Who’s ready for CONFERENCE REALINGMENT!!!
Teams: Syracuse Orange (2-0, 0-0) vs. Stanford Cardinal (1-1, 0-0)
Day & Time: Friday, September 20, 7:30 pm
Location: JMA Wireless Dome, Syracuse, NY
Line: According to FanDuel, Syracuse is an -8.5 point favorite. It’s been a while since Syracuse has been this big of a favorite over a Power Five team.
TV/Streaming: ESPN, WatchESPN
Radio: Cuse.com, TK 99/105, WAER 88.3, Sirius/XM 81
Rivalry: 0-0
First Meeting: Syracuse and Stanford have never played each other in college football.
Photo by Bob Drebin/ISI Photos/Getty Images
Head Coaches: Syracuse – Fran Brown (first year – 2-0) | Stanford – Troy Taylor (second year, 13-10)
Coach Bio: Taylor was a legendary quarterback for Cal. He was a three-time team MVP and finished as Cal’s all-time leader in passing yards and passing touchdowns at the time. Taylor was a fourth-round pick by the New York Jets. His first collegiate coaching experience came at Colorado as a graduate assistant before returning to Cal as a full-time assistant for five seasons. Taylor spent the first decade of the 21st century as a coach in California High Schools and as a color commentator for Cal’s radio broadcasts.
He returned to collegiate coaching ranks in 2016 as an assistant at Eastern Washington before earning his first offensive coordinator job at Utah. After two seasons, Taylor took his first collegiate head coaching job at Sacramento State in 2019. He led the program to a Big Sky title in each of his three seasons at the helm, which included an undefeated regular season in 2022. That season propelled Taylor to the Stanford head coaching job, which he took in 2023.
Last Year: Stanford continued its run of disappointing seasons, even under Taylor’s first year at the program. The Cardinal finished 3-9 for the third straight year with only one win in Pac-12 play. It was the first time since 2006 that Stanford only had one win in conference play.
Last Game: Stanford, like Syracuse, is coming off a bye. The Cardinal last played FCS foe Cal Poly on September 7, which resulted in a comfortable 41-7 win for Stanford.
Photo by Eakin Howard/Getty Images
“Fear Me, I’ve Killed Hundreds of Timelords”: Elic Ayomanor exploded onto the football season with a 294 yard, three touchdown performance under the lights against Colorado last season. He was named to the PFF First Team Freshman All-American Team and the Biletnikoff Award Watch list. While he doesn’t have a touchdown yet this season, he leads the Cardinal receiving group with 147 yards on 10 catches.
If Syracuse Wins: The world isn’t ready for the uncomfortable conversation of Syracuse football being a top-five ACC program.
If Syracuse Loses: No one tell John that the contract stipulated that we all move to California if Syracuse loses.
Fun Fact: Friday’s game will mark the 44th anniversary of the Dome’s opening on the Syracuse campus. The first game in the Dome was on September 20, 1980 when the Orange hosted Miami (OH) with a 36-24 win for the Orange.