The pain of the loss still stung. Fran Brown felt it. He saw it in the faces of his Syracuse players, too.Especially his quarterback. Kyle McCord threw five interceptions. Three were returned for touchdowns in the first half. In a nationally televised, Friday-night tilt, Pitt raced to a 31-0 halftime lead, largely on the back of McCord’s mistakes.Brown found his quarterback and looked him in the eyes. He knew what McCord needed: Someone to remind him his world wasn’t caving in around him.“I love you,” Brown said. “Keep your head up. We’ll be back.”The brief exchange, in one of the lowest moments of the season, stands out as one of Brown’s favorites in his 15-year coaching career.In his mind, the moment tested his own mettle. He was furious about the loss and the missed opportunity, too.“I was able to not worry about all that, and just be there for that player at that moment,” Brown said.It was a quiet moment that, like Brown’s hiring, didn’t make a big splash. But it made a difference: McCord threw just one interception the rest of the season, ending as the nation’s leading passer as Syracuse won five of its final six.As for big splashes? Brown, mostly unknown a year ago, made lots of them in his first season as head coach.Brown led Syracuse to 10 wins, guiding the Orange to their most successful season since 2018 and just their second double-digit win season since 2001. Along the way, he established a brand and identity for himself and the program: honest and outspoken, but rooted in accountability.Year two is about proving last season wasn’t a fluke for a program with just six winning seasons in the last 23 years. On Saturday, Brown and the Orange will try to make another splash at a reeling Clemson team.He’s unbothered as a 17-point underdog headed to Death Valley to face a preseason national title contender.“Vegas said Canelo (Álvarez) was about to win,” Brown said this week, referring to last Saturday’s boxing megafight. “(Terence) Crawford said different. … I like being the underdog. I’ve been the underdog my whole life.”Brown’s authenticity has made for frequent soundbites: He said last November, after a loss to Boston College, he doesn’t shower after losses — “I don’t deserve soap” — and then, after winning at Cal days later, exclaimed that “winners get washed.”He joked he ought to send Ohio State coach Ryan Day champagne for allowing Syracuse to secure McCord in the transfer portal. In the postgame revelry of a come-from-behind win over Miami that knocked the Hurricanes out of the ACC title game and put Clemson in, Brown finished answering a question and stared into the lens of ESPN’s camera.“Hey, Dabo Swinney, congrats,” Brown said. “I got you in, baby.”