Syracuse Football: Renewed series with Big Ten giant all kinds of exciting

The historic alliance announced last summer by the Atlantic Coast Conference and two other Power 5 leagues has appeared to help produce a renewed Northeast rivalry for Syracuse football.

The Orange athletics department announced via press release that Syracuse football will play a home-and-home series in 2027 and 2028 against Penn State out of the Big Ten Conference.

Per cuse.com, the Orange will travel to Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pa., for a match-up at Penn State in 2027, with the Nittany Lions traveling to the Dome in the 2028 battle.

According to an announcement by the Penn State athletics department, the Nittany Lions will host the Orange on Sept. 4, 2027. The game in Central New York will take place on Sept. 9, 2028.

The Syracuse football series versus Penn State dates back 100 years.

Now, it’s understandable if some Orange fans saw the news about the ‘Cuse playing Penn State down the line and immediately felt that the Nittany Lions are going to crush Syracuse football.

I get that sort of sentiment. Penn State is often one of the best teams in the rugged Big Ten, while the Orange has really struggled by and large over the past bunch of seasons.

That being said, 2027 and 2028 are a long way from the present. This renewed rivalry comes as the ACC, the Big Ten and the Pac-12 Conference, last August, announced that their member schools would put forth a collaborative approach surrounding future scheduling in football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball.

Personally, I’m really jazzed to see the Orange and the Nittany Lions go toe to toe in a few years. All-time, according to the press releases, Penn State is 43-23-5 against Syracuse football, and the Nittany Lions have captured five in a row in this long-time series.

The most recent occasion where the ‘Cuse and the Nittany Lions faced off was on Aug. 31, 2013, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.

I was at that game. Despite Syracuse football falling to Penn State, 23-17, there were a ton of Orange fans in the stadium, and the energy was palpable.

The Nittany Lions last traveled to the Hill on Sept. 13, 2008, whereas the ‘Cuse most recently headed to Beaver Stadium on Sept. 12, 2009.

Penn State and Syracuse football first played in 1922, in a defensive bout that ended in a 0-0 tie. Per cuse.com, the Nittany Lions are the Orange’s second-most-frequent opponent, trailing only Pittsburgh.

In 2021, Penn State finished at 7-6 overall, including a 24-10 setback to Arkansas in the Outback Bowl. Syracuse football went 5-7 a stanza ago.