SUPER MEGA HYPER OMNI POST! V4.0.1

This post is really long.  Like seriously fucking long.  So if you are not fully awake or have some caffeine in your system, you might want to wait to read this.  Viewer discretion is strongly advised.

I have done this three times before.  It’s time for number four!

Instead of doing a full recap and then a full bowl projections post, I figured I would combine them into one insanely long post!  Why?  To save time! That is complete bullshit but that is what I have told myself every year so I will continue to do so.  It was an…let’s call it an OK week of college football that contained a few exciting games.  We are headed into an exciting finish to the season.  Now we can see how COVID will wreak havoc on it since it will most certainly happen.  We just don’t know when and to what team(s).

Let’s start with recapping the week that was.  There were a few fun things that happened and I slept in way too long Sunday morning.  A Fall tradition.

• One of three ranked-on-ranked games on the week had Iowa State outlast Texas.  The difference here was mostly one guy: Breece Hall.  His work on the ground was a boon for the Cyclone offense as he was able to help ISU milk a lot of clock in this one.  He is a lot like a Clone legend: Troy Davis.  A great player who won’t get any Heisman hype because of the team he plays for.  So now Iowa State has almost clinched their ticket to JerryWorld which will be a nice change from seeing mostly bluebloods in the Big XII Championship since it returned.
• Florida beat Kentucky easily.  Georgia beat South Carolina even easier this past weekend.  The Dawgs have to be rooting for the Vols to win this Saturday over Florida to have any chance at being in the SEC Championship.  I can see many UGA fans having a bad taste in their mouth for having to root for Tennessee but it is what it is.  You know what?  Blame it on COVID.  It will make it feel a bit better.
• You all saw it I’m sure.  Sarah Fuller became the first woman to play in a Power Five football game.  That, in and of itself, is a huge accomplishment.  And of course Twitter, being full of very level-headed people, went crazy over it.  Many loved it but there were some that said it was nothing but a PR stunt.  Here is my take on this.  Vandy had no kickers.  They needed to find someone to kick the damn ball during their game against Missouri.  Was Fuller the best option?  Who knows but she was at least a decent option as she played for the Dores’ SEC Championship women’s soccer team.  So let’s get to her kicking off to start the second half of the game which was her first opportunity to kick the ball.  It was a squib kick that went a little over 30 yards.  For people that don’t think it was a squib kick, give me a fucking break.  The ball wasn’t on a tee, it was held by a player and the Commodores overloaded on the right side, where the squib went.  They wanted to do something different to hopefully get anything going for them in this game.  That was Fuller’s only kick of the game as Vandy was shutout 41-0 by Mizzou.  I think people have to realize something about all this.  Vandy is straight trash this season.  No COVID excuses here: they are just awful.  This felt like trying something different to try something different.  That it was historic is icing on the cake.  Now there seems to be other issues as Derek Mason was just fired and it sounded, from the words of Fuller, a few players and a couple of coaches, that there was no energy on the sideline most of the season and it’s like many had given up before the season had started.  They need a jolt in Nashville to get this team at least being competitive in the SEC.  And that might involve a complete rethinking of the football program at Vanderbilt.  Thank you for coming to my college football Ted Talk.
• LSU’s offense basically took the day off on Saturday.  If it wasn’t for a late touchdown they would have been shutout by Texas A&M.  It’s funny that a 20-7 dominating win over the defending national champions does very little to move the needle for the Aggies.  I still think they have an inside shot at the College Football Playoff but will need to run their next two opponents off the field to convince The Committee.
• Oregon blew it against Oregon State.  But that wasn’t the story.  The story was the Pac-12 officiating crew calling the game.  Oregon goes offside (that anyone could see) and it’s not called.  The Beavers scored a touchdown but it was called short.  This meant another play had to be run where their quarterback got injured.  This was all in the final minute.  And the officials seemed to have no idea how to call anything.  It was atrocious.  I am sure they will get a pay raise for it.
• In almost-upset news, Iowa almost gakked their game away to Nebraska in the annual Black Friday CornHub game.  And this is not really a good Huskers program these days.  They really have not been a contender for a long time (and no I don’t include that time they started 7-0 a few years back and then were terrible the rest of the way).  I am sure they long for the days of Bo Pelini.  Hell they may desire the Bill Callahan days!  Scott Frost will be on a seriously hot seat to start next season and now some have to look back and take back their thoughts of basically poaching him from UCF as the Knights are still doing quite well under Josh Heupel.
• The game that was created mere days in advance, put on late night on ESPN because of other cancellations, then moved into the ABC primetme spot due to MORE cancellations, did not disappoint.  It was all Utah in the first half and then all Washington in the second half.  The Huskies ended up holding on for the victory after taking a late lead and stay undefeated.  This may only lead to a possible New Year’s Six bid but at this point I am sure Pac-12 teams are very happy to be playing (when they get the opportunity to play that is).
• SMU got boatraced for most of the game by *checks notes* East Carolina?  What the hell?  It was 45-7 at the half for the Pirates.  So either ECU is much better than most of us figured or the Mustangs are not nearly as good as many of us thought.  I’m going to go with the latter so this doesn’t seem like a massive upset.
• If you missed it, history was made in western New York.  Buffalo Bulls running back Jaret Patterson went off on Kent State.  Patterson scored eight rushing touchdowns, tying Howard Griffith’s 30-year-old record!  He also came within 18 yards of Samaje Perine’s single-game record of 427 rushing yards.  An absolutely unreal performance.  And get this: Bulls head coach Lance Leipold had no idea he had tied the record and took him out for their final drive (where Patterson’s backup scored a touchdown).  Worst part is Patterson will get no Heisman hype at all.  But some NFL team will be very happy to have him on Sundays (and Thursdays and Mondays and sometimes Tuesdays).
• A game that almost no one would have watched had a great finish in Big XII country.  Baylor finally got their second win under first-year head coach Dave Aranda.  It was a wild fourth quarter against Kansas State where 31 points were scored and the Bears scored with no time remaining.  Hey remember early on in the season when the Wildcats were getting some contender hype?  Yeah, neither do I.
• Penn State and Michigan played football on Saturday.  That’s almost all I can say about that.  At least the Nittany Lions got their first win of the season.
• Let’s get back to some insane football, Big XII Style.  Oklahoma State and Texas Tech put on an (offensive) performance for the ages during the third quarter of their game.  The two teams combined for five touchdowns in six minutes of play.  Crazy!  That included the Cowboys getting a touchdown off a Red Raider onside kick.  The Pokes ended up winning, keeping their very slim Big XII Championship hopes alive.
• And now to look at something that was not so good.  Late in their game against NC State, Syracuse quarterback Rex Culpepper gets sacked on third and long.  So now, with no timeouts, they have to run a play as there is less than 10 seconds remaining.  Instead, he gets under centre, gets the ball, and spikes it.  That is really the perfect example of Syracuse’s season.
• Finally, a week after Northwestern beat Wisconsin to take full control of the Big Ten West, they get upset by Michigan State and look terrible doing it.  College football, everybody!

Normally I would look at the conference championships and give out scenarios as to what may happen.  With two weeks left, I won’t be doing that.  Also, the fact most of the conference races are a mess doesn’t help.  I will try and bring you this next week..

Alright, on to my bowl projections as of this moment, which may have no worth to them:

Sugar Bowl	CFP Poll #1 vs. CFP Poll #4	Alabama vs. Ohio State
Rose Bowl	CFP Poll #2 vs. CFP Poll #3	Notre Dame vs. Miami

Clemson out, Notre Dame in.  I think the Irish win the rematch in the ACC Championship to clinch the #2 spot.  Ohio State’s resume took a hit with the cancellation of their game but I still see them holding on to the #4 spot.

Which means the New Year’s Six has changed.  But how has it changed?

Orange Bowl	ACC Champ vs. SEC #2	Clemson vs. Texas A&M
Fiesta Bowl	CFP At-large vs. CFP At-large/G5 #1	USC vs. Oklahoma
Peach Bowl	CFP At-large vs. CFP At-large/G5 #1	Florida vs. Cincinnati
Cotton Bowl	CFP At-large vs. CFP At-large/G5 #1	Iowa State vs. Georgia

A lot of changes.  I already mentioned Clemson losing to Notre Dame again but with Miami in the Top 4, they are slotted in the Orange Bowl as the ACC representative.  I have decided that Texas A&M might be picked instead of Florida for the Orange Bowl.  I don’t know why, I just thought that.  So that moves Florida to the Peach Bowl.  Oklahoma, losers of the Big XII Championship, would still be high enough to get the Fiesta Bowl bid since The Committee obviously doesn’t want to put BYU in.  Iowa State, now Big XII champions in my projections, go to the Cotton Bowl and face Georgia who replaces Texas as the final team in.

Now the rest of bowl season which is a shitshow with the pandemic and every team being bowl-eligible and no one knowing the criteria anymore and man I think I need to make myself a drink.

Outback Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Kentucky vs. Northwestern
Gator Bowl	SEC vs. ACC	Ole Miss vs. NC State
Citrus Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Auburn vs. Indiana
Birmingham Bowl	SEC/ACC vs. G5	Mississippi State vs. BYU
Texas Bowl	SEC vs. Big XII	Missouri vs. TCU
Liberty Bowl	SEC vs. Big XII	Tennessee vs. West Virginia
Arizona Bowl	MWC vs. MAC	Nevada vs. Buffalo
Sun Bowl	Pac-12 vs. ACC	Colorado vs. Boston College
Armed Forces Bowl	Big XII vs G5	Baylor vs. Liberty
LA Bowl	Pac-12 vs. MWC	Arizona State vs. San Jose State
Music City Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	LSU vs. Iowa
Duke’s Mayo Bowl	Big Ten vs. ACC	Wisconsin vs. North Carolina
Alamo Bowl	Big XII vs. Pac-12	Texas vs. Oregon
Cheez-It Bowl	Big XII vs. ACC	Oklahoma State vs. Virginia Tech
Military Bowl	American vs. ACC	Memphis vs. Virginia
Guaranteed Rate Bowl	Big XII vs. Big Ten	Kansas State vs. Nebraska
Independence Bowl	Army vs. Pac-12	Army vs. Utah
LendingTree Bowl	Sun Belt vs. G5	Appalachian State vs. SMU
First Responder Bowl	Big XII/ACC vs. G5	Texas Tech vs. Louisiana
Cure Bowl	G5 vs. G5	Florida Atlantic vs. UCF
Gasparilla Bowl	SEC/ACC vs. G5	Wake Forest vs. Miami-OH
Camellia Bowl	G5 vs. G5	UTSA vs. Fresno State
New Mexico Bowl	MWC vs. G5	Air Force vs. Louisiana Tech
Montgomery Bowl	ACC vs. American	Pittsburgh vs. Tulsa
New Orleans Bowl	C-USA vs. Sun Belt	Marshall vs. Coastal Carolina
Boca Raton Bowl	G5 vs. G5	Central Michigan vs. Charlotte
Idaho Potato Bowl	MWC vs. MAC	Boise State vs. Western Michigan
Myrtle Beach Bowl	G5 vs. G5	Ohio vs. San Diego State
Las Vegas Bowl	SEC vs. Pac-12	Arkansas vs. Washington
Frisco Bowl	G5 vs. G5	UAB vs. Troy

A few notes for your perusal:

• Did you notice the missing bowl?  I am guessing probably not.  The Pinstripe Bowl has been cancelled due to concerns over COVID-19 and I have a feeling it won’t be the last.
• The tie-ins actually work better this year with the pandemic parameters (pandameters?).  Putting all the G5 teams into a pool after the conference tie-ins are satisfied and having all teams eligible makes it easier to fill in the bowls.  Now the chances of me being right have gone way down because of it but that’s a different conversation.
• Army, as far as I know, is still the only team that has accepted a bowl bid.  They accepted it over a month ago.  I am not joking.
• I still have no idea if the Las Vegas Bowl is being run.  The website says the 2020 Las Vegas Bowl will be run but it doesn’t mention a date.  So I will keep it in until I find out otheriwse.
• I still don’t understand the idea of split tie-ins.  Just pick a conference and go with it.  Or have a pool of teams to pick from like they have done this year (and I hope they do in the future).  That would at least make more sense.  Then again, nothing much makes sense this year.

Other than those few items, not much to talk about specifically about the bowl projections.  A fair amount has changed in terms of what I am projecting but they aren’t wild changes.  That might change starting this coming weekend.  With only two weeks left in the regular season (kind of), much will happen over this time.  The problem is, with all teams bowl eligible, I can’t see many accepting bowl bids until conference championship weekend.

UPDATE:  The Sun Bowl, one of the longest running bowl games in college football, has been cancelled this year.  See what I mean?

Now I figured instead of doing the conference championship scenarios, I will look into potential scenarios of the future and what they would like in this crazy 2020 season (using the current AP poll rankings).

The five-team CFP

I have advocated for one more team to be added to the College Football Playoff instead of going to eight which is what many want.  What would that do this season?  This:

• Peach Bowl (play-in game): #4 Clemson vs. #5 Texas A&M
• Sugar Bowl: #1 Alabama vs. Clemson/TAMU winner
• Rose Bowl: #2 Notre Dame vs. #3 Ohio State

I would dig this.  Doing the Peach Bowl on the opening day of bowl season would allow this to happen.  Now, other things would have to take place because the schedule is a fucking mess but if it had been set up properly, this could occur.  Ratings, baby!

The six-team CFP

Two teams added.  OK.  Let’s see how this could work out:

• Orange Bowl: #3 Ohio State vs. #6 Florida
• Peach Bowl: #4 Clemson vs. #5 Texas A&M
• Sugar Bowl: #1 Alabama vs. lower-ranked winner from play-in weekend
• Rose Bowl: #2 Notre Dame vs. higher-ranked winner from play-in weekend

Again, I could go for this for sure.  Is it adding a game for two teams possibly?  Yes.  There are ways around this for sure.  Like get rid of conference championships?  Oh wait, that’s money in the conference’s pockets.  Can’t do that.  And yes, I have ISU predicted at #6.

The eight-team CFP

This is what people want.  OK what would it look like for this season?

• Peach Bowl: #1 Alabama vs. #8 BYU
• Fiesta Bowl: #2 Notre Dame vs. #7 Cincinnati
• Orange Bowl: #3 Ohio State vs. #6 Florida
• Cotton Bowl: #4 Clemson vs. #5 Texas A&M

I mean this gets Cincinnati and BYU in so that would be a plus.  I still kind of don’t like the idea of moving to eight teams but I know it will happen for the new CFP contract.

G-5 Playoffs

What if the Group of Five decided “Fuck it we are having our own tournament to crown a champion.”  They won’t but I could see a lot of people watching these games.  The quarter-finals would look like this:

• Cincinnati vs. Buffalo
• BYU vs. Liberty
• Coastal Carolina vs. Tulsa
• Marshall vs. Louisiana

I would watch the hell out of this, not going to lie.  Now I assume that, at least for the quarter-finals, the higher-ranked teams would play at home but who knows.

Alright that is it.  No more.  A seriously long post is complete.  Later this week I will try and piece together the college and pro schedules.  I think I have a better chance of herding squirrels.  Have a good week everyone!

Murican Turkey Day Football Funtime just got a little less fun – Week 12 NFL TV Schedule

So for decades, American Thanksgiving has always had a Detroit Lions home game and a Dallas Cowboys home game.  For the last little while, there has been a third game added at night.  A lot of times this has been the best game of the three.  This year there was no doubt that the night game, the Ravens-Steelers game, was going to be the best of the Thanksgiving games this season.  So what happens?  Because of issues surrounding COVID-19, the game has been moved to Sunday.  When on Sunday?  Oh you’ll see below and it is messed.  Anyway, we are now back to a classic Thanksgiving NFL day and both games are kind of meh (although one is for the lead of the NFC East, hilariously).

Alright let’s get to the schedule…you know, the games.  The reason we watch football?

Thursday

Houston at Detroit	12:30, CBS, TSN 1/3/4/5, CTV Two
Washington at Dallas	4:30, FOX, TSN 1/3/4/5, CTV Two

Sunday Early

Baltimore at Pittsburgh (1:15, NBC)
Tennessee at Indianapolis	Minneapolis, Detroit		Saskatchewan, Northern Ontario, Ottawa	TSN3, TSN5	London, Toronto
Las Vegas at Atlanta	Seattle, Spokane		Vancouver, Alberta
LA Chargers at Buffalo	Buffalo, Rochester, Burlington, Boston		Kitchener, Toronto		Ottawa, Atlantic
Miami at NY Jets
Cleveland at Jacksonville	Cleveland
Arizona at New England		Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane, Detroit, Burlington, Boston	Montreal, Atlantic		Vancouver Island, Alberta
NY Giants at Cincinnati		Rochester
Carolina at Minnesota		Minneapolis	Winnipeg

Sunday Late

Kansas City at Tampa Bay	All affiliates		All affiliates (except Atlantic)		Atlantic
New Orleans at Denver		Buffalo		TSN3, TSN5
San Francisco at LA Rams

Sunday/Monday Primetime

Chicago at Green Bay	Sunday, 8:20, NBC, TSN 1/3/5, CTV Two
Seattle at Philadelphia	Monday, 8:15, TSN 1/3/4

Just a few items on sale with coupon

• Every CBS network is showing Chiefs-Buccaneers for the late game on Sunday.  Not surprised at this at all.  Patrick Mahomes vs. Tom Brady.  Jim Nantz is going to be in his glory.  Plus it is a WAY better game than either the SNF or MNF game.
• How about we discuss the Thanksgiving games…my god.  Two really crappy games.  This is where I would be fine if TSN decided to show something else like Major League Poker or Darts.
• And did you notice the start time for the Ravens-Steelers game?  Who the fuck thought that made sense?  If they had been smart they would have offset the game a bit more.  Have it start at 2:00.  Then it would end around 5:00 and get a national audience watching just the game (for the most part).  Instead, they will share the audience and I am sure some will forget there is even a game on NBC in the afternoon.
• In the early window, the games are very well spread out in terms of broadcasting.  Seven of the eight games being shown somewhere in Canada.  Unfortunately, the unlucky people getting their FOX game out of Rochester have to watch the Giants-Bengals game.  What did they do to deserve this?
• Two games, one early and one late, not showing in Canada.  I would say neither of the games are must-see but that’s not quite true.  Watching the Jets lose another game might be fun.
• UPDATE: The Ravens-Steelers game has been moved to Tuesday.  Broadcast info, I am sure, will be released by the end of Friday.
• UPDATE #2: Maybe I should have just waited a bit.  Ravens-Steelers will be Tuesday night at 8:00 on NBC.
• UPDATE #3: Good lord this is ridiculous.  Ravens-Steelers has been moved AGAIN.  This time to Wednesday afternoon at 3:40 on NBC.  Why 3:40 you ask?  Because the lighting of the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center starts at 8:00 and NBC (and the people organizing the event) refuse to move it.  Yeah, that’s not a joke.

Alright now the playoff picture going into Murican Stuff Your Face Day:

#1 – Pittsburgh	#1 – New Orleans
#2 – Kansas City	#2 – LA Rams
#3 – Buffalo	#3 – Green Bay
#4 – Indianapolis	#4 – Philadelphia
Wild Cards:	Wild Cards:
#5 – Tennessee	#5 – Seattle
#6 – Cleveland	#6 – Tampa Bay
#7 – Las Vegas/Baltimore/Miami	#7 – Arizona

Arizona, despite their loss last week, sits in the #7 spot.  They are a game  ahead of the Bears.  If they win four of their last six, they are pretty much guaranteed to be in.  Considering it’s the Bears in pursuit (with three other teams a game back of them), the NFC is almost set in terms of the playoff teams.  The AFC?  A totally different story.  The Wild Card race is going to be a ton of fun.  Five teams within a game of each other battling for three spots.  There is still six games left for all of them so a lot can happen.  And there is a slim possibility a team not in the picture at this point could sneak in.  Only the Jets are eliminated at this point but the Jaguars are out with a loss.

Alright, enjoy the games everyone!  Soon I will have to replace the 14+ hours of college football on Saturdays with the 10 or so hours of NFL football on Sundays (not to mention Thursday Night Football and, ugh, Monday Night Football).  I’m surprised anything gets done around my house.  Have a great weekend!

It just doesn’t feel the same this year – Week 13 College Football TV Schedule

Yeah it’s time for the American Thanksgiving Footballgasm!  But it feels different this year obviously.  But it’s not just the pandemic that’s causing this to feel….somewhat foreign.  It’s the fact that the calibre of games this week isn’t exactly up to what we expect from Thanksgiving weekend.  Now, normally this is the final week of the regular season.  This is not the case this year.  So that’s part of it.  But it’s also just the way the schedule has ended up that this week is…not as good as some of them have been over the past month.  Now, let’s hope that despite this we have a great week of games on the field.  I remember a few years back we had an unreal set of games, on paper, and it was one of the worst weeks of the year in terms of entertainment value.  So yeah, you just never know.

Alright let’s just get to the schedule and maybe something will stand out as better than it could be.  And no, I won’t do it Footballgasm style because it doesn’t warrant it.  Let’s go!

Thursday​

		US	Canada
New Mexico at Utah State	7:00 PM

It starts with this.  Technically it’s football.  One Mountain West game that essentially mean nothing but it will be good to have thanks to the Thursday Night Football NFL game being postponed.

Friday​​​​​

		US	Canada
#13 Iowa State at #17 Texas	Noon
Nebraska at #24 Iowa	1:00 PM
#2 Notre Dame at #19 North Carolina	3:30 PM
UCF at USF	3:30 PM
Central Michigan at Eastern Michigan	4:00 PM
Wyoming at UNLV	4:00 PM
Stanford at California	4:30 PM
#15 Oregon at Oregon State	7:30 PM

OK wow this gets a lot better, quickly!  One of the most important games of the year, ND-UNC, is the big one of the day, along with ISU-UT.  And look at TSN.  Huge step up as they usually do on American Thanksgiving weekend.  Just a note about the Oregon-OSU game: TSN3 and TSN5 will join that game in progress at around 9:00.  If you want to watch the game from the beginning, TSN1 or TSN4 are your choices.

Saturday Early​

		US	Canada
Penn State at Michigan	Noon
NC State at Syracuse	Noon
Kent State at Buffalo	Noon
Kentucky at #6 Florida	Noon
Maryland at #12 Indiana	Noon
Texas Tech at #23 Oklahoma State	Noon
#4 Ohio State at Illinois	Noon
Vanderbilt at Missouri	Noon

A lot of games here.  A lot of viewing options.  Are there any important games?  I would say no.  And if this doesn’t tell you that the bluebloods of college football will always run things, I don’t know what will.  PSU-Michigan on ABC at Noon.  Why?  There are plenty of options yet they put an 0-5 team up against a 2-3 team who needed three overtimes to beat Rutgers.  Brutal.  And Indiana is relegated to ESPN2, not even ESPN.  So there you go.  Full disclosure: I will watch some of the PSU-Michigan game.  Not gonna lie.  Like watching a trainwreck.

UPDATE #7: tOSU-Illinois has been cancelled.  One more Buckeyes game cancelled and they will not be eligible for the Big Ten Championship.

Saturday Afternoon​

		US	Canada
Colorado at #18 USC	3:30 PM
#22 Auburn at #1 Alabama	3:30 PM
Florida Atlantic at Middle Tennessee	3:30 PM
Pittsburgh at #3 Clemson	3:30 PM
#8 Northwestern at Michigan State	3:30 PM
Louisville at Boston College	4:00 PM
San Jose State at Boise State	4:00 PM
Rutgers at Purdue	4:00 PM
Mississippi State at Ole Miss	4:00 PM

I’ll say it again: it’s nice that TSN is really stepping up this weekend.  It allows Canadians to watch more college football and that is a good thing (in my opinion).  The Iron Bowl headlines this timeslot but it isn’t the only important game.  USC has to avoid a trip up as they host the Buffaloes and Northwestern looks to keep their (possibly) historic run going against MSU.  Now with Wisconsin’s game against Minnesota cancelled, Wisky is no longer eligible for the Big Ten Championship.  This means the Wildcats have, in essence, a two lap lead in this race in the Big Ten West.  Finally, even though the Egg Bowl is on Saturday and not Thursday, don’t be surprised if there is more insanity in this game (as their has been in the past few years).

UPDATE #3: Colorado-USC cancelled due to COVID issues inside the USC program.  Colorado will now host San Diego State at 5:00 on the Pac-12 Network.

UPDATE #4: Due to CU-USC being cancelled, Pitt-Clemson has been moved to ABC and NW-MSU has been moved to ESPN.  Whether that changes what happens on TSN is yet to be seen.

UPDATE #5: NW-MSU has been moved to TSN1.  It will also air on TSN3 as was originally scheduled.

UPDATE #8: SJSU-BSU, unfortunately, has been cancelled.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Memphis at Navy	7:00 PM
LSU at #5 Texas A&M	7:00 PM
Kansas State at Baylor	7:00 PM
Arizona at UCLA	8:00 PM
TCU at Kansas	8:00 PM

Ho boy.  This kind of drops off a cliff and I don’t mean just in sheer quantity.  ABC lost their primetime game as Oklahoma-West Virginia was postponed.  FOX isn’t doing a ton better with UA-UCLA.  Anyway, LSU-TAMU could be interesting if LSU can figure things out and get back some of the magic from last season.  Memphis-Navy might end up being for third place in the American unless Tulsa fucks up.  I wonder if TCU can put a 70-burger on the terrible Jayhawks.  Oh and Kansas State faces Baylor.  Yeah, got nothing for that one.

UPDATE: Well that was quick.  Utah-Washington has been moved into the ABC primetime spot.  It will kick off at 7:30 pm.

UPDATE #6: TSN1 will join Georgia-South Carolina in progress after the end of the Virginia Tech-Temple basketball game.  Should be around 10:00.  It will also appear on TSN4 in full.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
Utah at Washington	10:30 PM

One game in the late night timeslot?  And it’s a game that was created because of two other cancellations.  It’s Pac-12 After Dark so it could end up being fun.  And if not, then we can go to bed early.

UPDATE #2: Since Utah-UW was moved to the ABC primetime spot, there will be no late night college football this weekend (unless you can get the Hawaii game).  There is also no TSN2 game in this time slot, obviously.

Games to set your eyeballs on

Notre Dame at North Carolina (Friday, 3:30, ABC/TSN5) – This is one of the most important games of the season.  At one point, it was looking like this was going to be a possible Game of the Year candidate but the Heels have lost two games along the way.  ABC has a great lineup on Black Friday, for once, and it’s actually better than the next day’s line up which is kind of odd.  Anyway, if Notre Dame wins, they essentially clinch their spot in Charlotte.  If the Tar Heels pull off the upset (and it would be an upset if they won), then the Miami Hurricanes keep their hopes alive to get to the ACC Championship (somehow).  The Heels also need the win to keep their slim New Year’s Six hopes alive.

Auburn at Alabama (3:30, CBS) – Not as big a game as it normally is but let’s make no mistake about it: Auburn could be a dangerous team for the Tide to play right now.  I mean sure, let’s call it a speedbump game for Bama.  They clinch the SEC West with a win here and get ever close to clinching a spot in the College Football Playoff.  A Tiger win, however, puts the CFP in chaos and that is kind of what I am hoping for.  This opens the door for teams like the ACC Championship loser, Cincinnati and maybe even the Pac-12 or the Big XII.  But if Bama wins, we start looking at possibly two SEC teams and two ACC teams (technically) in the College Football Playoff which would piss everyone off I’m sure.

Iowa State at Texas (Friday, Noon, ABC/TSN5) – Seriously huge game in the Big XII.  An ISU win clinches their spot in the Big XII Championship.  Texas could put a huge monkey wrench in all this with the win as they would throw their hat in the ring to head to JerryWorld.  I am sure there are some convoluted Big XII tiebreakers after head-to-head which would end up being one win each for these two teams and Oklahoma.  And don’t forget Oklahoma State either.  What a mess.  I love it.

Pittsburgh at Clemson (3:30, TSN2) – Hey the Panthers as one of the games of the week!  It seems ridiculous but remember what Pitt did a few years back to Clemson to keep them from an undefeated season.  This is one of the MANY games TSN is showing and I am delighted by it.  Honestly, TSN could have done at least one more game every week up until now and chose not to.  It makes you wonder if there is something in the contract that allows a maximum amount of college football games on TSN stations.  Anyway, Pitt could play spoiler again and it would be great for…the Miami Hurricanes.  Man, The U has to have their eyes on a couple of big games this weekend.

Colorado at USC (3:30, ABC/TSN1) – ABC has really hit it big this coming week.  This is another pretty big game and the winner is in the driver’s seat in the Pac-12 South.  Now the Pac-12 offices will not pick favourites but they desperately want USC to win this one.  A Buffs win makes it so Oregon is the only chance left for the Pac-12 to get into the CFP.  Honestly, the Pac-12 is a longshot anyway and needs a lot to happen above them to warrant inclusion.

Honourable mention: Maryland at Indiana (Noon, TSN3); Kent State at Buffalo (Noon, CBS Sports Network); Ball State at Toledo (Noon, ESPN3)

Some gambling fun and games

Don’t bother going back to see my picks from last week.  They were mediocre at best.  However, I called the NC State win over Liberty so I did well there.  Yeah I got my other two upset picks wrong but whatever.  Look, let’s just get to this week’s picks alright?

Texas over Iowa State (upset?)

North Carolina over Notre Dame (MASSIVE UPSET!!!!!)

Alabama over Auburn

Clemson over Pittsburgh

Indiana over Maryland

USC over Colorado

Toledo over Ball State

Buffalo over Kent State

Navy over Memphis

Boise State over San Jose State

Florida Atlantic over Middle Tennessee

Alright let’s hope this weekend turns out to be awesome like it normally does (from a football standpoint).  Enjoy the games everyone!

Time for another set of bowl projections! Wait, don’t leave!

OK so we have finally come to the part of the year where a) there is snow on the ground (a ton of it) and b) bowl projections have some substance to them.  Usually we are getting into the final week of the regular season at this point.  Instead, we have three more weeks to go (kind of).  Alright, let’s just get on with this.

Sugar Bowl	CFP Poll #1 vs. CFP Poll #4	Alabama vs. Miami
Rose Bowl	CFP Poll #2 vs. CFP Poll #3	Clemson vs. Ohio State

The teams that were in there from my initial bowl projections have not changed.  Where they go, on the other hand, has.  I now have Bama as the #1 team so they get Miami in the Sugar Bowl.  This moves Clemson “down” to the Rose Bowl and they get Ohio State.  I have Cincinnati juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust on the outside looking in at #5 which should ruffle a few feathers but I can’t see The Committee putting them in with at least two undefeated Power Five teams above them.  Alright, now to the New Year’s Six:

Orange Bowl	ACC Champ vs. SEC #2	Notre Dame vs. Florida
Fiesta Bowl	CFP At-large vs. CFP At-large/G5 #1	BYU vs. USC
Peach Bowl	CFP At-large vs. CFP At-large/G5 #1	Texas vs. Cincinnati
Cotton Bowl	CFP At-large vs. CFP At-large/G5 #1	Oklahoma vs. Texas A&M

OK so this has changed:

• Cincinnati wins the AAC and overtakes Marshall for the G-5 spot.  I have Marshall still winning the Conference USA Championship but the cancelled games and weaker schedule will keep them out of that spot.
• Notre Dame loses the ACC Championship but are ranked high enough that they would get in to the NY6 easily as the ACC rep for the Orange Bowl.
• Texas loses the Big XII Championship to Oklahoma but is ranked high enough to get an at-large spot in the Peach Bowl.  Oklahoma winning the conference title means they get the Cotton Bowl spot instead.
• Texas A&M doesn’t make it to the SEC Championship and Florida loses the SEC Championship.  Both teams get in because it’s the SEC (with both teams barely getting in which should cause some conversation).
• BYU.  Look, they aren’t going to lose a game this year.  I say that with the schedule they currently have.  But if they somehow schedule another game, against Cincinnati or maybe even a Pac-12 team like Washington (which is an interesting story all on its own) and win that game, who knows.  Now if they lost that kind of a game would it be enough to push them out of the NY6 as I have them in at #7.
• USC beats Oregon for the Pac-12 Championship.  This is after both the Trojans and Ducks run the (short) regular season table.  USC gets to play BYU (which should be a good one) while the Ducks would not be ranked high enough to warrant inclusion.

So far it has been fine (for the most part).  Not a ton of explanation despite the changes since it’s, well, pretty self-explanatory.  I know some of you may disagree and will have valid points.  That is fine too.  Let’s see the rest of the bowl picture:

Outback Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Kentucky vs. Indiana
Gator Bowl	SEC vs. ACC	Ole Miss vs. North Carolina
Citrus Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Georgia vs. Wisconsin
Birmingham Bowl	SEC/ACC vs. G5	Mississippi State vs. Memphis
Texas Bowl	SEC vs. Big XII	Auburn vs. TCU
Liberty Bowl	SEC vs. Big XII	Missouri vs. West Virginia
Arizona Bowl	MWC vs. MAC	Nevada vs. Western Michigan
Sun Bowl	Pac-12 vs. ACC	Arizona State vs. Virginia
Armed Forces Bowl	Big XII vs G5	Baylor vs. Louisiana Tech
LA Bowl	Pac-12 vs. MWC	Utah vs. Air Force
Music City Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Tennessee vs. Iowa
Duke’s Mayo Bowl	Big Ten vs. ACC	Northwestern vs. NC State
Alamo Bowl	Big XII vs. Pac-12	Iowa State vs. Oregon
Cheez-It Bowl	Big XII vs. ACC	Oklahoma State vs. Virginia Tech
Pinstripe Bowl	Big Ten vs. ACC	Maryland vs. Pittsburgh
Military Bowl	American vs. ACC	Tulsa vs. Boston College
Guaranteed Rate Bowl	Big XII vs. Big Ten	Kansas State vs. Nebraska
Independence Bowl	Army vs. Pac-12	Army vs. Colorado
LendingTree Bowl	Sun Belt vs. G5	Appalachian State vs. UTSA
First Responder Bowl	Big XII/ACC vs. G5	Texas Tech vs. San Diego State
Cure Bowl	G5 vs. G5	Liberty vs. Florida Atlantic
Gasparilla Bowl	SEC/ACC vs. G5	Florida State vs. Coastal Carolina
Camellia Bowl	G5 vs. G5	UAB vs. Troy
New Mexico Bowl	MWC vs. G5	San Jose State vs. Charlotte
Montgomery Bowl	ACC vs. American	Louisville vs. SMU
New Orleans Bowl	C-USA vs. Sun Belt	Marshall vs. Louisiana
Boca Raton Bowl	G5 vs. G5	UCF vs. Miami-OH
Idaho Potato Bowl	MWC vs. MAC	Boise State vs. Buffalo
Myrtle Beach Bowl	G5 vs. G5	Georgia Southern vs. Central Michigan
Las Vegas Bowl	SEC vs. Pac-12	LSU vs. Washington
Frisco Bowl	G5 vs. G5	Toledo vs. Navy

A few notes on this:

• I assume you’ve noticed a huge change with the bowl tie-ins.  Well it looks like for many of the tie-ins for Group of Five conferences, they are pooling all the teams so that bowls can pick from all five conferences (and the Independents).  This is actually a much better method.  This allows for teams to stay closer to home and for bowls to potentially get better matchups.  And isn’t that kind of what we want from this?  I mean that was the whole point of bowl games decades ago and it feels like we’ve kind of gone away from that so this is a welcome decision.
• Liberty and BYU do not have tie-ins this season so they are slotted in to the G5 pool.  Army is locked in already to the Independence Bowl.  I have BYU going to the New Year’s Six so they wouldn’t have to worry about this.  Liberty, on the other hand, I have going to the Cure Bowl to face Florida Atlantic.  To be honest, it is going to be a bit of a crapshoot with so many G5 spots available after the G5 conferences get their tie-ins settled.
• Remember, every team is bowl-eligible this season thanks to the insanity of 2020.  This means you will see teams up in my bowl projections that, in a normal season, wouldn’t even sniff a bowl game (I’m looking at you, Florida State).
• As for the Las Vegas Bowl, there is still no time or date for it, nor is their guarantee (at this point) that it would be played.  I am keeping it in my bowl projections until that changes.
• I have just heard that the New Mexico Bowl will be played in Frisco this season.  This is due to New Mexico’s stringent restrictions on pretty much anything involving sports.  I can see some other bowls doing that or just outright cancelling for this season.  No reason to put a bowl game on if things are getting worse due to COVID-19.  That would just be irresponsible by everyone involved.

So tonight we got…no football.  Tomorrow will also be….no football.  This kind of makes me sad.  But then starting Thursday, Footballgasm Lite begins!  Enjoy the games everyone!

Is this the end for Captain Khaki? – Week 12 College Football Recap

You all saw it.  Rutgers took Michigan to three overtimes before falling to the Wolverines thanks to terrible playcalling.  Yeah it wasn’t great for Michigan.  And definitely not great for Jim Harbaugh.  And of course Twitter, being full of very level-headed people, went crazy.  I stayed out of the Harbaugh talk at the time but I have finally decided to break the silence.  I know it would take a lot of money to fire Harbaugh.  He is only under contract through the end of next season.  The way this season has gone, it is clear Jimmy Beige Pants ain’t the answer.  But here’s the issue: so what do you do then?  If you do fire him (and pay out an enormous buyout fee which, in a pandemic, might not be a thing athletic directors want to do), who do you bring in to replace him?  Despite the fact most people might disagree, the Michigan head coaching spot is one of the Top 10 head coaching gigs in the nation.  That has not changed since the days of Bo Schembechler.  Pat Fitzgerald is a name that comes up but he has already declined the NFL so I assume he would decline to coach in Ann Arbor as well.  Is there another Power Five coach who could be poached?  Or will the fanbase accept an up-and-coming Group of Five head coach like Luke Fickell or Bryan Harsin?  No matter what happens, it is going to be a complete shitshow.  Which, I will admit, is entertaining.  For me, not for fans of Big Blue.

Now on to the rest of the recap.

Recap

• Oklahoma throttled Oklahoma State in Bedlam.  The Sooners piled on 21 points in the first quarter and never looked back.  It still amazes me that people say anything can happen in Bedlam.  No, it can’t.  Oklahoma has won over 80% of the games in this rivalry.  This is the epitome of big brother beating up little brother (sorry Michigan and Michigan State fans).  This now makes it so Oklahoma controls their own destiny to get to the Big XII Championship.  Still probably no shot at the College Football Playoff, though.  And I feel bad for Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit.  Those two can’t catch a break.  They rarely have good games to announce.  Even when they don’t do the ABC primetime game they end up calling a shitty game.  A lot like Brad Nessler and Gary Danielson over at CBS.
• Tulsa beat Tulane in an absolutely insane Thursday nighter.  The game was tied at 0 with 6 minutes to go in the third.  Then both teams went crazy and scored a bunch of points, with the Golden Hurricane racking up 21 in the final 10 minutes of regulation.  This was capped off by a 37-yard touchdown pass with no time left.  Then in double overtime, Tulsa ends it on a walk-off pick six by Zaven Collins.  Tulsa has comeback to beat UCF, East Carolina, SMU and now Tulane to be an improbably 5-1 and it looks like they may be heading to the AAC Championship game as long as they take care of business this coming week in Houston.
• For most of the Mississippi State-Georgia game, a game I thought wouldn’t be close, it was seriously looking like a huge upset for the Bulldogs.  UGA just couldn’t put them away.  I mean Georgia pulled it out with a late touchdown.  But man, they were playing a home game, in front of actual fans, and barely beat one of the worst teams in the SEC.  I think it may be high time for Kirby Smart to take a step back and look what he has done with the program.  Start with the mostly terrible decision to start Stetson Bennett over JT Daniels.  I believe Daniels was injured earlier in the year but once he was ready to go, they should have given him the ball to see what he could do.  Not doing so, is a failure of the coaches, namely Smart.
• Oregon beat UCLA (barely) and USC did the same to Utah.  So those two teams continue their march to the Pac-12 Championship.  And all for the opportunity to possibly still be the #5 seed and be on the outside of the CFP looking in.  This is what the Pac-12 gets for himming and hawing over starting the season.  They should have just opted out completely but we all know now that money brought them back.  Hell, look at the way they are doing things.  No Pac-12 Network.  And now non-conference games can be scheduled but must be hosted by the Pac-12 team.  Everyone’s got a price (just like Ted DiBiase’s theme told us).
• Man, Kansas State got absolutely BOATRACED by Iowa State.  I figured the Cyclones would win but they utterly destroyed the Wildcats in that shutout win.  What their win has done was put them in the driver’s seat for the Big XII Championship.  At this point, if Oklahoma or Texas lose another game, the Clones are in no matter what they do.  But I am sure Matt Campbell would prefer to go in the front door to JerryWorld.
• What can you say about the Big Ten officiating crews other than they are awful?  Purdue got jobbed Friday night against Minnesota on a phantom offensive pass interference call that negated a late touchdown.  It probably would have given the Boilermakers a huge win and move them to 3-1 (and possibly into the Top 25).  Instead, the Flying Flecks survive.  I don’t understand how officials aren’t suspended for a game without pay for game-altering calls like that.  Not saying refs should get shit for every bad call but ones of that nature, absolutely.
• Cincinnati beat UCF in a very close one.  For a while it looked like the Knights had the Bearcats number.  Two fourth quarter touchdowns made the difference for Cincy.  It also keeps Cincinnati in the catbird seat for the Group of Five.  Win out and they will be, at least, in the New Year’s Six.
• Alabama beat Kentucky and are still undefeated.  If it hadn’t been aired on a TSN network as well as the SEC Network, I don’t think I would have watched a single minute of it.
• Indiana gave Ohio State quite the scare.  It would feel like tOSU would be pulling away and then Indiana came back to make it close.  Make no mistake about it: these Hoosiers are for real.  But they aren’t quite College Football Playoff material.  Yet.  The Buckeyes kept their CFP hopes alive with the slim win and might end up murdering Michigan by about 60 points this coming weekend.
• Coastal Carolina beat Appalachian State to lay claim as the best Sun Belt team this season.  They became the first 8-0 team in Sun Belt history (which shocks me to be honest).  Will they make the College Football Playoff?  Absolutely not but they may still have a path to the New Year’s Six.  Keep winning and they may ascend high enough to warrant inclusion.  Again, this makes it tough on the College Football Playoff Committee which always loved by me.
• Penn State got destroyed by Iowa and now is sitting at 0-5 and last place in the Big Ten East.  This is the worst start in Nittany Lion history and puts James Franklin in a very bad spot.  It would not surprise me to see that PSU fires Franklin in the off-season due to this season and some off-field incidents that are painting him in a bad light.
• Northwestern put themselves in the catbird seat in the Big Ten West with their huge win over Wisconsin in a defensive slugfest.  Pat Fitzgerald also made mention of the Wildcats being a bunch of “Fighting Rece Davises.”  That is from a comment by Joey Galloway earlier in the week where he said Northwestern was a bunch of Rece Davises on the field.  A slap in the face to Northwestern for sure.  Well they made sure to throw it back in Galloway’s face with that win.  And they still have a shot at the College Football Playoff if things go their way.
• Finally, to the delight of a lot of people, Liberty lost their first game of the season.  In a low-scoring affair, NC State blocked a Flames field goal attempt late in the fourth quarter to lock up the win.  Could this be Hugh Freeze’s final big game at Liberty before moving on?  It sure seems that way as he has done a masterful job in Lynchburg.  Liberty is a certified FBS team and has to be considered a tough out going forward.  It might not be that way if Freeze leaves but he has certainly laid a good foundation for his successor.

We are now getting into the real important part of the season.  Three more weeks of the regular season (kind of) means every week is super important.  Anyway, here’s my Top 25 that, again, had some good movement:

#1	Alabama
#2	Ohio State
#3	Florida
#4	Notre Dame
#5	Cincinnati
#6	BYU
#7	Clemson
#8	Texas A&M
#9	Oregon
#10	Miami
#11	Oklahoma
#12	Georgia
#13	Northwestern
#14	Coastal Carolina
#15	Indiana
#16	Marshall
#17	USC
#18	Iowa State
#19	Auburn
#20	Wisconsin
#21	Texas
#22	Oklahoma State
#23	Louisiana
#24	Washington
#25	North Carolina

I get it.  You may not be happy with Ohio State at #2.  But they just beat Indiana so I think they belong there.  Saying that, Notre Dame could usurp them in upcoming weeks thanks to Michigan being trash.  So no need to worry my friends.  Cincinnati and BYU are sitting in the weeds at #5 and #6 with the hope that something happens to at least one of the four teams above them.  Indiana and Wisconsin, despite both losing, didn’t fall too far and still have (very) slim hopes and at least are in the NY6 race.  Oh, and Coastal Carolina, as I mentioned above, are at the #14 spot and has a legitimate shot at the NY6 as long as they keep winning.

Alright, Monday Night Football tonight in a game that many people will probably actually watch.  The Rams and Buccaneers in a huge NFC matchup.  If the Rams win, then they move into a tie with Seattle at the top of the NFC West.  A Bucs win puts them in a great spot, just half-a-game behind New Orleans and easily at the top of the Wild Card race.

So we usually would be heading into a MACtion night but that is not to be this week.  We have no college football games the next two nights.  No football at all.  Yes that’s sad.  But then we get Footballgasm weekend which is not as much of a huge thing this season.  Thanks, 2020.

Tomorrow we got some bowl projections (which aren’t early anymore).  Wednesday there will be the college football week that isn’t so shitty anymore and its TV schedule.  Finally, the NFL gets the sked treatment on Thursday.  Enjoy your week (and the games) everyone!

This…this is not good – Week 11 NFL TV Schedule

If you didn’t already know, eleven players on the Las Vegas Rrrrrrrrrrrrrraiders (in Chris Berman voice) have tested positive for COVID-19.  The worst part?  All the players are on the defensive side.  And guess who they get up next?  That’s right, one of the best offenses in recent memory, the Kansas City Chiefs.  This is a brutal situation for the Raiders.  You have to wonder if it would almost be better that the game is postponed into the week or to another week.  It sounds really bad to think this but maybe it would be good for a few more positive tests.  I don’t know what the threshold is to postpone a game in the NFL but it seems a bit too high.  Then again, I don’t run the league, Roger Goodell does.  And we know he always does a great job and does what is best for the players, right?  Yeah, don’t answer that.

Alright let’s get to the schedule…you know, the games.  The reason we watch football?

Thursday Night

Arizona at Seattle

8:20, FOX, NFL Network, TSN 1/3/4/5

Sunday Early

Tennessee at Baltimore	Seattle, Spokane, Minneapolis, Buffalo, Rochester		Vancouver, Alberta, Winnipeg, Kitchener, Toronto
Pittsburgh at Jacksonville				TSN1, TSN3, TSN4
New England at Houston	Burlington, Boston		Montreal, Atlantic		Ottawa
Cincinnati at Washington
Philadelphia at Cleveland		Buffalo, Rochester, Burlington, Boston	Northern Ontario, Ottawa		London, Toronto, Atlantic
Atlanta at New Orleans		Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane, Minneapolis	Saskatchewan		Vancouver Island, Alberta
Detroit at Carolina		Detroit

Sunday Late

Miami at Denver	Detroit, Cleveland
NY Jets at LA Chargers
Green Bay at Indianapolis		All affiliates (except Minneapolis)	All affiliates (except Winnipeg & Atlantic)		Atlantic
Dallas at Minnesota			Winnipeg	TSN1, TSN4

Sunday/Monday Primetime

Kansas City at Las Vegas	Sunday, 8:20, NBC, TSN 1/4, CTV Two
LA Rams at Tampa Bay	Monday, 8:15, TSN 1/3/4/5

Some Possibly Important Notes and Things

• Luckily for Canadians, no one is stuck with Bengals-Football Team.
• After last week’s, um, less than stellar set of primetime games, this week we get some great shit.  Cardinals-Seahawks, Chiefs-Raiders, and Rams-Buccaneers.  I don’t understand how we shouldn’t get games like this every week in primetime.  Even Monday Night.  I mean if you want to keep my attention, put on better matchups.  Instead, ESPN gets the shaft (usually) and gets mostly shit.  I’ve said it before and I will say it again: the NFL needs to re-think how the television contracts are set out.
• No CFL this season means we don’t have issues like we normally have every year.  OK, issues is a strong word, but TSN was taken up by the CFL (and rightfully so) for every November in the last, oh I don’t know, almost three decades.  It’s kind of refreshing to not have that be the case.  Saying that, we need the CFL back next season.  And start the season at the beginning of June.  This way the Grey Cup should end up being in early November which means it won’t be overshadowed as much by the NFL (and college football to a lesser extent).
• You know what other yearly tradition isn’t happening?  That’s right, the Santa Claus Parade.  As far as I can tell, they aren’t being done anywhere in this country which is a good thing considering what we are going through.  Plus it’s a parade.  I mean the only parade that should be shown nationwide is each city’s Remembrance Day parade.  Other than that?  No.  Just don’t.  Parades are for kids.  No need to televise them.
• TWO games aren’t being shown in Canada this Sunday.  That’s it!  The aforementioned Bengals-Football Team shitshow and Jets-Chargers.  Yeah I think we’ll be fine missing these.

Alright now the playoff picture going into tonight’s huge NFC West game where the 12th man will make its presence known it might or might not rain:

#1 – Pittsburgh	#1 – Green Bay
#2 – Kansas City	#2 – New Orleans
#3 – Buffalo	#3 – Arizona
#4 – Indianapolis	#4 – Philadelphia
Wild Cards:	Wild Cards:
#5 – Las Vegas	#5 – Tampa Bay
#6 – Miami	#6 – LA Rams
#7 – Baltimore/Tennessee/Cleveland	#7 – Seattle

Miami is in the #6 spot.  I love it.  I hope they do get a playoff spot this season to set up a classic Winter playoff matchup in Buffalo.  Despite the fact my Bills might lose, it would be a nice call back to when this happened often in the 90s.  I’m sure Goodell secretly can’t stand a team like Buffalo doing well because of it’s small market.  Well, I can’t fucking stand Roger Goodell.  So there.  In the NFC, there are six really good teams and then the NFC East which is a shambles.  This is the same thing I posted last year except that number was a five, not a six.  My dream of the NFC East champion having six wins is still alive and I hope it happens.  Maybe, just maybe, then the NFL will look at their stupid playoff structure and fix it a bit.

Unfortunately, we don’t have the huge Footballgasm that we have every year.  But next week is American Thankgiving and boy, oh boy, that is gonna be a shitload of fun, like most years.  Enjoy the games everyone!

‘Tis the season for some football – Week 12 College Football TV Schedule

So much damn football!  You gotta love it!

Of course the Footballgasm alludes to football every day until a couple of days before American Thanksgiving.  It is a great time of year to be a football fan, college or pro.  Here’s the news stories going into this week since none of them, I don’t think, warrant the entire introduction (I’m picky that way):

• Thanks to Miami’s COVID-19 issues, a bunch of ACC games were moved around.  I won’t go through them all here.  One of the games moved, however, is Miami’s game against Georgia Tech which has been moved to December 19th.  What else is that day?  Oh yeah the ACC Championship.  So this game will only be played if Miami is not in the ACC Championship and if the result wouldn’t impact who plays in the title game.  Good god.
• MACtion graces our screens on weekdays now.  MACtion is fun to watch I will admit.  Usually some pretty good close games.  Or if they aren’t close they usually have some awesome performances, like Buffalo’s Jaret Pattersion last night.  And the attendance issue isn’t an issue because it’s really an issue everywhere.  So enjoy MACtion!
• Back to COVID, more games have been postponed or outright cancelled.  The latest two are two American Conference games.  Houston-SMU and Navy-USF are being moved into December (hopefully).  As I said before, move the conference championships to December 26th and use December 19th as a make-up date.  Why is this so difficult?
• The conversation on BYU and Cincinnati is intensifying.  Many are saying that they should have a shot in the College Football Playoff if they both run the table.  The chances are still slim and they have to hope for upsets above them.  First up is this week where these two teams hope Clemson and Florida somehow lose to teams that are 30+ point underdogs.  Good luck.

Anyway, other than that, not much to discuss so let’s get into the schedule alright?

Wednesday

		US	Canada
Toledo at Eastern Michigan	7:00 PM
Western Michigan at Central Michigan	7:00 PM

MACtion!  Hey it’s weekday football.  So for you basketball fans, between every pick of the NBA draft, head over to one of these games.  You’ll thank me later.

Thursday

		US	Canada
Tulane at #25 Tulsa	7:30 PM
Utah State at Wyoming	9:00 PM

Ranked Tulsa!  The Golden Hurricane could cause a lot of issues inside the AAC if they keep winning.  The other game is a Mountain West game so let’s just be happy we can watch Mountain West football this Fall.  I just hope at least one of these games stays close or otherwise it’s off to Thursday Night Football.

UPDATE #2: USU-Wyoming has been cancelled and will be declared a no contest.  I prefer double disqualification or double countout but that’ll do.

Friday​

		US	Canada
Purdue at Minnesota	7:30 PM
Syracuse at Louisville	7:30 PM
UMass at Florida Atlantic	8:00 PM

OK let’s be honest here: we have three relatively average games.  The Conference USA game is important since FAU is probably the only team that could possibly challenge Marshall in the East division.  Minnesota, despite not being near the team they were last season, are still a dangerous team and Purdue might be better than advertised if they can stay healthy.

Saturday Early​

		US	Canada
#4 Clemson at Florida State	Noon
Michigan State at Maryland	Noon
Georgia Southern at Army	Noon
#6 Florida at Vanderbilt	Noon
Appalachian State at #15 Coastal Carolina	Noon
#9 Indiana at #3 Ohio State	Noon
Illinois at Nebraska	Noon
LSU at Arkansas	Noon

We get the Rodney Dangerfield of programs (well maybe not anymore), Indiana, facing Ohio State in a game with serious College Football Playoff implications.  We get a pretty bad Florida State team trying to derail Clemson’s postseason hopes.  We also get Coastal Carolina’s next big game on the path to a historic season as they host the Sun Belt’s preeminent team (up until now) Appalachian State.  And there’s a few other good games as well.  Oh and also Illinois-Nebraska which will be cool to watch if the weather is bad.

UPDATE #4: Clemson-FSU has now been postponed.   So Florida-Vandy has been moved to ABC, almost 25 years to the day since the last time a regular season SEC game was aired on ABC.  AppState-CCU moves to ESPN and, I believe, TSN2.  (I was wrong.  UF-Vandy stays on TSN2).

Saturday Afternoon​

		US	Canada
#10 Wisconsin at #19 Northwestern	3:30 PM
Iowa at Penn State	3:30 PM
San Diego State at Nevada	3:30 PM
#7 Cincinnati at UCF	3:30 PM
#22 Texas at Kansas	3:30 PM
California at Oregon State	3:30 PM
Kansas State at #17 Iowa State	4:00 PM
Kentucky at #1 Alabama	4:00 PM

Two huge games in the afternoon timeslot.  Cincinnati visits Orlando hoping for a win that would make them the undisputed king of the Group of Five going into the final quarter of the season and Northwestern has one of their biggest games in program history as the Big Ten West title is essentially on the line in Evanston with Wisky coming into town.  Now will this Big Ten West matchup have College Football Playoff impact?  Perhaps if either team runs the table.  Also if we get Kentucky somehow upsetting Bama we will finally fully get a season that matches the kind of year it has been (although it’s getting close already).  This game will start on TSN1 in progress starting at about 5:00 but will be shown, in its entirety, on TSN3.  And yes, the Mountain West is on CBS!

UPDATE: We are barely into this and UT-KU has been postponed to December 12th.

Saturday Primetime​

		US	Canada
San Jose State at Fresno State	7:00 PM
Tennessee at #23 Auburn	7:00 PM
#14 Oklahoma State at #18 Oklahoma	7:30 PM
Michigan at Rutgers	7:30 PM
Arizona at Washington	8:00 PM

And now, we have Bedlam!  Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, despite both of them being fairly far out of the Top 4, have the biggest Big XII game of the season.  This game will decide if Oklahoma State honestly has what it takes to get to the CFP or if the Sooners are still the cream of the crop in the conference.  TSN gets Tennessee-Auburn in this timeslot.  I don’t understand this.  Normally they would just also broadcast the ABC game if it was the better game, deciding to ignore showing another game for Canadians to watch.  This week they, ahem, volunteer to show this one.  I’m at a loss.  I’m very interested in seeing if Rutgers can actually beat what could be considered a team closer to the top than the bottom in the Big Ten.  Now the Wolverines aren’t the Wolverines of even last season but still, they can be a tough out.

Saturday Late Night​

		US	Canada
#20 USC at Utah	10:30 PM
Boise State at Hawaii	11:00 PM
Washington State at Stanford	11:00 PM

USC-Utah is a pretty big game in the Pac-12.  Winner still has Colorado to deal with but gets a big step up in the Pac-12 South.  Boise State needs to absolutely destroy Hawaii to get back in the New Year’s Six race and the race to leave last place in the Pac-12 North ends the week.

UPDATE #3: The race for last place in the Pac-12 North has been cancelled due to issues with COVID for Wazzu.

Games to set your eyeballs on

Indiana at Ohio State (Noon, FOX) – This is the Game of the Week and I don’t think others are close.  So it’s not GOTW A, it’s just GOTW.  Indiana could do what no one thought they could and that’s beat the Buckeyes and take control of the Big Ten East.  Honestly here, the winner basically clinches the division because unless something crazy happens, they have essentially a two-game lead with three regular season weeks to go.  The loser is probably still in play for the NY6 though.  Plus, when does Big Noon Saturday ever get the big game of the week?  This is one of the very few times that has happened.

Wisconsin at Northwestern (3:30, ABC) – This should have more hype attached to it and it may by the time the game beings.  This game just feels like a classic Big Ten matchup despite the fact we will see two underrated quarterbacks in this one.  But the defense and the running game will show up because it is a B1G game and we know this.  And even if the Wildcats win, I wonder how much they will rise in the rankings because it feels like a team that will receive their fair share of disrespect.  I mean not like Pat Fitzgerald will get the Coach of the Year award (hell, he won’t even get the Big Ten COY) but he has done an amazing job getting the Cats back to the top of the Big Ten West.  I would love if somehow the Big Ten got two CFP spots and those two teams were Indiana and Northwestern.  The college football media would explode.

Oklahoma State at Oklahoma (7:30, ABC) – Speaking of big tests, Oklahoma State has, arguably, their final regular season test here.  Win Bedlam and they are off to JerryWorld for the Big XII title game.  It would be a nice turnaround for a team that, despite their record, looked outright bad early on in the season.  This is not the case of a non-traditional power doing well and even the AP Poll not giving them their due.  They fully deserved to be where they were in the rankings.  But the Pokes are high enough in the rankings now that four straight wins to finish their regular season would put them, at least, in the Top 6 going into conference championship weekend.  I don’t know if we can say the same thing for the two-loss Sooners as even winning their final three will probably not be enough for a semi-final matchup in New Orleans or Pasadena.

Cincinnati at UCF (3:30, TSN2) – Is UCF back?  A win here would convince everyone that the Knights are back as one of the premier Group of Five teams.  But this is the Bearcats, one of the best G-5 teams ever.  Cincinnati wins this and they cement their spot at the top of the G-5 rankings and plant themselves in the catbird seat for the NY6 spot.  A loss by them opens this up to a lot of teams as we shall see in the next paragraph.

Appalachian State at Coastal Carolina (Noon, ESPN2) – This is the game that everyone in the Sun Belt has waited for.  The Chanticleers have their chance to prove their mettle and actually move up the rankings a bit if they can beat the Mountaineers here.  They will also be closely watching the game above as well since a loss by Cincinnati could put this team, of all teams, in the New Year’s Six driver’s seat.  Now that would be 2020-esque.

Honourable mention: Kansas State at Iowa State (4:00, FOX); Liberty at NC State (7:00, ESPN3…no I am not joking); USC at Utah (10:30, TSN2)

Some gambling fun and games

My picks weren’t all bad last week.  I mean I lost on SMU but many people did, Troy-CCU never got played, and lost my other upset pick as Miami pulled one out of the fire.  So hey it wasn’t so bad so let’s go for not-so-bad this week (keeping my expectations low).  Here we go:

Iowa State over Kansas State

Appalachian State over Coastal Carolina (minor upset)

NC State over Liberty (I don’t know if this is an upset or not)

UCF over Cincinnati (huge upset!)

Oklahoma over Oklahoma State

Northwestern over Wisconsin

Ohio State over Indiana

Utah over USC

Auburn over Tennessee

San Jose State over Fresno State

Florida Atlantic over UMass

Am I going to try and watch all 14+ hours of college football on Saturday, plus Friday nights games, plus the Thursday night affairs, PLUS tonight’s games?  Yes.  Yes I will be.  I might just be crazy.

NFL schedule tomorrow as per usual.  Enjoy the games everyone!

It’s time for CRAZY bowl projections (that may not be that crazy).

I have done this three times before.  I wonder if I should go back and check how close those crazy projections were.  I might just do that one day but today is not that day.  Today is the day for stupidly ridiculous projections that actually follow some sort of logic.

Every time I have done this exercise in the past I have done all the bowl games.  Except for last year where I decided that was stupid.  So this will not happen this time around again.  I will just do the College Football Playoff and New Year’s Six games because there’s no real point in doing the rest of the bowl games to be honest with you.  So let’s….get………CRAZY!

Sugar Bowl	CFP Poll #1 vs. CFP Poll #4	Florida vs. Cincinnati
Rose Bowl	CFP Poll #2 vs. CFP Poll #3	Indiana vs. Miami

Jesus Christ, what the fuck happened?  Let me explain how I get to this point:

• Alabama loses to Auburn and also to Arkansas.  Texas A&M sneaks up from behind, running the table and shockingly winning the SEC West.  Who else runs the table the rest of the way?  Florida, with Heisman hopeful Kyle Trask leading the way.  In a very close game, Florida beats Texas A&M to claim the SEC Championship, the #1 seed in the College Football Playoff rankings, and relegates TAMU to the New Year’s Six.
• Clemson loses to Virginia Tech as their second loss.  Notre Dame also loses…twice!  Once to North Carolina and then, in an upset, to Wake Forest.  This allows The U to make their way back into the Top 4 by winning out.  Miami beats Notre Dame in another close conference championship game, and claims the #3 spot in the College Football Playoff.
• Ohio State loses to Indiana, while the Hoosiers win out.  So the Fighting Tom Allens finish 8-0 and win the Big Ten East and get undefeated Northwestern (who beats Wisconsin).  The Hoosiers beat the Wildcats pretty handily to win their first Big Ten Championship and a trip to the Rose Bowl.
• Colorado (yes, Colorado) wins out and easily wins the Pac-12 South.  Washington upsets Oregon along the way to winning the Pac-12 North.  The Buffs beats the Huskies to capture the Pac-12 Championship but thanks to the Pac-12’s late start (and both teams losing a game to COVID), they fall short of getting into the College Football Playoff.
• Iowa State runs the table, including a win over Texas, then takes loses to Oklahoma in the Big XII Championship. Oklahoma goes 9-2 which is obviously not enough for a spot in the CFP.
• Cincinnati runs the table and with all that happened around them, ascends to #5.  They win the AAC Championship in an absolute romp over Tulsa and wait to see what happens on the rest of conference championship weekend.

All this means Florida is your new #1, Indiana gets in at #2, Miami takes the #3 spot.  The #4 spot has been a tough one since the College Football Playoff came to fruition.  Controversy almost every year.  This year it’s a bit easier as Cincinnati becomes the first Group of Five team to ever get into the College Football Playoff thanks to the Aggies loss to the Gators in the SEC Championship (which is in primetime this year).  I assume the 8-team playoff talk will be deafening because only Florida and Miami could be considered close to college football bluebloods in this scenario.  Hopefully they stick to their guns and wait at least a few more years before discussing an expansion (and that that expansion only goes to five teams as I have explained before).  Alright, let’s see how nuts the New Year’s Six is.

Orange Bowl	ACC Champ vs. SEC #2	Clemson vs. Texas A&M
Fiesta Bowl	CFP At-large vs. CFP At-large/G5 #1	BYU vs. Colorado
Peach Bowl	CFP At-large vs. CFP At-large/G5 #1	Ohio State vs. Coastal Carolina
Cotton Bowl	CFP At-large vs. CFP At-large/G5 #1	Oklahoma vs. Oregon

I mean this doesn’t look as nuts as the College Football Playoff.  Time to explain:

• BYU is #5 since they are the best team not to go to a conference championship since, you know, they aren’t in a conference at all.  They end up winning out and making it so The Committee has to put them in a NY6 game.
• Colorado will be #6 since the Pac-12 gets a spot in the NY6 bowls no matter what (unless they have a team in the CFP).  They are slotted in the Fiesta Bowl as the Pac-12’s best team after their win over Washington.  I assume they would end up playing BYU there as they two of the three western-most teams here.
• Remember I told you that Texas A&M somehow gets to the SEC Championship after Bama’s collpase?  Yep, considering the chaos, even with a conference championship loss they land at #7 and the Orange Bowl as the SEC’s second-best team.
• Oklahoma will be #8 which is damn high for the Big XII this season considering what has happened with that conference.  They head to the Cotton Bowl.
• This is going to be controversial but Ohio State ends up at #9.  They don’t even get to the Big Ten Championship thanks to their loss to Indiana but finishing with only one loss gives them the Peach Bowl spot.
• In a bit more controversy, Oregon ends up behind Ohio State at #10.  They get the other at-large spot to go to the Cotton Bowl to face Oklahoma.
• Even though Clemson lost and was left out of the ACC Championship, you think The Committee is leaving them out of the NY6?  Close losses to Notre Dame and Virginia Tech allowing them to move into the #11 spot.  This puts them in the Orange Bowl as the ACC representative because Miami is in the CFP.
• The final spot.  Who to send?  There’s really only one team that probably should be there considering their season.  And that team is the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers.  I have two assumptions here: a) the Group of Five still gets a representative in the New Year’s Six even though Cincinnati is in the Top 4 and b) the Chants go undefeated and destroy every team the rest of the way.  Remember, BYU cannot qualify as a Group of Five team for the New Year’s Six and this is why this would work.

What in the hell?  Again, I don’t care about the rest of the bowl games in this exercise.  Let’s be honest: what are the chances that all the other bowl games are played?  The answer is fucking zero.

Alright tonight we got some MACtion!  Hey it’s college football on a Tuesday so let’s rejoice about that.  Also more football the next night as well.  We have football every day between now and the day before American Thanksgiving.  Oh yeah!

Enjoy the rest of your week everyone!

Another proposal from yours truly – Week 11 College Football Recap

You probably know this already but over 15% of the college football games this past weekend were postponed or outright cancelled.  Unfortunately this is not a surprise considering we are in the throes of the second wave of COVID-19.  College football doesn’t get exempted from this.  And to be honest, it feels like even though the powers that be are doing the best they can, they are screwing things up.  Considering it’s the kind of year it has been you have to be flexible with a lot of things these days.  College football is doing that as well.  Just look at the Pac-12 with UCLA and California.  They both had their games cancelled so on Friday, set up a game for yesterday.  This has never been done before in the history of college football considering some teams schedule non-conference games 25 years out.  So it shows you don’t need weeks to prepare for scheduling changes.  Which brings me to my proposal.

Just so you know, this is something that has been bandied about by quite a few people in and out of the college football mediasphere.  Really, it is the same thing I have said about the NFL: create a week (or two) at the end of the season (or near the end) to fill in these games that have been lost to allow for a fuller season to be played.  The SEC has kind of done that as during conference championship week, teams can reschedule lost games if they can’t find an open week any other time.  A good idea but mine would be better.  Just move conference championship day to Boxing Day.  Now you have December 19th for make-up games which could end up being very important.  And don’t start bowl season the day of the conference championships.  I mean way to make those two teams playing that bowl game feel like shit.  Start the bowls on the 28th, and move the damn Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl back.  Many are saying you can’t but have you noticed how fucked up everything is these days?  Is the most important thing to get the season finished properly?  Oh that’s right, it’s not.  It’s about money.  Just not for the players.

Alright enough of my awesome plan to help college football (yet again).  On to the recap of what was a pretty good week of college football.  It wasn’t the best week and I think a lot had to do with all the games cancelled.  My only hope is that the last month of the regular season is better (fingers crossed).

Recap

• Nebraska had a nice win over Penn State in a battle of winless teams.  Scott Frost has to be relieved.  It was a huge victory that has been mired in a slump not seen in this part of the country in decades.  Not saying this makes it so the Huskers now have a shot at the division title because they really don’t.  Saying that, it’s not like their schedule is super difficult.  Illinois, Iowa, Purdue, and Minnesota left for them.  Win out and they are 5-2 and with some help who knows.  As for PSU, wow the bottom has dropped out for them.  Only winless team left in the Big Ten.  This is not looking good for them and for James Franklin.
• NC State is quietly at 5-3 on the season after their win over the hapless Florida State Seminoles.  The game wasn’t even as close as the 38-22 score would make you believe.  FSU being relegated to the ACC Network says all you need to know about the state of that program.  They are in dire straits meaning Mike Norvell will be on a hot seat starting next season for sure.
• A very slow start for Cincinnati turned into an absolute rout when they scored 28 second quarter points on East Carolina to pick up the win.  They still have two more big games against UCF and Tulsa coming up that could put other teams back in the race to get to the American Conference Championship.  The Bearcats would have to lose at least one of those, if not both, though and I honestly can’t see that happening.
• No big matchups this day but there was the Red Bandana Game at Boston College.  If you haven’t heard about it, it’s in honour of Welles Crowther.  He was a lacrosse player at BC who ended up moving to New York City to become an equities trader.  The other thing he was was a volunteer firefighter.  He ended up helping people get out of the South Tower during 9/11 and ended up dying.  One of the people who survived talked about being saved by a man who wore a red bandana and that man was Crowther .  So this game was created annually and it’s a great tradition that was created in Boston.  And then Notre Dame came in and beat the Eagles pretty badly.  Actually that may have been a little bit of an exaggeration but the Eagles were never really close.  The Irish were too much for BC and Ian Book may have pushed himself into the Heisman conversation.  Notre Dame continues their run to the ACC Championship but have to get through North Carolina first which could be a very interesting game.
• In Big XII news, Texas Tech BARELY beat Baylor.  It was looking for a while there that the Bears had the Red Raiders’ number.  Tech needed a FG late to win this one and got it.  Neither team is doing any good, especially Baylor who has only won against Kansas and may not win another game this year.  Rough start for Dave Aranda in Waco.
• Illinois had an actual great game against Rutgers and no, I am not joking.  It looked like the Scarlet Knights were driving for the winning score until an unfortunate interception.  Huge for the Illini.  This allowed them to hit a long field goal with almost no time left to get their first win of the season.  And with all teams bowl-eligible, Lovie Smith could take his team to a bowl game in two consecutive seasons.  The last time that happened in Champaign?  2010 and 2011 in the last two years under Ron Zook.  Yeah.
• Appalachian State ended up with what ended up as a huge win as they beat Georgia State in a close one.  This makes it so their game against Coastal Carolina is still huge and for the Sun Belt East division crown.  The Mountaineers have no real shot at the New Year’s Six so now their goal is to kill the Chanticleers’ chances.  It wouldn’t surprise me if they were the favourite when those two teams meet up this coming Saturday.
• Could the Florida Gators somehow be a true factor in the CFP race?   They sure could.  I mean their offense took Arkansas to the woodshed and now Kyle Trask has to be considered a real Heisman candidate.  And the Hogs aren’t bad this year.  The Gators still need to truly figure out their defense since the entire conference has decided to become the Big XII East.  A game against Vanderbilt coming up should help them figure things out before the final stretch of games.
• Are the Wisconsin Badgers a juggernaut?  They mopped the floor with Michigan dropping 49 relatively easy points on them.  Their path to the Big Ten Championship is now very simple.  Beat Northwestern this Saturday, don’t lose anymore games to COVID and they are headed to Indianapolis.
• So what can we make of the Kentucky Wildcats this season?  They looked OK, I guess, against Vanderbilt and were able to eek out a win.  They’ve been all over the place this season and no one can quite figure them out.  Unfortunately for them, their next two games against Alabama and Florida.  Good fucking luck.
• SMU lost to Tulsa.  No New Year’s Six for you!
• There were no games between ranked teams this past weekend.  The closest we probably got is Miami’s thrilling victory over Virginia Tech.  A back-and-forth affair that came down to the wire with The U pulling out the win with a touchdown with six minutes to go and a defensive stand shortly after that.  The Canes need to keep winning to move up the chain and hope that one of Clemson or Notre Dame loses down the stretch so they can get back into the ACC Championship.
• Maybe we should call them Windiana.  Are the Hoosiers ready for real pressure?  They have it coming up.  They went way out in front against Michigan State and cruised to the shutout this past weekend to move themselves squarely into the Top 10.  Now they have, arguably, the biggest game in program history as they play Ohio State this coming Saturday.  They win that and they have to be considered, amazingly enough, a true College Football Playoff contender.  Amazing.
• It looked for a while that Oregon was not going to be able to pull through in their game against Washington State.  A 22-point fourth quarter helped them to the big win.  At this point, other than maybe USC, the Ducks are feeling like the only Pac-12 hope for the CFP.  And struggling to beat a team like Wazzu just doesn’t cut it.
• Marshall beat Middle Tennessee.  I would honestly be shocked if the Thundering Herd don’t get to 10-0 going into the Conference USA Championship.
• Is the ACC the new Big XII?  North Carolina and Wake Forest both put up 50-burgers in their defense-optional matchup.  Both teams are the epitome of the ACC mid-card.  Good teams but none of them seem like contenders, even if they are ranked as such.  Both of these teams are good and it wouldn’t surprise me to see them both ranked at the end of the season but neither of them look like they could contend with Clemson or Notre Dame.  Now watch the Heels beat the Irish.
• Finally, USC and Arizona had a fun match out in Pac-12 land.  Another back-and-forth match with three touchdowns in the final four minutes.  The Trojans keep rolling with the win and are looking like the only challenger to Oregon in the entire Pac-12.

Normally at this point of the season we would be heading into SEC Sleepwalk Saturday followed by Footballgasm Weekend and that would end the regular season.  Instead, we have a good week coming up, followed by American Thanksgiving, followed by two more weeks of the regular season.  So yeah these games are important but still not as important as those final regular season games.  Anyway, let’s get to my Top 25 which may or may not be of any importance:

#1	Alabama
#2	Notre Dame
#3	Florida
#4	Ohio State
#5	Cincinnati
#6	BYU
#7	Clemson
#8	Texas A&M
#9	Oregon
#10	Miami
#11	Wisconsin
#12	Indiana
#13	Oklahoma State
#14	Georgia
#15	Marshall
#16	Coastal Carolina
#17	USC
#18	Iowa State
#19	Oklahoma
#20	Auburn
#21	Texas
#22	Northwestern
#23	Louisiana
#24	Liberty
#25	North Carolina

Not much has happened at the top but there should be a lot to come in the last few weeks of the regular season.  Unless something weird happens, both Georgia and Auburn won’t get to the CFP.  Alabama is almost a shoo-in at this point unless they don’t just shit the bed but fill the bedroom with diarrhea.  Notre Dame wins out and they are essentially a lock.  Ohio State is probably the same.  I can’t see a game that Ohio State would lose the rest of the way.  I am going to continue to drink the Kool-Aid and say Cincinnati and BYU are going to make things very difficult for The Committee.  The most important thing here though?  Indiana is in the Top 10 in the AP Poll but not quite in my poll.  They beat tOSU though, they are easily in the Top 10 if not the Top 5 in both of those venerable polls.  And let’s not forget about Coastal Carolina.  And Marshall.  Two Group of Five teams who are playing well, haven’t lost, and could cause other issues for The Committee.  I would love to see Indiana win out and get in the conversation for the College Football Playoff because I like the discomfort of a team that is not a college football blueblood being in the mix.  The media, as much as they they say otherwise, do not want these non-traditional football powers in these big games.  Except for the ones who love controversy like it’s crack.  Those are the people I like.

We got some MACtion tomorrow night!  Buffalo and Bowling Green tussle starting at 7:00 on CBS Sports Network and Akron faces off against Kent State starting at 7:00 on ESPNU (if you can get that).  Ohio and Miami-OH were supposed to play but they are the first MACtion game to be cancelled due to the Coronavirus.  Even MACtion can’t handle the virus.  Then the next night is another set of MACtion games with one of them being on CBSSN: Toledo-Eastern Michigan.

Tomorrow we got some bowl projections (which aren’t early anymore).  Wednesday, I will try and get the weekend-plus of college football and its TV schedule up.  Finally, the NFL gets the sked treatment on Thursday (hopefully).  Wish me luck and enjoy your week (and the games) everyone!

Is there even a win on the horizon for the Jets? – Week 10 NFL TV Schedule

Let’s look at the Jets’ remaining schedule:

• at LA Chargers
• vs. Miami
• vs. Las Vegas
• at Seattle
• at LA Rams
• vs. Cleveland
• at New England

Jesus Christ, do you see a possible win there?  Next weekend could be their best opportunity before the final week of the season.  I mean the Jets are a complete disaster but the Chargers have made a habit out of clutching a loss out of the jaws of victory.  Right now the Jets stand a game-and-a-half ahead of Jacksonville and two games ahead of Dallas and the Giants.  I would say they are a lock for the #1 pick but there are so many bad teams this year that they could win like four games and end up with the 9th pick.  The 2008 Detroit Lions and 2017 Cleveland Browns are watching in interest as this team could honestly be worse than either of those teams.

That was a very short intro.  Do I need to say more?  It’s the Jets.  Let’s get moving to the good stuff…the schedule (which is kind of fucked up this week)!

Thursday Night

Indianapolis at Tennessee

8:20, FOX, NFL Network, TSN1/3/4, CTV Two

Sunday Early

Tampa Bay at Carolina		Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane, Buffalo, Boston			All affiliates (except Ottawa)
Jacksonville at Green Bay		Minneapolis		TSN3
Philadelphia at NY Giants		Rochester, Burlington			Ottawa
Washington at Detroit		Detroit
Houston at Cleveland

Sunday Late

Buffalo at Arizona	All affiliates		Kitchener, Toronto	TSN3, TSN4, TSN5
Denver at Las Vegas
LA Chargers at Miami
Seattle at LA Rams		Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane, Minneapolis, Detroit	Vancouver, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Winnipeg, Ottawa
Cincinnati at Pittsburgh		Buffalo, Rochester, Burlington, Boston	Northern Ontario, Montreal		Atlantic
San Francisco at New Orleans

Sunday/Monday Primetime

Baltimore at New England	Sunday, 8:20, NBC, TSN 1/3/5, CTV Two
Minnesota at Chicago	Monday, 8:15, TSN 1/3/4/5

Random-Ass Shit and Stuff

• Hey have you noticed what is happening this Sunday?  Yes, there are no early CBS games on Sunday because it’s the final round of the Masters.  And to be honest, CBS did a good job with the Masters by asking to have it end by 4:00 since it usually goes until about 7:00.  Then again, with the sun going down sooner that wasn’t going to be an option anyway.
• It’s cross-flex time!  At least for once it’s makes perfect sense as to why it’s happening.  FOX getting not one, but two CBS games this week actually very much helps out CBS.  In the end, I find most of these networks quite cooperative when it comes to scheduling with the NFL.  So anyway, Texans-Browns in the early timeslot and Bengals-Steelers in the late timeslot have been moved over to FOX.  How a game involving the Bengals is getting that much coverage here in Canada I have no idea.  Actually I do have a good idea.  Joe Burrow and an undefeated Steelers team.  Enough to give them coverage even though they aren’t on their normal network.
• Wow the primetime games look….pretty awful.  I guess the Colts-Titans game does have some AFC South intrigue but other than that?  Yuck.
• Four games not appearing on Canadian TV this Sunday.  One of them in the early timeslot and three late.  And let’s be honest: very few of you would be clamoring to watch any of these games.  I hope, for your sake, that none of those games are close and then you get the always excited “Bonus Coverage” followed by “pursuant to NFL rules we are not allowed to show you overtime of that game.”  Damn NFL.
• TSN steps up during the late games…kind of.  They have three channels showing a game in the late timeslot.  Problem is it’s all the same game.  Like why couldn’t they use one of those channels to show a game not being shown here?  I don’t get it.

Hey let’s look at the updated playoffs (if they started today):

#1 – Pittsburgh	#1 – New Orleans
#2 – Kansas City	#2 – Seattle
#3 – Buffalo	#3 – Green Bay
#4 – Tennessee	#4 – Philadelphia
Wild Cards:	Wild Cards:
#5 – Baltimore	#5 – Tampa Bay
#6 – Las Vegas	#6 – Arizona
#7 – Miami/Cleveland/Indianapolis	#7 – LA Rams

We are now past the midway mark of the season.  These playoff looks tend to become more and more important.  At this point, the Super Bowl favourites would have to be the Steelers, followed by the Chiefs, Saints, Seahawks and even, dare I say it, the Bills.  I will say I am a bit surprised that the Dolphins are in the playoff picture at this point.  They are way better than they should have been and you have to give Brian Flores a lot of credit for that.  Now Arizona?  They are not really a surprise with how well Kyler Murray and that offense is playing.  As for the teams close to elimination, the Falcons, Bengals, Texans, Broncos and Panthers are really close unless they run the table.  Which they won’t.  And the Jets and Jaguars are already eliminated.  Seriously.  So we won’t even be at the three-quarter mark of the season and will probably have those seven teams if not a few more already eliminated.  Only 18 teams miss the playoffs this season so that could put a huge damper on the final week of the season which has been a ton of fun to watch recently.

OK finally starting to get colder after a pretty nice start to November…well weather wise.  Almost time to think about snow tires I guess.  And don’t be one of those people that had them put on a month ago.  That’s insane.  So with the weather going south, I look forward to staying inside and watching copious amounts of football.  Everyone have a great weekend!

It’s coming soon and the debates will be ridiculous – Week 11 College Football TV Schedule

The College Football Playoff rankings come out for the first time in a couple of weeks.  It’s a few weeks later than normal but not surprising for what’s happening during this wacky year.  And of course I am sure there will be controversy.  Remember the first ever CFP Rankings that had Texas A&M at #4 and everyone lost their fucking minds?  Or when TCU was #3, destroyed Iowa State and ended up #5 at the end of the day?  Or when Alabama became the first team not to even win their division to be in the Top 4?  Good shit.  You know the first rankings will create a ton of debate in the college football media.  To be frank, it annoys the hell out of me.  It’s one thing to have a discussion on it.  It’s a whole other thing for it to dominate talks and create complete assholes out of people who are normally very nice people.

And again, I have an issue with these rankings in general.  The first time the College Football Playoff Committee should give their rankings out is before conference championship weekend.  Before that there is no point in it.  All of a sudden these rankings are supposed to be used instead of the AP Rankings that were used all season up until that point?  That is so dumb.  Then again, I believe that all these rankings are done so that many in the group I call college football media can debate them and talk about something.  Otherwise why would they even be needed?

Alright we are over two months into this season (even though it definitely doesn’t feel that way).  Are you used to no fans in the stands?  Gonna be honest: I’m used to it but I don’t like it.  I much prefer when there is even 10% of the stands filled for a game.  The games that look like midweek MACtion or Fun Belt games just seem to have a better atmosphere.  Big Ten and Pac-12 of course are not allowing fans.  It’s not like I didn’t totally agree with them not starting on time but scrambling then to start late has been a disaster for those conferences already.  What a complete mess.  If you couldn’t tell from my bowl projections post, that almost hammers the point home.  Anyway, I will say it is nice to see more Sun Belt games on Saturdays that we can actually see here.  That’s a plus through all this.

Alright enough of this let’s get to the damn schedule already!

Wednesday​

		US	Canada
Eastern Michigan at Ball State	7:00 PM

So this is football.  It’s starting to get cold outside for good after a pretty nice early November.  So might as well stay in and watch some college football.  That’s what MACtion is all about.

Thursday

No football tonight.  Well there is a game on FOX Sports One if you get that.  You’re stuck with NFL Thursday Night Football otherwise!

Friday​​

		US	Canada
Florida Atlantic at FIU	7:00 PM
East Carolina at #7 Cincinnati	7:30 PM

The second game might be over by the end of the first quarter.  Or we could get Bizarro East Carolina who keeps it close and frustrates the Bearcats all night long.  The other game is the annual Shula Bowl game.  Again, it’s college football so I will definitely watch.

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
#10 Indiana at Michigan State	Noon
Illinois at Rutgers	Noon
#9 Miami at Virginia Tech	Noon
TCU at West Virginia	Noon
Penn State at Nebraska	Noon
Middle Tennessee at #16 Marshall	1:30 PM Noon

No seriously huge games but definitely some interesting ones early on.  ESPN2 gets The U and VaTech which could be very interesting and ripe for an upset.  I have it down as being on TSN2 but I honestly don’t know.  Georgia-Missouri was supposed to be on TSN2 in this timeslot and it is one of four SEC games cancelled due to COVID-19.  Christ’s sake.  I will get into more detail as this post goes on.

UPDATE #3: UM-VT has been moved to ESPN.

UPDATE #5: IU-RU moves to 1:00.

UPDATE #6: I guessed wrong on Miami-VT being on TSN.  It will now be IU-MSU going there.

UPDATE #8: MTSU-Marshall has been moved to Noon for some reason.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
#2 Notre Dame at Boston College	3:30 PM
#3 Ohio State at Maryland	3:30 PM
Colorado at Stanford	3:30 PM
#20 USC at Arizona	3:30 PM
Baylor at Texas Tech	4:00 PM

“Why is there no CBS game at 3:30?”  I can see people asking this and it’s a simple answer.  Thanks to the insanity that is 2020, the Masters is on this weekend.  CBS and Augusta National did a good job to accommodate both college football and the NFL this weekend.  So the third round of the Masters was going to air until 5:30 so that the SEC on CBS pre-game show can start on time.  I will get to that in the next timeslot.

Again, no real huge games here but some interesting ones.  The Pac-12 games are still important at this point as we all kind of know one loss kills any team’s chance at the College Football Playoff.  Also, you have to wonder when the Notre Dame Speedbump Game is going to happen.  This may be it and if it is that would be entertaining.

UPDATE: Yet another game cancelled.  Ohio State-Maryland is not being played due to, you guessed it, Frank Stallone COVID-19.

UPDATE #2: CU-Stanford has been moved to ESPN.

Saturday Primetime​​

		US	Canada
Southern Miss at Western Kentucky	6:00 PM
Arkansas at #6 Florida	7:00 PM
#19 SMU at Tulsa	7:00 PM
#11 Oregon at Washington State	7:00 PM
#13 Wisconsin at Michigan	7:30 PM
#23 Northwestern at Purdue	7:30 PM

OK so now you are noticing no CBS game.  Well four (yes, FOUR) SEC games have been postponed this weekend and one of them was Alabama-LSU which was supposed to air at 6:00 on CBS right after the third round of the Masters.  I have a feeling this game will end up being outright cancelled because LSU has no open weeks before the SEC Championship.  Why didn’t they just move all the conference championships to Boxing Day?  Oh that’s right, because the fucking Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl just have to be on New Year’s Day otherwise the world will explode or something like that.  Give me a break.

And the Masters is also the reason why TSN isn’t showing many games today.  Normally TSN would fill in all the spots after 3:30 with worthless dreck that most people won’t watch.  At least this year they have a reason to not show much college football on this particular weekend.

UPDATE #4: Northwestern-Purdue has moved to 5:00 EST.  It will still be on the Big Ten Network.

Saturday Late Night​

		US	Canada
California at Arizona State	10:30 PM
Utah at UCLA	10:30 PM
Oregon State at Washington	11:00 PM

FOX QUADRUPLEHEADER!!!!!!!  Thanks to issues within the Utah Utes football team with COVID and contact tracing they asked for a move of their game from Friday night to Saturday night.  And this was the only spot where it could go.  First network college football broadcast to go this late ever.  Glorious!

UPDATE #7: Cal-ASU has been cancelled due to multiple positive COVID-19 tests inside the Sun Devils program, including head coach Herm Edwards.  I don’t know what TSN’s plan is now but I guess is they just won’t show a late game.

UPDATE #9: Another cancellation: Utah-UCLA is now cancelled.  No FOX quadrupleheader.  No history being made.  So sad.

Games to set your eyeballs on

Miami at Virginia Tech (Noon, TSN2) – Amazingly enough, with all the conferences back, this is arguably the best game of the week (although you could make an argument for a few others).  Honestly, if it wasn’t for a Fuente fuck-up in the Liberty game, they could be 5-2 and ranked and this would be truly a big game.  Miami needs this victory badly since their chances of getting to the ACC Championship are slim so they may have to take the backdoor route to get to the College Football Playoff.  It does feel like a game that could be an upset possibility, though so at the very least it should be very entertaining.  The fact this game is on ESPN2 in the United States shows how little respect the ACC still gets, despite the fact they have Notre Dame this season.

Notre Dame at Boston College (3:30, ABC/TSN2) – Speaking of games where one team winning would cause a bit of carnage, here’s one.  Everyone is expecting the Irish to mop the floor with the Eagles here.  Then again, this could get weird as it should be pretty damn cold in Chestnut Hill and if there’s snow, watch out.  I wonder how far Notre Dame would fall with a loss here.  Despite the fact many would want the Irish out of the Top 10, I don’t see them dropping more than three spots regardless of what happens here.

Oregon at Washington State (7:00, FOX) – Let’s see how fucked up the Pac-12 North can get.  If Oregon loses then Wazzu becomes the leader of the division.  Like that would not look good on that division.  And who else would really contend for the Pac-12 crown out of the North?  Nobody.  Brutal.  The conference is praying the Ducks can win this and win it big.

SMU at Tulsa (7:00, TSN1) – I would say we’ve fallen off a cliff now but really, were we at the top of the cliff to begin with?  If the Golden Hurricane can pull off the upset here, this throws the AAC into potential disarray.  At the very least, it means SMU will be shot like a cannon down the rankings where everyone seems to think they belong.  It would also leave just Cincinnati to carry the conference’s hopes of getting to the New Year’s Six.

Northwestern at Purdue (7:30, BTN) – Honestly, this could have been the primetime ABC game.  I know Michigan is a college football blueblood but this game is basically a Big Ten West elimination game.  A Wildcat win puts Pat Fitzgerald firmly back in the echelon of best coaches in college football.  I guess I have to say the same if the Boilermakers come up victorious.  Purdue winning, though, would be an upset no matter which way you slice it.  The Big Ten Network lucked out with this one, in my opinion.

Honourable mention: Coastal Carolina at Troy (Noon, ESPNU); Wake Forest at North Carolina (Noon, ACC Network); Hawaii at San Diego State (4:00, Spectrum PPV…yes, I’m serious)

UPDATE #10: Yep, double digits for the first time this season and it’s not hurricane-related.  CCU-Troy has been postponed but will most likely be cancelled due to COVID-related issues.

Some gambling fun and games

My picks last week were actually pretty fantastic.  I got a minor upset in Florida beating Georgia.  I even called the BYU win.  Only losses were on picks that almost everyone would have got wrong.  So here are this week’s possibly also pretty great picks.

SMU over Tulsa

Notre Dame over Boston College

Troy over Coastal Carolina (pretty big upset)

Virginia Tech over Miami (another upset)

Northwestern over Purdue

San Diego State over Hawaii

Oregon over Washington State

North Carolina over Wake Forest

Florida over Arkansas

Baylor at Texas Tech

Marshall over Middle Tennessee

For the second week in a row I will probably be up until 2 in the morning watching games.  Maybe there’s something wrong with me.  But with only three months (actually almost four this year) of regular season college football I have to watch as much as I can.  The other nine months have bowl games (good), Week Zero (which was basically nothing this year), college football all-star games (who knows if these will even happen) and then…nothing.  Then again, who knows what is going to happen with sports schedules from now on thanks to this insane year.  Anyway, enjoy the games this weekend everyone!