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Syracuse Football at a Crossroads After Angeli Injury

It was just a few weeks ago that there was a plethora of optimism building around the Syracuse football team. Quarterback Steve Angeli was the nation’s leader in passing yards through three weeks of the regular season.

It brought back memories of what Kyle McCord did for SU last year. The only difference was many people knew what the former Ohio State standout could provide, Angeli was the one that Syracuse fans didn’t exactly know what to expect after his transfer from Notre Dame.

Angeli was cruising, and SU was 3-1 with an upset win on the road in Death Valley over the Clemson Tigers.

But that’s when the season took a turn for the worst. Angeli got hurt in the third quarter, left the game, and emerged with a torn Achilles that would force him out for the remainder of the season.

It was a brutal hit for Syracuse, after such a promising start in an extremely difficult schedule going into the season.

So, the Orange turned to Rickie Collins. And it hasn’t been the same. Wild throws, inconsistencies, you name it. And it hasn’t all fallen on Collins, but of course, the quarterback usually gets the blame.

Syracuse has been embarrassed. A blowout loss to Duke at home. And then a lopsided loss at SMU.

The bye week couldn’t have come at a better time for the Orange with a night game against Pitt coming up this weekend, followed by a tough road matchup against a ranked Georgia Tech team.

The extra days should allow for some time for Collins to gel with the rest of the offense, and for the defense to get back to what it was.

There’s still plenty of time in the season for Syracuse to turn it around, but based on what SU has looked like the last two weeks, that turnaround has to come sooner than later.

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The Fizz is owned, edited and operated by Damon Amendolara. D.A. is an ’01 Syracuse graduate from the Newhouse School with a degree in Broadcast Journalism.

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