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SU football had a big announcement to make yesterday and really gave no advance notice on what it would be, other than the fact that it would be made at 2:45 pm at Destiny USA mall. A few hours later, we know now that the Orange unveiled a new set of uniforms and announced a home-and-home series with LSU.
The LSU series is nothing but good for the Orange. Almost as important as anything, the first game of the series is in the Carrier Dome, and not MetLife Stadium. As great as the MetLife games are for the growth and marketing of the program, it is important to see that the program has such status that a team like LSU will come up to the Dome for a September game.
Next, it’s LSU; no doubt the Tigers, led by great coach Les Miles, will come to the Dome in the Top 25. This creates a matchup that will likely get picked up in a good time slot by ESPN or ABC and give the Orange great exposure.
Lastly, there are no losses in this for the Orange. If you think that it is bad because the Tigers could wipe the Carrier Dome turf with SU, why is that so terrible? The Orange would not be expected to keep up with the Tigers, a perennial top 25 team from the best conference in the country. And if the Orange win? It is one of the best upset wins the Orange have in a while, perhaps dating back to the win over West Virginia three years ago.
And now, for the new uniforms. They are ugly. Everyone already knew they were coming, especially after the new helmet was unveiled last season. But really, the glaring omission from the fashion show at Destiny USA was an orange jersey top. Now, before comments with complaints about poor play while past teams wore orange, the team is still called the Syracuse Orange, right? So, why is it that there is no football uniform with the primary color being orange? It seems only natural to have one. No chance SU should go back to orange-on-orange, but an orange jersey with blue pants would look nice and put Syracuse back in orange.
The numbers looked a little scary, especially the fours on the 44 jerseys. As SU alum Seth Everett tweeted earlier, ‚ÄúThe¬†‚Ä™@CuseFootball¬†uniforms are change simply for change’s sake.‚Äù
And that is really the best way to describe the uniform changes. Syracuse watched as teams went from the traditional two-uniform wardrobe to having three, four or even more combinatinos to wear over the course of the season. It wanted to change to be a part of the flashier jersey movement, even if only to recruit.
With two announcements that were already reported well before the announcement of the big announcement at Destiny USA, it brings up real question: Why was this a huge announcement made a Destiny USA?
Both announcements, while important, were also expected, and could have just as well been made at Manley or even in the Dome. I understand the influence they have for the football program and for recruiting, but neither necessitated a press conference at Destiny USA. It just doesn’t make much sense to do what the Athletic Department did. The announcement could have been made with a very nice fashion show including Charley Loeb and Jerome Smith in the football wing of Manley Fieldhouse, where media festivities moved after the press conference at Destiny USA.
The big takeaway? Both the new jerseys and a home-and-home with a major title contender could lure more recruits to the Hill. Let’s see if it pays off.
Posted by: Seth Goldberg 
