The Syracuse University football team lost its season finale on Saturday afternoon 34-12 against Boston College at the JMA Wireless Dome.

It was the latest indignity in a 3-9 season that saw the Orange lose its last eight contests. Boston College entered play at just 1-10.

While the final record was embarrassing, this Syracuse team actually showed promise at one point. They were 3-1 when starting quarterback Steve Angeli was lost for the season to a torn Achilles.

His backups of Rickie Collins, Joseph Filardi and Luke Carney couldn't steer the ship, tossing just seven touchdowns compared to 13 interceptions. 

In just four games, Angeli threw 10 touchdowns vs. two interceptions. The season was lost the moment he got hurt and after Saturday's game, head coach Fran Brown said that developing a backup quarterback was so hard because they were all so young. Collins was a sophomore while Filardi and Carney were true freshmen.

This proves our point

This just further cements a point that we made the other day, but bears repeating here: In today's college football climate, developing a backup quarterback at this level is extremely difficult.

Let's examine the following:

--In previous iterations of college football, you would bring in players, and they would stay for 3-4 years. That meant that your quarterbacks all grew in a system and you usually ended up with multiple quarterbacks on your roster that had an idea of the way things work. While your backup was not usually as good as your starter, there was at least a chance that the drop-off wasn't catastrophic.

--Now? Because of the transfer portal, the old rules are out the window.

Given that Syracuse is not a power, it likely isn't bringing in ready-made quarterbacks in bulk. The Orange had one this year in Angeli, but behind him? A group of young and inexperienced players. How many of those young and inexperienced players will stick around next year to show another year of growth? Maybe all of them, but given the frequency with which players bounce around now, there's certainly a chance that all of them leave, leaving the Orange in the exact same situation next year.

And if the Orange do bring in a solid group of quarterbacks that are closer to ready to play, what's to say they don't leave after 2026, re-starting the cycle? Angeli has two more years of eligibility left. If he uses them, will this group really be waiting to sit for two years?

Unfortunately, this is the reality of college football, and it's the job of Brown to find answers to these very difficult questions.

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