Now that the NCAA football betting season has reached Week 3 fans can begin to see which teams are legit title contenders and what teams don’t really stand a chance. Unfortunately for Syracuse fans, the Orange fall into the latter. Syracuse looked great in their debut against the Colgate Raiders, overcoming Colgate 33-7. Granted, the Raiders are an FCS team and looking strong against them doesn’t really count down the road. The real test for the Orange came this past weekend when they squared up against No. 13 Louisville.
Louisville came into this matchup ranked No. 13 in the nation but their performance was so devastating that they’ve climbed to the No. 10 spot. The final score was 62-8 but on paper the Cardinals looked even more impressive. The Cards finished the day with a whopping 845 total yards on offense. Louisville had their way with Syracuse both through the air and on the ground averaging 10.1 yards per rush and 10.8 yards per pass. Syracuse’s defense looked like a mess, but at least their offense was able to get some things going. Offensively the Orange put up 414 total yards of offense against the nation’s No. 10 team. Finishing the day with 28 points isn’t terrible, and had their defense had some stops Syracuse could have been competing with one of the best teams in the nation. Unfortunately ‘could have’ doesn’t cut it in the FBS and their outing against Louisville showed some of the biggest weaknesses on this Syracuse team. To NCAA football betting fans it was clear that the majority of the problems lie on defense, but Syracuse’s head coach Dino Babers isn’t entirely convinced that the problem lies within the defensive scheme.
“I’m not sure anybody could catch him,” Babers said in reference to Lamar Jackson whom finished the day with 411 yards passing and 199 yards rushing. “He’s the fastest guy on the football field. He got into space. I saw him outrun contain with three guys who were exactly where they were supposed to be. He should have got tackled for a 2-yard loss, and he runs all the way to the other sideline and steps out of bound.”
In Babers’ mind it’s lack of speed on defense that allowed Jackson to have his way with Syracuse. Either way, adjustments must be made if Babers wants his first season as head coach to be a turnaround from Syracuse’s 2015 4-8 record. The Orange will have their chance to make adjustments before they face their next opponent, the South Florida Bulls. Let’s check the odds across the best football betting sites to see what kind of chance Syracuse has in this contest.
Week 3 Saturday September, 17th
South Florida -14 ½ (-110) 71 ½ (-110) -600
Syracuse +14 ½ (-110) 71 ½ (-110) +450
The odds are favoring the South Florida Bulls by a considerable margin, and a large part of that can be attributed to the routings the Bulls have given their first two opponents. To open the 216 season the Bulls faced the FCS Towson Tigers. The Bulls made quick work of their interleague opponent 56-20. South Florida followed that victory with an even more decisive 48-17 win over the Northern Illinois Huskies. The Bulls are coming into this matchup averaging 551 yards on offense while giving up an average of 305 yards on defense. Syracuse’s stats aren’t as impressive; they are giving up nearly 500 yards on defense per game and only gaining 484 yards on offense. Dino Babers will get his chance to assert his football wisdom come Saturday and prove that he is worthy of leading such a historic program. The NCAA football betting odds don’t think he can do it, but Babers will be eager to prove them wrong.
