Syracuse football should schedule these 3 Big Ten and Pac-12 teams

Our football guru gives his take on teams for Syracuse football to schedule in a new alliance of conferences.

Not long ago, I wrote a post about how I thought an ACC-Big 12 merger in some form would be beneficial to the ACC’s longevity, and also to that of Syracuse football. Nicole Auerbach recently broke a story on The Athletic, and instead, it looks like the ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12 will form an alliance of some sort.

I am okay if my idea didn’t work out and perfectly fine with this one because it at least means the conferences are forward-thinking and trying to stay relevant and profitable.

In light of this report, I wanted to take a few minutes to share the 3 teams I would most like to see on the Syracuse football schedule regularly from the Big Ten and Pac-12, respectively. This doesn’t mean they have to play every season but would definitely make fun games for fans to enjoy.

My brother from another mother Neil Adler broke down who he thought made sense basketball-wise, so I wanted to add my two cents about the football side of things. So here are 3 teams from the Big Ten I would like to see play Syracuse football, and 3 teams from the Pac-12 I would like to see as well.

Big Ten Teams

Penn State

Let’s be honest, how could Syracuse football fans not want to see this matchup? These two teams should have been together in the Big East and I truly believe that the Big East would still be a relevant factor in football if Penn State was a member, which would have kept others there and attracted more.

Many like to talk about rivals for Syracuse football and at one time when both teams were independents, the Orange and Penn State were rivals dating all the way back to 1922, a game that ended in a 0-0 tie.

And while Penn State has the upper hand in the overall record, with MacPherson and Schwartzwalder in charge, Syracuse played them very well including some interesting games like the brawl in 1953 and a 48-21 SU victory in their undefeated 1987 campaign.

Penn State has dominated many of the most recent matchups after that but it would be nice to rekindle this rivalry and get some good wins against them again.

Michigan

1998…McNabb vs Brady…the Orangemen verse the Wolverines. I sadly do not remember this game too well, but the NY Times did a very good capsule of it if you want to read about that here. And what about a name like, “The Battle For Mike Tirico’s Soul” haha!

Actually many Syracuse alum come from Michigan including basketball greats Derrick Coleman and Eric Devendorf as well as the former WTVH 5 anchor. Also Michigan is a quality program that I think could provide many great games if the two played.

The two teams have only played 12 times with Michigan having a slight edge in the rivalry, but it’s only a 6-5-1 record so I think this needs to have more matchups in the near future to decide it.

Rutgers

With Rutgers on the schedule this season and a natural history from the old Big East, it is logical to think Rutgers playing old Big East rivals would make for some fun games and revising some historical discussions.

This is also a great way to attract NY/NJ-based recruits for both teams, especially NYC or even Connecticut high school players looking to go to a college not far from home but a good fit for their future. With Schiano back at Rutgers, this also provides a matchup of college coaches with name value that may help with getting on TV as well.

Pac-12 Teams

Oregon

If we want to name these matchups, we could call this, “The Battle of Nike Schools” even though we all know Oregon has the edge there since former chairman and CEO Phil Knight is an Oregon alum.

But how cool would it be if Syracuse played them, beat them, caught his attention and maybe we could get more cool actual orange Orange items in our repertoire? The only downfall here is the kickoff time likely either being really early (especially if you live in Oregon) or really late which sucks for someone old like me who is normally in bed early due to working at 4 am regularly.

But this is also a fun matchup for TV especially if both teams are having decent seasons with brand names that college football fans are familiar with already and possible bowl implications for both or either team.

USC

Once upon a time, a former athletic director thought the perfect idea was to come to Syracuse and make it the USC of the east coast. Needless to say, I was not happy with this idea and trying to change the identity of Syracuse football simply because he was an assistant AD there in the past.

One might point to this as the decline of the program as Greg Robinson struggled to be successful at Syracuse and that impacted recruiting and led to an ESPN Gameday piece about the decline. I admit I was biased because I think Coach P should have continued on at Syracuse and I liked the style of football he and Coach Mac had used while there.

Also, this is yet another nice matchup of two teams with some name-brand cache to help attract a TV audience or fans’ attention.

Arizona State

The winner wins the title of the best party school in the country. These are two teams that often pop up on lists of party schools and how appropriate would it be if they played, giving more reasons to party.

To my knowledge and in my research, I do not see any records of these two teams playing each other so this could also be a fun clean slate to create something with and who knows, it could become an instant rivalry.

Also, with Syracuse football recently adding an ASU transfer to its offensive line, we could probably even hype that up into a reason for a rivalry saying he decided to transfer to a better party school and football program haha. ASU is also a quality team that teeters around the top 25 and could be helpful as a win for Syracuse football if a bowl game decision needs to be made.

So what teams from the Big Ten or Pac-12 would you like to see Syracuse football face either regularly or even just occasionally?

LET’S GO ORANGE!!!!