Syracuse football ranked 12th in new AP, Coaches polls

The Syracuse Orange moved up one spot in this week’s Coaches Poll to 12th overall. SU (8-2, 5-2) beat Louisville this past Friday, and were the direct beneficiaries of Tennessee’s upset win over (formerly No. 12) Kentucky.

Saturday’s opponent, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (10-0) stood pat at No. 3 after beating Florida State. As for fellow ACC teams, Clemson is still second, while Boston College dropped to 22nd after losing to the Tigers. NC State, which was upset by Wake Forest last week, dropped all the way out of the rankings.

We don’t necessarily know how the committee will handle Syracuse’s ranking this week, but the NC State loss probably drops them a couple spots despite the Orange winning again. Those rankings won’t be updated until Tuesday night.

Things looked similar in the AP Poll that came out about 90 minutes later, however. Syracuse was 12th there too — the new highest spot the program’s had in those rankings since 1998 (11th). Notre Dame was also third there, with BC dropping to 22nd too. NC State fell out of the AP rankings as well, which (again) seems likely to hit the Orange’s CFP ranking.

One voter put Syracuse up at 11th this week, so thanks for the faith, Cleveland.com’s Doug Lesmerises. Most others were fine with 12th, though there were plenty of No. 13 picks. A handful of voters also had the Orange down at 17th.

Happy with the ranking? Excited for what might come next if SU can pull off a major upset on Saturday? Discuss your HIGHLY RANKED Syracuse Orange below.