Syracuse Football: ‘Quest for 6’ (4th quarter breakdown)

Here’s the final part in Paul A. Esden Sr’s ‘quest for six’ series evaluating the final quarter of the Syracuse football schedule.

Over the last several weeks, our Paul A. Esden Sr. has evaluated the Syracuse football schedule in four quarters. Here’s what he predicted: first quarter (3-0), second quarter (2-1), third quarter (3-0).

Now we enter into the fourth quarter with an optimistic record of 8-1 (1-0 in the ACC) based on my predictions, with the solo loss being to the preseason number one team in the nation. We have successfully completed the Quest for Six!

Now is not the time to pop the bubbly and rest on our laurels, it is time to make a statement. Too many years we have been the bottom dwellers in the ACC, essentially since we have joined. This is the year we put the OITNF on the map, and have the naysayers (me included) eating some humble pie.  At the end of recent years we have folded like a bad WWE prop chair. Let us hope this year is different.

Let us begin.

The bad news is kicking off the fourth quarter we have Louisville. The Cardinals have been dominant since the Orange joined the ACC, beating ‘Cuse four straight times from 2014-2017.

The good news is Louisville lost four starters to the NFL draft two of them on the first night. The bad news is Heisman winner Lamar Jackson’s replacement is no push over and has already been named as one of the Captains in his first year as a starter. This will be a true test of the new defensive scheme the Orange put in this year and I predict a shoot out.  I do not see our luck holding out and I see the Orange losing this one under the Friday Night light in the Dome in a heartbreaker.

Dino brings the show on the road next to Yankee stadium against the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.  This is where it sinks in for the Orange that the F in the OITNF applies to the pace of the game and not the speed on the field.

Notre Dame comes into the season as the number ten team in the nation and I believe by this late in the year are rolling.  Similar to the game in the Meadowlands in 2016 this will show case Eric Dungey to a nation audience and could cement him as getting an invitation to the Downtown athletic club as a Heisman finalist but eventually the defense will not be able to keep up and the Irish win going away.

We go into the final game of the season 8-3 on a two game losing streak.  A familiar end of the year foe the Orange will travel to Boston College to close out the 2018 campaign. This is where the intestinal fortitude of the team will show up.

The Dungey-less Orange got drubbed in the last game of the season in 2017: 42-14. They  will need to dig deep to end this losing slide.  The defense will have to dig deep (seeing a trend here) as the Eagles bring an experienced offensive line and one of the best running backs in the nation with AJ Dillon.

The passing game with Anthony Brown coming off a major knee injury will be less of a threat so our nickel defense can hone in on stopping the run.  I have the Orange stopping the slide and ending the season with a win.

I wrap up my review of the 2018 Syracuse Orange campaign with our record 9-3.  We will be ranked in the top 15 in the nation.  This is not fantasy it is the future.  As I have challenged Dino Babers with the Quest for 6 I challenge our fan base to walk up the hill and root on the Orange.  Stay loud, stay proud, stay ORANGE!