Last time SU won 3 bowls in 4 years, coach Mac had one of the victories.

[VaSaltine]

I'm still torn, but after much internal debate and self reflection, I'm of the opinion that we need to schedule pansies and pad the W/L record vs scheduling tough OOC opponents. It is true that the only thing people look back on and remember as wins and losses, including recruits. The way I see it, it's almost like the NFL and their pre-season. Get on the field, get some additional practice, and if it includes a win in our final overall record, so be it.

 

[orangeinjersey]

I'm still torn, but after much internal debate and self reflection, I'm of the opinion that we need to schedule pansies and pad the W/L record vs scheduling tough OOC opponents. It is true that the only thing people look back on and remember as wins and losses, including recruits. The way I see it, it's almost like the NFL and their pre-season. Get on the field, get some additional practice, and if it includes a win in our final overall record, so be it.

This!

Look at MD this year. Does anyone remember was MD was 4 or 5 and -0 and ranked? That game with FSU got a lot of pub in the media, and look what happened, MD was one of the worst teams in the ACC. Now, had MD beat FSU, they would have got a lot of media attention. Thats what we need. To be 4-0 heading into that ND game at Metlife next year.

 

[dasher]

cuts both ways with national perception. i think we overestimate how much anyone even remembers 2005-2008. it felt horrible for us but it's really just a tiny blip. our perception is fine. we sucked for a while and now we're ok again

Read other boards. Many think we are still that program

 

[Scooch]

We haven't been ranked in TWELVE years. Hard to quibble with people's perception of us. We've been irrelevant for a long, long time.

 

[TexanMark]

baylor won their conference. it wasn't their friendly schedule.

I meant look at how Baylor progressed over the last 4-5 years.

 

[wfschrec]

baylor won their conference. it wasn't their friendly schedule.

They played 3 ranked teams ... and now one is no longer ranked ... and OSU pasted them pretty badly. Their OOC schedule was not very good ... and the B12 ... well ... they better start winning their bowl games each year.

 

[Cusefan95]

Read other boards. Many think we are still that program

Absolutely. NC State fans were shocked they lost to a crappy team like Syracuse. Same with Maryland. And Minnesota. I watched the Texas Bowl with a friend from Wisconsin who asked how long it had been since Syracuse was last in a bowl that was stunned when I said last year.

Yes, we beat West Virginia and Louisville...but in the average fan's mind that was confirmation of how awful the Big East was, NOT evidence Syracuse was a decent program. It's not a matter of fans not seeing Syracuse as being relevant because they haven't been rank - the average fan thinks we've continued on with sub-500 seasons unabated since the GRob era. Big difference. We are going to need to beat a team like a Florida State, Clemson, maybe Notre Dame - to finally get some positive attention. Even at that we'll need a ten win season with no national TV blowouts to gain some traction.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Mill house is 100% right. Better to lose good bowl games than win minor league ones

People really overrate how much people remember who plays in these things, let alone who wins and loses them.

I think there's something to be said for beating people at your own level, regardless of level. Losing to people at your level is really only valuable if you're at the highest level. We're not at that level, so the best we can hope for is to beat the people in front of us. FWIW (admittedly, not a ton nationally) in each of our last two bowls we were matched up with a decent opponent that was a great match up for us. I do think there's more value in those Pinstripe and Texas Bowl wins than many of the other bowls we could have been placed in.

I'm rambling now, but I guess my main thought here is that if you can't compete in the highest tier bowls, you might as well compete against other BCS programs, and if you're going to compete against other BCS programs in mid/lower tier bowls you might as well win them.

 

[All4SU]

Agreed. And I would add that 9/10 win season , beating a major power on national tv (FSU, Clemson, ND) is the only thing at this point that will effectively change the national perception of SU. People here are going to talk about the wins, the bowls, the up tick in recruiting, and b!tch about a lack of respect.

The truth is, we are still a ways from changing perception.

Agree with this, and will add that it means much more if that win over a major power is a OOC game. If you upset a conference team -- an FSU or a Clemson for example -- nationally it is simply viewed as a stumble by that power. But beat a name team from out of conference, and more people take notice.