Not so fast, my friends.

Remember, the three straight wins that lured more than 40,000 fans to the Carrier Dome for the first time this season on Saturday came against teams now with a combined 4-13 record.

With two top-10, undefeated opponents next in West Virginia and Louisville, the Pittsburgh game represented Syracuse’s one chance to gauge whether its revival merited respect.

‘We definitely came in with the mindset that this could be a boost and a statement for the whole Big East – and the nation,’ receiver Donte Davis said.

Instead, the offense that scored 105 total points in the last three weeks failed to sustain drives, allowing the truly resurgent program, Pittsburgh, to roll to a comfortable 21-11 win before 41,870.

Now, assuming losses to WVU and Louisville, the prospect of having to win three of its last four games to make a bowl game faces the Orange (3-3, 0-1 Big East).

While the defense allowed more than 400 yards for the second straight week courtesy of an efficient Tyler Palko (20-of-24 for 177 yards) and a speedy LaRod Stephens-Howling (27 carries for 221 yards), it surrendered only a touchdown in each of the first three quarters.

The offense managed just a cosmetic 29-yard touchdown pass – its longest play all day – from quarterback Perry Patterson to Mike Williams on its last possession.

Until that drive, penalties (eight for 60 yards), sacks (five), fumbles (three lost) and dropped passes (three) constantly halted any short-lived momentum.

‘In regard to focus, I think this was a step backward,’ Patterson said. ‘But the holding penalties and the fumbles are things we can control. But we are getting better. We’re better than we were last week. We just made some dumb mistakes today.’

When the offense did move the ball, it was still without a permanent replacement for playmaker Taj Smith.

Delone Carter appeared to fill that role with his 129-yard, four-touchdown performance last week, but the freshman running back only gained 57 yards on 16 carries against Pitt (5-1, 2-0). Curtis Brinkley, who appears to be losing grip of his starter tag, rushed only seven times for 27 yards.

While Patterson completed 20-of-29 passes for 225 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions, he only completed one pass more than 15 yards through the third quarter. His primary threats Saturday were sophomore tight end Tom Ferron (four catches for 45 yards) and freshmen receivers Donte Davis (5-53) and Williams (3-57).

Two plays after Davis caught that lone early long ball, a 26-yarder down the left sideline, Ferron lost a fumble after a catch at the Pitt 38 with the Orange trailing, 14-3, late in the first half. Patterson and Carter lost a fumble on a mishandled snap with SU down, 7-0, early in the game.

Then there were the penalties – all eight of which were charged to the offense – and the dropped passes. Both proved trouble particularly in the first half when the game was still in doubt.

In the second quarter alone, SU suffered an illegal formation error one play after Ferron gave SU a first down at the Pitt 28 on a one-handed grab, a holding call that erased a 15-yard Patterson scramble on third down to the Pitt 35 and another holding flag that pushed the offense further back in its own territory.

Davis and Brinkley dropped short passes in the first quarter. Rice Moss, who returned after suffering a separated shoulder last week, joined the team in the fourth quarter – ending his streak of recording a reception in 17 straight games.

‘The problems today were the self-inflicting wounds, which were things we could have controlled,’ Patterson said. ‘This is not a confidence thing. This is a let-us-go-back-to-the-drawing-board-and-collect-ourselves thing.’

Stephens-Howling set up Pitt’s first-quarter touchdown (a 4-yard Palko keeper right) with a 40-yard draw play up the middle and scored the Panthers’ second-quarter touchdown on a 70-yard sprint off right tackle.

Palko finished off the Orange late in the third quarter with a 1-yard touchdown pass to Steve Buches.

Syracuse couldn’t produce a possession with more than one first down in the second half until the middle of the fourth quarter. But even that drive ended when Pittsburgh lineman Chris McKillop buried Patterson at the Pitt 14, causing SU’s third and final lost fumble.

Despite its first three-game winning streak since 2002, the Syracuse football program isn’t back yet.

‘I really felt we needed this game,’ Carter said. ‘But you don’t always get what you want.’

Published on October 7, 2006 at 12:00 pm