Orange Shift Focus to Florida State
9/10/2018 2:30:00 PM | Football
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – A new season begins this weekend.
The Orange (2-0) open the Atlantic Coast Conference portion of their 2018 schedule Saturday, hosting Atlantic Division rival Florida State (1-1) in their first league matchup of the season. Kickoff is set for 12 p.m. and the game will be televised on ESPN.
"Florida State, you get excited for a game like that," head coach Dino Babers said while addressing the media at his weekly press conference Monday inside the Iocolano-Petty Football Complex. "They are really, really talented. They've got outstanding personnel and good coaches. [Head coach Willie] Taggart's done a good job, and he's really been on the rise. It's going to be a really challenging task for us."
Barely 48 hours removed from a resounding 62-10 win against Wagner, the celebration is over, as Babers and his team have fully shifted their focus toward the Seminoles and the start of ACC action.Â
"We've got a game against a really good opponent that, at the start of the season, people circled as us probably not having a very good chance of being successful," Babers said. "We want to go out and compete to see how we do. We welcome the opportunity to see how we can do against them."
Florida State enters the contest with a 1-1 record, losing its opener against Virginia Tech before picking up its first win of the season in a nailbiter against Samford Saturday. Taggart and the Seminoles trailed by as many as 13 points - and by five late in the fourth quarter - but rallied to win, 36-26.
Babers isn't allowing that late, come-from-behind victory at home against a Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) team to distort his outlook of the opponent, however. Especially against a team that's beaten the Orange in each of the previous 10 meetings.
Last season, Florida State narrowly defeated Syracuse 27-24 in Tallahassee. The Orange more than doubled the Seminoles' passing totals, as Eric Dungey threw for 278 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 109 yards and a touchdown - all while playing with a broken foot.
"Now's the real test," Babers said. "They've got some guys who are bigger than us, some guys who are faster than us, and definitely guys who were more highly recruited than us and the guys that we're playing with. We're going to have to see where our development's at.
"It's an opportunity for our guys to have a fight against somebody their size. [Florida State] is a big guy that's coming in. We're not as big as [them] and we have to see how we're going to do."
Season and individual game tickets are on sale online (Cuse.com/tickets), by phone (888-DOME-TIX) and at the Carrier Dome Box Office (Gate B). Season tickets start at $125 for Syracuse's remaining home games. Single-game tickets to watch the Orange and Seminoles start at $35.
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For complete coverage of Syracuse football, follow us on Twitter (@CuseFootball), Instagram (@CuseFootball) and like us on Facebook (Syracuse Football).
The Orange (2-0) open the Atlantic Coast Conference portion of their 2018 schedule Saturday, hosting Atlantic Division rival Florida State (1-1) in their first league matchup of the season. Kickoff is set for 12 p.m. and the game will be televised on ESPN.
"Florida State, you get excited for a game like that," head coach Dino Babers said while addressing the media at his weekly press conference Monday inside the Iocolano-Petty Football Complex. "They are really, really talented. They've got outstanding personnel and good coaches. [Head coach Willie] Taggart's done a good job, and he's really been on the rise. It's going to be a really challenging task for us."
Barely 48 hours removed from a resounding 62-10 win against Wagner, the celebration is over, as Babers and his team have fully shifted their focus toward the Seminoles and the start of ACC action.Â
"We've got a game against a really good opponent that, at the start of the season, people circled as us probably not having a very good chance of being successful," Babers said. "We want to go out and compete to see how we do. We welcome the opportunity to see how we can do against them."
Florida State enters the contest with a 1-1 record, losing its opener against Virginia Tech before picking up its first win of the season in a nailbiter against Samford Saturday. Taggart and the Seminoles trailed by as many as 13 points - and by five late in the fourth quarter - but rallied to win, 36-26.
Babers isn't allowing that late, come-from-behind victory at home against a Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) team to distort his outlook of the opponent, however. Especially against a team that's beaten the Orange in each of the previous 10 meetings.
Last season, Florida State narrowly defeated Syracuse 27-24 in Tallahassee. The Orange more than doubled the Seminoles' passing totals, as Eric Dungey threw for 278 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 109 yards and a touchdown - all while playing with a broken foot.
"Now's the real test," Babers said. "They've got some guys who are bigger than us, some guys who are faster than us, and definitely guys who were more highly recruited than us and the guys that we're playing with. We're going to have to see where our development's at.
"It's an opportunity for our guys to have a fight against somebody their size. [Florida State] is a big guy that's coming in. We're not as big as [them] and we have to see how we're going to do."
Season and individual game tickets are on sale online (Cuse.com/tickets), by phone (888-DOME-TIX) and at the Carrier Dome Box Office (Gate B). Season tickets start at $125 for Syracuse's remaining home games. Single-game tickets to watch the Orange and Seminoles start at $35.
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For complete coverage of Syracuse football, follow us on Twitter (@CuseFootball), Instagram (@CuseFootball) and like us on Facebook (Syracuse Football).
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