I dont want to derail the thread but the order in which you perceive these school's academic level in your head is hilarious.
Don’t fall into that trap. Every time when the championship race is over, winners will celebrate achievements, while losers will debate on who is better at chess.
Assuming AI can get this right - Notre Dame and Florida both relatively higher than I expected.
Approximate Average or Middle 50% ACT Composite North Carolina State University ~28 (25th percentile ~25, 75th percentile ~32) Brigham Young University ~30 (25th percentile ~28, 75th percentile ~32) University of Oregon ~26 (25th percentile ~23, 75th percentile ~30) University of Florida ~31 (25th percentile ~28, 75th percentile ~33) University of Notre Dame ~34 (25th percentile ~33, 75th percentile ~35)
This leads me to believe that BYU is the one to beat, not NC State.
As the starter of the thread, my question to you is why do you feel the need to lie and troll?
Are you joking? BYU’s got a much lower front stick and an extremely tight 2-5. They typically peak very strongly for nationals. Going by those times, to me, they are the ones to beat. Not NC State.
As the starter of the thread, my question to you is why do you feel the need to lie and troll?
Are you joking? BYU’s got a much lower front stick and an extremely tight 2-5. They typically peak very strongly for nationals. Going by those times, to me, they are the ones to beat. Not NC State.
Yes on the front stick, which is worth maybe 3 points or so, and no on a tight 2-5. More like a tight 3-7 which seems to be about 30 seconds back of 2.
Are you joking? BYU’s got a much lower front stick and an extremely tight 2-5. They typically peak very strongly for nationals. Going by those times, to me, they are the ones to beat. Not NC State.
Yes on the front stick, which is worth maybe 3 points or so, and no on a tight 2-5. More like a tight 3-7 which seems to be about 30 seconds back of 2.
NC State, BYU, Oregon, Notre Dame and Florida seem to be the main podium contenders with NC State and BYU likely co favorites. It will all come down to what team as a better day on the day. LACCTIC is super interesting but the margins are so thin that it is very hard to predict. One thing we know is that one of these seems will likely not perform as expected. They have all gone about it in different ways: Florida with international recruits en masse, Oregon with strategic international recruits to manage the perception that they are internationally driven (yet their key athletes are international), NC State with elite domestic recruits and the same for BYU and Notre Dame. Interestingly, there is only one high academic school in Notre Dame demonstrating how hard it is to be elite athletically and academically. Course load at Notre Dame and BYU is probably significantly more draining on these athletes than at the other schools. These are all factors headed into the final stages of the season. NC State, Oregon and Florida will close the season fresher due to less academic drain. This is probably a bigger factor than indistinguishable LACCTIC ratings
As the starter of the thread, my question to you is why do you feel the need to lie and troll?
Are you joking? BYU’s got a much lower front stick and an extremely tight 2-5. They typically peak very strongly for nationals. Going by those times, to me, they are the ones to beat. Not NC State.
The “times” were there ratings, and I like the way the developer of the LACCTiC program put it earlier, “If cross country was a relay, BYU would win.”
When referring to a “favorite”, I like to clarify with the phrase “on paper”, per the LACCTiC breakdowns. But the differences are not that great such that if NC State were to completely lose one of their Top 4, they would still win (see post #327). That is not true, but that is the case for BYU, Oregon Florida, etc.; if they too lose one of their top 4, they are out of the trophy race altogether.
As the starter of the thread, my question to you is why do you feel the need to lie and troll?
Are you joking? BYU’s got a much lower front stick and an extremely tight 2-5. They typically peak very strongly for nationals. Going by those times, to me, they are the ones to beat. Not NC State.
You don’t think NC State peaks for Nationals? I don’t think BYU has any edge, in that regard.
Are you joking? BYU’s got a much lower front stick and an extremely tight 2-5. They typically peak very strongly for nationals. Going by those times, to me, they are the ones to beat. Not NC State.
You don’t think NC State peaks for Nationals? I don’t think BYU has any edge, in that regard.
I think at this point, the contending teams have pretty much laid what they’ve got on the table. Any significant deviation from the Rating range is going to stick out.
. But the differences are not that great such that if NC State were to completely lose one of their Top 4, they would still win (see post #327). That is not true, but that is the case for BYU, Oregon Florida, etc.; if they too lose one of their top 4, they are out of the trophy race altogether.
Actually, if you go back and review that post, NC State was still the favorite even if they were to completely lose one of their top scorers, and I had been saying they are the overwhelming (😁) favorite. After Conferences, their edge has dropped a bit, but LACTiC is still giving them 97% odds of winning.
I was making a pretty narrow and accurate point that ND and BYU teams likely have the most academic stress going into nationals and that this could be as big a factor as any small discrepancy in LACCTIC ratings. And yes I get that Stanford has been there before and is elite. That said, none of the schools in the podium picture are stressful from an academic perspective other than ND and perhaps BYU. Some on the list are more akin to professional running teams that are affiliated with a university. There will be little to no academic fatigue and the build up. Not particularly controversial and potentially a factor.
I was making a pretty narrow and accurate point that ND and BYU teams likely have the most academic stress going into nationals and that this could be as big a factor as any small discrepancy in LACCTIC ratings. And yes I get that Stanford has been there before and is elite. That said, none of the schools in the podium picture are stressful from an academic perspective other than ND and perhaps BYU. Some on the list are more akin to professional running teams that are affiliated with a university. There will be little to no academic fatigue and the build up. Not particularly controversial and potentially a factor.
I never thought of BYU as an "elite" academic institution. It's a decent school, yeah, but putting them in the same category as Notre Dame is a joke.
BYU would be more analogous to NC State, academically. Both are good schools, have pretty much identical average ACT scores of incoming freshman (at the 25th percentile they are both 28 and at the 75th percentile they're at 32), similar ACT scores (1290-1450 for BYU & 1300-1460 for NC State), BYU admits about 70% of applicants wheras NC State is at 40%.
I was making a pretty narrow and accurate point that ND and BYU teams likely have the most academic stress going into nationals and that this could be as big a factor as any small discrepancy in LACCTIC ratings. And yes I get that Stanford has been there before and is elite. That said, none of the schools in the podium picture are stressful from an academic perspective other than ND and perhaps BYU. Some on the list are more akin to professional running teams that are affiliated with a university. There will be little to no academic fatigue and the build up. Not particularly controversial and potentially a factor.
I never thought of BYU as an "elite" academic institution. It's a decent school, yeah, but putting them in the same category as Notre Dame is a joke.
BYU would be more analogous to NC State, academically. Both are good schools, have pretty much identical average ACT scores of incoming freshman (at the 25th percentile they are both 28 and at the 75th percentile they're at 32), similar ACT scores (1290-1450 for BYU & 1300-1460 for NC State), BYU admits about 70% of applicants wheras NC State is at 40%.
I just saw above that you mentioned Florida as having "less academic drain." TBH, Florida is probably more academically challenging than both BYU & NC State.
I was making a pretty narrow and accurate point that ND and BYU teams likely have the most academic stress going into nationals and that this could be as big a factor as any small discrepancy in LACCTIC ratings. And yes I get that Stanford has been there before and is elite. That said, none of the schools in the podium picture are stressful from an academic perspective other than ND and perhaps BYU. Some on the list are more akin to professional running teams that are affiliated with a university. There will be little to no academic fatigue and the build up. Not particularly controversial and potentially a factor.
BYU has more academic stress than Florida? What on earth are you talking about? I don't think you'll find a single person in this country who isn't mormon who believes that BYU is a better and more rigorous academic school than Florida.
Florida with a team full of international recruits is likely going through the motions academically complete with student support fully involved. Does anyone seriously think there is academic stress going into nationals for a team of international recruits? N.C. State is a notoriously easy school academically unless one is in pre-med or engineering. Building a great team culture is always easier when external stressor, such as academic stress, is ameliorated. Agree that ND has by far the most academic culture, but BYU is not known as easy from an undergraduate academic perspective. N.C. State, Oregon, Florida are all ranked on graduate research and none are known as academically rigorous from an undergraduate perspective. Agree that this is a huge factor going into the post season. Are the athletes drained from the demands of studying or are they showing up at student support while others do the work? In many of the schools on the list the primary focus is on the athletic training. There is a reason that all of this enters the equation when recruits are deciding on a school.
Florida with a team full of international recruits is likely going through the motions academically complete with student support fully involved. Does anyone seriously think there is academic stress going into nationals for a team of international recruits? N.C. State is a notoriously easy school academically unless one is in pre-med or engineering. Building a great team culture is always easier when external stressor, such as academic stress, is ameliorated. Agree that ND has by far the most academic culture, but BYU is not known as easy from an undergraduate academic perspective. N.C. State, Oregon, Florida are all ranked on graduate research and none are known as academically rigorous from an undergraduate perspective. Agree that this is a huge factor going into the post season. Are the athletes drained from the demands of studying or are they showing up at student support while others do the work? In many of the schools on the list the primary focus is on the athletic training. There is a reason that all of this enters the equation when recruits are deciding on a school.
Your entire point is based on conjecture and feelings. "Florida is just going through the motions academically". "NC state is a notorious easy school academically". You don't know anything about those schools, much less those athletes and what they are studying or how hard they are working academically.
BYU actually lists majors of their upperclassmen and 3 of the top 7 at BYU are majoring in exercise science. Real rigorous workload i'm sure.
Well, I guess Chat GPT has an identical view largely based on "conjecture". Academic reputations are based on lived student experiences across decades. Of course there is variability based on major but school reputations are what they are.
Rank | University | |------|------------------|-----------------------------|-------| | 1 | Notre Dame | Very High | Rigorous liberal arts core; high expectations in writing, philosophy, theology | | 2 | BYU | High | Structured, disciplined workload; strong emphasis on writing, ethics, and participation | | 3 | NC State | Moderate | Non-STEM programs less intense; grading fair; workload manageable | | 4 | University of Florida | Moderate | Varies by program; some majors like journalism or business can be competitive | | 5 | University of Oregon | Moderate | Generally lighter, flexible programs; creative environment |