PITTSBURGH — Like most of his brethren, Pittsburgh coach Paul Chryst wants his team to be versatile on offense.

The trick at the moment for the Panthers is finding a way to both run and pass effectively at the same time.

It hasn’t quite worked out that way for Pitt (4-2) during the first half of the season, where the offense has resembled an old school faucet that has hot water running through one spigot and cold water through the other.

A month ago, quarterback Tom Savage tied an ACC record with six touchdown passes in a victory over Duke. Last Saturday against Old Dominion, the Panthers rushed for 266 yards and four scores.

Chryst isn’t complaining necessarily. He also wouldn’t mind, however, if Pitt didn’t keep swinging the pendulum from one side to the other.

“It’s good to say that we’ve found different ways to win,” Chryst said. “That, you can build on. Then, you can look at the other side of the coin and say that we need to be more consistent.”

A week after Savage took a beating at the hands of Virginia Tech in a 19-9 loss, the Panthers took some of the pressure off him by giving the ball to junior running back Isaac Bennett.

Plowing through holes so wide he often wasn’t touched until he was in the secondary, Bennett ran for a career-high 240 yards. The outburst was the biggest by a Pitt back since Dion Lewis rolled up 261 yards against Cincinnati in 2010.

Bennett, who has spent most of the season watching freshman James Conner earn the bulk of the carries, said he was more concerned about his team inching closer to bowl eligibility than his workload. With Conner nursing a shoulder injury, Bennett carried the ball 30 times, well above his average of 9.2 carries per game coming in.

“I had an idea I would get the majority of the carries,” Bennett said. “I just focused in and did my work ... it always feels good to get carries like that.”

Even if it came at the expense of getting a passing game that has struggled of late back on track. The Panthers were missing senior wide receiver Devin Street, who did not dress due to a shoulder injury of his own. The result was a season-low in completions (11), attempts (18) and yards (104). Even talented freshman Tyler Boyd was kept under wraps, averaging just 7.7 yards on his six receptions.

“I think we leave a lot of points out there,” tight end Manasseh Garner said. “We can’t afford to do that against the really good teams because you don’t always get a lot of opportunities.”