Boy, last night was a doozy. What an upsetting, unforgettable game for Syracuse fans in a 41-13 loss to No. 19 Pittsburgh. After another bye week, the Orange fell flat again, even more so than in the first bye week when Syracuse lost last-minute to Stanford.
Tons of excitement and anticipation surrounded this game, but SU emerged hopeless and distraught. With a chance to make a statement on ESPN on a Thursday night, Syracuse showed nothing to the college football world despite receiving votes in the AP Top 25 in the previous weeks and being on the verge of a third ranked win of the season.
So, who’s to blame for the loss?
The main narrative centers around quarterback Kyle McCord, as it should. The QB, who’s been so dominant for Syracuse this season, faltered in a big way. McCord threw FIVE interceptions, including THREE pick-sixes. Those numbers are real. The Ohio State transfer went from rock solid and consistent to utterly miserable in the span of one game.
While some fans may think the SU season is completely over and McCord can’t bounce back from this performance, this dreadful outing (his first “bad” game of the season, by the way) should motivate him to get back on the train.
Plus, there are no more breaks from now until the end of the season. With the two bye weeks behind them, that should calm things down a little bit and limit the overthinking that Syracuse has endured.
Shouldn’t head coach Fran Brown take a bit of the heat this week? Maybe he didn’t have his full team ready to go from the jump, because the Syracuse offense looked frazzled from the start. Heck, the Orange couldn’t even get their defense on the field because the interceptions were returned for touchdowns.
Throw this loss in the trash and replace it with a fresh bag because there’s still another month left in the regular season.
