PITTSBURGH — The Pitt Panthers found a way to beat Buffalo, even if the victory proved much more difficult than they might have imagined. What the Panthers didn't do was impress the Bulls — and, after two games, they're probably not impressing many others, either.

LeSean McCoy scored on three short runs and Pittsburgh managed to avoid losing at home to a Mid-American Conference school for the second week in a row, driving for two touchdowns in the second half to hold off Buffalo 27-16 on Saturday night.

McCoy, limited to 71 yards in a 27-17 upset loss to Bowling Green in Pitt's opener, scored on runs of 3, 1 and 2 yards while rushing for 93 yards — still off his pace of last season, when he ran for 1,328 yards.

Bill Stull was 22-of-33 for 241 yards and his throwing set up all three McCoy scores as Pitt (1-1) won despite trailing 6-0 at the end of the first quarter, leading 10-9 at halftime and 17-16 after three quarters..

"This isn't the way we would like to start off the season, but we can't do anything about it," Pitt linebacker Scott McKillop said.