Coaching Hot Seat Edition – 2014

Only one of these two distinguished gentlemen above are on the hot seat this year.  Guess which one it is?  You can scroll down if you like…

COACHES ON THE HOT SEAT!!!!

1. Will Muschamp, Florida – Yes it’s WILL MUSCHAMP on the coaching hot seat.  He may have the hottest seat of them all but the easiest way to get off of it.  Just get back to the way Florida was two seasons ago and he’s golden.  Projection: 8 wins  Coaching future: No worries as he will be back at the helm of an SEC East contender by next season.
2. Bret Bielema, Arkansas – I have said it before and I will say it again…this man is pining for the days when he was in Madison and was hailed as one of the best coaches around.  Now?  Not so much.  Projection: 2 wins  Coaching future: Hot seat will get hotter as year goes on; will be fucking scorching going into next season.  But hey, he has a hot wife so who cares.
3. Tim Beckman, Illinois – I am honestly surprised this guy wasn’t shit-canned at the end of last season.  Instead he has decided to copy his Big Ten brethren in Indiana (and become a Mike Leach disciple it seems) and go for the elusive 50-50 club this season…averaging 50 points on offense and defense in the same season.  Projection: 4 wins  Coaching future: Won’t be on hot seat much longer since he will be fired by the end of the season at the latest.
4. Darrell Hazell, Purdue – Is it now looking more and more that the one amazing season Kent State was a, ahem, flash in the pan?  Bad jokes aside, Purdue has been terrible under Hazell and unless there’s marked improvement he won’t be around.  Spoiler alert: Pack your bags Darrell.  Projection: 3 wins  Coaching future: I’m sure there are enough coordinator or FCS head coaching jobs available for next season.
5. Charlie Weis, Kansas – This guy almost seems like he is in on the joke of how bad the Jayhawks program is.  No wonder everyone is a basketball fan in that state (or at least outside of Manhattan).  Projection: 3 wins  Coaching future: Move over. It’s Mangino time!
6. Dana Holgorsen, West Virginia – He looks drunk half the time.  He coaches like he’s drunk half the time.  And ever since the Geno Smith-Tavon Austin-Stedman Bailey trio left Morgantown, Uncle Dana has had nothing to hang his hat on.  Projection: 3 wins  Coaching future: It won’t be here.  I’m sure Mountaineer fans are sick of this guy by now.  Is RichRod available?
7. Sonny Dykes, California – He left a sure thing in rural Louisiana.  Brought a LaTech team from nothing to make them a juggernaut (in the WAC at least).  Gets a chance to do what many are doing: turn a program around.  Jeff Tedford must be laughing now after all the shit he took at that school.  Projection: 1 win  Coaching future: The leash will be extremely short but he will last into next year with the hope that the Bears are contending for a bowl.  If not, Dykes will probably struggle to get any FBS job, let alone a head coaching gig, for the foreseeable future.
8. Mike London, Virginia – Another coach who is shockingly back at his job this fall.  To be honest, his players haven’t played for him.  Things were looking up for the Cavs and they seem to shoot themselves in the foot time and time again.  He’s a good contender for the First Coach of the Year Fired Award.  Projection: 2 wins  Coaching future: As a coordinator somewhere else.
9. Bob Davie, New Mexico – Things were looking up (somewhat) for the Lobos.  Davie was supposed to come in and totally revamp this team and he has.  Too bad they haven’t responded with anything resembling progress.  Projection: 1 win  Coaching future: He doesn’t have one.  Maybe he can beg for his ESPN job back.
10. Norm Chow, Hawaii – Not only is Chow’s job on the line but it seems like the whole damn program could go under?  Insane although it makes perfect sense.  This will definitely deter any Alaskan schools from starting FBS football programs.  Projection: 1 win  Coaching future: Might as well retire and watch from the sidelines as the entire program potentially crumbles.
11. Ron Turner, FIU – Remember when this guy was in Illinois?  Yeah, I really don’t either.  A saviour he is not and the Panthers are rueing the day that they fired Mario Cristobal who actually had the program on the rise.  Projection: 2 wins  Coaching future: The one true challenger to London to be fired first.
12. Todd Monken, Southern Miss – If there is a coach out there that is missed more than Southern Miss misses Larry Fedora then I can find him.  This team is in a shambles.  Hell, even UAB can honestly say that the Golden Eagles have a shittier program than they do.  If it wasn’t for Grambling last season, you’d be looking at a team that no one would want to be associated with.  Projection: 1 win  Coaching future: Maybe he can join his brother at Army.

 

OK, so we have had one day (and an extra game on Wednesday) of college football.  Feels good to be back at this point of the year although Bell and Rogers have done their best already to screw with our heads.  As far as I know, Rogers SSP subscribers STILL won’t have access to SEC Network games.  Even then, I don’t see anything on a Bell schedule that says U.S. College Sports Package subscribers will get more than the two shitty games we saw last night.  I just wish they would be like Sportsnet has been with hockey (I can’t believe I am applauding Sportsnet for anything but anyway): they got the NHL package, told people what would happen, then solidified scheduling with examples on how it is going to work.  Why in the fuck can’t Bell and Rogers do the same for college football?

Week 1 Schedule….at this point…let the frustration begin!

I think it’s about time I do the schedule for the first week.  I will be honest, hasn’t been easy with the new SEC Network throwing a wrinkle into a lot of things.  Plus, my friends at Bell are not making things easy whatsoever.  So let’s look at this day-by-day as it probably makes it easier.  Just for your reference, SP means specialty pack (either the Super Sports Pack for Rogers or the U.S. College Sports Package for Bell).

Wednesday

Abilene Christian at Georgia State

7:00 PM

SP

A waiver was needed to get this game on the Wednesday.  Scheduling issues makes this the first game of the season for an FBS team.

Thursday

Eastern Illinois at Minnesota	7:00 PM	BTN*
Wake Forest at ULM	7:00 PM	TSN2
Tulane at Tulsa	8:00 PM	CBSSN*
Boise State vs. Ole Miss (in Atlanta)	8:00 PM	TSN3

Hey did you notice something missing?  No Texas A&M-South Carolina.  No Temple-Vanderbilt.  No SEC Network games.  As of this time (Tuesday night), there is no sight of these two SEC Network games on either the TSN family of networks or on the specialty packs.  Then again, Bell has nothing other than the Wednesday nighter on their specialty pack.  I sense this could be another frustrating year (at times) to get this information from Bell.  I am using the info from Rogers as they have their first weekend info up.  My guess is that the EIU-Minny game could end up on the specialty pack for Bell since we don’t get the Big Ten Network.  On top of that, Bell subscribers also don’t get the CBS Sports Network.  I was told it was to make room for other channels.  This is possibly a bullshit reason since the channel it was on is nowhere near the channels the new TSN channels took over.

Friday

BYU at Connecticut	7:00 PM	SP
Jacksonville State at Michigan State	7:30 PM	BTN*
Bowling Green at Western Kentucky	8:00 PM	CBSSN*
UTSA at Houston	9:00 PM	SP
UNLV at Arizona	10:30 PM	SP

We get all the major (if you can call them that) games for this night.  Again, taking the Rogers schedule as what will be seen on Bell (it is about 95% similar save for the BTN overflow games, and even some of the regular BTN games).

Saturday

Penn State vs. UCF (in Dublin)	8:30 AM	SP
Northern Iowa at Iowa	12:00 PM	BTN*
Navy vs. Ohio State (in Baltimore)	12:00 PM	CBSSN*
UCLA at Virginia	12:00 PM	TSN3
Appalachian State at Michigan	12:00 PM	TSN2
Western Michigan at Purdue	12:00 PM	SP
Georgia Southern at NC State	12:30 PM	WSBK
Rice at Notre Dame	3:00 PM	NBC
Alabama vs. West Virginia (in Atlanta)	3:30 PM	ABC/TSN3
Florida Atlantic at Nebraska	3:30 PM	BTN*
California at Northwestern	3:30 PM	TSN2
South Dakota State at Missouri	3:30 PM	SP
Clemson at Georgia	5:30 PM	SP
Northern Arizona at San Diego State	7:00 PM	CBSSN*
Idaho at Florida	7:00 PM	SP
Fresno State at USC	7:30 PM	FOX
Florida State vs. Oklahoma State (in Arlington)	8:00 PM	ABC/TSN3
LSU vs. Wisconsin (in Houston)	9:00 PM	SP
Washington at Hawaii	10:30 PM	CBSSN*

I thought this day would never come.  The first Saturday of the new season and holy shit do we college football fans get some good games (mixed with some shit but I digress).  And, if that damn volcano in Iceland stops acting like a dick, it could start at 8:30 in the morning!  It’s like college football heaven.  Normally I hate simsubs as to me it seems like lazy programming.  I will give TSN a break this week since they debuted their new channels about 36 hours ago.  After this week, no excuses though (unless they have no other games to pick from).  Saying that, there really is no other choice for TSN for the primetime game.  The mid-afternoon game, they could have gone with Arkansas-Auburn for some SEC Network flavour (which we are getting none of on opening weekend).

Sunday

Alabama A&M vs. North Carolina A&T (in Orlando)

11:45 AM

SP

One FCS game starting before noon.  That’s it, that’s all but hey, it’s college football on Sunday.  Let’s embrace it this one time.

Monday

Miami at Louisville

8:00 PM

TSN3

And speaking of embracing…college football on Monday night!  This is now a tradition and seems to go to the ACC.  Not a bad choice this season as they get Louisville’s first ACC conference matchup and it will be a test.

Games of the Week

OK so these are the games we can see.  So no Texas A&M-South Carolina although I would have put it on here.

Clemson at Georgia – Arguably the biggest game of the opening weekend.  This game could potentially eliminate a contender from the CFP-alooza Bowl-A-Thon on the first night.

Wisconsin vs. LSU (in Houston) – Interesting host site for this but it should be close to a sellout, a little skewed in favour of Tiger fans.  Again, potentially an early elimination game.  Also, a check on some amazing running games.  Melvin Gordon and Leonard Fournette can start their Heisman campaigns here.

Florida State vs. Oklahoma State (in Arlington) – Neutral site games in Week 1 are all the rage (7 FBS, 1 FCS).  And they usually get some amazing matchups.  Let’s see if there is some championship hangover for Jameis Heisman and his Noles.  And will the Pokes start their step back here or does Gundy’s boys (BOYS…Gundy is the man) put a scare in Jimbo?

Predictions

Someone asked if I was doing picks.  Hey, might as well, this can’t get much worse.  So here we go with a few of my picks from games we will see:

• ULM over Wake Forest
• Ole Miss over Boise State
• Penn State over UCF (if they end up playing at all)
• Alabama over West Virginia (big win here)
• LSU over Wisconsin in a close one
• Louisville over Miami in Fun Bobby’s return

If there are any changes to the schedule, I will make them on the main part of the document (meaning I won’t put them in the updates after the article).  Keep checking, get your PVRs fired up or, if you’re lucky, just sit down these next five days and watch some college football.  The season is here…finally.

Update: This is a big one.  I guess they tried to sneak it past me.  That’s what I get for being too busy at work to notice.  Texas A&M-South Carolina has appeared on the sports pack (along with Temple-Vanderbilt).  I haven’t seen any mention of the Saturday SEC Network games or the Sunday Utah State-Tennessee game yet.  Hopefully we will see them appear in the next 12 hours.

My Heisman Ballot (purely for entertainment purposes since hell might freeze over before I get chosen to select the Heisman winner)

I say this in jest but remember my picks last year?  Close to terrible.  Didn’t have Jameis CrabLegs on my ballot, no Andre Williams, no Jordan Lynch (although I did give him honourable mention).  Hopefully this year I won’t look like a complete idiot with my pre-season Heisman predictions (although I have made sure to leave poor Braxton Miller out this year).

1. Marcus Mariota, Oregon – I have the Ducks winning the CFP Deal-i-o this season.  And this is the guy that will lead them there.  On top of that, he has a good shot at being the #1 pick in next year’s NFL draft.  I think this a solid pick as the next Heisman winner.  And finally, he will get one of the first massive showcase games against Michigan State in less than two weeks.  Get yourself out front early and you have a better chance at taking home the Heisman at the end.
2. Jameis Winston, Florida State – “Jameis, meet Archie.  Archie, meet Jameis.  Now just so you understand Mr. Winston, you are no Mr. Griffin.  Your journey stops at one Heisman.  Now go take a seat.”  The voters, despite the fact they may say otherwise, will penalize Winston because he already won it.  Seems silly but to be honest, is there a way for him to top what he did last season?  Because if he did, then that would be super impressive.
3. Bryce Petty, Baylor – Heisman voters love QBs who put up massive stats.  There will be a few this year who will do that but none better than Petty and none for a better team than Baylor.  By my calculations (and I’m a former math teacher so you can take this type of calculation to the bank), he should throw about 65 times a game and should easily top 5000, if not flirt with 6000 yards, especially with the early sked the Bears have.
4. Rakeem Cato, Marshall – Everyone loves the plucky underdog.  Last year, Jordan Lynch finished third in the Heisman voting.  The worst part?  If he had been at a bowl-eligible BCS school, he probably would have won the whole thing.  Marshall has a stupidly easy schedule this season.  And Cato can throw and run.  He could break all sorts of Conference USA records this season and should lead the Herd to the first CFP New Year’s Bowl-a-thon Extravaganza.
5. Todd Gurley, Georgia – Running backs, over the past decade, haven’t got a lot of Heisman looks, especially as the college game leans towards more passing and higher-octane offenses.  Saying that, Gurley is part of the two-headed running back beast at Georgia (with Keith Marshall) and should put up some monster numbers and looks like he will be playing on Sundays.
6. Nick Marshall, Auburn – Amazingly enough, this guy will be the best quarterback in the SEC this season.  After a few years of amazing QB play, the level has dropped off.  No offense to Marshall as he is still an awesome QB and looks to prove that last year’s Tigers team wasn’t a fluke.  If he can somehow go crazy in a couple of the more difficult games and has an incredible Iron Bowl, he could be considered a dark horse contender for the title.
7. Brett Hundley, UCLA – Here is possibly the first player on this list who could be considered a victim of having a better player at the same position in his conference.  Hundley should be lights-out as he continues the football renaissance in Westwood but to have Mariota in the same conference will take a lot of the spotlight off of him.  Sometimes that’s a good thing but when it comes to the Heisman, you have to be at your best when the entire nation is looking right at you to perform.
8. Leonard Fournette, LSU – This will be a shocking choice to some.  It is now commonplace to put a freshman in the Heisman mix at the start.  Many will go for a quarterback but I am leaning towards Fournette, who will carry a heavy load in Death Valley.  Could he be our next freshman Heisman winner?
9. Everett Golson, Notre Dame – Another potential surprise pick.  The Irish showed why they so sorely missed Golson last season as they dropped from the BCS title game to the Pinstripe Bowl.  He should help get the team back into a College Football Playoff New Year’s FunTime Bowl this season and I count him as a dark horse Heisman contender if the Irish make doubters out of all of us and somehow run the table.
10. Myles Jack, UCLA – Defensive players get almost no respect when it comes to the Heisman Trophy.  The offensive players have the flashy plays and crazy stats and the defensive players can’t say the same.  Even Clowney wasn’t close last year.  Could be different for Jack as he plays running back from time to time and is a beast in the front seven for the Bruins.  Also, with no Anthony Barr, he is the man they will all look to.  If they make waves in the Pac-12, don’t be surprised to hear some experts saying this name as a potential Heisman candidate.

Honourable Mention

• TJ Yeldon, Alabama

• Melvin Gordon, Wisconsin

• Taysom Hill, BYU

• Shane Carden, East Carolina

• Karlos Williams, Florida State

• Dak Prescott, Mississippi State

• Bo Wallace, Ole Miss

• Trevor Knight, Oklahoma

 

OK we are finally here.  The schedules are (slowly) starting to come out.  TSN has really upped the ante with SEVEN games this coming weekend; two Thursday night and five on Saturday.  They have really done well with more college football coverage (not to mention they are already looking like they are going to hit home runs with tennis and soccer coverage as well).  I am hoping Rogers and Bell get on their horses this year (more than last year at least) and get their specialty pack schedules out soon.  As of right now, only the one game has come up and it’s on Wednesday night (Abilene Christian-Georgia State).  We should see at least 20 games a week on the specialty packs this season.  I am curious as to how they are handling the SEC Network games.  I would be shocked if Texas A&M-South Carolina and Temple-Vanderbilt weren’t on the specialty packs Thursday night but there has still been no indication at this point that they will be.  I hope to find info soon on this.

And finally, the bowl predictions…yes, all of them.

After predicting all the conferences, it’s time to look at what bowl season looks like.  And let’s be honest, if you read this blog, or any other college football blog, you watch most of these games.  Don’t be like one of those people who says there’s way too many bowl games (it’s like hipsters wanting a trophy for not owning a TV).  We know there’s probably too many…but it’s football, so who cares.  Just watch and enjoy!

So it seems like my Bachelor’s degree in Bowl Gameology is not enough anymore.  You need at least a Masters in that, plus a minor in Bracketology (which can be very useful come March Madness time).  It has gotten to the point of insanity when figuring out all the tie-ins.  So if you enjoy crazy algebraic equations, this might be the thing for you.  OK so here we go:

Date	Bowl	Bowl Tie-In #1	Bowl Tie-In #2	Team #1	Team #2
January 12, 2015	CFP Championship	Sugar Winner	Rose Winner	Florida State	Oregon
January 4, 2015	GoDaddy Bowl	MAC	Sun Belt #1	Bowling Green	Louisiana
January 3, 2015	Birmingham Bowl	American	SEC 3rd Tier	Houston	Troy*
January 2, 2015	Cactus Bowl	Big XII #5/MWC #7	Pac-12 #7/MWC #7	Colorado State	Arizona State
January 2, 2015	Alamo Bowl	Big XII #2	Pac-12 #2	Texas	Washington
January 2, 2015	TaxSlayer Bowl	ACC 2nd Tier/Big Ten #5	SEC 2nd Tier	Miami	Florida
January 2, 2015	Armed Forces Bowl	Army or Big XII #7	American or C-USA	SMU*	UTSA
January 1, 2015	Sugar Bowl	CFP Poll #1	CFP Poll #4	Florida State	South Carolina
January 1, 2015	Rose Bowl	CFP Poll #2	CFP Poll #3	Oklahoma	Oregon
January 1, 2015	Cotton Bowl	CFP At-Large	CFP At-Large	Baylor	Ohio State
January 1, 2015	Outback Bowl	SEC 2nd Tier	Big Ten #3	Texas A&M	Nebraska
January 1, 2015	Capital One Bowl	ACC #3 or Big Ten #2	SEC #2	Duke	Georgia
December 31, 2014	Orange Bowl	ACC #1/CFP At-Large	SEC/Big Ten/Notre Dame	Michigan State	Notre Dame
December 31, 2014	Fiesta Bowl	CFP At-Large	CFP At-Large	UCLA	Alabama
December 31, 2014	Peach Bowl	CFP At-Large	CFP At-Large	Marshall	Auburn
December 30, 2014	San Francisco Bowl	Big Ten #7	Pac-12 #4	Iowa	Stanford
December 30, 2014	Belk Bowl	ACC 2nd Tier	SEC 2nd Tier	Clemson	Vanderbilt
December 30, 2014	Music City Bowl	Big Ten #6/ACC 2nd Tier	SEC 2nd Tier	Minnesota	Ole Miss
December 29, 2014	Texas Bowl	SEC 2nd Tier	Big XII #6	LSU	TCU
December 29, 2014	Russell Athletic Bowl	ACC #2	Big XII #3	Louisville	Kansas State
December 29, 2014	Liberty Bowl	SEC 2nd Tier	Big XII #4	Mississippi State	Oklahoma State
December 27, 2014	Holiday Bowl	Big Ten #4	Pac-12 #3	Wisconsin	USC
December 27, 2014	Pinstripe Bowl	ACC 2nd Tier	Big Ten #8	North Carolina	Northwestern
December 27, 2014	Independence Bowl	ACC 3rd Tier	SEC 3rd Tier or C-USA	NC State	North Texas
December 27, 2014	Sun Bowl	ACC 2nd Tier	Pac-12 #5	Virginia Tech	Arizona
December 27, 2014	Military Bowl	ACC 3rd Tier	American	Pittsburgh	Cincinnati
December 26, 2014	Bitcoin Bowl	ACC 3rd Tier	American	Georgia Tech	UCF
December 26, 2014	Detroit Bowl	ACC 3rd Tier	Big Ten #9	Buffalo*	Michigan
December 26, 2014	Heart of Dallas Bowl	Big Ten #10	C-USA	ULM*	Rice
December 24, 2014	Hawaii Bowl	C-USA	MWC #3	Middle Tennessee	San Diego State
December 24, 2014	Bahamas Bowl	C-USA	MAC	UNLV*	Ball State
December 23, 2014	Poinsettia Bowl	Navy	MWC #2	Navy	Utah State
December 23, 2014	Boca Raton Bowl	C-USA	MAC	Florida Atlantic	Northern Illinois
December 22, 2014	Miami Beach Bowl	BYU	American	BYU	East Carolina
December 20, 2014	Camellia Bowl	MAC	Sun Belt #3	Toledo	Arkansas State
December 20, 2014	Idaho Potato Bowl	MWC #6	MAC	Wyoming	Ohio
December 20, 2014	Las Vegas Bowl	Pac-12 #6	MWC #1	Oregon State	Boise State
December 20, 2014	New Mexico Bowl	C-USA	MWC #4	Missouri*	Fresno State
December 20, 2014	New Orleans Bowl	C-USA or MWC #5	Sun Belt #2 or C-USA	Louisiana Tech	South Alabama

First of all an asterisk means a team is entered that doesn’t correspond to a bowl tie-in because that conference didn’t have enough teams.  Also, this season should see the first time a waiver truly has to be used as there will not be enough bowl-eligible teams.  I see them being one short.  So the best 5-7 team would go, and I believe that would be Missouri.  As you can see, I am going a tiny bit away from most experts when it comes to my CFP picks.  FSU, Oklahoma, and Oregon are picks many have made.  I don’t know of anyone who has picked South Carolina but I think this is their year to make some noise.  Also, when it’s all said and done, I see Oregon upsetting (kind of) Florida State to win the title.  Other notes:

• South Alabama (New Orleans) and UTSA (Armed Forces) look like they would be going to their first bowls in school history.  Impressive, since, if you combine the ages of the football programs, it doesn’t even get back to the 20th century.
• Since it has become apparent that many programs lose money going to bowl games (and hope to recoup it by just being better the next year by getting better recruits who watch the higher profile games, etc.), I peg a few teams to be playing in their home states.  I know this doesn’t afford a student-athlete a chance to travel to some exotic locale like Boise, it saves the school a lot of money and also guarantees a good crowd at games.  The teams that I see playing near (or at) home this season in a bowl game are: Louisiana Tech (New Orleans), Florida Atlantic (Boca Raton), Rice (Heart of Dallas), Michigan (Detroit), UCF (Bitcoin), USC (Holiday), TCU (Texas), Stanford (San Francisco), Baylor (Cotton), SMU and UTSA (Armed Forces), Miami and Florida (TaxSlayer), Texas (Alamo), Arizona State (Cactus), Troy (Birmingham).
• The College Football Playoff committee has their work cut out for them.  Picking these teams won’t be easy.  Now, picking the first eight will be in my estimation.  They would be Florida State, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Baylor, Michigan State, Alabama, Ohio State. They would be automatics.  Marshall would be the other automatic as the best Weak Group of Five team.  The other three spots would be dicey at best and would be cause for a lot of debate.  UCLA and Auburn seemed like relatively safe picks although there are a couple other SEC or Pac-12 teams I could pick.  Either way, I figured to select one more SEC and one more Pac-12 team.  The last one was up to Notre Dame and BYU.  Despite the fact I think BYU will be one or two spots higher in the rankings by the end of the year, I think The Committee will have a tough time passing on the Irish so they get the final spot.  This should just fuel the fire more for the BYU going to a conference talks in the off-season.
• Two bowls get the shaft this year (and not in a good way).  The Independence Bowl and Outback Bowl have been relegated to ESPN2 rather than ESPN or ABC (or CBS if you’re the Sun Bowl which still makes no sense other than it being historically that way).  This means both of these bowls are definite picks for the specialty packs.  However, depending on what Sportsnet does, you could see upwards of ten bowl games on the specialty packs this year.  That’s a lot if you don’t have either the Super Sports Pack or the U.S. College Sports Package.

Next up will be my Heisman predictions along with a few other predictions for this season.  As for tomorrow, the first game of the college football season is upon us…for you American neighbours.  For us up here, I have looked and looked and looked and can’t see any evidence that the FCS game tomorrow will be on the specialty pack and I know for sure it isn’t on either TSN or TSN2.  So it looks like Thursday night will be the first night for college football for us up here (unless we somehow get the Abilene Christian-Georgia State game on Wednesday night which I highly doubt as well).  I will keep you updated on how things are looking for week one.

Update: Oh, ye (or me) of little faith.  I wake up this morning to find Sam Houston State-Eastern Washington is now on the specialty packs!  So I guess I may have to play this game this year with Bell (and possibly Rogers).  Oh well, it’s on and it’s time for some college football (finally!)

Update #2: Man things seem to change on a dime with this TSN thing.  I shouldn’t have bought into what many were saying that since TSN3 was showing Winnipeg Jets games, TSN4 was showing Toronto Maple Leafs games and TSN5 was showing Ottawa Senators games that these channels would essentially be regional channels, a la Sportsnet’s shitfest of a family of channels.  I should give a Lee Corso “Not So Fast My Friend.”  Looks like they will be not totally different channels but most of the programming will be different across the board.  Meaning, as of this point, it looks like there is 2 NCAA games Thursday night and 3 on Saturday.  It’s about time!!!!

Update #3: Noticed I had Notre Dame in the Fiesta instead of the Orange.  The only access Notre Dame has to the New Year’s Day bowls is the Orange Bowl and only twice in 12 years.  So they go there now and Alabama heads out west to face UCLA in the Fiesta.  Either way, you’re looking at sell-outs at both places.

Part Deux of Terrible NFL Predictions

OK now it’s time for my playoff predictions.  Maybe, just maybe, I will catch lightning in a bottle twice…with my Super Bowl picks, since some of my playoff picks from last season (*COUGH*Houston*COUGH*) were beyond terrible.

Wild Card Games

New England (3) def. San Diego (6)

To be honest I can’t see this game being close.  The Pats will be at home where Tom Brady is nearly unbeatable.  Plus it’s the Chargers who are getting in because the AFC, past the top 5, is a giant heap of shit.  Rivers and his band of merry men are at the top of that heap (with the Chiefs and Bengals just losing out).

Pittsburgh (5) def. Baltimore (4)

Now here should be a close game.  We are now back to the type of playoff game that almost everyone (with a pulse) enjoys.  Some good smashmouth AFC North football.  Unlike the first game, this should be very close.  To be honest, other than the year the Ravens won the Super Bowl, Joe Flacco hasn’t exactly been awesome in the playoffs.  Yes, they have Ray Rice to carry the rock but the defense isn’t the defense from the last decade.  Plus the Steelers will be hungry after missing the dance last season.  And finally, would you want to be in the locker room with Mike Tomlin if the Steelers miss the playoffs again?

Green Bay (3) def. Chicago (6)

More smashmouth football, this time from the black-and-blue division, AKA the Chuck Norris Division (also known officially as the NFC North).  I think Marc Trestman is going to be an awesome coach in the NFL.  Just look at what he was able to do with Jay Cutler (until Cuts had his yearly semi-major injury late in the season).  This may actually end up being a shootout with Cutler and Aaron Rodgers chucking balls all over the field.  Too bad the Bears D isn’t as good anymore (Brian Urlacher says hi by the way).

San Francisco (5) def. Philadelphia (4)

And now it’s time to see how Angry Harbaugh is doing after his brother Chill Harbaugh lost to the Steelers.  He’s pissed.  He’s fucking pissed.  Then again, he always looks like he’s going to blow his stack.  “No, I don’t want fucking gravy on my fries.”  “What do you mean all you have is BLUE PENS?”  “My PVR didn’t record 60 Minutes because our team had to play FUCKING OVERTIME YESTERDAY?!?!?!?!?!”  His anger alone should be enough to defeat the Eagles who are coached by Chip Kelly, who seems like he would be a great coach to play for and an awesome guy to hang out with.  That and the fact the Niners are quite a bit more talented than the Eagles, who win the NFC East by default this year.

Divisional Playoffs

Indianapolis (1) def. Pittsburgh (5)

Many will be surprised that I have Indy as the #1 seed in the AFC.  Have you seen their division?  My god.  They’d have a tougher time in the CFL Eastern Division this season than in the AFC South.  They will have some trouble with the Steelers here but being at home and having Andrew Luck and his weird looking beard tossing the ball, they should be able to squeeze this one out.  No word on what Mike Tomlin will destroy after the game.

Denver (2) def. New England (3)

You don’t know how much joy this sentence makes me feel.  So I’ll do it again…

Denver (2) def. New England (3)

Ah, that’s great.  Don’t get me wrong.  I totally respect what the Pats have done since 2000 (and for all you Pats fans who say you’ve been Pats fans since before then, eat shit….we know for 98% of you that just isn’t fucking true).  The Patriots have been THE team this century.  Saying that, I get sick of Belichick’s assholishness, Brady having one of the hottest models of all time as his wife, the team somehow taking bags of shit and making them into All-Pros, and even Gronk just having the life that most guys want.  It’s nice to see the goliaths get slayed every so often.  Then again, this is Peyton Manning we are talking about.  He ain’t no David.

New Orleans (1) def. San Francisco (5)

I hearby declare the return of the Saints from a few years ago when they won the Lombardi trophy.  Drew Brees will be All-Pro, half his receivers will be All-Pro, Superstar Jimmy Graham will be All-Pro at either tight end or receiver, the defense will be solid, and the coaching will be spectacular.  This may be the most complete team coming into this season and I don’t think the Niners will know what hit them when they leave the New Friendly Confines of Levi’s Stadium to go into the Superdome where hearing anything is most definitely an issue.

Seattle (2) def. Green Bay (3)

Speaking of crazy home fans, no one comes into Seattle and pushes around the Seahawks or the 12th man (sorry Texas A&M) anymore.  The Hawks are gold at home and nothing will change this season.  Not even Mike McCarthy’s Packers, who should be one of the best Packers teams in the past few years will be able to do it. I fully expect Seattle not to lose at home this season at all.

Conference Championships

Denver (2) def. Indianapolis (1)

Is it Peyton Manning’s year?  Kind of.  I don’t think he will be as dominant as he was last season but he should have a more complete team around him with more depth.  Plus, this is when Indy gets exposed as a #1 seed that probably didn’t deserve a #1 seed but gets a #1 seed due to the fact they play three shitty teams six times a year and, for the most part, have an overall easier schedule than almost any team out there.  As much as I’d love to see Chuck Pagano get a shot at the Super Bowl, this won’t be his year.  Give the Colts a year or two and they may be there.

New Orleans (1) def. Seattle (2)

Battle of the crazy fan bases should be won by the team playing at their home stadium; therefore, the Saints win.  Should be a good game, one of the all-time best NFC conference championships ever (maybe even rivalling the first time the Saints won the NFC).  No Brett Favre to face this time but Russell Wilson has shown he is already awesome this early in his career and should give the Saints’ D fits.  Too bad Brees will do the same and could be the only person to truly pick apart that unbelievable Seahawks secondary this season.

Super Bowl XLIX (49 for you that don’t understand Roman numerals)

Denver (2) def. New Orleans (1)

Who thinks that if the Denver Broncos win the Super Bowl this season that Peyton Manning will retire right afterward?  I am one of the ones in the camp who thinks he most definitely does.  What else would he have to prove?  If it was the other way around, I know Drew Brees wouldn’t retire but to be honest, he has also done almost everything in his pro career and is a sure-fire HOFer as well.  Either way, I think it’s the Broncos year.  No, they won’t get their revenge on the Hawks but they will get the Lombardi trophy they basically built for when they got Manning and ditched that Tebow guy.

OK, I had to throw some college football in here…

A few news and notes so far:

• Bell Fibe and Satellite has removed CBS College Sports Network from their listings as of today.  I assume this is in advance of the new TSN trio coming aboard.  So more lost college football games.  If TSN doesn’t step up when it comes to NCAA football coverage, we could be looking at the least amount of games available in this area in more than five years.  A few steps backward after several steps forward in recent years…not what I want to see.
• Trying to see if the Eastern Washington-Sam Houston State opener will be on the specialty packs on Saturday and I have still not seen any mention of it, nor anything in the listings I look at.  Hopefully they will put it on but I wouldn’t be surprised if Bell and Rogers aren’t quite ready for it and won’t have it which would suck.
• I have seen a few games show up on the listings for next week.  Wake Forest-ULM and Appalachian State-Michigan are slated to appear on TSN2 on Thursday night and Saturday at noon respectively.  Florida State-Oklahoma State on ABC and Fresno State-USC on FOX are also confirmed.  I should be able to find out much more in the next three to four days on this.

And you thought my college football picks were bad (NFL prediction time!)

Taking a break from the college football predictions (before my bowl game and Heisman picks) to look at the pro game…you know, the one Johnny Flip-the-Bird  is in.  Normally my NFL predictions aren’t that great but last year I predicted a Denver-Seattle Super Bowl so everyone can suck it (don’t look at the fact I picked the Broncos to win or that they had to beat Houston to get there).

I do the NFL predictions in much the same way I do my college football predictions; by playing out the season.  I usually adjust game outcomes that I think will go the other way and tally up the results.  I will now list the standings as I see them for this season (*means wild card spot):

AFC East	NFC East
New England	Philadelphia
Miami	NY Giants
NY Jets	Washington
Buffalo	Dallas
AFC North	NFC North
Baltimore	Green Bay
Pittsburgh*	Chicago*
Cincinnati	Detroit
Cleveland	Minnesota
AFC South	NFC South
Indianapolis	New Orleans
Tennessee	Atlanta
Jacksonville	Tampa Bay
Houston	Carolina
AFC West	NFC West
Denver	Seattle
San Diego*	San Francisco*
Kansas City	Arizona
Oakland	St. Louis

There shouldn’t be a lot of turn-around from last season when it comes to playoff teams.  For once parity isn’t rearing its head in the NFL.  The changes would be as follows:

• Baltimore to replace Cincinnati as AFC North champ
• Pittsburgh to replace Kansas City as a wild-card team
• New Orleans to replace Carolina as NFC South champ
• Chicago to replace New Orleans as a wild-card team

I have Cincinnati and Kansas City just missing out on the post-season in the AFC and Arizona and the New York Giants just missing out on the post-season in the NFC.

Other predictions about the regular season:

• Blake Bortles (JAX), Johnny Manziel (CLE), Teddy Bridgewater (MIN), Derek Carr (OAK) and even Tom Savage (HOU) will have at least one start at QB this season and I see at least two of them being the undisputed starter by the end of the season.
• Drew Brees could break many quarterback records this season as the NFL drifts towards being a mainly passing league (much like the CFL).
• I have the Raiders winning three games this season and that might even be a stretch.  Expect them to be on the clock once the season ends.  Question is, do they take Mariota or Winston despite the fact they already have Carr or do they look elsewhere.
• I see Dallas also being awful.  Ginger head coach Jason Garrett will most certainly be gone along with most of his staff.  Whether there is an overhaul elsewhere remains to be seen (the possibility to draft Mariota or Famous Jameis to replace Playboy Tony Romo?).
• Cleveland will probably win five or six games.  I truly do believe that if you put some talent around Johnny Great Lakes, this team should at least contend for a wild-card spot.
• The Buffalo Bon Jovis (or is it the Buffalo Pegulas?) will also get either five or six wins.  Calls for the release of EJ Manuel should start by Canadian Thanksgiving.
• Biggest drop should be in Carolina.  I can’t see them continuing the way they played last year, especially with the Saints and Bucs improving, and the Falcons can’t possibly be as brutal as they were last year.

My next post will outline my playoff predictions but at least you know we are not looking at Johnny Rock Star grinding up against Rihanna’s ass during the Super Bowl halftime show while doubling as the Browns’ quarterback during the game itself…because the Browns still suck.

Jameis CrabLegs, the Duke team you actually like, and How to Upgrade During Realignment: A Primer (the ACC story)

Thanks to Famous Jameis and Jimbo’s best Bobby Bowden impression, the ACC is finally starting to look good.  As much as the Big East got heat for being the worst of the BCS conferences, the ACC should have got just as much shit if not more.  Unlike the Big East, the talent was there in the ACC, it just seemed like the collection of teams underperformed on a ridiculous scale.  But it’s not just the Noles doing this.  Clemson has looked great the past few years, North Carolina and Miami have had mini-resurgences, and Duke (Duke…I repeat, DUKE!) is a player now in the ACC, not the doormat.  And it continues this year as they somehow were able to upgrade from Maryland to Louisville (good job there Big Ten).  Alright, here are the predictions (with the first one being painfully obvious).

Atlantic Division

1. Florida State Seminoles (8-0 conference, 12-0 overall) – What a shock eh?  I, along with pretty much every expert out there (and no I don’t include myself as an expert), have the Noles running the table, at least for the regular season.  I can’t see how they won’t be favoured in every game, and most of them by double digits.  I guess the road games at Louisville and Miami could be considered tests but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Noles never even trailed in a game all regular season.
2. Clemson Tigers (6-2 conference, 9-3 overall) – And now for the consolation trophy presentation.  It is clearly a race for best of the rest in the Atlantic and despite the fact Dabo lost Boyd and Watkins, this team should still be damn good.  One of the tougher schedules in the country will make it difficult to win more than 9 and it wouldn’t surprise me if they won less.
3. Louisville Cardinals (6-2 conference, 9-3 overall) – The ACC came out smelling like roses after the realignment this time around.  Replacing Maryland with the Cards?  That’s a coup for a conference that is starting to bear its teeth a lot more.  The conference is already much better with UL on board and with Fun Time Bobby Petrino back at the helm, this should be, well a fun team to watch (as long as they have banned Sideshow Bob from motorcycles…and women…might as well hedge their bets).
4. N.C. State Wolfpack (2-6 conference, 6-6 overall) – After the top three there is a MASSIVE drop-off.  Basically the rest of the teams will be scrambling for enough wins to be bowl-eligible.  The Pack should be the best of those teams.  Dave Doeren has had a rough time so far in Raleigh but things are looking up for a team that should be at least middle-of-the-pack (and can always terrify the shit out of better teams like Florida State once or twice a year).
5. Syracuse Orange (2-6 conference, 5-7 overall) – Their season should start out so nice.  A 3-0 start.  Then it all goes to shit.  Their schedule is not fun.  Notre Dame, Louisville, and Florida State in consecutive weeks makes you think the scheduler has a hate on for Donovan McNabb, Paul Pasqualoni, the colour orange, any town within 100 km of Syracuse, etc.  They will need to overperform to try to get to .500 this season.
6. Boston College Eagles (2-6 conference, 5-7 overall) – I don’t know if there is a single team out there that loses a bigger part of their team than BC does with the loss of Andre Williams.  He was basically the offense.  I mean no offense (and pun very much intended) to the offense but he was the man last year.  All chances of scoring rested on his shoulders.  Super Steve Addazio is a great coach, but even he may want to temper any excitement on the Hill this year.
7. Wake Forest Demon Deacons (0-8 conference, 1-11 overall) – Every year there are the best and the worst in various things.  When it comes to Power Five conference teams, Wake Forest, in my estimation, will be the worst this year.  I would feel sorry for Dave Clawson but he chose to come here so no dice.  It will take a few years and some Jim Grobe-like luck to bring this team back to bowl contention as the rest of the teams in this division at least are light years better than the Deacons.

 

Coastal Division

1. Miami Hurricanes (6-2 conference, 9-3 overall) – You could make a case that FSU, Clemson, and UL are the three best teams in the ACC.  But in the end it doesn’t matter since one team from each division goes to the ACC Championship.  It won’t be easy with 5 contenders in a 7-team division but when it’s all said and done, Al Golden and Al Golden’s tie should lead the U to the title game…to be squashed by the Noles for a second time this season.
2. Duke Blue Devils (6-2 conference, 10-2 overall) – Hey, a Duke team you can cheer for!  Don’t get me wrong, I respect everything Coach K has done.  I just can’t stand the basketball team and love it when they lose (like many, many people).  Plus, Coach Cutcliffe is pretty awesome so you have that.  Unfortunately for Duke this season, it’s the fact they travel to Miami and don’t get the Canes at home that will probably keep them out of the ACC title game for a second straight season (that sentence still looks odd in the Duke section).
3. North Carolina Tar Heels (6-2 conference, 8-4 overall) – So Larry Fedora (who I still wish would wear a Tar Heel-blue fedora just to one game…doesn’t matter which one) and his Heels are the chic pick to win the Coastal.  They will be better than last year because I assume they won’t start 1-5 this season…more like 3-3.  They play on the road against Miami and Duke which, in my opinion, makes it so they won’t win the Coastal although they are on the rise and next season we may be looking at a dark horse CFPMania contender.
4. Pittsburgh Panthers (5-3 conference, 9-3 overall) – Great Dave Wannstedt’s ghost!  The Panthers will be players this year for sure.  Actually, Paul Chryst should make his team a trendy pick to do some damage as they have a great chance to start 8-0 which should get a lot of people talking.  The last stretch of four games is difficult by ACC standards and should knock them out of contention for a division title but watch for this team.  The only issue may be the loss of Aaron Donald so if they can make up for that, it could be interesting (for once) in western Pennsylvania.
5. Virginia Tech Hokies (4-4 conference, 7-5 overall) – This will be a very unpopular pick as everyone loves Frank Beamer and everyone loves Beamer Ball (or is it Bud Ball?).  I can’t see how they lose Logan Thomas and improve from last season when they were just above-average and nothing more.  Plus their schedule is less than favourable with the Hokies travelling to the four teams above them in this division.  I mean they will make it to a bowl (again) but it sure won’t be a Big Boy Bowl.
6. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (3-5 conference, 6-6 overall) – Another unpopular pick I am sure.  Look Paul Johnson coaches a good game.  A good option offense.  I would never want to see a game between the Ramblin Wreck and a military team.  No time to get a snack or have a bathroom break.  The game would be over in about an hour forty-five.  I think many other teams are catching up and are able to defend the option much better.  Plus, unless you have the athletes specifically for this type of offense it can’t work to the point where you’re a contender.  Just a middle-of-the-road (albeit bowl-bound) ACC team.
7. Virginia Cavaliers (0-8 conference, 2-10 overall) – And now to a team that seems like a minor-league outfit compared to every other team in their division. I feel sorry for Mike London I really do.  It looked like things were looking up for the program but after last year, it is painfully obvious they are in need of an overhaul.  And target numero uno will be London, followed by his staff.  I don’t know many coaches who would be able to thrive in Charlottesville but expect a good Conference USA or MAC coach (or maybe Louisiana’s Mark Hudspeth) to take a crack at it and hopefully become the next Al Golden and not the next Darrell Hazell (sorry Darrell, I had to come up with a quick example).

Just like the pick for the Atlantic division, this one is a no-brainer.  You could put any Coastal division team up against this year’s Noles and there is no hope in hell for them to win.  Florida State should win easily, meaning they get to cement their place in the first College Football Playoff Semi-Final Fun-time Extravaganza.  Also too, the Noles dominance will probably prevent any other ACC team of even getting into the major bowls as well.  Such is life in the conference that is still at the bottom of the Power Five pecking order (but at least they’re in the Power Five…ask the American conference how they feel).

Finally, on a completely unrelated note, Sportsnet has SHOCKINGLY dropped OUA football from their schedule.  And by shockingly, I mean not shocking at all since they paid an arm and a leg (and probably sold some souls as well) to get the NHL package.  They have no time in their schedule for OUA football.  If they have no time for NCAA football, they sure as shit weren’t going to show anything OUA or CIS-related.  Could this be the beginning of more schools looking at the NCAA (at least for football)?  Simon Fraser is now D-II and I know UBC has been looking into that.  There are a few schools who could actually do well at the FCS level (Laval, Western, Saskatchewan) so it wouldn’t surprise me by the end of the decade if more schools moved in that direction.

And then there were four…soon to be three. A look at the Independents (and a bit about TSN).

Are we getting close to the day when there are no independent teams in the FBS?  I am pretty sure they have come close at the FCS level (I know there was at least one season where there was only one independent).  I think with the way the College Football Playoff is structured, Navy was smart to join the American for next season (although it could create a scheduling nightmare, with the annual Army-Navy game AFTER the conference championship).  BYU is basically looking for a new conference that doesn’t have the words Mountain or West in it.  Army would probably be smart to look at Conference USA again or maybe even the MAC.  The only team that really isn’t affected is Notre Dame and even they have semi-locked themselves in with the ACC with five games a season against teams from that conference.  So at the very least, I think by the end of the decade, the Irish will stand alone as an independent.  Prediction time.

1. BYU Cougars (11-1 overall) – I am going out on a limb here saying BYU has the chance to be VERY good this season.  Yes they lost Kyle Van Noy but the D looks like it could be even better.  And Taysom Hill is an absolute beast at QB.  Can throw the ball.  Can run it even better.  Bronco Mendenhall will have his best Cougs’ team ever in his coaching career.  Problem is, is 11-1 enough to crack CFPMania?  If not, they head to Miami Beach which might seem almost like a slap in the face.
2. Navy Midshipmen (10-2 overall) – Speaking of best teams ever, Ken Niumatalolo will have his best Middies team ever as well.  He also is slated to become the winningest coach in Navy history.  Think about that.  With all the history this program has, he will be the greatest of them all.  Very impressive.  What could be more impressive is Keenan Reynolds.  Can he actually be more productive than last year?  He’d have to find another team to score 7 rushing TDs against which might be tough (although I see VMI on the schedule so you never know).
3. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (9-3 overall) – The more important question here might be if the Irish, winning two less games but having a much tougher schedule, have enough to overtake BYU in the rankings and in the eyes of The Committee?  Guaranteed only one independent team, at most, makes it into the extravaganza.  And we all know how much the BCS had a hard-on for the Irish and I think The Committee may be no better (although I’m sure Tyrone Willingham won’t be allowed to get the above-stated hard-on).  The two less wins will, for sure, keep the Irish lower in the rankings but it doesn’t matter if The Committee selects them over the Cougs.
4. Army Black Knights (5-7 overall) – There are many experts who believe the Black Knights have enough to return to a bowl game in Jeff Monken’s first season at West Point.  I don’t think they will quite get there.  They will be much improved but with enough tough games on their schedule to trip them up along the way, it will all come down to the Army-Navy game at the end of the season and we all know how Army has played the Middies over the last, oh, dozen times.

Of course there is no conference championship because this isn’t a conference.  Navy joins the American conference for 2015, where they will have a chance to play in the new American Conference championship game.  As I said above, BYU and Army will probably look for new homes over the next few years.  In my opinion, I see BYU going to the Big XII and Army heading for the MAC, leaving Notre Dame as the only independent for the near future.

The college football season is 5 days away!!!  OK, the FBS season doesn’t start until the 28th but the first televised game is in five days.  Well, for our neighbours to the south it is.  For us up here, not exactly cut-and-dry.  I am assuming, like last season, the earliest we will see a Bell or Rogers specialty pack schedule is about three days in advance.  At the most.  A lot of times it isn’t finalized until the night before.  I checked this morning and there is still nothing up on the U.S. College Sports Package (I’m with Bell if you didn’t already know that).  I will keep checking as this Saturday approaches.

As for TSN and their three new channels, the original thought was that the newbies would pack in a lot more live sports.  Well, there may be a wrinkle in this as it seems like TSN may be going the Sportsnet route (kind of) by making the three new channels more like regional channels in nature.  So TSN3 would service the west more, TSN4, central Canada, etc.  If this happens, then they obviously don’t notice Sportsnet’s history of absolutely terrible programming decisions.  The Rogers Cup is a fine example.  At one point, all four regionals PLUS SN1 had the same damn tennis match on.  Seriously?  Are they fucking stupid there?  Now, if all we got was our own region’s channel, then fine I totally understand.  But other than the blacked out NHL games not in our area, we get all four regional Sportsnets and their full schedules.  So hopefully TSN doesn’t go full-on regional with these three new channels or otherwise we will be no farther ahead when it comes to new programming and may actually end up losing out a bit.

C’mon. Just let BYU in. C’mon, don’t be jerks about it. Yeah we’re looking at you Texas.

We are going to find out very soon whether not having a conference championship will be a hindrance.  I personally think, with the College Football Playoff upon us, it won’t make a difference as a committee picks the teams, not a computer.  Saying that, the pressure to add teams will be upon Bob Bowlsby and the Big XII.  Expect questions about BYU, Cincinnati, Boise State, and maybe even others, especially with more autonomy for the Power Five conferences.  As for this season, there are two teams who are a head above the rest.  Prediction time!

1. Oklahoma Sooners (9-0 conference, 12-0 overall) – And this is why it won’t matter (this season at least) whether the Big XII has a conference championship or not.  I fully expect the Sooners to run the table.  Lucky them, they get Baylor at home which will be the key game for them.  Trevor Knight will look like a million bucks, while Bobby Stoops will make more than a million bucks but he may very well deserve every penny this season.
2. Baylor Bears (8-1 conference, 11-1 overall) – As I said earlier, the Bears have to travel to Norman to face the Sooners in early November.  Otherwise I would have picked Baylor to win the Big XII and run the table.  Main reason?  They have what the Sooners don’t: a legitimate Heisman contender.  By my calculations, Bryce Petty should throw the ball about 81 times a game and might smash all sorts of Big XII (and possibly NCAA) records this season.
3. Kansas State Wildcats (7-2 conference, 9-3 overall) – As I always say, never count out a Bill Snyder team.  Papa Snyder always seems to find a way to reload rather than rebuild.  Arguably the best JUCO recruiter in the land, he always seems to get some great experienced players to come play for him in Manhattan.  And you never know…yes they have to go on the road to both Oklahoma and Baylor but one upset throws the entire conference into disarray.
4. Texas Longhorns (6-3 conference, 9-3 overall) – Charlie Strong (yet another college coach I would not want to piss off) says his Horns are not contenders this year.  Be as that may, Texas should be a bit better than last season and they are trending in the right direction.  The only wrinkle could be the health of David Ash.  Without him at 100%, this could become a very interesting few months in Austin.
5. TCU Horned Frogs (4-5 conference, 6-6 overall) – Many experts have Gary Patterson’s Frogs winning 8, 9, or even 10 games.  I mean they’ll be improved but come on.  Let’s be serious here.  Are they better than any of the four teams above them here?  I don’t think so.  They may pull an upset this season but don’t expect much more than a middle-of-the-standings finish for this squad.
6. Oklahoma State Cowboys (4-5 conference, 6-6 overall) – Since Mike Gundy IS A MAN he can take my prediction LIKE A MAN.  The Cowboys won’t come close to last year’s performance when they were a Bedlam victory away from a BCS bowl.  The worst part is that this team should start 6-2 and look like a contender.  But a closing stretch of KSU, Texas, Baylor, and OU would send any team to its knees.
7. Iowa State Cyclones (2-7 conference, 4-8 overall) – The return of Mark Mangino.  What I wouldn’t give to see him on Brady Hoke’s staff.  That alone would intimidate opposing teams.  I feel a bit bad for Paul Rhoads.  Being in such a difficult conference and having to play every team so no schedule breaks makes even getting to a bowl a tough road.  It wouldn’t even surprise me if Rhoads doesn’t make it next season but if they can pull off an upset or two it should save his job.
8. Texas Tech Red Raiders (2-7 conference, 5-7 overall) – Oh my, is this going to be an unpopular pick…especially with the ladies.  I get it, Kute Kliff Kingsbury is young and easy on the eyes I guess but he still has to, you know, coach his team, and try to help them get victories.  I do think Davis Webb will be a college star and may throw approximately 74 times a game in Kliff’s high-octane offense but they have to stop teams as well and therein lies the problem in Lubbock.
9. West Virginia Mountaineers (2-7 conference, 3-9 overall) – Speaking of unpopular picks, here’s another.  It seems like almost every team not named Kansas is expected to go to a bowl this year.  I have this bad feeling about the boys from Morgantown and their drunk uncle Dana.  I just don’t see how this team is any better than the eight teams I listed before them.  I think the hot seat will become cool quickly as the one-time heir apparent and future saviour, Mr. Holgorsen, will be unceremoniously dumped at the end of the season.
10. Kansas Jayhawks (1-8 conference, 3-9 overall) – I think even Evil Nick Saban would have difficulty getting this program to a bowl game.  They just have nothing going for them.  I don’t really think Charlie Weis is a good head coach but I do feel sorry for him here.  Basically, the students of Kansas are waiting for basketball season to begin.

So yeah…no conference championship.  We will hear this constantly all year.  Everyone bemoaned realignment but yet most desperately want the Big XII to go back to, you know, XII teams.  I do believe at some point in the next three to four years you will see two new teams.  But who do you pick out of Boise State, BYU, Cincinnati, and potentially others?  As for this season, Oklahoma is an easy pick for the College Football Playoff and expect Baylor to get to one of the major bowls as well as there’s very little drop-off in Waco under Art Briles’ watch.

And, just to let you know, college football starts in 8 days!!!!!!

Talking the talk and potentially walking the walk (if it isn’t too difficult) – a Big Ten tradition

Almost as bad as the fans who get raging diamond cutters over the SEC are the fans who defend the Big Ten or their teams and do it in a pathetic manner.  The Big Ten is a good conference, not a great one, not a bad one, just a good one.  When they have the opportunity to win the big one, every time (other than the phantom pass interference penalty in the 2002 title game), they choke.  It’s just a fact.  So for all the tOSU fans, all the Nittany Lion diehards, all the ones who want to defend Brady Hoke’s diet or Darrell Hazell’s possibility of success in West Lafayette, take it down a notch.  Let the season play out and hope one of your teams makes it to the College Football Playoff and then anything could happen.  OK, enough of that rant.  I think years of getting only Big Ten and Notre Dame games (and the SEC game of the week on CBS, even pre-Verne) has caught up to me.  Here are the Big Ten predictions.

East Division

1. Michigan State Spartans (8-0 conference, 11-1 overall) – It’s time for Sparty to show the rest of the conference who’s boss.  They are in easily the tougher of the two Big Ten divisions so it won’t be easy.  But with tOSU, Michigan, and Nebraska all coming to East Lansing, this is the Spartans’ best chance in a very long time to contend for a national championship.  Only a mega-matchup against Oregon will keep this team from running the table.
2. Ohio State Buckeyes (7-1 conference, 11-1 overall) – The Fighting Urbans (or the Fighting Meyers, whichever you choose) had a pretty bad end to last season.  After 24 wins in a row, they came crashing back down to Earth.  But I would have them winning the East and going back to Indianapolis if it weren’t for one thing; their late season trip to Michigan State.  That will be the one thing that keeps them out of the inaugural CFP Fun-Time Bonanza Semi-Finals of Doom and Destruction and Such.
3. Michigan Wolverines (5-3 conference, 8-4 overall) – Big Bad Brady Hoke brings his somewhat-less-than-big-and-bad Wolverines into this season looking to make a statement and also save his job.  They should be better than last year but not by much.  However, this should be enough to keep his job…for now.  At some point, Hoke has to contend for the division title or he will be given his walking papers.
4. Penn State Nittany Lions (5-3 conference, 9-3 overall) – Hey did you hear James Franklin is now the head coach in State College?  Only thousands of times.  We get it.  He did wonders at Vanderbilt.  And he is an awesome coach.  But unless Christian Hackenburg plays lights out all season it won’t matter.  Wait, it won’t matter anyway since they won’t be going bowling regardless of how they do.  Most interesting thing may be in the off-season if the NCAA discusses cutting the Lions’ stay in bowl game purgatory.
5. Indiana Hoosiers (2-6 conference, 3-9 overall) – Why, oh why do experts always play up the Hoosiers’ chances every fucking year?  Every.  Fucking.  Season.  “This is the year Indiana goes to a bowl game.”  “This is the year Indiana gets into the upper echelon of the Big Ten.”  “This is the year the football Hoosiers show everyone that it’s not just basketball that everyone cares about at Indiana.”  Can you all please just fuck off?  Indiana is finishing near the bottom this year…again.  Period.  Let’s move on before I actually get pissed off about this.
6. Maryland Terrapins (1-7 conference, 4-8 overall) – Everyone in the Big Ten East (even Indiana) has to be salivating at the arrival of the Terps.  If it was a better ACC team, they may not have been as pleased, but this is OK…for now.  Maryland will be competitive quickly in the conference but not this season, which is music to the other teams’ ears.  On the other hand we have the other team that joined the Big Ten for this season…
7. Rutgers Scarlet Knights (1-7 conference, 3-9 overall) – …this team is different.  Whereas Maryland should be competitive soon and may exceed my expectations even this season, the Knights most certainly will not.  They were barely OK in the American and take a massive step up here and should get their asses handed to them on an almost-weekly basis.  If it wasn’t for the fact they get Indiana at home, I probably would have had them running the table (in the opposite direction).

 

West Division

1. Wisconsin Badgers (7-1 conference, 10-2 overall) – The Badgers have a very rough start to the season; playing LSU in Houston.  They will most certainly be underdogs there.  However, they probably won’t be the rest of the way.  A possible issue with a game at Iowa but other than that it looks like smooth sailing.  And what kind of unbiased schedule maker, gives the Badgers a schedule without tOSU and Sparty?  How about someone who’s a secret Cheesehead or is originally from Madison.  What a joke.
2. Iowa Hawkeyes (6-2 conference, 9-3 overall) – I made a huge mistake last year of calling Iowa the worst BCS conference team.  Boy was I wrong.  Won’t make that same mistake again.  I’m even saying that Iowa has an outside shot at winning the division but it will all come down to their game against the Badgers at home late in the season.  Win that, and they may make their first trip to the Big Ten title game.
3. Nebraska Cornhuskers (5-3 conference, 9-3 overall) – See what I did there?  You see?  There isn’t a 4 in the losses section.  Yes, I am going out on the limb of limbs (and pretty much making sure Bo Pelini doesn’t kick my ass) by saying the Huskers will only lose THREE games this season.  Amazing!  Unfortunately, they fall in the division standings despite breaking the Pelini Curse which may make Bo (and Pelini Cat) even angrier.
4. Northwestern Wildcats (4-4 conference, 6-6 overall) – Remember when the Cats were playing Ohio State and it was on Saturday night on ABC and Musburger was calling the game?  It seems like eons ago…it was early last October.  Ever since that game, the Wildcats were beyond awful (horri-awful according to the Shaquille O’Neal dictionary).  This is their chance for a tiny bit of redemption as I see more of early-season Northwestern rather than late-season Northwestern and have the Wildcats inching into a bowl game this season.
5. Minnesota Golden Gophers (4-4 conference, 7-5 overall) – So Jerry Kill will be back on the sideline this season.  This is good.  And the Gophers won’t return to being shitty.  This is also good.  The same schedule that didn’t give Wisky the Buckeyes and Spartans gave them to the Gophers.  Yeah, thanks bud.  Throw in games against Michigan and travelling to Nebraska and this team will earn their bowl game bid this season.
6. Illinois Fighting Illini (1-7 conference, 4-8 overall) – Tim Beckman must almost seem sad, longing for the good old days when he was back in the MAC, being all successful and shit at a smaller program.  His time in Champaign will probably come to an end after this season (or during if they’ve truly tried of him) as there is no way he can will the Illini to a bowl game this season.  Sorry, Timm-ay.
7. Purdue Boilermakers (0-8 conference, 3-9 overall) – Speaking of former MAC coaches regretting their decisions to take a step up, Darrell Hazell and his fighting train engineers better get used to the basement.  There is nothing about this team that screams progress or competitiveness or conference wins.  Luckily for Purdue, other than Notre Dame, their non-conference sked is a joke so they should at least win more than they did last year during that awful season that they would like to forget.

And now the conference championship game prediction.  And what the Big Ten Conference Championship game has taught us is that you should rarely pick the favourite.  Or just pick Wisconsin.  I will buck this awful trend and say Michigan State beats Wisky pretty easily and has an outside shot at the CFP Semi-Finals.

You know, with Lane Kiffin gone, the Pac-12 has got better. Just sayin.

But let’s not call it coincidence or correlation.  Then again he has gone to the SEC so if they don’t get two schools in the College Football Playoff, blame him.

The Pac-12 has become the de facto second best conference in the land and it’s by a long shot as well (at least last season and probably this one…ok probably the next few as well unless the Big XII goes crazy).  You can expect no less than three national title contenders, two true Heisman trophy contenders, and a few NFL first rounders from this conference alone this season.  It’s just too bad I can’t get half their games because we don’t (and never will) get the Pac-12 Network here.  Such a shame.

North Division

1. Oregon Ducks (8-1 conference, 11-1 overall) – First spoiler alert: no Pac-12 team will go undefeated inside the conference.  This conference is too tough with too many top tier teams for this to happen.  This could affect seeding for the College Football Playoff but The Committee should respect what these teams have to go through.  Saying all that, Team Nike should have the best shot in the Pac-12 North, the toughest division in football not named the SEC West.
2. Stanford Cardinal (7-2 conference, 9-3 overall) – One of the latest trendy things in college football is basically dickriding everything Stanford.  I get it.  Since Harbaugh the Elder (or is he the younger one…wait, just call him Harbaugh the Insane) took over at The Farm, things have been coming up Roses for the Cardinal.  No pun intended, they have been to a lot of Rose Bowls recently.  But even with David Shaw being one of the best coaches in the land, they can’t be the best all the time and I hate to say it, they are going to Autzen and they will probably lose, end of story.  Now let’s move on.
3. Washington Huskies (6-3 conference, 10-3 overall) – Don’t be alarmed.  My math isn’t wrong.  Washington plays 13 times this season thanks to the “Travel to Hawaii, Get an Extra Game” clause that a team can use.  Ubercoach Chris Petersen goes farther west to see if he can bring that Boise magic to a team that has been stuck in neutral for the past few years.  His first year should see some improvement but wait another year or two.  Then the Pac-12 North could get VERY interesting.
4. Oregon State Beavers (6-3 conference, 9-3 overall) – Somehow the Beavers come in fourth in the Pac-12 North.  In most divisions, they would make a fine runner-up.  It’s too bad they are stuck in a brutal division.  Until they can win against one of the teams above them, this will be their customary spot.  On the bright spot, Sean Mannion may destroy all Pac-12 passing records this year as I am sure Mike Riley plans on having him throw the ball approximately 78 times a game.
5. Washington State Cougars (1-8 conference, 4-8 overall) – Last year was fun for Wazzu.  Mike Leach’s Fun Time Crazy Offense Starring Connor Halliday was great to watch.  Too bad their defense was horrible and the trainwreck that was the last two minutes of the New Mexico Bowl is probably a sign of things to come this year.  With many teams in the Pac-12 improving, unless Halliday and his band of merry receivers go absolutely insane and score 50 a game, this team isn’t going bowling and may float back to the bottom of the division.
6. California Golden Bears (0-9 conference, 1-11 overall) – Poor Sonny Dykes.  Left a pretty good thing in Ruston with LaTech to go to Berkeley and go right into the hot seat of coaching.  This team is going nowhere fast.  As I said above, pretty much all the other teams are improving which means Cal falls to the bottom of the pile.  Even Colorado should beat them this year.  Maybe bottoming out will help Dykes scrap the system and start over.  Question is does he get the time to do so?

South Division

1. UCLA Bruins (8-1 conference, 10-2 overall) – I talk about chic picks a lot in these predictions.  Here’s another one.  The Bruins to go to the College Football Playoff.  I’m not saying it won’t happen.  It very well might.  I think part of the reason for this pick is that his very well may be the last we see Brett Hundley and Myles Jack playing college football.  Two Heisman hopefuls on the same team.  However; their schedule is too difficult and I see them slipping up once which would be enough to eliminate them from CFP consideration unless they win the Pac-12 title outright.
2. USC Trojans (6-3 conference, 9-3 overall) – I really do think the Trojans made the right call naming Steve Sarkisian head coach and not giving in to pressure to hire Ed Orgeron.  Orgeron was great in the few games he coached for the Trojans but he was beyond brutal at Ole Miss.  Great coordinator, average head coach.  Sarkisian was ready to move on but they will have to wait for the UCLA show to conclude which should be this season.  Then he can start his assault on the Pac-12 South.
3. Arizona Wildcats (6-3 conference, 8-4 overall) – I am one of the few people who think the Wildcats may be even better than they were last year, even without Ka’Deem Carey?  You can never count me as a huge RichRod fan but he seems to be doing some good things in the desert and I even see them passing their brethren down the way in Tempe this season.  Speaking of Tempe…
4. Arizona State Sun Devils (3-6 conference, 6-6 overall) – I could get some flak from people but I just don’t see the ASU hype.  Other than the fact they are the biggest party school in the land (with some incredibly smoking hot college women), their football team has been a little above-average.  Nothing special since Jake The Snake Plummer left years ago.  I see a step back for a team that, yes, should have lost to Wisconsin last year (thanks a bunch instant replay).
5. Utah Utes (2-7 conference, 4-8 overall) – Are the Utes now the worst FBS team in the state of Utah?  Well they have been for two years now I don’t know what would have changed.  Kyle Whittingham has to be on an incredibly hot seat this season as I don’t see the Utes winning much more than they did last year.  Which will inevitably lead to a coaching search as this team has done nothing more than tread water since coming over from the Pac-12’s scrappy younger brother, the Mountain West conference.
6. Colorado Buffaloes (1-8 conference, 3-9 overall) – Thank god for Cal being on their sked, am I right?  Mike MacIntyre has the rebuilding job of all rebuilding jobs these days.  Two decades ago, this team broke the Nebraska-Oklahoma Big Eight stranglehold.  Now they struggle against FCS teams.  They should be slightly better this year than last and I am guessing it will continue in the coming years.  I mean if he can bring San Jose State back from the dead (albeit briefly), then he should be able to do it for almost any program.

Now this will be some kind of conference championship game.  Brand spankin new Levi’s Stadium to host instead of letting the better school host (which I always thought was a stupid idea) and a Friday night all to themselves (apologies to MACtion fans but come on).  Plus, if it ends up being the Ducks and the Bruins it should be a fantastic match.  I have the Ducks winning and moving on to the CFP semis but it won’t be easy on them.