Dino Babers begins his fifth full season as head coach of the Syracuse Orange on Saturday as 'Cuse travels to take on the No. 18 UNC Tarheels in the opening weekend of ACC Football.

The Orange offense is again lead by Tommy DeVito, who has thrown for 23 TDs and 8 INTs, to go along with 2,885 yards in 20 games (11 as starter) with Syracuse. The redshirt Junior has completed 60.6% of his pass attempts, good for the third highest percentange on the school's all-time list. Trishton Jackson, who racked up 1,000 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns in 2019, is now gone to the NFL's Los Angeles Rams. The speedy Taj Harris is expected to be DeVito's top passing option - Harris was second in receptions and yards last season, totaling 559 receiving yards and two TDs.

Unfortunately for the Orange, running backs Abdul Adams and Jarveon Howard opted out for the 2020 season earlier this week, Syracuse.com reported.

Although, neither had been with the team in camp and were absent from the team's depth chart, Adams and Howard were expected to lead the Orange rushing attack. Now, that falls on redshirt Junior Markenzy Pierre and Sophomore back Jawhar Jordan will assume their roles, the site reported.

Wide receiver Cameron Jordan also left the program in late July.

After a 10-3 record in 2018 that saw 'Cuse climb as high as twelvth in national polls, a disappointing 2019 followed with a 5-7 campaign that did not yield a bowl appearance.

This season, ESPN projects 'Cuse to finish 14th out the ACC's 15 teams. Meanwhile, CollegeFootballNews.com sees Babers and company going 5-6, finishing in a tie for 11th in the conference. And, CBS Sports' consensus prediction of 134 media members also has the Orange ending the season in 14th.

Gametime is set for noon on Saturday with the Tarheels coming in as 23-point favorites, as of this posting. The game will be aired on the ACC Network, channel 388 in Utica and Rome.

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