Caleb Wilfinger
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After a long and eventful college football regular season, the most wonderful time of the year is here. Bowl season has arrived and with it comes a myriad of interesting games between teams that we don’t often see paired up against each other in a neutral site setting. This year’s installment of the Boca Raton Bowl features the USF Bulls against the Syracuse Orange. Will the Bulls get the outright upset or can Syracuse finish its season with a flourish? Let’s get into it. Here is my USF vs Syracuse Same Game Parlay for Thursday’s matchup, which will be televised starting at 8:00 pm ET on ESPN.
USF ML (+130)
Dan Villari to score a touchdown (-110)
NCAAF Same Game Parlay odds: +420
One of the benefits of Same Game Parlays, of course, is that you don’t have to correlate the plays and your odds will increase as a result. That is the plan here, as USF winning outright doesn’t necessarily correlate with Syracuse’s Dan Villari finding the end zone. But at the same time, there’s no reason why both can’t happen. Let’s break down each of the legs.
USF Bulls ML over Syracuse Orange (+130)
South Florida gets the opportunity this year to play a bowl game in their home state, which gives the Bulls an immediate advantage in this matchup. There is also optimism around this rapidly improving USF offense, as freshman quarterback Byrum Brown took major steps forward throughout the 2023 season, finishing with 3,078 yards and 23 touchdowns. Brown is a dynamic, young quarterback for the Bulls who should give this beleaguered Syracuse defense plenty of problems.
At this point, Syracuse is just trying to get to the finish line this season. Head coach Dino Babers was let go at the end of the campaign and quarterback Garrett Schrader will not play in this game after receiving surgery to repair an injury suffered earlier in the season. Given the transfer portal activity and the way Syracuse ended the season, all signs seem to be pointing towards USF in this game. Sure, both teams are 6-6, but these are teams that are trending in different directions at this point in the season. Let’s side with the Bulls in a game that is sure to produce plenty of points and excitement.
Check out our full USF Bulls vs Syracuse Orange predictions
Dan Villari to score a touchdown (-110)
While I do like the Bulls to win this game, I believe we’re getting a bit of value on Dan Villari to record a touchdown in Thursday’s contest. Villari is a tight end by trade but his role has changed in recent weeks following the absence of Schrader as the starting quarterback for the Orange. Villari has assumed a hybrid quarterback/running back role in recent weeks, as Syracuse lines up in a wildcat formation with him in the shotgun before typically running the ball via the quarterback, or handing it off in some variety. In the last 3 weeks of the season alone, Villari amassed 42 carries for a combined 286 yards and 2 touchdowns on the ground. Given that he hardly throws the ball, if the Syracuse offense can get in the red zone against this porous USF defense, I’d expect Villari to have plenty of cracks at finding the end zone here. Let’s go for some added value with Villari in our USF vs Syracuse Same Game Parlay.
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