Teams: Syracuse Orange (0-1, 0-0) vs UConn Huskies (1-0)
Day & Time: Saturday, September 6, 12:00 pm
Location: JMA Wireless Dome, Syracuse, NY
Line: Syracuse opened higher, but the line has shrunk to only a -6.5 advantage for the Orange according to Fanduel’s odds.
TV/Streaming: ACCNX, WatchESPN
Radio: Cuse.com, TK 99/105, WAER 88.3, SiriusXM 138 or 203
Rivalry: Syracuse, 7-6
Current Streak: 5, Syracuse
First Meeting: UConn may have totaled 566 yards of offense, with 445 of them coming from Dan Orlovsky,
but Syracuse hung tough with 406 yards of offense. The difference maker came with the Orange defense forcing six turnovers which led to a 42-30 victory over the Huskies back in the Dome on October 30, 2004
Last Meeting: Kyle McCord fell short of setting a new Syracuse record for single-game passing yards by 13 yards. He still threw for 470 yards and three Syracuse receivers recorded over 100 receiving yards in a 31-24 win in the Dome last year.
Head Coaches: Syracuse: Fran Brown (second year, 10-4) | UConn: Jim Mora (fourth year, 19-20)
Coach Bio: Mora walked on to the University of Washington football team as a defensive back and linebacker. He jumped quickly to the NFL coaching ranks after college, starting with the San Diego Chargers as a defensive quality control coach before taking over as the defensive backs coach.
He then joined the New Orleans Saints as the DBs coach, joining his father who was the head coach. The younger Mora then joined the San Francisco 49ers as their defensive coordinator. After that, Mora became the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. He was only in charge for three seasons before getting fired. Mora returned to coaching with the Seattle Seahawks as an assistant head coach before taking over the head coaching duties for a season.
Mora found success as the head coach at UCLA. He had two 10-win seasons in his first three years at the helm of the Bruins. However, Mora struggled later on in his UCLA career, getting fired halfway through his sixth season. His return to coaching came with UConn, where he spent time getting to know his team as an offensive assistant towards the end of the 2021 season before taking over the reins of the job full time for the 2022 season.
Last Year: While UConn didn’t pick up any wins against Power Four competition in the regular season, the Huskies beat up on the other teams in the Group of Five in the FBS. UConn finished 8-4 and earned a Fenway Bowl bid against North Carolina. The Huskies would then prevail against the Tar Heels, leaving Boston with a 27-14 win.
Last Game: UConn used 638 total yards of offense to beat up on Central Connecticut State to cruise to a 59-13 victory.
“Fear Me, I’ve Killed Hundreds of Timelords”: Joe Fagnano is back for a seventh year of college football. He threw for 260 yards and three touchdowns last week against CCSU. Fagnano had a decent game as well against the Orange last season, going 27-48 for 228 yards and two touchdowns.
If Syracuse Wins: As usual, UConn gives us a five-star basketball recruit for both the men and women.
If Syracuse Loses: Lay down. Try not to cry. Cry a lot.
Fun Fact: Fran Brown doesn’t like losing. He hasn’t lost back-to-back games since the 2021 season at Rutgers.
