As Jason Taylor recalled — with his 14-year NFL-eyes widening, shocked — ‘they’ never came to Akron before.

For Taylor, a former Akron standout now with the New York Jets, ‘they’ refers to a BCS conference team. Any BCS conference team. During his time as a Zip from 1993-96, Taylor said he and his Akron teammates always had to travel to ‘them.’ That’s just the way it was.

Standing on the SUNY Cortland practice field at Jets training camp on Aug. 14, Taylor could only think of one response when he found out that, no, he wouldn’t have the outside opportunity to trek up to Syracuse to watch his alma mater play. Rather, ‘they’ would be traveling to Akron to open the season. Perplexed, he had to question the validity.

‘It’s at Akron?’ Taylor asked. ‘Syracuse, going to Akron? Damn, times have changed. We used to go everywhere for the paycheck. It’s a big change. I know that. They never came to us before.’

On Saturday, ‘they’ — Syracuse — will open its season on the road at InfoCision Stadium in Akron, Ohio (6 p.m., ESPN3). It is just the third time in the last 20 years SU will open the season on the road against a mid-major team, and the first time since losing to Brigham Young in 2002.

The Orange defeated Toledo and East Carolina in 1999 and 1992, respectively. In the series history, the Orange and Zips have split 1-1, with Akron defeating SU 42-28 in 2008 and Syracuse getting the best of the Zips last year 28-14. Those games were both in the Carrier Dome.

But Akron is the worst team with which the Orange has been scheduled to open the season on the road of any mid-major in the last 20 years. The Zips were picked to finish last in the MAC’s Eastern Division and are in their first year under head coach Rob Ianello. And for a program that prides itself on Taylor, the Zips ranked 118 of 120 FBS teams in sacks in 2009, with 11 in 12 games. Compared to the rest of the Big East, SU is one of three conference teams to open the season on the road against a mid-major. Pittsburgh will travel to national power Utah for one of this weekend’s most high-profile games, and Cincinnati will face the WAC’s Fresno State, a team it only beat by eight points last year in Cincinnati.

‘I would love to open up for our fans (at home),’ SU head coach Doug Marrone said, ‘but, hopefully, we’ll be able to do that down the road. I’m really just excited about playing. …The greatest thing I was ever told was it doesn’t matter where you play.’

The former All-Pro Taylor’s bewilderment at Akron’s hosting of Syracuse is merely an example of a question many have been asking of the scheduled game. Just like Taylor, many have pondered: Why is Syracuse going to Akron? Why is the Big East going to the MAC?

Is it a testament to Akron’s growth? Is it a statement speaking to SU’s decline since Taylor graduated as Akron’s career sacks leader in 1997? Is it an example of the drop off of the Big East conference as a whole? Or is it just another case of the evolution of college football where it is now normal, and perhaps even expected, for a Big East team to travel to a bottom-feeder?

Marrone doesn’t prescribe to any of the notions at all. He sees it as just another football game. He doesn’t see any problem with his BCS team opening against a rebuilding mid-major. A game is a game.

Competitiveness is competitiveness.

‘I don’t even think about it, to be honest,’ Marrone said ‘… I don’t look at BCS, home, away or anything like that. I just feel fortunate to have an opportunity to play.’

Having an opportunity to play this weekend will be SU sophomore strong safety Shamarko Thomas. After tweaking his hamstring in summer camp, Thomas is second on the depth chart behind Max Suter at strong safety, and he said he will play this weekend at ’95 percent.’

But on Wednesday, when informed of Taylor’s interest in Saturday’s game in SU’s football cafeteria, Thomas’ eyes lit up, much like a grade-school kid at lunch hour to the mention of an NFL star. Eyes widening just like Taylor’s had, cracking a smile from ear to ear, Thomas said it was ‘like an honor’ to know Taylor expressed interest in coming to the game. But he did have a message for Taylor and Akron as well.

In a summer of conference realignment in which the Big East conference has been slighted throughout, Thomas wanted to let it be known that he and Syracuse will be bringing the Big East to the MAC on Saturday.

Thomas said he wants Taylor to know that like Akron is a new team, SU is a new team as well. He doesn’t care about the comparisons or where the game will be played.

Thomas is bringing the Big East hurt.

‘Akron is not a BCS team,’ Thomas said, ‘but you see in the newspaper that sometimes people say we are not a BCS team. It’s just a mentality to go hard every game.’

Added Thomas: ‘(Taylor’s) a Pro Bowl-player, so I am going to be professional. But I would tell him we are going to go to Akron and show him how the Big East plays. Syracuse has got a new team around now.’

It’s a new team in Akron since Taylor’s departure as a third-round pick by the Miami Dolphins in 1997. They no longer play at the Rubber Bowl. The Zips have attained success in the time since Taylor went just 12-32 over the course of his four years as a Zip. He never once played Syracuse.

But, s Taylor recalled in Cortland in August, he and the Zips did host a big-time team once. A real big-time team, which has been a prick in SU’s side in the past.

In 1996, Taylor and Akron hosted No. 15 Virginia Tech a year after the Zips were clobbered 77-27 in Blacksburg, Va. In a year in which Taylor propelled himself on the strength of 10 sacks to a spot with the Dolphins, he led the team in a valiant effort, eventually losing by just three.

But come Saturday, the bad news for the Zips is they don’t have a Jason Taylor. He is long departed from Ohio.

And on Sept. 6, 2008, he was, once again, far removed from his alma mater.

That night, as a member of the Redskins traveling back from New York with a 16-7 season-opening loss to the Giants, Taylor had a similar quizzical reaction to that day’s news of his former football team.

When looking down at his phone, he thought the score was wrong when he saw it:

42-28, Akron over Syracuse. Really?

His question was soon answered. On Saturday, the overarching inquiry into just what Syracuse will get out of a trip to the mid-major will begin to be answered as well. And like Marrone, Taylor believes the game is not a step back for ‘them.’ He will take pride in whatever occurs. He is proud of Akron.

‘I’m not going to slight Akron,’ Taylor said. ‘It speaks more for the progress that Akron has made than any type of a regression for Syracuse. I didn’t watch the game (in 2008). … I have to admit, I thought the score was wrong when I first saw it.

‘It’s bigger strides. It’s great.’

aolivero@syr.edu

Published on September 1, 2010 at 12:00 pm