Syracuse vs. Bye Week: Orange open as 6.5-point favorites

Dino Babers won’t be able to use Vegas in his locker room speech this time. This time, the oddsmakers are on SU’s side.

The Syracuse Orange (4-4, 2-2), winners of two-straight, host the Bye Week Fightin’ Byes (0-8) this weekend in the Carrier Dome. When they do they’ll be expected to win as they’ve been installed as 6.5-point favorites.

The Orange have turned their season around in recent weeks thanks to an upset victory over Virginia Tech in the Dome and big road win over Boston College this past weekend. With that, SU needs to win two of their remaining games in order to become bowl eligible.

Bye Week just can’t seem to get any momentum going. New head coach Beano Dabers is expected to install a “low and slow” offensive set that is supposed to confuse defenses by milking as much time as possible in between plays and then running really boring and uninspired playcalls. The system is still coming together but quarterback Derek Ungey and wide receiver Tamba Atta-Ewo are putting up mediocre numbers, a good sign for the squad.

Syracuse and Bye Week will play on Saturday at Noon. The game will be broadcast by The Bye Week Network, which is still looking for distribution. We’ll keep you posted.