Syracuse football's 2025 season begins the next quarter century

Last year's final No. 20 AP ranking is the building point for this season's different roster and tough road schedule.

Dec 27, 2024; San Diego, CA, USA; Syracuse Orange wide receiver Umari Hatcher (5) receives the most valued defensive player against the Washington State Cougars at Snapdragon Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Abe Arredondo-Imagn Images | Abe Arredondo-Imagn Images

When you look at Syracuse football over the first quarter century of the 2000s under six head coaches, the timeline is bookended by a pair of 10-win seasons and bowl game victories over Power Conference opponents in 2001and 2024. Coming off last season's final No. 20 ranking in the AP poll, there's momentum to take the next step forward competing for the ACC title.

Embracing its past will help Syracuse Football's future

Despite all that goes into roster turnover today from season-to-season, the Orange embark on 2025 and the Aug. 30 "Kickoff Game" in Atlanta against SEC power, and CFP participant from a year ago, Tennessee (12:00 p.m. ET / ABC), with some positive energy of a rare Top-20 finish.

Since 2000, the only other seasons the Orange were ranked (with the highest ranking listed) were:

• 2001-14th

• 2018-12th

• 2019-21st

• 2022-14th

With some 20 redshirt seniors on the '25 roster, many of whom have been around the program under two head coaches, any positive accomplishment helps Fran Brown and his coaching staff set the tone of expectations for the younger players in the program recruited in the last two classes, and sell the winning message to future transfer portal and scholastic recruits.

A Syracuse player who epitomized greatness lends a helping hand

Was there any greater Orange player in the first quarter century than Dwight Freeney?

Sure, he only played in the 2000s on The Hill as a junior and senior in 2000-01, but what a senior season he had. On route to first-team All-American honors, Freeney helped SU beat Kansas State in the Insight.com Bowl to finish10-3, which at the time was only the fifth occasion an Orange squad achieved double-digit victories in a season.

This past April in a timely move, Brown brought Freeney back into the program in the newly created role of Director of Player Development. It is a position that serves as a crucial link between the staff and players in the new era of direct payment to players from the schools, along with ongoing NIL deals.

Freeney's ability to be relatable to the Orange players should not be hard. Simply consider his lifetime NFL salary earnings of close to $100M, and College and Pro Football Hall of Fame credentials.

"The time is now," Freeney said in April confirming his hiring. "I think that Syracuse has a lot of good things going. A great foundation, and I think they need a push to be able to maintain and exceed that – that is what I hope I’m able to do."

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