Syracuse football bowl watch: Let’s talk about games we ‘deserve’

On Sunday, Twitter was having some wonderful Syracuse Orange football talk about New Year’s Six Bowls, a lack of love for the Pinstripe Bowl, and what we deserve.

Here’s the thing that everyone knows and yet hates to admit: The new conference bowl tie-in system the ACC has created almost guarantees us a Pinstripe Bowl every few seasons. The Pinstripe Bowl is a tier 1 bowl, along with three others that we have little history with, and has a nice $2 million payout. We feel like a team ranked 13th deserves a better bowl than the one the unranked Co-Big East Champs won, but it’s not the Pinstripe Bowl’s fault the ACC swallowed them and put them as a top choice in the conference.

I alluded to this on Twitter, but if you’re Syracuse and trying to grow momentum and money for a long-term growth plan, the Pinstripe makes the most sense. A $2 million potential payday for the conference helps coaching budgets. A full house of both diehard and casual football fans in your biggest market is exactly what they need for a program’s first bowl appearance in five years.

I would be a bit bummed it’s not Orlando or Nashville, but it’s a good thing for the program. Now, should the Orange go 2-1 down the stretch here and be the second highest ranked ACC team? Then we can legit talk Camping World Bowl.

Anyways, on to the “expert” projections!

Andy Pregler

PEACH BOWL.

Orlando Sentinel: Peach Bowl vs. West Virginia Mountaineers

The publication that picked Syracuse 109th overall and had no idea who was even on the roster this year, now thinks the Orange are headed to a New Year’s Six game.

Let’s go Camping

ESPN’s Mitch Sherman & Kyle Bonagura: Camping World Bowl vs. Iowa State Cyclones

Bleacher Report: Camping World Bowl vs Texas Tech Red Raiders

As mentioned above, the Camping World Bowl is the most likely non-Pinstripe Bowl for the Orange. Their top 25 CFP ranking definitely helps for this selection, although playing a Big 12 opponent is just going to get the “Dino Babers is going to a Big 12 school” rumors running even more.

Sun-ny El Paso

247 Sports: Sun Bowl vs. Oregon Ducks

College Football News: Sun Bowl vs. Oregon Ducks

Sporting News: Sun Bowl vs. Arizona Wildcats

I really don’t see how El Paso takes ‘Cuse as other bowls in the same tier will want them more and travel better. However, a matchup with Oregon is guaranteed to get John fired up (as he hates the Ducks), so I’m here for that #content.

Can we just go to Nashville, please?

The Action Network: Music City Bowl vs Texas A&M Aggies

SI: Music City Bowl vs Vanderbilt Commodores

SI lays what I could see as an intriguing scenario: say SU says “No thanks” to the Pinstripe Bowl in some capacity or the Pinstripe wants BC. ‘Cuse being the “visiting” opponent in the Music City Bowl (or any non-Military/Pinstripe) would definitely open doors for the Orange, as they’ll except the nicer weather for Dino’s gameplay and high payout with a smaller ticket allotment expectation.

And yeah, the Pinstripe...

SB Nation: Pinstripe Bowl vs Wisconsin Badgers

CBS Sports: Pinstripe Bowl vs Penn State Nittany Lions

Athlon Sports, Now that We Have 7 Wins: Pinstripe Bowl vs Wisconsin

And here we are: out beloved Pinstripe. Don’t let the #Haters get you down, Yankee Stadium. We’d pack the place crazy for a renewal of the Penn State rivalry.

We already know which of these you want, but let’s talk about it anyway...