It’s been a rough couple of weeks on the hill for Syracuse football. After cruising past Clemson in Death Valley, Cuse has dropped back to back games for the first time under Fran Brown. With consecutive losses to Duke and SMU, the Orange stand at 3-3. Understandably, fans are growing restless with the current state of the Orange.
But Johntay Cook’s uncle, who called into ESPN Radio’s Cuse Sports Talk Show following the loss, crossed the line with his remarks. “I’m the reason he went to Texas. And I am going to get on the phone with his father and we are going to see what we can do. We cannot let Rickie [Collins] ruin our chances of getting to the league” stated David Cook. Johntay, who spent two years with the Longhorns, transferred to Syracuse in hopes of more playing time.
Uncle David attacking Rickie Collins in a minute-long rant is a weak and cowardly move. But most of all, his statements are one sided and fail to tell the whole story. Yes, Rickie Collins has looked bad in the last two weeks. But It’s worth noting that Cook has been better under Collins than Angeli. In two weeks with Collins, Cook has totaled 156 yards compared to just 234 yards in the 4 games with Angeli.
His statements are also unfair to Rickie Collins, who was pushed into the starting role after the season ending injury of Steve Angeli. No, he has not been perfect. Far from it. But the expectations that the ex-LSU Tiger would shift into the starting role seamlessly was unrealistic from the start. Keep in mind that Collins was named the backup quarterback, with very little prior experience and in-game opportunities while in Baton Rouge.
After last year’s unprecedented 10-4 campaign, Syracuse had to fall back to planet earth at some point in time. But the slide came sooner than expected. While Jontay Cook’s uncle took his frustration to unprecedented levels, this is perhaps a wake up call to all of Orange nation to re-think expectations. Realistically speaking, Syracuse’s goal this year is not to win the ACC, nor achieve another 10 win season, but rather, to find themselves bowl eligible.
After the loss, Syracuse heads into a timely bye week. The Orange look for answers on both sides of the ball before hosting Pitt.
