The Week 5 College Football TV Schedule and an Intro that might hurt some

Posted on September 28, 2023 by guelphbossman

Hey Miami fans, remember this guy? It’s Al Golden (and Al Golden’s tie)! He parlayed a fairly decent run at lowly Temple (I mean they were really bad before he got there) into a head coaching job at Miami where he was absolutely mediocre. Canes fans couldn’t wait for this guy to get shitcanned and they finally got their wish in 2015 after four-and-a-half seasons in Coral Gables.

So where’s Al been since? He spent six seasons in the NFL before getting hired to be Marcus Freeman’s defensive coordinator at Notre Dame. The move made sense. As a DC, he was pretty good. One of those guys who probably fits best as a coordinator but should never be a head coach.

Which brings us to what happened this past Saturday in South Bend. Good god. I will say, it was a good defensive battle although both offenses did their part in the low scoring affair. Ohio State got one last chance to drive for the win. On the final two defensive plays for the Irish, they had ten men on the field. OK…to have that happen once, it sucks and chances are a player missed an assignment. For it to happen TWICE IN A ROW? What in the hell? Marcus Freeman took the blame for it. As he said, he is the head coach so it falls on him. Admirable. But not fully correct. Golden has to know what the fuck is happening and it seems like he had no clue.

Will Golden be the defensive coordinator beyond this season? Quite possibly. It was a huge fuckup that cost them a win but the Notre Dame defense has been pretty damn stout otherwise so it will take more than that for him to get fired. That’s no consolation to Irish fans who saw their team snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Also, a reminder of a not-so-good era in Miami Hurricanes football that they are still struggling to recover from.

OK enough about that. Time to think of the future. Week 5 to be exact. Let me get you your Canadian college football television information for the upcoming Saturday (and I’ll throw in Thursday and Friday for no charge).

Thursday

		US	Canada
Middle Tennessee at WKU	7:30
Temple at Tulsa	7:30
Jacksonville State at Sam Houston	8:00

Interesting start to the week. Conference USA begins their no-Saturdays schedule with these games on Thursday night. It is feeling like WKU and Liberty will end up in the Conference USA Championship game but watch out for newcomer Jacksonville State. The Fighting RichRods are playing WAY better than anyone thought they would and could surprise.

Friday

		US	Canada
Louisville at NC State	7:00
Columbia at Princeton	7:00
Louisiana Tech at UTEP	9:00
Cincinnati at BYU	10:15

Hey, Louisville is pretty good although they better not look ahead to their huge showdown with Notre Dame. NC State has a knack for making teams struggle in games like that. Also first game between new Big XIIers (Big XII-ites?) as Cincinnati travels to Provo to face the Cougs.

Saturday Early

You read it correctly: USC and Colorado are playing at Noon. 10:00 am local time in Boulder. I guess that’s the price the Pac-12 has to pay to be in early games. Although that ends this year so not too much of a deal to do it once. A few other intriguing games with Clemson playing Syracuse and almost feeling like an underdog and Florida facing Kentucky where Kentucky feels like they should be the favourite.

Finally, there’s the story of James Madison. Huge game against USA here. As of right now, the Dukes are ineligble for the Sun Belt Championship and a bowl game. Would the Sun Belt push for them to become eligible if they end up running the table the rest of the way? It’s possible since it would put them right in the mix for that one Group of Five spot (and would be the first Sun Belt team to earn that spot if it happens). A big question as long as JMU stays undefeated.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
Virginia at Boston College	2:00
Arizona State at California	3:00
#24 Kansas at #3 Texas	3:30
Bowling Green at Georgia Tech	3:30
Indiana at Maryland	3:30
Wagner at Rutgers	3:30
#1 Georgia at Auburn	3:30
USF at Navy	3:30
Northern Illinois at Toledo	3:30
#2 Michigan at Nebraska	3:30
Boise State at Memphis	4:00
#23 Missouri at Vanderbilt	4:00

Yep, it’s time for the SEC late doubleheader ESPN windows which means no ESPN game at 3:30. I guess with the clock changes the three-hour windows would work except for the people who believe that they’ve cut 17,000 plays from every game because of the new clock rules.

KU-UT is obviously the standout game here but watch for UGA heading to Auburn and Boise State facing off against Memphis. Those two games could be sneaky good.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
#13 LSU at #20 Ole Miss	6:00
#9 Oregon at Stanford	6:30
Coastal Carolina at Georgia Southern	7:00
#11 Notre Dame at #17 Duke	7:30
Charlotte at SMU	7:30
Michigan State at Iowa	7:30
South Carolina at #21 Tennessee	7:30
Pittsburgh at Virginia Tech	8:00
San Diego State at Air Force	8:00
West Virginia at TCU	8:00

Alright things get better but it’s not like it’s a huge jolt and a bunch of great games in the primetime slot. Two games containing ranked-on-ranked violence, two more games involving ranked teams and SDSU-AFA which will be huge in the Mountain West with no divisions this season. I still don’t agree with the short ESPN window but there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. This is the final year of these SEC tripleheaders. The reason? No exclusivity around the CBS 3:30 window now that the SEC is moving fully back to ESPN and ABC and the Big Ten will pick up the afternoon mantle going forward. Thank fucking God. My prayers have been answered!

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
#12 Alabama at Mississippi State	9:00
#7 Washington at Arizona	10:00

An extremely light schedule. Doesn’t happen too often. Both games feature ranked teams. Might be an early bedtime (for college football season) if the latest game goes the way most believe it will.

Hey, Watch This!

Notre Dame at Duke (7:30, ABC/TSN+) – A lot of good/not great games this week. I will put this one at the top but it could really be anywhere in this section. This should be the most-watched football game in Duke history and if they can pull off the upset, the rest of the ACC will have to take notice. The Irish, however, might want to take out last week’s frustrations on the Blue Devils.

Kansas at Texas (3:30, ABC/TSN+) – I honestly don’t know why the ABC games are also being shown on TSN+. For completion’s sake I guess? Anyway, this could end up being the most exciting of the games this weekend just for the fact that almost every college football fan remembers “that upset” that the Jayhawks had over Texas a few years back. And now that the Jayhawks are actually good, the Horns cannot overlook them with the Red River Shootout coming up next week.

Utah at Oregon State (Friday, 9:00, FOX Sports One) – Well it’s about time a game that we couldn’t get up here would appear on this list. It happens less than ever but it makes sense it would happen at least a few times this season. And it’s a big Pac-12 game although any game with two of the top seven teams in the conference will be a big game this year. The Beavs probably can’t lose this game because, with two conference losses, it would pretty much eliminate them from any chance at the Pac-12 Championship game (unless true chaos happens which, considering it’s the Pac-12, could very well occur).

LSU at Ole Miss (6:00, TSN+/specialty pack) – I remember back in the days when I had to set up my PVR because I would be busy doing stuff with my kids. And this is the type of situation that would infuriate me because I’d either have to record this game and leave a bunch of games out or just forget this one because it didn’t follow the normal TV windows. This actually may be a big game for the Rebels as the rumour is that the locals are souring a bit on Lane Kiffin. As silly as it sounds, he may end up on a serious hot seat if they can’t at least keep things close with a very good Tigers squad.

Sickos Game of the Week

Virginia at Boston College (2:00, The CW) – Hey, the CW! This is the first time the CW appears on this list (or any list for that matter). Many feel this is the first leg of the ACC Basement Round Robin which also involves Virginia Tech. I still believe the Hokies are the worst of the bunch but these two teams don’t look a whole lot better so far.

Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week

Penn State at Northwestern (Noon, Big Ten Network) – The Wildcats have somehow won two games this season. I don’t think they win any more to be honest with you and that streak will start here. Sure, the Cats beat a Minnesota team that played super-poorly last week but this is the Nittany Lions we are talking about. If this is within 40 by the end I will be shocked.

Wanna Bet?

Yeah that wasn’t the greatest showing for me last weekend that’s for sure. Good thing I don’t bet actual money on college football (anymore). Let’s move on to this week’s picks which may or may not be any better. And you know what? I’m going to do something different. I’m actually going to post my predicted final score. This will go well, right?

Tulsa 42 Temple 14

NC State 26 Louisville 25

Utah 28 Oregon State 20

Kentucky 35 Florida 13

James Madison 30 South Alabama 24

USC 52 Colorado 23

Boston College 27 Virginia 21

Maryland 39 Indiana 7

Navy 44 USF 34

Texas 45 Kansas 16

Ole Miss 34 LSU 31

Coastal Carolina 35 Georgia Southern 14

Notre Dame 44 Duke 28

As far as I can tell, everything is up as far as the specialty packs are concerned. I have to watch for what BTN shows and I’m starting to wonder if it makes a difference where you are in Canada as to which game you get. It probably shouldn’t but you never know. This is Rogers/Bell/Eastlink/Shaw/Cogeco we are talking about.

I will be on the Twitter machine on Saturday and probably Thursday and Friday night as well so follow along or join there for some college football banter and try your best to avoid the assholes (it’s a fun game albeit sometimes frustrating). Enjoy the games everyone!

This is just awful (and the Week 12 College Football TV Schedule)

Posted on November 15, 2022 by guelphbossman

If you haven’t heard, there was a huge tragedy on the campus of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Three players on the Cavaliers, Lavel Davis, D’Sean Perry and Devin Chandler were killed in a shooting at the end of a field trip. Two other students were severely injured and are in hospital. The shooter is a former UVA football player. I have not heard anything about a motive. This is just awful. Seems like more senseless violence. I don’t know how the team is going to move on for the final two games of their season. At this point, it feels pointless to move on but many of them probably need football as a distraction to help healing and mourning the loss of their teammates and friends. Condolences to everyone at the University of Virginia. I would say hopefully lessons are learned from this but they never are, unfortunately.

UPDATE: The Virginia-Coastal Carolina game will not be played this Saturday. This does not affect Canadians and what they can watch but it is noteworthy. And also not surprising in the least. There is also no word about what will happen with the Commonwealth Cup game against Virginia Tech the following weekend.

Alright, it seems much less important this week but let’s get on with the schedule.

Tuesday

		US	Canada
Ohio at Ball State	7:00 PM
Bowling Green at Toledo	7:00 PM

A couple of big MACtion games to start the week. If the Bobcats can beat Ball State and the Rockets beat Bowling Green, then Toledo will help Ohio win the MAC East. This would mean that Ohio would go to Ford Field in a couple weeks to face…Toledo. Interesting how that works out.

Wednesday

		US	Canada
Eastern Michigan at Kent State	6:00 PM
Miami-OH at Northern Illinois	7:00 PM
Western Michigan at Central Michigan	8:00 PM

If Ohio loses the previous night, then the EMU-KSU game becomes quite a bit more important as the MAC East will still be up for grabs. Otherwise we got some bowl-eligibility issues here: Kent State, Miami-OH and Central Michigan all have to win to keep their bowl game chances alive.

Thursday

		US	Canada
SMU at #21 Tulane	7:30 PM

Only one game Thursday night (not even a game on a network Canadians can’t get). It’s a big game for the Green Wave as they absolutely need to win this one to stay alive for a berth in the AAC Championship.

Friday

		US	Canada
USF at Tulsa	9:00 PM

One game here. TSN is picking it up. I don’t know why because it means nothing. Neither team can go bowling.

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
Navy at #17 UCF	11:00 AM
Illinois at #3 Michigan	Noon
Duke at Pittsburgh	Noon
Indiana at Michigan State	Noon
UConn at Army	Noon
Wisconsin at Nebraska	Noon
Yale at Harvard	Noon
#4 TCU at Baylor	Noon
Florida at Vanderbilt	Noon

I’d say the most interesting game here is the TCU-Baylor game. It’s your classic trap game as the Bears are a good team and the game is in Waco. The other truly interesting one out of the bunch is the Wisky-Nebraska game in the Big Ten West Chaos Carnival. No one is in the driver’s seat (but the Huskers aren’t on the trip at all). All the teams are in seats on the bus trying to see who can last to the final stop. I think I got that analogy right.

Yes, you see that right. We have morning football. ESPN2 still has their quadrupleheader but it starts an hour early. I will explain more later in the post. And yes, you see that right. Yale and Harvard, once again, appearing on ESPNU. Despite the fact there are other teams that might deserve that spot, it’s nice to see ESPN embracing FCS football. I just wish they would do that when Gameday goes to an FCS school, like this Saturday when they head to Bozeman for the Brawl of the Wild between Montana and Montana State. That game is on at 2 in the afternoon on ESPN+. Ridiculous. Give it the late ESPNU spot for Christ’s sake!

Finally, a little bit about the UConn bowl situation. The Huskies are bowl-eligible. They do, however, have to hope that there are not enough teams to fill all the spots. There is no guarantee for them as they have no tie-in to any other bowl. Even worse, Liberty is in the same boat and is ranked way ahead of them so will get the first chance when a bowl doesn’t have two teams to fulfill the tie-ins. So the program is still fingers crossed to make a bowl as it’s not set in stone just yet.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
Washington State at Arizona	2:00 PM
#25 Oregon State at Arizona State	2:15 PM
Boston College at #18 Notre Dame	2:30 PM
#2 Ohio State at Maryland	3:30 PM
NC State at Louisville	3:30 PM
#11 Penn State at Rutgers	3:30 PM
#1 Georgia at Kentucky	3:30 PM
Akron at Buffalo	3:30 PM
Miami at #9 Clemson	3:30 PM
South Alabama at Southern Miss	3:30 PM
#22 Cincinnati at Temple	4:00 PM
Iowa at Minnesota	4:00 PM
WKU at Auburn	4:00 PM
Georgia Tech at #13 North Carolina	5:30 PM
Stanford at California	5:30 PM

This might be the biggest afternoon schedule I have ever seen. Saying that, it’s definitely quantity over quality as there isn’t a ton here to whet the appetite. What does this mean? We are in for something crazy. It never fails.

I talked about TCU’s trap game earlier. You could say the same for Georgia here. I like UGA’s chances more than TCU’s obviously but if the Dawgs let the Cats stay around into the fourth quarter, expect a lot of nervous Georgia fans around the country. The Big Ten West Round Robin Fun-Time Carousel continues in this timeslot with Iowa and Minnesota facing off to see if we can get some clarity going into the final regular season week.

UPDATE #2: Akron-Buffalo has been postponed due to the snowstorm that has already hit the Buffalo area and moved this weekend’s Bills game to Detroit. The game is reportedly going to be moved to Sunday but I don’t see that happening with what the area will be like through the end of the weekend.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Boise State at Wyoming	7:00 PM
#5 Tennessee at South Carolina	7:00 PM
#24 Oklahoma State at Oklahoma	7:30 PM
New Mexico State at Missouri	7:30 PM
#14 Ole Miss at Arkansas	7:30 PM
Syracuse at Wake Forest	8:00 PM
#7 USC at #16 UCLA	8:00 PM

A huge Pac-12 game that could have been one of the biggest in years if the Bruins hadn’t blown a gasket against Arizona, of all teams, last weekend. Plus the Oklahoma Sooners are in a very odd spot, at least for this program: they need a win to become bowl-eligible in November. This is a stark difference to some Bedlam games of the past decade or so where it was the Pokes who needed that win badly to play some postseason ball. The Sooners don’t need to win this one but if they lose here they only have one more shot to keep their bowl game streak going.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
UAB at #6 LSU	9:00 PM
Colorado at #15 Washington	9:00 PM
Fresno State at Nevada	10:30 PM
#10 Utah at #12 Oregon	10:30 PM

So the entire reason for ESPN2 starting their schedule at 11 in the morning is so that LSU could host UAB on the station at night? Are you fucking serious? That might be one of the dumbest things I’ve heard. The schedule could have easily been shuffled around to accommodate this in a normal way but ESPN is really upping how much they kowtow to the SEC. It’s probably a good thing the Big Ten is leaving for FOX. Also here we have the other high stakes Pac-12 match of the weekend that is, once again, a little less high stakes than it could have been. Both the Utes and Ducks still have Pac-12 Championship and New Year’s Six opportunities available…well, one will after this game.

Big Games O’ The Week

USC at UCLA (8:00, FOX) – I don’t remember a time when I’ve done this blog where the Pac-12 is the conference to watch on any given week. I think every other Power Five conference has had their week to shine (with the SEC and Big Ten having a lot of weeks to shine) but this may be a first for the Pac-12 on this blog. Look, a USC win may move them up to #6 or even #5 going into the final regular season week. It clinches their spot in the Pac-12 Championship Game and possibly sets them up to return to glory. A UCLA win doesn’t fully eliminate any team but makes it a lot tougher for any team from the conference to get to the College Football Playoff. What it does do, though, is cause massive Pac-12 chaos inside the conference which is also fun…for me at least.

Utah at Oregon (10:30, TSN2) – Hey a TSN quadrupleheader! That’s nice. What’s not so nice? This is probably the high water mark for TSN college football coverage this season. I will explain later. Anyway, the other big Pac-12 game this week pits two teams who still have big aspirations which hopefully lead to a Rose Bowl spot. No matter the result, there will still be a bit of chaos left in the Pac-12 to just determine it’s title game participants. Thankfully there are no divisions this year as it’s so much better to just have the best teams in.

Illinois at Michigan (12:00, ABC/TSN2) – Most years, this has the makings of a blowout. Not this time around. Yes it’s in the Big House so the Wolverines have a big home field advantage. Other than that though, this is not a game Michigan should take lightly. Illinois still has a shot at the Big Ten West title but a few other things have to go their way. A win here REALLY helps though. Michigan is heading into The Game with Ohio State and a win here, coupled with Ohio State winning, would set up the biggest matchup since…well, you could say last year but I would say since 2016’s double overtime classic.

Georgia at Kentucky (3:30, CBS) – This could be the game of a lifetime for Mark Stoops and Kentucky if they could pull off the upset. It would also completely upset the college football apple cart with very little time left. Let’s be honest though: it’s going to take a lot for the Cats to keep this close. Hopefully they have watched UGA’s games against Kent State and Missouri to figure out the best approach.

TCU at Baylor (Noon, FOX) – Dave Aranda’s Baylor Bears could throw a huge monkey wrench into TCU’s national title plans. If they beat the Horned Frogs, that probably spells the end for TCU’s CFP hopes. TCU has to be very careful with this one. It is the very definition of a college football speed bump game.

Tennessee at South Carolina (7:00, TSN2) – So it drops off a bit of a cliff after the first five games. But this could be a sneaky good one. Tennessee is not out of the College Football Playoff conversation just yet. South Carolina could put the nail in that coffin and potentially destroy the Vols’ New Year’s Six possibilities in one fell swoop if they can pull off the upset in Columbia.

Psycho Game of the Week

USF at Tulsa (Friday, 9:00, TSN2) – The Bulls are here for a second straight week. I would call that a trend. I get that TSN2, somehow, has nothing to air that night so this goes there by default. But of all the games to show. You know what, TSN? You’d be better off showing Best of Curling or World’s Most Incredible Darts Throws or something like that. This is terrible.

Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week

Colorado at Washington (9:00, Pac-12 Network) – Man, Colorado is bad. Worst Power Five team? It’s between them and Northwestern. Maybe they should play a bowl game to determine the worst of the worst. The Huskies should annihilate Colorado here in a game that might be long over by halftime.

The Degenerate Portion of Our Show

Time for my picks for the upcoming week of college football. Is there any basis for these picks? Not really. I mostly wing it.

Ball State (+3.5) over Ohio (and the mild upset win!)
Central Michigan (-11) over Western Michigan
Navy (+16.5) over UCF (they’ll cover but not win)
Northwestern (+20) over Purdue (the Boilermakers will win though)
Illinois (+18) over Michigan (covering but not winning)
TCU (-2.5) over Baylor
Oregon State (-8) over Arizona State
South Alabama (-7.5) over Southern Miss
Penn State (-19.5) over Rutgers
Miami (+19) over Clemson (the Canes will cover but the Tigers will win this one)
Minnesota (-2.5) over Iowa
Wyoming (+14) over Boise State (the Broncos will end up with the win)
Ole Miss (-2.5) over Arkansas
Oregon (-3) over Utah

OK an explanation about the TSN comment I made earlier. Normally, the final week of the regular season would bring at least 8 games on TSN if not up to 13 or 14. TSN would go all in because the CFL would be done for the season. Just like this year, the Grey Cup lands on Week 12 of the college football season. One wrinkle, though: the World Cup. It begins Sunday. TSN and CTV are showing every game of the tournament. If I just take a look at the schedule, it means the following:

It’s almost a guarantee that there will be on early Black Friday games aired on TSN.
TSN 2, 4 and 5 are available for afternoon/night Black Friday games.
The next day (Saturday, American Thanksgiving weekend) might be mostly out for college football games as there are World Cup games that overlap the early and afternoon windows. I can see TSN stepping up for primetime and late night games, though.

So, 14 games? Not going to happen. 10? Doubtful. Maybe they get back to that 8 mark but it will be dicey. Is this one of the reasons why the World Cup shouldn’t be in November and December? Yes. But it’s far down the list. Like WAY down the list. Remember…it’s in Qatar. That’s all you got to say.

Tomorrow you should get the bowl projection and rankings post and on Thursday the NFL post. Not guaranteeing anything but this is the time of year where staying on schedule is pretty imperative. Enjoy the games everyone!

Hey let’s storm the field (and give you the Week 9 College Football TV Schedule)

Posted on October 26, 2022 by guelphbossman

First off, remember this classic? It was awesome. So the powers that be decided to quash the possibility of it ever happening again. Instead, we get a nine-overtime affair that made me want to pour bleach into my eyes.

Anyway, as you can see from the pic, the Aggie faithful stormed the field after the win. It was a big win. An exhausting one, even for the fans who were there for over five hours. Now, rushing the field like this is now fined by certain conferences. And the fines can be hefty. LSU was just fined a quarter of a million dollars for their fans rushing the field after the Tigers thoroughly destroyed previously undefeated Ole Miss. It was a big win.

Here’s the dilemma from what I see: seeing fans rush the field can be, most of the time, an amazing visual. They are just so happy their team pulled off the victory. Can there be dangers to it? Absolutely. And there can be altercations. Look at that asshole Jermaine Burton who punched a female Tennessee fan after the Vols’ win over Bama. He said he was scared. Bullshit. He could have punched any fan and chose her. Funny he didn’t choose a bigger guy who might have taken offense to it and retaliated. Look, my point is this…I don’t think rushing the field should be fined. At all. That sounds crazy but I believe it. Now, if something happens when the fans rush the field, then the school should be punished (as long as it was not someone from the opposing team doing something wrong). And the fines should be hefty. Forget $250,000. Start at $500K and go up from there. And if students cause issues at games when they storm the field? Guess what? Pack your shit and fuck off to another university. Instead, we have these blanket fines that do nothing really except move money from one coffer to another coffer. Dumb.

Alright, let’s get down to some schedules, shall we?

Thursday

		US	Canada
Virginia Tech at #24 NC State	7:30 PM
Louisiana at Southern Miss	7:30 PM
#14 Utah at Washington State	10:00 PM

Two pretty important games here. NC State has to win here to have any chance to move back up the rankings and perhaps sneak into the New Year’s Six. Utah has the same issue going for them although they are closer to the Top 10 which basically guarantees a spot. OK make it three important games since Louisiana has to keep pace with Troy and South Alabama in the Sun Belt West.

Friday

		US	Canada
Yale at Columbia	6:30 PM
Louisiana Tech at FIU	8:00 PM
East Carolina at BYU	8:00 PM

Kind of a lacklustre night to be honest. I guess you could see some importance in the Cougs’ game since a loss might actually have them struggling to make a bowl game this season.

Saturday Early

Massive early game in State College. You could still consider it a Game of the Year candidate. This is a prove-it game for Penn State. Win this and it puts all the tough games they’ve had behind them and puts them in a great spot to make the College Football Playoff. A tOSU win means it comes down to them and Michigan for any Big Ten CFP possibilities.

If you had told me that Toledo and Eastern Michigan would be facing off in late October, essentially, for the MAC West championship I would have thought you were on some great drugs. But that is the case. EMU has shocked a lot of people this year. Chris Creighton has done a great job in Ypsilanti. It also helps that every other team in the division (other than these two) has looked below-average at best.

Syracuse has a potential speed bump game to get back on track as they host the Irish and honestly it feels weird to see Oklahoma face Iowa State where neither team is ranked.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
Rutgers at Minnesota	2:30 PM
#17 Illinois at Nebraska	3:30 PM
#10 Wake Forest at Louisville	3:30 PM
Florida vs. #1 Georgia (in Jacksonville)	3:30 PM
Temple at Navy	3:30 PM
#20 Cincinnati at UCF	3:30 PM
Northwestern at Iowa	3:30 PM
#9 Oklahoma State at #22 Kansas State	3:30 PM
#8 Oregon at California	3:30 PM
South Alabama at Arkansas State	4:00 PM
Missouri at #25 South Carolina	4:00 PM

No huge games but a lot of games of importance in this timeslot. OK fine you can say Oklahoma State-Kansas State is huge but there are still a lot of things that could happen in the Big XII with one possibility being that the conference cannibalizes itself and no one makes it to the College Football Playoff.

Illinois is actually on ABC! And they are the reason they are there! Bert doing a great job in Champaign and a win here puts them into a showdown with Purdue for the Big Ten West as long as no other screwy things happen…meaning something will happen. Yes there is an odd start for the Big Ten Network game and no, I don’t know why although I haven’t taken too hard a look to find that out.

Some are saying Georgia may be looking past Florida. I know I would if I was Georgia. I can’t see the Gators doing anything here but you never know as the Cocktail Party can get weird some years. Finally, South Alabama is in a nationally televised game on Saturday probably for the first time ever. They should easily beat ASU in this one. Maybe they are a dark horse for the NY6.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
UAB at Florida Atlantic	7:00 PM
#19 Kentucky at #3 Tennessee	7:00 PM
Colorado State at Boise State	7:00 PM
Coastal Carolina at Marshall	7:00 PM
#10 USC at Arizona	7:00 PM
Michigan State at #4 Michigan	7:30 PM
Baylor at Texas Tech	7:30 PM
Arizona State at Colorado	7:30 PM
#15 Ole Miss at Texas A&M	7:30 PM
Pittsburgh at #21 North Carolina	8:00 PM

In almost any week of any season, UK-UT is the SEC on CBS Game of the Week (and potentially the primetime choice). But with the Cocktail Party this week, they are “relegated” to the primetime ESPN game. Still a good slot. Plus, this game is an elimination game. Winner has a shot at the SEC East and the loser has to hope to make up ground to get a nice January bowl game.

Speaking of relegation, USC is on the Pac-12 Network this week. OK, they are at Arizona who, while improved, is still not that good a team. But when you see that Arizona State and Colorado are on ESPNU (which is slightly better if you ask me), it makes you scratch your head a bit. I know the Trojans were picked for the P12N to fulfill their contracted amount of appearances on the network and this game was as good as any to put there. Still…it feels odd to see a Top 10 team on a conference network, especially the worst conference network around.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
Nevada at San Jose State	10:30 PM
Stanford at #12 UCLA	10:30 PM
San Diego State at Fresno State	10:30 PM

The Spartans actually have a big game here. By the time the calendar turns, they might be the favourites to represent the West Division in the Mountain West Championship. Also, the Bruins look to bounce back and maybe get back into the Top 10 against the Cardinal who may have a tough decision with David Shaw ahead. Not saying Shaw will be fired this season (or even in the offseason) but something has to give here as the team has been pretty bad for a few years now.

Big Games O’ The Week

Ohio State at Penn State (Noon, FOX) – Just a reminder that this game is at Beaver Stadium so it gives the Nittany Lions more of a chance than if it was at the Horseshoe. This might not be exactly easy for the Fighting Ryan Days but a win here will put them into a one-game showdown in a month against Michigan for the Big Ten East and may put them at #1 in the first College Football Playoff poll on Tuesday.

Kentucky at Tennessee (7:00, specialty pack) – I’m sure there are many who wished this game would have been on TSN instead of the Michigan State-Michigan game but yeah, a good Big Ten game will almost always rate higher for TSN than a game from any other conference. As I said above, this is an SEC East elimination game so the stakes are high. It will be interesting to see if the Vols have a letdown after their big win over Alabama a couple weeks ago or if the Cats can get up for this game, dealing with a loud Knoxville crowd.

Oklahoma State at Kansas State (3:30, FOX) – FOX has quite the lineup this week. I know some marvel when I say that but it honestly doesn’t happen often. It probably helps that it’s only two games this week that lead into the World Series which starts after this game. This is part of the Big XII gauntlet that is happening before our eyes that involves more than half the conference (and maybe not even Oklahoma). FOX is probably hoping this game doesn’t go to a bunch of overtimes since we know it would be moved to like FOX Business Network or some channel no one in the world gets.

Notre Dame at Syracuse (Noon, ABC/TSN5) – The Cuse looks to rebound from their tough loss to Clemson. Meanwhile, Notre Dame continues their roller coaster first season under Marcus Freeman. A win by Syracuse here still keeps them in the hunt for…something. A New Year’s Six at-large spot perhaps? The Irish are just trying to make their season feel like it’s less of a failure than it has been and one where 2023 looks optimistic.

Cincinnati at UCF (3:30, specialty pack) – It feels like most years this is a battle between the top two teams in the American. I would have said Houston at the start of the season but yeah I whiffed on that one pretty hard. Tulane may have something to say about that first sentence and they may get their shot in the AAC Championship if they can keep playing as well as they are. Until then, this feels like the winner is in the driver’s seat for the Cotton Bowl spot.

Psycho Game of the Week

Arizona State at Colorado (7:30, specialty pack) – You have got to be some sort of masochist to spend more than one minute watching this one. I guess maybe hoping for some weird score like 5-3 could get you interested in this but otherwise, it is so easy to avoid this abomination.

Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week

Georgia Tech at Florida State (Noon, specialty pack) – This might seem like a bit of a surprise but I have this feeling that the Noles will come into this one a bit angry and ready to beat the absolute shit out of whoever they face. The Ramblin’ Wreck are playing better not under Geoff Collins but at some point their lack of talent will come to the forefront. This is the game that will happen.

Fun-Time Stats of the Week

Last time UAB traveled to Boca Raton to face FAU they were embarrassed 49-6.
This is the first time in four years that Ole Miss has had to play back-to-back road games.
NC State has lost five straight to the Hokies.

The Degenerate Portion of Our Show

For some reason I can delve into picking NFL games (which I still do from time to time on top of fantasy football) but when it comes to college football I draw a blank. I can’t seem to come up with a way to pick games other than just pick them off the top of my head for the most part. That’s something I would never say when my late night betting show commences. I wonder what the most ridiculous channel to put that on would be. OMNI?

Louisiana (+1) over Southern Miss (and the outright win…why is Southern Miss even favoured here?)
Louisiana Tech (-6.5) over FIU
Toledo (-7) over Eastern Michigan
Boston College (-7.5) over UConn (only 7.5? Who is making these odds?)
Oklahoma (-1) over Iowa State
Minnesota (-14) over Rutgers
Navy (-13.5) over Temple
Louisville (+3.5) over Wake Forest (big upset pick!)
Florida (+22.5) over Georgia (UGA will cover but the Gators will make things interesting for about three quarters)
Kentucky (+12.5) over Tennessee (the Vols will win a tight one)
Coastal Carolina (+2.5) over Marshall (and they will win outright)
Ole Miss (-2.5) over Texas A&M
UCLA (-16.5) over Stanford (only 16.5? Yeah I’m not getting some of these)

Let’s see how much of a tool I look like with these picks. Anyway, I will be on the Twitter machine for most of the day (I think) so catch me there if you want. Hey, I got a secret for ya. Come closer….

There’s football every day between tomorrow and November 22nd!

Oh. Hell. YEAH! Enjoy the games everyone!

No Mo Eaux & Rolo – Week 8 College Football TV Schedule

Posted on October 20, 2021 by guelphbossman

Ed Orgeron and Nick Rolovich are out at LSU and Wazzu, respectively. Well, kind of. Rolovich has been shitcanned immediately. He, along with some of the assistant coaches, refuse to get the COVID-19 vaccine and, therefore, cannot work in any capacity in a state government position, which Washington STATE head coach definitely is. I honestly do not understand why someone wouldn’t get the vaccine but to each their own I guess. Part of not doing that, though, is to give up the right to do certain things. Like be the football head coach at a state university. I mean it’s not like Rolovich doesn’t already have a lot of money but he’s not that old and has a lot of years left to coach but he’s going to be considered persona non grata for a while now.

As for Coach Eaux, that’s a different story. He will coach out the rest of the season which I think is a completely stupid thing to do. Nothing worse than the lame duck coach. As for why he was fired? Well, LSU isn’t nearly as good as they were but how could they be? That 2019 team was one of the best college football teams ever. No, it’s more than that. See, Eddie has had a divorce lately and it sounds like he’s letting his dick do the talking a lot these days. Like hitting on a married pregnant woman at a gas station whose husband just happens to be a high-ranking official at the same damn school he coaches at. Like how fucking stupid can you be? So yeah, I think they got sick of Coach O being a womanizing asshole who didn’t seem to want to put the team first (or second or third, for that matter). Oh well, he won’t be disappointed since his payout is ridiculous. Not exactly Bobby Bonilla-type money but he will make over $17 million through to the end of 2025. Must be nice.

Anywho, enough of Shitcan City, more college football schedules. Sound good?

Wednesday

		US	Canada
#14 Coastal Carolina at Appalachian State	7:30 PM

At least TSN understands the importance of weeknight Fun Belt! This is a massive game in the conference and a Coastal win basically wins the East division. App State winning doesn’t just put the Sun Belt in a bit of flux; it also kills the chances of one of Cincinnati’s competitors for the Group of Five New Year’s Six spot (if the Bearcats don’t get into the College Football Playoff).

Thursday

		US	Canada
Florida Atlantic at Charlotte	7:30 PM
Tulane at #21 SMU	7:30 PM
Louisiana at Arkansas State	7:30 PM
San Jose State at UNLV	11:00 PM

Four games. None of them really that good to be honest. Chances are many will be watching the NLCS Game 5 or Thursday Night Football, even if the Denver Broncos aren’t as good as their record indicates. But there could be some upset possibilities that could hamper some teams’ expectations. A Mustangs loss to Tulane wouldn’t just hurt SMU: it would hurt Cincinnati as well as they need a good SMU team later in the season to keep their resume intact for a potential College Football Playoff spot.

Friday

		US	Canada
Middle Tennessee at UConn	6:00 PM
Columbia at Dartmouth	6:00 PM
Memphis at UCF	7:00 PM
Colorado State at Utah State	9:30 PM
Washington at Arizona	10:30 PM

Technically this is a schedule of college football games on a Friday night. I guess if you are into Ivy League football or UConn football (for some reason), then maybe this is the schedule for you. Oh and we have Zona in the late night Friday window. Ugh.

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
Illinois at #7 Penn State	Noon
UMass at Florida State	Noon
#16 Wake Forest at Army	Noon
#3 Oklahoma at Kansas	Noon
#2 Cincinnati at Navy	Noon
Northern Illinois at Central Michigan	Noon
Northwestern at #6 Michigan	Noon
Arkansas-Pine Bluff at Arkansas	Noon
Syracuse at Virginia Tech	12:30 PM

Fairly good start to the Saturday. Not as great as last week but still good. The biggest problem is quite a few games of ranked teams facing non-ranked teams where the unranked teams are really not that good. I mean it’s either that or watching UMass face a not-so-good Florida State team and probably lose by 40 so take your pick.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
Wisconsin at #25 Purdue	3:00 PM
#10 Oregon at UCLA	3:30 PM
LSU at #12 Ole Miss	3:30 PM
Western Michigan at Toledo	3:30 PM
Clemson at #23 Pittsburgh	3:30 PM
Maryland at Minnesota	3:30 PM
#8 Oklahoma State at Iowa State	3:30 PM
Boston College at Louisville	4:00 PM
East Carolina at Houston	4:00 PM
Mississippi State at Vanderbilt	4:00 PM

Definitely better here. Yes, it’s still a few ranked teams against unranked teams but the games themselves are of much better quality for sure. OSU tries to keep their inexplicable undefeated run going against ISU. Chip Kelly sees his old Oregon team again at home at the Rose Bowl. And for once, it’s Pittsburgh that’s ranked and Clemson that’s unranked. Looks weird. And yes, TSN is already done for the day early. They have really done a lot less this year and it’s not a good sign for people who rely on regular cable (and no specialty pack) to bring them their college football fix.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
#22 San Diego State at Air Force	7:00 PM
Tennessee at #4 Alabama	7:00 PM
#5 Ohio State at Indiana	7:30 PM
Georgia Tech at Virginia	7:30 PM
#18 NC State at Miami	7:30 PM
West Virginia at TCU	7:30 PM
USC at #13 Notre Dame	7:30 PM
South Carolina at #17 Texas A&M	7:30 PM

To say there are huge games in this timeslot would be a lie. But there is some intrigue. USC could surprise the Irish and the Hoosiers could do the same at home against Ohio State. Tennessee might AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA sorry I couldn’t type that without laughing. I mean there’s probable and then there’s near-impossible.

Saturday Late Night

No late night sked. Nothing. The only game on at all after the 7:30 games is Hawaii’s home game against New Mexico State on their PPV channel. I guess you could try and find a stream to watch it (or it may end up on Facebook somehow) but other than that, there is nothing on past primetime. How fucking bizarre is that? It’s like we are back to two decades ago when college football rarely headed into late night waters.

Games to set your eyeballs on

Oklahoma State at Iowa State (3:30, FOX) – Who thought Oklahoma State would be in the Top 10 at any point this season? Now whoever has their hands up, put them down you filthy liars. Once again, Mike Gundy has his Cowboys in great position at the midway point of a season with a slight possibility of getting into the CFP. We have seen this story before and it has never ended well for the Pokes. Funny thing is, they aren’t really doing it with offense this time around. Their defense, especially for a Big XII team, has been great and has carried this team to the #8 ranking. If things break their way, it would set up a huge Bedlam game at the end of the regular season. As for ISU, they are still 4-2 and still have every opportunity to get back in the Big XII race and it could start with a home upset here.

Oregon at UCLA (3:30, ABC) – It’s about time that Chip Kelly has finally worked a bit of his magic in Westwood. I guess he needed that time to recruit the guys he wanted to play his kind of ball. And now he gets to face his old team in a game that could honestly break the Pac-12. Oregon is ranked #10 and a loss by the Ducks would destroy any Pac-12 chances of doing anything other than their champ being one of “those teams” that get into the New Year’s Six when they probably didn’t deserve it.

San Diego State at Air Force (7:00, CBS Sports Network) – The Aztecs vs. The Academy. This is SDSU’s chance to show they are the team in the Mountain West that replaces Boise State at the top. But we all have seen what it’s like to play Air Force in Colorado Springs. It’s at night which means it might be cold. It’s against the option which always rough on a defense. And the Falcons are a seriously good team who are also looking to put their stamp on the Mountain West.

Coastal Carolina at Appalachian State (Wednesday, 7:30, TSN2) – Man, when’s the last time there has been two Group of Five games in the Games of the Week list? Other than last year when things were all messed up, I can’t remember. Coastal is desperately hoping for a Cincinnati loss to give them an honest chance at the NY6 spot. Unfortunately for them, their schedule doesn’t give them a lot of huge potential wins so beating teams like App State by a lot is a must. The Committee will not give them any respect unless they are laying waste to their Sun Belt schedule.

Clemson at Pittsburgh (3:30, specialty pack) – Yeah it isn’t the greatest of weeks when this game hits the Games of the Week section. Anyway, Clemson still has every opportunity to win the Atlantic division, amazingly enough. Win out and they would be back in Charlotte again in December. The Panthers could put an end to Coastal Chaos (at least for this season), if they continue to win. I’ll say it again: the way they are playing makes their loss to Western Michigan more and more baffling every week.

Honourable mention: Wake Forest at Army (Noon, CBS Sports Network); LSU at Ole Miss (3:30, CBS); USC at Notre Dame (7:30, NBC)

Wanna bet?

I didn’t do too badly, especially picking Baylor over BYU. Some of my other picks were less than good but whatever. It is what it is. Here’s this week picks for you gambling degenerates to look and laugh at:

Ole Miss over LSU

Iowa State over Oklahoma State (upset!)

Coastal Carolina over Appalachian State

Oregon over UCLA

Notre Dame over USC

Wake Forest over Army

Air Force over San Diego State (mild upset)

Clemson over Pittsburgh

Ohio State over Indiana

Toledo over Western Michigan

UConn over Middle Tennessee (yes, I am calling for a UConn winning streak!)

Hey how about my Top 25 going into this week? Why not, right? Since I’m not doing the recap posts I can start including them here. So here we go:

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

A few differences from my poll to the actual AP Poll. I would have had the roles reversed for the Clemson-Pitt game: Clemson ranked and Pitt unranked. I think Oregon should be firmly in the Top 10 and would cement their spot with a big win over UCLA. I’m still skeptical of Oklahoma State but if they can pull out the win this week, I probably have them in the Top 10 for next week.

I don’t know if I will be on Twitter this weekend. It did feel kind of freeing to not be on there this past Saturday. But I would be lying if I said I didn’t miss it because I kind of did. So we shall see. Have a great rest of the week everyone!

Let’s talk about bacon – Week 6 College Football Recap

Posted on October 12, 2020 by guelphbossman

If you know what you are looking at then chances are your blood may be already starting to boil. If not, let me explain.

Late in the Arkansas-Auburn game, Arkansas had the lead but Auburn was driving for a score, only needing a field goal to win. The play above is where things really go off the rails. Bo Nix takes the snap and immediately fumbles it. He picks it up and then immediately spikes it. First of all, you can’t do that in college football. That’s considered intentional grounding. What’s worse is that Nix spiked it behind his foot. So that is a backwards pass…a lateral if you will. At this point, a few officials blow their electronic whistles, one official definitely doesn’t, and one official throws a bean bag. In the aftermath of this, an Arkansas player eventually recovers the ball. So of course this is chaos already.

The referee calls it intentional grounding. Of course many know that there is more to this than that. And some are perplexed because the NFL does not have that rule about fumbling the snap (as far as I know). The play gets reviewed. It is pretty obvious the spike was behind Nix so it’s technically a fumble. What does the replay official conclude? He sticks with the call of intentional grounding, basically to bail out the officials on the field. What a fucking joke. According to Terry McAulay, retired official who does the rules for Sunday Night Football, said that because the Arkansas player continued to play through the whistle to recover the ball and that an Auburn player also continued to play at that point, that the whistle is irrelevant and that Arkansas should have been considered to have had an immediate recovery. Instead, Auburn gets their chance at the field goal and hits it to win, robbing the Hogs of a deserved win. So the SEC doubles down hours later about the rules. And probably nothing will happen to either the replay official or the officiating team on the field. This was not a missed call that was bad but really didn’t affect the outcome of the game. It certainly did. And Arkansas will not get the win they deserve. Sad.

As for the rest of the weekend it was the best weekend so far. A low bar for sure but there was a lot of exciting football. Kept me glued to the TV for over 11 hours. Let’s get down to recapping all this shall we?

And now for the rest of the recap

A great game down in College Station this past weekend. Texas A&M won over Florida in a game many would call an upset. I have to agree especially since Florida was a Top 5 team and I picked the Aggies to win in an upset (which makes me feel good). Instead the Aggies gutted out a last-second walk-off field goal win and now their College Football Playoff aspirations are legit. As for Florida, ugh…. When you think they are about to be a threat to Georgia in the SEC East, something like this happens. It definitely won’t be easy for the Aggies the rest of the way in the SEC West but if they can somehow win out, then you have to take them seriously. Also good for Jimbo Fisher for finally getting a signature win as the Aggies head coach.
Another upset occurred early in the day in a game that had to be moved because of Hurricane Delta (Burke?). Missouri held on to beat the defending champs from LSU in a game moved from Baton Rouge to Columbia. Everyone kind of knew the Tigers (of LSU) weren’t the same team but many their defense has looked terrible so far. But you have to give Mizzou some credit. If it wasn’t for them finally finding a starting quarterback in freshman Connor Bazelak, this game would have been an easy LSU win. I am positive now that there will be rumblings of Ed Orgeron being fired because it’s college football and many fans are shitty people.
How about that game down in the other Death Valley (or the first Death Valley depending on which Tigers you prefer)? Many felt the Canes would have a chance against Clemson. Man were they ever fucking wrong. This was not close, in any way, shape, or form. Clemson just looks that much better than everyone in the conference. Saying that, they do have new conference mate (for this season), Notre Dame later in the season which should be a banger. As for Miami, they should still be fine. It’s one blemish but they can work their way back into the New Year’s Six pretty easily if they run the table the rest of the way. OK so pretty easily is a strong term.
And there is the unluckiness that is Pitt. It was the Pittening yet again. Kicker Alex Kessman made a 58-yard field goal with 40 seconds left just to send their game with Boston College into overtime. Then, after BC had scored a TD and Pitt scored one of their own, Kessman missed the extra point. You can’t make this stuff up. Poor guy probably wanted to crawl under the turf at that point.
Alabama beat Ole Miss. OK not a big deal. What was amazing was Lane cutting the brakes off his offense and going nuts with it. And it worked. The Tide could not keep up with the Rebel offense. It’s too bad the Rebel defense was equally as bad. Although let’s be honest: Alabama’s offense is seriously good. Not quite Clemson good, but arguably the best in the SEC. And now Evil Nick Saban is 21-0 against his former assistants. The student has not surpassed the teacher yet.
Let history show that the Tennessee football Volunteers led Georgia 21-17 at the half in this game. Again, the Vols allowed the the Dawgs to close out the game on a huge run, this one 27 points, but it’s still not a bad thing to see the Vols at least somewhat competitive. They may be a year or two away from contending in the SEC East but the fans can see the light at the end of that tunnel. Now they just have to allow Jeremy Pruitt to continue to improve things in Knoxville and it will work out (possibly).
I didn’t think Florida State could keep it close. Like not at all. But they were surprisingly effective until late in the second quarter. But the Irish were still way too much for the Noles. They are a legit contender to go to the ACC Championship. Mike Norvell is struggling so far at Tallahassee and it will be interesting to see if he gets the same amount of chances as Willie Taggart got before he was dumped.
Back to games that were completely bonkers, look no further than the Red River Shootout. And a shootout it was. This game went to four overtimes and it felt like neither team wanted to win despite the fact they were putting up some gaudy stats. Finally, Spencer Rattler didn’t fuck up and Sam Ehlinger couldn’t get it done and the Sooners pulled off the victory. Still, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see neither of these two teams in the Big XII Championship in December.
That Virginia Tech-North Carolina game was more of a Big XII game than pretty much all the Big XII games on Saturday. A hilariously poor showing of defense on both teams’ accounts. North Carolina was able to pull away late but it wasn’t pretty. The Tar Heels can’t afford to be like that on the defensive side of the ball when they play Notre Dame later on in the season or it could be a long day for Mack Brown and the boys from Chapel Hill.
Don’t sleep on the BYU Cougars. The Cougars are 4-0 and look like they will probably be 7-0 when they get into November and their game against Boise State. They are solidly in the Top 25 but will need to win and win big to move up the rankings. Winning by a touchdown over UTSA won’t cut it, despite the fact the Roadrunners are going to be at least a contender to go bowling if not an outside shot at being a thorn in UAB’s side for the Conference USA West crown.
Iowa State keeps trundling along in the Big XII after that horrible opening loss to what is really a good Louisiana team. The way things are going, it wouldn’t surprise me (and shouldn’t surprise others) if the Cyclones were heading to Dallas for the Big XII Championship in about two months.
What the hell happened at Mississippi State? They looked great two weeks ago against LSU and then can’t do anything in their previous game and were even worse at Kentucky. 300 yards passing and 2 points. So of course Mike Leach is already starting to blame some of the players. This usually takes like two or three seasons to occur: it’s happening in two weeks in Starkville. Yikes.
Another great game just happened to be Temple’s first game of the season. No I’m not kidding. And they played the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of college football, Navy. Navy doesn’t know if they want to be good or they’re really fucking bad. All I know is this ended up being a close finish after Navy took a fairly large lead and then allowed the Owls to crawl their way back for a chance to tie late. I am sure Ken Niumatalolo secretly drinks heavily after games like this.
USF…what can you say? They got throttled by East Carolina. Yes, the East Carolina football Pirates. The Bulls are so bad that when I tweeted about them being bad, a few people replied and agreed and they’re USF FANS! Wow.
Finally, Charlotte took down North Texas. That’s not really news. The news is about the graphics used on the ESPN scoreboard. Charlotte has a C with a pickaxe in the middle of it. North Texas has UNT with an eagle. Yes, it was a C followed by a UNT.

Alright that was seriously fun. And soon enough we will get college football that lasts past 2 in the morning, like God intended it. Oh man, there goes my sleep, which has already been bad but is about to get much worse.

Alright, let’s now look at the Bossman Top 25:

#1	Clemson
#2	Georgia
#3	Alabama
#4	North Carolina
#5	Notre Dame
#6	Ohio State
#7	Oklahoma State
#8	Florida
#9	Cincinnati
#10	Auburn
#11	Miami
#12	Penn State
#13	BYU
#14	Oregon
#15	Texas A&M
#16	Tennessee
#17	Wisconsin
#18	SMU
#19	Louisiana
#20	Michigan
#21	Iowa State
#22	Virginia Tech
#23	Kansas State
#24	Marshall
#25	Minnesota

Yes there are some differences between my rankings and the AP Poll, as usual. I have Georgia at #2 and Notre Dame down at #5. The Irish should move up just for the fact that I doubt we will have two SEC teams in the top three (I hope). As for #6 through #12, pick the teams out of a hat to figure out the order. A lot can happen the rest of the way and at this point, no one team is that much better than another. And how about Marshall at #24. I know the AP Poll doesn’t have them in there but man they deserve to be there in my humble opinion. Also, yes I have BYU at #13. It sounds like they probably won’t move that much further up from there but they are still undefeated and shouldn’t fall unless they lose.

Hey guess what we have? FUN BELT! Yes, weekday Sun Belt action is back and it starts on Wednesday night. 8:00 but who knows if Canadians can get it. And it’s a big one. Coastal Carolina and Louisiana. I love weekday football. Honestly, and I know I rail on the NFL being on Thursday but between late August and early January, the more football the better. Have a good week everyone!

Alright let’s talk about IPTV – Week 6 College Football TV Schedule

Posted on October 8, 2020 by guelphbossman

More of you have been asking about this so I decided it is time to start discussing IPTV. It’s not a new phenomenon but with everyone “cutting the cord” (which should actually be called “cutting the cable” if we’re being honest) it has become more an option for viewing television shows and, most importantly to some, live sports. I am going to do this in a pros/cons method. Let’s start with the cons first:

You need good Internet for this so your cost for Internet service may go up. If you don’t have good Internet, expect a lot of buffering and a lot of frustration.
Channels sometimes will not work or will loop around to show the same 15 seconds of video or buffer quite a bit. This can happen. Remember, these channels are being picked up from various Internet sites so sometimes they don’t work so well. Another frustration every so often.
Many of the channels are not in English. I mean if you speak another language then you could get a lot of channels from that country that you could never get through a cable provider here. But if you don’t, you may have to wade through a lot of channels to find what you want (although there are relatively easy ways around this).
The outlay can be expensive. There are different ways to get IPTV services. I use an Android box but you can also use your Smart TV (if you have one) or an Apple TV box. This may not be cheap if you don’t already have one of these things.

And now the pros:

A lot of channels. Depending on the company you go with and the package you get (if they have multiple packages) you could get anywhere from 1,000 to over 10,000 channels.
Pretty much every American sports channel you could want. This includes all the ESPNs, FS1, Pac-12 Network, CBS Sports Network, etc. Many have the SEC Network, ACC Network, Stadium and local FOX affiliates as well.
Depending on how you get your IPTV, there are options to use a PVR-like feature as well.
There are ways to sort channels or set a group of favourites (like I have) so that you don’t have to scroll through all the channels. With mine, and many others I’ve seen, they are usually grouped by country which makes things a lot easier.
It is a hell of a lot cheaper. I pay approximately $13 a month for all this. Compare that to a lot more for a normal cable subscription you would need to get even close to this, not including having to add expensive specialty packs.

So there you go. Now you have a better idea to IPTV. I will be honest: despite the frustration every so often with channels buffering or just flat-out not working, I have a lot more choice when it comes to college football and can watch at least 50% more games than I could in Canada in any one week. And since I love to channel surf like a person from the 90s, I am surprised I haven’t worn out the batteries on my remote yet (although I know it’s coming).

So let’s get to the schedule. That’s the reason you’re here, right? I am going to include some games that aren’t on Canadian TV at this time for two reasons: 1) just in case they do end up on a channel all of us can get because with all the issues surrounding scheduling this season this can and has happened and 2) to give you an idea of a few of the other games you could get through IPTV (or some other means of getting these American channels). Let’s get to it!

Thursday

		US	Canada
Tulane at Houston	7:30 PM

Holy shit Houston might get to play a game! I am so waiting to see how Dana Holgorsen looks. I am guessing he looks like he came off a full-week bender.

Friday

		US	Canada
Louisville at Georgia Tech	7:00 PM

Only one game on Friday night. This will change soon but for now we get very little in the way of weeknight football.

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
#19 Virginia Tech at #8 North Carolina	Noon
NC State at Virginia	Noon
#4 Florida at #21 Texas A&M	Noon
Oklahoma vs. #22 Texas (in Dallas)	Noon
The Citadel at Army	1:30 PM

Alright here we go! This is where we start getting some huge games. Three games with ranked teams with two of them being ranked-on-ranked. Arguably the biggest game in this timeslot is UF-TAMU but VaTech-UNC and the Red River Shootout are also huge games for different reasons. And for everyone saying they should put the RRR/RRS on in primetime it will never happen. The Cotton Bowl isn’t exactly in the nicest neighbourhood in Dallas and with the State Fair of Texas not being run this year, it means everyone in the stadium would be the only people in that area. Not an ideal look for college football to be honest.

Also, Missouri-LSU was supposed to be the latest game of the week and to be shown at 9pm on TSN2. However, with Hurricane Delta possibly about to wreak havoc on Louisiana and the Baton Rouge area in particular, the game has been moved to Columbia and to Noon. It might end up on ESPN2 and might end up on a TSN channel. As of now I see nothing but if something changes, I will update you.

UPDATE #2: I was right about Missouri-LSU. They will now be on TSN2 at Noon. NC State-Virginia will now no longer be on TSN2. Yeah I think it’s an upgrade. Thanks to reader Gordo for this information.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
Texas Tech at #24 Iowa State	3:30 PM
#14 Tennessee at #3 Georgia	3:30 PM
UTSA at #15 BYU	3:30 PM
Kansas State at TCU	4:00 PM
Arkansas at #13 Auburn	4:00 PM

It’s an OK schedule with one really huge game. Tennessee-Georgia is the huge game in this timeslot. Another test for the Bulldogs and if they pass it they have to be considered true national title contenders and people will go back to trashing the Volunteers like they have up until the first game of this season. TTU-ISU is, funny enough, an important Big XII game somehow. The Cyclones could be the top team in the conference after this day. Nice to see TSN putting games on three channels. A definite step up from the norm so far this season and it makes me even want to not mention the odd changing of channels on the American end (like going from an ACC Network game to a ESPN2 game right afterwards). Well, almost.

UDPATE #3: A bizarre update. It looks like UTSA-BYU and TTU-ISU have switched TSN stations. I don’t get why. I am not even going to try and contemplate it. It just is what it is.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Temple at Navy	6:00 PM
#2 Alabama at Ole Miss	~~6:00 PM~~ 7:30 PM
#7 Miami at #1 Clemson	7:30 PM
UTEP at Louisiana Tech	7:30 PM
Florida State at #5 Notre Dame	7:30 PM

And a Game of the Year candidate in this timeslot. For only having six conferences playing, we are getting quite the treat on this day. At one point, some would have said we have another potential GOTY candidate. Uh, not so much now. The Seminoles are pretty bad and Notre Dame at least looks really good so far this season. I mean it should be a blowout but you never know (spoiler alert: I think most of us know). I have also shown two games that probably won’t be shown up here unless specialty packs decide to start showing games. I am still a bit confused as to what is happening with Bell Fibe and Satellite but I know Rogers, Cogeco, and Eastlink still don’t have any college football on their Super Sports Pack. Maybe that will change once all the conferences are back but I am not holding my breath as you have kind of figured out by now.

UPDATE: Bama-Ole Miss has been moved to 7:30 but will still air on ESPN. It might now end up on TSN2 as well.

UPDATE #4: Miami-Clemson now moved to TSN2 which actually does make sense now that Texas Tech-Iowa State is on TSN2. Both ABC games. Also, Bama-Ole Miss does get to TSN but it’s TSN3.

Games to set your eyeballs on

Miami at Clemson (7:30, ABC/TSN3) – Can Miami shut the haters up with a win here? Probably. A win here would be their biggest in a long time for The U. I mean I know there are some people who would say if all the teams were playing that the Canes would not be in the Top 10. I disagree. D’Eriq King has been a revelation and the defense has held up very well so far. Normally I would say this is Clemson’s biggest hurdle of the season but they have Notre Dame and Virginia Tech still left on the schedule. This won’t be an easy run to the College Football Playoff this time around for the Fighting Dabos.

Tennessee at Georgia (3:30, CBS) – Tennessee absolutely needs the win here. Let me explain. Despite the fact the Vols have played well, many still don’t believe they will even be in the Top 25 at the end of the season. A win here would prove that UT is for real. Georgia is coming off an absolute hammering of Auburn so for their sake you gotta hope it’s not a letdown spot. Not that they will act that way but you never know. Here’s to hoping Brad and Gary get a decent game for once.

Florida at Texas A&M (Noon, TSN3) – Look I know what happened last weekend with the Aggies and Bama. But it’s a new week and you have to wonder if the Aggies will be playing angry in this one. Don’t be surprised if Texas A&M keeps this close or somehow wins it. Florida needs the win to continue to convince AP voters (for now) that they belong in the Top 5 because as soon as the other conferences begin, they won’t want to be moved down the list for no reason other than other teams have shown up to play.

Virginia Tech at North Carolina (Noon, ABC) – Who would have thought that Clemson would not have an easy road to the ACC title for once? It is honestly nice to see some true competition in that conference for the first time in a few years. Both of these teams have looked good so far this season but not great. The Tar Heels, in particular, have struggled a couple times, most notably needing a pick-two to finish off Boston College last weekend. The Heels don’t have Clemson on their schedule so this could be the biggest game for them until a back-to-back nightmare scenario in late November/early December as they get Notre Dame and then Miami.

UTSA at BYU (3:30, TSN2) – OK yes it kind of falls off a cliff after the first four games on the list. But this is a statement game for both teams. BYU looks to stay undefeated on their hopeful march to the New Year’s Six. UTSA, on the other hand, is in new territory, for them. They have never been on this list (congrats by the way) and have never had as hot a start as this. An upset here and we have a new contender in Conference USA.

Honourable mention: Pittsburgh at Boston College (4:00, ACC Network); Tulane at Houston (Thursday, 7:30, ESPN); Oklahoma vs. Texas (Noon, FOX)

Some gambling fun and games

Hey, I picked an upset correctly! That still doesn’t mean you should use my picks for anything other than entertainment but I am impressed with myself. Anyway, here are more picks for you gambling heathens out there.

Houston over Tulane (upset?)

Texas A&M over Florida (yeah this would be an upset)

Oklahoma over Texas (this would be a mini-upset I believe)

North Carolina over Virginia Tech

Pittsburgh over Boston College

Tennessee over Georgia (another upset!)

Clemson over Miami

BYU over UTSA

Louisville over Georgia Tech

Virginia over NC State

Iowa State over Texas Tech

This is what I put in this very post last year: I can’t see the schedules up anywhere past tonight. I am kind of happy I don’t have to deal with this anymore (except for the purposes of this blog) but I have my own problems with IPTV. Or more like problems most people are having with IPTV with many channels not working. I keep telling myself “It’s cheaper than cable…just deal with it.” Although that’s seriously tough at times. So you can see that IPTV isn’t exactly the utopia that some may say it is. But it’s better than what I had.

Hey, hey some Thursday Night Football again. We really have not had good games so far. I mean sure some may have been close but it’s not like we are getting some great matchups. But now FOX is in the game and you can tell because things ratchet up considerably. There is a bit of luck here but still we have a good game coming up. Now just because two good teams face each other doesn’t mean we will have a good game. But look at tonight. We have a big NFC showdown between the Buccaneers and Bears. The Bucs were expected to be this good and have been despite Tom Brady being relatively average (for him) so far. And the Bears…well. They have an amazing defense and now with Big Dick Nick behind centre they might have something going on offense. I do feel a tiny bit bad for Mitch Trubisky, though. It wasn’t his fault the Bears traded up to get him. But still I think this may be the end of the line for him in the Windy City.

I will be live-tweeting most of Saturday (@TheBauceman). College football Twitter, for the most part, can be pretty fun. Unlike political Twitter which is a complete and utter shitshow. Should be another fun Saturday. Enjoy the games everyone!

Are they going to just keep falling? – Week 9 College Football TV Schedule

Posted on October 24, 2019 by guelphbossman

OK we all know the facts here. Clemson plays in a shitty conference. They have won a bunch of games in a row. But they play in a SHITTY CONFERENCE. They haven’t played well so far this season yet are undefeated. It’s the ACC for God’s sake!. So of course they have been passed by Alabama, LSU and, now, Ohio State in the AP rankings. Clemson sits at #4 yet they are one of only ten undefeated teams remaining and they are the defending national champions.

We get it. If you win out, you should get in to the College Football Playoff. But the ACC, again, is horrible (outside of your team). It’s not your fault. But maybe now you kind of have an idea of how UCF has felt lately. They play in the American which is a Group of Five conference. It’s the best G-5 conference but still a G-5 conference. So they went undefeated and had almost no chance of making it in to the Final Four. If there isn’t promotion and relegation you are going to get a year like this every so often where this is one team in a conference that is great and the rest of the conference is average to horrible. So Tigers fans, calm down. People who think they know college football and are pissed about this? Do the same. Smoke a J. It’s legal. Things will work itself out…unless they for some reason drop a game to Boston College and then you’re shit out of luck.

Alright, enough about the ACC situation. On to more important matters (for us). The schedule!

Thursday

		US	Canada
Jackson State at Prairie View A&M	7:30 PM
#16 SMU at Houston	7:30 PM

Last year at this time we had some Sun Belt and MAC games on Thursday nights, if not earlier. Up until this point, that isn’t the case. I am a little disappointed since this would normally be the time where the month-long FOOTBALLGASM would begin with football on every damn day for over four weeks! I think a few things are in play here: First, the MAC has been pushing to have more games on Saturdays for attendance purposes. And second, with the advent of the ACC Network, both the MAC and Sun Belt have reaped the rewards by having games on ESPNU on Saturday when that never happened in the past. So anyway, at least the American is on tonight and the team that might just be America’s Darling right now, SMU, hopes to stay undefeated as they play a Houston team where everyone seems to want to redshirt the rest of this season. SMU being a favourite of fans is kind of interesting after what they have gone through for three-plus decades but it’s fun to watch, I will admit.

Friday

		US	Canada
Columbia at Dartmouth	6:00 PM
USC at Colorado	9:00 PM

The Clay Helton Roller Coaster of Fun and/or Doom continues as the Trojans head to the Rocky Mountains to face the Buffaloes. USC can continue their slow run at the Pac-12 South title that they probably won’t get but them being actually still in it is hilarious and pathetic all at once.

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
#5 Oklahoma at Kansas State	Noon
Illinois at Purdue	Noon
Liberty at Rutgers	Noon
San Jose State at Army	Noon
Miami at Pittsburgh	Noon
#20 Iowa at Northwestern	Noon
#21 Appalachian State at South Alabama	Noon
#13 Wisconsin at #3 Ohio State	Noon
Mississippi State at Texas A&M	Noon

I am still not understanding why the ACC Network does not show all the ACC games not being shown on ABC or an ESPN network. The fact that the regional FOX networks still exist to show these games are weird. I guess that’s part of the weird agreement as these FOX RSN’s kind of flap in the wind and no one really owns them.

As for the schedule, it’s pretty good. tOSU-Wisky a little less important than it was before the Badgers’ upset loss to Illinois. Huge Sun Belt game as App State continues to try and stay in the New Year’s Six conversation.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
#6 Penn State at Michigan State	3:30 PM
Virginia at Louisville	3:30 PM
Indiana at Nebraska	3:30 PM
#9 Auburn at #2 LSU	3:30 PM
Tulane at Navy	3:30 PM
Maryland at #17 Minnesota	3:30 PM
Syracuse at Florida State	3:30 PM
#15 Texas at TCU	3:30 PM
Oklahoma State at #23 Iowa State	3:30 PM
FIU at Middle Tennessee	3:30 PM
Arizona at Stanford	3:30 PM
USF at East Carolina	3:45 PM
Duke at North Carolina	4:00 PM
South Carolina at Tennessee	4:00 PM

A massive CBS game overshadows pretty much everything in this timeslot. We shall see whether LSU is looking ahead to Bama or is smart enough to realize that the Tide’s big rival is a force as well. CBS (and more importantly, poor Brad Nessler) gets a gift from the college football gods and gets this game between two Top 10 teams in their SEC on CBS afternoon timeslot. Easily the game of the day (which I will tell you again below) and could be one of the most important games of this season.

I have noticed something this year: no reverse mirrors. That’s nice to see to be honest. Honestly, in 2019, it has to be a headache to have these reverse mirrors. Especially since pretty much all college football fans would probably have both ABC and ESPN2 so it would make no difference which channel it’s on. Also, for us Canadians, the specialty packs (or more like the people running the specialty packs) don’t have to worry about fucking up and showing the same game as is being shown on ABC.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Memphis at Tulsa	7:00 PM
Arkansas at #1 Alabama	7:00 PM
UCF at Temple	7:00 PM
Texas Tech at Kansas	7:00 PM
#8 Notre Dame at #19 Michigan	7:30 PM
Boston College at #4 Clemson	7:30 PM
Colorado State at Fresno State	7:30 PM
Arizona State at UCLA	7:30 PM
Missouri at Kentucky	7:30 PM

Notre Dame-Michigan. What else do we need to say? These two teams could both be under .500 and they would still get a huge audience. It’s just the facts. It also helps that there is nothing else that could really be the top game in this timeslot.

Not quite as good as the afternoon slate. Not even really close. But these are the kinds of schedules that can give us great games. Clemson has to show they are still CFP-worthy, Temple has a test hosting UCF and could Les Miles finally get his Jayhawks to crawl out of the basement?

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
California at #12 Utah	10:00 PM
Utah State at Air Force	10:15 PM
San Diego State at UNLV	10:30 PM
Washington State at #11 Oregon	10:30 PM

Two Pac-12 After Dark games and two Late Night Mountain West games. I would say Wazzu-Oregon is the most important game in this timeslot but Cal-Utah could be interesting as well. Oregon and Utah are on a collision course in the Pac-12 title game so any hiccups would be a huge blow to the entire conference (I feel like I say this every week).

Games to set your eyeballs on

Auburn at LSU (3:30, CBS) – Tiger Bowl time! At one point there was doubt whether this would be the game of the week. That’s not the case now. I am finally used to offensive juggernaut LSU. It took a while but I am all in with this. I think we are heading towards a 1 vs. 2 showdown with the Tigers and Bama…unless the Gus Bus decides to run over Da Coach O and sets up a huge Iron Bowl about a month from now.

Wisconsin at Ohio State (Noon, FOX) – No one should sleep on the Badgers despite their crushing loss to Illinois. Paul Chryst is still one of the better coaches in college football right now. They have Jonathan Taylor on the ground. They have a team that could still sneak into the College Football Playoff. We know what can happen here. Wisky is still looking up at Minnesota in the Big Ten West but the Badgers hold their fate in their hands. Win out and it’s off to Indianapolis. Ohio State, on the other hand, is sneaking up on nobody and there are some that think this team is the best in the country. Justin Fields has been better than advertised and Chase Young is, arguably, the best defensive player in college football. This could end up being a slobberknocker (as ol’ JR would say).

Notre Dame at Michigan (7:30, ABC) – I may even be stretching it putting this game at #3 but I am going with my gut here. I am starting to get a little sick of the Harbaugh Hot Seat talks. The guy wins, on average, almost ten games a season. Some programs would kill to have a coach like that. Yet Michigan fans think the year starts with a 1 and that they should be Top 10 every year and in the national championship conversation. Not saying Michigan has underperformed at times, but they aren’t terrible. Plus, who else would you hire that would be willing to come to the pressure cooker in Ann Arbor?

Washington State at Oregon (10:30, specialty pack) – Here is Wazzu’s chance to destroy the Pac-12’s CFP hopes. A surprisingly pedestrian 4-3 Cougs team could give the Ducks some trouble with Anthony Gordon throwing the ball like 83 times a game. Oregon’s defense will be tested for sure. As I mentioned above, this is the kind of game the Ducks need to win easily, not like they did against Washington the previous week. In the end though, you have to admit that Mario Cristobal has done a great job in Eugene which isn’t surprising (except to schools like FIU who fired him for some odd reason a few years ago).

Oklahoma at Kansas State (Noon, ABC/TSN2) – The list of best games falls off a cliff here. There could have been like six or seven different games here and every one of them would have been fine in this spot. Anyway, this may be the best spot for something weird to happen as Kansas State is pretty good under Chris Klieman and could pull off the upset to create at least a bit more chaos at the top.

Honourable mention: Penn State at Michigan State (3:30, ABC); Oklahoma State at Iowa State (3:30, FloSports); California at Utah (10:00, FloSports)

Some gambling fun and games

OK I got none of my upset picks correct. For a bit, I thought Washington and Oklahoma State would pull it off but no. As for the rest of my picks I was almost perfect so let’s see if we can keep that ball rolling this week.

Michigan over Notre Dame (upset to start things off)

Utah over California

Oregon over Washington State

Michigan State over Penn State (another upset!)

Ohio State over Wisconsin

LSU over Auburn

Oklahoma over Kansas State

Iowa State over Oklahoma State

FIU over Middle Tennessee

Florida State over Syracuse

San Diego State over UNLV

As I said before…we are not quite at football every day. Soon though.

Thursday Night Football again! We get Washington heading to Minnesota. Not the greatest game but they can’t all be. I have heard a few people marvel at the games that TNF gets. Well since they aren’t ESPN, the NFL isn’t going to give them the shittiest games. That’s basically the gist of it. It really has replaced Monday Night Football as the second-best night game of the week. Like I know MNF is an institution but to be honest, I could do without it. And many teams would feel the same way I’m sure as a lot of times these teams get a short week to prepare after their MNF game and it’s amazing what one less day of rest and practice can do.

Also, you may have noticed I finally have Pac-12 Network listings on DAZN. So if you get DAZN, you’re welcome.

Will I watch like 26 hours of football this weekend? No. But I will do my best to watch as much as I can. At some point I have other plans and have certain things to do. Not making excuses. Just saying that some of my recaps might make it seem like I barely watched the game. And that might be true. Enjoy the games everyone!

Guess who’s back. Back again. Big East’s back. Tell a friend. – Week 9 College Football Recap

Posted on October 29, 2018 by guelphbossman

Remember this conference? It still exists in a basketball sense. But the football conference met an ignominious end a few years back (and is now the American Conference, the best of the Group of Five conferences but let’s not talk about that right now). I mean let’s just look at we have as we finished Week 9 of the 2018 college football season when it comes to old Big East schools:

West Virginia is #12 in the AP Poll and could be a dark horse College Football Playoff contender.
Syracuse is #22 and in the Top 25 for the first time in god knows how long.
Boston College is #24 and arguably the second best team in the ACC Atlantic division.
Miami and Virginia Tech have struggled but were both ranked at some point this season and had great seasons last year.
Temple is going to be bowl-eligible and Pitt might end up being that getting a gritty win over Duke this past weekend.
Rutgers………….ok let’s just stop while we’re ahead.

Can’t say that about the former Big Eight or Southwest Conference can you? Nah. Best former conference out there and it’s not even close. I mean they win nothing for that but still. I kind of wish the Big East was back in college football.

Look let’s just get right to the recap as it was a crazy week in college football…well, crazier than usual. It started slow and sped up really fast as the afternoon went on. Let’s get going!

Don’t write off Penn State just yet. We knew the Nittany Lions would have a tough road to get back into New Year’s Six contention. It was a good start to hold on to beat Iowa though. Their game against Michigan will decide whether they have a legitimate shot or not. As for Iowa, they are in a disastrous Big Ten West that has fallen on hard times. But technically someone has to win it right? So Iowa has as good a shot as a few other teams in that division but still…not a good look.

The Cocktail Party started strong and ended with a bit of a whimper. Kind of like how most cocktail parties go right? Starts strong as everyone is drinking and having fun. Then at some point people slow down and some people start vomiting and others leave and the party fizzles out. Those vomiting, early-exit people were the Florida Gators this weekend. They started well. Kept pace with Georgia for a little over three quarters. Then it all went to shit and the Dawgs proved they were the beasts of the SEC East…until next week when that’s on the line against Kentucky.

Bedlam could be super important again. The Oklahoma State Cowboys pulled off the upset of the week by taking down Texas (who is still somewhat back). This means that Bedlam will be important as if the Fighting Mullets can somehow beat Oklahoma as well that would mean the Pokes still have a shot and that West Virginia could be the favourite going to the Big XII Championship at JerryWorld. A lot still has to happen for that to occur but don’t rule it out as we have already had a few weeks that were completely off the rails this season. Also, I would definitely take Mike Gundy in a fight over Tom Herman. Herman looks like a bulldog but I think Gundy has a bit of Ric Flair in him and would do anything to get the W.

Cheer, Cheer for Old Notre Dame! Notre Dame had no problem with Navy. So really, despite what anyone might think, if the Irish win out, they are in the College Football Playoff. As for Navy, they will have shockingly win out to just be bowl-eligible. Wow, what a fall for the Middies. I wonder if it’s more an anomaly than anything but to see them sink like a stone in the American like this is stunning.

CLANGA! Mississippi State, in front of tens of thousands of cowbell-ringing fans, upset Texas A&M and continued Jimbo Fisher’s up-and-down first season at College Station. The Bulldogs have also had an up-and-down season in Joe Moorhead’s first kick at the can in Starkville. And because of that, neither team has a chance to dethrone Bama at the top of the SEC West. Not that that was going to happen but both fanbases thought they would at least have a shot going into November.

Wazzu in the catbird seat. Yes. Wazzu. Washington State. The Cougs. That team. Out in Pullman. They are the Pac-12 North’s last hope to get to the College Football Playoff. So they are putting all their eggs in the Mike Leach basket. Interesting. Anyway, that Air Raid train kept rolling as Washington State kicked a game-winning field goal late in the fourth to beat Stanford in a game that about 17 people watched on television.

And then there was one. Well one in the American conference. And by one I mean one undefeated team left. And that’s UCF. This is because Houston basically beat the holy hell out of previously-undefeated USF. Now it looks like we are going headlong into a UCF-Houston AAC Championship match to probably determine the Group of Five New Year’s Six representative. Then again, there is still a few weeks left so who knows what the hell will happen.

Yes there was a shirtless guy in the stands reading a book… It’s the perfect microcosm for a Florida State fan this season. The Noles got boatraced by Clemson in Florida State’s worst home loss ever. Let’s be honest: Clemson has woken up and is now seriously looking like a national title contender. Saying that, Florida State has fallen on hard times…at least compared to what they are used to in Tallahassee. Willie Taggart isn’t on any hot seat but next season may be his final shot to start the turnaround.

How about the crazy finish in CoMo? So the Wildcats had looked terrible for about 59 minutes against Mizzou. They did not look like a team on the cusp of being in the Top 10. Then they drive down the field down 5. Looks like the final play of the game. Incomplete pass! But the Tigers were called for defensive pass interference. Kind of a chintzy call but nothing you can do now. UK gets an untimed down and gets a touchdown on the final play to pull out the improbable victory. It means their game next Saturday against Georgia is for the SEC East title. Put up your hand if you figured this would be the case. Now everyone put your hands down because you are all dirty liars.

Remember what I said about the Big East? How about the Cuse! They put a 50-burger up on NC State (51 to be exact) and are looking damn good. Dino Babers finally (FINALLY!) has this team playing the way he wants them to. He’s always been known for his high-tempo offenses and now it’s finally working. They probably have no shot at the New Year’s Six but they are in the Top 25 so if they keep winning then it’s not out of the realm of possibility.

And now to the other half of the Apple Cup… Yeah Washington is not going to the College Football Playoff. That is a guarantee now. Especially after their awful performance against Cal. Yes Myles Gaskin was out but still. Hell, Jake Browning didn’t even finish the game because Chris Petersen pulled him. Not exactly looking like a team that is a top contender.

And your Big Ten West leaders… Your Northwestern Wildcats. No kidding. Northwestern’s upset win of Wisconsin has put them in the driver’s seat (somehow) in the Big Ten West. Never has winning the Big Ten East been so important as it is now since it seems there aren’t any seriously good teams in the West.

Alright, enough recappin’. Let’s get to the Bossman Top 25!

#1	Alabama
#2	Clemson
#3	Georgia
#4	Notre Dame
#5	LSU
#6	Michigan
#7	Oklahoma
#8	UCF
#9	Washington State
#10	Ohio State
#11	Penn State
#12	Kentucky
#13	West Virginia
#14	Florida
#15	Texas
#16	Utah
#17	Houston
#18	Iowa
#19	Syracuse
#20	Virginia
#21	Utah State
#22	Boston College
#23	Fresno State
#24	Texas A&M
#25	Washington

Yes I have Georgia at #3. They looked good against Florida who was also ranked in the Top 10. LSU is down at #5 but could be #1 if they beat Bama on Saturday so this still doesn’t mean a whole lot. The first CFP Rankings come out tomorrow so I am sure my Top 4 won’t be the same Top 4 The Committee has and I don’t care. The Irish probably have the “easiest” route to the College Football Playoff at this point. Win out and they are in, no questions asked. Or at least there shouldn’t be. We shouldn’t sleep on Washington State, especially if they run the regular season table. The Pac-12 is a complete shitshow but the perception changes if the Cougs can sneak into the CFP. Also, remember that Ohio State is lurking in the weeds. As for UCF I have them at #8 and the AP Poll has them at #9 so at least they have moved up a bit. They still need a lot of chaos above them to move up.

Football. Every. Day. That’s right. Every day between now and the day before American Thanksgiving. And that day is the only day off between now and November 29th. Let’s drink it in and enjoy this! Saying that we have some MACtion tomorrow night. Kent State-Bowling Green and Miami-OH-Buffalo on the specialty pack. It continues Wednesday night with Ball State-Toledo, also on the specialty pack. In celebration of this, maybe I should include an extra post this week. Sounds like a plan, Bossman. Sounds like a plan. Enjoy your week everyone.

Things have got very interesting for the favourites – Week 5 College Football TV Schedule

Posted on September 27, 2018 by guelphbossman

I had something else prepared for the opening section and it wasn’t very exciting. Once this Kelly Bryant story came out, it became a bit more intriguing. Bryant is planning to transfer to another school. This means he probably will not play again this season. Now with the new rule, players can play up to four games without burning their redshirt. So Bryant can now go to another program next season and play his redshirt senior year which will be a MASSIVE help to some programs. Jalen Hurts is contemplating the same decision down in Tuscaloosa. Tua Tagovailoa has taken over the starting position at Alabama, just like Trevor Lawrence did at Clemson.

The intriguing part comes from this: say Tagovailoa or Lawrence get hurt. Let’s be honest, if they play poorly one game it won’t matter since it’s their team now. But getting injured is a different story. Then the Tide and Tigers would not have an adequate backup. This is a serious problem for the two favourites to get to the CFP National Championship this season. Everyone involved with both programs, including their fans, better cross their fingers that nothing happens with their star quarterbacks or they could be up shit creek without a paddle. And you can’t blame Bryant or Hurts for potentially transferring. They have quarterbacked in huge games and are good quarterbacks. In the right situation, they could guide a team to a championship. They have to do what is best for themselves and their futures. It will be an interesting story to follow the rest of the season.

Enough about transferring at the moment. Time to get down to the task at hand which is getting you the college football schedule TV information for Week 5. And I will be honest: so far, on a whole, it has been easier than last season. Not much. But somewhat. Which is nice. Less headaches.

Thursday

		US	Canada
South Carolina State at North Carolina A&T	7:00 PM
North Carolina at #16 Miami	8:00 PM

Hey North Carolina doesn’t suck as bad now! I think. I don’t know. But after winning this past weekend they certainly don’t look like complete ACC doormats anymore. Now they have to face Miami so I can’t see them doing anything of note but if they keep it close, there will be people doubting Miami all season, no matter what they do.

UPDATE: UNC-Miami is also appearing on the specialty pack for some reason.

Friday

		US	Canada
Princeton at Columbia	7:00 PM
Memphis at Tulane	8:00 PM

Not much to say here although the addition of Ivy League football is a nice one. Doesn’t make me feel more educated though. I’ve watched FCS football before. I know what I’m in for (sometimes).

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
Syracuse at #3 Clemson	Noon
Army at Buffalo	Noon
#12 West Virginia at #25 Texas Tech	Noon
Indiana at Rutgers	Noon
Arkansas vs. Texas A&M (in Arlington)	Noon
Temple at Boston College	Noon
Louisiana at #1 Alabama	Noon
Virginia at NC State	12:30 PM

As per usual, the early games are interesting even if they are lacking some star power. WVU-TTU will be on the top of most people’s lists but Syracuse-Clemson could end up being a really good game. We shall see if the Orange are for real or not.

UPDATE #2: I should have trusted my original gut instincts. I thought Bowling Green-Georgia Tech would be on the specialty pack but it hadn’t shown up on any of the guides I saw. Now it has shown up. Of course.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
Baylor at #6 Oklahoma	3:30 PM
Tennessee at #2 Georgia	3:30 PM
Cincinnati at UConn	3:30 PM
Purdue at Nebraska	3:30 PM
Florida State at Louisville	3:30 PM
Pittsburgh at #13 UCF	3:30 PM
Southern Miss at #10 Auburn	4:00 PM
Tennessee State at Vanderbilt	4:00 PM
#14 Michigan at Northwestern	4:30 PM

Again with the no ESPN at 3:30 thing so that they can show a game at 6 (and then have a short window). I don’t get it but whatever. I’m not in charge.

A few decent games but nothing really stands out. All the games with ranked teams have their opponent not being that good. For example, Michigan. Yeah, OK! Against a down Northwestern team. Ugh. Oh well. Hopefully one of these will end up being really good like the Virginia Tech-Old Dominion insanity of last Saturday.

UPDATE #3: Remember what I said above about Bowling Green-Georgia Tech? Same thing goes for Rice-Wake Forest in this timeslot (3:30 pm). I wonder if this is the prelude to the ACC Network showing games on the specialty pack (hopefully) next year.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Florida at #23 Mississippi State	6:00 PM
Samford at Kennesaw State	6:00 PM
Boise State at Wyoming	7:00 PM
Virginia Tech at #22 Duke	7:00 PM
Iowa State at TCU	7:00 PM
#7 Stanford at #8 Notre Dame	7:30 PM
#4 Ohio State at #9 Penn State	7:30 PM
Louisiana Tech at North Texas	7:00 PM
South Carolina at #17 Kentucky	7:30 PM
#20 BYU at #11 Washington	8:30 PM

Holy shit do things kick into high gear in the primetime slate. Three games with ranked-on-ranked violence, three more with ranked teams and Boise State-Wyoming which could essentially be for the Mountain West Mountain Division title. This is about as loaded as you will ever see in September and it’s glorious! It makes the stupid short ESPN window not seem as such a big deal (although I really do not understand why they can’t put it at 5:30 (although I am sure something is on ESPN that needs two-and-a-half hours to air).

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
Ole Miss at #5 LSU	9:15 PM
USC at Arizona	10:30 PM
Toledo at Fresno State	10:30 PM

Pac-12 After Dark, Late Night Mountain West, and some SEC action that will go past midnight. LSU should mop the floor with the Rebels but the other two games definitely have some intrigue.

UPDATE #4: Don’t know how I missed this but USC-Arizona is not on the specialty pack. It’s on TSN2.

Games to set your eyeballs on

Ohio State at Penn State (7:30, ABC) – This is not an easy choice for the game of the week as there are quite a few good games, especially in the primetime timeslot. I have Penn State winning this one (as you will see in the next section). Either way, the winner is the Big Ten’s biggest hope of going to the College Football Playoff.

Stanford at Notre Dame (7:30, NBC) – Looks like I will be flipping back and forth between this big game and the tOSU-PSU game. It’s a good problem to have. Anyway, both teams have looked shaky at times. Stanford looked bad through about 2.5 quarters against Oregon before finally waking up. Notre Dame barely beat Vanderbilt a couple weeks ago. Here’s where we find out which team is for real…or as real as a team can get considering it’s still late September.

BYU at Washington (8:30, FOX) – Who thought BYU would be in this section at all this season? Now put down your hands you filthy liars. None of us thought this. BYU has come back a lot quicker than many anticipated which is good. To be an Independent you need to have a decent team or otherwise you barely get noticed (unless your Notre Dame or to a much lesser extent, Army). Washington is looking down the barrel at a huge showdown with Stanford in a little over a month but cannot overlook these games. Could end up being a massive roadblock for the Huskies.

West Virginia at Texas Tech (Noon, TSN3) – Four games that involve two ranked teams playing each other. That’s a good college football schedule I must say. Texas Tech is looking a hell of a lot better than many (including myself) thought they would be. A few more wins and Kute Kliff Kingsbury keeps his job for sure into next season (as long as some crazy story about him doesn’t come out in the offseason). The Mountaineers have to be considered dark horse College Football Playoff contenders now and a win here might put them in the Top 10 before October.

Syracuse at Clemson (Noon, ABC) – None of the top games are on the specialty pack. Interesting. Usually ESPN gets one really good one but not this week (although WVU-TTU is technically an ESPN game). I don’t believe Clemson is #2 in the land but they are still one of the favourites (along with Bama as I mentioned at the start of this post) to go all the way to the natty. Syracuse is really fun (thank you Dino Babers) but do we really think they will keep things close here in Death Valley? If they do, then wait for the Clemson hot takes all next week.

Honourable mention: Ole Miss at LSU (9:15, specialty pack); Oregon at California (10:30, FOX Sports Onegoddamit); South Carolina at Kentucky (7:30, specialty pack)

Some gambling fun and games

I got almost every one of those picks right last week. If it wasn’t for Oregon shitting the bed, I would have been perfect…which then would have made me sad I hadn’t put money down on it. So I guess it’s for the best. Not saying these picks this week will be as good but I sure hope so.

Oregon over California

Washington over BYU

South Carolina over Kentucky

LSU over Ole Miss

Clemson over Syracuse

West Virginia over Texas Tech

Notre Dame over Stanford

Penn State over Ohio State

Fresno State over Toledo (this one could be a wild Late Night Mountain West game)

Boise State over Wyoming

UCF over Pittsburgh

Hey everything, as far as I can tell, is showing up on the specialty packs! WOOHOO! This is the way it should be. It helps that TSN is showing almost nothing this week so it’s easier to figure out the schedule. I am a bit worried, however, about next year when the ACC Network commences. How will the specialty packs deal with it? It should be a not-so-difficult question to answer but this is Rogers/Bell/Eastlink/Shaw/Cogeco we are talking about.

Thursday Night Football will have a special feel tonight. For the first time ever, FOX will have the game on their broadcast network. So not only do you get Joe Buck and Troy Aikman (which may or many not be a good thing) you get it on FOX which, for the most part, means nothing to us since TSN gets it as well anyway. OK so maybe special feel isn’t exactly right here. But the game is big. Eagles-Rams. Which starts………5:00 local time? Sweet Jesus, have fun with that Rams fans.

I should be on the Twitter machine at some point this Saturday so follow along. Or don’t. Really doesn’t matter to me. Enjoy the games everyone!

The Game…did anything else happen this past weekend? – Week 13 College Football Recap

Posted on November 28, 2016 by guelphbossman

Yes tOSU fans were pretty happy afterward

If you had believed College GameDay, there was nothing else on that day. Oh, maybe a couple coaching changes. That’s it. Nothing else. That 5-hour GameDay was absurdly long. They could have gone with 4 and it would have been plenty. Worst part is, The Game was awesome. So the hype kind of justified it. So expect longer GameDays in the future for bigger games. Speaking of The Game, did I mention it was amazing? Double overtime. Two missed field goals in regulation. Controversy over a spot in double overtime. Curtis Samuel running about 50 yards to gain a little over ten to be just short that set up the fourth down that had that controversial spot. Crazy. And so good. It’s why we watch college football: for games like these. I do think it would have been better as the 8:00 ABC game but I understand tradition has it at Noon on ABC. Remember, realignment and money has robbed the game of a lot of traditions so let’s not quibble over this one. It did make it tough to get through the rest of the day thought I will say that. Energy was an issue later on.

Warning: this post will be long. Viewer discretion strongly advised.

Tuesday

The week started on Tuesday with some MACtion. Ohio clinched the MAC East with their win over Akron. Then Miami-OH completed the most incredible in-season turnaround ever. They had started the season 0-6. With their win Tuesday night over Ball State they finished 6-6 and became bowl eligible. Very impressive.

Thursday

LSU beat Texas A&M on American Thanksgiving night and that was the secondary story. Ed Orgeron was the main story all night. Whether LSU was going to take the interim tag off or hire someone else. The intrigue would last into Saturday morning. We will get to that in a bit.

Friday

NC State ruined North Carolina’s chances of going to the ACC Championship and made the Commonwealth Cup the next day meaningless with their win over the Heels. Other than a skirmish in the middle of the game, nothing much of note here. The Wolfpack became bowl eligible much to the chagrin of the 5-7 crew.

Memphis with the mild upset of Houston. Again nothing really of note except the constant reminder that Tom Herman was probably coaching his last game on the Cougar sideline.

Missouri beat Arkansas in front of, well, a lot less than a sell-out. I kind of wonder if Mizzou fans long for the days of the Big Eight. Not the Big XII, the Big Eight.

Northern Illinois beat Kent State to go to 5-7 and start the slew of conversations about which teams had better APRs and how many spots would be available after all eligible teams were selected. I love college football, I really do. But this APR nonsense is stupid. A few less bowl games, that’s all I ask.

The Apple Cup was so incredibly non-competitive. Did Mike Leach realize it was a big game? Washington clinched their spot in the Pac-12 Championship and come very close to clinching one of the coveted four College Football Playoff spots.

Western Michigan continued their dream season, beating Toledo and clinching the MAC West title. They go into the MAC Championship undefeated and as big favourites to get the Group of Five spot in the New Year’s Six. However, we do know that the MAC Title game has been rife with upsets since it began so don’t rule anything out.

Texas played awful, again. Poor Charlie Strong.

Iowa laid a beating on Nebraska, guaranteeing Wisconsin the Big Ten West crown. At least Wisconsin’s game the next day still had meaning since Wisky is still in the hunt for a CFP spot.

Texas Tech beat Baylor and the Bears’ season will end in a whimper. Many were wishing that they didn’t become bowl eligible at all. Many should be thankful The Committee didn’t have to make any sort of decision on them. Also, Patrick Mahomes plays video game football. He should play on Sundays. Maybe the Browns need a…you know what, don’t bother.

Boise State loses inexplicably to Air Force. This means another game on Saturday, this one the Wyoming-New Mexico affair, means nothing now. Black Friday college football not helping Saturday college football any.

All Arizona State needed was a win to go bowling again. The Fighting RichRods beat them pretty handily and won the Territorial Cup. Also, one Sun Devil fan wasn’t impressed with me over Twitter. That surprises me so much since Twitter is such a bastion of friendliness and great debate that never goes over the line or gets personal. Notice the italics.

Southern Miss also pulled an upset, beating Louisiana Tech meaning they would become bowl eligible. The APR spots were dwindling FAST.

Oh and Tubs is as good as done in Cincinnati. Can’t see the Bearcats retaining Tuberville after their loss to Tulsa who came back from quite a ways down to force overtime and then win.

Saturday REALLY Early

Five hour GameDay and The Game. Oh and some coaching carousel fun. Luckily for our sanity, Charlie Strong was fired early on by Texas (no surprise). It sounds like Tom Herman was demanding around $6 million a season (or more like his agents were demanding this). LSU balked and refused to wait for any counter-offer. So they went ahead and removed the interim tag from Ed Orgeron and made him the permanent head coach. Then Texas hired Tom Herman to the surprise of no one either.

Saturday Early

The Game was good. I mentioned it above. Forgot to mention Jim Harbaugh’s rant on the officiating after the game. Epic. And will cost him some money. However, there were other games on Saturday. No really!

Rutgers lost. Again. Which made Maryland bowl eligible. The APR schools are decreasing more and more. Actually made me a smile a bit.

How about those Kentucky Wildcats? What a game against Louisville and they pull it out with a last-minute FG to upset the Cardinals. Mark Stoops has done a great job building the program in Lexington. Also, this pretty much makes it so the Fighting Petrinos will not be in a New Year’s Six bowl. Also, I don’t think Lamar Jackson is a shoo-in anymore for the Heisman. Three straight weeks of less-than-Heisman performance and some good performances by other great players has made this a race again.

Another meaningless game but considering it’s a rivalry game, it does feel somewhat important. I’m talking about Clean, Old Fashioned Hate. Georgia and Georgia Tech. And the Ramblin’ Wreck spoiled yet another COFH game by beating Georgia Between the Hedges again. Bulldog fans already wondering if Kirby Smart is the right guy for the job.

Pittsburgh beat Syracuse 76-61…in football. It shattered the previous mark for points in a regulation game by almost 20. Every time I turned back to the game, someone else had scored. It was the only reason I was watching this game. Such a defense-optional game to the extreme.

Indiana and Northwestern did what they had to do: win to become bowl eligible in their rivalry games. To be honest, I am sure very few people watched these two games.

Saturday Afternoon

What the hell is up with Notre Dame? The program is in shambles. Brian Kelly is now actually looking for other coaching possibilities despite the fact the AD hasn’t fired him or doesn’t seem to want to. One of Kelly’s captains had two egregious personal fouls that were missed and should have necessitated him being kicked out of the game. A complete mess. Worst part is, the Irish have the talent to have at least gone bowling. They need to start over and it starts with shitcanning Kelly soon. Oh and USC is good. Adoree Jackson is REALLY good.

The Iron Bowl was more of a Tin Foil Bowl. Nothing much to see. Bama won. Auburn was close for almost three quarters despite the fact they played terrible. It is obvious to anyone that after the Tide, there is no team in that conference that is even close to elite. They will have the worst New Year’s Six representative (unless Florida upsets Alabama in the SEC Championship…which I highly doubt).

In Canadian university football, Laval won the Vanier Cup again. In front of what looked like less than 10,000 fans. Not a good look for the newly rechristened U Sports. We can put part of the blame on Rogers for their piss-poor coverage up until the week of the game. Not surprising at all.

Ole Miss had a shot to go bowling but came up with egg on their face (see what I did there). They lost the Egg Bowl to Mississippi State. And by lost, I mean got destroyed. The Bulldogs now become a potential APR bowl team.

Navy put a whole whack of points up on SMU. Along with the Middies, Pitt (as I mentioned above), and Middle Tennessee all put up 70+ points on the day. Crazy.

Penn State clinched the Big Ten East by beating Michigan State easily. They are probably the worst of the three top Big Ten East teams (PSU, tOSU, Michigan) but thanks to their improbable upset of Ohio State earlier in the year, they get a chance to win the Big Ten title and put a MASSIVE monkey wrench in the College Football Playoff rankings.

Boston College is bowl eligible after beating Wake Forest. Both teams aren’t that great but were helped with soft schedules. I will say Dave Clawson has done a good job in Winston-Salem whereas Steve Addazio, not so much. I think it’s time to let him go and start fresh, especially with a lot of good head coaching candidates out there.

Saturday Primetime

Clemson laid a beating on South Carolina to win the battle of the Palmetto state. Clemson is one win away from the CFP. WILL MUSCHAMP! has done a great job in Columbia with that many freshmen and sophomores. The Gamecocks will be a LOT better next season.

Your winner….and NEW Champion of Life….the Vanderbilt Commodores! Derek Mason’s squad pulls off the upset of Tennessee and is going bowling the right way (not through the back door as many said they would). I think Butch Jones is another guy who should be fired. Whether he is or not, I don’t know. Many crowned the Vols this season’s SEC East champs back in the pre-season. I didn’t fall for it. Then again I picked Georgia. Yeah.

UCLA lost to fall to 4-8. How is Jim Mora getting no heat? This has to be one of the most disappointing seasons in college football this season.

Colorado beat Utah to clinch the Pac-12 South, meaning USC would not have a chance to beat Washington twice this season. The Buffs could also put a huge wrench in the CFP if they beat Washington on Friday.

Western Kentucky destroyed Marshall and is a very underrated Group of Five team…again. Marshall has fallen from grace fast. Doc Holliday should have pushed for another job last season when he was a hot commodity. Too late now.

It took Florida State a while but they were able to pull away and beat Florida. If they could have erased either the loss to Louisville or the loss to Clemson they would have been almost a shoo-in for a NY6 bowl. Not anymore.

Saturday Late Night

I don’t know what Wyoming and San Diego State were thinking. They still had an outside shot at the Group of Five New Year’s Six spot if they both won tonight. But they both looked awful. Worse than awful. New Mexico ran all over the Cowboys and Colorado State put 63 on the board against the Aztecs. This means the Mountain West is officially out of the G-5 race. Boise State is now kicking themselves after losing to Air Force the previous day.

Alright after a mostly great day of college football, it is clear Alabama will go to the College Football Playoff. Even if they somehow lose to Florida in the SEC Championship, they will still hold a spot. Clemson and Washington, I believe will also go with wins in their respective conference championships. It’s that number four spot. I will be doing a post later this week on what is really my final bowl projections before Conference Championship week. I honestly believe that Ohio State will end up being #4, no matter if Wisconsin or Penn State wins the Big Ten Championship. Is it right? That is up for debate. I think there will be a lot of debate this season on who the #4 team should be. This all basically goes to shit if Clemson and Washington lose. So having that happen would be a lot of fun. It means The Committee would earn their money…which is none.

Tomorrow I will have my NFL recap and then the aforementioned rankings/bowl projections post on Wednesday. Hope you all had a great weekend.

It’s time for College Football Nirvana – Week 13 College Football TV Schedule

Posted on November 23, 2016 by guelphbossman

Uh, wrong Nirvana

OK maybe Nirvana is a strong word, especially considering what we saw last year. Arguably one of the worst American Thanksgiving weekend ever for college football. No intrigue. Very few close games. No drama. It was very disappointing. So let’s hope this year is a whole lot better. To be honest it can’t get much worse than that (and what we saw with the CFP and NY6).

First of all, Happy Turkey Day(s) for all you dang ‘Muricans south of the border (from us). We beat you to the punch by about a month and a half every year and you don’t say anything about it. We appreciate that. Also, you guys have copious amounts of FOOTBAW and usually get Thursday AND Friday off whereas we only get one day (a Monday). So yes there is some jealousy on our end…OK, my end.

Remember, the NFL dominates American Thanksgiving. I do wish they did away with the Thanksgiving night game but it is what it is. So the NFL will have their usual three games on that day which I will probably watch since the NFL always sucks the fans back in at some point and many times that point is Thanksgiving Day.

As for college, it started last night with a bunch of MACtion. Ohio clinched the MAC East and Miami-OH became bowl-eligible. But it really starts tomorrow night. I will do my normal ‘Murican Thanksgiving schedule post format (an asterisk (*) means the game isn’t showing up on the guide yet but should by tomorrow morning).

UPDATE #9: No asterisks now. Every game looks set at this point. I hope.

Thursday

LSU at Texas A&M (7:30, TSN4, TSN1, TSN3) – This game now means a whole lot of fuck all other than bowl placement. Actually I lied, it probably doesn’t even mean that since the 3^rd to 8^th selections out of the SEC are all put into a pool and six bowls (Outback, TaxSlayer, Music City, Belk, Texas, Liberty) select out of this pool. I will watch it just to see how often they mention Ed Orgeron’s job security (over/under is set at 83).

UPDATE: Already with our first update. This game will also be on TSN1 and TSN3.

Friday (of the Black variety)

Houston at Memphis (Noon, ABC) – Let’s be honest: the AAC contract for the amount of appearances the conference gets to appear on ABC made this game appear on ABC. By all rights, this slot should have gone to Toledo-Western Michigan but I digress. Possibly the best Group of Five team won’t even win their division so this game means nothing.

Northern Illinois at Kent State (Noon, CBS Sports Network – Rogers/Fibe only) – A game between two teams who will be home for the holidays. Pass.

NC State at North Carolina (Noon, ~~specialty pack*,~~ TSN1) – The first half of the ACC Coastal Games of Importance is this one. The Tar Heels must win to have any hopes of going to Charlotte Orlando to face Clemson. Lose and VaTech gets the spot.

UPDATE #4: This game has been moved to TSN1 as part of a quadrupleheader of sorts.

Arkansas at Missouri (2:30, CBS) – The (now) traditional Black Friday matchup between Arkansas and Missouri is one that means nothing really. I remember a couple years ago when this game had big implications. Not anymore.

Nebraska at Iowa (3:30, ABC, TSN1) – Farmageddon! I know the true Farmageddon matchup is between Kansas State and Iowa State but no one would watch that game anyways. This game has some fairly big implications. If the Huskers win, it makes Wisconsin’s game on Saturday that much more important since the Badgers would then have to win to go to the Big Ten Championship.

UPDATE #5: This game will now also be part of the TSN1 quadrupleheader.

Boise State at Air Force (3:30, CBS Sports Network – Rogers/Fibe only) – The Broncos must win here to keep their extremely slim New Year’s Six hopes alive. Then they become New Mexico fans Saturday night.

Washington at Washington State (3:30, FOX) – Biggest. Apple Cup. Ever. I defy you to find me another one. This game determines the Pac-12 North champ. Also, the Huskies need to win to have any shot at the College Football Playoff. The Cougs could destroy the Pac-12’s hopes in that regard in one fell swoop.

Toledo at Western Michigan (5:00, ~~specialty pack~~, TSN5) – Again, this should have been on at Noon on ABC but I said my piece above. This is for the MAC West title and also to keep Western Michigan in the running for the Cotton Bowl. Lose and the MAC is eliminated from going.

UPDATE #2: Updates coming fast and furious. Thanks a bunch TSN. Anyway, an exodus of stuff off of the specialty pack as this game goes to TSN5.

Baylor vs. Texas Tech (in Arlington, 6:00, TSN1/TSN4/~~TSN5~~) – TSN is definitely stepping up this weekend although I know they would have preferred a better Baylor team here. And Texas Tech’s defense is horrible. I could see Baylor winning by 60 here.

UPDATE #6: This is where it gets silly. This game is no longer on TSN5. It is on TSN4 in its entirety. And it will be joined in progress on TSN1 once the Nebraska-Iowa game is completed. Yeah.

Cincinnati at Tulsa (8:30, ~~specialty pack~~, TSN5) – We could be seeing the last of Tubs in southern Ohio. This time he won’t be the one making the decision on whether he leaves or not.

UPDATE #3: This is getting ridiculous already. This game will follow Toledo-Western Michigan on TSN5. Not on the specialty pack anymore. Actually, no specialty pack at all on Friday for anything.

Arizona State at Arizona (9:30, TSN1~~/TSN4/TSN5~~) – One of the worst Territorial Cups in recent memory. Kind of like a bizarro-Apple Cup. Anyway, the Sun Devils are playing for bowl-eligibility and the Wildcats are playing for, well, nothing since I doubt RichRod will be shitcanned….yet.

UPDATE #7: Seven updates and all before Saturday. Good lord. Alright, this has been moved off of TSN4 and TSN5 completely.

Saturday Early

Michigan at Ohio State (Noon, ABC/TSN1) – The Game. Biggest one in exactly a decade. If the Wolverines win, they are one win away for a chance to play for all the gold. A tOSU win gives Penn State the upper hand in the Big Ten East. A shit-ton to play for since a loss might not eliminate either team from the New Year’s Six (or even the College Football Playoff).

Illinois at Northwestern (Noon, Big Ten Network – Rogers only) – With so many options available, why would you subject yourself to this? I guess with the Wildcats needing a win here for bowl-eligibility there’s at least something at stake.

UCF at USF (Noon, CBS Sports Network – Rogers/Fibe only) – The War on I-4 is almost never a war. USF needs a win here and help from East Carolina to get to the AAC Championship Game.

Kentucky at Louisville (Noon, TSN5) – For once, Kentucky isn’t fighting for their bowl lives in the annual Governor’s Cup. Really both teams are playing for nothing although there is a decent shot of Louisville getting to a New Year’s Six bowl so the last thing they would want is to fuck that up.

Virginia at Virginia Tech (Noon, specialty pack) – The Commonwealth Cup. We will know by now whether this game is important or not. Justin Fuente has done a masterful job in Blacksburg and they would be an interesting opponent for Clemson at the ACC Championship.

Purdue at Indiana (Noon, specialty pack) – No. Just no. OK fine, the Hoosiers need a win to go bowling. So there’s something. Not much though.

Georgia Tech at Georgia (Noon, specialty pack – Bell only) – Ah, Clean, Old Fashioned Hate. One of my favourite rivalry games (which is also a very underrated one). Both come in with identical 7-4 records so not as much at stake perhaps as in previous incarnations of the rivalry.

Syracuse at Pittsburgh (12:30, WSBK/WNLO) – If Syracuse gets to 5-7 there’s an outside chance they could be selected for a bowl game if their student-athletes are smart enough. Yeah, I don’t get it either.

Saturday Afternoon

UPDATE #8: Boston College-Wake Forest has been added to the specialty pack. This game begins at 3:00.

Notre Dame at USC (3:30, ABC/TSN1) – It will be amazing how many eyeballs will be on this game despite the fact it means very little. Notre Dame is pretty bad and USC has got a lot better. I guess USC has to throw their hat in the ring for the New Year’s Six so my guess is they will try to bury the Irish early.

South Alabama at Idaho (3:30, MyTV) – Idaho is going bowling. I repeat, Idaho is going bowling. And next year is their last at the FBS level. I smile at this bit of irony. Also, USA will get a waiver to go bowling if they win here thanks to the Florida-LSU scheduling change debacle.

Minnesota at Wisconsin (3:30, Big Ten Network – Rogers Only) – We will know by now whether this game means something. Minnesota has not got any love from any pollsters all year. Tracy Claeys has done a quietly excellent job in the Land of 10,000 Lakes this season.

Auburn at Alabama (3:30, CBS) – The Iron Bowl. Verne’s last SEC game. Drink it in people. And maybe stick around even if Bama is up by 40 late in the third quarter.

San Jose State at Fresno State (3:30, CBS Sports Network – Rogers/Fibe only) – The first game on the Saturday sked that means sweet fuck all.

Michigan State at Penn State (3:30, TSN5) – Thank God (for me) that this is the last time we will see Michigan State this season. Talk about disappointment. Other than last week they have been pretty much non-competitive most of the season. Oh, and remember, if Ohio State wins The Game, Penn State can go to the Big Ten Championship with a win here.

Duke at Miami (3:30, TSN2) – Nothing will top last year’s insane finish so they might as well not try. Also, Duke is an obvious APR candidate so a win here will almost assuredly send them bowling.

Navy at SMU (3:30, specialty pack) – If SMU somehow wins, they go bowling. I wouldn’t bet on it. Even with someone else’s money.

Mississippi State at Ole Miss (3:30, specialty pack – Bell only) – I remember only two years ago this was on CBS and it was a hugely hyped game between two teams…oh wait, that was just after CBS made the decision to pick the Egg Bowl over the Iron Bowl and just before both of these teams shit the bed. Good times. Anyway, Ole Miss goes bowling with a win. I don’t trust Mississippi State’s APR score if they do get to 5-7 to be perfectly honest with you.

Saturday Primetime

Florida Atlantic at Middle Tennessee (5:30, beIn Sports) – I don’t know why you would watch this game unless it’s a close game late in the fourth. And even then.

UCLA at California (7:00, TSN2) – Both teams would need a waiver to go bowling with a win. There are other better games to watch.

Western Kentucky at Marshall (7:00, specialty pack) – The Hilltoppers win and they go to the Conference USA Championship game. A loss means Old Dominion would go with a win in their game earlier in the day against the now Butch Davis-led FIU.

South Carolina at Clemson (7:30, TSN3) – Clemson can’t afford a gaffe here. Lose and their CFP hopes are loooooooooooooooooong gone. Have to admit that WILL MUSCHAMP! has done a great job in his first year in Columbia as the Gamecocks are back in the post-season.

Utah at Colorado (7:30, FOX) – Biggest game for the Buffs in two decades. A win puts them in the Pac-12 Championship with a chance to cause some major shifts in the CFP landscape. This is the first time this “rivalry” game has ever meant something.

Tennessee at Vanderbilt (7:30, specialty pack – Bell only) – A Vandy win allows them to go bowling. Chances are, with their school’s reputation, they may go bowling anyway due to high enough APR score.

Florida at Florida State (8:00, ABC/TSN4) – For once, the primetime slate may be the least important part of the whole day. This game doesn’t mean much although it could factor into New Year’s Six positioning.

Saturday Late Night

Colorado State at San Diego State (9:00, CBS Sports Network – Rogers/Fibe only) – The Aztecs squandered any New Year’s Six conversation with their loss to Wyoming last week. This is purely for pride.

Wyoming at New Mexico (10:15, specialty pack) – Huge game. The Cowboys could finish off one of the most miraculous turnarounds in recent memory with a win here as they would get a rematch with SDSU in the Mountain West Championship. If Boise loses on Friday, this game won’t mean anything at all.

Utah State at BYU (10:15, specialty pack) – A bad Utah State team against a decent BYU team. Yeah, I don’t think so…..who am I kidding I will watch it and then collapse afterwards like the complete psycho I am.

Sweet Baby Jesus is that a lot of football. Am I complaining? Hell no! This is going to be awesome. I plan on live-Tweeting as much as I can (@LikeABauce1978 on the Twitter machine). Glad to see TSN step up. People who purchase the specialty pack might be a little miffed to the lack of games this week; however, depending on your provider you could have up to 13 this entire week including last night’s game. So it’s not nothing. Plus, this isn’t the week why you buy the specialty pack. It’s the entire season. The entire body of work so to speak.

As of right now, I predict nine…NINE spots open for sub-.500 teams in bowl games. That is insane. I love college football and all but this is absurd. STOP ADDING BOWL GAMES! Or look at my plan. I’m telling you…gold, Jerry. Gold!

I was going to add my rankings and bowl picks but that is crazy. I will do that next week once the smoke clears a bit. I will try and get the NFL schedule up tomorrow. No guarantees/promises but that’s my hope. Enjoy this people. Because soon enough we will be in the off-season and it will be awful.

Bossman's Blog

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

Tag Archives: Columbia

This is just awful (and the Week 12 College Football TV Schedule)

Tuesday

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Hey let’s storm the field (and give you the Week 9 College Football TV Schedule)

Thursday

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Let’s talk about bacon – Week 6 College Football Recap

Alright let’s talk about IPTV – Week 6 College Football TV Schedule

Thursday

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Things have got very interesting for the favourites – Week 5 College Football TV Schedule

Thursday

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Hey, Watch This!

Sickos Game of the Week

Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week

Wanna Bet?

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Tuesday

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Thursday

Friday (of the Black variety)

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Thursday

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