Syracuse & Rutgers football series was nixed because Kyle Flood got scared

Here's a delightful story to warm the cockles of your orange hearts.

So you know how we're always complaining that Syracuse Orange football future scheduling is a trainwreck and we don't understand why there are so many holes in the near future? And then when we fill those holes we often do it against opponents we're probably going to lose to?

Well now comes news via Steve Politi at NJ.com that a potential two-game or four-game series with the Rutgers Scarlet Knights was supposed to begin this season. It didn't happen because former coach Kyle Flood couldn't handle the idea of losing to SU.

Rutgers, according to a source familiar with the scheduling process, had a verbal agreement to schedule a two- or four-game series against former Big East rival Syracuse starting this season. Kyle Flood nixed the idea because he didn't want to risk losing to Syracuse because, he believed, that could hurt the Scarlet Knights on the recruiting trail.

Stephen Bailey at Syracuse.com said it's unclear when this deal was made, but obviously before Flood was fired last November.

There's some clear pros and cons to scheduling a series between the two programs. It certainly makes sense from a geographic and traditional sense. It would have been a fun referendum on the ACC, the Big Ten, and who was "right." But it also could, as Flood feared, have some kind of detrimental effect on recruiting if you're the team that always loses to the other. That part is debatable as there's plenty of anecdotal evidence to show local recruits coming to both schools in spite of the specific wins and losses, but it would be a concern nonetheless.

Syracuse obviously moved on and fill in whatever slot Rutgers was supposed to have, possibly with UConn. Between that any Army, Syracuse seems to be acknowledging that it doesn't have an issue with playing regional teams. Rutgers, however, is still trying to work up the courage.