Syracuse Football: Orange Disappear From Bowl Projections After Big Loss to USF

When we last checked in on the Syracuse Orange's bowl projections, pundits saw them headed to different destinations from Detroit to New Orleans to Orlando. After SU's big loss to USF, however...

Nowhere.

All those believers (we were adding them by the week!) are gone after one loss. You can debate -- but probably shouldn't -- the merits of that. But the good thing is there's still seven more games for the Orange to grab three more wins. Do that, and all those believers are back too, whether they actually want to be or not.

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This sort of occurrence belies the bigger perception issue Syracuse deals with each and every season. It's been discussed hundreds of times here and elsewhere, but to outsiders, we're still in the GERG era until we consistently and definitively show we're out of it. Folks were actually starting to come around after a tough effort against LSU, believe it or not. And now it may take several weeks to get anyone back on board.

That's fine. No, really, it is. All Syracuse needs to do is win six games this season, even if every single college football pundit doubts their bowl chances until they actually nab that critical win. It's all that matters until the next season, when we need to BUILD ON IT and improve. That's been tough for 15 years. Let's give this yet another shot.