A special season is in store for the Syracuse Orange and new head coach Fran Brown, with optimism for the program stoking a new dome roof, a center-hung scoreboard, overhauled seating and other renovations that have transformed the 44-year-old facility into a modern venue fit to host exciting football.
Fans should have plenty of reason to attend more games, especially if 2024 plays out as many expect. The question is the upcoming schedule: Syracuse will host seven games at the Dome this fall, but is projected to play just six true home games each of the next three seasons.
2025
- 08/30 – vs Tennessee (Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, GA)
- 09/06 – vs. UConn
- 09/13 – vs Colgate
- 09/27 – vs Army*
- TBD – Notre Dame
2026
- 09/05 – vs New Hampshire
- 09/26 – In the Army*
- 10/03 – At UConn
- TBD – Notre Dame
2027
*The Army Cancel the game These could be included in both 2025 and 2026 after joining the AAC.
Unfortunately, Syracuse has been too reactive in its schedule instead of proactive, putting it in a situation no Power 4 school wants to be in. Even recently, SU extended its series with UConn, essentially swapping two games at the Dome for three on the road. There aren't many options left to fix this, but it's better than none.
One avenue is through ongoing schedule changes at Army and Massachusetts — Army is dropping its independent league this fall and Massachusetts will join in 2025 — forcing other programs to come up with alternatives. Another is to look to teams that don't have set schedules that far out yet.
The remaining possibilities are:
- A one-and-done or two-for-one start with the Liberty in 2026 (Editor's note – please don't do this again)
- A one-time game against Western Kentucky in 2026 or 2027
- Returning to UNLV in 2026 or 2027
- Several Sun Belt teams, including Georgia State, Marshall and Old Dominion
- Additional ACC opponents will be treated as non-conference games
Finding another opponent at the Dome is only half the battle, SU must also clear away games.
That could open up naturally depending on the outcome of Notre Dame's series against the ACC. With Cal, Stanford and SMU joining the conference, the three schools immediately join an agreement to play five football games with the Fighting Irish every season through 2037.
Stanford played Notre Dame every year while in the Pac-12, and with the move to the ACC, the matchup will continue this fall, and perhaps the two sides will come to an agreement to keep the matchup on the calendar permanently.
And the University of Connecticut may just be biding its time until it can join a football-backed conference — it has worked with SU before to swap locations for games in 2024 and 2026 — so it may hold off on the one away game for a little longer or give up entirely and go back to the original two-for-two arrangement.
What do you think about the upcoming Syracuse University football schedule? Which of these options do you think is most appealing?
