Syracuse Football: Takeaways from the Orange's week 14 upset win over No. 6 Miami

Syracuse football did something special on Saturday. The Orange knocked off No. 6 Miami 42-38 in a win that won't be forgotten soon. The Orange trailed 21-0 in the first half, but fought to come back in a program-changing victory. As always, here are my takeaways.

My key takeaways from Syracuse football's week 14 win against Miami.

No quit from Syracuse

At the start of the game, nothing went right for the Orange. Miami got the ball first and drove right down the Orange. The following drive, Syracuse looked to have scored on a long Trebor Pena touchdown, but was overturned due to a late illegal formation penalty (which looked horrible), leading to a turnover on downs. Miami would score again, Syracuse would go three and out, and the Hurricanes would score on their third drive. It was 21-0 just a couple of minutes into the second quarter.

I had quite frankly close to no faith at that point. Syracuse was getting exposed on all three levels of the defense, the offensive line, and the officials were giving Miami all the benefit of the doubt. ESPN concurred with me, giving the Canes a 96.4% win probability. It's a good thing I was wrong. Syracuse stormed back, scoring the next 21 points and clawing back to the win. The offense was elite all day, but defensive adjustments were crucial, notably Elijah Robinson dialing up more blitzes.

On a more individual level, senior leader Justin Barron was down on the field with injuries twice, but came back each time and made big plays all game. LeQuint Allen, like in every other game, fought his butt off for any extra yard he could get. It was reported postgame that Devin Grant, who had a crucial scoop and score to take the lead in the third quarter, has been playing on a torn ACL for the last four weeks.

Syracuse had every reason they wanted to phone it in. But no, they didn't. They had too much pride and fought to the finish. It was absolutely beautiful to watch this team, molded in the philosophy of Camden's Fran Brown, give everything they had and see it pay off against a top-10 team.

Syracuse beat Miami at their own game

How did Miami go 10-1? On the back of Cam Ward and his fantastic supporting cast on offense. I think Ward is the best quarterback in the country and Xavier Restrepo is the best wideout in the ACC. Damien Martinez and Mark Fletcher Jr. are a great one-two punch at RB, while other receivers like Jacolby George, Isaiah Horton, Sam Brown Jr., and TE Elijah Arroyo give Ward lots of weapons. Miami also has a fantastic offensive line, led by Francis Mauigoa, but their defense had been poor all year.

Miami has let Cam Ward sling the ball all year and hoped that he would be able to outscore their opponents. Again, it's worked very well. But Syracuse has done a lot of the same all year and did it even better against the Hurricanes.

Kyle McCord was 26-36 for 380 yards and three touchdowns as Jackson Meeks had seven receptions, 110 yards, and a touchdown while Trebor Pena went for 6 catches, 128 yards and a score himself. Oronde Gadsden II had four receptions, 50 yards himself and LeQuint Allen did it all again - with 22 carries, 82 yards, two touchdowns on the ground and another six receptions and 61 yards. The offensive line protected McCord well enough with only two sacks - both coming on the game's second drive - and gave enough holes for LeQuint Allen.

Defensively, the Orange certainly wasn't perfect, but they made timely stops, like Grant's scoop and score and holding Miami to a field goal on what became their final drive. Miami's 38 points were still below the season average of 44.7, tops in the country and tied for the third-fewest points allowed all year. They were certainly good enough and that's all they needed to be.

Miami has more talent at nearly every, if not every, position. They are a known brand and one of the most storied programs in the great sport of college football. They have an experienced, veteran coach in Mario Cristobal and great assistants. Syracuse didn't just win because they won the turnover differential, or got lucky breaks.

If anything, Miami got that from the officials. Syracuse, with a first-year, first-time coach and no advantages on paper other than playing at home, was flat-out better than the No. 6 team in the country. That says a lot about who Fran Brown is and where this program is going. Speaking of that...

This is a program-changing win

Fran Brown has had a vision for this program since the day he was hired. He's been attempting to sell that vision of what Syracuse can be to every recruit he goes after, every Syracuse fan, and every donor. We saw his vision play out. A detailed, accountable, relentless, and tough team - his vision of DART taking shape.

Do you think recruits are seeing this and taking notes? Absolutely. Notable visitors included 2026 five-star WR Calvin Russell and four-star QB Peyton Falzone, who recently de-committed from Virginia Tech, but the number of visitors was massive as shown pregame.

The recruits also saw a Dome that was LOUD and impacted the game, especially in the second half. Fans were engaged with many loud Let's Go Orange chants and even the wave. There's a ton of pride and passion within this program and some of the negative recruiting points against Syracuse and the fanbase were disproven.

In fact, the win has already paid dividends on the recruiting trail. Justin Dixon, a class of 2027 quarterback from Towson, MD, and one of the visitors, committed after the game. I'd expect more action in the coming days.

The national media will take note too. On the same day Ohio State was upset to hated rival Michigan, Kyle McCord upset Miami with a tremendous day. He's having more fun than ever before and is showing it with his postgame celebration.

Postgame, with a mass of fans (including myself) on the JMA Wireless Dome turf, Fran Brown proclaimed "Syracuse is back." He's right. Even with the blip of 2018 and the hot start of 2022, I think this is the strongest the Syracuse program has been in at least 20 years and the future is so bright for years to come.