Syracuse is a basketball school. Football is an afterthought. The fans don’t care enough. Just look at all those empty seats in the Dome on fall Saturdays. We’ve all heard it.
But something happened Saturday before Syracuse hosted Clemson that should make everyone reconsider what this football fan base is capable of.
One of the most remarkable compliments Syracuse football has received in years came from an unlikely source.
Eric Mac Lain, the former Clemson offensive lineman and longtime analyst on ACC Network’s The Huddle, was broadcasting live from the Syracuse Quad before kickoff.
And he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“Let me tell y’all something. This has far and away been the best crowd we’ve ever had. The most people. The most students. The best band.”
Host Taylor Tannenbaum immediately agreed.
“Elite. Yep.”
“And this weather. It’s freezing cold and they showed up, man. Shows the passion they have for this team.”
Wait a minute.
The best crowd they’ve EVER had?
Mac Lain has been part of The Huddle since 2019. This is a show that has traveled to some of the most passionate college football environments in America.
Clemson’s Death Valley. Blacksburg. Tallahassee. Miami.
And Syracuse just delivered the best crowd?
That’s staggering.
Especially when you consider the circumstances.
I was there Saturday morning. It wasn’t exactly Chamber of Commerce weather.
It was cold. Raw. Rainy. Misty. Temperatures hovering in the 40s and low 50s.
The kind of November morning when staying home with a hot cup of coffee sounds infinitely more appealing than standing outside on a damp college campus.
And yet Syracuse fans showed up.
Students showed up. The band brought the energy. The Quad was alive.
For a few hours, Syracuse looked and felt like one of the great college football environments in the ACC.
And the network’s own analysts noticed.
It was Homecoming. Syracuse had won two consecutive games. Clemson was in town. There were reasons for the excitement.
But isn’t that the point?
Give Syracuse fans a reason to believe, and they’ll give you something special in return.
The announced attendance inside the Dome was approximately 37,000. From my vantage point inside, it looked closer to 40,000.
Either way, it wasn’t a sellout.
And that’s what makes the contrast so fascinating.
The same fan base that has struggled to consistently fill the Dome just delivered what a veteran ACC Network analyst called the best crowd his traveling show has ever experienced.
This is why I’m glad Bryan Blair keeps talking about how important football is. Yes, the finances make it vital to the success of the school as a whole. But it also is a fanbase that needs to be nurtured.
Syracuse football doesn’t need to manufacture an entirely new fan base.
It needs to activate the one that’s already here.
And when the losses pile up, the empty seats inevitably follow.
That doesn’t mean the passion has disappeared.
ESPN’s College GameDay has famously never brought its football show to Syracuse.
For years, Orange fans have watched other college towns enjoy that national spotlight while wondering when their opportunity might arrive.
Saturday’s ACC Network broadcast was a chance to show the rest of the conference what Syracuse could deliver.
This wasn’t Alabama on a perfect 75-degree afternoon. This wasn’t even last weekend, which was a spectacular 65 degree Halloween. It wasn’t a playoff game or a showdown between two undefeated teams.
It was Syracuse on a raw November morning.
And the fans made it memorable.
So the next time someone dismisses Syracuse as merely a basketball school, remember what happened on the Quad.
“The best crowd we’ve ever had.”
Yes, Syracuse has one of the great basketball traditions in America.
But that doesn’t mean football can’t matter just as deeply.
Syracuse can be a great basketball school AND a great football school.
The passion isn’t mutually exclusive.
The Syracuse football fan base isn’t missing. It’s waiting.
Give it something to believe in.
And just imagine what the Dome could become.
