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Syracuse Football: ‘The Quest for 6’ (1st quarter schedule breakdown)

By Paul A. Esden Jr.

HOUSTON, TX - DECEMBER 27: Syracuse Orange head coach Scot Schafer, right, receives the Texas Bowl championship trophy at Reliant Stadium on December 27, 2013 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images)
HOUSTON, TX - DECEMBER 27: Syracuse Orange head coach Scot Schafer, right, receives the Texas Bowl championship trophy at Reliant Stadium on December 27, 2013 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images) /
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The Syracuse football team will soon begin their ‘Quest for six’, our Paul A. Esden Sr. explains why that all starts in the first quarter of the season.

The past several articles Paul A. Esden Sr. has broken down what the Orange needs to do to break the cycle. We have discussed the essentially brand new receiving corp, the need to find a running game, keeping Eric Dungey healthy and the hope that the new defensive scheme will hold up in the ACC. Now it is time to begin our analysis of the upcoming season.

First up on the slate is Western Michigan. Now before you chalk this one up in the win column let me fill you in on a few key pieces of information.  The Broncos play in the Mid-American conference and have posted significant win-loss records over the past two seasons.

  • In 2016 they went undefeated during the regular season, won the MAC championship and were invited to the Cotton Bowl to face the No. 8 ranked Wisconsin Badgers.
  • In 2017 they finished the season a respectable 6-6 but were not invited to a bowl game.

I point these items out as we cannot afford to look past any team on our ‘Quest for Six’. I expect a win against the Broncos as we travel on our first game of the season for the first time in recent memory (since 2013).

For our second game we kickoff our 2018 Carrier Dome campaign against the Wagner Seahawks.  I will keep the discussion regarding this game short. Syracuse like every over BCS school is allowed to schedule FCS opponents every team does and should take advantage of these games. They should be setup to play early in the season to allow essentially a scrimmage for your team to tune them up before you get into the meat of the schedule.

However, this game could define our season.  We need to get the Orange is the New Fast firing on all cylinders and work out the kinks in our new defensive scheme and walk away from this game with a decisive victory.  We are facing a 5th place team from a lower conference, we need to win big, period, no excuses.

To round out the first quarter of the season is our REDEMPTION game.  Last year this is the game that got away from us and was the beginning of the end for our 2017 campaign. In this game the Orange’s offense put up almost 500 yards of total offense, fighting it out until the very end, losing a heart-breaker by a field goal. The key for the Orange in this game will be stopping sophomore running back Cam Akers who was solely responsible for keeping the Seminoles in the game. This writer has the Orange winning this game.

Next. Syracuse Football: Ranking every SU first round pick in NFL Draft history. dark

I wrap up my review of the first quarter with our Orange team 3-0.  The first 3 games of the 2018 schedule will be the key to whether this is a special year that will be a turning point or more of the same old same old on the way to another 4-8 year.  Always bet on ORANGE!!!

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