Louisville, Memphis State and Cincinnati have been intwined in a triangle relationship for many decades and through multiple conferences. It’s a rivalry that hasn’t received the same noterity or exposure as Duke and North Carolina or Texas and Oklahoma but it is a rivalry that has brought out the vile from all three fan bases. It is also unique in that it envolves three teams.
Jim Grobe stepped down today from his position as HC at Wake Forest.
I was able to listen to portions of the news conference live on the radio this afternoon (12/2) and it played out like an absolute lovefest. AD Ron Wellman spoke first, praising Grobe for his affection for his players and what he had done for the schools football program, most prominently the 2006 ACC title and subsequent Orange Bowl berth.
The David Glenn show reported this afternoon that Dave Doeren is optimistic that Brandon Mitchell will be ready for Saturday’s game with Syracuse. If he does start, it would give the Pack a more mobile option to Pete Thomas who would likely fit State’s desired style of play.
Not that Thomas has played badly, but Wolfpack Nation will take any straw of hope we can grasp at this point.
Update:
Game is just starting, Thomas will start again. So never mind.
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
So, Georgia Tech goes 3-0 (2-0 ACC) after their 28-20 home win over UNC. But all anyone wants to talk about is Clemson or Florida State, with a reluctant side order of Miami. How can the Jackets earn some respect?
Its time! The college football season will be here soon and we wont have to rely on MLB or ESPNs replays of games from last season to get our sports fix. It is, thank God, the FINAL year of the BCS and the year when we get to see the on the field effect of conference realignment. The ACC welcomes Pitt, Syracuse and Notre Dame into the conference, well most of Notre Dame. Lets take a look at the Pitt Panthers.
Just like last season, the last few years has been a roller coaster ride for the Panthers football team. Through all the coaching changes Paul Chryst is ready for his second year as head coach. Pitt finished last season 6-7 (3-4 in the Big East) and with a loss to Ole Miss in the BBVA Compass Bowl 38-17. The lows began with a loss to Youngstown St of the FCS 31-27 but they rebounded to beat Virginia Tech and then #19 Rutgers. There was also a couple of heartbreaking losses as well, a 1 point loss to Syracuse and a 3 overtime loss to the eventual national runner-up Notre Dame. Can Pitt steady the ride in 2013?
This will be the first time in four years that they will not be playing in a new system but they will be playing in a new conference. One of the glaring stats from last season that most be improved on is sacks allowed, they gave up 38 and were last in the Big East. Some bright spots from last season was their BE leading 10 turnovers and their 52.5% opponent TD rate in the red zone.
Pitt will have 13 returning starters (5 offense & 8 defense) but will be without QB Tino Sunseri, RB Ray Graham and RB Rushell Shell. Key returners are S Jason Hendricks (90 tackles 6 Int.), DT Aaron Donald (64 tackles 18.5 TFL 5.5 sacks), LB Todd Thomas (59 tackles) and WR Devin Street (73 Rec.). They are also bringing in a solid recruiting class that features OT Dorian Johnson, WR Tyler Boyd, QB TraVon Chapman and DT Tyrique Jarrett.
Finding reliable starters at QB and at RB will be crucial for the Panthers but they have alternatives. At QB will be ether redshirt freshman Chad Voytik or senior Tom Savage. With TraVon they should have 3 quality QB to chose from. Isaac Bennett appears to be poised as the starting RB after a solid preseason game. Malcolm Crocket and Desmond Brown would be his backups. This trio combined for only 41 carries in 2012. With the questions at QB and RB and with the loss of their #2 receiver, the offense looks to be the weakness of the team.
Tom Savage is 6-5 and has a strong arm but he hasn’t played since 2010 with Rutgers. At Rutgers he was a freshman All-American but struggled during his sophomore year. He is 192-368 for 2732 yds with 16 TD for his career. He led Rutgers to a 45-24 victory against UCF in the 2009 St. Petersburg Bowl in his freshman year. After a falling out with the Rutgers coaching staff he transferred to Arizona but came to Pitt instead after a coaching change at Arizona. This will be his last year of eligibility. He was a 5 star recruit coming out of high school.
The defense is the clear strength of this team as they return 7 of their top 8 tacklers and return their top leaders in INT and sacks. Donald and Hendricks are hyped as preseason All-Conference selections.
Following a tough season opener against Florida St. the schedule could be set up to allow them to get their feet set under them during the first part of the year before ending with 5 tough games. The key to a successful 2013 for Pitt will be finding a QB and RB to step up and take control of the starting position. If this happens then an 8 win season is certainly possible but I will predict them to finish 7-5 (4-4) and in the mid pack of the ACC, which is certainly a good accomplishment in the tougher conference.
Here is a look at the Pitt 2013 football schedule;
Sept 2 Florida St its hard to pick against FSU here.
Sept 14 New Mexico should be the start of a winning streak.
Sept 21 @ Duke the Pitt defense should be enough to get the W.
Sept 28 Virginia playing at home gives the Panthers the edge.
Oct 12 @ Virginia Tech VT gets revenge from last season at home.
Oct 19 Old Dominion Pitt will need to avoid a Youngstown St repeat.
Oct 26 @ Navy A must win game for Pitt.
Nov 2 @ Georgia Tech GT playing at home gives them the edge.
Nov 9 Notre Dame ND will be favored.
Nov 16 N Carolina Pitt has the home field advantage here.
Nov 23 @ Syracuse A possible W and will be needed to reach 8 on the year
Nov 29 Miami another crucial game for Pitt to get 8.
The phrase “hot seat” is now commonly used to describe coaches that are under a lot of pressure to start winning immediately. The implication is that failing to have a sufficiently-good season will lead to termination. In the old days, a coach would get five years to turn a program around. Now, coaches are on much shorter “leashes.” Not literally, obviously. Anyway, who are the ACC coaches on the hot seat headed into the 2013 college football season?
According to ESPN’s latest football recruiting rankings, the ACC has three of the top 10 teams, with Notre Dame knocking at the top 10 at #11. Specifically, Florida State is at #4, Clemson is at #8, and Miami is at #10. The three traditional ACC powers are where they should be in the recruiting rankings. But there is other good news.
To the average pro-imperialism Big 10 fan, the ACC is ripe for colonization. Indeed, there is a certain sense of “Well, the grant of rights is nice, but we’ll be back for Virginia, North Carolina, and a few other schools soon enough.” Just take a look at the comments over at Frank the Tank. The only issue for them is whether the Big 10 goes to 16 or 20 or 24. Let’s assume, however, that the Big 10 was able to take Kansas and Virginia (as they predict) in the next round of expansion… do not be surprised to see Texas in the ACC. Consider this…
The Confidential 