Syracuse and Clemson are two ACC programs at different crossroads

The Orange, under Fran Brown, are eyeing their first significant road ACC triumph in his short tenure Saturday afternoon (12:00 p.m. ET / ESPN) at Upstate South Carolina's version of Death Valley. For the host Tigers, with counterpart Dabo Swinney continuing to search for answers sitting under .500 after three weeks, it is also time to get busy.

Sep 12, 2025; Syracuse, New York, USA; Syracuse Orange quarterback Steve Angeli (9) warms up before a game against the Colgate Raiders at JMA Wireless Dome. Mandatory Credit: Mark Konezny-Imagn Images | Mark Konezny-Imagn Images

It is going to be hot one way or another Saturday afternoon in Clemson, S.C. Yes, the forecast says mostly sunny and 85° (so the 'Cuse players will need to adjust), but the usual near capacity crowd on hand at Memorial Stadium will be both hot, and bothered, if Swinney does not have his team playing up to level of being named the top ACC team in the preseason polls.

The ACC roadways have not been kind to Syracuse football

There is no other way to put it. Whether it has been Scott Shafer, Dino Babers, or now even Brown with two of last season's three defeats being ACC road games, 'Cuse football has been unable to navigate a way to consistently win within the league away from the friendly and loud confines of the Dome.

Acknowledging some caveats such as the disparity in the number of road games against each team and the addition/subtraction of membership, since joining the ACC in 2013 Syracuse has won road games at less than half of the conference's 16 road venues:

Boston College (3 wins)

California (1)

Duke (1)

Maryland (1)

North Carolina (1)

N.C. State (3)

Virginia Tech (1)

Wake Forest (2)

In fact, like the Smith Center for Syracuse basketball where the Orange are 0-7 all-time against Carolina, SU is 0-5 all-time at Memorial Stadium against Clemson.

Sometimes it was close, but no cigar, like in 2018 when the Tigers completed a furious fourth quarter rally to win 27-23. Other times it was a blowout, like 2016's 54-0 final.

Now Brown has a chance to measure where this year's team fits in the conference against a perennial contender with its own woes to worry about, and as Georgia Tech did last week, make a loud statement even louder by winning a program-altering conference game on the road.

The Tigers boss spends the week defending his program

That is what happens when the bar has been set high, picked by the media to win the conference and return to the CFP playoffs behind an all-conference caliber quarterback, and the early results do not back that up. It becomes time to play defense mode.

So when your team falls to a strong SEC team (LSU) in a tough opener, at home nonetheless, then struggles for a half against a non-P4 opponent (Troy), and follows-up with a loss at Goegia Tech to open league play, the reactions from fervent fans turns rather spirited.

Swinney well knows that Brown and the Orange are aiming to make a loud statement by grabbing a program-altering win, an accomplishment that would be somewhat similar to what Babers' 2017 team did in the Dome shocking a second-ranked Clemson squad.

"Listen, I know everyone is frustrated, but 17 years we have had one bad season (2010)," Swinney said Tuesday during his weekly press availability. "I would say this is a low and bad moment (starting 1-2). We've been in this situation many times, and we're a great program because we have always responded."

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