Paging Syracuse: Army’s schedule now has openings in 2018 & 2019

On Wednesday, it was announced that the Army Black Knights and North Texas Mean Green would no longer be playing during the 2018 and 2019 football seasons. The programs played twice last season (once in a bowl game), and UNT just didn’t feel like there was enough benefit to playing against the triple-option attack of the improving Black Knights.

They also wanted to create an easier schedule for themselves. North Texas just added two future dates vs. Liberty, which is transitioning from FCS to FBS.

Though the Mean Green have already worked to fill the gap in their schedule, Army still has some dates left to fill now. Conveniently, they align with when the Syracuse Orange may need some road games while the Carrier Dome gets renovated...

As we discussed just the other day, renovations could force SU football to play elsewhere for a season. And if that’s the case, playing at Army (with the promise of more games back at the Dome later) could be a very advantageous scenario for all parties. The Orange and Black Knights are already set to play from 2023 through 2026, but why not add a few more years to that?

As it stands, Army has a couple openings in 2018, though they already face some power conference teams (on the road at Duke and Oklahoma). But in 2019, Michigan is the only P5 team on there. Plus, they’d be trading a road date in Denton, Tex. for a home game vs. Syracuse. Sounds like a no-brainer.

I know I said that scheduling complaints were off the table for a couple weeks. But this really isn’t a complaint. It’s more of a suggestion. Syracuse has open dates that need to be filled, and they probably need to be filled for somewhere other than the Carrier Dome. Army has open dates, and could always plug in a bigger name (their recent schedules have been focused on wins over marquee matchups -- INTERESTING APPROACH WINK WINK).

We anxiously await your announcement, SU.

(h/t DRB for flagging this important news item)