Syracuse vs. Boston College: TV/streaming, time, odds, history & more

Teams: Syracuse Orange (3-5, 0-4) vs. Boston College Eagles (4-4, 2-3)

Day & Time: Saturday, November 2, noon ET

Location: Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y. (if you’re buying tickets, do so here)

Extended Forecast: High of 52, 10% chance of precipitation (but we’re inside, so doesn’t matter, save for your afternoon leaf-raking plans)

Line: Syracuse opened as a 2.5-point favorite, and that’s drifted up slightly to 3 points.

TV/Streaming: ACC Network/WatchESPN

Radio: Cuse.com, TK 99/105, WAER 88.3, SirusXM: Home — XM 202 (Streaming 965) | Away — XM 193 (Streaming 955)

Boston College blog: BC Interruption

Rivalry: Syracuse, 32-20

Current Streak: 1, Syracuse

First Meeting: Back in 1924, Boston College wasn’t even considered a 1-A opponent, but Syracuse beat them 10-0 nonetheless. With prohibition still in effect at the time, it was tougher to get local kids to stick around BAWSTAN, hence the talent dip.

Last Meeting: With a potential Camping World Bowl trip on the line, Syracuse rolling into Chestnut Hill and got to work in a 42-21 win that looked fairly effortless. The Orange were up 28-14 at half, then finished the job over the final 30 minutes. Eric Dungey had 362 yards passing, and Dontae Strickland collected 129 yards on the ground. Boston College turned the ball over four times in the game too, so hat tip to SU’s defense and special teams there.

Photo by Omar Rawlings/Getty Images

Head Coaches: Syracuse - Dino Babers (4th Year, 21-24) | BC - Steve Addazio (7th Year, 42-42)

Coach Bio: Steve Addazio’s a “dude,” as you might have heard. After playing at Central Connecticut, he’d try his hand playing in the NFL, USFL and CFL before heading to coaching. By 1995, he joined Syracuse’s staff as a tight end and O-Line coach, where he’d stay ‘til 1999 when he left for Notre Dame. Addazio was an assistant at Indiana and Florida through 2010, when Temple hired him. After going 13-11 with the formerly moribund Owls, BC brought him aboard. Though he’s returned the Eagles to respectability, they’re still .500 with him at the helm through seven years, with five seven-win seasons and no finish higher than a tie for third in the ACC’s Atlantic Division.

Last Year: You’re not going to believe this, but Boston College finished with seven wins. Despite a 7-2 start that saw them ranked for a bit and hosting College Gameday against Clemson, they lost their last three games to finish the regular season 7-5. The First Responder Bowl vs. Boise State was cancelled mid-game, preventing BC from a possible 8-win season (or yet another 7-6 finish).

Last Game: Things didn’t go well on the road at Clemson. BC was down 17-0 after one quarter, but showed signs of life when they made it 17-7 early in the second. However, the one-dimensional offense couldn’t do much from there, and the defense couldn’t slow down the Tigers’ offense at all en route to a 59-7 drubbing.

Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

”Fear Me, I’ve Killed Hundreds of Timelords”: Probably the only player you’re really familiar with at this point, A.J. Dillon. The Eagles back is over 1,000 yards on the season already, but also nearing 200 carries already too, as would be expected for any halfback playing for Addazio. Without much of a passing game right now (due to an injury to Anthony Brown earlier this year), Dillon’s really the whole offense. But SU can’t stop the run too well, so this could be problematic.

If Syracuse Wins: The season’s far from saved, but at least there’s some hope that maybe this team can find enough magic to get back to the postseason despite some tough odds right now.

If Syracuse Loses: Welp, it’s been fun (no, it hasn’t been).

Fun Fact 1: It’s not relevant to this year’s game, but relevant to the matchup. Syracuse has only lost to Boston College three times in a row once — from 1969 to 1972. Since then, there are a couple two-game losing streaks in there for the Orange, but SU usually wins about two out of every three (as you’d nearly guess by the .615 winning percentage above).

Fun Fact 2: A Syracuse win would mean the third 4-5 start in four tries for Dino Babers since he arrived, which is odd. Keeping things confined to this century, the Orange also started 4-5 in 2012 and 2004 (both of which happened to be bowl seasons).