Syracuse (3-0, 1-0 Atlantic Coast) welcomes Connecticut (1-2, 0-1 American Athletic) to the Carrier Dome on Saturday at 4 p.m. In Week 3, Syracuse took down Florida State, 30-7, defeating the Seminoles for the first time in 52 years. Meanwhile, the Huskies struggled to finish off Rhode Island, edging out the Rams 56-49.

Here’s what to know about UConn heading into this week’s matchup:

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All-time series: UConn leads, 6-2

Last time they played: Syracuse toppled the Huskies in East Hartford, 31-24, in SU head coach Dino Babers’ first year at the helm. Amba Etta-Tawo broke the Syracuse single-game record for receiving yards, netting 270 on 12 catches. Eric Dungey posted a career day as well with 407 passing yards, three total touchdowns and no turnovers. The Orange never trailed and pulled away for good in the third quarter.

The UConn report: The Huskies are an extremely young and inexperienced team on both sides of the ball. When UConn played Boise State on Sept. 8, five true freshmen started on defense and not a single upperclassman.

That has been the narrative of the season thus far for the UConn defense. The Huskies are the only team in the country to have given up more than 2,000 yards in their first three games. Several teams have played four games without giving up that number. UConn is the only team in the country to give up a little over 600 yards (673) in a game and the only team to give up more than 50 points per game (55.7). The next closest is Oregon State at 46.3.

That’s understandable, to an extent, considering UConn’s first two opponents, No. 21 Central Florida and No. 20 Boise State. But Rhode Island is an FCS opponent that scored 49 points on 550 yards of offense against the Huskies. This defense is bad.

How Syracuse beats UConn: SU wins by playing the way it has all season long: fast. A defense without a single upperclassman will struggle against Babers’ up-tempo style of play, especially with Eric Dungey’s capabilities in the air and on the ground. If the SU defense plays like it did against Florida State, constantly giving the ball back to Dungey to run the offense all over the place, UConn will have absolutely no chance against the Orange.

Player to watch: David Pindell, quarterback, No. 5

If there’s anyone that has a chance of surprising Orange fans, it’s senior quarterback David Pindell. He is someone that certainly has big play potential. In two of his three games this season, Pindell has generated more than 400 yards of offense. Against UCF he threw for 266 and ran for 157, and those numbers were 319 and 137, respectively, against Rhode Island. He’s fast, he’s experienced and he has the capabilities to light up the scoreboard.

Published on September 19, 2018 at 10:50 pm

Contact Matt: mdliberm@syr.edu