Hey let’s look ahead (and also give you the Week 8 College Football TV schedule)

Posted on October 19, 2022 by guelphbossman

I tend to do most of my psychic work in the offseason…or when looking at bowl projections. Neither of which I do very well. So yeah sounds like a great idea to do it again in the middle of the season right? I never learn.

Will the SEC send a team not from Alabama or Georgia to the College Football Playoff? Tennessee and Ole Miss are both looking the real deal this season. The Vols already pulled off a big upset with their win over the Tide. The Rebels get their shot next month. Tennessee still has to get by Georgia to win the division. So maybe we could be looking at a Vols-Rebels SEC Championship? Honestly, I don’t think so but you never know.

Does the Big Ten still come down to The Big Game? Yes. I think Illinois is doing great and Purdue might end up being the new power in the Big Ten West but it still all comes down to the The Big Game between Michigan and Ohio State. Winner probably wins the conference and heads to the CFP. Loser to the New Year’s Six and the Rose Bowl. I don’t see another scenario unless one of the teams is upset before then.

What’s going to happen with the Pac-12? If Oregon loses this Saturday to UCLA then it will be either the Bruins or Trojans with the only shot for the College Football Playoff. How sad is that for this conference? USC and UCLA leave in 2024 and there are a lot of rumours that Oregon and Washington will follow, possibly for that same season. It’s been bad for the conference for a while but they somehow are coming up with new lows. I assume they poach the Mountain West for at least two teams to stay at the Pac-10 going forward but it won’t be the conference that it’s been in the past, much to Bill Walton’s chagrin.

Is TCU the Big XII’s only hope? No, nor are they a good choice either. I can’t see the Horned Frogs running the table. There is a much better chance of Oklahoma State or even Texas having a shot. A lot would have to happen for the Longhorns to be in contention but it could happen. Me? I’m hoping for chaos and a two-loss team in the CFP. Wouldn’t that be wild?

Who’s the next coach to be fired? It feels like it will be Bryan Harsin and that it will happen any day now. I think he will be after the next coach to be fired. I believe the next coach fired will be Neal Brown instead. It hasn’t been an abject disaster in Morgantown but Brown has shown no signs of improving this program. With Texas Tech and Kansas possibly passing them in the Big XII pecking order, they maybe sitting in the basement by the end of 2022.

Who will win the Heisman? I think if Tennessee goes undefeated through the regular season, it’s Hendon Hooker’s Heisman (Triple H) to lose. One loss or a really bad game from Hooker and it opens the door to like half-a-dozen others, including C.J. Stroud, Dorian Thompson-Robinsion, Bryce Young and Caleb Williams.

Alright that’s enough predictions for now. You didn’t come for that (I don’t think). You came for schedules, right? So let’s get right to them!

Wednesday

		US	Canada
Georgia State at Appalachian State	7:30 PM

Before the season this felt like it could be huge in deciding the Sun Belt East. Not so much anymore.

Thursday

		US	Canada
Virginia at Georgia Tech	7:30 PM
Troy at South Alabama	7:30 PM

The highlight here, honestly, is what could be the Sun Belt West title game. South Alabama is WAY better than advertised and Troy has improved from last year as well. Also, Georgia Tech might actually be favoured in a conference game as the Hoos come to Atlanta. Wouldn’t have been that way with Geoff Collins still in charge, I can guarantee that.

Friday

		US	Canada
Princeton at Harvard	7:00 PM
Tulsa at Temple	7:30 PM
UAB at WKU	8:00 PM

Nothing of serious importance although it could be interesting to see what happens in Bowling Green (not the university, the town). Winner there stays in the hunt to get to the Conference USA Championship game.

Saturday Early

I would say this is a good appetizer for the games later on but there’s a main course mixed in there. Syracuse travels to Death Valley East with legitimate upset aspirations. They win here and they turn the ACC (and college football in general) kind of upside down. What many would have picked as the game of the afternoon at the start of the season could look like an absolute blowout. Could Iowa lose by 50? Quite possibly.

Kansas still getting no love. ESPN2 for a big game against Baylor? Come on man. What really is perplexing, though, is UT-Martin getting on to TSN. UT-Martin? I get that Tennessee is good but there are a few other games that could have gone there…like the KU-BU game I just mentioned!

Saturday Afternoon

If UCLA and USC don’t get to the Victory Bell game in November both undefeated then the Bruins’ game against Oregon here might be the Pac-12 Game of the Year (and their best chance to put a team into the College Football Playoff).

You may notice that the UNLV-Notre Dame game isn’t on this list. That’s because this is the one game this season that NBC moves to Peacock. I hope the Rebels somehow win. The Longhorns and Pokes might be in a quasi-elimination game, especially if TCU keeps winning. Ole Miss and Purdue have landmine games where an upset or two wouldn’t be a total surprise.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Boise State at Air Force	7:00 PM
#24 Mississippi State at #6 Alabama	7:00 PM
Minnesota at #16 Penn State	7:30 PM
UCF at East Carolina	7:30 PM
Texas A&M at South Carolina	7:30 PM
Pittsburgh at Louisville	8:00 PM
#17 Kansas State at #8 TCU	8:00 PM
Colorado at Oregon State	8:00 PM

Two underrated teams no more as Kansas State travels to Fort Worth to face an undefeated Horned Frogs team. This is absolutely massive for both teams and would have been on FOX if FOX didn’t have baseball that night.

The rest of the primetime schedule could be considered a bit weak unless the Bulldogs can put a scare into Bama. The ABC primetime matchup is very weak considering some of the games that are on this Saturday. I don’t get it sometimes with these picks but at least the network won’t lean on the Big Ten all the time like they’ve been doing in recent years. FOX has taken up that mantle.

Also, we have what might as well be the de facto Mountain West Mountain championship between Boise and AFA. And we have another Pat McAfee night on ESPN2. Great…..

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
San Diego State at Nevada	10:30 PM
Washington at California	10:30 PM
Montana at Sacramento State	11:00 PM

OK so the primetime schedule might be weak in spots but this is brutal. Meaning either Cal is beating the Huskies or Nevada ends the Brady Hoke era at SDSU. Otherwise this is a fucking joke. Oh, plus we are stuck with the Sacramento Test this week. And no, that’s not a test of Sacramento Kings’ fans’ patience.

Big Games O’ The Week

UCLA at Oregon (3:30, FOX) – There are a few games that could occupy this top spot but I picked the one which I believe has the most at stake. If the Bruins win, it sets them up perfectly for the Battle for Los Angeles against their crosstown rivals, USC. A loss and, quite frankly, the Pac-12 could be sitting out the CFP yet again. As I said, huge stakes.

Syracuse at Clemson (Noon, ABC/TSN4) – The Orange Dream Season Express rolls on here as The Fighting Babers look to pull off the upset of all upsets. And we’ve seen that D.J. Uiagalelei has had poor games in the past. A Cuse win here would throw everyone’s ACC predictions into a dumpster (and then that dumpster to be set on fire).

Kansas State at TCU (8:00, FOX Sports One) – This still will not get as much attention as the Texas-Oklahoma State game earlier in the day and I think that suits these two teams just fine. A TCU win keeps their CFP hopes very much alive whereas a Kansas State win puts a bunch of teams back in the mix for the Big XII title game at JerryWorld.

Mississippi State at Alabama (7:00, specialty pack) – Some are actually wondering why Mississippi State is in the Top 25. I think if the Bulldogs had any semblance of a running game they’d be clearly in the Top 20 and contending for an SEC West title. Instead, they have Will Rogers throw the ball a million times and hope for the best. Classic Mike Leach. I kind of hope this is close but don’t be surprised if it’s over by 8:00.

Texas at Oklahoma State (3:30, ABC) – ABC’s ongoing love affair with the Big Ten, despite the fact they will be leaving the network soon, pushes a game like this to the afternoon timeslot. I don’t think many thought Texas would be in a game that, if they win, could put them in the driver’s seat to get to the Big XII Championship. Kansas State, TCU and even Kansas will watch this game with quite a bit of interest.

Ole Miss at LSU (3:30, CBS) – Ole Miss can’t have this be a speed bump game. LSU is better than they were last year and may be shaking of the early season shitshow and are playing good ball under Brian Kelly. The Lane Train needs to mow teams like this down knowing that Bama is coming down the line.

Minnesota at Penn State (7:30, ABC) – Is it one of the big time games you’d want to see in the ABC Primetime window? No. This could end up being a good game though. And James Franklin certainly wants his Nittany Lions to play well after the disaster that was their game in Ann Arbor last weekend.

Psycho Game of the Week

Arizona State at Stanford (4:00, Pac-12 Network) – Two terrible Pac-12 teams here. This is the second straight week the Pac-12 has appeared in this section. And it won’t be the last. I honestly do wonder if David Shaw will get to 2023 considering how poor Stanford has been this year (and the past couple of years).

Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week

Iowa at Ohio State (Noon, FOX) – Yep, I am officially calling it. This could get VERY ugly. Iowa’s offense is anemic and shouldn’t fare too well against the Buckeye defense. They might cover the 29 point spread by 1:00.

Fun-Time Stats of the Week

Kansas’ last win over Baylor was fifteen years ago. They have also ten in a row to the Bears against the spread.
Notre Dame is 30-6 vs. the Mountain West.
Appalachian State has never lost to Georgia State in eight meetings. They’ve also won seven of those games by double digits.

The Degenerate Portion of Our Show

I don’t consider myself a gambler. Mostly because I’m not very good at it. I’m sure I am not too far away from some of the experts though in terms of success. Remember that guy on the late night commercials? What was his name? I want to say Cash Palmer. Anyway, him, along with a bunch of other guys who I wouldn’t hire to mow my townhouse lawn, would hock their picks at like 3 in the morning to degenerates who figured they couldn’t do this themselves. I assume all those guys are dead or in an old folks’ home. Anyway, enough of that. Call me Boss Bucks, or something equally stupid, and let’s get the show on the road.

Georgia State (+9.5) over Appalachian State (the Mountaineers win a nailbiter)
Troy (+3) over South Alabama with the outright win
Tulsa (-13) over Temple
UT-Martin (+37.5) over Tennessee with the Vols still winning by four touchdowns
Baylor (-8) over Kansas
Army (-7) over ULM
Liberty (+6.5) over BYU (the Cougs will win this game though in a close one)
Maryland (-13.5) over Northwestern
Boston College (+20.5) over Wake Forest (the Deacs cruise to a relatively easy victory)
Vanderbilt (+14) over Missouri (Mizzou will win the game)
Mississippi State (+21) over Alabama (Tide win after Bulldogs keep it close for three quarters)
UCF (-5) over East Carolina for the road victory
Nevada (+7) over San Diego State (with the Aztecs winning)

The Bossman Top 25!

It’s back! I figured it was about time to whip out a set of rankings for everyone. It’s early so there isn’t a reason to debate but I’m sure some of the spots will make you do a double take. Here we go:

#1	Georgia
#2	Tennessee
#3	Ohio State
#4	Michigan
#5	Clemson
#6	TCU
#7	Ole Miss
#8	Alabama
#9	Oregon
#10	Oklahoma State
#11	Syracuse
#12	UCLA
#13	Utah
#14	Wake Forest
#15	USC
#16	Kansas State
#17	Kentucky
#18	Penn State
#19	Cincinnati
#20	NC State
#21	Illinois
#22	North Carolina
#23	Texas
#24	Purdue
#25	Mississippi State

I’m sure some will look and say why is Tennessee in the #2 spot. Or why is TCU ahead of Alabama. Or why UCLA is not in the Top 10. Look, as I say every year, these things will work themselves out. It’s still early remember. We are only at the halfway point. Come mid-November, then some true debates can be had but until then, it’s just preference. Unless someone puts Alabama at #20 because they don’t like Bama. In that case, that’s fucking stupid.

It’s a little late to get the blog posted and I apologize for that. Just been feeling under the weather and I’m sure how crappy it’s been outside hasn’t helped matters. Looking forward to another great week of college football. Enjoy the games everyone!

Power Five….Power Four? Power THREE?

Posted on August 15, 2022 by guelphbossman

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!

Hey how did I do? Also, my updated NFL playoff predictions.

Posted on January 14, 2022 by guelphbossman

Basically, this is a post of how shitty my predictions are. And some of them are BAD.

Let’s start with the college football portion of our show. As I usually do, despite the fact I make my predictions public, I always assume some of them will be horrible. But I made my choices, dammit, and I’m gonna stick with them. Unlike some of you loser experts out there. Alright let’s get going with this.

College Football Playoff and New Year’s Six

OK then here we go. This is gonna be bad, I can just feel it:
- Alabama – Picked them #2 and they ended up #1. Nice. Good start for the ol’ Bossman.
- Ohio State – I figured this was a no-brainer. It wasn’t. I had then #3 and they ended up at the Rose Bowl. So not too bad as a lot of experts had them in their Top 4.
- Oklahoma – I had them #1. Then the first game of the season happened and I realized it wouldn’t happen. Ended up outside the New Year’s Six and lost both quarterbacks to the transfer portal. Not good.
- North Carolina – What in the fuck was I thinking? I did not bank on the O-line being possibly the worst in the country, that’s what I was thinking. Anyway, they came oh so close to not even being bowl-eligible. Completely gross pick on my part.
How about my New Year’s Six picks? Might as well go through them one-by-one as well:
- I had Notre Dame going to the Fiesta Bowl. Spot on!
- Clemson to the Peach Bowl. Ugh. Not that Clemson had a terrible season but they were really never close to the New Year’s Six.
- Cincinnati to the Peach Bowl. They did better than I thought they would. Congrats to them and for breaking the Group of Five ceiling.
- Iowa State to the Sugar Bowl. I honestly though ISU would finally break through and get that Sugar Bowl bid. They hung in there but really were never in the Big XII race.
- Texas A&M to the Sugar Bowl. I figured after they beat Bama that they would be in this spot. Man, was I wrong.
- Wisconsin to the Rose Bowl. Honestly, they were a tough loss to Minnesota away from the Big Ten Championship and then who knows what happens if they get there.
- USC to the Rose Bowl. Holy shit.
- Washington to the Fiesta Bowl. Double holy shit. I whiffed so badly on my two Pac-12 picks.
Other terrible predictions included Texas at #21 and going to the Alamo Bowl, TCU being #23 and heading to the Cheez-It Bowl and Nebraska going to a bowl at all. I fall for it every year it seems.
I had Georgia, Coastal Carolina and Oregon being just on the outside of the NY6 looking in. Georgia was a huge miss on my part. Oregon ended up pretty much right where I thought they would. Coastal Carolina wasn’t as good but still won double-digit games. So I would call those not so bad picks.

Heisman Trophy

I had Spencer Rattler and Sam Howell as my #1 and #2. Well this is a great start.
OK this isn’t bad. I had Bryce Young at #5. I wondered if he could come out from under Mac Jones’ shadow and he did more than that for sure, especially in the SEC Championship where he clinched the trophy.
Let’s look at some of the rest of my Top 10:
- D.J. Uiagalelei at #3. Ouch. Despite the fact Clemson still did pretty good this season, D.J. was mediocre for much of it.
- J.T. Daniels at #7. Oh my. Georgia fans are very happy that Stetson Bennett, the former walk-on, came through for them to win the title.
- Kedon Slovis at #8. OK then. He’s now in the transfer portal which says all you need to know about how his season went.
- D’Eriq King at #10. Alright, I’m done here.

Coaching Hot Seat

I usually do pretty well with this. Let’s see.

Normally I do pretty well with the coaches on Almost Guaranteed Shitcanning section. Not so this season. Only Walt Bell was fired on this list with Jeff Brohm and Dino Babers possibly saving their jobs well into 2022. Even the things I do well at I’m not doing well at.
The next section I predicted better. Two out of three. Saying that, Jonathan Smith almost did a good enough job to be considered for other coaching openings.
I should apologize to Jim Harbaugh though. I shouldn’t have even put him on the list and I did in the Possible Shitcanning section. Stupid me. He had the best season he’s had in Ann Arbor and may end up back in the NFL in 2022.
Honestly, most of the coaches did not get fired on my list and some actually did quite a bit better than most thought. My excuse? Look at how the season was. It was insane! How was I to know it would be this crazy?

Just A Bunch of Predictions, Good and Bad

Let’s be honest: it’s probably mostly bad but let’s go through this exercise anyway.

Most of the teams I had with good records (at least 10 wins) did well if you don’t include North Carolina, Washington and USC, which I mentioned earlier.
I predicted a fair amount of games on TSN during the regular season. Boy, was I wrong. It was very weird since TSN totally dropped the ball during the regular season. Then come bowl season, TSN went nuts and broadcast almost every game. They did more college games during the past few weeks then they had during the three-plus months before it. Just bizarre. So, in the end, I wish they would balance it out a bit more but they didn’t do too badly, I guess.
Hey look who got the UTSA conference title win correct? This guy…I’m pointing at myself. They may be building something big in San Antonio with the Roadrunners. I mean it’s in Texas, a big city with only one pro team and they are joining the best Group of Five conference, the American, for 2023. Things are looking up for this quite new football team.
Boise State. Talk about being overshadowed in the Mountain West. They haven’t looked this average in a long, loooooooong time. I figured they would win the Mountain West, like they usually do, and it ended up they didn’t even get to the title game and had five teams legitimately better than them during the season.
I shouldn’t have gone all-in with Oklahoma. I think I bought the Spencer Rattler hype. OK, I know I did. I should have remembered him in that QB1 series. He’s a dick.
It still seems like no one can win at Kansas. It looks like Lance Leipold is on the right track, especially with a win over Texas, but I nailed the pick (almost) and know it will take at least another year to get all the kinks out of the program so that Leipold can put his stamp on it. I hope he gets that chance.
Who did I get right in the Pac-12? Almost none of the teams. I had Oregon winning 10 games, Utah winning 9 and Arizona State winning 9. Not bad. I also had Washington winning 11 (ugh), Oregon State winning 3 (yikes) and Washington State winning 4 (oops).
I got all 7 teams in the SEC West going bowling. I’ll give myself a light pat on the back for that because it wasn’t a huge stretch to think that would happen. I will say, though, that South Carolina was quite a bit better than I thought they would be. Same with Tennessee. Florida? Yeah that was a surprise. Same with the Dan Mullen firing. Didn’t see that coming…back in July.
Maybe I overestimated how good Coastal Carolina would be. They still won 10 games though so I wasn’t THAT far off.
Yeah I couldn’t see all the realignment that happened just before the season commenced. Could anyone have foreseen this? Probably not. I’ll go with that.
Hey who got the AAC Championship pairing correct? I think I may have been one of very few to nail the Houston pick (having them be second to Cincinnati).
The Independents were, honestly, pretty easy. Notre Dame, Liberty, Army, BYU: good. New Mexico State, UConn, UMass: bad. Simple.
Ugh, my ACC predictions. Oof, my Big Ten predictions (although I did have Iowa in the Big Ten title game). Oh god, my MAC predictions. Not even fucking close. OK enough of this.

I don’t feel like doing a Stassen score to be honest with you. I’m not as good as some of the normal prediction mags and that’s fine. I have fun doing the predictions, even when they end up being shitty.

Now, the NFL Playoffs. I have to revise my choices from August since some teams (COUGH*Seattle*COUGH) underperformed and others were better than advertised because the NFL season was almost as crazy as the college season. So here goes:

Wild Card Round

Buffalo def. New England

Kansas City def. Pittsburgh

Cincinnati def. Las Vegas

LA Rams def. Arizona

San Francisco def. Dallas

Tampa Bay def. Philadelphia

Divisional Playoffs

Tennessee def. Cincinnati

Buffalo def. Kansas City

LA Rams def. Tampa Bay

Green Bay def. San Francisco

Conference Championships

Buffalo def. Tennessee (revenge for the Music City Miracle)

LA Rams def. Green Bay

Super Bowl

Buffalo def. LA Rams

So I still have the Bills winning over an NFC West team. So not a huge change, I guess.

Now that the college football season is over it’s time for the weird all-star games they have. Some of them have bizarre rules. But at least it’s still a chance to see some college players before they head to the NFL or an NFL practice squad or the CFL or the XFL or the USFL. Man, there’s a lot of leagues. You’d think the CFL would cave and put some teams in strategic NORTHERN American cities. It worked in Baltimore, it could work again. Just don’t put a team in fucking Shreveport. Anyway, here is the schedule for the crazy all-star games:

Hula Bowl – January 15th at Noon on CBS Sports Network
NFLPA Collegiate Bowl – January 29th on NFL Network (time TBA)
East West Shrine Game – February 3rd at 8:00 on NFL Network
Senior Bowl – February 5th at 2:30 on NFL Network

After those games, no more college football until late August. Prepare for the dry season.

What will the upcoming posts be?

Spring football? No. Not a chance.
The NCAA basketball conference tournament schedules will definitely return. Those start in a little over a month so learn about some of the teams that may try and bust your brackets.
The NFL Draft. How many mock drafts will I do? I don’t know. One for sure just before the draft. I may do others. I may not. Who knows.
I’m sure there will be a random post or two in there. You know, when I’m bored.

So as I said before we are getting into the dead period…for college football. A sad, sad time. Maybe one of these years I will take the time away from watching the greatest sport on Earth (after Chess Boxing) to improve myself top to bottom. Ah, who am I kidding. Have a great weekend everyone!

Someone might want to avoid airport tarmacs – the Week 2 Recap

Posted on September 13, 2021 by guelphbossman

The camera’s not on him all the time so I am sure he has that reaction a lot. And that reaction definitely came up the other night a lot. USC looked like complete garbage in most of their loss against Stanford. It feels like Kedon Slovis, after a promising start to his young career, has had his progress stall. A lot of that has to land on Helton. This team has had the talent to contend before and they have underperformed almost every season under his watch. It feels like, with ten games left in the season, that he will have to win at least eight of those to keep his job. And even then, that might not be enough. He is on one of the hottest seats right now for sure.

This week of college football really had a dearth of marquee games (other than the top two), as is somewhat usual for Week 2. But, as per usual, it overdelivered giving us a wild weekend of football. Let’s go through the week that was!

Michigan 31 Washington 10 – What a game this was for the Wolverines. Washington is, to put it one word, awful. This team should have the talent to at least be sniffing the Top 25 and they are nowhere close. Maybe that loss against Montana wasn’t an aberration after all but more a warning for things to come in Jimmy Lake’s first full season at the helm. As for Michigan, this could be an interesting year in Ann Arbor with perhaps a shot at a New Year’s Six bowl? The next few weeks will tell a lot about this team.
Texas A&M 10 Colorado 7 – A classic Big XII matchup that had an absolute dearth of offense. Yes, the defenses both played well but the offenses were pretty bad. There were a couple of opportunities for the Buffs to extend their lead and they just couldn’t do it. The Aggies survived and may have lost their quarterback Haynes King for an extended period of time. A little bit of sweating in College Station going forward.
Oregon 35 Ohio State 28 – It felt that the Buckeyes would, at some point, comeback and win this one. I mean it’s Ohio State in the Horseshoe. They almost never lose there. Even without Kayvon Thibodaux, the Ducks played very well on defense for most of the game and didn’t allow tOSU to really get their offense humming. Oregon did just enough and Joe Morehead showed he still has quite the mind for offense as he called a masterful game.
Jacksonville State 20 Florida State 17 – For fuck’s sake Mike Norvell. If everyone thought it was bad during the Willie Taggart era, then strap in for this one. The Noles allowed JSU to stay close with their offense just not playing well at all. McKenzie Milton looked off and the running game was non-existent. But it looked like FSU would still hold on for the somewhat undeserving victory. Then it happened. The Gamecocks score on the final play of the game on a pass to the 20-yard line that the receiver was able to run in. No laterals. Not a Hail Mary. Just a pass and run. Norvell didn’t think to put more players closer to the goal line because there was, and I quote, “still six seconds and they were on their own side of the field.” What in the blue hell are you talking about, Mike? They only had one play left. That was it. Yes the tackling, or lack there of, was horrible there but no excuse not to put more players back there. What a fucking disgrace. And yes, Norvell is on a seat that’s only a couple degrees cooler than Clay Helton’s.
BYU 26 Utah 17 – The Cougars celebrated their acceptance into the Big XII by beating the Utes in a game that wasn’t as close as the score indicated. BYU was superior in pretty much every aspect of the game. They look better than advertised, even with Zach Wilson gone, as Jaren Hall had a great game. Definitely quelled the worries of the Provo faithful over the quarterback position.
Coastal Carolina 49 Kansas 22 – As I’ve said before many times, I don’t have a horse in this entire college football race. I just hope to watch some exciting football and with the college game, I get that at least once a weekend during the season. Saying all that, I was kind of pulling for the Jayhawks to at least keep it close. They didn’t, but even in a 27-point loss, it felt like they have taken more strides in game two under Lance Leipold than they had in the previous two entire coaching regimes. That’s how bad things have got in Lawrence and how much ground they have to make up in the Big XII, now with extra BYU and AAC sauce.
TCU 34 California 32 – Now let’s go to a game that very few people watched but probably should have. I am not being facetious here. This was just a fantastic game from start to finish. Don’t think TCU played poorly or down to the Bears. They are a good team and could start moving up the rankings soon. California has had a rough start. Two good games played and no wins to show for it. Yes, starting with Nevada and TCU isn’t exactly a recipe for sure success but it has to be a bit frustrating to not be at least 1-1 at this point. I expect they will still be a bit of a player in the Pac-12 North though.
Alabama 48 Mercer 14 – Alabama beat Mercer. Ho hum. It was fun, though, to turn to TSN2 (yes this game was actually aired on TSN2) and see Nick Saban getting seriously pissed off at his squad after they went up 31-0. Only Saban.
Notre Dame 32 Toledo 29 – Toledo almost upset Notre Dame. In the hindsight is 20/20 department, it would have made more sense for Toledo’s quarterback, instead of running for that 30+ yard touchdown late in the game, to fall around the 1 and then drain the clock to allow the Rockets to kick the winning field goal. But they didn’t and Toledo’s defense decided to get a flag on almost every play, and the Irish made them pay. If Brian Kelly wanted to execute his team last week, I can’t imagine what he is thinking today. And all this was over on the ‘Cock! Yep, that’s right, it was on NBC’s streaming service, Peacock, not on NBC proper. I’m sure no one was upset by this at all because college football fans tend to be rational people, right?
Miami 25 Appalachian State 23 – It was quite the exciting game down at Hard Rock Stadium and I wasn’t that surprised by it. People getting on the Canes have to realize that the Mountaineers are quite a good team. So not totally shocking for it to go almost down to the end. The most exciting thing to happen there that game, though, had nothing to do with what was happening on the field. A cat all of a sudden was shown dangling from the upper deck. No, I do not know how it got there or why it was dangling there. All the fans in the area were watching and hoping the cat didn’t get hurt or die by falling. The cat did fall…right into a guy holding an American flag who caught the cat in the flag. On the 20th anniversary of 9/11. Don’t be surprised if there’s a 30 for 30 Short on that one day.
Iowa 27 Iowa State 17 – Um, could this finally be the year that Kirk Ferentz takes the Iowa Hawkeyes to the Big Dance? This team is looking seriously good. No mistake that they looked overpowering compared to Iowa State on Saturday. And don’t think the Cyclones are out of it just yet. I think their College Football Playoff hopes, however slim, are probably squashed but a New Year’s Six spot is still theirs if they can win out the rest of the regular season. Don’t be surprised if both of these teams are playing on conference championship weekend in games that mean a whole lot.
Rutgers 17 Syracuse 7 – Don’t look now but the 2021 version of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team is 2-0. And looking pretty good doing it, especially on defense. Yes it’s early and yes the Scarlet Knights might be in the second toughest division in college football but things are finally looking up for a team that has been not a lot better than hot garbage since joining the Big Ten.
Arkansas 40 Texas 21 – Oh boy is Texas not back. The Longhorns were boatraced by Arkansas in a game that may not even been as close as the score indicated. I’m mistaken. Texas is back…..back bacon.
Pittsburgh 41 Tennessee 34 – At times this game was like snorting coke off a hooker’s ass, then taking a shot of absinthe, then getting on a motorcycle and gunning the engine to jump out of a plane. It was that ridiculous. At times both teams did everything they could to win, then not minutes later both teams would be trying their darndest to lose. Completely bonkers. In the end, it was a Volunteering that happened, not a Pittening. I’m sure fans on Rocky Top are not happy right now because Tennessee? Not back.
Oklahoma State 28 Tulsa 23 – I know people love to use the College Football Transitive Property. Team A beat Team B who beat Team C so Team A is better than Team C. It was almost to the point in this one where we’d have to say that UC-Davis was better than Oklahoma State because of that. Now Vanderbilt’s victory over Colorado State probably does fit. East Tennessee State beat Vanderbilt who beat Colorado State. So ETSU is better than CSU. Which may be true because the Rams got trounced by South Dakota State in Week 1. Ouch.
Houston 44 Rice 7 – Hey, who was possibly the only guy on the Internet to pick Rice to win this one? That would be me. And it’s a lesson to all you out there that I have mentioned multiple times before: do not use my picks to gamble with. You are playing with fire if you do so.
Army 38 Western Kentucky 35 – It seemed fitting that Army won on the anniversary of 9/11. WKU did not make it easy as they have a seriously prolific passing game with Bailey Zappe under centre. But Army’s option offense is, much of the time, too difficult to defend against because they don’t deviate from it, ever. Georgia Southern and Navy and Air Force, they have times were they pass the ball a decent amount. Hell, Georgia Tech has abandoned it altogether. Not the Black Knights. The option. That’s it. And it works most of the time.
Purdue 49 UConn 0 – The Huskies have not scored a point since Randy Edsall quit/retired. Not that they scored a lot of points anyway during his second tenure in Storrs. This is going to be a looooooooooooong season for that fanbase.

Recap complete! As I always say, some of the worst looking weeks on paper end up being some of the best to watch and this past weekend was a ton of fun to watch. You know what? Let’s bust out the first Bossman Top 25!

#1	Alabama
#2	Oregon
#3	Georgia
#4	Texas A&M
#5	Oklahoma
#6	Iowa
#7	Cincinnati
#8	Notre Dame
#9	Clemson
#10	Penn State
#11	Ohio State
#12	Florida
#13	Coastal Carolina
#14	Wisconsin
#15	Iowa State
#16	UCLA
#17	North Carolina
#18	Virginia Tech
#19	Ole Miss
#20	Miami
#21	Arizona State
#22	Auburn
#23	TCU
#24	Arkansas
#25	Liberty

Always seem to be close to the AP Poll but there’s always interesting differences. Yes, I had Oregon moving all the way up to #2 and deservedly so. Also, I didn’t quite move Iowa into the Top 5 as many had (and AP did). Give it time and I’m sure they will get there. I try not to go crazy and overrate a team after one huge victory. That is why I only put Arkansas at #24. If they start stringing more victories together, then sure I will definitely move them up. They have to earn it right? Well, it is college football polls so “earning it” can be a very subjective measure.

Another recap done and getting in the football groove with Fall just around the corner. I will be going back to the normal college football schedule on Thursday, NFL schedule on Friday format that you all know and love (well, at least I think you love….I know you know). It’s getting slightly cooler (although it was quite humid today) and it is starting to feel a bit like football weather. I love it. Have a great week everyone!

It’s OVERREACTION time! Oh, and the Week 2 College Football TV Schedule.

Posted on September 10, 2021 by guelphbossman

Isn’t this almost the worst tradition in college football? When college football media and fans go to ridiculous extremes after one week of college football (shut up, Week Zero). So let’s get right to those reactions that are probably overreactions (at least at this point):

“UCLA is gonna win the Pac-12!” Look it’s quite a good start for the team in sissy blue. But they still have their entire conference schedule to go through. Could they be better than I thought (which was .500)? Absolutely. But to say they will win 9 or 10 games. Let’s just pump the brakes a bit.
“The ACC is terrible!” Yeah, no. They aren’t. Yes, the conference as a whole had a bad first week. But North Carolina lost to what looks like could be a really good Virginia Tech team and Clemson lost to national title contender Georgia. Not much else of note but give them some time. Now if the highest ranked team in the ACC is at like #18 going into October then yes, they should start to panic.
“Cincinnati or UCF is the Group of Five team to go to the New Year’s Six!” Don’t book it just quite yet. Yes, UCF’s victory over Boise State was impressive and Gus Malzahn may have brought something to the program that they slightly lost the past couple years. And Cincy is Cincy. But there are still a bunch of teams that have opportunities and you never know what surprise Group of Five team will be out there.
“Oklahoma has no shot now.” Wait, what? First off, they won. Yes, it was closer than it should have been and it was Tulane but they still won. I can see their defense needs work but if they can figure it out, they have the offense to beat every team on their schedule.
“Well, Indiana sucks again.” One game against what looks like a seriously good Iowa team shouldn’t mar the Hoosiers’ season. Let’s see how they do the rest of the month before saying they are coming back down to Earth a bit (yeah, like Tom Allen is going to allow that to happen).
“Spencer Rattler and Sam Howell aren’t Heisman contenders at all.” Howell has fallen farther than Rattler in many people’s minds but they are still near the top of the Heisman contender list. Remember, some players really have won the Heisman in November so let’s chill here.
“Randy Edsall is going to get shitcanned.” HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. So silly. He quit instead.

Another tradition seems to be a quite bad Week 2 schedule (on paper) that somehow gets one really good Game of the Year candidate. Unfortunately, this is not an overreaction. It happens damn near every year. Oh well, if it sets us up for better weeks, then fine.

Friday

		US	Canada
Kansas at #17 Coastal Carolina	7:30 PM
North Carolina A&T at Duke	8:00 PM
North Dakota at Utah State	9:00 PM

UNDEFEATED KANSAS! UNDEFEATED COASTAL CAROLINA! Irresistible force, immovable object, and all that jazz. If it’s anything like last year’s Chants game against BYU, the crowd will be rocking which is amazing since there aren’t many seats in their stadium. There are also two other games you can watch but really, we all know what you’ll be watching.

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
Illinois at Virginia	11:00 AM
Western Kentucky at Army	11:30 AM
Youngstown State at Michigan State	Noon
Indiana State at Northwestern	Noon
Pittsburgh at Tennessee	Noon
South Carolina at East Carolina	Noon
Miami-OH at Minnesota	Noon
#12 Oregon at #3 Ohio State	Noon
Kennesaw State at Georgia Tech	Noon
Alabama State at #25 Auburn	Noon
#13 Florida at USF	1:00 PM
Rutgers at Syracuse	2:00 PM

Jesus Christ that is a lot of games in the Noon timeslot. And oh man, morning football! It’s funny: I like morning college football but early morning NFL games in London? Not so much. Probably because I am up until like 2 or 3 into Sunday morning and getting up like six hours or so later to watch NFL football is actually too much for me. And yes, there is a weird start time for the game on ABC. If you have been living under several rocks, you might not have realized that this Saturday is the 20th anniversary of 9/11. So there will be a lot of shows on in the morning about it, which makes a lot of sense considering when that tragedy occurred. ABC is running a special until 1:00 meaning college football is waiting a little bit to start on there. No big deal really and to many Americans it’s a huge thing this day so we can all wait an other for a game featuring…USF? Yeah definitely not a big deal then.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
Purdue at UConn	3:00 PM
Buffalo at Nebraska	3:30 PM
Air Force at Navy	3:30 PM
UAB at #2 Georgia	3:30 PM
California at TCU	3:30 PM
#5 Texas A&M vs. Colorado (in Denver)	3:30 PM
Mercer at #1 Alabama	4:00 PM
#10 Iowa at #9 Iowa State	4:30 PM
South Carolina State at #6 Clemson	5:00 PM

Here is our Game of the Year candidate, funny enough (well the second one after Oregon-tOSU earlier). Would you ever have thought that CyHawk could be Game of the Anything? It’s such a huge game this year that College Gameday is there as well. You will notice that the Notre Dame home game against Toledo is not on NBC. That’s because it’s on Peacock, the streaming app for NBC. Meaning, I am pretty sure none of us will be able to watch it. Slowly, these streaming platforms are getting into the sports game. Soon enough there will be multiple big games every week on like Hulu and will be shit out of luck if you don’t have Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Peacock, and whatever else is out there. Two final things here: yes, TSN2 is showing a game featuring the Mercer Bears. And yes, the ACC Network is doing their three-hour broadcast window thing. Stupid, but they can’t have games starting at 10:00 pm locally so they do what they feel like they have to do.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Houston at Rice	6:30 PM
#15 Texas at Arkansas	7:00 PM
Appalachian State at #22 Miami	7:00 PM
NC State at Mississippi State	7:00 PM
Howard at Maryland	7:30 PM
Idaho at Indiana	7:30 PM
Georgia State at North Carolina	7:30 PM
Missouri at Kentucky	7:30 PM
Washington at Michigan	8:00 PM
Jacksonville State at Florida State	8:00 PM

Yeah there really isn’t much here in terms of hugely important games. But see? The ABC started at 1pm “issue” worked itself out and we get the normal-for-about-a-decade 8:00 start in Ann Arbor where Washington might be the underdog? No TSN games in this timeslot which kind of sucks but it’s not like they are going to grab any ratings hits here. Texas-Arkansas might be the most interesting game here although there could actually be a fair amount riding on Mizzou-UK as the winner could actually contend in the SEC East (as long as Georgia falters at least once inside the conference).

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
Vanderbilt at Colorado State	10:00 PM
#21 Utah at BYU	10:15 PM
UNLV at #23 Arizona State	10:30 PM
Stanford at #14 USC	10:30 PM

FOX Pac-12 After Dark? FOX Pac-12 After Dark!!! It’s too bad that Gus Johnson will be calling the Big Noon Saturday game because Gus After Dark would have been tons of fun. It’s unfortunate Stanford looked like shit on opening weekend but, hey, remember what I said about overreactions? Now watch the Trojans blow them out by like 40. Also, we have the Holy War between Utah and the soon-to-be-in-the-Big XII BYU Cougars. TSN is smart to pick up this once since it should be a raucous crowd in Provo.

Games to set your eyeballs on

Oregon at Ohio State (Noon, FOX) – One of, surprisingly, two Game of the Year candidates. And both teams looked, well, a bit off during Week 1. The Ducks struggled with Fresno State and needed a late score to win and the Buckeyes took quite a long time to finally shake off Minnesota and get the victory. This should be good and should be close. This game has been hyped since last year when people were already looking forward to this season. Let’s hope it matches the hype.

Iowa at Iowa State (4:30, ABC) – This has quickly become a massive game and could actually be a big part of the College Football Playoff story. The winner here may vault into the Top 5 depending on what else happens. The loser isn’t out of anything though and could still be in a good spot to get to a New Year’s Six bowl. This is easily the biggest and most important version of CyHawk ever.

Utah at BYU (10:15, TSN2) – OK so it doesn’t drop off too much after the first two. The Holy War is always a hotly contested matchup. College football is always good when rivalries have two good teams playing. Like if Alabama and Auburn are both good or if Michigan and Ohio State are both good. This one is no different. Utes are in the Top 25 and the Cougs are just outside it. This game is in Provo which has arguably the craziest crowd in the Mountain or Pacific time zones except for the one in Salt Lake City. As I said above, TSN was smart to pick up this one and it should be the gem of the late night window.

UAB at Georgia (3:30, specialty pack) – OK now it falls off a cliff. Don’t me wrong. UGA is a fantastic team and UAB has been a great story since reviving their team a few years back. But this probably won’t be close and as the fourth-best game of the week it doesn’t really scream quality to be honest with you.

Kansas at Coastal Carolina (Friday, 7:30, TSN2) – Aw fuck it why not? Kansas is in the Games of the Week list, BAYBEE! Let’s be honest: the Chants will probably mop the floor with the Jayhawks. But what if Kansas keeps it close through three quarters? Man, that would be quite the interesting final segment and bring in a lot of viewers…way more than Kansas football is used to.

Honourable mention: Texas at Arkansas (7:00, specialty pack), Stanford at USC (10:30, FOX), Appalachian State at Miami (7:00, specialty pack).

You wanna bet?

Only the most degenerate of gamblers will bet on these Week 2 games. I mean if it was NFL I’d for sure be doing it but not college. I’ve told you all my reasons, I won’t rehash them here again. Here are the picks!

Oregon over Ohio State

Iowa State over Iowa

Miami over Appalachian State

Coastal Carolina over Kansas

USC over Stanford

BYU over Utah

Texas over Arkansas

Georgia over UAB

Rice over Houston (big upset!)

Nebraska over Buffalo (Upset? Ahahahahahahahahahahaha…no wait….really…….Upset?)

Navy over Air Force (kind of an upset)

From what I can tell, everything is up on the specialty pack. Only thing I haven’t seen anywhere is the second BTN games at Noon and 7:30 but I’m sure that will be sorted out. As for the Pac-12 Network, no it is not on DAZN. Frustrating. So I won’t be listing those games on the schedules since there is no real point to doing so. Hopefully they scrap the current setup and then be smart and pair up with FOX or CBS and set up a proper conference network like the ACC, Big Ten and SEC have. It would be the best thing for that conference for sure and bring in some more money.

I assume by now you’ve heard the news: the Big XII is (finally) expanding. BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF are expected to be voted in to the conference today sometime after they all sent in their applications a couple days ago. The vote is a no-brainer. The question will be when will the teams join and what happens to the American Conference now. The last thing I have heard is that BYU is probably moving for next season. The three AAC teams would then move the following year. Whether Oklahoma and Texas will still be around by then is anybody’s guess although I’d be shocked if they weren’t in the SEC by 2023. As for the AAC, I expect that they will look to expand. They would be down to eight teams with not exactly a murderer’s row of football programs. The schools that have already been bandied about include Marshall, Appalachian State, UAB and even Boise State and San Diego State (although I am sure the Mountain West will do everything they can to hold on to their new spot at the top of the Group of Five). So yeah, realignment news isn’t going anywhere after those four teams officially join.

Once I get back home, hell yes I will be watching football the rest of the weekend (sometime near the end of the Noon timeslot). Will I be watching football past midnight? Does a bear shit in the woods? I’ll catch up on sleep maybe in February. Enjoy the games everyone!

The 2021 College Football Coaching Hot Seat List

Posted on August 4, 2021 by guelphbossman

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 his job – 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!

BERT…..IS………BACK!!!!!!! (The Big Ten predictions)

Posted on July 17, 2021 by guelphbossman

bret bielema

BRET! FUCKING! BIELEMA!!!!!!! Look at that man. I SAID LOOK AT HIM! 300+pounds of real college football coach, oh yeah. This guy eats, drinks, sleeps, shits, breathes, eats, naps, and eats college football. Remember what he did in Wisconsin? Those were the good times. And now he’s back in the Big Ten (let’s not discuss anything Arkansas-related, shall we?)!!!!! The Lovie Smith Experience came to an abrupt end as after taking one corner they ended up running into a wall. Enter Bert. This guy was made for Big Ten football. Well, at least to coach it. But the Illini is not exactly a sought-after job. It’s been quite a long time since this program has been able to string together multiple positive seasons and the hope is that this man can do the job. If he can somehow turn this team into a yearly contender (or even a team that always gets to bowl games) he won’t have to buy another drink (or pizza or steak or sandwich or bucket of chicken) in Champaign again. I never really truly have a rooting interest but I would love to see this team do well. I mean it won’t happen this season but maybe next year they really start turning things around.

So there you go. Bielema. There’s also Ohio State trying to repeat yet again, Jim Harbaugh trying to rebound in Ann Arbor and not being on quite the hot seat he’s used to (which makes no sense but that’s a whole different conversation), Indiana being a football school and maybe, just maybe, some Rutgers bowl action. I will continue this in the Sausage and Peppers Summary (I’m getting hungry):

	Conference		Overall
East	W	L	W	L
Ohio State	9	0	11	1
Penn State	7	2	10	2
Indiana	6	3	8	4
Michigan	5	4	7	5
Rutgers	2	7	4	8
Michigan State	1	8	3	9
Maryland	1	8	3	9
West
Iowa	7	2	9	3
Wisconsin	7	2	10	2
Northwestern	6	3	9	3
Nebraska	5	4	7	5
Minnesota	4	5	6	6
Purdue	2	7	3	9
Illinois	1	8	3	9

Sausage and Peppers Summary (with onions…can’t forget the onions)

Is the Big Ten East the toughest division in football? I still think it’s a slight close second to the SEC West but now that Indiana and even Rutgers are looking competitive, it’s close. A good Michigan team and an improved Sparty would put the group over the top. Sorry, Maryland. Really, they should just head back to the ACC.
OK I am not going to be stupid this time around. I am picking tOSU to win the East division. I’ve spent too many previous years thinking a team would beat the Buckeyes and it hasn’t happened in a while. Way too many meaning more than zero. And they will run the Big Ten table during the regular season. Enough of this dumb bullshit from me thinking that I’ll be edgy and pick them to lose a conference game during the regular season. They won’t.
As for the bottom of the East, yeah it’s Maryland and a retooling Michigan State team and those two really aren’t close to the other five.
Time for Kirk Ferentz to take his merry band of Hawkeyes back to Indianapolis for the Big Ten title game. It won’t be easy with Wisky and Northwestern trailing them and even, dare I say it….OK I’ll say it….Nebraska possibly giving teams trouble. Iowa will have just enough to get a division title by winning the tiebreaker over Wisconsin due to their predicted victory over the Badgers.
The B1G doesn’t just have the second-best division, they are the second-best conference. Not quite at the SEC’s level but they boast a great top team in the Buckeyes and a solid mid-card. And yes, I am sure Illinois could beat Vanderbilt. So it’s a pretty tight race there and that does help when it comes to The Committee. The tougher the conference, the more sway you have with them.
Nine bowl teams predicted here. Not the greatest but not entirely bad. Tough when you have a few rebuilding teams or teams that are just struggling to figure things out. It will almost certainly be less that make it to the postseason once the NEW College Football Playoff comes around. Almost sounds like the New Big Money Match Game ’76. With much less Charles Nelson Reilly.
Hey remember the Hot Seat report I do every season? I can’t put Lovie Smith on it anymore. So who in the Big Ten could replace him? Mike Locksley is a good possibility. As is Jeff Brohm. And don’t forget good ol’ Frosty the Huskerman, Scott Frost. If the Huskers don’t get at least to .500 they might end up just hunting him for sport rather than fire him.
Iowa is not going to allow the Buckeyes to run away with the Big Ten Championship. But in the end…death, taxes, and the Ohio State football Buckeyes winning the Big Ten. It’s been the case more often that not it seems. This would also give them an inside track shot at the College Football Playoff (which is still at four teams at present time).

Next up will be the conference that, lately, has been Clemson and 13 other teams, the ACC. Two conferences down, eight more to go…well, nine if you include the Independents. Things will be going quickly now as we count down to the start of the season. Just can’t wait for Week Zero. I think us college football fans need a full college football season. Or more like any football at this point. 42 long days away. It’ll be here in a flash (I think). Have a great weekend everyone!

Most Important Games of the 2021 College Football Season – Let’s Go For Two!

Posted on May 30, 2021 by guelphbossman

I hate what they have done to college football overtime. I was fine when they said you had to start going for two starting with the third overtime. Would I prefer they make the teams start at the 30 or the 35 rather than the 25? Yes but I am OK with the way that is. Now it has become a two-point conversion shootout starting with the fifth overtime. Why? Because one stupidly awesome game went to seven overtimes and it was a classic? Seems like a serious overreaction to me (and probably many others). It has got to the point that maybe the NFL overtime is starting to look a bit better. I never would have said that even a couple of years ago but here we are.

So normally, I do the first post of this series and a day or two later more schedule updates appear changing my original guesses already. It would make me feel a bit dumb. This year? The same fucking thing happened! God damn when will I ever learn? Anyway, it was the mother of all schedule dumps. Like a crazy amount of games were set. Let’s look at what has changed with the first post in this series:

Penn State-Wisconsin I had right in terms of it being on FOX. But it’s not on at 4:00. It’s the BIG NOON SATURDAY game for Week One.
Now here’s a headscratcher. Iowa-Indiana is not the BIG NOON SATURDAY game on FOX. It’s not even on FOX. It’s on BTN. BTN! At 3:30 in the afternoon. It has to be due to the amount of appearances that one or both of these teams are perceived to have later on in the season on BTN since all Big Ten teams must have a minimum of two BTN appearances on the season with one of those appearances being a conference game. That’s the only thing I can think of since this is FOX or ESPN/ABC worthy in my opinion.
I was sooooooo close with LSU-UCLA. It’s on FOX. In primetime. But not at 8:00. It’s at 8:30. To me that seems like a weird time but I guess FOX is fine with the game ending probably around midnight if not a little later. Not like they have anything other than TMZ and infomercials to show afterwards on most of their affiliates.
Again, so close with one. Boise State-UCF is on at 7:00, not 7:30. My guess is it will be on at least one TSN station.
Oregon State-Purdue is now on FS1 in primetime. Big deal.
ABC nabbed CyHawk for their afternoon game.
Liberty-Troy has moved to primetime. But it’s still on ESPN+. So in the end it doesn’t matter anyway.
I totally forgot about how the ACC Network does Week 2. They show four games, starting at 11 in the morning to fit them all in so they don’t have to send a bunch to a regional FOX Sports Network (hmmm…should I call them Bally’s now?) or, even worse, ACC Network Extra which they are loathe to do. Anyway, it’s not at noon, it’s at 2:00 and should be on the specialty pack.
Cincinnati-Indiana has been picked up by ESPN/ABC. It will probably air on ABC and is definitely scheduled for Noon.
Oklahoma State-Boise State will be on FOX Sports One. But now it’s at 9:00. In the evening. Why? Because there is a game at 12:30 Sunday morning! Yep, for you crazies that can watch this game, San Jose State and Hawaii kick off after midnight and won’t end until about 4 in the morning. That’s crazy. I will watch at least three quarters of that.
Hey Coastal Carolina-Buffalo isn’t being relegated to ESPN+! It’s on at Noon, probably on the specialty pack here. Good to see some respect for these two schools.
Speaking of respect, let’s look at the absolute lack of respect ESPN/ABC has for the Kansas Jayhawks football program. Like no respect at all. They aren’t the Thursday night ESPN game. They aren’t even available to Canadians. Hell, it isn’t even available to most Americans. It’s on at 3:30, Saturday afternoon…on ESPN+. Yeah. That’s sad. But understandable.

I will probably make this same mistake next year because I’m an idiot who never learns.. Let’s just get to the second part of this series.

Week 4

Game of the Week: Notre Dame vs. Wisconsin (in Chicago) (Noon, FOX) – This kind of tells you what kind of weekend this will be, on paper. Not saying these aren’t two good teams because they are. But the Badgers are always juuuuuust on the outside looking in and don’t feel like an elite team. And the Irish are considered an elite team more often than they actually are. Not saying I wouldn’t be surprised if either team is in contention for the College Football Playoff late in the season but this being the game of the week means we aren’t looking at a ton of great games. Now watch this one go to like four overtimes and be an instant classic.

Other Really Important Games: West Virginia at Oklahoma (7:30, ABC) – Will the Sooners finally get over the top now with Spencer Rattler in his second year at quarterback? That is the question for Boomer Sooner this season as they could be in for a special two-season stretch (before Rattler goes to the NFL as a high first round pick). Unless they can get yet another great QB, this may be the best two-year stretch possibility for Lincoln Riley’s boys (before Riley gets an offer from the Dallas Cowboys that he can’t refuse). As for the Mountaineers, they have Dana Holgorsen. That’s fun enough since you are assured of him going off on the refs or his players or his coaches or the other team’s coaches or the other team’s players or the fans at least once a game. That’s what happens when you down six Red Bulls by lunch.

Clemson at NC State (3:30, ABC) – I could see this moving to primetime but it really has more to do with how many Big XII game would appear on ABC in the primetime timeslot all season (or at least how many they believe will appear there). The first three games listed this week cover the top three timeslots so you can kind of figure out where all the hype will be. This could be Dave Doeren’s final chance to get his program-defining win. Pull this off and he will never have to pay for another drink in Raleigh again. It also puts the entire conference in an interesting spot as Clemson is their hope for the CFP until another team steps up. Most believe it will be NC State’s interstate rivals, North Carolina, but the Wolfpack are known for their upsets over the past two decades. Just ask Florida State.

Tennessee at Florida (3:30, CBS) – Can Tennessee just be back already? It took so damn long for Texas to be back and now they aren’t quite back again so who knows if the college football media will be asking that question (that I will not type here) all season. Luckily for the fans (and haters) of Texas, that question is no longer asked. For Vol fans, it’s becoming the conversation every day in Knoxville. Until this team truly competes in the SEC East (and no, being third doesn’t count as competing) this may be the most annoying, pathetic fanbase in college football. So maybe, just maybe, they can pull this off and look like the program that everyone on Rocky Top desperately wants them to be. Now watch them lose this one by 40 and we wonder if they can beat a down Vanderbilt squad.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Nebraska at Michigan State (3:30, BTN) – You are looking LIVE…at two programs who are struggling, one more than the other. The Huskers feel like an afterthought now that they have been in the Big Ten for a while and for good reason. Their fans long for even the days of the Big XII, forget the Big Eight. And let’s be honest: other than the one year where Sparty went to the College Football Playoff, it’s not like they have been setting the college football world on fire the past couple of decades. This could be a very good game that could propel one of these programs back into prominence. This will almost assuredly go to the Big Ten Network.

Best Group of Five Game: Marshall at Appalachian State (Thursday, 7:30, specialty pack) – Two of the Group of Five’s stalwarts meet here in a much deserved Thursday night ESPN spot. Both teams had weird years this past season but that’s to be expected since the whole damn season was kind of weird. Expect both of these programs to at least flirt with the Top 25 most of the season. This should be an early Group of Five New Year’s Six elimination game as I am sure both teams will come into this undefeated (or in App State’s case, maybe a close loss to Miami early on).

Worst Power Five Game: Kansas at Duke (Noon, specialty pack) – Good god. You have to be some kind of masochist to want to watch more than maybe a few minutes of this game. Kansas is Kansas and Duke is nowhere near the heights they got to a few years back. You can easily avoid this one. I wouldn’t be surprised if doesn’t even go to the ACC Network and gets relegated to ACC Network Extra even if they have a timeslot available for them.

Week 5

Game of the Week: Ole Miss at Alabama (Noon, TSN5) – I have this game on ESPN2. Seriously. Look, there is a limit as to how many times a team can appear on the SEC on CBS. Otherwise Bama would appear like 8 times every season (the max is five by the way). This could still move to ESPN or even CBS so who knows. Ole Miss is expected to start the season either just inside or just outside the Top 25 and besides, it’s Lane Kiffin getting another shot at Nick Saban. He would be a God in Oxford if the Rebels can win this game.

Other Really Important Games: Cincinnati at Notre Dame (2:30, NBC) – I’m honestly confused as to why some Irish on NBC games are on at 2:30 and why some are on at 3:30. There is really no rhyme or reason as to why these happen the way they do. Maybe they anticipate a hot newscast on this night. Anyway, this game is ripe for an upset…kind of. If Cincy upset Notre Dame would it be considered an upset? If it was up to me, I would have put this game on in primetime. Unfortunately for the Bearcats, they don’t draw so that would be a no go.

Indiana at Penn State (Noon, ABC/TSN1/TSN4) – This does not feel like a Noon Big Ten Game. At all. This is the kind of game that is usually on ABC in primetime. Or should be especially after last year’s amazing finish. I can honestly say that maybe, just maybe, it’s the Hoosiers, not Penn State (or Michigan or Michigan State) that will be the team that will finally knock Ohio State off their perch atop the Big Ten East. Seeing the Hoosiers win this game and run the table into November would be great because it would make some TV executives at Disney a trifle nervous.

Michigan at Wisconsin (Noon, FOX) – Is Jim Harbaugh still special enough to warrant a BIG NOON SATURDAY timeslot? I could see this being moved, especially if the brass at FOX decides that the Big XII has a game they could show instead here. Or maybe they do another Pac-12 morning kickoff like they did with Arizona State-USC last year. This has to be a bounce-back season for the Wolverines. If not, what happens to Kaptain Khaki? Could he be fired? For the first time during his tenure in Ann Arbor, it would make sense to at least consider it, especially after last season’s disastrous season.

Texas at TCU (6:30, FOX Sports One) – Again, don’t be surprised if this, among almost every game this week, gets moved from where I have it. The Big XII has quickly become the major conference that Canadians rarely see. Not that they care down there if Canadians get to see their conference or not but it’s the same in the States. With no conference network, they are being left out in the cold. And their expansion blunder of a few years back is still being felt. They’ve already gone to Disney to look for a contract extension and ESPN/ABC said no. The contract ends after the 2025 season and with other TV contracts also ending around that time, realignment talk will heat up yet again. The conference is in trouble and really hinges on what Texas and Oklahoma decide to do. Expect a lot of changes in the next few years.

Florida at Kentucky (Noon, specialty pack) – Remember when the Wildcats were SEC East contenders? It wasn’t too long ago. Kentucky could be primed for another breakthrough and the fans in Lexington are chomping at the bit to see that happen. At some point, some team has to break the Florida-Georgia stranglehold in the division and what better year than this one? Right now, I have this on the SEC Network because I honestly had no idea where to put it once other better timeslots started filling up. I could see this somehow getting to ESPN or ESPN2 though since I have the SEC Network with four games during this week.

Arizona State at UCLA (3:30, specialty pack) – It feels like we are getting less and less late night games that are any good. I mean it won’t stop me from watching them but I’m used to a few each year at least. This is supposed to be the season where we finally see what Chip Kelly can do in Westwood. A good Bruins team is always welcome in college football. The Sun Devils are also expected to be quite good so maybe we will see a logjam at the top of the Pac-12 South. Not like that hasn’t happened before, am I right? Guys? Hello?

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Tennessee at Missouri (Noon, specialty pack) – No, we aren’t looking at two amazing teams. Or even one. But man, for such a good week, there are a lot of games (outside of the ones I listed above) that look like they won’t be close at all. I’d love to call this a SEC East eliminator game. But it’s not. With two teams so closely matched, though, it should be fun to watch and could be the surprise game of the early timeslot (if not the whole week).

Best Group of Five Game: Nevada at Boise State (10:00, FOX Sports One) – Could FS1, of all channels, have one of the best lineups this week? Look there were a few choices I could have put here instead of this one. Houston-Tulsa and Liberty-UAB fit the bill as well but neither really scream “Top Group of Five game.” Plus I am a bit fascinated with FOX’s foray into the Mountain West, mostly because I can see all the games now. This could end up being very lucrative for the conference as long as FOX continues to invest heavily into college football.

Worst Power Five Game: Pittsburgh at Georgia Tech (Noon, specialty pack) – I mean it’s not a bad game per se. But with the rest of the Noon options (and there are a lot of them), I can’t see this game getting many eyeballs.

Week 6

Game of the Week: Alabama at Texas A&M (8:00, CBS) – God damn this could be a MASSIVE game this season. Jimbo Fisher has guaranteed a win over Bama (not the smartest idea in the world but hey, gotta shot your shot). Even with the loss of Kellen Mond, this could be the Aggies year to get into the College Football Playoff. And now with probably a full house in College Station, the 100,000 plus members of the 12th Man will make life very difficult for the Tide. CBS has chosen this week to be the SEC doubleheader with the primetime game so it’s almost assured that this will be the pick.

Other Really Important Games: Oklahoma vs. Texas (in Dallas) (Noon, FOX) – Back where this belongs…almost. Depending on how the Aggies look early on, this could be considered the true GOTW. I’m still waiting for the day the Cotton Bowl collapses during the Red River Shootout. It’s going to happen and it’s going to be a tragedy that could be avoided by either fixing the fucking place or moving this game to JerryWorld. There’s almost no doubt in my mind this ends up being the BIG NOON SATURDAY pick by FOX.

Georgia at Auburn (3:30, CBS) – Wow, does CBS ever get an amazing doubleheader this season. Saying that, the Tigers aren’t the Tigers they have been in the past. Unless Bo Nix all of a sudden figures things out, Auburn will be middle of the pack, at best, in the SEC West. Still a good team but not close to contending in the always extremely tough SEC West. I just wish they would do away with divisions. Don’t get me wrong, the SEC East champ is usually good but who wouldn’t have enjoyed Bama playing LSU or TAMU playing Mississippi State or Ole Miss playing Auburn or any one of those combinations in Atlanta in December?

Maryland at Ohio State (Noon, TSN4) – This is guaranteed for Noon and almost a shoo-in to be on ESPN. Will this be close? Eh, who knows. OK I am pretty positive it won’t be. But if there’s any year where Ohio State could be vulnerable, it is this one. If the Terps can’t keep it close this time around they may never do so. I’m sure there are many who long to be back in the ACC, regardless of TV money.

Florida State at North Carolina (Noon, ABC/TSN2) – No, this isn’t here because it’s the Noles. I probably don’t have to say that anymore and it is sad that FSU just can’t seem to get over the hump and get back to the way they were. You never know, though. They beat the Heels here, it’s massive and could lead to huge things for this squad. North Carolina is in New Year’s Six or Bust mode this season as the NY6 is their floor. Anything less would be a disappointment with Sam Howell a serious Heisman contender.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: LSU at Kentucky (Noon, TSN1) – No, I’m not joking with this. The Tigers will be close to the bottom spot of the Top 25 and the Cats will be just outside looking in, at least at the start of the season. This is probably a bigger game for Kentucky than it is for LSU as there is no way that Ed Orgeron’s guys will be competing for the SEC West this season.

Best Group of Five Game: Boise State at BYU (10:30, specialty pack) – Is this considered a Group of Five game? I’m going to say it is. BYU seems to be in this no-man’s land when it comes to where they belong. I know they want to be Power Five and they should be Power Five but they aren’t quite there yet and until they are invited into a conference or get closer in reputation to Notre Dame, they won’t be. It is usually a lot of fun when these two teams meet. I am looking forward to Provo After Dark which sounds like a show on at Midnight on Vision TV or some other religious network where they do nasty things like drink coffee or say “fuck.”

Worst Power Five Game: Georgia Tech at Duke (12:30, specialty pack) – Two straight weeks for the Ramblin’ Wreck in this spot. The thing is they aren’t even that bad. But last week was a pretty good schedule, at least in the Power Five and this week the next worse choice would be Wake Forest-Syracuse which isn’t nearly as bad as this.

We are almost halfway through the season now (with these posts). With only thirteen weeks this season I had to have one longer post because of it. It will be the final one. The final two posts are usually the most difficult since almost none of the games are scheduled this far out, at least from a Power Five perspective. So the chances of me getting many of these predictions wrong are quite good. Just letting you know in advance.

It’s getting close to College Football Preview magazine season. Or maybe it has already started and I just don’t know about it. I have an Athlon subscription now so I am just waiting for that one to come in the mail. If there are others available I will check Indigo to see if I can get it. As for the Phil Steele magazine, I am going back and forth whether to order it or get the online version (if they have it this year). I love the magazine, don’t get me wrong. It’s an awesome read and has a shit-ton of information. Problem is, it shows up sometime in late July at the earliest which doesn’t help me at all with my predictions and makes it tough to read before the season begins (yes I am one of those insane people who try to read that magazine front-to-back). So we shall see. Anyway, have a great upcoming week and let’s hope the warm weather is here to stay and that we can forget what it was like on Friday.

A CFP without Clemson? – Week 14 College Football Recap

Posted on December 7, 2020 by guelphbossman

Last year I did this and talked about the College Football Playoff without Alabama. This time I posit about Clemson possibly not making the CFP. And that could happen. Their win over Virginia Tech looks good on paper but man it was a struggle until about the last part of the third quarter once they finally started pulling away (and after ABC hilariously aired an interview with Ian Book during the game probably thinking the Tigers would have essentially put the game away by then). They clinch their spot in the ACC Championship and get a rematch with Notre Dame. If they lose, they are guaranteed not to be in the CFP since the first one back in the 2014 season. That would honestly feel odd. Like Bama missing it last year.

Alright, enough of Clemson’s potential issues. Let’s get to the recap!

The Recap!

Let’s start with what ended up being the game of the week (of the year?): the game that was scheduled on THURSDAY between BYU and Coastal Carolina. An epic affair between two Top 20 teams with the winner getting a possible legitimate shot at the New Year’s Six. The final play looked very similar to when the Titans came up one yard short against the Rams in Super Bowl XXXIV. Coastal ended up holding on for the victory which should move them up in the CFP rankings. What it probably ended up doing though is far more important: BYU deciding to fill in for Liberty (who had COVID issues that made it so they couldn’t play) on a few days’ notice will create a new way to schedule games going forward. This is huge for college football and is a much needed change from scheduling non-conference games 20 years out (which everyone, except ADs, think is absolutely ludicrous).
Michigan State wasn’t even within an area code of Ohio State. To be honest, it was painful to watch. The Buckeyes continue their run to the Big Ten Championship (hopefully). The game against Michigan this Saturday looms large. Michigan’s game this past weekend was cancelled and if they still have issues with COVID-19 then they may have to have this one be cancelled as well. As per the Big Ten rules, this would make tOSU in eligible for the Big Ten title game. It’s ridiculous that this could happen but it’s possible that they would not even make their conference championship but get to the CFP. If the Big Ten is smart, they find a way to get the Buckeyes a game if the the game against The Team Up North has to be cancelled.
I think Iowa State heard the haters. What they did to West Virginia was nasty. That huge victory clinched their trip to JerryWorld for the first time in team history. The Cyclones are trying to erase the memory of the early season loss to Louisiana although I don’t know why since the Ragin’ Cajuns are ranked.
Speaking of the Ragin’ Cajuns that was something else down in Boone Friday night. Some disgusting footbaw weather (rain this time) made it very difficult, especially for Louisiana’s poor long snapper who made multiple horrible snaps that kept the Cajuns from pulling away from the Mountaineers. In the end, a missed App State field goal allowed Louisiana to get the duke and also stay ranked going into their bye week as they prepare for Coastal Carolina in the biggest Sun Belt Championship ever.
Good job, Oklahoma State. Any hope to sneak into the Big XII Championship went up in flames Saturday in Fort Worth. Not like TCU played all that well. But the Cowboys were finally exposed and we have another season where the Mullet Express will not head to the Metroplex which has to be frustrating Oklahoma State fans at this point.
Who picked Colorado to start 4-0? Put your hands down you liars. The Buffaloes were lead by Jarek Broussard’s insane day on the ground as he ran for 301 yards! I get it, it was just Arizona. But it was still impressive. The worst part about all this? Because their game against USC was cancelled, the Pac-12 might have two undefeated teams in the same division and only one of those teams will head to the Pac-12 Championship game. For the final time, ABOLISH DIVISIONS! It has run its course. There is no need for them now. Plus having no divisions ensures the best two teams (on the season) will play for the conference title. Instead, we may see Oregon or even Washington in the Pac-12 title game. Yuck.
It felt like an upset was in the making for a while. But Texas A&M did enough to hold on for the win over Auburn and keep their slim College Football Playoff hopes alive. They have done this despite the team not looking all that good for much of the season. Saying that, if the Aggies can make the CFP, the 10-year contract given to Jimbo Fisher starts to look a whole lot smarter.
Let’s see if I get this correct: Rice’s 20-0 win over Marshall was a shocker for sure. The Herd threw five interceptions and looked horrible all day. This marked the Owls’ first win over a ranked team in 23 years and their first shutout of a ranked opponent in 60 years! It’s Marshall’s first loss, ending their slim NY6 hopes. And it is probably the first time that a 1-win team has shut out a ranked team in December. And of course it was on ESPN3 so barely anyone got to watch it.
Texas scored 69 points against Kansas State. Nice.
The other game of the week ended up being Arkansas-Missouri. What an amazing finish. The Hogs go down the field, score the TD and decide to go for two. The two-point conversion pass is in the Mizzou defender’s hands and just tips out and into the Arkansas receiver’s hands to give the Razorbacks the lead. Then the Tigers go down the field and their freshman kicker nails the winning field goal. Missouri is quietly 5-3 under first-year head coach Eli Drinkwitz. Pretty impressive.
Finally, Akron won its first game in 770 days. That is not a typo. They beat Bowling Green who is probably the worst FBS team this season.

Coaching Carousel

Hey let’s have some fun and look at the coaching carousel.

So what is happening on the ol’ carousel? Let’s take a look.

Get this. Scott Satterfield, despite saying he wasn’t going to look for another coaching position, talked with South Carolina anyway. Many people are very upset, especially at Louisville. Don’t be surprised if Satterfield is shitcanned in the next few weeks.
As for the Gamecocks job, it goes to Shane Beamer. Yes, Frank’s son. He wasn’t the first two choices, that we know since Billy Napier also turned down the job after Satterfield did. He is going to have his work cut out for him making South Carolina a contender in the SEC East.
Derek Mason was dismissed at Vanderbilt. No real surprise there. Who will replace him? It seems like whoever it is really has to change the perception of the program and convince the university to spend more money on the program and/or get better recruits.
Jay Hopson was fired a few months ago. Yes it has been that long ago. Will Hall, Tulane’s offensive coordinator, has been hired by the Golden Eagles to bring that program out of the dumps.
Gary Andersen was fired a while ago at Utah State. If I was a program, even at the FCS level, I would stay away from this clown since he is totally unreliable.

Potential other coaching moves:

Texas – Even with Texas’s shellacking of Kansas State on Saturday, Tom Herman’s time in Austin may be over soon. And of course who is the top candidate to replace him? Urban Meyer, of course! The other candidate looks to be Penn State’s James Franklin, of all people. The real straw that may have broken the proverbial camel’s back at Texas is losing Quinn Ewers, the top-ranked quarterback for two seasons from now, to Ohio State.
Kansas – The Les Miles Experiment really has not worked in Lawrence. And who may be the first to admit it? Les himself. He may decide to retire rather than stick around knowing it will take at least another two years to get the Jayhawks back into contention in the Big XII for the first time in over a decade.
Brent Venables – Every off-season his name comes up as it pertains to the coaching carousel. This season is no different. Expect a less polished Power Five program throwing out a bunch of money to possibly lure him into his first head coaching job.
ULM – Things were on the up-and-up in Monroe under Matt Viator. Then came this year’s collapse as the Warhawks are now the worst team in the Sun Belt. They will look probably to the FCS to find candidates. UPDATE: Viator has been fired.
FIU – After two great years, things have been horrible for Butch Davis in 2020. They thought they had their man but he may not be the guy to grow this program. Problem is his buyout is over $1 million so that may keep him with the Golden Panthers for another season.
Middle Tennessee – The thing I can’t believe is the buyout for Rick Stockstill. $5.8 million! Who the fuck put that into his contract? Anyway, his contract runs for three more seasons so I could see MTSU bringing him back at least for 2021 to see if the Blue Raiders improve and then make a decision.
Luke Fickell – This is probably the guy every Power Five program that has fired their coach or might let theirs go is looking at. He has done some unreal things at Cincinnati. And remember, so did Brian Kelly and Mark Dantonio and they both had very good coaching careers at the Power Five level.
Jim Harbaugh/Michigan – Good lord, here we go again. The buyout is large but his next season is technically his last in Ann Arbor under his current deal. The Wolverines have been nothing short of awful this year and you have to wonder if Harbaugh has lost his spark. He almost seems destined to go back to the NFL, if not for next season then definitely for 2021. If Michigan pulls the trigger and fires him after this season, this automatically becomes the best coaching opening available with nothing else even close.
Tom Allen – Don’t laugh. This guy cemented his Coach of the Year with the big win over Wisconsin this past weekend. The players and other coaches love him and he has endless energy. If one of Michigan, Florida State, Penn State or Tennessee decides to move on, he is the guy. It’s pricey. They will have to probably chip in for his buyout which is, *GASP* $23.5 million. Holy shit. But it may be worth it.

Remember last week I said I would talk about the conference championship races? Well here we go. Man this post is getting into Super Mega Hyper Omni Post territory.

It’s the third annual Sun Belt Championship game and they still haven’t got Mountain Dew or Skoal or Shoney’s or some place like that to sponsor it. This will be the first Sun Belt Championship not to feature Appalachian State. Coastal Carolina and Louisiana have won their respective divisions and will face off in the championship game at the home of the Chanticleers in Conway, South Carolina, near Myrtle Beach (which you should know if you watched Mormons vs. Mullets on Saturday).

Conference USA has been a mess all season. The conference seems to be limping to the end. In the East, no-longer-undefeated Marshall must beat Charlotte to win the division. If they don’t win, it feels like there will be some tiebreaker action between the Herd and Florida Atlantic (and possibly even Charlotte). Stay tuned. In the West, UTSA leads the way followed closely by UAB. It all comes down to next week’s game between UAB and Rice. Blazers win and they play in the conference title game. If they lose, it goes to UTSA.

The MAC title tilt is halfway set, I think. Nothing has been officially said but it feels like Buffalo has clinched the MAC East. I don’t know why it hasn’t been announced yet though. In the MAC West, Ball State faces Western Michigan this Saturday and the winner heads to Detroit.

San Jose State and Boise State seem primed to make up for their cancelled game in the conference championship with both teams still undefeated in the conference. Boise plays Wyoming and SJSU plays Nevada this weekend. Here are the scenarios:

Broncos and Spartans win and they both go to the conference championship.
Broncos win and Spartans lose, it’s Nevada and Boise in the title game.
Both Broncos and Spartans lose, it’s Boise and SJSU in the championship.

Alright Cincinnati is already in. And Tulsa clinched their spot this past Saturday. Now Cincinnati heads to Tulsa this Saturday and then will host them the following weekend. It would not surprise me to see this game cancelled to give both teams a week of rest.

It’s Clemson up against Notre Dame in a massive rematch of their earlier game. Huge implications for this game.

This has been set. The somewhat surprising Iowa State Cyclones get their chance against Oklahoma at JerryWorld.

The Pac-12 is a complete shitshow. Let me try and make some understanding of all this.

Washington could have clinched on Saturday but lost to Stanford. So now if Washington beats Oregon they go to the Pac-12 title game, wherever that may be.
Oregon, on the other hand, is in if they beat Washington thanks to Oregon State’s loss to Utah.
USC, after beating Washington State, is tied with Colorado at the top of the South.
If both teams win next weekend, it comes to who is higher up in the CFP rankings. Meaning the Trojans will have the edge.

So, of course, the Pac-12 fucks things up again. Undefeated Colorado quite possibly could be left out of the Pac-12 title game because they have divisions. Can someone fire Larry Scott already?

Northwestern clinched the Big Ten West despite sitting at home and will await to see if the Ohio State-Michigan game gets played. If the Wolverines have to cancel, that makes tOSU ineligible for the conference championship game. This would mean Indiana would travel a short way to Indianapolis to play for the Big Ten crown. If the game is played and the Buckeyes beat Michigan, then they are heading there. Or, the Big Ten could change the rules and allow Ohio State to go anyway. Who the hell knows anymore.

Alabama and Florida. No LSU, who could be one of the worst defending champs in recent memory. But in an interesting twist, it will be the Texas A&M Football Aggies who will be watching in earnest (as long as they take of business this weekend).

Alright that was a super long post. But it keeps you informed going into next week, the quasi-last week of the regular season. Now we can remember what it was like when Army-Navy shared the week with a bunch of other weird games. Later in the week will be the normal bowl projection, college football schedule and NFL schedule posts. Have a great week everyone!

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

Posted on November 23, 2020 by guelphbossman

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

Now on to the rest of the recap.

Recap

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The American Conference does it again – Week 10 College Football Recap

Posted on November 4, 2019 by guelphbossman

The Memphis Tigers outlasted SMU this past weekend in a 54-48 thriller. This game was a ton of fun to watch and it shows again that the American Conference might be the most exciting conference in college football. The SEC might be the best. The Big XII has the best offenses/worst defenses and the ACC is completely chaotic (at least in one division). But the AAC always brings it, even if it’s just their signature games. The War on I-4 two years ago was the gold standard and there have been plenty of other examples. Now with SMU and Appalachian State falling from the realms of the undefeated (more on that below), the Group of Five is getting close to full chaos mode. Quite a few teams still with legitimate shots at the New Year’s Six spot open to the G-5 schools. At this point, however, you might have to say that Memphis is the favourite and if they win out they are definitely in. But there’s still a month of football yet to play so don’t want them to count their chickens before they hatch or some other cliche that some other media member might come up with.

Other recap points!

Speaking of beatdowns, how about the one that Michigan laid on Maryland? I mean it’s just Maryland but still, the Wolverines have looked dominant since starting their (failed) comeback against Penn State. Look don’t forget about this team. They could cause some serious damage in the College Football Playoff race. Until they beat Ohio State, though, Jim Harbaugh will still on be on an (undeserved) hot seat in Ann Arbor. Oh and remember when Maryland was ranked? Yeah, good times.
It ended up being a really good World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. As an aside, I get they don’t want to promote drinking for college students but let’s be honest here: half the people there were probably drunk so what does it really matter at this point? Just be honest with the fans. Anyway, the Gators couldn’t seem to stop the Bulldogs when it counted which has to lay at the feet of Todd Grantham. But the lasting image I will have will be Dan Mullen, not yelling at Grantham, but losing his shit on most of the offensive coaching staff for burning a timeout early in the fourth quarter. It wasn’t quite Muschamp-ian but still, it made for good TV.
The Pac-12 ain’t dead yet! Washington did what Washington does and blew an early lead to Utah. The Utes looked dominant after the Huskies took the early lead. Then they had to wait for the Oregon-USC game to see if they held their destiny in their hands or if the Trojans, of all teams, would sit in the catbird seat of the Pac-12 South. Well it didn’t take too long to see that the Ducks were easily the better team. They blew USC out of the water and probably ended the Clay Helton era in one fell swoop. We are going headlong into a Pac-12 Championship with 11-1 Oregon and 11-1 Utah and the winner could make things very difficult for the College Football Playoff Committee.
Notre Dame kept rolling along…ok rolling is the wrong word. They are doing terrible somersaults forward. They struggled all day with Bud Foster’s Virginia Tech defense. Not saying they looked like they did last week against Michigan but the Irish sure didn’t look like a Top 25 team, let alone a contender for the New Year’s Six. This won’t be Notre Dame’s last tough game as they have Duke, Navy, Boston College and Stanford to finish their season. Win every game, even if they’re close, and they deserve a NY6 spot.
Let’s go to the Big Ten and one of the big stories there…the Illinois Fighting Illini. Yes, seriously. OK they only beat Rutgers. Not a big deal per se. But Illinois is now one win away from being bowl-eligible. No one thought this would be the case. Maybe it was smart to give Lovie Smith that extension. This may be one of the most perplexingly good teams of the year. I always enjoy down on their luck teams turning it around to have one relatively special season, even if they head back to the basement shortly afterwards.
Oh Florida State? We thought two years ago was the bottom. Then it was last year that was the bottom and things were going to improve. Now, after their loss to Miami where they looked terrible, they have finally hit a new bottom (at least that’s what Noles fans hope). And to top it off, Willie Taggart was just fired today. This program needs someone to save it. Is there someone willing to take this on knowing the expectations on the program? It is an absolute mess in Tallahassee.
OK I will admit it: I drank the Nebraska hype Kool-aid. I truly thought Scott Frost had things going in Lincoln after the finish to their 2018 season. They also had Adrian Martinez who looked like a bona fide Heisman candidate. Well that’s all gone to shit now. The Huskers loss to Purdue (who is also way worse than many thought they would be) means they have to win two of their final three to go bowling. They have Wisconsin, Maryland and Iowa coming up. Good luck, Frosty.
Pitt beat Georgia Tech. Not really a big deal to beat the Yellow Jackets. But this means that Pitt might win the ACC Coastal again. Can we stomach that?
Let’s give some hype to a guy who should have some more Heisman chatter: Chuba Hubbard of Oklahoma State. First of all, he’s Canadian! It would be awesome to have a Canadian win the Heisman. But he is carrying the Pokes on his shoulders this season. And he is arguably the best running back not named Jonathan Taylor and Hubbard had been in the Big Ten, he would be on many Heisman lists. OSU is going to be going bowling and maybe in the Top 25, mostly due to this guy which is shocking considering that the Cowboys are known for their high-flying passing game.
I normally don’t talk about FCS games in this post but did you see the end of the Dartmouth-Harvard game? A crazy Hail Mary winner by the Big Green to beat the Crimson 9-6. This also keeps Dartmouth undefeated and sets up the unusual next week. Dartmouth plays Princeton, in Yankee Stadium, and this game will be on at 3:30 on ESPNU. Yes, an Ivy League game in November is getting a national broadcast spot. That’s pretty awesome.
Air Force has been quite the team this season. There is a good chance they will win at least ten games and still won’t be in the Mountain West Championship or in the NY6 chatter. They held on to beat Army in a Commander’s-In-Chief Trophy game. What followed was hilarious. Army football’s Twitter account actually blocked Air Force’s football account. See, even the service academies get into this petty rivalry stuff and I love it.
UCF beat Houston (also known from here on in as Redshirt U) and it honestly looked pretty easy. What I find odd is that people still believe the Knights could make the New Year’s Six. For that to happen, the amount of chaos that would have to occur would be monumental. I mean I would love watching it but still, the chances are VERY slim.
Don’t forget about San Diego State in the Group of Five race. They were idle this past week but with only one loss they are right in the thick of things. They have almost certainly clinched the Mountain West West Division and if they can beat Boise State for the conference championship, they have the resume to be selected.
Baylor played like a team who was barely an average Big XII game for most of Saturday. Yes they beat West Virginia and yes it means they stay undefeated but three point victories over the Mountaineers don’t exactly scream College Football Playoff contender. They get a possible speed bump game in Fort Worth against TCU this Saturday. Win that and they have one of the biggest games of the year against Oklahoma (and I wonder if Gameday would travel to Waco for this one).
Hey guess who holds their own destiny in the Pac-12 North? You guessed it, the Oregon State Beavers. I know, right? They put a pink bill (50-burger) up on Arizona this past weekend and now sit at 3-2 in the conference. If they win out, they go to the Pac-12 Championship. How ridiculous would that be? I mean they would have to beat Oregon in the Civil War so chances of it happening are almost none but it would be fun to even see them in that position to do so.
Kansas State won pretty easily over Kansas. Chris Klieman has done a masterful job in the Little Apple and they are just on the outside of the Big XII title game race. Don’t be surprised if they can somehow sneak in. But let’s give Les Miles some kudos here for what he has done in Lawrence. The Jayhawks have hope now going forward. They may not be the doormat of the Big XII for much longer and Miles has a lot to do with that.
Going back to the service academies, it looks like Navy is having the season Army was supposed to have and vice versa. Ken Niumatalolo doing a great job with the Midshipmen in a bounce back year after last season’s horrible results. They have to be the favourite in the Army-Navy game now and might win it for the first time in a few years.

That was a fun weekend of college football. Now for the Bossman Top 25!

#1	LSU
#2	Ohio State
#3	Alabama
#4	Georgia
#5	Utah
#6	Oregon
#7	Clemson
#8	Penn State
#9	Baylor
#10	Auburn
#11	Michigan
#12	Oklahoma
#13	Florida
#14	Minnesota
#15	Notre Dame
#16	Iowa
#17	Cincinnati
#18	Wisconsin
#19	Memphis
#20	Wake Forest
#21	Boise State
#22	Kansas State
#23	SMU
#24	Texas
#25	Indiana

Yes I have Alabama at #3 behind LSU and Ohio State. If the Tide win this Saturday then they are going to be #1 come this time next week, no ifs, ands or buts. Clemson I have dropped to #7. Don’t worry Tigers fans: win out and there’s no way you’re out of the CFP. Penn State is at #8 and still could end up left out of the Big Ten Championship. Florida and SMU didn’t fall far considering who they lost to. Also, watch out for Indiana. They are severely underrated and could sneak it’s way up the chain and be looking at a New Year’s Six spot. Sounds crazy but it is still technically possible.

OK it’s that time of year folks! MACtion Tuesdays. And MACtion Wednesdays! Tomorrow night will see Kent State face Toledo and the top of the MAC West, Ball State, travelling to Western Michigan to take on the Broncos. KSU-Toledo is on CBSSN and BSU-WMU goes to the specialty pack. Wednesday night’s game is also on the specialty pack and is the 150th Anniversary of college football so expect a lot of history and nostalgia to be discussed during the game. Miami-OH plays Ohio if you want to know the combatants.

Also the first CFP Rankings of the season will be revealed tomorrow night between the two NCAA basketball games on TSN1. It might be delayed depending on how long the first college basketball game goes. Oh yeah college basketball starts up again as well. So there’s that. Tomorrow I will have a crazy bowl projections post. Do not take it seriously. Have a great week everyone!

Bossman's Blog

A lot of college football (and perhaps a bit of miscellaneous crap that I think warrants a post)

Tag Archives: Ann Arbor

Hey let’s look ahead (and also give you the Week 8 College Football TV schedule)

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday Early

Saturday Afternoon

Saturday Primetime

Saturday Late Night

Someone might want to avoid airport tarmacs – the Week 2 Recap

The 2021 College Football Coaching Hot Seat List

BERT…..IS………BACK!!!!!!! (The Big Ten predictions)

A CFP without Clemson? – Week 14 College Football Recap

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday Early

Saturday Afternoon

Saturday Primetime

Saturday Late Night

Friday

Saturday Early

Saturday Afternoon​​

Saturday Primetime

Saturday Late Night

Saturday Afternoon