Boca Raton Bowl point spread: Picking USF Bulls vs. Syracuse Orange

The 2023 college football bowl season is here, and On3’s Andy Staples just revealed his picks and predictions for the upcoming slate of games. On Monday’s episode of the Andy Staples On3 Podcast, Staples broke down all of his picks and brought on his special guest — a coin flip — to provide a counterbalance.

One of the games that was “discussed” is the Roofclaim.com Boca Raton Bowl between the USF Bulls and the Syracuse Orange on Thursday, December 21. ESPN’s matchup predictor favors the Big Ten’s Orange significantly over the AAC’s Bulls. And Staples believes the sports juggernauts’ prediction is a bit off this time around.

How to watch USF vs. Syracuse

Time: Dec. 21, 8 p.m. EST
Channel: ESPN or ESPN+, FuboTV (streaming)
Location: FAU Stadium (Boca Raton, Florida)

“Boca Raton Bowl: USF and Syracuse. This is a tighter spread. [I] don’t know what’s gonna happen,” said Staples.

“You got a team in flux with the fired coach in Syracuse. They’re actually 2.5-point favorites against Alex Golish’s first USF team, which he led to a bowl game in his first season.”

USF and Syracuse will take the field with the same record on Saturday, 6-6, but only one of them will leave with a record above .500. The orange Finished the year going 2-2 in their last four games, as did the bulls; ironically in the same sequence as well: loss, when, loss, and finished the year with a win.

“Now Syracuse Garrett Schrader is out after shoulder surgery. Braden Davis, the freshman, is listed first on the depth chart. Dan Villari, the converted tight end; they were using him in some Wildcat situations. So, this could be pretty interesting.”

Syracuse received their fair share of lumps in the 2023 season, including a string of five straight losses that included routes by North Carolina and ACC champion Florida State. Still, the Orange put together a respectable season thanks to the play of quarterback Garrett Schrader and running back LeQuint Allen, which helped complement their defense, which ranked No. 51 in the nation in points allowed, giving up 23.8 points per game. But with Schrader out, all signs point to Davis taking the majority of the snap for the Orange, as Staples revealed.

“Meanwhile, at USF, Byrum Brown is coming back. He was a red-shirt freshman this year and was a really good quarterback for Alex Golish in year one,” said Staples.

USF had its fair share of peaks and valleys this season, with the peaks courtesy of their offensive play. The Bulls had a 3000-yard quarterback this season in Byrum Brown. Not only did Brown throw for 3078 yards, but he also completed 64.3 percent of his past attempts with 23 passing touchdowns and 11 interceptions. The freshman quarterback from Raleigh, NC, was also USF’s second-leading rusher on the season, carrying the ball 189 times for 745 yards with 11 rushing touchdowns.

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USF’s biggest opportunity on offense is where Syracuse excels on defense. The Bulls allowed Brown to be set 36 times on the season and his backups to be sacked another four times, giving up a total of 40 sacks in 2023. Still, Staples does not believe that to be too concerning and is putting his money on USF over Syracuse.

“I am gonna take the Bulls in this game. I think Golish has done a really good job. I’m excited to see what he does with the program from here. So, I’m going with the Bulls and getting 2.5 points.”