In each of the past two seasons, Scott Shafer has watched from his old booth high above the Carrier Dome field as Syracuse orchestrated upsets against top opponents.

Two years ago, it was West Virginia, who came to Central New York as the No. 11 team in the country and left the loser in a 26-point blowout. A year later, it was Louisville, the unbeaten and 11th-ranked team in the nation who left the Dome with its first loss of the year.

Saturday’s test against Clemson trumps them all. It’s the Orange’s first game in its new conference and it just so happens to be against its premier team, the No. 3 Tigers, in the Carrier Dome.

“It’s a great opportunity. For me, it’s why you coach football,” Shafer said. “I love being the underdog, always have. I was a Division III guy. I played college football, nobody wanted me. I was a kid that played for the love of the game, we’ve got a lot of kids like that.”

SU enters Saturday’s game against Clemson as anywhere from a 13-to-4.5-point underdog, and many are expecting an even bigger blowout. But if Syracuse’s recent Carrier Dome history means anything, then the Orange has a shot.

Shafer said he won’t lean on the memories of those notable upsets too much. Instead, they will be a “footnote” to remind his younger players that it can be done.

The keys to those wins, though, are the same he sees for this weekend. SU doesn’t need to do anything special — just take care of the ball, pounce on potential turnovers and keep focused on the game at hand.

“The way you lose these games is you try to get outside of your element because it’s a big game,” Shafer said. “You don’t want to put in a double-reverse pass because it’s a big game. You want to put in a double-reverse pass because of the tendency that the team you’re getting ready to play gives you.”

Shafer knows the Tigers are a great team. Their prolific offense deservedly gets the headlines, but their defense is tough as well. Vic Beasley, Clemson’s left defensive end, is tied for the Atlantic Coast Conference lead with six sacks. Sammy Watkins is the best wide receiver in the country and quarterback Tajh Boyd is a Heisman Trophy contender.

The Tigers have already topped Georgia this season and pounded Wake Forest 56-7 on Saturday. There’s no reason that Clemson should lose Saturday — but there wasn’t any reason that West Virginia or Louisville should have lost, either.

“‘We’ve got no chance in hell to win this game,’ people say from the outside. Bring it on,” Shafer said. “Let’s play football.”

Published on October 3, 2013 at 11:12 am

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