Dino Babers addressed the media at his weekly press conference on Monday ahead of Syracuse’s (4-4, 2-2 Atlantic Coast) matchup with No. 3 Clemson (8-0, 4-0) Saturday at 3:30 p.m in Death Valley. It was the first time Babers spoke since last Wednesday’s Atlantic Coast Conference teleconference — his only media availability during the Orange’s bye week.

Here are three things Babers said.

‘Don’t bet the house’ on Syracuse winning

Babers described Clemson as “different” from any football team he’s seen. He said the Tigers have no weaknesses, are extremely talented and have a lot of guys that will be millionaires some day.

Clemson is undefeated, boasts the 11th best scoring defense in the country and the 26th best scoring offense. The Tigers won the ACC championship last year and lost in the national championship game to Alabama.

Babers said Syracuse would have to play its best game for a shot at a win, Clemson would have to play “not its best game,” and the Orange would need to get several bounces to roll its way.

“Then maybe, maybe we get a chance,” Babers said. “Maybe. But don’t bet the house on it, brother.”

Bye week and this week’s schedule

Babers opened his press conference running through what the Orange staff and players did during the bye week last week and its schedule for the current week. Here’s what he noted.

Syracuse held early practices on Monday and Tuesday at around 6 a.m. following the win over Boston College. Then the players had off through Saturday.

“We still wanted to practice the underbelly of the team,” Babers said, “get our threes and twos a lot better, but at the same time we have to get our ones healthy because we’re playing games from the beginning all the way to the end.”

The assistant coaches spent the week recruiting, reviewing film of Clemson while they were on the road. Babers went to Texas A&M on Thursday to watch his daughter play volleyball.

The coaching staff reconvened on Saturday and started putting together the game plan for Clemson on Sunday. They’ll finish it up tonight.

Practice resumed on Sunday with Monday as the normal day off. The players will practice Tuesday through Thursday before the team flies to South Carolina Friday night.

Cordell Hudson is not out for the season

Starting cornerback Cordell Hudson has missed the last two games because of injury. He was notably missing from the pre-Clemson depth chart released Monday.

Babers said Hudson is “not a guy that’s out for the entire year.”

“It’s a medical thing,” Babers said. “It obviously has to do with when he feels better. … We don’t want to put people back in until they absolutely feel like they’re ready to go. And when the medical people give us the clearance, he’ll be back in.”

Redshirt freshman Christopher Fredrick has started in Hudson’s place while he’s been out.

Published on October 31, 2016 at 1:14 pm

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