Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt decided against going for it on fourth-and-short twice in the Panthers' season-opening loss to Bowling Green, opting instead to punt from inside the Falcons' 36.

Wannstedt was widely criticized as being too conservative. Since then, however, he has been anything but, especially on fourth down.

In fact, the Panthers seem to go for it so much these days that it is almost as if four-down territory for them begins just past midfield.

And while that may be an exaggeration, it's a slight one -- Pitt has converted all five of its attempts in the past two games.

Offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh explained that this does not represent a change in philosophy, but rather the result of an offense that has matured and proven to Wannstedt it is capable of converting in those situations.

The Panthers have become one of the best teams in Division I-A at converting on fourth down. Pitt has gone 13 for 17 for 76.5 percent, which is sixth-best in Division I-A.

Those numbers are even more incredible when you consider that two of those failed attempts were a fake punt and a fake field goal, and a third was on fourth-and-10. That means the only fourth-and-short Pitt has failed to convert this season in 14 tries was a fourth-and-2 late in the Rutgers game, a 54-34 loss -- and at that point the game was already out of reach.

Cavanaugh said that the ability to convert on fourth down has opened up a lot of opportunities for the offense. It has meant he can call some third-down plays differently, knowing that Wannstedt might give him a fourth-down opportunity as well.

"[Confidence in going for it] is something you build," Cavanaugh said. "You have to be judicious in when you do it, what part of the game and what part of the field you do it, but it is nice to know that if we are third-and-2 or third-and-3 ... we might have two downs to try and get those 2 or 3 yards."

A big part of the Panthers' success on fourth down is their ability to run the ball with LeSean McCoy, but in recent weeks fourth-and-short has been a passing down as well. In fact, the Panthers have mixed the pass and the run very nicely on fourth down and have used a combination of fullbacks, tight ends and receivers to throw to in order to keep defenses guessing.

"Like I always say, if you are one-dimensional, people will figure out a way to stop it," Cavanaugh said. "We have confidence in a lot of different guys in a specific role, what they can do, run or pass, drop back or play action, reverse, screen -- whatever it is, we're going to try and find a way to get the ball in somebody's hands in order to get a first down.

"And Bill Stull has shown that he can do it for us, so we have confidence in him. It isn't necessarily that we are trying to take the ball out of [McCoy's] hands but you have to give defenses credit too -- the first thing they think about on a critical down is, 'We have to take that guy out of it,' and that opens some other things up."

Wannstedt, who said he is still not entirely comfortable going for it on fourth down so much, said that the Panthers' success rate has been a combination of different factors, but he likes that it forces defenses to think about so many other things on third and even second down.

Sometimes the decision is difficult, he said -- particularly when the Panthers are in field-goal range, given the accuracy of place-kicker Conor Lee -- but he agreed with Cavanaugh that as long as the offense continues to produce on fourth-and-short, he'll give the players the opportunity.

"Every week has been different and sometimes in one game, we've thrown it on a play and came back in the same situation and run it," Wannstedt said. "And I think that puts a lot of pressure on a defense when you aren't so one-dimensional when you only need a yard or 2 or 3.

"[Passing a field goal is difficult]; you don't ever want to pass up points unless you think you might need touchdowns to win. But we take a lot of factors into account when we make the decision."

Fullback Conredge Collins has become a fourth-and-short weapon, but not by running the football as he has in past years. Collins now catches passes out of the backfield, and it is a role he has embraced.

"We have confidence that the O is going to get no matter what the play call is," Collins said. "We get fired up for fourth down because we know that's what it takes to win ball games -- convert on fourth down and if we can do it on fourth down we can do it on any down."