Syracuse football: hey there’s a spring game tomorrow night

The Syracuse Orange are once again approaching their mandatory spring game with all the enthusiasm of teenagers being dragged on family vacation.

One of the better ACC ideas in recent years was forcing all of the schools to host a televised event to generate some excitement and interest in the football programs. Syracuse decided that the best way to do this is stick the game on a Friday night and make it as dull as possible.

The offense vs defense format means we’ll get to watch the starters (who play) pick apart the back-ups. On the positive side, the absence of Garrett Shrader last year gave fans a look at Justin Lamson and helped raise excitement over his future. With Shrader sidelined again, we’ll likely get to see Lamson and Carlos Del Rio-Wilson running Jason Beck’s offense.

Rich Barnes

Despite Syracuse’s best efforts to not encourage you to come out and watch this event, you should show up (or tune in) to get a glimpse of the future. In addition to Lamson last year, we saw LeQuint Allen running the ball, and Denis Jacquez Jr. pressuring the passer on defense. Fans will get to see players who will be contributors next fall and if you want people to buy season tickets, that’s one way to get them engaged.

Yes, the post-game meet and greet is great. I think the players and staff did a wonderful job with the kids in attendance last year, but while the TNIAAM staff will be in the house, many of the students will instead be on Marshall Street trying to take photos with a guy in his 40s standing tippy-toes because even rich dudes can be massively insecure.

Where’s the fun tomorrow? Are there giveaways and promotions we missed....and no more Dome Tins please. I get that Syracuse doesn’t really want to do this event but with the program coming off a bowl game with tremendous student support and the largest NFL Draft class in a decade, this feels like another missed opportunity to create more buzz.

Other schools built a weekend of events around the spring game, or held a post-game concert. We don’t expect that the Orange would pack the Dome for the spring game but it still feels like a missed opportunity for a program which needs to raise it’s profile among fans and recruits.