Syracuse Football: Web site lists odds for College GameDay to head to SU

Many Syracuse football fans, myself included, are clamoring for ESPN’s supremely popular show, College GameDay, to travel to Central New York sooner rather than later.

Could College GameDay come to the Hill during the 2022 season? It’s certainly possible. Is it likely that the show will make a stop at the Orange campus this fall? Probably not.

As far as college football goes, only eight schools (we’re talking Power Five programs here) have never hosted College GameDay, including our beloved ‘Cuse.

The others, according to a recent article from Christopher Boan on betmaryland.com, are Maryland, Illinois, California, Rutgers, Virginia, Duke and Kansas. Lots of terrific basketball schools in there, by the way!

The Web site betmaryland.com recently developed odds, using a “host of metrics,” to see how likely it would prove for one of those eight teams to get College GameDay on its campus in the 2022 stanza.

I want to note here, per Boan’s piece, that retail sports betting in Maryland is available, but as of yet online wagers are not.

Syracuse football fans are ready to welcome College GameDay to the ‘Cuse.

Of these eight squads, the Maryland Terrapins had the highest percentage of likelihood that it would get a visit from College GameDay, at 23.1 percent, per betmaryland.com.

The Orange checks in at No. 5, at 8.3 percent. The full list, in order, is Maryland, Illinois, Cal, Rutgers, Syracuse football, Virginia and Duke in a tie, and then Kansas.

Boan notes that if the ‘Cuse is able to start out 5-0, perhaps it could get College GameDay in town when Syracuse football hosts nationally ranked N.C. State on Saturday, Oct. 15. I agree with Boan’s assessment.

In week one, the Orange dispatched of Louisville at home. The ‘Cuse travels to UConn this Saturday night, then it faces Purdue, Virginia and Wagner before having a bye week and then entertaining the Wolfpack on the Hill.

N.C. State, by the way, snuck by East Carolina in week one. Next up is Charleston Southern, followed by Texas Tech, UConn, top-five Clemson, Florida State and then Syracuse football.

Presently, the Wolfpack is situated within the top 20 of both major top-25 polls. If somehow, someway, N.C. State could handle its business, including beating Clemson on the road (that’s a big “if”), then a 5-0 Orange squad (likely ranked at that point) versus a 6-0 and highly rated Wolfpack group certainly should warrant serious College GameDay consideration.

Even if N.C. State loses to the Tigers, if the Wolfpack are 5-1 and in the top 25, and Syracuse football is 5-0 and also nationally ranked, College GameDay better come to the Dome.

If that scenario doesn’t work out, I feel like the most realistic options for the ‘Cuse, assuming the Orange is winning games in droves, could be when Syracuse football hosts Notre Dame on Saturday, Oct. 29, or when the Orange hosts Florida State for senior day on Saturday, Nov. 12.

The Fighting Irish, a top-10 team at present, was part of College GameDay when the show went to Columbus, Ohio, for Notre Dame at Ohio State on Saturday, Sept. 3.

And as far as the Seminoles are concerned, they, similar to Syracuse football, would presumably need to have a strong record for FSU’s game at the ‘Cuse to merit College GameDay consideration.

Oh, and Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reported a few days ago that famous multimedia performer Pat McAfee is joining the College GameDay crew as a full-time member alongside host Rece Davis and others.