Since every ACC defense, logic, not acting like a moron, and common sense are all things that Mr. Winston seems to elude.
Definitely an interesting week since we could have a LOADED mid-afternoon schedule. Which makes it all the worse for me since I have my kids so what to put on the PVR? I’m going to have to make some difficult choices. Saying that, a few games are up in the air as to where they will land and if we will be able to see them. So let’s start with the cable schedule and then discussion on it afterwards:
| Texas Tech at Oklahoma State (Thu) | 7:30 PM | TSN1/TSN3 |
| Missouri Western at Lindenwood (Thu) | 8:00 PM | CBSSN |
| Georgetown at Colgate | 12:00 PM | WNYO |
| Northwestern at Penn State | 12:00 PM | BTN |
| TCU at SMU | 12:00 PM | CBSSN |
| Tennessee at Georgia | 12:00 PM | TSN2 |
| Western Michigan at Virginia Tech | 12:30 PM | WSBK |
| Maryland at Indiana* | 1:30 PM | BTN |
| Minnesota at Michigan | 3:30 PM | ABC/TSN2 |
| FIU at UAB | 3:30 PM | WNYO |
| Arkansas vs. Texas A&M (in Arlington) | 3:30 PM | CBS |
| Western Kentucky at Navy | 3:30 PM | CBSSN |
| Florida State at NC State | 3:30 PM | TSN3 |
| Stanford at Washington | 4:00 PM | FOX |
| Cincinnati at Ohio State | 6:00 PM | BTN |
| Boise State at Air Force | 7:00 PM | CBSSN |
| Baylor at Iowa State | 7:30 PM | FOX |
| Notre Dame vs. Syracuse (in East Rutherford) | 8:00 PM | ABC |
| Illinois at Nebraska | 9:00 PM | BTN |
| Nevada at San Jose State | 10:30 PM | CBSSN |
A few of these games aren’t set but should be over the next 24 hours. The ACC Network game of the week normally shown on WSBK out of Boston is up in the air, mainly because the two games at that time are the aforementioned WMU-VT and Colorado State playing Boston College. As of right now, I have WMU-VT in the ACC Network slot and CSU-BC on the specialty pack but it may be flipped. Either way, both games should be shown one way or another. The real odd one comes with the FOX doubleheader. Nowhere on a Bell schedule have I seen a timeslot for the afternoon Stanford-Washington game. I can’t see why FOX wouldn’t show it here but you never know the reasons that some of these companies use sometimes. Again, I assume it will be shown but it’s not 100% at this point. Finally, Maryland-Indiana is being shown in progress after the noon BTN game. This way it sets up for enough time to get ready for the rather big Cincy-tOSU game starting at the odd 6:00 timeslot.
Now, for the specialty pack schedule which has a lot of issues at the moment:
| Appalachian State at Georgia Southern (Thu) | 7:30 PM |
| Fresno State at New Mexico (Fri) | 8:00 PM |
| Wyoming at Michigan State | 12:00 PM |
| USF at Wisconsin | 12:00 PM |
| Vanderbilt at Kentucky | 12:00 PM |
| Colorado State at Boston College | 12:30 PM |
| Western Michigan at Virginia Tech | 12:30 PM |
| Wake Forest at Louisville | 3:30 PM |
| Louisiana Tech at Auburn | 4:00 PM |
| Missouri at South Carolina | 7:00 PM |
| North Carolina at Clemson* | 7:00 PM |
| Duke at Miami* | 7:30 PM |
| New Mexico State at LSU | 7:30 PM |
| Oregon State at USC | 10:30 PM |
Wow, what a shitshow. Some are here, others there, slots open but nothing filling them. Ridiculous. Let’s start with the early games. Looks like both ACC Network games will appear on the specialty pack. I think that’s a load of bullshit and one of them will appear on WSBK and the other here. Also, I noticed USF-Wisconsin (ESPNU) and Wyoming-Michigan State (ESPN2) appear on a Rogers SSP schedule but aren’t on any of Bell’s. I have included them here despite the fact they aren’t on the guide yet but considering they are an ESPN2 and ESPNU game they should appear on both. Vandy-UK is an SEC Network game so right now, only Bell has it. Don’t know if Rogers will wake up and put them on or not at this point. Same goes for the LaTech-Auburn game at 4. Bell has it for now, Rogers doesn’t. The late games have a different issue. Spots that just say TBA for both Rogers and Bell. In the 7:00 spot I expect both Duke-Miami and North Carolina-Clemson to be included sometime in the next day or so as they are ESPN2 and ESPNU games, respectively. Luckily for Rogers, ESPN got the Mizzou-Carolina game and the SEC Network got NMSU-LSU because if they still don’t have SEC Network games and got that latter game instead of Missouri-South Carolina, many subscribers would pitch an absolute fit (and rightfully so). So hopefully all this is nailed down by tomorrow at some point.
Games of the Week
UCLA at Arizona State – This pains me since we won’t see this one…at all. Thanks Rogers for gobbling up that FOX college football package. This almost becomes an elimination game as both teams limp in and look to hold on to relevance in the Pac-12 South. USC won’t continue to be this bad, Arizona has horseshoes that may not have been surgically removed yet, and Utah is surging so a loss here could destroy any small CFP chances.
Florida State at NC State – Don’t laugh. Many people are on High Upset Alert with this one. Last time FSU came here in 2012, they were #2 in the nation and got squeezed out by the Wolfpack. And they weren’t even that good that year. This year, they have started 4-0 so this could end up being a fun one to watch.
Arkansas vs. Texas A&M – Fuck, another game at JerryWorld? This is getting stupid. Neutral-site games have lost so much of their lustre it is ridiculous. But this game could be good. BielemaBall needs this win badly to show they are relevant in the SEC West. The Aggies need this win to show they are a top 10 team to reckon with. A Razorbacks win here puts the entire division in turmoil.
Cincinnati at Ohio State – There are actually at least four other games I could have put here in the last spot. There are that many pretty good games this week so obviously that’s good for us. If Cincy and Gunner Kiel can somehow pull this one out, it continues the burial of the Big Ten and solidifies that conference’s spot as the worst of the Power Five. It also makes the Bearcats put East Carolina, Marshall, Boise State, and any other Weak Five member on notice that they are gunning (no pun intended) for that lone New Year’s Six spot.
My Picks
Not that great last week and my ProLine ticket showed it. To be honest I hate betting on college football because I enjoy just watching the games too much. Anyway, for anyone who is absolutely desperate, here are some of my picks for the week:
Tennessee over Georgia (big upset for the Vols)
Texas A&M over Arkansas (but it will be close)
Florida State over NC State (again, the Wolfpack put a scare in the Noles)
Cincinnati over Ohio State (yeah I’m calling it)
Duke over Miami
USC over Oregon Sate
I will be getting the NFL schedule up tomorrow along with my picks. 13-3 this past week, not bad, but not good enough for that big ProLine payday. Maybe this week. Maybe this week.
Update: As I figured, Friday morning seems to bring some updates. Stanford-Washington now appears at 4 on FOX. WMU-Virginia Tech now appears as the main ACC Network GOTW on WSBK. It also still seems to be appearing on the specialty pack for some reason (along with CSU-BC, the other ACC Network affair). The ESPN2 and ESPNU games in primetime still show as TBA but I can almost assure they will be Duke-Miami and NC-Clemson.
Update #2: Still no sight of USF-Wisconsin or Wyoming-Michigan State on the specialty packs yet….well at least on Bell. Don’t know about Rogers since it isn’t the same anymore. It should appear and makes no sense not to appear. Then again, I don’t schedule the games for Bell or Rogers (since I’d do a better job blindfolded).
Bossman's Blog 
What happened to BELL US College Sports pack! Did they lose the ESPN feeds when TSN went to 5 feeds? It’s amazing that ESPN2 (MSU v Wyoming) isn’t carried on US College Sports by Bell.
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Some ESPN games (and the occasional SEC Network one) will end up on one of the TSNs. Saying that, let’s wait for Wyoming-MSU (and USF-Wisconsin) to appear on the specialty packs since this happened last week when Virginia-BYU was a late addition (Friday morning I believe). I will update the chart if things change.
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I’d be shocked if the Bearcats took down tOSU, but I like getting the 15.5 pts. And South Carolina -5 hosting Mizzou.
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Decided on two upsets this week since picking mostly favourites last week (here and mostly on ProLine) didn’t pan out too well. If tOSU plays like they did against Virginia Tech then it could be very interesting.
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Bossman, what is up with Rogers and Fox Sports? Did they buy it up and not use it or something. FS1 has a decent lineup of games, and this ASU-UCLA is one of those headliner games they get every now and then (last year it was Baylor-Oklahoma). Im assuming that there is zero chance FS1 games show up anywhere. It is a pretty good network actually.
I like your Cincy – OSU pick. I obviously hate the Buckeyes, but from an objective view, I think OSU picked the wrong year/time to resume the series by facing Tubs and the Bearcats.
The Tennessee – Georgia and Arkansas – A&M games really have my attention, as well as Mizzou-South Carolina. Goes to show you how far down the ladder the SECN games are.
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As far as I know, Rogers purchased rights to the FOX college football library, meaning they could show FOX and FS1 games if they wanted. Last year it happened a few times that they simsubbed an evening FOX game. I don’t remember them showing an FS1 game last season (I think it was two seasons ago when they did).
Yeah it looks like FS1 is going to try their best to get at least one if not two or three good Thursday night matchups to go up against the ESPN Thursday nighters which are usually good but sometimes just mediocre (take tonight’s game).
Yeah tOSU isn’t bad but Cincy is playing damn good ball. It could definitely be a wrong place/wrong time deal for the Buckeyes.
I had figured the SEC Network was supposed to get the second choice of SEC games (after CBS) and then they would alternate with ESPN for the rest. That can’t be the case since they’ve ended up with, for the most part, the low-end games on the sked. Still nice to have the SEC Network games shown (at least if you’re a Bell subscriber) since the possibility is there to have a fantastic game (like UK-Florida).
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I think the Ryder Cup complicates things for TSN this weekend… for instance they aren’t showing Gameday at 9am because of the golf/EPL (which I’ve tweeted them to inquire about).
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Well not just the Ryder Cup and EPL but Toronto FC playing a game at 1 doesn’t help either. It is basically handcuffed TSN when it comes to Gameday and the noon timeslot although I am glad they at least squeezed one game in (Tenn-UGA on the Deuce (TSN2)).
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Yeah that sucks about gameday, always enjoy watching it. I found an online stream of it, so hopefully it works.
At least NFL countdown is on for sunday, or I’d be seriously PO’ed.
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I am enjoying the Blog, Bossman. Very glad I stumbled upon it. Aside from a few missing SEC Network games (I am pretty sure Georgia Troy was SEC Network and on TSN last week? so maybe they will play most of them?) , I have been pleasantly surprised with the amount of college football available on Rogers this year. Between B10 Network, CBS and Sportspack, I can usually get everything I want.
Keep up the good work!
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I think Rogers subscribers are lucky to still have CBS Sports Network and BTN because otherwise the amount of games would definitely be less than what Bell gives out. Then again, I can’t see this continuing throughout the season. At some point, when SECN games aren’t on one of the TSNs, they will end up on the SSP, even if it’s in SD (which Bell usually does anyway with only three HD channels available on their specialty pack).
I am glad you enjoy the blog.
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Did you have the chance to PVR either USF @ Wisconsin and/or Wyoming @ Michigan State earlier today?
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I checked early Saturday morning (around 7) and I still saw no signs of either game so I couldn’t PVR it. I was out the door by 9 and not back until the afternoon so no chance to change it but noticed they finally appeared in the guide. Not impressed.
Other thing I am not impressed with is trying to record Missouri-South Carolina and it being switched with North Carolina-Clemson. When I am home all Saturday on my own I don’t worry about it since I can just switch the channel. Not so when I have to record a bunch of games to watch later. Not liking Bell right now for that.
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Bell must do these things at the last minute just to play games with college sports subscribers minds. That’s not good how you wanted to record Missouri @ South Carolina and they switched the channel you PVR’d to the North Carolina @ Clemson game. It was a real piss off since you had your kids this past weekend.
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No kidding. And on top of that, there were some serious shenanigans with the late night match. Started with Oregon State-USC until about the 8 minute mark of the first quarter. Then it switched to a tape-delayed SWAC game. Then at some point early in the third quarter of that game it went back to the Oregon State-USC game. I know for a fact that wasn’t ESPN doing that so it had to have been Bell. I wondered when up until Friday night there was a second time-slot set up for a late night game saying TBA when there was no other ESPN network late night games.
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