Syracuse Orange:
Even die-hard college football fans and bettors looked at each other with puzzled expressions when Syracuse hired Fran Brown. The name seemed to come out of nowhere, but credit to the Syracuse administration for prioritizing recruiting prowess over anything else. That’s not to say that Brown, who spent the last two seasons at Georgia and has been an associate head coach twice in his career, is a nobody on the sidelines.
It’s to say that he’s commonly been referred to as an outstanding recruiter at every stop and his geographic resources in the Philadelphia/South Jersey area are parts of the country that Syracuse wants to hit.
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Offense
And that move has paid immediate dividends. Syracuse plundered the portal, securing commits that few people thought possible, including former Ohio State QB Kyle McCord. The Orange also brought in a top-40 class for 2024 and have a top-40 class for 2025 already on the hook. Finishing in the top 25 back in 2018 may not be the norm, but this is a program that went bowling a lot during the Paul Pasqualoni years from 1991-2004 and was regularly ranked.
So, that will be Brown’s ultimate goal and it takes players to do that. The offense was 96th in yards per play last year, but the two-deep is made up almost entirely of transfers, outside of 1,000-yard back LeQuint Allen and 2022 leading receiver TE Oronde Gadsden II, who had 969 yards and a team-high 61 catches.
Defense
All things considered, and with limited help from the offense, the Orange defense was pretty good last year. They ranked 49th in yards per play and had 22 takeaways. Along with being a top recruiter, Brown’s other area of expertise is the secondary and that should help, as only nine of those 22 turnovers were interceptions. Syracuse tied for third in fumble recoveries, but Brown’s tutelage may offset the negative regression by creating more picks.
DC Elijah Robinson has primarily been a defensive line coach, so the Orange should improve in that area as well. They were 87th in third-down defense, so that will be a focal point and Robinson comes from a Texas A&M team that was 18th in third-down D.
Outlook
The schedule is pretty favorable for Syracuse to rise up and be a surprise team. There aren’t a lot of games on the slate where they are a clear underdog, but there aren’t many where they are a clear favorite either. My numbers conservatively say 6.68 wins. I do have an itchy trigger finger to upgrade this team, though, and I think they could rise quickly.
Pick: Over 7 Wins
