Pitt's aerial duo powers 34-14 win

Rod Rutherford and Larry Fitzgerald were an effective team against Syracuse.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Sometimes, it seemed as if Pittsburgh's Larry Fitzgerald and Rod Rutherford were playing Syracuse by themselves. What surprised the Orangemen was how big a mismatch it was.
Fitzgerald tied an NCAA record by making two more touchdown catches, and Rod Rutherford-led Pittsburgh finally settled down its trouble-prone defense to beat Syracuse 34-14 Saturday.
Rutherford shook off Pitt's terrible start and a running game that was nonexistent in the first half to complete 21 of 32 passes for 310 yards and three touchdowns, including a 19-yard toss to Kris Wilson early in the second quarter.
Fitzgerald, enjoying the most productive season by a receiver in Pitt's long football history, caught eight passes for 149 yards and tied an NCAA record by making a touchdown catch for the 13th consecutive game. Charles Rogers of Michigan State set the record last season.
Fitzgerald delivers
Fitzgerald tied the record with a 3-yard catch on a fade route on Pitt's second possession, making it 7-7, then put the Panthers (5-2, 2-0 in Big East) up 28-14 with a 7-yard touchdown catch late in the third quarter.
"When we had single coverage on him, we got hurt," Syracuse coach Paul Pasqualoni said. "When you put pressure on the quarterback you've got to pick your spots. ... They ran a lot of two- and three-man routes and, with a guy like Larry Fitzgerald, you only need a one-man route."
The sophomore receiver has 15 scoring catches in seven games, breaking the Big East single season record of 13 by Pitt's Terry Murphy in 1997. Fitzgerald has caught 24 touchdown passes during his 13-game streak and is over the 1,000-yard mark for a second straight season with 53 receptions for 1,018 yards.
"He makes catches look easy that are difficult," Rutherford said.
Needs one more TD
Fitzgerald needs one more touchdown catch to tie Julius Dawkins' single-season school record of 16, set as Dan Marino threw for 37 touchdowns in 1981.
"Records don't mean anything at the time, but probably in a couple of years down the road I'll think I accomplished something," said Fitzgerald, who has at least two TD catches in all but one game this season.
Rutherford is enjoying perhaps the best season by a Pitt quarterback since 1981, even though unexpected losses to Toledo and Notre Dame knocked the Panthers out of the Top 25.
Rutherford has 24 touchdown passes and only four interceptions and has thrown for 250 or more yards in all but one game. He is the fourth Pitt quarterback to throw for 5,000 yards in his career, joining Marino, Alex Van Pelt and John Congemi.
Clicking
"Things were really flowing for us," Rutherford said. "This might have been the best football we played all year."
As good as Fitzgerald and Rutherford were, Pittsburgh didn't take control until a defense that allowed an average of 499 yards in the last four games began to dominate with Syracuse (4-3, 1-2) leading 14-7. Pitt's defense was ranked 86th among the 117 Division I-A teams.
Walter Reyes, a Struthers High graduate, finished with 97 yards rushing.