Syracuse football opens as 11-point favorite vs. North Carolina

The Syracuse Orange (4-2, 1-2) return home on Saturday against the struggling North Carolina Tar Heels (1-4, 1-2). Despite SU’s two consecutive losses coming into this matchup, though, it appears Vegas is in their corner... in this early part of the week, anyway.

According to VegasInsider, Syracuse opens as an 11-point favorite against UNC. That line has bounced back and forth between 10 and 11 points since it opened. However, it’s indicative of some belief that SU’s still looked pretty good this year, while the Tar Heels’ close loss to Virginia Tech this weekend may not be all it’s cracked up to be. Or perhaps Vegas is just looking to generate some action on a game that probably has bettors confused. Either/or.

Despite sharing a conference since 2013, the Orange and UNC haven’t faced one another since 2003 — a 49-47 shootout win for Syracuse in Chapel Hill. The two teams have split their four meetings all-time, with SU taking the most recent matchup, along with the first (a 20-9 road win in 1995). Apropos of nothing, the visiting team has won all four matchups in the very brief series.

Though this may have been a shootout a couple years ago, UNC’s offense has struggled to gain much traction this year while shuffling through quarterbacks and dealing with numerous suspensions. Through five games, they’ve averaged just 20.4 points per game, though they’re still gaining more than 400 yards per game despite the low scoring output.

What do you think of the line, though? Too high? Too low? Where are the degenerates among us (legally) putting their money this weekend?