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Forgive me for borrowing Tomcat's usual thread title for just this one, but really, it is an easy way to guarantee you'll read it.
This won't be posted on our website until tomorrow, but given what the board means to me and as a small tribute to Orangeyes, I'm posting it here first.
You may not agree with me, that's fine, that's what this board is for. But I hope you enjoy reading it, and we'll see you on the 4th!
WAR DAMN ORANGEYES
2015 Syracuse Orange Football Season Preview
By: Niko Tamurian
It’s that time of year, the State Fair is just about here and football is in the air. You know, the time of year when football fans are clamoring to watch any NFL Preseason game or past college football games on ESPN Classic. Any way you slice it, here in Central New York it’s time to dig in for another season of Syracuse Orange Football.
To do so, for some national analysts is as simple as looking at the games on the schedule and assigning a record based on the perceived difficulty of the opponents and where those games are played. The beginning of my prediction will be my way of assuring Orange fans that they don’t have to believe every prediction that those magazines that come out in June make. I’m not blaming those pundits or saying that they’re wrong it’s just the nature of the beast. When you have to predict the results for 120 or so teams it’s just human nature that when you get to a team that is predicted to be in the bottom-three of the ACC that you start to assume things. It’s a team coming off a 3-9 season that lost most of its defensive starters, sure.
My prediction is to tell you why you can’t judge this year’s Orange team by its cover. Take a closer look.
I felt like every night in my sportscast last fall you had a new story of injury to hear about. I remember a Monday round of golf that ended early for me last October when there was a sudden release from SU that said Terrel Hunt was out for the year AND George McDonald was demoted.
That’s more adversity than some programs see in several years, let alone one weekend.
Orange Head Coach Scott Shafer may have put it best when he said it was “one hell of a freakish year for injuries”. You pile all of that on top of a change at one of the most important coaching positions on staff and suddenly you have a situation where even the hardest fighting team can’t overcome the odds.
Judging by how hard this team absolutely fought until the finish, I think that’s what we had in 2014.
One last point on 2014, despite all of that, Syracuse lost games like the one to NC State where the Orange was in control until a late pick-six changed the tune of things. There was the Duke game, where SU’s 4th string quarterback scored a touchdown that tied the game at 10 and it stayed that way into the 4th quarter. Clemson may have been short-handed, but again, so was Syracuse and the Orange was beating the Tigers at the break and only lost on a late touchdown 16-6.
The point? When you don’t judge the Orange by a record alone, they weren’t that far off from a bowl game.
Now, onto 2015.
Let’s start with the new offense led by Tim Lester. I’ll admit, I chuckle inside a bit when I meet fans who claim he can’t do the job because the offense wasn’t that good in 2014.
Um, did you expect him to completely install his offense midseason?
While I don’t know exactly how the offense will run nor do many in the media I can tell you that the installation of the offense has been going on for almost a year. The players rave about it. Not that a player’s approval alone means that it will be great, but it does mean they’re confident in it. They believe in it.
Belief is a powerful thing. Comradery is a powerful thing.
This Orange team has both.
Perhaps the most important position on the field has its leader back in Terrel Hunt. Terrel is a year older, he’s battle-scarred. He knows this is his last year at SU to make his mark and to pave the way for his future. It wasn’t long ago way-too-early NFL mockups had him as a player to watch. When that was brought to Hunt’s attention in 2014 he said that wasn’t good enough, he wanted to be #1.
He’s going to do his best to prove that this year.
Combine his return, with a new scheme that’s been bought into, along with a veteran offensive line and explosive playmakers like Brisly Estime and Steve Ishmael and suddenly SU’s offense looks mighty impressive.
To the defense, again, I’m not going to pretend I know football like any of the coaches or like my “Orange Zone” co-host Damien Rhodes or our special analyst Dan Conley (all of whom you can watch Thursdays at 7 on NBC-3 during the season….plus our season kickoff 6:30-7:30 on Thursday September 3rd). But it has been my job to cover this team as a main focus since 2007 and if there’s one thing I’ll buy into it’s a Scott Shafer/Chuck Bullough defense. Certainly there are depth concerns on the line and in the secondary but the linebackers are solid. The defenses that Coach Shafer led early his tenure didn’t always have a TON of seniority (2011 comes to mind) yet they always typically found a way to keep Syracuse in the game.
That said, it’s easy to say there can/will be growing pains but it’s not something you can write off right away as a major issue for this team.
Given all of the previous 900-something words, let’s get to the actual predictions:
In the interest of full disclosure, here are my previous predictions with the actual results:
2010 prediction: 7-5, Pinstripe Bowl, Result: 7-5 Pinstripe Bowl
2011 prediction: 8-4, Belk Bowl, Result: 5-7 No Bowl
2012 prediction: 7-5, Beef O’ Brady Bowl, Result: 7-5 Pinstripe Bowl
2013 prediction: 7-5, 4-4 in ACC, Military Bowl, Result: 6-6, 4-4 in ACC Texas Bowl
2014 prediction: 8-4, 5-3 in ACC, Sun Bowl, Result: 3-9, 1-6 in ACC No Bowl
As you can see, in three of the five years I’ve been pretty darn close. Maybe the bowl isn’t right but the mark overall has been close. The two years I’ve been off? Those were seasons that were anomalies (hoping the same is true in 2014). The parallels with both injuries and assistant coaches being dismissed are oddly similar between 2011 and 2014 as well.
2015:
Syracuse 38, Rhode Island 13
Rhode Island is not Villanova. I don’t think anyone envisioned that close of a game in 2014 but they knew ‘Nova was tough. ‘Nova only lost in the Elite 8 of the FCS playoffs because star quarterback John Robertson was out. Expect Syracuse to swiftly knock out Rhode Island, where Coach Shafer began his career.
Syracuse 24, Wake Forest 13
Wake Forest will be improved. So will Syracuse. This is a perfect way for SU to kick off conference play, at the Carrier Dome with a team that it should beat. Wake Forest won’t go down as easily as they did in Winston-Salem in 2014, but Syracuse will be favored and win.
Syracuse 35, Central Michigan 20
Central Michigan will always pose a bit of danger but again Syracuse is ahead of this team and really always should be. The leadership and explosiveness on offense will be enough to overpower a decent Chippewa team.
Syracuse starts 3-0, a CRUCIAL point for this season.
LSU 41, Syracuse 24
This game will have the Dome rocking. Syracuse will be ready to go but at this point it’s hard to predict an upset. It’s not out of the realm of possibility, but LSU will most likely take this one
The bye week in October as opposed to exactly a month sooner will do WONDERS this year. No 9-game stretches. Thank Goodness (if you check out my 2014 prediction, I predicted the long stretch would cause injuries)
Syracuse 21, South Florida 10
Winning these early season games are crucial for the Orange. South Florida is a very winnable game for the Orange and giving Scott Shafer 2-weeks to prepare for the Bulls could help immensely.
Syracuse 27, Virginia 22
The Wahoos provide the most difficult early season game outside of the LSU matchup. I’ll admit, this one could go either way. One reason I’m giving it to the Orange is based on several people I talked to at ACC Football Kickoff at Pinehurst Resort in July. To a person, everyone that covers Virginia that I spoke with say the Cavs will be in rough shape this season and that Syracuse will win. Now, I realize that this could be just based on a disappointing past few seasons, but it has to mean something, right?
Pittsburgh 28, Syracuse 21
Another “winnable” game for Syracuse, you could even flip-flop this game with the Virginia contest. The reason I’m picking it this way is because there’s still too much unknown about how Syracuse’s defensive line will perform this year. James Connor, the reigning ACC Player of the Year is back, while SU contained him in 2014 it remains to be seen how 2015 will shakeout.
Florida State 35, Syracuse 17
Florida State is, well, Florida State. I think Everett Golston will help more than people think for the Seminoles.
Louisville 31, Syracuse 21
Chalk this up as an early, potential, upset alert. For this, I’ll stop short of that because Louisville is awfully tough and playing at their place adds onto that. Don’t be shocked if Syracuse snags an upset in this game though.
`Clemson 45, Syracuse 28
If DeShaun Watson can stay healthy then look out. Clemson was predicted to win the ACC for a reason. As Syracuse proved last season it can hang with the Tigers, and if Watson’s durability becomes a factor again this will be immensely closer.
Syracuse 28, NC State 27
Another thing that people at the ACC Football Kickoff kept telling me was that this is NC State’s year. That the Wolfpack will make the next step and this that and the other thing. I’m not disputing that they’ll be good, but I’m not buying that they are light years ahead of Syracuse based on how one season transpired. Yes, Jacoby Brissett is the real-deal. Who says Terrel Hunt isn’t? The guy was injured. Last year NC State won by a touchdown in a game where SU was already quite depleted because of injury. So yes, NC State may be good, but I’m not about to say they’ll definitely be better than SU in 2015.
Syracuse will be back in a bowl. Even ESPN’s Brett McMurphy says it’s the Orange is a bowl.
Syracuse 38, Boston College 35
With both teams bowl-eligible, nothing but pride is on the line in this game. SU vs. BC is quickly gaining stature in where it stands as far as a rivalry is concerned. SU is at the Carrier Dome and has the advantage.
Record: 7-5 overall, 4-4 in ACC play.
I’ll admit, I’m still grasping how the ACC Bowl layout works. Given how SU draws there, I’ll go with the Pinstripe Bowl
P.S.- Please feel free to comment, I may use your response on the air tomorrow in my sportscast on NBC-3 and CBS-5.
This won't be posted on our website until tomorrow, but given what the board means to me and as a small tribute to Orangeyes, I'm posting it here first.
You may not agree with me, that's fine, that's what this board is for. But I hope you enjoy reading it, and we'll see you on the 4th!
WAR DAMN ORANGEYES
2015 Syracuse Orange Football Season Preview
By: Niko Tamurian
It’s that time of year, the State Fair is just about here and football is in the air. You know, the time of year when football fans are clamoring to watch any NFL Preseason game or past college football games on ESPN Classic. Any way you slice it, here in Central New York it’s time to dig in for another season of Syracuse Orange Football.
To do so, for some national analysts is as simple as looking at the games on the schedule and assigning a record based on the perceived difficulty of the opponents and where those games are played. The beginning of my prediction will be my way of assuring Orange fans that they don’t have to believe every prediction that those magazines that come out in June make. I’m not blaming those pundits or saying that they’re wrong it’s just the nature of the beast. When you have to predict the results for 120 or so teams it’s just human nature that when you get to a team that is predicted to be in the bottom-three of the ACC that you start to assume things. It’s a team coming off a 3-9 season that lost most of its defensive starters, sure.
My prediction is to tell you why you can’t judge this year’s Orange team by its cover. Take a closer look.
I felt like every night in my sportscast last fall you had a new story of injury to hear about. I remember a Monday round of golf that ended early for me last October when there was a sudden release from SU that said Terrel Hunt was out for the year AND George McDonald was demoted.
That’s more adversity than some programs see in several years, let alone one weekend.
Orange Head Coach Scott Shafer may have put it best when he said it was “one hell of a freakish year for injuries”. You pile all of that on top of a change at one of the most important coaching positions on staff and suddenly you have a situation where even the hardest fighting team can’t overcome the odds.
Judging by how hard this team absolutely fought until the finish, I think that’s what we had in 2014.
One last point on 2014, despite all of that, Syracuse lost games like the one to NC State where the Orange was in control until a late pick-six changed the tune of things. There was the Duke game, where SU’s 4th string quarterback scored a touchdown that tied the game at 10 and it stayed that way into the 4th quarter. Clemson may have been short-handed, but again, so was Syracuse and the Orange was beating the Tigers at the break and only lost on a late touchdown 16-6.
The point? When you don’t judge the Orange by a record alone, they weren’t that far off from a bowl game.
Now, onto 2015.
Let’s start with the new offense led by Tim Lester. I’ll admit, I chuckle inside a bit when I meet fans who claim he can’t do the job because the offense wasn’t that good in 2014.
Um, did you expect him to completely install his offense midseason?
While I don’t know exactly how the offense will run nor do many in the media I can tell you that the installation of the offense has been going on for almost a year. The players rave about it. Not that a player’s approval alone means that it will be great, but it does mean they’re confident in it. They believe in it.
Belief is a powerful thing. Comradery is a powerful thing.
This Orange team has both.
Perhaps the most important position on the field has its leader back in Terrel Hunt. Terrel is a year older, he’s battle-scarred. He knows this is his last year at SU to make his mark and to pave the way for his future. It wasn’t long ago way-too-early NFL mockups had him as a player to watch. When that was brought to Hunt’s attention in 2014 he said that wasn’t good enough, he wanted to be #1.
He’s going to do his best to prove that this year.
Combine his return, with a new scheme that’s been bought into, along with a veteran offensive line and explosive playmakers like Brisly Estime and Steve Ishmael and suddenly SU’s offense looks mighty impressive.
To the defense, again, I’m not going to pretend I know football like any of the coaches or like my “Orange Zone” co-host Damien Rhodes or our special analyst Dan Conley (all of whom you can watch Thursdays at 7 on NBC-3 during the season….plus our season kickoff 6:30-7:30 on Thursday September 3rd). But it has been my job to cover this team as a main focus since 2007 and if there’s one thing I’ll buy into it’s a Scott Shafer/Chuck Bullough defense. Certainly there are depth concerns on the line and in the secondary but the linebackers are solid. The defenses that Coach Shafer led early his tenure didn’t always have a TON of seniority (2011 comes to mind) yet they always typically found a way to keep Syracuse in the game.
That said, it’s easy to say there can/will be growing pains but it’s not something you can write off right away as a major issue for this team.
Given all of the previous 900-something words, let’s get to the actual predictions:
In the interest of full disclosure, here are my previous predictions with the actual results:
2010 prediction: 7-5, Pinstripe Bowl, Result: 7-5 Pinstripe Bowl
2011 prediction: 8-4, Belk Bowl, Result: 5-7 No Bowl
2012 prediction: 7-5, Beef O’ Brady Bowl, Result: 7-5 Pinstripe Bowl
2013 prediction: 7-5, 4-4 in ACC, Military Bowl, Result: 6-6, 4-4 in ACC Texas Bowl
2014 prediction: 8-4, 5-3 in ACC, Sun Bowl, Result: 3-9, 1-6 in ACC No Bowl
As you can see, in three of the five years I’ve been pretty darn close. Maybe the bowl isn’t right but the mark overall has been close. The two years I’ve been off? Those were seasons that were anomalies (hoping the same is true in 2014). The parallels with both injuries and assistant coaches being dismissed are oddly similar between 2011 and 2014 as well.
2015:
Syracuse 38, Rhode Island 13
Rhode Island is not Villanova. I don’t think anyone envisioned that close of a game in 2014 but they knew ‘Nova was tough. ‘Nova only lost in the Elite 8 of the FCS playoffs because star quarterback John Robertson was out. Expect Syracuse to swiftly knock out Rhode Island, where Coach Shafer began his career.
Syracuse 24, Wake Forest 13
Wake Forest will be improved. So will Syracuse. This is a perfect way for SU to kick off conference play, at the Carrier Dome with a team that it should beat. Wake Forest won’t go down as easily as they did in Winston-Salem in 2014, but Syracuse will be favored and win.
Syracuse 35, Central Michigan 20
Central Michigan will always pose a bit of danger but again Syracuse is ahead of this team and really always should be. The leadership and explosiveness on offense will be enough to overpower a decent Chippewa team.
Syracuse starts 3-0, a CRUCIAL point for this season.
LSU 41, Syracuse 24
This game will have the Dome rocking. Syracuse will be ready to go but at this point it’s hard to predict an upset. It’s not out of the realm of possibility, but LSU will most likely take this one
The bye week in October as opposed to exactly a month sooner will do WONDERS this year. No 9-game stretches. Thank Goodness (if you check out my 2014 prediction, I predicted the long stretch would cause injuries)
Syracuse 21, South Florida 10
Winning these early season games are crucial for the Orange. South Florida is a very winnable game for the Orange and giving Scott Shafer 2-weeks to prepare for the Bulls could help immensely.
Syracuse 27, Virginia 22
The Wahoos provide the most difficult early season game outside of the LSU matchup. I’ll admit, this one could go either way. One reason I’m giving it to the Orange is based on several people I talked to at ACC Football Kickoff at Pinehurst Resort in July. To a person, everyone that covers Virginia that I spoke with say the Cavs will be in rough shape this season and that Syracuse will win. Now, I realize that this could be just based on a disappointing past few seasons, but it has to mean something, right?
Pittsburgh 28, Syracuse 21
Another “winnable” game for Syracuse, you could even flip-flop this game with the Virginia contest. The reason I’m picking it this way is because there’s still too much unknown about how Syracuse’s defensive line will perform this year. James Connor, the reigning ACC Player of the Year is back, while SU contained him in 2014 it remains to be seen how 2015 will shakeout.
Florida State 35, Syracuse 17
Florida State is, well, Florida State. I think Everett Golston will help more than people think for the Seminoles.
Louisville 31, Syracuse 21
Chalk this up as an early, potential, upset alert. For this, I’ll stop short of that because Louisville is awfully tough and playing at their place adds onto that. Don’t be shocked if Syracuse snags an upset in this game though.
`Clemson 45, Syracuse 28
If DeShaun Watson can stay healthy then look out. Clemson was predicted to win the ACC for a reason. As Syracuse proved last season it can hang with the Tigers, and if Watson’s durability becomes a factor again this will be immensely closer.
Syracuse 28, NC State 27
Another thing that people at the ACC Football Kickoff kept telling me was that this is NC State’s year. That the Wolfpack will make the next step and this that and the other thing. I’m not disputing that they’ll be good, but I’m not buying that they are light years ahead of Syracuse based on how one season transpired. Yes, Jacoby Brissett is the real-deal. Who says Terrel Hunt isn’t? The guy was injured. Last year NC State won by a touchdown in a game where SU was already quite depleted because of injury. So yes, NC State may be good, but I’m not about to say they’ll definitely be better than SU in 2015.
Syracuse will be back in a bowl. Even ESPN’s Brett McMurphy says it’s the Orange is a bowl.
Syracuse 38, Boston College 35
With both teams bowl-eligible, nothing but pride is on the line in this game. SU vs. BC is quickly gaining stature in where it stands as far as a rivalry is concerned. SU is at the Carrier Dome and has the advantage.
Record: 7-5 overall, 4-4 in ACC play.
I’ll admit, I’m still grasping how the ACC Bowl layout works. Given how SU draws there, I’ll go with the Pinstripe Bowl
P.S.- Please feel free to comment, I may use your response on the air tomorrow in my sportscast on NBC-3 and CBS-5.
. Simply arguing that "if we're clawing out wins just getting in to a bowl would be a great achievement" is exactly what he is predicting. And that the numbers he's rolling with are not crazy, but very much in line with our history.
