After a 26-24 loss to the Stanford Cardinal in mid-September, the Syracuse Orange seemingly regained their momentum in October.
The Orange bounced back from the defeat with wins over the Holy Cross Crusaders, UNLV Rebels, and NC State Wolfpack before going into their bye week at a healthy 5-1.
Syracuse’s return from bye was a disaster, though. The Orange fell 41-13 to the Pittsburgh Panthers Thursday evening in Pittsburgh. The performance was worse than the score indicated, as Syracuse quarterback Kyle McCord threw five interceptions, three of which were returned for Panthers touchdowns.
Despite the poor outing, Syracuse head coach Fran Brown said pulling McCord was never a consideration. Instead, the first-year head coach said, he wanted to show his quarterback he believed in him.
“Stay focused, keep pushing, I’m with you. We’re doing this all the way ‘til the end. So I said, ‘Things happen like that. The ball ain’t landing our way. It should land our way the second half. We’ll see how it goes,” Brown said after the game. “He’s our quarterback. He’s our leader. And that’s why we stuck with him and we’re going to continue to stick with him. I mean he just had one bad game, so it’s part of football. I think you’ll be able to see the kind of fighter he is as he keeps going from here on out,” he added.
To Brown’s credit, McCord was much better in the second half than in the first half. Four of his five interceptions, including all three pick-sixes, occurred in the game’s first 30 minutes. McCord finished the game 35-for-64, the second time this season he’s thrown 60 or more passes in one game. He also had a rushing touchdown.
McCord and the Orange have a chance to get back on track next week when they host the Virginia Tech Hokies on November 2.
