Deion Sanders did it this past weekend. So did Pat Narduzzi. And other coaches have done it in the past.
What am I talking about? I’m talking about calling our your players during a press conference and basically running them down in front of the entire college football world. I honestly don’t get the point of it.
Let me start by being VERY clear here: I am not saying players don’t need the proverbial boot up their ass every so often. It’s part of coaching. As long as it’s not abusive, it will probably help in a player’s overall development. Players need to hear what they are doing wrong or otherwise how can they not do that thing wrong again? It’s the same with management in the rest of the working world (I won’t get into the fact that I estimate a good 70% or so of managers don’t know how to manage and that management is a skill because this blog post would end up taking you three hours to read). You have to help your team get better. It makes everything a bit easier, a bit better, and reflects well on the manager.
Saying all that, telling a ton of people that a player or group of players suck(s) is not the way to go about it. I get that coaches can be frustrated but doing that just makes you a bad manager/coach/mentor/teacher/trainer, etc. You do that in private.
Worst part of all this, in Sanders’ case, is Deion’s son is the quarterback and he verbally lambasted the offensive line in that press conference. Look, I agree: their offensive line is not good at all and Shedeur is getting his ass handed to him back there. So will these players step up and do a whole lot better or will they get pissed off and maybe allow a defensive lineman or two by a little bit easier? It’s not Shedeur’s fault but he may end up taking the brunt of this. Is it right to do this? No, but you never know how people are going to act when the coach tells everyone you suck and he has no faith in you.
As for Narduzzi’s, this may be worse. Unlike Deion, Narduzzi recruited all these players. They’re essentially his choices to play at Pitt. So if they don’t do well or don’t develop, he has to take at least a part of the blame as head coach and recruiter. So to throw them under the bus (or at least appear to) looks very poorly on him. And the players are obviously upset. Again, this really isn’t the way to push a player to do better. It may work but it would almost be out of spite rather than from Narduzzi’s choice words.
OK we are still in the midst of football EVERY DAMN DAY! So we must rejoice, no matter the quality of the games. Hey, Conference USA had a few good ones in October and now MACtion and the Fun Belt take over in the final regular season month of the college football season. Let’s get to that schedule which includes more weekday fun!
Tuesday
| US | Canada | ||
| Northern Illinois at Central Michigan | 7:00 |  |   |
| Buffalo at Toledo | 7:30 |  | |
Ah, it’s that time of year. MACtion on a Halloween night. By the time the games start, most of the kids are finished trick-or-treating so we can sit down and watch all four of these teams play, probably in relatively frigid temperatures, all for our enjoyment. God bless college football.
Wednesday
| US | Canada | ||
| Ball State at Bowling Green | 7:00 | | |
| Kent State at Akron | 7:00 | | |
OK not nearly as good a MACtion night as the previous one but Bowling Green is way better than they probably had any right to be so far this season so there’s that.
Thursday
| US | Canada | ||
| Wake Forest at Duke | 7:30 |  | |
| South Alabama at Troy | 7:30 | | |
| Mississippi Valley State at Bethune-Cookman | 7:30 | | |
I figured the USA-Troy game would be for the Sun Belt West title but both teams have stumbled a bit. Now, the loser is pretty much out and has no shot at a conference championship game appearance.
Friday
| US | Canada | ||
| Princeton at Dartmouth | 7:00 | | |
| Boston College at Syracuse | 7:30 | |  |
| Colorado State at Wyoming | 8:00 |  | |
Have you noticed there are never ranked teams playing on weeknights? It’s like the schedule makers understood the assignment. “Give them football but not great football teams.” Anyway, the hilariously awful bottom half of the ACC continues their march to…can’t even say mediocrity for this one. Loser will have it rough to become bowl eligible the rest of the way.
Saturday Early
| US | Canada | ||
| #12 Notre Dame at Clemson | Noon |  | |
| Campbell at North Carolina | Noon |  | |
| Wisconsin at Indiana | Noon |  | |
| #3 Ohio State at Rutgers | Noon |  | |
| Texas A&M at #11 Ole Miss | Noon | | |
| Arkansas at Florida | Noon | | |
| Jacksonville State at South Carolina | Noon | | |
| #25 Kansas State at #7 Texas | Noon |  | |
| UConn at #19 Tennessee | Noon |  | |
Quite a few decent games here. I figured Notre Dame-Clemson was going to be a much bigger game but Dabo decided he’s allergic to NIL. KSU-UT could decide one of the teams going to the Big XII Championship. And…if you had said Jacksonville State would be the favoured Cocks in this matchup I would have thought you were on serious drugs. Not the unserious ones.
Saturday Afternoon
| US | Canada | ||
| Georgia Tech at Virginia | 2:00 |  | |
| Arizona State at #18 Utah | 2:00 |  | |
| Army vs. #17 Air Force (in Denver) | 2:30 | | |
| #10 Oklahoma at Oklahoma State | 3:30 | | |
| Virginia Tech at #15 Louisville | 3:30 | | |
| Illinois at Minnesota | 3:30 | | |
| #14 Missouri at #1 Georgia | 3:30 | | |
| #4 Florida State at Pittsburgh | 3:30 | | |
| #23 James Madison at Georgia State | 3:30 | | |
| #21 Tulane at East Carolina | 3:30 | | |
| #9 Penn State at Maryland | 3:30 | | |
| Auburn at Vanderbilt | 4:00 | | |
| California at #6 Oregon | 5:30 | | |
OK things start to pick up here. One big game against two ranked teams where Mizzou could shock the entire college football world. Plus another NINE games involving ranked teams. It’s rare to see that many ranked teams in one timeslot. Realistically, all the ranked teams should worry at least a bit as you never know when the underdog can rise up and bite you in the ass. Except for Tulane. I have a feeling they will do just fine with East Carolina.
Saturday Primetime
| US | Canada | ||
| Louisiana Tech at Liberty | 6:00 | | |
| Marshall at Appalachian State | 6:00 |  | |
| #22 Kansas at Iowa State | 7:00 | | |
| #5 Washington at #24 USC | 7:30 | | |
| SMU at Rice | 7:30 | | |
| Purdue at #2 Michigan | 7:30 |  | |
| Kentucky at Mississippi State | 7:30 | | |
| #13 LSU at #8 Alabama | 7:45 | | |
| Miami at NC State | 8:00 | | |
Ah, the annual SEC on CBS primetime matchup between LSU and Alabama. A tradition unlike any other. Well, that tradition comes to an end on this night. Other than possible Ole Miss shenanigans, this game should determine the SEC West champion. The Huskies’ game against the Trojans looked much bigger a few weeks ago but USC has struggled mightily on defense and really should move on from Alex Grinch if they are to have any chance at becoming a true contender. Finally, it will be interested to see what happens if Liberty ends up the only undefeated Group of Five team. At this point, their schedule is so weak that they wouldn’t be able to pass most of the one-loss teams if that was the case. But there is a month left so you never really know what could happen.
Saturday Late Night
| US | Canada | ||
| Stanford at Washington State | 9:00 | | |
| Boise State at Fresno State | 10:00 | | |
| #16 Oregon State at Colorado | 10:00 | |  |
Big Mountain West game. Even with Boise starting the season off pretty badly, they still have a very good shot at getting back to the Mountain West Championship game. The Broncos will need a win down in the valley in Fresno to keep their hopes alive. The Bulldogs held on for a big win last week over UNLV and are sitting second behind Air Force for that other conference championship spot. Stakes are high.
Hey, Watch This
LSU at Alabama (7:45, CBS) – Don’t mind the bizarre start time. It may be something they are trying out for the future since even the slightest edge can help in the ratings war. This is CBS’s only primetime pick of the season and yet again, it’s the Tigers and the Tide. Unless Ole Miss makes a run, this is for the SEC West crown. LSU is going to be trying their damndest to be the first ever two-loss College Football Playoff team but they need a lot of help. First off, they need to take care of business in one of the toughest stadiums to play in as a visitor against one of the toughest coaches to ever play against. Easy, right?
Missouri at Georgia (3:30, CBS) – Both ends of the SEC on CBS doubleheader are the top two games of the week. Just like they drew it up. Mizzou has played way above their heads all season. Not saying they have talent. They do but Eli Drinkwitz has, I don’t know, finally figured things out and is doing the best coaching of his career. And if the Tigers win here, boy oh boy, there is going to be a lot of talk about this in the college football media and you probably won’t hear of anything else.
Kansas State at Texas (Noon, FOX) – This and the next game could be swapped and no one would bat an eye. This feels like a Big XII semi-final as neither team probably has a shot at going to JerryWorld if they lose here. I am sure GUS JOHNSON and Joel Klatt are praying for a close game here. They switched to the 3:30 game last week and, lo and behold, the Big Noon Kickoff game ended up being a classic. Poor guys. There’s only so much excitement you can infuse into a blowout, you know? Unless you’re Joe Tessitore and everything is exciting.
Washington at USC (7:30, ABC/TSN+) – Washington is still undefeated. It feels like they are trying not to be but they have pulled out some close ones against *checks notes* Arizona State and Stanford. OK then. Look, if the Huskies don’t put at least 40 on the board here, they should consider it a loss. USC’s defense is atrocious. Their offense, on the other hand…they can put up points in bunches so U-Dub better watch out and not fall too far behind early in this one at the Coliseum.
Sickos Game of the Week
Iowa vs. Northwestern (at Wrigley Field) (3:30, Peacock) – Look, I know. I am breaking my own rules here. We can’t this game (legally) up here. But the over/under is 29.5. TWENTY-NINE-AND-A-HALF. That is so fucking absurd. And yes, I would still consider betting the under. This feels like a game straight out of 1912. Maybe it’s a good thing we can’t see it.
Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week
UConn at Tennessee (Noon, TSN+/specialty pack) – I think we have to consider that last season’s UConn Huskies football squad’s performance may have been a fluke. This team is not good again. Not as bad as the years before 2022. But still bad. Plus, the Vols need the warmup for when they head to CoMo the following Saturday.
Wanna Bet?
How about my two upset picks last week? Yeah, they were shit. As were my Oklahoma, Clemson and Oregon State picks. Yeesh. Let’s just get on to the new week and see if I can somehow do better.
Tennessee 56 UConn 6
South Carolina 31 Jacksonville State 17
Texas 34 Kansas State 28
Virginia 41 Georgia Tech 23
Utah 31 Arizona State 14
Florida State 43 Pittsburgh 20
Minnesota 23 Illinois 13
Georgia 30 Missouri 24
Auburn 26 Vanderbilt 19
Appalachian State 48 Marshall 21
USC 56 Washington 46 (small upset)
Alabama 42 LSU 37
Oregon State 34 Colorado 16
As is the usual, I will be on X/Twitter/Elon Musk’s money-losing venture this Saturday. I always hope to be able to interact with other college football fans because that is part of the fun of all this. It’s one thing to watch the games: bantering with others while doing it makes it more enjoyable. As long as no one acts like a complete asshat. Then it brings everyone down. That’s why I stick with college football Twitter (which is honestly OK to pretty good) compared to, say, NFL Twitter, which can be rough. Or political Twitter which is a fucking cesspool. Anyway, many hours of college football coming up for all of us. Enjoy the games everyone!
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