No matter who is playing QB for Syracuse, the desperate Orange need a win against UNC

In the lull of lengthy second half media timeouts and replay reviews during last week's Syracuse loss at Georgia Tech, we spent some time from the press box observing through binoculars a restless Luke Carney pacing back and forth on the SU sideline.

The Orange backup QB, listed just behind Collins on this week's depth chart, certainly looked like he was just waiting for the call to take over, while simultaneously being resigned to the fact that was not going to happen unless Collins got injured.

After acknowledging the predicament of going winless under Collins Monday at his weekly news conference, Brown took matters one step further Wednesday during an appearance on Cuse Sports Talk, declaring more than one quarterback would play for the 'Cuse Friday, but would not reveal any other details to aide Carolina coaches in their preparation.

Brown is as impatient as any coach when it comes to losing

That is what happens when you get spoiled winning a national championship at Georgia. Brown has seen first-hand under Kirby Smart how it is done, and that was an eye-opening part of the plan he outlined when he was hired for the SU job.

A rebuilding second season was going along just fine under QB Steve Angeli, his weekly development along with a lot of fluidity in the ACC was a good combination to have the 'Cuse potentially contend for the league championship game, or at least win enough games to return to a bowl game.

The part that stood out to us from Brown's, as usual, honest comments Wednesday, were how he broke the 12 game regular season down into three, four game snapshots. The team was 3-1 under Angeli, 0-4 under Collins, and is now 0-0 under whomever with four games left starting Friday against the Tar Heels (7:30 p.m. ET / ESPN).

"I can't do that no more (simply name Collins the starter for the last four games)," Brown said. "You won't just see Rickie in the game, I can tell you that for sure. You've got to open that competition up, we've got four more (games). So we're hoping this time we can switch it around and go 4-0, right?""

With road games at current 10th ranked Miami and No. 12 Notre Dame (and an open week) following UNC, that is going to be a tall task.

Which SU QBs are likely to see the field against North Carolina?

Brown's caveat when asked Wednesday if Collins was still the starter was, "depending how he practices today" so if Collins practiced well, he is likely to start having had the most reps and time with the playbook, but it is certainly not a given and keeps Carolina coaches guessing.

Then again Brown may not have liked what he saw Wednesday and has decided to make a change.

Logically, Carney would seem next in line based on the depth chart and his game experience as the third-stringer against Colgate September 12, replacing backup Collins (in for Angeli in the rout) for a play when the backup's helmet came off, and designated by Brown as a spark-plug in explaining his insertion for Collins in the third quarter against Pitt with SU down by 10.

Either way, with Brown insisting multiple players will quarterback the team, and even though Carney's stats are limited to 2-of-3 passing for 10 yards with 18-yards rushing and a TD in the one play against Colgate, with the other options being r-freshman Jakhari Williams (listed behind Carney), and freshmen Rich Belin, and Joe Filardi, none of whom have seen action, it is likely Carney and Collins are the players who will face the Tar Heels.

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