Looking ahead is a difficult mental obstacle to overcome, but this weekend, when the Panthers… Looking ahead is a difficult mental obstacle to overcome, but this weekend, when the Panthers host the Temple Owls, much more will be at stake than just another win. Another win would bring the Panthers (7-2 overall, 4-0 Big East) one step closer to raining on the Miami Hurricanes’ parade of another national championship, or even better yet, another victory closer to an elusive conference championship.

“There’s always a fear of a letdown after a big win, but we trust our players,” head coach Walt Harris said. “The players know that we’re playing for a chance at a championship and have to win this game first.”

The Temple Owls (3-6, 1-3) present a challenge that, to most, wouldn’t seem like a serious threat, but as the Pitt coaching staff and players have said, the Owls are no pushovers.

“Temple has more skill players than in the past, and their receivers spread out the defense to allow [Tanardo] Sharps to run,” Harris noted.

This season, Temple gave Miami a first half scare before the Hurricanes pulled away, while later shutting down the “untouchable” running back tandem of Lee Suggs and Kevin Jones from Virginia Tech. In each of these contests, Temple had its opportunities to come away with upset victories.

Fast forward to this weekend. Pitt is coming off an upset victory over Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., while Temple took a hard loss in Morgantown, W.Va., at the hands of the Mountaineers.

But like the stats will tell, the Owls do have talent in the Big East Conference’s fourth rated quarterback Mike McGann and the conference’s fifth leading rusher Sharps.

On defense, senior defensive end Dan Klecko will lead the Owls charge in hopes of disrupting Pitt’s recent success in the running game. Klecko leads the Big East in tackles for loss and is fourth in the conference in sacks.

“We circle this game on our calendars because as a unit we look forward to playing against a player as good as Klecko,” redshirt junior offensive lineman Matt Morgan said. “This is a big game for us and we look forward to the challenge of stopping one of the best defensive ends in the Big East.”

The offensive line of the Panthers, which last week opened up truck sized holes for Brandon Miree, should turn in another solid performance because of the physical week of practice to prepare for the Owls.

“Practice this week has been intense,” Morgan said. “The scout team has been as physical as they’ve been all season.”

The Panthers’ offense had a breakout game last week, which featured Pitt’s first 100-yard rusher since Kevan Barlow ran for 114 yards against Iowa State in the 2000 Insight.com Bowl. Miree torched the Hokie defense for a career best 161 yards on 23 carries, including the game winning 53-yard touchdown run. Last week’s game also marked the first time this season that the Panthers rushed for more yards than they passed.

Redshirt junior quarterback Rod Rutherford turned in another solid performance last week tossing for 208 yards and three touchdowns against the fifth ranked defense in the country. Rutherford remains the Big East leader in total offense and is the conference’s second ranked passer behind Miami’s Ken Dorsey.

Freshman wide out Larry Fitzgerald will look to expand his Big East leading 43 receptions for 648 yards by exploiting the conference’s sixth ranked pass defense. Temple’s pass defense is surrendering an average of 223 yards per game and could spell trouble for the Owls if Rutherford and Fitzgerald click as they did last week in Blacksburg.

Last season, it was the Panthers’ defense that stymied the Owls and led the team to a 33-7 victory in Philadelphia. Pitt also holds a sizeable edge in the series with a mark of 24-7-1, but since 1995 the Panthers only hold a 4-3 edge, which includes two Owl victories in Harris’ tenure here at Pitt.

Something the Panthers are mindful of is the 1997 upset defeat of Miami, which was followed by a 17-13 letdown loss to the Owls. This year’s squad was fortunate in that they did not have to battle a bye week as the 1997 team did, but Harris is still aware of the magnitude of the game for both teams.

“It’s going to be a tough game for both teams,” Harris noted, “but we have practiced hard and prepared hard and on Saturday we’ll tee it up and go from there.”