Picking against 2025 Syracuse football provides more motivation for the players

In a story published last week, a couple of ESPN's respected national college football writers predicted that the Syracuse football team would fare no better than a 5-7 record (or potentially worse) for the upcoming season.

In fairness, that is just one game behind where our own writer, Nate Tramdaks, prognosticated in his 12-story series that predicted and previewed the entire regular season schedule, and concluded last Friday with the BC game.

But finishing 6-6 is a huge difference than being sub. 500. The ACC gets each of its bowl-eligible teams into a postseason contest somewhere on the 44-game (omen?) postseason calendar.

Even more important to consider is an upgraded roster. While understanding the gauntlet of a road schedule chock full of CFP teams and projected ACC heavyweights, unless there is a season of unbelievable bad luck with injuries, and we have seen that unfurl before, the '25 roster depth (albeit less game experience) that Fran Brown and his staff have assembled since he came aboard in November 2023, is better than at any time in the last quarter century.

Add to that the most money ever spent on the football program with the opening of the truly state-of-the-art performance center at the Lally Athletics Complex, the largest coaching/support staff ever, players receiving NIL and defined revenue, and talented athletes from all over dotting the roster, it is simply hard not to see at least a .500 team.

Have to win the Dome games because playing on the road is always a crapshoot

Other than the Stanford hiccup, Syracuse held serve at home in Brown's debut season, and like his predecessors Scott Shafer and Dino Babers, the first year head coach struggled for road consistency in the ACC, along with his players, in defeats to northeast recruiting rivals Pitt and Boston College.

Those two rematches are in the friendly confines of the Dome this season, the former the only October home game, the latter the regular season finale (which, by-the-way we have long advocated should be the permanent end-of-season foe) in which a postseason berth could indeed be on the line.

Syracuse is just 3-12 against the Panthers going back to 2010, and 9-6 versus the Eagles over that same period.

The other ACC home games figure to be close, but also winnable, games against peers Duke, a week after playing at Clemson, and North Carolina. The UNC tilt with Bill Belichick on Halloween (Friday) Night, is almost too good to be true for partner ESPN and its ability to thematically hype any game.

Throw in FCS opponent Colgate and a tough Connecticut game coming off the emotion of the Tennessee opener, and there's two other potential wins to get to six.

We're realistic enough to think it will be hard to match the win total from a year ago, but also that somehow, some way, this team gets itself into postseason play.

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