SYRACUSE — As his football team readied for the 2013 Texas Bowl, to be held on Dec. 27 in Houston, Syracuse University (SU) Head Coach Scott Shafer said, “It’s a business trip with benefits.” Shafer, speaking at a Dec. 17 news conference at SU’s on-campus football facility, said the main mission for the […]
SYRACUSE — As his football team readied for the 2013 Texas Bowl, to be held on Dec. 27 in Houston, Syracuse University (SU) Head Coach Scott Shafer said,
“It’s a business trip with benefits.”
Shafer, speaking at a Dec. 17 news conference at SU’s on-campus football facility, said the main mission for the 6-6 Orange is to defeat the 8-4 Minnesota Golden Gophers, but noted that the bowl game also offered some benefits to the SU players and the football program.
“It’s an opportunity for the kids to get down there and enjoy Houston and the atmosphere, as well as the culture of Texas,” Shafer said.
I asked the first-year head coach what qualifying for a post-season bowl game does for the football program as he tries to build it into a consistent winner that attracts fans and future players.
“There’s so many fronts that are conducive to take a program a step forward when you’re playing in a bowl,” Shafer replied.
First, he noted the extra practice time the team gets because it qualified for a bowl. That allows younger players to get practice repetitions they wouldn’t otherwise receive and offers the coaches a chance to evaluate the talent with an eye toward the 2014 football season.
Second, Shafer pointed to the exposure Syracuse football would receive from playing in the Texas Bowl and talked about how that could help recruiting.
“Just the fact that people are talking about Syracuse during December and the holidays is advantageous to our recruiting front,” Shafer said. “The chance to be on national TV and play two days after Christmas… And all those recruits that we’ve been working hard to try to get here at Syracuse will get a chance to watch our product on TV.”
He summed up by saying the Texas Bowl is an opportunity for “free advertising” for the SU football program and Syracuse University as a whole.
The Texas Bowl (www.thetexasbowl.com) will be played on Friday, Dec. 27 at 6 p.m. (EST) at Houston’s Reliant Stadium and televised nationally on ESPN.
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