Follow the Fizz on Twitter for the latest SU football news
All SU fans know the lengths of the “New York’s College Team” branding over the years. And it always seemed the main competition to the Orange becoming New York City’s college football team would be Rutgers, because they are really the only other program near the city. While the branding has been criticized by some, it has worked to an effect—see those basketball games at MSG and football games at the Meadowlands where SU fans show up big.  And it seems like the Orange has taken a hold of the city by having ads on taxis, in Yankee Stadium and by parading its new football uniforms through NYC. 
But, speaking to DA and Brian Jones on the MoJo show on CBS Sports Radio earlier in the week, Rutgers head coach Kyle Flood had other thoughts:
“There’s no doubt in my mind, Rutgers has always been the football program over the last decade that moves the needle in New York. When you look at ratings and you look at what college football teams are being watched in this area, Rutgers is at the top of the list every time. I was there in person during that 2006 season (when we went 11-2), and I saw exactly what could happen during a magical year.”
Maybe it is fair to say that Rutgers has moved the needle more in the last decade. Between the relative success the Scarlet Knights had during the Ray Rice years, and the struggles of the early- to mid-2000s the Orange had, it is possible more people in New York followed Rutgers.
However, having grown up in New Jersey, being interested in sports, and wishing there was a local college football team to follow, I can say that in 2006 when Rutgers was a win away from the Orange Bowl, only a very small percentage of kids in my school cared about Rutgers football. I don’t even mean a small percentage of all the kids, I’m talking about other kids who liked sports and followed college football.
So yes, maybe Kyle Flood is right, and over the last decade Rutgers has moved the needle more than Syracuse in the New York City area, but does that really mean Rutgers is “New York’s College Team?” Flood goes on to say that he thinks the Big 10 will make even more people interested in Rutgers football:
“Now in the Big Ten – because the level of competition is so much more attractive to the fan base – there’s no doubt in my mind that that this is going to continue to go up as we get started.”
Is Big 10 football more attractive than ACC Football? Maybe. But the question then becomes, which team will be better in its new conference, because the conference doesn’t matter if the team isn’t interesting.
Lastly, this is an overblown issue. Is it nice to have a presence in New York City? Of course. Is it necessary to push the “New York’s College Team” narrative all over New York City? Not necessarily, because Syracuse already holds this position. All you need to do is look at the success they have had selling tickets to football games at MetLife Stadium. Or look at the basketball success, having a Madison Square Garden crowd with nearly 75 percent Syracuse fans for a St. John’s home game.
So, regardless of how Kyle Flood views it, Syracuse is likely the bigger team in the minds of people in the New York area.
Posted by: Seth Goldberg
20 responses to “Kyle Flood Believes Rutgers, not Syracuse, is New York’s College Team”
Ask coach Flood what’s it’s going to be like being the doormat in Big Ten football and basketball. Good luck
Sour grapes from a AH!! Just trying to get the Rutgirls/CUSE thing back on page. I would like seeing SU play Rutgirls and PSABUSEDU on every other year.
DO NOT FORGET THE KIDS OF PSABUSEDU!! THE NCAA DID!!
I agree with Terry! This would shut up all my NJ cousins and PSU Grads!
Sounds like desperation coming from the head coach of a dieing program.
Maybe he should go ask Nancy Cantor for help in resurrecting a sinking ship.
i bet coach schaf could kick floods arse.
Here are the hard facts:
’15 Rutgers NYC offers: 3
’15 Rutgers NYC commits : 2
’15 Cuse NYC offers: 0
The truth is the NYC relationship took a HUGE hit b/c city coaches felt neglected by the new staff. Anselmo and Marrone did a tremendous job around here so it’s not easy to live up to but then Rob Moore dissed one of the city’s top coaches in print and the staff failed to address that problem for months allowing the SU name to be dragged thru the mud among the city coaches and they still haven’t recovered from that.
Recruiting is very much what have you done for me lately and as of right now Flood is right.
Rutgers is kicking our ass in NYC and kids are buzzing about Rutgers much more than the Cuse right now
Hopefully SU re-estaishes itself with some early offers for 2016
Another SU fan from BK…Brooklyn is in the House!!. My SU allegiance dies when we exit the gridiron(Go Johnnies’ Hoops). But back to the topic at hand.
I dislike Kyle Flood’s comment because on the surface it seems and feels absurd. I mean its Jersey after all. But then you think a little deeper and there is some level of merit to that assertion. I’ll draw the comparison to the NFL and how while the NYG and Jets play across the Hudson, their fan connection to NYC is much much stronger than that of the only NY NFL team, the Buffalo Bills. A lot of that has to do with the long time association and origins of those franchise being in NYC ofcourse. But still its honestly easier for fans to get from NYC to Jersey than it is to get upstate. Thats my roundabout way of saying, pure proximity can make Rutgers a force in NYC.
Now in the Marrone years, SU did make a very strong effort at coming to the PSAL and CHSAA football ranks to attract players. BKCuse highlighted what has happened lately.
Now here is the unspoken factor: Collegiate athletics isn’t as fever pitched in the Northeast as it is down in other regions. The Northeast skews to pro sports and for the most part NYC(like many urban areas) has a stronger association with the sport of basketball outside of the NFL brand of football.
Rutgers did have an opportunity to really invade NYC and bring more attention to the region when they were at their hottest a few years back. For SU and Rutgers to really lay claim to the hearts and minds of NYC, they have to find a way to raise the profile of college football by winning big, with a good core of local area guys(including Long Island and their talent) and doing so consistently.
I haven’t really looked at the 2015 NYC/LI HS recruiting scene, but def want SU to atleast get a few of the best NYC guys to keep that pipeline open. Its not the most talent rich region, but its still good form to win your backyard.
As a sidenote, I occasionally tweet NYC area SU players and give them props for helping to represent the downstate football scene. I just hope to see it continue.
Btw, St. John’s used to be the City’s team along with a very very strong SU influence(and in recent years I’d say SU bball is a bigger force in the city). When Steve Lavin got hired, it seemed like his focus was on attracted outside talent. Outside of like 1 or 2 guys the real backbone of his teams were out of state guys. They signed a young center out of Brooklyn who will be a freshman, but for the most part SJU doesn’t have the same footprint in the city that it used it.
SUFB might be going that route because of the origins of the coaches and frankly the talent levels. I don’t know but Marrone being a BX guy seemed to make it more natural for him to want to recruit the city hard(despite the considerable talent discrepancies). With the staff having more of a midwest and Florida/South east vibe, its natural and beneficial to reach out into those areas. But as a downstate fan, I want the staff to find a way to marry both recruiting philosophies and create a strong program.
@BKCuse;
I agree with your sentiments on Rob Moore. His comments in the papers last year about how hard it was to recruit the NYC/LI/NJ kids is(I believe)the reason why he’s not here anymore. So Shafer hired Bobby Acosta as his replacement who I think is kicking some ass in the down state area and NJ. It takes time,but I think Acosta will lead Syracuses resurgence in reclaiming those territories and becoming the true college team of NYS.
I follow ST Johns bball too and was glad to see Syracuse keep the Johnnies on their schedule.
But for Flood to say that Rutgers is the true NY college team!!!! All that I can say to that is there must be something in the water he’s drinking.
SU has gotta fight and keep RU outta of the 5 boroughs and LI..atleast in terms of the top NYC/LI guys. Keep those suckas at bay because I don’t think you can underestimate RU fb ability to draw in the city if they really push.
I agree 100 % BK SU FB
If cuse doesn’t start offering kids soon Rutgers is gonna start running shxt in NYC
New York City is the Big Apple…The place which draws the best and the brightest, the home of the Garden, the Mecca of college BB,…Let’s see…Choose as its sports school the school of Jim Brown, Ernie Davis, Floyd Little, Larry Csonka, Donovan McNabb, winners of three bowl games the last three years, now playing in the ACC, the roots in BB of Carmelo Anthony, Michael Carter Williams, the occasional national championship lacrosse team, the rising ladies BB team,… or a school from New Jersey..Princeton, you say…Oops..Rutgers you really say? Give us a break!
Flood’s comments are not unrealistic, but they are not real. Rutgers has no hold on NYC. Cuse is a much stronger brand amongst NYers. NJ commuters such as myself, well there’s more debate there, but not in the city at this point. SU has classrooms and an alumni club in NYC. SU has high profile graduates in NYC. If Flood is talking about winning the hearts of fans, as I think he is (why else would he bring up fan support in 2006?) then I think SU is the stronger brand. He is almost saying it himself by talking about how great it almost was 8 years ago. NYC really has no eye for college football, but I don’t think RU is painting the town red.
As for recruiting, SU has lots of NYC offers out over the last 3 years and come up shy of our goals. We’ve heavily recruited and lost 4 star talent who sit the bench at places like ND and Clemson. For the BK boys, Lincoln was a culprit sending almost nobody when they had the talent we covetted. We had our best success on Statin Island it seems, and so we shifted our focus to NJ, and I’m alright with that. Truth is we have offers out right now to three outstanding downstate prospects, but I think we only get one; Austrian Robinson. Quadir Sheppard, and LI receiver Parkinson don’t seem that interested. The ACC does not allow us to run camps off campus anymore, or you’d have seen that like the two we ran in BK and QNS in the past. Moore messed up bad, but we’re fixing that now. It’s NYC’s turn to get off its high horse and deliver us some more players.
Malone, I’m doing my part to tweet the youngsters. I’d love to see the City take to college football atleast 75% of how it gets behind pro sports, but the Northeast is pretty much a heavy pro sports area. A good St.John’s team can probably gain a lot of traction with the city, but outside of college hoops, we got an uphill battle. I like the assessment of HYC recruiting, Malone. I hit up Wayne, Alvin, and Big Wayne Williams with a NYC oriented tweet late last week. I ran into a guy in a gym last yr who knows Ivan Foy, Brandon Reddish and the cat who played at Temple but is currently with the NY Jets(his name escapes me now) as he worked with the Ft Hamilton program(we struck up a convo cuz he wore a Ft Ham championship shirt..so I spoke on Cuse football). I wanna see reclaim some level of glory with a mixed cast but its fair share of local boys. As a NYG fan I’m also rooting for our Orange transplants to become star NFL players and help increase the rep of SU football. Won’t be long before we have our college football back!!!!!!! can’t wait!
OK BK, we’ll get there. I have been hitting up Madei Williams to send us his next QB prodegy like Wimbush. He said he had his eye on the program and was already thinking of a few guys in his system he wanted to get warmed up to Syracuse. We have guys coaching all over the place! (Union City where we got Daquon Kelly for example). It WILL HAPPEN! That’s why Flood is scared and making these public statements in the first place.
I loved those games against Rutgers back in the 80’s when the Orangemen would spank the Scarlet Knights every year with a score like 56-3. GO ORANGE!
Piscataway is almost half way to Philadelphia from NYC and they aren’t Philadelphia’s college team either.
Rutgers will be the B10’s new Indiana.
You should be a part of a contest for one of the greatest websites online.
I’m going to recommend this blog!
Free Proxy Sites List to UnbLock all Blocked websites at Proxysites.tn
Have you contemplated adding getting some bookmarking buttons or links aimed at your website?