Holy Cross vs Syracuse Prediction College Football Picks 9/28/24

The Holy Cross Crusaders and the Syracuse Orange meet Saturday in college football action from JMA Wireless Dome. Here’s a Holy Cross vs Syracuse prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Holy Cross vs Syracuse pick. We will examine:

The Holy Cross Crusaders recent form and player performance

The Syracuse Orange recent form and player performance

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Holy Cross Crusaders

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Syracuse Orange

Recent betting trends in games played between Holy Cross and Syracuse

A summary that ties it all together and produces a favorable betting outcome for the Holy Cross vs Syracuse game

Holy Cross Crusaders Betting Preview

The Crusaders had a couple of tough losses to start out the year. The opener was a 20-17 defeat by Rhode Island, followed up by another close one 21-20 versus New Hampshire. Holy Cross got into the win column 43-22 versus Bryant in game three, though.

On Saturday versus Yale, Holy Cross was outscored 21-14 in the second half during a tough loss 38-31. Joe Pesansky threw for 279 yards and a score, but Jayden Clerveaux did most of the work on the ground with 17 carries for 49 yards and three TDs.

Syracuse Orange Betting Preview

Over on the Syracuse side, they kicked off their season with a couple of victories. First came a 38-22 win versus Ohio in the opener. The Orange played a much tighter matchup versus Georgia Tech in game two but still came away with the win 31-28.

The Orange took their first loss of the season last Friday versus Stanford. Syracuse gave up points in every quarter on the way to a 26-24 defeat. QB Kyle McCord had 339 yards and two scores with a pair of picks. Trebor Pena caught 10 balls for 101 yards to top the receivers.

Why the Syracuse Orange will win

• Syracuse has won eight of its last nine games against non-conference opponents at JMA Wireless Dome.
• Syracuse has covered the spread in four of its last five games against non-FBS teams.
• Syracuse has won the first half in three of its last four games against non-conference opponents at JMA Wireless Dome.

Why the Holy Cross Crusaders will win

• Syracuse has failed to cover the spread in five of its last six games against non-AP-ranked teams at JMA Wireless Dome.

Total Points Facts

• Each of Syracuse’s last six games in September have gone UNDER the total points line.

Holy Cross vs Syracuse Prediction

I’ll probably lean toward Syracuse. The Orange need to shake off last Friday’s loss to Stanford, though. Syracuse posted 339 total yards in that one, with just 26 of those being on the ground. The 5-of-13 rate on third-down tries and two interceptions didn’t help either. The good news is that Syracuse has 24 or more points in all three games so far and should score pretty well here.

As for Holy Cross, they had a few solid individual performances against Yale last weekend but fell short with an uneven second half. The Crusaders gave up four rushing TDs in that one, so they’ll need to shore up the run defense for this weekend.

Andrew Jett's Pick: Syracuse Orange -26.5