Three wins in a row!

We’re going to a bowl game!

The Orange is back!

Hey, Syracuse: slow your roll.

With the SU football team on a three-game winning streak for the first time since 2002 and Curtis Brinkley and Delone Carter doing their best Floyd Little/Larry Csonka impressions, a lot of people have been hypnotized by the Orange.

Folks are talking of a win this weekend against Pittsburgh, which would set up momentum for the conference schedule, which could lead to wins over beatable Big Easters like South Florida, Cincinnati and UConn, which – if everything falls right – could land SU a cushy bowl game and a potential second-place finish in the conference (because even the biggest SU optimists know they’re not catching West Virginia).

Whew. That’s a lot of ‘woulds’ and ‘coulds’ leading to a huge domino effect that could very well happen.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

The Syracuse fan base – much like many other fan bases in the Northeast – tends to over-hype good players as great and expect too much from overachieving teams.

Let’s call it the Wayne Chrebet Syndrome. Chrebet was a solid receiver for the New York Jets, but he was no Marvin Harrison. The thing is, in the Northeast, media coverage is so intensified and the fan bases are so densely populated that certain players and teams get so talked up, we start thinking they’re a lot better than they actually are.

Look here on campus. You seniors surely remember the ‘Reyes 4 Heisman’ shirts printed up for Walter Reyes’ miserably failed Heisman Trophy campaign in 2004. I’m sure some of you even remember thinking Johnnie Morant was a primetime receiver when all he ever did was run downfield with his hands at his sides.

Point is, let’s not get ahead of ourselves with the 2006 Orange.

Yes it’s easy to look at the wins and how tough SU played against Iowa and the relative ease of the Big East schedule.

Plus, even without Taj Smith, Perry Patterson has settled into his passing game. And if Brinkley and Carter keep rushing like they deserve a nickname (Lightning and Lightning, maybe?), SU’s offense can keep up with its defense.

And looking at its schedule, SU could possibly go 7-5 or even 8-4 with some luck and momentum.

Wow, I was just a Syracuse fan for three paragraphs.

Listen, this team has let its fans down for four years now and will continue to do so – it’s a program in transition and they can’t help but be inconsistent.

You know the Patterson four-interception game will come. You know the defense can show up suspect against talented offenses like West Virginia’s or Louisville’s. And I can’t trust any coaching staff that once thought it was a good idea to give Tony Fiammetta four goal-line carries within two minutes in a double overtime.

So let’s all take a mighty deep breath. Florida State fans don’t flip a wig over three-game winning streaks. Auburn fans expect three-game winning streaks.

If Syracuse and its fans want to be taken seriously again, they can’t treat a winning streak over the Urbana-Champaign YMCA, the other Miami and the Wyoming Cowpokes like it’s a national title.

Honestly, I think SU can beat Pitt, USF, UConn and Cincy, which would earn it a winning record.

But just like coach says, let’s take it one game at a time, and let’s wait until the games and wins come against quality opponents.

Because right now, there are hundreds of ‘Reyes 4 Heisman’ T-shirts collecting dust in Central New York’s closets.