sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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- Aug 15, 2011
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Welcome to National Cocoa Day!
National Cocoa Day celebrates hot cocoa. The day fittingly takes place in December, as the drink is often associated with cold weather. Although the names "hot chocolate" and "hot cocoa" are often used interchangeably, there technically is a difference between the two. This difference is not legal, however, and the two are often mislabeled at stores, most often with hot cocoa being labeled as hot chocolate. The difference lies in that hot chocolate contains cocoa butter, and hot cocoa does not. Hot cocoa uses cocoa powder that is made by removing cocoa butter from ground cocoa beans. Hot chocolate is made from bar chocolate, which has cocoa powder, sugar, and cocoa butter in it. These differences give both their distinct flavor and texture. Hot cocoa is thinner and more chocolatey, but is less rich. The richness in hot chocolate comes from the higher fat content, which comes from the cocoa butter.
SU News
Guys, I think we just left the corner in our rearview… | Otto's Grove (.com; Kelly)
It feels like every time we think we’re on the verge of turning the corner with Syracuse football, the rug gets yanked out from under us. Ever since Paul Pasqualoni was… er, “relieved of his duties” so to speak (and rightfully so, mind you — the program and recruiting were in clear decline in his final years), sky-high optimism has been met with a gut-punch of reality.
But this time, it just feels… different. Even during the first two seasons under Dino Babers (both 4-8 campaigns), we didn’t really feel like an eight loss team–particularly last year (at least until Eric Dungey went down to injury). And then, of course, came the 2018 season.
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Massive Win! Dino Babers Agrees to Extension at Syracuse – Orange Fizz – Free Syracuse Recruiting News (orangefizz.net; D.A.)
This has already been the most successful season in Syracuse football in years. Add to it yet another win, arguably the biggest since the glory years of the ’90s. Dino Babers has signed an extension to remain the head coach. Terms and years were not disclosed by the university.
The worry constantly throughout the season was with every on field victory and top 25 vote, the liklihood of Babers getting snatched by a larger program also grew. So with the coaching carousel season still in its early stages, getting this announcement is enormous for the Orange. Obviously, there are no guarantees in a situation like this. But it’s hard to envision Babers taking another job within weeks of signing a new deal at SU.
“It was a true honor to have accepted the head coach position then and I consider it a privilege today to be able to extend my time coaching at Syracuse University,” said Babers in a statement. “I am excited about what the future holds for Syracuse Football and look forward to our continued improvement and growth.”
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ESPN analyst says Syracuse game was his favorite of the year (theclemsoninsider.com; Vandervort)
When asked what he thought was his favorite game from the regular season on College Football Live Wednesday, ESPN analyst David Pollack did not hesitate to say it was Clemson’s 27-23 come-from-behind win over Syracuse back on Sept. 29 at Death Valley.
The Tigers, as you might recall, rallied from a 10-point fourth quarter deficit to down the Orange. Backup quarterback Chase Brice came in for the injured Trevor Lawrence and completed a fourth-and-six pass to Tee Higgins to keep the game winning drive alive.
Running back Travis Etienne rushed for a career-high 203 yards on 27 carries and scored three touchdowns, including the game-winner with 41 seconds to play.
Earlier in the week, former quarterback Kelly Bryant left the team after Dabo Swinney named Lawrence the starter.
“It was the big buzz all week long. Trevor Lawrence finally gets his first start,” Pollack said. “He scrambles out of the pocket early in the game, they’re already down a little bit, and boom! He is done! Kelly Bryant just transfers the (same week) Trevor Lawrence is the starter and Chase ‘Daggum’ Brice comes into the ball game, takes off his little green jacket he has on to start the game. Comes off the sideline and converts a huge fourth-down conversion for his team, down six to bring his team back to get the ‘W.’
“It was a phenomenal day at the office and just fun to see guys come in, battle and find a way to get an opportunity to bail your team out and put them in the playoff. They might not have been there without it.”
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Syracuse quarterback Eric Dungey finished the 2018 season with more than 3,200 total yards and 32 touchdowns responsible for. Here are his top plays from the 2018 campaign.
Camping World Bowl: QB Dungey Presents Big Challenge For WVU Defense - West Virginia University Athletics (wvusports.com; Atonik)
Dale Wolfley played at WVU. His older brother Craig played at Syracuse and with the Steelers in the NFL...
Yesterday morning, as I was sipping coffee and perusing the daily news, our Dale Wolfley barged into my office as only the Wolfman can.
"Hey Johnny," Mr. Boom began, "don't sleep on this Syracuse team. I just got done breaking down the tape on them and THESE GUYS ARE GOOD …
"REALLY GOOD!"
If there is one thing 30 years of observing West Virginia University football has taught me, it's never to sleep on a Mountaineer bowl opponent!
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Those two guys could beat you with their arms. They could beat you with their feet, and they could beat you with their brains.
Wolfley's film study of Dungey reveals those same qualities.
"He can do all three," the Wolfman said. "He's a competitor. He can keep the play alive with his legs or he can start the play with his legs.
"He's a guy who likes to tuck the ball and run; he's got a good, strong arm with a nice release - it's a quick release; he makes good decisions and he does a great job of going through the check-down process from his second to third receivers," Wolfley continued. "He's a really good quarterback."
There's one other thing to keep in mind about Mr. Dungey: he's got linebacker size at 6-feet-4 inches and 226 pounds, much like Oklahoma State's Taylor Cornelius and Texas' Sam Ehlinger. That means he is going to be bigger than almost every second- and third-level defender West Virginia runs at him.
We saw this year against Texas and Oklahoma State the damage big, physical quarterbacks are capable of doing.
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Dino Babers extended at Syracuse (tigernet.com; message board)
Dino Babers extended at Syracuse
I know a few on here thought he would bolt asap for a “bigger” gig, but cuse signed him to a long term deal today. We are a private school so terms probably will not be known for awhile. He was in the third year of a six year deal, so most likely $4m plus over 6 years with a significant buyout would be my guess.
I am posting because the majority on here seem to respect him and want a strong acc. Good luck v the irish.
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Satterfield Names Bryan Brown the New DC for Louisville Football (bcsnn.com)
The architect of one the nation's top defenses last season, Bryan Brown has been named the defensive coordinator at the University of Louisville, head coach Scott Satterfield announced.
After six seasons as the cornerbacks coach at Appalachian State (2012-17), Brown was promoted into the defensive coordinator position with the Mountaineers where he tutored one of the top defensive units in the nation.
"Bryan Brown is a young, upcoming star coach," head coach Scott Satterfield said. "He's an excellent recruiter who knows how to develop relationships with all the players. Defensively, his defense was ranked in the top 10 of many different categories. He's well-respected among his peers and he will do a great job for us."
In leading the Mountaineers to their third-straight Sun Belt title, a 10-2 record and a fourth consecutive bowl appearance, Brown's defense ranked sixth nationally in scoring defense at 15.7 points per game, holding the opposition to 10 or fewer points in seven contests. Brown's unit also ranked third in the country in passing defense (148.1) and sixth in total defense (279.3).
Before earning a promotion to the defensive coordinator position, Brown served as the cornerbacks coach at Appalachian State from 2012-17, leading one of nation's most opportunistic units.
Since the 2015 season, the Mountaineers ranked second nationally in interceptions, picking off 70 passes over that span, finishing second to San Diego's State's 72.
Over that span, the Mountaineers finished in the top 15 nationally, totaling 15 or more interceptions in each of those seasons.
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Scott Satterfield on the Louisville job: "I always want to be at a place that can compete for championships" - ACCSports.com (accsports.com; podcast (Glenn); Geisinger)
After the apparent frustration of not landing Jeff Brohm, who decided to remain at Purdue, Louisville football found its man: Scott Satterfield.
Previously the coach at Appalachian State, Satterfield, who also played quarterback for the Mountaineers in the 1990s, has six seasons of head coaching experience (2013-18). Since the 2014 season, when App State jumped up to the FBS level, the team has been a power in the Sun Belt Conference. Over the last five seasons, App State went47-16 under Satterfield. The program has also won three straight bowl games, too.
Shortly after taking his new post, Satterfield stopped back by The David Glenn Show to discuss his decision to leave Boone,
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ACC Football Rx: What if CFB players get paid? (RX; HM)
From CBS Sports article "Lawsuit has conferences quietly preparing for the likelihood of compensating players" by Dennis Dodd:
Plenty of questions remain should the judge rule for the plaintiffs in Alston vs. NCAA
Conferences are quietly preparing for the sea-changing possibility they can compensate players above current NCAA limits, significantly altering the longstanding NCAA amateurism model, according to interviews and documents obtained by CBS Sports.
A judge in the ongoing Alston vs. NCAA trial will conduct a final hearing on Dec. 18 pertaining to closing arguments. She will then decide -- likely early in 2019 -- whether scholarship limits imposed by the association violate anti-trust laws.
If the plaintiffs win, there is concern among the Power Five that a Wild West culture could take hold. The last time conferences oversaw athlete compensation was 1956 before the advent of TV, rights fees, agents and riches from the NFL and NBA.
Hey, that's essentially the reason why the NCAA enforcement division exists at all - to stop schools from paying players. Do away with that, and you may as well do away with the NCAA... but that's another story for another post!
The CBS article continues...
Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick suggested to CBS Sports in October. The NCAA inferred that conference autonomy in Alston would lead to a "fracturing of the existing … conferences." Swarbrick said with conferences free to name their price, conference realignment could hinge on the compensation philosophies of those leagues...
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ACC Football Rx: 8-Team Playoffs Coming Soon? (RX; HM)
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From BR: College Football's 'Influential Voices' Ready to Discuss 8-Team Playoff Format
Several "influential voices in college football" are reportedly prepared to discuss increasing the number of College Football Playoff teams from four to eight. Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic reported Wednesday that CFP expansion has received a "groundswell of support" with hopes the change can happen before the current contract with ESPN, the event's broadcast partner, expires in 2026...
Although the College Football Playoff has received less criticism than its predecessor, the Bowl Championship Series, it's still created issues. There isn't enough space for a representative from each of the Power Five conferences, and it has left virtually no path to a championship for schools from smaller conferences [like UCF]... which has completed two consecutive undefeated regular seasons in the American Athletic Conference but were never serious players in the final CFP conversations because of concerns about their mediocre strength of schedule.
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ACC Football Rx: Why the ACC should support eliminating divisions - 12/12/18 (RX; HM)
From TNIAAM: If Big Ten eliminates divisions, ACC should quickly follow by John Cassillo
The biggest hurdle to complete conference championship deregulation may soon be out of the way.
B1G commissioner Jim Delany mentioned getting rid of divisions last week as a potential response to being left out. Like the ACC and SEC, the B1G has 14 teams and two divisions of seven apiece. Also like the ACC and SEC, one of those divisions is significantly better than the other as a group... If the Big Ten actually makes progress on this, the ACC has to pursue the same idea as soon as possible.
The ACC doesn’t have the same motivations as the B1G to better situate its best team (one might argue they’re better off having Clemson stomp the lesser Coastal champ most years), but that end result fixes a much bigger problem for the league. Instead of going six years without facing fellow conference opponents, removing divisions creates the potential to face every other team every two or three years... Over two years ago, I wrote a bit about how the ACC could go about a division-less structure that protects rivalries and also have each team in the league face one another at least twice every four years.
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ACC Football Rx: Nah, Pitt's 2018 Schedule was tougher! (RX; HM)
Yesterday I posted an article stating that FSU had what might have been the most difficult schedule in college football history.
Well, a netizen and Pitt fan who goes by "CrazyPaco" disagrees - and has some really good arguments! From CSNBBS:
I don't think so.
The current record of Pitt's FBS opponents:105-51(0.671); or with the FCS team added, 108-59 (0.647).
By comparison, FSU's FBS opponents were 88-46 (.657); or including their FCS team (.648).
The Sagarin rating for Pitt's schedule is 76.8 (or ranked 3rd); FSU's is 75.75 (ranked 10th). At least three other Strength of Schedule rankings (every one I checked and four in total) had FSU behind Pitt.
There were 6 common opponents: Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Miami, Syracuse, Notre Dame, and Clemson.*
They both played at home vs a 9-win, in-state, non-conference FBS opponent: Pitt vs PSU and FSU vs Florida.
They both played a 2 win ACC opponent: Pitt @UNC and FSU @Louisville
Differences in ACC opponents were Pitt played Virginia, Georgia Tech, and Duke; while FSU played BC and NC State.
Pretty similar until you get to a very major difference in the non-conference schedule: Pitt's non-FBS opponent was @UCF, while FSU played at home vs Northern Illinois.
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Sapakoff: Tony Elliott, Jeff Scott and the evolving Clemson football routine for December (postandcourier.com; Sapakoff)
There’s always a new wrinkle or two, something that might work against a certain look on defense, something that might make Nick Saban or another potential winter opponent think twice.
In Clemson’s 42-10 crushing of Pittsburgh at the ACC Championship Game on Dec. 1 in Charlotte, it was a flea-flicker pass on the last snap of the third quarter. Trevor Lawrence handed off to running back Tavien Feaster, who lunged up the middle before pitching the ball back to Lawrence, who connected with Justyn Ross on a 38-yard pass to the Pittsburgh 2-yard line.
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Duke has a bowl game to win and two pretty poor recent performances to forget (nyrtlebeachonline.com; Wiseman)
As poor as its last performance was, the only thing Duke’s football team can do is make sure it’s not repeated on Dec. 27.
That’s the day the Blue Devils play Temple at Shreveport, La., in the Independence Bowl, the program’s sixth bowl appearance in the last seven seasons.
Duke last played a game on Nov. 24. Wake Forest blasted the Blue Devils 59-7 that day, handing Duke’s David Cutcliffe the most lopsided defeat of his 17 seasons as a head coach.
Duke’s coaches and players had to live with that performance for nearly two weeks before gathering again on a football field.
Last Friday, they held the first of 15 practices allowed in preparation for their bowl game.
“They are anxious,” Cutcliffe said. “They wanted to get back out. This is good healing.”
Duke won seven of its first 10 games this season to earn another bowl trip. But it lost 35-6 at No. 2 Clemson before the Wake Forest debacle. The players certainly believe the push to put on a better performance will drive them between now and Dec. 27.
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ACC Power Rankings: Best Bowl Games (stateoftheu.com; Hadrick)
Hey Hadrick, Pratt isn't playing either...
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3. Camping World Bowl - Syracuse vs West Virginia, December 28th 5:15pm ET
Matchup to watch: West Virginia QB Jack Allison vs Syracuse QB Eric Dungey
This matchup would’ve come in at #2 if not for WV QB Will Grier skipping the bowl to prepare for the NFL Draft. Backup Jack Allison (a transfer from Miami) will be asked to keep up with another talented gunslinger in Syracuse senior Eric Dungey, who has been electric on the ground as well (732 rush yds, 15 rush TDs)
2. Taxslayer Gator Bowl - NC State vs Texas A&M, December 31st 7:30pm ET
Matchup to watch: Texas A&M RB Trayveon Williams vs NC State front seven
A&M has relied heavily on the running of Trayveon Williams, who averaged 31 carries per game and 6 yards per carry. Luckily for the Wolfpack, it’s a battle of strengths as they have been stout against the run, led by senior LB Germaine Pratt and his 104 tackles.
1. Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic - Clemson vs Notre Dame, December 29th 4:00pm ET
Matchup to watch: Notre Dame QB Ian Book vs Clemson defensive line
Notre Dame made a successful change at QB midway through the season, but that also means that Ian Book hasn’t faced a defense comparable to what he’ll face in the CFP semifinals since he sat week 1 against Michigan. Clemson’s front 4 includes All-Americans Christian Wilkins and Clelin Ferrell, who not only bring terrifying talent but also big game experience. Book will need some tough skin to lead the Irish to the National Championship game.
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Quick Lane Bowl Q&A: Breaking down Paul Johnson’s legacy with From the Rumble Seat (thedailygopher.com; Ruane)
When the Minnesota Golden Gophers and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets take the field for the Quick Lane Bowl on Dec. 26, two head coaches will stand in stark contrast to each other. One is nearing the end of his sixth year as a head coach and his second year at Minnesota, where he hopes to build something special. The other is closing out a head coaching career that started 20 years ago, culminating in a successful 11-year stint at Georgia Tech.
I spoke with Benjamin Tankersley, co-manager of the Georgia Tech SB Nation site From the Rumble Seat, about Johnson’s decade-long tenure with the Yellow Jackets.
When Paul Johnson was first hired, what was the reaction from the Yellow Jacket faithful? I imagine there was a great deal of skepticism, as is often the case when “triple-option offense” and “Power 5 program” are used in the same sentence.
Benjamin Tankersley: I was still a very young fan when Johnson was hired, but I remember hearing that some coach from Navy had been hired to replace Chan Gailey, who was not particularly liked by the fanbase. After scoring six points in the ACC Championship Game against Wake Forest while having Calvin Johnson at your disposal and not beating your rival in seven tries, you’re not going to be a well-liked coach. People were skeptical at first, with most expecting Tech to struggle out of the gate. And obviously that didn’t happen.
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Other
Pyramid to build more than 200 apartments at Crossgates Mall (PS; Moriarty)
The Pyramid Cos. has proposed building more than 200 apartment and townhouse units close to its Crossgates Mall near Albany.
The Syracuse-based mall development company has submitted plans to the town of Guilderland for the large residential complex just west of the mall, at the intersection of Rapp and Gipp roads.
Two five-story buildings and three two-story buildings containing 222 one- and two-bedroom apartments would be built off a tree-lined road that would provide access to the site, according to plans filed with the Guilderland Planning Board.
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