Syracuse Football Once Again to Star in Friday Night Lights

If you love tailgating on crisp autumn Saturday afternoons, Syracuse N.Y. is not the place for you. Of course, given the success of the football program over the last decade, if you like winning football, Syracuse isn't your first stop either.

For the few remaining fans that actually attend football games (like us), the 2012 home football schedule is shaping up to be another fan unfriendly affair. The University already shipped one of its home games off to the Meadowlands, and thanks to West Virginia royally screwing over the rest of the Big East by leaving immediately (Oliver Luck has the patience and temperament of a 3 year old), there are only five SU home games this fall.

Of those, only three will be on a Saturday, as ESPN just released the 2012 Big East football schedule and the Orange have two Friday night games - both of which are in the Dome. The Pitt Panthers come into town for a Friday October 5th and Connecticut takes the Dome turf two weeks later on October 19th.

For those counting at home, that leaves three Saturday home games - one of which is Stonybrook.

I want to commend SU for not taking the easy road and scheduling another home 1-AA filler (something Rutgers would do) and instead taking a road game with Missouri to fill in the gap. Of course, it would have been nice if the University had managed to secure a return trip from the Tigers, as Rutgers did with Arkansas, so it isn't like they hit a home run here, but it still beats watching SU play  Maine again.

Also, to my knowledge SU doesn't have any control over what ESPN does with the Big East schedule, so I can't pin that on the University, but as an out of town season ticket holder, Friday night games for me are terrible. I've ranted before on the scheduling practices and frankly I don't have it in me today - but for a program trying to build a fan base, Friday night games and moving one home game a year to the Meadowlands doesn't help.

The schedule also doesn't help Doug Marrone, who in the face of what is essentially a make or break year, has the toughest schedule in the Big East.