Last week’s announcement of Syracuse’s 26-27 ACC opponents starts to put the schedule into better focus. We tossed up the TNIAAM Roundtable signal to get some early thoughts on the opponents assigned to the Orange.
What are your first impressions of Syracuse’s 2026-27 ACC schedule?
Kevin: The schedule breaks for the Orange in Gerry McNamara’s first year. No road games in North Carolina plus Virginia and Louisville at home. It sets up pretty well to offset a pretty boring home OOC slate for fans. Now Syracuse just has to keep things interesting in the OOC build up.
Dom: Talk about feeling fortunate getting every “big name” school from the conference at home. Stanford being one of the two home-and-homes is… interesting. Tracking attendance this year will be especially interesting since, as Kevin noted, the out-of-conference home slate is not looking great, but the conference schedule certainly makes up for it.
Sam: You’re going to have a lot of opportunities to get that marquee win inside the Dome. Syracuse defeated North Carolina at home in Adrian Autry’s first season, a win that had a lot of Orange fans optimistic heading into the final stretch of the season and into year two. Between Duke, North Carolina, Louisville, and Virginia, there’s four potential top 25, and three teams that could be top 10, coming into the Dome.
Best home ACC game?
Kevin: I’ll assume others will say Duke, so I’ll go with another choice and that’s Virginia. They were the surprise team last year and if Syracuse wants to be a tournament team that game is going to be a big measuring stick. The Orange will need to stack a few quality wins and this is an opportunity to do so.
Dom: North Carolina. Two first-year head coaches for two programs at quite important points in the direction they’re going. These matchups have usually been close in recent years, at least compared to the Duke games of the world.
Sam: The answer is always Duke. Not only has Syracuse not defeated the Blue Devils since 2019, but the games haven’t been remotely close recently. 37, 29, and 20 were the margins of defeat in the Autry era. Nobody is saying that you have to beat Duke, but in order to be taken seriously on a national level, you just have to give them a fight.
Toughest road conference game?
Kevin: Miami. It’s not an imposing road environment but the Orange have lost their last four visits to Coral Gables and Jai Lucas’ team will be expected to be one of the top ACC teams next season.
Dom: Miami-bias aside (they would’ve been my first choice easily), Clemson is clearly the other. Syracuse has lost five straight to the Tigers. Of its six all-time wins, only one has come on the road, and that was in 2016-17. Clemson has clearly solidified its spot as a tier-two program in the conference, with the upside to be in the tournament under Brad Brownell.
Sam: It’s not a daunting road slate outside of Miami, which will potentially be a top 10 team in the country. Syracuse’s abundance of wings will have its hands full with Shelton Henderson, while Garwey Dual will have to match up with Acaden Lewis.
Thoughts so far on the current out-of-conference schedule?
Kevin: I’m not a fan of all the big road/neutral games. I get that making money is important but with a new HC and some fan momentum, it’s a risk to be away from the Dome that often in the first two months. If Syracuse doesn’t come out of the PC/Indiana/St. John’s/Rutgers/TBA SEC team run with at least a 3-2 record, I think a number of fans will be tuned out. I do like the return of Cornell and Colgate to the Dome and hope Le Moyne is also back- these three schools should be annual opponents.
Dom: It’s certainly going to rely on GMac having his squad ready early since Syracuse will have plenty of early-season tests. While they are on the road, I do appreciate having a few more OOC games with Northeast opponents. Providence in TD Garden, Rutgers in the Barclays Center, and St. John’s at MSG will certainly be fun atmospheres, but that’s quite a trek for a program only returning two players and with the pressure of having to start turning things around sooner rather than later.
Sam: I’m a big fan. Would it be better if there was a major home-and-home on the slate? Yes. But does it really matter? The complaints about the lack of a major home game on the schedule are complaints for the sake of complaining. These neutral-site games in Boston, Brooklyn, and Indianapolis are moneymakers for the program and they’re intriguing games to watch. Obviously the Garden is a true road game but should also be good for the program to play there.
********************************************************************************************************
What are your thoughts about the schedule so far? Which ACC games are you looking forward to the most?