#7 Yellow Jackets Await The Orange

Syracuse faces its toughest ranked test of the 2025 campaign to date when it travels to Atlanta for the second time this season to take on No. 7 Georgia Tech. The Orange and Yellow Jackets square off on Saturday at 12 p.m. on ESPN.

The contest starts a stretch that will see 'Cuse play three of its next four games on the road. The lone home game is a Halloween night matchup against North Carolina in the JMA Wireless Dome. Tickets are available at Cuse.com/FootballTickets for a game that will feature an Orange Out and Halloween fun.

Georgia Tech enters Saturday's game as one of the six remaining undefeated FBS squads in the nation. The Yellow Jackets are 7-0 overall and sit atop the ACC standings with a 4-0 league record. Georgia Tech climbed to No. 7 in both the Associated Press and Coaches Poll.

"They have one of the better coaches in the country," Syracuse head coach Fran Brown said. "Those guys play for him. They love him. Haynes King is a really good football player, and they can run the ball well. They're just a good team all around, offense, defense, and special teams. I think they play together, I think they care about each other, and they show it on the football field. There's a lot of games that they had that were close games and they were able to pull them out at the end of the game."

The Orange enter Saturday's game with a 3-4 overall record and a 1-3 mark in conference action. Syracuse has lost its last three games and while the recent stretch hasn't produced the desired outcome, Brown is proud of the effort he continues to see from his team.

"They're still coming to practice their butts off daily, they are practicing extremely hard, and they're getting to grow their faith," Brown said. "They're getting a chance to face adversity all together, the entire football team gets to face adversity together – coaching staff, players, everything. When you get to do that together and you're able to pinpoint different things out that we'll learn and be able to grow from that we'll be able to have with us for the rest of our lives. That's a blessing right there alone. There's so many people that would point the blame and the finger at NIL or they blame other things when things aren't going right, like no it's not that, it's just not our time. It's not our time at the moment, and as long as we keep swinging away, we keep coming to practice daily, we keep believing in each other, and we don't point the finger, we just stay connected the way we are, everything will work itself out.

"The biggest piece for me to hang my hat on (during the past three games) is being able to face adversity with the players at the same time," Brown continued. "A lot of us came in last year and we got to get out on the right speed, and we won 10 games. We didn't have any major injuries at all towards our team. This year we've had a lot of guys who are injured or out for the year. Rashard Perry, who's our starting defensive tackle, Derek McDonald, who's one of the starting linebackers, our quarterback who was the starting quarterback. There's a lot of guys who went out early on us that played key parts from a leadership standpoint and from a work ethic standpoint, so all those young guys don't have those same guys in front of them. We all get to face adversity together, starting with myself. We came in last year and it was rolling, this time of year last year it was a different record, 5-2 or something of that nature, and now it's a little bit opposite of it but I'm thankful for the opportunity I get to lead this program and lead all the guys and be able to show them the best way to face adversity is head on."

The Orange are coming off their best defensive performance of the season against Pittsburgh.Syracuse recorded a season-high seven sacks against the Panthers. It's the most sacks the Orange have had in a game since the 2021 season when they had eight against UAlbany. The seven sacks are the highest total for an ACC team this season and rank tied for seventh among FBS teams. Overall, Syracuse recorded 13.0 tackles for loss against the Panthers, which is the most for the Orange in Brown's tenure. The 'Cuse defense limited Pittsburgh to 255 yards, which is the least amount of yards it has given up in a game this season.

This week, that unit will face one of the most dynamic players in the ACC in King. He ranks 18th in the nation and second in the ACC in total offense, averaging 289.3 yards per game. He has scored 10 touchdowns this season, which is the highest total in the ACC and sixth in the nation. Additionally, King is second in the ACC in rushing yards (560) and rushing yards per game (93.3).

A win would give the Orange their first ranked win of the season and improve Brown's record to 5-2 vs. ranked opponents.

Syracuse University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Derek McDonald

Rashard Perry

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