sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2011
- Messages
- 25,322
- Like
- 109,490
Welcome to Mason Jar Day!
National Mason Jar Day—created by Misty Campbell-Olbert, the founder of Unboxing the Bizarre—celebrates the jar used for canning and countless other purposes, and takes place on the anniversary of the day John Landis Mason patented it in 1858. It seems that the importance of the patent and its date was known early on, as Mason jars were embossed with that information well into the 20th century.
Prior to the invention of the Mason jar, and even after its invention to some extent, glass jars were often sealed with wax—a type of sealant that was many times faulty. The Mason jar was an improvement because of the airtight function of its screw-on-lid. These lids consist of a metal band or ring, which holds down a tin-plated steel disc. A rubber gasket also helps with the sealing process. After jars are filled with food, they are sterilized in boiling water or by steam, and as they cool, a vacuum is created, sealing the jar. The effectiveness of the Mason jar helped to revolutionize home canning.
SU News
https://www.si.com/college/syracuse...cts-fran-brown-hiring-wants-syracuse-official (SI; McAllister)
Erasmus Hall standout edge Caden Brown is one of the best players in New York in the 2024 recruiting class. He is rated as a top five prospect in the state by 247Sports, ESPN and Rivals. The 6-4, 215 pounder holds offers from Boston College, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Michigan State, Nebraska, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse, Washington and West Virginia, among others.
Syracuse, though, recently underwent a coaching change and hired Fran Brown as its new head coach. How would that impact where the Orange stands in his recruitment?
"I met with coach Brown when he was at Georgia," Brown said. "He came to Erasmus Hall and we had a great conversation. So we know of each other. I was happy when I saw he got the head coaching job at Syracuse. I think he's going to be a good fit for Syracuse and bring Syracuse back to where they were when my dad played there in the late 80's."
Brown's dad, Alban Brown, played for the Orange from 1987-1989. The younger Brown admitted the addition of Fran Brown as Syracuse head coach has enhanced his view of the program.
...
(youtube; podcast; The Trenches)
Syracuse Fires Head Coach Dino Babers | The Trenches Show With Zaire Franklin
Newhouse after Noon 11-29-23 (soundcloud.com; radio; Newhouse after Noon)
Josh Crawford and Tyger Munn kick off the podcast weighing in on Syracuse football hiring Georgia secondary coach Fran Brown to be the Orange's 31st head coach in program history. Then, Kalia Butler and Sydney Supple chat with Syracuse men's basketball forward Justin Taylor the day after SU's 23-point win over LSU
Sports Special Report -- Fran Brown Named SU Football Head Coach (youtube.com; podcast; CitrusTV)
On Tuesday evening, Syracuse University made things official by announcing UGA defensive backs coach Fran Brown would be the next head coach for the Orange. In this special report webisode, our sports team of Ben Spector, Jesse Cook & Ian Nicholas break down their live reactions to the news of SU hiring a man who is known as the best recruiter in all of college football.
Keeping Up With The 315 11-29-23 (ESPN; radio; The 315)
Brian begins the show by discussing why this hire of Fran Brown is so different from other John Wildhack hires. Then, one Georgia player comments on the type of coach Fran Brown is and why he thinks he will be successful at SU. Lastly, Brian chats a little hoops and gives his thoughts on the win over LSU last night.
Andrea Adelson "The 315" 11-29-23 (ESPN; radio; The 315)
ESPN ACC reporter Andrea Adelson chats with Brian about the hire of Fran Brown, challenges with the Syracuse job, how it compares in the NIL space to others and what Dino Babers might do next.
SU Football hires FRAN BROWN (youtube; podcast; Orange Zone)
In this episode of "The Orange Zone," Tommy Sladek, Samantha Croston, and James Mungro discuss the hiring of Fran Brown as Syracuse Football's next head coach.
The Ostrom Avenue Podcast Episode 162: Fran Brown Hired as New Coach of SU Football, Recapping Syracuse's Dominant Win over LSU, and Previewing Saturday's ACC Opener at Virginia (warer.org; podcast; Ostrom Avenue)
Ethan Frank, Jordan Leonard, and Hudson Ridley react and analyze Fran Brown being named the 31st head coach in Syracuse football history and what it means for the program. Plus, the guys break down Syracuse men's basketball's 80-57 win in the ACC/SEC Challenge over LSU. Then, Ethan and Hudson talk with Matt Newton of CavaliersNow to learn more about Virginia ahead of Saturday's game, and Jordan and Ethan chat with Jerry Ratcliffe about Tony Bennett's program and where it stands now a few years removed from its 2019 title run. Finally, the guys end the show to preview Ostrom Picks ahead of the ACC conference slate.
Syracuse Football: New head coach ‘will be a tremendous leader’ for ‘Cuse (itlh; Adler)
Fran Brown, the new head coach of Syracuse football, has worked for some of the top coaches around the country in recent years, and those coaches are dishing out high praise for the New Jersey native.
SU Athletics announced on Tuesday that Brown, the defensive backs coach at Southeastern Conference powerhouse Georgia, would become the next head coach of the Orange, replacing Dino Babers.
National analysts note that Brown is arguably the country’s top recruiter, and his recruiting ties to New Jersey and throughout the Northeast are extremely important for Syracuse football, which will play in its second bowl game in as many seasons later this year.
Besides his time at Georgia, Brown has held positions on the collegiate level at Rutgers, Temple and Baylor.
Other college coaches weigh in on new Syracuse football head coach Fran Brown.
Brown joined the Georgia coaching staff in early 2022. The Bulldogs are the two-time defending national champions, and they are again in the current term one of the favorites to capture another title.
...
Syracuse football: Orange buck conventional wisdom with Fran Brown hiring (TNIAAM; Wall)
Hiring Fran Brown as the next Syracuse Orange Head Coach should be encouraging to fans.
Let’s be clear, when the list of names came out last week, a few stuck out as the “safe route” for John Wildhack and his preferred criteria. While fans jumped on the Dan Mullen train and pointed to his SEC success and Syracuse connection, Al Golden stood out as someone that Wildhack could have settled for. I use that word settled intentionally.
With the option to play it safe and hire a former head coach with Northeast ties and the experience building a program at a private institution would check a lot of boxes. Wildhack could have drawn from his time and talked about the way Dick MacPherson and Paul Pasqualoni built the Orange, but what he’s done is shown that Syracuse might be ready to embrace modern tactics.
We have no idea how Fran Brown will build a program, call a game, or handle the step into the lead chair. What we do know is that he’s been known as one of the best recruiters in college football. He’s recruited well at Temple, Baylor, Rutgers and Georgia. He’s convinced players to stay closer to home and he’s stood toe to toe with the heavyweights in the sport.
...
Syracuse Football: Players voice support of new head coach Fran Brown (itlh; Adler)
Earlier this week, SU Athletics announced that the next head coach of Syracuse football will be New Jersey native Fran Brown, who replaces Dino Babers.
Brown, who is currently the defensive backs coach of top-ranked Georgia out of the Southeastern Conference, has been praised by some national analysts as arguably the country’s No. 1 recruiter.
While the ‘Cuse will represent his first head-coaching gig, Fran Brown has extensive experience as an assistant coach, serving in various roles on the collegiate level at Georgia, Rutgers, Temple and Baylor.
SU Athletics leaders say that Brown’s strong recruiting ties in New Jersey and throughout the Northeast region will prove critical as the Orange looks to build on consecutive bowl-game appearances in the 2022 and 2023 campaigns.
The ‘Cuse will learn the destination of its bowl game in the current stanza this Sunday, after conference championship games are played on Friday and Saturday.
Syracuse football players voice their support of new head coach Fran Brown.
Once SU Athletics announced the official hiring of Fran Brown as the next head coach of Syracuse football, a variety of current and former Orange players, among others, took to social media to react to this news.
This is not meant to be an exhaustive list, but here are some of the posts on X that I’ve come across.
...
Matt Rhule on new Syracuse coach Fran Brown: ‘He made you believe he was going to get it done’ (PS; Carlson)
Nebraska coach Matt Rhule picked Fran Brown twice, first while recruiting him as a player to Western Carolina and then again as part of his first staff as a head coach.
Rhule recruited Brown out of Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, bringing him down to Western Carolina and giving him a chance to play FCS football.
Before Brown could play, though, he had to dig himself out of some academic issues. One of the first ways Brown managed to impress Rhule was the detailed plan he put together to make sure he would get on course academically, a sign of just how committed he was to pursuing success.
“He was a good player but when I talked to him he had a certain quality about him,” Rhule said. “He was so serious. He had some things to do academically but he had a plan on how to do them. He said I’m doing this now. In the summer I’m doing that. He had a charisma to him that just made you believe he was going to get it done. I took a chance on him as a recruiter and he came through. He was a really good player for us, a leader for us. You could see it at a really young age.”
Brown played three seasons at Western Carolina, performing well enough to earn a brief stint in the NFL with the Cincinnati Bengals in 2007 and 2008.
Rather than his NFL experience, however, it has been Brown’s ability to craft a plan and stick to it that has come up repeatedly in the days since he was hired as Syracuse’s new head football coach.
Syracuse athletic director John Wildhack credited Brown’s “vision” for why he is entrusting the football program to a coach with no head coaching experience.
During a podcast appearance earlier this year on Keep It A Buck, a show focused on New Jersey sports, Brown said he sits with each player to craft a development plan based on what they want for their future.
At Georgia, that was generally to reach the NFL.
The planning process, Brown said, helped Georgia players remain patient at the school even if they didn’t get substantial playing time early in the careers. Having a plan, Brown said, limited the number of players that entered the transfer portal out of frustration.
...
Fran Brown Is The Risky Pick, And The Right One (orangefizz.net; Gotkin)
It is a weird time in college athletics right now. With the transfer portal, conference realignment, and NIL, the world seems to be flipped upside down. And within all of the chaos, Syracuse may be falling behind. It seems like every month more rumors of top dogs leaving the ACC. What would the Orange do then? Would any conference like Syracuse? It’s a scary time to be the athletic director of a school like Syracuse. To be successful, you have to take risks and that’s what John Wildhack is doing.
Fran Brown is inexperienced. There’s no getting around that. He has never been a head coach before at any level. The 40-year-old has never been a coordinator at a Power Five school. Brown has never been a full coordinator of a team, only serving as the co-DC of Temple. It’s reasonable to see this and think back to why Dino Babers was let go and wonder if this is the wrong decision.
But Fran Brown got this job for a reason. John Wildhack didn’t just pick a random guy off the street. Brown can be the perfect man for this job. The New Jersey native is known for his abilities on the recruiting trail. It’s been well documented by now how he was named the best recruiter in the country by 247 sports. Syracuse’s recruiting has been atrocious lately. The 2023 class was the worst in all of the power five. The 2024 class is currently one of the worst in the ACC. Syracuse needs change. Fran Brown is that change.
Fran Brown can bring energy into the Dome that this program desperately needs. If Brown is truly good strong of a recruiter, which everything points to, he will be able to quickly assemble a competitive squad by retaining players and the transfer portal. Syracuse has a chance to quickly regain national relevance and get back to the glory that this city has seen.
...
Javon Bullard proud to see Fran Brown land Syracuse job (on3.com; Smith)
Syracuse decided to part ways with head coach Dino Babers following eight seasons at the helm, with their next head coach expected to be coming out of the home of the back-to-back defending national champions. Matt Zenitz reported on Tuesday that Georgia defensive backs coach Fran Brown is expected to become Syracuse’s new coach, marking the first head coaching gig of his career.
Brown has been defensive back Javon Bullard’s position coach for the past two seasons at Georgia, and ahead of the SEC Championship game, he was asked what Syracuse is getting from the coach he’s worked closely with for the two years.
“Getting a tremendous coach, but more so a tremendous person,” Bullard said. “I mean Coach Fran, like I said, he’s a great coach but I feel like what makes Coach Fran so special is his relationship outside of football. We connect on a personal level, he’s been there with me through spiritual advice, emotional advice, when I need to talk about my family or I’m missing home he’s always there.”
Brown worked his way up from a graduate assistant to a defensive backs coach and associate head coach at Temple, also making stops at Baylor and Rutgers before landing in Athens. The Camden, New Jersey native will be returning to an area he’s familiar with and is bringing a lot more with him than just coaching knowledge according to Bullard.
“Coach Fran is one of the people I can count on outside of football,” Bullard said. “My car breaks down, I know I can call Coach Fran. That’s the person he is to the core, that’s what you’re getting, that’s what Syracuse is getting, and we’re so proud of him man. Hat goes off to him we’re tremendously proud of him.”
...
Syracuse football's new leader praised as a 'player's coach' (spectrumlocalnews.com; MacWilliam)
Excitement continues to build surrounding the hiring of Fran Brown as the next head football coach at Syracuse, and one player who works under Brown at the University of Georgia says SU fans can expect great things from him.
The Bulldogs are prepping for the upcoming SEC title game, while singing Brown’s praises.
On Tuesday, SU Director of Athletics John Wildhack announced that Brown, the defensive backs coach at the University of Georgia, will replace Dino Babers as the university's head football coach.
Bulldogs' defensive back Javon Bullard on Wednesday called Brown a good coach when it comes to the "Xs" and "Os," but added that he also takes the time to get to know his players as people.
He said that’s what really makes Brown special: He's a player's coach who will get the most out of all.
"Coach Fran is one of those people I can count on outside of football," Bullard said. "Just the person that he is to the core, that's what you get. That's what Syracuse is going to get. My hats off to them. I am so proud of him."
Brown, 41, is also widely regarded as one of the nation's top recruiters.
He has strong ties to the Northeast, having coached at Temple and Rutgers in his career. Brown will be introduced as the 31st head coach in Syracuse football history on Monday.
UGA’s Fran Brown Announced as New Syracuse Football Head Coach | News Live at 6 – CitrusTV (citrustv.com; video; CitrusTV)
UGA’s Fran Brown Announced as New Syracuse Football Head Coach | News Live at 6
Rags to Riches, Camden, NJ Native New College Football Coach (973espn.com; Hennig)
Everyone loves an inspirational "American Success Story", it gives us hope and motivation to never give up. This week, a graduate of Camden High School gets to add another chapter to his story of overcoming incredible adversity and working his way to becoming the Head Coach of a major College Football Program.
Syracuse Home Football Game Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images
On Tuesday Night, Syracuse University announced they are hiring Fran Brown as the next Head Coach of their Football Program. Brown has been rising up the ladders of the College Football Coaching world for the last 12 years and most recently working as the Defensive Backs Coach for the Defending National Champion University of Georgia Football team.
Setting our players up for life.
New head coach @FranBrownUGA on his plans for ‘Cusepic.twitter.com/PbnSJfdrGp
— Syracuse Football (@CuseFootball) November 28, 2023
The 41-year-old Football Coach's story began with very humble beginnings when his mom had him when she was 13 years old and the two of them moved multiple times around Camden so Brown spent most of his childhood without a true home or a father. For Brown, Football became his outlet from the difficulties of his life, excelling on the field at Camden High School.
...
Rebuilding Syracuse Football as Fran Brown is named the new head coach #shorts #syracusefootball (youtube; podcast; FingerLakes1)
Rebuilding Syracuse Football as Fran Brown is named the new head coach
Syracuse Football on Instagram: "League leaders! Congrats to our All-ACC award winners"
3,621 likes, 31 comments - cusefootballNovember 29, 2023 on : "League leaders! Congrats to our All-ACC award winners".
www.instagram.com
Syair Torrence's search for a football home: Will Fran Brown, the top recruiter in the country, be his new coach? (cnycentral.com; Croston)
One of Fran Brown’s most attractive qualities is that according to 247 Sports, he’s the top recruiter in the country.
One recruit that everyone in central New York has eyes on is Syair Torrence–a senior at Christian Brothers Academy–who is ranked by 247 Sports as the seventh-ranked prospect in New York State.
Torrence is also the younger brother of Symir Torrence, who formerly played basketball at SU.
Syair Torrence previously committed to Syracuse last November, but de-committed this May after receiving interest from Michigan State. He committed to the Spartans in June.
However, last month, amidst the firing of former Michigan State head coach Mel Tucker following accusations of sexual harassment, Torrence de-committed from Michigan State.
Since then, Torrence has been hunting for a new football home.
Upon hearing the announcement that Fran Brown was the head coach of Syracuse football, Torrence tweeted this:
CNY Central’s Samantha Croston was able to catch up with Torrence to ask him how he feels about the new hire.
"I definitely felt it was a great hire for Syracuse," said Torrence. "It's definitely going to be great to see what they do."
Monday, Torrence said he is considering Syracuse as his future home.
"If I want to play for Syracuse, I could play under I could play under a great coach," said Torrence. "A person that made it to big national championships, coached big-time players, sent players to the league [NFL], so playing under him will be a great feeling when that happens, if that happens."
...
TNIAAM Roundtable: Our thoughts on new Syracuse football head coach Fran Brown (TNIAAM; podcast; Staff)
The Syracuse Orange football program has their new head coach. Fran Brown, the current defensive backs coach for the Georgia Bulldogs surprised most when he emerged as the choice to lead the Orange in 2024.
Here at TNIAAM, we decided to get some initial thoughts on the choice:
Biggest Positive
Kevin: It’s the recruiting history. Brown is the #1 recruiter in the nation according to 24/7 and when you look at his all-time recruits, he’s been landing players at his previous schools in prime areas for Syracuse. No one should expect a top-10 class, but he might have the best chance of landing the 4-star Northeast players so many feel are crucial to a winning program.Mike: It’s not the recruiting itself that stands out most to be, but rather the retention and development of those players. Brown has developed serious NFL talent - guys who get drafted and stick around in the league past their rookie contract - at programs which don’t exactly have the most illustrious history of doing so. He’s also taken some of the absolute best talent with him when changing positions between Temple/Baylor/Rutgers, showing the relationships he built with those individuals meant that much.
Andy: Dino Babers tried to extend Syracuse’s recruiting footprint into Ohio, Illinois, and Michigan with incredibly limited results; Syracuse’s best players still came primarily from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Florida. Brown has the potential to lock down New York, New Jersey, and Eastern PA recruiting in a way we haven’t seen in the modern era at ‘Cuse and would be huge in terms of building a foundation that will support the program as the B1G expands its footprint.
...
Cam Syracuse Football Dan Villari Shirt, hoodie, sweater, long sleeve and tank top (lcorigo.com)
Cam Syracuse Football Dan Villari Shirt
ACC News
FSU’s Travis & NC State’s Wilson Earn ACC Top Honors (theacc.com)
After a stellar season on the gridiron and leading his team to an undefeated regular season, Florida State quarterback Jordan Travis has been named the 2023 Atlantic Coast Conference Football Player of the Year.
Travis, alongside NC State linebacker Payton Wilson, earned the titles of ACC Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year, respectively. Voting for the awards was conducted by a 65-member voting panel consisting of 51 selected media and the conference’s 14 head coaches.
Travis was recently named a semifinalist for the Walter Camp National Player of the Year award, in addition to being a semifinalist for the Maxwell Award, Davey O’Brien Award, and the Jason Witten Man of the Year Award.
The West Palm Beach, Florida, native threw for 2,755 yards and 20 touchdowns while adding seven more scores on the ground. The quarterback ranks third in ACC history in regard to single-season interception avoidance after being intercepted just twice on 324 pass attempts (0.62%), one of only three players in the nation to throw 20 or more touchdowns and two or fewer interceptions this season.
In back-to-back weeks of conference play, Travis threw for a combined 719 yards with four touchdowns, completing 61.9 percent of his passes along the way. Travis opened the season on a strong note as he completed 23-of-31 (74.2 percent) of his pass attempts for 342 yards and four touchdowns as he led the Seminoles to victory over No. 5 LSU.
On three separate occasions this season, Travis was named the ACC Quarterback of the Week. Throughout the year, Travis was also named to the Davey O’Brien Award Great 8 and the Manning Award Star of the Week three times each. He earned Davey O’Brien Award National Quarterback of the Week honors on Oct. 24 after throwing for 268 yards and two touchdowns against No. 16 Duke.
Additionally, Travis became Florida State’s all-time leader in touchdown responsibility (97), total offense (10,554), quarterback rushing yards (1,910), and quarterback rushing touchdowns (31).
Wilson eclipsed the 400-career tackle mark in the final week of the regular season, just one of five active FBS players to achieve the feat. Throughout his storied career for the Wolfpack, Wilson has accumulated stats that rank him inside the top 10 of active FBS players in total tackles, tackles per game, solo tackles, solo tackles per game, assisted tackles, assisted tackles-for-loss, total tackles-for-loss, and tackles-for-loss per game.
Wilson leads the conference and ranks fifth nationally this season with 138 tackles and an average of 11.5 tackles per game and has tallied the most total tackles for a Wolfpack player in a single season since Earl Wolff had 145 in 2012.
On nine occasions this season, Wilson recorded double-digit stops, highlighted by a 16-tackle game against Miami. Wilson also added 6.0 sacks and 17.5 tackles-for-loss, with his tackles behind the line of scrimmage the most among ACC defenders. The Hillsborough, North Carolina, native has added a trio of interceptions, a forced fumble, and two fumble recoveries to his resume.
...
PSN/ACC Daily Portal Report: November 29 (pittsburghsportsnow.com; Campbell)
With the conclusion of the ACC regular season in college football, the opening of the NCAA Transfer Portal is coming soon.
Starting on Dec. 4, college coaches will have the opportunity to speak with players that have entered their name in the portal. This will serve as a stressful period for college teams and a wild couple of months for the sport of college football.
This is the new form of recruiting and is now crucial to every team, almost as much as high school recruiting itself. Pittsburgh Sports Now will start running an ACC Daily Portal Report, that will provide updates on all activity involving programs in the ACC.
ACC PORTAL NEWS / November 29
Duke
Starting quarterback Riley Leonard will leave the program, making him one of the most valuable targets in the transfer portal ahead of next season.Leonard broke out in 2022, completing 250 passes for 2,967 yards and 20 touchdowns to six interceptions, earning him All-ACC Honorable Mention. He also ran for 699 yards and 13 touchdowns, demonstrating his ability as a dual-threat quarterback. He struggled this past season, dealing with injuries that only saw him feature in seven games.
Notre Dame is the most likely destination for Leonard, while Auburn also look to acquire his talents. He has one year left of eligibility.
Two more players transferred out of Duke on Wednesday in defensive lineman Aeneas Peebles and defensive back Jaden Watkins.
Peebles played 47 games over the past four seasons at defensive tackle, making 84 tackles, 26 solo, 13.5 tackles for loss, 7.5 sacks, three passes defended, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery. He has one year left of eligibility.
Watkins joined the Blue Devils as a wide receiver, but transitioned to defensive back after last season. He only saw action in one game and has three years left of eligibility.
North Carolina
North Carolina landed their new starting quarterback for 2024 in Texas A&M transfer Max Johnson. Johnson spent the past two years down in College State, redshirting in 2022 after suffering an injury after three games and starting in 2023. He started eight games this past season, completing 118 passes for 1,452 yards and nine touchdowns to five interceptions.He has two years left of eligibility, after spending 2020 and 2021 at LSU, at Chapel Hill, with the medical redshirt and COVID-19 year.
Kicker Ryan Coe, a South Fayette alum, also announced his decision to transfer. Only seeing action in two games for kickoffs, he will try to find his fourth school in six seasons, as he also played at both Cincinnati and Delaware.
Pitt
Pitt saw seven players leave the program, all defensive players, in linebackers Aydin Henningham and Bangally Kamara defensive backs in Buddy Mack III and Stephon Hall and defensive linemen in DeAndre Jules and Nate Temple. Kamara, Mack, Jules and Temple have one year left of eligibility, Henningham has two and Hall has three.Wake Forest
Wake Forest saw three more players transfer on Wednesday in quarterback Troy Hoilman, defensive lineman Jaylen Hudson and defensive back AJ Williams.Hoilman is the third quarterback to transfer from the Demon Deacons this season, along with Mitch Griffis and Santino Marucci. Hoilman never saw the field in his three seasons in Winston-Salem, N.C. and has two years left of eligibility.
Williams played in 48 games over the past five seasons at Wake Forest, making 107 tackles, 64 solo, 4.5 tackles for loss, two sacks, one interception and five passes defended. Hudson played in 45 games over his five seasons with the Demon Deacons, making 37 tackles, 21 solo, two tackles for loss and one forced fumble. The two have one year left of eligibility remaining.
Boston College
Boston College had two running backs announce their transfer in the past two days in Pat Garwo III and Cam’ron Barfield.Garwo finished last season with 52 carries for 270 yards and a touchdown. His best season came in 2021, when he had 205 carries for 1,045 yards and seven rushing touchdowns to earn Second Team All-ACC honors. He finished with 440 carries for 1,912 yards and 11 touchdowns in his five seasons with the Eagles. He has one year of eligibility remaining.
Barfield played sparingly over the past two seasons for Boston College, with 36 carries for 67 yards and 0 touchdowns. He has three years left of eligibility.
...
Two Boston College Football Recruits Decommit, Dropping the 2024 Class to Last in the ACC (bcinterruption.com; Flannery)
On Tuesday, two Boston College football recruits decommitted from the program: TE Jaxton Santiago and ATH Christian Zamor. Both players are three-star prospects and Zamor is a Massachusetts native. With those decommitments, the Boston College football 2024 recruiting class is down to just 8 total players and has fallen all the way down to 106th in the country, per the 247 composite rankings. That’s last (17th) in the ACC, behind new additions SMU, Stanford, and Cal, too.
It’s clear that BC’s recent shortcomings, including a 3-9 season in 2022 and an underwhelming 6-6 season in 2023, are having an effect on the recruiting trail. One of Hafley’s strengths up to this point has been his ability to recruit and get better classes than what the Eagles have seen in over a decade. He especially was able to get some impressive WR recruits to commit after what Zay Flowers was able to do for the program in recent years. But that success is starting to collapse now that the results on the field are worsening. And with a few current BC players already announcing their entry into the transfer portal, with likely more to come, the BC roster looks like it could be in very rough shape in 2024 under Hafley. He’ll have to go into the transfer portal with aggression to replace some of these losses.
...
https://www.si.com/college/louisville/football/acc-power-rankings-2023-week-14 (SI; McGavic)
As quickly as it began, college football's 2023 regular season is now in the rear view mirror. So where do things currently stand in the Atlantic Coast Conference with the regular season now in the books?
Check out our week 14 ACC power rankings below:
1. Florida State Seminoles
Overall Record: 12-0Conference Record: 8-0
Preseason Ranking: No. 1
The Seminoles end the regular season right where they started it: at the top. While they won't have starting quarterback Jordan Travis for the ACC Championship and beyond, head coahc Mike Norvell still has Florida State in good shape to get back to the College Football Playoff.
2. Louisville Cardinals
Overall Record: 10-2Conference Record: 7-1
Preseason Ranking: No. 5
Year one under head coach Jeff Brohm has still been a rousing success for Louisville. This was a team picked to finish eighth in the preseason, and now they're in the ACC Championship Game, and Brohm might be taking home ACC Coach of the Year honors.
3. NC State Wolfpack
Overall Record: 9-3Conference Record: 6-2
Preseason Ranking: No. 4
It's not how you start, but how you finish, and NC State is a perfect example. The Wolfpack began the season at 4-3 and having benched their starting quarterback, but rallied to win five-in-a-row to still be alive for a last minute Orange Bowl bid.
4. Clemson Tigers
Overall Record: 8-4Conference Record: 4-4
Preseason Ranking: No. 2
Sure, Clemson isn't fighting for a national championship or even a conference title, but they did end the regular season with some momentum. Hopefully Tyler from Spartanburg has some optimism heading into next season.
5. North Carolina Tar Heels
Overall Record: 8-4Conference Record: 4-4
Preseason Ranking: No. 3
The season started with so much promise for North Carolina, and one can't help but feel like the Tar Heels were a huge disappointment in the second half of year. Head coach Mack Brown needs to do something about that defense moving forward.
6. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
Overall Record: 6-6Conference Record: 5-3
Preseason Ranking: No. 11
Considering how low Georgia Tech had sunk under previous head coach Geoff Collins, simply making a bowl game is a huge step forward for Brent Key's bunch. Add in a couple ranked wins, and the Yellow Jackets certainly have the right man moving forward.
7. Miami Hurricanes
Overall Record: 7-5Conference Record: 3-5
Preseason Ranking: No. 6
Miami looked incredibly dominant in their non-conference slate, only to look like a completely different team when ACC play kicked off. Mario Cristobal is a great recruiter, but he needs to do some soul searching in the offseason.
8. Virginia Tech Hokies
Overall Record: 6-6Conference Record: 5-3
Preseason Ranking: No. 12
Year two under Brent Pry didn't start how you would like, but Virginia Tech certainly showed what they could be capable of as the year went on. Close the talent gap and be competitive against upper tier teams, and the Hokies could be a team to watch in the future.
9. Duke Blue Devils
Overall Record: 7-5Conference Record: 4-4
Preseason Ranking: No. 7
Duke could have been in line for a special season had the injury bug not bitten them hard at key positions. Now that their head coach in Mike Elko has shipped off to Texas A&M, time will tell how the transfer portal impacts the Blue Devils.
10. Boston College Eagles
Overall Record: 6-6Conference Record: 3-5
Preseason Ranking: No. 13
Boston College certainly didn't start or end the season on high notes, but it's hard to ignore the hot streak that they went on during the middle of the season. Jeff Hafley's seat, for now, has cooled off.
11. Virginia Cavaliers
Overall Record: 3-9Conference Record: 2-6
Preseason Ranking: No. 14
Virginia's record is what it is, but the Cavaliers did show a lot of fight in almost every single game they played. Tony Elliott's bunch finished with five one-score losses on the season, and they were able to knock off UNC in Chapel Hill.
12. Syracuse Orange
Overalll Record: 6-6Conference Record: 2-6
Preseason Ranking: No. 10
Well, the Dino Babers era at Syracuse is finally over after yet another anemic showing in ACC play. The Orange haven't been relevant since their 10-win campaign in 2018, so hopefully new head man Fran Brown can get them on track.
...
https://18stripes.com/a-stupidly-early-look-at-the-new-2024-acc-football-conference/ (18stripes.com; Murtaugh)
A Stupidly Early Look at the New 2024 ACC Football Conference
Our weeks-long wait until the bowl game is upon us. For this blog, it’s the first step towards pivoting towards off-season content. As I searched for some ideas I got to wondering what the ACC is going to look like in a transformative season for college football in 2024. That’s normal, right? Who isn’t thinking about the future of the ACC most of the time!?
Starting next year, the Irish will still have 13 more seasons remaining on the deal with the ACC. We’ll start with the opponents coming up on next year’s schedule before tackling the rest of the league. Sure, the Irish just fired Chansi Stuckey and the coaching staff is on high alert but how about over 2,500 words on ACC football instead!
Notre Dame’s 2024 ACC Opponents
Louisville 11/28Vegas ’23 Over/Under: 8.0
2023 Wins: 10
SP+ Ranking: 23rd
FEI Ranking: 17th
What a debut season for Jeff Brohm! He came into Louisville, brought in a bunch of transfers, and it all worked out really well for the program. Now that they’ve beaten Notre Dame the consensus seems to be that the Cardinals will be a tough opponent again next year. We’ll see. They are filled with a ton of experienced talent and could be going through a lot of roster churn this off-season. You could argue many other programs will be in the same predicament, plus Louisville showed they can quickly re-load already under Brohm.
Outlook – I would imagine Brohm’s offensive system and recent track record will continue to be attractive to recruits and transfers. They struck gold with all the right pieces on defense in 2023 and I find that hard to replicate again next year. They’ll probably need to improve by a decent margin on offense to make up for that.
Stanford 10/12
Vegas ’23 Over/Under: 3.0
2023 Wins: 3
SP+ Ranking: 109th
FEI Ranking: 90th
I covered Stanford enough in the recent game review. They have some nice pieces on offense to foresee a decent future…if they can hold on to most of their roster. Still, the days of having ultra-tough line play on both sides of the ball are long gone and the defense has been a travesty in recent years. The switch to the ACC at least offers something different. They face TCU, Cal Poly, San Jose State and the Irish out of league play which isn’t too bad. They also miss Florida State, Miami, and North Carolina in 2024.
Outlook – Until proven otherwise, the NIL/Portal era is going to continue to be a major struggle for Stanford. They also have a coach without much experience and they are in a multi-year rebuilding process with no quick turnaround in sight.
at Georgia Tech 10/19
Vegas ’23 Over/Under: 4.5
2023 Wins: 6
SP+ Ranking: 69th
FEI Ranking: 53rd
It feels like those successful Paul Johnson teams were a million years ago and Georgia Tech had been wandering around completely lost until this actually decent season kind of out of nowhere. This has always been one of those really low floor but also a convincing high ceiling (to a degree, let’s not get too carried away) jobs and maybe Brent Key is the right guy to make the Yellow Jackets a real problem.
The Bees weren’t much of a pushover.
Outlook – I’d be more worried if this game had let down potential in 2024. Instead, it comes sandwiched in a very friendly spot between Stanford and Navy. Hopefully it’s a really fruitful October for the Irish. We’ll definitely need to see more from the Bees but I could see them moving up into the tougher half of the ND schedule (especially because the back half of the 2024 schedule is very weak).
vs. Florida State 11/9
Vegas ’23 Over/Under: 10.0
2023 Wins: 12
SP+ Ranking: 6th
FEI Ranking: 8th
Yup, the arrow is definitely pointing up again. Did you know Florida State opens next year in Ireland against the aforementioned Yellow Jackets? The recruiting is on fire in Tallahassee and with their on-field success I’m guessing they will be an extremely attractive landing spot for a bunch of transfers. Next year’s schedule is pretty demanding though.
Outlook – The Seminoles are the class of the ACC and it doesn’t look particularly close for anyone else right now. Just look at the SP+ and FEI rankings–no one is near FSU right now. And no one has the resources and ability to maintain this high level of play like the Noles.
vs. Virginia 11/16
Vegas ’23 Over/Under: 3.5
2023 Wins: 3
SP+ Ranking: 106th
FEI Ranking: 95th
I believe most thought the Tony Elliott hire was a pretty solid decision for Virginia, especially after Bronco Mendenhall suddenly took off out of Charlottesville in the middle of the night. However, it’s not gone well at all for the former Clemson offensive coordinator. They somehow had a couple of quality wins against North Carolina and Duke this year but the offense was hot trash with patience already running out as Elliott heads into 2024 with a poor 3-12 record in ACC play.
Outlook – This is potentially the easiest Power 5 game on the schedule next year. At least with Stanford (gross) there’s a rivalry element to factor into things. Virginia also has to come to South Bend late in the season when Elliott might be barely hanging on to his job.
The Others
Boston CollegeVegas ’23 Over/Under: 5.5
2023 Wins: 6
SP+ Ranking: 81st
FEI Ranking: 81st
Jeff Hafley looked like one of the surest bets to be fired this year, although it hasn’t happened…yet. The expectations were sufficient low from Vegas and I suppose Boston College beat those odds. Is that enough for Hafley to save his job? The Eagles did finish the regular season with 3 straight losses, including a blowout to Miami last weekend.
6 wins, baby.
Outlook – Gone are the days of Jurkovec chucking up prayers to Zay Flowers as the only redeeming quality to this program. Hafley hasn’t won more than 6 games in any season so far and the momentum around this team is as low and unexcitable as it’s been in many years. A new hire could re-energize things but Boston College might be the worst ACC team next year.
California
Vegas ’23 Over/Under: 5.0
2023 Wins: 6
SP+ Ranking: 62nd
FEI Ranking: 50th
I’m interested to see where this new move to the ACC takes a program like California. They were quietly decent on the field this year, winning their last 3 games of the regular season, and played well in close losses to Auburn, Oregon State, and USC. Sure, just 6 wins but it was one of the tougher schedules in the country. They don’t recruit the occasional 5-star or top 100 player like they used to so there’s a definite ceiling to the program.
Outlook – On3 projects California with the 14th best recruiting class in the ACC for 2024. There’s just not enough high-end talent to move the needle, although as Notre Dame found out in 2022, Cal can still be a tough out. This move to the ACC could also add another Portal Partner™ for Notre Dame to attract transfers looking for a better move in football at an academic-minded school.
Clemson
Vegas ’23 Over/Under: 9.5
2023 Wins: 8
SP+ Ranking: 24th
FEI Ranking: 22nd
Notre Dame had a chance to really put the screws in Clemson this year and failed. Still, 4 losses is the most for the Tigers since 2011 and this was by far their worst season in the ACC since 2010. They also are predicted to face a pretty tough opponent (Pac-12 or SEC, most likely) in an upcoming bowl game. Their recruiting is fine but not nearly strong enough to overcome the *magic* being gone from Dabo Swinney’s program. It’s certainly not enough to catch up with Florida State.
Outlook – Notre Dame won’t face Clemson in the regular season next year so I thought maybe their schedule could be a little easier. Well, they open with Georgia in Atlanta and face Appalachian State plus the annual rivalry against South Carolina, too. They are likely a very solid to very good team next year although it’s difficult to see them being terribly different from 2023.
Duke
Vegas ’23 Over/Under: 6.5
2023 Wins: 7
SP+ Ranking: 29th
FEI Ranking: 25th
This has to hurt for however many Duke football fans are out there in the world. They had a great thing going with Mike Elko, quarterback Riley Leonard was driving a ton of their success on offense, and yet their best football season in forever felt like such a weird let down. Riley got hurt and never looked the same once he came back and now Elko is skipping town running back to Texas A&M’s oil money.
Outlook – The Cutcliffe to Elko run wasn’t too shabby for the Blue Devils, you have to say. Yet, Elko was only in town for 2 years and this is probably a program that is going to shoot way down the rankings in the coming years unless they nail another new hire.
Miami
Vegas ’23 Over/Under: 7.5
2023 Wins: 7
SP+ Ranking: 22nd
FEI Ranking: 24th
Miami went from 5 wins to 7 wins in Mario Cristobal’s 2nd season in Coral Gables. However, he’s put together back-to-back 3-5 campaigns in the ACC and 2 of those league wins this year were miraculous efforts in overtime. A nationally respected program they are not. Vegas had them pegged pretty well this year although their advanced stats rankings suggest they underachieved a bit.
Not much has changed.
Outlook – Cristobal is recruiting well enough that things could begin to turn around quickly and they really aren’t that far away from taking the next step. However, when has this not been the case for the Hurricanes? So they didn’t lose at home to Middle Tennessee State this year, that can’t be respectable progress.
North Carolina
Vegas ’23 Over/Under: 8.5
2023 Wins: 8
SP+ Ranking: 26th
FEI Ranking: 27th
The curtain is coming down on the Drake Maye quarterback era that saw him throw for 8,000 yards, 63 touchdown, only 16 interceptions with 1,200 rushing yards and 16 more scores on the ground. It was a great college career accompanied by a decent but far from impressive 17-9 record with the wheels coming off towards the end of each of the last 2 seasons. This has been a fun and occasionally explosive team with only 1 win against a ranked opponent since 2022.
Outlook – North Carolina has been on quite a run at quarterback but surely they aren’t going to lose Maye and get much better, right? Mack Brown will also turn 73 right before next season and as the oldest head coach in FBS I’m not sure how much longer you can expect him to stick around. This is a competent ACC program that gets a decent amount of hype that isn’t really paying off.
NC State
Vegas ’23 Over/Under: 6.5
2023 Wins: 9
SP+ Ranking: 30th
FEI Ranking: 40th
I’m not really sure how NC State won 9 games and overachieved this much. At the mid-point of 2023 their offense looked completely out of sorts and like it was going to tank their whole season. Instead, they finished the regular season winning their final 5 games and giving Notre Dame its top quality victory of 2023. The future of that offense seems shaky at best, but Dave Doeren keeps churning out really tough defenses and staying competitive in the ACC.
Outlook – The Wolfpack deserve the benefit of the doubt at this point, in a way that a program like North Carolina doesn’t. They won’t knock your socks off with offense, that’s for sure. I’ll be interested to see how their defense moves on without linebacker Payton Wilson. He has been on campus since Phillip Rivers was at quarterback seemingly, and might be one of the most important players for a team in the country.
Pittsburgh
Vegas ’23 Over/Under: 6.5
2023 Wins: 3
SP+ Ranking: 87th
FEI Ranking: 79th
The worst season in Pat Narduzzi’s head coaching career says it all. This past season Pitt beat Wofford, Boston College, and managed a hilarious upset of Louisville. Of course, Iowa gets most of the headlines but Pitt’s offense wasn’t much better in 2023. They’ll be moving on next year with a new coordinator on that side of the ball and hoping to rebound to something better.
Outlook – Are things getting stale with Narduzzi and Pittsburgh? Maybe a little bit, still he’s signed for 7 more years and he’s built up enough good will to stick around and turn this around. Next year, I’m not sure they’ll be that competitive but the Panthers have a little more tradition and recruiting cache where they should be beating most of the middling ACC teams of the world and definitely winning far more than 3 games.
SMU
Vegas ’23 Over/Under: 8.0
2023 Wins: 10
SP+ Ranking: 25th
FEI Ranking: 35th
This has been a really quick rise up the conference ladder for SMU without being dominant on the field. It wasn’t that long ago that the Mustangs were in the Conference USA and WAC. Now, they’ll be moving up to the ACC while coming off one of their best seasons in modern times. I mentioned before, this was a lucky career move for Rhett Lashlee who just signed an extension and enters a new league with a ton of momentum, and presumably, a decent amount of Texas cash backing him up.
This could be a fun new addition.
Outlook – I’m sure those SMU boosters are smiling. They secured several bags to give this program a financial boost, and due to their location in the Dallas metroplex, the Mustangs have a ceiling far higher than a program like California, for comparison. Will there be a transition period? Almost certainly you would think. I’m really curious to see how SMU gets along in the next few years because it wouldn’t surprise me if they zoom past the lower half of the ACC into a decent contender.
Syracuse
Vegas ’23 Over/Under: 6.5
2023 Wins: 6
SP+ Ranking: 68th
FEI Ranking: 72nd
Well, the Orange officially gave up on the Dino Babers era after nearly 8 full seasons. Time flies, that Yankee Stadium game against the Orange was in Babers’ 3rd season when they ended up winning 10 games. He only won 10 more games TOTAL in the ACC since that season which is…a huge problem. It’s easy to forget Syracuse started 2023 with a 4-0 record and a win over Purdue. But, we found out Purdue stunk too.
Outlook – Just recently, the Orange hired Georgia defensive backs coach Fran Brown to replace Babers. He’d only been in Athens for a couple years but has a reputation as an ace recruiter. If you’re Syracuse, why not take a chance on a young and enthusiastic coach? Other names like Dan Mullen were being thrown around and I’d rather see someone like Brown get a shot.
Virginia Tech
Vegas ’23 Over/Under: 5.0
2023 Wins: 6
SP+ Ranking: 50th
FEI Ranking: 54th
I’m looking over their schedule and I don’t think I caught a single second of a live Virginia Tech game this past regular season. They looked rough in September losing 3 straight to Purdue, Rutgers, and Marshall. Following a 3-8 debut (remember their finale last year against Virginia was cancelled) things were not looking great for Brent Pry. They figured some things out, quarterback Kyron Drones (great name) is fun, and they were able to get bowl eligible.
Outlook – I can’t say I’m surprised if I didn’t watch them but being 50th in SP+ wasn’t something I expected to find. I think we can grade on a 2nd half season curve and say Pry is officially Doing Good Things™ with the Hokies. After their Purdue debacle their only home loss this year was to Louisville. Step one for the future could be turning Enter Sandman World back into a really difficult place to play.
Wake Forest
Vegas ’23 Over/Under: 6.0
2023 Wins: 4
SP+ Ranking: 92nd
FEI Ranking: 82nd
Yes, Dave Clawson was still salty about Sam Hartman and Notre Dame’s love for him after the Irish laid a 45-7 beatdown and the Demon Deacons followed that up with a loss at Syracuse to finish 2023. Ouch. This was America’s 5th worst scoring offense among the Power 5 and that’s no winning philosophy for a little school like Wake Forest. A one year drop from the 16th best scoring offense to the 114th best is insane. If we’re for real, this is basically a mini-Stanford situation. Wake won’t be able to hold on to their best players and it’s not an attractive destination for many transfers, either.
Outlook – I’d say it’s quite poor. Clawson has put together a heck of a run in Winston-Salem and the school just isn’t set up to navigate this new era of college football in a way that is going to bring success. I get the sense he’s the type of guy who is going to get so frustrated and walk away soon. They open next year against North Carolina A&T–an atrociously bad Coastal Athletic FCS team–and I have a feeling Wake is going to struggle big time in that opener.
ACC Football Championship takes over Uptown (yahoo.com)
Uptown Charlotte will be buzzing with college football fans and festivities this weekend during the Atlantic Coast Conference Football Championship.
No. 4 Florida State will take on No. 10 Louisville in the title game on Saturday at Bank of America Stadium. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m.
Before a champion is crowned, fans can check out Fan Fest at Romare Bearden Park on Friday and Saturday. Festivities include appearances by ACC mascots and network personalities, performances from school bands, tailgate games and giveaways. Fan Fest is open from 2 to 9 p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday. Admission is free.
Limited tickets remain for the game and are available through Ticketmaster. Prices start at $60.
For more information or to purchase tickets click here.
Other
This National Grid substation will provide power to the Micron Technology chip fabs in Clay. Electric grid operators say large loads like Micron could make the grid less reliable unless more generating facilities come online.
Energy leaders warn: NY electric grid must grow for Micron and other new big users (PS; Knauss)
The operators of New York’s electric grid are warning with increased urgency that growing demands on the electric system – especially from mega-customers like Micron Technology — threaten to outstrip the system’s capacity to supply power.
A new 10-year forecast issued Wednesday by the New York Independent System Operator cites “greater uncertainty” about how much electricity will be needed in the future and how it will be supplied.
Some of the uncertainty stems from New York’s plan to eliminate fossil fuel power plants at the same time it pushes customers to heat their homes and fuel their cars with electricity.
Now, additional pressure comes from plans for several big Upstate electric users, the largest of which by far will be Micron Technology’s planned microchip plant in Clay north of Syracuse.
“These many factors introduce greater uncertainty in the forecast of energy use in New York State and, thus, greater risk to the reliability of the grid in the future,’’ the NYISO reported.
Micron has asked the NYISO to connect to the grid as early as 2025, drawing up to 480 megawatts of power to support its first two of four planned chip fabs. That’s enough power for roughly half a million homes. In a second phase, Micron would seek another 480-megawatt connection.
At full capacity Micron could use as much power as Vermont and New Hampshire combined, according to documents the company submitted to a local development agency.
...
