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Syracuse will travel to Yankee Stadium this weekend to take on Pittsburgh in the 100th Anniversary of the first collegiate football game at the original Yankee Stadium. The inaugural game pitted Syracuse against Pitt in 1923, where the Orange won 3-0 before a crowd of 25,000.

SU is on a five-game skid during which it has been outscored 167-44 by Atlantic Coast Conference opponents. With three games remaining, SU must win two to clinch its second straight bowl appearance. The last time the Orange played in Yankee Stadium was last December when they lost the Pinstripe Bowl to Minnesota 28-20.

Here’s how our beat writers think Syracuse will fare against Pittsburgh:

Anthony Alandt (8-1)
Teddy Roosevelt is disappointed
Pittsburgh 12, Syracuse 8

Maybe with a healthy Garrett Shrader this game goes differently. Though with so much uncertainty surrounding the status of not only SU’s starter, but Carlos Del Rio-Wilson, there’s no chance I’m saying Syracuse’s offense will end its cold streak. SU has been purview to the uniqueness of playing in Yankee Stadium before. Although, it doesn’t have a clean field.

SU fell apart last December during the Pinstripe Bowl and led to a ground-and-pound game against Minnesota. Short passes and slogging through another game like the Orange did versus Boston College is going to have to be the game plan for head coach Dino Babers and the offense. So I think this game will track similarly to last Friday’s loss to the Eagles.

LeQuint Allen Jr. should have a relatively solid game against a Pittsburgh rushing defense that allows 131.9 rushing yards per game. But as Henry mentions below, anytime an SU quarterback — whoever that is Saturday — drops back, he’s liable to a defense that’s garnered the fourth-most sacks in the ACC. President Teddy Roosevelt stepped in and demanded the forward pass be implemented to football in 1905. He’s going to be pretty upset watching this game 118 years later when both teams resort to football before the forward pass was mandated.

Wyatt Miller (9-0)
Free Fallin’
Pittsburgh 17, Syracuse 9

In the words of Tom Petty, Syracuse is “Free Fallin.’” The Orange have two injured quarterbacks, receivers who can’t haul in easy catches and dreadful pass protection. Whether it’s Del Rio-Wilson, Shrader or Luke MacPhail taking the snap, I don’t see Syracuse winning this game. There’s no way to stop a free fall.

The Orange are 1-6 versus Pittsburgh since Babers took over in 2016. Syracuse has five straight losses and a -123 point differential in that time. With Del Rio-Wilson under center last game, SU didn’t complete a single pass more than one yard downfield. The offense is as far off track as it could be, and Allen Jr. can’t pick up all the slack.

The negative momentum SU has built seems to be insurmountable. Despite Pitt only earning two wins thus far, its best performance dwarfs Syracuse’s. On Oct. 14, the Panthers pounced on then-No. 14 Louisville to win 38-21. Meanwhile, SU didn’t score above seven points in either of its ranked matchups this season. The Orange have also failed to surpass 10 points in each of their last four games. I don’t see this battered Syracuse squad beating a Pitt team it’s had tons of trouble with in recent years.

Henry O’Brien (6-3)
Throwback to 1923
Pittsburgh 9, Syracuse 3

Similar to Syracuse, I’m on a losing streak in these predictions. Though my losing streak is nowhere as bad as what the Orange are going through.

Reporters are starting to run out of negative adjectives to describe how bad the offense has been over the past five games. Last Friday against the Eagles, we saw much of the same where Allen Jr. made some big breakaway runs while the passing offense fought to get over 100 yards in the air.

Don’t expect it to get any better. There is no update on the statuses of both Shrader and Del Rio-Wilson. If the Orange have to resort to MacPhail and Braden Davis, this offense will have even more trouble, especially against a Panthers defense that has the fourth-most sacks in the ACC.

But since Pitt is trotting out a mediocre Canadian quarterback, Christian Veilleux, there won’t be many explosive plays on either side. This will be a throwback to 1923, when the Orange beat the Panthers by a field goal. Expect the 2023 version of this rivalry to be the same, except with Pitt winning.

Published on November 8, 2023 at 11:43 pm