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.
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