SU Football continues non-conference action this week after a blowout win over Uconn last Saturday. The Orange have a storied history of playing against the Huskies and other former Big East teams. Syracuse also has a well documented history with the Big Ten and teams like Penn State and Illinois. With this weekend’s matchup with Purdue on the horizon, let’s review how SU has fared against the B10 conference.
Overall Record: 18-44-2 (29.7)
Record Since 2010: 1-7
Average Score: 16.2-24.4
Most Recent Meeting: 17-7 L vs Rutgers (9/11/21)
Series vs Purdue: 0-1, (51-0 L on 9/4/04)
As you can see the statistics aren’t very favorable in the way of Syracuse. Can anyone guess the last time SU beat a Big Ten team? Well it has been a while, and it predates Dino Babers.
2013 Texas Bowl: Syracuse 21, Minnesota 17 (12/27/13)
Babers was very confident in the fact that the rigor of the ACC has his team ready to compete against one of the emerging super-conferences in the Big Ten. However, his previous SU teams haven’t exactly inspired confidence. We already mentioned the Rutgers loss from last year, the other L came at the hands of Maryland in 2019 and that was a demolition. The Terps ran circles around the ‘Cuse in a 63-20 smashing in week two.
Syracuse has only seen Purdue once and that was in 2004 when the Boilermakers were emerging as a real power with Drew Brees and what not. So much has changed over the past two decades but this Boilermakers squad is very dangerous and fully capable of putting up 51 again on the ‘Cuse.
So if history tells us anything, it’s that the Big Ten has dominated Syracuse. SU’s last true home win against a B10 squad came in mid-September of 2009 in a 37-34 win over Northwestern. Can the Orange turn the tide this weekend against on of the best teams from the west division? Can’t wait to find out.
