Sorry for the delay in reporting back!
I woke up at 3:50am, and was at the airport by 4:20, and had to wait until 4:45am for the United counter to open. I got to security, and there were 5 people ahead of me. I asked the TSA agent how bad the line can get, and he indicated it could be up to 20/25 minutes during the peak times, of which 5:00am was not...
So overall a grrr to United.com, but a ^ to the United Agents at SYR!