Thanksgiving is almost here and most people are busy thinking about the massive amounts of turkey they will be eating come Thursday. Clemson fans on the other hand, have one thing on the mind. Chicken. Garnet and Black chicken. Every year with Thanksgiving comes the Clemson Tigers vs. South Carolina Gamecocks* rivalry game, and every year, we are thankful.
Week 13 ended in the ACC and the bowl picture is one-step closer to being finalized. As this blog has been projecting for the past few weeks, the ACC is still on track to place 11 teams in post season play. Read more…
Disclaimer: the following article contains some sarcasm. No wolves or wolf mascots were harmed in the making of this post.
Place: a crowded operating room at a hospital in Boston, Mass. Date: Saturday afternoon, November 16th.
A gaggle (sorry, don’t get to use that word much) of doctors, nurses and medical techs encircle an exam table. They are frantic, especially the one holding the two paddles in the air over the patient. “Clear!!” he yells.
With just a few weeks, the ACC picture is starting to take shape. A few teams are out of the bowl picture. Several are locked-in. But how do they rank? Here is the Confidential Correspondents Football top 10 Poll for Week 12. Remember, we include Notre Dame and Louisville. This week, we’ll start with team number #1 and work our way down to #10–where it gets murkier.
Last week, we looked at some of the scenarios that could play out to get 11 ACC teams in postseason play. And so far, the plan is coming to fruition.
With week 12 in the books, two more teams have clinched bowl eligibility bringing the total number of teams that will go bowling up to 8, with three more that are still fighting for the requisite six wins. Read more…
After a relatively quiet fall for the New Jersey State School, both on the field and off, new allegations of player abuse are being reported. This time the allegations are against the football team’s Defensive Coordinator, Dave Cohen, who according to former defensive back Jevon Tyree used abusive language and made threats to the freshman. Read more…
There are now a clear #1 and #2 in the ACC right now, as all five voting correspondents this week went with FSU and Clemson. But what about the other slots? Amazingly, Syracuse won on the road, but was dropped from its tie–as the Pitt win over ND propelled them up the voting charts. Anyway, here is the Confidential Correspondents Football top 10 Poll for Week 11. Remember, we include Notre Dame and Louisville. This year, we’ll start with team number 10 and work our way to #1.
With 3 weeks remaining in the regular season, the ACC bowl picture is starting to take shape. Six teams have already secured their positions in post season (Florida State, Clemson, Miami, Virginia Tech, Duke, and Georgia Tech).
Unfortunately for some, their hopes of post season play are gone (Virginia), while North Carolina St. and Wake Forest are not eliminated but have uphill challenges to get to eligibility.
For the rest of the conference however, there is still a lot of promise. In fact, depending on how things shake out down the stretch, the ACC could potentially send 11 teams Bowl Games.
Read more…
Well, Florida State-Miami was interesting for a while. But there is a clear #1 in the ACC right now: the Seminoles. Here is the Confidential Correspondents Football top 10 Poll for Week 10. Remember, we include Notre Dame and Louisville. This year, we’ll start with team number 10 and work our way to #1.
The Confidential is not a source for book reviews or history lessons. And we are not about to get preachy. But there was an interesting story in Deadspin about the history of a Syracuse-Maryland game in 1937. See article: Deadspin.
The 20-word summary: In 1937, Syracuse had to bench its quarterback, Wilmeth Sidat-Singh, on a road trip to Maryland because he was not from India (as claimed), but an African-American. This did not sit well with segregationists. With Syracuse traveling to Maryland this Saturday, it is interesting to read how much times have changed. Now, before casting a stone at Maryland, just remember that the NFL was not desegregated yet at that point either. Times have changed in more places than just Maryland. Society has come a long way.
And while one does not ordinarily think of Syracuse University as a racial trailblazer, it does bear mention that there were few African-American quarterbacks even as late as the Donovan McNabb era. For every Warren Moon or Tony Rice, there were numerous other kids forced into different positions based solely on race. Guys like Don McPherson, Marvin Graves, and Donovan McNabb were given the chance to fulfill their dreams of playing quarterback by Syracuse. Under their leadership, Syracuse football was a consistent bowl team from 1987 to 1998. And it was part of a change for college football.
In fact, just look at the ACC Standings:
| ATLANTIC | CONF | OVERALL |
| Florida State | 6-0 | 8-0 |
| Clemson | 6-1 | 8-1 |
| Syracuse | 2-2 | 4-4 |
| Boston College | 2-3 | 4-4 |
| Wake Forest | 2-4 | 4-5 |
| Maryland | 1-3 | 5-3 |
| North Carolina State | 0-5 | 3-5 |
| COASTAL | CONF | OVERALL |
| Miami (FL) | 3-1 | 7-1 |
| Georgia Tech | 5-2 | 6-3 |
| Virginia Tech | 3-2 | 6-3 |
| Duke | 2-2 | 6-2 |
| Pittsburgh | 2-3 | 4-4 |
| North Carolina | 2-3 | 3-5 |
| Virginia | 0-5 | 2-7 |
There are seven teams with conference records at .500 or better. Want to know what they all have in common? They all have African-American starting quarterbacks: Florida State (Jameis Winston), Clemson (Tajh Boyd), Virginia Tech (Logan Thomas), Miami (Stephen Morris), Georgia Tech (Vad Lee), Duke (Anthony Boone), and Terrel Hunt (Syracuse). Needless to say, things have changed considerably between 1999 and 2013, much less 1937 and 2013.
The economy may have been better in the 1950s. The world might have been more sociable and interactive, and less Facebooky and Twittery, in the 1980s. But some things are better today. While we often lament the days of yore–remember, we have made a lot of progress as a society just to get to a point where teams will finally play the QB that gives them the best chance of winning, without regard to the color of his skin.
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