Linky Links

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

- Sam Altman on How to be Successful. Long but impactful read that should be taken to heart. (HT Tim Ferriss)

-  A look at the post Frank Beamer struggles at Virginia Tech. Interesting read that subconsciously makes the case for relegation in college football.

- Dan Wetzel on how state governments are using NIL to juice in-state recruiting.

- Reminder - the more you use something like Facebook/Meta the worse you feel

BCS Rankings

Bob Molinaro does a nice job pointing out how subjective the BCS rankings are.

I remember earlier this week asking the same questions of how Virginia Tech could be ranked ahead of both Boston College and LSU - two teams with identical records to the Hokies who both beat Virginia Tech this year. I was also scratching my head wondering how Missouri could be number 1 in the rankings yet be an underdog against number 9 Oklahoma for a game on a neutral field. Bizarre.

Some would say that Virginia Tech is ranked over BC because of reputation as a better team than BC. But what have they done to earn that reputation? Boston College has beaten Virgina Tech 3 out of the last 4 times they played and is 7-1 against the spread in the last 8 times they have played. The line for this game today is up to 5 points but does anyone feel comfortable with Virginia Tech in close games? According to ESPN - Virginia Tech since 2001 is 6-8 in close games (less than 7 points).

Just saying.

BC - 8-0? Are You Kidding Me?

Wow! Just wow!

BC beat Virginia Tech 14-10 last night will all of BC's scoring coming in the last 2 minutes of the game including the winning TD with 11 second left to play. BC gave complete new meaning to "the 2-minute drill." They had 2 minutes and they drilled Virginia Tech.

You know people will be saying that BC is over-rated and over-ranked but they are undefeated. LSU has a loss and easily could have had 2 more but people still want to pop them over BC in the polls.

The schedule favors BC too. Because last night was a Thursday night game - they now have an extra 2 days to prepare for Florida State. The next game is at Maryland who has already been beaten twice at home and who may be a 4-loss team by the time BC meets up with them (Maryland plays Clemson this week and North Carolina after that). Clemson will be a tough game at Death Valley. The last game comes against a Miami team that is very beatable this year.

I think there is a very good chance that BC will play Virginia Tech once again in the ACC Championship game. The Hokies won't have home field or a driving rain to help them in that rematch.

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...