The 1990 Syracuse Orangemen football team represented Syracuse University as an independent during the 1990 NCAA Division I-A football season. Led by Dick MacPherson in his tenth and final season as head coach, the Orangemen compiled a record of 7âÂÂ4âÂÂ2. Syracuse was invited to the Aloha Bowl, where the Orangemen defeated Arizona. The team played home games at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, New York.
This season marked the end of two eras for Syracuse football. MacPherson left after ten season to become head coach for the New England Patriots of the National Football League. 1990 was also the final season that Syracuse competed as an independent. In 1991, the Big East Conference, of which Syracuse was a founding member, began sponsoring football competition.