SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- It was a come-from-behind win against one of the worst teams in Division I football, but Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt wasn't offering excuses. Wannstedt was happy with this victory, but more than that he was relieved. He had seen his season almost dissolve in front of his eyes during a nightmarish first half at the Carrier Dome.

But he and his staff kept their poise, stuck to the most basic of football and allowed their players to use their physical superiority. The result, after a monumental scare, was a 34-24 win yesterday against absolutely hapless Syracuse.

It's a sad thing to see what has happened to Syracuse, once a national football power and more recently a Big East power. No more. With this loss, the Orange are 2-20 in their past 22 Big East games. The announced crowd at the Carrier Dome was 27,549, but there were less people than that in the building.

It's easy to understand why Syracuse fans prefer to stay home.

Under coach Greg Robinson, who almost surely will be fired no later than minutes after the final game of the season, the Orange have gone 1-10, 4-8, 2-10 in their past three seasons and 1-4 this year.

They came into this game last in the Big East in total offense, total defense, scoring defense and pass defense. They were next to last in scoring offense, rushing defense, pass offense and passing efficiency defense.

In their three games against Division I opponents, they had allowed an average of 42 points a game. Akron scored four touchdowns in the first half against them, all on drives of 60 yards or longer. Penn State scored five touchdowns in the first half, all on drives of 55 yards or longer.

Against this sieve, Pitt scored one touchdown in the first half.

The victory was aided significantly by a coaching blunder of astonishing proportions by Robinson. Late in the first quarter, with his team ahead, 14-3, and clearly in charge -- after returning a kickoff for a touchdown, then moving 55 yards in eight plays for another -- Robinson showed a distinct lack of faith in his players, something every one of them had to notice.

On fourth-and-1 from the Pitt 38, Robinson attempted to trick the Panthers into jumping offside instead of ramming the ball down their throat, even though at that point the Orange had averaged nearly 7 yards per rushing attempt.

When Pitt didn't move, Syracuse drew a 5-yard penalty and punted.

The game wasn't over, but it might have been. Robinson coached like he was playing for the national championship instead of trying to resurrect a dying program. He coached scared instead of giving the ball to running back Curtis Brinkley, who carried 16 times for 119 yards. Syracuse fans can only wonder what might have happened if Brinkley had been allowed that 17th carry.

None of this made a difference to Wannstedt. He's a coach, and coaches savor wins, no matter how unimpressive.

"Anybody who thought it was going to be different than what it was this afternoon has no clue about young athletes and coaches and trying to win," he said.

Actually, anyone with some knowledge of the college game had every right to expect a Pitt rout from the first kickoff and not a game in which a fourth-quarter rally would be needed for victory.

Pitt went to power football in the second half to salvage the game and outscored Syracuse, 21-7, including 18-0 in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Bill Stull threw only nine times in the second half while LeSean McCoy and LaRod Stephens-Howling pounded the Orange 26 times for 140 yards in the half.

McCoy finished with 149 yards, 96 in the second half. Stephens-Howling picked up 71 yards, 44 in the second half.

Immediately ahead for the Panthers is the difficult task of getting ready to play Thursday night in Tampa against South Florida. From his years in the NFL, Wannstedt is familiar with such short turnarounds.

"One thing that helps more than anything else," he said, "is what you do the week before. If you do well the week before, guys aren't as sore, guys are into it, guys are excited about playing again. So the win today will definitely give us a chance to be prepared as best we can in three days."

There will be one big difference Thursday.

Instead of playing the worst team in the Big East, Pitt will be playing the best. If what happened yesterday at the Carrier Dome is a barometer, it could get ugly.