Syracuse Orange 2023 College Football Preview
July 9, 2023
2022 Recap
Record – 7-6
ATS – 7-6
The Orange started the season like a HOUSAFIRE winning their first six games, and don’t forget, they were up 21-7 (!) at Clemson in game #7 before things unraveled. The season took a nasty detour to TURD TOWN after the Clemson game and they lost five games in a row before taking the regular season finale at Boston College. They fell to the scrappy Golden Gophers in the Pinstripe Bowl to end the year at 7-6.
Syracuse Orange 2023 Outlook
OFFENSE
The Orange were inconsistent on offense LY but they had a balanced attack that gave people problems from time to time (#7 ACC rushing, #7 ACC passing). QB Garrett Shrader is a crafty dual-threat specimen (17-7 TD to INT, 453 rush, 9 TD LY) but he’s had trouble staying healthy. Two of Shrader’s top-three targets are back for duty including the dangerous WR/TE Oronde Gadsden who had a yuuge 2022 season (969, 15.9, 6 TD). It’s not gonna be easy to replace RB Sean Tucker who booked back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons but the hope is that LeQuint Allen and Juwaun Price can develop into a productive 1-2 punch. That seems like a good possibility but it’ll come down to the performance of the offensive line. Sadly, the prognosis up front doesn’t look great as they’re much less-experienced than LY and need to replace their starting center and NFL-bound LT. This looks like an “average” ACC offense once again.
DEFENSE
Syracuse was a pretty stingy outfit on defense LY as they allowed a mere 329 YPG (#3 ACC) and 23 PPG (#6). The Orange return seven of their top-eight tacklers but they’ll certainly miss star LB Mikel Jones and the secondary was decimated with graduations and transfers. The good news is that they should be fine up front as they’re an experienced group that features sack leader Caleb Okechukwu (7 sacks, 5 QBH LY) and LB Marlowe Wax filled up the stat sheet whilst leading the team in tackles LY (4.5 sacks, 10.5 TFL, 7 QBH). The intrepid Rocky Long comes to town as the DC and that means they’ll almost certainly overachieve on defense. Let’s call this an “average” stop unit with room to the upside.
SPECIAL TEAMS
The Orange must find a PK to replace the great Andre Szmyt who’s been one of the best in the nation since 2018 (!). That’s a big OUCHIE. Thankfully, they scooped up Jack Stonehouse from Missouri to handle the punting duties and Trebor Pena (PR/KR) does a fine job on returns.
Schedule Analysis
Overall – It’s TOMATO CAN CITY in the first two weeks of the season as they get to hammer Colgate and Western Michigan. Games with Purdue (H) and Army (A) will be tough, but are certainly winnable. And here comes the bad news. Syracuse draws all three ACC BIG ‘UNS and have to play them in consecutive games. The stretch of Clemson (H), UNC (A), and Florida St (A) will certainly put them to the test.
Potential ATS Trouble Spot – at Virginia Tech (Oct 26)
This will be their 3rd straight game on the road but at least they’ll be coming into this one off a bye. Then again, so will the Hokies. Also note that this game follows the aforementioned TRILOGY of DOOM so it sets up as a potential letdown spot.
Season Win Total
Market consensus July 9
Over 6.5 +100
Under 6.5 -130
MEGALOCKS says:
Lean: Under
We’ll side with the ‘under’ camp on this occasion. Getting to seven wins with this roster and schedule will be a good result in our opinion.
MEGAmazing Tidbit
DEGENERATE NATION should be aware that whilst HC Dino Babers is just 11-25 in true road games with the Orange he’s a profitable 21-15 ATS (58%).
MEGALOCKS Forecast:
As we cut our way through the thick and confusing underbrush that is the midsection of the ACC we find yet another team that’ll almost certainly linger around the .500 mark. We worry about their overall depth, the offensive line, and the ability of the QB to stay healthy for a full season. There’s enough talent on board for them to get to a bowl game so we’ll call for a six-win regular season.