Syracuse vs. Western Michigan: Orange open as 4-point favorites

After a 1-2 start to the football season, the Syracuse Orange have been gathering some doubters — including sportsbooks, it seems.

Syracuse opened as a 4-point favorite in Saturday’s matchup against the Western Michigan Broncos, indicating some questions about SU now that they’ve gone three games without topping 24 points this season. Given the usual home bump of three points or so, the opening line basically saw this one as a push. The spread’s drifted up to 5.5 points as of this writing on Sunday night.

Of course, that margin’s not necessarily what Vegas sees as the result. Rather, it’s the one that’s going to generate some action on both sides. While Syracuse started the season ranked, they’ve looked pretty rough these past couple weeks. Those of us who’ve watched the games know there’s a bit more to it, but casual observers may be anxious to bet against a team that’s dropped two straight.

The Broncos are 2-1 thus far, beating Monmouth and Georgia State, but losing to Michigan State. When these teams met last year in Kalamazoo, Syracuse took home a 55-42 win. It’s the only game in this series to-date, though SU and WMU will also play one another again in 2020 and 2023.

We’ll see where the spread goes from here, though obviously that has nothing to do with what actually happens once the game starts.