Colgate’s 2023 football schedule includes game at Syracuse on September 2

It’s been a minute since we’ve had any official news come out around future Syracuse Orange non-conference schedules. However, that changed today — even if Syracuse didn’t make the announcement themselves.

FBSchedules flagged Colgate’s 2023 schedule announcement, which included a previously unannounced game at Syracuse on September 2. The game would kick off the season for both teams, and would potentially be a replacement for the matchup originally slated to open the refurbished Carrier Dome in 2020.

Since it’s an FCS game against a familiar opponent, no qualms here, obviously. It’s good to get the Raiders on the schedule every four or five years due to mutual interest among the fan bases and the decreased travel costs that come with adding them. The teams are actually tied at 31-31-7 in this all-time series, despite the Orange’s 16 straight wins. So an Orange victory would finally put them ahead.

With Colgate confirmed, that would fill out Syracuse’s 2023 non-conference schedule. The Orange also host Western Michigan on September 9, then travel to Purdue on September 16 before coming back home for a game vs. Army on September 23.

SU now has the next three seasons (2021-23) of non-conference opponents booked up, and all but three non-conference games scheduled through 2026. Despite the constant grief I give scheduling — and it’s worth pointing out there’s still very little arranged past 2026 — it’s still nice to see the program at least further out ahead of future non-conference slates than they have been in the past.

Assuming everyone’s fine with facing Colgate, though? Hopefully we hear more around FBS foes for 2024, 2025 and beyond soon.