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Message: [QUOTE="A Clockwork Orange, post: 2702232, member: 16"] So I dug into the numbers tonight to see how SU has fared historically against ranked teams on the road. I did this firstly because I wanted to see how a win this weekend would rank in terms of the greatest wins of all time for this program. I looked back all the way to 1939 (the first time college football reference shows SU playing ranked teams). So here are some numbers all time. [LIST=1] [*]SU is 27-72-1 all time in games against ranked teams on the road and at neutral sites. [*]Taking out neutral site games, SU is 22-64 all time against ranked teams on the road. That's a 34% winning percentage. [*]Since 1990, SU is 11-33 in true road games. [*]SU has not won against a ranked team on the road since October 23, 2010 against West Virginia. They were ranked 20th. [*]That is 7 years, 11 months and 3 days since our last win against a ranked opponent on the road. [*]The longest such drought SU has ever had was from November 25, 1967 when SU beat #4 UCLA 32-14, to October 19, 1991 when SU beat #20 Pitt on the road 31-27. This stat does NOT include neutral site games. [*]In case you were wondering, that is 23 years, 10 months and 24 days between wins against a ranked team on the road. [*]The last time we beat a top 5 team on the road was on October 27, 2001 at VPI. We won 22-14, spurred on by a Jamel Riddle punt return for a touchdown. VPI was ranked #4 at that point in the season. [*]We have NEVER beaten a top 3 team on the road. All time we are 0-13 against top 3 teams. [*]We have never even lost a road game against a top 3 team by single digits. The closest we've come is two 10 point losses. [*]We lost to #1 Ohio State in the very first game of the season in 1980 by a score of 31-21. We also lost to #2 Pitt in 1976 by a score of 23-13. [*]The average score in games against top 3 teams is 42-8. [*]Since 1990 we have played five road games against top 3 teams. The average score of those games is 50.2-4.8. [*]The closest loss in that time frame was a tight one down in Miami in 1990. We only lost by 26 points, 33-7. [/LIST] If SU were to go on the road to Clemson and somehow pull out a victory, it would count as the most improbable win in this team's history. If I were a betting man, I would take Clemson and the points. Our history bears that out. While crazy things can and do happen in college football, I'm not sure I can see a way SU beats Clemson this Saturday. Frankly, winning ATS would be a big victory (historically speaking). I can dig into numbers more if any of you have questions. Just let me know. [/QUOTE]

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