Syracuse Football: Orange has easiest schedule in ACC, per CBS Sports
By Neil Adler
Syracuse football will attempt to rebound from a so-so 2019 campaign by playing a relatively easy upcoming schedule.
Syracuse football, following a disappointing 5-7 record in 2019, is hoping to get back into the post-season, bowl-berth conversation in this fall’s term.
The Orange, it seems, will get buoyed by a 2020 calendar that CBS Sports ranks as the easiest projected slate within the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Not only that, but the article from CBS Sports’ Tom Fornelli says that the ‘Cuse has “the easiest [projection] of any Power Five program.” Oh my.
As far as his methodology, Fornelli writes that he ranks “all 130 teams using … a statistical model that judges teams based on their performances in games.”
After calculating a squad’s projected strength of schedule (“SOS”), the team’s overall score is its SOS compared to the average SOS of all 130 Football Bowl Subdivision teams.
In case you’re wondering, Georgia Tech has the No. 1 strength of schedule in the ACC and the sixth-toughest in the nation. Here’s what Fornelli had to say about the Orange’s schedule.
“Syracuse not only has the easiest projection in the ACC, but the easiest of any Power Five program. The reason is thanks in large part to a nonconference schedule consisting of Rutgers, Colgate, Western Michigan and Liberty. It should be noted that Rutgers and Western Michigan are on the road. There’s also a road game against Clemson, but that can only do so much to counter the noncon slate. Outside of the Clemson game, road games in the ACC against Boston College, Wake Forest and Pitt won’t be easy but could’ve been a lot more difficult. All in all, this is a schedule that sets the Orange up for a rebound in 2020.”
An easy schedule for Syracuse football can help the Orange get to a post-season bowl.
Perhaps that is a factor in why 247Sports recently forecast that the ‘Cuse will go bowling in 2020. Even though Syracuse didn’t attain a bowl contest a year ago, the Orange did come close to reaching the magic number of six victories, with two of its losses coming by a touchdown or less.
As Syracuse football players get set to return to the Hill beginning on June 8 for voluntary on-campus training, the ‘Cuse has a lot of question marks entering its 2020 stanza. But with a soft schedule in tow, the Orange certainly can position itself for eclipsing last season’s win total.