Pittsburgh 27-13 Syracuse (Sep 17, 2026) Final Score

Team pages: Syracuse · Pittsburgh

Syracuse1-213

Pittsburgh3-027Final

Thu, Sep 17 · Acrisure Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pa. · Crowd 42,087

Pittsburgh beat Syracuse 27-13.

We had Pittsburgh favored. It won.

Next: Syracuse beat UConn 42-41, Sat Oct 3

Next: Pittsburgh beat Bucknell 59-0, Sat Sep 26

Top comment in the game thread

It's a good thing Fran is getting rained on because I don't think he's getting a shower tonight.

Q2 13:23 · r/CFB game thread · Thu, Sep 17

How it swung

Before kickoff, our ratings gave Pittsburgh an 82% chance, and the closing betting line (Pittsburgh was a 10.5-point favorite) put it at 80%.

Favored the whole way: Pittsburgh never fell below 73%.

Syracuse never had better than a 26% chance.

FinalPittsburgh 27-13 SyracusePittsburgh wonMove across the chart, or tap a numbered swing, to see any play.

No single play moved the chance by 20 points.

What fans said, play by play

The line in bold above each quote is written by our model from the thread’s comments and the play-by-play.

Q1 4:12Oh Mason I’m gonnar/CFB game threadKenneth Pickett doesn’t die, he just reinvents himselfr/CFB game thread
Q2 13:23Syracuse coach Fran Brown receives unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after arguing with officialsQuoted at the top of the page.Go get em fran that was horribler/CFB game thread
Q2 10:28Syracuse kicker Woody shanks a 29-yard field goal attempt wide leftsacrifice tripp woody to a pack of hungry wolvesr/CFB game thread
Q2 4:04Boooo the funny thing didn’t happenr/CFB game threadlol, Syracuse gets 4 more downs not to score.r/CFB game thread
Q4 11:35Angeli throws interception to Lovelace as fans demand benchingWill the Guangdong Tigers want Steve Angeli?r/CFB game threadJesus Christ fran bench himr/CFB game thread

Pittsburgh’s chance to win after every play.

How to read this chart

Starts from the pregame line (Pittsburgh -10.5), at 87% for Pittsburgh (the play-by-play feed's kickoff number, moved to match the line; our model's and the betting line's own numbers are in “The betting line, and the fans”). Dots are the biggest swings; ticks under the chart are scores. Under the scores, r/CFB comments per minute from fans with a Pittsburgh or Syracuse flair (360 and 403); both sides share one scale, regulation only. A gold diamond marks a play fans were reacting to.

Watch the plays

The bar and the arrow show Pittsburgh’s chance to win after each play; the logo is the team the play helped.

Every drive

Pittsburgh scored on 5 of its 10 drives; Syracuse on 3 of its 10.

Pittsburgh’s drives are teal, Syracuse’s amber. A line runs from where a drive started to where it ended; a filled dot means it scored.

“I don't know if I've ever seen someone miss the net from that close.”

A Syracuse fan

How fans reacted

Steady

Fans had the most to say in the second quarter.

Jump to the loudest stretch

The jump was steady; the crowd was steady.

Two crowds, one game

The words each side’s fans used far more than the other side, from the game thread.

Pittsburgh fans

mason“Feels like Pitt needs to give Mason some quick easy throws. They’re using these long developing plays and it hasn’t worked all game”

Both sets of fans kept coming back to: throw, ball, every, getting.

What it cost

Pittsburgh’s chance to win the conference rose from 2% to 3%.

Win the conference

Syracuse · lost0% → 0%

Pittsburgh · won2% → ▲3%

Before the game (September 16, 2026) → after this result, in our model.

Box score

Pittsburgh 27, Syracuse 13

Pittsburgh covered −10.5 by 3.5. The total, 40, stayed under 51.5.

Team totals	Syracuse	Pittsburgh
Total yards	347	368
Passing	20 of 32, 205 yds	10 of 23, 123 yds
Rushing	38 for 142 yds	37 for 245 yds
First downs	23	22
Third down	5 of 14	5 of 10
Fourth down	0 of 1	0 of 0
Turnovers	2	1
Penalties	10 for 94 yds	8 for 72 yds
Time of possession	33:12	26:48

Syracuse leaders

Passing Steven Angeli 13 of 25, 161 yds, 2 INT
Rushing Ahmad Miller 14 for 78 yds, 1 TD; Umari Hatcher 1 for 28 yds
Receiving Umari Hatcher 3 for 58 yds; Darius Johnson 5 for 42 yds

Pittsburgh leaders

Passing Mason Heintschel 10 of 23, 123 yds, 1 INT
Rushing Damon Ferguson Jr. 10 for 102 yds, 1 TD; La'Vell Wright 14 for 81 yds, 1 TD
Receiving Carson Kent 2 for 63 yds; Bryce Yates 3 for 36 yds

No rain through the game

77° at kickoff · 0.04 in of rain by radar over the stadium

September game-day temperatures at Acrisure Stadium

Drag along the chart, or step through the game.

First quarter, 14:49 left7:36 p.m.

Syracuse 0, Pittsburgh 0 · Pittsburgh 87% to win

no rain · 78°

Heintschel 38-yd pass to Kent

Where this weather comes from

Measured at Pittsburgh/alleghen airport, 8.1 miles away, and Pittsburgh International airport, 12 miles away. Rain is NOAA's radar-and-gauge estimate at the stadium and wind is an airport reading; neither is measured on the field. Game times come from the play-by-play, good to a minute or two. Source: National Weather Service, through the Iowa Environmental Mesonet; rain radar from NOAA MRMS, through Iowa State University. Field direction from OpenStreetMap contributors.

Before kickoff

Recent games, the series and the betting line below are as they stood going in; the season profile is the season so far.

Recent games

Last two games

Syracuse · 1-1

Rated 143rd in our preseason ratings, 127th now, up 16 spots.

1-1 in its last two — but nothing on this résumé beats a top-40 team yet.

L 18-21 vs California #73 of 668

lost by 3 as a 4-point favorite

W 66-3 vs New Hampshire #197 of 668

won by 63 as a 35.5-point favorite

Last two games

Pittsburgh · 2-0

Rated 47th in our preseason ratings, 48th now.

Two straight wins — but still hunting a ranked opponent.

W 12-7 vs UCF #93 of 668

won by 5 as a 7.5-point favorite

W 59-14 vs Miami (OH) #81 of 668

won by 45 as a 16.5-point favorite

Week by week

Pittsburgh

Wk 1Wvs Miami (OH)59-14
Wk 2Wvs UCF12-7

Syracuse

Wk 1Wvs New Hampshire66-3
Wk 2Lvs California18-21

Power rating by week

Pittsburgh is rated 7.7 points ahead as of week 2. Our power rating by week; higher is better.

Matchups

Biggest mismatch: Syracuse’s explosive plays against Pittsburgh, 66 points

Each row ranks the two sides among all teams. The longer the line, the bigger the mismatch.

Syracuse’s explosive plays against Pittsburgh’s defense
Syracuse offense, 71st percentile · Pittsburgh defense, 5th
Syracuse’s EPA/play against Pittsburgh’s defense
Syracuse offense, 24th percentile · Pittsburgh defense, 87th
Syracuse’s rushing EPA against Pittsburgh’s defense
Syracuse offense, 43rd percentile · Pittsburgh defense, 100th

Season profile, all the rows

Season profile

SyracusePittsburgh

EPA/play, offense

EPA/play, defense

Success rate, offense

Success rate, defense

Explosive-play rate, offense

Explosive-play rate, defense

Rush EPA, offense

Rush EPA, defense

Pass EPA, offense

Pass EPA, defense

The series

Pittsburgh leads the series 45-33-3

81 meetings since 1916 · Pittsburgh has won the last 2

2025Pittsburgh 30-13
2024Pittsburgh 41-13
2023 · neutral siteSyracuse 28-13
2022Pittsburgh 19-9
2021Pittsburgh 31-14

Each line is Pittsburgh’s chance to win through that meeting.

Line, fans and home field

The betting line, and the fans

Pittsburgh fans are feeling it more than most fanbases this week (66th among FBS fanbases), in line with the numbers.

Pittsburgh favored by 10.5 · Total 51.5

How games like this usually go

Pittsburgh by 10.5, and it went to form

Half of games8 in 10 gamesThis game

The band is where a favorite’s chance ran in the 385 games since 2025 with a favorite of 7.5 to 14.5 points.

The market

The total fell 8 points.

The books’ cut: 4.2%, the margin built into the odds

Home field

Pittsburgh is worth +2.4 points (±3.8) more at home than on the road since 2018 — bottom third of FBS, 20th percentile.

62% at home, 51% on the road against FBS opponents (31-19 home, 22-21 away).

Our model gives every stadium the same flat 2.3-point home edge (why); the books use about 3. Against the closing line this stadium reads +1.3 at home vs. away over 101 games — inside the ±6.0 noise, so the flat number is the honest one here.

Night kickoff — historically worth about half a point more to the home side against the number, and not much more than that. The visitors travel about 268 miles to get here.

Last meeting in our History pages

Pittsburgh 44, Syracuse 37Oct 6, 2018

Our History pages cover 2 of their meetings since 2015.

Where next

Conference standings

Place in the conference, then conference record.

Pittsburgh9th0-0
Syracuse17th0-1

Full ACC standings

Pittsburgh beats Syracuse 27-13