I know a lot about football, but it's all just guessing at this point.
Syracuse held up fairly well against #1 Clemson last week at Clemson. Now Syracuse heads back home to play a plucky Wake Forest team that has a lot of momentum after a big win at home against Virginia Tech. Does Syracuse have what it takes to hang in another game?
Syracuse is still way down in terms of opening day starters being injured. While the defense kept Syracuse in the game at Clemson all the way into the 3rd period, the offense was just not enough to handle the Clemson defense. Both Wake and Syracuse have tough defenses, and the hopes are that the offense will score enough with the defense causing turnovers to win the game. That happened for Wake last weekend with VTech. But Syracuse has been unable to do the same against Duke and Liberty. And even picking off Trevor Lawrence for the first time in 2 seasons wasn't enough against Clemson (although that isn't very surprising). Either way, Syracuse has a decent chance at a perceived "upset" against a middle of the pack ACC squad. Not sure how Wake would be placed in a regular ACC Atlantic year. Either way. Syracuse will need to play well on offense. And Rex Culpepper has been average, able to stretch the defenses in a few games, but obviously fell short against the great Clemson D. The obvious key matchup is the Syracuse offense vs. the Wake defense. If Syracuse is able to get 3rd down (or 4th down) conversions, keep the ball moving, and put up points, the defense should hold Wake enough to win. If Syracuse isn't able to score, keep the defense off the field for extended time, and get turnovers, they will obviously lose big. While Syracuse has shown it can hang in games as of late, including an impressive performance against Clemson, they haven't shown they can overcome the injuries to get a win yet. I'm taking Wake Forest 45 to 34.
This game is available nationwide on the ACC Network at 12:00pm. John will be in the home office. I'll be out of pocket again. Have a spooky but safe game watch and Halloween. Enjoy the photo of John and I from Halloween 2009, when we went to the Cincy game as officials. The refs were so bad, people were heckling us as we left the Dome. As always, but especially on Halloween, GO ORANGE!
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