Syracuse football bowl watch: The Quest begins anew for 2019

The history of TNIAAM’s football coverage is highlighted by many a quest. Mostly, these have ended in vain. Sometimes, the quest would seemingly be completed, and yet, we never tasted the sweet beef we searched for. Last year, we quested for Bad Boy Mowers and Gasparilla. We got neither, but were still happy since the outcome wound up being far better than that.

And so in that spirit, we set upon a new quest this year. A quest for a Tiger. A quest for a balanced breakfast. A Quest for Tony.

PRESEASON/ WEEK 0 BOWL PROJECTIONS

Independence Bowl

College Football News: vs. Tulane Green Wave (John and Dan prepare flights)

Sun Bowl

USA Today: vs. USC Trojans

Belk Bowl

247 Sports: vs. Tennessee Volunteers

Camping World Bowl

Bleacher Report: vs. Oklahoma State Cowboys

Belk Bowl

CBS Sports: vs. Kentucky Wildcats

Pinstripe Bowl

Banner Society: vs. Minnesota Golden Gophers (the “Special Place” Bowl)

Orlando Sentinel: vs. Nebraska Cornhuskers

Orange Bowl

Stadium: vs. LSU Tigers

ESPN (Bonaguara): vs. LSU

Sporting News: Florida Gators

Athlon Sports: vs. Florida

The Athletic: vs. Ohio State Buckeyes

ESPN (Schlabach): vs. Penn State Nittany Lions

Normally, I’d comment on each bowl grouping and the likelihood blah blah... But it’s the beginning of the season so I’m going to make this easy; We’re looking at Syracuse’s bowl projections in two groups:

Group 1: All non-Orange Bowls: These are the people projecting Syracuse in line with most statistical models (7.5 wins) and thus finishing in the top half of the ACC, but away from the top tier. The bowls vary based on where they think the rest of the ACC ends up, but ultimately, this is in line with most projections on SU’s season.

Group 2: The Orange Bowl. It’s 2019, and Dino Babers is entering his fourth year as Orange coach, having worked the program to a place where Smart College Football People (TM) are legitimately talking about Syracuse heading to the Orange Bowl. These are the people looking at a still-below-average ACC, a relatively weaker than normal schedule and having belief without evidence that Dino will overcome a new QB to finish second in the ACC by season’s end. That. Is. Wild. Could it happen? Absolutely.

What’s key to the above as the season shapes: Notre Dame. This year, the Orange Bowl can take Notre Dame if they’re ranked above all available ACC teams — a distinct possibility. So there’s still very little guaranteed for SU unless they wind up above the Irish.

It’s a crazy world out there. Go watch “La Familia” and get hyped for Week 1.