The Quest For Beef: 2011 Remix (Featuring Akon)

For those who just started the reading the site or didn't live through the Greg Robinson Era, you missed out on some great quests.

I mean that literally. For years, Syracuse Orange football was so painful that we spent entire seasons in the Quest For Toronto. At the time, a 6-6 finish in the Big East would have garnered a space in the International Bowl against a MAC team.

It would have been glorious. Just imagine. The only bowl played outside of America's borders, and hence, outside of the laws of America, nature and Jesus. Anything could have happened. No late hits. Spike-embedded shoulder pads. Impromptu cockfights. It would have been like playing a football game in international waters. Except on land. Maple-syrup-crusted, delicious land.

Alas, it wasn't to be. The International Bowl ceased to exist without SU ever tasting it's glory.

Then, we moved on. We quested no longer for Canadian bacon. We quested for American Beef. Namely the O'Brady kind.

We never achieved The Quest For Beef but it was for much better reasons. We surpassed it and made it to the Pinstripe Bowl instead.

This year, Syracuse is 5-6 with one game remaining against the Pittsburgh Panthers. Win it and the Orange are bowl eligible for the second-straight year, a great accomplishment. More importantly, it puts the Orange in strong consideration for the Beef O'Brady Bowl. A Quest could finally be fulfilled.

West Virginia is likely headed to the Orange Bowl. Notre Dame is going to steal the Big East's Champ Sports Bowl spot. The Pinstripe will want Rutgers. The Belk Bowl and BBVA Compass Bowl will split the difference on Cincinnati and Louisville.

That leaves the winner of the Syracuse-Pittsburgh game and UConn, if they beat Cincy on Saturday. UConn is bowl game kryptonite after their crowd showing at the Fiesta Bowl last year. That means the Beef O'Brady is going to most likely want the SU-Pitt winner all to themselves for the right to take on FIU or whatever other Florida school ends up there.

Make no mistake, Saturday's game isn't just for bowl eligibility.

It's for Beef.

#AllTheBeef.