DraftKings says Syracuse Football will win 3 games this season. Pitiful to say the least. Dino Babers has been around since 2016. Safe to say Babers’ years with SU have been a rollercoaster:
2016: 4-8 (Alright it’s his first season)
2017: 4-8 (Beat No. 2 Clemson!)
2018: 10-3 (Camping World Bowl Victory!)
2019: 5-7 (Wait what…)
2020: 1-10 (Oh my…rock bottom)
1-10 isn’t exactly how the Honolulu native pictured his 5th season on the hill, not exactly how the fans pictured it either. As well all know, Tommy DeVito didn’t perform well when the keys to the program were given to him in 2019. The offense looked awful, the defense looked awful, everyone began to look toward Babers and the choosing staff, rightfully so. So what did Babers do prior to the 2020 campaign? He shook up his staff, hiring a new offensive coordinator and QB coach in Sterlin Gilbert, as well as a new defensive coordinator in Tony White. Fans were excited to see what Gilbert would do to shake up an offense that had trouble scoring and what White would bring with his 3-3-5 defense. As we now know, those moves weren’t the ones that would be game-changing for this team. Syracuse came out against UNC in game one and stunk up the field. The Orange couldn’t muster a touchdown, fans tempered any sort of expectations they may have had. DeVito got hurt in week 4, and indeed up missing the rest of the season which didn’t help SU’s chances. Rex Culpepper wasn’t anything special. As the season wore on fans began to call for backups, JaCobian Morgan and Dillon Markiewicz to get some time. Here’s where it gets interesting.
Week 7: Wake Forest. SU is 1-5, it doesn’t seem that things are going to get much better. Sean Tucker is out due to injury so the only offense is Rex Culpepper chucking the ball up to Taj Harris, or Cooper Lutz taking every single handoff. As the game grew uglier and uglier, fans (on Twitter) began to call for JaCobian Morgan. What was the point of keeping Rex in the game? He wasn’t doing anything spectacular and by the end of the 3rd quarter, with Syracuse down 38-7, it seemed like there wasn’t much to lose. Eventually, the fans got what they wanted. JaCobian Morgan got his chance with 7:38 left in the game. On likely SU’s final drive, Morgan made the most of his opportunity. The freshman completed 7/7 passes for 57 yards and a touchdown. Wow, Orange fans got to see some real football for a second. What did Coach Babers have to say about his potential savior after the game?
‚ÄúI‚Äôm glad he didn‚Äôt fumble the snap…I wouldn‚Äôt put too much stock on that…those guys are giving him those throws…that‚Äôs like throwing 7 on 7, that‚Äôs not like a real football game.‚Äù
WHAT!?!?!?! You mean to say you don’t care that this guy just came off the bench and showed he could make things happen after Culpepper didn’t for 3.5 quarters!?
SU fans began to lose patience with Dino, and after 4 more losses, patience grew thinner. So now here’s the question: How many wins does Babers need this year to justifiably keep his job?
Verdict: 6 wins. He needs to be bowl eligible. Fans are sick and tired of hearing him talk about togetherness every time they lose, it’s time to see results. Babers showed results in 2018 and then refused to build upon them. Without at least a 6-6 season in 2021, there’s no real argument for Babers to stick around.
