Scheduling games against the top programs in the country and playing on national television can help recruiting, if you can play those teams competitively.
On this blog and beyond, it has been debated whether the Syracuse Orange should be scheduling all weak non-conference opponents to boost its win total and give the program a better chance of achieving bowl eligibility every year. It is a strategy that has worked for other programs trying to become nationally relevant again.
So far, Syracuse has largely stuck to a formula of scheduling three weaker non-conference games, and one game against a national powerhouse.