I don't understand Syracuse football's quarterback situation these days. Ahead of week 10, head coach Fran Brown said he would start whichever QB he felt gave the Orange the best chance to win.
For four straight games, after redshirt junior Steve Angeli was lost for the season during the team's win at Clemson, the choice was redshirt sophomore Rickie Collins. But amid four consecutive setbacks, Collins struggled with his accuracy, decision-making and turnovers.
So Brown said this past Wednesday that while he had previously been backing Collins, he had to open the quarterback competition back up, so to speak, because Collins had his shot and went 0-4.
I don’t care if Rickie Collins lit a bag of dog poo on fire and left it outside Fran Brown’s office every day for the last month… there’s no way anyone should’ve believed this would be better.
— 💫🅰️♈️🆔 (@ADavidHaleJoint) November 1, 2025
At that point, one would have safely assumed that freshman Luke Carney from the Dallas area might have gotten the call to start last Friday evening against North Carolina at the JMA Wireless Dome. He seemed to have been the primary backup, as far as I can tell, behind Collins after Angeli got injured.
Syracuse football has a strange QB situation going on.
That's the thing with assumptions. Freshman walk-on Joseph Filardi, who is on scholarship with Syracuse men's lacrosse team, got the nod as the starting quarterback versus the Tar Heels. It didn't go well for him, as he went just 4-of-18 in his pass attempts for 39 yards in a 27-10 setback.
Granted, this wasn't an easy situation for Filardi, and I'm sure nerves played a factor. My assumption - yes, another assumption - is that Filardi had the best week of practice among all the quarterbacks, and that's why he got the call to start against UNC.
However, Carney did play a little bit. Yet he only had one pass "attempt," and that came on 3rd and long when Carney was sacked. On the entire 2025 season, he's only thrown three passes.
In mid-October, when the Orange fell to Pittsburgh at the Dome, Brown inserted Carney in for Collins, and he went 2-of-3 for 10 yards. However, on a 3rd and 9, Collins went back in, and Brown later said that Carney wasn't fully up to speed on the program's playbook.
Huh? How is that possible? If, for weeks, Carney was the No. 2 quarterback behind Collins, I don't understand why the Syracuse football staff didn't have enough trust in him to make throws.
And then Carney, who threw for more than 10,000 yards and won multiple state titles in high school, gets passed over in favor of Filardi for the North Carolina game? But Carney plays some in the Orange's loss to the Tar Heels, yet he's not really given the green light to throw?
By extension, what's the deal with redshirt freshman Jakhari Williams? He's a year ahead of Filardi and Carney. Why hasn't Williams been given a shot?
After the setback, Brown said he thought about possibly putting Collins in against North Carolina, but the head coach said, "It just wouldn’t be fair to the rest of the kids or to him."
I'm so utterly confused. Collins is completing just 54.5 percent of his passes with six touchdowns and eight interceptions. That's not good at all. However, if Brown wants to play the quarterback who gives the 'Cuse the best shot to win, I still say it's Collins.
If it's not Collins, it can't be Filardi, right? He went 4-of-18. And it can't be Carney, because the 'Cuse staff doesn't seem to trust him to make throws.
So who the heck is supposed to play quarterback for Syracuse football at No. 10 Miami, at No. 12 Notre Dame and then at home against Boston College? I have no idea. And I'm not 144 percent convinced that the Orange coaching staff knows the answer to this question, either.