HOUSTON — Winning is a habit.

First, and most famously, uttered by the iconic lips of Vince Lombardi from Brooklyn, the same ideology holds true for Jay Bromley from Jamaica, Queens. Win, and it becomes the expectation. More victories will follow.

And as Syracuse’s most successful senior class in two decades departs, it leaves the Orange in the best shape it has been in for years. The seniors’ run is done, but in their final game they gave way to the future — a group that will now be saddled with loftier expectations and is well equipped to handle the burden.

“Those guys stepped up big when they needed to and they have to realize that they have to work their behinds off in the offseason to build off this success,” Bromley said. “Winning is not easy and we showed them that.”

During SU’s 21-17 Texas Bowl victory against Minnesota at Reliant Stadium on Friday, the mentees became the leaders on the field. Sophomore quarterback Terrel Hunt turned in his finest performance of the season to garner MVP honors. Freshman wide receiver Brisly Estime led the Orange in receiving yards and rattled off the pivotal punt return to set up Hunt’s go-ahead touchdown.

The bowl game was a culmination of the senior class’ successful career, but it was the underclassmen that led SU to victory.

“Obviously we’d like to have a big impact on the game as seniors, but it doesn’t matter who makes the impact,” center Macky MacPherson said. “It’s the Syracuse Orange winning the game.”

But it was the way that SU won that inadvertently assured Syracuse fans of the future. It wasn’t the departing running back Jerome Smith who scored the decisive touchdown run and it wasn’t senior linebacker Marquis Spruill making all the tackles. Hunt kept the ball when it mattered most and junior linebacker Cameron Lynch racked up a team-high eight tackles.

Talent is departing, whether it’s for the NFL or simply to graduation, but winning is once again a tradition, passed on to this next group by the ones leaving, just as the group before them passed it on to the seniors.

Last season saw offensive records tumble as Syracuse claimed its second bowl win in three years. Four players from last year’s team are on NFL rosters, including one who was drafted in the first round. Even through a coaching change, confidence had been restored in Central New York.

“We had a really good foundation set for us,” Smith said. “It’s been a pleasure to work with some of the older guys at set that foundation.”

There was a lot of talk about legacy in the couple weeks leading up to the Texas Bowl. It’s one of those words that sort of loses its meaning the more you hear it, but people liked to ask the seniors about it — I probably asked it a few too many times. For a program trying to compete on a national level two New Era Pinstripe Bowl wins and a Texas Bowl victory aren’t something to hang even a cowboy hat on, but the Orange is still trying to get back to the level it was at half a century ago.

Head coach Scott Shafer acknowledged that his team isn’t Florida State or Clemson yet, but he also expects the Atlantic Coast Conference to join the Southeastern Conference as one of the two elites in the next 5-10 years.

And with that, the expectation becomes greater for Syracuse in 2014. Hunt will be back for two more seasons. Estime could be poised for a breakout year. SU has its best recruiting class in recent memory coming in. Syracuse loses a lot, but anything short of two more bowl appearances with Hunt at the helm would be a disappointment. It shouldn’t ever have to be a surprise to anyone that the Orange is bowling.

Lombardi’s speech has become cliché, but it holds true. So let me throw one more cliché at you for the next group that tries to build its legacy: Losing is not an option. Friday was a good start, but they now have a tradition to uphold — even if it is a new one.

“Maybe it’s a passing of the torch,” MacPherson said, “but I guess we won’t know that until next year. I’m excited to see what this team has next year and what they can do and accomplish.

“I’m really proud of these guys.”

The young guys are all grown up.

David Wilson is a staff writer at The Daily Orange, where his column appears occasionally. He can be reached at dbwilson@syr.edu or on Twitter at @DBWilson2.

Published on December 28, 2013 at 10:29 am