Syracuse will turn back to Steve Angeli under center Saturday night at a sold-out Kenan Stadium, with the Orange officially set to face North Carolina in Week 8.
According to On3's Pete Nakos, Syracuse expects Angeli to start against UNC. The decision comes after a stretch in which the quarterback situation has been a moving target, with Angeli exiting the Pittsburgh game on Thursday, Sept. 17, and both Malachi Nelson and Amari Odom now ruled out for this ACC matchup.
Angeli entered the season as Syracuse’s QB1, and he has still taken the most snaps in the passing game by a wide margin. He has 104 pass attempts, though he has completed only 54.8% of them. Through three games, he has also been sacked eight times.
The offensive line has not made life any easier. Syracuse has given up 15 sacks overall, and Angeli’s protection issues have shown up in the numbers as much as anywhere else.
His season has had one clear high point and a few rough stretches. Against New Hampshire, the senior quarterback threw three touchdown passes and looked sharp. But against California and Pittsburgh, things swung the other way fast, with the two games combined producing one touchdown and five interceptions.
Without Syracuse’s 66-3 win over the Wildcats, Angeli’s stat line would read: 37/75 (49.3%), 458 yards, one touchdown, five interceptions, five sacks, 11 carries for negative nine yards.
Even his longest run of the year - eight yards against the Panthers - underscores how often he has been taken backward instead of forward.
North Carolina, meanwhile, has a defense that has earned attention of its own, with defensive lineman Xavier Lewis cracking the top 25 college football players in the nation. Syracuse is walking into a matchup against a Tar Heels defense that has not shown much interest in making things comfortable for a quarterback coming back into the lineup.
For the most part, UNC has handled the teams it was expected to beat this season. Clemson stands as the outlier, though weather played a major role in that game.
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