I know we’re all still riding the high of Saturday’s 42-38 upset over #6 Miami, but year one of the Fran Brown era is not over yet for Syracuse football. The Orange finished the regular season at 9-3, and are going bowling for the third straight season. But rejoice ‘Cuse fans, there will not be another Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl or Boca Raton Bowl in the cards, as the Orange solidified themselves this year into a top bowl game. Let’s take a deep dive into some possible opponents and locations for Syracuse football’s postseason.
DirecTV Holiday Bowl – vs. Washington State
In an article published to ESPN+ earlier this morning, one of the experts predicted Syracuse would head west for the third time this season. The projection has them playing in sunny San Diego, California against Washington State. Personally, I love this matchup for the Orange. At one point this season, the Cougars sat at 8-1 (with their only loss to Heisman hopeful Ashton Jeanty and Boise State) and were ranked number 21 in the first rendition of the College Football Playoff rankings. The wheels fell off the bus though, as Wazzu lost the last three games and “lost” the Pac-12. The possibility of seeing SU travel to the Pacific time zone for the third time in a season preaches chaos to me, and Fran Brown has done nothing but embrace it.
TaxSlayer Gator Bowl – vs. Florida
The chances of both quarterbacks actually playing in this matchup wouldn’t be likely but tell me you wouldn’t pay to see Kyle McCord face off with DJ Lagway. The biggest selling point for this possible contest, especially for Syracuse, is that it’s against an SEC opponent. Fran Brown’s message after taking down Miami was that Syracuse is back, and there’s no better way to solidify that than with a matchup against a perennial powerhouse in the best conference in the country. It was a disappointing season for UF standards at 7-5, but the Gators upset multiple ranked opponents towards the end of their season, why not one more in the newly cemented #23 Orange? The game would be played in Jacksonville, Florida though, so it’s a major home-field advantage to Florida, but in terms of pure football, sign me up.
Duke’s Mayo Bowl – vs. Minnesota
247 Sports had this one, and if you want to talk about changing the culture, why not by getting some vengeance? Syracuse was bested by Minnesota 28-20 in the 2022 Pinstripe Bowl, which saw the breakout of a freshman running back named LeQuint Allen (ever heard of him?) How full circle would it be to see Allen in what could be his final ever game as a member of the Orange take down the Golden Gophers and earn SU a big-time bowl win? This contest would be played in Charlotte, North Carolina, so I would call this as neutral as a matchup could get. Minnesota finished its season 7-5, but picked up some big-time wins against #11 USC and #24 Illinois. Don’t sleep on the Mayo Bowl, even if mayonnaise is gross (yes I said it.)
Some other projections have SU facing teams like Colorado and Alabama, and those would CERTAINLY draw some eyes. But let’s be a little realistic and listen to the experts. We’ll have an answer to this question on December 8th. Also, let’s hope Syracuse can do the thing they haven’t done in the past two bowls: WIN.
