Syracuse football: Orange open as 6.5 point underdogs against Florida State

After whatever happened in Pittsburgh on Saturday, the Syracuse Orange are now 6-3 on the season. It’s a record that is more impressive than was expected, and frankly well ahead of where the oddsmakers had us. But three consecutive losses after six straight wins is enough to cause some hesitancy in the fanbase. The Orange look to get back on track this weekend against the Florida State Seminoles, a team historically the better, bigger and faster than the Orange in an 8pm kickoff from the JMA Dome.

Per DraftKings SportsBook, the Orange have opened at -6.5 point underdogs against FSU on Sunday. The line has since pushed to a full touchdown and extra point, at 7 points. It’s understandable after the Seminoles come off a 45-3 drubbing of the Miami Hurricanes, and the Orange are coming off the 19-9 performance against Pitt, while working through some injury issues and confusion as to who’s healthy on the roster and where. The Seminoles are 7-2 against the spread this year but only 4-5 hitting the over, while Syracuse sits at 6-3 while only 3-6 at hitting the over.

The over/under is set at and held at 51.5, which seems like a “take the under” type of call. The Syracuse defense is the strength of the squad, and looks primed to at least hold the Seminoles to less than what they did against Miami. Unless the oddsmakers think that the Syracuse offense will look much better than they have these last two weeks, reaching the over seems a bit of a stretch.

Historically this matchup has been real one sided. FSU has won 12 of the 14 matchups, with the only two Orange victories coming in 1966 and 2018. That said, Babers has beaten the Seminoles, 30-7 in the Dome, though it was the Willie Taggart era, not Mike Norvell. Last year was a close 33-30 loss down in Tallahassee in what was a winnable game.

What are your early thoughts on how it goes? Do we think the Orange can cover? Let us know in the comments.

Odds/lines subject to change. T&Cs apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.