PITTSBURGH — As the close losses kept mounting, Pittsburgh coach Paul Chryst kept preaching.

Stay the course, Chryst told his frustrated team. Focus on the next game, not the whole season. Do the little things well enough and the big things take care of themselves.

Those two worldviews will collide next weekend after the Panthers kept their chances for a bowl game alive with a 30-7 win over Syracuse on Saturday. Pitt (5-6, 3-4) now needs to upset Miami in South Florida a couple days after Thanksgiving to assure the program of a seventh straight postseason trip.

“Right now, it’s just like a playoff,” linebacker Anthony Gonzalez said.

One played far away from the college football playoff committee but no less important to a program desperately searching for traction. For four dominant quarters Pitt found some against the lifeless Orange. Chad Voytik tossed a pair of touchdown passes, Chris James ran for a career-high 122 yards and the Panthers overwhelmed Syracuse (3-8, 1-6) even with ACC’s leading rusher James Conner sitting out the second half with a hip injury.

Conner ran for 38 yards and his 22nd touchdown of the season to set an ACC record before exiting. His status for next weekend is uncertain, but the Panthers got by just fine with James and sophomore wide receiver Tyler Boyd leading the way. Boyd finished with seven receptions for 126 yards, 49 of them coming on a catch-and-run for a score early in the fourth quarter to seal it.

Pitt outgained Syracuse 445-255, held the ball for nearly 39 minutes and was never really threatened in an emotionally charged rebound from a deflating 40-35 loss at North Carolina last week, the Panthers’ fourth defeat by five points or less this season.