Syracuse, N.Y. — The Syracuse football team will face Pittsburgh at 7:30 p.m., Saturday in the JMA Wireless Dome (TV: ACC Network).
It’s time for our predictions. The panel includes Brent Axe, sports columnist; Chris Carlson, sports enterprise reporter; Javon Edmonds, SU football reporter and Nate Mink, managing producer for sports.
Brent Axe
Pittsburgh 36, Syracuse 24
Will Syracuse cover? No
The focus, rightly so, will be on the quarterbacks in this game, but Pitt running back Desmond Reid is the guy who is going to decide this game.
If Syracuse can’t slow down the dual-threat back, who is the reigning ACC receiver of the week (yes, as a running back), then nothing else matters.
Chris Carlson
Pittsburgh 31, Syracuse 17
Will Syracuse cover? No
Syracuse would like to ease the load of struggling quarterback Rickie Collins by running the ball, but Pittsburgh allows fewer yards per rush than any team in the country, permitting just 2.16 per carry. The Panthers just don’t allow opponents to beat them that way.
Pittsburgh forces quarterbacks to beat it with deep passes down the sideline, thrown under duress. Syracuse is not equipped to win that way without Steve Angeli, and its defense isn’t equipped to put enough pressure on Pitt freshman quarterback Mason Heintschel to get him to lose the game for the Panthers.
Javon Edmonds
Pittsburgh 34, Syracuse 13
Will Syracuse cover? No
Fran Brown is 0-2 off a bye during his Syracuse tenure and his quarterback hasn’t played to the level of a starter this season.
Brown called last year’s quarterback, Kyle McCord, an “all-world” talent earlier this season. That all-world quarterback looked awful against Pat Narduzzi’s offense last season. Collins is far from McCord, which increases the potential for this game to get ugly.
Collins also admitted Tuesday night, after previously denying it, that staring down receivers has been an issue for him.
Syracuse just isn’t ready for Pitt right now, especially while the Panthers are riding Mason Heintschel’s momentum.
Nate Mink
Pittsburgh 48, Syracuse 20
Will Syracuse cover? No
Pitt has shown a propensity throughout Pat Narduzzi’s tenure to occasionally gag away a game that by the end of the year winds up looking like a head-scratcher.
There’s been too many indicators that this team isn’t as close as last year’s to expect a sudden turn in how this team plays out the string in a season with more eyesores still to come.
I sense enough people in the organization probably anticipate some measure of change coming at the end of the season, raising the question of whether the adults in the building can truly get an unripe roster to still feel like these next six weeks are more important than what comes after.
Point spread: Pittsburgh by 10.5 points
This season’s records
Nate Mink: 5-1 straight up; 2-4 against the spread
Chris Carlson: 4-2 straight up; 3-3 against the spread
Javon Edmonds: 4-2 straight up; 2-4 against the spread
Brent Axe: 3-3 straight up; 4-2 against the spread
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