Capt. Greg Durso stood on Syracuse’s sideline just more than an hour before the Orange played No. 1 Clemson. He and SFC Shane Hankey made their rounds behind the white lines, now guests in SU’s home. Durso has hosted the players and coaches at his, Fort Drum, but Saturday was his chance to be a fan for a change.

“That’s the partnership, right?” Durso said, “That we show them what we do as our team, the army, and they’re showing us what they do here.”

Syracuse has ventured to the upstate New York military base the last four summers, advancing a partnership with the soldiers that started in 2012. Saturday was Durso’s second trip to the Carrier Dome this season — he and the soldiers came down for SU’s game against Wake Forest — but this was the first all-access weekend for the troops.

The Orange (3-7, 1-5 Atlantic Coast), wearing 10th Mountain Division patches on the upper left corner of its jerseys, fell to the top-ranked Tigers (10-0, 7-0), 37-27. But observing the on-field product just scratches the surface of what Durso is trying to cultivate.

“Football is important and winning and losing is important,” Durso said, “but we’re talking about building relationships here.”

Friday night, Durso and the soldiers talked to the team at its 8 o’clock meeting. They helped check beds, ate breakfast with the team Saturday morning and attended player and coach meetings. They oversaw activity in the training room, locker room, joined on the bus ride to campus and attended the silent prayer in Hendricks Chapel on the team’s walk to the Carrier Dome.

Before the game, soldiers led Syracuse out of the tunnel, flanking the Orange with a 10th Mountain Division flag on the right and an American flag on the left. Durso and five others lined up behind the Syracuse captains during the coin toss and shortly into the game, a message reading “2 teams, 1 mission” flashed on the jumbotron after highlights played from SU’s 2015 trip to Fort Drum.

“We didn’t get the win for them so I’m disappointed about that, but we fought hard and they enjoyed every last minute of it,” SU nose tackle Kayton Samuels said. “What we do is nothing compared to what they do. All this football is just so small compared to that.”

Hankey exchanged smiles with running back Jordan Fredericks near the SU bench during warmups and chatted with offensive guard Samuel Clausman during the game. Now that players aren’t crouching behind snipers or maneuvering their way through Humvees, they’re able to show off what they specialize in.

And Durso, self-admittedly not worthy of offering football advice, doesn’t think the parallels between both lives are too far-fetched.

“There are a lot of similarities in terms of preparation, getting yourself mentally in the right frame of mind,” Durso said. “We do the same thing in the army getting ready for missions.”

After the game, Syracuse head coach Scott Shafer stood at the podium, visibly frustrated after being eliminated from automatic bowl contention.

Before taking questions from the media and stressing how outside perspective can misconstrue the reality within his own locker room, it was the bigger perception — even touching on the tragedy in Paris that took place Friday night — that took precedent.

“Just great men, seen a lot of ugly things,” Shafer said, “so we could sit here and talk about a football game … love those guys, love ‘em to death.”

Durso was honored to see Fort Drum’s patches on Syracuse’s jerseys, especially against Clemson. He was able to marvel at his favorite team staying close with the best in the country. The loss prematurely ended Syracuse’s season in a sense, but in some ways that wasn’t the main storyline.

“Knowing it’s a game and at the end of the day everybody’s going home,” Durso said, “is a great thing.”

Published on November 15, 2015 at 2:43 am

Contact Matt: [email protected] | @matt_schneidman