Here’s a prediction for you.

Pitt plays really well in the first half. Our defense dominates, and our offense, despite some hiccups, manages to score three touchdowns. We jump out to a 21-0 lead by halftime.

Syracuse adjusts at halftime and Pitt does not. To add insult to injury the players proceed to sleepwalk through a mistake-filled 21 minutes until Syracuse retakes the lead by a field goal midway though the fourth quarter.

 

With about five minutes left in the game, both Pitt units miraculously pull their heads out of their rear-ends.  Kenny Pickett leads a touchdown drive and the Pitt defense seals the win with a sack.

Pitt wins the game 28-24.

As one of our loyal POVerts said on the way out of Wallace Wade Stadium two weeks ago, “can’t we ever just kick somebody’s ass?”

I certainly wish we could.

Hail to Pitt

Michaelangelo Monteleone

Michaelangelo holds a degree in Travel Writing from the University of Pittsburgh. He was a former staff writer for InPittsburgh Newsweekly, and currently resides near Atlanta, Georgia. He has been a Pitt fan since 1997 after he witnessed Pitt upset #22 Miami on Thursday night at Pitt Stadium.

106 thoughts on “Syracuse Prediction Thread”

  1. i would love for Pitt to kick some arse for once and really dominate in all aspects

    the game will be close in the Dome

    comes down to a last minute or second field goal

    good kessman: Pitt 30 / Cuse 27
    bad kessman: Cuse 24 / Pitt 22

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  3. I keep using this word ‘myopic’ which seems to rub some here the wrong way, but I would encourage you to look at our peers in the ACC and tell me which teams are not schizophrenic. Take away the best team (Clemson) and the worst (GT), and you will find that every team in this conference has had its ups and downs. Pitt is clearly not the only team that has had close calls against inferior opponents nor is it the only team that has won games as an underdog.

    IMO Pitt is good but it is not that much better than a large handful of teams.

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  5. These teams are pretty similar, good defenses led by good pass rushers. Weak offensive lines.
    Syracuse has put up a lot of points vs weaker competition and been drubbed by Maryland and Clemson.
    For what it is worth PSU drubbed Maryland and we held our own vs PSU.
    Pitt has played at the level of it’s competition and come out ahead 4 of 6 times.

    With Pitt every game is a new adventure, but as long as we win the turnover battle we should win.

    But this is Pitt and one never knows do one?

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Syracuse’s defense is absolutely not good at all. They gave up 63 points and 650 yards to MARYLAND. At home, they gave up 41 points and 612 yards to Clemson.

      Liked by 1 person

  6. I say they break the cycle and win comfortably; 31-17. Of course, I thought that would happen against Duke, too, but I don’t believe Syracuse is quite on Duke’s level this season, and I’d like to think we won’t turn the ball over on three straight possessions inside our own 40, which will hopefully make the end of this one a little less dramatic, for a change.

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  7. I agree with wbb, other than Clemson and GT, anyone can beat anyone in the ACC. If Pitt doesn’t play real well in any of their games they can and probably will lose, even GT.

    Take the Duke game where we got 7 turnovers and still need a dramatic drive to win at the end. That game should have been over in the first half.

    It was our second string QB but we almost lost to Delaware and we have found out that our big win vs UCF wasn’t vs last year’s UCF.

    Don’t get me wrong, there are more positives than negatives about Pitt so far and we hope that they keep getting better, but remember how we finished last year.

    At least the southern refs should be confused as heck this week, as well as the announcers.

    Liked by 2 people

  9. This Pitt team is considerably better than most of their ACC opponents IMO. Not so much better if they get penalized 145 yards per game however. My prediction Pitt 31 Duke 9 as the Pitt D gives the O plenty of opportunities to add to their point total in this game.

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    2. Hey, if I were allowed to “predict” the games a week or so after they were played, I’d probably get 80 percent of them right.
      😉

      Liked by 1 person

  10. Good guys win 76-61…
    Wait, that was 2016.
    I’ll pick the halftime score that year…35-21 Pitt.
    Will be watching the game with Biggie and Richman…good karma.

    Liked by 5 people

    1. Tailgate starts at 2:00 when the attendant allows me in my driveway..😎..sadly neither Wolfe nor Scooter are able to attend.

      Liked by 1 person

      2. No Scooter at the Fran game-watch has me big-time worried!

        Hope Scooter’s got his lucky Pitt BB shirt ready to go… 👍

        Go Pitt.

        Liked by 1 person

  12. 28-17 PITT. Here’s a stat that surprised me. Syracuse has been penalized more than Pitt this year, 55 (SYR) to 53 (PITT). I hope our boys clean up their laundry problem this week. It will make a win so much easier to achieve.

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  13. First of all, we will make a significant halftime adjustment – I predict we will put Paris in at safety. You heard it 1st here!

    Further, I predict zero TOs by our O. I would expect a GREAT reduction in penalty yardage, but that will depend on the Southern Refs.

    Liked by 1 person

  14. Koolaid-Induced Prediction:

    As we all know, Orange is just a combination of Red and Yellow. I think we knock the yellow out of them, leaving them red-faced – 38-10.

    Orange you glad we win this one?

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    1. ^^ If you look close enough it looks like the driver of the PITT semi has hairy gorilla arms. << no word if the driver has oversized calf’s

      Liked by 1 person

  16. Pitt wins 27-20

    One of our 2 kickers misses an extra point in the 1st half – the Panthers enter the adjustment chamber down 14-13 to cuse.

    Both teams score twice in the 2nd half with Pitt scoring TD’s and cuse settling for FG’s.

    The Pitt D and P.Ford step up and win the 2nd half by shutting down the cuse O.

    Squeeze the orange and “have a drink on me”.

    AC/DC (Annihilate Cuse/Destroy Cuse)

    H2P!

    Liked by 3 people

  17. I hate making predictions about Pitt. Hate it. Want to be optimistic, but I’m too old and have rooted for Pitt for too long to muster any…

    So I’ll pull a totally uninformed score out of the air.

    Orange 31, Panthers 34.

    Go Pitt.

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  18. Two ESPN writers who cover the ACC (David Hale and Andrea Adelson) did a mid-season All-ACC team, and Jimmy Morrisey, Jaylen Twyman, Paris Ford and DeMarri Mathis were selected. They did not include a 2nd team but would not be surprised if Taysir Mack, Pat Jones and Kylar Johnson were on it

    Liked by 1 person

  19. Pitt starts slow after the week off, but comes roaring back to win 38-28. Pitt fans are mostly happy afterwards.

    The Orange have a home field advantage in the Dome – artificial turf, noise, pressure, temperature etc.

    I will need to hydrate appropriately for this one.

    By-the-way, is the Dome the only artificial turf field in the ACC?

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      1. Aha! That’s right. BC does have artificial turf of some sort.

        BC also has an ‘inflatable dome’ that covers the field after football season so it can be used as a practice facility and student type events, I believe.

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  20. I’m going with the defensive averages. Syracuse is giving up 26 PPG and Pitt is giving up 22 PPG.

    Good guys 26, Bad guys 22. A weird score for a weird game.

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    1. Cuse’s offense is way below average though….especially compared to our competition this season.

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  21. Another thought… Tomorrow nights game will finally be the game when the loyal PITT football fans get over their fears of expected something good to happen to their football team. OR NOT!

    Liked by 2 people

  23. I check in at the Blather every few days or so just to read, never really commented much there but it’s a shame that it’s gone dormant at the height of the PITT football season. Chas and Reed are both great writers, hope it makes a comeback soon.

    Liked by 1 person

  25. Duzz was talking about Cuse literally turning up the heat in the Dome… No problem with these PITT Panthers- seems like over half of the are from the Deep South….

    Superstitiously, Last year I bet Cuse and the points hoping to lose money and affecting the outcome- a PITT victory… not feeling it this year as we are favored…. I don’t care if it is pretty or ugly, exciting or boring… just win the f’n game!!!

    Liked by 1 person

  26. Peake just reported Wednesday have lost 7 straight ACC coin tosses …

    Need Pitt-cocksfan to do the spread sheet/and give us some insight on if it makes any difference with the coin flip deferring to receive until the 2nd half…….

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    2. I heard the refs tell the PITT captains saying…. Heads they win tails you lose. I think it may be fixed as well

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  28. So Bernie – your prediction is, Saturday’s headline will be:

    “Pitt flips off Cuse!” ??

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    1. Orange will likely try some mis-direction trick play early in the third to try to take advantage of Paris being so amped up…

      Go Pitt.

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  31. Pitt 27 – Cuse 14

    Although Pitt is not very good after a bye. Maybe they’ll be more focused on the road. I would predict a bigger win but Pitt only plays well for one half.

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  32. I wonder if the team read SI is projecting them to the Orange bowl. Wouldn’t that be sweet! Cause secondary isn’t good.
    Pitt 33-Cuse 16

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  33. I’m still convinced that our OC is running the QB to death getting the plays and that is part of the second half swoon.

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  34. Don’t know nuthin bout no orange.
    But,
    We barely beat UCF (overrated), barely beat Delaware (crushed by Elon) and barely escaped Duke after being up by twenty-something.
    At some point the bullet finds the chamber and we shoot ourselves.
    Good guys -23
    Orange – 31.

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  35. A reminder — here are the scores of the last 4 Pitt- Orange games:

    Pitt 44-37
    Syr 27-24
    Pitt 76-61
    Pitt 23-20

    Expecting another barn-burner and down-to-the-wire finish…

    Go Pitt.

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  36. FWIW – earlier this week, USA Yoday picked their mid -season All American team.

    Jaylen Twyman 1st team DL!! (There is no 2nd team). Only Pitt player selected.

    Syr-iously, those Cuse guys are a seedy bunch. I think we’ll see a sack of Oranges

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  40. My prediction is the opposite of Maestro’s. Pitt’s offense and defense struggle in the first half and Pitt finds themselves behind at halftime. With the return of Paris in the second half Pitt plays much better on both sides of the ball and comes from behind to win 35-32.

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  42. Here’s Pitt’s luck — Marco Rubio, of all people, tweeted that if there’s a better RB than Henry Parrish he wants to see him. And then Rubio asks how come it took these schools so long to recognize what a special talent Henry is (course he gives no credit to Pitt in that regard…).

    My son sent me a copy of the tweet….

    Go Pitt.

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        1. I agree JoeL but to keep things in perspective….. last I read Henry is a 5.5 … 3* Probably not for much longer and would hate to lose him..

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  43. Tommy Devito is as average as they come in the ACC. Pitt SHOULD win this game by at least a TD coming off a bye with plenty of time to prepare. But, I’ve seen too many Pitt teams struggle in the Carrier Dome over the past 30 years. I have a bad feeling this game will be really close. I’ll take Pitt to win a close game, but I like a home dog getting 3+ points on a Friday night TV game.

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  44. This is a must win for Pitt. There is absolutely no excuse for losing this game! None! Coaching staff had 2 weeks to solve problems and get things fixed. As Big B said. Just win the F’n game!

    Liked by 1 person

  46. Penn State 59
    1 2 3 4 T
    PSU 14 24 7 14 59
    MD 0 0 0 0 0
    Maryland 0

    Syracuse 20
    1 2 3 4 T
    SYR 7 6 7 0 20
    MD 21 21 7 14 63
    Maryland 63

    Maryland isn’t very good and beat them by 43, Penn State got by Maryland by 63.

    This should not be close. More turnovers by this rested defense, PF gets an extra half to rest. KP is the new KP and finally (maybe) no dropped passes.
    45-14 crush

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  47. Syracuse goes to 0-3 if they lose we go to 1-2 if we lose. A crucial game for both teams.
    Should be a real battle. Hopefully Pitt proves they are for real.

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    1. Sorry for the late reply ike, basically the analyst said Pitt is a good 2nd half of the season team, and could run the table in the second half of the season. On the flip side, they also said that isn’t great for the ACC or the Coastal as it’s better when a bigger name team wins the division, as in Miami.

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  50. No more Koolaid this weekend for me. I’m drinking Screwdrivers tonight – with plenty of FRESHLY SQUEEZED orange JUICE.

    Liked by 2 people

  52. I agree Dan, PITT cannot come limping home after this game. They have to find a way to win this game even if it’s only by one point. Just win the, you know what game.

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  53. Today already has a weird vibe about it, with PITT playing tonight you would think it’s Saturday and there would be plenty games all day to watch. Nope, stoopid soap opera’s. I guess it’s going to be loud music day.

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  55. Great to see some new posters… and Dallas Mike to boot…. need all hands on deck and jumping in here to cheer our boyz on… this new breed of baller needs to “ feel the love!!!”

    Marietta Mike and spiritofsection22… you guys still kick’b????

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  56. MM – I spent a good amount of time on a post this morning that hasn’t shown – would have been around 5am.

    I’m tired of wasting my time – I’m moving my comments to the Blather – never a missing post.

    I know you said there was nothing you could do about the disappearing post, but there is something I can do…

    See yinz over on the other side…

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    2. For everyone else that has been having trouble posting, I’ve turned off “require username and email”. This may help or it just may lead to a bunch of anonymous comments. Will attempt to dig in further to figure out why WordPress sucks at something that should be a core competency

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  60. I tested that MM had attempted to find a work around with world Press. It looks like he did. I was like Erie and getting sick of dealing with the WP.
    So Rick you are good to post!
    I am posting deep in the bowels of the house of representatives and can not divulge my name.
    It may be leaked!

    Liked by 1 person

  63. Thoughts about the game:

    Pitt’s pass rush combined with Devito’s ribs should help offset any deep threat Cuse might have. I will not be surprised if he throws a couple picks due to the pressure and discomfort from the protective gear and bruises.

    Pitt’s WRs should be able to beat the Cuse coverage. If that happens, the OL improves a smidge and Kenny has time to plant and throw, he could have a good game.

    Flags, turnovers and who wins the field position will determine who wins.

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  68. WordPress is fine with only a few hiccups for me. Might be that I post on my CPU rather from my iphone which I personally hate using.

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  69. Right Tvax. Just post anonymous and if a poster would like to be identified just leave your tag at the end of the comment and if not? No Biggie.

    H2P!
    GO PITT GO PITT GO PITT!!

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  71. Doesn’t everyone need to have a WP account? Can’t recall initial use/posting here but maybe that is the key.

    Don’t recall it being a big deal but at times this computer stuff can be a PITA and then when it works on Windows cpu not always same on iphone or android or with apple laptop/pad

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  72. Giving it a try here from LA. (Even if I have to keep the damned ridiculous handle/homage to Aram Saroyan instead of my old LA Panther.)

    Ok. Here’s what really should happen: Pitt clobbers Syracuse. Not because they are due for a laugher; not because of random outcomes related the maddening inconsistency of college ball that render the use of “averages” as predictors meaningless; not because Syracuse is terrible; not because I spent one of the worst decades of my life in Syracuse one year; BUT because Pitt is a much better team in terms of players and coaches and by all rights SHOULD clobber Syracuse.

    We really have to turn the cardiac kids corner, or some of us will need one of those UPMC transplants.

    Pitt 45, Syracuse 13.

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