Herman Frazier tries get SU football schedule up to speed, promises 'quality opponents' in Dome

[All4SU]

The 2014 schedule as we know it now.
9-27-2014 Notre Dame Metlife Stadium
TBA @Boston College
TBA @Wake Forest
TBA @ Pitt
TBA @ Clemson
TBA Duke
TBA Florida State
TBA NC State
TBA Lousiville

I am sure we can add a 1-AA team to the schedule somewhere. If we have two more games scheduled why the heck haven't we announced them when they are only 1 year away. Consider me skeptical that we have them scheduled and Frazier is just giving a local reporter a bunch of BS.

Add Colgate as our D1aa At home...add Army at home...add Maryland preferably at home. Boom, we have a schedule.

 

[Old Scout 65]

While on the subject of scheduling I have three suggestions for Mr. Frazier.

1-Return all marque games to the Dome.
This will increase season ticket sales, almost guarantee a full house with upwards of 15,000 potential new fans at these games and give the team the home fields advantage they richly deserve.

2-Try to schedule Buffalo and Army on an annual basis.
Hopefully both but certainly one on a 2 home 1 away basis. Playing both NY teams will help establish our presence as "New York's Team" both upstate and down. These games would certainly be more attractive than Tulane, Maine, New Hampshire and of course Wagner. Because of the short drive from the schools we could also anticipate they would bring more fans

3- Replace the marquis game with an annual "Rivalry Game" against, you guessed it, Rutgers! The game would be played annually in the New York City area. With two relatively equally matched teams, both with large alumni bases in the area the game could easily become a hot ticket (something the marquis games never have been)

In my many years watching SU football there have only been two other rivalries. When I was a kid Colgate was the game. When Ben came and built the program to a national power the game was no longer competitive and the rivalry died. In its place came Penn State. When we were competitive with then the rivalry became fierce. When the program declined (and PS demanded 2 home 1 away) the rivalry died.

In order to have a great rivalry you need four things: teams of comparable strength, a turf battle, competition for the same recruits and two fan bases that hate each other. Unfortunately the Grob and Schiano years brought about an equalization of the two programs. We are now getting beaten by Rutgers for recruits we want. We need to play them and beat them to get our mojo back. Ask Coach Schaffer which team they wanted to beat the most. As for the fans - this board uses more ink on Rutgers annually than all other opponents combined. Nuff said.

 

[JJReddawg]

Add Colgate as our D1aa At home...add Army at home...add Maryland preferably at home. Boom, we have a schedule.

Army and Maryland are already full for 2014.

 

[JJReddawg]

3- Replace the marquis game with an annual "Rivalry Game" against, you guessed it, Rutgers! The game would be played annually in the New York City area. With two relatively equally matched teams, both with large alumni bases in the area the game could easily become a hot ticket (something the marquis games never have been)

If we never play Rutgers again, it will be far too soon.

 

[Frozen]

While on the subject of scheduling I have three suggestions for Mr. Frazier.

3- Replace the marquis game with an annual "Rivalry Game" against, you guessed it, Rutgers! The game would be played annually in the New York City area. With two relatively equally matched teams, both with large alumni bases in the area the game could easily become a hot ticket (something the marquis games never have been)

I don't think SU fans in CNY would appreciate another NYC-area game.

 

[JJReddawg]

Here is a more in depth look at the available OOC teams from the major conferences:

Currently scheduled OOC breakdown
Northwestern - 2 Home / 1 Road - 1 Available
Cal - 1 Road - 2 Available
Stanford - 1 Home / 1 Road - 1 Available
Washington St. - 1 Neutral / 1 Road - 1 Available
Kentucky - 2 Home / 1 Road - 1 Available
Tennessee - 2 Home / 1 Road - 1 Available
Alabama - 1 Neutral / 2 Home - 1 Available
Arkansas - 1 Home / 1 Road - 2 Available
Auburn - 1 Road - 3 Available
LSU - 1 Neutral / 2 Home - 1 Available
Texas A&M - 1 Road / 2 Home - 1 Available

 

[Chris02M]

Northwestern-sure
Cal-sure
Stanford-absolutely
Washington St.-no thank you
Kentucky-unnecessary with louisville yearly
Tennessee-sure
Alabama-no for 2014 maybe later
Arkansas-sure
Auburn-absolutely
LSU-no thank you
Texas A&M-sure

if it was my call to round out 2014: @Stanford(for all the juco player we have been getting out there), Home VS Auburn

 

[anomander]

I would love to see a home and home with Stanford. We have a good amount of Cali kids on the team now, Herm is an old Pac10 guy, plus they are another private University with about the same seating capacity. Let's get er done.

With that said if it were Stanford how tough will ND and the Cardinal be next year, wow!

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Add Colgate as our D1aa At home...add Army at home...add Maryland preferably at home. Boom, we have a schedule.

Sounds like Rutgers' schedule.

 

[Scooch]

He is saying all the right things, and that is great.

I will feel better when contracts are signed and dates are announced.

I pine for a schedule where the first game is against an FCS opponent, the second game is against a MAC type opponent, we play a couple of BCS level opponents and then the conference schedule kicks in.

Wouldn't it be great to have a reasonable expectation to start the season 3-0 or 4-0 and to give all the new starters a few games where Syracuse is a heavy favorite before walking the gauntlet?

I don't disagree Tom. Although scheduling bigger name BCS opponents is something SU has done for as long as I've been a fan. I got to the Hill for the 1991 season and we opened with Vanderbilt, Maryland and Florida. It's not scheduling for success necessarily, but it's not something on Frazier IMHO.

It'd be interesting to see how many schools actually schedule the way you suggest. Seems like in this day an age most programs are facing a major opponent within the first 2 weeks. Granted we never open with a cupcake, but I'm not sure we're entirely unique.

 

[Rocco]

While on the subject of scheduling I have three suggestions for Mr. Frazier.

1-Return all marque games to the Dome.
This will increase season ticket sales, almost guarantee a full house with upwards of 15,000 potential new fans at these games and give the team the home fields advantage they richly deserve.

2-Try to schedule Buffalo and Army on an annual basis.
Hopefully both but certainly one on a 2 home 1 away basis. Playing both NY teams will help establish our presence as "New York's Team" both upstate and down. These games would certainly be more attractive than Tulane, Maine, New Hampshire and of course Wagner. Because of the short drive from the schools we could also anticipate they would bring more fans

3- Replace the marquis game with an annual "Rivalry Game" against, you guessed it, Rutgers! The game would be played annually in the New York City area. With two relatively equally matched teams, both with large alumni bases in the area the game could easily become a hot ticket (something the marquis games never have been)

In my many years watching SU football there have only been two other rivalries. When I was a kid Colgate was the game. When Ben came and built the program to a national power the game was no longer competitive and the rivalry died. In its place came Penn State. When we were competitive with then the rivalry became fierce. When the program declined (and PS demanded 2 home 1 away) the rivalry died.

In order to have a great rivalry you need four things: teams of comparable strength, a turf battle, competition for the same recruits and two fan bases that hate each other. Unfortunately the Grob and Schiano years brought about an equalization of the two programs. We are now getting beaten by Rutgers for recruits we want. We need to play them and beat them to get our mojo back. Ask Coach Schaffer which team they wanted to beat the most. As for the fans - this board uses more ink on Rutgers annually than all other opponents combined. Nuff said.

I mostly like it.

Would love to play the same OOC opponent every year (I'd prefer West Virginia seeing we already have a trophy to play for, and the fact that NJ smells like warm baby diapers) in a neutral setting. Or book a 20 year home and home series with WVU or PSU. Could be the poor man's Northeast version of the Red River Rivalry. We've played them both over 60 times so they are rivals of the past.

It's a shame we aren't playing WVU anymore. If we could play Penn St and West Virginia every year OOC, along with a MAC or 2 and a 1-AA, it would be a home run I think.

So every year, our schedule would be some variation of this (Italics = OOC; Bold = conference):

1. 1-AA (Colgate, Wagner, Stony Brook, Rhode Island)
2. Buffalo
3. Akron
4. West Virginia
5. Penn State
6. FL State
7. Clemson
8. NC State
9. Pitt
10. BC
11. Louisville
12. Crossover ACC game

 

[javadoc]

... Would love to play the same OOC opponent every year (I'd prefer West Virginia ...)

+1

 

[CarolinaCuse]

I wouldn't be surprised if the days of playing I-AA were coming to a close to some degree. With the arrival of the playoff system and the potential break-away from the NCAA (or new elite division within NCAAs) why not have a more balanced schedule of major (Big 5) conferences? While there are times when I think that we've scheduled more difficult than necessary, I like that we're are tough motherf**kers.

 

[BlazeOrange]

I wouldn't be surprised if the days of playing I-AA were coming to a close to some degree. With the arrival of the playoff system and the potential break-away from the NCAA (or new elite division within NCAAs) why not have a more balanced schedule of major (Big 5) conferences? While there are times when I think that we've scheduled more difficult than necessary, I like that we're are tough motherf**kers.

I think you will eventually see the AAC/CUSA/MAC schools taking on the tuneup role currently filled by the 1-AAs. I'd like to see the Big 5 agree on some sort of rotating schedule with 2 games (one home/one away) against other B5 conferences (e.g., ACC hosts SEC and travels to PAC one year, hosts PAC and travels to B12 the next year, etc.), leaving each school with 1-2 games to schedule as they want (traditional OOC rivals, cupcakes, etc.), but I don't see anyone wanting to give up their autonomy.

As for tough openers, I'm fine with them, PROVIDED it is also the opening game for our opponent AND our second game is the 1-AA or Little 5 game. I'd prefer it the other way around, but there's something to be said for a tough first game to focus the training camp around. However, we should never schedule ourselves to potentially be less than 1-1 (barring a major upset) and should never play a strong team that has already had a tuneup game (I haven't checked to see if this has actually been a frequent issue, but I'm pretty sure it's happened).

 

[HtownOrange]

Sounds like Rutgers' schedule.

Has Rutgers ever played a schedule that tough?

 

[All4SU]

Army and Maryland are already full for 2014.

I know. I should have explained as hypothetical question. When 8 - 9 games are in, the other 3 - 4 should not cause us headaches.

 

[All4SU]

Sounds like Rutgers' schedule.

A D1aa
A MAC/Service Academy
A mid-level BCS team
A top-level BCS team

Hardly the Buttgers approach to scheduling.

 

[CuseIsGodsTeam]

Wish we would just lock in Army for years to come.

Why we dont Have a continuous home and away series with army is beyond me it would give us an enjoyable, unique opponent yet winnable game at home and give the downstate alums a chance to go see Syracuse at a storied venue In a game that we should win.

Army is the only other division one New York team are we not New York's team? If so we should be playing the only other New York team Every year, army

Screw playing FCS teams every year That nobody cares about

 

[HtownOrange]

Why we dont Have a continuous home and away series with army is beyond me it would give us an enjoyable, unique opponent yet winnable game at home and give the downstate alums a chance to go see Syracuse at a storied venue In a game that we should win.

Army is the only other division one New York team are we not New York's team? If so we should be playing the only other New York team Every year, army

Screw playing FCS teams every year That nobody cares about

Not slamming you, but Buffalo is technically in New York. I know many of us think of them as Canadian or Pennsylvanian, but, they are a New York Team. That said, Army 6-8 years, Buffalo 2-4 years in every ten would be good to cover statewide bragging rights.

 

[Chris02M]

I think the villanova game next year is tentatively set as our opener next year unless 1 of the tba games are that date

 

[TexanMark]

Not slamming you, but Buffalo is technically in New York. I know many of us think of them as Canadian or Pennsylvanian, but, they are a New York Team. That said, Army 6-8 years, Buffalo 2-4 years in every ten would be good to cover statewide bragging rights.

My idea
The ACC is tough enough and has some nice name teams, 4 OOC teams: 1. Army or Navy (throw in USAFA once in a blue moon) 2. MACs like UMASS, Buffalo, Kent and Akron 3. a mix Met Life games, BCS Big Boy Schools, eastern midmajors/middling P5 schools/low majors in great areas to visit 4. Colgate or other Patriot League teams

Bonus: Try to play at Hawaii once a decade or coincide when Cuse Hoops plays at Maui.

I'm not real crazy about playing FCS teams yearly. Once in awhile for Colgate would be ok.

 

[Jeepers]

You could have a 1 for 1 series with Army. Alternate the away Army game with a Metlife game. Meaning one year at Army, the other year playing whoever at Metlife.

Don't know the logistics, but offer shuttle buses from the train station (Peekskill, I guess?) to West Point (not free) for the NYC folk. I think we'd pay for that, no problem.

 

[SUbear]

Why we dont Have a continuous home and away series with army is beyond me it would give us an enjoyable, unique opponent yet winnable game at home and give the downstate alums a chance to go see Syracuse at a storied venue In a game that we should win.

Army is the only other division one New York team are we not New York's team? If so we should be playing the only other New York team Every year, army

Screw playing FCS teams every year That nobody cares about

Army believes in playing a "national" schedule that rotates through many teams, and they have always refused to schedule an ongoing series with Syracuse. Army is what prevents a regular game against them.

 

[Full_Rebar]

As for tough openers, I'm fine with them, PROVIDED it is also the opening game for our opponent AND our second game is the 1-AA or Little 5 game. I'd prefer it the other way around, but there's something to be said for a tough first game to focus the training camp around. However, we should never schedule ourselves to potentially be less than 1-1 (barring a major upset) and should never play a strong team that has already had a tuneup game (I haven't checked to see if this has actually been a frequent issue, but I'm pretty sure it's happened).

I think this is the best formula. The other advantage of having the toughest OOC game first is that an early loss is easier to recover from- it never hurts to plan ahead for when we are in playoff contention.

 

[HtownOrange]

My idea
The ACC is tough enough and has some nice name teams, 4 OOC teams: 1. Army or Navy (throw in USAFA once in a blue moon) 2. MACs like UMASS, Buffalo, Kent and Akron 3. a mix Met Life games, BCS Big Boy Schools, eastern midmajors/middling P5 schools/low majors in great areas to visit 4. Colgate or other Patriot League teams

Bonus: Try to play at Hawaii once a decade or coincide when Cuse Hoops plays at Maui.

I'm not real crazy about playing FCS teams yearly. Once in awhile for Colgate would be ok.

Love the Hawaii idea and agree with no FCS games with a Colgate exception periodically. I would rather play another BCS level team than an FCS.