Syracuse Football & The Inverse Theory Of Orange Winnatude

Keeping in mind that we are four games into a 12-game season and that the Syracuse Orange's three wins came against the three weakest teams on the schedule, the 2015 football season is currently on a path to prove the ever-present Inverse Theory of Orange Winnatude true once more.

You know it well.

2010: In Doug Marrone's second season, the Orange were not expected to improve vastly on their 4-8 campaign the previous year. However, a flimsy schedule and momentum helped carry the team to big conference wins, an 8-5 overall record and a Pinstripe Bowl win.

2011: Full of potential from the previous year, expectations were big and the Orange bolted out to a 5-2 record, seemingly justifying the hype. Then the bottom dropped out and the Orange finished 5-7, dashing all that hope.

2012: Still reeling from the previous year, expectations were muted again. And just like in 2010, the Orange defied that and touchdown'd their way to an 8-5 record and Pinstripe Bowl victory.

2013: Doug Marrone and Ryan Nassib are gone while Scott Shafer takes over and the Orange are expected to take a big step back. They only step back one game, finishing 7-6 and winning the Texas Bowl.

2014: Expectations are pretty high, perhaps as high as they've been in a long time. Then Terrel Hunt got hurt and the Orange plummeted back to Earth, finishing with a paltry 3-9 record.

2015: Coming off the worst season in years, expectations drop down a few pegs. While the 3-1 record is what we'd hoped for at this point, the promise of Eric Dungey, the success of Tim Lester's offense and the downturn many upcoming ACC opponents have suffered bodes well for yet another Orange reversal of fortunes.

While this is all a bit of fun, there's a kernel of truth in all of this for all of us to remember. We should all try our best not to take what happened last season and assume this season will follow suit. Syracuse Football in the Post-GERG World is unpredictable and doesn't seem to follow many patterns. Except, that is, it seems to do the inverse of what most of us think it's going to do.