Michigan State’s offense had a choice — try and burn Pitt through the air or run right up… Michigan State’s offense had a choice — try and burn Pitt through the air or run right up the gut.

The Spartans chose a different option.

“We were fine until they hit us with the option early,” Pitt head coach Dave Wannstedt said after Pitt’s loss to the Spartans on Saturday. “Then they came back with it and we couldn’t deal.”

The Spartans dealt Pitt (2-1, 1-0 Big East) its first loss of the season with a 38-23 romping at Heinz Field Saturday afternoon.

The game, in which the Panthers scored 13 points in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter, featured Pitt’s defense struggling against Michigan State quarterback Drew Stanton and the option.

“We didn’t make a play,” Wannstedt said. “We didn’t make a tackle today. Give them credit because Stanton is a heck of a player. I talked about his running ability all week.”

Stanton ran and passed his team to a victory that divided the Spartans from the Panthers. The senior himself combined his arm and legs for more than 300 of the Spartans 533 total yards of offense, running 13 times for 112 yards and a score, and completing 16 of 25 passes for 198 yards and two touchdowns.

The Panther defense was ready for Stanton’s arm, but his wheels were what left Pitt in the dust.

Even Stanton was surprised with himself.

“You never intend on it, but you’re always ready for it,” Stanton said of his surplus of carries. “With some of the things that we do, the offense can shift, especially with a defense that plays a lot of man (coverage). You find nobody really accounting for the quarterback at that point.”

“We knew he was a shifty guy, but we didn’t know he was that shifty,” Pitt linebacker Clint Session said. “We didn’t play our best football today and it showed.

“They ran the option a little bit more than we expected, but if you don’t make tackles, then you put your team in a bad situation and that’s what we did today.”

That wasn’t the case early in the game. Pitt controlled the entire first quarter and half of the second. The Panthers limited Stanton and the Spartan offense to only 28 yards in the first, en route to a 10-point lead.

Then, midway through the second quarter, something clicked for Michigan State.

After LaRod Stephens-Howling’s first career touchdown run late in the first quarter, the Panthers called for an onside kick. After some dispute, they retained possession, but promptly went three and out.

On the Spartans’ ensuing drive, head coach John L. Smith unleashed his tandem — Stanton and running back Javon Ringer. The two carved the Panther defense for 10 points and headed into the half tied when the Panthers failed to score after wide receiver T.J. Porter’s 53-yard kickoff return.

“At that point, there was sort of a mindset like ‘Uh-oh,'” Wannstedt said. “Everybody was waiting for someone else to make a play.”

Stanton turned out to be somebody else — or something else. He and Ringer were the one-two punch for the Michigan State offense that orchestrated consecutive scoring drives of 83, 64, 75, 83 and 99 yards.

Michigan State’s formula for its scoring was simple — pitch, keep, score. Stanton ran the option rushing attack to perfection.

Pitt’s defensive struggles were partly because of its offense’s. The Panthers failed to reach 100 yards in rushing, and were only on the field for a little more than 24 of the game’s 60 minutes.

“We didn’t have the ball much,” Wannstedt said of his offense. “We only had 20 [rushing] attempts. We have to be running more.”

Michigan State sure ran a lot. Along with Stanton’s ground performance, Ringer racked up 166 yards on 15 carries.

“We’ll see that throughout the year,” cornerback Darrelle Revis said of a two-back option. “West Virginia runs it, and some other teams run it, so that’s something we’re going to have to take advantage of.”

Saturday marked the first time since the Panthers played West Virginia last year in which two players rushed for more than 100 yards each. Last year, they were quarterback Pat White and running back Steve Slaton — a tandem Pitt will have to face later this season.

But the Panthers don’t want to revert back to last year. They want to reaffirm that this is a different team than the one that went 5-6 a year ago.

“That’s not going to happen this year,” Session said of Pitt’s 2005 campaign. “We still have our goals. This is one loss. It hurts, but we’re just going to keep fighting.”

“What it all comes down to is that football is a hard game,” quarterback Tyler Palko said. “We can regroup and by no means is our season over. We’re a good football team, and we have to learn from our mistakes and bounce back.

“We will. I know we will.”