Oh man, here we go again

It felt like things were calm. We were all lulled into this. It was just the eye of the storm. Sure the wind wasn’t moving but about 200 metres away, a cow just went flying headlong into a barn.

What am I talking about? Realignment, of course! Another shoe has dropped…OK let me use a different analogy. Sorry Deion. We have another big move as Colorado will be going back to the Big XII starting next season. And that probably won’t be all. The rumours have at least one of Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, Oregon or Washington following the Buffaloes. Or, if no other schools leave the Pac-12, the Big XII is more than willing to dip into the American Conference (hello SMU, Memphis, Tulane) or even way out east…yes, UConn! And maybe once the Pac-12 (or more like Pac-9) gets their act together, they can start bringing in teams from the Group of Five. The same teams from the American would be in play, especially SMU. Also, the Mountain West would be watching closely as San Diego State, Boise State and perhaps Colorado State and UNLV could be looked at. There will be a lot of meetings in the next month or so to determine where this all leads.

For now let’s focus on what this post was supposed to be (and still will be). It’s time for the Power Five conference predictions. This will give a better indication on how I think things will go during this season. So let’s dive right in!

Changes are coming soon for the Ess Ee Cee. Texas and Oklahoma join the conference next season. Also, no more SEC on CBS after this year. Everything moves to ABC and ESPN. And finally, no divisions. Halle-fucking-lujah.

As for this year, all the talk is about Georgia and doing something no team has done (fully) in the AP Poll era: win three national championships in a row. It’s not like they will fall apart, despite the fact they lost their starting quarterback and a bunch of other players in the NFL Draft. Then again, I’m sure Kirby Smart has looked them all dead in the eye and told them “Everyone thinks you are going to go 5-7 and lose to Vanderbilt. Prove them wrong!” And they will believe it because college football head coaches are just a notch-and-a-half below cult leaders in the pecking order of how much they can make their “followers” drink their Kool-Aid.

Remember, though, there are other teams in the conference as well. Like those lovable underdogs from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and the team that just reeks of success (in the classroom and on the baseball diamond), Vanderbilt. And eleven other teams. Want to find out how I think they will do? OK. I will do that. Just for you.

		Conference		Overall
	East	W	L	W	L
	Georgia	7	1	11	1
	Tennessee	6	2	10	2
	South Carolina	5	3	8	4
	Kentucky	3	5	6	6
	Missouri	2	6	5	7
	Florida	2	6	5	7
	Vanderbilt	1	7	4	8
	West
	Alabama	8	0	12	0
	LSU	6	2	9	3
	Ole Miss	4	4	8	4
	Texas A&M	4	4	8	4
	Arkansas	3	5	7	5
	Auburn	3	5	7	5
	Mississippi State	2	6	6	6

Just For You

• You might think I am crazy for having UGA not run the table. I do think they will lose a regular season game and it will be to those upstart Tennessee Volunteers. It won’t keep them from winning the division though as you can see I have those same Vols losing two conference games during the regular season.
• As for the SEC West, though, Bama will once again rule the roost….as long as they figure out their quarterback situation. I am thinking they will and will go undefeated and be #1 in the nation going into conference championship weekend. If they don’t get their QB situation settled…well, maybe they lose two games? Three? It’s not like they will fall to 6-6.
• I could see South Carolina or last year’s SEC West champs, LSU, making a bit of a run this time around. They have the top two quarterbacks in the SEC and could each put up piles of points. Watch for the Cocks’ game against Georgia early on in the season and LSU’s post-Halloween trip to Bryant-Denny to face the Tide. Upsets in either of those games will seriously upset the apple cart.
• Look, the Gators were barely .500 with who I think may be one of the most overhyped quarterbacks in recent memory. I don’t think Anthony Richardson was that great. And now they don’t even have him. Unless every other part of the roster improved (it didn’t), how do people expect this team to bounce back and all of a sudden become an eight or nine win team? Spoiler alert: they won’t.
• I have Mississippi State at 6-6. They will do just enough to get a bowl game. I wonder how tough it will be after the loss of Mike Leach but I can see them straightening things out just in time late in the season.
• As for the SEC Championship, SURPRISE! I have the Dawgs beating the Tide and creating a massive clusterfuck in the final College Football Playoff rankings. Fun times!
• Eleven bowl teams from the SEC with two juuuuuust on the outside. That’s insane and I don’t think I will be that far off with this prediction. Next year could be even crazier with Texas and Oklahoma joining the conference that just means more.

Man have things really changed in terms of where you will see Big Ten games this season. Gone are ABC and ESPN. In is NBC and CBS. This is gonna feel weird the first time I see it. And maybe the next few times as well. I will get used to it at some point. Now if you want the opportunity to watch every Big Ten game, better find a way to get FOX Sports One and Peacock otherwise you will be shit out of luck to watch potential bangers like Northwestern-Purdue and Indiana-Rutgers (if they end up there and not the Big Ten Network).

Alright, let’s get into the final conference predictions before the B1G gives a big Fuck You to geography and brings in USC and UCLA.

		Conference		Overall
	East	W	L	W	L
	Michigan	8	1	11	1
	Penn State	8	1	11	1
	Ohio State	8	1	10	2
	Michigan State	5	4	7	5
	Maryland	5	4	8	4
	Indiana	1	8	3	9
	Rutgers	1	8	4	8
	West
	Minnesota	6	3	8	4
	Wisconsin	6	3	9	3
	Iowa	6	3	9	3
	Illinois	5	4	7	5
	Nebraska	2	7	5	7
	Purdue	2	7	5	7
	Northwestern	0	9	2	10

Geogpraphy, Go Eat a Dick

• Look, I know some might look at the Big Ten East standings and think I am a bit crazy. I am not. Although that is what a crazy person would tell you. Yep, a three-way tie at the top at 8-1 between Big Blue, tOSU and PSU. Because each team will be 1-1 against the other two, the CFP Rankings will decide the winner. I believe the Wolverines will somehow win that. And yes, I think Ohio State also loses to Notre Dame. O-H! I-No.
• If Sparty doesn’t make it to a bowl game, they may end up giving Mel Tucker the Herm Edwards treatment and fire him before he can leave the playing surface one game. I get they have a tough division but they should be able to do well enough against the rest of their schedule to get back in the postseason after last year’s debacle.
• No, I don’t have Wisconsin winning the West division. Meaning I am different than almost every expert out there. Also, there’s the fact I’m not an expert but I digress. Again I have a damn three-way tie but no need to look at the rankings for this one as I believe the Gophers will Row the Fucking Boat all the way to Indianapolis after beating both Wisky and the high-octane Iowa Hawkeyes. See what I did there? Yeah, I don’t care that the Hawkeyes have a new quarterback in town. Until Kirk tells his son to do better, Iowa will be pushing for some 7-6 victories. Sorry. 8-6. Two field goals and a late safety to win.
• Nebraska will be better but I think the Huskers are a season away from getting back to the top of the West…just in time for the West to just not exist anymore.
• As for Northwestern…man. What a shitshow. Look, I played a lot of sports earlier in my life and did so at the university level. Are there fun little pranks and stupid things the rookies have to do? Sometimes. But it’s usually harmless. Carrying bags, standing up during a team dinner to get embarrassed by singing some Mariah Carey song, dumb things like that. Not getting fucking dry humped in some cultish fashion by weirdos in robes. What the fuck is wrong with that school? And yes, it’s not just the football program. Sounds like at least half the teams there have serious issues. Ugh.
• Now let’s get crazy. Yeah! The Big Ten Championship will…OK who am I kidding. It won’t be close. I have Michigan plowing through Minny to clinch their spot, yet again, in the College Football Playoff.

Might as well call this the Stable Conference…for now. Just nothing happening here which is just fine for most of the teams in the ACC. Status quo isn’t a bad thing. There are some changes with where you will see games. The CW…yes, the C-Fucking-W, will have an ACC game during most of the weeks of the season. You can take the ACC out of Jefferson-Pilot (or Raycom) but you can’t take the Jefferson-Pilot (or Raycom) out of the ACC. Or something like that.

So before this conference possibly gets pillaged by the Big Ten and SEC, let’s get to the predictions followed by some deep tissue massage and/or analysis.

		Conference		Overall
		W	L	W	L
	Clemson	8	0	12	10
	Florida State	7	1	11	1
	North Carolina	6	2	9	3
	Pittsburgh	5	3	8	4
	Louisville	5	3	8	4
	Duke	4	4	8	4
	Wake Forest	4	4	7	5
	NC State	4	4	7	5
	Miami	4	4	7	5
	Syracuse	3	5	6	6
	Boston College	2	6	5	7
	Virginia	2	6	4	8
	Georgia Tech	2	6	4	8
	Virginia Tech	0	8	1	11

Deep Tissue Massage and/or Analysis

• I should book a massage. My back is in horrible shape.
• Some may scoff at me having Clemson going undefeated this season. They have the schedule to do it and if Cade Klubnik is as good as he can be this could relatively easily happen. If Klubnik struggles…well then this entire set of standings might need to be scrubbed from existence.
• Reader Gord will like where I have Florida State. This team could be scary good. And at the very least, they will be near the top of the ACC standings this season. Mike Norvell has done a great job getting this team back to what it was like during the Jimbo Fisher days. I had my doubts about him but I have to admit he has been the right guy to right the ship in Tallahassee.
• Hey did you notice? NO DIVISIONS! I love it.
• Don’t be surprised that if Clemson or FSU stumbles that there are no shortage of teams that could get one of the two ACC title game slots. A list of seven teams could pull off a couple of upsets and be at the top and it wouldn’t be a huge surprise. A slight surprise sure. Maybe a slightly bigger surprise if it was Miami or NC State. But not a massive surprise.
• Poor Virginia Tech. I think this will be their worst team since before Frank Beamer graced Blacksburg. It feels like it has been forever since the Hokies were contenders. It was only seven years ago when they were in the ACC Championship and almost upset the eventual national champions, Clemson. This team is pretty bad in almost every aspect of the game and the schedule will not be helpful to them. Other than Old Dominion I don’t see them winning any other game and the Monarchs have given VT all sorts of fits the past few years.
• Look for a tiny bit of a bounce back from Virginia. Just them taking the field after what happened last year is a win in my books.
• For that ACC title game, how about another game that will turn everything on its head. Yep, I think the Noles will get revenge for a regular season loss by inching out the Tigers. Chaos!

OK it’s about time the Big XII rebrands. They will have at least thirteen teams by the time the 2024 season starts and it may be as high as sixteen. So change the fucking name. They have the rights to the Big Fourteen and Big Sixteen so use one of those. It would be easy. Find a graphic design student at Kansas and have them do a new logo. Easy peasy. Why do I have to come up with everything?

Where was I? Oh that’s right, predictions. Let’s see if this conference will go all Pac-12 and cannibalize itself or if they can see a team get to the CFP once again. Also, Texas and Oklahoma will be trying their best to leave the conference on a high note much to the chagrin of the rest of the schools in the conference. So here are the Big XII standings predictions, followed by Belly Expansions.

		Conference		Overall
		W	L	W	L
	Texas	8	1	10	2
	Kansas State	7	2	10	2
	Baylor	6	3	8	4
	TCU	6	3	9	3
	Oklahoma	6	3	9	3
	Texas Tech	5	4	8	4
	Oklahoma State	5	4	8	4
	Kansas	4	5	7	5
	UCF	4	5	7	5
	BYU	3	6	5	7
	Cincinnati	3	6	5	7
	Houston	2	7	4	8
	Iowa State	2	7	4	8
	West Virginia	2	7	3	9

Belly Expansions

• No I don’t mean pregnancy. I mean eating a big meal and having to loosen the ol’ belt or just unbuckle the pants altogether. Funny enough, people in the restaurant don’t appreciate that.
• Let’s start at the bottom. There won’t be one truly bad team. There will be a bunch of below-average ones. West Virginia, Iowa State, Houston, Cincinnati and BYU could all finish last and I am sure no one would bat an eye.
• I see the Longhorns making their final Big XII season a special one. They have the team, the schedule and the head coach (I think) to be the top team in this conference this season. The only question will be can Quinn Ewers hold off Arch Manning. Will one of them transfer in the offseason? Remember, when you have two starting quarterbacks, you have none. I think.
• How about this lukewarm take: Kansas State will be good again. Yeah really going out on a limb there Bossman. This team has become so steady-as-she-goes it’s almost boring. The people in the Little Apple are fine with this.
• I do think one of the newcomers will make a bowl game and that team will be UCF. I think they are the most prepared of the newbies coming into this conference. But make no mistake about it: all four teams will be good at various points over the next few years.
• I can’t see Oklahoma taking enough of a leap to get to the Big XII Championship. Nor do I think the Horned Frogs of TCU have the, uh, toads? to make it back to the conference title game. Good seasons for both, yes, but not great.
• The Longhorns should win the conference title game in their final season in the Big XII. Will this get them into the CFP or will it “relegate” them to the New Year’s Six? I think you can tell from my predictions so far but you will know for sure in a different post.

So where are we going to be able to watch Pac-12 games in the future? Who the hell knows. My money is on PBS.

But seriously, the Pac-12 is quickly dropping from the Conference of Champions to almost a Group of Five conference. They are losing USC and UCLA next year to the Big Ten. They knew that already. The bombshell of Colorado leaving now has them at nine teams starting the 2024 season. And it may not end there. The only schools I haven’t heard potentially leaving are Oregon State and Washington State. That’s not to say all these rumours will be correct but I will be pretty surprised if no more teams leave for the Big XII before next season. It’s sad for a conference that really started their slide once Pete Carroll left USC for the NFL. Thanks a bunch, Peter.

Prediction time! No divisions which is one thing they are ahead of the game with, starting that last year. Let’s get to those divisionless predictions followed by some California Nightmarin’.

		Conference		Overall
		W	L	W	L
	USC	8	1	10	2
	Utah	7	2	9	3
	Oregon	7	2	9	3
	Oregon State	7	2	10	2
	Washington State	6	3	8	4
	Washington	6	3	9	3
	UCLA	5	4	8	4
	Colorado	3	6	4	8
	California	2	7	4	8
	Arizona	2	7	4	8
	Arizona State	1	8	3	9
	Stanford	0	9	2	10

California Nightmarin’

• No state will have it better this year in the Pac-12 than the state of Oregon. Both the Ducks and the Beavers look to be serious contenders and only need the ball to bounce their way one extra time to maybe get to the Pac-12 Championship. And considering the way that title game has gone, who knows what may happen after that.
• The strongest team, though, should be USC. They have Caleb Williams coming back to try and do what no one other than some guy named Archie has ever done, and that’s win two Heisman Trophies. The hope there is that the sting of the two season-ending losses will motivate them to push themselves that final step into the CFP.
• OK look, I know you see Washington in sixth place and you are wondering what the fuck is wrong with me. This is another case where the schedule is just flat-out against them. A slightly easier schedule and I might put this team at eleven or even, dare I say it, twelve wins. It will be that close at the top of the conference.
• On the other hand, I am sure no will think I’m crazy for putting Stanford in last place. It’s been a long time since the Cardinal have been this bad and it doesn’t look like they will be ready for bowl action for another year at least.
• I think I was fair putting Colorado at 4-8 for this season and playing fairly meaningful football going into November. There seems to be two schools of thought with this team. One section thinks Coach Prime has done wonders and with all the fresh faces in the lineup it will push the team over the line and into bowl-eligibility territory. The other section thinks the entire program is overhyped and they will win maybe two games. I am in the middle on this. This team won’t go bowling this year. That would be too much of a leap. But they should win more games than they did last year. If not, what the hell was all this hoopla for?
• As for the Pac-12 title game, USC gets the Pac-12 Championship they probably should have won last year. Problem is that by this point there will be a lot of teams in the mix for those four College Football Playoff spots and in typical Pac-12 fashion, the league will have cannabilized itself again and missed out on the CFP again.

There you go! You now have a complete set of Bossman conference predictions. Next up, is kind of the wrap-up post where I put everything in a nice, neat little ball and let you know who I believe will win the whole damn deal. Have a great week everyone!

SUPER MEGA HYPER OMNI POST! Version 6.0.0

I have sent out the warning before so if you know about it you can skip to the next section. But if you are new to this, here it is: this post is insanely long. Don’t read this on the toilet since I am sure you could get hemorrhoids for being on the can that long. Hell, don’t even take it into the bath with you. I don’t think your skin can wrinkle that much. You have been forewarned. So get your favourite drink, sit down and enjoy this absolute avalanche of information.

This is the sixth version of this stupidly long post; however, it’s only the second with the same format as last year’s. Longer and uncut. No recaps since I don’t do those anymore but my Top 25, bowl projections, conference championship scenarios and some other crazy crap that you may or may not have even wanted to look at. Let’s get the ball rolling with the Bossman Top 25.

#1	Georgia
#2	Ohio State
#3	TCU
#4	USC
#5	Michigan
#6	LSU
#7	Oregon
#8	Clemson
#9	Alabama
#10	Penn State
#11	Tennessee
#12	Washington
#13	Utah
#14	Kansas State
#15	Notre Dame
#16	Florida State
#17	Tulane
#18	UCLA
#19	North Carolina
#20	Oregon State
#21	Cincinnati
#22	Ole Miss
#23	Texas
#24	Coastal Carolina
#25	UCF

So nothing really happened near the top although I have adjusted my rankings a bit. I have USC in now and Michigan out. I still think Michigan’s schedule has been mostly shit this season. That will all change if they beat tOSU so really, this doesn’t matter. I think USC has put themselves in the driver’s seat to get one of the Top 4 spots. Beat Notre Dame and win the Pac-12 Championship and they are golden…I think. The Group of Five will go through the American Conference although UCF’s loss to Navy has opened the door for a trio of Sun Belt teams (Coastal Carolina, Troy and South Alabama) to still have a sliver of hope although a lot has to happen for them to even have a legitimate shot. Finally, I think the Big XII will have the lowest ranked team in the New Year’s Six because I can’t see Kansas State beating TCU for the Big XII title.

Alright so far so good. I think. I hope. Let’s get on with the second part of this massive post, the conference championship game scenarios.

Toledo has clinched the MAC West already. In the MAC East, Ohio can clinch tomorrow night with a win over Bowling Green. Now, with Buffalo’s game against Akron getting postponed and probably cancelled outright, I don’t know what happens if Ohio loses and then the Bulls beat Kent State. The Bulls would have played one less conference game and would win the division if they had been allowed to play Akron and then won. An odd scenario that may become moot if the Bobcats win.

UTSA has clinched a spot in the conference title game and will host (I had wondered if the game would be moved permanently to the Alamodome but that won’t happen now that UTSA heads to the AAC next season).

North Texas is in the driver’s seat for the other spot (remember there are no divisions in Conference USA this season thank fucking God). If the Mean Green beat Rice they are off to San Antonio. Lose then that opens the door for WKU. If they can beat FAU they will play the Roadrunners.

Coastal Carolina is already in the championship game. It’s going to be close but I have a feeling the Chants will host the game as well. The host is the highest ranked team in the CFP Poll.

Troy beat South Alabama earlier this season so if they beat Arkansas State they will win the Sun Belt West. A loss and a USA win and it’s the Jaguars who will win. Both teams are looking for their first division title.

Boise State and Fresno State punched their tickets to the conference championship game with wins this weekend.

UCF had a chance to claim one of the conference title game spots but lost against Navy. They are still in with a win in the War on I-4 against USF. If they lose then the loser of the Tulane-Cincinnati game will play…the winner of the Tulane-Cincinnati game in the championship.

This was looking like a complete shitshow going into the previous week. Things have really been clarified after the results on Saturday.

USC is already in thanks to their amazing win over UCLA in one of the best Pac-12 games in recent memory (that actually meant something). Oregon eliminated Utah by beating them two nights ago. They are in the driver’s seat for the other spot. Washington still has a chance. They must win the Apple Cup and hope Oregon loses the Civil War to go to Santa Clara.

It feels like TCU clinched about a month ago. Kansas State sits in second and just has to beat Kansas in the Sunflower Showdown to make it to JerryWorld. Most years that would be a foregone conclusion but not so this season. If the Wildcats lose, Texas can get there if they beat Baylor on the final weekend.

Clemson vs. North Carolina has been booked for a couple weeks now.

We know what it comes down to. The Game. Ohio State-Michigan. Winner is in, loser has to await their fate for the College Football Playoff. In the West, Iowa, with their horrible offense, is somehow in the lead and has the easiest path to the Big Ten Championship. Beat Nebraska on Black Friday and none of the other games matter in the Big Ten West. If they lose, it opens up a few possibilities. Purdue can win it by then beating Indiana for the Old Oaken Bucket. If they also lose, well then God help us all. Illinois should handle Northwestern. Wisconsin and Minnesota play each other. It would give us a four-way tie between Purdue, Iowa, Illinois and the Minny/Wisky winner. Here’s how all this would look in terms of the head-to-head tiebreaker:

• Iowa lost to Illinois but beat Purdue, Wisconsin and Minnesota.
• Purdue beat Minnesota and Illinois and lost to Wisconsin and Iowa.
• Illinois beat Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin but lost to Purdue.
• Minnesota lost to Purdue, Illinois and Iowa and still have to face Wisconsin.
• Wisconsin still has to play Minnesota. They lost to Illinois and Iowa, but beat Purdue.

So, after all that, if there was a four-way tie and Minnesota beat Wisconsin, then Iowa, Purdue and Illinois would all be 2-1 in the head-to-head standings. Then comes divisional records where Iowa and Illinois would be tied at 4-1. The next tiebreaker is record against progressively worse teams in the division. Iowa and Illinois both beat Wisconsin and Nebraska and Northwestern. So now we go to common conference opponents. Meaning the divisional record plus any games they both played against the same teams in the East. The only team both faced was Michigan and both teams lost. This is getting insane. Next up is the cumulative conference record of their non-conference opponents and here is where it’s not really that close. Illinois’ East Division opponents have gone 13-11 in the conference going into the final week. Iowa’s opponents from the East have gone 17-7. So Iowa would get in.

If Wisconsin beats Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois would be tied at 2-1 with Purdue and Wisconsin at 1-2 in head-to-head matchups. I am not going through all the tiebreakers again but Iowa beats Illinois.

So if we get the four-way tie, no matter what, Iowa will go to face the East Division winner. Man, I hope I have that all right.

Well this will be a lot easier than the Big Ten scenarios. Georgia and LSU have already clinched their divisions and will face off in Atlanta. See? Much easier.

I’m already tired. But I will soldier on. Time for the updated bowl projections.

Fiesta Bowl	CFP #2 vs. CFP #3	Ohio State vs. TCU
Peach Bowl	CFP #1 vs. CFP #4	Georgia vs. Michigan

From my previous bowl projections two weeks ago, the Fiesta Bowl has not changed one bit. As for the Peach Bowl, Georgia is still #1. Now I have Michigan in instead of UCLA. UCLA not being in is an easy choice after they lost to USC. I see Michigan losing a close one to Ohio State. That is the first step. I also see LSU and USC losing their conference championship games. Finally, even though I think Clemson beats North Carolina in a relatively close ACC Championship, they don’t have the strength of schedule anymore to leapfrog Michigan for the #4 spot. Many will bitch and complain, much like they have when two SEC teams got in but I think this has a really good shot at happening.

Now on to the New Year’s Six which has got quite interesting over the past couple weeks.

Rose Bowl	Big Ten #1 vs. Pac-12 #1	Penn State vs. Oregon
Cotton Bowl	CFP At-large vs. G-5 #1	USC vs. UCF
Sugar Bowl	SEC #1 vs. Big XII #1	Alabama vs. Kansas State
Orange Bowl	ACC #1 vs. Big Ten/Notre Dame/SEC	Clemson vs. LSU

OK so a lot more changed here than in the CFP projections. Here we go:

• Normally the Big Ten champ would go to the Rose Bowl. With Ohio State and Michigan both in the CFP, the next best team out of the Big Ten would get this spot and that would be Penn State since it’s a long drop to whoever would be next.
• I believe Oregon beats USC in the Pac-12 Championship. This boots the Pac-12 out of the CFP and puts the Ducks in the Rose against the Nittany Lions.
• USC’s loss won’t drop them far and they should nab the only true at-large spot to go to the Cotton Bowl.
• The Trojans opponent will be UCF as I think they win their final regular season game and then the AAC Championship.
• Clemson’s victory over North Carolina gives them the ACC’s Orange Bowl spot.
• It’s a big drop from TCU to the next team and that won’t change from my last set of bowl projections until bowl selection day. I have Kansas State there and I think they will be juuuuuuust in the Top 20, making them the lowest ranked team in the NY6.
• Alabama will get the Sugar Bowl spot because Georgia is in the CFP. It could go to LSU, which would put Bama in the Orange. Honestly, they are fairly interchangeable.

Quite a bit of change there that would leave Tennessee, Washington, Utah and Florida State outside looking in. Very few would argue for those teams to get in so at least it would be, well, less controversy than normal since there’s always an argument (and if there isn’t, ESPN will find one). Alright now on to the rest of the bowl projections.

Citrus Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Ole Miss vs. Purdue
ReliaQuest Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	South Carolina vs. Iowa
Music City Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Tennessee vs. Illinois
Gator Bowl	SEC vs. ACC	Arkansas vs. North Carolina
Arizona Bowl	MWC vs. MAC	San Jose State vs. Toledo
Sun Bowl	ACC vs. Pac-12	NC State vs. Oregon State
Duke’s Mayo Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Florida vs. Wisconsin
Alamo Bowl	Big XII vs. Pac-12	Texas vs. Washington
Cheez-It Bowl	Big XII vs. ACC	Oklahoma State vs. Florida State
Pinstripe Bowl	Big Ten vs. ACC	Maryland vs. Notre Dame
Texas Bowl	SEC vs. Big XII	Mississippi State vs. Baylor
Holiday Bowl	ACC vs. Pac-12	Louisville vs. UCLA
Liberty Bowl	SEC vs. Big XII	Miami* vs. Oklahoma
Military Bowl	ACC vs. AAC	Wake Forest vs. Cincinnati
Guaranteed Rate Bowl	Big Ten vs. Big XII	Minnesota vs. Kansas
Birmingham Bowl	SEC vs. AAC/ACC/C-USA	Liberty* vs. Duke
First Responder Bowl	2 of AAC, Big XII, C-USA, Sun Belt, MWC	Texas Tech vs. Memphis
Camellia Bowl	Sun Belt vs. MAC/C-USA	South Alabama vs. UTSA
Quick Lane Bowl	Big Ten vs. MAC	UConn* vs. Eastern Michigan
Hawaii Bowl	BYU/AAC/C-USA vs. MWC	BYU vs. Wyoming
Independence Bowl	AAC vs. Army	Tulane vs. Army
Gasparilla Bowl	2 of AAC, ACC, SEC, Pac-12	Pittsburgh vs. East Carolina
Armed Forces Bowl	2 of Big XII, C-USA, AAC	SMU vs. Middle Tennessee
New Orleans Bowl	Sun Belt vs. C-USA	Troy vs. WKU
Boca Raton Bowl	2 of AAC, Sun Belt, C-USA, MAC	Marshall vs. Bowling Green
Idaho Potato Bowl	MWC vs. MAC	San Diego State vs. Ohio
Myrtle Beach Bowl	2 of AAC, Sun Belt, C-USA, MAC	Appalachian State vs. Miami-OH
Frisco Bowl	2 of AAC, MWC, Sun Belt, C-USA, MAC	Fresno State vs. Southern Miss
Las Vegas Bowl	SEC vs. Pac-12	Kentucky vs. Washington State
LendingTree Bowl	Sun Belt vs. MAC/C-USA	Coastal Carolina vs. UTEP
LA Bowl	Pac-12 vs. MWC	Utah vs. Boise State
New Mexico Bowl	MWC vs. AAC/C-USA/MAC	Utah State vs. UAB
Fenway Bowl	ACC vs. AAC	Syracuse vs. Houston
Cure Bowl	2 of AAC, MWC, Sun Belt, C-USA, MAC	Air Force vs. Louisiana
Bahamas Bowl	C-USA vs. MAC	Florida Atlantic vs. Buffalo

There are just enough bowl-eligible teams to fill all the bowl spots; however, the SEC and Big Ten will fall short of fulfilling all their tie-ins. This has to do with more teams in the CFP and NY6 than other conferences. Miami, Liberty and UConn will fill in there (as noted by an asterisk). The ACC actually has more bowl-eligible teams than tie-ins so Miami gets slotted into the Liberty Bowl to face Oklahoma in a game straight out of the 80s. Liberty and UConn technically have to wait until all other bowl-eligible teams get their spots before they can find out where they go. With exactly two bowl games not having two teams, they go there (Liberty to the Birmingham and UConn to the Quick Lane). Finally, despite the fact North Texas won six games, in my scenario they lose the Conference USA Championship and fall to 6-7. If there weren’t enough teams available they would get a waiver to compete. Unfortunately for them there are no spots available to them so they will be home for the holidays.

Hey let’s continue! Time to look at various postseason scenarios. I will not use the AP Poll for some of these. I will use where I think teams will end up going into bowl season (my end-of-season rankings) for the first two.

12-Team College Football Playoff

This is the playoff format that’s coming soon. And if that pesky Rose Bowl can fall in line, it could be as early as 2024. Crazy to think but this is the case. So, if we had that this year, this is what it would look like:

Remember, only conference champions can get a first-round bye in this soon-to-be new format. That’s why Oregon replaces Michigan at #4. Where these teams would play I would leave out other than the first round games which are at the home field of the higher seed. Is it too much? Probably, but it’s college football so I will watch it and hope it works out properly (which no postseason format has been able to do every time but I digress).

6-Team College Football Playoff

This is what I started advocating for even though I had also pushed for just one new playoff team for a while. That dream is gone but here is what it would look like at the end of this season:

Pretty self-explanatory. They would still use bowl games for this. For this year, I think it would be the Cotton Bowl and the Orange Bowl for the first round since the Rose and Sugar, being on January 1st, would not give enough time for the playoffs to be done before the middle of the month. The semis would remain the Fiesta and Peach Bowls.

Poll-and-Bowl

Let’s go back to a simpler time. When the talk of a playoff or a plus-one was just that: talk. The only committees we knew were the bowl committees that went to all sorts of games in November to figure out which teams to select. Now let’s see what that might look like with the better teams in the polls. As I did last year when I did this exercise I have to take some liberty with bowl tie-ins. Also for this I will use current AP Poll listings for variety’s sake:

• Rose Bowl (Big Ten Champ vs. Pac-12 Champ): #2 Ohio State vs. #5 USC
• Sugar Bowl (SEC Champ vs. Big XII Champ): #1 Georgia vs. #4 TCU
• Cotton Bowl (Big XII #2 vs. Pac-12 #2): #15 Kansas State vs. #10 Oregon
• Orange Bowl (ACC Champ vs. SEC #2): #7 Clemson vs. #6 LSU
• Peach Bowl (ACC #2 vs. at-large): #16 Florida State vs. #3 Michigan
• Citrus Bowl (SEC #3 vs. Big Ten #2): #8 Alabama vs. #11 Penn State
• Fiesta Bowl (Big XII #3 vs. at-large): #24 Texas vs. #9 Tennessee

I’ll stop there as I have the top ten teams. Maybe there would be more at-large teams involved (say in the Cotton or Orange Bowls) but realistically this is what you would see in and around New Year’s Day. Sure there are some lopsided bowl matchups (see the Fiesta Bowl) but I think it’s that way to an extent anyway. Really this would come down to three games: the Sugar, Rose and Peach Bowls. Georgia wins they are the champ. Only way that doesn’t happen is if UGA barely beats TCU and Ohio State drops the hammer on USC. If the Dawgs lose and tOSU win, they are the champs. If both those teams lose, then Michigan could win it all in the Peach Bowl. If the top three teams lose, it will come down to TCU and USC and might end up being who looked better in the bowl game (or won by a larger margin). It would make things interesting that is for sure. Better? Debatable.

24-Team College Football Playoff

Oh god, why am I doing this to myself. Maybe I’m trying to prove some point. Well, to be fair, I have hammered this point home before. The longer the tournament, the more it becomes a war of attrition. The winning team, in the end, becomes the healthiest one, not necessarily the best one. It’s been seen often in FCS football, even with some of those North Dakota State teams that won it all. So….*deep breath*, let’s look at how at 24-team playoff would work (I’ll just use AP rankings again):

OK that’s a lot. To me this feels like WAY too much. Overkill. When the 24th-ranked team, Texas, has a chance to win the national championship, college football, at least at the FBS level, has lost a lot of what makes it special. Some want to go even farther and I say to that, put down the crackpipe.

Done. No more. I can’t do it. It’s so much information. But there it is. Read it, do with it what you will. Then in about a week’s time we can forget all of it since it will change…in some cases a lot.

Tomorrow, it’s time for the super American Thanksgiving schedule so prepare for a lot more reading but at least this you can use the rest of the week through late Saturday night. Have a great week, everyone!

SUPER MEGA HYPER OMNI POST! V5.0

I’m going to warn you again.  This post is stupidly long.  So if you are reading this on the toilet, I hope you have a massive shit brewing so you have the time to read it all.  I won’t even rate this but it would be an NC-17 post if it had to be rated…which means I just technically rated it.  Dammit.  Oh well, viewer discretion is advised.

This is the fifth version of this ridiculously long post.

It is going to be different this year without the recap portion.  But there will be my Top 25, plus bowl projections, plus conference championship scenarios, PLUS different versions of the playoff.  This is going to take forever.  I don’t know why I put myself through this to be honest.

Let’s going with the Bossman Top 25 which has obviously had some changes after yet another crazy week.

#1	Georgia
#2	Ohio State
#3	Alabama
#4	Cincinnati
#5	Michigan
#6	Notre Dame
#7	Oklahoma State
#8	Ole Miss
#9	Baylor
#10	Oklahoma
#11	BYU
#12	Utah
#13	UTSA
#14	Oregon
#15	Michigan State
#16	Iowa
#17	Texas A&M
#18	Wisconsin
#19	Houston
#20	Pittsburgh
#21	Louisiana
#22	Wake Forest
#23	NC State
#24	San Diego State
#25	Penn State

Well looky here.  Cincinnati finally gets into the Top 4.  And they finally figured things out, thrashing SMU in a game they desperately needed to win by a lot.  Saying that, it mostly helped that Oregon got destroyed by Utah.  And with Notre Dame laying waste to Georgia Tech, the big Bearcat win over the Irish keeps looking really good as we get to the final week of the regular season.  The Irish, Wolverines, and Pokes are laying in the weeds, just waiting for the current top teams to lose but I honestly can’t see that happening this coming weekend.  What I will be interested in is BYU’s possibility of a New Year’s Six spot.  I have them higher than the College Football Playoff rankings but still, they win this coming week and a few other things happen, they could be ranked high enough to make The Committee at least ponder what to do with them.

Now it’s time to get to something I didn’t do last year: conference championship scenarios.  Last season was a mess so there was no point in doing it but we are back to mostly normal (at least in the college football world) so it’s time to do these.

The MAC title tilt has one team qualified.  Northern Illinois has clinched what turned out to be a very good MAC West divisional race.  The MAC East race will end on Saturday.  Miami-OH and Kent State face off in a winner-take-all showdown for the right to face the Huskies.

Much like the MAC, Conference USA has one part of their title game set up.  In the West, UTSA has clinched the division.  As for the East, one final game between Western Kentucky and Marshall for the division.

After not getting a Sun Belt superclash between Louisiana and Coastal Carolina last year, we get it this year…with one exception.  Coastal will not be there.  Appalachian State and Louisiana have won their respective divisions and will face off, yet again, in the Sun Belt title game, this time in Lafayette.

This is quite interesting.  San Diego State has only one loss this year; problem is it’s to the team one game behind them, Fresno State.  If the Aztecs take care of business on Black Friday against Boise State, they will host the Mountain West Championship.  Before that occurs, Fresno State goes to San Jose to face the Spartans.  The Bulldogs lose, SDSU clinches the division.  If the Bulldogs win, the Aztecs must win.

In the Mountain Division, it’s even more confusing as there is a current three-way tie between Boise State, Air Force and Utah State.  Here’s how this works:

• Boise State clinches the division if they beat San Diego State and Air Force loses to UNLV.
• Utah State clinches the division if they beat New Mexico and Boise State loses to San Diego State.
• Air Force clinches the division if they beat UNLV and Utah State loses to New Mexico.
• In the case of a three-way tie, the winner of the division would be, you guessed it, Frank Stallone Air Force.

Alright this is simple.  Houston finished the conference schedule undefeated.  Cincinnati, if they defeat East Carolina on Friday, will also finish undefeated.  They are both locked in to the conference title game.  The only thing left to figure out is who hosts.  Obviously, it comes down to the Cincy-ECU result.

Utah is in for the ridiculous Friday early evening start time.  I wonder if that changes after this season since that is so ridiculous.  As for the North, it’s still a bit interesting.  Three teams still with a chance to go face the Utes in Santa Clara.  Here are the scenarios:

• Oregon clinches the division if they beat Oregon State.
• Oregon State clinches the division if they beat Oregon and Washington beats Washington State.
• Washington State clinches the division if they beat Washington to win the Apple Cup and Oregon State beats Oregon in the Civil War.  It would go to tiebreakers.  Head-to-head would produce nothing as all three teams would have 1-1 records against the other two.  Division record is next, where Wazzu’s 4-1 mark would best Oregon and OSU’s 3-2.

The Cougs going to the Pac-12 Championship would be the cherry on a ridiculous cake after having to fire their coach earlier this season.

Somehow, the ACC Coastal has already been clinched.  No chaos!  Pittsburgh has already booked their flights to Charlotte.  As for the ACC Atlantic, it’s down to three teams: Wake Forest, Clemson and NC State.

• Wake Forest has the easiest way.  Win over Boston College and they win the division.
• NC State has it slightly harder.  They need Wake to lose to BC and they need to take care of their own business and beat North Carolina to win the division.
• For Clemson to head to Charlotte in a little less than two weeks, they need Wake and NC State to lose.  They are done their conference schedule and face South Carolina in their annual rivalry game this weekend.

Oklahoma State is already set to head to JerryWorld.  Oklahoma has to beat the Pokes in Bedlam to clinch the other spot.  If they lose, and Baylor beats Texas Tech then it will be the Bears facing OSU in the Metroplex.

The winner of the The Game clinches the East Division.  In the West, it’s….complicated.  Here goes nothing:

• Wisconsin beats Minnesota they are in.
• Iowa is in if they beat Nebraska and Minnesota defeats Wisconsin.
• Minnesota goes to Indianapolis with a win over Wisconsin, an Iowa loss AND a Purdue win in the Old Oaken Bucket over Indiana.

Purdue cannot get in but can play spoiler to help the Gophers get in.

Georgia against Alabama.  It’s set.

OK it’s bowl projection time now!

Orange Bowl	CFP Poll #1 vs. CFP Poll #4	Georgia vs. Notre Dame
Cotton Bowl	CFP Poll #2 vs. CFP Poll #3	Ohio State vs. Cincinnati

Oregon is now out and Notre Dame is in.  I think with what happens around them, the Irish should clinch the #4 spot which would guarantee the Bearcats the #3 spot.  Ohio State needs to beat Michigan or else The Committee will have a much tougher time with this.

Alright let’s see how the New Year’s Six has changed.

Sugar Bowl	SEC #1 vs. Big XII #1	Alabama vs Oklahoma State
Rose Bowl	Big Ten #1 vs. Pac-12 #1	Michigan vs. Oregon
Fiesta Bowl	CFP At-Large vs. CFP At-Large/G-5 #1	Oklahoma vs. Michigan State
Peach Bowl	CFP At-Large vs. CFP At-Large/G-5 #1	Pittsburgh vs. Ole Miss

Definitely some changes in the past couple weeks.  I already mentioned Oregon being out after their loss to Utah but I think they avenge it in the Pac-12 Championship after winning the Civil War.  I don’t think Wake Forest will get to the ACC Championship and then Pitt would beat Clemson to get to the Peach Bowl.  Oklahoma has struggled as of late but even losing the Big XII title game won’t drop them below the NY6.  I’m sure The Committee wants to avoid putting BYU in until they are actually in the Big XII so Michigan State will get the nod there.  I believe Ole Miss wipes the floor with Mississippi State to win the Egg Bowl and also grab an at-large spot.

Now the rest of Bowl SZN.  I’m sure this won’t be correct by the end of Black Friday.

Texas Bowl	SEC vs. Big XII	Auburn vs. Baylor
Citrus Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Kentucky vs. Wisconsin
Outback Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Tennessee vs. Iowa
Arizona Bowl	MWC vs. MAC	Nevada vs. Central Michigan
Sun Bowl	ACC vs. Pac-12	Louisville vs. Washington State
Gator Bowl	SEC vs. ACC	Texas A&M vs. Clemson
Las Vegas Bowl	Big Ten vs. Pac-12	Penn State vs. Arizona State
Music City Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Arkansas vs. Purdue
Duke’s Mayo Bowl	SEC vs. ACC	South Carolina vs. Wake Forest
Alamo Bowl	Big XII vs. Pac-12	Iowa State vs. Utah
Cheez-It Bowl	Big XII vs. ACC	Texas Tech vs. Virginia
Pinstripe Bowl	Big Ten vs. ACC	Minnesota vs. Miami
Fenway Bowl	ACC/C-USA vs. American	Boston College vs. East Carolina
Guaranteed Rate Bowl	Big Ten vs. Big XII	Florida* vs. Texas**
Holiday Bowl	ACC vs. Pac-12	NC State vs. Oregon State
Liberty Bowl	SEC vs. Big XII	Missouri vs. Kansas State
First Responder Bowl	2 from Big XII, ACC, Pac-12, American	USC vs. Memphis
Birmingham Bowl	SEC vs. American	Mississippi State vs. Houston
Military Bowl	ACC vs. American	Virginia Tech vs. UCF
Quick Lane Bowl	Big Ten vs. MAC	Rutgers vs. Kent State
Camellia Bowl	Sun Belt/C-USA vs. MAC	Coastal Carolina vs. Northern Illinois
Hawaii Bowl	American vs. MWC	SMU vs. Air Force
Gasparilla Bowl	2 from SEC, ACC, Pac-12, American	LSU vs. North Carolina
Armed Forces Bowl	2 from Big XII, Pac-12, C-USA, Army	Army vs. Florida Atlantic
Frisco Bowl	2 from Group of Five	Fresno State vs. UAB
Idaho Potato Bowl	MWC vs. MAC	Boise State vs. Western Michigan
Myrtle Beach Bowl	American/MAC/G-5 vs. Sun Belt	Miami-OH vs. Appalachian State
New Orleans Bowl	Sun Belt vs. C-USA	Louisiana vs. UTSA
LA Bowl	Pac-12 vs. MWC	UCLA vs. San Diego State
LendingTree Bowl	Sun Belt vs. MAC	Georgia State vs. Eastern Michigan
Independence Bowl	BYU vs. C-USA	BYU vs. Marshall
New Mexico Bowl	MWC vs. C-USA	Utah State vs. UTEP
Boca Raton Bowl	2 from Group of Five	Liberty vs. San Jose State
Cure Bowl	2 from Group of Five	Wyoming vs. Ball State
Bahamas Bowl	C-USA vs. MAC	Western Kentucky vs. Toledo

A few notes after that deluge of information:

• BYU is already locked in to the Independence Bowl but Army has a few options.  The Armed Forces Bowl seems the most likely place for them.
• I like the fact some of the ESPN Events bowl games have looser tie-ins.  Putting all the G5 teams in a bowl tie-in makes for easier placement.
• You will notice Florida has an asterisk (*) beside it.  They are filling in at the Guaranteed Rate Bowl because the Big Ten will not have enough bowl-eligible teams to fill this slot.
• Texas has two asterisks (**) beside its name.  I have it that the bowl games will be one team short of fulfilling all the bowl slots.  So a 5-7 team would have to fill in.  I am assuming Texas would have as good a shot as any program because it is based on APR score (Academic Progress Rate) and last time I checked, UT-Austin is a really good school.

I am assuming a bit more will be known after this week’s games.  I’m just glad that all the bowl games are back after last year with the pandemic cancelling about half of them.  It’s a mess we don’t need to see repeated.

And now the final part of this hilariously long post that has drained me of my mental energy.  It’s time to look at what various different playoff scenarios would look like.  I will use the current AP Poll rankings since the CFP ones won’t be out until tonight.

The six-team CFP

I used to advocate for one extra team to be including in the CFP to bring it to five teams.  That definitely won’t happen so I will look at what adding two teams does to this.  Let’s go:

• Rose Bowl: #4 Cincinnati vs. #5 Notre Dame
• Sugar Bowl: #3 Alabama vs. #6 Michigan
• Orange Bowl: #1 Georgia vs. lower-ranked winner from play-in weekend
• Cotton Bowl: #2 Ohio State vs. higher-ranked winner from play-in weekend

Since this solely based on current AP rankings, it would have Cincy facing the Fighting Irish in a rematch.  I doubt that would happen in reality but we are going to go with it here.  I’m sure the Rose Bowl would be adamant about their bowl game staying with their current New Year’s Day timeslot so this would extend the season out to Monday January 17th which is seriously late but I think we are approaching that anyway with an expanded playoff.

The eight-team CFP

• Orange Bowl: #1 Georgia vs. #8 Ole Miss
• Sugar Bowl: #2 Ohio State vs. #7 Oklahoma State
• Cotton Bowl: #3 Alabama vs. #6 Michigan
• Rose Bowl: #4 Cincinnati vs. #5 Notre Dame

Now we got eight teams which seems to be a popular idea out there.  Here’s the thing: I am not including all Power Five conference champions.  That is fucking absurd with only eight teams.

This would mean some teams might play four postseason games if you include the conference championship games.  Would this be smart?  I don’t know but it feels like the wave of the future.  I guess the powers that be think that now that students get NIL money they can surely play an extra game or two.

The twelve-team CFP

Oh boy.  I think this is where we are headed so let’s dive in!

• Las Vegas Bowl: #7 Oklahoma State vs. #9 Baylor
• Citrus Bowl: #6 Michigan vs. #11 Oregon
• Peach Bowl: #8 Ole Miss vs. #10 Oklahoma
• Fiesta Bowl: #5 Notre Dame vs. #20 Pittsburgh
• Orange Bowl: #1 Georgia vs. Ole Miss/Oklahoma winner
• Cotton Bowl: #4 Cincinnati vs. Notre Dame/Pitt winner
• Sugar Bowl: #3 Alabama vs. Michigan/Oregon winner
• Rose Bowl: #2 Ohio State vs. Oklahoma St./Baylor winner

I can’t make Oklahoma State and Oklahoma play three weeks in a row.  That would be completely ridiculous.  Now with this setup, all Power Five conference champions get in.  Pitt is the best ACC team right now.  Sad, but true.  So they get in over current #12 Michigan State.  The brackets would have to be set up beforehand because I can’t see how they could re-seed teams after the first round.  Also, I am assuming they would use bowl games for the playoffs so that is why I included the Citrus Bowl (I’m sure it was between them and the Peach when originally coming up with the New Year’s Six) and the Las Vegas Bowl (because they would want a splashy bowl in a brand-new stadium).  This wouldn’t be bad but I wonder if it would feel like overload.

G-5 Playoffs

Let’s go back to an idea that has been brought up before.  One that would see the Group of Five run their own eight-team playoff.  The quarter-finals would look like this:

• Cincinnati vs. Air Force
• BYU vs. Appalachian State
• UTSA vs. Louisiana
• Houston vs. San Diego State

I would love to watch this.  Imagine these four games being on in one day?  Cincinnati at Noon, Houston at 3:30, UTSA at 7:00, BYU finishes off the day at 10:30.  Brilliant.

Poll-and-Bowl

Let’s go back to the 80s and early 90s shall we?  A simpler time…ok maybe not simpler overall, but in terms of how teams were picked for bowl games it was.  No committees.  Just teams go to the bowls they are tied in to based on their conference.  Let’s look what the top teams would do in these case.  I’ve had to take some liberty with some of the bowl games:

• Orange Bowl (ACC champ vs. SEC #2): #5 Notre Dame vs. #3 Alabama
• Cotton Bowl (Big XII #2 vs. Pac-12 #2): #9 Baylor vs. #16 Utah
• Sugar Bowl (SEC champ vs. Big XII champ): #1 Georgia vs. #7 Oklahoma State
• Rose Bowl (Big Ten champ vs. Pac-12 champ): #2 Ohio State vs. #11 Oregon
• Peach Bowl (Big Ten #2 vs. ACC #2): #6 Michigan vs. #20 Pittsburgh
• Fiesta Bowl (Big XII #3 vs. ACC #3): #10 Oklahoma vs. #13 BYU
• Citrus Bowl (SEC #3 vs. Big Ten #3): #8 Ole Miss vs. #12 Michigan State
• Las Vegas Bowl (Pac-12 #3 vs. G-5 #1): Oregon State vs. #4 Cincinnati

The one caveat here is that Independent teams like Notre Dame can be slotted anywhere.  It’s only fair.  That’s why I put the Irish in the Orange Bowl.  Would this give us some lopsided bowl matchups?  Absolutely.  Teams like Texas A&M, UTSA, Iowa and Wisconsin would be left out in the cold (kind of) for a team like Pitt or Oregon State.  Wow, the ACC really sucks this season (and the Pac-12 isn’t a whole lot better).  So in this scenario, it really comes down to three games: the Orange, Sugar and Rose Bowls.  Georgia wins they probably are voted champs unless they win close and Ohio State wins big.  Now if both Georgia and Ohio State lose, it’s up for grabs to the Irish and Tide.  Interesting.  Would it work?  Who the hell knows.

OK I’ve had enough.  I can’t do anymore.  I’m worded out (is that even a thing).  More posts later this week.  Footballgasm is upon us.  Oh, wait, one more thing: MACtion tomorrow night!  Western Michigan and Northern Illinois will be on the specialty pack.  Buffalo-Ball State is on ESPN+ and not available to us Canadians.  Have a great week everyone!

Four? Eight? Twelve? Sixteen?

I’m sure some would love to go to 24 teams like FCS.  Honestly?  Fuck that.  But expansion is coming and we know it.  Could be here as early as the 2023 season so the graphic above will only make sense for this season and possibly next and that’s it, that’s all.  The new era of college football truly begins (regardless of what happens in realignment).

But for now we stick with the way things are meaning it’s bowl projection time!  I can now take all I’ve done over the past few weeks and wrap it up in a nice, neat, little package.  OK maybe neat is too strong a word.  I’m sure it will be somewhat messy.  And you won’t agree with all the choices.  Oh well, it is what it is.

Let’s get right to it and start with the College Football Playoff matchups.  If you read all the conference preview posts (every single one, right?) you have a good idea who’s here.  Remember, the rankings I have here are the rankings I believe these teams will be going into the bowl season.  Most of the time I have hit pretty well on these picks although I have had some real stinkers like picking Michigan State when they went 3-9.  So yeah it’s not all good for ol’ Bossman:

December 31st	Orange Bowl	#2 Alabama	#3 Ohio State
December 31st	Cotton Bowl	#1 Oklahoma	#4 North Carolina

First of all, ugh.  New Year’s Eve semi-final games.  I’m sure most will hate this.  Bama was an easy pick as everyone would have them #1 for the season but with one loss they would get in at #2.  Most have Oklahoma as well and I have them running the table to this point so makes sense to have them #1.  Ohio State should outlast their Big Ten foes and with only one loss as well they should easily slot in to #3 and a huge matchup with the Tide out in Miami.  And at #4….not Clemson!  This is probably the Tar Heels’ best shot at winning the ACC.  Clemson has a new quarterback and UNC has a Heisman hopeful in Sam Howell.  Despite the Tigers running the table and heading into the conference championships at #1, their loss would do enough to harm them and move them down the rankings.  Plus it would look really shitty on The Committee if they kept Clemson above Mack Brown’s boys after a conference title game loss.  North Carolina should be #5 going into the ACC Championship and I think The Committee will do the right thing after a Heels win.  Yes, Clemson fans will scream bloody murder but to no avail.  It’s about time they learn how to lose (somewhat) again after so many years at the top.

Now we get the New Year’s Six with three of those four games actually on New Year’s Day (why couldn’t the other one have been on New Year’s Eve?):

January 1st	Sugar Bowl	#11 Texas A&M	#9 Iowa State
January 1st	Rose Bowl	#14 Wisconsin	#8 USC
January 1st	Fiesta Bowl	#6 Notre Dame	#10 Washington
December 30th	Peach Bowl	#5 Clemson	#7 Cincinnati

Cue the debates.  As is usually the case, the top 11 ranked teams will head to the CFP or NY6.  Georgia will not get in after, once again, losing the SEC Championship to Alabama.  I see Georgia falling to #12, just below the Aggies, who will sneak into the New Year’s Six, still probably seething from Texas coming to the SEC.  Cincinnati actually won’t be the undefeated Group of Five team this season.  Coastal Carolina will be but the Bearcats’ schedule is quite difficult whereas the Chanticleers’ schedule, not so much.  Therefore, it’s an easy choice for Cincy to be well in the Top 10 and heading to Atlanta.  Notre Dame has, yet again, a brutal schedule but will navigate enough of it to be clearly a Top 10 team and have their shot out in the desert to win a New Year’s Six bowl game.  Iowa State finishes at #9 and could end up with their best finish ever (again) with a win over the Aggies in New Orleans.  USC and Washington will both get in probably no matter the result of the Pac-12 Championship.

And then we have the Big Ten runner-up, the 14th-ranked Wisconsin Badgers.  The Big Ten is contractually obligated to send a team to the Rose Bowl unless the Rose is a College Football Playoff semi-final.  The Badgers luck out with Iowa and Georgia losing in their respective conference championships as Wisky sits at home and watches.  Let’s be honest: this isn’t all that bad.  Better than having a team that’s ranked like #20 getting into a prestigious bowl game because of stupid bowl tie-ins.  That issue goes away for the most part with the 12-team playoff but then a different problem comes up.  You think being #13 or #14 and missing out on the New Year’s Six rankles the fans?   Wait until the #13 team misses out on the CFP.  Their fans will be livid for sure.  Good times.

Now for the rest of my predicted bowl matchups:

January 4th	Texas Bowl	#12 Georgia	Iowa
January 1st	Citrus Bowl	#19 Florida	#16 Penn State
January 1st	Outback Bowl	Auburn	Indiana
December 31st	Sun Bowl	Virginia Tech	#22 Utah
December 31st	Gator Bowl	#24 Ole Miss	#17 Miami
December 30th	Las Vegas Bowl	#25 Northwestern	#15 Oregon
December 30th	Arizona Bowl	Boise State	Ball State
December 30th	Redbox Bowl	Nebraska	#20 Arizona State
December 30th	Music City Bowl	#18 LSU	Michigan
December 30th	Duke’s Mayo Bowl	Kentucky	Wake Forest
December 29th	Alamo Bowl	#21 Texas	UCLA
December 29th	Cheez-It Bowl	#23 TCU	Boston College
December 29th	Pinstripe Bowl	Minnesota	Pittsburgh
December 29th	Fenway Bowl	UTSA	Memphis
December 28th	Guaranteed Rate Bowl	Tennessee	Oklahoma State
December 28th	Holiday Bowl	NC State	California
December 28th	Liberty Bowl	Missouri	West Virginia
December 28th	First Responder Bowl	Houston	Liberty
December 28th	Birmingham Bowl	Arkansas	UCF
December 27th	Military Bowl	Florida State	Eastern Michigan
December 27th	Quick Lane Bowl	Rice	Ohio
December 25th	Camellia Bowl	Louisiana	Buffalo
December 24th	Hawaii Bowl	Tulsa	Hawaii
December 23rd	Union Home Mortgage Bowl	Mississippi State	SMU
December 22nd	Armed Forces Bowl	Army	Baylor
December 21st	Frisco Bowl	Air Force	Texas State
December 21st	Idaho Potato Bowl	San Jose State	Toledo
December 20th	Myrtle Beach Bowl	Western Michigan	#13 Coastal Carolina
December 18th	New Orleans Bowl	Appalachian State	Florida Atlantic
December 18th	LA Bowl	Stanford	Nevada
December 18th	LendingTree Bowl	Kansas State	Central Michigan
December 18th	Independence Bowl	BYU	UAB
December 18th	New Mexico Bowl	Wyoming	Louisiana Tech
December 18th	Boca Raton Bowl	San Diego State	Southern Miss
December 17th	Cure Bowl	New Mexico	FIU
December 17th	Bahamas Bowl	Marshall	Kent State

Fenway Bowl!  LA Bowl!!! And they added the Myrtle Beach Bowl last year.  And now with the new 12-team playoff on the horizon there may be downsizing.  Hilarious.  At least Canadians can see most of the bowl games as per usual.  Well, as long as the specialty packs cooperate.  Here’s some notes on the wacky fun-time bowl season predictions:

• I have three games predicted between ranked teams: Florida-Penn State in the Citrus, Ole Miss-Miami in the Gator, & Northwestern-Oregon in the Las Vegas.  Really good games that you honestly would rarely get to see.  This is really what bowl season always used to be about (at least on the field).
• I’m not even bothering with showing you which tie-ins couldn’t be satisfied or which bowls have teams with 5-7 records (there are a few).  Trying to decipher how bowl season will shape up is difficult as is going into December.  Imagine how difficult (or near impossble) it is to do now.  Showing you all that info doesn’t matter much to be honest.
• Some of the better matchups include:
  • the three ranked-on-ranked matchups mentioned above
  • Auburn-Indy in the Outback Bowl
  • Georgia-Iowa in the Texas Bowl
  • BYU-UAB in the Independence Bowl
  • Louisiana-Buffalo in the Camellia Bowl
  • Texas-UCLA in the Alamo Bowl
  • Virginia Tech-Utah in the Sun Bowl
• Now, the naming rights to the Arizona Bowl has gone to Barstool Sports.  Interesting and not totally surprising.  What is surprising is that it won’t air on regular television as far as I know.  It will, as of this point, air on Barstool Sports’ website (which you would need to pay to see the game I believe).  That’s the weird part and I wonder what kind of viewership they will get.  Then again it is the Arizona Bowl so it’s not like they were getting a ton of viewers to begin with having it air on CBS Sports Network in the past.

The College Football Playoff semi-final games should actually both be good for once.  Bama-tOSU should be a classic with the Tide pulling out the win.  The other one should also be relatively close but the Sooners will finally get their semi-final win and their first berth in the national championship in the playoff era.  But the winning streak will end in the national championship as I have Nick Saban’s Alabama Crimson Tide winning their second straight championship and their third in five seasons.

Next up is the post where I actually make some pretty good predictions: the Coaching Hot Seat Report.  After that is a post I always do horrifically bad at for some reason, the Heisman Predictions.  After that I might as well do some NFL predictions which are also historically kinda bad.  We are 26 days away from the start of the college football season but at least now we have some actual football on the horizon to get us in the football watching mood…not that I usually need that but watching live football is gonna feel great after over six months of none.  And soon enough I will have a schedule up for Week Zero.  Will be interesting to see what ends up going to the specialty pack and if the specialty pack even starts that day.  Wouldn’t surprise me if they didn’t.  Why?  Because fuck you that’s why.  Enjoy your Civic Holiday if you are actually celebrating it (by being civic-minded I guess).

A CFP without Clemson? – Week 14 College Football Recap

Last year I did this and talked about the College Football Playoff without Alabama.  This time I posit about Clemson possibly not making the CFP.  And that could happen.  Their win over Virginia Tech looks good on paper but man it was a struggle until about the last part of the third quarter once they finally started pulling away (and after ABC hilariously aired an interview with Ian Book during the game probably thinking the Tigers would have essentially put the game away by then).  They clinch their spot in the ACC Championship and get a rematch with Notre Dame.  If they lose, they are guaranteed not to be in the CFP since the first one back in the 2014 season.  That would honestly feel odd.  Like Bama missing it last year.

Alright, enough of Clemson’s potential issues.  Let’s get to the recap!

The Recap!

• Let’s start with what ended up being the game of the week (of the year?): the game that was scheduled on THURSDAY between BYU and Coastal Carolina.  An epic affair between two Top 20 teams with the winner getting a possible legitimate shot at the New Year’s Six.  The final play looked very similar to when the Titans came up one yard short against the Rams in Super Bowl XXXIV.  Coastal ended up holding on for the victory which should move them up in the CFP rankings.  What it probably ended up doing though is far more important: BYU deciding to fill in for Liberty (who had COVID issues that made it so they couldn’t play) on a few days’ notice will create a new way to schedule games going forward.  This is huge for college football and is a much needed change from scheduling non-conference games 20 years out (which everyone, except ADs, think is absolutely ludicrous).
• Michigan State wasn’t even within an area code of Ohio State.  To be honest, it was painful to watch.  The Buckeyes continue their run to the Big Ten Championship (hopefully).  The game against Michigan this Saturday looms large.  Michigan’s game this past weekend was cancelled and if they still have issues with COVID-19 then they may have to have this one be cancelled as well.  As per the Big Ten rules, this would make tOSU in eligible for the Big Ten title game.  It’s ridiculous that this could happen but it’s possible that they would not even make their conference championship but get to the CFP.  If the Big Ten is smart, they find a way to get the Buckeyes a game if the the game against The Team Up North has to be cancelled.
• I think Iowa State heard the haters.  What they did to West Virginia was nasty.  That huge victory clinched their trip to JerryWorld for the first time in team history.  The Cyclones are trying to erase the memory of the early season loss to Louisiana although I don’t know why since the Ragin’ Cajuns are ranked.
• Speaking of the Ragin’ Cajuns that was something else down in Boone Friday night.  Some disgusting footbaw weather (rain this time) made it very difficult, especially for Louisiana’s poor long snapper who made multiple horrible snaps that kept the Cajuns from pulling away from the Mountaineers.  In the end, a missed App State field goal allowed Louisiana to get the duke and also stay ranked going into their bye week as they prepare for Coastal Carolina in the biggest Sun Belt Championship ever.
• Good job, Oklahoma State. Any hope to sneak into the Big XII Championship went up in flames Saturday in Fort Worth.  Not like TCU played all that well.  But the Cowboys were finally exposed and we have another season where the Mullet Express will not head to the Metroplex which has to be frustrating Oklahoma State fans at this point.
• Who picked Colorado to start 4-0?  Put your hands down you liars.  The Buffaloes were lead by Jarek Broussard’s insane day on the ground as he ran for 301 yards!  I get it, it was just Arizona.  But it was still impressive.  The worst part about all this?  Because their game against USC was cancelled, the Pac-12 might have two undefeated teams in the same division and only one of those teams will head to the Pac-12 Championship game.  For the final time, ABOLISH DIVISIONS!  It has run its course.  There is no need for them now.  Plus having no divisions ensures the best two teams (on the season) will play for the conference title.  Instead, we may see Oregon or even Washington in the Pac-12 title game.  Yuck.
• It felt like an upset was in the making for a while.  But Texas A&M did enough to hold on for the win over Auburn and keep their slim College Football Playoff hopes alive.  They have done this despite the team not looking all that good for much of the season.  Saying that, if the Aggies can make the CFP, the 10-year contract given to Jimbo Fisher starts to look a whole lot smarter.
• Let’s see if I get this correct:  Rice’s 20-0 win over Marshall was a shocker for sure.  The Herd threw five interceptions and looked horrible all day.  This marked the Owls’ first win over a ranked team in 23 years and their first shutout of a ranked opponent in 60 years!  It’s Marshall’s first loss, ending their slim NY6 hopes.  And it is probably the first time that a 1-win team has shut out a ranked team in December.  And of course it was on ESPN3 so barely anyone got to watch it.
• Texas scored 69 points against Kansas State.  Nice.
• The other game of the week ended up being Arkansas-Missouri.  What an amazing finish.  The Hogs go down the field, score the TD and decide to go for two.  The two-point conversion pass is in the Mizzou defender’s hands and just tips out and into the Arkansas receiver’s hands to give the Razorbacks the lead.  Then the Tigers go down the field and their freshman kicker nails the winning field goal.  Missouri is quietly 5-3 under first-year head coach Eli Drinkwitz.  Pretty impressive.
• Finally, Akron won its first game in 770 days.  That is not a typo.  They beat Bowling Green who is probably the worst FBS team this season.

Coaching Carousel

Hey let’s have some fun and look at the coaching carousel.

So what is happening on the ol’ carousel?  Let’s take a look.

• Get this.  Scott Satterfield, despite saying he wasn’t going to look for another coaching position, talked with South Carolina anyway.  Many people are very upset, especially at Louisville.  Don’t be surprised if Satterfield is shitcanned in the next few weeks.
• As for the Gamecocks job, it goes to Shane Beamer.  Yes, Frank’s son.  He wasn’t the first two choices, that we know since Billy Napier also turned down the job after Satterfield did.  He is going to have his work cut out for him making South Carolina a contender in the SEC East.
• Derek Mason was dismissed at Vanderbilt.  No real surprise there.  Who will replace him?  It seems like whoever it is really has to change the perception of the program and convince the university to spend more money on the program and/or get better recruits.
• Jay Hopson was fired a few months ago.  Yes it has been that long ago.  Will Hall, Tulane’s offensive coordinator, has been hired by the Golden Eagles to bring that program out of the dumps.
• Gary Andersen was fired a while ago at Utah State.  If I was a program, even at the FCS level, I would stay away from this clown since he is totally unreliable.

Potential other coaching moves:

• Texas – Even with Texas’s shellacking of Kansas State on Saturday, Tom Herman’s time in Austin may be over soon.  And of course who is the top candidate to replace him?  Urban Meyer, of course!  The other candidate looks to be Penn State’s James Franklin, of all people.  The real straw that may have broken the proverbial camel’s back at Texas is losing Quinn Ewers, the top-ranked quarterback for two seasons from now, to Ohio State.
• Kansas – The Les Miles Experiment really has not worked in Lawrence.  And who may be the first to admit it?  Les himself.  He may decide to retire rather than stick around knowing it will take at least another two years to get the Jayhawks back into contention in the Big XII for the first time in over a decade.
• Brent Venables – Every off-season his name comes up as it pertains to the coaching carousel.  This season is no different.  Expect a less polished Power Five program throwing out a bunch of money to possibly lure him into his first head coaching job.
• ULM – Things were on the up-and-up in Monroe under Matt Viator.  Then came this year’s collapse as the Warhawks are now the worst team in the Sun Belt.  They will look probably to the FCS to find candidates.  UPDATE: Viator has been fired.
• FIU – After two great years, things have been horrible for Butch Davis in 2020.  They thought they had their man but he may not be the guy to grow this program.  Problem is his buyout is over $1 million so that may keep him with the Golden Panthers for another season.
• Middle Tennessee – The thing I can’t believe is the buyout for Rick Stockstill.  $5.8 million!  Who the fuck put that into his contract?  Anyway, his contract runs for three more seasons so I could see MTSU bringing him back at least for 2021 to see if the Blue Raiders improve and then make a decision.
• Luke Fickell – This is probably the guy every Power Five program that has fired their coach or might let theirs go is looking at.  He has done some unreal things at Cincinnati.  And remember, so did Brian Kelly and Mark Dantonio and they both had very good coaching careers at the Power Five level.
• Jim Harbaugh/Michigan – Good lord, here we go again.  The buyout is large but his next season is technically his last in Ann Arbor under his current deal.  The Wolverines have been nothing short of awful this year and you have to wonder if Harbaugh has lost his spark.  He almost seems destined to go back to the NFL, if not for next season then definitely for 2021.  If Michigan pulls the trigger and fires him after this season, this automatically becomes the best coaching opening available with nothing else even close.
• Tom Allen – Don’t laugh.  This guy cemented his Coach of the Year with the big win over Wisconsin this past weekend.  The players and other coaches love him and he has endless energy.  If one of Michigan, Florida State, Penn State or Tennessee decides to move on, he is the guy.  It’s pricey.  They will have to probably chip in for his buyout which is, *GASP* $23.5 million.  Holy shit.  But it may be worth it.

Remember last week I said I would talk about the conference championship races?  Well here we go.  Man this post is getting into Super Mega Hyper Omni Post territory.

It’s the third annual Sun Belt Championship game and they still haven’t got Mountain Dew or Skoal or Shoney’s or some place like that to sponsor it.  This will be the first Sun Belt Championship not to feature Appalachian State.  Coastal Carolina and Louisiana have won their respective divisions and will face off in the championship game at the home of the Chanticleers in Conway, South Carolina, near Myrtle Beach (which you should know if you watched Mormons vs. Mullets on Saturday).

Conference USA has been a mess all season.  The conference seems to be limping to the end.  In the East, no-longer-undefeated Marshall must beat Charlotte to win the division.  If they don’t win, it feels like there will be some tiebreaker action between the Herd and Florida Atlantic (and possibly even Charlotte).  Stay tuned.  In the West, UTSA leads the way followed closely by UAB.  It all comes down to next week’s game between UAB and Rice.  Blazers win and they play in the conference title game.  If they lose, it goes to UTSA.

The MAC title tilt is halfway set, I think.  Nothing has been officially said but it feels like Buffalo has clinched the MAC East.  I don’t know why it hasn’t been announced yet though.  In the MAC West, Ball State faces Western Michigan this Saturday and the winner heads to Detroit.

San Jose State and Boise State seem primed to make up for their cancelled game in the conference championship with both teams still undefeated in the conference.  Boise plays Wyoming and SJSU plays Nevada this weekend.  Here are the scenarios:

• Broncos and Spartans win and they both go to the conference championship.
• Broncos win and Spartans lose, it’s Nevada and Boise in the title game.
• Both Broncos and Spartans lose, it’s Boise and SJSU in the championship.

Alright Cincinnati is already in.  And Tulsa clinched their spot this past Saturday.  Now Cincinnati heads to Tulsa this Saturday and then will host them the following weekend.  It would not surprise me to see this game cancelled to give both teams a week of rest.

It’s Clemson up against Notre Dame in a massive rematch of their earlier game.  Huge implications for this game.

This has been set.  The somewhat surprising Iowa State Cyclones get their chance against Oklahoma at JerryWorld.

The Pac-12 is a complete shitshow.  Let me try and make some understanding of all this.

• Washington could have clinched on Saturday but lost to Stanford.  So now if Washington beats Oregon they go to the Pac-12 title game, wherever that may be.
• Oregon, on the other hand, is in if they beat Washington thanks to Oregon State’s loss to Utah.
• USC, after beating Washington State, is tied with Colorado at the top of the South.
• If both teams win next weekend, it comes to who is higher up in the CFP rankings.  Meaning the Trojans will have the edge.

So, of course, the Pac-12 fucks things up again.  Undefeated Colorado quite possibly could be left out of the Pac-12 title game because they have divisions.  Can someone fire Larry Scott already?

Northwestern clinched the Big Ten West despite sitting at home and will await to see if the Ohio State-Michigan game gets played.  If the Wolverines have to cancel, that makes tOSU ineligible for the conference championship game.  This would mean Indiana would travel a short way to Indianapolis to play for the Big Ten crown.  If the game is played and the Buckeyes beat Michigan, then they are heading there.  Or, the Big Ten could change the rules and allow Ohio State to go anyway.  Who the hell knows anymore.

Alabama and Florida.  No LSU, who could be one of the worst defending champs in recent memory.  But in an interesting twist, it will be the Texas A&M Football Aggies who will be watching in earnest (as long as they take of business this weekend).

Alright that was a super long post.  But it keeps you informed going into next week, the quasi-last week of the regular season.  Now we can remember what it was like when Army-Navy shared the week with a bunch of other weird games.  Later in the week will be the normal bowl projection, college football schedule and NFL schedule posts.  Have a great week everyone!

Well guess who decided a conference championship was the way to go?

One True Champion my ass.  What a joke this was.  Who the hell took that seriously?  I get that back in the day there were no conference championships and college football was more pure or some shit like that.  Fine.  But this is 2017.  Conference title games are where it’s at.  Plus there’s a shitload of money involved.  What the hell took them so long?  Oh that’s right…not enough teams.  I still kind of chuckle at the Big XII saying that no team out there in the G5 world really belongs in the Big XII.  This is a conference with Iowa State and Kansas football year in and year out.  Man do I ever wish promotion-relegation was a thing in college football.  Would be so damn exciting!  But now that the Big Ecks-Eye-Eye can have a title game with ten teams it’s full speed ahead to certain rematches.  Yay?

Anyway, what was I here for?  Oh that’s right, predictions.  And this is where we start.  Decided not to go the sexy route and start with the Big Ten or SEC.  Go with the conference that seems to disappoint on a semi-annual basis so then (at least in P5 terms) the only way to go is up.  I will be doing all the Power Five predictions first, followed by Independents and then the Group of Five.  Might as well have some semblance of order here, right?  Right!  OK here’s the Big XII standings predictions by moi followed by some burdens of proof (cue Law and Order music….DUH DUH!):

	Conference		Overall
	W	L	W	L
Oklahoma State	8	1	10	2
Oklahoma	8	1	10	2
TCU	7	2	9	3
Texas	6	3	8	4
Kansas State	5	4	8	4
Baylor	5	4	8	4
West Virginia	3	6	5	7
Texas Tech	2	7	4	8
Iowa State	2	7	3	9
Kansas	0	9	2	10

Burdens of Proof

• Iowa State and Kansas will finish 9^th and 10^th in the Big XII, respectively. I might as well carve that in granite.
• I would love to say I have some HOT TAKES for the Big XII this season like I did last year (remember I said Texas would be mediocre? Aw yeah!). But I really don’t have any unless you count Drunk Uncle Dana’s Mountaineers falling back down to the second tier of the Big XII and finishing under .500.  You don’t consider that a hot take?  Fine, a relatively warm take that needs more time in the microwave.
• Another relatively lukewarm take: Matt Rhule will not improve the Baylor Bears that much this season. He will need this year to set this gongshow of a program up for the future.  Hopefully, he can bring some semblance of ethics (as much as you can have in big-time college football) to Waco after all that happened under the Art Briles regime.
• Remember what I said about a conference championship game? Well it’s interesting this season because it affected the schedule maker of all people.  They moved Bedlam back a few weeks to make sure they didn’t have a rematch that many (including myself) would see in the inaugural Big XII Championship Game (which will be sponsored by probably Dr Pepper or Golden Corral).  I have OSU defeating the Sooners in Bedlam and then the Fighting Stoops…uh, I mean, Fighting Kennedys returning the favour in the conference title tilt.
• I predict six bowl teams here, seven if they need 5-7 teams there and West Virginia is smart enough to be there I guess.
• I still believe they should expand. BYU for sure belongs in a Power Five conference.  Who the other team would be?  Who really gives a shit.  Unless they are going to four mega-conferences which will eventually split from the NCAA altogether, we will stick with five and the Big XII should get their act together and just invite two and get it over with.

Next up?  The on-the-rise conference of the P5, the Atlantic Coast Conference.  And ladies and gentlemen, we are now 38 days from opening day of the season.  I know the opening day looks kind of meh but it’s still college football and I will watch it all like the depraved person I am.