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College football 2019: Biggest trap game facing every Top 25 team

By Cody Williams

CLEMSON, SC - NOVEMBER 24: Tee Higgins #5 of the Clemson Tigers gets away from R.J. Roderick #10 of the South Carolina Gamecocks during their game at Clemson Memorial Stadium on November 24, 2018 in Clemson, South Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
CLEMSON, SC - NOVEMBER 24: Tee Higgins #5 of the Clemson Tigers gets away from R.J. Roderick #10 of the South Carolina Gamecocks during their game at Clemson Memorial Stadium on November 24, 2018 in Clemson, South Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
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BRONX, NY – NOVEMBER 17: Syracuse Orange quarterback Tommy DeVito (13) throws a pass during the college football game between the Syracuse Orange and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on November 17, 2018 at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, NY. (Photo by Joshua Sarner/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
BRONX, NY – NOVEMBER 17: Syracuse Orange quarterback Tommy DeVito (13) throws a pass during the college football game between the Syracuse Orange and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on November 17, 2018 at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, NY. (Photo by Joshua Sarner/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

17. Syracuse Orange

Biggest Trap Game: at Maryland (Sept. 7)

There’s no question that Dino Babers has questions that he must address regarding the Syracuse Orange heading into the 2019 college football season. Chief among those questions, of course, is whether he can keep the program that he’s masterfully built up at the level they reached last year, winning 10 games for the first time in nearly two decades. The challenge of doing that brings about other questions.

First, the Orange are tasked with replacing Eric Dungey at quarterback. While no one would ever mistake Dungey for being an elite passer, his leadership and playmaking ability were also never in question. Now, Tommy DeVito takes over for him and has massive shoes to fill in doing so. Meanwhile, the Syracuse defense must find some sort of production and consistency from a group of largely unproven players at linebacker.

The good news for Syracuse is that the ACC isn’t expected to be particularly strong this season. Though they have road games against Florida State and NC State on the schedule, they aren’t positioned in notably tough stretches on the schedule. As such, their biggest trap game of the season comes in the second matchup of the year as they go on the road to face the Maryland Terrapins.

As DeVito and the Orange look to prove themselves, they’ll no doubt be looking to give Clemson all they can handle for the third-straight year. However, that’s their third game of the season and, if Babers’ group isn’t clicking when they take on the Terps, Maryland has enough explosiveness to cause Syracuse to stumble early in the schedule.