Syracuse Football: Fran Brown cites progress, but national title his singular focus

This is why I love Syracuse football first-year head coach Fran Brown. His program, on Saturday, upset No. 6 Miami to cap off a 9-3 regular season in 2024, a tremendous achievement for a first-time head coach, a relatively new assistant-coaching staff, and an overhauled roster.

The Orange is going to a bowl game for the third straight year. On Sunday, Syracuse football entered the major top-25 polls. A quality bowl appearance awaits. The 'Cuse has a chance to reach 10 wins in a campaign for the first time since 2018.

And while Brown says that he believes the Orange made "progress" in the 2024 term, the ace recruiter and former defensive backs coach at Southeastern Conference powerhouse Georgia isn't fully satisfied with what has transpired on the Hill over the past few months.

As noted in a post on X by Ashley Wenskoski of CNY Central, Brown said following the Orange's conquest of the Hurricanes, "I wanted to go to the national championship, there was nothing else on my mind except trying to repeat what happened in 1959...but I guess this is progress."

Of course, 1959 is the only season in program history when Syracuse football captured a national title. Brown is hoping to repeat that outcome as soon as possible.

Head coach Fran Brown has one primary goal - to win a national championship at Syracuse football.

You have to admire the confidence, moxie and swagger of Brown. Don't get me wrong, he is a humble, kind, caring person, too, but Brown even said when he first came on board to lead the Orange that all he cared about, on the field anyway, was winning games and winning a national championship.

Now, the 'Cuse isn't going to accomplish Brown's singular objective in 2024, and that's fine by me. Still, we all tend to engage in hindsight and hypotheticals, as that is human nature. So I ask myself, what could have been with Syracuse football this season if a few things had gone differently?

The Orange lost by two points, on the Hill, to Stanford (3-9). The 'Cuse got blasted at Pittsburgh (7-5), which has lost five straight, and Syracuse football also fell at Boston College (7-5) by six points.

As ESPN's David Hale said in a post on X: "Thing that is probably true: Cuse would be in the playoff if it hadn’t lost to Stanford."

Perhaps. If the Orange beat the Cardinal and was 10-2, Syracuse football could potentially be in the mix for an at-large invite to the 12-team College Football Playoff. Conversely, seven of the Orange's nine regular-season victories came by eight points or fewer, so this stuff all probably evens out.

In any event, this stanza, Syracuse football has a top-10 win and three top-25 victories (Georgia Tech, UNLV and Miami). That's progress, without a doubt. Even if Fran Brown is hungry for more.