SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Hundreds of fans stormed the Carrier Dome field, the Syracuse locker room turned into a sea of bedlam, and head coach Paul Pasqualoni found it all a little hard to believe as he hugged one of the game balls.

He wasn't alone.

Damien Rhodes scored on a 2-yard run in the second overtime and the Syracuse defense stopped Pittsburgh tailback Raymond Kirkley on a fourth-and-1 play at the 16-yard line, sending the Orange to a dramatic 38-31 win on Saturday.

"I've never been so anxious to see them bring the chain out," said Pasqualoni, who has been under fire as the team has struggled to a 15-18 record over the past three seasons. "It's pretty emotional."

The victory was only the seventh for Syracuse in its last 18 Big East games and kept alive the postseason hopes of the Orange (5-4, 3-1 Big East), who moved into second place in the conference behind No. 15 West Virginia (8-1, 4-0).

"It's a great victory for the team," said Diamond Ferri, who had 12 tackles and returned two kickoffs 81 yards. "It boosts us up in the bowl game standings, and now we're going to go into Temple and BC fired-up."

It was the second double-overtime loss in the Carrier Dome in four years for Pitt (5-3, 3-2) and put a dent in the Panthers' hopes of winning the Big East title, although they still have a game against the Mountaineers on Thanksgiving night.

"By no means is the season over," said quarterback Tyler Palko, who threw for 342 yards and three TDs and was not intercepted. "The season was supposed to be over after we started out 2-2 and we showed a lot of character. We'll see what happens as far as the postseason. I think we have a lot to look forward to."

That Syracuse still does is somewhat remarkable.

For some unexplained reason, Pasqualoni sent in freshman quarterback Joe Fields late in the first half, and it turned into a brilliant move. On his only play of the game, Fields, who had not thrown a pass since the third game of the season, hit Jared Jones with a 60-yard touchdown pass to put the Orange up 21-6.

Things started to unravel after that. Greg Lee made a spectacular one-hand catch near the Syracuse 15 and loped into the end zone to complete a 57-yard scoring play with 1:42 left in the half and move the Panthers within 21-13.

Fired-up, Pitt tied it at 21 midway through the third when Palko hit tight end Erik Gill with a 15-yard scoring strike in the right corner of the end zone and the two-point conversion pass over the middle.

The Orange, who gained only 133 yards in the second half, seemed doomed when Josh Cummings nailed a 24-yard field goal late in the third. But Syracuse drove 70 yards in 13 plays on their final possession of regulation and Collin Barber kicked a game-tying, 27-yard field goal with 71 seconds left.

It was Syracuse's first successful field goal after six straight misses - four by Barber and two by punter Brendan Carney - over a three-game span. And when Cummings missed wide left from 51 yards on the final play of regulation the Orange had another chance.

"There was a lot pressure," said Barber, a fifth-year senior who had lost his starting job to Carney two weeks ago. "I'm just happy I got the opportunity."

"You're a fifth-year guy and you want to lead and you get pulled," said Jones, who caught four passes for 136 yards and one touchdown. "It can weigh on you, make you question yourself. He can kick."

In the first overtime, Palko hit Joe DelSardo with a 9-yard scoring pass for Pitt. Syracuse, helped by an interference call on linebacker H.B. Blades on a third-and-10 play, tied the game on Perry Patterson's 3-yard run.

The Orange had the ball first in the second extra period and, with starting tailback Walter Reyes out with a shoulder injury after gaining 123 yards and scoring the game's first touchdown, Rhodes became the workhorse. Rhodes ran the ball six times in seven plays, gaining 17 yards around the left side to set up his winning run.

"It would have been really easy for us to give up on that last drive, but we didn't do it," said Rhodes, who had 103 yards on 23 carries. "The atmosphere in the locker room is like nothing I've ever seen before."

Pitt gained only 4 yards on its first two downs and DelSardo made a great diving reception on third down, coming up just shy of the first-down marker. Palko then called a play over the weak side, but linebacker Kellen Pruitt and Ferri stopped Kirkley for no gain.

"It was very disappointing," said Lee, who had nine catches for 188 yards, both career bests. "Going into their last drive we really thought we had the game locked."

AP-ES-11-06-04 1853EST