Realignment: One of college football’s dirtiest words

Realignment. It excites and infuriates people. It has changed college football (and college basketball) forever. Money rules the day as some of these conferences don’t even make sense anymore. The Big Ten will soon have sixteen teams with two of them based in California: thousands of miles away from all the other teams in the conference. The SEC will have sixteen teams and, sorry, Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Missouri really don’t qualify as “Southeastern” unless you are terrible at geography. Don’t even get me started on how the Sun Belt and Conference USA have bungled realignment in the past. At least the Sun Belt a) has Fun Belt football and b) acquired some good programs. Something Conference USA just hasn’t figured out.

I figured, since I’m bored and there’s not a ton to post about and we are about to go into the football dead season (don’t say XFL or USFL), I would make this post on realignment. Don’t run away! I plan to look at realignment the way I would have had it done or what I thought would have made sense. I’m not going to put Texas State in the SEC or anything stupid like that but I will take a thoughtful look at what has happened and what I think should have happened. In some cases, they may be the same! Let’s get started before I regret doing this.

Now I don’t plan on going back to 1962 and say “Well, the Border Conference never should have been disbanded.” Before my time so I don’t really care. I also won’t say the Georgia Tech or Tulane shouldn’t have left the SEC. Of course they shouldn’t have. But they were going to at some point, be it in the mid-60s or even in the 80s. It was going to happen. I will start with a year that is not paramount at all in the minds of realignmentheads but will contain something from earlier in the 80s that many know about…

(WARNING: This will be a very, very long post so strap in.)

1987

Wichita State drops football for good. Akron moves up from Division 1-AA (remember that?) to be an Independent. Nothing big. Oh wait…

Hey, remember the Big East? In football? OK it wasn’t a thing in 1987 but the conference had been formed back in 1979. In ’82, Penn State applied for membership. Georgetown, St. John’s and Villanova voted against the Nittany Lions joining. This would have been on that Freezing Cold Takes Twitter account if it Twitter existed like 30 years ago. If I had been in charge, I would have made sure at least one of those schools changed their vote to include Penn State. And instead of waiting until the 90s, I would have started Big East football in 1987 because why the hell not. So nine Independent schools would form this new conference:

• Penn State, Syracuse, Rutgers, Boston College, Pittsburgh, Miami, Temple, Virginia Tech and West Virginia

Way to go Georgetown, St. John’s and Villanova. Idiots. Also, this means Penn State doesn’t move to the Big Ten in the early 90s.

1989

Louisiana Tech moves up from 1-AA to 1-A as an Independent. Also, SMU returns from the death penalty that, in hindsight, was a terrible move. Either go after more of the schools that had issues (like the entire Southwest Conference) or just ban SMU from bowl games for a bunch of years. What they did set SMU football (and only SMU football) back 20 years. Notice how they have never done it again in football despite the fact they could have easily done it on a few occasions? That’s why.

1991

In one of the biggest moves at the time, Florida State joins the ACC.

1992

Look, I get it. The Southwest Conference was a complete mess for most of its existence. Sure, they had some great football teams but more often than not they were mired in some sort of scandal.

Saying that, I would have done my darndest to keep Arkansas in the SWC. And I wouldn’t have stopped there. Rice, sorry, you gone. There’s no reason to keep you around since you’re terrible in football and not much better in basketball. Yes, it’s one of the top academic schools in the nation and no, I don’t care. They can become an Independent. So at this point, the SWC would look like this:

• Arkansas, Baylor, Texas, Texas A&M, SMU, TCU, Texas Tech, Houston

That’s still a good, competitive conference at this point.

South Carolina, on the other hand, does join the SEC, moving that conference to a somewhat awkward eleven teams. Akron moves to the MAC. Fresno State goes from the Big West to the WAC and Long Beach State drops their football program altogether. To replace LBSU and Fresno, Nevada moves up from 1-AA to 1-A and the Big West. Finally, Arkansas State also moves up from Division 1-AA to Division 1-A as an Independent.

1993

Penn State DOESN’T join the Big Ten since they are part of a better Big East (in my opinion). Cal State-Fullerton becomes the second Big West team in as many years to drop football altogether. Because of this, the Big West went on an invitation spree, bringing in Arkansas State, Louisiana Tech, Northern Illinois and Southwestern Louisiana (which is now just Louisiana), meaning they really had forgot about the West part of their conference name.

1994

Northeast Louisiana moves up from Division 1-AA to 1-A. They are now called ULM. Ho hum.

1995

Another almost-nothing year. North Texas moves to 1-A. Big whoop.

1996

This was a huge year in realignment as the Big XII came into existence, with the Big Eight absorbing four programs from the Southwest Conference. I wouldn’t go that route. I think it would be the reverse. The Southwest Conference keeps their name and absorbs all eight of the Big 8 schools. The new sixteen-team conference would be huge. I just hope they don’t go to pod scheduling. Wait, I’m running things. So no, they won’t go that route. Anywhere from two-to-four yearly opponents with the rest being filled in based on order of finish the previous season, like it should be almost everywhere.

Now, because of this, Conference USA loses one member, Houston. With some foresight, they should have kept the other five teams they had and added Rice, Tulsa, Louisiana Tech (from the Big West) and North Texas. This would give this conference the following:

• Cincinnati, Louisiana Tech, Louisville, Memphis, North Texas, Rice, Southern Miss, Tulane, Tulsa

That’s a pretty good start for a new mid-major conference in football.

The WAC also has to change. See, they now don’t get Rice, SMU, TCU or Tulsa. So time to pick up some other teams. Time to basically fuck the Big West over. Bring in Nevada, Utah State, UNLV and New Mexico State. This would give the conference the following teams:

• BYU, Utah, New Mexico, UTEP, Wyoming, San Diego State, Colorado State, Air Force, Fresno State, San Jose State, Hawaii, UNLV, Nevada, Utah State

That’s a lot of realignment and we aren’t even done yet. The Big West is pretty much ravaged by what the WAC did. Boise State and Idaho move up from 1-AA to 1-A to replace some of the teams but Pacific drops football altogether. The Big West sticks at six teams as Northern Illinois stays in the conference rather than going back to Independent status. Same with Louisiana and Arkansas State although it’s obvious the Big West is on its last legs as a football conference.

Finally, UCF and UAB move from Division 1-AA to 1-A as Independents.

1997

The MAC only gets Northern Illinois (from the Big West) as I would have Marshall head to Conference USA along with East Carolina.

With only five teams remaining, the Big West Conference is dead as it pertains to football. Boise State and San Jose State are invited to the WAC, while the other three teams (Arkansas State, Idaho and Louisiana) become Independents.

1998

Army does not join Conference USA. We all know how that worked out and even at the time, a lot of people thought it was a bad idea.

1999

Yeah sure why not. Let’s form the Mountain West. Arkansas State might as well stay Independent for now. The Big West doesn’t exist and there’s no reason for them to head to the WAC. Buffalo moves up from 1-AA right into the MAC. Middle Tennessee also moves up but as an Independent. Idaho moves into the WAC. Finally, UAB finds a conference home as they head to Conference USA.

2000

Two fairly benign moves: USF and UConn join the Division 1-A Independents from Division 1-AA.

2001

The Big West died (in football) and the Sun Belt started sponsoring football. Thing is, I eliminated the Big West five years ago. So Idaho and New Mexico State, now in the WAC, will not move to the Sun Belt because they don’t have to. Also, Utah State can stay in the WAC now. So the Sun Belt would comprise of Arkansas State, Louisiana, ULM, Middle Tennessee and North Texas, who moves from Conference USA. They bring in Troy State so the Trojans aren’t an Independent.

2002

Another skipped move: UCF just doesn’t bother joining the MAC because it’s the fucking MAC and they don’t need a team in Florida. Instead they just move to Conference USA a year early.

2003

Utah State doesn’t move to the Sun Belt because WHY? They are in the WAC and they can stay there. USF does, however, move. They head to Conference USA to join brother UCF.

2004

Oh baby here we go. Miami and Virginia Tech will NOT be moving to the ACC! They will stay in the Big East as UConn joins. I mean we don’t get ACC Coastal Chaos but I think we can live without it.

Florida Atlantic and Florida International transition up from Division 1-AA to Independent status.

2005

This leads us to the next year where Boston College also doesn’t leave for the ACC. And with Cincinnati, Louisville and USF joining the Big East, it is becoming quite the conference. TCU doesn’t go to the Mountain West because they are already in the Southwest Conference which has weathered the storm until now. SMU also stays in the SWC and doesn’t move to Conference USA. UTEP does move from the WAC to Conference USA as it makes a bit more sense for them. FAU and FIU, one year after joining Division 1-A, move to the Sun Belt Conference. Finally, Temple does not get dropped from the Big East despite their terrible football program. I’m doing a lot of nothing with this which I am sure people will find actually refreshing. I’m sure that will change soon.

2008

WKU joins Division 1-A. I’m just going to put them right in the Sun Belt.

2011

Things were quiet for almost six years. Then the big bang hit in college football and everything went haywire went it came to the conferences and realignment. Will this be the same in Bossman’s Realignmentpalooza? No.

First off, Nebraska does leave for the Big Ten. Since Penn State never went to the Big Ten back in the 90s, this puts the new Big Ten at eleven teams. To make it even, they also invite KANSAS! Yes, I am serious. Kansas wasn’t too far from a few seasons of great football. And their basketball team was awesome as always. So this makes a lot of sense.

As for the Pac-10, they decided they wanted to bring in six schools from the Big XII. Instead, they will bring in those same six schools from the SWC: Colorado, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech. This also means Utah does not join the now Pac-16 conference.

The SWC is now down to eight schools and, chances are, would lose their automatic BCS bowl bid. With a roster of Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas State, Missouri, TCU, Houston, SMU and Arkansas they can’t make a claim to be worthy of one now. And because of that, Arkansas finally accepts the SEC’s overtures and heads there, dropping the SWC to a seven-team conference.

The trickle down effect was in play. Utah stayed in the Mountain West and was joined by Boise State. BYU also doesn’t leave the Mountain West for Independence at this point.

2012

Another crazy year in realignment that won’t be as crazy when I’m done with it. First off, Texas A&M won’t move to the SEC since they are happy in the somewhat new Pac-16. West Virginia also doesn’t move to the SWC since it would be even more ridiculous than their current move there is (although with Cincinnati in the fold it now makes more sense). Fresno State, Hawaii and Nevada leave the WAC for the Mountain West as it happened in real life. This leaves the WAC with four teams (New Mexico State, San Jose State, Idaho and Utah State). Texas State and UTSA joined to make six. For now, this leaves the WAC as a football conference…but barely.

Oh and Missouri does not go the SEC. I still believe this makes absolutely no sense. For now they stay in the SWC but it won’t be for long.

South Alabama moves up from an FCS Independent right to the Sun Belt conference.

Finally, UMass does not join the MAC. Another weird move by the MAC that doesn’t make sense now and didn’t back then.

2013

First of all, no American Conference. It’s still the Big East. If the basketball schools don’t like it, they can fuck off for the Patriot League or whatever. Also, Pitt and Syracuse do not leave the Big East for the ACC.

Now this becomes an issue because some schools were slated to head to the new American Conference. This is how I would plan to deal with this. Houston and SMU, instead of going to the AAC, stay in the Southwest Conference. They are joined by Memphis, who leaves C-USA for the SWC.

Remember TCU, Boise State and San Diego State heading to the Big East/American? I don’t see that happening now. Instead, Boise State and San Diego State head to the SWC.

San Jose State and Utah State put the final nail in the WAC football coffin by accepting bids to the Mountain West. Idaho and New Mexico State are, once again, Independent teams. Texas State heads to the Sun Belt with UTSA going to Conference USA.

UCF heads to the Big East (not American). Then Conference USA raids the Sun Belt for four teams: FAU, FIU, Middle Tennessee and North Texas. Finally, the Sun Belt reloads, kind of, by accepting Georgia State from FCS.

2014

Louisville does decide to leave the Big East for the ACC. A bit surprising but I feel they belong there a bit better than the Big East.

I know the Big Ten wants to expand into new markets. But it won’t be happening in New York and Washington as Rutgers and Maryland do not leave their current conferences. They’ve been outliers since they moved there so I want to rectify that issue.

East Carolina heads to the Big East. An odd fit but between that and Conference USA, no one conference is a perfect fit for them so might as well move them up, so to speak. Tulane and Tulsa, on the other hand, do not go to the Big East. They head to the SWC, which is finally renamed the Big XII.

Conference USA backfills their losses with WKU from the Sun Belt and Old Dominion from FCS. After that, Appalachian State and Georgia Southern head to the Sun Belt from the FCS. Idaho and New Mexico State stay right where they are as Independents.

2015

The big happening in 2015 was UAB shuttering their football program. I am here to say it won’t happen! I don’t know how I would make that happen but I’ll figure something out.

Navy joins the Big East, ending over 100 years of Independent football and Charlotte transitions to FBS by joining Conference USA.

2017

One item: Coastal Carolina joins the Sun Belt from FCS.

2018

Poor Idaho. You would have thought they could have stayed up in FBS but it wasn’t to be. The Mountain West, the one conference it made sense for them to be in, didn’t want them. And the Sun Belt, which had them in reality for a few years, might as well have been on the moon compared to where they were situated. So they are gone to FCS, probably never to return.

In actuality, Liberty replaced them as an Independent. I’m just moving them straight to Conference USA instead. Take out the middle man.

2021

I’m not including any COVID-related moves like Notre Dame being in the ACC for one season (and almost winning the conference title).

UConn left the American to go back to the basketball-oriented Big East. In my world, that doesn’t happen. Actually, nothing happens at all here because the next year, the realignment bubble doesn’t burst: it gets blown up. So I have to put new pieces together in a brand new puzzle to make it work. Should be fun right?

2022

Who’s idea was this? Good lord. At least now we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

This season had some movement but at the low end of FBS. James Madison, an FCS powerhouse, finally moved up to FBS and joined the Sun Belt. Joining them would be three Conference USA teams: Marshall, Old Dominion and Southern Miss.

Now, if you have read my blog before, you know how I feel about the Sun Belt and Conference USA. I find them to be unwieldy conferences with massive geographical footprints that, especially in C-USA’s case, make no sense. I plan on fixing it but not this year. Let the new teams breathe in their new conference before I blow things up with enough C-4 to level a city.

2023

Alright, let’s blow shit up.

Let’s start with the SEC which has been left behind a bit in my version of realignment. Consistency was the name of the game in the conference where it just means more. Well now they get the infusion they always hoped for. Sorry ACC. Sorry Big East. It was bound to happen. The SEC invites Florida State, Miami, Georgia Tech and Clemson. They finally have attained that superconference status.

The ACC is gutted but won’t be for long. We will get to that in a bit.

The Big XII gets an infusion of teams as well. BYU, from the Mountain West, along with Cincinnati and UCF from the Big East, move to the Big XII. Because Houston was already in the Big XII, they now sit at fifteen teams. Not the best idea, especially for scheduling purposes. So they invite one more team: Utah. After missing out on the Pac-10/12/16/whatever years ago, they finally get into a power conference and deservedly so.

Hey remember what I said way back at the start. You know, the point about Penn State not going to the Big Ten. Well, it’s time they moved. With the Big East losing some teams and some conference strength, it’s time for the Nittany Lions to move up. They will bring with them Pittsburgh. Sure it’s not a brand new market but it gives PSU a travel partner and doesn’t go too far outside the current Big Ten geographic footprint, something I find important (although college sports most definitely does not).

New Mexico State gets a conference home again when they move to Conference USA. They are joined by Sam Houston and Jacksonville State who move up from FCS.

Done for this coming season but wait, there’s more!

2024

You really think I would have USC and UCLA go to the Big Ten? Fuck that noise. What I will be doing, however, is rather seismic.

The ACC is going to raid the Big East yet again. With only seven teams for the 2023 season, they were looking like a sorry-ass football conference. So they take Boston College, Rutgers, Syracuse, UConn, Virginia Tech and West Virginia from the Big East. I’m not a fan of odd-numbered conferences, so they also pluck UCF from the Big XII.

Now we start the trickle-down effect. The Big XII (now Big XVI) will take Colorado State from the Mountain West. The Mountain West responds by grabbing New Mexico State from Conference USA.

And then, the coup de grace. I am going to totally remake Conference USA and the Sun Belt and finally put the nail in the coffin of Big East football, all in one fell swoop. This is how it will work (pay close attention):

• Conference USA will be the western-most conference of the two with the Sun Belt being the eastern-most. Why did I do this? Who knows.
• All four former Big East teams (East Carolina, Navy, Temple and USF) join the Sun Belt.
• Arkansas State, Louisiana, South Alabama, Southern Miss, Texas State, Troy and ULM move from the Sun Belt to Conference USA.
• Then Charlotte, FAU, FIU, Liberty and WKU move from Conference USA to the Sun Belt.

Look at that; two sixteen-team conferences that have a tighter geographic footprint. Makes travel easier and fosters better rivalries. Like college sports had been like for DECADES. Oh and if Louisiana Tech complains even once about being in the same conference as Louisiana or ULM they can be sent to FCS for all I care.

Alright, so now I bet you want to know what this all looks like. So here it is, in chart form with NO DIVISONS because divisions suck:

SEC	Big Ten	Pac-16	ACC	Big XVI
Alabama	Illinois	Arizona	Boston College	Baylor
Arkansas	Indiana	Arizona State	Duke	Boise State
Auburn	Iowa	California	Louisville	BYU
Clemson	Kansas	Colorado	Maryland	Cincinnati
Florida	Michigan	Oklahoma	NC State	Colorado State
Florida State	Michigan State	Oklahoma State	North Carolina	Houston
Georgia	Minnesota	Oregon	Rutgers	Iowa State
Georgia Tech	Nebraska	Oregon State	Syracuse	Kansas State
Kentucky	Northwestern	Stanford	UCF	Memphis
LSU	Ohio State	Texas	UConn	Missouri
Miami	Penn State	Texas A&M	Virginia	San Diego State
Mississippi State	Pittsburgh	Texas Tech	Virginia Tech	SMU
Ole Miss	Purdue	UCLA	Wake Forest	TCU
South Carolina	Wisconsin	USC	West Virginia	Tulane
Tennessee		Washington		Tulsa
Vanderbilt		Washington State		Utah
Mountain West	MAC	Sun Belt	Conference USA	Independents
Air Force	Akron	Appalachian State	Arkansas State	Army
Fresno State	Ball State	Charlotte	Jacksonville State	Notre Dame
Hawaii	Bowling Green	Coastal Carolina	Louisiana	UMass
Nevada	Buffalo	East Carolina	Louisiana Tech
New Mexico	Central Michigan	FAU	Middle Tennessee
New Mexico State	Eastern Michigan	FIU	North Texas
San Jose State	Kent State	Georgia Southern	Rice
UNLV	Miami-OH	Georgia State	Sam Houston
Utah State	Northern Illinois	James Madison	South Alabama
Wyoming	Ohio	Liberty	Southern Miss
	Toledo	Marshall	Texas State
	Western Michigan	Navy	Troy
		Old Dominion	UAB
		Temple	ULM
		USF	UTEP
		WKU	UTSA

Holy crap that took forever. But look at those conferences. I think they look way better than what we will see in reality, if I do say so myself. And if another team is moving up from FCS, they may just have to be an Independent for the near future…dammit Kennesaw State is moving up in 2024? Nope, not anymore. Not in Bossman’s realignment. I’m done.

I’m not the only one hoping for chaos (and the Week 11 College Football TV Schedule)

Let’s be honest: many of us want chaos in our college football. It makes things exciting, no? Not saying we haven’t seen a bit of it already. Alabama has lost two times already. TWO! Clemson got absolutely waxed by Notre Dame. Texas A&M is fucking terrible!

But we want more. We are insatiable for chaos. And why? We know The Committee will do Committee things and rank teams in an odd way and then try to justify it. I’m sure if Ohio State lost they would drop maybe three spots because it feels like The Committee wants them in the College Football Playoff. I get they have to look at a whole season of work but it’s the same shit every year. I still think the first rankings should be no earlier than before the final regular season week but I know that will never happen. If it did, what would ESPN talk about?

OK enough of that. It’s time for this week’s schedule and the continuation of FOOTBALL EVERY DAY!

Tuesday

		US	Canada
Eastern Michigan at Akron	7:00 PM
Ohio at Miami-OH	7:30 PM
Ball State at Toledo	8:00 PM

More Tuesday night MACtion! Toledo can essentially clinch the MAC West if they can beat the Cardinals here.

UPDATE: As per reader Gordo, it looks like the Ball State-Toledo game isn’t on the specialty pack.

Wednesday

		US	Canada
Kent State at Bowling Green	7:00 PM
Buffalo at Central Michigan	7:00 PM
Northern Illinois at Western Michigan	7:00 PM

Still MACtion but maybe not as MACtiony as the previous night’s MACtion.

UPDATE #2: Ugh, both ESPN games aren’t appearing on the specialty pack. Not a good start to MACtion this week for specialty pack subscribers.

Thursday

		US	Canada
Tulsa at Memphis	7:30 PM
Georgia Southern at Louisiana	7:30 PM

Woof. Well it’s technically college football so I will watch.

Friday

		US	Canada
East Carolina at Cincinnati	8:00 PM
Fresno State at UNLV	10:30 PM

Cincinnati has a fairly meaningful game here if they want to keep in the American Conference/Cotton Bowl hunt. And, interestingly enough, the late game also could be big as both Fresno State and UNLV still have division title aspirations. Yes, UNLV.

Oh, you may have noticed I have not included FOX Sports One listings here. I decided to stop that practice since, really, unless you have a specific setup you can’t get the games here. Doesn’t help that I missed listing the late night FS1 game last week so I am already getting into the habit of forgetting them in these posts.

UPDATE #3: Good lord this is ridiculous. On the TSN website it still shows ECU-Cincy. Every other guide I am looking at, it says that TSN2 will now be showing, get this, Women’s Aussie Rules football. I don’t get it. I just don’t get it. Anyway, it looks like it is appearing on the specialty pack instead so at least it’s probably been moved there (unless the specialty packs fuck that up as well). Stupid TSN. Thanks to readers Gordo and Mike pointing out that they couldn’t see the game on their guide.

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
#20 Notre Dame vs. Navy (in Baltimore)	Noon
Pittsburgh at Virginia	Noon
Rutgers at Michigan State	Noon
Missouri at #5 Tennessee	Noon
#19 Liberty at UConn	Noon
#7 LSU at Arkansas	Noon
Purdue at #21 Illinois	Noon
SMU at USF	Noon
Indiana at #2 Ohio State	Noon
Vanderbilt at Kentucky	Noon

One of UConn’s final two chances at bowl eligibility comes here. Unfortunately, it’s against a ranked Liberty team. This may still end up being one of the best games CBS Sports Network has had all year. As for the main network, it’s their doubleheader that includes a Noon game. It means they only get the fourth choice of games out of the SEC for the early affair. Can’t give whoever the #2 guy at CBS is a good game!

Notre Dame may still have an outside shot at the New Year’s Six. It would take a lot of chaos but we know how The Committee feels about them so they win their last three and win them big (a tall order for sure) they could sneak in. That has to start in this neutral-site affair against the Middies.

So normally I peruse ESPN to get rankings for the teams for the posts. Normally this isn’t an issue but late in the season it becomes one. According to the schedule currently on the site, it lists Tennessee at #1. We know that isn’t the case but they use the College Football Playoff rankings rather than the AP poll once it comes out. And the CFP poll doesn’t get revealed until Tuesday night, after the week of games starts. So I will be using the AP poll for the rest of the regular season. So if you see the rankings here don’t jive with what they look like on Saturday, there’s your answer.

UPDATE #4: TSN has switched from LSU-Arkansas to Purdue-Illinois. Why? Because fuck you, that’s why.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
Nebraska at #3 Michigan	3:30 PM
Boston College at #17 NC State	3:30 PM
Northwestern at Minnesota	3:30 PM
#10 Alabama at #11 Ole Miss	3:30 PM
New Mexico at Air Force	3:30 PM
Louisville at #12 Clemson	3:30 PM
#22 UCF at #16 Tulane	3:30 PM
Iowa State at Oklahoma State	3:30 PM
Maryland at #14 Penn State	3:30 PM
Army at Troy	3:30 PM
Arizona State at Washington State	3:30 PM
South Carolina at Florida	4:00 PM

There was a time when TSN really started ramping up the amount of games they would show around this time of the year. Not so. Sure, they have a quadrupleheader on TSN2 but that’s it. Nothing else. I just think they have contracts with way too many sports that college football gets lost in the shuffle.

Anyway, this could be a huge week for Bama haters because if they lose this one to Ole Miss it would be catastrophic. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Tulane is on ESPN2 during the regular season in a big matchup for the first time in…well I’m sure it’s a long time. Win and they take a stranglehold of one spot in the AAC Championship.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Wyoming at Colorado State	7:00 PM
#1 Georgia at Mississippi State	7:00 PM
#24 Washington at #6 Oregon	7:00 PM
#4 TCU at #18 Texas	7:30 PM
#15 North Carolina at Wake Forest	7:30 PM
Southern Miss at Coastal Carolina	7:30 PM
Texas A&M at Auburn	7:30 PM
#25 Florida State at Syracuse	8:00 PM

TCU and Oregon aren’t just playing for themselves but could be playing for their conference’s CFP hopes as well, especially in the case of TCU since past them, there really isn’t a contender at all. UGA needs to avoid a letdown after that huge win over Tennessee so their pass defense better be ready for Will Rogers to throw the ball about 80 times. Finally, surprising UNC can pretty much punch their ticket to Charlotte and a date with Clemson if they can win in Winston-Salem.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
California at Oregon State	9:00 PM
Boise State at Nevada	10:30 PM
Stanford at #13 Utah	10:30 PM
Arizona at #9 UCLA	10:30 PM

FOX QUADRUPLEHEADER ALERT! For the second time this season we get a FOX quadruplehader of college football. Love that FOX is upping their game this season. Two important Pac-12 games, one important Mountain West game and a game involving California. There you go.

Big Games O’ The Week

Alabama at Ole Miss (3:30, CBS) – This is an SEC West elimination match. Tell someone that two months ago and they’d laugh in your face. Bama might be in panic mode as another loss probably leaves them out of the NY6 which would be massive. Both teams are chasing LSU but need some help from the Tigers in the form of the Tigers shitting the bed at some point down the stretch.

TCU at Texas (7:30, ABC) – I mentioned this above but the Big XII’s CFP chances really do ride on TCU winning this game (and winning out, really). If the Longhorns win this, and they are talented enough to do so, you can kiss the conference’s chances goodbye.

North Carolina at Wake Forest (7:30, specialty pack) – One of the stories that seems to be ignored this season is what Mack Brown and the Tar Heels are doing. 8-1, in complete control of the ACC Coastal, and with a good shot at the New Year’s Six if they win their last three regular season games. No one is talking about them! A win here and they basically clinch the division. Wake is just playing for a better bowl game now.

UCF at Tulane (3:30, specialty pack) – The Green Wave on the other hand are not being ignored. Many pushed for College Gameday to go to New Orleans (which I think would have been a good idea). All the other two-loss teams in the Group of Five are watching this game closely this weekend (that being Cincinnati, UTSA, San Jose State, Troy and South Alabama) along with one-loss Coastal Carolina. A Tulane loss here brings those teams back into the fold to have at least a sliver of hope to go to the Cotton Bowl. If Tulane wins and goes to 9-1 it’s pretty much game over for most of those teams (unless they lay an egg in their final two games). For the Knights, a win here may actually put them in the driver’s seat for the Group of Five NY6 spot. A lot at stake. Yeah, I think they should have sent Gameday to Nawlins.

Washington at Oregon (7:00, FOX) – In all the hoopla surrounding the Battle for Los Angeles between Pac-12 turncoats UCLA and USC, some have forgotten that the Ducks are right there with those two teams. Win out and they have a legitimate shot at the College Football Playoff. They cannot sleep on the Huskies though. They’ve been better than advertised and Kalen Deboer just wins everywhere he goes. Could be a low-key great game.

Maryland at Penn State (3:30, FOX) – The Terps are finally playing as well as their recruiting classes said they would. Mike Locksley is finally making things work in the DMV. Saying that, these are the kinds of games Maryland has to win and has never been able to do since joining the Big Ten. A statement win is needed. And what a statement it would be since the Nittany Lions have a relatively good chance at a New Year’s Six bowl if they can run the table the rest of the way.

Psycho Game of the Week

SMU at USF (Noon, specialty pack) – First of all, I will not call this the Sickos Game of the Week. Do I enjoy the Sickos Committee Twitter account? Absolutely. But Sickos content is their thing. I won’t steal it. Besides, I think it makes just as much sense to call you a psycho for watching this abomination. USF just fired Jeff Scott, though, so they should come out and give the Mustangs all sorts of problems. Seriously this is an easy one to avoid.

Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week

Missouri at Tennessee (Noon, CBS) – I am not making the same mistake I did last week. I picked Ohio State to mop the floor with Northwestern and they barely beat the Wildcats. Sure, there was bad weather but come on, the Buckeyes played like shit. So even though I think they will beat Indiana to a pulp, I am going with another Noon game. I think the Vols are going to come into this game angry and wanting to prove a point. Poor Mizzou is going to take this one on the chin.

The Degenerate Portion of Our Show

Look, are these picks of the same quality as The Committee’s rankings for the College Football Playoff? Eh, it’s debatable.

• Miami-OH (+2.5) over Ohio (and the outright win!)
• Kent State (-2.5) over Bowling Green
• Liberty (-14.5) over UConn
• Rutgers (+10) over Michigan State (RU will cover the spread but won’t win)
• Virginia Tech (+9.5) over Duke (Duke will win, however)
• Kentucky (-18) over Vanderbilt
• Army (+9) over Troy (The Black Knights cover but don’t win)
• Air Force (-22) over New Mexico
• Clemson (-7) over Louisville
• Ole Miss (+11.5) over Alabama (Bama will win outright)
• Wyoming (-8.5) over Colorado State
• Wake Forest (-3.5) over North Carolina
• Stanford (+24) over Utah (Utes will win relatively easily)

There you go! I will keep a watch on potential specialty pack changes but I don’t foresee any. It gets a bit difficult having to do the schedule so early but I make due…I think. Have a great rest of the week everyone and enjoy the games!

Power Five….Power Four? Power THREE?

Really, who knows what we are looking at in the next few years. For sure, the two conferences on the left are the major players. I would be very shocked if neither conference went to 18 teams by 2025. As for the other three conferences, it’s a big game of conference chicken right now. I would say the Big XII has the slight upper hand at this point but that could change in an instant. So if you love realignment, ho boy, you must have a raging hard-on right now (and will for the next few years).

OK enough of that disgusting talk. Let’s get to the meat of this post. The Power Five conference predictions. All of them. Don’t lie, you liked all the Group of Five conference (and Independent) predictions in the last post, DIDN’T YOU? So one more time, I will cram as much information down your gullet I possibly can without choking you to death with college football information. Let’s begin.

Let’s start with the….well I can’t call them the undisputed king of conferences anymore because the Big Ten is making a big charge at them. Saying that, I can still call them #1…for now. Here are the predicted SEC standings followed by some grits and chitlins and other weird Southern “delicacies.”

		Conference		Overall
	East	W	L	W	L
	Georgia	8	0	12	0
	Tennessee	5	3	9	3
	Florida	5	3	8	4
	Kentucky	3	5	7	5
	South Carolina	3	5	6	6
	Missouri	1	7	4	8
	Vanderbilt	0	8	2	10
	West
	Alabama	8	0	12	0
	Texas A&M	7	1	11	1
	Ole Miss	4	4	8	4
	Arkansas	4	4	7	5
	Auburn	3	5	7	5
	LSU	3	5	7	5
	Mississippi State	2	6	6	6

Chitlins…GROSS!

• Who the fuck figured out to eat the large intestine of a hog?
• Yep, two undefeated teams coming from the SEC.  Bama and UGA don’t play each other during the regular season.  UGA has a relatively easy schedule (in an SEC sense).  Yes they have Oregon in a neutral-site game to start the season but they avoid the Tide, Aggies and Ole Miss out of the West.  Lucky Dawgs!
• As for the Fighting Nick Sabans, damn near everyone has them running the table, at least during the regular season, and I am going right along with that prediction.  Other than their matchup against TAMU (at home) and Ole Miss in Oxford, I can’t foresee any close games all season.
• As for the Aggies and their weird traditions (just watch a Midnight Yell practice…it’s fucking bizarre), I see them ending up one game short of getting to the SEC Championship.  Also one game short of the College Football Playoff.  Critics of Jimbo Fisher will find a way to make this sound like a failure of a season if they do comfortably make it to the New Year’s Six.
• As per usual, the SEC West is an absolute minefield.  The worst team is Mississippi State and they wouldn’t be last in any other conference…not by a long shot.  Unfortunately, Bama’s continued dominance and TAMU and Ole Miss not falling at all will mean the rest of the teams are playing for fourth.
• The Tennessee Volunteers are my Drinking The Kool-Aid pick of the year.  I’m buying that they will be improved enough to be on the precipice of a double-digit win season.  I can see them beating Pitt and South Carolina on the road and being perfect at home.  Now watch them go 5-7 and make me look like a dummy.
• Conference Championship prediction: Alabama 38 Georgia 30.  Closer than last year’s win by the Tide but still not enough for UGA.

When are they going to change the name of this conference? Just call it the BIG Conference now or something like that. Big Ten. For a conference with sixteen schools. Schools. Educational institutions. And they can’t count. Glorious. Anyway, here are the predictions followed by some BTN After Dark comments:

		Conference		Overall
	East	W	L	W	L
	Ohio State	8	1	11	1
	Michigan	8	1	11	1
	Michigan State	6	3	9	3
	Penn State	6	3	8	4
	Maryland	4	5	7	5
	Indiana	1	8	3	9
	Rutgers	1	8	3	9
	West
	Wisconsin	6	3	9	3
	Minnesota	6	3	9	3
	Purdue	6	3	9	3
	Nebraska	5	4	8	4
	Iowa	5	4	8	4
	Northwestern	1	8	4	8
	Illinois	0	9	3	9

BTN After Dark Comments

• I am so looking forward to Rutgers travelling clear across the country to face UCLA on Big Ten Network starting at 10:30 at night.
• Can The Fighting Ann Arbor Khaki Warriors repeat as Big Ten champs?  To be honest, I don’t think they will even repeat as Big Ten East champs.  It will come down to their big matchup with tOSU two days after American Thanksgiving.  This one is in Columbus so I am giving the nod to the Buckeyes here which will be huge when it comes to what The Committee has to look at.
• You know, considering how good the Terps’ recruiting has been lately, do you think they kind of wish, money aside, that they were back in the ACC?  Not saying they could beat Clemson but man, they would look like a really good team there.
• The Big Ten West is going to be ridiculous.  I just have this feeling.  Five teams within one game of each other.  Yes, even Nebraska is in there.  In the end, Wisconsin will win some sort of game of Spin The Bottle, except using an ear of corn, and end up getting to the Big Ten Championship where they can scare the Buckeyes for a quarter-and-a-half.
• Conference Championship prediction: Ohio State 32 Wisconsin 10.  As I said in the previous point, this will be close well into the second quarter and then the Buckeyes will decide enough’s enough and do away with Wisky on their way to the CFP.

I think that right there tells you all you need to know about what’s going on with the rest of the Power Five. The ACC, at this point, might as well chill since their contract with ESPN lasts for more than another decade and any change would require a hell of a lot more money to leave than what USC and UCLA will have to deal with.

Now, there are rumblings that ESPN is stepping in and trying to broker an ACC/Pac-12 merger of sorts but I can’t see that happening to be perfectly honest with you. As long as the Big Ten or SEC doesn’t decide to poach any of their members (which is still a possibility), they should be fine for the time being. Alright, let’s get to the predictions, followed by a bong hit or five:

		Conference		Overall
	Atlantic	W	L	W	L
	Clemson	8	0	11	1
	NC State	7	1	11	1
	Florida State	5	3	8	4
	Louisville	5	3	7	5
	Wake Forest	4	4	8	4
	Boston College	3	5	6	6
	Syracuse	1	7	3	9
	Coastal
	Miami	6	2	9	3
	Pittsburgh	6	2	9	3
	Virginia Tech	4	4	6	6
	North Carolina	4	4	6	6
	Virginia	2	6	5	7
	Georgia Tech	1	7	2	10
	Duke	0	8	2	10

Hey Dude

• I’ve honestly thought of going to one of those cannabis shops to see what’s there.  It’s basically punishable by death here (in this condo area) to have anything weed-related so I’d have to be super sneaky about it.
• Hey, is Clemson back on top?  Sure looks like it although NC State is going to give them a serious run for their money.  Both teams look like they are a tier above the rest (sorry Miami and Pitt) and their game on October 1st will probably be for the division title.  High stakes for sure.
• Coastal Chaos is…not back.  Speaking of the Canes and Panthers, they are also a step above all the other teams in that division.  They will battle it out in another important ACC game on American Thanksgiving weekend which might just decide who gets their shit pushed in by the Tigers or Wolfpack.
• I don’t consider this a Kool-Aid pick.  Florida State will be better.  No stupid upset losses to FCS schools.  Just the slow ascent back to, potentially, the top of the ACC.  Same goes for Louisville (without the FCS issue).
• I did have Wake also in the ACC title hunt but the news that Sam Hartman will be out for at least a bit is a massive worry in Winston-Salem.  He steers the ship and without him, sorry Deacs fans, the offense just doesn’t go like it normally does.
• Remember last year when I had North Carolina bullying their way into the College Football Playoff?  Yeah, not falling for that this time, Mack.
• Conference Championship prediction: Clemson 47 Miami 14.  Yeah this won’t be close.

OK now we get to the first of the quasi-feuding brothers (sisters? cousins?). The Big XII is adding four teams next season and is pushing hard to get the rest of the Pac-12 teams to join them. It’s almost a certainty Oregon and Washington would rather drop football than join this conference but the rest of the schools remaining could very well be up for grabs, especially the two Arizona schools and the Mountain region schools. Until the next shoe drops, though, it’s another year of the Big XII with X schools. Here are my predictions followed by musings from a pissed off Count Von Count:

		Conference		Overall
		W	L	W	L
	Baylor	8	1	10	2
	Oklahoma	8	1	10	2
	Texas	7	2	9	3
	Oklahoma State	7	2	9	3
	TCU	4	5	6	6
	Iowa State	4	5	6	6
	Kansas State	3	6	6	6
	West Virginia	2	7	4	8
	Texas Tech	2	7	3	9
	Kansas	0	9	2	10

ZERO!  ZERO FUCKS GIVEN!  AH AH AH!

• Funny that if things stay as they are, the Big XII will actually get back to twelve teams so at least one conference understands preschool math.
• The bottom of the Big XII looks to be the same.  Kansas at the bottom.  Texas Tech not far from them.  And it always feels like one of West Virginia, Kansas State or TCU ending up in eighth.  Will this change with the newcomers?  I’m gonna say no.
• Not quite their swan song in the conference but I see the Sooners, despite all the defections, getting back to the Big XII Championship.  They are just too deep a team to not contend for, at the very least, a NY6 spot.  I expect Baylor to continue to do well under Dave Aranda and join OU at JerryWorld.
• Conference Championship prediction: Baylor 25 Oklahoma 23.  Yeah I am predicting the Bears to finish the Big XII Championship State of Oklahoma sweep by beating the Sooners in a very close game.

I remember doing a post eight years ago on my Pac-12 predictions. Here is what I said in that post:

The Pac-12 has become the de facto second best conference in the land and it’s by a long shot as well.

Wow. I mean eight years is a long time but the fall off the cliff of the Pac-12 started not long after this post. It has been a near-disastrous eight years for the Conference of Champions in football and with USC and UCLA leaving for the Big Ten things are looking even worse for the soon-to-be Pac-10.

Look, let’s just get to the predictions before I make Bill Walton cry:

		Conference		Overall
	North	W	L	W	L
	Oregon	9	0	11	1
	Oregon State	4	5	7	5
	Washington	4	5	6	6
	California	3	6	5	7
	Washington State	3	6	5	7
	Stanford	3	6	4	8
	South
	Utah	8	1	10	2
	UCLA	7	2	10	2
	USC	6	3	9	3
	Arizona State	4	5	6	6
	Arizona	2	7	3	9
	Colorado	1	8	1	11

Bill Walton’s Tears

• Hey remember I had U of A being terrible last year and I was right?  Well, this year I am doubling down with the Colorado Buffaloes.  I have a feeling Karl Dorrell is going to be taking a lot of ibuprofen this season.  And may start drinking if he doesn’t already do so.
• I see a lot of experts saying USC is going to win the Pac-12 South.  They will be better, there’s no doubt about it.  But win the division after going 4-8 last year?  Let’s pump the brakes a bit.  I think Lincoln Riley is still a season away from really pushing USC to the heights they were at during the Pete Carroll era.
• So who will win the South Division?  I think Utah repeats as South Division champions but it will be UCLA that will give them the toughest time.  The Bruins should be really good…like New Year’s Six good.  Now watch them go 4-8 and Chip Kelly get fired.
• As for the North Division, Oregon should clinch by Thanksgiving…our Thanksgiving.  There is no one close to them.
• Conference Championship prediction: Utah 32 Oregon 20.  Closer than last year but this time the Utes will destroy the Ducks’ dreams of the CFP.

There you go!  All conference standings predictions complete!  Next up I will put it all together and tell you who I think will win the whole thing.  Have a great week everyone!

SUPER MEGA HYPER OMNI POST! V5.0

I’m going to warn you again.  This post is stupidly long.  So if you are reading this on the toilet, I hope you have a massive shit brewing so you have the time to read it all.  I won’t even rate this but it would be an NC-17 post if it had to be rated…which means I just technically rated it.  Dammit.  Oh well, viewer discretion is advised.

This is the fifth version of this ridiculously long post.

It is going to be different this year without the recap portion.  But there will be my Top 25, plus bowl projections, plus conference championship scenarios, PLUS different versions of the playoff.  This is going to take forever.  I don’t know why I put myself through this to be honest.

Let’s going with the Bossman Top 25 which has obviously had some changes after yet another crazy week.

#1	Georgia
#2	Ohio State
#3	Alabama
#4	Cincinnati
#5	Michigan
#6	Notre Dame
#7	Oklahoma State
#8	Ole Miss
#9	Baylor
#10	Oklahoma
#11	BYU
#12	Utah
#13	UTSA
#14	Oregon
#15	Michigan State
#16	Iowa
#17	Texas A&M
#18	Wisconsin
#19	Houston
#20	Pittsburgh
#21	Louisiana
#22	Wake Forest
#23	NC State
#24	San Diego State
#25	Penn State

Well looky here.  Cincinnati finally gets into the Top 4.  And they finally figured things out, thrashing SMU in a game they desperately needed to win by a lot.  Saying that, it mostly helped that Oregon got destroyed by Utah.  And with Notre Dame laying waste to Georgia Tech, the big Bearcat win over the Irish keeps looking really good as we get to the final week of the regular season.  The Irish, Wolverines, and Pokes are laying in the weeds, just waiting for the current top teams to lose but I honestly can’t see that happening this coming weekend.  What I will be interested in is BYU’s possibility of a New Year’s Six spot.  I have them higher than the College Football Playoff rankings but still, they win this coming week and a few other things happen, they could be ranked high enough to make The Committee at least ponder what to do with them.

Now it’s time to get to something I didn’t do last year: conference championship scenarios.  Last season was a mess so there was no point in doing it but we are back to mostly normal (at least in the college football world) so it’s time to do these.

The MAC title tilt has one team qualified.  Northern Illinois has clinched what turned out to be a very good MAC West divisional race.  The MAC East race will end on Saturday.  Miami-OH and Kent State face off in a winner-take-all showdown for the right to face the Huskies.

Much like the MAC, Conference USA has one part of their title game set up.  In the West, UTSA has clinched the division.  As for the East, one final game between Western Kentucky and Marshall for the division.

After not getting a Sun Belt superclash between Louisiana and Coastal Carolina last year, we get it this year…with one exception.  Coastal will not be there.  Appalachian State and Louisiana have won their respective divisions and will face off, yet again, in the Sun Belt title game, this time in Lafayette.

This is quite interesting.  San Diego State has only one loss this year; problem is it’s to the team one game behind them, Fresno State.  If the Aztecs take care of business on Black Friday against Boise State, they will host the Mountain West Championship.  Before that occurs, Fresno State goes to San Jose to face the Spartans.  The Bulldogs lose, SDSU clinches the division.  If the Bulldogs win, the Aztecs must win.

In the Mountain Division, it’s even more confusing as there is a current three-way tie between Boise State, Air Force and Utah State.  Here’s how this works:

• Boise State clinches the division if they beat San Diego State and Air Force loses to UNLV.
• Utah State clinches the division if they beat New Mexico and Boise State loses to San Diego State.
• Air Force clinches the division if they beat UNLV and Utah State loses to New Mexico.
• In the case of a three-way tie, the winner of the division would be, you guessed it, Frank Stallone Air Force.

Alright this is simple.  Houston finished the conference schedule undefeated.  Cincinnati, if they defeat East Carolina on Friday, will also finish undefeated.  They are both locked in to the conference title game.  The only thing left to figure out is who hosts.  Obviously, it comes down to the Cincy-ECU result.

Utah is in for the ridiculous Friday early evening start time.  I wonder if that changes after this season since that is so ridiculous.  As for the North, it’s still a bit interesting.  Three teams still with a chance to go face the Utes in Santa Clara.  Here are the scenarios:

• Oregon clinches the division if they beat Oregon State.
• Oregon State clinches the division if they beat Oregon and Washington beats Washington State.
• Washington State clinches the division if they beat Washington to win the Apple Cup and Oregon State beats Oregon in the Civil War.  It would go to tiebreakers.  Head-to-head would produce nothing as all three teams would have 1-1 records against the other two.  Division record is next, where Wazzu’s 4-1 mark would best Oregon and OSU’s 3-2.

The Cougs going to the Pac-12 Championship would be the cherry on a ridiculous cake after having to fire their coach earlier this season.

Somehow, the ACC Coastal has already been clinched.  No chaos!  Pittsburgh has already booked their flights to Charlotte.  As for the ACC Atlantic, it’s down to three teams: Wake Forest, Clemson and NC State.

• Wake Forest has the easiest way.  Win over Boston College and they win the division.
• NC State has it slightly harder.  They need Wake to lose to BC and they need to take care of their own business and beat North Carolina to win the division.
• For Clemson to head to Charlotte in a little less than two weeks, they need Wake and NC State to lose.  They are done their conference schedule and face South Carolina in their annual rivalry game this weekend.

Oklahoma State is already set to head to JerryWorld.  Oklahoma has to beat the Pokes in Bedlam to clinch the other spot.  If they lose, and Baylor beats Texas Tech then it will be the Bears facing OSU in the Metroplex.

The winner of the The Game clinches the East Division.  In the West, it’s….complicated.  Here goes nothing:

• Wisconsin beats Minnesota they are in.
• Iowa is in if they beat Nebraska and Minnesota defeats Wisconsin.
• Minnesota goes to Indianapolis with a win over Wisconsin, an Iowa loss AND a Purdue win in the Old Oaken Bucket over Indiana.

Purdue cannot get in but can play spoiler to help the Gophers get in.

Georgia against Alabama.  It’s set.

OK it’s bowl projection time now!

Orange Bowl	CFP Poll #1 vs. CFP Poll #4	Georgia vs. Notre Dame
Cotton Bowl	CFP Poll #2 vs. CFP Poll #3	Ohio State vs. Cincinnati

Oregon is now out and Notre Dame is in.  I think with what happens around them, the Irish should clinch the #4 spot which would guarantee the Bearcats the #3 spot.  Ohio State needs to beat Michigan or else The Committee will have a much tougher time with this.

Alright let’s see how the New Year’s Six has changed.

Sugar Bowl	SEC #1 vs. Big XII #1	Alabama vs Oklahoma State
Rose Bowl	Big Ten #1 vs. Pac-12 #1	Michigan vs. Oregon
Fiesta Bowl	CFP At-Large vs. CFP At-Large/G-5 #1	Oklahoma vs. Michigan State
Peach Bowl	CFP At-Large vs. CFP At-Large/G-5 #1	Pittsburgh vs. Ole Miss

Definitely some changes in the past couple weeks.  I already mentioned Oregon being out after their loss to Utah but I think they avenge it in the Pac-12 Championship after winning the Civil War.  I don’t think Wake Forest will get to the ACC Championship and then Pitt would beat Clemson to get to the Peach Bowl.  Oklahoma has struggled as of late but even losing the Big XII title game won’t drop them below the NY6.  I’m sure The Committee wants to avoid putting BYU in until they are actually in the Big XII so Michigan State will get the nod there.  I believe Ole Miss wipes the floor with Mississippi State to win the Egg Bowl and also grab an at-large spot.

Now the rest of Bowl SZN.  I’m sure this won’t be correct by the end of Black Friday.

Texas Bowl	SEC vs. Big XII	Auburn vs. Baylor
Citrus Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Kentucky vs. Wisconsin
Outback Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Tennessee vs. Iowa
Arizona Bowl	MWC vs. MAC	Nevada vs. Central Michigan
Sun Bowl	ACC vs. Pac-12	Louisville vs. Washington State
Gator Bowl	SEC vs. ACC	Texas A&M vs. Clemson
Las Vegas Bowl	Big Ten vs. Pac-12	Penn State vs. Arizona State
Music City Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Arkansas vs. Purdue
Duke’s Mayo Bowl	SEC vs. ACC	South Carolina vs. Wake Forest
Alamo Bowl	Big XII vs. Pac-12	Iowa State vs. Utah
Cheez-It Bowl	Big XII vs. ACC	Texas Tech vs. Virginia
Pinstripe Bowl	Big Ten vs. ACC	Minnesota vs. Miami
Fenway Bowl	ACC/C-USA vs. American	Boston College vs. East Carolina
Guaranteed Rate Bowl	Big Ten vs. Big XII	Florida* vs. Texas**
Holiday Bowl	ACC vs. Pac-12	NC State vs. Oregon State
Liberty Bowl	SEC vs. Big XII	Missouri vs. Kansas State
First Responder Bowl	2 from Big XII, ACC, Pac-12, American	USC vs. Memphis
Birmingham Bowl	SEC vs. American	Mississippi State vs. Houston
Military Bowl	ACC vs. American	Virginia Tech vs. UCF
Quick Lane Bowl	Big Ten vs. MAC	Rutgers vs. Kent State
Camellia Bowl	Sun Belt/C-USA vs. MAC	Coastal Carolina vs. Northern Illinois
Hawaii Bowl	American vs. MWC	SMU vs. Air Force
Gasparilla Bowl	2 from SEC, ACC, Pac-12, American	LSU vs. North Carolina
Armed Forces Bowl	2 from Big XII, Pac-12, C-USA, Army	Army vs. Florida Atlantic
Frisco Bowl	2 from Group of Five	Fresno State vs. UAB
Idaho Potato Bowl	MWC vs. MAC	Boise State vs. Western Michigan
Myrtle Beach Bowl	American/MAC/G-5 vs. Sun Belt	Miami-OH vs. Appalachian State
New Orleans Bowl	Sun Belt vs. C-USA	Louisiana vs. UTSA
LA Bowl	Pac-12 vs. MWC	UCLA vs. San Diego State
LendingTree Bowl	Sun Belt vs. MAC	Georgia State vs. Eastern Michigan
Independence Bowl	BYU vs. C-USA	BYU vs. Marshall
New Mexico Bowl	MWC vs. C-USA	Utah State vs. UTEP
Boca Raton Bowl	2 from Group of Five	Liberty vs. San Jose State
Cure Bowl	2 from Group of Five	Wyoming vs. Ball State
Bahamas Bowl	C-USA vs. MAC	Western Kentucky vs. Toledo

A few notes after that deluge of information:

• BYU is already locked in to the Independence Bowl but Army has a few options.  The Armed Forces Bowl seems the most likely place for them.
• I like the fact some of the ESPN Events bowl games have looser tie-ins.  Putting all the G5 teams in a bowl tie-in makes for easier placement.
• You will notice Florida has an asterisk (*) beside it.  They are filling in at the Guaranteed Rate Bowl because the Big Ten will not have enough bowl-eligible teams to fill this slot.
• Texas has two asterisks (**) beside its name.  I have it that the bowl games will be one team short of fulfilling all the bowl slots.  So a 5-7 team would have to fill in.  I am assuming Texas would have as good a shot as any program because it is based on APR score (Academic Progress Rate) and last time I checked, UT-Austin is a really good school.

I am assuming a bit more will be known after this week’s games.  I’m just glad that all the bowl games are back after last year with the pandemic cancelling about half of them.  It’s a mess we don’t need to see repeated.

And now the final part of this hilariously long post that has drained me of my mental energy.  It’s time to look at what various different playoff scenarios would look like.  I will use the current AP Poll rankings since the CFP ones won’t be out until tonight.

The six-team CFP

I used to advocate for one extra team to be including in the CFP to bring it to five teams.  That definitely won’t happen so I will look at what adding two teams does to this.  Let’s go:

• Rose Bowl: #4 Cincinnati vs. #5 Notre Dame
• Sugar Bowl: #3 Alabama vs. #6 Michigan
• Orange Bowl: #1 Georgia vs. lower-ranked winner from play-in weekend
• Cotton Bowl: #2 Ohio State vs. higher-ranked winner from play-in weekend

Since this solely based on current AP rankings, it would have Cincy facing the Fighting Irish in a rematch.  I doubt that would happen in reality but we are going to go with it here.  I’m sure the Rose Bowl would be adamant about their bowl game staying with their current New Year’s Day timeslot so this would extend the season out to Monday January 17th which is seriously late but I think we are approaching that anyway with an expanded playoff.

The eight-team CFP

• Orange Bowl: #1 Georgia vs. #8 Ole Miss
• Sugar Bowl: #2 Ohio State vs. #7 Oklahoma State
• Cotton Bowl: #3 Alabama vs. #6 Michigan
• Rose Bowl: #4 Cincinnati vs. #5 Notre Dame

Now we got eight teams which seems to be a popular idea out there.  Here’s the thing: I am not including all Power Five conference champions.  That is fucking absurd with only eight teams.

This would mean some teams might play four postseason games if you include the conference championship games.  Would this be smart?  I don’t know but it feels like the wave of the future.  I guess the powers that be think that now that students get NIL money they can surely play an extra game or two.

The twelve-team CFP

Oh boy.  I think this is where we are headed so let’s dive in!

• Las Vegas Bowl: #7 Oklahoma State vs. #9 Baylor
• Citrus Bowl: #6 Michigan vs. #11 Oregon
• Peach Bowl: #8 Ole Miss vs. #10 Oklahoma
• Fiesta Bowl: #5 Notre Dame vs. #20 Pittsburgh
• Orange Bowl: #1 Georgia vs. Ole Miss/Oklahoma winner
• Cotton Bowl: #4 Cincinnati vs. Notre Dame/Pitt winner
• Sugar Bowl: #3 Alabama vs. Michigan/Oregon winner
• Rose Bowl: #2 Ohio State vs. Oklahoma St./Baylor winner

I can’t make Oklahoma State and Oklahoma play three weeks in a row.  That would be completely ridiculous.  Now with this setup, all Power Five conference champions get in.  Pitt is the best ACC team right now.  Sad, but true.  So they get in over current #12 Michigan State.  The brackets would have to be set up beforehand because I can’t see how they could re-seed teams after the first round.  Also, I am assuming they would use bowl games for the playoffs so that is why I included the Citrus Bowl (I’m sure it was between them and the Peach when originally coming up with the New Year’s Six) and the Las Vegas Bowl (because they would want a splashy bowl in a brand-new stadium).  This wouldn’t be bad but I wonder if it would feel like overload.

G-5 Playoffs

Let’s go back to an idea that has been brought up before.  One that would see the Group of Five run their own eight-team playoff.  The quarter-finals would look like this:

• Cincinnati vs. Air Force
• BYU vs. Appalachian State
• UTSA vs. Louisiana
• Houston vs. San Diego State

I would love to watch this.  Imagine these four games being on in one day?  Cincinnati at Noon, Houston at 3:30, UTSA at 7:00, BYU finishes off the day at 10:30.  Brilliant.

Poll-and-Bowl

Let’s go back to the 80s and early 90s shall we?  A simpler time…ok maybe not simpler overall, but in terms of how teams were picked for bowl games it was.  No committees.  Just teams go to the bowls they are tied in to based on their conference.  Let’s look what the top teams would do in these case.  I’ve had to take some liberty with some of the bowl games:

• Orange Bowl (ACC champ vs. SEC #2): #5 Notre Dame vs. #3 Alabama
• Cotton Bowl (Big XII #2 vs. Pac-12 #2): #9 Baylor vs. #16 Utah
• Sugar Bowl (SEC champ vs. Big XII champ): #1 Georgia vs. #7 Oklahoma State
• Rose Bowl (Big Ten champ vs. Pac-12 champ): #2 Ohio State vs. #11 Oregon
• Peach Bowl (Big Ten #2 vs. ACC #2): #6 Michigan vs. #20 Pittsburgh
• Fiesta Bowl (Big XII #3 vs. ACC #3): #10 Oklahoma vs. #13 BYU
• Citrus Bowl (SEC #3 vs. Big Ten #3): #8 Ole Miss vs. #12 Michigan State
• Las Vegas Bowl (Pac-12 #3 vs. G-5 #1): Oregon State vs. #4 Cincinnati

The one caveat here is that Independent teams like Notre Dame can be slotted anywhere.  It’s only fair.  That’s why I put the Irish in the Orange Bowl.  Would this give us some lopsided bowl matchups?  Absolutely.  Teams like Texas A&M, UTSA, Iowa and Wisconsin would be left out in the cold (kind of) for a team like Pitt or Oregon State.  Wow, the ACC really sucks this season (and the Pac-12 isn’t a whole lot better).  So in this scenario, it really comes down to three games: the Orange, Sugar and Rose Bowls.  Georgia wins they probably are voted champs unless they win close and Ohio State wins big.  Now if both Georgia and Ohio State lose, it’s up for grabs to the Irish and Tide.  Interesting.  Would it work?  Who the hell knows.

OK I’ve had enough.  I can’t do anymore.  I’m worded out (is that even a thing).  More posts later this week.  Footballgasm is upon us.  Oh, wait, one more thing: MACtion tomorrow night!  Western Michigan and Northern Illinois will be on the specialty pack.  Buffalo-Ball State is on ESPN+ and not available to us Canadians.  Have a great week everyone!

OK this is slightly different – Week 12 College Football TV Schedule

I talk about the coaching carousel a lot.  Maybe a bit too much.  So I have seen a lot of different stories of coaches getting fired and the methods and back stories of how it came to be.  I may not have seen anything like this, though.

Butch Davis has decided he is done at Florida International.  He was 23-21 coming into this season with FIU but the bottom fell out for the team and they have gone 1-9 so far in 2021.  No one knows yet if he will finish out the season with the team.  None of this is all that odd.  What is a bit different is Davis’ assertion that the school’s administration is sabotaging the football program and that is why he wants out.  Not saying other coaches haven’t thought this but for a coach to actually verbalize it says a lot about what is going on down there.  Here are a few of the things that have happened:

• FIU posted the head coaching position online with the American Football Coaches Association…last month.  Good god, not a good start.
• The school is using old uniforms and old equipment and won’t put any money in to purchase anything new.  Cheap bastards.
• The school has refused to offer multi-year contracts to any of Davis’ assistants.  I can kind of understand this considering how poorly the team has performed.
• The school also did not allow any of the coaches to go out and recruit the past two years.  Part of this is due to COVID-19 concerns but the bigger issue is financial reasons.

It sounds like Davis is probably correct here.  And if the school can’t afford to play football at the FBS level, drop to FCS.  There are a few schools at the top level that lose money almost every year and justify doing it as a recruiting tool not just to get athletes to come to the school, but students, in general.  That may work at a school like Alabama but less so at a school like FIU.  This and the fact that the Panthers are in Conference USA which now has set themselves up as easily the worst FBS conference all point to potential disaster in the years to come.  Something to keep an eye on.

Anyway, let’s get to more pertinent matters, that being the upcoming schedule!

Wednesday​​

		US	Canada
Northern Illinois at Buffalo	7:00 PM
Central Michigan at Ball State	7:00 PM

MACtion!  Hey it’s weekday football.  And one of the games is on TSN!  This is good.  Hopefully at least one of these games is a nailbiter.

Thursday

		US	Canada
Louisville at Duke	7:30 PM

So technically this is a college football game.  The only other football on this night is a pretty good New England Patriots team facing a woeful Atlanta Falcons team.  So your options are limited.

Friday​

		US	Canada
Southern Miss at Louisiana Tech	8:00 PM
Memphis at #24 Houston	9:00 PM
#19 San Diego State at UNLV	11:30 PM

Nothing huge here although SDSU and Houston need wins here.  We have a different kind of test game tonight: the weeknight Vegas Test.  A lot like Hawaii Test games, this game won’t end until well into the morning.  I will test my resolve and try to watch this thing but I have this funny feeling it will be over at some point in the third quarter, allowing me (and other viewers) at least some chance at sleep.

Saturday Early​​

		US	Canada
#7 Michigan State at #4 Ohio State	Noon
Florida State at Boston College	Noon
Rutgers at Penn State	Noon
Purdue vs. Northwestern (in Chicago)	Noon
UMass at Army	Noon
#10 Wake Forest at Clemson	Noon
Texas at West Virginia	Noon
Harvard at Yale	Noon
Iowa State at #13 Oklahoma	Noon
Wofford at North Carolina	Noon
New Mexico State at Kentucky	Noon

I’m honestly perplexed as to why MSU-tOSU did not get the primetime treatment.  I guess it’s so we get to possibly see Kirk Herbstreit sprint to the booth after finishing College Gameday.  We also get Oklahoma trying to avoid an upset at the hands of a team they’ve struggled with in the recent past, Iowa State.  There are a lot of other games in the early timeslot but not a ton of must-watch material.  Also, New Mexico State does not get to be on TSN again.

Saturday Afternoon​

		US	Canada
Georgia Tech at #8 Notre Dame	2:30 PM
Nebraska at #15 Wisconsin	3:30 PM
#6 Michigan at Maryland	3:30 PM
Minnesota at Indiana	3:30 PM
#21 Arkansas at #2 Alabama	3:30 PM
East Carolina at Navy	3:30 PM
SMU at #5 Cincinnati	3:30 PM
Virginia at #18 Pittsburgh	3:30 PM
Syracuse at #20 NC State	4:00 PM
Louisiana at Liberty	4:00 PM
UCLA at USC	4:00 PM
Florida at Missouri	4:00 PM

Nothing massive here although Cincinnati may have their toughest conference test before they face Houston in the AAC Championship.  The de facto ACC Coastal Championship occurs today as well as Michigan trying to avoid the speed bump as they travel to College Park.  I don’t get why the Big Ten Network puts two games on simultaneously and then doesn’t have anything in the primetime slot.  Not a huge deal up here but I am sure it’s a big deal in the States where some fans will miss their team’s game because BTN can’t get their act together.

Saturday Primetime​

		US	Canada
Auburn at South Carolina	7:00 PM
#3 Oregon at #23 Utah	7:30 PM
Virginia Tech at Miami	7:30 PM
South Alabama at Tennessee	7:30 PM
Vanderbilt at #12 Ole Miss	7:30 PM
Wyoming at Utah State	8:00 PM
#9 Oklahoma State at Texas Tech	8:00 PM

A big Pac-12 matchup highlights the primetime timeslot.  Utah could cause yet another disruption of the Top 4 in what will probably end up being a preview of the Pac-12 Championship.  CBS Sports Network is going with an odd 8:00 start time for the Mountain West game and there’s no real reason for it.  My only guess on this is that because they do not have a late night game that they put a highlights show on at 7:00 to hopefully keep people watching through that time until this game begins.  This feels more like a lack of organization because I am sure they could have put this game on late night and stuck a MAC or Conference USA game in here and just didn’t for….I don’t know.

Saturday Late Night​

		US	Canada
ULM at LSU	9:00 PM
Arizona State at Oregon State	10:30 PM

Another weird choice here for start time but at least this has a reason.  ESPN2 has the ULM-LSU game starting at 9:00 because there are preliminary fights before a boxing pay-per-view card starting at 7:00.  The only game on here in a true late night spot is a very important one for teams needing a win and some help to win their division.

Games to set your eyeballs on

Michigan State at Ohio State (Noon, ABC/TSN3) – This is the Game of the Week and none of the other games are really that close.  I would consider it a possible Game of the Year candidate because of the high stakes.  Michigan State could do what no one thought they could do and that is unseat Ohio State at the top of the Big Ten East ladder.  A Sparty win puts them in the driver’s seat with wins over both tOSU and Michigan.  The loser of this is probably still a lock for the New Year’s Six though.  As I said above, I am still confused as to why this didn’t get the ABC primetime slot but I have a feeling it has to do with contracted games and the Pac-12 may not have quite got to where they should be.  For this reason ESPN/ABC took the next game on this list instead of this one knowing that the final week of the season would have a better selection to choose from and they wouldn’t be forced to go with one conference over another.

Oregon at Utah (7:30, ABC) – As much as the Pac-12 tends to be ignored on the East Coast, I can see a lot of eyeballs descending on this one.  As mentioned above, it is probably a preview of the Pac-12 title match.  The stakes are high, especially for the Ducks after their inexplicable loss to Stanford earlier this season.  The Utes could cause a lot of issues for the Pac-12 and put themselves in the Top 15 going into the final week of the regular season with a win.  Realistically, the conference championship game is much more important than this one but the path there for both teams will dictate where they stand in terms of what bowl destination they will have.  Either way, at least we know the winner here clinches their spot in Santa Clara and at least will play for the Rose Bowl spot.

SMU at Cincinnati (3:30, specialty pack) – So what happens if the Bearcats lose here?  A win here leaves them at probably no lower than #5 in the CFP rankings.  But a loss…well then we have to see how far they fall.  The next best Group of Five team is San Diego State and they sit at #19 and won’t surpass Cincy even if they win and the Bearcats lose.  Yes, Luke Fickell has his sights set much higher than the NY6.  This game will show whether they can do what they need to do to capture the attention of The Committee: by blowing the doors off the Mustangs.

Wake Forest at Clemson (Noon, specialty pack) – Here’s a huge test for Wake.  Win this game and they clinch the ACC Atlantic and end the reign of Clemson at the top.  Would it be the beginning of the end of Dave Clawson in Winston-Salem?  He has done another masterful job of coaching and many teams will be looking his way with all the openings needing to be filled in the off-season.  Also, how much higher do the Deacs rise in the poll with a win here?  I can’t see them climbing higher than #8 but there still would be one more regular season week remaining, plus conference championships and this season has taught me that you can’t really predict anything week-to-week.

Virginia at Pittsburgh (3:30, specialty pack) – As for the other side of the ACC ledger, this is pretty much the game for the ACC Coastal division title.  I’m sure Wake Forest hopes Pitt wins because the better the Panthers are, the better their schedule looks.  Virginia doesn’t automatically clinch the division with a win but they put themselves in the catbird seat if they are triumphant here going into the Commonwealth Cup game with the now Justin Fuente-less Virginia Tech Hokies.

Honourable mention: Arkansas at Alabama (3:30, CBS); UAB at UTSA (3:30, ESPN+); Oklahoma State at Texas Tech (8:00, FOX)

Wanna bet?

My picks were not good last week.  I don’t even want to talk about it.  So now I have to hope that these picks are better for…some reason.  I don’t know why.  Note: do not use these picks for actual gambling purposes:

Alabama over Arkansas

Clemson over Wake Forest (minor upset)

Pittsburgh over Virginia

UTSA over UAB

Cincinnati over SMU

Oklahoma State over Texas Tech

Ohio State over Michigan State

Utah over Oregon (upset!)

Ball State over Central Michigan

Tennessee over South Alabama

San Diego State over UNLV

I’m gearing myself up.  Tonight.  Tomorrow night.  Friday night.  Saturday all day.  Then NFL Sunday all day.  Then NFL Monday night.  My god.  I love it.

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

Oh, it’s that time…CRAZY BOWL PROJECTIONS!!!

This is the fourth edition of this ridiculous post.  And this could be the year where these might happen because the 2021 college football season has been a shitshow.  So you never know…these somewhat illogical choices that I will show you might become somewhat logical after the next week’s games are done.  And if all these came to fruition I would take the first flight to Vegas.

As per usual, I will not do all the bowl games.  Past the New Year’s Six, it becomes a lot less crazy to be honest.  But these predictions (and I use that term very loosely) are insane.  So maybe crazy isn’t quite the word for it.  Look, let’s just get right down to it so you can determine how drunk I was when figuring this all out.

Orange Bowl	CFP Poll #1 vs. CFP Poll #4	Cincinnati vs. Ole Miss
Cotton Bowl	CFP Poll #2 vs. CFP Poll #3	Wake Forest vs. Baylor

What in the blue fucking hell is going on here?  Alright, let’s get to the, ahem, logic of all this ridiculousness:

• Alabama loses to both Arkansas and Auburn.  I don’t know, maybe they have like 10 injuries in the first quarter of the game against the Hogs.  Ole Miss wins out and actually passes Bama to shockingly win the SEC West.  So what happens to the SEC East champs?  Georgia stumbles against Georgia Tech which drops them out of the #1 spot in the CFP rankings.  The Rebels shock the college football world again and beat the Dawgs and get in as the #4 seed with their SEC title win.
• Wake wins their final two games and wins the ACC Atlantic rather easily.  In the Coastal, chaos reigns, as per usual.  Pitt loses to the Virginia, allowing the Hoos to win the ACC Coastal division.  In the ACC title game, the Deacs mop the floor with UVA, moving them into the #2 spot in the rankings as the only 1-loss team in the Power Five conferences.  OK this might not be so crazy.
• Ohio State loses to both the Michigans.  But Michigan also loses to Maryland so that leaves Sparty as the one team left standing (somehow).  Wisconsin gets stunned by Minnesota which allows Iowa, who wins their final two, to win the Big Ten West and go to Indianapolis, where they best the Spartans in a close one.  This knocks Michigan State out of the Top 4.
• Could the Pac-12 become more of a mess than it is now?  Absolutely!  Oregon State (yes, OREGON STATE!) will win their final two which will include a Civil War victory over their rivals, Oregon, which gives the Beavers the Pac-12 North title and a trip to somewhere near San Francisco.  They get Utah who, despite a close loss to Colorado, win the South Division.  Oregon State beats Utah in a tight Pac-12 Championship but really does not have the resume to be in the semi-finals.
• Oklahoma continues their run of suck by losing their next two games against Iowa State and Oklahoma State.  This puts the Cowboys in the Big XII Championship against…Baylor who wins their final two and sneaks in the back door.  The Bears then promptly upset the Pokes to replace them in the Top 4.
• Cincinnati runs the table and is one of two undefeated teams left.  They destroy the rest of their opponents and have to be the only choice for #1.  The Committee, after choosing the Bearcats at #1, get blind drunk trying to forget what they went through this season.

The Top 4, in this case, would be pretty set with fairly little argument.  Iowa and Oregon State wouldn’t be nearly good enough to get into the Top 4 and the rest are conference champions.  Cincinnati being #1 would make a few in college football media upset so I could see them dropping to #2 and Wake Forest or Baylor replacing them at #1 but I’m sticking with what I have because it’s CRAZY bowl projections, not SOMEWHAT CRAZY BUT STEEPED IN REALITY bowl projections.  This would definitely push the conferences to move quickly on expanding the playoff because this would be exactly what the P5 conferences do not want.  Whether they do go to twelve teams, which seems to be getting the most steam, is unknown.  Alright, let’s see how stupid the New Year’s Six is in this scenario.

Sugar Bowl	SEC Champ vs. Big XII Champ	Georgia vs. Oklahoma State
Rose Bowl	Big Ten Champ vs. Pac-12 Champ	Iowa vs. Oregon State
Fiesta Bowl	CFP At-large vs. CFP At-large/G5 #1	Michigan vs. Notre Dame
Peach Bowl	CFP At-large vs. CFP At-large/G5 #1	Texas A&M vs. Michigan State

Ooooooook then.  Some of this was explained above, some of it needs a longer explanation.  Here goes nothing:

• Michigan, by beating Ohio State AND being out of the conference championship, stays near the Top 4 with no way of getting in.  It’s an easy choice for The Committee to put them in the Fiesta Bowl.
• Georgia’s fall from #1 is quick after losing to Georgia Tech and then Ole Miss in the SEC Championship.  They slot in to the SEC spot at the Sugar Bowl.
• Texas A&M is the beneficiary of the Tide’s collapse.  They win their final two games and watch chaos happen around them and get in rather easily to take the an at-large spot in the Peach Bowl.
• Oklahoma State’s loss to Baylor knocks them out of the Top 4 and they are relegated to the Sugar Bowl.
• I have Michigan State falling fairly far after their loss to Iowa; enough to easily fall out of the Top 4.  The loss is their second of the season and because they aren’t the Big Ten champion they cannot go to the Rose Bowl.  With Michigan already going to the Fiesta Bowl, it leaves the Peach Bowl as the only option for the Spartans.
• As I mentioned above, Michigan State’s fall is completed by Iowa, who ends up as Big Ten champions.  With how far down they were in the rankings going into the final two weeks there is no way they get to the Top 4 so they end up in the Rose Bowl.
• Oregon State shocks a lot of people by winning the Pac-12 title over Utah to gain the conference’s Rose Bowl spot.  Honestly, I don’t think Utah winning would do any different.
• Now to the final spot in the NY6.  This might end up being a bit controversial considering their loss to Georgia Tech but I have Notre Dame getting the final spot.  Their other loss being to Cincinnati definitely helps here.  My assumption is that The Committee would pick the Irish over Oregon and Alabama because of those two teams ending the season on two-game losing streaks.  I also can’t see a three-loss team getting into the New Year’s Six unless they are a conference champion.  I don’t think it’s happened before and I can’t see it happening under the current format.

Alright I have completed that exercise.  That was tougher than I thought it would be.  Now, will all these thing happen?  No, not even half.  But some of them occurring?  Considering the season we’ve seen so far, I can almost guarantee it.

Alright, we are down to three undefeated teams with two weeks still to go.  Amazing.  Here’s my latest Top 25.

#1	Georgia
#2	Ohio State
#3	Cincinnati
#4	Alabama
#5	Oregon
#6	Michigan
#7	Ole Miss
#8	Notre Dame
#9	Michigan State
#10	Oklahoma State
#11	Wake Forest
#12	Baylor
#13	UTSA
#14	BYU
#15	Oklahoma
#16	Iowa
#17	Texas A&M
#18	Houston
#19	Wisconsin
#20	Pittsburgh
#21	Arkansas
#22	Louisiana
#23	Utah
#24	Auburn
#25	NC State

Not a whole lot happening near the top other than Baylor’s win over Oklahoma.  It’s still probably set up for Georgia and Bama to get their shot to both get into the CFP which I am not a fan of.  As long as the Dawgs win their final two regular season games, they are pretty much a shoo-in for the Top 4, regardless of the outcome of the SEC Championship.  Oregon wins out and they are pretty much in as well.  Ohio State has a rough road ahead of them and if they can get out unscathed, they deserve to be in the CFP.  Cincinnati will make things tough if they can win the rest of their games handily.  None of this winning by like 14 points over a team that’s at the bottom half of the American Conference.  Continue to do stuff like that and it will be easy for The Committee to rank them #5 and be done with it.  The wild card in all of this may end up being Oklahoma State.  They face Texas Tech, then Oklahoma and then possibly Oklahoma again for the Big XII Championship.  Win all three and that becomes a conundrum.  Two huge victories and another quality win to finish off the season at 12-1.  How do you keep a team like that out of the conversation?  They are the kind of team that many would want to see in but college football, being as it is, might look at the Pokes as a non-traditional power and that’s always a bad thing to be labelled when it comes to playoff conversations.

Hey there’s MACtion tomorrow night!  Western Michigan will spar with Eastern Michigan in a Battle for Directional Michigan starting at 7:30 and then Bowling Green heads to Oxford to face Miami-OH at 8.  Both games are on the specialty pack.  Enjoy the rest of your week everyone!

The Coaching Carousel is in full swing already – Week 11 College Football TV Schedule

The amount of coaches, both head and otherwise, shitcanned so far this year has hit a staggering amount.  I get that it’s been the second kind of wacky year in a row for college football (for very different reasons) but you have to wonder if many coaches got a bit of a COVID exemption, like some of the super seniors that they coach (or used to coach).  So let’s go through what’s happened so far this season.  Strap in.

• Remember way back in September when Captain Bonus, Randy Edsall, decided to retire and then the next day resigned instead?  Seems like so long ago.  It was 64 days ago.  Barely over two months.
• How about when Clay Helton was finally fired at USC?  For many of the Trojan faithful, it was about four years too late.
• But Helton wasn’t out of work for long.  He was recently hired to replace Chad Lunsford who had been fired by Georgia Southern back in late September.  Probably a good spot for him.
• Ed Orgeron was fired because he likes sexing up hot women in Baton Rouge rather than coaching LSU after he divorced his wife.  Thinking with your dick is fine in certain situations, this may not be one of them.  Then again, the buyout will be ridiculous for him.  Good shit.
• You knew this was coming as soon as you heard the backstory.  Nick Rolovich’s firing was a surprise to no one…except maybe Nick Rolovich.
• This one was a bit of a shocker.  Matt Wells was fired after Kansas State came back to beat his Texas Tech team dropping them to *checks notes* 5-2?  What?  Now the Red Raiders have hired a successful high school coach to replace him.  This is either seriously stupid or seriously brilliant.
• The end of an era in Fort Worth as Gary Patterson was let go.  Some thought he should have been allowed to finish the season but with this new early signing period many teams who have fired their head coaches are going to want to get their new guy sooner rather than later to take advantage of this signing period.
• Tom Arth was fired.  He was 3-24 at Akron.  I know it’s Akron but good lord.
• But again, it could be worse.  Walt Bell dropped to 2-23 in his tenure at UMass after they lost to Rhode Island.  Maybe this team should be not long for FBS.

Now, many, including myself, wondered if Scott Frost would be on this list by the end of the season.  Instead, he got his contract restructured and he will be back for 2022.  Now his buyout has been slashed in half and his yearly contract went down by a million bucks so it’s not like he made out like a bandit.  He celebrated this by firing four assistants.  Maybe bringing in a better offensive coordinator will help and with the extra money, they might be able to afford it.  But Frosty the Coachman’s hot seat will be molten lava if the Huskers get off to a bad start next season (or finish this season on a losing streak).

OK enough coaching crap, on to the schedule!

Wednesday​​

		US	Canada
Toledo at Bowling Green	7:00 PM
Ball State at Northern Illinois	7:00 PM
Kent State at Central Michigan	8:00 PM

Gotta love Midweek MACtion.  Nothing better than cozying up and watching some college football on a weeknight as the weather gets colder outside.  And there are some important games.  Ball State-NIU might very well be for the MAC West title.  Also, Kent State tries to take advantage of the MAC East being pathetic by winning to put some room between themselves and the rest of the division.

Thursday

		US	Canada
North Carolina at #21 Pittsburgh	7:30 PM

Only one game but it’s important in the ACC Coastal.  The division synonymous with chaos could become even more chaotic if the Tar Heels can pull off the slight upset of Pitt.

Friday​​

		US	Canada
#5 Cincinnati at USF	6:00 PM

Only one game that is being shown in Canada tonight and it starts at an odd time.  Why so early for this one?  The reason is that there is a huge World Cup Qualifying game with the United States facing Mexico.  That starts at 9:00 on ESPN2 which makes it so this game had to start no later than 6:00.

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
#6 Michigan at Penn State	Noon
UConn at Clemson	Noon
Rutgers at Indiana	Noon
Bucknell at Army	Noon
Mississippi State at #17 Auburn	Noon
Northwestern at #18 Wisconsin	Noon
UCF at SMU	Noon
#8 Oklahoma at #13 Baylor	Noon
Syracuse at Louisville	Noon
New Mexico State at #2 Alabama	Noon

I wouldn’t say there are any massive games in this timeslot but there are some interesting ones.  Michigan-PSU is an elimination game of sorts in the Big Ten East.  Baylor needs to win or we will most definitely have a Bedlam rematch in the Big XII Championship.  And of course, TSN picks up (for their only early game)…New Mexico State heading to Alabama?  For fuck’s sake, why?  This will probably be the most lopsided game of the weekend and that’s what they pick?  With a few other options open?  Plus it’s on the SEC Network!  I honestly don’t get it.  That makes no fucking sense whatsoever.  I guess I should feel kind of happy they didn’t simulcast the ABC game but there are three ESPN games they bypassed.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
#19 Purdue at #4 Ohio State	3:30 PM
Duke at Virginia Tech	3:30 PM
Minnesota at #20 Iowa	3:30 PM
#1 Georgia at Tennessee	3:30 PM
UAB at Marshall	3:30 PM
Miami at Florida State	3:30 PM
Iowa State at Texas Tech	3:30 PM
Boston College at Georgia Tech	3:30 PM
Tulsa at Tulane	4:00 PM
Maryland at #7 Michigan State	4:00 PM
South Carolina at Missouri	4:00 PM

Just like the opening salvo of Saturday, no real huge games here but some interesting ones.  Purdue-tOSU is obviously a pretty big game knowing what the Boilermakers have done this season.  I don’t know if UGA will play down to the Vols’ level since they haven’t done that all season, except maybe against Clemson in their opening week win.  And somehow, Miami and Florida State still get a prime ESPN spot on the weekend.  You don’t see too many teams keep getting prime TV spots like The U does.  Florida State less so since they have been appearing on the ACC Network quite often the past few seasons.

Saturday Primetime​​

		US	Canada
Air Force at Colorado State	7:00 PM
#11 Texas A&M at #19 Ole Miss	7:00 PM
Kentucky at Vanderbilt	7:00 PM
#9 Notre Dame at Virginia	7:30 PM
#16 NC State at #12 Wake Forest	7:30 PM
Kansas at Texas	7:30 PM
#25 Arkansas at LSU	7:30 PM
TCU at #10 Oklahoma State	8:00 PM

Look, when ND-UVA is your ABC primetime game you know it’s not the greatest week on paper.  And you know what means, right?  We are in for some wackiness for sure and there are a couple of games in this timeslot where an upset would really cause some upheaval.  Oklahoma State has to beat TCU to continue their run to JerryWorld and Notre Dame can’t trip up against the Fighting Mendenhalls of Charlottesville.  Oh, and we all remember Kansas upsetting Texas a few seasons ago.  You never know.

I have noticed TSN really has started showing a lot less college football which is pissing off some fans and rightfully so.  I think the premise that people will pay for what they want just totally escapes Rogers, Bell, Eastlink, Cogeco, the CRTC and others in the broadcasting industry.  You want to lose cable subscribers?  Keep doing what you’re doing.

Saturday Late Night​

		US	Canada
Nevada at #22 San Diego State	10:30 PM
Washington State at #3 Oregon	10:30 PM

Two late games, both fairly important.  Oregon needs to look a lot better against Wazzu or they could blow up this opportunity that’s been handed to them.  As for the other game, it probably decides the Mountain West West Division, no offense to Fresno State or San Jose State.

Games to set your eyeballs on

Oklahoma at Baylor (Noon, FOX) – Amazingly enough, it’s the Baylor Bears that still seem to register as arguably the biggest shock in a season full of shocking results.  Honestly, they are a couple of botches against TCU from being 8-1 and in the Top 10.  Saying that, the Bears probably do need to win this game as a loss here clinches a spot in the Big XII Championship for Oklahoma and may end up doing the same for Oklahoma State.  With this being in Waco, the hope for Baylor is that the Sooner defense, which has been shaky all season, crumbles under the pressure of a good Baylor offense.  Also, if Baylor wins this they have Kansas State and Texas Tech left where they would be favoured by quite a bit.  The Sooners, on the other hand, are at the start of a very difficult three-game stretch with this game followed by Iowa State and OSU.

NC State at Wake Forest (7:30, specialty pack) – Man, did the ACC Network ever luck out getting this one.  It really does show how little people feel about Wake Forest (and to a lesser extent, NC State).  This is arguably the biggest game of the season in the ACC Atlantic and it gets relegated to the ACC Network?  Completely ridiculous and something I would understand if we were still in October (or better yet, September).  The winner here is in the driver’s seat in the division and would only have to contend with Clemson if the Tigers win the following week against those same Demon Deacons.

Michigan at Penn State (Noon, ABC) – Honestly, this could have been the primetime ABC game and I’m kind of surprised it wasn’t despite the fact the Nittany Lions aren’t ranked.  Penn State still could cause a massive amount of issues in the Big Ten East with games here against the Wolverines and later on against Michigan State.  A Big Blue win here will set them possibly for a winner-take-all showdown against Ohio State two days after American Thanksgiving.

Purdue at Ohio State (3:30, ABC) – And of course the Wolverines and Nittany Lions will be scoreboard watching to see if Purdue can pull off yet another huge upset.  If the Boilermakers can pull it off, it blows the Big Ten wide open and gives quite a few teams a true chance at the crown.  In the East, that would bring Michigan, Michigan State and even Penn State back into the fray whereas in the West, all of a sudden Purdue might be the favourite to head to Indianapolis.  That would be interesting to see them play close to home for a chance at the Big Ten title.

Texas A&M at Ole Miss (7:00, specialty pack) – When the game where College Gameday is going to be ends up fifth on this list, isn’t it a good week?  Both of these teams have two losses in the SEC West.  It means they have to hope for at least one Alabama loss in their final two conference games for them to have any chance at the division title.  This game should be relatively evenly matched.  I’ll have to check but I am sure Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit will be there so for their sake I hope they get a good game although they have been a lot luckier than, say, Brad Nessler or Gus Johnson in that regard this season.

Honourable mention: Georgia at Tennessee (3:30, CBS); Notre Dame at Virginia (7:30, ABC/TSN2); Nevada at San Diego State (10:30, CBS Sports Network)

Wanna bet?

I had some pretty damn fantastic picks last week.  I picked North Carolina over Wake Forest.  But I went against my gut with Michigan State and I paid for it.  Also, Washington was oh so close to upsetting Oregon although thanks to Jimmy Lake’s playcalling, they didn’t get the chance.  But that’s the past, let’s talk about now.  The picks for this week are below!

Georgia over Tennessee

Texas A&M over Ole Miss

Wake Forest over NC State

Nevada over San Diego State

Oklahoma over Baylor

Notre Dame over Virginia

Ohio State over Purdue

Penn State over Michigan (slight upset)

Tulane over Tulsa

Central Michigan over Kent State

Marshall over UAB

As per usual, I will be up past 2 in the morning watching games.  This is the time where I really up my game so to speak.  I know the end is a mere couple of months away so I want to get in as much viewing as I possibly can.  Personal issues have made things rough for me lately but the one thing it has done has opened the door for me to watch more college football.  That’s not a bad thing, right?  Anyway, enjoy the games this week everyone!

Let the debates begin! – Week 10 College Football TV Schedule

The debates have already commenced.  And it won’t be fun to hear this shit for over a month.  But let’s just get used to it and go through this information.

We all had to know that Cincinnati wouldn’t be as high as their AP (or Bossman) poll ranking.  They were never going to be #2 but the hope is that they would get some semblance of respect and be put in at #4.  You have to wonder if their last two games, where they didn’t exactly light it up against weak American Conference competition, cost them as they start at #6.  Behind Ohio State, which will also stick in their craw.  I’m not too surprised with this, but Alabama at #2 is surprising.  Even worse is Kirk Herbstreit, Joey Galloway and, I believe, Rece Davis all saying that it’s cut and dry for Bama: if they win the SEC Championship they’re in and if they don’t they’re out.  Please.  If Bama stays at #2 until conference championship weekend and then loses to Georgia, I see them getting a lot of support to stay in the Top 4, and maybe even be #3 to avoid a rematch in the semis with the Dawgs.  That’s why these first rankings are still somewhat important because it can frame where you end up later in the season.

But on to better news…last night started football almost every day until November 29th!  The only day with no football will be the day before American Thanksgiving which I don’t understand but whatever.  They should put some MACtion or Fun Belt on there.  Who says no to that?  This is when the serious meat (the brisket even) of the college football season starts so let’s dig in to the schedule for this week!

Wednesday​​

		US	Canada
Northern Illinois at Kent State	7:00 PM
Central Michigan at Western Michigan	7:00 PM

MACTION!!!!!!  It has finally returned.  I mean it’s not like last year where they put all six games on a Wednesday night but still, it just feels right.  There were three games last night and two tonight.  Always nice to have some Wednesday night football (hear that ESPN?  So schedule a game the night before Thanksgiving god dammit!).  Anyway, if you thought Northern Illinois and Kent State would be leading their respective divisions heading into November then head to Vegas because you are extremely lucky (or go to a doctor to get the horseshoe out of your ass).

Thursday​​

		US	Canada
Georgia State at Louisiana	7:30 PM
Delaware State at Morgan State	7:30 PM

Two games, one in FBS, one in FCS.  It is technically football but I see a lot of people changing the channel to the NFL Thursday Night Football game featuring….the Jets and the Colts.  OK, maybe not.

Friday

		US	Canada
Princeton at Dartmouth	6:00 PM
Virginia Tech at Boston College	7:30 PM

Technically, Virginia Tech is still in the hunt for the ACC Coastal title because that conference, and that division in particular, are almost always a mess, behind the top team (which was usually Clemson and is now Wake Forest).  A loss by the Hokies may just pretty much hand the division to Pittsburgh but who knows considering the season we’ve seen so far.

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
Army vs. Air Force (in Arlington, TX)	11:30 AM
#9 Wake Forest at North Carolina	Noon
#25 Pittsburgh at Duke	Noon
Louisiana Tech at UAB	Noon
Missouri at #1 Georgia	Noon
Illinois at #20 Minnesota	Noon
SMU at Memphis	Noon
#5 Ohio State at Nebraska	Noon
Liberty at #16 Ole Miss	Noon
Georgia Tech at Miami	12:30 PM

A good amount of games but nothing hugely special although that could be the theme of the week to be honest.  Nothing is huge but Wake heading to North Carolina as an undefeated underdog will be an interesting watch.  It’s insane that they are not favoured but it shows that Wake still doesn’t quite get the respect that most Power Five teams do.  Army-AFA could be done by 1 in the afternoon.  And perhaps even a halftime coach shitcanning?  I can’t see things going well for the Huskers in this one.  This would mean the hot seat Scott Frost currently inhabits would get even hotter.  Does he make it to the end of the season?  Maybe, but I doubt he coaches in 2022, at least in Lincoln.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
#3 Michigan State at Purdue	3:30 PM
#21 Wisconsin at Rutgers	3:30 PM
#13 Auburn at #14 Texas A&M	3:30 PM
Colorado State at Wyoming	3:30 PM
#11 Oklahoma State at West Virginia	3:30 PM
Tulsa at #6 Cincinnati	3:30 PM
#12 Baylor at TCU	3:30 PM
Navy at #10 Notre Dame	3:30 PM
#19 NC State at Florida State	4:00 PM
Tulane at UCF	4:00 PM
#17 Mississippi State at Arkansas	4:00 PM

Now this gets…better.  Still not great though with only one game involving two ranked teams.  But there’s also EIGHT other games involving a ranked team.  That has to be a record I’m sure.  Saying that, you have to be careful with the assertion that having a ranked team involved makes the game good.  Like, Tulsa-Cincy and Wisconsin-Rutgers probably will not be any good.  MSU-Arkansas should be but that’s only because the Bulldogs being ranked #17 is some kind of joke…I think.  Oh and Cincinnati will be scoreboard watching for sure.  They have to blow Tulsa out of the water and then hope Notre Dame does the same to Navy.  It’s the only way for them to potentially move up to #5 in the next rankings (unless something drastic happens).

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
#22 Iowa at Northwestern	7:00 PM
Boise State at #23 Fresno State	7:00 PM
LSU at #2 Alabama	7:00 PM
Tennessee at #18 Kentucky	7:00 PM
#4 Oregon at Washington	7:30 PM
Clemson at Louisville	7:30 PM
Houston at USF	7:30 PM
Indiana at #7 Michigan	7:30 PM
Florida at South Carolina	7:30 PM

At the start of the year, you could have pointed to a few games here as potentially massive games in the grand scheme of things.  Now, not so much.  Indiana is not nearly as good as many thought they would be.  Same goes for Washington, LSU, Boise State, Clemson and Louisville.  Let’s throw Florida in there but I think it doesn’t matter since South Carolina is really not that good.  So we will call it a comprehensive primetime slate but not an overly amazing one.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
UTSA at UTEP	10:15 PM
USC at Arizona State	10:30 PM

We were so close to College Gameday going to El Paso this weekend.  I mean I’m not a huge College Gameday watcher and I usually only watch the picks every week but still, that would have been cool to have it there for the first time.  Instead they are heading to Cincinnati where I’m sure they will treat the ESPN reporters with kindness after what we saw last night.

Games to set your eyeballs on

Auburn at Texas A&M (3:30, CBS) – Alright so this week does not have a marquee game of the week, that is for sure.  Nothing against the Tigers or Aggies but it doesn’t even contain a Top 10 team.  Saying that, it’s the only game this week with two ranked teams playing each other so it pretty much goes here by default.  The winner here is on the inside track for a New Year’s Six spot as a CFP spot is probably completely out of sight.  That is unless Bama falls again against either these very same Tigers.  Or the Razorbacks.  Or the Tigers of the LSU variety.  Or New Mexico State….you know what, no that won’t happen.

Michigan State at Purdue (3:30, ABC) – I will say that the afternoon does have the best schedule of the day so at least there’s that.  While many would not think much of this game, this could be a serious trip-up game for the Spartans.  On the road, against a fairly good Boilermaker team, with Ohio State to look ahead to in two weeks.  Don’t be surprised if this is a close game.  Now watch Sparty be up by like 31 at halftime.

Wake Forest at North Carolina (Noon, ABC) – The ACC hasn’t made this list too much this year.  And for good reason since their top team, Clemson, has been average.  Enter the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.  They are 8-0 and ranked #9 in the first CFP Poll.  And they are a 2.5-point underdog going to Chapel Hill.  The disrespect!  They could make a huge statement by winning this game over the Heels as they have NC State the following week, at home, in arguably the biggest game in the ACC Atlantic this season.  Imagine saying that at the start of the year.  Many would think you were smoking crack.

Oregon at Washington (7:30, ABC) – Oregon is at #4.  I don’t know about that ranking but then again, it’s 13 (possibly drunk) people who are or have been prominent in college football setting these rankings.  This all means that the Pac-12 is somehow already back in the game when just a few weeks ago, everyone wrote the conference off after the Ducks’ loss to Stanford.  Oregon has to continue to win, and possibly beat some teams pretty badly, to stay in the Top 4 though.  Man, ABC lucked out this week with their game selection, despite the fact it’s really just an average week, on paper.

Mississippi State at Arkansas (4:00, specialty pack) – To be honest, it’s not like there are a lot of great choices for this spot.  I could put like 6 different games here and could argue for any of them.  I think this will be the closest and the toughest to predict so that’s why it gets the final spot on the list.  The Bulldogs are somehow #17 and play an Arkansas team who could have been in the Top 25.  The Hogs are favoured by 5 so at least Vegas kind of understands.  A win would definitely but Arkansas in the Top 25 and a loss would probably push Mississippi State right out of the Top 25 as both teams try to keep their slim New Year’s Six hopes alive.

Honourable mention: Missouri at Georgia (Noon, TSN2); Liberty at Ole Miss (Noon, specialty pack); LSU at Alabama (7:00, specialty pack).

Wanna bet?

How about my Houston over SMU pick?  Or Auburn over Ole Miss?  Didn’t do too badly if I do say so myself (don’t look at the Michigan or Buffalo picks).  Let’s not think about the past but forge on with new picks for the future.  Let’s begin!

Ole Miss over Liberty

North Carolina over Wake Forest (massive upset)

Michigan State over Purdue (but it will be close)

Georgia over Missouri

Alabama over LSU

Arkansas over Mississippi State

Texas A&M over Auburn

Washington over Oregon (another massive upset)

Western Michigan over Central Michigan

UAB over Louisiana Tech

TCU over Baylor (yet another big upset)

Yes I truly believe that this may be a huge shakeup weekend in college football.  Which is saying something considering what the 2021 season has already brought us.  I hope I didn’t jinx things and all the ranked teams win now.  Because that would suck and I would have to take some of the blame.

I have been on Twitter again but am doing a bit less tweeting these days.  Not just because of the issues I’ve stated earlier this year but just general fatigue.  I’ve always said I usually enjoy interacting with others on the platform but I have to take small breaks or otherwise I’ll just collapse in front of my laptop.  Not saying I don’t get in viewing for most of those 14+ hours but hey, you need bathroom breaks, breaks for food and drink, breaks to even lift weights or go on the treadmill for a bit.  Something to break up the day.  I’m the same on NFL Sunday.  I guess I’m just getting old.   Enjoy the games everyone!

Is it time for the Return of the Mack?

No, not THAT Return of the Mack (although that is honestly one of my all-time favourite songs).

Mack Brown has already done amazing things in his second stint in Chapel Hill.  But he has one more hill to climb, at least when it comes to the ACC.  And man is it ever a huge hill.  An escarpment.  Maybe even consider it a small mountain.

Clemson is never ready to relinquish their crown, the same crown they’ve had for years now since Florida State decided it didn’t want to be good at football for a while.  Almost like they said “You know what?  We’ve won so much for over two decades.  Let’s give another team a chance.”  And now Clemson is the same way.  When will they fall from their perch?  Who the hell knows.  Dabo Swinney is not known for sharing the ACC sandbox.

OK let’s get right to the predictions followed by some sweet, smoky Carolina BBQ thoughts:

		Conference		Overall
	Atlantic	W	L	W	L
	Clemson	8	0	12	0
	Boston College	5	3	9	3
	Wake Forest	5	3	9	3
	Florida State	4	4	6	6
	NC State	3	5	6	6
	Louisville	2	6	3	9
	Syracuse	1	7	3	9
	Coastal
	North Carolina	8	0	11	1
	Miami	6	2	9	3
	Virginia Tech	6	2	8	4
	Pittsburgh	4	4	8	4
	Virginia	2	6	4	8
	Georgia Tech	1	7	3	9
	Duke	0	8	3	9

Sweet & Smoky Carolina BBQ Thoughts

• I always love watching the ongoing battle between different parts of the U.S. claiming they have the best barbecue.  Honestly, barbecue has got close to the spot where pizza occupies: very rarely is it so bad you can’t eat it.  Most barbecue is probably very good.  Unfortunately it’s not like we have very many barbecue spots up here or any sort of barbecue tradition.
• Clemson is still the best team in the conference, despite their loss of Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne.  D.J. Uiagalelei (I always wonder where the n sound comes in) looked great against Notre Dame last year so there shouldn’t be a huge drop-off but there will be some.  The defense will pick up the slack and be the backbone of the team that will fairly easily walk to the Atlantic Division title.
• The Coastal might not have Coastal Chaos this season.  I know, I know, hard to believe.  But UNC is pulling slightly away from the field, especially with one of the Heisman favourites, Sam Howell, at QB.  Miami is good but need a full, healthy season from D’Eriq King or there’s no chance they will push for the division crown.  Expect a bounceback season from Virginia Tech which could give Justin Fuente an extension as the fans in Blacksburg are getting a little antsy based on the past few years on the field for the Hokies.
• Florida State truly starts their climb this year.  I absolutely believe it.  This is Mike Norvell’s chance to put his stamp on the program.  If he can’t at least get this program to a bowl game this year, I think his days are numbered in Tallahassee.
• It’s going to be quite the battle…for the basement of the ACC.  I have five teams all within one game of each other at the bottom (in terms of overall record).  Georgia Tech, Duke, UVA, Louisville and Syracuse all have a claim to being the worst team in the conference.  If I had to choose, I would go with Syracuse.  I fear that time’s almost up for Dino Babers in western New York.  He had one great season but other than that the train went off the rails there and things aren’t looking a whole lot better for the near future either, forget this season.
• The bloom has also come off the rose for Scott Satterfield.  Cards fans sure turned on him quick and I can’t see him turning it around right away.  If Bobby Petrino is available, I’m sure the Louisville brass would look at him and this is not a joke.
• I predict nine bowl teams from the ACC.  And if bowls have to dip into the 5-7 pool of teams, don’t look at this conference…there won’t be any.
• Oh baby, ready for the bombshell?  OK here it is.  I have the Tar Heels beating Clemson to wrest the ACC title from the Tigers.  Yeah, there.  I said it.  OK more like I typed it.  I have this feeling hardly anyone, outside of most Tar Heel fans, think this could happen.  I believe in the Mack and believe in the Heels this year.  Now watch them lose six games and I look like a fucking idiot.

That’s it for the ACC.  Three conferences in.  Next up will be the teams with no conference to call home, the Independents.  Have a great Sunday everyone!  Remember, we are a mere 41 days away from the start of the college football season!  Soon enough we will be down to single digits.

First set of pandemic bowl projections

Next week I will do my annual crazy bowl projections but how much crazier will they be than these?  I mean these predictions will be shredded by the end of the early window on Saturday I’m sure.  And I have no honest idea what the bowls will do now that every team is technically bowl-eligible.  So again, this is a shitshow so my projections might look like a shitshow but I will explain my methodology afterwards.  Let’s begin.

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

Yes I have Miami in.  Yes, I have them at #4.  Calm down.  Let me explain:

• Miami runs the table the rest of the way.  Completely.  This would mean they would end up 10-1 and continue to slowly move up the rankings.  With the way the rest of the Top 10 teams are going, this would allow Miami to sneakily move up the chain and get into the Top 4 on Conference Championship weekend thanks to a Notre Dame loss to Clemson in the ACC Championship.
• Alabama wins out but doesn’t look dominant doing so.  This is why they end up #2.  Yes, the SEC is the most difficult conference to play in but you still have to be dominant to get your spot at the head of the table.  They will end up beating Florida in the SEC Championship and easily book their place in the Top 4.
• Clemson runs the table from here on in.  They get their revenge win over Notre Dame at the ACC Championship to leap over Bama to get to #1.
• Ohio State has a bit of trouble with Indiana but wins out and also struggles with Northwestern in the Big Ten Championship but pulls away for the win.  This keeps the Buckeyes in the #3 spot which really means nothing to be perfectly honest since both them and Alabama would be locked into the bowl Clemson isn’t in.

Not too bad although some of you are probably already a bit perturbed by the Miami selection.  Now let’s get to the next part of the equation.

Orange Bowl	ACC Champ vs. SEC #2	Notre Dame vs. Georgia
Fiesta Bowl	CFP At-large vs. CFP At-large/G5 #1	BYU vs. Oregon
Peach Bowl	CFP At-large vs. CFP At-large/G5 #1	Marshall vs. Florida
Cotton Bowl	CFP At-large vs. CFP At-large/G5 #1	Texas A&M vs. Iowa State

Yes some of this looks a bit wacky.  Let me explain:

• Marshall will win the Conference USA Championship easily and finish unbeaten.  At the end of the regular season, Cincinnati would be ahead of the Thundering Herd in the CFP Rankings.  However, I see the Bearcats losing in their conference championship game to SMU.  This leaves Marshall as the one team left standing in the Group of Five.
• Notre Dame will win their remaining games and enough will happen in the ACC (or more like the ACC will be like the ACC Coastal) for them to sneak in as the ACC’s representative in the Orange Bowl but they will be pushed out of the Top 4 by an ACC Championship loss to Clemson.
• Florida will lose the SEC Championship but they would have been hard up to make it into the College Football Playoff to begin with.  They drop a bit but a loss to Bama doesn’t hurt a lot and they get to go to the Orange Bowl for a date with the Irish.
• Iowa State is going to win the gongshow that is the Big XII.  With three losses it will feel like a handout to put them in the NY6 but they will get a Cotton Bowl spot with a win over Texas in the title game.
• Oregon will win the Pac-12 and will automatically get a berth in the New Year’s Six.  The only obvious spot to put them this year is in the Fiesta Bowl.
• BYU is going to run the table.  With their schedule the way it is, they will sneak in and it will be close.  If they add another game against a decent Power Five team (or a good Group of Five team) then that will most definitely help their cause.
• Georgia lost the Cocktail Party game to Florida but will win the rest of their games and somehow get back into the Top 12 but Florida will get the nod for the Orange Bowl because of that win.
• Texas A&M will also do enough in a very tough SEC West to warrant a spot in a NY6 bowl, getting to pretty much stay home and play in the Metroplex.
• I have Indiana, Appalachian State, SMU (despite their AAC Championship win) and Cincinnati (who probably would have been in with a conference title win) just outside the New Year’s Six as well.

Alright it’s still a bit of a mess.  This week may solve a few of these scenarios but considering the schedule nothing much will happen unless there are some upsets.  And now the rest of the bowl projections.

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

A few notes on this:

• A reminder that every team is bowl-eligible this season.  That’s why you see teams like Tulsa, Ole Miss and South Alabama in these projections.
• Army has a bowl tie-in and has ALREADY ACCEPTED a bid to the Independence Bowl.  Actually it happened two weeks ago.  Liberty does not have a bowl tie-in so will take the at-large spot available to go to the Military Bowl.  I have BYU in the NY6 at this point but they also do not have a true bowl tie-in other than they get to go to one of the ESPN-sponsored bowls: which is damn near all of them.
• Look I will be honest with these bowl tie-ins.  Most of them I am sure are correct but some of them I am wondering about.  I continue to look at various sources to make sure I have everything correct so these may change in subsequent bowl projection posts.
• I feel bad for the Mountain West with all this.  A few of their bowl tie-ins were lost because those bowl games were cancelled.  And if my guess is correct and bowls keep very close to tie-ins, the Mountain West will get very few teams in; fewer than any other conference which is pretty sad.  Again, this could change as we find out more but as of right now I have to go off of that.

That’s all I got for now.  Next bowl projection post will be the annual CHAOS POST.  Considering the year we are in, it may end up being closer to reality than this post.

Well that was a fun non-schedule, non-recap post.  Enjoy your Taco Tuesday everyone (even if you don’t have tacos)!

WOO PIG! – Week 7 College Football Recap

OK we might have to finally agree that what Sam Pittman has done so far this season at Arkansas has been remarkable.  I mean they should be 3-1 if it wasn’t for an absolutely all-timer of an atrocious call.  They looked good against Ole Miss on Saturday and it feels like it has been a long time since the horrific Chad Morris days.  Now I’m not saying they are ready for Alabama (almost no one is) but they could cause some serious issues for other SEC teams this season.  It’s nice to see the Hogs back to playing well.  It’s been too long.  It was also nice to see someone like Stewart Mandel, who made light of the fact that there were six elite coaches in the SEC West and then Pittman, have to eat crow (especially since The Athletic, by and large, have become a bunch of sanctimonious pricks).  Alright let’s get on to the rest of the recap:

Man, that offense is for real:  Alabama had the biggest win in the biggest game as they beat Georgia in a rivalry that is quickly becoming the SEC’s best.  And, man did you see that Bama offense?  No matter what teams put up against the Tide, they can’t seem to stop their offense.  Ole Miss failed as did the Dawgs.  Saying that, I am sure it was a coup for CBS as they had by far the biggest game of the year so far and had it in primetime.  CBS has been quite brilliant with putting their primetime game early on in the season (Notre Dame-Georgia was the other one) getting massive ratings.  As for UGA, don’t count them out.  Just know that they are a tier below the Fighting Nick Sabans (who got to coach after three negative COVID-19 tests).

CHANTS!  That is pronounced “Shawnt”.  The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers were able to pull out a huge victory over #21 Louisiana and will almost certainly be ranked this week.  It’s now a definite that their game against Appalachian State, if both teams keep this up, will be for the Sun Belt East, the Sun Belt (essentially) and perhaps a look at the New Year’s Six.  That would be a boon to the Sun Belt who is still looking for their first NY6 representative.

Can we blame Gus Malzahn for this one?  Auburn never seemed in this one.  South Carolina wasn’t dominating play but it felt like it was just a matter of time before they pulled this one out.  And it’s not like Auburn didn’t have chances to win.  They did, and they could never capitalize on those.  Many will want to blame Gus but Bo Nix has been nothing short of awful so far this season.  What Malzahn does next with the quarterbacking situation is what will determine his fate after this season.

OK so what does Mike Leach do now?  Not that I thought they would absolutely win but they looked dreadful on offense again.  I honestly thought the Bulldogs would at least be able to move the ball.  Boy was I ever wrong.  Texas A&M keeps on rolling and very little seems in their way that could stop them…from getting to the New Year’s Six.

The Pittening:  It has happened and with no divisions we can pretty much safely say that Pitt will not be going to the ACC Championship.  The Canes have played well (except against teams that rhyme with Blemson).  Even though it was only a 12-point win for The U, this did not feel close.  The Canes are still trying to keep pace in second place to try and get that other spot opposite Clemson in the ACC title game (to get their asses kicked again, probably).

Time to watch the Cougars:  Of the BYU variety.  For three quarters it looked like Houston was ready to pull the rug out from the BYU party (with no alcohol or caffeine).  Then Zach Wilson decided to declare himself a Heisman contender with a bonkers fourth quarter.  BYU’s 22 fourth quarter points put away the Fighting Holgorsens and kept them undefeated.  Even with the rest of the conferences starting shortly, you have to watch out for this team.  Can you keep them out of the New Year’s Six when they’re undefeated?  I don’t think you can but it will put The Committee in an interesting position.

You just got LAWRENCED!  That sounds disgusting but may be true for some women on the campus at Clemson University.  This game was rough to watch.  Trevor Lawrence, Travis Etienne and the vaunted Clemson offense absolutely annihilated poor Georgia Tech.  Clemson keeps on chugging and really has no roadblocks now to get to the CFP until they face Notre Dame in November.  Georgia Tech still has work to do but they are, this game notwithstanding, on the right track now under Geoff Collins.

Is Notre Dame’s defense that good?  Their defense could be what keeps the Irish going this season.  They had to be as their offense sputtered against Louisville, of all teams.  Only 46 points allowed through 4 games so far and I can’t see Pitt or Georgia Tech putting up a boatload of points against them.  Geez.  Their game in three weeks with Clemson could be something special.  Interesting to see how Trevor Lawrence does against his first truly good defensive opponent this season (no offense to Miami).

SMU?  SMU!  I am sure there are some people who thought SMU would be 5-0 at this point but not many.  Will they finish undefeated?  I doubt it.  But to be honest, they are, right now, the Group of Five favourite to go to the NY6 despite Cincinnati ranking higher than them.  It wasn’t easy to keep that unblemished record as Tulane gave them all they could handle and took them to overtime.  Next week’s game against Cincinnati could decide one of the entrants in the AAC Championship game.

Oh North Carolina, no!  Mack Brown looked like they had a relatively easy road to the ACC Championship (as long as they took care of business against Notre Dame later in the season).  They had everything going for them and Florida State, yes, FLORIDA STATE snuffed that all out.  The Seminoles got out to a huge 31-7 lead going into halftime and held on to beat the Tar Heels by 3.  Embarrassing on the Heels’ part to allow FSU to get that far out in front for sure.  Despite there being no ACC Coastal division, most of the conference IS the ACC Coastal division (apart from Clemson and Notre Dame at this point).

Is this considered an upset?  I don’t know.  Honestly, I am leaning towards no.  Yes, Tennessee was ranked and it was in Knoxville but Kentucky’s defense has been pretty dominant this season.  They continued that trend by catching a lot of passes from Jarrett Guarantano.  Problem for the Volunteers is that’s their quarterback.  Not good.

Hey what about the Hokies?  Not saying Boston College is horrible but they were pretty much boatraced by Virginia Tech.  It was kind of close early but the Hokies blew it wide open in the third.  They don’t have a super easy schedule the rest of the way but all the games are winnable until they host Clemson in early December.  Look, if they end up with two losses, both to Top 10 teams at the time, and somehow win the ACC Championship that could make for some fun chaos.  The Big Ten and Pac-12 are watching this team closely hoping they shit the bed just once more to ease their minds.

Good lord Kansas:  So Les Miles has COVID so he couldn’t show up to coach the Jayhawks against West Virginia.  This meant the spread changed from the Mountaineers as 23 point favourites to just 21.5.  Fucking hilarious.  Not that it mattered since they still lost.  Well it may have mattered to degenerate gamblers but other than that, yeah, nobody gives a shit.

Thoughts and prayers to the Orange:  The Orange of Syracuse lost to Liberty.  No I am not lying.  And Liberty ran roughshod over Syracuse.  This wasn’t really that close at all.  So now what does the Cuse have up next?  Well it’s the ACC so it can’t be too b…oh my god.  They play Clemson next.  Pray for Dino Babers.  As for Liberty, they are 5-0.  Hugh Freeze is doing an amazing job in Lynchburg.  This means next year he will be back in the SEC.  Vanderbilt, perhaps?

A palette cleanser:  Alright we aren’t looking at the Memphis or UCF of the past few years.  But when they face each other, you just have that feeling it will be special.  No exception here.  This game was fucking amazing.  UCF took the lead.  The Tigers roared back with a big third quarter and then the fourth was absolute drugs.  Memphis scored two touchdowns in the final 3:45 to win this one.  It’s amazing how often that it’s the American conference that just blows everyone away with a fantastic game that people keep talking about.

Well all in all it was a fun weekend of college football.  So now let’s get to the Bossman Top 25:

#1	Clemson
#2	Alabama
#3	Notre Dame
#4	Ohio State
#5	Oklahoma State
#6	Georgia
#7	Florida
#8	Miami
#9	Cincinnati
#10	BYU
#11	Texas A&M
#12	Penn State
#13	Oregon
#14	North Carolina
#15	SMU
#16	Wisconsin
#17	Virginia Tech
#18	Michigan
#19	Iowa State
#20	Marshall
#21	Kansas State
#22	Coastal Carolina
#23	NC State
#24	Minnesota
#25	USC

Not a ton of movement in the Top 25 to be honest.  Really though, past #1 and #2 (and maybe the Irish at #3) you could put almost any combination and you could be considered somewhat correct (well, unless you put Kansas in your Top 25).  Some may bristle at me putting BYU at #10 but let’s be honest: this may be as high as they get.  Their schedule will not help them and any hope of them getting to the New Year’s Six hinges on chaos above them (which I am fully for).  This weekend helped but they need much more.  Also, I get that there is a Top 25 match between Michigan and Minnesota this coming weekend (welcome back, Big Ten by the way…oh yeah and the Mountain West).  But there are no fans at College Gameday so why go there?  Instead, head to Myrtle Beach.  Coastal Carolina is in the Top 25 for the first time and there is probably not a better chance to go there than now.  Nothing against Minnesota but this is another mark against the Group of Five and college football’s perception of those programs.

Alright, in the end, it was a good weekend of college football.  Let’s hope for a lot more the rest of the way.  Enjoy your week everyone!