Syracuse Is A Football School 🍊

Cuse is 3-0 and its been a minute since their hoops team was actually good, so I'm declaring them a football school. Also breaking down four other games to watch this Saturday 🏈 (4 min read)

Author

Justin Schnell
September 23, 2022

Photo by Bryan M. Bennett/Getty Images

Football School?

I'm not actually saying that Syracuse is a football school. But it does feel like it's been a while since the Orange had a legitimately dominant hoops team. I'm talking Dion Waiters, Michael-Carter Williams, Brandon Triche, C.J. Fair, Scoop Jardine, Wes Johnson, Jonny Flynn type dominant. So I double checked, and while Boeheim has two Sweet-16 appearance in the last five seasons as an 11 seed, they haven't been a Top-4 seed since 2013 😏

That Tweet kind of gives it away, but Syracuse football is low key 3-0. And not 3-0 like Michigan, USC or Clemson, who have played jokes of a schedule, but a pretty solid 3-0...

  • Week 1: smacked Louisville 31-7 at home. The Cardinals shockingly suck, considering they have one of the more dynamic QBs in the country in Malik Cunningham. But still a good win

  • Week 2: smacked UConn 48-14. No comment

  • Week 3: beat Purdue 32-29 at home, a team that went 9-4 last season in the Big Ten, cracked the Top-25 and beat Tennessee (currently ranked No. 11) in their bowl game. I just rewatched the highlights of that game, absolutely nuts 👇

Anyway, the point of all of this is that Syracuse plays football tonight at 7PM EST on ESPN, and with not much else on I think it's worth watching and fake paying attention. I'm not going to spend time on Virginia football because my mind is made up and Syracuse is winning the ACC 🍊

UVA vs. Syracuse Betting Preview

  • Spread: Syracuse -9

  • Moneyline: Syracuse -400 (bet $400, win $100), Virginia +310 (bet $100, win $310)

  • O/U: 53.5 Total Points

Trivia Question: Can you name two players besides Carmelo Anthony on the 2003 Syracuse National Championship team?

Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images

Other Games To Watch

Conference play kicks off for Power Five teams this weekend, so it should be an exciting Saturday. No. 4 Michigan and No. 6 Oklahoma are double-digit favorites at home vs. Maryland and Kansas State, so we're looking elsewhere for some game previews

🏈 No. 5 Clemson vs. No. 21 Wake Forest

Clemson has been putting up points, but how will they fair against a legit team? Wake Forest let up 36 points to Liberty last week, but this is still a team that won 11 games last year and should be a real test for the Tigers on the road. Can the once Heisman hopeful D.J. Uiagalelei out-duel Sam Hartman?

Spread: Clemson -7

My Pick: Wake Forest with the points

🏈 No. 20 Florida vs. No. 11 Tennessee

Florida's Anthony Richardson might be the most electrifying college football player this season, but the Vols put up 63 points last week and are averaging 52 PPG on the season. QB Hendon Hooker is legit, he had 300 passing yards in only 14 completions last week. Plus he takes care of the football 👇

My Pick: Tennessee spread

🏈 No. 10 Arkansas vs. No. 23 Texas A&M

Arkansas is 3-0, but had close games with Cincinnati, South Carolina and Missouri State. A&M is coming off a bounce-back win vs. Miami after losing to Appalachian State, and is certainly the more talented team. It's a close spread so anything can happen, but I think luck will run out for the Razorbacks this time around

Spread: Texas A&M -2

My Pick: Texas A&M spread

🏈 Wisconsin vs. No. 3 Ohio State

I don't fully understand Wisconsin - in their loss to Washington State, Graham Mertz attempted 31 passes. I'm a Big Ten guy, and I know that Wisco does not win games like that. Just ask Jonathan Taylor, Melvin Gordon, James White or Montee Ball. Last week they got back to the basics, throwing the ball 15 times, rushing 46 times and putting up 66 pts

Ohio State is a different beast, but the Badgers have played them close in recent years. I like the Buckeyes but think it'll be closer than the spread indicates

My Pick: Wisconsin with the points

Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images

For My Parlay Gurus

I feel like this is the first Saturday where I actually want to watch every game, the non-conference preseason type NCAAF games are so boring. I'll be locked into the Michigan game at noon, but after that we have the SEC showdowns with the Big Ten closing it down. Here's my take 👇

  • Tennessee -10.5 vs. Florida: -110

  • Texas A&M -2 vs. Arkansas: -106

  • Wisconsin +18.5 @ Ohio State: -110

$100 on this bet would win you $608 — if we hit, make sure you email [email protected] for a chance to win up to $100*. Many will enter, only some will win 😉

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Trivia Answer: Besides Carmelo, the easy one is Hakim Warrick. A second one is almost impossible, the only names I think I know from this roster are Gerry McNamara and Josh Pace

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