Syracuse Football: 5 takeaways from successful 2018 season

1. Dino Babers has Syracuse trending up

The last time Syracuse won 10 games and was a contender in its respective conference was 2001 when it was still a member of the Big East and finished No. 14 in the AP Top 25 under Paul Pasgualoni.

After that season, the Orange didn’t win more than six games until 2010 and they had made just two bowl games after that until the hiring of Dino Babers. He took over a team coming off 3-9 and 4-8 seasons as Scott Shafer left it in bad shape. He went 4-8 in his first two years and then pulled off a six-win turnaround in 2018.

There were signs of an upward trend even during the 4-8 season in 2017 as the Orange upset eventual ACC champ Clemson in the Carrier Dome but the expectations for 2018 were essentially “just a bowl berth” at most.

Babers exceeded expectations, winning 10 games with the Orange and getting them back into the national spotlight. He even led the Tigers to another near-upset of the Tigers on the road, but a furious Clemson comeback silenced that effort.

Still, this program is trending in a positive direction and it has Babers to thank. It took him just three years to get to 10 wins and he has a talented team returning in 2019.