Syracuse football projected to finish 10th in ACC preseason poll

Syracuse Orange football projects to finish 10th in the ACC for the 2023 season, according to a preseason poll released Tuesday morning.

Projected toward the bottom of the ACC in the preseason is nothing new for the Orange. In 2022, Syracuse received the fewest points among all teams in the conference before outshining its projection and ending out the year with a 7-6 record as well as an appearance in the Pinstripe Bowl Game.

Last season, Syracuse finished tied for the sixth-best conference record (4-4) alongside Louisville, NC State and Georgia Tech. The Orange ended up as the ninth-best team in the ACC by overall record.

The poll does provide insight into the potential difficulty Syracuse will face this season with its schedule. The Orange will take on the three-best projected teams in the ACC - Clemson, Florida State and North Carolina - three weeks in a row, something ESPN’s Chris Low identified as one of the toughest three-game stretches in the NCAA this season.

Clemson, who finished 11-3 last year, enter this season as the slight favorites to win the ACC championship. This year’s ACC preseason poll was voted by a media panel of 176 voters, including those who were credentialed for last week’s ACC Football Kickoff.

The Orange will have some opportunities to seek out wins versus teams ranked just above or lower - including Wake Forest and Boston College at home, as well as Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech on the road.

Here are the complete results for this year’s preseason poll:

1. Clemson: (103 first-place votes), 2370 total points

2. Florida State: (67 first-place votes), 2304 total points

3. North Carolina (5 first-place votes), 1981 total points

4. NC State (1 first-place votes), 1662 total points

5. Miami, 1553 total points

T-6. Duke, 1511 total points

T-6. Pitt, 1511 total points

8. Louisville, 1344 total points

9. Wake Forest, 1181 total points

10. Syracuse, 826 total points

11. Virginia Tech, 678 total points

12. Georgia Tech, 633 total points

13. Boston College, 561 total points

14. Virginia, 365 total points

We’ve also launched into Award Watch List season as the Orange place two players on the Maxwell Award Watch List. This won’t be the last time Oronde Gadsden and Garrett Shrader will make appearances.

Thoughts on the 10th place projection? Let us know.