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Could Dino Babers have envisioned a more nightmarish scenario entering his team's supposed showdown with Clemson?

You open the season against Liberty and your starting quarterback can't throw it in the ocean when he's throwing downfield.

A week later at Maryland, your defense -- which looked stout in the opener -- gets ripped to shreds to the tune of 63 points and 650 yards (a whopping 354 of them on the ground).

And then, once back home in Syracuse after that miserable trip to College Park, you turn on the film to see Clemson's defense shutting down Kellen Mond and Texas A&M's offense.