Syracuse's upset over Clemson another goal checked off in Fran Brown's world

Minus your starting quarterback? Keep moving on with the No. 2 guy. Weather delay at halftime altering a tightly orchestrated routine? No worries, a little playful wresting match in the locker room will help kill time. The Syracuse head coach is relishing the underdog label as his Orange continue to build the program's foundation, after their eye-opening 34-21 victory Saturday afternoon against a Clemson program headed in the other direction.

September 20, 2025; Clemson, South Carolina, USA; A jubilant Syracuse coach Fran Brown waves to the Orange supporters inside Memorial Stadium following Syracuse's 34-21 upset victory over the host Tigers. Syracuse improved to 3-1 and 1-0 in the ACC with the victory. Mandatory Credit: Brad Bierman, The Juice Online-On SI | Brad Bierman, The Juice Online-On SI

On an afternoon in which his team lost starting quarterback Steve Angeli to an undisclosed lower left leg injury, for an undisclosed, but likely long period of time, and on a day in which Brown had to keep his team loose through a weather delay that extended halftime over two hours, Syracuse football made a loud statement that it is a contender in the ACC, and phooey to all that preseason talk about a tough schedule.

ACC Stock Watch, Syracuse trending up, Clemson trending down

Before Saturday, Syracuse was 0-5 all-time at Clemson's Death Valley, with a lone Dome win in 2017, the only bright spot against one of the ACC's perennial top teams. That one win was an upset so shocking that Dabo Swinney personally visited the SU locker room to congratulate the team after knocking off his second ranked squad.

Swinney did not rush to congratulate the Orange in their locker room this time around, because he's got his own problems to worry about, off to his worst start at 1-3 in his 17 seasons running the program. The near-capacity crowd, which thinned out considerably after the long weather delay, further decreased in the second half as the Orange maintained their game-long advantage.

Brown on the other hand, often humble in victory, grabbed a chance to bask in the spotlight of a victory that he cajoled out of his players from pregame warm-ups, to the long halftime wrestling and rough house antics. He also helped pick everyone up on the sideline when Angeli, sizzling with 244-yards in the air and two TDs, went down late in the third quarter running the ball with a non-contact injury, putting him in a boot and needing crutches.

"I'm thankful we got a chance to beat Clemson, a blue blood in college football, but we got a long way to go," a relieved and joyful Brown said afterwards. "I'm just happy for the community, I know they are going to enjoy tonight."

Out to a fast 3-1 season start is no surprise to the 'Cuse players and coaches

Preseason picked to finish 12th in the ACC (way behind favorite Clemson, by-the-way), and listed as an almost 17 point underdog by most sports books heading into Saturday's game, Syracuse coaches and players have adopted a mindset since preseason camp, simply not listening to any outside noise.

"We're not surprised at all by the result we turned in today," said the program's youngest player, cornerback Demetres Samuel, who had five solo tackles and some blanket coverage of Tigers receivers in helping the defense limit Clemson to just one second half score.

"We've been improving the last couple of weeks, and it is going to continue. Things (our play) are going to continue to get better (improvement) over the next couple of weeks."

At 13-4 through his first 17 games over two seasons, Fran Brown still has a little work to do to match Paul Pasqualoni's 20-4 mark over his first two seasons in 1991-92, but there are similarities to the quest for winning.

"We've just got to keep going," Brown said in the aftermath of relishing the Clemson upset. We got a long way to go, but we'll enjoy this one."

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