I just don't buy that, Teams like TCU Boise State, Cent Florida, ect...come from nowhere to have 10 win seasons and get major bowl bids. You need the right coach and the right plan but it can be done here. I just don't buy the 7 wins is the best we can hope for. I heard the same during the late 70s and early 80s. Winning a NC is a long shot at best, but putting up 9 or 10 win seasons is possible, not easy but possible. If I thought 7 win seasons were the best I could hope for I would end my 20 something years of season tickets today.
I'm not saying it's impossible, but I think that it may happen once every 10 years or so at best. The college landscape has changed. Other than Ohio State and Michigan, what cold weather teams, especially in the northeast can recruit at a level that would allow us to win 10 games in the ACC. The best recruits are playing out west and down south in mild weather. UCF doesn't need to worry about a recruit having to brave a blizzard on it's official visit, not to mention it plays in a weaker conference and play a weak non confrence, so getting to 10 wins is easier for them. TCU has great weather, and is in Texas, a recruiting hot-bed. It can sell itself. Boise State plays in a weaker conference, and has tremendous coaching. Syracuse needs to really come up with a reason to attract 18 year old athletes to Syracuse. The dome is no longer the recruiting tool it was. Nobody is picking Syracuse over Clemson because they get to play in the Dome.
Now if you tell me that a recruit shouldn't pick a school because of the weather, and how pretty the girls are, and how many clubs they have near campus, well you're preaching to the choir. But that's the reality. Our strategy, right now, should be to sell kids on early/immediate playing time, come here and be 'The Man" on campus, as opposed to another face in the crowd at an FSU, and lighten up on the non conference schedule a bit. "Cheat our way to 6 wins, then 7, then 8+ wins. Build a bit of a buzz that makes picking Syracuse the sexy, trendy choice, like Boise State, or TCU, Baylor, K-State. I promise you that 10 years from now, nobody will remember that we played Rhode Island, Central Michigan, Bowling Green, and Minnesota in the non conference. Instead they will remember 10 wins (maybe) and a trip to the Gator Bowl, or Peach Bowl. Recruits will see a competitive 8-10 win team that plays in late December/early January. This system has worked incredibly well for the teams mentioned earlier. Would we rather be in their shoes, or ours right now?
I get the "honor" in scheduling the best, but the reality is right now, that we are not even in the same ballpark as Notre Dame, or LSU, or USC. No recruit says, "Syracuse went 3-9 last year, but I'm committing because I respect their balls for playing those guys." No, they see us getting mauled on national t.v., and write us off.
Oh Lord
