Syracuse Football: 2024 Preview, Best Players, Top Transfers, Season Prediction, Win Total

Syracuse College Football Preview 2024

Welcome to the family, Fran Brown.

Syracuse University keeps its coaches for a long, long time.

Jim Boeheim was the main man for the basketball program for a mere 47 years.

In football, Ben Schwartzwalder was around from 1949 to 1973. Frank Maloney took over, struggled, and was still the head coach for seven years.

Dick MacPherson was around for ten years, and then Paul Pasqualoni took over and was solid-to-great for 14 seasons.

Greg Robinson won seven games in three years, and he got a fourth season. Doug Marrone wasn’t bad for four years, Scott Shafer gave it a run for three seasons, and Dino Babers had six losing seasons, but those two winning campaigns kept him around.

Brown has never been a head coach, but he was a hot candidate in the rumor circuit with the energy—he’s just 41—to take the program up a notch.

Five winning seasons in 22 years isn’t okay. It’s okay for Syracuse to be good at football.

Brown took a few home run cuts in the transfer portal around a decent base of players, and with a not-that-bad schedule, there’s a chance to do something interesting right away.

No matter what, a new guy will get plenty of time to make this work.

Syracuse Football Preview 2024: Offense

- Fran Brown is going to two coaches to handle the offense. Mike Johnson worked with the Syracuse receivers, Jeff Nixon handled the New York Giant running backs, and between the two they need to make the ACC’s third-worst O go.

The Orange averaged just 343 yards and 23.5 points per game. A hit-or-miss attack, the team won when the offense worked, and lost when it didn’t - more on that in the Key to the Syracuse Football Season.

This year’s attack should be very interesting very quickly because …

- The passing game gets some parts. Syracuse has Ohio State’s quarterback. Kyle McCord had a strong season for the Buckeyes, but the offense wasn’t quite as explosive as the fan base would have liked.

The assumption was that the team could do better, even though the guy completed 66% of his passes with 24 touchdowns and just six interceptions. He was the key acquisition for Fran Brown, indicating that Syracuse would be good right away.

Carlos Del-Rio Wilson is a veteran backup who can move a little bit.

The quarterbacks - and the ACC’s worst passing game - have an upgraded receiving corps to throw to. Leading receiver Damien Alford left for Utah, but this group is strong. Oronde Gadsden is one of the nation’s best tight ends, and the Georgia combination of Jackson Meeks and Zeed Haynes should explode with their bigger roles.

- The offensive line was a big problem for years under Dino Babers, but it wasn’t bad last year. Georgia transfer Joshua Miller will help at guard, Enrique Cruz is a decent left tackle, and J’Onre Reed is a big, experienced center. It might take a bit, but this bunch should be okay.

LeQuint Allen and the ground game had their moments - he led the team with 1,064 yards and nine scores - but the depth is VERY young and very thin.

Syracuse Football Preview 2024: Defense

- Fran Brown is a defensive coach. He handled the Georgia secondary for the last few seasons, has experience at Rutgers, Temple, and Baylor, and now his staff an okay base to work with.

The defensive front was okay at getting into the backfield and had its moments against the run, but it has to be replaced with the portal taking a few parts away.

Kevin Jobity is still around after coming up with 7.5 tackles for loss, and then it’s about the transfer portal with Fadil Diggs (Texas A&M) at one end and Dion Wilson (New Mexico State) on the nose. There’s decent depth considering the losses, and …

- The Orange have a star at linebacker to work everything around. Marlowe Wax has been a four-year force with 294 tackles with 16.5 sacks, 36 tackles for loss with eight forced fumbles.

Wax is great, veteran Derek McDonald was third on the team with 67 tackles, and … it’s going to take a bit to build up the depth. Anwar Sparrow made 30 tackles and two sacks in a rotation on the outside.

- The secondary has a nice mix returning - along with a head coach who knows how to coach up defensive backs. Justin Barron and Alijah Clark are strong-hitting safeties, Jayden Bellamy was thrown to the wolves in his freshman season at one corner, and coming in are Devin Grant (Buffalo) at corner - he’s going to be really good - and former Orange playmaker Duce Chestnut after taking a year at LSU.

Key to the Syracuse Football Season

Come up with yards.

The 2022 team went 7-2 when amassing over 300 yards of total offense, and was 0-4 when it didn’t. Last year was even more about the production.

The 2023 Orange generated 400 yards or more six times, and they went 6-0. The didn’t get to 300 yards in the other seven games, and went 0-7.

This year’s offense should be stronger and more consistent.

Syracuse Key Player

Kyle McCord, QB Sr.
McCord was good last year at Ohio State. He threw for almost 3,200 yards with 24 touchdowns and six picks, pulled the Notre Dame game out of the fire, and was only really, really bad in one key area …

He wasn’t CJ Stroud.

McCord is a talent, and it’s up to him to take the Orange O to another level through the coaching change.

Syracuse Football Top Transfer, Biggest Transfer Loss

Top Transfer In: Fadil Diggs, EDGE Sr.
The Orange got a ready-made pass rusher from the portal with the skills to blow up in his fifth season. Diggs rose up two years ago, and then became a factor for Texas A&M last season with 36 tackles with four sacks and 11 tackles for loss. He’ll be a disruptive force.

Top Transfer Out: Leon Lowry, LB Jr.
The linebacking corps will be fine with the returning parts, but it would’ve been nice to get back Lowry. He’s a mix of talents who just started to grow into more of a pass rusher last year, and came up with a career high 46 tackles. He should be a terror in the Wisconsin defense.

Syracuse Key Game

Georgia Tech, Sept. 7
Just how good is the new staff, the new style, and the new team? It might take a little while to get going, but with the first four games of the season at home, this is when the wins have to come.

Beat a good Georgia Tech team, and with the first road game a winnable one at UNLV, there’s a real shot to start 5-0.

10 Best Syracuse Football Players

1. Marlowe Wax, LB Sr.
2. Oronde Gadsden II, TE Jr.
3. LeQuint Allen, RB Jr.
4. Kyle McCord, QB Sr.
5. Justin Barron, S Sr.
6. Fadil Diggs, EDGE Sr.
7. Devin Grant, CB Jr.
8. Derek McDonald, LB Jr.
9. Duce Chestnut, S Jr.
10. Jack Stonehouse, P Jr.

Syracuse 2023 Fun Stats

- Penalties: Syracuse 95 for 801 yards, Opponents 71 for 696 yards

- Field Goals: Opponents 19-of-21, Syracuse 10-of-16

- Fumbles: Opponents 25 (lost 13), Syracuse 24 (lost 9)

Syracuse Football 2024 Win Total Prediction: What to Expect This Season

Welcome to the ACC, new coaching staff. Here’s your housewarming present …

No Florida State, no Clemson, no Louisville, no North Carolina.

Missing SMU isn’t a bad deal, and not having to deal with the Duke D, or the Wake Forest O, or Virginia isn’t too bad, either. But wait, there’s more …

Syracuse starts the season with four straight home games and doesn’t leave the Carrier Dome until October. Of course, payment will come due.

There’s a run of five away games in six dates, and it’s even harder than that. There’s a trip to Las Vegas to play UNLV, then plane ride to Raleigh to deal with NC State. A few weeks later there’s a trip to Boston College followed up by a long ride to San Francisco to face Cal.

That’s a lot of miles logged in, but the Orange should be able to win a few of the ACC road games.

Expect a third straight bowl campaign wrapped up well before the regular season finale against Miami.

Set The Syracuse Win Total At … 6.5

Likely Wins: Holy Cross, Ohio, UConn

50/50 Games: at Boston College, at Cal, Georgia Tech, Miami, at Pitt, Stanford, at UNLV, Virginia Tech

Likely Losses: at NC State

2024 Syracuse Football Schedule

Aug 31 Ohio
Sept 7 Georgia Tech
Sept 14 OPEN DATE
Sept 20 Stanford
Sept 28 Holy Cross
Oct 5 at UNLV
Oct 12 at NC State
Oct 19 OPEN DATE
Oct 24 at Pitt
Nov 2 Virginia Tech
Nov 9 at Boston College
Nov 16 at Cal
Nov 23 UConn
Nov 30 Miami

Missing: Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Louisville, North Carolina, SMU, Virginia, Wake Forest

Related: College Football Preview 2024: CFN 134 Team Previews, Rankings, Top Players, Win Totals & Schedules