sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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The Roman calendar, which dates back to 753 BCE, had three fixed points throughout the month: Nones, Ides, and Kalends. Ides took place around the midpoint of each month, occurring on the 13th or 15th. In March it took place on the 15th.
The Ides of March is most remembered as being the anniversary of the day that Julius Caesar was assassinated, in 44 BCE. The day did, however, have some significance before this infamous event. It had long been a day of religious observances. The Ides of each month was sacred to Jupiter, Rome's supreme deity. Flamen Dialis, Jupiter's high priest, would traditionally lead an "Ides sheep" along the streets of Rome before it was sacrificed. The first part of March consisted of new year's celebrations, as March was the first month of the Roman calendar. The Feast of Anna Perenna, a goddess of the year, was a festival held on the Ides that closed down the new year's celebrations. Celebrants gathered outside of Rome, along the banks of the Tiber River, for food, drink, music, and sacrifices to Anna Perenna for a prosperous new year. The Ides of March was also used by Romans as a deadline for settling debts.
SU News
(youtube; video; Newsworthy Stories)
Why Syracuse University may be calling South Florida its 2nd home! The story on the Next Newsworthy Stories with Jacqueline Jimenez.
ACC News
Predicting the ceiling and floor for every ACC football team in 2023 - Saturday Road (saturdayroad.com; Hayes)
There’s nothing magical about it. A philosophy change, sure — but don’t think anything close to a complete overhaul.
What’s evolving at Clemson this spring under new offensive coordinator Garrett Riley is closer to the proficient and efficient offenses led by Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence. At least, with pace.
Talent level is another story for another time. But the patient, almost plodding days of the past 2 seasons are over.
“Everybody loves to play fast, but defenses have caught up and know how to play against tempo,” Riley said earlier this week at his media opportunity. “What’s more important is dictating tempo. The way we line up and formation, it does give us the ability to play a little bit faster.”
Clemson’s offensive overhaul is the top storyline of ACC spring practices, and with it the hopes of the 2023 season. Here are the ceiling and floor for all 14 ACC teams heading into spring practice (ranked by Power Poll):
1. Clemson
Ceiling: 11-1. The emergence of QB Cade Klubnik late last season was critical for 2023, and the hiring of Riley gives Clemson an elite, experienced play-caller. A move back to the Playoff is closer than you think. The Tigers are still the favorite in the ACC.Floor: 9-3. The offensive line got better in 2022, but still hasn’t played the level of Clemson’s championship seasons.
2. Florida State
Ceiling: 11-1. The Noles are loaded, and even the only question (offensive line) looks like it has been replenished through the portal with Keiondre Jones (Auburn), Jeremiah Byers (UTEP) and Casey Roddick (Colorado). QB Jordan Travis, while still not an elite thrower, is an elite playmaker.Floor: 9-3. FSU lost its 3 biggest games in 2022, didn’t beat a ranked team and beat the worst Oklahoma team since the 1990s in a meaningless bowl game. Let’s pump the brakes just a bit.
3. North Carolina
Ceiling: 10-2. With QB Drake Maye, UNC can win any game on the schedule. He’s that good, and even a new OC (Chip Lindsey) won’t affect what should be a giant sophomore season.Floor: 8-4. The defense forced only 14 turnovers, had all of 17 sacks and gave up 30 points a game in 2022 — and Maye still had them at 9-1 in November (before losing 4 in a row).
4. NC State
Ceiling: 9-3. There are plenty of questions on offense, beginning with QB Brennan Armstrong reuniting with former Virginia OC Robert Anae. Does it work in Raleigh like it did in Charlottesville, where Armstrong was No. 2 in the nation in passing yards per game in 2021?Floor: 6-6. If Armstrong plays like he did in 2022, he won’t be the starter past September. A stout defense from last season (19.2 ppg.) will be good again, but must cover better.
5. Duke
Ceiling: 9-3. How about this first season for coach Mike Elko: Duke won 9 games in 2022, Elko developed an emerging star quarterback (Riley Leonard) — and then kept the rest of college football from poaching him.Floor: 6-6. Clemson, Notre Dame, NC State, at FSU, at North Carolina, Pittsburgh. That’s 6 brutal games, and 6 potential losses.
6. Miami
Ceiling: 9-3. The big question: Was Tyler Van Dyke’s regression because of former OC Josh Gattis or something else? New OC Shannon Dawson brings the Air Raid offense to Miami, and that should allow Van Dyke to get the ball out much quicker (and more efficiently) than 2022.Floor: 6-6. If the Canes are struggling to reach .500, that’s a bad sign for coach Mario Cristobal. He has been adamant that he will make Miami tougher and smarter, and play with a purpose like the Canes of the past.
7. Pittsburgh
Ceiling: 8-4. At this point, we have the empirical data under coach Pat Narduzzi. Even with significant losses from 2022, Pitt will get after the quarterback. The past 4 seasons of sacks by the Pitt defense: 48, 54, 46, 51. The defense dictates everything.Floor: 6-6. USC transfer QB Kedon Slovis wasn’t the answer in 2022. So now Pitt moves to 2 more QB transfers: Phil Jurkovec (Boston College) or Christian Veilleux (Penn State). The running game will be rebuilt, and there’s not a true No.1 receiver.
8. Louisville
Ceiling: 7-5. The defense (returns 6 starters) got hot in the last 2 months of the season (16.5 ppg. over the last 8 games) and not only carried the team to 8 wins, did enough to carry coach Scott Satterfield out of town and into the waiting arms of Cincinnati.Floor: 4-8. New coach Jeff Brohm will at least have a familiar face at the most important position on the field: QB Jack Plummer. He played with Brohm at Purdue before transferring to Cal in 2022. Now he’s at Louisville, trying to produce points with an offense that returns 3 starters.
9. Wake Forest
Ceiling: 7-5. Deacons coach David Clawson couldn’t keep QB Sam Hartman, but kept the next best thing: OC Warren Ruggiero. That’s great news for QB Mitch Griffis, who has arm talent and a loaded receiving corps. Pass protection could be a problem.Floor: 5-7. Wake Forest won 3 games in each of Clawson’s first 2 seasons (2014-15). They’ve since won at least 7 games every year but the shortened COVID season. The program is built to survive personnel losses, no matter how significant.
10. Syracuse
Ceiling: 7-5. QB Garrett Schrader will miss spring practice with an elbow injury, and a rebuilt offense that needs the work with its starting QB will have 15 critical practices without him. Schrader’s dual-threat ability (rushed for more than 1,000 yards and 23 TDs in the Past 2 years) has kept the program floating at .500 (12-13) since 2021.Floor: 4-8. Coach Dino Babers lost 5 assistant coaches, including OC Rob Anae, DC Tony White and OL coach Mike Schmidt. That’s 3 critical pieces to a staff that led Syracuse to at least 7 wins for only the 3rd time since 2013.
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Is the ACC failing just karma for burying the BIG EAST? (stateoftheu.com; Dottavio)
The Atlantic Coast Conference is failing at football in a dramatic fashion heading into the 2023 season. The ACC’s TV deal with ESPN is locked in through the 2036 season at only $17 million per team per year. Compare that to the SEC’s old TV deal that was worth $55M and their new deal which could be worth $70M+ per team per year.
On the field, Florida State is celebrating losing to every ranked opponent they played, Clemson has taken a major step back (although, I think that’ll be corrected in ‘23), and Miami is celebrating another off-season championship.
This spring, the top ACC schools are vying for an uneven split of the conference’s TV money. This would eventually kill off the ACC, which might be dying without some kind of joint venture, anyway. With the ACC having watched the SEC snap up Texas and Oklahoma, and the Big 12 having grabbed Houston and Cincinnati, there isn’t much room for growth for the ACC that offers any financial boom- without Notre Dame coming in as a full-time football member.
Miami is the team that killed the BIG EAST’s football branch of their conference, and it could potentially be a mixture of karma and poor leadership (over the ACC, well and Miami prior to 2022) that kills off the ACC and the Miami Hurricanes. I for one think Miami Athletic Director Dan Radakovich, the former Clemson AD, needs to step up and force the ACC to do something drastic.
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Spring Ball Notes: Practice 2 - Boston College Athletics (bceagles.com)
The Boston College football team returned to the practice field inside Fish Field House, following BC's spring break, for the second practice of the spring season. The Eagles practice again on Thursday morning in preparation for the Jay McGillis Spring Game on April 15.
Who's Back: Graduate linebacker Vinny DePalma is back for his sixth season and sixth spring ball as an Eagle… BC also retained fifth-years Elijah Jones and Shitta Sillah plus former transfers George Takacs and Khris Banks.
New Guys In the Mix: Boston College added 14 newcomers for the spring, including eight transfers and six early enrollees… offensively, linemen Kyle Hergel and Logan Taylor got regular reps with the ones along with wide receiver Ryan O'Keefe… on defense, Alex Washington, Khari Johnson and Victor Nelson all saw action on the first-team secondary.
O-Line Depth: A year older and stronger, BC's offensive line depth was on full display with the addition of Hergel and Taylor… in the first offensive series, the Eagles lined up from left-to-right with Ozzy Trapilo, Jack Conley, Drew Kendall, Hergel and Jude Bowry… Trapilo also played at right tackle, while Taylor and Nick Thomas filtered in with the ones.
Clemson football's 2023 Pro Day results (usatoday.com; Turri)
The Clemson football program held its annual Pro Day on Tuesday at the Poe Indoor Facility, with Tigers prospects performing at a high level as they did their best to improve their draft stock.
A top performer was linebacker Trenton Simpson who put forth an outstanding Pro Day performance. Bryan Bresee followed up his strong combine performance with a successful Pro Day, proving he is the athlete we all thought he was.
Below are the Tigers testing numbers the Clemson Football Strength & Conditioning staff provided from consensus results from on-site pro scouting personnel. NFL Scouting Combine performances by players who did not participate in select Pro Day drills are listed for reference.
–via Clemson Athletic Communications
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Top 5 Hardest Places to Play in The ACC (totalfratmove.com; Gosh)
Top 5 Hardest Places to Play in The ACC
5. Pitt
Pitt, while traditionally not really a football school has actually been decent throughout the last 5-10 years. The Pitt gameday atmosphere is actually pretty fun, they play where the Steelers play, they typically get decent attendance, and can get pretty loud. All in all, a mildly intimidating place to play and visit for opposing fans, due to the lack of stiff competition in the ACC Pitt comes in at number five.
4. Virginia Tech
Although they haven’t had much success as of late, Hokie Nation literally gets JUMPING from the team’s entrance to the Metallica song Enter Sandman, all the way to the final whistle. The fanbase is passionate, and the local community shows out for games. When you combine these factors, it makes coming out of Lane Stadium with a dub pretty difficult.
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Stats: FSU vs Florida, Miami, and Clemson (RX; HM)
Stats: FSU vs Florida, Miami, and Clemson
From AllThingsFSU, here are "Some fun FSU-UF/UM/Clemson stats"...
| Statistic | Florida State | U of Florida | U of Miami | Clemson U |
| Years of football: | 77 | 115 | 97 | 127 |
| 10-win seasons | 25 | 14 | 15 | 19 |
| Years in Conf. | 31 | 91 | 32 | 70 |
| Conf. Titles: | 18 | 8 | 9 | 21 |
| Bowl record: | 29-17-2 | 24-24-0 | 19-23-0 | 27-23-0 |
| NY6 bowl wins: | 16 | 8 | 12 | 11 |
| Consensus All-Americans | 45 | 34 | 35 | 31 |
| Heisman winners | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Weeks at #1 | 72 | 41 | 68 | 25 |
| Perfect seasons | 3 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| Nat'l Titles | 3 | 3 | 5 | 3 |
| Nat'l runner-ups | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 |
That's pretty impressive, Z! So, just to recap (and for those who don't feel like analyzing a table today), we can make the following observations:
FSU has won 10 or more games nearly 1/3rd of its total seasons; the other 3 teams don't come close.
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Links, News and Rumors 2023 Mar 14 (RX; HM)
Links, News and Rumors 2023 Mar 14
JFann wrote on All Sports Discussion in the article Clemson and Georgia Tech make the right coaching moves on Monday:I tend to agree with him!
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From ESPN: J.J. Starling says he'll join Syracuse in transfer from Notre Dame
I guess it just took Jim Boeheim's retirement to open up the inbound portal to Syracuse?
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From CBS Sports: Miami's Mario Cristobal sets tone for spring practice, pivotal Year 2 after coaching staff shakeup
Pivotal might be an understatement after the season Miami suffered through last year. They'll get to gage their program early when Texas A&M comes to town.
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Finally, from SaturdayBlitz: 5 college football programs that could be the next dynasty
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Other
New drive-thru restaurant set to open in Towne Center at Fayetteville (PS; Doran)
The new drive-thru Panera Bread restaurant is opening Wednesday morning in Towne Center at Fayetteville, according to employees.
The new restaurant, which replaces the older, smaller Panera in the shopping plaza, has a drive-thru. It is located next to the new Chipotle Restaurant, which also has a drive-thru.
The two new restaurants were first proposed in April 2021, and their names revealed in September 2021. A new Tully’s restaurant also opened in what used to be Pizzeria Uno.
Panera, which specializes in sandwiches, salads, coffee and bakery items, also has locations in DeWitt, Destiny USA, Clay, Cicero and Fairmount. Most have curbside pickup and dine-in.
This will be the second drive-thru Panera in Onondaga County. The Clay restaurant also has drive-thru service.
