sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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- Aug 15, 2011
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Welcome to National Skeptics Day! Maybe!
National Skeptics Day—are you kidding me? Where have I been all of these years not to have noticed such a world-wide observance.
What? November 4th is National not International Skeptics Day. Well, Excuse me!
The world-wide observance is on October 13th. It’s called international skeptics day. Actually, it can sometimes fall on January 13th or on the first Friday the 13th of the year. I’m growing a little skeptical of this whole Skeptics Day thing.
Perhaps our skepticism goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. Surely God did not mean you would die?
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SU News
Syracuse football injury report (Clemson): Cordell Hudson returns (PS; Mink)
Syracuse football released its injury report in advance of Saturday afternoon's game at No. 2 Clemson.
CB Cordell Hudson should be available this week; had missed previous 2 games pic.twitter.com/7ZQMKGhI3O
— Nate Mink (@MinkNate) November 3, 2016
Syracuse freshman wide receiver Devin Butler will miss his third-straight game, but redshirt sophomore cornerback Cordell Hudson will return after missing the previous two games.
Hudson ranks fifth on the team in tackles with 35. He also has three pass breakups and returned an interception 22 yards for a touchdown earlier in the season at Connecticut.
Reserve offensive lineman Keaton Darney also returned from injury.
Syracuse travels to Clemson on Friday afternoon in advance of Saturday's 3:30 p.m. kickoff at Memorial Stadium.
SU Injury report lists Palmer, Butler out again (TNIAAM; Cassillo)
After seeing Monday’s depth chart, it looked like the Syracuse Orange might get wide receiver Devin Butler back vs. the Clemson Tigers this week. Today’s injury report lets us know that’s not the case.
Just two players were listed as “out” against the Tigers: Butler and offensive tackle Omari Palmer. Butler has been out for the past few weeks, and Palmer even longer. While Butler’s absence is unfortunate, Palmer’s ongoing injury doesn’t lend a hand to Syracuse’s already thin and inexperienced offensive line.
Beyond that, it was good news to see cornerback Cordell Hudson off the list, which should be a nice assist for a secondary that’s in needs of all the bodies it can throw out there. The Orange defensive backs have performed well in recent weeks, but obviously the Tigers are a completely different story. Clemson has a top-20 passing offense this season and we’re likely to see some Nickel, among other wrinkles, to stop them this Saturday.
Clemson Football: 3 things to watch against Syracuse (rubbingtherock.com; Messenger)
Jadar Johnson’s health
The trend of breakout upperclassman on defense has continued in the 2016 season. Jadar Johnson has been a mainstay on the Tigers defense all year. In his first three season at Clemson, Johnson had 36 tackles, 4 ints, 2.5 tfls, and 1 sack. Through eight games this season Johnson has 28 tackles, 6 pass deflections, and 4 interceptions.
In last weekends victory over arch-rival Florida State, Johnson strained a calf muscle. It will be interesting to see how healthy Johnson is for Clemson’s game vs Syracuse. The Orange have the number one ranked passing offense in the ACC averaging 357.1 yards per game. Syracuse quarterback Eric Dungey is completing 64.7 percent of his passes for 15 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. Jadar Johnson’s presence in the secondary is vital to the Tigers success. Johnson is currently leading the team in interceptions and he is also, by far the most experienced defensive back on the team.
I expect Johnson to play, however, I am not sure if he will be at 100 percent. A calf strain may affect his ability to break on the ball, as well as his overall speed.
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Gameday Guide: Clemson vs. Syracuse TV details and more (thestate.com; Breiner)
The Clemson Tigers football team, No. 2 in the first College Football Playoff rankings, pulled out a third close win in four games, edging Florida State in Doak Campbell Stadium, and now hosts a solid Syracuse squad.
Game info
Who: Clemson (8-0, 5-0 ACC) vs. Syracuse (4-4, 2-2)
When: 3:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: Memorial Stadium, Clemson. (81,500)
TV: ABC (Dave Pasch, Greg McElroy, Tom Luginbill)
Radio: WZMJ-FM 93.1 FM in Columbia area, Clemson Radio Network
Satellite radio: SiriusXM 84
Series record: Clemson leads 3-1
Line: Clemson by 27
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Fans help fuel No. 23 Hokies turn around with road presence (winchesterstar.com; Kurz)
First-year Virginia Tech coach Justin Fuente has been impressed with how fans of the No. 23 Hokies show up everywhere they play.
They'll likely be well-represented Saturday at Duke.
The schools are separated by about 165 mostly highway miles, so it's not a hard trip. And while Duke (3-5, 0-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) is having an off year after recent success under coach David Cutcliffe, the Hokies (6-2, 4-1) are experiencing a resurgence and in position to capture the league's Coastal Division title.
The Blue Devils have struggled to fill their 40,000-seat stadium, and with their last three home crowds averaging nearly 18,000 empty seats, that historically means lots of room for fans clad in maroon and orange.
"Oh, it's been great," Fuente said of the following, which also made its presence known last Thursday night at Pittsburgh. "... It was kind of odd last week. Usually they're all kind of in one spot. Last week, they were kind of separated throughout the stadium. I've said this before, but it's very nice to work at a place that really wants to support what your kids are doing on a weekly basis, whether they've got to drive a couple hours or not. Our kids certainly notice it. I know that."
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Syracuse, however, is a nearly 600-mile drive from Blacksburg, Virginia, and Ford, a junior, has come to count on the Virginia Tech fan base being well represented, especially in games a reasonable distance away.
"Every game is a home game when you play at Virginia Tech," the program's career leader with 23 touchdown receptions said. "Our fans travel and they travel well and travel in packs. And it's amazing and it's a privilege. When our fans are cheering louder than theirs, it speaks volumes about our fan base."
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USF's five likeliest bowl destinations (tampabay.com; Knight)
...here's our projection — in ascending order — of USF's five likeliest bowl destinations.
5. Cotton Bowl (AT&T Stadium; Arlington, Texas; Jan. 2): Yes, the Cotton remains a conceivable destination for USF, but a litany of dominoes — and teams — have to fall. First, the Bulls must win out and hope Temple (which holds the tiebreaker edge over USF in the East Division) loses one of its last three games. Then, USF would have to win the AAC title game, root for Western Michigan to stumble in the MAC championship (if not before) and hope for some upheaval in the Mountain West (such as losses by Boise State, Wyoming).
4. Miami Beach Bowl (Marlins Park, Miami, Dec. 19): The AAC isn't crazy about return trips, but the Bulls traveled well to Miami last season (when they lost to Western Kentucky). Moreover, if Western Michigan stumbles down the stretch, a Bulls-Broncos matchup sounds like a dandy. If Houston regroups this month, the Cougars are also an option for Miami, and the conference might — might — prefer them for this contest.
3. Military Bowl (Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium; Annapolis, Md.; Dec. 27): Suppose the current standings hold true and it's Navy vs. Temple in the AAC title game. If Navy doesn't qualify for the Cotton, it's locked in to the Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth, Texas. And we're guessing Temple would prefer a December trip from Philly to Florida. That leaves Houston and USF on the board, and the AAC presumably would love to pit the Cougars against an SEC foe in the Birmingham Bowl, to which Houston fans likely would travel well. USF probably wouldn't travel as heartily to Annapolis, but it would be a bona fide bowl trip for the players, with a chance to knock off a Power Five foe (from the ACC). Then again, that opponent (Wake Forest? Syracuse rematch?) might not be terribly appealing, and the league might prefer a team in closer proximity to the venue (i.e. Temple, Memphis).
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The Electoral map of football: The NFL vs. college football (thecomback.com; Loo)
Politics can be very similar to sports in that where you were born, grew up, or live can have a huge effect on your personal leanings. Here in the California Bay Area, the political leanings are very liberal and in terms of fandom, the NFL towers over college football. That’s despite three D1 programs, two of which — Stanford and Cal — are in a Power 5 conference and largely ignored by local fans.
My home area’s snubbing of college football is terribly annoying as my social circle is always miffed at me declining a lot of Saturday social events that would take me away from watching college football or act all weird when I try to get a television onto a big game opposed to whatever they are watching instead (Sharks, Warriors, and this past weekend… Mickey Mouse Clubhouse… a new low).
They think I’m weird (they’re weird!), but the reality is I went to a school that turned me into a diehard college football fan and now I’m a staunch believer that it’s better than the NFL (something I wrote about here). Most of them never had that experience and are somewhat unaware that there are large swaths of this country which prefer college football to the NFL. With that mind, I decided to take a stab at mapping out the NFL vs. college football on the U.S. electoral map. Below is how I broke it down, with some explanations.
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Justin Pugh not a fan of his hometown of Philadelphia anymore (espn; Raanan)
Justin Pugh was raised in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. It’s just outside Philadelphia. If you ask him where he’s from, Pugh says Philadelphia.
But four years with the New York Giants can change everything.
The Giants’ starting left guard is still proud of where he’s from. Pugh still tight with the crew he grew up with -- they spent the bye week together in Austin, Texas -- and holds a football camp every year in his hometown of Holland, Pennsylvania.
However, Philadelphia and its football fans don’t hold that same spot in his heart anymore.
“I just don’t like Philly, to be honest,” Pugh said Wednesday with a smile on his face as his team prepared to face the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday at MetLife Stadium. “I’m from there, and every time I go back there, I just don’t get treated right from my hometown. It will be nice to go get this one and be able to show my face in my hometown when I go back to my camp this year.”
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Other
Supermoon will be the biggest and brightest in nearly 70 years (PS; Coin)
A supermoon to beat all supermoons is coming up next week.
On Nov. 14, Earthlings can see the closest full moon of the 21st Century. It hasn't been this big since 1948, and it won't be this close again to Earth until 2034, NASA says.
The apparent size of the moon varies because its orbit around the earth isn't a perfect circle: It's elliptical, and one side is 30,000 miles closer to Earth than the other. When the moon is at its closest point in that orbit to Earth, and the sun is on the opposite side of Earth, we get a supermoon.
(It's technically called a perigee-syzygy moon, but "supermoon" is a lot easier to say.)
NASA calls the Nov. 14 event an "extra-supermoon" because the moon will be full within two hours of reaching its closest point to Earth.
A supermoon can appear 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than a regular full moon.
If you miss next week's supermoon, you'll get another chance on Dec. 14. It won't be quite as dramatic as the one on Nov. 14, but the untrained eye might not notice the difference. The December supermoon, however, will blot out the normally impressive Geminid meteor shower, rendering them "an astronomical footnote," NASA said.
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