Get to know Colgate: Syracuse football’s week-three opponent during the 2025 season

Meetings on the football field between Syracuse and Colgate have been somewhat irregular over the last several decades. However, the two upstate New York schools are set to meet in 2025. After games with Tennessee and UConn, the Raiders come to town. With Syracuse enjoying success with a first-year head coach last season, the Raiders are hoping to do the same this year. Let's learn a little more about what our friends from Hamilton will bring to the JMA Wireless Dome this season.

Colgate’s head coach: Curt Fitzpatrick

Outside of this meeting with Syracuse, Fitzpatrick is someone Orange fans will want to root for this season. He’s a true child of upstate New York, as Fitzpatrick was born in Fulton and attended St. John Fisher, where he played quarterback. Fitzpatrick got his first head coaching gig at SUNY Morrisville in 2013. After seven seasons with the Mustangs, he became the head coach at Cortland, where he built a national power at the Division III level.

Across his four seasons at Cortland, Fitzpatrick was 45-5, including a perfect 26-0 in Empire 8 conference games. Most importantly, he led the Red Dragons to the 2023 Division III national championship. Following an 11-1 campaign in 2024, Fitzpatrick left Cortland for Colgate, so the 2025 campaign will be his first season with the Raiders.

Last meeting with Syracuse: Syracuse 65, Colgate 0 (2023)

After a seven-year hiatus in this rivalry, the Raiders came to the Dome to open the 2023 season. Syracuse jumped out to a 23-0 lead after the first quarter and never looked back. Despite playing backups for most of the second half and not scoring at all in the fourth quarter, the Orange cruised to a 65-0 win.

Series history

The Colgate-Syracuse series dates back to 1891, when the Raiders won 22-16. The all-time series is almost dead even. In fact, Syracuse’s 2023 victory gave the Orange 32 wins against the Raiders compared to Colgate’s 31 wins against Syracuse. There were also five ties between the two programs, back when that was a thing.

Of course, the Colgate-Syracuse rivalry has been one-sided for more than half a century, with Syracuse winning 17 straight against the Raiders. Colgate’s last win in this rivalry came in 1950. Unfortunately, this will only be the seventh time the upstate New York schools have met since 1961. There was a 20-year pause from 1961 to 1981, and an even longer break from 1987 to 2010. On the bright side, this will be the second time in three years that Syracuse has scheduled Colgate, as well as the third time in the last decade.

Colgate’s 2024 season

The 2024 campaign was a rough one for the Raiders, as they finished 2-10 overall and 1-5 in Patriot League play. Colgate’s only wins came against Cornell and Georgetown. To be fair, road losses to Maine and Fordham, as well as a Senior Day loss to Lafayette, all came by six points or less, so the Raiders were close to eking out two or three more wins. However, it was the third losing season in four years for head coach Stan Dakosty. After compiling a 16-29 record in those four seasons, he was let go after the season.

Colgate’s key returning players

One silver lining for the Raiders is that they will bring back starting quarterback Jake Stearney. The downside is that Stearney threw more interceptions than touchdowns last season. But with a full season of experience under his belt, perhaps he can take a step forward. All of Colgate’s top receivers from 2024 are also set to return, most notably Treyvhon Saunders, who led the team with 831 receiving yards, and Brady Hutchison, who scored a team-high five receiving touchdowns.

Defensively, the Raiders took some heavy losses, especially at linebacker. The silver lining is that Dane Picariello should help to anchor the defensive line after collecting the second-most tackles and third-most sacks for the Colgate defense in 2024. In the secondary, Josh Stinespring, Tymir Wynn, and Kaleb Alexander all played heavy snaps last season, giving the Raiders plenty of experience in the defensive backfield.

Colgate’s notable additions

As an FCS program, the Raiders don’t recruit a lot of blue-chip prospects or get a lot of major additions in the transfer portal. Nevertheless, Fitzpatrick has expressed optimism about his first recruiting class. Quarterback Jackson Kilburg from Nashville, Tenn., could be worth watching if the Raiders get off to a slow start and want to test a young quarterback. Martin Geary, a defensive lineman from Florida, could also make an impact early in his career.

Colgate’s 2025 season outlook

The good news for Colgate in 2025 is that things can’t get much worse than last year’s 2-10 season. Of course, that means Fitzpatrick has his work cut out for him in his first season. Non-conference road games against Villanova and Syracuse won’t make things easy for the Raiders early in the season. However, Fitzpatrick’s track record speaks for itself. Even if the bar is low, he should make some progress in his first season, giving the Raiders a chance to win four or five games and start the journey back to being an FCS heavyweight.

When and where Colgate plays Syracuse in 2025

The Orange and Raiders will renew their rivalry at the JMA Wireless Dome on Friday, September 12. Kickoff is at 7 pm, with the Friday night kickoff allowing the game to be broadcast on the ACC Network.

Prediction: Syracuse 52, Colgate 3

Hopefully, things won’t get as ugly as the 65-0 Syracuse win two seasons ago. Nobody wants to see our friends from Hamilton beat that badly. Nevertheless, there is a huge talent gap between these two programs right now. The Raiders aren’t anywhere close to the level of the Holy Cross team Syracuse beat 42-14 last year. That Holy Cross team eventually went 5-1 in the Patriot League, including a convincing 38-7 win over Colgate. For the Orange, this year’s game with an FCS opponent will be a bigger blowout, although it’d be nice if the Raiders can at least avoid getting shut out.