Saturday, which brought clear blue skies and sun for parents’ weekend, stood not just as an opportunity to show off Syracuse, but for Fran Brown to (rightfully so) flex his muscles for what he had built up on the hill. Despite returning fresh off their 38-21 victory versus Clemson, and returning home with a record of 3-1, the Orange were defeated by the Duke Blue Devils.
But ‘defeated’ does not do this loss justice. Rather, they were embarrassed by Duke 38-3 in front of a sold out JMA Dome. Nobody was as disturbed by the loss as Brown, who apologized postgame to “Syracuse, the fan base, just everyone who follows this football program”.
While calling this loss “bad” could be an understatement, the Orange started behind the sticks with Rickie Collins making his first college start after the season ending injury of Steve Angeli. In the loss, Collins struggled to find a groove early. On the first drive, he was picked off when looking for Ross-Simmons down the sideline. Collins finished 24/37 with 1 interception.
Through the game, Rickie Collins was extremely uncomfortable, flustered, and unsure. The checkdowns looked like a challenge, and the deep throws looked nearly impossible to complete. The offensive performance was especially concerning as Duke came into the matchup as statistically the worst defense in the ACC.
The playcalling did not help Collins either. The idea of establishing a run game (versus a bad rushing defense) for an inexperienced quarterback is not exactly rocket science. But in the loss, Yasin Willis and Will Nixon combined for a season low 18 carries. Rickie Collins also threw on far too many first downs which made it tough to convert on 3rd and manageable.
The question now is how much to take away from Rickie Collins’s week 5 performance. Keep in mind that Steve Angeli struggled in his first two weeks this season as well. Don’t forget that in week 2, Orange nation booed Steve Angeli screaming “we want Rickie” after a slow start versus Colgate.
While Rickie Collins looked less than stellar, Syracuse faithful cannot write him off after one bad performance. Even in the loss, the talent and raw upside was clear, but his ability to transfer into a complete quarterback is still a question. Developing for Collins is realizing that he does not need to be superman, but rather act as the point guard for an Orange offense littered with talent.
And until Jeff Nixon and Rickie Collins come to that understanding, the losses will continue to pile up. But as seen by the development of Kyle McCord and Steve Angeli in their short time starting under Fran Brown, there is still hope for Collins.
