Syracuse football homecoming set for Pittsburgh on October 7

Now that the Syracuse Orange football schedule is out, fans can start planning their related travel schedule for fall 2017.

To that end, SU released some notable info today: dates for “Orange Central” (stop it, it’s homecoming) and Family Weekend.

Orange Central will take place the first weekend in October -- the 5th through the 8th. Coinciding with that weekend, Syracuse will be hosting the Pittsburgh Panthers at the Carrier Dome that Saturday.

When we last left these not-at-all-rivals, they were busy setting an FBS scoring record for combined points and completing one of the 100 best college football games of 2016. They’ll meet for the 72nd time this fall. Pitt owns a 37-31-3 advantage in the all-time series.

Family Weekend is the other big date, and that comes just a week later, on October 13-15. Coincidentally, Syracuse will be facing the defending national champion Clemson Tigers that Friday night.

At first glance, it may seem like a terrible idea to put a raucous game against a top-10 team on Family Weekend, when campus is crawling with parents. However, one of the most fun Orange football games in recent memory — Syracuse’s 2011 upset over West Virginia in 2011 -- was also on Family Weekend, and that turned out pretty well.

Further promotional info will be coming in the following months. We’ll see what other notable activities end up on the calendar for the 2017 season.