sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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Welcome to Election Day!
In the United States, Election Day is the day set by law for the general elections of federal public officials. It is statutorily set as "the Tuesday next after the first Monday in the month of November" or "the first Tuesday after November 1.
For federal offices (President, Vice President, and United States Congress), Election Day occurs only in even-numbered years. Presidential elections are held every four years, in years divisible by four, in which electors for President and Vice President are chosen according to the method determined by each state. Elections to the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate are held every two years; all Representatives are elected to serve two-year terms and are up for election every two years, while Senators serve six-year terms, staggered so that one third of Senators are elected in any given general election. General elections in which presidential candidates are not on the ballot are referred to as midterm elections. Terms for those elected begin in January the following year; the President and Vice President are inaugurated ("sworn in") on Inauguration Day, which is usually on January 20.
SU News
VIDEO | Bobby Petrino looks ahead to Louisville's game Friday at No. 13 Syracuse (wdrb.com; video)
It's been 41 days since the Louisville football team has won a game, and things don't get much easier this week.
Coming off a 77-16 loss at Clemson, the Cardinals travel to Syracuse, ranked No. 13 in the AP Poll, to face the Orange, who is on a three-game winning streak. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2 at 7 p.m. Friday.
Watch U of L head coach Bobby Petrino's full news conference in the video player above.
ACC power rankings: Explaining the bowl options for NC State, Boston College, Syracuse (charlotteobserver.com; Giglio)
N.C. State, Syracuse and Boston College picked the wrong year to be good.
The three Atlantic Division teams, who have had their share of struggles this decade, could all turn in banner seasons but the bowl reward might not match their record.
The ACC does have a sweet deal with the Orange Bowl. Two out of three years, the ACC has a guaranteed landing spot in one of college football’s great bowl games. This just happens to be the one year it does not.
That means the Wolfpack (6-2), Orange (7-2) and Eagles (7-2) are likely to spend December in New York, Orlando, Charlotte, Nashville or El Paso, Texas. Or in other words, they’re going to end up in the usual mid-level bowl spots they would have been in at 8-4, even if they finish 10-2.
How?
As with all bowl explanations, it’s complicated. The Orange is one of the two games in the College Football Playoff semifinals this season. That means if Clemson (9-0) wins the ACC again and makes the CFP, there’s no guaranteed spot for the second-highest rated ACC team in a “New Year’s 6” game.
Last season, there was for Miami (No. 10 in the final CFP poll) in the Orange and in 2016 there was for Florida State (No. 11) in the Orange.
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No. 13 Syracuse on a roll going into final 3 games (dailyjournal.net; Kekis)
The surprising Orange (7-2, 4-2 Atlantic Coast Conference, No. 19 CFP), fresh from a road victory over Wake Forest on Saturday , moved up nine spots to No. 13 this week in the AP Top 25 . It’s the school’s highest ranking since Donovan McNabb led the Orange to a 10-point victory over Michigan in the Big House in September 1998.
Perhaps more importantly for Babers, the Orange are 1-0 in November, the month that has been their Achilles’ heel, mainly because of injuries. Instead of reeling — Syracuse was 1-11 in November the previous three years — the Orange are on a roll with three straight ACC wins, including two in a row without a turnover, and know they’ll finish the regular season with a winning record. They went 4-8 twice under Babers and once under former coach Scott Shafer.
The win over Wake Forest snapped the Orange’s eight-game conference losing streak.
“It’s a huge thing. Winning on the road is a huge accomplishment for us,” quarterback Eric Dungey said. “Hopefully, it’s the first of four (November wins). Everyone’s together. I think it’s just everybody really bought in. The past couple of years we’ve been through a lot.”
Babers attributes much of the team’s good fortune to a change in the way he’s approached the season, and it started in spring ball.
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Relish Now (journalnow.com; O'Neill)
Wake Forest’s path to a bowl game has narrowed again.
And Coach Dave Clawson said that before the announcement that freshman quarterback Sam Hartman sustained a leg injury that rules him out for at least the next three games.
Wake Forest’s season didn’t end with a loss to Syracuse, its bowl-berth hopes aren’t even at the brink yet and the Deacons won’t have much time to wallow, with a short turnaround before Thursday night’s game at N.C. State.
So, here are five observations from Wake Forest’s 41-24 loss to Syracuse on Saturday, which dropped the Deacons to 4-5 and 1-4 in the ACC:
1. The defense had a new issue
This wasn’t an issue of alignments or assignments blown — it was that the Deacons were in the right position to make tackles and simply didn’t.
“We tackled awful,” Clawson said. “The amount of third downs that we delivered the ball exactly where we wanted to and then couldn’t get (Syracuse quarterback Eric) Dungey on the ground or couldn’t tackle a string — we just had an awful tackling game.”
Dungey ran for a game-high 119 yards. Four times, on either third or fourth down, Dungey ran for first downs — one of those being a 26-yard touchdown run to put the Orange ahead 35-17 more than halfway through the third quarter.
“I think we had them in a lot of opportunities on third down, where they went empty a couple of times and we had a specific call to get the quarterback to escape a certain way, and we just had to down the quarterback,” said linebacker Justin Strnad, who had a game-high 14 tackles. “I felt like Dungey just escaped and made plays, he’s a good player. He was able to make plays for them when they weren’t there, and we’ve just gotta tackle better, honestly.”
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https://www.independentmail.com/sto...-fsu-football-fall-so-far-so-fast/1864852002/ (idpendentmail.com; Gramlich)
A football program can’t change that much in the span of just two years, right? Three programs in the Atlantic Coast Conference are doing everything possible to prove this theory to be drastically wrong.
Two years ago, if you had told Louisville, North Carolina or Florida State football fans that their teams would have a combined three ACC wins in the beginning of November 2018, they all would have been shocked. So how did the Cardinals, Tar Heels and Seminoles fall this far? Let’s take a look.
Louisville (2-7, 0-6 ACC)
On Oct. 1, 2016, No. 3-ranked Louisville entered Death Valley as a one-point favorite against No. 5 Clemson. Louisville fell in a close game, but the Cardinals continued to play well following the loss.
After the first Saturday of November 2016, Louisville was still in the College Football Playoff hunt. The Cardinals’ starting quarterback, Lamar Jackson, was the heavy favorite to win the Heisman Trophy and Louisville was 8-1, having just defeated Boston College 52-7.
More: Clemson's Fall Frolic Tour continues with romp against Louisville
More: Ejection of Clemson's A.J. Terrell reveals inequity, ambiguity of targeting rule
Louisville would go on to beat Wake Forest and then lose their final two regular-season games to Houston and Kentucky. Still, the Cardinals finished the regular season with a 9-3 record and Jackson won the school’s first-ever Heisman.
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Syracuse Football enjoying resurgence in 2018 due to much-improved roster, depth (cnycentral.com; Hauswirth)
2018 has been a season of milestones for the Syracuse football program.
As the wins pile up, the rankings continue to soar higher, smashing 20-year-old records that remind us of the golden days of Orange football with Donovan McNabb, among others.
The biggest reason for this season's turnaround, according to Dino Babers, is the difference he sees in his players.
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Syracuse Football: The Orange are currently a top 15 program (itlh.com; Patrick)
In each of the most recent Associated Press Top 25 poll and the Coaches Poll, Syracuse is ranked as the 13th-best team in all of college football. It is the Orange’s highest ranking in a major poll since the 1998 season.
Syracuse’s success in 2018 has been led by an explosive offense (eighth-best in scoring this season) and a defense that continues to come up with big plays at the right time. Even if the Orange lose the rest of their games, this year as still been a success for the football program.
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ACC Rankings Week Ten (gobblercountry.com; Johnson)
Atlantic
1. Clemson Tigers: Clemson continues to be the clear class leader in the ACC. The Tigers posted three 100+ yard running attacks against the Cardinals: Travis Etienne (153 yards, 1 TD), Lyn-J Dixon (116 yards, 1 TD), Tavien Feaster (101 yards, 2 TDs). The defense scored on a pick-six, generated three total turnovers, and held helpless Louisville to only 312 offensive yards. Next week the Tigers face off against the Eagles in what is now a very interesting prime time match up with conference implications!
2. Syracuse Orange: Eric Dungey showed what he can do with his legs, rushing for 119 yards and a TD as the Orange easily overcame Wake Forest. Syracuse mustered up five rushing TDs during the game and dominated time of possession 37:48 to 22:12. Dino and company host Louisville this Friday.
3. N.C. State Wolfpack: A disciplined effort that saw the Wolfpack establish a strong running game, protect the ball, and dominate time of possession over FSU. With the win NCST has become bowl eligible. This Thursday they host Wake Forest.
4. Boston College Eagles: It didn’t matter that AJ Dillon left the game in the third quarter, because backup RB Travis Levy scored a TD on the very next play. BC methodically established the run, kept away from penalties, and protected the ball. This weekend’s match against Clemson will be tough!
5. Florida State Seminoles: FSU played a poor and undisciplined game against NCST. Justin Blackmonthrew for 421 yards and four TDs, but the rushing attack only managed to generate 24 yards on 20 rushing attempts. The Seminoles also turned the ball over twice and was penalized 16 times for 121 yards. Let’s see… who is next… oh a visit to Notre Dame. FSU is staring another L right in its face.
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U of L lost another recruit. Now it has the ACC's smallest 2019 class (courier-journal.com; Lourim)
The Louisville football team keeps losing recruits. Kristian Varner, a defensive end commit from Georgia, announced Monday he will reopen his recruitment.
"After much consideration and talks with my parents and coaches I feel that it would be in my best interest to decommit from the University of Louisville," Varner wrote on Twitter. "I would like to thank the entire coaching staff and fanbase for believing in me. My recruitment process is now 100 percent back open to all schools. Thank you."
Varner is the third player to retract his commitment from Louisville in the past five days. Both offensive lineman Jamari Williams and Austin Griffin, who was the program's highest-rated 2019 recruit, made the same announcement Thursday.
Related: Louisville freshman quarterback Jordan Travis will transfer
The Cardinals now just have 10 players committed to their 2019 class. That ranks last in the ACC, behind Syracuse with 11. All 10 Louisville commits are three-star prospects, led by Memphis quarterback Jaden Johnson.
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Should he stay or should he go? Bobby Petrino hits the road • The Louisville Cardinal (louisvillecardinal.com; Farrell)
The burning question that has remained the talk of the 2018 Cardinal football season has been: Is it time to cut ties with head coach Bobby Petrino?
U of L football currently sits at 2-7 and without a win in the ACC. The team was also dealt a 77-16 shellacking by the No. 2 Clemson Tigers.
The Tigers’ 77 points were the second most points scored on Louisville in school history, following only a defeat suffered in 1932 to Murray State when the Racers hung 105.
In addition, the 61-point margin of defeat is the largest since 1941 when U of L lost to Vanderbilt.
Aside from a loss of historic proportions, it seems as though Petrino has fumbled not only the locker room but his hold on recruiting as well.
Louisville’s 2019 recruiting class currently ranks 70th and may fall further after two recruits dropped commitments this past week. This fast-sinking ship in the recruiting world puts at stake the Cards’ chances to excel in an improving ACC conference.
One of the biggest knocks on Petrino this season is putting together a seemingly inept staff. The 2018 stint is the third season in a row in which the Cardinals have a new defensive coordinator on the sidelines and the lack of production is clearly shown on the field.
U of L’s final three games each feature opponents that are currently top-25 in the college football playoffs rankings: No. 19 Syracuse, No. 21 NC State and No. 9 Kentucky.
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Declining football attendance matches national trend • The Louisville Cardinal (louisvillecardinal.com; Bradshaw)
There’s not many college sports towns that rival Louisville in terms of talent, revenue and intensity. Fans regularly show out and support U of L athletics with emotion matched by few across the nation.
Having such extreme enthusiasm for the school, Cardinal fans are not afraid to voice their opinions and assert an influence when it counts.
Take the current football program. Young and old alike remain unhappy with the current 2-7 record and demonstrate their gloom via absence from home games at Cardinal Stadium.
The highest number of fans in attendance for a matchup this season came on Sept. 15 against Western Kentucky (42,976 tickets scanned). With the capacity of Cardinal Stadium sitting at 60,800, there were over 17,000 unused tickets for the newly renovated venue that night.
U of L edged WKU, but followed the victory with a 24-point loss at Virginia.
Attendance took a dive for the next two home games versus Florida State and Georgia Tech. Around 4,000 fewer tickets were scanned for the FSU game (38,496) compared to the highest attendance, and 7,000 fewer tickets were scanned for the Ga. Tech game (35,785).
Louisville lost to Florida State, Georgia Tech and Boston College on the road before returning home again to face Wake Forest last week.
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Contract helps Louisville football's VanGorder survive Clemson debacle (courier-journal.com; Sullivan)
Brian VanGorder makes for an inconvenient scapegoat.
The University of Louisville’s defensive coordinator oversees a unit of historic ineptitude. Saturday’s 77-16 thumping at Clemson was U of L’s most lopsided loss since 1941 and marked the third time in four weeks that opponents had scored at least 56 points against the Cardinals.
“The secondary has played serviceably in coverage,” former U of L captain Jake Smith said Monday. “But teams don’t need to throw the ball because we’re so bad in the front seven. Guys look lost out there.”
Yet as lost as U of L has looked on defense — 124th in points allowed, 115th in total defense and yielding a school-record 6.8 yards per play — the structure of VanGorder’s contract makes it $1.1 million more expensive to replace him in midseason than it would be to wait for the more comprehensive housecleaning expected at season’s end.
A deeper look: By the Numbers: Behind Louisville's blowout loss to Clemson
The three-year deal VanGorder signed on Aug. 22 — nearly seven months after his hiring was announced — provides for a base salary of $950,000 and up to 18 months of compensation if he is terminated independent of a change in head coaches before January 2021.
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1st-place Pitt? Resilient Panthers lead ACC Coastal Division (espn.com; AP)
Pittsburgh coach Pat Narduzzi didn't throw the ACC Coastal Division standings up on the wall during his team's annual Sunday night meeting.
There was no need. Narduzzi is well aware his players know where the Panthers (5-4, 4-1 ACC) sit heading into Saturday's visit from Virginia Tech (4-4, 3-2): in first place and in control of their own destiny.
"I'm not going to address it," Narduzzi said Monday. "There's still a bunch of hungry teams sitting below us. Doesn't really matter. I know they read on Twitter all that stuff. I guess I don't have to address it."
Maybe, but that it's even a topic of discussion is a testament to Pitt's resiliency.
Narduzzi raised eyebrows when he told a group of fans at a kickoff luncheon in August to keep the first weekend of December open so they could plan a trip to Charlotte for the ACC title game. It's a possibility that seemed remote at best after the Panthers were drilled by Penn State and Central Florida and then suffered a baffling loss to North Carolina, all in September.
And yet the Panthers have responded brilliantly, winning shootouts and defensive struggles alike during their three-game conference winning streak. Their taut 23-13 victory at Virginia last Friday may have been the closest they have come all season to fitting Narduzzi's definition of "Pitt football."
Darrin Hall ran for 229 yards and three touchdowns. The defense sacked Virginia quarterback Bryce Perkins five times. Alex Kessman drilled a 53-yard field goal and the Panthers pushed the Cavaliers around on the road.
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ACC Power Rankings Week 10 (shakinthesothland.com; Goldin)
#1 Clemson (LW:#1) (9-0,6-0):
The past few weeks have really felt like Clemson is the Harlem Globetrotters and the rest of the schedule is the Washington Generals. Clemson’s out here letting DT’s run for touchdowns, handing off to fullbacks, throwing screens to offensive tackles, throwing to Will Swinney (technically the jet sweep is a forward pass) and there is not a thing the other team can do about it. Clemson opens at -17.5 at Boston College. I’m a little nervous for this game just because BC looks like a solid team and it’ll be frigid. Regardless, I think we can go do our thing and win easily. Just don’t get upset if we don’t break 50. However, please be upset if we don’t get to see Christian Wilkins throw a few passes.
#2 Notre Dame (LW:#2) (9-0, 3-0 vs ACC):
Notre Dame held off a Northwestern comeback on the road in the friendly confines of *checks notes* Ryan Field. The Irish will host FSU this weekend.
#3 Boston College (LW:#3) (7-2, 4-1):
Boston College knocked off Va Tech 31-21 in Blacksburg to set up College Gameday and an 8:00 kickoff with Clemson in Chestnut Hill. It’ll be interesting to see, but you’d have to imagine the folks at ESPN will find someone from the Red Sox to be the guest picker. Or just get some random bro country singer.
#4 Syracuse (LW:#4) (7-2, 4-2):
Raise your hand if you had Syracuse being Clemson’s highest ranked win at this point in the season. The Orange’s 41-24 win over Wake Forest bumped them up to #13 in the nation. Cuse will host Louisville in a Friday night matchup.
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Straight from the Armchair, QT’s Take: Cardinal Sin, Clemson Demolishes Bobby P (shakinthesouthland.com; QuackingTiger)
Louisville just isn’t a good football team right now.
Those run fits were embarrassing. Worse than Wake Forest. Georgia Southern is clearly a better team than Louisville by a wide margin and that is how we need to approach these results. But it sure does feel good...
Bobby Petrino is a a good playcaller and can scheme with the best in cfb, but this team is his worst that I can remember.
There isn’t a lot to take away from these results because Louisville was so bad. Again, don’t get me wrong, it feels wonderful to beat up on a Bobby P coached team, and it is much better than playing down and struggling with inferior competition (we did that way too much last year). But looking towards the playoff this game doesn’t tell us much.
It was Dabo sweater weather and Clemson demolished the red birds.
**Quick note on the AJ Terrell targeting call. AJ turns his head enough so that the crown of the helmet doesn’t hit. The broadcaster was saying see what you hit, keeps your eyes up, which is good, but Terrell is trying to avoid the contact at that point. The Louisville player is defenseless though and AJ clearly hits the head or neck area (and that would’ve happened even if he didn’t lower his helmet a bit). AJ also is very close to launching and definitely makes forcible contact. At least this happened in the first half of the game and Terrell will play against BC.
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NOV. 2 COLLEGE FOOTBALL: ACC players: Cost of attendance stipend helps in many ways (AP; Kurz)
The cost of attendance stipend is quietly helping college players while the debate rages on whether they should be paid.
The modest stipend is a fraction of the millions college football generates, but is intended to provide players with money to buy an occasional pizza when university food service is not available or take in a movie. Some players use it to pay utility bills or help out family members, and there are coaches and administrators who feel it helps ward off the temptation to accept impressible benefits.
The money from universities, including Atlantic Coast Conference schools, varies based on how far from home the players play, the cost of living where they play and the status of their educational pursuits. How it is distributed also varies from school to school.
North Carolina State offensive lineman Garrett Bradbury receives $2,676 as in in-state player, $202 less than a player from out of state receives.
“I think it’s phenomenal. I think it’s tremendous. I think the interesting thing about a college football team is there are so many different guys from so many different situations and backgrounds,” Bradbury said. “At one end of the spectrum, you have guys that might be financially OK from their home situation and they can put that money toward saving or buying little things that they need. Then there are some guys that might be sending home money for an electric bill.”
The NCAA took a hard look at cost of attendance stipends in 2015 after Shabazz Napier of 2014 basketball national champion Connecticut made headlines. He complained that while the NCAA profits greatly from the NCAA Tournament, there were nights that he went to bed hungry because his basketball obligations, while profitable for the university, deprived him of access to meals.
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Clemson vs. Boston College: The 2nd-ranked Clemson Tigers are heading north to face the 17th-ranked Boston College Eagles in Chestnut Hill this Saturday night. This ranked matchup will give the winner control of the ACC Atlantic, and if the Tigers come out on top, they'll clinch another trip to the ACC Championship game. Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence and the high-powered Tigers offense will be facing a secondary that is second in the FBS in interceptions and second in the ACC in sacks. Star BC running back AJ Dillion will try to lead Boston College to its first win over Clemson in 8 years and keep the Eagles perfect at home for 2018.
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Other
Election Day 2018 deals, free rides, freebies, free food, discounts and offers (PS; Axelson)
Election Day 2018 is your chance to make your voice heard, and if you did, it's also your chance to snag some freebies, discounts and other deals from restaurants and stores.
Below, find a list of every special election day offer available across the country on Election Day 2018, Tuesday, November 6.
Make sure you wear your "I Voted" Sticker.
Know of a freebie we missed? Email baxelson@nyup.com
Baked By Melissa
Free cupcakes on Tuesday with an I Voted sticker. More info
Birch Coffee
Get a free drip coffee at 10 locations in Manhattan. Locations
Blaze Pizza
Free delivery for any order placed with the Blaze Pizza app on Tuesday.
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