The Pittsburgh Panthers are taking on the Syracuse Orange in an ACC battle on Thursday night of college football Week 3. The game will kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET on Thursday in Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh is a 10.5-point favorite against Syracuse on DraftKings Sportsbook. The Orange are +330 to pull off the upset.
Pittsburgh vs. Syracuse Player Prop Best Bets
Steve Angeli 40+ Pass Attempts (+109)
Jeff Nixon has done a great job as offensive coordinator at Syracuse over the last couple of seasons. In Nixon’s first year in charge, he helped Kyle McCord turn into one of the best quarterbacks in the country. He started last season strong with Steve Angeli, but Angeli’s season-ending injury disrupted everything Syracuse was hoping to do. Angeli is now back for redemption in 2026. He started the season strong, putting together a great game against New Hampshire. Last week, he played well against Cal, except for the turnovers. Angeli moved the ball well through the air, but ended up throwing three interceptions.
Despite his mistakes last week, this offense is built around Angeli. Jeff Nixon wants to let him air out and lead this offense. Last week against Cal, Angeli threw the ball 50 times. He might not get back to that number, but he should get to 40 against Pittsburgh. This should be a high-scoring game between two offenses with a lot of potential. The Orange are also underdogs and will likely have to keep throwing the football to stay in this game. That should lead to Angeli hitting this number on Thursday night.
Mason Heintschel Anytime TD (+215)
Mason Heintschel had an incredible first game of the season against Miami (OH). He threw for a remarkable seven touchdowns and 453 yards. However, the Pittsburgh offense then looked totally off last week against UCF, only scoring 12 total points. This is a good spot for Heintschel to bounce back with a good game. The Pittsburgh offense has a lot of solid weapons, but no real standout skill position player. They have four different running backs with double-digit carries and no receivers with double-digit receptions. That makes it hard to predict who will find the end zone with the Panthers for a given game.
The one player that will unquestionably have the ball in his hands is Mason Heintschel, which is why he is my pick to score a touchdown in this game. Heintschel is not known as a dual-threat quarterback, but he is a good athlete and will take off and scramble a few times per game. He had seven rush attempts last week against UCF and five the week prior. In fact, Heintschel scored a rushing touchdown in this matchup against Syracuse last season. In what should be a big game for Heintschel, don’t be surprised if he scampers in for a touchdown on the ground.
