Syracuse Football Schedule: Orange and Penn State Aren't Playing in 2020 or 2021

When Syracuse and Penn State football met at MetLife Stadium back in 2013, it was long thought that it would be the first of three games between the former East Coast Independent rivals. The original announcement from back in 2010 provides a firm date for the 2013 game, and then a note that the teams were working on the 2020 and 2021 dates. Based on that, we all assumed they'd be happening.

This humble website certainly did.

So did FBSchedules, which keeps track of college football scheduling better than anywhere else on the web.

But apparently, neither game is happening -- and never were.

Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician reached out to Penn State Associate Athletic Director of Communications Jeff Nelson this afternoon to ask about the status of the series -- especially in light of January's moves to add Virginia Tech to the Nittany Lions' 2020 slate. His response:

Penn State and Syracuse are not scheduled to play in 2020-21. When the schools announced the 2013 game at MetLife Stadium, there was discussion about playing a home-and-home series in early 2020’s, but the games did not materialize.

Regarding the same question, Syracuse Athletics could not be reached for comment.

UPDATE:

SU Athletics director of communications Sue Edson confirms that the talks with Penn State for games in 2020, 2021 did not come to fruition.

— Stephen Bailey (@Stephen_Bailey1) April 30, 2015

***

So for those keeping track at home, that's two less future games secured for the Orange, leaving them with just one game (Notre Dame, 2022) confirmed from 2020 through 2024.

But what about the not-officially-announced-but-still-listed Colgate game for 2020? Either it's gone or the athletic department plans to announce the game along with the also-not-confirmed-yet Connecticut series. TNIAAM had originally reached out to SU Athletics about that game after seeing it listed on FBSchedules and then Cuse.com.

Take a look today, though, and that game is no longer listed. The absence of the Penn State games on that Cuse.com schedule is actually what led to the initial questions regarding that series in the first place.

***

I'm not going to take up too much more of this space shouting about Syracuse's inability to schedule down the road. It's been done. But now the Orange are certainly in a different position than we'd thought, no? Instead of all-important (read: mandatory) P5 dates locked up through 2022, we're once again behind a lot of other schools. That's frustrating. Especially when we had every reason to believe the opposite was true.

For anyone that had their hearts set on a trip to Happy Valley in 2020. Sorry. Looks like you'll have to enjoy the long drive to Lubbock, Tex. or a road-Yankee Stadium date with the Crimson Tide instead.