sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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Welcome to National Roller Coaster Day!
Each year National Roller Coaster Day on August 16th people flock to amusement parks for a thrill and a few excited screams, too! Take a ride on a roller coaster near you.
The day commemorates the first verticle loop roller coaster which was patented by Edwin Prescott on this day in 1898. A roller coaster consists of one or multiple cars on a track. While they are similar to railroad systems in design, the inclines and vertical loops incorporated in the structures aren’t for transportation. These elements boost the thrills rollercoaster enthusiast seek!
The oldest roller coasters are believed to have originated from the so-called “Russian Mountains.” Built-in the 17th century, these specially constructed hills of ice located near Saint Petersburg, Russia rose between 70 and 80 feet in height. Passengers faced 50-degree drops. Wooden supports supplied reinforcement.
SU News
Who will start on the offensive line? — 2019 Syracuse Football preview - The Juice Online (the juice; Cheng)
As we countdown to kickoff in August, we’re going to be tackling the biggest burning questions on the 2019 Syracuse football team. Today’s burning question: Who will start on Syracuse’s offensive line?
One of the biggest concerns for Syracuse’s offense heading into the offseason was its offensive line.
Syracuse lost three starters in the offseason—guard Cody Conway, and tackles Koda Martin and Aaron Roberts—leaving only returning starters Airon Servais (a redshirt junior who started at center last year) and Evan Adams (a redshirt senior and three-year starter at right guard).
In an ideal world, Servais would move to tackle and Sam Heckel would slide into the starting center spot. But Heckel missed a portion of preseason camp with an unspecified injury, and only returned to practice this week and began working second team reps at center.
Adams has been moved to left guard for preseason camp, but he will be a starter either way.
The remaining two spots seem slotted for tackle Ryan Alexander, a graduate transfer from South Alabama, and Dakota Davis, who was listed atop the depth chart as the team’s left guard in spring practice and currently has been taking first-team reps at right guard during preseason camp.
The coaching staff has also liked what they’ve seen from JUCO transfer Darius Tisdale, who came into preseason camp as the No. 2 left tackle and has also seen second-team reps at right tackle.
Redshirt senior Andrejas Duerig was listed as the team’s backup center during spring practice and also has experienced at guard. But he’s been out with an undisclosed injury during preseason practice.
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https://247sports.com/college/syracuse/Article/Syracuse-Orange-Football-Training-Camp-Video-Highlights-August-15-2019-134465339/ (247sports.com; video' Gaurin-Camargo)
Check out the video above for clips from Syracuse football's training camp practice on August 15, 2019.
https://www.thestate.com/sports/college/acc/article234028637.html (thestate.com; Giglio)
Tabari Hines’ arrival at N.C. State could have been awkward.
Hines had the best game of his college football career for Wake Forest in a win over N.C. State in 2017. But like a diving catch in the corner of the end zone, the graduate transfer receiver has made the difficult seem routine.
“He’s a good guy,” Wolfpack junior cornerback Chris Ingram said. “He’s easy to get along with.”
How quickly Hines has been able to ingratiate himself to his new teammates, who could still be bitter about the Wake Forest game from two years ago, is notable. For the most part, his strategy has been not to talk about the game, which ultimately cost the Wolfpack a chance at the second double-digit win season in school history.
“I’ve really tried to stay from talking about it,” Hines said. “I don’t like when people talk about it. It really makes me uncomfortable sometimes.”
Hines, a slot receiver, had eight catches for 139 yards and three touchdowns, including what would be the game-deciding score in a 30-24 Wake Forest win on Nov. 18, 2017 in Winston-Salem.
It was Ingram, then a true freshman in his first college start, who was covering Hines most of the game.
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https://www.newsobserver.com/latest-news/article233704907.html (newsobserver.com; video; Giglio)
The News & Observer's Joe Giglio previews the NC State football's first six games of the 2019 season. How does he think the Wolfpack fare against ECU, Western Carolina, West Virginia, Ball State, FSU and Syracuse?
https://247sports.com/LongFormArticle/ACC-Football-2019-Schedules-Ranking-Easiest-to-Hardest-134480441/#134480441_2
9247sports.com; Igoe)
The Atlantic Coast Conference has been far from the toughest league in the college football world in recent years, but thanks to the emergence of the Clemson Tigers as an annual national title contender, the conference has seen its profile raised a good bit of late.
Clemson, which has won two of the last three national championships, looks like the prohibitive favorite in the Atlantic Division moving forward, including in 2019, while the Coastal Division appears as wide open as ever. The Tigers, just by virtue of being in the same division as six other Atlantic Division teams, automatically make the fall schedules significantly harder for each of those teams, while the Coastal Division programs that dodge Dabo Swinney's club in 2019 can breathe a sigh of relief.
The ACC's deal with Notre Dame - an agreement that has the Fighting Irish matched up with five ACC teams annually despite being a Division I Independent - also makes for a much harder non-conference schedule for some teams compared to others outside of league action. Below, we rank the ACC team-by-team, starting with the easiest schedule and finishing with the hardest, on paper heading into the season. The rankings take into account ACC opponents, non-conference schedules, and some of the toughest multiple-game stretches each team will face on its 2019 slate.
14. VIRGINIA TECH
A game at Notre Dame on Nov. 2 saves an overall weak non-conference schedule that also features home matchups with Old Dominion, Furman and Rhode Island. Virginia Tech misses Clemson, Florida State and Syracuse from the Atlantic, getting Boston College (Aug. 31) and Wake Forest (Nov. 9) instead. The Hokies do have to travel to both Miami and Virginia, the two teams expected to challenge them in 2019 for the Coastal Division title. Other than that, this is a very manageable schedule for head coach Justin Fuente.
13. VIRGINIA
The Cavaliers hope to breakthrough and win the Coastal Division this year under fourth-year coach Bronco Mendenhall, and it has a fairly favorable schedule to do just that. After opening the season at Pittsburgh, Virginia hosts FCS foe William & Mary on Sept. 6 and gets Old Dominion and Liberty at home in non-conference action as well. The Cavs also get a favorable draw from the Atlantic Division, dodging Clemson and Syracuse, and getting Florida State at home and Louisville on the road. Notre Dame on Sept. 28 won’t be easy, but it is a non-conference game sandwiched in between Old Dominion and an open date. UVA’s game at Miami on Oct. 11 and a regular season home finale versus Virginia Tech will likely determine its fate in the Coastal standings.
12. NC STATE
The Wolfpack has a relatively favorable non-conference slate, hosting East Carolina, FCS foe Western Carolina and Ball State in three of the first four weeks, but it does have to travel to West Virginia on Sept. 14. The good news is the Mountaineers will be rebuilding and NC State could be looking at a 4-0 start if it can handle business. ACC play begins on Sept. 28 at Florida State, followed by Syracuse on Thursday night after a bye week. The ‘Pack also draws Boston College and Wake Forest both on the road, with each opponent coming off byes. Clemson will come to Raleigh on Nov. 9 before a favorable three-game stretch versus Louisville, at Georgia Tech and versus North Carolina to close the regular season.
11. MIAMI
The Hurricanes will get a head start on most of college football when they play on the weekend of Week Zero (Aug. 24) versus Florida in Orlando. While the Gators are a tough first game for new head coach Manny Diaz, the rest of the non-conference slate is relatively easy, as Miami gets Bethune-Cookman, Central Michigan and FIU. Atlantic Division crossover games include a date with rival Florida State in Tallahassee and a home game versus what should be a down Louisville team. Two straight ACC home games in a six-day stretch from Oct. 5-11 - vs. Virginia Tech and vs. Virginia - could ultimately decide Miami’s ACC championship fate.
10. SYRACUSE
The Orange’s non-conference schedule looks manageable, but it does have to open with consecutive road games against teams with first-year head coaches in Liberty and Maryland. That may not be as easy as it seems, especially considering Syracuse plays Clemson immediately after on Sept. 14. Home games versus Western Michigan and Holy Cross in back-to-back weeks in late September will help cancel out the difficult start. Once the meat of ACC play arrives, the Orange face a tough Thursday night test against NC State on the road, and it also travels to Florida State in late October. Syracuse does draw Pittsburgh and Duke from the Coastal Division, which could be seen as two favorable matchups.
9. BOSTON COLLEGE
The Eagles get Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh from the Coastal Division in the crossover games this year, while playing a relatively easy non-conference schedule trio of Richmond, Kansas and Rutgers. They do have to travel to Notre Dame late in the season on Nov. 23. In Atlantic Division action. BC is also forced to go on the road for two of the divisional favorites in consecutive weeks in Clemson (Oct. 26) and Syracuse (Nov. 2). Those two games are sandwiched in between home meetings versus NC State and Florida State. That’s a brutal four-game stretch.
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https://wtkr.com/2019/08/15/acc-team-to-play-in-san-diegos-holiday-bowl-beginning-in-2020/ (wtkr.com; Winkler)
Change is in the air for San Diego’s post-season college football game. The San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl is currently in its sixth year of six-year contracts with the Pac-12 and Big Ten. At a press conference earlier today it was announced that, beginning in 2020, the Pac-12 will remain in the lineup, but will instead square off against teams from another Power 5 conference – the ACC.
“The SDDCU Holiday Bowl is known for high-scoring, exciting finishes,” said Mark Neville, CEO of the Holiday Bowl. “Pitting the Pac-12 up against the ACC, two of the highest scoring conferences in the country, is going to feed perfectly into our reputation. San Diegans can expect some thrilling games ahead, no question about it!”
Not one of the 15 ACC schools has ever played in the Holiday Bowl. ACC schools include Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami, North Carolina, NC State, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest. If bowl eligible and not in a College Football Playoff game, Notre Dame is also available to ACC bowls. The ACC has won more football national championships than any other conference since 2013 (three of the last six years), and in 2018 the conference had 11 schools participating in bowl games.
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https://anchor.fm/basketball-conference-acc-college-football-podcast/episodes/2019-NC-State-Football-Preview-An-Offensive-Rebuild-in-Raleigh-e4kj4m (anchor.fm; podcast; McDaniel & Weaver)
2019 NC State Football Preview: An Offensive Rebuild in Raleigh
https://www.thetimesnews.com/sports/20190815/acc-football-notes-stats-line-up-almost-even-in-wake-forest-scrimmage (thetimesnews.com)
Some of the statistics for quarterbacks Sam Hartman and Jamie Newman were similar in Wake Forest’s first scrimmage earlier this week.
Both players were credited with 146 passing yards. Newman completed 8 of 12 passes with two touchdowns and Hartman was 9-for-18 with one touchdown.
This is the second summer in a row that Hartman and Newman, a former Graham standout, have been in the quarterback competition. “They are both playing better than a year ago,” coach Dave Clawson said. “Right now, we have two quarterbacks who are better than any quarterback we had a year ago and that’s a compliment to both of them. If either of them had played this well last year, it would have been an easy decision (on whom to start).”
Sage Surratt racked up 104 receiving yards on four catches and one touchdown. Isaiah Isaac caught two touchdown passes.
Freshman running back Kenneth Walker compiled 84 rushing yards on 15 carries.
Linebacker Chase Jones and defensive back Zach Ranson, both freshmen, had nine tackles apiece.
Wake Forest opens the season Aug. 30 against visiting Utah State.
‒ DEFENSE DELIVERS AT DUKE SCRIMMAGE: Duke’s first scrimmage last weekend included 104 passing yards and one touchdown for quarterback Quentin Harris and two interceptions for safety Michael Carter. The scrimmage consisted of 75 snaps.
Harris, who completed 8 of 14 throws, tossed a 34-yard touchdown pass to Aaron Young. Jarett Garner caught a 44-yard touchdown pass from Robert Nelson.
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https://www.scacchoops.com/best-and-worst-case-record-for-boston-college-football-in-2019 (scacchoops.com; JFann)
Let's take a look at the 2019 Boston College football team.
Best / Worse Case Record for :
Louisville | Virginia | Miami | Duke | Georgia Tech | Pittsburgh | Florida State | Virginia Tech | NC State | Clemson | Syracuse | North Carolina | Wake Forest
Boston College
Steve Addazio is this decade’s Chan Gailey. You know what that means, 7 wins, 7 wins 7 wins and more 7 wins seasons. Last year was another 7 win season for Steve Addazio. After 6 seasons of decent but rarely great football, what does Boston College want to do if the Addazio can’t exceed the 7 win total for a 7th straight season?
Will Go 9-3 (6-2) if:
The Eagles can take advantage of a manageable opening near 2 months of the season. Look at this schedule – Virginia Tech, Richmond, Kansas, at Rutgers, Wake Forest, at Louisville, NC State. Is there a game there Boston College should feel they can’t win? That’s a schedule a quality team can start the year 6-1 or 7-0. Boston College brings back their starting QB Anthony Brown, leading receiver Kobay White, and super stud RB AJ Dillon.
If Thomas can continue to improve as a passer, the offense will keep defense from keying on AJ Dillon. The defensive line needs to grow up quickly as they will be an inexperienced unit. If that happens, and the defense improves from a 2018 ranking of 70th in the country, BC can win a lot of games in 2019.
Will Go 5-7 (2-6) if:
The defense doesn’t improve. Bill Sheridan takes over at DC from Jim Reid, because of mediocre defensive play. Another season of that, and BC could have issues. Even in the best of circumstances, BC doesn’t want to get in a lot of shootouts. Their offense just isn’t built to win a lot of games like that.
The early part of the schedule is easy, but lose 2 of 3 to Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, and NC State at BC and the homestretch will finish off the Eagles. The could easily lose their last 5 games at Clemson, at Syracuse, FSU, at Notre Dame and at Pittsburgh. Anthony Brown needs to take the next step as a passer.
https://rubbingtherock.com/2019/08/15/clemson-football-preseason-2019-mid-camp-report/ (rubbingtherock.com; Spencer)
for gbo
What are things looking like in fall camp for Clemson football? Here’s our mid-camp report as the Tigers head into the final couple of weeks of preseason.
The 2019 Clemson football season is just two weeks away from kicking off.
The Tigers will open up play against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in Death Valley on a Thursday night. The matchup will be featured on the newly-launched ACC Network and Tiger fans will have an opportunity to see their team celebrated beforehand as part of ESPN College GameDay.
Before the games begin, the Clemson football coaching staff will continue to push the Tigers to get better and make sure they’ll fully prepared for the upcoming season.
As we have approached the midpoint of the 2019 Clemson football fall camp, here’s our mid-camp report, by position.
Quarterbacks
Beginning with the quarterbacks, we should point out that the coaching staff has had nothing but good things to say about Trevor Lawrence.
Lawrence was trying to do too much in spring camp, but has seemingly been doing a much better job as a leader. He is up to 220 pounds and looks more physically ready for the grind of an entire season.
Outside of Lawrence, we haven’t heard much about the quarterback position. We do know that one of the quarterbacks threw an interception in the situational scrimmage, but other than that it’s been fairly quiet.
Chase Brice is locked in as the second-string and it should be expected that freshman Taisun Phommachanh redshirts, though he’ll likely still play in four games.
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https://www.postandcourier.com/sports/clemson/four-takeaways-from-clemson-s-second-scrimmage/article_412055a8-bf9b-11e9-a811-73fec1680eae.html (postandcourier.com; Needelman)
for gbo
College football, coach Dabo Swinney reminded reporters Monday, is the only level of the sport that doesn’t hold preseason contests.
Both high school and professional coaches are afforded the opportunity to tinker with matchups, lineups and formations against real opponents before the season starts.
Clemson won’t have the opportunity to test itself against live competition until Aug. 29, when Georgia Tech comes to Memorial Stadium. In the meantime, the Tigers held two intrasquad scrimmages during fall camp, pitting the team’s offense against the defense.
The second of the scrimmages was held Thursday morning. Here are four takeaways from the game.
1. First team wins the day
Swinney was impressed with the team’s starters on offense and defense, which should come as little surprise given the star power on both ends of the ball.
The veteran coach expressed frustration at the play of the backups, though.
“The positive is a lot of guys got exposed today that (I) felt like they were doing pretty good,” Swinney said. “We got some guys that got their eyes opened today. Got a few guys that I know are ready to play, and we got a bunch that I know aren’t.”
Swinney noted that the reserves on offense committed too many turnovers and struggled with bad snaps and dropped passes. The defensive reserves missed tackles and committed penalties.
“Some guys took a step forward, some of them took a step back,” Swinney said. “Now we assess. Got to make some decisions personnel-wise.”
2. Darien Rencher has shot at third running back slot
Junior Travis Etienne has a lock on the starting running back slot, and sophomore Lyn-J Dixon, who averaged 8.82 yards per carry on 62 carries last season, figures to be the Etienne’s primary backup.
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https://saturdayblitz.com/2019/08/15/louisville-football-2019-preview-predictions/ (saturdayblitz.com; McDaniel)
It’s a new regime for Louisville football under head coach Scott Satterfield, so what’s a realistic outcome for the Cardinals?
There is no way around it, 2018 was a disaster for Louisville. After a 2017 season that underachieved in the final year of the Lamar Jackson era at quarterback, Bobby Petrino entered 2018 on the hot seat, and boy was it uglier than anyone expected.
The book-end to the second era Petrino concluded with a nine-game losing streak and a 2-10 record overall. To add salt to the wound, the Cardinals were win-less in conference play, saddling an 0-8 record in the ACC.
After moving on from Petrino and his coaching staff, Louisville’s athletic department knew a culture change was necessary. As such, they went out and made a GREAT culture hire in nabbing Scott Satterfield from Appalachian State. He built a consistently good-to-great FCS school that later turned into one of top FBS schools in the Group of Five.
Satterfield compiled a 47-16 record that included three bowl wins in five seasons at the school, so in addition to being a culture hire, it’s clear that he can flat out coach.
While this is a good hire and Satterfield has put together a solid staff, it is expected to get uglier before it gets better. Let’s take a look at how this thing might shake out for the Cards in 2019.
Can the offense take strides forward after a rough 2018?
Uh, hopefully the offense is better. It was ugly last year, and that’s putting it lightly.
- The Cardinals ranked 122nd nationally in scoring at 19.8 points per game.
- They ranked 102nd in rushing at 141.5 yards per game.
- They ranked 89th in passing at 211.1 yards per game.
- And finally, they ranked 109th in the country in total offense, averaging 352.6 yards per game.
At the time of drafting this article, Louisville has not chosen a starting quarterback for the Labor Day night opener against Notre Dame, but a decision is expected soon.
No matter who ends up being QB1, the turnovers will need to be cleaned up heading into 2019. The Cards were bad enough offensively to begin with a year ago, but when combining their existing issues with the turnovers, where at -12 in margin, Louisville was ranked 125th nationally, there is no room for error.
Cleaning up the turnovers will go a long way, and consistency on the offensive line will be step one towards turning this thing back in the right direction. Scott Satterfield-led offenses have been historically run-heavy in the past, so expect that trend to continue heading into the season.
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https://tvrev.com/acc-network-deal-with-charter-spectrum-is-big-piece-of-carriage-puzzle/ (tvrev.com; Cassillo)
Live sports are one of the final big-ticket items left for TV, and the rights deals that govern where those events appear remain incredibly lucrative for everyone involved. Still, with the way people watch and subscribe to TV programming changing, getting specialized sports networks picked up has increasingly become a challenge.
All four major U.S. sports leagues (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL) have their own networks, and regional sports networks also operate as exclusive homes for certain teams; something that becomes a potential problem when there are contract disputes or struggles for wider pick-up. New York’s seen this with the YES Network, which primarily carries the Yankees, as well as the Brooklyn Nets. The Dodgers’ Spectrum SportsNetLA remains on just handful of TVs in Los Angeles, despite the team winning the National League West every year since 2013.
The largest (read: most successful) college athletic conferences also have their own networks, which serve as a major revenue boost for the schools as costs continue to rise around running athletic programs. According to recent reports ($$$), the Big Ten paid out $759 million to its 14 members in 2017-18 — plenty of which coming from both its national TV deals with ESPN and Fox, plus Big Ten Network distribution. The Southeastern Conference (SEC), which has deals with ESPN and CBS as well as the SEC Network, earned a $660 million split between 14 teams.
Naturally, the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) wants in on these sorts of payouts as well, which is why the league’s been working with long-time partner ESPN these past few years toward the launch of its own network this August. The ACC made $465 million (14 schools get a full share and Notre Dame gets a partial share as a non-football member) in 2017-18 without a dedicated channel to call its own. That number will go up plenty in the future, depending on how many successful carriage deals the ACC can secure.
In that regard, so far, so good. Especially as the ACC announced its latest deal with Charter/Spectrum, the country’s third-largest MVPD with 16 million households — many of which are in New York and North Carolina, two of the biggest areas for fans and alumni of the conference’s schools. That’s great on its own. It’s even better when added to the already impressive haul the league’s announced with about a week until launch:
- DirecTV: 19 million
- Verizon Fios: 4-5 million
- Altice: 3-4 million
- NCTC: 3-4 million
- Hulu: 2 million
- YouTubeTV: 1 million
- Google Fiber: Less than 1 million
- PlayStation Vue: Less than 1 million
- T-Mobile TVision: Less than 1 million
https://accfootballrx.blogspot.com/2019/08/update-how-many-subscribers.html (RX; HM)
UPDATE: How Many Subscribers
Thanks to feedback from various readers I now have more accurate subscriber data for several TV providers. In particular, while I was pretty close on the total combined subscribers for ATT/Uverse and DirecTV, I was way off with the split -- DirecTV has the lion's share of the TV subscribers.
Here is my updated table of subscribers:
| Distributor | Renewal | subscribers* |
| DirectTV | signed | 18.7 |
| Charter | signed | 15.8 |
| Verizon/FiOS | signed | 5.74 |
| Altice | signed | 4.6 |
| Hulu TV | signed | 2 |
| YouTube TV | signed | 1 |
| PlayStation Vue | signed | 0.8 |
| TOTAL SIGNED UP | 48.64 | |
| ATT Uverse | 2019 | 3.7 |
| Comcast | 2021 | 22.1 |
| Dish Network | 2022 | 9.6 |
| Cox | ? | 4.5 |
| Sling TV | ? | 2.4 |
| DirectTV Now | ? | 1.5 |
| Frontier | ? | 1.3 |
| Mediacom | ? | 0.8 |
| Windstream | ? | 0.36 |
| RCN | ? | 0.33 |
| Cable ONE | ? | 0.3 |
| TOTAL NOT SIGNED UP | 46.89 |
OBSERVATIONS:
1. This new data indicates that the ACC Network is now available to around half of all pay tv subscribers(note: we aren't accounting for the myriad of small providers - such as those which make up the National Cable Television Cooperative - which may add up to a pretty big number).
2. Dish Network is rumored to be in serious negotiations for the ACC Network right now.
3. According to my sources, ATT/Uverse should be up for renewal with ESPN before the year is over, so adding their 3.7 million is a real possibility.
4. There are only about 90 million total U.S. subscribers to be had.
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https://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2019/08/15/top-five-college-football-teams-ready-to-bust-out-in-2019/ (collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com; Fischer)
It may seem like Clemson’s thrashing of Alabama in the national title game was only a few months ago but as fresh in our minds as that contest was, it was last season. Hard as it is to believe but the 2019 campaign is almost here and it’s time to turn our attention from what happened last year to what could happen between the lines this fall.
As part of CFTalk’s 2019 College Football Preview, we’re exploring every nook and cranny of the sport before kickoff in Week 0. Up first, which teams might be ready to bust out and have a banner season? Several of these were either under or treading water in 2018 but could be in store for a big jump over the coming months.
Without further ado, here are five candidates to bust out in the Power Five and a handful of others in the Group of Five who could do the same in 2019:
Miami
Manny Diaz has taken over in Coral Gables and optimism is running high given what he was able to do with the Hurricanes defense as a coordinator the past few years, including bringing some of the swagger back to ‘The U’ with the now infamous turnover chain. The team slumped to a 7-6 finish last season, getting run out of the building by Wisconsin in the Pinstripe Bowl. That ending certainly framed how this team is viewed going into 2019 but the ‘Canes still have one of the more talented rosters in the ACC and sport perhaps the best defense this side of Clemson in the conference too. The key to the program all comes down to the offense being not quite as awful as it was a year ago. There’s some talent surrounding new quarterback Jarren Williams and the hope is that new OC Dan Enos — fresh off an impressive run as Tua Tagovailoa’s coach at Alabama — can meld everything on that side of the ball into a cohesive unit. The opener against rival Florida in Orlando is fairly tough but the schedule is among the most manageable in the country and Miami might be favored in 11 of their 12 games overall. Somebody has to win the Coastal Division and the Hurricanes have as good a shot as any to have a big jump on the win total and make a run to Charlotte.
TCU
It seems like this is an annual exercise under Gary Patterson. Much is expected of the Horned Frogs one year, only for them to flop. Then nothing is expected amid one big question mark and TCU winds up challenging for the Big 12 and a playoff bid (see 2014 and 2017). We might be a lot closer to the latter with this year’s squad, which may technically return only 12 starters but has a ton of players with experience returning to the lineup after injuries hit the team hard the past 18 months or so. The Horned Frogs offense should sport one of the better offensive lines, a solid running game and an All-American candidate Jalen Reagor at wideout. The question remains quarterback, which will largely determine the ceiling or floor of this group. Kansas State transfer Alex Delton or four-star freshman Max Duggan are the two front-runners for the gig though both are likely to see time early on. As one can expect from a Patterson-coached team, the defense will be pretty good too. Most of the talk in the Big 12 has been about stalwarts Oklahoma and Texas but don’t discount the Frogs making it back to AT&T Stadium either.
Oklahoma State
Sticking in the Big 12, the Cowboys narrowly avoided their first losing season since 2005 and are hoping to get back to the double-digit wins that have they have been accustomed to having the last few years. Princeton’s Sean Gleeson is the team’s new offensive coordinator and his biggest task will be keeping the offense going with either redshirt freshman Spencer Sanders or Hawaii transfer Dru Brown at quarterback. Whoever emerges under center will get the benefit of throwing to Biletnikoff Award finalist Tylan Wallace at receiver and a pretty solid tailback group headlined by Chuba Hubbard. The secondary should be a strength on defense and the hope is that some surprises emerge in the front seven to help make a solid group on that side of the ball better. OSU was better than their record indicated in 2018 given the number of close losses they suffered and given how their schedule shakes out, it wouldn’t be a shock to see Mike Gundy’s group return to the top 25 this season.
Minnesota
There’s been a ton of discussion about the Big Ten West and how the division shakes up this year, with Iowa, defending champ Northwestern and fast-riser Nebraska garnering much of the discussion with a little Purdue mixed in for good measure. The dark horse few mention is the Gophers though, who took a nice jump in Year 2 under P.J. Fleck to a bowl game and are hoping to row the boat to even more progress in 2019. QB Tanner Morgan was a big reason behind last season’s stretch run, going 4-2 as a starter and developing obvious chemistry with top target Tyler Johnson. Add in a pretty accomplished group at running back and the Minnesota offense has a chance to surprise folks with how good it can be. Defensively, the team has responded well to DC Joe Rossi after he was elevated to the gig and the Gophers are returning six starters on that side of the ball plus returning safetyAntoine Winfield Jr. after a injury-shortened redshirt campaign and Notre Dame graduate transfer Micah Dew-Treadway up front. They get Rutgers and Maryland as two of their crossover Big Ten East games so a run at double-digit wins can’t be ruled out in the Twin Cities if everything comes together.
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Other
https://www.syracuse.com/sports/201...ong-future-in-syracuse-mets-relationship.html (PS; Kramer)
International League president Randy Mobley got his first close-up look at the Syracuse-New York Mets affiliation this week, and he came away encouraged about the relationship’s long-term prospects.
Mobley tries to visit every IL ballpark through the course of the season, but he hadn’t swung through NBT Bank Stadium since the Mets purchased the Syracuse two seasons ago. While Mobley understood that many were disappointed Syracuse would no longer be a community-owned team, he said the sale to New York was the right move.
“There would have definitely been some limits and some challenges (without the sale). And I think that board that was in place evaluated that based on challenges that they saw, based on having to live on the edge. How long can you do that?” Mobley said. "They made some really difficult decisions. I think they were the right decisions. In a perfect world, would you have liked to have seen the community ownership continue forever more? Probably so. But we weren’t living in a perfect world. That wasn’t the situation.
“And what the New York Mets have come in and done is they have assured, and with the very significant commitment in the lease extension, they’ve assured that this community is going to have Triple-A baseball for many, many years. You don’t need to look any further than that, in my opinion, to be able to say that it was absolutely the right decision that that board made. They were looking out for the community as opposed to looking out for their own individual board member best interests.”
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