Syracuse (2-1, 1-1 ACC) hosts Holy Cross, looking to rebound after its first loss of the season.
Opponent: Holy Cross Crusaders
Date & Time: Saturday, Sept. 28, 12:00 p.m.
Location: JMA Wireless Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
TV: ACC Extra/ESPN+
PREDICTION (The Juice's Season Record: 1-2)
After a crushing last-second defeat to Stanford last Friday, the Orange are looking to bounce back against Holy Cross. For the first time in the Fran Brown era, the JMA Wireless Dome will be sold out.
Holy Cross comes into the matchup against SU with a 1-3 record. Their singular win came against a 1-4 Bryant Bulldogs team. However, records are sometimes deceiving.
In the Crusaders' three losses, they have only lost by 6 points or less. Though all these games have been against FCS teams, there is a possibility that if all went right, the Orange could have been facing a 4-0 team.
After facing multiple dual-threat quarterbacks, Syracuse will get a break from that in this matchup. Starting Crusader QB Joe Pesansky has only used his legs 19 times this season, rushing for 77 yards.
The Syracuse defense can breathe a sigh of relief because their run defense is in the bottom 30 in Division 1-A. Though Pesansky is not a weapon on the ground, he is through the air. The quarterback has the 18th most passing yards in the FCS this season, just shy of 1,000 yards.
Because the defense had a questionable first three games of the season, Fran Brown made some adjustments.
Junior defensive back Devin Grant has returned to his natural safety position, which means freshman Marcellus Barnes Jr. earns the starting nod at cornerback. Star senior Justin Barron moves to linebacker to fill the hole left by Marlowe Wax.
It will be interesting to see if these changes help tighten the defense.
Though the run defense has been questionable all season, the run offense hit a season-low last game. SU finished with just 34 rushing yards against Stanford, and Holy Cross boasts the 35th-best run defense in FCS.
Though Holy Cross is an above-average FCS team in the statistics department, I expect Syracuse to return to the win column this weekend with a 52-14 beat down of Holy Cross.
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