2025-12-25 09:00

Let’s be honest, as a Syracuse Orange football fan, you learn to live with a certain kind of hopeful anxiety. We remember the glory days—the McNabb era, those thrilling upsets—but recent seasons have felt like we’re perpetually rebuilding, always almost there. The goal, clear as the Carrier Dome roof (well, the old one), is to reclaim our place in the ACC conversation. It’s a tall order, but not impossible. In fact, watching other sports can offer a surprising blueprint. Just this past weekend, I was reading about the PVL volleyball finals in the Philippines, where a guest team, Kobe Shinwa, was aiming to do the unthinkable: defeat an unbeaten powerhouse, PLDT, and become the only foreign team ever to win two championships. That’s the mindset we need—the underdog with a history, facing a gauntlet of giants, aiming not just to compete, but to make history. For Syracuse football to have a winning season and scratch its way back to ACC glory, I believe it boils down to five crucial keys, and that underdog story from halfway across the world perfectly frames our challenge.

First and foremost, everything hinges on quarterback play. It’s the oldest cliché in football, but for us, it’s the gospel. We need our guy under center to be a true field general, not just a game manager. Think about the pressure on that Kobe Shinwa setter, orchestrating an attack against an undefeated wall of defense. Our QB faces the same every Saturday in the ACC. He needs that ice-in-his-veins composure. Last season, we saw flashes, but also crippling turnovers at the worst moments. We need a completion percentage consistently above 62%, and I’d argue we need at least 25 touchdown passes to keep pace in this league. It’s about making the smart throw on 3rd and 8, extending a play with his legs when the pocket collapses, and above all, protecting the football. When we’ve had that, we’ve been dangerous. Without it, the offense sputters like a car in a Syracuse February.

Which brings me to my second key: establishing a relentless, physical identity on both lines of scrimmage. I don’t care how fancy your offensive scheme is; if you can’t control the trenches, you lose. This is where games are won, in the mud and the grime. Our defensive line, in particular, has to generate a pass rush with just four guys. We can’t rely on blitzing every down and leaving our secondary exposed. I want to see a defensive end flirting with 10 sacks this season—a number we haven’t seen consistently in years. On the other side, our offensive line has to create running lanes. We need a 1,200-yard rusher. Not want, need. A powerful run game is a quarterback’s best friend and the best way to demoralize an opponent. It’s the volleyball equivalent of a dominant middle blocker; it changes the entire geometry of the game and forces the other team to adjust to you.

My third point is about clutch performance, or what I like to call “winning the five-minute game.” Look at any great season, and you’ll find a handful of wins snatched from the jaws of defeat in the final moments. This is about more than skill; it’s about culture and conditioning. How many times have we seen a lead slip away in the fourth quarter? The team that wins the ACC is the team that wins the close ones. They make the critical third-down stop, they convert the field goal as time expires, they recover the onside kick. It’s a mindset. Kobe Shinwa, facing that unbeaten PLDT, knew they had to be perfect in the crunch time. For us, that means drilling those high-pressure scenarios until they’re second nature. Special teams, often an afterthought for fans, is absolutely vital here. A blocked punt or a long return can be the single play that turns a season.

The fourth key is adaptability from the coaching staff. The ACC is a chess match, and coordinators get paid big money to find your weaknesses. We can’t be a one-trick pony. If the run isn’t working by the second quarter, we need a viable Plan B—quick passes, screens, misdirection. Defensively, we have to disguise coverages and show different looks. I remember games where we seemed stubborn, trying to force a square peg into a round hole all afternoon. The best teams adjust on the fly. They see what the opponent is giving them and they take it. This requires not just smart coaches, but players who are students of the game, able to absorb mid-game adjustments. It’s about being proactive, not reactive.

Finally, and this might be the most intangible one: belief. You can see it in teams that overachieve. It’s a swagger, a collective confidence that they belong on the same field with anyone. That Kobe Shinwa team walked into an arena knowing they were the only foreign team to ever win it once, and they were playing to do it twice. That’s a powerful narrative. Syracuse needs to rediscover that. It starts with beating a team we’re not supposed to beat early in the season. It grows with every close win. The fans in the JMA Wireless Dome can feel it; the energy becomes a tangible force. This belief silences the doubt, fuels the comeback, and turns a good season into a special one. We have the history. We have the tradition. Now, we need to play like we know it.

So, as we look toward the fall, it’s not about hoping for a lucky break. It’s about executing these five things: stellar QB play, line dominance, clutch gene, coaching adaptability, and unshakable belief. It’s the same formula any underdog-turned-champion uses, whether on the gridiron or the volleyball court. The path to reclaiming ACC glory is steep, but it’s there. And I, for one, am ready to see this team write its own version of that two-time champion story. Let’s make it happen.