Won despite huge weather challenges on campus forcing lots of indoor training and outdoor artificial turf field which soccer players hate. Tiny state with little in state talent.

Players from Germany and Hungary scored the goals in the final. Two players selected in first round of MLS draft a few hours ago. How did these guys end up in Vermont?

Shows anything is possible in college sports.

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James Madison DE Eric O'Neill just entered the portal. He's a guy I highlighted multiple times, but here's what I had to say in the speculative portal target thread...

DE
Eric O'Neill (James Madison)
Listed at 6-3, 250 lbs. RS junior, 1 year of eligibility remaining. Went to HS at Tottenville HS in Staten Island, NY and Paramus Catholic in Paramus, NJ.
O'Neill is a guy I highlighted in past years after two standout seasons at LIU. In 2022 he was a finalist for the Jerry Rice award (freshman of the year in FCS), a freshman All-American, 1st Team All-NEC and NEC Defensive Rookie of the Year. In 2023 he was an FCS All-American, 2023 Northeast Conference Defensive Player of the Year and 1st Team All-NEC. Here's the numbers he put up...

Season	PFF Grade	Tackles	TFLs	Sacks	FFs	PBUs
2022 (LIU)	88.2 (18th/858)	51	21	10	2	1
2023 (LIU)	82.0 (28th/883)	80	23.5	5.5	1	4

He ended up entering the portal and transferring to JMU and he picked up right where he left off...

Season	PFF Grade	Tackles	TFLs	Sacks	FFs	PBUs
2024 (JMU) 9 games	89.8 (12th/893)	26	11	6.5	0	2

No clue why we didn't pursue last off-season, but but if he re-enters the portal we need to be all over this kid

Click to expand...

On the season, here's how O'Neill finished with a 90.4 PFF grade, good for 12th out of 856 DEs (86.3 run defense grade [20th/856] and 89.9 pass rush grade [21st/856]).

Statistically speaking he finished with 52 tackles, 19 TFLs, 13 sacks, 1 INT, 3 PBUs and 1 TD. Over his final 6 games of the season, he had 12 TFLs and 10 sacks to close the season.

Both my sons for Fathers Day gave me a lot of different beers to try,and I'll post how each was from time to time. Yesterday I tried Banana Bread Beer from Wells Brewery. It was very good, a little heavy, and it had a distinct banana after taste that was pleasant tasting. I would drink it again.

Normally, I might not start a thread for a minor event like this, but since the vast majority of the Philly-NJ-NYC area (outside of parts of NWNJ/NEPA/Hudson Valley, where several inches or more at the higher elevations have fallen) has received nada or just a dusting so far this winter (a miniscule 1/4" here in Metuchen) thought folks would be interested in the possibility of getting the first inch or so of snow this winter.

We have an approaching weak clipper system, which is forecast to interact with a low pressure system well offshore (via an inverted trough feature) bringing precip to the area from late Friday afternoon through Saturday morning, with areas well NW of 95 starting off as light snow, but temps will be above freezing everywhere else, so precip will likely start as light rain for everyone else, likely changing to snow by late Friday night as colder air moves in (except maybe at/near the coast, where the changeover will be hours later).

There isn't that much precip forecast (maybe 0.1-0.2"), so snowfall amounts will likely be in the 0.5-1.0" along/SE of 95 and maybe 1-2" NW of 95, especially N of 78/NW of 287 where there will be less rain; the NBM (National Blend of Models) snowfall forecast is below; the NWS discussion through Friday night (note that for the NWS Friday night means 6 pm Friday through 6 am Saturday) below is similar. Note that temps almost everywhere will be below 32F by late Friday night, so any snow that falls will likely also accumulate on paved surfaces, so driving Saturday morning could be slippery. Also, it's still quite possible that this system fizzles bringing very little precip/snow (as per a few models) and overperforming is also possible, bringing 2-3" for most (as per at least one model).

After this minor event, it's gonna get pretty damn cold with temps generally 10-15F below normal, i.e., with Saturday's highs around freezing and Sunday's highs in the 20s and Monday's highs around 30F, while lows Saturday and Sunday nights will be in the teens (and single digits well NW); wind chills most of this time will be about 10F colder than the air temps.

https://forecast.weather.gov/produc...&format=CI&version=1&glossary=1&highlight=off

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Mount Holly NJ
632 AM EST Wed Dec 18 2024

SHORT TERM /THURSDAY THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT/...

Our attention then turns for the Friday through Friday night period
as our next weather system takes aim at the area. A deepening upper
trough will be approaching the area to close the week, which will be
accompanied with several shortwaves embedded in the flow. At the
surface, low pressure originating over the High Plains will traverse
across the southern Great Lakes region and approach our region by
Friday afternoon. Forecast guidance continues to trend a little
deeper with the primary shortwave, so as the low approaches, some
precipitation is expected to overspread the area. At the same time,
a secondary low will be developing a couple hundred miles off the
Mid-Atlantic coast and deepen rapidly as it lifts northeast;
enhanced by speed max rounding base of the upper trough.

With the low offshore remaining in `close enough` proximity to the
area, it is looking more likely that there will be some areas of
light rain and snow across the area on Friday into Friday night as
the initial low transitions its energy to the offshore low. As a
result, PoPs have increased slightly (~40-60%). In addition, some
forecast guidance indicates the development of an inverted /
Norlun trough set-up on the northwest side of the offshore low.
This would enhance precipitation across portions of the area,
however, it is uncertain where or if this feature is to even
develop at this time. For now, the best chance of observing
accumulating snow will be across the Lehigh Valley, northern New
Jersey and in the Poconos where temperatures will be cooler
through the duration of the event. Snow totals in these areas
will range between 1-2", locally up to 3". Light accumulations
of a dusting up to 1" are possible across the remainder of New
Jersey, Pennsylvania and northern Delaware as rain transitions
to snow on Friday night as temperatures cool below/near
freezing.

Another off season begins...

In 24 minutes:
15 points, 6-6 from the line, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals and 1 block.

What might have been, what could have been, what should have been.

Thankfully, they’re on the schedule next year, so it’s not OT.

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Interesting court ruling just came out in which a Judge ruled in favor of college QB Diego Pavia (Vanderbilt) stating that his JUCO time should not count against his college football eligibility. The ruling is a preliminary injunction meaning the NCAA can't stop him from playing in 2025 for now. The case will continue but if the ruling ends up standing it has potential to add even more complexity to rapidly changing college athletics landscape.

JUCO no longer to count for eligbility?

That seems to be the message of a decision by a Federal judge in Tennessee. Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia, who played his first year at New Mexico Military Institute, brought suit claiming that the NCAA rule counting his junior college time against his four years of eligibility is an antitrust violation. The judge gave him a preliminary injunction and so he will be able to play this year. Perhaps the House v. NCAA settlement will be re-opened to address this issue, but there's no way of knowing if or how. The link is, unfortunately, behind a paywall.https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/60...erbilt-qb-diego-pavia-preliminary-injunction/

Friday, Dec. 20

No. 8 Indiana at No. 5 Notre Dame (College Football Playoff first round) | 8 p.m. | ABC/ESPN

Saturday, Dec. 21
No. 10 SMU at No. 4 Penn State (College Football Playoff first round) | 12 p.m. | TNT/Max
No. 16 Clemson at No. 3 Texas (College Football Playoff first round) | 4 p.m. | TNT/Max
No. 7 Tennessee at No. 6 Ohio State (College Football Playoff first round) | 8 p.m. | ABC/ESPN

Every week, The Knight Report publisher Richard O’Leary and his team of Rutgers Athletics experts answer questions from Scarlet Knights fans about the any of the athletic programs, their recruiting efforts, or whatever else they might want to know in this thread below. If we don't know the answer, we'll work our hardest to find out the latest and provide the best answer possible.

We will check in on the thread all day long to answer whatever questions you have!

Damn, that was sudden. We had tickets for the New Years "Early" show. We had made it to the Count Basie Theater on NYE most every year. Hope Johnny is OK.

I guess he wants to go home, because he won't be singing "I Don't Want to Go Home." A jersey bar band and beyond legend. Probably have seen SSJ and the Asbury Jukes more than any other band over the years.

"Southside Johnny turned 76 on Dec. 4. On Dec. 14, he left the stage after just a handful of songs at The Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia, and The Asbury Jukes finished the rest of the sold-out show without him."

NYE will not be the same without them, nor will the Stone Pony summer stage.

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Burton with one and Gus The Bus with two tds.

GO RU

I was looking through the CFP teams and their schedules. There are 7 teams playing that combined have 4 total wins against Top 25 teams. I have no idea really how good some of these teams are.

Just got an email saying that I have been allocated seats and my card will be charged the first week of January and tickets will be sent shortly after.

Just another night in paradise...

Drinking a little Woodford Reserve myself tonight.

https://www.topps.com/collections/collections/cards-collectibles/topps-now/bowman-u-now

Look for:​

/25 Game-used Sneaker Relic redemption card​

/10 Game-used Sneaker Autograph-Relic redemption card​

/5 Game-used Sneaker Autograph-Relic redemption card​

1/1 Game-used Sneaker Autograph-Relic redemption card Inscribed "RU Debut"​

*Relic and Autograph-Relic redemption cards will replace base card in order.​

Base Card Parallels are randomly inserted into every print run! Look for Numbered Parallels:/49 Blue/25 Purple/10 Red/5 Orange/1 Gold*Base Card Parallels will replace base card in order.