North Carolina Women Win Capital One Cup!
Congratulations to the North Carolina Tar Heels! Their women have claimed the Capital One Cup!
The Confidential
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Archive for the category “Something Positive”
ACC Football in the Pro Hall of Fame
If you are a fan of college football, then you are at least slightly interested in how players from your favorite school fare in the NFL. Perhaps you are even a big fan of the NFL too. Did you know which schools have placed the most players in the NFL Hall of Fame?
Here is the top 10 list, as per the best source we have–the NFL Hall of Fame itself:
- Southern California (11)
- Notre Dame (10)
- Ohio State (9)
- Michigan (8) & Pittsburgh (8)
- (tie)
- Alabama (7) & Syracuse (7)
- (tie)
- Illinois (6), Miami – Florida (6), Penn State (6), Oregon (6) and Minnesota (6)
That’s right. Miami, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, and Notre Dame.
Not Florida State, Virginia Tech, Clemson, and Virginia Tech. You do not see the Big 10’s Wisconsin, Michigan State, Maryland, Rutgers, or Nebraska. You do not see the SEC’s Florida, Auburn, Georgia, or L.S.U. You do not even see the Big XII’s Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, or even Texas.
Just recent additions to the ACC, courtesy of the now-destroyed Big East.
Recently, the ACC had a very good NFL draft in 2013. Looking backward, who are the Hall of Famers, by school, from the ACC? Here you go:
- Boston College (2): Art Donovan, Ernie Stautner
- Clemson (0)
- Duke (3): Sonny Jurgensen , George McAfee , Clarence (Ace) Parker
- Florida State (2): Fred Biletnikoff , Deion Sanders
- Georgia Tech (2): Joe Guyon, Billy Shaw
- Louisville (1): Johnny Unitas
- Maryland (2): Stan Jones , Randy White
- Miami (6): Ted Hendricks , Michael Irvin , Jim Kelly , Cortez Kennedy, Jim Otto , Warren Sapp
- North Carolina (2): Chris Hanburger , Lawrence Taylor
- North Carolina State (0)
- Notre Dame (10): Nick Buoniconti , Dave Casper , George Connor, Paul Hornung , Earl (Curly) Lambeau , John (Blood) McNally, Wayne Millner , Joe Montana , Alan Page , George Trafton
- Pittsburgh (8): Mike Ditka , Chris Doleman , Tony Dorsett , Russ Grimm , Rickey Jackson , Dan Marino , Curtis Martin , Joe Schmidt
- Syracuse (7): Jim Brown , Larry Csonka , Al Davis, Floyd Little , John Mackey , Art Monk , Jim Ringo
- Virginia (3): Bill Dudley , Henry Jordan , Ralph Wilson, Jr.
- Virginia Tech (1): Bruce Smith
- Wake Forest (1): Bill George
So there you have it. The ACC has put quite a few people into the NFL Hall of Fame, led mostly by teams that are new to the ACC fold.
By the way, who has been to Canton? Did you like the NFL Hall of Fame or find it disappointing?
Louisville ACC Football Schedule/ Kevin Ware Update
For all those Cardinals fans who look at the upcoming football schedule and yawns, you should take the opportunity to take a breath. When Louisville joins the ACC in 2014 the football schedule is going to be unbelievable. While the 2013 schedule lacks the marquee names the 2014 schedule and beyond are full of them.
The Road to Omaha Begins
Baseballs post season was set Monday afternoon and North Carolina incredible season was rewarded with the #1 national seed. The other national seeds in order are Vanderbilt, Oregon St, LSU, Cal St Fullerton, Virginia, Florida St and Oregon.
North Carolina (52-8) won its first regular season champion since 1990 and it’s coach Mike Fox’s program first #1 seed. They have been a top 8 seed 6 of the last 7 years. They are the only team in the nation that hasn’t lost consecutive games this season. They will open their bid to be the first top seeded team to win the championship since the 1999 Miami team against Canisius (42-15), who is making their first appearance in the tournament.
The Louisville Cardinals (46-12) will begin their quest to make it to Omaha for the first time since 2007 against Bowling Green (24-29) on Friday at 6pm. They missed out on a national seed but they will host the regional. Also in their region is future ACC foe Miami (36-23) who has made the tournament for a record 41st straight year.
The SEC led all conferences with a record-tying 9 bids. The ACC received 8 while the Pac 12 and Sun Belt received 4 bids each. The committee snubbed the Big East by handing out only 2 bids, to Louisville and UConn. Although the SEC received more bids, the ACC has the upper hand with 5 teams playing host, not including Louisville, while the SEC has only 4 teams hosting a regional. Also the ACC received more national seeds than the SEC, 3-2.
The tournament opens this Friday with 16 four team double-elimination regionals. Those winners will advance to next weeks best of 3 super regionals. The remaining 8 teams will then be broken down into 2 double-elimination brackets in the College World Series in Omaha, Neb. Here is a look at the regionals and super regional line up. Read more…
ACC 2013 Bowl Schedule (Dates and Times)
The Atlantic Coast Conference, our beloved ACC, has issued a release sharing the 2013 bowl schedule, including dates and times. As previously noted, it will be interesting to see if there are changes to this lineup in the future. But here is the key data you need for 2013:
| Military Bowl presented by Northrop Grumman | ||
| Friday, Dec. 27, 2013 | 2:30 p.m. | ESPN |
| Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl (conditional) | ||
| Friday, Dec. 27, 2013 | 9:30 p.m. | ESPN |
| Russell Athletic Bowl | ||
| Saturday, Dec. 28, 2013 | 6:45 p.m. | ESPN |
| Belk Bowl | ||
| Saturday, Dec. 28, 2013 | 3:20 p.m. | ESPN |
| Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl | ||
| Monday, Dec. 30, 2013 | 3:15 p.m. | ESPN |
| AdvoCare V100 Bowl | ||
| Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2013 | 12:30 p.m. | ESPN |
| Hyundai Sun Bowl | ||
| Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2013 | 2 p.m. | CBS |
| Chick-fil-A Bowl | ||
| Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2013 | 8 p.m. | ESPN |
| Discover Orange Bowl | ||
| Friday, Jan. 3, 2014 | 8 p.m. | ESPN |
Note that all games are on ESPN, except the Sun Bowl. Also, the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl is conditional.
You will also note that there are 8-9 bowl games for the 14 teams in the conference. That may or may not pose a problem for 2013.
Syracuse is a “Football Factory”?
One of the Confidential’s favorite reads is the Tuesday Morning Quarterback by Gregg Easterbrook on ESPN.com. Although harping on the same issues week after week can get tedious (we get it–coaches should not punt, blitz, pass, or switch jobs), there are usually some good nuggets scattered within the articles. Interestingly, his post-draft article almost suggested that Syracuse is a “football factory.”
His specific quote was as follows:
The Bills’ new head coach, Doug Marrone, is coming from NCAA football to the NFL. He had a college-style draft — using his picks on a quarterback, two wide receivers, a speed linebacker, two defensive backs, a tight end. Marrone didn’t draft any linemen on either side of the ball, using all ammo for flashy guys. At a time when speed dominates Division I football, a head coach coming over from a football factory may obsess about getting flashy guys, while taking the line for granted. Taking the line for granted is a fatal error in the NFL.
It is certainly plausible that the sentence describing head coaches and flashy guys was not directly addressed to Marrone and Syracuse. Still, it is kind of nice to even have some confusion as to whether someone meant that Syracuse was a football factory!
Although Syracuse had dark times during the G-Rob era (and by dark, we mean “bubonic plague” dark), Syracuse is a program that was above average from 1987 to 2001. Well above average, actually. Many players went from Syracuse to stardom in the NFL, including Rob Moore, Donovan McNabb, Marvin Harrison, and Dwight Freeney. It would have been a plausible argument during the 2002 NFL Draft.
2013? Not so much. But it is nice to have the discussion.
What do you think? Was Syracuse a football factory? Ever? Circa 2000? Or does one have to go back to the 1960s to make that argument? More importantly, what does the future hold for the Orange?
Plenty to Criticize–Here is Something to Praise
Not going to waste words here. This is one of the cooler things you can possibly see. This would be incredibly awesome for any young fan, and it is great that this young fan got a brief respite from his day-to-day struggles to be a hero for a moment. As someone on Youtube commented: “Faith in humanity, restored.”
See it for yourself:
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