Syracuse football didn’t lose due to one bad series, shameful to trash QB

Totally understandable that Syracuse football fans are frustrated, but personal attacks on players are unacceptable.

Following the Syracuse football heart-breaking defeat to N.C. State by a touchdown on Saturday afternoon in the 2020 home finale for the Orange, it proved understandable that a large contingent of ‘Cuse fans expressed their disappointment with the outcome of this game, as well as the entire fall term.

Syracuse football, with its relatively poor play, a massive amount of injuries and numerous opt-outs at key positions, is sitting at 1-9, with its final Atlantic Coast Conference clash in the 2020 stanza scheduled for next Saturday afternoon at No. 2 Notre Dame.

Unless something miraculous transpires, the Orange will wrap up 2020 at 1-10, and without question that amounts to one of the worst seasons in recent program history.

I have no issues whatsoever with fans saying that the ‘Cuse is not a good football team at this juncture, because it’s true. I also have no qualms when some Syracuse football fans say that it’s time for the program to move on from head coach Dino Babers.

Full disclosure, I really like Babers, and I hope his stay on the Hill continues. But, in assessing things honestly, he has one winning season in five terms in Central New York.

Like every major college football squad, the Orange has had to deal with a lot of challenges in 2020 amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.

My gut tells me that Babers, who reportedly has a huge buyout, will come back in 2021, when he has a solid recruiting class arriving on the Hill. If Syracuse football underperforms in 2021, we’ll see what happens with Babers and his staff.

Syracuse football is about to finish a disastrous 2020 campaign, and many Orange fans are fed up.

A lot of the opinions voiced by ‘Cuse fanatics are not only valid, but they’re also extremely well thought-out and fair game given the state of the team.

And if Orange fans want to express their disappointment and disbelief in what transpired in the squad’s final series against the Wolfpack, I am all for it.

Redshirt senior quarterback Rex Culpepper, an inspiration to us all for what he’s had to overcome in his personal life, put forth a pretty good performance versus N.C. State. But he made two really bad decisions in that last series, when the ‘Cuse looked to tie things up in this ACC encounter’s waning seconds.

So, fine, if you want to lay into Culpepper for his on-the-field decisions toward the game’s conclusion, I get it. However, some Syracuse football fans took it too far, calling Culpepper all kinds of really negative, nasty names.

Culpepper is a young man who has faced a lot of adversity, and he’s persevered so, so much. If we don’t like him as the Orange’s starting quarterback, that’s okay. But he’s trying his best, his putting himself out there playing this sport, and to rip into him on social media on a personal level, I’m sorry, but that’s just plain cruel.

I’ll stop with my rant now. I’m bummed about what has occurred with the ‘Cuse in 2020. However, as a proud alum, I always bleed Orange, and I support our players, whether they win 10 games in a season or, as is the case this year, merely one.

Babers had an important quote in this piece by Nate Mink of Syracuse.com, saying, “Everyone wants to talk about the last play, but last time I checked there were like 70 plays on offense and (75) plays on defense. There were (145) snaps in that game, and all of them were important.”