Syracuse Football: Another finish in ACC basement is forecast for Orange

If some national pundits are correct in their projections, Syracuse football could be headed toward a last-place finish in its conference division during the 2022 campaign.

Per a recent article from Brad Crawford of 247Sports, college football insider and esteemed prognosticator Phil Steele isn’t all that high on the Orange as it pertains to the team’s 2022 performances in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Steele, in fact, predicts that Syracuse football will finish at No. 7 in the ACC’s Atlantic division, which would amount to last place in that division. Yuck.

"According to the 247Sports piece, Steele said of the ‘Cuse, “Syracuse will likely be favored in four of their first five games, but would likely need to pull some upsets after that to reach a bowl.”"

That assertion from Steele is one I totally concur with, given the loaded back-end of the Orange’s 2022 slate, which on paper features a boatload of foes ranked in the pre-season top-25 Coaches poll.

Personally, I don’t believe Syracuse football will finish in the Atlantic division basement in 2022.

I’m still giving some thought as to what I believe the Orange’s overall record will be in the upcoming campaign, although I did recently opine that the ‘Cuse will sport a 4-4 mark in ACC competition.

At 4-4, I’m cautiously optimistic that Syracuse football would finish no worse than No. 6 in the Atlantic division, and perhaps even higher than that.

As we noted in another recent column, other media members aren’t giving a lot of love to the Orange ahead of the 2022 stanza, either.

When the ACC released its pre-season media poll not too long ago, Syracuse football was forecast to finish at No. 7 within the Atlantic division in 2022.

The ‘Cuse getting projected to be in the basement of the Atlantic division is never fun to read, but it’s also not significantly surprising. For one, Syracuse football went 5-7 in 2021 and a dreadful 1-10 in 2020.

What’s more, experts such as Steele are projecting that the Orange is likely to face one of the toughest dockets around the country this fall.

Due to the ACC implementing a 3-5-5 scheduling model beginning in 2023, this coming season is the last one in which Syracuse football and its fellow league members will compete in the Atlantic and Coastal divisions.

Therefore, I sincerely hope that the ‘Cuse manages to stay out of last place in its division during the 2022 term.