sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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Halloween is a holiday that is rooted in, and was influenced by, both pagan and Christian traditions. On one hand there are the influences of Celtic harvest festivals, such as the Gaelic festival Samhain, and on the other hand Halloween stems from All Hallows' Eve, which is the night before the Christian holiday of All Hallows' Day—or All Saints Day. Halloween traditions were culled from these influences, and from varied traditions that different countries celebrated. The amalgamation of these influences helped to create what we now know as Halloween in the United States.
SU News
Syracuse.com’s Nate Mink is joined by some Halloween friends to discuss the Syracuse University football team returning to the Top 25 rankings and previews the Orange’s matchup at Wake Forest.
Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson previews Syracuse game (247sports.com; Johns)
After grabbing what even Dave Clawson is now calling a 'must win' at Louisville Saturday, the Deacs have a clear path to bowl eligibility. Four games are left and the Deacs need to capture at least two victories.
The journey for those final two wins begins at noon Saturday when the Deacs (4-4. 1-3) host No. 22 Syracuse (6-2, 3-2). The Orange are scoring 43.6 points a game, and are coming off a 51-41 win against North Carolina State. Their only two losses have been 23-27 at Clemson and an overtime 44-37 loss at Pittsburgh.
Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson met with the local media Tuesday. Here's the full Q&A from that press conference:
Opening Statement
Clawson: “Wrapping up Louisville, it was a good team win. We needed it. Every year, you have goals, and one of the things you want to do it is have something to play for in November. You want to have goals alive. If you don’t have any goals alive, November becomes really challenging for both the players and the coaches. That was a shot in the arm that we needed. Our practice was good and we played well.”
ON OFFENSE
Clawson: “Offensively, it was probably the best game of the year for Sam Hartman, not just in terms of stats, but in terms of his efficiency and decision making. I thought our offensive line played really well. When you rush for as many yards as we did, it starts up front. After coming off maybe our worst performance of the O-line at Florida State, we probably rebounded our best game at Louisville. Greg did Greg Dortch things.
“Matt Colburn had another really good game and it was nice to see Scotty Washington out there making plays. On offense, we are probably the healthiest we have been all year. The healthiest we have been on the O-Line, the healthiest at receiver and all three backs are ready to go. You don’t think you will be the healthiest in late October and early November, but we are. That has me excited as we head into November.”
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Wake Forest hosts Syracuse: Depth chart musings (bloggersodear.com; Kim)
With Wake Forest’s big win against Louisville giving the fan base some hope entering the home stretch of the season, the Deacs are still trying to find answers in their secondary. Younger players like DBs Zion Keith and Tyriq Hardimon have been in and out of the two deep and appear to be out of it for this week.
Zion Keith is not on the 2-deep at cornerback, replaced by Keegan Good (a walk on). This can't be a good development. Tyriq Hardimon also no longer on the depth chart at free safety.
— Les Johns (@Les_Johns) October 30, 2018
The biggest shocker is that Keegan Good, a walk on, is listed in the two-deep at a position that has been a problem for the Deacs all season. In minor news on the defensive side, Luke Masterson will continue to start at buck linebacker, after coming into the season as a safety.
Perhaps the bigger splash (but smaller impact) of the depth chart release was seeing Kendall Hinton’s name. Not once, not twice, but three times as a quarterback, slot receiver, and kick returner.
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No. 19 Syracuse wants to keep winning vs. Wake Forest | (lindysports.com)
Syracuse has already accomplished more this season than it did during much of the past two decades.
But for the No. 19 Orange, there’s plenty more to do. That begins with Saturday afternoon’s game against Wake Forest at BB&T Field.
“I’m just really proud of where those young men are,” Syracuse coach Dino Babers said of his players. “Hopefully, we can continue the second part of our season winning things the right way.”
Syracuse is bowl eligible for the first time since 2013. The Orange haven’t had a national ranking attached to its name since the end of the 2001 season.
“For this senior class, we’ve been through a lot,” senior quarterback Eric Dungey said. “I know a lot of people in the community didn’t really think that we could get to a bowl game, but we just believed in ourselves.”
Syracuse (6-2, 3-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) is coming off back-to-back home victories, beating North Carolina State 51-41 on Saturday night.
Wake Forest (4-4, 1-3) is riding a bit of a high as well, snapping a two-game skid with a 56-35 romp past Louisville.
“This is the healthiest we’ve been all season,” Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson said, knowing his defense has often been damaged by injuries.
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Episode 92- Syracuse Football, Wake Forest Preview! - Armchair All-Americans (armchairallamericans.cmo; podcast; CuseMilitia)
Episode 92- Syracuse Football, Wake Forest Preview!
Syracuse Football Bowling And Rolling. Mike Lindsley (ML) Sports Platter podcast
(player.fm; podcast; Lindsey)
ML recaps the Orange’s big win over N.C. State, says one key game could have changed the season, praises Eric Dungey and more.
ACC Race Tightens as Eagles Focus on VT - Boston College (bceagles.com; Rubin)
When Boston College defeated a nationally-ranked Miami team on Friday night, it reached a number of different checkpoints for the 2018 season. It improved the Eagles to 6-2 on the season, clinching bowl eligibility for the fifth time in the Steve Addazio era. It marked the fastest route to a postseason game since the Eagles opened up perfect in 2007, making 2018 the sixth time since 2000 that BC is 6-2 or better.
It also returned the Eagles to the national rankings for the second time this season as both Associated Press and Amway Coaches Poll slotted the team at No. 24 and No. 25, respectively. It made 2018 the 18th season where BC ranked inside the AP poll for multiple weeks, and it marked a return after the Eagles fell out following the Purdue game.
Conventional thought tells the team and its supporters to celebrate. Friday's Red Bandana Game provided an electric atmosphere before a nationally-televised audience. A win over Miami keeps pace with Clemson within the ACC. BC is once again nationally ranked, the second time this year after a decade removed. A bowl game means more postseason practices and an opportunity for further development.
Except nobody in the Boston College locker room is talking about it. It's not that they think it doesn't matter; they know it does. It's just that there are bigger concerns, starting this week with Virginia Tech.
"We didn't address it," Addazio flatly said of the rankings. "Kind of like how I didn't address the fact that we were bowl eligible. Just didn't address it. Not going to."
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Pitt's ACC spot is surprising, but Virginia's is shocking (post-gazette.com; Batko)
There are only four regular-season weeks left to sort out this whole ACC Coastal Division thing, but even as the Pitt Panthers are halfway home, tied for second place and in charge of their own postseason fate, you won’t find them parsing the conference standings.
“We don’t pay a lot of attention to all that,” redshirt junior Dane Jackson said Tuesday after practice.
But like any good cornerback should, Jackson seemed to anticipate where the conversation was headed and made a beeline right for Pitt’s opponent this week, 23rd-ranked Virginia.
Wait a second, 23rd-ranked Virginia? The same Virginia that was voted in the preseason to finish last in the division, the one that finished 3-5 in conference and 6-7 overall a year ago, the one whose head coach said in June had just 27 “ACC-caliber” players on the roster? Yes, that Virginia (6-2, 4-1) is alone in first place atop the Coastal.
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Can Pitt emerge from the ACC’s Coastal quagmire? - The Pitt News (pittnews.com; Leonard)
The ACC is currently in the midst of an identity crisis. In its Atlantic division, perennial football powerhouse Florida State — which has gone to a bowl game every year since 1982 — is in shambles, currently sitting at 4-4 overall and 2-4 in the conference. Meanwhile, Louisville is winless in the ACC after rattling off four straight seasons of eight or more total wins.
In the Coastal, typically dominant Miami — picked by most pundits to win the division for the second straight year — finds itself on the outside looking in after a second ACC loss to Boston College last Friday. And Virginia Tech, which hasn’t had a losing season since 1992, looks uncharacteristically inconsistent, losing to pitiful Old Dominion in one of college football’s biggest upsets in recent history, then dropping a critical ACC game to Georgia Tech last Thursday.
Through eight weeks, it seems safe to say the ACC preseason rankings were a total joke. Virginia, picked to finish last in the Coastal, is currently first with a 4-1 ACC record. Syracuse, projected to finish last in the Atlantic, is 6-2 overall and third in the division. Just above them is Boston College, who was picked to finish fourth. Either the media members need to do their homework — one person, who obviously doesn’t take their job seriously, picked UNC to finish first in its division — or the conference has just been overtaken by anarchy.
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ACC Power Rankings - Week 9 (backingthepack.com; Wolf)
1. Clemson (Last Week: 59-10 W @ Florida State)
Previous Rankings: 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1
Clemson continued doing Clemson things and obliterated Florida State in Tallahassee, doubling up the Seminoles in both total yards and yards/play. The game was tied 0-0 entering the 2nd quarter, but was 52-3 by the time the 3rd quarter came to a close. Ouch. Clemson, I’m told, is fairly good at this footballing thing. Trevor Lawrence threw for 304 yards and 4 TDs while Amari Rodgers hauled in 6 passes for 156 yards and 2 TDs. The Tigers ground game was kept relatively in check for the 2nd straight game, though, averaging 3.6 yards/carry on 33 carries. The Tigers have now won their last three games by a combined score of 163-20.
2. Virginia (Last Week: 31-21 W vs North Carolina)
Previous Rankings: 7 / 8 / 9 / 5 / 8 / 7 / 5 / 3
Virginia, that program with only one winning season (2011) in that last decade, is now your Coastal Division favorite. Pretty cool stuff (no, I’m actually being serious - the conference as a whole may be down this year, but the coaching depth is undeniable, and Bronco Mendenhall is doing an incredible job in Charlottesville). The Wahoos allowed UNC-CH to stick around in the game more than they should have, but the game never really felt in doubt in the second half. Bryce Perkins threw for 217 yards and 3 TDs (1 INT) and also ran for 112 yards and another TD. Olamide Zaccheaus had 108 yards receiving and 30 yards rushing. Also, Tight End Evan Butts rounded out the Virginia scoring with a cheeky touchdown catch.
3. Boston College (Last Week: 27-14 W vs Miami)
Previous Rankings: 3 / 3 / 2 / 7 / 7 / 6 / 6 / 5
Boston College played extremely well against Miami, and had they been better at capitalizing on their scoring opportunities (3.86 points/opportunity on 7 opps) this thing could have been a real blow out. BC enjoyed a nice 14-yard advantage in average starting field position in this game. That helps! AJ Dillon (as you probably guessed) powered the BC offense on the evening, running for 149 yards and TD on 32 carries (he also caught 2 passes for 18 yards). The Fightin’ Dudes are the last challenger to Clemson in the ACC Atlantic Division.
4. Syracuse (Last Week: 51-41 W vs NC State)
Previous Rankings: 13 / 10 / 8 / 6 / 4 / 10 / 8 / 6
The ‘Cuse jumped out to an early 17-point lead, saw that almost completely evaporate, but then came through in the clutch at the end to pull out the win over NC State. Eric Dungey abused a horrid NC State pass defense completing 71.1% of his passes for 411 yards and 3 TDs. Four different Syracuse receivers had 80+ yards in the game. The defense is still what the defense is for this Orange team: the weakest link. NC State averaged 7.41 yards/play and the ‘Cuse defense had probably their worst performance of the season, although they were able to generate enough pressure on NC State QB Ryan Finley to force some errant throws.
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ACC Football Rx: Coastal Prognosis - 10/30/18 (accfootballrx.com; HM)
Coastal Prognosis - 10/30/18
From our ACC reporter at ESPN:
Quick update on the Coastal Division race. UVa, VT, Pitt each have 1 ACC loss. Pitt plays at UVa on Fri night with big implications. Here are the latest ESPN FPI Coastal Division projections:
Virginia: 42%
VT: 29%
Miami: 15%
Pitt: 8%
GT: 6%
— Andrea Adelson (@aadelsonESPN) October 29, 2018
According to the Miami Herald, if every Coastal division game goes as FPI predicts, Miami will be the ultimate champion. However, as it stands now, Virginia and VT are on top; if both win out, the Commonwealth Cup game will determine the division champ. Clearly this week's Pitt @ Virginia game is very important, since it will either eliminate the Panthers or put UVA in a precarious position. The same could be said for Miami @ Georgia Tech.
BOTTOM LINE: The Coastal is in chaos (again!), but the dust should begin to settle this week and next.
Other
Syracuse University Discovery Program
Alaina describes how studying abroad in Florence, Italy her first semester expanded her academic opportunities. Alaina's mother, Jari, also shares her perspective.
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