Syracuse football: Purdue predictions and poll

The Syracuse Orange will be back in Dome, Sweet Dome for the next four games, starting with tomorrow’s noon matchup against the Purdue Boilermakers. What started as Purdue being a slight favorite has flipped to the Orange giving points.

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

A 3-0 start is on the line, and we’ve got our predictions ready:

Mike

Syracuse 41, Purdue 37

A lot of people called me out for severely overhyping Purdue in the opponent preview series... and maybe I’m ready to agree with them. Sure, it’s still lining up to be a shootout until the bitter end, but while Aidan O’Connell and Garrett Shrader can duel it out through the air, Purdue doesn’t have the luxury of a halfback like Sean Tucker to scrape out the extra yards that really matter. SU’s rushing advantage lets them hold on for the win and earn a sad tune from that cursed drum.

Kevin

Purdue 30, Syracuse 27

It just feels like we’ve seen this story before. Syracuse comes out better than expected and suddenly people start talking about 5-0 and hosting GameDay and “forget bowl eligibility we’re winning 9 games”. We won’t talk about what happens next because we all have lived it. The Orange have looked strong so far but they are also +5 in turnover margin and perfect in the red zone. Aidan O’Connell is going to be a challenge so Syracuse is going to need to play another clean game to pull out what I expect will be a close contest.

Christian

Syracuse 27, Purdue 24

I’m amazed at myself at how much more optimistic I’m thinking about this matchup. And while my initial prediction was a Purdue win, I now have the Orange winning. The main reason is that I don’t think the Syracuse passing attack will regress to the point where it can’t support Sean Tucker on offense. On the flip side, I don’t think Purdue can find may other options other than Charlie Jones in the passing attack and the run game won’t take advantage of a young Syracuse defensive line. Long story short, if Garrett Shrader and the passing game continues to perform like they did to start the season, this could give Syracuse even more of a jolt to an already better-than-expected season.

Andy

Syracuse 31, Purdue 30

This game is going to be close, but I like the Orange for two reasons: I think most advanced metrics are underrating the Syracuse defense off the ending stretch of last year and that what we’ve seen to date is an aggressive defense that can actually break offenses more often than any Tony White unit has before. I also think that Sean Tucker putting up quiet 100 yard performances bodes well for a player who will face his toughest test yet, but with a complimenting passing attack that I think can open up the offense in a way the Orange haven’t had against good opponents in awhile. This game will come down to coaching, and I think the Orange have finally turned a corner in that department.

Steve

Syracuse 27, Purdue 24

Per my prediction earlier this week over at Hammer and Rails I’m echoing Christian’s sentiment above. I think Aiden O’Connell gets his, but not as much of “his” as he’s used to and the secondary keeps the wheels on the bus. Sean Tucker as always is the X-Factor in these, especially against a less than perfect run defense (more pertinent with the loss of Jalen Graham). As I mentioned over there, I wouldn’t be surprised if the script flipped and we lost, but I fully expect it to be a close one this weekend.

Those are our picks. Now it’s your turn