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DALLAS — Fran Brown has never lost two games in a row as a head coach. Until now.

Following an embarrassing 38-3 defeat to Duke last week, the Orange followed it up with another poor performance against SMU. Once again, Syracuse didn’t play complementary football. Rickie Collins’ inconsistent play continued in his second start, while SU’s defense continued to look like one of the worst in the country.

For the second straight week, the Orange were played off the field by a much better team. Brown prides himself on bouncing back from adversity. His team was knocked to the canvas seven days ago. It had a chance to get back up on the road. Instead, it completely floundered.

Here are some observations from Syracuse’s (3-3, 1-2 ACC) 31-18 result against SMU (3-2, 1-0 ACC):

4th down nightmares

Syracuse was ultra-aggressive in the first half on fourth downs. With their defense playing poorly, the Orange needed some way to keep it off the field. In their first five drives, they went for it five times, only punting once.

The first came on Syracuse’s opening possession. After Wade McSparron shanked a punt, Syracuse took over in SMU territory. It took the Orange five plays, but they eventually got into the red zone. Syracuse’s offensive line isn’t a strength, so picking up first downs in short-yardage situations is always a daunting task. On its first fourth down, it used Dan Villari on a wildcat play to convert and get SU inside the 5-yard line.

The offensive line didn’t create any leverage on the next couple plays. Yasin Willis went airborne, but was stuffed on third and goal from the one. On SU’s second fourth down, Collins tried his luck at muscling the ball over the goal line on a quarterback sneak, but didn’t get close.

Down 10-0 in the second quarter, Syracuse went for it again in its own territory needing a yard. Willis had no room and tripped before making it to the line to gain. Willis made up for it on the next drive with a six yard run on fourth and two, however Syracuse faced their fifth fourth down of the half.

Once again, the Orange decided to go for it. Collins had Willis wide open in the flat and missed him. It only took SMU six plays to go 90 yards and make it 24-0.

Collins’ struggles persist

Rickie Collins left a lot to be desired in his first career start against Duke. Despite throwing for 229 yards, the LSU transfer looked shaky, and Syracuse’s offense failed to get into the end zone for the first time since Dec. 2023. Collins immediately knew he needed to be better, so he asked Brown to go over the film that night, the head coach revealed on Monday. Brown said the two stayed well past midnight analyzing Collins’ performance.

It turns out studying film doesn’t necessarily translate into ideal results on the field. Collins’ struggles persisted in his second start.

Collins led SU down to the goal line on its opening drive. On fourth and goal, he tried to push his way over the goal line on a quarterback sneak, but was stuffed. On the first play of SU’s next drive, Collins threw an interception. Dan Villari ran a curl route and was crowded by multiple SMU defenders. Collins still attempted to force the ball into a window that wasn’t there, and Brandon Miyazono picked it off.

Near-interceptions were commonplace for Collins throughout. He often stared down receivers, ripping off passes to his first read. Sometimes it works. A lot of the time it doesn’t. Collins connected with Justus Ross-Simmons and Johntay Cook up the seam for plays of 52 and 38 yards, respectively.

Yet, Collins couldn’t muster any consistency with those throws. After hitting Ross-Simmons to get SU into the red zone for the second time, he threw the ball right at linebacker Zakye Barker, who couldn’t survive a collision with the ground to come up with an interception. On fourth down, the quarterback missed a wide-open Willis in the flat, which would’ve been a walk-in touchdown.

Following Cook’s catch toward the end of the half, Syracuse only mustered a field goal. Collins was forced to continue to air the ball out as SU tried to close its deficit, but wasn’t very effective until the game was out of reach.

He hit Emanuel Ross for 20 yards and Villari for 26 with SU down 31-3. Then came a 22-yard scramble to set the Orange up inside the 10. He capped off SU’s first scoring drive in over eight quarters with a rushing touchdown.

Following a Davien Kerr interception, Collins gave the ball right back. He locked onto Darrell Gill Jr., who hadn’t shaken free of Marcellus Barnes Jr. The former SU cornerback picked off Collins. On the Orange’s final drive, Collins heaved another desperation pass up, which ended in his third pick.

Collins became the first quarterback since Carlos Del Rio Wilson in 2023 to complete under 50% of his passes.

Willis the hurdler

Yasin Willis decided his hurdle last week over Duke cornerback Caleb Weaver wasn’t enough. On SU’s first drive, Willis bounced a tackle to the left side and somehow leaped over another defender to gain a first down. On Monday, Brown said Willis needed to get the ball more. It’s something he’s mentioned throughout the season, but hasn’t necessarily backed it up.

There was a concerted effort to get Willis the ball against the Mustangs. At least for SU’s opening drive. The sophomore carried the ball seven times on SU’s opening drive, and, while he wasn’t picking up chunk plays, it was a wrinkle the Orange needed.

A good run game could make up for Collins’ struggles. However, once Syracuse fell down by multiple scores, running the ball wasn’t as feasible. After the opening drive, Syracuse only gave Willis the ball five more times the rest of the half.

He finished with 15 rushes for 41 yards, receiving four touches in the second half.

Jennings’ efficient outing

Kevin Jennings wasn’t playing his best football entering Week 6. The quarterback was second in the ACC with five interceptions and was failing to recapture the magic that helped him lead SMU to the College Football Playoff last season in his first year as a starter.

Saturday was a different story. Jennings completely ripped Syracuse apart with accurate short passes to anybody and everybody. The redshirt junior completed the ball to eight different receivers, and none of them totaled more than 71 yards.

Jennings took advantage of soft coverage on the outside, completing quick bubble screens to receivers. SMU often set up with two receivers on the far side of the field, and, since Syracuse wasn’t playing press coverage, Jennings fed them the ball.

SMU also had success attacking Syracuse on long crossing routes. On multiple occasions, a Syracuse defender lost their man because they ran into traffic over the middle. First it was Kerr. Jennings hit Yamir Knight, who got open after Kerr was screened off by Mathew Hibner. Knight was wide open and then escaped Kerr’s last-second tackle attempt before getting into the end zone.

On SMU’s following possession, Jennings found RJ Maryland, who had nobody within 10 yards of him after a breakdown in coverage. Maryland walked into the end zone untouched.

Whenever Jennings dropped back to pass, his receivers found a way to get open. He had an impressive tight-window throw to Hibner for 29 yards and fired a bullet on the outside to Maryland for 24. Those were Jennings’ two biggest pass plays of the day.

He didn’t air the ball out much, especially after SMU gained a substantial lead in the first half. And for the second straight week, quarterback play was a deciding factor in Syracuse’s domination.

Published on October 4, 2025 at 7:08 pm
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