sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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International Polar Bear Day, a day organized by Polar Bears International, draws attention to the threats that polar bears face in the warming Arctic, as a result of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The day is dedicated to reflecting on what can be done to help polar bears, and how carbon emissions can be reduced. Arctic warming has already had an effect. For example, in Western Hudson Bay there were about 1,200 polar bears in 1987, but by 2012 there were only 900. Climate change has lead to lower body weights in polar bears; lower body weight in females has affected their offspring, yielding smaller litters and causing fewer cubs to survive.
Warmer temperatures in the Arctic are detrimental to polar bears because they cause the loss of sea ice. Polar bears need sea ice to catch most of their prey—because that is where their prey resides. The number one food for polar bears is the ringed seal. It is high in fat—including beneficial omega-3 fatty acids—and calories, enough to keep polar bears healthy. Although ringed seals are the most prevalent, polar bears also eat bearded seals and other prey if it's available. In the summer, polar bears follow retreating ice, following their food source.
SU News
Fadil Diggs on the sideline during Woodrow Wilson's NJSIAA South Jersey Group 3 championship game against Somerville in November 2019 in Camden, New Jersey. Diggs and his younger brother, Fatim Diggs, will both be rostered at Syracuse this fall. (Andrew Mills | NJ Advance Media)Andrew Mills | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Diggs brothers’ coach watched older shape younger: ‘His brother started to pour into him’ (PS; $; Leiker)
Upon stepping off a bus during a team visit to a college between his sophomore and junior years of high school, Fadil Diggs turned to his teammates to give them a pep talk.
The moment sticks out as a pivotal one in Diggs’ development to his former Woodrow Wilson High School coach Preston Brown.
“Listen, (when) we go in here: Don’t wear your slides. Make sure your hand’s cold. Make sure you got your pants pulled up,” Brown recalled Diggs telling his younger peers. “When you introduce yourself to the coaches, look ‘em in the eye. Tell ‘em who you are, and make sure they remember something about you.”
To Brown, who’d been the one to deliver that messaging for years, it was a sign that Diggs understood his status and was taking the next part of his football career seriously.
Diggs went on to be one of the top players in the country in the Class of 2020, leading his team to two state titles and being named the 2020 Gatorade New Jersey Football Player of the Year. He played four years at Texas A&M before transferring to Syracuse football this December.
He’ll be joined in the Salt City by his younger brother, Fatim Diggs, who watched his brother help build Woodrow Wilson into a South Jersey power and was shaped by his leadership and presence as only a brother can be.
The pair are just two of an influx of players from their hometown of Camden, New Jersey, to join the Orange or express interest in it since locals Fran Brown and Elijah Robinson — Camden football legends in their own rights — took over as head coach and defensive coordinator, respectively.
Preston Brown, who went to high school with Robinson, has known the Diggs brothers long before either played football for him through a connection with their mother and describes both as “phenomenal young men.”
Fadil Diggs, he said, has always had natural talent and grew up playing a variety of positions beyond the line.
Brown said Diggs thought he’d be a wide receiver when he first got to high school but was receptive when coaches explained that he’d be able to reach a higher level for a longer time focusing on edge rushing due to his size and the fact he still had room to grow.
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Syracuse Football: ‘Cuse coaches scoring tons of visits from 4-star, 3-star recruits (itlh; Adler)
In the coming weeks and months, we’re going to see a lot of talented 2025 high school prospects on the SU campus for visits to Syracuse football.
Numerous of these expected visitors to Central New York are rated either four stars or three stars in the junior cycle.
The Orange has one verbal commitment in the 2025 class so far. In late January, four-star edge and top-300 national prospect Sharlandiin Strange of Cheltenham High School in Wyncote, Pa., verbally pledged to the ‘Cuse over Penn State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers and Southern California.
In recent weeks, the Orange coaching staff has doled out scholarship offers to a range of highly ranked 2025 prospects, while hosting targets on unofficial visits to the Hill last month for junior days and also making the list cuts of various 2025 recruits.
Let’s look at some upcoming visits by high school juniors to Syracuse football.
In recent days, 2025 edge/outside linebacker Chris Trumbull said on his X page that he will visit the ‘Cuse on March 23. The 6-foot-4, 205-pound Trumbull attends the Red Lion Christian Academy in Bear, Del.
Not too long ago, SyracuseOnSI publisher Mike McAllister reported that 2025 three-star quarterback Luke Carney plans to visit the Orange in late March. The 6-foot-2, 200-pound Carney is a standout at the Dallas Christian School in Mesquite, Texas.
national analyst Adam Friedman recently wrote that 2025 four-star athlete/wide receiver Jeff Exinor Jr., a top-200 overall player, plans to take an official visit to Syracuse football, although I haven’t seen anything about a date being finalized for the 6-foot-2, 220-pound prospect out of the McDonogh School in Owings Mills, Md.
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Syracuse Football: 4-star Va. athlete, a top-200 national prospect, will visit ‘Cuse (itlh; Adler)
Syracuse football coaches have lined up a visit from another highly ranked prospect in the 2025 class.
According to national analyst Adam Friedman, consensus four-star athlete Messiah Delhomme from Virginia, a top-200 overall player in the junior cycle, will take an unofficial visit to the ‘Cuse on April 13, which is fabulous news.
Per Friedman, the 6-foot-1, 196-pound Delhomme has set a bunch of unofficial and official visits from mid-March until late June.
He plans to visit Virginia Tech, Virginia, Maryland, Ohio State, Virginia Tech again, Virginia again, Ohio State again, and Maryland again, with the first trips to these four schools being unofficial visits and then the second trips amounting to official visits.
Class of ‘25 1st Team All-State Safety @DelhommeMessiah out of Warwick HS. A 4️ playmaker with a heavy recruiting from about 20 D1 schools . #football #highschoolfootball #collegerecruiting #photography #recruitingboards #collegefootball #rivals #247sports #maxpreps pic.twitter.com/n1sDAOqR9z
— DarkVisors (@DarkVisors) January 31, 2024
Per his X page, Delhomme plays wide receiver, running back and safety for Warwick High School in Newport News, Va. You can check out some of his highlights via hudl.com.
Syracuse football will get a visit from 2025 four-star athlete Messiah Delhomme.
Throughout his recruiting process, Delhomme has landed more than 20 offers from a range of high-major programs. Delhomme said via X on February 19 that the new Orange coaching staff had offered a scholarship to him.
Per recruiting Web sites, his full offer sheet also includes Alabama, Auburn, Boston College, Duke, Florida State, James Madison, Kentucky, Liberty, Maryland, Michigan, N.C. State, Ohio State, Penn State, Temple, Virginia, Virginia Tech and West Virginia, among others.
Within the 2025 class, multiple recruiting services rate Delhomme as a top-200 national prospect, a top-10 athlete or safety, and a top-five player coming out of Virginia.
When I wrote this article on Monday, the highest 2025 national ranking that I saw for him was from 247Sports, which placed Delhomme at No. 107 overall, No. 10 at safety and No. 5 in Virginia.
At the time of this writing, the industry-generated 247Sports Composite ranked Delhomme at No. 230 nationally, No. 16 at safety and No. 5 in Virginia.
Over at the industry-generated On3 Industry Ranking, he was No. 194 overall, No. 7 at athlete and No. 5 in Virginia.
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https://twitter.com/CuseFootball/status/1762266294659789214
SU to build 2 new residence halls, demolish Marion, Kimmel Halls (DO; Chiappone)
Syracuse University will construct two new residence halls, Chancellor Kent Syverud announced in a SU news release on Monday.
One of the residence halls will be located at 700 Ostrom Ave. near Thornden Park while the other will be where Marion and Kimmel Halls currently stand on the corner of Comstock and Waverly Avenues.
SU confirmed it will demolish Marion and Kimmel Halls and that it is currently developing a timeline for the design and construction of the new residential hall that will replace the buildings.
The pair of new residence halls will be the first new dorms constructed since Ernie Davis Hall opened 15 years ago, according to the release. SU plans to start construction of the residence hall at 700 Ostrom Ave., which will house at least 450 students, this year.
“Over the years, we’ve made renovations to residence hall bathrooms, and expanded and improved community spaces, but many of the residence halls on campus have remained largely the same for too long,” Syverud said in the release. “This ambitious plan will provide our students with the living environments they expect that will allow them to succeed and thrive.”
The creation of the new residence halls are part of SU’s new strategic housing plan, which aims to expand options for students living on the university’s main campus. In November 2023, SU announced it would convert the Sheraton Syracuse University Hotel & Conference Center into a residence hall. The converted hotel will primarily house second-year undergraduate students.
The conversion of the Sheraton into a residence hall will begin in May after SU’s commencement ceremony, according to the release. Once renovated, the Sheraton will open in fall 2024.
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ACC News
https://www.si.com/college/miami/fo...-playoff-in-2024-heather-dinich-espn-explains (SI; Donno)
The Miami Hurricanes are considered a team to watch when forecasting the first 12-team College Football Playoff next year.
The Hurricanes are ranked 24th in ESPN's Way Too Early Top 25. Miami has a manageable schedule. Their annual matchup against Florida State will be at home this year. Their other most difficult games on paper will be at Florida and at Louisville. If Miami can win the ACC they'd be guaranteed a spot in the playoff. The top five conference winners are guaranteed a spot, while the next seven seeds go to the highest remaining teams overall.
ESPN's Heather Dinich examined the way too early Top 25 and explained the path to the playoffs for each team.
On Miami:
How to impress the committee: Take a knee? Just kidding. No really, though, Miami can't lose to Georgia Tech again, or suffer an upset because of self-inflicted wounds. If the Canes are going to take the next step, they have to win convincingly against unranked, subpar teams and they have to earn a few statement wins against ranked opponents. There might only be two such opportunities during the regular season -- Oct. 19 at Louisville and Oct. 26 vs. Florida State. While the schedule is challenging with six road games -- including the Oct. 5 trip to Cal -- there isn't a blockbuster game that's going to help separate the Canes from another contender that doesn't win its league. Miami likely needs to win the ACC -- or hope a win at Florida and a handful of other opponents means more to the committee on Selection Day than it appears to now.
Dinich isn't wrong about avoiding self-inflicted wounds. Even before the Georgia Tech debacle, Miami earned a reputation in recent years of sometimes not showing up against lesser opposition. While it's too early to truly handicap the strength of schedule, she's correct in the idea that winning the ACC would provide the safest path. You can expect most of the 6th through 12th spots to go to teams from the SEC and the Big 10.
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ACC football power rankings: Clemson, Florida State, Miami top over/under win totals odds (azcentral.com; Cluff)
How many wins does Las Vegas think every ACC football team will get in the 2024 regular season?
FanDuel has released its early win totals odds for all 17 teams (yes, there are now 17 teams) in the new-look ACC next season (SMU, California and Stanford are new to the conference) with the win totals set as high as 9.5 wins and as low as 3.5 wins.
We've organized the odds in a power-rankings format, going from highest (Clemson, Florida State and Miami) to the lowest (Stanford) over/under odds for each team in the conference in 2024.
According to the odds, SMU is expected to have the best season of the ACC newcomers next season, while not as much is expected of California and Stanford in their first season in the conference.
ACC Conference win totals odds (over/unders) for 2024:
1. Clemson- Over 9.5 wins: +116
- Under 9.5 wins: -142
- Over 9.5 wins: +120
- Under 9.5 wins: -148
- Over 9.5 wins: +128
- Under 9.5 wins: -158
- Over 8.5 wins: -114
- Under 8.5 wins: -106
- Over 8.5 wins: +102
- Under 8.5 wins: -128
- Over 7.5 wins: -144
- Under 7.5 wins: +118
- Over 7.5 wins: -144
- Under 7.5 wins: +118
- Over 7.5 wins: -142
- Over 6.5 wins: -144
- Under 6.5 wins: +112
- Over 6.5 wins: +108
- Under 6.5 wins: -132
Biggest 2024 Spring Questions (ESPN) (RX; HM)
Biggest 2024 Spring Questions (ESPN)
From ESPN's "The biggest spring questions for college football's top 25 teams", here are ESPN writers' biggest spring questions for the 2024 Preseason Pre-Spring Football Top 25 ACC teams...
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Auburn transfer LB Cam Riley commits to ACC school (al.com; Heim)
Former Auburn Tigers linebacker Cam Riley is committed to NC State.
The 6-foot-5, 242-pounder made his official visit earlier this month. He marks the second Auburn Tiger to transfer to NC State, following safety Donovan Kaufman.
Riley, an Evergreen native, played in all 13 games and started one game last season on his way to 32 tackles, including 3.5 for loss and 2.5 sacks.
He finished with 65 tackles in 2022, including 3.5 for loss in 11 games.
Rey came out of high school as a four-star prospect and was the No. 256 overall recruit in the 2020 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking.
The loss of both Riley and Kaufman was not unexpected after Auburn made multiple changes to its defensive coaching staff.
Clemson lineman ranked Top 10 among college football offensive tackles (tigernet.com; Staff)
Clemson returns all but one starter on the offensive line this season, and in that group, one is ranked in the Top 10 coming back nationally at his position.
Pro Football Focus has offensive tackle Blake Miller as the No. 6 returning player at the position.
"The rising junior Miller is one of the most experienced tackles on this list. He was Clemson’s starting right tackle in each of his first two seasons, and his 1,952 snaps since then are the second most of any offensive tackle in college football," said PFF's Max Chadwick. "In 2022, he paced all true freshmen tackles with a 76.8 run-blocking grade. His 71.4 run-blocking grade this past season led all ACC tackles. He needs to improve as a pass protector, earning just a 62.5 career pass-blocking grade on true pass sets."
He was the first Clemson non-specialist to start every game of the season in both his freshman and sophomore years since Clelin Ferrell from 2016-17 after Ferrell redshirted in 2015.
He is one of six players on record in Clemson history (Mitch Hyatt, Jay Guillermo, Dalton Freeman, Deshaun Watson and Tajh Boyd) with multiple 950-snap seasons and joins Hyatt one of only two Clemson offensive tackles on record back to 1986 to record multiple seasons with 950-plus snaps from scrimmage.
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How Can FSU Negotiate Down? (RX; HM)
How Can FSU Negotiate Down?
Yesterday we discussed how much FSU would have to pay the ACC if they paid what they say they're worth. Today we'll look at some non-monetary options, as well as get an opinion on the relative strength of the two sides in this lawsuit...
First, does FSU have a strong legal argument? Here's one opinion:
Hmmm... Time to consider the possibility that the Seminoles may lose this lawsuit... then what?
Let's say the Noles lose their lawsuit but want out anyway. Are there any non-monetary offers Florida State can make to reduce the cost of the buyout? Here are some ideas:
Let's say Florida State leaves the ACC and goes to the Big Ten, where their football games will be on Fox, rather than ESPN. What might they do then?
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12-Team Playoffs, Realigned: 2018-19 (RX; HM)
12-Team Playoffs, Realigned: 2018-19
Which teams would have made it into the 12-team CFP playoffs had the conferences been configured as they will be in 2024? I continue my projections of the 12-team playoffs for every year, from 2014-23, using 2024 alignments... Here's how the 2018-19 season might have looked...
2018-19 Season
Original CFP4:
- Alabama
- Clemson
- Notre Dame
- Oklahoma
Original FBS Conference Champs:
- ACC: Clemson
- B1G: Ohio State
- Big XII: Oklahoma
- Pac-12: Washington
- SEC: Alabama
- American: UCF
- C-USA: UAB
- MAC: NIU
- MWC: Fresno State
- SBC: Appalachian St
- ACC: same
- B1G: same
- Big XII: replace OU with UCF
- SEC: same
- Highest G5 Champ: #21 Fresno St
Top 7 At-Large Teams:
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Other
With lawsuit in rearview mirror, NY DOT is ready to design, build new I-81 in Syracuse (PS; $; Breidenbach)
With a legal challenge in the past, the state Department of Transportation is ready to move into the city with its massive effort to tear down the elevated Interstate 81 bridges in Syracuse.
A state appellate court earlier this month tossed a case brought by opponents who prefer high-speed traffic continue to travel through Syracuse instead of around the city on a spruced-up ring road.
Construction started last year in the suburbs – along what is now I-481 and will be renamed I-81. The courts allowed construction to begin on the first three contracts of the $2.25-billion project.
But the lawsuit had paused for about one year any conversation about construction around the elevated highway in the city.
Now, the state can start the fourth and fifth contracts. The fourth contract will build a new exit from I-690 at Crouse and Irving avenues. That will give traffic a new way to travel to Syracuse University and the hospitals before the state tears down I-81.
The fifth contract will bring traffic into Syracuse from the south. This is traffic that comes into Syracuse now and travels over downtown on the elevated I-81. Traffic will come to street level and use a new roundabout at Van Buren Street, just south of the Dome.
Both contracts are expected to start later this year and end in late 2025. After that, they can start to dismantle the elevated highway.
“We’re really excited to get out to the community,” said Betsy Parmley, I-81 project director for the DOT.
Parmley and Dave Smith, the Syracuse region’s director for the DOT, explained the next steps.
They say the project is still moving on time and on budget. The lawsuit set the state back financially only in the cost of the lawsuit, which was handled by the state Attorney General’s office, he said.
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Near-record warmth possible in Upstate NY this week, then a brief cold blast (PS; Coin)
Upstate New York is in for another warm stretch this week in what has been a very warm winter, with possible record temperatures Tuesday and Wednesday.
The warmth will be punctuated by a sudden cold blast on Thursday, as February makes use of its quadrennial extra day to bring a rare taste of winter weather. Temperatures could plunge so quickly that the rain expected on Wednesday will freeze on untreated surfaces like sidewalks and parking lots, the National Weather Service cautions.
Today will be mostly sunny, with a high of 49 in Syracuse, well above the normal of 36 degrees for late February. A warm front surges in Tuesday, with temperatures climbing into the low 60s Tuesday and Wednesday.
Those temperatures are getting close to daily records. The warmest Feb. 27 on record for Syracuse was 64 degrees, in 2000. The record for Feb. 28 is 66, set in 1954.
A half-inch of rain or more will accompany the warmth on Wednesday, along with strong winds. Gusts could reach 50 mph late Wednesday afternoon and evening. Temperatures will crash from the 60s to the low 20s from Wednesday afternoon to early Thursday morning, and highs on Thursday might not get out of the 20s.
A little lake effect snow is possible, too, on Thursday.
In a pattern that feels very familiar this winter, temperatures will bounce back quickly. By Friday, highs will be in the mid 40, and we’ll be up in the 60s again for the weekend.
This is likely to be one of the warmest months of February on record for Syracuse. Through Sunday, it’s the fourth-warmest since records began in 1903.
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