Not long after Syracuse put together a 98-yard game-winning drive, the buzz started. A win at South Florida in its conference opener set the Orange up quite well heading into its conference home opener Saturday against Pittsburgh.

With Syracuse (4-1, 1-0 Big East) looking as legitimate as it has in years, this matchup gives the Orange a chance to take that next step toward returning the program to respectability and to its goal of a bowl bid. Yet to the Orange, this weekend’s matchup is nothing special. Instead it’s just the next game on the schedule.

‘We’re just treating this week like every other game that we have to play,’ freshman tight end Beckett Wales said. ‘It’s just the next game. And that’s how we’re treating it.’

In just his first season, it may be unrealistic to expect Wales to approach Saturday’s game against Pittsburgh (2-3, 0-0 Big East) any differently. As a freshman, he hasn’t been around for each of the past five matchups between Syracuse and Pitt. Unlike most of the SU veterans, he wasn’t on the field for any of the five grueling losses over the past five years.

But what may come as a surprise is the fact that several of the veterans who were here for the majority of that losing streak to the Panthers are subscribing to a similar ideology entering the weekend. With Syracuse staring into the face of a 5-1 start for the first time in more than a decade, Saturday’s matchup against Pittsburgh (noon, Big East Network) at the Carrier Dome is being hyped as anything but ‘just another game.’

Yet from Wales to Max Suter and Da’Mon Merkerson, the perception entering this weekend remains the same. Amid the hype that surrounds what is expected to be one of the most intriguing football games seen in the Dome in quite some time, players are keeping a relatively level head.

‘You want to win every game, but the only way to do that is by winning the next game,’ Merkerson said. ‘So if there’s any reason this game is big, it’s because it’s the next game.’

But for the first time in years, the Orange can’t honestly use that phrase. Five years ago, under then-head coach Greg Robinson, every game was ‘just another game.’ During that 1-10 season in 2005, when the significance of each game was a lost cause, the players could say that. And it was actually true.

Even a year ago, under current head coach Doug Marrone, players could get away with saying that. The Orange was in a transition year, in Marrone’s first season, and the foundation was just being laid. The outside expectations were nonexistent.

Though the players maintain the same disposition about this week’s game, deep down inside, they understand the significance. For them, a chance to advance the program’s best record in over a decade is the reality. A chance to do that by taking down the preseason favorite to win the conference is what has billed this game as perhaps the most significant to grace the Dome in years.

That’s what makes this more than ‘just another game.’ SU is sitting on the doorstep of something significant.

‘Whenever you set a goal and you can see it unfold, it’s always a great sense of satisfaction to see the plan in action,’ Merkerson said. ‘I think after each win, we do feel a sense of satisfaction as we continue to move forward, but we can’t dwell on wins because there is always something up next.

‘So as big as it would be to win (Saturday), it’s just the next step. I think we’ve done a good job staying on course for our ultimate goal, and we need to stay focused each week to obtain it.’

It’s easy to see how the hype may have spun out of control. But the reality is this game is just that significant for the Orange football program. A loss certainly doesn’t ruin the season or crush SU’s hopes for a bowl bid. But a win? Well, that would set off a level of hysteria not seen since the Donovan McNabb era, when SU was at its highest recent peak.

That would set up the following week’s nationally televised matchup at West Virginia that much better. It could begin to change the way Syracuse is viewed around the nation. It’s that simple.

The players have heard the numbers. None of them have beaten Pitt. The Panthers have won five straight against the Orange — ironically, the same streak USF owned until last weekend. But the feeling is different this year. Which makes this weekend’s game different. Fueled by the 4-1 start and a big win at USF last week, the collective confidence of this year’s Syracuse squad is undoubtedly increasing.

‘It’s a big game because it’s the next game,’ Marrone said. ‘And then all of a sudden, now we are onto a bigger game because it’s the next game. You win a game, and then you move onto the next. That’s just how I feel. … I am happy that we came away with a win and won a Big East road game and matched the win total for Big East games in a season since 2004. Now we are going, and our objective is to get a second win.’

To get that second win, the Orange will look to its offense, which is its best scoring offense (28.4 points per game) since 2003. It will look to its scoring defense (14.8 points per game), which is its best since 1999. For the Orange, there’s no reason to believe this won’t be the year to finally end that streak of futility against Pitt.

The Orange snapped a five-game losing streak to South Florida last weekend. For Syracuse to take the next step, it must do it again this weekend. This time against Pitt.

And the significance of doing that would transcend beyond just another win.

‘We have to beat Pitt,’ Suter said. ‘It’s time to get after them this year, and we’re ready to do it.’

aljohn@syr.edu

Published on October 13, 2010 at 12:00 pm