It'll be Friday night lights, a national audience as one of just four nationally televised games on Friday night, and the toughest test yet when Liberty comes to town on Friday night.

The Flames are the stiffest competition yet, according to national pollsters, as they're just one place from cracking the top-25 of the AP poll heading into the game.

The Orange are looking to continue their past success on Friday nights. 'Cuse has won five of their last seven Friday games and holds a 6-3 Friday record under head coach Dino Babers. The streak includes 'Cuse's 27-24 win against No. 2 Clemson in 2017 and the 2018 Camping World victory against West Virginia as its most notable wins over that time. Syracuse has two Friday night games on the 2021 slate, including a Oct. 15 matchup against Clemson in the Carrier Dome. The Orange are 15-6 (.714) in weekday games since beating Kansas State in the 2010 Pinstripe Bowl.

While it will be a shorter week of preparation for the Orange, Coach Babers knows his players will be excited for the opportunity.

"The players need to be fresh. The key thing is to make sure we get our practice in on Monday and we'll get our practice in tomorrow and then back off of these guys and try to get them to the game on Friday as fresh as they can be because they'll be playing in front of their friends," Babers said. "It's that Friday night game, everybody that plays a Saturday night game gets to watch while they're sitting in the hotels. All of their buddies will see them, all their high school buddies, all their college buddies, coaches across the country, other coaches calling coaches, head coaches calling head coaches. It's a fabulous opportunity to put our program in the limelight."

Syracuse goes for its second-straight win after defeating UAlbany, 62-24, last Saturday. The Orange offense averaged 9.4 yards per play, which is the second-highest single-game total in program history, while the defense limited the Great Danes to just 135 yards of total offense. Still, Coach Babers feels his team can improve.

"We're really excited about being 2-1," Babers said. "I thought there were parts of the game that were extremely clean and then, obviously, some things were not so clean – penalties and whatnot. But I do believe our young men played extremely hard."

Friday's game is the last of three-consecutive home games for the Orange, its longest homestand of the season. Syracuse goes on the road for its ACC opener against Florida State on Oct. 2 before returning home to host Wake Forest on Oct. 9. After waiting nearly two years to welcome fans back to the Loud House, Coach Babers had this message for Orange Nation:

"The first message is thank you so much for coming out. Thank you for being a part of it. If you've liked what you've seen, come back. Maybe it's going to be a heck of a game. If you haven't liked what you've seen, come back so you can boo and be heard. The key thing is get in there and come back. Let's fill that place up and let's show people what Syracuse is all about all the way across the nation on Friday night."