Orange Open ACC Slate with Cal Saturday

The Orange are set to open their ACC schedule this Saturday when Syracuse hosts California at the JMA Wireless Dome. The game is set to air on ACC Network with a 3:30 scheduled kickoff.

After the first weekend of Syracuse Athletics' reimagined fan experience at home football games, head coach Fran Brown is grateful to open his conference schedule in front of Orange Nation at the JMA Wireless Dome against what he calls a very tough opponent. Fans still have a chance to be part of the action, featuring pre-game festivities on the Quad and new in-game elements. Tickets for Saturday's game are still available at Cuse.com/FootballTickets.If you act before the end of today, you can also score a major discount (63-percent) on select tickets for Saturday, courtesy of Syracuse's 63-point victory against New Hampshire. Act now before this offer expires here: When we win, you win promotion.

"I'm very excited and thankful to open up ACC-play at the Dome," Brown said. "There's nothing better than being able to play at the Dome. We have a good opponent in Cal coming in, under Coach Tosh Lupoi. This is a good football team, we have a really good team coming through the doors. So, excited and ready for the opportunity we have to play against them."

Syracuse is coming off a 66-3 victory over New Hampshire in the season opener. The win marked the largest margin of victory and was tied for the most points in a single game for the Orange under Brown's leadership. The defense also racked up five sacks, the second-most by the Orange during Brown's tenure, and nine tackles for loss. Despite the record-breaking performance, Brown, his staff and the Orange have turned the page to shift their focus towards this week's game.

"I was excited about the opportunity we had to play this past weekend, just kind of moving on, though, to the next opponent," Brown said. "We just have to continue to get better… We're a young football team, we're growing, so we will continue to get better."

Steve Angeli will lead the Orange offense a week after he threw for 263 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. The performance extended his streak to six-straight games with at least 230 passing yards, dating back to his time with Notre Dame. Brown said Angeli will only continue to improve as the season progresses.

"He'll get a lot better," Brown said. "There's some things he's going to get back to, he's a little more confident now."

Wide receiver Umari Hatcher was Angeli's top target last week, hauling in eight catches for 147 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Both were career-highs after appearing in just one game a year ago. For Brown, watching Hatcher deliver that performance carried extra weight given the road back he traveled to get there.

"That's just what [Hatcher] does," Brown said. "He's a talented player, he's always been talented since he was younger. But, you're more happy because all that he overcame. He was one of those guys last year that was injured and he was able to come back and then look what he did on Saturday."

On the other side, the Syracuse defense will faceoff against a Cal offense led by quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele. The sophomore quarterback started all 13 games as a freshman for Cal a year ago, throwing for 3,454 yards and 18 touchdowns. Sagapolutele threw for 271 yards and two touchdowns in his season debut this past weekend and received praise from Brown.

"I think their quarterback is one of the better quarterbacks in the country," Brown said. "He's extremely talented. He can throw on the run, throw on the drop of a dime. We just really have to focus on us and on Monday. We have to just lock in on us, do our job, then get ready for the next day. We'll see what happens on Saturday. We're playing against a future pro and I'm thankful we get the opportunity to compete against Cal this weekend."

Sagapolutele will go up against a Syracuse defense that has yet to allow a touchdown after one week of play. The Orange also racked up five sacks, bringing them one-quarter of the way to their 2025 season total after just one game. A few Orange defenders made their Syracuse debut, including Keyshawn Johnson who set a career-high with 2.5 sacks while linebacker Chris D'Appolonia tallied a tackle for loss on his first defensive snap.

With one game under their belt in 2026, Brown is looking for his team to continue to play hard and play together heading into a home-test against Cal.

"Just have fun, play with each other and play for each other," Brown said. "It's important that we do that just continue to have fun every day and playing for each other."

Syracuse University Athletics

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