Syracuse football at UConn Huskies best bets for week 2

As we noted earlier this week, Syracuse football is a substantial betting favorite as the Orange heads to Connecticut this Saturday night.

The ‘Cuse (1-0), after falling to Louisville by 38 points a stanza ago, totally reversed course in smoking the Cardinals last Saturday evening on the Hill, 31-7.

Besides a ridiculous number of penalties, the Orange looked really good in all phases of the game (offense, defense and special teams), and some national pundits took notice of that relatively complete effort by Syracuse football.

Now the ‘Cuse turns its attention to UConn, which is an FBS independent in football but obviously a long-time former rival of the Orange in the Big East Conference before Syracuse bolted for the Atlantic Coast Conference in the 2013-14 campaign.

Best Syracuse football bets week 2

Okay, let’s look at some of the best bets that I view as it relates to the Orange playing at the Huskies this Saturday.

Syracuse football as a 22.5-point favorite
When I penned this column, WynnBET had the ‘Cuse as a 22.5-point betting favorite over UConn (1-1), with a spread bet of -110.

On the face of it, 22.5 points is a really big spread. I can’t recall too many times in recent years where the Orange was such a large favorite.

So that concerns me a little. Plus, the Huskies are suiting up at home in this non-conference clash. They have a first-year head coach, but that guy is Jim Mora, who previously led UCLA and served as a head coach in the NFL, too.

Mora will have his guys ready to roll on Saturday. UConn may be 1-1, but it fell at Utah State and crushed Central Connecticut, most recently, from the Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field.

To me, I don’t think that Connecticut has been all that stellar early in the 2022 season. The Huskies are also without their starting quarterback for the rest of this stanza, due to an unfortunate injury.

Conversely, this week word came out that Syracuse football will be without fullback/tight end Chris Elmore and linebacker Stefon Thompson for the remainder of 2022.

But I believe the Orange has solid depth, particularly at linebacker with redshirt freshman Derek McDonald getting a starting nod versus UConn.

Two other facets that worry me are the ‘Cuse having a letdown after putting forth a monster performance before a boisterous Dome crowd last Saturday against Louisville, and also the fact that UConn isn’t all that great of a squad, and looming next for the Orange is a non-conference showdown the following weekend with Purdue on the Hill.

Head coach Dino Babers said earlier this week that Connecticut will be a tough opponent, and I hope that the ‘Cuse roster doesn’t take UConn lightly.

Each team has a star running back in Sean Tucker for the Orange, and Rochester, N.Y., native Nathan Carter for the Huskies.

With all of this as context, even despite the injuries, I sense that Syracuse football is going to blow out UConn and cover the spread.

Over/under set at 49.0 points
Per WynnBET, the over/under was set at 49.0 points at the time that I penned this column, with that bet at -110.

The Orange dropped 31 points on the Cardinals in week one. Yes, Elmore being out could affect the ‘Cuse offense both on pass plays and in the ground game, but I still feel like Syracuse football is going to produce a good amount of points against the Huskies.

In its first win of the 2022 term, UConn beat Central Connecticut, 28-3. Naturally, I’d assume that the Orange defense is superior to that of Central Connecticut, so I wouldn’t expect the Huskies to score that much versus Syracuse football.

However, if the ‘Cuse is torching UConn, maybe Babers puts in some second or third-line players to get a good amount of playing experience. That, in turn, could lead to more points for the Huskies.

Additionally, as I just noted, UConn does have a running back who is able to pile up a ton of yards. Given that Syracuse football does have a new starter at linebacker, along with everything else that I described directly above, I think that the Orange and Connecticut will top the over/under.

Pick Syracuse football on the moneyline
The moneyline, according to WynnBET, is -2000 for the Orange and +1000 for UConn. Obviously, that -2000 is a big, big number for the ‘Cuse.

The moneyline is a straight-up bet with no point spread involved, and I’m feeling quite confident that Syracuse football is going to conquer Connecticut, even with this encounter on the road in East Hartford, Conn.

Go with the Orange here. If Syracuse football ends up falling in this contest, I’ll happily shoulder all of the blame.

Let’s get weird – go for a parlay
Of course, the rules for a parlay may differ from odds-maker to odds-maker, but if you’re able to do a parlay with the above bets, and you’re feeling saucy, I say go for it!

I think that Syracuse football has something special brewing in 2022, and I don’t envision the Huskies proving too tough of a challenge for the ‘Cuse. There, I jinxed it. Sorry.