Known for his innovative, ultra-fast offense, head coach Dino Babers is in his 5th season on the Syracuse sideline. Since his arrival on campus, Babers has reshaped the culture of Orange football. In 2019, Syracuse went 5-7, but finished the season strong, winning 2 of its last 3. The Orange scored 30+ points 5 times and averaged 40.7 points per contest over the final 3 games of the year.

Syracuse was among the best at taking care of the football in the passing game, finishing 2nd in the ACC for the fewest interceptions thrown (7). Defensively, the Orange ranked 5th nationally in passes defended per game (5.67) and recorded the program’s 1st true-road shutout since 1991 with a 24-0, seasonopening victory at Liberty.

ORANGE ON OFFENSE: Sterlin Gilbert is in his 1st season as Syracuse’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. A Texas native well versed in the veer and shoot, Gilbert has run offenses and coached quarterbacks at the FBS, FCS and high school levels. He was most recently the head coach at McNeese State prior to joining the Orange.

Gilbert previously worked with Syracuse head coach Dino Babers for 3 seasons. They 1st joined forces at Eastern Illinois in 2012 and the pair transformed the Panthers into a fast-paced juggernaut behind the play of standout quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. In his 1st season, Gilbert directed an EIU offense that ranked 6th in the nation in passing (334.9 ypg), 7th in total offense (470.9 ypg) and 8th in scoring (36.5 ppg). Garoppolo was 7th in the FCS in total offense (318.5 ypg), whil receiver Erik Lora set the championship subdivision record for receptions (136) and led the country in receiving yards with (1,664) en route to being named the 2012 Ohio Valley Conference Offensive Player of the Year.

ORANGE ON DEFENSE: Tony White was hired as Syracuse’s defensive coordinator in February 2020. He joined the Orange after serving as the cornerbacks coach and defensive passing game coordinator at Arizona State from 2018-19.

In White’s 2 seasons at Arizona State, the Sun Devils allowed just 13 passing plays of 40+ yards – a marked improvement over the 34 such plays ASU gave up in the two years before White got to Tempe.

The Sun Devil secondary made dramatic gains in White’s first year, climbing 50 spots in the NCAA’s passing defense rankings. That growth continued in 2019, as Arizona State finished the year 12th in the country with 65 passes defended. A trio of White’s cornerbacks – Kobe White (2019), Jack Jones (2019) and Aashari Crosswell (2018) – were All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention selections.

THE LINE: Clemson is currently 46.5-point favorites, the largest spread in an conference game in ACC history. The game will air at noon Saturday on the ACC Network.