Odds-makers don't anticipate Syracuse football winning nearly as many contests in 2025 as the Orange did this past season under first-year head coach Fran Brown.
Of course, that's why the games are played on the field. And, it's super early to be making prognostications for the 2025 season at this juncture, given that there's another transfer portal window in April, meaning that the 'Cuse roster for the next term could further change.
In any event, ever since the Orange's full 2025 schedule was unveiled in late January, I've come across comments from various national and Atlantic Coast Conference observers suggesting that, on paper, Syracuse football may have one of the country's toughest dockets in 2025.
ACC Network's Eric Mac Lain says that Syracuse football plays the toughest schedule in the country, that 6 wins would be a good performance given the difficulty and the number of tough games that will take place on the road.
— chris carlson (@ccarlsononSU) January 28, 2025
Not too long ago, FanDuel listed its over-under win totals for the ACC's 17 members in football. FanDuel has the Orange's over-under victory total in 2025 at 5.5. I'm not much of a betting person, but if I were, I'd take the over when it relates to Syracuse football.
I'll take the over. 🍊 https://t.co/oRRkkSk3YG
— Neil Adler (@DAMNTWIN) February 27, 2025
Syracuse football faces a brutal 2025 slate.
In Brown's inaugural year as the Orange's head coach, buoyed by a prolific passing attack, the 'Cuse sported a 10-3 record, triumphed in its bowl game and had a No. 20 national ranking in the final Associated Press top-25 poll.
Before 2024 commenced, the ACC's preseason media poll predicted that Syracuse football would finish at No. 12 in the league race, and the Orange ended up in a tie for fourth place in the conference's regular-season standings.
My point here is that Brown, his top-flight staff and their players proved the so-called experts wrong in 2024, and I think they will do it again in 2025. However, I'm not suggesting that the 'Cuse will attain 10 wins in the upcoming campaign, given the program plays Tennessee in Atlanta and goes on the road to Clemson, SMU, Georgia Tech, Miami and Notre Dame while also battling Bill Belichick-led North Carolina, among others, at the JMA Wireless Dome.
Per FanDuel, here are the over-under win totals for those seven opponents:
Notre Dame, 10.5
Clemson, 9.5
Tennessee, 9.5
Miami, 8.5
SMU, 8.5
North Carolina, 7.5
Georgia Tech, 7.5
Yikes. All good, though. I still believe that Syracuse football will notch at least a half-dozen successes in 2025, regardless of what the odds-makers say, and even though the Orange is set to play numerous games against teams that are in super early top-25 rankings ahead of next season.