What does Bill C’s numbers see for the Orange?
As we get closer to the Syracuse Orange football season, we will get more and more previews.
This week, Bill Connelly of ESPN took a look at the ACC using his stat-based methodology. It’s not a pretty prediction as he has Syracuse projected 12th with 4.8 wins and 2.9 ACC wins. The Orange rank ahead of BC, Cal, Virginia, Wake Forest and Stanford, and as you know only BC is on the 2025 schedule.
Last year’s Syracuse team might have been better suited for a tougher ACC slate, but the 2025 Orange return the lowest production percentage (46%) in the ACC. Obviously the biggest hit was the offense where Syracuse lost Kyle McCord, LeQuint Allen, Oronde Gadsden, Jackson Meeks and Trebor Pena.
The silver lining of stat-based projections is that they are based on data and don’t account for individual player growth and development. For Syracuse to break the prediction model, a few questions will need to be answered:
- Can the transfers and 2nd year players take a big step forward to replace the lost production?
- Will Syracuse get better than expected quarterback play?
- Does the coaching staff adjust to the personnel of the roster and pull off more surprises in 2025?
As will likely be the case in most of the predictions, the deep and talented Clemson squad was first by a wide margin over Miami with SMU and Louisville in the next tier. Syracuse gets three of those teams on the road this Fall, so we could get a season where the Orange don’t have the win total to match their on-field performance.
The numbers can tell us a lot, but that’s the beauty of sports. These games aren’t simulations and so we often get surprises.