Follow The Fizz on Twitter for the latest SU football news
via Syracuse.com
The full SU Football schedule was released yesterday afternoon, and it looks like the Orange didn’t catch any breaks with its conference schedule.
In non-conference, The Orange have Villanova and Eastern Michigan before facing Maryland and Notre Dame. The final two games will clearly be more difficult for the Orange, but keep in mind SU did beat Maryland in College Park last season. The matchup with Notre Dame will be the biggest challenge for the Orange before conference play, especially with the game being played at MetLife Stadium. The games at MetLife may not be popular with Syracuse area fans, but as the Fizz has said in the past, the games are important for exposure and recruiting.
The ACC did SU no favors early. The week after the Notre Dame game, the Orange comes back to the Dome to face Louisville. While we all know what happened the last time the Cardinals came to the Dome , this is a different Louisville team. QB Teddy Bridgewater is off to the NFL and head coach Charlie Strong left for Texas. Still, the game should be a challenge.
Next up is the defending National Champion, Florida State. The Seminoles do not have many players leaving for the NFL and it bring back Heisman winner Jameis Winston. Last year in Tallahassee, the Noles put a beat down on the Orange, and with most of the Florida State team coming back, it is hard to imagine anything different at the Dome in October.
After the two home games, the Orange goes on the road for two weeks to face Wake Forest and Clemson. The Orange hosted both teams in the Carrier Dome in 2013. Last year the SU pass rush got to Wake Forest and the Demon Deacons’ passing game was non-existent. Against Clemson, the SU secondary lost receivers a couple of times for long scoring plays, and the offense struggled to get going.
After that, there are two more home games for the Orange: NC State and Duke. SU beat NC State in Raleigh last year in an ugly grind-it-out type game (https://orangefizz.net/2013/
After Duke, the Orange has its second bye week of the season. The first comes the second week of the year. After the second bye, the Orange finish with road games against Pitt and BC. If that sounds familiar, it is because the Orange ended the 2013 season with Pitt and BC at home on the same weekends, right around Thanksgiving. Even more interesting is a report from CBS Sports’ Jeremy Fowler saying the ACC is considering making SU-BC a “rivalry” matchup that will always be played Thanksgiving weekend. Other reports have shown that the SU-BC game could become one of the Friday after Thanksgiving games that have become popular recently, which would give SU another big stage to perform on.
Overall, the schedule looks tough for the Orange. But a tougher football schedule was expected when Syracuse moved into the ACC.
Posted by: Seth Goldberg 
