How about I rank the bowl games now that they are complete?

Wait, WAIT! Look you’ve read some of my longer posts on here so don’t leave now. Honestly, this won’t be as long as some of the crazy-ass long posts I’ve done in the past. Plus, we can re-live some of Bowl Season’s greater moments together. Because let’s be honest: this wasn’t exactly the best Bowl Season ever. Not the worst mind you; but yeah, definitely not the best. So how about we just dive in and get started, OK?

1. Rose Bowl (Michigan 27 Alabama 20 (OT)) – This was one of the greatest College Football Playoff games of all-time. And funny enough, it still wasn’t exactly the cleanest game. Sloppy play by both teams made it so neither team could pull away. And in the end, the issue that caused Bama fits all game, poor snaps from center, came back to haunt them one final time. The low snap on 4th and Goal caused Jalen Milroe to panic and run up the middle to try and score. The play that was drawn up would have had a good chance of working if the snap had been perfect. Michigan finally erases so much CFP pain and will now have their chance at a national championship.
2. New Orleans Bowl (Jacksonville State 34 Louisiana 31 (OT)) – This feels like the validation of Jax State’s ascent to the FBS level. For some reason, some schools make it work and others (see UMass) can’t figure it out. The thing about this game is that it felt like the Gamecocks were throwing it away, literally. Three defensive touchdowns by the Cajuns kept them in the game. All it did though, is delay a backup kicker, who rarely played, kicking the game winning field goal for the Cocks. This is the perfect argument for why bowls do, and should in the future, exist.
3. Sugar Bowl (Washington 37 Texas 31) – The second of the two semi-final games was easily the worst…if you just watched the first 58 minutes or so of the game. Then the Huskies decided that maybe, juuuuuuuuuuuust maybe, they didn’t feel like going to the national championship after all. U-Dub was able to hold on when Texas almost seized that final chance and will now play for all the glory. Also, some people were actually introduced, truly, to Michael Penix Jr. for the first time. And I include people who report on college football as they were astounded by what he did despite the fact he did that in half the games this season.
4. Gator Bowl (Clemson 38 Kentucky 35) – Put your hand up if you thought Kentucky would be in one of the best bowl games of the year. Now put your hands down, you filthy liars. No one, not even Kentucky fans, thought that would be the case. That insane fourth quarter alone, with 42 points scored between the two teams, was enough to put this game in the upper echelon of this year’s Bowl Season.
5. Famous Toastery Bowl (WKU 38 Old Dominion 35 (OT)) – And the award for the most stupidly awesome bowl game of the year goes to this one. The Hilltoppers were down 21-0 just seven minutes in. I actually stopped watching for the next hour. I come back to see what’s going on and see the first touchdown of what would be the fourth-greatest comeback in bowl game history. How did it end? A blocked field goal in the fourth quarter, followed by another blocked field goal in overtime, leading to a walk-off field goal and then toast angels on the field. How can you not love college football?
6. Arizona Bowl (Wyoming 16 Toledo 15) – If you had said this bowl game would have been the one out of the two on at the same time to be the better bowl game I would have…well maybe not laughed but been intrigued by your logic. This game went up against the blowout that was the Orange Bowl so it was easy to tune into this game. This is the second straight year the Arizona Bowl has been a great game and Wyoming, this time, is on the better end of the score. A perfect end to Craig Bohl’s coaching career.
7. ReliaQuest Bowl (LSU 35 Wisconsin 31) – This ended up being a great battle, something that many thought wouldn’t be the case. The Badgers certainly showed up for this one after a lacklustre season. The Tigers didn’t even have the lead until their final touchdown with a little over three minutes to go. A good college football start to 2024.
8. Camellia Bowl (Northern Illinois 21 Arkansas State 19) – This falls under “It’s So Bad, It’s Good” territory. Not exactly the best of the best but the final portion of the game makes up for it with its sheer insanity. ASU went the entire length of the field to get within two, missed the two-point conversion, then recovered the onside kick! But it was flagged for offside in one of the biggest botched calls of the entire season which made Butch Jones go as red as a ripe tomato. Entertainment…that’s what we want from our bowl games, right?
9. Quick Lane Bowl (Minnesota 30 Bowling Green 24) – Minnesota threw for 26 yards and won this game. Hilarious. It helps that they could hand the ball off to Darius Taylor who went off for over 200 yards. Fun fact: the Gophers have now won seven consecutive bowl games. That has to be tops, no?
10. Pinstripe Bowl (Rutgers 31 Miami 24) – A good game at Yankee Stadium. Now I’m not huge on regular season games at baseball stadiums (as in they should be banned) but I am totally fine with them during bowl season. There was more scoring than many thought there would be but there was no stupidity from Mario Cristobal, which was also expected (by me).
11. Cure Bowl (Appalachian State 13 Miami-OH 9) – This game was played in atrocious weather. I fucking loved it. It was just a bunch of silly backyard-style football fun, if your backward was a swimming pool. At one point it felt like they were going for the bowl game fumbles record. Combined, the two teams ended up with 12. How either team got a kick off, I will never know.
12. Peach Bowl (Ole Miss 38 Penn State 25) – Most thought it would be a great matchup between the seriously up tempo Rebel offense against the Nittany Lions’ stout defense. It was not to be. The Fighting Kiffins shredded PSU and pulled away in the second half. So Lane is safe in the fans’ minds in Oxford. James Franklin…well I am sure there are many unhappy people in…(Un)Happy Valley.
13. Pop Tarts Bowl (Kansas State 28 NC State 19) – Let’s be honest here: all we wanted to see was what would happen at the end with the mascot. And it was fucking glorious. Whoever thought of this should get a MASSIVE bonus. Also, the game was pretty good with it being close nearly the entire way.
14. Alamo Bowl (Arizona 38 Oklahoma 24) – Man, the Wildcats are going to be a load in the Big XII next year. They went blow-for-blow with the Sooners and ended up leaving them in their dust thanks to causing six turnovers. Gotta hand it to Jedd Fisch: not many thought he would get the program to this point this fast. So is he the best coach out of the Bill Belichick coaching tree? Oh wait, Nick Saban did a few years under Belichick. So yeah Jedd you will always be second in this case.
15. Guaranteed Rate Bowl (Kansas 49 UNLV 36) – Speaking of teams who could be really good next year in the Big XII, the Jayhawks overcame being called for over 200 yards worth of penalties to almost put up a 50-burger. Jason Bean has been a god-send considering Jalon Daniels was injured most of the season. And he showed it in his final game throwing for six touchdowns. This was KU’s first bowl win in 15 years. Incredible. And don’t shortchange the Rebels who also had a pretty good game and great season.
16. LA Bowl (UCLA 35 Boise State 22) – Look, I think most were interested to see if Chip Kelly’s team would show up for what was basically a home game for them. And they sure did. The Bruins were able to stick with Boise until the second half and then pulled away for a relatively easy victory and a tiny bit of momentum going into the Big Ten next season.
17. Texas Bowl (Oklahoma State 31 Texas A&M 23) – Somehow, the Aggies, with all sorts of players not playing (for various reasons), came back from an 18-point halftime deficit to make things very interesting late. Also, Mike Gundy has won 10 games in a season EIGHT TIMES? Really? Wow. This guy should get more credit for what he’s done in Stillwater.
18. Armed Forces Bowl (Air Force 31 James Madison 21) – Some called it bad and I think it’s because the Dukes lost. Air Force showed why they were the Group of Five favourite heading into November. JMU tried to make a game of it but the Falcons’ run game was way too much for them. A perfectly good bowl.
19. Holiday Bowl (USC 42 Louisville 28) – Miller Moss took advantage of Caleb Williams opting out of this game by throwing for a Holiday Bowl record six touchdowns. I will be honest by saying that the amount of people online saying we have an early Heisman frontrunner irked me. This isn’t preseason hype: this is the end of the previous season hype. Ridiculous. Not saying he won’t be good but I wish some in college football media would pump the brakes sometimes since they sound like idiots every so often.
20. Gasparilla Bowl (Georgia Tech 30 UCF 17) – The slightly weird start time didn’t detract from a pretty good bowl game. Despite the loss and the 6-7 finish, you have to think the Knights thought this season was a success. Their first as a Power Five team and they showed they could compete. As for the Ramblin’ Wreck, well, I am sure they sent a postcard to Mario Cristobal for gifting them that win that essentially put them in this bowl game.
21. Birmingham Bowl (Duke 17 Troy 10) – I tend to rank closer games higher than offensive shootouts that end with one team winning by like 21. That’s just me. Very little is more exciting in college football than a chance for a team to tie or win a game late. Both teams had interim coaching staffs so we can use that as an excuse for this one although it feels like it’s happening more and more these days. Not a good trend.
22. Las Vegas Bowl (Northwestern 14 Utah 7) – A great ending for the Wildcats who wildly exceeded expectations this season. Utah just didn’t have the players to contend in this one. If you liked defense…well, you still might not have liked this one since it was more the offenses struggling than anything.
23. Liberty Bowl (Memphis 36 Iowa State 26) – There were some high hopes for this one. Iowa State was a better-than-advertised Big XII school and Memphis was at home. And it wasn’t a bad game but it felt like the Tigers were in control for most of it which kind of sucks the life out of a bowl game in the latter stages.
24. Hawaii Bowl (Coastal Carolina 24 San Jose State 14) – Pretty good game but drops a few notches because it wasn’t on Christmas Eve WHERE IT BELONGS.
25. Fenway Bowl (Boston College 23 SMU 14) – It was cold. It was wet. It was fun…for me to watch. Not for the players, coaches and fans, I’m sure. Well, at the time it was probably not too bad. I’ve played in games like that and it was fine until after the game. Then you feel like shit. You might feel less shitty if you win…but you still feel like crap. Anyway, this is a conference game next season! A-C-C! A-C-C! A-C-C! A-C-C!
26. Independence Bowl (Texas Tech 34 California 14) – After a full opening day of bowl games I was hoping this one would be good. Or fun. Or weird. It was none of the three. It was fine until about halfway through the second quarter and the Red Raiders rode away with it. Lack of drama drops this way down.
27. Military Bowl (Virginia Tech 41 Tulane 20) – This was a nasty weather game so you’d think I would rank it higher. There were a lot of fumbles and chaos so you’d think I would rank it higher. I don’t know what it was but this felt like not a very fun game to watch. I kind of stopped paying attention in the second half. I really didn’t think the Green Wave was in it nor did they care much to be there. And that can happen sometimes when your coach leaves for another school. Maybe that was the case here, I don’t know. Either way, it was meh.
28. Cotton Bowl (Missouri 14 Ohio State 3) – I was kind of hyped for this one, not gonna lie. I was thinking this would be quite the prove-it game for Mizzou and we would see if no Kyle McCord would be an issue for tOSU. I was right, for the most part, on both fronts, yet this game sucked. Luckily for the Buckeyes, their awesome defense kept them in it going into the fourth quarter but their offense was painful to watch. They should have found a student in the crowd to play quarterback since it would have been just as good.
29. Frisco Bowl (UTSA 35 Marshall 17) – Would this have been better if 14th-year senior Frank Harris had been able to play? It would have been a blowout rather than a relatively easy victory for the Roadrunners, that’s about it. Biggest take from this game? The starting quarterbacks were Cole Pennington for Marshall (Chad’s son) and Owen McCown for the Roadrunners (Josh’s son). I feel seriously fucking old.
30. First Responder Bowl (Texas State 45 Rice 21) – Not the greatest game to be honest as the Bobcats were in control for most of it. It was definitely helped, though, by the fans (especially the Texas State ones) who were jacked for this one. So jacked that they ran out of beer at the game. Five minutes into the third quarter. Yeah.
31. Idaho Potato Bowl (Georgia State 45 Utah State 22) – The Aggies looked pretty damn flat in this one. The Panthers, on the other hand, overcame their late-season collapse and get back to that early season form. Almost 650 yards of offense for GSU and they were way too much for USU. Even with the french fry bath, this was a bottom tier bowl game this season.
32. Myrtle Beach Bowl (Ohio 41 Georgia Southern 21) – A bit of a ho-hum affair kicked off Bowl Season this time around thanks to the Bahamas Bowl having to move to Charlotte. Ohio went up big and kept the lead the entire game. Nothing super interesting with this one.
33. Music City Bowl (Maryland 31 Auburn 13) – This game was over early and was done without Taulia Tagovailoa. So it was impressive. Just not interesting to watch after the first quarter.
34. New Mexico Bowl (Fresno State 37 New Mexico State 10) – I thought this would be a good game. I had high hopes for NMSU in this one. It was not to be. Fresno State cranked it up late and ran away with this one but even earlier on it didn’t really feel close as the Bulldogs showed the form that had them the favourite for about seven days to be the Group of Five representative in the New Year’s Six. Oh well.
35. Duke’s Mayo Bowl (West Virginia 30 North Carolina 10) – Props to West Virginia for completing a good season, much better than most thought would happen. Neal Brown got mayo dumped on him. And that’s about it. The game was forgettable.
36. Sun Bowl (Notre Dame 40 Oregon State 8) – Boy, for a game that was sold out quicker than I think any other Sun Bowl ever, this game was an absolute dud. Notre Dame’s backups beat the ever-loving shit out of Oregon State’s backups. Ugh.
37. Fiesta Bowl (Oregon 45 Liberty 6) – I think we’ve found our new BYU. No, I don’t mean weird religious institution (even though they are). I mean a team that’s probably too good (most of the time) for their conference but not really good enough to be in the Power Five (or maybe even a better conference). Didn’t help that Oregon came in looking pissed off and after the Flames took a 6-0 lead it was all Ducks. 45 unanswered points and Bo Nix left as a record-setting quarterback. This was a trainwreck, really.
38. Citrus Bowl (Tennessee 35 Iowa 0) – Geez, where do I begin with this one? This was one of the most Iowa games of the season which is saying something. The offense was awful. The Brian Ferentz Experience has come to an end and I am positive most in Iowa City are thankful for that. What made it worse was two other games on at the same time. So I watched almost none of the second half. And I don’t feel bad about that at all.
39. 68 Ventures Bowl (South Alabama 59 Eastern Michigan 10) – I am starting to wonder why this bowl even exists. Even by ESPN Events standards, this is shit. I love more football but good God. The Jags just ran the Eagles off the field in another boring 68 Ventures Bowl which was called…like seven other things before this. This is perfect fodder for the Too Many Bowl Games crowd.
40. Boca Raton Bowl (USF 45 Syracuse 0) – This was one of the biggest beatdowns in bowl game history. Well at least I thought that until…I’ll get to that in a second. Anyway, I figured the Orange would show up. They did…technically. They were the opposition…technically. Other than that, USF, a middle-of-the-road American Conference team who played out of its mind for new coach Alex Golesh, beat the brakes off of Cuse. It was a pathetic performance, regardless of who was missing from the lineup. And speaking of players missing from the lineup…
41. Orange Bowl (Georgia 63 Florida State 3) – This picture encapsulates this game perfectly:

Mike Norvell looks like he wants to be anywhere other than where he was at that moment. This game is THE biggest win in bowl game history. So Georgia one-upped themselves. This game, and everything leading up to it, was a completely fucking mess of a shitshow and is a big part of what’s wrong with college football today. Florida State (and to a lesser extent, Georgia) being left out of the College Football Playoff, some even saying that FSU should boycott the game, some politician trying to force the CFP to put the Noles in (somehow), then all sorts of players opting out or transferring out (from both sides mind you). It all led to this travesty of a game. Even Kirby Smart, during the post-game press conference, told everyone “if this doesn’t show that there needs to be some change, then I don’t know what does.” I’m paraphrasing but he’s right on the money. When players can transfer, when coaches can leave a school to get hired somewhere else, what happens to a player’s NIL when they opt out of a bowl game…all this stuff needs to be dealt with. If it doesn’t, these bowl games will get less and less important. And this is after the playoff has already eroded the bowl system (a bit).

See? Not my longest post ever. So no complaining.

Well we’ve hit the end my friends. One last game. The national championship is tonight and, other than the weird all-star games with their weird rules, it’s the final college football game of the season. Cherish it. Even if it’s a blowout. Remember: the wait for the next season can be long and arduous. Enjoy the game everyone!

Let’s bid farewell to a couple of legends – Week 11 College Football TV Schedule

I don’t think we have ever seen two football minds like this get let go within a week of each other. It is crazy to think this could happen, but it did. Two legends who didn’t get their proper sendoff on here. So here we go.

*deep breath*

Ladies and gentlemen, it is time to say farewell to two of, arguably……….the worst coordinators in recent Power Five football history. Brian Ferentz, son of Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz, had to be put on a points minimum to be able to keep his contract after this season was over. And Alex Grinch, one of Lincoln Riley’s loyal soldiers. Two men who undoubtdedly pushed football back 50 years with their horrendous playcalling and obvious lack of attention to detail.

Ferentz wasn’t even allowed to take a shot at the points amount (it had to be at least an average of 25 a game). He was told by interim Iowa athletic director Beth Goetz, who obviously knew his chances of hitting that mark were slim, that he would not be retained for the 2024 season. So technically he is still around although he’s in a lame duck position. Not so for Grinch who wasn’t allowed to continue putting out awful defense after awful defense, something that has almost killed USC’s chances of anything but going to a bowl game. Riley had no choice in the end but to axe him.

Realistically, these two guys should have been let go weeks ago. It was apparent to anyone with some knowledge of college football that these two weren’t cutting it. But nepotism and loyalty can go a long way in this sport and we have seen it time and again in the past. And it will continue to do so. Hopefully head coaches learn to take a step back and look at a situation from a bird’s-eye view so that they can honestly assess it. Otherwise you hurt the team and, potentially, yourself.

Alright, enough of fired coaches. Let’s get to the damn schedule!

Tuesday

		US	Canada
Ball State at Northern Illinois	7:00
Central Michigan at Western Michigan	7:00
Ohio at Buffalo	7:30

Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit’s MACTION!!!!!!! Second week of MACtion and boy do I love it. Also, the College Football Playoff rankings come out a few minutes into the early games so I am sure the announcers will stick to calling the games and not mention anything about the rankings. I’m sure of it.

Wednesday

		US	Canada
Bowling Green at Kent State	7:00
Eastern Michigan at Toledo	7:00
Akron at Miami-OH	7:00

EMU-Toledo is easily the biggest game here. Depending on a few other results, the Rockets could clinch the MAC West with a win.

Thursday

		US	Canada
Virginia at #11 Louisville	7:30
Southern Miss at Louisiana	7:30

Louisville’s potential run to the New Year’s Six might have some potholes. This shouldn’t be one of them. Thing is, it’s either that, the Fun Belt game or one of the worst Thursday Night Football games ever. I’ll stick with the ACC matchup as long as I can (with some check-ins on the Southern Miss-Louisiana game of course).

Friday

		US	Canada
North Texas at SMU	9:00
Grambling at Arkansas-Pine Bluff	9:00

The Mustangs feel like a bit of a surprise team at the top of the American Conference and they shouldn’t be. Some had them at least getting to the conference championship. Take the over with this one.

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
Georgia Tech at Clemson	Noon
Virginia Tech at Boston College	Noon
Indiana at Illinois	Noon
Holy Cross at Army	Noon
#8 Alabama at Kentucky	Noon
Tulsa at #23 Tulane	Noon
Yale at Princeton	Noon
#3 Michigan at #10 Penn State	Noon
Vanderbilt at South Carolina	Noon

Absolutely colossal matchup in the early window. Yes, I am talking about Indiana-Illinois Michigan-Penn State. The second of the three-game Big Ten East round robin of Fun and Frolic lands in State College. Should this be under the lights with a Penn State Whiteout? Yeah, probably. But FOX is adamant that Noon is their big game. Big Noon Saturday. It’s not called Big Evening Saturday for a reason.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
NC State at Wake Forest	2:00
#21 Arizona at Colorado	2:00
Miami at #4 Florida State	3:30
Pittsburgh vs. Syracuse (in the Bronx)	3:30
Rutgers at #22 Iowa	3:30
#13 Tennessee at #14 Missouri	3:30
UAB at Navy	3:30
#15 Oklahoma State at UCF	3:30
NC Central at Howard	3:30
#18 Utah at #5 Washington	3:30
Minnesota at Purdue	3:30
Washington State at California	4:00
Auburn at Arkansas	4:00
Stanford at #12 Oregon State	5:30

Utah-Washington. Big game. Tennessee-Missouri. Big game (but not as big as the first one). Miami-FSU. Big game, mostly for one team. So there are some important games in this timeslot. It’s rare to see a November Saturday timeslot not to have an important game at all. Now, all games are not equal. Let’s be honest: very few will give a shit about Pitt-Cuse even if it is at Yankee Stadium.

And on that note, can we quit with putting football games on in baseball stadiums? Look at last week’s shitshow at Wrigley. I mean the game was hilariously bad as is considering the two teams playing. But the turf was in shambles. At one point they were trying to fix a patch that looked to be about two feet long and one foot wide. Like, seriously? Want to go to new places? Play in more NFL stadiums. Play in big high school stadiums. Hell, go to Barrow, Alaska and play on their field that borders the Arctic Ocean. Just stay away from the baseball stadiums or otherwise one day some guy is going to get seriously hurt.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
San Diego State at Colorado State	7:00
#9 OIe Miss at #2 Georgia	7:00
West Virginia at #17 Oklahoma	7:00
Georgia Southern at Marshall	7:00
#7 Texas at TCU	7:30
Mississippi State at Texas A&M	7:30
Rice at UTSA	7:30
Michigan State at #1 Ohio State	7:30
Florida at #19 LSU	7:30
Duke at #25 North Carolina	8:00

You are going to notice that TSN (other than TSN+) is barely appearing this Saturday. Well, just like last week, the CFL has their playoff games on a Saturday. I guess it makes sense from a viewer perspective since I am sure they lose viewers to the NFL on Sunday and would lose less viewers going up against college football. I think it has become apparent that TSN is pushing college football (among a few other live sports properties) to TSN+ and putting much less on their actual television networks. Sad for fans who either don’t want to spend more money on an online platform or just would struggle figuring out the online platform to begin with. Sure, live sports on TV is still a huge thing and will be for a long time but slowly…SLOWLY…more and more things are moving online. Give it, let’s say, 20 years and I could see a big difference in what you see now.

Anyway, the actual schedule has Ole Miss-Georgia as the main game and a few other games that could have been huge if certain teams hadn’t shit the bed. Take Duke-UNC. UNC losing on the CW to Virginia and then to Georgia Tech made this game an afterthought. Same with WVU-Oklahoma. The Sooners’ upset losses to Kansas and then Oklahoma State in the final Bedlam have killed the hype for this matchup. It happens every season.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
Arizona State at UCLA	9:00
Iowa State at BYU	10:15
Fresno State at San Jose State	10:30
USC at #6 Oregon	10:30

FOX quadrupleheader! Gotta love when they do this. I wish ABC would just do it once. I think they’d be surprised how many people would tune in to a late night game on ABC. USC could put a massive wrench in Oregon’s plans of at least getting to the New Year’s Six with a win here and Fresno State needs to keep winning to have any hope of having the same kind of plans.

Hey, Watch This

Michigan at Penn State (Noon, FOX) – This is easily the most hyped game of the weekend and rightly so. Penn State (and James Franklin) has a chance to do what many have been waiting for them to do: take that final step towards the CFP. This is their final chance this season. Lose this and perhaps even an NY6 spot is gone. Lose and The Game becomes so massive it may overshadow last year’s affair and maybe even 2006’s Game of the Century. Win and they move up the rankings and then pray for a Michigan victory over Ohio State. Then they would head way down the tiebreaker list to see who wins the division. Oh, and the last tiebreaker? A random draw. I am not joking. Wouldn’t that be insane television? ESPN and FOX would go nuts.

Ole Miss at Georgia (7:00, TSN+/specialty pack) – This should be almost as hyped as the UM-PSU game but for one thing: the Rebels need Bama to lose two conference games for them to win the division. So the Fighting Kiffins’ best shot is to win out, go 11-1, and hope for some chaos around them. Then they might sneak into the playoff. As for Georgia, this is yet another prove-it game. Last week was Missouri, this week Ole Miss, next week Tennessee. Survive those then they may not even have to win the conference championship to go to the playoff.

Utah at Washington (3:30, FOX) – Man, FOX has a crazy-good set of games for their quadrupleheader this Saturday. The Huskies have been sort of hanging on lately. Almost like TCU did last year winning games late and winning games that are close. That has to be their mantra right now though: Al Davis’s popular “Just Win Baby.” As for the Utes, could they almost kill the Pac-12’s playoff hopes with a win here? Not totally but they would do a lot of damage and something tells me they would be happy doing that.

USC at Oregon (10:30, FOX) – Two ranked teams facing each other warrants a spot (most of the time) on this list. Well, ranked in the AP Poll at least (sorry, USC). USC could be just like Utah in the previous game: be the spoiler. Oregon has recovered very nicely from their close loss to Washington. Win here, don’t stumble against Arizona State and then win the Civil War over the Beavers and they get their chance at revenge (probably) on Washington.

Tennessee at Missouri (3:30, CBS) – This is an interesting one. The Vols were expected to at least be in the New Year’s Six conversation. Mizzou? Not at all. They have played out of their minds most of the season and put a scare into UGA last week. They can’t win the SEC East so they have to push to win out and give The Committee something to think about. The Vols actually can win the East but it would take the craziest of scenarios to have that happen.

Sickos Game of the Week

Vanderbilt at South Carolina (Noon, TSN+/specialty pack) – The SEC never ends up here. Nor should they. But this game has awful written all over it. It was down to this one and Pitt-Cuse but I will give this game the nod. The Pitt-Cuse game is at Yankee Stadium which is kind of cool but I am sure the field conditions will not be. But the aura of it being in a baseball stadium is what I will use to grudgingly tip the scales towards Vandy and the Cocks getting this spot. Now, if this game had been played at Vandy’s Bob the Builder Stadium then it would have been a no doubter.

Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week

Michigan State at Ohio State (7:30, NBC) – OK hear me out. At some point, the Buckeyes have to stop with their extremely slow starts. Enough of them being in a dogfight with Rutgers or Maryland. One game it will catch up to them. I think that Ryan Day might finally push them hard to come out of the gate strong. If they do, this game will essentially be over at the half and NBC will be less than pleased with the viewers flocking elsewhere (but, that’s what they signed up for).

Wanna Bet?

I was SO close on the score of my Tennessee-UConn bet. And honestly, I wasn’t too far off with USC-Washington even if I did have the Trojans winning in an upset. And I got Bama’s points dead on. Don’t look at my Virginia pick. Let’s get to this week’s picks, shall we?

Southern Miss 29 Louisiana 28 (upset!)

North Texas 31 SMU 27 (another upset!)

Alabama 34 Kentucky 21 (no upset)

Penn State 30 Michigan 23 (yet another upset!)

Tulane 41 Tulsa 10

Wake Forest 31 NC State 27 (minor upset)

Florida State 42 Miami 32

Washington 34 Utah 14

Tennessee 45 Missouri 35

Washington State 31 California 24 (very slight upset)

Georgia 38 Ole Miss 27

UTSA 37 Rice 21

Oregon 63 USC 33

OK I picked a ton of upsets here and look at Oregon. Yeah I think they are going to have a field day with the USC defense even with Alex Grinch not there to fuck things up.

I am preparing for another day of college football, starting Saturday at Noon and going into Sunday morning. Remember, we are in November, people. We don’t have much longer to go. Soon enough it will be conference championship weekend and the schedules like these go away. So savour it. Take your time to watch a lot of football before it’s gone and the only thing to watch (after the Super Bowl is over at least) is the Xtreme United States Football Association and/or League, also known as the XUSFAL. That acronym will probably end up being better than what they come up with. I’d put money on it. Like ten bucks. Enjoy the games everyone!

This kind of thing bugs me (and the Week 10 College Football TV Schedule)

Deion Sanders did it this past weekend. So did Pat Narduzzi. And other coaches have done it in the past.

What am I talking about? I’m talking about calling our your players during a press conference and basically running them down in front of the entire college football world. I honestly don’t get the point of it.

Let me start by being VERY clear here: I am not saying players don’t need the proverbial boot up their ass every so often. It’s part of coaching. As long as it’s not abusive, it will probably help in a player’s overall development. Players need to hear what they are doing wrong or otherwise how can they not do that thing wrong again? It’s the same with management in the rest of the working world (I won’t get into the fact that I estimate a good 70% or so of managers don’t know how to manage and that management is a skill because this blog post would end up taking you three hours to read). You have to help your team get better. It makes everything a bit easier, a bit better, and reflects well on the manager.

Saying all that, telling a ton of people that a player or group of players suck(s) is not the way to go about it. I get that coaches can be frustrated but doing that just makes you a bad manager/coach/mentor/teacher/trainer, etc. You do that in private.

Worst part of all this, in Sanders’ case, is Deion’s son is the quarterback and he verbally lambasted the offensive line in that press conference. Look, I agree: their offensive line is not good at all and Shedeur is getting his ass handed to him back there. So will these players step up and do a whole lot better or will they get pissed off and maybe allow a defensive lineman or two by a little bit easier? It’s not Shedeur’s fault but he may end up taking the brunt of this. Is it right to do this? No, but you never know how people are going to act when the coach tells everyone you suck and he has no faith in you.

As for Narduzzi’s, this may be worse. Unlike Deion, Narduzzi recruited all these players. They’re essentially his choices to play at Pitt. So if they don’t do well or don’t develop, he has to take at least a part of the blame as head coach and recruiter. So to throw them under the bus (or at least appear to) looks very poorly on him. And the players are obviously upset. Again, this really isn’t the way to push a player to do better. It may work but it would almost be out of spite rather than from Narduzzi’s choice words.

OK we are still in the midst of football EVERY DAMN DAY! So we must rejoice, no matter the quality of the games. Hey, Conference USA had a few good ones in October and now MACtion and the Fun Belt take over in the final regular season month of the college football season. Let’s get to that schedule which includes more weekday fun!

Tuesday

		US	Canada
Northern Illinois at Central Michigan	7:00
Buffalo at Toledo	7:30

Ah, it’s that time of year. MACtion on a Halloween night. By the time the games start, most of the kids are finished trick-or-treating so we can sit down and watch all four of these teams play, probably in relatively frigid temperatures, all for our enjoyment. God bless college football.

Wednesday

		US	Canada
Ball State at Bowling Green	7:00
Kent State at Akron	7:00

OK not nearly as good a MACtion night as the previous one but Bowling Green is way better than they probably had any right to be so far this season so there’s that.

Thursday

		US	Canada
Wake Forest at Duke	7:30
South Alabama at Troy	7:30
Mississippi Valley State at Bethune-Cookman	7:30

I figured the USA-Troy game would be for the Sun Belt West title but both teams have stumbled a bit. Now, the loser is pretty much out and has no shot at a conference championship game appearance.

Friday

		US	Canada
Princeton at Dartmouth	7:00
Boston College at Syracuse	7:30
Colorado State at Wyoming	8:00

Have you noticed there are never ranked teams playing on weeknights? It’s like the schedule makers understood the assignment. “Give them football but not great football teams.” Anyway, the hilariously awful bottom half of the ACC continues their march to…can’t even say mediocrity for this one. Loser will have it rough to become bowl eligible the rest of the way.

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
#12 Notre Dame at Clemson	Noon
Campbell at North Carolina	Noon
Wisconsin at Indiana	Noon
#3 Ohio State at Rutgers	Noon
Texas A&M at #11 Ole Miss	Noon
Arkansas at Florida	Noon
Jacksonville State at South Carolina	Noon
#25 Kansas State at #7 Texas	Noon
UConn at #19 Tennessee	Noon

Quite a few decent games here. I figured Notre Dame-Clemson was going to be a much bigger game but Dabo decided he’s allergic to NIL. KSU-UT could decide one of the teams going to the Big XII Championship. And…if you had said Jacksonville State would be the favoured Cocks in this matchup I would have thought you were on serious drugs. Not the unserious ones.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
Georgia Tech at Virginia	2:00
Arizona State at #18 Utah	2:00
Army vs. #17 Air Force (in Denver)	2:30
#10 Oklahoma at Oklahoma State	3:30
Virginia Tech at #15 Louisville	3:30
Illinois at Minnesota	3:30
#14 Missouri at #1 Georgia	3:30
#4 Florida State at Pittsburgh	3:30
#23 James Madison at Georgia State	3:30
#21 Tulane at East Carolina	3:30
#9 Penn State at Maryland	3:30
Auburn at Vanderbilt	4:00
California at #6 Oregon	5:30

OK things start to pick up here. One big game against two ranked teams where Mizzou could shock the entire college football world. Plus another NINE games involving ranked teams. It’s rare to see that many ranked teams in one timeslot. Realistically, all the ranked teams should worry at least a bit as you never know when the underdog can rise up and bite you in the ass. Except for Tulane. I have a feeling they will do just fine with East Carolina.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Louisiana Tech at Liberty	6:00
Marshall at Appalachian State	6:00
#22 Kansas at Iowa State	7:00
#5 Washington at #24 USC	7:30
SMU at Rice	7:30
Purdue at #2 Michigan	7:30
Kentucky at Mississippi State	7:30
#13 LSU at #8 Alabama	7:45
Miami at NC State	8:00

Ah, the annual SEC on CBS primetime matchup between LSU and Alabama. A tradition unlike any other. Well, that tradition comes to an end on this night. Other than possible Ole Miss shenanigans, this game should determine the SEC West champion. The Huskies’ game against the Trojans looked much bigger a few weeks ago but USC has struggled mightily on defense and really should move on from Alex Grinch if they are to have any chance at becoming a true contender. Finally, it will be interested to see what happens if Liberty ends up the only undefeated Group of Five team. At this point, their schedule is so weak that they wouldn’t be able to pass most of the one-loss teams if that was the case. But there is a month left so you never really know what could happen.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
Stanford at Washington State	9:00
Boise State at Fresno State	10:00
#16 Oregon State at Colorado	10:00

Big Mountain West game. Even with Boise starting the season off pretty badly, they still have a very good shot at getting back to the Mountain West Championship game. The Broncos will need a win down in the valley in Fresno to keep their hopes alive. The Bulldogs held on for a big win last week over UNLV and are sitting second behind Air Force for that other conference championship spot. Stakes are high.

Hey, Watch This

LSU at Alabama (7:45, CBS) – Don’t mind the bizarre start time. It may be something they are trying out for the future since even the slightest edge can help in the ratings war. This is CBS’s only primetime pick of the season and yet again, it’s the Tigers and the Tide. Unless Ole Miss makes a run, this is for the SEC West crown. LSU is going to be trying their damndest to be the first ever two-loss College Football Playoff team but they need a lot of help. First off, they need to take care of business in one of the toughest stadiums to play in as a visitor against one of the toughest coaches to ever play against. Easy, right?

Missouri at Georgia (3:30, CBS) – Both ends of the SEC on CBS doubleheader are the top two games of the week. Just like they drew it up. Mizzou has played way above their heads all season. Not saying they have talent. They do but Eli Drinkwitz has, I don’t know, finally figured things out and is doing the best coaching of his career. And if the Tigers win here, boy oh boy, there is going to be a lot of talk about this in the college football media and you probably won’t hear of anything else.

Kansas State at Texas (Noon, FOX) – This and the next game could be swapped and no one would bat an eye. This feels like a Big XII semi-final as neither team probably has a shot at going to JerryWorld if they lose here. I am sure GUS JOHNSON and Joel Klatt are praying for a close game here. They switched to the 3:30 game last week and, lo and behold, the Big Noon Kickoff game ended up being a classic. Poor guys. There’s only so much excitement you can infuse into a blowout, you know? Unless you’re Joe Tessitore and everything is exciting.

Washington at USC (7:30, ABC/TSN+) – Washington is still undefeated. It feels like they are trying not to be but they have pulled out some close ones against *checks notes* Arizona State and Stanford. OK then. Look, if the Huskies don’t put at least 40 on the board here, they should consider it a loss. USC’s defense is atrocious. Their offense, on the other hand…they can put up points in bunches so U-Dub better watch out and not fall too far behind early in this one at the Coliseum.

Sickos Game of the Week

Iowa vs. Northwestern (at Wrigley Field) (3:30, Peacock) – Look, I know. I am breaking my own rules here. We can’t this game (legally) up here. But the over/under is 29.5. TWENTY-NINE-AND-A-HALF. That is so fucking absurd. And yes, I would still consider betting the under. This feels like a game straight out of 1912. Maybe it’s a good thing we can’t see it.

Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week

UConn at Tennessee (Noon, TSN+/specialty pack) – I think we have to consider that last season’s UConn Huskies football squad’s performance may have been a fluke. This team is not good again. Not as bad as the years before 2022. But still bad. Plus, the Vols need the warmup for when they head to CoMo the following Saturday.

Wanna Bet?

How about my two upset picks last week? Yeah, they were shit. As were my Oklahoma, Clemson and Oregon State picks. Yeesh. Let’s just get on to the new week and see if I can somehow do better.

Tennessee 56 UConn 6

South Carolina 31 Jacksonville State 17

Texas 34 Kansas State 28

Virginia 41 Georgia Tech 23

Utah 31 Arizona State 14

Florida State 43 Pittsburgh 20

Minnesota 23 Illinois 13

Georgia 30 Missouri 24

Auburn 26 Vanderbilt 19

Appalachian State 48 Marshall 21

USC 56 Washington 46 (small upset)

Alabama 42 LSU 37

Oregon State 34 Colorado 16

As is the usual, I will be on X/Twitter/Elon Musk’s money-losing venture this Saturday. I always hope to be able to interact with other college football fans because that is part of the fun of all this. It’s one thing to watch the games: bantering with others while doing it makes it more enjoyable. As long as no one acts like a complete asshat. Then it brings everyone down. That’s why I stick with college football Twitter (which is honestly OK to pretty good) compared to, say, NFL Twitter, which can be rough. Or political Twitter which is a fucking cesspool. Anyway, many hours of college football coming up for all of us. Enjoy the games everyone!

Oh man, here we go again

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!

Iiiiiiiiiiit’s…TIME! For another Thanksgiving* FOOTBALLGASMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!

*of course I mean American Thanksgiving but you already knew that….right?

Just because it’s Thanksgiving south of the border doesn’t mean we can’t have turkey and mashed potatoes and gravy and peas and sweet potatoes and stuffing and pumpkin pie and…oh man I’m getting hungry. I think it’s a good way to support our ‘Murican friends on Turkey Day, don’t you think?

One sad thing is that everyday college football ends tonight. Tomorrow there are no games. I think there should be one. When I become commissioner of college football, I will do that. For all of you. There’s still college football on American Thanksgiving Day along with the usual NFL fare and then things ramp the fuck up starting Black Friday. I am so ready. Let’s get to the schedules and again it will be in the normal Thanksgiving style that I use….with a bit of a twist this year. Again, I am using AP Poll rankings because this blog post will come out a few hours before the next College Football Playoff Rankings come out.

Tuesday

Bowling Green (+6.5) at Ohio

7:00 PM

The week starts with the MAC East Division title game. If the Bobcats win, they head to Detroit. If the Falcons win, as of right now, they also head to Detroit. What is planned for Buffalo with their cancelled game against Akron is anyone’s guess. Predicted score: Ohio 38 Bowling Green 28.

Thursday

Mississippi State (+2.5) at #20 Ole Miss

7:00 PM

There is no chance this game could be important. It would have been if the Rebs could have beat Arkansas last week. Instead they were run out of the building. There may also be the distraction of Lane Kiffin possibly being named head coach of Auburn soon. Oh, and if you’ve noticed, I’m including the spread and a predicted score for each game. Predicted score: Ole Miss 41 Mississippi State 24.

Friday

#19 Tulane (+2) at #24 Cincinnati

Noon

I’m glad that ABC has made sure to have the AAC appear a few times on the main network during a season. Otherwise, this would have gone to, at best, ESPN if not lower. Huge game. Winner goes into the catbird seat for the Cotton Bowl spot. The loser could still go to the AAC Championship Game with a UCF loss later on. Predicted score: Cincinnati 43 Tulane 27.

Utah State (+16.5) at Boise State

Noon

I’m sure CBS was hoping for a much bigger game here. USU is already bowl-eligible and Boise has clinched their spot in the Mountain West Championship. That’ll be a pass for me, dawg. Predicted score: Boise State 34 Utah State 27.

Central Michigan (-2) at Eastern Michigan

Noon

Speaking of games that mean nothing, here’s another one. CMU is not going bowling. EMU is. Predicted score: Eastern Michigan 35 Central Michigan 27.

Baylor (+8.5) at #23 Texas

Noon

This could mean big things for Texas. They have to take care of business on their own end and beat the Bears here. If they do, they can then watch Kansas State-Kansas and hope the Wildcats lose for them to get a Big XII Championship opportunity. Predicted score: Texas 41 Baylor 39.

Toledo (-7.5) at Western Michigan

Noon

Nothing really to see here. Toledo is going to Ford Field for the MAC Championship and WMU is home for the holidays. Predicted score: Toledo 30 Western Michigan 19.

NC State (+6.5) at #17 North Carolina

3:30 PM

The Tar Heels will use this as a tune-up for their game against Clemson the following weekend. Beating the Tigers is the only probably way for UNC to get to the Orange Bowl. Predicted score: NC State 30 North Carolina 29.

Arkansas (-3) at Missouri

3:30 PM

Mizzou needs a win here to go bowling. Arkansas is already in…barely. Could be fun. Predicted score: Arkansas 26 Missouri 24.

New Mexico (+7.5) at Colorado State

3:30 PM

Arguably the two worst teams in the Mountain West here. There are better options on at the same time. Predicted score: Colorado State 18 New Mexico 12.

Nebraska (+10.5) at Iowa

4:00 PM

I do find it a bit funny that this seems to get relegated more and more to the Big Ten Network. Anyway, a win here and the offensively challenged Hawkeyes get a trip to Indianapolis. Lose and there are ways in which they still go to the Big Ten Championship and other ways where they don’t. I went over that in the previous post and flat-out refuse to go into it here. Predicted score: Iowa 32 Nebraska 17.

#18 UCLA (-10) at California

4:30 PM

The Bruins played themselves out of a potential Pac-12 Championship berth so they are playing for the extremely slim possibility of going to a New Year’s Six bowl. And it is EXTREMELY slim. Predicted score: UCLA 45 California 27.

Florida (+9.5) at #16 Florida State

7:30 PM

Does this game mean much in the grand scheme of things? Not really. The Noles would need a lot to happen to get into the NY6 and the Gators are bowl-eligible. Does this game mean much to fans of either team? Abso-fucking-lutely. Predicted score: Florida State 33 Florida 14.

Saturday Early

South Carolina (+14.5) at #8 Clemson

Noon

With so many options, this is one of them. Could the Cocks shock the Tigers? Yeah I guess. I can’t see it happening though. Clemson does need to win here, though, to keep any small College Football Playoff possibilities alive. Predicted score: Clemson 43 South Carolina 24.

Rutgers (+14) at Maryland

Noon

Rutgers is out, Maryland is in. I think we will see a fair amount of these types of games for this week. Predicted score: Maryland 38 Rutgers 24.

WKU (-7) at Florida Atlantic

Noon

The Owls are fighting for their bowl lives here. The Hilltoppers need a win (and a North Texas loss) to play for the Conference USA Championship. For once, there are some good stakes from the noon CBSSN game. Predicted score: WKU 38 Florida Atlantic 31.

Georgia Tech (+35.5) at #1 Georgia

Noon

Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate. There actually is quite a bit of importance to this one. Georgia cannot slip up if they want to go into conference championship week as the number one team in the land. Tech needs a victory to go bowling which would be an absolutely remarkable turnaround from the dreadful Geoff Collins era. Predicted score: Georgia 52 Georgia Tech 20.

West Virginia (+8.5) at Oklahoma State

Noon

No. I mean why? To see if Neal Brown gets fired after the game ends, Herm Edwards-style? Predicted score: Oklahoma State 30 West Virginia 28.

Coastal Carolina (+13.5) at James Madison

Noon

This seems like a huge spread in favour of JMU considering how good the Chanticleers have been this season. I guess it does show what kind of home field advantage the Dukes have. Unfortunately, thanks to stupid NCAA rules, JMU can’t go to a bowl game because they had the audacity to be good in their first year at the FBS level. Stupid. CCU needs a win and a LOT of help to be considered in the Cotton Bowl conversation. Predicted score: Coastal Carolina 24 James Madison 18.

#3 Michigan (+7.5) at #2 Ohio State

Noon

The Game. The biggest one in a few years. Winner almost guarantees themselves a spot in the College Football Playoff. The loser isn’t out either if things go their way. High, HIGH stakes here in a game where Gus Johnson might lose his voice. Predicted score: Ohio State 38 Michigan 37.

Saturday Afternoon

Southern vs. Grambling (in New Orleans)

2:00 PM

Prairie View A&M had a chance to wrap up the SWAC West Division title and were stunned by lowly Mississippi Valley State. This means that Southern can now sneak in and win the division and a date with Jackson State in the SWAC Championship if they beat Grambling. Predicted score (I couldn’t find any gambling lines for this game): Southern 40 Grambling 24.

#25 Louisville (+3.5) at Kentucky

3:00 PM

And odd start time here, especially by SEC Network standards. Both teams are bowling. Neither team can get to the New Year’s Six. People will watch if this game stays close but otherwise there is no reason to. Predicted score: Kentucky 33 Louisville 26.

#9 Oregon (-3) at #21 Oregon State

3:30 PM

Look, Oregon State is a good team. No, I’m not lying. No wonder the spread is so low. Could be very loud in Corvallis for this one. The Ducks need a win here to get to the Pac-12 Championship and keep their CFP hopes alive. Oregon State is going for their ninth victory of the season, their highest win total since 2012. Predicted score: Oregon 41 Oregon State 40.

Illinois (-14) at Northwestern

3:30 PM

We will know by now whether this game actually means anything to Illinois. I could see Bret Bielema getting a nice, fat extension in the offseason. As of right now, I have no idea whether this game or the other BTN game on at this time will be shown on the specialty pack. The specialty pack schedules show neither at this point which is always a bad sign. Hopefully this gets rectified by Saturday. Predicted score: Illinois 41 Northwestern 21.

UPDATE #2: This is now showing on the specialty pack guide.

Purdue (-10.5) at Indiana

3:30 PM

The Old Oaken Bucket. Again, we will know by start time whether Purdue has a shot at the Big Ten West or not. I have this game in the BTN slot that Canadians would get. Who the hell knows what will happen though. Predicted score: Purdue 30 Indiana 15.

Auburn (+22) at #7 Alabama

3:30 PM

Alabama doesn’t really have a chance at the College Football Playoff, do they? I mean I don’t think so but I know ESPN’s love for the Bama brand. Oh and do you want some laughs? Auburn needs a win here to be bowl-eligible AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Barely got that out before laughing. Predicted score: Alabama 41 Auburn 17.

UAB (-17.5) at Louisiana Tech

3:30 PM

The Blazers are having a down year. At least a down for year for this program since they were resurrected. They can get in to a bowl game with a win here. Predicted score: UAB 35 Louisiana Tech 18.

Minnesota (+3.5) at Wisconsin

3:30 PM

Look there’s nothing much going on here. Neither team really has a legit shot at the Big Ten West title. And they are both going bowling. Meh. Predicted score: Wisconsin 30 Minnesota 26.

Wake Forest (-3.5) at Duke

3:30 PM

Duke has been a massive surprise this season. They have been seriously competitive all season and Mike Elko is going to get a bit of Coach of the Year consideration (even though he won’t win). This game doesn’t mean anything as both teams are comfortably bowl-eligible. Predicted score: Wake Forest 38 Duke 26.

UPDATE #3: This still isn’t showing on the specialty pack guide although it should in the next 24 hours.

Virginia at Virginia Tech

3:30 PM

cancelled

The Commonwealth Cup game between UVA and VT has been cancelled. I am not surprised by this decision and it was made a lot easier by the fact that neither team would be going to a bowl game this year anyway. I put forth an idea on Twitter of maybe having the game during Army-Navy week (before the game perhaps) and have the ticket money go to the families or charity or something like that. Don’t think that would go through as I have a feeling the Virginia football program just needs this season to end so they can continue their mourning.

Memphis (+4.5) at SMU

3:30 PM

Both teams are 6-5. This means very little in the grand scheme of things. Predicted score: SMU 31 Memphis 25.

UPDATE #4: This isn’t showing on the specialty pack guide. I am sure the UVA-VT cancellation has to be adjusted before this will show up.

Troy (-13.5) at Arkansas State

3:30 PM

This is an odd one. This game was moved here during the shuffle caused by the Hoos-Hokies cancellation. Non-cable users in the U.S. can get this game on ESPN+ as an ESPNU game. I have a feeling this might be enough to screw things up on the specialty pack end of things meaning this game would show up nowhere here. We shall see. Predicted score: Troy 36 Arkansas State 13.

UPDATE #5: Well I am right that at this point the specialty pack is not showing this game. I have a feeling that will change by Thursday afternoon but I will keep you all updated.

Iowa State (+10) at #4 TCU

4:00 PM

The Horned Frogs cannot falter here. They are closing in on a dream season and the last thing they need is a struggle against the Cyclones. I could see ISU keeping this one close in what could be Matt Campbell’s final game as head coach of the Clones. Predicted score: TCU 34 Iowa State 24.

#14 Utah (-29.5) at Colorado

4:00 PM

Utah doesn’t have a shot at the Pac-12 Championship so this means little to them. Colorado is horrendously awful so I am sure they want this season to end quickly. Predicted score: Utah 42 Colorado 10.

Saturday Primetime

#5 LSU (-10) at Texas A&M

7:00 PM

LSU cannot look ahead to Georgia despite the fact that the Aggies might very well be the worst team in the SEC this year. Never thought I would say that about a Jimbo Fisher-coached team but they are awful. Predicted score: LSU 39 Texas A&M 23.

#22 UCF (-19.5) at USF

7:00 PM

The Knights should mop the floor with USF. They need to, otherwise they unbelievably won’t go to the AAC Championship and destroyed their Cotton Bowl chances in a matter of one week. Predicted score: UCF 48 USF 14.

#15 Notre Dame (+5.5) at #6 USC

7:30 PM

Notre Dame looked dead to rights earlier in the season. Now, if they win here, they probably lock up an Orange Bowl bid. Incredible. USC, on the other hand, has already clinched a spot in the Pac-12 title game and have to win here to keep their CFP hopes alive. ABC was smart to put this in primetime. Predicted score: USC 43 Notre Dame 40.

Tulsa (+12) at Houston

7:30 PM

Nothing to play for here. Unless it’s close, don’t bother. Predicted score: Houston 31 Tulsa 26.

#10 Tennessee (-14) at Vanderbilt

7:30 PM

This is actually a big game for both teams. Crazy, right? The Dores win here and they go bowling which would be huge for this program that has struggled since James Franklin left. The Vols need to keep up with the rest of the teams above them if they want any hope of getting into the College Football Playoff, as much of a long shot as it is. And both teams will want to destroy the chances of the other. Too bad for Vandy that I have a feeling Tennessee will show up VERY angry. Predicted score: Tennessee 49 Vanderbilt 13.

Pittsburgh (-6.5) at Miami

8:00 PM

A Miami win gets the Canes bowl-eligible. It’s shocking how far this team has fallen. Good call shitcanning Manny Diaz for no reason other than to nab Mario Cristobal, right? Some of these programs just overthink these kinds of things, usually to their detriment. Predicted score: Miami 22 Pittsburgh 15.

Kansas (+12) at #12 Kansas State

8:00 PM

OK sure the primetime slate doesn’t have some of the pizazz as the earlier games of the day (minus the ND-USC game) but a lot of these games still have importance. KSU wins here and they head to JerryWorld for the first time for the Big XII Championship. Kansas can stop that from happening. And it could happen. Kansas is actually pretty good. Predicted score: Kansas State 36 Kansas 30.

Saturday Late Night

Air Force (-1.5) at San Diego State

9:00 PM

SDSU and the AFA squandered any chances of promising seasons early on in the season. Both teams are still having decent years but they are being overshadowed by a few other teams who have just been that much better when it counted. Predicted score: San Diego State 23 Air Force 17.

SE Missouri State at Montana

10:00 PM

How about this? FCS Playoffs on ESPN2? Sure. But the first round of the playoffs? This has not happened since they expanded to 24 teams in 2013. Should be a nice change of pace. And it should be seriously cold up in Missoula. Predicted score: Montana 38 SE Missouri State 36.

UPDATE #6: For some reason, this isn’t appearing on the specialty pack guide. I’m sure it will soon enough but being an FCS game I am a bit worried it won’t end up appearing at all.

#13 Washington (-2) at Washington State

10:30 PM

If Oregon loses to Oregon State earlier in the day, this game becomes massive. The Huskies can then clinch a Pac-12 Championship Game spot with a win here in the Apple Cup. Otherwise, this game isn’t really that important. I mean I will watch it. Hell, I will also watch the BYU-Stanford game that starts half an hour after this. Why? Because that’s what I do. I honestly can’t totally figure it out anymore. Predicted score: Washington State 24 Washington 14.

UPDATE: I have updated the rankings to match the CFP Rankings.

Holy shit that’s a lot of football! No complaints though since we know what it will be like in a few months. I will be on Twitter often but not all the time as even I need sleep/pass out. As I mentioned about TSN last week, their coverage is much reduced this year for the final week of the college football regular season. I wouldn’t look too much into this as the World Cup takes up most of the early window and that’s where TSN usually had three or four games alone. Does it suck for college football fans who don’t have the specialty pack? Absolutely. But I guess if you are a college football fan, buying a specialty pack would be the least you would do, no?

I will keep this post updated when need be. It wouldn’t surprise me if there were some specialty pack updates. I hope TSN is set but I don’t trust them fully. Anyway, have a great rest of the week and enjoy the games everyone!

OK now that we know when the SEC on CBS ends, do we…Celebrate? Honour? Demonize?

So now we know.  CBS has decided not to renew the SEC on CBS contract after the 2023 season.  That came quicker than anyone thought it would.  They keep saying they are “going in a different direction with their sports coverage” but that translates to “it would cost too much fucking money.”  I don’t fully blame them despite the fact it’s a massive property and one of the most important contracts in sports today.  CBS offered $300 million per season and I guess that wasn’t enough.  Jesus.  Instead we will get the SEC probably going full-time back to ESPN.  While I am not looking forward to that it does mean we will get at least one SEC game in the ABC primetime slot which is good, even if it lessens the Big Ten’s stranglehold on the timeslot.

Alright the SEC on CBS will be done soon.  So what do we do know?  Do you celebrate the likes of Verne Lundquist calling games on the network and becoming a shoo-in for college football announcing’s Mount Rushmore?  Do we honour some of the better names there like Verne’s replacement, Brad Nessler (another Rushmore possibility), Brent Musburger, Sean McDonough and, for like one season, Jim Nantz?  Do we demonize them for foisting full seasons of Gary Danielson on us?  Or worse, hate them for giving us even one single season of Craig James?  You can think a lot of things about the SEC on CBS but we have to agree it’s must-see viewing every week for college football fans, even if you mute the TV.

But that’s the future.  Let’s focus on this season, whatever it may end up looking like.  I know I am a little late starting these network-specific posts and part of it is because life gets in the way and part of it is I honestly don’t know what will happen with the 2020 college football season.  The disclaimer has a change this year: there are no games confirmed that I could see so all of these are very educated guesses.  My choices are based on mostly logic.  Some teams will be better than advertised and some will be worse: that’s the nature of the sport.  So please don’t take this as gospel or say “Bossman is fucking awesome so why would he be wrong on this?”  First of all, thank you for understanding my awesomeness.  And secondly, I don’t guarantee anything here.  So let’s just get to the darn schedule of the conference that just means more on the network that is an eyeball (along with a few other games that will stand out like the one penne that always seems to get in the bag of fusilli):

September 5th		Colorado at Colorado State		3:30 PM
September 12th		Boise State at Air Force		3:30 PM
September 19th		Georgia at Alabama		3:30 PM
September 26th		Florida at Tennessee		3:30 PM
October 3rd		Texas A&M at Mississippi State		Noon
October 3rd		Alabama at Ole Miss		3:30 PM
October 10th		LSU at Florida		3:30 PM
October 17th		Texas A&M at Auburn		3:30 PM
October 24th		Mississippi State at LSU		3:30 PM
October 31st		Florida vs. Georgia (in Jacksonville)		3:30 PM
November 7th		Alabama at LSU		3:30 PM
November 14th		Tennessee at Georgia		3:30 PM
November 21st		Texas A&M at Alabama		3:30 PM
November 21st		LSU at Auburn		8:00 PM
November 27th		Arkansas at Missouri		2:30 PM
November 29th		Auburn at Alabama		3:30 PM
December 5th		SEC Championship Game		4:00 PM
December 12th		Army vs. Navy (in Philadelphia)		3:00 PM
December 31st		Sun Bowl		2:00 PM

Eyeball Network Deep South Football Conference Analysis:

• This should not be a surprise but here are the SEC on CBS appearances for each team:
  • 5 times – Alabama
  • 4 times – LSU
  • 3 times – Auburn, Texas A&M, Florida, Georgia
  • 2 times – Mississippi State, Tennessee
  • 1 time – Arkansas, Ole Miss, Missouri
  • Not a single time – Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Kentucky
• I have three teams not getting an appearance: Vandy, the Cocks, and UK.  Vandy isn’t really a surprise since, other than maybe a Noon game on a week where CBS has two SEC picks, the Dores are not a big enough name to bring viewers to the network.  UK is also not as much of a surprise, especially since I see I have the Wildcats on ESPN quite often instead (so they aren’t stuck on the SEC Network like eight times).  South Carolina is the oddity here.  Even I am surprised I don’t have them there but really they are never in the biggest two games of the week: at any point.  The only time I can make that argument is the week CBS has two games.  Since it is a Noon game they get the first and fourth selection.  The second pick that week would be the South Carolina-Florida game which I have on ESPN.  So there.  Logic.
• Many will be surprised at Tennessee only appearing in two games.  Look, I agree with many that the Vols will be the best they’ve been in years.  And I think two appearances is pretty good considering that’s the most they were getting most of the last decade.  Could a third appearance be in the cards for the Volunteers?  Sure if they are looking like an SEC East contender into November.  But until they string together two or three good seasons together in a row, don’t expect them to feature on CBS much at all.
• The SEC Network, as always, gets at least their three games a week and ESPN/ESPN2 pick up the rest.  It’s a rarity but even ESPNU picks up the odd SEC game (especially non-conference ones).  And there’s really no need for it now that the SEC Network exists.  Also remember that CBS still has the exclusive window for the SEC so usually (USUALLY!) only the SEC Network will have other SEC games on at the same time (actually I think that’s in CBS’s contract).
• As for the non-SEC fare this year, here is where we find something new.  Army-Navy of course ends the regular season.  Navy is technically the host for Notre Dame but the game is in Dublin and during Week Zero.  And of course, the Sun Bowl, which will never change tie-ins because they illogical dolts that just want to continue to piss me off, is on New Year’s Eve.  When an ACC team is there facing a non-Arizona based team out of the Pac-12, you will struggle to fill the stadium, period.
• The new stuff comes from the Mountain West.  Yes, the Boise plus Eleven conference!  They have two games on the main network, as per the new contract they have with CBS, which will bring a nice change and might be a harbinger of what CBS plans to do after 2023.  Brad Nessler calling a Colorado State home game.  2020 still doing wacky things.

Next up will be the schedule for ABC.  Then FOX.  I should be a lot better at this one now that I have a good idea of how their schedule is structured, how they work around MLB playoff games, etc.  Then comes CBS Sports Network which normally is simple because most of the schedule is set but this year, yeah not so much.  Finally, TSN.  That should be interesting but I will give it my best go.  Remember, 2020 has put itself in a blender and crushed and cut and sliced and diced everything up and mixed it together so no one knows what the fuck is going on.  That includes college football.

64 days to go.  The countdown is on people…I hope.  Usually once it’s late July I get really ready for the season.  But with no pro sports yet (except for UFC and golf), who knows what will happen.  The CFL won’t start until Labour Day at the earliest.  The NFL says they will start on time but have already cancelled the Hall of Fame Game.  It’s more important for people to stay safe and healthy and move along SLOWLY towards the goal of the new normal.  Rushing things only causes another rise in cases so let’s not give in even though it is very difficult for many during these times (believe me, I know what some of you are going through).  Have a great weekend everyone!

Most Important Games of the 2019 College Football Season – Part I

I can finally seriously post about college football again!  Not draft stuff: actual college football blog posts.  It feels almost cathartic to me to be honest.  Schedules are now pretty much out although games will change days as we go along.  FBSchedules has started to release their popular (to me at least) helmet schedules.  And I ordered my Phil Steele College Football Preview magazine.  AND I am also looking to when other preview mags will appear in stores.  So yeah, I am starting to think about college football.

Starting a lot earlier with the posts this year as well.  And by a lot earlier I mean one day earlier.  As for accuracy, do not take these lists as gospel.  As the season goes on, it may turn out that some teams are way better than I thought and vice versa.  It happens.  For example, FOX has made it so the best games will definitely be the Noon games on their broadcast network this season.  Not that we needed proof since this is what happened last year as well at least half the time.  But let’s say that, for reasons that would always be unclear, FOX moved The Game (Ohio State vs. Michigan for the uneducated college football fan) to the 4:00 EST time slot and put, oh, Northwestern-Illinois in at Noon instead.  One of two things would have had to have happened:

1. Northwestern is Northwestern and Lovie Smith somehow made Illinois a Top 25 team, or
2. To the pure joy of almost every non-Big Ten fan (and every fan outside Ann Arbor and Columbus), Ohio State and Michigan both suck.

So at this point I feel safe putting The Game there instead of the Sweet Sioux Tomahawk, uh, I mean, um *checks Wikipedia* the Land of Lincoln Trophy.  Seriously?  That sounds so boring.

Disclaimer: Just so you know, some of the broadcast info may change between now and the time I do my network-specific posts.  I said it above and I have to say it again.  And I understand that.  Bear with me.  Or don’t.  I don’t care. (Note: this disclaimer has been entered in this post every year since the beginning of Bossman’s Blog time…since I am sure people might gripe about my non-accurate information)

For the second year in a row, the Important Games list will be broken down week-by-week and then as per the following:

• Game of the Week – This is my opinion of the game of the week.  It may differ from your opinion.  That is OK.  Because the next part is…
• Other Really Important Games – See?  One of these games might be your game of the week choice.
• Sneaky-Good Underrated Game – Some games are underrated.  I will try to find one each week that could fulfill that criterion.
• Best Group of Five Game – Pretty self-explanatory but has to have TWO G5 teams involved.
• Worst Power Five Game – Just like above, except the opposite (with two P5 teams involved).

The “Other Really Important Games” section is the one section where the number of games I include may vary.  In some weeks you will only see one or two.  Others there may be like seven.  We pretty much know which weeks will have better games and which ones won’t so it shouldn’t be much of a surprise.

Let us begin the way I always begin this ordeal/exercise: the weekly rankings.  Normally it is the same every year but, lo and behold, this year we see something different.  Interesting… (remember, I list the week and the date that corresponds to the Saturday of that week):

1. Week 14 (November 30 – American Thanksgiving)
2. Week 7 (October 12)
3. Week 9 (October 26)
4. Week 12 (November 16)
5. Week 8 (October 19)
6. Week 4 (September 21)
7. Week 11 (November 9)
8. Week 6 (October 5)
9. Week 5 (September 28)
10. Week 13 (November 23)
11. Week 3 (September 14)
12. Week 1 (August 31)
13. Week 10 (November 2)
14. Week 2 (September 7)

First off, 14 weeks instead of 13.  More college football?  Sounds good to me.  A couple of years back when Week 1 was huge, many wondered if it was a harbinger of things to come.  Not so.  This year’s Week 1 doesn’t have many huge games at all.  To be completely honest, Week Zero has, arguably, one of the games of the year with Florida and Miami facing off.  American Thanksgiving is back on top, beating out the second-best week (Week 7) by a good margin.  Not to say Week 7 isn’t good.  It is (along with Weeks 9, 12 and 8).  But here’s the craziest thing.  SEC Shitbreak Week is not the worst week though this season.  Not even close!  It is only the fifth-worst week.  It may have got to the point that I can’t make fun of the SEC (and any other conference) playing FCS teams that week…oh come on I will still do that but I have to tone it down a bit.  For the second consecutive year, Week 2 is the worst and it is the worst by a mile.  I would honestly even rate Week Zero higher just because of the one good game.  Problem is, they have two potential games of the year.  Then the week falls off a steep cliff.  It’s the secondary games that are making it look seriously bad.  But it’s still college football so I will watch of course.  I am sure Bell and Rogers will not show Week Zero games so fingers crossed the UF-Miami game ends up on a TSN station or two.

Now it’s time for the weekly breakdowns.  I will be guessing with quite a few of them, especially when it comes to TSN coverage.  I will be using last year’s schedule as a basis for this but I know it won’t be fully accurate.  Keep that in mind.  At least the lists of games I will be presenting should, for the most part, be important games throughout the 2019 college football season.  Let’s go!

Week 1

Game of the Week: Auburn vs. Oregon (in Arlington) (7:30, ABC/TSN3) – So I see ABC has moved to all 7:30 start times for it’s primetime games.  Not that it matters to me since I am up until like 2 in the morning anyway but for many people, to have the game done around 11 is  huge.  By the way, this game is the biggest by a fair bit for Week 1.  Means that the emphasis is back off opening week, somewhat.  And what we have here is two dark horse contenders for the national title.  A loss here is a huge blow to their CFP chances.

Other Really Important Games: Georgia Tech at Clemson (Thursday, 8:00, specialty pack) – The ACC Network starts out with a bang as they scored this game for opening Thursday.  Been a while since two teams that were this good played on opening night.  It’s a lock that the Tigers will be a great team again this year despite all the losses on defense.  It will be interesting to see how Georgia Tech fares in their first game under new coach Geoff Collins.  The Ramblin’ Wreck could throw an insanely huge monkey wrench into the season right off the hop with an upset here.

Houston at Oklahoma (Sunday, 7:30, ABC) – Glad to see ABC continuing to do the Labour Day Sunday games still.  Always nice to have some football on a day where there will be, well, nothing but perhaps drinking.  I am very curious as to how the Dana Holgorsen experiment will go in H-Town.  And I am sure the broadcasters will mention it a few thousand times as well.  I can’t see an upset here but Houston is notoriously a tough out for most teams.

Northwestern at Stanford (7:00, absolutely fucking nowhere up here) – I am taking a guess here with this one as I have it on FOX Sports One which means Canadians would, for the most part, not be able to see it.  FOX might decide to put this in either the 3:30 or 7:30 timeslot, however, considering that this week is weak.  Stanford has no excuses now about jetlag and their body clocks being earlier since this would be an afternoon game most likely.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Boise State vs. Florida State (in Jacksonville) (7:00, TSN2) – This is going to be an interesting year for the Seminoles.  They have had two bad seasons (in FSU terms) in a row.  This is the kind of high-profile game they need to win.  On the other side of the field, Boise State gonna Boise State.  A win here and they take the early lead in the Group of Five spot in the New Year’s Six.

Best Group of Five Game: FIU at Tulane (Thursday, 8:00, CBS Sports Network) – Hear me out here.  Both of these teams could end up being good, in a G5 sense.  Butch Davis and Willie Fritz have done nice jobs here and hope to continue their ascent (and potentially a new Power Five job down the line).  Also, this is probably the only time you will see FIU or Tulane in this list so enjoy!

Worst Power Five Game: Oklahoma State at Oregon State (Friday, 10:30, specialty pack) – Oregon State is here again in the Week 1 WGOTW (Worst Game of the Week).  So it’s OSU Bowl II: Mulletmania this time around.  The thing is this is better than the Best G5 game which pretty much never happens.  Anyway, this will probably end up being late Friday night in the middle of the Labour Day Weekend-Plus Footballgasm so I can see it being easily missed.  I mean I will watch it but that’s not saying much.

Week 2

Game of the Week: Texas A&M at Clemson (3:30, ABC) – Funny that this is the worst week of the college football season by far yet has two great games.  I picked this one juuuuust over the next one.  After last year’s game, this year’s one should get a lot of hype and who knows what Jimbo will cook up for his Aggies when they head to Death Valley.  A TAMU win here blows the national championship conversation wide open.

Other Really Important Games: LSU at Texas (7:30, ABC) – I honestly thought FOX would try to snatch this one up.  I guess they are looking at other games instead.  Plus, their assertion that the best games will be on in the Noon timeslot means this may not have fit (and it would have been disgustingly hot in Austin for an 11:00 am kickoff).  Anyway, this is another huge early matchup with College Football Playoff implications.  Consider these two teams dark horses who could do serious damage to their more accomplished counterparts (Alabama and Oklahoma, respectively).  The winner here gets an early jump on all the national championship hype.  The loser will have their coach on an undeserved hot seat for a bit.

Stanford at USC (8:00, FOX) – USC should be back in the mix this season.  And Stanford has David Shaw at the helm, still, so they will be good as well.  It wouldn’t surprise me to see either team win here and take the early catbird seat in the Pac-12.  It also wouldn’t surprise me if Clay Helton was put on a scorching hot seat by the local fanbase if the Trojans can’t win this one at the Coliseum.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: West Virginia at Missouri (19:00, specialty pack) – See what I mean?  After Tigers-Longhorns, the game quality falls off a steep cliff with only Stanford-USC an important enough game to list.  I had to choose between this game and the San Diego State-UCLA possible late-night thriller but went this way instead.  The Mountaineers will not be nearly as good as they were last year.  Losing Will Grier isn’t something you just shrug your shoulders and yell “NEXT!” to the next QB in line.  You could say the same thing for Missouri and Drew Lock.  So there is a possibility that a game that last year would have been like a 60-57 shootout with no overtimes will be a 17-14 defensive battle this time around.  Either way it should be close.

Best Group of Five Game: Marshall at Boise State (Friday, 9:00, specialty pack) – This game was actually moved to Friday night to get a national audience.  And rightfully so.  A win for the Herd on the blue turf would be massive for a conference that has yet to put a team in the New Year’s Six.  After this game is over, we will know if Boise is a NY6 contender or not.

Worst Power Five Game: Arkansas at Ole Miss (3:30, specialty pack) – With the CBS announcement of gametimes for the SEC Game of the Week this season, it looks like the ESPN sublicensing arrangement is over.  So CBS, for whatever reason, will not have games for Weeks One and Two.  I guess they have too much rodeo and dirtbiking to show on the main network.  I guess it saves them from having to send an entire crew for this game.

Week 3

Game of the Week: Clemson at Syracuse (7:30, ABC) – This could potentially have national championship implications.  No seriously.  Clemson has a tough schedule to start the season.  Syracuse is not a pushover anymore thanks to Dino Babers.  And when was the last time Syracuse hosted an ABC primetime game?  I haven’t done any research on this but I am going to say never.  After actual research, I found out they played Notre Dame at MetLife Stadium five years ago in primetime on ABC.  Other than that, I was correct.  A pat on the back for me.

Other Really Important Games: Alabama at South Carolina (3:30, CBS) – If you don’t think the Tigers-Orange game in (not quite) Western New York isn’t the game of the week, maybe you are looking at this one.  The only way this ends up possibly matching any potential hype is for the Cocks to keep it close and keep at least some viewers glued to it.  At the very least it should be an amazing atmosphere as the South Carolina faithful are raucous for SEC games.

Oklahoma at UCLA (3:30, ABC) – If UCLA is better in Year Two under Chip Kelly, this could end up being quite the barnburner out at the Rose Bowl.  If this game was in Norman I don’t even know if this would make the list to be honest.  There are many possibilities as to where this could end up.  Right now I am leaning ABC but FOX could pick it up.  My thoughts are, though, that since FOX wants the best game to be on in the Noon timeslot, it effectively makes it so the Big Ten and Big XII are bigger gets for FOX (in their mind) than the Pac-12.

Florida at Kentucky (7:00, specialty pack) – I had pegged this as the SEC Game of the Week on CBS until it was just announced that Bama-SC would be getting that spot.  Oh well this should still be good.  You could make an argument that this might be the most important SEC game of the day (unless South Carolina pulls off an earlier upset).  Nothing like seeing a great head coach named Stoops on the sideline.  Mark?  Oh yes.  Bob?  Absolutely.  Mike?  Um let’s move on.

Stanford at UCF (Noon, ABC/TSN5) – Will UCF be the Group of Five darling again?  I’m just glad they aren’t claiming another national championship after last year’s bowl loss.  But, until someone else steps like perhaps Boise State, they continue to lead the pack.  This can be another program-defining win if they can pull this one off against the Cardinal.  And we all remember what Stanford is like in Noon EST/9am PST starts right?

Florida State at Virginia (7:30, specialty pack) – Yet another appearance of a game on the ACC Network!  Nice!  The new network is getting a lot of good games early on which is probably key to their growth.  And yes, both of these teams SHOULD be good.  The Noles won’t be nearly as bad as they were last year and the Hoos will probably win some big games early on and be bowl-eligible again.  This game is probably bigger for UVA since the Coastal Division is a bit more wide open than the Atlantic and the Clemson juggernaut.  And by a bit, I mean a lot.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Iowa at Iowa State (Noon, FOX Sports One aw damn) – Cy-Hawk!  I can honestly see this game moving to FOX or being picked up by ESPN but for now I have stuck it here barring any new announcements.  I wonder how long of an extension Kirk Ferentz will get if the Hawkeyes can win this one.  I put the over/under at 11 years.

Best Group of Five Game: Miami-OH at Cincinnati (Noon, specialty pack) – To be honest, the early season doesn’t usually give us a bunch of good G5-on-G5 violence.  The previous week has a huge Marshall-Boise matchup.  The first week got FIU and Tulane of all teams.  We definitely get something more like the latter this week.  Miami-OH in a Game of the anything is a rarity.  I mean Cincy could be scary good and will challenge UCF for the AAC East crown but this feels like it could be a blowout in the making.

Worst Power Five Game: North Carolina at Wake Forest (Friday, 6:00, TSN2) – Such an odd time for an early-season college football game.  I can see it moving to the specialty pack so that TSN can show Sportscentre and probably Fishing with Italo Labignan.  This is the weird non-conference affair between two conference foes that was scheduled a while back.  This is the way some of the Power Five teams will get around the rule of having to play a certain amount of Power Five teams or something like that.  And as we have noticed, not a single other program has gone this route since.  Don’t want to say it’s a dumb idea but it honestly makes no sense in the grand scheme of things.

There you go.  The first three weeks are complete.  And it’s the first official blog post by yours truly for the 2019 college football season.  We are getting close, friends.  Only….87 days left?  Ugh.  That’s way too long.  Have a great hump day everyone.

Ranking the Bowl Games from First to Worst – 2017-18 Edition

First off, holy shit with that game on Sunday.  First walk-off touchdown in playoff history EVER.  Poor Marcus Williams will never live that down despite the fact he is a key reason that a) the Saints were still in the game to begin with and b) the Saints were even in the playoffs this season.  Either way, other than in New Orleans, he will get shit on forever.  Ask Scott Norwood (who is still revered in Western New York and treated like a goat (and not the good kind of goat) everywhere else).  So now we have Case Keenum vs. Nick Foles in a conference championship game.  What a time to be alive!

Alright it’s time to rank the bowl games after they have been played for, I believe, the second year in a row.  This is such a text heavy blog and I know it will probably look like shit (i.e. an absolute wall of words) so if you read the whole thing then congratulations.  I mean you don’t get a prize but that shows how focused you can be which is good in real life, correct?  Let’s begin.

1. National Championship (Alabama 26 Georgia 23 (OT)) – Jesus Christ this was an amazing game.  And that final touchdown throw in overtime: it was a thing of beauty.  Tua can really chuck the ball.  I see Jalen Hurts transferring soon enough although he will still try to win the starting job for the 2018 season.  It was a great way to end the season and gives us something to cling to (even you absolute despise Bama) for the next seven months or so.  OK I am getting sad already.  Somebody hold me (a female preferably).
2. Rose Bowl (Georgia 54 Oklahoma 48 (2OT)) – Should I make this number one?  Part of me thinks it should be but when the national title game is an all-time classic you almost have to put it number one right?  Anyway, this made last year’s Rose Bowl (one of the best ever) look like a mediocre game.  This game had almost everything and you couldn’t look away.  I think I needed a smoke after it was done and I don’t smoke.  Also, there was no Baker Mayfield crotch-grabbing so it was definitely a win-win…unless you’re a Sooners fan.
3. Belk Bowl (Wake Forest 55 Texas A&M 52) – Until the College Football Playoff again this stood a chance at being the best bowl game of the season.  Wake and the Aggies (this sounds like a horrible band name) decided “Fuck Defense” and put on an arena football-like performance for the ages.  The fact the Deacs could hang with TAMU shows that the ACC has really narrowed the gap recently on the field.
4. Alamo Bowl (TCU 37 Stanford 35) – Don’t bet against TCU when they play in San Antonio.  If TCU wants to schedule a series against your team and at least one of the games will be in San Antonio, DO NOT DO IT!  It’s a trick!  Gary Patterson owns the Alamodome.  Period.  No matter what colour shirt he wears.
5. Birmingham Bowl (USF 38 Texas Tech 34) – If this was based on everything up until early in the fourth quarter this game would be WAY down the list.  But Quentin Flowers went all Quentin Flowers and willed the Bulls to a victory over Texas Tech who had to reaffirm that, yes, Kute Kliff Kingsbury is safe and his job is not in jeopardy…until the first weekend of the college football season when we begin the serious hot seat discussions.
6. Armed Forces Bowl (Army 42 San Diego State 35) – Don’t let the final score fool you: this game was MUCH closer than that.  It was old-school football at its finest.  Running the ball a boatload of times to set up a few big passes.  It was glorious to watch.  The Black Knights scored with 18 seconds left to tie the game up, went for two, got it, then got a scoop n’ score on the final play of the game.  And even with all that, the Aztecs’ Rashaad Penny was a sight to watch.  Ran for over two bills and four touchdowns.  Unreal.
7. Arizona Bowl (New Mexico State 26 Utah State 20 (OT)) – And now for the game almost no one watched but should have.  The Aggies winning their first bowl game appearance in 57 years pushed this into the top ten although it was a damn good game in the fourth quarter.  This is why these bowls need at least partial national spotlights.  So they get their moment in the sun that’s not overshadowed by another bowl game at the same time.
8. Foster Farms Bowl (Purdue 38 Arizona 35) – Even though there was no GUS JOHNSON in this one and the better game on paper looked to be the Holiday Bowl, we lucked out when this one ended up on the main FOX network.    Quite a few lead changes in this one from two teams that almost no one expected to be bowling this season.
9. Citrus Bowl (Notre Dame 21 LSU 17) – That ridiculous catch-and-run in the final minute put this game into the top ten.  Otherwise it might have dropped into the 20s and maybe even farther considering the field was in atrocious condition thanks to all the rain (although it could have been worse *COUGH*Outback Bowl*COUGH*).  Expect Brian Kelly to sign that 12-year contract extension any day now.
10. Peach Bowl (UCF 34 Auburn 27) – True national champions?  Meh, I don’t think so but UCF was the only unbeaten (and untied LOL) team in FBS.  Scott Frost finishing what he started should be a reminder to almost all coaches to do the same before getting on the first private jet to your new destination.  Not just from a PR standpoint but also from a “Don’t be an Asshole” standpoint.
11. TaxSlayer Bowl (Mississippi State 31 Louisville 27) – If this wasn’t on at the same time as two other bowl games, I might have watched more of it (and may have moved it up a slot or two.  Lamar Jackson was good not great in his last college game (probably) but the story here was the Bulldogs.  Lose their coach to Florida.  Lose their quarterback a month prior due to a horrific injury on national television.  And what do they do?  Come back and win a bowl game against a good Cardinals squad.
12. Liberty Bowl (Iowa State 21 Memphis 20) – From the massive crowd at Liberty Bowl Stadium to the noise to the quality of football, this felt like a big-time bowl game; something completely lost from all non-New Year’s Six games (and non-College Football Playoff games also although this should be obvious).  The only thing that kept this from going up the list is the lack of points from two teams we figured would shoot the lights out in a potential pew-pew game.
13. Pinstripe Bowl (Iowa 27 Boston College 20) – A game that most people, including myself, figured would be a bit of a bore.  It wasn’t.  On the frozen tundra of Yankee Stadium, we witnessed slippin’ and slidin’ and more slippin’ and slidin’.  Part of me thinks it’s complete stupidity to put a game on this kind of field.  The other part of me thinks this is fucking fantastic and we need more of this!
14. Music City Bowl (Northwestern 24 Kentucky 23) – This will forever be known as the Benny Snell game for Snell being thrown out for…what I don’t really know.  Basically the ref was being a dick and took it out on this kid.  Both coaches said it was one of the worst officiated games they had ever seen.  I tend to agree.  From what I watched it was piss-poor which is saying something since bowl season was rife with terrible officiating.  Too bad since this was a close game that came down to the wire.
15. Hawaii Bowl (Fresno State 33 Houston 27) – For the first time in what feels like forever, these two teams made the annual “Finish up Wrapping Presents and Put this on in the Background” Bowl exciting.  I had to actually watch the entire second half since it was that good.  Fresno State finished up a remarkable turnaround year with this victory.  Oh and Ed Oliver will be a beast on Sundays.  Bank on it.
16. Outback Bowl (South Carolina 26 Michigan 19) – First off, the field conditions were atrocious.  The Bucs played a late afternoon game the day before this game which started at Noon.  And it rained a lot.  So yeah, not fun for the players.  Secondly, Michigan had the fate of the Big Ten’s ridiculous perfect bowl record on the line.  They couldn’t close out the Cocks and now they have the scorn of an entire conference and Big Jim Harbaugh on a Big Hot Seat next season.
17. Fiesta Bowl (Penn State 35 Washington 28) – No matter how close the Huskies tried to make this, it always felt like the Nittany Lions were at least a couple steps ahead.  Which meant I felt just a bit dirty after watching it since the hype didn’t match the actual game despite the score saying it was close when it really wasn’t.  Ugh.
18. Orange Bowl (Wisconsin 34 Miami 24) – The New Year’s Six itself, I would say, was underwhelming.  Some great storylines coming in but the games didn’t match the hype.  I was kind of hoping this would have been closer, especially once Mark Richt went fucking crazy on the sidelines before halftime.  Having him lose his shit again late in the game would have pushed this possibly into Top Ten territory.
19. New Mexico Bowl (Marshall 31 Colorado State 28) – Hey this wasn’t a bad bowl at all.  Too bad it was lumped in with a few bowl games on at the same time.  When that happens you really have to stand out to be high in these rankings.
20. Camping World Bowl (Oklahoma State 30 Virginia Tech 21) – Here is where things start to fall off a cliff.  I was really hoping and expecting this game to be good.  It was OK at times but there weren’t enough huge defensive plays or big offensive shootouts going on in this one.  It was just there.  At least we still had Mike Gundy’s mullet to keep us entertained.
21. Camellia Bowl (Middle Tennessee 35 Arkansas State 30) – A misleading final score as ASU wasn’t really in this one.  It did have a few bizarre plays that only bowl games seem to unearth.
22. Sugar Bowl (Alabama 24 Clemson 6) – This game suffered from it not being really close for a game that started at 8:50 on the night before many of us had to go back to work.  The other thing was it came on after that crazy Rose Bowl.  Not enviable at all.
23. Cure Bowl (Georgia State 27 Western Kentucky 17) – This was the game that ruined my chance at bowl perfection.  Yes, I know it was only like the fourth game of bowl season, leave me alone.
24. Texas Bowl (Texas 33 Missouri 16) – The punter was the MVP of this game.  Let that sink in.
25. Cactus Bowl (Kansas State 35 UCLA 17) – There were a lot of questions about the Rosen One (or Chosen Rosen which sounds infinitely worse but whatever) before this game.  He ended up not playing.  The first half had UCLA out to a lead and I thought this would be a good game.  It wasn’t  KSU blew them out in the second half and I’m being kind.
26. Las Vegas Bowl (Boise State 38 Oregon 28) – Boise State did everything in their power to keep Oregon in this game.  Oregon was terrible.  TERRIBLE!  It should have been 49-0.  That it was a ten-point game is a testament to college football getting wacky at times.
27. Heart of Dallas Bowl (Utah 30 West Virginia 14) – It was so depressing watching this game seeing the Cotton Bowl with barely any people in it.  It doesn’t look like the most, um, stable stadium I guess is the term I am looking for.  What a difference between that and the Red River Shootout.
28. Sun Bowl (NC State 52 Arizona State 31) – This was never close.  And it was on at the same time as a few other, better bowl games.  And it doesn’t include an SEC team on the network that has the SEC.
29. Cotton Bowl (Ohio State 24 USC 7) – For a New Year’s Six game, this was brutal.  Not fun to watch.  And it was the first NY6 game this season.  It gave everyone a bit of anxiety hoping that the rest of the games wouldn’t be this way.  They weren’t thankfully.
30. Quick Lane Bowl (Duke 36 Northern Illinois 14) – I will be completely honest…after the first half I watched very little of this game.  Fast forwarded through, noticed Duke was handling this game pretty easily, and felt good about my decision.
31. New Orleans Bowl (Troy 50 North Texas 30) – Only good thing about this one was that there were a lot of points.  I mean it was close for the first half but that was about it.
32. Idaho Potato Bowl (Wyoming 37 Central Michigan 14) – Did you know Josh Allen is a TOP-NOTCH quarterback that should be taken high in the first round?  If not, then you didn’t watch this game.  I don’t think the announcers were relatives of Allen but it sure felt like it.
33. Independence Bowl (Florida State 42 Southern Miss 13) – This had a certain car crash quality to it.  Would the Noles crash and burn and end one of their worst seasons in recent memory on a terrible note?  Or would they rise to the occasion and show everyone why this game shouldn’t be close.  It was definitely the latter which kind of made it more boring than the first option would have been.
34. Bahamas Bowl (Ohio 41 UAB 6) – I honestly hate this bowl game.  I don’t want to.  But it’s on at a horrible time every year (during the day on a weekday before Christmas).  So other than that one year with the ridiculous Central Michigan comeback with the crazy final touchdown and they still lost by 1, it hasn’t impressed me at all.  I guess the players get to go to Bahamas so that’s fun.  And UAB was there.  It was a fun story to talk about…during the first quarter.  After that?  Blah.
35. Gasparilla Bowl (Temple 28 FIU 3) – I was more in awe of the absolutely stupidly massive Bad Boy Mowers dog inflatable mascot than anything.  That thing was huge!  They really should have just had mower races.  I think the St. Pete crowd would have been more appreciative.  And I still think the Trop is a fucking dump even if they do have slightly nicer turf now.
36. Holiday Bowl (Michigan State 42 Washington State 17) – This may tell you how bad the worst five bowl games are.  I rated this game, a blowout that no Canadian could watch live, better than those ones.  Yeah.
37. Dollar General Bowl (Appalachian State 34 Toledo 0) – This should have been a better game.  Two Group of Five conference champs going toe-to-toe.  It was anything but.  The only interesting thing was if the Mountaineers would hold on to get the goose egg.  They did.
38. Boca Raton Bowl (Florida Atlantic 50 Akron 3) – A fair amount of Lane Kiffin talk and John Franklin acting like a douchebag and dropping the ball before the goal line on a long touchdown run are the only highlights here.
39. Military Bowl (Navy 49 Virginia 7) – At least the Hoos celebrated their first decent season in a long time with an opening kickoff return for a touchdown.  After that this game suck-diddly-ucked.
40. Frisco Bowl (Louisiana Tech 51 SMU 10) – New location, same shitty bowl game.  Other than the Memphis-BYU brawl a few years back the Miami Beach-turned-Frisco Bowl has been horrendous.  The game they had in Frisco recently (the FCS Championship) was tons better and might have had two better teams competing.

So a lot of good and a lot of not-so-good.  It was college football but some of the not-so-good games were tough to watch.  Tomorrow (or Friday depending on time) I will have the conference championship schedule up (all two games of it!).  Enjoy the rest of the week everyone!

Week 13 College Football TV Schedule – Sponsored by ‘MURICAN TURKEY DAY FOOTBALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What the fuck else are you doing today (or tomorrow or on Saturday)? WORKING? OK that makes sense since us Canadians beat the Americans to the Thanksgiving punch by a month and a half every year (you think the Yanks would figure this out and try to beat us out once and make their Thanksgiving September 28th one year). But really, there is so much football on the next few days you could go into a coma (not saying it explicitly but that may be my goal). There are about 50 God damn games on from now until Monday night. If you are a football fan, this is your Christmas, New Year’s, and Easter all rolled into one. If not, piss off and let us have this one time of the year (other than the Super Bowl) where we can all go insane about football.

Alright let’s get down to business. First off, let me mention that there are three NFL Murican Turkey Day games today:

• Philadelphia at Detroit (12:30) – FOX
• Carolina at Dallas (4:30) – CBS (Yes CBS….it’s Crossover Craziness!!!!)
• Chicago at Green Bay (8:30) – NBC

Also, all these games are on pretty much all the Sportsnets I am sure.

Now to the college games and I am using a different format this time around. It’s my Murican Thanksgiving format I used last year where I list every game one-by-one. It gives more info and makes this post look that much more impressive (unless you like tables, then you’re gonna be some kind of pissed. Here we go! (* – game isn’t showing up on guide yet but should)

Tonight

USF at UCF (7:30, TSN5) – USF still has a shot at the AAC East title and the opportunity to screw up the Group of Five New Year’s Six spot by winning here. They would need to win and have Temple lose their game for this to happen. On the other side, UCF is finishing one of the worst seasons in recent history. They try to avoid a 0-12 season here.

Friday

#15 Navy at Houston (Noon, ABC/TSN2) – The biggest Group of Five game of the season here. The winner, chances are, clinches the Group of Five spot but they would still have the AAC Championship Game and, in Navy’s case, a game against Army. The fact this game is on ABC shows how much the American is better than any other Go5 conference.

Western Michigan at #24 Toledo (Noon, CBS Sports Network) – Toledo, thanks to Northern Illinois’ somewhat shocking loss the other night to Ohio, has the inside track on the MAC West title and an outside shot at the New Year’s Six. Of course, the Broncos could row that damn boat and basically end the MAC’s chance to sit at the adult table.

Miami at Pittsburgh (Noon, specialty pack) – The teams are better than they were last season when Pitt backed into a bowl game with a win over a Miami team that looked like they had quit on Al Golden (shocking I know). The teams are better this season and this means even less. Both teams are bowling and that’s all.

Missouri at Arkansas (2:30, CBS) – Mizzou has a chance to send Gary Pinkel out with a bowl game. They need to win here to do so. The Fighting Bielemas are already playing over the holidays.

#4 Iowa at Nebraska (3:30, ABC) – Huge game here with huge stakes. For Iowa, they win here, they go to the Big Ten Championship with a shot at the College Football Playoff on the line. For Nebraska, they somehow win, they go to a bowl game like they are supposed to (right?). Mike Riley needs this or else he starts his second season in Lincoln on the hot seat.

Boise State at San Jose State (3:30, CBS Sports Network) – SJSU needs a win here to go bowling. Boise isn’t as good as previous years so it’s a possibility.

#20 Washington State at Washington (3:30, FOX) – The Apple Cup is somewhat big for the Huskies as they have to win to go bowling. The Mike Leach Fun-time Gang has already had a successful season no matter what happens here.

UMass at Buffalo (4:30, specialty pack) – UMass’s final game in the MAC is against a Bulls team that needs a win to go bowling. So much bowl-eligibility going on this coming weekend.

#7 Baylor at #19 TCU (7:30, TSN1/3/4/5) – There has never been a college football game on four TSN stations at one time. Baylor still has an outside shot at getting to the CFP but needs a lot to happen, including beating the piss out of TCU here. The Horny Frogs will try their best not to let that happen. Plus I am sure horny is the last thing thought of at Texas CHRISTIAN University.

Tulsa at Tulane (8:00, specialty pack) – Yet another game involving a team looking for bowl-eligibility. The Golden Hurricane wins here over the Green Wave (two teams without plural team names…interesting) and they play over the holidays.

Saturday early

#8 Ohio State at #10 Michigan (Noon, ABC/TSN4) – The Game is still huge despite the fact both teams would need Michigan State to lose to win the Big Ten East Division crown. It’s been a while since Michigan was this good but Harbaughll has been the name of the game in Ann Arbor. Should be a good one.

Florida Atlantic at Old Dominion (Noon, MyTV) – This game will get eyeballs solely for the fact that Old Dominion has a shot to become bowl-eligible for the first time in program history. Other than that, this will probably suck balls.

Indiana at Purdue (Noon, Big Ten Network) – The Hoosiers can FINALLY make it back to a bowl game by beating their rivals from Purdue here for the Old Oaken Bucket. Purdue is still terrible and Darrell Hazell may very well lose his job with a loss here.

Cincinnati at East Carolina (Noon, CBS Sports Network) – The Pirates need a win here to go, you guessed it, bowling. Team Tubs can ruin ECU’s season with the win here.

Georgia at Georgia Tech (Noon, TSN1) – Clean, Old Fashioned Hate. One of the best rivalry games around…except for this season. Georgia is trending towards average and Tech blows. Let’s just hope for a good game here because otherwise there are other options early.

#1 Clemson at South Carolina (Noon, TSN5) – TSN stepping up their game this weekend. Nice to see. The Tigers can complete their perfect regular season with a win here over the woeful Cocks (I’m sure Woeful Cocks is the name of some porno out there). The USC of the east displaying their, ahem, “talent” for their next coach, whoever that may be (Kirby Smart?)

Virginia Tech at Virginia (Noon, specialty pack) – The Commonwealth Cup is Frank Beamer’s last chance to go to a bowl game before he retires. He has to remember it is UVA he is playing and that they aren’t that good. If the Hoos don’t fire Mike London after this season I will assume it’s a self-esteem issue more than anything…for the university not London.

Maryland at Rutgers (Noon, specialty pack (Rogers only)) – I am guessing the BTN alternate game will head to the specialty pack for Rogers customers. I don’t know why you’d want to watch this game but it is an option.

Louisville at Kentucky (Noon, specialty pack (Bell only)) – This feels familiar. Yes, just like last season, Kentucky comes into the Governor’s Cup needing a win to go bowling. Louisville is already in so beating their foes is more of a pride thing for them.

Boston College at Syracuse (12:30, specialty pack*) – With all the options, why would you subject yourself to this.

Duke at Wake Forest (12:30, WSBK/specialty pack) – Another ACC game that is almost unwatchable. Duke has struggled as of late after Miami’s non-touchdown ruined their division championship hopes. And Wake is Wake. Only go here if every other game is on a commercial break.

Saturday afternoon

#14 North Carolina at NC State (3:30, ABC/specialty pack) – OK this needs some explanation. If you get ABC out of Buffalo you get this game on ABC. If not, you get this game on the specialty pack and it’s still not showing up there. North Carolina’s NYS hopes could be gone if they lose here so they need momentum going into their ACC Championship game against the #1 Clemson Tigers.

Wisconsin at Minnesota (3:30, Big Ten Network) – Last season this game was huge. This year, not so much. Minnesota can go bowling with a win in this one. The NCAA is hoping some of these 5-win teams win or otherwise they have to do their jobs and figure out who gets to play in some of the bowl games.

#2 Alabama at Auburn (3:30, CBS) – To be honest, this may be the only SEC game that matters this week. Alabama wins and they go into the SEC Championship at #2. Lose and the SEC may be in a heap of trouble when it comes to the College Football Playoff.

BYU at Utah State (3:30, CBS Sports Network) – Two pretty good teams but in a game that means absolutely nothing as both teams are going to bowl games.

#22 UCLA at USC (3:30, ABC/TSN4) – If you get ABC out of Detroit, you get the game on ABC as well. Everyone gets this one on TSN4. Huge game here as the winner goes to the Pac-12 Championship to try and keep Stanford out of the New Year’s Six (since I truly believe the CFP is not happening for the Cardinal).

Penn State at #5 Michigan State (3:30, TSN5) – Sparty wins here and they go to the Big Ten Championship game with a shot at the CFP. Lose and they will be lucky to be in the NYS. It’s pretty cut-and-dry here for MSU.

#16 Northwestern vs. Illinois (in Chicago, 3:30, specialty pack) – So this time around it’s only Illinois needing a win to play in a bowl game. Northwestern has been very good this season (except for that inexplicable hiccup against Michigan) but this game means very little to them other than keeping the Illini out of the postseason.

Vanderbilt at Tennessee (4:00, specialty pack (Bell only)) – To be honest, I don’t have a single reason why you would want to watch this game.

Saturday primetime & late night

UConn at #25 Temple (7:00, specialty pack) – I really do not understand how the later games are already on the guides, yet the earlier ones aren’t. So stupid. Anyway, Temple needs a win here or a loss by USF on Thursday (fat chance) to go to the AAC Championship to possibly destroy the American’s chances at the New Year’s Six. And no, this isn’t a trophy game DIACO!

#18 Ole Miss at #21 Mississippi State (7:15, TSN5/specialty pack) – There is no way this stays on the specialty pack unless they are doing a Finebaum Alternate Viewing thing which, I will admit, was somewhat hilarious last year for the Iron Bowl. This year’s Egg Bowl not nearly as important unless Bama blows a gasket against Auburn. Then it’s massively important.

#6 Notre Dame at #9 Stanford (7:30, FOX) – Huge game for both teams but mostly for the Irish since, even with a win here, I find it hard to believe Stanford could vault themselves into the CFP. Then again, the way this season is going, the Cardinal could end up in the #2 spot for all we know. Stranger things have happened. This has to be considered FOX’s game of the year.

#13 Florida State at #12 Florida (7:30, TSN3/specialty pack) – Again, this will not be on the specialty pack. Good on The Committee for dropping the Gators like a stone (somewhat). That performance against FAU was terrible. But they can go right back into the top 10 with a win here. Winner probably gets an NYS spot, loser won’t. Plain and simple.

Texas A&M at LSU (7:30, specialty pack (Bell only)) – Another game where this no real value to watching it, other than when all the other games are at commercial breaks. Oh, and the fact there is an insane rumour that Les Miles could be shitcanned by LSU. Are they fucking stupid? Unless they have a really good replacement, this would be a boneheaded move because the team only won 7 or 8 games this season. HOW DARE THEY!

#3 Oklahoma at #11 Oklahoma State (8:00, ABC/TSN1) – BEDLAM!!! This game is huge and now that the Sooners are at #3, if they win this game, they pretty much clinch a CFP spot. So the Hee-Haw version of OSU can cost the Big XII yet again and fuel EXPANSION TALK by winning this one.

Colorado State at Fresno State (9:00, CBS Sports Network) – An odd start time for a game that very few people will watch.

Air Force at New Mexico (10:15, specialty pack) – I think by this time, most hardcore college football fans will be in a coma. Lucky for you, with two option offenses playing each other, this game may be done by midnight.

Nevada at San Diego State (10:45, specialty pack) – I may not even be able to make it to the end of this one.

OK, there are more spots on the specialty pack guides than there are games to show. This means one of two things: a) they will be showing some ESPNEWS/ESPN3 games or b) those spots will magically disappear by the end of today. I am going with b) on this one since there’s already enough college football on (I can’t believe I am saying that), there is no reason to put anything extra there.

Enjoy the football when you can and hopefully you survive!

UPDATE: Most of the games appearing on the specialty packs.  Only exclusions (as of right now) are Boston College-Syracuse and Duke-Wake Forest (although Duke-WF is on WSBK already so no loss there).