Syracuse head coach Fran Brown considers himself to be a teacher, and a lot of teachable moments came out of the Orange’s 38-3 home loss to Duke last weekend.
How well the players absorbed the lessons in practice this week will be on display Saturday when the Orange take on SMU in Atlantic Coast Conference play in Dallas.
It’s the conference opener for the Mustangs, who enter the game at 2-2 but with their wins against non-Power 4 conference teams. They defeated East Texas State and Missouri State, the latter in its first year as an FBS program. Their losses came against Baylor (double overtime) and TCU.
SMU was a College Football Playoff participant last season but has been slow out of the gates. Still, the bookmakers see this one being all-SMU, listing the Mustangs as 17.5-point favorites.
While Syracuse has played two ACC games, this is the first for SMU. The Mustangs have won their past 17 conference regular-season games dating back to 2022, tying Oregon for the longest active streak in the nation.
And in their past 17 home games, also dating back to 2022, SMU is averaging 48.1 points per game and has a 15-2 record.
Rickie Collins will be starting his second game at quarterback for the Orange, taking over from Steve Angeli (torn Achilles). Brown had a chance for a lengthy teaching moment when Collins asked him after the Duke loss if they could watch the game film. And they did, huddling in Brown’s office.
"Me and Rickie watched the whole game Saturday," Brown said. "If you look at the game, I think the people around him. the coaches, myself included, we didn't step our game up for a first-time (starting) quarterback. He had a couple of mistakes, but I don't think he struggled."
How to watch Syracuse at Clemson
- Who: Syracuse Orange (3-2, 1-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) at SMU Mustangs (2-2, 0-0)
- When: Saturday, Oct.4, 3:30 p.m. ET
- Where: Gerald J. Ford Stadium, Dallas (Capacity 33,200)
- TV: ACC Network
- Announcers: Wes Durham, Steve Addazio
- Radio: ESPN Syracuse 97.7 and 100.1 FM or 1200 and 1140 AM; SiriusXM 193 or 383
- Series history: This is the second meeting between Syracuse and SMU. The teams did not meet last year in SMU’s first season as an ACC member.
- Last meeting: That came in 1932, when SMU defeated Syracuse 16-6.