Syracuse Football: Key takeaways from the Orange's home loss to Stanford

That one hurt. Syracuse football falls for the first time in the Fran Brown era in a winnable, albeit ugly game against the Stanford Cardinal, 26-24. An opportunity was there in front of a loud JMA Wireless Dome and appearance on ESPN to make a national statement and move to 3-0, but the spotlight instead went to Stanford.

My key takeaways from Syracuse football's week 4 loss versus Stanford.

The Syracuse defense struggles with mobile QBs/misdirection

I could say many things about the Orange defense and their overall questionable performance. But mobile QBs look like they'll give Syracuse struggles all year, or at least until Marlowe Wax comes back from injury. It's a Syracuse weakness that was especially exploited by Stanford. On Friday, Stanford QB Ashton Daniels ran 13 times for 45 yards. While that's not particularly impressive, the fear of him running helped Chris Davis Jr. run for 79 yards on nine carries and 47 yards on eight carries for Micah Ford, both of whom are true freshmen. Credit goes to Stanford and coach Troy Taylor, who mixed in draws, options, fakes, and counters to exploit the defense. This makes the third game in a row where an opposing quarterback had 40 or more rushing yards, emphasized by Haynes King's 67 yards and two touchdowns in week two.

Down the road, UNLV QB Matthew Sluka is one of the best dual-threats in the country with 84.3 rushing yards per game. That's good for fourth in the country among quarterbacks. Pittsburgh's Eli Holstein, Virginia Tech's Kyron Drones, and especially Boston College's Thomas Castellanos all provide running threats for the Orange defense to worry about.

Offensive line needs to step up

The Syracuse offense identity has been running the football for the past couple of years. And as talented as LeQuint Allen is, you can't consistently run the ball with the performance of the Syracuse offensive line on Friday. In total, Syracuse could only get 34 yards on 12 carries from LeQuint Allen and Yasin Willis with no runs going for over 10 yards. There were as many rushes for a loss as rushes over seven yards (2).

The offensive line didn't just struggle in the run game. They also gave up four sacks and forced Kyle McCord to scramble outside the pocket much more than he should have to as a pocket passer. Due to the pressure, Stanford didn't have to blitz much or put much emphasis on stopping the run, making it even harder for McCord to throw.

You could argue that the offensive line also caused a 10-point swing in the third quarter. Syracuse had two holding penalties on the drive with a Kyle McCord pick six. If you don't have those, you don't get into a position where you have to force a pass on 3rd and 12, which led to a pick-six. Additionally, with the extra 20 yards from penalties, Syracuse would be at least in field goal range, and getting to the end zone isn't off the table either.

We can't yet write off Fran Brown and Syracuse from one game

Following the game, I've heard way too many negative comments from Syracuse fans on the outlook of their team. No, the season is not over. Far from it. At 2-1 and 1-1 in the ACC, everything for Syracuse is still on the table. Winning the ACC to me, was always a long shot. But even that is still possible. At a minimum, reaching a bowl game should still be the expectation and Syracuse shouldn't have too many troubles winning four more games. Additionally, I think Syracuse will be competitive in every game except maybe Miami to end the season.

By hiring a guy without any head coaching or even coordinating experience like Fran Brown, you have to expect for there to be some bumps in the road. Elijah Robinson and Jeff Nixon are also first-time play-callers. In their third-ever game at a new school in a new role, mistakes were bound to happen.

Fran Brown is not another Dino Babers just because Syracuse lost after a bye week. As painful as the loss is, give Brown more time before you make a statement like that. Syracuse just has to move on from the loss and get ready for Holy Cross next week.