Syracuse football heads into the 2026 season with a lot of doubt hanging over it, but the path to a better year is still there if the Orange can take advantage of the early stretch.
The season begins Sept. 5 at home against New Hampshire, and this is the third year of the Fran Brown era. Right now, though, the outside view of Syracuse is bleak. The Orange is coming off a 3-9 season that ended with eight straight losses, and most of the preseason numbers reflect that collapse.
There is at least some reason to think this group can be more competitive than the raw projections suggest. Steve Angeli was rolling in 2025 before an Achilles tear in a road win at Clemson.
Syracuse was 3-1 with the former Notre Dame quarterback leading the way. The Orange is also just one year removed from a 10-3 season that ended with a shocking upset of Cam Ward and Miami at the Dome and a Holiday Bowl win over Washington State.
The roster, though, looks very different now. In the transfer portal era, that kind of turnover can reshape a team fast, and Syracuse has been heavily remade this offseason.
Brown’s overall record at Syracuse is still winning, and when he has his preferred starting quarterback, the Orange is 12-4 under the former Georgia assistant.
Even so, the betting markets and national projections are treating Syracuse like a team stuck near the bottom of the ACC. Most sportsbooks have the Orange at 4.5 wins.
ESPN’s Bill Connelly also projects 4.5 wins in SP+ and gives Syracuse only a 24.7 percent chance to reach six wins or more in 2026. CBS Sports is even lower, picking the Orange to finish 3-9.
Angeli is embracing the skepticism. On the most recent episode of our Juice on the Cuse podcast, he said, "I think it's great. A little fuel to the fire."
The schedule gives Syracuse a chance to build some momentum early. New Hampshire is a strong FCS program, but the Wildcats were beaten 41-3 by South Dakota State in last year’s playoffs.
Two of the next three games are against Cal at home and UConn on the road, and both of those programs are dealing with new head coaches and major roster turnover. The trip to Pitt in between looks like the toughest of that opening run, and that stretch points toward another 3-1 start.
After that, the road gets rough in a hurry. Syracuse goes to Virginia next, and the Cavaliers went 11-1 and reached the ACC title game last season.
Even without Chandler Morris, that one leans toward Virginia. Louisville then comes to the Dome in mid-October, and Jeff Brohm’s team has won at least nine games in each of his three seasons, which makes that another likely loss.
A trip to Chapel Hill follows, and while Bill Belichick’s second season should bring improvement for North Carolina, that game still looks winnable. Then comes SMU, a matchup that should be a difficult ask for Syracuse. That sequence would leave the Orange at 4-4 entering November.
The final month opens with Clemson coming to Syracuse. The Orange stunned the Tigers in Death Valley last year, and Dabo Swinney still has quarterback uncertainty to sort through, even if Clemson’s defense is once again strong. That one feels like a true toss-up.
From there, Syracuse faces NC State in Raleigh, and CJ Bailey is viewed as a breakout candidate. A trip to Chestnut Hill offers a more reachable chance at a win, especially after the Orange lost there last season. The regular season ends against Notre Dame, which almost certainly means a loss, though Syracuse will hope it looks better than 35-0 after the first quarter this time.
That path adds up to 6-6, and that’s the basic case for why Syracuse can beat the low expectations around it. The pessimism feels a little too extreme for a team that played without its starting quarterback and had freshmen all over the defense last season.
A 10-win rebound is probably too much to ask, but a bowl trip is very much in play. The early schedule helps, the back half gets much tougher, and while six wins is no lock, the ACC basement might be a little too harsh for this group.
In Other News...
Boeheim's Army Heads Into Kentucky Showdown With A Major Concern
Boeheims Army heads into its quarterfinal matchup with La Familia carrying a roster picture that looks thinner than it did a few days ago. Eric Devendorf is unavailable after hurting his knee in the previous round, while Chris McCullough also will not be in uniform for Sundays game, leaving the Syracuse-backed group to adjust its rotation on the fly in The Basketball Tournament.
The good news is Wes Johnson is active and could help stabilize the front line, but there is still some uncertainty around Jacorey Williams, who is listed as questionable. With the margin for error shrinking in a win-or-go-home setting, the Army has at least been weighing whether to add help from its reserve list, though no new player had been added by Sunday morning. [Read more 🡒]
Boeheims Army Faces A Major Availability Concern Before Quarterfinal
Boeheims Army heads into Fridays quarterfinal in Lexington with the kind of matchup that tends to define The Basketball Tournament: a Syracuse-alumni group facing a Kentucky-heavy roster in La Familia, with a spot in the semifinals on the line. The game will air on Fox at 2 p.m., and the winner moves on to meet either the Aftershocks or JHX Hoops, but the bigger immediate concern for the Orange-connected side is simply getting through the day in good shape.
Availability has already become part of the storyline on both benches, with Boeheims Army missing Eric Devendorf and La Familia dealing with Willie Cauley-Steins foot injury. Buddy Boeheim also had a brief ankle scare in practice before returning quickly, which only adds to the sense that this quarterfinal could hinge as much on who can stay upright as on which alumni group handles the pressure better in a packed Lexington setting. [Read more 🡒]