Syracuse Football 2025 Opponent Preview: Colgate Raiders head to SU on Friday night

For the Syracuse football team, last week’s win over UConn was thrilling, but perhaps a little too close for comfort. With any luck, it’ll be smooth sailing for the Orange this week when they host the Colgate Raiders on Friday night.

As we learned from our preseason preview of Colgate, this is the second time in three years that Syracuse is hosting the Raiders, who are now coached by Curt Fitzpatrick, who previously led Cortland to a Division III national title. Now that the game is upon us, let’s get to know Colgate a little better.

Where is Colgate ranked?

The Raiders are not ranked in the FCS polls. Keep in mind that Colgate is rebuilding after last year’s 2-10 season and is 0-2 to open the 2025 season.

Where is Colgate in the standings?

Despite being 0-2, both losses were non-conference games, so they have no record in conference play yet. After Friday’s road trip to Syracuse, the Raiders open Patriot League play next week against Fordham.

What did Colgate do last week?

Last Saturday, the Raiders made the trip to Philadelphia, suffering a 24-17 loss to Villanova. Colgate fought back from an early 14-0 deficit, ultimately tying the game at 17 late in the third quarter before losing, 24-17. For what it’s worth, Colgate was a 20-point underdog to a Villanova team that’s ranked in the top-15 in the FCS polls, so the Raiders should be proud and encouraged by their effort.

Who is Colgate’s quarterback?

Colgate’s quarterback is Zach Osborne. He suffered an injury in the season opener against Monmouth, keeping him out for most of the second half of a 42-39 loss. While Jake Stearney did an admirable job of filling in, Osborne returned last week and played against Villanova. Prior to this season, Osborne had three career starts, playing mostly in a backup role. That includes completing three of five passes for 16 yards against Syracuse two years ago in the second half of a 65-0 Syracuse win.

Now a senior, Osborne is getting the chance to be the starter at Colgate. Despite missing the second half against Monmouth and Colgate being 0-2 on the season, Osborne has thrown for 466 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions this season. His completion percentage is below 60%, although he’s averaging over 10 yards per pass, as the Raiders have created some explosive plays in the passing game this year. Osborne is also Colgate’s leading rusher through two games.

Who are Colgate’s other stars?

Wide receiver Treyvhon Saunders has been their top playmaker this season. He already has 23 catches for 360 yards and three touchdowns. The senior amassed over 800 receiving yards in each of the past two seasons and is already on pace to set a new career high this year.

Winston Moore is also a threat in the pass game. While he has just four catches this season, one of those went for 51 yards. Moore also caught a touchdown last week in the loss to Villanova.

Defensively, Justyn Toler has been Colgate’s best player thus far. He has an interception and three defended passes for the Colgate secondary. Unfortunately for the Raiders, they have yet to record a sack this season. However, linebacker Trooper Price has been all over the field, collecting 20 tackles.

What is Colgate’s biggest flaw?

After a pair of losses, albeit close ones, the Raiders have some obvious flaws. For starters, they are averaging just 2.5 rushing yards per carry. It doesn’t help that their quarterback is their leading rusher. As good as Saunders has been, Colgate doesn’t appear to have a Plan B on offense if he gets taken away, which the Syracuse secondary will try to do.

As mentioned, the Raiders don’t have a sack, which explains how they gave up 678 total yards to Monmouth two weeks ago. To be fair, they were solid against the run last week during the loss to Villanova. Nevertheless, they figure to be overmatched in terms of size and athleticism against the Orange.

How does Syracuse beat Colgate?

Perhaps it’s not good to say this one week after a close call against UConn, but as long as Syracuse takes the field, the Orange is going to win this game. The Raiders have a lot of work ahead of them to get back to being a top-flight FCS program. They certainly aren’t ready to go toe to toe with an ACC team for 60 minutes.

Nevertheless, it would be nice to see some urgency, energy, and effort from the Orange after a near-disaster last week. Keep in mind that a trip to Clemson is coming up, so Syracuse needs a strong performance against a weaker team to help prepare them for ACC play.