Syracuse Orange

Syracuse Football Week 6: Must Win Game?

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

foxsports

The Syracuse football team is coming off a loss to Notre Dame, but can get a huge win this weekend over Wake Forest to improve to the .500 mark.

Of all the games on the ACC slate, this upcoming one against Wake Forest was probably deemed the most winnable at the beginning of the season. The Syracuse football team is 4-0 against the Demon Deacons with an average margin of victory of 14 points. Pretty good, eh?

Losing this game on Saturday night could be catastrophic in a way. You could make the argument that this season isn’t about wins and losses. It’s more so about what the program’s trajectory looks like by the end of this campaign. Rebuilds clearly take some time, so patience needs to be exuded. But a loss to this team would seriously be a terrible optic.

There’s something to be said about not finishing in the cellar of your conference. If you’re Syracuse, one of the talking points during recruiting emanates from that very statement. Sure, the disparity between the Orange and let’s say, the Cardinals, is larger than that of SU and Wake Forest. But with sights set on ascension and improvement, it’s best to keep this team in the rear-view mirror.

Through five weeks of the season, Wake Forest (4-1) has a better record than Syracuse (2-3). But stats without context are dangerous when it comes to analyzing. The Demon Deacons’ schedule has pretty much been a piece of cake, meanwhile SU has lost to No. 7 Louisville, USF and Notre Dame.

This certainly won’t be an easy game to win for ‘Cuse, going on the road to play a team oozing with confidence right now. Wake has scored at least 33 points in two of its last three games, so the offense has gotten in a bit of a rhythm. But for the Orange, this is an important game to make a statement and that’s: you’re still not good enough to beat us.

Returning home after three straight games away from the Dome with a .500 record would be a significant win for Babers and company. It’s realistically the best you could’ve hoped for if you’re an Orange fan. Maybe, just maybe, there could be a path to 6-6 and a bowl game. Though, it would require a few improbable wins the rest of the way.

But don’t get too ahead of yourself. Syracuse made a bevy of mistakes in last week’s loss to the Fighting Irish that would make it difficult to defeat any team. All season Babers has preached resiliency and not allowing poor games to linger. These types of things results in losing streaks, something the Orange can ill-afford to allow to happen this week.

For much of the season, it’s been the Syracuse offense that has allowed this team to experience success in spurts. There have also been cameo appearances made by the defense in crucial spots. Babers called the special teams the “strength of the team” before last week’s poor performance. Could we finally see them put it altogether against Wake?

This game isn’t going to be a game everyone is talking about nationally, but everyone in Syracuse knows this is probably the most important one of the season.