Yesterday, 170 media voters submitted their ACC Preseason Poll for the upcoming football season. The votes were tallied, and when it was all said and done, Syracuse was picked to finish 12th in the conference. That, to be quite blunt, is disrespectful to what the Orange have done this offseason.
New head coach Fran Brown brought in the 24th-ranked transfer class and a top-40 freshman class. He added an All-Big Ten quarterback in Kyle McCord. SU even found a way to keep plenty of talent despite a coaching change, including tight end Oronde Gadsden, linebacker Marlowe Wax, and defensive back Justin Barron.
Why is Syracuse so low? Well, unfortunately, these polls end up being a reflection of last season’s final standings. The Orange finished 11th in the ACC last year, and with three new additions to the conference, 12th makes sense if voters don’t want to predict any improvement.
However, this year’s ACC Preseason Poll isn’t just flawed due to being a rehash of last season’s standings. This year’s poll is completely ridiculous. Cal, a newcomer to the conference that finished 6-7 last year, received two first place votes. Georgia Tech got a top pick, despite bringing in a recruiting class ranked outside the top-50. Even Boston College, a team that went 3-5 in the ACC last year and has the 73rd-ranked recruiting class, had a voter select it as the top team in the conference.
The 2024 ACC Preseason Poll is truly bizarre. The final rankings seem to be based off last year, while some individual votes seem to predicting true madness. If you’re a Syracuse fan, don’t take too much stock in the Orange being ranked 12th. It won’t matter once the games are played, and if anything, it provides Fran Brown with some bulletin board material to hand out.
