sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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- Aug 15, 2011
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Welcome to Happy Hour Day!
Happy Hour Day celebrates the time at bars and restaurants when alcoholic drinks are served at discounted prices. Happy hours usually take place for a period of time in the late afternoon—usually for more than an hour, and often between the hours of 4PM and 7PM. Happy hours typically occur on Monday through Thursday, and sometimes on Friday. Besides drink specials, many times free snacks or other discounted menu items are available. In 1913 the crew of the USS Arkansas began using the term "happy hour" to refer to scheduled entertainment on their ship, and by the end of World War I, "happy hours" were taking place throughout the Navy. During prohibition, drinking became popular before dinner, as diners imbibed at speakeasies before going to restaurants for their meal, where alcohol could not be served. Terms like "cocktail hours" and "happy hours" were given to these pre-dinner drinking events.
SU News
Is Dino Babers the ACC Coach of the Year? – Orange Fizz – Free Syracuse Recruiting News (orangefizz.net; Raucci)
Imagine this. It’s Thursday, August 30th, 2018, one day before the season opener against Western Michigan. Expectations are a bit higher than last year’s 4-8 finish, but most don’t envision Syracuse being anything special in 2018. Then someone tells you that with two games left in the season, the Orange will be ranked 11th in the country and will be staring down the nose of a top-15 matchup with undefeated Notre Dame. What’s your reaction?
You probably look at that person like they have 1,000 heads and check to make sure they’re feeling alright.
But, crazily enough, that is the reality for this Syracuse football team. Ever since a two-game midseason losing streak, the Orange have looked nearly unstoppable and have made a lot of history along the way. Bowl eligibility for the first time since 2013 after a win over NC State, a top 25 ranking for the first time since 2001 after that same game and SU’s highest ranking since 1998 when it checked in at #13 prior to this week’s win against Louisville, have all made the 2018 season one full of history and magic, and a large portion of that can be contributed to the man in charge.
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Episode 95- Syracuse Football, L'Ville Postgame, Syracuse Basketball, Morehead State Postgame! - Armchair All-Americans (armchairallamericans./com; podcast; Cuse Militia)
Episode 95- Syracuse Football, L’Ville Postgame, Syracuse Basketball, Morehead State Postgame!
Rethinking the future of the Shamrock Series and why the Syracuse game got shifted (ndinsider.com; Hansen)
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“Syracuse is an eight-year incubation. I’m not going to make a big deal out of it, but Syracuse took two (home) games in the Meadowlands (2014 and 2016). We carried forward a good faith obligation to find one occasion to also play a game back there (in the New York metro area).”
A 2012 agreement signed with Syracuse predated ND’s commitment to play an average of five ACC games a year. In that earlier agreement, Swarbrick said, Syracuse officials agreed to move two games from the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N.Y., to MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. The implied return was a future Irish home game to be moved in the same general vicinity.
The ACC commitment, layered on top of the original Syracuse contract, limited the dates when that could actually happen.
“I hate to even engage in these discussions, because you wind up sort of justifying it,” Swarbrick said. “I’m fine with people criticizing it. But they play out over that time.”
Although Saturday night’s Yankee Stadium matchup wasn’t announced until last December, the first discussions about moving the 2018 home game to the Bronx started shortly after the Irish and Army played there in 2010, in the second Shamrock Series game, the first one to have Swarbrick’s fingerprints on it.
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College football odds, lines, schedule for Week 12: Notre Dame over a TD favorite vs. Syracuse (cbssports.com; Fornelli)
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Games with CFP implications
No. 12 Syracuse at No. 3 Notre Dame (-9.5) in New York: This is the last big test for Notre Dame. The Irish are 10-0 after beating Florida State last week and now head to Yankee Stadium to face a Syracuse team that housed Louisville 54-23. Dino Babers' offense is averaging 44.4 points per game this season. The Orange will be the most potent offense the Irish have faced all year.
Duke at No. 2 Clemson (-27.5): I don't anticipate there being many people predicting Clemson will lose its first game of the year next weekend. The Tigers open as nearly four-touchdown favorites against Duke, and it should be pointed out that the Blue Devils are 7-3 on the season. Of course, maybe this spread would be smaller if Zion Williamson played defensive end.
Indiana at No. 4 Michigan (-27.5): Michigan finds itself in the same spot as Clemson, opening as a 27.5-point favorite at home. The difference is the Indiana team the Wolverines will face isn't quite as good as Duke. While I wouldn't expect Michigan to struggle, there's always the possibility it gets caught looking ahead to Ohio State in a couple of weeks.
Games with CFP contenders
No. 19 Cincinnati at No. 11 UCF (-7.5): Given how the CFP Selection Committee views UCF, calling it a contender might be a stretch, but as long as it's undefeated I don't see how we can ignore it. This will be a tough test for the Knights, one of the tougher they've faced this season. The Bearcats come into this game at 9-1 -- their only loss being to the same Temple team that gave UCF a scare -- and have allowed only 14.9 points per game this season.
No. 9 Ohio State at Maryland (+17): The Buckeyes have managed to win both of their games since the loss to Purdue, but neither has been pretty. A road trip to Maryland is a game that might be easily overlooked with Michigan looming, but it also presents the Buckeyes one final opportunity to get their act together before The Game. This spread seems to suggest they will.
No. 7 West Virginia at Oklahoma State (+5): After seeing how Oklahoma State fared against Oklahoma in Bedlam, it's safe to say the Mountaineers will be ready for a fight in this game. The Mountaineers are three wins away from a potential playoff berth, but they might be the three toughest games they've played all year.
Arizona at No. 8 Washington State (-10.5): Washington State needs to be careful this week. Arizona got off to a slow start to the season but has won two straight coming into this game. It also had a bye last week, allowing it to get healthy and have some extra time to prepare for a huge showdown on The Paloose. Washington State can't afford to slip up if it wants to keep its playoff hopes alive.
Best of the rest
Pitt at Wake Forest (+6)
No. 24 Northwestern at Minnesota (+3)
Virginia at Georgia Tech (-6.5)
No. 18 Iowa State at No. 13 Texas (-3)
USC at UCLA (+3.5)
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ESPN Drops the Ball, Snubs Syracuse and Notre Dame for College Gameday – Orange Fizz – Free Syracuse Recruiting News (orangefizz,net; Aki)
Week 12 is shaping up to be one of the biggest snoozers of the college football season. Only two matchups feature a pair of ranked opponents on the field. Syracuse is one of them with the 13th ranked Orange (now 12th per the latest AP Poll) taking on No. 3 Notre Dame at Yankee Stadium. SU is all but certain to move up at least one spot in the College Football Playoff rankings after No. 11 Kentucky was embarrassed by Tennessee this week.
So naturally, the Syracuse and Notre Dame matchup would line up to be ESPN’s College Gameday matchup. Nope. The national media remained bullish on the Orange and picked the so-called “defending national co-champion” UCF Knights and their upcoming AAC matchup against unranked Cincinnati. Now this matchup will certainly be a ranked matchup after the Bearcats checked in at 19th in the latest AP Poll.
Regardless of the Bearcats spot in the rankings, UCF is coming off an unflattering 35-24 win over a now 2-8 Navy team. The Knights are the most controversial team in college football given their undefeated record, but also play a traditionally weak schedule. UCF’s strength of schedule is outside the top 100. It’s also worth noting that Cincinnati’s is even weaker as the 10th softest schedule in the country.
There’s the obvious rebuttal that since Syracuse and Notre Dame are not playing on any on the ESPN family of networks, so why would ESPN want its premiere pregame show to be promoting a rival station’s game. But three of the eleven games so far have been non-ESPN games, including two of the last three. One of those three was on NBC, the network for Syracuse’s game this week.
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Bowl projections after Week 11: Syracuse to the Peach Bowl (fansided.com; Schmidt)
Let’s begin with the College Football Playoff projections for the two games played on Dec. 29.
College Football Playoff projection
Cotton Bowl: No.1 Alabama vs. No. 4 Michigan
Orange Bowl: No. 2 Clemson vs. No. 3 Notre Dame
This is what was projected last week and with all four winning convincingly this week, they all remain in the same spots. The only real drama that awaits is if Syracuse can upset Notre Dame and if Ohio State gets Michigan in the season finale. It doesn’t look like anyone can challenge Alabama or Clemson within their conference.
New Year’s Six selection committee games
Sugar Bowl (SEC vs. Big 12): Georgia vs. Oklahoma
Fiesta Bowl (at-large vs. at-large): UCF vs. LSU
Rose Bowl (Big Ten vs. Pac-12): Ohio State vs. Washington State
Peach Bowl (at-large vs. at-large): Syracuse vs. West Virginia
The Sugar, Rose and Fiesta Bowls are all the same as last week as all those teams prevailed. The wrinkle comes at the Peach Bowl where Kentucky is bounced in favor of Syracuse who projected to be the highest-ranked at-large team. This decision was easier after NC State lost on Thursday night to Wake Forest.
Louisville's next step is simple after firing Petrino (SI; Staples)
Louisville athletic director Vince Tyra met face-to-face with Bobby Petrino on Sunday and fired him. Had he any sense of cosmic justice, he would have tacked a note to Petrino’s office door that said this:
Bobby Petrino,
Out of my respect for you, I am letting you know that, with a heavy heart, I fired you today as the Head Coach of the Louisville Cardinals. This decision was not easy, but it was made in the best interest of the school and its supporters. While my desire would have been for you to finish out what has been a difficult season for us all, circumstances did not allow me to do that. I appreciate your hard work and wish you the best.
Sincerely,
Vince Tyra
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Pitt football let its tough schedule shape it, not break it (post-gazette.com; Batko)
There could be any number of factors to point to for how Pitt football has managed to string together a three-game winning streak through the heart of ACC play.
Senior leadership? The oldest players on the team continue to do much of the heavy lifting, off the field in meeting rooms and on the field in the box score. Pitt’s two biggest stars are tailbacks Darrin Hall and Qadree Ollison, and in Saturday’s 52-22 flex against Virginia Tech, safety Dennis Briggs and linebacker Oluwaseun Idowu were the leading tacklers with seven each.
“They didn't let the emotions get to them, and senior day out there with your parents is not easy,” coach Pat Narduzzi said. “I've seen some flops when that happens, but our guys were locked into what they wanted.”
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Vukovcan: Narduzzi Has Pitt Program Poised to Turn the Corner (pittsburghnow.com; Vukovcan)
Pitt doesn’t win big home games. Pitt will choke. Pitt still doesn’t have a passing game and their running game will eventually get stopped. Pitt’s defense struggles with teams that run an uptempo offense.
Whether they’ll admit to it or not, the Pitt players and coaches were aware of what was being said by fans and the media.
To Pat Narduzzi and his staff’s credit, his players blocked out the negativity, dealt with the pressure of fighting for a title and turned in one of the most dominating performances in the history of Heinz Field.
That’s not an exaggeration, that’s a fact.
Narduzzi had this team prepared to play and they looked like a team deserving and worthy of playing in a conference championship game, something they very well could be doing in three weeks.
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Down the stretch: where the Triangle teams stand after Week 11 :: WRALSportsFan.com (wralsportsfan.com; Brownlow)
In a week where the four North Carolina teams faced off against each other, it was the two small, private schools that came out feeling good and the two big, public schools that came out feeling ... well, who would have thought that North Carolina and NC State fans would feel almost as bad, but for different reasons?
Duke's good feelings might be short-lived, though, with what comes next. And considering the foes NC State and UNC play next week, they'd better get back to the win column or else things could get pretty ugly.
NC State blew it on a big stage. The Wolfpack won't mess up again, though ... right?
There's no way to sanitize what happened on Thursday night on national television. It was embarrassing. Folks were talking about NC State's potential to still finish out with 10 wins and maybe even sneak into a New Year's Six bowl.
Even if NC State had won out - and obviously, it didn't - it still might not have made that top 10. But the hope would have been left alive, and there would have been reason for excitement. The possibilities were fun. They were in the discussion.
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Five things we learned from Clemson’s win against Boston College (thestate.com; Connolly)
Clemson pulled away from Boston College on Saturday night, earning a 27-7 victory and clinching the ACC Atlantic for the fourth consecutive season in the process. Here are five things we learned from Clemson’s win before the Tigers host Duke this weekend:
It’s not always going to be easy
Clemson was having its way with its opponents in the four games prior to the showdown with Boston College. The Tigers averaged 60 points per game during the four-game stretch, and the closest game was a five-touchdown win against N.C. State. But Clemson faced some resistance against the Eagles, scoring only 20 points on offense (Amari Rodgers returned a punt for a touchdown) and finishing 5-for-15 on third down. Clemson was still impressive as it earned a tough road victory, but Saturday was also a reminder that it’s not always going to be easy to just run up and down the field for four quarters like the Tigers had done as of late.
“We knew coming in that it was going to be a four-quarter game,” freshman QB Trevor Lawrence said. “Still, we missed some plays. We could’ve put it away a little bit earlier. But still, I’m just proud of the guys and how we fought.”
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ACC Football Rx: TV Ratings - Week 11, 2018 (accgootballrx.com; HM)
ESPN's press release states:
ABC’s Saturday Night Football featuring Clemson at Boston College (8 p.m. ET) was college football’s highest-rated prime-time game in week 11, followed by ESPN’s telecast of Auburn at Georgia (7 p.m.).
True... However, it wasn't the highest-rated game of the weekend - just in prime-time. The overall highest-rated game was Ohio State vs. Michigan State, which aired on Fox at noon:
Saturday’s Ohio State-Michigan State college football game earned a 3.8 overnight rating on FOX, up 36% from the same matchup on FOX last year, and the highest rated game of week eleven in the metered markets. Since FOX began airing regular season college football games in 2012, Saturday marked just the sixth time the network has topped the charts.
The second-highest rated football game was Mississippi State-Alabama, which drew a 3.4 overnight on CBS at 3:30 PM. That game also had competition from Oklahoma State-Oklahoma, which earned a 3.0 on ABC.
So that takes up to primetime, where the highest-rated game was, in fact, Clemson-Boston College, which scored a 2.6 overnight on ABC. It had quite a lot of competition in that time slot, including Georgia-Auburn (ESPN), Miami-Ga Tech (ESPN2), FSU-Notre Dame (NBC), and Texas-Texas Tech (Fox).
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ACC Football Rx: Coaches/AP Polls - 11/11/18 (accfootballrx.com; HM)
2018 College Football Rankings - Week 12
Coaches Poll AP Top 25
RK TEAM RK TEAM
1 Alabama 1 Alabama
2 Clemson 2 Clemson
3 Notre Dame 3 Notre Dame
4 Michigan 4 Michigan
5 Georgia 5 Georgia
6 Oklahoma 6 Oklahoma
7 West Virginia 7 West Virginia
8 Ohio State 8 Washington St
9 Washington St 9 Ohio State
10 LSU 10 LSU
11 UCF 11 UCF
12 Syracuse 12 Syracuse
13 Utah State 13 Texas
14 Texas 14 Utah State
15 Penn State 15 Florida
16 Florida 16 Penn State
17 Washington 17 Washington
18 Iowa State 18 Iowa State
19 Utah 19 Cincinnati
20 Cincinnati 20 Kentucky
21 Kentucky 21 Utah
22 Boston College 22 Boston College
23 Miss. State 23 Boise State
24 Boise State 24 Northwestern
25 UAB 25 Miss. State
Others receiving votes: Others receiving votes:
26 Northwestern 26 Army
27 Fresno State 27 UAB
28 Army 28 Fresno State
29 Buffalo 29 Michigan St
30 Virginia 30 NC State
31 Duke 31 Buffalo
32 NC State 32 Pittsburgh
33 Pittsburgh 33 Duke
34 Texas A&M 34 Texas A&M
35 Michigan St 35 Iowa
36 Auburn 36 Arizona St
37 Troy 37t Stanford
38 App. State 37t Auburn
39 Missouri 39 Troy
40 San Diego St
41 Wisconsin
42 Arizona St
43 Tennessee
Other
Thanksgiving to go: Where to get your made-to-order feast in CNY (PS; Pucci and Miller)
The turkey is slowly roasting in the oven and the pumpkin and apple pies sit on the windowsill to cool as the grandparents, aunts, uncles and the rest of your family gather in harmonious anticipation of the feast they'll soon share in peace.
Of course that never happens. Maybe your turkey is still frozen because you're a bozo who forgot to go to the store until the day before. Maybe the cousin in charge of bringing dessert decided that picking up a bag of McDonald's apple pies on the ride over would be acceptable. We all need help with Thanksgiving, whatever the reason might be.
Fortunately, there are plenty of stores and restaurants around Central New York that'll do the work for you, or at least make it a little bit easier.
We've also included a few nationally-available options, if that's more your style.
Wegmans
Wegmans offers shoppers three options for prepared Thanksgiving dinners. All can be ordered online at catering.wegmans.com.
Hand Carved Turkey Dinner for 12
Price: $229 ($19 per serving)
Menu:
Hand-carved free-range turkey
Butternut squash
Spinach and Craisins
Herb stuffing
Mashed potatoes
Seasoned green beans
Cranberry orange relish
Two 24-ounce containers of gravy
Notes: Heat and serve. Ready in 75 minutes
Hand Carved Turkey Dinner for 6
Price: $129 ($21.50 per serving)
Menu: The same as the larger dinner, but smaller portions. Includes half of a carved turkey.
Notes: Heat and serve. Ready in 45 minutes.
Classic Turkey Dinner
Serves: 10
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