A new Syracuse Orange football season is almost here and there are plenty of experts and media members already releasing their projections for what could happen in 2025. But, what happens if we let the newest college football video game decide how the Orange will perform?
That’s exactly what we did. Christian De Guzman and I (Dominic Chiappone) each fired up the newly-released College Football 26 game and simulated Syracuse’s 2025 schedule 10 times each to see whether it believes in this team or not.
Spoiler alert: the final results are umm... something.
We tracked everything possible per season sim: overall record, conference record, final result for each opponent (including score), bowl games and accolades.
When the dust settled, here is how CF26 thought the Orange will do in 2025:
There’s certainly plenty to digest, so here are some of the key figures of interest from the data:
- Across all 20 seasons, Syracuse finished 87-158 overall and 39-117 in the ACC. In our sims, neither of us peaked higher than seven overall wins.
- ‘Cuse went .500 or above in the regular season just five times out of the 20 sims.
- Similar story for the conference record: Christian and I went 4-4 against the ACC two times each, but neither of us could reach above-.500.
- There were more seasons where Syracuse had zero or one conference wins (seven) than seasons where it had three or four (six).
- Averaging out all 20 years of how the Orange finished, the team averaged under 4.4 wins and 7.9 losses per sim. Against the ACC, the average record per year was 1.95 wins and 5.85 losses.
- Syracuse only had a winning record against two teams. One was FCS East (aka Colgate), where Syracuse won all 20 times. The other was UConn, where the Orange finished 14-6. Against every other 2025 opponent, Syracuse had an overall losing record. That included 2-18 records versus Clemson and Miami, plus 4-16 performances versus Tennessee, Pittsburgh and Notre Dame.
- The three opponents Syracuse had the most variance in results against: Georgia Tech (8-12), North Carolina (8-12), Boston College (7-13) and SMU (7-13).
- Demetres Samuel Jr. is beloved by the simulator. He earned a spot on the All-ACC freshman team all 20 times in our seasons, also getting All-American freshman team honors 11 times.
- Here is your full list of accolade winners through the 20 sims: Demetres Samuel Jr. (x11 All-American FR, x20 All-ACC FR, x1 All-ACC 1st Team), Jack Stonehouse (x1 All-ACC 1st Team, x3 All-ACC 2nd Team), Yasin Willis (x2 All-ACC 2nd Team), Duce Chestnut (x1 All-ACC 1st Team, x1 All-ACC 2nd Team), Kam Pringle (x3 All-ACC FR), Kevin Jobity Jr. (x1 All-ACC 1st Team, x1 All-ACC 2nd Team), Dion Wilson Jr. (x1 All-ACC 1st Team, x2 All-ACC 2nd Team), Johntay Cook II (x1 All-ACC 2nd Team), Dan Villari (x1 All-ACC 1st Team), Zach Rice (x1 All-ACC 1st Team), Justus Ross-Simmons (x1 All-ACC 1st Team), Devin Grant (x1 All-ACC 2nd Team) and Mycah Peterson (x1 All-ACC 2nd Team).
And of course, we had to give our two cents on what ended up happening in these sims:
Best-case sim scenario you had?
Dom: My Season 7 was one of just two bowl-clinching seasons I had, but it also had the best results with wins over SMU, Miami and Georgia Tech. There were still some lowlights (barely beating UConn and Colgate, giving Clemson 53 points then losing by 35 to Duke the next week and a 44-26 loss to UNC), but there was enough success everywhere else.
Christian: Season 8 barely wins out for me. My sixth and eighth seasons tie for the best regular season record at 7-5. The latter, however, could’ve flipped in favor of the Orange massively. The wins are over UConn, Colgate, Duke, SMU, Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Notre Dame. Two of the losses to Clemson and Pitt were by one score. Cuse also lost the Military Bowl to Navy by just one score. I think Fran in real life could flip those results around. Just ignore the score of the Boston College game in that season.
Worst-case sim scenario you had?
Dom: This will absolutely not beat what Christian had to deal with for one sim, but my Season 9 was pretty awful. Starting off with Tennessee dropping 50 to begin the year, two of the three wins coming against UConn and Colgate, and then dropping every ACC game except picking up a victory over... Miami.
Christian: Does it get much worse that an 1-11 record in Season 5? A 28-7 win over Colgate is the only time the Orange taste victory in that season. Only four of the losses as well (Tennessee, Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Boston College) were by one possession as well. The less said, the better.
Absolute #Sickos sim season?
Dom: Season 8, and it’s not even close. Upsetting Tennessee right off the bat... only to lose 35-14 to UConn. After a 3-2 start, my team then finished the year with a seven-game losing streak, giving up north of 30 points in five of those. Honorable mention is my Season 1: three straight wins, then four consecutive losses, two straight wins, then another losing three to end the year (including a 56-10 bloodbath versus Notre Dame).
Christian: The high of Season 8 for me was quickly dashed with a #Sickos Season 9. Cuse starts 3-0 with a win over Tennessee. What follows that is an 1-8 record the rest of the way, with the lone win coming over Pitt. There are plenty of close games also. An one-point loss to Clemson, a two-point loss to Duke and three other one-score losses to SMU, Georgia Tech and North Carolina. But the wheels quickly fall off the wagon.
Which sim season would the general fanbase be okay with?
Dom: To be honest, any of these 10 seasons I simmed in one way or another have a few “I can’t believe this happened” results. It’s not the best pick on the board, but how about my Season 6? A 1-4 start on the year (including losing to UConn) does suck, but the fanbase would get four straight wins against SMU, Pitt, Georgia Tech and North Carolina, an upset win over Notre Dame and a bowl game win over... UConn (writer’s note: who, somehow, ranked No. 12 in the top-25 in this sim).
Christian: I had three bowl seasons. Given general fan expectations, I would probably think most Orange supporters are looking for those seasons at a minimum. I would’ve probably suggested Dom’s Season 1 as a good middle ground with five wins. Among mine? Season 3 might have the most realistic regular season, but even that’s a stretch.
Any other takeaways?
Dom: Obviously this is a video game and it is in little way a reflection of what will happen in real life, but two things definitely stand out. First, the final results from the season are truly going to come down to those “swing” games at home: Duke, Pitt, UNC and BC. If ‘Cuse drops one of those games, it’s really going to take beating someone like Georgia Tech, Miami or SMU on the road to make up the deficit. The other takeaway: if ‘Cuse somehow gets to bowl eligibility in 2025, sign Fran Brown to a lifelong contract.
Christian: So many people are expecting great things from the Orange once again this year after Fran Brown’s success in 2024. However, many have yet to really internalize the toughness of the Syracuse schedule. There’s a reason why the simulations have 6-7 wins as the ceiling for this year’s Orange squad, given the strength of the opponents and the departures from last year’s Cuse team. People are set up for heavy disappointment if they don’t readjust expectations soon.
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