Syracuse heads to Acrisure Stadium tonight looking for a quick reset after last weekend’s loss, but the path to one is murky at best. The Orange enter at 1-1, 0-1, while Pittsburgh is 2-0, 0-0, and kickoff is set for 7:30 on ESPN.
The matchup has all the ingredients for a strange Thursday night game, and the predictions reflect that. Syracuse’s defense is expected to keep things competitive, but there’s real skepticism that the offense can suddenly find its footing on such a short week. That’s the thread running through the picks: the Orange can hang around, but whether they can score enough to actually finish the job is another question entirely.
Dom is taking Syracuse in a tight one, 21-20. He pointed to Pittsburgh’s own short week and its uneven 12-7 win over UCF, noting, "A Thursday night game at the Pitt of Doom early in the season… can’t get anymore #Sicko than this!"
He also said, "I’m feeling pretty optimistic since Pitt is also dealing with the same short rest Syracuse had and is also coming off an underwhelming performance (winning 12-7 vs. UCF)."
Dom added that Angeli is "coming off the worst game of his career," but if he’s even close to normal, Syracuse can "get a few touchdowns," with the defense deciding it in the end.
Max went the other way, picking Pittsburgh 28, Syracuse 20. He praised the Orange defense for being mostly solid last week, but didn’t see the offense finding much against the Panthers on five days’ rest. Max also pointed back to Syracuse’s last quarterback performance in Pittsburgh and said a struggling offense walking into Acrisure on Thursday won’t be enough to turn things around.
Mike has Syracuse pulling it out 27-24. He said he had picked this as the year Cuse finally steals one in Pittsburgh back in the preseason, and he’s sticking with it despite the loss to Cal.
He noted that Pitt’s win over UCF was messy and came in the rain, while Syracuse’s defense had nine third down stops last weekend. "It feels like going against better judgement with this pick, but I’ll drink the Orange Kool-Aid just this once."
Augie is on Syracuse too, with a 35-31 Orange win. He called Acrisure Stadium, Heinz Field, or whatever you want to call it, "an absolute house of horrors for Syracuse," and said the Orange have been winless in Pittsburgh since 2001.
He also pointed out that Syracuse’s last trip there was another Thursday night game, one in which Kyle McCord "looked abysmal." Even so, he argued that college football chaos leaves room for anything, and landed on Syracuse in a high-scoring shootout.
The final take sees Syracuse staying in it with defense, but not holding up forever. The expectation is that Pitt’s offense, with Heintschel, can eventually take over in a close fourth quarter as Syracuse’s defense wears down.
The Orange’s clearest path to a win would come from the offensive line, which would need to open enough running room to keep Pittsburgh from blitzing freely. But the overall read is that those things won’t happen, and Pitt will move to 3-0.
In Other News...
Syracuse Suddenly Has A Quarterback Problem It Can't Ignore
Syracuses loss to Pittsburgh was more than just a second straight defeat. It exposed a quarterback situation that has become too shaky to brush aside, with Steve Angeli turning the ball over multiple times before being benched in the fourth quarter for Amari Odom. The offense never found much rhythm, and the Orange spent too much of the afternoon chasing the game after Pittsburgh began controlling the line of scrimmage.
The problems did not stop on offense. Syracuse also had trouble slowing Pittsburghs rushing attack and piled up 10 penalties, two issues that only made the quarterback miscues harder to overcome. With the losses mounting and the offense looking unsettled, the Orange now face a stretch where the answer at quarterback has to become clearer quickly, because this is no longer just a bad day. [Read more 🡒]
Fran Brown Added To Syracuses Frustrating Discipline Problem At Pitt
Syracuses trip to Pittsburgh was already shaping up as a night of self-inflicted issues, and the penalty sheet only added to the frustration. The Orange spent much of the game fighting flags, with special teams drawing particular scrutiny, and the mistakes undercut the kind of steady performance Fran Brown has been trying to build. Even so, there were a few offensive signs worth noting, including a more productive run game from Ahmad Miller and a late push in the passing game that featured JuJuan Johnson and Darius Johnson in the fourth quarter.
Browns own unsportsmanlike conduct penalty fit the tone of a game in which Syracuse never quite settled in. The bye week now gives the staff a chance to clean up the discipline problems that have lingered, especially on special teams, while preserving the pieces that did work a little better at Pitt. If the Orange are going to turn that stretch into something more useful, they will have to pair the improved offensive balance with a much quieter afternoon in the penalty column. [Read more 🡒]
Syracuse Already Has An ACC Problem Fans Wont Ignore
Pittsburghs 27-13 win over Syracuse did more than hand the Orange a conference loss. It also underlined how quickly an early-season ACC game can tilt into an uphill climb, especially when a team is fighting through penalties and quarterback changes at the same time. The Panthers kept their foot on the gas, got rushing scores from Damon Ferguson Jr., LaVell Wright and Mason Heintschel, and walked out with a clean start in league play.
For Syracuse, the concern is less about one bad afternoon and more about what it suggested about the margin for error in the ACC. Games like this tend to expose whether a team can stay organized when things get messy, and the Orange never really found that rhythm. Pitts win also gave Pat Narduzzi his school-record 144th victory, but the bigger takeaway for Syracuse fans is simpler: this is the kind of result that can linger if the issues behind it dont get fixed quickly. [Read more 🡒]