The two curses of Pat Narduzzi and Syracuse Orange football after a bye week came together to become a full-on plague as SU was swiftly felled by the Pitt Panthers 41-13. As the half-blood Yinzer among us, I take all the responsibility… but since I can’t actually do anything to fix the problems, I’m simply going to point them out to you.

Fran’s First Falter

No one can deny that what Fran Brown has done for this program in such a short stretch is remarkable. I’ve been a supporter of his since his first press conference. But tonight had some of his worst decisions as a head coach – and they could have terrible impacts for the stretch run.

If someone could please tell me why Kyle McCord stayed in for the entire game, I’d love to know. Was it to get him 300 yards again and continue that streak? Did they need to make up for the lack of any passing in their last H2H meeting? Was it so he could keep getting pancaked and banged up more for future games?

Simply put, Kyle shouldn’t have seen the field in the second half. Not after his abysmal start and the gigantic hole he dug the Orange into. I get that you want him to have that one good drive to feel better heading into the next week, but it wasn’t going to happen to happen this time.

Add in Oronde Gadsden being spotted in street clothes some time after taking a hard hit in the second half and I get flashbacks to the close calls with Sean Tucker two years ago, and especially Garrett Shrader last season at Virginia Tech. I thought we were beyond the needless injuries…

That said, Fran apologized to anyone and everyone associated with SU during the postgame. Kudos to some accountability.

Refund the Champagne? It was a good gift!

I saw a comment in the game thread joking about how Fran Brown should ask for the hyperbolic bottle of champagne back from Ohio State head coach Ryan Day. It was in jest, but let’s be real: one bad game, no matter how bad, does not change the fact that McCord has been a savior.

Yes, he made some awful reads, especially on the two pick sixes in the first half. But it’s not all on Kyle. The O-line was easily the worst it’s been this year, maybe since Tommy DeVito was under center. Penalties happened at the worst times. There were a few drops and one near touchdown off the fingertips of Gadsden.

Kyle had to shake off being one drive away from the CFP. He can shake off this game too.

Defense didn’t change the game but didn’t give it up either

It could be missed in all the offensive miscues, but Elijah Robinson’s side of the ball was the one doing well this time out. Pitt had 217 total yards of offense and just 73 on the ground. With the front seven still hurting, even now that Marlowe Wax is back in the fold, that alone is an encouraging sign for the 4-2-5.

The biggest “what-if” of the season might not be if Elic Ayomanor was doubled at the end of the Stanford game, but if Alijah Clark came up with an interception on the first play from scrimmage this time. Even though the drive ended in a three-and-out, that would have been the ultimate deflator for a roaring Thursday night Pitt crowd.

Instead, it was McCord’s errant pass that went back to the striped end zone of not-Heinz Stadium, igniting the home crowd and kicking off an extended weekend. SU at least has those extra two days as well to put this behind them.