Fran Brown reaffirms faith in Kyle McCord after five-interception night

It was a memorable first half of the season for Syracuse quarterback Kyle McCord, but he had a night to forget Thursday against Pitt.

The Ohio State transfer threw five interceptions in a 41-13 loss to the Panthers, and three of the five picks were returned for touchdowns.

Despite that, after the game, Syracuse head coach Fran Brown shared that he never considered making a quarterback change. He also revealed what his message was to McCord during the game.

“‘Stay focused, keep pushing, I’m with you. We’re doing this all the way ‘til the end,” Fran Brown said. “So I said, ‘Things happen like that. The ball ain’t landing our way. It should land our way the second half. We’ll see how it goes.’”

As Brown said, the first half in particular was rough for Kyle McCord. All three pick-sixes occurred in the opening two quarters, and he had thrown four interceptions by halftime.

Still, Brown didn’t make a quarterback change during the game, and he is not planning to make one moving forward.

“He’s our quarterback. He’s our leader. And that’s why we stuck with him and we’re going to continue to stick with him,” Brown said. “I mean he just had one bad game, so it’s part of football. You know, it happens. I think you’ll be able to see the kind of fighter he is as he keeps going from here on out.”

Kyle McCord five interception, three pick-6 night ends by inexplicably sacking himself

Unfortunately for Kyle McCord, things didn’t get any better in the second half. He threw one more interception to bring his total to five, then to put the capper on a demoralizing 41-13 loss, McCord sacked himself on his team’s final drive.

Check out the video below, shared to social media by Warren Sharp following the game, where McCord simply falls down and ends his night in embarrassing fashion. The sack actually led to a missed field goal for the Orange, adding insult to injury.

announcer after Kyle McCord sacks himself

😂 pic.twitter.com/nWuk9D5IaK

— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) October 25, 2024

Prior to the game, McCord was turning heads with the Orange, but the general public will continue sleeping on the quarterback’s play if he’s going to perform like he did against Pittsburgh. The Panthers may be undefeated, but it was still an inexplicable performance from the Syracuse signal caller.