The 2022 campaign was more like two seasons in one for the Syracuse football team. The Orange rattled off six straight wins to start things off, featuring a wild home victory over Purdue and eking out a road win at Virginia in consecutive weeks.
SU capped that hot start with a 24-9 home victory over #15 North Carolina State that clinched bowl eligibility for the program for the first time in four years and propelled them to #14 in the following week’s AP poll.
Perhaps that win over the Wolfpack should have been viewed with a bit of skepticism as to how good SU really was. The ‘Pack were without starting quarterback Devin Leary, who had suffered a season-ending injury the previous week.
Syracuse went into a tailspin after that sixth win, dropping their next five games and losing their own quarterback, Garrett Shrader, against Notre Dame. Shrader returned a couple weeks later against Florida State, but the Orange could not stop their slide until ripping off 26 fourth-quarter points to beat Boston College in the regular season finale.
After closing their schedule at 7-5, SU earned their first bowl berth in four season, getting invited to the Pinstripe Bowl to face Minnesota, but dropped a 28-20 decision in Yankee Stadium. Multiple players sat out that game for the Orange, including 1,000-yard rusher Sean Tucker, NFL second-round pick Matthew Bergeron, and defensive standouts linebacker Mikel Jones and defensive backs Ja’Had Carter and Duce Chestnut.
That postseason game, however, might have given the college football world a look at what this year’s Syracuse squad could look like this season. Shrader set personal bests in both completions (32) and passing yards (330) in a single game.
LeQuint Allen replaced Tucker in the backfield and rolled up 154 yards from scrimmage. Oronde Gadsden capped his breakout season with seven catches for 78 yards, finishing off school records for receptions by a sophomore (61) and most receptions and receiving yards in a season for a tight end.
POSITIONAL PREVIEWS - OFFENSE
On the other side of the ball, rover Justin Barron led the team in tackles with cornerback Isaiah Johnson and linebacker Kadin Bailey, who posted his first career sack, on his heels. All but one player who recorded a stop in the game return to the Orange defense, as the bowl was an opportunity for a lot of training wheels to get taken off.
That defense put forth a statistically impressive effort in that bowl game, holding the Golden Gophers to 215 total yards and just 4.4 yards per play.
POSITIONAL PREVIEWS - DEFENSE/SPECIAL TEAMS
That effort bodes well for the defense to maintain their level of play this season, as they finished 14th in the country in pass yards allowed per game, 15th in passing yards allowed per play, and 21st in yards allowed per game.
While the rush defense was more middle-of-the-pack nationally, an expectation that comes with running the undersized 3-3-5 defense, the team took a step forward in forcing turnovers over the previous season, jumping from seven in 12 games to 19 in 13 outings.
There is even greater potential for that defense is a new face on the coaching staff. That face is not new to college football, however, as Rocky Long, the guru of the 3-3-5 defense, is now the defensive coordinator for the Orange.
Long has spent 20 seasons as head coach at New Mexico and San Diego State, including bowl appearances in all nine of his seasons and five double-digit winning seasons at the latter stop. In short, Long should help get the fresh faces on the SU defense up to snuff quickly.
Long is not the only new coordinator on the Syracuse staff, as Jason Beck was promoted to the offensive coordinator post from quarterback coach prior to last year’s Pinstripe Bowl.
Beck oversaw a 477-yard effort by the Orange against Minnesota and the team just missed having a 100-yard rusher (Allen) with a 300-yard passer (Shrader) in the game.
Beck had been coaching under former coordinator Robert Anae for a decade, which should provide continuity for the offense, despite becoming the fifth offensive coordinator in Dino Babers’ eight seasons guiding the Orange.
While SU lost significant star power from the 2022 squad, they do return last season’s top passer, receiver, tackler, and pass rusher among their returning starters. The media guide lists 56 lettermen returning to the roster, including 26 on each side of the ball and four on special teams.
Making consecutive bowl games for the first time under Babers is a reasonable goal to see if this program is headed toward consistently better things.
PREDICTIONS
• Jim Stechschulte (The Juice Online): 7 wins
• Brad Bierman (The Juice Online): 9 wins
• Andrea Adelson (ESPN): 7 wins
• Brendan Carney (Former Syracuse punter): 7 wins
• Rich Scanlon (Former Syracuse linebacker): 8 wins
• Jake Flaherty (Former Syracuse linebacker): 8 wins
To do that, Syracuse will need to navigate a difficult schedule, that eases them into conference play with three games SU will be favored in and a toss-up matchup against Big 10 foe Purdue.
Following that portion, the Orange plays a gauntlet of the ACC"s top teams, with a home matchup against Clemson and road games against North Carolina and Florida State on the schedule, followed by five ACC games where Syracuse will be more evenly matched.
OPPONENT PREVIEWS
• Sept. 16: Purdue Boilermakers
• Sept. 23: Army Black Knights
• Sept. 30: Clemson Tigers
• Oct. 7: North Carolina Tar Heels
• Oct. 14: Florida State Seminoles
• Oct. 26: Virginia Tech Hokies
• Nov. 3: Boston College Eagles
• Nov. 11: Pittsburgh Panthers
• Nov. 18: Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
• Nov. 25: Wake Forest Demon Deacons
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