Our schedule next year looks really hard

[SoBristol]

Life in the ACC, we need to get better, plain and simple. Only lock next year is Colgate unless we get better quickly. Which I think we will. Just don't know how much

2016 team has a lot back -- everywhere except DE and OL. Keep our QB healthy; fix the secondary; somehow find an impact WR.
The fan base is in the dumper, but a lot of our woes trace to the QB position, and in 2015 to having a very young defense.

 

[KellySyracuse]

so we're notching up losses before the spring game has even been scheduled yet? why even bother playing? let's just mail it in.

 

[Chris02M]

preseason rankings mean nothing to since a lot can change before we actually play

 

[Whitey23]

 

[Chris02M]

it was harder last yr aand 7/12 of the schedule is the same yearly

 

[longislandcuse]

Didn't everyone say Louisville would be freakin amazing this year and never were.

Acc won't have two teams in the playoff either.

Probably not, but Clemson and FSU could absolutely be 2 of the 4 best teams in CFB this year.

 

[richard levy]

I'm very excited for that trip. Obviously winning will be very difficult, but just for the entire gameday experience down there. It's a college football bucket list item for me.

I'm with you, that is one of the great college game day experience. Always on a Saturday night in one of those packed, raucous 80,000+ stadiums

 

[GoSU96]

Colgate, BC, Wake, Uconn. - win those games.

Go 2-6 the rest of the way.

 

[jr4750]

Probably not, but Clemson and FSU could absolutely be 2 of the 4 best teams in CFB this year.

Not a response to your comment at all, but just thinking out loud here. Probably makes no difference if on a yearly basis Clemson and FSU are a tad better or worse for our interests. We have a long way to go to beat them anyway. Year in and year out those are chalked up as losses. Louisville is different. Really hope we can shock them at home early in the year. Kinda wish we were in year 2 of the Baber's experiment. How much can we expect this early? Big game that could position the rest of the season positively.

 

[Pyle]

Tired of this crap. We aren't Akron or SMU. We are a P5 team in a tough conference who plays one not-so-neutral site game against a P5 team, 2 non-P5 teams, and a team from the friggin Patriot League. This schedule isn't unmanageable. ND isn't unbeatable, Grob beat them with a team that lost to Akron. I get it's not the same team, point is any given Saturday. Add in the fact that we have a HC with actual Div1 HC experience, a proven offensive system that scored more TDs in the spring game than we have in the last 5 combined, and not exactly chopped liver at the QB position. It's been sucky the past few years(like 10+) but I'm done being an apologist. I don't expect to compete for the ACC this year, but I do expect to be bowl eligible and take a few teams by complete surprise. I'm all in on the fact it takes 2 years for this system to reach full potential but I have no reason to believe we will be stuck in neutral during that entire time. Babers has improved the offense in year 1 every place he's been.

 

[chugg21]

Tired of this crap. We aren't Akron or SMU. We are a P5 team in a tough conference who plays one not-so-neutral site game against a P5 team, 2 non-P5 teams, and a team from the friggin Patriot League. This schedule isn't unmanageable. ND isn't unbeatable, Grob beat them with a team that lost to Akron. I get it's not the same team, point is any given Saturday. Add in the fact that we have a HC with actual Div1 HC experience, a proven offensive system that scored more TDs in the spring game than we have in the last 5 combined, and not exactly chopped liver at the QB position. It's been sucky the past few years(like 10+) but I'm done being an apologist. I don't expect to compete for the ACC this year, but I do expect to be bowl eligible and take a few teams by complete surprise. I'm all in on the fact it takes 2 years for this system to reach full potential but I have no reason to believe we will be stuck in neutral during that entire time. Babers has improved the offense in year 1 every place he's been.

Need to look at the roster in reality compared to our boosting of players in our heads. We've only had a punter drafted in the last 2 years and I don't really see any sure things for next year either. Roster is bare and extremely thin on top of that, its going to take some time and being a cupcake on a top 10-15 program isn't really ideal. Can say that we gave LSU a scare, but not sure thats factual considering they went for 9 yards per play.

 

[Finwad32]

Confident that our offense will have us competitive in all of our games. Find a way to win.

 

[NJCuse97]

If this were 2017 or 2018 they probably would be, but not early in Year 1 AD (after Dino).

For the record, it's Anno Dino, or in the year of our Dino.

 

[Pyle]

Need to look at the roster in reality compared to our boosting of players in our heads. We've only had a punter drafted in the last 2 years and I don't really see any sure things for next year either. Roster is bare and extremely thin on top of that, its going to take some time and being a cupcake on a top 10-15 program isn't really ideal. Can say that we gave LSU a scare, but not sure thats factual considering they went for 9 yards per play.

I know what I saw at the spring game this year vs what I saw last year when we scored 1 offensive TD. Grab a cold beverage, throw something on some open flame and get ready to have fun again.

 

[SU2NASA]

My only question is which semifinal playoff game will we be in?

 

[orangenirvana]

We're always going to try to keep one big name out there. ND is already setup thru the conference, but other than that we'll wrap up with LSU in 2017, Wisconsin is on the horizon, and someone else will be behind that.

There will always be 1 FCS.

That in between zone is going to be a variable for us. You try to lock up a MAC and AAC as best you can. But some years, like last year, the AAC will overachieve. Then all the coaches will leave, new crop will come up, some years those teams will be fairly good, some years they will be terrible.

2016, @UConn (UConn's Super Bowl) and home to USF who has been building something, combined with us starting over, it may not work out as well.

Can anyone explain why we are still playing old Big East teams? They were boring enough being forced to play them when we were in the same conference. We finally get away from them, and yet here they are still on our schedule - intentionally this time. Why? I'd rather see a MAC or Sun Belt or CUSA, personally.

 

[TheCusian]

Need to look at the roster in reality compared to our boosting of players in our heads. We've only had a punter drafted in the last 2 years and I don't really see any sure things for next year either. Roster is bare and extremely thin on top of that, its going to take some time and being a cupcake on a top 10-15 program isn't really ideal. Can say that we gave LSU a scare, but not sure thats factual considering they went for 9 yards per play.

You can win a bunch of games with good coaching, a good system, and above average QB play. 6 wins is very attainable.

 

[TheCusian]

My only question is which semifinal playoff game will we be in?

You guys have to get through Meyer and tOSU first .

 

[chugg21]

You can win a bunch of games with good coaching, a good system, and above average QB play. 6 wins is very attainable.

I sure hope its attainable when we wouldn't have to beat a top 40 team to get there, just need wins over Colgate, UCONN, WF, BC & 2 of USF/Pitt/NCST.

 

[Pyle]

Can anyone explain why we are still playing old Big East teams? They were boring enough being forced to play them when we were in the same conference. We finally get away from them, and yet here they are still on our schedule - intentionally this time. Why? I'd rather see a MAC or Sun Belt or CUSA, personally.

My guess is it's alot cheaper to travel to Storrs than it is Idaho. We also have history with those teams. I have no desire to play GA Southern, UL-Monroe, etc. And I hope we never schedule CMU again.

 

[orange79]

Tired of this crap. We aren't Akron or SMU. We are a P5 team in a tough conference who plays one not-so-neutral site game against a P5 team, 2 non-P5 teams, and a team from the friggin Patriot League. This schedule isn't unmanageable. ND isn't unbeatable, Grob beat them with a team that lost to Akron. I get it's not the same team, point is any given Saturday. Add in the fact that we have a HC with actual Div1 HC experience, a proven offensive system that scored more TDs in the spring game than we have in the last 5 combined, and not exactly chopped liver at the QB position. It's been sucky the past few years(like 10+) but I'm done being an apologist. I don't expect to compete for the ACC this year, but I do expect to be bowl eligible and take a few teams by complete surprise. I'm all in on the fact it takes 2 years for this system to reach full potential but I have no reason to believe we will be stuck in neutral during that entire time. Babers has improved the offense in year 1 every place he's been.

In all fairness, to use a spring game stat in your argument is a tenuous position, at best. I'm sure the offense will improve (well, how could it not?), but it will take some breaks to get to 7-5 this year. Get to 6-6, go to a bowl, and build on that. I have confidence the good years will come.

 

[dinosaurbbq]

http://espn.go.com/college-football...a-crimson-tide-lead-2016-way-too-early-top-25

We have a tough OOC schedule next year: #9 Notre Dame-Metlife, an up and coming South Florida team(they are going to be the preseason pick to win the AAC East), @UConn, Colgate.

Conference schedule: @ #1 Clemson, #6 Florida State, #24 Louisville, Virginia Tech, @Pittsburgh, NC State, @Boston College, @Wake Forest.

Wow is that a tough schedule. The ACC could actually have 2 teams in the CFB playoff picture next year.

The Opening week of the season Clemson @ Auburn, Florida State-Ole Miss in Orlando.

3 top 10 preseason teams has to be a first in a long time for Syracuse football.

I pity the other teams in our division that have to play Clemson, Florida State, Louisville and us!

 

[Pyle]

In all fairness, to use a spring game stat in your argument is a tenuous position, at best. I'm sure the offense will improve (well, how could it not?), but it will take some breaks to get to 7-5 this year. Get to 6-6, go to a bowl, and build on that. I have confidence the good years will come.

I understand your point, and it's not just the stat that leads me to believe we will be pushing for a bowl. It's the way the offense operates, it looks fluid, it looks right. It doesn't look forced and confused the way it has the past few years. Like I said, my expectations are what you said, 6-6 and a bowl game, it's a manageable schedule, and we didn't overload it because we scheduled USF and UCONN. If we don't get to 6-6 then I'm still fully onboard. Babers has a get out of jail free card as far as I'm concerned this year, I just don't think he needs it.

 

[Ish88888]

Can anyone explain why we are still playing old Big East teams? They were boring enough being forced to play them when we were in the same conference. We finally get away from them, and yet here they are still on our schedule - intentionally this time. Why? I'd rather see a MAC or Sun Belt or CUSA, personally.

UCONN is a very winnable OOC game and within driving distance. This was very good scheduling. I would like to take on RUTGERS with a home/home series too in the future.