Syracuse Football: Expert says College Football Playoff possible for SU

Could the Syracuse football team head to the College Football Playoff for the first time? One expert says he can see the path. Here are all the details.

Every year since college football switched from BCS to the College Football Playoff system back in 2014, at least one new team has crashed the party:

• 2014: No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Oregon, No. 3 Florida State, No. 4 Ohio State.
• 2015: No. 1 Clemson, No. 3 Michigan State, No. 4 Oklahoma (three new teams from the previous year).
• 2016: No. 3 Ohio State, No. 4 Washington (two new teams from the previous year).
• 2017: No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Georgia (two new teams from the previous year).
• 2018: No. 3 Notre Dame (only one new team from the previous year).

If the trend continues in 2019 who could that “new” team be? Well according to Nick Villano of FanSided that team could be the Syracuse football squad.

Earlier this week Nick posted a piece documenting the 10 teams that could make their first appearance and the Orange made the cut, here are the highlights of his argument:

• Syracuse’s primary obstacle is the Clemson Tigers and they’ve played the defending National Champions tight in back-to-back years. In 2019 Syracuse vs Clemson will take place in the Carrier Dome Week 3 which gives SU the home-field advantage.
• New quarterback Tommy DeVito has “little tape to scout” and “impressed” in the spring game in March.
• On that same point, the matchup is early in the season and SU “could catch Clemson by surprise while they’re trying to replace some of the star production they lost last season.”
• Dino Babers has the program going in the right direction and the team “believes” they can beat Clemson.

So let’s play a quick game of fact vs fiction on the arguments by Nick for why SU can make the College Football Playoff:

• 100 percent fact, if Syracuse football is going to be in the College Football Playoff they have to go through the Clemson Tigers in Week 3. SU has played the Tigers close over the last two years and the last time.
  • The last time the Orange played Clemson in Syracuse, SU got one of the biggest upsets in recent college football history.
• Another truth bomb dropped, Tommy DeVito has never started a college football game. Which means there is little tape on him to prepare for and there still will be minimal tape on him even after the first two weeks of the season. He also did look pretty good in March, but in fairness, it’s an extremely light scrimmage against his own teammates.
• This is where I have to wave the white flag. There’s zero chance in hell that SU will “catch Clemson by surprise” for a multitude of reasons.
  • SU has put Clemson on upset alert the last two years, including nearly taking out the Tigers in Death Valley. The Orange will have Clemson’s full attention.
    • On a smaller point, Clemson losing three star defensive linemen in the first 17 picks of the 2019 NFL Draft is going to hurt.
• The last point is something that isn’t talked about enough, this Syracuse team believes they can beat any team in the country. Dino preached “belief without evidence”, but now this team has evidence that they can accomplish anything they believe in including beating Clemson.

There’s a ton of hype around Syracuse right now and fans must feel like they’re in a fantasy world. Earlier this week Tommy DeVito Heisman buzz was floating around and now College Football Playoff and Syracuse found their way into the same sentence.

The important thing for SU fans to do is temper expectations. Syracuse went 10-3 in 2018 and are probably a year ahead in their plan (Dino Babers said so himself during the offseason). I’m not saying a Heisman or College Football Playoff appearance isn’t happening, but it’s more important for SU not to fall back to the 4-8 era as opposed to rising to an unreal level.