Pitt tailback LeSean McCoy was seeking redemption last night when the Panthers played host to Buffalo, and, even though he was held to less than 100 yards rushing, he walked away with some degree of satisfaction.

McCoy, who rushed 20 times for 93 yards, scored three touchdowns and led the Panthers (1-1) to a 27-16 win against Buffalo (1-1) before a crowd of 42,494 at Heinz Field last night. And McCoy likely would have reached 100 yards, except he slipped and fell with a whole lot of open space in front of him on one of his final carries as the Panthers were running out the clock.

"The whole week, we had that sick feeling in our stomachs [in the aftermath of a loss to Bowling Green]," McCoy said. "You know what it is, that feeling you have knowing you are a good player but you played horrible, and I stunk it up last week, man. I mean, I missed reads, didn't make people miss and I just wanted to come out and prove myself. And, as a team, we wanted to prove ourselves because we knew we were better than that.

"Any win is big, some days you'll run for 150 yards and 180 yards, but the offensive line played excellent and gave all of us some holes and some creases. Like I said, the yards will come, we just have to be patient. The win is the key, the win is what is important."

McCoy wasn't the only player to rebound from a tough opener. In fact, the whole offense played better.

Quarterback Bill Stull, for instance, looked more confident, made better decisions and more plays last night than he did last week. That did not surprise Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt, who expects Stull to improve every week as he settles back into his role as the starter after missing almost the entire season last year. Stull completed 22 of 33 passes for 241 yards last night. He was intercepted once, but that was basically on a Hail Mary pass at the end of the first half.

But Wannstedt, who praised the work of often-criticized offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh, also pointed out that Stull had a lot more help from his offensive line and receivers than last week.

"Billy played better this week," Wannstedt said. "I think our protection was better, and our receivers played with more energy than they did last week. It seemed like the receivers were a little more precise, and I think they were just crisper. Last week, we dropped a couple of balls early, and I think we weren't very strong mentally.

"I thought Matt Cavanaugh and our offensive coaches tried to do some things to loosen up the defense [for McCoy.] We tried to get the ball to the outside of the field some, we ran some screens, some reverses and we threw the ball deep. We tried to mix it up as much as we could to keep some drives going."

Stull added, "We thought of this game as an opportunity to prove that we are a good football team, a great offense and a skilled team."

Pitt struggled in the first half and trailed, 6-0, at the end of a first quarter in which the Panthers amassed 16 yards.

Pitt took a 7-6 lead on its first possession of the second quarter, when McCoy scored on a 3-yard touchdown run. The Panthers' other score in the first half came on Conor Lee's 21-yard field goal that gave Pitt a 10-9 halftime lead.

McCoy scored on a 1-yard run early in the third quarter to give Pitt a 17-9 lead. Buffalo countered with a touchdown to close the gap to 17-16, but the Panthers followed that up with a 10-play, 74-yard touchdown drive capped by McCoy's 2-yard touchdown run with 10:21 left in the game. That gave the Panthers a 24-16 cushion, and Lee's late 42-yard field goal produced the final 11-point margin.

"I think one difference is we finished drives," said Pitt tight end Nate Byham. "When we were near the goal line, we knew we needed to get Shady [McCoy] into the end zone without any doubt in our minds.

"We didn't execute well last week, but we stepped up this week. I thought our offensive line played great today and that contributed to Bill Stull playing well."

Pitt is off next week, giving the Panthers two weeks to prepare for Iowa (2-0), a Big Ten team that should provide the Panthers' biggest test so far. Wannstedt said that, while he is happy with the win, the Panthers have a lot of work to do to have a chance to beat the Hawkeyes.

"We left a lot of plays out on the field in all the phases," Wannstedt said.

"Normally, I am not excited about byes this early in the season, but this week I am excited about it because we have to go out and practice and get a lot better as a team."