Fran Brown orders Syracuse players to run sprints on field after win vs. UConn (video)

Syracuse, N.Y. — Syracuse football coach Fran Brown didn’t wait very long to get his team’s attention after a narrow win vs. Connecticut on Saturday afternoon.

Brown ordered his players to run sprints on the field immediately after the game ended.

The unusual punishment came moments after Syracuse stormed back from 11 points down with less than 6 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter for its first win of the season.

The Orange trailed 17-6 before quarterback Steve Angeli engineered two touchdown drives late in regulation, including the go-ahead score by running back Yasin Willis with 48 seconds remaining.

UConn turned around and moved the ball into field-goal range to send the game into overtime. On that drive, Syracuse allowed a pivotal 4th-and-10 conversion on a one-handed catch from UConn receiver Skyler Bell in between two defenders.

In the extra period, Angeli fired a tight pass to Justus Ross-Simmons on the near side of the field. Ross-Simmons’s strong hands secured the catch in tight coverage as he reached over the pylon while leaning out of bounds.

Pressed to score a touchdown to extend the game, the Huskies came up short on two plays inside the 5-yard line.

Freshman linebacker Antoine Deslauriers batted a pass in the backfield and then caused a deflection in the end zone with his back turned to the ball on the decisive play.

Players surrounded the freshman after his game-sealing play before Brown and the staff organized the players, still dressed in their game uniforms, to start running.

“I’m mad as heck right now,” Brown told the television broadcast after the game.

“I was taught through a lot of the coaches that coached me, you either coach it or allow it, so I feel that I’m allowing it.

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