Hey it’s that time of the year again! Week 3 College Football TV Schedule

It’s hurricane season for the Southern and Southeastern United States.  And the East Coast really.  So like a good portion of the country.  And man do they get hit hard with these storms.  The amount of destruction is something most of us have never gone through (thankfully).  And it happens every year (for the most part) and always seems to centre in September.  At this point I am surprised Bermuda even exists with what hits them on a yearly basis.

Now this isn’t a weather blog.  This is a college football blog (OK and an NFL blog as well).  So how does Hurricane Florence affect the college football world?  Plenty.  First of all, we already have a few games being moved up so they can be played earlier and a bunch of games have been cancelled.  With a couple of those games scheduled for ESPNU this Saturday this will definitely make things interesting.  Which makes it worse for us since, in my experience, the specialty packs really struggle when this happens.  It’s like they don’t know what to do anymore because one game has been replaced by a different game (chances are).  It boggles my mind how this happens.  Don’t even get me started on PVRing games.  You might want to be cautioned on that this Saturday.  I don’t do that anymore (unless I absolutely have to) so thankfully I won’t have to deal with that mess.

In the end, this is more about people’s safety than anything.  College football is secondary and by a wide margin.  Now let’s get to the schedule…or at least what I can piece together:

Thursday

		US	Canada
Boston College at Wake Forest	5:30 PM

The scheduling changes start tonight as BC-WF is moved up to 5:30, probably so the Eagles can get the fuck outta there before anything hits (although according to that weather map above, they should be playing in a monsoon by the start of the 4th quarter).  TSN2 still showing this game.  Good on them for keeping with it with the time change.

Friday

		US	Canada
Georgia State at Memphis	7:00 PM

Memphis is in the western part of Tennessee so they won’t be affected as much or as early as the places east of them by the hurricane.  Memphis should win in a walk but wacky things have happened on Friday nights in the past.

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
#5 Oklahoma at Iowa State	Noon
Florida State at Syracuse	Noon
#21 Miami at Toledo	Noon
Hawaii at Army	Noon
Troy at Nebraska	Noon
Temple at Maryland	Noon
Ball State at Indiana	Noon
UCF at North Carolina	Noon
Georgia Southern at #2 Clemson	Noon
Murray State at Kentucky	Noon
UTEP at Tennessee	Noon
East Carolina at #13 Virginia Tech	12:30 PM

Here we get to see part of the domino effect of rescheduled and cancelled games.  UCF-UNC and ECU-VT have been outright cancelled.  No replacement has been named for the ACC Network although it wouldn’t shock me if they put Georgia Tech-Pitt on in this timeslot (since it’s already at 12:30 on a regional FOX Sports Network).  Georgia Southern-Clemson was at 3:30 on ESPN2 and has been moved to Noon.  Chances are it will end up on ESPNU and thus the specialty pack but nothing is confirmed yet.  UPDATE #2: This game is confirmed for ESPNU.  OU-ISU is probably the biggest game at Noon (especially if the Cyclones can repeat what they did last year in Norman).

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
Vanderbilt at #8 Notre Dame	2:30 PM
BYU at #6 Wisconsin	3:30 PM
#12 LSU at #7 Auburn	3:30 PM
Lehigh at Navy	3:30 PM
USF vs. Illinois (in Chicago)	3:30 PM
SMU at #19 Michigan	3:30 PM
Miami-OH at Minnesota	3:30 PM
#17 Boise State at #24 Oklahoma State	3:30 PM
#14 West Virginia at NC State	3:30 PM
Colorado State at Florida	4:00 PM
North Texas at Arkansas	4:00 PM
Houston at Texas Tech	4:30 PM

Possibly a PEW! PEW! PEW! game of the year as Boise State goes to Stillwater to face the Pokes.  WVU-NCSU cancelled means ESPNU loses another game due to the hurricane.  This is a trend.  Tiger Bowl is also huge in this timeslot as the winner joins Mississippi State as the only (probably) real contenders to Alabama.  Also, note the different start time for the VU-ND game.  Notre Dame football on NBC used to start a lot of their games at 2:30 instead of 3:30.  I kind of like it.  Especially if it gets to be a competitive game at the end.

UPDATE: I haven’t even finished the post for this week and already have an update.  Figured I’d put it here.  Ohio vs. Virginia, which has been moved to Vanderbilt Stadium in Nashville, will now air at 4:30 on ESPN2 and, presumably, the specialty pack.  Fingers crossed this all works out.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Arkansas State at Tulsa	7:00 PM
#1 Alabama at Ole Miss	7:00 PM
Middle Tennessee at #3 Georgia	7:15 PM
UMass at FIU	7:30 PM
Missouri at Purdue	7:30 PM
Northern Iowa at Iowa	7:30 PM
Akron at Northwestern	7:30 PM
Louisiana at Mississippi State	7:30 PM
Marshall at South Carolina	7:30 PM
Oregon State at Nevada	7:00 PM
ULM at Texas A&M	7:30 PM
#4 Ohio State vs. #15 TCU (in Arlington)	8:00 PM
#22 USC at Texas	8:00 PM

Huge primetime game at JerryWorld between the Buckeyes and the Horned Frogs.  Final game of Urban Meyer’s way-too-short suspension and will be the biggest test by far in non-conference play.  USC goes to Austin to face Texas (are they back yet?) and Bama playing Ole Miss in Oxford are the other two good games in this timeslot.  ESPNU gets the clean sweep of cancellations as Marshall-SC has been kiboshed.  MTSU-UGA has been moved to Noon and we won’t see it because it will be on ESPNEWS.  I know it’s out of order but Oregon State-Nevada has been moved from ESPN3 to ESPNU to replace the Marshall-SC cancellation.  Louisiana-Mississippi State has been moved up from the SEC Network to ESPN2.  Doesn’t really matter to us since we would see it anyway on the specialty pack.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
#10 Washington at Utah	10:00 PM
#23 Arizona State at San Diego State	10:30 PM

Another of those Power Five team visiting a Group of Five team deals that happens like four or five times a season.  The Sun Devils have been WAY better than I or anyone else thought they would be.  If they lay an egg at the Murph (or whatever it’s called now) this Saturday then I don’t know what to think anymore.  Huskies-Utes could be big in the fact that a Washington loss will make it VERY tough for the Pac-12 to get to the College Football Playoff.

Games to set your eyeballs on

Ohio State vs. TCU (in Arlington) (8:00, ABC) – To all the SEC homers out there, this is the game of the week.  I am not sorry for saying that.  This is a game that undoubtedly shapes the College Football Playoff whereas the other game may shape the SEC West.  Maybe.  Anyway, this is one of those neutral-site games that aren’t really netural-site games that I despise.  I get it: it’s to sell more tickets.  Smart.  But to call it neutral-site is ridiculous.

LSU at Auburn (3:30, CBS) – Let’s be honest here: Brad Nessler has not called very many good games since moving to the SEC on CBS to replace Uncle Verne.  I think he had two good games last season and that’s it.  This should be a good one.  Should be.  I hope so for his sake since he is, arguably, the best announcer currently on the air today for college football.

Boise State at Oklahoma State (3:30, specialty pack) – The Pokes aren’t the Pokes of old but they still can put up a pile of points.  And Boise State is Boise State but better this season.  This could easily top 100 points but I would still be a bit shocked if the Cowboys were within two touchdowns of the Broncos at the end.

Oklahoma at Iowa State (Noon, ABC/TSN5) – Remember what happened last season?  Of course you remember.  Joel Lanning went all Joel Lanning and produced one of the most complete games we’ve ever seen and Kyle Kempt, a former walk-on, started his first game ever and threw for 300+ and 3 scores.  It was lightning in a bottle for the Cyclones.  Will that happen again?  It would be fun to see and give a big boost off the hop to an average (and somewhat haphazard) college football Saturday.

Alabama at Ole Miss (7:00, specialty pack) – To be honest I could have stopped the list at four games.  It really drops off after this.  This is more of a curiosity game.  Ole Miss allowed Southern Illinois to score 41 points on them last week.  How many will the Fighting Sabans drop on them this Saturday?  The Rebels may have to score like 80 just to have a chance to win.

Honourable mention: BYU at Wisconsin (3:30, ABC); Washington at Utah (10:00, specialty pack); Vanderbilt at Notre Dame (2:30, NBC).

Some gambling fun and games

Some of my original picks were games that no longer will be played.  So many changes.  Here we go with my (decent at best) gambling picks o’ the week:

Notre Dame over Vanderbilt

Boise State over Oklahoma State

Alabama over Ole Miss

Auburn over LSU

Wisconsin over BYU

Oklahoma over Iowa State

TCU over Ohio State (there’s your quasi-upset of the week)

Stanford over San Diego State

Washington over Utah

San Diego State over Arizona State (another upset perhaps?)

Texas over USC (ok maybe I need my head checked)

The specialty pack schedules were up.  With all these changes, though, who knows how it will shake out.  Should be interesting for sure.  I am looking forward to it but also not looking forward to it (considered I had two updates already before this was even posted).

Hey the Thursday Night Football matchup is on FOX!  Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, the broadcast team everyone loves, right?  Baltimore travels to Cincinnati.  I am sure many people will have HOT TAKES on how shitty FOX does at something they have done for years, but now on a different night.  Because everyone cares about everyone’s opinion in 2018.  Ugh.  Anyway, enjoy the games everyone!

The 2018 College Football Coaching Hot Seat List – Sponsored by these two jamokes

You know, it was a relatively quiet college football offseason.  It really was.  Then these two became stories and all that went to shit.  Personally, I think universities have to take it upon themselves to hold these coaches to a high standard.  Otherwise this stuff happens and, more often than not, the head coach comes out relatively unscathed and many others are thrown under the bus in his stead.  Durkin should be gone and I would be shocked if he wasn’t.  I also believe Urban should be fired even if you want to say it’s just for the optics of the program.  Hell, Jim Tressel was fired for less and people acted like he was the devil.

HOT SEAT TIME!  This post has been actually fairly accurate over the years.  Hopefully I can keep it up because let’s be honest, it’s not like my predictions, as a whole, are setting any records here.

Let’s just get to the list shall we?  This is ordered (like every year) from most likely to be fired to least:

Almost Guaranteed Shitcanning

1. D.J. Durkin (Maryland) – Things were looking up for the Terps.  Then we find out that this guy is a shitbag bully…well, more of a shitbag bully than your average college football coach.  Let’s be honest: most college football players have thick skins.  But this guy went WAY over the line and often.  Needed to keep his job – Maryland admin to put their heads in the sand.  Prediction – Will be gone before the season even commences leading to a gongshow of a season for the Terrapins.
2. Scottie Montgomery (East Carolina) – ECU is wanting to step into the way-back machine and not fire Ruffin McNeill.  It has been an unmitigated disaster since he left.  That’s not all on Montgomery but man it’s been tough to watch how things have deteriorated in Greenville.  Needed to keep his job – Bowl eligibility at the very least.  Prediction – Will be gone mid-season and will end up as a position coach in the next year or two somewhere.
3. Lovie Smith (Illinois) – I think this experiment is about dead.  No offense to Lovie but it’s different than coaching in the NFL (you hear that Herm Edwards?) and they still don’t have the players needed to compete in the Big Ten.  Needed to keep his job – Bowl eligibility, plain and simple.  Prediction – He will either be fired late in the season or will coach the last one or two games as a lame duck coach.  So yeah, he’ll get to November but that’s where it will be the end of the line for ol’ Lovie.
4. Brad Lambert (Charlotte) – This is a tough one…kind of.  Charlotte has been awful since becoming a football program.  To be frank, they should have stayed in FCS for another few years if not a decade.  Instead they move right into Conference USA and get pummeled every season.  This year should be no different for the only coach the 49ers have ever known.  Needed to keep his job – Creeping towards bowl eligibility so like 4 or 5 wins.  Prediction – Lambert will slink back to FCS (if not lower) after they fire him at season’s end.

Probable Shitcanning

5. David Beaty (Kansas) – I should probably put him in the top section but Kansas is kind of weird that way.  Honestly, he should have been fired after last season’s debacle.  Lawrence is a tough place to coach football but the higher-ups at Kansas seem to be giving him a lot of chances so who knows what the plans are beyond this season. Needed to keep his job – At least four wins.  Prediction – I honestly cannot see the Jayhawks winning a conference game…maybe they’ll upset a team and win one.  So the chances of them winning four games is slim so I see him being fired after the season ends.
6. Bob Davie (New Mexico) – Things were looking up for Bobby down in Albuquerque.  The Lobos were getting better running the option offense almost like they were a military academy or Georgia Tech.  Becoming bowl contenders on the reg.  Now, a pretty bad season and reports that Davie treats his players like shit.  Great.  Needed to keep his job – Bowl eligibility and probably more since it’s New Mexico and letting that kind of crap happen can’t be good for a program that has done almost nothing in football ever.  Prediction – Under .500 and him hoping that he might be able to snag an ESPN job for 2019.
7. Everett Withers (Texas State) – Texas State.  Another FBS disaster.  Even Dennis Franchione couldn’t truly turn this program into a bowl game contender.  Needed to keep his job – Surprisingly 4 may do the job.  Prediction – Less than 4 wins and another coach search for the Bobcats.
8. Mike Neu (Ball State) – Ball State has been more of a non-factor in the MAC than any other program not named Kent State in the past five years.  Despite the fact that he’s a former Ball State QB, they may figure out that he was not the right hire to make at the time.  Needed to keep his job – Making some of the teams in the MAC West play hard to beat them.  Prediction – Will be at the bottom of the MAC West and will be let go after the season.
9. Mike MacIntyre (Colorado) – MacIntyre actually suffers from the 2016 season where the Buffaloes played out of their damn minds and won the Pac-12 South.  Other than that year, Colorado has been mostly a doormat their entire Pac-12 stay.  They won’t be in the basement this year but it might take a lot to quell a fairly unhappy fanbase.  Needed to keep his job – Bowl eligibility and being competitive against some of the upper echelon conference teams.  Prediction – Just missing out on a bowl game giving the AD and the brass a tough decision to chew on in the offseason.
10. Kliff Kingsbury (Texas Tech) – I don’t foresee any way that the Red Raiders are anything more than the one team better than Kansas in the Big XII this season.  I believe the Kute Kliff Kingsbury era is probably pretty much done in Lubbock.  Needed to keep his job – 6 wins.  Prediction – He won’t make it to 6 and it wouldn’t surprise me if he was let go with a game or two remaining on the sked so they can start the search for a new head coach early.

Possible Shitcanning

11. Randy Edsall (UConn) – His return to Storrs has not been good.  Saying that, he is trying to rebuild the program in his image the way it was in his first go-around with the Huskies.  I just think he won’t be sticking around to see what happens with his recruits.  Needed to keep his job – Any sort of noticeable improvement.  Prediction – Not a whole lot of improvement but that’s tough to judge.  This will again be a case of an AD having to take a long, hard look as to what the future of the football program should look like and who should lead it.
12. Urban Meyer (Ohio State) – This is a tough one.  Should he be fired?  Probably.  Will he be?  That’s a different story.  He left Florida a bit of a mess and looks like he is starting to do so in Columbus as well.  I think it’s very possible he will be fired but I can see it being a bit of a mid-season knee-jerk reaction type of thing rather than a “we are doing this at the start of the season” type of thing.  Because for all the good they may want to do, they remember the Luke Fickell disaster.  Needed to keep his job – For tOSU to value winning over, well, pretty much everything.  Prediction – He  will be on the sidelines for opening day at least.  Beyond that, who knows.

Doubtful Shitcanning (although it still could happen)

13. Kalani Sitake (BYU) – As patient as BYU will be, they can only show so much patience.  This is a program that is used to, at the very least, winning records.  I still think as long as there is some semblance of improvement they will give him more time.  Needed to keep his job – Get back to a bowl game.  Prediction – 6 wins, invitation to a lower-level bowl game and another year to hopefully continue improving the Cougars.
14. Mark Stoops (Kentucky) – Another place that is tough to coach because of the conference they are in.  The Wildcats haven’t too bad considered the few coaches they had previous to Big Game Bob’s brother.  Needed to keep his job – To be in contention for bowl-eligibility late into the season.  Prediction – This will be interesting.  I only have them down for four wins so this could be a borderline call here.
15. Ed Orgeron (LSU) – I honestly feel for ol’ Eddie here.  Unless the Tigers win 10 games in the regular season, his job will always be in jeopardy according to the rabid LSU fanbase.  And the fact he replaced Les Miles who was a damn good coach for most of his time in Baton Rouge doesn’t help him any.  Needed to keep his job – 8 wins at the very least.  Prediction – I have LSU winning exactly that many which means the rumblings will continue well into the 2019 season.
16. Larry Fedora (North Carolina) – Look we all know that injuries took their toll on a North Carolina team that was already going to be hard-pressed to get to even 7 wins.  But that was definitely a collapse of somewhat epic proportions last year.  Anything resembling that this season and they will tip their fedoras to Fedora and bid him adieu.  Needed to keep his job –  Improvement toward being a contender again.  Prediction – Tough to measure but the Tar Heels won’t be as bad as last season.  That’s almost a certainty.
17. Chris Ash (Rutgers) – I could have just copied what was here last year because he is in the exact same spot.  Rutgers has, again, become a terrible place to coach Power Five football.  They long for the days of the Big East that’s for sure…well, except for that Big Ten cashola, know what I’m sayin?  Needed to keep his job – He’s fine for now because no one wants to coach in Piscataway or wherever the hell Rutgers is.  Prediction – Does it really matter?  They aren’t going bowling anyway.  Maybe next year.
18. Tony Sanchez (UNLV) – As much as it has ever been in Vegas, it’s a make or break year for the Rebels.  They were one horrifically bad loss last year from going bowling.  Not going bowling this year would be disastrous considering the state of the MW West Division (other than SDSU and FSU).  Needed to keep his job – At least go bowling.  Prediction – 8 wins and possibly even a spot in the Mountain West Championship and Sanchez should get an extension of sorts.

As you may have noticed there is no mention of Brian Kelly or Jim Harbaugh on this list.  I have fully come around to the fact that unless either of these two guys shit the bed with their respective teams, they will be back next season.  Man, some fanbases are seriously harsh.  Then again, these guys are multi-millionaires so they better have thick skin and a propensity not to listen to most people.

The final post is coming up for my predictions and it is my Heisman ballot (if anyone had been foolish enough to give me a Heisman ballot).  Then the season begins!  4 days away!  Other than the game on CBS Sports Network I still have no idea what’s happening with the specialty pack.  I have a feeling I will have to figure this out over the next day or two.  At least this year I won’t be duped into fully believing that any ESPN games would appear during Week Zero and then get pissed off when they don’t.  At least that’s what I am telling myself.  Enjoy your day everyone!

I can’t even really call this the Big East Conference anymore. Not even as a joke (and a bad one at that).

I mean who is even left from when it was called the Big East (which was up until 2012).  Let’s break that down first:

• UConn was in the Big East from the get go but only joined in football in 2004.
• Temple was terrible, was kicked out, went to the MAC, got good again, and was re-invited to the Big East in 2012 for football (and a year later for all sports).
• Cincinnati joined in 2005.
• USF also joined in 2005.

So a third of the conference.  That’s it.  And with rumours of UConn, USF, and Cincinnati potentially moving in the next few years, there’s not much left to connect the AAC to the Big East.  Kind of sad really.  I had done a what-if post about how the Big East fortunes could have changed with one simple vote.  Would have changed a good chunk of the college football landscape from the way we see it today.

Alright, let’s get on with the predictions.  Let’s be honest here: The American Conference and the Mountain West conference are the cream of the crop of the G5.  If they somehow got their act together (and if travel costs didn’t matter to them) they could create a Power conference that would be able to compete with the other P5 conferences.  That may never happen but it’s something to think about.  So for now, AAC prediction time followed by some ruminating (not marinating):

	Conference		Overall
East	W	L	W	L
USF	8	0	12	0
Temple	4	4	7	5
UCF	3	5	5	7
Cincinnati	3	5	5	7
East Carolina	2	6	3	9
Connecticut	1	7	2	10
West
Tulsa	6	2	8	4
Houston	6	2	10	2
Memphis	6	2	9	3
Navy	4	4	7	5
SMU	4	4	7	5
Tulane	1	7	4	8

Ruminating

• Yes, USF will be that good. They have the schedule, the coaching, and the talent to mow through the AAC and get the New Year’s Six spot (this is what I predict to happen).  The only potential landmine games are against Temple, Houston, and Tulsa and they get all three at home.  Not saying the New Sombrero is much of a home-field advantage but I’m certain the Bulls will feel better not having to travel to these locales.
• Surprise! Tulsa is the team I have tabbed to win the AAC West.  Yes they won’t have a better overall record than Houston or Memphis (the two teams I have them tied with); however the Golden Hurricane gets both these teams at home and I expect them to win both which would be the tiebreaker.  I mean let’s be honest, they more than likely will get smoked by USF in the AAC Championship.  But just getting there is a feat in and of itself for a school that is one of the smallest in FBS.  This also means Philip Montgomery will have one foot out the door if all this comes to fruition.
• SMU is on the way up. Chad Morris has his program going in the right direction.  Now I am not saying they are back to the early-to-mid 80s in terms of how good they are.  For one, those teams were amazing and two, I am sure Morris couldn’t find enough boosters to pay these guys the same amounts even thirty years later.  What does this all mean?  Morris is probably gone if they meet or exceed my prediction.
• I am not as high on UCF, Cincinnati, Navy, or East Carolina as many prognosticators it seems. Navy will be good but they have three other good G5 teams in their own division.  UCF, Cincy, and ECU don’t have that same issue but I also don’t believe they have the talent to break through to be bowl eligible.  Saying that, it wouldn’t fully surprise me if one of those teams did make it at least to the .500 level.  I will say that everyone should watch out for Scott Frost’s Knights next season though.
• So getting back to the AAC Title game, it should be a blowout. Should be.  We know how those types of games have gone in the past.  For every blowout that was supposed to be a blowout, we have a close game/upset.  But seriously, USF should blow the doors off anyone it faces in the American Conference Championship Game.
• Since USF would go to the New Year’s Six, six AAC teams would fill bowl spots. Problem is?  They have seven bowl tie-ins.  Who thinks up this shit?  Seven is way too many for a conference like this.  I digress.  Anyway, I have UCF filling that final bowl spot if their football players are smart enough.  What a stupid way to fill a bowl spot.

Alright, done with this ragtag bunch of upper echelon misfits.  Next up, the Mountain West Conference.  Ladies and gentlemen (I probably could say Gentlemen and more Gentlemen but anyway), we are 24 days away from opening day.  Brace yourselves!

Uh, yeah, Lamar Jackson is for real – Week 3 College Football Recap

Did you see what he, and Louisville, did to Florida State?  Lamar Jackson has put himself squarely in the Heisman trophy conversation.  Now it is just September so until we finish this month’s and next month’s games we won’t have a clear view of who the contenders and pretenders are but I would be shocked if Jackson isn’t in the mix come the start of November.

Let’s start the recap shall we?

Thursday

• It was a bit of a back and forth affair between Houston and Cincinnati early on but the Coogs pulled away late. They do have to fix their O-line problems though otherwise there is no way Greg Ward survives the entire season without another injury.  I was going to say this is essentially a Big XII play-in game (and should have been played in Dayton) but they will probably both be invited so no worries there.  Also, Cincinnati chili is disgusting.

Friday

• I figured Baylor would beat Rice by much more. Considering they are almost looking like the Big XII’s best chance at anything this season, this is not good for the conference as a whole.
• And speaking of not looking too great, what was up with Arizona State? After putting 60+ up on Texas Tech they struggled against UTSA and barely held on to the win.  I guess Kalen Ballage not going crazy and scoring touchdowns like they were going out of style was a one-time thing.

Saturday Early

• Let’s not call North Dakota State’s win over Iowa a huge upset. Maybe a slight upset.  Remember how good this team is and has been over the past few years.  They could easily be in, oh let’s say, the MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE right now and contend for a league title.  But I will say it’s still amazing when an FCS squad beats a ranked FBS team, no matter how good the FCS team is.
• What Louisville did, as I mentioned above, was almost NSFW. Thankfully I was at home at the time it happened.
• Well that will be the last time ESPN heads to Boone, NC for a Saturday game for a few years at least. That was tough to watch.  Miami put the smackdown on Appalachian State from the opening kickoff.  Maybe the Canes are for real.
• I normally hate hybrid conferences: ones that have members that aren’t all-sports programs (i.e. some don’t have football). I also isn’t too hot on football-only schools.  However, after seeing what Memphis did to Kansas, I think the Big XII should look into it (spoiler alert: they are).  Kansas is god-awful at football and has had a grand total of 3 good seasons in the past 20 years.  That is brutal to a ridiculous degree.  The Big XII needs to add some quality in-conference opponents and they need to do it yesterday.
• I will await the Larry Culpepper commercial that appears on an ABC/ESPN telecast where Larry accidentally falls down the stairs and can no longer sell Dr Pepper. One, Larry is annoying.  And two, Dr Pepper is gross.
• Clemson and South Carolina State agreed to 12-minute quarters in the second half after Clemson went up 45-0 in the first half. South Carolina STATE.    Not South Carolina.
• Not saying Georgia Tech is great or anything but Vanderbilt is awful and it showed here. The Ramblin Wreck put a whoopin on Vandy at home.
• Tennessee should have put Ohio away earlier than they did. Still ended up winning handily but they aren’t looking that great going into a showdown with Florida next week.

Saturday Afternoon

• There was a point where it looked like Ole Miss would pull it out against Alabama (just like I thought). But in the back of my mind, I thought “this is Alabama; they may still win this.”  Lo and behold, I was correct.  Close game but you have to play four good quarters to beat a team like the Tide.  And Ole Miss has to quit stopping at about the 29 minute mark and play a whole game.  Second big lead lost in the first three weeks of the season for the Rebs.
• Yes, North Carolina eventually beat James Madison easily but it was James Madison. It shouldn’t have been even close.
• Colorado put an early scare into Michigan. The Wolverines, in the end, won handily but maybe, just maybe, this Buffs program is finally on the road back to respectability and bowl contention every year.
• For people that noticed, CIS football was back on the air. CityTV showed Western at Queens.  Nice to see it back on the air but good lord the announcers sounded like they wanted to be ANYWHERE but at that game.  Get better announcers and then they may have something.
• South Carolina held on to beat East Carolina after getting out of the gate fast. And for the two idiots who commented on the fact that I said ECU beat NC State last week yet were getting beat up pretty bad early to the Gamecocks, you guys can just fuck off.  I get it: you hate the ACC and love the SEC.  I have no time for conference homers like that.
• Mark Stoops Employment Watch: I am wondering how long this act can last in Lexington. New Mexico State…NEW MEXICO STATE was hanging with the Wildcats well into the second half.    I think Stoops may not make it to the end of the season as the head coach.
• Pittsburgh-Oklahoma State had, surprise, surprise, a weather delay! So many of them this season.  One day we are going to have the weather delay that trumps all weather delays and it will cause major issues I am sure.  Also, because of the weather delay, we lost the game to ESPN3.
• You know, I am just thinking that some at Penn State just don’t get it. You want to celebrate Joe Paterno?  Do it on your own time.  Not in front of a national audience and don’t publicize it.  It’s just a slap in the face to all the victims.
• Speaking of guys who will probably lose their job, add Steve Addazio to that list. Boston College’s offense is no better this year with Patrick Towles at QB than it was last year.  So something is wrong.  The offensive coordinator will get the axe sooner or later but I think Addazio also needs to go and they need to start fresh.  It’s got pretty bad out near Boston these days.
• I missed most of the game but Nebraska beat Oregon. Bo Pelini can’t be too happy.

Saturday Primetime

• LSU had Mississippi State on the ropes and let them back in. Now I am definitely second-guessing picking them to win the national championship.  The way they are playing they probably won’t make the New Year’s Six even.  At least they still have Leonard Fournette.
• No Tess Effect here. Stanford beat USC pretty easily.  Didn’t crush them but man does it ever feel like USC made the wrong choice with Clay Helton.  He still has the rest of the season to turn it around and he will to have the team buzzing along or else it could be curtains for him and his staff.
• I actually watched like fifteen minutes of North Texas-Florida. I have no idea why.  Maybe my remote control was sending me subliminal messages to not use it for a while to give it a rest.  My remote control hates me I am sure.
• Best game of the primetime slot was probably Georgia-Missouri. Does no one want to win the SEC East?  It’ll be a dogfight between teams that can’t be considered elite yet.  The only team that is definitely out of it is Vandy.  Even South Carolina has to be considered somewhat dangerous.
• Michigan State held on to beat Notre Dame but for most of the game it was out of reach. Sparty built a big lead to almost lose it again.  All this means the Irish should fire Brian VanGorder.  I know Georgia Southern definitely will pass on him in the free agent coaching market.
• Another weather delay but it did not deter Ohio State from basically demolishing Oklahoma. They obviously let up at about the 5 minute mark of the third quarter.  It was pretty bad to watch…if you continued to watch it which I did not.  I can only take so much of a thrashing before changing channels.  Ah, the power of choice.
• Have you seen Last Chance U? It’s a fantastic documentary series about East Mississippi Community College and their run of power at the top of the JUCO rankings.  Great to watch.  It featured former Florida State QB John Franklin III who went there looking to be recruited again to a Power Five school.  He was and landed at Auburn.  This past Saturday we got a glimpse of why he was never given a shot at Florida State.  Not knowing it was fourth down and running out of bounds short of the marker?  That’s bush league.  Not that Auburn was going to win but that may have been the nail in the coffin for the Gus Bus.
• Oh and by the way: what is this epidemic of dropping the ball before crossing the goal line for a touchdown? Why do players CONTINUE to do this?  It’s absurd.  If I was a head coach and saw that, I would be so tempted to nail that player’s ass to the bench for the rest of the game.

Saturday Late Night

• UCLA-BYU was a bit of a defensive struggle which was surprising considering the teams involved. UCLA did not look that strong and BYU looked awful offensively, especially running the ball.  At least it was close.
• On the other hand, the other late night I affair (that I could watch) had a shootout between Texas and Cal. And who picked Cal to pull off the upset?  This guy!  I still don’t buy the Longhorn magic.  Are they improved?    But I can’t see them better than an 8-4 team at the end of the day.

So there you go.  Fun times indeed.  And a bit of absurdity.  Here are my updated Top 25 rankings:

#1	Alabama
#2	Ohio State
#3	Michigan
#4	Louisville
#5	Michigan State
#6	Clemson
#7	Stanford
#8	Houston
#9	Washington
#10	Florida State
#11	Wisconsin
#12	Georgia
#13	Tennessee
#14	Texas A&M
#15	LSU
#16	Baylor
#17	Texas
#18	Florida
#19	Miami
#20	Ole Miss
#21	Arkansas
#22	Oklahoma
#23	TCU
#24	Nebraska
#25	Utah

I put Louisville at #4.  I think many would have put the Cards at 1 or 2 but I don’t see how they replace either Alabama or Ohio State.  Michigan at #3 may raise some eyebrows but until they truly falter I won’t put them below the 3 spot.

To be honest, I can honestly see none of the current top four being in the College Football Playoff.  It’s already been that nuts of a season and I see that continuing.  All four teams have at least one if not multiple difficult games the rest of the way.  No one has a cakewalk.  Not even Houston who gets Louisville in November.  Is there a possibility we end up with only one or two undefeated teams at the end of the regular season?  Definitely.  Is there a possibility these teams would be from Group of Five conferences only?  Another distinct possibility.  Anything can happen and I just assume it will at this point.  That’s why I make somewhat crazy predictions at times (see Cal-Texas above).

Alright tomorrow will be the NFL recap.  I’ve started working on the college football schedules for next weekend.  Again it will be a PVR-riffic weekend which sucks because there are so many staggered times it’s ridiculous.  That is awesome live but super frustrating when you have to try to record almost everything.  I have become rather creative with piecing together games so that I can catch, hopefully at least, the ends of many those games.  Makes life as a college football fan at least a little bit more tolerable.

Week 13 College Football TV Schedule – Sponsored by ‘MURICAN TURKEY DAY FOOTBALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What the fuck else are you doing today (or tomorrow or on Saturday)? WORKING? OK that makes sense since us Canadians beat the Americans to the Thanksgiving punch by a month and a half every year (you think the Yanks would figure this out and try to beat us out once and make their Thanksgiving September 28th one year). But really, there is so much football on the next few days you could go into a coma (not saying it explicitly but that may be my goal). There are about 50 God damn games on from now until Monday night. If you are a football fan, this is your Christmas, New Year’s, and Easter all rolled into one. If not, piss off and let us have this one time of the year (other than the Super Bowl) where we can all go insane about football.

Alright let’s get down to business. First off, let me mention that there are three NFL Murican Turkey Day games today:

• Philadelphia at Detroit (12:30) – FOX
• Carolina at Dallas (4:30) – CBS (Yes CBS….it’s Crossover Craziness!!!!)
• Chicago at Green Bay (8:30) – NBC

Also, all these games are on pretty much all the Sportsnets I am sure.

Now to the college games and I am using a different format this time around. It’s my Murican Thanksgiving format I used last year where I list every game one-by-one. It gives more info and makes this post look that much more impressive (unless you like tables, then you’re gonna be some kind of pissed. Here we go! (* – game isn’t showing up on guide yet but should)

Tonight

USF at UCF (7:30, TSN5) – USF still has a shot at the AAC East title and the opportunity to screw up the Group of Five New Year’s Six spot by winning here. They would need to win and have Temple lose their game for this to happen. On the other side, UCF is finishing one of the worst seasons in recent history. They try to avoid a 0-12 season here.

Friday

#15 Navy at Houston (Noon, ABC/TSN2) – The biggest Group of Five game of the season here. The winner, chances are, clinches the Group of Five spot but they would still have the AAC Championship Game and, in Navy’s case, a game against Army. The fact this game is on ABC shows how much the American is better than any other Go5 conference.

Western Michigan at #24 Toledo (Noon, CBS Sports Network) – Toledo, thanks to Northern Illinois’ somewhat shocking loss the other night to Ohio, has the inside track on the MAC West title and an outside shot at the New Year’s Six. Of course, the Broncos could row that damn boat and basically end the MAC’s chance to sit at the adult table.

Miami at Pittsburgh (Noon, specialty pack) – The teams are better than they were last season when Pitt backed into a bowl game with a win over a Miami team that looked like they had quit on Al Golden (shocking I know). The teams are better this season and this means even less. Both teams are bowling and that’s all.

Missouri at Arkansas (2:30, CBS) – Mizzou has a chance to send Gary Pinkel out with a bowl game. They need to win here to do so. The Fighting Bielemas are already playing over the holidays.

#4 Iowa at Nebraska (3:30, ABC) – Huge game here with huge stakes. For Iowa, they win here, they go to the Big Ten Championship with a shot at the College Football Playoff on the line. For Nebraska, they somehow win, they go to a bowl game like they are supposed to (right?). Mike Riley needs this or else he starts his second season in Lincoln on the hot seat.

Boise State at San Jose State (3:30, CBS Sports Network) – SJSU needs a win here to go bowling. Boise isn’t as good as previous years so it’s a possibility.

#20 Washington State at Washington (3:30, FOX) – The Apple Cup is somewhat big for the Huskies as they have to win to go bowling. The Mike Leach Fun-time Gang has already had a successful season no matter what happens here.

UMass at Buffalo (4:30, specialty pack) – UMass’s final game in the MAC is against a Bulls team that needs a win to go bowling. So much bowl-eligibility going on this coming weekend.

#7 Baylor at #19 TCU (7:30, TSN1/3/4/5) – There has never been a college football game on four TSN stations at one time. Baylor still has an outside shot at getting to the CFP but needs a lot to happen, including beating the piss out of TCU here. The Horny Frogs will try their best not to let that happen. Plus I am sure horny is the last thing thought of at Texas CHRISTIAN University.

Tulsa at Tulane (8:00, specialty pack) – Yet another game involving a team looking for bowl-eligibility. The Golden Hurricane wins here over the Green Wave (two teams without plural team names…interesting) and they play over the holidays.

Saturday early

#8 Ohio State at #10 Michigan (Noon, ABC/TSN4) – The Game is still huge despite the fact both teams would need Michigan State to lose to win the Big Ten East Division crown. It’s been a while since Michigan was this good but Harbaughll has been the name of the game in Ann Arbor. Should be a good one.

Florida Atlantic at Old Dominion (Noon, MyTV) – This game will get eyeballs solely for the fact that Old Dominion has a shot to become bowl-eligible for the first time in program history. Other than that, this will probably suck balls.

Indiana at Purdue (Noon, Big Ten Network) – The Hoosiers can FINALLY make it back to a bowl game by beating their rivals from Purdue here for the Old Oaken Bucket. Purdue is still terrible and Darrell Hazell may very well lose his job with a loss here.

Cincinnati at East Carolina (Noon, CBS Sports Network) – The Pirates need a win here to go, you guessed it, bowling. Team Tubs can ruin ECU’s season with the win here.

Georgia at Georgia Tech (Noon, TSN1) – Clean, Old Fashioned Hate. One of the best rivalry games around…except for this season. Georgia is trending towards average and Tech blows. Let’s just hope for a good game here because otherwise there are other options early.

#1 Clemson at South Carolina (Noon, TSN5) – TSN stepping up their game this weekend. Nice to see. The Tigers can complete their perfect regular season with a win here over the woeful Cocks (I’m sure Woeful Cocks is the name of some porno out there). The USC of the east displaying their, ahem, “talent” for their next coach, whoever that may be (Kirby Smart?)

Virginia Tech at Virginia (Noon, specialty pack) – The Commonwealth Cup is Frank Beamer’s last chance to go to a bowl game before he retires. He has to remember it is UVA he is playing and that they aren’t that good. If the Hoos don’t fire Mike London after this season I will assume it’s a self-esteem issue more than anything…for the university not London.

Maryland at Rutgers (Noon, specialty pack (Rogers only)) – I am guessing the BTN alternate game will head to the specialty pack for Rogers customers. I don’t know why you’d want to watch this game but it is an option.

Louisville at Kentucky (Noon, specialty pack (Bell only)) – This feels familiar. Yes, just like last season, Kentucky comes into the Governor’s Cup needing a win to go bowling. Louisville is already in so beating their foes is more of a pride thing for them.

Boston College at Syracuse (12:30, specialty pack*) – With all the options, why would you subject yourself to this.

Duke at Wake Forest (12:30, WSBK/specialty pack) – Another ACC game that is almost unwatchable. Duke has struggled as of late after Miami’s non-touchdown ruined their division championship hopes. And Wake is Wake. Only go here if every other game is on a commercial break.

Saturday afternoon

#14 North Carolina at NC State (3:30, ABC/specialty pack) – OK this needs some explanation. If you get ABC out of Buffalo you get this game on ABC. If not, you get this game on the specialty pack and it’s still not showing up there. North Carolina’s NYS hopes could be gone if they lose here so they need momentum going into their ACC Championship game against the #1 Clemson Tigers.

Wisconsin at Minnesota (3:30, Big Ten Network) – Last season this game was huge. This year, not so much. Minnesota can go bowling with a win in this one. The NCAA is hoping some of these 5-win teams win or otherwise they have to do their jobs and figure out who gets to play in some of the bowl games.

#2 Alabama at Auburn (3:30, CBS) – To be honest, this may be the only SEC game that matters this week. Alabama wins and they go into the SEC Championship at #2. Lose and the SEC may be in a heap of trouble when it comes to the College Football Playoff.

BYU at Utah State (3:30, CBS Sports Network) – Two pretty good teams but in a game that means absolutely nothing as both teams are going to bowl games.

#22 UCLA at USC (3:30, ABC/TSN4) – If you get ABC out of Detroit, you get the game on ABC as well. Everyone gets this one on TSN4. Huge game here as the winner goes to the Pac-12 Championship to try and keep Stanford out of the New Year’s Six (since I truly believe the CFP is not happening for the Cardinal).

Penn State at #5 Michigan State (3:30, TSN5) – Sparty wins here and they go to the Big Ten Championship game with a shot at the CFP. Lose and they will be lucky to be in the NYS. It’s pretty cut-and-dry here for MSU.

#16 Northwestern vs. Illinois (in Chicago, 3:30, specialty pack) – So this time around it’s only Illinois needing a win to play in a bowl game. Northwestern has been very good this season (except for that inexplicable hiccup against Michigan) but this game means very little to them other than keeping the Illini out of the postseason.

Vanderbilt at Tennessee (4:00, specialty pack (Bell only)) – To be honest, I don’t have a single reason why you would want to watch this game.

Saturday primetime & late night

UConn at #25 Temple (7:00, specialty pack) – I really do not understand how the later games are already on the guides, yet the earlier ones aren’t. So stupid. Anyway, Temple needs a win here or a loss by USF on Thursday (fat chance) to go to the AAC Championship to possibly destroy the American’s chances at the New Year’s Six. And no, this isn’t a trophy game DIACO!

#18 Ole Miss at #21 Mississippi State (7:15, TSN5/specialty pack) – There is no way this stays on the specialty pack unless they are doing a Finebaum Alternate Viewing thing which, I will admit, was somewhat hilarious last year for the Iron Bowl. This year’s Egg Bowl not nearly as important unless Bama blows a gasket against Auburn. Then it’s massively important.

#6 Notre Dame at #9 Stanford (7:30, FOX) – Huge game for both teams but mostly for the Irish since, even with a win here, I find it hard to believe Stanford could vault themselves into the CFP. Then again, the way this season is going, the Cardinal could end up in the #2 spot for all we know. Stranger things have happened. This has to be considered FOX’s game of the year.

#13 Florida State at #12 Florida (7:30, TSN3/specialty pack) – Again, this will not be on the specialty pack. Good on The Committee for dropping the Gators like a stone (somewhat). That performance against FAU was terrible. But they can go right back into the top 10 with a win here. Winner probably gets an NYS spot, loser won’t. Plain and simple.

Texas A&M at LSU (7:30, specialty pack (Bell only)) – Another game where this no real value to watching it, other than when all the other games are at commercial breaks. Oh, and the fact there is an insane rumour that Les Miles could be shitcanned by LSU. Are they fucking stupid? Unless they have a really good replacement, this would be a boneheaded move because the team only won 7 or 8 games this season. HOW DARE THEY!

#3 Oklahoma at #11 Oklahoma State (8:00, ABC/TSN1) – BEDLAM!!! This game is huge and now that the Sooners are at #3, if they win this game, they pretty much clinch a CFP spot. So the Hee-Haw version of OSU can cost the Big XII yet again and fuel EXPANSION TALK by winning this one.

Colorado State at Fresno State (9:00, CBS Sports Network) – An odd start time for a game that very few people will watch.

Air Force at New Mexico (10:15, specialty pack) – I think by this time, most hardcore college football fans will be in a coma. Lucky for you, with two option offenses playing each other, this game may be done by midnight.

Nevada at San Diego State (10:45, specialty pack) – I may not even be able to make it to the end of this one.

OK, there are more spots on the specialty pack guides than there are games to show. This means one of two things: a) they will be showing some ESPNEWS/ESPN3 games or b) those spots will magically disappear by the end of today. I am going with b) on this one since there’s already enough college football on (I can’t believe I am saying that), there is no reason to put anything extra there.

Enjoy the football when you can and hopefully you survive!

UPDATE: Most of the games appearing on the specialty packs.  Only exclusions (as of right now) are Boston College-Syracuse and Duke-Wake Forest (although Duke-WF is on WSBK already so no loss there).