Orange crush Tigers’ dream of 12-0 season
Syracuse springs upset, outlasts No. 2 Clemson
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — As the celebrationinthesyracuselockerroom reverberated through the walls of the Carrier Dome, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney winced a little bit, dreams ofaperfectseasonlostinaseaof orange.
Eric Dungey threw for 278 yards and three touchdowns, Cole Murphy kicked a tiebreaking field goal in the fourth quarter, and Syracuse stunned No. 2 Clemson 27-24 on Friday night to put a damper on the Tigers’ chances to repeat as national champions.
Down maybe, but not completely out. The Tigers (6-1, 4-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) won the national championship last year despite a loss during the season to Pittsburgh.
“Every goal is there for this team,” Swinney said. “We’ve got to get better from this, have the type of season we want to have.”
Clemson had won 12 consecutive games on the opponent’s home field, the longest streak in Clemson history and tied for the second-longest active streak in the nation. Clemson also had won 11 consecutive games overall, the longest active winning streak in the nation, and 12 straight away from home against ACC teams.
“It wasn’t our night tonight. They were better than us,” Swinney said. “There’s nothing we’re going to fix now. We’re not going to be 12-0, that’s for sure. That’s not going to happen. This is going to hurt, but you move forward.”
The Orange (4-3, 2-1) are 3-6 against the previous year’s national champion, also beating Penn State in 1987 and Michigan in 1998. This was the program’s first win in 13 tries against the No. 2 team in the nation.
“This is truly one of the moments that you coach for. This is really special,” said Syracuse coach Dino Babers, in his second year with the Orange. “This is big.”
The Tigers took a big blow when quarterback Kelly Bryant suffered a concussion in the final minute of the first half. He was knocked down hard by defensive tackle Chris Slayton and lay on the turf for a couple of minutes before being helped to the locker room. Slowed after spraining his left ankle last week against Wake Forest, Bryant passed for 116 yards and ran for minus-8 yards.
“They came ready to play,” Clemson defensive end Clelin Ferrell said. “They came out, they saw blood, they saw they had a definite chance to win the game and we just didn’t capitalize on the opportunities we had to make a comeback.”
Bryant, who watched the second half from the sideline, entered the game averaging 277 yards of total offense, but noticeably favored an injured ankle as Syracuse gained a surprising 17-14 halftime lead. Mountain West
UNLV (2-3) at Air Force (1-4), 11 a.m.
Wyoming (3-2) at Utah St. (3-3), 1:30 p.m.
New Mexico (3-2) at Fresno St. (3-2), 7 p.m.
UNR (1-5) at Colorado St. (4-2), 7:15 p.m.
Boise St. (3-2) at San Diego St. (6-0), 7:30 p.m. San Jose St. (1-6) at Hawaii (2-4), 8:59 p.m. Pac-12 Conference
Colorado (3-3) at Oregon St. (1-5), 1 p.m.
Utah (4-1) at Southern Cal (5-1), 5 p.m.
UCLA (3-2) at Arizona (3-2), 6 p.m.
Washington (6-0) at Arizona St. (2-3), 7:45 p.m. Oregon (4-2) at Stanford (4-2), 8 p.m.
Big 12 Conference
Texas Tech (4-1) at West Virginia (3-2), 9 a.m. Kansas (1-4) at Iowa St. (3-2), 9 a.m.
Texas Christian (5-0) at Kansas St. (3-2), 9 a.m. Baylor (0-5) at Oklahoma St. (4-1), 12:30 p.m. Oklahoma (4-1) vs. Texas (3-2) at Dallas,
12:30 p.m.
Big Ten Conference
Michigan (4-1) at Indiana (3-2), 9 a.m.
Rutgers (1-4) at Illinois (2-3), 9 a.m. Northwestern (2-3) at Maryland (3-2), 12:30 p.m. Purdue (3-2) at Wisconsin (5-0), 12:30 p.m.
Ohio St. (5-1) at Nebraska (3-3), 4:30 p.m. Michigan St. (4-1) at Minnesota (3-2), 5 p.m. Southeastern Conference
Brigham Young (1-5) at Mississippi St. (3-2), 9 a.m.
South Carolina (4-2) at Tennessee (3-2), 9 a.m. Auburn (5-1) at Louisiana St. (4-2), 12:30 p.m. Vanderbilt (3-3) at Mississippi (2-3), 12:30 p.m. Texas A&M (4-2) at Florida (3-2), 4 p.m. Arkansas (2-3) at Alabama (6-0), 4:15 p.m. Missouri (1-4) at Georgia (6-0), 4:30 p.m. Atlantic Coast Conference
North Carolina St. (5-1) at Pittsburgh (2-4),
9 a.m.
Florida St. (1-3) at Duke (4-2), 9 a.m.
Boston College (2-4) at Louisville (4-2), 9:20 a.m. Georgia Tech (3-1) at Miami (4-0), 12:30 p.m. Virginia (4-1) at North Carolina (1-5), 12:30 p.m.