How to watch North Carolina vs. Syracuse football game. The North Carolina Tar Heels and the Syracuse Orange are opening their 2020 seasons against one another at noon ET on Saturday at Kenan Memorial Stadium.Syracuse enters 2020 with plenty of questions after a disappointing 5-7 season in 2019. Head coach Dino Babers starts his fifth year leading the Orange with two new coordinators as Sterlin Gilbert takes over the offense and Tony White takes over the defense.The Orange are expected to be one of the worst teams in the conference this season. Experts at The Athletic picked Syracuse to finish dead-last in the ACC while college football guru Phil Steele also has the Orange at the bottom of the ACC.
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North Carolina vs Syracuse
Date: Saturday, Sept. 12 | Time: Noon ET
Location: Kenan Stadium — Chapel Hill, North Carolina
TV: ACC Network
Live stream: Watch Here
Why Syracuse can cover
Syracuse is 7-3-1 against the spread in its last 11 games in September, and DeVito guides an offense that averaged 28.3 points in 2019. The junior passed for 2,360 yards and 19 touchdowns while being picked off just five times. He threw three touchdown passes after coming off the bench in a double-overtime victory at North Carolina in the team’s last matchup in 2018. His primary target is likely to be Taj Harris, who had 37 catches for 559 yards last season.This is the inverse of the North Carolina storyline, because Syracuse has come a long way in a year. The Orange started 2019 ranked in the preseason top 25 on the heels of a 10-win season that appeared to signify a breakthrough for the Dino Babers era. After beating Liberty in the opener, the team went on to lose six of its next eight games before finishing with a 5-7 record. Now after starting last year in the national top 25, Syracuse begins 2020 picked No. 14 out of 15 teams in the preseason ACC poll. What was hype for the next step forward for a program that had apparently leveled up has become an afterthought. Now Syracuse goes into each ACC game fighting for respect in the same way it had to during Babers’ first two years with the Orange.
Why UNC can cover
UNC is 6-2 against the spread in its last eight home games, and Howell comes in off a 2019 campaign where he was named ACC Freshman of the Year after throwing for 3,641 yards. He also threw 38 touchdown passes against just seven interceptions, and nine other starters return on an offense that averaged 474 yards and 33.2 points per game a season ago. Wide receivers Dyami Brown and Dazz Newsome both surpassed 1,000 yards and combined for 22 touchdowns. This program has come a long way in 12 months. At the start of the 2019 season, Mack Brown’s return to Chapel Hill was celebrated as more of a topic of intrigue than national relevance. The Tar Heels were staring down a difficult schedule that included Clemson in the cross-division rotation and had oddsmakers projecting between four and five wins on the season. But then they opened with wins against South Carolina and Miami, came a two-point try short of upsetting Clemson and quarterback Sam Howell emerged as one of the top freshman in the country. No longer a topic of intrigue or novelty in college football, Brown’s return was proven to be among the most significant developments in ACC football.
The Last Season
Records: UNC 7-6 (4-4 ACC); Syracuse 5-7 (2-6 ACC)
UNC offense: 33.1 ppg | 474 ypg | 285.8 passing ypg | 188.2 rushing ypg
Syracuse defense (allowed): 30.7 ppg | 464.1 ypg | 262.5 passing ypg | 201.6 rushing ypg
Prediction
It will be all North Carolina in this one. Sam Howell will not have a sophomore slump this season and will put his name in the running for the Heisman Trophy following his season-opening performance against Syracuse. The Tar Heels defense force three turnovers on their way to a stellar performance and season-opening win.
Kevin
North Carolina 31 Syracuse 20
I’ll kick things off… I think the Orange defense comes out strong in the first half giving Sam Howell some unique looks and causing the Tar Heels offense to scuffle. They settle down in the third quarter and attack Syracuse on the ground while the Orange offensive line struggles to give Tommy DeVito time to look downfield. A second-half turnover gives UNC a short field and they are able to maintain a two-possession lead.