sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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Welcome to American Chess Day!
A game of strategy and skill, chess is played the world over by young and old alike. To play, two opponents face off across a checkers-style board, and take turns using their pieces of kings, queens, rooks, knights, bishops, and pawns to move along the 64-square board. Game times vary — great players can knock out their opponents very quickly or can spend hours strategizing their every move. To win, a player must use his pieces to capture those of the other player, with the ultimate goal of taking over the other player’s king. Checkmate! Often called “The Game of Kings,” you can play chess the good old-fashioned way with another player in person, or on the computer with opponents from all over the world.
SU News
Syracuse’s new 3-3-5 defense, explained (DO; Emerman)
If there’s college football in 2020, all signs point to Syracuse playing a completely new style of defense that few programs have implemented.
Syracuse briefly hired Zach Arnett in the offseason, later bringing on Tony White after Arnett flipped to Mississippi State. Both defensive coordinators specialize in the 3-3-5 defense, indicating SU is serious about switching from the 4-2-5 nickel.
In theory, the 3-3-5 is fast, malleable and conducive to an undersized defensive line. The scheme includes three down linemen, three linebackers behind them and five defensive backs. By substituting a lineman for a defensive back, teams hypothetically sacrifice rush defense for speed to combat the spread offenses of modern football.
“If you’re at a place where you have the ability to get a lot of good defensive linemen all the time, you don’t have to go to it,” SU head coach Dino Babers said. “But if you’re at a place where sometimes you have good defensive linemen, sometimes you don’t, it can be a defense that can really confuse quarterbacks in the throw game and really give the offensive line some problems in the run game.”
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Dino Babers details SU football's team meetings about Jacob Blake (DO; Hillman)
When Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd in late May, Syracuse football wasn’t practicing. Head coach Dino Babers didn’t have the ability to talk to his team in-person. Instead, they had “mini-zoom meetings,” and Babers released a public statement calling for support of Black Lives Matter.
After a police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin, shot Jacob Blake seven times in the back, Babers approached his team on the “day that it happened or maybe the day afterward,” he said.
“We addressed it right away,” Babers said. “And then we took another time where they could bring it up and talk about it. A little State of the Union.”
Babers’ Aug. 31 press conference comes less than a week after the Milwaukee Bucks and the rest of the NBA refused to continue the playoffs for three days following Blake’s death. Multiple Syracuse players expressed concern too. Safety Andre Cisco tweeted “Why did it take another video of a black man being violated for us to take a stand?” Offensive lineman Darius Tisdale, former Syracuse wide receiver Cameron Jordan and numerous others spoke out as well.
When asked what would happen if SU players refused to continue, Babers said he “wouldn’t know how to start it or how to finish it.” In response to the NBA protests, linebacker Tyrell Richards criticized the decision to continue playing sports in a tweet on Aug. 27. Richards later deleted the tweet and clarified that some players had met with members of the Syracuse Athletic Department and Babers.
“Why am I playing in a country to entertain people that don’t care about our well being unless we’re on the field,” Richards tweeted. “F*** playing sports, we don’t need to distract them from s***, make everyone look at what’s really going on because at the end of the day.”
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Syracuse football ‘really’ liked by Nyair Graham, Duce Chestnut teammate (itlh; Adler)
Nyair Graham, a 2022 three-star linebacker, has strong interest in Syracuse football, but other high-level contenders exist.
Syracuse football scored its first four-star prospect in the squad’s 2021 class, Duce Chestnut, at the beginning of August, and now the Orange has a legit chance to secure the services of his high-school teammate, elite 2022 linebacker Nyair Graham.
The 6-foot-1, 195-pound Graham is a three-star prospect in his cycle and has 16 scholarship offers to date, per a review of the primary recruiting Web sites.
Besides the ‘Cuse, those offers are from Boston College, Buffalo, Connecticut, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Miami (Fla.), Miami (Ohio), Michigan State, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Temple, Texas A&M, Virginia, Virginia Tech and West Virginia.
At this juncture, I’m not seeing any predictions by recruiting analysts as to where they think that Graham will end up going. He is a junior at Camden High School in Camden, N.J., where top-30 cornerback Chestnut is a senior.
Graham did recently speak with CuseNation.com’s Mike McAllister for an article in which the high-school player said that he “really likes” Syracuse football.
To that end, in addition to the Orange, McAllister writes that four other crews are “recruiting him hard,” and they are Penn State and Maryland out of the Big Ten Conference, as well as fellow Atlantic Coast Conference foes Boston College and Miami.
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Could Syracuse Football Strike in 2020? (SI; Payne)
Sports is evolving. No longer are athletes’ affiliations and allegiances limited to the bench or the dugout. Their influence knows no bounds nor borders. What started as a stand alone statement of defiance by the Milwaukee Bucks, protesting the shooting of Jacob Blake by police in their home state, soon permeated across the entire sports landscape.
All three NBA Playoff games were postponed last Wednesday after players voted not to play. Uniformity is not new in the NBA. “Black Lives Matter”, painted in bold block letters, embroiders all four courts at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida. The rallying cry for justice and equality is also featured on the pregame warm-up shirt of every player in the bubble. Their harmony was anticipated. Echoed support in other leagues was not.
Teams in the WNBA, MLB, MLS and NHL all boycotted games in their respective associations, ushering in an era of cross-sport camaraderie we’ve never seen before. Athletes, who previously never had a reason to talk to one another, are more connected now than ever. Superstar brands with sweeping social media clout dismantle archaic walls dividing basketball, baseball, football and hockey. Their words carry weight. Especially with college athletes.
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Syracuse Football’s Biggest Weakness In 2020 – Orange Fizz – Free Syracuse Recruiting News (orangefizz.net; May)
The 2020 college football season is not going to be like any other. With COVID-19 still a present danger in America, colleges and universities have implemented strict guidelines to ensure athletes and everyone’s health. So, when the question “what will be the biggest obstacle for Syracuse Football be” is posed, the easy answer is COVID.
But let’s be optimistic and assume the college football season goes off without a hitch. Now here’s a different question– “what is Syracuse Football’s biggest weakness in 2020?” There are probably a few different things that pop in your head when you read that question, here are the honorable mentions:
OFFENSIVE LINE
This is the easy answer. The Syracuse offensive line was one of the worst O-line in the entire FBS last year. The Orange ranked third-to-last in sacks allowed and barely gave Tommy DeVito time to blink when he dropped back. The offensive line won’t be the best unit on the team this season, but they also won’t be the worst. They have four returning starters in Cody Conway, Dakota Davis, Airon Servais, and Matthew Bergeron. Then, hopefully, Chris Bleich who transferred from Florida will round out the line, but that depends on getting a transfer waiver. Either way, the O-line will be better than what it was last year, meaning it won’t be Syracuse’s biggest weakness.
WIDE RECEIVERS
The wide receivers will definitely need some help this year. Trishton Jackson led the Orange a season ago in receiving, but he’s now in the NFL. Sean Riley also graduated, which isn’t a huge loss, but it is a loss. So, looking at the corps this year Syracuse has Taj Harris as WR1, Nykeim Johnson as WR2, and Cameron Jordan as WR3. Then there is a group of other guys that may see some snaps here and there. There’s not a lot of talent in the group, but they will be able to patch it together enough to not be Syracuse’s biggest weakness.
Both of those units are issues that Syracuse will have to address, but there is only one answer to the question. Here is Syracuse Football’s biggest weakness in 2020:
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Babers Preparing for "Extremely Different" Season (spectrumlocalnews.com; Larson)
As he continues to guide his team through a global pandemic and the nation's most significant movement for racial justice since the '60s, Dino Babers is also less than two weeks away from kicking off his ninth season as a head football coach, a season that promises to be unlike any other.
"It's extremely different," said the fifth-year Syracuse coach during his weekly virtual press conference Monday afternoon. "You feel like the fires over there in California, every day there's something else cropping up that you've got to put out."
Babers, whose job has always been centered on getting his players ready physically, says this season there is an even greater concern of making sure they're in peak condition mentally, with the added stressors of an invisible virus and highly visible unrest. He says he wishes young people didn't have to go through what they're going through right now, and even takes some responsibility for it.
"It's kind of sad that they've had to deal with some of these issues that we, as an older generation, didn't clean up a long time ago," he said while searching for a silver lining. "It's one of those times where there's a lot of pain, and where there's a lot of pain, there's normally a lot of growth as well."
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Three takeaways from Dino Babers media call less than two weeks out from season opener (cnycentral.com; Hauswirth)
Dino Babers addressed the media Monday afternoon, as he typically does with the season right around the corner.
This is, however, a season unlike any other.
For now, the ACC is one of three power five conferences still planning on playing this fall, which includes Syracuse's season opener at North Carolina on Saturday, September 12.
The Orange held their second scrimmage of the preseason over the weekend, as the defense once again stole the show.
Babers commented on his team's preparedness for the season opener, along with so many other topics during Monday's zoom call.
Below are three of the biggest takeaways from the press conference.
A Very, Very Powerful Trailblazer
John Thompson's sudden passing late Sunday night rocked the sports world Monday morning, including Syracuse head football coach Dino Babers.
Babers was asked about Thompson's legacy and how his legendary coaching career touched his life as a fellow head coach in Division-I athletics.
"He was a very, very powerful trailblazer," Babers responded. "He's someone who went across all avenues in sports. I even attended a banquet where I listened to him speak before. He was a powerful, powerful presence. He was someone if you were a young coach at the time like I was, and if you had aspired in becoming a head coach, he was someone you needed to listen to. He had extreme knowledge and there's no doubt his knowledge was power."
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Orange Ready for Unconventional 2020 Football Season (wicz.com; Kuhn)
In just over a week, the Syracuse Orange football team will kick-off their 2020 season that will be unlike any they’ve had before.
The Orange finished with a record of 5-7 last season after an impressive 2018 campaign where the team went 10-3, won the Camping World Bowl and finished 15th in the nation in both polls.
Syracuse is heading into 2020 after losing their leading rusher, receiver and top 3 leading tacklers to graduation or the NFL. Key returners include starting quarterback, junior Tommy Devito, junior safety Andre Cisco who has been selected as a pre-season first team All-American by the Associated Press, and 2018 Lou Groza Award Winner for best kicker in the country and first team All-American kicker Andre Szmyt. Orange Head Coach Dino Babers who is starting his 5th year at the helm of the program says in a season with so much change and uncertainty as a result of the pandemic, focus is what will separate teams.
“I think the team that can stay focused the longest and keep their head down and keep working , keep going and working with that hard hat on, I think they may have the type of season that a lot of people would feel is unexpected,” says Babers. “Our thing is we're just really trying to stay locked in. Hopefully get to that first game and see it kicked off and once it’s kicked off on the first game hoping you get to see the kick-off on the last one.”
One of the many changes this season as a result of COVID-19 is that Syracuse and the rest of the ACC will be playing a 10 game schedule. It will be in-conference match-ups only with the exception of a game against Liberty, and a tilt with Notre Dame who is essentially a member of the conference for the season. The Orange kick-off their season next Saturday in North Carolina against the Tar Heels.
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UNC's Focus Turns to Syracuse (247sports.com; Barnes)
North Carolina has concluded training camp with only one virus-related disruption and now turns its attention to its season opener against Syracuse on Sept. 12.
The Tar Heel football program has not had a positive COVID-19 test in nearly two months, which allowed Mack Brown and his coaching staff to work through three-and-a-half weeks of training camp with a full complement of players. UNC suspended all athletic activities on Aug. 19 for a period of four days as clusters of cases popped up around campus, forcing the football program to miss two practices, a walk-through and a strength and conditioning day.
The Tar Heels were able to work around the stoppage and get back on track on Tuesday. Camp culminated with the team’s second scrimmage on Saturday morning at Kenan Stadium, as crowd noise and music were pumped in to simulate the fan-less game day that awaits.
“The next two weeks will be totally about our preparation for our game,” Brown told reporters during his weekly Zoom call on Monday. “We'll practice on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, like we will next week going into the opening game of this season. We'll take Friday as a walkthrough and then we'll have a situation scrimmage this Saturday. So, we’re all about Syracuse as of today. We'll start working on them tomorrow on the field, but our coaches are working on their game plans as we speak now.”
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Mack Brown: We're not working for camp anymore. We're working for Syracuse. :: WRALSportsFan.com (wralsportsfan.com; video; Brown)
UNC football coach Mack Brown met remotely with the media as his team is less than two weeks away from its scheduled season opener against Syracuse.
BGSU football lands Syracuse transfer QB Drew Gunther (toledoblade.com; Piotrowicz)
Bowling Green continued its run of adding quarterbacks to its depleted roster, adding its fourth new player at the position by drawing a commitment from former Syracuse backup Drew Gunther.
Gunther announced his commitment to Bowling Green on Sunday.
Previously, Gunther was a preferred walk-on with the Orange who entered the transfer portal earlier in August.
Gunther redshirted last season at Syracuse and did not appear in a game.
Unless Gunther acquires a hardship waiver from the NCAA, he would be unable to play during the 2020-21 school year after transferring. However, due to changes related to coronavirus, no fall sports athletes will be forced to use a year of eligibility, so Gunther would retain all four years going into next season.
As a high schooler at Malvern (Pa.) Prep just outside of Philadelphia, Gunther went 22-3 as a starter and set school records for touchdown passes (54) and passing yards (4,947).
He joins a Bowling Green quarterback room that has become suddenly crowded during 2020.
The Falcons began the year with only one scholarship quarterback — only Matt McDonald remained after Grant Loy transferred to Auburn — but added two scholarship freshmen in Tucker Melton and Riley Keller.
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Links, news and rumors - 8/31/20 (RX; HM)
Links, news and rumors - 8/31/20
We should get the TV schedule for week 2 (the first week of ACC football) today, but until we do...
From Matt Sarz Sports: CFB TV Guesses for 2020 Week 2 (9/10/20-9/12/20)
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No fans at Notre Dame home games - according to an unofficial webpage:
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Links, news and rumors - 9/1/20 (RX; HM)
Links, news and rumors - 9/1/20
Did the NCAA tip their hand on next Spring's men's basketball tournament plans?
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Here are the latest point spreads for opening week ACC games (favorite in bold):
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If 2019 ACC had been one division... (RX; HM)
If 2019 ACC had been one division...
Last year the ACC was split into two divisions and Notre Dame was a football independent... but what if 2019 had been played under the 2020 structure? The one-division-ACC final standings might have looked like this:
| Rank | Team | Wins | Loss | ACC |
| 1 | Clemson | 14 | 1 | 8 |
| 2 | Notre Dame | 11 | 2 | 5 |
| 3 | Virginia | 9 | 5 | 6 |
| 4t | Louisville | 8 | 5 | 5 |
| 4t | Virginia Tech | 8 | 5 | 5 |
| 4t | Wake Forest | 8 | 5 | 4 |
| 4t | Pitt | 8 | 5 | 4 |
| 8 | N Carolina | 7 | 6 | 4 |
| 9t | Florida State | 6 | 7 | 4 |
| 9t | Boston College | 6 | 7 | 4 |
| 9t | Miami | 6 | 7 | 4 |
| 12t | Duke | 5 | 7 | 3 |
| 12t | Syracuse | 5 | 7 | 2 |
| 14 | NC State | 4 | 8 | 1 |
| 15 | Georgia Tech | 3 | 9 | 2 |
Just a few observations:
1. Clemson and Notre Dame are the favorites for 2020, and they would've finished 1 and 2 last year.
2. Virginia would've been the clear #3 last year, but the Cavaliers lost a lot and are expected to fall back into the middle of the conference this year.
3. Louisville, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest and Pitt were all tied for 4th in 2019; Wake lost their all world QB, but the other three return largely intact.
4. North Carolina is everybody's preseason favorite, but remember they were 4-4 in the ACC, 7-6 overall and would've finished 8th last season, so we'll see...
5. Miami is also getting a lot of love, but the Canes finished tied with FSU and BC in the standings last year, and I'm not so sure there's much reason to be higher on the U than the other two.
6. Duke finished tied with Syracuse overall but with one more ACC win; the Blue Devils appear to have made significant improvements in the off-season.
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ACC preview: Two teams is College Football Playoff is realistic possibility (usatoday.com; Myerberg)
If ever a season existed when the ACC could send two teams into the College Football Playoff, this would be it.
But as the SEC stakes early claim for sending multiple teams to the semifinals, the ACC in 2020 might have enough firepower to form a challenge for national supremacy.
Even more so than the Big 12, the ACC as a league has been boosted by the Big Ten's decision to postpone competition until the winter or spring. With that conference out of the equation, look for ACC teams to largely fill that void in the Amway Coaches Poll once teams not in compete are removed from consideration.
One team set to benefit from the Big Ten's decision is Notre Dame, which will swap out traditional games against Southern California and others for one year as a full-fledged member of the ACC. Adding the Fighting Irish gives the conference a second contender just on the outskirts of the top five.
Pegging North Carolina to join the Tigers and Irish might be somewhat premature — the Tar Heels may project to factor into the New Year's Six bowl race but a leap into the playoff in coach Mack Brown's second season seems at least one year ahead of schedule. Elsewhere in the ACC, several teams will land inside the Top 25 while navigating through conference-game-heavy schedules.
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Monday Down South, ACC Preview Edition: The Clemson gap is not closing anytime soon (saturdaydownsouth.com; Hinton)
for gbo
The first entry in Monday Down South’s weekly conference preview series ahead of the 2020 regular season. Next week: The Big 12.
Not to spoil the suspense right up front here, but, well, that would require there to actually be some suspense to spoil, wouldn’t it? No chance of that. In the ACC, everyone and their mother knows how it ends: With Clemson as the champ.
In fact, after 5 consecutive conference titles and 22 consecutive conference wins, the chasm between Clemson and the rest of the league is as wide as ever and only getting wider – a state of affairs that in many ways says as much about the ACC’s other standard-bearers as it does about the Tigers. Their one-time rival at the top of the standings, Florida State, is at its lowest point in more than 40 years off back-to-back losing seasons under the swiftly exiled Willie Taggart. The other would-be national brand, Miami, is nearly two decades removed from its glory days with no return in sight.
Virginia Tech? Eight consecutive seasons with at least 4 losses. Georgia Tech? Mired in rebuilding mode as the program continues its transition away from the triple option. Louisville? Ascending, but only relative to the last-place mess that second-year coach Scott Satterfield inherited. North Carolina? Ditto as it enters Year 2 under Mack Brown. Virginia? Due for a regression after last year’s unlikely run to the conference title game. And so on down the list. Other than Clemson, the ACC placed zero teams in the final AP Top 25 last year after managing just one in 2018 (Syracuse). (Usual part-time member Notre Dame, a full conference participant this season, was No. 12 last season.)
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Clemson has a new challenger to its ACC supremacy (greenvilleonline.com; Keepfer)
for gbo
Could the Atlantic Coast Conference, which absorbed plenty of well-deserved bashing for its shortage of good teams last season, be upwardly mobile among the “Power Three” in 2020?
This much is certain: The addition of Notre Dame can’t hurt. In fact, the Tigers and Fighting Irish could be destined for a double showdown – Clemson travels to South Bend on Nov. 7 and a 1-2 finish in the league’s new-look 15-team single division would result in a mid-December rematch in Charlotte, North Carolina, in the ACC Championship Game.
But there’s plenty of football to be played before then, and resurgent teams with high expectations such as North Carolina, Louisville, Florida State and Virginia Tech possess the potential to punch their own ticket to Charlotte.
1. Clemson (14-1, 8-0 ACC in 2019)
The top-ranked Tigers are bidding for a school-record 10th consecutive season with 10 or more victories, a sixth straight ACC title and a third national championship in five years. Ho hum, so what else is new?
As if the return of Heisman Trophy favorite Trevor Lawrence at quarterback wasn’t enough, two-time ACC Player of the Year Travis Etienne announced in January that he’d be back for a fourth and final season after rushing for 1,614 yards with 19 touchdowns in 2019.
Leading wide receiver Justyn Ross will miss the season after undergoing offseason neck surgery, but the Tigers are deep at the position, and six starters return off a defense that ranked No. 3 nationally in scoring defense and No. 6 in total defense.
The opener: Sept. 12 at Wake Forest, Time TBA
2. Notre Dame (11-2)
Notre Dame in a conference? Well, at least for a year. The Fighting Irish suddenly found themselves rather happy to be affiliated when the ACC announced July 29 that Notre Dame would be playing a 10-game league schedule and be eligible for the ACC Championship Game as well as an Orange Bowl berth.
The Fighting Irish lost their top three receivers from a year ago, but quarterback Ian Book is back after passing for more than 3,000 yards last season, as is his entire offensive line. On defense, junior linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah is a game- changer. More good news for Irish fans: Coach Brian Kelly’s 11th team at Notre Dame is well positioned for a fast start with four of its first five games at home.
The opener: Sept. 12, vs. Duke, TBA.
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ACC predictions 2020: Conference standings, Heisman hopefuls and can't-miss games (TSN; Bender)
The ACC is one of three Power 5 conference that opted to play college football in 2020, and the conference used a plus-one model for scheduling.
That's not the plus-one college football fans are talking about.
Notre Dame is a full member of the ACC in football for this season and will be able to participate in the conference championship game. The Irish bring one of the game's biggest brands to the field, and that spices up a season where Clemson is aiming for its sixth straight conference championship.
MORE: Best games each week in 2020
The Tigers are loaded again under coach Dabo Swinney, and the backfield tandem of Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne will be hard to beat. That said, North Carolina and Louisville are on the rise, Virginia Tech and Miami are on the spot and two new coaches — Florida State's Mike Norvell and Boston College's Jeff Hafley — are in the fold.
Sporting News looks at the ACC and makes its predictions for 2020:
2020 ACC predicted order of finish
1. Clemson
2. Notre Dame
3. North Carolina
4. Louisville
5. Virginia Tech
6. Miami
7. Pitt
8. Florida State
9. Virginia
10. Wake Forest
11. N.C. State
12. Georgia Tech
13. Duke
14. Syracuse
15. Boston College
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Other
Amazon gets FAA approval to deliver packages by drone (PS; AP)
Getting an Amazon package delivered from the sky is closer to becoming a reality.
The Federal Aviation Administration said Monday it had granted Amazon approval to deliver packages by drones.
Amazon said that the approval is an “important step,” but added that it is still testing and flying the drones. It did not say when it expected drones to make deliveries to shoppers.
The online shopping giant has been working on drone delivery for years, but it has been slowed by regulatory hurdles. Back in December 2013, Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos said in a TV interview that drones would be flying to customer’s homes within five years.
Last year, Amazon unveiled self-piloting drones that are fully electric, can carry 5 pounds of goods and are designed to deliver items in 30 minutes by dropping them in a backyard. At the time, an Amazon executive said deliveries to shoppers would be happening “within months,” but more than 14 months have passed since then.
Seattle-based Amazon is the third drone delivery service to win flight approval, the FAA said. Delivery company UPS and a company owned by search giant Google won approval last year.
