To put it mildly, Syracuse football is in a bad spot as the Orange nears the halfway point of its 2026 regular season. On Saturday night at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville, Va., the 'Cuse thoroughly dominated Virginia (4-2 overall, 2-1 in ACC) in most statistical categories, and Syracuse football led for much of this Atlantic Coast Conference clash.
Yet the Orange ultimately stumbled, 28-25, to fall to 2-3 overall in 2026, and that includes a 0-3 mark in league encounters. Syracuse football hasn't won an ACC game since September 2025, when SU knocked off Clemson on the road.
Crud. Syracuse football hasn’t won an ACC game since last September at Clemson.
— InsideTheLoudHouse (@LoudHouseFS) October 11, 2026
What the heck is going on with our beloved Orange? Well, for one, the 'Cuse has a quarterback depth problem, as Syracuse football relied on its third-string and fourth-string signal-callers in Charlottesville.
Head coach Fran Brown preaches his DART philosophy, and that's all well and good, but this squad is undisciplined, to say the least. Penalties, game after game, continue to pile up. To make matters worse, the Orange is mightily struggling in its kicking game.
Some fans want to declare the current campaign over. I get that sort of sentiment. Candidly, I have little confidence in Syracuse football these days. The Orange's two triumphs are over FCS program New Hampshire and UConn, last weekend, by one point in overtime. SU returns to the JMA Wireless Dome this coming Saturday night to host Louisville.
Syracuse football is at a crossroads in its 2026 season.
Naturally, the quarterback position is front and center for the Orange. Fifth-year player Steve Angeli, the team's starter at the onset of the season, recently received a PRP (platelet-rich plasma) injection in the Achilles tendon that he tore last September at Clemson to aid in his recovery from this injury, Brown said in his post-game press conference following the loss to the Cavaliers. Angeli will likely be out another week.
Senior Amari Odom, who led SU to the overtime victory at UConn, didn't play against Virginia due to a shoulder injury. It's unclear how long he might be unavailable. Senior Malachi Nelson started against UVA. He completed 16-of-29 passes for 217 yards and one touchdown through the air. But he couldn't finish the game after suffering an upper-body injury.
With Nelson injured, fifth-year player Danny Lauter entered Saturday's affair in the fourth quarter. Lauter, Nelson and Odom all transferred to Syracuse football in the offseason, and Brown has praised the team's depth at quarterback. Currently, that depth is being significantly tested.
Lauter completed 2-of-6 attempts with one touchdown strike. It's entirely feasible that he will start against Louisville this coming Saturday evening. The rest of the Orange's quarterback room includes sophomore Rich Belin, freshman Zaid Lott and sophomore Joseph Filardi.
In the 'Cuse setback to UVA, Syracuse committed nine penalties for 65 yards. , For the entire 2026 campaign, SU is dead last in the country in penalties per game, at 10.60, and penalty yards per contest, at 95.60. That's unacceptable.
Oh, the kicking game. Syracuse football went 1-of-3 on its field-goal attempts against the Cavs. For the season, the 'Cuse is an atrocious 6-of-13 on field-goal attempts. The Orange has also missed three PATs in the 2026 campaign. There's no excuse for these sorts of performances.
In Charlottesville, Syracuse football led Virginia in total yards, 430 to 288. The 'Cuse had seven more first downs, led 82-55 in total plays and led by more than 10 minutes in time of possession. Yet Syracuse football found a way (or ways) to lose.
The season isn't over. But it is slipping away.
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