sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2011
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Welcome to Patriot's Day!
Patriots' Day is a holiday commemorating the battles of Lexington and Concord, which took place on April 19, 1775. The shots fired at these two cities on the outskirts of Boston were the first shots of the American Revolution. Following the war, Lexington Day and Concord Day began being celebrated in their respective cities. The cities later petitioned Massachusetts Governor Frederic Greenhalge to create a state commemoration. He created Patriots' Day, which replaced Fast Day. It was first celebrated on April 19, 1894. The new holiday also originally commemorated the anniversary of the Baltimore riot of 1861, where some of the first bloodshed of the Civil War took place, and four members of the Massachusetts militia died. In 1938, the Massachusetts legislature passed a bill making the battles of Lexington and Concord the sole focus of the day.
SU News
SU football (and everyone else) in recruiting ‘holding pattern’ (PS; Bailey)
While the college football community continues to monitor how the coronavirus pandemic will affect the 2020 season, the recruiting side of the sport is already feeling the ramifications.
The NCAA previously extended the dead period through the end of May, meaning college coaches won’t be able to make in-person evaluations for at least another six-plus weeks. Instead, they’re left to hours of Zoom conversations, FaceTime calls and film evaluations — a limitation that ESPN national recruiting director Tom Luginbill said has the stalled out the process.
“Really what this is forcing programs to do and forcing us to do is spend more time studying film, evaluating, reevaluating, continuing to adjust the board,” Luginbill said. "I think the thing that’s affecting the coaches the most in a negative way is they don’t have the ability to get out, get to the schools and ask the right questions about kids to a variety of people.
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Alton Robinson's stock rising as former Syracuse players shift focus to 2020 NFL Draft (cnycentraL.com; Tamurian)
The 2020 NFL Draft is only days away, as a handful of former Syracuse University football stars await their destinations.
Topping the list for NFL teams is Alton Robinson, the JUCO transfer who served as a pass-rushing sack monster coming off the edge of the Orange's defensive line.
Robinson is slated to hear his name come off the board anywhere between the second to fourth rounds of the draft.
Reese's Senior Bowl Executive Director Jim Nagy recently spoke on Robinson's potential at the next level.
"He had a nice week here in Mobile, Alabama [in the Reese's Senior Bowl]," Nagy said. "During the week in practice, they lined him up -- the [Detroit] Lions staff -- lined him up at the three technique a bunch in one-on-one drills, which I didn't really get because he's 262 pounds. He didn't really get to show himself a bunch, but then he gets into the game and he has two sacks, and you're like, 'okay, that's the guy I saw on Syracuse tape.' So, he did. He had a really good game. A lot of teams that I've talked to since have brought Alton's name up as a guy that they think, in terms of that edge rush class, that they're kind of hoping slides to them. I don't know where they want him to slide to, but I know there are a lot of teams that like Alton and his pass rush skill set."
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Syracuse Football: Pair of Orange studs ready to make noise in NFL Draft (itlh; Esden Jr)
A pair of former Syracuse football studs are ready to make noise in the upcoming 2020 NFL Draft. Here are the details and what it all means.
We’ve finally reached the week we’ve all been waiting for the 2020 NFL Draft. On any given year, the draft is one of the greatest spectacles the NFL presents, but this year is going to be special for a few different reasons.
To address the elephant in the room, the novel coronavirus has put everyone’s life in the spin cycle. That includes the draft which for the first time in history will be done remotely and virtually.
Another reason this draft is going to be special is because of the eligible former Syracuse football players that have entered the class.
This could be the first time we see multiple Orange alum taken in the same class since 2014 when Jay Bromley and Marquis Spruill were selected in the third and fifth rounds respectively.
Speaking of, Chad Reuter of NFL.com actually predicted that very thing in his latest monster seven-round mock draft.
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Why Expansion May Make $ense (RX; HM)
Why Expansion May Make $ense
Obviously the very best teams to add would be Texas and/or Oklahoma... but either of those in combination with West Virginia and/or TCU would give the ACC a HUGE boost in TV revenue. In fact, just adding WVU and TCU would result in a significant boost. Why? Several reasons...
1. WVU is a ready-made content multiplier for Pitt, Syracuse, Virginia Tech, and to some extent BC, UVa, NC State and Louisville. These are the kind of games where fans of both teams will watch the entire game, regardless of the score, whether either team is ranked or not. That's why all of these match-ups would be on ESPN most years - at least.
2. TCU is both a content multiplier and a huge new TV market for the ACC. Just in-State fees for the ACC network are enough to break even with the toads, and that's before we consider the value of TCU vs Florida State, Clemson, etc.
3. Finally, keep in mind that the ACC contract is still under-valued. Adding almost any team would reopen the contract at current market value. Think of it this way: ESPN is currently paying the ACC for games against both Florida State and Duke, Clemson and Wake Forest - and they're paying for the average game - some of them at 2010 market rates. Now, add 2 more good ratings draws and it automatically brings the average up - especially when you value them at, let's say, 2024 rates.
But wouldn't that leave TCU on an island, creating the same problem as WVU in the Big XII?
Almost, but not quite. Take a look at this table of driving distances between schools:
| 8 closest Big XII schools to WVU | 8 closest ACC schools to TCU | ||||
| Closest | Distance | WVU to... | Distance | TCU to... | closer by |
| 1 | Iowa St | 829 | Ga Tech | 819 | 10 |
| 2 | Kansas | 901 | Florida St | 867 | 34 |
| 3 | K-State | 980 | Louisville | 870 | 110 |
| 4 | Okie St | 1,082 | Clemson | 938 | 144 |
| 5 | Oklahoma | 1,136 | Notre Dame | 1,062 | 74 |
| 6 | TCU | 1,239 | Va Tech | 1,111 | 128 |
| 7 | Baylor | 1,300 | Wake Forest | 1,139 | 161 |
| 8 | U Texas | 1,399 | UNC | 1,195 | 204 |
| Avg. dist | 1,108.25 | Avg. dist | 1,000.125 | 108.125 |
ACCN Football Replays
ACCN Football Replays (RX; HM)
I've been really enjoying those late night football replays on the ACC Network during the first week of School Takeovers...
Not shown: Duke's first bowl win in forever - over Indiana, 2015 Pinstripe Bowl.
Those are some heavy hitters right there - and that's just the first half of the conference!
OK, they've already used Clemson, Florida State and Miami, but I'm still looking forward to some big game wins from UNC (1st Mack Brown era), NC State (Chuck Amato era), Pitt (over Penn State and Notre Dame, I hope!), Virginia Tech and Wake Forest (some nice bowl wins).
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UPDATE: Well, it looks like the ACCN surprised me with some of the remaining football games:
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Insights from FSU - 4/18/20 (RX; HM)
Insights from FSU - 4/18/20
Someone tipped me off to an interesting article posted on Tallahassee.com about some things going on at Florida State: "FSU AD David Coburn discusses financial impact of potential lack of 2020 football season". I'd like to discuss some of those things - from statements attributed to Florida State AD David Coburn to other points made in the OP - here.
1. "estimates each ACC school will lose between $2.2 million and $2.5 million from the lack of ACC and NCAA basketball tournaments." That statement is interesting to me because it puts a dollar amount on those two tournaments... and since we know what the NCAA tournament paid the ACC around $33 million in 2019, we can estimate the value of the ACC tournament at $6 million. However, let me say that there's a lot of variability in reports of NCAA payouts, so don't be surprised if I have to eventually revise this post!
2. "The ACC has set up a working group to explore possible conference-wide initiatives for departments and entire sports to potentially save money across the board for all teams... such as travel, scheduling guidelines, practices. There are also potential across-the-board NCAA cost-saving changes coming and I don't know what those would look like." I'm especially interested in what they're thinking to do to cut travel costs and "scheduling guidelines". Hopefully we get more information about those things!
3. "FSU football coach Mike Norvell is a part of the ad hoc committee the ACC has launched to help prepare for the possibility of a spring football season if it comes to that and the hurdles that would come with that." OK, forget everything else - this is the BIG DEAL! What they're saying is that if it's not possible to play football this Fall they're considering moving the season to the Spring of 2021 (assuming it would be possible to play it by then). FASCINATING!
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Links, news and rumors - 4/19/20 (RX; HM)
Links, news and rumors - 4/19/20
From 's "Five surprising stats about the 2020 NFL Draft"...
The Cardinals certainly have had a knack for finding NFL talent... keep doing that and the ACC football championship is out there waiting for you (and if you can get to that level, who knows, maybe a national championship in the sport as well?)
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Clemson Football: Breaking down the 2020 NFL Draft class
Early-Rounders:
LB/S Isaiah Simmons (consensus top-10)
WR Tee Higgins (late first-rounder)
CB A.J. Terrell (2-3 rounder)
Mid-to-Late Rounders:
OG John Simpson (3-4 rounder)
S K’Von Wallace (3-6 rounder)
OT Tremayne Anchrum (6-7 rounder)
OL Sean Pollard (6-7 rounder)
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Other
Coronavirus: How we might restart the CNY economy while keeping the virus at bay (PS; Coin)
We all want to see the economy get started again, and we all want to see as few people as possible sickened or killed by the novel coronavirus.
The virus, however, remains as much of a threat as it was in February, and a vaccine won’t be available for 12 to 18 months. At some point before that, public officials say, we need to resume business while preparing to limit a public health crisis.
“I don’t think we’re anywhere near having this conversation,” said Shannon Monnat, a public health professor at Syracuse University. “Without widespread testing and without knowing the infection rate, we can’t responsibly predict when things could open back up.”
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