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The Syracuse Orange — USF's opponent in the Thursday, Dec. 21 Boca Raton Bowl — have one of the proudest traditions in all of college football.
There's a national championship (1959).
There's a Heisman Trophy winner (Ernie Davis, 1961).
There are eight inductees into the College Football Hall of Fame — including Jim Brown, Larry Csonka, Floyd Little and Marvin Harrison Sr. — that are tied for the fourth-most from any school.
There are appearances in the Orange, Cotton, Sugar, Peach, Gator and Fiesta bowls.
There are five top-10 finishes in the Associated Press poll and 21 appearances in the final top 25.
But these days, the Orange program is more about transition than tradition.
The Orange (6-6) will face the Bulls (6-6) with an interim head coach — Nunzio Campanile — following the late-season firing of eighth-year head coach Dino Babers. Syracuse has since hired Georgia defensive backs coach Fran Brown as the new head coach, but he will recruit and assemble a new staff until the bowl game has been completed.
Brown said he plans to embrace Syracuse's tradition, but here are the facts: The Orange has won 10 games just twice since 1992. Since joining the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2013, the Orange haven't been serious contenders for an ACC title.
It's about baby steps. And Syracuse believes a victory against USF will represent a step in the right direction.
"There are some unique things going on with Syracuse,'' head coach Alex Golesh said. "Interim head coach and some uncertainty (with the staff). I've been through that. But they're preparing for a game and so are we. The more game film to watch on Syracuse, the better. We're trying to learn all that we can because, certainly, getting to play against an ACC team and winning the bowl game, that's all very important to us.''
The Bulls will need to contain sophomore running back LeQuint Allen (6-feet, 195 pounds), one of two Orange players named to the All-ACC second team (along with junior linebacker Marlow Wax). Allen rushed for a career-high 1,062 yards and nine touchdowns, while registering a team-high 36 receptions.
Senior quarterback Garrett Schrader (6-4, 228) is the leader of the passing attack. Shrader is completing 62.6 percent of his passes for 1,686 yards with 13 touchdowns and six interceptions. Overall, Syracuse is ranked 85th nationally in offense (358.7 yards per game).
Defensively, Syracuse is ranked 65th nationally (378.3). Wax (6-1, 239) has a team-leading 101 tackles and his 5.4 tackles per game ranks 13th nationally. He also has 35.5 career tackles for a loss (seventh in Syracuse history) along with eight forced fumbles (second).
Junior safety Justin Barron (6-4, 220), an All-ACC honorable mention selection, is second in tackles with 83, including a career-high 13 at North Carolina.
The Orange also have a dynamic punter in sophomore Jack Stonehouse, an All-ACC third-team pick, who averages 46.5 yards per punt. That puts him on track to set the Syracuse single-season record for punting average (44.78 by Nolan Cooney in 2020).
Babers, whose team went 10-3 in 2018 with a bowl-game victory against West Virginia, had Syracuse on the upswing last season with a 6-0 start. But the Orange lost five straight and finished 7-6 following a 28-20 loss against Minnesota in the Pinstripe Bowl.
Optimism surrounded the start of Syracuse's season when the Orange broke out 4-0, including a non-conference 35-20 win against the Big Ten Conference's Purdue Boilermakers.
The Orange lost six of their next seven games, leading to the firing of Babers, before salvaging bowl eligibility with a 35-31 victory against Wake Forest.
Syracuse is actually a familiar foe for USF, which shared a Big East Conference home with the Orange from 2005-12. USF is 8-2 all-time against Syracuse, including a 5-0 mark at the Carrier Dome.
"We're learning all we can about Syracuse and coming up with a good plan to stop them,'' defensive coordinator Todd Orlando said. "For us, winning a bowl game would be huge. There are some talented players on that Syracuse team and it's up to us to bring our best possible effort so we can go into the offseason on a winning note.''
"We're very excited for this opportunity,'' quarterback Byrum Brown said. "And we'll be ready.''
–#GoBulls–
