Syracuse Football: It’s sad the ‘Cuse isn’t considered New York’s best team

A national media outlet has picked the best team in every state, and Syracuse football isn’t the top squad in the Empire State ahead of the 2022 season.

That designation in New York state, according to Barrett Sallee and Shehan Jeyarajah of CBS Sports, goes to Army. Now, in all fairness, the Black Knights went 9-4 in 2021, and that record included a bowl-game victory.

The Orange, to refresh your memory, sported a 5-7 mark during the last campaign, with the ‘Cuse dropping three in a row to end the 2021 stanza, eliminating the team’s hopes for a post-season bowl berth.

Looking toward this fall, Syracuse football has some exciting new assistant coaches, a top-tier running back, a stellar secondary, a strong line-backing core and, hopefully, an improved passing attack.

However, the Orange also is expected to face a brutal 2022 schedule. There are question marks in the passing game, on both the offensive and defensive lines, in the wide-receivers’ group, on special teams, and elsewhere.

Syracuse football needs to pile up triumphs to become New York’s premier team.

We’ve written about the ‘Cuse not being the best squad in the Empire State before. Given that head coach Dino Babers has only amassed one winning season and reached one bowl game in his tenure on the Hill, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that Syracuse football isn’t getting more love from national pundits.

"In the CBS Sports article, Sallee wrote of Army, “This one is a no-brainer. The Black Knights have won nine games in each of the last two seasons, been to bowl games in five of their last six seasons and asserted themselves as the top service academy in the nation. (Head coach) Jeff Monken has completely turned around a tradition-rich program that struggled for the better part of the last few decades.”"

The pre-season top-25 Coaches poll was released earlier this week, and Army, an FBS independent in football, landed in the others receiving votes category, picking up three votes.

The CBS Sports writers said that they made their picks for each state based on a variety of criteria, such as recent track records, rivalry results and future projections.

To reiterate, since Syracuse football went 5-7 last year and 1-10 in 2020, it would have really surprised me if the Orange landed in the top spot in New York.

That being said, for another Empire State squad to be labeled as the “no-brainer” selection in New York is something that I absolutely despise seeing.

My fingers are crossed that the ‘Cuse will get to at least six conquests in 2022 and begin to generate winning seasons on a consistent basis.

Then, and only then, will it be reasonable to ask national experts to realistically consider Syracuse football as the premier team in the state of New York.