Syracuse vs. Maine Official Prediction

by Sean Keeley on Sep 25, 2009 5:57 PM EDT

There's no spread for tomorrow's game between the Syracuse Orange and Maine Black Bears. While we'd all love to think it's because Syracuse is so heavily-favored that no number could possibly convince gamblers to bet against them, it's really more because they don't set lines for FBS vs. FCS match-ups. A couple people have located -21 lines or something therein but as far as I can tell that's not official.

Anyway, the point is that everyone expects the Orange to win. Maine is a decent 1-AA team, for sure. But still..there's absolutely no reason to think SU can't defeat them. It might not be a blowout where we're all not even paying attention to the game anymore by the time the 4th quarter starts, but no Syracuse fan expects this one to be in doubt by then either (should probably shut my mouth now).

Hell, even last year's team beat a 1-AA opponent by 9. Surely this team can at least double that.

Brian over at O44 put in his prediction earlier and he's got the right idea:

Ball security was a problem last week, and if it is again, Syracuse will have a long day. However, this should not be the case as Marrone has worked with the team all week on it, and there should be little to stop the chemistry of Greg Paulus and Mike Williams continuing. Look for a big day for the Syracuse offense and continue this win streak to two games. Syracuse over Maine 34 to 10.

I made a prediction earlier in the week in the same ballpark. Syracuse 31, Maine 13. I'm sticking to it. It's just enough scoring so that the Syracuse offense has a solid statistical outing and we'll allow that Maine will probably find it's way into or near the endzone enough to make it respectable.

Now it's your turn...

Poll

What will the outcome of the Syracuse-Maine game be?

Syracuse wins by 20+

121 votes

Syracuse wins by 10 - 19

136 votes

Syracuse wins by 1 - 9

27 votes

Maine wins

9 votes

293 votes | Poll has closed

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last year's team

also didn’t have a WR like Mike Williams who should torch a smaller, slower Maine secondary.

by Jameson_Fleming on Sep 25, 2009 5:59 PM EDT reply actions

31-13

Good guys.

NittanyWhiteOut.com. Arguably the second best Penn State blog I know of.

by Devon Edwards on Sep 25, 2009 6:10 PM EDT reply actions

Is it just me, or does it seem like after SU gets a lead, the play calling gets really conservative, like they are switching to a “play not to lose” mentality?

It happened against Minnesota and Nortwestern and I can’t tell if it’s just the other team making good adjustments, or if it’s the coaching dialing things back… In listening to HCDM’s presser after the PSU game where the game plan was to keep within 2 scores by the 4th qtr, I can’t help but think that his game plan for most games to get a comfortable lead, and maintain it.

For that reason, I don’t see SU putting up a lot of points against Maine, unless they come from special teams and defensive turnovers. But if SU goes up early and the play calling gets really conservative, I think we’ll know why.

by stumpycuse on Sep 25, 2009 6:44 PM EDT reply actions