Welp, he’s back (and the Week 13 NFL TV Schedule)

Deshaun Watson will play his first game of the season after serving an eleven-game suspension for violating the NFL’s vague personal conduct policy. He committed sexual assault on a LOT of massage therapists. Like a lot. He truly believes every massage leads to a happy ending. I’m sure if he had a male masseuse, he might grab the guy’s junk.

His first game back? In Houston against the Texans. Yeah, that wasn’t set up. Sure. My eyes are rolling while I’m saying that just so you know.

I can’t see him playing well for most of the rest of the season. I think he will have his flashes of brilliance but he has been off for so long that it’ll be a lot of rust to shake off. So any Browns fans out there (I actually know one!) who think they will run the table the rest of the way, think again. The playoffs are pretty much entirely out of your reach.

Alright time for the sked for this week.

American Networks

NY Jets at Minnesota	1:00	All affiliates (except Cleveland)
Cleveland at Houston	1:00	Cleveland
Jacksonville at Detroit	1:00		Detroit
Washington at NY Giants	1:00		Rochester, Watertown, Burlington, Boston, Presque Isle
Seattle at LA Rams	4:05		Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane
Miami at San Francisco	4:05		Minneapolis, Buffalo
Kansas City at Cincinnati	4:25	All affiliates

Canadian Networks

NY Jets at Minnesota	1:00	All affiliates (except Northern Ontario & Montreal)
Cleveland at Houston	1:00	Northern Ontario
Washington at NY Giants	1:00	Montreal	Atlantic	TSN1
Tennessee at Philadelphia	1:00		All affiliates (except Atlantic)
Seattle at LA Rams	4:05	Vancouver, Alberta
Miami at San Francisco	4:05			TSN1
Kansas City at Cincinnati	4:25	Saskatchewan, Winnipeg, Northern Ontario, Kitchener, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal	Atlantic

Primetime Games

Buffalo at New England	Thursday, 8:20, Amazon Prime, ABC Buffalo, FOX Boston, CTV2, TSN1/4/5
Indianapolis at Dallas	8:15, NBC, CTV2, TSN1/3/5
New Orleans at Tampa Bay	Monday, 8:15, TSN1/3

Notes and things and information and shit

• Rumour has it that there will be quite a bit of flexing of games late this season. More than there ever has been in the past. We already see one for next weekend. The Chiefs-Broncos game has been flexed out of the Sunday Night Football spot in favour of Dolphins-Chargers. Good choice. Could they not have done that this week? Colts-Cowboys? Woof.
• The CBS schedule is rather easy to figure out this week. Unless you get your affiliate out of Cleveland (which is the case for, I believe, like 15,000 people at most), you get the following doubleheader: the Jets traveling to Minnesota to face the Vikings followed by the Chiefs and the Bengals in an AFC Championship rematch. Two very good games. I’m still happy I have RedZone though because I am a sucker for watching a close game, even if it’s between two terrible teams. And speaking of RedZone…
• Games not being shown in Canada (unless you have the almighty RedZone):
  • Denver at Baltimore
  • Pittsburgh at Atlanta
  • Green Bay at Chicago
  • LA Chargers at Las Vegas
• That feels like a lot of games but it’s actually about on par with what we used to see all the time just a few years ago. It’s rare nowadays to see more than three games not being shown anywhere in Canada whereas, say five years ago, you’d see upwards of six in a week not being shown. And this was before I had RedZone or Sunday Ticket. I don’t know how I did it.
• Also, when is the last time a Packers-Bears game hasn’t been shown anywhere in this country?
• One note about the Monday nighter: it says TSN 1 and 3. TSN1 is the normal MNF broadcast and TSN3 has the return of the ManningCast.

Time for the updated playoff picture:

AFC	NFC
#1 Kansas City (AFC West)	#1 Philadelphia (NFC East)
#2 Miami (AFC East)	#2 Minnesota (NFC North)
#3 Tennessee (AFC South)	#3 San Francisco (NFC West)
#4 Baltimore (AFC North)	#4 Tampa Bay (NFC South)
Wild Cards:	Wild Cards:
#5 Buffalo	#5 Dallas
#6 Cincinnati	#6 NY Giants
#7 NY Jets	#7 Washington

Look at the NFC East. That is incredible. Philly holds on to the #1 spot by a two-game margin over the Vikings. Meanwhile, the division’s other three teams are in the conference’s Wild Card spots. Will it stay this way the rest of the season? Doubtful, especially with a few games inside the division left for them. It’s still impressive that at this point of the season, all four teams are in playoff spots. And the AFC East is almost at that point with New England just a game behind Cincinnati and the Jets for the final Wild Card spot.

On the other end of the spectrum is the woeful NFC South. Tampa Bay leads at 5-6, a half-game ahead of the Falcons. I think they end up taking the division and it wouldn’t surprise me if the Bucs get to 10 wins. But as of right now it looks like a division wholly undeserving of any playoff spot, let alone a home date in the playoffs (I won’t get into that since I have said it countless times before and I don’t feel like getting into a rant about it).

I hope everyone has a great weekend and enjoys the games!

Hey, what happened in the NFL offseason? Probably nothing.

Oh wait, it’s the NFL…all sorts of shit happens in the offseason. It’s a year-long drama with this league. Even soap operas look at some of this stuff and say “that’s unrealistic.”

Deshaun Watson, the Cleveland Browns’ starting quarterback (and I use that term this season loosely) will be suspended for the first eleven games of the 2022 NFL season because of his issue with masseuses. Big issues. Bad issues. “If they’re true” some will say. I don’t remember players in football getting suspended for more than half a season for something they didn’t do.

Tom Brady decided to retire then got pissy because Adam Schefter broke the news too early I guess. So he unretired. There’s more to it but still, I am 99.9% sure that’s part of it.

Sean Payton is no longer the coach of the New Orleans Saints. You watch that movie about him going to coach his son’s team while he was suspended for a year? He was played by Kevin James. It was not good.

Brian Flores sued the NFL for racial discrimination. It will be interesting to see where this goes as it’s not a good look for the league. Now if he sued Dolphins owner Stephen Ross for being a complete shitbag, then he’d win no problem.

Aaron Rodgers again played coy and acted like he’d leave the Green Bay Packers. He didn’t although he very well could have and made a lot of many elsewhere. A-A-Ron also knows that Matt LaFleur will put up with his bullshit for another season so that helps.

Receivers now making crazy money, Russell Wilson out of Seattle, Baker Mayfield out of Cleveland (and no more commercials from that stadium I assume), Matt Ryan ending up in Indy, Washington getting a new team name and still being a gongshow of an organization, the playoff overtime format changing (thankfully) and many other things happened as well. So yeah…calm.

OK enough of all that because we are almost ready for the NFL season! September 8th, the Bills travel to Los Angeles to face the Rams to start the new season. I am very much looking forward to this and you might see why from the upcoming predictions. Let’s get right to them (as per usual, an * means that team was able to snag a Wild Card spot…good for them):

AFC East		NFC East
Buffalo	13-4	Philadelphia	10-7
New England	9-8	Dallas*	10-7
Miami	9-8	Washington	7-10
NY Jets	6-11	NY Giants	5-12
AFC North		NFC North
Baltimore	10-7	Green Bay	12-5
Cincinnati*	10-7	Minnesota*	9-8
Cleveland	8-9	Detroit	6-11
Pittsburgh	8-9	Chicago	5-12
AFC South		NFC South
Indianapolis	10-7	Tampa Bay	12-5
Tennessee*	10-7	New Orleans	8-9
Jacksonville	5-12	Carolina	7-10
Houston	4-13	Atlanta	4-13
AFC West		NFC West
Kansas City	11-6	LA Rams	12-5
LA Chargers*	11-6	San Francisco*	9-8
Las Vegas	9-8	Arizona	9-8
Denver	9-8	Seattle	5-12

Notes on those standings predictions:

• Yep, I have the Buffalo Bills as the only 13-win team in the league. I know that probably won’t happen. They may win 14!
• The NFC will be a bit clogged at the top with three teams trying to get the only first round bye. I have the Bucs getting that first round bye thanks to a complicated set of tiebreakers that ends with a game of dizzy bat.
• I foresee quite a few close division races with the AFC North, AFC South, AFC West, and NFC East all ending up tied at the end of the season. Not having a home playoff game can be seriously rough so feel bad for the Bengals, Titans, Chargers, and Cowboys if you feel like it.
• As it normally is, the Wild Card races should be fun. I have the Titans and Bengals being one game up on the Patriots, Dolphins, Raiders, and Broncos to nab the final two spots. In the NFC, the Vikings and Niners do just enough to stay ahead of the Cardinals to make the playoffs.
• The race to the bottom pits Houston against Atlanta, although the Jags, Giants and Seahawks will try their best to dive to bottom of the NFL ocean. I have the Falcons “winning” the #1 pick for next year’s draft and the chance to, at this point, bring in Bryce Young as their franchise quarterback.
• I think Josh Allen beats out a bevy of other quarterbacks to win the MVP. Tom Brady, Justin Herbert and Joe Burrow will be close but not enough to overtake the man who I believe will take the Bills to the best record in the league.
• Rookie of the Year is, as I always say, a complete crapshoot. I will go with the players that I believe will play the most. So I am picking Aidan Hutchinson on the defensive side and Kenny Pickett on the offensive side.
• Coach of the Year? Ah, why not, I’m good at getting these predictions wrong, what’s one more? I’ll go with Sean McDermott of the Bills since, other than Dan Campbell and the Detroit Lions, I don’t see another team having a big improvement from the previous year.

And now it’s time to go to the playoff predictions. Last year’s were…not good. Let’s hope for better time around.

Wild Card Round

Kansas City (2) def. Tennessee (7)

Cincinnati (6) def. Baltimore (3)

LA Chargers (5) def. Indianapolis (4)

Green Bay (2) def. San Francisco (7)

LA Rams (3) def. Minnesota (6)

Dallas (5) def. Philadelphia (4)

Divisional Round

Buffalo (1) def. Cincinnati (6)

LA Chargers (5) def. Kansas City (2)

Tampa Bay (1) def. Dallas (5)

LA Rams (3) def. Green Bay (2)

Conference Championships

Buffalo (1) def. LA Chargers (5)

LA Rams (3) def. Tampa Bay (1)

Super Bowl

Buffalo (1) def. LA Rams (3)

Yes for the second year in a row I have the Buffalo Bills winning the Super Bowl. I feel better about this year’s prediction than last year’s. Then again, last year I picked Seattle to go to the Super Bowl so it’s a low bar to begin with. At least now if they go to overtime, they know they will get a chance to score.

I hope you enjoyed Week Zero of the college football season. It was…technically college football. I wonder if Scott Frost was left in Ireland. Anyway, soon enough we get back to in the old rotation of things and all will feel right in the world. Have a great week everyone!

It’s elementary my dear Watson – Week 8 NFL TV Schedule

And by dear Watson I mean you fucking dickhead Watson (presumably).  I’m not going to deny Deshaun Watson’s talent as a quarterback.  Top 10 in the league?  You can easily make the argument…when he’s playing.   And now with the trade deadline fast approaching, many are wondering if he will start playing again this season.  He won’t be playing for the Houston Texans, that is for sure.  Miami seems to be the most likely destination but with Stephen Ross, the Dolphins owner, openly asking what the suspension possibilities for Watson will be, once he is eligible to play, puts some of that in doubt.  The other big possibility is Denver, who hasn’t made any outward remarks about trade talk for him but really do need a quarterback.  The chances of him being dealt, in my opinion, are a bit less than 50/50 at this point.  The Texans are terrible and won’t be making the playoffs this season.  After the season is over, there may be more clarity as to what Watson will be facing.  Finally, I think there will be a lot of player movement in the upcoming offseason, which would benefit the Texans hugely.  For these reasons, I lean towards Watson not being dealt.  This means we will get a couple months’ reprieve from all this which will be nice for sure.  Then it will ramp up in a serious way.  But we can deal with that when that day comes.

Alllllllllllllllllllllllright then, here’s the schedule, which definitely does not include Deshaun Watson:

Thursday

Green Bay at Arizona

8:20, FOX, TSN1/4/5, CTV Two

Sunday Early

Pittsburgh at Cleveland	Minneapolis, Cleveland		Winnipeg		Vancouver Island, Alberta, Atlantic
Tennessee at Indianapolis
Cincinnati at NY Jets
Miami at Buffalo	Buffalo, Rochester		Kitchener, Toronto		Ottawa
San Francisco at Chicago		All affiliates (except Detroit & Rochester)	Vancouver, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Montreal, Atlantic	TSN4
Philadelphia at Detroit		Detroit, Rochester	Northern Ontario, Ottawa		London, Toronto
LA Rams at Houston
Carolina at Atlanta

Sunday Late

New England at LA Chargers	Detroit, Burlington, Boston			TSN4
Jacksonville at Seattle	Seattle, Spokane		Vancouver
Tampa Bay at New Orleans		All affiliates	All affiliates (except Vancouver & Atlantic)		Atlantic
Washington at Denver

Sunday/Monday Primetime

Dallas at Minnesota	Sunday, 8:30, NBC, TSN 4/5, CTV Two
NY Giants at Kansas City	Monday, 8:30, TSN 2/3/5

Non-Watson Notes

• When’s the last time the Game of the Week has been the Thursday nighter?  I don’t think that’s ever happened to be honest.  Despite J.J. Watt’s season-ending injury, the Packers-Cardinals game still should be a great one as the Cards attempt to go 8-0 for the first time in franchise history.  Could this be an NFC Championship preview?
• For once, we have a late game not being shown anywhere here.  Usually I would rail against this but it’s the WFT and the Broncos so I don’t really care (unless it’s close…then RedZone can do its thing).
• FOUR games are not being shown in the early part of the day!  That’s quite a few to be honest and it doesn’t help that the Niners and Bears get most of the FOX affiliates at that timeslot.  Shows what a shitty early schedule FOX has.  I mean Rams-Texans and Panthers-Falcons aren’t exactly games that people are clamoring to watch.  The other two games, on the AFC side, are a bit better but have one team that drags it down.  Bengals?  Sure!  Jets?  Ugh.  Same with Titans-Colts.  I still don’t get the continued Carson Wentz hype to be honest with you.
• Good lord this looks like it could be awful.  Monday Night Football seems to be back to having not-so-great matchups and this qualifies.  If you had said that at the start of the season, I would have thought you were high.  But the Chiefs are not good, somehow.  Surprising and disturbing but it true.  Maybe Patrick Mahomes will finally wake up tonight and torch the Giants.  Or it could end in a 7-7 tie.  Either way.
• In contrast, Sunday Night Football….is better.  The Cowboys are actually quite good and should clinch the NFC East on Thanksgiving if not earlier.  And the Vikings aren’t bad although their fans are just waiting for the next way this team will rip their hearts out.  So expect a missed chip shot field goal to allow the Cowboys to escape with the win or something equally agonizing.

We haven’t had a bad weekend of football yet (if you combine college and pro) so let’s not start now!  Fingers crossed this all ends up being good and we go to sleep Sunday night happy with all that we saw.  Enjoy your weekend everyone!

So is there anyone who really wants this guy? – Week 1 NFL TV Schedule

Hey, it’s time for the professional football league south of the border to commence play!  Let us rejoice!  Well, most of us.  Not the guy in the picture above.  He is in a heap of shit and has been for months now.  Accused of sexual assault against 22 women.  Twenty-two.  Remember: if it looks like shit and smells like shit, it’s probably shit.  Yes, innocent until proven guilty, but holy moly would it be a bad look if Deshaun Watson played this season and then he is found guilty of even one of these charges.  But…that may not become an issue.

The Houston Texans will not have them as their quarterback.  Sounds like they are willing to pay him quite a bit of money to sit at home.  They would rather trade him, obviously, so that they don’t have to pay him and they don’t have to deal with him as an organization.  As much as you might think the Texans are not a well-run organization (which would be true), this is smart on their part.  And it looks like teams are interested!  Crazy.  Remember though: it’s all about winning.  In professional sports, winning cures (almost) all.  Same with college sports if you think about it.  Where could he end up?  The Dolphins seem to be the favourite which destroys the “Tua is our guy” narrative that they’ve had all offseason.  The Eagles are also fairly interested which destroys the “Jalen deserves a full shot as the number one QB” narrative that they are peddling.  It’s all ridiculous and all very NFL.

Anyway, enough of that.  Let’s get to the Week 1 schedule followed by Un-Texan Comments (not meant to be a slight against the state of Texas itself):

Thursday

Dallas at Tampa Bay

8:20, NBC, TSN1/3/4, CTV Two

Sunday Early

Pittsburgh at Buffalo	All affiliates		Saskatchewan, Northern Ontario, Kitchener, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Atlantic		Vancouver Island, Alberta
Arizona at Tennessee
LA Chargers at Washington
NY Jets at Carolina
Jacksonville at Houston
Philadelphia at Atlanta		Buffalo, Rochester, Burlington, Boston			London, Toronto, Ottawa, Atlantic
Minnesota at Cincinnati		Minneapolis	Winnipeg	TSN3, TSN5
San Francisco at Detroit		Detroit
Seattle at Indianapolis		Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane	Vancouver, Alberta

Sunday Late

Cleveland at Kansas City	All affiliates (except Burlington & Boston)		All affiliates (except Montreal & Atlantic)
Miami at New England	Burlington, Boston		Montreal		Atlantic
Green Bay vs. New Orleans (in Jacksonville)		Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane, Minneapolis, Detroit, Boston		TSN3, TSN5
Denver at NY Giants		Buffalo, Rochester, Burlington

Sunday/Monday Primetime

Chicago at LA Rams	Sunday, 8:20, NBC, TSN 1/3/4/5, CTV Two
Baltimore at Las Vegas	Monday, 8:00, ABC, TSN 1/3/4/5, CTV Two

Un-Texan Comments…Houston Texans, I mean

• That franchise is a complete mess.  Somehow.  They had Deshaun Watson and J.J. Watt for years and couldn’t make it work.  I don’t get it.  Oh wait, I do.  Part of it rhymes with Till O’Flyin.
• The season begins, as always, with the defending champs.  I believe this is the second team the Super Bowl champ is playing their first game of the next season in the same place they won the Lombardi Trophy.  I await about nine years from now when, if I’m still doing this blog, I’m talking about Tom Brady in his fifties still playing pretty damn good at quarterback.  You kind of know that will happen, right?
• You WILL watch the Steelers-Bills game and you will FUCKING LIKE IT!  That seems to be the message from CBS and CTV/TSN, for the most part.  At least it’s a national doubleheader so there are at least a couple of good games in both Sunday afternoon timeslots.
• There are, however, four games in the early sked not showing in Canada without Sunday Ticket.  That seems like a lot for one timeslot because it is.  Ridiculous, really.
• ESPN is not doing two Monday Night Football games this season for the first time in years.  I mean I understood the idea behind them but I’m glad it’s gone.  Why?  Having a game finish at 1 in the morning that isn’t a college football game…sorry, that’s no bueno.
• Unfortunately, the people of Burlington get stuck with, I assume, a lot of New York Giants football games again this year.  I mean it’s great if you are a Giants fan or have a crush on Daniel Jones or something.  Otherwise?  Some sad people in Vermont (and a good part of Quebec and Eastern Ontario).
• As you notice, the Packers-Saints game is in Jacksonville.  Obviously this is because of Hurricane Ida but some have asked why the game wasn’t held closer to New Orleans in an area that wasn’t affected very much by the hurricane.  The only reason I could find is that to do it in an NFL stadium means all the camera setups for FOX would be the same as normal.  If they had to go to a college stadium, it might not work.  FOX also does college football so I don’t understand this logic but there may be some merit to it since I am sure they put more money and production value into the NFL games than the college ones.
• I won’t say anything about my fantasy team.  I promise.  OK I might slip something in from time to time but I don’t want to be that guy that drones on and on about it.  In the end, even other fantasy football players don’t really care unless they are in your league.  Then they may care way too much.
• I have a feeling I am correct with the CBS and FOX affiliates.  I have thought of breaking out the CTV affiliates a bit more but it’s very rare that, say, all the CTV Atlantic stations don’t have the same NFL game on at one time.  But I will watch out for it.

There you go.  All you NFL fans, we’ve made it back.  Now let’s hope any new wave of COVID-19 doesn’t cause issues like it did last year at times.  Fingers crossed.  Alright, enjoy the games everyone!

The NFL: Now with MORE Regular Season!

“Ha ha ha, that’s a great one Bossman.  Now fuck off while I sleep on a bed of money.”  I’m just assuming that’s what Roger Goodell would say to that.

If you didn’t already know, the NFL has now gone to a 17-game regular season.  This hasn’t exactly thrilled the players and I don’t blame them.  Just one more opportunity to get injured during the regular season.  It means one less week of preseason football which is fine by me.  I still believe every team should have one road, one home and one neutral-site game during the preseason but that’s a conversation I’ve had many times before that no one wants to listen to.  It also means there will be no more .500 teams unless you get a tie during the season.  Somewhere Jeff Fisher is shedding a few tears.

Alright enough of that.  It’s more football that means something so that’s not a bad thing for the fans, right?  Now do fantasy football seasons extend by a week?  I better figure that out before, say, December.  Now, let me get to my NFL predictions for the season which sometimes I do well at and other times…not so much.  Here are the predicted standings! (* means I predict them to be a Wild Card team):

AFC East	NFC East
Buffalo 13-4	Dallas 9-8
Miami* 9-8	Washington 8-9
New England 9-8	NY Giants 5-12
NY Jets 4-13	Philadelphia 5-12
AFC North	NFC North
Cleveland 12-5	Green Bay 12-5
Baltimore* 11-6	Minnesota 9-8
Pittsburgh 8-9	Chicago 7-10
Cincinnati 6-11	Detroit 4-13
AFC South	NFC South
Tennessee 11-6	Tampa Bay 14-3
Indianapolis 9-8	New Orleans* 10-7
Jacksonville 4-13	Atlanta 6-11
Houston 2-15	Carolina 6-11
AFC West	NFC West
Kansas City 14-3	Seattle 12-5
LA Chargers* 10-7	LA Rams* 11-6
Las Vegas 8-9	Arizona* 9-8
Denver 7-10	San Francisco 8-9

Notes

• I always seem to talk about parity with the NFL but it may not be as much of the case this season. I have six teams winning at least 12 games and if I put it down to 11 wins, 9 teams fit the bill, which is over a quarter of the league.
• Where will the good division races be?  The AFC North, NFC East and, especially, the NFC West should have some excitement.  This time it’s not the Patriots but the Bills who will run away with the AFC East (for something completely different).  Same goes for the Chiefs and Bucs who should easily win their divisions.
• The NFC Wild Card race should be very interesting.  The Rams, if they don’t win the division, should get the top Wild Card (otherwise it would be the Seahawks in that spot).  The other two spots will have six teams competing for it.  One of those teams will win the NFC East as I have the Cowboys and Washington Football Team Of Fun And Frolic going down to the final week for the division crown.  I think the Saints pull ahead and are joined by the Cardinals but it won’t be easy for those teams.  It’s going to feel weird for a team to lose eight games and be over .500.  Again, cue the Jeff Fisher tears.
• The AFC should also have a great Wild Card Race.  Hey, maybe this extra game is a good thing.  Still not for the players but I digress.  The Ravens or Browns, whoever doesn’t win the AFC North should have an easy road to playing the worst division winner in the conference.  As for the other two spots, pick two out of the Dolphins, Patriots, Steelers, Colts, Chargers and Raiders.  That Week 18 (yes, WEEK 18!) should be phenomenal this season.  Now watch it be a dud with only one game meaning anything at all and it’s the Sunday nighter.
• It really is a question of how bad the Texans could be, not if they will be last.  Seventeen losses in a season?  That has to be in play in Vegas and the odds can’t be too bad for it, either.  And if they trade Deshaun Watson (or he is released because of the legal issues he faces), this team is dead in the water.  Gonna be a long year in H-Town.
• This could end up being the closest MVP race ever.  You’ve got Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Tom Brady, Russell Wilson and Kyler Murray all in the mix.  Matthew Stafford in that Rams offense has to be intriguing.  Then you have Dax Prescott returning from a horrific leg injury after having an amazing start to the 2020 season.  And finally, possibly the last hurrah for Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay.  In the end, I think Rodgers wins a close vote over Allen and Wilson.
• Rookies of the Year are always a crapshoot.  I know many will pick Trevor Lawrence and that’s not a bad choice.  I am going to go slightly down from there and say Justin Fields wins it and is the main reason the Bears are even in the playoff race in December and January.  On defense it’s even more difficult to predict.  I believe it will be Patrick Surtain II winning it although watch out for Zaven Collins as he could be a big dark horse possibility.

I have decided the new tradition of not putting a reason beside every playoff prediction is a good thing now with two extra Wild Card games.  This post would have got seriously long otherwise.  Alright let’s get right into the predictions:

Wild Card Round

(2) Buffalo def. (7) Miami

(3) Cleveland def. (6) LA Chargers

(5) Baltimore def. (4) Tennessee

(2) Green Bay def. (7) Arizona

(3) Seattle def. (6) New Orleans

(5) LA Rams def. (4) Dallas

Divisional Playoffs

(1) Kansas City def. (5) Baltimore

(2) Buffalo def. (3) Cleveland

(5) LA Rams def. (1) Tampa Bay

(3) Seattle def. (2) Green Bay

Conference Championships

(2) Buffalo def. (1) Kansas City

(3) Seattle def. (5) LA Rams

Super Bowl

(2) Buffalo def. (3) Seattle

I think this is a dream season for the Bills.  With their roster and Josh Allen at the top of his game and pretty much no holes in their lineup, this is the season for them two win it all.  After last year’s loss to the Chiefs, I believe they are playoff-hardened and ready to get some revenge.  The NFC will be a bit of a mess as I don’t think the top two seeds get to the conference championship.  The Rams, if they get on a roll, could go all the way with that offense.  I know they say defense wins championships but if the Rams can score over 30 a game in the playoffs they could do some major damage.  The Seahawks are another team to watch in the playoffs.  Let Russ cook and you got a problem.  In the end, I have my Buffalo Bills finally winning the Super Bowl that eluded them in the 90s and sending me into complete delirium.  I won’t know what to do.  Honest.  I’ll have to take a week off of work just to recuperate.

Next up is for all of you to just watch some damn college football!  We are 17 days away from Week Zero!  I keep checking for a TSN schedule but still nothing.  As soon as I find something I can complete what I have for Week Zero and finally do an actual schedule post: the first of the 2021 college football season.  Can’t wait!  And in the meantime, watch some CFL or preseason NFL to whet the appetite.  Have a great hump day, everyone!

Tank for Trevor? – Week 8 NFL TV Schedule

Look, let’s be honest here.  Trevor Lawrence is one of the surest things in football the last decade.  Best quarterback in Clemson history?  You almost have to say he is better than Deshaun Watson at this point and that is an extremely high bar.   So my guess is that even though tanking is “outlawed” it is going to happen.  Not easy to do, don’t get me wrong.  Especially in the NFL.  But for yet another season we may end up seeing that.  The Jets are an abomination.  There are a bunch of teams not a whole lot better.  Who knows if Lawrence would work on any of them but that’s how the draft works.  Ask Joe Burrow.

Aaaaaaaaanyway, here’s the schedule which does include many of those brutally bad teams (including the Jets):

Sunday Early

Pittsburgh at Baltimore	Seattle, Spokane		Vancouver, Alberta
Indianapolis at Detroit	Detroit
Tennessee at Cincinnati
NY Jets at Kansas City
New England at Buffalo	Buffalo, Rochester, Burlington, Boston		Kitchener, Toronto, Montreal, Atlantic		Ottawa
Minnesota at Green Bay		Minneapolis, Detroit, Burlington	Saskatchewan, Winnipeg, Ottawa	TSN3, TSN5
LA Rams at Miami		Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane, Buffalo, Rochester, Boston	Northern Ontario		All affiliates (except Ottawa)
Las Vegas at Cleveland

Sunday Late

LA Chargers at Denver	Minneapolis, Cleveland			TSN3, TSN5
New Orleans at Chicago		Minneapolis, Detroit, Buffalo, Rochester, Burlington, Boston	Winnipeg, Northern Ontario, Kitchener, Toronto		Atlantic
San Francisco at Seattle		Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane	Vancouver, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ottawa, Montreal

Sunday/Monday Primetime

Dallas at Philadelphia	Sunday, 8:30, NBC, TSN 1/3/5, CTV Two
Tampa Bay at NY Giants	Monday, 8:30, TSN 1/3/4/5

Random Analysis

• Three games in the late window and they are nicely spread out.  This is always a good thing.  I mean I have RedZone so it doesn’t really matter to me but to many Canadians it does.  They want choice and they should be able to get some semblance of choice.  It’s not like there are a ton of games every Sunday like college football on Saturdays.  And lo and behold, it’s actually three decent games as well so good work here.
• Three games are not being shown in the early part of the day.  Titans-Bengals no one really cares about.  Same with Jets-Chiefs.  I am a bit surprised no one is getting the Raiders-Browns game, not even in Cleveland.  Bizarre.
• Cowboys!  Eagles!  You couldn’t come up with a more terrible game for Sunday Night Football if you tried.  But these two fanbases are huge (and annoying) so you know a lot of people will watch.  Hopefully it ends up a tie.  I just want to see the NFC East burn.
• In contrast to SNF, Monday Night Football looks…well, better I guess.  But it’s still the New York Football Giants who are terrible.  The New York teams are 1-13 this season.  It is laughable how bad they are.

Hopefully it’s another fun weekend of football.  I mean when’s the last time it’s been a fully terrible weekend of football when you combine college and pro?  Has that ever happened?  I’m not going to even look.  Enjoy the games everyone!

Possibly my least favourite post of the year (a.k.a. How Did I Do – NFL Version)

Last year I combined this with a mock draft post.  I won’t be doing that this time around.  I can only fit so much bullshit in one post right?  I have tried before, believe me.  Anyway, I will do this the same as last year by looking at predictions and comments I made at the start of the season and see how they turned out (spoiler alert: almost all of them did not turn out the way I thought).  Allons-y!

New England, Green Bay, and Seattle are candidates to get to at least 13 wins although Julian Edelman’s season-ending ACL injury will make the Pats passing game a little less formidable than it would have been. They will still clean up in the AFC East though.

Yeah the Pats cleaned up in the AFC East again.  And basically in the conference.  The AFC was woefully thin this season.  Green Bay did not do well although who knew A-A-Ron would go down with a big injury that cost him a few games.  And Seattle…well they ran into a Rams squad that was really good this season.  Still.  I have to say I batted .333 on this one.  If I was in the majors I would be pissed off that they are colluding against me getting a big-money contract for a ton of years.  But since it is just predictions then I am not doing too well right out of the gate.

I see three divisions being ultra-competitive: the AFC South, AFC West, and NFC South. The other five will not be, at least at the top of the division. Hell, the Packers may clinch by Halloween.

God damn you Rodgers!  Plus the Vikings were really good.  Helps when you have a guy like Case Keenum play out of his mind for a couple months.  In the end, the NFC South was fun to watch and I was right about that.  The AFC South was also competitive as the Titans and Jags actually played well and it made for an exciting finish.  The AFC West, as much as the Chargers want to say otherwise, was the Chiefs’ division to lose and boy did they try to lose it.

The race for the Wild Card in the AFC should be a good one. I have the Bengals and Chiefs getting in but the Ravens, Colts, Texans, Los Angeles Chargers (yes the inept Chargers) and even the Dolphins with Smokin’ Jay Cutler will have a say in who gets into the playoffs. If the Bills get their act together they should be included here too although it’s pretty likely they will fall 2-3 games short like they always do.

Boy where do I start here.  Let’s start at the end.  The Bills made the playoffs!  Which made me happy despite the prediction being wrong.  The Dolphins and Colts were terrible.  So were the Texans but losing J.J. Watt and Deshaun Watson early would cripple most teams.  The Ravens gaffed against the Bengals which allowed the Bills to get in in the first place.  Somehow Marvin Lewis still has a job there despite saying he was “leaving.”  What is it about professional football in Ohio that is so daunting?

In the NFC, the race will be between the Bucs, Cards, Giants, and Saints. Maybe Carolina. Everyone else, no.

Just looking at that sentence makes me cry.  What the fuck was I thinking?

As for the worst team, the Jets, Bears, and Niners seem to have the inside track on the #1 overall pick next season. Considering the Jets have arguably one of the worst quarterback trios in recent memory I will slot them in as picking Sam Darnold in next year’s draft.

And of course the Browns again made my prediction wrong.  Thanks a lot.  Then again, if it wasn’t for our friends from Cleveland and Jimmy Garoppolo revitalizing San Francisco’s football team, I would have been close to dead on here.

MVP should have a bunch of candidates although watch out for Jameis Winston who could chuck for an absolute boatful of yards (pun somewhat intended).

God damn it.

Rookie of the Year is always a crapshoot so I won’t even delve into it. All I know is that DeShone Kizer (yes, DeShone Kizer) could very well be the best rookie quarterback this year. Playing for the Browns. No, I’m not drunk.

You know what?  I probably was drunk.

And now my playoffs preview which I will go over in point form to minimize how stupid I was:

• Cincinnati, Arizona, Dallas, and Tampa Bay didn’t make the playoffs.  Neither did Seattle but they were close.  Oakland didn’t as well.  God do I look stupid for picking them.
• Oh hey I had two of those teams facing each other in the Super Bowl: the Raiders and Seahawks.  I fucking suck.
• On top of that I had Tampa Bay making it to the conference championship.  Good lord.  The only thing I got right was New England making it to the AFC Championship.  This is seriously terrible.
• Of the four actual conference championship teams, I picked one of them to even make the playoffs.  Maybe I should just quit predicting the NFL altogether.

Let’s never speak of this again.

No realignment news again really.  Two years in a row.  At some point in the next few years there will be MASSIVE realignment news and it’s all we will talk about.  Until then let’s enjoy the breather.  The next mock draft should be maybe a couple weeks or so from now.

The next post will be the conference tournament schedule.  The conference tournaments officially start on February 26th…so this Monday!  As has been the case the past few years, the Atlantic Sun is the first conference to start the fun.  Will we get to see this?  Absolutely not.  Don’t be daft.  However, this year we get things a bit earlier than we normally would…OK some of us will get it earlier.  Because the Big Ten just HAD to have their tournament in New York they will be doing it doing week one of conference tournament play.  Meaning on the last day of February, Canadians will get their first taste of conference tournament action.  Nice.  Why don’t they just move all the tournaments to either New York or Las Vegas since it seems that is where half of them are now anyway.  Or do the NCAA tournament FA Cup-style.  Every team is in (technically) but the really shitty teams have to start in round one and the much better teams get byes to like round seven.  It would be hilarious/crazy to watch one of the worst teams in D-1 go on a glorious run until they meet up against Kansas in an eighth round matchup and get beaten by 80.  Along with promotion/relegation, this should happen.

Anyway, enjoy your week everyone.

This sucks – Week 5 NFL Recap/Rant

Now I am not a Houston Texans fan by any stretch of the imagination.  However I am a fan of J.J. Watt.  Not just the fact he is the most dominant defensive player in football today.  But what he did for the city of Houston after the hurricane ravaged that city cannot be overstated.  So to see his what happened to him this past Sunday night was a bit heart-wrenching.  He has a fracture in his left leg that will require surgery meaning his season is done.  It’s too bad since Deshaun Watson has revitalized the moribund Houston offense and they were looking good this season.  Their chances of contending for the division are probably over although they do play in the AFC South meaning they still have a chance.

• Speaking of the AFC South, how about those Jacksonville Jaguars? They destroyed Pittsburgh and now with Marcus Mariota being hampered by injuries may just be the odds-on favourite in the division.  It helps to have a bunch of good, young talent and that Blake Bortles has finally decided to live up to his draft billing from years ago.  Kind of like how it took Alex Smith a few years to actually look like a former high draft pick.
• Hey finally the Pats defense didn’t look horrible. Still, it took Nick Folk forgetting how to kick field goals for New England to beat Tampa Bay in a close Thursday night affair.
• The Browns are horrible. Just…horrible.  Maybe they will be trending towards 0-16 again.  How does Hue Jackson still have a job?
• Speaking of shitty teams, how about those New York Giants? Everyone (and I mean everyone) figured the Jets would be the worse of the two New York teams.  Hell, some people had the Giants going deep in the playoffs.  But the Giants offense is abysmal and Odell Beckham Jr. can’t stop with the drama.  It’s a mess. (Update: OBJ is now out for the season.  So a double-edged sword: they lose their top offensive weapon but the histrionics will be at a minimum now).
• Mitchapalooza began last night finally in the Windy City.  Mitchell Trubisky got his first start for the Bears and honestly didn’t look too bad considered the first 35 minutes of the game were awful to watch (at least from an offensive standpoint for both teams).  He will improve for sure.  Bears fans should just brace themselves for a Top 5 pick again this coming draft.
• That’s the Buffalo Bills we all know and love.  Playing down to an inferior opponent is a tradition in Western New York.  No different this time around as the Bills looked not that great against a struggling Bengals team.  Look, the offense is going to have figure something out because the defense can only keep things at bay for so long.
• I remember seeing E.J. Manuel in person at a Bills preseason game when he had just been drafted. At the time my thoughts were:
  • He is monstrous for a quarterback
  • He is not very mobile
  • He overshot every receiver he threw to

So yeah, not very promising.  And he isn’t right now for the Oakland Raiders who are DESPERATE for Derek Carr to return.

It’s still early in the season so there’s not a whole lot to provide here.  I mean I could talk about Cam Newton’s post-game interview with Pam Oliver where he basically didn’t answer what Oliver was asking about what had happened this week and did the ridiculous shtick of the team as a family and having them back him up and shit like that.  For what, Cam?  You not getting a lifetime supply of yogurt anymore?

Alright, let’s do something else kind of dumb: If the playoff started today.

 

1	Kansas City (AFC West)	1	Philadelphia (NFC East)
2	Buffalo (AFC East)	2	Green Bay (NFC North)
3	Jacksonville (AFC South)	3	Carolina (NFC South)
4	Pittsburgh (AFC North)	4	Seattle (NFC West)
	Wild Card Teams:		Wild Card Teams:
1	Denver	1	Atlanta
2	NY Jets/Baltimore/New England	2	Detroit/LA Rams/Minnesota

I still find it a bit funny to see Buffalo in the #2 spot.  We know it won’t last.  Same with the Jets.  Are Carson Wentz and Jared Goff both the real deal?  So far so good this season.  The Eagles at the top are an interesting proposition.  With the rest of the division struggling they could get at least a couple games out in front by the midway point of the season and conceivably start putting their foot on the other teams’ necks early.  It would be quite the turnaround in the city of Brotherly Love.

I know the NFL would cream their pants if the Rams made the playoffs.  It would be a dream come true for them.  And yes, it would probably be the one time you would see the cavernous LA Coliseum packed for an NFL football game if they got a home playoff date.

More Fun Belt action this Wednesday as South Alabama visits Troy.  As of right now, it looks like it’s on TSNs 1, 3, 4 and 5.  How insane is that?  For a Sun Belt game?  That tells you there is NOTHING else on that night.  Or at least nothing else that TSN could show.

Still on the fence about making a post tomorrow.  We shall see.  Depends on mah feelings and shit.  Have a great late start to the week.

YAWN! – Week 2 College Football Recap

Yes, yawn.  I would almost never say that about college football but I kind of do for this past weekend and for two very different reasons.

The first reason is the normal reason I have for saying this: I am up late watching college football.  Eventually that kind of lack of sleep catches up with you.  Say, about 10 hours later.  This will happen to me every Saturday through Conference Championship Week.  I know it.  I accept it.  I have to do something other than drink copious amounts of caffeine to stay awake for it.

The other reason is the fact that, looking back on what happened this past weekend in college football, it was a bit of a yawner.  Well, a yawner compared to most college football weekends.  Usually we get a bunch of fantastic plays or a few upsets or a monumental victory or something.  Other than a couple of things, nothing really moved the needle all that much.  There could be many reasons for this, chief among them being Hurricane Irma and the impact on anything related to the state of Florida.  Either way, I don’t expect this to happen again the rest of the season.

Saying all that, let’s get on with the recap!

• One of the bigger highlights of the day was Oklahoma’s victory over Ohio State in what seemed like relatively easy fashion. The icing on the cake (for Sooners fans) was Baker Mayfield trying to plant the Oklahoma flag in the middle of the Ohio Stadium O at midfield.  I guess Baker isn’t a turf management major since trying to plant that flag pole into artificial turf was never going to happen.  Alas, the symbolism was still stunning and may push Oklahoma to bigger heights.
• Easily the best game of the day was the last game of the night. Pac-12 After Dark lived up to its sometimes-crazy reputation as Washington State came back from down 31-10 with 8 minutes left to beat Boise State in triple overtime in an absolute classic.  Topping that was the fact that most of this was done on the strengths of both BACKUP quarterbacks.  Maybe, just maybe, Wazzu is a team to watch in the Pac-12.  Man, the Pac-12 North is shaping up to be a brutally tough division…you know, save Oregon State and Cal.
• Clemson had 11 sacks (ELEVEN!) against Auburn and still only won by 8. The Tigers (of the Death Valley persuasion…in South Carolina) and their defense will have to probably carry the load this season.  Not saying the offense isn’t good but without Deshaun Watson it is not nearly as dynamic.  Also, I can see the hype for Jarrett Stidham falling off a cliff now.
• For some hilarity, check out the fumble in the Mississippi State-Louisiana Tech Bulldog Bowl. LaTech had 2^nd and Goal from the MSU 6-yard line.  After the most ridiculous series of events (which must have involved everyone smothering their fingers with melted butter), the ball ended up on the LaTech 7.  So now LaTech had 3^rd & Goal from their own 7.  You will probably never see something like that in your life again.
• Another good game on the night was Georgia-Notre Dame. You just kind of knew that the Irish would blow it in the end though, right?
• Sam Darnold is REALLY making his case for the Heisman early on after that performance against Stanford. So is Josh Rosen for that matter.  Is the Pac-12 back in terms of star power?
• The annual battle for the Cy-Hawk Trophy ended up being a pretty good game as well…as it normally is for some bizarre reason. Iowa had to really tough it out against a much-improved Iowa State team to win in overtime.  Watching some of these lower-level Big XII teams (other than Kansas) has me VERY worried for Texas this season.
• Hurricane Irma has now affected one of next week’s games as well: Miami-Florida State, which was supposed to be the ABC primetime game, has been moved to October. Now Clemson-Louisville will take its place and there will be a domino effect that will follow that I will discuss in more depth on Thursday.
• For anyone who left Lamar Jackson off their pre-season Heisman ballot: Shame on you!
• So many cancelled games. Why do I have this funny feeling that this may affect things in late November when it comes to conference championships and bowl-eligibility?
• Central Michigan beat Kansas and Eastern Michigan defeated Rutgers. Some things never change.

That’s about it for the recap.  Don’t need to explain much more.  What I do need to do though is the patented (not patented actually) Bossman Top 25 which will be slightly different than the AP Top 25 and I don’t care.  So here we go:

#1	Alabama
#2	Clemson
#3	USC
#4	Oklahoma
#5	Penn State
#6	Michigan
#7	Washington
#8	Ohio State
#9	Wisconsin
#10	Oklahoma State
#11	Florida State
#12	LSU
#13	Louisville
#14	Georgia
#15	Virginia Tech
#16	Auburn
#17	Kansas State
#18	Miami
#19	USF
#20	Stanford
#21	Washington State
#22	Tennessee
#23	TCU
#24	UCLA
#25	Florida

As you can see, quite close to the AP but some are a little off.  I didn’t move Oklahoma to #2 like the AP poll did because I believe Clemson and USC also had significant victories that were completely overshadowed by what the Sooners did in Columbus.  Honestly though, the top four are a fair amount of ahead of everyone below them so they could almost be interchangeable.  That should change in the next couple of weeks.  I think many should watch out for TCU and UCLA who inhabit the bottom part of my Top 25.  I could see them making up some serious ground over the next month.

Alright there you go.  The first NFL recap of the season (however crappy it may be) will appear tomorrow and then back to the college schedule on Thursday.  Remember there are two (TWO!) Monday Night Football games tonight.  Saints-Vikings at 7 and Chargers-Broncos at 10:15.  I can’t see me watching all of the late game but who knows these days.

First PVR Week…Hope it’s a Success – Week 2 College Football TV Schedule

First off, after Hurricane Harvey literally obliterated the Houston area, here comes Hurricane Irma to make life difficult for the people of Florida (and possibly other parts of the southeastern United States).  There are already some cancellations and games moved to different times or days so this schedule might need some serious updating over the next couple days.  Honestly, though, it’s secondary to the shit the people of the Houston area have gone through and what the people of Florida may end up going through.  So fingers crossed we don’t see more devastation and the hurricane dies over the Atlantic somewhere.

Alright, this will be the first true week I use my PVR.  I have stated this before in the past (many times) but I am just waiting for the day that my PVR craps out on me and I have no college football at all to watch.  That would be sad.  Reminds me way back during the first year of this blog on the day I moved.  It was a Saturday.  No cable obviously.  Was out at a bar and got to watch a few minutes of Ohio State-Northwestern.  That was it.  It felt wrong.  I don’t want to do that again.

Saying that, with my kids a bit older it becomes easier to watch the games even when they are around.  Why?  Because like many typical teens and pre-teens they tend to ignore their parents unless they want something (or want to do something or go somewhere or be driven some place).  My kids are no different.  No I won’t act like the complete ogre I am on gamedays when they aren’t around but I know they will ignore me for chunks of time to the point I will have to go around the house just to make sure they didn’t just up and leave without me knowing.  Alright, enough of the family talk, on to the schedule!

Thursday

		US	Canada
Sam Houston State at Prairie View A&M	7:30 PM

One game.  It’s an FCS one.  This is easy.  So far so good.

Friday

		US	Canada
Memphis at UCF	6:30 PM
#11 Oklahoma State at South Alabama	8:00 PM

Memphis-UCF was moved from Saturday to today.  It’s one of the four (I believe) Florida-based moves thanks to that bitch Hurricane Irma.  Why the early start time?  It’s probably to allow UCF to get back home to Orlando after the game since the storm, in my view as a non-meteorologist, will hit Florida starting Saturday.  We also have a Power Five road trip to a Group of Five team.  It’s only South Alabama but remember what the Jaguars did to Mississippi State last year.  Oh and remember what Central Michigan did to…OK I’ll stop right there.

UPDATE #2: OSU-USA now finally showing on Bell.  Memphis-UCF still not showing anywhere so I am hoping that changes considering the scheduling change.

UPDATE #5: Memphis-UCF is now cancelled.  So OSU-USA is the only game on tonight.

UPDATE #7: Oklahoma State-South Alabama not showing as of this moment on the specialty pack.  For fuck’s sakes.

UPDATE #8: Finally the game appears…so I can watch the Pokes go up by 17 in the first quarter.  Aw man.

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
Cincinnati at #8 Michigan	Noon
Florida Atlantic at #9 Wisconsin	Noon
Towson at Maryland*	Noon
ULM at #10 Florida State	Noon
#17 Louisville at North Carolina	Noon
Iowa at Iowa State*	Noon
Northwestern at Duke	Noon
Eastern Kentucky at Kentucky	Noon
UT-Martin at Ole Miss	Noon
Buffalo at Army	Noon

 

A boatload of games early in the afternoon.  This is partly due to ULM-FSU moving back to Noon from their original 7:00 PM start (which would have been different for the ACC Network anyway).  Could be worse though: USF-UConn moved to 10:30 AM.  That’s right, AM!  Again, my guess is this is all for travel purposes due to the hurricane.  Louisville-North Carolina could be a good game here but as per usual, the early slate is more about quantity than quality.

UPDATE #1: Might as well start numbering them now.  This really doesn’t affect us in terms of viewing but two more games have been cancelled due to Hurricane Irma.  USF-UConn had been moved up to 10:30 AM and has now been completely cancelled due to travel concerns with USF.  Also, Northern Colorado-Florida, which was originally at 7:30 on the SEC Network, then moved to Noon (still on SECN) has now been cancelled outright.

UPDATE #4: Four updates and it’s Thursday night.  Oh well.  ULM-Florida State, which had been moved up from 7:00 to Noon has now been cancelled completely.  As of this moment, nothing has been put in its place on the ACC Network.  The only games that could probably be moved to that timeslot this late in the game are Jacksonville State-Georgia Tech (which is at 12:30 PM at this point) and Wake Forest-Boston College (which is at 1:00 PM at this point).  Whether these games would just appear on the ACC Network or if they would move to Noon is not known.

UPDATE #6: The ACC Network will not have a game this week so there will be nothing on WSBK or WNLO.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
#23 TCU at Arkansas	3:30 PM
Eastern Michigan at Rutgers*	3:30 PM
Western Michigan at Michigan State	3:30 PM
Pittsburgh at #4 Penn State	3:30 PM
Fresno State at #1 Alabama	3:30 PM
Indiana at Virginia*^	3:30 PM
Tulane at Navy	3:30 PM
Indiana State at #25 Tennessee	4:00 PM
Alabama A&M at Vanderbilt*	4:00 PM
Nebraska at Oregon	4:30 PM

Getting better.  Nebraska-Oregon is a very interesting affair in the somewhat-late-for-afternoon timeslot of 4:30.  Probably smart on FOX’s part to offset some of these games from the games on CBS and ABC.  Indiana-Virginia moved to the ESPNU slot here once it was vacated by Miami-Arkansas State which will not be played at all.  Pittsburgh-Penn State, as we saw last season, has the potential to be a season-changing game.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
#13 Auburn at #3 Clemson	7:00 PM
South Carolina at Missouri	7:00 PM
Nicholls at Texas A&M*	7:00 PM
Tennessee Tech at Kennesaw State	7:00 PM
#15 Georgia at #24 Notre Dame	7:30 PM
Chattanooga at #12 LSU	7:30 PM
#5 Oklahoma at #2 Ohio State	7:30 PM
Western Kentucky at Illinois	7:30 PM
Mississippi State at Louisiana Tech	7:30 PM
#14 Stanford at #6 USC	8:30 PM

Ho.  Lee.  Shit.  Talk about a stacked lineup.  Four huge games.  When UGA-ND is maybe the fourth-best game of a timeslot, you know it’s an important set of games.  I will have to make some interesting decisions with the ol’ PVR with this one.  One thing is for sure: I will not choose to record Nicholls-TAMU.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
Utah at BYU*	10:15 PM
Boise State at #20 Washington State*	10:30 PM
Houston at Arizona*	10:30 PM

A nice late-night spread to end the evening some time into the morning.  All three games have the potential for something exciting, especially the Holy War.

Games to set your eyeballs on

Oklahoma at Ohio State (7:30, ABC) – This is the first instance of the Big Ten getting a tiny bit of preferential treatment by getting their ABC primetime games moved up to 7:30.  I could say that considering tOSU beat the Sooners pretty bad last year in Norman that this year’s game, in Columbus, will be a cakewalk for the Buckeyes.  But it won’t be the case.  I think Oklahoma’s offense can keep this one close, at the very least.  This is the second “Game of the Year” after the Bama-FSU game which really didn’t feel that close or exciting as it was going on.

Auburn at Clemson (7:00, specialty pack) – Clemson’s first Deshaun Watson-less test of this season.  Survive this and they get a leg up on getting deeper into the season unscathed.  It won’t be easy for the Tigers with being on the road at Death Valley at night (either Death Valley at night is normally horrifically bad for opponents).  At this point, it looks like either them or LSU will be the only teams that can challenge mighty Bama in the SEC West.  A loss here wouldn’t be the end of the world but it would leave a bad taste in their mouths.

Stanford at USC (8:30, FOX) – Man, the three biggest games on at pretty much the same time.  At least someone had the foresight to put them at slightly different times.  It’s horrible for the PVR people (which I am one of at times) but it makes the most sense in the college football world to do this.  Otherwise you split the audience like they most assuredly did last Sunday with those two amazing games going on (and finishing) at pretty much the exact same time.

Georgia at Notre Dame (7:30, NBC) – This one would have been the top game in the afternoon timeslot.  Oh well.  Anyway, this is most definitely a “Prove It” game for both teams.  Georgia has to prove they still belong as one of the SEC East’s elite (whatever that means these days) and Notre Dame has to prove that they are Notre Dame again.  A loss here might also seal Brian Kelly’s fate as he will need all the wins he can muster this season.

Pittsburgh at Penn State (3:30, ABC) – The only non-primetime game that is must-see is this one.  We all remember what happened last season in this game and how it was the biggest part of the College Football Playoff debate almost three months later.  I can honestly see this one being the same if Pitt can pull it out again.  Won’t be as easy being in front of a packed house in State College.

Honourable mention: Louisville at North Carolina (Noon, TSN2); TCU at Arkansas (3:30, CBS); Boise State at Washington State (10:15, specialty pack)

Some gambling fun and games

Everything was going good last week until my last two picks as North Carolina and Texas both shit the bed.  Anyway, I soldier on with some more somewhat-mediocre picks.

Ohio State over Oklahoma

Clemson over Auburn

USC over Stanford

Notre Dame over Georgia (is this a mild upset?  I don’t really know)

Penn State over Pittsburgh

North Carolina over Louisville (now this would be more of an upset)

Arkansas over TCU

Washington State over Boise State (I think this could be the closest game of the week)

Western Kentucky over Illinois (not an upset)

Oklahoma State over South Alabama

Houston over Arizona (also not an upset)

As of right now, NOTHING after tonight is on the specialty pack (at least for Bell Fibe).  Rogers (and other telcos that use the Super Sports Pack moniker) seem to not want to televise FCS games.  This isn’t a big deal, really, but it is a game on an ESPN network that isn’t being shown so it feels like a little nickel and diming on their end.  I can’t even seem to find a whole lot of information on Saturday for either Rogers or Bell.  It’s absurd.  It boggles my mind that this occurs in 2017.  I wish I didn’t get as worked up as I did but the way they run things (and the poor customer service that goes along with it) bothers me.  It’s anti-business really.  I mean “the customer is always right” is an old bullshit phrase used by baby boomers.  Fair play to them, back in the day (let’s say the last century) that was the case.  But in reality, the customer isn’t always right.  But the customer pays you so you better give them the service/product they want and do it properly.  That’s the bottom line.  Ugh.  Anyway, enough of that.  Just keep tuned here for any updates as I am sure there will be many.  I mean we hit 10 of them in Week One alone.

UPDATE #3: I finally see games on Bell and Rogers although some are missing.  The ones missing from the Rogers/Eastlink schedule are denoted by an asterisk (*).  The games missing from the Bell schedule are denoted by a (^).  Again, keep watching for updates.  Also, the Rogers SSP seems to show San Jose State-Texas on its schedule which is a Longhorn Network game.  Weird.  Finally, this is part of the reason I feel no one at Bell (and probably every other Canadian telco) cares about college football.  The games on ESPN and ESPN2 are only in SD this Saturday.  For some reason, the SEC Network and SEC Network Alternate channels get two of the three HD slots.  What a fucking joke.

Also, the NFL is back!  Tonight is Opening Night as the Chiefs travel to Foxboro to face the Patriots.  So now all football is back.  This is a good thing.  I will have the full Sunday/Monday schedule up tomorrow.  It should be interesting piecing it together with the way it’s being done this season.  Enjoy the games everyone!

Most Important Games of the 2017 College Football Season – Part II

Yes the wait is still a long one; however, this way everything seems that much better when the games begin again in late August.  At least that’s what I tell myself…

Back to the most important games of the season.  It’s going to be five posts this year, not four.  Wouldn’t want a case of verbal diarrhea for four straight blog posts (like I have done in the past).

 

Week 4

NC State at Florida State (3:30, specialty pack) – Now I understand why this week is near the bottom of the list.  Yeesh.  This is the best game of the week (arguably).  Not a bad game obviously but I am sure Wolfpack fans would not be impressed if I said a Dave Doeren-coached team was part of the GOTW.  Then again, NC State has given FSU troubles in the past so maybe this will be a classic?  Who knows?

Oklahoma at Baylor (7:30, FOX) – A couple seasons ago this would have easily been the game of the week.  My how Baylor has fallen.  Good luck to Matt Rhule dealing with that firestorm.  What this could end up being is Baker Mayfield going all Patrick Mahomes and throwing for a ton of yards and making the game last into the next morning.

TCU at Oklahoma State (3:30, specialty pack) – To be honest, with this Big Ten to FOX deal, I honestly don’t know where many of these games will go past Week 3.  I do know one thing: there are a lot more games this year on the main FOX network.  From a quick glance there’s not quite twice as many with a few tripleheaders sprinkled throughout the season.  I don’t know why I said this here since I see this game going to ESPN (and hence the specialty pack).  I guess I figured I needed to say it at some point.  As for this game, expect a lot of offense.  Basically you will have to win out to keep pace with Oklahoma this season.

Penn State at Iowa (3:30, ABC) – OK maybe I should have put that FOX mini-rant here as this game has a chance to move over to FOX but for now I have stuck it on ABC.  Penn State will have to grind out these types of games if they are to be a College Football Playoff contender (and I fully expect them to be one this season).

Washington at Colorado (8:00, ABC) – See?  My schedule has already broken down a bit.  I don’t think Colorado will fall as far as many feel they will but they won’t be going to the Pac-12 title game this season that is for sure.  This is here more for Washington who is an instant national championship contender and needs solid wins over teams like the Buffs if they are to keep in the Top 4.

Honourable mention: UCLA at Stanford (3:00, FOX Sports One…ugh), Florida at Kentucky (6:00, specialty pack), Alabama at Vanderbilt (Noon, TSN3), Mississippi State at Georgia (Noon, TSN2), Arkansas vs. Texas A&M (in Arlington) (3:30, CBS).

Worst televised game of the week: Georgia State at Charlotte (7:00, beIn Sports) – Wow, beIn Sports really scraping the bottom of the barrel with this one.  Watch it be an awesome game that comes down to the wire.  Still isn’t enough to make me want to get this channel.

Week 5

Clemson at Virginia Tech (8:00, ABC) – An even worse week than the previous one.  At least this week’s top game is a big one.  Potential ACC Title game preview?  Could be.  I could see the Fighting Fuentes getting over the hump this year and perhaps looking at some CFP talk.  Clemson has to get through a brutal early schedule without Deshaun Watson (and a few others).  Can’t see them repeating but you never know if they find the heir apparent early.

USC at Washington State (Friday, 10:30, specialty pack) – I sincerely hope Mike Leach is at his Leachiest in this one.  It’s the only way I will feel good about staying up VERY late on a Friday night to watch this.  I mean I still will but I might not feel good about it (the next morning).

Georgia at Tennessee (3:30, CBS) – Has the talk of Tennessee winning the SEC East started yet?  I know they will have to defend their “Champions at Life” crown this season.  I’m sure there will be many contenders for that.

Ole Miss at Alabama (7:00, specialty pack) – I was just getting used to Ole Miss giving the Tide a tough time every season and then last year happened and the Rebs went to shit (kind of).  This being the fourth most important game of the week tells you how shitty this week is especially since we are almost into full conference play at this point.

Northwestern at Wisconsin (3:30, ABC) – This is a bit of a tasty affair and I am starting to think I should have moved it up a spot.  Well too late!  Northwestern will still be good and Wisky has a pretty easy schedule for a B1G team, one that could see them making a run to the CFP if they don’t fuck up or have injuries to starters.

Honourable mention: Mississippi State at Auburn (7:00, specialty pack), Baylor at Kansas State (Noon, ABC), Indiana at Penn State (3:30, specialty pack), North Carolina at Georgia Tech (3:30, specialty pack), South Carolina at Texas A&M (7:30, specialty pack).

Worst televised game of the week: Nevada at Fresno State (10:15, specialty pack) – ESPN2 and ESPNU get a LOT of Mountain West games in the late night slots.  When they involve Boise State or San Diego State or Wyoming or even Air Force then fine.  But then you get this.  Nevada should be improved from last season but FSU is still pretty bad.  Thankfully there should be other games on in that time slot like…Colorado at UCLA?  Hmmm, maybe I will go to bed early instead.

Week 6

LSU at Florida (7:00, TSN1/TSN5) – Remember last year’s ridiculous circumstances involving the game between these two?  So much controversy.  But hey, the game itself was not bad (OK it was mediocre with an amazing finish).  This year should be no exception…well except that the game is scheduled, probably won’t move, and is earlier on in the season so they may still both think they have national championship aspirations.

Alabama at Texas A&M (3:30, CBS) – Important Game 1B right here.  Will Bama win?  Probably.  At this point I would be interested to see how many times Brad Nessler talks about Kevin Sumlin’s possible shitcanning during this game.

Louisville at NC State (Thursday, 8:00, TSN2) – First true Thursday nighter on this list.  I could see a lot of people (i.e. Wolfpack fans) saying that if Dave Doeren isn’t fired by this point that this game shouldn’t be this high on the list.  I can honestly see NC State becoming a thorn in the side of the ACC Atlantic Big Three (UL, Clemson, FSU) this season.  They will get a chance to prove it here (again…man they have a tough three-game stretch).

Penn State at Northwestern (Noon, TSN3) – I can see this being the week where TSN finally starts getting their shit together and really brings it with a robust college football schedule.  Saying that, this game could end up on FOX for all I know (or the dreaded FS1).  God, I wish we got the games from FS1 (not the channel…I don’t need or want more Skip Bayless in my life).

Kansas State at Texas (Noon, FOX) – Yes we do not get FS1 up here or the FS1 college football games.  However, FOX is showing tripleheaders a few times this season so at least it’s being made up somewhat.  I still say I would pay a premium to get a tailored college football package where I could see all the games I want.  Basically I would want P5 conferences, BYU, Notre Dame, Boise State.  The rest is gravy really but those are the most important teams to watch.  Anyway, where was I?  Oh yes, let’s see what Tom Herman is made of when he goes up against Jesus’s college football coach, Bill Snyder.

Honourable mention: Washington State at Oregon (10:30, FOX Sports One…I hope this changes), Wisconsin at Nebraska (7:30, ABC), Ole Miss at Auburn (7:30, specialty pack), Stanford at Utah (8:00, FOX), Notre Dame at North Carolina (Noon, ABC/TSN5).

Worst televised game of the week: Fresno State at San Jose State (Friday, 10:00, CBS Sports Network) – Two straight weeks with the Fighting Bulldogs of Fresno State in this slot.  Poor Fresno State.  No, really, poor Fresno State.  They will have a poor team this season.  Possibly the worst in the Mountain West.  It’s probably a good thing this is on a Friday night since people too worn out by the rest of the action on Saturday would avoid this game like the plague.

Three more weeks complete.  Not quite halfway through the season.  We will get there but I figured might as well spread out the posts since there’s nothing much college football to talk about except…

Holy shit Bob Stoops retired!  Wow.  Talk about a bombshell.  The timing is a bit odd.  It would have made more sense to retire a few months back around the time of spring ball so that the new head coach would get acclimated to the team.  I get it, it’s Lincoln Riley, the offensive coordinator, taking over but still…new position takes time to iron out the kinks and infuse it with his own personality.  I think there is something else to this but for now I guess we just have to say Goodbye to Big Game Bob.  That’s two sudden retirements in two years (The HBC was the other one).  It will be interesting to see how the Sooners players respond to this.