Good news may be coming for Pirates fans who are against ECU playing in Fenway against Syracuse. The Syracuse athletic department has asked the ACC to not be considered to be chosen for the inaugural Wasabi Fenway Bowl and for a solid reason. According to Syracuse.com’s Nate Fink, the Oranges asked the conference earlier in the season before they even hit the 6-win threshold that they didn’t want to be considered for Fenway.
Syracuse pleaded with the AAC that their university’s final exam schedule did not cooperate with the Fenway Bowl’s scheduled date of December 17th, with Syracuse’s final exams set for December 12-16th. Apparently, these kinds of complaints from ACC members to the league office are not out of the ordinary. Most football conferences welcome input from their members after receiving invites and consulting with bowl game officials.
The Fenway Bowl has not had a great history so far before even holding a game. The Boston, MA-based event is going on its third attempt at hosting grid-iron action after being canceled the previous two years due to COVID-19-related issues.
Four major bowl projection outlets (CBSSports, Athlon, 247Sports & Action Network) predicted ECU and Syracuse in the Fenway Bowl. It still remains to be seen where the Pirates will go bowling and against who, but if Syracuse’s plea get’s approved, it’s highly unlikely ECU will meet the 7-5 Oranges.