PITTSBURGH - Six games into a season that couldn't have gone much worse for Pitt, new coach Dave Wannstedt finally lost his temper.

Gathering his players along the sidelines after Cincinnati scored its second touchdown of the third quarter, Wannstedt must have been trying to scare the lethargy out of a team that began the season ranked No. 23 but, until Saturday, hadn't beaten a major college opponent.

"He really cares, and we all feed off that," freshman linebacker Adam Gunn said. "That was him trying to get us going. He's very enthusiastic."

Something must have worked. With their offense not doing much, the Panthers' special teams set up one touchdown with Gunn's blocked punt and scored on Darrelle Revis' 79-yard punt return as Pitt spoiled Cincinnati's first game in the Big East Conference by winning 38-20.

The victory was Pitt's first against a major college opponent - the only previous win was over Division I-AA Youngstown State - and came after the Panthers (2-4, 1-1 in Big East) were upset by Ohio U. and Rutgers and outclassed badly at home by Notre Dame.

"We started off slow, and we had a lot of things to work out," said Rashad Jennings, another freshman who ran for 102 yards and scored his first collegiate touchdown. "But we still think we can do what we need to do in the final five games and win the Big East."

Pitt's offense was lethargic again in the first half - a season-long problem for a team that had one of the nation's best passing offenses a year ago - until Tyler Palko hit Greg Lee for a 44-yard reception to set up one of Josh Cummings' three field goals. Pitt led 16-0 at the half mostly because of Cummings, who missed only two games following in-season knee surgery, and the Gunn blocked punt that led to Palko's 5-yard scoring run.

"We were able to get through and block kicks all week in practice, and we did it in the game," Gunn said. "We worked hard on it and it paid off."

Palko, despite being off on his throwing most of the game, also found Lee on a 10-yard scoring pass to start the fourth quarter, after a defensive game opened up in the third quarter with each team scoring twice. And, at the same time, caused Wannstedt to open up along the sidelines.

"We're glad to get the win, don't get me wrong," Wannstedt said. "We've got a long way to go before we feel good about ourselves here."

Palko, very productive over the second half of last season with 17 touchdown passes and two interceptions in his final six games, again had trouble regularly connecting with his receivers and with getting adequate protection. He finished 14-of-32 for 175 yards and, with Pitt trying to run down the clock in the fourth quarter, twice lost fumbles as his pass protection collapsed.

Palko was coming off his best game statistically of the season, going 35-of-58 for 371 yards and four touchdowns against Rutgers, but those numbers resulted mostly from Pitt falling behind 27-0 at the half. Pitt had minus-11 yards rushing in that game.

This time, Pitt's running game, which Wannstedt plans to make the focal point of what previously was a passing-heavy offense, had its first 100-yard rusher of the season in Jennings.

For Cincinnati (2-3, 0-1), an offense that was 93rd nationally in passing efficiency and 99th in scoring was only slightly more productive than it was in being held to 19 points in its previous two games - a 44-16 loss to Miami (Ohio) and a 7-3 win over Western Carolina.

"We had too many breakdowns on special teams," coach Mark Dantonio said. "We didn't catch the ball, and those are things we need to do to be successful."

Bradley Glatthaar ran for a touchdown for the fifth consecutive game, a 4-yarder early in the third quarter set up by Dustin Grutza's 56-yard pass to Earnest Jackson. Grutza also threw a 22-yard scoring pass to Jackson but, other than those two completions, completed only seven other passes.

Revis' punt return came late in the third quarter and made it 30-7. Lee had three catches for 77 yards after having 100 yards or more receiving in three consecutive games.