Axe: Syracuse football hits the low point of the Fran Brown era

Syracuse, N.Y. — After Syracuse football’s 45-0 loss to South Florida in the Boca Raton Bowl nearly two years ago, Fran Brown told his team it’d never lose like that again.

What he didn’t tell them it that things can get worse.

Much worse.

With all due respect to the Union College juggernaut that beat Syracuse by scores of 75-0 and 66-0 when there were only 44 stars on the U.S. flag in the 1890s, Saturday’s 70-7 loss at No. 9 Notre Dame now occupies rock bottom in the 136-year history of Syracuse football.

Brown is staying the course in the stormiest seas he has encountered in 24 games as SU’s head coach.

“It’s a humbling experience,” Brown said after the game. “This may sound crazy, but just the opportunity of getting the chance to learn from that and being able to watch that football game tonight and throughout the week and learn from that the entire offseason. There’s a lot of good I see from that football team that I want my football team to look like.”

Syracuse in no way, shape or form looked like it belonged on the field with Notre Dame on Saturday, just one year removed from defeating No. 8 Miami.

Notre Dame was up 21-0 on Syracuse before it ran a play on offense.

The Orange managed to lose by 63 points despite having the ball for more than 41 minutes.

Notre Dame’s 13.7 yards per carry set a record for most yards allowed per carry in a game in Syracuse history.

I kept checking my watch to see what time the varsity game started.

The fact Brown sent freshman walk-on and lacrosse stud Joe Filardi to the wolves again as his best option shows how the most important position in sports was bungled by the SU staff this year after Steve Angeli went down with an Achilles injury at Clemson.

LSU transfer Rickie Collins, once anointed as the successor to Kyle McCord, was an epic and expensive misfire.

Redshirt freshman Jakhari Williams never saw the light of day when healthy (he was unavailable on Saturday due to an arm injury).

Brown said Syracuse had to be careful with freshman Luke Carney’s reps to maintain his redshirt, then put him on the field against the Irish to “give Filardi a rest.”

Um, What? Why couldn’t Collins do that?

Syracuse now loses the chance to give Carney the needed routine and full week as the starter to prep for the season finale against Boston College to close the season at the JMA Dome.

What a mess.

Brown is putting all his chips in the middle of the table on Angeli returning healthy in 2026 to return normalcy and consistency to his offense.

Brown will still have to recruit depth at quarterback out of the transfer portal, with the knowledge that Angeli is a clearly stated QB1 by the head coach when he gets the all-clear from the doctor to return to the field.

Brown said last week that both offensive coordinator Jeff Nixon and defensive coordinator Elijah Robinson will return in 2026 despite both the offense and defense ranking near the bottom of the ACC.

Nixon has proven his offense can flourish with the right quarterback at the controls.

SU led the nation in passing at 370 yards per game with McCord in 2024, and Angeli was leading Division I football in passing with yards when he got hurt.

His 1,317 yards are still more than the other three quarterbacks’ combined total on the year, despite being sidelined since Sept. 20.

Robinson has overseen a defense that finished 79th in the country last season and entered Saturday’s contest against the Irish 123rd nationally in giving up 430 yards per game.

Brown said he’d like to see his defense look like the one that bullied his offense for four quarters on Saturday in South Bend to averaging just 2.6 yards per play.

“We’re giving too many turnovers and not getting any takeaways,” Brown said. “We have to be able to switch that. It’s something we’ve got to keep working on this offseason.”

It begs the question: What has Robinson demonstrated in two years on the job to show he can elevate SU’s defense to come close to being the well-oiled machine the Irish were against the Orange on Saturday?

Can Brown see his perilous defensive situation with clear eyes?

Is his loyalty to Robinson based on what he has accomplished on the field or a lifetime friendship?

Brown’s first season was unquestionably an instant success in winning 10 games with a mixture of key holdover veterans (Oronde Gadsden II, LeQuint Allen, Trebor Pena, Justin Barron, Marlowe Wax, Alijah Clark) and an infusion of veteran talent in the portal (McCord, Fadil Diggs, Jackson Meeks).

His second season has become the part of the story where the narrator interjects to say the main character has reached his low point.

Will the third act in 2026 bring the redemption?

Brown has been pointing to the blinking neon sign “next year” pretty much since Angeli went down.

“We’re just excited about the future,” Brown said on Saturday. “They know what we’re building. They know what we’re doing.

“We need some guys to be able to come in here and help right away, and they’re excited to do that.”

Brown’s bet on a youth movement fixing SU’s problems is a bold one.

Some of Brown’s bets on freshmen have paid off handsomely with 17-year-old phenom cornerback Demetres Samuel Jr., linebacker Antoine Deslauriers and offensive guard Byron Washington demonstrating instant on-field success.

How many more “insta-stars” lurk in a 2026 class of 30 commitments ranked 25th in the country will determine whether SU’s attempt to escape the ACC’s basement succeeds.

Brown had solid receipts to show potential recruits and transfers on how they could build on SU’s success after a 10-3 run in 2024.

Now he’s building on a “trust me” verbal promise fueled by the projected return of Angeli, making some hits in the portal and the depreciating value of a 2024 season to get SU right again in 2026 after this one turned out to be a lost season.

Brown’s message will have the hardest time cutting through after a 63-point loss.

Going forward, the proof must come by what Brown does and not by what he says.

He’s lost not all, but some of the benefit of the doubt.

The 2025 Syracuse football season was fated to be a step back with its tough schedule and transition from an AARP convention to a youth movement on the roster.

It turned out worse than most of us could imagine, regardless of what SU does against Boston College to formally close out the season at the dome two days after Thanksgiving.

Brown has shown he can turn around the fortunes of Syracuse football in a hurry.

Now he has to do it again in the wake of the worst loss in the modern era of the program.

Notre Dame is scheduled to play Syracuse again in 2026.

That matchup should provide a firm full-circle moment on whether Brown was able to rescue SU football from the depths it sunk back to on Saturday or if he was just full of empty promises.