The Associated Press pre-season top-25 poll, which came out on Monday, reflects how the Syracuse football 2022 schedule, at least on paper, is tremendously challenging toward the latter end of the season.
If the Orange wants to get to at least six victories and reach a bowl game, it absolutely has to pile up triumphs early on in the 2022 stanza.
Or, conversely, the ‘Cuse is going to have to knock off some highly rated foes where Syracuse football almost assuredly will be a betting underdog.
I wouldn’t consider the earlier portion of the 2022 slate easy by any means for the Orange, but it’s definitely more palatable for the ‘Cuse, given that opponents are primarily coming to the Hill and aren’t ranked in pre-season polls.
The back-end of the 2022 calendar for Syracuse football is tough sledding.
In its first five contests, four of which will occur in Central New York, the Orange will not face any groups that are ranked in The AP pre-season top-25 poll.
Only one of those squads, Purdue, which will travel to the ‘Cuse on September 17, is receiving votes (17) in The AP pre-season ballot.
However, over the Orange’s final seven affairs in 2022, four of those encounters are on the road. And of those seven opponents, in The AP pre-season top-25 poll, five of them are ranked.
Those that made the cut are Clemson at No. 4, Notre Dame at No. 5, N.C. State at No. 13, Pittsburgh at No. 17, and Wake Forest at No. 22.
Plus, from October 15 until November 5, Syracuse football will battle four teams in a row (two at home, two on the road) that are in the top 20 of The AP pre-season poll.
In fact, those four foes are No. 4, No. 5, No. 13 and No. 17. To reiterate, these projections are pre-season in nature and may not hold later on in the 2022 term.
But on paper, this is an absolutely rigorous four-game docket for the ‘Cuse. If the Orange could go 1-3, or dare I say 2-2, in this stretch, that would prove huge toward Syracuse football eyeing a minimum of a half-dozen conquests this fall.
In total, the Atlantic Coast Conference has five squads in The AP pre-season top-25 poll. Notre Dame, as we all know, is an independent in football, but Miami is the fifth ACC team to make the cut, arriving at No. 16.
Here’s the full schedule below, with foes’ records from 2021 included as well as where various opponents are situated in The AP pre-season top-25 poll.
September 3 vs. Louisville (6-7 last year)
Not ranked or receiving votes
September 10 at UConn (1-11 last year)
Not ranked or receiving votes
September 17 vs. Purdue (9-4 last year)
Receiving votes (17)
September 23 vs. Virginia (6-6 last year)
Not ranked or receiving votes
October 1 vs. Wagner (0-11 last year)
Not ranked or receiving votes
October 15 vs. N.C. State (9-3 last year)
Ranked No. 13
October 22 at Clemson (10-3 last year)
Ranked No. 4
October 29 vs. Notre Dame (11-2 last year)
Ranked No. 5
November 5 at Pittsburgh (11-3 last year)
Ranked No. 17
November 12 vs. Florida State (5-7 last year)
Not ranked or receiving votes
November 19 at Wake Forest (11-3 last year)
Ranked No. 22
November 26 at Boston College (6-6 last year)
Not ranked or receiving votes