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[QUOTE="OttosBestFriend, post: 699396, member: 852"]
My point was, why would Big East r!val fans spend all that money to come to Syracuse when there were so many other nearby options for them to see a road game against better teams in louder/more exciting venues.
 
Take Pitt for example.  Why would any Pitt fan who could only attend one road game a year choose SU over WVU, Rutgers, or Notre Dame from 2004-2010??? Those teams had packed stadiums and were winning and we neither packed the Dome nor won ball games.
 
Face it, the Dome was dead during much of the aughts.
 
As for your point... YES, SU fans did turn out in droves to watch the Orange take on Rutgers in Jersey. Here's why: Because it was the CLOSEST game for the throngs of alumni in the NY metro area. They weren't driving 4-5 hours each way to Syracuse, plunking $100-200 a night on a hotel, and eating 6+ meals in restaurants to see a team that's been mediocre at best when they could simply head over to Rutgers for an afternoon.
 
And I totally disagree with you on the opponent being secondary when choosing what road game to attend. (Again fans at Rutgers games were NY & NJ residents - essentially locals. They weren't going out of their way to attend that game)
 
But when people do make an effort to attend road games (long drives and/or flights, hotels, meals, etc.) then the opponent is crucial, IMO.
 
Over the years, I've gone to my share of road games with a group of friends and we ALWAYS picked the game with the best/most exciting opponent. (Oklahoma, Michigan, Tennessee, and Auburn to name a few)
 
Not once did we travel to see a MAC team, UCONN, Cincy, or some other "meh" team. We chose awesome programs with cool stadiums so that our experience of watching SU was enhanced that much more.
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