Well, at least Dave Wannstedt is...5-0. With Pitt's struggles against Syracuse, I was a little surprised by that. In case you don't remember, Walt Harris' squad always had trouble with the Orange, losing three of his last five games against them.
Wannstedt has had some close games, though. In 2006 and 2008, Pitt only won by ten and in 2007, Pitt hung on for a three-point victory.
Now, I think this is a much improved Syracuse team from what we've seen before. But like every other team in the Big East, they haven't beaten a really good team. They did just go to South Florida and pull out a 13-9 win (13-9...sound familiar?), but they were also blown out by three touchdowns by a 2-3 Washington team.
That Washington team, coincidentally, has also played a tough schedule like Pitt has (USC, Nebraska, BYU, Arizona State, and Syracuse).
I really think the game on Saturday will give us a much better idea of where Syracuse is. If Syracuse wins its second Big East game in a row, it's a good indication that they're for real. On the flipside, will we reallyknow that much more about Pitt if they go up there and win? I'm not so sure. That's no knock on Syracuse and I certainly don't think Pitt winning up there is a given - it just means that Syracuse has a little more to prove after several losing seasons.