sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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Welcome to Victory in Europe Day!
VE (Victory in Europe) Day – was one that remained in the memory of all those who witnessed it. It meant an end to nearly six years of a war that had cost the lives of millions; had destroyed homes, families, and cities; and had brought huge suffering and privations to the populations of entire countries.
Millions of people rejoiced in the news that Germany had surrendered, relieved that the intense strain of total war was finally over. In towns and cities across the world, people marked the victory with street parties, dancing and singing.
SU News
Syracuse prioritizing QB Leonard; 'They’ve told me I'm No. 1' (PS; Bailey)
Syracuse football has actively recruited Class of 2021 prospects during the coronavirus pandemic despite the lack of in-person evaluation opportunities.
That’s resulted in four high school juniors committing to the Orange with almost all communication being virtual. Head coach Dino Babers and his staff are hoping that number continues to increase as they prioritize and pursue Alabama quarterback Riley Leonard.
“They’ve told me I’m No. 1 and that’s the truth,” Leonard said. “They told me I was their guy so that’s really important to me as a player.”
The 6-foot-4, 190-pound Leonard burst onto the college football recruiting scene a few weeks ago when Fairhope High School’s head coach, Tim Carter, and Leonard’s private quarterbacks coach, David Morris, began pushing his junior season highlights out to their contacts. As Leonard explained it, Tennessee assistant Tee Martin, a Mobile, Alabama, native, saw it and passed his name along to SU director of high school relations Ryan Bartow, who “freaked out” after watching.
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LOU REUTER/ADIRONDACK DAILY ENTERPRISE Saranac Lake's Patrick Alberga (right) chases down AuSable Valley quarterback Evan Snow during the 2019 Section VII Class C football championship. Alberga will be playing football at Syracuse this fall as a preferred walk-on.
ORANGE OPPORTUNITY: Saranac Lake's Alberga excited to join Syracuse football (pressrepublican.com.; LaFranca)
Patrick Alberga has an exciting future ahead of him and a chance many can only dream of.
Alberga, a senior at Saranac Lake, will be playing football for Syracuse this coming fall as a preferred walk-on.
Alberga's preferred walk-on status means he has a guaranteed spot on the roster, which the 6-4, 250-pounder plans to take full advantage of and is extremely excited for.
"When I found out I had a spot, it was crazy," Alberga said. "I did not really know what to do with myself. The amount of excitement was pretty high."
HOW IT HAPPENED
Last November, Alberga had a visit planned to check out Syracuse's civil engineering program, and before his trip down, he emailed coaches of the Division I football program and expressed his interest in playing for the Orange.
Shortly after, Roy Wittke, Syracuse’s director of player development, and other personnel reached out to Alberga and said they wanted to meet when he came down for his visit.
"I sent them an email expressing that I would love to play for their program, and I sent them some game tape," Alberga said. "I was so excited when they reached back out to me."
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5/9 FizzRadio: Football Commits, Positional Evaluations & Hughes’ Draft Stock – Orange Fizz – Free Syracuse Recruiting News (orangefizz.net; podcast; May)
On this episode of Fizz Radio, Jaron May and Matt Bonaparte discuss the new faces of Syracuse Football, breakdown the weaknesses of different positional groups for the Orange, and evaluate Elijah Hughes’ rising NBA Draft stock. Oh, and of course get to your Fizz Feedback.
You can listen to Fizz Radio on the Score 1260 in Syracuse from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. every Saturday morning and subscribe to get each podcast version right to your smartphone on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, etc. Hope you enjoy!
Pitt given slim odds to win the ACC Coastal by ESPN (cardiachill.com; Wilson)
The ACC Coastal has been a portrait of chaos over the last seven years, as every team in the division has won a division title once in that span. Despite that, preseason predictions have rarely strayed from the familiar refrain that it’s going to be Virginia Tech or Miami’s year. This year will be no different than any other year.
This year, the favorite to win the ACC Coastal is Virginia Tech, according to ESPN, which places the Hokies’ odds of winning the division at 49 percent based on its Football Power Index. Their status as a firm favorite is something of a surprise, as they were in decline for the three years leading up to 2019 and only managed eight wins last season, putting the team on par with Pitt. The program also hit a pothole on the recruiting trail, as its 2020 class ranks 74th in the nation, according to 247Sports. And while its previous three classes ranked in the top 30, several members of those classes transferred out of Blacksburg during the exodus that followed the team’s 6-7 campaign in 2018.
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http://allsportsdiscussion.com/2020...-intra-divisional-results-via-mattthompson87/ (allsportsdicussion.com; Fann)
@MattThompson87 has been tweeting the last 10 days on ACC Divisional records, scheduling scenarios and more.
You need to really check him out. Below is a tweet thread on 15 years of intra-Atlantic Division games.
Check out his Coastal Division results.
What can we take away from his analysis, in addition to the notes he’s made?
I’m back today with 15 years of the ACC Atlantic @ACCFootball (Coastal division thread attached in case you missed it Monday).
The criteria:
– Records listed are 15 seasons of divisional play only
– No vacated games have been removed for this exercise.
– Enjoy! MattT on Twitter
— MattT (@MattThompson87) April 29, 2020
Clemson vs:
Lou 6-0
Cuse 6-1
NCST 14-1
Wake 13-2
BC 11-4
FSU 10-5
Mary 6-3
Notables:
– Current Clemson win streaks
Wake (11)
BC (9)
NCST (8)
Lou (6)
FSU (5)
Cuse (2)
— MattT (@MattThompson87) April 29, 2020
Wow the Clemson current winning streaks is astonishing against the Atlantic division outside of Syracuse. This is 1990s Florida State type stuff.
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Only 7 Of 105 ACC Football Players In The Transfer Portal Have Gone To Another Power 5 Team (dailycaller.com; podcast; Hookstead)
One absurd stat about the NCAA transfer portal paints a dark picture for football players looking for new programs.
According to Peter Burns, the Athletic pointed out in a piece about transferring from Bruce Feldman that just seven of 105 players transferring in the ACC have landed on another Power 5 roster. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)
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College Football: Each Power Five conference’s top 3 quarterbacks for 2020 (saturdayblitz.com; Gershon)
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With Joe Burrow, Tua Tagovailoa, Justin Herbert and Jalen Hurts all in the NFL, other names will look to emerge as the top quarterback in their respective conferences.
Several teams bring back experienced starters who will be looking to make one final push towards a conference title. Thus, instead of just choosing only one top quarterback from each Power Five conference, it felt right to shout out the top three in each.
We might not have an elite quarterback class like we did last year with the upcoming NFL draft class, but there is still plenty of talent in each Power Five conference.
Thus, we ranked the top three quarterbacks in the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC. Without further ado, here’s a look at the rankings.
ACC
3 SAM HOWELL Sophomore North Carolina
Sam Howell burst onto the college football scene in 2019 and alongside Mack Brown helped guide the Tar Heels to go from a 2-9 team to a 7-6 bowl winner.
Howell threw for 3,641 yards and 38 touchdowns with just seven interceptions last season earning the ACC Rookie of the Year award and third-team All-ACC honors.
With another year under his belt, he’ll likely enter 2021 as the ACC’s top quarterback, but more needs to be seen to name him the best in the league.
2 D'ERIQ KING Senior Miami
The Miami Hurricanes finally have a reliable quarterback in Houston graduate transfer D’Eriq King.
As a junior in 2018, King threw for 2,982 yards and 36 touchdowns while rushing for 674 yards and 14 additional touchdowns. After four games, as a senior last season, he decided to sit out in order to gain an extra year of eligibility and start elsewhere.
At Miami, he should be the perfect fit to get the Hurricanes back towards the top of the conference with his ability to beat opposing defenses with both his arms and leg. He ranks just above Howell given he’s had multiple years as a starter and is among the nation’s top dual-threats.
1 TREVOR LAWRENCE Junior Clemson
There’s no better quarterback in the ACC, or the nation for that matter, returning in 2020 than Trevor Lawrence.
Lawrence took over as the Tigers’ starting quarterback a few games into the 2018 season. All he did that year was lead the team to a perfect 15-0 season by throwing for 3,280 yards, 30 touchdowns with just four interceptions. He led the Tigers to an ACC title, a 30-3 Cotton Bowl win over Notre Dame and 44-16 victory over Alabama to claim the national championship.
On top of being a national champion as a true freshman, Lawrence took home first-team All-ACC honors and the league’s rookie of the year award.
In 2019, Lawrence led the Tigers back to the national championship by throwing for 3,665 yards with 36 touchdowns and just eight interceptions. He also added 563 rushing yards and nine touchdowns on the ground to again take home first-team All-ACC honors.
As long as he’s healthy, Lawrence figures to be the top pick in the 2021 NFL Draft and will be the quarterback of the team favored to win the national championship this fall.
Honorable mention: Kenny Pickett, Pittsburgh
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Considerations for Restarting CFB (RX; HM)
Considerations for Restarting CFB
What's the prescription for playing football during a worldwide pandemic?
A little while back the ACC head football coaches and commissioner made this PSA video:
CBS Sports posted an article about "How college football will address its most difficult undertaking yet: safely starting the 2020 season". In it, they discussed some of the obstacles which need to be overcome in order to safely and quickly restart college football.
After considering this and other articles, here's my list of what needs to happen:
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Links, news and rumors - 5/7/20 (RX; HM)
Links, news and rumors - 5/7/20
Here's a follow-up to my recent post titled "Should Rondale Moore Transfer to Louisville?"
POLL: Do you think Rondale Moore should transfer to Louisville?
| 17% | No, he should stay loyal to Purdue | oooooooooooo |
| 9% | If he wants to transfer, U of L shouldn't take him | oooooo |
| 36% | He SHOULD transfer, but he won't | ooooooooooooooooooooooooo |
| 39% | He should come home and be a Cardinal! | ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo |
In other words, 75% of the respondents think Moors should transfer, but less than half think he'll ever actually consider doing so.
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Has realignment hurt some teams? (RX; HM)
Has realignment hurt some teams?
What effect has joining the SEC had on Missouri? Texas A&M? South Carolina? Arkansas?
What effect has Big Ten membership had on Rutgers? Maryland? Nebraska? Penn State?
And we would be remiss if we left out Colorado and Utah to the Pac-12, or TCU and West Virginia to the Big XII...
Have these schools made good decisions or bad ones?
What about the newest ACC members? How has membership affected Louisville? Pitt? Syracuse? Miami? Virginia Tech? I took a look at whether the new ACC members have worked out well for the conference in a series posted back in March 2020, but in this post we'll discuss whether realignment has worked out well for the schools who moved to other conferences...
First, here's a table of conference realignment from 1991 to the present, color-coded by the eventual P5 conference, with win percent for the 5 years before the team moved compared to the last 5 years in the current conference...
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ACC win totals: Go over on these 2 non-contenders (thescore.com; Kolodziej)
Every team is on the table for win totals - and that's the best part.
In any normal ACC piece we'd be gauging which team had the best chance at unseating Clemson, or who could challenge the Tigers in a title game. But not today, folks.
You won't hear a peep about the national powerhouse, because there's simply no edge on the number. After combing through the entire ACC win totals board, there are actually two non-contenders that stick out like a sore thumb.
Here's our conference outlook for this upcoming fall.
2020 ACC win totals
TEAM WIN TOTAL OVER UNDER
| Clemson | 11.5 | -110 | -110 |
| Miami | 8.5 | -145 | +125 |
| North Carolina | 8.5 | -120 | +100 |
| Virginia Tech | 8.5 | +105 | -125 |
| Florida State | 7.5 | -110 | -110 |
| Louisville | 7.5 | -110 | -110 |
| Virginia | 6.5 | -125 | +105 |
| Wake Forest | 6.5 | -110 | -120 |
| Pittsburgh | 6.5 | +115 | -135 |
| Syracuse | 5.5 | -120 | -110 |
| Duke | 5.5 | -110 | -110 |
| North Carolina State | 4.5 | -180 | +150 |
| Boston College | 4.5 | -150 | +130 |
| Georgia Tech | 2.5 | -160 | +140 |
Strength of schedule
TEAMNATIONAL SOS RANK
| Georgia Tech | 5 |
| Florida State | 13 |
| Louisville | 25 |
| Boston College | 41 |
| North Carolina | 42 |
| Virginia | 43 |
| Wake Forest | 44 |
| Clemson | 57 |
| North Carolina State | 58 |
| Pittsburgh | 60 |
| Duke | 62 |
| Syracuse | 63 |
Other
Meatballs and memories at Vince’s Gourmet Imports in North Syracuse (Dining In Review) (PS; Paventi)
As a child growing up in an Italian-American home, I had a big responsibility on meatball day. My mother would prep all of the ingredients in an enormous yellow Tupperware bowl, and I would mix everything by hand. Together, we would roll the meatballs before she fried them in hot oil.
The payoff to having hands that would smell like garlic and cheese for days afterward were those crusty brown spheres. There was just enough crunch on the exterior, while the insides were moist and assertively flavored. They could sit in the freezer for months and still maintain their crispy edges and chewy interiors when reheated.
I have consumed a lot of meatballs over the years and have the body shape to prove it, but it wasn’t until I picked up a package from the freezer at Vince’s Gourmet Imports in North Syracuse that I found one that reminded me of my mother’s. These struck the right balance of garlic and cheese, with a savory beef flavor throughout and that telltale crunch from frying. They were a little smaller than the Paventi meatballs, but they hit all of the right notes.
Vince’s started in 2007 with a deli counter and shelves of pastas, olive oils, canned tomatoes and other specialty Italian foods. It built out its kitchen in 2012 to produce hot foods, perform catering and prepare a line of frozen dinners that could be reheated at home.
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