Top five Syracuse football seasons of the 21st century
1. 2018
2018 was quite the year for the Syracuse football program.
Coming into the year with iffy expectations after a 4-8 season the year before, the Orange did bring back a lot of talent. And boy did that talent prove themselves.
They say that it takes a head coach three years to really implement their system, and in year three of Dino Babers’ high flying offense, that came to life.
Quarterback Eric Dungey passed for nearly 3,000 yards and 18 touchdowns, while also running for another 754 yards and 15 more scores. The two headed beast of Moe Neal and Dontae Strickland made up for a rushing trifecta with Dungey, with Jarveon Howard and Chris Elmore sprinkled in for a lot of depth.
At wideout, Syracuse was led by the speedy Sean Riley and the playmaker in Jamal Custis, with Nykeim Johnson and Taj Harris also making their impacts felt. Together, those four each hauled in 40 receptions and at least three touchdowns, often torching defenses in the process.
But what really brought this team together was its defense and special teams. Syracuse ranked near the top in the nation in takeaways, with All-American Andre Cisco accounting for seven of the team’s 18 INTs. The Orange also picked up 11 defensive fumble recoveries, while boasting not one, but two double-digit sack artists.
On special teams, Sterling Hofrichter dominated as usual for the school commonly known around the college football landscape as ‘Punter U’, while freshman Andre Szmyt won the Lou Groza Award for the nation’s top kicker.
Like the 2001 season, this year also consisted of some big time games against big time teams. The ‘Cuse almost knocked off Clemson for the second consecutive year, losing this time against the No. 3 Tigers at Death Valley, 27 to 23. Other than a blowout loss at Yankee Stadium against No. 3 Notre Dame in which Eric Dungey got hurt (SU was ranked 12th at the time), Syracuse defeated No. 22 NC State, 51 to 41, and annihilate Florida State and Louisville – two teams that often did the opposite to Syracuse in the past.
That type of confidence propelled Syracuse to one of their best seasons in school history, capped off by a Camping World Bowl win over No. 15 West Virginia, 34 to 18.
Needless to say, this season seemed to get a monkey off of the back of a Syracuse football program that had been in dire need of a season to prove that the Orange can still compete with the top dawgs.