The Virginia Cavaliers suffered a lopsided 38-7 loss against Florida State last week. The Cavaliers hope that a return to their home field will help them bounce back against the Syracuse Orange. Virginia is 1-1 in the ACC this season, but they are a perfect 3-0 on their home field with wins over NC State, Norfolk State and Delaware. Since the beginning of last season, Virginia is 9-1 when playing on their home field. Recent fortunes have been different for Syracuse. The Orange are 0-2 in the ACC this season and have lost their last nine conference games. Syracuse head coach Fran Brown currently relies on senior quarterback Amari Odom to run the offense. Odom replaced Steve Angeli a couple weeks ago after struggles, and Odom has played well. Odom threw for 335 yards and five touchdowns last weekend in an 42-41 overtime win over Connecticut.
This game is a good bounce back spot for Virginia's running game. The Cavaliers love to win games by grinding down opponents behind their big offensive line. They had a stinker of a performance against Florida State, only totaling 37 yards on the ground, but that was an outlier for the Cavaliers -- they still average 161 yards rushing per game and nearly four yards per carry. My main concern is Virginia's pass protection. Virginia's quarterback Beau Pribula could use a strong rushing performance from his team this week after he was sacked 10 times against Florida State. Pribula has been solid this season, throwing for 961 yards, 12 touchdowns, and only one interception. Despite the numbers, Pribula has been inconsistent, and that is heavily due to the pressure he has faced. Virginia has already allowed 19 sacks this season, one more than the amount they allowed all of last season.
Despite Syracuse's struggles, they have had a solid pass rush this season. The Orange have totaled 10 sacks, led by Keshawn Johnson with 3.5 through four games. Look for Johnson to add to that total in this game. After last week's performance by Virginia's offensive line, Fran Brown will likely look to continue the pressure on Pribula. If Syracuse can get to Pribula and get the ball back to their offense, they have liked what they have seen out of Odom so far. With the concerns of Virginia's pass protection, and the current momentum of Odom under center, I find this is too many points for me to back Virginia to cover.
Syracuse vs Virginia prediction: Syracuse Orange +10 (-110) is available at the time of publishing. Playable to +9.5.
