Louisville Cardinals

Syracuse Football: Week 2 Presents the Biggest Test Yet for Dino Babers

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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The Syracuse football team will face their toughest test of the young season on Friday night. Dino Babers is looking to get his first skin of his Orange career in the process.

The good news is the last time the Syracuse football team beat a ranked opponent it happened to be Louisville. The bad news? Well, that was four years ago.

Since then, the Orange have lost 11 straight to ranked opponents and all five duels against Bobby Petrino. They’ve also changed their head coach twice in that stretch.

Syracuse football fans will probably tell you that history could repeat itself now that Dino Babers is patrolling the sidelines. Not only has Babers brought an uptempo offense that averaged just 22.5 seconds between snaps in the win over Colgate, but also a sense of optimism.

Sep 2, 2016; Mandatory Credit: Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports

Those in the Orange faithful might allude to Petrino’s comments as evidence of the upset that they believe awaits on Friday night.

“That’s one of the things they brag about, is how fast they go,” Petrino said during media session this past week. “We’ve got to see if all of that’s legal, because there’s a few times they’re snapping the ball and the down markers haven’t been moved yet. So we do need to check into that and see how all that works.”

This was obviously gamesmanship on the part of Petrino. Phil Jackson and Pat Riley did this a ton during their respective heydays to get the attention of the officials. But ask an Orange fan and he or she might tell you, “it’s a sign that he’s intimidated!”

It’s nothing more than a ploy to put some doubt in the minds of the Orange players and coaches to throw them off their game just a tad.

After last week’s 70-14 victory against Charlotte, the Cardinals moved up in the rankings to No. 13. This is a team with national title aspirations with Lamar Jackson, an incredibly talented sophomore, behind center. In that win over the 49ers, Jackson went 17-for-23 with 286 yards 8 touchdowns (two rushing) and 119 rushing yards.

So maybe it’s not just about beating the Orange in front of what might be a raucous crowd. This could simply be about the game within a game. Louisville comes into this game as 14.5-point favorites over the Orange. We don’t need a rocket scientist to tell us this will be a steep hill to climb.

But back in 2012 when Syracuse ended Louisville’s undefeated season, it was all about the rushing attack. Teddy Bridgewater kept his Cardinals in the game with a phenomenal performance, going 36-for-49 with 424 yards and three touchdowns. But the Orange won the ground game 278-48 and that proved to be the difference in the Orange’s 45-26 win.

So it’ll behoove Syracuse to mirror that production this time around if it has any chance of winning this game.

Of the four games against ranked teams (Notre Dame, Clemson and Florida State), Louisville appears to be the most winnable. Will it happen? It’s certainly not impossible, but it is rather unlikely. And don’t bet on Petrino shaking in his boots on the sideline either.