If there’s one thing in Vegas that is usually pretty close to being guaranteed it’s that the house knows everything. Throughout the entire offseason, the debate around how Syracuse football will do next season has taken over. Some fans are incredibly optimistic, saying that the Orange can make the expanded college football playoff. Others are a lot more pessimistic with a first-year head coach. It’s created a discourse that’s very fun to have. We’d all much rather be having the conversation of will Syracuse be decent or great than should the Orange fire their coach again. But again, Vegas usually knows whats going on and doesn’t let teams fly under the radar.
The oddsmakers currently have the Oranges win total over/under at 7.5. (+112/+120/+115) Ask the college football playoff fans and they’d call you crazy. But lets not kid ourselves. The ‘Cuse going over that number would be an astronomical success. Going over 7.5 would of course give SU eight wins. Dino Babers only did that once. Scott Shafer never had eight wins. Syracuse football fans need to keep their expectations in this area. Creating too high of expectations does nothing but hurt the team and get fans disinterested if they don’t live up to this sky high hype.
I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be invested in what Fran Brown is selling. But you should be pessimistic heading in to the first season. An eight win season for the Orange would be a massive success. Remember, no games in ACC play will be easy for the ‘Cuse. Year after year we get reminded that the ACC is a good college football conference. Syracuse should absolutely win a number of conference games but don’t be shocked when it loses on the road. Don’t be shocked when the Orange are underdogs on the road against UNLV, Pitt or BC. It is hard to win in college football. 7.5 is absolutely a fair line for this upcoming season.
