The Florida State Seminoles (-3) are heading north to visit their ACC rival Syracuse Orange at the Carrier Dome. ESPN will broadcast the action and the critical afternoon matchup is scheduled to get underway at 12:00 p.m. ET.
Florida State Seminoles at Syracuse Orange Betting Preview
In this Saturday Atlantic Coast game, Florida State is projected as the favorite and is currently giving up 3 points. The Seminoles are also receiving -155 moneyline odds while the Orange are +135. There should be some good in-game betting opportunities for this showdown.
The game’s opening line was originally set at 2 but the general public’s been hammering the Seminoles.
The underwhelming Seminoles are 0-2 against the spread (ATS) and have lost 3.3 units so far in 2018. The team’s posted an O/U record of 1-1. The Orange are up 1.0 unit this season. The team is 2-0 ATS and has an O/U record of 2-0.
The Seminoles have gone 1-1 straight up (SU), including 0-1 SU against ACC opponents. The Orange are 2-0 SU overall and are also 0-0 SU in conference play.
The Seminoles are coming off a 36-26 win over Samford last week where their secondary allowed the Bulldogs to air it out for 475 yards and two touchdowns. Kelvin McKnight was on a different level for the Bulldogs in that one with 215 yards and two touchdowns on 14 catches. Offensively, Deondre Francois completed 31 passes for 320 yards and three touchdowns. Cam Akers (76 yards on 14 rushes) and Jacques Patrick (44 yards on 13 carries) propelled the running attack in the win while Akers (seven receptions, 38 yards) and Nyqwan Murray (six catches, 63 yards) handled the receiving duties.
Syracuse is coming off of a 62-10 win over Wagner. The allowed the Seahawks to put up 247 yards through the air and 41 more on the ground. Joshua DeCambre was a bright spot in the loss for Wagner, posting 89 yards on eight catches. As a group, the Orange collectively completed 24-of-37 passes for 241 yards, five touchdowns and one interception. Eric Dungey went 23-for-32 for 218 yards, five touchdowns and one interception while Tommy Devito was one-of-five for 23 yards. Jarveon Howard (69 rushing yards on 13 attempts) and the signal-caller Dungey (44 yards on 11 carries) handled the ground attack in the win while Sean Riley (six receptions, 54 yards, one TD) and Jamal Custis (five catches, 41 yards, one TD) led the pass-catching corps.
Florida State has run the ball on 43.8 percent of its offensive possessions this year while Syracuse has an overall rush percentage of 62.5 percent. The Seminoles have run for 114 yards per game and have one touchdown via handoffs this year. The Orange are putting up 275 rushing yards per game and have seven total rush TDs.
The Noles offense has averaged 277 yards in the air overall and has three passing TD so far. The Orange have produced 234 pass yards per contest and have seven total pass scores.
Defensively, Florida State has allowed opponents to rush for an average of 81 yards and pass for 341 yards per game. The Syracuse defense has given up 313 yards per game to opposing passers and 141.5 yards per game to opposing runners. Both teams allow similar adjusted net yards per pass attempt (ANY/A) to the opposition, as the Noles have given up an ANY/A of 6.31 to opposing QBs, while the Orange are yielding an ANY/A of 6.39.
Passing-wise, Francois has put up 320 yards on the year. He’s connected on 31-of-46 attempts with three passing scores and has yet to throw an interception. Francois has a 7.91 adjusted net yards per pass attempt overall, although that number sits at 5.07 over the last two games.
The Seminoles will likely try to maintain tempo by feeding their running backs early and often. Cam Akers (76 rush yards, 38 receiving yards) and Jacques Patrick (44 rush yards, 37 receiving yards) have brought significant production to the offensive scheme for Florida State.
Eric Dungey has completed 23-of-32 passes for 218 yards, five TDs and one INT for Syracuse. His ANY/A stands at 8.09 for the year and 9.82 over his past two games.
The Orange will also try to dictate the game’s pace by turning to their backfield. In addition to Eric Dungey (zero receiving yards), Jamal Custis (zero rush yards, 41 receiving yards, one receiving TD) and Moe Neal (71 rush yards) have seen a lot of touches lately.
These two schools faced off last year with the final outcome being a 27-24 win for Florida State.
Betting Pick: Florida State Seminoles vs. Syracuse Orange
SU Winner – Syracuse, ATS Winner – Syracuse
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Notes
Team Betting Trends
Syracuse has lost one fumble this season while Florida State has lost three
Each team defense has created three sacks this season.
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