PITTSBURGH — When the third quarter ended Saturday at Syracuse, Pittsburgh’s coaches and players celebrated. They sprayed water bottles, jumped around and shouted despite facing a four-point deficit.

The Panthers weren’t celebrating the end of the game, but rather the beginning of the fourth quarter, as they’ve done in each game this season. After Pitt blew three fourth-quarter leads in 2014, new coach Pat Narduzzi revamped the team’s attitude toward the final period.

“At the end of the day you’ve got to win the game,” Narduzzi said. “If it’s a close game, you’ve got to step up and make something happen.”

What’s been the key to Pitt’s late-game success?

“Energy and focus,” middle linebacker Matt Galambos said. “You see before the fourth quarter we all get together at midfield and we’re trying to have a party on the field.”

Pitt went 1-5 in one-score games during the 2014 season, which ended in a fourth-consecutive 6-6 regular-season finish. Now the Panthers are 5-1 in such contests as they’ve soared to a 6-1 start and No. 23 ranking.

“Pitt-ing” in recent seasons entailed the Panthers finding unexpected, gut-wrenching ways to lose games. Half a season into Narduzzi’s tenure, “Pitt-ing” now features a team playing to win rather than one merely playing not to lose.

“It’s no secret,” Narduzzi said. “You’ve just got to do it and you have to have that attitude.”

The latest rendition of the “new Pitt” came in the 23-20 victory at Syracuse on Saturday, when the Panthers used a 19-play, 89-yard drive that spanned the final 9:20 to set up Chris Blewitt’s walk-off 25-yard field goal.

The victory marked the first time in six years the Panthers won a game they trailed in the fourth quarter. Pitt’s last comeback was six years ago in a 19-17 victory against North Carolina.