sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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Welcome to King Tut Day!
King Tut Day celebrates the day that King Tut's tomb was discovered in Egypt's Valley of the Kings by British archaeologist Howard Carter, on November 4, 1922. Carter had first arrived in Egypt in 1891, but didn't start an in-depth search for King Tut's tomb until after World War I. One reason King Tut's tomb hadn't yet been found was because the steps to it had been covered and hidden with debris from the close-by tomb of Ramses VI. After discovering Tut's tomb, Carter and another archaeologist, Lord Carnarvon, entered its interior chambers on November 26, 1922, to find it remarkably intact. The four-room tomb was combed by Carter, who found thousands of objects, including a stone sarcophagus that contained three coffins inside of each other, with King Tut's mummy on the inside of the last coffin—a coffin made of gold. Most artifacts found in the excavation are now stored in the Cairo Museum, although Tut's mummified body is still in his tomb.
SU News
Was firing Brian Ward just the beginning of a Syracuse football shakeup? (PS; Axe)
It couldn’t have been easy for the fiercely loyal Dino Babers to kick someone out of his Orange 'Ohana, but firing Brian Ward as defensive coordinator was a move he had to make following Syracuse’s embarrassing display against Boston College on Saturday.
Syracuse gave up 691 total yards to the Eagles, a Boston College school record. The 496 rushing yards piled up by BC were a single-game record against the Orange and the worst output since 2006 when he-who-shall-not-be-named was still coaching Syracuse.
Syracuse’s losses to Maryland (63-20) and Boston College (58-27) this season were unthinkable failures, with the Orange giving up a combined 121 points and 1,341 yards in those two games alone.
Ward’s tenure at Syracuse was best described as a seesaw ride.
Down: Ward’s defense surrendered a school-record 463 points in 2016 as it transitioned away from Scott Shafer’s scheme to Ward’s unpopular Tampa-2 system.
Up: In 2017, Ward was a midseason nominee for the Broyles Award, given annually to the top assistant coach in the country.
Down: A rash of injuries made that nomination a mirage as the defense crash-landed to end the season.
...
Syracuse 27, Boston College 58 — Three Things We Learned - The Juice Online (the juice; Salamone)
Tis the season for Halloween. In what was the scariest performance of the 2019 season, a game that looked like it could have been a shootout turned into a horrific blowout, as Syracuse fell to Boston College 58-27 in front of 42,857 fans at the Carrier Dome on Saturday. Syracuse is now 3-6 and headed into a bye week. The Orange travel to Duke on Nov. 16.
Here’s what we learned.
Phantom D Leads to Dismissal of Ward
Other than the first quarter, where was the defense?
Syracuse surrendered 691 yards of offense, 496 of those came on the ground. The 496 yards of rushing was the most ever allowed by an Orange team since former head coach Greg Robinson’s 2006 squad, which gave up 457 yards on Oct. 14 vs. West Virginia. (and we should note, Robinson was a defensive guy). For Boston College, the 691 yards of total offense was a school record.
Syracuse had a 17-10 lead heading into the second quarter, before the Boston College offense erupted, and scored 34 points. BC had four touchdowns of at least 50 yards in the quarter. Walk-on quarterback Dennis Grosel connected on 64-yard pass to Kobay White and a 50-yard pass to Zay Flowers. Junior A.J. Dillon found pay dirt on a 51-yard dash, and on the Eagles next possession, sophomore David Bailey raced 74 yards for a score. Poor tackling, getting burned by long runs, and busted coverage’s contributed to the onslaught.
Thanks to solid offensive line play by BC, the Eagles averaged 9.2 yards a play. Dillon finished with 242 yards and three touchdowns, while Bailey scampered for 172 yards and two touchdowns. Grosel had a career day, completing 8-of -10 passes for 195 yards and three touchdowns.
This was the third game this season that an opponent has racked up over 600 total yards of offense (650 vs. Clemson and 612 vs. Western Michigan).
“(The defense) just got tired of hitting Dillon and his backup,” fourth year head coach Dino Babers said. “Those play action passes they just break your back, when you’re in man coverage, I would imagine we were in man coverage, I have to check the tape. When you play a running game like that, you’re normally in a lot of man and to have somebody scot free like that when you have two sets of eyes watching him is disappointing. We’ll go back, we’ll check the tape, and we’ll figure out what happened, but obviously it wasn’t very good.”
It led to the dismissal of defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Brian Ward, a move that was announced on Sunday night. Defensive ends coach Steve Stanard has been promoted to interim defensive coordinator.
...
Syracuse Picks Up Huge Defensive End Commit in Class of 2020 – Orange Fizz – Free Syracuse Recruiting News (orangefizz.net; Raucci)
On a day that featured one of the worst performances for Syracuse football in the last decade, it didn’t seem like there was any way for the program to salvage some level of positivity away from the weekend. Not only was the game itself embarrassing, but it also put SU in a position where it has to win out to make a bowl game just a year after having its best season since the early 2000s.
How could you possibly be even remotely okay with that as a Syracuse fan? This is how.
Kinsler is by far the Orange’s most highly-touted commit in the 2020 class and is the only one that even scratches 247’s Top 600 (safety Ben LaBrosse is the cycle’s second-best prospect at No. 612). Add that to the fact that Syracuse had to beat out some of the best programs in the country for Kinsler’s commitment (he had offers from LSU, Oregon, Penn State and Texas A&M among others) and this turns into a huge recruiting win for the Orange.
It’s also a huge win simply based on positional need for the Orange over the course of the next few years. Defensive end is a relative strength for Syracuse right now with Alton Robinson and Kendall Coleman, but both of those guys will be gone by way of graduation after the season. The same goes for current sacks leader Brandon Berry who has a fantastic redshirt senior season.
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Syracuse vs. Boston College report card: A bad season gets worse (auburnpub.com; Sciria)
It’s official: the Syracuse football team’s season is officially in a freefall. Saturday’s 58-27 blowout at the hands of Boston College drops the Orange to 3-6 with a fourth straight loss. Unless Syracuse discovers a miracle cure for its ails during its bye week, the season will end without a bowl berth.
After the first quarter it looked like Syracuse was going to have a good chance to get a win as the offense showed some urgency on its way to a 17-10 lead after the first 15 minutes. But then the Eagles just blew the doors off the Orange in the second quarter — outscoring Syracuse 34-3 — to basically end it by halftime.
It’s hard to say any Syracuse player deserves kudos after this stinker but ...
FIVE ORANGES to wide receiver Trishton Jackson. It was either Jackson or punter Sterling Hofrichter. Jackson gets the nod, the junior caught eight passes for 148 yards and a pair of touchdowns, including an 85-yarder in the third quarter, Syracuse’s only points in the second half. It was Jackson’s fourth 100-yard receiving game of the season.
FOUR ORANGES to Hofrichter. Why not? Hofrichter has to be under consideration for All-American, you could argue he’s been Syracuse’s most consistent player this season. Hofrichter averaged a sterling 48.5 yard average on four punts, including a 52-yarder and placed two inside the 20.
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Boston College Rushes Past Syracuse Football | | CitrusTV (citrustv.com; Leonard)
Syracuse (3-6, 0-5 Atlantic Coast) struggled to stop the run Saturday afternoon in a deflating, 58-27, loss to Boston College (5-4, 3-3 Atlantic Coast). The Eagles rushed for 496 yards, the most the Orange have ever given up in a single game.
Junior AJ Dillon led the way for the Eagles with 242 yards on the ground and three touchdowns. Backup David Bailey added 172 yards and two touchdowns.
“Their offense running the ball is really really good…we are what we are. We win as a team and lose a team,” SU head coach Dino Babers said after the game.
Unlike previous games, Syracuse actually got off to a fast start. Quarterback Tommy DeVito found tight end Aaron Hackett for a nine-yard touchdown on SU’s opening drive to give them a 7-3 lead after an extra point.
After a 29-yard touchdown from Bailey, the Orange scored 13 points in the final two minutes of the first quarter, thanks to two forced turnovers. Andre Szmyt nailed a 47-yard field goal before DeVito found Trishton Jackson for a 26-yard touchdown to give the Orange a 17-10 advantage heading into the second frame.
DeVito finished the game with three touchdowns, 289 passing yards and no interceptions while Jackson caught eight receptions for 148 yards and two touchdowns.
The Orange defense then got exposed in the second quarter. Boston College scored four touchdowns of fifty yards or more and won the quarter 34-3. BC led 44-20 at halftime, largely because of over 330 rushing yards.
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Syracuse dismisses defensive coordinator Ward (ESPN; AP)
Syracuse coach Dino Babers has fired defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Brian Ward, effective immediately.
Babers said in a release Sunday from the university that he thought "a change needed to be made at this time." Defensive ends coach Steve Stanard has been promoted to defensive coordinator on an interim basis.
The move came one day after the Syracuse defense allowed a school-record 496 yards rushing in a humiliating 58-27 home loss to Boston College, which set a school record with 691 yards offensively. BC tailbacks AJ Dillon and David Bailey combined to rush for 414 yards and five touchdowns, and quarterback Dennis Grosel had three scoring passes in 10 throws.
Stanard, who joined the Syracuse staff in 2017, has spent 20 seasons as a defensive coordinator, most recently at Wyoming, where he served as the Cowboys' defensive coordinator and linebackers coach from 2014 to '16. He has worked as the defensive coordinator at five other schools.
The Orange (3-6, 0-5 Atlantic Coast Conference), who are in a bye week, are the only team in the conference without a league win.
Syracuse football earns commitment from 4-star defensive stud (itlh; Esden Jr)
Syracuse football has secured a humongous commitment from a talented 4-star defensive stud. Here are all the details and what it means for the Orange.
Let’s just call it a Syracuse football silver lining.
The Orange were blasted by Boston College on Saturday in embarrassing fashion, 58-27. On Saturday evening they secured the best recruit of the 2020 class to date.
Latarie Kinsler made the commitment Twitter official with a heartfelt statement:
“First I would like to thank God for gifting and blessing me with the ability and talents to be able to pursue my dream. Also, I would like to thank my parents, family, brothers, and coaches for all their sacrifices and help towards preparing me for this moment and helping me take this next step in life. Also thanks to every coach and program that recruited and took time to build a relationship with me. I was always told to follow your heart and make the best choice for you, with that being said I’m committing to Syracuse University!”
Back a few months ago he revealed his top-six which featured the likes of Penn State, South Carolina, Oregon, Virginia, and Tennessee. Of course, that list also featured the Orange.
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Boston College Boasts Nation's Most Important Running Back Tandem (SI; Maven)
The back field combination of AJ Dillon and David Bailey carried Boston College back into bowl contention yesterday, combining for 496 rushing yards and four touchdowns. Their total yardage on the ground was good enough for the most the Eagles have ever recorded against a conference opponent, and brought their season average up to 255.6 rushing yards per game, tenth best in the nation.
“We’ve got two big horses and we’ve got a really good offensive line, so we were going to try to come in here and establish that part of our football game, without question,” said head coach Steve Addazio. “When you can do what we do like we did it, that’s overwhelming for a defense."
The nine teams ahead of Boston College in the national rushing totals include seven teams outside the Power Five. The other two are Ohio State at third and Oklahoma State at fifth.
Both those teams run offenses that feature mobile freshman quarterbacks that were top recruits coming out of high school. While the Eagles had a quarterback that could contribute on the ground earlier this season, the injury to quarterback Anthony Brown has proven that the Boston College running back group can make a former walk on in sophomore Dennis Grosel look like 2001 Tom Brady.
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Four Downs: Syracuse - Boston College Athletics (bceagles.com; Rubin)
Much of the pregame fear surrounding Boston College on Saturday centered around how the defense would play against the fast-paced Syracuse defense. It was coming off of a second record-setting performance by an opposing offense, and the up-and-down, roller coaster season generated concern that quarterback Tommy Devito would get the Orange's engine moving in the Carrier Dome.
It bubbled over the surface in the early first quarter when Devito commanded respect through success. He completed 6-of-7 passes for 88 yards and two touchdowns, largely keeping the secondary off-balance by spreading the ball to a handful of receivers.
On the team's first drive, he set up a touchdown by executing a school-yard, option pass to Sean Riley, scrambling to the right and throwing a forward pass with less than an inch remaining before the line of scrimmage. Two BC turnovers didn't help, and the Orange raced out to a 17-10 lead that gave the game a Big 12-type atmosphere.
It wouldn't last. BC adjusted in the second quarter, and the Syracuse game plan fell off a cliff. The offense only mustered 67 yards of offense over the entire second quarter, 63 of which came on its first drive, then watched the Eagles amass 294 yards before halftime. Thirty-four BC points went up on the scoreboard, effectively ending the game by halftime, 44-20, en route to a 58-27 thrashing in Central New York.
"I'm proud of the way our kids played," head coach Steve Addazio said. "They played with toughness, passion and resolve. We knew we were coming to play in the (Carrier Dome), and I know as well as anybody that it's a tough place to play. We were able to do some fabulous things on the field, and we had to overcome early adversity."
BC's accomplishments at Syracuse left a buzz long after the game ended, and it will likely continue to reverberate long into the future. The offense shattered the program's record book, starting with a 691-yard performance that broke a 37-year old record set against Penn State in 1982.
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With College Football Playoff rankings looming, Clemson turns attention to N.C. State (greenvilleonline.com; Keepfer)
The first College Football Playoff rankings are set to be revealed Tuesday evening.
And if you believe Clemson coach Dabo Swinney, the announcement will be no distraction whatsoever to his undefeated team.
“We ain’t worried about all that stuff," Swinney said. "We’re just running our race and trying to be the best version of us. What matters is that we beat N.C. State.
“Wisconsin, I’m sure a couple of weeks ago, they were having a lot of discussion about why aren’t they in the top four, should they be and this and that. Then they lost to Illinois and don’t have to worry about that anymore. That won’t be part of the discussion on Tuesday.
“When you’re a player and coach, you can’t worry about that. You’d better lock in on what you can control. We don’t control anything or what somebody sitting in a room in Texas thinks. We just need to take care of our business. If we do that, it’ll all work out.”
Clemson, which moved to 9-0 with a 59-14 victory against Wofford on Saturday, will resume its business on Saturday when the Tigers attempt to clinch a ninth consecutive season of 10 or more victories when they square off against N.C. State in a 7:30 p.m. game on ABC.
“At the end of the day we’re 9-0 and where we hoped to be,” Swinney said. “We’re a team that has improved. We’re a focused football team.
“We’ve got two more games and then an open date. This is all about our next goal, and that’s trying to win the division. We’ve got two division games in a row coming up – one on the road and one here and we’ve got a lot on the line. Looking forward to getting back at it this week and having great preparation and prepare to go up to Raleigh.”
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On Second Thought: How VT could've beaten Notre Dame (2019) (RX; HM)
On Second Thought: How VT could've beaten Notre Dame (2019)
Some games are so close that you know the team that lost could've easily been the team that won. This year's Virginia Tech at Notre Dame was such a game...
In this post, I'm not going to discuss offensive or defensive strategy or tactics (though there were certainly some things the Hokies could've done differently - overall I thought they did a pretty good job). Instead, I'm just going to focus on one small detail which, had it been handled a little better, would have resulted in a Virginia Tech upset win.
I'm talking about clock management.
The rules of clock management are fairly simple: speed up the pace if you're losing, slow it down if you're winning. There were just two possessions in the second half for VT where they held a lead, and the Irish scored the winning points with just 00:29 on the clock... could the Hokies have used enough time to erase that last drive from the timeline, as it were?
The play on which Notre Dame scored the winning touchdown began with just 0:35 on the clock, so the Hokies would've needed to run off at least 0:36 to make sure that play never happened. Was that possible? Let's see...
The Hokies kicked a field goal to take a 3-point lead with 11:00 remaining in the 3rd quarter, then got the ball back via interception at the 2-yard line with 7:39 in the quarter. On that drive, Virginia Tech's offense ran 5 plays before punting:
...
Other
2019 Election: When, where to vote? Who’s running? Need ride? We’ve got answers (PS; Weaver)
Tuesday is Election Day.
The winners will be responsible for plowing streets, setting local property tax rates and prosecuting accused criminals. Their actions decide the size of police and firefighter forces. They set the local policies about sidewalks, speed limits and street repairs. Collectively, many of these public officials will make decisions on budgets that add up to more than $1 billion in taxpayer money.
The polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
The key races this November include Onondaga County executive, district attorney and county comptroller. All 17 Onondaga County Legislature seats are up. So are seven Syracuse Common Council races.
There are three state Supreme Court seats up for grabs. And every town will choose its next supervisor, town councilors and justices.
It’s a lot to consider, but we’ve made it easy. Find out more about who’s running, where to vote, how to get to the polls and more. And keep checking back with syracuse.com throughout the day and on Election Night. We’ll start posting results after the polls close at 9 p.m. Tuesday.
THE KEY RACES
Onondaga County Executive
The race: Republican Ryan McMahon, who was appointed to the job a year ago, is running to keep the seat. Democrat Tony Malavenda has never held political office and is spending more than $1 million of his own money in the race.
The gist: It’s gotten ugly. Both candidates have accused each other of lying and misrepresenting their business records.
Local politics factoid: Onondaga County has never had a Democratic county executive.
Read more:
Who is Ryan McMahon?
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King Tut Day celebrates the day that King Tut's tomb was discovered in Egypt's Valley of the Kings by British archaeologist Howard Carter, on November 4, 1922. Carter had first arrived in Egypt in 1891, but didn't start an in-depth search for King Tut's tomb until after World War I. One reason King Tut's tomb hadn't yet been found was because the steps to it had been covered and hidden with debris from the close-by tomb of Ramses VI. After discovering Tut's tomb, Carter and another archaeologist, Lord Carnarvon, entered its interior chambers on November 26, 1922, to find it remarkably intact. The four-room tomb was combed by Carter, who found thousands of objects, including a stone sarcophagus that contained three coffins inside of each other, with King Tut's mummy on the inside of the last coffin—a coffin made of gold. Most artifacts found in the excavation are now stored in the Cairo Museum, although Tut's mummified body is still in his tomb.
SU News
Was firing Brian Ward just the beginning of a Syracuse football shakeup? (PS; Axe)
It couldn’t have been easy for the fiercely loyal Dino Babers to kick someone out of his Orange 'Ohana, but firing Brian Ward as defensive coordinator was a move he had to make following Syracuse’s embarrassing display against Boston College on Saturday.
Syracuse gave up 691 total yards to the Eagles, a Boston College school record. The 496 rushing yards piled up by BC were a single-game record against the Orange and the worst output since 2006 when he-who-shall-not-be-named was still coaching Syracuse.
Syracuse’s losses to Maryland (63-20) and Boston College (58-27) this season were unthinkable failures, with the Orange giving up a combined 121 points and 1,341 yards in those two games alone.
Ward’s tenure at Syracuse was best described as a seesaw ride.
Down: Ward’s defense surrendered a school-record 463 points in 2016 as it transitioned away from Scott Shafer’s scheme to Ward’s unpopular Tampa-2 system.
Up: In 2017, Ward was a midseason nominee for the Broyles Award, given annually to the top assistant coach in the country.
Down: A rash of injuries made that nomination a mirage as the defense crash-landed to end the season.
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Syracuse 27, Boston College 58 — Three Things We Learned - The Juice Online (the juice; Salamone)
Tis the season for Halloween. In what was the scariest performance of the 2019 season, a game that looked like it could have been a shootout turned into a horrific blowout, as Syracuse fell to Boston College 58-27 in front of 42,857 fans at the Carrier Dome on Saturday. Syracuse is now 3-6 and headed into a bye week. The Orange travel to Duke on Nov. 16.
Here’s what we learned.
Phantom D Leads to Dismissal of Ward
Other than the first quarter, where was the defense?
Syracuse surrendered 691 yards of offense, 496 of those came on the ground. The 496 yards of rushing was the most ever allowed by an Orange team since former head coach Greg Robinson’s 2006 squad, which gave up 457 yards on Oct. 14 vs. West Virginia. (and we should note, Robinson was a defensive guy). For Boston College, the 691 yards of total offense was a school record.
Syracuse had a 17-10 lead heading into the second quarter, before the Boston College offense erupted, and scored 34 points. BC had four touchdowns of at least 50 yards in the quarter. Walk-on quarterback Dennis Grosel connected on 64-yard pass to Kobay White and a 50-yard pass to Zay Flowers. Junior A.J. Dillon found pay dirt on a 51-yard dash, and on the Eagles next possession, sophomore David Bailey raced 74 yards for a score. Poor tackling, getting burned by long runs, and busted coverage’s contributed to the onslaught.
Thanks to solid offensive line play by BC, the Eagles averaged 9.2 yards a play. Dillon finished with 242 yards and three touchdowns, while Bailey scampered for 172 yards and two touchdowns. Grosel had a career day, completing 8-of -10 passes for 195 yards and three touchdowns.
This was the third game this season that an opponent has racked up over 600 total yards of offense (650 vs. Clemson and 612 vs. Western Michigan).
“(The defense) just got tired of hitting Dillon and his backup,” fourth year head coach Dino Babers said. “Those play action passes they just break your back, when you’re in man coverage, I would imagine we were in man coverage, I have to check the tape. When you play a running game like that, you’re normally in a lot of man and to have somebody scot free like that when you have two sets of eyes watching him is disappointing. We’ll go back, we’ll check the tape, and we’ll figure out what happened, but obviously it wasn’t very good.”
It led to the dismissal of defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Brian Ward, a move that was announced on Sunday night. Defensive ends coach Steve Stanard has been promoted to interim defensive coordinator.
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Syracuse Picks Up Huge Defensive End Commit in Class of 2020 – Orange Fizz – Free Syracuse Recruiting News (orangefizz.net; Raucci)
On a day that featured one of the worst performances for Syracuse football in the last decade, it didn’t seem like there was any way for the program to salvage some level of positivity away from the weekend. Not only was the game itself embarrassing, but it also put SU in a position where it has to win out to make a bowl game just a year after having its best season since the early 2000s.
How could you possibly be even remotely okay with that as a Syracuse fan? This is how.
To be quite honest Latarie Kinsler’s commitment saved the weekend to a degree. The weak-side defensive end out of Pahokee High School in Florida is rated as a four-star recruit by Rivals and a three-star by most other services, including 247Sports which pegs him as the 16th best player at his position and the No. 379 overall recruit in the class of 2020.
Kinsler is by far the Orange’s most highly-touted commit in the 2020 class and is the only one that even scratches 247’s Top 600 (safety Ben LaBrosse is the cycle’s second-best prospect at No. 612). Add that to the fact that Syracuse had to beat out some of the best programs in the country for Kinsler’s commitment (he had offers from LSU, Oregon, Penn State and Texas A&M among others) and this turns into a huge recruiting win for the Orange.
It’s also a huge win simply based on positional need for the Orange over the course of the next few years. Defensive end is a relative strength for Syracuse right now with Alton Robinson and Kendall Coleman, but both of those guys will be gone by way of graduation after the season. The same goes for current sacks leader Brandon Berry who has a fantastic redshirt senior season.
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Syracuse vs. Boston College report card: A bad season gets worse (auburnpub.com; Sciria)
It’s official: the Syracuse football team’s season is officially in a freefall. Saturday’s 58-27 blowout at the hands of Boston College drops the Orange to 3-6 with a fourth straight loss. Unless Syracuse discovers a miracle cure for its ails during its bye week, the season will end without a bowl berth.
After the first quarter it looked like Syracuse was going to have a good chance to get a win as the offense showed some urgency on its way to a 17-10 lead after the first 15 minutes. But then the Eagles just blew the doors off the Orange in the second quarter — outscoring Syracuse 34-3 — to basically end it by halftime.
It’s hard to say any Syracuse player deserves kudos after this stinker but ...
FIVE ORANGES to wide receiver Trishton Jackson. It was either Jackson or punter Sterling Hofrichter. Jackson gets the nod, the junior caught eight passes for 148 yards and a pair of touchdowns, including an 85-yarder in the third quarter, Syracuse’s only points in the second half. It was Jackson’s fourth 100-yard receiving game of the season.
FOUR ORANGES to Hofrichter. Why not? Hofrichter has to be under consideration for All-American, you could argue he’s been Syracuse’s most consistent player this season. Hofrichter averaged a sterling 48.5 yard average on four punts, including a 52-yarder and placed two inside the 20.
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Boston College Rushes Past Syracuse Football | | CitrusTV (citrustv.com; Leonard)
Syracuse (3-6, 0-5 Atlantic Coast) struggled to stop the run Saturday afternoon in a deflating, 58-27, loss to Boston College (5-4, 3-3 Atlantic Coast). The Eagles rushed for 496 yards, the most the Orange have ever given up in a single game.
Junior AJ Dillon led the way for the Eagles with 242 yards on the ground and three touchdowns. Backup David Bailey added 172 yards and two touchdowns.
“Their offense running the ball is really really good…we are what we are. We win as a team and lose a team,” SU head coach Dino Babers said after the game.
Unlike previous games, Syracuse actually got off to a fast start. Quarterback Tommy DeVito found tight end Aaron Hackett for a nine-yard touchdown on SU’s opening drive to give them a 7-3 lead after an extra point.
After a 29-yard touchdown from Bailey, the Orange scored 13 points in the final two minutes of the first quarter, thanks to two forced turnovers. Andre Szmyt nailed a 47-yard field goal before DeVito found Trishton Jackson for a 26-yard touchdown to give the Orange a 17-10 advantage heading into the second frame.
DeVito finished the game with three touchdowns, 289 passing yards and no interceptions while Jackson caught eight receptions for 148 yards and two touchdowns.
The Orange defense then got exposed in the second quarter. Boston College scored four touchdowns of fifty yards or more and won the quarter 34-3. BC led 44-20 at halftime, largely because of over 330 rushing yards.
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Syracuse dismisses defensive coordinator Ward (ESPN; AP)
Syracuse coach Dino Babers has fired defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Brian Ward, effective immediately.
Babers said in a release Sunday from the university that he thought "a change needed to be made at this time." Defensive ends coach Steve Stanard has been promoted to defensive coordinator on an interim basis.
The move came one day after the Syracuse defense allowed a school-record 496 yards rushing in a humiliating 58-27 home loss to Boston College, which set a school record with 691 yards offensively. BC tailbacks AJ Dillon and David Bailey combined to rush for 414 yards and five touchdowns, and quarterback Dennis Grosel had three scoring passes in 10 throws.
Stanard, who joined the Syracuse staff in 2017, has spent 20 seasons as a defensive coordinator, most recently at Wyoming, where he served as the Cowboys' defensive coordinator and linebackers coach from 2014 to '16. He has worked as the defensive coordinator at five other schools.
The Orange (3-6, 0-5 Atlantic Coast Conference), who are in a bye week, are the only team in the conference without a league win.
Syracuse football earns commitment from 4-star defensive stud (itlh; Esden Jr)
Syracuse football has secured a humongous commitment from a talented 4-star defensive stud. Here are all the details and what it means for the Orange.
Let’s just call it a Syracuse football silver lining.
The Orange were blasted by Boston College on Saturday in embarrassing fashion, 58-27. On Saturday evening they secured the best recruit of the 2020 class to date.
Latarie Kinsler made the commitment Twitter official with a heartfelt statement:
“First I would like to thank God for gifting and blessing me with the ability and talents to be able to pursue my dream. Also, I would like to thank my parents, family, brothers, and coaches for all their sacrifices and help towards preparing me for this moment and helping me take this next step in life. Also thanks to every coach and program that recruited and took time to build a relationship with me. I was always told to follow your heart and make the best choice for you, with that being said I’m committing to Syracuse University!”
The two men responsible on the Syracuse side for putting this together is Nick Monroe and Steve Stanard.
Back a few months ago he revealed his top-six which featured the likes of Penn State, South Carolina, Oregon, Virginia, and Tennessee. Of course, that list also featured the Orange.
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Boston College Boasts Nation's Most Important Running Back Tandem (SI; Maven)
The back field combination of AJ Dillon and David Bailey carried Boston College back into bowl contention yesterday, combining for 496 rushing yards and four touchdowns. Their total yardage on the ground was good enough for the most the Eagles have ever recorded against a conference opponent, and brought their season average up to 255.6 rushing yards per game, tenth best in the nation.
“We’ve got two big horses and we’ve got a really good offensive line, so we were going to try to come in here and establish that part of our football game, without question,” said head coach Steve Addazio. “When you can do what we do like we did it, that’s overwhelming for a defense."
The nine teams ahead of Boston College in the national rushing totals include seven teams outside the Power Five. The other two are Ohio State at third and Oklahoma State at fifth.
Both those teams run offenses that feature mobile freshman quarterbacks that were top recruits coming out of high school. While the Eagles had a quarterback that could contribute on the ground earlier this season, the injury to quarterback Anthony Brown has proven that the Boston College running back group can make a former walk on in sophomore Dennis Grosel look like 2001 Tom Brady.
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Four Downs: Syracuse - Boston College Athletics (bceagles.com; Rubin)
Much of the pregame fear surrounding Boston College on Saturday centered around how the defense would play against the fast-paced Syracuse defense. It was coming off of a second record-setting performance by an opposing offense, and the up-and-down, roller coaster season generated concern that quarterback Tommy Devito would get the Orange's engine moving in the Carrier Dome.
It bubbled over the surface in the early first quarter when Devito commanded respect through success. He completed 6-of-7 passes for 88 yards and two touchdowns, largely keeping the secondary off-balance by spreading the ball to a handful of receivers.
On the team's first drive, he set up a touchdown by executing a school-yard, option pass to Sean Riley, scrambling to the right and throwing a forward pass with less than an inch remaining before the line of scrimmage. Two BC turnovers didn't help, and the Orange raced out to a 17-10 lead that gave the game a Big 12-type atmosphere.
It wouldn't last. BC adjusted in the second quarter, and the Syracuse game plan fell off a cliff. The offense only mustered 67 yards of offense over the entire second quarter, 63 of which came on its first drive, then watched the Eagles amass 294 yards before halftime. Thirty-four BC points went up on the scoreboard, effectively ending the game by halftime, 44-20, en route to a 58-27 thrashing in Central New York.
"I'm proud of the way our kids played," head coach Steve Addazio said. "They played with toughness, passion and resolve. We knew we were coming to play in the (Carrier Dome), and I know as well as anybody that it's a tough place to play. We were able to do some fabulous things on the field, and we had to overcome early adversity."
BC's accomplishments at Syracuse left a buzz long after the game ended, and it will likely continue to reverberate long into the future. The offense shattered the program's record book, starting with a 691-yard performance that broke a 37-year old record set against Penn State in 1982.
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With College Football Playoff rankings looming, Clemson turns attention to N.C. State (greenvilleonline.com; Keepfer)
The first College Football Playoff rankings are set to be revealed Tuesday evening.
And if you believe Clemson coach Dabo Swinney, the announcement will be no distraction whatsoever to his undefeated team.
“We ain’t worried about all that stuff," Swinney said. "We’re just running our race and trying to be the best version of us. What matters is that we beat N.C. State.
“Wisconsin, I’m sure a couple of weeks ago, they were having a lot of discussion about why aren’t they in the top four, should they be and this and that. Then they lost to Illinois and don’t have to worry about that anymore. That won’t be part of the discussion on Tuesday.
“When you’re a player and coach, you can’t worry about that. You’d better lock in on what you can control. We don’t control anything or what somebody sitting in a room in Texas thinks. We just need to take care of our business. If we do that, it’ll all work out.”
Clemson, which moved to 9-0 with a 59-14 victory against Wofford on Saturday, will resume its business on Saturday when the Tigers attempt to clinch a ninth consecutive season of 10 or more victories when they square off against N.C. State in a 7:30 p.m. game on ABC.
“At the end of the day we’re 9-0 and where we hoped to be,” Swinney said. “We’re a team that has improved. We’re a focused football team.
“We’ve got two more games and then an open date. This is all about our next goal, and that’s trying to win the division. We’ve got two division games in a row coming up – one on the road and one here and we’ve got a lot on the line. Looking forward to getting back at it this week and having great preparation and prepare to go up to Raleigh.”
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On Second Thought: How VT could've beaten Notre Dame (2019) (RX; HM)
On Second Thought: How VT could've beaten Notre Dame (2019)
Some games are so close that you know the team that lost could've easily been the team that won. This year's Virginia Tech at Notre Dame was such a game...
In this post, I'm not going to discuss offensive or defensive strategy or tactics (though there were certainly some things the Hokies could've done differently - overall I thought they did a pretty good job). Instead, I'm just going to focus on one small detail which, had it been handled a little better, would have resulted in a Virginia Tech upset win.
I'm talking about clock management.
The rules of clock management are fairly simple: speed up the pace if you're losing, slow it down if you're winning. There were just two possessions in the second half for VT where they held a lead, and the Irish scored the winning points with just 00:29 on the clock... could the Hokies have used enough time to erase that last drive from the timeline, as it were?
The play on which Notre Dame scored the winning touchdown began with just 0:35 on the clock, so the Hokies would've needed to run off at least 0:36 to make sure that play never happened. Was that possible? Let's see...
The Hokies kicked a field goal to take a 3-point lead with 11:00 remaining in the 3rd quarter, then got the ball back via interception at the 2-yard line with 7:39 in the quarter. On that drive, Virginia Tech's offense ran 5 plays before punting:
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Other
2019 Election: When, where to vote? Who’s running? Need ride? We’ve got answers (PS; Weaver)
Tuesday is Election Day.
The winners will be responsible for plowing streets, setting local property tax rates and prosecuting accused criminals. Their actions decide the size of police and firefighter forces. They set the local policies about sidewalks, speed limits and street repairs. Collectively, many of these public officials will make decisions on budgets that add up to more than $1 billion in taxpayer money.
The polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
The key races this November include Onondaga County executive, district attorney and county comptroller. All 17 Onondaga County Legislature seats are up. So are seven Syracuse Common Council races.
There are three state Supreme Court seats up for grabs. And every town will choose its next supervisor, town councilors and justices.
It’s a lot to consider, but we’ve made it easy. Find out more about who’s running, where to vote, how to get to the polls and more. And keep checking back with syracuse.com throughout the day and on Election Night. We’ll start posting results after the polls close at 9 p.m. Tuesday.
THE KEY RACES
Onondaga County Executive
The race: Republican Ryan McMahon, who was appointed to the job a year ago, is running to keep the seat. Democrat Tony Malavenda has never held political office and is spending more than $1 million of his own money in the race.
The gist: It’s gotten ugly. Both candidates have accused each other of lying and misrepresenting their business records.
Local politics factoid: Onondaga County has never had a Democratic county executive.
Read more:
Who is Ryan McMahon?
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