Marrone Five

The Syracuse University football team will visit traditional powerhouse Southern California in September and play Big East Conference rivals West Virginia, South Florida and Cincinnati at the Carrier Dome later in the fall. But the game everyone will be talking about this season is Nov. 5, when the Orange visits defending Big East champion Connecticut and its new coach, Paul Pasqualoni.

Pasqualoni went 107-59-1 and won four Big East titles in 14 seasons as SU’s coach before getting fired in 2004. While coaching in the NFL with the Miami Dolphins and Dallas Cowboys, Pasqualoni started to look a lot better to SU fans as new coach Greg Robinson ran the program into the ground.

But Robinson’s replacement, Doug Marrone, has the program on the upswing. The Orange finished 8-5 in 2010 and registered its first winning season and bowl victory since 2001, when Pasqualoni was still in charge.

Syracuse released its schedule recently and the Orange will play four of its first five games at home, including its Big East opener against Rutgers Oct. 1. SU’s game at USC Sept. 17 is the Orange’s only road game in September.

In the Big East, SU will play Rutgers, West Virginia (Oct. 22) and South Florida (Nov. 11) at the Dome. The South Florida game, at 8 p.m. on a Friday night, will be televised by ESPN2. SU’s regular-season finale at Pittsburgh will also be televised nationally by ABC, ESPN or ESPN2.

The Orange opens spring practice Tuesday, March 8, and will have its annual Spring Game on April 16 at the Dome. Tickets: Renewals for preferred seating, premium seating and season tickets can processed at www/ suathletics.com. New season tickets can be ordered now at www.suatletics.com and at the Carrier Dome box office. New preferred/premium seat patrons are invited to call the box office for more information. Singlegame tickets will go on sale later.

—Matt Michael

Conn job: Former Syracuse University football coach Paul Pasqualoni, now leading the Connecticut Huskies, will face the Orangemen Nov. 5 on his new home turf. Until then, SU head coach Doug Marrone (facing page) will have plenty of games to prepare his troops for.