Few Pittsburgh players were as excited about the Notre Dame win last week as Robb Houser.

That's because Houser had to watch last year's victory in South Bend on TV from his couch. The center had suffered an ugly-looking broken ankle in the previous game against Rutgers and missed the final five games of the season.

"That made me want to come back strong," Houser said. "And I have."

That wasn't a guarantee during the spring, however. Houser still hadn't made it all the way back with his ankle and lost snaps at center to walk-on Alex Karabin. There was talk that another offensive lineman might move over to center if the situation didn't improve.

Houser heard that talk.

"There were a lot of good offensive linemen that could have switched over to center and done a good job, because our team is really good depth-wise," he said. "I knew I had to come back full force and work as hard as I could to show the coaches I could win that job back."

Houser recovered his full mobility by the end of the summer, and he won back his spot. He has been an anchor on arguably the Big East's best offensive line; Pitt has allowed only nine sacks all season, which is tied for eighth nationally, and the line has paved the way for Dion Lewis's 1,200-yard season.

Houser transferred from junior college last year and says he's grown with experience.

"I'm a lot better, just with my technique and having a full year with (offensive line) coach (Tony) Wise," he said. "I've been exposed so much to all the material centers need to be exposed to, and it has become second nature almost."

His next challenge will be to take on West Virginia next Friday, when he will face the Mountaineers' burly nose guard Chris Neild. Houser's pretty excited for this one, too, because he missed last year's Backyard Brawl with that injury.

"We're so pumped for West Virginia," he said.