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ATLANTA — To begin Syracuse football’s first game week of 2025, second-year head coach Fran Brown had no idea who was going to start on his offensive line against No. 24 Tennessee.

The Orange underwent a litany of changes in the trenches this offseason, notably losing Savion Washington to the NFL and David Wohlabaugh Jr. to Virginia in the transfer portal. To replenish, they brought in former Louisville center Austin Collins and former Florida State guard TJ Ferguson, as well as heavily-recruited freshmen Trevion Mack and Byron Washington.

All the new faces made it difficult for Brown and offensive coordinator Jeff Nixon to hone in on a first-team line. The starters weren’t revealed until Saturday morning. Of the Orange’s Week 1 offensive line group — Mack, Ferguson, Collins, Joe Cruz and Da’Metrius Weatherspoon at right tackle — only Cruz played back in SU’s last regular-season game in November 2024.

Syracuse’s new-look O-line completely lacks continuity. So, it wasn’t too grand of a surprise the Orange allowed five sacks to the Volunteers on Saturday. Brown says they weren’t prepared enough and took full responsibility for it.

“It’s not about the player; it’s about being able to execute, and it starts from the top down,” Brown said. “I got to make sure I go back and watch everything, do everything the right way to make sure that I put the guys in position to be able to execute.”

“Five sacks is on me,” he added.

Issues protecting starting quarterback Steve Angeli doomed Syracuse (0-1, 0-0 Atlantic Coast) in its 45-26 season-opening defeat to No. 24 Tennessee (1-0, 0-0 Southeastern). Brown said postgame you can’t win when getting sacked five times. He’s right. One of the Volunteers’ quarterback pressures led to a scoop-and-score touchdown, while another led to Angeli’s lone interception of the afternoon. He was under duress all day long.

The Orange entered Saturday with a laundry list of questions concerning their offensive line.

They departed Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium facing even more uncertainty in the trenches.

“As long as I’m the football coach, that’ll never be acceptable for us to do that,” Brown said of the Orange allowing five sacks.

It made life for Angeli quite difficult. Most of his SU debut was spent evading pass rushers in creamsicle-orange jerseys. Brown thought there were a few moments where Angeli could have gotten the ball out earlier, but for the most part, he felt SU’s signal-caller admirably dealt with constant pressure in his face.

The Volunteers disguised their pressures very well, Brown said, keeping Syracuse’s line off-balance. Tennessee defensive coordinator Tim Banks dialed up tons of stunts, all-out blitzes and presented SU with a seemingly infinite number of front-seven alignments.

“Bringing backers from different levels, having them then go outside, also going inside on the front and having (the linebackers) blitz from the inside, they did a good job doing that,” Brown said of Banks’ unit.

“I think they’re a well-coached defense, they play extremely hard and do a great job in coverage,” Angeli added. “Hats off to them. They’re a great football team.”

Though the Orange gained an offensive rhythm at times in the second half, they gave up too many untimely sacks that ravaged their chances at putting together crucial scoring drives.

Syracuse’s offensive line struggled to protect Angeli, leading to his two turnovers on the day. Leonardo Eriman | Photo Editor

With Syracuse down 10-0 on its second drive of the game, Tennessee WILL linebacker Arion Carter shot through SU’s offensive line like a cannon on third-and-9, leaving Collins frozen while he contemplated helping on Carter. Angeli, scanning the right side of the field, spotted Carter late before the linebacker dropped him for a 10-yard loss, leading to a Jack Stonehouse punt.

Syracuse’s defense delivered its crowning moment of the game in response, as edge rusher David Reese recovered a fumble from Volunteers’ quarterback Joey Aguilar. The Orange offense got the ball back on their own 25-yard line, hoping to flip the momentum.

Two plays into the drive, Angeli faced immense pressure from Tennessee’s Nathan Robinson, who ripped the ball from Angeli’s control. Angeli had lost balance after Collins stepped on his foot, contributing to the fumble. The ball rolled back toward SU’s end zone at the 22-yard line, where Colton Hood scooped it and took it to the house for a touchdown. The strip sack scoop-and-score allowed the Volunteers to close the first quarter with a 17-0 advantage.

“There’s still a couple mistakes to clean up, errors that Tennessee capitalized on,” said Orange running back Yasin Willis.

Things got worse once Syracuse entered desperation mode. SU gave up a six-play, 75-yard Tennessee touchdown drive that began with 1:55 remaining before halftime. Clearly, while down 31-14, the Orange felt compelled to muster an improbable scoring drive with 21 seconds on the game clock.

Nixon called a play from the shotgun where Angeli rolled slightly left to try and escape pressure. He looked to throw a deep shot, but Joshua Josephs already beat Weatherspoon on the right edge and came charging at the quarterback. Josephs pummeled Angeli from behind and forced a fumble that Weatherspoon pounced on top of, saving Syracuse from an unmitigated disaster.

Little did anyone know that’d be the precursor for the start of SU’s second half. To open the third, Tennessee sent an array of blitzers at SU’s offensive line. Jalen McMurray barreled at Angeli and tipped his throwaway pass attempt, which Volunteers’ linebacker Jeremiah Telander picked off. Seven plays later, Tennessee increased its lead to 38-14.

Last season’s Syracuse squad ranked 41st in the nation in pass blocking grade, per Pro Football Focus, with a mark of 72.6. That’s a well-above average figure. But its line often faltered when facing top-flight pass rushes, such as against former Virginia Tech edge rusher Antwaun Powell-Ryland and former Boston College defensive end Donovan Ezeiruaku.

With a significantly more challenging schedule facing them in 2025, finding consistency within the offensive line is paramount for the Orange. When Angeli runs for his life all afternoon, SU doesn’t stand a chance against some of the blue bloods packing its slate. It’s the element preventing Syracuse from competing against a program like Tennessee — a severe size and mobility discrepancy in the trenches.

“Five sacks is unacceptable no matter what,” Brown said.

Are changes coming to Syracuse’s first-team offensive line next week against UConn? Brown says don’t count on it.

“A couple people could be coming in and start telling me, ‘You got to get better players, you got to get better players.’ Nah, my players are straight,” Brown said, retaining belief in Saturday’s starters. “We gotta execute.”

Published on August 30, 2025 at 7:26 pm
Contact Cooper at: ccandrew@syr.edu | @cooper_andrews