sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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- Aug 15, 2011
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Welcome to National Watermelon Day!
- By weight, watermelon is the most-consumed melon in the U.S., followed by cantaloupe and honeydew.
- Watermelon is 92% water.
- The first recorded watermelon harvest occurred nearly 5,000 years ago in Egypt.
- Watermelon’s official name is Citrullus Lanatus of the botanical family Curcurbitaceae. It is cousins to cucumbers, pumpkins and squash.
- Early explorers used watermelons as canteens.
SU News
Landing Duce Chestnut was a huge win for Syracuse football - The Juice Online (the juice; Auger)
Syracuse football landed a crown jewel of their 2021 recruiting class on Sunday, receiving a verbal commitment from four-star cornerback Darian ‘Duce’ Chestnut.
The Camden (NJ) native selected Syracuse from a crowded field that included finalists Miami, Louisville, Michigan State and Rutgers. He made his decision via Twitter on Sunday.
Part 2!!!!
— Darian “Duce” Chestnut (@BallgameDuce) August 2, 2020
Chestnut is ranked 325th in the country, and the No. 23 cornerback in his class. He is also the No. 6 recruit in New Jersey according to the 247 Composite.
Syracuse now has 16 verbal commitments in its 2021 class, and Chestnut is the top ranked of the group. It also continues the New Jersey pipeline for the Orange, that includes former top pledges Taj Harris (2018), Tommy DeVito (2017) and Dontae Strickland (2015).
Any coaching staff will tell you that to win games on the field, you need to win recruiting battles off the field.
Syracuse won a huge recruiting battle on Sunday with the commitment of 4-star cornerback Darian “Duce” Chestnut. The Camden, NJ product chose the Orange over Miami, Louisville, Michigan State, and Rutgers.
With Andre Cisco expected to depart for the NFL after the season, and Trill Williams possibly joining him, Dino Babers needs to restock the Syracuse secondary with potential playmakers.
So, who else did Babers turn to other than ace recruiter Nick Monroe?
Monroe had help in landing the 5-foot-11, 180-pound Chestnut from Chip West, who was hired by Babers in the offseason. West was previously named the ACC Recruiter of the Year when he was on Virginia’s staff from 2010-2015. The combination of Monroe and West handed the Orange a big recruiting win that they very much needed.
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Louisville football misses on top cornerback but outlook remains positive (BRL; Lane)
The recruiting trail has been good to Scott Satterfield and the Louisville football staff this summer, even in the middle of a global pandemic. With a little over three and a half months to go until the early signing period, Louisville holds 24 total commitments from a class that ranks 20th nationally and fourth in the ACC, according to 247 Sports.
One player who won’t be apart of that class, at least as of now, is Duce Chestnut a four-star cornerback out of Camden, New Jersey, who officially came off the board over the weekend committing to Syracuse.
Chestnut was arguably the top cornerback on the board for Louisville throughout the recruiting process in the class of 2021 and things looked good for Bryan Brown and the Cards all the way up until the very end. The 5’11, 180-pound corner chose Syracuse over a group of four other contenders, including Louisville, Miami, Michigan State, and his hometown program, Rutgers.
Part 1!!!
Syracuse picks up 247 Sports’ 325th best player and 23rd best cornerback and a guy who would’ve been a great fit playing in Brown’s defensive system at Louisville. He’s the definition of a cover corner and combines great speed with a high football IQ and willingness to hit people.
Louisville made Chestnut a priority as they recruited to revamp their secondary, hoping to make him the premier guy at the position long-term. While landing him would’ve been huge, his commitment to Syracuse is by no means the end of the world or a reason for fans to hang their heads.
In fact, quite the contrary. Brown along with safeties coach Sha’Don Brown have been one of the best recruiting duos across all of college football landing multiple high level players at both safety positions and cornerback.
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4-star CB would be SU football’s highest-rated recruit in a decade (PS; Mink)
Syracuse football landed a verbal commitment Sunday afternoon from a player that would become the program’s highest-rated recruit in nearly a decade.
Darian “Duce” Chestnut, a four-star cornerback from Camden High School in New Jersey, announced Sunday he intends to sign with Syracuse, choosing the school out of a group of contenders that included Miami (Fla.), Louisville, Michigan State and Rutgers.
He would be the program’s highest-rated recruit since four-star cornerback Wayne Morgan in 2012, according to the 247Sports.com composite rankings.
Chestnut made his pick public on Twitter at 4 p.m. Sunday.
His commitment catapults him to the top of SU’s 2021 class, which now sits at 16 players about four months from the three-day early signing period that opens Dec. 16.
Chestnut, a 5-foot-11, 180-pound defensive back, recorded 47 tackles, five interceptions and 13 pass break-ups as a junior last fall. He was primarily recruited by the two secondary coaches on the defensive staff: safeties/nickelbacks coach Nick Monroe and first-year cornerbacks coach Chip West.
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Syracuse Football: Orange gets first 4-star 2021 commit in Duce Chestnut (itlh; Adler)
Syracuse football picks up a huge recruiting win in its 2021 class as four-star cornerback Duce Chestnut selects the Orange.
To date, Syracuse football possessed a solid 2021 class with a bevy of three-star prospects, but this recruiting cycle flexed its muscles on Sunday afternoon when four-star cornerback Duce Chestnut picked the Orange.
In electing to don a ‘Cuse uniform in about 12 months, the 5-foot-11, 180-pound Chestnut, a rising senior at Camden High School in Camden, N.J., opted for Syracuse football over a mix of Atlantic Coast Conference and Big Ten Conference squads.
Chestnut’s final five, which he revealed on Friday, consisted of the Orange, along with Michigan State, Louisville, Miami, and Rutgers.
Following his top-five list, and ahead of his announcement decision on Sunday afternoon, momentum seemed to significantly point in the direction of Syracuse football to land the elite cornerback.
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Syracuse Football: The path to a bowl invitation for the Orange (itlh; Adler)
It will prove a massive challenge for Syracuse football to reach a post-season bowl, and we outline how the Orange gets there.
Assuming a 2020 fall season is played amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, Syracuse football knows which league teams it will do battle with as part of its 11-game schedule.
Within its 10-contest ACC line-up, the Orange will host Boston College, Duke, N.C. State, Wake Forest and Georgia Tech. Syracuse football, in a brutal road slate, will make trips to Clemson, Notre Dame, Louisville, North Carolina and Pittsburgh.
At this juncture, the first option for the ‘Cuse for its one non-conference duel is Liberty, although other alternatives could factor into the equation.
To reach a bowl berth, I imagine that Syracuse football will have to go 6-5, as teams that want to play in the post-season usually have to sport a record that is above the .500 mark.
Should the Orange welcome Liberty to the Hill, chalk that up as a win. The ‘Cuse would then have to go 5-5 in its ACC encounters to qualify for a bowl.
The easiest way to simplify this is to say that Syracuse football has to go undefeated inside the Carrier Dome, given the possibility that its five tilts away from the Dome are all tough and could very well result in losses.
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ACC announces a football schedule but will Miami Hurricanes play? (caneswarning.com; Feldman)
The ACC released a wonderful conference schedule that matches the Miami Hurricanes up with an opportunity to beat Clemson. Notre Dame is an ACC football member in 2020 but unfortunately not matched up with Miami.
Not having Notre Dame on the 2020 schedule is somewhat disheartening as the greatest victory the Miami Hurricanes have had in the last several years has come at the expense of humiliated and embarrassed Notre Dame team. Having been to the last three games against them in person I can assure you they live up to the hype.
Miami Hurricanes fans hate Notre Dame and Fighting Irish fans hate each other and that makes for a great football game. With the season schedule set, the question now remains is whether or not the first game will be played in September or pushed off at some point in the future.
Based on the continuing trend of nearly 10,000 cases if not more every day in Florida many might question if this is going to be wise. Compared to a sport like baseball where there is minimal contact it’s easy enough to know that football is very much a contact sport.
Many questions have been raised when the Florida Marlins were unable to keep their team COVID free. There are certain protocols that can take place that would easily allow for college football to happen. This would include frequent testing of the players, coaches and support staff.
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Ranking the ACC football schedules from 'easy' to 'brutal' (247sports.com; Elliott)
With a new schedule release for the ACC comes a new opportunity to break down schedule strength and a host of other elements. We have previously discussed which schedules became more or less difficult compared to the original slate and which new games stand out as the league’s best. We've also looked at the new updated championship odds and given our big takeaways from the new slate.
But what about pure schedule strength within the conference? Schedules don’t usually win a team a championship, but they can absolutely rob a team of an opportunity to win a title.
To that end, I broke down each team’s schedule strength into five categories: Easy, Light, Average, Challenging, and Brutal.
In order to do this, I used a Vegas-style power rating comprised of some well-known analytics and some tiny adjustments for recent off-season events (transfers, dismissals, injuries) which have not yet been incorporated into the models.
Easy: North Carolina, Duke, NC State
This category was a full standard deviation below the average schedule difficulty. And three teams make it into the Easy designation: North Carolina, Duke, and NC State. Cue the conspiracy theories about the ACC taking care of its triangle teams.
North Carolina’s schedule is by far the easiest according to my numbers. The reasons are rather obvious when looking at the schedule as UNC dodges Clemson, Louisville, and Pitt. Missing by far the best team and also two other top-half programs should set up North Carolina nicely.
NC State also misses Clemson and Louisville. And it also does not have to play Notre Dame! So why is its schedule not as easy as UNC’s? The Wolfpack must play the Tar Heels, while the Tar Heels get to play the Wolfpack.
Duke misses Clemson, Louisville, and Miami.
For North Carolina, this is an enormous opportunity. For NC State and Duke, it might not be as there are plenty of teams on its schedule against which it will be an underdog.
Light: Notre Dame, Clemson, Louisville
This category is more than half of a standard deviation away under average schedule strength.
Notre Dame does not have to play Miami, NC Virginia Tech, or Virginia, but it does have to play Clemson. And with playing Clemson, it is almost mathematically impossible to end up in the “Easy” category.
Clemson dodges Louisville and North Carolina, which does not seem like that big of a break when compared to the above teams, but the Tigers also do not have to play Clemson, which is a huge factor.
Louisville dodges Clemson and North Carolina. Many of the computer models are quite down on Louisville, but if the Cardinals can take another step forward after taking a huge one last year, they could make some noise.
Average: Syracuse, Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech misses Notre Dame, but does play Clemson, North Carolina, Miami, Louisville, and Pitt. Syracuse dodges Florida State, Miami, and both Virginia schools, but draws Clemson and Notre Dame.
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Best/Most In-demand 2020 games (RX; HM)
Not one game for Wake Forest or Syracuse. Where is the love?
Best/Most In-demand games of the new 2020 ACC Football Schedule
Some games are good just because they feature two good teams. Other games are good because it's a rivalry - especially one which hasn't been played in a few years. Using that logic, here are some of the best match-ups of the 2020 schedule:
Notre Dame at Boston College
Pitt at Boston College
Miami at Clemson
Pitt at Clemson
UNC at Duke
Clemson at Florida State
Georgia Tech at Florida State
UNC at Florida State
Clemson at Georgia Tech
Notre Dame at Georgia Tech
Florida State at Louisville
Miami at Louisville
Virginia Tech at Louisville
Florida State at Miami
UNC at Miami
NC State at UNC
Notre Dame at UNC
Virginia Tech at UNC
Duke at NC State
Clemson at Notre Dame
Florida State at Notre Dame
Louisville at Pitt
Notre Dame at Pitt
Virginia Tech at Pitt
UNC at Virginia
NC State at Virginia
Clemson at Virginia Tech
Miami at Virginia Tech
Virginia at Virginia Tech
...
Links, news and rumors - 8/3/20 (RX; HM)
Links, news and rumors - 8/3/20
I know most of the students are not yet on campus but this is still some good news...
From TribLive: "Pat Narduzzi pleased with Pitt’s 22-day streak without positive test"
__________
David Teel reports that the situation is similar over at Boston College:
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Social Distancing, ACC-Style (RX; HM)
Social Distancing, ACC-Style
How much travelling does each team have to do under the new 2020 ACC Football schedule? I found this on twitter...
...the numbers appear to be correct, but it's a bit odd that Duke is nowhere to be found (did we trade Duke for Notre Dame in football?)
Of course, just knowing how far teams have to travel doesn't tell you much. Miami ALWAYS has the furthest to travel because of where they're located. Boston College and Syracuse are always near the top for the same reason.
| original schedule | new schedule | |||
| Team | avg miles | #road | avg miles | change |
| BC | 987.8 | 5 | 644.8 | -343 |
| Clemson | 394.3 | 5 | 339.8 | -54.5 |
| Duke | 487.2 | 5 | 383.8 | -103.4 |
| Florida State | 917.3 | 6 | 663.8 | -253.5 |
| Georgia Tech | 500.2 | 5 | 670.2 | +170 |
| Louisville | 569.0 | 5 | 498.4 | -70.6 |
| Miami | 997.0 | 5 | 847.8 | -149.2 |
| N Carolina | 455.8 | 6 | 383.8 | -72 |
| NC State | 423.0 | 5 | 84.6 | -338.4 |
| Notre Dame | 795.8 | 6 | 661.4 | -134.4 |
| Pitt | 628.8 | 5 | 777.2 | +148.4 |
| Syracuse | 492.5 | 6 | 630.4 | +137.9 |
| Virginia | 317.3 | 6 | 497.8 | +180.5 |
| Virginia Tech | 301.4 | 5 | 247.4 | -54 |
| Wake Forest | 241.7 | 6 | 274.4 | +32.7 |
The team with the biggest increase in mileage was the University of Virginia; a pair of original trips to Georgia were replaced by a pair of trips to Florida. The second biggest increase in travel was assigned to Pitt; the Panthers already had two trips to Florida, but the new schedule adds trips to Clemson and Georgia Tech (which was originally a home game for Pitt). One other team - Syracuse - also had a lot of miles added. The Orange already had trips to Clemson and Pitt, replaced trips to Wake Forest and Western Michigan with similar ones to UNC and Notre Dame; the increase comes from one swap: Louisville for Rutgers.
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Other
First 400 SU students arrive for 2-week quarantine in dorms (PS; Weaver)
About 400 Syracuse University students began checking into dorms today, the first of thousands of undergraduate and graduate students expected to move here during the coronavirus pandemic for the fall semester.
Today’s arrivals were mainly first-year students who must follow a state-mandated quarantine for two weeks because they are coming from places with rising caseloads.
The cars lined up in the drive-thru check-in at Manley Field House shortly after 9 a.m. had license plates from Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas. (See the current list of the 34 states on the quarantine list.)
The unusually early check-in is meant to put these students into various bubbles on campus. The students must keep to these small, assigned groups, called pods, according to Carrie Abbott, who runs SU’s office overseeing new students. Classes start Aug. 24.
Overall, SU is expecting about 3,000 students from the more than 30 states on the quarantine list. First-year and transfer students could spend $1,000 for room and board to spend that two-week quarantine in dorms. Others must quarantine on their own, either at a spot in New York or another state with low virus caseloads not on the quarantine list.
Before moving into the dorms today, each student was required to show proof of a negative Covid-19 test. Arriving students got another test today before heading to the dorms, Abbott said. Those results are expected in 72 hours, she sai
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