ACC Football Power Rankings, Week 5: There’s a Hurricane brewing
By Dante Pryor
10. Syracuse Orange (1-2, 1-2)
Break out the Orange. Syracuse defeated the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 37-20 at home for their first ACC win of the season. It was a great way to christen the newly renovated Carrier Dome. This game was the best the offense has looked since quarterback Eric Dungy led the Orange to a 10-win season and a Camping World Bowl victory.
Tommy DeVito had his best game in a Syracuse uniform, throwing for 194 yards and a pair of scores. Sean Tucker ran for 112 yards — Syracuse’s first 100-yard rusher since 2018. Head coach Dino Babers should be encouraged by the offense’s progress in this game.
The defense, however, is a different story. On the positive side, the 20 points the defense surrendered were the lowest point total of the year so far. Though Syracuse surrendered 448 total yards, the Orange picked off Yellow Jackets’ quarterback Jeff Sims four times, turning the Yellow Jackets over five times.
The Orange have two winnable games left on their schedule with Duke and Liberty — though the Flames are a tough out. Syracuse’s measuring stick game comes against Clemson on Oct. 24. That will let coach Babers know how far his team has to go.