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Next

• Game: Pitt (4-5, 2-2 Big East) at Rutgers (6-4, 2-3).
• When: Noon Saturday.
• TV: WTAE.

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Pitt freshman quarterback Pat Bostick has had a very slow and deliberate learning curve this season, even though he was thrust into the starting role five games into the season.

Coaches have been careful to put Bostick into favorable situations and have crafted cautious game plans to minimize his potential mistakes. For the most part, the strategy has worked.

Bostick has been efficient, committing few turnovers. He has only three interceptions in the past five games; none in the past two.

This week, regardless of how conservative the game plan is, he will be put to the ultimate test Saturday at Rutgers (6-4, 2-3 Big East).

The Scarlet Knights under Greg Schiano play a defense that thrives on blitzing and a lot of movement by the linemen. So Bostick will be under fire.

But, in a sense, so will the Panthers as a whole. Pitt (4-5, 2-2) finds itself in a must-win situation if the Panthers want to go to a bowl game.

The Scarlet Knights rank No. 1 in NCAA Division I-A in pass defense (153.2 yards per game) and 13th in pass-efficiency defense (103.9 passer rating against) and average 2.5 sacks per game.

How well Bostick and the offensive line handles the Scarlet Knights' pressure likely will determine the outcome. Pitt failed that test the past two years with Rutgers amassing 10 sacks and forcing four turnovers against Pitt in those games.

Pitt offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh, however, believes the Panthers are better equipped to handle that pressure this season.

Not surprisingly, Cavanaugh believes the best way to keep Bostick out of trouble against a blitz-happy defense is to control the ball with the running game.

"We are a better running team than we were the last two years, and that's a key," Cavanaugh said. "And, if you look at it on paper, they are giving up more yards than they have, so it is not like we are going to line up and try to throw it 70 times. But we are running the ball better with our backs, we are blocking better up front, our receivers are blocking better downfield and our tight ends are better at blocking as well. We've not blocked them very well in the past."

Pitt is coming off an open week which means the Panthers have had an extra week to prepare for Rutgers. That might not help Bostick because there is no way to duplicate and simulate the speed and intensity with which the Scarlet Knights play defense. It has given him a chance to spend extra time watching film. .

"They are an attacking defense," Bostick said. "And they do it out of a lot of different looks. It really jumps out how aggressive they are and their willingness to play that aggressively and to do certain things that many other teams aren't very comfortable with doing.

"Some of the things they do are identifiable, but they give so many different looks and they will blitz from many different looks. We have to be able to get them blocked and then beat their man coverage. That's not an easy thing to do."

Bostick said the thing that has impressed him the most about the Scarlet Knights is they seem to play defense without fear and trust their blitz packages.

Cavanaugh said the Scarlet Knights have blitzed about 40 percent of the time on first and second down and a little more than 50 percent of the time on third. Ideally, the Panthers will put themselves in third-and-short situations to avoid obvious passing situations.

He also said that the attacking defense makes it imperative that Pitt's receivers run good routes. That -- along with getting the blitzes blocked -- is as much a key to beating Rutgers' man-to-man coverage as a quarterback's ability to make good decisions and good throws.

"They do a great job of disguising and bringing someone who you don't think is coming and hoping he gets home," said Cavanaugh. "We have to know who is coming and from where on every play."