sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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Welcome to Random Acts of Kindness Day!
Each year on February 17th, National Random Acts of Kindness Day grows in popularity. It is celebrated by individuals, groups, and organizations nationwide to encourage acts of kindness.
The movement of Random Acts of Kindness inspires people every day. As a favorite celebration for many, people everywhere are enjoying doing these acts of kindness. Not only do the acts of kindness bring joy to the receiver, but they spread positive reactions to the giver, too!
SU News
2 Syracuse additions get 1st chance to earn No. 2 job behind Sean Tucker (Spring RB preview) (247sports.com; Bailey)
Syracuse football is inching toward its return to the practice field. The players are going through winter conditioning with the typical start to spring practice (date TBA) coming up in March.
We've already taken an early stab at pinning down the Week 1 two-deep depth chart for both the Orange offense and defense. Now let's take a closer look at each position group as it stands this spring. On Monday, we started with the quarterback room. Now we'll move on to running backs.
WHO RETURNS?
Sean Tucker, 3rd-year So., 5-10, 210
Tucker is back as one of the nation's most productive players, having set the program's single-season rushing record (1,496 yards) last year en route to earning a bevy of All-American honors, including a first-team nod from the Football Writers Association of America. He ran for 100-plus yards seven straight times and eight total, adding 12 scores on the ground. Tucker also caught 20 passes for 255 yards and another two TDs.
During the winter, Tucker is competing as a sprinter on SU's indoor track and field team.
Josh Hough, rFr., 6-3, 255
A power back who came to Central New York last summer after a decorated high school career, Hough suffered a knee injury during a preseason scrimmage and missed all of the 2021 season. The extent of his injury as well as his availability for the spring are unclear.
Walk-ons Mario Escobar, David Obeng-Agyapong and Joe Pinjuh also have eligibility to return
WHO DEPARTS?
Abdul AdamsAfter six years in the college ranks, split between Oklahoma and Syracuse, Adams exhausted his eligibility last fall. He playing sparingly behind Tucker in 2021, taking 13 carries for 57 yards. Before opting out of the 2020 season, he racked up 336 yards on 87 carries to go with three touchdowns. The highlight of his time in orange, perhaps, came in his debut: a two-touchdown outing at the Camping World Bowl to cap SU's 10-win 2018 season.
Cooper Lutz
The team's special teams captain last fall entered the transfer portal after the season. He accounted for 306 rushing yards on 60 carries over the last two years, scoring a touchdown in SU's season-opening win at Ohio last year. He crossed the century mark in 2020 at Notre Dame, scoring his other career TD.
Lutz spent his first two seasons working at inside receiver before being shifted back to his natural position in the backfield.
Jarveon Howard
A midseason transfer, Howard was the first of SU's three backups to Tucker to leave the program in 2021. He took seven carries for 79 yards after opting out of the 2020 season. A bruising runner, Howard served as SU's primary short-yardage option in 2018 and 2019, totaling 652 tards and 10 touchdowns, including seven as a true freshman.
WHO ARRIVES?
Juwaun Price, 4th-year rSo., 5-10, 195The 5-foot-10, 195-pound Price transferred in from New Mexico State this spring. He served as the Aggies lead back in the fall, taking 135 carries for 691 yards and 10 touchdowns as a third-year redshirt freshman. He saved his best performance for last, logging 156 yards and four scores in the team's season finale versus UMass.
Price added 26 receptions for 181 yards and contributed as a kick returner, bringing recording 20 attempts for 398 yards with a long of 58. He entered the transfer portal after it was announced that Doug Martin would not be retained as NMSU's head coach following a 2-10 campaign.
LeQuint Allen, Fr., 6-0, 190
The Gatorade New Jersey Player of the Year, Allen was a two-way standout for Millville High School in New Jersey. He led the Thunderbolts to a 12-1 record as well as the South Central Group 4 sectional and regional titles last fall, taking 229 carries for 1,903 yards (8.3 ypc) and 26 touchdowns.
Allen also caught 17 passes for 277 yards and three touchdowns while serving as the one of the team's top defenders. He also totaled a team-leading 131 tackles, including seven for loss, to go with four pass defenses, five interceptions, a sack and three forced fumbles.
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Ousmane Bary
Syracuse Football Alumnus Feels “Like a Stranger” – Showing Larger Problem in Program – Orange Fizz – Daily Syracuse Recruiting News & Team Coverage (orangefizz.net; May)
It’s no secret that Syracuse Football has been struggling for the past few seasons; and when we say “few seasons,” it actually means decades. The Orange have only been above .500 four times in the past 20 years. You have to go back to the 1990’s and the Paul Pasqualoni days to find a consistently solid team that was expected to make it to bowl games.
So, when your program used to have a lot of success, but isn’t having the same luck now, what is the logical next step to remedy the situation? The obvious answer would be to reach out to the alumni and pick their brains, right?
Wrong. Well, at least Dino Babers and his coaching staff don’t believe in that method. In an interview done with WJPZ, Ousmane Bary, a defensive back that played at SU from 1989-92, said that the Syracuse program does not utilize the alumni enough.
One of the most damning lines from Bary in that interview comes at the very end.
That is just unacceptable. Whether the alumnus is Dwight Freeney or Joe Schmo, everyone that once played at Syracuse should feel at home when they step back on campus. Other schools, especially rival schools, should not feel more welcoming to Orange alumnus than SU.
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Syracuse Football: Breaking down the Orange 2022 schedule, Pittsburgh (itlh; Fiello)
Before the Syracuse football 2022 schedule was released, I said that despite the tough teams on the schedule, I thought this team could still have success and be a bowl team based on what I have seen so far this offseason. And when the schedule came out, it does appear difficult but I still stand by it.
So I sat down and decided that instead of just saying that I believe it again, I wanted to break the games down one by one and give you the information you need to decide for yourself. I will go game by game with fun stats like head-to-head outcomes, players to watch, my way too early rating of difficulty, and a few other notes that might help.
Here are the teams scheduled and links to those that are already published in case you missed one:
Louisville
UConn
Purdue
Virginia
Wagner
Bye Week
NC State
Clemson
Notre Dame
Pittsburgh
Florida State
Wake Forest
Boston College
Let’s take an early look at Syracuse football traveling to Pittsburgh.
Syracuse Orange vs Pittsburgh PanthersSaturday, November 5, 2022 (time and viewing options TBD)
Location: Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, PA
Last season head-to-head: Pittsburgh won 31-14 in 2021 and after consulting Winsipedia, it appears Pittsburgh has won 42 games against Syracuse football, while the Orange have only won 31 times all-time in head-to-head matchups.
Opponent’s overall record last season: Pittsburgh finished 11-3 last season including 7-1 in the ACC and winning not only the Coastal division of the ACC but also beat Wake Forest in the ACC Championship Game 45-21. Pittsburgh did lose to Michigan State in the Peach Bowl however 31-21 but without QB Kenny Pickett who opted out to prepare for the NFL Draft.
Stats from their last face-off: Pittsburgh QB Kenny Pickett passed for 209 yards and 4 touchdowns and Pittsburgh DL Dayon Hayes had 2 sacks as well against the Orange. Syracuse football QB Garrett Shrader had one of his better passing performances of the season as he passed for 217 yards and 2 touchdowns (both touchdown passes were to Pittsburgh native Courtney Jackson). On defense, Marlowe Wax had the solo sack for the Orange while Duce Chesnut had the only interception.
Possible level of difficulty on a scale of 1-10: I’m giving this one an 8 because winning at Pittsburgh especially will be difficult but without Kenny Pickett, I have a hard time giving it anything higher until whoever takes over for him can prove to be just as effective. Having said that, this is still a program that is successful against Syracuse football, won the ACC last season and gets the game there at home.
Key person on the opposing team: Kedon Slovis. The current Pittsburgh Panther and former USC quarterback is the likely choice to take over for Pickett. I’d also watch another transfer at WR, Konata Mumpfield, who was a freshman All-American who transferred from Akron. If these two develop a chemistry together, it could be an interesting day for the Syracuse football secondary.
How can Syracuse win: Sean Tucker is the Orange’s most explosive and talented offensive weapon and yet he only had 29 yards rushing last time they played. Garrett Shrader finished with negative yardage rushing as well. The passing game did look good in that last game but Syracuse will need a balanced attack to beat the Panthers. The defense gave up 31 points, which isn’t terrible against a top NFL draft pick at QB but will hope to do better especially if the offense is again only limited to two scores. This also is a good game for the Orange to sneak in a quality win if you want a chance at a bowl game especially coming off three in a row versus NC State, Clemson and Notre Dame if they failed to find a win in any of those games.
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ACC Football: Ranking the Rosters for 2022 (athlonsports.com; Kinne)
The 2022 season will tell us a lot about where the ACC is going as a football conference. Clemson, despite winning 10 games, was not its usual self this past fall, and with no other programs truly stepping forward, the conference was out of the College Football Playoff hunt very early.
The question becomes, is that where the ACC is as a new world of college football develops? Is it a situation where, if Clemson does not challenge on the national stage, the conference has no shot at the playoff? Or will another player or two develop as a true title contender?
The first order of business is to secure talent. With the 2022 signing periods a thing of the past, the major aspect of player procurement is behind us. The transfer portal will continue to hum, but now seems like a good time to analyze ACC rosters going into next season.
Below are the national recruiting ranking averages for ACC schools over the last five (2018-22) classes, according to 247Sports' Composite Team Rankings, and each team's record over the last five (2017-21) seasons. Obviously, this doesn't take into account attrition, but, over time, this should be considered relatively even across the conference.
Ranking the ACC's College Football's Rosters in 2022
| Rk | Team | '22 | '21 | '20 | '19 | '18 | Avg | W/L | Conf |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Clemson | 10 | 5 | 3 | 10 | 7 | 7.0 | 61-8 | 37-4 |
| 2 | Miami | 15 | 11 | 16 | 27 | 8 | 15.4 | 38-24 | 27-14 |
| 3 | North Carolina | 11 | 14 | 13 | 30 | 20 | 17.6 | 26-35 | 16-26 |
| 4 | Florida State | 20 | 23 | 22 | 18 | 11 | 18.8 | 26-33 | 16-24 |
| 5 | NC State | 63 | 36 | 43 | 32 | 26 | 40.0 | 39-23 | 25-17 |
| 6 | Virginia Tech | 34 | 44 | 76 | 26 | 24 | 40.8 | 34-29 | 23-19 |
| 7 | Georgia Tech | 53 | 48 | 27 | 50 | 44 | 44.4 | 21-37 | 16-25 |
| 8 | Louisville | 54 | 40 | 42 | 70 | 30 | 47.2 | 28-34 | 16-26 |
| 9 | Virginia | 67 | 33 | 49 | 39 | 59 | 49.4 | 34-28 | 21-20 |
| 10 | Pittsburgh | 71 | 29 | 45 | 55 | 48 | 49.6 | 37-27 | 25-17 |
| 11 | Boston College | 40 | 37 | 62 | 64 | 71 | 54.8 | 32-29 | 19-23 |
| 12 | Duke | 51 | 57 | 63 | 49 | 63 | 56.6 | 25-36 | 10-32 |
| 13 | Syracuse | 70 | 60 | 58 | 57 | 51 | 59.2 | 25-35 | 13-29 |
| 14 | Wake Forest | 77 | 66 | 60 | 59 | 64 | 65.2 | 38-24 | 21-18 |
2022 Heisman Hopefuls (Feb. 16th) (RX; HM)
Will Shipley 739 yards 11 TDs 5.0 ypc 16 receptions 7.3 ypc 0 TDs
Sean Tucker 1496 yards 12 TDs 6.1 ypc 20 receptions 12.8 ypc 2 TDs
2022 Heisman Hopefuls (Feb. 16th)
Who are the front runners for the Heisman Trophy - from the ACC?Three ACC schools matches the SEC and is triple the number from the Big Ten, Big XII, and Pac-12.
Here are the actual names of the players (even the long-shots):
- D. J. Uiagalelei, QB, Clemson
- Kevon Slovis, QB, Pitt
- Tyler Van Dyke, QB, Miami
- Sam Hartman, QB, Wake Forest
- Will Shipley, RB, Clemson
- Malik Cunningham, QB, Louisville
- Devin Leary, QB, NC State
- Phil Jurkovec, QB, Boston College
Alliance News, and it's not good 2022-02-16 (RX; HM)
Alliance News, and it's not good 2022-02-16
Now, for the biggest football news of the day...Big Ten ADs prefer to keep nine-game league schedule, despite its effect on alliance, says Ohio State Buckeyes' Gene Smith
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FBS commissioner openly challenges ACC's current opposition to playoff expansion (theclemsoninsider.com; Staff)
One of the Football Bowl Subdivision’s 10 conference commissioners is publicly pushing back on the Atlantic Coast Conference’s current resistance to expand the College Football Playoff.
In an open letter penned to the rest of college football this week, American Athletic Commissioner Mike Aresco questioned Jim Phillips’ hesitance to support an expansion of college football’s four-team playoff, the method by which the sport’s national champion has been decided since its inception in 2014.
While Phillips, the ACC’s commissioner since last February, has recently opined that now is “not the right time” to expand the playoff, Aresco wrote that the 12-team format recently proposed by the CFP’s working group is “fair, thoughtful, forward-focused, opportunity-embracing and practical in its approach” in addition to being a “unique opportunity to reshape college football with a modern postseason format that will profoundly enhance the natural stature of the sport.”
Phillips’ primary reasons for opposing expansion before the 2026 season (when the CFP’s media deal with ESPN expires) have centered on the health and well-being of student-athletes that would have to play more games in a season and the uncertainty of college athletics’ changing landscape. In his letter, Aresco challenged both.
Aresco pointed out that, in a 12-team format, the top 4 seeds would likely earn first-round byes while teams that lost in the opening round wouldn’t play more games than usual since the playoff game would act as their bowl game. He wrote that other steps could also be taken to reduce “wear and tear” on playoff participants, including more times between games and changes to the regular-season structure that would cut down on the number of plays in a game (eliminating clock stoppages after a first down, for example).
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Where College Football is Now and the Immediate Future – Conference Details: SEC (gobblercountry.com; Fahvaag)
Special Note: It looks like C-USA teams Marshall, ODU, and Southern Miss are about to break their contracts and go ahead with their move to the upgraded Sun Belt Conference as of June 10. This is still in the reports of intent stage, and contract law being what it is might change, but C-USA is looking like it takes an immediate hit this upcoming season.
As we launch into the conference details of the series, remember that the goal is to wrap it up by June, so the articles won’t be coming out in rapid fire bunches. As the note, above, tells you things are changing rapidly. Teams are considering the monetary hit of leaving with the potential rewards of better money from their new conferences. The football “purists” are not happy with the choice of reasoning, but it still is all about the Benjamins.
Now, it’s time to start breaking down the conference changes. We did the high-altitude reviews of the Power 5 and Group of 5 teams in the introduction, Where College Football is Now and the Immediate Future – Part 1 - Gobbler Country, Where College Football is Now and the Immediate Future – Part 2 - Gobbler Country
So, we start into the work of sorting out where each conference is and where it will be at the “end” of the churn period in roughly 2025. We’ll start this in the order we addressed the overviews, mostly because the issues are fairly unique for each conference, and the major player in all of this, namely money, his biggest in the first two or three leagues.
The Southeastern Conference (SEC)
There is no argument to be had, at least that is rational anyway, that the SEC is the king of all college football conferences. It has the most championship viable teams, the most money, the most lucrative media contracts, the jump on NIL compensation, and the highest number of consistently high performing programs. The reality of the 2021 season “Fakeoff” load and replay of the SEC title game cast as the College Football Championship is a stark testament to many things, but the biggest is the fundamental reality that the SEC dictates much of big dollar college football.The 2022 conference is made up of 14 teams in an East/West configuration. This is essentially stable since the addition of Texas A&M and Missouri in 2012. The conference looks like the following:
2022 SEC Teams as they ended 2021
| Team | Viability Grade | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| EAST | ||
| Georgia Bulldogs | A | 2021 National Champion, routinely challenges for SEC-East title |
| Florida Gators | B | Program used to be an A/A- but has faded over the last decade. |
| Tennessee Volunteers | B- | Same as South Carolina, but once was an A level team. |
| South Carolina Gamecocks | B- | Heading for a B. When coached well with good talent can challenge for SEC-East. |
| Kentucky Wildcats | C | A football team in a basketball state, rarely makes much noise. |
| Missouri Tigers | C- | New to SEC, came from BIG XII where defense is unimpressive. Still struggling. |
| Vanderbilt Commodores | D | Nope, once James Franklin left, it fell right back to total perpetual cupcake. |
| WEST | ||
| Alabama Crimson Tide | A | As long as the Nictator reigns the Tide will roll. |
| LSU Tigers | A- | Two years ago, an A. After the COVID season and the Coach O fiasco on a slide. |
| Texas A&M Aggies | B+ | Lots and Lots of Money can fix a whole bunch of things but patience is wearing. |
| Auburn Tigers | B | Would have been a B+ but still fading and can't seem to grab any momemtum. |
| Ole Miss Rebels | B- | Might be a C+ this season. Once Eli graduated the decline was obvious. |
| Arkansas Razorbacks | C | Once a very good program has continued to recede with little hope of recovery. |
| Mississippi State Bulldogs | C | Haven't been really relevant for decades. |
https://www.bizjournals.com/charlot...c-search-continuing-with-charlotte-visit.html (bizjournals.com; $; Spanberg)
The Atlantic Coast Conference is continuing its assessment of potential headquarters cities, including a visit to Charlotte next week.
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Die-Hards: Pitt Inviting Prospects to Spring Practices (pittsburghsportsnow.com; Vukovcan)
The Pitt Panthers will soon begin spring football practices as they start to prepare to defend their ACC Football championship. The official practices will get underway on Feb. 28 and run up until the annual Blue/Gold Spring game on April 9 at Heinz Field.
The Panthers will practice three times per week, with a full week off during the second week of March for spring break. The start of spring practices also means that the team will start to host recruits on unofficial visits, which is a huge part of the recruiting process.
Who will Pat Narduzzi and Pitt be hosting in March? Pittsburgh Sports Now has reached out to numerous recruits and here’s what we’ve learned.
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Locked On ACC- Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast on Apple Podcasts (apple.com; podcast; Locked on the ACC)
Join host Candace Cooper & her cohosts: Kenton Gibbs, JJ Jackson, AJ Black, Tyler Aki, and Andres Silva each day on Locked On ACC as we talk about what's going on in the Atlantic Coast Conference! Whether you're in Chestnut Hill, Coral Gables, or anywhere in between, we'll take a different look at ACC sports, without the screaming or H0T Takes. Follow us on @LockedOnACC on Twitter. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network.
Other
CNY hospitals expected a financial disaster when pandemic hit. Instead, most made a profit (PS; $; Mulder)
Millions of dollars in federal aid turned what could have been a financially disastrous year into a profitable one for most Central New York hospitals.
Federal reports show five of seven hospitals in the region made money in 2020, the year when the Covid-19 pandemic began disrupting their operations.
The largest gain was $9.17 million, or 7% of total revenue, at Auburn Community Hospital, according to a report filed with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
The biggest loss was $10 million, or 4% of income, at Cayuga Medical Center in Ithaca.
SUNY Upstate University Hospital, Syracuse’s biggest hospital, posted a loss of $520,101, less than 1% of income.
A report by the Empire Center, a conservative think tank in Albany, found 58% of hospitals statewide that have filed cost reports with Medicare finished 2020 in the black. About the same percentage of hospitals reported financial gains in the previous nine years.
Nationwide, 78% of U.S. hospitals also made money in 2020, the report shows.
Central New York hospitals have received more than $200 million in federal pandemic relief.
While that federal aid has helped them weather the Covid storm, Central New York hospitals are still struggling with a serious staffing shortage and other financial problems.
When the pandemic hit in March of 2020, it affected Upstate hospitals differently than Downstate hospitals.
As Covid patients flooded New York City area hospitals, Upstate hospitals emptied out.
There were relatively few cases in Central New York until the fall of 2020.
Yet earlier in 2020, the state ordered hospitals here to halt elective surgeries to make more beds available for Covid patients, even though relatively few of those patients showed up until later in the year.
Hospitals depend on those profitable operations to stay afloat.
“The Upstate hospitals had little to do and their income went way down,” said Bill Hammond, a health policy expert who wrote the Empire Center report.
Central New York hospitals lost so much business they furloughed more than 1,600 employees.
Upstate was the only Syracuse hospital that did not furlough workers to reduce expenses when it was swamped with empty beds. Instead, the state hospital reassigned staff to work in community testing programs and other support activities such as Upstate’s Covid hotline.
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