West Virginia vs. Syracuse Betting Line at Mountaineers -14.5

Written by:
Carrie Stroup
Published on:
Oct/21/2011
West Virginia vs. Syracuse Betting Line

The West Virginia vs. Syracuse betting line was coming in at -14.5 in favor of the Mountaineers for Friday night’s College Football game.  West Virginia was getting over 80 percent of the spread betting action. 

Sportsbook.com Line & Total: West Virginia -14.5 & 59

Opening Line & Total: WVU -14 & 58

No. 11 West Virginia tries for one last successful trip to central New York when it takes on the Orange for the last time in Big East play on Friday night.

West Virginia has four straight wins at Syracuse, which will leave the Big East after this year, outscoring the Orange 138 to 57 in these four Carrier Dome visits. The Mountaineers’ only loss this season is to No. 1 LSU, and they have averaged 44.8 PPG in five wins. WVU star QB Geno Smith threw 3 INT in last year’s 19-14 home loss to the Orange, but he has 360 pass YPG, 16 TD and 3 INT this year, and should thrive against Syracuse’s 112th-ranked pass defense (293 YPG).

Smith hasn’t been the only WVU player with gaudy numbers, as he has three receivers each averaging more than 75 yards per game. Junior Stedman Bailey leads the Big East with 106 receiving YPG, including four straight 110-yard efforts. Bailey also has four scores in these past four contests. Junior Tavon Austin is the team’s reception leader with 7.0 per game, and he caught five passes for 32 yards and a TD in last year’s meeting with Syracuse. Sophomore Ivan McCartney has caught at least four passes in all six games, and posted a career-best 131 yards in last week’s 43-16 pounding of Connecticut. The Mountaineers rushing game ranks 91st in the nation in yardage (123 YPG), but that number is skewed by the 360 yards they had against Bowling Green. They have failed to reach 105 yards in any game, averaging 75.6 rushing YPG in the other five contests. On the other side of the ball, the pass defense has been stellar (181 YPG, 17th in nation) despite a paltry 1.3 sacks per game (97th in FBS). After not forcing a turnover in the first two games of the season, WVU has nine takeaways in the past four weeks.

The Orange have been pretty balanced on offense in the past three weeks, averaging 189 passing YPG and 150 YPG on the ground. Unfortunately, these combined numbers aren’t very good, as Syracuse ranks 96th among FBS schools in yardage (334 YPG). QB Ryan Nassib threw three picks in a loss to Rutgers, but rebounded nicely with 201 total yards and 3 TD in a narrow three-point win at 9.5-point underdog Tulane. Although his accuracy numbers in two meetings with WVU are poor (12-of-31, 38.7%), Nassib has thrown 3 TD with 0 INT in the pair of matchups. RB Antwon Bailey is on a nice three-game run of 100-yard efforts, and he rumbled for 94 yards on 19 carries in last year’s upset in Morgantown. Despite its weak pass defense, the Orange have held their own in stopping the run. They rank 23rd in the nation with 104 rushing YPG allowed and held their last Big East opponent (Rutgers) to a comical five yards on 38 carries!

- Carrie Stroup, Gambling911.com Senior Reporter

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