The first seven games of the 2026 Syracuse football season have been a wild ride. The season has been undoubtedly frustrating, although certainly an upgrade over the 2025 campaign. It’s been defined by an unbearable amount of penalties, unfathomable kicking woes, ill-timed turnovers, gut-wrenching losses, two thrilling overtime wins (both won on successful two-point conversions), and a carousel of quarterbacks.
On the heels of Saturday’s win over North Carolina, it’s clear that the season isn’t over yet. After struggling to finish games against Cal, Virginia and Louisville, the Orange finally managed to make enough plays to win a game, potentially turning the tide. In a weird way, it feels like it's back to where it began the season, which, based on how things have unfolded thus far, could be considered a good thing.
The schedule is difficult, but not impossible
At the start of the season, most fans would have taken a 6-6 record and a trip to a bowl game from the Orange. With a difficult schedule on the heels of a disastrous 2025 season, six wins would have been a step forward for Fran Brown and company. Sitting at 3-4, most fans would still be thrilled to get to 6-6.
Such a goal is still difficult, but far from impossible. The remaining schedule is no cakewalk, but it’s not out of the question for Syracuse to find three wins. Games with SMU and Clemson are difficult, but the Orange always has a chance at home. Until last week, SMU hadn’t been overly convincing. Likewise, Clemson has looked like a middle-of-the-road ACC team. Meanwhile, games with NC State and Boston College are tough because they’re on the road, but neither team is considerably better than the Orange from a talent perspective.
Steve Angeli is back
It’s hard to imagine there are many college football players who have experienced anything like what Angeli has experienced over the first two months of the season. At the start of the season, he was the starting quarterback and the fanbase was fully behind him. After careless interceptions cost the Orange in losses to Cal and Pitt, Angeli was too injured to play the next few games, watching Amari Odom and Malachi Nelson both perform well in his absence.
Of course, with Odom and Nelson both injured, Angeli is the starter once again. There was surely doubt and skepticism about him heading into the North Carolina game. However, Angeli looked healthier than he did early in the season and made the plays he needed to make to lead Syracuse to a win. It was the kind of performance that will inspire confidence in both his teammates and the fanbase, allowing the Orange to believe that anything is possible this season with Angeli at quarterback.
The questions linger
The quarterback position aside, there was no shortage of questions facing Brown and the Orange heading into the season. Several key position groups were filled with young or unproven players, leading to uncertainty about the supporting cast around Angeli. Some questions have been answered, but seven games in, several still persist.
For starters, can anything be done to correct Syracuse’s kicking game? At what point does Brown forsake field goal attempts altogether and go for every fourth down once the Orange offense gets into plus territory? Can anything be done about the penalties? At what point can Syracuse stop getting in its own way?
Cautious optimism
Those questions aside, the play of Angeli against North Carolina and the emergence of several other players during the season have led to cautious optimism heading into the final five games of the season. That stance is strikingly similar to the start of the season. Syracuse fans wanted to believe the season could be a success, but were hesitant to fully believe.
Seven games later, we’re still at that point. The North Carolina game is clear evidence that the Orange is capable of turning close games into wins and is even capable of overcoming deficits. At the same time, it’s far from certain how many more wins Syracuse can get this season. That’s more or less where things stood heading into the season. After everything that’s happened this season, getting back to where things stood at the start of the season feels like a good thing. Nothing will be easy, but there is hope for Syracuse football.
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