That was LSU’s Shoeper Bowl! – Week 15 College Football Recap

This is a new one.  Gators’ Marco Wilson tackled Kole Taylor short of the first down marker late in the fourth quarter in Florida’s game against LSU.  Then he got up with Taylor’s shoe in his hand and, in the words of the referee, threw it 20 yards downfield.  This meant he got a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty which kept LSU going and lead to Cade York’s insane 57-yard field goal into the fog at The Swamp to win the game.  This could end up costing Florida even a New Year’s Six spot (as their College Football Playoff chances are gone).  Horrible.  And stupid.  You couldn’t script this to be more ridiculous.

As per tradition, when I use the Footballgasm template, I must complete the week by doing the recap in the same manner.  Let’s go!

Thursday​

Southern Miss 45 Florida Atlantic 31

6:30 PM

This was a nice ending to a horrible season in Hattiesburg for the Golden Eagles.  Now they can hopefully start fresh with new coach Will Hall.  And to find out that even if FAU won, they wouldn’t have gone to the conference championship game was a big letdown.  Oh well.  Decent start to the week.

Friday

Arizona State 70 Arizona 7

7:30 PM

The Territorial Cup goes to the Sun Devils in one of the biggest beatdowns in Pac-12 history.  I was definitely one who thought Arizona’s hire of Kevin Sumlin a few years back was a coup.  Yeah now we know that it was his great quarterbacks at Houston and Texas A&M that really helped him along.  Paging Brent Brennan!

San Jose State 30 Nevada 20

10:00 PM

OK this game was being played between the Spartans and the Wolf Pack in Las Vegas at the field being used by the New Mexico Lobos.  Got it?  Anyway, the Spartans win puts them in the Mountain West Championship and also puts Boise State in as well.  This has been an amazing season for SJSU which means what I said above may happen…again.

Saturday Early

Penn State 39 Michigan State 24

Noon

This was actually a pretty good game into the fourth quarter and the Nittany Lions pulled away to win their first home game of the season (if you can believe that).  James Franklin is going to be on quite the hot seat going into 2021 as this has to be considered nothing short of a disappointment for this team, despite what 2020 brought.

Rutgers 27 Maryland 24

Noon

Meaningless game won by Rutgers.  Well maybe not meaningless to the Scarlet Knights and especially Greg Schiano.  The hiring of Schiano may make Rutgers look very smart (and Tennessee very stupid for deciding not to hire him).

Northwestern 28 Illinois 10

Noon

Northwestern, already clinching the Big Ten West, put a beatdown on the Illini.  And guess what happened yesterday?  Lovie Smith was finally shitcanned.  Oh wait, he agreed to part ways with the team.  Whatever.  Just a few years too late in my humble opinion.

Alabama 52 Arkansas 3

Noon

Not surprising that the Tide won.  Now we await to see what devastation they will wreak on Florida in the SEC Championship.  I don’t think it will be very pretty.  I’ve said it already but CBS may regret putting that game in primetime.

Utah 38 Colorado 21

Noon

The Buffs shouldn’t have had problems with the Utah offense but they did.  Their loss made things super easy for the Pac-12 as now they wouldn’t be undefeated along with USC.  At least we got to see some FOOTBAW WEATHER in Boulder for this one.

Georgia 49 Missouri 14

Noon

Speaking of games that weren’t close, here’s a great example.  Many people, myself included, thought it would be though.  For a while it looked like UGA was what everyone thought they were: a good team not deserving of a New Year’s Six spot.  It was tied at 14 late in the second quarter.  35 unanswered points later, the Dawgs proved that maybe they should be put in an important bowl game.

Minnesota 24 Nebraska 17

Noon

Minnesota wins this one as they hold on to beat the Huskers.  Is there anyone that can turn this program around?  Not saying Scott Frost had all the pieces when he arrived but man this has been an unbridled disaster in Lincoln.  Definite hot seat material for next season.

Saturday Afternoon

Buffalo 56 Akron 7

2:30 PM

Disappointing.  I was hoping for Jaret Patterson to score ten touchdowns.

Army 15 Navy 0

3:00 PM

I wonder if a lot of people forgot this game was even on.  Sad for a game with this kind of history but 2020 has wreaked havoc on college football (along with damn near everything else).  Unfortunately the game was not good at all which meant few people would even watch to the end to see Army sing second.

North Carolina 62 Miami 26

3:30 PM

Not even close this one.  The Heels really wanted this one and it showed.  I think it’s about time I believe that Miami is not a College Football Playoff team under Manny Diaz.  Or maybe Mack Brown is still pissed about that game against BYU years ago when Diaz was his defensive coordinator.  Either way.

Oklahoma State 42 Baylor 3

3:30 PM

What a way to finish a season.  Even without Chuba Hubbard, who has declared for the NFL Draft, the Fighting Mullets blew the doors of Baylor in this one.  This was a rough season as the Pokes never got respect all season and could very well end up in the Top 15 at the end of it all.  Probably still behind Oklahoma though which will irk all their fans but hey, can’t win em all.

Iowa 28 Wisconsin 7

3:30 PM

Slow start but the Hawkeyes pulled away in the second half to beat the Badgers and set up…an almost useless game next week.  I know the Big Ten doesn’t want to overshadow the conference championship game but Iowa-Indiana would have been a huge matchup with big NY6 implications.  Instead, they fucked up Champions Week.  Way to go, guys.

Memphis 30 Houston 27

3:45 PM

Well the Tigers won which really meant nothing since both teams are going bowling.  Now the question is will Ryan Silverfield be around next season in Memphis.  He is a dark horse candidate for a couple of jobs so it will be interesting to see if he ends up heading elsewhere like his predecessors, Mike Norvell and Justin Fuente, did.  As for Dana Holgorsen, he has already downed four cans of Red Bull by the time you got to this point in this post.

Tennessee 42 Vanderbilt 17

4:00 PM

Tennessee won.  Sarah Fuller kicked two extra points and made many men mad.  That’s about all I can say about the battle for state supremacy (no offense, Middle Tennessee).

Saturday Primetime & Late Night​

Boise State 17 Wyoming 9

6:00 PM

A really slow start here by both teams and it never really got going after that.  Blame all the snow that fell in Laramie as it made for a sloppy game.  Honestly, they should have a bowl game there.  That would be fun to watch.  Probably horrible for the players and the coaching staffs though.  Anyway, this meant nothing after San Jose State’s win the previous night but good to see Boise finish off the regular season with a win as they try to win yet another Mountain West conference championship.

LSU 37 Florida 34

7:00 PM

Hey at least it was a fun, close game right?  Forget the Shoe Throw of Doom that I mentioned at the beginning.  Florida did not look like a Top 10 team here at all.  Either that or LSU looked better than their record states.  Both are probably correct.  The Gators needed this game and couldn’t pull away from the Tigers.  Their punishment will probably be the Outback Bowl or Citrus Bowl or some close-by bowl game.

TCU 52 Louisiana Tech 10

7:00 PM

Well, at least TCU was able to get their non-conference game in.

Auburn 24 Mississippi State 10

7:30 PM

Didn’t matter.  Wasn’t as close as the final score indicated.  And now Gus Malzahn has finally, mercifully, been fired.  He is now almost $22 million richer because of it.  Ain’t college football a great sport?

USC 43 UCLA 38

7:30 PM

This ended up being one of the best finishes of the season.  The Trojans, in my opinion, will not get into the CFP (fuck you ESPN Playoff Predictor).  The Bruins, I have to say, have really improved (FINALLY) under Chiop Kelly.  Took long enough.  UCLA scored late in this one to take the three point lead and it looked like the Pac-12 was completely ruined (as opposed to mostly ruined which they are at this point).  Instead, the men of Troy march down the field quickly and score a touchdown to win the game.  And to the chagrin of some USC fans, I have a feeling Clay Helton will get a contract extension in the offseason.

BYU 28 San Diego State 14

10:00 PM

Nice to see the Cougars finish with ten wins since their original schedule was completely obliterated.  People still like to underestimate BYU (or downright hate them) but Kalani Sitake has shown that this program is still one to watch, year in and year out.  Still won’t get them a New Year’s Six spot but still has to be considered a successful season.

New Mexico 49 Fresno State 39

10:30 PM

New Mexico is quietly turning things around while they are banished to Vegas.  Danny Gonzales has done a masterful job starting this turnaround.  Don’t be surprised if they are over .500 next season and, perhaps, back to the Rocky Long days of prosperity.

Stanford 27 Oregon State 24

10:00 PM

This was actually a great Pac-12 After Dark game (as is tradition).  Back-and-forth throughout the entire game and it meant that you had to continue to watch well into the night.  Jet Toner (great name for, well, anything) hit the game-winning field goal with a little less than two minutes left.  Stanford, somehow, ended up 3-2 going into whatever the Pac-12 is calling the final week of the season.  That feels weird considering how they have played the past almost-two seasons.

Normally the next week is conference championship week ONLY.  But man this has been such a crazy year that there are a bunch of games also scheduled.  So this could end up being a bit more interesting than usual when it comes to this week in college football.  Also, there’s a bowl game that day as well.  Yeah, none of this makes sense.

Alright so next up is the bowl projections list with a few bowl games actually already confirming their matchups.  Nice to see but really it is a necessity considering the way the bowl schedule is structured.  College and NFL schedules later in the week.

I guess now we begin – Week 8 College Football TV Schedule

The Big Ten and Mountain West start playing football this weekend.  There is already a cancellation as New Mexico and Colorado State will not play this weekend.  Other than though it is full steam ahead as almost every team is in play now.  It’s two weeks until the Pac-12 and MAC finally commence but who knows if they will have a legitimate shot at the College Football Playoff or New Year’s Six, respectively.  My best guess right now is no but this has been a wonky season so far so who the hell knows.  I am sure ESPN will go all-out to promote the Big Ten’s return.  FOX as well since they have some pretty huge games in the B1G the rest of the season.  It will get nauseating pretty quickly, I’m sure.

Anywho, I got nothing else so let’s get to the sked shall we?

Thursday

		US	Canada
Arkansas State at Appalachian State	7:30 PM

One game.  But it could be considered a pretty big Sun Belt game.  Most people are probably going to watch the Thursday Night Football matchup since the World Series will be on a break.  Let’s look at this one this way though: whichever team loses will give their respective division leaders another leg up.  A Red Wolves loss helps Louisiana and a Mountaineers loss will assist Coastal Carolina in their shocking 2020 campaign.

Friday​

		US	Canada
Tulsa at USF	7:30 PM
Illinois at #14 Wisconsin	8:00 PM
Louisiana at UAB	8:00 PM

CBS Sports Network probably has the biggest game of the night.  I know the Big Ten is starting this night but the winner of ULL-UAB probably moves into the Top 25 and may still have an outside shot at a NY6 spot.  Funny enough, ESPN has the worst game of the night.  Doesn’t happen often.

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
Oklahoma at TCU	Noon
Syracuse at #1 Clemson	Noon
Rutgers at Michigan State	Noon
Mercer at Army	Noon
#23 NC State at #14 North Carolina	Noon
Nebraska at #5 Ohio State	Noon
Auburn at Ole Miss	Noon
Tulane at UCF	2:00 PM

It’s an alright start to the day I guess.  Not as great as last week but still good.  Problem is it’s a few cases of a good, ranked team playing a not-so-good unranked team.  Also, if you are a masochist, you can immerse yourself in Rutgers Scarlet Knights football.

And yes, that is not a typo.  ESPN2 has a game on at 2 in the afternoon.  Why is this happening?  Because UFC 254’s preliminary matches are on ESPN2 starting at Noon.  Yes, Noon.  Because they are in Dubai and they finally decided to stop making the fighters fight locally in the morning, which is completely stupid.  So yeah, the PPV itself starts at 2:00 so that’s when ESPN2 gets to start airing college football.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
#3 Notre Dame at Pittsburgh	3:30 PM
Iowa at Purdue	3:30 PM
#2 Alabama at Tennessee	3:30 PM
Houston at Navy	3:30 PM
Baylor at Texas	3:30 PM
#17 Iowa State at #6 Oklahoma State	3:30 PM
#8 Penn State at Indiana	3:30 PM
West Virginia at Texas Tech	5:30 PM

Some pretty good games here.  OK more like one great game and a bunch of good ones.  ISU-OSU could end up being massive in the Big XII scheme of things (and pretty much put the nail in the coffin for the conference if the Cowboys lose).  Notre Dame has a bit of a landmine game as they head to Pittsburgh to play the Panthers.  Oh and Penn State is in tough to start their season as they face the Hoosiers.  And you can see that TSN2 is going with an all-ESPN quadrupleheader this weekend.  Smart on their part.  It always makes me wonder why they don’t do that every weekend they can.

Saturday Primetime​​

		US	Canada
Wyoming at Nevada	7:00 PM
South Carolina at LSU	7:00 PM
#18 Michigan at #21 Minnesota	7:30 PM
Maryland at Northwestern	7:30 PM

Again, I am not showing any possible specialty pack games since I haven’t seen anything to the contrary.  It’s sad since at this point of the season they would be clocking in with about 12-18 games every week.  That’s a lot of games that now we won’t be able to see with a normal cable subscription.  Anyway, the Michigan-Minnesota game is huge and could make my predictions about Michigan look terrible if the Wolverines pull off the win.  It’s a small amount of games for this timeslot though which is odd as we are not quite into a full college football schedule yet.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
#9 Cincinnati at #16 SMU	9:00 PM
Texas State at #12 BYU	10:15 PM
UNLV at San Diego State	10:30 PM

The back third of the weird 2/5:30/9 ESPN2 tripleheader has one of the biggest games of the day with Cincinnati and SMU possibly battling for one of the spots in the AAC Championship.  We finally see some Mountain West games which feels so right.  And BYU looks to continue to run the table as they should beat TSU but they need to win big to keep themselves in the minds of The Committee.

Games to set your eyeballs on

Iowa State at Oklahoma State (3:30, FOX) – Another team that no one thought would be in the Top 10 (and probably shouldn’t be).  People just love Mike “The Mullet” Gundy.  And he finally has the team, shockingly enough, that will make a great run at a potential Big XII Championship.  Chuba Hubbard really hasn’t even begun his Heisman campaign yet.  They haven’t had the crazy offense yet that everyone thinks they will see.  Gundy has done a great job with this team.  As for ISU, Matt Campbell has also done a great job and don’t be surprised if these two teams meet yet again in the least-watched Big XII Championship ever at JerryWorld.

Cincinnati at SMU (9:00, ESPN2) – Did anyone think the freakin’ SMU Mustangs would be undefeated at this point, AGAIN?  Honestly I am surprised it didn’t somehow get an ABC timeslot because I know Disney likes to put the huge American conference games on there.  But the Big Ten’s return was going to overshadow everything but I, Bossman, am not falling for that!  Cincinnati is ranked #9 for God’s sake and SMU is #16 and this, as of right now, is the first New Year’s Six elimination game (barring future chaos).  Too bad it’s not being shown in Canada.

Michigan at Minnesota (7:30, ABC) – Big Blue vs. Row The Boat.  This is the Wolverines’ chance to start yet another year as a College Football Playoff contender.  But we know that playing Minnesota, at night, in the cold, in front of the rabid Gopher fans is quickly becoming one of the toughest playing atmospheres in college football.  This will feel great just because it truly signifies the Big Ten’s return to playing football.

NC State at North Carolina (Noon, TSN2) – Who thought the Wolfpack would be in the Top 25 at any point this season? Now put down your hands, you dirty liars.  Could Dave Doeren finally break through with the amazing campaign that fans in Raleigh have been waiting for since he was hired?  As for North Carolina, who knows how they are feeling after last week’s upset loss to Florida State.  Mack Brown should have these guys ready as this is the biggest battle in the state in recent memory.

Penn State at Indiana (3:30, FOX Sports One) – Huge game for FOX Sports One since FOX just had to grab Nebraska-tOSU for Big Nude Saturday.  Anyway, the loser here is probably already out of the Big Ten East race.  I know it’s the first game for both teams this season and it sounds harsh but it is what it is.  Don’t be surprised if the Hoosiers can pull off the upset.

Honourable mention: Georgia Southern at Coastal Carolina (Noon, ESPNU); Louisiana at UAB (Friday, 8:00, CBS Sports Network);  Florida Atlantic at Marshall (2:30, Stadium)

Some gambling fun and games

I have no shame in saying I was wrong in some of my picks last week.  Honestly, I never have shame for that.  Here’s this week picks:

North Carolina over NC State

Louisiana over UAB

SMU over Cincinnati (mild upset)

Marshall over Florida Atlantic

Oklahoma State over Iowa State

Georgia Southern over Coastal Carolina (another mild upset)

Minnesota over Michigan (mild upset?)

Penn State over Indiana

San Diego State over UNLV

Northwestern over Maryland

Navy over Houston

Sorry for it being late this week.  What a day this has been for me.  Let’s just say I was busier than I thought I would be.

Tonight’s Thursday Night Football is a shitshow game.  It’s the Eagles hosting the Giants.  Winner will have two wins on the season and be only a half-game behind the Dallas Cowboys.  God the NFC East is a fucking joke this season.

So we shall see how my viewing goes this weekend.  Should be pretty open for me to be on Twitter and be a general jackass.  Have a great weekend everyone!

The Big XII: A big toilet bowl of college football diarrhea – Week 4 College Football Recap

I am not putting a picture of diarrhea here OK?  I think that would be in bad taste…even for me.

The Big XII is quite awful.  I am trying to be nice here.  I mean it’s bad.  The American is light years ahead of them.  Hell I would put the Pac-12 ahead of them and they won’t be playing for another month.  Should I recap what happened?  Yeah why not.  Here we go:

• Oklahoma held a 21-point lead on Kansas State.  Things seemed to be going swimmingly.  Spencer Rattler was having a great day.  Then Oklahoma’s defense remembered they were Oklahoma’s defense and shit the bed in a major way.  K-State came all the way back and beat the Sooners.  Are the Wildcats great? No, they are not.  They are quite good.  But Oklahoma is supposed to be the class of the conference.  To do this.  Ugh.  They may actually be shut out of the College Football Playoff this year.  Now who is the SEC supposed to boatrace in the semi-finals?
• Texas looked like they were done.  Texas Tech went up 15 with very little time left.  Texas scores, recovers the onside kick (maybe the Red Raiders accidentally watched Falcons’ tape of how to recover an onside kick) and the Longhorns scored again, got the 2, went to overtime and scored the only touchdown.  63-56.  Yeesh.  Again, no defense.  It’s like arena football.  Fun to watch but also pathetically hilarious.
• Brock Purdy threw one of the worst pick-sixes in college football history, yet somehow the Cyclones were able to beat TCU.  If you haven’t seen it, check it out.  It’s awful.
• Oklahoma State again looked pedestrian, this time against West Virginia.  I don’t know what’s up with their offense but it’s just not that good.  And they have Chuba Hubbard so I don’t get it.
• Baylor beat Kansas.  Whatever.

So yeah, the Big XII better pick things up before the Big Ten and Pac-12 start play or they will be already out of contention by the time November comes.  Now some recaps of my predictions.  Oh this should be fun.  And by fun, I mean brutal.

Week 4 Prediction Recap Time!

UAB at South Alabama:  Only one game.  Not good.

And it wasn’t.  This game was over early.  But the pro Jags were playing just as bad as the college Jags.  There were no happy Jags this night.

Middle Tennessee at UTSA:  Anyway, UTSA has to be considered the favourite here.  Again, I am not joking.

And I wasn’t.  And the Roadrunners proved me right.  Yes it wasn’t an easy go of it but they held off the Blue Raiders to go to 3-0.  First 3-0 of the season.  UTSA.  Yeah.  I love it.

#13 UCF at East Carolina:  Oh yeah, UCF-ECU on ABC might be the most bizarre change to a college football schedule ever.

This was so true.  Never has a game gone from ESPN+ to ABC.  It was the only game that could be put there unless you moved a game off of ESPN2 there since the SEC was on ESPN and they can’t be on ABC (at this point).  And yeah, I barely watched any of it since it was an easy win for the Knights.

Mississippi State at #6 LSU:  Mississippi State might now have Mike Leach but I don’t think they have the quarterback to run a Mike Leach offense.

Could I have been more wrong?  K.J. Costello just went out and broke the SEC record for passing yards in a game.  Over 600.  Those are Big XII numbers.  And the Bulldogs upset LSU.  I am thinking the SEC will have to watch out for this team despite the fact LSU isn’t the LSU of last year.

Florida State at #12 Miami:  And after FSU’s loss to Georgia Tech, it doesn’t feel like their game against The U will be close either.  So by halftime you may be looking for something else to watch.

Oh yes.  Let’s look at the halftime score: Miami 38 Florida State 3.  I am sure ABC had to be so pleased with this.  What an absolutely terrible choice for the ABC Primetime game.  Let’s hope Fowler and Herbstreit get some better games to call as the season goes on.  They should once we get close to Halloween as the rest of the conferences will finally begin play.

Troy at #18 BYU:  Seriously though this should be a good game and we will find out if BYU is seriously for real.

No this was not a good game at all.  And BYU is very much for real.

Other games I didn’t mention above

#4 Georgia at Arkansas:  Man I was really worried here for a bit.  The halftime score was 7-5…for the Razorbacks.  Actually worried is the wrong word: excited is a better word.  To start the SEC season with an upset like that would have been massive (although the upset we got was something).  Instead, the Dawgs pulled away and I still assume the Hogs will not be good at all.  Like zero wins not good.

#24 Louisville at #21 Pittsburgh:  What a big early season ACC matchup that was overshadowed by the first big timeslot of the season.  Pitt’s defense is something to behold and they may have a say in at least who gets to the ACC Championship as I still don’t see them being a Top 2 team in the conference but you never know.

#22 Army at#14 Cincinnati:  This never felt close, despite the final score.  The Bearcats looked the real deal and was even able to use the option effectively against Army’s defense.  All around great performance.

Tulane at Southern Miss:  Tulane put up 66 points against the Golden Eagles.  This is going to be a long season in Hattiesburg as I think the Jay Hopson resignation/firing is just the tip of the iceberg here.

UTEP at ULM:  UTEP is 3-1.  UTEP.  No this is not a joke.  Not saying they’ve played some amazing talent but Dana Dimel may have done the most incredible coaching job in college football so far this season.

Texas State at Boston College:  Texas State had the Eagles dead to rights.  And then they allowed BC to score 10 late points to pull out the home opener.  The Bobcats might be the most unlucky team in college football right now.  They lost to undefeated (yes, undefeated) UTSA in overtime and to SMU by a touchdown.  Now this.  One of these times they will close a team out and it may be an upset.

Tennessee at South Carolina:  It felt like no one wanted to really win this one.  No other way to put it.  Lucky for the Vols, a late Gamecock muffed punt return allowed them to close out their seventh straight victory.  Oh yes, one of the longest winning streaks in college football belongs to Rocky Top.  College football, everyone!

No rankings again.  I am strongly considering including them next week for the recap but I’ll see.

So that was a great college football Saturday.  Every week is better than the previous one.  Let’s hope it keeps up.  Have a great week everyone!

So let me get this straight – Week 3 College Football Recap

Alright I want to get this crystal clear in my brain.  This week’s AP Poll includes SEC teams as they start this coming week.  But no Big Ten teams because they don’t start for another month.  OK.  Here is the issue with this.  These rankings will mean nothing then.  I mean I will do them the same way but I contemplated putting Big Ten teams in.  Why did I not do it?  Because they won’t be playing for a month.  This is why pre-season rankings shouldn’t happen and maybe, just maybe, rankings shouldn’t happen at all until after the first set of games in October.  Maybe then we would have rankings that kind of mean something.  Or not.  I mean who knows.  It’s college football.  A sport that likes to rewrite the rules all the time is rewriting them like they are on speed.  On-brand for this year and this sport.

Alright enough of the rankings (until later).  Let’s get to the action from the weekend of college football!

Fun-Time Crazy Recap!

• Ugh.  The Cowboys did not look too sharp against Tulsa.  And now Spencer Sanders could be out for a while.  And the offensive line couldn’t really block for Chuba Hubbard.  Overall a shitshow on offense which makes me wonder why I picked the Pokes to go to the Big XII Championship in the first place.  I hope you didn’t use my post to bet on that.  I always tell you not to.
• If you missed the Citadel-Clemson game, don’t worry.  I can recap it for you.  Clemson went up 49-0 just before halftime.  And that ended up being the final score.  I am sure gamblers everywhere were livid at that happening.  Dabo even offered to go to the running clock and The Citadel said no.  And on top of that, I found out that the running clock isn’t an option.  You can shorten the amount of time in a quarter but you cannot go to a running clock in college football.  You learn something new every weekend in college football (or something like that).
• The U is…back?  Maybe Manny Diaz’s biggest victory so far as they looked awesome against Louisville.  I am sure many will be jumping on to the D’Eriq King bandwagon now and rightfully so.  He looked like money and could be the difference maker that the Canes have needed for years now to get over the hump.  As for the Cardinals, I wouldn’t worry.  They are ahead of their gameplan under Scott Satterfield so expect them to still have a winning record this season.
• College Gameday was in Louisville this past weekend.   And where are they going this coming weekend?  Miami, who played Louisville this past Saturday and will host Florida State this weekend.  I get it: it’s to ease up the travel for Kirk Herbstreit to get from the Gameday set to the ABC primetime game location (or wherever he ends up calling a game on Saturdays).  Saying that, I still think they should go places they have never gone before.  With no fans, who cares if Herbie is actually there?  Let him join via satellite when he needs to.  So saying this, I think Week 5’s College Gameday should emanate from Cincinnati for the first time to see the Bearcats host USF.
• Notre Dame is a good ACC team.  I’m not kidding!  Savour this as this may be the only year we can ever say that.
• A week after Louisiana helped the Sun Belt to their best week ever with their upset of Iowa State, they struggled mightily with fellow conference member, Georgia State.  The Panthers kept things very close and the Ragin’ Cajuns had to pull out all the stops to win in overtime.  Man, the Sun Belt is going to be a surprisingly fun conference to watch this season.
• I regretted it last year for a bit and I may do so again this season.  UCF looked mighty good in their win over Georgia Tech and their option offense normal pro-style offense.  I know it’s just Georgia Tech so I have to temper things a bit.  Saying that, I am already regretting my choice of Appalachian State as the Group of Five representative in the New Year’s Six.  UCF could prove me wrong once again and it wouldn’t surprise me one bit.
• Oh Dino Babers.  Syracuse really has not looked good so far this season.  Two seasons ago, it looked like Babers was really building something in Syracuse.  Instead, that season is looking like an anomaly that was all caused by the presence of Eric Dungey.  An 0-2 start to the 2020 season is putting Dino on a serious hot seat.  If things doesn’t improve, Babers will not get another season to attempt to rectify the issues surrounding the program.
• UTSA is 2-0!  Another thing we may never say again (no offense Roadrunner fans).  So embrace it.
• Look, do you want to know how small the schedule still is?  Texas State and ULM got to play on ESPNU…on Saturday afternoon.  Yeah.
• How about what went down in the bayou?  Navy was down 24-0 to Tulane with 7 minutes left in the third quarter.  I was starting to think I was so wrong about this team and that the lack of practices really hurt the Midshipmen.  Instead, they scored the final 27 points of the game to complete the biggest comeback in Navy history (in football).  So we cannot count them out when it comes to the American race.  Also, Army-Navy looks like it could be something seriously special this season, despite the fact it will share the schedule for the first time in a long time.
• Marshall beat Appalachian State.  Doesn’t feel like an upset despite my thoughts about App State.  Doc Halladay continues to do wonders in Huntington with this program.  Maybe, just maybe, the Thundering Herd have to be considered a dark horse contender for the NY6.  If the Mountain West decides not to have a Fall season (and that is still up in the air), the Group of Five race could be very wide open.
• Southern Miss has had a ROUGH start to their season.  They looked hapless in their opener against South Alabama and Jay Hopson ended up resigning before he was fired.  But things looked up on Saturday as the Golden Eagles were taking it to Louisiana Tech for most of the game.  Then LaTech starts their comeback from down 17 and a spectacular catch by Griffin Hebert on fourth-and-goal with only 14 seconds left that had to be reviewed and overturned sunk Southern Miss.  This could be a tough time in Hattiesburg this season.

So really it did end up being a fun day of college football despite having much fewer games to watch.  I am sure my remote control was happy…more like happier.  As for my Top 25, I won’t do one yet.  I don’t think it’s fair to rank teams when the season is in flux like it has been and will be for at least another month.  Once the Big Ten is about to begin their season I will do my first set of rankings.  Otherwise there will be way too much movement and teams will move down the rankings for having the audacity to watch the Big Ten (and perhaps other conferences) just decide to play football.  How dare they!

I will go back to the regular schedule this week.  College football schedule Thursday.  NFL schedule Friday.  Have a good week everyone.

The Coaching Hot Seat Report, My Heisman Ballot and whatever the Big Ten is doing all in one post!

That’s what this is: a god damned dumpster fire.

Alright I am going to leave the Big Ten stuff to the end as I don’t want this to go off the rails so early.  First up will be the HOT SEAT REPORT!  My most accurate predictions of all.  This year, though I have no clue.  Let’s get right to it and as it is every year, this is ordered from most likely to be fired to least likely (NOW with Big Ten coaches!).  Let us begin:

Almost Guaranteed Shitcanning

1. Dana Dimel (UTEP) – Things are looking terrible for UTEP football right now.  All the rest of the teams seem to be leaving the Miners in their dust except for Old Dominion but that’s because they aren’t playing this Fall.  And with most teams having smaller non-conference schedules, this doesn’t look like UTEP’s time to improve.  Needed to keep his job – UTEP to be competitive in most of their conference games.  Prediction – Will be gone before the end of the season as UTEP will struggle to get more than two wins.
2. Derek Mason (Vanderbilt) – Vanderbilt has been an SEC also-ran for most of their time in the conference other than the James Franklin years.  Unfortunately, Mason hasn’t improved things in Nashville in his stint here.  It is tough because he’s a great coach and a great interview but you have to wonder if he is just better as a defensive coordinator somewhere, especially at the Power Five level.  Needed to keep his job – Bowl eligibility at the very least.  Prediction – He will be gone with either one or two games to go and will become a defensive coordinator somewhere at a lower level in the next year or two.
3. Will Muschamp (South Carolina) – At the time, the hiring of Muschamp looked like a good one even though he had been fairly mediocre at Florida.  But he hasn’t been able to make a dent in the SEC and is 2-13 against ranked teams, something that will keep him near the bottom of the division.  Needed to keep his job – Play meaningful football in late November and beat a ranked team or two.  Prediction – He will probably be fired with one or two games left but be the lame duck coach and finish out the string.

Probable Shitcanning

4. Philip Montgomery (Tulsa) – Tulsa has struggled for most of Montgomery’s reign here except for one great season.  He was a can’t miss coaching prospect who so far has missed badly.  I think the Golden Hurricane is going to be worse this season so it may signal the end for him in Oklahoma (the state, not the school).  Needed to keep his job – Battling for .500 late in the season.  Prediction – One win and a coaching search to start shortly after the season ends.
5. Lovie Smith (Illinois) – Being successful this past season may have actually been the worst thing for Lovie’s coaching future in Champaign.  Now the expectations will be higher and with Northwestern improving, I can’t see the Illini going bowling once they get back to playing in October.  Needed to keep his job – To be in contention for bowl-eligibility late into the season.  Prediction – I think they end up winning three or four games but won’t be enough to go bowling and will probably cost him his job but who knows with Illinois.

Possible Shitcanning

6. Manny Diaz (Miami) – Let’s just say the Manny Diaz era did not get off to a great start after he left Temple (after a few weeks) for his dream job.  But things are looking up with transfer quarterback D’Eriq King under centre (well, in the shotgun because no one goes under centre these days).  His status will fully depend on the improvement the Canes show on the field.  Needed to keep his job – At least 7 wins but preferably at least 8 and looking at a possible conference championship berth.  Prediction – I see The U at the 8-win mark so that should placate the fans in south Florida.
7. Scott Frost (Nebraska) – Look, I drank the Nebraska Koolaid last year.  I admit it.  But the bloom is off the rose now in Lincoln and anything short of at least .500 and a bowl game could spell the end for the guy that was supposed to lead the Huskers back to prominence.  Needed to keep his job – .500 record.  Prediction – I see them being around that mark so he might not be fired but it will be a huge discussion in the off-season about his future.
8. Steve Campbell (South Alabama) – It was looking like the Jaguars were going to have a 2-0 start and it probably would have kept Campbell off this list.  But their collapse against Tulane makes it so his job is at least in some jeopardy.  With the opening of their brand-new stadium, I am sure the brass were hoping for a team that could maybe even contend in the Sun Belt West.  With Louisiana in the division that won’t happen but maybe a bowl game for them?  The other thing is, if they let Campbell go, who would be up to replace him?  Not like this is a sought-after job.  Needed to keep his job – For USA to win close to five games.  Prediction – I have the Jaguars winning four games so at the very least, Campbell is looking at a hotter seat for next season.

Doubtful Shitcanning (although it still could happen)

9. Dino Babers (Syracuse) – Dino needs to get some slack here.  There were some injuries last year and a lot of underperforming.  Saying that, with only one great season under his belt, this season will have to at least look like an improvement over last year or he may be jettisoned.  Needed to keep his job – Battling for bowl eligibility late in the season.  Prediction – I have the Orange winning 4 so they need an upset to go bowling, if not two.  No bowl game means Babers will have at least a molten lava hot seat going into next season.
10. Matt Viator (ULM) – Things were looking good in Monroe.  Then the Ragin’ Cajuns down in Lafayette burned some rubber and left them in their dust.  Now they will be battling South Alabama and Texas State to stay out of the bottom of the Sun Belt West division.  Needed to keep his job –  Honestly?  Just don’t finish last in the division.  Prediction – Ummmm….well….I do have them finishing last so this could get interesting.
11. Tom Herman (Texas) – Herman hasn’t exactly set the Big XII on fire in Austin.  The fans at UT want to be in the Big XII Championship (OK they want to win the Big XII but baby steps).  Not getting there this year would put Herman on a bit of a hot seat going into 2021.  Needed to keep his job – Like keep his job for sure and maybe get an extension?  A trip to the Big XII Championship game.  Prediction – Losing to Oklahoma State to be left out of the title game and a lot of grumblings in Longhorn land.

Yes a much shorter list.  Blame COVID.

Now I will post my (shorter) Heisman ballot.  This is usually less accurate but at least I am on par with many so-called experts since many frosh and sophomores are in contention and it’s tough to figure them out compared to the juniors and seniors.  Alright here we go:

My Usually Awful Heisman Ballot

1. Trevor Lawrence, Clemson – Alright I had Lawrence winning it last year and he came up well short.  This year he is one of the favourites to win it so I am picking him yet again.  Maybe this time he won’t let me down…and the team.  Most importantly the team.  And the fanbase.  But me too.
2. Justin Fields, Ohio State – I feel a bit hesitant to put Fields this high.  This time it is because the Big Ten is starting later and he will have to be in Heisman form from the beginning.  I haven’t even done Big Ten predictions yet but I assume Ohio State will be favoured in all their games.  So as long as the Buckeyes aren’t upset along the way and Fields has a bad game or two, he should be in the Heisman conversation.
3. Spencer Rattler, Oklahoma – The streak ended last year.  Jalen Hurts had a good season but it wasn’t enough to bag the Sooners their third straight Heisman winner (who was also a transfer quarterback).  Rattler is a Lincoln Riley recruit so this is a little different than what we are used to with OU.  I still predict Oklahoma to get to the College Football Playoff which probably will mean Rattler will have had a great season so that puts him here.
4. D’Eriq King, Miami – This is the big transfer of the off-season and he could be the guy that saves Manny Diaz his job (and may get him an extension).  It was a bit of a shock that he first decided to redshirt at Houston and then transfer to Miami but here we are.  I think the Canes are going to be in New Year’s Six contention all season so the dual threat King will be a big part of that.
5. Chuba Hubbard, Oklahoma State – Hubbard for some reason came back for his senior year.  What it does is sets Hubbard up to become the next big running back to come out of Oklahoma State after Barry Sanders.  It also could make him the first Canadian to win the Heisman.  That would be cool.  He will actually need to run for more yards than he did last year so it may be difficult but if he does it, he will be at least the best running back in college football and a surefire first round pick in the 2021 draft.
6. Ian Book, Notre Dame – I know people will be upset at this.  Slow your roll and check your Notre Dame hate at the door.  The Irish are in a conference for the first time ever and are a contender to make their first-ever conference championship.  And if that does come to fruition, Book will be the biggest reason why.  And he could be a hero in South Bend forever if they somehow get to the College Football Playoff and don’t count them out of that.
7. Sam Ehlinger, Texas – For the second straight year, Ehlinger might be the second best quarterback in the Big XII.  Now if he somehow gets the Longhorns to the conference championship then he might rocket up this list.
8. Bo Nix, Auburn – The son of former Auburn star Patrick Nix plays in the toughest division in college football.  And if the Tigers have any thoughts of going to the New Year’s Six (if not the CFP), it will have to ride on his strong arm.  With a lot of new quarterbacks in the SEC, he could end up getting the lion’s share of the attention at the position which could be good for him to move up this list.

Honourable Mention

• Travis Etienne, Clemson
• Spencer Sanders, Oklahoma State
• Myles Brennan, LSU
• Zamir White, Georgia
• Najee Harris, Alabama
• Adrian Martinez, Nebraska
• Sam Howell, North Carolina

OK now we get to the Big Ten insanity.  Remember when they decided they weren’t going to have a Fall season and there was a huge uproar because three of the five Power Five conferences decided to plow ahead with a season anyway?  Pepperidge Farms (and all of us) remembers.  Now the Big Ten has decided to reverse course.  They plan on having a nine-week conference season.  It will start on October 24th and go through to December 19th when the Big Ten Championship will occur.  But that’s not all!  They will also have a kind of East vs. West challenge that week where the 2nd place team from the East faces the 2nd place team from the West, 3rd place against 3rd place, etc. all the way down to the last place teams in both divisions.  Just crazy.  This conference is a shitshow.  But money and FOMO ruled the day with the announcement.  Now the Pac-12 is the only P5 conference sitting out and that will be, unfortunately, horrible for the conference going into 2021.  College football, everybody!

Alright a slight change for this week’s posts.  I will be posting the NFL schedule on Thursday and the college sked on Friday since there are no college games on Thursday night.  I will do that for any other weeks this happens but as of this point, I can only see it happening maybe once more.  Anyway, hope you have had a great hump day!

Has the Big XII ever felt more love before?

I think I’m already regretting putting that pic up.

Seriously though, the Big XII and their member teams have never been courted more than they were during the summer.  Even during realignment, other conferences didn’t profess their love for the Big XII like they have been.  The SEC and ACC really needed the Big XII to be on board with playing football in the Fall, while the Big Ten and Pac-12 wanted the Big XII to join them and wait until January.  In the end, the conference chose to play now which I am not totally surprised with since I find they more closely align with the SEC than with the Big Ten, despite what some people might think.  Maybe this means finally (FINALLY!) the Big XII can (meaning Oklahoma) can win a College Football Playoff game.  But again, with the ACC and SEC still playing, that is no guarantee.  However, if there is any season to do it, this is the one.

And since the Big XII has decided to play, I should do standings predictions…finally.  So let’s get to it, the MEAT of this post: the Big XII predictions.  Followed by a beef stew of thoughts:

		Conference		Overall
		W	L	W	L
	Oklahoma	8	1	9	1
	Oklahoma State	7	2	8	2
	Texas	7	2	8	2
	Iowa State	6	3	7	3
	Baylor	6	3	6	3
	West Virginia	4	5	5	5
	TCU	3	6	3	6
	Kansas State	2	7	3	7
	Texas Tech	2	7	3	7
	Kansas	0	9	1	9

Beef Stew of Thoughts

• This year the Big XII is going with nine conference games, as per usual.  Every team is to have a 10th game which is a non-conference game.  Unfortunately for Baylor and TCU, there games have been postponed already to later dates.  So for now, they don’t have a non-conference game.  They will but it may not be against the teams they are supposed to play (Louisiana Tech and SMU, respectively).  That is why I am not predicted their non-conference results.
• Oklahoma will finish first but not undefeated.  They are still the class of the Big XII and the reigning conference champions until someone dethrones them.  I never want to say their trip to JerryWorld is booked but if they allow fans at the Big XII Championship and you are a Sooner fan, you may want to at least check out the cost of flights.
• The Les Miles era is in Year Two in Lawrence.  The Hat still has a long way to go to make the Jayhawks relevant in football though.  With the way the season is scheduled, I can’t see them escaping the basement.  Maybe next year Les.
• You will find out when I do the ACC predictions that the ACC is not doing divisions this season.  Copying the Big XII.  Neither is the American.  Copying the Big XII.  It’s very rare that I would say this but the rest of the conferences should Copy the Big XII and abolish divisions.  This way every conference is assured of having it’s top two teams (at least during the regular season) compete for their conference championship.  It just makes way too much sense.  Meaning at least one conference will never do it.
• As for this year’s title game, I have the Sooners going back-to-back-back-back by beating Oklahoma State.  That’s right, Mike Gundy will take that glorious mullet to JerryWorld and now I remember why I put that pic up!  Expect Chuba Hubbard to be in the conversation of becoming the first Canadian ever to win the Heisman and lead the Cowboys to the conference title game.  I still see them losing to Oklahoma but I see it being close.
• Using my thoughts on bowl eligibility, it would mean that six Big XII teams would be in this year’s postseason.  We shall see if that’s how they decide to work things or not.
• This may be the time for the Big XII to get their shit together and start thinking about having a conference network.  Talk to Texas and ESPN and figure out a way to buy the Longhorn Network out.  Or pay Texas to make everything part of the Longhorn Network and turn it into the Big XII Network.  Might as well since they may not get another chance before the end of the decade or when realignment happens again.

Guess what?  We are past the halfway mark!  Three more conferences to go.  Next up is arguably the conference that can’t be called the Clemson and Everyone Else Conference, the ACC.  Have a great rest of the week everyone!

2019 Bowl Game Rankings and Predictions!

It’s almost Christmas.  Meaning it is bowl season!  And then college football is over.  This is sad.  Maybe this is the year I finally get ripped in the offseason.  Haha, I will believe it when I see it.

I’ve decided to stick with the College Football Broadcast Ranking System for the bowls this year.  It works well.  It separates the games that even the most casual of college football fans will watch from the ones that only the complete maniacs like myself would watch.  Let’s begin.

10 out of 10!  This is Saturday Night on ABC kind of games

Game of the week quality.  So the College Football Playoff and the best two New Year’s Six games land here.

Fiesta Bowl – Ohio State vs. Clemson (Dec. 28, 8:00, TSN3/TSN5) – Chase vs. Trevor.  Defense vs. Offense.  Which isn’t quite true since tOSU’s offense is spectacular and the Tigers’ defense is still Top 10.  But this really is the face-off that many want to see.  This should be a very close, very exciting game between two undefeated teams.  Now watch it be a blowout.  My pick: Clemson 40-33.

Peach Bowl – LSU vs. Oklahoma (Dec. 28, 4:00, TSN3/TSN5) – They should never have the semi-finals on New Year’s Eve again.  This day is perfect.  Even when the College Football Playoff expands they shouldn’t do that.  It also allows avoidance of many of the World Juniors games this year since the WJHC is in the Czech Republic (or is it called Czechia now?).  Both semi-finals are good games but this will be the lesser of the two.  Sorry Sooner fans.  My pick: LSU 44-24.

Rose Bowl – Wisconsin vs. Oregon (Jan. 1, 5:00, TSN1/TSN3/TSN4/TSN5) – I am glad this is getting quite a bit of hype.  These two teams are fun to watch for very different reasons.  And it’s the Rose Bowl…doesn’t it have to be a great game by default?  My pick: Oregon 32-24.

Cotton Bowl – Penn State vs. Memphis (Dec. 28, Noon, specialty pack) – It’s not the Rose and Sugar at the top of the New Year’s Six list this year.  This game is much more intriguing than the Sugar Bowl.  Memphis is in the NY6 for the first time and we will see the first game where they are Norvell-less.  It used to be these games were a no-win situation for the Power Five team but this is becoming less of an issue as the playoff gets older.  Also, it’s James Franklin and hearing James Franklin makes you want to run through a brick wall.  Very few guys can motivate like he can.  My pick: Penn State 42-27.

9 out of 10! This is the SEC on CBS quality…normally

Arguably the biggest game of the day but goes here because the SEC is never on ABC (at least as the home team).

Outback Bowl – Auburn vs. Minnesota (Jan. 1, 1:00, TSN2) – One team is the team that ended Bama’s chances at competing for another national championship.  The other team was very close to being this season’s Cinderella squad.  Row The Boat vs. The Gus Bus.  I am sad that this is going to be totally overshadowed by the Citrus Bowl starting at the exact same time.  Why didn’t they schedule this to start at Noon?  My pick: Minnesota 30-27.

Citrus Bowl – Alabama vs. Michigan (Jan. 1, 1:00, ABC) – This is the best non-New Year’s Six game (along with the Outback Bowl).  Not surprised the Wolverines are in this game.  But Alabama?  It is honestly a bit of a shock to the system to see the Tide in a game like this.  If they lose this game, could this be the worst season of the Saban era (other than his first in Tuscaloosa)?  My pick: Alabama 34-30.

Las Vegas Bowl – Washington vs. Boise State (Dec. 21, 7:30, ABC) – And yet again this is the best pre-Christmas bowl game.  And it is the much-ballyhooed Petersen Bowl.  Final game for ol’ Chris Petersen before he returns in a few years because he missed coaching.  I think the Huskies might keep this closer than many believe it will be as they will playing on a lot of emotion.  My pick: Boise State 20-17.

Sugar Bowl – Georgia vs. Baylor (Jan. 1, 8:45, TSN1/TSN3/TSN4/TSN5) – Normally this is the kind of game that would be the worst of the NY6 bunch.  Not so this season.  It should be a decent game and hey, it’s Baylor in a huge bowl game although I know that won’t sit well with some.  Well tough shit.  My pick: Georgia 26-16.

8 out of 10!  I’ll call this ESPN…on Saturday…or maybe Thursday night…but not always Saturday late night

Still really good games.  Must-see for college football fans at this point.

Alamo Bowl – Texas vs. Utah (Dec. 31, 7:30, specialty pack) – This could be higher but hear me out.  Texas was supposed to better than this and are limping into this bowl game.  Utah was on the precipice of going to the CFP and now aren’t even in the NY6.  So I can see one, or both, of these teams not really caring as much as they should that they are in this particular bowl game.  Also it’s the final college football game of 2019 and the time is not ideal for TV watchers.  My pick: Utah 20-13.

Holiday Bowl – Iowa vs. USC (Dec. 27, 8:00, FloSports) – First season where we can see all the bowl games…legally!  I know that FOX is trying to bolster FS1 by putting the better of their two bowl games on there but it still feels weird for this to be here.  But at least they won’t be talking as much about coaching controversies or, hopefully, players sitting out this bowl game so they can actually call the damn game.  And if it’s GUS and Joel then that’s even better.  My pick: USC 26-10.

Camping World Bowl – Iowa State vs. Notre Dame (Dec. 28, Noon, ABC) – Notre Dame probably doesn’t want to be here.  That’s too fucking bad though.  If you think this sucks, hire Charlie Weis and get back to me with how it goes.  Let’s hope the players, at least, are up for this one because the Clones definitely will be.  My pick: Iowa State 20-7.

Liberty Bowl – Navy vs. Kansas State (Dec. 31, 3:45, specialty pack) – Navy is good again and Kansas State is also good again.  I hope Chris Klieman has taught his guys how to stop the run.  My pick: Navy 46-34.

7 out of 10! This is FOX territory.  You could move this up 1 if GUS JOHNSON! is calling the game

Most college football fans should watch these games but we are getting eerily close to the equivalent of a game where Rutgers is involved (despite the fact they are in a Power Five conference).

Orange Bowl – Virginia vs. Florida (Dec. 30, 8:00, TSN3) – This might be the worst New Year’s Six game ever.  No offense to the Cavaliers but they really don’t belong here.  This is the shitty part of bowl tie-ins.  Yeah you can figure out which teams are going where (for the most part) but then we get instances like this.  Now watch the Hoos mop the floor with the Gators and prove me wrong.  My pick: Florida 27-14.

Cheez-It Bowl – Air Force vs. Washington State (Dec. 27, 10:15, TSN1/TSN5) – The team that was one loss against Boise State away from being in the New Year’s Six conversation will face off against the Fighting Mike Leachs of the Palouse.  How Troy Calhoun did not get any Coach of the Year consideration is baffling to be honest.  Again, it’s another contrast of styles game so we shall see if the run or the pass reign supreme.  My pick: Air Force 54-41.

Boca Raton Bowl – SMU vs. Florida Atlantic (Dec. 21, 3:30, ABC) – The Boca Bowl gets the ABC treatment!  Nice!  I still don’t know if Lane Kiffin will be coaching in this one but it is starting to look less and less likely as the game approaches.  This also has SMU who is back, kinda, sorta.  Being an elite Group of Five team is better than being a basement Conference USA team though, right?  My pick: SMU 29-20.

Texas Bowl – Texas A&M vs. Oklahoma State (Dec. 27, 6:45, TSN1/TSN5) – Why wasn’t Texas put here?  This was their best chance since the Aggies left the Big XII and the bowl organizers fucked it up.  Either that or one of the programs are still little bitches and won’t allow this to happen.  Anyway, Canadian Chuba Hubbard could run wild in this one.  My pick: Oklahoma State 37-32.

6 out of 10.  We will put NBC here because they have to go somewhere.

Let’s be honest, NBC has very few games during a college football season.  Like seven of them.  But one or two are REALLY big games so on average, you have to put them above some other networks right?  Plus all the Notre Dame fanboys would have a shit fit if I put NBC any lower.

Gator Bowl – Tennessee vs. Indiana (Jan. 2, 7:00, specialty pack) – This was supposed to be a different SEC team.  I can’t even remember who it was but I know the Vols all of a sudden decided they wanted to be here rather than the Music City Bowl.  I don’t know why there were just allowed to switch or that a bowl game could have allowed that but here we are.  Anyway, I am interested at how much interest there is in the bowl games between New Year’s Day and the national championship, something that is back after a short hiatus.  My pick: Indiana 37-36 (2OT).

Belk Bowl – Kentucky vs. Virginia Tech (Dec. 31, Noon, TSN3) – The final Belk Bowl.  The best bowl Twitter account ever is done, for now, with sponsoring a bowl game.  Knowing our luck there will be some weird company that steps up to sponsor this one.  Or we get a hilarious one.  Maybe Skoal wants to sponsor a bowl game.  The Skoal Bandit Bowl.  I’m smiling just thinking about it.  My pick: Kentucky 24-17.

New Orleans Bowl – UAB vs. Appalachian State (Dec. 21, 9:00, TSN2) – I don’t get this tie-in.  Really you should have a Louisiana team here no matter what.  It’s a way to get a good crowd into the stadium since having less than half a stadium full is bad: in the Superdome it is so much worse.  As much as I like what UAB is doing, I can’t see the Mountaineers taking it easy on them after barely missing the Cotton Bowl bid.  My pick: Appalachian State 44-20.

Gasparilla Bowl – UCF vs. Marshall (Dec. 23, 2:30, TSN3/TSN5) – Weekday.  Afternoon.  Before Christmas.  What do I always say about these games?  My pick: UCF 46-30.

5 out of 10. Some hot ESPN2/ESPNU/SEC Network/ACC Network action right here!

These are the networks I really love to be honest with you.  They provide a shit-ton of football on the specialty pack and at least once a week you get a great game on it.  Well a great finish at least which is what we might have to hope for with this group of games.  Also, we add the ACC Network this year!

Sun Bowl – Arizona State vs. Florida State (Dec. 31, 2:00, CBS) – Florida State barely got into a bowl game and fired their head coach.  Arizona State did about as good as everyone thought they would and Herm Edwards has done great in Tempe.  Now the question is how many will actually show up for this game.  I put the over/under at 25,000 and that’s only because the Sun Devils are there.  My pick: Arizona State 36-17.

Birmingham Bowl – Boston College vs. Cincinnati (Jan. 2, 3:00, specialty pack) – Luckily for this bowl game, it has been usually a good game in the past.  Sucks that it is played in a dump like Legion Field but it could be worse.  They could be at the Trop.  Back to the game, the Bearcats should have no problem with the Eagles who finally fired Steve “The Dude” Addazio.  About three years to late for many BC fans.   My pick: Cincinnati 31-10.

Military Bowl – North Carolina vs. Temple (Dec. 27, Noon, TSN5) – Mack Brown in a bowl game in 2019.  This tells you how crazy college football can be.  The Tar Heels will have their work cut out for them as Temple is one of the most complete Group of Five teams around.  I kind of hope it’s snowing for this one as we don’t get near enough bad weather bowl games.  My pick: Temple 28-21.

Music City Bowl – Mississippi State vs. Louisville (Dec. 30, 4:00, TSN3) – The game Tennessee should have been in.  Then they switched with Kentucky but Kentucky had already played Louisville for the Governor’s Cup so they switched with Mississippi State.  So yeah I figured it out a few sections after I was struggling to remember.  Bowl Selection Alzheimers.  My pick: Mississippi State 37-23.

4 out of 10.  FOX Sports One goes here although some could argue it should be higher.

Now that we can technically get FS1 games up here, I can’t use that as an excuse to put this in the 4 spot.  FS1 is kind of all over the place so many times, ESPN2 has much better games but mostly ESPNU never has better games.  I may have to rethink this for next season.  For now, I don’t have time so here it is!

Pinstripe Bowl – Michigan State vs. Wake Forest (Dec. 27, 3:20, TSN1/TSN5) – Again, snow here would be fun.  Wake Forest should be heavily favoured here but instead we will get everyone overrating Sparty.  My wonder is if it will be Mark Dantonio’s last stand as MSU’s head coach.  My pick: Wake Forest 47-34.

Mobile Bowl – Miami-OH vs. Louisiana (Jan. 6, 7:30, specialty pack) – Louisiana has a great run the last two seasons.  If it isn’t for App State, the Ragin’ Cajuns are the best Sun Belt team around.  Anyway, they go up against Miami-OH.  The Cradle of Coaches probably won’t have a chance in this one and, to be honest, I can see many people taking a break before the natty by skipping this one.  My pick: Louisiana 50-23.

Bahamas Bowl – Buffalo vs. Charlotte (Dec. 20, 2:00, TSN2) – This could end up being a fantastic game.  Who knows?  And I barely care because I won’t be able to watch it live.  Oh well I guess it’s nice to see Charlotte in their first bowl ever and getting to go to the Bahamas.  My pick: Buffalo 37-29.

Hawaii Bowl – BYU vs. Hawaii (Dec. 24, 8:00, specialty pack) – This is on Christmas Eve again.  Where it belongs.  This is an interesting game since most of the recruits on the islands go to, I believe, either Hawaii or BYU (and BYU even has a school in Hawaii somewhere).  These two used to be conference foes but if it was BYU’s choice they never would be again because BYU is above the Mountain West/WAC in football I guess.  My pick: BYU 26-24.

3 out of 10. CBS Sports Network or Big Ten Network type games.  The whole “it’s about quantity, not quality” rule.

BTN, for some reason, gets one really good game all year and then a bunch of Rutgers games.  CBSSN just has so many games but it’s all Group of Five so they have to be ranked this low.  And now I can watch all these games which is really great, right?  I think I need my head examined.

First Responder Bowl – Western Michigan vs. Western Kentucky (Dec. 30, 12:30, specialty pack) – Hey maybe this game will actually be played this time around.  Saying that, it would be fucking hilarious if it was cancelled again.  If that happened I could see this bowl just being jettisoned since it’s obviously bad luck.  My pick: Western Kentucky 35-30 (if it doesn’t get cancelled).

New Mexico Bowl – San Diego State vs. Central Michigan (Dec. 21, 2:00, TSN2) – Jim McElwain did a fantastic job at Central Michigan this season.  Rocky Long has been doing amazing work at SDSU for years.  Top quality coaches here.  I just…I don’t know.  It feels like a game that’s just meh.  A game that would struggle to get out of ESPN3 territory during the regular season.  Nothing special.  And to answer your question, yes, I will watch it.  My pick: San Diego State 31-7.

Independence Bowl – Louisiana Tech vs. Miami (Dec. 26, 4:00, TSN5) – First game after Christmas.  And it’s Shreveport, everyone’s least favourite bowl destination.  This harkens back to like the 80s when no one really cared about things like this.  Anyway, it’s the perfect bowl game for a team like Miami that barely made it to the postseason.  And Louisiana Tech is almost at home for this one so hopefully the crowd is good.  My pick: Louisiana Tech 21-17.

Armed Forces Bowl – Southern Miss vs. Tulane (Jan. 4, 11:30 AM, specialty pack) – I still wait for the day where Willie Fritz is picked up by a higher profile school.  What he has done at Tulane is great.  They are no longer a laughing stock and an easy out.  Jay Hopson isn’t a slouch either.  I do like the fact this starts late morning on the Saturday of Wild Card weekend.  Morning college football!!!  My pick: Tulane 40-20.

2 out of 10. This is some Pac-12 Network dreck over here.

The Pac-12 Network is now easily the worst of the conference networks.  We don’t have a Big XII Network yet so once we get that in like 2031 we may finally get the definitive ranking.  Anyway, most games on this network are pretty bad, especially for a Power Five conference.  Yes, there are games that end up being great but the schedule is atrocious.

Redbox Bowl – Illinois vs. California (Dec. 30, 4:00, FOX) – It is a nice story to see Illinois in a bowl game for the first time in a few years.  They are in an odd spot since they aren’t considered the worst of the Power Five bunch (even though they are in the conversation) but they are mostly forgotten in college football these days which is sad.  Lovie Smith has finally done wonders in Champaign.  Really though, this bowl game is between two average programs who have a good chance to be home for next year’s bowl season.  My pick: Illinois 16-12.

Camellia Bowl – FIU vs. Arkansas State (Dec. 21, 5:30, TSN2) – Former Sun Belt foes (and I use that term really loosely) face off.  Good chance this will be overshadowed by other game on this day, the first Saturday of bowl season.  My pick: Arkansas State 36-33.

Cure Bowl – Liberty vs. Georgia Southern (Dec. 21, 2:30, CBS Sports Network) – The Cure Bowl is almost always near the bottom of the bowl rankings and this year is no different.  At least they don’t have crazy competition to get viewers but the network won’t help things here.  Even Liberty being in their first bowl game ever will be shit on because people just hate Liberty or they hate the man who doesn’t understand the concept of a burner phone, Hugh Freeze.  My pick: Liberty 31-24.

Quick Lane Bowl – Eastern Michigan vs. Pittsburgh (Dec. 26, 8:00, TSN5) – MAC vs. Big Ten would have been better.  ACC vs. Big Ten would have been better.  Big Ten here would have been better, period.  Thanks to stupid bowl tie-ins they didn’t have enough teams to get down to this bowl game.  Oh well, at least it’s on in primetime.  My pick: Pittsburgh 31-17.

1 out of 10.  Or zero.  Or negative numbers  Who really gives a shit here?  I sure don’t.

I will watch these if I can.  I am a working man after all.  I am an insane college football fan and even I can only take so much.  In April I will be regretting treating these bowl games like a pile of diarrhea.

Frisco Bowl – Utah State vs. Kent State (Dec. 20, 7:30, TSN2) – I like the way this bowl is set up.  Small-ish stadium.  Football-mad state.  The actual game though?  Meh.  It’s football and it’s on opening night so I will watch but it’s not high up on my list and they are lucky to have the audience to themselves.  My pick: Kent State 39-36.

Idaho Potato Bowl – Nevada vs. Ohio (Jan. 3, 3:30, TSN2) – I always find it interesting that they make the MAC go to bowl games like this.  And the Potato Bowl is always far down both conferences’ lists of where to send teams.  Let’s be honest here; it’s Boise.  Yes the blue turf is fun but other than it turning into a skating rink or them playing in a blizzard, this game, which is after New Year’s on a weekday in the afternoon, isn’t exactly must watch..  My pick: Ohio 47-31.

Arizona Bowl – Wyoming vs. Georgia State (Dec. 31, 4:30, CBS Sports Network) – The worst bowl game of the bunch.  CBS Sports Network seems to own this spot with this bowl or the Cure Bowl.  And to top it off, this game is around dinnertime on New Year’s Eve.  Geez talk about a shitty spot for a lower-tier bowl. My pick: Wyoming 37-27.

So there you go!  The bowl schedule and rankings are done.  So now you can enjoy the games!

And hey I am posting this before bowl season begins!  Nice change from last year and it means I am on the ball (for once).

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

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

Other recap points!

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

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

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

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

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

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