Le Super Mega Hyper Omni Post Version Sept!

This post is in honour of the new Grey Cup champions, les Montreal Alouettes. Les Montreal Carabins are favoured (heavily, I believe) to win the Vanier Cup this coming weekend. This is shaping up to be the biggest week in Montreal football history. If anyone talks about issues surrounding Canadian football, just tell them to take a look at the province of Quebec where football is thriving more than anywhere else in the country.

Now, to the American version of football. College football to be exact. And this post. I have done this now for the seventh time. It is a serious long post. Reader discretion is strongly advised. I wouldn’t read this in the bathroom unless you have a monster shit coming and are going to be spending a good amount of time in there. So get your favourite drink and let’s go. Who cares what time it is. Time is just a social construct so drink em if you got em!

We start with the conference championship scenarios. Some are stupidly easy to figure out. Some are…less so. Here we go.

It’s a rematch. Miami-Ohio gets their chance at revenge against Toledo at Ford Field.

Another one that is set. Two very different stories here. Undefeated Liberty has to win and get some help to get consideration for the New Year’s Six. New Mexico State, on the other hand, is looking at their best season ever and may be the fan favourite coming into this one.

The Troy Trojans are back in the Sun Belt Championship for the second straight season looking for a second straight conference title. As for the East, well…..

James Madison is not eligible. That much we know. It’s Coastal Carolina that controls its own destiny. If they win, they are in. That’s it. Their opponent? That’s right, James Madison. So it won’t be easy.

If the Chanticleers can’t get it done, it opens up a couple of possibilities:

• Appalachian State can now get in after beating James Madison this past Saturday. Win and hope for a Chants loss. That will punch their ticket to Troy.
• The other team that can get to the title game? Shockingly, it’s Old Dominion. The Monarchs need to take care of their own business first against Georgia State which also doubles as a bowl-eligibility game for them. Win that and they have to hope for CCU and App State to both lose and they get the spot.

If all three of those teams lose, it’s Coastal’s spot.

Georgia Southern would have been in Old Dominion’s spot if they had beat the Monarchs on Saturday. They are now just playing out the string and then finding out where they will be bowling.

If you had bet that UNLV would control their own destiny going into the final week of the regular season, you would have made a lot of money. No one thought they would be in this spot but here we are. Their path is easy. Beat San Jose State and they don’t just qualify for the Mountain West Championship, they will host it. I could see quite a big crowd at Allegiant Stadium for that one.

Their probable opponent? Well, it will be one of Air Force, Boise State or San Jose State. Fresno State was eliminated after last week’s upset loss to New Mexico. What are the scenarios? Buckle up because it involves composite computer rankings if there are no head-to-head results. Oh boy.

• San Jose State beats UNLV and Air Force beats Boise State. There would be a three-way tie between the Spartans, Rebels and Falcons. Chances are we are looking at a SJSU-UNLV rematch in the championship because all three teams are 1-1 against each other. The game would likely be in Las Vegas because the Rebels are way ahead of the other three teams in the rankings. Air Force is the lowest ranked of the four teams.
• San Jose State and Boise State win. In this case, it’s probably UNLV-Boise State in the title game. Those two teams did not play each other and Boise is slightly ahead of San Jose State in the rankings.
• UNLV and Boise State win. It will be Boise at UNLV. Done and done. The easiest scenario.
• If SJSU and the AFA win, chances are it will still be SJSU-UNLV but there’s no guarantee Vegas would host. Also, if the Falcons just absolutely obliterate the Broncos they could move up enough to surpass both the Spartans and Broncos. It is a long shot, though.

Ugh, that’s a lot with only two games in play next week but it makes for high drama for sure. We will know quite a bit by Friday evening as the Falcons and Broncos face off on Black Friday afternoon.

No team has clinched yet but all the teams left with a shot all control their destiny. Easiest to do this in chart form as UTSA faces Tulane in a loser-goes-home game and SMU plays Navy where the Middies have a chance to become bowl-eligible.

	UTSA/Tulane	SMU/Navy	Championship Game
Scenario 1	UTSA	Navy	Tulane at UTSA
Scenario 2	UTSA	SMU	UTSA at SMU
Scenario 3	Tulane	Navy	SMU at Tulane
Scenario 4	Tulane	SMU	SMU at Tulane

So really, the Roadrunners have to win to get in. The Green Wave doesn’t have to and neither do the Mustangs. So follow the chart and you can understand what’s going on!

This is pretty easy. For Washington, they are in. So one half of the championship is set. If Oregon wins, they will meet the Huskies in Las Vegas. If they lose the Civil War to Oregon State, then Arizona can get in. Beat rival Arizona State for the Territorial Cup and they would be in thanks to the tiebreaker that would kick in, winning percentage versus common opponents based on order of finish. That first team they would look at? Oregon State. The Wildcats beat OSU earlier this season.

Georgia. Bama. Atlanta.

Third straight easy scenario. Iowa is in. Somehow. And they will face the winner of The Game.

Louisville’s win this past weekend over Miami clinched their spot opposite Florida State in Charlotte. This game has got a lot more interesting now that Jordan Travis is out for the season.

I have saved the best for last (although the Mountain West scenarios are quite something). Four teams still have a shot to go to JerryWorld: Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas State and Oklahoma State. No real surprises there. Because all teams don’t play each other, confusion has set in. Get used to it going forward with even bigger conferences. I still prefer it over divisions where a 6-6 division champ could cause chaos by beating an undefeated division champ. Anyway I have said enough about that over the years so let’s continue.

This is much easier to do it by team since to do it otherwise might take like fourteen paragraphs and confuse everyone, including me, even more.

Clinching Scenarios

Texas is in with a win over Texas Tech OR (a loss AND an Oklahoma State loss) OR (a loss AND an Oklahoma win AND an Oklahoma State win AND a Kansas State win).

Oklahoma State is in with (a win over BYU and a Texas win) OR (a win AND a Texas loss AND a Kansas State loss) OR (a loss AND a Texas win AND an Oklahoma loss) OR (a loss AND an Oklahoma loss AND a Kansas State loss).

Oklahoma is in with a win over TCU AND (an Oklahoma State loss) OR (a Texas loss AND a Kansas State loss).

Kansas State is in with a win over Iowa State AND (an Oklahoma State loss AND an Oklahoma loss) OR (a Texas loss).

So no team is in yet. Texas is in the best spot. I know most fans of the Remaining Eight are praying for an Oklahoma State-Kansas State championship but looking at these scenarios I don’t think that’s possible. I’m just not going to take the time to figure it out.

Let’s continue with this long-ass post with the Bossman Top 26:

#1	Georgia (11-0)
#2	Washington (11-0)
#3	Michigan (11-0)
#4	Oregon (10-1)
#5	Ohio State (10-1)
#6	Florida State (11-0)
#7	Texas (10-1)
#8	Alabama (10-1)
#9	Louisville (10-1)
#10	Missouri (9-2)
#11	Penn State (9-2)
#12	Ole Miss (9-2)
#13	LSU (8-3)
#14	Arizona (8-3)
#15	Oklahoma (9-2)
#16	Oregon State (8-3)
#17	Notre Dame (8-3)
#18	Tulane (10-1)
#19	Oklahoma State (8-3)
#20	Iowa (9-2)
#21	Kansas State (8-3)
#22	Utah (7-4)
#23	Liberty (11-0)
#24	NC State (8-3)
#25	Toledo (10-1)
#26	Kansas (7-4)

My top three control their own destiny for the College Football Playoff. Win next week, then win your conference championship. Done. Florida State should be in the same boat but we know how The Committee feels about big time injuries. This injury to Jordan Travis could end up feeling like the Dennis Dixon injury for Oregon back in 2007 if the Noles falter to Florida. I still think we are in for a bit of chaos for the final four-team playoff. We’re due right? There’s been like no chaos all season. Sure there are some weird results like UMass beating New Mexico State or Louisville falling to Pitt but really it’s been smooth sailing for the top teams. We need this. Give us something. Please!

OK now we get to the good stuff. Not that the stuff before this hasn’t been good. So…the better stuff? Sure, why not. Bowl projections. Let’s go.

Sugar Bowl	CFP #1 vs. CFP #4	Georgia vs. Texas
Rose Bowl	CFP #2 vs. CFP #3	Washington vs. Michigan

I have done a few changes here. Sure, nothing really happened this past weekend but the Jordan Travis injury…it’s got me thinking for sure. I think the Big XII could end up being the beneficiary if things don’t go the Seminoles’ way their next two games. I have Texas winning the Big XII Championship so they would sneak into the final spot. That won’t cause too much controversy, right? So what does this mean for the New Year’s Six?

Fiesta Bowl	CFP at-large vs. CFP at-large/G-5 #1	Oregon vs. Penn State
Orange Bowl	ACC Champ vs. Big Ten/Notre Dame/SEC	Louisville vs. Ohio State
Peach Bowl	CFP at-large vs. CFP at-large/G-5 #1	Florida State vs. Alabama
Cotton Bowl	CFP at-large vs. CFP at-large/G-5 #1	Missouri vs. Tulane

Some changes. Nothing super crazy but let’s figure this out.

• The easiest one is seeing FSU here. This means that they must lose the ACC Championship to Louisville. That would also mean the Cardinals get the Orange Bowl spot. That doesn’t change from my last set of bowl projections but it means they truly earned it this time around. I have them being the first team out, so to speak, so I am sure many in that area of the country will be mighty pissed off.
• Obviously my Memphis selection, for one week, was dumb. So now I have Tulane back in a familiar spot. But now I have them facing off against Missouri in the Cotton Bowl. The Tigers have almost guaranteed themselves a spot in the NY6 as long as they can take care of business on Black Friday against a woeful Arkansas team.

The rest is pretty much the same. We will know a lot more even after this Friday’s games so expect some of these selections to almost be set in stone or be drastically changed.

Finally, let’s get to the gong show portion of our show with the rest of the bowl projections. You’d think with all these tie-ins it would be much easier to project but some of these bowls don’t even follow them. I’m always an advocate for more at-large spots so I say they should go that route starting next season, especially since there’s a chance some of these bowls won’t exist with the new 12-team playoff.

Citrus Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Ole Miss vs. Iowa
ReliaQuest Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	LSU vs. Wisconsin
Arizona Bowl	MWC vs. MAC	Boise State vs. Ohio
Music City Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Auburn vs. Northwestern
Liberty Bowl	SEC vs. Big XII	Tennessee vs. Kansas
Sun Bowl	ACC vs. Pac-12	Boston College vs. USC
Gator Bowl	SEC vs. ACC	Texas A&M vs. Notre Dame
Alamo Bowl	Big XII vs. Pac-12	Kansas State vs. Arizona
Pop Tarts Bowl	ACC vs. Big XII	North Carolina vs. Oklahoma State
Pinstripe Bowl	Big Ten vs. ACC	Illinois vs. NC State
Fenway Bowl	2 of ACC/AAC/C-USA	Georgia Tech vs. Memphis
Texas Bowl	SEC vs. Big XII	Kentucky vs. Oklahoma
Holiday Bowl	ACC vs. Pac-12	Clemson vs. Oregon State
Duke’s Mayo Bowl	SEC vs. ACC	UCF vs. Duke
Military Bowl	ACC vs. AAC	Syracuse vs. UTSA
Guaranteed Rate Bowl	2 of Big Ten/Big XII/MWC	Minnesota vs. Iowa State
First Responder Bowl	2 of ACC/Big XII/AAC/Sun Belt/C-USA	Texas Tech vs. Appalachian State
Quick Lane Bowl	Big Ten vs. MAC	Rutgers vs. Toledo
Hawaii Bowl	AAC vs. MWC	Rice vs. Fresno State
Las Vegas Bowl	Big Ten vs. Pac-12	Maryland vs. Utah
68 Ventures Bowl	2 of Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC	Troy vs. Liberty
Idaho Potato Bowl	2 of MWC/MAC/Sun Belt	Air Force vs. Texas State
Armed Forces Bowl	Big XII vs. C-USA	TCU vs. Jacksonville State
Birmingham Bowl	2 of SEC/ACC/AAC/C-USA	BYU vs. James Madison
Camellia Bowl	2 of Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC	Arkansas State vs. Northern Illinois
Gasparilla Bowl	2 of SEC/ACC/AAC/C-USA	Miami vs. Army
Boca Raton Bowl	2 of AAC/Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC	Coastal Carolina vs. Bowling Green
Frisco Bowl	2 of AAC/Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC	Marshall vs. San Jose State
Famous Toastery Bowl	MAC vs. C-USA	Miami-OH vs. WKU
Independence Bowl	Big XII vs. AAC	West Virginia vs. SMU
LA Bowl	Pac-12 vs. MWC	UCLA vs. UNLV
New Mexico Bowl	2 of Group of Five	Utah State vs. Louisiana
Cure Bowl	2 of AAC/Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC	Georgia State vs. Wyoming
New Orleans Bowl	Sun Belt vs. C-USA	South Alabama vs. New Mexico State
Myrtle Beach Bowl	2 of AAC/Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC	Georgia Southern vs. Mississippi State

A few notes for your perusal which you may or may not read after all you’ve had to read up to this point:

• James Madison and Jacksonville State are getting closer to being locks for bowl games. It would take the wildest of scenarios for there not to be bowl slots for both teams. Now watch it happen, which would suck for both teams.
• I decided to forget the asterisks. What’s the point. If they bowl committees won’t follow their tie-ins I will only follow them until I can’t. Which leads me to…
• I have a better idea about APR ratings now. That is why you will see a team like Mississippi State (who I don’t think will win the Egg Bowl) in a bowl slot in my bowl projections. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were multiple 5-7 teams in but for now, I have one. Army, at 6-6, will get in before Mississippi State even with their two FCS wins. They would be slotted after JMU and Jax State as far as I know.
• You will notice most of my projections have changed from the previous week. I saw a few rumours online that showed up with multiple Twitter/X accounts and figured there might be some realness to them. So I had to move a few teams around. And once you do that, you almost end up rewriting the whole damn thing. Oh well.
• Finally, you will notice something called the Famous Toastery Bowl has popped up. It is replacing the Bahamas Bowl and will be played in Charlotte. Supposedly it’s a good breakfast spot. Whatever.

I can’t add anything more to the bowl projections at this point. Eastern Michigan will have their chance to clinch bowl eligibility tomorrow night against Buffalo in the final night of MACtion this season and the final night of almost two months of football every day. What a ride it’s been. I hope you cherished it. I know I did. Not saying I saw every game but I tried my best to watch most weeknights and would keep watching until it felt like the games were well in hand (which almost bit me in the ass a couple of times and did finally bite me in the ass with Colorado allowing Stanford to come back in that wild one last month). Every Saturday night I was in for the long haul so no worries there. It’s the final regular season week of the season. Get in as much viewing as you can. I don’t try to push people to cancel other plans on other Saturdays. You can always catch highlights and sometimes these other plans are quite important. Like the tongue-in-cheek ban on Fall weddings is a little over the top. I wouldn’t even abide by that. But this is the final week of the regular season so I would try my best to keep the Saturday (and even the Black Friday) clear so I can soak in the college football goodness. Enjoy the rest of your week, everyone!

Let’s bid farewell to a couple of legends – Week 11 College Football TV Schedule

I don’t think we have ever seen two football minds like this get let go within a week of each other. It is crazy to think this could happen, but it did. Two legends who didn’t get their proper sendoff on here. So here we go.

*deep breath*

Ladies and gentlemen, it is time to say farewell to two of, arguably……….the worst coordinators in recent Power Five football history. Brian Ferentz, son of Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz, had to be put on a points minimum to be able to keep his contract after this season was over. And Alex Grinch, one of Lincoln Riley’s loyal soldiers. Two men who undoubtdedly pushed football back 50 years with their horrendous playcalling and obvious lack of attention to detail.

Ferentz wasn’t even allowed to take a shot at the points amount (it had to be at least an average of 25 a game). He was told by interim Iowa athletic director Beth Goetz, who obviously knew his chances of hitting that mark were slim, that he would not be retained for the 2024 season. So technically he is still around although he’s in a lame duck position. Not so for Grinch who wasn’t allowed to continue putting out awful defense after awful defense, something that has almost killed USC’s chances of anything but going to a bowl game. Riley had no choice in the end but to axe him.

Realistically, these two guys should have been let go weeks ago. It was apparent to anyone with some knowledge of college football that these two weren’t cutting it. But nepotism and loyalty can go a long way in this sport and we have seen it time and again in the past. And it will continue to do so. Hopefully head coaches learn to take a step back and look at a situation from a bird’s-eye view so that they can honestly assess it. Otherwise you hurt the team and, potentially, yourself.

Alright, enough of fired coaches. Let’s get to the damn schedule!

Tuesday

		US	Canada
Ball State at Northern Illinois	7:00
Central Michigan at Western Michigan	7:00
Ohio at Buffalo	7:30

Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit’s MACTION!!!!!!! Second week of MACtion and boy do I love it. Also, the College Football Playoff rankings come out a few minutes into the early games so I am sure the announcers will stick to calling the games and not mention anything about the rankings. I’m sure of it.

Wednesday

		US	Canada
Bowling Green at Kent State	7:00
Eastern Michigan at Toledo	7:00
Akron at Miami-OH	7:00

EMU-Toledo is easily the biggest game here. Depending on a few other results, the Rockets could clinch the MAC West with a win.

Thursday

		US	Canada
Virginia at #11 Louisville	7:30
Southern Miss at Louisiana	7:30

Louisville’s potential run to the New Year’s Six might have some potholes. This shouldn’t be one of them. Thing is, it’s either that, the Fun Belt game or one of the worst Thursday Night Football games ever. I’ll stick with the ACC matchup as long as I can (with some check-ins on the Southern Miss-Louisiana game of course).

Friday

		US	Canada
North Texas at SMU	9:00
Grambling at Arkansas-Pine Bluff	9:00

The Mustangs feel like a bit of a surprise team at the top of the American Conference and they shouldn’t be. Some had them at least getting to the conference championship. Take the over with this one.

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
Georgia Tech at Clemson	Noon
Virginia Tech at Boston College	Noon
Indiana at Illinois	Noon
Holy Cross at Army	Noon
#8 Alabama at Kentucky	Noon
Tulsa at #23 Tulane	Noon
Yale at Princeton	Noon
#3 Michigan at #10 Penn State	Noon
Vanderbilt at South Carolina	Noon

Absolutely colossal matchup in the early window. Yes, I am talking about Indiana-Illinois Michigan-Penn State. The second of the three-game Big Ten East round robin of Fun and Frolic lands in State College. Should this be under the lights with a Penn State Whiteout? Yeah, probably. But FOX is adamant that Noon is their big game. Big Noon Saturday. It’s not called Big Evening Saturday for a reason.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
NC State at Wake Forest	2:00
#21 Arizona at Colorado	2:00
Miami at #4 Florida State	3:30
Pittsburgh vs. Syracuse (in the Bronx)	3:30
Rutgers at #22 Iowa	3:30
#13 Tennessee at #14 Missouri	3:30
UAB at Navy	3:30
#15 Oklahoma State at UCF	3:30
NC Central at Howard	3:30
#18 Utah at #5 Washington	3:30
Minnesota at Purdue	3:30
Washington State at California	4:00
Auburn at Arkansas	4:00
Stanford at #12 Oregon State	5:30

Utah-Washington. Big game. Tennessee-Missouri. Big game (but not as big as the first one). Miami-FSU. Big game, mostly for one team. So there are some important games in this timeslot. It’s rare to see a November Saturday timeslot not to have an important game at all. Now, all games are not equal. Let’s be honest: very few will give a shit about Pitt-Cuse even if it is at Yankee Stadium.

And on that note, can we quit with putting football games on in baseball stadiums? Look at last week’s shitshow at Wrigley. I mean the game was hilariously bad as is considering the two teams playing. But the turf was in shambles. At one point they were trying to fix a patch that looked to be about two feet long and one foot wide. Like, seriously? Want to go to new places? Play in more NFL stadiums. Play in big high school stadiums. Hell, go to Barrow, Alaska and play on their field that borders the Arctic Ocean. Just stay away from the baseball stadiums or otherwise one day some guy is going to get seriously hurt.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
San Diego State at Colorado State	7:00
#9 OIe Miss at #2 Georgia	7:00
West Virginia at #17 Oklahoma	7:00
Georgia Southern at Marshall	7:00
#7 Texas at TCU	7:30
Mississippi State at Texas A&M	7:30
Rice at UTSA	7:30
Michigan State at #1 Ohio State	7:30
Florida at #19 LSU	7:30
Duke at #25 North Carolina	8:00

You are going to notice that TSN (other than TSN+) is barely appearing this Saturday. Well, just like last week, the CFL has their playoff games on a Saturday. I guess it makes sense from a viewer perspective since I am sure they lose viewers to the NFL on Sunday and would lose less viewers going up against college football. I think it has become apparent that TSN is pushing college football (among a few other live sports properties) to TSN+ and putting much less on their actual television networks. Sad for fans who either don’t want to spend more money on an online platform or just would struggle figuring out the online platform to begin with. Sure, live sports on TV is still a huge thing and will be for a long time but slowly…SLOWLY…more and more things are moving online. Give it, let’s say, 20 years and I could see a big difference in what you see now.

Anyway, the actual schedule has Ole Miss-Georgia as the main game and a few other games that could have been huge if certain teams hadn’t shit the bed. Take Duke-UNC. UNC losing on the CW to Virginia and then to Georgia Tech made this game an afterthought. Same with WVU-Oklahoma. The Sooners’ upset losses to Kansas and then Oklahoma State in the final Bedlam have killed the hype for this matchup. It happens every season.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
Arizona State at UCLA	9:00
Iowa State at BYU	10:15
Fresno State at San Jose State	10:30
USC at #6 Oregon	10:30

FOX quadrupleheader! Gotta love when they do this. I wish ABC would just do it once. I think they’d be surprised how many people would tune in to a late night game on ABC. USC could put a massive wrench in Oregon’s plans of at least getting to the New Year’s Six with a win here and Fresno State needs to keep winning to have any hope of having the same kind of plans.

Hey, Watch This

Michigan at Penn State (Noon, FOX) – This is easily the most hyped game of the weekend and rightly so. Penn State (and James Franklin) has a chance to do what many have been waiting for them to do: take that final step towards the CFP. This is their final chance this season. Lose this and perhaps even an NY6 spot is gone. Lose and The Game becomes so massive it may overshadow last year’s affair and maybe even 2006’s Game of the Century. Win and they move up the rankings and then pray for a Michigan victory over Ohio State. Then they would head way down the tiebreaker list to see who wins the division. Oh, and the last tiebreaker? A random draw. I am not joking. Wouldn’t that be insane television? ESPN and FOX would go nuts.

Ole Miss at Georgia (7:00, TSN+/specialty pack) – This should be almost as hyped as the UM-PSU game but for one thing: the Rebels need Bama to lose two conference games for them to win the division. So the Fighting Kiffins’ best shot is to win out, go 11-1, and hope for some chaos around them. Then they might sneak into the playoff. As for Georgia, this is yet another prove-it game. Last week was Missouri, this week Ole Miss, next week Tennessee. Survive those then they may not even have to win the conference championship to go to the playoff.

Utah at Washington (3:30, FOX) – Man, FOX has a crazy-good set of games for their quadrupleheader this Saturday. The Huskies have been sort of hanging on lately. Almost like TCU did last year winning games late and winning games that are close. That has to be their mantra right now though: Al Davis’s popular “Just Win Baby.” As for the Utes, could they almost kill the Pac-12’s playoff hopes with a win here? Not totally but they would do a lot of damage and something tells me they would be happy doing that.

USC at Oregon (10:30, FOX) – Two ranked teams facing each other warrants a spot (most of the time) on this list. Well, ranked in the AP Poll at least (sorry, USC). USC could be just like Utah in the previous game: be the spoiler. Oregon has recovered very nicely from their close loss to Washington. Win here, don’t stumble against Arizona State and then win the Civil War over the Beavers and they get their chance at revenge (probably) on Washington.

Tennessee at Missouri (3:30, CBS) – This is an interesting one. The Vols were expected to at least be in the New Year’s Six conversation. Mizzou? Not at all. They have played out of their minds most of the season and put a scare into UGA last week. They can’t win the SEC East so they have to push to win out and give The Committee something to think about. The Vols actually can win the East but it would take the craziest of scenarios to have that happen.

Sickos Game of the Week

Vanderbilt at South Carolina (Noon, TSN+/specialty pack) – The SEC never ends up here. Nor should they. But this game has awful written all over it. It was down to this one and Pitt-Cuse but I will give this game the nod. The Pitt-Cuse game is at Yankee Stadium which is kind of cool but I am sure the field conditions will not be. But the aura of it being in a baseball stadium is what I will use to grudgingly tip the scales towards Vandy and the Cocks getting this spot. Now, if this game had been played at Vandy’s Bob the Builder Stadium then it would have been a no doubter.

Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week

Michigan State at Ohio State (7:30, NBC) – OK hear me out. At some point, the Buckeyes have to stop with their extremely slow starts. Enough of them being in a dogfight with Rutgers or Maryland. One game it will catch up to them. I think that Ryan Day might finally push them hard to come out of the gate strong. If they do, this game will essentially be over at the half and NBC will be less than pleased with the viewers flocking elsewhere (but, that’s what they signed up for).

Wanna Bet?

I was SO close on the score of my Tennessee-UConn bet. And honestly, I wasn’t too far off with USC-Washington even if I did have the Trojans winning in an upset. And I got Bama’s points dead on. Don’t look at my Virginia pick. Let’s get to this week’s picks, shall we?

Southern Miss 29 Louisiana 28 (upset!)

North Texas 31 SMU 27 (another upset!)

Alabama 34 Kentucky 21 (no upset)

Penn State 30 Michigan 23 (yet another upset!)

Tulane 41 Tulsa 10

Wake Forest 31 NC State 27 (minor upset)

Florida State 42 Miami 32

Washington 34 Utah 14

Tennessee 45 Missouri 35

Washington State 31 California 24 (very slight upset)

Georgia 38 Ole Miss 27

UTSA 37 Rice 21

Oregon 63 USC 33

OK I picked a ton of upsets here and look at Oregon. Yeah I think they are going to have a field day with the USC defense even with Alex Grinch not there to fuck things up.

I am preparing for another day of college football, starting Saturday at Noon and going into Sunday morning. Remember, we are in November, people. We don’t have much longer to go. Soon enough it will be conference championship weekend and the schedules like these go away. So savour it. Take your time to watch a lot of football before it’s gone and the only thing to watch (after the Super Bowl is over at least) is the Xtreme United States Football Association and/or League, also known as the XUSFAL. That acronym will probably end up being better than what they come up with. I’d put money on it. Like ten bucks. Enjoy the games everyone!

Hey, Hey, It’s the All-New Bossman Top 26 with a Special Bonus!

What’s the special bonus? It’s bowl projections! And not just any bowl projections. My annual Chaos Bowl Projections. This should be good. Or really stupid. Either way, let’s get going with the Bossman Top 26 after this past week’s games:

#1	Georgia (9-0)
#2	Washington (9-0)
#3	Michigan (9-0)
#4	Alabama (8-1)
#5	Ohio State (9-0)
#6	Florida State (9-0)
#7	Oregon (8-1)
#8	Texas (8-1)
#9	Ole Miss (8-1)
#10	Penn State (8-1)
#11	Louisville (8-1)
#12	Utah (7-2)
#13	Oklahoma State (7-2)
#14	Oregon State (7-2)
#15	Tennessee (7-2)
#16	Tulane (8-1)
#17	LSU (6-3)
#18	Missouri (7-2)
#19	James Madison (9-0)
#20	Oklahoma (7-2)
#21	Liberty (9-0)
#22	Notre Dame (7-3)
#23	Kansas (7-2)
#24	Arizona (6-3)
#25	USC (7-3)
#26	North Carolina (7-2)

Yes, I have Washington at #2. At this point, they may be the most complete team in college football but I do wonder if they could beat UGA on a neutral field. Those two teams are two of the five who, if they win out, are locks to be in the College Football Playoff. The other three are Florida State, Ohio State and Michigan. tOSU and Big Blue play each other so no way that those two could both be 12-0 at the end of the season. Can you imagine if they still had ties in college football? You think the debates are horrible at this point? They’d be a million times worse. At the Group of Five level, I already mentioned it but I will say it again: Tulane runs the table, they are in for the New Year’s Six spot. No questions asked they go to either the Peach or Cotton Bowl. If they lose, even in the conference championship, it brings a bunch of teams back in to the fray, including Air Force, Fresno State, Liberty, Troy, SMU, Memphis, Toledo and, yes, even UNLV. Remember, the Green Wave faces UTSA to finish off their regular season. The Roadrunners could do a bunch of teams a favour with a win. Finally, back to the CFP for a minute. If we don’t see four unbeatens at the end, then the arguments will pile up as to who gets the final spot. If Michigan or Ohio State are the only one of those five not to be undefeated, then the argument may be mostly clear to put the loser of The Game in the #4 spot. You would get a lot of pissed off Alabama and Texas fans but the argument would probably be sound. Besides, The Committee will almost always take a Big Ten or SEC team over any other conference. Just the way it is (and probably always will be).

Now we get to the fun part…kind of. OK not fun for some fans and very frustrating for some others because this is complete chaos. Like over the top insanity. Off the rails ridiculousness. This won’t happen, I can assure you. Now, some of it may happen though so it’s not like this is completely crazy (but it mostly is cocaine crazy). Alright let’s get going with this bonkers exercise.

Sugar Bowl	CFP #1 vs. CFP #4	Louisville vs. Kansas
Rose Bowl	CFP #2 vs. CFP #3	Oregon State vs. Tennessee

I’m sure that’s the look you are giving your screen right now. You’re thinking I have lost my fucking mind. I assure you I have not gone insane. Let me just give you an explanation as to how we have found ourselves at this point:

• Florida State loses to both Miami and Florida. Only one of those games counts as a conference loss, obviously, so FSU is still in the ACC Championship game. Louisville ends up running the table in convincing fashion to become one of only two Power Five teams with only one loss (we will get to that later on in this post). The Cardinals somehow go into the title game as slight favourites and beat the Noles in a close one to capture the ACC title and the #1 ranking, putting them in the Sugar Bowl.
• Oregon and Washington both end up losing to a resurgent Oregon State team as the Beavs (and Jonathan Smith especially) rebound from that absolutely awful playcall against Arizona which at the time looked like it cost them a lot. The Beavs also beat Stanford by about 50 and qualify for the Pac-12 Championship. The Huskies lose to Utah but the Ducks lose to USC and then USC loses to UCLA! The insanity means U-Dub still gets to the Pac-12 Championship but now it’s almost a pickem with the Beavers. Oregon State blows Washington out to get the #2 seed.
• Alright now, the Big Ten. This is where it gets a bit iffy. Iowa runs the table, scoring approximately 12 points a game to easily win the Big Ten West. The East becomes a shitshow. Michigan loses to both Penn State and Ohio State. Good news for the Buckeyes, right? Wrong because they lose to both (get this) Michigan State and Maryland. Maybe Maserati Marv was injured. No problem. Penn State’s got this. Wrong again! They fall to mighty Rutgers! Ho boy. In the end, Ohio State is the highest ranked of all the (now) 2-loss East Division teams. Then they get beat in a defensive struggle by the Hawkeyes, 12-10.
• But we still have the SEC. Yeah, let’s discuss that. Georgia loses to Ole Miss this coming weekend, then Tennessee the following weekend. They blast Georgia Tech out of the water but it doesn’t matter because Tennessee runs the table, including that win over the Dawgs. They demolish Vandy to win the East in ridiculous fashion. They face Alabama who loses the Iron Bowl, meaning their path to the CFP is now very rocky. The Vols beat Bama convincingly and move into the #3 spot. This might piss off Ole Miss. They also run the table and are the only other one-loss Power Five school. Problem is they lost to Alabama meaning they couldn’t play in the conference championship which would allow the winner of that game to leapfrog them, which they will. Question now is will Ole Miss get in at #4?
• That brings us to the final Power Five conference, the Big XII. Texas shits the bed the rest of the way. Quinn Ewers’ absence catches up with them and they lose winnable games to TCU and Iowa State. This should allow Oklahoma or Oklahoma State to sneak into the top spot. Instead, it’s Kansas who wins out and gets in. They will face Oklahoma State who, despite a loss to BYU, gets in just ahead of West Virginia thanks to their victory over the Mountaineers earlier in the season. Kansas mops the floor with the Cowboys and The Committee rewards them with the #4 spot, ahead of the Ole Miss Rebels and a pissed off Lane Kiffin.

Of course the final year before the 12-team playoff has to have some controversy, no? I mean this is insane but wouldn’t it be fucking awesome if even half these results happened? We’d be talking about this season in the same vain as 2007. ESPN and FOX would have field days with this stuff.

So now that we have the CFP done and dusted, let’s see what the New Year’s Six now looks like.

Fiesta Bowl	CFP at-large vs. CFP at-large/G-5 #1	Utah vs. Iowa
Orange Bowl	ACC Champ vs Big Ten/Notre Dame/SEC	Florida State vs. Ole Miss
Peach Bowl	CFP at-large vs. CFP at-large/G-5 #1	Penn State vs. Alabama
Cotton Bowl	CFP at-large vs. CFP at-large/G-5 #1	Michigan vs. UTSA

Well this is some kind of messed up but almost feels way less messed up than the CFP. Here we go:

• Already explained Ole Miss and their #5 spot. I could see a ton of debate and SECtards would definitely want two teams in the big dance no matter what (or more like think that the conference always deserves two teams in the top four) but I am sticking with this. The Rebels being dropped to #5 puts them in the Orange Bowl.
• Utah is #6. They are the second best team to not go to a conference championship behind Ole Miss and their two losses will to the two Oregon teams so that will look pretty good. They slot into the Fiesta Bowl.
• Penn State will be #7 after their shocking loss to Rutgers kills their Big Ten Championship hopes. They head to the Peach Bowl.
• A bit more controversy would be Michigan being at #8. Sure their two losses will be to Penn State and Ohio State but I see them both being big losses, unlike Penn State losing a close one to Rutgers. Either way, the two losses would take them out of the Big Ten East title race and have them going to the Cotton Bowl.
• Remember I told you Iowa won the Big Ten Championship? I could see many of you wanting to forget that. So yeah, they will now head to the Fiesta Bowl to face Utah. Interesting matchup.
• The ACC has to send their next best team after Louisville ended up number one. In the end, Florida State is probably the only option and they should be high enough in the rankings to warrant the Orange Bowl spot opposite Ole Miss.
• So who is the best Power Five team left? It’s down to, get this, Alabama and Ohio State. The Committee will be damned if they do, damned if they don’t. I think they go with the Tide in the end but the debates, oh the debates.
• Finally, the Group of Five spot. Liberty fans will scream about being the only undefeated team in FBS and I can understand that. Their schedule, however, was so ridiculously easy compared to pretty much every other team in FBS. I think they do end up in the Top 25 but so does UNLV and UTSA who both win their respective conference championships. I give the nod to the Roadrunners to head to the Cotton Bowl to face Michigan.

Good God that was ridiculous. Why do I do it each year? To see how far I can push the system. And I have determined it can only be pushed so far. Next year, if I do this, I will have to adjust how it’s done for the new playoff. The times they are a-changin’. Enjoy the rest of your week everyone!

The G-5. It’s like that big vat of McDonald’s orange drink…

Many of the better teams have gone on to greener pastures. They have been replaced (kind of) by weaker teams from FCS. So yeah, they keep watering down the Group of Five. How far can they water it down? Groundskeeper Willie thinks we need to stop. I sort of agree with the angry Scot.

As you already know, Houston, UCF and Cincinnati left the American Conference for the Big(ger) XII. BYU joined them from the Independent ranks but the Cougs were always a weird hybrid since leaving the Mountain West. Not quite Power Five but better than Group of Five. Either way, they moved up as well.

Coming up from FCS is Sam Houston (not the wrestler) and Jacksonville State (two Gamecocks? What is this, the CFL?). Kennesaw State joins next season. All three teams will be in Conference USA. Yeah, the teams coming in don’t exactly measure up to the teams leaving.

What this does, though, is open the door for other teams to ascend to a level where they are almost always competing for the Group of Five crown. Boise State is the only program left who constantly contends for the one G-5 spot in the New Year’s Six. Tulane went last season and looks like a team that should continue that kind of success this season. UTSA, SMU, San Diego State and a few Sun Belt squads also have their eye on that singular prize. Let’s get to the conference standings and see where I believe thing will head this season.

Man, imagine the Big East was back? That conference would be…well, it would be pretty good. Not amazing. But a step above the Group of Five. Anyway…

The cream of the crop among Group of Five conferences is the AAC until further notice. The Mountain West has tried their best but it feels like that competition is over, even if Boise State does win the G-5 title. The Sun Belt is gaining but I can never see them catching the American under the current format. So let’s look at the predictions for the Kings of the G-5 followed by some marinations:

		Conference		Overall
		W	L	W	L
	Tulane	8	0	11	1
	UTSA	7	1	10	2
	Memphis	6	2	8	4
	SMU	6	2	8	4
	FAU	4	4	6	6
	East Carolina	4	4	7	5
	Navy	4	4	5	7
	North Texas	4	4	7	5
	UAB	3	5	4	8
	Tulsa	3	5	4	8
	USF	3	5	3	9
	Rice	2	6	4	8
	Temple	2	6	4	8
	Charlotte	0	8	1	11

Marinating in American Sauce

• Honestly, that sounds disgusting. I am surprised no one has created it…whatever it might end up being.
• Look, Tulane is not coming down from their perch. The schedule is, once again, in their favour and other than a huge matchup against South Alabama to start their season and their season-ending matchup with UTSA, the rest of the schedule is more than manageable. Expect the American Championship to go through New Orleans for the second straight year.
• No surprise with the Roadrunners of UTSA (I just said that in Greg Gumbel voice) being the team that will end up facing the Green Wave for the conference title. This program is seriously on the rise and could soon enough be called the premiere Group of Five team (until they are poached by the Big XII).
• Memphis and SMU will be good once again. But as has been the case, both teams will probably drop at least one game they should win and that is what will ultimately cost them the chance to upset Tulane for the league title.
• Some people are very high on Florida Atlantic with their new head coach Tom Herman. I am taking more of a wait and see approach. The same goes for North Texas as they break in a new head coach as well.
• I believe Navy will go into the Army-Navy Game needing a win for bowl eligibility. Well, you can tell by their record what I think will happen. I wonder how bowl committees will deal with this. Maybe some bowl gives them the first ever conditional bowl bid? That would actually be kind of exciting. Win and you’re in. Lose and your bid goes to James Madison.
• As for the AAC Championship, I see Tulane winning their second game against UTSA in as many weeks to be crowned the AAC champion. I don’t see the Green Wave having an easy time in either game though but they will feel lucky not to be in the Alamodome for either of these games.
• Seven projected bowl bids for a conference with fourteen teams. Not exactly great but I think it will take some time for teams like Charlotte and Rice to get acclimated to their new surroundings. Especially since they weren’t that great in the conference they came from.

I am a bit worried that I won’t be ready to do the long Saturday nights that the Mountain West (and Pac-12) give us. Don’t even mention the Hawaii Tests. And this is at a time when I am desperately trying to restrict my caffeine intake. Ugh, this could be very interesting. Maybe I’ll just drink the entire time.

This is the second year of the Mountain West deal with FOX so we won’t see nearly as many MWC games. Yes there will be at least one every week on CBS Sports Network and we get some early-season CBS affairs but with no conference games on any of the ESPN networks, it really hinders our ability as Canadians to watch this conference. Hell, we can probably watch more Conference USA this season.

OK let’s get to this season’s predictions followed by sleep deprived lunacy:

		Conference		Overall
		W	L	W	L
	Boise State	8	0	10	2
	San Diego State	6	2	8	4
	Fresno State	6	2	8	4
	Air Force	5	3	9	3
	Wyoming	5	3	7	5
	San Jose State	4	4	6	6
	UNLV	4	4	5	7
	Utah State	3	5	4	8
	Nevada	3	5	3	9
	Colorado State	2	6	3	9
	New Mexico	1	7	2	10
	Hawaii	1	7	3	10

Juuuuust a tiny bit of Sleep-Deprived Lunacy

• You will notice something different with these standings compared to all the others I have predicted in the past. No divisions! About damn time. Divisions are just useless in this day and age. And soon enough, no FBS conference will have divisions. I am certain of that.
• Reader John might not be too pleased with this but I think Boise State runs through the conference schedule with relative ease. Not saying teams like SDSU, FSU or Air Force aren’t good. It’s just that the Broncos’ schedule is so favourable you’d have to be crazy to think they don’t have a great shot not just to win the conference, but that one New Year’s Six spot. Really, their September will shape their season. Be at least 3-2 at the end of the month and they will be on their way. Less than that and the conference might just be up for grabs.
• In terms of teams just below that top tier, Wyoming should ho-hum their way into another bowl game. I can’t believe Craig Bohl has been in Laramie for almost half of the life of the Mountain West conference it self. SJSU and UNLV will be in a dogfight for a bowl spot and I could honestly see it going either way. But no, I don’t agree with that one voter who thinks the Rebels will win the conference crown. I think that person was obviously coming off a gambling-coke-and-booze fueled bender when they made that choice.
• I’ve got the Aztecs winning the tiebreaker with Fresno to get the other MWC Championship spot opposite Boise on the frigid smurf turf. I think the weather is what gives the Broncos the edge in this one as I have them winning the conference championship and then awaiting to see what happens in the rest of the Group of Five.

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd we’re back down to four teams. Liberty and New Mexico State fucked off to Conference USA and BYU headed to the Big XII, leaving Notre Dame less little brothers to have to hang around with. The thing is, if you took UMass out of the equation…well, you’ll see. Let’s get right to the short set of predictions followed by some actual team-by-team analysis (which is much easier with just four teams):

		Overall
		W	L
	Notre Dame	10	2
	Army	6	6
	UConn	6	6
	UMass	1	11

Actual Team-by-Team Analysis (I wasn’t lying!)

• Of course we have to start with the team that doesn’t belong in this entire post, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. It was tough going through their schedule because I don’t know how much they will improve from last year. But they have Sam Hartman. A bonafide Heisman contender at quarterback for the first time in I don’t know how many years. So my ten win prediction for them doesn’t seem too far off the mark and it wouldn’t surprise me if they were able to get to eleven either and get in the College Football Playoff converstaion.
• Hey, remember what I said about Navy earlier? That they would be playing for their bowl-eligibility lives in the Army-Navy game? Well, guess who else I think will be in the same boat. Oh yes. I think this will be, easily, the most important Army-Navy Game in a long time. I now wonder if the provisional bowl selection will be a winner-take-all type of deal. Which would be so damn awesome to see.
• Will UConn get back to a bowl game? That seems to be a huge question. And to be honest, I think bowl eligibility is almost the floor for this program. Amazing what can happen when you get the right coach in the right spot. Is Jim Mora Jr. an amazing coach? Not really. But he’s good and he landed in the perfect spot for him and the Huskies. Now they have to avoid what happened in the past even when they were somewhat decent: lose games to teams they should beat. Do that and they should be in the postseason once again.
• And finally we get to the Minutemen and yes, they will be awful. Quite possibly the worst FBS team once again. I predict them to win one game. That’s it. And it won’t be against Merrimack. I think they squeak by New Mexico and that’s all. And even then, I could see this team go winless. I’m not as huge an advocate of moving teams back down to FCS as I used to be but I do wonder if UMass just needs to drop down. There’s nothing keeping them up in FBS. No conference affiliation and no possibilities in the near future. It might be time to pull the trigger on this program’s demotion.

The Sun Belt (and MAC) are being joined by Conference USA when it comes to mid-week action this season. I will have to check but we may have football every day for over a month.

Other than that, there are less similarties than ever between the Sun Belt and the MAC or Conference USA. The Fun Belt has set themselves up pretty well as the third best Group of Five conference. They are actually closer in quality to the Mountain West than the MAC which is something that never would have been said even five years ago. Also, they seem to be pretty safe from any realignment unless some doomsday scenario comes about and college football conferences as we know it change forever. And I’m not going to say that won’t happen.

Anyway, for now, let’s get to my predictions for the eighth-best FBS conference followed by some upbeat comments:

		Conference		Overall
	East	W	L	W	L
	Appalachian State	7	1	8	4
	James Madison	6	2	8	4
	Coastal Carolina	6	2	9	3
	Marshall	5	3	7	5
	Georgia State	2	6	4	8
	Georgia Southern	2	6	5	7
	Old Dominion	0	8	1	11
	West
	South Alabama	7	1	9	3
	Troy	7	1	10	2
	Southern Miss	5	3	6	6
	Louisiana	4	4	7	5
	Arkansas State	2	6	4	8
	Texas State	2	6	3	9
	ULM	1	7	2	10

Upbeat Comments

• Well…upbeat for some teams.
• The top of each of the divisions continue to be exciting. It’s the one conference that defies my No Divisions preference. In the East, you have four legitimate contenders and you can possibly say the same for the West. Parity rules the day in the Sun Belt once again.
• App State, after an odd year that saw some pretty extreme highs and lows, should be back on top of the mountion in the East, barely beating out JMU and Coastal.
• South Alabama will finally get their shot at the Sun Belt Championship with what I believe will be a late-season win over Troy.
• As for bowl games, officially only seven of the contenders I’ve mentioned would be able to go to a bowl. But, I have a bit of a surprise for Dukes fans once I put out my bowl predictions post.
• I still say the Sun Belt champ should get a shot at an SEC team in New Orleans. Imagine how many fans they would get for that?

As I said above, the Sun Belt and Conference USA have a lot of weekday night games now. But it still isn’t MACtion. The originators to us sickos that love more and more and more football. I don’t even care about the attendance issues that these games cause. The MAC is getting their ESPN money and I am getting my football fix. Everyone wins!

Alright, predictions time followed by some points in a Midwestern accent:

		Conference		Overall
	East	W	L	W	L
	Ohio	7	1	8	4
	Miami-OH	5	3	7	5
	Buffalo	4	4	5	7
	Bowling Green	3	5	4	8
	Akron	3	5	4	8
	Kent State	0	8	1	11
	West
	Toledo	7	1	9	3
	Eastern Michigan	6	2	9	3
	Central Michigan	4	4	4	8
	Northern Illinois	3	5	5	7
	Western Michigan	3	5	3	9
	Ball State	3	5	4	8

Points with Pork Chops and Aeeeplesauce

• I mean I’m not gonna lie: I like pork chops and applesauce. I just think it’s way more of a staple in a place like Minnesota than here.
• Looks like two teams who are used to being near the top should head back to the MAC title game. Not that Toledo and Ohio won’t have their speed bump games in the MAC but I feel they have the best talent to win their respective divisions.
• Only two teams that will be with new head coaches this season and both of them are going to struggle. Lance Taylor takes over for Tim Lester at Western Michigan where Lester just couldn’t do what P.J. Fleck did there. Tall order but most were hoping he would be close and he wasn’t. As for Kent State, they lose Sean Lewis to Coach Prime and Colorado. Bring in Kenni Burns. Yes Kenni with an i. And ho boy is it going to be a long season in Kent for Mr. Burns.
• I only see four bowl-eligible teams from the MAC. I have done this before and I was wrong. I just can’t see most of these teams doing enough in their non-conference schedule to get them to a bowl game in December.
• Ford Field should see another dandy for the MAC Championship. I’ve got Ohio winning a close one over Toledo with the prize being to go back to Ford Field a few weeks later. At least the tie-in there states that they should face a Big Ten team. That’s the way it should be.

Hey remember what I used to say about Conference USA? Well, it has pretty much come to fruition. You would have to be some kind of dumb or not watch college football to know that this is now the bottom of the barrel when it comes to FBS conferences. I warned them. I’m sure others did too. And now they are stuck. Could they end up being not last place? Sure, maybe. But other than WKU and Liberty, what other teams are really pushing things here? That’s what I thought. Luckily they were able to snag a contract with ESPN to show games on weeknights in October. And when I say weeknights I mean all weeknight games. No Saturday conference games that month. I will be happy though because it means there will be college football on like four consecutive Tuesdays. Not a bad thing at all.

Now it’s time for predictions for the new-ish Conference USA followed by some weeknight non-sitcom commentary:

		Conference		Overall
		W	L	W	L
	WKU	7	1	9	3
	Middle Tennessee	6	2	8	4
	Liberty	6	2	9	3
	UTEP	4	4	6	6
	New Mexico State	4	4	7	6
	Louisiana Tech	2	6	4	8
	Sam Houston	2	6	3	9
	Jacksonville State	2	6	3	9
	FIU	1	7	2	10

Weeknight Non-Sitcom Commentary

• Look, with Austin Reed back at QB, he may throw over 5,000 yards. They should win the regular season title pretty easily and it wouldn’t surprise me if they ended up running the table as well.
• There are some newcomers! Liberty is that one newcomer, though, that most are saying will win the conference title in their first year in C-USA. I say not so fast my friend. I don’t even see them getting to the conference title game. The Flames will most likely lose a game they should win and it will cost them that spot.
• Yes, I have NMSU making a bowl game again! Jerry Kill has really turned things around in Las Cruces and with this new conference I see them already in the middle if not near the top.
• On the other hand, Jacksonville State and Sam Houston make their FBS debut this season and it won’t be a kind one. They will struggle and need some time to find their way. Down the road, though, at least one of these programs will turn into one of the conference’s best, if not both of them. But at least they won’t be as bad as…
• FIU. Yeesh. Mike MacIntyre will be pulling his hair out by the time this season is over.
• So yeah, it’s Middle Tennessee against WKU and I don’t see it being that close but you never know. The Hilltoppers should win going away. Do you think these two teams are regretting not heading to the MAC?

We have completed the journey! Well…half of it. Next up is the Power Five conferences. Then, finally, a nice little bow to tie this whole thing together. Have a great week everyone!

SUPER MEGA HYPER OMNI POST! Version 6.0.0

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

12-Team College Football Playoff

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

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

6-Team College Football Playoff

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

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

Poll-and-Bowl

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

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

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

24-Team College Football Playoff

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

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

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

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

SUPER MEGA HYPER OMNI POST! V3.0

I have done this two times before. Let’s go for number three here. Warning: this post is seriously fucking long. So grab a drink (caffeinated would be a good idea) and settle in.
Instead of doing a full recap and then a full bowl projections post, I figured I would combine them into one insanely long post! Why? I am going to tell myself it’s a great way to save time and not have to do two posts. That is completely erroneous to be truthful but I will keep telling myself that little fib. It was a fairly good weekend of college football which had two major upsets. We are headed into an exciting finish to the season.  Also this post is different and exciting to commemorate the 150th anniversary of when Rutgers could be considered a top team in college football.

Let’s start with recapping the week that was.  Some fun stuff happened and I was totally sleep deprived for Sunday.  A Fall tradition.

• The only ranked-on-ranked game of the week had Ohio State outlast Penn State.  The difference here was basically one guy: Chase Young.  His return from his stupid suspension was a boon for the Buckeye defense as he was all over the Nittany Lion backfield.  He is a lot like Ndamukong Suh was at Nebraska; the best player in the nation who won’t get true Heisman hype.  The tOSU offense did just enough as Justin Fields, who is the second best player on the team, may have booked his trip to New York City in December.  In the end, though, it won’t mean nearly as much if they can’t extend their winning streak against The Team Up North this Saturday.
• LSU beat Arkansas easily.  Alabama beat Western Carolina even easier during SEC Sleepwalk Saturday.  The Tide have to be rooting for the Tigers to win this Saturday and at the SEC Championship and hopefully win big both times.  It’s Bama’s best chance to get in if the Fighting Orgerons look like a dominant #1 team (or at least something to include in the argument for them to be included in the CFP).
• You all saw it I’m sure.  The students from Harvard and Yale doing a protest just before the second half was to begin in the annual game between the two Ivy League stalwarts.  I can honestly say this is something I have never seen before during a game.  And of course Twitter, being full of very level-headed people, went crazy.  People aligned themselves on one side or the other which is what happens in situations like this nowadays.  Here is my take on this.  Are protests a fabric of both the United States and Canada?  I believe they are.  Saying people can’t protest makes us a lot more like China than the countries we are.  Does this also do a disservice to the people involved in the football game?  Absolutely.  Both of these things are, and can be, true.  If these students truly understood the issues surrounding climate change and Harvard and Yale’s role in it, then great.  It’s very rare that this is the case as I have seen many protests in this country where many really have no idea what they are truly protesting and just want to be loud and want to belong.  I think the police did as good a job as they could and didn’t let it become something violent.  I do wish the students that wouldn’t leave unless they were arrested just left.  Being arrested will probably just be something they can yell and scream about when in reality, no one gives a shit because the protest is over at that point.  On top of all this, the game was played at the Yale Bowl which does not have lights and after an hour-plus delay, went to double overtime.  If it had gone any farther the game probably would have had to end in a tie since darkness was quickly settling in.  Just a bizarre day in college football to say the least.
• Georgia’s offense basically took the day off on Saturday.  If it wasn’t for hipster kicker Rodrigo Blankenship, the Dawgs may have blown it against Texas A&M.  A 19-13 victory over the Aggies doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in the team going into the SEC Championship.  They play like this and LSU will put a 50-burger on them and the game will essentially be over by 5:00 Eastern.
• Oregon blew it against Arizona State.  I guess they didn’t play to win the game.  This is bad, not just for the Ducks but for Utah as well (and the Pac-12 as a whole).  Now Utah beating Oregon will not be them beating a Top 10 team.  Chances are Oregon will be a Top 15 team which makes a difference.  It’s also what is needed for the Bama backers who desperately want their team in the College Football Playoff.
• The other huge upset of the day was FIU beating Miami.  Yes this isn’t the Canes of early this century but good God is this team not very good.  And in a pretty bad ACC.  And now they lose to former head coach Butch Davis on the field that was built on the old Orange Bowl grounds.  Yeah this is about as bad as it gets for The U.  Manny Diaz will be on a seriously hot seat to start next season and now some have to look back and take back their thoughts of basically poaching him from Temple as the Owls are doing great under Rod Carey while Miami struggles.
• Some would include Colorado’s victory over Washington as an upset as well.  I do not.  This is easily Chris Petersen’s worst team in all his years of coaching college football.  Mel Tucker has brought the Buffs back to, at least, respectability.  They now have a chance to go bowling.  All they have to do is *checks the schedule* beat Utah.  Aw man.  Sorry guys.
• Cincinnati beat Temple in a very close one.  It all turned on one play.  Temple had an extra point blocked and returned for two points.  So a three point swing on one play.  The Bearcats ended up winning by 2 and seem to be sharing the Group of Five seat with Memphis at the moment.
• If you missed it, there was an absolutely bonkers Pac-12 After Dark affair up in eastern Washington.  It was on the Pac-12 Network (or DAZN up here) so very few would have watched it but it was fantastic.  A back and forth affair where Oregon State scored 29 points in the fourth quarter and LOST!  Wazzu pulled out with a touchdown with 2 seconds left to win 54-53.  So now Oregon State has to *checks the schedule* beat Oregon in the Civil War to become bowl-eligible.  Ugh.  Washington State is now bowl-eligible again and Mike Leach in the postseason is always fun.
• Oklahoma is going to the Big XII Championship!  They clinched their spot by BARELY getting by TCU.  I’m sorry but the Sooners will struggle with Baylor if they play like that (the Bears beat Texas handily).  Then again, if Boomer Sooner wins, do you really want them in the CFP?  I don’t know.
• Wisconsin and Minnesota both won so they are slated to play for the Big Ten West this weekend.  And College Gameday is heading to Minneapolis (finally).  So it is going to be a huge day for the Golden Gophers and if they win they basically clinch no worse than the Rose Bowl in my opinion.
• What a great way to have the Bud Foster send-off.  Virginia Tech whitewashed Pitt and were dominant on defense.  Awesome for Foster’s final game at Lane Stadium.
• Great story of the weekend?  Charlotte becoming bowl-eligible for the first time.  Will Healy did wonders at Austin Peay which was such a terrible FCS program they went almost four years without winning a game and he arrives and they almost go to the playoffs.  Now he does amazing things in his first year in North Carolina and gets the 49ers to the promised land (probably).  Watch them get picked up by the American Conference in a few years to replace UConn.

Now let’s move on to how the conference championships are shaping up as we are down to the ultimate week of the regular season.

It’s the second annual Sun Belt Championship game and I honestly believe Mountain Dew or Peterbilt or something like that should sponsor it.  This is set.  Appalachian State and Louisiana have won their respective divisions and will face off in the championship game at the home of the Mountaineers in Boone, North Carolina.

Conference USA is going to have an exciting race towards the end of the season in the West.  In the East, Florida Atlantic has clinched their spot in the title game.  As for the West, it’s between UAB, Louisiana Tech and Southern Miss and it’s messy.  So on Saturday:

• If all three teams win, Southern Miss wins the division.  Same thing if all three teams lose.
• If Louisiana Tech wins and UAB loses, Louisiana Tech wins the division.
• If UAB and Southern Miss win, Southern Miss wins the division.
• If only one of the three teams wins, that winning team obviously wins the division.

Good lord.  But at least it means it will be a fun final Saturday for this oft-ignored conference.

The MAC title tilt is halfway set.  Miami-OH has already clinched the MAC East.  The MAC West could be finished off tonight.  If Western Michigan beats Northern Illinois, they will go to Detroit to face the Redhawks.  If they lose then Central Michigan has a chance to clinch on Black Friday in their Noon game against Toledo.

This is easy.  Boise State clinched with their crushing of Utah State and then a bit of a shock as Hawaii clinched the West Division as they beat San Diego State in an low-scoring affair.  The game will be on the blue turf in Boise.

Alright Cincinnati is already in.  The West is also easy.  Memphis beats Cincy in the season finale they will have a rematch against the Bearcats also at home.  If they don’t win, and then Navy defeats Houston on Saturday night, the Middies will be heading to Cincinnati.  If both teams lose, Memphis will go to southern Ohio and play Cincinnati quite possibly for the Cotton Bowl spot.

It’s Clemson up against the winner of the Commonwealth Cup.  This is the most important game in the battle for Virginia possibly ever.

This has been set.  The surprising Baylor Bears get their chance at revenge on Oklahoma at JerryWorld.

Oregon is in for the game which starts at 5 local time yet again.  The Pac-12 has, by far, the shittiest set of TV contracts for the Power Five.  This is atrocious.  Now, if Utah wins they face Oregon but if Colorado pulls off the upset then it will be USC, of all teams, going against the Ducks.

Ohio State clinched a tough Big Ten East and will await the Wisconsin-Minnesota winner in Indianapolis.

LSU and Georgia.  No Bama.  The way things are going, though, UGA is going to get boatraced by the Tigers.

So there you go.  Coming up later in the week, we have the massive American Thanksgiving post which is, you guessed it, massive.

Alright, on to my bowl projections as of this today:

Fiesta Bowl	CFP Poll #2 vs. CFP Poll #3	Clemson vs. Ohio State
Peach Bowl	CFP Poll #1 vs. CFP Poll #4	LSU vs. Utah

No changes here.  Utah’s resume took a hit with Oregon’s loss but I still see them holding on to this spot (which means I will probably be wrong).

Has anything changed in the New Year’s Six?

Sugar Bowl	SEC #1 vs. Big XII #1	Alabama vs Baylor
Rose Bowl	Big Ten #1 vs. Pac-12 #1	Michigan vs. Oregon
Orange Bowl	ACC #1 vs. SEC #2/Big Ten #2/Notre Dame/G-5 #1	Wake Forest vs. Georgia
Cotton Bowl	CFP At-Large vs. CFP At-Large/G-5 #1	Oklahoma vs. Boise State

One change.  I’ve put Michigan in the Rose Bowl, replacing Penn State which I am sure no one will bat an eye at, right OK let’s move on.  A LOT could very well change on this section this coming week and I kind of expect it to but I have to go with my gut at this point.  The Orange Bowl spot for the ACC champ is still hilariously sad and I think that might be the big change during the next CFP contract and not a move to expand to eight teams (although a move to five would be fine by me to be honest).

Now the rest of bowl season which is a gongshow because even bowl tie-ins mean nothing anymore but not in a good way.

Mobile Bowl	MAC vs. Sun Belt	Miami-OH vs. Arkansas State
Armed Forces Bowl	Big Ten vs. MWC	Indiana vs. Utah State
Idaho Potato Bowl	MWC vs. MAC	Nevada vs. Ohio
Gator Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Tennessee vs. Minnesota
Birmingham Bowl	SEC/ACC vs. American/ACC	Liberty* vs. Memphis
Outback Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Auburn vs. Penn State
Citrus Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Florida vs. Wisconsin
Alamo Bowl	Big XII vs. Pac-12	Iowa State vs. USC
Arizona Bowl	MWC vs. Sun Belt	San Diego State vs. Arkansas State
Liberty Bowl	SEC/American vs. Big XII/American	Mississippi State vs. Oklahoma State
Sun Bowl	Pac-12 vs. ACC	California vs. Notre Dame
Belk Bowl	SEC vs. ACC	Texas A&M vs. Virginia
Redbox Bowl	Big Ten vs. Pac-12	Illinois vs. Arizona State
Music City Bowl	SEC vs. ACC	Kentucky vs. Virginia Tech
First Responder Bowl	Big XII vs. C-USA	Kansas State vs. Florida Atlantic
Camping World Bowl	Big XII vs. ACC	Texas vs. Miami
Cheez-It Bowl	Big XII/MWC vs. Pac-12/MWC	Hawaii vs. Southern Miss*
Holiday Bowl	Big Ten vs. Pac-12	Iowa vs. Washington State
Texas Bowl	SEC vs. Big XII	Missouri vs. TCU
Pinstripe Bowl	Big Ten vs. ACC	Nebraska vs. Pittsburgh
Military Bowl	ACC vs. American	Louisville vs. Navy
Quick Lane Bowl	Big Ten/MAC vs. ACC/MAC	Western Michigan vs. Florida State
Independence Bowl	SEC/C-USA vs. ACC/American	Marshall vs. Cincinnati
Hawaii Bowl	BYU vs. American/MWC	BYU vs. Wyoming
Gasparilla Bowl	American/ACC vs. C-USA/ACC	UCF vs. UAB
New Orleans Bowl	C-USA vs. Sun Belt	Louisiana Tech vs. Louisiana
Las Vegas Bowl	Pac-12 vs. MWC	Washington vs. Air Force
Camellia Bowl	MAC vs. Sun Belt	Central Michigan vs. Georgia Southern
Boca Raton Bowl	American vs. MAC	SMU vs. Buffalo
Cure Bowl	American vs. Sun Belt	Temple vs. Georgia State
New Mexico Bowl	MWC vs. C-USA	Army* vs. Western Kentucky
Frisco Bowl	American vs. MAC/C-USA	Tulane vs. Eastern Michigan
Bahamas Bowl	MAC vs. C-USA	Toledo vs. Charlotte

A few notes for your perusal:

• No 5-7 teams.  And no teams left out at 6-6.  Everything fits perfectly like a puzzle with all the pieces actually in the box.  We all know what will happen right?  Certainly not this.
• I am sticking with the tie-ins as best I can.  I don’t know why though since the bowls don’t seem to care themselves sometimes.
• Hawaii, as far as I know, is not locked in to the Hawaii Bowl now that they are bowl-eligible.  Still a good chance they end up there but I have this feeling they will hit the mainland for their bowl game this season.
• Look at Charlotte!  I have them kicking off the bowl season by going to the Bahamas!  Talk about a great season for those players and staff.
• As for tie-ins that don’t work, I have Army filing in to the New Mexico Bowl thanks to Boise State going to the Cotton Bowl, Southern Miss going to the Cheez-It Bowl because the Big XII and Pac-12 don’t have enough eligible teams (thanks to me putting Utah in the CFP) and Liberty heading to the Birmingham Bowl due to the SEC and ACC not having enough eligible teams.  These split tie-ins are so weird and even dumber when they don’t even work out.  When two conferences can’t fill a single bowl slot you know there’s an issue.

Other than those few items, not much to talk about specifically about the bowl projections.  Nothing much changed except some of my opinions.  That might change starting tonight.  Ohio has a chance to become bowl-eligible and, at the same time, Akron could be the only winless team this season in the FBS.  The game is on ESPN+ so none of us can see it.  The other game, between WMU and NIU, is important for the Broncos as a win there clinches a trip to beautiful Detroit for the MAC Championship which isn’t on Friday night this season.  Then Wednesday, take a deep breath.  There is no football at all.  Don’t drink too much but maybe take the time to do something around the house.  Go out.  Catch up on some Netflix.  Something.  Because you will need the rest to prepare for FOOTBALLGASM 2019!

A couple of quick Canadian football notes:

• The Grey Cup occurred this past Sunday.  I am a bit sad that Hamilton lost but at least it was to Winnipeg who had an even longer Grey Cup drought at 29 years!  Plus, a fan who said, in 1990, he wouldn’t wear pants until the next time the Blue Bombers won the Cup again, can wear pants again!  Which is good in Winnipeg since it is seriously fucking freezing there.
• The Vanier Cup occurred.  I have no idea where it was on.  I think CBC online?  Ridiculous.

Alright that is it.  No more.  A seriously long post is complete.  American Thanksgiving Footballgasm post will show up later this week along with the NFL sked post.  Have a good week everyone!

SUPER MEGA HYPER OMNI POST! V2.0

Hey remember this post last year?  It was insanely long.  This one will probably be longer.  Crazy right?  And I don’t care.  So crack open a cold one (unless it’s before like 11:00 in the morning) and sit back and I will tell you a tale of what was, what is, and what might be.

Let’s start with the recap portion of the show since it was, I guess, an alright week in college football.  Not a lot of super crazy stuff but there’s always something.  Oh there’s always something.

• Ohio State survived at Maryland.  They really shouldn’t have.  Tyrell Pigrome had a receiver open on the two-point conversion in overtime and threw it wide.  Tough day for the Terps who did everything they could to beat the Buckeyes and still couldn’t.  Also, Urban Cam was getting out of hand.  Watching Meyer clutch his head in agony all the time was not fun.  I guess he has a cyst on the brain or something like that.  It’s causing him some pain.  A game like that will not help that much.  Anyway, this means The Game is HUGE (Michigan survived against Indiana) so College Gameday should be starting in about two hours.
• Clemson beat Duke easily.  Notre Dame beat Syracuse even easier in what was supposed to be the game of the week.  Both teams are one rivalry game against a team not doing that well from probably going to the College Football Playoff.  Clemson has the ACC title game against Pitt but I digress.
• The Citadel (THE CITADEL!) was tied at 10 with Bama at the half.  So of course Twitter exploded.  The Citadel Twitter account went nuts.  It was fun times.  We knew it would all end.  I am sure some people had a pool to see who would have the closest time in the third quarter when, definitively, this game would be over.  It wasn’t UMBC over Virginia in the NCAA Basketball Tournament but it was fun for a bit.
• In the biggest off the field news, Les Miles has been hired to be the next head coach at Kansas.  Yes, that Kansas.  You know what this means?  Memorial Stadium in Lawrence will have to install natural grass and soon since I am sure eating artificial turf is not good for your insides and definitely not for your colon.
• Washington State put up 55 points in the first half against Arizona.  Yes it’s just Arizona but still.  Wazzu means business.  Who knows how high they will go in the CFP Rankings if they beat Washington on Black Friday.
• The big upset of the day once tOSU handled their business (kind of) was Oklahoma State beating West Virginia with a late touchdown.  The Mountaineers were a dark horse for the College Football Playoff if there was some chaos above them.  That dream is gone although they can still get to the Big XII Championship with a win over Oklahoma on Black Friday.
• Speaking of Oklahoma, Kyler Murray would be almost a shoo-in in any year’s Heisman race.  He will have a tough time beating Tua Tagovailoa barring a disaster against Auburn.  But the Oklahoma defense is, well, not that good.  Giving up 40 points to Kansas before Les Miles starts to coach there?  Not a good sign.
• UCF had no problem with Cincinnati and is set for the showdown with USF to stay undefeated.  A loss either there or in the AAC Championship would have a ripple effect that isn’t quite known right now as there are a few Mountain West contenders lurking.
• Texas beat Iowa State and it was viewed by probably about 5,000 people, all in Texas.
• Florida State came back to beat Boston College and how have a shot to go to a bowl game.  It’s their rivalry game against Florida coming up and they have dominated it recently.
• Utah State also played a game in relative obscurity.  They beat Colorado State on AT&T Sportsnet out west (in the U.S.) in a game that ended on a Hail Mary that wasn’t.  CSU looked like it had scored the upset but the receiver stepped out of bounds on their own meaning they could not be the first one to touch the ball when they came back in bounds.  They did so it negated a crazy finish.

Now let’s move on to how the conference championships are shaping up as we are down to the final regular season week (kind of).

It’s the first Sun Belt Championship game and we still don’t know what’s going on.  In the East, Appalachian State hosts Troy.  Winner goes to the conference championship and hosts it.  In the West, Louisiana controls its own destiny.  Beat ULM in Monroe this Saturday and they win the division.  Lose and Arkansas State can clinch with a victory in San Marcos over Texas State.  If both Louisiana and Arkansas State lose then the last team standing will be ULM.  And you will see none of this because it’s all on ESPN3.

How about dem UAB Blazers?  Second season back and they are undefeated in conference play.  They have already won the West Division.  Now the East…that’s a different story:

• If FIU beats Marshall, it’s in.
• If FIU loses to Marshall, and Middle Tennessee loses to UAB, FIU is also in.
• If FIU loses, and Middle wins, Middle goes.

Marshall, despite the fact it could be tied with FIU and MTSU, cannot win the division title.

The MAC title tilt is halfway set.  Northern Illinois has already clinched the MAC West.  The MAC East comes down to Black Friday.  If Buffalo beats Bowling Green, they will go to Detroit to face the Huskies.  If they lose and Ohio beats Akron, the Bobcats win the division.  If both teams loses, it’s Buffalo’s division.

This is easy.  Fresno State is already in.  The winner of Boise State-Utah State will join them.  The only question will be where it is.  Right now, I would bet on it being in either Boise or Logan, Utah.

OK say UCF is already in.  Duh.  The West is also easy.  The Memphis-Houston winner will go to Orlando to play the Knights.  Tulane and SMU cannot win the division since they can’t win any of the tiebreaking procedures.

It’s Clemson vs. Pitt.  I’ve said this before, either Pitt keeps this close or they lose by like 40.

If Oklahoma wins they go to JerryWorld.  That’s the easy part.  The rest…not so much:

• If Oklahoma loses to West Virginia and Texas beats Kansas, then it’s Texas vs. West Virginia.
• Texas is automatically in to face Oklahoma if they beat Kansas and Oklahoma wins.
• The Mountaineers are in with a win over Oklahoma obviously.  But if they lose they can still get in with a Texas loss AND an Iowa State loss to Kansas State (for some reason).

Utah is in for the game which starts at 5 local time.  Poor Pac-12.  Why they would agree to a championship game on Friday night is beyond me.  Anyway, the Pac-12 North comes down to the Apple Cup.  Winner proceeds.

Northwestern was one of the first teams to clinch their division this year.  This feels wrong but I am fine with it.  The winner of The Game will face them in Indy.

Georgia and Alabama.  Ho hum.  Hopefully it’s a really good game though.  Not just for me and all the other college football fans.  But for poor Brad Nessler as well.

So there you go.  Later on in the week (probably tomorrow) I will do the normal massive American Thanksgiving weekend post and discuss all this and much more and which games are important and which games, quite frankly, aren’t.

Alright, on to my bowl projections as of this today:

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

No changes here.  Nothing happened to this over the past weekend.  A lot COULD happen this coming weekend but that’s a different story.

Has anything changed in the New Year’s Six?

Sugar Bowl	SEC #1 vs. Big XII #1	Georgia vs. Texas
Rose Bowl	Big Ten #1 vs. Pac-12 #1	Michigan vs. Utah
Fiesta Bowl	CFP At-Large vs. CFP At-Large	Oklahoma vs. Washington State
Peach Bowl	CFP At-Large vs. CFP At-Large	UCF vs. West Virginia

All the same teams.  Nothing changed.  Kind of boring.  But as I said above, a lot could happen this coming week to change all this.  I kind of hope something changes otherwise it would be almost a full month of relatively pedestrian college football (as compared to most other months of college football).

And of course now the rest of the bowl projections which is always a shitshow, nowadays more than ever.

Citrus Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten/ACC	Florida vs. Northwestern
Outback Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Kentucky vs. Michigan State
Gator Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	LSU vs. Wisconsin
Holiday Bowl	Big Ten vs. Pac-12	Penn State vs. Stanford
Liberty Bowl	Big XII vs. SEC	Virginia Tech* vs. Missouri
Redbox Bowl	Big Ten vs. Pac-12	Iowa vs. Oregon
Military Bowl	ACC vs. American	Virginia vs. Temple
Sun Bowl	Pac-12 vs. ACC	Arizona vs. Georgia Tech
Arizona Bowl	MWC vs. Sun Belt	Fresno State vs. Arkansas State
Belk Bowl	SEC vs. ACC	South Carolina vs. NC State
Alamo Bowl	Pac-12 vs. Big XII	Washington vs. Iowa State
Camping World Bowl	Big XII vs. ACC	Baylor vs. Pittsburgh
Music City Bowl	SEC vs. ACC	Mississippi State vs. Boston College
Texas Bowl	SEC vs. Big XII	Texas A&M vs. Oklahoma State
Pinstripe Bowl	Big Ten vs. ACC	Purdue vs. Syracuse
Independence Bowl	SEC/C-USA vs. ACC/C-USA	Auburn vs. Duke
Cheez-It Bowl	Pac-12/MWC vs. Big XII/MWC	California vs. Nevada
Quick Lane Bowl	Big Ten/MAC vs. ACC/MAC	Buffalo vs. Miami
First Responders Bowl	Big Ten vs. C-USA	Florida State* vs. UAB
Hawaii Bowl	MWC vs. C-USA	Hawaii vs. Marshall
Dollar General Bowl	MAC vs. Sun Belt	Northern Illinois vs. Troy
Armed Forces Bowl	Big XII vs. American	Army* vs. Houston
Birmingham Bowl	SEC/ACC vs. American/ACC	Tennessee vs. Memphis
Idaho Potato Bowl	MWC vs. MAC	Utah State vs. Toledo
Bahamas Bowl	American vs. C-USA	Cincinnati vs. Middle Tennessee
Gasparilla Bowl	American/ACC vs. C-USA/ACC	USF vs. FIU
Frisco Bowl	American/C-USA vs. MAC/C-USA	SMU vs. Eastern Michigan
Boca Raton Bowl	MAC vs. C-USA	Ohio vs. Southern Miss
New Orleans Bowl	C-USA vs. Sun Belt	Louisiana Tech vs. Appalachian State
Camellia Bowl	MAC vs. Sun Belt	Miami-OH vs. ULM
Las Vegas Bowl	Pac-12 vs. MWC	Arizona State vs. Boise State
Cure Bowl	American/Liberty vs. Sun Belt/Liberty	Liberty vs. Georgia Southern
New Mexico Bowl	MWC vs. C-USA	San Diego State vs. North Texas

A few notes for your perusal:

• No 5-7 teams.  Actually five teams would be left out at 6-6.  BYU, Wyoming, Western Michigan, Florida Atlantic and Louisiana would all be bowl-eligible but left out of the fun.  Can’t see that going over too well with Cougar fans.
• I have tried to stick to the tie-ins but I know that sometimes those get thrown out the window.  So why have them?  I have gone over this a few times so won’t re-hash it here.
• Hawaii, after their victory this past weekend over UNLV, becomes bowl-eligible and is the first team to lock in a bowl spot.  They automatically go to the Hawaii Bowl if they are bowl-eligible (which they are) unless they are the Mountain West champion (which they won’t be).
• I don’t quite know how the Liberty situation works.  They would be bowl-eligible and they have a tie-in (kind of) with the Cure Bowl.  The thing is I do remember something said at the start of the season that stated that Liberty would only get a bowl bid if there were no other teams available.  There are (the five mentioned above) so I don’t know if they would take priority over Liberty.  If that is the case, expect the Cure Bowl to select either Florida Atlantic or BYU to fill that spot.

Other than those few items, not much to talk about specifically about the bowl projections.  It honestly felt like a bit of a week off.  That could change very quickly come tonight.  Northern Illinois-Western Michigan is on the specialty pack tomorrow night at 7:00 (Ball State-Miami-OH also on but it’s ESPN+).  Then Wednesday, brace yourselves…there is no football.  I know, I know.  Calm down.  We will need the breather thanks to the FOOTBALLGASM of American Thanksgiving!  My hope is that I can post the schedule by tomorrow evening to fully prepare you for the few days to come.

A few other odds and ends from both the pros and college level:

• Did you see the Harvard player flip the bird to the Yale defender just before he crossed the goal line for a touchdown?  It negated the touchdown.  Hilarious!  That’s some good Ivy League football right there.
• The Nathan Peterman Experience has come to an end as the Bills released one of the worst quarterbacks in modern NFL history.  Thank god.
• How about that game last night?  Holy shit!  The Rams and Chiefs both went off.  And still, there was some sweet defensive plays.  It was honestly one of the best regular season games ever.  It had a bit of everything!  So we all know that one of these teams won’t make it to the Super Bowl because, well, they just won’t.  There will be an upset of sorts and we will get the fucking Patriots or the Bears or some shit like that.  Ugh.
• I tried watching some of the CFL Division Finals but for the most part, they weren’t very good.  The Western Final wasn’t bad actually but the Eastern Final was atrocious.  Game was over about halfway through the second quarter.  Totally non-competitive.  I look forward, though, to balanced divisions in 2020, which I believe is the year the Atlantic Schooners begin play.
• Both USports semi-finals were jokes.  Western pulled away from Saskatchewan in the third and never looked back.  Laval absolutely destroyed St. FX.  To be honest, not good for the entire association as a whole.  The Vanier Cup better be good for USports’ sake.

Ok I have hit the end.  Such a long post.  But a good one (in my honest opinion).  College football schedule coming up sometime in the next two days and in the usual American Thanksgiving format.  Have a good week everyone!