Right now, college football is in a realignment frenzie. UCLA and USC want out of the Pac-12. Texas and Oklahoma announced that they wanted to leave the Big-12 last year. With all of these schools switching conferences, it makes me wonder. What if Syracuse moved back to the historic Big East? What would it mean for their sports programs, especially their basketball team? But this isn’t a basketball website, this article will be all about football. Syracuse football had some good times in the Big East too, look at Donovan McNabb and Marvin Harrison (pictured below)…
Drowning in the Atlantic Coast
Syracuse fans, let’s be honest with ourselves. Our sports teams haven’t been as good they used to be. Ever since we left the Big East, we haven’t found the same level of success. In many ways, ‘Cuse basketball managed to stay afloat in the ACC. But football is an entirely different story. We’ve had a few draftees find their way onto an NFL roster, but have failed to hit .500 as a team in recent years. Chandler Jones, Justin Pugh, and Andre Cisco are a few names that you’ll see as starters this season.
Whether or not Syracuse can produce NFL talent is not the problem. They proved that they can do that. As a matter of fact, SU as a school, has the 7th most players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame (8). The real problem is harnessing all of that NFL talent into one recruiting class. We’ll have a couple draftees every few years or so, but to succeed in this conference, we’ll need more. That’s why Syracuse failed in the ACC. They couldn’t recruit, and couldn’t compete for a bowl bid. When you recruit poorly, you play poorly. When you play poorly, you don’t win games, and when you don’t win games, the cycle repeats itself.
Syracuse Football in the 21st Century…
In the 21st century, Syracuse football has had only six winning seasons. Only two of those seasons had Syracuse winning at least 10 games. Luckily though, those two seasons both ended in bowl wins. Before ‘Cuse left for the ACC, they were consistently making it to the postseason. They weren’t always ranked inside the top 25, but they had a lot of good years. It’s sad, to be completely honest with you. No football player should have to take this kind of beatdown, year after year. It’s bad for the players, and its bad for the sport. Clemson makes Syracuse look like a division II football team.
As a Syracuse fan, it pains me to say this, but we don’t belong here anymore. We’re not good enough to compete. It’s as simple as that. Its not the players’ fault, its the NCAA committee. Syracuse, like any other failing college football team, deserves to go where they can compete. Without further ado, that brings me to my next point…
What if Syracuse Returned to the Big East?
Sadly, the Big East’s football conference was disbanded back in 2013. But hypothetically speaking, let’s say they never folded. Which schools made up the conference? Would it still be fair if those same teams competed now? How would Syracuse stack up? Back when the Big East was still around, there were only eight teams in the conference. Those eight teams were Cincinnati, Louisville, Pitt, Rutgers, USF, UCONN, West Virginia, and Syracuse. If SU played these teams today, here’s how I think it would go:
Below are the win probabilities for Syracuse…
Cincinnati 10%
Louisville 40%
Pitt 50%
Rutgers 60%
USF 70%
UCONN 80%
West Virginia 50%
Two of those eight teams made the transition with Syracuse to move to the ACC. Those two schools were Louisville and Pitt. Disregarding the past four years, the Orange have held their own against the Panthers. Louisville however, is a different story. I’m still trying to get that iconic image of Lamar Jackson hurdling a Syracuse defender out of my head…
How would things be different for Syracuse?
The bottom line is that Syracuse would probably finish at, or just above, .500 every year (not including non- conference play). They can beat teams like Rutgers, USF, UCONN, West Virginia, and maybe Pitt. But when it comes to teams like Cincinnati, you can kiss your chances of a conference title goodbye. But then again, back then, the Big East champs were decided by their in-conference record alone. In 2012, Syracuse finished the season 8-5 and were still named the co-champions of the Big East. But because they were able to go (5-2) in their conference, they shared the title with Louisville, Cincinnati, and Rutgers.
I think that if Syracuse had the opportunity to compete in this conference again, they would succeed. They’d be a lot more successful than they’ve been, and would earn a little more respect in the process. Right now, they’re the laughing stock of the ACC. They have been for a while now. But that’s what made Syracuse’s magical 2018 season so perfect.
It just happened out of nowhere, and for a brief moment in time, Syracuse got to experience what it was like to win big, in the Big East…
Thanks for reading my article, I appreciate the support! I just started writing for Gridiron Heroics, but if you’re interested in checking out more of my work here’s a link to another article of mine