Axe: Syracuse football’s 2021 opener at Ohio has that must-win feeling

Syracuse, N.Y. — Dave Ryan didn’t beat around the bush when discussing the importance of Syracuse football’s 2021 season opener at Ohio on Saturday night.

Ryan, the Syracuse University alum and former WSTM-3 sports director who will call Saturday’s game for CBS Sports Network, thinks it’s critical for SU to start 1-0.

“Let me tell you something,” Ryan said on ESPN Syracuse. “This game is huge. As Coach Mac (former Syracuse head coach Dick MacPherson) used to say, you can’t start off stubbing your toe. You can’t lose this game. You cannot go out and lose in the opener at Ohio if you want to have that great season.”

Ryan is right.

Dare we break out the “must win” label for the Orange on Saturday in Athens, Ohio against a team many consider a favorite to win the Mid-American Conference.

Sure. Why not?

With Syracuse coming off a 1-10 season and having lost 15 of its last 18 games overall, the value of a win tends to be appreciated more. Kind of like finding an unexpected $20 bill in your jeans on laundry day.

“Every game you have an opportunity to win we hope we have an opportunity to win as well,” Syracuse head coach Dino Babers said this week. “We need to go out there and play loose and play our football. That’s a good football team (Ohio).”

Babers has been on both sides of a game like this having spent two years coaching in the MAC with Bowling Green.

He knows just how the Bobcats will approach this game.

“Ohio will play this like a bowl game,” Babers said this week. “That would be my approach to it. It could be a huge win, a huge feather for the start of Coach (Tim) Albin and his program.”

Ohio, a team Syracuse hasn’t faced since 1921, is the perfect first opponent for the Orange.

There is enough respect for the Bobcats as a formidable opponent to keep Syracuse’s stress-level elevated before kickoff at 7 on Saturday night.

One thing seems apparent about Saturday’s game.

Syracuse better bring its lunch pail.

“They’re physical as hell,” Syracuse defensive lineman Josh Black said. “They’re well coached. Just because they are in the MAC doesn’t mean they aren’t a well-coached football team. It’s something that can easily mentally trick you. We’re in the ACC, they’re a MAC team. On paper you should beat them. No. They’re a really, really good team. If we’re not on our “A” game, we’re going to get our butts kicked.”

“They remind me of old Nebraska without the option,” Babers said. “Their linemen are big, they’re physical, they’re veterans who have all come back. They understand the scheme. There is no hesitation when they’re going somewhere. Their running back is a North-South downhill runner who puts his foot in the ground and carries people. It’s old-school football. I can appreciate that.”

Ohio averaged 216.7 yards rushing per game in three games last season. Running back De’Montre Tuggle led the way with 7.6 yards per carry and 134.3 per game.

The Orange has won eight straight against MAC opponents. Babers has won all three of his matchups, all by at least two scores.

None of that matters this week.

Coming off a 1-10 season, the list is short in terms of teams Syracuse can expect to defeat just by showing up on time.

“You can’t not think about what happened last year, because everyone was a part of it,” Syracuse quarterback Tommy DeVito said. ”It’s something that we just feed off of, look at and realize that is not what we want to be and not who we are. It’s really just showing everyone what we are about and doing what we are capable of.

“The first game is always the most important. You can’t look ahead. Anything can happen. That’s college football. We have to come out fired up and play football.”

What’s the difference between 1-0 and 0-1 for Syracuse football?

Everything.

Start 1-0 and match your win total from last season in one swoop and prevent Ohio from winning a bowl game in Week 1.

Start 0-1 and it’s a whole lot of groaning and that here-we-go-again feeling.

“We can’t start on a loss,” Black said. “So we’re making sure everything this week is pinpoint, 100 percent to make sure that does not happen.”

Contact Brent Axe: Email | Twitter

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