I have to say it was a fun final regular season weekend of college football. Especially the Iron Bowl. What a ridiculous finish. Now we get into the postseason part of the season. So there has to be some chaos, right? Some upset? Any upset? Sure there were a few during the season but really the big upset has taken a big nap this year. And that’s part of college football. Not having those has taken something away from this season. Let’s hope this coming weekend can bring some of that chaos back. Fingers crossed. Let’s get on with the schedule.
Friday
Conference USA Championship: New Mexico State (+10.5) at #24 Liberty
7:00
This network continues to be smart in the way they figure out WHEN to put a game. They get an entire national audience for almost an entire half and then, if the game is close, many people will stick with it to the end. Brilliant. Plus, with the added possibility of seeing a potential New Year’s Six berth clinched here, it means they should get more eyeballs on this game than ever before. Prediction: This game is the biggest one, not only in Liberty’s history, but in Conference USA’s history. This is their chance to put a team in the New Year’s Six for the first time. The first part gets done this night. Liberty 39 New Mexico State 34.
Pac-12 Championship: #5 Oregon (-9.5) vs. #3 Washington (in Paradise, NV)
8:00
The final Pac-12 Championship and, arguably, the most important conference championship is being held on a Friday night starting at 5:00 local time. Hell, ESPN/ABC is sending their best crew to this. This feels like the final slap in the face to the Pac-12. Anyway, this is massive. The winner is a lock for the College Football Playoff and the loser gets relegated to the New Year’s Six. It’s that simple. Prediction: This is going to be an offensive showcase between two of the Heisman contenders in Bo Nix and Michael Penix Jr. The guy who wins, I believe, won’t be the Heisman winner. Although I guess there’s always a possibility Jayden Daniels wins it instead of either of these two. Washington 49 Oregon 38.
Saturday Early
Big XII Championship: #18 Oklahoma State (+14.5) vs. #7 Texas (in Arlington)
Noon
Easily the only game that matters early on. Texas has to win and get quite a bit of help to get into the College Football Playoff. They will know the lay of the land after the Pac-12 Championship, especially if Oregon wins since that will mean a better shot to join the party. Prediction: The Longhorns do what they need to do but will have to wait to see if it is enough. Texas 52 Oklahoma State 27.
MAC Championship: Miami-OH (+7.5) vs. Toledo (in Detroit)
Noon
Well, from the College Football Playoff rankings we now know that Toledo has no chance at the NY6, despite having an 11-1 record. Nothing will allow them to leapfrog Tulane, Liberty or SMU. I would say this is for a trip back to Detroit for the Quick Lane Bowl but even that is in doubt thanks to tie-ins that don’t even tie a conference in to a bowl game. Prediction: Should be close like their regular season matchup. Toledo 24 Miami-OH 20.
Saturday Afternoon
Mountain West Championship: Boise State (-2) at UNLV
3:00
Now that the strange computer rankings saga to figure out who would actually be in the conference championship game is over, we can focus ont the game itself. Really, they are probably playing for a spot in the LA Bowl but who the hell knows. It will be interesting to see how many people are in Allegiant Stadium as it hosts its second conference championship in less than 24 hours. Prediction: This isn’t on the Smurf Turf so you have to give the advantage to the Rebels here. UNLV 41 Boise State 38.
Sun Belt Championship: Appalachian State (+6.5) at Troy
4:00
Where does the winner go? Who the fuck knows anymore. Prediction: I will be thinking about how this would have been a hundred times better if James Madison was hosting Troy. Troy 34 Appalachian State 16.
SEC Championship: #8 Alabama (+5.5) vs. #1 Georgia (in Atlanta)
4:00
Is Georgia in no matter what? Probably although you never know how things will shake out with The Committee. Bama is going to have win this by like 50 to even get a glance from them as they are probably too far out to get their shot. Prediction: This is going to be really close and really good. I just feel it. Georgia 49 Alabama 42.
American Championship: SMU (+4) at #22 Tulane
4:00
Tulane goes back to the NY6 with a win in this one. But what happens if SMU wins? That is where the fun begins (as long as Liberty wins their game on Friday). I still believe that SMU would have to hope Liberty loses since there is no way to pass them but I could be wrong. Prediction: Tulane is heading back to the promised land but it won’t be easy. Tulane 41 SMU 34.
SWAC Championship: Prairie View A&M at Florida A&M
4:00
Florida A&M has been money since joining the SWAC. Honestly, I think Deion Sanders may have been right. Have all the MEAC schools join the SWAC. One huge mega-HBCU-conference. ESPN might not like that though because they have the Celebration Bowl on the opening day of Bowl Season and you know how ESPN is about their bowls. Even with the 12-team playoff they will want to add bowls so that 4-8 Houston can face 4-8 Colorado. Prediction: The Rattlers are going to beat the brakes off of Prairie View and move on to the Celebration Bowl where they will be in an uncomfortably close game with a team that’s not even close to their level in Howard. Like most of the Celebration Bowls. Florida A&M 56 Prairie View A&M 14.
Saturday Primetime
ACC Championship: #14 Louisville (+2.5) vs. #4 Florida State (in Charlotte)
8:00
All the FSU talk is about the loss of Jordan Travis. I get it. With him, you look like a national championship contender. Without him, not so much. Saying that, they know what they have to do. Win. Doesn’t matter how. Just win. And I wondered if they were going to be able to do that against this Cardinals team but after Louisville’s performance against Kentucky, I started to wonder about that. Prediction: The Noles do enough to win. The defense keeps the Cardinals offense at bay. FSU off to the CFP. Florida State 37 Louisville 27.
Big Ten Championship: #16 Iowa (+23) vs. #2 Michigan (in Indianapolis)
8:00
The spread is almost as high as the over/under for Iowa’s game last week against Nebraska. How sad/hilarious is that? Michigan is in with a win and maybe even with a loss depending on what has happened before this point. Prediction: Iowa has survived a lot of games with their defense. They won’t here. This could get ugly. Michigan 44 Iowa 10.
FCS Second Round: Southern Illinois at Idaho
10:00 PM
Hey, an added bonus! Some FCS playoff action! From what I can tell this may be close but we shall see since my FCS knowledge isn’t that great. And despite the fact they are playing in the awesome Kibbie Dome, wouldn’t it have been ten times more hilarious if this were outdoors…in Moscow, Idaho…in December? Oh my. Prediction: Watch this prediction be WAY off. Idaho 38 Southern Illinois 33.
We are almost at the end. It’s college football’s Judgment Day and it’s coming quickly. And we are slowly heading towards bowl season and the end of the college football season. So enjoy the games everyone!
But before we get to those I must put out the final Bossman Top 26 of the season. I make it sound like I did like 20 of these when the reality is I didn’t even make it to five. I should rectify that next year. Anyway, here goes nothing!
#1
Georgia (12-0)
#2
Michigan (12-0)
#3
Washington (12-0)
#4
Oregon (11-1)
#5
Florida State (12-0)
#6
Texas (11-1)
#7
Alabama (11-1)
#8
Ohio State (11-1)
#9
Missouri (10-2)
#10
Penn State (10-2)
#11
Ole Miss (10-2)
#12
LSU (9-3)
#13
Arizona (9-3)
#14
Oklahoma (10-2)
#15
Notre Dame (9-3)
#16
Oklahoma State (9-3)
#17
Louisville (10-2)
#18
Iowa (10-2)
#19
Oregon State (8-4)
#20
Tulane (11-1)
#21
NC State (9-3)
#22
James Madison (11-1)
#23
Tennessee (8-4)
#24
Liberty (12-0)
#25
Toledo (11-1)
#26
Utah (8-4)
Alright, let’s take a look at this. Yes, I have FSU at #5. Without Jordan Travis, they are not as good as either Washington or Oregon. However, they move into #4 if the win the ACC Championship and take the spot of whoever loses the Pac-12 Championship. So they still control their destiny. The only thing that may hurt them is Louisville’s loss to Kentucky which drops them in my poll to #17. Now, a win over the Cards isn’t nearly as good as it was a few days ago. Ole Miss absolutely needs at least one upset on conference championship week and it can’t be the ACC Championship. Otherwise they are looking at a good bowl but not a New Year’s Six one. Finally, as for the Group of Five, Tulane is in the driver’s seat. Win and they go back to the NY6. Lose and it’s probably either Liberty or SMU. My best guess is it will be Liberty that gets in unless SMU does to the Green Wave what they did to Navy this past Saturday. Toledo has almost no chance to get in. They would need losses by Tulane and Liberty and to absolutely destroy Miami-OH in Detroit and then get some sympathy from The Committee.
So there’s still a lot to figure out, even in this season which has been almost completely devoid of big upsets. Which brings us to the main event of this post: the bowl projections. I am sure I will still have some wrong even on Sunday morning just before the selection show begins. So will all the other bowl prognosticators, guys who are much better at this than I am. At least with James Madison now in the mix it makes it interesting since they are a good chance to play a Power Five team, something most Group of Five teams don’t get a chance to do during bowl season. Let’s get on with this and see where we sit after the final week of the regular season.
Sugar Bowl
CFP #1 vs. CFP #4
Georgia vs. Florida State
Rose Bowl
CFP #2 vs. CFP #3
Michigan vs. Washington
One change. I figured all four of the teams above would win. I am thinking a bit more strongly that the Noles will have enough to beat Louisville, win the ACC Championship, and sneak into the final spot in the CFP. Georgia and Michigan should take care of business and in the biggest game of the weekend (on Friday night), I believe the Huskies win a close one over Oregon to clinch their spot. Pretty easy so far.
Did any of the NY6 selections change (other than the one obvious change from my previous projection post)?
Fiesta Bowl
CFP at-large vs. CFP at-large/G-5 #1
Oregon vs. Tulane
Orange Bowl
ACC Champ vs. Big Ten/Notre Dame/SEC
Louisville vs. Ohio State
Peach Bowl
CFP at-large vs. CFP at-large/G-5 #1
Alabama vs. Penn State
Cotton Bowl
CFP at-large vs. CFP at-large/G-5 #1
Texas vs. Missouri
Louisville’s loss made me want to put FSU into the Top 4. This meant that Texas would fall back into the Cotton Bowl spot and now a date with Mizzou. Two old Big XII foes who will now be in the SEC together. I think it made sense to move Penn State out of the Fiesta and slot them up against Bama. No disrespect to Tulane but pairing them the Tide could be bad news. Not saying they are going to beat Oregon but I think they have a much better chance to do so and Bama-PSU is a bit of a dream matchup.
Car wreck time. Let’s proceed.
Citrus Bowl
SEC vs. Big Ten
Ole Miss vs. Iowa
ReliaQuest Bowl
SEC vs. Big Ten
Kentucky vs. Northwestern
Arizona Bowl
MWC vs. MAC
Boise State vs. Bowling Green
Music City Bowl
SEC vs. Big Ten
LSU vs. Wisconsin
Liberty Bowl
SEC vs. Big XII
Auburn vs. Kansas State
Sun Bowl
ACC vs. Pac-12
Notre Dame vs. Utah
Gator Bowl
SEC vs. ACC
Tennessee vs. NC State
Alamo Bowl
Big XII vs. Pac-12
Oklahoma vs. Arizona
Pop Tarts Bowl
ACC vs. Big XII
Clemson vs. Oklahoma State
Pinstripe Bowl
Big Ten vs. ACC
Rutgers vs. Georgia Tech
Fenway Bowl
2 of ACC/AAC/C-USA
Virginia Tech vs. SMU
Texas Bowl
SEC vs. Big XII
Texas A&M vs. Iowa State
Holiday Bowl
ACC vs. Pac-12
Boston College vs. Oregon State
Duke’s Mayo Bowl
SEC vs. ACC
Minnesota vs. North Carolina
Military Bowl
ACC vs. AAC
Miami vs. UTSA
Guaranteed Rate Bowl
2 of Big Ten/Big XII/MWC
UNLV vs. West Virginia
First Responder Bowl
2 of ACC/Big XII/AAC/Sun Belt/C-USA
UCF vs. Georgia Southern
Quick Lane Bowl
Big Ten vs. MAC
Duke vs. Toledo
Hawaii Bowl
AAC vs. MWC
Rice vs. Fresno State
Las Vegas Bowl
Big Ten vs. Pac-12
Maryland vs. USC
68 Ventures Bowl
2 of Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC
Troy vs. Liberty
Idaho Potato Bowl
2 of MWC/MAC/Sun Belt
Wyoming vs. Arkansas State
Armed Forces Bowl
Big XII vs. C-USA
Kansas vs. WKU
Birmingham Bowl
2 of SEC/ACC/AAC/C-USA
Louisiana vs. Memphis
Camellia Bowl
2 of Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC
Old Dominion vs. Eastern Michigan
Gasparilla Bowl
2 of SEC/ACC/AAC/C-USA
Syracuse vs. USF
Boca Raton Bowl
2 of AAC/Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC
Appalachian State vs. Ohio
Frisco Bowl
2 of AAC/Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC
Texas State vs. Utah State
Famous Toastery Bowl
MAC vs. C-USA
Georgia State vs. Jacksonville State
Independence Bowl
Big XII vs. Pac-12
Texas Tech vs. California
LA Bowl
Pac-12 vs. MWC
UCLA vs. San Jose State
New Mexico Bowl
2 of Group of Five
Air Force vs. Marshall
Cure Bowl
2 of AAC/Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC
Coastal Carolina vs. Northern Illinois
New Orleans Bowl
Sun Belt vs. C-USA
James Madison vs. New Mexico State
Myrtle Beach Bowl
2 of AAC/Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC
South Alabama vs. Miami-OH
Some notes on this dog’s breakfast:
I changed a few teams from last week’s post but that meant I had to change a few others because the tie-ins didn’t work. So then I changed a few more and ended up with this. Fucking ridiculous. I love doing this shit. Welcome to Bowl Season! I wonder if it will be like this next year. Oh, who am I kidding, of course it will!
The SEC can’t fulfill their bowl tie-ins. For once, their non-bowl-eligible teams were truly dreadful. That is why you see Minnesota in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl to play North Carolina. Speaking of the Traveling Flecks…
There ended up being 79 bowl eligible teams. There are 82 bowl slots. So James Madison and Jacksonville State at least got into the postseason the roundabout way. One spot was left for a smart team. That team ended up being Minnesota. It would have gone to Colorado State but they lost on an insane game-winning field goal by Hawaii in the final regular season game not including Army or Navy.
Speaking of Navy……they can get to six wins if they defeat Army in the Army-Navy Game. It seems like no bowl is willing to save a spot for Navy even they beat the Black Knights. As far as I know, a team is not allowed to practice if they are not set for a bowl game. This means the team that would be selected if Navy lost, Mississippi State, would not be allowed to practice at all until they knew they would be in the bowl game, which would give a whole lot less practices to the Bulldogs than their opponents. Look, I like the Army-Navy game. But it’s only had its own week since 2009. This isn’t exactly a ton of history. There has to be another way to do this but we know how the NCAA is resistant to change.
Hey, remember when we had football every day? That was fun. We no longer have that. Which is sad. Means we have to wait for football. In this case, for college football, we have to wait all the way until Friday evening! No MACtion. No Fun Belt. No whatever Conference USA calls their weekday games in October. All we can hope for is a great weekend of conference championship football. Enjoy the rest of your week everyone!
The 2023 version of Footballgasm has arrived! Get ready for an absolute fuck-ton of college football and NFL football from Thursday through to Monday night. Why does this happen? Americans need something to do while they let all that food settle in their stomachs. I mean our Thanksgiving comes first and is pretty good but we really missed the mark. Take out green bean casserole and there’s very little to dislike about American Thanksgiving.
Alright time to unleash the college football schedule for this week, the final week of the regular season. This is done in traditional Bossman’s Blog American Thanksgiving style. Every game is listed. Some are not important. Some are very important. But every game gets their own section. College football deserves it (for the most part).
Tuesday
Bowling Green (-1.5) at Western Michigan
7:00
Does this mean anything? No. But it’s the final night of MACtion so enjoy it. Predicted score: Western Michigan 27 Bowling Green 24.
Eastern Michigan (+6.5) at Buffalo
7:30
Now this game is more important…well, at least for one team. The Eagles can become bowl eligible with a win here. The Bulls are just here to try and play spoiler. Predicted score: Buffalo 31 Eastern Michigan 21.
Thursday
#12 Ole Miss (-11) at Mississippi State
7:30
The Rebels are juuuuuuuuuuuust on the outside looking in at the New Year’s Six. Could they leapfrog Missouri or Penn State without those two teams losing? It’s doubtful but they could strengthen their case by putting a beating on Mississippi State. Predicted score: Ole Miss 34 Mississippi State 30.
Friday
Miami (-9) at Boston College
Noon
Miami destroyed any chance of doing anything this season, mostly with piss-poor coaching (although Tyler Van Dyke seriously regressed this season). The Eagles on the other hand, they played much better than expected and Jeff Hafley has saved his job. Predicted score: Miami 38 Boston College 15.
#17 Iowa (+2) at Nebraska
Noon
Big game here for the Huskers. Win and they are bowl-eligible in Matt Rhule’s first season in Lincoln. Maybe, just maybe, the sun is finally shining on Huskerland for the first time in quite a few years. To do that, though, they will have to upset the Hawkeyes who have defied every odd and probably some theories of offensive football to become Big Ten West champs. Take the under (even though the over/under is a record-low 26.5). Predicted score: Iowa 14 Nebraska 7.
Ohio (-14) at Akron
Noon
Ohio can win their ninth game of the season which is pretty impressive. Unfortunately, it won’t be enough to win the division. Akron is hoping to stay out of double digits in the loss column. Predicted score: Ohio 30 Akron 10.
Memphis (-11.5) at Temple
Noon
Memphis lost their shot at a potential American Conference championship spot last weekend. So really, this means nothing. Predicted score: Memphis 31 Temple 7.
Toledo (-10.5) at Central Michigan
Noon
The Rockets will need a win and a lot of help to somehow sneak into the New Year’s Six. The Chips are trying to get to their sixth win. Actually, quite a bit at stake here. Predicted score: Toledo 34 Central Michigan 16.
TCU (+10) at #13 Oklahoma
Noon
Huge game here for the Sooners. An Oklahoma win and they still have a shot at going to JerryWorld one last time, much to the chagrin of the rest of the Big XII members. TCU isn’t going to lie down for them, though. They have to win to go bowling. Predicted score: TCU 38 Oklahoma 26.
UTSA (+3) at #23 Tulane
3:30
Tulane gets to eleven wins with a win here. More importantly, a win here puts them in the AAC Championship game and makes them the favourite to go back to the New Year’s Six. I am honestly shocked that no team has taken a flyer on Willie Fritz, despite his age. A Roadrunners win doesn’t eliminate the Green Wave either although they would need some help from Navy. A UTSA win would put them in the conference championship and would finish one of the best conference moves (outside the Sun Belt) in recent memory. Predicted score: Tulane 29 UTSA 24.
Utah State (-7.5) at New Mexico
3:30
The Aggies go bowling if they beat the Lobos. A UNM win would put them at five for the season which, honestly, would probably save Danny Gonzales’ job and constitute one of their better seasons in a long time. Predicted score: Utah State 49 New Mexico 31.
#9 Missouri (-7.5) at Arkansas
4:00
Mizzou locks themselves into the New Year’s Six if they can defeat the lowly Hogs. Sam Pittman has already been retained for next year so no surprise shitcanning in Fayetteville like Bret Bielema got a few years back. Predicted score: Missouri 33 Arkansas 14.
Texas Tech (+13) at #7 Texas
7:30
A massive game for the Longhorns. There is honestly so much on the line here. The most important being a spot in the final four-team College Football Playoff. It’s within their grasp but they have to stop allowing teams to stick around in games. The Red Raiders, on the other hand, are playing for one thing since they are already bowl eligible: spoiling the Horns’ entire season. Predicted score: Texas 31 Texas Tech 17.
#11 Penn State (-21) vs. Michigan State (in Detroit)
7:30
Do the Nittany Lions deserve to be in a New Year’s Six bowl? It’s debatable but at this point, a win probably clinches a spot unless Ole Miss goes nuts on Mississippi State the night before. The Spartans just want to end one of the most miserable seasons in their program’s history, on and off the field. Predicted score: Penn State 49 Michigan State 28.
#16 Oregon State (+13.5) at #6 Oregon
8:30
The Ducks want a rematch with Washington for the Pac-12 Championship. The Beavers just want to spoil Oregon’s season as all teams do in rivalry games. Predicted score: Oregon 44 Oregon State 29.
Saturday Early
Kentucky (+7) at #10 Louisville
Noon
Louisville needs a win to keep their slim CFP hopes alive. That alone will make this game interesting. Kentucky has no stakes other than maybe trying not to lose too badly so that Mark Stoops can be guaranteed for 2024. Predicted score: Louisville 31 Kentucky 10.
Pittsburgh (+6) at Duke
Noon
Duke is already going bowling and are middle of the ACC standings. Pitt is pretty awful (other than playing lights out against Louisville) and are looking forward to the offseason. A lot of better options in this window. Predicted score: Duke 20 Pittsburgh 7.
Indiana (+3) at Purdue
Noon
The Old Oaken Bucket. Even with this being a rivalry game, it’s really not worth watching. Predicted score: Purdue 32 Indiana 13.
Miami-OH (-6.5) at Ball State
Noon
Redhawks are in. Cardinals are out. Let’s see if Mike Neu finally gets the axe like I’ve predicted for a few seasons now. Predicted score: Miami-OH 30 Ball State 28.
Texas A&M (+10.5) at #14 LSU
Noon
For two good teams (OK one quite good team and one OK team), this game does not mean a whole lot. The Aggies are bowling and playing under an interim coach. LSU would need a damn miracle to get into the New Year’s Six so should start packing for a Florida bowl game. Predicted score: LSU 45 Texas A&M 31.
Navy (+20) at SMU
Noon
Now with TSN pushing a lot to TSN+, games like this will almost never make it to the regular TSN channels again which sucks for people who don’t subscribe. It feels like it has finally come to the point where you have to either get one off the specialty packs, get TSN+ or go the IPTV route to see as much college football as you want as a Canadian. Anyway, Navy has two shots to go bowling and would like to close that out here. The Mustangs are in the American Championship with a win in Big D. Predicted score: SMU 48 Navy 20.
Troy (-17) at Southern Miss
Noon
Troy has no shot at the New Year’s Six and is already hosting the Sun Belt Championship. Southern Miss is home for the holidays. Meh. Predicted score: Troy 23 Southern Miss 8.
#2 Ohio State (+3.5) at #3 Michigan
Noon
Another huge version of The Game. Not a total surprise. The winner is in the Big Ten Championship and all but guarantees a spot in the playoff. And just like last year, the loser isn’t out with a loss depending on what happens on conference championship weekend. If GUS JOHNSON would ever pass out from lack of oxygen, this would be the game he would do it in. Predicted score: Michigan 28 Ohio State 24.
Saturday Afternoon
Wake Forest (+3) at Syracuse
2:00
The two worst teams in the ACC but it’s still important for one team. The Orange need a win here to somehow become bowl eligible. Wake would be just outside at five wins if they win here and could nab a spot due to their great APR score if it comes down to that. Predicted score: Syracuse 35 Wake Forest 15.
Southern vs. Grambling (in New Orleans)
2:00
Prairie View A&M has already clinched the SWAC West so this means nothing for either team other than bragging rights: both for the football teams and the bands. Predicted score: Southern 23 Grambling 18.
Colorado (+22) at Utah
3:00
Utah has been very good considering the sheer amount of injuries that team sustained. The Buffaloes season finally ends after the most hype ever given to a one-win team before the season began (and well into the season as well). Predicted score: Utah 39 Colorado 17.
BYU (+17.5) at #20 Oklahoma State
3:30
BYU needs to win here to be in a bowl game. It would be a pretty big upset if they did, but hey, crazier things have happened. The Pokes are holding on to an outside shot at the Big XII Championship. They need to win and have a few other things go their way but again, it’s not impossible. Predicted score: BYU 49 Oklahoma State 31.
Virginia Tech (-3) at Virginia
3:30
Last year’s Commonwealth Cup was cancelled after the murders of three Virginia players. Just having this game will bring back quite a few emotions I’m sure for the Cavs. For the Hokies, they can do the improbable and become bowl eligible if they beat their rivals. Predicted score: Virginia 40 Virginia Tech 35.
Northwestern (+6) at Illinois
3:30
If you had told me at the start of the season that this game would have Northwestern already going bowling and the Illini fighting for their bowl lives, I would have thought you had just went to a cannabis shop for the first time in your life and ate a few too many edibles. But here we are. The Wildcats have been amazing considering their offseason. David Braun has done a masterful job in Evanston. Bret Bielema on the other hand is still at the helm of a struggling Illini team. He will make it to 2024 but a loss here will put him on a much shorter leash. Predicted score: Illinois 31 Northwestern 23.
Maryland (-1.5) at Rutgers
3:30
I have this game showing in most homes in this area. I have no idea what will happen. Hell, I have Big Ten Network and three alternate BTNs and even then, one game usually gets left out for everyone. Why do they do this when they honestly don’t have to? Anyway, both teams are going bowling so are looking for momentum heading into the postseason and nothing else. Predicted score: Maryland 20 Rutgers 17.
#8 Alabama (-14.5) at Auburn
3:30
How close can the Tigers keep this game? The spread honestly seems way too low. Don’t even bother talking about an upset. Kind of a dud for the final SEC on CBS regular season game if you ask me. Now watch it be close deep into the fourth quarter. Predicted score: Alabama 41 Auburn 21.
#25 Liberty (-17) at UTEP
3:30
In what is feeling like a broken record, here’s another game that means very little. Sure, the Flames can finish an undefeated season with a win over the terrible Miners. Problem is they need quite a bit of help to get that coveted NY6 spot. I just can’t see it happening. Predicted score: Liberty 38 UTEP 20.
#15 Arizona (-11.5) at Arizona State
3:30
ASU is already home for the Christmas holidays. The Wildcats have to win here and hope Oregon has already lost the Civil War. So we will know going in whether this game means anything or not. Predicted score: Arizona 23 Arizona State 13.
James Madison (-9) at Coastal Carolina
3:30
Big game in the Sun Belt and unfortunately only for one team. The Dukes are almost guaranteed a bowl slot after all the bowl eligible teams get their spots. For the Chants, because of JMU’s ineligibility for the Sun Belt title, they win this and they will face Troy for the Sun Belt Championship. Predicted score: James Madison 42 Coastal Carolina 24.
Georgia Southern (+8.5) at Appalachian State
3:30
The Mountaineers will be scoreboard-watching and trying to pay attention to the task at hand. Not easy for sure. If CCU can’t beat JMU then App State, with a win, will head to Troy and face the Trojans as the champions of the Sun Belt East. Predicted score: Appalachian State 26 Georgia Southern 10.
Vanderbilt (+27) at #21 Tennessee
3:30
This would have been at least a bit more humourous being played at Vanderbilt’s stadium with their ongoing construction issues. Predicted score: Tennessee 49 Vanderbilt 21.
Washington State (+16.5) at #4 Washington
4:00
The Apple Cup continues to produce high drama. The Huskies’ dream season could come crashing down if they get upset by the Cougs. Wazzu has to win to become bowl-eligible. This should nab a lot of viewers until it gets out of hand. Predicted score: Washington 52 Washington State 17.
Saturday Primetime
#5 Florida State (-6.5) at Florida
7:00
If this had been discussed a week ago the spread might have been over 20 points. Instead, we will find out if the Noles can continue their success without Jordan Travis. The Gators could do the improbable by going bowling with a win here. Predicted score: Florida State 36 Florida 27.
South Alabama (-6) at Texas State
7:00
Two teams that are already bowl-eligible here. Good for them but it means that the NFL Network’s final game of the year will not get a whole lot of viewers. Predicted score: South Alabama 20 Texas State 14.
#18 Notre Dame (-26) at Stanford
7:00
I’m sorry but this is fucking hilarious. The final Pac-12 Network football game ever and it will feature Notre Dame. NOTRE DAME. Irish fans are going to be so damn pissed off trying to find a way to watch this. That alone makes this fun. Not quite worth watching a lot of but still, you’ll be seeing history at the end as the worst conference network closes its football doors for good. Predicted score: Notre Dame 42 Stanford 32.
#1 Georgia (-24) at Georgia Tech
7:30
A little Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate. I love some of the names of these rivalries. There might be a bit of intrigue to see if UGA can cap off another undefeated regular season but other than that, you can avoid this one. Predicted score: Georgia 34 Georgia Tech 10.
Kansas (-6) at Cincinnati
7:30
Kansas is pretty good again this season. It’s nice to see. Cincinnati, on the other hand, may be regretting the Scott Satterfield hire although he deserves another season to see how they can truly compete in the Big XII. Predicted score: Kansas 28 Cincinnati 14.
Charlotte (+5.5) at USF
7:30
Speaking of teams playing much better than most thought they would, the Bulls are one win away from going bowling. They showed a lot in the near-upset of Alabama back in September and have scratched and clawed their way to this point. The only thing standing in their way? The bare arms of Biff Poggi and his Charlotte 49ers. Might not be as easy as USF thinks it should be. Predicted score: USF 31 Charlotte 30.
#24 Clemson (-7) at South Carolina
7:30
Gotta give Dabo Swinney from credit for turning around the team after that poor start. Either that or we give all the praise to Tyler from Spartanburg for lighting a fire under the Tigers. Either way, they come into this game as actually one of the hottest teams in the country. And they could actually make their season for a lot of fans by ruining South Carolina’s. The Gamecocks need the win to be bowl eligible. I don’t think this will be as feisty as their brawl-filled game many years ago but I could see it getting chippy. Predicted score: Clemson 41 South Carolina 24.
North Carolina (-3) at #22 NC State
8:00
North Carolina was supposed to be one of the teams to go to the ACC Championship this year. NC State was supposed to be fighting for a .500 record. Instead, they both come in at 8-3 with maybe something other than bragging rights on the line. Let’s be honest: teams would much rather go to a Florida destination than the Sun Bowl or Military Bowl. Predicted score: North Carolina 28 NC State 27.
Iowa State (+10) at #19 Kansas State
8:00
By this point, we will know if the Wildcats have any shot at the Big XII Championship. Other than that, neither team has anything to play for other than to win…FARMAGEDDON. Predicted score: Kansas State 50 Iowa State 34.
Saturday Late Night
Wyoming (-11) at Nevada
9:00
Yes, the odd CBS Sports Network Thanksgiving Saturday timeslot is back again. At least they do their best to cram in as much live sports as humanly possible into this day. Predicted score: Wyoming 35 Nevada 27.
California (+9.5) at UCLA
10:30
It’s really hit or miss with this final game of the regular season. Sometimes, it’s a massively important game that is must-watch and keeps everyone up well past Midnight. Other times we get games that have absolutely no importance. For once, it’s somewhere in the middle. Shockingly, the Bears are in line for a bowl spot if they can pull the upset on a Bruins team who might still be on a high after defeating USC for the Victory Bell this past weekend. Predicted score: UCLA 38 California 34.
That’s a lot of football. I am not complaining. At all. I would have thought TSN might have stepped up for the final regular season weekend but, alas, that is not the case. They are pushing TSN+ for college football so that is the future we have to live with. Oh well…progress, right? Ugh.
I will update the rankings when I see them. I figured I should get this post out in some form so my MACtion predictions don’t look too fishy. Enjoy the games everyone!
This post is in honour of the new Grey Cup champions, les Montreal Alouettes. Les Montreal Carabins are favoured (heavily, I believe) to win the Vanier Cup this coming weekend. This is shaping up to be the biggest week in Montreal football history. If anyone talks about issues surrounding Canadian football, just tell them to take a look at the province of Quebec where football is thriving more than anywhere else in the country.
Now, to the American version of football. College football to be exact. And this post. I have done this now for the seventh time. It is a serious long post. Reader discretion is strongly advised. I wouldn’t read this in the bathroom unless you have a monster shit coming and are going to be spending a good amount of time in there. So get your favourite drink and let’s go. Who cares what time it is. Time is just a social construct so drink em if you got em!
We start with the conference championship scenarios. Some are stupidly easy to figure out. Some are…less so. Here we go.
It’s a rematch. Miami-Ohio gets their chance at revenge against Toledo at Ford Field.
Another one that is set. Two very different stories here. Undefeated Liberty has to win and get some help to get consideration for the New Year’s Six. New Mexico State, on the other hand, is looking at their best season ever and may be the fan favourite coming into this one.
The Troy Trojans are back in the Sun Belt Championship for the second straight season looking for a second straight conference title. As for the East, well…..
James Madison is not eligible. That much we know. It’s Coastal Carolina that controls its own destiny. If they win, they are in. That’s it. Their opponent? That’s right, James Madison. So it won’t be easy.
If the Chanticleers can’t get it done, it opens up a couple of possibilities:
Appalachian State can now get in after beating James Madison this past Saturday. Win and hope for a Chants loss. That will punch their ticket to Troy.
The other team that can get to the title game? Shockingly, it’s Old Dominion. The Monarchs need to take care of their own business first against Georgia State which also doubles as a bowl-eligibility game for them. Win that and they have to hope for CCU and App State to both lose and they get the spot.
If all three of those teams lose, it’s Coastal’s spot.
Georgia Southern would have been in Old Dominion’s spot if they had beat the Monarchs on Saturday. They are now just playing out the string and then finding out where they will be bowling.
If you had bet that UNLV would control their own destiny going into the final week of the regular season, you would have made a lot of money. No one thought they would be in this spot but here we are. Their path is easy. Beat San Jose State and they don’t just qualify for the Mountain West Championship, they will host it. I could see quite a big crowd at Allegiant Stadium for that one.
Their probable opponent? Well, it will be one of Air Force, Boise State or San Jose State. Fresno State was eliminated after last week’s upset loss to New Mexico. What are the scenarios? Buckle up because it involves composite computer rankings if there are no head-to-head results. Oh boy.
San Jose State beats UNLV and Air Force beats Boise State. There would be a three-way tie between the Spartans, Rebels and Falcons. Chances are we are looking at a SJSU-UNLV rematch in the championship because all three teams are 1-1 against each other. The game would likely be in Las Vegas because the Rebels are way ahead of the other three teams in the rankings. Air Force is the lowest ranked of the four teams.
San Jose State and Boise State win. In this case, it’s probably UNLV-Boise State in the title game. Those two teams did not play each other and Boise is slightly ahead of San Jose State in the rankings.
UNLV and Boise State win. It will be Boise at UNLV. Done and done. The easiest scenario.
If SJSU and the AFA win, chances are it will still be SJSU-UNLV but there’s no guarantee Vegas would host. Also, if the Falcons just absolutely obliterate the Broncos they could move up enough to surpass both the Spartans and Broncos. It is a long shot, though.
Ugh, that’s a lot with only two games in play next week but it makes for high drama for sure. We will know quite a bit by Friday evening as the Falcons and Broncos face off on Black Friday afternoon.
No team has clinched yet but all the teams left with a shot all control their destiny. Easiest to do this in chart form as UTSA faces Tulane in a loser-goes-home game and SMU plays Navy where the Middies have a chance to become bowl-eligible.
UTSA/Tulane
SMU/Navy
Championship Game
Scenario 1
UTSA
Navy
Tulane at UTSA
Scenario 2
UTSA
SMU
UTSA at SMU
Scenario 3
Tulane
Navy
SMU at Tulane
Scenario 4
Tulane
SMU
SMU at Tulane
So really, the Roadrunners have to win to get in. The Green Wave doesn’t have to and neither do the Mustangs. So follow the chart and you can understand what’s going on!
This is pretty easy. For Washington, they are in. So one half of the championship is set. If Oregon wins, they will meet the Huskies in Las Vegas. If they lose the Civil War to Oregon State, then Arizona can get in. Beat rival Arizona State for the Territorial Cup and they would be in thanks to the tiebreaker that would kick in, winning percentage versus common opponents based on order of finish. That first team they would look at? Oregon State. The Wildcats beat OSU earlier this season.
Georgia. Bama. Atlanta.
Third straight easy scenario. Iowa is in. Somehow. And they will face the winner of The Game.
Louisville’s win this past weekend over Miami clinched their spot opposite Florida State in Charlotte. This game has got a lot more interesting now that Jordan Travis is out for the season.
I have saved the best for last (although the Mountain West scenarios are quite something). Four teams still have a shot to go to JerryWorld: Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas State and Oklahoma State. No real surprises there. Because all teams don’t play each other, confusion has set in. Get used to it going forward with even bigger conferences. I still prefer it over divisions where a 6-6 division champ could cause chaos by beating an undefeated division champ. Anyway I have said enough about that over the years so let’s continue.
This is much easier to do it by team since to do it otherwise might take like fourteen paragraphs and confuse everyone, including me, even more.
Clinching Scenarios
Texas is in with a win over Texas Tech OR (a loss AND an Oklahoma State loss) OR (a loss AND an Oklahoma win AND an Oklahoma State win AND a Kansas State win).
Oklahoma State is in with (a win over BYU and a Texas win) OR (a win AND a Texas loss AND a Kansas State loss) OR (a loss AND a Texas win AND an Oklahoma loss) OR (a loss AND an Oklahoma loss AND a Kansas State loss).
Oklahoma is in with a win over TCU AND (an Oklahoma State loss) OR (a Texas loss AND a Kansas State loss).
Kansas State is in with a win over Iowa State AND (an Oklahoma State loss AND an Oklahoma loss) OR (a Texas loss).
So no team is in yet. Texas is in the best spot. I know most fans of the Remaining Eight are praying for an Oklahoma State-Kansas State championship but looking at these scenarios I don’t think that’s possible. I’m just not going to take the time to figure it out.
Let’s continue with this long-ass post with the Bossman Top 26:
#1
Georgia (11-0)
#2
Washington (11-0)
#3
Michigan (11-0)
#4
Oregon (10-1)
#5
Ohio State (10-1)
#6
Florida State (11-0)
#7
Texas (10-1)
#8
Alabama (10-1)
#9
Louisville (10-1)
#10
Missouri (9-2)
#11
Penn State (9-2)
#12
Ole Miss (9-2)
#13
LSU (8-3)
#14
Arizona (8-3)
#15
Oklahoma (9-2)
#16
Oregon State (8-3)
#17
Notre Dame (8-3)
#18
Tulane (10-1)
#19
Oklahoma State (8-3)
#20
Iowa (9-2)
#21
Kansas State (8-3)
#22
Utah (7-4)
#23
Liberty (11-0)
#24
NC State (8-3)
#25
Toledo (10-1)
#26
Kansas (7-4)
My top three control their own destiny for the College Football Playoff. Win next week, then win your conference championship. Done. Florida State should be in the same boat but we know how The Committee feels about big time injuries. This injury to Jordan Travis could end up feeling like the Dennis Dixon injury for Oregon back in 2007 if the Noles falter to Florida. I still think we are in for a bit of chaos for the final four-team playoff. We’re due right? There’s been like no chaos all season. Sure there are some weird results like UMass beating New Mexico State or Louisville falling to Pitt but really it’s been smooth sailing for the top teams. We need this. Give us something. Please!
OK now we get to the good stuff. Not that the stuff before this hasn’t been good. So…the better stuff? Sure, why not. Bowl projections. Let’s go.
Sugar Bowl
CFP #1 vs. CFP #4
Georgia vs. Texas
Rose Bowl
CFP #2 vs. CFP #3
Washington vs. Michigan
I have done a few changes here. Sure, nothing really happened this past weekend but the Jordan Travis injury…it’s got me thinking for sure. I think the Big XII could end up being the beneficiary if things don’t go the Seminoles’ way their next two games. I have Texas winning the Big XII Championship so they would sneak into the final spot. That won’t cause too much controversy, right? So what does this mean for the New Year’s Six?
Fiesta Bowl
CFP at-large vs. CFP at-large/G-5 #1
Oregon vs. Penn State
Orange Bowl
ACC Champ vs. Big Ten/Notre Dame/SEC
Louisville vs. Ohio State
Peach Bowl
CFP at-large vs. CFP at-large/G-5 #1
Florida State vs. Alabama
Cotton Bowl
CFP at-large vs. CFP at-large/G-5 #1
Missouri vs. Tulane
Some changes. Nothing super crazy but let’s figure this out.
The easiest one is seeing FSU here. This means that they must lose the ACC Championship to Louisville. That would also mean the Cardinals get the Orange Bowl spot. That doesn’t change from my last set of bowl projections but it means they truly earned it this time around. I have them being the first team out, so to speak, so I am sure many in that area of the country will be mighty pissed off.
Obviously my Memphis selection, for one week, was dumb. So now I have Tulane back in a familiar spot. But now I have them facing off against Missouri in the Cotton Bowl. The Tigers have almost guaranteed themselves a spot in the NY6 as long as they can take care of business on Black Friday against a woeful Arkansas team.
The rest is pretty much the same. We will know a lot more even after this Friday’s games so expect some of these selections to almost be set in stone or be drastically changed.
Finally, let’s get to the gong show portion of our show with the rest of the bowl projections. You’d think with all these tie-ins it would be much easier to project but some of these bowls don’t even follow them. I’m always an advocate for more at-large spots so I say they should go that route starting next season, especially since there’s a chance some of these bowls won’t exist with the new 12-team playoff.
Citrus Bowl
SEC vs. Big Ten
Ole Miss vs. Iowa
ReliaQuest Bowl
SEC vs. Big Ten
LSU vs. Wisconsin
Arizona Bowl
MWC vs. MAC
Boise State vs. Ohio
Music City Bowl
SEC vs. Big Ten
Auburn vs. Northwestern
Liberty Bowl
SEC vs. Big XII
Tennessee vs. Kansas
Sun Bowl
ACC vs. Pac-12
Boston College vs. USC
Gator Bowl
SEC vs. ACC
Texas A&M vs. Notre Dame
Alamo Bowl
Big XII vs. Pac-12
Kansas State vs. Arizona
Pop Tarts Bowl
ACC vs. Big XII
North Carolina vs. Oklahoma State
Pinstripe Bowl
Big Ten vs. ACC
Illinois vs. NC State
Fenway Bowl
2 of ACC/AAC/C-USA
Georgia Tech vs. Memphis
Texas Bowl
SEC vs. Big XII
Kentucky vs. Oklahoma
Holiday Bowl
ACC vs. Pac-12
Clemson vs. Oregon State
Duke’s Mayo Bowl
SEC vs. ACC
UCF vs. Duke
Military Bowl
ACC vs. AAC
Syracuse vs. UTSA
Guaranteed Rate Bowl
2 of Big Ten/Big XII/MWC
Minnesota vs. Iowa State
First Responder Bowl
2 of ACC/Big XII/AAC/Sun Belt/C-USA
Texas Tech vs. Appalachian State
Quick Lane Bowl
Big Ten vs. MAC
Rutgers vs. Toledo
Hawaii Bowl
AAC vs. MWC
Rice vs. Fresno State
Las Vegas Bowl
Big Ten vs. Pac-12
Maryland vs. Utah
68 Ventures Bowl
2 of Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC
Troy vs. Liberty
Idaho Potato Bowl
2 of MWC/MAC/Sun Belt
Air Force vs. Texas State
Armed Forces Bowl
Big XII vs. C-USA
TCU vs. Jacksonville State
Birmingham Bowl
2 of SEC/ACC/AAC/C-USA
BYU vs. James Madison
Camellia Bowl
2 of Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC
Arkansas State vs. Northern Illinois
Gasparilla Bowl
2 of SEC/ACC/AAC/C-USA
Miami vs. Army
Boca Raton Bowl
2 of AAC/Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC
Coastal Carolina vs. Bowling Green
Frisco Bowl
2 of AAC/Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC
Marshall vs. San Jose State
Famous Toastery Bowl
MAC vs. C-USA
Miami-OH vs. WKU
Independence Bowl
Big XII vs. AAC
West Virginia vs. SMU
LA Bowl
Pac-12 vs. MWC
UCLA vs. UNLV
New Mexico Bowl
2 of Group of Five
Utah State vs. Louisiana
Cure Bowl
2 of AAC/Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC
Georgia State vs. Wyoming
New Orleans Bowl
Sun Belt vs. C-USA
South Alabama vs. New Mexico State
Myrtle Beach Bowl
2 of AAC/Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC
Georgia Southern vs. Mississippi State
A few notes for your perusal which you may or may not read after all you’ve had to read up to this point:
James Madison and Jacksonville State are getting closer to being locks for bowl games. It would take the wildest of scenarios for there not to be bowl slots for both teams. Now watch it happen, which would suck for both teams.
I decided to forget the asterisks. What’s the point. If they bowl committees won’t follow their tie-ins I will only follow them until I can’t. Which leads me to…
I have a better idea about APR ratings now. That is why you will see a team like Mississippi State (who I don’t think will win the Egg Bowl) in a bowl slot in my bowl projections. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were multiple 5-7 teams in but for now, I have one. Army, at 6-6, will get in before Mississippi State even with their two FCS wins. They would be slotted after JMU and Jax State as far as I know.
You will notice most of my projections have changed from the previous week. I saw a few rumours online that showed up with multiple Twitter/X accounts and figured there might be some realness to them. So I had to move a few teams around. And once you do that, you almost end up rewriting the whole damn thing. Oh well.
Finally, you will notice something called the Famous Toastery Bowl has popped up. It is replacing the Bahamas Bowl and will be played in Charlotte. Supposedly it’s a good breakfast spot. Whatever.
I can’t add anything more to the bowl projections at this point. Eastern Michigan will have their chance to clinch bowl eligibility tomorrow night against Buffalo in the final night of MACtion this season and the final night of almost two months of football every day. What a ride it’s been. I hope you cherished it. I know I did. Not saying I saw every game but I tried my best to watch most weeknights and would keep watching until it felt like the games were well in hand (which almost bit me in the ass a couple of times and did finally bite me in the ass with Colorado allowing Stanford to come back in that wild one last month). Every Saturday night I was in for the long haul so no worries there. It’s the final regular season week of the season. Get in as much viewing as you can. I don’t try to push people to cancel other plans on other Saturdays. You can always catch highlights and sometimes these other plans are quite important. Like the tongue-in-cheek ban on Fall weddings is a little over the top. I wouldn’t even abide by that. But this is the final week of the regular season so I would try my best to keep the Saturday (and even the Black Friday) clear so I can soak in the college football goodness. Enjoy the rest of your week, everyone!
Yep, firing season in college football has commenced! In what was, honestly, a shocking shitcanning, Texas A&M followed up an absolute drubbing of Mississippi State by keeping the good times going and firing Jimbo Fisher. Yes, Jimbo has been let go and will get $76 god damn million dollars as a buyout. Holy shit. Stupid me trying to be a teacher, then an accountant when the real money was in being a failed college football head coach. How dumb can I be?
Following that, Boise State announced that they, too, followed an easy win by firing their head coach. Andy Avalos was never really accepted in that position and he never kept the Broncos at the level everyone expects them to be. I guess that’s what happens: a long string of good seasons means expectations go up for everyone.
Then Mississippi State decided that Zach Arnett isn’t the right guy going forward and he was dismissed from his head coaching position. That one game put huge dents in two coaching staffs. Impressive.
Back to the Aggies situation, they now will have to hire someone after the season is over. As fucking hilarious as it would be to promote Bobby Petrino, they will definitely go outside the school in their search. And remember: the Texas A&M job is still a big one. So most coaches would love to have it. Right now I would put Mike Norvell, Mike Elko and Dan Lanning as 1A, 1B and 1C to be hired. Don’t rule out a guy like Lance Leipold, though. He has done amazing things at Kansas and will get a lot of looks in the offseason.
OK let’s get to the Bossman Top 26 which will probably not resemble the College Football Playoff rankings whatsoever:
#1
Georgia (10-0)
#2
Michigan (10-0)
#3
Washington (10-0)
#4
Oregon (9-1)
#5
Alabama (9-1)
#6
Ohio State (10-0)
#7
Florida State (10-0)
#8
Texas (9-1)
#9
Louisville (9-1)
#10
Missouri (8-2)
#11
Oregon State (8-2)
#12
Ole Miss (8-2)
#13
LSU (7-3)
#14
Tulane (9-1)
#15
Penn State (8-2)
#16
Utah (7-3)
#17
Oklahoma (8-2)
#18
James Madison (10-0)
#19
Arizona (7-3)
#20
Notre Dame (7-3)
#21
Tennessee (7-3)
#22
Liberty (10-0)
#23
North Carolina (8-2)
#24
Oklahoma State (7-3)
#25
Iowa (8-2)
#26
Kansas State (7-3)
There are five undefeated Power Five teams at the top. There could end up being four going into conference championship weekend. Something’s gotta give but honestly, will it? Georgia, Washington, Florida State and the Michigan/Ohio State winner in two weeks have clear paths to the playoff. Run the table and you’re in, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. If one falters, that’s where the fun begins. Also, yes I have Tulane at #14 and I’m sure The Committee will have them at like #23 at best. I know it pained them to have Cincinnati so high a couple years back and they never wanted to replicate that again. And if they have their choice, they still won’t even with the expanded playoff starting next season.
Now we turn to bowl projections which actually have a bit of meat to them now that we are closing in on the end of the regular season. Unless we see chaos (which I always hope for), many of these projections can be backed up with relatively easy answers. Let’s go!
Sugar Bowl
CFP #1 vs. CFP #4
Michigan vs. Washington
Rose Bowl
CFP #2 vs. CFP #3
Florida State vs. Georgia
I believe Michigan ends up winning The Game and then the Big Ten Championship. Florida State and Washington I have running the table. Georgia, I think, will have a hiccup this week against Tennessee but still end up winning the SEC Championship to move back into the Top 4. Pretty easy, right? Let’s see if the New Year’s Six predictions make just as much sense.
Fiesta Bowl
CFP at-large vs. CFP at-large/G-5 #1
Oregon vs. Memphis
Orange Bowl
ACC Champ vs. Big Ten/Notre Dame/SEC
Louisville vs. Ohio State
Peach Bowl
CFP at-large vs. CFP at-large/G-5 #1
Alabama vs. Penn State
Cotton Bowl
CFP at-large vs. CFP at-large/G-5 #1
Texas vs. Ole Miss
I’m sure one thing really stands out here so let’s get to that first.
Yes, I have Memphis winning the American and the Group of Five spot in the NY6. How does the current fourth-place team rise to the top? It starts with Memphis beating SMU this coming Saturday. Then Tulane defeats UTSA on the final weekend and, due to tiebreakers, the Tigers get the spot opposite Tulane. Then they pull the upset and beat the Green Wave to move up high enough to get the spot. That shouldn’t be too hard with James Madison ineligible, Liberty’s stupidly easy schedule and The Committee’s MAC disrespect which kills Toledo’s chances.
As for the rest, they are pretty self-explanatory. Louisville ends up losing the ACC Championship but is the best representative from the conference and gets the Orange Bowl spot. The Orange Bowl selects Ohio State as the top team left from the Big Ten or SEC. Oregon, Alabama, Texas and Ole Miss are almost shoo-ins at this point. I do think Penn State sneaks back into the Top 10 and passes Missouri to garner the final spot. Whether they face a pissed off Alabama or a Bama that doesn’t care would remain to be seen.
So far, so good. Nothing crazy (other than Memphis). I’m sure there could be some debate but it would be minor (other than Memphis). Let’s look at the rest of the bowl picture:
Citrus Bowl
SEC vs. Big Ten
LSU vs. Iowa
ReliaQuest Bowl
SEC vs. Big Ten
Kentucky vs. Maryland
Arizona Bowl
MWC vs. MAC
Fresno State vs. Miami-OH
Music City Bowl
SEC vs. Big Ten
Texas A&M vs. Wisconsin
Liberty Bowl
SEC vs. Big XII
Missouri vs. Kansas State
Sun Bowl
ACC vs. Pac-12
Miami vs. Arizona
Gator Bowl
SEC vs. ACC
Auburn vs. North Carolina
Alamo Bowl
Big XII vs. Pac-12
Oklahoma vs. Utah
Pop Tarts Bowl
ACC vs. Big XII
Notre Dame vs. Kansas
Pinstripe Bowl
Big Ten vs. ACC
Rutgers vs. NC State
Fenway Bowl
2 of ACC/AAC/C-USA
Georgia Tech vs. Tulane
Texas Bowl
SEC vs. Big XII
Tennessee vs. Oklahoma State
Holiday Bowl
ACC vs. Pac-12
Boston College vs. Oregon State
Duke’s Mayo Bowl
SEC vs. ACC
UCF* vs. Clemson
Military Bowl
ACC vs. AAC
Duke vs. UTSA
Guaranteed Rate Bowl
2 of Big Ten/Big XII/MWC
Wyoming vs. Iowa State
First Responder Bowl
2 of ACC/Big XII/AAC/Sun Belt/C-USA
Syracuse vs. Texas Tech
Quick Lane Bowl
Big Ten vs. MAC
Illinois vs. Northern Illinois
Hawaii Bowl
AAC vs. MWC
Rice vs. Boise State
Las Vegas Bowl
Big Ten vs. Pac-12
Minnesota vs. USC
68 Ventures Bowl
2 of Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC
Georgia Southern vs. WKU
Idaho Potato Bowl
2 of MWC/MAC/Sun Belt
UNLV vs. Marshall
Armed Forces Bowl
Big XII vs. C-USA
BYU vs. Utah State*
Birmingham Bowl
2 of SEC/ACC/AAC/C-USA
Louisiana* vs. Jacksonville State**
Camellia Bowl
2 of Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC
South Alabama vs. Toledo
Gasparilla Bowl
2 of SEC/ACC/AAC/C-USA
James Madison** vs. Florida***
Boca Raton Bowl
2 of AAC/Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC
Appalachian State vs. Bowling Green
Frisco Bowl
2 of AAC/Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC
Arkansas State vs. North Texas***
Bahamas Bowl
MAC vs. C-USA
Ohio vs. New Mexico State
Independence Bowl
Big XII vs. AAC
West Virginia vs. SMU
LA Bowl
Pac-12 vs. MWC
UCLA vs. Air Force
New Mexico Bowl
2 of Group of Five
San Jose State vs. Texas State
Cure Bowl
2 of AAC/Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC
Coastal Carolina vs. Eastern Michigan
New Orleans Bowl
Sun Belt vs. C-USA
Troy vs. Liberty
Myrtle Beach Bowl
2 of AAC/Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC
Georgia State vs. Central Michigan
A few notes on this:
One asterisk (*) means there weren’t enough bowl-eligible teams to fill that bowl slot. Two asterisks (**) means that all bowl-eligible teams have been slotted in a bowl game and there are still spots remaining. Three asterisks (***) means a team that gets in due to APR. That final one I have no idea how it will be filled since I don’t have a great idea as to the smarter schools compared to the not-so-smart schools.
James Madison and Jacksonville State are almost guaranteed bowl games. JMU is pretty much a lock since I can’t see many scenarios where all the bowl games are filled with bowl-eligible teams.
Remember, Notre Dame gets an ACC spot as long as they have one more win than a team they would be replacing….which is pretty much every team left in the ACC to slot into a bowl game.
The other Independents are not going bowling so that doesn’t really matter.
We are WAY too early to see bowl bids being accepted. And with the Bahamas Bowl having to be played in Charlotte there are no issues with issuing passports that would make it so bowl bids would have to be accepted in November. For this reason, I see no bowl bids going out until the first of December at the earliest.
Tomorrow night we have more MACtion. I will try my best to put out the college football TV schedule post tomorrow as well. Rankings will have to be edited in since the CFP rankings aren’t being released until 9:00 tomorrow night. Enjoy the rest of your week everyone!
What’s the special bonus? It’s bowl projections! And not just any bowl projections. My annual Chaos Bowl Projections. This should be good. Or really stupid. Either way, let’s get going with the Bossman Top 26 after this past week’s games:
#1
Georgia (9-0)
#2
Washington (9-0)
#3
Michigan (9-0)
#4
Alabama (8-1)
#5
Ohio State (9-0)
#6
Florida State (9-0)
#7
Oregon (8-1)
#8
Texas (8-1)
#9
Ole Miss (8-1)
#10
Penn State (8-1)
#11
Louisville (8-1)
#12
Utah (7-2)
#13
Oklahoma State (7-2)
#14
Oregon State (7-2)
#15
Tennessee (7-2)
#16
Tulane (8-1)
#17
LSU (6-3)
#18
Missouri (7-2)
#19
James Madison (9-0)
#20
Oklahoma (7-2)
#21
Liberty (9-0)
#22
Notre Dame (7-3)
#23
Kansas (7-2)
#24
Arizona (6-3)
#25
USC (7-3)
#26
North Carolina (7-2)
Yes, I have Washington at #2. At this point, they may be the most complete team in college football but I do wonder if they could beat UGA on a neutral field. Those two teams are two of the five who, if they win out, are locks to be in the College Football Playoff. The other three are Florida State, Ohio State and Michigan. tOSU and Big Blue play each other so no way that those two could both be 12-0 at the end of the season. Can you imagine if they still had ties in college football? You think the debates are horrible at this point? They’d be a million times worse. At the Group of Five level, I already mentioned it but I will say it again: Tulane runs the table, they are in for the New Year’s Six spot. No questions asked they go to either the Peach or Cotton Bowl. If they lose, even in the conference championship, it brings a bunch of teams back in to the fray, including Air Force, Fresno State, Liberty, Troy, SMU, Memphis, Toledo and, yes, even UNLV. Remember, the Green Wave faces UTSA to finish off their regular season. The Roadrunners could do a bunch of teams a favour with a win. Finally, back to the CFP for a minute. If we don’t see four unbeatens at the end, then the arguments will pile up as to who gets the final spot. If Michigan or Ohio State are the only one of those five not to be undefeated, then the argument may be mostly clear to put the loser of The Game in the #4 spot. You would get a lot of pissed off Alabama and Texas fans but the argument would probably be sound. Besides, The Committee will almost always take a Big Ten or SEC team over any other conference. Just the way it is (and probably always will be).
Now we get to the fun part…kind of. OK not fun for some fans and very frustrating for some others because this is complete chaos. Like over the top insanity. Off the rails ridiculousness. This won’t happen, I can assure you. Now, some of it may happen though so it’s not like this is completely crazy (but it mostly is cocaine crazy). Alright let’s get going with this bonkers exercise.
Sugar Bowl
CFP #1 vs. CFP #4
Louisville vs. Kansas
Rose Bowl
CFP #2 vs. CFP #3
Oregon State vs. Tennessee
I’m sure that’s the look you are giving your screen right now. You’re thinking I have lost my fucking mind. I assure you I have not gone insane. Let me just give you an explanation as to how we have found ourselves at this point:
Florida State loses to both Miami and Florida. Only one of those games counts as a conference loss, obviously, so FSU is still in the ACC Championship game. Louisville ends up running the table in convincing fashion to become one of only two Power Five teams with only one loss (we will get to that later on in this post). The Cardinals somehow go into the title game as slight favourites and beat the Noles in a close one to capture the ACC title and the #1 ranking, putting them in the Sugar Bowl.
Oregon and Washington both end up losing to a resurgent Oregon State team as the Beavs (and Jonathan Smith especially) rebound from that absolutely awful playcall against Arizona which at the time looked like it cost them a lot. The Beavs also beat Stanford by about 50 and qualify for the Pac-12 Championship. The Huskies lose to Utah but the Ducks lose to USC and then USC loses to UCLA! The insanity means U-Dub still gets to the Pac-12 Championship but now it’s almost a pickem with the Beavers. Oregon State blows Washington out to get the #2 seed.
Alright now, the Big Ten. This is where it gets a bit iffy. Iowa runs the table, scoring approximately 12 points a game to easily win the Big Ten West. The East becomes a shitshow. Michigan loses to both Penn State and Ohio State. Good news for the Buckeyes, right? Wrong because they lose to both (get this) Michigan State and Maryland. Maybe Maserati Marv was injured. No problem. Penn State’s got this. Wrong again! They fall to mighty Rutgers! Ho boy. In the end, Ohio State is the highest ranked of all the (now) 2-loss East Division teams. Then they get beat in a defensive struggle by the Hawkeyes, 12-10.
But we still have the SEC. Yeah, let’s discuss that. Georgia loses to Ole Miss this coming weekend, then Tennessee the following weekend. They blast Georgia Tech out of the water but it doesn’t matter because Tennessee runs the table, including that win over the Dawgs. They demolish Vandy to win the East in ridiculous fashion. They face Alabama who loses the Iron Bowl, meaning their path to the CFP is now very rocky. The Vols beat Bama convincingly and move into the #3 spot. This might piss off Ole Miss. They also run the table and are the only other one-loss Power Five school. Problem is they lost to Alabama meaning they couldn’t play in the conference championship which would allow the winner of that game to leapfrog them, which they will. Question now is will Ole Miss get in at #4?
That brings us to the final Power Five conference, the Big XII. Texas shits the bed the rest of the way. Quinn Ewers’ absence catches up with them and they lose winnable games to TCU and Iowa State. This should allow Oklahoma or Oklahoma State to sneak into the top spot. Instead, it’s Kansas who wins out and gets in. They will face Oklahoma State who, despite a loss to BYU, gets in just ahead of West Virginia thanks to their victory over the Mountaineers earlier in the season. Kansas mops the floor with the Cowboys and The Committee rewards them with the #4 spot, ahead of the Ole Miss Rebels and a pissed off Lane Kiffin.
Of course the final year before the 12-team playoff has to have some controversy, no? I mean this is insane but wouldn’t it be fucking awesome if even half these results happened? We’d be talking about this season in the same vain as 2007. ESPN and FOX would have field days with this stuff.
So now that we have the CFP done and dusted, let’s see what the New Year’s Six now looks like.
Fiesta Bowl
CFP at-large vs. CFP at-large/G-5 #1
Utah vs. Iowa
Orange Bowl
ACC Champ vs Big Ten/Notre Dame/SEC
Florida State vs. Ole Miss
Peach Bowl
CFP at-large vs. CFP at-large/G-5 #1
Penn State vs. Alabama
Cotton Bowl
CFP at-large vs. CFP at-large/G-5 #1
Michigan vs. UTSA
Well this is some kind of messed up but almost feels way less messed up than the CFP. Here we go:
Already explained Ole Miss and their #5 spot. I could see a ton of debate and SECtards would definitely want two teams in the big dance no matter what (or more like think that the conference always deserves two teams in the top four) but I am sticking with this. The Rebels being dropped to #5 puts them in the Orange Bowl.
Utah is #6. They are the second best team to not go to a conference championship behind Ole Miss and their two losses will to the two Oregon teams so that will look pretty good. They slot into the Fiesta Bowl.
Penn State will be #7 after their shocking loss to Rutgers kills their Big Ten Championship hopes. They head to the Peach Bowl.
A bit more controversy would be Michigan being at #8. Sure their two losses will be to Penn State and Ohio State but I see them both being big losses, unlike Penn State losing a close one to Rutgers. Either way, the two losses would take them out of the Big Ten East title race and have them going to the Cotton Bowl.
Remember I told you Iowa won the Big Ten Championship? I could see many of you wanting to forget that. So yeah, they will now head to the Fiesta Bowl to face Utah. Interesting matchup.
The ACC has to send their next best team after Louisville ended up number one. In the end, Florida State is probably the only option and they should be high enough in the rankings to warrant the Orange Bowl spot opposite Ole Miss.
So who is the best Power Five team left? It’s down to, get this, Alabama and Ohio State. The Committee will be damned if they do, damned if they don’t. I think they go with the Tide in the end but the debates, oh the debates.
Finally, the Group of Five spot. Liberty fans will scream about being the only undefeated team in FBS and I can understand that. Their schedule, however, was so ridiculously easy compared to pretty much every other team in FBS. I think they do end up in the Top 25 but so does UNLV and UTSA who both win their respective conference championships. I give the nod to the Roadrunners to head to the Cotton Bowl to face Michigan.
Good God that was ridiculous. Why do I do it each year? To see how far I can push the system. And I have determined it can only be pushed so far. Next year, if I do this, I will have to adjust how it’s done for the new playoff. The times they are a-changin’. Enjoy the rest of your week everyone!
Sign stealing. Cheating or an art? Or both? Or neither?
Look, this whole University of Michigan sign-stealing controversy is sounding a bit like the Houston Astros sign-stealing horseshit of a few years back, albeit with less garbage can banging and more just buying tickets for games involving conference opponents. It isn’t just the person above who is involved though. That man’s name is Connor Stalions. For fuck’s sake. Connor Stalions. Sounds like the name of a spy in a Tom Clancy novel or a jobber in WWE.
Anyway, Stalions was just hired a little over year ago by the Wolverines after being a volunteer with the team for seven years. A volunteer for seven years? OK then. On his LinkedIn (Corporate Facebook) profile, he mentions he can identify and exploit critical vulnerabilities and centers of gravity in the opponent scouting process. OK then. And over the past three years he has bought tickets for over 30 games at eleven different Big Ten schools and that many times it’s tickets on the exact opposite side of the season where the other person can hold their smartphone up to film the home team’s sideline. OK then.
Does this sound like something that is illegal? Yes. Yes it does. Well, not illegal in a criminal sense but illegal in a “that shouldn’t happen in a sporting event” kind of way. And yes, the NCAA, as corrupt an organization as it is, prohibits doing this and rightfully so.
So the question is who else knew. Stalions isn’t buying all those tickets himself. Not on a $55,000 per year salary. Someone is doing it for him. That person should be given a hell of a lot more than a slap on the wrist. And if Jim Harbaugh knew (which is the issue EVERYONE wants to know), he should be punished as well.
Will these punishments for Harbaugh, everyone involved and the school happen this season? Are you crazy? Of course not! The Wolverines are probably the favourite at this moment to win the national championship and there’s no way they will be derailed by this. Next season, sure why not. Relegate all their games to the Big Ten Network. Fine them. Suspend everyone. Do whatever. But don’t expect to see any 2023 punishment for the Michigan Wolverines football team. Besides, won’t Captain Khaki be in the NFL next season anyway?
Well that was…interesting………Wyld Stalions AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA *ahem* sorry about that. Let’s just get to the schedules alright?
Tuesday
US
Canada
New Mexico State at Louisiana Tech
7:00
Liberty at WKU
7:30
We have a potential conference championship preview here…OK it’s pretty much going to be the conference championship unless something crazy happens in November. I guess the question will be if that game will be in Bowling Green (Kentucky) again or in Lynchburg, Virginia. Also, the Aggies look to take another giant step towards two straight years of bowl eligibility, cementing Jerry Kill as one of the most underrated head coaches this century.
Wednesday
US
Canada
Jacksonville State at FIU
7:00
UTEP at Sam Houston
8:00
Well……it’s football. Enjoy it. I just hope one of the games is close.
Thursday
US
Canada
Long Island at CCSU
7:00
Syracuse at Virginia Tech
7:30
Georgia State at Georgia Southern
7:30
South Carolina State at NC Central
7:30
We are looking at some seriously important Modern Day Hate down in Statesboro. With James Madison not eligible for the division title, the Sun Belt East could very well come down to this game. Both teams are playing well but think of this: if Georgia State wins, they would be 7-1 and could end up hosting 8-0 James Madison next weekend. Not saying College Gameday should go there (they won’t) but it’s not often that a Sun Belt game itself deserves that honour.
Also, yes, the Long Island University Sharks will be on your television screen this Thursday night. Funny how CBS inks a contract with the NEC to show their football games and they lose two of their schools just the other day with Merrimack and Sacred Heart moving on. The conference is now down to six schools and is teetering on not even having an automatic bid to the FCS playoffs which has to be up to like 60 teams or something like that now (it’s actually 24 teams but still….that’s quite a few teams).
Friday
US
Canada
Brown at Penn
7:00
FAU at Charlotte
7:30
I think it could be -4 degrees out and Biff Poggi would still wear the cut-off sleeved shirt. Got to respect that.
Saturday Early
US
Canada
#4 Florida State at Wake Forest
Noon
UConn at Boston College
Noon
Maryland at Northwestern
Noon
Indiana at #10 Penn State
Noon
UMass at Army
Noon
South Carolina at Texas A&M
Noon
Houston at Kansas State
Noon
Tulsa at SMU
Noon
#6 Oklahoma at Kansas
Noon
This schedule is not the greatest to be honest. It’s not bad. But really, nothing stands out except maybe Oklahoma travelling to Lawrence to face Kansas in what can, for the first time in a long time, be considered a speed bump kind of game for the Sooners. Other than that, there are quite a few teams playing games that could dictate whether they go bowling or not, including South Carolina, Army, and Boston College.
Saturday Afternoon
US
Canada
Clemson at NC State
2:00
BYU at #7 Texas
3:30
Virginia at Miami
3:30
Michigan State at Minnesota
3:30
Florida vs. #1 Georgia (in Jacksonville)
3:30
Miami-OH at Ohio
3:30
#20 Duke at #18 Louisville
3:30
#8 Oregon at #13 Utah
3:30
Pittsburgh at #14 Notre Dame
3:30
Mississippi State at Auburn
3:30
#22 Tulane at Rice
4:00
Prairie View A&M at Florida A&M
4:00
USC at California
4:00
We have a ton of games in the afternoon window with quite a few of the day’s best games. Oregon and Utah in another Pac-12 Cannibalization Game, the Blue Devils and Cardinals face off where the winner might have the inside track to facing Florida State for the ACC Championship and, of course, the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. Look, maybe Gary Danielson would be a whole lot more likeable if he was shitfaced. “Brad, this is a good game and I love how Duvalllllllllllllll County smells *BURP* but I have to profess my love for the Alabama God Damn Crimson Tide. They are GOD’S TEAM GOD DAMMIT (as he points a finger in Brad’s face). But this red team here is pretty good…too……” *immediately vomits all over the broadcast booth* OK, maybe not.
Saturday Primetime
US
Canada
Marshall at Coastal Carolina
6:00
#19 Air Force at Colorado State
7:00
#21 Tennessee at Kentucky
7:00
Colorado at #23 UCLA
7:30
#3 Ohio State at Wisconsin
7:30
Vanderbilt at #12 Ole Miss
7:30
#17 North Carolina at Georgia Tech
8:00
Cincinnati at Oklahoma State
8:00
Old Dominion at #25 James Madison
8:00
Washington State at Arizona State
8:00
Hmmm….one of the weaker primetime schedules since early September. I don’t think anyone thought it would be that way, though. Many would have picked Tennessee-Kentucky as a huge game and tOSU-Wisky as another super important game. Not saying it isn’t important at all but probably a whole lot less important than it was predicted to be.
Saying all that, just remember the old college football adage: the weaker the window, the more chaos we see.
Saturday Late Night
US
Canada
New Mexico at Nevada
10:30
#11 Oregon State at Arizona
10:30
The Beavs cannot afford to lose here against a pretty good Wildcats team. The other game is borderline-unwatchable. Remember, Nevada beat San Diego State 6-0 last week. Yawn.
Hey, Watch This!
Oregon at Utah (3:30, FOX) – Is there any doubt that this is the Game of the Week? Well there would have been about a month ago but now we’re here and this is the easy choice. With both teams at 3-1 in the conference, there is a very good chance that the loser here has their hopes dashed of a Pac-12 Championship game berth. Forget the College Football Playoff. Forget the New Year’s Six. It’s off to like the Holiday Bowl or something like that. Not bad. But not what they played this season for.
Oklahoma at Kansas (Noon, FOX) – I think we have all figured out that you can’t sleep on Lance Leipold’s Kansas Jayhawks. Last season was a revelation and this year it continues as they are just getting better which is bad news for the rest of the Big XII. The Sooners were going along quietly until they beat Texas and held off UCF at the end. Now, everyone is watching. I said it above: this is a big speed bump game for OU. Win and you head to Stillwater and Bedlam for the biggest game of the season. Lose and the playoff might be just out of reach.
Duke at Louisville (3:30, TSN+/specialty pack) – I do wish that TSN had picked this game up. To put it on their online platform seems like a bit of a slap in the face to both programs. But, for once, it feels like every channel is showing live sports and big-time properties from NASCAR to Formula 1 to the CFL to the Rugby World Cup. So I understand. Look, the Cardinals are not out of this race yet. Win out and they probably head to Charlotte for the ACC Championship. Duke also has an opportunity if they run the table but they will need some help.
Ohio State at Wisconsin (7:30, NBC) – Please don’t be Jac Collinsworth, please don’t be Jac Collinsworth, please don’t be Jac Collinsworth…..hey Noah Eagle is calling the game! Good. Eagle is good. Comes by it honestly with his dad one of the best at calling the NFL. Jac on the other hand is fucking terrible. He is there because his name is Collinsworth and not something else. Hopefully, NBC does the right thing and puts him elsewhere next season. As for this game, the Buckeyes should not take the Badgers lightly as an upset loss here would screw over a potential 1 vs. 2 matchup in The Game in late November.
Sickos Game of the Week
UConn at Boston College (Noon, TSN+/specialty pack) – The battle for Northeastern supremacy starts and ends with this game since UMass sucks. Amazingly enough, if the Eagles win here they are 5-3 and closing in on bowl eligibility. That’s huge for Jeff Hafley who started the season on a massive hot seat. That doesn’t take away from the fact that the bottom half of the ACC is not good and last season’s UConn might be an aberration.
Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week
Indiana at Penn State (Noon, CBS) – A lot of people are questioning whether James Franklin is the guy that can get Penn State over the hump and into the CFP. Next year will be the ultimate test. If they can’t get in with an expanded field, they should move on. Putting all that aside, the Nittany Lions played awful last week and will be taking out their anger on the lowly Hoosiers, I can pretty much guarantee that.
Wanna Bet?
Man, looking back most of my picks fucking sucked. UAB over Memphis? Woof. UNC over Virginia? Yikes. USC over Utah. Oh no. I would say let’s keep the ball rolling but the ball, at this point, is a square. Need to start over and get some of these picks right.
FIU 40 Jacksonville State 27 (upset pick!)
Georgia State 26 Georgia Southern 21
FAU 38 Charlotte 7
Oklahoma 43 Kansas 30
Kansas State 34 Houston 23
SMU 44 Tulsa 9
Clemson 49 NC State 16
Louisville 23 Duke 19
Utah 24 Oregon 17 (slight upset)
Auburn 37 Mississippi State 20
Air Force 32 Colorado State 6
Ohio State 31 Wisconsin 17
Oregon State 49 Arizona 35
The Bossman Top 26
It’s time for another rousing version of the Bossman Top 26. OK, it’s the second time doing this many teams. Let’s just get going with it.
#1
Michigan
#2
Georgia
#3
Ohio State
#4
Florida State
#5
Washington
#6
Alabama
#7
Oklahoma
#8
Texas
#9
Oregon State
#10
Utah
#11
Oregon
#12
Ole Miss
#13
Penn State
#14
Notre Dame
#15
LSU
#16
Missouri
#17
Louisville
#18
North Carolina
#19
Tulane
#20
UCLA
#21
Tennessee
#22
Air Force
#23
Duke
#24
USC
#25
James Madison
#26
Liberty
Yep, I have added Liberty in at the final spot. Sure, their schedule is arguably the easiest in the land; but if they run the table and get some help they might sneak into the New Year’s Six much to the chagrin of many college football fans. James Madison continues to wait for a waiver that may never come but at least we know that if there aren’t enough bowl eligible teams, they would be the first call to fill a bowl spot. And yes, I have Michigan in the top spot. Despite their cheating ways (it seems), they still look like the best team in college football, even better than UGA. I know SEC fans will scrunch their noses at that since they think their conference is the be-all-and-end-all and that the CFP should be Georgia, Alabama, Ole Miss and LSU. Well you know what? Fuck you. This is my rankings. Make your own.
Getting these blog posts out before the Tuesday night games is basically impossible for me. Not complaining since it means there’s Tuesday night football. It’s still not easy though. Enjoy the games everyone!
Hey remember last year when I dumped all that stuff I mentioned above into one post? Guess what I’m doing again.
Look, you could say that it would take the same amount of time to put all this in separate posts. And you’d be wrong. These tags don’t just create themselves. Although if there is a way to do tags automatically I would feel like a big fucking moron. Oh well, I’m just going to keep on living thinking I have to type in all the pertinent tags to this post. Ignorance is bliss!
Let’s start with some postseason predictions. You read the two posts where I predicted the standings for all the conferences (and those four mangy Independents). At least I hope you did. If not, you might want to so it can prepare you for this because, ho boy, this could cause some people to think twice about my mental capacity. We begin with the top of the mountain, the College Football Playoff. Here is what I think the semi-finals will look like along with the rankings of the teams involved:
January 1st
Sugar Bowl
#1 Georgia
#4 Florida State
January 1st
Rose Bowl
#2 Michigan
#3 Alabama
Am I close to the experts’ picks? I don’t really know. I think Georgia is the easiest call here but the road to get there isn’t easy. Their regular season loss to Tennessee means they had to beat Alabama in the SEC Championship to be in the Top 4. I believe they do. I also believe Bama, being #1 going into conference championship weekend, wouldn’t fall four spots on a single loss to one of the best teams in the nation. So they stay in at #3 which I am sure will cause a ton of people to become irrational and use Twitter as a ridiculous sounding board and causing people to not want to talk about college football. Sorry…use X as a ridiculous sounding board and cause people to not want to talk about college football on social media. X. What a dumb fucking name. Anyway, Michigan should get in with a in in the Big Ten Championship, even if it is over a Minnesota team that would be near the bottom of the Top 25 going in. Finally, remember what I said about the Tide? Triple that hatred for this one. Florida State, I predict, will beat Clemson for the ACC title. The Tigers would come in to the game at #2 and FSU would be #5. I have the Noles moving up a spot and the Tigers being that one-loss team that loses out in this bunch. The amount of venom spewed by college football media and fans about this, rightly or wrongly, would be way over the top. I think it would be the first time (and would be the only time) that a team goes into conference championship weekend undefeated, loses, and tumbles out of the College Football Playoff when the smoke clears. And because of that, I hope this, or something like this happens because we need a ton of chaos for the final four-team CFP ever.
Now we go to the next tier down: the New Year’s Six. The final New Year’s Six. I would shed a tear but it feels like it’s hardly been around long enough:
January 1st
Fiesta Bowl
#9 USC
#11 Ohio State
December 30th
Orange Bowl
#5 Clemson
#7 Tennessee
December 30th
Peach Bowl
#8 Penn State
#10 Notre Dame
December 29th
Cotton Bowl
#6 Texas
#14 UTSA
Do the games look interesting? Absolutely. Could there be some debate as to who is here, who isn’t and where everyone should go (and how they get there)? Absolutely. Am I backing down from these predictions? Absolutely not. I mean if this was the 12-team playoff, I am sure people would debate that as well but you can’t tell me none of these teams would be worthy of being there. That’s crazy. “Durr, Texas doesn’t deserve to be there. They won’t even be bowl-eligible.” Yeah go fuck yourself if you think that. That’s just plain dumb.
Alright, enough anger, more analysis. Let’s start with Clemson since that’s the easiest one to explain. They were #2 and undefeated, lost to Florida State in the ACC Championship, so they get the Orange Bowl spot reserved for the top ACC team remaining. Simple. The Pac-12, in their final unglorious season, will again beat each other up making it impossible for one team to come out unscathed. So the ninth-ranked Trojans will head to the Fiesta Bowl after winning the Pac-12 title. Ohio State slots in as their opponent although it could easily be Penn State. The reasoning here is that tOSU already plays Notre Dame during the season and it makes more sense for USC to play in Phoenix than Penn State for bowl season. Those Longhorns I mentioned? They go off into the sunset, leaving the Big XII as conference champions. It puts them in the Cotton Bowl against the best Group of Five team. I think Tulane almost runs the table during the regular season and gets a pretty healthy lead in the rankings over the next best teams, UTSA and Boise State. The Roadrunners’ win in the AAC Championship would trump anything the Broncos do and, should be enough to leapfrog the Green Wave to sneak into the final NY6 spot. Let’s be honest here: Texas-UTSA at AT&T Stadium for the Cotton Bowl is an instant sellout, no doubt about it.
Now for the rest of the bowl extravaganza:
January 1st
Citrus Bowl
#12 LSU
Minnesota
January 1st
ReliaQuest Bowl
#20 South Carolina
Michigan State
December 30th
Arizona Bowl
San Diego State
Toledo
December 30th
Music City Bowl
Ole Miss
#17 Iowa
December 29th
Liberty Bowl
Texas A&M
#16 TCU
December 29th
Sun Bowl
Duke
#24 Utah
December 29th
Gator Bowl
Kentucky
#21 North Carolina
December 28th
Alamo Bowl
#19 Kansas State
#18 Oregon
December 28th
Pop Tarts Bowl
Pittsburgh
Oklahoma
December 28th
Pinstripe Bowl
Maryland
Louisville
December 28th
Fenway Bowl
Syracuse
FAU
December 27th
Texas Bowl
Arkansas
Baylor
December 27th
Holiday Bowl
Miami
#13 Oregon State
December 27th
Duke’s Mayo Bowl
Wake Forest
Auburn
December 27th
Military Bowl
NC State
#15 Tulane
December 26th
Guaranteed Rate Bowl
San Jose State
Oklahoma State
December 26th
First Responder Bowl
UCF
East Carolina
December 26th
Quick Lane Bowl
Illinois
Ohio
December 23rd
Hawaii Bowl
SMU
Fresno State
December 23rd
Las Vegas Bowl
#23 Wisconsin
Washington State
December 23rd
68 Ventures Bowl
South Alabama
Middle Tennessee
December 23rd
Idaho Potato Bowl
Air Force
Miami-OH
December 23rd
Armed Forces Bowl
Kansas
UTEP
December 23rd
Birmingham Bowl
Mississippi State
North Texas
December 23rd
Camellia Bowl
Appalachian State
New Mexico State
December 22nd
Gasparilla Bowl
UCLA
James Madison
December 21st
Boca Raton Bowl
Coastal Carolina
UConn
December 19th
Frisco Bowl
Marshall
Navy
December 18th
Myrtle Beach Bowl
Southern Miss
Buffalo
December 16th
Independence Bowl
Texas Tech
Memphis
December 16th
LA Bowl
#22 Washington
#25 Boise State
December 16th
New Mexico Bowl
Wyoming
Louisiana
December 16th
Cure Bowl
Army
Georgia Southern
December 16th
New Orleans Bowl
Troy
WKU
December 16th
Bahamas Bowl
Eastern Michigan
Liberty
That is a lot of bowl games. I am not complaining. I am fully embracing the Sickos mentality of all football is good football. Even arena football if you can believe it! And why am I not complaining? Because I am desperate for the season to start. Talk to me in mid-December and I may have a slightly different answer. Some notes on these bowl games:
The teams that juuuuuuust missed out on the New Year’s Six train to nowhere include LSU, Oregon State, Tulane and TCU.
Quite a few teams would be playing close to home, including Mississippi State travelling to relatively close by Birmingham, Air Force with a not-so-long drive north into Idaho, South Alabama playing exactly 0 kilometres from their home stadium in the renamed 68 Ventures Bowl, Ohio venturing into hostile territory to play in the Quick Lane Bowl and Wake Forest making their way to hopefully get their coach dumped with mayo in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl.
Hey remember what I said two posts ago about James Madison and a surprise for their fans? I know that was a lot of reading ago. Look, there won’t be enough teams to satisfy all the bowl slots. I have a feeling that will be a trend going forward. And because of that, the Dukes will have the opportunity to go to a bowl if they are invited before the team with the best APR score. And I’m sure at least one bowl would do that since JMU should be good once again this season. Man, do I ever hate the transition rule. I get the first year coming up that you shouldn’t qualify for anything. Get your feet wet. Sure. Longer than that is just the NCAA being insufferable dicks and not updating policies that are over 50 years old.
As for those 5-7 teams making bowls they would be Georgia Southern, Buffalo, and Navy (which would kill my scenario for the Army-Navy Game).
I guess I should mention who I think will win the whole thing. Well, I’ve got Georgia beating Florida State and Michigan beating Bama in the semis and then the Wolverines ending the three-peat talk by beating the Dawgs in Houston for the title. Then Khaki Jim can ride off into the sunset…that sunset being back to the NFL.
Well look who is back in the FBS. Rich God Damn Rodriguez! He is at the helm of one of FBS’s newest teams, the Jacksonville State Gamecocks. I’m sure it won’t be an amazing season for the team but man, who thought he would be back at the top level of college football? Probably a few although I wondered if he was basically done being a head coach at this level. Shows what I know.
Hey, hey it’s HOT SEAT TIME! Last year my top two were jettisoned and Herm got an all-timer of an on-field shitcanning. I am still surprised some made it to this season (I am looking at you Mike Bloomgren) but all in all this list is a list I am actually proud of since I actually do well at it, as morbid as that sounds.
Alright let’s get to the list. Going with the new categorizations as well this time around. Let’s go!
Almost Guaranteed Shitcanning
Neal Brown (West Virginia) – He was #3 on my list last season and I honestly don’t know how he is still employed in Morgantown. And it’s not like things are looking super rosy there. Needed to keep his job – Honestly? A fucking miracle. Prediction – A mid-to-late-season shitcanning and no job next year as he starts quite a few rungs down the ladder in 2025.
Danny Gonzales (New Mexico) – Now let’s head to the southwest and a place that is very difficult to win at. Other than Rocky Long I don’t think anyone has really done anything of note in Albuquerque. The problem becomes how long do you give a coach a chance to win at a place where victories are at a premium? Honestly, Gonzales would be lower down the list if it wasn’t for what Jerry Kill did down the road in Las Cruces last year. Needed to keep his job – Vying for a bowl spot in the final two weeks of the regular season. Prediction – Near the bottom of the Mountain West pecking order yet again and maybe even a late-season firing.
Dana Holgorsen (Houston) – Look, Drunk Uncle Dana is entertaining. But the shtick gets old. And if they are as mediocre as I believe they will be in their first year in the Big XII, it’ll be lights out for Holgorsen. Needed to keep his job – Bowl eligibility, period. Prediction – I don’t think they will even have a shot at a bowl game in the final week of the season meaning Dana’s fate will be pretty much sealed by that point.
Eliah Drinkwitz (Missouri) – I don’t like harping on a guy’s looks but this guy looks more like Milton from Office Space than a college football head coach. Which is perfectly fine…if you win. This guy has hovered around .500 since coming to CoMo and I think a year under .500 would be the final straw. Needed to keep his job – At least a .500 record if not an upset or two inside the SEC. Prediction – I see him falling one game short of his goal and the athletic department feeling like they have to make a move now rather than wait.
Mike Neu (Ball State) – Neu has had his moments at Ball State but really hasn’t rose above an also-ran in the MAC. The Cardinals seem to consistently sit near the bottom of the MAC West which gives plenty of reason for a coach to get jettisoned. Needed to keep his job – Bowl eligibility. That’s it, that’s all. Prediction – I can’t see them winning more than four games this season so expect him to be the most likely MAC head coach to be fired first.
Probable Shitcanning
Ricky Rahne (Old Dominion) – Rahne really has not been able to recreate some of the magic that his predecessor, Bobby Wilder, had. I’m not saying the Monarchs were great under Wilder: but they were fun to watch and competed hard. Haven’t seen as much of that under Double R. Needed to keep his job – Be competitive and play some meaningful November football. Prediction – Quite possibly the worst Group of Five team and a tough decision to be made by the athletic director.
Tom Allen (Indiana) – Where are the 2020 Indiana Hoosiers? We can finally say that that version of the team was a complete aberration which sucks for their fans. Allen really is on borrowed time but there is the slight possibility he is kept on when the brand-new Big Ten starts next season without divisions. A SLIGHT possibility. Needed to keep his job – 4 or even 5 wins and looking more competitive against some better Big Ten teams. Prediction – 3 wins and a quiet exit (for Tom).
Mike Bloomgren (Rice) – The bloom comes off the rose yadda, yadda, yadda. One of these years I am going to be right about this guy. Not that I want to be: I am just genuinely befuddled as to why this guy is still the head coach at Rice. Needed to keep his job – Not looking like a punching bag moving up to the American Conference. Prediction – Four wins which isn’t bad but some bad losses inside the conference and finally his removal from the sidelines.
Possible Shitcanning
Billy Napier (Florida) – Napier suffers from the fact that even if the previous few coaches have ended up as disasters they had their successes as well. He hasn’t done anything and the Gators were barely bowl-eligible with a supposed franchise quarterback under centre. Now it’s a step back. It comes down to how far of a step back he will be allowed. Needed to keep his job – Bowl eligibility should do the trick. Prediction – I have them missing out on the postseason so there should be plenty of angry fans in Gainesville.
Brent Pry (Virginia Tech) – Poor Brent. Last season wasn’t too bad when he took over the Hokies. This season on the other hand…I don’t see good things in Blacksburg. Maybe I’ll be wrong (and lord knows I have been wrong in the past) but if it’s as tough a season as I think it will be for VaTech, Pry might be fine with being done as head coach. Needed to keep his job – Some improvement over last year. Prediction – I have the Hokies winning only one game this season. One. That is not improvement. At all.
Greg Schiano (Rutgers) – I don’t know where Rutgers goes from here. They’ve had a tough slog since joining the Big Ten. They are the butt of pretty much every realignment joke and meme. And I’m not sure firing Schiano, their best coach ever, will fix anything. But at some point, changes have to be made to at least try and improve. Needed to keep his job – At least 4 wins but more to be competitive inside the Big Ten. Prediction – 4 wins but the competitiveness part…yeah I don’t know about that.
Terry Bowden (ULM) – Same spot for Terry as last year. I honestly don’t know the end game for all of this. I can’t see him coaching the Warhawks into being a top notch Sun Belt team. Is he grooming the next head coach? It’s very confusing. That’s why I put him here and not higher up the list. Needed to keep his job – Have a better record than last year and put a scare into a few of the better Sun Belt teams. Prediction – Last year I predicted one win for them. This year it’s two. Something has to give at some point.
Shawn Elliott (Georgia State) – Look, it’s not like Georgia State is a destination coaching spot. Saying that, the Sun Belt has become a lot tougher over the past half-a-decade. So if you’re not moving forward, you’re falling further behind. And this is what it feels like with Georgia State. They aren’t getting worst but they aren’t improving and quite a few teams are leaving them in their dust. Needed to keep his job – Competitive football in November and possibility for bowl eligibility during the final week. Prediction – I have them at 4 wins this season so this could be an interesting off-season decision in Atlanta.
Scot Loeffler (Bowling Green) – This is Scott (with one T)’s fifth season at Bowling Green. I don’t know why that surprises me but it does. The Falcons really haven’t done anything other than sneak into one bowl game in his tenure. It is, however, Bowling Green so the expeectations are a lot lower here. At some point, though, thre has to be some semblance of results and this guy just isn’t delivering. Needed to keep his job – Bowl eligibility and looking like a contender in the MAC East. Prediction – No bowl game and they won’t look like a contender. Saying that, he may still be around for 2024 but on a very short leash.
Jeff Hafley (Boston College) – It has been a struggle on the Hill for Hafley and with no divisions there’s nowhere really to hide now in the ACC. The lack of success over the past decade-plus could be what keeps Hafley on for 2024. Needed to keep his job – 5 wins and having a shot at a bowl on the final weekend. Prediction – 5 wins and they will have two shots to claim bowl eligibilty and will fail at both but it will be enough for another year with Hafley.
Doubtful Shitcanning (although it still could happen)
Justin Wilcox (California) – Wilcox might not have to worry if Cal just shuts down the entire program. I’m only half-joking with that sentence. I think the athletic department has much bigger things to worry about right now. Meaning if Wilcox is fired it might be done by text. Needed to keep his job – Possible bowl contention. Prediction – They aren’t going to a bowl game and it looks like, for now, they have to be thinking about filling a schedule for 2024 more than dealing with their below-average head coach.
Mel Tucker (Michigan State) – Tucks signed for a lot of money to coach in East Lansing so last year better be an aberration. Let’s be honest: even with being in arguably the toughest division in college football, the Spartans will be much improved this season. Shouldn’t be much of a worry here unless they come out of the gate VERY slowly. Needed to keep his job – Probably 7 wins. Prediction – He will get them to 7 and maybe, just maybe, they will put a scare into one of the top three teams in the division.
Dana Dimel (UTEP) – Dimel must have been thanking his lucky stars once he saw the exodus from Conference USA. Having a few newcomers join makes things a bit easier for the Miners this year and gives Dimel one more year, almost certainly, on the job. Next season? Who knows. Needed to keep his job – Fighting for bowl eligibility during the final weekend. Prediction – They should be bowl eligible in early November so the pressure will be off…for now.
Thomas Hammock (Northern Illinois) – It feels like every other year at NIU things look good. And then every other year things look bad. And so forth. So it should be good this year in Dekalb, no?. Needed to keep his job – Look like a contender in the MAC West. Prediction – I have them at five wins so maybe they will shock me?
Don Brown (UMass) – Probably the toughest job for a head coach in FBS is being the head man at UMass. I have said for years now that the Minutemen should just drop to the FCS. I still think they should but I do understand the financial ramifications. Still, at some point don’t you think the fans yearn for something more than a couple of wins a season at most? Needed to keep his job – Win a game. Any game. Prediction – I think they win one game and I’m not guaranteeing it will be against their one FCS opponent. Brown should be fine going into 2024.
I think I say this ever year but I have to go back one day and really determine how good I am at this coaching hot seat list. I feel I do well and I hope the numbers would back me up. But I am used to disappointment so I am not holding my breath.
There’s a reason I don’t get a Heisman ballot. I am sure if even if I was the most prominent college football journalist in the land they would say “Sorry, Bossman, no can do.” Probably because my ballots have been mostly garbage in the past. Let’s see if I can somehow do better this year. Let’s just get to my ballot before I regret even posting this.
Bossman’s Heisman Ballot of Mediocrity
Jordan Travis, Florida State – I know everyone and their mother is picking Caleb Williams to win the Heisman. I can’t see that happening because voters almost seem to want to avoid giving any player not named Archie Griffin back-to-back Heismans and most of the time it goes to a player on a team that’s in the Top 4 (or close to it). Travis is predicted to at least go to New York for the ceremony so it’s not like I am way off here. Plus, I think his passing stats will explode as FSU hits the CFP for the first time in what feels like forever.
Caleb Williams, USC – Because I don’t have the Trojans winning the title this season or getting to the College Football Playoff is one of the main reasons I think Williams doesn’t win his second Heisman. He should be close to his passing stats from last season and at least he will make the voters think twice all year as he will never be far from the top of the Heisman hopefuls list.
Drake Maye, North Carolina – Maye is only a sophomore this season so he may be prepping for his true Heisman run in 2024. He will turn a lot of heads this season, though, with UNC battling FSU and Clemson at the top of the ACC.
Bo Nix, Oregon – Bo’s move from the SEC to the Pac-12 was huge and reinvigorated his fledgling career. Much of the Ducks’ hopes this year to win the Pac-12 in their swan song season rests on his shoulders and it is going to be a dogfight at the top. One huge game from Bo in a big conference game could put Oregon in the national title picture.
Marvin Harrison Jr., Ohio State – As long as the Buckeyes can figure out who is going to be flinging the ball over the field at quarterback, Harrison should have a monster season. There is an outside chance that he will be the #1 pick in the NFL Draft so I am sure he will be going all-out all season. As long as Ryan Day doesn’t decide to run the ball a lot more this season, Harrison is tOSU’s ticket to New York.
Michael Penix Jr., Washington – I believe that, as is the case lately, that the Pac-12 teams will beat each other up and no one will be high enough in the rankings to be in the CFP. For some players it’s not a huge issue (see: Williams, Caleb last year). For some, it’s the main reason they either don’t win the Heisman or don’t get invited to New York at all. I see Penix being one of those guys. Washington will be very good but not quite good enough and stuck in a group of six teams that are all pretty damn good this year. Playing out west doesn’t help either, despite what some may say.
J.J. McCarthy, Michigan – Here is the guy under center (centre?) who will finally push Michigan over the top this year. He won’t throw for a shit-ton of yards but it will be enough (along with this ground game) to put him in the Heisman conversation for a bit at least. A win over tOSU alone may give him the New York invite (if it was up to Michigan fans).
Quinn Ewers, Texas – Texas is probably a huge dark horse pick to win it all this year and Ewers has to be considered a bit of a dark horse Heisman cadidate. The only thing that could make this not the case is if he has a bad quarter or two and Sark gets an itchy trigger finger and puts Arch Manning in for longer than a few series.
Cade Klubnik, Clemson – The Fighting Dabos are going to be back on top…at least through the regular season. I don’t think many will be surprised with this. I’m not fully sold on Klubnik but he is an improvement on D.J. Uiagalelei and the Tigers defense will be able to pick up the slack when he struggles a bit. But those struggles will cost him a seat at the Heisman table I’m sure.
Jayden Daniels, LSU – Hey, have you ever remembred a time where the quality of the quarterbacks in the SEC has been this low? Not saying Daniels isn’t good because he is. But there are a few teams, Alabama and Georgia most notably, that have potential QB issues this season in the SEC and a few other teams that have returning quarterbacks that are honestly just above-average at best. Daniels may get some Heisman talk just because he may end up being that much better than any other QB in the conference.
Honourable Mention
Blake Corum, Michigan
Sam Hartman, Notre Dame
Joe Milton III, Tennessee
Braelon Allen, Wisconsin
Kyle McCord, Ohio State
Drew Allar, Penn State
Harold Perkins, LSU
Brock Bowers, Georgia
J.T. Tuimoloau, Ohio State
There you go. If one of those nineteen aforementioned players wins the Heisman, I will feel…well, good is not quite correct. Satisfied? Sure, let’s go with that.
The college football predictions…..they are complete! In a little less than half a year from now, I will find out how poorly I did. Gee, I can’t wait.
At some point soon I will do my lovely NFL predictions which are sure to also be not fully correct. Then…….Week…..Fucking…….ZERO!!!!!! I will have the schedule up at least a few days before the games commence. And yes, if you are looking for games on the specialty pack, don’t. Week Zero has almost never shown Week Zero games. Almost. Kind of a crapshoot with these idiotic Canadian cable companies. Enjoy your week everyone!
It felt like things were calm. We were all lulled into this. It was just the eye of the storm. Sure the wind wasn’t moving but about 200 metres away, a cow just went flying headlong into a barn.
What am I talking about? Realignment, of course! Another shoe has dropped…OK let me use a different analogy. Sorry Deion. We have another big move as Colorado will be going back to the Big XII starting next season. And that probably won’t be all. The rumours have at least one of Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, Oregon or Washington following the Buffaloes. Or, if no other schools leave the Pac-12, the Big XII is more than willing to dip into the American Conference (hello SMU, Memphis, Tulane) or even way out east…yes, UConn! And maybe once the Pac-12 (or more like Pac-9) gets their act together, they can start bringing in teams from the Group of Five. The same teams from the American would be in play, especially SMU. Also, the Mountain West would be watching closely as San Diego State, Boise State and perhaps Colorado State and UNLV could be looked at. There will be a lot of meetings in the next month or so to determine where this all leads.
For now let’s focus on what this post was supposed to be (and still will be). It’s time for the Power Five conference predictions. This will give a better indication on how I think things will go during this season. So let’s dive right in!
Changes are coming soon for the Ess Ee Cee. Texas and Oklahoma join the conference next season. Also, no more SEC on CBS after this year. Everything moves to ABC and ESPN. And finally, no divisions. Halle-fucking-lujah.
As for this year, all the talk is about Georgia and doing something no team has done (fully) in the AP Poll era: win three national championships in a row. It’s not like they will fall apart, despite the fact they lost their starting quarterback and a bunch of other players in the NFL Draft. Then again, I’m sure Kirby Smart has looked them all dead in the eye and told them “Everyone thinks you are going to go 5-7 and lose to Vanderbilt. Prove them wrong!” And they will believe it because college football head coaches are just a notch-and-a-half below cult leaders in the pecking order of how much they can make their “followers” drink their Kool-Aid.
Remember, though, there are other teams in the conference as well. Like those lovable underdogs from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and the team that just reeks of success (in the classroom and on the baseball diamond), Vanderbilt. And eleven other teams. Want to find out how I think they will do? OK. I will do that. Just for you.
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Conference
Overall
Â
East
W
L
W
L
Georgia
7
1
11
1
Tennessee
6
2
10
2
South Carolina
5
3
8
4
Kentucky
3
5
6
6
Missouri
2
6
5
7
Florida
2
6
5
7
Vanderbilt
1
7
4
8
Â
West
Â
Â
Â
Â
Alabama
8
0
12
0
LSU
6
2
9
3
Ole Miss
4
4
8
4
Texas A&M
4
4
8
4
Arkansas
3
5
7
5
Auburn
3
5
7
5
Mississippi State
2
6
6
6
Just For You
You might think I am crazy for having UGA not run the table. I do think they will lose a regular season game and it will be to those upstart Tennessee Volunteers. It won’t keep them from winning the division though as you can see I have those same Vols losing two conference games during the regular season.
As for the SEC West, though, Bama will once again rule the roost….as long as they figure out their quarterback situation. I am thinking they will and will go undefeated and be #1 in the nation going into conference championship weekend. If they don’t get their QB situation settled…well, maybe they lose two games? Three? It’s not like they will fall to 6-6.
I could see South Carolina or last year’s SEC West champs, LSU, making a bit of a run this time around. They have the top two quarterbacks in the SEC and could each put up piles of points. Watch for the Cocks’ game against Georgia early on in the season and LSU’s post-Halloween trip to Bryant-Denny to face the Tide. Upsets in either of those games will seriously upset the apple cart.
Look, the Gators were barely .500 with who I think may be one of the most overhyped quarterbacks in recent memory. I don’t think Anthony Richardson was that great. And now they don’t even have him. Unless every other part of the roster improved (it didn’t), how do people expect this team to bounce back and all of a sudden become an eight or nine win team? Spoiler alert: they won’t.
I have Mississippi State at 6-6. They will do just enough to get a bowl game. I wonder how tough it will be after the loss of Mike Leach but I can see them straightening things out just in time late in the season.
As for the SEC Championship, SURPRISE! I have the Dawgs beating the Tide and creating a massive clusterfuck in the final College Football Playoff rankings. Fun times!
Eleven bowl teams from the SEC with two juuuuuust on the outside. That’s insane and I don’t think I will be that far off with this prediction. Next year could be even crazier with Texas and Oklahoma joining the conference that just means more.
Man have things really changed in terms of where you will see Big Ten games this season. Gone are ABC and ESPN. In is NBC and CBS. This is gonna feel weird the first time I see it. And maybe the next few times as well. I will get used to it at some point. Now if you want the opportunity to watch every Big Ten game, better find a way to get FOX Sports One and Peacock otherwise you will be shit out of luck to watch potential bangers like Northwestern-Purdue and Indiana-Rutgers (if they end up there and not the Big Ten Network).
Alright, let’s get into the final conference predictions before the B1G gives a big Fuck You to geography and brings in USC and UCLA.
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Conference
Overall
Â
East
W
L
W
L
Michigan
8
1
11
1
Penn State
8
1
11
1
Ohio State
8
1
10
2
Michigan State
5
4
7
5
Maryland
5
4
8
4
Indiana
1
8
3
9
Rutgers
1
8
4
8
Â
West
Â
Â
Â
Â
Minnesota
6
3
8
4
Wisconsin
6
3
9
3
Iowa
6
3
9
3
Illinois
5
4
7
5
Nebraska
2
7
5
7
Purdue
2
7
5
7
Northwestern
0
9
2
10
Geogpraphy, Go Eat a Dick
Look, I know some might look at the Big Ten East standings and think I am a bit crazy. I am not. Although that is what a crazy person would tell you. Yep, a three-way tie at the top at 8-1 between Big Blue, tOSU and PSU. Because each team will be 1-1 against the other two, the CFP Rankings will decide the winner. I believe the Wolverines will somehow win that. And yes, I think Ohio State also loses to Notre Dame. O-H! I-No.
If Sparty doesn’t make it to a bowl game, they may end up giving Mel Tucker the Herm Edwards treatment and fire him before he can leave the playing surface one game. I get they have a tough division but they should be able to do well enough against the rest of their schedule to get back in the postseason after last year’s debacle.
No, I don’t have Wisconsin winning the West division. Meaning I am different than almost every expert out there. Also, there’s the fact I’m not an expert but I digress. Again I have a damn three-way tie but no need to look at the rankings for this one as I believe the Gophers will Row the Fucking Boat all the way to Indianapolis after beating both Wisky and the high-octane Iowa Hawkeyes. See what I did there? Yeah, I don’t care that the Hawkeyes have a new quarterback in town. Until Kirk tells his son to do better, Iowa will be pushing for some 7-6 victories. Sorry. 8-6. Two field goals and a late safety to win.
Nebraska will be better but I think the Huskers are a season away from getting back to the top of the West…just in time for the West to just not exist anymore.
As for Northwestern…man. What a shitshow. Look, I played a lot of sports earlier in my life and did so at the university level. Are there fun little pranks and stupid things the rookies have to do? Sometimes. But it’s usually harmless. Carrying bags, standing up during a team dinner to get embarrassed by singing some Mariah Carey song, dumb things like that. Not getting fucking dry humped in some cultish fashion by weirdos in robes. What the fuck is wrong with that school? And yes, it’s not just the football program. Sounds like at least half the teams there have serious issues. Ugh.
Now let’s get crazy. Yeah! The Big Ten Championship will…OK who am I kidding. It won’t be close. I have Michigan plowing through Minny to clinch their spot, yet again, in the College Football Playoff.
Might as well call this the Stable Conference…for now. Just nothing happening here which is just fine for most of the teams in the ACC. Status quo isn’t a bad thing. There are some changes with where you will see games. The CW…yes, the C-Fucking-W, will have an ACC game during most of the weeks of the season. You can take the ACC out of Jefferson-Pilot (or Raycom) but you can’t take the Jefferson-Pilot (or Raycom) out of the ACC. Or something like that.
So before this conference possibly gets pillaged by the Big Ten and SEC, let’s get to the predictions followed by some deep tissue massage and/or analysis.
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Conference
Overall
Â
Â
W
L
W
L
Clemson
8
0
12
10
Florida State
7
1
11
1
North Carolina
6
2
9
3
Pittsburgh
5
3
8
4
Louisville
5
3
8
4
Duke
4
4
8
4
Wake Forest
4
4
7
5
NC State
4
4
7
5
Miami
4
4
7
5
Syracuse
3
5
6
6
Boston College
2
6
5
7
Virginia
2
6
4
8
Georgia Tech
2
6
4
8
Virginia Tech
0
8
1
11
Deep Tissue Massage and/or Analysis
I should book a massage. My back is in horrible shape.
Some may scoff at me having Clemson going undefeated this season. They have the schedule to do it and if Cade Klubnik is as good as he can be this could relatively easily happen. If Klubnik struggles…well then this entire set of standings might need to be scrubbed from existence.
Reader Gord will like where I have Florida State. This team could be scary good. And at the very least, they will be near the top of the ACC standings this season. Mike Norvell has done a great job getting this team back to what it was like during the Jimbo Fisher days. I had my doubts about him but I have to admit he has been the right guy to right the ship in Tallahassee.
Hey did you notice? NO DIVISIONS! I love it.
Don’t be surprised that if Clemson or FSU stumbles that there are no shortage of teams that could get one of the two ACC title game slots. A list of seven teams could pull off a couple of upsets and be at the top and it wouldn’t be a huge surprise. A slight surprise sure. Maybe a slightly bigger surprise if it was Miami or NC State. But not a massive surprise.
Poor Virginia Tech. I think this will be their worst team since before Frank Beamer graced Blacksburg. It feels like it has been forever since the Hokies were contenders. It was only seven years ago when they were in the ACC Championship and almost upset the eventual national champions, Clemson. This team is pretty bad in almost every aspect of the game and the schedule will not be helpful to them. Other than Old Dominion I don’t see them winning any other game and the Monarchs have given VT all sorts of fits the past few years.
Look for a tiny bit of a bounce back from Virginia. Just them taking the field after what happened last year is a win in my books.
For that ACC title game, how about another game that will turn everything on its head. Yep, I think the Noles will get revenge for a regular season loss by inching out the Tigers. Chaos!
OK it’s about time the Big XII rebrands. They will have at least thirteen teams by the time the 2024 season starts and it may be as high as sixteen. So change the fucking name. They have the rights to the Big Fourteen and Big Sixteen so use one of those. It would be easy. Find a graphic design student at Kansas and have them do a new logo. Easy peasy. Why do I have to come up with everything?
Where was I? Oh that’s right, predictions. Let’s see if this conference will go all Pac-12 and cannibalize itself or if they can see a team get to the CFP once again. Also, Texas and Oklahoma will be trying their best to leave the conference on a high note much to the chagrin of the rest of the schools in the conference. So here are the Big XII standings predictions, followed by Belly Expansions.
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Conference
Overall
Â
Â
W
L
W
L
Texas
8
1
10
2
Kansas State
7
2
10
2
Baylor
6
3
8
4
TCU
6
3
9
3
Oklahoma
6
3
9
3
Texas Tech
5
4
8
4
Oklahoma State
5
4
8
4
Kansas
4
5
7
5
UCF
4
5
7
5
BYU
3
6
5
7
Cincinnati
3
6
5
7
Houston
2
7
4
8
Iowa State
2
7
4
8
West Virginia
2
7
3
9
Belly Expansions
No I don’t mean pregnancy. I mean eating a big meal and having to loosen the ol’ belt or just unbuckle the pants altogether. Funny enough, people in the restaurant don’t appreciate that.
Let’s start at the bottom. There won’t be one truly bad team. There will be a bunch of below-average ones. West Virginia, Iowa State, Houston, Cincinnati and BYU could all finish last and I am sure no one would bat an eye.
I see the Longhorns making their final Big XII season a special one. They have the team, the schedule and the head coach (I think) to be the top team in this conference this season. The only question will be can Quinn Ewers hold off Arch Manning. Will one of them transfer in the offseason? Remember, when you have two starting quarterbacks, you have none. I think.
How about this lukewarm take: Kansas State will be good again. Yeah really going out on a limb there Bossman. This team has become so steady-as-she-goes it’s almost boring. The people in the Little Apple are fine with this.
I do think one of the newcomers will make a bowl game and that team will be UCF. I think they are the most prepared of the newbies coming into this conference. But make no mistake about it: all four teams will be good at various points over the next few years.
I can’t see Oklahoma taking enough of a leap to get to the Big XII Championship. Nor do I think the Horned Frogs of TCU have the, uh, toads? to make it back to the conference title game. Good seasons for both, yes, but not great.
The Longhorns should win the conference title game in their final season in the Big XII. Will this get them into the CFP or will it “relegate” them to the New Year’s Six? I think you can tell from my predictions so far but you will know for sure in a different post.
So where are we going to be able to watch Pac-12 games in the future? Who the hell knows. My money is on PBS.
But seriously, the Pac-12 is quickly dropping from the Conference of Champions to almost a Group of Five conference. They are losing USC and UCLA next year to the Big Ten. They knew that already. The bombshell of Colorado leaving now has them at nine teams starting the 2024 season. And it may not end there. The only schools I haven’t heard potentially leaving are Oregon State and Washington State. That’s not to say all these rumours will be correct but I will be pretty surprised if no more teams leave for the Big XII before next season. It’s sad for a conference that really started their slide once Pete Carroll left USC for the NFL. Thanks a bunch, Peter.
Prediction time! No divisions which is one thing they are ahead of the game with, starting that last year. Let’s get to those divisionless predictions followed by some California Nightmarin’.
Â
Â
Conference
Overall
Â
Â
W
L
W
L
USC
8
1
10
2
Utah
7
2
9
3
Oregon
7
2
9
3
Oregon State
7
2
10
2
Washington State
6
3
8
4
Washington
6
3
9
3
UCLA
5
4
8
4
Colorado
3
6
4
8
California
2
7
4
8
Arizona
2
7
4
8
Arizona State
1
8
3
9
Stanford
0
9
2
10
California Nightmarin’
No state will have it better this year in the Pac-12 than the state of Oregon. Both the Ducks and the Beavers look to be serious contenders and only need the ball to bounce their way one extra time to maybe get to the Pac-12 Championship. And considering the way that title game has gone, who knows what may happen after that.
The strongest team, though, should be USC. They have Caleb Williams coming back to try and do what no one other than some guy named Archie has ever done, and that’s win two Heisman Trophies. The hope there is that the sting of the two season-ending losses will motivate them to push themselves that final step into the CFP.
OK look, I know you see Washington in sixth place and you are wondering what the fuck is wrong with me. This is another case where the schedule is just flat-out against them. A slightly easier schedule and I might put this team at eleven or even, dare I say it, twelve wins. It will be that close at the top of the conference.
On the other hand, I am sure no will think I’m crazy for putting Stanford in last place. It’s been a long time since the Cardinal have been this bad and it doesn’t look like they will be ready for bowl action for another year at least.
I think I was fair putting Colorado at 4-8 for this season and playing fairly meaningful football going into November. There seems to be two schools of thought with this team. One section thinks Coach Prime has done wonders and with all the fresh faces in the lineup it will push the team over the line and into bowl-eligibility territory. The other section thinks the entire program is overhyped and they will win maybe two games. I am in the middle on this. This team won’t go bowling this year. That would be too much of a leap. But they should win more games than they did last year. If not, what the hell was all this hoopla for?
As for the Pac-12 title game, USC gets the Pac-12 Championship they probably should have won last year. Problem is that by this point there will be a lot of teams in the mix for those four College Football Playoff spots and in typical Pac-12 fashion, the league will have cannabilized itself again and missed out on the CFP again.
There you go! You now have a complete set of Bossman conference predictions. Next up, is kind of the wrap-up post where I put everything in a nice, neat little ball and let you know who I believe will win the whole damn deal. Have a great week everyone!
OK not all the schedules but quite a few. I mean there’s some I may not even take a guess at.
Just like last year I am going to put all my schedule predictions in one long-ass post. So wait until you have to take an absolute monster of a shit before taking this one into the bathroom to read. Let’s go!
This is a crazy transition year for CBS. Out with the old (SEC) and in with the new (Big Ten). A few sprinkles (Mountain West) and you have a brand new college football sundae. Sorry fans, Gary Danielson, as far as I can tell, is still around. Worst part is we have heard him be one of the best analysts in the business. More often than not, though, he goes off on some stupid tangent that ends up with him declaring he has a college football boner for Bama.
As is the norm, I will let you know which games are confirmed. The ones that are not…well, some of them will be right because it makes sense and the rest will be not right because one or both of the teams I predicted to play at that time or not nearly as good as I thought they would be and/or I’m an idiot. So let’s start this bizarrely stupid puzzle and follow it with some It Just Means More Sweet Tea Analysis (which may or may not contain grits):
September 2nd
Ohio State at Indiana
3:30 PM
September 2nd
Texas Tech at Wyoming
7:30 PM
September 3rd
Northwestern at Rutgers
Noon
September 3rd
Oregon State at San Jose State
3:30 PM
September 9th
UNLV at Michigan
3:30 PM
September 9th
UCLA at San Diego State
7:30 PM
September 16th
South Carolina at Georgia
3:30 PM
September 23rd
Ole Miss at Alabama
3:30 PM
September 23rd
Iowa at Penn State
7:30 PM
September 30th
Alabama at Mississippi State
3:30 PM
October 7th
Kentucky at Georgia
3:30 PM
October 14th
Arkansas at Alabama
Noon
October 14th
Auburn at LSU
3:30 PM
October 21st
Air Force at Navy
Noon
October 21st
Tennessee at Alabama
3:30 PM
October 28th
Purdue at Nebraska
Noon
October 28th
Florida vs. Georgia (in Jacksonville)
3:30 PM
November 4th
Penn State at Maryland
Noon
November 4th
Kentucky at Mississippi State
3:30 PM
November 4th
LSU at Alabama
8:00 PM
November 11th
Ole Miss at Georgia
3:30 PM
November 11th
Rutgers at Iowa
7:30 PM
November 18th
Minnesota at Ohio State
Noon
November 18th
Georgia at Tennessee
3:30 PM
November 24th
Iowa at Nebraska
Noon
November 24th
Missouri at Arkansas
4:00 PM
November 24th
San Jose State at UNLV
7:30 PM
November 25th
Alabama at Auburn
3:30 PM
December 2nd
SEC Championship
4:00 PM
December 9th
Army vs. Navy (in Foxborough)
3:00 PM
December 29th
Sun Bowl
2:00 PM
It Just Means More (Games other than the SEC on CBS) Analysis:
I feel like I shouldn’t have to remind you but in all these tables, a game in bold means it has been confirmed. Not bold? Bossman used his dumb brain to try and figure it out.
The appearance list will look a bit different this time as it will have a few conferences involved so let’s start with the SEC appearances:
5 times – Alabama, Georgia
3 times – Ole Miss, LSU
2 times – Kentucky, Arkansas, Auburn, Tennessee
1 time – South Carolina, Mississippi State, Florida, Missouri
No times – Vanderbilt, Texas A&M
Wait, WHAT? No TAMU on CBS? Wow, I honestly didn’t notice until now when I started breaking out the different schedules. Crazy. I guess they will have to prove it this season to maybe get on late in the year.
Now we have the Big Ten appearance list:
3 times – Iowa
2 times – Ohio State, Rutgers, Penn State, Nebraska
1 time – Indiana, Northwestern, Michigan, Purdue, Maryland, Minnesota
No times – Michigan State, Wisconsin, Illinois
I look at these numbers and can glean….well, nothing from it. Wisconsin is good and appears no times and Rutgers appears twice. However, tOSU also appears twice and Michigan State doesn’t appear at all. Seems all very random. Which could very well be the case at least for this first season.
I’m not going to get into the Mountain West game count since there aren’t enough games to see any trends.
The Army-Navy game heads to New England for the first time ever. Foxborough gets the game this year and I like this idea. Not saying they have to move it around all over the place but every two or three years to take it out of Philly is a smart move.
What is ABC going to do for this one season without the Big Ten and with the SEC showing up in 2024? They will have to lean heavily on the other three Power Five conferences to carry the load, especially when it comes to the primetime schedule. Don’t worry though: there are enough good teams in these conferences to fill most of these spots where it looks like the network won’t have missed a beat. Then next year, might as well pencil (or pen…or Sharpie) the SEC in for the majority of those primetime games.
But hey we haven’t hit 2024 yet. It’s still 2023 so let’s get to the ESPN on ABC regular season college football schedule for the FBS for this season. I will follow it up with some Power(ful) Two Thoughts:
August 26th
Jackson State vs. South Carolina State (in Atlanta)
7:30 PM
September 2nd
Tennessee vs. Virginia (in Nashville)
Noon
September 2nd
Boise State at Washington
3:30 PM
September 2nd
South Carolina vs. North Carolina (in Charlotte)
7:30 PM
September 3rd
LSU vs. Florida State (in Orlando)
7:30 PM
September 9th
Notre Dame at NC State
Noon
September 9th
Texas A&M at Miami
3:30 PM
September 9th
Wisconsin at Washington State
7:30 PM
September 16th
Florida State at Boston College
Noon
September 16th
Alabama at USF
3:30 PM
September 16th
Pittsburgh at West Virginia
7:30 PM
September 23rd
Texas Tech at West Virginia
Noon
September 23rd
Texas at Baylor
3:30 PM
September 23rd
Florida State at Clemson
7:30 PM
September 30th
Notre Dame at Duke
Noon
September 30th
Kansas at Texas
3:30 PM
September 30th
Clemson at Syracuse
7:30 PM
October 7th
Oklahoma vs. Texas (in Dallas)
Noon
October 7th
Notre Dame at Louisville
3:30 PM
October 7th
Wake Forest at Clemson
7:30 PM
October 14th
Kansas at Oklahoma State
Noon
October 14th
Kansas State at Texas Tech
3:30 PM
October 14th
BYU at TCU
7:30 PM
October 21st
Duke at Florida State
Noon
October 21st
Clemson at Miami
3:30 PM
October 21st
Utah at USC
7:30 PM
October 28th
Duke at Louisville
Noon
October 28th
Clemson at NC State
3:30 PM
October 28th
Oregon at Utah
7:30 PM
November 4th
Florida State at Pittsburgh
Noon
November 4th
Notre Dame at Clemson
3:30 PM
November 4th
Kansas State at Texas
7:30 PM
November 11th
Baylor at Kansas State
Noon
November 11th
Miami at Florida State
3:30 PM
November 11th
USC at Oregon
7:30 PM
November 18th
Kansas State at Kansas
Noon
November 18th
Texas at Iowa State
3:30 PM
November 18th
North Carolina at Clemson
7:30 PM
November 24th
Miami at Boston College
Noon
November 24th
Navy at SMU
3:30 PM
November 24th
Texas Tech at Texas
7:30 PM
November 25th
Pittsburgh at Duke
Noon
November 25th
Houston at UCF
3:30 PM
November 25th
Washington State at Washington
7:30 PM
December 1st
Pac-12 Championship
8:00 PM
December 2nd
Big XII Championship
Noon
December 2nd
American Championship
4:00 PM
December 2nd
ACC Championship
8:00 PM
December 16th
Celebration Bowl
Noon
December 16th
Cure Bowl
3:30 PM
December 23rd
Birmingham Bowl
Noon
December 23rd
Armed Forces Bowl
3:30 PM
December 23rd
Las Vegas Bowl
7:30 PM
December 30th
Music City Bowl
2:00 PM
January 1st
Citrus Bowl
1:00 PM
Power(ful) Two Thoughts
Once again, ABC puts on a mega-matchup on the night before Labour Day. LSU-FSU, if it is anything like last year’s game, should be a massive ratings success. Oh and also a game that could shape the entire college football season.
With the Big Ten saying adios to ESPN/ABC, the primetime slots really opened up. I expect the ACC to pick up most of those times the Big Ten has left behind with the Big XII and Pac-12 coming in just behind. Right now I have 6 ACC primetime games, 5 Pac-12, and 4 Big XII. Even if I’m wrong with which games go where I see this being pretty equitable.
I am not doing a TSN schedule because there is no point right now. TSN struggles to get anything that’s not the CFL scheduled out more than a couple of weeks. Right now I have 23 ABC games that would be simulcast on TSN. That seems high but I am going off of last year’s numbers and it was actually very close to that. So we shall see.
I am calling for three games to be on Black Friday on ABC. Miami-BC at Noon and TTU-UT at 7:30 are set. I think they select an American conference game in the middle so that there isn’t a gap in the middle of the day with nothing to show AND to fulfill the American’s contract. Now watch it not happen at all that way.
First few weeks are confirmed but that’s pretty much it. The rest is a bit of a crapshoot. Also, if you couldn’t tell Week 2 was a pretty bad week, look at the ABC schedule. Woof. Wisky-Wazzu as the primetime game? Ouch. It’s been a while since there has been that poor a game for the ABC Saturday Night game.
Finally it’s time for the conference breakdown. Remember I am doing things slightly differently. Every time a team appears, they get counted as an appearance. So Miami-Boston College, for example, counts as two appearances for the ACC. Here we go:
ACC – 37 (including conference championship)
Big XII – 29 (including conference championship)
Pac-12 – 12 (including conference championship)
AAC – 5 (including conference championship)
SEC – 5
Notre Dame – 4
FCS – 2
Mountain West – 1
Big Ten – 1
The ACC is really picking up the slack here. The Big XII is not all that far behind and, ho boy, is the Pac-12 lagging here. Problem is other than their top five teams I don’t feel right putting the rest of the teams in any of the ABC timeslots and that includes Colorado. Also, I have not included bowl tie-ins here because we know that bowls break them all the time.
Speaking of bowl games, ABC has SEVEN this time! That’s great! A step in the right direction. I still think the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl should move back to ABC as well but that’s just my opinion (and the opinion of a lot of other people).
For quite a long time it felt like there was quite a drop-off in play-by-play prowess after GUS JOHNSON. But now with Jason Benetti cemented as the number two man, you know you have two solidly called games every week on FOX. Tim Brando is the #3 guy and is pretty good although I still think it would be great to hear him back in the studio.
OK so the Big Ten is a bit more in with FOX meaning the Big XII and Pac-12 might suffer because of that. Let’s find out! Here’s the predicted 2023 FOX college football broadcast schedule followed by some Johnsonian rhetoric.
August 31st
Nebraska at Minnesota
8:00 PM
September 2nd
Colorado at TCU
Noon
September 2nd
Rice at Texas
3:30 PM
September 9th
Nebraska at Colorado
Noon
September 9th
Iowa at Iowa State
3:30 PM
September 9th
Oregon at Texas Tech
7:00 PM
September 9th
Stanford at USC
10:30 PM
September 16th
Penn State at Illinois
Noon
September 16th
WKU at Ohio State
4:00 PM
September 16th
TCU at Houston
8:00 PM
September 22nd
BYU at Kansas
8:00 PM
September 23rd
UCF at Kansas State
Noon
September 23rd
Oklahoma State at Iowa State
4:00 PM
September 23rd
USC at Arizona State
8:00 PM
September 30th
Michigan at Nebraska
Noon
September 30th
Iowa State at Oklahoma
3:30 PM
October 7th
TCU at Iowa State
Noon
October 7th
Texas Tech at Baylor
3:30 PM
October 7th
Michigan at Minnesota
7:30 PM
October 14th
Ohio State at Purdue
Noon
October 14th
Illinois at Maryland
4:00 PM
October 14th
Oregon at Washington
8:00 PM
October 21st
Penn State at Ohio State
Noon
October 21st
Minnesota at Iowa
3:30 PM
October 28th
Ohio State at Wisconsin
Noon
October 28th
Oregon State at Arizona
3:30 PM
November 4th
Oklahoma at Oklahoma State
Noon
November 4th
Houston at Baylor
7:00 PM
November 11th
Michigan at Penn State
Noon
November 11th
Indiana at Illinois
3:30 PM
November 11th
Texas at TCU
7:00 PM
November 11th
Arizona State at UCLA
10:30 PM
November 18th
Baylor at TCU
Noon
November 18th
Illinois at Iowa
4:00 PM
November 18th
UCLA at USC
8:00 PM
November 24th
TCU at Oklahoma
Noon
November 24th
Oregon State at Oregon
8:30 PM
November 25th
Ohio State at Michigan
Noon
November 25th
BYU at Oklahoma State
4:00 PM
November 25th
West Virginia at Baylor
8:00 PM
December 2nd
Mountain West Championship
3:00 PM
December 2nd
Big Ten Championship
8:00 PM
December 27th
Holiday Bowl
8:00 PM
SOME JOHNSONIAN RHETORIC…..WOAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
So FOX has abandoned putting a game on Labour Day for putting a game on the Thursday before it. Interesting. Not a bad strategy as they can try and get a jump start on the season. Sure Florida-Utah could get more eyeballs but starting with a Big Ten conference game? That will get their fair share of looks for sure.
With the Big Ten leaving ESPN/ABC, it means most of their big games will land on FOX. That is a huge coup for the network. Couple that with the few huge games out of the Big XII and Pac-12 and you can finally, honestly, put their Big Noon Saturday schedule up against ABC’s Saturday Primetime schedule. Of course that may all change next year when ESPN/ABC gets the SEC. But for one year, let’s savour this.
FOX only going with two Black Friday games again this season and they are both confirmed. And it is two huge games (or could be). TCU-OU could be for a spot in the Big XII Championship. Same with the Civil War game between Oregon State and Oregon. I guess they will be moving WWE Smackdown to FS1 for this night which I’m sure won’t upset wrestling fans in the least.
Conference breakdown time! Remember, a conference game I am counting as two appearances for that conference:
Big XII – 32
Big Ten – 30 (including conference championship)
Pac-12 – 17
Shockingly, the Big XII has moved to the top of the list. Now, this has more to do with the Big Ten moving some games to NBC and CBS than anything but still, it proves that the Big XII carries a bit more weight than the Pac-12 these days.
I have no Mountain West games on the main FOX network. They have quite a few on FOX Sports One, though. I don’t know if FOX’s strategy is to eventually put more than the MWC conference championship on the main network or if they just stay the way they are. I suspect starting next year we will see at least a couple of Mountain West games on the main network, especially when there’s a quadrupleheader.
And speaking of quadrupleheaders, I have a feeling we will see two of them just like last season. One is confirmed for Week 2 and I believe the other will land, just like last year, during Week 11. I love the quadrupleheader idea, especially if you only do it twice since it feels special.
FOX has only one bowl game and it is the only bowl game, at this time, without a confirmed date. The Holiday Bowl, I believe, will end up on December 27th but that is definitely subject to change.
I honestly don’t know what will happen come October with the MLB playoffs. I know during the early rounds, FOX tends not to be used nearly as much as FS1 for their baseball games. Come World Series time though, expect FOX to scale back on college football broadcasting windows.
Alright let’s get to the Notre Dame on NBC sched…WAIT JUST A MINUTE! THAT’S THE BIG TEN’S MUSIC!!!!
For the first time in a loooooooooooong time, Notre Dame will share NBC’s college football coverage with other teams under other contracts. The Big Ten will have games almost every week on the network and usually in primetime going forward. So yeah, this will be the longest NBC schedule I will ever predict unless the network really goes all-in with college football and invites another party (COUGH*Pac-12*COUGH) in to the pool. Let’s get to it!
August 26th
Navy vs. Notre Dame (in Dublin)
2:30 PM
September 2nd
Tennessee State at Notre Dame
3:30 PM
September 2nd
West Virginia at Penn State
7:30 PM
September 9th
Charlotte at Maryland
7:30 PM
September 16th
Syracuse at Purdue
7:30 PM
September 23rd
Ohio State at Notre Dame
7:30 PM
September 30th
Penn State at Northwestern
Noon
September 30th
Illinois at Purdue
7:30 PM
October 7th
Purdue at Iowa
7:30 PM
October 14th
Michigan State at Rutgers
Noon
October 14th
USC at Notre Dame
7:30 PM
October 21st
Michigan at Michigan State
7:30 PM
October 28th
Pittsburgh at Notre Dame
3:30 PM
October 28th
Indiana at Penn State
7:30 PM
November 4th
Purdue at Michigan
7:30 PM
November 11th
Michigan State at Ohio State
7:30 PM
November 18th
Wake Forest at Notre Dame
3:30 PM
November 18th
Michigan at Maryland
7:30 PM
November 24th
Penn State vs. Michigan State (in Detroit)
7:30 PM
November 25th
Southern vs. Grambling (in New Orleans)
2:00 PM
November 25th
Wisconsin at Minnesota
7:30 PM
Touchdown Jesus, Meet Purdue Pete
Look, it’s not like the Irish haven’t seen Big Ten teams before. They play at least one every year and probably will until the Earth explodes. But sharing the entire network with them? I have a feeling this may impact Notre Dame’s next contract talks with NBC which will start soon with the contract ending at the conclusion of the 2025 season.
Only two primetime Notre Dame games this season but they add a game during Week Zero against Navy over in Ireland. I have the Big Ten moving their game to Noon when the Irish are on in primetime.
As for the Big Ten, let’s look at the breakdown:
4 times – Penn State, Purdue, Michigan State
3 times – Michigan
2 times – Maryland, Ohio State
1 time – Northwestern, Illinois, Iowa, Rutgers, Indiana, Wisconsin, Northwestern
No times – Nebraska
I think more so than the CBS breakdown for the Big Ten, the better teams, for the most part, will appear on NBC more often. I believe that will be the case going forward as well.
Let’s be honest here: nothing much will change for this network. It’s not like they will all of a sudden be showing Michigan-Ohio State. Saying that, it’s one of the channels you almost need to complete your college football viewing experience. I don’t want to speak for anyone else but I love watching close finishes, regardless of the game, so if Rutgers and Northwestern are going down to the wire, I want to watch that shit. Alright let’s get to my projected schedule:
September 2nd
Fresno State at Purdue
Noon
September 2nd
Towson at Maryland
3:30 PM
September 2nd
Toledo at Illinois
7:30 PM
September 8th
Indiana State at Indiana
7:00 PM
September 9th
Youngstown State at Ohio State
Noon
September 9th
UTEP at Northwestern
3:30 PM
September 9th
Richmond at Michigan State
3:30 PM
September 9th
Eastern Michigan at Minnesota
7:30 PM
September 9th
Temple at Rutgers
7:30 PM
September 16th
Louisville vs. Indiana (in Indianapolis)
Noon
September 16th
Georgia Southern at Wisconsin
Noon
September 16th
Western Michigan at Iowa
3:30 PM
September 16th
Virginia Tech at Rutgers
3:30 PM
September 16th
Bowling Green at Michigan
7:30 PM
September 21st
Louisiana Tech at Nebraska
7:30 PM
September 23rd
Akron at Indiana
Noon
September 23rd
Maryland at Michigan State
3:30 PM
September 23rd
Florida Atlantic at Illinois
7:30 PM
September 30th
Louisiana at Minnesota
Noon
September 30th
Wagner at Rutgers
3:30 PM
September 30th
Indiana at Maryland
7:30 PM
October 7th
Howard at Northwestern
3:00 PM
October 14th
Iowa at Wisconsin
Noon
October 14th
UMass at Penn State
3:30 PM
October 14th
Indiana at Michigan
7:30 PM
October 21st
Rutgers at Indiana
Noon
October 21st
Wisconsin at Illinois
3:30 PM
October 28th
Maryland at Northwestern
2:30 PM
November 4th
Ohio State at Rutgers
Noon
November 4th
Iowa vs. Northwestern (in Chicago)
3:30 PM
November 4th
Nebraska at Michigan State
7:30 PM
November 11th
Northwestern at Wisconsin
Noon
November 11th
Minnesota at Purdue
3:30 PM
November 18th
Michigan State at Indiana
Noon
November 18th
Purdue at Northwestern
3:30 PM
November 18th
Rutgers at Penn State
7:30 PM
November 24th
Indiana at Purdue
3:00 PM
November 25th
Maryland at Rutgers
Noon
November 25th
Northwestern at Illinois
3:30 PM
B1G Country Notes (no, not Bryant Reeves)
The first three weeks are completely booked. After that…nothing. Well, that’s not entirely true. There are a few homecoming games that are almost guaranteed to hit BTN but I won’t call them confirmed until, well, they are actually confirmed.
Let’s get right to the appearance list (with the conference and non-conference split) and then some explanations on the numbers:
8 times – Indiana (3 non-con, 5 conference)
7 times – Northwestern (2 NC, 5 C), Rutgers (3 NC, 4 C)
5 times – Maryland (1 NC, 4 C)
4 times – Purdue (1 NC, 3 C), Illinois (2 NC, 2 C), Michigan State (1 NC, 3 C), Wisconsin (1 NC, 3 C)
3 times – Minnesota (2 NC, 1 C), Iowa (1 NC, 2 C), Penn State (1 NC, 2 C)
2 times – Ohio State (1 NC, 1 C), Michigan (1 NC, 1 C), Nebraska (1 NC, 1 C)
Every school must make at least 2 BTN appearances. Plus, one of those appearances has to be a conference game. My predictions satisfy that criteria and I think the amount of appearances will be failry close to what actually happens. I was a bit surprised to see what I had done with Nebraska. Maybe I am drinking a tiny bit of Husker Kool-Aid.
Alright now we have what could be the longest schedule of the bunch. Surprisingly though, it has the most confirmed games, easily. I guess when you have a good portion of the Group of Five stationed here, you will have a lot of games. And if you don’t watch college football on CBSSN? Shame on you. There are some great games on there and you get to see teams you wouldn’t normally see. Time for the huge-ass schedule followed by a few G5 musings:
August 26th
UTEP at Jacksonville State
5:30 PM
August 26th
FIU at Louisiana Tech
9:00 PM
August 31st
NC State at UConn
7:30 PM
September 1st
Stanford at Hawaii
11:00 PM
September 2nd
Bowling Green at Liberty
Noon
September 2nd
USF at WKU
3:30 PM
September 2nd
Washington State at Colorado State
7:00 PM
September 2nd
Idaho State at San Diego State
10:30 PM
September 9th
Delaware State at Army
Noon
September 9th
Wagner at Navy
3:30 PM
September 9th
Air Force vs. Sam Houston (in Houston)
8:00 PM
September 15th
Utah State at Air Force
8:00 PM
September 16th
Liberty at Buffalo
Noon
September 16th
FIU at UConn
3:30 PM
September 16th
Vanderbilt at UNLV
7:00 PM
September 16th
Kansas at Nevada
10:30 PM
September 22nd
Delaware State at Miami-OH
7:00 PM
September 22nd
Boise State at San Diego State
10:30 PM
September 23rd
Tulsa at Northern Illinois
Noon
September 23rd
Duke at UConn
3:30 PM
September 23rd
Appalachian State at Wyoming
7:00 PM
September 23rd
Kent State at Fresno State
10:30 PM
September 28th
Middle Tennessee at WKU
7:30 PM
September 29th
Louisiana Tech at UTEP
9:00 PM
September 30th
Utah State at UConn
Noon
September 30th
USF at Navy
3:30 PM
September 30th
San Diego State at Air Force
8:00 PM
October 4th
FIU at New Mexico State
9:00 PM
October 5th
Sam Houston at Liberty
7:00 PM
October 7th
Boston College at Army
Noon
October 7th
North Texas at Navy
3:30 PM
October 7th
San Jose State at Boise State
8:00 PM
October 10th
Louisiana Tech at Middle Tennessee
7:00 PM
October 11th
Sam Houston at New Mexico State
9:00 PM
October 13th
Fresno State at Utah State
8:00 PM
October 14th
Kent State at Eastern Michigan
Noon
October 14th
Troy at Army
3:30 PM
October 14th
Wyoming at Air Force
7:00 PM
October 14th
San Diego State at Hawaii
11:00 PM
October 17th
Middle Tennessee at Liberty
7:00 PM
October 18th
FIU at Sam Houston
7:00 PM
October 21st
Akron at Bowling Green
Noon
October 21st
USF at UConn
3:30 PM
October 21st
Utah State at San Jose State
7:00 PM
October 21st
Colorado State at UNLV
10:30 PM
October 24th
New Mexico State at Louisiana Tech
7:00 PM
October 25th
Jacksonville State at FIU
7:00 PM
October 28th
UMass at Army
Noon
October 28th
Miami-OH at Ohio
3:30 PM
October 28th
Air Force at Colorado State
7:00 PM
October 28th
New Mexico at Nevada
10:30 PM
November 3rd
Colorado State at Wyoming
8:00 PM
November 4th
Army vs. Air Force (in Denver)
2:30 PM
November 4th
Louisiana Tech at Liberty
6:00 PM
November 4th
Boise State at Fresno State
10:00 PM
November 7th
Central Michigan at Western Michigan
7:00 PM
November 8th
Akron at Miami-OH
7:00 PM
November 11th
Holy Cross at Army
Noon
November 11th
UAB at Navy
3:30 PM
November 11th
San Diego State at Colorado State
7:00 PM
November 11th
Fresno State at San Jose State
10:30 PM
November 14th
Akron at Eastern Michigan
7:00 PM
November 18th
Coastal Carolina at Army
Noon
November 18th
UNLV at Air Force
3:30 PM
November 18th
Boise State at Utah State
7:00 PM
November 18th
San Diego State at San Jose State
10:30 PM
November 24th
Ohio at Akron
Noon
November 24th
Utah State at New Mexico
3:30 PM
November 25th
Northern Illinois at Kent State
Noon
November 25th
Liberty at UTEP
3:30 PM
November 25th
Wyoming at Nevada
9:00 PM
Gee-Five Musings
Really, CBS Sports Network doesn’t have to lock in over 80% of the games. Nice to see that they do though. Honestly, over the past few years, CBSSN has had their fair share of exciting games so waiting to see what ESPN doesn’t take really doesn’t make sense for them. It won’t change the amount of viewers they get (for the most part). Just scoreboard watch like I do.
CBSSN lands a couple of Black Friday games this season, which seems to be the norm now. One is confirmed and the other is a MAC game. Which leads us to…
The non-confirmed games. Most of them are MAC-controlled games. They will be 12-day selections during the season. The others might not end up happening as those timeslots may be used for something else.
Conference breakdown time!
Mountain West – 49
Conference USA – 33
MAC – 21
Army – 7
AAC (other than Navy) – 6
UConn – 5
FCS – 5
Navy – 4
ACC – 3
Sun Belt – 3
Pac-12 – 2
SEC – 1
Big XII – 1
UMass – 1
OK so it was more than conferences but it gives you an idea of what is happening this year versus previous years. During October, Conference USA will have all their conference games on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. A crazy idea but hey, that’s how MACtion was born. It also means we will go nearly two months with football almost every day! What’s wrong with that?
We made it! Schedule Journey 2023 is over! Christ, that was long. And no, I will not do a TSN schedule. That would be a complete guess. Up next are the season predictions. Expect that post (which will also be a stupidly long one) some time in late July.
Have a fantastic rest of your Sunday and let’s hope for nice weather this coming week…for people who aren’t stuck working in an office. For those people, I am sure you are fine if it rains all week.
Spoiler alert: UConn does not appear on this list. If you were expecting them, I apologize for their absence.
Alright it’s time to start getting on the next season’s worth of college football posts and I always start with the most important games of the upcoming season. Remember last season when I did this post? I didn’t do three or four posts. I did one long-ass post. So guess what? No, we are not going back to three or four posts. It’s one massive post once again. I think it worked last year so I’m going back to the newer well rather than the older well that did me….well, over a bunch of years.
Now some might say “Bossman, it’s too early for this.” To them I say “Eat shit.” FBSchedules has their helmet schedules out and preview magazines are out. I’ve almost ready all of the Lindy’s one and I have the Athlon one ready to go right after. The Phil Steele magazine, the god damn granddaddy of them all, will be here in the next couple of weeks. So yeah I’m getting ready and yeah, it’s time to talk some college football.
Remember how this goes: I am listing the most important games that will shape the outcome of the entire college football season. Sure, Army-Navy is a huge game but unless either team is undefeated going into that one, the game means very little in the grand scheme of things, bowl-wise or other.
So boys and girls (maybe), how do we always start this post? That’s right, with the ranking of the weeks of the season. It is sponsored by the letter R and the number 0. Every year it is usually pretty close to the same. Week 2 is not all of a sudden going to be the biggest week of the college football season. It just never happens. So here are those rankings followed by some witty and potentially insightful banter (a reminder that the week is listed by the Saturday it corresponds to):
Week 11 – November 11
Week 13 – November 25
Week 10 – November 4
Week 4 – September 23
Week 8 – October 21
Week 7 – October 14
Week 12 – November 18
Week 6 – October 7
Week 5 – September 30
Week 9 – October 28
Week 3 – September 16
Week 2 – September 9
Week 1 – September 2
Sweet Jesus, Week 1 looks fucking awful. I mean it’s the first full week of the season so I will be all in but still…it’s like college football has taken several steps backwards from a few years ago when Week 1 was about the fifth or sixth-best week of the season and there were five or six HUGE games. This season, the opening week is highlighted by LSU/Florida State which is great. Then the quality falls off a massive cliff with the next biggest game being the annual Labour Day ACC clash, this time with Clemson and Duke. Woof. Three weeks in November, as per usual, are at the top with Week 11 being the top week this season. It was the same thing five years ago as the week is crammed with huge conference games. I don’t know if I can even call it SEC Sleepwalk/Sleepover/Shitbreak Week anymore as Week 12, the penultimate regular season week, is again near the middle of the rankings. Also, I don’t rate Week Zero. But it will be a ton of fun since it will be the first college football action in over 7 months. So yeah my eyeballs will be fucking glued to Navy/Notre Dame out in Dublin, Ireland, Hawaii/Vanderbilt and UMass/New Mexico State of course!
OK just like last year I will not be going week-to-week. I’m just listing the top games. The top 35 (up from 30) most important games of the college football season. I’ll do this list and then in late November we will all watch a team like Arkansas or Iowa or NC State play in a game that could send them well on their way to the College Football Playoff. It is what it is. Let’s get to the list! For this list, any confirmed broadcast info will be noted. Of course, nothing for TSN will be confirmed until like the night before any of these games because fuck you that’s why.
Ohio State at Michigan (Week 13, Noon, FOX, confirmed) – Chances are this is essentially for a spot in the College Football Playoff. Next year, this might be for a first-round bye in the CFP. How times change. Either way, this is unequivocally the biggest game of the season and the one where FOX sends basically everyone that works under the sports umbrella to work on the 83-hour BIG NUDE SATURDAY.
LSU at Alabama (Week 10, 8:00, CBS) – Alabama is pretty much the go-to pick for CBS’s lone primetime game of the season for the SEC and this year will be no different. This is the final SEC on CBS primetime game and should be a great one as these two teams are, once again, the pillars of the SEC West. The winner here is almost guaranteed (jury is still out on Ole Miss and TAMU) a spot in Atlanta to try and dethrone Georgia (probably).
Michigan at Penn State (Week 11, Noon, FOX, confirmed) – This game, like the first game on the list, could have national championship implications. It really is just a hair below the top two games on this list. FOX is hitting it out of the park with big games this season. I think the Big Ten might be just fine not being on ESPN/ABC going forward.
LSU at Florida State (Week 1, Sunday, 7:30, ABC, confirmed) – Two games in the top four for LSU means they will have a very tough road to get back to having some semblance of a shot at the College Football Playoff (or even the New Year’s Six). This seems like it could finally be the year that FSU returns to the top of the ACC mountain as Mike Norvell has his most talented team in Tallahassee. I love seeing ABC put a great game on the night before Labour Day. At least Week One can always rely on that.
Georgia at Tennessee (Week 12, 3:30, CBS) – If Joe Milton III continues to throw piss rockets like he did against Clemson in the Orange Bowl, this could ascend to Game of the Year territory. The Vols may have the best chance to beat the Dawgs with the game being at what should be a raucous Neyland Stadium. Not confirmed but I would be shocked if this isn’t CBS’s choice for the SEC on CBS this week.
Penn State at Ohio State (Week 8, Noon, FOX) – Man, GUS JOHNSON is getting a great set of games this season to call (if my predictions hold up). This is the final game on this list in the three-team Big Ten East Round Robin Tournament El Fantastico to determine which team (if not two) go to the CFP. I would say the Nittany Lions are pretty good underdogs here but they finally have a quarterback who looks like he can throw the ball downfield a bit so you never know. tOSU has question marks at QB so this could be quite the interesting matchup.
Florida State at Clemson (Week 4, 7:30, ABC/TSN2) – Could the Noles be the favourite here? It’s possible. Unlikely but I wouldn’t go much past a pickem for this one. With the Big Ten leaving ESPN/ABC, these primetime ABC slots open up a lot. And really, it is still the biggest timeslot of the week. This is the year the ACC has to hopefully grab as many of these as possible as next year…yeah, the SEC may end up with all of them.
Tennessee at Alabama (Week 8, 3:30, CBS) – Not going to lie: it is going to feel very weird when the SEC isn’t on CBS every Saturday afternoon. I guess that’s where a huge Big Ten game will go but I can’t see them getting most of the big games because FOX gets their pick of the litter most weeks. Going to be very interesting to watch going forward. Man, I thought figuring out this year’s schedule was difficult. Next year’s is going to seriously tough.
Ohio State at Notre Dame (Week 4, 7:30, NBC, confirmed) – The first non-conference affair on this list and it is a juicy one. Both teams should be undefeated coming into this one unless the Irish have an inexplicable loss like they had last season to Marshall or Stanford. If Touchdown Jesus pulls this one out, expect Sam Hartman to rocket up most Heisman lists.
Texas at Alabama (Week 2, 7:00, specialty pack) – This game is confirmed for ESPN but I have this funny feeling TSN won’t pick it up. Call it a CFL or US Open-based hunch. We shall see though. Let’s be clear: the Horns were fucking robbed of the win last year by the referees. This time they will have a chance to make up for that but it is not easy winning in Tuscaloosa. Ask almost every team that’s travelled there in the past decade-plus.
Utah at USC (Week 8, 7:30, ABC) – Hey, the Pac-12 has joined the party. This is the swansong season in the conference for the Trojans and they are hoping to win the conference championship in their final year. Winning games like these is a must for that to happen. This could be the game that either elevates Caleb Williams to college football history and only the second player to win two Heismans or destroy his chances at repeating.
Ohio State at Wisconsin (Week 9, 7:30, NBC) – Yeah I think NBC will get a couple good Big Ten games and this will be one of them it sounds like. Wisconsin has a new head coach and a new quarterback and a new offensive coordinator that won’t run the ball as much as Wisconsin is supposed to. Hmmm…that is going to feel very unAlvarez-like. At least the kids will get to jump around after the third quarter, testing the structure of Camp Randall like a bunch of engineers.
Washington at USC (Week 10, 3:30, specialty pack) – Again, I have this feeling that TSN will not show this game and that it will head to the specialty pack, much to the chagrin of regular Canadian cable subscribers (which I am not one of). It feels like either this game or the aforementioned Utes-Trojans game will be the game of the year in the conference and will decide at least one of the championship game participants (thanks to no divisions). It’s too bad FOX has their premiere game every week at Noon since this would be a great pick as their game of the week.
Ole Miss at Georgia (Week 11, 3:30, CBS) – Wouldn’t it be something if the Fighting Kiffins of Oxford upset UGA here? The entire college football world would be flipped upside down. And you know how I love upsets. We need another 2007!
Utah at Washington (Week 11, 3:30, TSN2) – Alright, the first game I predict will hit TSN that isn’t already on ABC. Kind of sad that TSN barely cares about their college football contract until bowl season when they suddenly show almost every bowl game despite also showing every World Juniors hockey game. Crazy. If Cam Rising is able to return for opening week then this could be a massive game. I am hoping for his sake (and for Utes fans’ sake) that is the case.
USC at Notre Dame (Week 7, 7:30, NBC, confirmed) – The traditional yearly matchup is back again and even with the Trojans moving to the Big Ten, this matchup will continue. By this point in the season, both of these teams should be in the Top 15 looking at a potential College Football Playoff berth. The loser here loses that and perhaps an NY6 spot.
Alabama at Texas A&M (Week 6, Noon, TSN3/TSN5) – OK I am sure you are looking at this and wondering if I suddenly developed brain damage. I truly believe that the Aggies will be a ton better than they were last season when they essentially bottomed out under Jimbo Fisher. Plus, the Aggies always play the Tide tough so they could throw a big-ass monkey wrench in the entire SEC West picture here with a win.
Notre Dame at Clemson (Week 10, 3:30, ABC) – OK so this is confirmed for ABC but the time is not confirmed. I am guessing it will be on in the afternoon with Kansas State-Texas being the ABC Primetime game. This could end up being switched if both the Irish and Tigers are undefeated going into this one. For once, Clemson isn’t the ACC favourite. It’s kind of refreshing. It will be interesting to see if Cade Klubnik, the next man up at quarterback, can lead the Tigers back to the promised land. I don’t see it but then again, I thought D.J. Uiagelelei was going to be the guy and he’s now out in the boonies of Oregon.
USC at Oregon (Week 11, 7:30, ABC) – Speaking of Oregon, the Trojans head there on Remembrance Day night (or I guess it’s Veterans Day down in the States). Yet another tough test for the Trojans. We all know what’s going to happen though. The best four or five Pac-12 teams will beat on each other and no team will get out unscathed so no team will go to the CFP yet again. That conference just loves to cannibalize itself.
Ole Miss at Alabama (Week 4, 3:30, CBS) – A bit of an early shit-test game for the Tide. A game that they should win but they may have trouble with because their opponent is so damn pesky and annoying. I mean it is Lane Kiffin’s boys so you expect the Ole Miss offense to chug along. Bet the over.
Oregon at Utah (Week 9, 7:30, ABC/TSN2) – Could the Utes fall back to the middle of the pack if they don’t have Cam Rising to start the season? Quite possibly. I mean seeing this game in the Top 25 games of the season means I clearly think Rising will be ready to play on opening night. If not, pray for the Utes since it could be a long season (comparatively…I mean they will still win 8 or 9 games regardless).
Washington at Oregon State (Week 12, 10:30, TSN2) – Hey remember when I mentioned D.J. Uiagelelei? Here’s where he ended up. The metropolis of Corvallis. The Beavs might actually have a contender if D.J. can do what he was supposed to do at Clemson. On the other side of the line, Michael Penix Jr. should be considered the Heisman favourite since I can’t see voters giving it to Caleb Williams again (unless he has an all-timer of a season).
Texas A&M at LSU (Week 13, 3:00, specialty pack) – I actually have this game on the SEC Network. Yeah it may sound weird but this has happened before. And that final week of the regular season is ridiculous for scheduling anyway. At least one of the conference networks ends up getting a beauty of a game. Now if this is somehow for the SEC West title then yeah, it won’t even sniff the SEC Network. But I feel it won’t be so it will end up there.
Oregon at Washington (Week 7, 8:00, FOX) – Last year’s game was crazy with the Huskies having a huge comeback win to keep their Pac-12 hopes alive and ruin Oregon’s. I wonder if Mario Cristobal wishes he was back in Eugene considering how piss poor his Miami Hurricanes did in his first season back with his alma mater.
Utah at Oregon State (Week 5, Friday, 9:00, FOX Sports One, confirmed) – And finally we get a game that, well, Canadians won’t get (unless you have IPTV or find some probably illegal stream). You know, for a stadium that’s been under construction and only holds 27,000, those games in Corvallis can sound VERY loud. Then again, when they start that chainsaw, that’s loud enough. You ever been near one of those? Sweet fucking Jesus they are loud with great ear protection so I can imagine what it’s like being within twenty feet of the thing.
LSU at Ole Miss (Week 5, Noon, TSN2) – A lot of people will feel like this is a game for second place in the SEC West but with Bama’s QB questions, this could hold a lot more importance than that. Not saying the division is a free-for-all but I have these two teams, Bama and even the Aggies having legitimate shots at winning the division so they can be pummeled by UGA in the SEC Championship.
Iowa at Penn State (Week 4, 7:30, CBS, confirmed) – The first game on this list that has the Big Ten on CBS (man that sounds weird). This is confirmed and I believe the Penn State Whiteout Game is also confirmed. To say it’s an intimidating sight for a visiting team would be an understatement.
South Carolina at Georgia (Week 3, 3:30, CBS, confirmed) – This may be the first game that feels like it might not be that close. Saying that, Shane Beamer has the Gamecocks playing great football and they have the enthusiasm and work ethic to give the Dawgs a very tough time. Problem is they are playing this game between the hedges and not at Williams-Brice. If UGA can’t win this by a bunch, the rest of the SEC East should take notice.
Oregon State at Oregon (Week 13, Friday, 8:30, FOX, confirmed) – This could be one of the biggest Civil War games ever. Oh wait, I can’t call it’s the Civil War, can I? Anyway, the winner of this game probably will have a good chance to be in the Pac-12 Championship.
Kansas State at Texas (Week 10, 8:30, FOX) – It took until the thirtieth game to get a Big XII conference game. Look, as much crap as the Pac-12 has taken over the Spring (and rightfully so), the Big XII might be at its weakest in a long time unless a few programs step up (Texas, Oklahoma, Baylor) or maintain what they did last season (Kansas State, TCU, Kansas). This conference should feel lucky that the Pac-12 is in such dire straits. The latest rumor has Colorado and Arizona headed to the Big XII and it wouldn’t surprise me but from a football standpoint…woof.
Texas A&M at Tennessee (Week 7, Noon, TSN3) – OK maybe I should have stopped at 30. No, no, I promised 35 for some strange reason and dammit I am going to pull through. I am actually looking forward to Texas A&M’s season for one reason…Bobby Fucking Petrino. At some point you know it will be a disaster in College Station. It is bound to happen. Until then though you have one of the best offensive minds in college football trying to push this Aggie team to the next level. Just tell him to steer clear of motorcycles and young female former athletes-turned-office staff.
Texas at TCU (Week 11, 7:00, FOX) – What a run the Horned Frogs had last year (if you don’t include the thrashing they took in the national championship game). They probably won’t be as good this season. To lose who they lost and somehow come back and do what they did would be almost impossible. Saying that, the Longhorns should not take this team lightly as they have struggled in the past with them even when TCU wasn’t that great. We should also definitely know by this point whether Quinn Ewers has completely taken that quarterback job or if Arch Manning’s time has arrived in Austin.
North Carolina at Clemson (Week 12, 7:30, ABC) – Look let’s not look past the Tar Heels. They have a Heisman candidate at quarterback in Drake Maye and sometimes that is enough to propel a team to an extra win or two, which is pretty much what UNC would need to get to the ACC Championship. Death Valley East is still Death Valley East and playing there at night is very difficult for opponents. But again, don’t look past the Heels and Mack Brown.
UCLA at USC (Week 12, 8:00, FOX) – Time once again for the Victory Bell and it is gonna feel weird. Final Victory Bell in the Pac-12. No DTR means possible trouble for the Bruins and if they can’t find a quarterback to lead them this season then this game has no right to be in the Top 35.
Clemson at South Carolina (Week 13, 7:00, TSN2) – My hope is that TSN does pick up the ball a bit for the final week of the season like they used to. It was 2019 when they were doing double digits’ worth of games for the final college football weekend. Now, we are lucky to get 4 or 5 which is crazy since there’s almost nothing to compete with it in the live sports arena. Anyway, it’s the Battle for the Palmetto State and it is usually a fun game that can get way too rough at times. Should be good. I hope.
Finished! Top 35 games of the season. I am sure there will be some that end up not coming close to being as important as I thought. That’s the nature of the game. Can’t always be right with these things. I will have another blog post shortly highlighting some other good (and perhaps not-so-good) games this season coming up shortly. 62 days left until Week Zero! Sure it’s not the best college football you will see all season but it will be college football so yeah I’m gonna fucking watch it all if I can! Have a great week, everyone!