sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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- Aug 15, 2011
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Welcome to Leon Day!
The lead-up to Christmas seems to come earlier and earlier each year, and this is no more evident than in the celebration of Leon Day. Taking its name from the reverse lettering of "Noel," Leon Day precedes Christmas in July celebrations and takes place exactly a half year before Christmas. The counting down of days before Christmas has been going on for centuries, and it is not known exactly when Leon Day began. It has recently grown in popularity, though, on account of the internet; fans of Christmas often wish each other a "Happy Leon Day" on social media.
SU News
Syracuse Football: Can Cuse move to ACC middle class? (saturdayblitz.com; Mayhorn)
2018 isn’t a make or break season for Dino Babers, but some progress would help. Unfortunately, Syracuse football may not have the talent for that yet.
Syracuse is still adjusting to their move from the Big East to the ACC. After being consistently decent under Paul Pasqualoni for more than a decade, the Orange have hit a rough stretch.
The days of Donovan McNabb, Troy Nunes and even Ryan Nassib are firmly in the rearview mirror. The Orange have failed to make a bowl game each of the past four seasons, winning three games in 2014 and four games in each of the past three seasons.
Doug Marrone’s jump to the NFL in 2012 led to Scott Shafer. Just three years later, Dino Babers was brought in to return Syracuse from 3-9 and 4-8 back to the middle of the pack in their new conference. So far, he’s answered the call with two four-win seasons of his own.
The table seems set for a bounce back in 2018, however. Syracuse improved on both sides of the ball in 2017. They return a three-year starter at quarterback, and quite a bit of other production. Their offense is watchable again, which it wasn’t under Shafer.
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Cornelius Nunn Jr on Twitter
Dino Babers lands Syracuse three new commitments during big recruiting weekend (cnycentral.com; Hauswirth)
College football recruiting never ends, as Dino Babers and the Syracuse University coaching staff found out this weekend, hosting a variety of prospects during their official visits.
Babers and the Orange came away with three solid verbal commitments, one of which regarded as one of the top athletes in the state of Florida.
Below is a list of Syracuse's most recent commitments as of 11 p.m. Sunday night.
Cornelius Nunn, Jr.: Safety -- Miami, Fla.
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NC State’s recruiting progress under Dave Doeren: An overview (backingthepack.com; Muma)
NC State is having a productive football recruiting cycle this year, and as it stands now, this would be the highest-ranked class of the Dave Doeren era. The Wolfpack class currently stands at No. 23 in the 247Sports Composite rankings, which I consider the most reliable of the various team rankings.
Only three ACC schools have higher-ranked classes at this point. (You can probably guess which three.) If NC State can establish this is a recruiting baseline moving forward, Dave Doeren should begin to churn out eight-win years on a regular basis. That’s always a big if, though.
For some perspective on this current run of success, I went back and charted all of Doeren’s recruiting classes at NC State, excluding the 2013 signing class, which wasn’t really his. (Given that he was hired three months prior to signing day.)
Based on each class’ finish in the 247 rankings, here’s how it looks:
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Connecticut Huskies — 2018 Syracuse Football preview - The Juice Online (the juice; Cheng)
As we countdown to kickoff in August, we’re going to be doing a team-by-team preview each week over the summer. SU will continue its 2018 non-conference schedule when it plays the Connecticut Huskies on Sept. 22.
NEW OC: Head coach Randy Edsall, now in his second stint at UConn, is attempting to remake an offense that was the worst in Div. I football in 2016 and was merely awful in 2017 (103rd in FBS). To do that, he’s turning to a first-time offensive coordinator and the Huskies’ fifth coordinator in the last five years. John Dunn, most recently an assistant coach with the NFL’s Chicago Bears, takes over for the departed Rhett Lashlee, who took the offensive coordinator position at SMU. Lashlee instituted a n0-huddle offense last season, and Dunn wants to play the same philosophy. “His philosophy of being a multiple, no huddle offense that attacks using multiple tempos, personnel groupings and formations defines our vision offensively,” Edsall said in a statement.
WHO TO WATCH FOR: Back in 2017, quarterback Bryant Shirreffs and David Pindell were locked in a battle for the starting quarterback position before Pindell won. But the Pindell era lasted all of one game, as he struggled against Holy Cross, throwing 19 for 28 passes for 154 yards before being replaced by Shirreffs. Shirreffs held the starting position until the remaining three games, when he was forced out of action with a concussion. Pindell will be throwing to a trio of experienced wide receivers in Tyraiq Beals, Hergy Mayala, and Quayvon Skanes. On defense, sophomore linebacker Darrian Beavers returns after his freshman campaign where he played in all 12 games, totaling 15 tackles and 3.0 sacks. He’ll need to make up for the loss of linebacker Junior Joseph, and also the Huskies’ front three in its 3-3-5 system.
PREDICTION: As bad as Connecticut’s offense was in 2016, its defense was just as bad in 2017, allowing 333.9 passing yards per game (last in the FBS) and 37.9 ppg. Edsall’s returning some key components, so there will be room for improvement, but it’s going to take a few more seasons to get UConn back to the level it was before he left.
SYRACUSE 27, UConn 10.
Dining with the Pack: NC State practices etiquette :: WRALSportsFan.com (wralsportsfan.com; video)
The NC State football team spent time perfecting its off the field practices Sunday evening.
UNLV bringing all-you-can-eat ticket packages to college football (follegefootballtalk.com; Barnett)
It’s a tremendous challenge getting fans to come out to the stadium these days. When (nearly) every game is on TV, why go to the stadium when you have to miss out on the six other games on TV plus you have to deal with spotty in-stadium plus having to fight through traffic and parking and obnoxious fans to your left and right — and, oh yeah, you still have to pay for your tickets and concessions on top of all that.
UNLV has now eliminated one of those objections.
Borrowing a page from baseball, the Rebels have introduced an all-you-can-eat ticket package. For just $79, fans get tickets to UNLV’s games against UTEP (Sept. 8), Fresno State (Nov. 3) and Nevada (Nov. 24) while gaining access to all the hot dogs, nachos, popcorn and soft drinks they can stomach.
“It’s a great way for your family to enjoy first-class entertainment and create a memory for an affordable price,” UNLV athletics director Desiree Reed-Francois told the Las Vegas Sun.
Season ticket holders will also have the option of adding the all-you-can-eat option for $30 a ticket — which works out to $5 per ticket per game.
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Other
Obama goes fishing in Upstate NY (PS; O'Toole)
Former President Barack Obama was in Upstate New York late last week to go fishing with friends, according to news reports.
News of Obama's visit in the Adirondacks spread quickly after a news anchor posted a photo of the 44th president posing with an employee at Adirondack Regional Airport in Saranac Lake.
"A Presidential visit!" NBC News 5 anchor, Stephanie Gorin, posted on Facebook. "Former President Barack Obama was in Saranac Lake for some fishing with a friend."
Obama, who flew in on a private jet Thursday, posed with airport ramp worker Richie Hewitt in photos Gorin shared on Facebook.
"Did some fishing and flew out Friday," Gorin wrote. "He was surrounded by Secret Service the whole time. Hope he enjoyed our slice of paradise!"
The Albany Times Union provided more details about Obama's fishing trip in an article published Sunday afternoon.
Vince Wilcox, owner of Wiley's Flies in Ray Brook, told the Times Union about how he guided Obama and five of his friends on a fly fishing excursion Thursday and Friday in the Adirondacks.
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