sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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Blue Shirt Day, also known as World Day of Bullying Prevention, takes place on the first Monday of October each year, being the kickoff to National Bullying Prevention Month. Students, schools, and community members wear blue shirts to highlight bullying prevention, and in solidarity with those who experience bullying in all its forms, such as cyberbullying, cruelty, racism, and homophobia. The color blue was chosen because in many cultures it is seen as bringing calmness and peace, as well as importance and confidence.
How to Observe Blue Shirt Day
Celebrate the day by wearing a blue shirt. Wear your own or order an official one. Besides wearing a blue shirt, you could also wear blue pants, shoes, hats, and more. School administrators and faculty members can register their school for the day, as can community groups and businesses. Students can get more ideas for the day by using the online student participation toolkit. Photos can be shared online, and the hashtags #BlueUp, #MakeBullyingHistory, and #StompOutBullying can be used on social media.
SU News
Axe: Is Taj Harris’ transfer a reflection on SU football or a sign of the times? (PS; $; Axe)
Taj Harris’ decision to move on from Syracuse football is a sign of the times in the transfer portal era.
Harris’ decision to transfer is also a reflection of the current state of Syracuse football.
See. You didn’t have to wait long to get the answer to the question posed in the headline of this column.
It’s both.
Thanks for reading.
OK, I guess I should give you a little more than that.
We’ll leave it to Harris to speak for himself on the reasons why he decided to transfer, but it’s not hard to spot the writing on the wall.
Harris entered the year with a chance to finish his career at Syracuse as the school’s all-time leading receiver. Syracuse head coach Dino Babers said he believed Harris was primed to break school records.
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Game story: FSU finds a way for the first time in 2021, tops Syracuse 33-30 (tomahawknation.com; Nevitt)
“We needed to get a win. It was a wonderful feeling walking into that locker room and seeing the smiles,” said Mike Norvell after the Seminoles topped Syracuse 33-30 for their first win of 2021. It wasn’t pretty, but for the first time this season, the Seminoles found a way. After leading by ten early in the fourth quarter, it took a walk-off field goal by Ryan Fitzgerald for the Seminoles to put a one in the win column. What mattered to Norvell was the way his team finished, “Some of the ways we’ve lost games, our kids feel that. To see them be able to finish that game the way it was finished, it was huge.”
Moments that mattered
Not a perfect start, but the best one yetFlorida State hasn’t had any pretty starts this season. Coming into Saturday afternoon against the Syracuse Orange, the Seminoles hadn’t posted points on their opening drive. Last week, the Louisville Cardinals scored on their first five drives. Today, it was a different story. FSU’s defense started the day with a three-and-out. Robert Cooper and Keir Thomas stuffed consecutive QB draws to force a three-and-out. Jordan Travis (making his second start of the season) and the offense took over at their own 35.
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Five Takeaways: Florida State 33 Syracuse 30 (SI; McAllister)
Syracuse fell at Florida State 33-30 on a field goal as time expired to drop to 3-2 on the season. Here are five takeaways from the game.
1. Garrett Shrader is the QB.
There is no question, after two games with Shrader at the helm, that he is the quarterback for this team moving forward. The offense seems to be making strides each of the last two games with him running the show. Against Florida State, Syracuse had 389 yards of offense, scored 30 points and ran for over 230 yards against a good run defense. Shrader even threw for 150 yards. On top of that, he was only sacked once and did not turn it over (the interception on the hail mary at the end of the first half is not really a turnover). Shrader proved he can throw the ball enough to keep defenses honest, he is a big threat to run the ball (137 rushing yards and three touchdowns vs Florida State) and the offense functions better with him. He should be the guy for the rest of the year barring injury.
2. Syracuse can run on anyone.
Florida State's defensive strength was its run defense because of its stout defensive line. Yet Syracuse had two 100 yard rushers (Shrader, Sean Tucker) and averaged six yards per carry. After running all over Liberty the week before, Syracuse has established itself as a really good rushing team. The biggest test will probably be Clemson, which just held Boston College to 46 yards and just 1.4 yards per carry. Still, Syracuse is a run based offense that is succeeding against good run defenses. That is a credit to the staff for changing the way the offense operates and to the players for improved play. The combination of Shrader and Tucker in the backfield will be difficult for most teams to defend.
3. Jordan Travis torched Syracuse with his legs.
We have established a weakness in the Syracuse defense. Mobile quarterbacks. Malik Willis ran the ball well for Liberty in week four and Jordan Travis built on that this week. Travis ran for 113 yards on 19 carries, and escaped several sacks to keep drives alive. He even had two big runs on Florida State's game winning possession (though aided by blatant holding that was not called). The Syracuse defense is good. The front seven is athletic and fast. The secondary is deep and talented. Syracuse held Florida State to 378 yards of total offense, significantly less than Notre Dame and Louisville allowed to the Seminoles. Teams with mobile quarterbacks will continue to pose problems, so Syracuse must come up with a game plan for them moving forward.
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Bleav in Syracuse Football - Episode 9 - A Tallahassee Slugfest Ends in a Syracuse Loss on Stitcher (sticher.com; podcast; McAllister)
Hosts Mike McAllister of Sports Illustrated and former Syracuse football star Shamarko Thomas detail the wild ride that was Cuse' 33-30 loss to a then winless Florida State side. Referee calls(and non-calls), Taj Harris entering the transfer portal, and more Duce Chestnut praise riddle the episode alongside some talk about Garrett Shrader's confidence in the SU offenseSee Privacy Policy at ART19 and California Privacy Notice at ART19.
The Sunday Smash with Ira Schoffel and Jeff Cameron talks victory and more!
The Morning After: Reaction to Syracuse’s Heartbreaking Loss to FSU – Orange Fizz – Daily Syracuse Recruiting News & Team Coverage (orangefizz.net; Amendorara)
It was a game Syracuse desperately needed for bowl eligibility. Florida State had put all of its problems on display for the nation to laugh at through the first month of the season. But even an embattled Mike Norvell and one of the sloppiest Seminoles teams of the last forty years found a way to knock off SU at the buzzer, 33-30.
SU found a way to claw back from down 9-0, 23-13, and 30-20 to tie the game up with just over 5:00 to play. But the Noles were able to drive in the final minute 63 yards to set up the game-winning FG and a golden opportunity to get a conference win fell. The refs did SU no favors in the final frantic few minutes.
Duce Chestnut chose to take the optimistic route, saying, “We’re just showing everybody that we’re some dogs. We work hard. We’re not the same team from last year. We’re coming out to put it on for the ACC.” Chestnut had every right to feel good, his diving interception of a swing pass will be one of the most thrilling highlights of the entire season. It’s still hard to remember a time another corner had that type of burst, hands, and instincts to pull off that move.
“Syracuse football’s loss to Florida State feels like a mix of one that could come back to haunt the Orange and a display of grit that could help it grow.” – Bret Axe, Syracuse.com
“Syracuse’s offense lined up for a fourth-and-2 on its own 28-yard line with 1:50 remaining in the first quarter. After taking a timeout, the offense came back out instead of the field goal unit. Shrader handed the ball off to Tucker, who was immediately taken down by the FSU defense, causing the first turnover of the game. The Orange was down 3-0 at the time, and a short field goal would’ve tied the game. It was an interesting choice by Dino Babers, given the Orange lost by three points.” – Mike Curtis, Syracuse.com
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Syracuse Football: Like many fans, the loss to FSU leaves me perplexed (itlh; Fiello)
After a Syracuse football game, I’ve been through and experienced many emotions. Happy, sad….excited and mad. I’ve likely experienced many others but when the Florida State game ended, the only word I could find to explain how I felt was perplexed. Let me explain.
When the Orange loses, I can often point to something and either vent about it or at least say, “That can be worked on. Hopefully, they address it and we learn from our mistakes.” This team is now 3-2 and I enjoyed the wins because in my eyes, any win no matter your opponent is still better than a loss.
When the Albany game ended, I was frustrated at the penalties called but thankful for the win. When Syracuse football lost to Rutgers, I actually took the other side of that and blamed the officials because I thought the decisions they made impacted the outcome and were often not the right decision. After the three-point setback to FSU, I legitimately don’t know what to say.
Why did Syracuse football lose? Five games in, what’s the identity of this team? Can we win enough to make a bowl game or even to Charlotte still? Is the play-calling an issue? Is the officiating going to continue to impact games in such big situations? Was FSU truly a better team than even I thought, when I urged earlier in the week to not take them lightly? Is every game this season going to come down to the last play?
I don’t know exactly what to make of Syracuse football so far this season.
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ACC Power Rankings: Where things stand after Week 5 (augustafreepress.com; German)
Wake Forest may be for real. The Demon Deacons survived a late rally by Louisville, winning 37-34. The Deacons, playing at home, may have benefited from a friendly clock operator at the end of the first half.
With four seconds remaining in the half, and the ball at the Cardinals 1-yard line, Wake somehow found time to run a play out of the shotgun, run the ball short of the goal line and out of bounds, with still a second left.
Hmm. Enough time for the Deacs to kick a 20-yard field goal – with three points being the difference-maker in the end.
At 5-0, that’s the kind of respect and home cooking a title contender receives.
Overall, the Week 5 power rankings remained steady at the top of each division, with some minor shifting near the bottom. Florida State got win number one over Syracuse that got the Seminoles out from the basement in the Atlantic. Duke and Miami clearly exhibited why they are holding up the rest of the Coastal.
ACC Atlantic
- Wake Forest (3-0, 5-0) The Demon Deacons needed a late field goal to turn back Louisville. The clock operator at Truist Field may be the former clock operator next home game, but hey, that’s why it’s referred to as the home field advantage. Wake has played four of its first five games at home. The schedule changes in the second half as the Deacs face UNC, NC State and Clemson.
- NC State (1-0, 4-1) State survived “the hangover effect” to underwhelm Louisiana Tech, 34-27. The Wolfpack, fresh off the win over Clemson, never trailed the Bulldogs, but failed to put them away as well. If NC State coach Dave Doeren attempted to warn his squad of a letdown, it didn’t work. Offensively the Wolfpack played like pups, but generated enough firepower to lead 27-13 after three, before turning back a late LA Tech rally.
- Clemson (2-1, 3-2) Another week of less than solid offensive play by the Tigers, but another week the defense made a statement about not counting Clemson out. Clemson stopped Boston College in the final minutes of the game on a drive that would have given the Eagles the lead late. If the Clemson defensive unit continues to shine, it may just give the Tiger offense time to put it together.
- Boston College (0-1, 4-1) After reeling off four wins against basically an FCS schedule, the Eagles faced Clemson on Saturday. Struggling or not, it’s still Clemson, and it was in Death Valley. The Eagles played well and had a chance to go ahead late in the fourth, before the Clemson defense took the ball over on downs.
- Louisville (1-1, 3-2) The Cardinals cranked out 540 total yards of offense at Wake Forest. Quarterback Malik Cunningham accounted for 332 of those yards with a 19-for-26 passing game. However, it wasn’t enough as Wake remained unbeaten.
- FSU (1-2, 1-4) In a highly anticipated matchup, OK, maybe not highly, the Seminoles turned back Syracuse to escape the cellar of the Atlantic power rankings. A 34-yard field goal at the buzzer won the game. Its was the first FSU win in nearly 300 days.
- Syracuse (0-1, 3-2) You wouldn’t think a 3-2 team would be at the bottom of the power rankings. But a closer look at the Orange schedule shows wins over Ohio U, Albany, and Liberty. Plus losing to FSU doesn’t leave many options other than last.
AP Poll 2021-10-03 (RX; HM)
AP Poll 2021-10-03
The new AP poll is out (but I don't think you're gonna like it):
College Football Rankings
| RK | TEAM |
| 1 | Alabama |
| 2 | Georgia |
| 3 | Iowa |
| 4 | Penn State |
| 5 | Cincinnati |
| 6 | Oklahoma |
| 7 | Ohio State |
| 8 | Oregon |
| 9 | Michigan |
| 10 | BYU |
| 11 | Michigan State |
| 12 | Oklahoma State |
| 13 | Arkansas |
| 14 | Notre Dame |
| 15 | Coastal Carolina |
| 16 | Kentucky |
| 17 | Ole Miss |
| 18 | Auburn |
| 19 | Wake Forest |
| 20 | Florida |
| 21 | Texas |
| 22 | Arizona State |
| 23 | NC State |
| 24 | SMU |
| 25 | San Diego State |
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The Legend of Jerod Evans (RX; HM)
The Legend of Jerod Evans
I publish this knowing full well it will bring the wrath of many of my fellow Virginia Tech fans, but I felt like it needed to be said...Part of the displeasure Hokie fans have with Justin Fuente revolves around the QB position. Coach "Fu", as he sometimes known, came to Blacksburg with a reputation as "The Quarterback Whisperer". His very first recruit* at the position was a transfer player named Jerod Evans.
In Virginia Tech football lore, it seems that Evans has achieved legendary status. I keep seeing fellow Hokies listing Evans as the greatest of all time - to the point where it seems like every QB who wears the maroon and orange - and especially current QB Braxton Burmeister - is compared to him...
[The following is condensed from an article posted on Wikipedia.]
Jerod Evans began his college football career in 2013 at the Air Force Academy, where he tore an ACL. After that season, he transferred to Trinity Valley Community College, where he played two years before transferring again, this time to Virginia Tech.
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Non-conference Records (so far) (RX; HM)
Non-conference Records (so far)
For the record, there are only 5 FBS conferences with winning records against the other FBS conference s this season, and the Pac-12 is not one of them...
| Conf. | vs FBS | Win% |
| SEC | 26 - 6 | 81.3% |
| Big 10 | 25 - 9 | 73.5% |
| Big 12 | 14 - 6 | 70.0% |
| ACC | 17 - 11 | 60.7% |
| MWC | 17 - 16 | 51.5% |
| Indies | 15 - 17 | 46.9% |
| American | 13 - 17 | 43.3% |
| S Belt | 11 - 15 | 42.3% |
| Pac-12 | 9 - 14 | 39.1% |
| MAC | 10 - 26 | 27.8% |
| CUSA | 9 - 29 | 23.7% |
The media narrative is how the ACC is down because it (likely) has no playoff contender this year. Yet a quick look at non-conference win-loss records versus FBS-only opponents tells a different story...
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ACC Panic Room: Football ain't great, but it's wide open (wralsports.com; video; Panic Room)
Lauren Brownlow and Joe Ovies discuss North Carolina's win over Duke, NC State holding on against La Tech, and a wide open ACC.
Kelly Gramlich and Eric Mac Lain talk ACC football - Gramlich and Mac Lain (maclainandgramlich; podcast; MacLain & Gramlich)
This weekend was crazy! Wake stays undefeated, Clemson finds a way to win & Pitt blows out GT.
Can Wake Forest football really win the ACC title in 2021? (saturdayblitz.com; Lloyd)
Starting out 5-0 is great, but you know what’s even greater? Three of those wins being conference opponents. You know what makes that even greater? Being Wake Forest football.
If last year someone had told you that the Wake Forest Demon Deacons would be the only unbeaten team in the Atlantic Coast Conference almost halfway through the regular-season stretch, you would have most likely called the police. However, that is exactly what has happened.
After their 37-34 escape from the Louisville Cardinals, the Deacs now sit with a devilishly handsome record of 5-0 overall, while holding a 3-0 record in the ACC. Meanwhile, some fellow Atlantic Coast powers are certainly wishing for better days.
To list some examples, Clemson is 3-2, North Carolina is 3-2, Miami is 2-3, and Florida State is a frightening 1-4. Ouch.
However, all of these ACC failures getting out of Wake’s way has conjured a plausible quest for them: to win their first Atlantic Coast Conference title in 15 years, and only their third in the league’s 68-year-long history.
In a literal sense, Wake Forest does, in fact, control their own destiny when it comes to completing such a goal; they are currently one of only two teams in their division with an unbeaten conference record (the other is NC State, who only sits at a measly 1-0). All they have to do is keep winning.
But unfortunately, that is much easier said than done, especially when a team dwells at Wake’s level of historically inferior talent/quality of play. Yet how can someone look at what’s left of Wake’s schedule and, knowing all of what we know about their remaining conference opponents, not see it as manageable?
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Other
Filmmaker celebrates Central New York hometown with new road trip movie (PS; Herbert)
A filmmaker from Syracuse wanted to celebrate his hometown in his feature-length debut, an award-winning road trip movie called “Hudson.”
“I love it, I love the landscape, and I wanted to tell a story here,” said Sean Daniel Cunningham, who directed and co-wrote the comedy-drama released on digital/VOD last week via Amazon, Apple TV, and On Demand.
The film follows a reclusive but charming man named Hudson (”Billions” actor David Neal Levin), who embarks on a journey with his distant cousin (”Hudson” co-writer Gregory Lay) to scatter his mother’s ashes in the Hudson Valley. Along the way they meet an unusual hitchhiker (Mary Catherine Greenawalt) and their road trip turns into a dysfunctional adventure of self discovery, mini-golf, and broken Volvos.
The cast includes veteran character actor Richard Masur (”Risky Business,” “The Thing”) as Hudson’s dad, a doctor whom Hudson uses fake illnesses as an excuse to visit. Cunningham said he wrote the part specifically for Masur, who also famously played fatherly roles in ‘90s movies like “My Girl” and “Encino Man.”
Richard Masur appears in a scene from "Hudson," a new road trip movie that filmed scenes in Central New York.
“Some of the characters are loosely based on people in my life,” Cunningham said. The story itself is fiction, though, from he and Lay wanting to get “opposite characters together on a road trip.”
Cunningham, who graduated from West Genesee High School in 2003 and Binghamton University in 2008, now lives in Los Angeles where he primarily works in television commercials. His credits include travel videos and ads for American Express, AT&T, Café Kubal, Chevrolet, and Chick-fil-A, plus a regional spot for a St. Louis grocery store that aired during the Super Bowl.
Cunningham said he returns to Central New York often — he’s actually home in Syracuse now for a wedding — and loved getting to film fall scenes in the area for “Hudson.” The movie features lots of driving shots around the Finger Lakes, as well as recognizable locations like Four Seasons Adventure Golf in Fayetteville, Suzie’s Lakeland Diner in Camillus, Critz Farms in Cazenovia, a gas station in Chittenango, and the Navarino Apple Orchard in Syracuse.
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