College Football News Preview 2020: Previewing, predicting, and looking ahead to the Syracuse Orange season with what you need to know.
– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak
– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Schedule Analysis
– Syracuse Previews 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015
2019 Record: 5-7 overall, 2-6 in ACC
Head Coach: Dino Babers, 5th year, 23-26
2019 CFN Final Opinion Ranking: 80
2019 CFN Final Season Formula Ranking: 79
2019 CFN Preview Ranking: 25
NOTE: Obviously, no one knows what’s going to happen to the 2020 college football season. We’ll take a general look at where each team stands – doing it without spring ball to go by – while crossing our fingers that we’ll all have some well-deserved fun this fall. Hoping you and yours are safe and healthy.
5. College Football News Preview 2020: Syracuse Orange Offense 3 Things To Know
– It was supposed to be a little bit of a rebuilding year for the Syracuse offense, but not like that. QB Tommy DeVito struggled, but that’s partly because he had to deal with too many defensive players jumping on his head.
The offensive line had a rough year. Four starters are expected back, and senior Airon Servais is an okay veteran at left tackle, but overall the front five can’t be among the three worst in college football in sacks allowed.
There’s bulk, there’s the versatility to play around with the lineup, and there’s the upside with experience to be better. But the offense that didn’t average 400 yards per game and scored 27 points or fewer seven times needs time to operate.
CFN in 60 Video: Syracuse Orange Preview
– DeVito, again, didn’t get a whole lot of time, and now it’s time for his numbers to skyrocket under new offensive coordinator Sterlin Gilbert. The junior-to-be has the talent and the arm, and he held up reasonably well despite all the pressure. He took his lumps, only threw five picks, and he was accurate enough to get by. Rex Culpepper is a bigger passer with just enough experience to be totally lost if he gets thrown into the mix.
Now the receiving corps has to rise up with leading receiver Trishton Jackson leaving early for the NFL and with three of the top four pass catchers gone. Junior Taj Harris is a good-sized deep threat, and senior Nykeim Johnson can move, but someone has to rise up and replace the volume catches from Jackson.
That might come from the tight end tandem of Aaron Hackett and Luke Benson. These two can catch, and 292-pound Chris Elmore is the blocking option.
– The ground started to come on over the second half of the season after getting stuffed for a dead stop far too often over the first half. Leading rusher Moe Neal is gone, but the good tandem of junior Jarveon Howard and senior Abdul Adams should be able to handle the workload without a problem. There’s enough depth to shoot for the second 2,000-yard rushing season since 2013.
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Syracuse Orange Defense 3 Things To Know
4. College Football News Preview 2020: Syracuse Orange Defense 3 Things To Know
– The worst part about the defense struggling so much last season was the experience – the veterans were in place to be far better than second-to-last overall in the ACC in total D. The run defense allowed more than 200 yards per game and the secondary got hit way too hard – the defense allowed 30 points or more seven times in the last 11 games.
CFN in 60 Podcast: 2020 Syracuse Orange
Syracuse preview in 60 seconds
– The pass rush takes the biggest hit. The group could’ve used a spring session – a rotation has to be found on the front three. Ends Kendall Coleman and Alton Robinson are off to the NFL, and LB Lakeim Williams is done after leading the team in tackles for loss. 277-pound senior Josh Black spent time on the inside throughout last year, but he’ll work on the end with 283-pound McKinley Williams back from a foot injury.
The line is an issue, but the linebackers are an even bigger problem. Losing Williams is tough, and not having Andrew Armstrong around anymore doesn’t help. Sophomore Mikel Jones made 38 tackles last year and should find a home in the middle early on, but 236-pound Tyrell Richards brings more size to the corps.
This group will be good with a little bit of work, but it’s not going to get a whole lot of help from the defensive front in the opener against Boston College.
– On the plus side, the secondary should be a positive. Junior Andre Cisco is back after yet another fantastic season. A ball-magnet, he’s made 12 interceptions in his first two seasons, and he’s the leading returning tackler with 65 tackles at his safety spot.
Junior Ifeatu Melifonwu is a 6-3, 206-pound corner who breaks up a ton of passes and is great at getting physical. Cisco, Melifonwu, and junior Eric Coley at rover form a great nucleus that should be one of the team’s biggest positives, but the front six has to do its part.
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Top Syracuse Orange Players
College Football News Preview 2020: Top Syracuse Orange Players
Best Syracuse Orange Offensive Player
QB Tommy DeVito, Jr.
Call this a wee bit more hopeful than anything else. The 6-2, 206-pounder was supposed to be a step up at the position after coming in as a strong recruit and waiting for his turn to take over. Despite getting beaten up, battered and bruised, he still threw for 2,360 yards and 19 touchdowns with five picks and ran for two scores. He’s careful with the ball and doesn’t make a ton of mistake – now he needs time to work.
2. OT Matthew Bergeron, Soph.
3. WR Taj Harris, Jr.
4. PK Andre Szmyt, Jr.
5. TE Aaron Hackett, Sr.
Best Syracuse Orange Defensive Player
S Andre Cisco, Sr.
The 6-0, 206-pounder followed up his amazing seven-interception, 60-tackle debut with an equally fabulous sophomore campaign. He got a little bit bigger and became more of a hitter with 65 stops to go along with five picks. The instincts and ball skills are off-the-charts, breaking up 16 passes in his first two years. Now he’s the unquestioned star of what should be a good-enough secondary.
2. DE Josh Black, Sr.
3. S Eric Coley, Jr.
4. CB Ifeatu Melifonwu, Jr.
5. LB Mikel Jones, Soph.
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Syracuse Orange Keys To The Season
College Football News Preview 2020: Syracuse Orange Keys To The Season
Biggest Key To The Syracuse Orange Offense
PROTECT … THE … BACKFIELD. Is QB Tommy DeVito really that good? The world won’t know if the offensive line allows 50 sacks like it did last year.
Along with that, the veteran offensive front that gets four starters back has to be way more consistent for a ground game that sputtered and coughed way too often. The Orange ran for 70 yards or fewer in four of the first seven games – losing them all – with no touchdowns in any of them.
Time of possession has never mattered much in the Dino Babers offensive coaching world, but the chances will be there early on to pound away, let DeVito settle in, and keep things moving. The Orange are 9-1 in their last ten games when they run for 200 yards.
Biggest Key To The Syracuse Orange Defense
Ramp up the pass rush again. It’s been hit-or-miss under Babers, coming up with just 16 in 2017, destroying backfields with 43 in 2018, and dropping to a not-bad 30 last year. However, 21 of those 30 sacks are gone.
Senior Josh Black is a terrific lineman, but he’s not your typical pass rusher. There are a whole slew of untested or banged up parts that have to rise up with Alton Robinson and Kendall Coleman done.
Fortunately, the team has a month before dealing with a passing game it’ll have to worry about when Louisville comes to town.
Key Syracuse Orange Player To A Successful Season
WR Taj Harris, Jr.
A few of the offensive linemen have to turn into stars, the defensive linemen have to step up, and it would be a plus if Nolan Cooney could quickly replace punter Sterling Hofrichter, but the O needs to get back its explosion.
It wasn’t all that long ago when Syracuse got massive production out of Amba Etta-Tawo and Steve Ishmael – that was missing last year, even with Trishton Jackson having a nice season
Harris has been fine. He caught 37 passes for 559 yards and two touchdowns as the No. 2 man on the other side of Jackson. Now he needs to rise up and be the next 1,000-yard target for Dino Babers.
Key Game To The Syracuse Orange Season
Louisville, Oct. 3
Nothing ever seems to work according to plan when it comes to Syracuse – for good and for bad – and that included getting drop-kicked by Maryland last year 63-20. However, Clemson was also on the slate in the first three weeks of a 1-2 start.
This year? At Boston College, at Rutgers, Colgate, at Western Michigan. Yes, three of the first four games are on the road, and yes, Syracuse could absolutely lose one or two of them.
But it’s also possible to start 4-0 against this light run.
Do that, and beat Louisville after losing five of the last six in the series, and it might be a 6-0 start with Liberty up next before dealing with the Clemson problem.
– Syracuse Orange Schedule Breakdown & Analysis
2019 Syracuse Fun Stats
– Penalties: Syracuse 107 for 887 yards – Opponents 72 for 625 yards
– Sacks: Opponents 50 for 297 yards – Syracuse 30 for 172 yards
– Average Yards Per Carry: Opponents 4.9 – Syracuse 3.7
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Syracuse Orange Win Total Prediction, What Will Happen
1. College Football News Preview 2020: Syracuse Orange Win Total Prediction, What Will Happen
The ten-win season of 2018 was a bit overblown against a manageable schedule, and the drop-off to a five-win campaign last year was a bit understated considering all the mediocre teams the Orange lost to.
Call this the regression to the mean – even though we promised there would be no math in the previews.
There’s more than enough experience back on offense to be far more consistent. The O line has to block better and the production has to be there against the okay teams.
The defense has way too much work to do, but it gets a light and squishy schedule over the first half of the year to figure it all out.
Set The Syracuse Orange Regular Season Win Total At … 6.5
Bet at BetMGM Win Total Line: 5.5
Syracuse is being way undervalued by too many places. It has to/should win at least three of the first four games in September – at Boston College, at Rutgers, Colgate, at Western Michigan – and winnable games against Liberty, Georgia Tech, NC State and Florida State are all at home.
There’s still a lot of work to be done and a whole slew of concerns, but watch out for the Orange to go bowling without having to breathe too hard.
