Takeaways from Fran Brown's weekly news conference before Syracuse v. Duke

Brown sidestepped his responses to his program being fined by the ACC several hours earlier Monday for faking injuries in the Clemson victory, by deflecting to the school's official statement (see below). He also talked passionately about injured quarterback Steve Angeli and his replacement Rickie Collins, and is looking forward to what looks like a sellout crowd at the Dome Saturday for a tough matchup with Duke.

September 22, 2025; Syracuse, New York, USA; Syracuse coach Fran Brown addresses the media at his weekly news conference at the John A. Lally Athletics Complex. Mandatory Credit: Screen shot from Syracuse University Athletic Communications | Syracuse University Athletic Communications

It was a more somber mood for Coach Fran Monday afternoon as he met the media, hours after dealing with the fallout of the ACC announcing a $25,000 fine and public reprimand of Syracuse football for faking injuries in the fourth quarter of the Clemson victory. He is also overseeing the transition to a new quarterback, just as a tough Duke team heads into the Dome for a game between two rising league programs.

Media members inquired two times about the ACC fine, but Coach Fran stuck to a general response

Shortly after the ACC issued its decision that the Orange were guilty of having two players feign injury in the fourth quarter against Clemson, the university released a short statement:

"Syracuse University Athletics acknowledges and accepts the reprimand and fine issued by the Atlantic Coast Conference. We remain firmly committed to upholding the highest standards of sportsmanship and competitive integrity across all 20 of our varsity programs."

After making a short general acknowledgement about the fine in his opening remarks Monday, it was the university's statement that Brown referenced twice when he was specifically asked about the conference taking its disciplinary action against his program.

"I am just trying to focus on Duke right now, I'm trying to move on," Brown said anticipating the question would be coming at some point (first asked nine minutes into the session window).

"We've got a tough football team coming in," he continued. "Those things happened in the last game. We put the statement out. I'm thankful that our athletic director (John Wildhack) got a statement put out because they want us to move on and get ready for our next opponent."

The spotlight turns to Rickie Collins, tasked with taking over for the red-hot Steve Angeli

Angeli had not missed a beat in his fourth game as an Orange player, in terms of quickly adopting to Jeff Nixon's passing game. If not suffering the Achilles injury against Clemson, he would likely continue his two week reign as the nation's passing leader, following in Kyle McCord's footsteps from a season ago.

Now, its Collins' turn to show why he thought making the move to Syracuse from LSU would enhance his career prospects, and after learning under some NFL-caliber quarterbacks at both programs, Brown knows he will be ready to go Saturday.

"He got a chance to see Kyle last year, and over the last four weeks he's been able to be right behind Steve and handle that, also," Brown said Monday. "So I think there is no better place for him than to be here, and most importantly, he's got my support. When someone (Collins) works really, really hard, it's like, 'Let's Go' (fully behind him)."

Brown did not commit Monday to naming his backup quarterback to Collins, although he hinted true freshman Luke Carney was likely just ahead of redshirt freshman Jakhari Williams, who are both joined by another true frosh, Rich Belin, on the depth chart.

An expected near sell-out crowd should make the Dome LOUD for a game against Duke

No, we are not talking about hoops here, it's an important September ACC football game between two peer programs.

Hearing about the robust ticket sales for Saturday was one of the few bright moments for Brown Monday, what with Angeli scheduled for surgery and facing what the coach termed roughly six months of rehabilitation, along with the news of the ACC penalty and its negative publicity.

Brown almost worked with Duke coach Manny Diaz for what would have been the 2019 season at Temple. Diaz accepted the Owls job in December 2018, then pivoted two weeks later when the Miami job opened after Mark Richt's retirement. Brown stayed at Temple to work with Rod Carey for the '19 season.

"It's an ACC game, the opportunity to be able and compete to get to a championship (game)," Brown said. Anytime you see anything with Duke and Syracuse competing against each other, it's a little bit of a rivalry there."

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