PITTSBURGH — Mike Teel, booed at times by his own fans this season, threw five of his school-record six touchdown passes in the first half and Rutgers came out throwing to confound No. 17 Pittsburgh's previously reliable defense during a stunningly easy 54-34 victory today.

Teel, a senior who had only three touchdown passes in seven games, found Kenny Britt on scoring plays of 79, 7 and 26 yards and Tim Brown for 60 and 36 yards — all against what was the Big East's top-ranked and nation's 10th-rated pass defense.

The 36-yarder to Brown made it 41-31 and came one play after Aaron Berry's fumbled punt midway through the third quarter, not long after LeSean McCoy's fourth touchdown run got Pittsburgh (5-2, 2-1 in Big East) to within 34-31.

On Pitt's next possession, quarterback Bill Stull's neck snapped backward as he was hurried by defensive back David Row on an incompletion and struck McCoy in the back. Stull lay motionless for several minutes as players from both teams knelt in front of their benches, but moved both arms and flashed a thumbs-up with his left hand while being taken off the field on a stretcher.

Pat Bostick, who took over as Pitt's quarterback midway through last season after Stull was hurt and led the Panthers to a major upset of No. 2 West Virginia, threw an interception to Kevin Malast after driving Pitt to the 17. The 74-yard return set up Kordell Young's 8-yard TD run that made it 48-31 early in the fourth, and Young later added a 4-yard TD run.

Pitt hadn't allowed this many points since a 60-6 loss to Notre Dame during the final year of Johnny Majors' second turn as coach in 1996. Pitt hadn't yielded so many points at home since Virginia Tech and Ohio State scored 63 on successive weeks in 1993, Majors' first year back.

Rutgers (3-5, 2-2) has struggled offensively all season while being held to 12 points or fewer five times, but may have picked up on some bad habits by Pitt's defensive backs last weekend as Navy threw only eight times during Pitt's 42-21 romp— meaning Pitt's cornerbacks had few coverage responsibilities.

Teel, going 14-of-21 for 361 yards while breaking the previous Rutgers record of five TD passes held by two others, began going after defensive backs Jovani Chappel and Eric Thatcher immediately after McCoy scored on a 33-yard run on the third play from scrimmage. Teel threw for 321 yards in the first half, and Britt finished with five catches for 143 yards and Brown four for 132.

Teel hit Brown for 60 yards on Rutgers' first possession and, about six minutes later, Britt for 79 yards as the Pitt defenders constantly were confused by play-action throws. All of Britt's TDs came in the first half as the Scarlet Knights opened a 34-24 halftime lead.

Pittsburgh was denied its first six-game winning streak since the end of the 2001 season and failed to stay ahead of West Virginia (5-2, 2-0) and Cincinnati (6-1, 2-0) in a now-jumbled Big East race. Rutgers beat the Panthers for a fourth consecutive season and won in successive visits to Pittsburgh for the first time.

McCoy's four scoring runs during his fourth consecutive 100-yard game — he ended with 146 yards — gave him 28 TDs in his first two seasons, four more than former Heisman Trophy winner Tony Dorsett during his freshman and sophomore years in 1973-74.