Syracuse Orange football opens as 1.5-point underdogs against Virginia Tech
The Syracuse Orange football team will look to fight back and land its first ACC win of the season. With five games left to go, coach Dino Babers and company are hoping to finish strong and have a second straight bowl appearance locked in by season’s end.
The path ahead to rebuilding some momentum and reaching that goal starts Thursday night against the Virginia Tech Hokies in “Enter Sandman” territory. For the fourth game in a row, however Syracuse will enter as the slight underdog. Even with the Hokies having troubles of their own, the betting line opened with the Orange at +1.5 heading down to Blacksburg, per DraftKings Sportsbook.
The good news for Syracuse fans is that the Orange have won four of their last five matchups versus the Hokies, which last included an impressive 41-36 road win in 2021.
Virginia Tech’s early season struggles are also a factor after questionable losses to Rutgers and Marshall, and based on the Orange’s defensive performance in recent weeks, there is potential for Syracuse’s defensive unit to fare better against a Virginia Tech offense which ranks lower than Syracuse.
On the flip side, Syracuse has indeed had scoring struggles of its own — in their last three games, the Orange have averaged eight points per game and scored 10 points combined against Florida State and UNC. Obviously, the bye week will help Syracuse’s offensive unit reset, and so too will playing a Hokies different that is far different compared to the Orange’s ACC slate up to this point.
Virginia Tech also fell to the Seminoles two weekends ago, but did commandingly beat two future Syracuse opponents — Pittsburgh and Wake Forest — at home by double-digits.
Babers and the Orange will need to overcome the slim deficit Thursday night in one of the most consequential games of the season. Will Syracuse fight back and secure its first ACC win of the year in Blacksburg, or will the Orange’s 0-3 start versus conference opponents become a bigger deficit? Hold your breath Orange Nation because we’re a few days away from finding out.
