Week 11 of the college football season has arrived and the full postseason picture is beginning to paint itself. The Miami Hurricanes have stumbled a bit lately and need all the help they can get if they are to keep their CFB playoff hopes alive. They will take on the Syracuse Orange this week as they look to add to their win total.
These programs have faced off 24 times in their history, with the Hurricanes coming out on top in 16 of these. However, Syracuse won the previous matchup, which was a 42-38 win back in 2024.
Looking at the odds for this year, Miami enters as a 28.5-point favorite and holds -4500 odds on DraftKings Sportsbook of winning outright. Syracuse holds +1700 odds of pulling off the upset, with the game total set at 46.5.
This article provides a preview of both teams and offers a pick for the Week 11 matchup.
Syracuse vs. Miami prediction, preview
Syracuse Orange
After getting off to a 3-1 start to the season with the lone loss coming to Tennessee, Syracuse has slipped into a bit of a state of disaster as a program. It enters this week having lost five consecutive games at the hands of Duke, SMU, Pittsburgh, Georgia Tech and North Carolina. The Orange are 3-5-1 against the spread overall.
The season’s outlook completely shifted when quarterback Steve Angeli suffered a season-ending Achilles tear. Prior to the injury, the Notre Dame transfer had thrown for 1,317 yards, 10 touchdowns and just two interceptions, with one score with his legs. Syracuse has failed to get adequate production at the quarterback spot since his injury, with Rickie Collins posting a 54.5% completion percentage with six touchdowns and eight interceptions. Syracuse turned to freshman Joseph Filardi in its matchup against North Carolina last week. But Filardi completed just four of his 18 pass attempts for 39 yards and added only eight rushing yards. Collins will return to the starting quarterback spot this week. Since Angeli’s injury, the Orange are averaging just 12.0 points per game.
The lone offensive bright spot has been running back Yasin Willis. He has rushed for 495 yards and four touchdowns this season. Will Nixon has 265 rushing yards and three touchdowns of his own, while adding 163 yards through the air. Rickie Collins will also be involved in the rushing attack and has 143 rushing yards and one touchdown scored across his six games played. Johntay Cook II is the team’s leading receiver with 501 yards through the air and two touchdowns. Darrell Gill Jr. is tied for a team-high five receiving touchdowns along with 459 yards through the air, while Justus Ross-Simmons adds 312 yards and five receiving scores of his own.
On the season overall, the Orange are averaging 23.7 points per game, which ranks 97th in the country, and are generating 371.0 total yards of offense. Defensively, they are allowing 30.8 points per game, which ranks 112th out of the 136 qualifying FBS teams. The Orange are giving up 435.2 total yards of offense, including 267.4 through the air and 167.8 on the ground. They have just 16 sacks tallied as a team and have forced 10 total turnovers.
Miami Hurricanes
The Hurricanes are off to a 6-2 start to the season, but are 2-2 in ACC conference play. Miami opened the season with five consecutive wins over Notre Dame, Bethune-Cookman, South Florida, Florida and Florida State. However, it has dropped two of its past three games to Louisville and SMU, while picking up a comfortable victory over Stanford in between. Miami is 5-3 against the spread on the season.
The honeymoon period has worn off for Carson Beck down in Miami. The Georgia transfer got off to an incredible start to the season and looked like a legitimate Heisman candidate. However, Beck has thrown just three touchdowns and six interceptions over the past three weeks after tallying 11 touchdowns and just three picks across the first five games. He still is positing an ACC-best 72.5% completion percentage and has thrown for 1,947 passing yards and added one score with his legs.
Mark Fletcher Jr. leads the team in rushing with 636 yards and nine rushing scores. CharMar Brown adds 280 rushing yards and four scores of his own. The wide receiver production is headlined by Malachi Toney, who has 636 yards through the air and three scores. CJ Daniels is posting an ACC-best six receiving touchdowns along with 351 yards, while Keelan Marion and Tony Johnson play a key role in the wide receiver attack, as well.
Miami is averaging 32.2 points per game, which ranks 45th in the country, and is allowing the 10th fewest points at 15.6 opponents’ points per game. The Hurricanes are generating 413.9 total yards of offense per game while allowing just 285.1 total yards. This includes just 79.1 yards per game on the ground. They have tallied 17 sacks and forced 13 turnovers on the season.
Syracuse vs. Miami pick, best bet
Prior to the injury to Steve Angeli, Syracuse was a team that looked to be on the right track, and one that I was beginning to seriously believe in. But Fran Brown’s squad has struggled to generate any semblance of offense since this injury occurred. They have not tallied 18 points in a game since and have been outscored by a total margin of 167-60.
Miami has shown some areas of vulnerability over the past three weeks, but is more talented on both sides of the ball. This, paired with a huge motivation factor, gives them a major edge in this game. The Hurricanes sit at 18th in the AP Rankings and likely need to win out with a little help have a true chance at qualifying for the College Football Playoff.
This is a matchup that should get ugly early, and the 28.5-point spread is completely justified. Miami has not allowed more than 24 points in a game this season, while holding more impressive offenses to single-digit scoring outputs on three occasions. Syracuse’s team total is set at 7.5 points on DraftKings Sportsbook for this matchup. It feels extremely improbable for the Orange to have any sort of offensive success and my lean is toward the under on this number, but I am backing the Hurricanes to cover the four touchdown spread.
Expect the Miami defense to impose themselves and for a clear pathway to be established for this to become a blowout. This is a great chance for Carson Beck to get back on the right track against a Syracuse defense that is allowing 30.8 points per game already this season. Count on the Hurricanes bouncing back from their previous disappointing effort and capitalizing on the opportunity to produce a blowout win to keep their postseason hopes alive.
