It seemed like every Syracuse player on the field chopped his arm like a Tomahawk. Like every single one of the 42,475 fans left in the Carrier Dome stood on their feet. They wanted quarterback Eric Dungey’s lunge at the end of a third-and-eight run to count for a first down.

It did count. The sticks moved. Video review did not change that fact. Nothing could. The Orange did what no one thought possible.

The play sealed Syracuse’s (4-3, 2-1 Atlantic Coast) stunning, 27-24 upset of No. 2 Clemson (6-1, 2-1) Friday night. This victory, one of the biggest in program history, brings SU within two wins of guaranteed bowl eligibility. Oddsmakers had favored Clemson by 24 points.

“Nobody believes in us except for us,” Dungey said, “and that’s fine.”

A father tossed his daughter into the air. The crowd stormed the field, trampling through a Clemson team that hadn’t lost all season and had planned to keep it that way through January. One by one, in the joy of the moment, people leapt the six feet over the wall and trickled onto the field. They embraced players they’ve never talked with before and will never talk to again. In such unfamiliar territory, there was no such thing as unfamiliarity.

“Everything we’ve been through over these past four years, the lowest of the lows….I’m just glad me and Parris (Bennett) and Steve (Ishmael) — the seniors — can enjoy the fruits of our labor while we are still here,” senior linebacker Zaire Franklin said.

Todd Michalek | Staff Photographer

It all negated the fact that Dino Babers was wrong. He promised his team would click six games into his second season at the latest. It took seven. SU will gladly accept that.

“I came to Syracuse because I wanted to play in one of the toughest divisions in college football,” Babers said. “I wanted to play in games that mattered.”

From the game’s opening drive, the Orange proved this game would not be like the Tigers’ 54-0 dismantling from a year ago. In three minutes and 16 seconds, SU went 72 yards for a touchdown. Dontae Strickland capped the 10-play string on a screen pass. He beat the only tackler who had a chance, kept his balance and ran 23 yards into the end zone.

Quickly, Clemson landed a body shot, reminding the Orange an upset would not be easy. It scored in three plays. Running back Tavien Feaster went untouched 37 yards. Yet after trading possessions, that locked-in Clemson team now looked lost. A blown coverage let Ervin Philips loose to score a 66-yard touchdown.

Later, with Syracuse’s offense facing a third-and-31, Strickland tried to extend a run into from eight yards to nine. He dropped the ball as Tigers corralled him. He watched from his knees as Clemson safety Tanner Muse took the ball 63 yards for a touchdown that tied to the game.

“It sucked really badly,” said Ishmael, whose offensive pass interference call wiped away a touchdown and put the offense in that long-distance situation. “I just felt like it was my fault.”

Syracuse didn’t crack. It amassed 270 yards offense in the first half on a Clemson defense that allows fewer yards per game. It took a three-point lead into halftime, seconds after Chris Slayton tossed Clemson starting quarterback Kelly Bryant to the ground. It took minutes for Bryant to get up. That was his last play, as he departed for good with what Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney called a concussion.

Todd Michalek | Staff Photographer

Freshman Zerrick Cooper replaced Bryant under center. Syracuse held both quarterbacks to a combined 204 yards passing and zero scores.

“The coolest thing about football is you get to hit the best player,” Babers said. “… Bryant is a fantastic player and I thought we had a good gameplan for him and I thought we executed it well. Him not being in the game is definitely an advantage for us.”

In his halftime interview displayed on the jumbotron, Babers boomed to the bleachers: “We need you fans behind us.”

They responded.

In the third quarter, Eric Dungey turned the corner on a run and took off. Forty-five yards later he was tackled. Two plays later, he floated a ball into the end zone and Steve Ishmael glided under it to send the Dome crowd into more pandemonium. It was an option route, Ishmael said, but when the cornerback blitzed and he saw the safety trigger help late, he decided the end zone was better than pulling back. That decision gave the Orange a 7-point lead.

That one, too, disappeared three Clemson plays later, this time done in by a 52-yard Travis Etienne run. SU blitzed left and he went right. The game was knotted at 24 points apiece.

Syracuse punted. Clemson kicker Alex Spence missed his second field goal of the game. Cole Murphy did not, kicking a 30-yarder through the uprights with 12 minutes left. Quarterback Zack Mahoney, the holder, clutched his fist in approval. The three points put Syracuse ahead of No. 2 Clemson with 12 minutes left.

On the ensuing kickoff, players who did not dress pranced giddily on the sidelines encouraging more volume. Safety Jordan Martin, who left the game early with an apparent hand injury, joined the kickoff unit. He pumped his casted arm up and down to the beat of the electronic music blaring through the building up until Murphy kicked off. Then Martin chased down the field. He had to be a part of the win that felt so real already. Everyone was.

The score held as well as the SU defense. A Clemson fake punt made for a final, unsuccessful attempt of desperation. Babers’ team fulfilled its coach’s prophecy. And the whole country saw it.

After the madness evaporated and ESPN’s cameras found a game elsewhere, the Dome returned to its usual postgame state. Cleaning crews swept the turf. Leaf blowers dried spilled drinks. But in the corner, hanging from section 120, was something different.

A sign reading “Trounce The Tigers” remained hanging. Even after someone takes the sign down, after more games are played here, the memory of the trouncing will endure.

“To have an opportunity to have a win like that, that they’ll never forget for the rest of their lives,” Babers said. “Something that they’ll tell their sons and their daughters, and then they’ll tell their grandsons and their granddaughters, and it will be one of those things about how you beat Clemson at the Loud House.

“And they’ll have to sit there and listen again.”

Published on October 13, 2017 at 10:37 pm

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