sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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Welcome to Walt Disney Day!
Walt Disney Day is held on the first Monday of December in remembrance and honor of Walt Disney, whose birthday is December 5. Disney created cartoon characters, pioneered animated cartoon films, founded The Walt Disney Company, and came up with and built theme parks. During today's celebration, Disney movie marathons are held and cakes are often baked into the shape of Disney characters. Chicago, the city of Disney's birth, celebrates a Walt Disney Day on Disney's actual birthday each year.
Walter Elias Disney was born on December 5, 1901. When he was young, the family left Chicago and moved to a farm near Marceline, Missouri, where he showed a propensity for drawing and painting with crayons and watercolors. The family moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where Disney studied cartooning and then took classes at the Kansas City Art Institute and School of Design. Eventually, the family circled back to Chicago, where Disney went to high school. There he focused on taking photographs, drew for the school paper, studied cartooning on his own, and gained aspirations to be a newspaper cartoonist. But World War I arrived, and Disney found himself as an ambulance driver for the American Red Cross in Europe.
SU News
Syracuse to play in Boca Raton Bowl against South Florida days before Christmas (report) (PS; $; Leiker)
Syracuse football will play South Florida in the Boca Raton Bowl at 8 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 21, in Boca Raton, Florida, Action Network’s Brett McMurphy reported Sunday.
This is the first time since 2012-13 that Syracuse (6-6, 2-6 ACC) will play a bowl game in back-to-back years. Last season, SU went to the Pinstripe Bowl where it lost 28-20 to Minnesota.
The Orange became bowl eligible in the final week of the regular season, beating Wake Forest 35-31 while led by interim head coach Nunzio Campanile. Dino Babers was fired the Sunday prior to reaching the mark.
Garrett Shrader looked the best he had in weeks in the game, accounting for 219 of Syracuse’s total 468 yards of offense. The veteran quarterback was emotional after the game as he spoke about it being his last guaranteed game of football and having “a lot of different voices” offering him advice on the future of his career.
Since then, Syracuse has hired Georgia defensive backs coach Fran Brown as its 31st head coach. Brown and his family arrived in the Salt City on Sunday.
It is still unknown how involved he will be in the team’s bowl preparations. Georgia was knocked out of the playoff with a loss to Alabama in the SEC Championship on Saturday.
...
D.O. Sportscast: Fran Brown is the new face of Syracuse football (DO; podcast; DO Staff)
On this episode of the D.O. Sportscast, there’s a new face in charge of Syracuse football. Our football beat writers broke down the hiring of Fran Brown and what it means for the future of the team in terms of recruiting.
Photo by Ken Murray/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Texas A&M DL Coach Elijah Robinson accepts DC job at Syracuse (goodbullhunting.com; Behrens)
One thing that came out of the early firing of Jimbo Fisher were the glowing reviews of Texas A&M Interim Head Coach Elijah Robinson. The longtime defensive line coach and ace recruiter certainly seemed to have the support of the team, and as such, new head coach Mike Elko made a strong effort to keep Robinson on staff. However, it seems that Robinson will instead be going elsewhere, accepting a promotion to become the defensive coordinator at Syracuse. The story was broken by TexAgs’ Billy Liucci.
The offer from Syracuse did not come out of nowhere. Robinson is reportedly close friends with new Syracuse head coach Fran Brown. So getting a promotion and working with a close friends proved too much of a draw for E-Rob to turn down.
As Liucci, mentions, A&M was prepared to make Robinson the highest-paid position coach in college football, which means he likely would have be making seven figures. So it seems the Aggies did everything in their power to keep him short of offering him the defensive coordinator position in Aggieland. Personally I thought that would be the route A&M would go, with Mike Elko still having a lot of involvement in the defense. But with Elko having worked with Robinson at A&M during his four years as the Aggies’ defensive coordinator, he’s about as knowledgeable as anyone as to whether Robinson was ready for role.
With championship weekend complete and teams knowing their postseason fate, there’s a good chance we see more of Elko’s coaching staff begin to take shape this week.
...
https://footballscoop.com/news/sour...rdinator-at-syracuse-elijah-robinson-texas-am (footballscoop.com; Barnett)
Elijah Robinson is expected to take the defensive coordinator role on Fran Brown's first Syracuse staff, sources told FootballScoop on Sunday. Billy Liucci of TexAgs first reported the news.
Robinson has spent the past five seasons on Jimbo Fisher's Texas A&M staff, rising to become assistant head coach, run game coordinator and defensive line coach. Following Fisher's Nov. 12 firing, the 38-year-old has spent the past three weeks as the Aggies' interim head coach.
Brown and Robinson both hail from Camden, N.J., and attended Camden High together for a time. Brown played at Western Carolina and Robinson at Penn State, but their paths crossed again in 2014, when Robinson joined Matt Rhule's Temple staff, where Brown was already in place. They coached together for the next four seasons at Temple and Baylor -- Robinson coached the D-line, Brown the secondary -- before Robinson joined Fisher's initial A&M staff.
New Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko offered to make Robinson the highest-paid non-coordinator in college football according to Liucci, but Robinson plans to take the coordinator role under his friend and colleague.
Axe: Fran Brown has arrived and Syracuse football is Boca Bowl bound (podcast) (PS; $; podcast; Axe)
The winds of transition were blowing on a rainy day in Syracuse on Sunday.
Just hours after new Syracuse football head coach Fran Brown and his family arrived via private plane, the Orange learned of its Boca Bowl destination earned under former head coach Dino Babers.
Emily Leiker and I got together to discuss that and more on a new episode of Syracuse Sports presented by Crouse Health.
We also discuss who Syracuse appears to be centered on for offensive and defensive coordinator and how FSU got snubbed out of the College Football Playoff.
Courtesy of Tony Walsh | Staff Photographer UGAAA
Alandt: Syracuse can run northeast again if bet on Fran Brown pays off (DO; Alandt)
When Syracuse Director of Athletics John Wildhack held a press conference following the firing of former head coach Dino Babers, his statements echoed previous coaching hires. SU was going to look for someone with coaching experience in the Power Five.
Wildhack harped on wanting a head coach with ties to the northeast. He then named some of the most successful coaches in program history from the region — Ben Swartzwalder, Dick MacPherson, Paul Pasqualoni and Doug Marrone.
It looked like Syracuse was going to make a safe hire. The administration reportedly vetted names including Toledo head coach Jason Candle, Holy Cross head coach Bob Chesney and former Florida head coach Dan Mullen. Then, late Monday night, ESPN’s Pete Thamel added Georgia defensive backs coach Fran Brown alongside Candle and Chesney as the final three candidates.
Wildhack has become known for hiring Syracuse alums for revenue sports. Felisha Legette-Jack was the obvious alumna to turn around a women’s basketball program in disfunction. Adrian Autry’s promotion ensured Jim Boeheim’s guiding hand loomed large. Men’s lacrosse coach Gary Gait was already within the department while women’s lacrosse coach Kayla Treanor was an alumni.
It was clear that Wildhack valued keeping Syracuse’s new coaches within the family. Not making a splash hire was going to stand as Wildhack’s reasoning. Then the opportunity came. With conference realignment and the prevalence of Name, Image and Likeness, Wildhack had to go out on a limb.
Brown is young and widely regarded as one of the top recruiters in the country. Syracuse took a risk hiring Brown, but if executed correctly, it could lead to a domination of the northeast Syracuse hasn’t enjoyed since the 1990s.
Syracuse played it safe by hiring Babers. He was the hot Group of Five coach that had quickly turned around Eastern Illinois and Bowling Green. He held an ability to turn diamond-in-the-rough recruits into NFL-level talent.
But Syracuse strayed too far away from what it is, hindering on what it could be. The Orange are the only Power Five football program in New York state, and although they’ve long since lost the recruiting advantage to Penn State, Rutgers stands as the only blockade between Syracuse and top recruits in the northeast.
“We can be a winning program. We’re not that far away. Are there areas that we need to address? Yes, but it’s not like this is a total rebuild,” Wildhack said in his press conference.
Hiring Brown, a New Jersey native who spent time at Temple before making his way to Rutgers in 2020, shows Wildhack knew exactly what areas Syracuse needed to address. Within minutes of Brown’s hire, key starters began tweeting in support of the decision.
Every move that the athletic department has made since parting ways with Babers signals its desire to take back the northeast. Nunzio Campanile was elevated to interim head coach, with Wildhack saying that his ties to New Jersey were crucial for the program.
“If you can keep that nucleus together, enhance that nucleus, enhance our recruiting efforts, our player development efforts, we can win,” Wildhack said last Monday.
Babers was fired because he wasn’t able to buck the trend of Syracuse freefalling in October and November. The benchmark for 2023 was 7-5. Injuries piled up and the Orange were uncompetitive against Florida State, North Carolina and Virginia Tech. Losses to Boston College and Georgia Tech were the final straws. Wildhack showed his cards when he said that to build depth, Syracuse has to be “minimizing the misses.”
Brown knows how to recruit. He was named the top recruiter at Georgia for the 2024 cycle, a program that consistently produces first-round NFL talent and has won back-to-back national championships. But he also knows how to recruit the northeast and turn around a program. Brown was the American Athletic Conference’s top recruiter after his 2014 season at Temple, turning Haason Reddick, P.J. Walker and Sean Chandler into NFL players.
...
Syracuse Football: New head-coach hire is high-risk, high-reward – experts (itlh; Adler)
In my humble opinion, SU Athletics leaders made a bold move with their new head-coaching hire for Syracuse football, and I mean this comment to be a positive sentiment.
The Orange’s next head coach, who will be formally introduced this Monday, is New Jersey native Fran Brown, who is presently the defensive backs coach at Georgia. He’s replacing Dino Babers, who was fired by SU Athletics on November 19, just one game shy of finishing an eighth full term on the Hill.
Brown, deemed by many national experts as one of the top recruiters in college football, if not the best recruiter out there in the sport, has never been a head coach before at the collegiate level. He’s never been a coordinator, either.
So for SU Athletics officials to hire Brown, given his recruiting prowess but lack of head-coach/coordinator experience, to me is a tad bold and out of the box, and it even could be considered a bit of a “gamble,” if that’s the right word to use here.
Actually, how some national pundits are describing this decision by SU Athletics is high-risk, yet high-reward. I agree with this kind of prognostication.
Syracuse football has a new head coach in ace recruiter Fran Brown.
Now, as I noted in another recent column, a sizable number of current and former ‘Cuse players are voicing their support of Brown as the team’s next head coach.
Over the past few days, I’ve seen a ton of Syracuse football fans express excitement over Brown’s hire. However, some fans are concerned about his lack of head-coaching/coordinator experience. I even read a fan or two comment on our social media pages that they felt this hire by SU Athletics was a “joke,” for which I respectfully but adamantly disagree.
In any event, I do understand the commentary from national observers that Brown’s hire as the next Orange head coach comes with it a high-risk, high-reward opportunity.
...
UGASports - Roundup: More recruits weigh in on Syracuse hiring Fran Brown (1ivals.com; Sears)
It's been less than a week since Syracuse hired Fran Brown to be its next head coach. But in the short time he's been linked with the Orange, he's excited recruits' interest in SU.
Below are some of the recruits we spoke with since Brown was hired.
230
NATL
29
ST
15
POS
KINGJOSEPH
EDWARDS
6'5" | 242 LBS | WDE | 2024
MILL CREEK
HOSCHTON, GA
5.8
"He was the top recruiter where I am from. He's just an overall good dude."
-
NATL
-
ST
-
POS
ANTONIO
FONTANEZ
5'11" | 170 LBS | QB | 2026
CENTRAL CATHOLIC
ALLENTOWN, PA
N/A
"I think it was a great decision. He could definitely move Cuse into the right direction and get them to where Georgia has been for the last couple years."
-
NATL
-
ST
-
POS
DANNY
EDGEHILLE
6'5" | 245 LBS | TE | 2024
LOOMIS CHAFFEE SCHOOL
WINDSOR, CT
N/A
"I think it was a great addition. Super excited to see Syracuse grow!"
SETH
VALERI
6'0" | 180 LBS | WR | 2025
HORTONVILLE
HORTONVILLE, WI
N/A
"He comes from Georgia football which is one of the best football programs right now in the country, which tells me he definitely knows what he’s doing. He also was a secondary coach at Georgia which is very exciting for me since I'm a cornerback and free safety. I think he’s gonna bring a lot of great ideas and schemes to Syracuse football and it’s a very exciting time for the Syracuse football program."
-
NATL
-
ST
-
POS
DAVRAY
VENU
6'5" | 295 LBS | OL | 2024
JOHN ABBOTT COLLEGE
MONTREAL, PQ
N/A
I’ve seen that Fran Brown has been a massively successful recruiter across the country. I’m excited to see what he brings to Syracuse and I’m hoping to chat with him soon.
-
NATL
-
ST
-
POS
MEKHI
ARMOUR
6'1" | 170 LBS | CB | 2026
WEEQUAHIC
NEWARK, NJ
N/A
"Good guy and great coach. Fran knows what it takes to get his players to the next level."
NATL
-
ST
-
POS
SALVATORE
CAPRIA
5'7" | 179 LBS | ATH | 2024
JIM THORPE
JIM THORPE, PA
N/A
"I think Coach Brown is going to do great things for Cuse. Can’t wait for next season."
DT w/ Kirby Smart on Fran Brown of Syracuse, Mike Norvell on Jordan Travis (youtube; podcast; DT)
Dan Tortora (DT) speaks w/ Georgia Bulldogs Head Football Couch Kirby Smart on NEW Syracuse Orange Head Coach Fran Brown(@FranBrownUGA) followed by speaking w/ FSU Head Coach Mike Norvell on QB Jordan Travis…
Syracuse Football Hires Recruiting Guru Fran Brown As Coach (defianttakesfootball.com; Malloy)
Is Syracuse football finally attempting to get back to its dynasty roots? If so, they may be off to the right start.
The Orange led by AD John Wildhack and a search committee made a surprising, out-of-the-box decision that may turn Syracuse into a football recruiting machine and the next dynasty in the ACC.
Who Is Fran Brown?
For those who need to recuperate, Syracuse football named Georgia defensive backs coach, Fran Brown it’s 31st head coach in program history. The 41-year-old Camden native is considered to be the number one recruiter in the class of 2024.It is not just because he is currently at Georgia. Prior to coaching the Bull Dogs, Brown was known as a phenomenal recruiter at Rutgers under head coach, Greg Schiano. He also coached at Baylor as well as Temple under Matt Rhule.
The fact that he has never been a head coach, gives him the opportunity to showcase the talent needed to win at Syracuse. He just has to hire top assistants around him to help coach and develop those recruits.
Northeast Roots
Wildhack hired Brown because of his track record of bringing in top recruits, particularly from New Jersey and Philadelphia PA, where Syracuse football had their recruiting base back in the days of Dick McPherson and Paul Pasqualoni.It’s also important that they hire the right guy now more than ever, due to the ACC being realigned into 17 teams and the fact that next year starts the 12-team College football playoffs.
The key to turning a mediocre power five program into a dynasty is starting to change the recruiting habits which Brown has done everywhere he’s been.
It’s also how teams like Clemson, Georgia, and Alabama turned into dynasties by transforming into recruiting powerhouses. Syracuse finally recognized that and said, hey, “Why don’t we turn ourselves into that by hiring Brown?”
...
Badgers land transfer linebacker from Syracuse (badgerextra.com; Kocorowski)
Luke Fickell and the University of Wisconsin football team landed a Power Five linebacker from the transfer portal.
Leon Lowery Jr., who previously played at Syracuse, announced his commitment to the Badgers on Sunday. He visited Wisconsin over the weekend and previously announced he would have two years of eligibility remaining.
Syracuse listed Lowery at 6-foot-4 and 239 pounds. He accumulated 46 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss and 3½ sacks in 2023, which included two sacks against Clemson on Sept. 30. He finished his four seasons at Syracuse with 77 tackles, 14 tackles for loss and five sacks.
Lowery is projected to play outside linebacker for Wisconsin and brings length to assistant Matt Mitchell's position group. The Badgers will lose outside linebacker C.J. Goetz, who leads the team in tackles for loss (11) and is second in sacks (four).
...
Syracuse football recruits and brothers, Travon and Trashon Dye, first de-commits under Fran Brown (PS; $; Carlson)
Syracuse football recruits Trashon and Travon Dye have de-committed from the Orange, they both posted on social media on Friday morning.
The brothers are two of the six recruits from New Jersey that were committed to Syracuse in the Class of 2024. They are the first players to de-commit from Syracuse since the firing of Dino Babers and the hiring of Fran Brown. Brown is known for his connections recruiting in New Jersey.
The twin brothers are both ranked as three-star recruits by the website 247 Sports. Both play for Wayne Passaic County Tech. The 247 Sports recruiting website listed Syracuse as the only offers for both players, although On3Sports.com lists Trashon with an offer from Temple.
The brothers committed to Syracuse in March, joining Syair Torrence, who also de-committed, as the first players to commit to the Orange in the Class of 2024.
My Recruitment is fully open@PCTI_Athletics @PCTVSFBRECRUIT @PCTIBulldogFB pic.twitter.com/xmBM4wCnUO
— Trashon Dye (@DyeTrashon) December 1, 2023
Trashon Dye, a running back, is ranked as the No. 24 player in New Jersey. He is ranked as the No. 87 player at his position and the No. 1260 player in the class. He rushed for 2,114 yards and 24 touchdowns on 277 carries during the high school season, helping his team to a 13-1 record.
Travon Dye, a linebacker, is ranked as the No. 35 player in New Jersey in the Class of 2024, as well as the No. 159 linebacker and the No. 1667 player nationally. He finished the year with 141 tackles and two forced fumbles.
...
Syracuse football recruit Zekai Wimberly becomes third de-commit following coaching change (PS; $; Carlson)
Three-star Syracuse football recruit Zekai Wimberly became the third player to de-commit from the Orange on Friday.
Wimberly announced his de-commitment from SU on social media, becoming the third player to de-commit since the Orange fired head coach Dino Babers and hired Georgia assistant coach Fran Brown.
Wimberly joined twin brothers, Trashon and Trevon Dye, who both de-committed earlier in the day.
Wimberly is listed as a three-star recruit on the website 247 Sports. In addition to Syracuse, the website lists him with offers from Mississippi and Temple. He is listed as a 6-foot-2, 217-pound linebacker who plays for West Orange
All three de-commitments from Syracuse have come from recruits in New Jersey, an area where new SU coach Fran Brown recruits heavily and is well-connected. All three have been three-star recruits.
Wimberly thanked Syracuse’s coaches and said his recruitment is open.
(@WimberlyZekai) Wimberly was ranked by 247 Sports as the No. 28 player in New Jersey, as well as the No. 125 linebacker in the country and the No. 1383 players.
Before the three de-commitments, Syracuse was ranked as the No. 50 class in the country by 247 Sports.
ACC News
'Unforgivable': Jordan Travis, Florida State, ACC rip College Football Playoff omission (foxsports.com)
Florida State went 13-0 and won the ACC championship in a seeming return to the elite tier of college football.
But the Seminoles will miss the College Football Playoff.
The CFP committee selected the other four power conference winners — Michigan, Washington, Texas and Alabama — for the four-team field, making Florida State the first undefeated Power 5 champion to be left out in the history of the playoff.
Florida State will likely be the last to hold such a distinction as well, as the CFP is poised to expand to a 12-team bracket next year.
The heartbreak was palpable in Tallahassee, where players hung their heads in agony while head coach Mike Norvell blankly stared ahead in disbelief. The team had gathered at a watch party to celebrate what they expected to be a berth in college football's final four.
In an interview after the selection announcement, CFP committee chair Boo Corrigan told ESPN that Florida State losing star quarterback Jordan Travis to a leg injury on Nov. 18 impacted the committee's decision, calling the Seminoles, whose offense struggled over the past two weeks without Travis, "a different team" minus the star quarterback.
Travis himself had a far different take, saying he wished his injury had happened sooner, so the rest of the team had more time to prove itself.
Soon after the announcement, Florida State athletic director Michael Alford released a statement ripping the committee, calling its decision to leave the Seminoles out "destructive, far-reaching and permanent" as well as "unforgivable."
"The committee failed college football today," Alford said.
...
https://www.si.com/college/clemson/...eft-out-of-the-college-football-playoff-means (SI; Goeckel)
With what was put in front of them, Florida State couldn't have done anything more. The Seminoles finished the season with a perfect 13-0 record and an ACC Championship. But in the world where the selection committee selects the four "best" teams, they were left on the outside looking in, passed over for two one-loss teams.
What does that mean for the ACC? Is winning the championship of this conference so insignificant? To be fair to the committee, the conference didn't do a lot to prop itself up this year. Lousiville, Florida State's ACC Championship game opponent, got bludgeoned the week before by a bod Kentucky team. Outside of Florida State, every team finished with at least three losses. Two of the conference's best hopes - Clemson and North Carolina - finished the season with four losses. No team on Florida State's schedule finished with less than three losses.
Florida State finished their season 13-0, with a bowl game upcoming.
With that said, Florida State's record wasn't what kept them out. It was the loss of quarterback Jordan Travis. The Seminoles unfortunately didn't have a solution for the season-ending injury Travis suffered against North Alabama. The 'Noles slogged through wins over Florida and Louisville, showing nothing of the dynamic offense they showed against LSU in week one.
"Their exclusion calls into question the selection process and whether the Committee's own guidelines were followed, including the significant importance of being an undefeated Power Five conference champion," said ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips.
It was a down year for the ACC, but it may have also been fatal if the 12-team playoff wasn't coming next year. Though it wasn't the conference's fault Travis was injured, Florida State could use this snub as another catalyst for the school's departure from the ACC. If going undefeated and winning the ACC doesn't get you in the Playoff, what will? The ACC champ will get a guaranteed spot in future playoffs, but will that be enough to keep Florida State and maybe Clemson in the conference?
https://www.si.com/college/georgiat...o-avoid-a-rematch-of-last-years-duke-ucf-bowl (SI; Caudell)
The ACC Bowl Games got thrown into a flux today when Florida State was not out into the college football playoff. The other bowl games were deciding what teams to select and it was originally reported by Brett McMurphy at the Action Network that Georgia Tech was going to the Birmingham Bowl to play Troy and that Duke was going to the Gasparilla Bowl to play UCF.
However, things were switched around a bit after a couple of hours and Georgia Tech was going to be sent to the Gasparilla Bowl to play UCF and Duke would go to the Birmingham Bowl to play Troy.
So what was the reason for the earlier confusion? According to McMurphy, the "ACC opponents were switched by conference & bowl organizers to avoid rematch of last year’s Duke-UCF bowl."
It was definitely an interesting scenario to play out but the end result will be Georgia Tech going to Tampa Bay to face UCF, a team they are plenty familiar with.
...
2023 Indignation (RX; HM)
2023 Indignation
The CFP Selection Committee has perpetrated a fraud, robbed a deserving team, and assaulted the integrity of college football all in one act of corporate greed.
Of all "people", here are some quotes from ESPN, as posted in the article Undefeated Florida State left out of College Football Playoff (I've added bold to point out some of the best parts)...
FSU Head Coach Mike Norvell:
FSU athletic director Michael Alford:
The committee seemed to focus on how competitive they thought the Seminoles would be, with little regard to whether they deserved a shot.
...
AP Poll 2023 Dec 3 (RX; HM)
AP Poll 2023 Dec 3
Just a quick post of the AP poll while we wait for the CFP ranking to come out...
AP Top 25/Ranking as of December 3rd (Week 15):
1 Michigan (13-0) Big Ten
2 Washington (13-0) Pac-12
3 Texas (12-1) Big 12
4 Florida State (13-0) ACC
5 Alabama (12-1) SEC
6 Georgia (12-1) SEC
7 Ohio State (11-1) Big Ten
8 Oregon (11-2) Pac-12
9 Missouri (10-2) SEC
10 Penn State (10-2) Big Ten
11 Ole Miss (10-2) SEC
12 Oklahoma (10-2) Big 12
13 LSU (9-3) SEC
14 Arizona (9-3) Pac-12
15 Notre Dame (9-3) Indep.
16 Louisville (10-3) ACC
17 SMU (11-2) American
18 Liberty (13-0) C-USA
19 N C State (9-3) ACC
20 Iowa (10-3) Big Ten
21 Oregon State (8-4) Pac-12
22 Oklahoma State (9-4) Big 12
23 Tulane (11-2) American
24 James Madison (11-1) Sun Belt
25 Tennessee (8-4) SEC
OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES:
26 Clemson
27 Troy
28 Utah
29 Kansas St
30 Miami (OH)
31 Toledo
32 Kansas
33 Kentucky
The CFP cheated the whole ACC! (RX; HM)
The CFP cheated the whole ACC!
I'm beginning to think the CFP is just a corrupt version of the NCAA...
To say that the CFP treated the Florida State and the entire ACC disrespectfully, unfairly, and without honor is an understatement. What the CFP did was just wrong! How bad was it? Let's break it down...
How did the CFP hose the ACC? Let me count the ways:
1. Florida State was cheated out of a playoff spot, becoming the first and only undefeated power five conference champion not selected for the playoffs. In order to make that happen, the committee had to perform several other firsts: (a) first time a #1 team (Georgia) had ever been dropped out of the top 4 on Championship Weekend, and (b) first time a team that came in below 6th (Alabama) had been jumped into the top 4.
2. In the final year of the deal that gives the Reliaquest Bowl to the ACC if a Big Ten team plays in Orange Bowl, Georgia was ranked ahead of Ohio State, thus putting the Bulldogs into the Orange and cheating some ACC team out of a good bowl game.
3. This one's a bit of a reach, because the damage was done earlier in the season, but there were two ways Louisville was cheated out of a New Year's Six Bowl. If they had been ranked in the top 11 after the loss to FSU, the Cardinals would've been selected to an Access Bowl. If Florida State had gone to the playoffs like they deserved, Louisville would be playing in the Orange Bowl.
Of course, when you push one team down the bowl ladder, you're really pushing all of them down.
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SEC: Best and "It's Not Close" - REALLY? (RX; HM)
SEC: Best and "It's Not Close" - REALLY?
I want to leave it alone but these guys won't stop picking fights that they cannot win!
SEC - "simply the best?"
Seen about a thousand times this and every season:
"The SEC is the best football conference, and it's not close" - typical SEC fanboy.
| #1 Georgia (12-0) | 31 |
| Georgia Tech (6-6) | 23 |
| Georgia won, but only by 8 | |
| #8 Alabama (11-1) | 27 |
| Auburn (6-6) | 24 |
| Alabama won, but only by 3 |
My reply:
"Not close"? Single-digit wins by your CCG participants over a pair of 6-6 teams? Y'all might want to choose your words a little more carefully!!!
This year, the SEC posted a 7-9 record versus the other power conferences.
Alabama lost by 10 - at home - to Texas.
LSU lost by 21 on a neutral field to FSU.
Texas A&M lost by 15 at Miami, 9th best ACC team.
What about the SEC regular season "gauntlet"?
Arkansas lost to BYU, 12th best Big XII team.
Auburn lost to New Mexico State, C-USA runner-up.
Florida lost to Utah (Pac-12 #5) and Florida State.
South Carolina lost to North Carolina (ACC #6) and Clemson (ACC #5).
Vanderbilt lost to Wake Forest and UNLV.
Yes, two of your teams lost to Florida State, and one lost to Texas, but... what excuse do the other losers have? The fact is, the SEC wasn't bad this year, but it wasn't all that good either - it was average. That's not "deserving of two playoff teams" stuff at all...
I really don't want to keep writing posts like this, but I will until they give this foolishness about the superiority of SEC football a rest.
...
2023 ACC Bowls Announced (RX; HM)
2023 ACC Bowls Announced
From the official ACC release of Sunday, December 3, 2023...
ACC Champion Florida State Leads Way with 11 Bowl Selections
Led by undefeated 2023 ACC Champion and No. 5 nationally-ranked Florida State’s 11th appearance in the Capital One Orange Bowl, the Atlantic Coast Conference placed a Power 5-leading 11 teams in football postseason games on Sunday.
The 11 ACC bowl-eligible teams match a conference-high from 2018.
This is the 23rd consecutive season in which the ACC earned at least six bowl bids. Not including the pandemic-affected 2020 season, the ACC has sent at least nine teams to a bowl every year since 2016. Since 2013, the ACC is second among all conferences with 111 postseason appearances counting the 11 from this year.
"Congratulations to each of the ACC’s league-record and Power 5 conference leading 11 bowl-eligible teams – including this year’s undefeated ACC Champions, the Florida State Seminoles," said ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips, Ph.D. "We look forward to watching each team compete during Bowl Season and we could not be prouder of the tremendous season that our ACC football programs have had thus far."
One of only three undefeated Power 5 teams remaining in the country, Florida State will take on No. 6 Georgia in the Capital One Orange Bowl on Saturday, Dec. 30, at 4 p.m. in Miami Gardens, Fla.
In addition to the Seminoles’ CFP New Year’s Six selection, No. 15 Louisville, No. 18 NC State, No. 22 Clemson, North Carolina, Duke, Miami, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Boston College, and Syracuse will all compete in the postseason.
No. 16 Notre Dame, which is part of the ACC bowl selection process if not selected for the CFP, received a berth in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl.
The schedule is as follows, in chronological order:
Thursday, Dec. 21 – RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl; Boca Raton, Fla.Syracuse (6-6) vs. South Florida (6-6) – 8 p.m. (ESPN)
Friday, Dec. 22 – Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl; Tampa, Fla.
Georgia Tech (6-6) vs. UCF (6-6) – 6:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Saturday, Dec. 23 – 76® Birmingham Bowl; Birmingham, Ala.
Duke (7-5) vs. Troy (11-2) – 12 p.m. (ABC)
Wednesday, Dec. 27 – Military Bowl presented by GoBowling.com; Annapolis, Md.
Virginia Tech (6-6) vs. Tulane (11-2) – 2 p.m. (ESPN)
Wednesday, Dec. 27 – Duke’s Mayo Bowl; Charlotte, N.C.
North Carolina (8-4) vs. West Virginia (8-4) – 5:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Wednesday, Dec. 27 - DirecTV Holiday Bowl; San Diego, Calif.
No. 15 Louisville (10-3) vs. USC (7-5) – 8 p.m. (FOX)
Thursday, Dec. 28 – Wasabi Fenway Bowl; Boston, Mass.
Boston College (6-6) vs. No. 24 SMU (11-2) – 11 a.m. (ESPN)
Thursday, Dec. 28 – Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl; Bronx, N.Y.
Miami (7-5) vs. Rutgers (6-6) – 2:15 p.m. (ESPN)
Thursday, Dec. 28 – Pop-Tarts Bowl; Orlando, Fla.
No. 18 NC State (9-3) vs. No. 25 Kansas State (8-4) – 5:45 p.m. (ESPN)
Friday, Dec. 29 – TaxSlayer Gator Bowl; Jacksonville, Fla.
No. 22 Clemson (8-4) vs. Kentucky (7-5) – 12 p.m. (ESPN)
Friday, Dec. 29 – Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl; El Paso, Texas
No. 16 Notre Dame (9-3) vs. No. 19 Oregon State (8-4) – 2 p.m. (CBS)
Saturday, Dec. 30 – Capital One Orange Bowl; Miami Gardens, Fla.
No. 5 Florida State (13-0) vs. No. 6 Georgia (12-1) – 4 p.m. (ESPN)
Bonus:
Saturday, Dec. 16 – Independence Bowl; Shreveport, LACalifornia (6-6) vs. Texas Tech (6-6) - 9:15 p.m. (ESPN)
ACC Bowl Team Notes
After claiming its 16th ACC Championship, No. 5 Florida State (13-0, 8-0 ACC) will compete against No. 6 Georgia in the Capital One Orange Bowl for the 11th time in program history. Florida State has won its last two trips to the Orange Bowl and boasts five Orange Bowl victories all-time, including the 1993 National Championship. The New Year’s Six meeting between the Seminoles and Bulldogs will be the 12th all-time matchup and the first between the two schools since the 2003 Sugar Bowl. The Bulldogs lead the overall series 6-4-1 over the Seminoles.Under first-year head coach Jeff Brohm, No. 15 Louisville (10-3, 7-1 ACC) will compete in a bowl game for the third straight season. The trip to the DirecTV Holiday Bowl in San Diego, California, will be the first for the Cardinals who are 12-12-1 all-time over 25 bowl appearances. Last season, the Cardinals posted a 24-7 win over Cincinnati in the Wasabi Fenway Bowl. Louisville will meet Southern California in a bowl game for the first time.
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Syracuse (6-6, 2-6 ACC) will be the first ACC team to play in the RoofClaim Boca Raton Bowl. Making a bowl game for the second-consecutive season for the first time since 2012 and 2013, the Orange are 16-10-1 overall in 28 bowl appearances, including winning six of their last eight bowl games. Syracuse will take on South Florida, who holds an 8-2 edge over the Orange all-time.
2023 ACC Bowls Announced (RX; HM)
2023 ACC Bowls Announced
From the official ACC release of Sunday, December 3, 2023...
ACC Champion Florida State Leads Way with 11 Bowl Selections
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Led by undefeated 2023 ACC Champion and No. 5 nationally-ranked Florida State’s 11th appearance in the Capital One Orange Bowl, the Atlantic Coast Conference placed a Power 5-leading 11 teams in football postseason games on Sunday.The 11 ACC bowl-eligible teams match a conference-high from 2018.
This is the 23rd consecutive season in which the ACC earned at least six bowl bids. Not including the pandemic-affected 2020 season, the ACC has sent at least nine teams to a bowl every year since 2016. Since 2013, the ACC is second among all conferences with 111 postseason appearances counting the 11 from this year.
"Congratulations to each of the ACC’s league-record and Power 5 conference leading 11 bowl-eligible teams – including this year’s undefeated ACC Champions, the Florida State Seminoles," said ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips, Ph.D. "We look forward to watching each team compete during Bowl Season and we could not be prouder of the tremendous season that our ACC football programs have had thus far."
One of only three undefeated Power 5 teams remaining in the country, Florida State will take on No. 6 Georgia in the Capital One Orange Bowl on Saturday, Dec. 30, at 4 p.m. in Miami Gardens, Fla.
In addition to the Seminoles’ CFP New Year’s Six selection, No. 15 Louisville, No. 18 NC State, No. 22 Clemson, North Carolina, Duke, Miami, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Boston College, and Syracuse will all compete in the postseason.
No. 16 Notre Dame, which is part of the ACC bowl selection process if not selected for the CFP, received a berth in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl.
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Syracuse Community Health opens long-awaited new $22.5 million home (PS; Dowty)
Syracuse Community Health Center will cut the ribbon Friday evening on its new $22.5 million main facility along South Salina Street, a block from its longtime home.
It will be open to patients on Dec. 11.
The health center, which caters to 30,000 primarily low-income residents, has been planning the new facility for more than a decade. But after nearly scrapping the plans a few years ago, the project came to fruition with the help of $19 million in state money.
The 56,000-square-foot facility at 930 S. Salina St. is actually smaller than the center’s 70-year-old home, but is intended to provide a better patient experience due to better design. The original facility, at 819 S. Salina St., is really three buildings that have been connected over the years.
The new facility includes an improved, more welcoming breast care center, as well as the center’s primary care, dental services, pediatrics and obstetrics and gynecology services. Quick Care and behavioral services will remain at the old facility.
The center, founded in 1978, is one of about 1,300 community health centers nationwide created by federal legislation that provides some funding for the facilities. The centers are required by law to cater to medically underserved populations. The health center is open to all patients, regardless of their ability to pay.
“For many years, it has been a dream of SCH to construct a modern facility with the latest in medical design concepts on the South Side of Syracuse,” Mark Hall, president and CEO of Syracuse Community Health, said in a news release.
The new home is one of several projects that are transforming the southern gateway to downtown Syracuse. JMA Wireless’s $50 million factory is adjacent to the south, while a new housing and commercial development, Salina 1st, is readying construction across the street. Not far away, Syracuse’s old central high school is being returned to use as a STEAM school that will welcome students from the city and across Onondaga County.
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Will National Grid’s new smart meters change how we use energy? We’re about to find out (PS; Knauss)
Central New York customers are first in line for new “smart meters” that National Grid will roll out across its Upstate territory to all 1.7 million customers.
You’ve probably seen the TV ads. Installations started in August and will finish up four years from now.
It’s a huge investment – hundreds of millions of dollars. The new meters can tell you how much energy you are using minute by minute. They even have the capacity to show how much individual appliances use.
The question is, what will you do with that information?
National Grid will use the advanced meters to cut labor costs and address outages more quickly. The utility promises there will be big benefits on the other side of the meter, too: Armed with better information about their energy usage, consumers will get more efficient.
Without consumer benefits, the estimated $650 million cost of the new meters would not pencil out, according to National Grid’s regulatory filings with the state Public Service Commission. But the greater household efficiency from smart meters will depend in part on programs that have yet to be rolled out, including energy monitoring apps and electric rates that vary by time of day.
Some of the promise of smart meters depends on how customers respond and what incentives they have to cut back their usage, especially during periods of high demand when costs are the highest.
“There are a lot of benefits, potentially,’’ said Jessica Azulay, executive director of Alliance for a Green Economy, a nonprofit focused on environmental utility issues. “But there’s also cost. It’s an expensive investment.’’
In addition to installing the meters, it will be important to develop programs customers can use “to change the things that actually cost the system money, and therefore cost us money,” Azulay said.
Fewer truck trips
National Grid is installing Revelo meters manufactured by Landis + Gyr. The state-of-the-art instruments and others like them are far more advanced than the previous generation of smart meters, according to a 2022 report by consulting firm Deloitte.The meters communicate via low-frequency radio signals with a wireless network, eliminating the need for National Grid to drive past each customer’s house to get a reading.
Software updates can be pushed out to the meters from the wireless network.
There’s no question the meters will make National Grid’s operation more efficient. As it is now, the utility often can’t tell for sure when your power is out unless you call them.
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