"It sets the tone for the season," the coach said. "We'll see what we've got come Friday."

What he's got is a 1-1 record as the Bearcats followed a big season-opening win over I-AA Eastern Kentucky with a 33-15 Big East loss to visiting Pittsburgh.

The 1-1 record is the good news. Cincinnati now must travel to face Ohio State and Virginia Tech, the start of a series of four road games against Top-25 teams that sits on this murderous 2006 schedule.

The Bearcats fell behind, 23-0, Friday night, made a run, got to within a big fourth-and-1 play of really making it a game, but failed – missing another chance to try to capture the hearts of a Cincinnati sports base that has the Reds in the middle of a wild card chase and the Bengals ready to open up the NFL season.

It's safe to say Friday night college football wasn't a big hit in Ohio.

The Bearcats drew 20,611 –- certainly not big-time college football numbers -– and you can only wonder what a victory in this Big East opener might have done for the program.

Now, Cincy is likely to return for its next home game –- Sept. 30 against Miami (Ohio) –- with a 1-3 record.

Think the locals will be charged up about that?

The Bearcats produced just 35 yards rushing on 30 carries, gave up three sacks and had 10 plays for negative yards in the Pitt loss.

"We just can't make those types of mistakes next week at Ohio State," said tight end Brent Celek, who dropped two passes, one a big one on third down in the second quarter.

Dantonio again went with two quarterbacks -– Dustin Grutza and Nick Davila –- but Grutza handled every snap in the first half and may have won the starting job when Davila delivered nothing on three second-half drives.

KEEP AN EYE ON: WR Dominick Goodman had another big game, pulling down eight passes for 70 yards after catching two TD passes in the opener.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "We cannot hurt ourselves. Pitt made some nice plays, but we cannot hurt ourselves. We gave up too many sacks, we were unable to run the ball in the second half. We got behind because of turnovers and had to start throwing it to get close at the end." –-Cincinnati coach Mark Dantonio after the Big East loss to Pitt at home Friday night

QB Dustin Grutza -– His effort against Pitt, and the inability of Nick Davila to perform when he had the chance, probably put some separation between the two, making Grutza the clear leader in the early clubhouse. Grutza came up short on a fourth-and-1 late that could have changed the final outcome.

The Cincinnati run defense -– Granted, Pitt was missing starting running back LaRod Stephens-Howling, but giving up 90 yards on 35 rushing plays is not the kind of thing that loses football games.

STILL NEEDS WORK: Morale. We know the schedule won't change. Cincy coach Mark Dantonio can do all the work he wants in practice this week. He can correct the mistakes his team made in the loss to Pitt – and then the Bearcats have to go out and play the No. 1 team in the country, and then go to Virginia Tech. This schedule is a monster.

ROSTER REPORT: Cincinnati's Brian Steel had a career-long 64-yard punt return.