The Confidential

The ACC Sports Blog

Archive for the category “News”

14 Feb 2014
8 Comments

No-Huddle Rule: Knee-Jerk Reaction to a Knee-Jerk Rule?

Between the Mike and Mike Show and the coaches running the no-huddle systems taking the airwaves, there is ample criticism of a new rule being considered in college football.  Specifically, the NCAA rules committee has recommended a rule change that will allow defensive units to substitute within the first 10 seconds of the 40-second play clock, excluding the final two minutes of each half, by precluding the offense from running a play during that period.  The talking heads and coaches impacted hate the rule.  The Confidential says “not so fast.”  Let’s think this through before making a knee-jerk reaction to a knee-jerk rule.

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Posted by acaffrey in Football, News, Opinion and tagged , , , , , ,
11 Feb 2014

Krispy Kreme Challenge 2014 Sets Fundraising Record!

2400 calories, 12 doughnuts, 5 miles, 1 hour= LIVES CHANGED

This past Saturday, almost 8,000 participants gathered at the NC State bell tower for the 10th Annual Krispy Kreme Challenge. Like last year, I was fortunate enough to compete in the event, which has challengers run 2.5 miles, eat 12 doughnuts and then run 2.5 miles again all in under an hour. And while I’m happy to say that I improved on my time and didn’t get even sick, the real reason I’m proud to have been a part of this event is because of what it accomplished.

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Posted by Mr. Tar Heel in News, UNC Correspondent
27 Jan 2014
2 Comments

The Streak Prevails

Clemson Men’s Basketball starts the week after an ugly loss to UNC last night, improving their record to 57-0. That record of course being the Tarheels have won 57 times against the Tigers while in the Dean Dome, the Tigers never seeing a victory.

UNC is off to a slow start in ACC play but now improves to 12-7 overall and 2-4 in the ACC. Clemson started off hot, being 4-1 in the conference just last week, now drops to 13-6, 4-3 after two consecutive losses to Pitt and Carolina. The Tigers have a tough conference schedule coming up, facing FSU, Syracuse, and Notre Dame on the road.

To note any highlights from last night’s game from a Clemson standpoint, would be a disservice to our readers. The Tigers played flat on defense and hesitant on offense. Seeing it first hand in the Dean Dome was taxing. Stops on defense were rare and the Tigers shot 34% from the field. That’s 18 field goals made out of 53 attempts. It was not a great night for the Tiger offense, to say the least.

Leading scorer, KJ McDaniels, came up with 13 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. He was the game leader across the board for the Tigers. McDaniels has proven to be an offensive leader this season, but he can’t do it on his own. Adonis Filer came up with 12 points of his own, as did Landry Nnoko. Nnoko is improving but between him and Sidy Djitte at center, too many passes slipped through their hands down low in the paint for would be easy points.

To end on a high note, the Tigers finished the night 19-25 at the line, giving them a 76% free throw percentage for the night.

Clemson at UNC

This Clemson team is young, consisting of four freshman, four sophomores, and five juniors to make up the Tiger squad. Playing on the road, especially in Chapel Hill, is tough and the Tigers have their work cut out for them in the coming weeks.

In other Clemson news, a non-basketball related highlight of the evening was having Clemson football coach, Dabo Swinney, in the Dean Dome last night. Sitting a few rows behind the Clemson bench, the dynamite coach just signed a new 8-year contract with Clemson, keeping him a Tiger through the 2021 season. At halftime, Clemson fans throughout the dome stopped by to take pictures with the Orange Bowl Champion, including yours truly. It’s a check off my bucket list and as much as it pains me to say, I guess I have Chapel Hill to thank for that.

Clemson takes on Florida State this Saturday in Tallahassee. Catch the ACC matchup at 3pm on ESPN2.

Posted by marystewartb in ACC Network, ACC only, Basketball, Clemson correspondent, Conference News, Correspondents, Game Review, News, Opinion, Results and tagged , , , , , ,
14 Jan 2014
5 Comments

Fixing the NCAA and College Sports- The Professional Athlete Major and How to Make it Happen

The Motivation

Here at the Confidential, we like to talk about sports. Any sports really, but specifically ACC sports and our love for our favorite teams. Sometimes though, there are things that transcend what happens on the field. Sometimes, there are things that are more important. In the case of college athletics, it’s the athletes themselves that ultimately matter, not winning or losing, whether the system in place will say this or not. Ultimately, the most value comes from the people involved and the dreams that they have for the future.

Sporting News published an article that proposes a very interesting way to fix the NCAA. Now, there’s no need to debate it- everyone knows that the current system is broken. You’ve probably seen enough articles to that effect to know what’s going on. But the solution has always been, and will always be debated. How can you fix something that values money more than its money makers? What is the balance for providing a higher quality student athlete experience without compromising the financial benefits? Author Mike DeCourcy proposes a bold way to not only save the academic integrity of our universities, but to improve the lives of the players at the same time–

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Posted by Mr. Tar Heel in ACC only, News, Opinion, Scandal, UNC Correspondent
14 Jan 2014
2 Comments

Syracuse Orange to Leave Carrier Dome?

There is a lot of talk right now about New York State and Syracuse University, among others, partnering to create a new stadium costing approximately $500,000,000.  The details are sketchy, and the Syracuse Mayor may be pointlessly interfering with the idea, but these are interesting times on the Hill.

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Posted by acaffrey in News and tagged , , ,
06 Jan 2014
1 Comment

With Strong gone, who’s next for the Cards?

The Cards are set to begin a new era as they join the ACC this July and now they will have to do it with a new head football coach. Former coach Charlie Strong was named the new head coach of the Texas Longhorns. At Louisville, Strong went 37-15 & 22-3 the last two years. He certainly left the program in better shape than he found it, both on the field and in the classroom. Despite it not seemingly to be the right fit for Texas we wish Strong well and hope he succeeds at his dream job. Go Stronghorns!

With his departure  Louisville AD Tom Jurich will need to find Strongs replacement in a hurry with the recruiting dead period coming to an end soon. So far a vast majority of the Cards commitments are staying with the Cards but decision time is rapidly approaching. Jurich is known to be well prepared in his coaching searches but this time around it will be different. This time his pool of candidates will be larger with the additional draw and resources that comes with the ACC. There has been dozens of names thrown out by the media but only Jurich knows who’s on his list. Lets take a look at the probable favorites.

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Posted by lenvillecards in ACC only, Conference News, Football, Louisville Correspondent, News and tagged , , ,
10 Nov 2013
12 Comments

UPDATE: Louisville to ACC in 2014 not a “done deal”?

Talk around Louisville this week has centered around University of Louisville President Dr. James Ramsey comments from a radio show recently. He was answering questions regarding the Cardinals move to the ACC. His response led to talk radio and message board panic.
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Posted by lenvillecards in ACC only, Conference Realignment, Louisville Correspondent, News
24 Oct 2013

Extortion & Suspensions Hit Louisville

Local reports here in Louisville are saying  that Thomas Ray of Jackson, Mississippi, 35, has been arrested and indicted on charges that he tried to extort 3.5 million dollars from the University of Louisville in April 2013. Ray contacted U of L AD Tom Jurich claiming to have evidence tying U of L to point shaving. It is also being reported that Ray has a history of extortion attempts.  Jurich has acknowledge that he has heard that Ray was arrested but hasn’t commented further.

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Posted by lenvillecards in Louisville Correspondent, News, Scandal and tagged , , , , ,
08 Oct 2013
6 Comments

Card Nation Address

Hello my fellow Louisville and college sports fans. The state of Card Nation can be described in one word, hopeful. Besides scoring enough style points this Cardinal football team has done all that they can do. They are 5-0 and currently ranked 8th in the country. All of this is pretty incredible considering that just four years ago they were struggling just to make a bowl game. It’s been a rapid climb back to the top, thanks to coach Strong. Cards fans came into this season with a shot at the national championship dancing in their heads, so where do they stand after week six?

 

We knew the Cards were along shot for a title shot and that their destiny wasn’t solely in their own hands. That they would need help from their scheduled teams, from their conference and that they would need teams ahead of them to lose. So far none of this has happened. The American Conference (AAC) has been worse than expected, who knew that was possible. The two best teams the Cards have played are Kentucky and Ohio. It’s understandable to wonder what if Ohio State had balls and chose to play the Cards instead of San Diego St? Or what if ESPN could have swooped Virginia Tech for the Cards in the opener against Alabama? What if the Big East didn’t fall apart and West Virginia and TCU was still on the schedule? There’s a lot of ifs and buts about the schedule but it is what it is.

So why do I describe Card Nation as hopeful? There are some positives to look forward to.  Besides joining the ACC next season and having teams such as Florida St, Clemson, Miami and Notre Dame on the schedule and opening the 2015 season against Auburn, there are some positives for this season as well. The Cards have the best conference teams ahead of them yet so the schedule will get more difficult, starting this Thursday night against Rutgers (4-1 1-0) at home. On 10-18 Central Florida (4-1 1-0) visits Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium. On 11-16 Houston (4-0 1-0) comes to town before the Cards finish the season at Cincinnati (3-2 0-1).

A shot at the national championship may be out of their reach but a second straight BCS Bowl bid, third overall, is well within their grasp. Current projections include Florida State in the Orange, Baylor in the Fiesta and South Carolina in the Sugar. One can’t discount the Rose just yet either. Since the Cards defeated Alabama in the Fiesta back in the 90’s, pre BCS era, the Rose remains the only BCS caliber bowl that they haven’t won.

If the Cards can’t play for the championship then we still have a couple of ACC teams to pull for. The current BCS projections has two ACC teams ranked in the top six. Alabama has a solid lock on the top spot but what happens when/if they lose? Here are the BCS projected top ten according to BCSGuru.com.

1 Alabama 0.9980, 2 Oregon 0.9107, 3 Clemson 0.8750, 4 Stanford 0.8661, 5 Ohio State 0.7804, 6 Florida St 0.7704, 7 Georgia 0.7671, 8 Oklahoma 0.6502, 9 Louisville 0.6191, 10 LSU 0.6111

The actual BCS rankings will be released after week 7.

Here are the current AAC standings

1 Louisville 5-0 1-0

2 Houston 4-0 1-0

3 Rutgers 4-1 1-0 (beat Arkansas)

4 Central Fla 4-1 1-0 (beat Penn St, lost to South Carolina)

5 USF 1-4 1-0

6 UConn 0-4 0-0

7 Cincinnati 3-2 0-1

8 Memphis 1-3 0-1

9 SMU 1-4 0-1 (Louisville does not play this year, 8 game schedule)

10 Temple 0-5 0-2

Posted by lenvillecards in Football, Louisville Correspondent, News, Opinion, Orange Bowl, Schedule, Something Positive, Uncategorized and tagged , , , , , , , ,
27 Sep 2013

Breaking News on D4

The board of reps for D1 has proposed D4. Here is the CBS article. What are your thoughts?
http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/writer/dennis-dodd/23874003/faculty-athletics-representatives-formally-proposes-division-4-for-ncaa

Posted by lenvillecards in Conference News, Conference Realignment, Football, Louisville Correspondent, News

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