Inside the Loud House
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Syracuse Football: Updated midseason prediction on how 2018 plays out

By Paul A. Esden Jr.

PITTSBURGH, PA - OCTOBER 06: Jarveon Howard #28 of the Syracuse Orange runs into the end zone for a 5 yard touchdown in the third quarter during the game against the Pittsburgh Panthers at Heinz Field on October 6, 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images)
PITTSBURGH, PA - OCTOBER 06: Jarveon Howard #28 of the Syracuse Orange runs into the end zone for a 5 yard touchdown in the third quarter during the game against the Pittsburgh Panthers at Heinz Field on October 6, 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images) /
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Josh Peelman n/a

"Midseason Prediction: Orange finish regular season 7-5. Make bowl game: Yes. Win Bowl game: Yes, and it won’t be close."

If you were to ask me going into the Pittsburgh game last week what record the Orange would finish with I would have said 8-4 in the regular season with a good chance at 9-3. Was I crazy? Not really.

The Orange proved at Clemson that they could play a top 10 team close. They looked good and pretty unstoppable. Pretty much everyone thought Pittsburgh was not much greater than UConn (okay, bad example because UConn was horrible, but you get the idea).

Then, shocker: the Panthers beat us. What went wrong? Well we set our expectations too high. Dreaming of top 25 consideration was too much for this Syracuse Football team. Sadly the truth is the Orange aren’t as good as we thought they were and that have brought us back down to earth where we belong.

The Orange are still a really good football team, don’t get me wrong, but road games are still gonna be a challenge, as is the rest of ACC play. That’s why I give the Orange one less victory than I thought going into Pittsburgh. Three wins in our next six regular season games is manageable. I think the teams we can beat are North Carolina at home, Louisville at home, and Boston College on the road. I think they’re all winnable games to end the year, except maybe Notre Dame which looks pretty good this year.

If Syracuse plays great ball down the stretch and keeps Eric Dungey healthy for once we can really make some noise and win tough games. However, if we play like we did at Pittsburgh, expect a split over the final six games and a bowl berth for the Orange after achieving seven wins. Just hearing both those things in a prediction is music to my ears. It’s been so long…. Now it’ll be the reality!

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