Steve Angeli's healthy again and Syracuse needs him to be great immediately. Pitt would love nothing more than to remind everyone why that's not a given.
Bush’s Picks
SYRPITT
SYRPITT
OverUnder
Best BetPittsburgh
Pitt gets the nod here mostly because Heintschel enters this one with a real training camp as the starter, while Syracuse is banking on Angeli looking like his early-2025 form right out of the gate coming off a serious injury. Pitt's floor is simply higher after an 8-5 season against Syracuse's 3-9 collapse.
Syracuse
+Steve Angeli was pacing the nation in passing pre-injury
+Fran Brown landed the program's best-ever recruiting class
+Added pass-rush help via Fontus and Adeleye transfers
−Closed 2025 on an 8-game losing streak
−Finished just 3-9 overall once Angeli went down
−Had to add 3 portal QBs after depth got exposed
Pittsburgh
+Went 8-5 with a road win over ranked Florida State
+Heintschel threw for 400 yards vs NC State as a freshman
+Injury-prone O-line's right side returns fully intact
−Lost its top 2 tacklers, Biles and Louis, this offseason
−Season ended ugly — blown out by Miami, then lost the bowl
−Heintschel still has just 8 career starts under his belt
This is about as clean a measuring-stick game as either program could ask for early in the year. Angeli was pacing the nation in passing through 4 games last season before a Clemson injury wrecked Syracuse's year, and Pittsburgh's Mason Heintschel is walking into his first full season as a starter after a freshman year that ended with a 400-yard outburst against NC State. Two rebuilding quarterback stories, same night, same stakes.
Pitt's bigger concern isn't the quarterback, it's what's left of the defense. The Panthers lost their top two tacklers from a year ago, Rasheem Biles and Kyle Louis, and have to replace that production against a Syracuse offense that, when Angeli was upright, was one of the scariest units in the country. Fran Brown countered by going out and getting real defensive-line help of his own, adding Dillan Fontus and Tunmise Adeleye to speed up an Orange pass rush that was thin last season.
Show fees
6:30 PM CT
Spread
ML
Total
SYR Syracuse
PITT Pittsburgh
Pitt's answer to its own durability issues was an offensive line reset, and the early returns matter here — Ryan Baer and BJ Williams both return on a right side that stayed intact, which is more than Pitt could say the last two years. Whichever line holds up gives its quarterback the platform to actually win this one.
Syracuse Orange
Sep 12?vs California—
Sep 5?vs New Hampshire—
Pittsburgh Panthers
Sep 12?vs UCF—
Sep 5?vs Miami (OH)—
Recent form.
The records tell two very different stories about where these programs are right now. Pitt finished 8-5 and beat a ranked Florida State team on the road, while Syracuse closed the year on an 8-game losing streak and finished 3-9 once Angeli went down. That's a brutal split to overcome in one offseason, no matter how good the recruiting class looks on paper.
Syracuse Orange
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Pittsburgh Panthers
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Injury report — info via ESPN.
Brown's counter is that this Syracuse team has already been through the fire — the Orange played the most first-time starters of any Power 4 program last season, which means a lot of young players just got a crash course under duress. If that experience translates and Angeli looks anything like his early-2025 self, this has a chance to be a lot closer than the two records suggest.
