If you think North Carolina had a roller-coaster season, they have nothing on Syracuse.
After six games this year, the Orange were the darlings of the ACC. They were 6-0 and ranked in the top 15. Dino Babers was right there with Duke’s Mike Elko as an ACC COY candidate. This included wins against a Power 5 Division winner in Purdue, a bowl team in UCONN, and 8+ win teams in Louisville and NC State. Syracuse had a reasonable opening half of the season. It wasn’t a cakewalk.
The second half was brutal though with games against Clemson, Notre Dame, Wake Forest, Florida State, and Pitt. The wheels came off as Syracuse collapsed under the weight of the schedule.
Babers came into the season on the hot seat and started great. What do we make of such an uneven year?
Before the year, I think Syracuse fans would have taken a 7-6 season even with the 28-20 bowl loss to Minnesota.
So you have to look at Dino Babers over some of his previous years.
Babers has been at Syracuse for seven years. There was the magical 10-3 2018 season, and five other losing seasons.
That means this is the second-best season Babers has had at Syracuse.
I think you have to view this season as just OK for Syracuse. It is always how you finish not how you start. Is that good enough? It’s good enough for 2022, but taking it in total with Babers previous seasons, he shouldn’t feel comfortable going into 2023. The recruiting class wasn’t anything special either.
I can’t see Babers making it past next year if Syracuse has a losing record in 2023.
Bowl games are buying him 1-year extensions, but it would do Babers a lot of good if he could break through with an 8+ win season.
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