South Florida vs. Syracuse Spread at -3.5
The South Florida vs. Syracuse spread was coming in at -3.5 for Friday night’s College Football game. You can bet this game at Sportsbook.com here.
Sportsbook.com Line & Total: South Florida -3.5 & 51.5
Opening Line & Total: Bulls -3.5 & 52
Two slumping Big East teams meet in Central New York on Friday night as South Florida travels north to face Syracuse.
The Bulls opened the season 4-0, including a win at Notre Dame, but have lost four straight games (SU and ATS). All four of these defeats have been to Big East foes, due mainly to USF turning the ball over 12 times during the losing skid. Syracuse has dropped two straight, both on the road, but crushed West Virginia 49-23 in its last home game. The Bulls had won five straight meetings (SU and ATS) by an average of 24.2 PPG before Syracuse upset USF 13-9 in Tampa last year. That game had 253 passing yards combined. South Florida would love to run the football on Friday night, but top RB Darrell Scott might not play because of a wrist injury. The Bulls are a woeful 2-9 ATS in Big East play over the past two seasons, and 2-8 ATS in weeknight games since 2008.
Scott (611 rushing yards, 5 TD) had a season-high 19 carries in last week’s 20-17 loss at Rutgers, gaining exactly 100 yards. If he can’t play, junior Demetris Murray will get more touches. Murray has just one 15-carry game in his career, and has failed to reach 70 yards in any contest this season. He has totaled 346 rushing yards (4.2 YPC) and five touchdowns this year. QB B.J. Daniels played pretty well in his lone Carrier Dome visit in 2009, throwing for 208 yards and 2 TD in a 34-20 road win. But last season, he was a dismal 9-of-23 for 124 yards, 0 TD and 2 INT in the 13-9 home loss to Syracuse. This season, Daniels’ numbers are pretty strong: 253 passing YPG, 12 TD, 5 INT, but much of that production came against soft non-conference opponents Ball State (359 yds, 1 TD) and Florida A&M (382 yds, 4 TD).
The defensive ranks (34th in yardage, 345 YPG; 43rd in scoring, 23.1 PPG) should be a lot better considering USF leads the nation in Tackles for Loss (9.0 per game) and is second in the country in sacks (3.5 per game). USF has 24 sacks in the six meetings with Syracuse.
Orange QB Ryan Nassib is completing 65% of his passes and has 18 TD and 6 INT this season. He’s coming off a 275-yard effort in a 28-21 loss at UConn, which are the most yards he has thrown against an FBS opponent in his career. Nassib has not gotten much help from his running game during the two-game losing skid, as the Orange have gained a meager 174 yards on 58 carries (3.0 YPC). RB Antwon Bailey leads the team in rushing (89 YPG), but has been held to 120 rushing yards (3.9 YPC) over the past two weeks following a string of four straight 100-yard efforts. Bailey had a strong performance against USF last year, rushing for 81 yards on just nine carries while adding 48 receiving yards on three catches.
Syracuse’s defense has been mediocre (383 YPG, 59th in nation), but it has done a great job forcing turnovers, tallying 14 takeaways in the past five games. The Orange’s offense lost its last home meeting to USF because of turnovers, losing two fumbles and throwing five interceptions to the Bulls.
- Carrie Stroup, Gambling911.com Senior Reporter
