Syracuse Football: 2019 schedule prediction, 4th quarter analysis

We’ve reached the final prediction chapter for Paul A. Esden Sr ahead of the 2019 Syracuse football season. Here are all the details.

Over the last several weeks our Paul A. Esden Sr. has broken down the 2019 Syracuse football schedule in a four-part analysis:

• 1st quarter breakdown here.
• 2nd quarter breakdown here.
• 3rd quarter breakdown here.

We enter into the fourth and final quarter with a record of 9-0 and we can see the oasis on the horizon. Whether or not it is a mirage will be for Dino Babers and the Orange is the New Fast to determine as arguable this final stretch is our toughest three-game stretch of the season.

Orange Nation kicks off the final quarter with a tilt against the Duke Blue Devils.

This is only the second time that ‘Cuse will play the Blue Devils in ACC play and only the third time in school history. To date, the squad from CNY has yet to beat the team from Durham, NC.

• The biggest concern for the Orange will be dual-threat quarterback Quentin Harris. He started two games for Duke last year against Baylor and NC Central. They won both games putting up two of the largest point totals of the year (40 & 55 points). Quentin averaged 220 yards passing and 100 yards on the ground. The ability of our new linebacking crew to play the run-pass-option will be key to our 10th victory.

I expect the Orange to contain the QB and deliver a road win.

The final away game of the year will be against the Louisville Cardinals.

Let me start by saying these are not Lamar Jackson’s Cardinals. This team has had the largest decline in the ACC in recent years posting a woeful 2-10 record.

This is not surprising when you lose your Heisman trophy winning quarterback. Contributing to this head coach Bobby Petrino coached this team like a drowning man fighting for his life (which he was) thrashing around irrationally swapping quarterbacks out more times a game than Journey’s ‘Don’t Stop Believing’ was played in the Dome.

• There’s not a gaping area that is concerning within this game, but one item of interest is the Cardinals will field one of the most experienced returning group of starters in the NCAA this year with 16 out of 22 starters returning.

In the end, Dino will take first-year head coach Scott Satterfield to the woodshed and deliver an Orange and Blue old school beat down.

Last regular-season game of the year is in the Dome versus the Wake Forest Deacon Demons.

The OITNF will come into the most important game in the past 50 years undefeated against a tough Wake team. The lights will be bright for this one with a better than average chance of snow on the ground as the loyal fans trudge up the hill on what will assuredly be a cold and blustery fall day.

I will save my detailed insights on this game for later and for now just tell you it won’t be a good day to be a goal post in Syracuse as the fans will storm the field as the last seconds run off the clock and the Orange conclude an undefeated regular season.

So my final prediction for the 2019 campaign is 12-0.

I hear the naysayers and the non-believers already and for them, I give you this; Dino and his coaching staff has proven that the sky is the limit. Last year they produced more wins than their talent should have and they could have won more! This will be the third undefeated team in the history of Syracuse and then we will see what some January football will bring.

As I have previously documented in my articles, there are a lot of questions that need still need to be answered:

• Can Tommy DeVito lead the squad?
• Will we rediscover diamonds in the rough for our linebackers?
• In the spirit of number 44 will we return to the years of a thousand-yard rusher?
• I am betting on Orange when I have answered all of these questions as I predicted this year’s record. Now it is time for the prognosticators to shut up and the players to suit up and prove me right!  Be Loud, Be Proud, Be ORANGE!!!