How and what to watch for Duke vs. Syracuse

There are a few really ugly games on the schedule for Week 6, and this could be the ugliest. The winless Duke Blue Devils head up to upstate New York to face the 1-2 Syracuse Orange on Saturday afternoon.

Both teams in this one are averaging under 20 points per game. Duke quarterback Chase Brice has had a rough go of it, barely completing 50% of his throws, and throwing seven interceptions to just three touchdowns. Running backs Deon Jackson and Mataeo Durant are the highlights of the offense, combining for 427 yards, but just three touchdowns through four games. So that’s still not great. Duke is also giving up 32.2 points per game on defense, and have lost every game except one by multiple scores.

Syracuse head coach Dino Babers isn’t having as rough of a time as Duke, but it still hasn’t been easy for his team. The Orange are scoring just 17.7 points per game, while giving up 24. The Orange’s two losses came against top 25 opponents and got a pretty big confidence boost last time out when they beat Georgia Tech 37-20, carried by their defense with five turnovers.

Even with five turnovers the offense still struggled to put together drives, as Tommy Devito threw for just 194 yards and the team was outgained by nearly 100 total yards in the win.

All in all, this game is projected to be really ugly and really low scoring.

Game Time/TV Channel/Streaming

You can watch this game Saturday, October 10th at 12:30 ET on ESPN3, which is only available via the ESPN App.

Point Spread, Totals, Odds, Trends

Point spread: Duke (-2.5) at Syracuse
Point Total: 51.5
Money line: Duke (-135), Syracuse (+125)

• Duke are 1-9 in their last 10 games against the Orange
• Total has gone over in five of Syracuse’s last seven games.

The Best Bet

Both teams are trends that would tell most people to take the over, just because its hitting so frequently in these team’s recent games. However, the only reason the over is hitting is because their opponents are usually scoring a lot of points on them, not because they’re scoring a lot.

This game will be ugly and more than likely low scoring.

Pick: Under 51.5

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