Honestly, if you took a snapshot of Syracuse football back in mid-September, you’d have thought Fran Brown was about to get a statue built outside the JMA Wireless Dome. The vibes were high. The syracuse university football score against Clemson—a massive 34-21 upset at Death Valley—had fans thinking about the College Football Playoff.
But football is a cruel game. It basically took one snap to turn a dream season into a nightmare that ended with an eight-game losing streak.
By the time the final whistle blew on the 2025 season with a 34-12 loss to Boston College on November 29, the Orange had plummeted to a 3-9 record. It’s kinda wild to think about how fast the floor fell out. You’ve got a team that started 3-1 and then just... forgot how to win.
The Turning Point Nobody Talks About Enough
Everyone points to the quarterback situation, and they aren't wrong. Steve Angeli was absolutely lighting it up. He was leading the nation in passing yards through four weeks. Then, the Achilles injury happened.
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When you lose a guy who has already thrown for 1,317 yards and 10 touchdowns in a month of play, you don't just "plug and play" the next man up. Syracuse tried. They cycled through the "Rickie Collins experiment" and even some wildcat looks with Dan Villari.
Nothing worked.
The offense, which looked like a top-25 unit in September, turned into a group that couldn't stay on the field. You saw the result in the syracuse university football score against Notre Dame in late November. A 70-7 blowout. That wasn't just a loss; it was a total system failure. The Irish defense actually scored three touchdowns before their own offense even broke a sweat.
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Breaking Down the 2025 Scoreboard
If you're looking for a silver lining, you really have to squint. Here is how the season actually looked on the "Cuse" ledger:
- The High Note: That Clemson win. 34-21. It was the first time Syracuse looked like a physical, dominant Power 4 team in a long time.
- The Trap: Losing to Duke 38-3 right after the Clemson win. It was the start of the slide.
- The Rock Bottom: The Notre Dame game. 70-7. In 15 minutes of real time, the game was over.
- The Final Blow: The 34-12 loss to Boston College. A game for the basement of the ACC that SU just couldn't win.
The defense, led by young guys like Freshman All-American Antoine Deslauriers, kept things close against Pitt (13-30) and SMU (18-31), but you can't win games when your offense is averaging barely 10 points over the final two months.
Why the Scoreboard Will Look Different in 2026
Fran Brown isn't sitting on his hands. He basically fired half the staff as soon as the season ended.
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He brought in Vince Kehres from Toledo as the new defensive coordinator. If you follow MAC football, you know Kehres had one of the best defenses in the country last year. He also snagged Juan Castillo, a guy with 40 years of NFL and college experience, to fix an offensive line that looked like a revolving door by November.
And the best news? Steve Angeli is coming back. Brown has been very blunt about this: "Steve will be the quarterback next year."
What to Watch Next
The 2026 schedule is already looking like a gauntlet. The ACC is moving to a nine-game conference schedule, and the Orange have a home slate that includes Clemson, SMU, Louisville, and Cal. There’s also the big Notre Dame game at the Dome, assuming the schedule holds.
If you’re a fan, here is your checklist for the next few months:
- Watch the Transfer Portal: The window closes today (January 16), but the commitments are already rolling in. Brown is currently sitting on the highest-ranked recruiting class in school history.
- Spring Ball Performance: Keep an eye on the offensive line. If Castillo can't get that unit to protect Angeli, the scoreboards won't look much better in 2026.
- The Schedule Release: The full 2026 dates drop in late January. Mark your calendars for that season opener against New Hampshire on September 5.
The 2025 season was a dud, no doubt about it. But in the world of the transfer portal and NIL, a 3-9 team can become a 9-3 team pretty fast if the right pieces click. We'll see if Fran Brown's "championship standard" is just talk or if the syracuse university football score starts reflecting the hype again.