2025 Strategy Shift?

[HRE Otto IV]

It’s a crazy schedule but if youre in the SEC that’s what your schedule would look like.

Just for example

Tennessee plays Syracuse, @Alabama, @Florida, @Kentucky, @Miss State, Arkansas, Georgia, Oklahoma

LSU plays Clemson, @Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, South Carolina, Texas A&M, @Oklahoma, @Ole Miss, @Vandy

Tennessee will be our Wisconsin kickoff classic game. Let’s go.

Those are mostly names though. They aren't the current AP #4, #6, #8, #14, #18 all away from home. Also #32 in Coaches away too. I trade our road for either of those two any day.

 

[richmondcuse03]

FWIW, my understanding is that the plan is the opposite of banking NIL for next season. There is a big push underway to significantly bump NIL for THIS class (HS and portal).

Correct.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

Think of some/most of the HS guys as players 86-105 on the roster. We still have lots of room for portal talent to plug and play across the board, with no reason to jettison anyone of promise. I also don’t think Fran would run guys off who are doing the right things. His goal is to have all players graduate in 3 years. After that, they can make a FB decision.

 

[Sudano]

Had this conversation with friends this weekend and it makes A TON of sense. I'll also caveat this with THERE IS NO INSIDE INFO HERE. This is purely opinion.

We currently have 33 commits for 2025, and are still recruiting a few others. Provided they all sign on signing day, there will be some guys getting "the talk" in the offseason. My guess is the majority of those will be junior and senior players.

I don't believe we are punting on the 2025 season, however, we are playing Tennessee, Clemson, @ND, @Miami, @GT, @SMU. The odds of us having a 8 win season are SLIGHT, but I think we should be able to make a bowl. A tough schedule will pressure test players and hopefully let the cream rise to the top.

In my mind, what the plan is for next year is
- Bank as much NIL money as possible for 2026/27, while bringing in as many HS players as possible. The more kids you bring in, the better chances you have of hitting on some legitimate stars.
- Bring in transfers that have AT LEAST two or three seasons of eligibility remaining
- Give kids that aren't good enough "the talk"
- Get enough game tape from Jakhari/Prospective Transfer to see if one of them is "the guy" at QB

Then, you can go into 2026 with playoff aspirations.

I believe Fran is too competitive to completely punt, but I think at a school with limited resources you have to be as resourceful as possible. Thoughts? Is this crazy?

All this is true no matter what the context is. Nothing controversial or earth shattering
-Bank NIL? Yup, let's always try to increase our NIL. No brainer. Be innovative.
-Bring in appropriate transfers for our needs. Longer the eligibility the better, but we all know what one year wonders can do. One or two strategic single year players are almost a must.
-Give less talented players 'the talk'. Yup, constant, never ending talent improvement for every position and player rostered is a given in this new pay for play model. Not playing up to your salary? Bye
-Try to find our best QB. Yup. Through constant evaluation of practice, virtual mental reps, games, determine our best way forward to win games. Just like every position evaluate, plan and execute in getting a top QB whether on your roster or portal. QB is the most important position in football. Just do it.

 

[PhatOrange]

Those are mostly names though. They aren't the current AP #4, #6, #8, #14, #18 all away from home. Also #32 in Coaches away too. I trade our road for either of those two any day.

What teams have done this year has no bearing on what they’ll do next year; graduating players, coaches, injuries everything changes year to year. I randomly picked 2 SEC teams I’m sure there are others with harder schedules.

 

[Chip]

I'd love if we're able to swap the ND game. That would make the most sense. Plus, we have a lot of good road trips next year so wouldn't mind an ND road trip another year to break it up.

Miami was able to move the 2024 ND game to a future year right? I don't know the full story on that other than seeing that Miami had 5 OOC games.

So let's just schedule one at home and say oops sorry, we have too many OOC games, so go play Army again.

 

[SU94]

Had this conversation with friends this weekend and it makes A TON of sense. I'll also caveat this with THERE IS NO INSIDE INFO HERE. This is purely opinion.

We currently have 33 commits for 2025, and are still recruiting a few others. Provided they all sign on signing day, there will be some guys getting "the talk" in the offseason. My guess is the majority of those will be junior and senior players.

I don't believe we are punting on the 2025 season, however, we are playing Tennessee, Clemson, @ND, @Miami, @GT, @SMU. The odds of us having a 8 win season are SLIGHT, but I think we should be able to make a bowl. A tough schedule will pressure test players and hopefully let the cream rise to the top.

In my mind, what the plan is for next year is
- Bank as much NIL money as possible for 2026/27, while bringing in as many HS players as possible. The more kids you bring in, the better chances you have of hitting on some legitimate stars.
- Bring in transfers that have AT LEAST two or three seasons of eligibility remaining
- Give kids that aren't good enough "the talk"
- Get enough game tape from Jakhari/Prospective Transfer to see if one of them is "the guy" at QB

Then, you can go into 2026 with playoff aspirations.

I believe Fran is too competitive to completely punt, but I think at a school with limited resources you have to be as resourceful as possible. Thoughts? Is this crazy?

Respectfully, this is baseball-esk rationalization. Not crazy, but not a prudent choice if you ask me.

• Football is not a game where you can reasonably take the foot off the pedal. The players need complete buy-in if you want to build, grow and then sustain a program culture. Fran is still building.
• We need to overcome the "SU is only good/lucky 1-2x a decade" narrative. And deliberately downshifting off a strong debut season for Fran would very likely feed into that. (majority of our fanbase would also hate it)
• Remember, Fran "fell" for Syracuse because what he remembers from the Coach Mac/Coach P era, which was consistent winning. What did we have, 15 straight winning seasons from 1987-2001? Outside of a National Championship, that's the end goal: consistent winning/strong program.
• Having SU earn a spot in the College Football Playoff would be amazing. I don't care which year. But it is not necessarily a lottery ticket to perpetual winning football. Teams that have played in the College Football Playoff and now are middling or worse: TCU, Florida State, Michigan State, and Washington (could arguably add in Oklahoma). My point: Getting in the playoff is not necessarily an arrival moment. There is a lot more at stake than gearing up for one special season, one that might not even work out as planned (player injury, unforeseen tough schedule, bad upset loss, etc. Ask the Jets how that went for them last year).

 

[bnoro]

Respectfully, this is baseball-esk rationalization. Not crazy, but not a prudent choice if you ask me.

• Football is not a game where you can reasonably take the foot off the pedal. The players need complete buy-in if you want to build, grow and sustain a program culture. Fran is still building.
• We need to overcome the "SU is only good/lucky 1-2x a decade" narrative. And deliberately downshifting off a strong debut season for Fran would very, very likely feed into that. (majority of our fanbase would also hate it)
• Remember, Fran "fell" for Syracuse because what he remembers from the Coach Mac/Coach P era, which was consistent winning. What did we have, 15 straight winning seasons from 1987-2001? Outside of a National Championship, that's the end goal.
• Having SU earn a spot in the College Football Playoff would be amazing. I don't care which year. But it is not necessarily a lottery ticket to perpetual winning football. Teams that have played in the College Football Playoff and now are middling or worse: TCU, Florida State, Michigan State, and Washington (could arguably add in Oklahoma). My point: Getting in the playoff is not necessarily an arrival moment. There is a lot more at stake than gearing up for one special season, and that might not even work out as planned (player injury, unforeseen tough schedule, bad upset loss, etc.).

My intention with the post was a conversation, not to say I'm right or wrong. I think we've had some good feedback and discussion in here, a lot less polarizing than other discussions on this board (or the basketball board)

And I don't think Fran plans to take the foot off the pedal as well. I would love to see us win another 8 games next year, especially with a difficult schedule. If our NIL is something the staff believes they can continue to increase and mobilize, then yes, they should absolutely take a shot every year.

I'm excited to see what happens.

 

[JRHEETER]

My intention with the post was a conversation, not to say I'm right or wrong. I think we've had some good feedback and discussion in here, a lot less polarizing than other discussions on this board (or the basketball board)

And I don't think Fran plans to take the foot off the pedal as well. I would love to see us win another 8 games next year, especially with a difficult schedule. If our NIL is something the staff believes they can continue to increase and mobilize, then yes, they should absolutely take a shot every year.

I'm excited to see what happens.

I don’t think your wrong in recognizing that the staff is aware that next season schedule is a gauntlet.

Because of that I think you’re not going to see many if any 1 year guys.

They will want portal guys with multiple years and retaining players that have multiple years left too as well.

I think we all know Fran is WAY too competitive to just roll over, but they aren’t blind

 

[Kalima45]

Looking more and more like this next season will not be a repeat of this year's success. The amount of talent we have lost is not equal to what is coming. I hope we get to 6 wins at least, but not really looking like we are trying for more than that at this point. Very little waves on the portal front, hope some of these young guys can get good reps and we retain them next year.

 

[kcsu]

Had this conversation with friends this weekend and it makes A TON of sense. I'll also caveat this with THERE IS NO INSIDE INFO HERE. This is purely opinion.

We currently have 33 commits for 2025, and are still recruiting a few others. Provided they all sign on signing day, there will be some guys getting "the talk" in the offseason. My guess is the majority of those will be junior and senior players.

I don't believe we are punting on the 2025 season, however, we are playing Tennessee, Clemson, @ND, @Miami, @GT, @SMU. The odds of us having a 8 win season are SLIGHT, but I think we should be able to make a bowl. A tough schedule will pressure test players and hopefully let the cream rise to the top.

In my mind, what the plan is for next year is
- Bank as much NIL money as possible for 2026/27, while bringing in as many HS players as possible. The more kids you bring in, the better chances you have of hitting on some legitimate stars.
- Bring in transfers that have AT LEAST two or three seasons of eligibility remaining
- Give kids that aren't good enough "the talk"
- Get enough game tape from Jakhari/Prospective Transfer to see if one of them is "the guy" at QB

Then, you can go into 2026 with playoff aspirations.

I believe Fran is too competitive to completely punt, but I think at a school with limited resources you have to be as resourceful as possible. Thoughts? Is this crazy?

He is building a program. This is rock solid thinking.

 

[FrancoPizza]

The OP is not aging well. If Fran is punting on ‘25 what kind of message does that send to the fans? And if he isn’t punting that’s also a bad sign based on the current results. Just don’t see how this can be spun as a positive development

 

[Fanalways]

With the current roster we are lucky to get 6 Ws next year. We are adding four teams that on paper are better than anyone we played this year. We still have our two best teams from this year but on the road. Plus we still have two more teams that beat us but at home. Going 5-7 would be a decent job next year.

I do think there is some benefit to playing a bunch of young players next year to help mold them for the future. But that run would likely be 2027 not 2026.

Also there is the Nixon factor. We might have been a 7-5 team this year without him. Will he still be around in 2026 or 2027? If he goes that resets everything.

Not knowing which players or coaches stay, it is hard to plan long term. Gotta play for today. Also a bad year next year might make it harder to recruit both HS and the portal. We need to keep the momentum.

Read somewhere Nixon’s daughter is a soccer player and transferred to Syracuse. Hoping that keeps him here.

 

[David321]

I can't imagine Fran ever punting on a season but I'd be lying if I said that it doesn't look like it so far. Next season may be rough, but let's remember how special this year was and be patient throughout.

I trust Fran.

 

[bnoro]

The OP is not aging well. If Fran is punting on ‘25 what kind of message does that send to the fans? And if he isn’t punting that’s also a bad sign based on the current results. Just don’t see how this can be spun as a positive development

The OP is actually pretty much exactly what seems to be happening. And as I've clarified about 18 times since I originally posted it, we have the talent to win football games next year. Winning 6-8 games with this schedule is moving in the right direction and sets us up to explode onto the national scene in 2026.

 

[anomander]

Why would we schedule Tennessee and Notre Dame and then punt the season. I can almost guarantee that is not Fran’s mindset, but the lack of portal moves is concerning. We had to fight and scrap to get to 10 wins this season with a loaded roster and easy schedule. Next year is the complete opposite. Loaded schedule and holes all over the roster. I’m not sure what the plan for next season is but it’s not going to be pretty. If we’re all being honest this years 36 man recruiting class was a step back and let down from what Fran did in an extremely short time last season. We don’t have nearly the high end recruits. Portal isn’t even close to matching last years haul. The worrisome thing is it’s not like there were guys just waiting their turn outside of someone like Willis. Hopefully WR will be ok with Pena, Zeed(?), and Gill, but we badly need one of the freshman like Ross to emerge as a bonafide playmaker. OG was a unicorn. His loss will be tremendous. As good as he was it took him 2 full years in the S&C program to realize that talent. I have hope for Tremble long-term but he’s not someone I can count on. That leaves QB which will take a huge hit no matter who wins the job and holes in the OL. Hopefully Bradford and Petry will get an extra yr because of JUCO?

……and then there’s defense…..

2025 will certainly show us how good of a HC Fran Brown is.

 

[W'boro'Cuse315]

I would consider running the table at home next year a good season. Add one road win to that & I’d call it very good. 8 wins & up would be great.

 

[CarlsbergMD]

Fran's not going to punt because of some roster theory proposed by some fan's message board...He's going to prepare each week to win...Guys at this level plan their day in 15 minute increments, with complete focus on the task at hand. As soon as that 15 minutes is over, they move on to next task. Miami added Carson Beck who admitted he doesn't watch game film. UTenn is better than us. I think 6-6, and maybe we surprise you guys on here, and win a game we shouldn't.

 

[David321]

Why would we schedule Tennessee and Notre Dame and then punt the season. I can almost guarantee that is not Fran’s mindset, but the lack of portal moves is concerning. We had to fight and scrap to get to 10 wins this season with a loaded roster and easy schedule. Next year is the complete opposite. Loaded schedule and holes all over the roster. I’m not sure what the plan for next season is but it’s not going to be pretty. If we’re all being honest this years 36 man recruiting class was a step back and let down from what Fran did in an extremely short time last season. We don’t have nearly the high end recruits. Portal isn’t even close to matching last years haul. The worrisome thing is it’s not like there were guys just waiting their turn outside of someone like Willis. Hopefully WR will be ok with Pena, Zeed(?), and Gill, but we badly need one of the freshman like Ross to emerge as a bonafide playmaker. OG was a unicorn. His loss will be tremendous. As good as he was it took him 2 full years in the S&C program to realize that talent. I have hope for Tremble long-term but he’s not someone I can count on. That leaves QB which will take a huge hit no matter who wins the job and holes in the OL. Hopefully Bradford and Petry will get an extra yr because of JUCO?

……and then there’s defense…..

2025 will certainly show us how good of a HC Fran Brown is.

Petry just announced yesterday that he's coming back.

 

[anomander]

Petry just announced yesterday that he's coming back.

Not something I ever felt i would be celebrating but he’s definitely needed, so that’s a good thing.