sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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Welcome to All Saints' Day!
All Saints' Day is a Christian festival that honors saints, and also celebrates the victory of Christ over death. The definition of saints and those who are being honored on the day are often looked at differently in Catholic and various Protestant churches. In the Catholic Church, the day is seen as honoring saints that don't have their own day of celebration. Many Protestants use the day to honor all Christians, both past and present. The day takes place on November 1 in Western churches in Europe and the Americas, such as in Anglican, Roman Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran, and some other Protestant churches. It is part of the Roman Rite in the Catholic Church and is a Principal Feast in the Anglican Church. It takes place a day before All Souls' Dayand a day after All Hallows' Eve, commonly known as Halloween. Many Eastern churches observe the day on the first Sunday after Pentecost.
SU News
How Syracuse football stumbled into the country's best kicker (PS; Mink)
Syracuse football stumbled into one of the nation's best kickers with a LinkedIn message and a phone call from his older sister.
That's how Dave Boller first got wind of Andre Szmyt, who is sailing balls through the goal posts this season at a rate unmatched in college football history.
Szmyt has scored a nation-leading 103 points and has recorded at least 10 points in each of the team's first eight games. The school's single-season scoring record is 128, set by former running back Walter Reyes in 2003.
His 21 field goals have already eclipsed Cole Murphy's single-season record of 20 from a year ago, and the redshirt freshman from Vernon Hills, Ill., a northern suburb of Chicago, is well within reach of the national record of 31 set by Georgia's Billy Bennett in 2003.
There have been twists and turns up to this point, but Szmyt, true to form, has stayed the course in believing a season like the one unfolding was always possible.
This is the story of how, for a team needing a new kicker, Szmyt happened.
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Syracuse football at Wake Forest: See our picks, make your predictions (PS; Staff)
BRENT AXE
Syracuse 55, Wake Forest 35
No hurricanes in the forecast on this trip to Winston-Salem. Syracuse rides a revived Eric Dungey to take advantage of a Deacons' defense ranked 124th in the country to add another high-scoring win to the schedule and improve to 7-2.
STEPHEN BAILEY
Syracuse 41, Wake Forest 34
The Orange is riding high coming off a bowl-clinching win over a ranked opponent and being slotted 19th overall by the CFP committee on Tuesday night. The Demon Deacons have allowed 46.6 points per game against Power-Five competition. But given SU's struggles on the road during the Dino Babers era and Wake Forest's playmakers at running back and wide receiver, this may not be a walk in the park. Syracuse will need to come out sharp in Winston-Salem, particularly on defense, if it wants to keep its hopes of a major bowl appearance alive.
NATE MINK
Syracuse 48, Wake Forest 38
Get used to some offensive shootouts down the stretch, especially if SU's cornerbacks struggle in man coverage. That will lead to a cat-and-mouse game where SU will want to protect itself on the back end of the defense while also leaving it upon its front to stop the run.
Wake (and Notre Dame and Boston College) brings a physical run game and has a game-breaker in Greg Dortch who can uncork a defense.
We know SU can score. It can't stop now.
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Orange Weekly: Syracuse football vs. Wake Forest preview (video) (PS; video; Axe)
The Syracuse University football team has solved its quarterback issue and has returned to the Top 25 rankings.
Can the Orange keep it rolling this week against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons?
Syracuse.com's Nate Mink is joined by some Halloween friends to discuss that and more on this week's episode of "Orange Weekly."
Syracuse head coach Dino Babers also discusses what it means for the Orange to be ranked again and previews the Orange's matchup with Wake Forest.
You can watch "Orange Weekly" by clicking on the video above.
Syracuse vs. Wake Forest Fearless Prediction, Game Preview (CFN; Fiutak)
Syracuse (6-2) vs. Wake Forest (4-4) Game Preview
One Reason Why Syracuse Will Win
The Wake Forest defense has gone bye-bye.
It was never really all that great throughout the season, but over the last few weeks it hasn’t even been close in losses to Clemson, Florida State, and Notre Dame.
The biggest problem? It can’t come up with a stop in any one area.
The run defense was a disaster for weeks, and then Florida State and Louisville started bombing away over the last two games.
Syracuse should be able to pick and choose what it wants to do against the ACC’s worst defense. For an offense that averages 485 yards per game, coming up with five bills against a defense that allowed over 500 an outing shouldn’t be an issue.
Eric Dungey is coming off a 411-yard, three touchdown day against NC State, the team leads the ACC in turnover margin, and now it’s up to the Demon Deacons to not only keep up the pace for a full four quarters, but not screw up, either.
However …
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Syracuse Orange vs. Wake Forest Demon Deacons Prediction and Preview (athlonsports.com; Josephs)
Fresh off a huge home win over NC State, nationally ranked Syracuse travels to Winston-Salem to play Wake Forest. These two teams played a high-scoring affair in New York last year with the road team winning 64-43. In that one, the two squads racked up 33 first downs apiece, and the Demon Deacons had more than 700 yards of offense. Wake won the last home contest in this series back in 2016 by the much more normal score of 28-9.
Wake has been hard to figure out this season. The Deacons have lost four of their last six as the defense continues to struggle with slowing down the opponent. They had the rare treat of five straight home games in early September but only managed to pick up victories over Towson and Rice. This team has been the underdog in its losses to Boston College, Notre Dame, Florida State and Clemson. The Deacons have three more games after this and need two more wins for bowl eligibility, so this one is pretty important.
Syracuse is bowl eligible after a 51-41 win at home against NC State. The Orange are 1-2 on the road this season with a win at Western Michigan to go with losses to Clemson and Pittsburgh. They have only one home game the rest of the season, as they will play at Wake and Boston College along with a neutral field game against Notre Dame. The defense has shown a lot of cracks lately, giving up 122 points over their last three contests. We'll see if that changes against Wake on the road.
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No. 19 Syracuse, Wake Forest expecting shootout Saturday (gwinettprepsports.com; FLM)
Syracuse and Wake Forest put on an offensive showcase a year ago and in many ways their offenses continue to crank out big numbers.
The teams collide Saturday afternoon at BB&T Field in Winston-Salem, N.C., with the visiting Orange suddenly looking like one of the most intriguing teams in the country.
The Orange (6-2, 3-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) hadn't reached any sort of national ranking since the end of the 2001 season. The team notched the six-win mark for bowl eligibility for the first time since 2013 last week, knocking off North Carolina State.
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Sciria: Syracuse University football, basketball fans should be giddy with excitement (auburnpub.com; Sciria)
If you're a Syracuse University football or men's and women's basketball fan you have to be giddy right now. The Orange football team is ranked for the first time since 2001 and will be playing in its first bowl game in five years after becoming bowl eligible before Halloween. The men's basketball team is ranked in the preseason top 25. The women's team is also ranked, which a few years ago would have been unheard of.
Can it get any better?
Well, actually, yes.
The football team realistically could be 8-0 with an outside chance for a spot in a major bowl. Think about this, if Syracuse had converted a third down, which was called back by a penalty, or made a fourth-down stop, they could have beaten No. 2 Clemson. The next week, they had a double-digit lead at Pitt and lost in OT. That said, what Dino Babers has done is a great coaching job that should put him under consideration for national coach of the year honors. But, you have to think, what if?
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Eric Dungey Isn’t Just Good, He’s Big-Time – Orange Fizz – Free Syracuse Recruiting News (orangefizz.net; Singer)
Syracuse proved that it’s capable of beating a quality opponent on Saturday, but that’s not all it showed.
If you watched the Orange down NC State, you would’ve seen that Syracuse has a big-time player in quarterback Eric Dungey. Not just a talented, effective or impressive player, but a big-time one.
Dungey was named ACC Quarterback of the Week, and even passed Donovan McNabb as SU’s all-time leader in total offensive yards on Saturday. However, on top of all, the senior once again showed that he is big-time.
Being big-time isn’t necessarily reflected in the stat book. It’s not a statistic, but rather a characteristic that any coach should dream about having in his quarterback. Fortunately for Dino Babers, he has that in Dungey.
Despite his talent, Dungey is not the perfect quarterback. He’s not always at his best, but when he is, the stakes are often high.
Numerous times, Dungey has played his best football in some of his biggest games, and it’s been like that from the start.
In 2015, the Orange was set to roll with senior captain Terrel Hunt at signal caller until he tore his Achilles on the team’s third drive of the season.
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Anatomy of a loss: Secondary sinks Pack against Syracuse (texchnicianonline.com; Harrington)
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Taking advantage of the weak link
NC State runs a 4-2-5 defense: four linemen, two linebackers and five defensive backs. The 4-2-5 has become the standard defense in the ACC, and throughout college football, because of its versatility. Every team runs the defense differently depending on the personnel on the team. Looking specifically at the secondary, the two x-factors are the nickel corner and strong safety. Through the first eight weeks of the season, those positions have been filled primarily by freshman Tanner Ingle and redshirt-senior Dexter Wright. Ingle and Wright are strong run defenders but teams are starting to single them out in coverage.
Here’s a play Syracuse ran during the first quarter, on 2nd & 4 at Syracuse’s 18 yard line:
Next drive, on 2nd and 4, the Orange went after Wright:
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Where's Budd Bailey? Carrier Dome | Buffalo Sports Page (buffalosportspage.com; Bailey)
It was Parents’ Weekend for everyone else at Syracuse University last weekend, as the Orange football team hosted nationally ranked North Carolina State. But for me, it was Homecoming Weekend.
It’s always Homecoming when I get back to the campus in Central New York. Like seemingly half the sportswriters and sportscasters in the United States, I graduated from Syracuse. For example, before the game I bumped into Ch. 2’s Stu Boyer – whom I knew at Syracuse when we were both students in the Class of ’77.
The place has changed quite a bit since I left. The space once held by the school newspaper – my home away from home for two years – is now the host to a parking ramp. An empty lot in front of my junior dorm is now the site of a building named after legendary football player Ernie Davis. Most strikingly, though, the Carrier Dome wasn’t around when I was here. That building certainly changed the SU skyline substantially.
The area was never about the buildings, though. It was about the friendships that were made during that time. I still keep in touch with bunches of them, thanks to the wonders of holiday cards, emails, and Facebook. It’s also the place where I had my first stories printed professionally. Heck, I covered Jim Boeheim’s hiring as basketball coach. I’m still at it, 40+ years later. (So is he.) No wonder a smile comes to my face merely by walking around the place.
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Week 10 ACC football power poll (dailyprogress.com; Counts)
1. Clemson 8-0/5-0 (1): No. 2 Clemson led, 52-3, in the third quarter of last weekend’s laugher against Florida State and went on to win, 59-10. The Tigers sacked Deondre Francois five times. Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence threw for 314 yards and four touchdowns, while 156 of those yards and two touchdowns went to receiver Amari Rodgers. This weekend isn’t likely to be much different as Clemson is a 40-point favorite against Louisville. Next: vs. Louisville, noon, Saturday
2. Syracuse 6-2/3-2 (5): A week after getting benched in an overtime win against North Carolina, quarterback Eric Dungey threw for 411 yards and three touchdowns and added another score on the ground as No. 22 Syracuse recorded a 51-41 shootout win over N.C. State. He didn’t get much help from the running game, but he did throw touchdown passes to three different receivers and had two (Sean Riley, Nykeim Johnson) go over 100 receiving yards. Next: at Wake Forest, noon, Saturday
3. Virginia 6-2/4-1 (6): Quarterback Bryce Perkins recorded his fourth four-touchdown game and third 100-yard rushing game of the season last weekend as No. 23 Virginia beat North Carolina, 31-21. Wide receiver Olamide Zaccheaus caught 10 passes for the second game in a row and went over 100 rushing yards, and for the second game in a row, the Cavaliers’ defense held an opponent to less than 70 rushing yards. Pitt is in town Friday after racking up 484 rushing yards last week in a win over Duke. Next: vs. Pittsburgh, 7:30 p.m., Friday
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No. 24 BC’s visit to Virginia Tech headlines ACC’s Week 10 (dailyjournal.com; AP)
GAME OF THE WEEK
No. 24 Boston College at Virginia Tech. The Eagles’ return to the national rankings comes in one of only two games matching ACC teams with winning records. Boston College (6-2, 3-1) enters having won two in a row and is coming off an emotional victory over Miami . But the Eagles have won at Lane Stadium only once in the past decade. But Georgia Tech showed that Virginia Tech (4-3, 3-1) is beatable on its home field. The Yellow Jackets rushed for 465 yards in routing the Hokies , and now it’s AJ Dillon’s turn to try to put up big numbers against Bud Foster’s defense.
BEST MATCHUP
Miami pass defense vs. Duke pass offense. The Hurricanes (5-3, 2-2) lead the conference against the pass, allowing an average of 140.8 yards through the air, but showed some vulnerability last week when they allowed BC to throw for 210 yards and complete nearly 57 percent of its passes. Next up is a Duke offense that had no trouble moving the ball against Pittsburgh, rolling up 619 total yards — including 396 yards passing — in a 54-45 loss at Pittsburgh that marked the second straight loss for the Blue Devils (5-3, 1-3).
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
ACC schools are collectively on pace for the highest-scoring season in league history. The 14 schools are averaging 32.3 points per game, about 1½ ahead of the pace in 2016, when the ACC teams averaged 30.7 points. It helps to have two of the highest-scoring teams in league history — Clemson’s 44.13-point average is the third-highest while Syracuse is the fourth-highest at 43.63 points per game.
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ACC Football Rx: ACC Stats - 11/1/18 (accfootballrx.com; HM)
Four ACC teams are ranked in the top 25 nationally in scoring offense, led by Clemson, which is sixth averaging 44.1 points per game. The Tigers are followed by No. 7 Syracuse (43.6), No. 19 Georgia Tech (38.9) and No. 23 Boston College (38.0)
Miami and Clemson are ranked second and third, respectively, in the nation in total defense. The Hurricanes are allowing just 261.5 yards per game, while the Tigers are close behind at 263.9 yards allowed. Virginia is No. 20 at 327.4 yards allowed per game. Miami is also first in third-down conversion defense, first in tackles for loss, and second in passing yards allowed. Clemson leads the nation in scoring defense (13.0 ppg), is third in tackles for loss, and fifth in third-down defense.
Five ACC squads are ranked in the top 25 in rushing defense, led by No. 7 Clemson (91.6). The Tigers are followed by No. 10 NC State (101.3), No. 11 Florida State (102.9), No. 20 Virginia (113.0) and No. 24 Miami (120.8).
Georgia Tech leads the nation with 366.5 rushing yards per game, which is nearly 50 yards more than second-place Army.
Seven ACC teams are in the top 26 in the nation in sacks per game. Boston College is fourth (3.5 per game), followed by North Carolina (7th, 3.29), Miami (T8th, 3.25), Clemson (T8th, 3.25), Florida State (15th, 3.13), NC State (25th, 2.86) and Syracuse (26th, 2.75). FSU's Brian Burns and BC's Wyatt Ray are tied for fifth in the country with 1.13 sacks per game.
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ACC notebook: Miami-Duke not quite the matchup it once looked - Rocky Mount Telegram (rockymounttelegram.com; Evers)
After college football’s Week 4, when Duke had taken care of N.C. Central and moved into the AP Top 25 for the first time since 2015, Miami was also coming off a non-conference win to move up to No. 16 in the poll.
It was a long, long way from then, but the matchup coming this Saturday figured to be a big one as far as deciding the winner of the ACC Coastal division.
Indeed, Duke (5-3, 1-3) will travel to Miami (5-3, 2-2) this Saturday for a 7 p.m. kickoff, but the game won’t carry the same bravado, national interest, or ACC implications it once promised.
Neither team is ranked now, and the Blue Devils, starting with a Week 5 loss to Virginia Tech, have lost three of four, all in conference. Meanwhile, the Hurricanes have dropped their last two to Virginia and Boston College.
Duke is sixth in the conference standings; Miami is fourth. A lot can happen in college football in six weeks.
I mean, there's no question that this team is not the same team (from the Blue Devils’ win against Georgia Tech). We have been challenged,” David Cutcliffe said on Wednesday.
What’s gone wrong?
“You hesitate as a coach to ever say these things, but we've been as many as 12 starters down and it just continues to take its toll. That's something that we are hopefully turning the corner on,” Cutcliffe continued. “We still have a lot of people not making the trip to South Florida, but we also know that this team is the deepest team we've had.”
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Harlon Barnett’s defense faces a difficult challenge in seldom sacked Ryan Finley (tomahawknation.com; DeWitt)
North Carolina State quarterback Ryan Finley has been sacked just four times this season. To put that into perspective, Deondre Francois has been wrapped up by opposing defenses four plus times in a single game on four different occasions. Francois took five against Virginia Tech, four against Syracuse, SIX against Miami, and added five more last Saturday against Clemson.
The Wolfpack are ranked second in the nation in sacks allowed, trailing only Army. What makes that even more impressive is the fact that army has only thrown the ball 68 times this year, an average of 8.5 attempts per game. On the other hand, NC State average just over 37 pass attempts a game, good enough for 24th in the country. Finley has dropped back to pass 265 times. This means he is getting sacked on just 1.5% of his attempts. Brian Burns may lead the ACC in sacks, but he’s going to have his work cut out for him on Saturday.
Defensive coordinator Harlon Barnett talked about Finley’s ability to avoid the turf and credited him and his coaches with getting the ball out of his hands quickly, but he was obviously tight-lipped about his own plan to get him to the ground.
“There are some things that we’ve talked about in trying to (sack Finley),” Barnett said. “Like you said, he hasn’t been sacked much. Credit to him and them getting the ball out of his hands fast. We have to be able to see what we can do. I can’t give that away, but we’ll see what we can do.”
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Other
CNY's fall colors are the worst in more than 30 years, expert says (PS; Coin)
Botany professor and fall foliage fan Don Leopold has lived in Central New York for 33 years, and he's even written a book on fall colors.
And he's never seen colors as drab and disappointing as this year's.
"These are the worst fall colors I've ever seen," said Leopold, who teaches at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, in Syracuse. "This is the most disappointing fall."
Leopold, who walks through Oakwood Cemetery on his way to work every day, ticks off the disappointments: The black walnut leaves are falling even though they're still green. The oak leaves remain deep green. And the star of the Northeast color show, the sugar maples, started to turn colors in early October, but then just stopped.
"It's like they're in suspended animation," Leopold said.
Central New York isn't alone. Leopold's mother, in Cincinnati, said the colors there are disappointing. And Leopold himself just made the eight-hour drive back from Ann Arbor, Michigan, which is usually a fall color bonanza this time of year.
"Normally I'm looking for a place to pull over (to see the colors), but this time I had no interest," he said. "I make this drive two to three times every year, and I've never seen such poor colors."
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