It’s never too early to look at the 2016 Syracuse football schedule. Next season looks like it could be very tough for Dino Babers in his first year as head coach.
Typically, Syracuse football has been able to ease into their schedule at the start of the season. The past two years have seen some FCS opponents, mixed with ACC bottom-dwellers that have allowed Syracuse to get off to a good start, even if they did end up crashing and burning down the stretch. This season looks to change that trend with a much tougher beginning of the season. Things don’t get much easier after that either.
After an opening weekend game against Colgate, the schedule takes a very bear-ish turn. Syracuse hosts Louisville at the Carrier Dome, a team that beat us 41-17 last year. The game featured a very questionable decision from coach Shafer to leave Dungey in at the end of a blow out, costing him the rest of his season.
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They follow that game up with another home game against South Florida. USF, much like Louisville,
, 45-24.
As you can see, this isn’t your typical Rhode Island, Wake Forest, Central Michigan start to the season. It will be incredibly tough for Syracuse to get out to a 3-0 start like they did last year, but they pretty much need to if they are looking to make a bowl game, as the schedule doesn’t get any easier from there.
After a road game at UConn, Syracuse is right back in the thick of it, facing Notre Dame on neutral turf at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. This might be the game to circle on your schedule. Notre Dame will almost assuredly be ranked at the time, and with four games already under their belts, the Babers offense will be in full swing. If Syracuse could somehow pull out a win here, it would be gigantic for the program.
Unlike Greg Robinson’s upset back in 2008 which was all but meaningless in the grand scheme, this game could be a real jumping off point for a team that could be on it’s way to a historic rise from the ashes.
After Notre Dame is a road game against Wake Forest, one of the few teams Syracuse has beaten on a consistent basis since joining the ACC. Even though it’s on the road, look for another solid win here as I just don’t think Wake has improved enough to beat us.
Then it’s a home game against Virginia Tech. This could be another game to circle, as it will be a tremendous test for a young team learning a new system. Even though Frank Beamer has retired from Va Tech, they are still a very good football school with lots of talented players. It certainly won’t be an easy victory if we can pull one out.
Next up is a road game at Boston College, a team we were able to beat this past season in Scott Shafer’s last game as coach. We even managed to beat them with Zack Mahoney, our fifth string quarterback. Boston College managed a whopping nine yards of passing offense the entire game, which tells you a lot about the state of their offense. Their defense was outstanding, and probably will be again, but without the ability to put points on the board, they are going to struggle to match our high powered attack.
Finally, after eight straight games, the team gets a week off to recoup. That is a tough 8-game stretch, but unfortunately it doesn’t get any easier after the bye.
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Syracuse then goes on to play at Clemson, home vs. NC State, home vs. Florida State, and at Pittsburgh. I don’t think I need to remind you that all four of those schools beat us last year, three of them were top 25, and two of them were top-10 teams that will almost assuredly be there again this year.
So as if the front half of the schedule wasn’t tough enough, the back half is just as brutal. All told, this might be the hardest schedule Syracuse has ever played. I know many Syracuse fans have a “win now” mentality, but they are going to need to keep in mind how brutal 2016 is front to back. Six wins would be an incredible achievement for this coaching staff. Anything more than that is just unrealistic.Sure, it could happen, but don’t be surprised if it takes at least a year for Syracuse football to get back on track.
I mean after all, as the saying goes, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”