Syracuse Football: It’s time to believe the hype with Dino Babers
By Josh Peelman
Syracuse Football has had its struggles over the last decade, but this year I think there is room for optimism. Inside The Loud House explains why.
Syracuse Football has a huge place in my heart. Ever since I moved here when I was six years old I’ve been drawn to sports.
About three years after I moved from Charlottesville, Virginia to Syracuse, New York, Syracuse won the national title in basketball.
Now Donovan McNabb and Marvin Harrison weren’t playing football for the Syracuse Football team anymore, but we did have the likes of Walter Reyes, a running back who was a Heisman candidate the year before, on the team.
Syracuse Football wasn’t a national title contender, but they definitely were a tough out each and every game. Syracuse Football was known for having a pretty good defense, one of the better ones in the nation, and their home crowd in the Dome was one of the loudest and the best in the nation. The Carrier Dome was the epitome of home field advantage in the northeast.
They’ve come a long way…
The Syracuse Football team has come a long way since then, and I’m not saying that’s entirely a good thing. Syracuse has had major struggles since 2004, hiring several different head coaches due to the fact they couldn’t win here. I could probably name each and every one of them for you if I had the time, but as we all know, that’s just rehashing the past, which we all know wasn’t all that great anyways.
The closest the Orange got to being great again was when Ryan Nassib was starting at quarterback and Doug Marrone was still on the sidelines as Head Coach of the Syracuse Orange. The closest thing we’ve had since then was the 4-8 record we had last year. Dino Babers was hired from Bowling Green to be our Head Coach to speed up the offense and hopefully turn the program around.
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We didn’t exactly see the fruits of his labor in his first season last year in his first season, but we did see progress. He didn’t have the players he needed to run the offense effectively and that really hurt the team against the big boys in the ACC.
Now, in his second year he has his first recruiting class on board and he can use them effectively to finally make the Orange the New Fast. Now I’m not saying that Syracuse Football will be title contenders or anywhere close to where we were in the 2003-2004 football season, but I think we’ll be close to average once again.
2017 season
I think that Syracuse Football is bound for a bounce back season after all these years of losing. This year is the year that Syracuse finally gets over the hump and has an on-par record at 6-6 or at 7-5. Now I could be way wrong about this, but the second year of any coaches tenure is usually the one in which the program begins to operate the way it’s supposed to. So I think that will reflect in the win column.
Maybe it’s just me, but I thought I saw the offense do exceptionally well last year, and if they keep that up this year, the ACC and our non-conference opponents are in for a heap of trouble. I think the Orange are better than most people think they’re going to be this year, and even though we have a tough schedule I think that they can do a really good job at pulling out a lot of these games, especially at home. If they do that, I think that Syracuse football will be right back on the map as a team that no one will want to face, and is no longer an easy out.
Syracuse has great athletes at main positions this year. Zaire Franklin, Eric Dungey, Ervin Phillips, and Steve Ishmael, just to name a few.
So when I ask you to believe the hype around this team I mean it. I have no idea, how good the defense will be, but even if it stinks, I think our offense has more than enough tools to pull out close games and put up lots of points.
#OrangeNation
So ladies and gentleman here’s where I tell you to put on your Orange tee shirts and 44 jerseys and make your way to the games this year, both home and away. This team needs our support to get back to a place of respect in the college football ranks. Its time we make the Loud House the Loud House once again. I’ll be there, so if you’re not, I’ll know. Believe the hype because it’s real. The Orange are finally back and its go time!
The Orange played great in their first game of the season Friday night versus Central Connecticut State. Now I know that’s not a huge win to most, but a wins a win. The team played amazing regardless of the competition, so what reason do we have not to support them and keep the momentum going?
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So get on the bandwagon baby! Fun, winning football is back in Central New York. You heard it here first. Now let’s pack that Dome!