Syracuse Football: 2 key facts point to program moving in positive direction

Syracuse football kept its 2023 unbeaten streak alive on Saturday afternoon, when the Orange stormed back after the break to defeat Army by 13 points on the Hill.

Next up, the ‘Cuse will host Clemson, a team that is only 2-2 so far this season but has won multiple national titles and advanced to numerous College Football Playoffs in recent years.

After the Orange beat the Black Knights, 29-16, I came across two interesting and important facts that I wanted to pass along. I saw these factoids both from SU Athletics as well as other media reports.

Number one, Syracuse football went 4-0 in the non-conference during the 2023 stanza for the first time since the ‘Cuse first joined the Big East Conference back in 1991, according to SU Athletics.

Secondly, per cuse.com and other reports, Syracuse football has started out 4-0 in back-to-back campaigns for the first time going all the way back to the 1959 and 1960 seasons.

To me, Syracuse football is trending in a positive direction.

The Orange won the program’s only national championship during the 1959 season, when the late Ben Schwartzwalder, a Hall of Fame head coach inducted into the SU Athletics ring of honor this past Saturday afternoon, was at the helm of the ‘Cuse.

So, these two points I just noted suggest that Syracuse football is on a solid path toward becoming a consistently good program. At least that’s what the optimist in me thinks.

Then again, one could logically and understandably argue that it took such a long period of time – decades, in fact, for the Orange to go undefeated in its non-conference docket, as well as open back-to-back seasons at 4-0.

In any event, in my humble opinion, these are positive steps forward for Syracuse football. But to provide fair context, last year, the Orange started out 6-0, got ranked in the top 15 of the major polls, but then slid in the second half of the 2022 term to finish at 7-6 overall, including a bowl-game loss.

Additionally, if we’re focused on the present, the ‘Cuse will now turn its attention toward Atlantic Coast Conference competition, and the team’s upcoming schedule is brutal, to say the least.

Over its next three games, Syracuse football will host Clemson, and then the Orange will travel to both top-20 North Carolina and top-five Florida State.

So it’s probably unlikely that the ‘Cuse will remain unblemished for too much longer, although I also don’t think the squad is going to falter down the stretch as much as it did in 2022.

We’ll see what the Orange is truly made of over the next few weeks, but Syracuse football is on the up and up. I envision another bowl-game appearance. These are positive signs for head coach Dino Babers and his team.