TAMPA, Fla. — It took three and a half hours, stretched out by humidity and hard-to-watch football, for Syracuse’s season to change course.

On Saturday, the Orange jogged onto the field at Raymond James Stadium as the team that heavily competed into the fourth quarter in a 10-point loss with then-No. 8 LSU two weeks before. A bye week welcomed back two of its most promising offensive players: freshman quarterback Eric Dungey and sophomore hybrid Ervin Philips. The expectations for this season had ballooned and a win at South Florida seemed attainable, if not imminent.

But after four quarters, a 45-24 loss to the Bulls (2-3, 0-1 American Athletic) became Syracuse’s (3-2, 1-0 Atlantic Coast) freshest team-defining result. The Orange looked sluggish and underprepared in its first road game of the season, and had a third-quarter comeback effort squashed by USF’s 35 second-half points.

So the narrative shifts, yet again, as SU closes up nonconference play and looks ahead to the seven ACC games that will characterize 2015. The unpredictability of college football makes it so every game can completely shift the outlook of a season. We’re seeing it with Michigan in Ann Arbor, Texas in Austin, USC in Los Angeles and — maybe most drastically but with much less national significance — Syracuse in central New York.

In the six weeks since opening against Rhode Island on Sept. 4, Syracuse’s annual roller coaster ride has included major injuries, positive signs, a questionable win and one very encouraging loss.

Before you buckle into conference play, let’s look at how sharply the perception of Syracuse has changed, week-to-week, good to bad, and everything in between.

Preseason: Coming off a 3-9 season, it looks like Syracuse’s best-case scenario is scratching into a bowl in spite of itself. The team graduated eight defensive starters and Terrel Hunt is coming off a season-ending injury. But it’s always fun to look at a blank slate, and you won’t know if the shoe doesn’t fit until you try it on.

After Week 1 win over Rhode Island: A loss in a win. No plainer way to say it. On the third offensive possession of the season, Hunt tears his right Achilles. Deja vu. Getting the 47-0 win over Rhode Island was good and all, but now Tim Lester’s offense is going to be run by a true freshman. How many days until basketball season?

After Week 2 win over Wake Forest: This Eric Dungey kid is it. He can run the option, looks comfortable in the pocket and just took down Wake Forest, 30-17, to push Syracuse to 2-0. Things are starting to look up and Dungey has time to get his feet wet before conference play. He just has to stay healthy, which should be easy enough.

After Week 3 win over Central Michigan: Or not. A late hit knocks Dungey out of the game in the second quarter against Central Michigan — an eventual 30-27 overtime win — and the Orange is going to trot out sophomore walk-on quarterback Zack Mahoney against LSU. Mahoney led the Orange to the game-winning touchdown against the Chippewas and SU is 3-0 for the first time since 1991. But leading DuPage in the North Central Community College Conference is a lot different than facing a Southeastern Conference opponent with inexperienced parts all around you. There’s also that Leonard Fournette guy. It’s going to get ugly in the Carrier Dome.

After Week 4 loss to LSU: Who are these guys and what did they do with Syracuse? The Orange, despite letting Fournette rush for 244 yards on 26 carries, was down one score in the fourth quarter and came within a pair of secondary miscues from having a chance to tie the game. Mahoney was under center but there’s a good chance Dungey and Philips get healthy during the bye week. Moral victories don’t show up in the standings but they can say a lot about a team, and this 34-24 loss spoke volumes to the Orange’s potential. Three wins for a bowl? Check that box.

After Week 6 loss to South Florida: Well, that was quite the setback. Syracuse was out-muscled, out-coached and outrun by a team that had limited ways to win heading in. But South Florida stuck to a concentrated game plan of testing the Orange defense on the edge, and SU never adjusted. Syracuse collected 305 yards in 67 plays. USF used 69 to collect 540. Can this team get the three ACC wins needed for bowl eligibility if it doesn’t belong in the same stadium as a middling AAC team?

We won’t know until next week, when the season could look a lot different than it does now.

Published on October 11, 2015 at 9:07 pm