North Carolina-Connecticut could be interesting, the West Virginia-East Carolina rematch could be interesting and, hey, even Pittsburgh’s trip up to defending MAC champ Buffalo could provide some suspense. But  the game I think just might be the most intriguing is the Syracuse-Penn State one.

Now wait before you start shaking your head. I’m not expecting some crazy upset. I’m not even necessarily expecting some crazy mildly close game. But I am curious to see how Syracuse fans take whatever happens.

For years, Syracuse had some of the Big East’s best fans. In the 12 years from 1988 to 1999, the Carrier Dome averaged at least 46,000 people a game nine times. These people had fire, they had passion, they wore orange – and then they lost interest. Annual attendance has hit 43,000 only twice in the last decade and last year, the Orange drew just 35,009. But last Saturday, for new head coch Doug Marrone’s debut, 48,617 people came out. And when Syracuse dropped a 23-20 OT bummer to Minnesota – that’s DROPPED – all those people gave the team a standing ovation.

Marrone has promised a change in the recent moribund culture and he has made re-engaging fans priority no. 1 since his hiring. He went on a listening tour of New York state, he barnstormed through minor league ballparks, he even asked reporters what it would take to win the fans back. Those fans came out for him and they stayed through the game for what he willed. But when I asked him this week on a teleconference if that was enough to have officially hooked them, he said, “I know I didn’t do enough for myself. And I think the fans would think the same of me. I have to do more. I have to win.”

And then, he said it again, repeatedly: “You have to win. That’s the whole thing. You have to win. I don’t know of any other way to put it.”

 He’s a coach, he’s never going to traffic in moral victories. And I don’t think any rational Syracuse fan is banking on a win in happy Valley. But after this weekend, the Orange have six straight home games. Does what happens at Penn State affect who’ll come out for those six games? On that same call, Marrone said recruiting is the lifeblood of a program and that no recruit is going to want to come to an empty stadium. And so, he went on, engaging the fans is absolutely a priority. Getting butts in the seats is paramount and that happens, he said, “through the product we put on the field.”

Well then, how good does the product have to be Saturday?