Where can you watch ‘classic’ Syracuse games? (week of April 20)

Without live Syracuse Orange sports on television, you may be wandering around your home aimlessly, wondering what you’re supposed to do with your life. The lack of any other sport makes this even worse, and will create a challenge for sports networks for the foreseeable future, as they struggle to fill programming slots.

Luckily, the ACC Network’s gotten fairly creative in recent weeks, using various themes to attract fans. Since last week, they’ve been running “takeover” days for each school in the league. Syracuse’s number comes up this Saturday, and while there are plenty of Orange games on, we spent some time on the most recent podcast discussing what might’ve been a better use of the space (since SU didn’t seem to push the envelope much on the games selected).

Each week — on Monday — we’re highlighting how you can watch the Orange and when. Maybe you’ll enjoy some of these. Others, not so much. At least this week provides a lot more positives than negatives.

(all times ET)

Tuesday, April 21

Men’s Basketball: NC State at Syracuse (2020), 3:30 p.m. — ACC Network

Without Elijah Hughes for much of the game, Syracuse still hung with State while both teams were trying to score a big win for their respective NCAA Tournament hopes (at the time). Unfortunately, things didn’t work out in a 79-74 defeat for the Orange. Skip it.

Wednesday, April 22

Men’s Basketball: Syracuse at Notre Dame (2012), 4:30 a.m. — ACC Network

Syracuse won 20 straight games to start the 2012 season. Then Fab Melo sat out vs. Notre Dame (our first major sign of the trouble down the road), and the Orange lost to the Irish. Again, skip this one because it caused SU to lose their No. 1 ranking. Temporarily, anyway.

Friday, April 24

Football: Syracuse at Duke (2019), 2 a.m. — ACC Network

Desperately in need of a win to temporarily save the season, the Orange ran through Duke 49-6 and restored faith even if just for a little while. Turnovers helped push Syracuse from a 14-6 lead at halftime to a runaway victory by mid-way through the third quarter. The run game was also excellent, collecting 286 yards on the afternoon.

Women’s Soccer: Colgate at Syracuse (2019), 4:30 a.m. — ACC Network

Though it was a tough 2019 season for the women’s soccer team, they did score a 1-0 win over Colgate to start things off. Laurel Ness collected the game’s lone goal in the 68th minute for the Orange.

Men’s Basketball: Syracuse at Notre Dame (2020), 6:30 a.m. — ACC Network

It was a good win this past season, I guess. But Syracuse still almost choked away a double-digit lead before holding on to win, 84-82 in South Bend. Not sure why this was a pick, as it will certainly give you heart palpitations.

Men’s Basketball: Syracuse vs. North Carolina (2020), 8 a.m. — ACC Network

Okay, THIS game you want to rewatch. In what was one of the final games of the 2019-20 college basketball season, SU stomped the Heels in the ACC Tournament by a resounding score of 81-53 just over a month ago. It was UNC’s worst loss in the history of the event (and it happened in Greensboro, no less!) and helped snapped a nine-game Orange losing streak to Carolina.

Men’s Soccer: Syracuse at North Carolina (2019), 9:30 a.m. — ACC Network

SU beat the Heels twice last season, but this is the 4-3 win at home. The Orange were down 2-1 at halftime, and 3-1 in the 57th minute before tying things up with two quick strikes between the 70th and 74th minute. It was Ryan Raposo who earned SU the win, however, netting the game-winner in the 88th minute to secure the 4-3 victory over then-ranked UNC.

Men’s Basketball: Duke at Syracuse (2017), 11:30 a.m. — ACC Network

It felt like this was one was headed to overtime tied at 75. And then, John Gillon nailed a buzzer-beater right in Duke’s face, in yet another thrilling chapter of this “rivalry.” Ignore the fact that the win didn’t make the NCAAs. It doesn’t matter here.

Men’s Basketball: Syracuse at Pittsburgh (2014), 1:30 p.m. — ACC Network

You don’t need any other details beyond this being the Tyler Ennis shot. My buddy (a fellow SU alum) and I ran around my office screaming for five straight minutes after the shot went down.

Men’s Lacrosse: Syracuse vs. Duke (2015), 3 p.m. — ACC Network

This appears to be a late addition that was certainly not there when this list was initially compiled. Thankfully, they found a way to add an MLAX game (and this one, in particular — a 15-14 comeback win to take home the ACC title).

Women’s Basketball: Florida State at Syracuse, 5 p.m. — ACC Network

You’ve likely watched at least a few times since it happened back in early January. The Orange pushed No. 8 Florida State to overtime at the Dome, but looked like they were about to fall short... until Emily Engstler’s masterful tip-in at the buzzer to score a 90-89 win.

Football: Clemson at Syracuse (2017), 7 p.m. — ACC Network

You probably still have this one DVR’d (I do). But if not, relive Dino Babers’s biggest upset as Syracuse head coach in this 27-24 Orange win over No. 2 Clemson. Admittedly, I wasn’t really entertaining the idea SU could win going in. But a 14-7 lead after a quarter at least inspired some faith. It was far from simple, and Clemson did tie the game at 24 in the third quarter. However, a Cole Murphy field goal and an impressive defensive effort sealed one of the biggest football wins in Dome history. Cue the postgame speech...

Men’s Basketball: Syracuse vs. Duke (2014), 10 p.m. — ACC Network

Really, this is one of the most exciting and high stakes regular season games in recent memory. Syracuse came in at 20-0 and ranked No. 1, while Duke was 17th. Being who we are, Orange fans really wanted to make a statement in one of our first huge ACC games. We came away with a thrilling 91-89 overtime win in front of what was then the biggest on-campus crowd in NCAA history.

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We’ll have a larger conversation around what went right/wrong with this schedule today. But share your initial thoughts below.