The battle of the orange. Saturday marks the first ACC contest for Syracuse football (4-0, 0-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) when it takes on Clemson (2-2, 0-2 Atlantic Coast Conference). This game has a similar feeling as last year.
SU fell to Clemson 27-21 last season. The Orange blew a 21-10 lead. Syracuse fans are familiar with quarterback Cade Klubnik. The sophomore entered the game for the starting quarterback DJ Uiagalelei and drove his Tigers team down the field to set up two fourth-quarter touchdowns and a victory.
Uiagalelei transferred to Oregon State in December. It opened up the door for Klubnik to lead the Clemson offense. Klubnik has thrown for nearly 1,000 yards and nine touchdowns this season.
Head coach Dino Babers says that Klubnik doesn’t flinch when the pressure is on him.
“When you got guys that will stand in [the pocket] and hold the ball until the very last second before they pull the trigger on it to let that receiver get a little more open, that’s when you know those guys are special.”
Klubnik threw for over 280 yards and one touchdown in a 31-24 overtime loss to fifth-ranked Florida State at home last Saturday.
The Orange are undefeated heading into a matchup with the Tigers this season. However, both teams are unranked compared to when they met last season. Babers still sees Clemson as a national threat.
“They’re still a championship caliber team,” Babers said. “They were six or 12 inches from winning the game this week. They beat [Florida State] statistically in every category. They beat Duke statistically in every category. This is what they are. This is a championship, big-time football team coming in here.”
It opened the year with a 28-7 loss at Duke. The Tigers took care of business with home victories against Charleston Southern and Florida Atlantic before the loss to FSU.
Looking at Syracuse, it’s won four straight to open the year. The Orange dealt with their first big road test when they defeated Purdue 35-20 in week three after two easy wins against Colgate and Western Michigan. SU beat Army 29-16 last weekend.
Quarterback Garrett Shrader has started his 2023 campaign on a good note. The senior has completed 67 percent of his passes. Similar to Klubnik, he’s almost reached 1000 passing yards on the season. Shrader has also been highly efficient with his legs. He’s recorded at least one touchdown on the ground in three of four games, including four at Purdue.
With the success on the field so far, Babers hopes there’s more Syracuse orange in the building than Clemson orange. He’s expecting a lot of personnel to travel up the coast in support of the Tigers.
“We like playing those guys,” said Babers. “They’ve beaten us a lot. We like playing them. We know that they’re the best and we know it gives you an opportunity to go against the best.”
The Orange have failed to get over the hump of Dabo Swinney’s squad since SU’s upset in 2017. Before then, SU hadn’t won the matchup since 1995.
Both teams are going to be hungry entering the Dome on Saturday. Clemson is looking for revenge from last week’s difficult home loss. Syracuse has a chance to take undefeated momentum into October’s deluge of road games.
The quest for 5-0 takes place on Saturday at noon when Syracuse takes on Clemson in the JMA Wireless Dome. WAER’s coverage starts at 11:30 with McClurg Remodeling Countdown to Kickoff.