Stepansky: SU’s best road win under Fran Brown signals shift toward title contention
Our columnist writes that SU's win over Clemson was its best road win under Fran Brown, a sign of changing times for the program’s future. Courtesy of Dennis Nett: Syracuse.com
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CLEMSON, S.C. — Fran Brown saw what Dabo Swinney and Clemson did out of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Tigers’ head coach helped them win nine ACC Championships and two national titles in the past 15 years. From his opening press conference at Syracuse, Brown proclaimed he could replicate Swinney’s success.
“I watched other teams in the ACC a few years ago win national championships here. So it’s going to happen here,” Brown said on Dec. 4, 2023 in his opening statement.
Despite Brown’s respect for the Tigers, he hadn’t got to match up with them as the head man until Saturday. SU squads of the previous eras went in with a hot start but waited for any waning moment of futility to collapse. This time around, with Brown at the face of the program, the Orange went in for the kill shot. They didn’t miss their mark.
“We were playing to win the game today,” Brown said. “We weren’t playing to try to stay in the game. We wanted to play the game to win the game”
This was all part of the blueprint. Syracuse’s 2024 schedule featured little opportunity for Brown to establish himself against a nationally known brand. Yes, the Orange took down then-No. 8 Miami at home in the season finale. And they knocked off then-No. 25 UNLV for a big win last season, their best on the road.
But this one was different. A 34-21 win over a blue blood — as Brown calls Clemson — is a turning of the tide. The Tigers have struggled in 2025 — they entered Saturday unranked. But this is still a nationally regarded powerhouse. And in one of the most hostile environments in the sport, Brown and his team didn’t just pass the test. They aced it.
Overcoming a lightning delay and the loss of its starting quarterback for the fourth quarter almost looked too easy. It was done with grace and swagger rather than panic. With Brown in charge, this can’t be a rebuilding season as once suspected. He won’t allow it. The chips are all in, for now, and the future.
Brown’s “cojones,” as they say, were on full display early and often. Score an opening touchdown in front of 80,000 opposing fans and follow it with a surprise onside kick. Fourth-and-2 near midfield. Why not? He instantly established the Orange as the aggressor despite losing the opening coin toss.
While Brown admires Swinney as a “top five coach” in the country, his lack of Swinney’s traits is helping him turn Syracuse around. Swinney, at 55 years old, is stuck in his ways, rarely diving into the transfer portal to supplement his roster. His stances even caused legendary college football coach Nick Saban to call him out on College Gameday, saying the game has changed, and Clemson’s coach needs to change with it.
Why do you think Saban left college football? The Name, Image and Likeness world isn’t for everyone. Neither is the transfer portal, despite more specific rules around revenue sharing thanks to the House v. NCAA settlement this past summer.
But Brown is quite the opposite. He’s perfect for this era, continuously going viral on a near-weekly basis for his words. Coaches like Swinney, who dare to not adapt to changing times, are dying out. The Browns of the world are the new kids on the block, slowly but surely taking over the country.
As the Orange led nearly wire-to-wire at Memorial Stadium, Brown’s ability to recruit players from both high school and college was on full display. Syracuse’s defense played extremely well, led by Devin Grant’s 10 tackles. Of course, Grant was a pickup from the transfer portal.
SU’s top two receivers Saturday, Johntay Cook and Justus Ross-Simmons, came out of the transfer portal through Brown. Its offensive line was totally revamped through the spring transfer portal, taking some time to gel but eventually standing up to Clemson’s ferocious front seven.
When Steve Angeli went down with what looks to be a left leg injury that will keep him out for at least a few weeks, the Orange again turned to their depth built in the transfer portal. Rickie Collins emerged and found the endzone on his second pass, building a much-needed cushion for Syracuse entering the fourth quarter. Are you seeing the trend here?
This entire team was built through Brown. It was forged by his innate ability to form relationships and build a culture with zero fear to walk into a raucous crowd, fight off setback after setback and emerge victorious.
But not only is Brown’s player acquisition acumen sticking out. It’s his growth in coaching too. Brown admittedly worked on his sideline calmness and control over the offseason, helping the Orange pull out a comeback win against UConn in Week 2.
Postgame on Saturday, he was quick to admit his trust in his coaches. New special teams coordinator Ricky Brumfield designed the onside kick. Brown trusted Brumfield to pull it out when he thought it was best.
“We just had to have the guts to do it when you’re playing one of the better teams in the country,” Brown said.
He added that he felt he was in offensive coordinator Jeff Nixon’s way in the season opener against Tennessee. This time, Brown let Nixon cook.
As Nixon, Kyle McCord and the rest of Syracuse’s high-powered offense helped knock off Miami to cap last season, Brown foresaw the next steps in his blueprint. He didn’t deem the year as a success because the Orange fell short of the conference and national championships. Brown did admit the success was progress, however. He then spoke his future outlook into existence.
“It tells them that we for real,” Brown said of the win over the Hurricanes. “It’s my first year to have the opportunity of doing this. So the weight room will play a part. We will get bigger. We’re recruiting bigger kids. Our team will be bigger. So, if you want to come and win a national championship, because that’s all I think about, is being able to do that, then you should come here because it’s coming.”
When the Orange clinched their 10th win against Washington State in the Holiday Bowl, Brown recognized this as a new norm, a standard set. But he wants to go beyond that.
Despite the season-opening loss to Tennessee, the victory over Clemson opens the gates for Brown’s second season to be more than a development year. It now can be the year where Brown officially cements the Orange as the pride of the ACC.
I’m not saying Syracuse will win the ACC Championship this season. Angeli’s absence will cause bumps along the way, and this roster is still mightily young. But everyone can tell Brown is coming, sooner rather than later.
“This is just a glimpse of what we can really do,” Ross-Simmons said.
Aiden Stepansky is a Senior Staff Writer for The Daily Orange, where his column appears occasionally. He can be reached at amstepan@syr.edu or on X @AidenStepansky.
