Syracuse vs. Wake Forest: TNIAAM Predictions & Poll

This miserable Syracuse Orange football season wraps up on Saturday against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. And while the game itself doesn’t have real consequences for an Orange team that fell well short of expectations, there are quite a few seniors on the field that will be saying goodbye — hopefully with one final win at the Dome.

SU and Wake kick off at 12:30 p.m. on your local RSN (I know, thought we were done with these...). But before that happens, the TNIAAM staff weighs in on what’s going to happen.

Steve Haller

Wake Forest 35, Syracuse 31

Without Sage Surratt, Wake Forest doesn’t have as prolific a passing offense. With McKinley Williams back, the Orange are looking much better against the run. Though both of these things are true, I still can’t bring myself to predict an Orange win, though it wouldn’t surprise me if these scores are flipped. Either way, I’m expecting a close one in the Dome on Saturday.

Andy Pregler

Syracuse 28, Wake Forest 24

Syracuse isn’t playing for anything and Wake is playing for a 9 win regular season, but the Deacs are banged up, missing a lot of key players. The Syracuse defense has done well this year taking advantage of situations like these, and while Jamie Newman will get his yards on the ground and in the air, I have faith the defense will slow him down just enough for the newly effective and run based ’Cuse offense to get just enough points to end a disappointing season on a higher note.

Kevin Wall

Wake Forest 45, Syracuse 23

I’m expecting we don’t see a full game from Tommy DeVito this week as the coaching staff decides not to subject him to further hits. As a result Wake can focus on the rejuvenated Orange running game and are able to limit the damage while Jamie Newman continues the trend of quarterbacks beating the Syracuse defense on the perimeter. We put this season to bed and start preparing for the 2020 opening road games at Clemson and Rutgers.

John Cassillo

Wake Forest 38, Syracuse 32

Last week showed us Syracuse’s defense is far from fixed, but Wake Forest also doesn’t have the same speed Louisville does on the outside. Still, it’s going to be tough to keep Deacons QB Jamie Newman from taking off, and that potentially makes all the difference in this one. Wake’s defense is also poised to struggle, but we’ll see if the Orange offense can take advantage consistently (not the case all year). Unfortunately, think SU comes up just short.

Now it’s your turn...