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Syracuse Orange at UConn Huskies

Oct 3, 202611:00 AM CTEast Hartford, CT
By JR·2 min read
Syracuse(1-2)
UConn(2-2)
11:00 AM

TLDR: Syracuse opened the year by scoring 66 points and has scored 31 in the 2 games since. On Saturday, October 3, Fran Brown's team goes to East Hartford as the road favorite against a UConn team that has scored at will against everyone except the one Power 4 team it has faced.

Week 5 · SAT OCT 3, 11:00 AM CT
Syracuse
(1-2)
LLW
UConn
(2-2)
LWLW
Kickoff63°10 mph

Syracuse (1-2) goes to East Hartford as the road favorite after scoring just 31 points combined in losses to California and Pittsburgh, following a 66-point opener. UConn, in its first year under Jason Candle, has piled up points against Lafayette and Southern Miss but managed only 14 in a home loss to Maryland, its only Power 4 opponent so far. It likely comes down to whether a rested Syracuse offense gets back on track against a Huskies team playing its second straight week.

Syracuse Orange
  • More than 2 weeks off since Pitt, with no Sept. 26 game
  • Held New Hampshire to 3 in the opener
  • Veteran QB Steve Angeli running the offense
  • Only 31 points combined vs. Cal and Pitt
  • 0-2 in ACC play, lost at home to Cal
  • Allowed 21 and 27 in the 2 conference losses
UConn Huskies
  • Scored 56 and 48 in its 2 wins
  • Won 48-20 on the road at Southern Miss
  • At home at Pratt & Whitney Stadium
  • Lost 38-14 at home to Maryland, its only Power 4 opponent
  • Second straight week of games, after the Miami (OH) trip
  • First year of Candle's system against Power 4 teams

This one comes down to whether Syracuse's offense can get back to what it looked like in Week 1. Steve Angeli and the Orange hung 66 on New Hampshire in the opener. Then they lost 21-18 to California at the Dome and 27-13 at Pittsburgh on a Thursday night, which left them 1-2 and 0-2 in the ACC. That's 31 points in 2 games against conference defenses. Nobody expected that from an offense built around a redshirt senior quarterback in Brown's 3rd season.

Syracuse does come in rested. The Pitt game was on September 17, and the Orange had no game on the 26th, so they get more than 2 weeks between that loss and this trip. UConn gets no break. The Huskies played at Miami (OH) on September 26 and go straight into this one a week later. For a Syracuse team that needs to find its offense again, the time off helps.

UConn is in Year 1 under Jason Candle, and the early results have been all over the place. The Huskies beat Lafayette 56-7 at Pratt & Whitney Stadium and won 48-20 at Southern Miss. The other result was a 38-14 home loss to Maryland, which is the only Power 4 team on their schedule so far. Syracuse is the second.

Syracuse Orange
(1-2)
09/17L@Pittsburgh13-27
09/12LvsCalifornia18-21
09/05WvsNew Hampshire66-3
UConn Huskies
(2-2)
09/26L@Miami (OH)21-24
09/19W@Southern Miss48-20
09/12LvsMaryland14-38
09/05WvsLafayette56-7

So the Maryland game is the tape to watch. Lafayette and Southern Miss didn't tell anyone much about whether Candle's offense can move the ball against a Power 4 front. Maryland did, and the answer was 14 points. Syracuse's defense had the best game of anyone in the opener, holding New Hampshire to 3, but it has since given up 21 and 27. Neither side's numbers against real competition look like a team that runs away with this.

The forecast is ordinary for early October in Connecticut: low 60s, cloudy, about 11 mph of wind and a small chance of rain. Nothing there should change how either team calls the game. Both teams are unranked, but this matchup gets billed as a rivalry and there's something at stake for each side. Syracuse has to stop a slide before a tough ACC stretch with Clemson and Notre Dame still on the schedule. UConn gets a chance to show the Maryland game wasn't its ceiling against a Power 4 opponent.