With 4 Chicago area recruits coming in which non-ND opponent would make sense for a Soldier/Metlife

[Alsacs]

agreement? Northern Illinois, Illinois, Michigan, Iowa?

Since our coaching staff has shown it can recruit in this area wouldn't it make sense to play a game in the Chicago area soon. I would play Northwestern home/home if they wanted to continue in the near future, but if we are going to play games at Metlife I would go to Illinois, Iowa Michigan, or any B1G team and offer them a Metlife/Soldier Field home/home. Illinois hosted Washington at Soldier Field this year and is playing the return game in Seahawks Stadium next year.

Atleast these type of deals wouldn't be completely horrible. I would prefer to play all our HOME games at the Carrier Dome, but if Dr. Gross won't talk about this Metlife series these are the type of arrangements that are less bad than giving away home games. If the coaching staff can recruit Illinois/Chicago well I would try to get more games in that area to help recruiting even more. It seems we have gotten more Illinois kids this year than we have from NYC the past 2 years from Metlife games.

 

[Full_Rebar]

Illinois would be an ideal opponent for a Soldier Field game. With SU's push into Atlanta, it wouldn't be bad to try and play a game on the road against Georgia State either.

 

[jekelish]

I would love to see a series with Northwestern continue. Those games get a ton of love on ESPN because if you work there, you probably went to one school or the other. Play up the whole "Prose Bowl" angle and turn it into a long running rivalry.

 

[rrlbees]

Home and home vs NW or Illinois are the only ones that make sense.

 

[BlazeOrange]

Most answers are ignoring the OP's point of which games would fit as a Meadowlands/Soldier Field showcase series and are instead selecting Chicago area teams to play against.

NW is already in Chicago, but not sure if they have the drawing power that would make them agree to change a home game to a "home" game. On the other hand, Iowa has a large Chi-town contingent in their student population, but has strong attendance, so why would they move a game away? Illinois is a no-brainer, plus they are already doing it with other opponents (personally I don't like playing them - looks too much like a scrimmage, unless we wear the blues). Notre Dame is the obvious choice for a big splash game, if we could get them to further modify the agreement being griped about in the other thread.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Notre Dame is the obvious choice, if we could get them to further modify the agreement being griped about in the other thread.

Notre Dame Stadium holds almost 81,000. Soldier Field holds 61,500.

 

[All4SU]

We've done the northwestern thing. I suspect that Michigan, et al, will feel like they don't have a need to play syracuse at MetLife because they will be playing Buttgers in jersey routinely.

 

[BlazeOrange]

Notre Dame Stadium holds almost 81,000. Soldier Field holds 61,500.

Didn't know Soldier Field was that small. Probably a deal-breaker then, but with the Irish dropping some of their midwest series, maybe they could be talked into playing a game for their Chicago base.

[and thanks for memorializing my pre-edited post that messed up on the Illini]

 

[BlazeOrange]

Forgot to bring up the flip side of this being that whatever team we play in Chicago, we would also give up a game in the Dome to face them in NJ. Which would be a strike against a winnable opponent such as Illinois.

 

[rrlbees]

Most answers are ignoring the OP's point of which games would fit as a Meadowlands/Soldier Field showcase series and are instead selecting Chicago area teams to play against. NW is already in Chicago, but not sure if they have the drawing power that would make them agree to change a home game to a "home" game. On the other hand, Iowa has a large Chi-town contingent in their student population, but has strong attendance, so why would they move a game away? Illinois is a no-brainer, plus they are already doing it with other opponents (personally I don't like playing them - looks too much like a scrimmage, unless we wear the blues). Notre Dame is the obvious choice for a big splash game, if we could get them to further modify the agreement being griped about in the other thread.

He offered up NW home and home.

 

[Chris02M]

how about:

home about northern Illinois(I have no idea where there campus is in regards to Chicago) in a soldier field/carrier dome /Northern Illinois campus series(1 at soldier field/2 at dome/1 at N Illinois )


or Michigan State, Wisconsin, Ohio State,Nebraska, Michigan are available after 2017 for metlife/soldier field games.

 

[rrlbees]

how about: home about northern Illinois(I have no idea where there campus is in regards to Chicago) in a soldier field/carrier dome /Northern Illinois campus series(1 at soldier field/2 at dome/1 at N Illinois ) or Michigan State, Wisconsin, Ohio State,Nebraska, Michigan are available after 2017 for metlife/soldier field games.

I'm cool with the first paragraph.

 

[Orangejet]

how about:

home about northern Illinois(I have no idea where there campus is in regards to Chicago) in a soldier field/carrier dome /Northern Illinois campus series(1 at soldier field/2 at dome/1 at N Illinois )


or Michigan State, Wisconsin, Ohio State,Nebraska, Michigan are available after 2017 for metlife/soldier field games.

NIU is in Dekalb, IL which is about 1:45 west of Soldier Field. When NIU played at Soldier against Iowa several years ago, the Hawkeyes had 65 - 70% of the crowd.
Only way playing in Chicago works for the Cuse is to play Illinois for the Illini want to establish a footprint in the city for ND is the college favorite here. Playing ND in a Shamrock Series game may work...

 

[bnoro]

Syracuse/NW at Soldier Field would draw maybe 30,000. Can we just play on campus?

 

[Orangejet]

Don't want to play NW anymore for the Cuse has played them four of last six years with the Cats winning three. Let's play either Illinois, NIU or ND in Chicago if it's going to happen.
Not sure how long the Orange/Chicago pipeline will last though...

 

[RF2044]

Who's the fourth?

 

[bnoro]

Who's the fourth?

Dawson, Moskal, Slayton, Roberts

 

[KaiserUEO]

i could care less that a directional illinois lost a bowl game yesterday, but what on gods green earth makes people think they are a viable candidate to play at either soldier or Giants Stadium???

directional illinois...think about that, say it out loud if you have to...good lord.

the Dome would get 30k for that game and people would bitch that they are there.

that game at Giants Stadium would draw 7500.

maybe double at soldier.

directional illinois, sweet jiminy crickets......

discussing the 15 future NBA all stars on the roster over on the hoop board is more constructive.

 

[Bayside44]

Coaching staffs are fluid, so no.

 

[Alsacs]

I would play Northern Illinois home/home if they will play their home game in Soldier Field or as Chris has suggested 2Dome/1road/1Soldier Field. I just want more games in Chicago without playing Notre Dame. I was only using Metlife because of the stupid series and the fact we have heard nothing about any more future games. Give me Illinois, Northwestern home/home and more games in Chicagoland. Iowa Metlife/Soldier could possibly work since Iowa is a distance from Chicago, but has a lot of alums/students from that area.

 

[bnoro]

I would play Northern Illinois home/home if they will play their home game in Soldier Field or as Chris has suggested 2Dome/1road/1Soldier Field. I just want more games in Chicago without playing Notre Dame. I was only using Metlife because of the stupid series and the fact we have heard nothing about any more future games. Give me Illinois, Northwestern home/home and more games in Chicagoland. Iowa Metlife/Soldier could possibly work since Iowa is a distance from Chicago, but has a lot of alums/students from that area.

Yuck. Playing an bad MAC team (once Jordan Lynch leaves) in a quarter-filled Soldier Field would not be pretty.

Just re-up the Northwestern series and play a home and home.

 

[Alsacs]

Yuck. Playing an bad MAC team (once Jordan Lynch leaves) in a quarter-filled Soldier Field would not be pretty.

Just re-up the Northwestern series and play a home and home.

Fair enough, I agree Northwestern is the best option as we have played them 4 times recently, and as jekelish has said its the Prose Bowl. Its also the Alsacs Bowl as those were my final 2 schools. However, Newhouse > Medill. Our coaches have shown they can mine Illinois even if it isn't in our backyard I just think we need to keep SU in that area its why I suggested Northern Illinois if Illinois or Northwestern wouldn't work. I don't think it would matter if Soldier Field was empty as it wouldn't be an SU home game, but just a game for the recruits on the team to have a local game and give the team a presence in Chicago.