sutomcat
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Welcome to National Christmas Tree Day!
The Christmas tree, a prominent decoration for those who celebrate Christmas, is the focus of today's holiday. The day is often celebrated by acquiring, putting up, and decorating a Christmas tree. Although the choice to put National Christmas Tree Day on December 8 was made by the day's creator, Jace Shoemaker-Galloway, the date does have some other connections to the Christmas tree. Today also happens to be Immaculate Conception Day, a Catholic holiday on which celebrants in some countries put up Christmas trees. December 8 is also around the time of the year that the lighting of the National Christmas Tree takes place. In the past, some tree farmers have also held a National Christmas Tree Day on the date as well.
The roots of the Christmas tree tradition go back to ancient pagan holidays. Pagans decorated their homes with evergreen branches during the Winter Solstice, to remind them that spring wasn't too far away. Some pagans worshipped trees as well. In ancient Rome, temples were decorated with evergreens during Saturnalia, a December holiday. Eventually, Christians began associating Christ's birth with the winter holidays and adopted the evergreen tree, which they saw as a symbol of eternal life.
SU News
Syracuse Football 2020 Season Superlatives: The MVPs (SI; Staff)
Syracuse football's 2020 season came to a close on Saturday with a loss at No. 2 Notre Dame. The loss gave the Orange their second one win campaign in the last 15 years. Still, despite that, there were positives to take away. At AllSyracuse.com, we hand out our season awards.
OFFENSIVE MVP
Mike McAllister: Chris Elmore. Affectionately known as Rhino among teammates and the fan base, Elmore is one of the more selfless teammates you will find. He played fullback, tight end and defensive line during the 2019 season. This year, due to injuries along the offensive line that left them with limited available players, Elmore moved to guard to help out the team. All he did was play solid football against ACC competition at a position he had not played since high school. In fact, at different points this season, he was the highest graded offensive lineman on Syracuse's roster per Pro Football Focus. When Syracuse got healthier along the offensive line, he moved back to fullback/tight end. Never once did Elmore complain. He always put the team first. He is the real MVP.
Jacob Payne: Taj Harris & Chris Elmore. A 1-10 season doesn't normally accompany an offensive juggernaut, and the 2020 Syracuse Orange are no exception. In a year derailed by injury, new play calling, and a pandemic, offensive production was hard to come by. Despite adjusting to four different quarterbacks throughout the season, junior WR Taj Harris somehow managed to produce like a top 5 target in the ACC. Harris' career highs in receptions (58), yards (735), and touchdowns (5) made him an invaluable asset, no matter who was behind center.
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Syracuse Football 2020 Season Superlatives: Rookies of the Year (SI; Staff)
Syracuse football's 2020 season came to a close on Saturday with a loss at No. 2 Notre Dame. The loss gave the Orange their second one win campaign in the last 15 years. Still, despite that, there were positives to take away. At AllSyracuse.com, we hand out our season awards.
OFFENSIVE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
McAllister: Sean Tucker. How good was Tucker this season? He started the year fifth on the depth chart at running back. He took over the starting job due to opt outs and injuries, and shined. Tucker ran for 638 yards in nine games, averaging 4.6 yards per carry with four rushing touchdowns. For an offense that struggled all season, Tucker was one of the more consistent weapons for them. He showed balance, vision and the ability to make people miss. It all culminated with his performance against Notre Dame, becoming the first 100 yard rusher the Irish allowed all season. It was a breakout campaign, and he should be the feature back for years to come.
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Syracuse Football Top 25 Players of All-Time: No. 19 Joe “Doc” Alexander (J.A.) (itlh; Peelman)
Syracuse Football has had a long history of success. We look back at some of the best players to play at Syracuse University. Up next, No. 19: Joe “Doc” Alexander (J.A.)
Former Syracuse football great Joe Alexander is not a name most Orange fans have heard of. In fact, his name is one that you really have to go back in the history books for. Alexander played for Syracuse Football at center and guard from 1916-1920. During that stretch, there is not a whole lot of statistics about him, but he was one of only two players (legend Ernie Davis being the other) to be a consensus All-American multiple times.
J.A., or “Doc” as he was affectionately called, was selected as a consensus All-American in 1918, and 1919 for his play at guard, and in 1920 for his play at center, according to Cuse.com. He also served as a captain on the football team for two years, and one year on the lacrosse team, according to FootballFoundation.org.
During his SU career he had multiple highlights worth noting. In a 1918 game against Rutgers, he ran 75 yards for a touchdown after picking up a loose ball. In 1919, Alexander led Syracuse to a 24-3 win over rival Pittsburgh who had not lost in four years. The Post Standard, which still existed at that time, called the win the “greatest upset of the season in the world of sport“, according to Syracuse.com.
The following year in 1920, Alexander and the Syracuse Football program continued to defy the odds. Syracuse led by Alexander would beat Dartmouth at home, the first team to do that in 16 years. That same season in a game against Colgate, Alexander recorded 11 straight tackles at one point to lead to a 14-0 victory. During one stretch in that game, Colgate lined up on the one-yard line four times. Three of those times, Alexander tackled the offensive player. The last time they hiked the ball he intercepted the pass, according to the Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame.
MORE FROM ALL-TIME LISTS
- Syracuse Football Top 25 Players Of All-Time: No. 20 Rob Burnett
- Syracuse Football Top 25 Players Of All-Time: No. 21 Qadry Ismail
- Syracuse Football Top 25 Players Of All-Time: No. 22 Justin Pugh
- Syracuse Football Top 25 Players Of All-Time: No. 23 Keith Bulluck
- Syracuse Football Top 25 Players Of All-Time: No. 24 Jim Nance
5 Things I Didn’t Like: Notre Dame Starts Slow, Plays Sloppy in Route of Syracuse - UHND.com - Notre Dame Football, Basketball, & Recruiting (uhnd.com; Vitovitch)
If you didn’t watch the entire Notre Dame – Syracuse (hopefully the CFP committee) game on Saturday, it could look like a casual blowout. Notre Dame won 45-21 with Syracuse adding a late, garbage-time TD to make it look a bit closer. However, if you watched the whole thing, you know it was far from flawless execution by the Irish and that they struggled mightily for almost the entire first half. It was a perfect game for this column – Irish won big but still gave me plenty to write about in this week’s “5 Things I Didn’t Like.”
Notre Dame’s slow start offensively
This one should go without saying because it’s rather apparent, but Notre Dame’s slow start offensively wasn’t very likable on Saturday. It wasn’t just one area of the offense that had it stalled either; it was the whole system:
- Ian Book started slow and missed some early passes.
- Kyren Williams wasn’t very patient early and made some bad cuts that he typically doesn’t make.
- Javon McKinley dropped a touchdown on the first drive of the game after losing it in the sun.
- The offensive line sprung some leaks with its third starting five in the last three games.
- Tommy Rees wasn’t inspiring anyone with his early play calling, instead looking like he was trying more to put some wrinkles on film that Clemson would have to prepare for
Against Syracuse, a start like that is easy to overcome. Against Clemson, a start like that could be catastrophic. Now, there were a lot of intangibles working against Notre Dame Saturday – the Irish had their sot in the ACCCG all locked up, emotions were running high on Senior Day, and Syracuse was a 1-9 football team after all. Still, the lack of execution early was far from ideal.
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Notre Dame football: Offensive Grades vs. Syracuse (slapthesign.com; Morrison)
The Notre Dame football team took a bit to get going on the offensive side of the ball but was still able to put up 45 points against Syracuse.
For about a quarter and a half, things were scary in South Bend, as the Notre Dame football team struggled to get going on Saturday. While the Irish defense was solid early in the game against a struggling Syracuse offense, the Notre Dame offense was sleepwalking.
There was a casualness to the start, which saw multiple drops on the opening drive. Meanwhile, the offensive line was starting to show its injuries, as Ian Book was scrambling around just to make anything happen in the passing game.
Eventually, the offense got its act together and racked up 45 points on a Syracuse team that has won only one game all season long. Still, you couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed in the overall strong performance by Notre Dame, who has a tough task ahead of them in two weeks against Clemson in the ACC title game.
So, how does the offense grade out in the final regular-season game of the season against Syracuse?
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Three Things After An Irish Victory Lap (onefootdown.com; Boomer)
The 2020 regular season is over, and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish are once again undefeated. Before diving into a few specific threads, let’s take a moment to appreciate what Saturday’s ho-hum blowout of the Syracuse Orange brought the Irish. A third undefeated regular season this decade, and a second in three years. Four consecutive ten-win seasons. Individual records and milestones all over the field (we’ll get to that later). In a year where not having a season at all was a very real possibility, we should be incredibly thankful for this remarkable campaign.
With all that said, let’s dive into three things I noticed in Notre Dame’s 45-21 win over Syracuse.
Even on an off day, the Irish linebackers made plays
Credit Syracuse with showing up in this game and fighting all the way through. With the Irish sleepwalking early on, the Orange took an early lead and established some momentum. The Irish defense appeared to be caught off guard by Syracuse’s up-tempo scheme, with the Orange moving the ball and scoring early while the Irish offense was slow in getting going.
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(video)
Former Notre Dame captain and linebacker Mike Goolsby gives his thoughts on the Fighting Irish's victory over Syracuse, plus why he's proud of quarterback Ian Book.
Syracuse Post Game Show, Local Radio Edition podcast; Fighting Irish Digital Media)
Syracuse Post Game Show, Local Radio Edition
30 Minutes In Orange Nation 12-7 (ESPN; radio; Steve & Seth)
Steve and Seth discuss SU Men’s Basketball’s depth after starting 3-0. Then, they talk about which SU football players are staying and which are leaving now that the season is over. Later, they discuss the biggest priorities for Dino Babers’ team this offseason.
WTLB-AM (ESPN; radio; Axe)
Brent kicks the show off talking about what he took away from Syracuse’s worst football season since 2005 and which positions he thinks the Orange should target from the transfer portal. Then, he discusses Tommy DeVito’s future and looks back at SU’s 45-21 loss to Notre Dame. LISTEN HERE
Axe: Revisiting 20 questions for SU football in 2020 (PS; $; Axe)
Before the 2020 Syracuse University football season began, I pondered 20 questions about how it could turn out.
Let’s take a look back at those questions now that we have the answers (well, some of them) and see if it tells us anything about how SU football recovers from a 1-10 season.
1. Who is the real Tommy DeVito?
Still don’t know.
DeVito played in just four games for Syracuse before an ankle injury ended his season.
DeVito’s father told syracuse.com on Monday the QB will return to Syracuse in 2021 to try and answer this question for good.
“We want to finish what we started here because it feels like we never got started,” DeVito’s father, Tom, said.
2. Why will the offensive line be better?
My original answer to this question was “because there is nowhere to go but up.”
That’s pretty much how it turned out. The offensive line gave up 38 sacks this season compared to 50 in 2019.
Hooray.
Florida transfer Chris Bleich becoming eligible for next season will help, but it’s still a position of weakness on the Orange roster. Retooling it has to be Dino Babers’ top priority in the offseason.
3. Can Syracuse fix its penalty problem?
Nope.
Syracuse finished the 2020 season with 77 penalties for 728 penalty yards, a mark that will place them among the worst teams in college football in that category for the second straight season. Syracuse finished in the bottom five of the country with 887 penalty yards in 2019.
4. Does the offense have a No. 1 wide receiver?
Syracuse Orange wide receiver Taj Harris (3) during a game against North Carolina State in the second half on Saturday, Nov. 28, 2020, at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N.Y. Dennis Nett |dnett@syracuse.com
Yes.
I feel comfortable giving Taj Harris that belt. He was Syracuse’s most targeted receiver with 58 catches for 733 yards and five touchdowns.
Harris even inspired comparisons to former Syracuse wideout Marvin Harrison from Tony Dungy during NBC’s broadcast of Syracuse-Notre Dame on Saturday.
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Links, news and rumors - 12/7/20 (RX; HM)
Links, news and rumors - 12/7/20
ACC Regular-Season Football Games on Dec. 19 Placed Under Six-Day Hold
The Atlantic Coast Conference and its television partners announced today that the two regular-season football games scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 19, have been placed under a six-day hold. Game times and networks will be updated following the games of Dec. 12.
ACC Football Championship Game
COMMENT: I don't think the networks are so worried about whether the on-hold ACC teams win or lose this week, so much as they just want to see which tv slots need to be filled.
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2020 ACC Bowl Projection - How Many Teams? (RX; HM)
2020 ACC Bowl Projection - How Many Teams?
Here's an update on ACC bowl prospects for 2020-21 (as of 12/7/2020, at least)...
ACC Bowls canceled so far this year:
ACC Bowl Tie-ins still in place for 2020:*
* 2020-21 season only.
So, even assuming that the ACC sends both Clemson and Notre Dame to a CFP Semi-Final or, at worst, a New Year's Six Bowl, that means that only seven more ACC teams (a total of nine) will enjoy post-season play.
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JHowell's ACC Picks for 2020 Week 15 (RX; HM)
JHowell's ACC Picks for 2020 Week 15
Below are the projections through the games of 12-12-2020. The favorite is listed first with the projected margin of victory (i.e., the line) in parenthesis. HOME TEAM IN ALL CAPS. 'TP' represents the total number of points expected to be scored in the game and 'Odds' represents the odds of the favorite winning straight-up (not against-the-spread).
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Other
Landmark Syracuse tavern, one of the city’s oldest, shuts down for good (PS; Cazentre)
After 58 years in business, Joe Corasaniti says, this is “not the way I wanted to go out.”
Corasaniti recently made the call not to reopen the Franklin Lunch & Grill, the restaurant and bar his father, Pete, founded in 1962. The Franklin, which moved to its current location at 605 N. Salina St. in 1974, has been closed since the early days of the coronavirus in April.
The business and building are now for sale.
Corasaniti said he’d been thinking about reopening, “but I felt another shutdown might happen.”
“Yes, if this pandemic did not happen I would still be open, but I was still thinking of selling,” he wrote in a Facebook message to syracuse.com.
The final decision came as Gov. Andrew Cuomo has placed the city and other parts of Onondaga County in an “orange zone,” which bans indoor dining (allowing only outdoor seating and take-out). That was due, Cuomo said, to spikes in local coronavirus cases.
On Monday, Cuomo indicated he might impose a limit of 25% capacity on indoor dining even for places not in one of the microcluster zones.
“Cuomo is not making things easy for us small business owners,” Corasaniti said.
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