Syracuse first-year students will receive free tickets to the Orange’s season opener Friday at 7 p.m. against Central Connecticut State in the Carrier Dome, said Anthony Di Fino, SU’s associate athletics director for business development. SU first announced the news last Friday at Home to the Dome, a pep-rally like event for first-year students.

Freshmen, transfer students and first-year graduate students must swipe their SUID and enter through Gate E, which opens at 4:30 pm. An email with instructions will be sent to first-year students this week.

Last year, all SU students with valid ID were granted free admission to both the home opener, against Colgate, and second game of the season, against Louisville. Attendance for the Colgate game was 31,336 and 32,184 for the UofL game, both lower than the 2016 season average of 32,805.

Friday’s game marks the beginning of Year 2 for head coach Dino Babers, whose SU squad finished last year 4-8 for the second consecutive season. SU has won 11 games over the last three years and begins 2017 in search of its first bowl appearance since 2013.