Syracuse heads to Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Connecticut, for a noon Saturday matchup against the Connecticut Huskies, and the panel is lined up with four different takes on what the Orange might do with the 6.5-point spread.
Three of the four picks have Syracuse winning by double digits, while one sees a much tighter game. Brent Axe and Chris Carlson are both taking Syracuse 27, Connecticut 17 and say the Orange cover.
Javon Edmonds has Syracuse 24, Connecticut 20 and says the Orange do not cover. Nate Mink is the most bullish of the bunch, calling for Syracuse 41, Connecticut 10 and a cover.
Axe called the matchup “the Spiderman meme,” pointing to the coaching familiarity on both sides. Former Syracuse quarterbacks coach Nunzio Campanile, now UConn’s offensive coordinator, knows Steve Angeli and the Orange offense well.
On the other side, UConn head coach Jason Candle and Syracuse defensive coordinator Vince Kehres worked together on the Toledo staff before moving on to their current jobs. Axe tied it back to Amari Odom’s line: “It’s players, not plays,” Odom said.
“They can know everything they need to know, but they have to stop us at the end of the day.”
Carlson framed the game as a dangerous one for Syracuse in a different way. He said a win would bring no credit, but a loss would lead to ugly questions about the head coach and his staff.
He also noted that in the portal era, the gap between the Power-4 and everyone else keeps growing. For him, UConn is not as strong as it has been recently, and Candle is “a fine option” but likely a step down from Jim Mora Jr.
That, he wrote, should give Angeli a chance to steady things and keep Syracuse’s season from drifting for another week.
Edmonds sees a less comfortable afternoon. He said Angeli was not good against the Huskies last season and pointed out that UConn’s new roster still includes coaches familiar with Angeli and Syracuse.
He also said Angeli is a worse player now than he was when the Orange beat Connecticut in 2025. Edmonds added that Fran Brown said Syracuse could try a two-quarterback system this week, but he doesn’t believe that approach usually works at the Power Four level.
Even so, he expects Syracuse to be the better team, just not in a convincing way.
Mink went the other direction and made his pick with a little bite. He said he spent the bye week thinking about watching 12 hours of Connecticut football to find a path to an upset, only to back off after UConn lost to Miami - the school in Ohio.
He also noted that last year’s UConn team had a quarterback who made the Ravens’ 53-man roster as an undrafted rookie and a top receiver who became a fourth-round draft pick by the Bills. That team also returned plenty of production from a group that played Syracuse hard in 2024.
This year, though, Mink said, “I doubt this is close.”
The panel’s season records through this week show Edmonds and Mink at 2-1 straight up and 2-1 against the spread, while Axe and Carlson are also 2-1 straight up but 1-2 against the spread.
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