Syracuse football ranked 22nd in Preseason Coaches Poll

The first college football poll of 2019 is out, and yes, the Syracuse Orange are ranked. Going into Dino Babers’s fourth season as head coach, SU starts the year at No. 22 in the Coaches Poll.

Babers is on the panel of coaches this season, along with 64 others (and six of those are in the ACC). Last year, Syracuse wound up ranked 15th in the Coaches and AP Polls following a 10-3 season and a Camping World Bowl victory.

This is the first preseason coaches poll ranking for the Orange since 1998, when they began the year 14th. SU went 8-4 that season and finished the season ranked 24th.

Looking down the list of current ranked teams, Clemson — ranked first overall — is the only one to appear on Syracuse’s schedule right now. The Tigers and Su were the only ACC teams in the top 25, though Miami, Virginia Tech, Virginia, NC State, Duke, Boston College and Florida State all received at least one vote.

How do we feel about Syracuse’s ranking? Obviously these preseason polls don’t really matter aside from providing some early context. But would you put SU lower? Higher? I personally think 22nd is fine, and wouldn’t necessarily go higher than 18. We’ll see what happens once the games are actually played, though.