Syracuse football: Orange rank 59th in early SP+ projections

It’s still a few weeks before the Syracuse Orange football team starts spring practice, but we continue to look out for early projections.

Yesterday ESPN’s Bill Connelly released his preseason SP+ rankings. Syracuse ranks 59th in the early SP+ with the offense 66th and the defense 48th. These rankings are based on returning production, recent recruiting and recent history.

As a refresher, here’s how Connelly explains SP+

It’s a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency. It is a predictive measure of the most sustainable and predictable aspects of football, not a résumé ranking, and, along those same lines, these projections aren’t intended to be a guess at what the AP Top 25 will look like at the end of the year.

The numbers will be adjusted in May after spring practices and the next transfer window. In last year’s May numbers, Syracuse was 57th, and it feels like this is an area where the Orange will find themselves regularly.

Here’s where Syracuse’s 2023 opponents are ranked:

Florida State- 11

Clemson- 12

North Carolina- 28

Pittsburgh- 40

Purdue- 49

Wake Forest- 52

Virginia Tech- 69

Georgia Tech- 70

Boston College- 72

Army- 87

Western Michigan- 125

Based on these rankings and projections, Syracuse will likely have a SP+ projection of 6 wins, so we’ll keep an eye out for the release of those projections. Just keep that in mind as you look for Syracuse 2023 O/U win total futures.