PITTSBURGH -- The biggest game of the year in the Big East probably will be Syracuse (No. 17 ESPN/USA Today, No. 18 AP) vs. No. 5 Virginia Tech. A Top 10 ranking and possible big bowl bid should be at stake.

	Syracuse's Quinton Spotwood helped the Orangemen beat the Tulane blitz.

That might be Syracuse coach Paul Pasqualoni's biggest worry going into tonight's televised game: Virginia Tech isn't until next week.

Tonight, it's Pittsburgh, a potentially dangerous team that definitely isn't looking ahead. If the Orangemen are, that game against Virginia Tech might not have nearly as much significance it does now.

"We know that going down there against a team like Pitt, playing at the time that we're playing them, it's going to be a game," Syracuse wide receiver Quinton Spotwood said. "We can't look past them. I don't think we've got the mindset that we're looking past them."

Perhaps more than anyone on Syracuse's nationally ranked team, Spotwood realizes the dangers in that. The Orangemen are 8-0-1 against the Panthers in the 1990s and haven't lost to them since 1989.

Two years ago, Pitt -- a four-touchdown underdog -- led Syracuse with barely a minute to play before Donovan McNabb's touchdown pass to Spotwood rallied Syracuse to a 32-27 victory.

This season, the Panthers (3-1, 1-0 in Big East) are off to a nice start, already accumulating more victories than they did in last year's 2-9 season. But their record was built against soft opposition -- Bowling Green, Kent, Temple -- while Syracuse (4-1, 1-0) was playing Michigan and Tulane.

Still, Pitt wasn't expected to give No. 2 Penn State a game, only to come close to pulling off a major upset before losing 20-17 last month.

"To beat Syracuse, we definitely need to play one of our best games," said Pitt quarterback John Turman, who threw for 196 yards and four touchdowns in last week's 55-24 victory against Temple. "We need to play like we played against Penn State."

To win, Syracuse probably needs to keep playing like Syracuse. The Orangemen are 13-1-1 against Pitt since 1984 and would like to leave Pitt Stadium with an unbeaten record in the 1990s.

This will be the last Syracuse-Pitt game in Pitt Stadium, which will be demolished shortly after the sold-out Notre Dame game on Nov. 13 to make room for a new basketball arena. Pitt will move into Three Rivers Stadium next year before relocating to the new Steelers stadium in 2001.

Pitt will leave behind more than 70 years of tradition and memories at Pitt Stadium. Syracuse hopes it doesn't leave with a loss.

"When you play as well at Pitt did against Temple, you flow right into the next game with a great deal of confidence," said Pasqualoni, 8-0 against Pitt. "It's a home game for them. They don't have to travel so, in my mind, they've got an extra day on us. It's going to be very, very hard, very tough on us."

Pitt's improvement in 1999 stems mostly from a much-better running game led by Kevan Barlow and Nick Goings that averages 168.8 yards up from 115.8 a year ago. Barlow has rushed for 295 yards and scored four times, one on a reception, in his last two games.