Early Syracuse football over/under win total set at 5.5

You may recall last offseason, when the Syracuse Orange football team was given an early over/under win total of five by FanDuel’s sportsbook, and some idiot said it was a laughably low number.

Of course, Syracuse wound up at exactly five wins, so if you got in there, congrats on the push, I guess. If you waited for it to rise to 5.5... sorry.

With nothing else to do right now, Vegas sportsbooks are releasing some numbers for the 2020 college football season already, and that includes early over/under win totals for major conference teams. One of those is Syracuse, and the number’s currently at 5.5 according to the Caesars sportsbook.

That’s a tough one, really. When I did some very early projections following the release of the 2020 schedule, Syracuse wound up with 6.33 wins — north of 5.5, but not by much. That was also before spring ball was wiped out by a pandemic and the Orange were forced to onboard new offensive and defensive coordinators via videoconference.

When peering at the entire ACC, the standings look like this:

Atlantic Division

1. Clemson: 11.5
2. Florida State: 7.5
3. Louisville: 7.5
4. Wake Forest: 7
5. Syracuse: 5.5
6. Boston College: 5
7. NC State: 4.5

Coastal Division

1. Miami: 9
2. North Carolina: 8.5
3. Virginia Tech: 8
4. Virginia: 6.5
5. Pittsburgh: 6.5
6. Duke: 5.5
7. Georgia Tech: 3

Syracuse is projected fifth in the Atlantic right now, at least based on total wins (standings are based on conference W-L totals). SU also faces three teams — BC, NC State, Georgia Tech — with lower projected over/under win totals, and another Pittsburgh (6.5) just one win higher.

According to Caesars, the over/under win total for Rutgers (who SU faces in week two) is just 2.5. Western Michigan is at 6.5, while Liberty is at 7. Some caveats on the last two, however, since neither is facing a major conference schedule this year.

So are you running to place a bet on the Orange? Think the line’s fair? Don’t care about sports betting right now since we don’t even know about the status of the season just yet? Share your own gambling takes below.