Holy shit that came up fast. It felt like only a week ago we were a ways away from conference tournament time. Then BOOM! Here we are. Even with a leap year, March crept up on me.
This is my eighth time doing this. This will be some of the last games of any sport shown on the Pac-12 Network so indulge yourself. Or don’t. Not like it’s a great conference network or anything. Alright, let us begin.
March 8th
OVC Semi-Final #1
8:00
March 8th
OVC Semi-Final #2
10:30
March 9th
MVC Semi-Final #1
3:30
March 9th
MVC Semi-Final #2
6:00
March 9th
OVC Championship
8:00
March 9th
WCC Quarter-Final #1
10:00
March 10th
WCC Quarter-Final #2
12:30 AM
March 10th
Big South Championship
Noon
March 10th
MVC Championship
2:00
March 10th
A-Sun Championship
2:00
March 10th
Patriot League Semi-Final #1
2:00
March 10th
SoCon Semi-Final #1
4:00
March 10th
Patriot League Semi-Final #2
4:00
March 10th
SoCon Semi-Final #2
6:30
March 11th
CAA Semi-Final #1
6:00
March 11th
Horizon Semi-Final #1
7:00
March 11th
SoCon Championship
7:00
March 11th
Sun Belt Championship
7:00
March 11th
CAA Semi-Final #2
8:30
March 11th
WCC Semi-Final #1
9:00
March 11th
Horizon Semi-Final #2
9:30
March 11th
WCC Semi-Final #2
11:30
March 12th
ACC First Round #1
2:00
March 12th
ACC First Round #2
4:30
March 12th
America East Semi-Final #1
5:00
March 12th
Southland Semi-Final #1
6:30
March 12th
ACC First Round #3
7:00
March 12th
NEC Championship
7:00
March 12th
CAA Championship
7:00
March 12th
Horizon Championship
7:00
March 12th
Big Sky Semi-Final #1
8:30
March 12th
WCC Championship
9:00
March 12th
Summit Championship
9:30
March 12th
Big Sky Semi-Final #2
11:00
March 13th
ACC Second Round #1
Noon
March 13th
Big XII Second Round #1
12:30
March 13th
ACC Second Round #2
2:30
March 13th
Pac-12 First Round #1
3:00
March 13th
Southland Championship
5:00
March 13th
Pac-12 First Round #2
5:30
March 13th
ACC Second Round #3
7:00
March 13th
SEC First Round #1
7:00
March 13th
Patriot Championship
7:00
March 13th
Pac-12 First Round #3
9:00
March 13th
SEC First Round #2
9:30
March 13th
ACC Second Round #4
9:30
March 13th
Big XII Second Round #4
9:30
March 13th
Big Sky Championship
11:30
March 13th
Pac-12 First Round #4
11:30
March 14th
ACC Quarter-Final #1
Noon
March 14th
Big Ten Second Round #1
Noon
March 14th
Big XII Quarter-Final #1
12:30
March 14th
American Second Round #1
12:30
March 14th
SEC Second Round #1
1:00
March 14th
ACC Quarter-Final #2
2:30
March 14th
Big Ten Second Round #2
2:30
March 14th
Big XII Quarter-Final #2
3:00
March 14th
American Second Round #2
3:00
March 14th
MWC Quarter-Final #1
3:00
March 14th
Pac-12 Quarter-Final #1
3:00
March 14th
SEC Second Round #2
3:30
March 14th
MWC Quarter-Final #2
5:30
March 14th
Pac-12 Quarter-Final #2
5:30
March 14th
Big Ten Second Round #3
6:30
March 14th
ACC Quarter-Final #3
7:00
March 14th
Big XII Quarter-Final #3
7:00
March 14th
American Second Round #3
7:00
March 14th
SEC Second Round #3
7:00
March 14th
Big Ten Second Round #4
9:00
March 14th
MWC Quarter-Final #3
9:00
March 14th
Pac-12 Quarter-Final #3
9:00
March 14th
ACC Quarter-Final #4
9:30
March 14th
Big XII Quarter-Final #4
9:30
March 14th
American Second Round #4
9:30
March 14th
SEC Second Round #4
9:30
March 14th
MWC Quarter-Final #4
11:30
March 15th
Big Ten Quarter-Final #1
Noon
March 15th
C-USA Semi-Final #1
12:30
March 15th
American Quarter-Final #1
1:00
March 15th
SEC Quarter-Final #1
1:00
March 15th
Big Ten Quarter-Final #2
2:30
March 15th
American Quarter-Final #2
3:00
March 15th
C-USA Semi-Final #2
3:00
March 15th
SEC Quarter-Final #2
3:30
March 15th
MAC Semi-Final #1
5:00
March 15th
Big East Semi-Final #1
5:30
March 15th
MAAC Semi-Final #1
6:00
March 15th
Big Ten Quarter-Final #3
6:30
March 15th
ACC Semi-Final #1
7:00
March 15th
Big XII Semi-Final #1
7:00
March 15th
American Quarter-Final #3
7:00
March 15th
SEC Quarter-Final #3
7:00
March 15th
MAC Semi-Final #2
7:30
March 15th
Pac-12 Semi-Final #1
8:00
March 15th
MAAC Semi-Final #2
8:30
March 15th
American Quarter-Final #4
9:00
March 15th
Big Ten Quarter-Final #4
9:00
March 15th
ACC Semi-Final #2
9:30
March 15th
Big XII Semi-Final #2
9:30
March 15th
SEC Quarter-Final #4
9:30
March 15th
MWC Semi-Final #1
9:30
March 15th
WAC Semi-Final #2
11:30
March 15th
Big West Semi-Final #2
11:30
March 16th
MWC Semi-Final #2
Midnight
March 16th
America East Championship
11:00 AM
March 16th
Ivy League Semi-Final #1
11:00 AM
March 16th
A-10 Semi-Final #1
1:00
March 16th
Big Ten Semi-Final #1
1:00
March 16th
SEC Semi-Final #1
1:00
March 16th
MEAC Championship
1:00
March 16th
American Semi-Final #1
3:00
March 16th
SEC Semi-Final #2
3:00
March 16th
A-10 Semi-Final #2
3:30
March 16th
Big Ten Semi-Final #2
3:30
March 16th
American Semi-Final #2
5:00
March 16th
SWAC Championship
5:30
March 16th
MWC Championship
6:00
March 16th
Big XII Championship
6:00
March 16th
Big East Championship
6:30
March 16th
MAAC Championship
7:30
March 16th
MAC Championship
7:30
March 16th
ACC Championship
8:30
March 16th
C-USA Championship
8:30
March 16th
Pac-12 Championship
9:00
March 16th
Big West Championship
9:30
March 16th
WAC Championship
11:30
March 17th
Ivy League Championship
Noon
March 17th
A-10 Championship
1:00
March 17th
SEC Championship
1:00
March 17th
American Championship
3:15
March 17th
Big Ten Championship
3:30
March 17th
Selection Sunday
6:00
Some Greg Gumbel-ish notes
Hey what happened to the Selection Sunday show being on TBS every other year? They tried it once, realized it was one of the dumbest ideas in recent college basketball broadcasting history and turfed it. Greg Gumbel (and his Selection Sunday pals) belong on CBS at 6:00 after the Big Ten Championship. Period.
There are still so many conference tournaments in the New York City and Las Vegas areas. I find it hilarious that some of these conferences, despite not even having NYC or Vegas in their conference footprint, continue to put the tournaments there and then wonder why they aren’t selling out games. Mindblowing.
So it looks like if you don’t have TSN+ you aren’t watching much conference tournament action. Damn near every game that TSN is showing is going to their new streaming platform. Is it surprising? Not really. Now, if TSN+ starts getting a shit-ton of everything, including more college basketball and football, junior hockey, maybe some Canadian university sports as well, then I can say it may be worth the cost. It’s the path we are heading towards so if you are a big-time cablehead and don’t want to move off of it then get ready to be frustrated.
As I mentioned above, this is the last few months of the Pac-12 Network, which we have more access to than most Americans. How stupid is that conference. Or was that conference…*pause to shed a tear*…Anyway, the final Pac-12 Network basketball game ever will air on March 15th so if you want to, um, witness some history, watch that game. Then all that will be left, in terms of team sports, is baseball and softball. Then no more Pac-12 come the summer. What a quiet, sad end.
I am under the assumption that the First Four will also go to TSN+. I would be shocked if it didn’t. As for the first round games, with TSN’s wraparound coverage on a few different channels, you should be able to see portions of every single game so no problems there. I will keep things updated here if any conference tournament games magically get pushed from TSN+ to one of the TSN stations (although I don’t see that happening).
The Kreepy Kombine is over so I will be putting up another mock draft. Maybe I will add another round in there. Who knows!
I am slowly putting together the schedule for this upcoming season and it is quite difficult since so much has changed that there are some things I can’t compare to previous years. Hell, the MAC hasn’t even put out their schedule yet so that makes it damn near impossible to complete this puzzle (the MAC finally announced their schedule yesterday). I mean I would I love to put out schedule-based posts in May? Sure. I may even do that and not worry about broadcast information at that point. Everything is up in the air. Have a great week everyone!
I have to say it was a fun final regular season weekend of college football. Especially the Iron Bowl. What a ridiculous finish. Now we get into the postseason part of the season. So there has to be some chaos, right? Some upset? Any upset? Sure there were a few during the season but really the big upset has taken a big nap this year. And that’s part of college football. Not having those has taken something away from this season. Let’s hope this coming weekend can bring some of that chaos back. Fingers crossed. Let’s get on with the schedule.
Friday
Conference USA Championship: New Mexico State (+10.5) at #24 Liberty
7:00
This network continues to be smart in the way they figure out WHEN to put a game. They get an entire national audience for almost an entire half and then, if the game is close, many people will stick with it to the end. Brilliant. Plus, with the added possibility of seeing a potential New Year’s Six berth clinched here, it means they should get more eyeballs on this game than ever before. Prediction: This game is the biggest one, not only in Liberty’s history, but in Conference USA’s history. This is their chance to put a team in the New Year’s Six for the first time. The first part gets done this night. Liberty 39 New Mexico State 34.
Pac-12 Championship: #5 Oregon (-9.5) vs. #3 Washington (in Paradise, NV)
8:00
The final Pac-12 Championship and, arguably, the most important conference championship is being held on a Friday night starting at 5:00 local time. Hell, ESPN/ABC is sending their best crew to this. This feels like the final slap in the face to the Pac-12. Anyway, this is massive. The winner is a lock for the College Football Playoff and the loser gets relegated to the New Year’s Six. It’s that simple. Prediction: This is going to be an offensive showcase between two of the Heisman contenders in Bo Nix and Michael Penix Jr. The guy who wins, I believe, won’t be the Heisman winner. Although I guess there’s always a possibility Jayden Daniels wins it instead of either of these two. Washington 49 Oregon 38.
Saturday Early
Big XII Championship: #18 Oklahoma State (+14.5) vs. #7 Texas (in Arlington)
Noon
Easily the only game that matters early on. Texas has to win and get quite a bit of help to get into the College Football Playoff. They will know the lay of the land after the Pac-12 Championship, especially if Oregon wins since that will mean a better shot to join the party. Prediction: The Longhorns do what they need to do but will have to wait to see if it is enough. Texas 52 Oklahoma State 27.
MAC Championship: Miami-OH (+7.5) vs. Toledo (in Detroit)
Noon
Well, from the College Football Playoff rankings we now know that Toledo has no chance at the NY6, despite having an 11-1 record. Nothing will allow them to leapfrog Tulane, Liberty or SMU. I would say this is for a trip back to Detroit for the Quick Lane Bowl but even that is in doubt thanks to tie-ins that don’t even tie a conference in to a bowl game. Prediction: Should be close like their regular season matchup. Toledo 24 Miami-OH 20.
Saturday Afternoon
Mountain West Championship: Boise State (-2) at UNLV
3:00
Now that the strange computer rankings saga to figure out who would actually be in the conference championship game is over, we can focus ont the game itself. Really, they are probably playing for a spot in the LA Bowl but who the hell knows. It will be interesting to see how many people are in Allegiant Stadium as it hosts its second conference championship in less than 24 hours. Prediction: This isn’t on the Smurf Turf so you have to give the advantage to the Rebels here. UNLV 41 Boise State 38.
Sun Belt Championship: Appalachian State (+6.5) at Troy
4:00
Where does the winner go? Who the fuck knows anymore. Prediction: I will be thinking about how this would have been a hundred times better if James Madison was hosting Troy. Troy 34 Appalachian State 16.
SEC Championship: #8 Alabama (+5.5) vs. #1 Georgia (in Atlanta)
4:00
Is Georgia in no matter what? Probably although you never know how things will shake out with The Committee. Bama is going to have win this by like 50 to even get a glance from them as they are probably too far out to get their shot. Prediction: This is going to be really close and really good. I just feel it. Georgia 49 Alabama 42.
American Championship: SMU (+4) at #22 Tulane
4:00
Tulane goes back to the NY6 with a win in this one. But what happens if SMU wins? That is where the fun begins (as long as Liberty wins their game on Friday). I still believe that SMU would have to hope Liberty loses since there is no way to pass them but I could be wrong. Prediction: Tulane is heading back to the promised land but it won’t be easy. Tulane 41 SMU 34.
SWAC Championship: Prairie View A&M at Florida A&M
4:00
Florida A&M has been money since joining the SWAC. Honestly, I think Deion Sanders may have been right. Have all the MEAC schools join the SWAC. One huge mega-HBCU-conference. ESPN might not like that though because they have the Celebration Bowl on the opening day of Bowl Season and you know how ESPN is about their bowls. Even with the 12-team playoff they will want to add bowls so that 4-8 Houston can face 4-8 Colorado. Prediction: The Rattlers are going to beat the brakes off of Prairie View and move on to the Celebration Bowl where they will be in an uncomfortably close game with a team that’s not even close to their level in Howard. Like most of the Celebration Bowls. Florida A&M 56 Prairie View A&M 14.
Saturday Primetime
ACC Championship: #14 Louisville (+2.5) vs. #4 Florida State (in Charlotte)
8:00
All the FSU talk is about the loss of Jordan Travis. I get it. With him, you look like a national championship contender. Without him, not so much. Saying that, they know what they have to do. Win. Doesn’t matter how. Just win. And I wondered if they were going to be able to do that against this Cardinals team but after Louisville’s performance against Kentucky, I started to wonder about that. Prediction: The Noles do enough to win. The defense keeps the Cardinals offense at bay. FSU off to the CFP. Florida State 37 Louisville 27.
Big Ten Championship: #16 Iowa (+23) vs. #2 Michigan (in Indianapolis)
8:00
The spread is almost as high as the over/under for Iowa’s game last week against Nebraska. How sad/hilarious is that? Michigan is in with a win and maybe even with a loss depending on what has happened before this point. Prediction: Iowa has survived a lot of games with their defense. They won’t here. This could get ugly. Michigan 44 Iowa 10.
FCS Second Round: Southern Illinois at Idaho
10:00 PM
Hey, an added bonus! Some FCS playoff action! From what I can tell this may be close but we shall see since my FCS knowledge isn’t that great. And despite the fact they are playing in the awesome Kibbie Dome, wouldn’t it have been ten times more hilarious if this were outdoors…in Moscow, Idaho…in December? Oh my. Prediction: Watch this prediction be WAY off. Idaho 38 Southern Illinois 33.
We are almost at the end. It’s college football’s Judgment Day and it’s coming quickly. And we are slowly heading towards bowl season and the end of the college football season. So enjoy the games everyone!
The 2023 version of Footballgasm has arrived! Get ready for an absolute fuck-ton of college football and NFL football from Thursday through to Monday night. Why does this happen? Americans need something to do while they let all that food settle in their stomachs. I mean our Thanksgiving comes first and is pretty good but we really missed the mark. Take out green bean casserole and there’s very little to dislike about American Thanksgiving.
Alright time to unleash the college football schedule for this week, the final week of the regular season. This is done in traditional Bossman’s Blog American Thanksgiving style. Every game is listed. Some are not important. Some are very important. But every game gets their own section. College football deserves it (for the most part).
Tuesday
Bowling Green (-1.5) at Western Michigan
7:00
Does this mean anything? No. But it’s the final night of MACtion so enjoy it. Predicted score: Western Michigan 27 Bowling Green 24.
Eastern Michigan (+6.5) at Buffalo
7:30
Now this game is more important…well, at least for one team. The Eagles can become bowl eligible with a win here. The Bulls are just here to try and play spoiler. Predicted score: Buffalo 31 Eastern Michigan 21.
Thursday
#12 Ole Miss (-11) at Mississippi State
7:30
The Rebels are juuuuuuuuuuuust on the outside looking in at the New Year’s Six. Could they leapfrog Missouri or Penn State without those two teams losing? It’s doubtful but they could strengthen their case by putting a beating on Mississippi State. Predicted score: Ole Miss 34 Mississippi State 30.
Friday
Miami (-9) at Boston College
Noon
Miami destroyed any chance of doing anything this season, mostly with piss-poor coaching (although Tyler Van Dyke seriously regressed this season). The Eagles on the other hand, they played much better than expected and Jeff Hafley has saved his job. Predicted score: Miami 38 Boston College 15.
#17 Iowa (+2) at Nebraska
Noon
Big game here for the Huskers. Win and they are bowl-eligible in Matt Rhule’s first season in Lincoln. Maybe, just maybe, the sun is finally shining on Huskerland for the first time in quite a few years. To do that, though, they will have to upset the Hawkeyes who have defied every odd and probably some theories of offensive football to become Big Ten West champs. Take the under (even though the over/under is a record-low 26.5). Predicted score: Iowa 14 Nebraska 7.
Ohio (-14) at Akron
Noon
Ohio can win their ninth game of the season which is pretty impressive. Unfortunately, it won’t be enough to win the division. Akron is hoping to stay out of double digits in the loss column. Predicted score: Ohio 30 Akron 10.
Memphis (-11.5) at Temple
Noon
Memphis lost their shot at a potential American Conference championship spot last weekend. So really, this means nothing. Predicted score: Memphis 31 Temple 7.
Toledo (-10.5) at Central Michigan
Noon
The Rockets will need a win and a lot of help to somehow sneak into the New Year’s Six. The Chips are trying to get to their sixth win. Actually, quite a bit at stake here. Predicted score: Toledo 34 Central Michigan 16.
TCU (+10) at #13 Oklahoma
Noon
Huge game here for the Sooners. An Oklahoma win and they still have a shot at going to JerryWorld one last time, much to the chagrin of the rest of the Big XII members. TCU isn’t going to lie down for them, though. They have to win to go bowling. Predicted score: TCU 38 Oklahoma 26.
UTSA (+3) at #23 Tulane
3:30
Tulane gets to eleven wins with a win here. More importantly, a win here puts them in the AAC Championship game and makes them the favourite to go back to the New Year’s Six. I am honestly shocked that no team has taken a flyer on Willie Fritz, despite his age. A Roadrunners win doesn’t eliminate the Green Wave either although they would need some help from Navy. A UTSA win would put them in the conference championship and would finish one of the best conference moves (outside the Sun Belt) in recent memory. Predicted score: Tulane 29 UTSA 24.
Utah State (-7.5) at New Mexico
3:30
The Aggies go bowling if they beat the Lobos. A UNM win would put them at five for the season which, honestly, would probably save Danny Gonzales’ job and constitute one of their better seasons in a long time. Predicted score: Utah State 49 New Mexico 31.
#9 Missouri (-7.5) at Arkansas
4:00
Mizzou locks themselves into the New Year’s Six if they can defeat the lowly Hogs. Sam Pittman has already been retained for next year so no surprise shitcanning in Fayetteville like Bret Bielema got a few years back. Predicted score: Missouri 33 Arkansas 14.
Texas Tech (+13) at #7 Texas
7:30
A massive game for the Longhorns. There is honestly so much on the line here. The most important being a spot in the final four-team College Football Playoff. It’s within their grasp but they have to stop allowing teams to stick around in games. The Red Raiders, on the other hand, are playing for one thing since they are already bowl eligible: spoiling the Horns’ entire season. Predicted score: Texas 31 Texas Tech 17.
#11 Penn State (-21) vs. Michigan State (in Detroit)
7:30
Do the Nittany Lions deserve to be in a New Year’s Six bowl? It’s debatable but at this point, a win probably clinches a spot unless Ole Miss goes nuts on Mississippi State the night before. The Spartans just want to end one of the most miserable seasons in their program’s history, on and off the field. Predicted score: Penn State 49 Michigan State 28.
#16 Oregon State (+13.5) at #6 Oregon
8:30
The Ducks want a rematch with Washington for the Pac-12 Championship. The Beavers just want to spoil Oregon’s season as all teams do in rivalry games. Predicted score: Oregon 44 Oregon State 29.
Saturday Early
Kentucky (+7) at #10 Louisville
Noon
Louisville needs a win to keep their slim CFP hopes alive. That alone will make this game interesting. Kentucky has no stakes other than maybe trying not to lose too badly so that Mark Stoops can be guaranteed for 2024. Predicted score: Louisville 31 Kentucky 10.
Pittsburgh (+6) at Duke
Noon
Duke is already going bowling and are middle of the ACC standings. Pitt is pretty awful (other than playing lights out against Louisville) and are looking forward to the offseason. A lot of better options in this window. Predicted score: Duke 20 Pittsburgh 7.
Indiana (+3) at Purdue
Noon
The Old Oaken Bucket. Even with this being a rivalry game, it’s really not worth watching. Predicted score: Purdue 32 Indiana 13.
Miami-OH (-6.5) at Ball State
Noon
Redhawks are in. Cardinals are out. Let’s see if Mike Neu finally gets the axe like I’ve predicted for a few seasons now. Predicted score: Miami-OH 30 Ball State 28.
Texas A&M (+10.5) at #14 LSU
Noon
For two good teams (OK one quite good team and one OK team), this game does not mean a whole lot. The Aggies are bowling and playing under an interim coach. LSU would need a damn miracle to get into the New Year’s Six so should start packing for a Florida bowl game. Predicted score: LSU 45 Texas A&M 31.
Navy (+20) at SMU
Noon
Now with TSN pushing a lot to TSN+, games like this will almost never make it to the regular TSN channels again which sucks for people who don’t subscribe. It feels like it has finally come to the point where you have to either get one off the specialty packs, get TSN+ or go the IPTV route to see as much college football as you want as a Canadian. Anyway, Navy has two shots to go bowling and would like to close that out here. The Mustangs are in the American Championship with a win in Big D. Predicted score: SMU 48 Navy 20.
Troy (-17) at Southern Miss
Noon
Troy has no shot at the New Year’s Six and is already hosting the Sun Belt Championship. Southern Miss is home for the holidays. Meh. Predicted score: Troy 23 Southern Miss 8.
#2 Ohio State (+3.5) at #3 Michigan
Noon
Another huge version of The Game. Not a total surprise. The winner is in the Big Ten Championship and all but guarantees a spot in the playoff. And just like last year, the loser isn’t out with a loss depending on what happens on conference championship weekend. If GUS JOHNSON would ever pass out from lack of oxygen, this would be the game he would do it in. Predicted score: Michigan 28 Ohio State 24.
Saturday Afternoon
Wake Forest (+3) at Syracuse
2:00
The two worst teams in the ACC but it’s still important for one team. The Orange need a win here to somehow become bowl eligible. Wake would be just outside at five wins if they win here and could nab a spot due to their great APR score if it comes down to that. Predicted score: Syracuse 35 Wake Forest 15.
Southern vs. Grambling (in New Orleans)
2:00
Prairie View A&M has already clinched the SWAC West so this means nothing for either team other than bragging rights: both for the football teams and the bands. Predicted score: Southern 23 Grambling 18.
Colorado (+22) at Utah
3:00
Utah has been very good considering the sheer amount of injuries that team sustained. The Buffaloes season finally ends after the most hype ever given to a one-win team before the season began (and well into the season as well). Predicted score: Utah 39 Colorado 17.
BYU (+17.5) at #20 Oklahoma State
3:30
BYU needs to win here to be in a bowl game. It would be a pretty big upset if they did, but hey, crazier things have happened. The Pokes are holding on to an outside shot at the Big XII Championship. They need to win and have a few other things go their way but again, it’s not impossible. Predicted score: BYU 49 Oklahoma State 31.
Virginia Tech (-3) at Virginia
3:30
Last year’s Commonwealth Cup was cancelled after the murders of three Virginia players. Just having this game will bring back quite a few emotions I’m sure for the Cavs. For the Hokies, they can do the improbable and become bowl eligible if they beat their rivals. Predicted score: Virginia 40 Virginia Tech 35.
Northwestern (+6) at Illinois
3:30
If you had told me at the start of the season that this game would have Northwestern already going bowling and the Illini fighting for their bowl lives, I would have thought you had just went to a cannabis shop for the first time in your life and ate a few too many edibles. But here we are. The Wildcats have been amazing considering their offseason. David Braun has done a masterful job in Evanston. Bret Bielema on the other hand is still at the helm of a struggling Illini team. He will make it to 2024 but a loss here will put him on a much shorter leash. Predicted score: Illinois 31 Northwestern 23.
Maryland (-1.5) at Rutgers
3:30
I have this game showing in most homes in this area. I have no idea what will happen. Hell, I have Big Ten Network and three alternate BTNs and even then, one game usually gets left out for everyone. Why do they do this when they honestly don’t have to? Anyway, both teams are going bowling so are looking for momentum heading into the postseason and nothing else. Predicted score: Maryland 20 Rutgers 17.
#8 Alabama (-14.5) at Auburn
3:30
How close can the Tigers keep this game? The spread honestly seems way too low. Don’t even bother talking about an upset. Kind of a dud for the final SEC on CBS regular season game if you ask me. Now watch it be close deep into the fourth quarter. Predicted score: Alabama 41 Auburn 21.
#25 Liberty (-17) at UTEP
3:30
In what is feeling like a broken record, here’s another game that means very little. Sure, the Flames can finish an undefeated season with a win over the terrible Miners. Problem is they need quite a bit of help to get that coveted NY6 spot. I just can’t see it happening. Predicted score: Liberty 38 UTEP 20.
#15 Arizona (-11.5) at Arizona State
3:30
ASU is already home for the Christmas holidays. The Wildcats have to win here and hope Oregon has already lost the Civil War. So we will know going in whether this game means anything or not. Predicted score: Arizona 23 Arizona State 13.
James Madison (-9) at Coastal Carolina
3:30
Big game in the Sun Belt and unfortunately only for one team. The Dukes are almost guaranteed a bowl slot after all the bowl eligible teams get their spots. For the Chants, because of JMU’s ineligibility for the Sun Belt title, they win this and they will face Troy for the Sun Belt Championship. Predicted score: James Madison 42 Coastal Carolina 24.
Georgia Southern (+8.5) at Appalachian State
3:30
The Mountaineers will be scoreboard-watching and trying to pay attention to the task at hand. Not easy for sure. If CCU can’t beat JMU then App State, with a win, will head to Troy and face the Trojans as the champions of the Sun Belt East. Predicted score: Appalachian State 26 Georgia Southern 10.
Vanderbilt (+27) at #21 Tennessee
3:30
This would have been at least a bit more humourous being played at Vanderbilt’s stadium with their ongoing construction issues. Predicted score: Tennessee 49 Vanderbilt 21.
Washington State (+16.5) at #4 Washington
4:00
The Apple Cup continues to produce high drama. The Huskies’ dream season could come crashing down if they get upset by the Cougs. Wazzu has to win to become bowl-eligible. This should nab a lot of viewers until it gets out of hand. Predicted score: Washington 52 Washington State 17.
Saturday Primetime
#5 Florida State (-6.5) at Florida
7:00
If this had been discussed a week ago the spread might have been over 20 points. Instead, we will find out if the Noles can continue their success without Jordan Travis. The Gators could do the improbable by going bowling with a win here. Predicted score: Florida State 36 Florida 27.
South Alabama (-6) at Texas State
7:00
Two teams that are already bowl-eligible here. Good for them but it means that the NFL Network’s final game of the year will not get a whole lot of viewers. Predicted score: South Alabama 20 Texas State 14.
#18 Notre Dame (-26) at Stanford
7:00
I’m sorry but this is fucking hilarious. The final Pac-12 Network football game ever and it will feature Notre Dame. NOTRE DAME. Irish fans are going to be so damn pissed off trying to find a way to watch this. That alone makes this fun. Not quite worth watching a lot of but still, you’ll be seeing history at the end as the worst conference network closes its football doors for good. Predicted score: Notre Dame 42 Stanford 32.
#1 Georgia (-24) at Georgia Tech
7:30
A little Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate. I love some of the names of these rivalries. There might be a bit of intrigue to see if UGA can cap off another undefeated regular season but other than that, you can avoid this one. Predicted score: Georgia 34 Georgia Tech 10.
Kansas (-6) at Cincinnati
7:30
Kansas is pretty good again this season. It’s nice to see. Cincinnati, on the other hand, may be regretting the Scott Satterfield hire although he deserves another season to see how they can truly compete in the Big XII. Predicted score: Kansas 28 Cincinnati 14.
Charlotte (+5.5) at USF
7:30
Speaking of teams playing much better than most thought they would, the Bulls are one win away from going bowling. They showed a lot in the near-upset of Alabama back in September and have scratched and clawed their way to this point. The only thing standing in their way? The bare arms of Biff Poggi and his Charlotte 49ers. Might not be as easy as USF thinks it should be. Predicted score: USF 31 Charlotte 30.
#24 Clemson (-7) at South Carolina
7:30
Gotta give Dabo Swinney from credit for turning around the team after that poor start. Either that or we give all the praise to Tyler from Spartanburg for lighting a fire under the Tigers. Either way, they come into this game as actually one of the hottest teams in the country. And they could actually make their season for a lot of fans by ruining South Carolina’s. The Gamecocks need the win to be bowl eligible. I don’t think this will be as feisty as their brawl-filled game many years ago but I could see it getting chippy. Predicted score: Clemson 41 South Carolina 24.
North Carolina (-3) at #22 NC State
8:00
North Carolina was supposed to be one of the teams to go to the ACC Championship this year. NC State was supposed to be fighting for a .500 record. Instead, they both come in at 8-3 with maybe something other than bragging rights on the line. Let’s be honest: teams would much rather go to a Florida destination than the Sun Bowl or Military Bowl. Predicted score: North Carolina 28 NC State 27.
Iowa State (+10) at #19 Kansas State
8:00
By this point, we will know if the Wildcats have any shot at the Big XII Championship. Other than that, neither team has anything to play for other than to win…FARMAGEDDON. Predicted score: Kansas State 50 Iowa State 34.
Saturday Late Night
Wyoming (-11) at Nevada
9:00
Yes, the odd CBS Sports Network Thanksgiving Saturday timeslot is back again. At least they do their best to cram in as much live sports as humanly possible into this day. Predicted score: Wyoming 35 Nevada 27.
California (+9.5) at UCLA
10:30
It’s really hit or miss with this final game of the regular season. Sometimes, it’s a massively important game that is must-watch and keeps everyone up well past Midnight. Other times we get games that have absolutely no importance. For once, it’s somewhere in the middle. Shockingly, the Bears are in line for a bowl spot if they can pull the upset on a Bruins team who might still be on a high after defeating USC for the Victory Bell this past weekend. Predicted score: UCLA 38 California 34.
That’s a lot of football. I am not complaining. At all. I would have thought TSN might have stepped up for the final regular season weekend but, alas, that is not the case. They are pushing TSN+ for college football so that is the future we have to live with. Oh well…progress, right? Ugh.
I will update the rankings when I see them. I figured I should get this post out in some form so my MACtion predictions don’t look too fishy. Enjoy the games everyone!
Yep, firing season in college football has commenced! In what was, honestly, a shocking shitcanning, Texas A&M followed up an absolute drubbing of Mississippi State by keeping the good times going and firing Jimbo Fisher. Yes, Jimbo has been let go and will get $76 god damn million dollars as a buyout. Holy shit. Stupid me trying to be a teacher, then an accountant when the real money was in being a failed college football head coach. How dumb can I be?
Following that, Boise State announced that they, too, followed an easy win by firing their head coach. Andy Avalos was never really accepted in that position and he never kept the Broncos at the level everyone expects them to be. I guess that’s what happens: a long string of good seasons means expectations go up for everyone.
Then Mississippi State decided that Zach Arnett isn’t the right guy going forward and he was dismissed from his head coaching position. That one game put huge dents in two coaching staffs. Impressive.
Back to the Aggies situation, they now will have to hire someone after the season is over. As fucking hilarious as it would be to promote Bobby Petrino, they will definitely go outside the school in their search. And remember: the Texas A&M job is still a big one. So most coaches would love to have it. Right now I would put Mike Norvell, Mike Elko and Dan Lanning as 1A, 1B and 1C to be hired. Don’t rule out a guy like Lance Leipold, though. He has done amazing things at Kansas and will get a lot of looks in the offseason.
OK let’s get to the Bossman Top 26 which will probably not resemble the College Football Playoff rankings whatsoever:
#1
Georgia (10-0)
#2
Michigan (10-0)
#3
Washington (10-0)
#4
Oregon (9-1)
#5
Alabama (9-1)
#6
Ohio State (10-0)
#7
Florida State (10-0)
#8
Texas (9-1)
#9
Louisville (9-1)
#10
Missouri (8-2)
#11
Oregon State (8-2)
#12
Ole Miss (8-2)
#13
LSU (7-3)
#14
Tulane (9-1)
#15
Penn State (8-2)
#16
Utah (7-3)
#17
Oklahoma (8-2)
#18
James Madison (10-0)
#19
Arizona (7-3)
#20
Notre Dame (7-3)
#21
Tennessee (7-3)
#22
Liberty (10-0)
#23
North Carolina (8-2)
#24
Oklahoma State (7-3)
#25
Iowa (8-2)
#26
Kansas State (7-3)
There are five undefeated Power Five teams at the top. There could end up being four going into conference championship weekend. Something’s gotta give but honestly, will it? Georgia, Washington, Florida State and the Michigan/Ohio State winner in two weeks have clear paths to the playoff. Run the table and you’re in, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. If one falters, that’s where the fun begins. Also, yes I have Tulane at #14 and I’m sure The Committee will have them at like #23 at best. I know it pained them to have Cincinnati so high a couple years back and they never wanted to replicate that again. And if they have their choice, they still won’t even with the expanded playoff starting next season.
Now we turn to bowl projections which actually have a bit of meat to them now that we are closing in on the end of the regular season. Unless we see chaos (which I always hope for), many of these projections can be backed up with relatively easy answers. Let’s go!
Sugar Bowl
CFP #1 vs. CFP #4
Michigan vs. Washington
Rose Bowl
CFP #2 vs. CFP #3
Florida State vs. Georgia
I believe Michigan ends up winning The Game and then the Big Ten Championship. Florida State and Washington I have running the table. Georgia, I think, will have a hiccup this week against Tennessee but still end up winning the SEC Championship to move back into the Top 4. Pretty easy, right? Let’s see if the New Year’s Six predictions make just as much sense.
Fiesta Bowl
CFP at-large vs. CFP at-large/G-5 #1
Oregon vs. Memphis
Orange Bowl
ACC Champ vs. Big Ten/Notre Dame/SEC
Louisville vs. Ohio State
Peach Bowl
CFP at-large vs. CFP at-large/G-5 #1
Alabama vs. Penn State
Cotton Bowl
CFP at-large vs. CFP at-large/G-5 #1
Texas vs. Ole Miss
I’m sure one thing really stands out here so let’s get to that first.
Yes, I have Memphis winning the American and the Group of Five spot in the NY6. How does the current fourth-place team rise to the top? It starts with Memphis beating SMU this coming Saturday. Then Tulane defeats UTSA on the final weekend and, due to tiebreakers, the Tigers get the spot opposite Tulane. Then they pull the upset and beat the Green Wave to move up high enough to get the spot. That shouldn’t be too hard with James Madison ineligible, Liberty’s stupidly easy schedule and The Committee’s MAC disrespect which kills Toledo’s chances.
As for the rest, they are pretty self-explanatory. Louisville ends up losing the ACC Championship but is the best representative from the conference and gets the Orange Bowl spot. The Orange Bowl selects Ohio State as the top team left from the Big Ten or SEC. Oregon, Alabama, Texas and Ole Miss are almost shoo-ins at this point. I do think Penn State sneaks back into the Top 10 and passes Missouri to garner the final spot. Whether they face a pissed off Alabama or a Bama that doesn’t care would remain to be seen.
So far, so good. Nothing crazy (other than Memphis). I’m sure there could be some debate but it would be minor (other than Memphis). Let’s look at the rest of the bowl picture:
Citrus Bowl
SEC vs. Big Ten
LSU vs. Iowa
ReliaQuest Bowl
SEC vs. Big Ten
Kentucky vs. Maryland
Arizona Bowl
MWC vs. MAC
Fresno State vs. Miami-OH
Music City Bowl
SEC vs. Big Ten
Texas A&M vs. Wisconsin
Liberty Bowl
SEC vs. Big XII
Missouri vs. Kansas State
Sun Bowl
ACC vs. Pac-12
Miami vs. Arizona
Gator Bowl
SEC vs. ACC
Auburn vs. North Carolina
Alamo Bowl
Big XII vs. Pac-12
Oklahoma vs. Utah
Pop Tarts Bowl
ACC vs. Big XII
Notre Dame vs. Kansas
Pinstripe Bowl
Big Ten vs. ACC
Rutgers vs. NC State
Fenway Bowl
2 of ACC/AAC/C-USA
Georgia Tech vs. Tulane
Texas Bowl
SEC vs. Big XII
Tennessee vs. Oklahoma State
Holiday Bowl
ACC vs. Pac-12
Boston College vs. Oregon State
Duke’s Mayo Bowl
SEC vs. ACC
UCF* vs. Clemson
Military Bowl
ACC vs. AAC
Duke vs. UTSA
Guaranteed Rate Bowl
2 of Big Ten/Big XII/MWC
Wyoming vs. Iowa State
First Responder Bowl
2 of ACC/Big XII/AAC/Sun Belt/C-USA
Syracuse vs. Texas Tech
Quick Lane Bowl
Big Ten vs. MAC
Illinois vs. Northern Illinois
Hawaii Bowl
AAC vs. MWC
Rice vs. Boise State
Las Vegas Bowl
Big Ten vs. Pac-12
Minnesota vs. USC
68 Ventures Bowl
2 of Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC
Georgia Southern vs. WKU
Idaho Potato Bowl
2 of MWC/MAC/Sun Belt
UNLV vs. Marshall
Armed Forces Bowl
Big XII vs. C-USA
BYU vs. Utah State*
Birmingham Bowl
2 of SEC/ACC/AAC/C-USA
Louisiana* vs. Jacksonville State**
Camellia Bowl
2 of Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC
South Alabama vs. Toledo
Gasparilla Bowl
2 of SEC/ACC/AAC/C-USA
James Madison** vs. Florida***
Boca Raton Bowl
2 of AAC/Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC
Appalachian State vs. Bowling Green
Frisco Bowl
2 of AAC/Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC
Arkansas State vs. North Texas***
Bahamas Bowl
MAC vs. C-USA
Ohio vs. New Mexico State
Independence Bowl
Big XII vs. AAC
West Virginia vs. SMU
LA Bowl
Pac-12 vs. MWC
UCLA vs. Air Force
New Mexico Bowl
2 of Group of Five
San Jose State vs. Texas State
Cure Bowl
2 of AAC/Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC
Coastal Carolina vs. Eastern Michigan
New Orleans Bowl
Sun Belt vs. C-USA
Troy vs. Liberty
Myrtle Beach Bowl
2 of AAC/Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC
Georgia State vs. Central Michigan
A few notes on this:
One asterisk (*) means there weren’t enough bowl-eligible teams to fill that bowl slot. Two asterisks (**) means that all bowl-eligible teams have been slotted in a bowl game and there are still spots remaining. Three asterisks (***) means a team that gets in due to APR. That final one I have no idea how it will be filled since I don’t have a great idea as to the smarter schools compared to the not-so-smart schools.
James Madison and Jacksonville State are almost guaranteed bowl games. JMU is pretty much a lock since I can’t see many scenarios where all the bowl games are filled with bowl-eligible teams.
Remember, Notre Dame gets an ACC spot as long as they have one more win than a team they would be replacing….which is pretty much every team left in the ACC to slot into a bowl game.
The other Independents are not going bowling so that doesn’t really matter.
We are WAY too early to see bowl bids being accepted. And with the Bahamas Bowl having to be played in Charlotte there are no issues with issuing passports that would make it so bowl bids would have to be accepted in November. For this reason, I see no bowl bids going out until the first of December at the earliest.
Tomorrow night we have more MACtion. I will try my best to put out the college football TV schedule post tomorrow as well. Rankings will have to be edited in since the CFP rankings aren’t being released until 9:00 tomorrow night. Enjoy the rest of your week everyone!
What’s the special bonus? It’s bowl projections! And not just any bowl projections. My annual Chaos Bowl Projections. This should be good. Or really stupid. Either way, let’s get going with the Bossman Top 26 after this past week’s games:
#1
Georgia (9-0)
#2
Washington (9-0)
#3
Michigan (9-0)
#4
Alabama (8-1)
#5
Ohio State (9-0)
#6
Florida State (9-0)
#7
Oregon (8-1)
#8
Texas (8-1)
#9
Ole Miss (8-1)
#10
Penn State (8-1)
#11
Louisville (8-1)
#12
Utah (7-2)
#13
Oklahoma State (7-2)
#14
Oregon State (7-2)
#15
Tennessee (7-2)
#16
Tulane (8-1)
#17
LSU (6-3)
#18
Missouri (7-2)
#19
James Madison (9-0)
#20
Oklahoma (7-2)
#21
Liberty (9-0)
#22
Notre Dame (7-3)
#23
Kansas (7-2)
#24
Arizona (6-3)
#25
USC (7-3)
#26
North Carolina (7-2)
Yes, I have Washington at #2. At this point, they may be the most complete team in college football but I do wonder if they could beat UGA on a neutral field. Those two teams are two of the five who, if they win out, are locks to be in the College Football Playoff. The other three are Florida State, Ohio State and Michigan. tOSU and Big Blue play each other so no way that those two could both be 12-0 at the end of the season. Can you imagine if they still had ties in college football? You think the debates are horrible at this point? They’d be a million times worse. At the Group of Five level, I already mentioned it but I will say it again: Tulane runs the table, they are in for the New Year’s Six spot. No questions asked they go to either the Peach or Cotton Bowl. If they lose, even in the conference championship, it brings a bunch of teams back in to the fray, including Air Force, Fresno State, Liberty, Troy, SMU, Memphis, Toledo and, yes, even UNLV. Remember, the Green Wave faces UTSA to finish off their regular season. The Roadrunners could do a bunch of teams a favour with a win. Finally, back to the CFP for a minute. If we don’t see four unbeatens at the end, then the arguments will pile up as to who gets the final spot. If Michigan or Ohio State are the only one of those five not to be undefeated, then the argument may be mostly clear to put the loser of The Game in the #4 spot. You would get a lot of pissed off Alabama and Texas fans but the argument would probably be sound. Besides, The Committee will almost always take a Big Ten or SEC team over any other conference. Just the way it is (and probably always will be).
Now we get to the fun part…kind of. OK not fun for some fans and very frustrating for some others because this is complete chaos. Like over the top insanity. Off the rails ridiculousness. This won’t happen, I can assure you. Now, some of it may happen though so it’s not like this is completely crazy (but it mostly is cocaine crazy). Alright let’s get going with this bonkers exercise.
Sugar Bowl
CFP #1 vs. CFP #4
Louisville vs. Kansas
Rose Bowl
CFP #2 vs. CFP #3
Oregon State vs. Tennessee
I’m sure that’s the look you are giving your screen right now. You’re thinking I have lost my fucking mind. I assure you I have not gone insane. Let me just give you an explanation as to how we have found ourselves at this point:
Florida State loses to both Miami and Florida. Only one of those games counts as a conference loss, obviously, so FSU is still in the ACC Championship game. Louisville ends up running the table in convincing fashion to become one of only two Power Five teams with only one loss (we will get to that later on in this post). The Cardinals somehow go into the title game as slight favourites and beat the Noles in a close one to capture the ACC title and the #1 ranking, putting them in the Sugar Bowl.
Oregon and Washington both end up losing to a resurgent Oregon State team as the Beavs (and Jonathan Smith especially) rebound from that absolutely awful playcall against Arizona which at the time looked like it cost them a lot. The Beavs also beat Stanford by about 50 and qualify for the Pac-12 Championship. The Huskies lose to Utah but the Ducks lose to USC and then USC loses to UCLA! The insanity means U-Dub still gets to the Pac-12 Championship but now it’s almost a pickem with the Beavers. Oregon State blows Washington out to get the #2 seed.
Alright now, the Big Ten. This is where it gets a bit iffy. Iowa runs the table, scoring approximately 12 points a game to easily win the Big Ten West. The East becomes a shitshow. Michigan loses to both Penn State and Ohio State. Good news for the Buckeyes, right? Wrong because they lose to both (get this) Michigan State and Maryland. Maybe Maserati Marv was injured. No problem. Penn State’s got this. Wrong again! They fall to mighty Rutgers! Ho boy. In the end, Ohio State is the highest ranked of all the (now) 2-loss East Division teams. Then they get beat in a defensive struggle by the Hawkeyes, 12-10.
But we still have the SEC. Yeah, let’s discuss that. Georgia loses to Ole Miss this coming weekend, then Tennessee the following weekend. They blast Georgia Tech out of the water but it doesn’t matter because Tennessee runs the table, including that win over the Dawgs. They demolish Vandy to win the East in ridiculous fashion. They face Alabama who loses the Iron Bowl, meaning their path to the CFP is now very rocky. The Vols beat Bama convincingly and move into the #3 spot. This might piss off Ole Miss. They also run the table and are the only other one-loss Power Five school. Problem is they lost to Alabama meaning they couldn’t play in the conference championship which would allow the winner of that game to leapfrog them, which they will. Question now is will Ole Miss get in at #4?
That brings us to the final Power Five conference, the Big XII. Texas shits the bed the rest of the way. Quinn Ewers’ absence catches up with them and they lose winnable games to TCU and Iowa State. This should allow Oklahoma or Oklahoma State to sneak into the top spot. Instead, it’s Kansas who wins out and gets in. They will face Oklahoma State who, despite a loss to BYU, gets in just ahead of West Virginia thanks to their victory over the Mountaineers earlier in the season. Kansas mops the floor with the Cowboys and The Committee rewards them with the #4 spot, ahead of the Ole Miss Rebels and a pissed off Lane Kiffin.
Of course the final year before the 12-team playoff has to have some controversy, no? I mean this is insane but wouldn’t it be fucking awesome if even half these results happened? We’d be talking about this season in the same vain as 2007. ESPN and FOX would have field days with this stuff.
So now that we have the CFP done and dusted, let’s see what the New Year’s Six now looks like.
Fiesta Bowl
CFP at-large vs. CFP at-large/G-5 #1
Utah vs. Iowa
Orange Bowl
ACC Champ vs Big Ten/Notre Dame/SEC
Florida State vs. Ole Miss
Peach Bowl
CFP at-large vs. CFP at-large/G-5 #1
Penn State vs. Alabama
Cotton Bowl
CFP at-large vs. CFP at-large/G-5 #1
Michigan vs. UTSA
Well this is some kind of messed up but almost feels way less messed up than the CFP. Here we go:
Already explained Ole Miss and their #5 spot. I could see a ton of debate and SECtards would definitely want two teams in the big dance no matter what (or more like think that the conference always deserves two teams in the top four) but I am sticking with this. The Rebels being dropped to #5 puts them in the Orange Bowl.
Utah is #6. They are the second best team to not go to a conference championship behind Ole Miss and their two losses will to the two Oregon teams so that will look pretty good. They slot into the Fiesta Bowl.
Penn State will be #7 after their shocking loss to Rutgers kills their Big Ten Championship hopes. They head to the Peach Bowl.
A bit more controversy would be Michigan being at #8. Sure their two losses will be to Penn State and Ohio State but I see them both being big losses, unlike Penn State losing a close one to Rutgers. Either way, the two losses would take them out of the Big Ten East title race and have them going to the Cotton Bowl.
Remember I told you Iowa won the Big Ten Championship? I could see many of you wanting to forget that. So yeah, they will now head to the Fiesta Bowl to face Utah. Interesting matchup.
The ACC has to send their next best team after Louisville ended up number one. In the end, Florida State is probably the only option and they should be high enough in the rankings to warrant the Orange Bowl spot opposite Ole Miss.
So who is the best Power Five team left? It’s down to, get this, Alabama and Ohio State. The Committee will be damned if they do, damned if they don’t. I think they go with the Tide in the end but the debates, oh the debates.
Finally, the Group of Five spot. Liberty fans will scream about being the only undefeated team in FBS and I can understand that. Their schedule, however, was so ridiculously easy compared to pretty much every other team in FBS. I think they do end up in the Top 25 but so does UNLV and UTSA who both win their respective conference championships. I give the nod to the Roadrunners to head to the Cotton Bowl to face Michigan.
Good God that was ridiculous. Why do I do it each year? To see how far I can push the system. And I have determined it can only be pushed so far. Next year, if I do this, I will have to adjust how it’s done for the new playoff. The times they are a-changin’. Enjoy the rest of your week everyone!
Yep. It’s that time again. It’s the eighth (EIGHTH?) edition of looking at the undefeated teams left in college football around the halfway mark of the season. Fun stuff, right? One day I should go back and see how accurate I was with these predictions. Though to be honest, I think I would be scared to do so since my predictions have been so great, right (see Tigers, Clemson). Anyway, let’s get going with this!
#1 Georgia (6-0) – The Dawgs have, at times, looked a bit shaky. Tough wins over South Carolina and Auburn made it seem like this team may struggle at some point. Then they demolish Kentucky and it feels like all is normal again. I still think there is a loss in there but they will, once again, walk to another SEC East title and a berth in the SEC Championship. Predicted record: 11-1.
#2 Michigan (6-0) – Now here is a team that has not struggled. At all. In any sense. The Wolverines are just that good. I do, however, think they will lose a game this season (I have it being a loss to Penn State although it could just as easily be Ohio State). They will still make the Big Ten Championship and throttle whichever sad sack team comes out of the Big Ten West and head to the College Football Playoff. Predicted record: 11-1.
#3 Ohio State (5-0) – Speaking of tOSU, I figure they will also lose one game. I have them losing The Game to Michigan which would knock them out of a shot at the Big Ten Championship (in what could be the most scrutinized tiebreaker ever). The Buckeyes, though, have to quit with the slow starts or otherwise some other team is going to surprise them and it will be lights out for their national championship hopes. Predicted record: 11-1.
#4 Florida State (5-0) – They may end up dropping even more if they can’t show how dominant they really are. Then again, they may not have to since I honestly believe they will be the only undefeated team at the end of the regular season (can you smell those 2007 vibes?). Predicted record: 12-0.
#5 Oklahoma (6-0) – Quite a few people are suprised Oklahoma is doing this well. I figured that they would lose against Texas but would only have that one loss against them at this point. Look, Dillon Gabriel wasn’t going to be as bad as he was last season and the defense was definitely going to be better under Captain Defense himself, Brent Venables. Will they go the rest of the way unscathed. Eh…. Predicted record: 10-2.
#6 Penn State (5-0) – PSU really doesn’t seem to have any weaknesses. They could go on a serious run, the likes which haven’t been seen in State College in quite a long time. It is Penn State, though. They are bound to lose one and I think they will to Ohio State (which would make for a fun three-way tie at 11-1). Predicted record: 11-1.
#7 Washington (5-0) – The Pac-12 is up for grabs. The worry is that the conference will cannibalize itself. I agree with that notion. Predicted record: 9-3.
#8 Oregon (5-0) – If you take out the weird Texas Tech game, the Ducks have looked awesome. They would seem to be on a fast track to the Pac-12 Championship if USC, Washington, UCLA, Oregon State and Washington State weren’t in their conference. If one Pac-12 team gets out with only one loss, I wonder if The Committee gives them a bit of a bump because of how difficult the road to get there would have been. Predicted record: 10-2.
#10 USC(6-0) – Now we get to the Trojans, the preseason Pac-12 favourites. Man, have they had a roller coaster season so far. Three close games in a row now for this team. And their defense is atrocious. If Lincoln Riley wants to stick with Alex Grinch as his defensive coordinator then so be it. It will most likely cost USC a trip to the CFP (if not also the New Year’s Six). Predicted record: 10-2.
#12 North Carolina (5-0) – Maybe this will finally be the Heels’ year. They are flying under the radar and playing really good football if you take away the game against Appalachian State where they survived in double overtime. Will they struggle with their ACC schedule? Looking at it, they probably should be 9-0 going into the Victory Bell game against Duke. Then all bets are off. Predicted record: 11-1.
#14 Louisville (6-0) – This is arguably the biggest surprise on this list. Not saying no one thought Louisville wouldn’t be good. Just not this good. I had them 4-2 at this point which is pretty good but not undefeated. I would say they now have the meat of their conference schedule remaining but realistically, if they can beat Duke, they could conceivably be 11-0 and playing Kentucky for the Governor’s Cup in late November. Sounds crazy but you never know. Predicted record: 10-2.
Air Force (5-0) – They have ascended to the top of the Group of Five pecking order…for now. They have Wyoming this weekend in what could be the biggest game of the season. Other than that, it could end up being a showdown with Boise State to end the regular season which will tell us whether the Falcons will have their first shot at the New Year’s Six or not. Predicted record: 10-2.
Liberty (5-0) – The Flames are playing….pretty good. Holding on to beat Sam Houston isn’t a good look though. They also might have the easiest schedule remaining of any team in FBS. So even if they ran the table it would probably mean nothing unless utter chaos happened. Predicted record: 10-2.
James Madison (5-0) – Now here’s a frustrating one. JMU is undefeated. Would be bowl-eligible except for the NCAA’s ridiculous rule that teams moving up from FCS must serve a two-year transition. The thing is, that is to keep teams from not having full FBS schedules from becoming bowl-eligible. The Dukes weren’t even like that last year in their first year in FBS. Hopefully someone comes to their senses and gives this team a shot at a bowl game, if not the Sun Belt Championship. Predicted record: 10-2.
14 teams left unscathed. We are in mid-October. I wouldn’t be surprised if we headed into November with only 5 or 6 undefeated teams. At least we know for sure that by early Sunday morning there will only be a maximum of 13 undefeated teams with Washington and Oregon meeting in a mega-matchup.
Tomorrow…yes, TOMORROW…is the start of the college football week. Conference USA continues their October Weekday Warrior schedule with two games. The Fun Belt adds to the mix with a game of their own. Wednesday then has two more C-USA games. Football every day folks. Gotta love it! Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving Day!
Hey remember last year when I dumped all that stuff I mentioned above into one post? Guess what I’m doing again.
Look, you could say that it would take the same amount of time to put all this in separate posts. And you’d be wrong. These tags don’t just create themselves. Although if there is a way to do tags automatically I would feel like a big fucking moron. Oh well, I’m just going to keep on living thinking I have to type in all the pertinent tags to this post. Ignorance is bliss!
Let’s start with some postseason predictions. You read the two posts where I predicted the standings for all the conferences (and those four mangy Independents). At least I hope you did. If not, you might want to so it can prepare you for this because, ho boy, this could cause some people to think twice about my mental capacity. We begin with the top of the mountain, the College Football Playoff. Here is what I think the semi-finals will look like along with the rankings of the teams involved:
January 1st
Sugar Bowl
#1 Georgia
#4 Florida State
January 1st
Rose Bowl
#2 Michigan
#3 Alabama
Am I close to the experts’ picks? I don’t really know. I think Georgia is the easiest call here but the road to get there isn’t easy. Their regular season loss to Tennessee means they had to beat Alabama in the SEC Championship to be in the Top 4. I believe they do. I also believe Bama, being #1 going into conference championship weekend, wouldn’t fall four spots on a single loss to one of the best teams in the nation. So they stay in at #3 which I am sure will cause a ton of people to become irrational and use Twitter as a ridiculous sounding board and causing people to not want to talk about college football. Sorry…use X as a ridiculous sounding board and cause people to not want to talk about college football on social media. X. What a dumb fucking name. Anyway, Michigan should get in with a in in the Big Ten Championship, even if it is over a Minnesota team that would be near the bottom of the Top 25 going in. Finally, remember what I said about the Tide? Triple that hatred for this one. Florida State, I predict, will beat Clemson for the ACC title. The Tigers would come in to the game at #2 and FSU would be #5. I have the Noles moving up a spot and the Tigers being that one-loss team that loses out in this bunch. The amount of venom spewed by college football media and fans about this, rightly or wrongly, would be way over the top. I think it would be the first time (and would be the only time) that a team goes into conference championship weekend undefeated, loses, and tumbles out of the College Football Playoff when the smoke clears. And because of that, I hope this, or something like this happens because we need a ton of chaos for the final four-team CFP ever.
Now we go to the next tier down: the New Year’s Six. The final New Year’s Six. I would shed a tear but it feels like it’s hardly been around long enough:
January 1st
Fiesta Bowl
#9 USC
#11 Ohio State
December 30th
Orange Bowl
#5 Clemson
#7 Tennessee
December 30th
Peach Bowl
#8 Penn State
#10 Notre Dame
December 29th
Cotton Bowl
#6 Texas
#14 UTSA
Do the games look interesting? Absolutely. Could there be some debate as to who is here, who isn’t and where everyone should go (and how they get there)? Absolutely. Am I backing down from these predictions? Absolutely not. I mean if this was the 12-team playoff, I am sure people would debate that as well but you can’t tell me none of these teams would be worthy of being there. That’s crazy. “Durr, Texas doesn’t deserve to be there. They won’t even be bowl-eligible.” Yeah go fuck yourself if you think that. That’s just plain dumb.
Alright, enough anger, more analysis. Let’s start with Clemson since that’s the easiest one to explain. They were #2 and undefeated, lost to Florida State in the ACC Championship, so they get the Orange Bowl spot reserved for the top ACC team remaining. Simple. The Pac-12, in their final unglorious season, will again beat each other up making it impossible for one team to come out unscathed. So the ninth-ranked Trojans will head to the Fiesta Bowl after winning the Pac-12 title. Ohio State slots in as their opponent although it could easily be Penn State. The reasoning here is that tOSU already plays Notre Dame during the season and it makes more sense for USC to play in Phoenix than Penn State for bowl season. Those Longhorns I mentioned? They go off into the sunset, leaving the Big XII as conference champions. It puts them in the Cotton Bowl against the best Group of Five team. I think Tulane almost runs the table during the regular season and gets a pretty healthy lead in the rankings over the next best teams, UTSA and Boise State. The Roadrunners’ win in the AAC Championship would trump anything the Broncos do and, should be enough to leapfrog the Green Wave to sneak into the final NY6 spot. Let’s be honest here: Texas-UTSA at AT&T Stadium for the Cotton Bowl is an instant sellout, no doubt about it.
Now for the rest of the bowl extravaganza:
January 1st
Citrus Bowl
#12 LSU
Minnesota
January 1st
ReliaQuest Bowl
#20 South Carolina
Michigan State
December 30th
Arizona Bowl
San Diego State
Toledo
December 30th
Music City Bowl
Ole Miss
#17 Iowa
December 29th
Liberty Bowl
Texas A&M
#16 TCU
December 29th
Sun Bowl
Duke
#24 Utah
December 29th
Gator Bowl
Kentucky
#21 North Carolina
December 28th
Alamo Bowl
#19 Kansas State
#18 Oregon
December 28th
Pop Tarts Bowl
Pittsburgh
Oklahoma
December 28th
Pinstripe Bowl
Maryland
Louisville
December 28th
Fenway Bowl
Syracuse
FAU
December 27th
Texas Bowl
Arkansas
Baylor
December 27th
Holiday Bowl
Miami
#13 Oregon State
December 27th
Duke’s Mayo Bowl
Wake Forest
Auburn
December 27th
Military Bowl
NC State
#15 Tulane
December 26th
Guaranteed Rate Bowl
San Jose State
Oklahoma State
December 26th
First Responder Bowl
UCF
East Carolina
December 26th
Quick Lane Bowl
Illinois
Ohio
December 23rd
Hawaii Bowl
SMU
Fresno State
December 23rd
Las Vegas Bowl
#23 Wisconsin
Washington State
December 23rd
68 Ventures Bowl
South Alabama
Middle Tennessee
December 23rd
Idaho Potato Bowl
Air Force
Miami-OH
December 23rd
Armed Forces Bowl
Kansas
UTEP
December 23rd
Birmingham Bowl
Mississippi State
North Texas
December 23rd
Camellia Bowl
Appalachian State
New Mexico State
December 22nd
Gasparilla Bowl
UCLA
James Madison
December 21st
Boca Raton Bowl
Coastal Carolina
UConn
December 19th
Frisco Bowl
Marshall
Navy
December 18th
Myrtle Beach Bowl
Southern Miss
Buffalo
December 16th
Independence Bowl
Texas Tech
Memphis
December 16th
LA Bowl
#22 Washington
#25 Boise State
December 16th
New Mexico Bowl
Wyoming
Louisiana
December 16th
Cure Bowl
Army
Georgia Southern
December 16th
New Orleans Bowl
Troy
WKU
December 16th
Bahamas Bowl
Eastern Michigan
Liberty
That is a lot of bowl games. I am not complaining. I am fully embracing the Sickos mentality of all football is good football. Even arena football if you can believe it! And why am I not complaining? Because I am desperate for the season to start. Talk to me in mid-December and I may have a slightly different answer. Some notes on these bowl games:
The teams that juuuuuuust missed out on the New Year’s Six train to nowhere include LSU, Oregon State, Tulane and TCU.
Quite a few teams would be playing close to home, including Mississippi State travelling to relatively close by Birmingham, Air Force with a not-so-long drive north into Idaho, South Alabama playing exactly 0 kilometres from their home stadium in the renamed 68 Ventures Bowl, Ohio venturing into hostile territory to play in the Quick Lane Bowl and Wake Forest making their way to hopefully get their coach dumped with mayo in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl.
Hey remember what I said two posts ago about James Madison and a surprise for their fans? I know that was a lot of reading ago. Look, there won’t be enough teams to satisfy all the bowl slots. I have a feeling that will be a trend going forward. And because of that, the Dukes will have the opportunity to go to a bowl if they are invited before the team with the best APR score. And I’m sure at least one bowl would do that since JMU should be good once again this season. Man, do I ever hate the transition rule. I get the first year coming up that you shouldn’t qualify for anything. Get your feet wet. Sure. Longer than that is just the NCAA being insufferable dicks and not updating policies that are over 50 years old.
As for those 5-7 teams making bowls they would be Georgia Southern, Buffalo, and Navy (which would kill my scenario for the Army-Navy Game).
I guess I should mention who I think will win the whole thing. Well, I’ve got Georgia beating Florida State and Michigan beating Bama in the semis and then the Wolverines ending the three-peat talk by beating the Dawgs in Houston for the title. Then Khaki Jim can ride off into the sunset…that sunset being back to the NFL.
Well look who is back in the FBS. Rich God Damn Rodriguez! He is at the helm of one of FBS’s newest teams, the Jacksonville State Gamecocks. I’m sure it won’t be an amazing season for the team but man, who thought he would be back at the top level of college football? Probably a few although I wondered if he was basically done being a head coach at this level. Shows what I know.
Hey, hey it’s HOT SEAT TIME! Last year my top two were jettisoned and Herm got an all-timer of an on-field shitcanning. I am still surprised some made it to this season (I am looking at you Mike Bloomgren) but all in all this list is a list I am actually proud of since I actually do well at it, as morbid as that sounds.
Alright let’s get to the list. Going with the new categorizations as well this time around. Let’s go!
Almost Guaranteed Shitcanning
Neal Brown (West Virginia) – He was #3 on my list last season and I honestly don’t know how he is still employed in Morgantown. And it’s not like things are looking super rosy there. Needed to keep his job – Honestly? A fucking miracle. Prediction – A mid-to-late-season shitcanning and no job next year as he starts quite a few rungs down the ladder in 2025.
Danny Gonzales (New Mexico) – Now let’s head to the southwest and a place that is very difficult to win at. Other than Rocky Long I don’t think anyone has really done anything of note in Albuquerque. The problem becomes how long do you give a coach a chance to win at a place where victories are at a premium? Honestly, Gonzales would be lower down the list if it wasn’t for what Jerry Kill did down the road in Las Cruces last year. Needed to keep his job – Vying for a bowl spot in the final two weeks of the regular season. Prediction – Near the bottom of the Mountain West pecking order yet again and maybe even a late-season firing.
Dana Holgorsen (Houston) – Look, Drunk Uncle Dana is entertaining. But the shtick gets old. And if they are as mediocre as I believe they will be in their first year in the Big XII, it’ll be lights out for Holgorsen. Needed to keep his job – Bowl eligibility, period. Prediction – I don’t think they will even have a shot at a bowl game in the final week of the season meaning Dana’s fate will be pretty much sealed by that point.
Eliah Drinkwitz (Missouri) – I don’t like harping on a guy’s looks but this guy looks more like Milton from Office Space than a college football head coach. Which is perfectly fine…if you win. This guy has hovered around .500 since coming to CoMo and I think a year under .500 would be the final straw. Needed to keep his job – At least a .500 record if not an upset or two inside the SEC. Prediction – I see him falling one game short of his goal and the athletic department feeling like they have to make a move now rather than wait.
Mike Neu (Ball State) – Neu has had his moments at Ball State but really hasn’t rose above an also-ran in the MAC. The Cardinals seem to consistently sit near the bottom of the MAC West which gives plenty of reason for a coach to get jettisoned. Needed to keep his job – Bowl eligibility. That’s it, that’s all. Prediction – I can’t see them winning more than four games this season so expect him to be the most likely MAC head coach to be fired first.
Probable Shitcanning
Ricky Rahne (Old Dominion) – Rahne really has not been able to recreate some of the magic that his predecessor, Bobby Wilder, had. I’m not saying the Monarchs were great under Wilder: but they were fun to watch and competed hard. Haven’t seen as much of that under Double R. Needed to keep his job – Be competitive and play some meaningful November football. Prediction – Quite possibly the worst Group of Five team and a tough decision to be made by the athletic director.
Tom Allen (Indiana) – Where are the 2020 Indiana Hoosiers? We can finally say that that version of the team was a complete aberration which sucks for their fans. Allen really is on borrowed time but there is the slight possibility he is kept on when the brand-new Big Ten starts next season without divisions. A SLIGHT possibility. Needed to keep his job – 4 or even 5 wins and looking more competitive against some better Big Ten teams. Prediction – 3 wins and a quiet exit (for Tom).
Mike Bloomgren (Rice) – The bloom comes off the rose yadda, yadda, yadda. One of these years I am going to be right about this guy. Not that I want to be: I am just genuinely befuddled as to why this guy is still the head coach at Rice. Needed to keep his job – Not looking like a punching bag moving up to the American Conference. Prediction – Four wins which isn’t bad but some bad losses inside the conference and finally his removal from the sidelines.
Possible Shitcanning
Billy Napier (Florida) – Napier suffers from the fact that even if the previous few coaches have ended up as disasters they had their successes as well. He hasn’t done anything and the Gators were barely bowl-eligible with a supposed franchise quarterback under centre. Now it’s a step back. It comes down to how far of a step back he will be allowed. Needed to keep his job – Bowl eligibility should do the trick. Prediction – I have them missing out on the postseason so there should be plenty of angry fans in Gainesville.
Brent Pry (Virginia Tech) – Poor Brent. Last season wasn’t too bad when he took over the Hokies. This season on the other hand…I don’t see good things in Blacksburg. Maybe I’ll be wrong (and lord knows I have been wrong in the past) but if it’s as tough a season as I think it will be for VaTech, Pry might be fine with being done as head coach. Needed to keep his job – Some improvement over last year. Prediction – I have the Hokies winning only one game this season. One. That is not improvement. At all.
Greg Schiano (Rutgers) – I don’t know where Rutgers goes from here. They’ve had a tough slog since joining the Big Ten. They are the butt of pretty much every realignment joke and meme. And I’m not sure firing Schiano, their best coach ever, will fix anything. But at some point, changes have to be made to at least try and improve. Needed to keep his job – At least 4 wins but more to be competitive inside the Big Ten. Prediction – 4 wins but the competitiveness part…yeah I don’t know about that.
Terry Bowden (ULM) – Same spot for Terry as last year. I honestly don’t know the end game for all of this. I can’t see him coaching the Warhawks into being a top notch Sun Belt team. Is he grooming the next head coach? It’s very confusing. That’s why I put him here and not higher up the list. Needed to keep his job – Have a better record than last year and put a scare into a few of the better Sun Belt teams. Prediction – Last year I predicted one win for them. This year it’s two. Something has to give at some point.
Shawn Elliott (Georgia State) – Look, it’s not like Georgia State is a destination coaching spot. Saying that, the Sun Belt has become a lot tougher over the past half-a-decade. So if you’re not moving forward, you’re falling further behind. And this is what it feels like with Georgia State. They aren’t getting worst but they aren’t improving and quite a few teams are leaving them in their dust. Needed to keep his job – Competitive football in November and possibility for bowl eligibility during the final week. Prediction – I have them at 4 wins this season so this could be an interesting off-season decision in Atlanta.
Scot Loeffler (Bowling Green) – This is Scott (with one T)’s fifth season at Bowling Green. I don’t know why that surprises me but it does. The Falcons really haven’t done anything other than sneak into one bowl game in his tenure. It is, however, Bowling Green so the expeectations are a lot lower here. At some point, though, thre has to be some semblance of results and this guy just isn’t delivering. Needed to keep his job – Bowl eligibility and looking like a contender in the MAC East. Prediction – No bowl game and they won’t look like a contender. Saying that, he may still be around for 2024 but on a very short leash.
Jeff Hafley (Boston College) – It has been a struggle on the Hill for Hafley and with no divisions there’s nowhere really to hide now in the ACC. The lack of success over the past decade-plus could be what keeps Hafley on for 2024. Needed to keep his job – 5 wins and having a shot at a bowl on the final weekend. Prediction – 5 wins and they will have two shots to claim bowl eligibilty and will fail at both but it will be enough for another year with Hafley.
Doubtful Shitcanning (although it still could happen)
Justin Wilcox (California) – Wilcox might not have to worry if Cal just shuts down the entire program. I’m only half-joking with that sentence. I think the athletic department has much bigger things to worry about right now. Meaning if Wilcox is fired it might be done by text. Needed to keep his job – Possible bowl contention. Prediction – They aren’t going to a bowl game and it looks like, for now, they have to be thinking about filling a schedule for 2024 more than dealing with their below-average head coach.
Mel Tucker (Michigan State) – Tucks signed for a lot of money to coach in East Lansing so last year better be an aberration. Let’s be honest: even with being in arguably the toughest division in college football, the Spartans will be much improved this season. Shouldn’t be much of a worry here unless they come out of the gate VERY slowly. Needed to keep his job – Probably 7 wins. Prediction – He will get them to 7 and maybe, just maybe, they will put a scare into one of the top three teams in the division.
Dana Dimel (UTEP) – Dimel must have been thanking his lucky stars once he saw the exodus from Conference USA. Having a few newcomers join makes things a bit easier for the Miners this year and gives Dimel one more year, almost certainly, on the job. Next season? Who knows. Needed to keep his job – Fighting for bowl eligibility during the final weekend. Prediction – They should be bowl eligible in early November so the pressure will be off…for now.
Thomas Hammock (Northern Illinois) – It feels like every other year at NIU things look good. And then every other year things look bad. And so forth. So it should be good this year in Dekalb, no?. Needed to keep his job – Look like a contender in the MAC West. Prediction – I have them at five wins so maybe they will shock me?
Don Brown (UMass) – Probably the toughest job for a head coach in FBS is being the head man at UMass. I have said for years now that the Minutemen should just drop to the FCS. I still think they should but I do understand the financial ramifications. Still, at some point don’t you think the fans yearn for something more than a couple of wins a season at most? Needed to keep his job – Win a game. Any game. Prediction – I think they win one game and I’m not guaranteeing it will be against their one FCS opponent. Brown should be fine going into 2024.
I think I say this ever year but I have to go back one day and really determine how good I am at this coaching hot seat list. I feel I do well and I hope the numbers would back me up. But I am used to disappointment so I am not holding my breath.
There’s a reason I don’t get a Heisman ballot. I am sure if even if I was the most prominent college football journalist in the land they would say “Sorry, Bossman, no can do.” Probably because my ballots have been mostly garbage in the past. Let’s see if I can somehow do better this year. Let’s just get to my ballot before I regret even posting this.
Bossman’s Heisman Ballot of Mediocrity
Jordan Travis, Florida State – I know everyone and their mother is picking Caleb Williams to win the Heisman. I can’t see that happening because voters almost seem to want to avoid giving any player not named Archie Griffin back-to-back Heismans and most of the time it goes to a player on a team that’s in the Top 4 (or close to it). Travis is predicted to at least go to New York for the ceremony so it’s not like I am way off here. Plus, I think his passing stats will explode as FSU hits the CFP for the first time in what feels like forever.
Caleb Williams, USC – Because I don’t have the Trojans winning the title this season or getting to the College Football Playoff is one of the main reasons I think Williams doesn’t win his second Heisman. He should be close to his passing stats from last season and at least he will make the voters think twice all year as he will never be far from the top of the Heisman hopefuls list.
Drake Maye, North Carolina – Maye is only a sophomore this season so he may be prepping for his true Heisman run in 2024. He will turn a lot of heads this season, though, with UNC battling FSU and Clemson at the top of the ACC.
Bo Nix, Oregon – Bo’s move from the SEC to the Pac-12 was huge and reinvigorated his fledgling career. Much of the Ducks’ hopes this year to win the Pac-12 in their swan song season rests on his shoulders and it is going to be a dogfight at the top. One huge game from Bo in a big conference game could put Oregon in the national title picture.
Marvin Harrison Jr., Ohio State – As long as the Buckeyes can figure out who is going to be flinging the ball over the field at quarterback, Harrison should have a monster season. There is an outside chance that he will be the #1 pick in the NFL Draft so I am sure he will be going all-out all season. As long as Ryan Day doesn’t decide to run the ball a lot more this season, Harrison is tOSU’s ticket to New York.
Michael Penix Jr., Washington – I believe that, as is the case lately, that the Pac-12 teams will beat each other up and no one will be high enough in the rankings to be in the CFP. For some players it’s not a huge issue (see: Williams, Caleb last year). For some, it’s the main reason they either don’t win the Heisman or don’t get invited to New York at all. I see Penix being one of those guys. Washington will be very good but not quite good enough and stuck in a group of six teams that are all pretty damn good this year. Playing out west doesn’t help either, despite what some may say.
J.J. McCarthy, Michigan – Here is the guy under center (centre?) who will finally push Michigan over the top this year. He won’t throw for a shit-ton of yards but it will be enough (along with this ground game) to put him in the Heisman conversation for a bit at least. A win over tOSU alone may give him the New York invite (if it was up to Michigan fans).
Quinn Ewers, Texas – Texas is probably a huge dark horse pick to win it all this year and Ewers has to be considered a bit of a dark horse Heisman cadidate. The only thing that could make this not the case is if he has a bad quarter or two and Sark gets an itchy trigger finger and puts Arch Manning in for longer than a few series.
Cade Klubnik, Clemson – The Fighting Dabos are going to be back on top…at least through the regular season. I don’t think many will be surprised with this. I’m not fully sold on Klubnik but he is an improvement on D.J. Uiagalelei and the Tigers defense will be able to pick up the slack when he struggles a bit. But those struggles will cost him a seat at the Heisman table I’m sure.
Jayden Daniels, LSU – Hey, have you ever remembred a time where the quality of the quarterbacks in the SEC has been this low? Not saying Daniels isn’t good because he is. But there are a few teams, Alabama and Georgia most notably, that have potential QB issues this season in the SEC and a few other teams that have returning quarterbacks that are honestly just above-average at best. Daniels may get some Heisman talk just because he may end up being that much better than any other QB in the conference.
Honourable Mention
Blake Corum, Michigan
Sam Hartman, Notre Dame
Joe Milton III, Tennessee
Braelon Allen, Wisconsin
Kyle McCord, Ohio State
Drew Allar, Penn State
Harold Perkins, LSU
Brock Bowers, Georgia
J.T. Tuimoloau, Ohio State
There you go. If one of those nineteen aforementioned players wins the Heisman, I will feel…well, good is not quite correct. Satisfied? Sure, let’s go with that.
The college football predictions…..they are complete! In a little less than half a year from now, I will find out how poorly I did. Gee, I can’t wait.
At some point soon I will do my lovely NFL predictions which are sure to also be not fully correct. Then…….Week…..Fucking…….ZERO!!!!!! I will have the schedule up at least a few days before the games commence. And yes, if you are looking for games on the specialty pack, don’t. Week Zero has almost never shown Week Zero games. Almost. Kind of a crapshoot with these idiotic Canadian cable companies. Enjoy your week everyone!
It felt like things were calm. We were all lulled into this. It was just the eye of the storm. Sure the wind wasn’t moving but about 200 metres away, a cow just went flying headlong into a barn.
What am I talking about? Realignment, of course! Another shoe has dropped…OK let me use a different analogy. Sorry Deion. We have another big move as Colorado will be going back to the Big XII starting next season. And that probably won’t be all. The rumours have at least one of Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, Oregon or Washington following the Buffaloes. Or, if no other schools leave the Pac-12, the Big XII is more than willing to dip into the American Conference (hello SMU, Memphis, Tulane) or even way out east…yes, UConn! And maybe once the Pac-12 (or more like Pac-9) gets their act together, they can start bringing in teams from the Group of Five. The same teams from the American would be in play, especially SMU. Also, the Mountain West would be watching closely as San Diego State, Boise State and perhaps Colorado State and UNLV could be looked at. There will be a lot of meetings in the next month or so to determine where this all leads.
For now let’s focus on what this post was supposed to be (and still will be). It’s time for the Power Five conference predictions. This will give a better indication on how I think things will go during this season. So let’s dive right in!
Changes are coming soon for the Ess Ee Cee. Texas and Oklahoma join the conference next season. Also, no more SEC on CBS after this year. Everything moves to ABC and ESPN. And finally, no divisions. Halle-fucking-lujah.
As for this year, all the talk is about Georgia and doing something no team has done (fully) in the AP Poll era: win three national championships in a row. It’s not like they will fall apart, despite the fact they lost their starting quarterback and a bunch of other players in the NFL Draft. Then again, I’m sure Kirby Smart has looked them all dead in the eye and told them “Everyone thinks you are going to go 5-7 and lose to Vanderbilt. Prove them wrong!” And they will believe it because college football head coaches are just a notch-and-a-half below cult leaders in the pecking order of how much they can make their “followers” drink their Kool-Aid.
Remember, though, there are other teams in the conference as well. Like those lovable underdogs from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and the team that just reeks of success (in the classroom and on the baseball diamond), Vanderbilt. And eleven other teams. Want to find out how I think they will do? OK. I will do that. Just for you.
Â
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Conference
Overall
Â
East
W
L
W
L
Georgia
7
1
11
1
Tennessee
6
2
10
2
South Carolina
5
3
8
4
Kentucky
3
5
6
6
Missouri
2
6
5
7
Florida
2
6
5
7
Vanderbilt
1
7
4
8
Â
West
Â
Â
Â
Â
Alabama
8
0
12
0
LSU
6
2
9
3
Ole Miss
4
4
8
4
Texas A&M
4
4
8
4
Arkansas
3
5
7
5
Auburn
3
5
7
5
Mississippi State
2
6
6
6
Just For You
You might think I am crazy for having UGA not run the table. I do think they will lose a regular season game and it will be to those upstart Tennessee Volunteers. It won’t keep them from winning the division though as you can see I have those same Vols losing two conference games during the regular season.
As for the SEC West, though, Bama will once again rule the roost….as long as they figure out their quarterback situation. I am thinking they will and will go undefeated and be #1 in the nation going into conference championship weekend. If they don’t get their QB situation settled…well, maybe they lose two games? Three? It’s not like they will fall to 6-6.
I could see South Carolina or last year’s SEC West champs, LSU, making a bit of a run this time around. They have the top two quarterbacks in the SEC and could each put up piles of points. Watch for the Cocks’ game against Georgia early on in the season and LSU’s post-Halloween trip to Bryant-Denny to face the Tide. Upsets in either of those games will seriously upset the apple cart.
Look, the Gators were barely .500 with who I think may be one of the most overhyped quarterbacks in recent memory. I don’t think Anthony Richardson was that great. And now they don’t even have him. Unless every other part of the roster improved (it didn’t), how do people expect this team to bounce back and all of a sudden become an eight or nine win team? Spoiler alert: they won’t.
I have Mississippi State at 6-6. They will do just enough to get a bowl game. I wonder how tough it will be after the loss of Mike Leach but I can see them straightening things out just in time late in the season.
As for the SEC Championship, SURPRISE! I have the Dawgs beating the Tide and creating a massive clusterfuck in the final College Football Playoff rankings. Fun times!
Eleven bowl teams from the SEC with two juuuuuust on the outside. That’s insane and I don’t think I will be that far off with this prediction. Next year could be even crazier with Texas and Oklahoma joining the conference that just means more.
Man have things really changed in terms of where you will see Big Ten games this season. Gone are ABC and ESPN. In is NBC and CBS. This is gonna feel weird the first time I see it. And maybe the next few times as well. I will get used to it at some point. Now if you want the opportunity to watch every Big Ten game, better find a way to get FOX Sports One and Peacock otherwise you will be shit out of luck to watch potential bangers like Northwestern-Purdue and Indiana-Rutgers (if they end up there and not the Big Ten Network).
Alright, let’s get into the final conference predictions before the B1G gives a big Fuck You to geography and brings in USC and UCLA.
Â
Â
Conference
Overall
Â
East
W
L
W
L
Michigan
8
1
11
1
Penn State
8
1
11
1
Ohio State
8
1
10
2
Michigan State
5
4
7
5
Maryland
5
4
8
4
Indiana
1
8
3
9
Rutgers
1
8
4
8
Â
West
Â
Â
Â
Â
Minnesota
6
3
8
4
Wisconsin
6
3
9
3
Iowa
6
3
9
3
Illinois
5
4
7
5
Nebraska
2
7
5
7
Purdue
2
7
5
7
Northwestern
0
9
2
10
Geogpraphy, Go Eat a Dick
Look, I know some might look at the Big Ten East standings and think I am a bit crazy. I am not. Although that is what a crazy person would tell you. Yep, a three-way tie at the top at 8-1 between Big Blue, tOSU and PSU. Because each team will be 1-1 against the other two, the CFP Rankings will decide the winner. I believe the Wolverines will somehow win that. And yes, I think Ohio State also loses to Notre Dame. O-H! I-No.
If Sparty doesn’t make it to a bowl game, they may end up giving Mel Tucker the Herm Edwards treatment and fire him before he can leave the playing surface one game. I get they have a tough division but they should be able to do well enough against the rest of their schedule to get back in the postseason after last year’s debacle.
No, I don’t have Wisconsin winning the West division. Meaning I am different than almost every expert out there. Also, there’s the fact I’m not an expert but I digress. Again I have a damn three-way tie but no need to look at the rankings for this one as I believe the Gophers will Row the Fucking Boat all the way to Indianapolis after beating both Wisky and the high-octane Iowa Hawkeyes. See what I did there? Yeah, I don’t care that the Hawkeyes have a new quarterback in town. Until Kirk tells his son to do better, Iowa will be pushing for some 7-6 victories. Sorry. 8-6. Two field goals and a late safety to win.
Nebraska will be better but I think the Huskers are a season away from getting back to the top of the West…just in time for the West to just not exist anymore.
As for Northwestern…man. What a shitshow. Look, I played a lot of sports earlier in my life and did so at the university level. Are there fun little pranks and stupid things the rookies have to do? Sometimes. But it’s usually harmless. Carrying bags, standing up during a team dinner to get embarrassed by singing some Mariah Carey song, dumb things like that. Not getting fucking dry humped in some cultish fashion by weirdos in robes. What the fuck is wrong with that school? And yes, it’s not just the football program. Sounds like at least half the teams there have serious issues. Ugh.
Now let’s get crazy. Yeah! The Big Ten Championship will…OK who am I kidding. It won’t be close. I have Michigan plowing through Minny to clinch their spot, yet again, in the College Football Playoff.
Might as well call this the Stable Conference…for now. Just nothing happening here which is just fine for most of the teams in the ACC. Status quo isn’t a bad thing. There are some changes with where you will see games. The CW…yes, the C-Fucking-W, will have an ACC game during most of the weeks of the season. You can take the ACC out of Jefferson-Pilot (or Raycom) but you can’t take the Jefferson-Pilot (or Raycom) out of the ACC. Or something like that.
So before this conference possibly gets pillaged by the Big Ten and SEC, let’s get to the predictions followed by some deep tissue massage and/or analysis.
Â
Â
Conference
Overall
Â
Â
W
L
W
L
Clemson
8
0
12
10
Florida State
7
1
11
1
North Carolina
6
2
9
3
Pittsburgh
5
3
8
4
Louisville
5
3
8
4
Duke
4
4
8
4
Wake Forest
4
4
7
5
NC State
4
4
7
5
Miami
4
4
7
5
Syracuse
3
5
6
6
Boston College
2
6
5
7
Virginia
2
6
4
8
Georgia Tech
2
6
4
8
Virginia Tech
0
8
1
11
Deep Tissue Massage and/or Analysis
I should book a massage. My back is in horrible shape.
Some may scoff at me having Clemson going undefeated this season. They have the schedule to do it and if Cade Klubnik is as good as he can be this could relatively easily happen. If Klubnik struggles…well then this entire set of standings might need to be scrubbed from existence.
Reader Gord will like where I have Florida State. This team could be scary good. And at the very least, they will be near the top of the ACC standings this season. Mike Norvell has done a great job getting this team back to what it was like during the Jimbo Fisher days. I had my doubts about him but I have to admit he has been the right guy to right the ship in Tallahassee.
Hey did you notice? NO DIVISIONS! I love it.
Don’t be surprised that if Clemson or FSU stumbles that there are no shortage of teams that could get one of the two ACC title game slots. A list of seven teams could pull off a couple of upsets and be at the top and it wouldn’t be a huge surprise. A slight surprise sure. Maybe a slightly bigger surprise if it was Miami or NC State. But not a massive surprise.
Poor Virginia Tech. I think this will be their worst team since before Frank Beamer graced Blacksburg. It feels like it has been forever since the Hokies were contenders. It was only seven years ago when they were in the ACC Championship and almost upset the eventual national champions, Clemson. This team is pretty bad in almost every aspect of the game and the schedule will not be helpful to them. Other than Old Dominion I don’t see them winning any other game and the Monarchs have given VT all sorts of fits the past few years.
Look for a tiny bit of a bounce back from Virginia. Just them taking the field after what happened last year is a win in my books.
For that ACC title game, how about another game that will turn everything on its head. Yep, I think the Noles will get revenge for a regular season loss by inching out the Tigers. Chaos!
OK it’s about time the Big XII rebrands. They will have at least thirteen teams by the time the 2024 season starts and it may be as high as sixteen. So change the fucking name. They have the rights to the Big Fourteen and Big Sixteen so use one of those. It would be easy. Find a graphic design student at Kansas and have them do a new logo. Easy peasy. Why do I have to come up with everything?
Where was I? Oh that’s right, predictions. Let’s see if this conference will go all Pac-12 and cannibalize itself or if they can see a team get to the CFP once again. Also, Texas and Oklahoma will be trying their best to leave the conference on a high note much to the chagrin of the rest of the schools in the conference. So here are the Big XII standings predictions, followed by Belly Expansions.
Â
Â
Conference
Overall
Â
Â
W
L
W
L
Texas
8
1
10
2
Kansas State
7
2
10
2
Baylor
6
3
8
4
TCU
6
3
9
3
Oklahoma
6
3
9
3
Texas Tech
5
4
8
4
Oklahoma State
5
4
8
4
Kansas
4
5
7
5
UCF
4
5
7
5
BYU
3
6
5
7
Cincinnati
3
6
5
7
Houston
2
7
4
8
Iowa State
2
7
4
8
West Virginia
2
7
3
9
Belly Expansions
No I don’t mean pregnancy. I mean eating a big meal and having to loosen the ol’ belt or just unbuckle the pants altogether. Funny enough, people in the restaurant don’t appreciate that.
Let’s start at the bottom. There won’t be one truly bad team. There will be a bunch of below-average ones. West Virginia, Iowa State, Houston, Cincinnati and BYU could all finish last and I am sure no one would bat an eye.
I see the Longhorns making their final Big XII season a special one. They have the team, the schedule and the head coach (I think) to be the top team in this conference this season. The only question will be can Quinn Ewers hold off Arch Manning. Will one of them transfer in the offseason? Remember, when you have two starting quarterbacks, you have none. I think.
How about this lukewarm take: Kansas State will be good again. Yeah really going out on a limb there Bossman. This team has become so steady-as-she-goes it’s almost boring. The people in the Little Apple are fine with this.
I do think one of the newcomers will make a bowl game and that team will be UCF. I think they are the most prepared of the newbies coming into this conference. But make no mistake about it: all four teams will be good at various points over the next few years.
I can’t see Oklahoma taking enough of a leap to get to the Big XII Championship. Nor do I think the Horned Frogs of TCU have the, uh, toads? to make it back to the conference title game. Good seasons for both, yes, but not great.
The Longhorns should win the conference title game in their final season in the Big XII. Will this get them into the CFP or will it “relegate” them to the New Year’s Six? I think you can tell from my predictions so far but you will know for sure in a different post.
So where are we going to be able to watch Pac-12 games in the future? Who the hell knows. My money is on PBS.
But seriously, the Pac-12 is quickly dropping from the Conference of Champions to almost a Group of Five conference. They are losing USC and UCLA next year to the Big Ten. They knew that already. The bombshell of Colorado leaving now has them at nine teams starting the 2024 season. And it may not end there. The only schools I haven’t heard potentially leaving are Oregon State and Washington State. That’s not to say all these rumours will be correct but I will be pretty surprised if no more teams leave for the Big XII before next season. It’s sad for a conference that really started their slide once Pete Carroll left USC for the NFL. Thanks a bunch, Peter.
Prediction time! No divisions which is one thing they are ahead of the game with, starting that last year. Let’s get to those divisionless predictions followed by some California Nightmarin’.
Â
Â
Conference
Overall
Â
Â
W
L
W
L
USC
8
1
10
2
Utah
7
2
9
3
Oregon
7
2
9
3
Oregon State
7
2
10
2
Washington State
6
3
8
4
Washington
6
3
9
3
UCLA
5
4
8
4
Colorado
3
6
4
8
California
2
7
4
8
Arizona
2
7
4
8
Arizona State
1
8
3
9
Stanford
0
9
2
10
California Nightmarin’
No state will have it better this year in the Pac-12 than the state of Oregon. Both the Ducks and the Beavers look to be serious contenders and only need the ball to bounce their way one extra time to maybe get to the Pac-12 Championship. And considering the way that title game has gone, who knows what may happen after that.
The strongest team, though, should be USC. They have Caleb Williams coming back to try and do what no one other than some guy named Archie has ever done, and that’s win two Heisman Trophies. The hope there is that the sting of the two season-ending losses will motivate them to push themselves that final step into the CFP.
OK look, I know you see Washington in sixth place and you are wondering what the fuck is wrong with me. This is another case where the schedule is just flat-out against them. A slightly easier schedule and I might put this team at eleven or even, dare I say it, twelve wins. It will be that close at the top of the conference.
On the other hand, I am sure no will think I’m crazy for putting Stanford in last place. It’s been a long time since the Cardinal have been this bad and it doesn’t look like they will be ready for bowl action for another year at least.
I think I was fair putting Colorado at 4-8 for this season and playing fairly meaningful football going into November. There seems to be two schools of thought with this team. One section thinks Coach Prime has done wonders and with all the fresh faces in the lineup it will push the team over the line and into bowl-eligibility territory. The other section thinks the entire program is overhyped and they will win maybe two games. I am in the middle on this. This team won’t go bowling this year. That would be too much of a leap. But they should win more games than they did last year. If not, what the hell was all this hoopla for?
As for the Pac-12 title game, USC gets the Pac-12 Championship they probably should have won last year. Problem is that by this point there will be a lot of teams in the mix for those four College Football Playoff spots and in typical Pac-12 fashion, the league will have cannabilized itself again and missed out on the CFP again.
There you go! You now have a complete set of Bossman conference predictions. Next up, is kind of the wrap-up post where I put everything in a nice, neat little ball and let you know who I believe will win the whole damn deal. Have a great week everyone!
OK not all the schedules but quite a few. I mean there’s some I may not even take a guess at.
Just like last year I am going to put all my schedule predictions in one long-ass post. So wait until you have to take an absolute monster of a shit before taking this one into the bathroom to read. Let’s go!
This is a crazy transition year for CBS. Out with the old (SEC) and in with the new (Big Ten). A few sprinkles (Mountain West) and you have a brand new college football sundae. Sorry fans, Gary Danielson, as far as I can tell, is still around. Worst part is we have heard him be one of the best analysts in the business. More often than not, though, he goes off on some stupid tangent that ends up with him declaring he has a college football boner for Bama.
As is the norm, I will let you know which games are confirmed. The ones that are not…well, some of them will be right because it makes sense and the rest will be not right because one or both of the teams I predicted to play at that time or not nearly as good as I thought they would be and/or I’m an idiot. So let’s start this bizarrely stupid puzzle and follow it with some It Just Means More Sweet Tea Analysis (which may or may not contain grits):
September 2nd
Ohio State at Indiana
3:30 PM
September 2nd
Texas Tech at Wyoming
7:30 PM
September 3rd
Northwestern at Rutgers
Noon
September 3rd
Oregon State at San Jose State
3:30 PM
September 9th
UNLV at Michigan
3:30 PM
September 9th
UCLA at San Diego State
7:30 PM
September 16th
South Carolina at Georgia
3:30 PM
September 23rd
Ole Miss at Alabama
3:30 PM
September 23rd
Iowa at Penn State
7:30 PM
September 30th
Alabama at Mississippi State
3:30 PM
October 7th
Kentucky at Georgia
3:30 PM
October 14th
Arkansas at Alabama
Noon
October 14th
Auburn at LSU
3:30 PM
October 21st
Air Force at Navy
Noon
October 21st
Tennessee at Alabama
3:30 PM
October 28th
Purdue at Nebraska
Noon
October 28th
Florida vs. Georgia (in Jacksonville)
3:30 PM
November 4th
Penn State at Maryland
Noon
November 4th
Kentucky at Mississippi State
3:30 PM
November 4th
LSU at Alabama
8:00 PM
November 11th
Ole Miss at Georgia
3:30 PM
November 11th
Rutgers at Iowa
7:30 PM
November 18th
Minnesota at Ohio State
Noon
November 18th
Georgia at Tennessee
3:30 PM
November 24th
Iowa at Nebraska
Noon
November 24th
Missouri at Arkansas
4:00 PM
November 24th
San Jose State at UNLV
7:30 PM
November 25th
Alabama at Auburn
3:30 PM
December 2nd
SEC Championship
4:00 PM
December 9th
Army vs. Navy (in Foxborough)
3:00 PM
December 29th
Sun Bowl
2:00 PM
It Just Means More (Games other than the SEC on CBS) Analysis:
I feel like I shouldn’t have to remind you but in all these tables, a game in bold means it has been confirmed. Not bold? Bossman used his dumb brain to try and figure it out.
The appearance list will look a bit different this time as it will have a few conferences involved so let’s start with the SEC appearances:
5 times – Alabama, Georgia
3 times – Ole Miss, LSU
2 times – Kentucky, Arkansas, Auburn, Tennessee
1 time – South Carolina, Mississippi State, Florida, Missouri
No times – Vanderbilt, Texas A&M
Wait, WHAT? No TAMU on CBS? Wow, I honestly didn’t notice until now when I started breaking out the different schedules. Crazy. I guess they will have to prove it this season to maybe get on late in the year.
Now we have the Big Ten appearance list:
3 times – Iowa
2 times – Ohio State, Rutgers, Penn State, Nebraska
1 time – Indiana, Northwestern, Michigan, Purdue, Maryland, Minnesota
No times – Michigan State, Wisconsin, Illinois
I look at these numbers and can glean….well, nothing from it. Wisconsin is good and appears no times and Rutgers appears twice. However, tOSU also appears twice and Michigan State doesn’t appear at all. Seems all very random. Which could very well be the case at least for this first season.
I’m not going to get into the Mountain West game count since there aren’t enough games to see any trends.
The Army-Navy game heads to New England for the first time ever. Foxborough gets the game this year and I like this idea. Not saying they have to move it around all over the place but every two or three years to take it out of Philly is a smart move.
What is ABC going to do for this one season without the Big Ten and with the SEC showing up in 2024? They will have to lean heavily on the other three Power Five conferences to carry the load, especially when it comes to the primetime schedule. Don’t worry though: there are enough good teams in these conferences to fill most of these spots where it looks like the network won’t have missed a beat. Then next year, might as well pencil (or pen…or Sharpie) the SEC in for the majority of those primetime games.
But hey we haven’t hit 2024 yet. It’s still 2023 so let’s get to the ESPN on ABC regular season college football schedule for the FBS for this season. I will follow it up with some Power(ful) Two Thoughts:
August 26th
Jackson State vs. South Carolina State (in Atlanta)
7:30 PM
September 2nd
Tennessee vs. Virginia (in Nashville)
Noon
September 2nd
Boise State at Washington
3:30 PM
September 2nd
South Carolina vs. North Carolina (in Charlotte)
7:30 PM
September 3rd
LSU vs. Florida State (in Orlando)
7:30 PM
September 9th
Notre Dame at NC State
Noon
September 9th
Texas A&M at Miami
3:30 PM
September 9th
Wisconsin at Washington State
7:30 PM
September 16th
Florida State at Boston College
Noon
September 16th
Alabama at USF
3:30 PM
September 16th
Pittsburgh at West Virginia
7:30 PM
September 23rd
Texas Tech at West Virginia
Noon
September 23rd
Texas at Baylor
3:30 PM
September 23rd
Florida State at Clemson
7:30 PM
September 30th
Notre Dame at Duke
Noon
September 30th
Kansas at Texas
3:30 PM
September 30th
Clemson at Syracuse
7:30 PM
October 7th
Oklahoma vs. Texas (in Dallas)
Noon
October 7th
Notre Dame at Louisville
3:30 PM
October 7th
Wake Forest at Clemson
7:30 PM
October 14th
Kansas at Oklahoma State
Noon
October 14th
Kansas State at Texas Tech
3:30 PM
October 14th
BYU at TCU
7:30 PM
October 21st
Duke at Florida State
Noon
October 21st
Clemson at Miami
3:30 PM
October 21st
Utah at USC
7:30 PM
October 28th
Duke at Louisville
Noon
October 28th
Clemson at NC State
3:30 PM
October 28th
Oregon at Utah
7:30 PM
November 4th
Florida State at Pittsburgh
Noon
November 4th
Notre Dame at Clemson
3:30 PM
November 4th
Kansas State at Texas
7:30 PM
November 11th
Baylor at Kansas State
Noon
November 11th
Miami at Florida State
3:30 PM
November 11th
USC at Oregon
7:30 PM
November 18th
Kansas State at Kansas
Noon
November 18th
Texas at Iowa State
3:30 PM
November 18th
North Carolina at Clemson
7:30 PM
November 24th
Miami at Boston College
Noon
November 24th
Navy at SMU
3:30 PM
November 24th
Texas Tech at Texas
7:30 PM
November 25th
Pittsburgh at Duke
Noon
November 25th
Houston at UCF
3:30 PM
November 25th
Washington State at Washington
7:30 PM
December 1st
Pac-12 Championship
8:00 PM
December 2nd
Big XII Championship
Noon
December 2nd
American Championship
4:00 PM
December 2nd
ACC Championship
8:00 PM
December 16th
Celebration Bowl
Noon
December 16th
Cure Bowl
3:30 PM
December 23rd
Birmingham Bowl
Noon
December 23rd
Armed Forces Bowl
3:30 PM
December 23rd
Las Vegas Bowl
7:30 PM
December 30th
Music City Bowl
2:00 PM
January 1st
Citrus Bowl
1:00 PM
Power(ful) Two Thoughts
Once again, ABC puts on a mega-matchup on the night before Labour Day. LSU-FSU, if it is anything like last year’s game, should be a massive ratings success. Oh and also a game that could shape the entire college football season.
With the Big Ten saying adios to ESPN/ABC, the primetime slots really opened up. I expect the ACC to pick up most of those times the Big Ten has left behind with the Big XII and Pac-12 coming in just behind. Right now I have 6 ACC primetime games, 5 Pac-12, and 4 Big XII. Even if I’m wrong with which games go where I see this being pretty equitable.
I am not doing a TSN schedule because there is no point right now. TSN struggles to get anything that’s not the CFL scheduled out more than a couple of weeks. Right now I have 23 ABC games that would be simulcast on TSN. That seems high but I am going off of last year’s numbers and it was actually very close to that. So we shall see.
I am calling for three games to be on Black Friday on ABC. Miami-BC at Noon and TTU-UT at 7:30 are set. I think they select an American conference game in the middle so that there isn’t a gap in the middle of the day with nothing to show AND to fulfill the American’s contract. Now watch it not happen at all that way.
First few weeks are confirmed but that’s pretty much it. The rest is a bit of a crapshoot. Also, if you couldn’t tell Week 2 was a pretty bad week, look at the ABC schedule. Woof. Wisky-Wazzu as the primetime game? Ouch. It’s been a while since there has been that poor a game for the ABC Saturday Night game.
Finally it’s time for the conference breakdown. Remember I am doing things slightly differently. Every time a team appears, they get counted as an appearance. So Miami-Boston College, for example, counts as two appearances for the ACC. Here we go:
ACC – 37 (including conference championship)
Big XII – 29 (including conference championship)
Pac-12 – 12 (including conference championship)
AAC – 5 (including conference championship)
SEC – 5
Notre Dame – 4
FCS – 2
Mountain West – 1
Big Ten – 1
The ACC is really picking up the slack here. The Big XII is not all that far behind and, ho boy, is the Pac-12 lagging here. Problem is other than their top five teams I don’t feel right putting the rest of the teams in any of the ABC timeslots and that includes Colorado. Also, I have not included bowl tie-ins here because we know that bowls break them all the time.
Speaking of bowl games, ABC has SEVEN this time! That’s great! A step in the right direction. I still think the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl should move back to ABC as well but that’s just my opinion (and the opinion of a lot of other people).
For quite a long time it felt like there was quite a drop-off in play-by-play prowess after GUS JOHNSON. But now with Jason Benetti cemented as the number two man, you know you have two solidly called games every week on FOX. Tim Brando is the #3 guy and is pretty good although I still think it would be great to hear him back in the studio.
OK so the Big Ten is a bit more in with FOX meaning the Big XII and Pac-12 might suffer because of that. Let’s find out! Here’s the predicted 2023 FOX college football broadcast schedule followed by some Johnsonian rhetoric.
August 31st
Nebraska at Minnesota
8:00 PM
September 2nd
Colorado at TCU
Noon
September 2nd
Rice at Texas
3:30 PM
September 9th
Nebraska at Colorado
Noon
September 9th
Iowa at Iowa State
3:30 PM
September 9th
Oregon at Texas Tech
7:00 PM
September 9th
Stanford at USC
10:30 PM
September 16th
Penn State at Illinois
Noon
September 16th
WKU at Ohio State
4:00 PM
September 16th
TCU at Houston
8:00 PM
September 22nd
BYU at Kansas
8:00 PM
September 23rd
UCF at Kansas State
Noon
September 23rd
Oklahoma State at Iowa State
4:00 PM
September 23rd
USC at Arizona State
8:00 PM
September 30th
Michigan at Nebraska
Noon
September 30th
Iowa State at Oklahoma
3:30 PM
October 7th
TCU at Iowa State
Noon
October 7th
Texas Tech at Baylor
3:30 PM
October 7th
Michigan at Minnesota
7:30 PM
October 14th
Ohio State at Purdue
Noon
October 14th
Illinois at Maryland
4:00 PM
October 14th
Oregon at Washington
8:00 PM
October 21st
Penn State at Ohio State
Noon
October 21st
Minnesota at Iowa
3:30 PM
October 28th
Ohio State at Wisconsin
Noon
October 28th
Oregon State at Arizona
3:30 PM
November 4th
Oklahoma at Oklahoma State
Noon
November 4th
Houston at Baylor
7:00 PM
November 11th
Michigan at Penn State
Noon
November 11th
Indiana at Illinois
3:30 PM
November 11th
Texas at TCU
7:00 PM
November 11th
Arizona State at UCLA
10:30 PM
November 18th
Baylor at TCU
Noon
November 18th
Illinois at Iowa
4:00 PM
November 18th
UCLA at USC
8:00 PM
November 24th
TCU at Oklahoma
Noon
November 24th
Oregon State at Oregon
8:30 PM
November 25th
Ohio State at Michigan
Noon
November 25th
BYU at Oklahoma State
4:00 PM
November 25th
West Virginia at Baylor
8:00 PM
December 2nd
Mountain West Championship
3:00 PM
December 2nd
Big Ten Championship
8:00 PM
December 27th
Holiday Bowl
8:00 PM
SOME JOHNSONIAN RHETORIC…..WOAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
So FOX has abandoned putting a game on Labour Day for putting a game on the Thursday before it. Interesting. Not a bad strategy as they can try and get a jump start on the season. Sure Florida-Utah could get more eyeballs but starting with a Big Ten conference game? That will get their fair share of looks for sure.
With the Big Ten leaving ESPN/ABC, it means most of their big games will land on FOX. That is a huge coup for the network. Couple that with the few huge games out of the Big XII and Pac-12 and you can finally, honestly, put their Big Noon Saturday schedule up against ABC’s Saturday Primetime schedule. Of course that may all change next year when ESPN/ABC gets the SEC. But for one year, let’s savour this.
FOX only going with two Black Friday games again this season and they are both confirmed. And it is two huge games (or could be). TCU-OU could be for a spot in the Big XII Championship. Same with the Civil War game between Oregon State and Oregon. I guess they will be moving WWE Smackdown to FS1 for this night which I’m sure won’t upset wrestling fans in the least.
Conference breakdown time! Remember, a conference game I am counting as two appearances for that conference:
Big XII – 32
Big Ten – 30 (including conference championship)
Pac-12 – 17
Shockingly, the Big XII has moved to the top of the list. Now, this has more to do with the Big Ten moving some games to NBC and CBS than anything but still, it proves that the Big XII carries a bit more weight than the Pac-12 these days.
I have no Mountain West games on the main FOX network. They have quite a few on FOX Sports One, though. I don’t know if FOX’s strategy is to eventually put more than the MWC conference championship on the main network or if they just stay the way they are. I suspect starting next year we will see at least a couple of Mountain West games on the main network, especially when there’s a quadrupleheader.
And speaking of quadrupleheaders, I have a feeling we will see two of them just like last season. One is confirmed for Week 2 and I believe the other will land, just like last year, during Week 11. I love the quadrupleheader idea, especially if you only do it twice since it feels special.
FOX has only one bowl game and it is the only bowl game, at this time, without a confirmed date. The Holiday Bowl, I believe, will end up on December 27th but that is definitely subject to change.
I honestly don’t know what will happen come October with the MLB playoffs. I know during the early rounds, FOX tends not to be used nearly as much as FS1 for their baseball games. Come World Series time though, expect FOX to scale back on college football broadcasting windows.
Alright let’s get to the Notre Dame on NBC sched…WAIT JUST A MINUTE! THAT’S THE BIG TEN’S MUSIC!!!!
For the first time in a loooooooooooong time, Notre Dame will share NBC’s college football coverage with other teams under other contracts. The Big Ten will have games almost every week on the network and usually in primetime going forward. So yeah, this will be the longest NBC schedule I will ever predict unless the network really goes all-in with college football and invites another party (COUGH*Pac-12*COUGH) in to the pool. Let’s get to it!
August 26th
Navy vs. Notre Dame (in Dublin)
2:30 PM
September 2nd
Tennessee State at Notre Dame
3:30 PM
September 2nd
West Virginia at Penn State
7:30 PM
September 9th
Charlotte at Maryland
7:30 PM
September 16th
Syracuse at Purdue
7:30 PM
September 23rd
Ohio State at Notre Dame
7:30 PM
September 30th
Penn State at Northwestern
Noon
September 30th
Illinois at Purdue
7:30 PM
October 7th
Purdue at Iowa
7:30 PM
October 14th
Michigan State at Rutgers
Noon
October 14th
USC at Notre Dame
7:30 PM
October 21st
Michigan at Michigan State
7:30 PM
October 28th
Pittsburgh at Notre Dame
3:30 PM
October 28th
Indiana at Penn State
7:30 PM
November 4th
Purdue at Michigan
7:30 PM
November 11th
Michigan State at Ohio State
7:30 PM
November 18th
Wake Forest at Notre Dame
3:30 PM
November 18th
Michigan at Maryland
7:30 PM
November 24th
Penn State vs. Michigan State (in Detroit)
7:30 PM
November 25th
Southern vs. Grambling (in New Orleans)
2:00 PM
November 25th
Wisconsin at Minnesota
7:30 PM
Touchdown Jesus, Meet Purdue Pete
Look, it’s not like the Irish haven’t seen Big Ten teams before. They play at least one every year and probably will until the Earth explodes. But sharing the entire network with them? I have a feeling this may impact Notre Dame’s next contract talks with NBC which will start soon with the contract ending at the conclusion of the 2025 season.
Only two primetime Notre Dame games this season but they add a game during Week Zero against Navy over in Ireland. I have the Big Ten moving their game to Noon when the Irish are on in primetime.
As for the Big Ten, let’s look at the breakdown:
4 times – Penn State, Purdue, Michigan State
3 times – Michigan
2 times – Maryland, Ohio State
1 time – Northwestern, Illinois, Iowa, Rutgers, Indiana, Wisconsin, Northwestern
No times – Nebraska
I think more so than the CBS breakdown for the Big Ten, the better teams, for the most part, will appear on NBC more often. I believe that will be the case going forward as well.
Let’s be honest here: nothing much will change for this network. It’s not like they will all of a sudden be showing Michigan-Ohio State. Saying that, it’s one of the channels you almost need to complete your college football viewing experience. I don’t want to speak for anyone else but I love watching close finishes, regardless of the game, so if Rutgers and Northwestern are going down to the wire, I want to watch that shit. Alright let’s get to my projected schedule:
September 2nd
Fresno State at Purdue
Noon
September 2nd
Towson at Maryland
3:30 PM
September 2nd
Toledo at Illinois
7:30 PM
September 8th
Indiana State at Indiana
7:00 PM
September 9th
Youngstown State at Ohio State
Noon
September 9th
UTEP at Northwestern
3:30 PM
September 9th
Richmond at Michigan State
3:30 PM
September 9th
Eastern Michigan at Minnesota
7:30 PM
September 9th
Temple at Rutgers
7:30 PM
September 16th
Louisville vs. Indiana (in Indianapolis)
Noon
September 16th
Georgia Southern at Wisconsin
Noon
September 16th
Western Michigan at Iowa
3:30 PM
September 16th
Virginia Tech at Rutgers
3:30 PM
September 16th
Bowling Green at Michigan
7:30 PM
September 21st
Louisiana Tech at Nebraska
7:30 PM
September 23rd
Akron at Indiana
Noon
September 23rd
Maryland at Michigan State
3:30 PM
September 23rd
Florida Atlantic at Illinois
7:30 PM
September 30th
Louisiana at Minnesota
Noon
September 30th
Wagner at Rutgers
3:30 PM
September 30th
Indiana at Maryland
7:30 PM
October 7th
Howard at Northwestern
3:00 PM
October 14th
Iowa at Wisconsin
Noon
October 14th
UMass at Penn State
3:30 PM
October 14th
Indiana at Michigan
7:30 PM
October 21st
Rutgers at Indiana
Noon
October 21st
Wisconsin at Illinois
3:30 PM
October 28th
Maryland at Northwestern
2:30 PM
November 4th
Ohio State at Rutgers
Noon
November 4th
Iowa vs. Northwestern (in Chicago)
3:30 PM
November 4th
Nebraska at Michigan State
7:30 PM
November 11th
Northwestern at Wisconsin
Noon
November 11th
Minnesota at Purdue
3:30 PM
November 18th
Michigan State at Indiana
Noon
November 18th
Purdue at Northwestern
3:30 PM
November 18th
Rutgers at Penn State
7:30 PM
November 24th
Indiana at Purdue
3:00 PM
November 25th
Maryland at Rutgers
Noon
November 25th
Northwestern at Illinois
3:30 PM
B1G Country Notes (no, not Bryant Reeves)
The first three weeks are completely booked. After that…nothing. Well, that’s not entirely true. There are a few homecoming games that are almost guaranteed to hit BTN but I won’t call them confirmed until, well, they are actually confirmed.
Let’s get right to the appearance list (with the conference and non-conference split) and then some explanations on the numbers:
8 times – Indiana (3 non-con, 5 conference)
7 times – Northwestern (2 NC, 5 C), Rutgers (3 NC, 4 C)
5 times – Maryland (1 NC, 4 C)
4 times – Purdue (1 NC, 3 C), Illinois (2 NC, 2 C), Michigan State (1 NC, 3 C), Wisconsin (1 NC, 3 C)
3 times – Minnesota (2 NC, 1 C), Iowa (1 NC, 2 C), Penn State (1 NC, 2 C)
2 times – Ohio State (1 NC, 1 C), Michigan (1 NC, 1 C), Nebraska (1 NC, 1 C)
Every school must make at least 2 BTN appearances. Plus, one of those appearances has to be a conference game. My predictions satisfy that criteria and I think the amount of appearances will be failry close to what actually happens. I was a bit surprised to see what I had done with Nebraska. Maybe I am drinking a tiny bit of Husker Kool-Aid.
Alright now we have what could be the longest schedule of the bunch. Surprisingly though, it has the most confirmed games, easily. I guess when you have a good portion of the Group of Five stationed here, you will have a lot of games. And if you don’t watch college football on CBSSN? Shame on you. There are some great games on there and you get to see teams you wouldn’t normally see. Time for the huge-ass schedule followed by a few G5 musings:
August 26th
UTEP at Jacksonville State
5:30 PM
August 26th
FIU at Louisiana Tech
9:00 PM
August 31st
NC State at UConn
7:30 PM
September 1st
Stanford at Hawaii
11:00 PM
September 2nd
Bowling Green at Liberty
Noon
September 2nd
USF at WKU
3:30 PM
September 2nd
Washington State at Colorado State
7:00 PM
September 2nd
Idaho State at San Diego State
10:30 PM
September 9th
Delaware State at Army
Noon
September 9th
Wagner at Navy
3:30 PM
September 9th
Air Force vs. Sam Houston (in Houston)
8:00 PM
September 15th
Utah State at Air Force
8:00 PM
September 16th
Liberty at Buffalo
Noon
September 16th
FIU at UConn
3:30 PM
September 16th
Vanderbilt at UNLV
7:00 PM
September 16th
Kansas at Nevada
10:30 PM
September 22nd
Delaware State at Miami-OH
7:00 PM
September 22nd
Boise State at San Diego State
10:30 PM
September 23rd
Tulsa at Northern Illinois
Noon
September 23rd
Duke at UConn
3:30 PM
September 23rd
Appalachian State at Wyoming
7:00 PM
September 23rd
Kent State at Fresno State
10:30 PM
September 28th
Middle Tennessee at WKU
7:30 PM
September 29th
Louisiana Tech at UTEP
9:00 PM
September 30th
Utah State at UConn
Noon
September 30th
USF at Navy
3:30 PM
September 30th
San Diego State at Air Force
8:00 PM
October 4th
FIU at New Mexico State
9:00 PM
October 5th
Sam Houston at Liberty
7:00 PM
October 7th
Boston College at Army
Noon
October 7th
North Texas at Navy
3:30 PM
October 7th
San Jose State at Boise State
8:00 PM
October 10th
Louisiana Tech at Middle Tennessee
7:00 PM
October 11th
Sam Houston at New Mexico State
9:00 PM
October 13th
Fresno State at Utah State
8:00 PM
October 14th
Kent State at Eastern Michigan
Noon
October 14th
Troy at Army
3:30 PM
October 14th
Wyoming at Air Force
7:00 PM
October 14th
San Diego State at Hawaii
11:00 PM
October 17th
Middle Tennessee at Liberty
7:00 PM
October 18th
FIU at Sam Houston
7:00 PM
October 21st
Akron at Bowling Green
Noon
October 21st
USF at UConn
3:30 PM
October 21st
Utah State at San Jose State
7:00 PM
October 21st
Colorado State at UNLV
10:30 PM
October 24th
New Mexico State at Louisiana Tech
7:00 PM
October 25th
Jacksonville State at FIU
7:00 PM
October 28th
UMass at Army
Noon
October 28th
Miami-OH at Ohio
3:30 PM
October 28th
Air Force at Colorado State
7:00 PM
October 28th
New Mexico at Nevada
10:30 PM
November 3rd
Colorado State at Wyoming
8:00 PM
November 4th
Army vs. Air Force (in Denver)
2:30 PM
November 4th
Louisiana Tech at Liberty
6:00 PM
November 4th
Boise State at Fresno State
10:00 PM
November 7th
Central Michigan at Western Michigan
7:00 PM
November 8th
Akron at Miami-OH
7:00 PM
November 11th
Holy Cross at Army
Noon
November 11th
UAB at Navy
3:30 PM
November 11th
San Diego State at Colorado State
7:00 PM
November 11th
Fresno State at San Jose State
10:30 PM
November 14th
Akron at Eastern Michigan
7:00 PM
November 18th
Coastal Carolina at Army
Noon
November 18th
UNLV at Air Force
3:30 PM
November 18th
Boise State at Utah State
7:00 PM
November 18th
San Diego State at San Jose State
10:30 PM
November 24th
Ohio at Akron
Noon
November 24th
Utah State at New Mexico
3:30 PM
November 25th
Northern Illinois at Kent State
Noon
November 25th
Liberty at UTEP
3:30 PM
November 25th
Wyoming at Nevada
9:00 PM
Gee-Five Musings
Really, CBS Sports Network doesn’t have to lock in over 80% of the games. Nice to see that they do though. Honestly, over the past few years, CBSSN has had their fair share of exciting games so waiting to see what ESPN doesn’t take really doesn’t make sense for them. It won’t change the amount of viewers they get (for the most part). Just scoreboard watch like I do.
CBSSN lands a couple of Black Friday games this season, which seems to be the norm now. One is confirmed and the other is a MAC game. Which leads us to…
The non-confirmed games. Most of them are MAC-controlled games. They will be 12-day selections during the season. The others might not end up happening as those timeslots may be used for something else.
Conference breakdown time!
Mountain West – 49
Conference USA – 33
MAC – 21
Army – 7
AAC (other than Navy) – 6
UConn – 5
FCS – 5
Navy – 4
ACC – 3
Sun Belt – 3
Pac-12 – 2
SEC – 1
Big XII – 1
UMass – 1
OK so it was more than conferences but it gives you an idea of what is happening this year versus previous years. During October, Conference USA will have all their conference games on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. A crazy idea but hey, that’s how MACtion was born. It also means we will go nearly two months with football almost every day! What’s wrong with that?
We made it! Schedule Journey 2023 is over! Christ, that was long. And no, I will not do a TSN schedule. That would be a complete guess. Up next are the season predictions. Expect that post (which will also be a stupidly long one) some time in late July.
Have a fantastic rest of your Sunday and let’s hope for nice weather this coming week…for people who aren’t stuck working in an office. For those people, I am sure you are fine if it rains all week.
It’s official. For the 2024 FBS season, the College Football Playoff will expand to twelve teams. Everyone involved had to wait for the Rose Bowl, college football’s stubborn grandpa, to come to an agreement to be a part of the newly expanded playoff format. The Rose Bowl wanted to keep its status and it’s Big Ten vs. Pac-12 format. The officials basically told the Rose Bowl to fuck themselves with a rusty hammer and if they didn’t at least come to a compromise with the College Football Playoff, they would be out for good. If that had happened, the future of the Rose Bowl would have been in serious doubt. In the end, they all figured out a way to still make the Rose Bowl an integral part of the CFP (which they should be) without the Rose Bowl getting special treatment.
The new CFP will take the top six conference champions, regardless of conference, and six Wild Card teams. This guarantees at least one spot for the Group of Five with the possibility for two. As you probably know, first round games will be on campus and will be played around December 21st to give teams enough times to prepare for the quarterfinals which will be held between December 31st and January 2nd. What this does for the future of Bowl Season is up in the air. I can’t see the rest of the bowls all continuing going forward but who knows. The NCAA may just make it so 5 wins is the new cutoff for bowl-eligibility.
Alright let’s just get to what you’re here for: conference championship weekend. Everything comes into (mostly) perfect vision once these games are completed. And now that divisions are slowly going away in conferences (the Pac-12 has no divisions this year), we will be getting better games going forward. I honestly wonder if they should just have a regular week going forward but I know there’s a lot of money in staging these championship games.
Friday
Conference USA Championship: New Mexico State (+10.5) at Liberty
7:00
This network continues to be smart in the way they figure out WHEN to put a game. They get an entire national audience for almost an entire half and then, if the game is close, many people will stick with it to the end. Brilliant. Plus, with the added possibility of seeing a potential New Year’s Six berth clinched here, it means they should get more eyeballs on this game than ever before. Prediction: This game is the biggest one, not only in Liberty’s history, but in Conference USA’s history. This is their chance to put a team in the New Year’s Six for the first time. The first part gets done this night. Liberty 39 New Mexico State 34.
Pac-12 Championship: #11 Utah vs. #4 USC (in Paradise, NV)
8:00 PM
Now FOX I don’t think is smart at all putting this game here. 6:00 local time on a Friday night? Ugh. The conference and the network never seem to learn. I guess it’s better than having it in Santa Clara but it’s only a slight improvement. Maybe one day FOX will figure it out and keep this game on Saturday. Prediction: USC makes a bit of a statement and solidifies their spot in the College Football Playoff. USC 44 Utah 17.
Saturday Early
Big XII Championship: #10 Kansas State vs. #3 TCU (in Arlington)
Noon
No Texas. No Oklahoma. This feels a bit weird. But nice. It’s a fresh matchup, at least in terms of conference championship weekend. TCU wins here and they get their College Football Playoff spot, much to the chagrin of a few fanbases and ESPN as a whole. A Wildcats win and all hell may break loose. I normally like chaos but TCU would be a CFP newbie and I like that as well. Prediction: The Horned Frogs will prevail and then we will wait to see if they can prove they belonged in the first place. TCU 39 Kansas State 32.
MAC Championship: Ohio vs. Toledo (in Detroit)
Noon
One of only two conference championship games on TSN this Saturday. Again, blame the World Cup but I have a feeling this may be the future of what we see with college football on TSN. And it was going so well for a while. Oh well. Important? Not really as there isn’t even a 100% guarantee that the MAC champion would play in Detroit again at the Quick Lane Bowl. Prediction: Meaningless game but it should be a close one. Ohio 31 Toledo 30.
Saturday Afternoon
Valparaiso at New Mexico State
3:00 PM
Up until yesterday, this game was super important to the Aggies. They needed to win to get in. Now, the game means less because the Aggies’ waiver has been accepted and they will be chosen before schools in the 5-7 APR pool. So it’s almost a guarantee that they will be going bowling. Prediction: This shouldn’t be close. New Mexico State 51 Valparaiso 7.
Sun Belt Championship: Coastal Carolina at Troy
3:30 PM
It’s amazing how few of these games have any importance. Especially with how Group of Five tie-ins are almost never adhered to…at least in any particular conference order. Prediction: It’s football and if it’s close I will venture to it at some point. Like flies to shit (or maybe a better analogy than that). Troy 40 Coastal Carolina 24.
Mountain West Championship: Fresno State at Boise State
4:00 PM
If the Bulldogs and Broncos hadn’t had such terrible non-conference starts to their season, this might have been important. Prediction: I have no preference here as it’s a game that should probably be on at night in the cold on the blue turf. Fresno State 38 Boise State 35.
SEC Championship: #14 LSU vs. #1 Georgia (in Atlanta)
4:00 PM
It used to be that no conference dared to go up against the SEC Championship, at least in full. Now they do. It’s not an overall bad idea because if this game is not close then a lot of people will change the channel (or should…I don’t understand people who will stick with games that are way out of hand unless you are a fan of either team). Prediction: This will be close…for maybe about three quarters. Georgia 42 LSU 20.
American Championship: #22 UCF at #18 Tulane
4:00 PM
This is for the Cotton Bowl spot. Does UCF really deserve to be here with this opportunity? I don’t think so. Saying that, other than Tulane, no Group of Five team has really knocked it out of the park this season and even the Green Wave have had their hiccups. Prediction: Tulane will be the next new team to clinch a New Year’s Six bowl spot. Tulane 26 UCF 23.
SWAC Championship: Southern at Jackson State
4:00 PM
I still think Jackson State should have gone into the FCS Playoffs as I think they would have a good chance to go far, if not win the whole damn thing. Instead, they are here playing for the SWAC Championship. I’m sorry; who in their right fucking mind would think JSU is not the best HBCU football school this year if they lose here? So dumb. Prediction: JSU mops the floor with Southern in what should be Deion Sanders’ coaching finale in Jackson. Jackson State 52 Southern 21.
Saturday Primetime
ACC Championship: #23 North Carolina vs. #9 Clemson (in Charlotte)
8:00 PM
This is for the Orange Bowl spot. That’s it. Loser goes into the regular bowl pool. I still don’t understand why either the ACC or Big Ten doesn’t move their championship game to Noon but I think I’ve beaten that horse to the point where it’s pulp now. Prediction: I think this may be an unpopular pick but as I stated in my bowl projections post, I think Drake Maye goes off and the Tar Heels win a shootout and shock the Tigers. North Carolina 47 Clemson 43.
Big Ten Championship: Purdue vs. #2 Michigan (in Indianapolis)
8:00 PM
Do I think this game has meaning? Not really. Michigan is in the CFP. They may fall to #4 if they lose here but I can’t see them falling any farther. I guess there’s more to this game for the Boilermakers since a win puts them, improbably, in the Rose Bowl. Prediction: No Purdue fan should book a ticket to Pasadena. Just don’t. Michigan 45 Purdue 17.
We are nearing the end. Regular season is over. Conference championships will end tomorrow night. However, this is where the excitement should ramp up. Games sometimes mean a hell of a lot more than they would have two months ago. Cross your fingers that we have some dandies this weekend. I am crossing mine. Enjoy the games everyone!
*of course I mean American Thanksgiving but you already knew that….right?
Just because it’s Thanksgiving south of the border doesn’t mean we can’t have turkey and mashed potatoes and gravy and peas and sweet potatoes and stuffing and pumpkin pie and…oh man I’m getting hungry. I think it’s a good way to support our ‘Murican friends on Turkey Day, don’t you think?
One sad thing is that everyday college football ends tonight. Tomorrow there are no games. I think there should be one. When I become commissioner of college football, I will do that. For all of you. There’s still college football on American Thanksgiving Day along with the usual NFL fare and then things ramp the fuck up starting Black Friday. I am so ready. Let’s get to the schedules and again it will be in the normal Thanksgiving style that I use….with a bit of a twist this year. Again, I am using AP Poll rankings because this blog post will come out a few hours before the next College Football Playoff Rankings come out.
Tuesday
Bowling Green (+6.5) at Ohio
7:00 PM
The week starts with the MAC East Division title game. If the Bobcats win, they head to Detroit. If the Falcons win, as of right now, they also head to Detroit. What is planned for Buffalo with their cancelled game against Akron is anyone’s guess. Predicted score: Ohio 38 Bowling Green 28.
Thursday
Mississippi State (+2.5) at #20 Ole Miss
7:00 PM
There is no chance this game could be important. It would have been if the Rebs could have beat Arkansas last week. Instead they were run out of the building. There may also be the distraction of Lane Kiffin possibly being named head coach of Auburn soon. Oh, and if you’ve noticed, I’m including the spread and a predicted score for each game. Predicted score: Ole Miss 41 Mississippi State 24.
Friday
#19 Tulane (+2) at #24 Cincinnati
Noon
I’m glad that ABC has made sure to have the AAC appear a few times on the main network during a season. Otherwise, this would have gone to, at best, ESPN if not lower. Huge game. Winner goes into the catbird seat for the Cotton Bowl spot. The loser could still go to the AAC Championship Game with a UCF loss later on. Predicted score: Cincinnati 43 Tulane 27.
Utah State (+16.5) at Boise State
Noon
I’m sure CBS was hoping for a much bigger game here. USU is already bowl-eligible and Boise has clinched their spot in the Mountain West Championship. That’ll be a pass for me, dawg. Predicted score: Boise State 34 Utah State 27.
Central Michigan (-2) at Eastern Michigan
Noon
Speaking of games that mean nothing, here’s another one. CMU is not going bowling. EMU is. Predicted score: Eastern Michigan 35 Central Michigan 27.
Baylor (+8.5) at #23 Texas
Noon
This could mean big things for Texas. They have to take care of business on their own end and beat the Bears here. If they do, they can then watch Kansas State-Kansas and hope the Wildcats lose for them to get a Big XII Championship opportunity. Predicted score: Texas 41 Baylor 39.
Toledo (-7.5) at Western Michigan
Noon
Nothing really to see here. Toledo is going to Ford Field for the MAC Championship and WMU is home for the holidays. Predicted score: Toledo 30 Western Michigan 19.
NC State (+6.5) at #17 North Carolina
3:30 PM
The Tar Heels will use this as a tune-up for their game against Clemson the following weekend. Beating the Tigers is the only probably way for UNC to get to the Orange Bowl. Predicted score: NC State 30 North Carolina 29.
Arkansas (-3) at Missouri
3:30 PM
Mizzou needs a win here to go bowling. Arkansas is already in…barely. Could be fun. Predicted score: Arkansas 26 Missouri 24.
New Mexico (+7.5) at Colorado State
3:30 PM
Arguably the two worst teams in the Mountain West here. There are better options on at the same time. Predicted score: Colorado State 18 New Mexico 12.
Nebraska (+10.5) at Iowa
4:00 PM
I do find it a bit funny that this seems to get relegated more and more to the Big Ten Network. Anyway, a win here and the offensively challenged Hawkeyes get a trip to Indianapolis. Lose and there are ways in which they still go to the Big Ten Championship and other ways where they don’t. I went over that in the previous post and flat-out refuse to go into it here. Predicted score: Iowa 32 Nebraska 17.
#18 UCLA (-10) at California
4:30 PM
The Bruins played themselves out of a potential Pac-12 Championship berth so they are playing for the extremely slim possibility of going to a New Year’s Six bowl. And it is EXTREMELY slim. Predicted score: UCLA 45 California 27.
Florida (+9.5) at #16 Florida State
7:30 PM
Does this game mean much in the grand scheme of things? Not really. The Noles would need a lot to happen to get into the NY6 and the Gators are bowl-eligible. Does this game mean much to fans of either team? Abso-fucking-lutely. Predicted score: Florida State 33 Florida 14.
Saturday Early
South Carolina (+14.5) at #8 Clemson
Noon
With so many options, this is one of them. Could the Cocks shock the Tigers? Yeah I guess. I can’t see it happening though. Clemson does need to win here, though, to keep any small College Football Playoff possibilities alive. Predicted score: Clemson 43 South Carolina 24.
Rutgers (+14) at Maryland
Noon
Rutgers is out, Maryland is in. I think we will see a fair amount of these types of games for this week. Predicted score: Maryland 38 Rutgers 24.
WKU (-7) at Florida Atlantic
Noon
The Owls are fighting for their bowl lives here. The Hilltoppers need a win (and a North Texas loss) to play for the Conference USA Championship. For once, there are some good stakes from the noon CBSSN game. Predicted score: WKU 38 Florida Atlantic 31.
Georgia Tech (+35.5) at #1 Georgia
Noon
Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate. There actually is quite a bit of importance to this one. Georgia cannot slip up if they want to go into conference championship week as the number one team in the land. Tech needs a victory to go bowling which would be an absolutely remarkable turnaround from the dreadful Geoff Collins era. Predicted score: Georgia 52 Georgia Tech 20.
West Virginia (+8.5) at Oklahoma State
Noon
No. I mean why? To see if Neal Brown gets fired after the game ends, Herm Edwards-style? Predicted score: Oklahoma State 30 West Virginia 28.
Coastal Carolina (+13.5) at James Madison
Noon
This seems like a huge spread in favour of JMU considering how good the Chanticleers have been this season. I guess it does show what kind of home field advantage the Dukes have. Unfortunately, thanks to stupid NCAA rules, JMU can’t go to a bowl game because they had the audacity to be good in their first year at the FBS level. Stupid. CCU needs a win and a LOT of help to be considered in the Cotton Bowl conversation. Predicted score: Coastal Carolina 24 James Madison 18.
#3 Michigan (+7.5) at #2 Ohio State
Noon
The Game. The biggest one in a few years. Winner almost guarantees themselves a spot in the College Football Playoff. The loser isn’t out either if things go their way. High, HIGH stakes here in a game where Gus Johnson might lose his voice. Predicted score: Ohio State 38 Michigan 37.
Saturday Afternoon
Southern vs. Grambling (in New Orleans)
2:00 PM
Prairie View A&M had a chance to wrap up the SWAC West Division title and were stunned by lowly Mississippi Valley State. This means that Southern can now sneak in and win the division and a date with Jackson State in the SWAC Championship if they beat Grambling. Predicted score (I couldn’t find any gambling lines for this game): Southern 40 Grambling 24.
#25 Louisville (+3.5) at Kentucky
3:00 PM
And odd start time here, especially by SEC Network standards. Both teams are bowling. Neither team can get to the New Year’s Six. People will watch if this game stays close but otherwise there is no reason to. Predicted score: Kentucky 33 Louisville 26.
#9 Oregon (-3) at #21 Oregon State
3:30 PM
Look, Oregon State is a good team. No, I’m not lying. No wonder the spread is so low. Could be very loud in Corvallis for this one. The Ducks need a win here to get to the Pac-12 Championship and keep their CFP hopes alive. Oregon State is going for their ninth victory of the season, their highest win total since 2012. Predicted score: Oregon 41 Oregon State 40.
Illinois (-14) at Northwestern
3:30 PM
We will know by now whether this game actually means anything to Illinois. I could see Bret Bielema getting a nice, fat extension in the offseason. As of right now, I have no idea whether this game or the other BTN game on at this time will be shown on the specialty pack. The specialty pack schedules show neither at this point which is always a bad sign. Hopefully this gets rectified by Saturday. Predicted score: Illinois 41 Northwestern 21.
UPDATE #2: This is now showing on the specialty pack guide.
Purdue (-10.5) at Indiana
3:30 PM
The Old Oaken Bucket. Again, we will know by start time whether Purdue has a shot at the Big Ten West or not. I have this game in the BTN slot that Canadians would get. Who the hell knows what will happen though. Predicted score: Purdue 30 Indiana 15.
Auburn (+22) at #7 Alabama
3:30 PM
Alabama doesn’t really have a chance at the College Football Playoff, do they? I mean I don’t think so but I know ESPN’s love for the Bama brand. Oh and do you want some laughs? Auburn needs a win here to be bowl-eligible AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Barely got that out before laughing. Predicted score: Alabama 41 Auburn 17.
UAB (-17.5) at Louisiana Tech
3:30 PM
The Blazers are having a down year. At least a down for year for this program since they were resurrected. They can get in to a bowl game with a win here. Predicted score: UAB 35 Louisiana Tech 18.
Minnesota (+3.5) at Wisconsin
3:30 PM
Look there’s nothing much going on here. Neither team really has a legit shot at the Big Ten West title. And they are both going bowling. Meh. Predicted score: Wisconsin 30 Minnesota 26.
Wake Forest (-3.5) at Duke
3:30 PM
Duke has been a massive surprise this season. They have been seriously competitive all season and Mike Elko is going to get a bit of Coach of the Year consideration (even though he won’t win). This game doesn’t mean anything as both teams are comfortably bowl-eligible. Predicted score: Wake Forest 38 Duke 26.
UPDATE #3: This still isn’t showing on the specialty pack guide although it should in the next 24 hours.
Virginia at Virginia Tech
3:30 PM
cancelled
The Commonwealth Cup game between UVA and VT has been cancelled. I am not surprised by this decision and it was made a lot easier by the fact that neither team would be going to a bowl game this year anyway. I put forth an idea on Twitter of maybe having the game during Army-Navy week (before the game perhaps) and have the ticket money go to the families or charity or something like that. Don’t think that would go through as I have a feeling the Virginia football program just needs this season to end so they can continue their mourning.
Memphis (+4.5) at SMU
3:30 PM
Both teams are 6-5. This means very little in the grand scheme of things. Predicted score: SMU 31 Memphis 25.
UPDATE #4: This isn’t showing on the specialty pack guide. I am sure the UVA-VT cancellation has to be adjusted before this will show up.
Troy (-13.5) at Arkansas State
3:30 PM
This is an odd one. This game was moved here during the shuffle caused by the Hoos-Hokies cancellation. Non-cable users in the U.S. can get this game on ESPN+ as an ESPNU game. I have a feeling this might be enough to screw things up on the specialty pack end of things meaning this game would show up nowhere here. We shall see. Predicted score: Troy 36 Arkansas State 13.
UPDATE #5: Well I am right that at this point the specialty pack is not showing this game. I have a feeling that will change by Thursday afternoon but I will keep you all updated.
Iowa State (+10) at #4 TCU
4:00 PM
The Horned Frogs cannot falter here. They are closing in on a dream season and the last thing they need is a struggle against the Cyclones. I could see ISU keeping this one close in what could be Matt Campbell’s final game as head coach of the Clones. Predicted score: TCU 34 Iowa State 24.
#14 Utah (-29.5) at Colorado
4:00 PM
Utah doesn’t have a shot at the Pac-12 Championship so this means little to them. Colorado is horrendously awful so I am sure they want this season to end quickly. Predicted score: Utah 42 Colorado 10.
Saturday Primetime
#5 LSU (-10) at Texas A&M
7:00 PM
LSU cannot look ahead to Georgia despite the fact that the Aggies might very well be the worst team in the SEC this year. Never thought I would say that about a Jimbo Fisher-coached team but they are awful. Predicted score: LSU 39 Texas A&M 23.
#22 UCF (-19.5) at USF
7:00 PM
The Knights should mop the floor with USF. They need to, otherwise they unbelievably won’t go to the AAC Championship and destroyed their Cotton Bowl chances in a matter of one week. Predicted score: UCF 48 USF 14.
#15 Notre Dame (+5.5) at #6 USC
7:30 PM
Notre Dame looked dead to rights earlier in the season. Now, if they win here, they probably lock up an Orange Bowl bid. Incredible. USC, on the other hand, has already clinched a spot in the Pac-12 title game and have to win here to keep their CFP hopes alive. ABC was smart to put this in primetime. Predicted score: USC 43 Notre Dame 40.
Tulsa (+12) at Houston
7:30 PM
Nothing to play for here. Unless it’s close, don’t bother. Predicted score: Houston 31 Tulsa 26.
#10 Tennessee (-14) at Vanderbilt
7:30 PM
This is actually a big game for both teams. Crazy, right? The Dores win here and they go bowling which would be huge for this program that has struggled since James Franklin left. The Vols need to keep up with the rest of the teams above them if they want any hope of getting into the College Football Playoff, as much of a long shot as it is. And both teams will want to destroy the chances of the other. Too bad for Vandy that I have a feeling Tennessee will show up VERY angry. Predicted score: Tennessee 49 Vanderbilt 13.
Pittsburgh (-6.5) at Miami
8:00 PM
A Miami win gets the Canes bowl-eligible. It’s shocking how far this team has fallen. Good call shitcanning Manny Diaz for no reason other than to nab Mario Cristobal, right? Some of these programs just overthink these kinds of things, usually to their detriment. Predicted score: Miami 22 Pittsburgh 15.
Kansas (+12) at #12 Kansas State
8:00 PM
OK sure the primetime slate doesn’t have some of the pizazz as the earlier games of the day (minus the ND-USC game) but a lot of these games still have importance. KSU wins here and they head to JerryWorld for the first time for the Big XII Championship. Kansas can stop that from happening. And it could happen. Kansas is actually pretty good. Predicted score: Kansas State 36 Kansas 30.
Saturday Late Night
Air Force (-1.5) at San Diego State
9:00 PM
SDSU and the AFA squandered any chances of promising seasons early on in the season. Both teams are still having decent years but they are being overshadowed by a few other teams who have just been that much better when it counted. Predicted score: San Diego State 23 Air Force 17.
SE Missouri State at Montana
10:00 PM
How about this? FCS Playoffs on ESPN2? Sure. But the first round of the playoffs? This has not happened since they expanded to 24 teams in 2013. Should be a nice change of pace. And it should be seriously cold up in Missoula. Predicted score: Montana 38 SE Missouri State 36.
UPDATE #6: For some reason, this isn’t appearing on the specialty pack guide. I’m sure it will soon enough but being an FCS game I am a bit worried it won’t end up appearing at all.
#13 Washington (-2) at Washington State
10:30 PM
If Oregon loses to Oregon State earlier in the day, this game becomes massive. The Huskies can then clinch a Pac-12 Championship Game spot with a win here in the Apple Cup. Otherwise, this game isn’t really that important. I mean I will watch it. Hell, I will also watch the BYU-Stanford game that starts half an hour after this. Why? Because that’s what I do. I honestly can’t totally figure it out anymore. Predicted score: Washington State 24 Washington 14.
UPDATE: I have updated the rankings to match the CFP Rankings.
Holy shit that’s a lot of football! No complaints though since we know what it will be like in a few months. I will be on Twitter often but not all the time as even I need sleep/pass out. As I mentioned about TSN last week, their coverage is much reduced this year for the final week of the college football regular season. I wouldn’t look too much into this as the World Cup takes up most of the early window and that’s where TSN usually had three or four games alone. Does it suck for college football fans who don’t have the specialty pack? Absolutely. But I guess if you are a college football fan, buying a specialty pack would be the least you would do, no?
I will keep this post updated when need be. It wouldn’t surprise me if there were some specialty pack updates. I hope TSN is set but I don’t trust them fully. Anyway, have a great rest of the week and enjoy the games everyone!