Now that he’s had three years to observe Big East football, Syracuse Director of Athletics Daryl Gross admits his football scheduling philosophy will undergo some changes.

Gross designed a non-conference slate filled with perennial national championship contenders while an associate athletic director and primary schedule-maker at Southern California. At Syracuse, Gross has realized he needs a new approach.

In future SU schedules, the Orange already has scheduled top opponents like Virginia Tech, Penn State and USC. But with the extra spaces that remain, Gross would like to give the reeling football squad room for improvement.

He plans to do that by scheduling more programs outside of the Bowl Championship Series (the six major conferences) in addition to smaller, private BCS schools such as next season’s opening opponent, Northwestern. Gross added he would consider possibly including a Division I-AA opponent.

‘A lot of our conference are (playing) more (non-BCS) teams than they are BCS teams,’ Gross said in an interview several weeks ago. ‘So now we’re contemplating, ‘OK, maybe we’re going a little crazy here and maybe we need to think about going two BCS and three non-BCS or is it one BCS and four non-BCS, and those are the types of tweaks you need to make as you go on.’

In the past three seasons, Syracuse has finished 5-9 against non-conference opponents while going 7-25 overall. But two of those out-of-conference wins have come against perennial Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I) weakling Buffalo. Moreover, the Orange has gone 1-10 versus BCS conference foes – its one win coming against Illinois in 2006. One season later, the Illini crushed Syracuse at the Carrier Dome, 41-20.

Gross noted that with an inexperienced team, he wants young players to have a chance to gain experience during the first games of the season; playing a more vulnerable opponent would give Syracuse that chance.

‘I think I-AA (Football Championship Subdivision) is very considerable,’ Gross said. ‘I wouldn’t want to see two I-AAs on our schedule. But I think one is more than reasonable, especially when we’re growing this program.’

Syracuse has not taken on a lower division opponent since Rhode Island in 2002. The Trojans have never played a now-FCS opponent in their history.

Gross thought SU’s season probably would have begun differently if Syracuse had started the season playing the likes of Norfolk State, Grambling (FCS schools) or Marshall of the Mid-American Conference. Instead, SU faced a BCS opponent, the Pac 10’s Washington.

Big East teams Rutgers, Pittsburgh and West Virginia played Norfolk State, Grambling State and Marshall, respectively, in their 2007 non-conference schedules.

Syracuse will face five private BCS schools in the next five years (USC, Notre Dame, Boston College, Northwestern and Wake Forest).

Many private schools, including Northwestern, Wake Forest and Vanderbilt – three schools Gross mentioned – have had trouble achieving consistent success in football. That could fit Gross’ policy of lowering the intensity of Syracuse’s future opponents.

Brad Hurlbut, an associate athletic director at Northwestern, said it has always been an approach at NU to look to play ‘like-minded’ institutions that share the same academic and admissions values. But Northwestern, which hosts the Orange Aug. 30, 2008, has not experienced the same success over time in football as Syracuse.

Gross also expects to add a military academy to SU’s future schedule. He wants to introduce a new series with in-state rival Army. The two schools have met 21 times dating back to 1899, but they haven’t played each other since 1996. Gross intends to put the school from West Point, N.Y., on the schedule as soon as possible. However, at this point, it looks as though Army might have difficulty finding room for Syracuse.

Bob Beretta, an associate athletic director at Army, said unless circumstances change – adding that they often do – the Cadets do not have an open spot on the schedule for close to a decade. And there’s a ‘strong possibility’ Syracuse and Army will be able to rearrange a matchup starting in 2015.

‘We’ve had discussions with the folks at Syracuse,’ Beretta said. ‘It’s a matter of finding a match.’

The Cadets, a once-great football powerhouse up until the 1950s, appear to have hit a low point in recent years (13-44 in the last five years). Army would make a feeble opponent for SU based on Gross’s remodeled philosophy.

However, he insists heralded college football programs will remain on SU’s schedule each year. Gross points out Penn State and Notre Dame are set for next year. The Orange has a home-and-home with Virginia Tech in 2010 and 2011 and a contest against Georgia Tech in 2015.

These high-profile matchups help bring attendance to home games and better gauge the pace a program is progressing, Gross said.

‘Some people have the model to play some bad people to get into the bowl game,’ Gross said. ‘But if your goal is to just get to the bowl game, that’s fine. I can figure out a way to do that, too. I think we want a bigger picture, too.’

The longest series set between Syracuse and a tradition-rich football program will be between the Orange and Boston College. The programs will play 10 times between 2010 and 2021.

The Eagles, a private school and former Big East rival, were looking to restart a rivalry that was lost when Boston College left the Big East for the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2005, said Chris Cameron, an associate athletic director at Boston College.

‘We don’t actually have a natural rival in the ACC,’ Cameron said. ‘It just made sense to us to try to establish that as a rivalry game every year.’

With Syracuse also searching for a rival, it seemed like a logical fit, Gross said.

SU head coach Greg Robinson said earlier in the season he does not worry about Syracuse’s scheduling philosophy though he enjoys the current blend of BCS and non-BCS squads.

Gross said if he had his ‘druthers,’ every BCS school would compete primarily against other BCS squads. But as he observes more and more teams looking away from BCS schools for opponents, Gross acknowledges – especially with Syracuse’s dismal play of late – it was time to follow suit.

‘You want to play good teams because we’re a BCS team,’ Gross said. ‘And you want to play other BCS teams, but at the same time, you don’t want to be suicidal. You want to give the chance to grow younger players if you can.’

Published on November 7, 2007 at 12:00 pm