PITTSBURGH - Pittsburgh is threatening to become a late-season peculiarity in major college football. The Panthers are looking to move into the Top 25 without having played a ranked team themselves.

The Panthers (5-2, 3-1 in Big East) are two spots outside the Top 25 going into Saturday's game at Syracuse despite lacking any quality victories and barely dodging upset losses to Division I-AA Furman and perennially weak Temple.

Schedules are often made years in advance, and current athletic director Jeff Long and former AD Steve Pederson aren't to blame for longtime powers Miami and Virginia Tech leaving the Big East after last season to join the Atlantic Coast Conference.

But the Panthers may find out at Syracuse (4-4, 2-1) whether their glaring lack of competition will be a severe detriment as they try to secure a fifth consecutive winning season and bowl game appearance.

While Pitt's schedule has been abnormally weak, Syracuse's has been as strong as usual. All four Orangemen losses were to teams ranked at the time: Purdue (51-0), Virginia (31-10), Florida State (17-13) and West Virginia (27-6).

"They played a lot of really good teams early, and they now probably feel very good about themselves and where they're at," Pitt coach Walt Harris said Monday.

What makes the Panthers' challenge tougher is that even experienced Pitt teams have faltered in the Carrier Dome, where Pitt is 3-8-1. Pitt has beaten Syracuse for the last two seasons but lost 11 in a row to the Orange after Big East football play started in 1991.

"Pitt has always struggled up there," Harris said.

Still, Pitt fullback Tim Murphy doesn't think the quality of opposition will prove to be any advantage for Syracuse, which beat Buffalo (37-17), Cincinnati (19-7), Rutgers (41-31) and Connecticut (42-30). Pitt lost at Connecticut, 29-17.

"Every week, we're getting stronger and stronger," Murphy said of a team that starts five freshmen or sophomores on offense and four on defense. "I think our potential is unlimited going into the rest of our Big East games. No question we are getting ready to be a Top 25 team - if we aren't right now."

Pitt won't play a ranked team until it meets No. 15 West Virginia at Heinz Field on Nov. 25. Next week, it's Notre Dame, with a makeup game at South Florida on Dec. 4 closing the season.

According to Pitt's records, the Panthers haven't gone so deep into a season without playing a ranked team since 1986, when they lost to No. 1 Miami 37-10 on Nov. 8, their ninth game. They also played No. 2 Penn State later that month.

With so many underclassmen playing on the youngest of his eight Pitt teams, Harris probably hasn't minded taking on a considerably weaker schedule than usual.

"Early in the year, we just had a lot of young football players," Harris said. "That's the bottom line. Nobody gave enough credence to the fact that we had those new guys starting, and it just takes time. Things have gotten better but, quite honestly, we've got four tough games ahead and nobody thinks we've arrived."

Sophomore quarterback Tyler Palko is among those making the greatest improvement. He could barely complete a pass in Pitt's opener against Ohio, but now ranks fifth in the Big East in total offense and fourth in passing. In his last start, he threw for 318 yards and three touchdowns in a 41-17 rout of Rutgers on Oct. 23. Pitt was idle last weekend.

"The game has slowed down a lot for him, and he's been very accurate," Harris said.