Syracuse home opener with Clemson set for ABC’s “Saturday Night Football”

Syracuse will play its Sept. 14 home opener against Clemson on ABC’s “Saturday Night Football,” the Atlantic Coast Conference and ESPN announced on Wednesday. The Orange, seen in this photo from their October 2018 homecoming game with North Carolina, is playing the Tigers in this fall’s homecoming game. (Eric Reinhardt / BJNN file photo)

Syracuse also plans to retire the No. 72 jersey of all-time sack leader Tim Green during halftime of the Clemson game. Green, who is also an attorney and author, announced last November that he’s been diagnosed with ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease.

The Clemson contest will mark the Orange’s second ABC “Saturday Night Football” appearance since the network began devoting its primetime slot to college football in 2006, per Syracuse’s news release. The first time Syracuse appeared in the timeslot was on Sept. 27, 2014 when it faced No. 8 Notre Dame at Metlife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

In the last two years, Syracuse is the only team to defeat Clemson during the regular season, per the news release. The last time Clemson came to the Dome, the Orange beat the Tigers 27-24 on Oct. 13, 2017. Since that night, Clemson has won 17 straight regular-season games.

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Last September at Clemson, the Orange led for most of the game until Tiger quarterback Travis Etienne scored from two yards out with less than a minute remaining to lift the Tigers to a 27-23 victory.

Overall, Clemson holds a 5-2 lead in the all-time series. Syracuse’s other win against the Tigers was a 41-0 shutout in the 1996 Gator Bowl.

Single-game tickets to watch the Orange and Tigers in person are sold out, the school said.

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Fans can still purchase a season ticket or a three-game partial plan “to guarantee a seat for the game,” Syracuse noted.

Season tickets start at $125. A “limited” number of partial plans featuring Clemson and two additional games of the customer’s choice are available for $99, per the news release.

 

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com

Eric Reinhardt: