Know Your Foe: Inside Look at Syracuse Before Critical Showdown

North Carolina (2-5) will look to end its four-game losing skid when it travels to upstate New York to take on Syracuse, who is also on a four-game lsoing skid, at the JMA Wireless Dome on Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET.

To gain a better understanding of Syracuse’s program, I interviewed Josh Richardson of WAER 88.3, the student-run radio station that is part of the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.

I appeared on their radio segment, and as a former student journalist myself at LSU, always give support to young journalists who are looking to make their mark. Richardson gave a pretty clear look at the Orange as someone who covers the team closely and has a unique perspective as a senior journalism student.

Here's what he had to say.

What is the mood of the program amid the current 4-game losing streak?

Oct 18, 2025; Syracuse, New York, USA; A Syracuse Orange fan looks on against the Pittsburgh Panthers during the first half at the JMA Wireless Dome. | Rich Barnes-Imagn Images

I think the current mood of the program is frustration. It's tough to come off a 10-3 season and win your bowl game in the first year under Fran Brown and and then you get hit with the toughest schedule, and everybody isn't expecting much. The line, the over-under on wins for the season was 5 ½ wins and nobody's expecting a whole lot out of you.

Kind of regressing almost to the last few years of the Dino Babers era, which is the reason that you fired Dino was because he couldn't win eight games and and 6-6 or 7-5 was the standard. And then the season starts to play out, and Angeli starts to play really well. I mean, at his at the time of his injury, he was right on pace where all of (Kyle) McCord's numbers were a season ago, and it got to a point where Angeli started to really mesh with the offense.

When Angeli goes down and he's out for the season, you turn to Rickie Collins. You hope that the quarterback battle was as close during it was as you hope that the quarterback battle was as close as it was told to you like it was in the offseason. The entire thing before the season was that it was close.

It came down to the last few days of camp, and Steve just beat him out. And then the more and more football you watch from Ricky, the less and less you start to believe those words, because Steve played so well, and Ricky has done nothing near that in four games now as a full time starter.

It's definitely some frustration, but some optimism for the future that you get your QB one back next year in Angeli, you have another full year of of recruits and guys that are coming in that want to play for Fran Brown, and you hope that you can continue to build on that momentum, even if the record doesn't necessarily show it for

Is a Quarterback Change Imminent?

Oct 25, 2025; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets defensive lineman Jason Moore (95) forces Syracuse Orange quarterback Rickie Collins (10) to fumble in the third quarter at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field. | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

I think a quarterback change, in some capacity, is inevitable. It has already happened, with Luke Carney coming in against Pitt to play 11 snaps before coming back out. Fran Brown has now said that it’s not Collins’ job alone anymore, and he’s opening up the quarterback battle with true freshman Luke Carney to see what he can do, giving him a little more time and a few more reps.

And Rickie had his time as the starter. He didn't do anything with it. He went 0-4, and I think when you're at the point where Steve probably comes back—and no one in the transfer portal is going to want to take someone coming off a torn Achilles—so Steve comes back. He's your QB1. That’s it. Point-blank, period. Steve Angeli is your quarterback one, barring an incoming transfer for the 2026 season.

And when you know that you have that and you have that security, you might as well just see what you have behind him, and Collins hasn't shown you much other than that. He is inaccurate. He makes bad decisions. He doesn't utilize every part of his game until it's out of reach.

There have been multiple instances where Syracuse marches down the field in the second half when the game is already decided by 20 points, and the opposing defenses are maybe playing a bit more lackadaisically than they would in a tie game. That makes it tough for Ricky to truly run an effective offense. As a redshirt sophomore who hasn't seen much action and didn't play at all at LSU, it's a tough adjustment. By contrast, Angeli had the experience at Notre Dame, sitting behind Riley Leonard; he still managed to see a decent amount of backup action and stepped in when needed.

Still played a fair amount in some backup spots, but also when they needed him to. And you get to a point where Collins has just been so underwhelming that something has to change, one way or another

With UNC’s recent success in pass rushing and Syracuse’s ongoing issues with offensive line protection, how crucial will the battle in the trenches be?

Oct 25, 2025; Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels defensive lineman Isaiah Johnson (94) sacks Virginia Cavaliers quarterback Chandler Morris (4) in the second quarer at Kenan Stadium. | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

For Syracuse's offensive line issues, the trench battle will likely be won by UNC simply because the SU offensive line has been very poor and has been injured a lot of the time. It's been difficult for Syracuse to kind of string together a bunch of offensive linemen and have them consistently play.

I mean, it's difficult for a lot of teams, but Syracuse doesn't really have five guys to rely on, you know, week in, week out, Friday, Saturday nights and and to really have those guys be the guys that you can bring out there every single snap on offense, somebody winds up hurt. Somebody winds up getting too many penalties.

It's just that's the part where, you know, Fran Brown always loves to talk about dark, detailed, accountable, relentless and tough accountability in terms of penalties for the offensive line, even going back to the dino era, has been probably one of SU's biggest weaknesses, simply because they've just been undermanned and outmatched by a large number of opponents, because the offensive line and defensive line are just smaller than who Syracuse is playing against, and with UNC having success recently, that definitely bodes well for North Carolina.

Just how bad is Syracuse’s defense, really?

Overall, the Syracuse defense has been bad. When you look at the box scores, and you look at the numbers, the SU defense has been bad. All four games that Collins has been the starter, Syracuse has given up 30 plus. I think there is a little bit of a correlation there. You get to a point where you have a quarterback and the offense hasn't been able to formulate drives. They can't get down the field. They struggle to convert first downs even when they get ahead of the chains, especially against Georgia Tech.

Georgia Tech is a great example of this. Syracuse forces a Yellow Jacket turnover on the first drive breakout. Yassin Willis, 40-yard run, or whatever it was to get down to the Georgia Tech inside the five, and then right there, stopped for no gain on a run, then a false start, then a sack right and then just like that, Syracuse goes from goal to go from two yards out to having to settle for three, and the drives go by so quickly.

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