After playing night games in six of Clemson's first eight games of the season, the Tigers will take on the Syracuse Orange on the road at 12:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, Nov. 7. This was largely expected, as Syracuse is among the worst teams in the ACC this year, and Clemson is no longer living up to the standard necessary to be thrust into primetime on the regular. It should be a win for Clemson, right?
Not so fast... With Clemson expected to do everything in its power to pick itself up by its bootstraps at Florida State on Halloween night, the Tigers are not going to overlook the Seminoles. Could they do that with the Orange, a team that beat them in Death Valley only a year ago? That is not out of the realm of possibility, especially with a big rivalry game coming up the next week versus Georgia Tech.
While Clemson essentially needs to beat Syracuse and Georgia Tech to achieve bowl eligibility, no opponent the Tigers face the rest of the way can be taken for granted, especially with how toothless the passing game has been for this team of late. Persistent offensive issues have led to Clemson being vulnerable in every game the Tigers play the rest of the season. Every game will now be a grind.
News: Clemson football's road game at Syracuse next Saturday will be a noon kickoff on ESPN2, the ACC announces
— Chapel Fowler (@chapelfowler) October 26, 2026
Fran Brown may not be the only one coaching for his job on November 7
After clipping a rejuvenated North Carolina Tar Heels team in overtime last week, the Orange could be up against it on Saturday when hosting SMU. While it remains to be seen how good the Mustangs really are this season, they are firmly an ACC title bout contender, and the Orange are not... That being said, what is Clemson really? The Tigers could be 4-4 by the time they venture up to Syracuse.
With it looking like this might be Fran Brown's final season in Upstate New York, the same sort of principle could be applied to Dabo Swinney at Clemson. Admittedly, Graham Neff punting on Swinney after a 4-5 start to this season might be a bit harsh, but three consecutive conference losses to Virginia Tech, Florida State, and Syracuse could have everyone feeling a certain way. That might do it.
If you want proof of this, look no further than the two Power Four head coaches who got fired over the weekend. Dave Doeren is out at North Carolina State after losing to Stanford on Friday night. A day later, Baylor moved on from Dave Aranda after the Bears lost to lowly Kansas. It is honestly shocking that Aranda was let go, as his counterpart Lance Leipold seemed to be on the hotter seat.
Frankly, at that point, it may not matter how massive Swinney's buyout is. Three straight ACC losses could be too much for Clemson's big-pocketed boosters to stomach. Losing at home to Virginia Tech is one thing, but to then potentially fall at the hands of Mike Norvell and Brown back-to-back would be almost impossible to come back from. We can only hope Clemson starts throwing for touchdowns.
If there is one game left on the slate that Clemson cannot lose, it is the noon game up at Syracuse.
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