Pitt looks for third straight victory

Syracuse’s Greg Robinson wants to keep things positive – which may be a difficult task to… Syracuse’s Greg Robinson wants to keep things positive – which may be a difficult task to accomplish when your team struggles to a 1-5 start, including an 0-3 mark in conference play – ranks 112th in the country in total offense and is coming off a 31-9 drubbing by Rutgers within the once-friendly confines of the Carrier Dome.

But Robinson doesn’t need to look far to find motivation to feed to his team, which has lost four straight contests.

“Pitt was 1-4. They were 1-4 and [at] one time, ranked 23rd in the country,” he said at his weekly press conference, as Syracuse (1-5 overall, 0-3 Big East) prepares for a Saturday trip to Pitt (3-4, 2-1). “They hung in there, now all of the sudden, they won two in a row. I guarantee you they didn’t feel very good. I think that we have those kinds of people.”

Few things felt very good in last week’s historic loss to the Scarlet Knights, where the Orange lost five fumbles and fell behind 31-0 before mustering three late field goals to crack the scoreboard. It was the first five-turnover contest in nine years, something Robinson knows can’t happen again anytime soon.

“I say we’re working on it, developing it,” he said of securing the ball. “I don’t have a crystal ball. I do know this, I know how to be a good turnover team, and I do know how to secure that football. We’re going to get back on that. Wherever I have been, and it isn’t just me who says it, we have always turned the ball over and, for the most part, we have secured the football.”

Robinson is right about his team being good at forcing turnovers – Syracuse is ranked 17th in the nation in turnovers forced – something seen even in the loss to Rutgers. His secondary intercepted three passes on the day, but the Orange couldn’t muster up enough offense to overcome an early deficit.

“What I’m trying to say is ‘Wait,'” Robinson said of his offense that is ranked 105th in the nation in passing. “People want it to work. I understand that. I understand the frustration of our fans. I understand the frustration of our coaches. I understand the frustration of our players. We all want it to work. But everybody kind of takes their shot in the dark, maybe it’s this, maybe it’s that. But really, it’s a little bit of everything.”

Dave Wannstedt also knows about the frustrations of trying to make things work in a new place. His team stumbled out of the gates to a 1-4 start – including losses to Ohio and Rutgers – and went more than two full games without scoring an offensive touchdown. Two straight conference wins, each in which the Panthers registered more than 30 points, have seen the resurgences of junior quarterback Tyler Palko and wide receiver Greg Lee.

“Think of the game that Tyler Palko had,” he said of his quarterback’s performance in a 31-17 win over South Florida last week. “Fifteen of 21 for three touchdowns and no interceptions. That’s a quarterback in my mind. That’s what Ben [Roethlisberger] did for probably 13 games last year. There was 200 yards in passing. That would be an ideal game, in my mind, for a quarterback. Usually if you have those numbers, and that’s the numbers you’re throwing the ball and you’re not throwing interceptions, you’re doing a heck of a job at managing the team and doing what it takes to win.”

Regardless of how the team is playing, though, Wannstedt knows this contest is critical for his team, and while it may only be his first year as the head coach at Pitt, that doesn’t mean he isn’t familiar with how much difficulty the Panthers have had with Syracuse.

“This is an important game,” he said at his weekly press conference. “I talked about our team being up and down, that whole roller coaster ride. [Syracuse has] a lot of pride. We know those guys that are up there on that football team, they won games in the past. They’re well-coached, and we are going to get their finest effort.”

Pitt’s struggles with the Orange are well documented, and Wannstedt won’t have to look too far to acknowledge that. A year ago, the Panthers tore through the tail end of their Big East schedule, winning six of seven games to clinch a berth in the Fiesta Bowl and make the school’s first-ever trip to a Bowl Championship Series game.

The one loss along the way, unsurprisingly, came at the hands of the Orange. A 38-31 double-overtime thriller in the Carrier Dome, capped off by tailback Damien Rhodes’ two-yard touchdown in the second overtime, proved to be the deciding score as the Orange capped off a remarkable rushing performance to put Pitt’s championship celebration on hold for three weeks.

“Offensively, [Rhodes] has the ability to take it the distance every time he touches the ball. Now, what will they do? I would expect them to come in and pull the reins in a little bit. By that I mean, maybe not open it up as much on offense, attempt to run the ball.”

Syracuse didn’t just attempt to run the ball last year, but did so to the tune of 239 yards on 52 carries. Both Rhodes and the now-graduated Walter Reyes went over the century mark, despite the fact that Reyes didn’t play in the second half. An injury kept Reyes (123 yards on 17 carries) from returning, but Rhodes (103 yards on 23 carries) proved to be just as effective.

While Pitt did rebound to win the next three contests and win the Big East – which ironically only happened because Syracuse proceeded to lose to Big East afterthought Temple only weeks before knocking off favorite Boston College – the loss was devastating. Pitt was playing its best football of the season and it broke a two-game winning streak against the Orange.

This wasn’t just any two-game streak, though. Pitt’s 48-24 victory in 2002 and 34-14 triumph the year after were the first wins in the series since 1989, as the series was lopsided in the ’90s. The teams played to a 20-20 tie in 1990, but the Orange won the next 11 contests, many in blowout fashion. Syracuse’s win in the Carrier Dome was a devastating blow to Pitt’s late-season surge, but the team rebounded for an historic 41-38 win at Notre Dame the following week.

Pitt appears, once again, to be playing its best football headed into the matchup with the Orange. But despite the fact that he appeared pleased with his team’s performance for the first time all season after last week’s win over the Bulls, Wannstedt knows his team has to be ready for the Orange.

“That one’s over with, obviously, and this is a big game for us this week,” he said. “It’s another conference game at home with no room, literally, to spare. Every game, every day is real critical to us.”

The game kicks off at noon and will be an ESPN Regional telecast.