Syracuse Football: Orange will face a trio of teams in pre-season AP poll
By Neil Adler
The pre-season AP top-25 ballot got released on Monday, and the poll features multiple Syracuse football 2020 opponents.
Syracuse football will visit three Atlantic Coast Conference crews included in Monday’s pre-season Associated Press top-25 poll, headlined by No. 1 Clemson, a significant national-title contender.
Assuming a 2020 campaign is played amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, the Orange will open its season by heading to Chapel Hill, N.C., on Saturday, Sept. 12, for a battle with No. 18 North Carolina.
The Tar Heels, according to many national and ACC pundits, are deemed one of the top squads in the league, at least as far as pre-season prognostications go.
The aforementioned Tigers, slotted as the pre-season No. 1 group across the country in both major polls, will welcome the ‘Cuse to Clemson, S.C., on Saturday, Oct. 24.
Finally, Notre Dame, which in an unprecedented move has joined the ACC for football just in 2020 due to the pandemic, is placed at No. 10 in the pre-season AP top-25 poll. The Fighting Irish will host Syracuse football on Saturday, Dec. 5, in Notre Dame, Ind.
The pre-season top 10 of the AP ballot, in order, is Clemson, Ohio State, Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma, defending national champions LSU, Penn State, Florida, Oregon and Notre Dame.
AP voters included teams from the Big Ten Conference and Pac-12 Conference in this pre-season poll, although if a 2020 stanza is played this fall and those two leagues remain on the sidelines, then obviously Big Ten and Pac-12 units won’t get featured in future AP top-25 polls.
Syracuse football will duel with a handful of opponents rated in the pre-season AP top-25 poll.
One other ACC team on the Orange’s 2020 calendar is noted in the “others receiving votes” category of the pre-season AP top-25 poll. Louisville, whom the ‘Cuse will travel to on Friday, Nov. 20, landed 32 votes and technically checks in at No. 31 overall in this poll.
Additional ACC squads getting votes in the pre-season AP top-25 poll are Virginia Tech with 85, Miami with 42, Virginia with seven, and Florida State with six.
In the pre-season Coaches top-25 poll, unveiled earlier this month, Clemson is No. 1, Notre Dame is No. 10 and North Carolina is No. 19.
Other Syracuse football 2020 foes receiving Coaches poll votes are Louisville, Pittsburgh and Duke. The Orange goes to the Panthers on Saturday, Sept. 19, and has the Blue Devils inside the Carrier Dome on Saturday, Oct. 10.
Without question, the ‘Cuse road docket is tough, with three top-25 squads and two others receiving votes. Besides Duke, the Syracuse football home match-ups are versus Boston College, N.C. State, Wake Forest and Georgia Tech, as well as a non-conference clash with Liberty.