CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — I’d like to know what Dave Wannstedt really thinks.

But after the most embarrassing loss of his tenure this side of Athens, Ohio, what did he have to say? That this team, in its third year under his leadership, has made no visible progress?

That this team’s offensive play calling didn’t change until Saturday’s game was all but over? Which, by the way, was midway through the first quarter.

That this team could very possibly finish in either of the bottom two slots in the Big East standings? Or that maybe this whole coaching thing just isn’t for him?

Nope.

“I’ll tell you exactly what I told the players,” Wannstedt said after Virginia humiliated his Panthers Saturday, 44-14. “I don’t believe we are as bad of a football team as we have showed the past two weeks.”

That includes last week’s 34-14 pasting by Connecticut at Heinz Field - a game in which Pitt ran for only 72 yards and had 43 yards passing in the first half, a game in which Pitt turned the ball over six times. The game after which Wannstedt said he’d take full blame for Pitt’s deplorable performance.

Well, coach, how do you explain this one?

The troubling part is … he can’t.

“I have been on one-win teams in college and in the NFL, and been on undefeated teams in college and Super Bowl teams,” he said. “We’re doing everything in practice that championship teams do. Our kids are working as hard as any team that I’ve been on. When we get into games, especially early on, we haven’t been able to keep it together. I wish I could give you a reason why.”

While losing each of the last two weeks’ games by a combined score of 78-28, Pitt is certainly looking more like one of those one-win teams than one of those championship teams he talked about.

He could have also said two-win teams because with the Panthers at 2-3 overall and losing like they did the last two weeks, it’s hard to conceive of them winning another one.

“It’s still a long season; there are a lot of games to go. We’ve just got to come out and practice hard and keep on working,” Pitt center Chris Vangas said.

But that’s the thing. Pitt has supposedly been working hard in practice and has been simulating the game situations that the team sees week in and week out. The coaches implemented a speaker system that blasts simulated crowd noise over practice, and they’ve brought in Big East officials to prevent the penalties that have plagued this Pitt team continuously throughout the last three weeks.

And how’s that all worked out so far?

Pitt was flagged Saturday for 11 penalties totaling 139 yards — 32 more yards than it gained on the ground Saturday. And that comes a week after committing seven penalties for 40 yards against UConn, and two weeks after committing 10 for 71 yards at Michigan State.

Three games: 28 penalties for 250 yards.

And how about that crowd simulation? Pitt found itself in a rowdy environment at Scott Stadium on Saturday, playing in front of 60,888 fans, nearly all wearing Virginia orange and blue, save a tiny sliver of Pitt fans in a corner. But the team prepared for the fan noise, so the crowd shouldn’t have been a factor.

“The crowd was definitely a factor,” Pitt’s leading tackler, junior linebacker Scott McKillop said.

“They played right off that crowd,” safety Eric Thatcher said.

That Virginia audience Saturday was just less than 61,000. And schools visiting Penn State and Michigan have to play in front of caustic crowds of more than 100,000. And Pitt is supposed to be big-time football?

Not that big-time football programs don’t make mistakes. But big-time football programs know how to fix them. And when Wannstedt says he doesn’t know why his team continuously makes the same errors and continues to lose to unranked opponents, how does that speak to his ability as a coach, not to mention the state of this Pitt football program?

Wannstedt took the responsibility for the UConn loss two weeks ago. The players said after this latest loss that it’s their fault for not executing. But maybe, just maybe, these players aren’t executing because Wannstedt’s coaching system won’t allow them to.

The Panthers have until Oct. 10 to try to identify and remedy any number of these problems, when they play Navy at home on national TV at Heinz Field, where they’ve been averaging just less than 36,000 for each home game.

Well, at least crowd noise won’t be a factor in that one.