Syracuse Orange football is hoping to move to 2-2 this weekend after consecutive losses dropped the group under .500. The last time we saw the Orange, they fell to fellow ACC member Pittsburgh 27-13 over two weeks ago.
Before Syracuse takes on the UConn Huskies on Saturday afternoon (noon ET), Orange fans took to social media to voice their anger over a social media post by the team’s official account on X.
Some Orange supporters believe the post was an unnecessary critique of Syracuse football fans.
What was the social media post?
On X, the Syracuse football account posted a video promoting Saturday’s contest against UConn. The theme of the video was “Block Out The Noise,” and showed various talk show takes and social media posts criticizing the Orange’s play through three games.
How did fans and media members react?
Fans seemed shocked at the video and the overwhelming feedback was negative. The video seemed to be pointing at Orange fans’ frustration as motivation for the team this week.
Tegan wrote: “Lowkey bashing the fans is an interesting choice for marketing the game, but okay…”
All Things Orange wrote: “Taking a shot at your own fans was……certainly a choice.”
Mike responded to the video by saying:“I think a better choice for this would’ve been to just include media as noise. Don’t make it seem like fans are a problem, which is how I’ve seen many fans interpret this.”
Why I agree with Orange fans and media members
The fans and media members criticizing the social media post are correct. Targeting supporters of the program makes little sense.
The video shows edited versions of sports media personality Damon Amendolara. Amendolara, a Syracuse alum and national media personality, has been a strong supporter of Orange athletics, including having head coach Fran Brown on as an interview guest recently. Amendolara has been a supporter of the program and to target someone like that seems irrational.
The same take can be used in reference to the blurred image of the sports talk radio hosts from ESPN Syracuse. ESPN Syracuse is the home of Orange pre-and postgame shows. Conversation versus criticism seems to a be lost perspective here in this video.
The Orange have led the country in penalties/game through three games this season. Most of the struggles from the team have been self-inflicted, not because of the fan base.
A “Block Out the noise” themed video would have been better used for a potential game where the Orange were a large underdog and local/national media members or fans doubted the team’s chances to win. If Brown wanted to motivate the team in that fashion, that could be plausible.
But using fans’ frustration in a hype video leading up to a game against UConn came off as tone deaf from the social media administrators.
Where can you follow Saturday’s action
CBS Sports Network will have the television coverage. On the audio side, fans can listen across multiple affiliates in New York State. In the Central New York area, the game will be broadcasted on the radio side on TK99/105 (99.5/100.5 FM) and WAER (88.3) and through Cuse.com.
Following the game, SyracuseRoundtable will be offering insight and takeaways from the afternoon contest.
