SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) – The irony of it all.

Just six days after Boston College pulled the old switcheroo on Syracuse and abruptly decided to leave the Big East, the two teams play each other on Saturday.

Don’t expect the Eagles’ defection to provide any inspiration for the Orangemen. Sure, there are hard feelings here among administration officials, but on the football field it’s a whole different story.

“It’s not going to have any impact on the game at all,” Syracuse coach Paul Pasqualoni said. “The one thing I know about players at this level is, you can give them the best fight talk, but when they step out on that field and the ball is kicked off, they revert back to being competitive and playing the game. No matter what you’ve said, they’ve forgotten all about it.

“I have a hard job believing that any of this would carry over to the game. There’s too many other things to think about.”

And a few to forget. Paramount on the amnesia list for Syracuse (3-2, 0-1 Big East) is last week’s 51-7 shellacking at No. 3 Virginia Tech. It snapped the Orangemen’s modest two-game win streak and left them still wondering how good – or bad – they really are.

Better hope that trend doesn’t continue. The Orangemen fell behind 21-0 in the first quarter to the Hokies and that was it. They allowed a 75-yard touchdown run by quarterback Bryan Randall on the third play from scrimmage and two punt returns for touchdowns by DeAngelo Hall.

The Tech defense also stopped tailback Walter Reyes in his tracks, stacking the line of scrimmage with nine players. Reyes was held to 40 yards rushing, 130 below his nation-leading average entering the game.

Reyes was overshadowed by Tech’s Kevin Jones, who had 131 yards rushing and scored twice. Now he faces BC’s Derrick Knight, who has taken over the lead in rushing with 147.7 yards per game, and a defense that’s allowing only 119 yards rushing per game.

Boston College (4-2, 1-1) is coming off a 38-13 win at Temple and has beaten Syracuse three of the last four times the teams have played, including 41-20 last year at Alumni Stadium. That’s enough motivation, but Syracuse tight end Joe Donnelly and quarterback R.J. Anderson certainly don’t need any.

“I think I hate Boston College more than any other football team,” Donnelly said. “My senior year, I do not want to lose to this team.”

“There’s that animosity,” said Anderson, a Connecticut native. “I’m not really a fan of the state of Massachusetts, personally. It has nothing to do with Boston College. I just hate the Red Sox. I hate the Celtics. I hate the Patriots. I really don’t like anybody out there. I hate everybody.”

As for that defection.

“I would guess the bull’s-eye that we have on our chest got a lot bigger,” BC coach Tom O’Brien said. “But that’s fine. That’s just what we’re going to have to face from now on, but so be it.”

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Notes:Syracuse is 8-2 in the Carrier Dome against Boston College … BC’s Quinton Porter accumulated 339 yards of total offense against Temple, hitting 18-of-24 passes for 301 yards and three touchdowns. He also rushed for 31 yards and did not throw an interception … Knight has 2,896 career rushing yards, fourth on BC’s all-time rushing list. He needs 79 yards to pass William Green and is 701 yards shy of Mike Cloud’s school record of 3,597 … Pasqualoni said tailback Damien Rhodes is still nursing a bad ankle and is very questionable … Reyes has scored a touchdown in 10 straight games to tie Jim Nance’s school record, set in 1964.