Pitt-Syracuse Preview: Betting Odds, Channel, Notes & More
The yearly tradition of Pitt-Syracuse is set to take place Saturday evening at the JMA Wireless Dome in New York as the two programs have met every year since 1955.
Pitt has won 10 of the last 12 meetings in this series, which includes a 41-13 win in 2024 as the Panthers’ defense returned three interceptions for touchdowns.
The Panthers have not lost at the Dome since 2017.
Pitt Outlook
Pitt has strung together a mini win streak in conference play with back-to-back wins over Boston College, 48-7, and No. 25 Florida State, 34-31.
Pat Narduzzi and the Pitt staff made a change at quarterback and went with Mason Heintschel after suffering a pair of losses to West Virginia and Louisville.
The true freshman quarterback sparked the recent success as he was named ACC Rookie of the Week and the Shaun Alexander National Freshman of the Week after throwing four touchdowns with no interceptions against BC.
Heintschel was also a key factor in the upset win over FSU as he passed for 321 yards and two touchdowns, along with pacing the Panthers with 64 yards on the ground. The biggest takeaway for Heintschel was his response to throwing his first two interceptions of his collegiate career. He bounced back with a critical touchdown pass to Desmond Reid in the third quarter as the Panthers out-scored FSU 20-7 for a majority of the second half.
Reid, who missed the previous two games with an ankle injury, returned in a big way for the Panthers in the FSU victory as he caught eight passes for 155 yards and two touchdowns. Freshman running back Ja’Kyrian Turner added two rushing scores for the Panthers.
Pitt is scoring 41 points per game on offense over the past two games. Overall on the season, Pitt has averaged 431.8 yards per game, which ranks 38th in the country.
The Panthers have found most of their success through the air with 309.3 yards per game — 11th in the nation. The running game has made progress over the past two games with Turner and Juelz Goff stepping up in Reid’s absence against BC.
Defensively, Pitt forced a critical fumble against FSU to start the fourth quarter as Shadarian Harrison punched out the ball and it was recovered by Jahsear Whittington.
That was part of Pitt’s tough run defense that slowed down a vaunted FSU rushing offense. Pitt ranks No. 8 in the country at stopping the run with teams averaging just 83.5 yards per game.
Along with the dominant run defense, Pitt is third in tackle for loss per game at 8.5 and tied-18th in sacks per game at 2.83.
Kyle Louis was named the ACC Linebacker of the Week following the win over the Seminoles. On the season, he is second on the team behind Rasheem Biles with 42 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss and has two sacks, two fumble recoveries and an interception.
Syracuse
HEAD COACH
Fran Brown (2nd season )
Brown took over as the head coach of Syracuse following the 2023 season and immediately led the Orange to a 10-win season a year ago. The Orange defeated three ranked teams in No. 23 Georgia Tech, No. 25 UNLV and finished the regular season with a win over No. 8 Miami. The season concluded with a 52-35 win over Washington State in the Holiday Bowl.
Brown was hired at Syracuse after two seasons as a defensive backs coach at Georgia, which included a 2022 national title season. Prior to that, he spent time at Rutgers, along with serving as an assistant head coach at Temple and Baylor.
SYRACUSE PREVIEW
Syracuse is coming of a bye week as it looks to return to the win column following consecutive losses at SMU, 31-18, and at home to Duke, 38-3.
The Orange jumped out to a 3-1 start on the season and had a highly-rated passing offense after defeating Clemson in Death Valley. The ‘Cuse would suffer some unfortunate news with the loss of transfer quarterback Steve Angeli for the year due to an inury.
Since then, redshirt sophomore Rickie Collins has led the Orange offense and it has not been smooth sailing. During his two starts, the 6-2, 210-pound signal caller has completed 46-of-82 (56.1%) passes for 508 yards, one touchdown and four interceptions.
Syracuse relies on a two running backs to lead the rushing attack with Will Nixon totaling 210 yards and a touchdown, while Yasin Willis has paced the group with 337 yards and four scores. Willis, a sophomore, originally committed to Pitt as a four-star prospect but flipped his commitment just 10 days ahead of the early signing day in 2023.
The Orange boast six pass catchers over 100 yards with three surpassing 300 yards. Wide receiver Johntay Cook has hauled in 31 passes for 390 yards and two touchdowns, while Darrell Gill Jr. has pulled in 17 passes for 342 yards and three scores.
Tight end Dan Villari has racked up 311 receiving yards on 27 receptions. The redshirt senior has put together some solid numbers against the Panthers over the past two seasons, but they’ve come surprisingly on the ground. He has carried the ball 19 times against Pitt for 158 yards and two touchdowns.
Defensively for Syracuse, it has struggled to stop the pass. The Orange are the sixth-worst team at stopping the pass as they have allowed 291.2 yards per game through the air. Syracuse has forced seven turnovers on the season.
Linebacker Gary Bryant III leads the ‘Cuse defense with 36 total tackles to go along with a tackle for loss. Freshman linebacker Antoine Deslauriers has been a nice addition with 28 tackles, two tackles for loss, a sack and two forced fumbles. Linebacker Daivd Omopariola leads Syracuse with four sacks.
Spread
Pitt is a 9.5-point favorite on the road, according to Bet MGM. Pitt is -350 on the Money line and the over/under is set at 54.5.
Game Time
Pitt and Syracuse is set to kick off Saturday at 7:30 p.m. EST at the JMA Wireless Dome in Syracuse, N.Y.
TV
Pitt vs. Syracuse can be found on the ACC Network with Chris Cotter (play-by-play), Max Browne (analyst) and Kendra Douglas (reporter) calling the game.
Radio
Pitt vs. Syracuse will be live on 93.7 The Fan as well with Bill Hillgrove (play-by-play), Pat Bostick (analyst), Dorin Dickerson (sideline) and Larry Richert (sideline) calling the action.
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