Playing to win or playing not to lose.

Taking some chances in hopes of making big plays or playing conservatively and minimizing risks.

Those are the questions that confronted Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt yesterday in the first half of the Panthers' 27-17 loss against Bowling Green and, in each situation, he chose the latter, not the former, and it certainly didn't work out the way he had hoped.

Twice, the Panthers were inside the Falcons 35 facing a fourth down, and, on both occasions, Wannstedt chose to punt instead of go for it.

Then, the Panthers drove to the Falcons' 20 with 37 seconds to play in the first half -- and played for a field goal despite having two timeouts left (they used one to stop the clock after getting the first down).

Pitt then threw a short pass on first down, ran up the middle (setting up the field goal) for 1-yard on second and allowed 27 seconds to tick off the clock before Wannstedt called the final timeout and sent out Conor Lee to kick a field goal on third down as time expired, giving the Panthers a 17-14 lead.

Wannstedt explained that the play calling before the half was necessitated by the fact that he didn't want the Panthers to make a mistake -- throw an interception, take a sack, fumble the ball -- and squander the opportunity for three points.

And, as for why he didn't go for it at least once on fourth down, Wannstedt basically reverted to his time in the NFL and brought up the field-position game.

"There was consideration to go for it on fourth down in the first half," said Wannstedt. "But I thought we were playing good defense then, [so] we played the field-position game because you don't want to give their offense an opportunity, they are a veteran group that has scored a lot of points and knows how to do it. So ,the strategy was to try and force them to go the long way if they could, we chose to play field position.

"One time, it worked out [the punt was downed at the 6], one time the ball went into the end zone."

Less than two weeks ago, senior Austin Ransom was a receiver.

Then, starting weakside linebacker Shane Murray (knee) was injured, and Ransom was moved to defense to shore up that position. One day later, he was in the starting lineup and, after yesterday, he may have turned Murray into Pitt's version of Wally Pipp.

Ransom had a team-high seven tackles and intercepted a pass. "I think Austin Ransom being the leading tackler shows what kind of young man he is," Wannstedt said. "When Shane Murray got hurt, we had not been pleased with where we were at with a couple of young linebackers. Austin is a smart guy and the right guy against this style of offense. He gave us a chance to cover players since he could run a little quicker than some of our other linebackers."

Bowling Green cornerback Kenny Lewis had quite a homecoming.

Lewis, who played at Penn Hills High School, had six tackles, forced a fumble and recovered it and also intercepted a pass in the end zone that ended the Panthers hopes of making a comeback. And Lewis should have had 65-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown, but the play was blown dead by an inadvertent whistle after he picked it up.

The Falcons instead got the ball on the Panthers' 35 where Lewis recovered it.

The Panthers came out of the game relatively healthy. Starting outside linebacker Adam Gunn left the game with a concussion and did not return. Several other players, like defensive tackle Mick Williams, limped off with cramps but returned to finish the game. ??Pitt is now 25-3 against Mid-American Conference teams, but two of those losses have come during the Wannstedt era. ?? Pitt was ranked No. 25 in the preseason polls. "They don't deserve to be ranked ahead of us now," said Bowling Green coach Gregg Brandon when asked about the Panthers' ranking. ?? Pitt quarterback Bill Stull was 29 of 51 for 264 yards, one touchdown and one interception. "I thought he played solid and did everything he could do," Wannstedt said of Stull. ?? When Gunn went out he was replaced by Nate Nix, who was then replaced by Greg Williams, who played the bulk of the snaps the rest of the way.