Syracuse football (3-6, 1-5 Atlantic Coast Conference) heads down to Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday to take on No. 18 Miami (6-2, 2-2 ACC) with the hopes of snapping a 5 game losing streak.
It’s been a tale of two seasons for both of these teams. After starting the season 3-1, SU lost its fifth straight game in a row last Friday to North Carolina at home last Friday. The Orange have been outscored 167 - 60 over those five games. Miami, on the other hand, was No. 2 in the AP Top 25 poll as recently as October 12th. Since that date, the Hurricanes have gone from Category 5 to simply a tropical storm, dropping to No. 18 with just one win from three.
SMU PULLS OFF THE WIN AGAINST NO. 10 MIAMI IN OT! pic.twitter.com/Mi2Ptcj1f3
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 1, 2025
As of recently, the quarterback position for Syracuse feels like a revolving door. SU has now seen three different players line up under center in the last three games. Former backup Rickie Collins was benched after the Georgia Tech game, and two true freshmen, Joe Filardi and Luke Carney, got snaps against North Carolina. The shakeup didn’t quite have the intended effect. The Orange completed just 4 of 18 passes for 39 yards last Saturday. That’s the fewest completions in a game for Syracuse since 2002.
Turnovers continue to be a problem for @CuseFootball.@SamuelReisTV illustrated SU QB Joseph Filardi's first career fumble.
— WAER Sports (@WAERSports) November 1, 2025
📻@waer883, https://t.co/BG0Q3sGXTn pic.twitter.com/gAkg0Q3h2R
Head coach Fran Brown declined to name a starter for Saturday during his Monday press conference.
“We're going to go and compete in practice… Joe played last week. I'm hoping that he can be better than he was. Ricky's still on our football team… We just got to do everything we can to be able to go out and compete and play against Miami.”
But after a long week of practice, Rickie Collins was named SU’s starter for Saturday.
For Miami, the issues stem from who is under center too. Senior Carson Beck has come under fire for not only his interceptions - four against Louisville and one in overtime against SMU - but also his lack of accountability.
After the loss to the Mustangs, Beck threw his offensive coordinator under the bus, saying “They ran the same thing the whole time… I just execute the play that is called.”
At this point, it’s safe to say that Syracuse is eliminated from playoff contention. The chance at a bowl game would require the Orange to win out, a tough task with two ranked matchups still on the table. For Miami, who missed the playoffs by the narrowest of margins last season, every remaining game has consequences. Miami head coach Mario Cristobal is hyper aware of the impact of his errors.
“When you make that many mistakes, and they are flat out mistakes, it’s on everyone in the organization…when you make that many mistakes as an organization, you allow yourself to be put in a position where you can get beat.”
Both of these teams try to stop the slide on Saturday at 3:30 down at Hard Rock in the magic city. WAER’s coverage starts at 3 with McClurg Remodeling Countdown to Kickoff on 88.3 FM or here on waer.org.