Free Week 8 Prediction: Panthers vs. Orange Odds
Looking for Pittsburgh Panthers vs. Syracuse Orange free picks? Week 8 betting sees the Panthers taking on the Orange Friday, October 18th at the Carrier Dome, Syracuse, New York. Cappers Picks provides complimentary handicapping picks all NCAA football season long so stay tuned for more FREE college football predictions like this Pittsburgh Syracuse Week 8 free pick.
College Football Handicapping: Week 8
(4-2) Pittsburgh Panthers vs. Syracuse Orange (3-3)
Date: Friday, October 18th
Time: 7:00 pm EST
Venue: Carrier Dome, Syracuse, New York
NCAA Football Spread: Pittsburgh -3.5
NCAA Betting Total: 52.0
Click here to view… CFB ATS Stats & NCAAF Betting Insight for this game!
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This week eight matchup will see the Pittsburgh Panthers take on the Syracuse Orange on a Friday Night.
This will be a cross divisional ACC game as Pittsburgh plays in the Coastal Division and Syracuse is in the Atlantic Division.
Pittsburgh Panthers
The Panthers are coming off a bye week, but the week prior, they took down Duke 33-30 to notch their first ACC win of the season. They are now 1-1 in conference play and still have a legitimate shot to play in the ACC title game come December.
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Their offense will need to improve in the back half of the season as they are below average in nearly every offensive category. For starters, they only average 21.5 points per game. If you take out the non-conference games and just look at the two ACC games, their scoring per game increases to 23.5.
The problem with the Panthers offense is that it is too one-dimensional. They average 276.7 passing yards per game, 33rd in the country.
This is compared to their 116.5 rushing yards per game, 113th in the country. In ACC play, their running game has been even worse, averaging 73.5 yards per game.
Defensively, the Panthers had success against teams like Penn State and UCF, but against conference opponents, they have allowed 30 points per game.
In the Duke game, they blew a 26-3 lead, but still managed to win the game. This cannot continue to happen if the Panthers want to make a run to the title game, so look for a more focused defensive effort after their bye.
One thing the Panthers do well at is stopping the run. On the season, they allow 97 rushing yards per game, 16th in the country. Despite their success in this area, they have allowed both of their ACC opponents to rush for more than 120 yards. Run defense will need to be the focus in this game if they are going to get the road win.
Syracuse Orange
Syracuse has had a rough season so far, as they dropped their last game to NC State, 16-10.
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They are now 0-2 in the ACC and do not really have any shot of playing in the title game. That said, they will still be looking to show up for this game because it is at home and they still need the wins to become bowl eligible.
Note that the Syracuse offense has only excelled against weak teams, so their stats are inflated. Specifically looking at their two ACC games, they scored a grand total of 16 points. Granted one of these games was against Clemson, but still, putting up 6 points in a game is weak.
The area of their offense that needs the most improvement is their run game. Against Clemson and NC State combined, they ran the ball a total of 79 times for 56 yards. They are averaging 0.71 yards per rush in games against the ACC.
This cannot continue to happen especially because their quarterback, Tommy Devito, can only do so much on his own. He has not been that sharp when playing good teams, so he will need his running backs to pick up the pace.
Besides the game where the Orange defense was shredded by Clemson, they have looked improved.
Last week, they allowed 16 points to NC State, so they have come a long way since week two and three where they allowed 40+ points.
Nothing particularly stands out as great on this Syracuse defense, but one thing they must do is shut down the pass. They have allowed 325.5 yards through the air in two ACC games, and now face a pass heavy Pittsburgh team.
NCAA Football Handicapping Trends
- Under is 17-7-1 in SYR last 25 conference games.
- Under is 14-6-1 in SYR last 21 home games.
- Under is 12-2 in PITT last 14 road games
Free Week 8 NCAA Football Pick
Even with this being a Friday Night game, I like Pitt to come in and notch the win because they still have something to play for in the conference.
4* Free NCAA Betting Pick: UNDER 52
Syracuse has not yet showed that they can score against a decent defense and Pitt does not exactly have an offense that will put up 35+ points regularly. That said, I like the under to be the play in this game.
Week 8 Free Score Prediction: Pittsburgh 21 – Syracuse 17
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