Mick Williams News

The Pitt Panthers have one more game ahead of them before concluding their 2009 campaign, but head coach Dave Wannstedt is confident one of his defensive anchors will return for his senior season.

" Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, which met in a head-to-head matchup for an automatic bid to the Bowl Championship Series in the final week of the regular season, earned all four major individual awards from the BIG EAST Conference in the annual postseason vote of the league's eight head football coaches.

Pitt, which will play North Carolina in the Meineke Car Care Bowl on Dec. 26, swept both the Big East Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year awards today.

Pitt may not have won the Big East championship, but it walked away with more than its share of the conference awards yesterday.

Dion Lewis was named Big East Offensive Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year.

Fans react to the Panthers' 45-44 loss to Cincinnati Saturday. As the final seconds ran off of the game clock, Cincinnati quarterback Tony Pike took the ball and turned to the center of Heinz Field.

Only two weeks have passed since Pitt's football team talked about winning the Big East Conference championship, beating rival West Virginia and knocking off undefeated Cincinnati.

A few years back, Chas Alecxih was a two-way starter for Penn Manor, where he earned first-team L-L League all-star honors and made the Class AAAA all-state team.

The University of Cincinnati is the college version of the Greatest Show on Turf.

Former Pitt standout LeSean McCoy set the Big East freshman rushing record in 2007 when he ran 276 times for 1,328 yards.

Mick Williams walked toward Pitt's locker room at West Virginia's Milan Puskar Stadium with his helmet resting atop his slumped head.

Pitt's Steve Malinchak and teammates celebrate their 13-9 upset win over No.2 West Virginia Dec.

West Virginia coach Bill Stewart likes a comeback story and he sees a darned good one in Pittsburgh's Bill Stull.

The 8th-ranked Pitt Panthers play their biggest game to date tonight, yet the team's demeanor is not much different than it was in training camp or the week leading up to their opener against Youngstown State or the week after their only loss of the season to North Carolina State.

Can the Panthers continue their climb? 2. Julian Miller: The West Virginia defensive end was named Big East defensive player of the week for his three-sack performance against Louisville.

Pittsburgh running back Dion Lewis, right, runs for a first down past Connecticut defensive lineman Mick Williams during an October game.

As Pitt staged a comeback against Connecticut earlier this month, Panthers nose tackle Myles Caragein paced anxiously along the sideline.

Pitt's season will play out with season-ending games against Notre Dame, West Virginia and Cincinnati, three ranked opponents in a month's time for a team that hasn't played a Top 25 team since last season's Sun Bowl.

Dion Lewis jumps down from the student section after his team defeated South Florida, 41-14, at Heinz Field Saturday.

Published: Saturday, October 24, 2009 at 1:14 a.m. Last Modified: Saturday, October 24, 2009 at 1:14 a.m. To say that South Florida's game today against Pittsburgh is a must-win situation would be an understatement.