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Syracuse's Fran Brown on Tennessee crowd advantage in Atlanta: 'Orange is orange'

IMG_3593by: Grant Ramey08/26/25GrantRamey
Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports | Aug 31, 2024; Syracuse, New York, USA; Syracuse Orange head coach Fran Brown walks on the field after a game against the Ohio Bobcats at the JMA Wireless Dome.
Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports | Aug 31, 2024; Syracuse, New York, USA; Syracuse Orange head coach Fran Brown walks on the field after a game against the Ohio Bobcats at the JMA Wireless Dome.

Fran Brown isn’t worried about the difference between Tennessee orange and Syracuse orange inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Saturday. 

The second-year Syracuse head coach is just ready to open the new season in front of a capacity crowd in an NFL stadium when his team faces Tennessee in the Aflac Kickoff Game.

Brown during his weekly press conference on Monday was asked about Tennessee having the crowd advantage in a neutral-site game played three hours south of Knoxville, opposed to 15 hours from Syracuse.

‘We just got to not see the burnt orange as much. Orange is orange.’

His answer? There will be plenty of orange in the stands. Even if he mistook Tennessee’s shade of orange — Pantone 151 C — confused with Texas. 

“Everybody is going to have on orange,” Brown said. “Orange is orange. We just got to not see the burnt orange as much. Orange is orange. My guys are just going to be happy to play in a packed stadium. We’re ready to go. I’m excited to go there and play football.”

The Tennessee and Syracuse football programs have met just three times, with the Vols winning all three. Tennessee won 18-12 in the 1966 Gator Bowl, opened the season with a 34-33 win at Syracuse to open the 1998 season and 33-9 in Knoxville to open the 2001 season.

Brown coached against Tennessee as Georgia’s defensive backs coach in 2022 and 2023.

“Actually,” Brown said, “the hardest week was being able to prepare for (Tennessee). (Josh Heupel has) a lot of good players. He’s an intelligent coach.” 

Syracuse coach Fran Brown has family connection to Tennessee

Brown also has a family connection to the Vols. His cousin, Rashaad Baker, played safety at Tennessee from 2000 to 2003, picking off 11 passes and recording 235 tackles in 43 career games. 

“We get the opportunity to play against one of the bluebloods of college football,” Brown said of the Vols. “I’ve looked up to this team for a long time. I remember when coach Phillip Fulmer was coaching there. I got a cousin named Rashad Baker who got a chance to play there. He was a four-year starter.”

Baker and Brown are both natives of Camden, N.J. Brown played at Western Carolina and started his college coaching career at Temple, before moves to Baylor, Rutgers and Georgia.  

He went 10-3 in his first season as Syracuse’s head coach.

“Being able to see Tennessee for a long time,” Brown said, “I think Coach Heupel has stepped in and done an amazing job. Just from when he started there, his coaching career, his playing career as a football player, and then now as a coach. It’s always second to none, right? He does an amazing job.”

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