College Football Power Rankings

Phil Steel has the updated college football Vegas Power Rankings up on his site. These would be the hypothetical point spreads between teams on a neutral field. Two things of interest jumped out at me:

• Ohio State would be an almost 10-point favorite over Michigan on a neutral field but this year that game is AT Ohio State.
• Boston College would be just a 2-point favorite over Buffalo but Holy Cross beat Buffalo at Buffalo this season. Does that mean a hypothetical BC/Holy Cross game this year would be a pick-em?

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Does anyone remember how before the season started many talking heads were touting Notre Dame as having perhaps the best running back tandem in the country? Now you hear the same people talking about how big a weakness the Irish's offensive line is while never mentioning the running backs. Nobody knows nothing... Still say that Memento Mori would be a great name for a life insurance company... Little known fact but Pittsburgh's "sister city" is Wuhan, China. Just another reason to dislike the Steelers... Tactical Empathy would be a good name for a band of divorced guys who do nothing but cover soft rock love songs while trying to meet women... Fascinated by Phil Steele's college football Vegas Power Rankings. It is very accurate regarding what the game spreads actually are (or could be). For example Cincinnati vs Notre Dame - Cincinnati is 3 points higher than the Fighting Irish and the line is Bearcats -1.5 (because the game is in South Bend not a neutral field). Meanwhile Ohio State is ranked 16.5 points higher than Rutgers but line is 14.5 because the game is in New Jersey. Maybe it's just me...  If Professor Hulk was real - think about how awesome he'd be at golf! Bruce Banner could instantly do the physics calculations on any shot and the Hulk would have the strength to easily drive the green on any par five. The US would never lose a Ryder Cup with him on the team. USA! USA! USA!... 

Linky Links

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

- Phil Steele's Week 4 College Football Power Rankings

- VDH: Civilization Requires Deterrence

-  Yes that would be a moment for the history books

- Why the University of Florida gets about a $20 million cut of Gatorade revenue every year.

More Linky Links

More stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- How often do underdogs win outright in college football? Interesting - underdogs of between 10.5-14 points win one out of every five games while underdogs of 7.5 -10 points win outright one out of every four games.

- Sweden - "the country the media loved to hate is reaping the best of all worlds: Few current cases and deaths, stronger economic growth than the lockdown countries, and its people never experienced the yoke of tyranny."

- Some good news out of Africa

- Flying X-Wings Into the Death Star: Andreessen on investing and tech. A long read but Marc Andreessen interviews are ALWAYS worth the time.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

My morning routine has been changed since I got Phil Steele's College Football 2021 Preview magazine. Now instead of reading from a book during my first cup of coffee I'm reading Phil Steele... The top 3 in odds to win Time Magazine's Person of the Year are: Doctors, Nurses, and First Responders (-$145); the World Health Organization (+$250); and Joe Biden (+$350). My sleeper is Anthony Fauci at +$700 since this is the magazine that once chose Hitler for this award and they probably need a controversial pick to remind people that Time Magazine is still actually in business... Reminder of how useless pre-season polls can be - in 2012 the USC Trojans were ranked as the #1 team in the country but by season's end they were unranked and out of the Top 25... The prices for used cars in this country have gone through the roof. It can't just be a lack of computer chips for new cars that's causing the price surge either... I admit that I'm looking forward to Boston College football this fall. The Eagles will have one of the top offenses in the country with potential All-Americans in the offensive line, at tight end, and most importantly at QB with Phil Jurkovec. The future looks bright too as ESPN has BC's recruiting class ranked 16th in the country ahead of even powerhouses like USC and Florida... Where the Great Wall of China ends...  

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

One of the reasons teachers unions are so adamant against cameras in the classrooms is because they know if parents actually saw the education their children were getting there would be an explosion of home-schooling in response... When people want to know what the 1970's were like... Always chuckle when I recall that Adolph Hitler's sister-in-law was named Bridget. Bridget Hitler. That just makes me laugh because I keep thinking it's actually the name of an Irish punk band... Aggressive Prophesies would be a good name for a sports betting website... Still say that "murmumation" should't just apply to starlings but also to how "news" organizations all seem to shift to carry the same story lines at the same time... Got my copy of the Phil Steele's College Football 2021 Preview magazine in the mail yesterday so that means I'll be happily immersed in college football minutia and scouting reports for the next few weeks..  

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

The question I'm curious about but nobody seems to bothered to ask is "Has Elijah Cummings' house been broken into before?" And if so - how many times before? The Congressman certainly acted like someone who was prepared by prior experience... I'm an awful person for laughing at this... "Flying by the seat of your pants precedes crashing by the seat of your pants." - Bill Walsh... Clemson may have the top ranked team in college football but according to Phil Steele the Tigers don't have a special teams unit ranked in the top 50. Wonder if that could come back and bite them in a close game (like say against Alabama)... Four Dimensional Symmetry would be a great name for a blog... I think Lesley Gore's You Don't Own Me would be a good candidate for a cover re-make BY A MAN. Would put a twist on the classic song...

Phil Steele's 2019 College Football Preview

Just started reading Phil Steele's 2019 College Football Preview (I have never been able to make all the way through one because it is so densely packed with information and data). I'll probably be noting some of the nuggets over the next couple of weeks.

Here's the first one that caught my fancy. My guess is the Phil Steele would probably say the Patriots had a pretty good draft. New England took his highest rated running back - Alabama's Damien Harris; his second rated wide receiver - Arizona State's N'Keal Harry (behind only A.J. Brown who was taken 19 spots after the Pats grabbed Harry); and they took his third rated QB in Auburn's Jarrett Stidham.

New England also grabbed the 13th rated defensive end in Chase Winovich of Michigan.

How did your team do in the draft according to Phil Steele? Well you'll have to buy the magazine to look that up for yourself.

Can't wait for some football!

Linky Links

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

- Was the new USMCA deal a result of Jared Kushner's good cop to President Trump's bad cop? Sure seems that way. Good job!

- Where do we find such men?

- Heh Heh

- You have to be frigging kidding me. This is what you get when everyone gets "participation trophies".

- New role model indeed!

- Phil Steele's College Top 25 Bettor Power Rankings

- Interesting - is social media addiction in the NBA out of control? Long read but worth it. The next generation of kids - never mind NBA players - will have a serious problem with this.