Week 1 College Football Recap – Can we call this the greatest Week 1 ever?

“AH don’t think so” – what Mack Brown probably said.

Honestly, I do not have a dog in this hunt.  I don’t have a favourite team that I only root for and the rest of the teams can eat shit.  I just love watching college football.  Saying all that, I had selected (not too long ago and you know that since you are a faithful reader) North Carolina to go to the College Football Playoff.  I had the Tar Heels overcoming Clemson in the ACC Championship to get in.  I was dead serious about it.  So of course their O-line goes and plays like shit and Mack looked hungover most of the night and the Heels lost to a game Virginia Tech team.  The Hokies played well…on defense.  But the Heels were supposed to win this one relatively easily and they laid an egg.  I’ve had this happen before.  Years ago I picked Michigan State to get to the CFP and they were horrible all season.  Another year I picked LSU and Wisconsin upset them in Lambeau of all places to start the season.  It happens.  UNC may still get to the playoff.  Run the table and they are probably there but man it looks bad (not to mention the Sam Howell-for-Heisman takes getting a creamy dump all over them).

Enough of the bad (and it’s not even really that bad).  Let’s look at the fact that college football is back!  It feels like a real season after last year’s COVID-stained debacle.  And I have to ask the question: is this the greatest Week 1 in college football history?  Let’s recap and put the pieces together.

• The game of the week was a war of attrition.  It was a slugfest from the opening bell and both Georgia and Clemson weren’t going to give an inch.  The defenses were on point all night.  The only touchdown was a pick six by UGA.  Both quarterbacks, D.J. Uiagalelei and J.T. Daniels, struggled as the defense pressured them all game.  In the end, the Dawg defense held out and look like a serious national title contender.  Not saying Clemson is done, especially after North Carolina’s loss the night before, but it’s a rough start and the offense does not look in sync at all.  It was, in the end, a close game with two contenders and a lot of fun to watch.
• How about those Washington Huskies?  Woof.  The 20th ranked possible Pac-12 favourites lost to Montana.  Montana.  And the score was 13-7.  Are you fucking kidding me?  The hype over the first game back at Husky Stadium was palpable and the team goes out and shits the bed.  An unreal start for poor Jimmy Lake who will have to turn things around fast or he will be on a most-unexpected hot seat soon enough.
• But hey, it’s not like Oregon played awesome.  They could not put Fresno State away.  The Bulldogs are obviously better than I (and many others) thought they were but the Ducks are considered the team that could bring the Pac-12 back to the CFP dance.  Instead, they looked mediocre for most of the game and pulled the game out at the end.  Not good either.  Pac-12 North struggling to start the year.  Don’t even get me started on Stanford and Washington State.
• Wisconsin and Penn State, for three quarters, was a gongshow.  Neither team seemed to want to win.  The kickers didn’t want to help matters either.  Wisconsin was inside the PSU 10, three separate times and came away with no points.  The Nittany Lions were hardly better on offense.  It felt like a classic Big Ten three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust matchup.  PSU’s defense held up and it was again, at least for the fourth quarter, a really fun game to watch that came down to the wire.  And honestly, it was nice to see Jump Around at Camp Randall once again.  Almost brought tears to my eyes.
• How about them Jayhawks?  OK look it was only South Dakota and they barely squeaked out a win.  But at least they weren’t like five other FBS teams who fell to FCS squads, including Vanderbilt getting pasted by East Tennessee State and Colorado State getting hammered by South Dakota State’s potent offense.  Also, you can say, for now, that Lance Leipold is undefeated in Lawrence.  Good times.
• Yes, Alabama beat Miami up pretty good.  Not that that was unexpected.  The way they did it, combined with the way other top teams handled their opening contests says something that was a bit unexpected, though.  That Bama is still heads above the field until we see otherwise.  Bryce Young looked great in his first start.  The rest of the Tide offense did their thing and the defense was all over D’Eriq King and the Canes all day.  Even the turnover chain didn’t feel great for Canes fans after a turnover was overturned and they had to put the chain back in the box.  Nothing went right for The U yesterday.
• Hey, maybe Chip Kelly has finally figured it out in Westwood.  UCLA looked damn good in their upset victory of LSU and should hit the rankings this week.  Maybe, just maybe, the Bruins could sneak through and win the Pac-12 South.  Wouldn’t that be a coup for this program.
• I am hereby starting a petition.  All Duke’s Mayo Bowls/Classics/Kickoffs/Whatevers need to finish with the following: the winning coach getting a big bucket of mayo dumped on them.  It is only fitting and would provide some excitement.  This also means we will see Bret Bielema beg to be in every Duke’s Mayo game from here until he stops coaching.
• At one point it looked like the Gus Bus had gone off the rails already in Orlando.  Then UCF came back and pulled out the victory over Boise State in a huge Group of Five opener.  Now Gus Malzahn is hailed as a great coach and maybe the guy who will bring the Knights back to glory.  This guy’s blood pressure either goes up and down every few minutes or is so stationary that it’s statistically impossible since I don’t know how one man can go through the roller-coaster stuff he’s gone through as a coach.
• I honestly wondered if Tulane would get blown out by Oklahoma.  Man, was I ever wrong.  The Green Wave, who couldn’t host the game in New Orleans due to the effects of Hurricane Ida, made things VERY difficult for the Sooners.  After recovering an onside kick late, they had a chance to win the game and couldn’t get it done.  What it did do is two things though: show us that Tulane might be a darkhorse contender in the American conference and that the Sooners defense is brutal which seems to be the same story every year.  This team will never win a national championship if they can’t shore up that side of the ball.
• The Labour Day ACC game was pretty bad…well for one team it was.  I mean Ole Miss played really well but Louisville is awful.  I don’t think Scott Satterfield is long for coaching in the ACC.  Is Bobby Petrino available?
• Who picked Iowa to win the Big Ten West?  That’s right, this guy….I’m pointing at myself.  The Hawkeyes looked like the northern version of Alabama as they beat the tar out of Indiana.  Sure the Hoosiers may have been a tad overrated going into this season but this was a joke from the word go.  Maybe Iowa can now get some national respect going forward this season (until they lose a game to a team they should have easily beat).
• Finally, the Sunday night game was an unreal one.  Jack Coan proved that Brian Kelly was right in having faith in him as their new starting quarterback.  And Florida State?  Well, they may finally be looking like the Florida State we all know for the first time truly since the Jameis Winston days.  Also a great tribute to Bobby Bowden at halftime and it’s always great to see the Doak rockin’ like it was in the 90s.  And how can I forget McKenzie Milton.  What a return from a guy who wasn’t even supposed to be walking ever again after that brutal leg injury almost three years ago.  Almost brought the Noles to victory in his comeback when he came in late in the game.  And let’s not talk about Brian Kelly’s callback to John McKay of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the postgame interview.

So let’s go back to the question I posed earlier.  Is this the greatest Week 1 in college football history?  I’m not sure.  We have to be careful here.  After not having a big start to last season, this felt amazing.  And yes there were quite a few important games right out of the gate and also a fair share of upsets and FCS wins over FBS teams.  But is it the very best?  I’ll say it’s one of the best.  Definitely the best since I started this blog almost a decade ago.  And a great start to the season where many are hoping that we don’t get into any kind of COVID madness.  We are still slowly getting back to normality (and have a ways to go) and some cannot afford a step back in any situation.

I will not do a Top 25 after Week 1.  This is what I’ve been doing.  I wish college football waited a while but they won’t.

Now I can hopefully get back into the swing of things.  We can get back to the normal college football schedule/NFL schedule/college football recap/rinse and repeat deal that seems to work.  The world is getting back to normal, including in my little portion of the globe.

I sincerely hope you had fun watching the games during Week 1.  I know I did.  I kind of needed it in a way.  Sounds weird to some that I need that but I did especially with my life (along with many other lives) being so topsy-turvy for about a year-and-a-half now.  Enjoy the rest of your week.

Bossman’s Shitty Heisman Ballot: A tradition unlike any other

I don’t understand myself sometimes.  Why do I put myself through this?  I guess I’m just a creature of habit.  Like a dog who knows it gets fed at 4:00 every day.  Anyway, here is my (quite probably terrible) ballot for the Heisman for the 2021 season:

My Brutally Bad Heisman Ballot

1. Spencer Rattler, Oklahoma – Rattler is pretty much everyone’s favourite to win the Heisman this season.  We know what this means: either he runs away with it with no real challengers or something happens and he falls out of the Top 10.  With how I predict Oklahoma will do this season, I have a feeling he could approach some Joe Burrow-type numbers and run (not walk) away with the Heisman.
2. Sam Howell, North Carolina – Nice to see a player from a basketball school up for the Heisman.  All kidding aside, he will be the main reason my prediction (hopefully) comes true and the Tar Heels end up in the College Football Playoff.  He will be in tough to pass Rattler in the Heisman list but if he also puts up some Joe Burrow-like numbers it could become an interesting race.  A lot will have to do with how much these players play in the fourth quarters of some games.
3. D.J. Uiagalelei, Clemson – Alright, let’s try this.  *clears throat*  Ahem…Oo-ee-un-guh-luh-lay.  Now you know.  And knowing is half the battle.  The replacement for Trevor Lawrence has huge shoes to fill but looked damn good in the game against Notre Dame last season.  So it wouldn’t be too far fetched to consider him a Heisman threat.  D.J. may need a conference championship (and of course some great performances throughout the season) to garner some true Heisman hype.
4. C.J. Stroud, Ohio State – Just like with Justin Fields a couple years ago, I am hesitant to put Stroud this high.  No real work at the college level along with a really good running game doesn’t look like Heisman material.  But with a very good Buckeyes team (again), he may get enough hype to carry him into November at the very least.
5. Bryce Young, Alabama – Yet another Bama quarterback on the Heisman watch list.  The Tide is the Tide so Young will get a lot of media play this season.  It’ll be up to him to come out from under Mac Jones’ shadow much like Mac Jones came out from under Tua Tagovailoa’s shadow.
6. Matt Corral, Ole Miss – OK hear me out.  The Rebels are going to be much better this season than they have been the past few years.  Like Top 25 good.  And nothing says the Heisman winner has to be on a team that’s Top 10.  With Lane Kiffin’s offense, the sky is almost the limit for Corral as long as he doesn’t have a 5-interception performance or something dreadful like that which kills his Heisman chances.
7. J.T. Daniels, Georgia – DJ, CJ, JT.  Part of me hopes those three are the top Heisman vote getters.  Daniels looked really good in the final few games of Georgia’s season.  He has to have a hot start to stay in the Heisman mix, even with the Dawgs opening against Clemson.
8. Kedon Slovis, USC – It feels like a prerequisite that a USC quarterback has to be at least on the Heisman preseason watch list.  Now if USC does what they did last year and continues that into this year, Slovis will probably be a big reason for it.  And despite the fact a receiver won last year, we all know the Heisman is predominantly a quarterback award.  Otherwise, Slovis might not crack the Top 10 but I have to be realistic and realize it’s not always about the best player to win the Heisman (despite the fact that’s the whole point of the fucking award but I digress).
9. Brock Purdy/Breece Hall, Iowa State – OK I am cheating a bit but does it really matter?  I don’t want to pick between these two since who knows who will have the better season.  Whoever has the better season obviously will have the better chance at the Heisman, despite the point I made above.  This also makes Hall the first non-quarterback on this list.  Congrats, I guess.
10. D’Eriq King, Miami – Back to quarterbacks (kind of).  Manny Diaz should have his best Miami team since he spurned Temple and went to South Beach.  If King can stay healthy, he may rocket up this list as he is a huge running threat along with having a good arm.

Honourable Mention

• Emory Jones, Florida
• Bijan Robinson, Texas
• Jayden Daniels, Arizona State
• D’Andre Swift, Georgia
• Casey Thompson, Texas
• Michael Penix, Indiana
• Desmond Ridder, Cincinnati
• Dillon Gabriel, UCF
• Malik Willis, Liberty

Good luck to the players on this list!  You might need it with my history with this list.  I’m not even going to bother threatening not doing this post again because I know I will.  As I stated above, I will never learn.

Guess what?  That was the final college football prediction post before the college football season begins!  Week Zero is only 20 days away.  No real huge games this year during the opening week but it’s still college football.  So I will watch it all.

I am hoping soon to get the Week Zero schedule up.  I have seen nothing from TSN although it is almost three weeks away so I got to give them a break for now.  I hope it will be up soon.  Even as I go on three years-plus doing the IPTV thing, I still plan to give out the most complete college football schedule for Canadians I can muster.  Can’t forget the roots of the blog.

So chances are I will be going with my NFL preview first.  Plenty of time before the season begins as we just had the Hall of Fame Game.  Man I’m really ahead of the game.  I shouldn’t jinx it.  Everyone have a great final day of the weekend!

Is it time for the Return of the Mack?

No, not THAT Return of the Mack (although that is honestly one of my all-time favourite songs).

Mack Brown has already done amazing things in his second stint in Chapel Hill.  But he has one more hill to climb, at least when it comes to the ACC.  And man is it ever a huge hill.  An escarpment.  Maybe even consider it a small mountain.

Clemson is never ready to relinquish their crown, the same crown they’ve had for years now since Florida State decided it didn’t want to be good at football for a while.  Almost like they said “You know what?  We’ve won so much for over two decades.  Let’s give another team a chance.”  And now Clemson is the same way.  When will they fall from their perch?  Who the hell knows.  Dabo Swinney is not known for sharing the ACC sandbox.

OK let’s get right to the predictions followed by some sweet, smoky Carolina BBQ thoughts:

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

Sweet & Smoky Carolina BBQ Thoughts

• I always love watching the ongoing battle between different parts of the U.S. claiming they have the best barbecue.  Honestly, barbecue has got close to the spot where pizza occupies: very rarely is it so bad you can’t eat it.  Most barbecue is probably very good.  Unfortunately it’s not like we have very many barbecue spots up here or any sort of barbecue tradition.
• Clemson is still the best team in the conference, despite their loss of Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne.  D.J. Uiagalelei (I always wonder where the n sound comes in) looked great against Notre Dame last year so there shouldn’t be a huge drop-off but there will be some.  The defense will pick up the slack and be the backbone of the team that will fairly easily walk to the Atlantic Division title.
• The Coastal might not have Coastal Chaos this season.  I know, I know, hard to believe.  But UNC is pulling slightly away from the field, especially with one of the Heisman favourites, Sam Howell, at QB.  Miami is good but need a full, healthy season from D’Eriq King or there’s no chance they will push for the division crown.  Expect a bounceback season from Virginia Tech which could give Justin Fuente an extension as the fans in Blacksburg are getting a little antsy based on the past few years on the field for the Hokies.
• Florida State truly starts their climb this year.  I absolutely believe it.  This is Mike Norvell’s chance to put his stamp on the program.  If he can’t at least get this program to a bowl game this year, I think his days are numbered in Tallahassee.
• It’s going to be quite the battle…for the basement of the ACC.  I have five teams all within one game of each other at the bottom (in terms of overall record).  Georgia Tech, Duke, UVA, Louisville and Syracuse all have a claim to being the worst team in the conference.  If I had to choose, I would go with Syracuse.  I fear that time’s almost up for Dino Babers in western New York.  He had one great season but other than that the train went off the rails there and things aren’t looking a whole lot better for the near future either, forget this season.
• The bloom has also come off the rose for Scott Satterfield.  Cards fans sure turned on him quick and I can’t see him turning it around right away.  If Bobby Petrino is available, I’m sure the Louisville brass would look at him and this is not a joke.
• I predict nine bowl teams from the ACC.  And if bowls have to dip into the 5-7 pool of teams, don’t look at this conference…there won’t be any.
• Oh baby, ready for the bombshell?  OK here it is.  I have the Tar Heels beating Clemson to wrest the ACC title from the Tigers.  Yeah, there.  I said it.  OK more like I typed it.  I have this feeling hardly anyone, outside of most Tar Heel fans, think this could happen.  I believe in the Mack and believe in the Heels this year.  Now watch them lose six games and I look like a fucking idiot.

That’s it for the ACC.  Three conferences in.  Next up will be the teams with no conference to call home, the Independents.  Have a great Sunday everyone!  Remember, we are a mere 41 days away from the start of the college football season!  Soon enough we will be down to single digits.

He finally has his signature win – Week 10 College Football Recap

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish outlasted the number one team in the land, Clemson, this past weekend in a 47-40 double overtime thriller.  This game was a ton of fun to watch and could be the best game that has been on NBC in a long time.  I mean the ACC at the top is one of the best conferences in football.  The ACC mid-card is actually pretty brutal though and keeps the conference from ascending towards the top of the FBS.  But back to this one.  Brian Kelly has been looking for his signature win since he started as head coach of the Irish years ago.  And he finally got it in Notre Dame’s first season ever in a conference.  They are now in the driver’s seat to get to the ACC Championship game but still have a few potential speedbump games left with BC, North Carolina and Wake still on the schedule.  But if they win out, you have to wonder if they make it to the College Football Playoff even if they lose a probably rematch with the Tigers in the ACC title game.  But there’s still a month of football yet to play so don’t want them to count their chickens before they hatch or some other cliche that some other media member might come up with.

Other recap points!

• Speaking of beatdowns, how about the one that Maryland laid on Penn State?  The Nittany Lions are looking awful so far this season but this has to be a plus for the Terps.  It will be quite amusing that if later this season Michigan is facing PSU and the loser ends up in the basement of the Big Ten East.  Because that could very easily happen.  Oh and I think Maryland may have finally found their quarterback.  Who knew another Tagovailoa could chuck the ball like that?
• It ended up being a really good World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.  The fans were jacked.  Brawls in the stands.  A guy falling several rows because he was wasted.  Good times.  Also the football game was good.  Anyway, the Bulldogs couldn’t seem to stop the Gators at all in this one.  Kyle Trask laid waste to the Georgia defense and have really distanced themselves from the rest of the SEC East.  Hopefully this will make Kirby Smart take a good hard look at his team and realize this isn’t working and that they have to go back to the drawing board and retool for another true run at the SEC title.
• Pac-12 is back!  And the best game was easily the Pac-12 Before Brunch contest between Arizona State and USC.  The Sun Devils looked dominant for most of the game.  They were up by 13 with less than three minutes to go and looked well on their way to victory.  Then Kedon Slovis showed up and the Trojans completed a miraculous comeback to win their season opener.  Heartbreaking for ASU but, again, it came down to recovering an onside kick which many teams, college and pro, are struggling to do for some reason this season.  We are obviously very early in the Pac-12 schedule but someone is going to have to go unscathed to have a shot at the CFP so why not the Trojans?
• Liberty kept rolling along…and I know people will be upset with that.  Something you have to admit, though, is that this is a really good team.  They were able to dice through Virginia Tech’s defense rather easily but still needed a sad sequence of events at the end to win.  Liberty tried a long field goal, it was blocked and returned by the Hokies with no time left in what looked like a crazy walk-off win for VaTech.  Unfortunately Justin Fuente called timeout to ice the kicker before the play.  Liberty gets another shot and the kicker drills the field goal to win the game.  I can see a lot of people wanting Fuente gone after that.  I don’t get it.  Icing the kicker has proven to not work too often, even at the college level.  So why do it?  I know that was a rare occurrence what happened in this game but it still makes Fuente look like a moron.
• Let’s go back to the Big Ten and one of the big stories there…the Indiana Hoosiers.  Yes, seriously.  Wins over Penn State, Rutgers and now Michigan have put them at the top of the Big Ten East division with Ohio State.  That’s a pretty big deal for this team.  Really, the entire division probably comes down to their trip to Columbus in two weeks.  No one thought this would be the case.  Tom Allen is one of several Coach of the Year candidates but a win over the Buckeyes would put him over the top for sure.  Many wondered if they would ever get over the hump and turn into a Top 10 team.  That time has arrived.  Now we have to see if they can sustain it.
• Oh BYU?  Yeah I don’t think anyone can keep them out of contention this season.  They absolutely annihilated Boise State on Friday night and it really looks like they won’t lose this season.  They only have two games left: North Alabama and San Diego State.  So they are assured of 10-0.  The question though is this: will another team step up and schedule them on an open date?  And if it’s a good team, it could real interesting.  One more big victory signals BYU being easily in the New  Year’s Six and being a complete thorn in the side of The Committee.
• This year I was not going to fall for any Nebraska hype.  I learned my lesson after last season’s debacle.  So it didn’t surprise me to see them lose to Northwestern.  Actually the Huskers aren’t as bad as they were last year as they kept it close with a team that could end up winning the Big Ten West.  Last season is starting to look like an aberration in Evanston as Pat Fitzgerald has the Wildcats back in contention once again.  As for Scott Frost, you have to wonder if this may be his last year in Lincoln after all the hope he brought with him after his super successful stint at UCF.
• Miami beat NC State.  Barely.  Slowly, but surely, the Canes are making their way back up the rankings and could sneak into the College Football Playoff if everyone falls just right for them.  Especially after Clemson’s loss to Notre Dame.  Other than that one bad loss The U had, they have looked pretty good and D’Eriq King is still looking like the real deal.  They can’t afford any hiccups the rest of the way though and almost need to look more dominant to cement their spot at least in the New Year’s Six.
• Well it was definitely ugly but Oklahoma State stays in the catbird seat in the Big XII with their close win over Kansas State.  But it shouldn’t have been this way.  Chris Klieman’s coaching gaffe in the second quarter is an example of coaches overthinking when to go for two.  The Wildcats just went up 12-0 and decided to go for two to make it 14-0 for some reason.  I guess it looks better on the scoreboard, I don’t know.  Anyway, they fail on their attempt.  And funny thing, OSU ended up winning by two.  Chasing points at any point before the fourth quarter drives me up the wall.  There is no point in it.  What you are saying is either a) I don’t trust my kicker which isn’t good for the kicker’s state of mind or b) I don’t trust my defense later on which isn’t good for the defensive players’ states of mind.  Dumb.  So for that reason, in my opinion, KSU deserved to lose.  Period.
• I normally don’t talk about Rutgers games in this post unless it’s about how bad they are.  Yes they lost by 22 to Ohio State.  But man does this team look like a lot of fun.  A few trick plays that totally fooled tOSU and it’s obvious that Greg Schiano has already put his touch on the program (again).  These kids believe they are not the worst team in the Big Ten East and it shows this year as they may truly be the third or fourth best team.  Sounds crazy but it’s true.
• So the Air Force-Army game was cancelled due to issues surrounding COVID-19 at the Academy.  And now their game next Saturday against Wyoming has also been cancelled.  Yikes.  I wonder what happens to the Commander’s-In-Chief Trophy.  I mean it’s 2020 so they could reschedule some sort of game between Air Force and Navy to play for it in a championship style game.  Who knows.  I mean at this point, any idea is at least a decent idea since this season has been so screwed up.
• Cincinnati beat Houston very easily.  The Bearcats have the inside track on the New Year’s Six spot.  All they have to do is not lose.  With their remaining schedule, they could very well get to the AAC Championship unscathed and in the driver’s seat.  Oh, and for people who are saying they deserve to be in the College Football Playoff, save it.  A lot would have to happen above them for that to happen, starting with teams like Notre Dame and Alabama losing for one.
• Don’t forget about San Jose State in the Group of Five race.  No, no, no not San DIEGO State.  San JOSE State.  After beating the Aztecs, they are quietly at 3-0 on the season.  Their game against Boise State at the end of the month is looming large as they very well could be 5-0 as they head to the blue turf in Boise.
• Iowa State certainly did not look like a team that could end up in the Big XII Championship in mid-December.  Yes they beat Baylor and yes it means they stay right in the thick of the race but seven point victories over the Bears don’t exactly scream conference champion, let alone NY6 team.  They get a week off and then a possible tough one against Kansas State.  Win that and they have one of the biggest games of the year in the Big XII against Texas.  There’s a good chance the winner clinches a spot in the conference championship game.
• Hey guess who holds their own destiny in the Pac-12 North?  You guessed it, the Washington State Cougars.  I know, it’s been one game but I wondered if they’d even win one this season.  And without Max Borghi who is arguably their best player.  Look it would be a lot of fun if this team was in contention in December.  How ridiculous would that be?  Mike Leach would be pissed off.  He’d probably just blame his own players on Mississippi State.
• Oklahoma just destroyed Kansas.  Do not sleep on the Sooners.  Don’t be surprised if they can somehow sneak into the Big XII Championship.  Win out and that’s where they will be.  As for the Jayhawks, Les Miles just isn’t working out.  There needs to be a complete overhaul of that program.  I don’t know who can bring this team out of their decade-plus long funk but nothing has worked since the late 2000s.
• And more Big XII as Texas survived against West Virginia in what was certainly not your typical Big XII slugfest.  Tom Herman could be doing just enough to get the Horns back to JerryWorld in a little over a month.  The conference, while being a shitshow, is still an entertaining shitshow.  You have to agree with that, no?

That was a fun weekend of college football.  Now for the Bossman Top 25!

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

Yes I have Clemson at #7 behind BYU and Cincinnati.  If the Tigers win their final three games of the season they will be up in the Top 4 no matter what.  Indiana I have not really moving, still at #13.  Don’t worry Hoosiers fans: win out and there’s no way you’re out of the CFP either.  Miami is at #8 and there’s a good chance they will be left out of the ACC Championship.  Georgia didn’t fall too far considering who they lost to.  Also, watch out for Marshall.  They are severely underrated and could sneak it’s way up the chain and be looking at a New Year’s Six spot.  Sounds crazy but it is still technically possible.

OK it’s that time of year folks!  MACtion Tuesdays.  And MACtion Wednesdays!  Tomorrow night will see Akron face Ohio, Kent State head to Bowling Green, and the top of the MAC East, Buffalo, hosting Miami-OH.  Akron-Ohio is on CBSSN and the other two games, unfortunately, won’t be seen up here.  Wednesday also sees three games, with one on CBS Sports Network, that one being Eastern Michigan at Ball State.

Anyway, tomorrow I will have my first bowl projections post and man is it ever a doozy.  Because I have no fucking idea what will end up happening because all teams are bowl-eligible.  I will explain more in the post.  Have a great week everyone.

That game was drugs – Week 8 College Football Recap

And no I’m not talking about Game 4 of the World Series (although that finish was completely bonkers as well).  The final part of the Penn State-Indiana was about as ridiculous as you can get.  It started with a little less than two minutes left and Penn State up one.

• Penn State drives down for a touchdown but Indiana’s defense allows them to score (and one of them actually celebrates when they do).  The Penn State running back tried to fall before the goal line but was unsuccessful.  So now the Nittany Lions are up 8.
• The Hoosiers then go on a drive of their own, get a touchdown with 22 seconds left and the two-point conversion to tie it up.
• Indiana’s kicker, for some reason, instead of doing a pooch kick, does more of an onside kick that no one goes after.  Penn State recovers getting excellent field position at midfield.
• Penn State lines up for the 57-yard field goal and kicker Jordan Stout misses it by a couple of feet.  We go to overtime.
• Penn State scores a touchdown to start overtime.  This is the most normal thing to happen in the past half hour.
• The Hoosiers get their chance and a great pass from Michael Penix Jr. to Whop Philyor in the corner of the end zone gets them a touchdown.
• Instead of the extra point, Tom Allen decides to go for the win.  In what seems like a broken play, Penix takes off for the corner.  As you can see above in the pic, that was where he went down.  That is about as close as you can get.  It was ruled he got in by the officials.  They went to replay for about five minutes.  From what I could see, I believe the ball hit the sideline JUST before it crossed the plane of the goal line.  I don’t think there was a way to overturn it though since it was too close.  And that’s what happened.  Indiana wins a wild one.

And of course Twitter had its normal pleasant discourse after the game.

The rest of the recap

• How about them Cowboys?  Yeah they haven’t exactly looked like world-beaters so far this season.  But they keep winning and their victory over Iowa State puts them in the catbird seat in the Big XII.  Mike Gundy has finally weaved his magic in Stillwater…on the defensive side.  I still believe that at some point they will end up losing a game inside the Big XII as they still have a tough schedule left.  Knowing the way this year has been though, getting through undefeated will guarantee them a spot in the College Football Playoff and make Pac-12 fans so sad since their hopes might be dashed by that.  I can’t see Sooner fans being happy at this outcome.
• Well the Wolverines have definitely started their season on the right note.  They looked quite impressive in their beatdown of Minnesota.  But we’ve heard all this before.  Michigan has had great starts in many of their seasons of the last decade.  And every season, at least inside the Big Ten, has ended in heartache.  Michigan does not exactly have an easy schedule so maybe they will do everyone a favour and lose a couple of games before their matchup with Ohio State.  Otherwise…oh my.  We know what we will get.
• NC State lost to North Carolina.  The Heels are trying to comeback from the dreadful loss against Florida State the previous week.  As for the Wolfpack, that’s the Dave Doeren-coached team we all know (and not really love).
• Tennessee was fired up for their game against Bama and, well it didn’t really matter.  They got smoked by the Tide and it wasn’t even close.  Honestly, you have to wonder if they are going to move on from fifth-year senior quarterback Jarrett Guarantano.  He just doesn’t seem to be getting over that hump to be a quality quarterback.  As for Bama, this was the equivalent of a stone in the road that you easily drive over.  And really, they don’t have a super tough game the rest of the way so they really do look like they will get to the SEC Championship unscathed.
• Miami had quite a few problems with Virginia.  Despite the fact that they ended up winning they never looked dominant in this one.  Not once.  They still stay in the catbird seat to get their asses royally handed to them by Clemson in the ACC Championship.  You have to wonder if the D’Eriq King signing isn’t working out or it has more to do with the players around him (or the coaches sending in the plays).
• Rutgers won a game.  Yes, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team won a football game.  A conference game to boot.  Yes it may have only been Michigan State but it’s huge for this program.  All we can say is Return of the Schiano is in full swing now.  As for Sparty, it’s a mess there in East Lansing.  Mark D’Antonio’s surprise resignation put Mel Tucker in a tough spot and it looks like he will be in tough all season.  I am starting to wonder if the Spartans will win a game all season seeing how they performed in their opening game.
• Wisconsin looked good in a victory over Illinois to open their season.  But no one was there to see it.  I do wonder if they will find a way to get fans into the stands at some point later on in the season.  Not saying they need to sell the place out because that would be absolutely insane right now.  But even having 10% of the seats filled does make a difference.  I’m going to be honest: hearing actual fans in the stadium adds to the atmosphere, no matter how many there are.
• How about those Kansas Jayhawks?  Yeah they have been shitty this season.  But at least their loss to Coastal Carolina doesn’t look so bad now.  They have been beaten by double digits in every one of their games.  And when will they be close enough to win?  My guess is not until American Thanksgiving weekend when they face TCU.  So can we safely say the Les Miles experiment has not worked?
• Ohio State destroyed Nebraska on Big Noon Saturday.  I’m not surprised by this.  The best part?  Ryan Day thinking he had to apologize for scoring a late touchdown against the Huskers because it was believed to be running up the score.  Give me a fucking break.  We need more of that.  If Nebraska can’t handle it, go back to the Big Eight…oh wait.
• OK what is with the Kentucky Wildcats?  After their last two games, it felt like they had turned a corner.  Instead they laid an absolute egg at Mizzou and looked like shit.  And who do they get next?  Georgia.  Good fucking luck, Mark Stoops.
• Boise State started the Mountain West season by easily beating Utah State.  So now the question is this: if Boise runs the table, do they get the New Year’s Six spot?  You have to think that something has to happen to the other undefeated Group of Five teams (Cincinnati, Marshall, and Coastal Carolina) for the Broncos to be the G-5 representative in the NY6.  They don’t have the advantage of big non-conference wins so they better beat teams like they did USU on Saturday.
• Even though it was on a network no one gets up here, I am sure people tried to watch it.  Wake Forest caused another upset by beating Virginia Tech and knocking them out of the Top 25.  Let’s be honest here: Clemson has very little competition at the top of the ACC, still.  Notre Dame is the only undefeated team left and we shall see if they are still without losses when they face Clemson later in the year…and by later in the year I mean in less than two weeks.
• Well I think I saw something that I will never see again.  Rice was finally playing their first game of the season.  They came all the way back against Middle Tennessee from being down 28-13.  They get to overtime.  The Blue Raiders do not score in their part of overtime.  So all Rice has to do is kick a field goal and it’s over.  So what do they do?  Basically run into the middle of the line three times to set up their kicker in the middle of the field.  Collin Riccitelli kicks it and it doinks FOUR TIMES, once off both goalposts and twice off the crossbar and drops in front of the goalposts.  Talk about bad luck.  The Owls ended up losing in the second overtime period.

Man I honestly thought that weekend was going to turn out pretty crappy.  And it wasn’t.  There were some great games and it feels more like a normal college football Saturday with the late games.  We need more of these (and will get them now the rest of the way).  Now to the Bossman Top 25:

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

Yes I have Ohio State down at #6.  I don’t care what anyone thinks about that.  Let’s be honest here: if the Buckeyes win out they’re in, no ifs, ands or buts.  I also have Cincinnati ahead of them at #5 and BYU not far back at #10.  Really it just comes down to with Group of Five teams are undefeated at the end of the season.  Considering that it’s pretty much all conference play the rest of the way (except for BYU), it will be tough to move up from where they are unless a lot happens above them.  That’s just the way it is.  Gotta run up the damn score!  And how about Liberty at #25!  The Flames have played inspired football and could be a huge wild card the rest of this season with their ability to surprise some teams.  Saying that, they will have to keep it up to stay ranked because one loss and I think they are gone.  Hopefully by the time the MAC and Pac-12 are finished their second weeks we are down to not many undefeated teams in the nation.

Guess what?  We are very close to mid-week college football.  Starting November 4th we have football almost every day for a few weeks.  Hell yeah!  I’ll be back later this week with a full college football schedule (with only games on Thursday through Saturday) and may discuss this a bit more.  Enjoy your week everyone!

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

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

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

And now the pros:

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

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

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

Thursday

		US	Canada
Tulane at Houston	7:30 PM

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

Friday

		US	Canada
Louisville at Georgia Tech	7:00 PM

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

Saturday Early

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

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

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

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

Saturday Afternoon

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

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

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

Saturday Primetime

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

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

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

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

Games to set your eyeballs on

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

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

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

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

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

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

Some gambling fun and games

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

Houston over Tulane (upset?)

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

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

North Carolina over Virginia Tech

Pittsburgh over Boston College

Tennessee over Georgia (another upset!)

Clemson over Miami

BYU over UTSA

Louisville over Georgia Tech

Virginia over NC State

Iowa State over Texas Tech

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

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

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

So let me get this straight – Week 3 College Football Recap

Alright I want to get this crystal clear in my brain.  This week’s AP Poll includes SEC teams as they start this coming week.  But no Big Ten teams because they don’t start for another month.  OK.  Here is the issue with this.  These rankings will mean nothing then.  I mean I will do them the same way but I contemplated putting Big Ten teams in.  Why did I not do it?  Because they won’t be playing for a month.  This is why pre-season rankings shouldn’t happen and maybe, just maybe, rankings shouldn’t happen at all until after the first set of games in October.  Maybe then we would have rankings that kind of mean something.  Or not.  I mean who knows.  It’s college football.  A sport that likes to rewrite the rules all the time is rewriting them like they are on speed.  On-brand for this year and this sport.

Alright enough of the rankings (until later).  Let’s get to the action from the weekend of college football!

Fun-Time Crazy Recap!

• Ugh.  The Cowboys did not look too sharp against Tulsa.  And now Spencer Sanders could be out for a while.  And the offensive line couldn’t really block for Chuba Hubbard.  Overall a shitshow on offense which makes me wonder why I picked the Pokes to go to the Big XII Championship in the first place.  I hope you didn’t use my post to bet on that.  I always tell you not to.
• If you missed the Citadel-Clemson game, don’t worry.  I can recap it for you.  Clemson went up 49-0 just before halftime.  And that ended up being the final score.  I am sure gamblers everywhere were livid at that happening.  Dabo even offered to go to the running clock and The Citadel said no.  And on top of that, I found out that the running clock isn’t an option.  You can shorten the amount of time in a quarter but you cannot go to a running clock in college football.  You learn something new every weekend in college football (or something like that).
• The U is…back?  Maybe Manny Diaz’s biggest victory so far as they looked awesome against Louisville.  I am sure many will be jumping on to the D’Eriq King bandwagon now and rightfully so.  He looked like money and could be the difference maker that the Canes have needed for years now to get over the hump.  As for the Cardinals, I wouldn’t worry.  They are ahead of their gameplan under Scott Satterfield so expect them to still have a winning record this season.
• College Gameday was in Louisville this past weekend.   And where are they going this coming weekend?  Miami, who played Louisville this past Saturday and will host Florida State this weekend.  I get it: it’s to ease up the travel for Kirk Herbstreit to get from the Gameday set to the ABC primetime game location (or wherever he ends up calling a game on Saturdays).  Saying that, I still think they should go places they have never gone before.  With no fans, who cares if Herbie is actually there?  Let him join via satellite when he needs to.  So saying this, I think Week 5’s College Gameday should emanate from Cincinnati for the first time to see the Bearcats host USF.
• Notre Dame is a good ACC team.  I’m not kidding!  Savour this as this may be the only year we can ever say that.
• A week after Louisiana helped the Sun Belt to their best week ever with their upset of Iowa State, they struggled mightily with fellow conference member, Georgia State.  The Panthers kept things very close and the Ragin’ Cajuns had to pull out all the stops to win in overtime.  Man, the Sun Belt is going to be a surprisingly fun conference to watch this season.
• I regretted it last year for a bit and I may do so again this season.  UCF looked mighty good in their win over Georgia Tech and their option offense normal pro-style offense.  I know it’s just Georgia Tech so I have to temper things a bit.  Saying that, I am already regretting my choice of Appalachian State as the Group of Five representative in the New Year’s Six.  UCF could prove me wrong once again and it wouldn’t surprise me one bit.
• Oh Dino Babers.  Syracuse really has not looked good so far this season.  Two seasons ago, it looked like Babers was really building something in Syracuse.  Instead, that season is looking like an anomaly that was all caused by the presence of Eric Dungey.  An 0-2 start to the 2020 season is putting Dino on a serious hot seat.  If things doesn’t improve, Babers will not get another season to attempt to rectify the issues surrounding the program.
• UTSA is 2-0!  Another thing we may never say again (no offense Roadrunner fans).  So embrace it.
• Look, do you want to know how small the schedule still is?  Texas State and ULM got to play on ESPNU…on Saturday afternoon.  Yeah.
• How about what went down in the bayou?  Navy was down 24-0 to Tulane with 7 minutes left in the third quarter.  I was starting to think I was so wrong about this team and that the lack of practices really hurt the Midshipmen.  Instead, they scored the final 27 points of the game to complete the biggest comeback in Navy history (in football).  So we cannot count them out when it comes to the American race.  Also, Army-Navy looks like it could be something seriously special this season, despite the fact it will share the schedule for the first time in a long time.
• Marshall beat Appalachian State.  Doesn’t feel like an upset despite my thoughts about App State.  Doc Halladay continues to do wonders in Huntington with this program.  Maybe, just maybe, the Thundering Herd have to be considered a dark horse contender for the NY6.  If the Mountain West decides not to have a Fall season (and that is still up in the air), the Group of Five race could be very wide open.
• Southern Miss has had a ROUGH start to their season.  They looked hapless in their opener against South Alabama and Jay Hopson ended up resigning before he was fired.  But things looked up on Saturday as the Golden Eagles were taking it to Louisiana Tech for most of the game.  Then LaTech starts their comeback from down 17 and a spectacular catch by Griffin Hebert on fourth-and-goal with only 14 seconds left that had to be reviewed and overturned sunk Southern Miss.  This could be a tough time in Hattiesburg this season.

So really it did end up being a fun day of college football despite having much fewer games to watch.  I am sure my remote control was happy…more like happier.  As for my Top 25, I won’t do one yet.  I don’t think it’s fair to rank teams when the season is in flux like it has been and will be for at least another month.  Once the Big Ten is about to begin their season I will do my first set of rankings.  Otherwise there will be way too much movement and teams will move down the rankings for having the audacity to watch the Big Ten (and perhaps other conferences) just decide to play football.  How dare they!

I will go back to the regular schedule this week.  College football schedule Thursday.  NFL schedule Friday.  Have a good week everyone.

The Coaching Hot Seat Report, My Heisman Ballot and whatever the Big Ten is doing all in one post!

That’s what this is: a god damned dumpster fire.

Alright I am going to leave the Big Ten stuff to the end as I don’t want this to go off the rails so early.  First up will be the HOT SEAT REPORT!  My most accurate predictions of all.  This year, though I have no clue.  Let’s get right to it and as it is every year, this is ordered from most likely to be fired to least likely (NOW with Big Ten coaches!).  Let us begin:

Almost Guaranteed Shitcanning

1. Dana Dimel (UTEP) – Things are looking terrible for UTEP football right now.  All the rest of the teams seem to be leaving the Miners in their dust except for Old Dominion but that’s because they aren’t playing this Fall.  And with most teams having smaller non-conference schedules, this doesn’t look like UTEP’s time to improve.  Needed to keep his job – UTEP to be competitive in most of their conference games.  Prediction – Will be gone before the end of the season as UTEP will struggle to get more than two wins.
2. Derek Mason (Vanderbilt) – Vanderbilt has been an SEC also-ran for most of their time in the conference other than the James Franklin years.  Unfortunately, Mason hasn’t improved things in Nashville in his stint here.  It is tough because he’s a great coach and a great interview but you have to wonder if he is just better as a defensive coordinator somewhere, especially at the Power Five level.  Needed to keep his job – Bowl eligibility at the very least.  Prediction – He will be gone with either one or two games to go and will become a defensive coordinator somewhere at a lower level in the next year or two.
3. Will Muschamp (South Carolina) – At the time, the hiring of Muschamp looked like a good one even though he had been fairly mediocre at Florida.  But he hasn’t been able to make a dent in the SEC and is 2-13 against ranked teams, something that will keep him near the bottom of the division.  Needed to keep his job – Play meaningful football in late November and beat a ranked team or two.  Prediction – He will probably be fired with one or two games left but be the lame duck coach and finish out the string.

Probable Shitcanning

4. Philip Montgomery (Tulsa) – Tulsa has struggled for most of Montgomery’s reign here except for one great season.  He was a can’t miss coaching prospect who so far has missed badly.  I think the Golden Hurricane is going to be worse this season so it may signal the end for him in Oklahoma (the state, not the school).  Needed to keep his job – Battling for .500 late in the season.  Prediction – One win and a coaching search to start shortly after the season ends.
5. Lovie Smith (Illinois) – Being successful this past season may have actually been the worst thing for Lovie’s coaching future in Champaign.  Now the expectations will be higher and with Northwestern improving, I can’t see the Illini going bowling once they get back to playing in October.  Needed to keep his job – To be in contention for bowl-eligibility late into the season.  Prediction – I think they end up winning three or four games but won’t be enough to go bowling and will probably cost him his job but who knows with Illinois.

Possible Shitcanning

6. Manny Diaz (Miami) – Let’s just say the Manny Diaz era did not get off to a great start after he left Temple (after a few weeks) for his dream job.  But things are looking up with transfer quarterback D’Eriq King under centre (well, in the shotgun because no one goes under centre these days).  His status will fully depend on the improvement the Canes show on the field.  Needed to keep his job – At least 7 wins but preferably at least 8 and looking at a possible conference championship berth.  Prediction – I see The U at the 8-win mark so that should placate the fans in south Florida.
7. Scott Frost (Nebraska) – Look, I drank the Nebraska Koolaid last year.  I admit it.  But the bloom is off the rose now in Lincoln and anything short of at least .500 and a bowl game could spell the end for the guy that was supposed to lead the Huskers back to prominence.  Needed to keep his job – .500 record.  Prediction – I see them being around that mark so he might not be fired but it will be a huge discussion in the off-season about his future.
8. Steve Campbell (South Alabama) – It was looking like the Jaguars were going to have a 2-0 start and it probably would have kept Campbell off this list.  But their collapse against Tulane makes it so his job is at least in some jeopardy.  With the opening of their brand-new stadium, I am sure the brass were hoping for a team that could maybe even contend in the Sun Belt West.  With Louisiana in the division that won’t happen but maybe a bowl game for them?  The other thing is, if they let Campbell go, who would be up to replace him?  Not like this is a sought-after job.  Needed to keep his job – For USA to win close to five games.  Prediction – I have the Jaguars winning four games so at the very least, Campbell is looking at a hotter seat for next season.

Doubtful Shitcanning (although it still could happen)

9. Dino Babers (Syracuse) – Dino needs to get some slack here.  There were some injuries last year and a lot of underperforming.  Saying that, with only one great season under his belt, this season will have to at least look like an improvement over last year or he may be jettisoned.  Needed to keep his job – Battling for bowl eligibility late in the season.  Prediction – I have the Orange winning 4 so they need an upset to go bowling, if not two.  No bowl game means Babers will have at least a molten lava hot seat going into next season.
10. Matt Viator (ULM) – Things were looking good in Monroe.  Then the Ragin’ Cajuns down in Lafayette burned some rubber and left them in their dust.  Now they will be battling South Alabama and Texas State to stay out of the bottom of the Sun Belt West division.  Needed to keep his job –  Honestly?  Just don’t finish last in the division.  Prediction – Ummmm….well….I do have them finishing last so this could get interesting.
11. Tom Herman (Texas) – Herman hasn’t exactly set the Big XII on fire in Austin.  The fans at UT want to be in the Big XII Championship (OK they want to win the Big XII but baby steps).  Not getting there this year would put Herman on a bit of a hot seat going into 2021.  Needed to keep his job – Like keep his job for sure and maybe get an extension?  A trip to the Big XII Championship game.  Prediction – Losing to Oklahoma State to be left out of the title game and a lot of grumblings in Longhorn land.

Yes a much shorter list.  Blame COVID.

Now I will post my (shorter) Heisman ballot.  This is usually less accurate but at least I am on par with many so-called experts since many frosh and sophomores are in contention and it’s tough to figure them out compared to the juniors and seniors.  Alright here we go:

My Usually Awful Heisman Ballot

1. Trevor Lawrence, Clemson – Alright I had Lawrence winning it last year and he came up well short.  This year he is one of the favourites to win it so I am picking him yet again.  Maybe this time he won’t let me down…and the team.  Most importantly the team.  And the fanbase.  But me too.
2. Justin Fields, Ohio State – I feel a bit hesitant to put Fields this high.  This time it is because the Big Ten is starting later and he will have to be in Heisman form from the beginning.  I haven’t even done Big Ten predictions yet but I assume Ohio State will be favoured in all their games.  So as long as the Buckeyes aren’t upset along the way and Fields has a bad game or two, he should be in the Heisman conversation.
3. Spencer Rattler, Oklahoma – The streak ended last year.  Jalen Hurts had a good season but it wasn’t enough to bag the Sooners their third straight Heisman winner (who was also a transfer quarterback).  Rattler is a Lincoln Riley recruit so this is a little different than what we are used to with OU.  I still predict Oklahoma to get to the College Football Playoff which probably will mean Rattler will have had a great season so that puts him here.
4. D’Eriq King, Miami – This is the big transfer of the off-season and he could be the guy that saves Manny Diaz his job (and may get him an extension).  It was a bit of a shock that he first decided to redshirt at Houston and then transfer to Miami but here we are.  I think the Canes are going to be in New Year’s Six contention all season so the dual threat King will be a big part of that.
5. Chuba Hubbard, Oklahoma State – Hubbard for some reason came back for his senior year.  What it does is sets Hubbard up to become the next big running back to come out of Oklahoma State after Barry Sanders.  It also could make him the first Canadian to win the Heisman.  That would be cool.  He will actually need to run for more yards than he did last year so it may be difficult but if he does it, he will be at least the best running back in college football and a surefire first round pick in the 2021 draft.
6. Ian Book, Notre Dame – I know people will be upset at this.  Slow your roll and check your Notre Dame hate at the door.  The Irish are in a conference for the first time ever and are a contender to make their first-ever conference championship.  And if that does come to fruition, Book will be the biggest reason why.  And he could be a hero in South Bend forever if they somehow get to the College Football Playoff and don’t count them out of that.
7. Sam Ehlinger, Texas – For the second straight year, Ehlinger might be the second best quarterback in the Big XII.  Now if he somehow gets the Longhorns to the conference championship then he might rocket up this list.
8. Bo Nix, Auburn – The son of former Auburn star Patrick Nix plays in the toughest division in college football.  And if the Tigers have any thoughts of going to the New Year’s Six (if not the CFP), it will have to ride on his strong arm.  With a lot of new quarterbacks in the SEC, he could end up getting the lion’s share of the attention at the position which could be good for him to move up this list.

Honourable Mention

• Travis Etienne, Clemson
• Spencer Sanders, Oklahoma State
• Myles Brennan, LSU
• Zamir White, Georgia
• Najee Harris, Alabama
• Adrian Martinez, Nebraska
• Sam Howell, North Carolina

OK now we get to the Big Ten insanity.  Remember when they decided they weren’t going to have a Fall season and there was a huge uproar because three of the five Power Five conferences decided to plow ahead with a season anyway?  Pepperidge Farms (and all of us) remembers.  Now the Big Ten has decided to reverse course.  They plan on having a nine-week conference season.  It will start on October 24th and go through to December 19th when the Big Ten Championship will occur.  But that’s not all!  They will also have a kind of East vs. West challenge that week where the 2nd place team from the East faces the 2nd place team from the West, 3rd place against 3rd place, etc. all the way down to the last place teams in both divisions.  Just crazy.  This conference is a shitshow.  But money and FOMO ruled the day with the announcement.  Now the Pac-12 is the only P5 conference sitting out and that will be, unfortunately, horrible for the conference going into 2021.  College football, everybody!

Alright a slight change for this week’s posts.  I will be posting the NFL schedule on Thursday and the college sked on Friday since there are no college games on Thursday night.  I will do that for any other weeks this happens but as of this point, I can only see it happening maybe once more.  Anyway, hope you have had a great hump day!

Well this is an interesting wrinkle – Week 5 College Football TV Schedule

Really, the early part of this week really had nothing going on in the college football world.  Then D’Eriq King happened and a bomb had been dropped.  King has decided to redshirt this season and will return as a senior for Houston next season.  He has since been joined by receiver Keith Corbin.  This is definitely a new wrinkle that hadn’t been seen before in college football and they can thank the new four-game redshirt rule.  King and Corbin are saying they will be back with the Cougars next season which has to be a relief to Dana Holgorsen.  But now there is a rumour that it may have been Holgorsen who nudged these two in that direction because the Cougs will be much better in 2020 and could make a run at a New Year’s Six spot.  If that is the case, that’s huge news.  The college football world is evolving and some are not very pleased with it but you better get on this train since it is speeding ahead at top speed with no chance of slowing down (except for perhaps a stop when they start getting into paying the players).

So let’s end the redshirting conversation for now (although it makes me want to play NCAA Football 14).  Time to get down to the task at hand which is getting you the college football schedule TV information for Week 5.  This feels much easier this season although I honestly have less insight into the specialty packs since I don’t actually have one anymore.

Thursday

		US	Canada
Delaware State at North Carolina A&T	7:30 PM
Navy at Memphis	8:00 PM

Navy is improved.  And Memphis is good.  This has the look of a potential Thursday night upset.  Which would suck for my preseason predictions but I do love me some college football chaos.

Friday

		US	Canada
Duke at Virginia Tech	7:00 PM
San Jose State at Air Force	8:00 PM
#12 Penn State at Maryland	8:00 PM
Arizona State at #15 California	10:30 PM

Good that we have FloSports now since PSU-UMD could be interesting.  Arizona State can almost completely ruin the Pac-12’s collective season with a win.  The other two games are technically games so I will watch.

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
Northwestern at #8 Wisconsin	Noon
Holy Cross at Syracuse	Noon
Rutgers at #20 Michigan	Noon
Central Michigan at Western Michigan	Noon
Arkansas vs. #23 Texas A&M (in Arlington)	Noon
Middle Tennessee at #14 Iowa	Noon
Buffalo at Miami-OH	Noon
Texas Tech at #6 Oklahoma	Noon
Kansas at TCU	Noon
Northern Illinois at Vanderbilt	Noon
Delaware at Pittsburgh	12:30 PM

As per usual, the early games are interesting even if they are lacking some star power.  Northwestern-Wisky will be, arguably, the biggest game of the early slate but many will be interested in TTU-OU.  We shall see if the Red Raiders can put up at least 60 points to counter the fact that their defense also might give up 60 to the Sooners.  A note here about the NU-Wisky game: It will start appearing on TSN4 at 1:00 after Raptors Media Day concludes.

UPDATE #2: Delaware-Pitt not showing on the specialty pack.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
#1 Clemson at North Carolina	3:30 PM
Wake Forest at Boston College	3:30 PM
Indiana at #25 Michigan State	3:30 PM
Ole Miss at #2 Alabama	3:30 PM
Georgia Tech at Temple	3:30 PM
Iowa State at Baylor	3:30 PM
Minnesota at Purdue	3:30 PM
#21 USC at #17 Washington	3:30 PM
#18 Virginia at #10 Notre Dame	3:30 PM
Florida Atlantic at Charlotte	3:30 PM
SMU at USF	4:00 PM
Towson at #9 Florida	4:00 PM

ESPNU at 4.  Some people complain about this but it’s because they don’t have a late night game and now you know…unless Hawaii gets a game on ESPNU then it would start at 11 and we (meaning I) would be up even later than we (I) normally am.

Biggest game in this timeslot is Irish-Cavs.  Followed closesly by USC-Washington.  After that it is populated with games between a ranked team and a not-so-good team or two not-so-good teams playing each other.  Take Clemson for example.  Number one team in the land!  Against a still not that good North Carolina team.  Ugh.  Oh well.  Hopefully one of these games will end up like UCLA-Washington State from last weekend.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Mississippi State at #7 Auburn	7:00 PM
UConn at #22 UCF	7:00 PM
#5 Ohio State at Nebraska	7:30 PM
NC State at Florida State	7:30 PM
Colorado State at Utah State	7:30 PM
Kentucky at South Carolina	7:30 PM
UNLV at Wyoming	8:00 PM

Hmmm so the primetime slate is a step back from the afternoon slate.  Not saying there aren’t some good games here but it doesn’t match what happens early in the day.  MSU-Auburn will be the game of the night and should get most of the eyeballs.  Saying that, Nebraska keeping their game closer than 50 with tOSU would be a nice surprise.

UPDATE #3: Super-important thing I forgot…it’s time for Civil ConFLiCT!

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
Washington State at #19 Utah	10:00 PM
UCLA at Arizona	10:30 PM
Hawaii at Nevada	10:30 PM

Pac-12 After Dark, Late Night Mountain West, and some more Pac-12 After Dark.  The best game is probably Wazzu-Utes but remember…Chip Kelly’s University of California at Los Angeles football Bruins play in this timeslot as well.

Games to set your eyeballs on

Virginia at Notre Dame (3:30, NBC) – I believe this is an easy choice for the Game of the Week and I can’t understand why people would disagree.  I have Notre Dame winning this one (as you will see in the next section).  Either way, the winner still has a shot at the College Football Playoff and a win by the Hoos has to make them the favourite to win the ACC The-One-That-Clemson-Is-Not-In Division.

USC at Washington (3:30, FOX) – Looks like I will be flipping back and forth between this big game and the UVA-ND game.  It’s a good problem to have.  Anyway, both teams have looked shaky at times.  USC looked terrible and everyone wondered if Clay Helton would be fired.  Then the Trojans woke up and played well and Clay Helton’s job was saved.  Washington lost to Cal by 1 in a game that Cal really did dominate.  Here’s where we find out which team is for real…or as real as a team can get considering it’s still late September.

Mississippi State at Auburn (7:00, specialty pack) – Who thought Auburn would be this good at this point of the season with a freshman quarterback?  Now put down your hands you filthy liars.  None of us thought this.  The Gus Bus is rolling along better than anyone figured it would be.  Could they actually have a chance to dethrone Alabama?  Let’s not get ahead of ourselves since the Bulldogs are a decent team and a win here makes it LSU or bust for a Saban regular season loss.

Ohio State at Nebraska (7:30, ABC) – Are we falling off a cliff here from the first three games?  Maybe but who knows.  Nebraska isn’t living up to the preseason hype.  But they are still 3-1 and right in the thick of the Big Ten West race (although it’s early).  So far, the Ryan Day Experience has gone well.  This almost feels more important for the Buckeyes than the Huskers since Day really can’t lose more than one game during the regular season since the comparisons between him and Urban will come up and he might not like what he hears.

Washington State at Utah (10:00, FloSports) – I think this might be the first game on this list on FS1 that can be seen in Canada.  Interesting.  I am kind of surprised ESPN didn’t get this game and instead got UCLA-Arizona.  I still think Utah can do some damage the rest of the way.  Same with Washington State and plus, Mike Leach is hilarious.  Let’s be honest: ESPN would splooge their pants if Wazzu got to the New Year’s Six.

Honourable mention: Northwestern at Wisconsin (Noon, ABC/TSN1/TSN4); Arizona State at California (Friday, 10:30, specialty pack); Kansas State at Oklahoma State (7:00, ESPN+…no seriously)

Some gambling fun and games

My God my picks were fucking horrific last week.  What the hell was I thinking?  You know what, I don’t care.  I am just going to delude myself into saying that was an aberration and not the norm.  Will these picks be better?  I will give a very tentative yes.

Mississippi State over Auburn (yep starting out with an upset…I guess I don’t learn my lesson)

California over Arizona State

USC over Washington

Utah over Washington State

Notre Dame over Virginia

Ohio State over Nebraska

Wisconsin over Northwestern

Oklahoma State over Kansas State

Penn State over Maryland

Oklahoma over Texas Tech

Michigan State over Indiana

Hey is the specialty pack have its guide up yet?  Of course not!  OK I know tonight and tomorrow night are up.  But to be honest with TSN showing barely any college football at this juncture it should be pretty easy to figure the specialty pack schedule out.  Again, it’s a mess and the cable companies have no reason to step up their game because who gives a shit about college football fans, right?  What a bunch of assholes.

UPDATE: The specialty pack guide is fully up.

Thursday Night Football will be on FOX as well as the NFL Network tonight.  This means we will get at least four times where Joe Buck has to read promos for WWE Smackdown.  Oh I can’t wait.  I’m sure Buck and/or Aikman will say something sarcastically about it at some point.  It has to happen even if its just for our entertainment.  The game itself?  Big.  Eagles-Packers.  Packers having a great start and the Lafleur-Rodgers coach-playermance going along just swimmingly.  As for the Eagles…yikes.  Lose this and they are 1-3.  Not a good start at all and panic may be setting in in the City of Brotherly Love.

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

The Awful Coast Conference – Week 3 College Football Recap

You know, everyone shits on the Pac-12.  As well we should since it’s a conference that has accomplished very little since USC had their historic run last decade.  But now they have company in the ACC.  We all knew that Clemson would be the top dog.  That was not in dispute.  But many figured that at least a couple of teams would step up and be sniffing at the New Year’s Six based on merit and not because an ACC team will have to go to the Orange Bowl.  So how about we see what happened in the ACC this past weekend shall we?  OK.

• Wake Forest beat North Carolina in a non-conference game.  That’s right.  A non-conference game.  Don’t ask.  Anyway, the darlings of the first two weeks crashed and burned and now Wake Forest is 3-0.  Yeah.  And that’s the good part.
• Boston College was destroyed by Kansas.  Yes, Kansas.  I can’t see Steve Addazio lasting to 2020 the way things are going out in Massachusetts.
• Clemson started slow (as did Trevor Lawrence) but slowly pulled away and ended up winning by 35.  Again, we know what we are getting with the Tigers but man does Syracuse not look good so far this season.
• Penn State played awful in terrible weather in State College but it was still enough to beat a woeful Pitt team who had some, let’s just say, “questionable” coaching decisions.
• Virginia beat Florida State because Florida State Florida Stated all over the place.  I will admit that the Seminoles should have got a few more seconds near the end of the game when the game clock didn’t stop on a first down but still, the Noles blew a lead yet again.  Poor Willie Taggart’s hot seat is basically the temperature of the surface of the sun right now.
• NC State couldn’t handle West Virginia.  And West Virginia won’t be that good this year.
• Virginia Tech struggled to put away Furman.  Yeah I get that Furman is one of the better SoCon teams but it’s still Furman.  Justin Fuente is also hot seating it right now.
• Georgia Tech lost in overtime to The Citadel.  I see the transition from the triple option is going well in Atlanta.

Yes Louisville, Miami and Duke won but they were supposed to and no one gives a shit.  A complete and utter disaster for the conference this past weekend.  Maybe it’s time to move Clemson to the SEC and drop the ACC to the Group of Five.

But hey there was more action this past weekend and some of it was also crazy.  Let’s get to it.

Fun-Time Crazy Recap!

• Poor Feleipe Franks.  He is now out for the year after a gruesome ankle injury.  Kyle Trask stepped in and led the Gators comeback to beat Kentucky but the rest of the season is looking less rosy in Gainesville.  Should we just give Georgia the tickets to Atlanta now?
• If you missed the Arizona State-Michigan State game, don’t worry.  It was arguably one of the worst games this decade.  So of course, what happened?  The last few minutes were insane.  It all ended when the Spartans hit a field goal to tie the game but was called for too many men on the field.  The next attempt wasn’t even close and Sparty lost 10-7 to the Fighting Herm Edwards.  Remember, you play…to win…the game.  You don’t play to just play.
• USC…is not back.  And Clay Helton most definitely won’t be back next season.  I think everyone jumped on the Kedon Slovis bandwagon a teensy bit too quickly.  BYU was ready for them and played well enough to pull off the win in overtime in front of a raucous crowd in Provo.  I won’t call it an upset despite the fact the Trojans were ranked since I didn’t think they should have been.  Oh and I called that too.  Have to give myself pats on the back when I can ya know?
• College Gameday went to Ames on Saturday for the first time ever.   The reward?  Almost three hours worth of weather delays.  At one point, some of the students did not heed the hail warning and stormed the field when security went for cover.  It’s too bad that most of Canada (unless you get Flo Sports) could watch this one since it was also nuts and had one of the craziest endings ever.  Iowa punts the ball with about 90 seconds left and as the Iowa State player is waiting to catch the punt he gets absolutely leveled by his own player which causes a fumble which Iowa recovers.  I am sure Kirk Ferentz had something in his contract that gave him a bonus for that exact play.  He also probably gets another few year extension on his contract and will basically coach until he dies on the sideline at the age of 112.
• A very classy gesture in Athens as the Dawgs fans wore pink in remembrance of Arkansas State head coach Blake Anderson’s wife who passed away from breast cancer recently.  It’s the kind of thing I love to see about college football and it has nothing to do with making money off of it (you hear that, NFL?).  Anyway, ASU was boatraced by UGA 55-0.
• Tua played in the fourth quarter.  I’m not kidding!  The Tide looked really good against South Carolina and this one was never in doubt.
• Yeah the final score was 45-27 but really it was not that close.  UCF ran roughshod over Stanford like a forest fire runs over all those trees.  I have to wonder now if my pick of Memphis getting the Group of Five spot was more boredom in picking UCF or reality since the Knights look seriously good.
• I would say the Dana Holgorsen Experiment in Houston isn’t working.  However you have to admit that Houston didn’t exactly make themselves an easy non-conference schedule.  And they have kept in their games with Oklahoma and Washington State this past Friday night longer than many thought they would.  It’s too bad since they may have had a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate in D’Eriq King if they had had a great season.  Isn’t meant to be I guess.
• Oh Chip Kelly.  UCLA just looks awful so far this season.  The old Chip Kelly isn’t resurfacing in Westwood with the Bruins.  Problem is probably that he doesn’t have the personnel to run his kind of offense but still.  They still have the possibility of going 0-12 hanging over their head.  If this doesn’t improve, Kelly will not get a third season to get his recruits going.
• Why does Rice play Texas?  This is what JFK asked in a speech decades ago.  The answer is still, who the hell knows.
• You want to know how lean this week was?  Portland State was on ESPN2 facing Boise State.  Yeah.
• Kansas State might be the real deal, folks.  Chris Klieman is a very successful coach and is continuing going with things in the Little Apple.  Is it surprising me?  Absolutely.  So I guess I can’t be surprised if they insert themselves in the Big XII Championship conversation even if it is to cause trouble for the current front-runners, Oklahoma and Texas.
• Eastern Michigan beat Illinois.  Doesn’t feel like an upset.  Chris Creighton has done a great job in Ypsilanti making this look like an actual FBS football program.  I wonder if Lovie Smith will get an extension after this loss since everything that has happened in Champaign has been the opposite of success for years.
• Minnesota successfully ran the gauntlet of teams you might not want to schedule because they could be dangerous.  Wins over South Dakota State, Fresno State and, this past weekend, Georgia Southern may not seem like much considering every game was close.  But the Gophers may have done something more important by preparing themselves for a tough Big Ten schedule by having a pretty good non-conference schedule.  Maybe P.J. Fleck knows what he’s doing there.

So it was a fun day of watching college football.  A few upsets and a bit of movement in the polls.  Including mine which actually isn’t a poll since I am the only being asked.  Oh well.  Time for the Bossman Top 25:

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

Yes there are some differences from the AP Poll.  That’s fine.  I have agreed with them in one aspect though.  I have put Bama back at #2.  What can I say, teams move up and down during the season.  No I don’t have Arizona State in the poll (I have them #27 so just outside).  Same with Kansas State (#28).  They continue to play like they’re playing, they will be in next week for sure.  I also wonder about where Iowa is.  I had toyed with putting them at 14 or 15 but settled at 16 but many have them lower.  Is Iowa State not a good victory?  Makes no sense.

Back to Willie Taggart, it looks like some kid is selling lemonade to try and raise enough money to buy out ol’ William.  Only $17 million less about $500 to go, pal!

Same schedule for later in the week.  College football schedule Thursday.  NFL schedule Friday.  Have a good week everyone.