Ranking our 2025 games | Syracusefan.com

Ranking our 2025 games

djorange1989

djorange1989

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Now that we have a pretty good idea of our roster and our opponents, let’s rank our games in 2025 from least to most difficult! Here is what I got, chime in at your leisure:

Colgate
U Conn
UNC
BC
Pitt
Duke
Ga Tech
SMU
Miami
Tennessee
Clemson
ND
 
I think that Clemson is tops. Id put Pitt in front of Duke. Other than those two nit picks spot on
 
I’d put Clemson at hardest. Also would put Miami over Tennessee. Most games will have to take our best effort to grab a win.
 
Orangefizz said:
I think we have to win all 6 of our home games and hope to steal 1-2 on the road (GT/SMU).

I look at our ceiling as 7-8 wins; most likely 6-6 or 7-5
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I’ve been thinking 7-5. We’ll know more after the Tennessee game but we have a puncher‘s chance at winning that game as long as the officials don’t start calling penalties for having knees showing again.
 
- UConn could be a trap game after Tennessee and with Clemson on the horizon. UConn played us OK last year. There was never a doubt we were going to win but they hung around.

- UNC on a short week after going to Ga Tech is not great. I'd move that up in difficulty. At least it's at home.
 
Archimedes said:
- UConn could be a trap game after Tennessee and with Clemson on the horizon. UConn played us OK last year. There was never a doubt we were going to win but they hung around.

- UNC on a short week after going to Ga Tech is not great. I'd move that up in difficulty. At least it's at home.
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I don’t know, UNC feels like a dumpster fire waiting to happen.
 
djorange1989 said:
Now that we have a pretty good idea of our roster and our opponents, let’s rank our games in 2025 from least to most difficult! Here is what I got, chime in at your leisure:

Colgate
U Conn
UNC
BC
Pitt
Duke
Ga Tech
SMU
Miami
Tennessee
Clemson
ND
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Colgate

UCan't - Speaks for itself, give me a break - Its spelled FRAN not GERG

UNC - Agree, train wreck that we all won't be able to stop watching

Duke - Lost Malik at QB and Diaz is not a good HC and will be exposed again - last year he coasted off of Elko's culture/coaching

Pitt - There is no Holstein rabbit out of the hat this year - back to regression city and hot seat for Nardduz

BC - Lost more talent than they gained but can't argue with the solid coaching

SMU - New rFR QB from TCU (look how they played without Jennings early last year) - Could be worse than this, QB is so important

Tenn - is scrambling at QB (UCLA transfer leftovers via App State) and will step back on D losing 4 DL (draft) and their AA CB (injury) - But coaching and overall talent is not to be argued with at this point in Heupel's tenure

Miami - Beck will be more of a downgrade from Ward than expected, but he will be solid and overall talent makes them tough still - Never underestimate the 3-7 points Cristobal spots every team with his bone head decisions (like kicking the FG late against us when they didnt stop us all day)

GT - Best QB on the schedule - Jamal Haynes top 2-3 RB we face - Great OL (returning 4 starters) - Solid coaching - Solid Talent everywhere

ND - rFR CJ Carr will not be as good as Angeli (yup I said it) but their overall talent is elite and CJ will be good, plus great coaching unlike Miami

Clemson - 2nd Best QB on the schedule - Great coaching with Dabo and upgrades at OC and DC in recent years - Plus top 5-10 talent everywhere (people forget)
 
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SUskibum said:
Colgate

UCan't - Speaks for itself, give me a break - Its spelled FRAN not GERG

UNC - Agree, train wreck that we all won't be able to stop watching

Duke - Lost Malik at QB and Diaz is not a good HC and will be exposed again - last year he coasted off of Elko's culture/coaching

Pitt - There is no Holstein rabbit out of the hat this year - back to regression city and hot seat for Nardduz

BC - Lost more talent than they gained but can't argue with the solid coaching

SMU - New rFR QB from TCU (look how they played without Jennings early last year) - Could be worse than this, QB is so important

Tenn - is scrambling at QB (UCLA transfer leftovers via App State) and will step back on D losing 4 DL (draft) and their AA CB (injury) - But coaching and overall talent is not to be argued with at this point in Heupel's tenure

Miami - Beck will be more of a downgrade from Ward than expected, but he will be solid and overall talent makes them tough still - Never underestimate the 3-7 points Cristobal spots every team with his bone head decisions (like kicking the FG late against us when they didnt stop us all day)

GT - Best QB on the schedule - Jamal Haynes top 2-3 RB we face - Great OL (returning 4 starters) - Solid coaching - Solid Talent everywhere

ND - rFR CJ Carr will not be as good as Angeli (yup I said it) but their overall talent is elite and CJ will be good, plus great coaching unlike Miami

Clemson - 2nd Best QB on the schedule - Great coaching with Dabo and upgrades at OC and DC in recent years - Plus top 5-10 talent everywhere (people forget)
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In past years would have said 6-6 was good against this schedule but for the first time in 27 years we have depth at many positions.
Very good talent just haven't proven themselves yet.
If we can win the Tennessee game and gain some confidence early in the year.
The youngsters on the team have size and speed some of them will step up.
The Question is how soon they do.
 
TexanMark said:
Can't argue with your logic. Notre Dame could be a bad weather game. Not sure that helps us.
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Usually bad weather favors the less talented team because it can keep scoring down and adds more randomness. But style does come into play. Not sure what our style is going to be yet given who we have turned over.
 
Colgate - W
U Conn - W
UNC - W
Pitt - W
Duke - W
BC - L
Ga Tech - W
Miami - L
SMU - W
Tennessee - L
ND - L
Clemson - L

We really need to win the bottom 7 and hope we can sneak in a few of the top 5
You could even say the top 7 listed are going to tough matchups for us

Not many "gimme" games here, Colgate - Pitt would be but honestly not sure how those team shake out. All indications say they will both be dumpster fires.

We matched up well with Ga Tech, run game scares me

SMU has a new QB that will be our path to winning

Miami is well Miami so we will be automatically spotted a few points. Beck is a HUGE drop off.

Tennessee is a bit of a mess but they have talent all over the place and a pretty good coaching staff.

ND is 2nd due to the QB. Still have a lot of weapons and a defense we need to be really concerned over.

Clemon is the hardest. They might have the best QB in the ACC, Dabo is a great coach, and they seem to be on the upswing again.

Overall I think we end up 7-5. We just don't have the foundation to run with a schedule like this (not many teams do). I believe the floor is 5-7 and the ceiling would be 9-3.
 
This schedule is brutal. BRUTAL.

Our depth is going to really be tested because I suspect a lot of guys aren't going to get through this meatgrinder in one piece. Even games we win are going to take a heavy physical toll.

I can't rank 'em because I can barely follow all the roster changes for SU, let alone our 12 opponents. But I do know that we play a ton of teams that will roll out a lot of talented, tough players.
 
We have 4 games Tenn/Clem/ND/Miami who we might play really well against and lose anyway
We have Colgate we have to win
We have Uconn where we only lose if we play poorly
Pitt/BC are the same tossup every year
UNC/Duke/GT/SMU we could go 1-3 or 3-1. who knows. If we are good all winnable.

5-7 to 7-5 unless we steal one of the big ones.
 
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djorange1989 said:
I don’t know, UNC feels like a dumpster fire waiting to happen.
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1000001453.jpg
 
Archbold44 said:
Most important game: Tennessee. If we win that, it boosts our expectations and is an ACC win over SEC.
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It’s the most important game because it’s the next one.
 
DuxburyO said:
It’s the most important game because it’s the next one.
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I am just saying that if we opened with Colgate and won... and then played Tennessee next... Tennessee would still be most important for our national prestige. ACC upsets do not move the needle nearly as much. Beating Miami cost them more than it helped us.
 
PAcuse said:
Colgate - W
U Conn - W
UNC - W
Pitt - W
Duke - W
BC - L
Ga Tech - W
Miami - L
SMU - W
Tennessee - L
ND - L
Clemson - L

We really need to win the bottom 7 and hope we can sneak in a few of the top 5
You could even say the top 7 listed are going to tough matchups for us

Not many "gimme" games here, Colgate - Pitt would be but honestly not sure how those team shake out. All indications say they will both be dumpster fires.

We matched up well with Ga Tech, run game scares me

SMU has a new QB that will be our path to winning

Miami is well Miami so we will be automatically spotted a few points. Beck is a HUGE drop off.

Tennessee is a bit of a mess but they have talent all over the place and a pretty good coaching staff.

ND is 2nd due to the QB. Still have a lot of weapons and a defense we need to be really concerned over.

Clemon is the hardest. They might have the best QB in the ACC, Dabo is a great coach, and they seem to be on the upswing again.

Overall I think we end up 7-5. We just don't have the foundation to run with a schedule like this (not many teams do). I believe the floor is 5-7 and the ceiling would be 9-3.
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The floor is worse than 5-7. Look at FSU last year. If they can only win 2 games, we can only win 2 games. The bell curve is around 5-7 wins though... agree.
 
Archbold44 said:
The floor is worse than 5-7. Look at FSU last year. If they can only win 2 games, we can only win 2 games. The bell curve is around 5-7 wins though... agree.
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Right you could say the floor is 1 win just about any year, it was does my prediction of where I feel the floor is for 2025.
Fran would not let a trainwreck like FSU happen.
 
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