PITTSBURGH — Pitt's last two games have matched its season: a terrible start followed by a furious rally.

Tyler Palko ran for two touchdowns and threw for another in Pittsburgh's second comeback victory in as many games, and the Panthers became the latest team to benefit from Syracuse's ongoing stream of turnovers in a 34-17 victory Saturday.

A week after trailing South Florida by 10 points before winning 31-17, Pitt (4-4, 3-1 in Big East) followed the same pattern by falling behind 17-7 before scoring 27 consecutive points behind Palko's passing and freshman LaRod Stephens-Howling's running. Stephens-Howling, who is 5-foot-7 and 160 pounds, ran for 101 yards in his first career 100-yard game and has 192 yards in two games.

Pittsburgh is .500 for the first time under new coach Dave Wannstedt, beating Cincinnati, South Florida and Syracuse after losing four of five. The Panthers must win two of their final three, against Louisville, Connecticut and West Virginia, to retain any chance of going to a sixth consecutive bowl game.

"Those three games will make or break us," Palko said.

Wannstedt hopes the last two games aren't an indicator of what will happen now that the competition is getting better.

"It's what we've talked about for two months _ it's a roller coaster, things go up and down," Wannstedt said. "That's the challenge I have. We've shown a lot of character coming back but like I told the guys, `Man, you're making this way too hard.'"

He should tell that to another first-year coach just out of the NFL, Syracuse's Greg Robinson. With the Orange (1-6, 0-4) off to their worst start since they also were 1-6 during a 2-9 season in 1982, Robinson is running out of answers for a team that has too little offense and too many turnovers.

The Orange had four interceptions and a fumble a week after losing five fumbles in a 31-9 loss to Rutgers and have 19 turnovers in seven games.

"I wish our offense would have done more, and prevented the interceptions," Robinson said. "When it gets to 17-7, I was saying, `Let's keep going, keep playing,' I was glad to see we were ahead because the last three games we've been swimming upstream."

The Orange benefited from three turnovers and a blocked punt — the second against Pitt in as many games — to open that lead after not scoring a first-half touchdown in their previous three games. But the Panthers tied it by scoring 10 points in the final 1:42 of the first half.

Palko, who threw an interception and lost a fumble during a first half that featured a combined seven turnovers, found Derek Kinder on an 11-yard scoring pass to make it 17-14 after J.J. Horne intercepted a Perry Patterson pass. Kinder made eight catches for 81 yards. Josh Cummings kicked a 39-yard field goal on the final play of the half to tie it and later made a 30-yarder.

Patterson went 9-of-25 for 89 yards and three interceptions and was replaced briefly by Joe Fields, who was intercepted on his only attempt.

"We knew they gave the ball away and that has been the killer for them," said Pitt linebacker H.B. Blades, who returned a Patterson-thrown interception 38 yards for a touchdown. "We wanted to create turnovers and give our offense good field position."

For Syracuse tight end Alex Shor, it's a falloff he wouldn't have predicted for a Syracuse program that won six or more games 17 of the previous 18 seasons.

"I never thought it would get this low," Shor said.

Pitt sustained a drive for the first time early in the third quarter, moving 60 yards on seven plays for Palko's 2-yard touchdown run and a 24-17 lead. Previously, 17 of the first 19 possessions by the teams ended in five plays or fewer, partly because both teams kept turning the ball over on a breezy, wet day. A light rain that fell during the first half picked up during the second half, when Pitt scored the only two touchdowns.

After Syracuse missed a field goal attempt, Palko found Greg Lee on a 37-yard completion to the Syracuse 7 before running it in himself from the 1 early in the fourth quarter for the junior's first career two-touchdown game. Palko was 18-of-28 for 201 yards and has thrown for five touchdowns and run for four during Pitt's three-game winning streak.

Stephens-Howling's 100-yard game was only the second this season for Pitt. Rashad Jennings ran for 102 yards against Cincinnati.

Last year, Pitt lost two of its first four before rallying to win six of its final seven, losing only to Syracuse on the road, to gain the Big East's automatic BCS bowl game invitation.