Syracuse head football coach Fran Brown admittedly accused officials of ‘cheating’ the Orange during Thursday’s demoralizing loss to rival Pittsburgh, but that was hardly his only faux pas.

The third-year coach drew one of Syracuse’s 10 penalties in the 27-13 defeat when he head faked the line judge in an apparent attempt to get the official to flinch during a particularly bad moment for the Orange.

‘When you’re like this and you’re constantly going after the ref, he must’ve said something he didn’t like, that point right there,’ one member of the ESPN broadcast booth told viewers. ‘Get into his face, sort of flinching, that is unacceptable.’

Fans quickly agreed online. 

‘Pump faking a ref,’ one wrote on X, ‘Interesting tactic.’

Already the most penalized team in the country entering the game, Syracuse was flagged for a controversial pass interference call in the second quarter moments before Brown’s outburst.

Fran Bran admittedly accused refs of ‘cheating’ the Orange during Thursday’s loss

The line judge did not flinch when Brown gave his head fake, but the official did toss a flag 

Of course, the unsportsmanlike penalty did not help matters, and two plays later, Pitt running back Damon Ferguson Jr. scampered down the sideline and into the end zone to give the Panthers control of the game.

Brown did admit he was wrong to say what he’d said to the line judge, although he did not address the head fake with reporters.

‘I spoke out of tone, which I shouldn’t have said,’ Brown said. ‘I just stated that, “I feel like you’re effing cheating us.” I said that. I said, You guys are effing cheating.’

‘I shouldn’t have said that. I should be able to hold my composure as being the face of our football program. Can’t say words like that to a referee.’

And Brown certainly can’t say that now, with the Orange 1-2 after consecutive conference defeats in the ACC.

‘In my humble opinion, this specific clip is the official defining moment of the Fran Brown Era,’ one angry Orange fan wrote on X.

‘Still trying to wrap my head around how quickly things have unraveled for Fran at Syracuse,’ one college football blogger wrote on X. ‘After that first year it felt like he was going to transform Syracuse football forever, but now a firing this year could be on the table.’

A former defensive backs coach at Georgia, Brown won the Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant Newcomer Coach of the Year award in 2024 after Syracuse went 10-3 en route to a Holiday Bowl win

Another fan agreed: ‘He may not last the season, especially after this video has gone viral.’

A former defensive backs coach at Georgia, Brown won the Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant Newcomer Coach of the Year award in 2024 after Syracuse went 10-3 en route to a Holiday Bowl win.

Since then, Syracuse has gone 4-11 while battling injuries and inconsistency at quarterback.

The school won a national title in football in 1959 and has produced legendary running backs such as Jim Brown, Heisman Trophy-winner Ernie Davis, Floyd Little and Larry Csonka, to name a few. But after winning five Big East Crowns through 2012, Syracuse jumped to the ACC and has mostly struggled since then.