Pitt pounded Big East basement-dweller Syracuse, 37-10, before a crowd of 46,885 today at Heinz Field and with that out of the way, the 13th-ranked Panthers can now start to look ahead to three big games awaiting them over the next month.

The Panthers will play host to Notre Dame next Saturday, then play at West Virginia on Nov. 27th and finish the season with a hame game against No. 5 Cincinnati that in all likelihood will determine the Big East championship.

But Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt refused to discuss any of those this games this week because he said none of them will matter if the Panthers don't handle their business against the Orange.

That message was apparently delivered loud and clear to his players because the Panthers took it to the Orange pretty good.

The Panthers (8-1, 5-0 in the Big East) started the game slow - Syracuse actually led 3-0 and Pitt didn't take a lead until Dan Hutchins connected on a 45-yard field with 9:24 left in the second to make it 6-3 - but a 51-yard interception return by Greg Williams right before the half gave them a 13-3 lead and seemed to settle them down.

Pitt got the ball first in the second half and drove 55 yards in nine plays and took a 20-3 lead on a 1-yard run by Dion Lewis.

A few series later, the Panthers needed only two plays to put the game out of reach as Jonathan Baldwin ran a reverse 61 yards to the Orange 14 and Bill Stull hit Dorin Dickerson with a 14-yard touchdown pass.

Dan Hutchins added a fourth-quarter field goal to put Pitt ahead 30-3 and at that point both teams slowly began to empty the benches and let the reserves finish the game.

Dorin Dickerson led the Panthers receivers with seven catches for 118 yards and a touchdown and Lewis finished with 18 carries for 110 yards and a touchdown.

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