It’s Conference Championship Time!

Posted on January 26, 2024 by guelphbossman

I would have put more exclamation marks in the title but I can’t be as excited as I would have been thanks to Wide Right II – Pro Edition.

Let’s just get right to this Bills-less conference championship weekend schedule, shall we?

Sunday

Kansas City at Baltimore	3:00, CBS, CTV, TSN 1/3/5/+
Detroit at San Francisco	6:30, FOX, CTV, TSN 1/3*/5/+

Quick Notes!

(The now) classic 3 and 6:30 start times for the games. Having the late game end between 9:30 and 10:00 is honestly pretty fucking awesome I have to say.
TSN3 will be getting to the NFC Championship game late. After the AFC Championship, the Raptors face the Hawks. That game should end around 8:30 or so meaning TSN3 should join in progress around the start of the fourth quarter. Now I have no clue who only has one TSN (along with TSN2 which has always been the “alternate” TSN) in this country anymore but for the ones out there that only get TSN3, there you go.
There’s a chance it will be a completely sloppy NFL Sunday. Baltimore will be hosting yet another super wet playoff game (do they think they are Seattle or something?) and there is a decent probability for rain in Santa Clara as well. I want to say rain and other non-sunny weather evens the playing field but I am not sure anymore (and chances are there are analytics that refute that notion).
My prediction for the Super Bowl…Ravens-Lions.

Look, all we can hope for is at least one good game this weekend, right? If we get two? Very nice.

Since I won’t be doing a blog post between this one and the Super Bowl, might as well clue you in on the few college football all-star games there will be coming up. Thursday night will be the East-West Shrine Bowl, now taking place in Frisco at The Star which is where I believe they also do the Conference USA basketball tournament on two separate courts with games going on at the same time. Leave it to C-USA to do something wacky like that. Then next Saturday it is the Senior Bowl. The Shrine Bowl begins at 8:00 on Thursday and the Senior Bowl kicks off at 1:00. Both games have slightly altered rules but it is kind of fun to see some players who are getting draft-ready. Both games will be on the NFL Network.

Alright, have a great weekend and hopefully things dry up a bit. It’s one thing to just have snow on the ground; another to have slush and water. Ugh. Anyway, enjoy the games everyone!

Yeah let’s do another absurd Poll n’ Bowl

Posted on December 26, 2023 by guelphbossman

Wrong pole but I like your style. I hope you celebrated Festivus with a good long Airing of Grievances. And you better not have forgotten the Feats of Strength.

I have done this particular exercise a couple times before. So I guess this Version 3.00. Again, I am going to take this back to a time in college football when conference championships didn’t exist, realignment wasn’t even part of the sport’s lexicon and players only made money from secretive boosters giving them money in briefcases in remote airport parking lots (or something of that nature).

Rules of Bossman’s Poll n’ Bowl (or Bowl n’ Powl if you like that better):

Back then, approximately a third of teams made it to bowl games. That’s it. Not half. So bowl eligibility is set at 8 wins and there are 23 games. Will they be the same games as last year? Most of them will be but I have thought of perhaps a few changes.
ESPN won’t be getting close to all the bowl games. Hell, they may be lucky to get half. Look, it has to be like the 80s here.
Have to use the old sponsors. But if I can’t I will make substitutions that make sense. It would be like replacing McDonalds with Burger King. Can’t have a Crypto.com Rose Bowl when you are trying to emulate 1980s college football because “What the fuck is a crypto?” would be the question everyone would ask me.
Bowl tie-ins will be drastically different than they are now but I am going to try and get them close to the way they were.
I am doing the Plus-One. This is what should have been done long ago and it would have changed a fair amount of the past four decades, at least in terms of how the national champion is decided. So split championships can fuck off.

The time for explaining is over. The time for me….showing you what this is about is here. I guess. Alright let’s begin.

January 8th	8:00	National Championship	ESPN	#1	#2
January 1st	8:45	Nokia Sugar Bowl	ABC	SEC Champ	at-large
January 1st	5:00	Rose Bowl presented by Citi	ABC	Big Ten Champ	SEC
January 1st	1:00	Discover Orange Bowl	NBC	ACC Champ	at-large
December 30th	10:30	Thrifty Car Rental Holiday Bowl	ESPN	Big Ten	at-large
December 30th	7:00	Vizio Fiesta Bowl	NBC	at-large	at-large
December 30th	3:30	Southwestern Bell Cotton Bowl	ABC	Big XII Champ	at-large
December 30th	Noon	Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl	ESPN	ACC	at-large
December 29th	8:00	AXA Liberty Bowl	FOX	AAC Champ	at-large
December 29th	4:30	Toyota Gator Bowl	NBC	SEC	Big Ten
December 29th	1:00	John Hancock Sun Bowl	CBS	Big XII	at-large
December 27th	10:30	Sega Las Vegas Bowl	ESPN	Big XII	at-large
December 27th	7:00	Capital One Citrus Bowl	ABC	ACC	at-large
December 26th	9:30	Domino’s Pizza Copper Bowl	ESPN	MWC Champ	at-large
December 25th	3:30	Jeep Aloha Bowl	ABC	MWC	at-large
December 23rd	10:00	California Pizza Kitchen Freedom Bowl	ESPN	at-large	at-large
December 23rd	3:30	APS Payroll Independence Bowl	ESPN	Sun Belt Champ	at-large
December 22nd	8:00	Phillips 66 Bluebonnet Bowl	ABC	AAC	at-large
December 20th	8:30	Regions Financial All-American Bowl	ESPN	C-USA Champ	at-large
December 19th	7:00	Burlington Coat Factory Garden State Bowl	ESPN	at-large	at-large
December 16th	10:30	Jack in the Box California Bowl	ESPN	at-large	at-large
December 16th	7:00	Outback Bowl	NBC	SEC	at-large
December 16th	3:30	General Motors Cherry Bowl	FOX	MAC Champ	Big Ten
December 16th	Noon	Mazda Tangerine Bowl	CBS	at-large	at-large

Yeah this doesn’t look like what Bowl Season looks like now. Let’s get to some notes about the structure so far:

A ton of at-large bids. This is good since it allows bowl game committees to better choose teams they want to see.
More networks are involved and ESPN doesn’t have nearly as many games. I also threw a couple of games over to FOX even though they were barely a thing in the 80s.
Some of the sponsors were changed from the last time around because some bowls have had many sponsors. The Rose Bowl is now presented by Citi. The Las Vegas Bowl is brought to you by Sega. And the Tangerine Bowl is back to its original name and one if its early sponsors in Mazda.
Now some of the sponsors had to be just picked. I tried to be local with many of them. That’s why you see Regions Financial for the All-American Bowl (in Birmingham) and General Motors for the Cherry Bowl which is in Detroit.
Just like my Postseason Fix blog post, I have removed the Pac-12 from this. Have to move forward, ya know? Even if it is painful.

Just like last time I will tier the bowl games as follows:

Tier 1 – Current New Year’s Six bowls
Tier 2 – Post-Christmas Bowls
Tier 3 – Pre-Christmas Bowls

So the Tier 1 bowls will pick their at-large teams first, followed by the Tier 2 bowls, then finally the Tier 3 bowls. Within each tier, the order is random. Before we get to that, let’s see what the Tier 1 bowls look like with the tie-ins slotted in to their proper bowl games (remember, we are using next year’s conference alignment so, because Texas would be the highest ranked team, they are considered the “champ” of the SEC in this exercise…I am sure some SEC fans will bristle at this and frankly, I don’t give two squirts of shit about what you think about it).

Nokia Sugar Bowl	SEC Champ	at-large	#3 Texas
Rose Bowl presented by Citi	Big Ten Champ	at-large	#1 Michigan
Discover Orange Bowl	ACC Champ	SEC	#5 Florida State	#4 Alabama
Vizio Fiesta Bowl	at-large	at-large
Southwestern Bell Cotton Bowl	Big XII Champ	at-large	#14 Arizona
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl	ACC	at-large	#15 Louisville

Good ol’ random drawing determines the order of selection. The Orange Bowl doesn’t even have to show up the lucky guys.

Rose – Georgia
Cotton – Washington
Fiesta – Oregon
Sugar – Ohio State
Peach – Penn State
Fiesta – Missouri

The Tier 1/New Year’s Six bowl games have been selected!

Nokia Sugar Bowl	SEC Champ	at-large	#3 Texas	#7 Ohio State
Rose Bowl presented by Citi	Big Ten Champ	at-large	#1 Michigan	#6 Georgia
Discover Orange Bowl	ACC Champ	SEC	#5 Florida State	#4 Alabama
Vizio Fiesta Bowl	at-large	at-large	#8 Oregon	#9 Missouri
Southwestern Bell Cotton Bowl	Big XII Champ	at-large	#14 Arizona	#2 Washington
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl	ACC	at-large	#15 Louisville	#10 Penn State

What does this mean? Well, if you aren’t familiar with Poll n’ Bowl, there would be another set of rankings after these games were over to determine the two teams that would play for the national championship. Looking at this, four of the six games would be important in figuring this out with only the Fiesta and Peach Bowls not involved in painting the championship picture.

Now on to the next bowl tier. This is the post-Christmas bowl list. It does not include the Aloha Bowl which is on Christmas Day as it should be (and used to be).

Thrifty Car Rental Holiday Bowl	Big Ten	at-large	#17 Iowa
AXA Liberty Bowl	AAC Champ	at-large	#24 SMU
Toyota Gator Bowl	SEC	Big Ten	#11 Ole Miss
John Hancock Sun Bowl	Big XII	at-large	#20 Oklahoma State
Sega Las Vegas Bowl	Big XII	at-large	#25 Kansas State
Capital One Citrus Bowl	ACC	at-large	#18 NC State
Domino’s Pizza Copper Bowl	MWC Champ	at-large	Boise State

Two things here. Boise State, even though they went 7-5, got their eighth win in the conference championship and, therefore, qualifies under my bowl system. The Gator Bowl is supposed to have a Big Ten team but after Iowa was slotted into the Holiday Bowl, the Big Ten had no other 8-win teams. Yikes. So that becomes an at-large. Now we will go the LIVE selection of the Tier 2 Bowl Games, sponsored by Taco Bell. Live Mas and avoid the Diarrhea.

Citrus – LSU
Las Vegas – Notre Dame
Holiday – Oklahoma
Copper – Oregon State
Sun – Tennessee
Gator – Clemson
Liberty – James Madison

Alright here are the matchups!

Thrifty Car Rental Holiday Bowl	Big Ten	at-large	#17 Iowa	#12 Oklahoma
AXA Liberty Bowl	AAC Champ	at-large	#24 SMU	James Madison
Toyota Gator Bowl	SEC	Big Ten	#11 Ole Miss	#22 Clemson
John Hancock Sun Bowl	Big XII	at-large	#20 Oklahoma State	#21 Tennessee
Sega Las Vegas Bowl	Big XII	at-large	#25 Kansas State	#16 Notre Dame
Capital One Citrus Bowl	ACC	at-large	#18 NC State	#13 LSU
Domino’s Pizza Copper Bowl	MWC Champ	at-large	Boise State	#19 Oregon State

Some really good matchups here including KSU-ND and NCST-LSU. The Liberty Bowl would have had an opportunity to pick Liberty and I think they would choose James Madison instead.

Third tier time! According to the rules (my rules), the eight-win teams must be selected first. Then we go to those filthy seven-win teams. Ugh. Here is what we are looking at going into this final random draw:

Jeep Aloha Bowl	MWC	at-large	UNLV
California Pizza Kitchen Freedom Bowl	at-large	at-large
APS Payroll Independence Bowl	Sun Belt Champ	at-large	Troy
Phillips 66 Bluebonnet Bowl	AAC	at-large	Tulane
Regions Financial All-American Bowl	C-USA Champ	at-large	#23 Liberty
Burlington Coat Factory Garden State Bowl	at-large	at-large
Jack in the Box California Bowl	at-large	at-large
Outback Bowl	SEC	at-large
General Motors Cherry Bowl	MAC Champ	Big Ten	Miami-OH
Mazda Tangerine Bowl	at-large	at-large

The Big Ten, yet again doesn’t have a team to fill a tie-in. Same with the SEC in this case as they don’t have another eight-win team to go to the Outback Bowl. Which leads us to the final draw of teams, the one that many will watch because this will be the difference between being bowl-eligible and being home for the holidays. We start with the draw of eight win teams remaining:

Freedom – Utah
Aloha – North Carolina
California – Fresno State
Tangerine – West Virginia
Freedom – UTSA
Outback – Kansas
California – New Mexico State
Outback – Memphis
All-American – Appalachian State
Bluebonnet – Air Force
Tangerine – Jacksonville State
Garden State – Toledo
Cherry – Ohio
Garden State – Wyoming

One measly bowl slot left. So the Garden State Bowl kind of gets hosed because they are forced to pick Wyoming instead of any of the seven-win teams. Thems the breaks and the EXCITEMENT of the Bossman Poll n’ Bowl System. Which bowl is left? The Independence Bowl sponsored by Shreveport’s own APS Payroll, of course! And who will they choose? Hmmm…I think if Caleb Williams had been playing it would have been USC but I have a feeling they will go with Texas A&M instead.

Complete Poll n’ Bowl schedule here we go!

January 8th	8:00	National Championship	ESPN	#1	#2
January 1st	8:45	Nokia Sugar Bowl	ABC	#3 Texas	#7 Ohio State
January 1st	5:00	Rose Bowl presented by Citi	ABC	#1 Michigan	#6 Georgia
January 1st	1:00	Discover Orange Bowl	NBC	#5 Florida State	#4 Alabama
December 30th	10:30	Thrifty Car Rental Holiday Bowl	ESPN	#17 Iowa	#12 Oklahoma
December 30th	7:00	Vizio Fiesta Bowl	NBC	#8 Oregon	#9 Missouri
December 30th	3:30	Southwestern Bell Cotton Bowl	ABC	#14 Arizona	#2 Washington
December 30th	Noon	Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl	ESPN	#15 Louisville	#10 Penn State
December 29th	8:00	AXA Liberty Bowl	FOX	#24 SMU	James Madison
December 29th	4:30	Toyota Gator Bowl	NBC	#11 Ole Miss	#22 Clemson
December 29th	1:00	John Hancock Sun Bowl	CBS	#20 Oklahoma State	#21 Tennessee
December 27th	10:30	Sega Las Vegas Bowl	ESPN	#25 Kansas State	#16 Notre Dame
December 27th	7:00	Capital One Citrus Bowl	ABC	#18 NC State	#13 LSU
December 26th	9:30	Domino’s Pizza Copper Bowl	ESPN	Boise State	#19 Oregon State
December 25th	3:30	Jeep Aloha Bowl	ABC	UNLV	North Carolina
December 23rd	10:00	California Pizza Kitchen Freedom Bowl	ESPN	Utah	UTSA
December 23rd	3:30	APS Payroll Independence Bowl	ESPN	Troy	Texas Tech
December 22nd	8:00	Phillips 66 Bluebonnet Bowl	ABC	Tulane	Air Force
December 20th	8:30	Regions Financial All-American Bowl	ESPN	#23 Liberty	Appalachian State
December 19th	7:00	Burlington Coat Factory Garden State Bowl	ESPN	Toledo	Wyoming
December 16th	10:30	Jack in the Box California Bowl	ESPN	Fresno State	New Mexico State
December 16th	7:00	Outback Bowl	NBC	Kansas	Memphis
December 16th	3:30	General Motors Cherry Bowl	FOX	Miami-OH	Ohio
December 16th	Noon	Mazda Tangerine Bowl	CBS	West Virginia	Jacksonville State

As I ask every year, how do we figure out who plays in the national championship game? Here are the different scenarios:

Michigan is in if they win the Rose Bowl
Washington is in if they win the Cotton Bowl AND Texas doesn’t beat Ohio State by too much
Texas is in if they win by a lot over Ohio State AND either Michigan loses OR Washington loses OR Washington wins but by very little
Alabama or Florida State are in if they win AND two of Michigan, Washington or Texas lose
Georgia is in if they win AND Washington loses AND Texas loses

Could Ohio State get in? Unlikely but remember, it comes down to voters and some of them like to think of what just happened because they have CFADD (College Football Attention Deficit Disorder). The Buckeyes would have to wallop Texas, hope FSU-Bama is close, have Georgia beat Michigan but by not too much and Washington has to lose to Arizona. Possible? Sure. But I doubt it.

So is this better or worse than the current setup? Who really knows. College football is a bit of a mess and no one wants to agree on anything. Now we have Florida State openly getting ready to leave the ACC and I don’t blame them. How dare they not be like Vanderbilt and just fucking show up and be shitty at the number one money sport but be in one of the top two conferences in that sport? The audacity. I mean the whole idea of the Big Ten and the SEC having the majority of the best college football teams would hold water if Vandy, Rutgers, Indiana, Mississippi State and a few others didn’t exist. They should have just broke up football into their own special thing and left the conferences the way they were for the rest of the sports. Or….promotion and relegation. I think I might do that exercise soon and ho boy it is going to rattle some chains I’m sure (if the right people read it).

Post-Christmas Bowl Season is about to start so things are getting a bit more important in the college football world. Plus, this is the final dash to the end with a lot of college football on so watch as much as you can, fill up that PVR if you have to and enjoy the games everyone!

We have to have some chaos…right? – Conference Championship Weekend TV schedule

Posted on November 30, 2023 by guelphbossman

I have to say it was a fun final regular season weekend of college football. Especially the Iron Bowl. What a ridiculous finish. Now we get into the postseason part of the season. So there has to be some chaos, right? Some upset? Any upset? Sure there were a few during the season but really the big upset has taken a big nap this year. And that’s part of college football. Not having those has taken something away from this season. Let’s hope this coming weekend can bring some of that chaos back. Fingers crossed. Let’s get on with the schedule.

Friday

Conference USA Championship: New Mexico State (+10.5) at #24 Liberty

7:00

This network continues to be smart in the way they figure out WHEN to put a game. They get an entire national audience for almost an entire half and then, if the game is close, many people will stick with it to the end. Brilliant. Plus, with the added possibility of seeing a potential New Year’s Six berth clinched here, it means they should get more eyeballs on this game than ever before. Prediction: This game is the biggest one, not only in Liberty’s history, but in Conference USA’s history. This is their chance to put a team in the New Year’s Six for the first time. The first part gets done this night. Liberty 39 New Mexico State 34.

The final Pac-12 Championship and, arguably, the most important conference championship is being held on a Friday night starting at 5:00 local time. Hell, ESPN/ABC is sending their best crew to this. This feels like the final slap in the face to the Pac-12. Anyway, this is massive. The winner is a lock for the College Football Playoff and the loser gets relegated to the New Year’s Six. It’s that simple. Prediction: This is going to be an offensive showcase between two of the Heisman contenders in Bo Nix and Michael Penix Jr. The guy who wins, I believe, won’t be the Heisman winner. Although I guess there’s always a possibility Jayden Daniels wins it instead of either of these two. Washington 49 Oregon 38.

Saturday Early

Easily the only game that matters early on. Texas has to win and get quite a bit of help to get into the College Football Playoff. They will know the lay of the land after the Pac-12 Championship, especially if Oregon wins since that will mean a better shot to join the party. Prediction: The Longhorns do what they need to do but will have to wait to see if it is enough. Texas 52 Oklahoma State 27.

MAC Championship: Miami-OH (+7.5) vs. Toledo (in Detroit)

Noon

Well, from the College Football Playoff rankings we now know that Toledo has no chance at the NY6, despite having an 11-1 record. Nothing will allow them to leapfrog Tulane, Liberty or SMU. I would say this is for a trip back to Detroit for the Quick Lane Bowl but even that is in doubt thanks to tie-ins that don’t even tie a conference in to a bowl game. Prediction: Should be close like their regular season matchup. Toledo 24 Miami-OH 20.

Saturday Afternoon

Now that the strange computer rankings saga to figure out who would actually be in the conference championship game is over, we can focus ont the game itself. Really, they are probably playing for a spot in the LA Bowl but who the hell knows. It will be interesting to see how many people are in Allegiant Stadium as it hosts its second conference championship in less than 24 hours. Prediction: This isn’t on the Smurf Turf so you have to give the advantage to the Rebels here. UNLV 41 Boise State 38.

Sun Belt Championship: Appalachian State (+6.5) at Troy

4:00

Where does the winner go? Who the fuck knows anymore. Prediction: I will be thinking about how this would have been a hundred times better if James Madison was hosting Troy. Troy 34 Appalachian State 16.

SEC Championship: #8 Alabama (+5.5) vs. #1 Georgia (in Atlanta)

4:00

Is Georgia in no matter what? Probably although you never know how things will shake out with The Committee. Bama is going to have win this by like 50 to even get a glance from them as they are probably too far out to get their shot. Prediction: This is going to be really close and really good. I just feel it. Georgia 49 Alabama 42.

Tulane goes back to the NY6 with a win in this one. But what happens if SMU wins? That is where the fun begins (as long as Liberty wins their game on Friday). I still believe that SMU would have to hope Liberty loses since there is no way to pass them but I could be wrong. Prediction: Tulane is heading back to the promised land but it won’t be easy. Tulane 41 SMU 34.

SWAC Championship: Prairie View A&M at Florida A&M

4:00

Florida A&M has been money since joining the SWAC. Honestly, I think Deion Sanders may have been right. Have all the MEAC schools join the SWAC. One huge mega-HBCU-conference. ESPN might not like that though because they have the Celebration Bowl on the opening day of Bowl Season and you know how ESPN is about their bowls. Even with the 12-team playoff they will want to add bowls so that 4-8 Houston can face 4-8 Colorado. Prediction: The Rattlers are going to beat the brakes off of Prairie View and move on to the Celebration Bowl where they will be in an uncomfortably close game with a team that’s not even close to their level in Howard. Like most of the Celebration Bowls. Florida A&M 56 Prairie View A&M 14.

Saturday Primetime

All the FSU talk is about the loss of Jordan Travis. I get it. With him, you look like a national championship contender. Without him, not so much. Saying that, they know what they have to do. Win. Doesn’t matter how. Just win. And I wondered if they were going to be able to do that against this Cardinals team but after Louisville’s performance against Kentucky, I started to wonder about that. Prediction: The Noles do enough to win. The defense keeps the Cardinals offense at bay. FSU off to the CFP. Florida State 37 Louisville 27.

The spread is almost as high as the over/under for Iowa’s game last week against Nebraska. How sad/hilarious is that? Michigan is in with a win and maybe even with a loss depending on what has happened before this point. Prediction: Iowa has survived a lot of games with their defense. They won’t here. This could get ugly. Michigan 44 Iowa 10.

FCS Second Round: Southern Illinois at Idaho

10:00 PM

Hey, an added bonus! Some FCS playoff action! From what I can tell this may be close but we shall see since my FCS knowledge isn’t that great. And despite the fact they are playing in the awesome Kibbie Dome, wouldn’t it have been ten times more hilarious if this were outdoors…in Moscow, Idaho…in December? Oh my. Prediction: Watch this prediction be WAY off. Idaho 38 Southern Illinois 33.

We are almost at the end. It’s college football’s Judgment Day and it’s coming quickly. And we are slowly heading towards bowl season and the end of the college football season. So enjoy the games everyone!

The Bowl Projections…they’re getting closer.

Posted on November 27, 2023 by guelphbossman

But before we get to those I must put out the final Bossman Top 26 of the season. I make it sound like I did like 20 of these when the reality is I didn’t even make it to five. I should rectify that next year. Anyway, here goes nothing!

#1	Georgia (12-0)
#2	Michigan (12-0)
#3	Washington (12-0)
#4	Oregon (11-1)
#5	Florida State (12-0)
#6	Texas (11-1)
#7	Alabama (11-1)
#8	Ohio State (11-1)
#9	Missouri (10-2)
#10	Penn State (10-2)
#11	Ole Miss (10-2)
#12	LSU (9-3)
#13	Arizona (9-3)
#14	Oklahoma (10-2)
#15	Notre Dame (9-3)
#16	Oklahoma State (9-3)
#17	Louisville (10-2)
#18	Iowa (10-2)
#19	Oregon State (8-4)
#20	Tulane (11-1)
#21	NC State (9-3)
#22	James Madison (11-1)
#23	Tennessee (8-4)
#24	Liberty (12-0)
#25	Toledo (11-1)
#26	Utah (8-4)

Alright, let’s take a look at this. Yes, I have FSU at #5. Without Jordan Travis, they are not as good as either Washington or Oregon. However, they move into #4 if the win the ACC Championship and take the spot of whoever loses the Pac-12 Championship. So they still control their destiny. The only thing that may hurt them is Louisville’s loss to Kentucky which drops them in my poll to #17. Now, a win over the Cards isn’t nearly as good as it was a few days ago. Ole Miss absolutely needs at least one upset on conference championship week and it can’t be the ACC Championship. Otherwise they are looking at a good bowl but not a New Year’s Six one. Finally, as for the Group of Five, Tulane is in the driver’s seat. Win and they go back to the NY6. Lose and it’s probably either Liberty or SMU. My best guess is it will be Liberty that gets in unless SMU does to the Green Wave what they did to Navy this past Saturday. Toledo has almost no chance to get in. They would need losses by Tulane and Liberty and to absolutely destroy Miami-OH in Detroit and then get some sympathy from The Committee.

So there’s still a lot to figure out, even in this season which has been almost completely devoid of big upsets. Which brings us to the main event of this post: the bowl projections. I am sure I will still have some wrong even on Sunday morning just before the selection show begins. So will all the other bowl prognosticators, guys who are much better at this than I am. At least with James Madison now in the mix it makes it interesting since they are a good chance to play a Power Five team, something most Group of Five teams don’t get a chance to do during bowl season. Let’s get on with this and see where we sit after the final week of the regular season.

Sugar Bowl	CFP #1 vs. CFP #4	Georgia vs. Florida State
Rose Bowl	CFP #2 vs. CFP #3	Michigan vs. Washington

One change. I figured all four of the teams above would win. I am thinking a bit more strongly that the Noles will have enough to beat Louisville, win the ACC Championship, and sneak into the final spot in the CFP. Georgia and Michigan should take care of business and in the biggest game of the weekend (on Friday night), I believe the Huskies win a close one over Oregon to clinch their spot. Pretty easy so far.

Did any of the NY6 selections change (other than the one obvious change from my previous projection post)?

Fiesta Bowl	CFP at-large vs. CFP at-large/G-5 #1	Oregon vs. Tulane
Orange Bowl	ACC Champ vs. Big Ten/Notre Dame/SEC	Louisville vs. Ohio State
Peach Bowl	CFP at-large vs. CFP at-large/G-5 #1	Alabama vs. Penn State
Cotton Bowl	CFP at-large vs. CFP at-large/G-5 #1	Texas vs. Missouri

Louisville’s loss made me want to put FSU into the Top 4. This meant that Texas would fall back into the Cotton Bowl spot and now a date with Mizzou. Two old Big XII foes who will now be in the SEC together. I think it made sense to move Penn State out of the Fiesta and slot them up against Bama. No disrespect to Tulane but pairing them the Tide could be bad news. Not saying they are going to beat Oregon but I think they have a much better chance to do so and Bama-PSU is a bit of a dream matchup.

Car wreck time. Let’s proceed.

Citrus Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Ole Miss vs. Iowa
ReliaQuest Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Kentucky vs. Northwestern
Arizona Bowl	MWC vs. MAC	Boise State vs. Bowling Green
Music City Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	LSU vs. Wisconsin
Liberty Bowl	SEC vs. Big XII	Auburn vs. Kansas State
Sun Bowl	ACC vs. Pac-12	Notre Dame vs. Utah
Gator Bowl	SEC vs. ACC	Tennessee vs. NC State
Alamo Bowl	Big XII vs. Pac-12	Oklahoma vs. Arizona
Pop Tarts Bowl	ACC vs. Big XII	Clemson vs. Oklahoma State
Pinstripe Bowl	Big Ten vs. ACC	Rutgers vs. Georgia Tech
Fenway Bowl	2 of ACC/AAC/C-USA	Virginia Tech vs. SMU
Texas Bowl	SEC vs. Big XII	Texas A&M vs. Iowa State
Holiday Bowl	ACC vs. Pac-12	Boston College vs. Oregon State
Duke’s Mayo Bowl	SEC vs. ACC	Minnesota vs. North Carolina
Military Bowl	ACC vs. AAC	Miami vs. UTSA
Guaranteed Rate Bowl	2 of Big Ten/Big XII/MWC	UNLV vs. West Virginia
First Responder Bowl	2 of ACC/Big XII/AAC/Sun Belt/C-USA	UCF vs. Georgia Southern
Quick Lane Bowl	Big Ten vs. MAC	Duke vs. Toledo
Hawaii Bowl	AAC vs. MWC	Rice vs. Fresno State
Las Vegas Bowl	Big Ten vs. Pac-12	Maryland vs. USC
68 Ventures Bowl	2 of Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC	Troy vs. Liberty
Idaho Potato Bowl	2 of MWC/MAC/Sun Belt	Wyoming vs. Arkansas State
Armed Forces Bowl	Big XII vs. C-USA	Kansas vs. WKU
Birmingham Bowl	2 of SEC/ACC/AAC/C-USA	Louisiana vs. Memphis
Camellia Bowl	2 of Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC	Old Dominion vs. Eastern Michigan
Gasparilla Bowl	2 of SEC/ACC/AAC/C-USA	Syracuse vs. USF
Boca Raton Bowl	2 of AAC/Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC	Appalachian State vs. Ohio
Frisco Bowl	2 of AAC/Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC	Texas State vs. Utah State
Famous Toastery Bowl	MAC vs. C-USA	Georgia State vs. Jacksonville State
Independence Bowl	Big XII vs. Pac-12	Texas Tech vs. California
LA Bowl	Pac-12 vs. MWC	UCLA vs. San Jose State
New Mexico Bowl	2 of Group of Five	Air Force vs. Marshall
Cure Bowl	2 of AAC/Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC	Coastal Carolina vs. Northern Illinois
New Orleans Bowl	Sun Belt vs. C-USA	James Madison vs. New Mexico State
Myrtle Beach Bowl	2 of AAC/Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC	South Alabama vs. Miami-OH

Some notes on this dog’s breakfast:

I changed a few teams from last week’s post but that meant I had to change a few others because the tie-ins didn’t work. So then I changed a few more and ended up with this. Fucking ridiculous. I love doing this shit. Welcome to Bowl Season! I wonder if it will be like this next year. Oh, who am I kidding, of course it will!
The SEC can’t fulfill their bowl tie-ins. For once, their non-bowl-eligible teams were truly dreadful. That is why you see Minnesota in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl to play North Carolina. Speaking of the Traveling Flecks…
There ended up being 79 bowl eligible teams. There are 82 bowl slots. So James Madison and Jacksonville State at least got into the postseason the roundabout way. One spot was left for a smart team. That team ended up being Minnesota. It would have gone to Colorado State but they lost on an insane game-winning field goal by Hawaii in the final regular season game not including Army or Navy.
Speaking of Navy……they can get to six wins if they defeat Army in the Army-Navy Game. It seems like no bowl is willing to save a spot for Navy even they beat the Black Knights. As far as I know, a team is not allowed to practice if they are not set for a bowl game. This means the team that would be selected if Navy lost, Mississippi State, would not be allowed to practice at all until they knew they would be in the bowl game, which would give a whole lot less practices to the Bulldogs than their opponents. Look, I like the Army-Navy game. But it’s only had its own week since 2009. This isn’t exactly a ton of history. There has to be another way to do this but we know how the NCAA is resistant to change.

Hey, remember when we had football every day? That was fun. We no longer have that. Which is sad. Means we have to wait for football. In this case, for college football, we have to wait all the way until Friday evening! No MACtion. No Fun Belt. No whatever Conference USA calls their weekday games in October. All we can hope for is a great weekend of conference championship football. Enjoy the rest of your week everyone!

Thanksgiving. Footballgasm. Let’s Do This!

Posted on November 21, 2023 by guelphbossman

The 2023 version of Footballgasm has arrived! Get ready for an absolute fuck-ton of college football and NFL football from Thursday through to Monday night. Why does this happen? Americans need something to do while they let all that food settle in their stomachs. I mean our Thanksgiving comes first and is pretty good but we really missed the mark. Take out green bean casserole and there’s very little to dislike about American Thanksgiving.

Alright time to unleash the college football schedule for this week, the final week of the regular season. This is done in traditional Bossman’s Blog American Thanksgiving style. Every game is listed. Some are not important. Some are very important. But every game gets their own section. College football deserves it (for the most part).

Tuesday

Bowling Green (-1.5) at Western Michigan

7:00

Does this mean anything? No. But it’s the final night of MACtion so enjoy it. Predicted score: Western Michigan 27 Bowling Green 24.

Eastern Michigan (+6.5) at Buffalo

7:30

Now this game is more important…well, at least for one team. The Eagles can become bowl eligible with a win here. The Bulls are just here to try and play spoiler. Predicted score: Buffalo 31 Eastern Michigan 21.

Thursday

#12 Ole Miss (-11) at Mississippi State

7:30

The Rebels are juuuuuuuuuuuust on the outside looking in at the New Year’s Six. Could they leapfrog Missouri or Penn State without those two teams losing? It’s doubtful but they could strengthen their case by putting a beating on Mississippi State. Predicted score: Ole Miss 34 Mississippi State 30.

Friday

Miami destroyed any chance of doing anything this season, mostly with piss-poor coaching (although Tyler Van Dyke seriously regressed this season). The Eagles on the other hand, they played much better than expected and Jeff Hafley has saved his job. Predicted score: Miami 38 Boston College 15.

#17 Iowa (+2) at Nebraska

Noon

Big game here for the Huskers. Win and they are bowl-eligible in Matt Rhule’s first season in Lincoln. Maybe, just maybe, the sun is finally shining on Huskerland for the first time in quite a few years. To do that, though, they will have to upset the Hawkeyes who have defied every odd and probably some theories of offensive football to become Big Ten West champs. Take the under (even though the over/under is a record-low 26.5). Predicted score: Iowa 14 Nebraska 7.

Ohio (-14) at Akron

Noon

Ohio can win their ninth game of the season which is pretty impressive. Unfortunately, it won’t be enough to win the division. Akron is hoping to stay out of double digits in the loss column. Predicted score: Ohio 30 Akron 10.

Memphis (-11.5) at Temple

Noon

Memphis lost their shot at a potential American Conference championship spot last weekend. So really, this means nothing. Predicted score: Memphis 31 Temple 7.

Toledo (-10.5) at Central Michigan

Noon

The Rockets will need a win and a lot of help to somehow sneak into the New Year’s Six. The Chips are trying to get to their sixth win. Actually, quite a bit at stake here. Predicted score: Toledo 34 Central Michigan 16.

Huge game here for the Sooners. An Oklahoma win and they still have a shot at going to JerryWorld one last time, much to the chagrin of the rest of the Big XII members. TCU isn’t going to lie down for them, though. They have to win to go bowling. Predicted score: TCU 38 Oklahoma 26.

Tulane gets to eleven wins with a win here. More importantly, a win here puts them in the AAC Championship game and makes them the favourite to go back to the New Year’s Six. I am honestly shocked that no team has taken a flyer on Willie Fritz, despite his age. A Roadrunners win doesn’t eliminate the Green Wave either although they would need some help from Navy. A UTSA win would put them in the conference championship and would finish one of the best conference moves (outside the Sun Belt) in recent memory. Predicted score: Tulane 29 UTSA 24.

Utah State (-7.5) at New Mexico

3:30

The Aggies go bowling if they beat the Lobos. A UNM win would put them at five for the season which, honestly, would probably save Danny Gonzales’ job and constitute one of their better seasons in a long time. Predicted score: Utah State 49 New Mexico 31.

#9 Missouri (-7.5) at Arkansas

4:00

Mizzou locks themselves into the New Year’s Six if they can defeat the lowly Hogs. Sam Pittman has already been retained for next year so no surprise shitcanning in Fayetteville like Bret Bielema got a few years back. Predicted score: Missouri 33 Arkansas 14.

A massive game for the Longhorns. There is honestly so much on the line here. The most important being a spot in the final four-team College Football Playoff. It’s within their grasp but they have to stop allowing teams to stick around in games. The Red Raiders, on the other hand, are playing for one thing since they are already bowl eligible: spoiling the Horns’ entire season. Predicted score: Texas 31 Texas Tech 17.

Do the Nittany Lions deserve to be in a New Year’s Six bowl? It’s debatable but at this point, a win probably clinches a spot unless Ole Miss goes nuts on Mississippi State the night before. The Spartans just want to end one of the most miserable seasons in their program’s history, on and off the field. Predicted score: Penn State 49 Michigan State 28.

The Ducks want a rematch with Washington for the Pac-12 Championship. The Beavers just want to spoil Oregon’s season as all teams do in rivalry games. Predicted score: Oregon 44 Oregon State 29.

Saturday Early

Louisville needs a win to keep their slim CFP hopes alive. That alone will make this game interesting. Kentucky has no stakes other than maybe trying not to lose too badly so that Mark Stoops can be guaranteed for 2024. Predicted score: Louisville 31 Kentucky 10.

Duke is already going bowling and are middle of the ACC standings. Pitt is pretty awful (other than playing lights out against Louisville) and are looking forward to the offseason. A lot of better options in this window. Predicted score: Duke 20 Pittsburgh 7.

Indiana (+3) at Purdue

Noon

The Old Oaken Bucket. Even with this being a rivalry game, it’s really not worth watching. Predicted score: Purdue 32 Indiana 13.

Miami-OH (-6.5) at Ball State

Noon

Redhawks are in. Cardinals are out. Let’s see if Mike Neu finally gets the axe like I’ve predicted for a few seasons now. Predicted score: Miami-OH 30 Ball State 28.

Texas A&M (+10.5) at #14 LSU

Noon

For two good teams (OK one quite good team and one OK team), this game does not mean a whole lot. The Aggies are bowling and playing under an interim coach. LSU would need a damn miracle to get into the New Year’s Six so should start packing for a Florida bowl game. Predicted score: LSU 45 Texas A&M 31.

Navy (+20) at SMU

Noon

Now with TSN pushing a lot to TSN+, games like this will almost never make it to the regular TSN channels again which sucks for people who don’t subscribe. It feels like it has finally come to the point where you have to either get one off the specialty packs, get TSN+ or go the IPTV route to see as much college football as you want as a Canadian. Anyway, Navy has two shots to go bowling and would like to close that out here. The Mustangs are in the American Championship with a win in Big D. Predicted score: SMU 48 Navy 20.

Troy (-17) at Southern Miss

Noon

Troy has no shot at the New Year’s Six and is already hosting the Sun Belt Championship. Southern Miss is home for the holidays. Meh. Predicted score: Troy 23 Southern Miss 8.

Another huge version of The Game. Not a total surprise. The winner is in the Big Ten Championship and all but guarantees a spot in the playoff. And just like last year, the loser isn’t out with a loss depending on what happens on conference championship weekend. If GUS JOHNSON would ever pass out from lack of oxygen, this would be the game he would do it in. Predicted score: Michigan 28 Ohio State 24.

Saturday Afternoon

Wake Forest (+3) at Syracuse

2:00

The two worst teams in the ACC but it’s still important for one team. The Orange need a win here to somehow become bowl eligible. Wake would be just outside at five wins if they win here and could nab a spot due to their great APR score if it comes down to that. Predicted score: Syracuse 35 Wake Forest 15.

Prairie View A&M has already clinched the SWAC West so this means nothing for either team other than bragging rights: both for the football teams and the bands. Predicted score: Southern 23 Grambling 18.

Colorado (+22) at Utah

3:00

Utah has been very good considering the sheer amount of injuries that team sustained. The Buffaloes season finally ends after the most hype ever given to a one-win team before the season began (and well into the season as well). Predicted score: Utah 39 Colorado 17.

BYU needs to win here to be in a bowl game. It would be a pretty big upset if they did, but hey, crazier things have happened. The Pokes are holding on to an outside shot at the Big XII Championship. They need to win and have a few other things go their way but again, it’s not impossible. Predicted score: BYU 49 Oklahoma State 31.

Last year’s Commonwealth Cup was cancelled after the murders of three Virginia players. Just having this game will bring back quite a few emotions I’m sure for the Cavs. For the Hokies, they can do the improbable and become bowl eligible if they beat their rivals. Predicted score: Virginia 40 Virginia Tech 35.

Northwestern (+6) at Illinois