a.k.a. V.J.

Old Man Stuff

Game Day

Ah, the great college football rivalries: Ohio State vs. Michigan! Army vs. Navy! Auburn vs. Alabama! Syracuse vs. Colgate!

Okay, so you’re snickering at that last one, but consider that Syracuse and Colgate played their first football game against each other back in 1891. Going into today, the two schools had squared off against each other 67 times. Somewhat astounding to this Syracuse fan is the fact that the all-time series prior to today was tied at 31-31-5…despite Syracuse having won every matchup since 1951. (Colgate absolutely owned the ‘Cuse prior to 1914. This begs the question: Were the Kaiser and Archduke Franz Ferdinand Colgate Raiders fans?)

The Orange kicked off their 2023 season against that other football team in Central New York. (Actually, I consider Cornell to be that other team in Central New York. Colgate is that other other team.) I don’t go to a lot of Syracuse football games — the last one I attended was in 2019 — but I had a last-minute whim to go to this one. I suspected the game would be lightly attended, there would be cheap tickets available, and I’d likely see the home team win an easy victory to finally secure the upper hand in the all-time series. All three things turned out to be true.

What follows is a selection of the photos I took before and during the game. Truth be told, my photos only cover the first half of the game. I decided to make an early exit after Syracuse went up 37-0 in the second quarter, on their way to a 65-0 drubbing of the upstarts from Hamilton. 32-31-5, baby!

The new-look Dome seen from across the Quad. It’s hard to get used to this configuration after decades of the traditional look.
I can’t do Ernie Davis’ accomplishments or tragic story justice in this caption, but you can read about them here. You could also watch the movie version of his story, which wasn’t bad, but it left me wishing that someone had made a film about Jim Brown’s time at Syracuse instead.
Syracuse’s sports mascot used to be a Native American caricature called “The Saltine Warrior.” The mascot was banned in 1978, being deemed offensive, even by the laissez-faire standards of the 1970s. This statue, a perhaps more-dignified interpretation of the Saltine Warrior character, still stands on the Quad.
The Pride of the Orange band making their way to the Quad to get the pregame crowd pumped up.
The band on the steps of Hendricks Chapel playing “Down the Field” — Syracuse’s venerable fight song.
Speaking of things that are hard to get used to: the Dome has a new name as well as a new look. The old Carrier name is gone and the facility is now the JMA Dome.
The view from the cheap seats.
The Orange players gathering in the end zone prior to kickoff.
Colgate’s offense sputtered the whole game. Here’s their QB in the process of throwing an incomplete pass.
Otto the Orange working the crowd.
The Syracuse offense was lighting up this touchdown sign all afternoon.
I managed to capture this football in mid-air just before it went through the uprights for an extra-point. Just one of 65 points scored by the Orange this day.
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Vance Marriner

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  1. Suos Cultores Scientia Coronat – a.k.a. V.J. Avatar
    Suos Cultores Scientia Coronat – a.k.a. V.J.

    […] to the Syracuse-Colgate football game, I spent about an hour wandering around the Syracuse campus. My walk was partially an emotion-laden […]

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Researcher. Marketer. Teacher. Father of adult children and dogs. 20th Century holdover. Central New York native. Long-suffering Buffalo Bills fan. History nerd. Traveler. Vintage advertising enthusiast. Hat wearer.

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