Pitt gets a chance to keep its perfect start rolling on Thursday night, and the matchup lines up well for the Panthers. Syracuse heads to Pittsburgh for a standalone ACC game on ESPN, with Pitt trying to move to 3-0 in the 2026 season and the Orange already staring at an 0-1 start in conference play.
The Panthers have looked sharp through two weeks. They opened with a blowout win over Miami (OH), then survived a tighter battle against UCF at home, winning 12-7 despite rainy conditions.
Syracuse, meanwhile, is 1-1 after a big Week 1 win over New Hampshire and a rough ACC opener against Cal on Sept. 12.
Oddsmakers have made Pitt and sophomore quarterback Mason Heintschel double-digit favorites at home.
Heintschel has been the driving force behind Pitt’s fast start. Through two games, he has completed 70 percent of his passes for 665 yards and seven touchdowns.
Against Miami (OH), he threw all seven of those scores as the Panthers piled up 59 points. He followed that with 212 passing yards against UCF and was sacked just once.
That’s the kind of efficiency that can cause real problems for Syracuse, especially against a defense that struggled against the pass last season. The Orange ranked 128th nationally in defensive success rate against the pass in 2025, which sets up a tough assignment if Pitt wants to attack through the air again.
Syracuse’s offense hasn’t done much to inspire confidence early on either. The Orange scored only 18 points against Cal, and quarterback Steve Angeli threw three interceptions, including two in the fourth quarter. Syracuse also missed two field goals in the final period, with the game ending on Angeli’s pick-six.
Pitt already showed last season that it had the edge in this matchup. The Panthers beat Syracuse 30-13 in 2025, and the numbers across the board favored Pitt in advanced metrics such as EPA, Success Rate and Yards Per Play. The Panthers were also strong overall last season, finishing in the top-30 nationally in EPA/Play and inside the top-35 in both success rate and yards per play.
The one caveat for Pitt in 2025 was its struggles against the conference’s top teams, with losses to Miami and Notre Dame. But this version of Syracuse does not look like that tier, and the Orange are coming off a three-win season.
Heintschel’s clean decision-making looms large here. Syracuse just saw what turnovers can do to a game against Cal, and if Pitt protects the ball, it has a clear path to control this one.
I’ll lay the points with Pitt.
In Other News...
Pitt Found An Unexpected Spark In A Win It Desperately Needed
Pitt needed a lift, and it found one in an unlikely place when freshman running back Damon Ferguson Jr. was thrust into the starting role against UCF after Ja'Kyrian Turner was injured. In just his second career game, Ferguson ended up leading the Panthers with 86 all-purpose yards and delivered the only touchdown in a tight 12-7 win that the team badly needed.
Pat Narduzzi and Fergusons teammates were quick to notice how the freshman handled the moment, especially with the offense searching for a reliable spark. For a Pitt team looking to steady itself, the emergence of a back who was not supposed to carry this kind of load so soon could matter well beyond one afternoon. [Read more 🡒]
Pitt Volleyball Heads Into ACC Play Looking Every Bit The Contender
Pitt volleyball closed its non-conference slate in style, finishing 10-0 after a sweep of Wright State that only reinforced how polished this group has looked from the start. Olivia Babcock and Ayanna Watson led the Panthers in kills in the finale, and the team posted its best hitting percentage of the season, a strong finish against what Dan Fisher described as a demanding early schedule.
Now comes the part that will say even more about where Pitt stands. The Panthers get a brief break before ACC play begins, and Fisher pointed to the importance of that stretch after such a steady run through September. With the results already in hand, the bigger question is how much of this level they can carry once conference pressure starts to rise. [Read more 🡒]
Pitts Defense Just Dragged UCF Into A Brutal Offensive Reality
Pitts defense spent the afternoon turning UCFs trip into a grind, and the result was a 12-7 Panthers win that kept the Knights mired in a miserable stretch away from home. UCF managed only 206 total yards and never found any rhythm on the ground, finishing with less than a yard per carry in a game that made every possession feel like a chore.
The Knights did at least get a late spark when Alonza Barnett III connected on a touchdown pass, but even that came with a catch, as he left the game injured soon after. UCFs defense gave the offense a chance by holding Pitt scoreless in the second half, but the bigger issue remains the same one that has followed the Knights on the road all season: they keep running into a ceiling they have not yet found a way to break. [Read more 🡒]