Each season at this time, I begin team previews for the ACC in anticipation of another exciting season of college football starting soon. Normally, by this time in August, it's possible to be within two weeks or so of the first FBS game. Last year, the first matchup was on Aug. 24, and it featured an ACC team, Miami, facing Florida. But this year is of course unlike any other. If you have been following college football news at all, you've seen a flurry of teams and then entire conferences cancel fall college football (but not necessarily cancel all football for the 2020-21 season, with hopes of playing in the spring) due to the coronavirus pandemic.
But as of right now, among the Power Five Conferences, the Big 12, SEC, and ACC seasons are still on, and Virginia has dates for its games (it's understandable if you missed that news), with the opener at Scott Stadium against VMI exactly a month away as I'm writing this. And so for that reason, I'm getting started with my annual tradition until I read the black and white news saying the ACC won't be playing football in the fall of 2020.
I always start in the Atlantic Division and go north to south as I preview each school, and then I take a look at the Coastal Division before finishing with UVa. But the conference's plan this season doesn't include divisions, so I'll just go by straight geography, but I'll still leave Virginia for the end. The conference's plan does, however, include Notre Dame this season, so I'll take a look at the Irish, too.
Some of this information could be more difficult than ever to research and write about. It is usually easy to grab the team's media guide, peruse it, and take out the bits of information I want. But as far as I can tell, no team has an updated media guide this year, though some publish spring guides, which are semi-helpful. So bear with me if some of this information ends up being incorrect -- especially the number of starters returning, because that information could very well be up in the air on a daily basis.
OK, with that said, let's move on to the previews until it makes no sense to do so!
Syracuse Orange
Last year: 5-7 (2-6 ACC) Best win: vs. Wake Forest, 39-30 in OT Worst loss: at Maryland, 63-20
Coach: Dino Babers (fifth year, 23-26 at Syracuse, 60-42 career)
Starters returning: 12 (7 offense, 4 defense, 1 specialist)
Offensive player to watch: QB Tommy DeVito. The redshirt junior is back this season and hopes to stay upright more often. No QB at the FBS level was sacked more than he was in 2019 (44 times). He was fairly productive, though, relative to how much he was on the ground. Athlon Sports says DeVito was only the second Power Five quarterback in the past decade to complete at least 63 percent of his passes, produce at least 20 TDs, turn the ball over eight or fewer times, and get sacked at least 35 times. DeVito's specific numbers: 63.2 percent of passes completed for 2,360 yards, 19 touchdowns passing (two running), and five picks. Before taking into account lost yardage from all those sacks, he rushed for 396 yards. If DeVito can get better protection, he could be in line for a very solid campaign.
Defensive player to watch: S Andre Cisco. A junior, Cisco returns as the active FBS leader in interceptions with 12. In only nine games last season, he had five, and he added 65 tackles, five breakups, and a forced fumble.
Special teams player to watch: K Andre Szmyt. This Andre is also a junior, and he won the Lou Groza Award as the nation's best kicker as a freshman in 2018 and followed it up with a solid year in 2019, making 17 of his 20 field goal tries with a long of 50.
Schedule: at North Carolina, at Pittsburgh, vs. Georgia Tech, bye, vs. Duke, vs. Liberty, at Clemson, vs. Wake Forest, vs. Boston College, bye, at Louisville, vs. N.C. State, at Notre Dame.
Win-loss prediction: 4-7 or 5-6. Under normal circumstances, this would probably be a critical year for Babers, who has three losing seasons at Syracuse sandwiched around his standout 10-win campaign in 2018. Under normal circumstances, if things stayed bad or got worse, Babers could be on his way out. But these are anything but normal circumstances. Babers will likely get a pass this season, and it's not like the Orange were that far from getting to a bowl in 2019. They won two of their final three games and lost by one score each to Pittsburgh and N.C. State. But it is difficult to see the Orange getting much momentum going this season as they break in new offensive and defensive coordinators after barely any spring practice. Three tough road matchups in the first six games -- UNC, Pitt, Clemson -- and a trip to Notre Dame at the end of the season doesn't leave a lot of room for error.
Interesting read!
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