Syracuse vs. Colgate: All students get free tickets to season opener

The 2015 Syracuse Orange football season was the worst-attended in the history of the Carrier Dome on a per-game basis (32,102) and included four of the least-attended games in the history of the Dome.

That's pretty rough. But the good news is that the 2016 season attendance has to go up. Right?

If nothing else, the New Coach Factor should give Syracuse a boost. It worked for Doug Marrone (48K) and it should work for Dino Babers as well.

That said, Syracuse isn't taking any chances and they've decided to offer up free tickets to every SU students who wants one for the season-opener vs. the Colgate Raiders.

If you're a student who doesn't already have a ticket, just show up at Gate E with your SUID and you'll be allowed in.

Of course, this raises concerns about the current state of attendance for the game. Syracuse fans feel like they've been in a perpetual state of rebuilding for the better part of a decade and there's only so many games against FCS opponents featuring new coaches they can handle. It's likely that attendance will be okay but nowhere near the 40-45K numbers we've been used to seeing year's past. That's just how it goes.

Win and they will come. Dino has a chance to start down that road on Friday.