How good are we?

[FRANKIEFAN]

Notre Dame had UNLV, Marshall & Stanford to pad their stats….

Oh wait, they took L’s in two of those games. nm.

Wake has played VMI, Vandy, and Army.
I’m sure that helped their stats, given that they scored 40+ vs all 3,
and 2 of those teams only scored 10.

They have destroyed the ACC for years last I checked Marshall and Stanford don’t play in the ACC. Very few close games in their 27 straight wins. First trip to the Dome as an ACC member.


Wake is doing this off a similarly good season last year and like us plays in the better half of the league not the trash coastal. No reason to knock their schedule.

 

[721Comstock]

They have destroyed the ACC for years last I checked Marshall and Stanford don’t play in the ACC. Very few close games in their 27 straight wins. First trip to the Dome as an ACC member.


Wake is doing this off a similarly good season last year and like us plays in the better half of the league not the trash coastal. No reason to knock there schedule.

I literally am NOT ‘knocking’ their schedule.

I am simply stating that they’ve played a similar blend of good,
and not so good teams -
just like we have.

And their collective stats reflect that.
Just like ours do.

They played Clemson tough at home.
We played Clemson tough on the road.

They squeaked out a W vs Liberty.
We squeaked out W’s vs Purdue & UVA.

We have a tough schedule to finish the year.
Wake also has a tough schedule to finish the year.

Are we not counting their stats as being legit, or discounting them, since they also have several tough games upcoming?

Edited to add:
Wake has 3 of 5 upcoming games vs (currently) ranked opponents:
NCST, UNC, Cuse.
Plus Llvll & Duke.

 

[Finwad32]

Very.

 

[Brian Orange]

I feel like every game this season is a fork in the road.

Okay if we beat Purdue we are for real. Virginia can be tricky with that QB. NC State will be our first true test, can we finally beat another ranked team, we can't have a dud game in front of a big crowd. Clemson will show us where we really are. ND is the game of the year we can't go on a losing streak.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

I don't think the rest of our schedule is any harder than what we have been through thus far.

Louisville an FSU are very similar teams.

Purdue and Wake are very similar teams.

UVA and BC are very similar teams.

NC State and Notre Dame are very similar teams.

Which just leaves Pitt who isn't like anyone we have played thus far. Since we already played Clemson, I don't see a dip in what we have done in our 1st five P5 games vs the last five.


As for ND's ACC win streak they have been a Top 10 team during that stretch. They weren't losing to anyone. That had nothing to do with the ACC. And it has nothing to do with this year's ND team, who is the worst ND team since 2016.

2021- 1 loss ranked 5th
2020- 1 loss ranked 4th
2019- 2 losses ranked 16th
2018- 0 losses ranked 3rd

So over the past 4+ season they have had 4 regular season losses overall and finished in the Top 5 three times. Why would it be a surprise then that they haven't lost to an ACC team?

Also they have only played 5 ranked ACC teams over that span. They have conveniently missed the top of the ACC.

 

[TheCusian]

Not sure that was my point…..

Our stats also have Uconn and Wagner. So until we balance that out with a couple more solid opponents I think the stats are misleading to some degree.

As mentioned in the OP, the stats are adjusted for opponent which renders your point um, meaningless

I also said in the OP, that our overall number would probably change as we played the rest of our schedule

Sigh

 

[FRANKIEFAN]

Wake beat Liberty who is undefeated otherwise and @ FSU is as good as any win in the ACC this year.

Both teams should have beaten Clemson. We found the worst possible FCS to pad our stats against and let our star RB stupidly play the whole game against them for no reason other than to pad his stats. And played Uconn. Their schedule is probably a little tougher than us other than getting us at home you have to deduct points from our score for Wagner and Uconn lets be realistic.

Hope both teams are 1 loss will be a huge game. Will be nice next year when the ACC gets more fair and the Coastal garbage don't get to avoid teams for 6 years and get into the CCG as the 5th or 6th best team in the conference.

 

[JeremyCuse]

I don't think the rest of our schedule is any harder than what we have been through thus far.

Louisville an FSU are very similar teams.

Purdue and Wake are very similar teams.

UVA and BC are very similar teams.

NC State and Notre Dame are very similar teams.

Which just leaves Pitt who isn't like anyone we have played thus far. Since we already played Clemson, I don't see a dip in what we have done in our 1st five P5 games vs the last five.


As for ND's ACC win streak they have been a Top 10 team during that stretch. They weren't losing to anyone. That had nothing to do with the ACC. And it has nothing to do with this year's ND team, who is the worst ND team since 2016.

2021- 1 loss ranked 5th
2020- 1 loss ranked 4th
2019- 2 losses ranked 16th
2018- 0 losses ranked 3rd

So over the past 4+ season they have had 4 regular season losses overall and finished in the Top 5 three times. Why would it be a surprise then that they haven't lost to an ACC team?

Also they have only played 5 ranked ACC teams over that span. They have conveniently missed the top of the ACC.

Getting the win vs NC State really opened up additional opportunities to "add on" wins as clearly being bowl eligible takes some of the pressure of the team and program overall. I agree with you that the remaining schedule isn't any harder then normal and with Pitt and BC both clearly down from what they have been it presents a great oppportunity to win both.

That said I think the point of qdawgg and others is that it's hard to look at the schedule and pencil in 9 wins because outside of probably BC there aren't any pushovers coming up either and the SU offense is still hard to trust. SU won close esentially toss up games against Purdue and UVA, it's a good sign they can win more close games but if the offense can't put up more points ND, Wake, FSU are far from sure things.

 

[qdawgg]

As mentioned in the OP, the stats are adjusted for opponent which renders your point um, meaningless

I also said in the OP, that our overall number would probably change as we played the rest of our schedule

Sigh

Just checking to see if I was still on ignore

Fair enough though. I’m interested to see how or if these stats change at the end of the season. If we can maintain comparable numbers that would show incredible growth by the players and coaches over the course of a season, plus show potential for next year IMO.

 

[TheCusian]

Getting the win vs NC State really opened up additional opportunities to "add on" wins as clearly being bowl eligible takes some of the pressure of the team and program overall. I agree with you that the remaining schedule isn't any harder then normal and with Pitt and BC both clearly down from what they have been it presents a great oppportunity to win both.

That said I think the point of qdawgg and others is that it's hard to look at the schedule and pencil in 9 wins because outside of probably BC there aren't any pushovers coming up either and the SU offense is still hard to trust. SU won close esentially toss up games against Purdue and UVA, it's a good sign they can win more close games but if the offense can't put up more points ND, Wake, FSU are far from sure things.

UVA wasn’t a toss up game going in - it became one due to our 4 TO’s.

I agree that there are no sure wins, just games were more likely to win than lose (this is alienating for a modern Syracuse fan) and some more than others.

I think we match up ok with PITT. And their D being meh is helpful. Wake will be a battle between a good D and a good O as the title card - the stats suggest our O is better than their D - but it’s all pretty close. FSU will be challenging, but it’s home.

I did not post all of that to suggest we will win the rest of our games. The probability of dropping a couple is high. But we’ll have a better chance to do so than we have in a long time.

 

[stlorange]

I think we lose to ND (they will run it down our throats all game and run clock), Pitt (have our number) and Wake (better team I think) but beat Florida State and BC. 8 and 4 aint bad. Could have done better if not for so many injuries. Been very impressed by the D, less so by the offense--I guess I expected more (no 2nd/3rd receiver has stepped up, running game has been disappointing compared to last year, and the large number of penalties)

Truth be told, we were close with Clemson only because of the turnovers (which is a credit to our D!). If they didn't turn the ball over so much they would have won by 20.

 

[dasher]

I don’t think anyone on here is being realistic about how good ND has been against the ACC. Postseason losses to Clemson don’t count for their regular season winning streak that is like 7 years now.

It’s a great win if we pull it out. If we don’t the rest of the season will look and feel different.

It will be a good win. But this ND team lost to Marshall and Stanford at home. It isn't the same team. Plus, this isn't the QB they wanted to go to war with. Make no mistake, if we are healthy, we should win. Might be close. Maybe probably will be close. But we should win.

 

[dasher]

They have destroyed the ACC for years last I checked Marshall and Stanford don’t play in the ACC. Very few close games in their 27 straight wins. First trip to the Dome as an ACC member.


Wake is doing this off a similarly good season last year and like us plays in the better half of the league not the trash coastal. No reason to knock their schedule.

Last I checked, they played Marshall and Stanford this year with this team. Not the teams they have beat ACC teams with in the past. The guy qb ing for ND wasn't the qb for any of those 27 wins. Neither was the coach.

 

[dan7800]

I think we end up 8-4

 

[SuFTW]

I think we lose to ND (they will run it down our throats all game and run clock), Pitt (have our number) and Wake (better team I think) but beat Florida State and BC. 8 and 4 aint bad. Could have done better if not for so many injuries. Been very impressed by the D, less so by the offense--I guess I expected more (no 2nd/3rd receiver has stepped up, running game has been disappointing compared to last year, and the large number of penalties)

Truth be told, we were close with Clemson only because of the turnovers (which is a credit to our D!). If they didn't turn the ball over so much they would have won by 20.

Didn’t our defense help cause those turnovers?

 

[HRE Otto IV]

Getting the win vs NC State really opened up additional opportunities to "add on" wins as clearly being bowl eligible takes some of the pressure of the team and program overall. I agree with you that the remaining schedule isn't any harder then normal and with Pitt and BC both clearly down from what they have been it presents a great oppportunity to win both.

That said I think the point of qdawgg and others is that it's hard to look at the schedule and pencil in 9 wins because outside of probably BC there aren't any pushovers coming up either and the SU offense is still hard to trust. SU won close esentially toss up games against Purdue and UVA, it's a good sign they can win more close games but if the offense can't put up more points ND, Wake, FSU are far from sure things.

People are making it seem like it is backloaded. The hardest part of our schedule is over. The first 5 games vs P5 teams are basically the same teams as the last 5, except we are trading at Clemson for at Pitt and have more roadies. The calibre overall is easier the last 5.

 

[kcsu]

We are good enough to beat every remaining team we play. Because of injuries to key players we are also thin enough at key positions to lose every remaining game.

I think that we will win a minimum of 2 more games.
At least 1 of our remaining home games. At least 1 of our remaining away games.
My guess is that we will win 3 more regular season games.

 

[David321]

I can’t see us going below 10-2 and think we’re gonna beat ND at home by about 14. I also think 11-1 is very possible. This year is lightning in a bottle with these coaches and players.

 

[cuse309]

"we are what our record says we are"...some football guy said that...I forget who...but we're 6-1 and pretty darn good, and I'll take it, and I don't care who knows it.

 

[Louie and Bouie]

Injury free to finish out and I think we're a Top 25 team at end of regular season.

 

[PhatOrange]

We'll lose a few more. 9-3 would be an amazing season ... 8-4 would be outstanding for a team most predicted would have a losing season.

I don't think our offense is very good at all, but it's been good enough while the defense holds the ground. If our defense was bad this team would have a losing record right now.