Charlotte, NC – During the 2020 college football season, many teams had varying degrees of success. Some teams were able to handle everything 2020 threw at them, they stayed playing at a high level and had very successful seasons. Some teams were able to handle aspects of it and have a good season. Some teams however, struggled to handle everything and had rough seasons. The Syracuse Orange fell in the latter category in 2020 as they finished with a 1-10 record.
A running theme from everyone from Syracuse in attendance at ACC Kickoff was that the 2020 season left a bad taste in everyone’s mouths and the returning seniors – in particular – didn’t want to end their Syracuse careers on that bad note. Defensive lineman Josh Black spoke about that and took responsibility for that season.
“I put a lot of responsibility on myself after last season….” said Black. “That 1-10 record is not indicative of who we are… It’s one thing to be a leader of the d-line or defense but I need to be a leader for the entire team.”
Fellow returning senior, offensive lineman Airon Servais echoed those comments as well.
” It left a bad taste in our mouths,” said Servais. “We really put a lot of that weight of the season on our shoulders. That’s certainly not how we want to leave our legacy.”
On the positive side, one of the reasons Syracuse struggled so much was because of numerous offensive line injuries. There were so many injuries that it got to the point that tight end Chris Elmore had to transition to guard and started nine games as a guard. Syracuse head coach Dino Babers spoke briefly about the offensive line issues and what’s the difference this season.
“I think the main difference is going to be those guys are healthy. …” said Babers. “We’ll have an older group and those guys are ready to go.”
Syracuse will start the 2021 season with four straight out of conference games against Ohio, Rutgers, Albany and Liberty. They will need to capitalize and win those games because once that stretch is over, they close out the season with eight straight games against ACC opponents, starting with a road game against Florida State.
Syracuse will open the season on the road against the Ohio Bobcats, on September 4th at 7PM EST.
