Syracuse Football: Refuting report that calls non-conference slate weakest

A recent report from CBS Sports says that Syracuse football has the weakest non-conference schedule within the Atlantic Coast Conference for the 2021 season, and we’ve done a little homework to argue against this article’s position on the Orange.

Jerry Palm recently bylined the CBS Sports story that took a look at the toughest and weakest non-conference dockets across a variety of leagues.

For the ACC, the CBS Sports piece determined that Georgia Tech has the toughest non-conference slate, and the ‘Cuse has the weakest one.

In a separate recent article, CBS Sports provided a pre-season ranking of all 130 FBS teams. So we went ahead and assigned point values to every non-conference opponent of ACC teams in 2021, based on these rankings.

For FCS foes, we assigned a point value of 131. I acknowledge that this isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison, but I couldn’t find any comprehensive pre-season ratings of all FCS squads.

I also admit that we aren’t giving any sort of point value to home games versus away games. I’m just not sure how to do it in a way that would prove fair to all ACC groups.

So, yes, my research isn’t perfect. But I still think that it shows the Orange doesn’t have the weakest non-conference calendar among ACC teams.

Let’s have a look at the non-conference slates of Syracuse football and other ACC squads.

Based on the numbers which you’ll see further below, here are the rankings that I came up with as far as non-conference schedules go, with the toughest up top, and the weakest at the bottom.

You’ll see that the Orange is hovering somewhere in the middle of the ACC, but definitely not at the bottom.

Point Totals
Louisville, 216
Miami, 249
Georgia Tech, 267
Virginia, 267
Florida State, 283
North Carolina, 287
Virginia Tech, 293
Syracuse, 336
Clemson, 348
Wake Forest, 350
N.C. State, 381
Duke, 396
Pittsburgh, 418
Boston College, 420

Individual Non-Conference Dockets

Boston College
Colgate, 131
At UMass, 130
At Temple, 112
Missouri, 47
Total, 420

Clemson
Georgia (neutral), 5
South Carolina State, 131
UConn, 119
At South Carolina, 93
Total, 348

Duke
At Charlotte, 115
North Carolina A&T, 131
Northwestern, 37
Kansas, 113
Total, 396

Florida State
Notre Dame, 10
Jacksonville State, 131
UMass, 130
At Florida, 12
Total, 283

Georgia Tech
Northern Illinois, 121
Kennesaw State, 131
At Notre Dame, 10
Georgia, 5
Total, 267

Miami
Alabama (neutral), 1
Appalachian State, 43
Michigan State, 74
Central Connecticut, 131
Total, 249

Louisville
Mississippi (neutral), 23
Eastern Kentucky, 131
UCF, 27
Kentucky, 35
Total, 216

N.C. State
USF, 110
At Mississippi State, 55
Furman, 131
Louisiana Tech, 85
Total, 381

North Carolina
Georgia State, 97
At Notre Dame, 10
Wake Forest (non-ACC game), 49
Wofford, 131
Total, 287

Pittsburgh
UMass, 130
At Tennessee, 68
Western Michigan, 89
New Hampshire, 131
Total, 418

Syracuse
At Ohio, 92
Rutgers, 80
Albany, 131
Liberty, 33
Total, 336

Virginia
William & Mary, 131
Illinois, 81
At BYU, 45
Notre Dame, 10
Total, 267

Virginia Tech
Middle Tennessee, 114
At West Virginia, 38
Richmond, 131
Notre Dame, 10
Total, 293

Wake Forest
Old Dominion, 129
Norfolk State, 131
At Army, 82
At North Carolina (non-ACC game), 8
Total, 350