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There’s blood in the water of the Atlantic Coast Conference. But after losing to Duke Saturday, it’s difficult for Syracuse to smell it.

Clemson, the ACC’s typical powerhouse, is 0-2 in conference play. No. 8 Florida State lost to unranked Virginia in a wild affair Friday evening. SMU already has a pair of losses and fell out of the AP Top 25 Poll. The only sure thing is No. 2 Miami: a bonafide National Championship contender. After that, who knows who else could make the ACC title game?

SU head coach Fran Brown certainly thinks the Orange can. He speaks ad nauseam about his program’s goal to capture ACC Championships and win national titles. Even though it lost starting quarterback Steve Angeli to a season-ending Achilles tear, Syracuse’s 3-1 start showed it has dark horse potential to compete for a conference championship.

Then reality set in. In their first game post-Angeli injury, the Orange got obliterated in their own house by Duke. SU’s new starting quarterback, Rickie Collins, struggled while Blue Devils star signal-caller Darian Mensah picked the Orange apart. Syracuse lost the turnover battle 3-0 and failed to generate many chunk plays while Duke racked up 16 plays of 10-plus yards.

As wide open as the ACC is, the gap the Orange need to fill just became much narrower.

Here are some key observations from Syracuse’s (3-2, 1-1 ACC) lopsided 38-3 loss to Duke (3-2, 2-0 ACC) Saturday afternoon in the JMA Wireless Dome:

The Rickie Collins show

Collins, a redshirt sophomore LSU transfer, made his first-career start in Division I football Saturday versus the Blue Devils. The advanced analytics indicated Collins’ first opponent was a welcome one, with Duke ranking dead last in the ACC with a pass coverage grade of 46.2, per Pro Football Focus.

Yet, Collins went through the wringer in his starting debut at Syracuse.

SU’s offense punted five times and turned it over on downs twice in its 35-point defeat to Duke. Collins finished his day 24-for-37 passing with 229 yards and an interception. He played from behind virtually the entire contest.

Collins tested Duke defensive back Kimari Robinson on his first throw of the game, finding wide receiver Johntay Cook for an 18-yard gain after he drew one-on-one coverage. Collins hit Cook again for another sizable gain to inch Syracuse near the red zone.

But then, Collins got too comfortable. He tossed a ball into double coverage intended for Justus Ross-Simmons that was intercepted by Blue Devils’ free safety Caleb Weaver. Duke drove down the field and kicked a field goal afterward.

Collins had a few strong moments. On a third-and-11 play midway through the first, Collins stayed calm in the pocket and delivered an 18-yard strike to Darrell Gill Jr. He also connected with Cook for a couple of significant pickups — Cook finished with eight catches for 84 yards.

For the most part, though, Collins played like an inexperienced quarterback. Which he is.

Defending Darian

Mensah — who inked an $8 million NIL deal with Duke this offseason after transferring from Tulane — is one of the best signal-callers SU will face this year. The sophomore racked up 1,305 passing yards through his first four games as a Blue Devil, ranking fourth in the country and second among ACC quarterbacks behind Angeli’s 1,317.

He’s proficient in the pocket and an electric scrambler, a combination that never bodes well for an opposing defense. SU second-year defensive coordinator Elijah Robinson called a cover 2 man defense for most of the game, consistently putting QB spies on Mensah and blitzing with less regularity than he had previously.

Mensah pretty much did whatever he wanted in the first half, accumulating 203 passing yards and two touchdowns. His crucial third-and-5 completion to wide receiver Cooper Barkate set up running back Nate Sheppard’s 49-yard rushing touchdown late in the first. And a fourth-and-2 conversion where Mensah scrambled for a first down on a play-action bootleg helped Duke end the first half on a 12-yard receiving touchdown by Barkate.

Saturday was a recurring pattern of letting Mensah outside the pocket while SU subsequently paid the price. He controlled the game’s flow. Mensah closed his afternoon with 268 passing yards on 22-of-28 completions.

Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers

The turnover discrepancy destroyed Syracuse’s chances of winning on Saturday. The Orange coughed the ball up three times and surrendered 10 Blue Devils’ points off those giveaways.

It started with Collins’ opening-drive pick, which the Orange responded well to by bending but not breaking to force a Duke field goal. A subsequent field-goal drive from Syracuse and a Blue Devils’ punt essentially wiped away Collins’ interception, though.

Then came the fumbles.

Cook fumbled early in the second quarter following a big hit from Duke linebacker Jaiden Francois. The play was under review for a potential targeting call, but officials said Francois hit near Cook’s head was clean. Three snaps later, the Blue Devils scored to make it 17-3.

Cook, who limped off the field multiple times during SU’s loss Saturday, fumbled again to end the Orange’s first drive of the third quarter. Duke rover safety DaShawn Stone laid Cook out with a violent hit, causing the receiver to lose control of the ball, which cornerback Kimari Robinson recovered for the Blue Devils.

Although Syracuse responded by inducing a three-and-out, the fumble put its offense on the wrong foot to start the second half. Soon, the Orange found themselves trailing 31-3 halfway through the third.

Freight train takes flight

Yasin Willis is known for his freight-train-esque running style. But what happens when a large locomotive like him takes flight?

Willis showed the world that exact scene in the first quarter Saturday. On a first-and-10 rush from Duke’s 41-yard line, Willis scampered through the A gap untouched before meeting Weaver one-on-one in the Blue Devils’ secondary. Willis leaped several feet over a diving Weaver’s head en route to a 35-yard rush to bring SU inside the 10-yard line.

It set the tone for a solid outing from Willis against Duke. SU’s sophomore running back totaled 11 carries for 63 yards. His bruising running style helped wear down the Blue Devils’ defense at times and provided balance to take pressure off of Collins.

Willis lived in the A and B gaps throughout the game as Syracuse’s guards and center Austin Collins locked down Duke’s interior defensive line. He took advantage by bursting through open gaps without hesitation, like he did on a fourth-and-1 first-down pickup early in the second quarter when SU trailed 17-3.

But the story of Willis’ day is the lack of chances he received as the contest progressed. The Orange were in desperation mode the entire second half, which isn’t a recipe for a ground-and-pound playstyle.

A deflated Orange

The stakes of this game were clear. Win, and you move to 2-0 in conference play while establishing yourself as a contender in the ACC. Lose, and you’re back to a .500 conference record while failing to break away from the pack in a wide-open field.

But without Angeli leading the charge, Syracuse played like a different team than the one that showed up in Death Valley last week.

This loss wasn’t all on Collins — the Orange had porous pass defense and Cook uncharacteristically coughed the ball up twice — but starting Saturday’s game with a pick caused an immediate hush over the SU faithful inside the Dome. The Orange lacked energy on Saturday, made evident by their inability to generate more than two plays of 20-plus yards and zero caused turnovers.

In the fourth quarter, when fans began gradually flooding out of the stadium, the faces of Syracuse’s sideline had turned into stone. Expressionless. Motionless. It appeared as if the players were in disbelief at the beatdown in front of them.

There’s no way around it: the Orange looked deflated without Angeli. Time will tell if Collins, or anybody else, can reenergize them.

Published on September 27, 2025 at 3:19 pm
Contact Cooper at: ccandrew@syr.edu | @cooper_andrews