Syracuse Football vs Clemson Tigers set for Noon kickoff on ABC

The No. 18 Syracuse Orange have a daunting run of games in front of them from this week’s contest against No. 15 NC State until the season finale against Boston College. Their most difficult game in that stretch is presumably next week’s game against No. 5 Clemson in Death Valley. Today, the ACC announced that the game will kickoff at Noon and be aired nationally on ABC.

There’s a lot to digest here, so let’s just run it down bullet by bullet.

• Yes, the fact that the Orange are Clemson’s Homecoming opponent will not be lost on Dino Babers. Sure, the Orange have scheduled Clemson as a Homecoming game in the past, but Dabo used that as motivation for his team, and I see no reason that Babers won’t use it to get the team energized out the gate.
• On that note, a day nationally televised game is much preferred over a night nationally televised game if you’re trying to come up with the scenario where the Orange pull an upset.
• There’s been a lot of talk about College Gameday recently, and I think it’s fair to say that if both the Orange and Tigers end up undefeated after this weekend, ESPN would consider a return to Clemson for a game that can be billed as an early playoff eliminator for the Tigers.

The Orange’s next two games are arguably the biggest back to back games the program has had in a long time in terms of implications for the conference standings, and we now know the entire country will be watching when Syracuse plays the ACC favorites next week.