2015 Record: 4-8
2016 Las Vegas Season Win Total: 4.0*
2016 Season Win Total Picks NCAA Football: 'Under'
For about 25 years Syracuse and Penn State were THE preeminent college football programs in the Northeast. But Syracuse has endured a horrible fall from grace over the last decade, seeing a once-proud team flop its way to a 48-75 straight up mark the last 10 years.
However, I think that good times are ahead. After hiring three horrible coaches, the Orange finally made a smart decision, bringing in Dino Babers. Babers, an Art Briles disciple, engineered quick turnarounds at Eastern Illinois and Bowling Green the past four years and has quickly climbed the coaching ladder.
Syracuse has been stuck in 1988 for the past 10 years, trying to field ground-and-pound, pro-style teams during an era where college football has gone run-and-gun. Babers brings an offense that promises to bring SU into the 21st century. The Orange look to take advantage of their fast track in the Carrier Dome and have some nice weapons to work with this season.
Sophomore quarterback Eric Dungey is the real deal. But he had two concussions last year and desperately needs to stay healthy. If he does, Dungey will be a great trigger for Babers' offense. The Orange have four of their top five receivers and their top four rushers back. They need to rework their offensive line, though.
Defensively, the Orange can't help but be better than they were last season when youth ruled. How young? Syracuse has eight returning starters on defense, but only one of them is a senior. They are shifting from more of an attacking, up-field defense to a version of the Tampa-2, which can be either really good or really bad in college football. And how quickly they can work the kinks out will go a long way to determining SU's ceiling.
Syracuse only has six senior starters among their 16 returning first-teamers. That tells me that if all goes well that they will definitely be a sleeper team in 2017. As for this year, it is really tough to know what to expect. But the schedule does them no favors at all. They have to take on the three best teams in the ACC (Clemson, Florida State, Louisville), one of the best teams in the AAC (South Florida) and Notre Dame. The road games are against tough, physical teams with excellent defenses (Connecticut, Boston College and Pittsburgh).
Syracuse will be better than people think. But that schedule is too much. I see Syracuse taking a step back this year before taking a big step forward next season.
2016 Syracuse Orange Schedule
|
DATE |
OPPONENT |
TIME (ET) |
Location |
Result |
|
Fri, Sep 2nd, 2016 |
Colgate |
07:00 PM |
Carrier Dome |
|
|
Fri, Sep 9th, 2016 |
Louisville |
08:00 PM |
Carrier Dome |
|
|
Sat, Sep 17th, 2016 |
South_Florida |
03:30 PM |
Carrier Dome |
|
|
Sat, Sep 24th, 2016 |
at Connecticut |
12:00 PM |
Pratt & Whitney Stadium |
|
|
Sat, Oct 1st, 2016 |
Notre_Dame |
12:00 PM |
MetLife Stadium |
|
|
Sat, Oct 8th, 2016 |
at Wake_Forest |
12:00 PM |
BB&T Field |
|
|
Sat, Oct 15th, 2016 |
Virginia_Tech |
12:00 PM |
Carrier Dome |
|
|
Sat, Oct 22nd, 2016 |
at Boston_College |
12:00 PM |
Alumni Stadium |
|
|
Sat, Nov 5th, 2016 |
at Clemson |
12:00 PM |
Memorial Stadium |
|
|
Sat, Nov 12th, 2016 |
Nc_State |
12:00 PM |
Carrier Dome |
|
|
Sat, Nov 19th, 2016 |
Florida_State |
12:00 PM |
Carrier Dome |
|
|
Sat, Nov 26th, 2016 |
at Pittsburgh |
12:00 PM |
Heinz Field |
All Times EST
*Season Win Total Odds from Southpoint Sportsbook.
Robert Ferringo has been the top football handicapper in the country the past five years, earning nearly $13,000 in total football profit with four of six winning seasons. Robert tallied over $20,000 in football profit between 2011 and 2015, including his amazing 2013 NFL season in which he hit 62.1 percent (95-58). Robert has produced 14 of 22 winning football months and an amazing 37 of 57 winning football months over the past decade. Robert has eight of nine winning NFL preseasons and he is at nearly 60 percent winners over his last 750 totals picks. Also, Robert's proprietary KING College Football Betting System has posted three of four winning seasons and is 122-92 over the last three years (57.0 percent).
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