While Syracuse may be returning most of its core players this season, the one exception is Rick Jackson. The forward was named Big East Defensive Player of the Year, averaging 13.1 points and 10.3 rebounds, and was SU’s most consistent player throughout the year. Although the Orange has plenty of talent across the board, Jackson’s role may be a difficult one to fill.
It may be the newly-named Mercedes-Benz Superdome where the SU football team won its fourth game of the season as the clock struck zero last Saturday night against Tulane, but to most ‘Cuse fans it will always be the Louisiana Superdome, or simply the Superdome, a venue that’s second to none when it comes to naming the site that has hosted the most number of meaningful SU football and basketball games played outside the city of Syracuse.
Trivia Time: Who’s the only Big East team in history to go undefeated in all 18 men’s and women’s sponsored sports? Why, of course, it’s TCU, the trick answer to the trick question, that now has truly made the future of the Big East football conference, at least as a BCS member down the road, well… tricky.
Syracuse, one of the founding members of the Big East, will be jumping ship at a time when the conference needs strength the most. Gone will be the rivalries forged throughout the years, like the Georgetown, St. John’s, and UConn games on the hardwood (although UConn may soon follow Syracuse and Pittsburgh to the ACC). There will be no more Syracuse/West Virginia matchups on the gridiron. And, sure…there may be some non-conference matchups scheduled in the future to preserve some semblance of the rivalries. But, for the most part, Syracuse will be left to create new rivalries in a conference with very few natural options to choose from.
Whirlwind may turn out to be too tame a word to describe the inevitable change coming to college football conferences beginning as soon as next season, and certainly in the years heading into the mid-decade. With billions of TV dollars at stake, especially with new media players arriving to drive up rights fees, and an ever-increasing number of platforms to deliver the programming, it’s certainly not a matter of if, but when.
No. 12 Florida will visit the Carrier Dome to take on No. 4 Syracuse on Friday, Dec. 2 at 6:30 p.m. ET. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN. This will mark the third time in four years the two squads have met. The Orange topped the Gators 89-83 in the 2008 CBE Classic semifinal and won 85-73 in Tampa the following season as part of the 2009 SEC/Big East Invitational.
COPYRIGHT © 2010-2023 The Juice Online. All Rights Reserved. Partner of the ACC Digital Network.