said Pitt comes out with conservative game plans in an attempt to avoid early turnovers.

That's good in theory. The problem is Pitt has not been a good team at coming from behind -- it is 1-13 under Wannstedt when trailing at halftime. Pitt and Syracuse are the only Big East teams averaging fewer than 30 points per game, which puts pressure on the defense when trying to win a low-scoring game.

The other thing is, in the losses to Michigan State and Connecticut, the early turnovers were interceptions thrown by redshirt freshman quarterback Kevan Smith. He has since been replaced by freshman Pat Bostick, who has played at a very high level for a true freshman.

Saturday against Louisville, the Panthers tried to be conservative in the first half and would have trailed by 14 at the half had it not been for an interception by Aaron Berry late in the second quarter that set up the Panthers at the Cardinals' 27. That set up a trick play for the Panthers' lone first-half score.

And if you take that play out of the equation, the Panthers ran 23 other plays in the first half for 22 yards -- less than 1 yard per play. And Bostick threw only eight passes, completed three for 6 yards.

"The theme was, we felt like we could eventually run the ball on these guys and we were trying to use clock," Wannstedt said. "I thought our defense was playing their guts out, so part of our mind-set was to try and play keep away a little bit. We felt like if we turned the ball over we would have no chance."

That's similar to what Wannstedt has said in recent weeks because the coaches are trying to bring Bostick along slowly. But if there were a defense that seemed ripe for Bostick to have a breakout game against, it was the Cardinals. Louisville entered giving up an average of 270 passing yards as well as 17 touchdown passes, and even Syracuse had 423 yards passing in a 38-35 win against the Cardinals.