Is Syracuse the New DARK HORSE of the ACC? Orange Football 2023 Season Preview & Predictions

[ECE '76]

Syracuse is favored in 9 games (!) this season.

The writer predicts a Pitt win only because the game is not in the Dome.

 

[sufandu]

Sign me up for 9 wins right now.

 

[orangefog]

Syracuse is favored in 9 games (!) this season.

The writer predicts a Pitt win only because the game is not in the Dome.

Does it bug anyone else that he called Georgia Tech Georgia?

 

[Orangepace]

I’ll take 9 and roll with it

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Just need to get 6 wins and another bowl appearance.

When I feel greedy I say we lock the 6 wins up before Wake so the last game of the season isn't do or die.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

Just need to get 6 wins and another bowl appearance.

When I feel greedy I say we lock the 6 wins up before Wake so the last game of the season isn't do or die.

Is making a Bowl even important anymore? Players opt out of the game or exit for the portal. Your roster will flip dramatically between December and August. It has become meaningless.

Since Bowls are even bigger crap shoots than they used to be, IMO 7-5 is the new magic number as it guarantees a winning season.

We need to create a winning culture where we are consistently going 7-5 or better 3 out of 4 years. Given the team we have this year, going 6-6 would be a disappointment. This year shouldn't be our 1 out of 4 worse than 7-5.

 

[721Comstock]

Is making a Bowl even important anymore? Players opt out of the game or exit for the portal. Your roster will flip dramatically between December and August. It has become meaningless.

Since Bowls are even bigger crap shoots than they used to be, IMO 7-5 is the new magic number as it guarantees a winning season.

We need to create a winning culture where we are consistently going 7-5 or better 3 out of 4 years. Given the team we have this year, going 6-6 would be a disappointment. This year shouldn't be our 1 out of 4 worse than 7-5.

Yes.
It’s not only important, it’s vital.
Crucial.

Syracuse hasn’t gone to a bowl in consecutive seasons since ‘12 & ‘13.

We need to stack bowl-eligible seasons back to back to back, to show we’re competitive, and to attract more and better talent and more fans.

Cuse never gets the best NY croots?
Win, and we will.

Cuse doesn’t get legacy croots?
Win, and we will.

Cuse doesn’t put guys into the NFL?
Win, and we wil.
(We’ve starting doing a lot more of this of late, and need to keep it rolling).

Winning fixes everything.

And making a bowl is the baseline we need to hit every year, or at least 3-4 out of 5 years, to show that players can win here, get NIL here, win awards here, get drafted here.

 

[CapitalO]

Does it bug anyone else that he called Georgia Tech Georgia?

Yes it bothers Garrett Wilson

 

[elimunelson]

Is making a Bowl even important anymore? Players opt out of the game or exit for the portal. Your roster will flip dramatically between December and August. It has become meaningless.

Since Bowls are even bigger crap shoots than they used to be, IMO 7-5 is the new magic number as it guarantees a winning season.

We need to create a winning culture where we are consistently going 7-5 or better 3 out of 4 years. Given the team we have this year, going 6-6 would be a disappointment. This year shouldn't be our 1 out of 4 worse than 7-5.

as a competitive game, it doesn't matter at all to me.

to me it's a barometer of success for a program. the game itself is an exhibition now unless you make the playoff. i would assume at some point there will be financial implications to playing in the game which may keep some guys suited up for it.

We need to make bowls but the game itself i pay very little attention to in the run up to it.

 

[Eric15]

I mean I'll obviously take it but I didn't envision us as favorites at Purdue at night. I figured we would be in the 3-7 point underdog range.

Also, calling Western Michigan and Army "guaranteed" wins is way too aggressive. We will most likely win if we play well, but the only game that is virtually guaranteed is Colgate.

 

[kcsu]

as a competitive game, it doesn't matter at all to me.

to me it's a barometer of success for a program. the game itself is an exhibition now unless you make the playoff. i would assume at some point there will be financial implications to playing in the game which may keep some guys suited up for it.

We need to make bowls but the game itself i pay very little attention to in the run up to it.

100%, making a bowl matters. It is a benchmark of success and will continue to be. It provides extra practice time for the team, provides the kids with a chance to see and experience something they will remember forever. It provides the team and school with publicity and it's a chance for the fans to celebrate a solid season.

 

[orangeinohio]

There are at least 40 bowl games. That's 80 teams getting into the college football 'post-season'.
Getting to a bowl every year (and being one of the 80 best teams in college football) should be the baseline expectation.
If you're not going to a bowl, you are bad. And not in a Michael Jackson way.

 

[TheCusian]

There are at least 40 bowl games. That's 80 teams getting into the college football 'post-season'.
Getting to a bowl every year (and being one of the 80 best teams in college football) should be the baseline expectation.
If you're not going to a bowl, you are bad. And not in a Michael Jackson way.

If everyone’s schedule was the same this would be true. We’ve had 5 win years with top 20 schedules that we’re better teams than a lot of bowl teams.

Using bowl appearances as a stand-in for team quality is problematic

 

[oldpinepoint]

If everyone’s schedule was the same this would be true. We’ve had 5 win years with top 20 schedules that we’re better teams than a lot of bowl teams.

Using bowl appearances as a stand-in for team quality is problematic

I have no idea who we played last year let alone 5 years ago. Bowl game means a .500 or better in terms of winning percentage. When Joe dirt from North Carolina or a 4 star recruit looks at SU they just want to know if they win. They don’t care how difficult the schedule is. I do agree with your statement that it can be problematic however I think most people wouldn’t see it they way

 

[texascpa]

I mean I'll obviously take it but I didn't envision us as favorites at Purdue at night. I figured we would be in the 3-7 point underdog range.

Also, calling Western Michigan and Army "guaranteed" wins is way too aggressive. We will most likely win if we play well, but the only game that is virtually guaranteed is Colgate.

Army is a mess right now. It's guaranteed.

 

[Bulldog04]

What’s vegas got the over under win total at?

 

[orangeinohio]

If everyone’s schedule was the same this would be true. We’ve had 5 win years with top 20 schedules that we’re better teams than a lot of bowl teams.

Using bowl appearances as a stand-in for team quality is problematic

How I look at it is that going to a bowl means you've won at least 6 games. I understand that getting 6 in some conferences is easier than the ACC but 6 wins out of 12 games should be the expectation.
That's 50%. I understand the last 20 years have been rough but they need to get into a pattern of winning at least half their games.

 

[TheCusian]

I have no idea who we played last year let alone 5 years ago. Bowl game means a .500 or better in terms of winning percentage. When Joe dirt from North Carolina or a 4 star recruit looks at SU they just want to know if they win. They don’t care how difficult the schedule is. I do agree with your statement that it can be problematic however I think most people wouldn’t see it they way

Aye - sure - perception is everything. I’d rather have an actual winning season and a long series of bowl wins than not. Recruits would def see it that way too.

For message board sickos - we can be more nuanced

 

[IthacaBarrel]

How I look at it is that going to a bowl means you've won at least 6 games. I understand that getting 6 in some conferences is easier than the ACC but 6 wins out of 12 games should be the expectation.
That's 50%. I understand the last 20 years have been rough but they need to get into a pattern of winning at least half their games.

6 wins and bowl appearances are the expectation that were clearly laid out by Wildhack. IMO, should be occasionally better than 6-7 wins and occasionally worse but win 6 at Syracuse is really just fine considering what the last 20 years have looked like and I think the team should be able to do that this year

 

[TheCusian]

How I look at it is that going to a bowl means you've won at least 6 games. I understand that getting 6 in some conferences is easier than the ACC but 6 wins out of 12 games should be the expectation.
That's 50%. I understand the last 20 years have been rough but they need to get into a pattern of winning at least half their games.

CFB encompasses such a large span of quality, you schedule OOC games like 8 years out, and now with player movement - it’s really hard to even use .500 as a good metric. Schedule variance is the biggest thing no one talks about.

It doesn’t matter much to elite teams, they tend to win no matter what.

Anyways - the truth is I think bowls are used for perception and perception is almost everything in CFB

 

[cusefan88]

What’s vegas got the over under win total at?

If I was Vegas, to encourage betting I feel like 5.5 or 6.5 is the right number. 6.5 gets betting on both sides probably

 

[djorange1989]

I mean I'll obviously take it but I didn't envision us as favorites at Purdue at night. I figured we would be in the 3-7 point underdog range.

Also, calling Western Michigan and Army "guaranteed" wins is way too aggressive. We will most likely win if we play well, but the only game that is virtually guaranteed is Colgate.

WMU is going to be bad, like really bad. I agree about Army, however, they are no lock for anyone.

 

[Dick_in_MI]

At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is what JW thinks and what expectations he has communicated with Dino. We fans will have our own expectations and we know that some expect more and some are happy with less. Still, JW makes the call.

I keep going back to the expectation that Dino himself stated when he took the job: "consistently good and occasionally great." We had one great season back in 2018. Some would consider last year a winning but sort of mediocre season, others would call it good. Either way, we have not been "consistently" good, and again, that is Dino's own metric. If that is Dino's metric, there is no reason why it should not be ours as well.

To get to a bowl, you need not even be good. You only need to go .500. It's sad when you think about it, but we didn't make the rules. There is no reason for a P5 team to not beat Colgate, WMU, and Army. That means we only need to go 3-6 against fellow P5 teams (Purdue and ACC) to get to .500. Not a stunning performance, but that's all you need.

Given the entirety of Dino's tenure, the fact that he is the highest-paid employee at SU, and the fact that we committed to being a successful P5 program, I cannot believe that anything less than 6-6 would be remotely acceptable this year. Nor should it be. I just hope the guys blow the doors off of the opposition this year and make the whole discussion moot.

 

[Newhouser]

Army is a mess right now. It's guaranteed.

I think so too. Changing their offense due to rule changes - I don't see them being the problem they were in previous years. I think their D will be more of a problem than the O.

 

[RF2044]

Syracuse is favored in 9 games (!) this season.

The writer predicts a Pitt win only because the game is not in the Dome.

I've come to the realization that our program's "station" in P5 is to generally be second tier -- and there's no reason we can't be at least that. Get to above .500 and qualify for bowls just about every year. And then every once in awhile, the stars align in terms of QB play, talent, etc. and you get 8, 9, or potentially even more wins -- which is a great outcome for the fanbase. But probably not realistically competing for playoff berths, even with the expanded field.

Dino has been up and down [putting it mildly], and we've had some bad luck with a couple of five win seasons -- playing tough schedules that did us no favors -- that fell just short of the mark.

But we got to a bowl last year. Now, we need to duplicate that and make it a trend. We've already seen that the coaching staff can identify talent / system fits, but we've also seen a bump in terms of recruiting based upon last year's success and the coaches being able to sell something positive on the recruiting trail to the class of 2024.

Get to a bowl again this year. Make it a consistent pattern of success. Capitalize on having a plus QB like Garrett Shrader, and get to 8 or 9 wins. Fanbase will be thrilled, and while the bowl game outcome might not matter, getting to one does.

Recruiting will continue to improve. Not to Georgia or Ohio State levels, but improve into the top 40 or 50 range. We've done a nice job mining the portal -- it will be easy to continue landing high potential transfers when we can demonstrate that we're on the winning track, and that this is an exciting program to play for.

Winning begats better recruiting, which in turn begats more success [at least on paper]. We've taken the first step, and the foundation is in place to get back to a bowl this year, and beyond.