The Pitt season still is relevant and will be at least until Iowa gets here in two weeks. Don't underestimate the significance of that. It all could have come tumbling down last night against Buffalo.

Into the fourth quarter, when Pitt led just 17-16 and only because Buffalo missed an extra point, there was a feeling that Heinz Field was going to be a fatal crash scene. The damage would have been irreparable if a Pitt team that began the season with expectations of winning the Big East Conference championship had lost at home to another double-digit underdog and started 0-2 in the Mid-American Conference.

The Pitt players -- not to mention widely ridiculed coach Dave Wannstedt -- should be thankful it didn't come to that.

Pitt beat Buffalo, 27-16, a win that, though barely impressive, beat the heck out of the alternative.

"We had the whole city behind us and we let them down," running back LeSean McCoy said of the still-hard-to-believe 27-17 home loss to Bowling Green a week earlier. "We made some mistakes. It was kind of embarrassing ... "

Kind of?

But let's allow McCoy to continue.

"We know we're a good team, a good, solid team," he said. "We came out for this game with the attitude that we were going to prove it."

Pitt must beat Iowa Sept. 20 before anyone even considers the possibility that it still can compete for that championship in what, at least in the early going, looks to be an incredibly weak Big East. All we know now is that it's a little better than Buffalo.

That and, of course, this:

"We've got a lot of work to do to get better," Wannstedt said.

It's always easier after a win. It also helps that Pitt gets an extra week to prepare for Iowa. Bye weeks hardly ever are good this early in the season, but Pitt's probably is coming at a good time. It definitely needs the work.

That isn't to say there weren't a few positives last night.

Pitt's offense was a little more imaginative. It would have been hard not to be. Even offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh joined the crowd and beat himself up for being too conservative against Bowling Green.

"Last week, it was just pound, pound, pound," McCoy said. "This week, we came out with more balance."

It's a little easier for Cavanaugh to be more creative when his quarterback is throwing the ball well and his star running back is toting it with a purpose. Pitt's Bill Stull and McCoy were dramatically better than they were against Bowling Green. They and Pitt's receivers, who caught just about everything, were the difference this time out.

Stull's play in the second half was fun to watch. At one point, he completed 11 consecutive passes. For the night, Pitt converted 8 of 13 third-down opportunities, none bigger than when Stull hit wide receiver Oderick Turner for 36 yards on third-and-11 to set up Conor Lee's clinching 42-yard field with 3:31 left.

"Billy was better," Wannstedt said. "The protection was better. Our receivers played with more energy than last week. They were more precise."

McCoy, meanwhile, ran like the McCoy of last season. He had 20 carries for 93 yards and also caught a swing pass for 24 yards.

"I didn't produce at all last week," McCoy said. "I played a horrible game."

That was tough for a proud guy to accept.

"I kind of lost a little confidence," McCoy said. "I had to show I'm still the same player."

This night was a start for McCoy and for Pitt, sure.

"The obvious is you can't win two games until you win one," Wannstedt said. "We did enough tonight to win the game."

True, all true.

But the real test will come against Iowa.

If Pitt wins that game, it will be season on again.

It's just nice to be able to look forward to it because it easily could have been season over last night.