sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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Welcome to World Freedom Day!
World Freedom Day commemorates the fall of the Berlin Wall as well as the end of communism's domination over Eastern and Central European countries. President George W. Bush issued the first proclamation for World Freedom Day on November 9, 2001, the twelfth anniversary of the opening of the Berlin Wall. In his remarks, Bush stated that the wall had separated those living under a dictatorship from those who were free and that its fall was "the turning point of the Cold War and a significant landmark in freedom's victory over tyranny." Bush said that World Freedom Day exists to "honor the spirit and perseverance of those who strived for freedom in East Germany and other repressive regimes," that it celebrates the new freedom that emerged after the wall's fall, and that it recognizes the billions of people still living under authoritarian regimes and repressive governments. In this spirit, he encouraged Americans to support those "who seek to lead their people out of oppression." He ended his proclamation by declaring, "I call upon the people of the United States to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities and to reaffirm their devotion to the aspirations of all people for freedom and democracy." The day was subsequently proclaimed by President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump.
SU News
Syracuse Orange defensive lineman Caleb Okechukwu (4) talks to the team before kickoff. Syracuse University football. The Orange take on Western Michigan at the JMA Wireless Dome. Sept. 9, 2023. Dennis Nett | dnett@syracuse.com
Okechukwu carries Mom’s positivity 10 years after her death: ‘I try to live my life off that’ (PS; $; Leiker)
A 7-year-old Caleb Okechukwu was on a trip to the mall with his mom when he spotted a pair of Ken Griffey’s signature shoes.
They were a new edition, a chrome pair. His mom saw him staring.
When she asked if he wanted the shoes, Okechukwu said yes, but that he didn’t need them. He knew his family was in a tough spot.
Okechukwu’s mom bought the shoes for him anyway to make him happy.
“No matter what our situation was growing up, she was always the one that just kept us together,” Okechukwu said. “She always had a smile on her face. She was energetic. She was funny. She was always positive, and I try to live my life off of that.”
Okechukwu’s mother, Uche Okechukwu, died when he was 13 years old after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
Parts of her still permeate Okechukwu’s life and football career, both in ways that are obvious and others that aren’t, about 10 years after her death.
“When you’re that young and you go through something like that, life hits early,” he said. “Life hit me kind of early, and I think my perspective changed early. I kind of had to see things through a different lens that most kids my age don’t. I don’t regret it. I’m not angry about it. It was just the hand I was dealt, so I had to play the cards that I was dealt.”
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Jacob Halsema | Staff Photographer
Former 4-star DB Jaeden Gould chose Syracuse to reunite with his childhood friend Jayden Bellamy (DO; Miller)
In seventh grade, childhood best friends Jaeden Gould and Jayden Bellamy played Pop Warner football together in Somerset (N.J.). Their future Bergen Catholic (N.J.) High School coach, Vito Campanile, attended one of their games. In 24 years of coaching, Campanile said he’s never seen a more dominant Pop Warner team.
At the time, both played two ways and were the best athletes on the field, Campanile said. But Gould stood above. He scored multiple touchdowns and the game had to be stopped in the third quarter with the score 42-0.
“I knew he was going to play at the next level that day in seventh grade,” Campanile said. “I know that sounds crazy, but when I started coaching, I would say that summer he came to our camp and just his eye contact and his coachability (made it obvious).”
From then on, Gould set the standard at Bergen Catholic. The former four-star recruit accumulated 38 Division I offers as a defensive back and is one of the five highest-ranked recruits on Syracuse in 2023, according to On3.
“I use (Gould) as the example here and the standard here now all the time,” Campanile said. “Just the most professional approach to football that you could find in a kid really… I think so much of the fabric and culture of Bergen Catholic today really was set forth by Jaeden Gould.”
This year, Gould is reunited with Bellamy as both transferred to SU from Nebraska and Notre Dame, respectively. The two star side-by-side in the Orange’s secondary, two years after they won the New Jersey State Championship.
Bellamy and Gould’s fathers, Jay Bellamy and Scott Gould, have known each other since they were 17 after playing in the same 1989 New Jersey Senior All-Star game. They played and roomed together at Rutgers the next year, and quickly became close. Their kids have been best friends since they were in diapers.
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Our beat writers agree Pittsburgh will hand Syracuse 6th consecutive loss (DO; Staff)
Syracuse will travel to Yankee Stadium this weekend to take on Pittsburgh in the 100th Anniversary of the first collegiate football game at the original Yankee Stadium. The inaugural game pitted Syracuse against Pitt in 1923, where the Orange won 3-0 before a crowd of 25,000.
SU is on a five-game skid during which it has been outscored 167-44 by Atlantic Coast Conference opponents. With three games remaining, SU must win two to clinch its second straight bowl appearance. The last time the Orange played in Yankee Stadium was last December when they lost the Pinstripe Bowl to Minnesota 28-20.
Here’s how our beat writers think Syracuse will fare against Pittsburgh:
Anthony Alandt (8-1)
Teddy Roosevelt is disappointed
Pittsburgh 12, Syracuse 8
Maybe with a healthy Garrett Shrader this game goes differently. Though with so much uncertainty surrounding the status of not only SU’s starter, but Carlos Del Rio-Wilson, there’s no chance I’m saying Syracuse’s offense will end its cold streak. SU has been purview to the uniqueness of playing in Yankee Stadium before. Although, it doesn’t have a clean field.
SU fell apart last December during the Pinstripe Bowl and led to a ground-and-pound game against Minnesota. Short passes and slogging through another game like the Orange did versus Boston College is going to have to be the game plan for head coach Dino Babers and the offense. So I think this game will track similarly to last Friday’s loss to the Eagles.
LeQuint Allen Jr. should have a relatively solid game against a Pittsburgh rushing defense that allows 131.9 rushing yards per game. But as Henry mentions below, anytime an SU quarterback — whoever that is Saturday — drops back, he’s liable to a defense that’s garnered the fourth-most sacks in the ACC. President Teddy Roosevelt stepped in and demanded the forward pass be implemented to football in 1905. He’s going to be pretty upset watching this game 118 years later when both teams resort to football before the forward pass was mandated.
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5 Things to Know: 'Cuse vs. Pitt - Syracuse University Athletics (cuse.com)
The Orange are headed to the Big Apple on Saturday to face Pittsburgh. The game, presented by SRC, is celebrating the centennial anniversary of the first football game played at Yankee Stadium. Here's five things to know about the matchup.
1. 100 Years Later
Saturday's game is the 100th anniversary of the first football game played at Yankee Stadium, setting the stage for a long history of football in the Bronx. Yankee Stadium has now hosted over 100 football games and established a bowl game more than a decade ago, which the Orange has played in three times.
The first matchup was a defensive battle – a 3-0 win by Syracuse, the lowest scoring game in program history. A stark contrast from the 2016 matchup where 137 points were scored, which at the time was the FBS single-game record.
Tickets for Saturday's game are available at Cuse.com/Tickets.
2. 'Cuse and Pitt Part 79
Syracuse and Pittsburgh meet for the 79th time on Saturday, Syracuse's most frequent opponent, ahead of Penn State (71), Colgate (67), West Virginia (61) and Boston College (57).
The series has been played annually since 1955, and will continue through at least 2030 to be an annual matchup, as the two schools were given annual rival status in the ACC's new scheduling model that was announced last week.
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Pitt holds the all-time series lead 43-32-3. However 'Cuse is looking to continue its unbeaten streak at neutral sites vs. the Panthers, having won both previous meetings. In addition to the 1923 game at Yankee Stadium, 'Cuse also won the 1965 matchup at Shea Stadium, 51-13.
3. Downstate Success
Syracuse has made the greater New York City area its second home in the more than 130 years of program history. This will be the 39th 'Cuse football game played in a pro venue in the greater New York area. Syracuse is 20-16-2 (.552) in those contests.
They include a 7-3 mark at Yankee Stadium, 1-0 record at Shea Stadium, 15 games (7-6-2 at the Polo Grounds, a 5-3 mark at Giants Stadium and four contests (0-4) at MetLife Stadium.
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M.J. Devonshire returns home to Pittsburgh as star cornerback (DO; Jepson)
M.J. Devonshire’s commitment to Kentucky came as a surprise to his mother, Theresa. She thought he’d stay home, near his native Aliquippa (Pa.), and attend Pittsburgh. She was heartbroken.
“I cried all the way back to Pennsylvania,” Theresa remembered after dropping Devonshire off in Lexington (Ky.). “My eyes were bloodshot.”
Devonshire picked Kentucky over offers from schools like Ohio State, Ole Miss and West Virginia. But after redshirting his first year, and receiving limited minutes during his sophomore season with the Wildcats, he entered the transfer portal. He opted to return to Pittsburgh, immediately becoming its top-ranked cornerback. In his third year with the Panthers, Devonshire will likely be tasked with covering Syracuse’s best receiver when both teams match up at Yankee Stadium Saturday.
Both Theresa, and Devonshire’s father, Marlin Sr., always knew he was a “different kind of cat” on the field. They remembered the naturally shy Devonshire started talking much more when it came to football. He immediately grew engaged whenever anybody mentioned the sport, Theresa said.
Devonshire became a star at Aliquippa High School. In his senior season, he played on both sides of the ball, scoring 24 total touchdowns and also nabbing eight interceptions. He received Pittsburgh Tribune-Review High School Athlete of the Year honors and head coach Mike Warfield said he was “truly a leader.”
After joining Kentucky out of high school, Devonshire struggled to carve out a role on its depth chart during his two seasons there. And once the pandemic hit, Devonshire transferred.
Entering the portal in 2020, Marlin Sr. said Devonshire’s decision was easy. Theresa remembered the moment she found out Devonshire committed to Pittsburgh. She was sitting on her couch when a friend sent her a text: “Am I going to have to get a Pitt shirt?”
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Syracuse football vs. Pittsburgh tickets: How much are Yankee Stadium seats for Saturday’s game? (PS; Axelson)
The Syracuse Orange Football team travels to Yankee Stadium, where they’ll look to snap a five-game losing streak against the Pittsburgh Panthers on Saturday, November 11 (11/11/2023), and fans can still get tickets to the game online.
Syracuse vs. Pittsburgh tickets for the special Yankee Stadium game are available from resellers like StubHub, SeatGeek and VividSeats, and fans can get an even better deal than they would when shopping standard admission prices from Ticketmaster, which start at $50. Fans traveling for the game can get discounted flights from Expedia and cheap hotel rates on Hotels.com.
Here are the cheapest seats available for Syracuse vs. Pittsburgh at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx as of Wednesday, November 8:
Syracuse dropped its fifth game in a row 17-10 to Boston College at the JMA Wireless Dome on Friday. Garrett Shrader’s absence was felt during the turnover-filled outing. Carlos Del Rio-Wilson helmed a game without so much as a first down, let alone a field-goal attempt, on all four possessions.
Shrader’s status is unknown for Saturday and the remaining two games of the season. Head coach Dino Babers cautioned against judging Del Rio-Wilson too harshly on his first performance, noting, “there was some things that happened that were out of his control.”
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Who starts at QB for SU football vs. Pitt?
ORANGE ZONE: Who starts at QB for SU football vs. Pitt (cnycentral.com; podcast; Orange Zone)
Syracuse football's 2023 season has gone from promising to potentially abysmal, and that may be putting it lightly. Now the Orange head to the Big Apple for a centennial celebration of football at Yankee Stadium looking to salvage something from a season that has gone off the rails.
Syracuse football looks to snap five-game losing streak (youtube; video; Finneral)
James Finneral discusses the outlook for Syracuse football as the team prepares to face Pittsburgh at Yankee Stadium
LeQuint Allen "The 315" 11-8-23 (ESPN; radio; The 315)
Syracuse So. Running Back LeQuint Allen joined Brian for today’s 2 Minute Drill. Brian gave LeQuint some hard hitting New Jersey questions and more.
Noah Hiles "The 315" 11-8-23 (ESPN; radio; The 315)
Pittsburgh beat reporter for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Noah Hiles joined today’s show to preview SU football’s next game against Pittsburgh in Yankee stadium. The two discussed each team, the 100 years of football history at Yankee stadium and more.
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Syracuse can no longer deny it—Dino Babers must go (PS; Lloyd)
Syracuse has now lost five games in a row and are in no position to promise a bowl berth. That’s enough for me to start singing Dino Babers’ swan song.
During the 2023 college football offseason, I aroused a discussion topic that Syracuse University clearly hasn’t been eager to touch: What should the Orange do with head coach Dino Babers, and when? Since opening that can of worms, my views on him and the parameters encapsulating his scalding-hot seat have changed—and not for the better.
For those who do not remember, the Orange finished their 2022 campaign 7-6 after losing their bowl game. What made the mediocre conclusion so controversial was the fact that it came from a 6-0 start. While they were nonetheless a bowl team and had clinched a winning record for the year, it was inexcusably disappointing when pondering what could’ve been, and that’s precisely what put Babers in my sights.
To summarize my stance on the colossal choke-job, I felt that if he failed to get Syracuse to a bowl in 2023, he should be fired. If he got them to one and lost, he should perhaps be given another year and see how things play out from there. Lastly, if he got them to one and won, he likely wouldn’t have to worry about his job security too much in the immediate future. It’s there where my tune has since changed.
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WATCH: DeShields, Means, Mumpfield, Gandy Talk Pitt Prep for Syracuse (pittsburghsportsnow.com; videos; Ludwig)
With just three games remaining in a season that has not gone according to plan, there’s no lack of resolve when it comes to finishing the season on a high.
Solomon DeShields, Bub Means, Konata Mumpfield and Ryland Gandy talked about moving forward after back-to-back losses, how the team is staying focused moving forward and what’s up next against Syracuse at Yankee Stadium.
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Pitt Football | Syracuse Week | Bub Means | 11/8/2023 (youtube; video; UPMC)
Pitt Football | Syracuse Week | Bub Means | 11/8/2023
Pitt Football | Syracuse Week | Konata Mumpfield | 11/8/2023 (youtube; videol UPMC)
Pitt Football | Syracuse Week | Konata Mumpfield | 11/8/2023
2025 OL Malachi Goodman reacts to Syracuse offer (247sports.com; Finneral)
Class of 2025 offensive lineman Malachi Goodman picked up an offer from Syracuse in October. Goodman has a lot of respect for Syracuse and how the football program is run.
“I know Syracuse has a great staff and program and I was excited when I got the offer,” Goodman said.
Goodman plays at Paramus Catholic in New Jersey. He is looking forward to learning more about the Syracuse coaches and program as he continues through his recruiting process.
“I think they're great and I will build a connection with them quickly,” Goodman said.
Goodman plans to build that connection on a future visit to Syracuse. The six-foot-five, 315-pound offensive lineman has been offered by a handful of programs including Michigan, Penn State, Miami, South Carolina, Nebraska, Maryland, Rutgers, Duke, Boston College, Virginia Tech and others. He will wait for his visit to determine where Syracuse stands in his recruitment.
“I don’t really know because I need to go visit Syracuse and other schools, so I could feel where the right place is,” he said.
Paramus Catholic finished the season with a 3-8 overall record. Goodman established himself as one of the premier offensive lineman recruits in the state of New Jersey. He is pleased with his improvement, but understands he can be even better in the future.
“I think I did a good job on developing, but there’s more work to be done,” Goodman said.
Goodman said the goal for next season is to ‘go all the way.’ He said he plans to work on his feet, pad level and finishing blocks moving forward.
“I would say that I'm a hard worker and I will never give up even if we are in a bad situation,” Goodman said.
He is certainly an offensive line prospect to look out for moving forward. Goodman is grateful to pick up offers from Division 1 programs, but he believes the job is not finished yet.
“It’s exciting, but there is more work to be done,” he said.
#FakeNunes previews Syracuse vs Pittsburgh (TNIAAM; Wall)
It’s Wednesday, so you know what that means... time for the blog that gives you the internet’s most ridiculous college football preview series- it’s #FakeNunes time. Can we keep finding ways to get #jokesandgarbage into a Syracuse Orange preview? You be the judge...
Now onto this week’s opponent
Opponent: Pittsburgh Panthers
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Students: 28,391 students who can’t wait for Kenny Pickett to become a coach
The 2023 Fake Nunes Statistical Index (#FNSI)
We continue to look to innovate our analytics model so we here’s what the lab cooked up for this season.
Rivalry Trophy
The FNSI staff won’t give up on their quest to bring back more tradition into today’s college game. Let’s see what they’ve got for this one
The Monument Medal
With the game in Yankee Stadium and one end zone out near Monument Park, let’s award the winner of this game with a large medal replica of a Yankee Monument.
The True North Difference
In order to maintain our status as #CanadasCollegeTeam, each week we look at which team has more Canadian players on their roster.
Pitt has former Orange recruiting target Christian Veilleux, but no one else to match Syracuse’s duo.
Advantage: Syracuse
Notable Alum
Bringing back this one as we love to drop, some knowledge every now and then to help our loyal readers possibly win a trivia night. After all we are the Syracuse blog that loves you back and we take that seriously.
Ken Macha vs Billy Connors
We’re sticking with the baseball theme here. Macha played with the Panthers then had a six-year run as a player in the Majors. You know him best from his managerial stints in Oakland and Milwaukee. Connors only had 26 MLB appearances and didn’t record a win, but he went on to a a lengthy career as a coach and later a front-office staff member with the Yankees.
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Courtesy: Syracuse University
Meet the Capdeville quads at Syracuse University (informnny.com'; Sommavilla)
The chance of having quadruplets can be as low as about one in about 700,000. The odds of all four going to the same college might be even smaller, but not impossible.
Quadruplets Donovan, Gabriel, Savanna, and Douglas Capdeville are finishing their senior year at Syracuse University right now.
Twin miracle: Three sets of twins born in one weekend at St. Joseph’s Health Hospital
They didn’t plan to stick together in college, but life led them all here. When you hear their story, you might say it was meant to be.
Their dad and uncle both got their degrees from Syracuse University and they grew up wearing and watching the orange.
So, when it was time to leave the nest, the Capdeville quads flew from sandy beaches in St. Croix to snowy Syracuse.
“When we came here it was our first time ever seeing snow and I was going outside in slides because I didn’t really know anything else,” said Gabriel.
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Christian Brothers Academy football team has 5 players with Division I offers. How did that happen? (PS; $; Lacy Jr)
When assistants from the University of Pittsburgh football team watched film of Christian Brothers Academy’s Syair Torrence, other CBA players stuck out.
Torrence already had a scholarship offer from Pittsburgh. Soon, Daunte Bacheyie, Matthew Hawn and Marquan Saddler all received offers.
“And that happened in the offseason. We are holding weight room workouts, field workouts, and college coaches say, ’Hey, we’re in Syracuse, can we stop by and see Torrence?’” CBA offensive coordinator Bruce Williams said. “And again, (the coaches) are there, and Daunte walked by and (the coach) was like, ‘What year is he?’ ... We got a lot of that from these college coaches.”
The CBA football team has five players with Division I football offers, and each of the players has offers from at least two Power Five schools.
The Brothers have a perfect 10-0 record this fall and will take on Cicero-North Syracuse in the Section III Class AA championship at 6 p.m. on Sunday inside the JMA Wireless Dome.
Torrence holds offers from Michigan State, Syracuse, Boston College, Pittsburgh, Rutgers and Michigan; Bacheyie has offers from Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Boston College; Hawn has offers from Pittsburgh, Boston College, UMass, Buffalo and Temple; Saddler has an offer from Pittsburgh and Boston College; and Darien Williams has offers from UMass, Temple, Boston College and Penn State.
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ACC News
The Demon Deacons’ Dilemma (theassemblync.com; Zimmerman)
Nathan Hatch, then the president of Wake Forest University, calls the University of Maryland’s 2012 decision to depart from the Atlantic Coast Conference the “shot heard ‘round the world.”
The tectonic plates of conference realignment had been shifting for decades. Still, Maryland’s decision sent out different, more troublesome reverberations. “I just had this deep sinking feeling,” Hatch remembered, “this foreboding sense.”
Prior to 2012, an exit by any ACC member, let alone Maryland—one of seven founding institutions from 1953—was practically inconceivable. The University of South Carolina left in 1971, regretted it, and tried unsuccessfully to get back in.
The ACC had a level of camaraderie and mutual respect that came with the traditions and geographic rivalries forged through six decades of competition, and those principles meant something to the conference and its member institutions. At least school presidents thought so.
“That a school like Maryland would forgo all its historic allegiances, its fan base, everything, to chase the money—it was a huge turning point,” Hatch told The Assembly.
The fallout was immense, but so too were Maryland’s financial incentives. In leaving the ACC and realigning with the rival Big Ten, the Terrapins’ conference payout—the sum distributed to member institutions based on the revenue the conference generates from media rights deals with broadcasters—would grow by upwards of $10 million annually.
With the move, two core components of the collegiate athletics landscape had changed, practically overnight. Neither boded well for Wake Forest.
First: the big conferences. “They were not going to respect tradition,” Hatch said. “They were going for financial clout.”
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ACC FB Honors Class of 2023 (RX; HM)
ACC FB Honors Class of 2023
Factoids 2023 Week 11 (RX; HM)
Factoids 2023 Week 11
The Florida State Seminoles clinched a spot in the 2023 ACC Football Championship Game with their win over the Pitt Panthers last Saturday (Nov. 4). The nationally ranked Seminoles are 9-0 overall and 7-0 in ACC play this season. It marks the Seminoles’ sixth trip to the ACC Football Championship Game and the first since 2014 (2004, 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2014) when they won their third consecutive ACC Championship title with a 37-35 win over Georgia Tech.
Florida State quarterback Jordan Travis has thrown a touchdown pass in 21 straight games, FSU’s longest stretch since 2013 Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston (27, 2013-14).
With Clemson’s 31-23 win over No. 12 Notre Dame last Saturday, the Tigers have recorded at least one win against an AP Top 20 team in Death Valley in nine consecutive seasons. Clemson’s last season without a win against a top-20 squad in Death Valley was 2014.
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TV, Radio, and Announcers 2023 Week 11 (RX; HM)
TV, Radio, and Announcers 2023 Week 11
From the official ACC release of Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023...
Series: Louisville leads series, 6-5; Last meeting: Louisville, 34-17 (2022)
ESPN: Matt Barrie (play-by-play), Dan Mullen (analyst), Harry Lyles Jr. (sideline)
Series: Georgia Tech leads series, 51-35-2; Last meeting: Clemson, 41-10 (2022)
ABC: Mark Jones (play-by-play), Louis Riddick (analyst), Quint Kessenich (sideline)
Series: Virginia Tech leads series, 20-11; Last meeting: Virginia Tech, 27-10 (2022)
ACCN: Jorge Sedano (play-by-play), Orlando Franklin (analyst), Marilyn Payne (sideline)
Series: NC State leads series, 68-42-6; Last meeting: NC State, 30-21 (2022)
The CW Network: Tom Werme (play-by-play), James Bates (analyst), Treavor Scales (sideline)
Series: Miami leads series, 35-32; Last meeting: Florida State, 45-3 (2022)
ABC: Sean McDonough (play-by-play), Greg McElroy (analyst), Molly McGrath (sideline)
Series: Pitt leads series, 43-32-3; Last meeting: Pitt, 19-9 (2022)
ACCN: Chris Cotter (play-by-play), Mark Herzlich (analyst), Sherree Burruss (sideline)
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JHowell's Picks 2023 Week 11 (RX; HM)
JHowell's Picks 2023 Week 11
JHowell.net has posted projections for Week #11 of the 2023 season. Below are JHowell's ACC football game projections through the games of 11-11-23 (including future ACC teams), followed by some commentary of my own; let's see if his computer can pick the "dogs"...
#19-Oregon State (-21) vs. #101-Stanford (TP=56 Odds=.826)
#32-North Carolina (-2.5) vs. #31-Duke (TP=51 Odds=.552)
#40-Clemson (-5.5) vs. #49-Georgia Tech (TP=54 Odds=.601)
#44-N.C. State (-4.5) @ #84-Wake Forest (TP=46 Odds=.597)
#48-Boston College (-8) vs. #77-Virginia Tech (TP=50 Odds=.652)
#85-Syracuse (-3) vs. #103-Pittsburgh (TP=47 Odds=.567) @ Bronx, NY
#89-California (-0.5) vs. #76-Washington State (TP=62 Odds=.508)
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New coaches have changed the complexion of the ACC. Some of the rebuilds are faster than others (apnews.com; Kurz Jr.)
Coaching changes in the Atlantic Coast Conference the past few years have altered its complexion, making some programs more prominent.
It became apparent on the opening weekend when Duke, under reigning ACC Coach of the Year Mike Elko, pummeled ACC bully Clemson 28-7 in front of a national TV audience. It was a signature win for the second-year coach.
It’s evident at Georgia Tech, when Brent Key, a former offensive lineman for the Yellow Jackets, had his interim tag removed after he finished out last season by turning a 1-3 start into a 5-7 finish. His team is 4-0 against ranked ACC opponents and three of those wins have come on the road, and the 45-17 victory at Virginia last weekend moved Georgia Tech within a victory of becoming bowl eligible for the first time since 2018.
The biggest splash is coming from No. 11 Louisville in its first season under Jeff Brohm, a former Cardinals quarterback. They are 8-1, ranked 13th nationally in scoring defense, allowing 16.3 points per game. They are eighth in rushing defense, allowing 88.78 yards per game, and 28th in passing defense, allowing 196.4 yards per game.
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No. 4 Florida State faces Miami to headline the Week 11 football slate in the ACC (usatoday; Beard)
Things to watch in the Atlantic Coast Conference in Week 11:
Miami at No. 4 Florida State. It's a marquee matchup on paper, though only the Seminoles (9-0, 7-0 ACC) have looked on top of their game. FSU clinched its trip to the ACC title game with last week's win and is positioned to make the College Football Playoff.
Meanwhile, the Hurricanes (6-3, 2-3) are coming off a loss at North Carolina State in which they failed to reach the end zone.
That turnover-filled performance as a favorite was the latest head-scratcher for a team that gave away a sure win against Georgia Tech with a combination of a coaching mistake and a last-second TD. And it drained momentum from back-to-back overtime home wins against Clemson and Virginia.
No. 24 North Carolina (7-3, 3-2) vs. Duke (6-3, 3-2).
The Tar Heels have an offense that can beat opponents downfield or with a power running game. The Blue Devils have a terrific defense and are in the top 10 of the Bowl Subdivision ranks in allowing only 15.7 points per game.
North Carolina has an NFL prospect in QB Drake Maye, who ranks third in FBS with 339.7 yards of total offense per game, and a solid running back in Omarion Hampton, who is fourth nationally in rushing (118.6).
UNC is trying for a fifth straight year of keeping the Victory Bell, a cart carrying a former railroad engine bell used in the rivalry in the late 1940s. The winner typically paints the cart its shade of light or dark blue.
Georgia Tech (5-4, 4-2) visits Clemson on Saturday as a 14 1/2-point underdog as of Tuesday, according to FanDuel . Yet the Yellow Jackets have had a knack for winning in these situations under Brent Key.
The Yellow Jackets beat ranked Pitt and UNC teams last year under Key as he closed out his time as the interim coach, then took won at then-ranked Miami in early October before running for 246 yards in the fourth quarter of a win against a ranked UNC team.
For whatever reason, North Carolina State has all kinds of trouble playing at Wake Forest.
Saturday's trip about 100 miles west along Interstate 40 marks the latest renewal in the longtime, in-state series. But N.C. State has won just once in Winston-Salem since 2001, a curious streak that spanned eventual NFL-bound Wolfpack quarterbacks like Philip Rivers, Russell Wilson and Mike Glennon.
N.C. State lost six straight meetings from 2003 on until winning in 2015. The Demon Deacons have won the three meetings since, including a shootout between ranked teams in November 2021 that ultimately swung the race for the now-defunct Atlantic Division title to Wake Forest.
Clemson running back Phil Mafah is coming off a big rushing day in the Tigers' win against Notre Dame. The junior ran 36 times for 186 yards and two touchdowns, which marked his second 100-yard game and the most for any Clemson runner this season. He has run for four touchdowns in the past two games entering the Georgia Tech game.
Mike McDaniel talks ACC football headlines, national stories, and JMU (soundcloud; podcast; WLNI)
Sports Illustrated's Mike McDaniel joins The Sportsline to talk ACC and college football headlines, including his reaction to the latest CFP rankings and if he's surprised FSU didn't fall from #4, on the Michigan Wolverines embracing the 'bad guy' role as their sign stealing scandal continues, and why James Madison's bowl ban should be reversed by the NCAA.
Neri: Best ‘bad’ college football game to watch, Week 10 // The Observer (ndsmcobserver.com; Neri)
If you’ve followed my recent “‘Bad’ Game of the Week” articles, you’ll probably notice that this matchup on Thursday night seems a little more relevant than usual. First of all, Louisville is the first ranked team to make it into the prestigious “‘Bad’ Game of the Week,” club, and second, this is the first Power Five matchup to be featured in the column. At first glance, you might think that this game shouldn’t even qualify as a “bad” game, right?
That was my initial thought, too. The fact of the matter is that, by all accounts and every metric available to the football world, this game should be a blowout — over before the opening kickoff. Louisville is still technically in the playoff hunt, having its best season in years. And Virginia just got blown out by Georgia Tech, who hasn’t been relevant in ages. All signs point to a slaughter.
But I don’t see it that way.
The University of Virginia’s football team began this season amid some of the most challenging off-the-field issues imaginable. Before kickoff on opening day, the team honored the memories of three players who were tragically killed in a shooting last year, and before that had to spend months picking up the pieces of a damaged team following an incredibly traumatic experience. It’s hard to imagine that much work got done on the football side of things during this time, and you could forgive the players if their minds were somewhere else for the first couple of games of the season.
On the field, Virginia faced one of the toughest opening schedules in the ACC, first matching up against SEC powerhouse Tennessee, followed by still undefeated James Madison, a Maryland team that began the season 5-0 and an NC State team whose only three losses have all come against ranked opponents. As you might have inferred, the Cavaliers lost all those games and began the year 0-5.
Since then, however, they’re 2-2 with a marquee win over a 10th-ranked and undefeated North Carolina team at the time. What’s more than that, they narrowly lost at 6-3 Miami two weeks ago. While a 28-point loss to Georgia Tech doesn’t inspire much confidence, overall the Cavaliers have improved greatly in the second half of the season, proving themselves capable of hanging with the top teams in the ACC. But, can they play with a surging Cardinals team on the verge of an ACC championship appearance?
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Other
Ashley Sheppard with twin baby elephants Yaad and Tukada. Sheppard was in charge of the elephant program at the zoo. She died Oct. 24 at age 35.provided by Rosamond Gifford Zoo
A young star’s death leaves an empty space in a Syracuse family and among the elephants (PS; Eisenstadt)
The pictures above the couch in Ashley Sheppard’s house are sloppy, joyful lines of red and orange paint. If you did not know her, you would think her 2-year-old son Jackson made them.
But the paintings were done by Asian elephants at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo. Sheppard helped teach them to dip their trunks in paint and press them against paper.
Those elephants were her kids, too.
To know Ashley was to know the elephants.
She’d tell you about them, whether you asked or not. She’d invite you to a fundraiser for their conservation, or rope you into helping her with the next one.
Ashley’s first job out of college, more than a decade ago, was at the elephant barn.
She never left. She rose to be the manager of the elephant department at the zoo, the first female manager at the zoo and a widely respected national expert on Asian elephant conservation. Everyone expected her to keep going.
The pinnacle was last year, when Mali gave birth to twins Yaad and Tukada. A successful elephant birth in captivity is a major achievement. But the successful twin birth in Syracuse was the first anywhere in captivity, ever.
Sheppard lived to see the twins turn 1. She died just five days after, on Oct. 29. The 35-year-old had an 8-month struggle with a fast-moving stomach cancer. Her loss leaves tragic holes.
There is the zoo, where her leadership was a powerful combination of humor, grace and determination. If Ashley said she’d do something, it would get done. She would bite down and never let go. Two weeks before her death, she was at the office working with her boss, Dan Meates, on the zoo’s accreditation renewal.
Ashley was so well-known in the elephant conservation community that zoos from across the country, and the world, reached out to the Syracuse zoo to offer condolences and help when they heard of her death.
And then there is the unfathomable loss at her home. Sheppard and her husband, Mike, have been together since high school. They married in 2013. Weeks before Ashley’s death, they moved into their new home that they’d been renovating together. It was a blank canvas for this new phase of their life. A bigger room for their son, Jackson, a nice yard, and it was in the Westhill School District, where the two met.
Even as she was dying, Ashley poured grace and humor into the days she had left. Her first question for everyone was the same as it always was: How are you doing? She was the kind of person who listened to the answer.
“You hear her coming down hallways and laughing no matter what,” Heather Jennings said. She is a keeper in the elephant barn, like Ashley was when she started.
Ashley was the best kind of boss, Jennings said. If there was a problem, she stepped in to help.
When there was some trouble with the people in charge of moving trash, Jennings said, Sheppard jumped in. She realized some things become big quickly.
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Upstate NY colleges, including SU, among top 10 for student debt (PS; $; Tampone)
Multiple colleges in Upstate New York, including Syracuse University, are among the top 10 in the state for median student debt, according to data from the U.S. Department of Education.
Table with 5 columns and 5420 rows. Currently displaying rows 1 to 10. Sorted ascending by column "US rank"
Table: Kevin Tampone | ktampone@syracuse.comSource: U.S. Department of EducationGet the data Created with Datawrapper
SU ranked No. 6 statewide for median debt with a total of $23,697, according to the latest data, which was updated in October. That’s the third-highest of any school in Upstate New York on the statewide list.
The Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences was the highest-ranking Upstate school on the list at No. 2 statewide with a median debt of $25,000. Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva was No. 2 in Upstate and tied for fourth statewide with median debt of $24,250.
Other Upstate schools in the top 25 included St. Lawrence University in Canton, Nazareth College in Rochester, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, Clarkson University in Potsdam, Clarkson University Capital Region Campus in Schenectady, Siena College in Loudonville, Keuka College in Keuka Park, Union College in Schenectady and the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester.
The school with the highest median debt in the state in the new data was the Manhattan School of Music at $25,125. You can see the top 25 New York schools with the highest median student debts in the table below.
If you can’t see the table, click here to open it in a web browser.
The numbers shown reflect median debt per student as of the time each person began repayment. The data includes student who graduated and withdrew from each school.
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World Freedom Day commemorates the fall of the Berlin Wall as well as the end of communism's domination over Eastern and Central European countries. President George W. Bush issued the first proclamation for World Freedom Day on November 9, 2001, the twelfth anniversary of the opening of the Berlin Wall. In his remarks, Bush stated that the wall had separated those living under a dictatorship from those who were free and that its fall was "the turning point of the Cold War and a significant landmark in freedom's victory over tyranny." Bush said that World Freedom Day exists to "honor the spirit and perseverance of those who strived for freedom in East Germany and other repressive regimes," that it celebrates the new freedom that emerged after the wall's fall, and that it recognizes the billions of people still living under authoritarian regimes and repressive governments. In this spirit, he encouraged Americans to support those "who seek to lead their people out of oppression." He ended his proclamation by declaring, "I call upon the people of the United States to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities and to reaffirm their devotion to the aspirations of all people for freedom and democracy." The day was subsequently proclaimed by President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump.
SU News
Syracuse Orange defensive lineman Caleb Okechukwu (4) talks to the team before kickoff. Syracuse University football. The Orange take on Western Michigan at the JMA Wireless Dome. Sept. 9, 2023. Dennis Nett | dnett@syracuse.com
Okechukwu carries Mom’s positivity 10 years after her death: ‘I try to live my life off that’ (PS; $; Leiker)
A 7-year-old Caleb Okechukwu was on a trip to the mall with his mom when he spotted a pair of Ken Griffey’s signature shoes.
They were a new edition, a chrome pair. His mom saw him staring.
When she asked if he wanted the shoes, Okechukwu said yes, but that he didn’t need them. He knew his family was in a tough spot.
Okechukwu’s mom bought the shoes for him anyway to make him happy.
“No matter what our situation was growing up, she was always the one that just kept us together,” Okechukwu said. “She always had a smile on her face. She was energetic. She was funny. She was always positive, and I try to live my life off of that.”
Okechukwu’s mother, Uche Okechukwu, died when he was 13 years old after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
Parts of her still permeate Okechukwu’s life and football career, both in ways that are obvious and others that aren’t, about 10 years after her death.
“When you’re that young and you go through something like that, life hits early,” he said. “Life hit me kind of early, and I think my perspective changed early. I kind of had to see things through a different lens that most kids my age don’t. I don’t regret it. I’m not angry about it. It was just the hand I was dealt, so I had to play the cards that I was dealt.”
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Jacob Halsema | Staff Photographer
Former 4-star DB Jaeden Gould chose Syracuse to reunite with his childhood friend Jayden Bellamy (DO; Miller)
In seventh grade, childhood best friends Jaeden Gould and Jayden Bellamy played Pop Warner football together in Somerset (N.J.). Their future Bergen Catholic (N.J.) High School coach, Vito Campanile, attended one of their games. In 24 years of coaching, Campanile said he’s never seen a more dominant Pop Warner team.
At the time, both played two ways and were the best athletes on the field, Campanile said. But Gould stood above. He scored multiple touchdowns and the game had to be stopped in the third quarter with the score 42-0.
“I knew he was going to play at the next level that day in seventh grade,” Campanile said. “I know that sounds crazy, but when I started coaching, I would say that summer he came to our camp and just his eye contact and his coachability (made it obvious).”
From then on, Gould set the standard at Bergen Catholic. The former four-star recruit accumulated 38 Division I offers as a defensive back and is one of the five highest-ranked recruits on Syracuse in 2023, according to On3.
“I use (Gould) as the example here and the standard here now all the time,” Campanile said. “Just the most professional approach to football that you could find in a kid really… I think so much of the fabric and culture of Bergen Catholic today really was set forth by Jaeden Gould.”
This year, Gould is reunited with Bellamy as both transferred to SU from Nebraska and Notre Dame, respectively. The two star side-by-side in the Orange’s secondary, two years after they won the New Jersey State Championship.
Bellamy and Gould’s fathers, Jay Bellamy and Scott Gould, have known each other since they were 17 after playing in the same 1989 New Jersey Senior All-Star game. They played and roomed together at Rutgers the next year, and quickly became close. Their kids have been best friends since they were in diapers.
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Our beat writers agree Pittsburgh will hand Syracuse 6th consecutive loss (DO; Staff)
Syracuse will travel to Yankee Stadium this weekend to take on Pittsburgh in the 100th Anniversary of the first collegiate football game at the original Yankee Stadium. The inaugural game pitted Syracuse against Pitt in 1923, where the Orange won 3-0 before a crowd of 25,000.
SU is on a five-game skid during which it has been outscored 167-44 by Atlantic Coast Conference opponents. With three games remaining, SU must win two to clinch its second straight bowl appearance. The last time the Orange played in Yankee Stadium was last December when they lost the Pinstripe Bowl to Minnesota 28-20.
Here’s how our beat writers think Syracuse will fare against Pittsburgh:
Anthony Alandt (8-1)
Teddy Roosevelt is disappointed
Pittsburgh 12, Syracuse 8
Maybe with a healthy Garrett Shrader this game goes differently. Though with so much uncertainty surrounding the status of not only SU’s starter, but Carlos Del Rio-Wilson, there’s no chance I’m saying Syracuse’s offense will end its cold streak. SU has been purview to the uniqueness of playing in Yankee Stadium before. Although, it doesn’t have a clean field.
SU fell apart last December during the Pinstripe Bowl and led to a ground-and-pound game against Minnesota. Short passes and slogging through another game like the Orange did versus Boston College is going to have to be the game plan for head coach Dino Babers and the offense. So I think this game will track similarly to last Friday’s loss to the Eagles.
LeQuint Allen Jr. should have a relatively solid game against a Pittsburgh rushing defense that allows 131.9 rushing yards per game. But as Henry mentions below, anytime an SU quarterback — whoever that is Saturday — drops back, he’s liable to a defense that’s garnered the fourth-most sacks in the ACC. President Teddy Roosevelt stepped in and demanded the forward pass be implemented to football in 1905. He’s going to be pretty upset watching this game 118 years later when both teams resort to football before the forward pass was mandated.
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5 Things to Know: 'Cuse vs. Pitt - Syracuse University Athletics (cuse.com)
The Orange are headed to the Big Apple on Saturday to face Pittsburgh. The game, presented by SRC, is celebrating the centennial anniversary of the first football game played at Yankee Stadium. Here's five things to know about the matchup.
1. 100 Years Later
Saturday's game is the 100th anniversary of the first football game played at Yankee Stadium, setting the stage for a long history of football in the Bronx. Yankee Stadium has now hosted over 100 football games and established a bowl game more than a decade ago, which the Orange has played in three times.
The first matchup was a defensive battle – a 3-0 win by Syracuse, the lowest scoring game in program history. A stark contrast from the 2016 matchup where 137 points were scored, which at the time was the FBS single-game record.
Tickets for Saturday's game are available at Cuse.com/Tickets.
2. 'Cuse and Pitt Part 79
Syracuse and Pittsburgh meet for the 79th time on Saturday, Syracuse's most frequent opponent, ahead of Penn State (71), Colgate (67), West Virginia (61) and Boston College (57).
The series has been played annually since 1955, and will continue through at least 2030 to be an annual matchup, as the two schools were given annual rival status in the ACC's new scheduling model that was announced last week.
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Pitt holds the all-time series lead 43-32-3. However 'Cuse is looking to continue its unbeaten streak at neutral sites vs. the Panthers, having won both previous meetings. In addition to the 1923 game at Yankee Stadium, 'Cuse also won the 1965 matchup at Shea Stadium, 51-13.
3. Downstate Success
Syracuse has made the greater New York City area its second home in the more than 130 years of program history. This will be the 39th 'Cuse football game played in a pro venue in the greater New York area. Syracuse is 20-16-2 (.552) in those contests.
They include a 7-3 mark at Yankee Stadium, 1-0 record at Shea Stadium, 15 games (7-6-2 at the Polo Grounds, a 5-3 mark at Giants Stadium and four contests (0-4) at MetLife Stadium.
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M.J. Devonshire returns home to Pittsburgh as star cornerback (DO; Jepson)
M.J. Devonshire’s commitment to Kentucky came as a surprise to his mother, Theresa. She thought he’d stay home, near his native Aliquippa (Pa.), and attend Pittsburgh. She was heartbroken.
“I cried all the way back to Pennsylvania,” Theresa remembered after dropping Devonshire off in Lexington (Ky.). “My eyes were bloodshot.”
Devonshire picked Kentucky over offers from schools like Ohio State, Ole Miss and West Virginia. But after redshirting his first year, and receiving limited minutes during his sophomore season with the Wildcats, he entered the transfer portal. He opted to return to Pittsburgh, immediately becoming its top-ranked cornerback. In his third year with the Panthers, Devonshire will likely be tasked with covering Syracuse’s best receiver when both teams match up at Yankee Stadium Saturday.
Both Theresa, and Devonshire’s father, Marlin Sr., always knew he was a “different kind of cat” on the field. They remembered the naturally shy Devonshire started talking much more when it came to football. He immediately grew engaged whenever anybody mentioned the sport, Theresa said.
Devonshire became a star at Aliquippa High School. In his senior season, he played on both sides of the ball, scoring 24 total touchdowns and also nabbing eight interceptions. He received Pittsburgh Tribune-Review High School Athlete of the Year honors and head coach Mike Warfield said he was “truly a leader.”
After joining Kentucky out of high school, Devonshire struggled to carve out a role on its depth chart during his two seasons there. And once the pandemic hit, Devonshire transferred.
Entering the portal in 2020, Marlin Sr. said Devonshire’s decision was easy. Theresa remembered the moment she found out Devonshire committed to Pittsburgh. She was sitting on her couch when a friend sent her a text: “Am I going to have to get a Pitt shirt?”
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Syracuse football vs. Pittsburgh tickets: How much are Yankee Stadium seats for Saturday’s game? (PS; Axelson)
The Syracuse Orange Football team travels to Yankee Stadium, where they’ll look to snap a five-game losing streak against the Pittsburgh Panthers on Saturday, November 11 (11/11/2023), and fans can still get tickets to the game online.
Syracuse vs. Pittsburgh tickets for the special Yankee Stadium game are available from resellers like StubHub, SeatGeek and VividSeats, and fans can get an even better deal than they would when shopping standard admission prices from Ticketmaster, which start at $50. Fans traveling for the game can get discounted flights from Expedia and cheap hotel rates on Hotels.com.
Here are the cheapest seats available for Syracuse vs. Pittsburgh at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx as of Wednesday, November 8:
- SeatGeek: Upper end zone starting $31
- VividSeats: Upper corner starting $32
- StubHub: Upper corner starting $33
- Ticketmaster: Standard admission tickets starting $49.80
Syracuse dropped its fifth game in a row 17-10 to Boston College at the JMA Wireless Dome on Friday. Garrett Shrader’s absence was felt during the turnover-filled outing. Carlos Del Rio-Wilson helmed a game without so much as a first down, let alone a field-goal attempt, on all four possessions.
Shrader’s status is unknown for Saturday and the remaining two games of the season. Head coach Dino Babers cautioned against judging Del Rio-Wilson too harshly on his first performance, noting, “there was some things that happened that were out of his control.”
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Who starts at QB for SU football vs. Pitt?
ORANGE ZONE: Who starts at QB for SU football vs. Pitt (cnycentral.com; podcast; Orange Zone)
Syracuse football's 2023 season has gone from promising to potentially abysmal, and that may be putting it lightly. Now the Orange head to the Big Apple for a centennial celebration of football at Yankee Stadium looking to salvage something from a season that has gone off the rails.
Syracuse football looks to snap five-game losing streak (youtube; video; Finneral)
James Finneral discusses the outlook for Syracuse football as the team prepares to face Pittsburgh at Yankee Stadium
LeQuint Allen "The 315" 11-8-23 (ESPN; radio; The 315)
Syracuse So. Running Back LeQuint Allen joined Brian for today’s 2 Minute Drill. Brian gave LeQuint some hard hitting New Jersey questions and more.
Noah Hiles "The 315" 11-8-23 (ESPN; radio; The 315)
Pittsburgh beat reporter for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Noah Hiles joined today’s show to preview SU football’s next game against Pittsburgh in Yankee stadium. The two discussed each team, the 100 years of football history at Yankee stadium and more.
Syracuse Football on Instagram: "➡️ We’re headed to Yankee Stadium on Saturday to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first football game played there."
1,044 likes, 8 comments - cusefootballNovember 6, 2023 on : "➡️ We’re headed to Yankee Stadium on Saturday to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first football game played there.".
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Syracuse can no longer deny it—Dino Babers must go (PS; Lloyd)
Syracuse has now lost five games in a row and are in no position to promise a bowl berth. That’s enough for me to start singing Dino Babers’ swan song.
During the 2023 college football offseason, I aroused a discussion topic that Syracuse University clearly hasn’t been eager to touch: What should the Orange do with head coach Dino Babers, and when? Since opening that can of worms, my views on him and the parameters encapsulating his scalding-hot seat have changed—and not for the better.
For those who do not remember, the Orange finished their 2022 campaign 7-6 after losing their bowl game. What made the mediocre conclusion so controversial was the fact that it came from a 6-0 start. While they were nonetheless a bowl team and had clinched a winning record for the year, it was inexcusably disappointing when pondering what could’ve been, and that’s precisely what put Babers in my sights.
To summarize my stance on the colossal choke-job, I felt that if he failed to get Syracuse to a bowl in 2023, he should be fired. If he got them to one and lost, he should perhaps be given another year and see how things play out from there. Lastly, if he got them to one and won, he likely wouldn’t have to worry about his job security too much in the immediate future. It’s there where my tune has since changed.
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WATCH: DeShields, Means, Mumpfield, Gandy Talk Pitt Prep for Syracuse (pittsburghsportsnow.com; videos; Ludwig)
With just three games remaining in a season that has not gone according to plan, there’s no lack of resolve when it comes to finishing the season on a high.
Solomon DeShields, Bub Means, Konata Mumpfield and Ryland Gandy talked about moving forward after back-to-back losses, how the team is staying focused moving forward and what’s up next against Syracuse at Yankee Stadium.
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Pitt Football | Syracuse Week | Bub Means | 11/8/2023 (youtube; video; UPMC)
Pitt Football | Syracuse Week | Bub Means | 11/8/2023
Pitt Football | Syracuse Week | Konata Mumpfield | 11/8/2023 (youtube; videol UPMC)
Pitt Football | Syracuse Week | Konata Mumpfield | 11/8/2023
2025 OL Malachi Goodman reacts to Syracuse offer (247sports.com; Finneral)
Class of 2025 offensive lineman Malachi Goodman picked up an offer from Syracuse in October. Goodman has a lot of respect for Syracuse and how the football program is run.
“I know Syracuse has a great staff and program and I was excited when I got the offer,” Goodman said.
Goodman plays at Paramus Catholic in New Jersey. He is looking forward to learning more about the Syracuse coaches and program as he continues through his recruiting process.
“I think they're great and I will build a connection with them quickly,” Goodman said.
Goodman plans to build that connection on a future visit to Syracuse. The six-foot-five, 315-pound offensive lineman has been offered by a handful of programs including Michigan, Penn State, Miami, South Carolina, Nebraska, Maryland, Rutgers, Duke, Boston College, Virginia Tech and others. He will wait for his visit to determine where Syracuse stands in his recruitment.
“I don’t really know because I need to go visit Syracuse and other schools, so I could feel where the right place is,” he said.
Paramus Catholic finished the season with a 3-8 overall record. Goodman established himself as one of the premier offensive lineman recruits in the state of New Jersey. He is pleased with his improvement, but understands he can be even better in the future.
“I think I did a good job on developing, but there’s more work to be done,” Goodman said.
Goodman said the goal for next season is to ‘go all the way.’ He said he plans to work on his feet, pad level and finishing blocks moving forward.
“I would say that I'm a hard worker and I will never give up even if we are in a bad situation,” Goodman said.
He is certainly an offensive line prospect to look out for moving forward. Goodman is grateful to pick up offers from Division 1 programs, but he believes the job is not finished yet.
“It’s exciting, but there is more work to be done,” he said.
#FakeNunes previews Syracuse vs Pittsburgh (TNIAAM; Wall)
It’s Wednesday, so you know what that means... time for the blog that gives you the internet’s most ridiculous college football preview series- it’s #FakeNunes time. Can we keep finding ways to get #jokesandgarbage into a Syracuse Orange preview? You be the judge...
Now onto this week’s opponent
Opponent: Pittsburgh Panthers
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Students: 28,391 students who can’t wait for Kenny Pickett to become a coach
The 2023 Fake Nunes Statistical Index (#FNSI)
We continue to look to innovate our analytics model so we here’s what the lab cooked up for this season.
Rivalry Trophy
The FNSI staff won’t give up on their quest to bring back more tradition into today’s college game. Let’s see what they’ve got for this one
The Monument Medal
With the game in Yankee Stadium and one end zone out near Monument Park, let’s award the winner of this game with a large medal replica of a Yankee Monument.
The True North Difference
In order to maintain our status as #CanadasCollegeTeam, each week we look at which team has more Canadian players on their roster.
Pitt has former Orange recruiting target Christian Veilleux, but no one else to match Syracuse’s duo.
Advantage: Syracuse
Notable Alum
Bringing back this one as we love to drop, some knowledge every now and then to help our loyal readers possibly win a trivia night. After all we are the Syracuse blog that loves you back and we take that seriously.
Ken Macha vs Billy Connors
We’re sticking with the baseball theme here. Macha played with the Panthers then had a six-year run as a player in the Majors. You know him best from his managerial stints in Oakland and Milwaukee. Connors only had 26 MLB appearances and didn’t record a win, but he went on to a a lengthy career as a coach and later a front-office staff member with the Yankees.
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Courtesy: Syracuse UniversityMeet the Capdeville quads at Syracuse University (informnny.com'; Sommavilla)
The chance of having quadruplets can be as low as about one in about 700,000. The odds of all four going to the same college might be even smaller, but not impossible.
Quadruplets Donovan, Gabriel, Savanna, and Douglas Capdeville are finishing their senior year at Syracuse University right now.
Twin miracle: Three sets of twins born in one weekend at St. Joseph’s Health Hospital
They didn’t plan to stick together in college, but life led them all here. When you hear their story, you might say it was meant to be.
Their dad and uncle both got their degrees from Syracuse University and they grew up wearing and watching the orange.
So, when it was time to leave the nest, the Capdeville quads flew from sandy beaches in St. Croix to snowy Syracuse.
“When we came here it was our first time ever seeing snow and I was going outside in slides because I didn’t really know anything else,” said Gabriel.
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Christian Brothers Academy football team has 5 players with Division I offers. How did that happen? (PS; $; Lacy Jr)
When assistants from the University of Pittsburgh football team watched film of Christian Brothers Academy’s Syair Torrence, other CBA players stuck out.
Torrence already had a scholarship offer from Pittsburgh. Soon, Daunte Bacheyie, Matthew Hawn and Marquan Saddler all received offers.
“And that happened in the offseason. We are holding weight room workouts, field workouts, and college coaches say, ’Hey, we’re in Syracuse, can we stop by and see Torrence?’” CBA offensive coordinator Bruce Williams said. “And again, (the coaches) are there, and Daunte walked by and (the coach) was like, ‘What year is he?’ ... We got a lot of that from these college coaches.”
The CBA football team has five players with Division I football offers, and each of the players has offers from at least two Power Five schools.
The Brothers have a perfect 10-0 record this fall and will take on Cicero-North Syracuse in the Section III Class AA championship at 6 p.m. on Sunday inside the JMA Wireless Dome.
Torrence holds offers from Michigan State, Syracuse, Boston College, Pittsburgh, Rutgers and Michigan; Bacheyie has offers from Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Boston College; Hawn has offers from Pittsburgh, Boston College, UMass, Buffalo and Temple; Saddler has an offer from Pittsburgh and Boston College; and Darien Williams has offers from UMass, Temple, Boston College and Penn State.
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ACC News
The Demon Deacons’ Dilemma (theassemblync.com; Zimmerman)
Nathan Hatch, then the president of Wake Forest University, calls the University of Maryland’s 2012 decision to depart from the Atlantic Coast Conference the “shot heard ‘round the world.”
The tectonic plates of conference realignment had been shifting for decades. Still, Maryland’s decision sent out different, more troublesome reverberations. “I just had this deep sinking feeling,” Hatch remembered, “this foreboding sense.”
Prior to 2012, an exit by any ACC member, let alone Maryland—one of seven founding institutions from 1953—was practically inconceivable. The University of South Carolina left in 1971, regretted it, and tried unsuccessfully to get back in.
The ACC had a level of camaraderie and mutual respect that came with the traditions and geographic rivalries forged through six decades of competition, and those principles meant something to the conference and its member institutions. At least school presidents thought so.
“That a school like Maryland would forgo all its historic allegiances, its fan base, everything, to chase the money—it was a huge turning point,” Hatch told The Assembly.
The fallout was immense, but so too were Maryland’s financial incentives. In leaving the ACC and realigning with the rival Big Ten, the Terrapins’ conference payout—the sum distributed to member institutions based on the revenue the conference generates from media rights deals with broadcasters—would grow by upwards of $10 million annually.
With the move, two core components of the collegiate athletics landscape had changed, practically overnight. Neither boded well for Wake Forest.
First: the big conferences. “They were not going to respect tradition,” Hatch said. “They were going for financial clout.”
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ACC FB Honors Class of 2023 (RX; HM)
ACC FB Honors Class of 2023
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Factoids 2023 Week 11 (RX; HM)
Factoids 2023 Week 11
ACC Notes
Through the first 10 weeks of the season, no other conference has more teams that are bowl eligible to date than the ACC with seven teams – Florida State, Louisville, North Carolina, Miami, Duke, Boston College and NC State.FSU
Florida State is 9-0 overall and 7-0 in ACC play to start the season, the Seminoles’ best start since 2014 when they started 13-0 and posted a perfect 8-0 ACC record. The Seminoles are one of just seven undefeated teams remaining in FBS.The Florida State Seminoles clinched a spot in the 2023 ACC Football Championship Game with their win over the Pitt Panthers last Saturday (Nov. 4). The nationally ranked Seminoles are 9-0 overall and 7-0 in ACC play this season. It marks the Seminoles’ sixth trip to the ACC Football Championship Game and the first since 2014 (2004, 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2014) when they won their third consecutive ACC Championship title with a 37-35 win over Georgia Tech.
Florida State quarterback Jordan Travis has thrown a touchdown pass in 21 straight games, FSU’s longest stretch since 2013 Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston (27, 2013-14).
Clemson
Dabo Swinney became the all-time winningest coach in Clemson football history with the Tigers’ 31-23 win over No. 12 Notre Dame on Nov. 4. His 166th career win passed College Football Hall of Famer Frank Howard (165 from 1940-69) for sole possession of the Clemson record for career head coaching wins.With Clemson’s 31-23 win over No. 12 Notre Dame last Saturday, the Tigers have recorded at least one win against an AP Top 20 team in Death Valley in nine consecutive seasons. Clemson’s last season without a win against a top-20 squad in Death Valley was 2014.
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TV, Radio, and Announcers 2023 Week 11 (RX; HM)
TV, Radio, and Announcers 2023 Week 11
From the official ACC release of Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023...
Upcoming ACC Football Schedule
THURSDAY, NOV. 9 Time, TV
Virginia at No. 11 Louisville 7:30 p.m., ESPN
SiriusXM App/Web: 158, 194, or 386 956 or 976Series: Louisville leads series, 6-5; Last meeting: Louisville, 34-17 (2022)
ESPN: Matt Barrie (play-by-play), Dan Mullen (analyst), Harry Lyles Jr. (sideline)
SATURDAY, NOV. 11 Time, TV
Georgia Tech at Clemson Noon, ABC
SiriusXM App/Web: 119, 193, or 383 955 or 973Series: Georgia Tech leads series, 51-35-2; Last meeting: Clemson, 41-10 (2022)
ABC: Mark Jones (play-by-play), Louis Riddick (analyst), Quint Kessenich (sideline)
Virginia Tech at Boston College Noon, ACCN
SiriusXM App/Web: 160, 194, or 382 956 or 972Series: Virginia Tech leads series, 20-11; Last meeting: Virginia Tech, 27-10 (2022)
ACCN: Jorge Sedano (play-by-play), Orlando Franklin (analyst), Marilyn Payne (sideline)
NC State at Wake Forest 2 p.m., The CW
SiriusXM App/Web: 111, 203, or 388 966 or 979Series: NC State leads series, 68-42-6; Last meeting: NC State, 30-21 (2022)
The CW Network: Tom Werme (play-by-play), James Bates (analyst), Treavor Scales (sideline)
Miami at No. 4 Florida State 3:30 p.m., ABC
SiriusXM App/Web: 119, 193, or 384 955 or 974Series: Miami leads series, 35-32; Last meeting: Florida State, 45-3 (2022)
ABC: Sean McDonough (play-by-play), Greg McElroy (analyst), Molly McGrath (sideline)
Pitt at Syracuse 3:30 p.m., ACCN
SiriusXM App/Web: 160, 194, or 383 956 or 973Series: Pitt leads series, 43-32-3; Last meeting: Pitt, 19-9 (2022)
ACCN: Chris Cotter (play-by-play), Mark Herzlich (analyst), Sherree Burruss (sideline)
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JHowell's Picks 2023 Week 11 (RX; HM)
JHowell's Picks 2023 Week 11
JHowell.net has posted projections for Week #11 of the 2023 season. Below are JHowell's ACC football game projections through the games of 11-11-23 (including future ACC teams), followed by some commentary of my own; let's see if his computer can pick the "dogs"...
Thursday, November 9, 2023
#12-Louisville (-24.5) vs. #96-Virginia (TP=53 Odds=.877)Friday, November 10, 2023
#38-Southern Methodist (-21.5) vs. #109-North Texas (TP=63 Odds=.803)Saturday, November 11, 2023
#3-Florida State (-21) vs. #37-Miami (TP=54 Odds=.833)#19-Oregon State (-21) vs. #101-Stanford (TP=56 Odds=.826)
#32-North Carolina (-2.5) vs. #31-Duke (TP=51 Odds=.552)
#40-Clemson (-5.5) vs. #49-Georgia Tech (TP=54 Odds=.601)
#44-N.C. State (-4.5) @ #84-Wake Forest (TP=46 Odds=.597)
#48-Boston College (-8) vs. #77-Virginia Tech (TP=50 Odds=.652)
#85-Syracuse (-3) vs. #103-Pittsburgh (TP=47 Odds=.567) @ Bronx, NY
#89-California (-0.5) vs. #76-Washington State (TP=62 Odds=.508)
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New coaches have changed the complexion of the ACC. Some of the rebuilds are faster than others (apnews.com; Kurz Jr.)
Coaching changes in the Atlantic Coast Conference the past few years have altered its complexion, making some programs more prominent.
It became apparent on the opening weekend when Duke, under reigning ACC Coach of the Year Mike Elko, pummeled ACC bully Clemson 28-7 in front of a national TV audience. It was a signature win for the second-year coach.
It’s evident at Georgia Tech, when Brent Key, a former offensive lineman for the Yellow Jackets, had his interim tag removed after he finished out last season by turning a 1-3 start into a 5-7 finish. His team is 4-0 against ranked ACC opponents and three of those wins have come on the road, and the 45-17 victory at Virginia last weekend moved Georgia Tech within a victory of becoming bowl eligible for the first time since 2018.
The biggest splash is coming from No. 11 Louisville in its first season under Jeff Brohm, a former Cardinals quarterback. They are 8-1, ranked 13th nationally in scoring defense, allowing 16.3 points per game. They are eighth in rushing defense, allowing 88.78 yards per game, and 28th in passing defense, allowing 196.4 yards per game.
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No. 4 Florida State faces Miami to headline the Week 11 football slate in the ACC (usatoday; Beard)
Things to watch in the Atlantic Coast Conference in Week 11:
Miami at No. 4 Florida State. It's a marquee matchup on paper, though only the Seminoles (9-0, 7-0 ACC) have looked on top of their game. FSU clinched its trip to the ACC title game with last week's win and is positioned to make the College Football Playoff.
Meanwhile, the Hurricanes (6-3, 2-3) are coming off a loss at North Carolina State in which they failed to reach the end zone.
That turnover-filled performance as a favorite was the latest head-scratcher for a team that gave away a sure win against Georgia Tech with a combination of a coaching mistake and a last-second TD. And it drained momentum from back-to-back overtime home wins against Clemson and Virginia.
No. 24 North Carolina (7-3, 3-2) vs. Duke (6-3, 3-2).
The Tar Heels have an offense that can beat opponents downfield or with a power running game. The Blue Devils have a terrific defense and are in the top 10 of the Bowl Subdivision ranks in allowing only 15.7 points per game.
North Carolina has an NFL prospect in QB Drake Maye, who ranks third in FBS with 339.7 yards of total offense per game, and a solid running back in Omarion Hampton, who is fourth nationally in rushing (118.6).
UNC is trying for a fifth straight year of keeping the Victory Bell, a cart carrying a former railroad engine bell used in the rivalry in the late 1940s. The winner typically paints the cart its shade of light or dark blue.
Georgia Tech (5-4, 4-2) visits Clemson on Saturday as a 14 1/2-point underdog as of Tuesday, according to FanDuel . Yet the Yellow Jackets have had a knack for winning in these situations under Brent Key.
The Yellow Jackets beat ranked Pitt and UNC teams last year under Key as he closed out his time as the interim coach, then took won at then-ranked Miami in early October before running for 246 yards in the fourth quarter of a win against a ranked UNC team.
For whatever reason, North Carolina State has all kinds of trouble playing at Wake Forest.
Saturday's trip about 100 miles west along Interstate 40 marks the latest renewal in the longtime, in-state series. But N.C. State has won just once in Winston-Salem since 2001, a curious streak that spanned eventual NFL-bound Wolfpack quarterbacks like Philip Rivers, Russell Wilson and Mike Glennon.
N.C. State lost six straight meetings from 2003 on until winning in 2015. The Demon Deacons have won the three meetings since, including a shootout between ranked teams in November 2021 that ultimately swung the race for the now-defunct Atlantic Division title to Wake Forest.
Clemson running back Phil Mafah is coming off a big rushing day in the Tigers' win against Notre Dame. The junior ran 36 times for 186 yards and two touchdowns, which marked his second 100-yard game and the most for any Clemson runner this season. He has run for four touchdowns in the past two games entering the Georgia Tech game.
Mike McDaniel talks ACC football headlines, national stories, and JMU (soundcloud; podcast; WLNI)
Sports Illustrated's Mike McDaniel joins The Sportsline to talk ACC and college football headlines, including his reaction to the latest CFP rankings and if he's surprised FSU didn't fall from #4, on the Michigan Wolverines embracing the 'bad guy' role as their sign stealing scandal continues, and why James Madison's bowl ban should be reversed by the NCAA.
Neri: Best ‘bad’ college football game to watch, Week 10 // The Observer (ndsmcobserver.com; Neri)
If you’ve followed my recent “‘Bad’ Game of the Week” articles, you’ll probably notice that this matchup on Thursday night seems a little more relevant than usual. First of all, Louisville is the first ranked team to make it into the prestigious “‘Bad’ Game of the Week,” club, and second, this is the first Power Five matchup to be featured in the column. At first glance, you might think that this game shouldn’t even qualify as a “bad” game, right?
That was my initial thought, too. The fact of the matter is that, by all accounts and every metric available to the football world, this game should be a blowout — over before the opening kickoff. Louisville is still technically in the playoff hunt, having its best season in years. And Virginia just got blown out by Georgia Tech, who hasn’t been relevant in ages. All signs point to a slaughter.
But I don’t see it that way.
The University of Virginia’s football team began this season amid some of the most challenging off-the-field issues imaginable. Before kickoff on opening day, the team honored the memories of three players who were tragically killed in a shooting last year, and before that had to spend months picking up the pieces of a damaged team following an incredibly traumatic experience. It’s hard to imagine that much work got done on the football side of things during this time, and you could forgive the players if their minds were somewhere else for the first couple of games of the season.
On the field, Virginia faced one of the toughest opening schedules in the ACC, first matching up against SEC powerhouse Tennessee, followed by still undefeated James Madison, a Maryland team that began the season 5-0 and an NC State team whose only three losses have all come against ranked opponents. As you might have inferred, the Cavaliers lost all those games and began the year 0-5.
Since then, however, they’re 2-2 with a marquee win over a 10th-ranked and undefeated North Carolina team at the time. What’s more than that, they narrowly lost at 6-3 Miami two weeks ago. While a 28-point loss to Georgia Tech doesn’t inspire much confidence, overall the Cavaliers have improved greatly in the second half of the season, proving themselves capable of hanging with the top teams in the ACC. But, can they play with a surging Cardinals team on the verge of an ACC championship appearance?
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Other
Ashley Sheppard with twin baby elephants Yaad and Tukada. Sheppard was in charge of the elephant program at the zoo. She died Oct. 24 at age 35.provided by Rosamond Gifford Zoo
A young star’s death leaves an empty space in a Syracuse family and among the elephants (PS; Eisenstadt)
The pictures above the couch in Ashley Sheppard’s house are sloppy, joyful lines of red and orange paint. If you did not know her, you would think her 2-year-old son Jackson made them.
But the paintings were done by Asian elephants at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo. Sheppard helped teach them to dip their trunks in paint and press them against paper.
Those elephants were her kids, too.
To know Ashley was to know the elephants.
She’d tell you about them, whether you asked or not. She’d invite you to a fundraiser for their conservation, or rope you into helping her with the next one.
Ashley’s first job out of college, more than a decade ago, was at the elephant barn.
She never left. She rose to be the manager of the elephant department at the zoo, the first female manager at the zoo and a widely respected national expert on Asian elephant conservation. Everyone expected her to keep going.
The pinnacle was last year, when Mali gave birth to twins Yaad and Tukada. A successful elephant birth in captivity is a major achievement. But the successful twin birth in Syracuse was the first anywhere in captivity, ever.
Sheppard lived to see the twins turn 1. She died just five days after, on Oct. 29. The 35-year-old had an 8-month struggle with a fast-moving stomach cancer. Her loss leaves tragic holes.
There is the zoo, where her leadership was a powerful combination of humor, grace and determination. If Ashley said she’d do something, it would get done. She would bite down and never let go. Two weeks before her death, she was at the office working with her boss, Dan Meates, on the zoo’s accreditation renewal.
Ashley was so well-known in the elephant conservation community that zoos from across the country, and the world, reached out to the Syracuse zoo to offer condolences and help when they heard of her death.
And then there is the unfathomable loss at her home. Sheppard and her husband, Mike, have been together since high school. They married in 2013. Weeks before Ashley’s death, they moved into their new home that they’d been renovating together. It was a blank canvas for this new phase of their life. A bigger room for their son, Jackson, a nice yard, and it was in the Westhill School District, where the two met.
Even as she was dying, Ashley poured grace and humor into the days she had left. Her first question for everyone was the same as it always was: How are you doing? She was the kind of person who listened to the answer.
Loud, in the best way possible
Sheppard’s laugh always entered the room before her.“You hear her coming down hallways and laughing no matter what,” Heather Jennings said. She is a keeper in the elephant barn, like Ashley was when she started.
Ashley was the best kind of boss, Jennings said. If there was a problem, she stepped in to help.
When there was some trouble with the people in charge of moving trash, Jennings said, Sheppard jumped in. She realized some things become big quickly.
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Upstate NY colleges, including SU, among top 10 for student debt (PS; $; Tampone)
Multiple colleges in Upstate New York, including Syracuse University, are among the top 10 in the state for median student debt, according to data from the U.S. Department of Education.
Table with 5 columns and 5420 rows. Currently displaying rows 1 to 10. Sorted ascending by column "US rank"
| School | City | State | Median debt | US rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beulah Heights University | Atlanta | GA | $38,980 | 1 |
| Florida School of Traditional Midwifery | Gainesville | FL | $35,157 | 2 |
| Platt College-Aurora | Greenwood Village | CO | $33,443 | 3 |
| Southern California Institute of Architecture | Los Angeles | CA | $33,250 | 4 |
| American University of Health Sciences | Signal Hill | CA | $32,484 | 5 |
| Northwest College of Art & Design | Tacoma | WA | $29,030 | 6 |
| Huntsville Bible College | Huntsville | AL | $28,500 | 7 |
| Gnomon | Hollywood | CA | $28,332 | 8 |
| Careers Unlimited | Orem | UT | $27,396 | 9 |
| Ringling College of Art and Design | Sarasota | FL | $27,000 | 10 |
Table: Kevin Tampone | ktampone@syracuse.comSource: U.S. Department of EducationGet the data Created with Datawrapper
SU ranked No. 6 statewide for median debt with a total of $23,697, according to the latest data, which was updated in October. That’s the third-highest of any school in Upstate New York on the statewide list.
The Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences was the highest-ranking Upstate school on the list at No. 2 statewide with a median debt of $25,000. Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva was No. 2 in Upstate and tied for fourth statewide with median debt of $24,250.
Other Upstate schools in the top 25 included St. Lawrence University in Canton, Nazareth College in Rochester, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, Clarkson University in Potsdam, Clarkson University Capital Region Campus in Schenectady, Siena College in Loudonville, Keuka College in Keuka Park, Union College in Schenectady and the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester.
The school with the highest median debt in the state in the new data was the Manhattan School of Music at $25,125. You can see the top 25 New York schools with the highest median student debts in the table below.
If you can’t see the table, click here to open it in a web browser.
The numbers shown reflect median debt per student as of the time each person began repayment. The data includes student who graduated and withdrew from each school.
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