The Confidential

The ACC Sports Blog

Archive for the tag “Miami”

20 Aug 2012

The Confidential ACC Football Rankings (Week # -1)

With the football season a mere two weeks away, the time has come for the Confidential’s Pre-Preseason Football Rankings.  As with last year, Syracuse and Pitt will be included in these rankings.  In any event, here they are:

  1. Florida State: Sooner or later, the King must be the King.  It has been a long time since the Seminoles were dominant.  Not sure it will happen this year, but they have the inside track for the ACC Championship.
  2. Virginia Tech:  While Miami and Florida State have been the ACC Kings, it is Virginia Tech that has carried the ACC most seasons since the realignment.  The Hokies slide above Clemson due to divisional differences.
  3. Clemson: The first thing Clemson needs to do is forget about the late-season collapse.  The second thing it needs to do is look at all the talent on both sides of the ball.  It’s going to be fun.  Don’t count the Tigers out.
  4. Virginia:  The Confidential likes what happened with Virginia last year and envisions the team building off that success.  It is amazing what a good coaching hire can do to rejuvenate a program.  That Penn State game looks a lot less daunting right now too.
  5. North Carolina State: The Wolfpack have a fairly talented crew returning.  The difficulty of the schedule is questionable.  Tennessee and UConn could go either way.
  6. Georgia Tech: The Yellow Jackets open the season with Virginia Tech.  If the Tech battle goes Ga Tech’s way, this #6 ranking will be low.
  7. North Carolina: The OOC game against Louisville will be tough, especially on the road.  But Elon, Idaho, and East Carolina is not too tough for the remainder of the slate.
  8. Pittsburgh: Every year, the Panthers seem ready to make a run.  Every year they do not.  So, it is #8 for Pitt until they capitalize on potential.
  9. Wake Forest: Not sure where Wake Forest is going with this OOC slate.  Anything from 1-3 to 3-1 is possible with Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, Army, and Liberty.  Pencil in a win over Florida state though.
  10. Miami: A reasonably challenging OOC slate with USF, Notre Dame, and Kansas State.  But Miami gets North Carolina State, Florida State, and Virginia Tech at home.
  11. Syracuse: An insane OOC, with preseason #1 USC, Missouri, Northwestern, and even Minnesota.  Is any other team playing 4 BCS conference teams OOC?  Throw in 4 conference road games and the USC game being home but on a neutral site and this has the makings of a very difficult year.
  12. Boston College: Boston College rallied last year, showing some serious character.  This should pay off in 2013.  Just not quite bowl-ready though.
  13. Duke: Outside of Stanford, Duke’s OOC is very soft.  This #13 ranking may end up being a little low.  But Duke’s going to have to prove it on the field before the Confidential believes.
  14. Maryland: Well, it cannot get WORSE for Randy Edsall, can it?  A tough OOC slate with Temple, UConn, West Virginia and William & Mary?  That’s right… William AND Mary.

The Confidential predicts a Seminoles-Hokies battle for the ACC Championship, with the Seminoles showing the world that they are back.

 

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Football, Rankings and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
17 Aug 2012
2 Comments

North Carolina Academic Probe: Much Ado About Nothing?

When it comes to academics, it is hard to argue that the Atlantic Coast Conference is second to only the B1G in academic prestige.  On the football field, the ACC teams have had their fair share of NCAA trouble lately, with issues at Miami and North Carolina garnering the most attention.  An academic fraud situation at North Carolina is even more troubling.  Or is it?

The details of the North Carolina academic issue and its status was recently summarized by ESPN as follows:

But as an offshoot of the NCAA investigation, a UNC internal probe found that 54 AFAM [African-American Studies] classes were either “aberrant” or “irregularly” taught from summer 2007 to summer 2011. That included unauthorized grade changes, forged faculty signatures on grade rolls and limited or no class time.

* * *

A four-member UNC Board of Governors panel is reviewing UNC’s original investigation into the AFAM department. The State Bureau of Investigation is looking into whether any computer fraud, forgery or conspiracy to commit those crimes in the AFAM department took place. June’s faculty report called for an independent commission of outside experts in higher education to take a forward-looking review of athletics and academics at the university.

Meanwhile, the NCAA, fresh off imposing sanctions on the football team for non-academic reasons, is going to have an interest in the North Carolina self-study.

The Confidential does not want to defend North Carolina, but this issue seems very overblown.  About half of the students in these easy classes were athletes.  The idea of classes like “Rocks for Jocks”  was invented long before ESPN and billion-dollar TV deals.  Is one easy class REALLY the end of the world?

Frankly, even a non-athlete can obtain a college degree without ever truly challenging himself or herself.  That is part of the beauty of college–you have a lot of freedom to determine what you want to learn.  Some students become engineers or architects and devote massive effort into difficult undergraduate curricula.  Other students (ahem, the Confidential, ahem) choose to take a broader spectrum of classes (i.e. not challenging themselves sufficiently).  But there is always graduate school.  And part of college is the learning that takes place outside the academic corridors.  So taking one or more easy classes is actually quite normal.

The Confidential believes that the fraud issues are certainly worth looking into.  Athletes’ grades should not be changed.  Everyone has an obligation to be ethical.  But if this is just a matter of steering athletes towards easier classes, it needs to just go away.

 

 

 

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Football, Scandal and tagged , , , ,
08 Aug 2012

Today in the A.C.C. (August 8, 2012)

Here is the latest that is happening with the Atlantic Coast Conference, as of August 8, 2012.

  • Previously, the Confidential noted the unfortunate circumstances surrounding Duke WR Blair Holiday.  Actually, it was yesterday, but whatever.

In a classy gesture, the Duke football team will be wearing a #8 on their helmets to honor him this season.  Good for them.  But if YOU want to do something, how about giving a donation to the fund set up to assist him: “For information on how to contribute to the The Blair Holliday Recovery Fund, visit www.giveforward.com/theblairhollidayrecoveryfund.”

  • In Miami, Ray-Ray Armstrong is not accepting his dismissal from the team without a fight; instead, he has lawyered up.

Armstrong’s counsel plans to file an injunction to force the “school to allow Armstrong to practice with the team until the NCAA determines if he has violated any bylaws.”  Of course, Armstrong’s counsel also noted that Armstrong has a lengthy history and was dismissed based on a few different incidents.  Still, it will be Armstrong’s contention that Miami has dismissed Armstrong just to make itself look better while the NCAA ponders just how much of a penalty Miami deserves.

  • In basketball news, Boston College has offered a scholarship to Chicago-area forward Evan Boudreaux.

The 6-foot 7 forward plays for Lake Forest high school.  Even if he chooses Boston College do not expect to see him any time soon–he is only a 15-year-old sophomore.  Nevertheless, he seems to have acquitted himself well against decent competition recently.

 

 

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, Football and tagged , , , , ,
03 Aug 2012
7 Comments

Miami Hurricanes Facing Truly Unprecedented Penalties!

(BORING METROPOLIS IN MIDWEST)   Emboldened by the support it received from all NCAA Presidents following the imposition of harsh penalties against Penn State Univeristy, the NCAA’s executive committee is apparently set to announce penalties for the Miami Hurricanes that are even more unprecedented.  The Confidential has learned that the executive committee is set to offer Miami the choice of (a) the death penalty to its football team for three years; (b) actual death to all people affiliated with the University; or (c) the following more overreaching and creative penalties than those imposed on Penn State:

FOOTBALL SANCTIONS:

  • The football team must hire Greg Robinson and place him in charge, completely and unequivocally, of the defense from 2013 to 2015, and then again in 2017 (just to offset the obvious gains that will be made in 2016).  Further, Greg Robinson will be prohibited from using stuffed animals to motivate his defense for one year.  He will, however, be allowed to read children’s books as desired
  • The football team is required to use morbidly obese female “hosts” for all official and unofficial recruiting trips.  Further, Janet Reno will be appointed as a special consultant to the program to ensure that no host with a BMI of less than 40 comes close to hosting a recruit
  • The football team must change its colors to pink and sky blue
  • The football team must stay in the Atlantic Coast Conference for the next 30 years, even if Florida State leaves.  Also, Miami cannot vote against South Florida or Central Florida taking Florida State’s place in the ACC
  • The football team must continue to lose to Boston College annually
  • Lane Kiffin is allowed to take the team’s best player every year, regardless of where he coaches
  • SCHOLARSHIP LIMITS: For all odd years from 2013 to 2017, the football team can only sign 100% Caucasian defensive backs and running backs, and must give 1 scholarship per year to a female kicker (provided she is not hot like Kathy Ireland).  During even years from 2014 to 2018, the team must give 1 scholarship per year to a quarterback from Samoa, 2 scholarships per year to offensive linemen of 100% Chinese descent (provided they are not able to do cool thinks like in the movie Big Trouble in Little China), and 1 scholarship per year to a non-human.
  • BOWLS: The above restrictions should take care of bowl eligibility.  If not, Miami is only allowed to go to bowl games if they have a tie-in with the Big East (if any) or take place in crappy places like Idaho or Detroit.

BASKETBALL SANCTIONS:

  • Upon further review, the basketball team must continue doing whatever it is currently doing to remain entirely irrelevant
  • Just in case, John Calipari is allowed to take the team’s best player every year, regardless of where he coaches

ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT/UNIVERSITY-WIDE SANCTIONS

  • The football team must pay annual fines of $10,000,000 dollars and 10,000,000 Cuban pesos, which will be earmarked for a pretend charity that devotes itself to something along the lines of rehabilitating prostitutes and/or supporting retired NCAA Presidents, from 2013 to 2015.
  • Effective immediately and permanently, Miami must refer to itself as “Miami (FL)” and Miami of Ohio is allowed to refer to itself as simply “Miami”
  • Luther Campbell loses Professor Emeritus status until 2018

At present, it is unclear what option will be selected by Miami.  Needless to say, the athletic culture in Miami is about to change radically.

 

Posted by acaffrey in Football, Sarcasm and tagged , ,
21 Jul 2012

Yahoo Claims Miami’s NCAA Issues Persisted Under Al Golden

It was about one year ago that Yahoo’s Charles Robinson reported that the Miami Hurricanes provided illegal benefits to more than 70 players.  The report was significant enough to get everyone’s attention, from Miami to the NCAA.  Miami’s Al Golden promised that he would clean up the mess caused by the former regime and booster Nevin Shapiro; however, a new Yahoo report by Robinson suggests that Miami continued to violate NCAA rules under Al Golden.  This is very troubling news for “the U.”

The new report concerns an allegation that the Hurricanes used “Sean ‘Pee Wee’ Allen – a then-equipment manager and onetime right-hand man of convicted Ponzi schemer Nevin Shapiro – to circumvent NCAA rules in the recruiting of multiple Miami-area players.”  The troubling aspect is that Al Golden’s staff also used Allen to make impermissible contacts.  If so, the Miami scandal overlaps the hiring of Golden.

The Yahoo article includes a pointed response by Golden:

“I have been a college football coach for more than 18 years and I am proud of — and I stand by — my record of compliance over that span,” Golden said in a statement. “As my colleagues and players on all of my teams can attest, I believe strongly in doing things the right way with the best of intentions.

“The inferences and suggestions in the Yahoo! Sports story that my conduct was anything but ethical are simply false. I, like all of us at UM, have cooperated fully with the joint NCAA-UM inquiry and will continue to do so, so that our program and our university can move forward. Because the process is on-going, I am unable to address any specifics or answer questions on the matter.”

Despite Golden’s denial, the report does seem to have some pretty clear evidence that Allen was used improperly.

The saving grace for Golden may be that these violations happened so early in his tenure–perhaps before he even knew Allen’s role with the team.  Nevertheless, Allen was dispatched by current Miami coaches other than Golden, who certainly would have known.  All in all, it looks like Miami’s troubles are getting worse, not better.

The Atlantic Coast Conference needs Miami to return to its glory days.  And looming NCAA sanctions are only going to delay that.  Hopefully, these reported violation are either untrue or were quickly remedied by Golden’s staff to help mitigate the sanctions.

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Football and tagged , , ,
22 Jun 2012
3 Comments

Plea to the ACC: Reconfigure the Divisions!

The Confidential is not very sympathetic to much of what Florida State complains about.  For the most part, they blame the ACC for their own inability to field a top 10 team.  The ACC leadership is merely a scapegoat.  HOWEVER, Florida State does have a legitimate issue regarding the zipper-format that the ACC has used to divide the teams into divisions.  The Confidential renews its plea for the ACC leadership to apply a logical division of the teams primarily based on geography and school type.

As you know, the ACC is currently divided into the following divisions:

Atlantic: Clemson, Florida State, Wake Forest, North Carolina State, Boston College, Maryland, Syracuse (in 2013?)

Coastal: Georgia Tech, Miami, Duke, North Carolina, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh (2013)

We know these are right because they have been researched.  Yes, one has to check the standings to keep this straight.  If ACC fans and followers have to double-check to know for sure, just think how outsiders consider the ACC.

The logical solution is to do a more pure geographical distribution:

North: BC, Maryland, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Pitt, Syracuse, and Miami

South: NC, NC State, Duke, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, FSU, and Clemson

That is easy to remember.  It’s the northern schools, plus Miami (a northern school in character).  Play 6 games, plus 2-3 cross-divisional games.  Lock-in certain rivalries: Miami-FSU, Virginia-North Carolina, maybe a few others.  Or give everyone a locked-in opponent:  BC-Duke, Syracuse-Wake Forest, Miami-FSU, Clemson-Va Tech, Georgia Tech-Pitt, Maryland-NC State, North Carolina-Virginia.  And then play 1-2 other cross-divisional games.  One could even rotate the “locked-in” game periodically, so that Duke-Syracuse and BC-Wake Forest could play each other.  And so on.

The upshot is that FSU gets games against the three southern-most schools–which is good for attendance, TV ratings, and strength of schedule.  All rivalries are preserved.  And the world can keep the division straights.  Everyone plays a ton of geographically logical games.  Only Miami loses geographically, but it renews rivalries with Syracuse, Pitt, and BC.  This is what we call a win-win.  Making FSU happy is not a bad bonus either.  So… ACC leadership… the plea has been renewed.  Make it happen!

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Football and tagged , , , ,
07 Apr 2012

Mel Kiper’s Latest Mock Draft

ESPN’s NFL Draft guru, Mel Kiper, has issued a mock draft that goes two rounds deep–63 projected selections.  The draft is very heavy on ACC players.

Kiper has the first ACC player off the board in pick #11, with Luke Kuechly, LB, Boston College to Kansas City:

Kuechly is a rare talent at linebacker — instinctive, explosive, able to make plays from sideline to sideline, but very sound in reading plays into the backfield and making stops. Kansas City has a need here, and Kuechly is a safe pick, a guy who can get on the field early and pick up the nuances of the NFL game right away. A tackling machine at linebacker, he’ll make any defense better.

At #12, Kiper goes right back to the ACC with Quinton Coples, DE, North Carolina, to Seattle:

Even if Kuechly is still on the board, it would be tough for Seattle to pass on perhaps the safest 4-3 DE option available. Coples has prototypical size, can play every down as a pass-rusher and has a solid arsenal of moves to get to opposing quarterbacks, but with the size and discipline to be a force against the run. Seattle can’t go wrong here with either the top LB or DE available. This defense is close to being considered among the NFL’s finest.

At #18, rapidly rising Chander Jones, DE, Syracuse, is projected to go to San Diego:

Listed as a defensive end at Syracuse, Jones has the talent, upside and a great frame to make the move to OLB in a pass-rushing role. He’s still a little raw, but the instincts are there and offensive linemen have a really tough time getting their hands on him. Could blossom into a star for the Chargers.

At #30, San Francisco goes for offense with Stephen Hill, WR, Georgia Tech:

Hill is the biggest home run threat in the draft when you combine his speed and size, and it’s no secret the 49ers need some help at wide receiver, even with the additions of Randy Moss and Mario Manningham. He’ll need an adjustment period as he gets used to doing more in terms of scheme than he was asked at Georgia Tech, but he’s the kind of weapon this offense needs to expand.

Pretty interesting first round–not a single player from Miami, Florida State, Clemson, or Virginia Tech.

Here are Kiper’s second round projections:

Round 2
Pick Team Player Position School

42 Miami Andre Branch DE Clemson
A great fit in Miami’s adjusted scheme, Branch offers late-first-round value at this spot.

46 Philadelphia Zach Brown LB North Carolina
A great athlete who can fill a big need at linebacker for the Eagles. Even with DeMeco Ryans, they need help.

51 Philadelphia (from Ariz) Dwayne Allen TE Clemson
My top tight end for much of the year, Allen didn’t test well, but he’s there on tape.

60 Baltimore Terrell Manning LB N.C. State
They lost another good OLB this offseason, and Manning makes sense as a reinforcement.

63 New York Giants David Wilson RB Virginia Tech
They lose Brandon Jacobs, but Wilson will bring some power of his own, with a lot more explosiveness.

So Kiper sees nine ACC players going in the first two rounds.  Still nobody from Miami or Florida State though.  That is pretty shocking really.

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Football, Uncategorized and tagged , , , , , , ,
05 Apr 2012

Football Spring Practice Updates

It is April.  That means that the college football season is just five months away.  In fact, August practices begin in… doing the math… four months.  Anyway, here are some snippets from what is taking place across the ACC.

In Miami, Al Golden is trying to toughen up the Hurricanes.  He implemented the “U Tough” program to get the kids into the gym in the offseason.  With all those 4 and 5 star kids roaming around Coral Gables, getting them focused on the gym only means bad things for the rest of the ACC.

Up north a few miles, Florida State’s Jimbo Fisher liked what he saw in the first scrimmage.  There was a lot of intensity, plus it was productive.  That does sound like a good mix.

Meanwhile, in Clemson, the first scrimmage led to only mixed reviews.  Apparently, the offense had little trouble overpowering the defense.  That will have to change.

In North Carolina State country, everyone is trying to figure out whether Mustafa Greene is still on the team.  It sure looks like just a suspension right now–it would have been easy for Tom O’Brien to just say he had been kicked off.

In Pittsburgh, three coaches in three years means that the depth charts are in flux.  The quarterback position is particularly unsettled.

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Football and tagged , , , , , ,
20 Mar 2012

Other Post-Season Games

While everyone awaits the Sweet 16 matchups on Thursday and Friday, there are two other ACC teams in post-season action: Miami and Pittsburgh.  Unfortunately, one of those two teams had its season end last night.

Miami’s season came to an end with a 78-60 loss to Minnesota in the NIT.  As Miami was the #2 seed and playing at home, while Minnesota was a #6 seed, this was an upset.  A convincing upset.  Minnesota jumped out quickly, taking a 12-point advantage over Miami into halftime.  The Hurricanes never recovered.  The team shot 34.4% from the field for the game, including 16.6% from three-point range.  Minnesota finished the game with a 37-19 rebounding edge.  Dion Brown led Miami with 16 points.  The Hurricanes finish the season 20-13.

In the College Basketball Invitational, Pittsburgh defended its home court by defeating Princeton, 82-61.  Pitt jumped out to a 49-25 halftime lead.  For the game, Pitt held Princeton to just 41.1% shooting.  Several Panthers finished in double-figures in scoring:

  • Lamar Patterson, 19 points
  • Tray Woodall, 15 points
  • Nasir Robinson, 12 points
  • Talib Zanna, 11 points
  • Ashton Gibbs, 10 points

With an offensive performance like that, Princeton was no match for Pitt.  Princeton was also outrebounded 37-26.  All in all it was a vintage Pittsburgh performance.  With the win, the Panthers improve to 19-16 on the season.  They will face Butler in the semifinals on Wednesday.

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball and tagged , , , ,
15 Mar 2012

The ACC and the Post-Season: Update

Well, it is College Basketball Tournament season.  The Big Dance commences in earnest today.

Before reaching the real March Madness… did you know that Pittsburgh is still playing basketball?  The Panthers defeated Wofford on Tuesday in something called the CBI, 81-63.  And Miami defeated Valparaiso in the NIT on Wednesday, 66-50.  Congratulations for those teams taking advantage of their post-season opportunities.

As for the Big Dance, all the current ACC teams begin play on Friday.  So here is what ACC fans should be watching for Thursday:

Syracuse.  The Orange are going to be playing without the Big East defensive player of the year, Fab Melo.  Will the Melo-less Orange be the first #1 seed to ever lose to a #16 seed?  North Carolina-Asheville is not your ordinary 16 seed.  The Bulldogs stayed with North Carolina State (lost by 9), battled North Carolina (lost by 16), gave UConn a run (lost by 10), and narrowly lost to Tennessee (lost by 4).  They also beat Utah by 16.  This is not a team that will shrink from Syracuse.  However, even without Melo, Syracuse would have been a 3 or 4 seed this year.  In fact, without the expectation of improvement by Melo, Syracuse was a top 5 team in the preseason.  The goal here is to win and develop the ability to play without Melo.  If so, Syracuse still has the tools to make a decent run.

 

 

 

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball and tagged , , , , ,

Post Navigation

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →