On Sunday the two matchups for the second College Football Playoff were announced. The No. 1 seed Clemson Tigers will the face No. 4 seed Oklahoma Sooners at 4 p.m. Eastern in the Capital One Orange Bowl on New Year’s Eve.
The Alabama Crimson Tide, the No. 2 seed, will face off against the third seeded Michigan State Spartans in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic at 8 p.m., also on New Year’s Eve. Both games will be televised on ESPN.
Both games look to be great matchups, but there are also some interesting off the field storylines that will make this year’s college football playoff even more interesting than last year.
#1 Clemson vs #4 Oklahoma: This game is a rematch of last year’s Russell Athletic Bowl during which Clemson stomped Oklahoma 40 to 6. It was a sweet win for Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables, who faced his former team for the first time since he was fired in 2011. Clemson dominated the game from the very beginning as Oklahoma only managed to gain 275 yards of total offense.
Clemson hopes to do the same thing this year as it again boasts one of the nation’s best defenses. Led by players such as defensive tackle Shaq Lawson and safety Jayron Kearse Jr., Clemson has the nation’s 5th ranked passing defense, is 7th in total yards allowed per game, and has recorded over 38 sacks, good enough for 12th in the nation (NCAA statistics).
But outside of North Carolina and Florida State, Clemson hasn’t’ faced an offense as good and with as many athletes as Oklahoma’s.
But Clemson’s offense is just as good if not better this year under the reigns of true sophomore quarterback and Heisman finalist Deshaun Watson.
Clemson and head coach Dabo Swinney have had a great season and have finally put to rest the slur of “Clemsoning”.
Last year, Watson missed the bowl game after tearing and playing with a partially torn ACL during the season’s final month, but he’s been playing like a man possessed this year. Watson won the ACC Offensive Player of the Year award, as he threw for 3500 yards, rushed for nearly 900, accounting for 41 touchdowns.
Bob Stoops looks to get some payback for last year’s embarrassing lose and earn a shot to win his second national championship. The Sooners’ offense, under the direction of coordinator Lincoln Riley, has torched teams in the air and on the ground. Former walk-on Baker Mayfield, considered by many to be a Heisman snub, has played fantastic and running backs Samaje Perine and Joe Mixon (a coveted high school player who sat out his freshman year for a domestic violence incident) are two of the better backs in the country. Senior wide out Sterling Shephard has also been one of the best wide receivers in the country during his four years in Norman.
Despite the Big 12’s reputation as pass happy, basketball on turf, Oklahoma fielded one of the better defensive units in the nation. The Sooners held opposing offenses to less than 21 points per game, recorded the 4th most sacks in the nation (38), and forced 26 turnovers (NCAA statistics). Eric Striker, properly named, is one of the nation’s premier pass-rushing linebackers, and cornerback Zack Sanchez has recorded six interceptions this year.
With two high powered offenses I wouldn’t be surprised if this turned into a track meet where the team with the ball last wins.
But if it’s soggy or raining in Miami, defense could ultimately determine who wins.
Clemson and head coach Dabo Swinney have had a great season and have finally put to rest “Clemsoning”, but I’m going with Oklahoma in this game. The Sooners are much more battle tested after having played in a fairly strong schedule against the Big 12 and a decent Tennessee team out of conference.
Final score prediction: Oklahoma 42-Clemson 35
#2 Alabama vs #3 Michigan State: Clemson and Oklahoma will be fast paced with lots of scoring, but this game will be more reminiscent of “old man football”. Both teams like to play smash-mouth football by running the ball down opponents’ throats on offense and stifling them with tough defense.
This game features another matchup of a coach going against his former school as Nick Saban leads the Crimson Tide against the Spartans. From 1995-1999 Saban led Michigan State and also employed current Spartan head coach Mark Dantonio. These two teams last met in the 2011 Capital One Bowl, a 49-7 Alabama victory.
These teams are so similar in regards to their playing style and philosophies, but Alabama just has better talent.
The Crimson Tide really has only one strategy on offense: giving Derrick Henry the ball. Henry has been a monster this year, shredding defenses on his way to one of the best seasons in the history of college football. Even when they know it’s coming, defenses have been unable to stop him. He broke Herschel Walker’s single season SEC rushing record with 1,986 yards and his 23 rushing touchdowns are currently tied for the SEC record with Tim Tebow and Tre Mason.
With teams selling out to limit the rushing attack and Henry, Alabama has enough of a passing attack to make them pay.
Jacob Coker hasn’t lived up to the enormous hype and expectations of Alabama fans, but he does enough to win games by avoiding turnovers and scrambling to avoid sacks. Calvin Ridley, a talented true freshman wide receiver, emerged as a playmaker alongside Ardarius Stewart and tight end O.J. Howard.
What hasn’t already been said about Alabama’s defense? Arguably the most talented front seven in the nation, the Crimson Tide are loaded on the defensive side of the ball.
In the secondary, Eddie Jackson has flourished after a move from corner to safety and Cyrus Jones has become an elite corner and return man. Linebacker Reggie Ragland draws comparisons to Bama greats Don’t’a Hightower and CJ Mosely, while the defensive line has potential NFL first round draft picks Johnathan Allen, A’Shawn Robinson, and Jarran Reed. This defense is simply lights out with the only concern being Kirby Smart’s possible source of distraction as he tries to balance his new job as Georgia’s head coach.
Michigan State follows a blueprint similar to Alabama on both offense and defense. Senior quarterback Connor Cook was receiving preseason Heisman buzz, but battled injuries and inconsistency all year. As the winningest QB in Spartan history, Cook has big game experience and when he’s hot he can beat anyone in the country. True freshman LJ Scott, the hero of the Big 10 Championship game, emerged as the leading running back this year and looks to continue his success against the best run defense in the nation.
Although they lost some talent to the NFL last year, Michigan State once again had one of the best defenses in the nation. Shilique Calhoun was a terror on the defensive line as he tallied up 10.5 sacks and 14.5 tackles for loss and the Spartans ranked 7th in the nation in rush defense and turnovers forced.
These teams are so similar in regards to their playing style and philosophies, but Alabama just has better talent.
Michigan State prides itself on recruiting overlooked players to develop and coach up, while Alabama annually recruits the best athletes in the nation and produces numerous NFL draft picks. If this were 2013 or last year, I think Michigan State would have a great chance to win this game but they’ve been inconsistent at times this year (struggled against Western Michigan, barely beat Michigan, and lost to Nebraska). Meanwhile, Alabama has been out for blood since their home loss to Ole Miss in September.
Final score prediction: Alabama 23-Michigan State 10
Cover Photo Credit: John Martinez Pavliga/Flickr (CC by –SA 2.0).
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Here’s The 10 Best Cities For College Students To Make Money Over Winter Break
Most college students probably don’t view Winter Break as an opportunity to make bank. But you probably should.
Care.com, a website devoted to helping parents or pet owners find freelancers to help them with projects complied a list of the best cities to make extra cash during the break.
Check out their findings:
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Cover Photo Credit: vallgall/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
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Why Miley Cyrus Is America
“Miley Cyrus represents everything that is wrong with America.”
This is a sentence you have probably heard or even spoken yourself. But the people who believe this believe it for the wrong reasons.
Frequent marijuana use is not what is wrong with America. Nude concerts are not what is wrong with America. Obscene gestures are not what is wrong with America.
What is wrong with America is the defensive attitude that comes out when someone asks it to shut up for five minutes and let marginalized individuals speak for themselves.
In the past, Miley has called herself “empowering to women,” and I think deep down she does want to empower and to see a more accepting world, just as deep down America wants to live up to its reputation as the land of the free.
But the problem with Miley’s mission, and America’s, lies within her belief that she can fix the world’s intolerance on her terms, without actually listening to those she is attempting to empower.
Miley has spent the last three years not giving a single fuck. It started in 2012 when she chopped off her long brunette locks and began rocking a platinum pixie cut, and has since escalated into everything from excessive tongue use to posing nude for Candy magazine.
She has received equal parts hate and love for her lack of concern with public opinion on her looks, attitude and behavior.
Photo Credit Credit: Clint Catalyst/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
Not giving a fuck can be empowering. In a time where government spying and posting every thought online for 1,000 of your friends to analyze is considered the norm, “worrying about yourself” is a foreign concept. So when you choose not to let unfair judgment of your character affect how you live your life, that is, without a doubt, empowering.
But there is such a thing as fair judgment, something Miley has often faced, particularly for her appropriation of POC culture and her use of the LGBTQ+ community as a prop for her brand.
Last summer, when Nicki Minaj called out the MTV Video Music Awards on Twitter for their lack of recognition for her record-breaking Anaconda video, as compared with their celebration of Taylor Swift’s Bad Blood video, Swift fired back at Minaj for “pit[ting] women against each other.”
When Minaj – and the rest of Twitter — explained to Swift that this wasn’t about bringing her down, it was about dismantling a system stacked against people of color, the pop star issued an apology and admitted that she misunderstood. It was not a perfect example of accountability for problematic behavior, but it was progress.
Miley, on the other hand, when asked about the “beef” between the two, accused Nicki Minaj of making “[the issue] about [her]self,” and suggested that next time the artist approach race issues “with love” to get her point across.
This is America’s problem. Too many people claim to empower, when what they are really doing is overpowering.
Rather than listen to a woman who also faces criticism for everything from obscenity to sexuality, Miley, a self-proclaimed feminist, decided to speak over Minaj and tell her how to best handle the issues she is facing. How can one claim to be empowering while refusing to uplift the voices of those they want to empower?
Empowering a group of people means embracing and caring about both the positive and negative parts of their culture. It means for every time you twerk with your friends in the club, you should be listening to a woman of color talk about the way she is fetishized. For every funny Grindr story you listen to from your gay friend, you should be educating yourself on bi-erasure.
And for every joint you smoke, you should be reading the statistics on imprisonment rates for minor drug offenses and how this practice serves as a systemic genocide of young men of color.
This is America’s problem. Too many people claim to empower, when what they are really doing is overpowering. So next time you see Miley on your TV or computer screen and you ask yourself “What the hell is she doing?” know that she is doing exactly what America is doing: bringing marginalized communities onto her platform, only to cut their mics.
Cover Photo Credit: JPAvocat/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
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Little Haiti Gentrification War: Business Owners Cry Racism As New Landlord Allegedly Forces Out Haitians
What’s News In This Story?
–A developer is forcing out Haitian owned businesses from two commercial strips that he recently bought near the intersection of NE 2nd Ave and 82 St in Miami.
–The developer, Thomas Conway has been accused of unfairly targeting Haitians and treating non-Haitians better.
–Most of the businesses are on month-to-month leases and Florida law allows for landlords to end those type leases with 15 days notices.
–Some of the businesses have been open for decades, including a Haitian owned tuxedo store that has been in operation for 32 years.
-Chronic road construction has also caused severe hardships for the businesses. One barbershop says that they have lost 60% of their customers over the last year due to the construction.
–Haitian community activists are calling for public officials to intervene and provide support to the affected businesses.
Little Haiti is about to get a whole lot whiter.
That’s if you believe dozens of Little Haiti business owners and community activists who are claiming that a real estate developer is forcing Haitians out of two commercial strips in a fast gentrifying area of Miami, while giving white owners better treatment.
The business strips are on the East and West side of NE 2nd Ave near the 82nd St intersection.
The buildings were recently purchased by Thomas Conway, a young real estate entrepreneur who has been active in the northern section of Little Haiti.
The buildings are full of dozens of business, ranging from a travel agency, to a bakery and a Metro PCS.
Most of the businesses are run by Haitians.
Over the past two months, local shop owners say that Conway has been trying to force them out.
Multiple owners claim that Conway has refused to accept their rent checks so he can get rid of them and court records obtained by the Miami Herald show that the new landlord has already started eviction proceedings on 13 of the 15 businesses at 8200 NE Second Ave. and 201 NE 82nd St.
Most of the businesses are on month to month leases and Florida law allows for landlords to end leases with only 15 days notice.
The situation has become so untenable that many of the business owners called a press conference on Thursday with the Haitian rights group Family Action Network Movement (FANM).
To add to to their misery, an ongoing construction project has ripped up parts of NE 2nd Ave for nearly a year and dramatically hurt business in the area.
The iconic Miami restaurant, Football Sandwich Shop has been closed for multiple months due to the same construction.
Marleine Bastien, the leader of FANM said that many business owners were angry that local authorities have not offered financial assistance to their struggling businesses.
“Some of them wonder, is this a way to get them out?,” Bastien asked during the press conference. “Because usually when businesses are impacted, they get some type of relief. But not these Haitian businesses.”
Bastien also said that Haitian businesses are facing discrimination because they were the only ones asked to leave by Conway.
Ramon Alvarez owns a barbershop on the strip of the westside of NE 2nd Ave.
Alvarez said that Conway lied to his face about what his intentions were about the future of the building and that the decision to force out his barbershop was racially motivated because of the Haitian staff he has.
“They see this as a black business,” Alvarez told RISE NEWS. “Everybody out. I don’t know, it’s scary.”
Alvarez said that Conway seemed very reasonable when the new landlord first approached him a few months ago after buying the property.
Alvarez said that Conway told him the plan was to fix up the building and put on a new roof.
Alvarez also said that Conway told him that the rent would gradually go up from the current $1,400 a month to $3,500 a month.
Alvarez said that he was ok with this new arrangement.
“I can manage it and If I can’t afford it one day I’m going to say, ‘Mr. Thomas, I got to go.'”
But Alvarez said that Conway changed his tune and even refused to accept a rent check.
Now, Alvarez said that he’s been told he is going to be evicted.
He’s not the only one.
“I’ve been eight years here,” Pierre Richard Maximillien, the owner of a travel agency said. “The guy next door to me who sells tuxedos and marriage dresses has been there 32 years. It’s a lifetime.”
A few doors down from Alvarez’s barber shop, Lucia Garcia runs The Furtnitue Store.
Garcia attended the press conference in support of the Haitian owners and said that she felt like Conway was treating her business differently than the others.
Garcia is Hispanic.
“We have not received any threats,” Garcia told RISE NEWS. “We have not received any eviction notices. We have been given until June to leave, supposedly due to construction. But we have received very different treatment.”
Lina Hargrett, the owner of the Empty Apartment said that she just recently signed a year lease to stay in the same building where Alvarez and Garcia have their businesses.
Hargrett said that she had not been asked to leave the building and seemed unaware of the controversy that was swirling.
Hargrett has a light complexion.
Hargrett’s store and the Metro PCS are the only two businesses that seem unaffected by the moves.
Both have two year leases.
Conway refused to speak to a reporter from RISE NEWS when reached via phone on Thursday, and hung up.
“Unfortunately, I can’t take this call at the moment,” Conway said before hanging up. “I appreciate it.”
In 2015, Conway opened MADE At The Citadel, a well-known co-working space on NE 2nd Ave and 83rd St.
It was reported in 2017 that he intends to turn the building across the street from MADE At The Citadel into a food hall.
A rendering for that building, which is called The Citadel, is available online.
The Citadel used to house the Federal Reserve in Miami and got its name from, wait for it, an historic fort in Haiti.
Gary Louis has worked as a barber for over 15 years at the shop that Alvarez now owns.
He has to pay to keep his chair there and has stayed despite losing 60% of his business due to the road construction.
Louis said that he’s stayed because he was excited about the changes in the neighborhood and thought that he would prosper from them.
“The city hasn’t done anything for the Haitian community at all,” Louis said. “So now, something is brought to life where we’ve seen the city has finally taken care of the community. But now as I’m seeing it, it’s not being cleaned up for primarily the Haitian community. It’s just mainly for a new form of business that does not include the Haitian community at all.”
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There’s A Secret Buddhist Temple In This El Portal House
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