Sunday Sidebar: Year of the Orange
12/30/2018 12:00:00 PM | Football
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – It's been a year to remember for the Syracuse football program.
Quarterback Eric Dungey's final kneel down to seal the Orange's 34-18 win over West Virginia in the Camping World Bowl closed the book on Syracuse's best season in 17 years. As the game clock expired and the celebration began, he and running back Dontae Strickland locked in a tight embrace at the 20-yard line – a powerful display of emotion from two of the Orange's most battle-tested seniors.
Dungey, Strickland and the rest of the 2018 class endured three consecutive 4-8 seasons before punctuating their careers with a 10-3 campaign that ended with a bowl championship.
It was a feeling – one of both pure joy and accomplishment – shared by players, coaches, staff and fans alike. Picked to finish last in the ACC Atlantic Division before the season, the Orange started the year as an afterthought on the national college football scene.
Despite the projections, Syracuse opened the year 4-0, including a dominant win over a Florida State team the Orange had not beaten since 1966.
In late September and early October, Syracuse lost consecutive road games to Clemson and Pittsburgh before recovering to win six of its last seven.
The turning point came on Oct. 27 at home against NC State. After rallying behind backup quarterback Tommy DeVito for a double-overtime win against North Carolina the week prior, Dino Babers elected to keep the keys to Syracuse's offense in Dungey's hands. The senior rewarded his coach with a masterful 411-yard, three-touchdown performance in a 51-41 win against the Wolfpack. The NC State victory propelled the Orange into the national polls for the first time since 2001 and clinched bowl eligibility.
Wins over Wake Forest and Louisville followed, before Syracuse stumbled for the only time in the season's second half. On Nov. 17 at Yankee Stadium, the Orange lost 36-3 to a Notre Dame team that would go on to reach the College Football Playoff semifinals.
Syracuse bounced back the next week with a 42-21 win at Boston College that set up Friday's Camping World Bowl showdown against the Mountaineers.
As confetti fell from the sky at Camping World Stadium, those associated with the program soaked in the chants of "Lets Go Orange!" raining down from the pro-Syracuse crowd. Fueled by hard work, unselfishness and faith, Babers fulfilled his promise to deliver a team that the community would be proud of.
The Orange clinched their seventh 10-win campaign in program history with the victory, and completed one of the biggest turnarounds in the FBS by more than doubling their win total from 2017. In addition, the 2018 season was the first time since 2001 Syracuse had a unanimous All-American (Andre Szmyt), went unbeaten at home (6-0), won at least six conference games (6), and had a player attend the ESPN College Football Awards show (Szmyt).
Those highlights were achieved largely thanks to the efforts of a senior class that Babers believed in so strongly that he went out on a limb and stated the 2018 season would be "one people would be talking about for a long time" after a 2017 home loss to Boston College that dropped Syracuse's record to 4-8.
Babers was right, of course, and in the bowels of Camping World Stadium after SU had dispatched West Virginia, the third-year Orange coach heaped even more praise on the group.
"I'm not sure they're going to pay for anything for the rest of their lives in the state of New York or anywhere close to Syracuse," Babers said. "They'll be etched in stone."
It's just the way Babers drew it up when he was introduced to Syracuse fans after he was named head coach. Addressing the crowd at halftime of Syracuse's January 2016 men's basketball game versus North Carolina, he had one simple message: "We will win."
It's another proclamation that Babers and the Orange have delivered on.
"That just came from the heart," Babers said of the moment. "That could have happened. That could not have happened. But I can tell you that from the heart, I really believed it would happen.
"If you do things the right way, you go about it with the right effort and you have the right faith, things seem to work out."
Almost three years later, there's no question that things worked out because the 2018 season is one Orange fans won't soon forget.
For complete coverage of Syracuse football, follow us on Twitter (@CuseFootball), Instagram (@CuseFootball) and like us on Facebook (Syracuse Football).
Quarterback Eric Dungey's final kneel down to seal the Orange's 34-18 win over West Virginia in the Camping World Bowl closed the book on Syracuse's best season in 17 years. As the game clock expired and the celebration began, he and running back Dontae Strickland locked in a tight embrace at the 20-yard line – a powerful display of emotion from two of the Orange's most battle-tested seniors.
Dungey, Strickland and the rest of the 2018 class endured three consecutive 4-8 seasons before punctuating their careers with a 10-3 campaign that ended with a bowl championship.
It was a feeling – one of both pure joy and accomplishment – shared by players, coaches, staff and fans alike. Picked to finish last in the ACC Atlantic Division before the season, the Orange started the year as an afterthought on the national college football scene.
Despite the projections, Syracuse opened the year 4-0, including a dominant win over a Florida State team the Orange had not beaten since 1966.
In late September and early October, Syracuse lost consecutive road games to Clemson and Pittsburgh before recovering to win six of its last seven.
The turning point came on Oct. 27 at home against NC State. After rallying behind backup quarterback Tommy DeVito for a double-overtime win against North Carolina the week prior, Dino Babers elected to keep the keys to Syracuse's offense in Dungey's hands. The senior rewarded his coach with a masterful 411-yard, three-touchdown performance in a 51-41 win against the Wolfpack. The NC State victory propelled the Orange into the national polls for the first time since 2001 and clinched bowl eligibility.
Wins over Wake Forest and Louisville followed, before Syracuse stumbled for the only time in the season's second half. On Nov. 17 at Yankee Stadium, the Orange lost 36-3 to a Notre Dame team that would go on to reach the College Football Playoff semifinals.
Syracuse bounced back the next week with a 42-21 win at Boston College that set up Friday's Camping World Bowl showdown against the Mountaineers.
As confetti fell from the sky at Camping World Stadium, those associated with the program soaked in the chants of "Lets Go Orange!" raining down from the pro-Syracuse crowd. Fueled by hard work, unselfishness and faith, Babers fulfilled his promise to deliver a team that the community would be proud of.
The Orange clinched their seventh 10-win campaign in program history with the victory, and completed one of the biggest turnarounds in the FBS by more than doubling their win total from 2017. In addition, the 2018 season was the first time since 2001 Syracuse had a unanimous All-American (Andre Szmyt), went unbeaten at home (6-0), won at least six conference games (6), and had a player attend the ESPN College Football Awards show (Szmyt).
Those highlights were achieved largely thanks to the efforts of a senior class that Babers believed in so strongly that he went out on a limb and stated the 2018 season would be "one people would be talking about for a long time" after a 2017 home loss to Boston College that dropped Syracuse's record to 4-8.
Babers was right, of course, and in the bowels of Camping World Stadium after SU had dispatched West Virginia, the third-year Orange coach heaped even more praise on the group.
"I'm not sure they're going to pay for anything for the rest of their lives in the state of New York or anywhere close to Syracuse," Babers said. "They'll be etched in stone."
It's just the way Babers drew it up when he was introduced to Syracuse fans after he was named head coach. Addressing the crowd at halftime of Syracuse's January 2016 men's basketball game versus North Carolina, he had one simple message: "We will win."
It's another proclamation that Babers and the Orange have delivered on.
"That just came from the heart," Babers said of the moment. "That could have happened. That could not have happened. But I can tell you that from the heart, I really believed it would happen.
"If you do things the right way, you go about it with the right effort and you have the right faith, things seem to work out."
Almost three years later, there's no question that things worked out because the 2018 season is one Orange fans won't soon forget.
For complete coverage of Syracuse football, follow us on Twitter (@CuseFootball), Instagram (@CuseFootball) and like us on Facebook (Syracuse Football).
Players Mentioned
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