The Syracuse Orange football team heads into the bye week at 3-3. It’s a record many of us expected, but the last three weeks leave us all feeling down about being .500 at this point in the season. After
winning at Clemson, the Orange have dropped two straight games in which they were trailing by identical 24-3 halftime scores.
Once again, Syracuse hurt themselves early and never got on track. Rickie Collins did not take a step forward in his second start and his coaches and teammates didn’t pick him up like Fran Brown stated they needed too. Now with a fanbase where some (mistakenly) thought the Clemson win could lead to a 9-win season have pivoted to calling for a 9-loss season, Brown has his biggest challenge.
Can he get his staff and his team to regroup and be ready to start fast against Pittsburgh? Syracuse has three more home games and Pitt, North Carolina and Boston College are clearly steps below Georgia Tech, Notre Dame and Miami.
It’s the first time in Brown’s tenure where Syracuse has lost back-to-back games and what’s frustrating is that nothing was cleaned up this week. Penalties, missed assignments, coaching indecision all cost the Orange in the loss. Don’t get me wrong, I’d get Fran’s signature on an extension this morning because he’s got this program on the right track. His team didn’t roll over yesterday, but it’s clear that right now the offense needs a fix.
Everyone has decided Rickie Collins needs to be benched and maybe that’s true, but I’m not going to tell you that I’m confident either Luke Carney or Jakhari Williams would be better in this offense. To me, the bigger decision comes from Jeff Nixon and what he is going to do with the offense he wants to run to make it the offense the Orange can run.
To many keep screaming about establishing the run, but it was another week where Yasin Willis had a big run with a hurdle and little else. It’s not his fault, but lining up in power was unsuccessful and running just to put a young quarterback in long-yardage situations isn’t a great plan. After breaking out, Darrell Gill has been largely absent from the passing game. Can Nixon devise the best path forward for the offense for whichever quarterback takes the snaps against the Panthers? There is enough time to figure out something that can deliver points no matter who gets them.
Failing to get to six wins after a 3-1 start will be a major disappointment, no matter how you want to spin it. Yes, it’s a tough schedule. Yes, losing your starting QB is crushing. Yes, it’s a season we expected to see some struggles…but you don’t have to look hard to see the casual fans already turning the page. Now, Brown has to get his squad to give them reasons to hang in with this group as it tries to get back to where we all want to be.
There is no savior for the season arriving, so the answers must come from inside the Lally Complex. We’ll find out in two weeks if this is a test Brown and his team can ace.
