Yep, not kidding. This is it. I’m not going to do like four in a matter of six days or something ridiculous like that. I have a job and a life (sort of) outside of this blog. I also know things may change on the day of the draft (or more like opening day of the draft). Nothing I can do about that. Let the experts deal with it. Between ESPN and the NFL Network there has to be about 70 mock drafts ready to go in the half hour before the draft begins. So without further adieu, let’s get to l’ébauche finale:
First Round
1
Chicago
Caleb Williams, QB (USC)
2
Washington
Jayden Daniels, QB (LSU)
3
New England
Drake Maye, QB (North Carolina)
4
Arizona
Marvin Harrison Jr., WR (Ohio State)
5
LA Chargers
Malik Nabers, WR (LSU)
6
NY Giants
Dallas Turner, EDGE (Alabama)
7
Tennessee
Terrion Arnold, CB (Alabama)
8
Atlanta
J.J. McCarthy, QB (Michigan)
9
Chicago
Laiatu Latu, EDGE (UCLA)
10
NY Jets
Joe Alt, OT (Notre Dame)
11
Minnesota
Bo Nix, QB (Oregon)
12
Denver
Brock Bowers, TE (Georgia)
13
Las Vegas
Olu Fashanu, OT (Penn State)
14
New Orleans
Rome Odunze, WR (Washington)
15
Indianapolis
Quinyon Mitchell, CB (Toledo)
16
Seattle
Troy Fautanu, G (Washington)
17
Jacksonville
Taliese Fuaga, OT (Oregon State)
18
Cincinnati
J.C. Latham, OT (Alabama)
19
LA Rams
Kool-Aid McKinstry, CB (Alabama)
20
Pittsburgh
Byron Murphy II, DT (Texas)
21
Miami
Jer’Zhan Newton, DT (Illinois)
22
Philadelphia
Jared Verse, DE (Florida State)
23
Minnesota
Chop Robinson, EDGE (Penn State)
24
Dallas
Amarius Mims, OT (Georgia)
25
Green Bay
Cooper DeJean, S (Iowa)
26
Tampa Bay
Michael Penix Jr., QB (Washington)
27
Arizona
Darius Robinson, EDGE (Minnesota)
28
Buffalo
Brian Thomas Jr., WR (LSU)
29
Detroit
Jackson Powers-Johnson, G (Oregon)
30
Baltimore
Graham Barton, G (Duke)
31
San Francisco
Tyler Guyton, OT (Oklahoma)
32
Kansas City
Jordan Morgan, OT (Arizona)
Second Round
33
Carolina
Xavier Legette, WR (South Carolina)
34
New England
Kingsley Suamataia, OT (BYU)
35
Arizona
Nate Wiggins, CB (Clemson)
36
Washington
Zach Frazier, C (West Virginia)
37
LA Chargers
T.J. Tampa, CB (Iowa State)
38
Tennessee
Patrick Paul, OT (Houston)
39
Carolina
Ennis Rakestraw Jr., CB (Missouri)
40
Washington
Troy Franklin, WR (Oregon)
41
Green Bay
Chris Braswell, EDGE (Alabama)
42
Houston
Ruke Orhorhoro, DT (Clemson)
43
Atlanta
Ladd McConkey, WR (Georgia)
44
Las Vegas
Christian Haynes, G (UConn)
45
New Orleans
Marshawn Kneeland, EDGE (Western Michigan)
46
Indianapolis
Xavier Worthy, WR (Texas)
47
NY Giants
Cooper Beebe, G (Kansas State)
48
Jacksonville
Adonai Mitchell, WR (Texas)
49
Cincinnati
T’Vondre Sweat, DT (Texas)
50
Philadelphia
Kamari Lassiter, CB (Georgia)
51
Pittsburgh
Edgerrin Cooper, LB (Texas A&M)
52
LA Rams
Kamren Kinchens, S (Miami)
53
Philadelphia
Ricky Pearsall, WR (Florida)
54
Cleveland
Michael Hall Jr., DT (Ohio State)
55
Miami
Keon Coleman, WR (Florida State)
56
Dallas
Trey Benson, RB (Florida State)
57
Tampa Bay
Ja’Lynn Polk, WR (Washington)
58
Green Bay
Sedrick Van Pran, C (Georgia)
59
Houston
Cam Hart, CB (Notre Dame)
60
Buffalo
Kris Jenkins, DT (Michigan)
61
Detroit
Javon Bullard, CB (Georgia)
62
Baltimore
Roman Wilson, WR (Michigan)
63
San Francisco
Austin Booker, DE (Kansas)
64
Kansas City
Braden Fiske, DT (Florida State)
Third Round
65
Carolina
Cedric Gray, LB (North Carolina)
66
Arizona
Payton Wilson, LB (NC State)
67
Washington
Bralen Trice, EDGE (Washington)
68
New England
Jonathan Brooks, RB (Texas)
69
LA Chargers
Ja’Tavion Sanders, TE (Texas)
70
NY Giants
Caelan Carson, CB (Wake Forest)
71
Arizona
Leonard Taylor III, DT (Miami)
72
NY Jets
Tyler Nubin, S (Minnesota)
73
Detroit
Adisa Isaac, EDGE (Penn State)
74
Atlanta
Brandon Dorius, EDGE (Oregon)
75
Chicago
Christian Mahogany, G (Boston College)
76
Denver
DeWayne Carter, DT (Duke)
77
Las Vegas
Mike Sainristil, CB (Michigan)
78
Washington
Junior Colson, LB (Michigan)
79
Atlanta
Justin Egoigbe, DT (Alabama)
80
Cincinnati
Max Melton, CB (Rutgers)
81
Seattle
Tommy Eichenberg, LB (Ohio State)
82
Indianapolis
Calen Bullock, S (USC)
83
LA Rams
Spencer Rattler, QB (South Carolina)
84
Pittsburgh
Roger Rosengarten, OT (Washington)
85
Cleveland
Kiran Amedagije, OT (Yale)
86
Houston
Malachi Corley, WR (WKU)
87
Dallas
Jermaine Burton, WR (Alabama)
88
Green Bay
Blake Fisher, OT (Notre Dame)
89
Tampa Bay
Cole Bishop, S (Utah)
90
Arizona
Zak Zinter, G (Michigan)
91
Green Bay
Nehemiah Pritchett, CB (Auburn)
92
Tampa Bay
Javion Cohen, G (Miami)
93
Baltimore
Jaylen Wright, RB (Tennessee)
94
Kansas City
Blake Corum, RB (Michigan)
95
San Francisco
Elijah Jones, CB (Boston College)
96
Jacksonville
Kris Abrams-Draine, CB (Missouri)
97
Cincinnati
Johnny Wilson, WR (Florida State)
98
Pittsburgh
Jonah Ellliss, LB (Utah)
99
LA Rams
Jalyx Hunt, EDGE (Houston Christian)
100
Washington
Jalen McMillan, WR (Washington)
There are some strong opinions out there about this draft (like every draft) so let’s go through a few of them:
The Vikings are going to trade up. This is a likely option but I don’t put trades in my mock drafts because I think dreaming up the trade packages would be insane. Saying that, I wouldn’t be surprised if they traded up to #4 or #5 to get J.J. McCarthy.
The Cardinals are fielding a lot of trade offers. The top three picks are mostly set even though Drake Maye and Jayden Daniels seem to flip-flop in the second and third spots. The Cards are probably fielding a few offers but not as many as some might think. It will take a lot for them to trade down as they know they would get, arguably, the best overall player of the draft at a position they need.
The Giants might be the toughest to figure out in the Top 10. Absolutely. They have all sorts of needs so there are probably 10-12 players on their board that they could conceivably take. I still like Dallas Turner at that spot but Terrion Arnold, Laiatu Latu, Brock Bowers, Quinyon Marshall and, hell, even Bo Nix could be picked at #6 by the Geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-Men (done in extreme Chris Berman voice).
If Brock Bowers isn’t picked Top 10 he will fall…FAR. I don’t think so. The Broncos, Colts, Bengals and Dolphins might all take a gander at the big man if he is still sitting in the back room after the tenth pick (which I think he will be).
Other than that there are questions that mostly don’t have answers at this point. Like will the Bills make a surprising leap up the draft now that Stefon Diggs has been dealt? Is Michael Penix Jr. poised to have the biggest leap up the draft boards in the past couple months? Will there be actual players involved in any of the trades over the next few days? It’s a crapshoot and not my expertise so I will steer clear of most of those questions (possibly, possibly and probably are my answers).
Reminder that the draft starts tonight at 8:00 and is emanating from Detroit. Moving the draft around has been fun so let’s see what it’s like in the Motor City. As per usual, ESPN and NFL Network will be doing the entire draft…all seven rounds. I have the ESPN draft pick is in ringtone on my phone but I am still debating which network to watch, at least for night one. I have leaned NFL Network in the past but I have done both over the past decade. It’s a game-time decision.
Finally, on the Twitter Machine (fuck you, Elon) I will be live-tweeting at least the first round and am hoping to do ALL SEVEN this year. Can I do it? Who the fuck knows. Around halfway through round five is where things usually go off the rails and I might struggle to keep going at that point. I mean I will but who knows if I will be posting tweets at that point or semi-conscious, staring at the bag of pretzels on my desk and wondering about important questions in life like “Would Nathan Peterman be successful in the CFL?”
Anyway, enjoy the draft, however much you watch of it.
The A stands for April. Or Awesome. Or Asshole. Whatever.
Mock draft time! And it’s three glorious rounds of (probably) incorrect picks. Lovin’ it! Let’s go!
First Round
1
Chicago
Caleb Williams, QB (USC)
2
Washington
Drake Maye, QB (North Carolina)
3
New England
Jayden Daniels, QB (LSU)
4
Arizona
Marvin Harrison Jr., WR (Ohio State)
5
LA Chargers
Quinyon Mitchell, CB (Toledo)
6
NY Giants
Dallas Turner, EDGE (Alabama)
7
Tennessee
Olu Fashanu, OT (Penn State)
8
Atlanta
Malik Nabers, WR (LSU)
9
Chicago
Rome Odunze, WR (Washington)
10
NY Jets
Joe Alt, OT (Notre Dame)
11
Minnesota
Laiatu Latu, DE (UCLA)
12
Denver
Terrion Arnold, CB (Alabama)
13
Las Vegas
Nate Wiggins, CB (Clemson)
14
New Orleans
Jared Verse, DE (Florida State)
15
Indianapolis
Brian Thomas Jr., WR (LSU)
16
Seattle
J.J. McCarthy, QB (LSU)
17
Jacksonville
Jackson Powers-Johnson, OG (Oregon)
18
Cincinnati
Brock Bowers, TE (Georgia)
19
LA Rams
Bo Nix, QB (Oregon)
20
Pittsburgh
Troy Fautanu, OG (Washington)
21
Miami
Cooper DeJean, S (Iowa)
22
Philadelphia
Adonai Mitchell, WR (Texas)
23
Minnesota
Chop Robinson, EDGE (Penn State)
24
Dallas
Taliese Fuaga, OT (Oregon State)
25
Green Bay
J.C. Latham, OT (Alabama)
26
Tampa Bay
Xavier Worthy, WR (Texas)
27
Arizona
Kool-Aid McKinstry, CB (Alabama)
28
Buffalo
Jer’Zhan Newton, DT (Illinois)
29
Detroit
Byron Murphy II, DT (Texas)
30
Baltimore
Kamari Lassiter, CB (Georgia)
31
San Francisco
Amarius Mims, OT (Georgia)
32
Kansas City
Tyler Guyton, OT (Oklahoma)
Second Round
33
Carolina
Zach Frazier, C (West Virginia)
34
New England
Jordan Morgan, OT (Arizona)
35
Arizona
Darius Robinson, EDGE (Minnesota)
36
Washington
Xavier Legette, WR (South Carolina)
37
LA Chargers
Michael Hall Jr., DT (Ohio State)
38
Tennessee
T.J. Tampa, CB (Iowa State)
39
Carolina
Keon Coleman, WR (Florida State)
40
Washington
Graham Barton, OG (Duke)
41
Green Bay
Tyler Nubin, S (Minnesota)
42
Houston
Chris Braswell, EDGE (Alabama)
43
Atlanta
Michael Penix Jr., QB (Washington)
44
Las Vegas
Kingsley Suamataia, OT (BYU)
45
New Orleans
Ladd McConkey, WR (Georgia)
46
Indianapolis
Kamren Kinchens, S (Miami)
47
NY Giants
Ennis Rakestraw Jr., CB (Missouri)
48
Jacksonville
Patrick Paul, OT (Houston)
49
Cincinnati
Troy Franklin, WR (Oregon)
50
Philadelphia
Edgerrin Cooper, LB (Texas A&M)
51
Pittsburgh
T’Vondre Sweat, DT (Texas)
52
LA Rams
Bralen Trice, EDGE (Washington)
53
Philadelphia
Marshawn Kneeland, EDGE (Western Michigan)
54
Cleveland
Ruke Orhorhoro, DT (Clemson)
55
Miami
Ja’Lynn Polk, WR (Washington)
56
Dallas
Trey Benson, RB (Florida State)
57
Tampa Bay
Adisa Isaac, EDGE (Penn State)
58
Green Bay
Cooper Beebe, OG (Kansas State)
59
Houston
Malachi Corley, WR (WKU)
60
Buffalo
Max Melton, CB (Rutgers)
61
Detroit
Christian Haynes, OG (UConn)
62
Baltimore
Roman Wilson, WR (Michigan)
63
San Francisco
Brandon Dorius, EDGE (Oregon)
64
Kansas City
Jalen McMillan, WR (Washington)
Third Round
65
Carolina
Cedric Gray, LB (North Carolina)
66
Arizona
Sedrick Van Pran, C (Georgia)
67
Washington
Payton Wilson, LB (NC State)
68
New England
Ricky Pearsall, WR (Florida)
69
LA Chargers
Ben Sinnott, TE (Kansas State)
70
NY Giants
Kris Jenkins, DT (Michigan)
71
Arizona
Leonard Taylor III, DT (Miami)
72
NY Jets
Devontez Walker, WR (North Carolina)
73
Detroit
Caelan Carson, CB (Wake Forest)
74
Atlanta
Cam Hart, CB (Notre Dame)
75
Chicago
Ja’Tavion Sanders, TE (Texas)
76
Denver
Javon Bullard, CB (Georgia)
77
Las Vegas
Jonathon Brooks, RB (Texas)
78
Washington
Austin Booker, DE (Kansas)
79
Atlanta
Braden Fiske, DT (Florida State)
80
Cincinnati
Kiran Amedagije, OT (Yale)
81
Seattle
Christian Mahogany, OG (Boston College)
82
Indianapolis
Mike Sainristil, CB (Michigan)
83
LA Rams
D.J. James, CB (Auburn)
84
Pittsburgh
Roger Rosengarten, OT (Washington)
85
Cleveland
Junior Colson, LB (Michigan)
86
Houston
Kris Abrams-Draine, CB (Missouri)
87
Dallas
Renardo Green, CB (Florida State)
88
Green Bay
Khyree Jackson, CB (Oregon)
89
Tampa Bay
Beau Brade, S (Maryland)
90
Arizona
Andru Phillips, CB (Kentucky)
91
Green Bay
Jalyx Hunt, EDGE (Houston Christian)
92
Tampa Bay
Dominick Puni, OG (Kansas)
93
Baltimore
McKinnley Jackson, DT (Texas A&M)
94
Kansas City
Braelon Allen, RB (Wisconsin)
95
San Francisco
Kalen King, CB (Penn State)
96
Jacksonville
Johnny Wilson, WR (Florida State)
97
Cincinnati
Josh Newton, CB (TCU)
98
Pittsburgh
Jeremiah Trotter Jr., LB (Clemson)
99
LA Rams
Calen Bullock, S (USC)
100
Washington
James Williams, S (Miami)
The top few picks seem set in stone. Maybe on in that specific order but those top four will, most likely, be the top four come draft night. As for some of the other picks, man there were some huge drops. Like Kris Jenkins. Only a few weeks ago, a fair amount of mocks had him in the first round. I don’t think he’s even being considered as a first rounder anymore. Almost the same with Byron Murphy II. I had him going fifth to the Chargers which may have been a bit high in retrospect. But for him to drop to almost completely out of the first round is an alarming drop. Sometimes it’s fairly easy to find out what has happened to lower a potential draftee’s stock and sometimes…well, sometimes who the hell knows. It just happens.
Potential Draft Day Trades
OK so these would include trades coming up toward the draft as well, not just the ones on draft opening night. And no, I can’t see the Bears or the Commanders trading their picks so let’s start with the #3 pick.
New England (#3) – Chances of the Patriots trading this pick are slim but considering the haul that some teams have received for a top 3 pick in NFL history, the right package might come along to entice them to trade down. I have a feeling it would take at least two first-rounders, two second-rounders, and at least one other pick.
NY Giants (#6) – Probably the highest pick with true potential to be dealt is the Giants at #6. The Giants desperately need help on both lines but there are a few options available meaning they could trade down a few spots and still get one of the guys they covet. A first-round pick swap would have to happen and the team trading with the G-Men couldn’t be far below the #16 spot for this to work. Other picks would come the Giants way as well.
Tennessee (#7) – This becomes a possibility if the Patriots trade down. The reason is, one of Drake Maye or Jayden Daniels would be available and there are a few teams that would love to trade up to get one of the two. That includes the Falcons, Vikings, Broncos and Raiders. Knowing that, the Titans could get a larger pick haul than the Giants even though the pick would be later.
NY Jets (#10) – The Jets are hoping that Aaron Rodgers will be healthy this year. And to help with that, they want an offensive lineman desperately. The hope is that one of Olu Fashanu or Joe Alt fall to them. If neither of them are available, I would fully expect the Jets to shop the pick and they could drop a fair way if they wanted to.
The Vikings feel like the most likely pick to move up since, for some reason, many are saying they really want J.J. McCarthy. I think it would be crazy to trade up because I think McCarthy, at least at this point, would be available to the Vikings at #11. Maybe I’m wrong with that. They would most likely just trade picks but they have one bargaining chip that some teams might not be able to ignore: Justin Jefferson. If the Vikings can’t extend Double J, then they might include him in a trade to see what they could get. Arizona would be a trading partner if (and only if) this was a possibility.
In non-draft news, the UFL has commenced their season. Not exactly a ton of fans for a couple of these games but some wacky shit happened. Jake Bates hit a 64-yard field goal to help his Michigan Stags beat St. Louis. Funny enough, it was on the same uprights that Justin Tucker kicked his NFL-record 67-yarder to beat the Lions a couple years ago. Then you had San Antonio punter Brad Wing throwing a 40-yard touchdown pass on 4th and 11 to the team’s centre Alex Mollette. So at least it’s entertaining, you have to give it that. And it’s football. A tiny appetizer before the CFL, then college football, then NFL season starts. So embrace it. Or don’t. I don’t care. I realize March Madness was on this past weekend so I can see why people might not watch.
OK I will do one more mock draft closer to actual draft day (which starts April 25th). And even then, most of my picks will be wrong. At least I can take solace in the fact that I will have close to the same record as the so-called experts have.
The college schedule is coming into form. It’s kind of tough with the changes coming up this season so for good parts of the schedule I have nothing to compare it to. So we shall see how that goes when I start doing my most important game posts. Anyway, I hope you all had a great Easter long weekend and have a great first week of April.
That intro sounds like when The (Big Money!) Match Game 1976 would air on Game Show Network. Why did they need to put the year in? When people were watching it live, were they so fucking stoned that they had to be reminded what year it was?
Anyway, I am starting this post a couple days after Selection Sunday. Now I am not an avid college basketball watcher but I know they screwed some of these picks up. And remember, when a conference gets a team in, they get more money. That’s important. The ACC got five teams in and Virginia was one of them and they may be one of the worst at-large choices ever. A few teams that were left out, most notably Oklahoma and Indiana State, were, by most metrics, better choices. But the ACC is THE big basketball brand and only having four teams in would look disastrous. Fully deserved, mind you. But still disastrous. Luckily, I don’t care as much as I do with college football but these tournament committees are fucking terrible in every sport.
Let’s get to the root of this post: the next mock draft. I know…two mock drafts before the end of March? Haven’t done that in quite a while. And, of course, quite a bit changed thanks to the Kreepy Kombine and scouts changing their minds as much as they change their underwear (so about once every four days). Here’s the newest mock draft, now expanded to two rounds for your pleasure.
First Round
1
Chicago
Caleb Williams, QB (USC)
2
Washington
Drake Maye, QB (North Carolina)
3
New England
Jayden Daniels, QB (LSU)
4
Arizona
Marvin Harrison Jr., WR (Ohio State)
5
LA Chargers
Byron Murphy II, DT (Texas)
6
NY Giants
Dallas Turner, EDGE (Alabama)
7
Tennessee
Joe Alt, OT (Notre Dame)
8
Atlanta
Malik Nabers, WR (LSU)
9
Chicago
Rome Odunze, WR (Washington)
10
NY Jets
Olu Fashanu, OT (Penn State)
11
Minnesota
Laiatu Latu, DE (UCLA)
12
Denver
Jared Verse, DE (Florida State)
13
Las Vegas
Quinyon Mitchell, CB (Toledo)
14
New Orleans
Brian Thomas Jr., WR (LSU)
15
Indianapolis
Nate Wiggins, CB (Clemson)
16
Seattle
Bo Nix, QB (Oregon)
17
Jacksonville
Terrion Arnold, CB (Alabama)
18
Cincinnati
Brock Bowers, TE (Georgia)
19
LA Rams
Cooper DeJean, S (Iowa)
20
Pittsburgh
Troy Fautanu, OG (Washington)
21
Miami
Kris Jenkins, DT (Michigan)
22
Philadelphia
Xavier Worthy, WR (Texas)
23
Houston
Jer’Zhan Newton, DT (Illinois)
24
Dallas
Jackson Powers-Johnson, OG (Oregon)
25
Green Bay
Graham Barton, OG (Duke)
26
Tampa Bay
J.J. McCarthy, QB (Michigan)
27
Arizona
Zach Frazier, OG (West Virginia)
28
Buffalo
Tyler Nubin, S (Minnesota)
29
Detroit
Darius Robinson, EDGE (Minnesota)
30
Baltimore
Adonai Mitchell, WR (Texas)
31
San Francisco
Taliese Fuaga, OT (Oregon State)
32
Kansas City
J.C. Latham, OT (Alabama)
Second Round
33
Carolina
Chop Robinson, EDGE (Penn State)
34
New England
Tyler Guyton, OT (Oklahoma)
35
Arizona
Kool-Aid McKinstry, CB (Alabama)
36
Washington
Xavier Legette, WR (South Carolina)
37
LA Chargers
Kamari Lassiter, CB (Georgia)
38
Tennessee
Cam Hart, CB (Notre Dame)
39
NY Giants
Michael Hall Jr., DT (Ohio State)
40
Washington
Payton Wilson, LB (NC State)
41
Green Bay
Amarius Mims, OT (Georgia)
42
Minnesota
Michael Penix Jr., QB (Washington)
43
Atlanta
Ennis Rakestraw Jr., CB (Missouri)
44
Las Vegas
Jordan Morgan, OT (Arizona)
45
New Orleans
Kingsley Suamataia, OT (BYU)
46
Indianapolis
Kamren Kinchens, S (Miami)
47
NY Giants
T.J. Tampa, CB (Iowa State)
48
Jacksonville
Ladd McConkey, WR (Georgia)
49
Cincinnati
Keon Coleman, WR (Florida State)
50
Philadelphia
Chris Braswell, EDGE (Alabama)
51
Pittsburgh
Edgerrin Cooper, LB (Texas A&M)
52
LA Rams
Bralen Trice, EDGE (Washington)
53
Philadelphia
Mike Sainristil, CB (Michigan)
54
Cleveland
Braden Fiske, DT (Florida State)
55
Miami
Troy Franklin, WR (Oregon)
56
Dallas
Paul Patrick, OT (Houston)
57
Tampa Bay
Cooper Beebe, OG (Kansas State)
58
Green Bay
Javon Bullard, S (Georgia)
59
Houston
Roman Wilson, WR (Michigan)
60
Buffalo
T’Vondre Sweat, DT (Texas)
61
Detroit
Christian Haynes, OG (UConn)
62
Baltimore
Ruke Orhorhoro, DT (Clemson)
63
San Francisco
Marshawn Kneeland, EDGE (Western Michigan)
64
Kansas City
Ricky Pearsall, WR (Florida)
Are there some changes? Absolutely? Are they Earth-shattering? Not really. Although you can expect at least one of these current second-rounders to rocket up draft boards for reasons that are sometimes, well, unknown or make no sense. By this point teams should know what they see in a player. So unless that player does something negative, they shouldn’t go from a consensus low-second rounder to a mid-first round pick in a matter of a little over a month. But hey, what do I know.
Also, what is with the sudden J.J. McCarthy hype? It has that feel of some people wanting McCarthy to go higher so they are basically willing it to happen. Any team that would consider drafting McCarthy in the Top 10 is obviously fine with extreme risk. Not saying McCarthy won’t end up being good but his college career has shown nothing that says he will be a top-end starter.
OK so years ago (nine to be exact), I used part of a mock draft post to talk about sites I enjoy. And it was definitely also about helping my blog in a way since I was still pretty green at the time (two years in). Let’s look back and see if I still feel the same way about these sites.
Matt’s College Sports Media Blog – Along with Matt’s College Sports on TV is still the premier site for college football and college basketball TV scheduling news and notes. I think he still likes Formula One racing which is great if you like that. He’s also a Bills fan which is pretty damn awesome.
Phil Steele – Still the best college football preview magazine. There are other good ones out there but nothing comes close. And his site fills in the gaps. I am assuming many hardcore college football fans subscribe to his site to get a lot of great stats and gambling info. I tried it for a couple of years and it was almost overwhelming. Still…worth it just to peruse all the free stuff he does put up, which is a lot.
A Rouge Point – This site does not exist anymore. Actually, it ceased to exist not even a year after I published this original post. It’s too bad since it was a great look at sports media coverage in Canada and posted NFL and NHL schedules for Canadian viewers.
Deadspin – Speaking of sites that are no longer around, this site might as well be. At one point it was one of the great sports sites on the net. It wasn’t long after I made the original post that things started to go downhill. A site that used to be brash and willing to take on all comers became a bunch of writers who thought they were the moral compass of a good portion of the Internet (especially sports fans). Even their best writers became insufferable. Then they all got fired/walked out in late 2019 when a company told them to stick to sports which made the site even worse. Now, it looks like they have been bought out, the staff was fired (again) and they look to be getting into the sports gambling industry. Ugh.
Awful Announcing – A site that used to absolutely skewer announcers (and sometimes athletes and sports organizations in general) has gone away from their bread and butter. They still throw up the occasional great article but aren’t as good as they were in their heyday.
LSUfootball.net – The first site I came upon when figuring out the sheer amount of games available for college football viewing…in the United States. Still a very informative site.
Alright another mock draft and post in the books. I assume most of you have March Madness brackets going. Chances of me going perfect ended at the end of the first game and I’ve already lost one of my Final Four picks. Good times. Have a great rest of the weekend everyone!
Do I have time to do this? No. So why am I doing it? I honestly don’t know. I think I just feel I should put a bit more into the offseason portion of my blog. I mean it is half the year and there have been times I have gone dark for like a month. What will people read? The newspaper? Get the fuck outta here.
Honestly, I feel that even though this blog will turn 11 in a few months, I haven’t tried enough to take it to the next level, so to speak. Maybe not more posts but better posts. More informative stuff. It almost feels like this may be a make-or-break twelve months for me. With all the shit I have to do to get my career to the next step, it means there will be less and less time to do stuff I enjoy, like this blog. I always have to remind myself why I started this in the first place: to organize my own college football viewing. It allowed me to watch more college football than ever before and be efficient with it as well, while still making time for my kids. Then again, I ended up separated four months after the blog started so…..yeah.
So let’s just get on with the first mock draft of who knows how many leading up to the draft and hey how about that, look who’s going first overall.
1
Chicago
Caleb Williams, QB (USC)
2
Washington
Jayden Daniels, QB (LSU)
3
New England
Drake Maye, QB (North Carolina)
4
Arizona
Marvin Harrison Jr., WR (Ohio State)
5
LA Chargers
Brock Bowers, TE (Georgia)
6
NY Giants
Byron Murphy II, DT (Texas)
7
Tennessee
Joe Alt, OT (Notre Dame)
8
Atlanta
Malik Nabers, WR (LSU)
9
Chicago
Rome Odunze, WR (Washington)
10
NY Jets
Olumuyiwa Fashanu, OT (Penn State)
11
Minnesota
Dallas Turner, OLB (Alabama)
12
Denver
Laiatu Latu, DE (UCLA)
13
Las Vegas
Bo Nix, QB (Oregon)
14
New Orleans
J.C. Latham, OT (Alabama)
15
Indianapolis
Nate Wiggins, CB (Clemson)
16
Seattle
Kris Jenkins, DT (Michigan)
17
Jacksonville
Quinyon Mitchell, CB (Toledo)
18
Cincinnati
Michael Hall Jr., DT (Ohio State)
19
LA Rams
Kamren Kitchens, S (Miami)
20
Pittsburgh
Jordan Morgan, OT (Arizona)
21
Miami
Troy Fautanu, OG (Washington)
22
Philadelphia
Jared Verse, DE (Florida State)
23
Houston
Kamari Lassiter, CB (Georgia)
24
Dallas
Brian Thomas Jr., WR (LSU)
25
Green Bay
Cooper DeJean, S (Iowa)
26
Tampa Bay
Xavier Legette, WR (South Carolina)
27
Arizona
Terrion Arnold, CB (Alabama)
28
Buffalo
Kool-Aid McKinstry, CB (Alabama)
29
Detroit
Cam Hart, CB (Notre Dame)
30
Baltimore
Xavier Worthy, WR (Texas)
31
San Francisco
Tyler Guyton, OT (Oklahoma)
32
Kansas City
Tallies Fuaga, OT (Oregon State)
I am firmly in the camp that says that the Bears will trade Justin Fields. Whether it’s before the draft, during the draft, or after the draft, I don’t know. I just can’t see them passing up on Williams when they could get him AND a really good receiver for their first two picks. On top of that, they could get more picks that will help them later in the draft or in the following year’s event. Not quite a win-win but damn near close. The Commanders and Patriots also need quarterbacks desperately so they will be watching what the Bears do very closely…and possibly even calling them to inquire about how much it would take to trade for that top pick of theirs. Other interesting notes from this first kick at the can:
The first team that doesn’t need a quarterback is the Cardinals and they are very much hoping the Bears take Caleb Williams since it will mean that Marvin Harrison Jr. will fall into their lap. Pairing him with Kyler Murray could be quite something for a moribund Cards’ offense.
The Chargers need almost everything that isn’t the quarterback position. If I am them, I nab Bowers, pick another receiver up later on, and bulk up the offense. Win games in true Big XII fashion this coming season. It may be their only hope at getting close to a playoff spot.
Any potential steals here? Not really but the Saints nabbing Latham at #14 would be good value as would the Eagles picking up Jared Verse at #22.
Will I do more mock drafts? Of course. When? I have no clue.
Now let’s look at the changes coming to conferences and broadcast networks in the Fall. There really is only one major change but it does have a domino effect. The SEC is now fully on ABC/ESPN/SEC Network/ESPN2/ESPNU (if they absolutely have to be) and ESPN+ because they are contractually obligated to be once a season (at least that’s the way the previous SEC contract played out). With the SEC on ABC, they will easily get the majority of the Saturday night games. Not all, but with 14 weeks worth of games, the SEC will get no less than ten of those.
So that domino effect…SEC had every evening ESPN game last year. I can’t see that being the case since that would compete directly with the game on ABC. So they should get a lot less of those and they should get filled with the ACC and Big XII. The American might end up actually getting more games on ESPN with this new arrangement which seems crazy but with the ACC and, to a lesser extent, the Big XII getting hurt by this from a Disney/ESPN perspective, the American Conference is ready to pick up a few pieces here and there.
The Big XII won’t cry about this though. For everything they will end up losing from ESPN/ABC, they will gain more than that quite possibly from the FOX side of things. Sure, the Big Ten will get many of the Big Noon Kickoff games. But beyond that? Remember, the Big Ten has a game a week on CBS, a game a week on NBC and eight games on Peacock. Also, you might see a couple of late night Big Ten affairs on the Big Ten Network. So there will be plenty of spots on FOX and FOX Sports One for the Big XII to fill in since there is no more Pac-12. The other conference that wins here? The Mountain West. They should get a lot more FS1 games with how things are shaking out.
So even though the SEC and Big Ten will start to dominate the landscape of college football, we might get more chances than ever to watch other conferences. Now if they can just figure out how to get FS1 games up here legally and Canadians won’t have any reason to complain about access to CFB games in the future ever again (other than the one Notre Dame game a season on Peacock and weird stuff like the Hawaii Tests).
Alright more posts to come but no football for over a month. The UFL starts in late March and I’m…honestly not that excited about it but it’s football so I am sure will watch some at some point since it’s football and I love football. Better than watching the news, right? Have a good weekend everyone!
Wait, WAIT! Look you’ve read some of my longer posts on here so don’t leave now. Honestly, this won’t be as long as some of the crazy-ass long posts I’ve done in the past. Plus, we can re-live some of Bowl Season’s greater moments together. Because let’s be honest: this wasn’t exactly the best Bowl Season ever. Not the worst mind you; but yeah, definitely not the best. So how about we just dive in and get started, OK?
Rose Bowl (Michigan 27 Alabama 20 (OT)) – This was one of the greatest College Football Playoff games of all-time. And funny enough, it still wasn’t exactly the cleanest game. Sloppy play by both teams made it so neither team could pull away. And in the end, the issue that caused Bama fits all game, poor snaps from center, came back to haunt them one final time. The low snap on 4th and Goal caused Jalen Milroe to panic and run up the middle to try and score. The play that was drawn up would have had a good chance of working if the snap had been perfect. Michigan finally erases so much CFP pain and will now have their chance at a national championship.
New Orleans Bowl (Jacksonville State 34 Louisiana 31 (OT)) – This feels like the validation of Jax State’s ascent to the FBS level. For some reason, some schools make it work and others (see UMass) can’t figure it out. The thing about this game is that it felt like the Gamecocks were throwing it away, literally. Three defensive touchdowns by the Cajuns kept them in the game. All it did though, is delay a backup kicker, who rarely played, kicking the game winning field goal for the Cocks. This is the perfect argument for why bowls do, and should in the future, exist.
Sugar Bowl (Washington 37 Texas 31) – The second of the two semi-final games was easily the worst…if you just watched the first 58 minutes or so of the game. Then the Huskies decided that maybe, juuuuuuuuuuuust maybe, they didn’t feel like going to the national championship after all. U-Dub was able to hold on when Texas almost seized that final chance and will now play for all the glory. Also, some people were actually introduced, truly, to Michael Penix Jr. for the first time. And I include people who report on college football as they were astounded by what he did despite the fact he did that in half the games this season.
Gator Bowl (Clemson 38 Kentucky 35) – Put your hand up if you thought Kentucky would be in one of the best bowl games of the year. Now put your hands down, you filthy liars. No one, not even Kentucky fans, thought that would be the case. That insane fourth quarter alone, with 42 points scored between the two teams, was enough to put this game in the upper echelon of this year’s Bowl Season.
Famous Toastery Bowl (WKU 38 Old Dominion 35 (OT)) – And the award for the most stupidly awesome bowl game of the year goes to this one. The Hilltoppers were down 21-0 just seven minutes in. I actually stopped watching for the next hour. I come back to see what’s going on and see the first touchdown of what would be the fourth-greatest comeback in bowl game history. How did it end? A blocked field goal in the fourth quarter, followed by another blocked field goal in overtime, leading to a walk-off field goal and then toast angels on the field. How can you not love college football?
Arizona Bowl (Wyoming 16 Toledo 15) – If you had said this bowl game would have been the one out of the two on at the same time to be the better bowl game I would have…well maybe not laughed but been intrigued by your logic. This game went up against the blowout that was the Orange Bowl so it was easy to tune into this game. This is the second straight year the Arizona Bowl has been a great game and Wyoming, this time, is on the better end of the score. A perfect end to Craig Bohl’s coaching career.
ReliaQuest Bowl (LSU 35 Wisconsin 31) – This ended up being a great battle, something that many thought wouldn’t be the case. The Badgers certainly showed up for this one after a lacklustre season. The Tigers didn’t even have the lead until their final touchdown with a little over three minutes to go. A good college football start to 2024.
Camellia Bowl (Northern Illinois 21 Arkansas State 19) – This falls under “It’s So Bad, It’s Good” territory. Not exactly the best of the best but the final portion of the game makes up for it with its sheer insanity. ASU went the entire length of the field to get within two, missed the two-point conversion, then recovered the onside kick! But it was flagged for offside in one of the biggest botched calls of the entire season which made Butch Jones go as red as a ripe tomato. Entertainment…that’s what we want from our bowl games, right?
Quick Lane Bowl (Minnesota 30 Bowling Green 24) – Minnesota threw for 26 yards and won this game. Hilarious. It helps that they could hand the ball off to Darius Taylor who went off for over 200 yards. Fun fact: the Gophers have now won seven consecutive bowl games. That has to be tops, no?
Pinstripe Bowl (Rutgers 31 Miami 24) – A good game at Yankee Stadium. Now I’m not huge on regular season games at baseball stadiums (as in they should be banned) but I am totally fine with them during bowl season. There was more scoring than many thought there would be but there was no stupidity from Mario Cristobal, which was also expected (by me).
Cure Bowl (Appalachian State 13 Miami-OH 9) – This game was played in atrocious weather. I fucking loved it. It was just a bunch of silly backyard-style football fun, if your backward was a swimming pool. At one point it felt like they were going for the bowl game fumbles record. Combined, the two teams ended up with 12. How either team got a kick off, I will never know.
Peach Bowl (Ole Miss 38 Penn State 25) – Most thought it would be a great matchup between the seriously up tempo Rebel offense against the Nittany Lions’ stout defense. It was not to be. The Fighting Kiffins shredded PSU and pulled away in the second half. So Lane is safe in the fans’ minds in Oxford. James Franklin…well I am sure there are many unhappy people in…(Un)Happy Valley.
Pop Tarts Bowl (Kansas State 28 NC State 19) – Let’s be honest here: all we wanted to see was what would happen at the end with the mascot. And it was fucking glorious. Whoever thought of this should get a MASSIVE bonus. Also, the game was pretty good with it being close nearly the entire way.
Alamo Bowl (Arizona 38 Oklahoma 24) – Man, the Wildcats are going to be a load in the Big XII next year. They went blow-for-blow with the Sooners and ended up leaving them in their dust thanks to causing six turnovers. Gotta hand it to Jedd Fisch: not many thought he would get the program to this point this fast. So is he the best coach out of the Bill Belichick coaching tree? Oh wait, Nick Saban did a few years under Belichick. So yeah Jedd you will always be second in this case.
Guaranteed Rate Bowl (Kansas 49 UNLV 36) – Speaking of teams who could be really good next year in the Big XII, the Jayhawks overcame being called for over 200 yards worth of penalties to almost put up a 50-burger. Jason Bean has been a god-send considering Jalon Daniels was injured most of the season. And he showed it in his final game throwing for six touchdowns. This was KU’s first bowl win in 15 years. Incredible. And don’t shortchange the Rebels who also had a pretty good game and great season.
LA Bowl (UCLA 35 Boise State 22) – Look, I think most were interested to see if Chip Kelly’s team would show up for what was basically a home game for them. And they sure did. The Bruins were able to stick with Boise until the second half and then pulled away for a relatively easy victory and a tiny bit of momentum going into the Big Ten next season.
Texas Bowl (Oklahoma State 31 Texas A&M 23) – Somehow, the Aggies, with all sorts of players not playing (for various reasons), came back from an 18-point halftime deficit to make things very interesting late. Also, Mike Gundy has won 10 games in a season EIGHT TIMES? Really? Wow. This guy should get more credit for what he’s done in Stillwater.
Armed Forces Bowl (Air Force 31 James Madison 21) – Some called it bad and I think it’s because the Dukes lost. Air Force showed why they were the Group of Five favourite heading into November. JMU tried to make a game of it but the Falcons’ run game was way too much for them. A perfectly good bowl.
Holiday Bowl (USC 42 Louisville 28) – Miller Moss took advantage of Caleb Williams opting out of this game by throwing for a Holiday Bowl record six touchdowns. I will be honest by saying that the amount of people online saying we have an early Heisman frontrunner irked me. This isn’t preseason hype: this is the end of the previous season hype. Ridiculous. Not saying he won’t be good but I wish some in college football media would pump the brakes sometimes since they sound like idiots every so often.
Gasparilla Bowl (Georgia Tech 30 UCF 17) – The slightly weird start time didn’t detract from a pretty good bowl game. Despite the loss and the 6-7 finish, you have to think the Knights thought this season was a success. Their first as a Power Five team and they showed they could compete. As for the Ramblin’ Wreck, well, I am sure they sent a postcard to Mario Cristobal for gifting them that win that essentially put them in this bowl game.
Birmingham Bowl (Duke 17 Troy 10) – I tend to rank closer games higher than offensive shootouts that end with one team winning by like 21. That’s just me. Very little is more exciting in college football than a chance for a team to tie or win a game late. Both teams had interim coaching staffs so we can use that as an excuse for this one although it feels like it’s happening more and more these days. Not a good trend.
Las Vegas Bowl (Northwestern 14 Utah 7) – A great ending for the Wildcats who wildly exceeded expectations this season. Utah just didn’t have the players to contend in this one. If you liked defense…well, you still might not have liked this one since it was more the offenses struggling than anything.
Liberty Bowl (Memphis 36 Iowa State 26) – There were some high hopes for this one. Iowa State was a better-than-advertised Big XII school and Memphis was at home. And it wasn’t a bad game but it felt like the Tigers were in control for most of it which kind of sucks the life out of a bowl game in the latter stages.
Hawaii Bowl (Coastal Carolina 24 San Jose State 14) – Pretty good game but drops a few notches because it wasn’t on Christmas Eve WHERE IT BELONGS.
Fenway Bowl (Boston College 23 SMU 14) – It was cold. It was wet. It was fun…for me to watch. Not for the players, coaches and fans, I’m sure. Well, at the time it was probably not too bad. I’ve played in games like that and it was fine until after the game. Then you feel like shit. You might feel less shitty if you win…but you still feel like crap. Anyway, this is a conference game next season! A-C-C! A-C-C! A-C-C! A-C-C!
Independence Bowl (Texas Tech 34 California 14) – After a full opening day of bowl games I was hoping this one would be good. Or fun. Or weird. It was none of the three. It was fine until about halfway through the second quarter and the Red Raiders rode away with it. Lack of drama drops this way down.
Military Bowl (Virginia Tech 41 Tulane 20) – This was a nasty weather game so you’d think I would rank it higher. There were a lot of fumbles and chaos so you’d think I would rank it higher. I don’t know what it was but this felt like not a very fun game to watch. I kind of stopped paying attention in the second half. I really didn’t think the Green Wave was in it nor did they care much to be there. And that can happen sometimes when your coach leaves for another school. Maybe that was the case here, I don’t know. Either way, it was meh.
Cotton Bowl (Missouri 14 Ohio State 3) – I was kind of hyped for this one, not gonna lie. I was thinking this would be quite the prove-it game for Mizzou and we would see if no Kyle McCord would be an issue for tOSU. I was right, for the most part, on both fronts, yet this game sucked. Luckily for the Buckeyes, their awesome defense kept them in it going into the fourth quarter but their offense was painful to watch. They should have found a student in the crowd to play quarterback since it would have been just as good.
Frisco Bowl (UTSA 35 Marshall 17) – Would this have been better if 14th-year senior Frank Harris had been able to play? It would have been a blowout rather than a relatively easy victory for the Roadrunners, that’s about it. Biggest take from this game? The starting quarterbacks were Cole Pennington for Marshall (Chad’s son) and Owen McCown for the Roadrunners (Josh’s son). I feel seriously fucking old.
First Responder Bowl (Texas State 45 Rice 21) – Not the greatest game to be honest as the Bobcats were in control for most of it. It was definitely helped, though, by the fans (especially the Texas State ones) who were jacked for this one. So jacked that they ran out of beer at the game. Five minutes into the third quarter. Yeah.
Idaho Potato Bowl (Georgia State 45 Utah State 22) – The Aggies looked pretty damn flat in this one. The Panthers, on the other hand, overcame their late-season collapse and get back to that early season form. Almost 650 yards of offense for GSU and they were way too much for USU. Even with the french fry bath, this was a bottom tier bowl game this season.
Myrtle Beach Bowl (Ohio 41 Georgia Southern 21) – A bit of a ho-hum affair kicked off Bowl Season this time around thanks to the Bahamas Bowl having to move to Charlotte. Ohio went up big and kept the lead the entire game. Nothing super interesting with this one.
Music City Bowl (Maryland 31 Auburn 13) – This game was over early and was done without Taulia Tagovailoa. So it was impressive. Just not interesting to watch after the first quarter.
New Mexico Bowl (Fresno State 37 New Mexico State 10) – I thought this would be a good game. I had high hopes for NMSU in this one. It was not to be. Fresno State cranked it up late and ran away with this one but even earlier on it didn’t really feel close as the Bulldogs showed the form that had them the favourite for about seven days to be the Group of Five representative in the New Year’s Six. Oh well.
Duke’s Mayo Bowl (West Virginia 30 North Carolina 10) – Props to West Virginia for completing a good season, much better than most thought would happen. Neal Brown got mayo dumped on him. And that’s about it. The game was forgettable.
Sun Bowl (Notre Dame 40 Oregon State 8) – Boy, for a game that was sold out quicker than I think any other Sun Bowl ever, this game was an absolute dud. Notre Dame’s backups beat the ever-loving shit out of Oregon State’s backups. Ugh.
Fiesta Bowl (Oregon 45 Liberty 6) – I think we’ve found our new BYU. No, I don’t mean weird religious institution (even though they are). I mean a team that’s probably too good (most of the time) for their conference but not really good enough to be in the Power Five (or maybe even a better conference). Didn’t help that Oregon came in looking pissed off and after the Flames took a 6-0 lead it was all Ducks. 45 unanswered points and Bo Nix left as a record-setting quarterback. This was a trainwreck, really.
Citrus Bowl (Tennessee 35 Iowa 0) – Geez, where do I begin with this one? This was one of the most Iowa games of the season which is saying something. The offense was awful. The Brian Ferentz Experience has come to an end and I am positive most in Iowa City are thankful for that. What made it worse was two other games on at the same time. So I watched almost none of the second half. And I don’t feel bad about that at all.
68 Ventures Bowl (South Alabama 59 Eastern Michigan 10) – I am starting to wonder why this bowl even exists. Even by ESPN Events standards, this is shit. I love more football but good God. The Jags just ran the Eagles off the field in another boring 68 Ventures Bowl which was called…like seven other things before this. This is perfect fodder for the Too Many Bowl Games crowd.
Boca Raton Bowl (USF 45 Syracuse 0) – This was one of the biggest beatdowns in bowl game history. Well at least I thought that until…I’ll get to that in a second. Anyway, I figured the Orange would show up. They did…technically. They were the opposition…technically. Other than that, USF, a middle-of-the-road American Conference team who played out of its mind for new coach Alex Golesh, beat the brakes off of Cuse. It was a pathetic performance, regardless of who was missing from the lineup. And speaking of players missing from the lineup…
Orange Bowl (Georgia 63 Florida State 3) – This picture encapsulates this game perfectly:
Mike Norvell looks like he wants to be anywhere other than where he was at that moment. This game is THE biggest win in bowl game history. So Georgia one-upped themselves. This game, and everything leading up to it, was a completely fucking mess of a shitshow and is a big part of what’s wrong with college football today. Florida State (and to a lesser extent, Georgia) being left out of the College Football Playoff, some even saying that FSU should boycott the game, some politician trying to force the CFP to put the Noles in (somehow), then all sorts of players opting out or transferring out (from both sides mind you). It all led to this travesty of a game. Even Kirby Smart, during the post-game press conference, told everyone “if this doesn’t show that there needs to be some change, then I don’t know what does.” I’m paraphrasing but he’s right on the money. When players can transfer, when coaches can leave a school to get hired somewhere else, what happens to a player’s NIL when they opt out of a bowl game…all this stuff needs to be dealt with. If it doesn’t, these bowl games will get less and less important. And this is after the playoff has already eroded the bowl system (a bit).
See? Not my longest post ever. So no complaining.
Well we’ve hit the end my friends. One last game. The national championship is tonight and, other than the weird all-star games with their weird rules, it’s the final college football game of the season. Cherish it. Even if it’s a blowout. Remember: the wait for the next season can be long and arduous. Enjoy the game everyone!
Last year around this time we were discussing the final week of the regular season, sure. However, we were also kind of recovering from what happened to Damar Hamlin’s on-field cardiac arrest. It was one of the craziest times in NFL history and I hope we never have to deal with something like that again.
This year, let’s look at the positive. All the playoff races that are left. And there are plenty. Let’s get to that schedule and then we will do my typical final NFL regular season week analysis. Here we go!
Some Super Special Last Regular Season Weekend Notes
As per usual, it’s all divisional matchups for the final week of the season. And there are a lot of playoff races as I will discuss later on.
You see the asterisks for the Bills-Dolphins game for TSN3 and TSN4. Well, the game will start airing on TSN3 after the Jets-Coyotes game and, for some unknown and stupid reason, Sportscentre. So it will start around 10:00: a little into the third quarter. As for TSN4, they have the Raptors and Warriors so they won’t get to the game until about 11:00. The football game should be well into the fourth quarter at that point. So really, stick to TSN1 or 5 (or + if you like the “enhanced” game feed).
The three national games were pretty easy choices, for the most part. Bills-Dolphins felt like a lock for the Sunday nighter once Miami was blown away by Baltimore. Texans-Colts was also pretty much a lock for a standalone game considering it’s win-or-go-home. The other choice was interesting for sure. A lot of possibilities. Steelers-Ravens makes sense just because a win by the Steelers makes the Buffalo-Miami game all the more important for the Bills. It becomes a much bigger risk-reward game for the Bills as they almost assuredly out with a loss in this case.
Games not being shown here unless you have the Sunday Ticket or RedZone magic potion:
Kansas City at LA Chargers
Tampa Bay at Carolina
Denver at Las Vegas
No surprise really with the first and third games on that list not being available up here. The second one is a bit interesting since the Bucs win the NFC South with a win, no matter what happens with the Saints and Falcons. I think the issue north of the border was where would this be shown that would take the place of the other two games on in this timeslot on FOX. It probably could have replaced the Jets-Patriots game to be honest but I have a feeling that FOX figured the AFC East, even with a meaningless game, would be more watched than an NFC South matchup in the Northeastern United States and most of Eastern Canada. And they are probably right.
Hey thankfully I don’t have to go over the strangest set of scenarios ever like last season. Let’s hope that never happens again…more for Damar Hamlin’s case than anything.
So this is it. We have made it. The final playoff picture of the season:
#1 San Francisco (12-4) (clinched home-field advantage)
#2 Miami (11-5) (clinched playoff berth)
#2 Dallas (11-5) (clinched playoff berth)
#3 Kansas City (10-6) (clinched AFC West)
#3 Detroit (11-5) (clinched NFC North)
#4 Jacksonville (9-7)
#4 Tampa Bay (8-8)
Wild Cards:
Wild Cards:
#5 Cleveland (11-5) (clinched playoff berth)
#5 Philadelphia (11-5) (clinched playoff berth)
#6 Buffalo (10-6)
#6 LA Rams (9-7) (clinched playoff berth)
#7 Indianapolis (9-7)
#7 Green Bay (8-8)
Alright so what do we have left to determine? Four divisions still up for grabs as the AFC East, AFC South, NFC East and NFC South still hasn’t determined their champion. Also, one Wild Card spot in the NFC and two in the AFC with still a few teams in the mix there. A lot can happen during this weekend so let’s get right to the scenarios.
Pittsburgh at Baltimore
Pittsburgh clinches a playoff spot under the following scenarios:
A win AND either a Buffalo loss OR a Jacksonville loss/tie
A win AND an Indianapolis tie
A tie AND two of Indianapolis, Jacksonville, or Houston lose
Jacksonville loses AND Denver wins AND either Indianapolis or Houston lose
Pittsburgh is eliminated under the following scenarios:
A Jacksonville win AND a Buffalo win/tie AND either an Indianapolis OR Houston win
A loss/tie AND either a Jacksonville win/tie OR an Indianapolis tie
A loss AND a Denver loss/tie
Houston at Indianapolis
Indianapolis clinches the AFC South with (a win AND a Jacksonville loss/tie) OR (a tie AND a Jacksonville loss)
Houston clinches the AFC South with a win AND a Jacksonville loss/tie
Indianapolis clinches a playoff spot with a win OR (a tie AND a Pittsburgh loss/tie)
Houston clinches a playoff spot wth a win OR (a tie AND a Jacksonville loss AND a Pittsburgh loss/tie)
Houston is eliminated with a loss OR (a tie AND either a Jacksonville win/tie OR a Pittsburgh win)
Indianapolis is eliminated with a loss OR (a tie AND a Jacksonville win/tie AND a Pittsburgh win)
Jacksonville at Tennessee
Jacksonville clinches the AFC South with a win OR (a tie and an Indianapolis tie)
Jacksonville clinches a playoff spot with (a tie AND a Pittsburgh loss/tie) OR (a Pittsburgh loss AND a Denver loss/tie AND either Houston OR Indianapolis loses)
Jacksonville is eliminated with (a tie AND a Pittsburgh win AND either a Houston or Indianapolis win) OR (a loss AND either a Pittsburgh win/tie OR a Denver win OR an Indianapolis tie)
Atlanta at New Orleans
Atlanta clinches the NFC South with a win AND a Tampa Bay loss
New Orleans clinches the NFC South with (a win AND a Tampa Bay loss/tie) OR (a tie AND a Tampa Bay loss)
New Orleans clinches a playoff spot with (a win AND a Green Bay loss/tie AND a Seattle loss/tie) OR (a tie AND a Green Bay loss AND a Seattle loss)
Atlanta is eliminated with a loss/tie OR a Tampa Bay win/tie
New Orleans is eliminated with a loss OR (a tie AND a Tampa Bay win/tie AND either a Green Bay or Seattle win/tie) OR (a Tampa Bay win AND either a Green Bay or Seattle win)
Minnesota at Detroit
Minnesota clinches a playoff spot with a win AND a Seattle loss AND a Green Bay loss AND either a Tampa Bay OR New Orleans loss
Minnesota is eliminated with a loss/tie OR a Seattle win/tie OR a Green Bay win/tie OR Tampa Bay and New Orleans both winning or tying
Tampa Bay at Carolina
Tampa Bay clinches the NFC South with a win OR (a tie and a New Orleans loss/tie)
Tampa Bay clinches a playoff spot with a tie AND a Seattle loss AND a Green Bay loss/tie
Tampa Bay is eliminated with a loss OR (a tie AND a New Orleans win AND either a Seattle win/tie or a Green Bay win)
Chicago at Green Bay
Green Bay clinches a playoff spot with a win OR:
a tie AND (a Seattle loss/tie AND a New Orleans loss/tie) OR (a Seattle tie AND a Tampa Bay loss/tie) OR (a Seattle loss AND a Tampa Bay loss)
a loss AND a Seattle loss AND a Minnesota loss/tie AND either a Tampa Bay or New Orleans loss
Green Bay is eliminated with (a loss AND either (a Minnesota win or a Seattle win/tie or (a Tampa Bay win/tie and a New Orleans win/tie)) OR a tie AND either (a Seattle win or (a Tampa Bay win and a New Orleans win) or (a Seattle loss AND a New Orleans win AND a Tampa Bay tie)
Philadelphia at NY Giants
Philadelphia clinches the NFC East with (a win AND a Dallas loss/tie) OR (a tie AND a Dallas loss)
Dallas at Washington
Dallas clinches the NFC East with a win OR (a tie and a Philadelphia tie) OR a Philadelphia loss
Seattle at Arizona
Seattle clinches a playoff spot with a win AND a Green Bay loss AND either a New Orleans or Tampa Bay loss/tie) OR (a win AND a Green Bay loss/tie)
Seattle is eliminated with a loss OR (a tie AND a New Orleans win AND a Tampa Bay win) OR (a tie AND a Green Bay tie) OR a Green Bay win
Buffalo at Miami
Buffalo clinches the AFC East with a win
Miami clinches the AFC East with a win OR a tie
Buffalo clinches a playoff spot with a tie OR a Pittsburgh loss/tie OR a Jacksonville loss/tie OR an Indianapolis tie
Buffalo is eliminated with a loss AND one of the following three scenarios:
a Jacksonville win AND a Houston win AND a Pittsburgh loss/tie
a Jacksonville win AND an Indianapolis win AND a Pittsburgh loss/tie
a Pittsubrgh win AND an Indianapolis tie
a Jacksonville loss/tie AND a Pittsburgh win
If there is a tie….in almost any game….this is going to become a mess. Although it does become super interesting if that is the case and I do love chaos.
I was going to do tables to show where teams could land based on the scenarios above (obviously leaving ties out) but the NFC one alone would be insane. Viewing it on a cell phone would be impossible. Hell, viewing it on a wide-screen TV might be difficult. So I will not bother with that. Instead, I will do a seeding breakdown like I did last year. I will not include ties here. Here are the seeding scenarios.
AFC
#1 seed
Baltimore locked in
#2 seed
Miami – win
Buffalo – win
#3 seed
Kansas City locked in
#4 seed
Jacksonville – win
Indianapolis – win AND Jacksonville loss
Houston – win AND Jacksonville loss
#5 seed
Cleveland locked in
#6 seed
Miami – loss
Buffalo – loss AND Pittsburgh loss AND Jacksonville loss
Indianapolis – win AND Jacksonville win AND Buffalo loss
Houston – win AND Jacksonville win AND Buffalo loss
Pittsburgh – win AND Jacksonville loss AND Buffalo loss
#7 seed
Buffalo – loss AND (Jacksonville win AND Pittsburgh loss AND either Houston or Indianapolis loss) OR (Jacksonville loss AND Pittsburgh win)
Indianapolis – win AND Jacksonville win AND Buffalo win
Pittsburgh – dog’s breakfast (win AND Buffalo win AND Jacksonville loss) OR (win AND Buffalo loss AND Jacksonville win AND either Houston OR Indianapolis win) OR (loss AND Jacksonville loss AND Denver win AND either Houston OR Indianapolis win)
Jacksonville – loss AND Pittsburgh loss AND Denver loss AND either Houston OR Indianapolis loss
Houston – win AND Jacksonville win AND Buffalo win
NFC
#1 seed
San Francisco locked in
#2 seed
Dallas – win OR (loss AND Philadelphia loss AND Detroit loss)
Philadelphia – win AND Dallas loss
Detroit – win AND Dallas loss AND Philadelphia loss
#3 seed
Dallas – loss AND Philadelphia loss AND Detroit win
Detroit – loss OR Dallas win OR Philadelphia win
#4 seed
Tampa Bay – win
New Orleans – win AND Tampa Bay loss
Atlanta – win AND Tampa Bay loss
#5 seed
Philadelphia – loss OR Dallas win
Dallas – loss AND Philadelphia win
#6 seed
Green Bay – win AND LA Rams loss
LA Rams – win OR Green Bay loss
#7 seed
Green Bay – (win AND LA Rams win) OR (loss AND Seattle loss AND Minnesota loss AND either Tampa Bay OR New Orleans loss)
Minnesota – win AND Seattle loss AND Green Bay loss AND either Tampa Bay OR New Orleans loss
New Orleans – win AND Tampa Bay win AND Green Bay loss AND Seattle loss
LA Rams – loss AND Green Bay win
Seattle – win AND Green Bay loss
Holy shit we are in for one hell of a weekend of American Professional Football. I really don’t need to say this but enjoy the games everyone!
It wasn’t long ago that Week 17 was the ultimate week. So much on the line. Playoff spots gained or lost. First round byes on the line. Entire seasons on the brink. Fantastic stuff.
Now, Week 17 is the penultimate week of the regular season. With the seventeenth game added to the regular season, it meant that Week 18 had to be added. My guess is Week 19 will be added soon enough to give each team two byes during the season and push the Super Bowl to around Valentine’s Day.
But just because this isn’t the final week doesn’t mean this isn’t a huge week! So let’s get to the schedule!
There are games upcoming that you will not be able to see if you do not have Sunday Ticket and/or RedZone. They are as follows:
Las Vegas at Indianapolis
Carolina at Jacksonville
Atlanta at Chicago
Arizona at Philadelphia
Tennessee at Houston
LA Chargers at Denver
Now this is some horseshit right here. Six games? SIX? That’s insane. And that’s after TSN decides to put a different game on TSN+ for some variety. I don’t get it. Not saying many of these games are worth watching but if you are trying to push people to order Sunday Ticket or RedZone, you may be succeeding. Or you may be pushing them to go the route I took that I will never come back from, IPTV. Either one, congratulations assholes.
No Monday Night Football this week as that would go up against the College Football Playoff semi-finals and even the NFL knows when to take a step back. What does that mean? We have the game essentially being moved to Saturday night. And it is a massive one. Lions-Cowboys in what could be an NFC Championship preview.
I don’t know how many people can even get ABC out of Cleveland so I listed it here. UPDATE: No one can but there are some who can get it out of Toledo. How about that? You learn something new every day.
Things are getting very interesting. It’s the second-last playoff picture of the season:
Look at the ridiculous logjam in the AFC. So many teams for, well, still quite a few spots. The Wild Card race is going to be insane and will require some logic puzzle-style explanations. The NFC is not much different even though it doesn’t look like it. There are 4 teams just a game back of the Bucs, Rams and Seahawks. Hell, even the Bears are technically still in it. Yeah it’s this crazy.
Before we get to the clinching scenarios, here is your updated list of eliminated teams (in order of draft position):
Carolina
Arizona
Washington
New England
NY Giants
LA Chargers
Tennessee
NY Jets
Just a reminder that the Bears have the Panthers pick because the Panthers’ front office are idiots.
Now it’s time for the clinching scenarios and, as per usual, I will not include ties until the final weekend of the regular season.
First Round Bye and Home Field Advantage
San Francisco clinches with a win AND a Philadelphia loss AND a Detroit loss
Baltimore clinches with a win
Division Title
Philadelphia clinches the NFC East with a win AND a Dallas loss
Tampa Bay clinches the NFC South with a win
Baltimore clinches the AFC North with a win OR a Cleveland loss
Miami clinches the AFC East with a win OR a Buffalo loss
Kansas City clinches the AFC West with a win OR (a Denver loss AND a Las Vegas loss)
Jacksonville clinches the AFC South with a win AND an Indianapolis loss AND a Houston loss
Playoff Berth
LA Rams clinch a playoff berth with a win AND a Seattle loss
Cleveland clinches a playoff berth with a win OR a Pittsburgh loss OR a Buffalo loss OR a Jacksonville loss OR (a Houston loss AND an Indianapolis loss)
Buffalo clinches with a win AND (a Pittsburgh loss AND a Cincinnati loss) OR (a Pittsburgh loss AND a Jacksonville loss) OR (a Pittsburgh loss AND an Indianapolis loss AND a Houston loss) OR (a Cincinnati loss AND a Jacksonville loss) OR (a Cincinnati loss AND an Indianapolis loss AND a Houston loss)
Elimination
Minnesota is eliminated with a loss AND a Seattle win AND an LA Rams win
Green Bay is eliminated with a loss AND (a Seattle win OR an LA Rams win OR (a New Orleans win AND an Atlanta win AND an Arizona win AND a Dallas win AND a Washington win AND a Cincinnati win AND a Cleveland win AND an Indianapolis win AND an Jacksonville win AND a Denver win))
Chicago is eliminated with a loss OR (a Seattle win AND an LA Rams win) OR (a Seattle win AND a Green Bay win) OR (a Seattle win AND a Minnesota win) OR (an LA Rams win AND a Green Bay win) OR (an LA Rams win AND a Minnesota win)
New Orleans is eliminated with a loss
Atlanta is eliminated with a Tampa Bay win AND (a loss) OR (an LA Rams win AND a Seattle win)
Pittsburgh is eliminated with a loss AND a Buffalo win AND an Indianapolis win AND (a Houston win AND a Denver loss) OR (a Houston win AND a Jacksonville loss AND a Kansas City win) OR (a Jacksonville win AND a Denver loss)
Cincinnati is eliminated with a win AND a Pittsburgh win AND a Buffalo win
Houston is eliminated with a loss AND an Indianapolis win AND a Jacksonville win AND (a Buffalo win) OR (a Cincinnati win AND a Pittsburgh loss AND a Denver loss)
Las Vegas is eliminated with a loss
Denver is eliminated with a loss OR (a Kansas City win AND a Buffalo win AND a Pittsburgh win) OR (a Kansas City win AND a Buffalo win AND a Houston win AND an Indianapolis win AND a Jacksonville loss) OR (a Kansas City win AND a Houston win AND an Indianapolis win AND a Jacksonville loss AND a Pittsburgh loss)
Alright, should be a fun few days of football. Chances are this will be my final post of the season so I hope each and every one of you have a happy New Year! See you all in 2024 and, as always, enjoy the games!
Wrong pole but I like your style. I hope you celebrated Festivus with a good long Airing of Grievances. And you better not have forgotten the Feats of Strength.
I have done this particular exercise a couple times before. So I guess this Version 3.00. Again, I am going to take this back to a time in college football when conference championships didn’t exist, realignment wasn’t even part of the sport’s lexicon and players only made money from secretive boosters giving them money in briefcases in remote airport parking lots (or something of that nature).
Rules of Bossman’s Poll n’ Bowl (or Bowl n’ Powl if you like that better):
Back then, approximately a third of teams made it to bowl games. That’s it. Not half. So bowl eligibility is set at 8 wins and there are 23 games. Will they be the same games as last year? Most of them will be but I have thought of perhaps a few changes.
ESPN won’t be getting close to all the bowl games. Hell, they may be lucky to get half. Look, it has to be like the 80s here.
Have to use the old sponsors. But if I can’t I will make substitutions that make sense. It would be like replacing McDonalds with Burger King. Can’t have a Crypto.com Rose Bowl when you are trying to emulate 1980s college football because “What the fuck is a crypto?” would be the question everyone would ask me.
Bowl tie-ins will be drastically different than they are now but I am going to try and get them close to the way they were.
I am doing the Plus-One. This is what should have been done long ago and it would have changed a fair amount of the past four decades, at least in terms of how the national champion is decided. So split championships can fuck off.
The time for explaining is over. The time for me….showing you what this is about is here. I guess. Alright let’s begin.
January 8th
8:00
National Championship
ESPN
#1
#2
January 1st
8:45
Nokia Sugar Bowl
ABC
SEC Champ
at-large
January 1st
5:00
Rose Bowl presented by Citi
ABC
Big Ten Champ
SEC
January 1st
1:00
Discover Orange Bowl
NBC
ACC Champ
at-large
December 30th
10:30
Thrifty Car Rental Holiday Bowl
ESPN
Big Ten
at-large
December 30th
7:00
Vizio Fiesta Bowl
NBC
at-large
at-large
December 30th
3:30
Southwestern Bell Cotton Bowl
ABC
Big XII Champ
at-large
December 30th
Noon
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl
ESPN
ACC
at-large
December 29th
8:00
AXA Liberty Bowl
FOX
AAC Champ
at-large
December 29th
4:30
Toyota Gator Bowl
NBC
SEC
Big Ten
December 29th
1:00
John Hancock Sun Bowl
CBS
Big XII
at-large
December 27th
10:30
Sega Las Vegas Bowl
ESPN
Big XII
at-large
December 27th
7:00
Capital One Citrus Bowl
ABC
ACC
at-large
December 26th
9:30
Domino’s Pizza Copper Bowl
ESPN
MWC Champ
at-large
December 25th
3:30
Jeep Aloha Bowl
ABC
MWC
at-large
December 23rd
10:00
California Pizza Kitchen Freedom Bowl
ESPN
at-large
at-large
December 23rd
3:30
APS Payroll Independence Bowl
ESPN
Sun Belt Champ
at-large
December 22nd
8:00
Phillips 66 Bluebonnet Bowl
ABC
AAC
at-large
December 20th
8:30
Regions Financial All-American Bowl
ESPN
C-USA Champ
at-large
December 19th
7:00
Burlington Coat Factory Garden State Bowl
ESPN
at-large
at-large
December 16th
10:30
Jack in the Box California Bowl
ESPN
at-large
at-large
December 16th
7:00
Outback Bowl
NBC
SEC
at-large
December 16th
3:30
General Motors Cherry Bowl
FOX
MAC Champ
Big Ten
December 16th
Noon
Mazda Tangerine Bowl
CBS
at-large
at-large
Yeah this doesn’t look like what Bowl Season looks like now. Let’s get to some notes about the structure so far:
A ton of at-large bids. This is good since it allows bowl game committees to better choose teams they want to see.
More networks are involved and ESPN doesn’t have nearly as many games. I also threw a couple of games over to FOX even though they were barely a thing in the 80s.
Some of the sponsors were changed from the last time around because some bowls have had many sponsors. The Rose Bowl is now presented by Citi. The Las Vegas Bowl is brought to you by Sega. And the Tangerine Bowl is back to its original name and one if its early sponsors in Mazda.
Now some of the sponsors had to be just picked. I tried to be local with many of them. That’s why you see Regions Financial for the All-American Bowl (in Birmingham) and General Motors for the Cherry Bowl which is in Detroit.
Just like my Postseason Fix blog post, I have removed the Pac-12 from this. Have to move forward, ya know? Even if it is painful.
Just like last time I will tier the bowl games as follows:
Tier 1 – Current New Year’s Six bowls
Tier 2 – Post-Christmas Bowls
Tier 3 – Pre-Christmas Bowls
So the Tier 1 bowls will pick their at-large teams first, followed by the Tier 2 bowls, then finally the Tier 3 bowls. Within each tier, the order is random. Before we get to that, let’s see what the Tier 1 bowls look like with the tie-ins slotted in to their proper bowl games (remember, we are using next year’s conference alignment so, because Texas would be the highest ranked team, they are considered the “champ” of the SEC in this exercise…I am sure some SEC fans will bristle at this and frankly, I don’t give two squirts of shit about what you think about it).
Nokia Sugar Bowl
SEC Champ
at-large
#3 Texas
Rose Bowl presented by Citi
Big Ten Champ
at-large
#1 Michigan
Discover Orange Bowl
ACC Champ
SEC
#5 Florida State
#4 Alabama
Vizio Fiesta Bowl
at-large
at-large
Southwestern Bell Cotton Bowl
Big XII Champ
at-large
#14 Arizona
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl
ACC
at-large
#15 Louisville
Good ol’ random drawing determines the order of selection. The Orange Bowl doesn’t even have to show up the lucky guys.
Rose – Georgia
Cotton – Washington
Fiesta – Oregon
Sugar – Ohio State
Peach – Penn State
Fiesta – Missouri
The Tier 1/New Year’s Six bowl games have been selected!
Nokia Sugar Bowl
SEC Champ
at-large
#3 Texas
#7 Ohio State
Rose Bowl presented by Citi
Big Ten Champ
at-large
#1 Michigan
#6 Georgia
Discover Orange Bowl
ACC Champ
SEC
#5 Florida State
#4 Alabama
Vizio Fiesta Bowl
at-large
at-large
#8 Oregon
#9 Missouri
Southwestern Bell Cotton Bowl
Big XII Champ
at-large
#14 Arizona
#2 Washington
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl
ACC
at-large
#15 Louisville
#10 Penn State
What does this mean? Well, if you aren’t familiar with Poll n’ Bowl, there would be another set of rankings after these games were over to determine the two teams that would play for the national championship. Looking at this, four of the six games would be important in figuring this out with only the Fiesta and Peach Bowls not involved in painting the championship picture.
Now on to the next bowl tier. This is the post-Christmas bowl list. It does not include the Aloha Bowl which is on Christmas Day as it should be (and used to be).
Thrifty Car Rental Holiday Bowl
Big Ten
at-large
#17 Iowa
AXA Liberty Bowl
AAC Champ
at-large
#24 SMU
Toyota Gator Bowl
SEC
Big Ten
#11 Ole Miss
John Hancock Sun Bowl
Big XII
at-large
#20 Oklahoma State
Sega Las Vegas Bowl
Big XII
at-large
#25 Kansas State
Capital One Citrus Bowl
ACC
at-large
#18 NC State
Domino’s Pizza Copper Bowl
MWC Champ
at-large
Boise State
Two things here. Boise State, even though they went 7-5, got their eighth win in the conference championship and, therefore, qualifies under my bowl system. The Gator Bowl is supposed to have a Big Ten team but after Iowa was slotted into the Holiday Bowl, the Big Ten had no other 8-win teams. Yikes. So that becomes an at-large. Now we will go the LIVE selection of the Tier 2 Bowl Games, sponsored by Taco Bell. Live Mas and avoid the Diarrhea.
Citrus – LSU
Las Vegas – Notre Dame
Holiday – Oklahoma
Copper – Oregon State
Sun – Tennessee
Gator – Clemson
Liberty – James Madison
Alright here are the matchups!
Thrifty Car Rental Holiday Bowl
Big Ten
at-large
#17 Iowa
#12 Oklahoma
AXA Liberty Bowl
AAC Champ
at-large
#24 SMU
James Madison
Toyota Gator Bowl
SEC
Big Ten
#11 Ole Miss
#22 Clemson
John Hancock Sun Bowl
Big XII
at-large
#20 Oklahoma State
#21 Tennessee
Sega Las Vegas Bowl
Big XII
at-large
#25 Kansas State
#16 Notre Dame
Capital One Citrus Bowl
ACC
at-large
#18 NC State
#13 LSU
Domino’s Pizza Copper Bowl
MWC Champ
at-large
Boise State
#19 Oregon State
Some really good matchups here including KSU-ND and NCST-LSU. The Liberty Bowl would have had an opportunity to pick Liberty and I think they would choose James Madison instead.
Third tier time! According to the rules (my rules), the eight-win teams must be selected first. Then we go to those filthy seven-win teams. Ugh. Here is what we are looking at going into this final random draw:
Jeep Aloha Bowl
MWC
at-large
UNLV
California Pizza Kitchen Freedom Bowl
at-large
at-large
APS Payroll Independence Bowl
Sun Belt Champ
at-large
Troy
Phillips 66 Bluebonnet Bowl
AAC
at-large
Tulane
Regions Financial All-American Bowl
C-USA Champ
at-large
#23 Liberty
Burlington Coat Factory Garden State Bowl
at-large
at-large
Jack in the Box California Bowl
at-large
at-large
Outback Bowl
SEC
at-large
General Motors Cherry Bowl
MAC Champ
Big Ten
Miami-OH
Mazda Tangerine Bowl
at-large
at-large
The Big Ten, yet again doesn’t have a team to fill a tie-in. Same with the SEC in this case as they don’t have another eight-win team to go to the Outback Bowl. Which leads us to the final draw of teams, the one that many will watch because this will be the difference between being bowl-eligible and being home for the holidays. We start with the draw of eight win teams remaining:
Freedom – Utah
Aloha – North Carolina
California – Fresno State
Tangerine – West Virginia
Freedom – UTSA
Outback – Kansas
California – New Mexico State
Outback – Memphis
All-American – Appalachian State
Bluebonnet – Air Force
Tangerine – Jacksonville State
Garden State – Toledo
Cherry – Ohio
Garden State – Wyoming
One measly bowl slot left. So the Garden State Bowl kind of gets hosed because they are forced to pick Wyoming instead of any of the seven-win teams. Thems the breaks and the EXCITEMENT of the Bossman Poll n’ Bowl System. Which bowl is left? The Independence Bowl sponsored by Shreveport’s own APS Payroll, of course! And who will they choose? Hmmm…I think if Caleb Williams had been playing it would have been USC but I have a feeling they will go with Texas A&M instead.
Complete Poll n’ Bowl schedule here we go!
January 8th
8:00
National Championship
ESPN
#1
#2
January 1st
8:45
Nokia Sugar Bowl
ABC
#3 Texas
#7 Ohio State
January 1st
5:00
Rose Bowl presented by Citi
ABC
#1 Michigan
#6 Georgia
January 1st
1:00
Discover Orange Bowl
NBC
#5 Florida State
#4 Alabama
December 30th
10:30
Thrifty Car Rental Holiday Bowl
ESPN
#17 Iowa
#12 Oklahoma
December 30th
7:00
Vizio Fiesta Bowl
NBC
#8 Oregon
#9 Missouri
December 30th
3:30
Southwestern Bell Cotton Bowl
ABC
#14 Arizona
#2 Washington
December 30th
Noon
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl
ESPN
#15 Louisville
#10 Penn State
December 29th
8:00
AXA Liberty Bowl
FOX
#24 SMU
James Madison
December 29th
4:30
Toyota Gator Bowl
NBC
#11 Ole Miss
#22 Clemson
December 29th
1:00
John Hancock Sun Bowl
CBS
#20 Oklahoma State
#21 Tennessee
December 27th
10:30
Sega Las Vegas Bowl
ESPN
#25 Kansas State
#16 Notre Dame
December 27th
7:00
Capital One Citrus Bowl
ABC
#18 NC State
#13 LSU
December 26th
9:30
Domino’s Pizza Copper Bowl
ESPN
Boise State
#19 Oregon State
December 25th
3:30
Jeep Aloha Bowl
ABC
UNLV
North Carolina
December 23rd
10:00
California Pizza Kitchen Freedom Bowl
ESPN
Utah
UTSA
December 23rd
3:30
APS Payroll Independence Bowl
ESPN
Troy
Texas Tech
December 22nd
8:00
Phillips 66 Bluebonnet Bowl
ABC
Tulane
Air Force
December 20th
8:30
Regions Financial All-American Bowl
ESPN
#23 Liberty
Appalachian State
December 19th
7:00
Burlington Coat Factory Garden State Bowl
ESPN
Toledo
Wyoming
December 16th
10:30
Jack in the Box California Bowl
ESPN
Fresno State
New Mexico State
December 16th
7:00
Outback Bowl
NBC
Kansas
Memphis
December 16th
3:30
General Motors Cherry Bowl
FOX
Miami-OH
Ohio
December 16th
Noon
Mazda Tangerine Bowl
CBS
West Virginia
Jacksonville State
As I ask every year, how do we figure out who plays in the national championship game? Here are the different scenarios:
Michigan is in if they win the Rose Bowl
Washington is in if they win the Cotton Bowl AND Texas doesn’t beat Ohio State by too much
Texas is in if they win by a lot over Ohio State AND either Michigan loses OR Washington loses OR Washington wins but by very little
Alabama or Florida State are in if they win AND two of Michigan, Washington or Texas lose
Georgia is in if they win AND Washington loses AND Texas loses
Could Ohio State get in? Unlikely but remember, it comes down to voters and some of them like to think of what just happened because they have CFADD (College Football Attention Deficit Disorder). The Buckeyes would have to wallop Texas, hope FSU-Bama is close, have Georgia beat Michigan but by not too much and Washington has to lose to Arizona. Possible? Sure. But I doubt it.
So is this better or worse than the current setup? Who really knows. College football is a bit of a mess and no one wants to agree on anything. Now we have Florida State openly getting ready to leave the ACC and I don’t blame them. How dare they not be like Vanderbilt and just fucking show up and be shitty at the number one money sport but be in one of the top two conferences in that sport? The audacity. I mean the whole idea of the Big Ten and the SEC having the majority of the best college football teams would hold water if Vandy, Rutgers, Indiana, Mississippi State and a few others didn’t exist. They should have just broke up football into their own special thing and left the conferences the way they were for the rest of the sports. Or….promotion and relegation. I think I might do that exercise soon and ho boy it is going to rattle some chains I’m sure (if the right people read it).
Post-Christmas Bowl Season is about to start so things are getting a bit more important in the college football world. Plus, this is the final dash to the end with a lot of college football on so watch as much as you can, fill up that PVR if you have to and enjoy the games everyone!
The bowl games have commenced. I did horrible with my first day picks. Haven’t done a whole lot better since then. But never mind that because it’s time for me the fix the postseason….well, the current version at least.
The current postseason setup is plagued with issues but the idea that players can hop into the transfer portal BEFORE the bowl games are over is absurd. Honestly, same with coaches. There are almost needs to be a moratorium on moves that starts the day after conference championship weekend ends and finishes the day after the national championship. Otherwise it becomes the quasi-shitshow we have now.
This is now the ninth time I have done this exercise. Nine. I am not linking the previous eight but they shouldn’t be too difficult to find. Like the fact that I am sure most of these posts were done sometime in December. Should make your search a bit easier.
We begin with the opening ceremonies, so to speak: the axing of bowl games. That’s right, some bowl games just cannot exist in my version of Bowl Season. ESPN Events can fuck off if they have a problem with this. So the following bowl games will cease to exist:
Myrtle Beach Bowl
Bahamas Bowl
Cure Bowl
68 Ventures Bowl
Frisco Bowl
Boca Raton Bowl
Gasparilla Bowl
Camellia Bowl
Arizona Bowl
I’m sure some will bristle at the Cure Bowl because it’s a charity endeavour. Want a solution? Make more bowls like this. Have a portion of ticket revenue go to a charity of their choice. See how easy that was? Do I have to come up with all the answers? It sure feels like it.
Also, with the restrictions I have on who qualifies for the bowl games in my scenario, these bowls had to go. I get it: less football usually sucks. But the idea is to give as many of these games a full national audience as much as possible. That’s the whole point. Some of these teams just don’t get these kinds of audiences and bowl season is their one shot to do so. So let’s give it to them!
Another thing: pre-Christmas daytime starts. Those are gone. They are stupid. So don’t do them. There’s no reason for them. I think the only game that had to be played during the day was the Bahamas Bowl and, well, go back and look at the list.
Let’s bring back more games on over-the-air networks. So I am planning, as per usual, to take games off of ESPN and disperse them to ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC. No I am not putting any on the CW although I was tempted to move the Hawaii Bowl to 11:59 PM and put it on Spectrum Sports and have a bowl season Hawaii Test.
The amount of bowl tie-ins drops for an obvious reason. I am looking forward with this so I figured I might as well not include the Pac-12 and put teams in the conferences they will be in next season. So there are plenty of at-large spots available. The other incentive I always use is back: each Group of Five champion gets to face a Power Five team in a bowl game. There is a bit of a change this year. With the Pac-12 no longer in this exercise, the Mountain West doesn’t have a partner in this, so to speak. So they aren’t slotted in for one of these games. Because of this, if the Mountain West champion is the top Group of Five team, they will just take their spot in the playoffs and that’s that. If they aren’t, then that team will replace the conference that did have the top Group of Five team in their bowl game. So, in essence, each G-5 champ still has their shot against a P-5 team, with a twist.
How do you qualify for the Bossman Bowl System? 7 wins. Those teams that qualify will be placed first and then, AND ONLY THEN, will any 6-win teams be put into bowl slots.
And finally let’s look at Selection Sunday: an abomination that I am sure ESPN is proud of but they shouldn’t be because it’s a fucking garbage show with their garbage takes. Complete crap. Let’s spice it up, shall we?
Noon-12:05 – Introduction of hosts and panel
12:05-12:30 – CFP byes announced with analysis
12:25-1:15 – First round playoff matchups announced with analysis
1:15-2:00 – Tie-ins filled with short analysis
2:00-3:30 – It’s selection time! The bowl games are selected in random order (draw would have been determined in the morning if not late the night before). At-large selections are shown every few minutes. Analysis follows every pick and new bowl game matchup is shown if both bowl slots are filled.
3:30-4:00 – Final analysis and thoughts
Much better. Hell, even do the live look-ins like they do at March Madness. They did it this year and there was some interesting reaction shots. Florida State’s was heartbreaking, Liberty’s was nice to see and Michigan’s was hilarious. Drama. ESPN is starting to get it but the stuff they manufacture is mostly crap. If it wasn’t for Booger McFarland squaring off with Joey Galloway that entire show would have been unwatchable.
Next year, we get the 12-team playoff. It took years but everyone realized four wasn’t the answer. Probably should have gone right to six or stayed at two. Oh well, hindsight is 20-20. The top four will be the conference champions so I have taken some leeway by taking the top ranked team in what the conferences will look like next year. The Group of Five gets their top team in and that team will usually end up being the #12 seed although there have been times where they wouldn’t have been like when Cincinnati made the 4-team playoff a few years back. So here is what the Top 12 would look like, with the upcoming criteria and teams in their new conferences:
Michigan (Big Ten champ)
Texas (SEC champ)
Florida State (ACC champ)
Arizona (Big XII champ)
Washington (Big Ten)
Alabama (SEC)
Georgia (SEC)
Ohio State (Big Ten)
Oregon (Big Ten)
Missouri (SEC)
Penn State (Big Ten)
Liberty (Conference USA)
See how much things change? Florida State AND Arizona get byes. Arizona. A team that didn’t even make the New Year’s Six this time around. It also means Ole Miss gets booted from a possible national championship spot. I’m already not liking the new system. I’m sure with the new conference alignment, we won’t see this kind of disparity from the Big Ten/SEC and the ACC/Big XII. But for this time around, this is what we’ve got.
Scheduling! It’s what I show on here. So this has to work or otherwise what have I learned the past decade? I am using this year’s dates but the setup will work in other years as well. The main thing is to use Saturdays as your playoff days. Or if that fails, New Year’s Day for one. This is how this will work. Here is what I see with this:
First Round Games – Saturday December 23rd (all times EST)
Missouri at Georgia (Noon, ESPN)
Penn State at Alabama (3:30, CBS)
Oregon at Ohio State (7:00, FOX)
Liberty at Washington (10:30, ESPN)
I’m sure Chris Petersen might be a bit miffed at the start time for the final game but using the entire Saturday is the right play here. No other bowl games will be on this day either so these four games will have full national attention until the NFL puts their games on this day because they couldn’t give two shits about anything else on TV.
Quarter-Finals – Saturday December 30th
Since college football wants to change so much then let’s change it. The New Year’s Day traditional games? That’s no more. Hey, college football started it, I’m just continuing with it. The top four teams would be slotted in to these bowl games at the start of Selection Sunday and The Committee would try their best (after eating copious amounts of Chinese food and drinking 290 coolers between the 13 of them) to put the teams in spots that are advantageous to them, not only in their location, but the home cities of the teams they may face.
Peach Bowl (Noon, FOX) – Michigan vs. Oregon/Ohio St. winner
Cotton Bowl (3:30, ABC) – Texas vs. Mizzou/UGA winner
Orange Bowl (7:00, NBC) – Florida State vs. Penn St./Bama winner
Fiesta Bowl (10:30, ESPN) – Arizona vs. Liberty/Washington winner
Again, the former Pac-12 teams seem stuck in the late night spot and this is fine by me and better damn well be fine with the powers that be.
Semi-Finals – Saturday January 6th
Again, stick to Saturdays.
Rose Bowl (5:00, ABC) – Peach Bowl winner vs. Fiesta Bowl winner
I get that it’s almost a guarantee a West Coast team would come out of the Fiesta Bowl but if Michigan or Ohio State gets in, their fans travel well and to go to the Rose Bowl? They will fill their side of the stands no problem.
CFP National Championship – Saturday January 13th
We move the national championship back six days. This may mess with the NFL playoffs but that’s something that can be figured out. Hell, move the game to the 20th for all I care. Just keep it on Saturday night. And it will be, starting at 8:00 on ESPN.
Now on to the next part of our show, the tie-in portion. There are now nine less bowls as you remember. Very little overlap. Things look good. Now the teams need to be filled in. This is what the rest of the bowls will look like after all the tie-ins are dealt with and they will be dealt with. Not having official tie-ins and never even bothering with them. That shit bugs me.
DATE
TIME
BOWL
TIE-IN #1
TIE-IN #2
January 1st
7:00
Gator
SEC
ACC
January 1st
3:30
Citrus
SEC
Big Ten
January 1st
Noon
ReliaQuest
SEC
Big Ten
December 29th
8:30
Alamo
Big XII
at-large
December 29th
5:00
Music City
SEC
Big Ten
December 29th
2:30
Sun
Big XII
at-large
December 29th
Noon
Pop Tarts
ACC
at-large
December 28th
8:45
Texas
Big XII
at-large
December 28th
5:30
Duke’s Mayo
ACC
at-large
December 28th
2:15
Pinstripe
Big Ten
ACC
December 28th
11:00 AM
Fenway
AAC
at-large
December 27th
8:00
Holiday
at-large
at-large
December 27th
4:30
First Responder
Big XII
C-USA
December 27th
1:00
Military
ACC
AAC
December 26th
9:00
Guaranteed Rate
at-large
at-large
December 26th
5:30
Liberty
SEC
Sun Belt
December 26th
2:00
Independence
Sun Belt
at-large
December 24th
10:30
Hawaii
MWC
at-large
December 22nd
8:30
Idaho Potato
MWC
MAC
December 20th
8:30
Armed Forces
AAC
at-large
December 19th
8:00
Birmingham
C-USA
at-large
December 16th
10:30
Las Vegas
at-large
at-large
December 16th
8:00
LA
at-large
at-large
December 16th
5:30
New Mexico
at-large
at-large
December 16th
2:15
New Orleans
Sun Belt
at-large
December 16th
11:00 AM
Quick Lane
Big Ten
MAC
Yeah that’s a lot of at-large bids. Good. This is what makes this way of doing things that much more interesting. OK, let’s fill in those tie-ins. Remember, all teams in their new conferences (I hope I am not so confused with this next year).
DATE
TIME
NETWORK
BOWL
TEAM #1
TEAM #2
January 1st
7:00
CBS
Gator
Ole Miss
Louisville
January 1st
3:30
ABC
Citrus
Oklahoma
Iowa
January 1st
Noon
ABC
ReliaQuest
LSU
USC
December 29th
8:30
FOX
Alamo
Oklahoma State
at-large
December 29th
5:00
ESPN
Music City
Tennessee
UCLA
December 29th
2:30
CBS
Sun
Kansas State
at-large
December 29th
Noon
ESPN
Pop Tarts
NC State
at-large
December 28th
8:45
ESPN
Texas
Utah
at-large
December 28th
5:30
ESPN
Duke’s Mayo
Clemson
at-large
December 28th
2:15
ESPN
Pinstripe
Maryland
North Carolina
December 28th
11:00 AM
ESPN
Fenway
Tulane
at-large
December 27th
8:00
FOX
Holiday
at-large
at-large
December 27th
4:30
ESPN
First Responder
Kansas
Boise State
December 27th
1:00
ESPN
Military
Miami
SMU
December 26th
9:00
ESPN
Guaranteed Rate
at-large
at-large
December 26th
5:30
ESPN
Liberty
Kentucky
Troy
December 26th
2:00
ESPN
Independence
James Madison
at-large
December 24th
10:30
ESPN
Hawaii
UNLV
at-large
December 22nd
8:30
ESPN
Idaho Potato
Air Force
Toledo
December 20th
8:30
ESPN
Armed Forces
Memphis
at-large
December 19th
8:00
ESPN
Birmingham
New Mexico State
at-large
December 16th
10:30
ESPN
Las Vegas
at-large
at-large
December 16th
8:00
ABC
LA
at-large
at-large
December 16th
5:30
ESPN
New Mexico
at-large
at-large
December 16th
2:15
ESPN
New Orleans
Appalachian State
at-large
December 16th
11:00 AM
NBC
Quick Lane
Wisconsin
Miami-OH
It’s a bit confusing with the new Big Ten and SEC teams but we have to get used to it soon anyway. Might as well do it now.
The G-5 conference champions get the opportunities they deserve:
SMU (the AAC champ) goes to the Military Bowl to face Miami
Troy (Sun Belt champ) plays Kentucky in the Liberty Bowl, a step-up from the champ usually going to the New Orleans or Camellia Bowls
The Quick Lane Bowl gets MAC champ Miami-OH and they end up paired up with the Wisconsin Badgers.
Finally, with Liberty in the playoff, Boise State, the Mountain West champ, replaces them in the First Responder Bowl.
I think setting the qualification at 7 wins works well. There are 17 at-large teams remaining. This number includes Notre Dame. I don’t care about their current setup with the ACC bowl tie-ins. It’s dumb. They are an Independent. They can act like one. Same with Oregon State now. Interestingly, we have 21 at-large spots. So four more teams will get in. Four teams who had six wins during the season. Under my regime, the bowls can pick ANY six win team once the seven-win teams are all slotted. Makes things way more interesting and keeps many teams with their eyes glued to the television to see if they get in or not. So let’s start the random draw. I did this and it was random and this is how it turned out:
Duke’s Mayo – Notre Dame
Holiday – Oregon State
Pop Tarts – Coastal Carolina
Independence – West Virginia
Texas – Texas A&M
New Mexico – UTSA
Hawaii – Iowa State
Sun – Texas State
Las Vegas – Fresno State
Fenway – Duke
Alamo – Jacksonville State
LA – San Jose State
Armed Forces – Wyoming
Las Vegas – Northwestern
LA – Ohio
New Orleans – WKU
Holiday – Bowling Green
Man, the Guaranteed Rate Bowl got fucked here. Or did they? They get two selections from the six-win pool while the Birmingham and New Mexico Bowls get one each. Who will they choose?????
Birmingham – Auburn
Guaranteed Rate – Texas Tech
New Mexico – California
Guaranteed Rate – Virginia Tech
OK well at least the Guaranteed Rate Bowl gets two fanbases who will travel. So after the fun-time selection process, this is what the new bowl schedule will look like (other than the playoffs):
DATE
TIME
NETWORK
BOWL
TEAM #1
TEAM #2
January 1st
7:00
CBS
Gator
Ole Miss
Louisville
January 1st
3:30
ABC
Citrus
Oklahoma
Iowa
January 1st
Noon
ABC
ReliaQuest
LSU
USC
December 29th
8:30
FOX
Alamo
Oklahoma State
Jacksonville State
December 29th
5:00
ESPN
Music City
Tennessee
UCLA
December 29th
2:30
CBS
Sun
Kansas State
Texas State
December 29th
Noon
ESPN
Pop Tarts
NC State
Coastal Carolina
December 28th
8:45
ESPN
Texas
Utah
Texas A&M
December 28th
5:30
ESPN
Duke’s Mayo
Clemson
Notre Dame
December 28th
2:15
ESPN
Pinstripe
Maryland
North Carolina
December 28th
11:00 AM
ESPN
Fenway
Tulane
Duke
December 27th
8:00
FOX
Holiday
Oregon State
Bowling Green
December 27th
4:30
ESPN
First Responder
Kansas
Boise State
December 27th
1:00
ESPN
Military
Miami
SMU
December 26th
9:00
ESPN
Guaranteed Rate
Texas Tech
Virginia Tech
December 26th
5:30
ESPN
Liberty
Kentucky
Troy
December 26th
2:00
ESPN
Independence
James Madison
West Virginia
December 24th
10:30
ESPN
Hawaii
UNLV
Iowa State
December 22nd
8:30
ESPN
Idaho Potato
Air Force
Toledo
December 20th
8:30
ESPN
Armed Forces
Memphis
Wyoming
December 19th
8:00
ESPN
Birmingham
New Mexico State
Auburn
December 16th
10:30
ESPN
Las Vegas
Fresno State
Northwestern
December 16th
8:00
ABC
LA
San Jose State
Ohio
December 16th
5:30
ESPN
New Mexico
UTSA
California
December 16th
2:15
ESPN
New Orleans
Appalachian State
WKU
December 16th
11:00 AM
NBC
Quick Lane
Wisconsin
Miami-OH
A few notes here:
Auburn has to wonder why the college football Gods hate them. Another game with New Mexico State?
Taking Notre Dame out of the ACC group when it comes to tie-ins means they can now face an ACC team in a bowl game. ND-Clemson? Yes, please.
A few more P5 vs. G5 matches materialize because of the way the bowls are selected. James Madison gets to play West Virginia while RichRod’s Jacksonville State Gamecocks face off against Captain Mullet himself, Mike Gundy and his Oklahoma State squad.
OK look are all the matchups better here? No. That’s not really the point though. The point is to create interesting matchups that people might want to watch and to reward teams for their seasons. The hope here is that maybe a few more players will choose to play these games rather than opt out and get ready for the draft. I don’t blame them but it would be nice to see full rosters face off against each other. I think the bigger picutre has to be that the transfer portal shouldn’t open until after the bowl games are over but that’s a different conversation.
Alright, that was….well, fun may be a stretch but it was interesting to do as usual. I hope you enjoyed reading it and have a great weekend and a Merry Christmas!
This was the scene at Bank of America Stadium this past weekend in Charlotte for the Falcons-Panthers game. And if you think that’s just maybe part of the upper deck, think again. The entire stadium looked like this. Don’t believe me?
That is during the game as you can see a play going on in this picture. How sad is this? How dreadful must it be to be a Carolina Panthers fan right now? Not only does your team suck-diddly-uck but you don’t even get the chance at the number one draft choice. Why? Well, the Panthers wanted Bryce Young so badly that they exchanged first round picks with the Bears last year. The Panthers had to sweeten the deal so sent a 2025 second rounder, D.J. Moore and…..their first round pick in the upcoming draft. Yeesh. There is a good chance that will be the #1 pick and Bears fans are salivating at the thought. Marvin Harrison Jr.? Caleb Williams? Drake Maye? Maybe another position of need since they aren’t very good either? The possibilities are endless.
For Panthers fans, though, the possibilities aren’t. They won’t pick first overall, they very well might finish last in the league and unless some of their young players (and 2024 draftees) step up in a hurry, this is not a playoff team next season. Nowhere close. Frustrating for sure.
Not frustrating? Getting to watch NFL football on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!!! Let’s fucking go! Here’s the schedule to get you all amped up!
There are some games on this week that, somehow, are not being shown here in Canada without the assistance of a Sunday Ticket or a RedZone:
Washington at NY Jets
Green Bay at Carolina
Arizona at Chicago
How in the blue hell can three games not be shown at all here with how spread out the games are this week? The power of scheduling. Maybe they do need to go to Matt Zemek’s idea of three Sunday timeslots.
Look at all the national and almost-national telecasts. It is, I believe, an NFL record for the most national broadcasts in one week with seven. Then there’s two on Sunday that might as well be national broadcasts as well.
Just so you know, the Bills-Chargers game will be joined in progress on TSN3 and TSN5 at about 10:30 after the World Juniors pre-competition game between Canada and the U.S. (on TSN3) or the Lakers-Thunder game (on TSN5). Man, TSN loves the World Juniors.
As I said before, a lot of nationwide broadcasts. If you love watching football on CTV, then I hope you love one of four teams because those are the only ones appearing on Sunday afternoon. Lions-Vikings followed by Cowboys-Dolphins across the entire network. At least they should be two really good games.
Finally, the Nickolodeon game is back. This year’s “Nickmas” game will be the early Christmas Day affair between the Raiders and the Chiefs. It’s only on TSN+ up here but if you have it and have younger kids who may be interested it’s….kinda fun, not gonna lie.
OK we are getting close to the end of the season. Three games remain. Here’s what the playoff picture looks like at this point:
AFC
NFC
#1 Baltimore (11-3) (clinched playoff spot)
#1 San Francisco (11-3) (clinched NFC West)
#2 Miami (10-4)
#2 Dallas (10-4) (clinched playoff spot)
#3 Kansas City (9-5)
#3 Detroit (10-4)
#4 Jacksonville (8-6)
#4 Tampa Bay (7-7)
Wild Cards:
Wild Cards:
#5 Cleveland (9-5)
#5 Philadelphia (10-4) (clinched playoff spot)
#6 Cincinnati (8-6)
#6 Minnesota (7-7)
#7 Indianapolis/Houston/Buffalo (8-6)
#7 LA Rams/Seattle/New Orleans (7-7)
As I’ve said before, this Wild Card race may be the wildest in years, no pun intended. Oh and my dream of a 7-10 NFC South champion has gone up in flames as the Bucs and Saints face each other next week so the division champion can have no fewer than eight wins. Damn.
And behold, your list of eliminated teams:
Carolina
New England
Arizona
Washington
NY Jets
Tennessee
Only six. And only maybe three or four will join the list after this week. Good to see a lot of teams still in the mix instead of a few of the seasons in the recent past where half the league was pretty much done with a couple weeks to go.
Now some clinching scenarios. That’s what we are looking at these days anyways and wait until you see some of the scenarios. Fucking ridiculous:
First-Round Bye and Home-Field Advantage
San Francisco clinches with a win AND a Dallas loss AND a Philadelphia loss AND a Detroit loss
Division Title
Detroit clinches the NFC North with a win
Baltimore clinches the AFC North with a win AND a Cleveland loss
Kansas City clinches the AFC West with a win
Miami clinches the AFC East with a win AND a Buffalo loss
Playoff Berth
Detroit clinches with an LA Rams loss OR a Seattle loss
Miami clinches with a win
Cleveland clinches with a win AND (a Denver loss AND an Indianapolis loss AND a Buffalo loss AND a Miami win) OR (a Pittsburgh loss AND (a Denver loss AND an Indianapolis win AND a Jacksonville loss) OR (a Denver loss AND a Miami win and one of Buffalo/Indianapolis/Jacksonville losing) OR (a Buffalo loss AND an Indianapolis win AND a Jacksonville loss AND (a Miami win OR a Kansas City win)))
Elimination
Chicago is eliminated with loss AND (an LA Rams win) OR (a Seattle win AND one of Minnesota/Green Bay/Tampa Bay winning) OR (a Tampa Bay win AND one of Minnesota/Green Bay/NY Giants winning)
NY Giants are eliminated with a loss AND (an LA Rams win) OR (a Seattle win AND (one of Minnesota/Green Bay/Tampa Bay winning) OR (an Atlanta win AND a Chicago win)) OR (a Tampa Bay win AND (one of Minnesota/Green Bay winning) OR (an Atlanta win AND a Chicago win)) OR (a Minnesota win AND a Green Bay win AND an Atlanta win AND a Chicago win) OR (a Green Bay win AND a Chicago win AND an Atlanta win)
Las Vegas is eliminated with a loss
LA Chargers are eliminated with a loss OR a Jacksonville win OR (a Cincinnati win AND an Indianapolis win AND (a Houston win OR a Denver win OR two of Washington/Detroit/New Orleans/Arizona/Tennessee winning)) OR (a Cincinnati win AND a Houston win AND (a Denver win OR three of Washington/Detroit/New Orleans/Arizona/Tennessee winning)) OR (a Cincinnati win AND a Denver win AND (a Las Vegas win OR one of Washington/Detroit/New Orleans/Arizona/Tennessee winning)) OR (a Cincinnati win AND four of Washington/Detroit/New Orleans/Arizona/Tennessee winning) OR (a Pittsburgh win AND an Indianapolis win AND a Houston win AND a Las Vegas win) OR (a Pittsburgh win AND an Indianapolis win AND a Houston win AND one of Washington/Detroit/Green Bay/New Orleans/Arizona/Baltimore/Tennessee winning) OR (a Pittsburgh win AND an Indianapolis win AND a Denver win) OR (a Pittsburgh win AND an Indianapolis win AND a Cleveland win AND one of Washington/Detroit/New Orleans/Arizona/Tennessee winning) OR (a Pittsburgh win AND a Houston win AND two of Washington/Detroit/New Orleans/Arizona/Tennessee winning) OR (a Pittsburgh win AND a Cleveland win AND a Denver win AND a Las Vegas win) OR (a Pittsburgh win AND a Cleveland win AND a Denver win AND a New Orleans win AND one of Washington/Detroit/Green Bay/Arizona/LA Rams/Baltimore/Tennessee winning) OR (a Pittsburgh win AND a Cleveland win AND a Denver win AND an LA Rams win AND one of Washington/Detroit/Arizona/Tennessee winning) OR (a Pittsburgh win AND a Cleveland win AND three of Washington/Detroit/New Orleans/Arizona/Tennessee winning)
For fuck’s sake that is crazy. But if you are a betting man (or woman) you could make a boatload of money if one of these stupid Chargers scenarios hits.
So there you go. Enjoy the NFL football over the holidays and have a Merry Christmas!
We are a little over a week away from Christmas. You have your Bowl Season schedule and now you need some Bowl Game rankings and Bowl Game predictions from your friendly neighbourhood Bossman.
Time to go back to basics…I think? After introducing the Play-by-Play Announcer Scale last year we are heading back in time to the broadcasting network scale. An oldie but a goodie but since much has changed in the past few years, there are a couple of newbies and some networks that just don’t broadcast college football anymore. So let’s get right into this!
Now one thing that will change is this will be in tiers. 8 tiers like last year but with networks instead of announcers. Let’s fucking go!
The ABC Saturday Night Tier
Game of the Year type games right here. The games that matter. In this day and age that means the College Football Playoff and the New Year’s Six.
Rose Bowl – #1 Michigan vs. #4 Alabama (Jan. 1, 5:00, TSN3) – This will get a lot of viewers. I am starting to wonder if ESPN kind of helped with all the controversy to get even more people to watch. Let’s be honest: these two teams may be the two most hated college football teams in the land right now. And they are both just fine with that. Expect this to be a very close and very exciting game. My pick: Michigan 36 Alabama 31.
Sugar Bowl – #2 Washington vs. #3 Texas (Jan. 1, 8:45, TSN3) – They should have had the Rose and Sugar as the College Football Playoff semi-finals from the get-go. But it’s college football so they sometimes trip over themselves figuring things out. They still haven’t learned from having games on New Year’s Eve where the ratings, while still good, were probably much lower than they could have been. Normally one CFP semi-final is a fair amount worse than the other. This is the case this year and it has nothing to do with the Huskies or the Longhorns. At least it feels like both game will be really good because it’s rough to watch a CFP game get out of hand (see 2022 national championship). My pick: Washington 27 Texas 24.
Peach Bowl – #10 Penn State vs. #11 Ole Miss (Dec. 30, Noon, TSN5) – Two teams with head coaches that their fanbase doesn’t fully trust. I kind of get it but, because it’s college football, many go overboard. I mean who is going to State College or Oxford and doing a lot better than James Frankin or Lane Kiffin are? It would be a tough sell at Penn State to get a truly elite coach and even tougher at Ole Miss. Honestly, both coaches will probably be around through the end of next season so fans might as well focus on this game and stop talking about their next hypothetical coach. My pick: Penn State 21 Ole Miss 14.
Orange Bowl – #5 Florida State vs. #6 Georgia (Dec. 30, 4:00, TSN1/5) – This bowl has gone off the rails and it’s two weeks away. Now we have some Georgia lawmaker wanting to make the Orange Bowl another semi-final. So how the fuck is that going to work, Jethro? The winners get together for a hot game of rock, paper, scissors? Or maybe a three-way Cage of Death match up in Barrow, Alaska. Televised LIVE by ESPN AND NO ONE ELSE of course. What a fucking shitshow. I’m almost ready for the 2024 season to start so we can be done with this season. My pick: Georgia 35 Florida State 25.
Alamo Bowl – #12 Oklahoma vs. #14 Arizona (Dec. 28, 9:15, TSN3) – Well hey look at this. Not a CFP bowl and not an NY6 bowl! I say it almost every year but the Alamo Bowl, on paper, is one of, if not the very, best bowl games outside the major bowls. I wonder what will happen with the tie-ins with the Pac-12 being history. Either way, a great game to watch even if you end up exhausted at work the next day. My pick: Arizona 42 Oklahoma 39.
The SEC on CBS Tier
I’m shedding a tear right now looking at that logo. Long live the SEC on CBS. Things will never be the same again.
Cotton Bowl – #7 Ohio State vs. #9 Missouri (Dec. 29, 8:00, TSN2) – One team who was one win away from being in the College Football Playoff against one team who played way better than anyone expected. I can’t see this game being done before Midnight. Thankfully it’s Saturday the next day. We shall see if the absence of Kyle McCord really does affect the Buckeyes. I think it will. My pick: Missouri 34 Ohio State 20.
Armed Forces Bowl – James Madison vs. Air Force (Dec. 23, 3:30, ABC/TSN2) – The best pre-Christmas bowl game and of course it features America’s (Eastern) Team, the James Madison Dukes (America’s (Western) Team resides in Las Cruces as you already know). As for the Falcons, talk about a horrible slide to end their season. They were at the top of the Group of Five mountain going into November and by Selection Sunday were an afterthought. My pick: James Madison 31 Air Force 10.
Pop Tarts Bowl – #18 NC State vs. #25 Kansas State (Dec. 38, 5:45, TSN3) – This has to be the bowl game with the most questions. Nothing to do with the two teams involved who did very well this season but were one or two bad losses away from causing potential chaos. No, I’m talking about the edible Pop Tarts Bowl mascot. You read that right. Edible. Mascot. We don’t even know what flavour it is. Watch it be a really shitty flavour like blueberry or the disappointing chocolate fudge one or grass and dirt. Wait, there’s a pumpkin pie one? That one then. Ugh, just the thought of that makes my stomach churn. My pick: Kansas State 36 NC State 28.
Fiesta Bowl – #8 Oregon vs. #23 Liberty (Jan. 1, 1:00, TSN3) – The worst of the New Year’s Six games and it’s really not even close. That seems to be the take everyone has, partly because Oregon is one win over Washington from being in the playoff and partly because many hate Liberty because of the university itself. Ugh. Oh well, I’d love to say this could be close. I just don’t think it will be. My pick: Oregon 52 Liberty 28.
Citrus Bowl – #17 Iowa vs. #21 Tennessee (Jan. 1, 1:00, ABC/TSN+) – It must look weird to have an Iowa game here but hey, the Iowa defense was one of the best in the country. Sure they couldn’t score for the life of them but defense wins championships, right? It feels like football is trying to do away with that adage. Look, at least the over/under isn’t as ridiculous as the last few Hawkeye games this season (it’s 36.5 the last time I checked which is still low but I digress). My pick: Tennessee 21 Iowa 14.
The Big Noon Kickoff Tier
Really good games that are approaching the SEC on CBS level except when they end up showing Indiana or Nebraska playing a team like Ohio State. Then it’s not so fun and you fear for Gus and Joel’s sanity.
Holiday Bowl – #15 Louisville vs. USC (Dec. 27, 8:00, FOX) – Of course the BNK section has to have the only FOX bowl game. I’m just happy they don’t have a bowl game on FOX Sports One anymore. Sure I can watch it but many Canadians can’t and I am a man of the people. Anyway, GUS won’t get to call any Caleb Williams on-field action because he’s not playing. Between players opting out and players transferring before bowl games, Bowl Season is becoming, I hate to say, a bit of a mess. Hopefully someone fixes it. They won’t though. My pick: Louisville 36 USC 19.
Guaranteed Rate Bowl – Kansas vs. UNLV (Dec. 26, 9:00, TSN2) – UNLV has been better than advertised this season. Barry Odom has done an unbelievable job in Vegas. And you know my thoughts on Lance Leipold and the direction of the Jayhawk football program. Hell, the renovations are going to be so big that it may cause them to have to play at least one game at Arrowhead Stadium next season. That wouldn’t have happened with the 2010s Kansas Jayhawks. This may end up being one of the most fun games to watch. My pick: Kansas 31 UNLV 27.
Duke’s Mayo Bowl – North Carolina vs. West Virginia (Dec. 27, 5:30, TSN5) – I don’t usually like picking sides. But there is something intriguing about the idea of Mack Brown being buried in Duke’s Mayo. OK wait, buried was the wrong word. I didn’t mean… My pick: North Carolina 45 West Virginia 42.
Liberty Bowl – Memphis vs Iowa State (Dec. 29, 3:30, TSN2) – This could be a bit of a track meet game if the Tigers get rolling in front of their home crowd. What I’m saying is: take the over. My pick: Memphis 49 Iowa State 40.
Sun Bowl – #16 Notre Dame vs. #19 Oregon State (Dec. 29, 2:00, CBS) – At one point this was going to be THE non-CFP/non-NY6 bowl game. Then we have D.J. Uiagalelei transferring. Jonathan Smith is now head coach at Michigan State. Sam Hartman might not play for the Irish. From a game that looked like it would be loaded with points, it might not end up being that way now. My pick: Notre Dame 23 Oregon State 21.
The Notre Dame and/or B1G on NBC Tier
Notre Dame games still hold a lot of reverance for fans and the Big Ten will slowly make their mark, especially with Noah Eagle and Todd Blackledge calling their games.
Arizona Bowl – Wyoming vs. Toledo (Dec. 30, 4:00, The CW) – Yes the C Fucking W. They may go down in the list of notable networks that have broadcast bowl games like Mizlou Network and the American Sports Network. This bowl is sponsored by Barstool Sports so many won’t watch it just for that. I do kind of get it since it’s like watching a game at one of those sportsbooks in Vegas with 10,000 screens and odds on everything and anything. But it could end up being a good game and I don’t want to miss that, right? My pick: Toledo 33 Wyoming 27.
Cure Bowl – Appalachian State vs. Miami-OH (Dec. 16, 3:30, ABC/TSN2) – Even though it’s on ABC it might be overshadowed by other bowl games. Which is too bad since we have the MAC champs and the Mountaineers that are back after missing Bowl Season last year (in one of the craziest seasons in Sun Belt history). Don’t sleep on this matchup despite the fact it could be a bit of a defensive slugfest. Like if you enjoy Iowa football this may be your type of game. My pick: Appalachian State 20 Miami-OH 18.
ReliaQuest Bowl – #13 LSU vs. Wisconsin (Jan. 1, Noon, TSN+/specialty pack) – The first football game of 2024 is also the first game on this list that is on TSN+ and the specialty packs. Also, if Heisman winner Jayden Daniels does decide to play, this shouldn’t be cloase at all. My pick: LSU 48 Wisconsin 13.
Music City Bowl – Auburn vs. Maryland (Dec. 30, 2:00, ABC/TSN+) – Auburn has been all over the place this year. The highs are always high playing in the SEC. The lows can be very low although a loss to New Mexico State doesn’t look as bad as some may think. This is the younger Tagovailoa’s final game at Maryland and I think he goes out with a bang against an inconsistent Tigers team. My pick: Maryland 49 Auburn 29.
Gator Bowl – #22 Clemson vs. Kentucky (Dec. 29, Noon, TSN2) – If the Tigers hadn’t had a hell of a November, this may have been an even matchup. But it won’t be. At least I doubt it. My pick: Clemson 41 Kentucky 15.
The Late Night ESPN Tier
Jesus Christ that looks horrible. Oh well, I don’t feel like finding another logo. Basically this tier is the ESPN game that’s not the SEC primetime ESPN game of the week. So it could be the Noon, 3:30 or late night affair. So still a pretty good game but a step below the rest.
Independence Bowl – Texas Tech vs. California (Dec. 16, 9:15, TSN+/specialty pack) – This feels like an odd pairing in Shreveport of all places. Maybe next season they can get the Sun Belt champ to play an SEC team here, like God (or the Bossman in various posts) intended. I’m going with the team that scratched and clawed their way to bowl eligibility and have a bit of momentum as they head to the ACC. My pick: California 41 Texas Tech 27.
LA Bowl – UCLA vs. Boise State (Dec. 16, 7:30, ABC/TSN2) – This is going up against the rest of opening day of Bowl Season plus a few NFL games plus a couple of lower-level playoff games. So, yeah this isn’t exactly high up on anyone’s list of appointment viewing I’m sure. Considering Gronk is involved, my interest has dwindled even farther. Maybe it will be close and keep my attention. I don’t think it will be though. My pick: Boise State 39 UCLA 26.
New Mexico Bowl – Fresno State vs. New Mexico State (Dec. 16, 5:45, TSN+/specialty pack) – Hey it’s America’s (Western) Team, the New Mexico State Aggies! They ended up giving Liberty quite the run for the Conference USA Championship. They get a head coach-less Bulldogs squad that had the inside track to the Mountain West Championship and blew it because of a loss to, well how about that, New Mexico. The script writes itself. My pick: New Mexico State 44 Fresno State 31.
Texas Bowl – Texas A&M vs. #20 Oklahoma State (Dec. 27, 9:00, TSN5) – Usually this game has been a fairly good one so at least we have that going for it. Problem is you have a team that might not have one of the best running backs in the nation for the game up against a team that just spent a shit-ton of money to get rid of their old coach. It will be close only because neither team will be able to pull away. My pick: Texas A&M 28 Oklahoma State 23.
Birmingham Bowl – Duke vs. Troy (Dec. 23, Noon, ABC/TSN2) – This was looking like a really even game and the kind of game I love to see during bowl season. Instead, Duke loses their quarterback and I have a feeling the Trojans will run away with this one. My pick: Troy 36 Duke 20.
The FS1/ESPN2/ESPNU/SEC Network/ACC Network Tier
If you’re a college football fan you are watching these games. If not, well………
Fenway Bowl – Boston College vs. SMU (Dec. 28, 11:00 AM, TSN3) – It’s late morning football in what should be chilly BAW-stun. This could be considered the Mustangs’ first ACC game as they join the conference next season. I believe they will show the Eagles why they were coveted by the conference. My pick: SMU 48 Boston College 21.
Gasparilla Bowl – Georgia Tech vs. UCF (Dec. 22, 6:30, TSN5) – I don’t get the start time but whatever. The Knights have to consider their first season in the Big XII a success as they go bowling. And Brent Key may have just started the Ramblin’ Wreck’s ascent back up the ACC standings. This should be another good one but I will go with the home cookin’. My pick: UCF 22 Georgia Tech 17.
Hawaii Bowl – Coastal Carolina vs. San Jose State (Dec. 24, 10:30, TSN+/specialty pack) – Coastal has had a great run recently so this season feels…a little blah by their now lofty standards. Much of that has to do with the rest of the conference catching up and, for some teams, passing them. I honestly have no real intuition about this game so I will pick the team that doesn’t have to travel clear across the entire country and then half the Pacific Ocean. My pick: San Jose State 45 Coastal Carolina 24.
New Orleans Bowl – Louisiana vs. Jacksonville State (Dec. 16, 2:15, TSN+/specialty pack) – The Ragin’ Cajuns are close to home where they have played in front of some good bowl game crowds at the Superdome. But the Gamecocks are playing in their first bowl game ever and are doing it with RichRod at the helm! No offense to Cajun fans but I have to go with my heart. My pick: Jacksonville State 36 Louisiana 28.
Military Bowl – Virginia Tech vs. Tulane (Dec. 27, 2:00, TSN5) – I am shocked at how well the Hokies did this season. And I was so close at getting my G-5 NY6 pick correct but the Green Wave fell in the American Conference Championship. I usually don’t feel good about teams whose coaches have left for (usually) greener pastures but I think this will be a very close and competitive game. My pick: Tulane 30 Virginia Tech 29.
The CW Tier
When it was announced The CW would be doing an ACC game most weeks, most laughed. I sure did. But holy shit, despite the average commentary, the sub-HD look and the overall lack of production values, they had a few games that hit it out of the park. So you can’t sleep on this station because you might miss a really good game!
Pinstripe Bowl – Rutgers vs. Miami (Dec. 28, 2:15, TSN3) – Ah, an old Big East showdown. Maybe years from now, when conferences hit 28 teams, some teams start to hate it and they break off into smaller conferences, like the Big East. Just a thought. I don’t trust Mario Cristobal to coach this team to a bowl victory as far as I can throw my car. My pick: Rutgers 34 Miami 19.
First Responder Bowl – Rice vs. Texas State (Dec. 26, 5:30, TSN2) – G.J. Kinne has done a fantastic job in San Marcos, coaching the team to its first bowl game ever. Rice did better than expected and could look even better next year in the AAC. This feels like the kind of game that should be on ESPNU that everyone will turn to because there’s the possibility of a fantastic finish. My pick: Texas State 45 Rice 39.
Las Vegas Bowl – Northwestern vs. Utah (Dec. 23, 7:30, ABC/TSN2) – Got to give the Wildcats kudos for a great season considering what things were looking like heading into it. But they are facing a Utah team that, if it weren’t for injuries, would have been in that super dogfight at the top of the Pac-12. I still think the Utes on most nights are safe pick and this is no exception. My pick: Utah 31 Northwestern 10.
Myrtle Beach Bowl – Georgia Southern vs. Ohio (Dec. 16, 11:00 AM, TSN+/specialty pack) – Ohio has Canadian quarterback Kurtis Rourke here so…wait…they don’t? Looks like Rourke entered the transfer portal and has already been picked up by Indiana of all the teams. So my Bobcats pick has to be changed to an Eagles pick since without Rourke I don’t think they have a shot here. My pick: Georgia Southern 32 Ohio 13.
Frisco Bowl – UTSA vs. Marshall (Dec. 19, 9:00, TSN3) – This is the same spot the Frisco Bowl was in last year. So yeah it’s not like they are getting amazing teams to come to Frisco (other than North Dakota State most seasons). At least it’s another Texas team here as the Roadrunners meep their way up the state to face the Thundering Herd. I see Frank Harris, in what his finally his final game, lighting it up one last time. My pick: UTSA 51 Marshall 27.
The Pac-12 Network Tier
They should have taken the two worst teams in football and had them play a “bowl game” on a weeknight at 11 Eastern on the Pac-12 Network. Just to show how little that conference network mattered. I don’t get it. You create a conference network and make it available to most people and people will watch. Hell, the Longhorn Network is still around and that thing is garbage. Yet, this network will die sometime in the late Spring (I assume) and pretty much no one will miss it because they COULDN’T FUCKING WATCH IT! Man. Anyway, this is the bottom tier. Still games I will watch but if you miss them it’s not the end of the world (at least watch the highlights though).
Famous Toastery Bowl – Old Dominion vs. WKU (Dec. 18, 2:30, TSN1/3) – This was supposed to be the Bahamas Bowl but because of renovations to their only stadium on the island capable of hosting this game, it had to be moved. Thus is the creation of the Famous Toastery Bowl. My hope is that the winning coach gets a whole whack of toast dumped on him. Or even French toast. Ugh that would be so sticky (especially if you include syrup which you should) but would be worth it for my entertainment. The game? It will probably be close only because these two are arguably the worst two teams to make bowl season. The closeness keeps it from the bottom. My pick: Old Dominion 23 WKU 20.
Camellia Bowl – Arkansas State vs. Northern Illinois (Dec. 23, Noon, TSN+/specialty pack) – Despite the fact ASU has done better than I thought they would this season, their defense is still atrocious. They couldn’t stop a slight breeze. NIU loves to run the ball so despite the clock always moving this could see a lot of points. My pick: Northern Illinois 50 Arkansas State 38.
Idaho Potato Bowl – Utah State vs. Georgia State (Dec. 23, 3:30, TSN+/specialty pack) – Let’s follow one lowly bowl with another. Sometimes Boise gets a great matchup. This, I’m sure, does not qualify as one. GSU limped into the postseason on a 5-game losing streak. Make it six. My pick: Utah State 37 Georgia State 13.
Quick Lane Bowl – Minnesota vs. Bowling Green (Dec. 26, 2:00, TSN2) – Almost everything about this spot on the list is the same as last year. Same bowl. Bowling Green is in it. It’s on Boxing Day. Hell, it’s on a TSN station and only half-an-hour earlier than last year’s edition. Kind of creepy. I remember a time when the MAC champion would go here and face a fairly decent Big Ten team. I guess those days are gone. My pick: Minnesota 21 Bowling Green 14.
Boca Raton Bowl – Syracuse vs. USF (Dec. 21, 8:00, TSN+/specialty pack) – USF might get a boost from being so close to home. That is until their defense hits the field and they have to try to stop the pass which they couldn’t all season. Look, their game against Alabama was wild and fun to watch but Bama struggled to throw the ball all day. Syracuse won’t. My pick: Syracuse 45 USF 14.
68 Ventures Bowl – South Alabama vs. Eastern Michigan (Dec. 23, 7:00, TSN+/specialty pack) – Different name, same shitty bowl game. This is the second straight year the former LendingTree Bowl ends up in the bottom spot on my list. Even the Jag-you-ares playing in front of a home crowd isn’t enough to pull this out from the bottom rung of the ladder. I like EMU but this won’t be even remotely close. My pick: South Alabama 44 Eastern Michigan 9.
There you go! Bowl schedule, bowl rankings, bowl predictions: all complete. All there is now to do is watch the games.
As an add-on, there are some lower-level playoff games. Hell, let’s do another mini-schedule right here!
FCS Semi-Final: UAlbany at South Dakota State
Friday, 7:00
Division III Championship: Cortland vs. North Central (in Salem, VA)
Friday, 7:00
Celebration Bowl: Howard vs. Florida A&M (in Atlanta)
Saturday, Noon
Division II Championship: Harding vs. Colorado School of Mines (in McKinney, TX)
Saturday, 1:00
FCS Semi-Final: North Dakota State at Montana
Saturday, 4:30
All of these games are on TSN+ and the specialty pack except for the Celebration Bowl which goes to ABC.
It looks like other than one game, your boy Bossman can watch every game if he wishes. I most definitely will, thank you very much. And you too…enjoy the games. We’re almost ready to wrap up this season of college football season so get as much viewing in as you can.