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Fran Brown’s second season with Syracuse was disastrous. The Orange won just three games and finished dead last in the Atlantic Coast Conference following their 34-12 loss to lowly Boston College. It was the cherry on top of a litany of bad results, including a 70-7 drubbing against No. 9 Notre Dame.

Syracuse’s season was a far cry from what Brown accomplished in his debut season. This time last year, SU was celebrating an upset win over then-No. 6 Miami, which appeared to be a program-defining victory. Now, Brown is forced to rebuild a winning roster once again. He’ll get a boost under center when Steve Angeli recovers from his torn Achilles, but plenty of questions remain.

The Orange’s schedule was tough. They faced five ranked opponents, all away from home. They lost each one and ended the season with eight-straight losses, SU’s longest losing skid since 2020.

There are plenty of reasons for Syracuse’s (3-9, 1-7 ACC) 2025 demise. Here are four headlines that defined its disappointing season:

Fran Brown’s mishandling of SU’s Quarterbacks

Brown made a mockery of Syracuse by mishandling its quarterback situation. Once Angeli went down, the Orange’s season was a wash. Losing a starting quarterback is tough, especially one who led the country in passing through SU’s first four games. However, that doesn’t excuse having a minus-220-point differential across the final two-thirds of the season.

Rickie Collins — Angeli’s replacement — was tasked with keeping Syracuse’s offense afloat. The LSU transfer never put together a consistent performance and faltered at every turn. Most of that came down to his decision-making. Collins tossed 10 interceptions, tied with Miami’s Carson Beck, SMU’s Kevin Jennings and Stanford’s Ben Gulbranson for the ACC’s worst mark, despite playing in five fewer games than Beck and Jennings.

After just four starts, Collins was benched, beginning SU’s quarterback carousel. Brown started true freshman walk-on Joe Filardi on Oct. 31 against North Carolina. Filardi committed to SU for lacrosse before walking on to the football team, so appearing in a game — let alone starting one — seemed impossible. Alas, it went horribly. Filardi performed like a walk-on against Bill Belichick, completing four passes for 39 yards.

When Syracuse traveled to play then-No. 18 Miami the following week, Collins returned. Another subpar performance, Brown started Filardi for SU’s last two games. Nothing changed. The Orange scored two offensive touchdowns in Filardi’s three starts.

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It’s easy to see why Brown would look elsewhere when Collins struggled. But playing a walk-on, whose primary sport isn’t even football, wasn’t the answer. It’s hard to say Syracuse would’ve won with Collins under center, though it likely would’ve been more competitive in the games Filardi started.

Redshirt freshman Jakhari Williams could’ve been an option, though he was seen in a sling on the sidelines against BC. Freshman Luke Carney got some snaps throughout the year, but they were spotty. And Rich Belin, another freshman, never appeared in a game.

Angeli will be Syracuse’s starter next season, barring any health setbacks. But after how SU nosedived without Angeli, Brown will probably look for a steady backup or two in the portal, so the Orange aren’t as reliant on the starter’s health.

Porous defense

If there was anything worse than Syracuse’s quarterback play, it was its defense. The Orange allowed 34.9 points and 427.5 yards per game, which ranked last and second-to-last in the ACC, respectively. Defensive coordinator Elijah Robinson couldn’t steer his unit in the right direction, allowing at least 30 points to all but one of SU’s Power Four opponents.

Robinson’s unit was bad in 2024, ranking 14th-worst in the conference in points allowed and 12th-worst in yards surrendered. But with Kyle McCord helming the offense, SU’s defense could afford to play poorly. It came up with timely takeaways and stops when needed. Angeli’s success introduced a similar dynamic early, but without him, the margin for error was thin.

In 2024, Syracuse forced opportune turnovers, with 16 takeaways (11 interceptions, five fumbles) compared to 10 (five interceptions, five fumbles) in 2025. The Orange’s pass rush was also non-existent, only producing 20 sacks this year.

The defense was often put in tough spots, as the offense couldn’t move the ball consistently. Still, that doesn’t excuse the poor performances week after week. Outside of holding Clemson to 21 points, the Orange didn’t have a standout defensive outing. They even let Boston College — a team which hadn’t won since August — hang 34 on them.

There are pieces for Syracuse to be successful. Cornerback Demetres Samuel Jr. didn’t look out of place as a 17-year-old, while freshman linebacker Antoine Deslauriers had a solid season. Both of them confirmed they’d return to Syracuse next year. Though if Robinson’s unit wants to improve, the Orange must dip into the transfer portal to acquire more talent.

Coaching shuffle

Ahead of Syracuse’s matchup with Miami, Brown shuffled his coaching staff. Wide receivers coach Myles White left the program, and Josh Gattis took over. Quarterback coach Nunzio Campanile was moved to the tight ends, with Michael Johnson Sr. replacing him. At the time, Brown searched for a spark to break SU’s five-game losing streak.

“Sometimes, styles make fights, and there’s different things of that nature to go around,” Brown said of the decision on Nov. 3. “But for us to get the best out of our players for the last three games of the year, for us to possibly try to go and fight, to be able to have a fourth game and to do all the things that were needed, I felt as though there was some stuff that needed to happen on our staff.”

Following Syracuse’s loss to Boston College, Brown didn’t say if he’d make more changes to his coaching staff, refraining from making any “impulsive statements.” He did reiterate that Robinson and offensive coordinator Jeff Nixon would return, though.

But on Monday, Footballscoop.com reported Brown is reshaping parts of his coaching staff. He let go of special teams coordinator Ricky Brumfield, despite the unit’s consistency for most of the season. Other departures included linebackers coach and co-defensive coordinator Robert Wright and defensive backs coach Joe Schaefer. Those decisions make a lot more sense, considering Syracuse’s poor defensive play this year. The final departure was offensive line coach Dale Williams.

It was clear Brown needed to make a change. The onus is now on him to find adequate replacements to improve the Orange next year.

Missed opportunity in the ACC

Later this week, No. 16 Virginia and Duke will face off in the ACC Championship Game with a spot in the College Football Playoff on the line. It’s one of the unlikeliest Power Four conference championship games ever. Duke has a pedestrian 7-5 record, and Virginia was 14th in the Preseason ACC Poll. Neither program was expected to be in this position before the year.

Five ACC teams finished with two conference losses this season, all of whom SU faced. The conference was wide open, and if Angeli was healthy, Syracuse could’ve been in the mix. Instead, the Orange finished at rock bottom of the conference.

Their ACC games weren’t particularly close either. They got off to an ideal start, with their first-ever win in Death Valley over Clemson. But they followed it up with a 35-point loss to Duke and continued that slide with double-digit losses to SMU, Pittsburgh and then-No. 7 Georgia Tech. SU closed the year with defeats to North Carolina, Miami, Notre Dame and BC.

Brown and Syracuse will be left thinking what could’ve been if Angeli was healthy. Last year, the Orange probably felt similar after losses to Stanford and Boston College ruined what could’ve potentially been an outside shot at the CFP. Hindsight is 20/20, though, and Syracuse can’t change anything now.

Published on December 1, 2025 at 9:33 pm
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