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"His highlight tape was five plays and they were all 80-yard runs. I seriously watched five plays and told [assistant coach] Jeff Hafley to offer him," Wannstedt said after the true freshman rushed 31 times for 180 yards in Pittsburgh's 24-17 victory Friday over Rutgers at Rutgers Stadium.

"His highlight tape was five plays and they were all 80-yard runs. I seriously watched five plays and told [assistant coach] Jeff Hafley to offer him," Wannstedt said after Lewis rushed 31 times for 180 yards in Pittsburgh's 24-17 victory Friday over Rutgers at Rutgers Stadium.

A native of Albany, N.Y., who entered as the No. 5 rusher in the nation at 123 yards per game, Lewis ran roughshod over the Rutgers defense, including a 58-yard touchdown that put Pitt (6-1, 3-0 Big East) up 24-10.

Pitt outrushed Rutgers 223-38.

The announced crowd was 50,296, but with the Yankees involved in a playoff game and the night offering up spotty rain and frigid temperatures, that appeared to be a generous estimation.

The win snapped a four-game losing streak by the Panthers to Rutgers (4-2, 0-2). Only one player on the Panthers roster - sixth-year senior Adam Gunn -- had ever beaten Rutgers.

"It was not as clean as we wanted to win, but it was good to be able to get a big victory on the road," said Lewis, who had about 20 family and friends in attendance.

The 5-foot-8, 195-pound Lewis spent two years at Blair in Blairstown, N.J. under head coach Jim Stone.

He averaged 14.1 yards per carry his senior season, while rushing for 1,243 yards.

Yet the only offers he had to show for it were from Pitt, Tulane and Miami (Ohio).

"I bet some teams are looking at him now, saying, 'Why didn't we offer him?'" Pitt quarterback Bill Stull said. "But, hey, I'm happy that we have [Lewis] and I'm excited."

Was Rutgers ever involved?

"Not really," Lewis said. "They come up to school once but they didn't show too much interest, so..."

Said Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano: "I didn't personally go to the school but we certainly evaluated him. You evaluate thousands of kids. He's a very good player. We make choices in recruiting and some choices are made by them, right? But you make choices about who you're going to go after. I think the back we signed is a good back, a really good back. I'm happy with our guy [De'Antwan Williams]. There's enough good guys to go around."

Lewis committed to Pitt before his senior year, graduated from Blair in December and arrived at Pitt in January. He played spring ball and has surprised the staff with what he's accomplished.

"If you asked every member of our football team and our staff, we probably thought there was going to be the biggest void," Wannstedt said this week. "We lost our entire backfield. ... So Dion coming in and filling that void and having success doing it, that has been a huge spark for our football team."

Lewis said he sensed how important it was for the seniors to beat Rutgers after four straight losses.

"You could see in their eyes that they really wanted this game, just not being able to beat them for four years," Lewis said. "To get this win...it's great."

One of those seniors is Stull, a redshirt senior quarterback who completed 16 of 24 passes for 153 yards and a TD.

A year ago, Stull was feeling it, throwing for 279 yards against Rutgers, when his head smacked into teammate LaSean McCoy's heel as he fell while trying to avoid a sack.

The 6-foot-3, 215-pound Stull told reporters this week that he actually felt "paralyzed for a minute or two."

This time around, Stull said the game was "personal for the players and the coaching staff also."

"One of my personal things, I wanted to finish the game," he said. "I wanted to go out in the second half and finish the third quarter, something I couldn't do last year."