For more than two weeks, Syracuse fans debated whether Fran Brown should make the switch at quarterback. (The Fizz made the argument earlier in the week Steve Angeli should have started today. Oops.)
On Saturday, he finally did.
Now there’s a much different question: How does he possibly go back?
Amari Odom got the surprise start over Steve Angeli against UConn and immediately transformed the Syracuse offense. Odom finished 27-of-37 for 335 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions, leading the Orange to a wild 42-41 overtime victory.
It wasn’t perfect. But the offense looked more explosive, more comfortable and, frankly, more dangerous than it had with Angeli.
Odom announced himself immediately, bobbling an early exchange and then throwing a dime to Umari Hatcher for the first score of the day. He completed three of his first four passes for 50 yards and a touchdown. By early in the second quarter, he had already accounted for three touchdown drives.
He made plays with his legs. He pushed the ball downfield. He ran the show effectively.
For much of the afternoon, this looked like the Amari Odom show.
And yet Syracuse somehow nearly wasted it.
The Orange built a 34-14 lead before the defense completely unraveled. UConn erased the entire 20-point deficit and forced overtime, with the Orange once again plagued by an unacceptable number of penalties and self-inflicted mistakes.
UConn’s passing game piled up 314 yards and three touchdowns without an interception. Against an opponent Syracuse was favored to beat, a three-score advantage should have ended the game.
Instead, SU needed overtime.
And had Syracuse simply converted a PAT in regulation, it wouldn’t have needed that.
That’s what makes evaluating Saturday so strange.
There are still problems with this football team. The penalties remain maddening. The defense allowing UConn to climb completely out of a 20-point hole is unacceptable. Syracuse cannot expect to survive performances like this once it returns to ACC play.
But quarterback suddenly doesn’t look like a problem.
Odom wasn’t flawless. He threw two interceptions and took a sack he probably should have escaped. Those are the mistakes you’d expect from a quarterback getting his first Syracuse start.
But five touchdowns and 335 yards?
That’s considerably harder to dismiss.
Brown suggested before the game that starting Odom would give Angeli an opportunity to heal. That’s significant. Angeli has not looked completely right, and his health may explain some of his recent struggles.
But college football rarely allows coaches to stick perfectly to the original plan.
Odom was given the opportunity, and the offense responded with its best performance against an FBS opponent this season. Syracuse scored enough points to win comfortably in regulation. It was the defense and special teams that turned the afternoon into a heart attack.
For two weeks, the debate was whether Brown should give Odom a chance.
After Saturday, that debate is over.
The question now is whether this has become Amari Odom’s team.
And after five touchdowns and an overtime victory, it’s getting awfully difficult to argue that it hasn’t.
