Syracuse, N.Y. — As Syracuse students filed off the Carrier Dome football field on Saturday night, after their impromptu storming of the field, they chanted the name of the head coach into the air.

"Dino. Babers," they called out, clapping in between. "Dino. Babers."

Moments earlier, they had just unleashed one of the more emotional versions of the alma mater the building had seen in years, hundreds of fans swarming onto the field to join the football team in a corner of the end zone, a show of support usually saved for basketball season.

"For them to be able to experience that celebration when the security guards let everybody on the field, that was great," Babers said. "That's what college football is all about. That excitement and energy, it's so pure, it's so honest. When you're young and you get the opportunity to experience like that, it's always going to be special. It's something that's going to stay with you a very long time."

As players lifted their helmets into the air at end of the alma mater, their peers roared with approval. Adults stopped to take selfies, children ran free around the turf, and students roamed the Carrier Dome aimlessly, taking in the last few minutes of euphoria.

If a home win over the No. 17 team in the country ever felt like a momentous occasion, it was in the Carrier Dome on Saturday, where the Orange toppled Virginia Tech 31-17, the team's first win over an upper-echelon ACC team.

Surveying it all from a corner were a pair of public safety officers, standing where the student body had first broken free and begun the steady stream toward midfield, where fans and players moshed together in celebration.

"What were they ranked, No. 17?" one asked. "All of this for that? I mean, I'd understand if they were a top-ranked team."

"Hey," the other said, smiling. "It's been a while. Let them enjoy it."

It had been nearly four years since Syracuse beat a ranked opponent, a span of 12 consecutive losses, most by huge margins.

For those that have followed the program for years, it felt longer than that, with Doug

Marrone's fleeting success a mirage in the desert, stuffed between Paul Pasqualoni's decline, Greg Robinson's terrible tenure and Scott Shafer's struggles.

Babers came to Syracuse this season to fix all that, and his request upon arrival was for faith, belief without evidence.

That belief isn't easy, not for a fanbase that's endured so much losing in recent years.

In the bathroom at halftime, two long-time fans talked about the lean years and the test of loyalty. One admitted that after 20-plus years of fandom he'd considered staying home after the Orange looked so punchless against Wake Forest and took the field as a 20-point underdog.

Now, he was happy he'd come. And when it was over, when the celebration began, he was happier still.

Some might have called him disloyal if he hadn't shown up on Saturday, chalking his

skepticism as some sort of weakness. But Babers made the rare admission that he addressed doubts from his own players this week.

He called them "Kumbaya" meetings in his riveting locker room speech that went viral, and referenced to them twice in his conversations with the media during his post-game press conference.

"If I told you guys how stressful the last 48 hours of conversations with individual players, you guys have no idea," Babers said. "The whole thing was working together, working together. They did it. I'm happy they had that success. It's going to stay with them forever. That moment will stay with them forever."

Only six players on the Syracuse roster were on the team when the Orange beat Louisville 45-26 in 2012, and none of them started this week. Over their entire football careers, every key player who suited up against the Hokies had experienced nothing but losing against ranked opponents.

"After everything we've been through, that was big time," safety Rodney Williams said. "The energy and the atmosphere in the stadium, that was huge. We expected to win the game, coming in. But not too many did. When it happened, the fans were genuinely happy. It just created an atmosphere on the field that was unbelievable. I thought it was amazing."

Before we get too carried away, Babers said at the start of the season that there would be days that the team looked fantastic, and others that it struggled. Even the pretty performance against Virginia Tech doesn't change that.

In Babers' metaphor, the Orange football cake is still baking in the oven. But the 33,838 fans who got a lick of the spoon on Saturday were aching for any reason to believe the wait would be worth it.

As the final seconds ticked down, the crowd raised their arms in the air in jubilation. Balloons bounced around the stands. A trickle of fans turned into a stream toward midfield, celebrating the fact that Babers had given them a reason to believe again. And for those who might have needed a little help, Babers brought the evidence on Saturday, too.

"I'm happy for those guys in that locker room," Babers said. "And I'm happy for all of you, to get a taste of what this is going to look like."

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