As Syracuse football fans settle in for a dark winter, The Fizz presents good news: there’s no way the next decade is as brutal as the last one. If we take a snapshot of the past ten years for the Orange, the picture isn’t pretty – but hopefully looking up. The final three years of Coach P were stagnant, the Groobers Error was hell, the orange/orange/orange uniforms were a fever dream. At least The Dougie has returned to respectability, but his team collapsed down the stretch this season. There is little doubt the next decade of Orange football will be better than the past one.
For perspective, Syracuse’s record is 43-77 over the last 10 years for a winning percentage of  just .358, a measly 1-1 in bowl games. The only other BCS teams with worse records over that time are Vanderbilt, Indiana and Duke Рthe dregs of college football. Only the Commodores and Blue Devils have been to less than two postseason games from BCS conferences in that decade.
Since ’02, basketball schools like Kansas, UConn, Wake Forest and Cincinnati have all been to BCS games, but the Orange hasen‚Äôt even sniffed one.¬†It gets even uglier when talking about conference records. The Big East isn‚Äôt exactly murderer‚Äôs row when it comes to football and yet SU has struggled to a woeful 17-52 in league play. Let that soak in. The Orange has played .250 football in the 6th best conference in America over the past ten seasons.
Looking at the numbers, it’s simply hard to believe such a proud program could have bottomed out so heavily. From 1985-2001, Syracuse won a minimum of six games. SU has reached that mark only three times in the last decade (even with an added 12th game greenlighted by the NCAA). The future has to be brighter than this pathetic span.
Doug Marrone’s team had a crushing five game losing streak to end the year, but the arrow still seems pointed up for the program. Next season is huge year for The Dougie to prove SU has turned a corner and will be a viable competitor when it transitions to the ACC. Until then just remember; it can’t get any worse than the past decade.
Posted: Alex Plavin
