Syracuse football boss Dino Babers plummets in CBS Sports rankings
By Neil Adler
After a disappointing 2019 campaign, Syracuse football head coach Dino Babers takes a tumble in CBS Sports’ power ratings entering the next stanza.
Whether Syracuse football ultimately plays this fall due to the novel coronavirus pandemic remains a question mark, but that hasn’t kept CBS Sports from releasing its 2020 rankings of the 65 coaches in the Power Five conferences plus Notre Dame, and Dino Babers unfortunately slid down a bunch.
This isn’t terribly surprising, given that the Orange compiled a 10-3 mark in 2018 and ended at No. 15 in the major polls, with that stellar outcome followed up by a sub-par 5-7 record in 2019.
As such, Babers went from No. 27 in CBS Sports’ ratings in 2019 to No. 48 in the present ones. Here’s what the article had to say about the ‘Cuse boss.
“Speaking of coaches taking big falls, the 21 spots Babers tumbled this year was the second-biggest drop. Dino’s been a roller coaster, which reflects his team’s win-loss record. After two 4-8 campaigns to start his tenure, the Orange jumped to 10-3 in 2018 and entered the 2019 season ranked in the top 25. A 5-7 season didn’t keep them there long. 2019 rank: 27 (-21)”
Naturally, these kinds of exercises have a huge element of subjectivity to them. CBS Sports even acknowledged this, noting there is no specific criteria that its college-football writers used to rank the head coaches. A team’s overall win-loss mark and recruiting efforts certainly will come into play, though.
CBS Sports is unveiling its top 25 on Wednesday, but No. 26 to No. 65 published on Tuesday. In the Atlantic Coast Conference, besides Syracuse, Boston College is No. 63, Miami is No. 58, Georgia Tech is No. 57, N.C. State is No. 49, Pittsburgh is No. 40, Virginia Tech is No. 37, Wake Forest is No. 32, Louisville is No. 31, Florida State is No. 29 and Duke is No. 26.
That leaves Clemson (duh), North Carolina and Virginia left to fall in the top 25, as well as Notre Dame, which is an independent for football purposes.
Babers’ positioning at No. 48 seems fair. He’s had one terrific campaign, sandwiched around a few so-so years. Hopefully, 2020 will prove fruitful for Babers and the Orange. That way, he’ll skyrocket up CBS Sports’ list during the next go-round.