A Tough Ending to 2023 but a Bright Future Ahead for Syracuse Football

By Sydney Supple

Boca Raton, F.L. — Syracuse football had felt untouchable these last two weeks since the hiring of Head Coach Fran Brown. As the transfers and recruits filtered in the past few weeks, the football program started to make headlines nationally. However, with Syracuse still having one game left to play in the season it became blatantly clear, there is still a lot more change and growth that needs to happen.

Syracuse came into this bowl matchup against South Florida University with similar offensive and defensive statistics, so the spread was projected to be a close final score. However, the score ended up being anything but close as South Florida defeated Syracuse in the Boca Raton Bowl 45 to 0.

South Florida’s offense was one of the quickest in the nation as they were the only college football team to average over 80 plays per game, which they also did against Syracuse contributing to the lop-sided score. The other factor is that South Florida’s defense has holes when covering pass-heavy offenses but with a run-heavy offense like Syracuse that only fed into their strength and eliminated players like LeQuint Allen, who is the engine that drives Syracuse’s offense.

RB LeQuint Allen was held to just two yards in his 20 carries.
RB LeQuint Allen was held to just two yards in his 20 carries.

Another factor that played into this game was red-shirt freshman and South Carolina transfer Braden Davis made his first start in orange. Despite being shut out offensively for the first time in Syracuse bowl history, he did have a few promising moments that interim head coach Campanile recognized and stated this game would pay dividends towards his future.

Redshirt freshman QB Braden Davis went 6/13 for 84 yards in his first start with the Orange.
Redshirt freshman QB Braden Davis went 6/13 for 84 yards in his first start with the Orange.

While Campanile, Marlowe Wax and Dan Villari spoke post-game about the obvious disappointment of the game’s outcome, Fran Brown picked up the team in the locker room after saying they were done losing after this and the guys full-heartedly believe him. Until the work can start Brown encouraged each played to go home and spend the needed time with families and loved ones so when it was time to come back to campus and work, they’d be ready to set a new foundation down on the program.

“What you can expect to see next year is the same players but with a refined attitude as they mold under Fran’s D.A.R.T (detail, accountable, relentless and tough),” said Campanile who praised Brown on being the exact type of man he expects his players to be.

As the 2023 season closes on a somber note, there is hope on the horizon as the football program looks to begin a new chapter.