Syracuse (6-2, 3-2 ACC) at Boston College (4-4, 1-3), Saturday, 12 p.m. EST (The CW)
BetMGM College Football Odds: Boston College by 1½.
Series record: Syracuse leads 34-23.
WHAT'S AT STAKE?
Boston College needs two wins to reach bowl eligibility. With four games left and two of them against ranked teams, the Eagles are running out of chances. Syracuse can reach seven wins for the second time in six seasons and remain on course to win 10 games for just the second time since 2001.
KEY MATCHUP
Syracuse RB LeQuint Allen vs. BC defense. Allen ran for 121 yards on 21 carries against Virginia Tech last week. He scored three TDs, one with 29 seconds left in regulation to tie the game and the other on Syracuse’s first possession of OT for the game winner. BC has been allowing 140 yards rushing per game, 10th in the ACC.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Syracuse: LB Marlowe Wax was the ACC linebacker of the week after recording 1.5 sacks with nine tackles in the come-from-behind victory over Virginia Tech. He also forced one fumble and recovered another.
Boston College: RB Treshaun Ward leads the Eagles with 369 rushing yards and is second with 251 receiving yards. He caught his fourth touchdown pass of the season against Louisville to become BC’s first running back since 2007 to with at least four receiving TDs.
FACTS & FIGURES
The game marks the 100th anniversary of the teams’ first matchup, which Syracuse won 10-0. The Orange lead the series 5-6 since joining the ACC. … Syracuse rallied from a 21-3 deficit to beat the Hokies. BC blew a 20-0 lead against Louisville. … Eagles DE Donovan Ezeiruaku is fifth in the country and second in the ACC with nine sacks. He has 12 tackles for a loss. … The BC defense has 11 interceptions, 14th in FBS. The Eagles picked off nine passes last year.
Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
Syracuse wide receiver Umari Hatcher (5) reaches for an overthrown pass that was intercepted by Virginia Tech cornerback Mansoor Delane (4) during an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024, in Syracuse, N.Y. (Dennis Nett/The Post-Standard via AP)
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Milwaukee Bucks coach Doc Rivers says the team isn’t putting any extra pressure on itself as it tries to bounce back from the franchise’s slowest start in three decades.
The Bucks (1-6) will try to snap a six-game skid Thursday against the Utah Jazz (1-6) while continuing to play without three-time All-Star forward Khris Middleton as he recovers from offseason surgery to each of his ankles.
“The worry is outside the building, I guarantee you that,” Rivers said Wednesday. “There’s none inside the building.”
Milwaukee’s slow start surely has delighted rival teams that would love to acquire two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo if he were to get disgruntled and request a trade. Antetokounmpo, who didn’t play in the Bucks’ 116-114 loss at Cleveland on Monday due to a strained adductor muscle, said the Bucks started taking some steps in the right direction over the weekend.
“That doesn’t mean we are going to a five-game winning streak or 10-game winning streak, but I know that we are playing better and we trust one another better,” Antetokounmpo said Saturday after a 114-113 home loss to Cleveland. “The ball is moving. There’s a lot of good things that we can do. That’s all we can control.”
Milwaukee won a title as recently as 2021, and the Bucks’ sense of urgency to get a second championship during Antetokounmpo’s prime has been evident for some time.
Former coach Mike Budenholzer was fired after the Bucks posted the NBA’s best regular-season record in 2022-23 but lost to Miami in the first round of the playoffs. Budenholzer was replaced by Adrian Griffin, who got fired midway through last season despite owning a 30-13 record. The Bucks have gone 18-25 since Rivers’ arrival, not including their 4-2 first-round playoff loss to Indiana last season.
Rivers insists there’s “zero pressing from us” and cited the decision to rest Antetokounmpo for Monday’s game to make sure the 6-foot-11 forward stayed as healthy as possible with the Bucks playing five games in a seven-day stretch. Antetokounmpo is listed as questionable for Thursday's game.
“This is a positive group,” Rivers said. “We believe we’re a really good basketball team that has played poorly at times. The last two games you could say we played well and lost the games.”
The Bucks remain confident they can turn it around.
“You’re going to have these funks,” forward Bobby Portis said. “It’s just our funk came at the start of the season.”
The cause for concern is recent history showing how tough it is to bounce back from this kind of start. This marks the longest the Bucks have taken to earn their second win of a season since 1993-94, when they won their season opener and then dropped 10 straight. That team finished 20-62.
Twenty teams in NBA history have made the playoffs after winning no more than one of their first seven games, according to Sportradar, but only three have done it this century: Miami in 2003-04, Chicago in 2004-05 and New Orleans in 2021-22. Eight of those 20 teams played from 1956-68, during an era when an overwhelming majority of teams made the playoffs.
Milwaukee should get a boost whenever Middleton returns, but nobody knows when that will be. Rivers was asked Wednesday if this is now becoming more of a week-to-week situation rather than a day-to-day issue.
“I don’t know the answer to that,” Rivers said. “That’s a good question that I can’t answer.”
Milwaukee has faced other obstacles as well.
The Bucks played five of their first seven games away from home. Three of their losses came to the defending champion Boston Celtics and the undefeated Cavaliers. The two games with the Cavs were decided by a combined three points.
Milwaukee is home for four of its next five games, which gives the Bucks an opportunity to recover.
“It can only go up from here,” Portis said. “It can’t get worse than what it is right now.”
This story has been corrected to show the Bucks have played five of their first seven games away from home.
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo tries to get past Cleveland Cavaliers' Evan Mobley during the first half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Milwaukee Bucks' Bobby Portis gets past Cleveland Cavaliers' Georges Niang during the first half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo reacts after making a shot and being fouled during the first half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Milwaukee Bucks guard Damian Lillard (0) drives past Cleveland Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley, rear, in the second half of an NBA basketball game, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers shouts to an official in the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
