North Carolina vs Syracuse Pick & Prediction - 10/31/2025
Updated July 9, 2026
The North Carolina Tar Heels (2-5, 0-3 ACC) will travel to take on the Syracuse Orange (3-5, 1-4 ACC) on Friday night at JMA Wireless Dome in Syracuse. Both of these teams are playing horribly in the ACC this season, but someone does have to win this contest from Central New York. Before kickoff between the Heels and Orange, continue reading to get my North Carolina vs Syracuse prediction in college football.
Both teams enter this contest desperate for momentum. Syracuse enters this game at 3-5 and has lost four games in a row. Their slide coincides with the loss of starting quarterback Steve Angeli, who is out for the season. The Orange will try to get into the win column without him here. North Carolina is 2-5 and dropped a close 17-16 game at home to the Virginia Cavaliers last week. UNC has looked better over their last two games, losing them by a combined four points, but they haven't been good enough to win games consistently yet.
Syracuse is playing at home here. But they are 0-2 at home since having to make a change at quarterback for the injured Angeli. The Orange are favored by oddsmakers and this might be their best chance to get a win for the rest of the season. North Carolina has been a circus of a program this season under Bill Belichick and will try to at least quiet their critics temporarily with a win.
North Carolina signal-caller Gio Lopez went 23-of-36 for 208 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions against Virginia. He also rushed for a touchdown in that game. That outing highlighted both his dual-threat ability and his tendency to turn the football over. He needs to clean up the turnovers if his team is going to get a win anytime soon.
Rickie Collins has taken over at quarterback in the place of Angeli for the Orange. He threw for 224 yards, a touchdown, and no interceptions last week against Georgia Tech. But Collins hasn't been good enough to help Syracuse keep up with the more explosive offenses in college football just yet.
Score Projection: Syracuse 27 – North Carolina 17
Win Probability: Syracuse 62%, North Carolina 38%
This game might be the scariest thing on television on Halloween night. Both programs have been playing some dismal football and I don't see any reason why that wouldn't continue here. I'll go with Syracuse to win this game and cover the spread, but I'd much rather watch Halloween: Resurrection starring Busta Rhymes than this game.
Jay Sanin is the GM and Head of Sports at ATS.io. He has been writing about sports gambling since 2013, handicapping tens of thousands of sporting events. He plays sides and totals aggressively across most sports and is more selective in player prop markets. He does his own modeling across most sports, and his family is jealous of how much time he spends on his precious spreadsheets.
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