The Syracuse football team finalized its 2010 schedule by adding a Week 4 matchup with Colgate, according to a release issued by SU Athletics Thursday morning.

The Sept. 25 game, described by Colgate head coach Dick Biddle as a ‘win-win’ for both schools, will revive the second-oldest series in program history, as the two teams have faced each other 65 times, dating back to 1891.

‘It’s just a great opportunity,’ Colgate head coach Dick Biddle said in a phone interview Thursday. ‘It’s a plus-plus for us as a program and creates some local interest. It’s renewing an old rivalry; it’s David versus Goliath just 50 miles apart. There’s a million storylines out there for this one.’

The two Central New York teams, separated by just 51 miles, haven’t played each other since 1987, when SU coasted to a 52-6 victory on its way to an undefeated season. Though this year’s contest might not be much different, ‘renewing an old rivalry’ has obvious benefits for both schools. While SU get’s to add a ‘cupcake’ to its schedule, Colgate get’s the exposure and financial compensation that comes a long with playing  BCS conference school just down the road.

In recent years, big-time FBS schools have shelled out loads of cash to non-FBS schools for what some might call a ‘tune-up’ game. Florida reportedly coughed up $350,000 to Charleston Southern for a matchup in 2009. The Gators went on to win the game, 62-3.

While Biddle acknowledged that SU had been having some trouble filling a noticeably vacant spot in its schedule, he stopped short of suggesting this game was all about money for the Orange. Though he wouldn’t discuss exact figures, he speculated that Colgate will probably receive the same amount of compensation as Buffalo or Northeastern would have.

‘That was not in the equation for us in playing Syracuse,’ Biddle said. ‘Other people may look at it as a paycheck, but when they asked me about it there wasn’t even a mention about that type of thing. It was all about the chance for us to play a Big East school. I didn’t even think about the other thing. That has nothing to do with it.’

With the addition of Colgate, and a Sept. 18 matchup with Maine already solidified, the Orange will face two non-FBS teams in the same season for the first time since 1985. During that year, Syracuse played Kent State and Temple, which was still D-IAA football school. SU went on to finish with a 7-5 record and made an appearance in the Cherry Bowl in Pontiac, Mich.

This year, with the addition of Colgate (a non-scholarship school), Syracuse head coach Doug Marrone is angling himself to end the Orange’s steak of five consecutive seasons without a Bowl appearance.

Just six wins are needed to become Bowl eligible, and with two matchups against non-FBS teams on this year’s slate, SU suddenly finds itself looking at the realistic possibility of getting back to playing beyond Thanksgiving Day.

For Colgate, the benefits of scheduling such a game are much different. Biddle said a game like this may be an invitation to ‘get your clock cleaned,’ but that’s all part of the experience. That’s why the coach couldn’t pass on an opportunity like this.

‘For us, on our level, it’s one of the highest things you could do,’ Biddle said. ‘For our guys, that’s why you play football, to have a chance to play in a game like this.’

aljohn@syr.edu