Hey let’s look ahead (and also give you the Week 8 College Football TV schedule)

Posted on October 19, 2022 by guelphbossman

I tend to do most of my psychic work in the offseason…or when looking at bowl projections. Neither of which I do very well. So yeah sounds like a great idea to do it again in the middle of the season right? I never learn.

Will the SEC send a team not from Alabama or Georgia to the College Football Playoff? Tennessee and Ole Miss are both looking the real deal this season. The Vols already pulled off a big upset with their win over the Tide. The Rebels get their shot next month. Tennessee still has to get by Georgia to win the division. So maybe we could be looking at a Vols-Rebels SEC Championship? Honestly, I don’t think so but you never know.

Does the Big Ten still come down to The Big Game? Yes. I think Illinois is doing great and Purdue might end up being the new power in the Big Ten West but it still all comes down to the The Big Game between Michigan and Ohio State. Winner probably wins the conference and heads to the CFP. Loser to the New Year’s Six and the Rose Bowl. I don’t see another scenario unless one of the teams is upset before then.

What’s going to happen with the Pac-12? If Oregon loses this Saturday to UCLA then it will be either the Bruins or Trojans with the only shot for the College Football Playoff. How sad is that for this conference? USC and UCLA leave in 2024 and there are a lot of rumours that Oregon and Washington will follow, possibly for that same season. It’s been bad for the conference for a while but they somehow are coming up with new lows. I assume they poach the Mountain West for at least two teams to stay at the Pac-10 going forward but it won’t be the conference that it’s been in the past, much to Bill Walton’s chagrin.

Is TCU the Big XII’s only hope? No, nor are they a good choice either. I can’t see the Horned Frogs running the table. There is a much better chance of Oklahoma State or even Texas having a shot. A lot would have to happen for the Longhorns to be in contention but it could happen. Me? I’m hoping for chaos and a two-loss team in the CFP. Wouldn’t that be wild?

Who’s the next coach to be fired? It feels like it will be Bryan Harsin and that it will happen any day now. I think he will be after the next coach to be fired. I believe the next coach fired will be Neal Brown instead. It hasn’t been an abject disaster in Morgantown but Brown has shown no signs of improving this program. With Texas Tech and Kansas possibly passing them in the Big XII pecking order, they maybe sitting in the basement by the end of 2022.

Who will win the Heisman? I think if Tennessee goes undefeated through the regular season, it’s Hendon Hooker’s Heisman (Triple H) to lose. One loss or a really bad game from Hooker and it opens the door to like half-a-dozen others, including C.J. Stroud, Dorian Thompson-Robinsion, Bryce Young and Caleb Williams.

Alright that’s enough predictions for now. You didn’t come for that (I don’t think). You came for schedules, right? So let’s get right to them!

Wednesday

		US	Canada
Georgia State at Appalachian State	7:30 PM

Before the season this felt like it could be huge in deciding the Sun Belt East. Not so much anymore.

Thursday

		US	Canada
Virginia at Georgia Tech	7:30 PM
Troy at South Alabama	7:30 PM

The highlight here, honestly, is what could be the Sun Belt West title game. South Alabama is WAY better than advertised and Troy has improved from last year as well. Also, Georgia Tech might actually be favoured in a conference game as the Hoos come to Atlanta. Wouldn’t have been that way with Geoff Collins still in charge, I can guarantee that.

Friday

		US	Canada
Princeton at Harvard	7:00 PM
Tulsa at Temple	7:30 PM
UAB at WKU	8:00 PM

Nothing of serious importance although it could be interesting to see what happens in Bowling Green (not the university, the town). Winner there stays in the hunt to get to the Conference USA Championship game.

Saturday Early

I would say this is a good appetizer for the games later on but there’s a main course mixed in there. Syracuse travels to Death Valley East with legitimate upset aspirations. They win here and they turn the ACC (and college football in general) kind of upside down. What many would have picked as the game of the afternoon at the start of the season could look like an absolute blowout. Could Iowa lose by 50? Quite possibly.

Kansas still getting no love. ESPN2 for a big game against Baylor? Come on man. What really is perplexing, though, is UT-Martin getting on to TSN. UT-Martin? I get that Tennessee is good but there are a few other games that could have gone there…like the KU-BU game I just mentioned!

Saturday Afternoon

If UCLA and USC don’t get to the Victory Bell game in November both undefeated then the Bruins’ game against Oregon here might be the Pac-12 Game of the Year (and their best chance to put a team into the College Football Playoff).

You may notice that the UNLV-Notre Dame game isn’t on this list. That’s because this is the one game this season that NBC moves to Peacock. I hope the Rebels somehow win. The Longhorns and Pokes might be in a quasi-elimination game, especially if TCU keeps winning. Ole Miss and Purdue have landmine games where an upset or two wouldn’t be a total surprise.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Boise State at Air Force	7:00 PM
#24 Mississippi State at #6 Alabama	7:00 PM
Minnesota at #16 Penn State	7:30 PM
UCF at East Carolina	7:30 PM
Texas A&M at South Carolina	7:30 PM
Pittsburgh at Louisville	8:00 PM
#17 Kansas State at #8 TCU	8:00 PM
Colorado at Oregon State	8:00 PM

Two underrated teams no more as Kansas State travels to Fort Worth to face an undefeated Horned Frogs team. This is absolutely massive for both teams and would have been on FOX if FOX didn’t have baseball that night.

The rest of the primetime schedule could be considered a bit weak unless the Bulldogs can put a scare into Bama. The ABC primetime matchup is very weak considering some of the games that are on this Saturday. I don’t get it sometimes with these picks but at least the network won’t lean on the Big Ten all the time like they’ve been doing in recent years. FOX has taken up that mantle.

Also, we have what might as well be the de facto Mountain West Mountain championship between Boise and AFA. And we have another Pat McAfee night on ESPN2. Great…..

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
San Diego State at Nevada	10:30 PM
Washington at California	10:30 PM
Montana at Sacramento State	11:00 PM

OK so the primetime schedule might be weak in spots but this is brutal. Meaning either Cal is beating the Huskies or Nevada ends the Brady Hoke era at SDSU. Otherwise this is a fucking joke. Oh, plus we are stuck with the Sacramento Test this week. And no, that’s not a test of Sacramento Kings’ fans’ patience.

Big Games O’ The Week

UCLA at Oregon (3:30, FOX) – There are a few games that could occupy this top spot but I picked the one which I believe has the most at stake. If the Bruins win, it sets them up perfectly for the Battle for Los Angeles against their crosstown rivals, USC. A loss and, quite frankly, the Pac-12 could be sitting out the CFP yet again. As I said, huge stakes.

Syracuse at Clemson (Noon, ABC/TSN4) – The Orange Dream Season Express rolls on here as The Fighting Babers look to pull off the upset of all upsets. And we’ve seen that D.J. Uiagalelei has had poor games in the past. A Cuse win here would throw everyone’s ACC predictions into a dumpster (and then that dumpster to be set on fire).

Kansas State at TCU (8:00, FOX Sports One) – This still will not get as much attention as the Texas-Oklahoma State game earlier in the day and I think that suits these two teams just fine. A TCU win keeps their CFP hopes very much alive whereas a Kansas State win puts a bunch of teams back in the mix for the Big XII title game at JerryWorld.

Mississippi State at Alabama (7:00, specialty pack) – Some are actually wondering why Mississippi State is in the Top 25. I think if the Bulldogs had any semblance of a running game they’d be clearly in the Top 20 and contending for an SEC West title. Instead, they have Will Rogers throw the ball a million times and hope for the best. Classic Mike Leach. I kind of hope this is close but don’t be surprised if it’s over by 8:00.

Texas at Oklahoma State (3:30, ABC) – ABC’s ongoing love affair with the Big Ten, despite the fact they will be leaving the network soon, pushes a game like this to the afternoon timeslot. I don’t think many thought Texas would be in a game that, if they win, could put them in the driver’s seat to get to the Big XII Championship. Kansas State, TCU and even Kansas will watch this game with quite a bit of interest.

Ole Miss at LSU (3:30, CBS) – Ole Miss can’t have this be a speed bump game. LSU is better than they were last year and may be shaking of the early season shitshow and are playing good ball under Brian Kelly. The Lane Train needs to mow teams like this down knowing that Bama is coming down the line.

Minnesota at Penn State (7:30, ABC) – Is it one of the big time games you’d want to see in the ABC Primetime window? No. This could end up being a good game though. And James Franklin certainly wants his Nittany Lions to play well after the disaster that was their game in Ann Arbor last weekend.

Psycho Game of the Week

Arizona State at Stanford (4:00, Pac-12 Network) – Two terrible Pac-12 teams here. This is the second straight week the Pac-12 has appeared in this section. And it won’t be the last. I honestly do wonder if David Shaw will get to 2023 considering how poor Stanford has been this year (and the past couple of years).

Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week

Iowa at Ohio State (Noon, FOX) – Yep, I am officially calling it. This could get VERY ugly. Iowa’s offense is anemic and shouldn’t fare too well against the Buckeye defense. They might cover the 29 point spread by 1:00.

Fun-Time Stats of the Week

Kansas’ last win over Baylor was fifteen years ago. They have also ten in a row to the Bears against the spread.
Notre Dame is 30-6 vs. the Mountain West.
Appalachian State has never lost to Georgia State in eight meetings. They’ve also won seven of those games by double digits.

The Degenerate Portion of Our Show

I don’t consider myself a gambler. Mostly because I’m not very good at it. I’m sure I am not too far away from some of the experts though in terms of success. Remember that guy on the late night commercials? What was his name? I want to say Cash Palmer. Anyway, him, along with a bunch of other guys who I wouldn’t hire to mow my townhouse lawn, would hock their picks at like 3 in the morning to degenerates who figured they couldn’t do this themselves. I assume all those guys are dead or in an old folks’ home. Anyway, enough of that. Call me Boss Bucks, or something equally stupid, and let’s get the show on the road.

Georgia State (+9.5) over Appalachian State (the Mountaineers win a nailbiter)
Troy (+3) over South Alabama with the outright win
Tulsa (-13) over Temple
UT-Martin (+37.5) over Tennessee with the Vols still winning by four touchdowns
Baylor (-8) over Kansas
Army (-7) over ULM
Liberty (+6.5) over BYU (the Cougs will win this game though in a close one)
Maryland (-13.5) over Northwestern
Boston College (+20.5) over Wake Forest (the Deacs cruise to a relatively easy victory)
Vanderbilt (+14) over Missouri (Mizzou will win the game)
Mississippi State (+21) over Alabama (Tide win after Bulldogs keep it close for three quarters)
UCF (-5) over East Carolina for the road victory
Nevada (+7) over San Diego State (with the Aztecs winning)

The Bossman Top 25!

It’s back! I figured it was about time to whip out a set of rankings for everyone. It’s early so there isn’t a reason to debate but I’m sure some of the spots will make you do a double take. Here we go:

#1	Georgia
#2	Tennessee
#3	Ohio State
#4	Michigan
#5	Clemson
#6	TCU
#7	Ole Miss
#8	Alabama
#9	Oregon
#10	Oklahoma State
#11	Syracuse
#12	UCLA
#13	Utah
#14	Wake Forest
#15	USC
#16	Kansas State
#17	Kentucky
#18	Penn State
#19	Cincinnati
#20	NC State
#21	Illinois
#22	North Carolina
#23	Texas
#24	Purdue
#25	Mississippi State

I’m sure some will look and say why is Tennessee in the #2 spot. Or why is TCU ahead of Alabama. Or why UCLA is not in the Top 10. Look, as I say every year, these things will work themselves out. It’s still early remember. We are only at the halfway point. Come mid-November, then some true debates can be had but until then, it’s just preference. Unless someone puts Alabama at #20 because they don’t like Bama. In that case, that’s fucking stupid.

It’s a little late to get the blog posted and I apologize for that. Just been feeling under the weather and I’m sure how crappy it’s been outside hasn’t helped matters. Looking forward to another great week of college football. Enjoy the games everyone!

Hey, how about some more lists of games?

Posted on July 1, 2022 by guelphbossman

No, no, this won’t be bad, I promise you. OK, promise is a strong word. It will be fine. No need to worry. Look, I will just get right to the lists and then if you want to tell me afterwards that it was all bullshit then I may listen.

Sneaky-Good/Underrated Games

Let’s start with the games I would consider underrated or sneaky-good. These games are not in the Top 30 list but should be very good (and close) games. Now watch half of them be blowouts. Let’s begin.

Cincinnati at Arkansas (Week 1, 3:30, ESPN, confirmed) – A lot of college football fans (including myself) are looking forward to this one. Let’s just see how good the Bearcats still are after their glass ceiling-shattering performance of 2021. And the Hogs are no slouch either. This gun be good.
Kentucky at Tennessee (Week 9, 7:00, ESPNU) – These two teams feel like the only ones that can truly challenge Georgia in the SEC East (no offense to Florida). Whether this gets off of ESPNU is another story but if at least one of these teams is doing really well, I would think that would be considered.
Pittsburgh at Miami (Week 13, Noon, ABC) – This could be a massive game if either team plays above their talent this season. Pitt is coming off an amazing ACC title run and Miami feels like they may be starting to actually get back to those 80s and 90s Hurricane squads. Now watch both teams be 6-5 and this game mean absolutely jack shit.
Tennessee at LSU (Week 6, Noon, ESPN) – I am sure Tigers fans will be pissed off that this game isn’t at night since ALL GAMES AT DEATH VALLEY SHOULD BE AT NIGHT according to them. Not saying it’s a great atmosphere but you have to be realistic. Both teams will need this early conference win to have any hopes of a potential New Year’s Six berth.
Michigan State at Penn State (Week 13, 3:30, ABC) – Chances of this being part of a huge Big Ten doubleheader after tOSU-Michigan are slim. Who knows where this game will land when it comes to importance. I assume at least one of these teams will have an outside shot at an NY6 slot going into this week.
Tennessee at Pittsburgh (Week 2, 3:30, ABC, confirmed) – Wow, I have the Volunteers in a lot of these games. Their season could be the most volatile of all teams, at least in the SEC. We are looking at anywhere from five to maybe ten wins for this squad. If they do get to double digit wins, fans in Knoxville are going to build a statue (a small one but still a statue) of Josh Heupel in front of Neyland Stadium.
Kentucky at Ole Miss (Week 5, 7:30, SEC Network) – Love him or hate him, you can’t deny that Lane Kiffin is entertaining. And he brings an offense that could average 40 a game if he wanted to really let go of the reins. The Wildcats are no pushovers and it is a bit of a surprise that Mark Stoops hasn’t been offered a more prominent head coaching position. Maybe after this season he will get that if the Cats hit heights that have never been achieved in Lexington.
Arkansas at BYU (Week 7, 10:30, ESPN) – Honestly, this could be one of the most fun games to watch all year. Two great coaches, two teams that score a lot of points, and two great fanbases (no matter what you think about the people of Provo). BYU’s only possible chance at the New Year’s Six is to win games like this and they have to hope the raucous crowd at LaVell Edwards Stadium will help them in this one.
Baylor at Texas (Week 13, Friday, 3:30, ABC) – This could game could end up being even more important than Bedlam, which is saying something. There are even some that say that this could be foreshadowing a rematch the following week at Jerrah’s house. I mean I’m not one of them but there are some out there.
Purdue at Wisconsin (Week 8, Noon, ABC) – Alright, hear me out. Is Purdue now a Top 25 team? Debatable. Could they make some noise in the Big Ten West? Absolutely. And someone has to challenge the Badgers, right?

Best Group of Five Games

Let’s give the G5 some love! These games are ones that only include Group of Five teams (so no G5 vs. P5 games here). Something tells me the American Conference will show up a lot here. Oh, and by the way, I am also not putting BYU games in this section. To me they are a Power Five team.

Cincinnati at UCF (Week 9, Noon, ESPN) – For the second straight fucking year, Cincinnati and Houston do not play each other during the regular season. I honestly don’t get how the AAC does their schedules but it’s fucking bonkers. This means that this game ends up being the G5 game of the year and it might not even mean anything if UCF isn’t improved. Let’s hope the Gus Bus has a full tank and is ready to go.
Fresno State at Boise State (Week 6, 3:30, FS1) – The first game on any of these lists that we won’t be able to see here (unless you have IPTV or an illegal stream or something that most of us can probably easily find). And no, there is no way it can be moved unless FOX decides to put it on the national network because all Broncos home games are on FOX, FS1 or FS2.
Boise State at Air Force (Week 8, 7:00, CBSSN, confirmed) – Here’s the other part of Boise’s TV contract. Their road games must be on CBS or CBSSN. They are the special team of the Mountain West, make no mistake about it. They are the ones that bring in the eyeballs. Considering what has happened in realignment, the conference might want to add a couple teams to strengthen it and potentially weaken another FBS conference because soon enough, the Broncos will go to another conference and not change their mind.
Cincinnati at SMU (Week 8, 4:00, ESPNU) – Every year lately I have heard that SMU might put it all together and make a run. SMU has the pass offense to do some great things. SMU’s defense is good enough to stop the best American Conference teams. Blah, blah, blah. Until they actually do these things, I won’t believe any of the hype. If they keep this close, colour me impressed. I mean they do have the offense to do so but they have to keep the Bearcats under 50 points to have a shot here.
Houston at UTSA (Week 1, 3:30, CBSSN, confirmed) – I’m kind of surprised that CBS picked Arizona-San Diego State instead of this game for Week 1. Houston is the one team that many believe could knock Cincy off their perch but UTSA was amazing last year. Such a fun ride watching the Roadrunners reel off eleven straight wins and give them a much deserved national spotlight. This game will show all of us which of these two teams (if not both of them) are ready to do some damage again this year. Maybe I should have put this at #4. Too late now.
East Carolina at Cincinnati (Week 11, Friday, 7:30, ESPN2, confirmed) – Now here’s a team in ECU that likes to throw the ball all over the damn field. I’m sure Mike Houston’s strategy is to throw the ball until Holton Ahlers’ arm falls off…and then make him use the other arm. Bet the over.
Air Force at Utah State (Week 6, 7:00, FS1) – Both teams rolled past Boise State last year and don’t want to give up that top spot in the Mountain West. One team has to lose here, though, since the NCAA would rather have 53 overtimes of two-point conversions than a tie.
Appalachian State at Coastal Carolina (Week 10, Thursday, 7:30, ESPN, confirmed) – The Fighting Mullets are back to see if they can go back-to-back-to-back double digit win seasons. And let’s be honest: App State is always at the top of the Sun Belt heap (or near it). I love late season weekday night college football and the Fun Belt may be the top conference in providing it (no offense, MACtion).
UTSA at UAB (Week 10, 6:00, Facebook) – Yes, Facebook. There’s a reason these two teams (with four others) are leaving Conference USA for the American Conference next season. It’s the TV contract. It has been horrifically bad basically since the conference was created and nothing they’ve done has made it any better. And with these teams leaving, don’t think ESPN or FOX will step up to pick up games from this woebegone conference that may have completely lost its way and dropped to the bottom of the FBS pecking order.
San Diego State at Fresno State (Week 9, 10:30, FS1) – Your Mountain West Squared Division Championship (probably). Winner most likely ends up as the road team for the Mountain West Championship and the loser will go to Albuquerque or Boise or some other odd bowl destination. I know I’ll be watching…until about 2 in the morning.

Best Group of Five vs. Power Five Games

A new section this year! I figured I would put in just a few of these games. Group of Five teams always dream to have their shot at a Power Five team and every year there are legitimate possibilities for upsets among these games. Some P5 teams hate scheduling the better G5 teams for this reason.

Cincinnati at Arkansas (Week 1, 3:30, ESPN, confirmed) – I already covered this in the last post so I won’t bother here. But yeah this should be a good one.
Fresno State at USC (Week 3, 10:30, FOX, confirmed) – Late night FOX football is back! And if USC wants to be considered back in the Pac-12 saddle, these are the games they have to win. The Bulldogs are no pushover and they are almost feeling like the Pat Hill Anywhere, Anytime, Fresno State of the 2000s.
Appalachian State at Texas A&M (Week 2, 3:30, ESPN2, confirmed) – Is App State the best Sun Belt team again? A win here might confirm that. They are usually a fun team to watch but this is a brutal early season trip that won’t be easy. Almost 110,000 crazy fans (and if you’ve seen the Midnight Yell, you know they’re crazy) will make sure of it.
San Diego State at Utah (Week 3, 10:00, ESPN2, confirmed) – Last year these two teams played a hell of a game in front of a not-even-half-filled Dignity Health Sports Park all the way in Carson, the former home of the formerly homeless Los Angeles Chargers. The Aztecs pulled off the upset in triple overtime. This year, yeah, the MUSS will be loud and Rice-Eccles Stadium will be full so SDSU better be ready for a much different atmosphere this time around.
Boise State at Oregon State (Week 1, 10:30, ESPN, confirmed) – I can’t see the Broncos having two straight mediocre seasons. So expect fireworks in this one. I implore you to stay up late for this one since it should be good. Also, there’s a good chance this game makes it to TSN although that is not confirmed at this point obviously.

Worst Power Five Games

Honestly, this is one of my favourite sections to look at because it tells me the games I should avoid. Unless they are really close late in the fourth quarter and I will bite my tongue and go and watch it because I am a deranged college football fan.

Duke at Kansas (Week 4, Noon, FS1) – Oh my, look at what we start with. This is absolutely disgusting and glorious all at the same time. Watch it be one of the games of the year with a ton of offense and a close finish.
Duke at Georgia Tech (Week 6, 12:30, FSN – Regional) – It feels like Duke is going to be in this section a lot. Poor Blue Devils football fans thought they were out of this basement. Alas, it wasn’t to be. Don’t worry, though: college basketball is only about three-and-a-half months away.
Arizona State at Colorado (Week 9, 3:30, ESPN2) – Kind of surprised this isn’t a Pac-12 Network game. I mean, it could end up being that so I should stop before I make any guarantees. I’m wondering if by this point we know the fate of good ol’ Herm Edwards since it is just a matter of time before he is shitcanned down in Tempe.
Duke at Northwestern (Week 2, Noon, FS1, confirmed) – Should I just put all of Duke’s road games on this list? Luckily for most Canadians, you don’t have to subject yourself to this one since you can’t get FOX Sports One.
Indiana at Rutgers (Week 8, 3:00, BTN) – Ah, Rutgers our old friend is back in the list they are so very accustomed to. I mean I guess rabid college football fans are happy that they get the Big Ten Network as part of their normal cable packages now. I do miss the Big East, though. What could have been.
Colorado at Arizona (Week 5, 5:30, Pac-12 Network) – There we go. The Pac-12 Network has made their first appearance here. Many are saying Zona will be better than last year. Well no shit. They couldn’t be much worse. They made Kansas look competent last season.
Virginia at Duke (Week 5, 3:30, ACC Network) – Hey, how about one more Duke game? First ACC Network appearance. Three conference networks down, one to go.
Kansas at Texas Tech (Week 11, 7:00, FS1) – If the Big XII had a network AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Sorry, I couldn’t finish that sentence. FOX Sports One might be the most extreme of channels when it comes to game quality. They always get at least one very good game a season and then they get this. Sometimes on the same day. Imagine being on that Zoom call when they figure out announcer assignments and you are praying you aren’t being sent to Lubbock. Good times.
Virginia at Georgia Tech (Week 8, Thursday, 7:30, ESPN, confirmed) – Not all Thursday night games are made equal. I’m sure there’s a Sun Belt game on at the same time that would be much more intriguing.
Illinois at Northwestern (Week 13, 7:00, FS1) – Hey maybe one of these teams will be bowl-eligible by this point so it won’t feel so bad.

Alright, that wasn’t too bad, eh? Maybe I will go this route again this coming year. We will see about that.

So it looks like everything is calm right now and HOLY SHIT, USC AND UCLA ARE GOING TO THE BIG TEN! What in the fuck? OK then, I think this kind of derails my immediate posting plans. I may have to just do an analysis of this because this is realignment insanity. This is what we call college football media crack-cocaine.

Well…have a great Canada Day weekend everyone (or, if you are reading this south of the border, have a happy Fourth of July weekend). Stay tuned for the next post!

Most Important Games of the 2022 College Football Season: Prepare for Change

Posted on June 28, 2022 by guelphbossman

Alright let’s be honest here. It has been a slooooooow return for ol’ Bossman. This is partially done on purpose, though, not because I have forgotten about all of you. I am going with the less is more approach…kind of. At least in the off-season. I think an explanation is warranted here. The plan, on my part, is to post less but to put a lot more in each post. Like not going to Wendy’s as often but when you do…it’s Dave’s Triple Cheeseburger time! I think this might just work. Or it won’t. I mean you never know with these things, right? Anyway, where was I?

Ah yes: change. Change is sometimes tough but is also sometimes needed. So as it pertains to the usual four-post Most Important College Games series, it is going to go through an overhaul. This post will be just about the most important games but I won’t be going week-by-week. It will be a relatively well-thought out selection of the best 30 games of this coming year (at least at this very early point). Don’t worry, I will still rate the weeks. Can’t change everything. Then I will post again later on with some other lists of games. You know, the worst Power Five games, best Group of Five games, etc. You ready? I am. Let’s go.

Remember the rules (my rules). Most of the games after Week 3 are not set in terms of time or network. Any game that is confirmed, I will let you know that it is. This time I won’t include Canadian info because, especially with TSN, it’s a complete crapshoot. Just assume that ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ACC Network and SEC Network games will appear on TSN or on the specialty packs.

It’s…time! IT’S….TIME! IT’S……RANKING TIME! (cue Vader theme) Alright the first piece of college football to discuss is the ranking of the weeks. We know how this usually goes and it is almost never a surprise when it comes out that way. So let’s get right to it and then I can tell you how I did this (if you didn’t know before) and all that jazz:

Week 13 (November 26 – American Thanksgiving)
Week 6 (October 8)
Week 10 (November 5)
Week 5 (October 1)
Week 9 (October 29)
Week 12 (November 19)
Week 7 (October 15)
Week 11 (November 12)
Week 4 (September 24)
Week 8 (October 22)
Week 3 (September 17)
Week 1 (September 3)
Week 2 (September 10)

Same as always, there are thirteen weeks of the regular season. Week Zero is starting to get more games as more waivers are being granted but until they have I’d say at least 30 games on the schedule that Saturday then it can’t be counted as its own week. I mean I could but it would be last place every year without a doubt. I’ve said this before but I wish they would always have fourteen weeks in a season. This way, every team gets two bye weeks and it’s perfect for the health and safety of the players (something that is sometimes put on the backburner). I’m sure the NCAA will go along with my idea by the year 2058. As for the rankings this season, not too many surprises. The final week of the regular season is back on its perch as the best weekend of college football this season. Week 1 has dropped off a cliff and doesn’t look that great but the hype around it will be off the charts, I can guarantee you that. October has a massive week as Week 6 truly starts the conference season in a big way (and you’ll see later on why I say that). Just like last year, November is great, even SEC Sleepwalk Saturday which is a middle-of-the-road week rather than the awful week of games it used to be. And of course, September is, well, September in college football. A few really good games surrounded by a lot of meh but you know what will happen. That’s right, ~~Frank Stallone~~ quite a few upsets since that’s how college football works.

Normally this would be the time I start the weekly breakdowns but those are no more (at least for this year). This is a long list but I think it will be a good list. It’s the top 30 most important games of the college football season (until some team like Northwestern comes out of nowhere and is battling for a conference title).

Texas A&M at Alabama (Week 6, 8:00, CBS) – Yes, Bama is again the favourite to win it all this season. But the Aggies might be as ready as they have ever been during the Jimbo Fisher era. Almost a guarantee this will end up as the lone CBS primetime game of the year.
Michigan at Ohio State (Week 13, Noon, FOX, confirmed) – Captain Khaki brings his Wolverines to Columbus to see if he can get his team to relive the magic of last season once again. They haven’t won at the Horseshoe in 22 years. Winner of this one most likely heads to the Big Ten Championship so huge stakes, as it usually is with this rivalry.
Notre Dame at Ohio State (Week 1, 7:30, ABC, confirmed) – As is normally the case, the Irish have a bunch of landmine games this season. No game is a bigger landmine than this one. If Notre Dame can pull this off, then the season is already turned on its head and Marcus Freeman immediately becomes a legend in his second game as head coach.
Clemson at Notre Dame (Week 10, 7:30, NBC, confirmed) – Clemson will be looking for a tiny bit of a rebound this year and retake control of the ACC. Yes, this isn’t an ACC conference game but winning this game would put every other team in the conference on notice. I am wondering, with all this realignment happening, if we may get to the point where the Irish are the only Independent team remaining. This is something I wouldn’t have said even two years ago.
Georgia vs. Oregon (in Atlanta) (Week 1, 3:30, ABC, confirmed) – Is this an early-season College Football Playoff elimination game? Could very well be. Georgia is still loaded for bear again and the Ducks are ready to make that final climb back into the CFP. This game (plus the ND-tOSU game later in the night) are the easy highlights of a relatively bland Week 1 schedule.
Notre Dame at USC (Week 13, 7:30, ABC) – It would be either a) horrible for Notre Dame fans if the Irish came in undefeated and blew a tire here against a probably good USC team or b) great for Notre Dame haters who don’t want them anywhere near the College Football Playoff (or the New Year’s Six for that matter). This could end up being a massively important game in the grand scheme of things.
Utah at Oregon (Week 12, 7:30, ABC) – This might just be a preview of the Pac-12 title game and a statement game for both teams…as long as both teams are ranked at this point. With the Pac-12 finally on the rise again (I think), this could bring in a lot of eyeballs during a week that is usually not the greatest on paper.
NC State at Clemson (Week 5, 3:30, ABC) – This is probably the game for the Atlantic Division title…the final Atlantic Division title if I get my way and divisions are abolished going forward. With all due respect to Wake Forest, unless they pull off at least one upset, they aren’t getting close to these two teams. This being in Death Valley may give the Tigers the slight edge but the Wolfpack have had some seriously huge wins on the road in their past.
USC at Utah (Week 7, 3:30, ESPN) – As I said above, I am only including American broadcast info at this point. That will change when I get to network-specific posts later in the summer. The Utes should worry about this USC team. They are finally poised to get back into Top 10 territory and an upset of Utah isn’t a crazy idea at this point. If Lincoln Riley can get the Trojans to pull this off, it may be off to the races and a return to glory in Los Angeles.
Michigan State at Michigan (Week 9, Noon, FOX) – Big brother and little brother are both good. This always make this rivalry game extra spicy. This game could honestly derail Michigan’s season before they get to the Game. This should end up on FOX which means no THERE’S A TROUBLE WITH THE SNAP! AND THE BALL IS FREE AND IT’S PICKED UP BY MICHIGAN STATE’S JALEN WATTS-JACKSON AND HE SCORES ON THE LAST PLAY OF THE GAME! All in Sean McDonough Cracked-Voice perfection.
Clemson at Wake Forest (Week 4, 3:30, ESPN2) – This might be the first game I get seriously wrong. Saying that, the ACC tends to get neglected in favour of the other Power Five conferences when it comes to game placement…especially when Wake Forest is involved. And some would still consider this a surprising pick in the #11 spot but I stand by it. Remember what I said above about the Deacs? Well this would be their chance, at home, to shock the world and announce their true arrival as contenders for at least the New Year’s Six.
Ohio State at Michigan State (Week 6, 7:30, ABC) – Another THE Ohio State University roadblock game here. Nothing would please Spartans fans (and Wolverine fans) for Sparty to knock off the mighty Buckeyes here.
Baylor at Oklahoma (Week 10, Noon, FOX) – Dave Aranda might be the most popular coach in college football and he wouldn’t give two shits about that nor would his facial expression change. He’s in Waco to coach college football, dammit, and that’s all. I’m sure his family has seen him smile before but those rumours are unconfirmed. Lincoln Riley-less Oklahoma could be an interesting team to watch this year since no one knows how they will fare. As much of a wild card as any team expected to be in the Top 25 to start the season.
Tennessee at Georgia (Week 10, Noon, ESPN) – This could very well be an SEC East title match although you never know what team will kind of come out of nowhere to cause havoc at the top. Kentucky may still be good and the rest of the teams, sans Vanderbilt, could make a run if they get an upset or three. Until further notice, though, the Dawgs are the defending champs so someone has to knock them off their perch. Who better than the Vols? I’m sure there would be many people who could give me quite a few examples.
Miami at Clemson (Week 12, 3:30, ESPN2) – If this was the 80s or early 90s or early 2000s, this wouldn’t be here because Miami would be like a 30-point favourite. I’m sure there’d be a lot more cocaine and steroids involved as well, but I digress. Instead, it’s the Tigers who could be a double-digit favourite coming into this potentially huge conference matchup for both teams.
Alabama at Tennessee (Week 7, 3:30, CBS) – Man, it took long enough to get to our first afternoon CBS game. I guess that’s what happens when Alabama is on the network all the time. So speaking of heavy favourites, the Tide will be those here. The Vols, however, are better than they have been in over a decade and with the game at Neyland, who knows. If this game is close going into the fourth quarter, watch out.
Miami at Texas A&M (Week 3, 9:00, ESPN, confirmed) – Oh god the weird three-hour windows rear their ugly head this week. Game at 6:00 followed by a game at 9:00. Can ESPN just fuck off with this horseshit? What’s the big deal putting this at 9:30? Half an hour won’t make a difference. Anyway, this should be a pretty good game I think but those FUCKING THREE-HOUR WINDOWS…OK I’m gonna stop now.
Wisconsin at Ohio State (Week 4, 7:30, ABC) – If the Big Ten abolished divisions, this would become a much bigger game. I mean it’s still huge but…OK fine I just hate divisions. I’m sure Wisky’s gameplan here is to run the ball 60 times and hope tOSU’s run defense is snoozing for most of the game.
Wake Forest at NC State (Week 10, 7:30, ACC Network) – Look, this might change between now and then but as I’ve said before, this is how little respect the Demon Deacons get. If both teams only have one loss (or less) at this point, then it definitely gets moved to ESPN or ABC. Otherwise, there’s a good chance this is where this game will end up, sadly. The winner here is probably the one and only contender to screw up Clemson’s ACC run this season.
Oklahoma State at Baylor (Week 5, Noon, FOX) – First appearance for the Fighting Mullets from Stillwater on this list. The Pokes are almost always in contention even when it feels like they aren’t. Eleventh-year starter Spencer Sanders hopes to finally find some consistency at quarterback and beat a Baylor team that could be even more special than last year’s squad.
Georgia at Kentucky (Week 12, 3:30, CBS) – Fine, I will put this game here but it’s iffy whether it belongs. It isn’t like the SEC West where even the worst team usually isn’t that bad. Saying that, UK could be good again. It wouldn’t fully shock me. The only thing on their side is this is in Lexington which is underrated for how rowdy the fans can get.
Arkansas vs. Texas A&M (in Arlington) (Week 4, 3:30, CBS) – Considering the SEC slate of games this week, it is almost a guarantee that this game will be on CBS. Last year, the Razorbacks won this game rather easily and a good thing they did since they lost three straight right afterwards. If both teams are as good as they are predicted to be, maybe JerryWorld will be at least three-quarters full this time around. I still don’t get this always being a neutral-site game but whatever.
Ohio State at Penn State (Week 9, 7:30, ABC) – Now we are getting into the games that might not look close on paper but have a history of being inexplicably close. I’ve seen the Nittany Lions make things difficult for tOSU so it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility for them to pull off an upset on a night that will most certainly be a White-Out.
Alabama at Arkansas (Week 5, 3:30, CBS) – See what I mean? Saying that, it’s not like this game will be relegated to the SEC Network as Sam Pittman has the Hogs looking good. Not Bama-good, but definitely a far cry from the Bret Bielema/Chad Morris years.
Oklahoma State at Oklahoma (Week 12, Noon, FOX) – BEDLAM! Normally near the top of these kinds of lists, this could be a sneaky-good game this season for once. The Sooners feel like they are in rebuild mode when they really aren’t and the Pokes always feel like they are a step behind one team every season in the Big XII. By this point, we will know if either of these teams have a hope for the Big XII Championship and a trip to good ol’ JerryWorld or not.
Penn State at Michigan (Week 7, 3:30, ABC) – Not exactly a CFP elimination matchup but it will be very important in terms of the Big Ten East Division race. Look, PSU now has Sean Clifford hopefully back for a full, healthy year. That alone makes the Nittany Lions a bit more dangerous than they were last year. Michigan is loaded for bear so this will not be easy between the two teams with the biggest stadiums in the land.
LSU at Texas A&M (Week 13, Noon, ESPN) – This could end up being a forgotten matchup by this point of the season. LSU is certainly not the Joe Burrow LSU Tigers. And Texas A&M has been hanging on the periphery of greatness for a while now. At some point, you think something has to give. My guess is there is a good possibility a NY6 spot could be on the line here.
Wisconsin at Michigan State (Week 7, 7:30, ESPN2) – At this point I would call this an underrated game as many would probably put it in the same spot I’m putting it now. The Badgers are probably the odds-on favourite to win the Big Ten West which is never on par with winning the much more difficult Big Ten East. The Spartans need to win games like this to have any chance of doing what they did last year (or even more).
BYU vs. Notre Dame (in Las Vegas) (Week 6, 7:30, NBC, confirmed) – BYU’s final year as an Independent and as usual they have loaded up. Call it a Western version of the typical Notre Dame schedule. These teams don’t play nearly enough against each other if you ask me so it’s fun when they do. And boy, will they have a TV audience, there is no denying that. The Irish love these games because it’s a recruiting bonanza. I guess the same for the Cougs. Independent supremacy is on the line in this one.
Florida vs. Georgia (in Jacksonville) (Week 9, 3:30, CBS, confirmed) – The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. How can this not be on this list of games? I guess if both teams were bad which hasn’t happened in….well, it’s been a while. This is my seventh straight year, I believe, imploring CBS to give the broadcast crew an open bar for this one. Hey, either Gary Danielson becomes seriously fun to listen to or…he’s still Gary Danielson.

There you go. Top 30 games of the season. That wasn’t so bad, eh? There is only 60 days left until the season begins. That is much closer than I am used to when doing this post. I may have to up my game over the next two months.

I’m not going to lie, this felt like a lot of work but it also felt good to do. The craziness hasn’t stopped in my life and so this is my chance to start getting a break from “reality” by doing this blog again. I think I’ve needed it (although I had to be sure I was ready to go again). Have a great week everyone!

Most Important Games of the 2021 College Football Season – The Third Part

Posted on June 9, 2021 by guelphbossman

It’s getting seriously hot and (at times) seriously humid outside. Meaning summer is basically here. Thank God this province wants us not to engage in any sports or camping or get togethers of any kind. Think of all the money we save on sunscreen! I need to work on this blog to get my mind off the bullshit. So let’s just get on with this already!

Week 7

Game of the Week: Oklahoma State at Texas (7:30, ABC) – You don’t see many Big XII games in this spot anymore. To be honest, you don’t see many Big XII games in Canada either. Will these games mean as much when the playoff expands (which it most certainly is now)? Who knows to be honest. All I can say is I will continue to enjoy the games as much as I can as they try to, well, “make the postseason better.” To be honest, expanding the playoff would be down my list a bit. Number one on my list? Abolishing divisions.

Other Really Important Games: Miami at North Carolina (3:30, ABC) – If Miami truly gets their act together, this could end up being the Game of the Week (and possibly a Game of the Year candidate). Either way this is probably a huge game for both teams in the ACC. The winner of this game gets a leg up on the division that Clemson is not in (see my point about getting rid of divisions?).

Florida at LSU (3:30, CBS) – Hey it’s one of those weeks where the main networks (ABC, CBS…let’s throw FOX in there as well) have the biggest games. Another game that you could argue has a chance to be GOTW. Still wondering what will happen once the SEC on CBS contract ends. We have three more seasons of this and then all SEC games will be on ESPN/ABC (or ESPN2…or the SEC Network…or maybe ESPN+ you get the idea). Will CBS acquire another conference’s games? I think they’d be dumb not to. The Pac-12 could be ripe for the picking to be honest.

UCLA at Washington (3:30, Pac-12 Network/DAZN) – Let me explain since that might look like Greek to some of you. As of right now I have the Bruins and Huskies on the Pac-12 Network. First of all, it’s in the afternoon so Chris Petersen shouldn’t be upset. Secondly, Pac-12 teams have to have a minimum amount of games on the Pac-12 Network and the network usually gets a good game or two every season because it has to fill its quota. And finally, it looks like the Pac-12 Network will be available on DAZN in Canada. That may change by the time the season commences. Fingers crossed it doesn’t.

TCU at Oklahoma (4:00, FOX Sports One) – This could be worse. At first I had this game on FSN. I honestly don’t know if FSN will even have Big XII games. I have a feeling they won’t but who knows with the Mountain West invading the FOX networks. Anyway, until further notice, the Sooners will continue to be the class of the conference. At some point, though, a team is going to come along and knock them off their perch…for real. Maybe Gary Patterson’s Horned Frogs can do the trick.

Kentucky at Georgia (7:00, specialty pack) – There are a lot of good games this week. Unfortunately, after the top games (and a few others), it drops off a cliff. Normally, I wouldn’t put Kentucky in the Games of the Week but, by all accounts, this seems to be a team that could cause a lot of problems inside the SEC East. A win here and the Cats could, once again, be a contender in the SEC East. Look, I get they are very pessimistic about their football program in Lexington but if Mark Stoops somehow gets this team to the SEC Championship, they should offer him like a 15-year deal. No questions asked.

UCF at Cincinnati (4:00, specialty pack) – Yes a Group of Five game in the Games of the Week section! I have a feeling this will be the only G-5 game in this section this season. This is seriously huge too as these are the two teams that most would consider the top contenders for the Group of Five spot in the New Year’s Six (along with Boise State and maybe Coastal Carolina). Don’t be surprised if ABC pulls the trigger and gets this game in primetime knowing it may be their best chance at getting a really good AAC game on in primetime.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Ole Miss at Tennessee (Noon, specialty pack) – Don’t laugh. Both teams could be quite good this year. I said don’t laugh. Either team could win nine games. I told you not to laugh. Both teams could win their division. OK now you can laugh.

Best Group of Five Game: UCF at Memphis (4:00, specialty pack) – See above.

Worst Power Five Game: Texas Tech at Kansas (7:00, ESPN+) – Jesus Christ who would watch this? This game would have to be seriously close for me to even consider watching it. Which I can’t if I predict right and this ends up on ESPN+. Crisis averted.

Week 8

Game of the Week: Oregon at UCLA (4:00, FOX) – Wow, ok. Yeah this week, on paper, does not deliver. This is easily the worst week that I will cover in these final two posts. I mean you have to think Oregon blows the doors off the Bruins but what if UCLA has one of those crazy games they’ve had in recent years under Chip Kelly? It would be fun to see them just go off and score like 50 on the Ducks. They still might lose but hey…50-burger!

Other Really Important Games: Oklahoma State at Iowa State (Noon, FOX) – Hmmm…maybe this should be game of the week especially since it’s on BIG NOON SATURDAY. I still wait for the day where Matt Campbell finally gets a job offer he can’t refuse and leaves Ames. As horrible as it sounds for Cyclone fans, I could see Iowa trying to hire him once Kirk Ferentz decides to retire.

USC at Notre Dame (7:30, NBC) – Remember when almost every year a game between these two teams was a big deal? Sometimes for only of these teams but a handful of times for both programs. This may be one of those games. The Irish will once again feed off the hatred of all non-Irish fans and hope to get into the College Football Playoff yet again, pissing off a bunch of people. USC is in the wide open Pac-12 South and a win like this doesn’t help them inside the conference but will be a huge plus when it comes to their place in the Top 25.

Ohio State at Indiana (7:30, ABC) – I think it every year. Ohio State is going to visit a Big Ten East team not named Penn State or Michigan State and lose. Haha, of course I don’t mean Michigan, silly! The Hoosiers still look like they could make some noise in the Big Ten East but they have to hope to recreate some of last year’s magic to have any hope of beating the Fighting Ryan Days.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: LSU at Ole Miss (6:00, specialty pack) – Ugh, I hate the three-hour timeslots. They serve no purpose whatsoever. Like unless you are showing Army or Navy or any other team who might want to try the option, this won’t work. And SEC games are not known for ending before the three-and-a-half hour mark. So good luck to the game after this one (I have BYU-Wazzu starting at 9). Have fun on ESPNEWS for perhaps an hour.

Best Group of Five Game: Coastal Carolina at Appalachian State (Wednesday, 7:30, TSN1/TSN4) – I don’t know if I am in the minority but I like watching Sun Belt football. And despite App State’s success since their move up to FBS, last year’s performance by the Chants shone a huge light on the conference and proved that one of these years, their champion will make the New Year’s Six. This is probably the Sun Belt East Division championship. See? Divisions suck (no offense to the Ragin’ Cajuns of Louisiana).

Worst Power Five Game: Georgia Tech at Virginia (Noon, specialty pack) – Honestly, this isn’t too bad. For the worst of the week? I’ve seen much worse games in this spot. Not saying I’m watching the bulk of the game but I wouldn’t mind tuning in for a bit. For such a not-so-good week it seems to have a good mid-card set of matches.

Week 9

Game of the Week: Penn State at Ohio State (Noon, FOX) – Oh my. This could be…well, this could be an amazing game. Penn State should be finally back at least sniffing the Top 10 and tOSU is tOSU. This is almost a shoo-in to end up on BIG NOON SATURDAY.

Other Really Important Games: North Carolina at Notre Dame (7:30, NBC) – A second consecutive week that Notre Dame on NBC will be in primetime. If the Irish can somehow get through this rough two-game stretch they could be home-free the rest of the way. I will admit, I am a sucker for good primetime Notre Dame football on NBC. I don’t know what it is. It just feels special, kind of like when the SEC has their one primetime game on CBS every season.

Florida vs. Georgia (in Jacksonville) (3:30, CBS) – THE MOTHERFUCKING GOD DAMNED WORLD’S LARGEST OUTDOOR COCKTAIL PARTY!!!!! Perhaps you could put this at number one. I wouldn’t argue. I also wouldn’t argue if you said it would be the best football game played in Jacksonville all year. I still say an open bar is the way to go for Brad and Gary in this one. Imagine a drunk Gary Danielson crying over a call that went against Alabama three seasons ago? Actually, maybe we should cancel the open bar.

Iowa at Wisconsin (Noon, specialty pack) – The Big Ten West Championship game? Maybe? Honestly these are the only two teams I would trust to win the Big Ten, despite the fact they haven’t won all the West division titles. But would you trust Northwestern? Minnesota? NEBRASKA? I thought so.

Florida State at Clemson (3:30, ABC) – OK this might be a stretch. Especially since this is in Death Valley. But one of these years, FSU is going to beat Clemson and everyone is going to be left with their jaw on the floor. You might snicker at that but Pitt beat them at Clemson a few years back. So there is hope you Nole fans.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Iowa State at West Virginia (Noon, ABC/TSN2) – I am not going to make the mistake of saying Dana Holgorsen is the Mountaineers’ head coach like last time. I mean, I miss him as WVU’s coach because he was in some big games meaning he would blow his stack more often than he does now at Houston. I wonder if he just drinks less Monster Energy or Red Bull or whatever he has ten of before Noon.

Best Group of Five Game: SMU at Houston (3:30, ESPN+) – I had to dig a bit deeper this week for a good Group of Five game. It was either this or Troy-Coastal Carolina. I am sticking with this one although the Sun Belt game is on Thursday night and at least on the specialty pack where as this one I have on ESPN+. Why? Same problem every year when we get into mid-October towards the end of the season: so many good conference games and only so many slots to put them in. Every so often the American gets the shaft. This looks like it will be one of those weeks.

Worst Power Five Game: Rutgers at Illinois (Noon, BTN) – Good lord. Just don’t. If it plays out the way I think it will, there is probably two games at this time meaning you wouldn’t get it even if you had the Big Ten Network. Probably for the best.

A mixed bag (as October usually is). But still…it’s a bag full of college football games. I am getting excited. I’m also getting a bit nervous as I know what I am like during those Saturdays. A completely unproductive glutton. I can live with the unproductive part but I am trying to get back into some semblance of decent shape after gaining a lot of weight during the pandemic. And the type of food I would eat on college football Saturdays is no bueno anymore…at least that amount of food. I might have to do food prep Friday night just to get through the day!

Still have not got a preview magazine although I haven’t really tried. Hoping the Athlon one (which is part of my subscription) comes in the mail soon. At least unlike last year, Indigo is open so I can go in and check it out one of these days. Also I am still going back and forth on whether to order the Phil Steele magazine. It’s rather expensive and takes a while to come in the mail. I might do the thing I did a few years back and pair it with the NFL magazine (if they do one) and get them shipped at the same time. It sucks because it means I wouldn’t get it until early August but it’s such a great magazine that I don’t know if I can not buy it, you know? If you have never seen the magazine before you don’t know but believe me, it’s PACKED with info. Can I really go into the season not knowing who the Rutgers long snapper will be?

Normally, the CFL would be starting their preseason soon. However, with the NBA and NHL seasons going into July this year and the U.S. Open coming up (yeah I watch the golf majors, don’t judge me), I won’t be missing football nearly as much. Instead it looks like the CFL will start August 5th with a slightly shortened schedule. And the Grey Cup will be moved into December and is in Hamilton. The only Grey Cup I’ve ever went to was the 1996 one that has been dubbed the Snow Bowl. It was cold, snowy, and a shit-ton of fun to watch. Maybe I will buy tickets to this one as long as they aren’t brutally expensive. OK so yeah I miss football. Have a great week everyone!

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

Posted on October 12, 2020 by guelphbossman

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

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

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

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

And now for the rest of the recap

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

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

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

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

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

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

Most Important Games of the 2020 College Football Season – Part I

Posted on May 24, 2020 by guelphbossman

Alright it’s time to get to the good stuff finally! Actual college football posts about the next season…whenever that may begin. As cathartic as this feels, we really have no idea what we are looking at for the 2020 season. The schedules are out, at least in terms of what days the games will be played. Of course, games can, and will be, moved around, usually for national television purposes. I haven’t got any preview magazines yet though. I will be ordering my Phil Steele magazine soon but obviously with bookstores closed, there is no timeframe as to when I will get other magazines. Some schools are adamant they will be pretty much fully open in the fall whereas others are hesitant. With many other sports starting to slowly put out plans as to when they will commence play again, there are a lot of balls still up in the air. Here’s hope that things do improve as it pertains to the Coronavirus pandemic so that we can get back to semblance of normality.

Anyway, I figured I might as well get a jump on these schedules. I am sure many things will change and some games might be outright cancelled but I am going with what I can see at this moment. Remember, we are in May so these lists will definitely not be correct later in the season. As the season progresses, there are always surprises and disappointments. It happens. For example, we all know that for the next few years, CBS has the big SEC game of the week on at 3:30. This has been the case for years until 2024 when they no longer will have the rights to the best SEC game of the week. Saying that, let’s say that for some unknown reason, the Iron Bowl is not shown on CBS on American Thanksgiving weekend (this happened when the Egg Bowl moved there and it was a bit of a ratings disaster for CBS and a coup for ESPN) and in its place, the Missouri-Arkansas game is moved into that timeslot. Two of the following three things would have had to have happened:

Eliah Drinkwitz continues to drink success and does the same thing he did at Appalachian State.
Sam Pittman becomes the most shocking coaching success story in a long time at Arkansas.
To the absolute joy of everyone outside of the state of Alabama, the Tide and the Tigers are both unranked.

So let’s just say I feel quite secure in putting the Iron Bowl at that time instead of the Battle Line Rivalry. I think they need to come up with a better name than that. Like Orgy in the Ozarks. Wait, no, don’t do that.

Disclaimer: Just so you know, some of the broadcast info may change between now and the time I do my network-specific posts. I say it every year and luckily no one says anything about it. Which is great because I wouldn’t want my feelings hurt or something like that. I am sure some people do it in private and that’s fine. We aren’t like much of Twitter where the smallest thing ends up being a massive argument.

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

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

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

Let’s start with the official commencement of college football blogging season (for me): the weekly rankings. If you were looking for something similar to every other year then ho boy are you in for a shock. Just a reminder that I list the week and the date that corresponds to the Saturday of that week so you can follow along:

Week 5 (October 3)
Week 6 (October 10)
Week 13 (November 28 – American Thanksgiving)
Week 12 (November 21)
Week 2 (September 12)
Week 7 (October 17)
Week 10 (November 7)
Week 9 (October 31)
Week 4 (September 26)
Week 8 (October 24)
Week 11 (November 14)
Week 1 (September 5)
Week 3 (September 19)

First off, we are back to thirteen weeks. Do I like this? No I do not. Honestly I would prefer 14 if not 15 weeks in a season. I understand that the way the Saturdays fall makes this a difficult venture but it is tough on the players to go through these three-plus months with only one bye week. This year’s Week 1 is much like last year’s Week 1: weak. It should be called Weak One. Really, the Notre Dame-Navy Week Zero game is almost better than any other game in the Week 1 schedule. American Thanksgiving falls to third…THIRD! Weeks 5 and 6 are the big weeks so far on paper. I don’t remember a time when the October schedule has been this good but here we are. But here’s the craziest thing. SEC Sleepwalk Week is NUMBER FOUR!!!!!!! And no I am not high saying this. I can’t even call it Sleepwalk Week anymore which does kind of make me sad. There are a lot of good conference games this week including a couple in the SEC. For the first time, Week 3 is the worst week of college football. It’s a lot like many worst weeks in the past. At least one potential game of the year. Maybe another good game or two and then it falls off a massive cliff. It’s when you get past the first three or four games of a week where you find out how good a day of college football it will be and man, this is not shaping up to be a good one. In the end, it is college football, which I am craving right now, so I will watch as much as I can. Also, last year the networks stepped up and Week Zero football appeared in Canada. Nice.

Now it’s time for the weekly breakdowns. I will be guessing with quite a few of them, especially when it comes to TSN coverage. Again, keep in mind there is a lot that could change here, especially with this season kind of being up in the air. At least the lists of games I will be presenting should, for the most part, be important games throughout the 2020 college football season. Let’s begin.

Week 1

Game of the Week: Alabama vs. USC (in Arlington) (7:30, ABC) – Remember, it’s all 7:30 games for the ABC Primetime game, not just something for the Big Ten because it might get chilly. Honestly, it could start at 9 and it wouldn’t matter to me since I am up through 2 in the morning watching college football so I may just have a problem. About five or six years ago this would be a game of the year candidate. Not so much this time around and it shows that Week One is back to being what it used to be: the introduction to the season that gets everyone excited but rarely has huge matchups. Saying all this, a USC win here would be huge for Clay Helton’s future in Los Angeles. You also wonder how Bama is feeling after playing in the Citrus Bowl last year which might as well have been the Independence Bowl in Shreveport for all they care. It’s always New Year’s Six or bust for this program.

Other Really Important Games: Georgia at Virginia (Monday, 8:00, TSN1/TSN4/TSN5) – The annual Labour Day SEC-ACC Football Challenge takes on more importance this year thanks to the Hoos actually being good now. Bronco Mendenhall has done wonders in Charlottesville and this might be the year they put it all together and make a real run at the ACC title. It’s a lock that the Dawgs will be a great team again this year despite their losses on offense. With it being in Virginia, this could be a big test for Georgia and could affect their CFP plans. UVA could throw the first staple in the shredder for this season if they pull off the upset.

Michigan at Washington (3:30, FOX) – FOX steps up on opening weekend unlike, well, any year before now. A game between two teams that many believe underachieve most seasons. How many times will we hear that Jim Harbaugh’s job is on the line in this one? I put the over/under at 12. As for the Huskies they are now in the post-Chris Petersen era. Jimmy Lake takes over and has a lot of pressure right out the gate.

Florida Atlantic at Minnesota (Thursday, 8:00, BTN) – I am not joking with this one. Minnesota should still be really good rowing that boat. And FAU should still be good despite the fact the Lane Train departed for Oxford. Now watch both teams be about .500 so I look like a moron.

Indiana at Wisconsin (Friday, 8:00, FloSports) – This is the first instance of me including FloSports in the important games posts. It means that this game will be on FOX Sports One. I used to hate when these games ended up on the list since it meant I couldn’t see it, nor could any Canadians. Now, we have the means. This is good. Progress. The more we are allowed to see, the better. It’s not about giving us all the games, it’s about giving us the avenues to watch these games legally. And it’s becoming more and more that way. Anyway, it looks like four of the five nights on opening week have big games so at least you can say it’s spread out and not all in one or two timeslots.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: BYU at Utah (Thursday, 10:15, TSN5) – This is going to be an interesting year for the Utes. They came within one poor performance at the Pac-12 Championship from getting into the College Football Playoff. This is the kind of high-profile game they need to win. On the other side of the field is their Holy War rivals, the Cougs. Unfortunately for them, the only way for them to even get into the New Year’s Six is to lose no more than one game on the season. For their sake, a win here gets them into the conversation.

Best Group of Five Game: Georgia Southern at Boise State (9:00, FloSports) – This is why it is important that we get FOX Sports One games here now. The Mountain West inked a new deal with FOX meaning some games end up on the main network and also FS1 (FS2 as well but we won’t discuss that). Part of the deal is that Boise State games are to appear on either FOX or FS1. Meaning it is imperative that we get to view FS1 games because otherwise we would miss the blue turf every season for the next several years. As for the game, the Broncos are again looking to break through into the CFP whereas Georgia Southern is trying to just win the Sun Belt for once after being very close for most of their seasons up in the FBS.

Worst Power Five Game: Purdue at Nebraska (Noon, FOX) – These are two teams that are never supposed to end up in this spot. But really, the Huskers have been no better than average for a long time now and the Boilermakers, other than one good season, have been pretty bad since Drew Brees was quarterback there. Worst part is that the other choice for worst P5 game is another Big Ten game, Michigan State and Northwestern. Really, the bottom part of the Big Ten is not looking good and could be considered the worst of the Power Five conferences (if you include Rutgers and Maryland). I will watch part of it, I know I will. It’s just that there are other options so unless this game is close I won’t be clocking in much more than a few minutes here.

Week 2

Game of the Week: Ohio State at Oregon (3:30, FOX) – Last year this was the worst week, on paper, in the college football season. This year it is way up the list and has an early candidate for game of the year. The Ryan Day Buckeye Juggernaut Express rolls into Eugene for this one and tOSU is going to try and do what they always do…win big games. An Oregon win here probably blows the national championship race wide open and cements Mario Cristobal as one of the upper tier coaches in the game.

Other Really Important Games: Texas at LSU (7:00, specialty pack) – I kind of wish CBS would pick up games like this but they never do. Probably due to the contract that they can only show two SEC teams. I, am, however glad that this game is at night in Death Valley. One, it is arguably the best atmosphere in college football. And two, if this was at Noon, the temperature would be approximately lava. Hey let’s find out if Texas is back here. God am I ever glad that horseshit is over. Saying that, the Horns are good and are the first speed bump for the Tigers defending their national championship. Without Joe Burrow this could be a very interesting matchup.

Tennessee at Oklahoma (7:30, ABC/TSN2) – Tennessee should be back in the mix this season. And Oklahoma has one of the brightest head coaches around, Lincoln Riley, at the helm, so they will be good as well. As much as the Vols are improved I would be shocked if they pulled off a win here. If they did it would be another grenade thrown on the national championship race.

Kentucky at Florida (Noon, specialty pack) – Now that the streak is over and Kentucky finally got their victory over the Gators a couple seasons ago, the Wildcats have gained a modicum of respect in the college football world. Unfortunately, they have to travel to Gainesville and play a game on a field that will be slightly cooler than the surface of the sun. Without Lynn Bowden, the Cats could be in real tough here for a team that has to be considered a legitimate SEC title contender.

Louisville at Clemson (7:30, specialty pack) – We all desperately need more ACC contenders. I, for one, am getting tired of Clemson and the Thirteen Dwarfs. The Cardinals might not be quite there yet but they had a young team last year and one of the better coaches around so who knows. The Tigers have had at least one early season struggle the past couple years (Texas A&M and then North Carolina) so this could be that game that gets the Tiger faithful’s heart racing.

Penn State at Virginia Tech (Noon, ABC) – Does anyone realize that this could have ended up as a conference matchup? Check out my what-if post on the Big East and you will learn why. This is one of those matchups you never get and, as a college football fan, is a real eye-opener. I am so looking forward to this one as it should be a great match. Now watch one team blow out the other.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Iowa State at Iowa (Noon, FOX) – This is quite a good week when this is considered an underrated game. Cy-Hawk has been a fantastic game the past few years despite the fact that the Hawkeyes continue to dominate the rivalry. This is definitely a statement game for the Cyclones as this is one of the humps they can’t seem to get over. The other is the Big XII title (or at least getting into the Big XII title game). I am positive this will end up with a score of like 16-15 and Kirk Ferentz will do something Ferentzian to somehow help Iowa to the W.

Best Group of Five Game: Boise State at Air Force (3:30, CBS) – No that is not a misprint. The Mountain West’s new contract with CBS calls for games to appear on the main network three times a season. Huge for the conference as this allows it to compete with the American for the title of best Group of Five conference (and believe me, that does mean something). This may be the biggest Mountain West conference game of the season and hearing Brad and Gary call it will be all kinds of weird but fun at the same time.

Worst Power Five Game: Syracuse at Rutgers (7:30, FOX) – As per tradition, at least once a year FOX absolutely shits the bed for a primetime choice and to be honest, I don’t think they even care. This is what happens with more of these conference networks in play: you will get a terrible game or two on FOX or ABC. I just wonder about the fact that there are other better options. The only thing I can think of is that they would have to fulfill their Big Ten total games on the main network for the year and this is a relatively easy way to do it. I mean I would have picked WKU-Indiana or Memphis-Purdue or even Ball State-Michigan but I am not a network exec so I obviously don’t know what I’m talking about.

Week 3

Game of the Week: Georgia at Alabama (3:30, CBS) – This will have serious national championship implications but I don’t need to tell you that. Now I did have a choice as to whether this game would end up as the lone SEC on CBS primetime affair. I did not choose this one and I will explain it in a later blog post. I think you will hear a hundred-some-odd times that Kirby Smart will need this win to get over the Nick Saban’s assistant hump. Nick Saban destroys his assistant coaches and probably relishes doing so. Also, if you noticed above, this is the worst week of the season and you will see why in a bit.

Other Really Important Games: Iowa at Minnesota (Friday, 8:30, FloSports) – See? It’s already starting to go downhill. Saying that, this could be the de facto Big Ten West Championship depending on what happens in Madison this season. This is another big test for a Gophers team that likes to schedule difficult in non-conference knowing they are going to probably get a brutal Big Ten schedule anyway.

Appalachian State at Wisconsin (3:30, BTN) –The number two and three games on this list are a Friday night FOX Sports One affair and a mid-afternoon Big Ten Network matchup. Good fucking God. To be honest, the bigger deal here is obviously the Mountaineers. I have this feeling that this might be the season App State makes a serious run to becoming the first Sun Belt team to reach the New Year’s Six. If this wasn’t a non-conference matchup I might have considered it elsewhere and I still think it might end up on FOX seeing what the week three schedule is like. Plus it’s not like ABC has a stellar schedule on this week so it may be a week to bring eyeballs over to FOX.

Hawaii at Oregon (6:30, DAZN) – Some of you may be asking what DAZN is. It is another site that, like FloSports, allows Canadians to get games on a channel we won’t normally get. In this case it’s the Pac-12 Network. This week is such a shit sandwich. Now watch it be one of the most exciting weeks in college football history because if it isn’t, it may be one of the worst.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Florida State at Boise State (Noon, FOX) – Boise State on FOX! This is thanks to the new Mountain West contract with FOX but man, Boise making some serious concessions with this game going off at 10 AM. Ten…in the morning. I honestly do think this is underrated because of the Noles but you never know with this team. If they ever get a good quarterback this team could be relatively dangerous.

Best Group of Five Game: Navy at Tulane (3:30, specialty pack) – To be honest, the early season doesn’t usually give us a bunch of good G5-on-G5 violence. The previous week has a huge AFA-Boise matchup. The first week got, well Boise State again, that time against Georgia Southern. These two teams have been two of the most exciting recently which I know sounds weird when we talk about Navy but I like watching them play. Tulane is like a pseudo-Navy where they also pass the ball more but run the option as well. This game could be over by dinner.

Worst Power Five Game: Maryland at West Virginia (Noon, ABC/TSN1/TSN4) – This may be the only time you ever see an ABC game in this section. I could see TSN deciding not to show this game so they can show a repeat of Motoring 2017. Look the ‘Eers may end up being good soon with Neal Brown at the helm. Maybe the Terps can turn it around with Mike Locksley, the hometown boy, in town and starting to recruit his own brand of team. But as of right now, neither team is very good and there are other, somewhat less shitty options in this timeslot. OK remember what I said about TSN not airing this game? I wonder if instead of ABC this goes to FSN and we don’t get to see it at all here.

There you go. The first three weeks are complete. And it’s the first official blog post for what could be a very weird 2020 college football season. I’d love to say we are getting close but are we? Nobody knows. As of right now there is only 97 days until the start of the season. That could very well change. I mean I love college football but if there isn’t a way to do it at that point then better to delay the start of the season. Saying that, it’s more than three months away so anything more than two weeks into the future should really not be speculated on since no one has an idea of how things will go. Hopefully you have a great rest of the weekend with this nicer weather (at least in my part of the world).

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

Posted on June 5, 2019 by guelphbossman

No pic. Just straight Nostradamus-like scheduling action. You know, if Nostradamus was right like 4% of the time. Let’s just get on with this blog post shall we? It’s the nitty-gritty part of conference play right here. I would say the meat of the college football season sandwich but that is incorrect. Let’s just say really good toppings like onions or jalapenos. Here we go!

Week 8

Game of the Week: Michigan at Penn State (7:30, ABC) – Is it crazy to think we could have another instance of the Big Ten East coming into the season with four teams in the Top 15? I say no. Penn State and Michigan State are a step below Michigan which is a step below Ohio State but I can still foresee this being the case. I mean one of these teams will surely drop like a stone (somewhat), right?

Other Really Important Games: LSU at Mississippi State (3:30, CBS) – Joe Moorhead has kept the Bulldogs going after the departure of Dan Mullen. No easy task for sure. I also like the fact he has lost a lot of weight doing intermittent fasting, something I have started doing myself. Definitely gives me hope since it’s not easy. As Moorhead put it when asked how he gets to the time when he can eat, “Water and hope.” Don’t be surprised if Florida-South Carolina ends up here instead although a lot will have to do with how LSU and Florida are doing and not really the other two teams.

Ohio State at Northwestern (Friday, 8:30, FOX Sports One) – At one point, the rumour was that ABC would have air this one on a Friday night. It would be ABC’s first Friday night college football telecast that wasn’t after American Thanksgiving in God knows how long. And honestly it would have been warranted. Instead, to the chagrin of college football fans in Canada, it will air on FOX Sports One. Talk about a kick in the junk.

Oregon at Washington (7:30, FOX Sports One) – Fuck, two in a row? OK let’s not get too pissed off here: this is just a guess remember. So this game could end up on FOX for all we know. Or it could end up on TSN. We just don’t know. Hell, I am still a bit worried about the ACC Network’s entry into the fray this season.

Florida at South Carolina (7:00, specialty pack) – This should be a competitive match. Operative word being should be. Florida is supposed to be seriously good so we will know by now whether the Gators are a Top 10 team with national championship aspirations or barely a Top 25 team who was overhyped and overrated. At this point I have no TSN games this week. It’s happened often before. Not as much lately though so this may end up there.

Tennessee at Alabama (Noon, specialty pack) – OK this game…

West Virginia at Oklahoma (3:30, FOX) – …and this game…

Kentucky at Georgia (7:30, specialty pack) – …and this game are here for one reason. The road teams are all pretty good teams; one coming off a seriously good season (especially for their program), one who should still be good but lost key parts (like their quarterback and head coach) and one who is on the precipice of getting back to some semblance of the glory days. Problem is they are playing three of the best teams in college football. The reason these games are here is because an upset, while not crazy, would seriously upset the college football apple cart.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: UCLA at Stanford (Thursday, 9:00, specialty pack) – Alright hear me out. Stanford has been at least good for about, what, a decade now? And they aren’t about to stop. It will only take a matter of time for Chip Kelly to get the players he wants playing the system he wants and it may end up being a version of his Oregon teams all over again. Or, and hear me out again, this could all blow up in my face and I look like a complete idiot. Either or.

Best Group of Five Game: Boise State at BYU (10:30, specialty pack) – Nice to see BYU back in this spot and yes, I do consider BYU a Group of Five team despite their national championship in ’84 and the fact that most years they are a very competitive team, even with Power Five schools. But in 2019, you really can’t make the argument that they should be considered a Power Five team. Maybe in their own spot between the two groups but not a full-fledged member.

Worst Power Five Game: Oregon State at California (11:00, Pac-12 Network) – Wow that’s…..that’s pretty bad.

Week 9

Game of the Week: Notre Dame at Michigan (Noon, ABC/TSN1) – I have this game on ABC as of right now (and TSN1). But I do wonder if FOX will try their best to get this game. Considering their best game will usually be at Noon this season and this is one of the three Games of the Week it does make a lot of sense. And no I am not being a Big Ten homer or Notre Dame homer by saying this. These two programs bring in a lot of viewers and a lot of the time, that is the name of the game.

Other Really Important Games: Auburn at LSU (3:30, CBS) – Unless CBS wants to save one of these two teams for later in the season because of the cap on number of appearances (5 during the regular season) then there’s no way this isn’t the SEC Game of the Week on CBS…or the SECGOTWOCBS for those who love ridiculous acronyms. And Auburn will be happy with all this since it means they avoid the dreaded Death Valley at night when things usually don’t go LSU’s opponent’s way.

Wisconsin at Ohio State (3:30, FOX) – This has already been earmarked for FOX. I have it in the 3:30 timeslot but considering the importance this game may have, I can see it going on at Noon. By this point we will know of Ryan Day is more of a Lincoln Riley who steps right in and doesn’t lose a step or if he is a tOSU version of Luke Fickell who just can’t get it right and struggles mightily.

Penn State at Michigan State (Noon, TSN3) – The Big Ten has a LOADED schedule this week. Three of the top four games from one conference. Unprecedented…I think. Anyway, this is also a game that could end up on FOX although for now I see it being an ESPN game shown on TSN3 up here in the GWN (Great White North). This could be an interesting 12-day hold for FOX and ABC/ESPN if the five aforementioned Big Ten teams are all really good at this point of the season.

Washington State at Oregon (3:30, specialty pack) – Reverse mirror fun! I have this game pairing with UCF/Temple. I give the AAC game the ABC spot since that is the one we would get in Ontario. Go far enough west and that may change. This should be quite the pew-pew kind of game. And having Mike Leach coaching is always a fun time, no? Just don’t ask Craig and Adam James.

Mississippi State at Texas A&M (7:00, specialty pack) – This will take a big back seat to the Auburn-LSU game but don’t be fooled: this should be a damn good game. I don’t know if you can say either of these teams are underrated or overlooked anymore though. Neither of these programs can sneak up on anyone anymore. And I have gotten used to the cowbells now. Doesn’t faze me at all. Now if a team starts a vuvuzela tradition then I won’t be too pleased.

Texas at TCU (7:30, ABC/TSN2) – Another time where ABC’s primetime game isn’t near the top of the list. This happens sometimes because ABC has contracts with the Big Ten, ACC, Big XII and Pac-12 and all of them have to have at least 2 games (if I am not mistaken) on in primetime. Normally the Big Ten gets the rest of the primetime affairs unless a really juicy matchup from another conference falls in their lap. I am wondering if I should have some brisket in honour of this matchup.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Syracuse at Florida State (7:30, specialty pack) – Alright this is great and….of course it goes to the ACC Network. At least we get this right? I am crossing my fingers that Rogers and Bell don’t fuck this up.

Best Group of Five Game: UCF at Temple (3:30, ABC) – The other half of one of the better reverse mirrors in recent memory. I assume that if this comes to fruition that this is the game we would get in the eastern part of the country. Temple has to break in a new coach this season. It was supposed to be Manny Diaz and then 17 days later he bolted back to Miami for what he considered his dream job. So coaches can leave on a whim yet players have to sit out a year unless they are graduate students. Yeah makes perfect sense, right? Anyway, they ended up poaching Rod Carey from Northern Illinois so they weren’t fully left out in the dust. Carey had been one of the better MAC coaches in his time there.

Worst Power Five Game: Texas Tech at Kansas (3:00, FOX Sports One) – This was the exact same matchup last year in this spot (although last year it was Week 8, not Week 9). I can’t see either team being any good so this is an easy choice. I feel good for them though since they were upgraded from FS2 to FS1. Progress!

Week 10

Game of the Week: Florida vs. Georgia (in Jacksonville) (3:30, CBS) – It’s Cocktail Party time! For the first time, really, in quite a while, this could be a matchup between two Top 10 teams with national championship aspirations. Which is good since otherwise the results are all over the place and completely wacky and having nothing to do with the rankings of the teams coming in. So get whatever booze you like ready and have a couple while watching this one. Should be fun!

Other Really Important Games: Virginia Tech at Notre Dame (2:30, NBC) – NBC going with the weird 2:30 start times again. Just have to hope that both teams are as good as many experts feel they will be. Otherwise this should fall way down the list. So Brian Kelly and Justin Fuente: don’t make me regret putting you this high up on the list!

Utah at Washington (3:45, specialty pack) – This is the time they used last year for the late afternoon start on ESPN. I am just assuming it will be the same this year. Another matchup between the two best coaches in the Pac-12 not named David Shaw. One team might partially derail the other team’s season…this is what I would say if the Pac-12 wasn’t a God damn minefield to begin with. I wouldn’t be shocked to see no one come out of the regular season in this conference unscathed yet again.

Oregon at USC (7:30, FOX) – Again, I don’t have the answer to who gets first selection on which weeks between FOX and ABC. This goes up against the final game on this list so it’s not like one game is much better than the other (at this point). This might just come down to numbers: as in the number of times each conference gets games on ABC and FOX. So get out your slide rule (that was even before my time) or abacus (also before my time) and you can too can figure out all the weird intricacies of the college football broadcasting schedules.

TCU at Oklahoma State (3:30, ABC) – The Gary vs. The Mullet. Should be good. We hope. This should be a great Big XII matchup between two often overlooked teams because the Big XII has OKLAHOMA AND TEXAS and eight other teams (according to many people). Two great head coaches and maybe a pew-pew-pew offensive outburst? I’m game for some normal Big XII action!

Miami at Florida State (7:30, ABC) – How many times will Wide Right be mentioned? Over/under set at 4.5. I get it. It was a huge deal. But it was three decades ago. And these teams play each other every year. So move on to something else. Anything. I am sure Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit can think of something.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: West Virginia at Baylor (Thursday, 8:00, specialty pack) – Now this….this should be a game where the over/under is at about 90 and you still think of taking the over. I hope they shoot the lights out since that’s what the Big XII is for right?

Best Group of Five Game: Houston at UCF (7:00, specialty pack) – I was tempted to include this in the Other Important Games of the Week section. This game could be that good and it wouldn’t surprise me if it somehow ended up on ABC considering this is one of the worst weeks of the college football season. This game might stand out as well if both teams come in undefeated.

Worst Power Five Game: Kansas State at Kansas (Noon, specialty pack) – If this was a really good slate of games, this game would be on FS1 or ESPNU at best. Instead I have this as the ESPN game at Noon. The Sunflower Showdown has also been relegated to one of the least important rivalries in Power Five football. Kansas hasn’t been good for a decade and who knows what the Wildcats will be like without Bill Snyder. Chris Klieman was a genius at North Dakota State so maybe he can pull something off and get a buzz going in the Little Apple once again. Until then, this is the spot you get.

So this section had a couple of amazing weeks and a not-so-good week. But it’s still college football dammit so I will watch. And when I finally move to IPTV it will get seriously out of hand. If I somehow have access to ESPN3 or ESPN+ it’s over for me. I might as well shut down my phone and tell my kids to head to their mom’s for the day at that point.

I gotta get on buying those preview mags! They have to be in stores already, no? If so, I will buy one and that will start me on my college football reading for the next three months. At least the Phil Steele one is ordered. Hopefully I get it before July. Otherwise it will be too late to find out who the complete liability is on the UTEP offensive line. College football can’t come quick enough but these magazines surely keep me occupied for much of the summer.

The CFL starts next week. I will definitely watch some of it until late August when it’s COLLEJ FOOTBAW time. I should really get to another game to be honest with you. Especially now with tailgating being “legal” it might be more fun. Either that or there will be more drunk people around the stadiums before games. I am fine with this as long as I remind myself to look down and dodge the random piles of puke every 50 metres. Enjoy the rest of the week everyone and I will get the final post in this series up as soon as I can.

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

Posted on May 29, 2019 by guelphbossman

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Week 1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Week 2

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

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

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

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

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

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

Week 3

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What is this? – Week 10 College Football TV Schedule

Posted on November 1, 2018 by guelphbossman

No real outrage over the first College Football Playoff rankings? What sorcery is this? What will ESPN talk about? Oh…..yeah maybe the issues at Maryland and Rutgers. I’m sure the Big Ten is very happy to have invited those two programs now.

Anyway, the first rankings from The Committee came down and it was meh. Nothing crazy. The only thing I could slightly be surprised about was Washington State and Kentucky being 8 and 9 and UCF being 12. Other than that, everything makes sense. For now. We know that all it takes is for one surprise result and The Committee goes crazy and ends up somehow putting Florida State at 25.

We are in the midst of almost a month straight of FOOTBAW on every day! Rejoice all you college football hooligans! This is when the weeks starting getting quite stacked and this is the first of a few (you know, except for SEC Sleepwalk Saturday). Let’s get to the schedule shall we?

Thursday

		US	Canada
Northern Illinois at Akron	7:00 PM
Ohio at Western Michigan	7:00 PM
Temple at #12 UCF	7:30 PM

UCF tries to stay perfect with a rather good Temple team coming to Orlando. Also, WMU could make Buffalo’s MAC East title hopes much easier if they can knock off Ohio.

Friday

		US	Canada
Penn at Cornell	6:00 PM
Pittsburgh at #25 Virginia	7:30 PM
Western Kentucky at Middle Tennessee	8:00 PM

Yes, the Cavaliers are ranked and leading the Coastal. However, Pitt still has a chance to win the division. Seriously. If they pull the upset here they get very close to being one of the craziest ACC Championship Game teams ever.

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
Louisville at #2 Clemson	Noon
Nebraska at #10 Ohio State	Noon
Air Force at Army	Noon
Rutgers at Wisconsin	Noon
#20 Texas A&M at Auburn	Noon
Michigan State at Maryland	Noon
Memphis at East Carolina	Noon
South Carolina at Ole Miss	Noon
Georgia Tech at North Carolina	12:30 PM

Not a ton here as it really is the appetizer to the rest of the day which is pretty frickin awesome. Nebraska and Louisville should have huge troubles in the early games. Texas A&M-Auburn could end up being good. Other than that, it’s football and that’s all that counts at this point.

UPDATE: Syracuse-Wake Forest has been added in this timeslot.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
Florida State at #21 NC State	3:30 PM
#6 Georgia at #9 Kentucky	3:30 PM
#13 West Virginia at #17 Texas	3:30 PM
Tulane at USF	3:30 PM
Minnesota at Illinois	3:30 PM
#16 Iowa at Purdue	3:30 PM
Navy at Cincinnati	3:30 PM
#22 Boston College at Virginia Tech	3:45 PM
#14 Penn State at #5 Michigan	3:45 PM
Missouri at #11 Florida	4:00 PM
Charlotte at Tennessee	4:00 PM

Now this gets good. Three games between ranked teams. Another four involving a ranked team. Plus Cincinnati and USF who aren’t that far outside the Top 25. Makes for a VERY good afternoon slate. UGA-UK dominates this timeslot to an extent but PSU-UM and WVU-UT are also huge games with massive ramifications for all involved. Now we are getting into the nitty-gritty of the season and it shows with this type of schedule.

And yes, you are not seeing things…we have an ACC Network doubleheader to make up for the game they lost earlier in the season due to a hurricane. So that’s good, right?

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
UConn at Tulsa	7:00 PM
Duke at Miami	7:00 PM
Houston at SMU	7:00 PM
#4 Notre Dame at Northwestern	7:15 PM
UCLA at Oregon	7:30 PM
UTSA at UAB	7:30 PM
Louisiana Tech at #18 Mississippi State	7:30 PM
#7 Oklahoma at Texas Tech	8:00 PM
#1 Alabama at #3 LSU	8:00 PM

If it wasn’t for Alabama-LSU which, at this point, is the game of the year, the primetime timeslot wouldn’t be as good as the afternoon timeslot which seems to be happening with more and more regularity. ND-NW should be a good one as this could be the Irish’s last tough game of the regular season (since I don’t think USC would be considered that tough to play against at this point). Your PEW! PEW! game of the night will probably be the Oklahoma-Texas Tech game. Don’t be surprised if we see 100 points and 1000 yards of offense in this one. Finally, Chip Kelly returns to Eugene and not many care. How sad is that.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
BYU at Boise State	10:15 PM
San Diego State at New Mexico	10:15 PM
#23 Fresno State at UNLV	10:30 PM
California at #8 Washington State	10:45 PM

One fairly massive game is the Pac-12 After Dark affair. All the Cougs have to do is keep winning. Easier said than done as Cal has been a tough out this season. Fresno State continues their probably march to the Mountain West Championship and surpisingly, BYU-Boise isn’t even close to the big game of the night. A bit of an indictment there on two (normally) good programs.

Games to set your eyeballs on

Alabama at LSU (8:00, CBS) – This has become somewhat of a tradition. To have the Bama-LSU game on in primetime on CBS, CBS’s only primetime pick (for the SEC) in a season. This happens even when LSU isn’t that great because the Tide have been great for years now. To say this is huge is a vast understatement. LSU could really turn the whole season on its head with a win this Saturday night. A Bama win eliminates LSU (probably) from CFP contention although the New Year’s Six may be the floor for both of these programs. Should be electric in Death Valley.

Georgia at Kentucky (3:30, CBS) – So many games to choose from for the #2 spot. I will choose this one here. Why? Honestly, because it’s Kentucky and the Wildcats are NEVER the #2 game of the week and rarely even sniff the game of the week list. This is for the SEC East as well so it’s huge. CBS got the mother of all doubleheaders with this game and the Bama-LSU game at night. I would struggle to find a bigger doubleheader in the past few seasons better than this one. Plus if Kentucky wins, the experts HAVE to talk about Kentucky being in the College Football Playoff, like I did with my 1984-esque bowl projections post (and no, I don’t mean the George Orwell book).

Penn State at Michigan (3:45, specialty pack) – 3:45 is a bit of an odd time but there are probably two reasons for this. One, Notre Dame-Northwestern was slated for either 7:15 or 7:30 (for some unknown reason). They didn’t get the ABC primetime spot (that was smart on Disney’s end) so they had to go to the ESPN spot that was now fifteen minutes later. Two, Kirk Herbstreit has to fly from Baton Rouge to Detroit and get to the game so that Chris Fowler doesn’t have to do everything by himself like some sort of Joey Styles/college football mashup (“Throw over the middle by McSorley and OH MY GOD!”). Actually that sounds kind of fun.

West Virginia at Texas (3:30, FOX) – Honestly this feels like the Big XII semi-final match and that the winner gets Oklahoma at JerryWorld in a month. Looking at the other two FOX games, I would be more than shocked if GUS JOHNSON and rankings-hater Joel Klatt wasn’t on the call here. This is actually only the third best game in this timeslot so it makes me wonder why this wasn’t put on at Noon. Maybe they didn’t want to start their broadcast day with having to say “Ya know…Texas may not be back all the way yet” and then follow that up with Ohio State pummeling the ever-loving snot out of Nebraska and the sad Chip Kelly reunion in Eugene.

California at Washington State (10:45, specialty pack) – Wazzu at #8. I am surprised someone didn’t say they hated them being in that spot and that most of it had to with an irrational hate of Mike Leach. This is the kind of speed bump game that many teams looking to contend run into. Don’t be surprised if at about 2 in the morning, this game is coming down to the wire. Either that or we see 70s porn star Gardner Minshew throw like 70 times in typical Coug fashion and Washington State is running away with it.

Honourable mention: Temple at UCF (Thursday, 7:30, specialty pack); Boston College at Virginia Tech (3:45, ACC Network); Notre Dame at Northwestern (7:15, specialty pack); Oklahoma at Texas Tech (8:00, ABC); Pittsburgh at Virginia (Friday, 7:30, specialty pack…yes I couldn’t just do three this week since many of these games are important)

Some gambling fun and games

How about my Oklahoma State over Texas pick! And my Houston over USF pick! Just ignore most of the rest of my picks last week though. But hey we are on to a new week with new picks so let’s do this!

Notre Dame over Northwestern

Washington State over California

Georgia over Kentucky

Alabama over LSU

Pittsburgh over Virginia (upset!)

Virginia Tech over Boston College (mini-upset?)

Oklahoma over Texas Tech

Texas over West Virginia

Michigan over Penn State

UCF over Temple

Fresno State over UNLV

You know what? Everything is up on the guides! WOOHOO! I shouldn’t have to cheer about this but we are still at the point where it is not a given that all the already scheduled games won’t be up on the channels that are set aside for the very purpose of showing college football games.

Thursday Night Football is upon us again and oh my god this is awful. Oakland at San Francisco? I don’t know if I can handle that. I know at the start of the season, the execs at FOX salivated at the fact that we would have Jon Gruden in his coaching return coaching an at-least .500 Raiders team going up against Jimmy G and the Niners in a matchup between two possibly playoff-bound teams. Instead, they get this. The Raiders are hot garbage and the Niners aren’t much better. At least the Niners will have Garoppolo back next season. Then again, the Raiders will have Gruden back again next season as well. Poor Raiders fans.

I, as per usual, will be on Twitter this Saturday although I don’t tweet as much as I used to. For one, they don’t like the show the game-specific hashtags as much so tweeting out something about a specific game may be read by not many people. Which is very unlike popular members of the media would could tweet out “Da Volunteerz are diarrhea” and get 10,000 likes. Again, not doing it for the likes. I truly enjoy interacting with others on gameday. It adds something to the college football experience…more than 14+ hours of actual college football I can watch does already. Welp, enjoy the games everyone!

CHOO CHOO! – Week 8 College Football Recap

Posted on October 22, 2018 by guelphbossman

It was a relatively mundane college football Saturday (or at least as mundane as a college football Saturday can be). Nothing super exciting, at least from a Power Five perspective. Then came what happened in West Lafayette in primetime and it was quite the shocker and woke up everyone in the college football world. This feels weirdly similar to Iowa’s dismantling of Ohio State last year when the Buckeyes went to Iowa City and got lambasted. Same thing the other night. Purdue dominated in almost every aspect and looked like they were overpowering tOSU. Ohio State had no answer for anything the Boilermakers threw at them. And now, another domino has fallen as another undefeated team has been felled. We might get to November with not even a few undefeated teams (we’re already down to five). I can just see the sheer amount of HOT TAKES about the College Football Playoff now. We think it was crazy in 2007 with just the BCS? Oh, just wait because of something like that happens again, then look out because the college football media will honestly loses its ever-loving mind and I will enjoy every minute of it.

The rest of the recap

How about them Trojans? Yeah not that great. A somewhat crushing loss to Utah where they weren’t even close. Clay Helton is now on the hot seat in Los Angeles. I still believe they have the inside track to win the Pac-12 South though considering the division has been pretty disgusting all season. And watch the winner of this division win the conference championship and obliterate any hopes of the College Football Playoff or even more than one team in the New Year’s Six.
Penn State struggle quite a bit with Indiana but was able to hold on for the win. Not like many people were actually in the stadium to see it. It looked like the ruins of some long-ago Summer Olympics venue with tourists wandering around seeing what the fuss was all about. I’m sure there are many in Bloomington longing for basketball season to just begin already.
It was a battle of undefeateds between Clemson and NC State. OK maybe battle is too strong a word. The Wolfpack took a shellacking at the hands of the Tigers in Death Valley. Trevor Lawrence looked like a Heisman candidate. And the defense is the kind of defense that can win national championships. It was also the first real proof that Clemson is for real as not many thought so after their game against Texas A&M. Are we headed for another round of Clemson-Bama? Perhaps.
Tennessee was fired up for their games with Alabama…ahahahahahaha, just kidding. They got smoked. The Tide put 58 points up on the Vols, the most in the series’ history. And Tua Tagovailoa kept up his streak of not playing in the fourth quarter. Good job, kid.
LSU seemingly had no problem with Nick Fitzgerald, Joe Moorhead or anyone from the Mississippi State team. Are we finally going to say they are for real yet? Nope. Their biggest test, by far, is a week this Saturday when they face Alabama in primetime. Win that and people will finally say the Tigers are for real and national championship contenders. Also Coach O will get a 20-year extension if that happens (and a lifetime supply of gumbo).
The Battle for the Paul Bunyan Trophy had a little bit of everything: pre-game near-fighting; fairly long weather delay; true Big Ten weather; great defense. The one thing it didn’t have was a great ending. Michigan kind of mopped the floor with Sparty. MSU ended up with 94 yards of offense. That is terrible. Although Michigan’s defense is that good. Are we finally going to say they are for real yet? Perhaps although everyone is waiting for the game against Ohio State where they may be a slight favourite going in. How about that!
Oklahoma looked good in a victory over TCU. Kyler Murray looked good in a victory over TCU. Pretty much everyone involved for Oklahoma looked good in a victory over TCU. We are headed straight for a second OU-UT clash this season and this one will be at JerryWorld and it is gonna be LIT!
How about the day that was had in Pullman, Washington this past Saturday? It started really early as College Gameday went there for the first time ever after the Wazzu flag, Ol’ Crimson, had appeared on the show 216 consecutive times. That’s crazy. Then the Cougs went out and went up big on Oregon early and held on for the upset. Now it looks like the Apple Cup between them and Washington (who looked just OK in beating Colorado) will be for the Pac-12 North title and the winner might have the only feasible shot at the College Football Playoff left for the conference (and even then they would need a lot of help to be in that position).
UCF wins pretty easily even with McKenzie Milton injured. USF wins but it wasn’t easy over a terrible UConn team. We are headed, yet again, for an epic War On I-4 on Black Friday. Remember last year’s matchup between these two teams? Game of the year…well, regular season at least. Nothing says that can’t happen again.
Benny Snell went off on Saturday night yet Kentucky barely beat Vanderbilt. Not befitting of a Top 15 team but hey, a win’s a win and if they keep winning then their game against Georgia could very well be for the SEC East crown. Can you imagine everyone’s reaction if Kentucky makes it to the SEC Championship?
Cincinnati is also no longer undefeated although that just felt like a matter of time really. But to lose the way they did to Temple has to hurt. Let up a TD in the final minute and in the first part of overtime then get pushed back to almost the 50 before getting intercepted to end the game. Ugh.
Finally, NEBRASKA WON A GAME! Scott Frost finally got that monkey off his back. Thankfully. Them going 0-12 would have been not pretty to see.

Man I honestly thought that weekend was going to turn out pretty crappy. And it wasn’t honestly that great (in a college football sense) until primetime hit. Thank you Purdue. Now to the Bossman Top 25:

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

Yes I have Notre Dame down at #5. I don’t care what anyone thinks about that. Let’s be honest here: if the Irish win out they’re in, no ifs, ands or buts. I also have UCF at #7 but I wonder if that’s where they top out. They seem to have plateaued in the AP Poll at #10. They need to start beating teams to a pulp. Starters in all the time. Fuck it, who cares at this point. Finally, I himmed and hawed over whether to put Texas Tech or Appalachian State in at #25. I put Tech in for now knowing that App State will get there eventually. Also, if UCF loses before the War on I-4 then the Mountaineers will have a good opportunity to be the first Sun Belt team to go to the New Year’s Six.

Guess what? We get more mid-week college football this week! And actually it’s before mid-week. Troy heads to South Alabama for the Sun Belt version of the Iron Bowl. So…the Aluminum Bowl? Anyway, it’s tomorrow night at 8:00 on the specialty pack. I’ll be back later this week with a full college football schedule. Enjoy your week everyone!

James, what the hell were you thinking? – Week 5 College Football Recap

Posted on October 2, 2018 by guelphbossman

Most of us don’t get the reasoning here. I still don’t. It’s not like James Franklin is now on the hot seat or anything because he isn’t. But this felt like a bonehead play call at the most inopportune time. They took a timeout to call a draw on 4th and 5? Makes absolutely no sense considering what Trace McSorley had been doing all night. And they had Ohio State on the ropes, again. Second straight year they blow a two-possession lead in the fourth quarter. tOSU is now in the catbird seat in the Big Ten East and I honestly don’t foresee then relinquishing that spot. And now the Fighting Franklins can’t afford another loss or else any division title or New Year’s Six dreams go down the shitter.

It was a fairly exciting weekend of college football (as per usual) so let’s get right down to it.

This somewhat crazy weekend really kicked into gear with Syracuse traveling to Death Valley to play Clemson. My pick to win it all, Clemson, struggled with Syracuse. Losing Trevor Lawrence to a concussion does not help. Chase Brice was able to lead the Tigers back from a deficit basically all game to keep Clemson undefeated. Syracuse is quite good and people better watch them in the future. Dino Babers definitely turning that program around.

Notre Dame put on another show, this time against Stanford. The Irish are starting to hit their stride. They still have a couple difficult games upcoming with the Virginia Tech one next week on ABC in primetime being a huge one. It’ll be interesting if Touchdown Jesus can win that game. At that point they have to seriously start talking about Notre Dame as a College Football Playoff contender. That should blow some people’s minds and also piss a lot of people off who hate Notre Dame for being all Notre Dame-y. That and the fact that Rudy was offside.

Hey guess what? Tennessee lost to Georgia again. Ho hum. Not as bad as last year’s affair but still pretty bad. They can’t seem to do anything on offense. I get that Georgia is a really good team and possibly a College Football Playoff contender but the Vols look like they had no fight on Saturday. The Vols are going to struggle just to get to a bowl game. The Dawgs, on the other hand, have a fairly clear path to the CFP. Win out and then it doesn’t matter what happens in the SEC Championship because they’re probably in.

The Dan Mullen Return to Stark Vegas Extravaganza did not go the way anyone thought it would. Many, including myself, figured Mississippi State would win. Maybe not by a huge margin, but they would win nonetheless. Instead, we got a relatively boring, low-point affair that kind of just fizzled at the end. Gators win, Dan Mullen wins, Bulldog fans are unhappy.

West Virginia is quietly undefeated. They quietly have a Heisman candidate in Will Grier. Yes they just beat Texas Tech by basically outscoring them because defense is for losers in the middle part of the country (supposedly). It would not be a surprise to see them in the Big XII Championship this season and they could put the entire CFP into chaos by winning it (especially since everyone, including me, believes Oklahoma will win the conference).

Virginia Tech bounced back from their horrific loss to Old Dominion (who lost to East Carolina this past Saturday just so you know) by beating a Duke team that was ranked for one week and that’s it. This all means that the Hokies are still in line for that ACC Championship spot out of the ACC Coastal. Imagine them getting to the CFP with a loss to Old Freakin’ Dominion? Some of the ESPN talking heads would blow a gasket. Joel Klatt would go on a crazy rant. It would be awesome to watch.

Bama has absolutely crushed pretty much all their opponents this season. They just destroyed the Ragin’ Cajuns of Louisiana just recently. That matters little at this point. What is more important is that Jalen Hurts played in his fifth game of the season meaning he cannot redshirt. So if he transfers (or more like WHEN he transfers), he will do so as a graduate senior, not a graduate junior. Only one year left for him to be at the most important spot on a contending team. Also, this helps the Tide if Tua Tagovailoa goes down with an injury at some point this season.

LSU laid a beating on Ole Miss. It’s interesting now that the Tigers have a half-decent quarterback. They have to be considered contenders and other than their yearly primetime CBS game against Alabama, there’s not another game on the schedule where you look at it and say “Yep, they’re gonna lose that for sure.” Ed Orgeron is going to get like a 20-year extension if the Bayou Bengals get to the College Football Playoff.

Kentucky is sneaking up on everyone in the SEC East. They have started 3-0 in conference play for the first time ever after beating South Carolina. Honestly, their game against Georgia will probably end up being for the SEC East crown which is kind of shocking but shows how well Mark Stoops is doing with the Wildcats. Having Benny Snell doesn’t hurt either.

UCF annihilated Pitt and is still the favourite for the Group of Five spot. Enough said.

Michigan might actually be good. Who knows? They did come back from 17 down to defeat Northwestern (who is probably not as good as I thought) but still…it shows that the Wolverines actually have some fight in them. Let’s be honest, they probably lose at least one more game the rest of the season but I am sure Big Blue Nation and Jim Harbaugh are hoping for better than that. Either that or many in Big Blue Nation will want Harbaugh shitcanned for not beating Ohio State again.

Alright enough recappin’. Time for another Bossman Top 25. I am sure you might bristle at some of my rankings. I will explain below:

#1	Alabama
#2	Ohio State
#3	Notre Dame
#4	Georgia
#5	Clemson
#6	LSU
#7	Washington
#8	Oklahoma
#9	Auburn
#10	West Virginia
#11	Stanford
#12	Michigan
#13	Wisconsin
#14	Penn State
#15	UCF
#16	Kentucky
#17	Miami
#18	Oregon
#19	Michigan State
#20	Colorado
#21	Virginia Tech
#22	Oklahoma State
#23	Texas
#24	Boise State
#25	Florida

Yep, I put Clemson at #5. To be honest, they have struggled this season whereas Notre Dame, Ohio State and Georgia have performed quite well. Bama, well they are the easy #1. Remember this is how I feel about the teams NOW. It has nothing to do with who I think will be the teams in the CFP at the end of the season. Now that one of my picks, Penn State, has been knocked down a bit, I have to change things up. Right now I would say it’s still Alabama, Clemson and Oklahoma but now I would add Ohio State. Georgia is an intriguing possibility but the other four teams would be ahead of them unless they can somehow pull out an SEC Championship.

I will see about doing a Wednesday post. I have been quite busy lately so I don’t know. For sure you will still get the college football schedule on Thursday and the NFL schedule on Friday. No need to change tradition, right? Have a great week everyone!

Bossman's Blog

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

Tag Archives: Death Valley

Hey let’s look ahead (and also give you the Week 8 College Football TV schedule)

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday Early

Saturday Afternoon

Saturday Primetime

Saturday Late Night

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

What is this? – Week 10 College Football TV Schedule

Thursday

Friday

Saturday Early

Saturday Afternoon

Saturday Primetime

Saturday Late Night

CHOO CHOO! – Week 8 College Football Recap