S
yracuse football hasn’t won a game in 11 months. When the Orange play New Hampshire in the JMA Wireless Dome Saturday, it’s their first chance to get back in the win column after eight straight losses to cap a forgettable 2025 season.
SU finished the year 3-9 despite starting 3-1. Its campaign was spoiled by starting quarterback Steve Angeli’s Achilles injury in Week 4.
Everything went downhill from there, but Syracuse is looking for a fresh start in 2026, its third year under Fran Brown. Angeli is back under center, though his weapons remain a question entering the first game. SU also brought in former Toledo defensive coordinator Vince Kehres, who should revamp a unit that allowed the most points in the Atlantic Coast Conference last year.
Here’s how our beat writers think Syracuse will fare in 2026, and if it will make its third bowl game in four years:
Noah Nussbaum
Peanut Butter Angeli
Record: 5-7 (3-6 ACC)
MVP: Steve Angeli
X-Factor: Demetres Samuel Jr.
As you can see by my tagline, I believe the Orange’s season hinges on Angeli. If he was healthy last year, Syracuse easily would’ve made a bowl game and had a chance to win over seven games. Instead, SU barely looked competent in its eight games without him.
Of course, I don’t think SU will live or die by Angeli this season, since Brown went out and got transfer quarterbacks like Amari Odom, Malachi Nelson and Danny Lauter to avoid another disaster. But with Odom never having played at the Power Four level before and Nelson on his fourth college team, I have more faith in Angeli to lead the Orange back to prominence this year than the others.
With that being said, Syracuse still has too many “toss-up games,” making predicting a bowl game berth difficult. Its only surefire wins seem to be against New Hampshire and UConn — and even that game was almost a loss last year.
It only plays three ranked teams — No. 4 Notre Dame, No. 19 SMU and No. 24 Louisville — but Pitt, Virginia, Clemson and NC State could give SU fits despite being left off the poll.
I could see Syracuse winning anywhere between four and eight games. But with the Orange’s rough schedule and almost entirely new group of wide receivers — where two-way sophomore Demetres Samuel Jr. can make a bigger impact than last year — running backs and defensive linemen, I lean toward the lower side of things.
Nicholas Alumkal
Only way to go is up
Record: 7-5 (5-4 ACC)
MVP: Steve Angeli
X-Factor: Umari Hatcher
As fellow scribe Noah mentioned, Angeli’s health and handiness will be integral for the Orange. Lest we forget, when his season ended after four games in 2025, Angeli was second in the FBS in passing yards. Through four contests, his game was as beautiful as a Fabergé egg, but his body proved to be just as fragile.
Peppered with questions about his recovery all summer, Angeli has sounded like a broken record — he’ll be 100%. I expect the signal-caller to be back to his swashbuckling 2025 best. The question I do have is who Angeli will throw to, since the Orange’s wide receiver corps was decimated in the offseason. SU lost six of its seven best receivers based on yardage last season, and that lone exception is Justus Ross-Simmons, whose place on the team has been in limbo as he attempts to receive another season of eligibility.
Even if Ross-Simmons is ruled ineligible, I have belief in Syracuse’s receivers — enough to think the team will be just over .500. Yes, I have a positive outlook on Umari Hatcher, who Brown highlighted as the leader of the unit, as well as transfer Cole Weaver. Angeli’s accuracy will bring out the best in them and the rest of the receiving corps.
There are few penned-in wins on Syracuse’s schedule, but there are also only a couple of games where the Orange are most likely losers. New Hampshire and UConn should result in victories, while Notre Dame is almost assuredly a loss. The rest of the slate in the unpredictable ACC could go any way — I can see them winning or losing any of the remaining games. But I believe the JMA Wireless Dome will be weaponized, as new Director of Athletics Bryan Blair promised, so the Orange will sneak in two wins against visitors Louisville, Clemson or SMU.
Can it get worse than 3-9 last year? I don’t think so. The only way to go is up. It looks like Brown learned his lesson — he brought in plenty of quarterback cover and replaced eight of his 11 position coaches in the offseason.
Expect an improvement, maybe even a bowl game and a winning record, if the offense can get going.
Harris Pemberton
Bowl bound?
Record: 6-6 (4-5 ACC)
MVP: Steve Angeli
X-Factor: Chris Peal
By the time you’ve made it down here, you probably have a pretty good idea of the challenge Syracuse faces this season. The schedule isn’t 2025 difficult, but it certainly provides its share of tough situations for the Orange. In my eyes, I’m not sure I trust this rebuilt team to snatch most of the games that I view as toss-ups.
Angeli’s return is the defining event of the offseason, and he’ll provide the Orange with some much-needed stability at quarterback. I’m not sure we can count on him to be among the country’s leaders in passing yards, like he was through four games in 2025, but SU’s offense lives and dies by him. I like the additions to the running back room, though I still wonder who will step up among the receivers if Ross-Simmons is out.
Kehres’ new defense is probably the thing SU fans should most look forward to, and defensive back Chris Peal is a big reason. The redshirt junior has already gained loads of draft hype and preseason praise, and he could be Syracuse’s first NFL Draft first-round pick since 2013 if he has the breakout season a lot of people expect from him. Alongside Samuel, Peal can completely change an SU pass defense that ranked bottom-5 in the ACC in yards allowed last year.
The talent is evident everywhere. As Noah said, the Orange could win up to eight games, but it all depends on how they perform in those toss-ups. There are going to be your Notre Dames, where you can pretty comfortably pencil in a loss, and there are your New Hampshires, when you can pencil in a win. But matchups like NC State, Pitt, Virginia, Clemson, SMU and Louisville are difficult opportunities to capitalize on.
In the ACC, a conference that’s about as even top-to-bottom as any Power Four conference, there will be a plethora of make-or-break moments defining the season. And with the roster’s relative inexperience, I’m not sure I trust Syracuse to end up on the right side of a lot of them. But they’ll do enough to earn a postseason berth for the first time in two years.
Photo by Lars Jendruschewitz | Senior Staff Photographer