What Fran Brown said heading into Saturday's first ACC game for Syracuse football

Like many Americans, Fran Brown was yearning for one last summertime celebratory barbecue on Labor Day Monday, but alas, he had plenty of work to do with his Orange team instead, following the season opening victory against New Hampshire. Brown will be busy all week fine-tuning his Orange (1-0) for their conference opener Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET / ACC Network), against a Cal team that flies cross-country this week after suffering a 45-24 home loss to UCLA last Saturday night in its season opener. The Bears played at Archbold Stadium in the 1967 season, with SU winning 20-14. Heading into his 17th ACC game as a head coach, Brown is excited about watching the improvement of QB Steve Angeli from game one to game two, says more running back depth will be available against the Bears, and also Monday, had a distinction to make when discussing the one topic riling all of Orange Nation: Too many penalties. When taking a hit from the defense helps your returning-from-injury quarterback play better Playing an FCS opponent, New Hampshire last Saturday, in his first return to action in nearly a year, was the perfect way for Angeli to get back into the feel of live action, taking hits from an opposing defense. No, we are not describing the cheap shot variety that resulted in a testy exchange between SU and UNH players in the first quarter when Angeli was the victim of an egregious late hit in front of the Orange bench, but more along the lines of the hit in the second quarter when Angeli went down holding his right leg, causing the Dome to go instantly silent. Angeli popped back up to sprint Brown back to the sideline, and was in its own right a pivotal moment in the QB's long recovery from his Achilles heel injury, finishing 20-of-29 for 264 yards in the air with three passing TDs, and a Grade of "82" (out of 100) from his head coach. "I think him being hit (by defenders) was something that needed to happen," Brown said Monday. "It helped him build a little more confidence, so we're happy about that, because (also), Steve can actually run. "I'm thankful that happened without causing him an unjury,," Browna dded, "Now he'll be able to get a little bit more rust off and go out there and be able to compete (harder)." On the injury front, expect a return of two running backs this week, and two wide receivers in a few weeks There is only one football for what will now be an increased number of pairs of hands of 'Cuse running backs that want to carry that rock in a game. When asked Monday, Brown said both transfer RBs Ju'Juan Johnson (LSU) and Ahmad Miller (Jackson State) will be ready and available to play Saturday against the Bears. (Brown also said WRs Calvin Russell III and Terrell Wilfong should be back from injuries "sometime in the next several weeks," and Justus Ross-Simmons soon.) The duo joins Shavane Anderson who had a collegiate debut he will not forget with three TDs and 102 rugged yards on the ground, and Tylik Hill who galloped for 90 more yards and a score. So exactly how does the playing time get decided moving forward with the same goals? "Whatever it takes to win. I couldn't care less who it is," Brown said in his most sincere strategy mode. "It doesn't really matter who is carrying the ball, if one is carrying the ball, he's carrying the ball for all of us." Those @#$%&* Syracuse football penalties Only Tulane (15) and North Dakota State (with 13 while making its FBS debut) had more penalties than Syracuse (12) last week in Week 1 of the season, certainly not a good sign versus an FCS opponent. A couple were on special teams, negating nice punt returns from triple-threat Demetres Samuel Jr., and one was in retaliation for the aforementioned late hit on Angeli. Let Brown explain. "I think we're disciplined, a lot of them (penalties) were aggressiveness, a few were laziness," Brown said in differentiating the type of infractions that cost his team 125 penalty yards overall. "The special teams we were aggressive, and I have got to teach better. There were a couple that were lazy, and that is what I am upset about. But as for discipline, we are not an undisciplined football team." SUPPORT THE JUICE ONLINE Follow us on Twitter @TheJuiceOnline, like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram @SUJuiceOnline and listen to our podcast.