Boca Raton Bowl Preview: Syracuse vs. South Florida
On Thursday, December 21, college football bowl game action continues with this matchup between Syracuse and South Florida at FAU Stadium in Boca Raton, Florida.
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Syracuse (-2.5; 56.5) vs. South Florida
After eight seasons, Syracuse fired head coach Dino Babers with one game remaining in the season. Tight ends coach Nunzio Campanile took over for the season finale, and the Orange defeated Wake Forest to get bowl-eligible. Campanile will remain the interim coach for this game, and the rest of the staff, except for offensive coordinator Jason Beck, will be in place through the bowl game before Fran Brown, the former defensive backs coach at Georgia, takes over as head coach.
The Orange will also be without QB Garrett Shrader (line dropped around ½ point when he was officially ruled out), who played in the regular season finale but just had shoulder surgery and battled an injured shoulder throughout the season. Redshirt freshman Braden Davis, who completed one pass this season, will take over the job. There is also a possibility that TE Dan Villari, who played QB in the Pittsburgh game and started at Georgia Tech, will be used in the "ThunderCat" role as a runner.
Alex Golesh is in his first year as USF head coach, having come in from Tennessee, where he served as offensive coordinator. Golesh inherited a program that had a combined record of 4-29 in the previous season and got them to a respectable 6-6 record and a bowl appearance for the first time since 2018.
Like Syracuse, USF had to win its season finale over Charlotte to get to 6-6 and bowl eligibility.
Both clubs ranked in the Top 30 nationally in rushing offense, but the Bulls are certainly a more balanced group. South Florida ranked dead last in FBS for passing yards allowed, but the Orange are not likely to take advantage of that deficiency. However, South Florida has trouble limiting explosive plays in general on defense.
The X-factor here will be Rocky Long, still coaching the defense for Syracuse and compiling a game plan to force USF QB Byrum Brown into turning the ball over.
In full disclosure, I bet USF +4 on the opener, but I like it a lot less than I did two weeks ago. The bet I like better now is the Under 57. Long can coach this Syracuse defense up to forcing turnovers and getting stops, and the Orange, with a heavy running attack, cannot take full advantage of a poor USF defense that rated 120 out of 130 nationally.
Pick: Syracuse 26, South Florida 23
Game Trends from Steve Makinen
* SYRACUSE is 12-3-1 ATS in the last 16 games as favorite (4-0-1 ATS this season, 5-0 on ML)
* SOUTH FLORIDA is 1-6 ATS in the last seven December games
Systems Match: PLAY SYRACUSE, FADE SOUTH FLORIDA