3 takeaways from Syracuse's 38-3 loss to Duke

After riding high from a road upset of ACC power Clemson, Syracuse returned home on Saturday and immediately came back down to earth.

Duke routed the Orange, 38-3, showing no issue marching down the field against a beleaguered defense. Meanwhile, Steve Angeli's absence on the field loomed large for the offense.

Here are three takeaways from SU's brutal loss.

The new offense has a debut to forget

Angeli is out for the rest of the season after suffering an Achilles injury against Clemson. The offense was handed to sophomore Rickie Collins, and he did little to assure fans the offense would pick up where Angeli left off.

The team failed to score a touchdown while surrendering three turnovers.

The first turnover was reminiscent of a past game this season.

Collins made his Syracuse debut against Colgate earlier in September. In his first drive in that game, he underthrew his receiver, which led to an interception. Collins did the same thing today on the first drive while looking for Justus Ross-Simmons.

Turnovers killed two more drives. Johntay Cook fumbled twice after two solid hits from the Duke defense. The first turnover, with SU trailing 10-3 in the second quarter, appeared to be a targeting foul.

But after review, the officials decided not to rule that way despite linebacker Jaiden Francois appearing to lower the crown of his helmet.

All in all, it was a game to forget for the Syracuse offense, as they only entered the red zone twice and scored just three points. However, Collins knows that his team and offense are capable of better things in the future.

“We didn’t play hard enough. That’s not our brand of football,” Collins said. “But y'all seen what we can do, and we know what we can do. At the end of the day, we have to play hard and we have to play team football.”

The defense did not help, either

While Collins' lackluster performance may have drawn the biggest headlines, the defense was perhaps even more of a culprit.

Syracuse could do little to stop the run game, as Duke rushed for 235 yards, averaging 6.4 yards per rush attempt. Nate Sheppard repeatedly gashed the SU defense, rushing for 168 yards and two scores. Meanwhile, his understudies Travis Bates and Anderson Castle combined for 86 yards.

But the struggles didn't end with stopping the run. Quarterback Darian Mensah only had six incompletions all afternoon, and as he finished with 268 yards and two scores. He was sacked just twice.

“It was just getting outplayed, going out there and not executing," defensive back Devin Grant said, “It was just execution errors. Little stuff like tackling and being in the gaps.”

Brown promises redemption

Syracuse head coach Fran Brown echoed the sentiments of many fans, believing his team got outplayed.

“We just got owned,” Brown said. “We did not play tough football. It shouldn’t look like that, it’s not good.”

In his opening statement, Brown apologized to the fans for the way his team played. It was a similar statement he made last year following a 41-13 loss to Pitt. SU would go on to win five of their final six games.

Brown pointed to himself as a significant part of why his team was able to bounce back.

“They will follow me,” Brown said. “I never want to quit, so my energy will always be up. I make sure I continue to set the tone.”

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