That was a nice appetizer. Now the real fun begins! Your Week 1 College Football TV Schedule

Posted on August 31, 2023 by guelphbossman

Alright, we fucking made it! Well, we mostly made it last week. The appetizer. The scallops if you like watching Hell’s Kitchen. But this is the main course coming up. The true start of the season for the rest of college football. I still agree with some people that either Week Zero has to be bulked up a bit to give it some extra oomph to start the season or just start calling it Week One since Week Zero is honestly a dumb name. Well, if I was college football commissioner…

…ha ha like they’d give that title to a Canadian. That would be blasphemy, especially in the states on the southern end of the spectrum, geographically (and educationally) speaking.

OK enough is enough! It’s schedule time. I have to get back into posting mode and what a way to do it than to wade in the shallow end a bit last week and then plunge off a dock 200 metres out into a deep lake this week. What could go wrong?

Thursday

We get right into two fairly big games on the first Thursday of the college football season. Matt Rhule gets to start proving he can turn around any college football team as his Huskers travel to Minneapolis and the question about Cam Rising and Brant Kuithe playing might be answered by the morning of the game but who knows with Kyle Whittingham. I am sure gamblers would be pissed if they had to wait until just before gametime. TSN also starts their season with the UF-Utah game.

UPDATE: Cam Rising has been ruled out for the UF-Utah game.

Friday

Hate to say it but the game of the night might end up being The Battle for Miami between the Miami of Ohio and the Miami of Florida. That is unless Mario Cristobal has truly turned the Canes around. Then it might be a bloodbath. UL-GT might end up being good but you never know which Louisville team you are going to get. Finally…it’s Hawaii Test time! Starting just an hour before midnight? Oh baby, bring it on!

By the way, UL-GT will start on TSN5 joined in progress after the NWSL game is complete, which should be around 10:00.

Saturday Early

The first true remote control portion of the season. My remote control is going to hate me. Well, hate me more. It already hates me I’m sure. We shall see how Neon Deion does in Colorado’s opener in TCU. I mean, hell, if you looked at the ads for the game, you would have figured TCU was an FCS team with how little they were shown. FSU-PU should be a fairly interesting game and a good potential for a win by the Group of Five over the Power Five. Also, UVA returns to the field for the first time since the horrific tragedy late last season where three of their players were gunned down during a school excursion.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
Portland State at #15 Oregon	3:00
Boise State at #10 Washington	3:30
Wofford at Pittsburgh	3:30
Towson at Maryland	3:30
#3 Ohio State at Indiana	3:30
USF at WKU	3:30
UMass at Auburn	3:30
Rice at #11 Texas	3:30
Tennessee State at #13 Notre Dame	3:30
California at North Texas	4:00
SE Louisiana at Mississippi State	4:00

I guess you could say things get slightly better here. Boise-Washington could end up being very important when it comes to the New Year’s Six. By the way, the new clock rules started this past weekend. The ones where the clock doesn’t stop on first down until the final two minutes of the first and second halves. A little more extreme than my suggestion of doing it for the first and third quarters but I digress. Anyway, it seems like the amount of time saved during the game was equal to the amount of commercials added on. I’ll admit it: didn’t see that one coming. Especially since baseball broadcasts are shorter with their pitch clock. Either way, to the people who said this is what ruins the game, I am sure you are the same people who thought playing freshmen and NIL were horrible things as well. Also, to the people who did the whole “I told you so” thing…unless you have the receipts you can shove that shit up your ass.

“I told you so!”

“When?”

“Uh…”

Yeah that’s right, go fuck yourself.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Nevada at #6 USC	6:30
Washington State at Colorado State	7:00
New Mexico at #23 Texas A&M	7:00
Army at ULM	7:00
South Carolina vs. #21 North Carolina (in Charlotte)	7:30
Toledo at Illinois	7:30
Texas Tech at Wyoming	7:30
West Virginia at #7 Penn State	7:30
Middle Tennessee at #4 Alabama	7:30
Old Dominion at Virginia Tech	8:00
South Alabama at #24 Tulane	8:00

This primetime schedule looks a fair amount different than most of the primetime schedules in the past. Big Ten on NBC! Mountain West on CBS! I’m sure we will get used to it very quickly. Well, maybe not the Mountain West on CBS since they only have a few games on the main network. USA-Tulane is a massive Group of Five match and the winner gets a quick leg up on the competition for that one spot in a New Year’s Six bowl game. SC-NC should be good and I hope it’s a good crowd for a neutral site since I usually don’t like college neutral site games. Finally, Wazzu and CSU meet in what could end up being a conference game starting next season.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
Northern Arizona at Arizona	10:00
Idaho State at San Diego State	10:30
Coastal Carolina at UCLA	10:30

After the Hawaii Test the night before, I should be ready to tackle this set of late night games. Then again, I will be ten hours in once the NAU-U of A game starts so we shall see how I am at that point. Almost feels like I’m training for this which is absurd but I’m sure some people do it (how I don’t know). UCLA is on upset alert with the Chants coming into the Rose Bowl. A win there and the Sun Belt could look like the Group of Five conference to beat going forward.

Sunday

		US	Canada
Northwestern at Rutgers	Noon
Jackson State vs. Florida A&M (in Miami)	3:00
#18 Oregon State at San Jose State	3:30
#5 LSU vs. #8 Florida State (in Orlando)	7:30

Sunday CBS doubleheader? Sunday CBS doubleheader! That’s right, two games on CBS on Sunday including Northwestern playing their first game after all the ridiculousness about the team came out a month or so ago. And yes, I will watch that game. But the game of the day, week, and one of the games of the year goes Sunday night. Winner probably puts themselves immediately into the national title picture while the loser, while not eliminated, has to pretty much run the table the rest of the way to get a shot. High stakes in the happiest place on Earth (if you don’t live anywhere near Scandinavia).

Monday

		US	Canada
#9 Clemson at Duke	8:00

There are quite a few people who are putting Clemson on Upset Alert for this one. Really? I mean I can’t see it happening but man would it be a crazy way to start the season.

Hey, Watch This!

LSU vs. Florida State (in Orlando) (Sunday, 7:30, ABC) – Easily the game to watch for Week 1 and an early candidate for Game of the Year if it’s anything like last year’s game. Even casual college football fans should be geared up for this one. As I said above, the winner is instantly in the national title picture, the loser will have some work to do.

South Carolina vs. North Carolina (in Charlotte) (7:30, ABC/TSN2) – Neutral site games are ruling the day as the battle for which Carolina is better (that’s a pretty wordy name for a rivalry game) happens in Charlotte in primetime (said that in my head in Chris Berman’s voice) on ABC (and TSN2). Should be quite the intriguing game and I’d be shocked if it wasn’t a packed house for this one. Because if it isn’t, those two fanbases should be ashamed of themselves.

Boise State at Washington (3:30, ABC/TSN2) – The return of the Chris Petersen Bowl. Many have the Huskies and Michael Penix Jr. doing big things this season. I just have this funny feeling that the schedule will be too daunting for them to motor through. And that includes this game right here against a Broncos team that wants to get back to the New Year’s Six badly and believes they have their best shot in a long time after the American Conference exodus of their three best programs.

South Alabama at Tulane (8:00, specialty pack) – This is a big mega Group of Five matchup right here. Two of the favourites going toe-to-toe with the winner getting to the front of the G-5 pack right off the hop. Kind of wish it got a better network assignment considering the not-so-great Week 1 schedule but hey, at least we can see the game up here, right?

Sickos Game of the Week

Old Dominion at Virginia Tech (8:00, specialty pack) – Like last year, I will also pick a game that you would have to be a complete Sicko to watch the entirety of. I think I might qualify and if this was a standalone game then God damn it I would watch the whole fucking thing. The criteria are as follows:

The game must be not good on paper. Preferably horrifically bad on paper.
The game must be shown here in Canada in some form (no IPTV or illegal streams allowed in this section).

Yeah that’s it. Two criteria. That’s all.

Anyway, this is the pick for Week One because holy shit this could be all kinds of awful. I’m not going to go into too much depth on this one because it frankly doesn’t deserve it. Now watch it end up being a thrilling game.

Also, I am going with the term Sickos this season. Every true college football fan knows what a Sicko is and if you don’t, follow Sickos Committee on Twitter or X or whatever the fuck Elon is calling it these days. One of the best accounts on Twitter bar none. Or X. Or…something even worse.

Wanna Bet?

Now we really get into the gambling and things. And yes, I am picking against the spread since picking games straight up doesn’t make me look bad enough!

Nebraska (+7) over Minnesota (with the Gophers wininng a close one)

Florida (+4.5) over Utah (and the outright win for a mini-upset!)

Miami (-16.5) over Miami-OH

Stanford (-3.5) over Hawaii

Ball State (+26) over Kentucky (with the Cats winning relatively easily)

Virginia (+28) over Tennessee (Vols win by about three touchdowns)

Indiana (+30) over Ohio State (tOSU wins easy but a bit of a sloppy start to the season for the Buckeyes)

Washington (-14) over Boise State

Texas (-35) over Rice (why does Rice play Texas?)

South Carolina (+2.5) over North Carolina (and the outright win)

Tulane (-6.5) over South Alabama

Oregon State (-16.5) over San Jose State

Florida State (+2.5) over LSU (and the big opening night win)

Five straight days of college football coming up, people! Hopefully I am ready for it. Takes a lot of stamina to watch that much football. As far as I can tell, everything is set on the specialty packs although I did notice one schedule I look at having no ESPN games for Rogers but all the others were listed. Werid. I’m sure the ESPN games will be there for all you subscribers. I wil be on the X machine (@TheBauceman) most of the time games are on so you can check me out there if you are still OK with what that site has become. Without Tweetdeck it is infinitely shittier but I make due.

We made it. Time for you to be a crazy Canadian college football fan. I know I am. Have a great rest of your week everyone.

Bowl Games? Yep. New Year’s Six? Sure. College Football Playoff? Uh-huh. Coaching Hot Seat List? Why not? My Heisman Ballot? I mean, if you have to…

Posted on August 8, 2023 by guelphbossman

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!

Oh man, here we go again

Posted on August 1, 2023 by guelphbossman

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.

	Conference		Overall
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
West
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.

	Conference		Overall
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
West
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.

	Conference		Overall
	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.

	Conference		Overall
	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’.

	Conference		Overall
	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!

The Student Finally Defeats the Master – Week 6 College Football Recap

Posted on October 11, 2021 by guelphbossman

Up until early Saturday evening, Nick Saban had been 24-0 against his former assistants. 24-0. That’s like an Undertaker-like streak. Completely insane. Then came the game.

The Aggies came out strong and it looked like the Crimson Tide defense was struggling. Yes we had seen this earlier in the year but it’s not like things had gone off the rails for them. But Bama’s offense could only do so much and couldn’t pull away. And even though TAMU was keeping pace, it felt to me (and I assume a lot of others) that eventually the Tide would win. Until Seth Small hit the field goal with no time left to clinch the Aggie victory, I still thought the Tide would pull it off, somehow. That’s just what they do. This time it did not happen. The field goal was good (barely) and the fans stormed the field. The mighty Alabama Crimson Tide had been defeated, 41-38 in a thriller.

For people saying this is starting to feel like 2007, you might want to tuck that away. This is shaping up as being way more volatile than 2007 could ever think to be. I’ve said something every week about this and major things continue to happen. We aren’t even halfway through the season. And this past week could have been considered one of the best Saturdays of college football in a long time. A lot of good games, a lot of close games and just a lot of shit happening that is turning the college football world upside down. If it’s chaos you want, this season is bringing it. Now let’s see what pitfall Georgia will fall victim to because we kind of know that’s coming, right?

Let’s get right to the recap as it was a fun (for the most part) 14+ hours of football.

And now for the rest of the recap

A great game down in Iowa City this past weekend. Iowa grinded out a victory over Penn State in a Top 5 matchup. Sean Clifford was knocked out of the game in the second quarter with the Nittany Lions leading 17-3 and the offense fell apart. Iowa’s defense saved the day and now the Hawkeyes have legit College Football Playoff aspirations. I think everyone agrees except for one Penn State fan who was pretty upset that I had mentioned Iowa and the CFP. He basically said I was dumb and that Iowa should be ranked 6th in the new poll, so three spots down…after a win. Riiiiiiiiiiight. I mentioned Iowa should be #3 and I will admit I was wrong. They are actually #2 now. My mistake.
An absolutely insane game went down at the Cotton Bowl for the Red River Shootout and it’s no surprise since this game is almost always nuts. Texas looked like they had Oklahoma on the ropes early. Then Spencer Rattler was benched so I assume most thought it was over. But Caleb Williams came in and did a good job in bringing the Sooners all the way back from a 21-point deficit to win the game. Let’s be honest here though: the combination of Kennedy Brooks going crazy (including what was essentially a walk-off touchdown to win the game) and the Longhorn defense self-destructing was what gave Boomer Sooner the big win. Oklahoma had looked like the worst undefeated Top 10 team in quite some time but this victory could be a turning point for a team who may not meet an equal until Bedlam in late November.
How about that game down in Lincoln? As the game went along, I really started to believe that finally the Huskers, under Scott Frost, would get that huge victory to start turning the program around. Man, was I wrong. In typical heartbreaking fashion, Nebraska blew the game late and allowed Michigan a late game-winning field goal. The Wolverines honestly looked pretty pedestrian for a good portion of the game. They really can’t be like that going forward considering how brutally difficult the Big Ten East looks. As for Nebraska, oof. Another loss, another black mark on Scott Frost’s record and unless things turn around I could see the program moving on since nothing is really improving at the end of the day.
Speaking of hot seats, there was another great game on the night, this one in Blacksburg. It felt like the Hokies would hand Notre Dame their second straight loss and almost destroy their New Year’s Six chances. Instead, Jack Coan, who played like shit early on, came on, drove the Irish down the field for the touchdown and game-tying two-point conversion and then drove them again for the winning field goal with only 17 seconds remaining. Great performance but Virginia Tech had their chances to stop the Irish as their defense had been pretty good in the second half. Unfortunately they came up short and Justin Fuente’s seat gets juuuuuuust a bit hotter.
To start Saturday there was the Arkansas-Ole Miss game which was basically drugs. So damn ridiculous and completely defense-optional. Both offenses went crazy and both teams got 50-burgers on the day. It came down to the end where Sam Pittman decided he has balls the size of coconuts and would go for 2 and the lead instead of the extra point to send it to overtime. The pass fell incomplete and the Rebels won a game that raised the blood pressure of both team’s fanbases. Now the Rebel fans can truly enjoy that popcorn.
Let history show that the Auburn Tigers were, at one point, tied with the Georgia Bulldogs 3-3. I’m sure most fans on The Plains who watched the game would love to just remember up to that point and forget the rest. Georgia proved they are the undisputed number one team in the land (for now) as they destroyed Auburn by 24. And this is with Stetson “The Mailman” Bennett at quarterback. What happens when J.T. Daniels comes back? Or do they platoon? This team has looked better than Bama all season and now they will have the #1 ranking to back that up. Their next two games against Kentucky and Florida will either prove that’s where they belong or bring them back down to Earth a bit.
I didn’t think Florida State could keep close with North Carolina. So what did they do? Just beat them fairly easily and look as good as they were back in the Jameis Winston days (OK maybe not THAT good but still pretty good). I am ruing the day I decided to be a smart guy and pick North Carolina as my chic pick to get to the College Football Playoff. I feel like an idiot. So they can now go 3-9 for all I care since it doesn’t really matter anymore (to me, anyway).
Another game that was bonkers that no one saw was the game between South Alabama and Texas State. I believe this is the longest game since they changed the overtime rules yet again. I am not a fan of the new rules. If you don’t know, starting in the second overtime, you must go for two after a touchdown and then starting with the third overtime, it becomes a two-point conversion contest. The college football equivalent of hockey’s shootout. Ugh. Anyway, this game went to four overtimes and there were so many reviews it got ridiculous. Like the replay booth was being paid per review. Texas State won after stopping USA’s two-point conversion attempt.
If I told you in, say, August of 2020 that Ed Orgeron would be on one of the hottest seats in the nation by October of 2021 you would have thought I was smoking crack. But LSU’s loss to Kentucky this past Saturday will put Coach Eaux in that seat. Look, Kentucky is a damn good team and losing to them is not a bad thing. Not looking competitive when you are a team that should be in the Top 25 range is a different story altogether. The team looks like there is a lack of effort and it shows. The next few weeks will probably help determine Eddie O’s future.
Ugh what a fall from grace for BYU. The Cougars were stunned by Boise State and are now not undefeated. Unless a lot of truly wacky things occur (and I’m not saying they won’t), BYU’s chances of the New Year’s Six are essentially gone. What does this mean? It means when they do become bowl-eligible they will be locked in to the Independence Bowl in Shreveport. Yuck. Imagine dropping from a potential Fiesta Bowl berth to that. Brutal.
Put up your hand if you thought Wake Forest…ok I am going to stop there since no one really thought much of Wake Forest this season. OK that’s not totally true. I had them going 9-3 this season and many had them in the 6-8 win range. But to think this team is the only ACC hope left for the College Football Playoff in mid-October? Yeah, no one thought that. Wake had to survive a surprisingly tough Syracuse team, in overtime, to stay undefeated. Now, with their next three games against Army, Duke and North Carolina, it looks like the Deacs could be 9-0 and firmly in the Top 10 when they host NC State in mid-November. They have Clemson and Boston College after that so they have a rough end of the season to look forward to but get through all those unscathed? They could make some history in December.
Welp, Oregon State’s time in the sun went quick. The Beavers were looking like they could make some hay in the Pac-12 with all the turmoil in the conference. Instead, they shit the bed and lost to a Washington State team who’s biggest news has been coach Nick Rolovich and his absolute refusal to get the COVID vaccine. That conference is an absolute mess.
Another great game was shockingly at the Naval Academy. No I’m not kidding. The Midshipmen played undefeated SMU very tough. The Ponies needed a fourth quarter touchdown and a couple of big defensive stops to escape Annapolis with the W. I think Navy, despite being 1-4, is probably quite a bit better than their record indicates. SMU? They are very lucky considering some of the games they’ve been in this season. If they can win their next four, a massive, probably primetime, game with Cincinnati looms large.
Louisville…ugh. They had the game won against Virginia. But instead of going for it on 4th and about 3 fairly deep in Hoos territory, they kicked the field goal. Then their defense allowed Virginia to drive the length of the field in two minutes for the touchdown and the win. Cowardly coaching from Scott Satterfield and it might cost him his job. And did anyone think this Cavaliers team would be 4-2 at this point? I highly doubt it. The ACC is another conference that’s just a dog’s breakfast (other than Wake Forest).
Finally, UTSA was able to outlast Western Kentucky’s potent offense. Quietly, the Roadrunners are 6-0, undefeated, and no one is noticing. So what happens if this team finishes undefeated? My guess is they will get no respect in the polls but they really should, despite the conference they are in.

Alright that was seriously fun. And the late night schedule was light so it made it easier to pay a bit of attention rather than have my full attention which can get tiring into the wee hours of the morning. Alright, let’s now look at the Bossman Top 25:

#1	Georgia
#2	Iowa
#3	Cincinnati
#4	Oklahoma
#5	Ohio State
#6	Oregon
#7	Alabama
#8	Michigan
#9	Penn State
#10	Ole Miss
#11	Notre Dame
#12	Michigan State
#13	Coastal Carolina
#14	Kentucky
#15	Oklahoma State
#16	Wake Forest
#17	Florida
#18	Texas A&M
#19	Arkansas
#20	BYU
#21	Arizona State
#22	NC State
#23	Auburn
#24	Clemson
#25	SMU

Yes there are a few somewhat glaring differences between my poll and the AP Poll and that happens of course. I have Alabama at #7 and they only dropped to #5 in the AP Poll. AP dropped Oregon whereas I moved them up to #6 since they didn’t play so why should they drop? You can put the #8 through #12 teams in a hat and mix them up and any combination would probably be fine. A lot is going to happen for these teams the next three weeks so no point in getting all bent out of shape about it now. And I did mention undefeated UTSA earlier. I also don’t have them in my Top 25 but they are just outside of it meaning a win next week should put them in. Finally, I got Coastal at #13 and they are #15 in the AP Poll and Coaches Poll. I have a feeling they may get to #12 or even #11 but that would be their ceiling unless a lot of crazy shit happens to the teams currently above them. Which, considering the way this season has gone, wouldn’t surprise me one bit.

WEEKDAY FUN BELT ACTION! Yes, it’s that time of year that we start getting more weekday football. And this one, between Appalachian State and Louisiana, is a pretty big game. And it’s tomorrow night! Hell yeah! God, I love Tuesday and Wednesday night college football. Kind of feels like now we can say that Autumn has truly commenced. Have a good week everyone!

Urban Warfare – Week 6 College Football TV Schedule

Posted on October 6, 2021 by guelphbossman

OK I know this is an NFL issue but really it does have college connections. If you don’t know what’s going on with Urban Meyer…actually, you know what I will just assume you will know he got wasted and tried fingering a younger woman’s ass on the dance floor after she was grinding on him. Gonna be honest I have never had that happen to me but then again I’m not a multi-millionaire former college/current NFL coach so there’s that. So now Urban has gone in to full blown PR apology mode. His press conference was ridiculous where he wouldn’t even look into the camera or at the people asking him questions. Supposedly the team has no confidence in him anymore although I wonder why they would have had confidence in him in the first place since he has a history of things “happening” when things aren’t going his way. Not saying he didn’t do this on purpose to get fired but you never know with this guy. He obviously doesn’t give a shit about his wife and family so there’s also that. Like why do trust this guy to coach? Oh that’s right, he won. A lot. No one gives a shit if you’re a complete asshole if you win/are successful. That seems to be the modus operandi of society in general. The fact that people may be shocked by this is ridiculous.

Anyway, how does this relate to college football? Come on, really? There is one job opening available that’s lucrative with another on the way (probably). The Urban Meyer to USC (or Miami) chatter has started and it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if this was his angle. If these schools had any dignity they wouldn’t hire the fucker but, again, winning is the only thing so these schools will do whatever it takes. Let’s be honest: all you have to do is look at a bunch of college football programs, see the issues that have happened there, and realize that many of these coaches get away with way too much and are way too powerful on campus. The sooner this type of crap ends, the better. But it won’t so I’ll just stop right there.

Enough of the rant, let’s get to the schedule.

Thursday

		US	Canada
Houston at Tulane	7:30 PM
#15 Coastal Carolina at Arkansas State	7:30 PM

Uncle Dana may have a good thing going in H-Town. It would really suck for them to stumble in New Orleans. Same goes for the Chants but I think they will have an easier time of it.

Friday

		US	Canada
Charlotte at FIU	7:00 PM
Temple at #5 Cincinnati	7:00 PM
Morgan State at Howard	8:00 PM
Stanford at #22 Arizona State	10:30 PM

Four games and only one that could end up being truly interesting. Weeknight Pac-12 After Dark could be fun with a pretty good ASU team hosting a Stanford team coming off a massive (albeit controversial) upset of Oregon. I am just going to assume that Cincy has to win by 50 to stay in the Top 5.

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
#6 Oklahoma vs. #21 Texas (in Dallas)	Noon
#11 Michigan State at Rutgers	Noon
Northern Illinois at Toledo	Noon
#13 Arkansas at #17 Ole Miss	Noon
South Carolina at Tennessee	Noon
Maryland at #7 Ohio State	Noon
Vanderbilt at #20 Florida	Noon
Georgia Tech at Duke	12:30 PM

As big as last week? No, but still fairly good. Five games with ranked teams and two with some ranked team-on-ranked team violence. The biggest game in this timeslot is, by far, the Red River Shootout. And again I will mention that this will never be in primetime because of the area the Cotton Bowl is in. It’s not the safest of neighbourhoods and that is not a great look to have 80,000 fans leaving a stadium to an area like that.

Arkansas-Ole Miss would have been on CBS if one of those teams had won last week. Instead, both teams got blown out and end up at Noon and don’t even get the ESPN primetime spot. The rest of the games, even the ones with ranked teams, aren’t the greatest but you can be sure at least one of them will be really good because that’s how college football operates. If I had to pick, I would go with Rutgers giving MSU a hard time.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
Virginia at Louisville	3:00 PM
Boise State at #10 BYU	3:30 PM
Wisconsin at Illinois	3:30 PM
#2 Georgia at #18 Auburn	3:30 PM
#24 SMU at Navy	3:30 PM
Florida State at North Carolina	3:30 PM
#19 Wake Forest at Syracuse	3:30 PM
Ball State at Western Michigan	3:30 PM
#4 Penn State at #3 Iowa	4:00 PM
North Texas at Missouri	4:00 PM

OK things pick up in the afternoon. PSU-Iowa is a Game of the Year candidate for sure. UGA also gets a test on the Plains (if Bo Nix goes all Johnny Manziel again). Glad to see BYU and Boise State getting to be on ABC. It’s too bad that Boise isn’t as good as it has been in the past few years but still a big game. It’s too bad that TSN isn’t really stepping up just yet. I get that they still have other contractual obligations to deal with but this is part of the reason people like me move to IPTV. Not like they care though.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Wyoming at Air Force	7:00 PM
TCU at Texas Tech	7:00 PM
Buffalo at Kent State	7:00 PM
#9 Michigan at Nebraska	7:30 PM
#14 Notre Dame at Virginia Tech	7:30 PM
LSU at #16 Kentucky	7:30 PM
#1 Alabama at Texas A&M	8:00 PM
Utah at USC	8:00 PM

For the first few weeks of the season, it looked like we would get a Game of the Year candidate. I had pegged Bama and TAMU to be in the primetime CBS game. It was looking huge. Yeah that has fizzled out. Bama is looking like one of the best two teams in college football and Aggie fans are wondering how much more money that will give to/waste on Jimbo Fisher. I have a feeling CBS may regret making this their singular primetime affair of the season. Honestly, you have to consider ND-VT and even Michigan-Nebraska as better games than the aforementioned CBS primetime affair. Also, we get to see Kentucky hopefully not blow a Top 20 ranking. I get that Mark Stoops has done a good job in Lexington but his blood pressure must be all over the place.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
Memphis at Tulsa	9:00 PM
New Mexico State at Nevada	10:30 PM
UCLA at Arizona	10:30 PM

This is a less than stellar late night schedule. Three games that might end up being over relatively early. With no Hawaii Test it might be an early night for the ol’ Bossman.

Games to set your eyeballs on

Penn State at Iowa (4:00, FOX) – This is an absolutely massive game now that Ohio State has hit a bit of a speed bump. Whoever wins this becomes the de facto new Big Ten favourite. It doesn’t disqualify either team from the College Football Playoff with a loss but it does make it difficult for sure. Is this the biggest game ever in Iowa City? Perhaps. At the very least it’s probably the biggest game in Kirk Ferentz’s time at the helm of the Hawkeyes. A win here may allow us to eventually see some new blood in the CFP (although I guess I could say the same about Penn State).

Georgia at Auburn (3:30, CBS) – Auburn absolutely needs this win here. They still don’t seem to be getting a whole lot of respect and Bo Nix, in particular, despite the fact he went off against LSU is still considered not much of a starting quarterback. A Tiger victory proves they, and Bo, are for real. Georgia won’t be treating this as a letdown spot and will be aggressive from the opening bell like they were against Arkansas. I think in the end we just hope they all have fun and that Brad gets to call a good game, right?

Oklahoma vs. Texas (in Dallas) (Noon, ABC) – Ah, the Red River Shootout. In the decrepit Cotton Bowl. I get that it’s historic but one of these days one of the stands is going to collapse. I mean at least UAB figured out to move out equally broken down Legion Field and get their own stadium. Anyway, this game should be wild and wacky because most of the time it is. So don’t write in the Sooners as the victors just yet.

Arkansas at Ole Miss (Noon, TSN2) – If both of these teams had won, would CBS have tried to switch the primetime game? I think they are already a bit miffed with the choice: kind of like when they picked the Egg Bowl over the Iron Bowl a few years back and both Mississippi teams fell off their perch before that. Not saying both of these teams aren’t good because they are. They are, however, still second-tier in the SEC and in the SEC West and will not get above that this season. I see both squads being angry after coming off ass-whoopings so expect a chippy affair in Oxford.

Notre Dame at Virginia Tech (7:30, specialty pack) – It falls off a steep cliff after the first four games. How far of a fall you ask? Well, this game is on the ACC Network. This may be their first appearance in the top 5 games of the week and I’m too lazy to look back so I will just say that’s the case. The Irish could be a tad upset after dropping a game to Cincinnati last week (despite the fact the Bearcats are really good). But it is in Blacksburg and Justin Fuente, as is the norm, is fighting for his job as we kind of knew would happen once Frank Beamer and Bud Foster left. So it could end up being a sneaky good game.

Honourable mention: Alabama at Texas A&M (8:00, CBS); LSU at Kentucky (7:30, specialty pack); Stanford at Arizona State (Friday, 10:30, specialty pack)

Wanna Bet?

Man, I made a lot of wrong picks last week. Yes I got quite a few right but picking Notre Dame, UCLA, LSU and Florida don’t look good. Alright, well this is the gambling section so here it is, you degenerates.

Georgia over Auburn

LSU over Kentucky (upset!)

Alabama over Texas A&M

Ole Miss over Arkansas

Oklahoma over Texas

Iowa over Penn State

Arizona State over Stanford

Notre Dame over Virginia Tech

Nevada over New Mexico State

Kent State over Buffalo

Missouri over North Texas

I will be probably live-tweeting most of Saturday (@TheBauceman). I do end up taking Twitter breaks because I just can’t handle it for that many hours in a row. But I do scoreboard watch and Twitter watch to see if there are games I have to turn to soon to watch a great finish. I always try to be smart in that way so I don’t miss anything good since it’s much better to watch live than during a highlight package (especially when you already know what happened but haven’t seen it). Have a great rest of the week everyone!

OK now that Clay’s gone, who’s next? – Week 4 College Football TV Schedule

Posted on September 22, 2021 by guelphbossman

Clay Helton started the Coaching Carousel for us early this year. Pair that with Randy Edsall’s resignation/retirement/whatever/bonus payment and it’s been a rough start for the Hot Seat coaches. So the question now is, who will be next. Let’s look at the candidates:

Got to start with Manny Diaz. He hasn’t exactly lit things up in Miami and brought back memories of The U. The problem is, it’s not like they have a lot of money to throw around to pay a buyout and bring in another coach. So they may be stuck at least through this season unless things get really bad in south Florida.
Mike Norvell. Good lord have the Noles been awful this year. I wonder when enough will be enough. This program doesn’t need to get back to the Bobby Bowden era but they have to get back to approaching the Jimbo Fisher era or they could have problems for years.
Geoff Collins. I know he needed time to change the team from an option team to run a pro-style offense. But when is it supposed to happen? It feels like it never will and that Collins really doesn’t deserve a chance to continue his quest in Atlanta.
Rod Carey. Let’s get out of the ACC and move to the American. Carey left a good gig at Northern Illinois to replace dental hygienist-in-training Matt Rhule at Temple and it has been an unmitigated disaster. If it wasn’t for USF they would be looking at an easy trip to the AAC basement.
Nick Rolovich. Rolovich’s problems aren’t just on the field where Wazzu has struggled mightily so far. His ideas about the COVID vaccine have rankled a lot of people and I honestly wonder if they will get rid of him just because he has become an annoying pest.
Walt Bell. Are they really going to get anyone great to come to UMass?

As you can see, I haven’t put some of the usual suspects like Frost, Brohm, Babers or Harbaugh. Probably because they have at least not done worse than expectations at this point and, in Harbaugh’s case, has exceeded them (so far). We are only a quarter of the way through the season so now that conference play is slowly beginning we will see how these coaches’ fortunes turn out.

So far after three weeks we have had a damn good season. Like a return to college football, if you will. Here’s hoping this continues. Let’s get to the schedule!

Thursday

		US	Canada
Marshall at Appalachian State	7:30 PM
Alcorn State at Arkansas-Pine Bluff	7:30 PM

Two games. Neither of them really that good. I mean, yeah, App State is still pretty good and could sneak through and cause a lot of problems in the Sun Belt. Marshall just a blew a big fourth quarter lead and lost to East Carolina. Nothing against the Pirates but yeesh that’s bad. But it is still mid-week college football which is always better than no mid-week college football. Especially if the Thursday Night Football matchup is not exactly great. And, how about that, it isn’t. The Panthers, they’re good. The Texans…yes I know they’re 1-1 but they beat the Jaguars so no, they are not good.

Friday

		US	Canada
Middle Tennessee at Charlotte	6:30 PM
Wake Forest at Virginia	7:00 PM
Brown at Harvard	7:00 PM
Liberty at Syracuse	8:00 PM
UNLV at #22 Fresno State	10:00 PM

OK this is better. Five games. And CBS Sports Network is doing a doubleheader with their weird 6:30 start time. It will be interesting to see how badly Fresno State will beat the Rebels, who now have Tate Fucking Martell as their quarterback. I really don’t get how he gets so many opportunities. Anyway, we also have the first look at Ivy League action for the first time since 2019. OK Wake-Hoos could be good so maybe put your focus on that one.

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
Texas Tech at Texas	Noon
Richmond at Virginia Tech	Noon
Ohio at Northwestern	Noon
Villanova at #6 Penn State	Noon
Boise State at Utah State	Noon
Miami-OH at Army	Noon
LSU at Mississippi State	Noon
Missouri at Boston College	Noon
Bowling Green at Minnesota	Noon
#12 Notre Dame vs. #18 Wisconsin (in Chicago)	Noon
#2 Georgia at Vanderbilt	Noon
CCSU at Miami	12:30 PM

Normally TSN would be just starting to step up with a bit more college football coverage. Not this weekend though. The Ryder Cup will dominate the TSN airwaves for a good part of Saturday so that moves all college football to TSN2 where there will be a quadrupleheader. As for the games themselves, past ND-Wisky, not a whole lot that would be considered must-watch. And you know what happens during weeks like this. So expect one of the following to happen:

Villanova comes close to upsetting Penn State but the Nittany Lions close it late.
Richmond shocks Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.
The Red Raiders throw for like 600 yards and beat Texas in a barnburner.
Mizzou and BC go to eight overtimes and maybe, just maybe, the new overtime rules aren’t as bad as I thought (they still are but anyway).

Finally, the Mountain West finally makes their way to CBS with Boise State who is just somewhat average going to Utah State who suddenly may have a prolific offense again. 1-3 start for the Broncos? Wouldn’t be a total shock.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
Rutgers at #19 Michigan	3:30 PM
Illinois at Purdue	3:30 PM
Kent State at Maryland	3:30 PM
#7 Texas A&M vs. #16 Arkansas (in Arlington)	3:30 PM
Wyoming at UConn	3:30 PM
#9 Clemson at NC State	3:30 PM
Louisville at Florida State	3:30 PM
UTSA at Memphis	3:30 PM
#14 Iowa State at Baylor	3:30 PM
Kansas at Duke	4:00 PM
Georgia State at #23 Auburn	Noon

A good old Southwest Conference showdown highlights the afternoon sked. For once, this neutral site game that Arkansas plays every year at JerryWorld is between two good teams. And Rutgers is on ABC! I was so hoping they would be on in primetime but I’ll take it. Other than that there’s not much of note unless you really need to watch Kansas and Duke play…in football. Oh and how does CBS now think about the UConn contract? This Huskies could be worse than the 2019 version which was one of the worst teams in a long time. To see some of the teams that end up on ESPN+ (or somehow worse) and then know that UConn is getting a national game many weeks is pretty sad (except for Conference USA teams who unfortunately are stuck with horrible TV contracts as it is).

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Tennessee at #11 Florida	7:00 PM
Kentucky at South Carolina	7:00 PM
Navy at Houston	7:00 PM
West Virginia at #4 Oklahoma	7:30 PM
#21 North Carolina vs. Georgia Tech (in Mercedes-Benz Stadium)	7:30 PM
Akron at #10 Ohio State	7:30 PM
Southern Miss at #1 Alabama	7:30 PM
Indiana at Western Kentucky	8:00 PM

Oh man. Feels like such a drop-off from the first two timeslots. WVU-Sooners could be pretty good if the Mountaineers get their offense going early. Navy and Houston, no matter how good or bad they both are, usually put on a great show. As for the rest? Bleh.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
USF at #15 BYU	10:15 PM
Arizona at #3 Oregon	10:30 PM
Colorado at Arizona State	10:30 PM

Mormon After Dark! If the Cougs play like the Cougs have played so far, that game should be done by halftime. As should the Zona-UO game. The only interesting one could be Colorado, who struggles to score, against Arizona State, who struggles to hold on to the ball. Fun times. Just a reminder, the Arizona-Oregon game will start in progress after Southern Miss-Alabama is done. Thus are the perils of hopping from network to network throughout the day and I always wonder why TSN does this.

Games to set your eyeballs on

Texas A&M vs. Arkansas (in Arlington) (3:30, CBS) – If you thought Arkansas would be in the Top 20 at this point of the season, raise your hand. Now put your hands down, you dirty liars. No one thought the Hogs would be this good. Maybe bowl-eligible. But they have looked seriously good and could put a serious damper on the Aggies’ national title aspirations and it wouldn’t be a total shock if the Razorbacks won. Also good to see Arkansas on CBS since they almost never get on there (except for the Black Friday game against Mizzou).

Notre Dame vs. Wisconsin (in Chicago) (Noon, FOX) – So the first two games on this list are neutral-site games. In late September. I mean they are great games and I am looking forward to them but I find all these neutral-site games usually take away from the pageantry and specialness of games in actual college football stadiums. It’s part of what sets it apart from the NFL. Anyway, the Irish continue their schedule hoping to win a game without struggling…..BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. That was a good one. This should be close which will make Irish fans sweat once again.

West Virginia at Oklahoma (7:30, ABC) – Is this the PEW! PEW! PEW! matchup of the week? Considering the Sooners defense and the Sooners offense, I would put the over/under at about 90. One of the worst Top 5 teams I’ve seen in a while. At some point, they are going to either blow a team out and remind them what they are really about or will lose a game they probably shouldn’t have and confirm what many think about them. Don’t count the ‘Eers out of this one as long as their offense plays like they did early against Virginia Tech and not late.

Rutgers at Michigan (3:30, ABC) – Fuck, yeah! Rutgers, baby! They haven’t been 3-0 in so long and haven’t been in a relatively important game on ABC in a long time as well. And they have a challenge because Michigan is also playing better than many believed. The winner stays alive in a seriously competitive Big Ten East. But the way things are going, both teams will be going bowling and maybe, just maybe, all seven teams in the division will be in the postseason as well for the first time ever.

Iowa State at Baylor (3:30, FOX) – No specialty pack games on the Games of the Week list, which is good for many Canadians. Yes, Iowa State was expected to be good and they have been underperforming. And Baylor has not been good since Matt Rhule left. Things, however, are changing in Waco with Dave Aranda in charge as they have started 3-0. And ISU should still have quite a good season so this could be a darkhorse great game.

Honourable mention: Clemson at NC State (3:30, TSN2); Tennessee at Florida (7:00, TSN2); Kansas State at Oklahoma State (7:00, not able to be seen in this country)

You wanna bet?

Eight out of eleven isn’t too bad. I mean it’s not awesome but hey I’ve had much worse weeks. Yes I picked Arizona State. Yes I picked UCF (which most others did) and yeah I also picked Miami (which most others did as well). So really not that bad I think OK fine let’s just get to this week’s picks already:

Michigan over Rutgers

Wisconsin over Notre Dame

Florida over Tennessee

Texas A&M over Arkansas

Clemson over NC State

Iowa State over Baylor

Oklahoma State over Kansas State

Oklahoma over West Virginia

Charlotte over Middle Tennessee

Arizona State over Colorado

Houston over Navy

OK here’s hoping we have another solid weekend of college football action. Enjoy the games everyone!

We got the Week Zero appetizer. Now it’s time for the Week 1 Main Course!

Posted on September 1, 2021 by guelphbossman

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Yes we have made it to what is really the official start of the college football season. You can count Week Zero if you want, and I do, but let’s be honest: it’s merely a tiny appetizer to what’s ahead. Like getting a platter of nachos before your meal except there are only four nacho chips on the platter with a tiny bit of melted cheese, a splatter of salsa and no jalapenos. Week One…now that’s where it’s at. A meatier schedule that really immerses us (finally) in what college football is all about. It gets me back into doing sweet fuck all most Saturdays (if I can help it). Great times.

So let’s get right down to brass tacks. Here is the glorious Week 1 schedule (in high def).

Wednesday

		US	Canada
Jacksonville State at UAB	7:30 PM

Wednesday? WEDNESDAY! Man this is great. Now we have SIX nights of college football during Week 1. Just awesome. I mean this game probably won’t be that good but at least it will be at UAB’s new stadium and not at Legion Field which looked like it was going to collapse at any moment.

UPDATE #2: This game is not in Birmingham. I wonder if their new stadium isn’t ready yet. Instead it is in Montgomery, site of the legendary Camellia Bowl.

UPDATE #3: Maybe I should have waited. Thanks to Pete Thamel on Twitter, UAB’s new stadium opens in October.

Thursday

		US	Canada
Temple at Rutgers	6:30 PM
Boise State at UCF	7:00 PM
USF at NC State	7:30 PM
East Carolina vs. Appalachian State (in Charlotte)	7:30 PM
Weber State at #24 Utah	7:30 PM
#4 Ohio State at Minnesota	8:00 PM
Bowling Green at Tennessee	8:00 PM
Southern Utah at #25 Arizona State	10:30 PM

Pretty big time Group of Five start with Boise State heading to Orlando to face the Knights of UCF. And FOX has an opening week Thursday game! Noice! Nice to see them jump into the pool. Not like it’s a super competitive matchup but it’s put them in the weekday night game and that’s hugely important. A couple of things I have to mention before you get too far into reading this. I am still not quite sure that you can get the Pac-12 Network on DAZN here in Canada. You’re supposed to be able to get the P12N games on there but looking at the site, that might not be the case. I will have to dig further. The other thing is that the specialty packs are, well, there. I don’t see anything there in terms of a schedule yet but I assume these games will end up there as they normally do.

UPDATE #4: Temple-Rutgers has been moved to Saturday at Noon because of the weather issues in and around New York City and will still be able to be seen on BTN.

UPDATE #5: Thanks to reader Dan, we now know that the Pac-12 Network is not on DAZN. But it’s free (for now) on their YouTube page. Nice!

Friday

		US	Canada
#10 North Carolina at Virginia Tech	6:00 PM
Old Dominion at Wake Forest	7:00 PM
Duke at Charlotte	7:00 PM
Michigan State at Northwestern	9:00 PM
Northern Colorado at Colorado	9:00 PM

OK this is better than Thursday night…but not by much. North Carolina starts what could be their biggest campaign ever with a tough one in Blacksburg. We get a nice TSN doubleheader with ESPN’s stupid three-hour windows. They just never learn. Also, if you are a glutton for punishment, check out Duke face Charlotte. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if the 49ers (not the San Francisco kind) beat Dook in what would be considered an upset but not a huge one.

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
#2 Oklahoma at Tulane (in Norman)	Noon
Colgate at Boston College	Noon
Fordham at Nebraska	Noon
Holy Cross at UConn	Noon
Western Michigan at Michigan	Noon
Army at Georgia State	Noon
#19 Penn State at #12 Wisconsin	Noon
ULM at Kentucky	Noon

A lot of games here. PSU-Wisky is a pretty massive game to start is off on Week 1. The winner here has the inside track on what could be a special Big Ten season (if they can beat Ohio State). We shall see if OU-Tulane will be played in New Orleans as the people of that area are dealing with Hurricane Ida as we speak. UPDATE: No. No it won’t be. It will be in Norman. And will Scott Frost be fired? If they somehow lose to Fordham then Frost might be fired during the post-game interview on the field.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
Fresno State at #11 Oregon	2:00 PM
#1 Alabama vs. #14 Miami (in Atlanta)	3:30 PM
#17 Indiana at #18 Iowa	3:30 PM
Marshall at Navy	3:30 PM
West Virginia at Maryland	3:30 PM
UMass at Pittsburgh	4:00 PM
Louisiana Tech at Mississippi State	4:00 PM
Central Michigan at Missouri	4:00 PM
#23 Louisiana at #21 Texas	4:30 PM
San Jose State at #15 USC	5:00 PM

Whoa now THIS is impressive for Week 1. Bama-Miami, if close, could be an amazing game. Indy-Iowa is a massive get for the Big Ten Network. The best game of the weekend could be FOX’s afternoon affair as the Ragin Cajuns look to pull off….I’m going to call it a VERY minor upset if they beat the Longhorns and only because it’s in Austin. Louisiana is that good and will be part of the Group of Five story all season. Don’t sleep on the Spartans heading to LA to play USC (if you get Pac-12 Network), WVU-Maryland could be quite close if Tagovailoa Dos can carry the Terps and LaTech heading to CLANGAland could be sneaky good. A lot of channel surfing/stream switching in this timeslot for sure.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Syracuse at Ohio	7:00 PM
Texas Tech vs. Houston (in NRG Stadium)	7:00 PM
#5 Georgia vs. #3 Clemson (in Charlotte)	7:30 PM
Northern Illinois at Georgia Tech	7:30 PM
UTSA at Illinois	7:30 PM
William & Mary at Virginia	7:30 PM
Florida Atlantic at #13 Florida	7:30 PM
Kent State at #6 Texas A&M	8:00 PM
Montana at #20 Washington	8:00 PM
#16 LSU at UCLA	8:30 PM

One game, obviously, is going to carry most of the hype. UGA-Clemson is a Game of the Year candidate but make no mistake about it: the loser is not out of the College Football Playoff picture by a longshot. The loser of this one could run the table and be as high as the #2 seed going into the CFP. UCLA showed that it will not be a pushover and that LSU should be ready for the Bruins. Sure it would be an upset if UCLA won but not a huge one and if they can pull it off, Chip Kelly might finally strike fear into the rest of the Pac-12 South. Glad to see most of the networks showing games in primetime unlike 2019 (I won’t discuss 2020 because that’s not fair). It means we get that good game on FOX. It means TTU-UH could be a lot of fun to watch and we get to see it. It means we get to see if Florida Atlantic and Kent State can follow up a good year with another good year. By this point we will all be on college football overload but I have faith we can all get through it and plow into the late night sked.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
New Mexico State at San Diego State	10:30 PM
BYU vs. Arizona (in Las Vegas)	10:30 PM
Utah State at Washington State	11:00 PM

OK so it kind of falls off a cliff here. Can’t win ’em all. Here’s hoping at least one of these games is close since, on paper, none of them look to be.

Sunday

		US	Canada
Jackson State vs. Florida A&M (in Miami)	3:00 PM
Grambling vs. Tennessee State (in Canton)	4:00 PM
Fort Valley State vs. Tuskegee (in Montgomery)	7:00 PM
#9 Notre Dame at Florida State	7:30 PM

A lot of FCS action on the Sunday before Labour Day. Smart work by the HBCU schools to do this as it should get a lot of eyeballs on their games. I wonder if we will get the game in Canton here since the NFL Network can be a bit funny with their schedule when it comes to what Canadians get to watch. It feels like Florida State could cause the Irish some problems. Let’s all hope so or else it’s an early bedtime for everyone.

Monday

		US	Canada
Ole Miss at Louisville	8:00 PM

This may not look great but Ole Miss should be quite a good team this year. I mean at least their offense should be fun to watch with Lane Kiffin as the head coach. I’m glad the CFL (and TSN) ditched the stupid idea of putting the Labour Day Classic (Eastern edition) in primetime. Fucking dumb. Ti-Cats-Argos should be on at 1 and ~~Eskimos~~ Elks-Stamps on at around 4:30 or so. That’s tradition so keep it that way because there’s no reason not to.

Games to set your eyeballs on

Georgia vs. Clemson (in Charlotte) (7:30, ABC/TSN2) – This is one of the Game of the Year candidates and is a relatively easy choice for Week 1 Game of the Week. Could it be a national championship preview? Some think so. Not me, but I know some do. This is where we get to see if D.J. Uiagalelei wasn’t a flash in the pan after his two games last season. We get to see if J.T. Daniels (what is it with initialed quarterback first names?) is the real deal and a potential Heisman candidate. We also get to see two of the whitest, southernest coaches around. Now this is college football at it’s finest.

Penn State at Wisconsin (Noon, FOX) – BIG NOON SATURDAY gets a damn good game to start their season. I am somewhat positive this is where Gus and Joel will be but it’s not a guarantee with another great FOX game right afterwards (and another great one after that). This is probably going to be somewhat underhyped but is extremely important in the Big Ten scheme of things as if Ohio State trips up at some point this season, one of these two teams could be the one sneaking past into the top spot. After years of crap Week 1s, FOX really has hit it out of the park this year. I don’t expect this all season but at least it’s a good start.

Indiana at Iowa (3:30, BTN) – I’m not lying. BTN. The Big Ten Network. Every year this network gets one game that would easily be on either FOX or ESPN and somehow they nab it. The good thing about the way the Big Ten Network contract is structured because every team has to show up at least twice with one game being a conference game. This could be the closest game of the day and we shall see if the Hoosiers are still climbing or if Iowa will somehow Ferentz their way to a victory to open their season.

Louisiana at Texas (4:30, FOX) – I’m serious when I said above this would not be much of an upset if Louisiana won. The Ragin Cajuns are a serious contender for the single Group of Five New Year’s Six spot (although don’t be surprised if two or even three teams really push the envelope this season). And we all know what opening weekend Texas games are like. Really wild and completely wacky doesn’t quite cover it.

LSU at UCLA (8:30, FOX) – Yeah, all three FOX tripleheader games in the GOTW section. First time ever? I would check but I’m lazy so I’m going to say no, it has never happened before. If the Bruins’ performance in Week Zero is any indication as to what this team could be like, this game will be a ton of fun. Then again they were playing a Hawaii team that looked like it wasn’t ready to start the game at all. The Tigers lost their starting quarterback before the season began so it could be an interesting journey for Ed Orgeron’s team this season (plus we may see Coach Eaux on the hot seat amazingly enough if things go south).

Honourable mention: North Carolina at Virginia Tech (Friday, 6:00, TSN2); Notre Dame at Florida State (Sunday, 7:30, ABC); San Jose State at USC (5:00, DAZN)

Some gambling fun and games

Oh man, this fuckery again. OK look I don’t pick against the spread, just straight up win or loss. I also advise you never to copy these picks. Yes I may be fully correct once but after like 100 misses you’d lose a lot of money. Let’s go:

Notre Dame over Florida State

Texas over Louisiana (but it will be close)

Clemson over Georgia

Alabama over Miami

North Carolina over Virginia Tech

LSU over UCLA

USC over San Jose State

Indiana over Iowa (slight upset?)

Duke over Charlotte

UCF over Boise State

Tennessee over Bowling Green (I might regret this)

SIX straight days of college football starts tonight! I believe I am ready to go. College football gives you Week Zero to get a bit acclimated and then BAM! It’s go time! I’m struggling with specialty pack information as I haven’t seen this little information in years on it. Saying that, it’s pretty easy to outline what games will probably appear on them. As for the Pac-12 Network/DAZN situation, I am looking into it and hoping to get an answer before the first potential P12N game in Canada this year Thursday night. I will definitely hit the Twitter machine and try to stay in my lane (college football, NFL and a little general sports sprinkled in) and not venture into Politicsland or Vaccineville, two places no one should ever go to when dealing with Twitter.

As per usual on this blog, we will soon get into the CFB schedule/NFL schedule/watch some damn football/recap/rinse/repeat carousel. No NFL recaps since a) I really barely have time to do this blog so doing NFL recaps would be tough and b) there are plenty of places to find those recaps out there and they aren’t hard to find. I’m glad to be back. Glad to have all of you back. It’s going to be a fun season. I can feel it. Have a great week everyone and enjoy Week 1!

The 2021 College Football Coaching Hot Seat List

Posted on August 4, 2021 by guelphbossman

This is going to be a very interesting season in college football as it pertains to the college football coaching hot seat list.

Last year was an aberration, obviously. There are many programs that normally would have thought on pulling the trigger and ending their ties with their head coach. COVID-19 changed that. And we’re not out of the woods with all this pandemic shit. Saying that, 2021 is different. We are slowly getting back to normal, or at least what the new normal will look like. And the college football world is no different. Hey, look, realignment issues! The new NIL legislation! We are back to offseason craziness in the world of, let’s still call it amateur athletics. Which means some coaches are back to squarely being on the hot seat. Not good for them. Incredibly exciting for the (sometimes) bloodthirsty college football media. So let’s do this!

IT’S HOT SEAT TIME, GUYS! Got to give myself some credit: this list is somewhat accurate. That’s the history of this post. And I am hoping it continues since accuracy with predictions isn’t exactly my strong suit. Please don’t go back to previous posts to test this theory.

Let’s get to the damn list! Like every year, this is ordered from most likely to be fired to most likely to keep their job:

Almost Guaranteed Shitcanning

Jeff Brohm (Purdue) – It feels like a decade ago since the Boilermakers’ upset of Ohio State. It was actually in 2018. Since then it has been pretty much a disaster in West Lafayette. And I don’t really see any sign of improvement. Needed to keep his job – Going into the final two weeks of the season with a chance at bowl eligibility. Prediction – He won’t make it to the end of the season as Purdue will limp to a 3-win season.
Walt Bell (UMass) – It wasn’t like this in Tallahassee. Honestly, I don’t think anyone would have done a good job at this school since, well since they moved up from FCS. Needed to keep his job – Play at least one meaningful November game. Prediction – He may quit before he’s fired. Nah, he’s a college football coach. He’ll be fired before he even thinks of quitting. And fired he will be at some point in November.
Scot Loeffler (Bowling Green) – Bowling Green really isn’t historically bad. And I am sure they have never had a horrible run like this. Scotty has not done anything of note here so it’s time to move on. Quite an easy move. Also, never trust a guy who spells his first name like that. Needed to keep his job – At least three wins with one over a good MAC team. Prediction – I honestly can’t see the Falcons winning any games this season. They are easily the worst team in the MAC right now, quite a ways below Akron who is also pretty shitty.
Dino Babers (Syracuse) – It’s been a long time since so much hope was dashed so fast in Western New York. It’s been mostly bad since joining the ACC (at least in football). But this is the worst stretch they’ve had and that’s after things looked so good early on. I can’t see Babers recovering from recent performances by the Orange. Needed to keep his job – Syracuse to look halfway competitive in the ACC. Prediction – Could very well be gone before the end of the season.
Rick Stockstill (Middle Tennessee) – This is a tough one. I don’t really like the guy, especially since all the shit his team pulled in their bowl game with Navy a few years back. But he has been in Murfreesboro for so long it feels like he will retire before he gets shitcanned. I think the shine has finally come off as the Blue Raiders are struggling with no sign of real improvement. Needed to keep his job – Bowl eligibility, plain and simple. Prediction – Stockstill might be one of those few coaches who resigns before they are fired. Mostly out of pride. And yes, I believe Stockstill will be fired but maybe not until after the regular season is complete.

Probable Shitcanning

Chip Lindsey (Troy) – Troy hasn’t had a string this bad for a while. I’m sounding like a broken record here. Not saying Lindsey was a hyped coaching hire but Troy was always one of the better Sun Belt teams. Now? Not so much. Expect an interesting decision by the end of the season. Needed to keep his job – Bowl eligibility and the look of a program on the rise again in the Sun Belt. Prediction – Four wins and a very good chance that he’s looking for another job come December.
Randy Edsall (UConn) – UConn has struggled for a long time now. Ever since they somehow got to a BCS bowl. Any other program (almost) Edsall has been long fired. It’s different in Storrs, and I get that, but with him getting bonuses for making sure he eats breakfast every day, the bloom might have come off the rose a bit. Needed to keep his job – Be more competitive, especially on defense. Prediction – Three wins and a surprisingly tough call for the powers that be.
Jonathan Smith (Oregon State) – I am going out bit of a limb with this one. Things were looking very promising in Corvallis and then last year the Beavers came back to Earth a bit. I think my prediction would be enough to move Smith out of the job. Needed to keep his job – Bowl-eligibility or a win over Oregon. Prediction – Three wins, no bowl, no win over Oregon, no head coaching position for Johnny Beaver.

Possible Shitcanning

Jim Harbaugh (Michigan) – Yes, his picture is one of the pictures at the top of this post. And yes, he has been on the hot seat since the first time he lost to Ohio State. He almost got a pass from many in Ann Arbor (and the voracious college football media) which surprises me to no end. So the seat is cooler than normal but he’s not out of the woods yet. Needed to keep his job – At least 7 wins and maybe an upset inside the Big Ten. Prediction – I have the Wolverines getting right to the 7-win mark. I think he survives but then the seat becomes scorching going into next season.
Scott Frost (Nebraska) – For many having Frosty the Coachman in this spot makes no sense. I think he might get a bit of leeway and if the Huskers do what I think they will do this season, this spot makes a lot more sense so I should just stop second-guessing myself. Needed to keep his job – Bowl-eligibility at the very least. Prediction – I have them winning seven games so hopefully I haven’t drank the Husker Koolaid yet again.
Herm Edwards (Arizona State) – This is a tricky situation here. This program could be in a heap of trouble. The alleged recruiting scheme that was concocted during the worst of COVID-19 looks horrible on the Sun Devils and especially on Herm. If the NCAA can prove their point enough, Edwards may be forced out. This will have nothing to do with performance since the Sun Devils are a nearly-top-level Pac-12 team. Needed to keep his job – Herm not being found guilty in this. Prediction – A lot of times programs will fire a coach because of potential sanctions and most of those times, the team isn’t doing well anyway because they’re distracted. If ASU does as well as I predict it will, then only the NCAA coming down hard on the program will push Edwards out the door.
Matt Wells (Texas Tech) – It has been a while since this program was good. Kute Kliff Kingsbury couldn’t get the job done and he was punished with an NFL head coaching gig and probably a bunch of women at his beck and call. Wells will not have those opportunities if this doesn’t work out. For now, things are OK for the most part but it could quickly change if the Red Raiders bottom out this year. Needed to keep his job – TTU to be playing meaningful ball in November. Prediction – Define meaningful. I have the Red Raiders winning four games so if they can pull off an upset or two then you may have a bowl team down in Lubbock which could get Wells an ill-advised extension.
Scott Satterfield (Louisville) – Wow has the bloom come off the rose here. Satterfield was coaching so well early on that the fanbase had all but forgotten about their own Son of Anarchy, Bobby Petrino. Now? I am sure there is at least a decent amount of Cardinals fans who would bring Fun Bobby back in a heartbeat. That’s how much things have changed for Satterfield. He’s no longer Great Scott. More Below Average Scott. Needed to keep his job – Showing some obvious improvement from a horrible 2020. Prediction – Well, I think the Cards will win three games. That’s not many and whether they are competitive in many of their losses will signal whether Satterfield will be Satterfired or not.

Doubtful Shitcanning (although it still could happen)

Jeff Scott (USF) – I watched a YouTube video the other day about the crazy 2007 season. Remember that? At one point, the Bulls got to #2 in the nation. Good times. The times are not so good now and Scott is going to be starting to take a lot of heat for that, fair or not. Needed to keep his job – Not be worse than last season. Prediction – I’ve got them at 2 wins so technically, yes, they will be better. Plus I think they plan to give Scott at least halfway through the 2022 season before potentially pulling the trigger.
Clay Helton (USC) – Can’t Clay get a little slack here? Not like the Pac-12 as a whole is doing all that great these days. I do believe, however, this could be the year that Helton *GASP* gets off the hot seat for at least a season. What will Trojan fans complain about then? Needed to keep his job – At least 7 wins. Prediction – I have the Trojans winning 10 games meaning it’s almost an automatic to get to a New Year’s Six bowl.
Justin Fuente (Virginia Tech) – Fuente is the new Gus Malzahn. He will never get off this list. Ever. He basically has to win a national championship to do so and even then there’s no guarantee. Fans in Blacksburg are antsy for some true success. Not gonna happen yet though. Needed to keep his job – It will be a seven win season to keep his job, which will probably be the case for a long time. Prediction – 8 wins so stay tuned for next season when I put him on this exact same fucking list…again.
Thomas Hammock (Northern Illinois) – He was always going to get a lot of rope but after last year’s winless campaign, the rope has been shortened quite a bit. He has nowhere to go but up although technically he could do the same this year which would absolutely get him shitcanned. Needed to keep his job – At least a couple of victories. It’s a low bar at this point. Prediction – Three wins and Tom moving up this list next year.
Mike Bloomgren (Rice) – Again it will be a tale of two schools in the Houston area. Houston is looking for a huge rebound and I think they will be a big player in the AAC this season. Rice, on the other hand, will be just like they’ve been for most of the program’s history: below-average. Not the easiest job in the world for sure but at some point, someone has to have some semblance of success at this school, no? Needed to keep his job – Win a few games and pull off a good upset or three. Prediction – Four wins should be considered not bad and he will again be on a hot seat next season.
Marcus Arroyo (UNLV) – A bright, relatively new shiny stadium for a full season. The fact that, of all teams, the UNLV Rebels get to play at a place like Allegiant Stadium seems bizarrely funny. It really doesn’t match. I don’t think they care as long as they are out of the heat magnet masquerading as a football field called Sam Boyd Stadium. Needed to keep his job – A couple of wins and an upset at Allegiant. Prediction – They’ll win 3. As for the upset, I don’t think that will happen.
Mel Tucker (Michigan State) – OK last year he had to be given a pass. He started very late in the off-season cycle and basically did what he could for a Spartans team that needs an overhaul. He will probably get a pass for the most part this year unless they do so horribly that even Maryland is destroying them. Needed to keep his job – A move up the standings and at least 3 wins. Prediction – He should get his three wins. Moving up the standings might not happen though and the seat will most definitely get hotter next year for Mel.

Hey guess what’s next? That’s right, my Heisman ballot (which I never will, and never should, get). Then I need to do the NFL preview as well which is always a bit of a dog’s breakfast as well. 24 days away! Soon enough I will have info for Week Zero! Enjoy your day everyone!

Is it time for the Return of the Mack?

Posted on July 18, 2021 by guelphbossman

Mark-Morrison-resized

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

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

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

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

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

Sweet & Smoky Carolina BBQ Thoughts

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

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

Most Important Games of the 2021 College Football Season – IV

Posted on June 12, 2021 by guelphbossman

If you don’t know who these guys are well….you’ve never watched the hit HBO series, Entourage. Look, it’s a fun show that I actually really enjoyed. If you didn’t take it seriously, it was a good watch. I also remember it very well because I had bought the box set years ago and then decided to sell it for $100. Exchanged the DVDs for the money in a somewhat seedy Tim Horton’s parking lot and left. When I got home, I realized I was holding four $20 bills. I emailed the guy and of course he never responded. I was less than pleased. Anyway, I am going to do a kind of rating system like I’ve done every year for the final important games post. Hopefully you understand and perhaps even agree with who I assign to each week. If not…well, it really doesn’t mean much since some people I know think Entourage was shit.

We’re at the end of this exercise for this season. Final four weeks of the regular season. And you know what? All four are at least decent weeks with two of them being the best of the season. I have to retire SEC Sleepwalk Saturday into the rafters of Bossman Arena (The Bossman Dome? Oriole Park at Bossman Yards?). Can’t use the term since that week is at least decent now. I kind of miss it……ok I lied. I like this better. Let’s begin!

Week 10

This week is seriously good. The number one weekend of college football for the 2021 season. It doesn’t get any better than this (on paper). So, of course, this has to be represented by the best character on Entourage, by far, Ari Gold. If it wasn’t for Jeremy Piven’s work as the most ridiculous agent in television history, Entourage is not nearly as good of a show.

Game of the Week: LSU at Alabama (3:30, CBS) – There are four games that could inhabit this top spot and all are deserving. This is one of the deepest non-American Thanksgiving weekends in college football in recent memory. And it is LSU. I know they are down from their turn as national champs but if anyone understands how to beat Bama, it’s Ed Orgeron. Either that or this is a blowout by dinnertime.

Other Really Important Games: Oregon at Washington (10:30, specialty pack) – When a late night game is the number two game of the week, you know it’s either a really weak week or a very strong week. Nothing in between. Now this game could end up in a lot of different spots. Hell, they could end up as the BIG NOON SATURDAY game and have a 9:00 am local start which I’m sure everyone at Husky Stadium would love. This is where the schedule predictions are really a stretch unless I can use an already set game as evidence for my choice (which is usually still a bad prediction but whatever).

Texas at Iowa State (Noon, FOX) – This is the game that, at this point, I have being the BIG NOON SATURDAY game. Obviously that could change but I would be shocked if FOX passes on this game unless ABC gets it for primetime. This is essentially the game that will probably determine who faces Oklahoma at JerryWorld in December. The Big XII, not surprisingly, has fewer marquee games than the rest of the conferences. And yes, realignment and them expanding would help that. To say it wouldn’t is laughable. Maybe they should make a shocking first move and invite Arizona and Arizona State, just to see what they say.

Clemson at Louisville (3:30, ABC) – Louisville looked good last year. I say this every year but one of these times, Clemson is going to be knocked off their perch for real. None of this one loss during the season but still get out of the ACC crap. More like possibly not even going to the ACC Championship kind of thing. Yeah, I said it.

Ohio State at Nebraska (8:00, BTN) – Just like the Pac-12 Network, the Big Ten Network gets a great game or two every year. It’s mostly to make sure each team gets their two games on the network (with one having to be a conference game). But, in another way, it is to also shine a spotlight on the network to remind people that, hey, conference networks can be good sometimes as well. So I have put this game here and it wouldn’t surprise me if it stayed here. I am not a Husker fan but any stretch of the imagination, but I really do hope they can keep it within 30.

Auburn at Texas A&M (7:00, specialty pack) – I still think back to the Aggies playing the Tide early in the season. Say they win that game. They could actually be undefeated at this point and looking at the College Football Playoff! Even with one loss this game is mucho important for the Aggies. Probably not as important for Auburn as the Gus Bus seems to be having some transmission problems these days. UPDATE: Man I’m really not ready for the season. Gus Malzahn is at UCF. Bryan Harsin is now at Auburn. Hopefully the mass transit system in Orlando is better than it was in Auburn.

USC at Arizona State (8:00, FOX) – OK if there is a game (IF!) that would be put on BIG DAMN NOON SATURDAY from the Pac-12, this might be the one. For now I have it in the primetime FOX timeslot since ABC will probably go with a Big Ten game meaning FOX may actually win primetime for once. Man, it feels like I might need to change this entire week around. I will be honest, this was probably the toughest week to map out and, as you can see, I’m still not too sure of my choices.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Indiana at Michigan (3:30, specialty pack) – Don’t laugh. I think there is almost no way Michigan is as bad as they were last season. I hate using the fucked-up season of last year as an excuse but for the Wolverines it may be true. Now watch them lose this one by 40 and I am off watching whatever’s on the ACC Network to pass the time.

Best Group of Five Game: Tulsa at Cincinnati (Friday, 7:00, specialty pack) – It’s either this or Tulane-UCF on Saturday. I picked this one because this game should end up on a network we can watch whereas I have Tulane-UCF on ESPN+. After last year’s shocking Tulsa season, it will be interesting to see if the Golden Hurricane can duplicate the feat or if Cincy shows their superiority in the American.

Worst Power Five Game: Kansas State at Kansas (Thursday, 8:00, FOX Sports One) – You know what? This is fine. Do I really need to see this game? Not really (as long as there is other football on at the time and this game isn’t close).

Week 11

This week is the worst of the bunch but still pretty good. And let’s be honest: are there any really bad characters on Entourage other than Sasha Grey? I don’t really think so. I would say this is LLOYD but I think he’s not this bad. This will be Vinny Chase. Yes, despite the fact he’s supposed to be the main character of the show, he seems like the least important, ya know? Saying that, he is still VERY important to Entourage as this week is to the regular season.

Game of the Week: Arizona State at Washington (6:00, Pac-12 Network/DAZN) – Um……………..I don’t know what to say. Honestly there’s a good possibility this is not on the P12N but this is a first on here. I’d have to look but I am pretty positive no conference network has been in this spot until now. History has been (possibly) made! And if this doesn’t tell you this is the thinnest week of this bunch, I don’t know what will.

Other Really Important Games: Michigan at Penn State (3:30, specialty pack) – OK this fully about Penn State and almost not about Michigan at all. I’m actually kind of curious about the Nittany Lions since they look like they should be in the Top 10 early on if not in the preseason poll. But I’m honestly racking my brain trying to figure out what talent they have that would make it so they are that kind of contender right off the hop. And I’m coming up with nothing. God, I need a preview magazine. The college football part of my brain is turning to mush.

Texas A&M at Ole Miss (3:30, CBS) – No Bama? No Georgia? No LSU? And it’s still this high on the list? Count me interested. Really though, these are two teams to watch as both are at least New Year’s Six contenders this season despite being the horrendously tough SEC West.

Georgia at Tennessee (7:00, TSN3) – There is a part of me that hopes Tennessee can pull this off. Just to see the reaction of fans and the media…and Twitter. I’m sure all the discourse would be rational and everyone would take it in stride…….BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Northwestern at Wisconsin (8:00, FOX) – I was so close to putting this in the section above. But I just can’t. I have this feeling that Northwestern might not be as good as some are saying and/or Wisconsin will regress a bit towards the back end of the Top 25. This could end up on *deep breath* BIG NOON SATURDAY because of the lack of options.

Best Group of Five Game: UCF at SMU (7:00, specialty pack) – The AAC continues to deliver and this one is no exception. I don’t know about SMU being a contender in the AAC West this year but it does seem relatively wide open. The East, on the other hand is UCF chasing Cincinnati and everyone else chasing UCF.

Worst Power Five Game: Duke at Virginia Tech (7:30, specialty pack) – I feel almost bad putting a Hokies game here especially when it’s in Blacksburg. But Duke might just be that bad.

Week 12

Better than the previous week but not by a lot. Enough for it shed it’s SEC Sleepwalk Saturday moniker. God rest your terrible scheduling soul. You can go two ways with this. The first is to say this is represented by Turtle and Johnny Drama. Two important characters who’s stories are sometimes more important than whatever the main idea of the episode happens to be. Or you can go with Sloan and Ari’s wife. Sloan and Ari’s wife. Yes, please.

Game of the Week: Iowa State at Oklahoma (7:30, ABC) – This feels like almost a guarantee for ABC in primetime. Possibly a preview of the Big XII Championship. And really, that’s not as big of a deal as people make it out to be. It happens so damn often that you almost expect it now. Also, it’s a huge plus for Sooners fans since they will be able to watch their team start playing a game not before Noon!

Other Really Important Games: Texas at West Virginia (Noon, FOX) – *big deep breath* BIG FUCKIN’ NOON SATURDAY!!!! I would laugh if somehow the Cyclones-Sooners game ends up in this timeslot but I feel pretty safe about these two picks. By this point we will have a pretty good idea if Sark is the real deal in Austin and if not-Dana Holgorsen can keep the ‘Eers trending in the right direction.

Michigan State at Ohio State (3:30, specialty pack) – OK I am giving Mel Tucker another chance. OK not just me. Makes me sound way more important than I am. I predict that Sparty will be better than last year, maybe not by much, but enough to give the Buckeyes a scare through at least two-and-a-half quarters. If ESPN gets this game (which I predict) they have to hope for it to be close. If that happens watch a shit-ton of people move over to the four-letter network.

UCLA at USC (8:00, FOX) – Hey maybe the Victory Bell (or at least this version of it since there seems to be a bunch) could be exciting and important this season! Isn’t it nice when both of these teams are playing well? Unless you’re a fan of one of the other teams in the Pac-12 South, this is a good thing for the conference. This could be Chip Kelly’s second coming out party kinda sorta. Or Clay Helton’s last stand. Or neither. Who knows?

Oregon at Utah (10:30, specialty pack) – Honestly this could move to Thursday or Friday night and be a late night offering of FS1. That would honestly suck since it’s always nice to have a really good game on the late night sked. Otherwise it feels like I am staying up past 2 in the morning for little reason. I mean I’m gonna do it anyway but this at least gives me some semblance of justification for my irrational choices.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Minnesota at Indiana (8:00, BTN) – Minnesota is a bit of a mystery to me. But with the Big Ten’s version of Dana Holgorsen coaching them in P.J. Fleck, they will always be at least a bit better than advertised. These are the kind of games that the Hoosiers have to win if they want any shot at the NY6 this season.

Best Group of Five Game: SMU at Cincinnati (Noon, specialty pack) – Yeah I had to go down the list a bit to find the best G-5 game. This will probably end up being a blowout but it was either this or Louisiana-Liberty. Or maybe Memphis-Houston. Yeah, not exactly great choices here.

Worst Power Five Game: Arizona at Washington State (Friday, 9:00, Pac-12 Network/DAZN) – Very rarely do you see a Pac-12 game here but Jesus Christ this looks like it would suck-diddly-uck. Wazzu isn’t the Wazzu we knew and loved a couple seasons ago and, well, Zona hasn’t been relevant in quite a long time. Lucky for us, Memphis-Houston and Air Force-Nevada (and perhaps even Kansas-TCU) will be on around the same time. OK that’s sad.

Week 13

The final weekend. The four-day stretch where I am at my least productive possibly all year because I watching FOOTBAW. This is nooooooooot quite the best week of the season but it might be the most important. For that reason, this week is represented by E. Not the drug although…no forget it. E, Vince’s manager. Eric. Yeah. I’d say the most important guy in the quartet for Entourage. And I stand by that choice.

Game of the Week: Oklahoma at Oklahoma State (3:30, specialty pack) – This could move into the ABC primetime slot depending on what is left over for ABC to show. If they don’t have to show a Big Ten or Pac-12 game then I can definitely see it. I mean it’s Bedlam. Usually good. Usually. And the Sooners hate going to Stillwater. Remember that. The Fighting Mullets could drop OU out of the Big XII Championship if the opportunity arises.

Other Really Important Games: Ohio State at Michigan (Noon, FOX) – Most years this would be at least in the running to be the Game of the Week. Instead it drops into this section and honestly, for this season, it’s all because Ohio State is still quite good. But without Justin Fields, how will the Buckeyes’ passing game be? That will be the big question for this team. If that has worked itself out by this point, look out because this could be over by 1:00.

Alabama at Auburn (3:30, CBS) – The Iron Bowl is relegated to this spot. You can thank Auburn taking a step back for that. Like the tOSU-UM game, this could be a blowout. I think the one thing at least helping the Tigers is that it is at Jordan-Hare and not in Tuscaloosa. Usually that’s not a bother for the Tide but this is Auburn. I’m sure the fans aren’t exactly cordial to them. I wonder if this becomes a shoo-in in a couple years when the SEC goes to ABC/ESPN to be the primetime ABC game on American Thanksgiving weekend going forward.

Texas A&M at LSU (7:00, TSN2) – There is no chance they can recreate that insane seven overtime affair from a couple seasons ago. Makes me sad. I mean a 3:30 game or a 7:00 game going seven overtimes? Sure. A late night game going seven overtimes? God help me. I mean I’ll stay up and try not to pass out but man that would be difficult.

North Carolina at NC State (Friday, 7:30, ABC) – Black Friday’s premier game is in Raleigh this year. Everyone in the media wants to hop on Mack Brown’s dick (not literally) but ignore that the Wolfpack could very well sneak up the middle and cause a lot of trouble in the ACC. The Heels are a legit CFP contender whereas Dave Doeren hopes to get a massive contract extension and he would probably get it if he can will NCSU to the New Year’s Six.

TCU at Iowa State (Friday, 3:30, FOX) – The Big XII continues to take advantage of Black Friday although the other Power Five conferences are waking up to it. This could be the game that puts the Cyclones into the Big XII title game or ends their chances early.

Penn State at Michigan State (Noon, BTN) – Will this ultimately end up on the Big Ten Network? Well, I was shocked to see FS1 pick up Utah State-New Mexico for the odd 1:00 start time. So if this game stays in it’s Noon timeslot the amount of options are dwindling. If both teams are doing well, maybe a push to get it to ABC.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Kentucky at Louisville (7:00, specialty pack) – Unless one or both of these teams has an outside shot at a NY6 bid, this game will most likely fall to the ACC Network. Kind of sad since this is the first time both of these teams will be potentially good at the same time in quite a while.

Best Group of Five Game: Boise State at San Diego State (Friday, Noon, CBS) – That is not a misprint. This game will kickoff on Black Friday at Noon. Which makes it a 9:00 am local kickoff. We knew this was coming but it’s still a bit jarring to see it confirmed. Expect FOX and CBS do this more in the future now that they have essentially split the Mountain West conference football contract between them.

Worst Power Five Game: Pittsburgh at Syracuse (12:30, specialty pack) – Don’t be surprised if this gets moved to Black Friday. Remember when these two teams played in the Big East? I watched a fair amount of Big East football when I was younger because the Noon Big East game was one of the few games we got in this area pretty much every Saturday. Now, we have choice. So I will choose not to watch this unless it’s a good game late.

Weeks 14 and 15

No point in rating these weeks. Week 15 is Army-Navy which is always fun. I still believe that one of these days, Navy will be 12-0, coming off a conference championship and having to play Army to finish their season. Imagine if they lose? Holy shit that would be massive! Again, the Pac-12 has their conference championship on a Friday. That conference perplexes me sometimes. There was a time where the SEC Championship was rumoured to move to primetime on CBS. Instead it is confirmed to be back in the afternoon at its normal 4:00 time. I have a feeling the ACC will move their game out of primetime and go either with the Noon(ish) timeslot or up against the SEC since you have to wonder how many viewers they are losing to the Big Ten most years.

The important games blog posts are complete! Done and dusted! Still haven’t received my Athlon magazine. Haven’t phoned Phil Steele to get that magazine. Haven’t gone to Indigo to look for Lindy’s or Street and Smith. Life has got in the way so I just haven’t had that chance. Soon. And then it’s probably all I will read about between now and late August when the season begins.

Next up is the network specific posts. Remember, “Card Subject to Change”…meaning I will be wrong more than I am right…possibly. But the fact that I am about to do these posts means we are getting a bit closer to the season. We are 77 days away from Week Zero. Feels like still such a long time.

Everyone have a great weekend!

Bowl Game Rankings starring Uncle Verne

Posted on December 16, 2016 by guelphbossman

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OK so the TSN schedule is finally out for all the bowl games. I am a bit shocked it took this long since the first bowl game is tomorrow. Oh well, it’s up and that’s good…I guess. Except the fact that more games are on the specialty pack than are on TSN.

Before we begin with the bowl game rankings, let’s discuss the Army-Navy game. Wasn’t that fun? I tend to forget why it has its own Saturday. I get the pageantry and the importance of it all but the logical side of me considers it a tiny bit of an annoyance to come after the College Football Playoff rankings come out. Very small bit but it’s still there. But then I remember how often the game is good. Like really exciting. This past Saturday’s affair was no different. Army breaks a fourteen game losing streak to the Midshipmen with their win, sparking a massive celebration. Is Army finally a decent team for good? We shall see. Navy and Air Force have been good for years now so there’s no reason why the Black Knights, with that frustrating-to-defend-against option offense, shouldn’t be good. Also, U.S. president-elect Donald Trump was there to shit on the quality of football played on the field. He should know a thing or two about a shitty football organization: he was a part of the USFL.

And this time around it was special for another reason: the last college football game ever called by one Verne Lundquist. No matter if you thought he was good or not is beside the point. He’s a legend in the college football broadcasting business, plain and simple. If you did a college football broadcasting Mount Rushmore, you would have him, Brent Musburger, and Keith Jackson as shoo-ins. The fourth? Who knows? Pick one. Brad Nessler perhaps (who incidentally is Verne’s replacement)? I don’t really know. That would be a tough call.

And speaking of Verne….I am bringing back the UNCLE VERNE SCALE for the bowl rankings this year. It is only fitting. Let’s not waste any time! I am also going to put times and dates and networks. I will do this in order of amount of Vernes, five being the most, one being the least.

FIVE VERNE TERRITORY! (Yes, SIR!)

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This set of games are your must-see ones. So basically the College Football Playoff, New Year’s Six, and one other bowl game.

Fiesta Bowl – #2 Clemson vs. #3 Ohio State (Dec. 31, 7:00, TSN2) – Yes, the New Year’s Eve CFP games are annoying. I get it. I don’t know what I am doing for this New Year’s but I do know it will probably involve my kids. Hey why is it so difficult to find babysitters these days? When I used to babysit as a teenager there were a ton of people my age doing it. Now not so much. This game is probably the cream of the crop and is the one CFP game that seems to be in doubt. My pick: Ohio State 34-28.

Peach Bowl – #1 Alabama vs. #4 Washington (Dec. 31, 3:00, TSN2) – Remember, the World Juniors is on between Boxing Day and the first week of January. Every. Single. Game. And it takes up a whole bunch of channels. Also the Spengler Cup is still a thing. So the two most important games of the year go to one TSN channel. Not impressed. My pick: Alabama 44-23.

Rose Bowl – #5 Penn State vs. #9 USC (Jan. 2, 5:00, TSN2) – USC is the hottest team in college football not from the Dirty South. Even though the Nittany Lions are ranked higher, I can see them being in real tough here. I kind of wish the Rose Bowl (and the Sugar) went back to being on ABC. It won’t but it makes it easier for a lot of fans to not play TSN Channel Roulette to determine where the Granddaddy of Them All is on. My pick: USC 38-20.

Orange Bowl – #6 Michigan vs. #11 Florida State (Dec. 30, 8:00, TSN2) – The World Junior schedule gets mighty crowded at this time of the year. So again, only one TSN channel because god forbid we miss that hot Czech Republic-Switzerland matchup (or whatever the fuck is on this day). Also, we were denied a Harbaugh-Fleck mega-matchup but this will be quite good too. My pick: Michigan 32-24.

Cotton Bowl – #8 Wisconsin vs. #15 Western Michigan (Jan. 2, 1:00, TSN2) – I really want to pick Western Michigan. I really want the Broncos to row that damn boat all over the field. I do because I believe PJ Fleck, waiting until after bowl season is done to entertain job offers, is going to miss out on all of those job offers. And let’s be honest: this is a once-in-a-lifetime team at WMU. Will never happen again. So I am going to pick them. That makes me feel happy. My pick: Western Michigan 40-27.

Alamo Bowl – #10 Colorado vs. #12 Oklahoma State (Dec. 29, 9:00, specialty pack) – Nice to see the Buffs back in the top tier again. It feels like the 90s again! Actually, going back to the Big Eight would be a good idea I think. Bringing back the Southwest Conference would be a little less exciting considering how the last decade went for them. Ouch. My pick: Colorado 38-35.

Sugar Bowl – #7 Oklahoma vs. #14 Auburn (Jan. 2, 8:30, TSN2) – I do find it kind of funny that the worst team in the New Year’s Six is probably Auburn. From the SEC. Yeah. Let’s be honest: the SEC this season was Bama and a bunch of mediocre teams. Kind of a sad send-off to Verne dontcha think? My pick: Oklahoma 36-10.

FOUR VERNES! QUATRO VERNE-OS! (In your life have you seen anything like that???)

Just a cut below the must-see games, most of these will still be good to watch and most college football fans will try to catch most of these games (usually with a beer or four and a couple bags of nachos).

Las Vegas Bowl – Houston vs. San Diego State (Dec. 17, 3:30, ABC) – One of the very few games (nine in all) that aren’t on ESPN. The best pre-Christmas bowl, without a shadow of a doubt, is this one. Houston has already had a lot of national attention but this will be the country’s best look at Donnell Pumphrey, the best running back nobody knows. An NFL team would be smart to pick this guy up in the draft. My pick: Houston 24-20.

Citrus Bowl – #13 Louisville vs. #20 LSU (Dec. 31, 11:00, ABC/TSN2) – Morning FOOTBAW!!!!! It should be like this every week to be honest with you. Who really cares if the game starts at 11:30 or even 11? OK maybe the players and the coaching staffs but when has the NCAA cared about them in the past? Final look at one Leonard Fournette before he enters the draft. Watch him decide to sit out to avoid injury. My pick: Lamar Jackson’s Team 27-26. UPDATE: Fournette is done and will turn pro.

Sun Bowl – #18 Stanford vs. North Carolina (Dec. 30, 2:00, CBS) – Hey the Sun Bowl gets a great matchup. One of the best non-CFP/non-NY6 bowls this season. I still think it is ridiculous that the SEC does not get to be in the Sun Bowl, a game broadcast on CBS, the home of the SEC (kind of). Then again, when has the bowl tie-ins ever really made sense? My pick: North Carolina 37-28.

Russell Athletic Bowl – #16 West Virginia vs Miami (Dec. 28, 5:30, specialty pack) – It’s BIG EAST WARFARE! You know, I used to like the Big East. Then again, when you get a game almost every week in your area (whether you like it or not), you start to appreciate the nuances of the conference. Except Rutgers. I don’t think anyone really appreciates Rutgers these days. My pick: West Virginia 27 Miami 17 Drunk Uncle Dana 6 (Red Bulls)

Music City Bowl – #21 Tennessee vs. Nebraska (Dec. 30, 3:30, specialty pack) – So this would be probably the best game on the specialty pack. Means you get the best games without ordering it. That’s a good thing (for them). I would be very interested to see what happens if the Vols get blown out in this one. Do they take ol’ Butch out behind the barn or do they give him another chance? Either way can you hurry up? Les Miles is waiting. My pick: Tennessee 29-28.

Boca Raton Bowl – Memphis vs. Western Kentucky (Dec. 20, 7:00, TSN1/TSN4) – This game will have a lot of points. This is almost suited to arena football. My advice? Take the over. My pick: Western Kentucky 53-48.

Texas Bowl – Kansas State vs. Texas A&M (Dec. 28, 9:00, TSN2) – Too bad Texas hadn’t blown a gasket in at least one of their seven losses. A Texas-TAMU matchup would be huge for ratings, despite the fact the Aggies were mediocre this season and the Longhorns were below-average. Instead we get Bill Snyder, the best 108-year-old coach I know. I don’t know how he is still alive to be honest. My pick: Texas A&M 21-14.

THREE VERNES! (An answered prayer!)

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These are the games where if you are a college football fan you will watch these. Many others will not though. Especially up here in Canada. And ESPECIALLY when the World Juniors are on. I mean what would you rather watch: a hot Latvia-Slovakia barnburner or the Belk Bowl? If you’re reading this I have a pretty good idea what you would pick……………….it’s the Belk Bowl right?

Camellia Bowl – Appalachian State vs. Toledo (Dec. 17, 5:30, TSN2) – Two teams that probably would have been fun to watch against a mid-card Power Five team. Either way, one of the best G-5-on-G-5 matchups during bowl season. Oh and is Appalachian State going to evolve into the next Boise State? The way they have played their last two seasons it kinda feels that way. My pick: Appalachian State 30-13.

Belk Bowl – #22 Virginia Tech vs. Arkansas (Dec. 29, 5:30, specialty pack) – I am hoping for at least one shot of Bret Bielema’s hot wife during the telecast. It will make up for the fact that we have no clue which Arkansas will be showing up. Let’s hope for the “good” Arkansas. Oh, and got to give Justin Fuente credit for what he did in Blacksburg. Let’s see how he follows this up. My pick: Virginia Tech 42-23.

TaxSlayer Bowl – Georgia Tech vs. Kentucky (Dec. 31, 11:00, specialty pack) – I feel this game is not getting its due. Probably because of the fact it’s New Year’s Eve and the other two games are WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY more important than this one. But the Wildcats are competing once again in the SEC and the Fighting Option Offense of Georgia Tech is back after an awful season last year. I still don’t think it will be amazing but it should entertaining leading into the College Football Playoff. My pick: Kentucky 39-34.

Outback Bowl – #17 Florida vs. Iowa (Jan. 2, 1:00, ABC) – If you take the over in this game you are a fucking fool! I was about to knock this down a star but I was reminded that despite the fact this game will be a nightmare to people who love scoring, the game could very well be close and it’s still two Power Five teams. A close game between 2 P-5 teams should always be watched. My pick: Florida 12-9.

Holiday Bowl – Minnesota vs. Washington State (Dec. 27, 7:00, specialty pack) – Member when the Holiday Bowl always had good teams playing? I member. Not saying neither of these teams are good but the cache isn’t there this time around. Wazzu is fun to watch on offense but their defense makes people cry. Minnesota is just…well….Minnesota. And they may not even play. If they truly boycott the game and Northern Illinois has to take the red eye in to San Diego to play this will go to 5 Verne territory just for the media shitstorm. My pick: Washington State 41-22.

Armed Forces Bowl – #25 Navy vs. Louisiana Tech (Dec. 23, 4:30, TSN1) – Before the Army-Navy game I would have favoured Navy by a ton. Not so much anymore. They’ll still win but it will be close for at least a quarter-and-a-half. Still surprised Ken Niumatalolo didn’t get any play for the head coaching vacancies. My pick: Navy 39-23.

Dollar General Bowl – Ohio vs. Troy (Dec. 23, 8:00, specialty pack) – Is Dollar General like the Dollarama up here? If so, how the hell do they afford sponsoring a bowl game? I think we are going backwards with this. Soon enough very few bowl games will have sponsors in the name. Maybe it will lead to less bowl games. Not a bad trade-off if they can space them out properly. My pick: Troy 29-28.

Military Bowl – #24 Temple vs. Wake Forest (Dec. 27, 3:30, TSN2) – Can you believe this Wakeyleaks stuff? Ridiculous. And totally glossed over because it’s Wake Forest. If this was at Florida State, the entire program would be shuttered because it would be a COLLEGE FOOTBALL TRAGEDY or some shit like that. That radio guy is a dick though. My pick: Wake Forest 38-35 (even without the Owls getting any “help”).

Poinsettia Bowl – BYU vs Wyoming (Dec. 21, 9:00, specialty pack) – I feel like half the bowl games are in San Diego or Orlando. It’s actually six but that’s still nuts. Especially since Qualcomm (or the Murph as it is somewhat affectionately called) is a bit of a shithole. Anyway, Craig Bohl has done great things with Wyoming this season. Winning a bowl game won’t be one of them. My pick: BYU 35-15.

Two Vernes (Nope. No Awesome Verne call here.)

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Now we are getting into the games that you would have to be a real college football fan to watch. I will watch most of these but may not like myself after doing so.

Liberty Bowl – Georgia vs. TCU (Dec. 30, Noon, specialty pack) – A year ago if you had said Georgia-TCU many ears would have perked up. Not so much this season. Not that either team is bad. They are just both a shell of their former selves. I’m not worried about the Horned Frogs since Gary Patterson is that the helm there. The jury is still out on Kirby Smart (and Alabama assistants moving into head coaching positions in general…I think). My pick: TCU 24-16.

Pinstripe Bowl – #23 Pittsburgh vs. Northwestern (Dec. 28, 2:00, specialty pack) – James Conner has been the inspiration for the Pitt Panthers this season. I sincerely hope he does well at the next level. Also, by the way this team plays offense (see their game against Syracuse for example), this could be over quickly. My pick: Pitt 43-7.

Independence Bowl – NC State vs. Vanderbilt (Dec. 26, 5:00, specialty pack) – To the chagrin of all Wolfpack fans, NC State has decided to retain Dave Doeren as head coach for next season. It’s not like he’s bad; he just hasn’t helped the team progress really at all. Vandy on the other hand is fun to watch and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them give Derek Mason an extension. Also, bonus points if he starts dancing on the sidelines. My pick: Vandy 28-17.

Cactus Bowl – Baylor vs. Boise State (Dec. 27, 10:15, specialty pack) – Baylor has gone through a rough season. Starting 6-0 and giving everyone hope and then they go 0-6 to finish the season. Brutal. Plus with all the issues with some of the players and Art Briles and Art throwing the assistants under the bus. Such a mess. Good luck to Matt Rhule as he has to try to make chicken salad out of rotten chicken shit. This shouldn’t be close. My pick: Boise State 44-16.

Foster Farms Bowl – #19 Utah vs. Indiana (Dec. 28, 8:30, FOX) – How FOX got this game of all games is beyond me. Well, not beyond me. I understand it’s a Pac-12 vs. Big Ten showdown. But the calibre of this game…ugh. The Utes should mop the floor with them. Should. Who knows now that the Hoosiers have a new head coach. No, the Utes should blow them out of the water. My pick: Utah 42-17.

Idaho Potato Bowl – Colorado State vs. Idaho (Dec. 22, 7:00, specialty pack) – I can see the Vandals (that’s Idaho’s team name if you didn’t know since we never see Idaho on TV here) playing some inspired ball in a bowl game in their much, much more talented state brethren’s stadium. I think the Fighting Petrinos of the Middle of Nowhere end their penultimate FBS season with a win. Kind of looks good on the NCAA as a whole that this program is moving down to FCS but could win a bowl game in their second last season. My pick: Idaho 39 (potatoes) – Colorado State 28.

Bahamas Bowl – Eastern Michigan vs. Old Dominion (Dec. 23, 1:00, specialty pack) – 1:00 on the specialty pack before Christmas. How in the hell can anyone watch this game? It will go to my PVR but I can’t promise I will watch most of it. I am interested in seeing a game between a first-time bowl team and a team that hasn’t bowled in thirty years. I can see it being a very jittery first quarter. My pick: Old Dominion 42-31.

New Mexico Bowl – New Mexico vs. UTSA (Dec. 17, 2:00, TSN1/TSN3) – The first bowl game of the season has been the New Mexico Bowl in the past few years. And usually we have a pretty exciting game. I can see this one being pretty good. New Mexico’s underrated option offense against first-time bowlers UTSA. Going to be close, but I see the Roadrunners pulling this one out. Meep Meep! My pick: UTSA 31-23.

Birmingham Bowl – South Carolina vs. USF (Dec. 29, 2:00, specialty pack) – This is my fourth season (I believe) imploring the Birmingham Bowl to just cease to exist. They play in a shitty field that either needs major renovations or to be set on fire and usually it’s between two teams that no one really wants to see. I am very interested to see how USF does with Willie Taggart now gone to Oregon but I can’t foresee South Carolina winning this (although next year will be VERY interesting in the SEC East). My pick: USF 45-24.

Quick Lane Bowl – Boston College vs. Maryland (Dec. 26, 2:30, TSN2) – OK. First off, it is going to sound like everything is echoing inside Ford Field. There is no chance that the stadium will be even half full with these two teams playing. Secondly, of all the games TSN could pick up (and it was only 16 this year), they choose this one? This is what the World Juniors does to us. Makes TSN pick up bowl games that probably even they don’t want. Ugh. My pick: Does it matter? OK fine it’s Maryland 31-13.

One measly Verne

verne-5

This would be like if they decided to replace Uncle Verne with Pam Ward or had Teddy Atlas do “analysis” on college football games on CBS from now on. It would be a big disaster and CBS would lose their SEC contract to ESPN and then everyone would hate both networks a lot more.

I don’t know how much of these games I will watch but I can safely say that unless I have NOTHING else going on (which probably won’t happen), I won’t watch the whole thing. I will just keep checking the ticker on my phone and if it’s close in the second half I’ll turn it on (or at least leave it on PVR until I can watch it).

Cure Bowl – Arkansas State vs. UCF (Dec. 17, 5:30, CBS Sports Network) – I actually ended up getting CBSSN again recently as part of a package. I wasn’t paying no $7 a month for this channel. But $2 a month I can handle…I think. So I get to see this bowl now. I am not that excited. UCF is essentially playing at home and has to feel lucky that Scott Frost wasn’t lured back to Oregon. I don’t think the home advantage will help but I can see this being a close game which is the only thing that keeps it from being named Worst Bowl Game of the Year. My pick: Arkansas State 39-35.

Miami Beach Bowl – Central Michigan vs. Tulsa (Dec. 19, 2:30, specialty pack) – Oklahoma State fans are STILL stewing over that loss to Central Michigan. And I STILL think it’s hilarious that they even allowed that play to happen, never mind that the game should have been over before then. But don’t worry Pokes fans, CMU will lose and probably lose big to the juggernaut Tulsa offense. My pick: Tulsa 52-20.

Hawaii Bowl – Hawaii vs. Middle Tennessee (Dec. 24, 8:00, specialty pack) – My Christmas Eve tradition has become having this game on in the background while I do the finishing touches on wrapping presents. So yeah I don’t pay a ton of attention, at least through the first half. And why should I? It’s a sparsely attended bowl game that is usually shit. I hope with the Fighting Rainbow Warrior Roloviches playing that they get a good crowd. If not, scuttle this bowl. Even if it is a destination that the players will love. My pick: Hawaii 47-37.

New Orleans Bowl – Southern Miss vs. UL-Lafayette (Dec. 17, 9:00, TSN2) – Isn’t UL-Lafayette sick of going to this bowl? Don’t get me wrong, I know going to a bowl game is a big deal to the players but when you go to the same one almost every time it has to get old. I can’t see the magic of that first time the Ragin Cajuns went there. And it was an awesome game with a game-winning field goal with no time left from 50 yards out. That’s the college football I love. This, not so much. My pick: UL-Lafayette 31-14.

Arizona Bowl – Air Force vs. South Alabama (Dec. 30, 5:30, MyTV) – This bowl game finally gets its own timeslot (kind of). I know Air Force is there to give this newer bowl game some street cred but South Alabama being there is not moving the needle at all. This should be over relatively early. My pick: Air Force 37-7.

Heart of Dallas Bowl – Army vs. North Texas (Dec. 27, Noon, specialty pack) – I had this at the very bottom of my list for a while but after the Black Knights’ performance in the Army-Navy game I moved them up a spot. But only one spot. This still will be a tough game to watch from start to finish. And to be honest, I don’t know if I will. If I have my kids then it goes to the PVR to an uncertain viewing future. My pick: Army 33-20.

St. Petersburg Bowl – Miami-OH vs. Mississippi State (Dec. 26, 11:00, specialty pack) – This is the dirt worst. The field sucks. The Trop is a shithole. They never have decent teams. I like morning football but not this. I mean Miami-OH is a nice story. Started 0-6 and won six straight to go bowling. Good for them. And Mississippi State was in the SEC which made the mediocre this year because every team not named Alabama was average. This shouldn’t be even close though. This is the bowl game that should tell the college football world that they’ve gone too far with the postseason. My pick: Mississippi State 54-14.

Done. The bowl schedule is set. We have a lot of college football to watch between tomorrow and the day after New Year’s Day. Savour it. Drink it in because come January 10^th there will be no football for seven-and-a-half months. I am starting to get queasy just thinking about it. Either that or I am getting the flu. Anyway, enjoy the games everyone!

Bossman's Blog

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

Tag Archives: Blacksburg

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