Syracuse-Pitt
Time: Sat, 2:30 PM CST
Spread: PIT -7.5
Syracuse has lost three straight games and will look to pick up its fourth straight “L” this week as the Orange head to Pittsburgh where the Panthers will be favorites over a team that has scored 17 points or less all of the last three weeks.
College football odds at Bovada favor the Panthers by 7.5 points.
Last time out on Nov. 8, the Orange fell 27-10 to then-No. 22 Duke. The Panthers have lost all three games to ranked opponents this season by a combined total of 74-31. Syracuse is only scoring 19.1 points per game this year, with a pass offense that averages 199.4 yards per game (90th) and a rush good for 157.4 per contest (75th).
The Orange are shorthanded at QB and went with a tandem of Austin Wilson and Mitch Kimble last game against Duke. Wilson threw for 68 yards, Kimble just 37, and the Orange totaled just 224 total yards. However, Syracuse has a formidable defense that held Duke to 259 yards and also held Duke to just 8-of-19 conversions on third down. However, the Orange managed only 4-of-16 on third down and Wilson threw two picks.
A.J. Long will return this week, though. Long has thrown for 727 yards on the season at a 56.3 percent completion ratio, but he’s thrown six picks to just four TDs, while also averaging just 5.68 yards per attempt.
Duke did most of its damage to the Orange in the fourth quarter, after being knotted at 10-10 after three. The Blue Devils put up 17 in the fourth quarter on a 52 yard TD-punt return from Jamison Crowder, a 34-yard field goal from Ross Martin and a 54-yard reception TD to Isaac Blakney. Duke’s QB Anthony Boone struggled overall, though, completing just 15-of-33 against ‘Cuse’s defense, while also throwing a pick.
Even so, Syracuse is just 1-5 in the ACC and without its top two QBs. Prince Tyson Gulley and Adonis Ameen Moore have both been good in the backfield for Syracuse, averaging 4.9 and 5.6 yards per carry respectively. What hurts is that Terrel Hunt is out for the season and as a dual-threat QB he accounted for six of Syracuse’s 10 rushing TDs this season.
Pitt is 4-6 on the season with a 2-4 mark in conference play. The Panthers, like Syracuse, have dropped three straight. Losses to Georgia Tech, Duke and UNC took a good conference start and put the Panthers in the crapper. All but the contest against Georgia Tech were close games, though, with the loss to Duke having been a 51-48 double OT heartbreaker. Duke outscored Pitt 13-10 in double OT, after Pitt came back from 7-point deficit on a 1-yard TD run from James Conner with 5:18 to go in the fourth.
Conner had 263 rushing yards in the game on 38 carries with three TDs. The Panthers racked up 358 total rushing yards, as QB Chad Voytik contributed 58 yards an a TD, while also throwing 16-of-24 for 236 yards. For all the production, though, it did not add up to a victory, despite having 594 total yards to Duke’s 438. Duke only possessed the ball for 18 minutes, as well.
