sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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Welcome to National Pass Gas Day!
Passing gas—everyone does it. The technical term for the gas that builds up is flatus, and when someone passes it out of their body we say they have flatulence. That's a nice way of putting it—most people just call it farting. The word "fart" was thought up in 1632; it means "to send forth wind from the anus," and comes from the Old English word "feortan," which means "to break wind." Farts can travel at speeds of about 10 feet per second, almost 7 miles per hour. On average, people fart about 14 times a day, producing enough gas to fill up a balloon. This means everyone should have multiple opportunities to fully celebrate National Pass Gas Day today.
It is fitting that yesterday was Bean Day, because people often fart after eating beans. Other foods that are flatulence enablers include cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, eggs, and dairy products. Pressure builds up while foods such as these are broken down and digested in the colon, and it is released by passing gas.
SU News
Syracuse football: 7 defensive names to watch in transfer portal (247sports.com; $; Bailey)
Syracuse football has four spots left to fill in its Class of 2021, as long as defensive line commit Jaelin Moss signs in February. The transfer portal presents an opportunity to bring in game-ready contributors for a program eager to bounce back from its 1-10 finish last fall.
With dozens of players submitting their names to the portal each week, the process for coaches at this time is tedious. Evaluations take time, from film breakdown to conversations with high school coaches. And the pool of available players is constantly growing. While the Orange has already landed a pledge from Mississippi State quarterback transfer Garrett Shrader, patience will be key moving forward.
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Vermont-born Garrett looks for national championship (timesargus.com; Staff)
Ohio State defensive tackle Haskell Garrett looks to become the third Vermont-born college football player to win a national championship when the Buckeyes play Alabama on Monday in the College Football Playoff championship game.
According to Vermont Sports History, Stats and Information, the only two to accomplish the feat were Montpelier’s Bob Yates in 1959, when his Syracuse club was crowned champions, and Burlington’s Jeff Hughes, a member of the 1970 and 1971 Nebraska championship teams.
Yates and Hughes both played in an era where Associated Press and Coaches polls decided the national champion. Currently, the College Football Playoff, a two-game single elimination tournament with four teams, decides a national champion.
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Revere’s Del Gaizo Brothers Remember the Great Floyd Little (reverejournal.com; Shuman)
The Del Gaizo twins, Jim and John, 1965 graduates of Revere High, are fondly remembering their Syracuse University football teammate Floyd Little, who died on Jan. 1 at the age of 78.
Little was a three-time All-American running back for the Orangemen and went on to have a great career for the Denver Broncos, earning induction into the National Football League Hall of Fame.
Jim DelGaizo was a quarterback on that 1966 Syracuse team that featured All-Americans Floyd Little and Larry Csonka in the backfield. The sensational southpaw set a school record with four touchdown passes in a 28-7 victory Maryland during an 8-2 season that earned Syracuse a trip to the Gator Bowl.
John Del Gaizo was a 6-foot-2-inch tight end who blocked for Little and Csonka. Though he caught passes from his brother, John excelled in his role as part of Syracuse’s awesome offensive line that opened the holes for the unstoppable tandem.
Interestingly, Little, a senior, entered the 1966 season as a Heisman Trophy candidate, but Csonka’s 1,000-yard rushing may have eclipsed Little’s quest for college football’s top award.
“Csonka started out as a starting middle linebacker, I’m not sure how many people know that,” said Jim. “But they needed help in the backfield because no one could block for Floyd, so they put Larry in to be a blocking back and after a while, it was obvious he was a star runner so Floyd kind of took a backseat to Csonka his last season but he accepted it.
“Floyd’s leadership skills were such that he didn’t fight it and he went with the flow,” added Jim. “He didn’t make any waves and he just showed what a gentleman he was. They were talking about Floyd for the Heisman Trophy and Csonka overshadowed him that year. Floyd was heckuva guy, he really was.”
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New NJ.com Top 50 ranks high school FB recruits: Capping senior campaigns while new stars emerge (Part 3 of 5) (NJ.com; Hunt)
NJ Advance Media presents the January 2021 update of the NJ.com Top 50, a ranking of the top 50 high school football recruits in New Jersey. The list ranks the state’s most highly-recruited prospects, grades nine through 12. It’s not solely a list of the state’s top performers -- best reflected by our list of 75 top high school football players released each fall and all-state and all-group teams released each December. However, play is also factored in. The list will be broken down into five parts throughout the week as we reveal 10 picks at a time.
Note: I will reveal the full NJ.com Top 50, the watch list and all categorical breakdowns in the fifth and final post of the series. I will also be releasing Cool Facts about the NJ.com Top 50, a list of New Jersey’s top unsigned seniors and my annual All-New Jersey College Football Team over the next two weeks.
30. Jalen Cheek (6-1, 190) 2021 DB, Winslow (Boston College), Previous rank: 19
Cheek has the size and athletic potential to make an impact at Boston College. He had 23 tackles (18 solo), two pass breakups and a fumble recovery for the much-improved Eagles (6-1) in 2020. He projects to safety but could move closer to the ball and play linebacker if he continues to grow.
Cheek will join fellow South Jersey standouts Xavier Coleman -- a running back from Lenape -- and Donovan Ezeiruaku -- a defensive end from Williamstown -- in Chestnut Hill this year.
29. Jayson Raines (6-3, 185) 2021 WR, West Orange (Stanford), Previous rank: 21
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22. Darian “Duce” Chestnut (5-11, 180) 2021 DB, Camden (Syracuse), Previous rank: 25
Chestnut has been one of New Jersey’s top defenders for three years. A two-time all-state pick -- first-team in 2020 -- Chestnut has great feet, technique and is a skilled cover corner.
He tallied 21 tackles, two interceptions and helped his offense with 279 receiving yards and four scores on 15 catches in five games. He’s ranked four-stars and is the top ‘21 signee for the Orange per .
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Final season grades for every ACC team in 2020 (247sports.com; Crawford)
After putting two teams in the College Football Playoff this season, the 2020 campaign went about as well as it could've in the Atlantic Coast Conference. League champion Clemson and Notre Dame were torchbearers near the top of the polls throughout the season despite both falling short in semifinal appearances against Ohio State and Alabama, respectively.
That's an impressive showing for the ACC, despite often playing second — sometimes, third fiddle — behind other Power 5 conferences.
"We're 10-2 and ten 10-plus win seasons in a row, been to six of these playoffs in a row. And this one didn't go our way," Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said after last week's loss to the Buckeyes. "But you have got to have a chance to get here. And these guys fought their tails off. These seniors went undefeated at home, first time ever in school history. Won 51 games in four years. Just a great group of people."
I teamed up with fellow 247Sports national analyst Bud Elliott to hand out final grades for the Tigers, Irish and every other ACC team after a memorable campaign.
"My grades are higher than they normally would be," Elliott said. "This is because we just saw a season played in a pandemic. For all of the known challenges which made week-to-week consistency difficult, there were many more behind the scenes which made it even tougher."
Here's a look at the report card for every ACC team following the 2020 season:
Boston College Golden Eagles
Elliott's grade: A — Going 6-5 in Year 1 at Boston College and managing to avoid COVID problems is excellent. We'll see if coach Jeff Hafley can improve the defense in 2021, but this is a good start.
Crawford's grade: A — Incredible hire for Boston College. Jeff Hafley has the program heading in a positive direction and this won't be a fun team to play in the coming years for some of the big dogs in the ACC.
Syracuse Orange
Elliott's grade: C- — There were questions about whether Syracuse wanted to play the season. The Orange had a post-game win expectancy of less than ten percent in eight of 11 games.
Crawford's grade: D — All the momentum Dino Babers had garnered a couple years ago has flatlined has head coach of the Orange. Syracuse struggled on both sides of the football this fall and it was a numbers game at times with a depleted roster.
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https://www.newsobserver.com/sports/college/acc/nc-state/article248308540.html (newsobserver.com; Pope IV)
N.C. State was going to have a crowded quarterback room next season one way or another. A seat just opened up in that room.
Bailey Hockman, the Georgia native who started nine games in the 2020 season, announced on Twitter Wednesday morning he was entering the transfer portal.
“This university and program has done so much for my life as (an) athlete and man,” Hockman wrote. “I want to personally thank coach Doeren and coach Beck for helping me become a better person on and off the field.”
In 10 games, Hockman led the team in passing with 2,088 yards and 13 touchdowns. Hockman also threw 11 interceptions this season, including three in the Wolfpack’s 23-21 loss to Kentucky in the Gator Bowl on Jan. 2.
In 17 career games at N.C. State Hockman passed for 2,185 yards.
It’s been an up and down two seasons in Raleigh for Hockman, who started his career at Florida State. He was beat out by redshirt sophomore Devin Leary in fall camp for the starting job, but it was Hockman, not Leary, who started the opener against Wake Forest.
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3 Areas Clemson Must Improve in 2021 (SI; Lentz)
for gbo
With the 2020 season now in the rearview mirror, we can now begin to look ahead to the 2021 season and the issues that need to be fixed if the Tigers are again to find their way back to the College Football Playoff, and ultimately a national championship.
Finding a replacement for Elliott: While head coach Dabo Swinney was adamant that missing offensive coordinator Tony Elliott was not a big issue in the Tigers' Sugar Bowl loss, the fact was that passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach Brandon Streeter struggled to get into a rhythm calling plays once the Tigers went off-script.
Trevor Lawrence even mentioned the issues and referenced the fact it was different in his postgame press conference saying, "...it was a little different, just being on the headset as opposed to him being right there, just us communicating. But the difference it made, I really don't know. We still, I think, communicated well. But, yeah, obviously it's different with him not on the sideline, Coach E (Tony Elliott) not being there. All of those things are different. Communication-wise we were fine, but it was definitely a little bit different."
If one thing was made clear: the Tigers were not prepared for Elliott's absence. When Elliott ultimately leaves to become a head coach, which is inevitable, the Tigers had better be prepared.
The Trenches: The Tigers were dominated at times in the trenches—not only in the Sugar Bowl. The first game against Notre Dame was not a good look for the defensive line, Syracuse exposed the offensive line and the running game was a non-factor for the majority of the season.
Football games are won and lost in the trenches, and that is one area that the Tigers must improve heading into the 2021 season. Some of the issues will be fixed through recruiting, and the young players having true spring practice and offseason to get stronger, but some of it is a mentality issue. There needs to be an Eric Mac Clain, a Christian Wilkins, a Clelin Ferrell, a Jay Guillermo who can challenge the lines of scrimmage to be better.
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COLLINS: After mediocre recruiting class, Penn State embraces NCAA transfer portal (yorkdispatch.com; Collins)
Penn State didn't dominate the Big Ten in the recruiting rankings last December.
It didn't even dominate the state.
Head coach James Franklin seemed rather unconcerned about the immediate impacts of a 2021 recruiting class that, at least so far, doesn't rank among the 20 best in the nation as far as the major recruiting services are concerned.
That's because things changed so much in big-time college football, a slightly less-packed-than-expected recruiting class and a few players pursing goals in the NFL or elsewhere can be remedied with a scan through the NCAA's transfer portal, a burgeoning recruiting database it practically ignored in the first two years of its existence.
"The transfer portal has obviously changed things dramatically in college football," Andy Frank, Penn State's director of player personnel, said on the first day of December's early signing period. "Now, the whole world sees who's on the market, if you will.
"I think we all kind of realize that in the past for us at Penn State, transfers were not a big part of our overall recruiting process. That will change."
Frank made one thing clear: Penn State will still do the overwhelming majority of its roster building the old-fashioned way, recruiting the top high school prospects it can find and developing them within the program. But, he said the Nittany Lions will no longer be shy about filling gaps in its roster with players in the portal, and over the last few weeks, that is rather evident.
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Here's what we know about Vanderbilt football's new coaching staff under Clark Lea (tennessean.com; Backus)
Vanderbilt football's new coaching staff is starting to take shape.
Here is what we know about the coaching staff that Clark Lea is putting together.
Inoke Breckterfield
According to The Athletic, defensive line coach Inoke Breckterfield is leaving Wisconsin and will serve in the same capacity at Vanderbilt.
He has had the same role at Wisconsin since 2015, where he coached future first round NFL Draft pick T.J. Watt. The Badgers led the Big 10 in total defense and run defense this season.
Prior to Wisconsin, Breckterfield was the defensive tackles coach at Pittsburgh from 2012-14, where he helped develop Aaron Donald, a two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year (2017, 2018) and former NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2014.
Lea and Breckterfield coached together at UCLA in 2011. Breckterfield also had stints at Montana, Weber State and Oregon State on his resume.
Norval McKenzie
Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports reported that Norval McKenzie would be leaving his position as the running backs coach at Louisville to take the same job at Vanderbilt.
McKenzie was a running back at Vanderbilt from 2001-04, overlapping with Lea's time there. He rushed for 1,491 yards and seven touchdowns in his four-year career.
He also worked as a graduate assistant at Vanderbilt from 2008-09.
In 2011, McKenzie was hired at Furman, and in five years with the program, he served as running backs coach, special teams coordinator and recruiting coordinator. In 2016, he was hired at Arkansas State in the same capacity.
In 2018, he was a nominee for the Broyles Award, given to the top assistant coach in the nation, as his running backs averaged 186.4 yards on the ground and Arkansas States' special teams unit was among the best in the nation, setting an NCAA record for punt return defense by holding opponents to an average of -15 yards per return.
He's spent the last two seasons at Louisville, coaching Javian Hawkins, a member of the 2019 ACC All-Freshman Team who holds the program's freshman record in rushing yards with 1,525.
Justin Lustig
Thamel also reported that Justin Lustig will take over as special teams coach after serving in the same capacity at Syracuse.
In four seasons at Syracuse, the Orange have finished in the top six of overall special teams rankings in two of the last three years. Like McKenzie, Lustig was a Broyles Award nominee in 2018.
He was promoted to associate head coach at Syracuse before the 2019 season.
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Rx: Better TV Ratings for ACC FB (RX; HM)
Rx: Better TV Ratings for ACC FB
It's one of my pet peeves. One Saturday there will be three great games on in prime time, then the following week there will be nothing worth watching. That's an opportunity to dominate one week. Why doesn't the ACC schedule better games in the down weeks?
If we take a look at the college football tv ratings posted on SportsMediaWatch.com, we can simplify the jungle of data by focusing on just the ones with over four million viewers...
2020 CFB games with over 4 million viewers
Week 16: 3 games - Clemson-Notre Dame (4 pm ABC), Alabama-Florida (8 pm CBS), Ohio State-Northwestern (noon Fox)
Week 15: 2 games - Army-Navy (3 pm, CBS), LSU-Florida (7 pm, ESPN)
Week 14: 2 games - Alabama-LSU (8 pm, CBS), Ohio State-Michigan St (noon, ABC)
Week 13: 4 games - Auburn-Alabama (3:30 pm CBS), Notre Dame-UNC (3:30 pm FRI, ABC), LSU-Texas AM (7 pm ESPN), Penn State-Michigan (noon ABC)
Week 12: 3 games - Indiana-Ohio State (noon Fox), Wisconsin-Northwestern (3:30 pm ABC), Oklahoma State-Oklahoma (7:30 pm ABC)
Week 11: 2 games - Notre Dame-BC (3:30pm ABC), Wisconsin-Michigan (7:30pm ABC)
Week 10: 2 games - Clemson-Notre Dame (7:30pm NBC), Florida-Georgia (3:30pm CBS)
Week 9: 4 games - Ohio St-Penn St (7:30pm ABC), BC-Clemson (noon ABC), Mich.St-Michigan (4pm Fox), Texas-Oklahoma St (4pm Fox)
Week 8: 3 games - Nebraska-Ohio St (noon Fox), Michigan-Minnesota (7:30pm ABC), Alabama-Tennessee (3:30pm CBS)
Week 7: 1 game - Georgia-Alabama (8pm CBS)
Week 6: 4 games - Tenn-Georgia (3:30pm CBS), Alabama-OleMiss (7:30pm ESPN), Texas-OU (noon Fox), Miami-Clemson (7:30pm ABC)
Week 5: 2 games - Texas AM-Alabama (3:30pm CBS), Auburn-Georgia (7:30pm ESPN)
Week 4: 1 game - Miss.St-LSU (3:30pm CBS)
Week 3: none
Week 2: 1 game - Duke-Notre Dame (2:30pm NBC)
Week 1: none (no P5 games were played at all)
Traditionally, we'd count seven ACC football games, feel good about it, and that would be all.
However, we want to know more: were there any ACC games that might have gotten a bigger audience under slightly different circumstances? We'll look at two possibilities: direct competition and missed opportunities.
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Other
Virtual yoga classes, Folksmarch, and last-chance holiday offerings: 8 things to do in CNY (PS; $; Croyle)
It is a new year, and this weekend will give Central New Yorkers a chance to look forward and backwards.
For folks with a New Year’s resolution, there will be a 5K Folksmarch at Destiny, virtual yoga lessons and virtual meditation at Baltimore Woods.
For procrastinators, or those who do not want to let go of the holidays just yet, there are last chance opportunities to visit some of the area’s favorite holiday traditions.
Know of an event you would like to see on this list? Email us at features@syracuse.com.
Clothesline near Santiago de Cuba with the ubiquitous Stars and Stripes clothing blowing toward the Caribbean Sea. Another small sign of how the neighbor nations stay tied together notwithstanding their governmental tensions.
Discussion with filmmaker Joe Guerriero
In conjunction with its photography exhibition “Waiting for Normal: Cuba and the United States,” ArtRage Gallery is putting on a Zoom conversation with filmmaker and photographer Joe Guerriero. His film “Curtain of Water” is about his personal quest to make sense of the United States’ trade embargo on Cuba. “He presents conversations with Cuban exiles and American activists in the U.S. and personal reflections of everyday Cubans caught in a situation of acute material and cultural privation, to shed light on the political and the human side of this conflict.” This virtual event starts at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan.7. It is free but registration is required. Visit artragegallery.org for more information.
Where: Zoom conversation
When: Thursday, Jan. 7 from 7-8 p.m.
How much: Free
Virtual live Yoga
Join long-time yoga instructor Dara Harper in live, virtual yoga classes presented by the Everson Museum. These lessons will connect “your body with surroundings of your own home space.” All skill levels are welcome. You must preregister for the class no later than 24 hours before they begin on Saturday morning. Visit everson.org/classes for more information.
Where: Virtual yoga lessons
When: Saturday, 10 a.m.
How much: $8 for members, $10 for non-members
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