My great, big insult following the Syracuse-Clemson football game and all those students parading past and over us as we tried to watch the action on the field lasted, well, 15 days.

A little less, actually, because I made up my mind that yes, we’d give our season tickets a chance for Saturday’s Carrier Dome contest against Boston College sometime after we’d watched the Orange’s road game victory over Virginia Tech eight days after that Friday night tumult and before game day proper with the Eagles.

My dear wife Karen asked me: Should we not use those two tickets and parking pass already paid for and see what happens? So, I thought about the Facebook answers I’d read on my post from various pro-and-con people who’d also attended that Clemson game, as well as a ticket booth worker for Syracuse University who explained the procedure of expanding the student section that had been followed, and went with my wife.

We are still talking about next season. There’s still one game left against Pittsburgh come the Saturday following Thanksgiving.

I wanted to gauge behaviors at a 3:30 p.m. start compared to that 7 p.m. Friday night biggest-game circus.

We left our house for our parking lot 2 hours, 15 minutes before game time, figuring that would give us plenty of time on the drizzly day in the 50s to sit in my car to share a beverage or two, walk up to the quad to show our vaccination cards and obtain the green bracelets as proof, and go through the gates with the tickets on my iPhone to settle into our seats to watch some of warmup process and the Pride of the Orange marching band’s performance.

The weeklong promotion had been how SU’s previous star quarterback, Eric Dungey, was returning for this homecoming day and would visit cool tailgate spots. I had just finished telling my dear wife Karen that our lot was not cool enough for Eric to visit when a commotion burst a parking aisle away.

Hello, Mr. Dungey.

The man who led us to 10 wins in what seems like both a long time ago and not that long ago at all graciously allowed Karen to snap off a photo of us with my iPhone.

Happy moment!

He’s tall. I still think he should be playing in the NFL. I know, homer.

An hour before game time, we started the walk up the hill toward the dome.

Students were posing with costumed characters on the steps of Hendricks Chapel. I had a clear view toward the ghost but not the Orange.

We snaked our way fairly quickly to get our green bracelets at the vaccination/COVID test proof tent, and made quick way at the entrance gate as well.

On homecoming day, not too many fellow fans were inside the dome when we got to our seats as the clock read 2:58 p.m., 37 minutes until the 3:35 p.m. kickoff.

Attendance was still fairly light at 3:15 as Karen and I clapped for the Pride of the Orange.

Syracuse took the field to its traditional cloud-of-smoke pomp at 3:28, and I traditionally wondered where some of the fans were if this game was going to hit the 30,000 mark as they’d been saying this week.

J rather enjoyed the ACC sportsmanship week pregame touch with all the players lining up near the center of the field at 3:30 p.m.

An interesting game it was, too, with defenses holding for Boston College’s 3-0 halftime lead and Syracuse erupting boom-boom-boom for two long touchdown runs by star running back Sean Tucker and emerging transfer QB Garrett Shrader and then a mercury-quick punt return TD by special teams this-game replacement Courtney Jackson.

Syracuse won 21-6 to move to 5-4. The Orange needs one more win in tis last three games to become eligible to play in a bowl game. Interesting season, this has become.