Football School - Fran Brown Is The Messiah At Syracuse And Kyle McCord Without a Doubt Was Never The Problem At Ohio State
Syracuse Football has been in desperate need of an awakening for quite some time. It's been brutal, man. Looking back at their recent coaches and seeing Doug Marrone as the clear cut best guy is not a pretty sight. Since Marrone you had the incompetent Scott Shafer and the overmatched Dino Babers. Neither of those guys were close to the answer and only set the program back further.
In steps Fran Brown.
When Fran was announced as the new Syracuse head coach it was seen as a big breath of fresh air. That being said, it was for sure a gamble considering his resume. Fran had never been a head coach in his career, with his highest honor handling the DBs at Georgia. He was, however, known as the best recruiter in the country. This guy can convince you to come to play ball. Only snag in that was the always-changing landscape of college football with NIL and conference realignment. Recruiting was a bit different than it had been in the past. Cuse needed to open the checkbook to coaches and players if they were really going to change the losing culture that was establishment by Babers, Shafer, and Marrone. They needed a QB who could air it out.
Enter Kyle McCord.
After being seemingly banished from Ohio State following another disappointing year under Ryan Day, McCord entered the transfer portal in hopes to prove he wasn't the problem. Fran Brown jumped right in and made sure they got their guy. After a few good games I had a lot of people telling me "just wait for him the other shoe to drop." Little did they know the run of mediocre QBs we've seen try and lead the Orange over the recent years: Tommy Devito, Rex Culpepper, Garrett Shrader, Carlos Del Rio Wilson to name a few. None of those guys were serious game changers by any means. If McCord could just be average he would be a giant step above those guys. Well, he wasn't just average, he was great. He led the country in passing yards and became Cuse's first ever 4,000 yard passer. To put things in perspective…
In the middle of the season Fran Brown dropped this line in a presser directed at Ryan Day. Ohio State fans lost their minds, still believing McCord was the problem and that Will Howard was their answer.
I believe the line Tate said in response to this was "our trash is your treasure."
Thankfully yesterday happened to get everyone on the same page. On the same day Ohio State lost to an unranked Michigan at home as a 20 point favorite, Syracuse upset number 6 Miami for the biggest win the program has had in years. Will Howard was terrible while McCord was fantastic.
With 45 seconds remaining and needing a field goal to keep the game going, Howard gained all of one yard on their final drive. McCord, on the other hand, was special throwing for 380 yards, three touchdowns, while committing zero turnovers.
It's good to be Kyle McCord right now.
Fran Brown and Kyle McCord helped lead the Orange to a 9-3 regular season record, beating three top 25 teams in the process. Syracuse hadn't done that since 1998.
Syracuse football hasn't been relevant in quite some time. Under Babers they had moments of euphoria with a big upset here and there, but nothing was sustainable. Obviously we'll have to see in the long run with Fran how real this is, but right now it feels awesome. That guy is a leader of men. He brought in a ton of talented recruits and coaches while landing the perfect QB for the job. There are coaches meant for the NIL era of college football and there are coaches who don't have the hunger for it. Fran Brown might be perfect for this moment. While the basketball team continues to fall flat on its face, it's nice to see the football program back on two feet and moving forward. I'm not expecting Fran to be able to keep his talented coordinators, but I don't he's going anywhere anytime soon. We'll have to land another elite QB to keep the momentum going, but after a win like that I don't think he'll have any issues. Syracuse is back.
P.S. Now let's fire Autry and get a big, external name to bring the basketball team back to the promised land.
P.P.S. Fuck Ohio State