BERKELEY, Calif. — Syracuse played in Berkley for the first time since the 1960s, and came away with its second ACC road win of the season.

Here are three takeaways from the game.

Syracuse head coach Fran Brown made headlines following Syracuse's road loss to Boston College last week.

In his postgame press conference, he revealed that he doesn't allow himself to shower if his team takes a loss.

Fortunately, he will be heading back to Central New York smelling fresh.

The Orange won, and while the coaching staff was giving out game balls for top performers, Yasin Willis had put aside something special for his coach.

"Yasin just said, 'We got something for you, coach,'" tight end Oronde Gadsden said. "Everyone got quiet, and he pulled out a bottle of soap. Winners get washed, you know?"

It wasn't just any old soap.

"It was an Old Spice bottle," quarterback Kyle McCord said. "We know how much he gives throughout the week. Getting across the country playing for that type of coach is huge."

Kyle McCord doesn't need to be reminded about his struggles against Pitt on Oct. 24.

In that game, a 41-13 blowout loss for the Orange, McCord threw five interceptions in a disastrous night for him and the offense.

But in the three games since, McCord has played mostly mistake-free football, with only one interception coming against Virginia Tech.

He had a clean sheet on Saturday, finishing with 323 yards and a touchdown and appears to have moved past his Pitt performance.

"The three games after that, we've run the ball better, and that's helped me out, helped the offense out," McCord said. "Anytime you have a game like that, you go back and study and find the little areas where things went wrong. I did that, and we did that as an offense."

Syracuse defensive back Davien Kerr made the most of his first collegiate start.

Near the end of the first quarter, Cal quarterback Fernando Mendoza decided to test the true freshman, throwing deep to receiver Tobias Merriweather who was matched up one-on-one against Kerr.

Kerr had his back turned when he heard "ball" from the sideline, and when he turned around, he leapt and snatched the ball for the first interception of his career.

"The coaches and players put their trust in me," Kerr said. "I had to get the job done."

Kerr added he had been working with the first unit all week because of injuries to starters Jayden Bellamy and Marcellus Barnes Jr.

Three others were ahead of Kerr on the depth chart, but because of various disciplinary issues, Brown said he decided to go with Kerr. Brown said his young defensive back has some of the best ball skills on the team.

"It means a lot to me," Kerr said. "I didn't play DB my whole life. I played receiver. Coming from him, I love that. It's a really good feeling."

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