No. 24 Tennessee, which will move up in the top-25 polls on Monday, played quite well, particularly on offense, in flexing its muscles on Syracuse football in week one. The Volunteers are simply a better team at this juncture in the early stage of the 2025 season.
After his Orange fell by a final of 45-26 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Saturday afternoon, 'Cuse head coach Fran Brown said that his defense has to do a much better job of tackling opposing players in the open field.
"What do you want me to say?" Brown said. "I don’t think we tackled well in the open field."
By extension, I'd add that the 'Cuse defensive line, particularly its outside linebackers and edge rushers, has to get more pressure on the quarterback and contain the run game more effectively. To reiterate, though, Tennessee made the College Football Playoff a campaign ago and, on Saturday, looked like a top-10 to a top-15 team.
Let's see how the Orange responds when it hosts UConn in a non-conference affair at the JMA Wireless Dome this coming Saturday afternoon. Could it be the case that, much as 2024, Syracuse football will have to rack up a ton of points on offense to offset a sub-par defense in the current season? That remains to be seen.
Syracuse football head coach Fran Brown backs his quarterback.
Tennessee is poised to have another stout defense in 2025. So the 'Cuse scoring four touchdowns on the Vols was an encouraging sign. Also, let's not forget that Tennessee racked up nearly 500 yards of total offense and won the turnover battle 2-1, yet the Orange had a chance to make it a one-score game in the fourth quarter. The Volunteers capitalized on the 'Cuse miscues, scoring two touchdowns.
Notre Dame transfer Steve Angeli, the Orange's quarterback, threw for nearly 275 yards in his second career start in college. He had a touchdown pass, an interception, and a fumble that led to a Tennessee scoop-and-score. The Volunteers sacked Angeli five times; he needs to get rid of the ball faster at times, and the offensive line has to improve.
By and large, though, Brown said he thought that Angeli played well. Remember: He doesn't have a ton of college experience. That's a huge difference when trying to compare Angeli to former Syracuse football star quarterback Kyle McCord, who went 11-1 in the regular season for Ohio State as a junior before transferring to the Hill.
"We fully support him; I fully support the way that he played today," Brown said of Angeli. "A couple mistakes but nothing major that we can’t fix."
Sophomore Yasin Willis carried the ball 23 times for 91 yards and three rushing scores. His performance provides optimism that the Orange's offense can be more balanced than it was in 2024. "I think he’s the best player on the team from an offensive perspective," Brown said of Willis.
Other things that the 'Cuse needs to clean up include communicating better. For one, on offense, Syracuse football had to burn timeouts to avoid delay-of-game penalties. That can't keep happening, but again, this was week one.
The Orange also committed a few other costly penalties, and against these tougher foes, Syracuse football can ill-afford to fall behind early on; Tennessee led 17-0 after the first quarter on Saturday.
Said Brown: "This is a game about execution. It’s not about the players. It’s about being able to execute."