Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Hard not to be impressed by this story. Pulling for Michigan because of it (nothing to do with the fact the line is up to Texas-7.5)

- VDH: The truth about WW II. Tucker Carlson should know better.

- There are no licensed Covid vaccines for children under 12 - but CDC wants babies to get 3 Pfizer shots by age 9 months. This is criminal.

- CDR Salamander on Hospital Ships. Build more!

The Bizarro College Football Mirror of Erised

People see what they want to see when it comes to Notre Dame. They are a real-life college football version of the Mirror of Erised from Harry Potter (a magical mirror which would show a person what they desired to see most).

Preseason the Irish were ranked 23rd based on what? What people wanted to see in the team and certainly not on what the team has accomplished in recent history.

Notre Dame beat Nevada 35-0 to start the season. Fans of the team see the offensive production and start thinking maybe Lou Holtz is right and this team could compete for a national title. People who hate Notre Dame (and it seem people really do fall into either camp - nobody who follows college football seems neutral on the subject) say - it was just Nevada. Well Nevada is now 0-3 - so in hindsight what did this game really prove?

Next was Rich Rodriguez and the Michigan Wolverines up in Ann Arbor. ND lost the game when Michigan QB Tate Forcier threw a TD with just 11 seconds left in the game. The final was 38-34. The fans of the Irish said that their team was jobbed by the referees (and if you watched the game - this is a pretty valid point). Fans of Michigan said that beating ND showed that Michigan was back in the big-time (and this win did propel Michigan into the top 25). Fans of Michigan gave ND more credit than was maybe due because it served their desire to see their team back in the highlife. Yesterday Michigan just got past Indiana 36-33 on a very suspect interception (another gift from the referees in a home game in Ann Arbor?). I wish that Michigan was to play Ohio State next week instead of the last game of the season because Michigan's bubble will be burst by reality sometime soon and I'd like a good shot at making some money off an overinflated betting line before that happens (and yes - I had bought into the Michigan hype myself but now my eyes can see).

The third game of the season was a tilt against nemesis Michigan State - a team that seems to have Notre Dame's number the same way Iowa has Penn State's. The Irish were given a gift win when a last minute interception allowed them a 33-30 victory. Never mind the fact that Michigan State had lost to Central Michigan and is now just 1-3 on the season. The Irish fans rejoiced in vanquishing the traditional foe!

Last night was the cherry on the top. A last minute 24-21 victory over a questionable Purdue team was a complete gift. Charlie Weis went into a four-corners offense in the 3rd quarter when up by just 10 points against a team that wasn't stopping their run. The ND defense allows 2 late TD's and it was only the awful coaching job by Purdue's Danny Hope that allowed the last minute game-winning TD (calling a time out with 26 seconds when the clock was running and the Irish were out of time-outs - gack!). Purdue fans will look at this game and comfort themselves with the thought that even though they lost a squeaker and are now just 1-3 - they are in the same class as Notre Dame (conveniently forgetting they were completely outclassed by Northern Illinois). OK that last bit of snark may be harsh seeing how Purdue was able to hang with Oregon out in Oregon.

ND fans will point to their 3-1 record and in their heads they'll think "Hey that's the same record as Ohio State and USC!" Realists will look at the remaining schedule and think that a 1-7 record the rest of the way is not out of the question. People will continue to look at Notre Dame and see what they desire to see.

College Football Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous college football thoughts and observations for Saturday's early games.

You really do have to hand it to Fresno State coach Pat Hill and his "Anybody, Anywhere, Anytime" philosophy. Today the Bulldogs have another tough non-conference game. This time against #14 Cincinnati. It should be noted that a focused Cincinnati team really could run the table. The talent is there and the Bearcats don't face a ranked team the rest of the way. If they slowly climbed the rankings from their current #14 - a potential Florida / Cincinnati championship game is not out of the realm of possibility. Remember where you read that possibility first... I think Indiana will take a page out of Tennessee's playbook against Florida and try to run and stall to keep the game against Michigan (at Michigan) close. The Wolverines are favored by 20 and as much as Urban Myer wanted to run it up against Tennessee - I see Michigan being more successful in covering the 20 points against Indiana... I'm amused by the name Southern Miss Golden Eagles. To me it sounds like a beauty queen winner. Is there a Northern Miss Golden Eagles? It could be a code - "hey look at the golden eagles on that one!" And yes sometimes I've got the sensibility of a 13-year old boy... Interesting - Southern Miss running back Damion Fletcher could become just the 8th player in FBS / Division 1 history to run for 1,000 years in each of his 4 seasons. He has 344 rushing yards already this season...

Picks:
Buffalo (+3.5) at Temple
Fresno State (+17) at Cincinnati
Minnesota at Northwestern (over 49.5 points)
Indiana at Michigan (-20)
Southern Miss at Kansas (-13.5)
North Carolina at Georgia Tech (under 46 points)
LSU at Mississippi State (+12)

Edit Note: I'm posting this on the fly as I do my Saturday morning studying - so be sure to check back as I'll be adding stuff right up to 12:00 kickoff.

College Football Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous college football thoughts and observations.

Once again the Michigan Wolverines were clubbed. This time Oregon whipped 'em 39-7. Last week Michigan was famously upset by Appalachian State. That loss dropped Michigan from 5th in the AP poll to out of the top 25. In fact if you look at the vote totals - Michigan was dropped out of the top 30 (they had 39 votes to place them in 32nd place). Last week the question following their loss was whether they would drop out of the top 25. This week the question is whether they will receive a single vote in the polls.... If you had West Virginia Tech and 86 points - you lost!.... I think Georgia coach Mark Richt lost the game yesterday for the Bulldogs. He thought too much. South Carolina is a team you can run on but instead of a steady diet of off-tackle and up the gut runs - Richt's offense called for 45 passes to just 31 runs. I know many of those passes came late in the game when Georgia was in desperation mode but if they had focused on the run in the first 3 quarters - they wouldn't have been in a desperate position. If Richt had stuck to a simple game plan instead of getting cute then Georgia would be 2-0 today.... How bad is Syracuse? Iowa beat them 35-0. The Orangemen may not get their first win until October 20th when Buffalo comes to the Carrier Dome. And judging by how Buffalo handled Temple 42-7 yesterday - I wouldn't put that game in the win column just yet. I'm pretty sure 1-AA UMass could beat Syracuse right now and even Holy Cross would be a close game... The real National Championship may just be October 6th when Florida visits LSU who looked great beating Virginia Tech. Two observations here - if LSU is as good as it looked last night then USC better put a king size whipping on Nebraska next week if they want to keep that top spot in the rankings. I'm sure that fact is not lost on Pete Carrol and his staff. USC should be a good pick next week. My second thought is that Virginia Tech is probably grateful to Michigan this week because the collapse of the Wolverine program is obscuring the fact that Virginia Tech really isn't that good right now. They just squeaked by East Carolina and got pummeled by LSU. They will probably win the next three weeks to continue the charade but to my eyes this isn't close to being an elite team...