Syracuse Football: Report unveils best college towns – did ‘Cuse make it?

Syracuse football is trending in a positive direction, as the Orange enjoys its bye week with a 5-4 record and two Atlantic Coast Conference wins in a row.

Coming off a paltry one-victory campaign a season ago, the ‘Cuse is just one success away from reaching post-season eligibility, which if secured would prove a tremendous achievement.

As all of us Orange fanatics out there take a week off from Cardiac ‘Cuse on the field, I’ve got an interesting article to share from one of my FanSided colleagues, Nick Villano.

Villano recently published a comprehensive piece where he explored the best college town in every state, with college football as the backdrop. As Villano explains, rather appropriately in my opinion, this feature isn’t necessarily about the biggest cities or the sport’s best teams around the country.

"Rather, as he writes, “We’re looking at the communities that are built around these teams. That is what is great about college football.” He adds, “These college towns sometimes have just 10,000 residents when the students aren’t considered. Those towns are the heart of America.”"

Syracuse football is situated within a truly fabulous college town.

Now, as some of you know, I’m a proud alum of Syracuse University. My four years on the Hill, in the late 1990s until I graduated in 2000 with a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism and a minor in philosophy, were some of the best years of my life.

So when I came across Villano’s story, my bias of course kicked into high gear. I obviously felt that the city where my alma mater is located should get included in his feature.

Thankfully, Nick obliged. For New York state, he has none other than Syracuse, N.Y. Yay!

Villano does a terrific job encapsulating many of the wonderful attributes that make Syracuse a wonderful college town, such as Orange athletics, the Carrier Dome, museums, the zoo, architecture, restaurants and retail … the list goes on and on.

I invite you to check out Nick’s column, not only for what he says about Syracuse, N.Y., but also to soak in the other stellar college towns nationwide that he discusses.

Well done, Nick. I’m sure your piece took a lot of effort to research and write, and that hard work has paid off. Go ‘Cuse!