Syracuse football opens as 21-point favorites versus Western Michigan

Coach Dino Babers and Syracuse Orange football will look to follow-up their shutout win on Saturday versus the Colgate Raiders with another hopefully dominant home performance this weekend versus the Western Michigan Broncos.

The odds will certainly be in Syracuse’s favor entering Saturday’s home matchup versus the Broncos. The Orange opened as 21-point favorites, per our good friends over at DraftKings. The current over/under line for points sits at 52.5 for the Orange’s second game of the season.

Syracuse is coming off an impressive 65-0 versus Colgate last Saturday, a game which saw the team break program records for total yards on offense (677) and passing touchdowns (six combined from Garrett Shrader and Carlos Del-Rio Wilson). Obviously, repeating that record-level performance will be unlikely, but Syracuse built strong momentum this past Saturday and will hope to keep its groove going in the Dome this coming weekend.

Western Michigan finished 5-7 last year in the MAC, but notably lost a lot of weapons on offense during this offseason. The Broncos are coming off a 35-17 win to open their season this past weekend versus Saint Francis (PA).

Syracuse’s last two games versus the Broncos saw the Orange win 55-42 in 2018 on the road and 52-33 in 2019 at home. But given the Orange’s recent reputation on defense, the 21-point line reflects Syracuse’s talent advantage heading into Saturday, as well as how poised Shrader and the rest of the offense looked versus Colgate.

Optimism feels clearly in the air based on how the results broke across the NCAA landscape this weekend. Syracuse is now up to 27th overall in ESPN’s College Football Power Index following the action from week one (sans Monday night’s Clemson versus Duke game), good for fifth in the ACC behind Clemson, Florida State, Miami and North Carolina.

Per DraftKings, Syracuse’s over/under line for the 2023 regular season was at 6.5 wins heading into the Orange’s season-opener.

With a win versus Colgate secured, the Orange will look to keep pace by getting the job done next weekend against Western Michigan.

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