PITTSBURGH -Thanks to star-in-the-making LeSean McCoy, Pitt finally solved its season-long problems with its short game.

McCoy, the third freshman in Pittsburgh's 118-season football history to run for at least 1,000 yards in a season, scored the go-ahead touchdown from the 1 early in the fourth quarter and the Panthers overcame another slow start to beat Syracuse 20-17 Saturday.

McCoy ran for 140 yards on 31 carries in his sixth 100-yard game, the most by any Pitt freshman since Heisman Trophy winner Tony Dorsett had 10 in 1973.

McCoy has 1,065 yards with three games to play, putting him behind only Dorsett (1,686 yards) and Curvin Richards (1,228 yards in 1988) among Pitt freshmen.

“I knew it had been a while since a freshman ran for 1,000 yards, but I didn't know how long,” McCoy said.

He is the fifth freshman in Big East history to reach the mark and has 562 yards in his last four games.

“We knew what type of player LeSean McCoy was coming out of high school,” Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said. “Did I think he could be this type of player this quick? Yes, I did. And when we start throwing the ball more effectively, he'll be even more of a big play threat.”

McCoy was expected to attend Miami and wasn't considering Pitt until he tore up a knee and ankle only a month into his high school senior season in Harrisburg, Pa., in 2005. Pitt kept recruiting him after he was hurt and wound up getting him when many other schools backed off.

McCoy is Pitt's first 1,000-yard rusher since Kevan Barlow in 2000.

“I thought I'd get 1,000 eventually but I didn't think I'd get it in my first season,” McCoy said. “It hasn't hit me. When it hits me, I'll be excited.”

Pitt (4-5, 2-2), the loser of five of its previous six games, needed every one of McCoy's yards and two long kick returns to hold off Syracuse (2-7, 1-3). The Orange never found any consistency on offense, although backup Cameron Dantley threw two touchdown passes in the second half after Andrew Robinson (sore back muscle) was pulled.

“In retrospect, I wish I had gone with Cameron Dantley a little sooner,” coach Greg Robinson said. “He (Robinson) thought he could gut it out, but we were limited in what we could do on offense in the first half.”

Dantley found Taj Smith on a 56-yard scoring pass down the middle on Syracuse's second possession after halftime, tying it at 10.

Pitt had taken a 7-3 lead midway through the second quarter on freshman Pat Bostick's 17-yard touchdown pass to Oderick Turner, the first time Pitt has led before halftime since Sept. 8 against Grambling State. Lowell Robinson's 64-yard kickoff return set up that score.

Pitt's Conor Lee missed on a 42-yard field goal attempt late in the third quarter, only his second miss in 14 attempts, but Aaron Berry's 53-yard punt return to the Orange 13 put Pitt in scoring position again.

McCoy ran for 12 yards to the 1 before scoring his 11th touchdown of the season a play later.

Only Dorsett (13 TDs) had more scoring runs as a Pitt freshman.

Lee made up for his earlier miss by hitting from the 32 to make it 20-10 with about 3.5 minutes left, a score that proved important when Dantley threw a 3-yard TD pass to Mike Williams with 1:46 remaining. Syracuse couldn't recover the ensuing onside kickoff, and after getting the ball back, threw incomplete on fourth down from its 49 with one second remaining.

Earlier, the Panthers' goal-line frustrations continued as they had a first down at the Syracuse 5 toward the end of a 15-play, 80-yard drive, only to have Conredge Collins stopped once and McCoy twice from the 1.

That goal-line failure came a week after Pitt was in position to tie Louisville, only to have McCoy lose a fumble at the 1 with about a minute left as Pitt lost 24-17.

Last month, Pitt failed to score on two plays from the 2-yard line during the second overtime - McCoy didn't get the ball on either down - as the Panthers passed up a tying field goal and lost to Navy 48-45.