For long-time followers of the Confidential, you are familiar with our weekly polls. This year, we will not begin our poll until after the Week 1 games. This is something that we would like to see the major polls also do. Watch some games before deciding 1 to 25. But what we WILL do is provide our expectations regarding the tiers for the ACC teams (plus Notre Dame and Louisville).
The Clemson final spot did not prove to be overly difficult. Although there was some debate over Larry Nance, with Horace Grant being suggested, it is hard to overlook Nance’s taking Clemson farther than anyone else AND having a stellar NBA career.
For the fourth spot, however, we are going with Banks McFadden. Although his name sounds like it should be in a movie… like Dodgeball… the guy was a stellar athlete a long time ago. Consider this biography:
He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1959 . . . McFadden is widely considered to be the greatest athlete in Clemson University history, lettering in three sports (football, basketball and track). In 1939, McFadden was voted the Associated Press’ “Athlete of the Year”. McFadden was also a two-time All-American in basketball (1938 and 1939) and lead the Tigers basketball team to a Southern Conference championship in 1939. Upon graduating, McFadden played football for the National Football League’s Brooklyn Dodgers. McFadden fought in World War II and upon returning to the United States went into coaching.
On September 19, 1987, Clemson University retired his basketball No. 23 and football No. 66.
So, there you go, a retired jersey in TWO sports. Not many players get that type of recognition.
The Final Verdict for the Clemson Mount Rushmore: Danny Ford, Frank Howard, Larry Nance, and Banks McFadden!
So it is now early August, and we are in a season that I have fully enjoyed for years…the Preseason Preview Magazine Season.
I know, this is a blog, on the World Wide Web, we don’t use books anymore. Heck, there was even an article somewhere about the last big computer magazine going out of paper-and-ink recently; print is a dying medium, right?
Not yet. Bookstores may come and go, but last I checked the magazine rack at Wal-Mart and my local grocery store still had plenty of offerings, most of which I care little for. But around the end of June comes the appearance of periodicals devoted to football, like the first sign of a new season.
I am addicted to these mags. Each offers a different perspective and more importantly, a different view of what is to come in the 2013-14 season. So once a payday I usually pick one up, two if it has been a good week. College and pro, though the NCAA issues interest me slightly more if only because there are so many teams and, of course, because I can get info about the ACC.
So here is a quick look at my favorites no particular order…
ACC Sports Journal, Fall Edition…website, ACCsports.com
David Glenn is the editor of what used to be called the Poop Sheet, and I am late to the party here as I just started reading it this year. They do an excellent job covering “our” conference and this is what they are thinking this year:
Clemson will win the Atlantic and Miami the Coastal. Not going to break it down much more as I would like you to go out and buy this thing or order it online. But I will divulge the layout…this year there are 4 pages devoted to each ACC team, packed with the usual info: head coach with record, team results since 2003, the new schedule, and lineups. The articles are based on seven questions each team must answer in the new year, and there is even a look at the 2010 recruits for each team and how they are faring now. In addition to the 14 teams playing in the conference there is an identical Notre Dame section. Louisville is not yet included as they have not yet escaped the American.
As a bonus, the Journal covers ACC basketball as well, though the articles are condensed since it is time for football. There’s a hoops recruiting section as well. And on the last page is an article by David Teel of the Newport News Daily Press about the future of the ACC that is a fascinating read.
Sporting News College Football…website: Sportingnews.com
Until 2008 there was a magazine called Street and Smith’s that was my favorite for a long time. Back then S and S merged with the Sporting News preseason mag and decided to keep the SN name, though I felt that Street and Smith’s had just as much name recognition and I do miss leafing through both of them this time of year.
The focus here is more national, though none of the “power conferences” get short shrift. Alabama is their No. 1 (yawn) and Stanford comes in at two. Clemson is ranked ninth followed immediately by Notre Dame and Louisville, in a sort of ACC/almost-ACC/future ACC trifecta. Each team gets one page of coverage but they pack in five-year results, projected starters, recruit ratings, the 2013 schedule, Fast Facts box (coach, coordinators, stadium, tix, etc), impact player and the main article which breaks the team down by Offense, Defense/Special Teams, and the Bottom Line.
Each of the power conferences gets a two page intro as well with such features as All-Conference picks by position, teams that are ascending/descending and of course, predicted order of finish. Here again Clemson and Miami get the love as division winners.
So, SN offers a lot of ACC news in addition to a look at everybody else, and they really go beyond with a look at each FCS conference, NCAA Division 2 and 3 and an NAIA preview. Plus they are published right down the road from me in Charlotte, NC, so you can’t go wrong. Trust me.
Phil Steele’s 2013 College Football Preview…website: philsteele.com
Until a couple of seasons ago I would pass this one up, thinking this guy was just a tout who would regale me with thousands of reasons to call his hotline and NEVER LOSE AGAIN!!! Not being a betting man, this interested me not at all.
I couldn’t have been more wrong. While the magazine does list results against the spread, it is really an attempt to tell us what is going to happen before it happens. Phil Steele is a guy who doesn’t want anyone telling him what team is best, but instead wants to decide based on his own mathematical formulas. He uses nine sets of power ratings he designed himself to determine his final rating, and if you look on page 326 (out of 352!) you will find an article detailing his accuracy. Although I disagree that having the best average over the last 15 years equals a 15-year winning streak as the article posits, Phil’s record is nonetheless very impressive.
Now I look eagerly for the appearance of this one. Get this- every FBS school is given two pages in PSCFP. And in these two pages is a treasure trove of information, for every one of the schools, from Air Force to Wyoming and all points in between.
Two pages, you say? Is that all? Hey, he uses very small print. Here are some of the features crammed into the team pages:
Position Outlook divided into QBs, RBs, Receivers, O-Line, D-Line, LBs, DBs, Special Teams, and Coaches. Then there’s Phil’s Forecast, which updates team history in some detail and ends with Phil’s prediction for 2013.
2013 Projected Starting Lineup – Packed with info on each player with lots of abbreviations so that pertinent stats are included
Also on Roster – The guys nobody else bothers to list
That’s just the first team page. The facing one has the schedule with room for you to write in scores if you like, plus a little info about each matchup; returning starters and returning lettermen; head coach’s record broken down more ways than I can list here; stadium info; 2012 stat leaders; signees; last 5 bowl results with all-time bowl record; every score from the last five seasons and more.
This is truly THE College football preview. If you are only going to buy one, buy this one. All it will cost you is 9.99.
So there you have it. There are other good previews out there, Lindy’s and Athlon’s to name a couple, so you may have a different favorite. But I strongly encourage you to treat yourself to at least one, whether you are a fellow ACC fan or just a football maniac. You’ll be glad you did.
The Confidential has been having some fun with league-wide coaches Mount Rushmores. Football and Basketball, plus polls for each of football and basketball to share your thoughts. In fact, it was so sufficiently fun and controversial that we are going to do school-wide Mount Rushmores now. And we will only put three people on the list, leaving you–our readers–to comment as to who should be the fourth. We will not do polls anymore. For today, let’s go with a school with a rich ACC history: Clemson.
The ACC media days just ended with a lot of folks predicting that Clemson would win the ACC title this fall. Meanwhile, Louisville is certainly projected to dominate the AAC. Our recent poll regarding the expected ACC winner, which included Louisville in jest, was utterly dominated by Louisville. The question that begs, however, is who would you pick to win a game between Clemson and Louisville? And this is a game that may actually be played, as both teams could (and should) win BCS berths. Anyway, here is what we think.
As we noted previously, followers and non-followers of this blog can now get weekly updates of the blog entries. Here is this week’s recap:
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.
As we noted previously, followers and non-followers of this blog can now get weekly updates of the blog entries. Here is this week’s recap:
Duke vs. North Carolina. Syracuse vs. Georgetown. Alabama vs. Auburn. Ohio State vs. Michigan. Kentucky vs Louisville the NCAA Rules. There are plenty of rivalries in college sports. So, when some idiot decided to vandalize Clemson’s famous Howard’s Rock, the obvious thought was a misdirected, boorish South Carolina fan with far too much alcohol within the bloodstream. But an arrest was just made and guess what… well … you’ll never guess who the alleged vandal is a fan of…
The rage in college sports lately has been the one-up-manship in ugly uniforms, fields, and courts. Attention-seeking Athletic Directors and corporations are more than willing to put their stamp on college athletics in order to drive more business or exposure for their respective products. The Confidential believes its only a matter of time before teams in the ACC get behind this trend as well, so here are some suggestions for ACC team home courts that we would like to see: Read more…
The Confidential 