PITTSBURGH — Pitt didn't give LeSean McCoy a redshirt season or transition time to make the adjustment from prep school to major college football. Instead they gave him the ball, and gave it to him a lot.

Much like the Panthers apparently plan to give it to Dion Lewis and Ray Graham.

One of the unanswered questions about the Big East Conference football season is whether the Panthers can begin to make up for all the yardage they lost when their most proficient underclassman running back since Tony Dorsett turned pro after only two seasons. McCoy now plays for the Philadelphia Eagles.

Here's what the Panthers are missing without McCoy as they go into Saturday's opener against Youngstown State: 1,488 yards rushing and 21 touchdowns from last season, 2,816 yards rushing and 36 touchdowns from the last two seasons. That's the equivalent of a 100-yard game every week for nearly 2Z\x seasons, plus a touchdown once a game for three seasons.

McCoy produced without the benefit of any time to get adjusted to the college game; he was playing when he pulled on a uniform. Or much like Lewis and Graham will be asked to do, now that the Panthers must replace McCoy and his backup, LaRod Stephens-Howling.

Lewis had a slight advantage: He enrolled at Pitt in January, only a few weeks after he averaged 14.1 yards per carry and gained 1,243 yards last season at Blair Academy in New Jersey. While the 5-foot-8, 195-pound Lewis has gone through spring ball and summer camp, he has yet to experience a college season.

Neither has the 5-9, 185-pound Graham, who will back up Lewis after also starring in New Jersey last season. Graham ran for 1,592 yards and averaged 9 yards per carry at Elizabeth High, but that wasn't against Notre Dame or West Virginia.

It's a lot to ask of two freshmen who haven't redshirted, but Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt had little choice.

"You would like not to be in that scenario but, at the same time, these two kids came out of camp and had the most productive camps," Wannstedt said. "You want to play the best players that give you the best chance to win."

Lewis was favored to start going into camp, but Graham was behind redshirt freshman Chris Burns, who had an excellent camp a year ago, and sophomore Shariff Harris. But Harris drew a two-week suspension during camp for disciplinary reasons, and Graham outran Burns.