Fact or Fiction: Canes ACC title, USC playoff and Shough to show out​

Story by Mike Farrell
• 9h •

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In today’s Fact or Fiction I look at three big recent topics in college football and decide whether the statement is indeed FACT or if it’s FICTION.

1. It’s ACC title or bust for Mario Cristobal.

Farrell’s take: FICTION

Let’s pump the brakes. Cristobal is 12-13 so far at Miami and fans are getting impatient as expected. And with the hype surrounding QB Cam Ward and Mario’s recruiting so far, people expect an ACC title. But I still think this team is a year away from ACC title contention and is a 8-4 or 9-3 team that falls short of Clemson, FSU and Louisville. While Cristobal has done a solid job reshaping this roster, which was really bad at QB, WR and along the OL, it’s still not ready for prime time yet.

2. USC is a playoff contender.

Farrell’s take: FICTION

Lincoln Riley needs a bounce back season. The defense will be improved a bit with new coaches but without Caleb Williams bailing this team out, how can we expect a playoff run? The Big Ten will be tougher, the schedule is rough with LSU, Michigan, Penn State and Notre Dame and the adjustment to the physicality in the trenches in the Big Ten could be rough. Miller Moss won’t be bad and they have talent but a step backwards has to happen on offense. They could be 6-6 or 7-5 honestly.

3. Tyler Shough redemption is coming.

Farrell’s take: FACT

The Louisville quarterback has been around forever and has played at Oregon and Texas Tech. Remember in 2021 when he was actually considered a pre-season round one NFL Draft sleeper? Many don’t. As a 6-5, 225-pound kid with a live arm coming off some flashes at Oregon he had some buzz. That fizzled as he continues to get injured in college. He’s now the expected starter at Louisville with a faster and improved wide receiver group than last year’s surprising team. If he stays healthy, and that’s a big if, I think he could put up monster numbers and push Louisville to a playoff opportunity.

Usually these practice interviews are bland-ish, this one with Ron English was very enlightening.

A few notable comments that English made:

-- Said coaching was part of the disappointing end to last season. Alluded to the staff needing to continue to evolve as the season goes on when teams have more talent. English said he visited coaches across the country in the off-season to add things in.

-- Said this is as much depth as he's ever had as a DC. Talked about how when Brownlee was out last year, they couldn't really matchup with certain teams. Feels like he has four guys at corner and four guys at safety that can all rotate in with no drop off. He has so many guys in the secondary that it's almost been hard in practice to get every guy enough reps.

-- Talked very highly of Tamarion McDonald, Tennessee transfer. Is developing into a leader, such a good person, cares about helping players. Said he told him his play on the field is going to make guys follow his lead.

-- Said at linebacker that Stanquan has continued to grow. Said Capers has been doing great, and said he could have folded up, but he didn't and continued to work. Has gotten closer to the weight that they want to him play.

He LOVES this defense.

Congrats to the young couple.

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It’s Wednesday. I just have a feeling we are going to be really good. I guess that’s what makes us a fan.

It’s Taco Tuesday.
Day by day it’s getting closer

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FSU 10
Clemson 14
Miami 19
NC State 24

I don’t agree with NC State, but they return enough and Doren has earned some respect.

Well either I've been under a rock or just didnt notice, but saw where we had a bye on week 3 (and another 11/9). I did know this, but also for the first time in a while we are starting off with 2 games where we will be heavy favorites. I really like getting 2 live dress rehearsals, bye week and then roll with GT, then ND. We "should" be 3-0 heading into ND so that will make that game huge as both will be ranked and assuming ND doesnt stub their toe with TX A&M, they will be top 5!

That ND, SMU, UVA, Miami stretch will very obviously determine how good we are. Win all 4 and everything changes, but even go 3-1 and we are sitting in a really good spot.

This schedule is NOT easy. I think we have 5 definite wins (AP, Jax St, UVA, BC, Stanford), 4 that I feel pretty solid about, but we need to play well with limited mistakes (GT, SMU, Pitt, UK) and 3 that will be very difficult wins (ND, Miami, Clemson).

in what will be a return to campus for Michael Clayton

That appears to be the case. But if he doesn't start, Bryce Young and Andy Dalton will not be playing. Plummer will get plenty of minutes. The only other Carolina QB playing is Jake Luton.

Hope everyone has a blessed Sunday

Over the summer, I was asked to research the University finances--as opposed to athletics--by a person who runs a small, local nonprofit. My initial reply was that I don't track U of L finances overall nearly as closely as I do athletics, and I couldn't comment on what I would find.

As opposed to the athletic department only, it is much easier to locate public accounting reports on US universities. You don't have to rely on the NCAA or use non-GAAP accounting. They all get publicly audited and publish numbers that have a high degree of credibility.

What I discovered shouldn't have surprised me knowing what I know about U of L athletics. For this discussion, I prepared a couple of revenue charts showing public universities in the ACC and how their revenues have changed between 2017 and 2023, the most recent published numbers. The current U of L administration took the reins in 2016, after James Ramsey resigned in July of that year. So FY2017 was the first year since his ouster.


Total revenue (the left chart) contains all sources of revenue for the university. Operating revenue is essentially tuition, room, and board along with whatever each university considers to be revenue generated just by being open for business. And of course, the actual numbers vary considerably among the schools shown. As one example, Virginia has five times the operating revenue of U of L--which also makes growing it by 30% over the indicated time frame pretty impressive.

I'm not looking at every year in between for every school, but it's possible that a nonrecurring event--like a big donation--could have an outsized effect on one year. The 2017 and 2023 endpoints are each a single data point. I did look at U of L's numbers for the entire span of time and dating back prior to 2017. Here's the U of L total revenue data since 2011.

2018 was a big drop from 2017, and revenue made a slight recovery in the next year or two. But it has since rolled over after adjusting for inflation and is now the lowest it has been since 2017.

I've long maintained that athletics has a major problem managing its finances, and that really isn't a mystery considering that the University overall appears to have a similar problem. You can't argue it's Covid or related to some other macro factor when all of the ACC schools manage in the same environment.

And I've heard recent talk from our administration that our problem is expenses and not revenues. That's a convenient argument when you consider who is supposed to drive what. Lack of revenue is an administration problem primarily. Of course, when you don't have revenue, you have to trim expenses. So why don't we have the revenue we used to and while other schools still do?...

title says it all...

It’s Monday for those poor souls that still work.

Is listed as a noon game. WTF !! That couldn't suck any worse !!

The former Cardinals great said she would like to play for the Fever so she could protect Clark on the court. What an awesome gesture. Angel is the best.

Clark was just snubbed from the Olympic team as the idiocy and hatred from the dipshits of women's basketball continues. We are living in ass backwards times.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The University of Louisville football program held its first scrimmage of fall camp on Saturday morning at L&N Stadium, the eighth practice of the fall.

It was only the second full-padded practice of the fall, but UofL head coach Jeff Brohm saw some positive aspects on both sides of the ball. The offense made a number of big plays, which was caused by defensive busts, and the defense made plays off of mistakes by the offense.

"I thought it was a typical good first scrimmage," Brohm said. "Saw some good things, definitely a couple playmakers that have showed up to this point were the playmakers that showed up today, so that was good to see. They're going to have to be our steady guys every year. I would've liked to see a few guys emerge. Haven't really seen that yet. But you know we're getting better and we have some depth that has some potential. We just got to get them ready to go and they got to make plays when it comes to the scrimmage situations."

Tyler Shough took control of the offense by making a number of key throws, but also made a few mistakes that disappointed the head coach. Shough tossed a few long touchdown throws, but also missed a read on the goal line that caused a turnover.

"Tyler definitely made a ton of plays, but had a costly interception when he tried to make plays," Brohm said. "He can make plays. He can create a little bit. He can make plays and throw the ball vertically. He has some savvy and overall did a good job."

While Brohm was pleased with both sides of the football, but he was pretty neutral when declaring a winner of the first fall scrimmage.

"I think overall the defense did a good job, but we gave up some big plays -- some big runs and big passes. We can't allow big plays when we are trying to get aggressive. We had a few busts. We have to make sure we get that fixed."

The Cardinals are extremely deep on the defensive line, with the return of Ashton Gillotte and a lot of the new additions.

"I think the defensive line was pretty good," Brohm said. "Overall, our main guys did a good job and were pretty steady."

The Cardinals will take Sunday off before returning to action on Monday morning.

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I have heard we may be landing a couple of pitchers we saw first week of season this year as well. Think one is a really solid number 2 type.

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Got an opportunity to work to see about 1 hour of this morning's practice.

1. Slough is the real deal at QB, size, throws a very nice ball, with great accuracy, great arm strength.
2. Brooks WR made a nice grab for a TD. Think he will be a real force.
3. Chaney at RB looks very good, nice pickup on this transfer.
4. Tight Ends will be a force this year. Both look to be big enough block, and can catch the ball in traffic.
5. Looks like a well-oiled practice machine with this staff. No waisted of time, and rep after rep, with no wasted time between reps.

Really excited about this Team, got to be the QB clean. Defense plays with a lot of intensity. We shall see! Go Cards.

Is there a list of Louisville players in the NFL for 2024-- 25 ???