SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Future opponents of Syracuse University’s football program might want to take seriously a message delivered from first-year head coach Fran Brown.
Don’t give him any bulletin board material, because it may bite you.
Kyle McCord passed for 381 yards and four touchdowns, two each to Trebor Pena and Oronde Gadsden II, and the Orange held on to knock off newly ranked No. 23 Georgia Tech on Saturday in an Atlantic Coast Conference matchup.
Earlier in the week, Yellow Jackets coach Brent Key said his team’s game against the Orange “wasn’t about X’s and O’s” but rather being physical against Syracuse. Brown took that as a swipe at his program being soft.
“I took it personal when he said it wasn’t about X’s and O’s,” said Brown, who faced Georgia Tech the past two seasons as a Georgia assistant working with defensive backs. “It was about coming up here and being physical and tough for four hours. We’re from the Northeast. What you mean by that? Like we’re not physical and tough? … Syracuse has been physical forever. I want to make sure that will never be said about us. We’re not soft. That bothered me.