Night Out on the Town - Guest Report

This week Christopher Luke, the Video Coordinator at North Carolina in Chapel Hill provides the weekly feature. Definitely worth the read as it goes beyond a restaurant review - it is about a night out on the town.

As an avid reader of your blog, I have often said, I should do this for my trips, too.  I thought this would be a great night to document.  One of the coolest things about living in the Research Triangle Park area (Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill) is the 3 BCS schools located about 20 minutes from each other.  NC State is in Raleigh, Duke is in Durham, and UNC is of course in Chapel Hill.  I know of no other BCS schools that are this close in proximity. It really is pretty cool to be around this great group of guys not only in RTP, but the ACC as a whole because every weekend someone is coming to visit.  Most teams stay in hotels in RTP when they come to play. This weekend was no different.  Maryland stayed next door to UNC as we both prepared for our games against NC State and Duke respectively.  There have been as many as 6 schools staying in RTP on a given weekend. Earlier this year, I hosted Miami and Florida State in the same weekend in October.  It really is a unique situation here in North Carolina.  Hooter’s is usually our place of choice simply because it is centrally located near the airport and all of the hotels.

 

Tom Long of Duke is a Maryland grad so this weekend was also a great time to catch up with the ACC’s newest Video Director, Will Brown of Maryland, where Tom once worked in the Video Office.    I have known Will for a number of years at his previous stops of UCONN and Middle Tennessee State.

Tom Long (left) and Will Brown

 

Hud Jordan, not pictured, is the assistant Video Director at NC State, but is essentially in charge of the day to day operations for the team in Raleigh.  Hud arrived late but he was able to enjoy our mini CSVA convention.  Since we are all DVSport users, we also got to talk about features of DVSport’s Gameday application, issues we have been dealing with that piece of software, conference and NFL video exchange, and future non-conference teams video we all needed to find this off season.  We also had a good discussion about our iPAD DVSport application called Shuttle, as Duke, Maryland, and UNC have used it this season.  All in all, it was a great night to catch up with friends in the video business.

Victory Bell fought between Duke and North Carolina Football

 

Duke’s Video Director Tom Long and I have become really good friends since we both took similar jobs in July of 2008 here in North Carolina.  Our wives are pretty good friends and we both have 2 boys (Megan Long is pregnant with their second and is due this spring) For the 3^rd and final time this fall I drove my opponent’s Video Director to work on game day.  I did this earlier in the year for Luke Goldstein at Virginia and Stewart Cramer at Miami as I live in the RTP near all the host hotels.  My wife Sabra and Megan Long brought our boys later and sat inside the 5^th floor of the Kenan Football Center where my office is located during the game.  UNC kept the Victory Bell, one of the few trophy games in the ACC, for an 8^th consecutive year by a score of 37-21. 

Kenan Football Complex, home to North Carolina Football

College Football Week 12

This week we honor a loyal reader of the blog with a University of North Carolina Cheerleader. Perhaps he would like to contribute to the blog with his own "Night Out on the Town" post?

This was definitely not the weekend to play for a university that begins with "O." Of those who had much on the line on a national or conference level, they were defeated. It started Friday night with the upset of Oklahoma State. The state of Oklahoma then had to deal with another upset the following night as the Sooners lost to Baylor. Moving to the Pacific Northwest, Oregon had positioned themselves for a spot in the BCS title game, only to be defeated by USC. And in the Big Ten Ohio State lost any chance at the Big Ten title game by losing to Penn State. Definitely a gutsy performance for the Nittany Lions - a group of players being punished in the court of public opinion for something they had nothing to do with.

Had the Big Ten not gone to division play, the typical end of the year match-up between Michigan State and Penn State may have been for the Big Ten title. Instead Penn State has their own division championship game on the last weekend, but in Madison against the Badgers. Definitely the most important conference game of the weekend, but there is much on the line for a number of teams jockeying for bowl position. Iowa secured their spot and improved their ranking with the win over Purdue. Northwestern secured their position while Purdue can do so this weekend with a win at Indiana. And while Illinois has struggled over their last five games, they are still bowl bound. But Michigan's final home game with Ohio State may prove the most pivotal for every one's bowl standing. A Wolverine win and each team may be able to jump a spot. Many are projecting Michigan to make a BCS bowl with a ten win season - currently they are 9-2.

Another game of the weekend will be in Conference USA. Houston travels to Tulsa and defends their undefeated streak against the Golden Hurricane. The winner of the game will be the champions of the West Division and earn the right to play in the conference championship game. The Cougars have much to lose in Central Oklahoma.

And finally the premier football conference in 2011 is the SEC. And while the BCS top three teams have earned the most recognition one team that gets set aside is Georgia. Starting the season 0-2 the Bulldogs have quietly won 9 straight and will play for the conference title the first weekend of December. This past weekend created "BCS Chaos" with many teams in the top five losing. But what kind of chaos would we have if Georgia wins the SEC to earn the automatic BCS bid?

College Football Week 5

North Carolina had little to cheer about this past Saturday. A disappointing home loss to the hands of previous ACC disappointment, Virginia 16-3. Butch Davis' team is looking more like his Cleveland Browns than his Miami Hurricane.

Ball State was the darling of football a year ago by spending most of the season undefeated under the leadership of Brady Hoke. Hoke left for the perfect weather of San Diego to head up the Aztec program turning the Cardinal program over to offensive coordinator Stan Parrish. Parrish took over looking for his first win in over 25 games as a head coach. He is still looking for that one win five games into the 2009 campaign. Much can be said for continuity, but the only continuity the MAC program has right now is tied to the head coach and not a successful program.

The NCAA has looked for ways to shorten the time of football games. This year the Big Ten average has been 3:09, an improvement since 3:16 less than five years ago. But if they are truly serious about speeding up the game, please don't take unnecessary time to review plays that are called correctly and confirmed by the fan at home watching in real time.

Iowa's winning point differential against BCS-conference teams-18. Against non-BCS conference teams-2.

College Football Week 3

After going a season without a win, it is only fair to show the Washington Huskies Cheerleading team some love after the football team upset USC in Seattle. As upset as Pete Carroll is at the loss imagine how Tyrone Willingham must feel.

Kansas State head coach, Bill Snyder signed his contract extension at the right time. After doing so his Wildcats went on the road and lost to Louisiana-Lafayette and UCLA. You could call him the Anti-Ferentz. Ferentz who hadn't finalized his contract until the second season of his Iowa head coaching career went on to win at Penn State and home against Big Ten leader Northwestern.

The ACC will take much heat this season as a conference that should be known more for basketball than football, but they will be better than public perception. Virginia Tech and Miami face off this weekend in the only battle between top 25 teams. North Carolina will contend for the title and Georgia Tech has a tough offense to prepare for in a week's time. The winner of the conference will definitely be BCS worthy and one that will be difficult to beat in a bowl game.

It is tough to put a "must-win" label on any game in week 4, but that is what Michigan State faces as they head to Madison in their conference opener. Very few expected them to be 1-2 and a road loss to an undefeated Badger team will place them in a corner they will fighting out of the next two months.

College Football Week 13

For many Hawkeye fans who are wanting an Oregon State defeat this week to in-state rivals, Oregon, we present you the Fighting Duck Cheerleading Squad. A loss by the Beavers helps the chances of the Big Ten Conference having two BCS teams and improving Iowa's bowl rank within the Big Ten. However a win by Oregon State puts them into the Rose Bowl as Pac 10 Champs. New Year's Day in Florida looks very promising.

Dome is Home--For the past twenty-seven years the Minnesota Golden Gophers have called the HHH Metrodome home. At that time, moving their home facility off-campus to an indoor, climate-controlled atmosphere was a recruiting plus. However now the dome is blamed for lack of attendance and atmosphere. Next year the Gophers move into TCF Stadium on the UM campus. Saturday night at kick-off I noticed a packed house for the border rivals Iowa Hawkeyes. A full house isn't typical unless the Hawkeyes or Badgers travel to the Twin Cities, but Minnesota will definitely miss out on these types of crowds when playing outdoors in November, and more importantly, the deafening noise that gets trapped inside. Moving into the open-air stadium will lose its flare, not after a couple of years, but perhaps after a couple of games. If Tim Brewster continues to have the same type of success that his predecessor Glenn Mason has (padding his schedule with lower level FBS teams and succumbing to BCS schools of winning records), it won't matter where the Gophers play, fans will not show up. Now they are guaranteed of full houses at least once a year.

Keep the A.D. to His Word--After a devastating 70-7 defeat to the hands of New Mexico , San Diego State Athletic Director Jeff Schimmel declared Head Football Coach Chuck Long would be back in 2009. Chuck was fired prior to Saturday's 42-21 win over UNLV. Long did not share the news with members of his team or coaching staff until after the victory. It was discovered Schimmel and boosters had been securing the money to buyout Long's last season on his contract over the last two weeks.
Can we end in-season comments by athletic directors unless a final decision is made. Please state that a decision will be made at the end of the year. It is unfair to coaches, staffs and players to be misled.

Blowout Saturday--As exciting this college football season has been, this past Saturday was a disappointment. Every game in the Big Ten was decided in the first half with the exception of Wisconsin and Cal-Poly. In the day's most anticipated game, #5 Oklahoma dismantled #2 Texas Tech. A top 25 North Carolina Tar Heel team was embarrassed at home by in-state rival, North Carolina State while the newest darling of the ACC, Miami lost badly to this week's darling, Georgia Tech. We may see the same this week when Florida and Florida State meet.
Games to watch:
Georgia Tech at Georgia
Western Michigan at Ball State
Oregon at Oregon
Oklahoma at Oklahoma State
and look for West Virginia to upset Pittsburgh.