I have to say it was a fun final regular season weekend of college football. Especially the Iron Bowl. What a ridiculous finish. Now we get into the postseason part of the season. So there has to be some chaos, right? Some upset? Any upset? Sure there were a few during the season but really the big upset has taken a big nap this year. And that’s part of college football. Not having those has taken something away from this season. Let’s hope this coming weekend can bring some of that chaos back. Fingers crossed. Let’s get on with the schedule.
Friday
Conference USA Championship: New Mexico State (+10.5) at #24 Liberty
7:00
This network continues to be smart in the way they figure out WHEN to put a game. They get an entire national audience for almost an entire half and then, if the game is close, many people will stick with it to the end. Brilliant. Plus, with the added possibility of seeing a potential New Year’s Six berth clinched here, it means they should get more eyeballs on this game than ever before. Prediction: This game is the biggest one, not only in Liberty’s history, but in Conference USA’s history. This is their chance to put a team in the New Year’s Six for the first time. The first part gets done this night. Liberty 39 New Mexico State 34.
Pac-12 Championship: #5 Oregon (-9.5) vs. #3 Washington (in Paradise, NV)
8:00
The final Pac-12 Championship and, arguably, the most important conference championship is being held on a Friday night starting at 5:00 local time. Hell, ESPN/ABC is sending their best crew to this. This feels like the final slap in the face to the Pac-12. Anyway, this is massive. The winner is a lock for the College Football Playoff and the loser gets relegated to the New Year’s Six. It’s that simple. Prediction: This is going to be an offensive showcase between two of the Heisman contenders in Bo Nix and Michael Penix Jr. The guy who wins, I believe, won’t be the Heisman winner. Although I guess there’s always a possibility Jayden Daniels wins it instead of either of these two. Washington 49 Oregon 38.
Saturday Early
Big XII Championship: #18 Oklahoma State (+14.5) vs. #7 Texas (in Arlington)
Noon
Easily the only game that matters early on. Texas has to win and get quite a bit of help to get into the College Football Playoff. They will know the lay of the land after the Pac-12 Championship, especially if Oregon wins since that will mean a better shot to join the party. Prediction: The Longhorns do what they need to do but will have to wait to see if it is enough. Texas 52 Oklahoma State 27.
MAC Championship: Miami-OH (+7.5) vs. Toledo (in Detroit)
Noon
Well, from the College Football Playoff rankings we now know that Toledo has no chance at the NY6, despite having an 11-1 record. Nothing will allow them to leapfrog Tulane, Liberty or SMU. I would say this is for a trip back to Detroit for the Quick Lane Bowl but even that is in doubt thanks to tie-ins that don’t even tie a conference in to a bowl game. Prediction: Should be close like their regular season matchup. Toledo 24 Miami-OH 20.
Saturday Afternoon
Mountain West Championship: Boise State (-2) at UNLV
3:00
Now that the strange computer rankings saga to figure out who would actually be in the conference championship game is over, we can focus ont the game itself. Really, they are probably playing for a spot in the LA Bowl but who the hell knows. It will be interesting to see how many people are in Allegiant Stadium as it hosts its second conference championship in less than 24 hours. Prediction: This isn’t on the Smurf Turf so you have to give the advantage to the Rebels here. UNLV 41 Boise State 38.
Sun Belt Championship: Appalachian State (+6.5) at Troy
4:00
Where does the winner go? Who the fuck knows anymore. Prediction: I will be thinking about how this would have been a hundred times better if James Madison was hosting Troy. Troy 34 Appalachian State 16.
SEC Championship: #8 Alabama (+5.5) vs. #1 Georgia (in Atlanta)
4:00
Is Georgia in no matter what? Probably although you never know how things will shake out with The Committee. Bama is going to have win this by like 50 to even get a glance from them as they are probably too far out to get their shot. Prediction: This is going to be really close and really good. I just feel it. Georgia 49 Alabama 42.
American Championship: SMU (+4) at #22 Tulane
4:00
Tulane goes back to the NY6 with a win in this one. But what happens if SMU wins? That is where the fun begins (as long as Liberty wins their game on Friday). I still believe that SMU would have to hope Liberty loses since there is no way to pass them but I could be wrong. Prediction: Tulane is heading back to the promised land but it won’t be easy. Tulane 41 SMU 34.
SWAC Championship: Prairie View A&M at Florida A&M
4:00
Florida A&M has been money since joining the SWAC. Honestly, I think Deion Sanders may have been right. Have all the MEAC schools join the SWAC. One huge mega-HBCU-conference. ESPN might not like that though because they have the Celebration Bowl on the opening day of Bowl Season and you know how ESPN is about their bowls. Even with the 12-team playoff they will want to add bowls so that 4-8 Houston can face 4-8 Colorado. Prediction: The Rattlers are going to beat the brakes off of Prairie View and move on to the Celebration Bowl where they will be in an uncomfortably close game with a team that’s not even close to their level in Howard. Like most of the Celebration Bowls. Florida A&M 56 Prairie View A&M 14.
Saturday Primetime
ACC Championship: #14 Louisville (+2.5) vs. #4 Florida State (in Charlotte)
8:00
All the FSU talk is about the loss of Jordan Travis. I get it. With him, you look like a national championship contender. Without him, not so much. Saying that, they know what they have to do. Win. Doesn’t matter how. Just win. And I wondered if they were going to be able to do that against this Cardinals team but after Louisville’s performance against Kentucky, I started to wonder about that. Prediction: The Noles do enough to win. The defense keeps the Cardinals offense at bay. FSU off to the CFP. Florida State 37 Louisville 27.
Big Ten Championship: #16 Iowa (+23) vs. #2 Michigan (in Indianapolis)
8:00
The spread is almost as high as the over/under for Iowa’s game last week against Nebraska. How sad/hilarious is that? Michigan is in with a win and maybe even with a loss depending on what has happened before this point. Prediction: Iowa has survived a lot of games with their defense. They won’t here. This could get ugly. Michigan 44 Iowa 10.
FCS Second Round: Southern Illinois at Idaho
10:00 PM
Hey, an added bonus! Some FCS playoff action! From what I can tell this may be close but we shall see since my FCS knowledge isn’t that great. And despite the fact they are playing in the awesome Kibbie Dome, wouldn’t it have been ten times more hilarious if this were outdoors…in Moscow, Idaho…in December? Oh my. Prediction: Watch this prediction be WAY off. Idaho 38 Southern Illinois 33.
We are almost at the end. It’s college football’s Judgment Day and it’s coming quickly. And we are slowly heading towards bowl season and the end of the college football season. So enjoy the games everyone!
This post is in honour of the new Grey Cup champions, les Montreal Alouettes. Les Montreal Carabins are favoured (heavily, I believe) to win the Vanier Cup this coming weekend. This is shaping up to be the biggest week in Montreal football history. If anyone talks about issues surrounding Canadian football, just tell them to take a look at the province of Quebec where football is thriving more than anywhere else in the country.
Now, to the American version of football. College football to be exact. And this post. I have done this now for the seventh time. It is a serious long post. Reader discretion is strongly advised. I wouldn’t read this in the bathroom unless you have a monster shit coming and are going to be spending a good amount of time in there. So get your favourite drink and let’s go. Who cares what time it is. Time is just a social construct so drink em if you got em!
We start with the conference championship scenarios. Some are stupidly easy to figure out. Some are…less so. Here we go.
It’s a rematch. Miami-Ohio gets their chance at revenge against Toledo at Ford Field.
Another one that is set. Two very different stories here. Undefeated Liberty has to win and get some help to get consideration for the New Year’s Six. New Mexico State, on the other hand, is looking at their best season ever and may be the fan favourite coming into this one.
The Troy Trojans are back in the Sun Belt Championship for the second straight season looking for a second straight conference title. As for the East, well…..
James Madison is not eligible. That much we know. It’s Coastal Carolina that controls its own destiny. If they win, they are in. That’s it. Their opponent? That’s right, James Madison. So it won’t be easy.
If the Chanticleers can’t get it done, it opens up a couple of possibilities:
Appalachian State can now get in after beating James Madison this past Saturday. Win and hope for a Chants loss. That will punch their ticket to Troy.
The other team that can get to the title game? Shockingly, it’s Old Dominion. The Monarchs need to take care of their own business first against Georgia State which also doubles as a bowl-eligibility game for them. Win that and they have to hope for CCU and App State to both lose and they get the spot.
If all three of those teams lose, it’s Coastal’s spot.
Georgia Southern would have been in Old Dominion’s spot if they had beat the Monarchs on Saturday. They are now just playing out the string and then finding out where they will be bowling.
If you had bet that UNLV would control their own destiny going into the final week of the regular season, you would have made a lot of money. No one thought they would be in this spot but here we are. Their path is easy. Beat San Jose State and they don’t just qualify for the Mountain West Championship, they will host it. I could see quite a big crowd at Allegiant Stadium for that one.
Their probable opponent? Well, it will be one of Air Force, Boise State or San Jose State. Fresno State was eliminated after last week’s upset loss to New Mexico. What are the scenarios? Buckle up because it involves composite computer rankings if there are no head-to-head results. Oh boy.
San Jose State beats UNLV and Air Force beats Boise State. There would be a three-way tie between the Spartans, Rebels and Falcons. Chances are we are looking at a SJSU-UNLV rematch in the championship because all three teams are 1-1 against each other. The game would likely be in Las Vegas because the Rebels are way ahead of the other three teams in the rankings. Air Force is the lowest ranked of the four teams.
San Jose State and Boise State win. In this case, it’s probably UNLV-Boise State in the title game. Those two teams did not play each other and Boise is slightly ahead of San Jose State in the rankings.
UNLV and Boise State win. It will be Boise at UNLV. Done and done. The easiest scenario.
If SJSU and the AFA win, chances are it will still be SJSU-UNLV but there’s no guarantee Vegas would host. Also, if the Falcons just absolutely obliterate the Broncos they could move up enough to surpass both the Spartans and Broncos. It is a long shot, though.
Ugh, that’s a lot with only two games in play next week but it makes for high drama for sure. We will know quite a bit by Friday evening as the Falcons and Broncos face off on Black Friday afternoon.
No team has clinched yet but all the teams left with a shot all control their destiny. Easiest to do this in chart form as UTSA faces Tulane in a loser-goes-home game and SMU plays Navy where the Middies have a chance to become bowl-eligible.
UTSA/Tulane
SMU/Navy
Championship Game
Scenario 1
UTSA
Navy
Tulane at UTSA
Scenario 2
UTSA
SMU
UTSA at SMU
Scenario 3
Tulane
Navy
SMU at Tulane
Scenario 4
Tulane
SMU
SMU at Tulane
So really, the Roadrunners have to win to get in. The Green Wave doesn’t have to and neither do the Mustangs. So follow the chart and you can understand what’s going on!
This is pretty easy. For Washington, they are in. So one half of the championship is set. If Oregon wins, they will meet the Huskies in Las Vegas. If they lose the Civil War to Oregon State, then Arizona can get in. Beat rival Arizona State for the Territorial Cup and they would be in thanks to the tiebreaker that would kick in, winning percentage versus common opponents based on order of finish. That first team they would look at? Oregon State. The Wildcats beat OSU earlier this season.
Georgia. Bama. Atlanta.
Third straight easy scenario. Iowa is in. Somehow. And they will face the winner of The Game.
Louisville’s win this past weekend over Miami clinched their spot opposite Florida State in Charlotte. This game has got a lot more interesting now that Jordan Travis is out for the season.
I have saved the best for last (although the Mountain West scenarios are quite something). Four teams still have a shot to go to JerryWorld: Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas State and Oklahoma State. No real surprises there. Because all teams don’t play each other, confusion has set in. Get used to it going forward with even bigger conferences. I still prefer it over divisions where a 6-6 division champ could cause chaos by beating an undefeated division champ. Anyway I have said enough about that over the years so let’s continue.
This is much easier to do it by team since to do it otherwise might take like fourteen paragraphs and confuse everyone, including me, even more.
Clinching Scenarios
Texas is in with a win over Texas Tech OR (a loss AND an Oklahoma State loss) OR (a loss AND an Oklahoma win AND an Oklahoma State win AND a Kansas State win).
Oklahoma State is in with (a win over BYU and a Texas win) OR (a win AND a Texas loss AND a Kansas State loss) OR (a loss AND a Texas win AND an Oklahoma loss) OR (a loss AND an Oklahoma loss AND a Kansas State loss).
Oklahoma is in with a win over TCU AND (an Oklahoma State loss) OR (a Texas loss AND a Kansas State loss).
Kansas State is in with a win over Iowa State AND (an Oklahoma State loss AND an Oklahoma loss) OR (a Texas loss).
So no team is in yet. Texas is in the best spot. I know most fans of the Remaining Eight are praying for an Oklahoma State-Kansas State championship but looking at these scenarios I don’t think that’s possible. I’m just not going to take the time to figure it out.
Let’s continue with this long-ass post with the Bossman Top 26:
#1
Georgia (11-0)
#2
Washington (11-0)
#3
Michigan (11-0)
#4
Oregon (10-1)
#5
Ohio State (10-1)
#6
Florida State (11-0)
#7
Texas (10-1)
#8
Alabama (10-1)
#9
Louisville (10-1)
#10
Missouri (9-2)
#11
Penn State (9-2)
#12
Ole Miss (9-2)
#13
LSU (8-3)
#14
Arizona (8-3)
#15
Oklahoma (9-2)
#16
Oregon State (8-3)
#17
Notre Dame (8-3)
#18
Tulane (10-1)
#19
Oklahoma State (8-3)
#20
Iowa (9-2)
#21
Kansas State (8-3)
#22
Utah (7-4)
#23
Liberty (11-0)
#24
NC State (8-3)
#25
Toledo (10-1)
#26
Kansas (7-4)
My top three control their own destiny for the College Football Playoff. Win next week, then win your conference championship. Done. Florida State should be in the same boat but we know how The Committee feels about big time injuries. This injury to Jordan Travis could end up feeling like the Dennis Dixon injury for Oregon back in 2007 if the Noles falter to Florida. I still think we are in for a bit of chaos for the final four-team playoff. We’re due right? There’s been like no chaos all season. Sure there are some weird results like UMass beating New Mexico State or Louisville falling to Pitt but really it’s been smooth sailing for the top teams. We need this. Give us something. Please!
OK now we get to the good stuff. Not that the stuff before this hasn’t been good. So…the better stuff? Sure, why not. Bowl projections. Let’s go.
Sugar Bowl
CFP #1 vs. CFP #4
Georgia vs. Texas
Rose Bowl
CFP #2 vs. CFP #3
Washington vs. Michigan
I have done a few changes here. Sure, nothing really happened this past weekend but the Jordan Travis injury…it’s got me thinking for sure. I think the Big XII could end up being the beneficiary if things don’t go the Seminoles’ way their next two games. I have Texas winning the Big XII Championship so they would sneak into the final spot. That won’t cause too much controversy, right? So what does this mean for the New Year’s Six?
Fiesta Bowl
CFP at-large vs. CFP at-large/G-5 #1
Oregon vs. Penn State
Orange Bowl
ACC Champ vs. Big Ten/Notre Dame/SEC
Louisville vs. Ohio State
Peach Bowl
CFP at-large vs. CFP at-large/G-5 #1
Florida State vs. Alabama
Cotton Bowl
CFP at-large vs. CFP at-large/G-5 #1
Missouri vs. Tulane
Some changes. Nothing super crazy but let’s figure this out.
The easiest one is seeing FSU here. This means that they must lose the ACC Championship to Louisville. That would also mean the Cardinals get the Orange Bowl spot. That doesn’t change from my last set of bowl projections but it means they truly earned it this time around. I have them being the first team out, so to speak, so I am sure many in that area of the country will be mighty pissed off.
Obviously my Memphis selection, for one week, was dumb. So now I have Tulane back in a familiar spot. But now I have them facing off against Missouri in the Cotton Bowl. The Tigers have almost guaranteed themselves a spot in the NY6 as long as they can take care of business on Black Friday against a woeful Arkansas team.
The rest is pretty much the same. We will know a lot more even after this Friday’s games so expect some of these selections to almost be set in stone or be drastically changed.
Finally, let’s get to the gong show portion of our show with the rest of the bowl projections. You’d think with all these tie-ins it would be much easier to project but some of these bowls don’t even follow them. I’m always an advocate for more at-large spots so I say they should go that route starting next season, especially since there’s a chance some of these bowls won’t exist with the new 12-team playoff.
Citrus Bowl
SEC vs. Big Ten
Ole Miss vs. Iowa
ReliaQuest Bowl
SEC vs. Big Ten
LSU vs. Wisconsin
Arizona Bowl
MWC vs. MAC
Boise State vs. Ohio
Music City Bowl
SEC vs. Big Ten
Auburn vs. Northwestern
Liberty Bowl
SEC vs. Big XII
Tennessee vs. Kansas
Sun Bowl
ACC vs. Pac-12
Boston College vs. USC
Gator Bowl
SEC vs. ACC
Texas A&M vs. Notre Dame
Alamo Bowl
Big XII vs. Pac-12
Kansas State vs. Arizona
Pop Tarts Bowl
ACC vs. Big XII
North Carolina vs. Oklahoma State
Pinstripe Bowl
Big Ten vs. ACC
Illinois vs. NC State
Fenway Bowl
2 of ACC/AAC/C-USA
Georgia Tech vs. Memphis
Texas Bowl
SEC vs. Big XII
Kentucky vs. Oklahoma
Holiday Bowl
ACC vs. Pac-12
Clemson vs. Oregon State
Duke’s Mayo Bowl
SEC vs. ACC
UCF vs. Duke
Military Bowl
ACC vs. AAC
Syracuse vs. UTSA
Guaranteed Rate Bowl
2 of Big Ten/Big XII/MWC
Minnesota vs. Iowa State
First Responder Bowl
2 of ACC/Big XII/AAC/Sun Belt/C-USA
Texas Tech vs. Appalachian State
Quick Lane Bowl
Big Ten vs. MAC
Rutgers vs. Toledo
Hawaii Bowl
AAC vs. MWC
Rice vs. Fresno State
Las Vegas Bowl
Big Ten vs. Pac-12
Maryland vs. Utah
68 Ventures Bowl
2 of Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC
Troy vs. Liberty
Idaho Potato Bowl
2 of MWC/MAC/Sun Belt
Air Force vs. Texas State
Armed Forces Bowl
Big XII vs. C-USA
TCU vs. Jacksonville State
Birmingham Bowl
2 of SEC/ACC/AAC/C-USA
BYU vs. James Madison
Camellia Bowl
2 of Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC
Arkansas State vs. Northern Illinois
Gasparilla Bowl
2 of SEC/ACC/AAC/C-USA
Miami vs. Army
Boca Raton Bowl
2 of AAC/Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC
Coastal Carolina vs. Bowling Green
Frisco Bowl
2 of AAC/Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC
Marshall vs. San Jose State
Famous Toastery Bowl
MAC vs. C-USA
Miami-OH vs. WKU
Independence Bowl
Big XII vs. AAC
West Virginia vs. SMU
LA Bowl
Pac-12 vs. MWC
UCLA vs. UNLV
New Mexico Bowl
2 of Group of Five
Utah State vs. Louisiana
Cure Bowl
2 of AAC/Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC
Georgia State vs. Wyoming
New Orleans Bowl
Sun Belt vs. C-USA
South Alabama vs. New Mexico State
Myrtle Beach Bowl
2 of AAC/Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC
Georgia Southern vs. Mississippi State
A few notes for your perusal which you may or may not read after all you’ve had to read up to this point:
James Madison and Jacksonville State are getting closer to being locks for bowl games. It would take the wildest of scenarios for there not to be bowl slots for both teams. Now watch it happen, which would suck for both teams.
I decided to forget the asterisks. What’s the point. If they bowl committees won’t follow their tie-ins I will only follow them until I can’t. Which leads me to…
I have a better idea about APR ratings now. That is why you will see a team like Mississippi State (who I don’t think will win the Egg Bowl) in a bowl slot in my bowl projections. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were multiple 5-7 teams in but for now, I have one. Army, at 6-6, will get in before Mississippi State even with their two FCS wins. They would be slotted after JMU and Jax State as far as I know.
You will notice most of my projections have changed from the previous week. I saw a few rumours online that showed up with multiple Twitter/X accounts and figured there might be some realness to them. So I had to move a few teams around. And once you do that, you almost end up rewriting the whole damn thing. Oh well.
Finally, you will notice something called the Famous Toastery Bowl has popped up. It is replacing the Bahamas Bowl and will be played in Charlotte. Supposedly it’s a good breakfast spot. Whatever.
I can’t add anything more to the bowl projections at this point. Eastern Michigan will have their chance to clinch bowl eligibility tomorrow night against Buffalo in the final night of MACtion this season and the final night of almost two months of football every day. What a ride it’s been. I hope you cherished it. I know I did. Not saying I saw every game but I tried my best to watch most weeknights and would keep watching until it felt like the games were well in hand (which almost bit me in the ass a couple of times and did finally bite me in the ass with Colorado allowing Stanford to come back in that wild one last month). Every Saturday night I was in for the long haul so no worries there. It’s the final regular season week of the season. Get in as much viewing as you can. I don’t try to push people to cancel other plans on other Saturdays. You can always catch highlights and sometimes these other plans are quite important. Like the tongue-in-cheek ban on Fall weddings is a little over the top. I wouldn’t even abide by that. But this is the final week of the regular season so I would try my best to keep the Saturday (and even the Black Friday) clear so I can soak in the college football goodness. Enjoy the rest of your week, everyone!
Yeah it’s that time of the year. The coaching carousel has begun! And what I am going to do this time around is actually compare it to my start-of-the-year predictions. I mean what could go wrong, right?
Let’s look at who has already been shown the door. Jimbo Fisher, Andy Avalos, Zach Arnett and now soon-to-be-retired Brady Hoke…none of who were on my list. Great start, Bossman. Mel Tucker was on my list in the Doubtful Shitcanning section although even I couldn’t think that the way he went out would be the way he went out. What a fucking perv. As for who is currently on the hot seat and was on my list?
Neal Brown. Now Neal probably just has to win one of his final two games to secure his job for next season. Lose both those games and end up 6-6? That would be an interesting conversation.
Dana Holgorsen. You can give them a bit of slack as they stepped up their competition by joining the Big XII. But Drunk Uncle Dana has been a hot seat regular for a while now and at some point he’s either got to prove he’s still the guy or find a coordinator position somewhere.
Danny Gonzales. One of the toughest places to be an FBS head coach, Gonzales probably would have been safe for another year. But with New Mexico State doing so well, some in the New Mexico athletic department might wonder if they should try someone else at the helm.
Tom Allen. It’s pretty damn obvious now that the 2020 season was an anomaly and that the Hoosiers are barely treading water with Allen. I doubt he makes it to 2024.
I really don’t want to talk much about certain coaches appearing my list. Guys like Jeff Hafley or Scot Loeffler or Shawn Elliott or Greg Schiano or Brent Pry or Mike Bloomgren and definitely not Eliah Drinkwitz. Nope. Got nothing. So let’s just move on and stop talking about my hot seat list, ALRIGHT ALREADY?
Ok calm down Bossman. Time to give the people what they want: hot, nasty college football TV schedules for Canadians who enjoy watching college football on their television sets.
Tuesday
US
Canada
Akron at Eastern Michigan
7:00
Toledo at Bowling Green
7:00
Western Michigan at Northern Illinois
7:00
Toledo has already clinched a spot in the MAC Championship. Now we are looking at bowl eligibility battles. Eastern Michigan has to beat the Zips to stay alive for a bowl game. And the WMU-NIU game is a Loser Won’t Go Bowling matchup. Big stakes on MACtion Tuesday.
Wednesday
US
Canada
Buffalo at Miami-OH
7:00
Central Michigan at Ohio
7:00
The Redhawks clinch the MAC East with a victory here and will get their rematch with Toledo in Detroit in December. And the Chippewas become bowl-eligible if they can somehow beat Ohio. Another important MACtion evening.
Thursday
US
Canada
Boston College at Pittsburgh
7:00
Yeah this is about as unimportant a weeknight slate as you can get. One game. No stakes. Meh.
Friday
US
Canada
USF at UTSA
9:00
This, on the other hand, is a much more important night. Both teams with a lot to play for and USF is definitely not the USF of recent years (as we could see from their near-upset of Alabama earlier in the season).
Saturday Early
US
Canada
#10 Louisville at Miami
Noon
Michigan State at Indiana
Noon
Purdue at Northwestern
Noon
Coastal Carolina at Army
Noon
#14 Oklahoma at BYU
Noon
Chattanooga at #8 Alabama
Noon
East Carolina at Navy
Noon
SMU at Memphis
Noon
Harvard at Yale
Noon
#3 Michigan at Maryland
Noon
ULM at #13 Ole Miss
Noon
A pretty heavy early slate with two ESPN+ games appearing on TSN+. I can see that being a feature all next season. As for the important games in this window I count one big one. The Mustangs and Tigers face off in a matchup that essentially eliminates the loser but doesn’t automatically guarantee the winner a spot in the American Championship. Everything else is kind of meh, although the Sooners could keep up their hopes of one final Big XII Championship appearance in JerryWorld. Finally, the annual Harvard-Yale game appears in this timeslot as per usual.
Saturday Afternoon
US
Canada
#22 Utah at #17 Arizona
2:30
Duke at Virginia
3:00
UCLA at USC
3:30
NC State at Virginia Tech
3:30
#1 Georgia at #18 Tennessee
3:30
UNLV at Air Force
3:30
#20 North Carolina at Clemson
3:30
Bethune-Cookman vs. Florida A&M (in Orlando)
3:30
Wake Forest at #19 Notre Dame
3:30
Louisiana at Troy
3:30
Minnesota at #2 Ohio State
4:00
#23 Oklahoma State at Houston
4:00
#6 Oregon at Arizona State
4:00
New Mexico State at Auburn
4:00
UGA-UT is the big one, obviously, here. A lot of other choice with a lot of other teams looking to stay near the top of the rankings. Oregon, tOSU, and Utah are in must-win mode if they want to keep any CFP or even NY6 possibilities alive. Also, the Rebels of Nevada-Las Vegas play in what could be considered the biggest football game in school history. A win here and they all but clinch a spot in the conference title game. And this is something I never thought of. If UNLV is the #1 team, will they play at home? That game would be about 16 hours after the end of the Pac-12 Championship which is already being played at Allegiant Stadium (which I think is a dumb idea but that’s for another post). So the turnaround would be crazy for the stadium crew.
Saturday Primetime
US
Canada
North Alabama at #4 Florida State
6:30
California at Stanford
6:30
Boise State at Utah State
7:00
#5 Washington at #11 Oregon State
7:30
Florida at #9 Missouri
7:30
FIU at Arkansas
7:30
Nebraska at Wisconsin
7:30
Kentucky at South Carolina
7:30
Syracuse at Georgia Tech
8:00
Georgia State at #15 LSU
8:00
#7 Texas at Iowa State
8:00
Speaking of big games, U-Dub has to try and win in one of the toughest small stadiums to win in, Reser Stadium in Corvallis. Lose and the Pac-12 is all but done in the College Football Playoff race and it opens up a bevy of possibilities to replace the Huskies at the top. The Longhorns are trying to do what the Sooners are also trying to do: give the Big XII one last Fuck You before leaving for the SEC by playing for their conference championship. And finally, you are not seeing things. It is true. A god damn CW DOUBLEHEADER! I hate to admit that the CW has delivered but it has. It has had some great games which has made up for some sub-par production values.
Saturday Late Night
US
Canada
San Diego State at San Jose State
10:30
Yeah. You could probably go to bed early if you wanted.
Hey, Watch This
Washington at Oregon State (7:30, ABC/TSN2) – I think it’s been a long time since the Beavers have been in the Game of the Week. And I would honestly call this Game 1A since you could easily switch it with the next game on this list and no one would bat an eye. I just think this game has the possibility of being much closer than the other one. The Huskies put themselves in the Pac-12 Championship with a win in Corvallis but Oregon State could put the entire college football world on its head if they pull off the upset.
Georgia at Tennessee (3:30, CBS) – One of the final SEC on CBS games ever and it’s a huge one. If this game was Between the Hedges it wouldn’t be this high. But this game is on the shores of the Tennessee River and it will be one of the loudest Neyland Stadium crowds in recent memory. Another game where an upset is not crazy talk and it would also cause absolute chaos at the top of the college football food chain.
Utah at Arizona (2:30, Pac-12 Network) – Jesus Christ who made the call to get this game on the fucking Pac-12 Network? Well at least us Canadians have an easy time of getting it. Hop on YouTube and search for the Pac-12 Network channel and you’re good to go. Americans…well, they have a much tougher time if it’s not a part of their cable package. What a dumb network. Anyway, both teams have outside chances of getting to the Pac-12 Championship but they would need a lot to happen. A win here isn’t enough. Also, you have to be impressed with the job Jedd Fisch has done in Tucson. This team could be a force in the expanded Big XII next season.
Kansas State at Kansas (7:00, FOX Sports One) – Man, you know it’s kind of a fucked week when two of the top four games are on the Pac-12 Network and FS1. So yeah, can’t see this one if you are a Canadian unless you have other means. I have IPTV. There are also many streams out there to watch. Go find one. Shouldn’t be too hard. Plus, this should be the best Sunflower Showdown maybe ever. Has there been one where both teams were ranked? I don’t think so. Plus, the Wildcats have extra incentive here as they have an outside shot at spoiling a potential Texas-Oklahoma conference championship if they can win here.
Sickos Game of the Week
Michigan State at Indiana (Noon, Big Ten Network) – There are quite a few options for this spot but I will give it to a Big Ten game for once. Here are two terrible teams who will probably have a terrible game that will somehow be close near the end. Think 13-10 which means you almost have to watch because the finish could be spectacular. I almost feel dirty watching games like that.
Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week
Chattanooga at Alabama (Noon, TSN+) – Once I saw TSN+ was showing this game I knew which game would go in this section. This will be over by halftime. The question is how long does Nick Saban leave Jalen Milroe in.
Wanna Bet?
How about we look back at my picks from last week………..alright, maybe not. I mean I got my first upset pick right with Southern Miss and then it went downhill from there. Stupid Penn State. Anyway, let’s get going with this week’s pickaroos…that sounded dumb.
Miami-OH 31 Buffalo 28
Michigan 42 Maryland 10
Ole Miss 48 ULM 20
Utah 40 Arizona 19
Duke 38 Virginia 24
Tennessee 31 Georgia 27 (yes, I am calling this massive upset)
USC 36 UCLA 26
Ohio State 51 Minnesota 16
Oregon 59 Arizona State 24
South Carolina 42 Kentucky 37
Oregon State 46 Washington 35 (yep, going out on a limb again)
Missouri 41 Florida 20
San Jose State 34 San Diego State 28
Look, normally I am up into the wee hours of the morning watching college football. And I rarely miss games. Well, rarely miss full ones. But I am looking at the Saturday late night sked and asking myself “Bossman, do you really need to watch this game?” The answer is obviously no but I have to convince my brain that that is the correct answer. We shall see how it goes this Saturday. Enjoy the games everyone!
OK more like a bunch of little somethings but really they don’t all amount to much (don’t get mad at me for that comment).
The plethora of college football posts (and NFL posts) coming from yours truly are coming soon and they will come in hot and heavy. Until that time (which is still a few weeks away) I figured I should fill the time with another post. But what to post about? How about all sorts of other football-related stuff that doesn’t really warrant a full post. Maybe I can even dip back to the time when I said I should become football commissioner (still waiting for the call from….well, I don’t know since that whole thing doesn’t exist).
I know this isn’t the current XFL logo but whatever. Actually, I could have just put a pic of The Rock and you would know exactly what I was going to talk about.
I have to admit…the XFL was pretty fun to watch most of the time. Sure there were times you could tell this wasn’t NFL caliber (and maybe not even FBS caliber) but it’s minor league football and you had to expect some growing pains. They had a good TV contract although sometimes it was tough to figure out where and when the games were on. And you had the Beer Snake in D.C. How can you beat that?
I will say most of the franchises did OK. Well enough to warrant another season. Two teams I wouldn’t bother with are Vegas and Orlando. Watching games in Vegas was painful. The field they played at was awful and if they can’t get Allegiant Stadium for at least one of their games, move them. I hear San Diego is clamoring for football. As for Orlando, they just didn’t draw. And the Citrus Bowl (or whatever the fuck it’s called now) is pretty damn big so it looks horrible when only 9,000 fans show up in a 65,000 seat stadium. I’d move them to a place that really has nothing much going on in terms of outdoor pro sports and see what happens. Mobile has a pretty nice sized stadium. Same with the Cramton Bowl in Montgomery. Hell, almost anywhere in Alabama (or even Mississippi) might work. Or…..send them to Kibbie Dome. Guaranteed sellouts!
Now there is no plans to expand which is probably a good thing. Especially since the USFL looks like it will return, despite the fact it looks completely bush league. I get the telecast quality is good but that’s all the networks (and the USFL has a good set of TV contracts). The empty seats are SERIOUSLY jarring to the eyes. Next year will be the true prove-it year: all teams will play in their home stadiums. If they can’t draw at that point then they might shut its doors. At that point, that’s when the XFL should seriously look at expanding and becoming the true minor league of football.
The CFL season is almost upon us. Well, the preseason has started but you know my thoughts on preseason anything. Hell, I looked at getting preseason Buffalo Bills tickets since it used to be a cheap way to watch an NFL game live. Nope. Not anymore. I just can’t justify paying these ticket prices for a lot of things. Maybe that’s just another way of saying I’m poor. Anyway, opening day is June 8th, right around the corner.
So let’s see if the CFL has even remotely decided to look at some of my ideas to make the CFL better. Eliminating the rouge on punts? Nope. Getting rid of the salary cap? Sounds like a few teams are over, including the fucking Ottawa Redblacks. How? How are you that bad and over any salary cap in any league? They should fire everyone in the front office. Everyone. Even the janitor. Expansion? Well, Schooners Sports and Entertainment has, for now, abandoned their journey to bring a CFL team to the East coast. Which means we are back to square one. And I am sure they won’t even look into American expansion despite the fact they should.
One more thing that should happen but won’t: they need to get a game every week on a network that is not TSN. Sure, TSN, for a few years, basically propped up the league. But now, it is sometimes painful to watch a TSN telecast of a CFL game. Why not go back to CBC? Or try something new. CTV? I know they showed the CFN games back in the day but maybe see what they can provide. Global? That would be crazy but hey, maybe it would work. Omni? No. Let’s not get stupid here.
Anyway, I will watch some of the games for sure until college football and the NFL start. Then they take a back seat to both. Or more like the trunk of an SUV. You can still see them but they are far back in the car.
Simon Fraser decided to leave the Lone Star Conference and drop football. Or was it that the LSC dropped Simon Fraser and then the Clansmen/Clan/Red Leafs/Whatevers dropped football? The reality is that SFU decided against playing a lame duck football season in the Lone Star Conference and why not. Their old conference, the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, stopped sponsoring football so SFU and the two other GNAC teams remaining (Central Washington and Western Oregon) were picked up by the LSC so that they wouldn’t have to go Independent. Well unlike USC and UCLA playing in the Big Ten, these three schools really can’t afford the kind of travel that would have faced them.
What does this all have to do with U Sports? Well, some are saying SFU should start their football program up again and join the Canada West conference and get back to playing Canadian football. The athletic department seemingly wants nothing to do with it. This is upsetting the current players and many alumni. I mean these are the same alumni who probably didn’t support the team at all when they couldn’t fill a 3,000 seat stadium to watch this team when they competed at the Division II level but I digress.
The rest of Simon Fraser’s teams are still in the GNAC and seem to be comfortable there. OK, comfortable might be a stretch considering some of the issues with Simon Fraser athletics, namely the women’s soccer team being a gongshow and their athletic director sounding like a completely lazy fucker. But sure…comfortable. They really don’t want to move those teams unless they have to. I do believe, though, that SFU would be a good fit for the CWUAA and it’s never a bad thing to have another football program in U Sports since it’s not like there are a ton of them.
Are we sneaking up on a smidge of realignment or getting on a fucking jet on flying at supersonic speed and slamming straight into realignment armageddon? I guess it depends on who you listen to. Some say we may see a bit of movement over the next year or two but that nothing major will happen to close to the end of this decade at the earliest. Then there are others who have the Pac-12 completely collapsing and college football heading towards a Power 2 of the SEC and the Big Ten with a third conference holding the majority of the rest of the current power conference teams. Me? I just want the damn season to start.
Well now that much of the first three weeks of the schedule has come out for college football (and parts of the rest of the schedule), I can start piecing everything together and doing the normal posts that I started doing last year. Long posts but chock-full of great info. We are 86 days away from the start of the college football season. Soon enough it will be here but don’t waste your summer counting down the days…or do. I don’t care, do what you want. Have a great rest of the week!
After last year, doing these scheduling posts was a lot easier. Last year, everything was fucked with all the changes to the schedule due to COVID. So when something weird happens (with the schedules, not with the actual football because all of it has been weird this year), I wonder what the reason is for it.
Which brings me to conference championship week. In a normal season, the ten FBS conferences have their conference championship games and that’s it. We also get to hear a lot of chatter that we don’t want about the College Football Playoff. This time around we have an eleventh game. One game was postponed this year. There were issues a few weeks ago in Cal’s program which meant their game against USC could not be played. I, along with many others, thought the game would just be cancelled or a forfeit for USC. Instead, this game was rescheduled for this coming Saturday. Which, going into last week’s games, made a lot of sense. If Cal and USC both won this past Saturday, it would have been a battle for bowl eligibility. Instead both teams lost. Now we have a pointless game between two 4-7 teams at 11 AT NIGHT on FOX Sports One. Why? I mean I love watching college football but this may be too much for me…………………………………………………………OK I’m sure I’ll watch at least a few minutes of it.
Annnnnnnnnnnyway let’s get to the week’s schedule:
Friday
Conference USA Championship: Western Kentucky at UTSA
7:00 PM
CBS Sports Network has decided to put this game on Friday night rather than in a weird spot on Saturday. Honestly. either strategy is good and I’m glad CBSSN thinks of these things, unlike ESPN who feels like they sometimes just use a roulette wheel to figure out what games are on when and on what channel. It’ll be interesting to see the Roadrunners, now no longer undefeated, dealing with Bailey Zappe, a guy who might be tailor-made for the CFL.
Pac-12 Championship: #10 Oregon vs. #17 Utah
8:00 PM
Alright at least the Pac-12 got it right by moving this game to Allegiant Stadium. I still find it odd it starts before 7:00 on a weeknight. I’m guessing with a new commissioner that could change in the future. Anyway, this is a rematch of Utah’s pretty easy victory over the Ducks a couple weeks ago. Neither team is up for the College Football Playoff so this is all for the Rose Bowl spot. The loser is most definitely not in the New Year’s Six so this is huge for both programs.
Saturday Early
Big XII Championship: #9 Baylor vs. #5 Oklahoma State
Noon
Only two early games and this is the big one which will get pretty much all the viewers. If Oklahoma State wins, they are pretty much a lock for the CFP. Baylor won’t have a chance being down at #9 so they are looking at getting that Sugar Bowl spot with a win here. Even if the Bears lose, they might stay high enough in the rankings to go to the Sugar as they would take the best Big XII team after the Pokes.
UPDATE: This game is also appearing on TSN4.
MAC Championship: Kent State vs. Northern Illinois
Noon
Kent State kind of came out of nowhere and had a great finish to their season to nab the MAC East in a season where it felt like no one wanted to win the division. As for the Huskies, let’s give them credit: the MAC West was amazing this year. Every team in the division is bowl-eligible so to win the division before the final weekend is a great turnaround for the program. Thomas Hammock did an incredible job and may be up for another coaching spot since it seems like every fourth FBS team has an opening. If it’s like most MAC title games, this should be an awesome game.
UPDATE #2: As I stated above in the first update, TSN4 is no longer showing the MAC Championship.
Saturday Afternoon
Mountain West Championship: Utah State at #19 San Diego State
3:00 PM
Looks weird to not see Boise State in this game. I like the fact that the Aggies had a great season and Boise is nowhere to be found. Honestly, this game doesn’t mean a whole lot as SDSU cannot get into the New Year’s Six even if they beat USU by 70.
Sun Belt Championship: Appalachian State at #24 Louisiana
3:30 PM
This is the third Sun Belt Championship (since last year’s was cancelled). And, lo and behold, it’s the same two teams that were in the first two. It almost feels like Coastal Carolina was a small blip on the radar and now it’s “back to normal.” I assume that will change with the new members joining. At least this year the game is in Lafayette so we get to see a different venue.
AAC Championship: #21 Houston at #4 Cincinnati
4:00 PM
From what CFP Chairman Gary Barta said, if the Bearcats win this one it’s almost a guarantee they are in the Top 4 come Sunday. That’s the good news. If Drunk Uncle Dana and his Cougar Crew somehow pull this off, it probably puts the Bearcats in the Peach Bowl. It might make it easier for Luke Fickell to take another head coaching job if that happens.
SEC Championship: #1 Georgia vs. #3 Alabama
4:00 PM
Georgia is in no matter what. Saying that, a UGA win more than likely pushes the Tide down into the New Year’s Six. Cincinnati’s worst nightmare would be Bama beating Georgia (and also Oklahoma State and Michigan winning).
SWAC Championship: Prairie View A&M at Jackson State
4:00 PM
Hey, the SWAC Championship. Remember this game? Well, when it’s good, it’s good. I do enjoy some SWAC football. It’s a nice change of pace although they still sometimes get big crowds as well. Many are thinking it will be the first part of the Deion Sanders coronation for making Jackson State the team it is now (I’d say easily the best HBCU football team out there and one of the better FCS squads). I wonder if Sanders will be poached for an FBS job with so many of them out there. I’m sure this won’t come up more than a dozen times during this telecast.
Saturday Primetime
ACC Championship: #15 Pittsburgh vs. #16 Wake Forest
8:00 PM
This is probably the most interesting conference championship game. No Clemson which does breathe a bit of fresh air into this game. It’s pretty cut-and-dry here what the stakes are: the winner will most likely head to the Peach Bowl with the loser going to one of the other bowls with an ACC tie-in.
Big Ten Championship: #2 Michigan vs. #13 Iowa
8:00 PM
Michigan is coming off their biggest win in over a decade. Who knows what Iowa team will show up. The one that looked damn good early on in the season? Or the one that struggled against Purdue? The Wolverines still need to win this one to assure their spot in the College Football Playoff. Iowa is playing for a Rose Bowl berth.
Wanna bet?
My second-last betting section of the season since I don’t do one for the Army-Navy week (I would bet Army if I were you). As is the case in most years, I do not bad with my picks throughout the season but I don’t know how much money I would have made (or lost) and I don’t want to find out. It’s easy when you don’t have a lot of money to bet in the first place. Alright let’s just get to the conference championship picks:
UTSA over Western Kentucky
Oregon over Utah
Baylor over Oklahoma State
Kent State over Northern Illinois
San Diego State over Utah State
Louisiana over Appalachian State
Cincinnati over Houston
Georgia over Alabama
Jackson State over Prairie View A&M
Wake Forest over Pittsburgh
Michigan over Iowa
And a bonus one! USC over California in the Who Fucking Cares Bowl.
Hey, we’re nearing the end of this crazy season! Will we finally see Cincinnati break through for the Group of Five? Will Michigan exorcise the demons of the past, well, quite a few years and get into the Top 4? And will Alabama win the SEC Championship and put a wrench in a lot of teams’ possibilities? It should be a wild weekend and I am looking forward to it.
Enjoy the games everyone and have a great hump day!
Did you watch that Monday Night Football game between the Ravens and the Raiders? Man, what an absolutely crazy game! Fun to watch, which is starting to become somewhat of a staple of MNF again. You can count on at least a few great games for a game that started to become not really important and filled with normally crappy teams. It did help that you had the first NFL game at Allegiant Stadium with fans. That place was noisy from the time Bruce Buffer pumped the fans up to the final touchdown in overtime that (finally) ended the game after a close call and some supremely Raider-esque football that almost cost them.
For the most part it was a good start to the season, even for some of the teams that lost. The Lions almost completed a crazy comeback which they really shouldn’t had to do in the first place. The Dolphins beat the Pats but really the Pats played poorly enough to cost themselves at the end with a turnover. I was hoping for a good start for the Bills but they played three quarters of decent football and one quarter of poor football, really. Joe Burrow’s return sparked a victory on the final play of overtime over the Vikings even though many were probably hoping for a tie at that point. Overall, though, good. Nice to see the NFL back. We missed you. I missed you…..let’s just get to the schedule before I have to wipe the tears away.
Northern Ontario, Kitchener, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal
Atlantic
Minnesota at Arizona
Minneapolis
Atlanta at Tampa Bay
Burlington, Boston
TSN1, TSN3, TSN4, TSN5*
Sunday/Monday Primetime
Kansas City at Baltimore
Sunday, 8:15, NBC, TSN 1*/3/4/5, CTV Two
Detroit at Green Bay
Monday, 8:15, TSN 1/3/4/5
Some Notes
You will notice asterisks on the schedule this week. Yes, these are new. Yes, I will explain them. Two different games have asterisks beside a TSN schedule. For the Falcons-Bucs game, the game will start to appear on TSN5 after horse racing from Woodbine is done, so sometime around 6:00. As for the Sunday nighter, the Chiefs-Ravens game will be joined in progress on TSN1 at about 11:00…when it’s almost done. They have to wait for the MLS game to be completed first. Why the hell don’t they just go to Sportscentre at that point?
Very interesting that Raiders-Steelers gets the most viewers early on. Oh wait, looking at the CBS early schedule it makes perfect sense.
CROSS-FLEX! Cross-flex haters will be pretty pissed off at this week since it’s a bit insane and honestly, I’m good with it. Two AFC games have gone to FOX with one NFC game going back to CBS. This should mean that another NFC game will move to CBS at some point later in the season. I mean it all has to even out in the end, right? Anyway, the Bills and Dolphins are on FOX together for the first time ever I believe. I can hear the complaints now as Bills Mafia members put other Bills Mafia members through tables possibly in anger this time at this.
The early audience misses four games. And, really, other than the Saints and Panthers which could be quite interesting, we’re not missing much. I will say I can understand why people get RedZone as I also get it now. I love flipping channels all day on Saturdays for college football and would gladly do it on Sunday as well. RedZone does it for me which I am sure my remote control is thankful for.
For Monday Night Football there will, again, be two different broadcasts. One is the normal broadcast that ESPN does. The other one is the ManningCast. Peyton and Eli Manning (and sometimes a guest) analyze the game as it is going on. Honestly, for the Week 1 game, I liked it. I always find it very interesting to hear these old pros pick apart games that normally don’t (and probably can’t) happen during a normal broadcast. It’s kind of like the Coaches Room they did a few times for high profile college football games. Hearing them analyze a game was fantastic and educational as well. You learn about things you didn’t even know about. I can understand why some may not like it because they sometimes talk over a play if they are continuing analysis or a story but for the most part, I think it flows quite well. Anyway, you can see this version on TSN3.
Week 2 schedule complete. Compared to college football, there has been a whole lot less drama in the NFL so far. This seems to be becoming a trend. But it also means that later on in the season something will happen that will boggle the mind and you’ll think (or openly say) “Only in the NFL.” Anyway, enjoy all the games!
This is going to be a very interesting season in college football as it pertains to the college football coaching hot seat list.
Last year was an aberration, obviously. There are many programs that normally would have thought on pulling the trigger and ending their ties with their head coach. COVID-19 changed that. And we’re not out of the woods with all this pandemic shit. Saying that, 2021 is different. We are slowly getting back to normal, or at least what the new normal will look like. And the college football world is no different. Hey, look, realignment issues! The new NIL legislation! We are back to offseason craziness in the world of, let’s still call it amateur athletics. Which means some coaches are back to squarely being on the hot seat. Not good for them. Incredibly exciting for the (sometimes) bloodthirsty college football media. So let’s do this!
IT’S HOT SEAT TIME, GUYS! Got to give myself some credit: this list is somewhat accurate. That’s the history of this post. And I am hoping it continues since accuracy with predictions isn’t exactly my strong suit. Please don’t go back to previous posts to test this theory.
Let’s get to the damn list! Like every year, this is ordered from most likely to be fired to most likely to keep their job:
Almost Guaranteed Shitcanning
Jeff Brohm (Purdue) – It feels like a decade ago since the Boilermakers’ upset of Ohio State. It was actually in 2018. Since then it has been pretty much a disaster in West Lafayette. And I don’t really see any sign of improvement. Needed to keep his job – Going into the final two weeks of the season with a chance at bowl eligibility. Prediction – He won’t make it to the end of the season as Purdue will limp to a 3-win season.
Walt Bell (UMass) – It wasn’t like this in Tallahassee. Honestly, I don’t think anyone would have done a good job at this school since, well since they moved up from FCS. Needed to keep his job – Play at least one meaningful November game. Prediction – He may quit before he’s fired. Nah, he’s a college football coach. He’ll be fired before he even thinks of quitting. And fired he will be at some point in November.
Scot Loeffler (Bowling Green) – Bowling Green really isn’t historically bad. And I am sure they have never had a horrible run like this. Scotty has not done anything of note here so it’s time to move on. Quite an easy move. Also, never trust a guy who spells his first name like that. Needed to keep his job – At least three wins with one over a good MAC team. Prediction – I honestly can’t see the Falcons winning any games this season. They are easily the worst team in the MAC right now, quite a ways below Akron who is also pretty shitty.
Dino Babers (Syracuse) – It’s been a long time since so much hope was dashed so fast in Western New York. It’s been mostly bad since joining the ACC (at least in football). But this is the worst stretch they’ve had and that’s after things looked so good early on. I can’t see Babers recovering from recent performances by the Orange. Needed to keep his job – Syracuse to look halfway competitive in the ACC. Prediction – Could very well be gone before the end of the season.
Rick Stockstill (Middle Tennessee) – This is a tough one. I don’t really like the guy, especially since all the shit his team pulled in their bowl game with Navy a few years back. But he has been in Murfreesboro for so long it feels like he will retire before he gets shitcanned. I think the shine has finally come off as the Blue Raiders are struggling with no sign of real improvement. Needed to keep his job – Bowl eligibility, plain and simple. Prediction – Stockstill might be one of those few coaches who resigns before they are fired. Mostly out of pride. And yes, I believe Stockstill will be fired but maybe not until after the regular season is complete.
Probable Shitcanning
Chip Lindsey (Troy) – Troy hasn’t had a string this bad for a while. I’m sounding like a broken record here. Not saying Lindsey was a hyped coaching hire but Troy was always one of the better Sun Belt teams. Now? Not so much. Expect an interesting decision by the end of the season. Needed to keep his job – Bowl eligibility and the look of a program on the rise again in the Sun Belt. Prediction – Four wins and a very good chance that he’s looking for another job come December.
Randy Edsall (UConn) – UConn has struggled for a long time now. Ever since they somehow got to a BCS bowl. Any other program (almost) Edsall has been long fired. It’s different in Storrs, and I get that, but with him getting bonuses for making sure he eats breakfast every day, the bloom might have come off the rose a bit. Needed to keep his job – Be more competitive, especially on defense. Prediction – Three wins and a surprisingly tough call for the powers that be.
Jonathan Smith (Oregon State) – I am going out bit of a limb with this one. Things were looking very promising in Corvallis and then last year the Beavers came back to Earth a bit. I think my prediction would be enough to move Smith out of the job. Needed to keep his job – Bowl-eligibility or a win over Oregon. Prediction – Three wins, no bowl, no win over Oregon, no head coaching position for Johnny Beaver.
Possible Shitcanning
Jim Harbaugh (Michigan) – Yes, his picture is one of the pictures at the top of this post. And yes, he has been on the hot seat since the first time he lost to Ohio State. He almost got a pass from many in Ann Arbor (and the voracious college football media) which surprises me to no end. So the seat is cooler than normal but he’s not out of the woods yet. Needed to keep his job – At least 7 wins and maybe an upset inside the Big Ten.  Prediction – I have the Wolverines getting right to the 7-win mark. I think he survives but then the seat becomes scorching going into next season.
Scott Frost (Nebraska) – For many having Frosty the Coachman in this spot makes no sense. I think he might get a bit of leeway and if the Huskers do what I think they will do this season, this spot makes a lot more sense so I should just stop second-guessing myself. Needed to keep his job – Bowl-eligibility at the very least. Prediction – I have them winning seven games so hopefully I haven’t drank the Husker Koolaid yet again.
Herm Edwards (Arizona State) – This is a tricky situation here. This program could be in a heap of trouble. The alleged recruiting scheme that was concocted during the worst of COVID-19 looks horrible on the Sun Devils and especially on Herm. If the NCAA can prove their point enough, Edwards may be forced out. This will have nothing to do with performance since the Sun Devils are a nearly-top-level Pac-12 team. Needed to keep his job – Herm not being found guilty in this. Prediction – A lot of times programs will fire a coach because of potential sanctions and most of those times, the team isn’t doing well anyway because they’re distracted. If ASU does as well as I predict it will, then only the NCAA coming down hard on the program will push Edwards out the door.
Matt Wells (Texas Tech) – It has been a while since this program was good. Kute Kliff Kingsbury couldn’t get the job done and he was punished with an NFL head coaching gig and probably a bunch of women at his beck and call. Wells will not have those opportunities if this doesn’t work out. For now, things are OK for the most part but it could quickly change if the Red Raiders bottom out this year. Needed to keep his job – TTU to be playing meaningful ball in November. Prediction – Define meaningful. I have the Red Raiders winning four games so if they can pull off an upset or two then you may have a bowl team down in Lubbock which could get Wells an ill-advised extension.
Scott Satterfield (Louisville) – Wow has the bloom come off the rose here. Satterfield was coaching so well early on that the fanbase had all but forgotten about their own Son of Anarchy, Bobby Petrino. Now? I am sure there is at least a decent amount of Cardinals fans who would bring Fun Bobby back in a heartbeat. That’s how much things have changed for Satterfield. He’s no longer Great Scott. More Below Average Scott. Needed to keep his job – Showing some obvious improvement from a horrible 2020.  Prediction – Well, I think the Cards will win three games. That’s not many and whether they are competitive in many of their losses will signal whether Satterfield will be Satterfired or not.
Doubtful Shitcanning (although it still could happen)
Jeff Scott (USF) – I watched a YouTube video the other day about the crazy 2007 season. Remember that? At one point, the Bulls got to #2 in the nation. Good times. The times are not so good now and Scott is going to be starting to take a lot of heat for that, fair or not. Needed to keep his job – Not be worse than last season. Prediction – I’ve got them at 2 wins so technically, yes, they will be better. Plus I think they plan to give Scott at least halfway through the 2022 season before potentially pulling the trigger.
Clay Helton (USC) – Can’t Clay get a little slack here? Not like the Pac-12 as a whole is doing all that great these days. I do believe, however, this could be the year that Helton *GASP* gets off the hot seat for at least a season. What will Trojan fans complain about then? Needed to keep his job – At least 7 wins. Prediction – I have the Trojans winning 10 games meaning it’s almost an automatic to get to a New Year’s Six bowl.
Justin Fuente (Virginia Tech) – Fuente is the new Gus Malzahn. He will never get off this list. Ever. He basically has to win a national championship to do so and even then there’s no guarantee. Fans in Blacksburg are antsy for some true success. Not gonna happen yet though. Needed to keep his job – It will be a seven win season to keep his job, which will probably be the case for a long time. Prediction – 8 wins so stay tuned for next season when I put him on this exact same fucking list…again.
Thomas Hammock (Northern Illinois) – He was always going to get a lot of rope but after last year’s winless campaign, the rope has been shortened quite a bit. He has nowhere to go but up although technically he could do the same this year which would absolutely get him shitcanned. Needed to keep his job – At least a couple of victories. It’s a low bar at this point. Prediction – Three wins and Tom moving up this list next year.
Mike Bloomgren (Rice) – Again it will be a tale of two schools in the Houston area. Houston is looking for a huge rebound and I think they will be a big player in the AAC this season. Rice, on the other hand, will be just like they’ve been for most of the program’s history: below-average. Not the easiest job in the world for sure but at some point, someone has to have some semblance of success at this school, no? Needed to keep hisjob – Win a few games and pull off a good upset or three.  Prediction – Four wins should be considered not bad and he will again be on a hot seat next season.
Marcus Arroyo (UNLV) – A bright, relatively new shiny stadium for a full season. The fact that, of all teams, the UNLV Rebels get to play at a place like Allegiant Stadium seems bizarrely funny. It really doesn’t match. I don’t think they care as long as they are out of the heat magnet masquerading as a football field called Sam Boyd Stadium. Needed to keep his job – A couple of wins and an upset at Allegiant. Prediction – They’ll win 3. As for the upset, I don’t think that will happen.
Mel Tucker (Michigan State) – OK last year he had to be given a pass. He started very late in the off-season cycle and basically did what he could for a Spartans team that needs an overhaul. He will probably get a pass for the most part this year unless they do so horribly that even Maryland is destroying them.  Needed to keep his job – A move up the standings and at least 3 wins.  Prediction – He should get his three wins. Moving up the standings might not happen though and the seat will most definitely get hotter next year for Mel.
Hey guess what’s next? That’s right, my Heisman ballot (which I never will, and never should, get). Then I need to do the NFL preview as well which is always a bit of a dog’s breakfast as well. 24 days away! Soon enough I will have info for Week Zero! Enjoy your day everyone!
Alright the first set of COVID-19 tests are back and everyone tested negative from the Texans-Chiefs game. Here’s a question though: why the hell did it take so long? If it takes a week to get results I have a feeling this could end up biting the NFL on the ass down the line when a team plays Sunday and then Thursday and they find a positive test or two. Then instead of two teams, you have issues with four. Not good.
But saying that it’s a good start. Many are seemingly waiting for something to happen with the NFL. I am the opposite. I am hoping they get through the entire season unscathed by the Coronavirus. I wish them well because I wouldn’t want to see the players or coaches affected by it. Maybe we should all feel this way. Be optimistic. Problem is, some in sports media can’t help but be pessimistic and I assume this is mostly to get attention. If I was more popular I assume I would get a deluge of comments from the sports media defending their industry. And that’s their right. But like almost every employment sector you have to employ the 90/10 rule: 10% of the people employed in that sector shouldn’t be because they are terrible at their job and/or dangerous to their co-workers and the other 90% sometimes suffer because of that. Very, VERY few jobs aren’t like this (and in some cases that last number is larger).
OK enough of that. Schedule time! Here we go:
Thursday
Cincinnati at Cleveland
8:20, NFL Network, TSN1/3/4/5, CTV Two
Sunday Early
Buffalo at Miami
Buffalo, Rochester
Kitchener, Toronto
Ottawa
Denver at Pittsburgh
Seattle, Cleveland, Boston
Saskatchewan, Northern Ontario
Vancouver Island, Alberta, Atlantic
Jacksonville at Tennessee
Spokane
NY Giants at Chicago
Minneapolis, Detroit, Burlington
Carolina at Tampa Bay
Burlington, Boston
Ottawa, Montreal, Atlantic
London, Toronto
Detroit at Green Bay
Detroit
LA Rams at Philadelphia
Atlanta at Dallas
Minnesota at Indianapolis
Minneapolis
Winnipeg
TSN5
San Francisco at NY Jets
Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane, Rochester
Vancouver, Alberta
Sunday Late
Baltimore at Houston
Cleveland
All affiliates
Kansas City at LA Chargers
All affiliates (except Cleveland)
All affiliates
Washington at Arizona
Buffalo
Sunday/Monday Primetime
New England at Seattle
Sunday, 8:20, NBC, TSN 1/3/4/5, CTV Two
New Orleans at Las Vegas
Monday, 8:15, ABC, TSN 1/3/4/5
Notes on the Canuck-Specific Schedule
OK it’s only two games that no one can get up here without Sunday Ticket/DAZN/RedZone/going to certain bars/illegal streaming/whatever. And both of them are in the early timeslot so that is good for this early in the season.
Chiefs-Chargers get pretty much all the viewers for the late timeslot. Ravens-Texans at least get CTV Two all to themselves so that’s something.
CROSS-FLEX! I’m waiting to see how many people get upset over this. I mean unless you are a Giants or Bears fan and don’t get the game in your area this makes no sense. They really do need to do away with the conferences being almost entirely on one network, at least in the regular season. Playoffs it makes sense but in the regular season, who cares. Get RedZone. It will cure all your NFL ails.
The early audience is spread around quite nicely. Four different games get fairly decent Canadian audiences. Have to admit that so far it has been good for the NFL fan in Canada where it comes to coverage of different games.
You will notice ABC is doing Monday Night Football. That’s right, the original network of MNF will be showing the first game ever in the new Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Should be good. Also, ESPN is doing a Megacast and one part of the Megacast may be available on TSN2 meaning for the first time ever, an NFL game will be on all five TSN stations at once. Good stuff. The rest of the Megacast will be available on TSN Direct.
There you go. Schedule complete. So far there honestly hasn’t been much drama to start the season. Kind of feels like we are in the eye of the storm though. I mean what’s an NFL season without drama? None of us know because it has never really happened. So it’s just a matter of when and how ridiculous the soap opera atmosphere is. Anyway, enjoy the games and enjoy your weekend.
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