{"id":74985,"date":"2025-07-05T12:00:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-05T16:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=74985"},"modified":"2025-09-20T14:50:50","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T18:50:50","slug":"syracuse-must-win-games-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/07\/05\/syracuse-must-win-games-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Syracuse Must-Win Games 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

With one of the toughest schedules in the nation<\/a>, it\u2019s important for Syracuse to win their home games. The JMA Wireless Dome welcomes four ACC teams, as Syracuse plays their other five ACC games on the road. As previously mentioned in a past article, the Orange face four playoff teams from last season and seven other bowl eligible teams. Of course, this is a new season and everything restarts, but for these games listed below, they must win.<\/p>\n

Syracuse Must-Win Games<\/h2>\n
\"Syracuse
Photo courtesy:\u00a0 Abe Arredondo-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Syracuse vs Pitt, October 18, 2025<\/h3>\n

Without a doubt, this game is the biggest for Orange in the sense of avenging their past. Last year on October 24, 2024, Syracuse walked into a loud Acrisure Stadium looking to upset the Panthers. Pitt, undefeated at the time, and Syracuse at 5-1, created a great matchup. What followed was an embarrassing loss for Syracuse on prime-time television. Pitt won 41-13 in a blowout victory. In the first quarter alone, Syracuse surrendered 17 points. Fourteen of those points were interceptions. In the second, the same followed suit. Pitt scored 14 more points, including another pick-six.<\/p>\n

Now, almost one year later, the Orange have the opportunity to avenge their humiliating loss. On home turf, they will play Pitt on their homecoming week, October 18. By far the only bleak moment in the first year of Fran Brown’s tenure can now be resolved with a much-needed win.<\/p>\n

Syracuse vs North Carolina, October 31, 2025<\/h3>\n

In a Friday night battle, the Orange play their only prime time game against the Tar Heels. This will be Coach Brown’s first game against UNC and Coach Bill Belichick. The last time these two teams squared off, Carolina won 40-7. It has been two years since this outcome, and now both teams have new identities, coaching staffs, and, of course, players. These two teams both enter new eras to build a long-lasting foundation. Each with new quarterbacks and a plethora of transfer portal talent, this game feels like an equal battle.<\/p>\n

Tennessee vs Syracuse, August 30, 2025<\/h3>\n

A few months ago, the idea of Syracuse\u2019s beating Tennessee seemed far-fetched, but now the idea seems possible. These two last played in 2001, when Tennessee won 33-9 in Knoxville. Now, 24 years later, the matchup returns for the second time ever in the Aflac Kickoff. With a 5-10-1 record against the SEC, a win would be substantial for Coach Brown. On August 30, in Mercedes-Benz Stadium on ABC at 12:00 p.m. ET, the Orange will start their challenging 2025 season. This will be Syracuse\u2019s first neutral-site game since 2016 against Notre Dame in East Rutherford.<\/p>\n

One of the biggest games of week one gives the Orange a chance to show how much they have grown on a national scale. On top of growth, this will also be the debut for Syracuse\u2019s new quarterback<\/a>. If Syracuse wants to compete with Clemson a few weeks later, a win against the Volunteers would go a long way. The Vols, like Syracuse, bring in an entirely new offense as Nico Iamaleava left for UCLA, and star running back Dylan Sampson left for the NFL. Both programs have lost so much this offseason, making it anyone’s game.<\/p>\n

Remaining Games and Recap<\/h3>\n

On top of these three games, Syracuse plays UConn and Colgate at home, where they will likely be favored. As for the rest of their schedule, their road games are brutal, and the other two ACC home games are manageable, but not as big and substantial as the three previously mentioned.<\/p>\n

Winning just two of the three games above would go a long way for the Orange, especially the Tennessee game. Like last season, a quick start could once again help them reach a bowl game.<\/p>\n

Stay tuned for future Syracuse football news and games, especially the full week one preview against Tennessee.<\/p>\n

Main Image: Abe Arredondo-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With one of the toughest schedules in the nation, it\u2019s important for Syracuse to win their home games. The JMA Wireless Dome welcomes four ACC teams, as Syracuse plays their other five ACC games on the road. As previously mentioned in a past article, the Orange face four playoff teams from last season and seven […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5571,"featured_media":75001,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,8,35641],"tags":[102,34036,9102,184,79,32935,126,306],"class_list":["post-74985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-acc","category-fbs","category-syracuse-orange","tag-acc","tag-aflac-kickoff","tag-bill-belichick","tag-cfb","tag-college-football","tag-fran-brown","tag-ncaa","tag-syracuse-orange"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5571"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74985"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75003,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74985\/revisions\/75003"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}