Well what do you know? The 2022 Bowl Game TV Schedule

Posted on December 8, 2022 by guelphbossman

I am honestly shocked. I was not impressed with TSN’s coverage of college football this season. The World Cup didn’t help and I understand that but it seemed like TSN was hellbent on showing less college football than they had in years.

Then I find the TSN bowl game schedule and holy shit! Damn near most of the games are being shown on a TSN channel. Very impressive. I have to, for once, give TSN props for really going all in with the college football postseason: the most important but also weirdest part of the college football schedule.

Anyway, let’s get right to the sked!

Friday December 16th

Bahamas Bowl: UAB vs. Miami-OH

11:30 AM

Bowl season starts with the Bahamas Bowl in front of maybe 10,000 fans. Maybe. Probably not. This is the most extreme version of the destination bowl game. Attendance can’t be good because Thomas Robinson Stadium in Nassau only holds 15,000. And I don’t remember the stands ever being half-full for this game. But for the players and staff? Holy shit this is great. Playing football in great weather and being able to experience the GOD DAMN BAHAMAS! It’ll be a trip of a lifetime for at least 90% involved.

Cure Bowl: #25 UTSA vs. #24 Troy

3:00 PM

As I said, TSN has seriously stepped up this season. I will show how much they have stepped up after the schedule. This game is EASILY the best pre-Christmas game and it’s not even close. How the Cure Bowl got two Top 25 teams, who are also both conference champions, I will never know. But I’m glad it happened.

Saturday December 17th

Fenway Bowl: Louisville vs. Cincinnati

11:00 AM

This was always going to be an odd bowl game what with the Fenway Park configuration and the Green Monster in the background. Now with Scott Satterfield leaving Louisville to coach at Cincinnati? Ho boy this is going to be something.

Look, in my opinion, it doesn’t matter if Jackson State loses here. They are the best HBCU football team in the land by a country mile. It’s not even close. And really, the MEAC isn’t close anymore to the SWAC. Outgoing JSU head coach Deion Sanders said the SWAC and MEAC should merge into one super-HBCU conference. I agree. What would this do to the Celebration Bowl? Probably end it. However, I am of the opinion that every so often there is an HBCU school that could do serious damage in the FCS Playoffs. This year would have been Jackson State. Do I think they would have been a dark horse contender for the FCS title? Yes, absolutely. It would have also been a way to probably get more FCS playoff games on channels everyone can see (as in not ESPN+) but that’s another story.

Las Vegas Bowl: Florida vs. #14 Oregon State

2:15 PM

This was supposed to become somewhat of a premier bowl game once the SEC was tagged to replace the Mountain West here. Hasn’t happened that way. Sure, Florida is a good brand but it’s not nearly a good football team as some other SEC teams (or MWC teams for that matter). Oregon State probably deserved better. Also, this game was originally slated for ABC in primetime but because the Las Vegas Raiders are a terrible football franchise, their game the next day was flexed out of Sunday Night Football and moved back into the afternoon. It meant there wouldn’t be enough time to make sure the stadium was ready after this game. So this game swapped with the New Mexico Bowl and gets a 12:15 local start.

It’s the opening Saturday for bowl games. Will I watch this? Yes, of course. Will I pay full attention to this? Depends on other overlapping bowl games and what happens with the NFL games being played on the same day.

LendingTree Bowl: Southern Miss vs. Rice

5:45 PM

Rice got in thanks to the fact they are graduating students at a better rate than all the other football programs at the FBS level who had 5-7 records. Seems awfully specific. Anyway, it’s a bowl game so I’m there.

It’s been 42 years but SMU might finally get its revenge for one of the greatest bowl comebacks of all time: the 1980 Holiday Bowl. I remember playing that on Heisman level in NCAA Football 2005 (or was it 2004?). Talk about one of the toughest challenges to defeat. Anyway, this should be fun.

Frisco Bowl: North Texas vs. Boise State

9:15 PM

The site of the FCS Championship also hosts the Frisco Bowl and the short-lived Frisco Football Classic which we should never talk about again. I’m surprised they don’t move the FCS title game around but I guess it gets good crowds and decent weather so why mess with a good thing. Boise will definitely be the visiting team here.

Monday December 19th

Myrtle Beach Bowl: UConn vs. Marshall

2:30 PM

UConn in a bowl game! That alone is worth watching. Will anyone care that poor Marshall is there and had a pretty good first Sun Belt season? No because the UCONN HUSKIES ARE BOWLING! Now if we can somehow get UMass to go bowling…God help us all.

Tuesday December 20th

Idaho Potato Bowl: San Jose State vs. Eastern Michigan

3:30 PM

A rematch of the 1987 California Bowl. Back when these two teams were not highly regarded at all. I guess you could have said the same thing like a decade ago as well. These two programs have become relatively consistent winners and have stabilized themselves. I think many of the fans would be pulling for the Spartans here considering the tragedy that befell the team late in the season. I still wish this game was on at night so that blue turf could basically become an ice rink.

Boca Raton Bowl: Toledo vs. Liberty

7:30 PM

So why wasn’t this game put on during the day? Play in Boca in the afternoon sun? That would be good, no? Anyway, I have somewhat softened my stance on bowl games during weekdays (days!) before Christmas so when it comes right down to it, I don’t really care when it airs. I guess this is the attitude that comes about thanks to COVID and being home a lot more than we were ever used to.

Wednesday December 21st

New Orleans Bowl: South Alabama vs. WKU

9:00 PM

The first game to appear on the specialty pack. So if you had the specialty pack all year, you were thrilled because TSN didn’t exactly light it up with college football game coverage on their schedule. Bowl time…well, that’s where things fall apart for you. Yes there are a few games that head to the specialty pack but TSN ends up with the majority of the games. I guess it’s the price you pay to get a good amount of college football throughout the season.

Thursday December 22nd

Armed Forces Bowl: Baylor vs. Air Force

7:30 PM

Air Force loves to run the ball. Baylor is alright defensively but this seems to be a step below a Dave Aranda defense. Expect a lopsided time of possession battle.

Friday December 23rd

Independence Bowl: Houston vs. Louisiana

3:00 PM

Aesthetically, the Independence Bowl looks the worst now that the Gasparilla Bowl moved outdoors to Raymond James Stadium. But I like it. Gives off that 80s grungy college football old-school style that you just don’t see anymore…partially thanks to cameras that give us better than Betamax quality.

Gasparilla Bowl: Missouri vs. Wake Forest

6:30 PM

I never get why TSN does this though. Early game on a TSN station. Later game…not. I know there are other live sports contracts that TSN has to deal with but it just seems odd, especially when a game goes over that three hour, thirty minute time window.

Saturday December 24th

Hawaii Bowl: Middle Tennessee vs. San Diego State

8:00 PM

The annual Present Wrapping Bowl. Or more like Stocking Stuffer Bowl since I make sure to have all the presents wrapped before Christmas Eve. Isn’t that what we’re supposed to do during this bowl game?

Monday December 26th

Quick Lane Bowl: New Mexico State vs. Bowling Green

2:30 PM

Normally, very few would want to watch this. But it’s a Monday. And for college football fans, it’s a chance to see New Mexico State in a bowl game. At one point they were the Halley’s Comet of FBS schools when it came to bowl games but now they go every few years. Not bad. Helps to have a good coach like Jerry Kill there. Hey, how the hell did they get Jerry Kill to coach in Las Cruces in the first place?

Tuesday December 27th

Camellia Bowl: Georgia Southern vs. Buffalo

Noon

I see the Christmas Day Camellia Bowl idea died a quiet death. Probably a good thing. If I recall correctly, the only bowl game that ever worked on Christmas Day was the Aloha Bowl back in the 80s and 90s. I remember watching it at my aunt and uncle’s house one year during Christmas dinner. I don’t think you’d catch anyone watching college football during Christmas dinner in this part of the world anymore.

First Responder Bowl: Memphis vs. Utah State

3:15 PM

This is technically a bowl game. Look it’s on a Tuesday afternoon. Many people are working (although some get between Christmas and New Year’s off). It just screams low-level bowl game and is the example used by the “Too Many Bowl Games” crowd.

Birmingham Bowl: Coastal Carolina vs. East Carolina

6:45 PM

Coastal has fallen off a cliff in their last few games this season. Barely beating App State and Southern Miss and then getting destroyed by James Madison and Troy. Not a good look. Now their coach is off to Liberty. They are hoping to get some momentum going into next year against ECU. Also, I wonder when this bowl game will get a sponsor. Isn’t Pornhub looking to invest in sports?

Guaranteed Rate Bowl: Wisconsin vs. Oklahoma State

10:15 PM

Wisconsin got a great head coach hire in Luke Fickell. I don’t know if he’s coaching the team in this bowl game but I’m sure that will be most of the talk here. Otherwise, it’s a late night bowl game that everyone hopes becomes super wacky.

Wednesday December 28th

Military Bowl: Duke vs. UCF

2:00 PM

Always nice to see Duke in a bowl game. It’s funny: everyone kind of likes Duke football. Duke basketball: not so much.

Liberty Bowl: Arkansas vs. Kansas

5:30 PM

It’s the battle for Kansas (kind of)! This is a nice consolation prize for us not getting Kansas-Missouri in a bowl game. And I know Missouri said they didn’t duck the Jayhawks but you think they would admit that? It’s like Texas repeatedly dodging Texas A&M in bowl games. Like just man up and if you get a bid there, play them. Stop being such pussies.

I honestly thought the Tar Heels would give Clemson a good game in the ACC Championship. Boy, was I ever wrong. This isn’t a bad spot to land though. Bo Nix will play so I can see this being a VERY motivated Ducks team.

Texas Bowl: Ole Miss vs. Texas Tech

9:00 PM

A team that looked like an honest contender up against a team who had a good season under a fiery coach. Oh and their fans love to throw tortillas. The Lane Train vs. The Taco Express.

Thursday December 29th

Pinstripe Bowl: Minnesota vs. Syracuse

2:00 PM

I always sincerely hope it is snowing like crazy when this game is played. I remembered the Kansas State-Syracuse classic from years ago and it was a great game and fun to watch. I’m sure not pleasant at all for players or coaches or fans but who cares. It’s all about entertaining me!

Cheez-It Bowl: Oklahoma vs. #13 Florida State

5:30 PM

If this was 1992, people would be putting this game at the top of the must-watch lists. Alas, Oklahoma was as bad as its been since before Bob Stoops took over. FSU on the other hand is a fun team finally on the rise. And they will definitely be a heavy home favourite here in the 19th bowl game out of 254 played in Orlando every year (unofficially).

Alamo Bowl: #20 Texas vs. #12 Washington

9:00 PM

Almost a home game for the Longhorns and that could spell trouble for the Huskies in a packed Alamodome. The Alamo Bowl almost always has one of the top three non-CFP, non-NY6 bowl games and this year is no exception.

Friday December 30th

Sun Bowl: Pittsburgh vs. #18 UCLA

Noon

OK so now that CBS will be done with the SEC after next season…I still haven’t changed what I think about the bowl tie-ins. An SEC West team should be here. Or a Big XII team. Or hell, a Mountain West team. Against a Pac-12 team. That’s how this should work. You want fans? Do this. Guaranteed there will be plenty of good seats available for this one in El Paso for the *checks notes* 10:00 AM LOCAL KICKOFF?

Duke’s Mayo Bowl: Maryland vs. #23 NC State

Noon

So who gets the big vat of mayo dumped on them at the end of this one? I think it would be funnier if Mike Locksley gets doused in mayo rather than Dave Doeren so I will pull for the Terps here.

Gator Bowl: #19 South Carolina vs. #21 Notre Dame

3:30 PM

Two good underrated teams here at a game that hasn’t been used to getting good teams lately. So move the game to the middle of the day on December 30th and watch what happens. Supposedly, the Gator Bowl committee pushed hard to get Notre Dame. Probably a good idea instead of an ACC team.

The second year of Barstool Sports being the sponsor for this bowl game. I don’t know how many people go to Barstool Sports’ website to watch this one. I can’t see it being very high but this very much is the future of bowl games. I do kind of wish they would partner up with some network, even one like NESN, so that at least some people can watch this bowl game until it becomes a bigger deal.

Orange Bowl: #7 Clemson vs. #6 Tennessee

8:00 PM

And finally we get to the New Year’s Six bowl games and holy shit is this one orange. Orange Bowl. Orange uniforms. Orange logos. Orange everywhere. You’ll be able to see this game from space. This should be a really good game as you have two teams who weren’t that far away from being in the College Football Playoff getting that national spotlight.

Saturday December 31st

The over/under for this one is 31.5. 31.5. I repeat, THIRTY-ONE POINT FIVE. That is ridiculous. I would still bet the under. This bowl needed its own timeslot and they aren’t getting it so I see a lot of people flocking to the other game on at the exact same time.

Sugar Bowl: #5 Alabama vs. #9 Kansas State

Noon

This could be an interesting game. If both teams show up to play then I see the Wildcats giving the Tide all they can handle. I don’t know how Nick Saban will hide his disappointment in not getting into the College Football Playoff after that ridiculous halftime interview he was allowed to give to state his team’s case for the playoff. Dumb. It is also going to be weird to see the Sugar Bowl on at Noon. On New Year’s Eve.

Fiesta Bowl: #2 Michigan vs. #3 TCU

4:00 PM

So many think TCU shouldn’t have even been in this game meaning there are many who want the Horned Frogs to be blown out in this one. I could see this being closer than many people think. Also, the 2-3 matchup is almost always better, historically, than the 1-4 matchup in the College Football Playoff.

Peach Bowl: #1 Georgia vs. #4 Ohio State

8:00 PM

The Buckeyes backing into the playoff has left a sour taste in some people’s mouths. I get it but I still think there is way too much emphasis on conference championship games. Until they get rid of divisions in every conference, some of the conference championships look horrible. It is kind of weird to see this one on TSN2 when the previous game is on TSN3 but my guess is that the Canada-Sweden World Juniors game will end up on all the other TSNs other than TSN2 (which is still seen as an alternate channel to an extent).

Monday January 2nd

ReliaQuest Bowl: #22 Mississippi State vs. Illinois

Noon

Two of the more popular head coaches in college football will clash here in the former Outback Bowl. Complete contrast in styles: Mike Leach’s Run n’ Gun up against Bret Bielema’s Ground n’ Pound. Should be a good first game of the new year.

It’s always a tiny bit weird to have these college bowl games on January 2nd instead of New Year’s Day. You can’t have them going up against the NFL, though, and no one would probably even attempt it (plus TSN might be a bit miffed if that happened). So on the first day back at work for some people, they may miss some good football. I guess that’s one of the downsides of a lot of bowl games.

Cotton Bowl: #10 USC vs. #16 Tulane

1:00 PM

I find with the way the College Football Playoff has been set up, the best Group of Five team, more often than not, is in a bit of a lose-lose situation. They show up to this big bowl game and if they win, there will be piles of excuses heaped on to why (and it usually revolves around injuries). If they lose, then they didn’t belong in the first place. This is something you don’t get for Power Five teams (except in the semi-finals). I do find college football media a bit odd that way.

Rose Bowl: #11 Penn State vs. #8 Utah

5:00 PM

It is going to be really weird to watch this bowl game and realize that the next game is the national championship. No Sugar Bowl. No odd bowl game here and there between now and the title game. This is it. I think this will be the underrated bowl game of the year (or at least as much as it can be when both teams are in the Top 15).

Monday January 9th

College Football Playoff National Championship

8:00 PM

This is the one game that, at this point, is not confirmed for where it will appear on TSN. I am putting down these three channels because ESPN usually does like 43 different broadcasts for this event and TSN always picks up the main broadcast, plus one or two of the others. I sincerely hope they have the Coaches Room again and if they do, it should be a open bar for them. Free food. The works. Want to know how they really feel? That’s how you do it. Talk about ratings gold!

Let’s look at the breakdown for the games:

TSN – 30 games
ABC & TSN – 5 games
FOX – 1 game
CBS – 1 game
Barstool Sports – 1 game
specialty pack – 5 games

See what I mean? TSN will be showing 35 of the 43 bowl games this season. Over 80%. Amazing. I just wish they would show more games during the season.

Alright I have started toying with a new format for the blog posts. Not saying this is set in stone but I am going to try it out for a bit and if I feel it’s working then this is what it will look like going forward (until I get bored and want to change it again). Enjoy the rest of your week everyone!

So….many……BOWL GAMES!!!!! The Bowl Game TV Schedule

Posted on December 12, 2021 by guelphbossman

Let’s look at this graphic. I think it’s like four or five years old. How many of these bowls don’t exist anymore? Well, let’s take a look. The Russell Athletic Bowl, Cactus Bowl, St. Petersburg Bowl, Miami Beach Bowl, Poinsettia Bowl and Heart of Dallas Bowl all don’t exist, at least under those names. I’m not even going to start on the sponsors. There have been some absurd bowl sponsors but I am sincerely hoping they get even more absurd. Like why not bring back the International Bowl in Toronto but call it the Timbit Bowl sponsored by Tim Hortons? Or get Pornhub to sponsor a bowl game. The possibilities are endless.

So supposedly TSN has at least part of their bowl schedule up. I can see a link but it links to a previous year’s bowl schedule. Hopefully it’s fixed and once it does, I can make sure the schedule is proper on this post. I would try and predict it but considering what they are doing on the first three days of bowl season, I don’t know what’s going on there. And with the World Juniors coming soon…yeah I’ll try my best but I will let you know when it’s all set.

So after last year where Bowl Season was an absolute shitshow, we are back to some normality. Now let’s hope none of these bowls get cancelled for any reason. Let’s get going with the even longer bowl schedule!

Friday December 17th

Bahamas Bowl: Middle Tennessee vs. Toledo

Noon

This may be the one case where I think it’s OK to have a game on a weekday before Christmas. I know there are logistical hurdles with this game so there’s a lot to do and also I am sure the stadium there wouldn’t be able to do a night game. So I give this bowl game a pass. Oh well, if this is like Bahamas Bowls of the past this should be good.

Cure Bowl: Coastal Carolina vs. Northern Illinois

6:00 PM

This bowl got some good Group of Five teams for once in its short history. The Chants are still a team people love and the Huskies won the MAC. It’s the passing acumen of Grayson McCall vs. the stingy defense of NIU. Nice contrast of styles. This is also only one of two bowl games on ESPN2 this season. Why not give it to CBS if that’s the case?

Saturday December 18th

Boca Raton Bowl: Appalachian State vs. Western Kentucky

11:00 AM

Morning football. We will see a lot of this for the first time ever as ESPN restructures how their bowl schedule shapes up. And what a way to wake up than with a game where we could see 100 combined points. This is a national showcase for Bailey Zappe as he is rocketing up draft boards around the NFL.

Celebration Bowl: Jackson State vs. South Carolina State

Noon

The only FCS bowl around as the rest of the teams play in the FCS Playoffs. If you really like the college bands that HBCU schools have then this is the game for you. Also, you will see one of the best HBCU teams in recent memory. I still await the time when Deion Sanders gets a legit offer to coach at the FBS level. It could come around this time considering the sheer amount of openings still around.

New Mexico Bowl: Fresno State vs. UTEP

2:15 PM

I know I am going to watch this. Yes there are other games on at the same time but I am such a channel flipper that I end up watching games that probably don’t warrant watching. Like I’ve watched at least an hour’s worth of UMass football this season. What the fuck is wrong with me? Anyway, two teams who were once WAC teams face off in this one. I wonder if this will get close to a sell-out considering UTEP doesn’t exactly go to a lot of bowls and Albuquerque isn’t too far from El Paso.

UPDATE #4: With the Raiders-Browns game being postponed, this game will also be on TSN5.

Independence Bowl: #13 BYU vs. UAB

3:30 PM

I’m wondering how much BYU fans can’t wait to be in the Big XII. This right here shows that being a college football Independent really only works if you’re Notre Dame. People can crow about their good schedule and all that crap. But your reward for almost getting into the New Year’s Six is to be in fucking Shreveport before Christmas? The bowl system is broken and this is a perfect example. Also, the Cougs are only favoured by 7? I just don’t get this.

UPDATE #3: With the Raiders-Browns game being postponed, this game will also be on TSN1.

LendingTree Bowl: Liberty vs. Eastern Michigan

5:45 PM

Two relatively average Group of Five teams. As I’ve said earlier, I watch games like this. I am hoping it is a close one to keep my attention.

LA Bowl: Oregon State vs. Utah State

7:30 PM

So let met get this straight. It’s the first ever Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl. And instead of having UCLA there to hopefully pack a good portion of the stadium, they get Oregon State. This is completely stupid. This isn’t even about getting the best bowl matchup, as they love to say. UCLA against USU would be just as good as the matchup we see here. And this is on ABC to boot. Dumb.

New Orleans Bowl: #23 Louisiana vs. Marshall

9:00 PM

Finally, the Ragin Cajuns ascended to the top of the Sun Belt mountain. Their reward was to stay near home to play at the Superdome. This should sell quite a few tickets. They go up against a really good Marshall offense in this one to finish the first big day of bowl season (no offense to the previous day but come on).

Monday December 20th

Myrtle Beach Bowl: Tulsa vs. Old Dominion

2:30 PM

So they have this game on in the middle of the day, five days before Christmas. I get that Monday Night Football is on at night. So if that’s the case, don’t put a fucking bowl game on that day. There are ways around this and ESPN just doesn’t seem to understand that they can do that. They control the broadcasts for over 90% of the bowl games. Figure it out! On top of that, Coastal isn’t in this game so they may not even sell out the small stadium near Myrtle Beach. Ugh.

UPDATE #5: This game has been moved to TSN2 with the NFL game now being on TSN1.

Tuesday December 21st

Idaho Potato Bowl: Wyoming vs. Kent State

3:30 PM

Why don’t they put this game on late and have the Frisco Bowl on in early spot? Do I have to do everything around here? Hopefully it’s a good Footbaw Weather game and we witness some crazy shenanigans because otherwise many of you will only be able to see the second half at most.

Frisco Bowl: #24 San Diego State vs. UTSA

7:30 PM

This could be the first bowl game that comes close to must-see territory. And it gets a primetime spot which is good. Both teams are two of the better Group of Five teams this season with UTSA coming within one destruction at the hands of North Texas from being undefeated this season and SDSU looking great all year except for getting boatraced by Utah State in the Mountain West Championship.

UPDATE #8: This game has been moved to TSN3 because of the WFT-Eagles game being put on TSN1.

Wednesday December 22nd

Armed Forces Bowl: Army vs. Missouri

8:00 PM

The Armed Forces Bowl with Army. Makes sense. Mizzou being here? Sure I guess although I am surprised they didn’t get a team from the state of Texas to play here against the Black Knights.

Thursday December 23rd

Frisco Football Classic: North Texas vs. Miami-OH

3:30 PM

So ESPN created a bowl game so that all bowl-eligible teams (plus Hawaii who had six wins but also seven losses) to play in bowl games this season. That is very nice of them. That’s why we get this game, the (not-so) awesomely named Frisco Football Classic. This one-off game (we think) will pit two teams who are positively average. And (this sounds like a broken record….Google what a record is, kids) this game is on in the afternoon on a weekday before Christmas. Not ideal.

UPDATE #11: This is now airing on TSN1 and TSN3.

Gasparilla Bowl: UCF vs. Florida

7:00 PM

I wonder if this game will sell out Raymond James Stadium. You have to think there’s a great opportunity here. See, this is the best of what bowl games can provide. Two teams that really never play each other and aren’t too far from each other facing off in a national spotlight game. UCF really could close the door on any debate for state supremacy with a win here.

UPDATE #12: This is now airing on TSN2.

UPDATE: This game is a sellout.

Friday December 24th

~~Hawaii Bowl: Hawaii vs. Memphis~~

8:00 PM

The Christmas Eve tradition continues! I love having this on while I finish last minute wrapping and stocking stuffer stuffing. Not going to lie to you all…I just got my Christmas tree up. Yeah I’m crawling slowly into Christmas season unlike others who have 15,000 lights on outside and have bought the 146 presents that are already sitting under the tree.

UPDATE #13: Due to COVID (and other things), Hawaii has pulled out of the Hawaii Bowl meaning this game is cancelled. Now what the hell am I going to do while I put the finishing touches on Christmas wrapping?

Saturday December 25th

Camellia Bowl: Georgia State vs. Ball State

2:30 PM

Football on Christmas Day. Will this compete with the NBA and their traditional Christmas Day games? Probably not, but it’s football so I will watch. And if it’s close, even better. Means I won’t change the channel. My remote control would be happy.

Monday December 27th

Quick Lane Bowl: Nevada vs. Western Michigan

11:00 AM

This is one of those games that the Too Many Bowls crowd would point to and say “Hey…there’s too many bowls.” I honestly don’t care because, as I have said often, it’s football so I will watch it. We’ll see how I feel about the sheer amount of morning starts during bowl season. I can see it getting old fast but who knows.

~~Military Bowl: Boston College vs. East Carolina~~

2:30 PM

Mike Houston has done a fantastic job down in Greenville with the Pirates. I don’t think anyone, including ECU fans, thought this team would be bowling this season. Instead, they have a chance to close out their season with eight wins if they can beat a very inconsistent BC squad.

UPDATE #14: This game has been cancelled because of major COVID issues with the BC football team.

Tuesday December 28th

Birmingham Bowl: Auburn vs. #20 Houston

Noon

Good to see this game has moved to UAB’s new Protective Stadium. Gets it out of Legion Field which always looked like it was about to collapse during a game. This also gets quite the good matchup. This is the kind of game I would get more of during bowl season: P5 vs. G5.

First Responder Bowl: Air Force vs. Louisville

3:15 PM

I still remember back to the 2018 version of this game between Boston College and Boise State. If you remember, the weather was so bad in the area that they had to completely cancel the game. I am honestly shocked they did that since I figured they would do anything to get a bowl game completed. I guessed wrong. Anyway, Air Force will run a lot (spoiler alert) so let’s see if the Cards’ defense can stop the Falcons attack and keep this close.

Liberty Bowl: Mississippi State vs. Texas Tech

6:45 PM

The Mike Leach Bowl! Mike Leach’s current team, the Bulldogs, face a team he used to coach and left on less-than-nice terms, the Red Raiders. If it was totally up to Leach, the game would end up 77-76 with about 1400 yards passing between the two teams.

~~Holiday Bowl: #18 NC State vs. UCLA~~

8:00 PM

FOX is now down to one bowl game, this one. At least it ended up a pretty good matchup in what could be Chip Kelly’s final game as Bruins head coach. I assume that soon enough, Wolfpack fans will be back to wanting to fire Dave Doeren but it won’t happen after this game…unless they lose by like 30.

UPDATE #19: 19 updates. Sweet Jesus. Hey, stop me if you’ve heard this before. Another bowl game cancelled. UCLA basically has almost no defensive line to play tonight (among issues with some of the other units) thanks to COVID so this game is being cancelled. This means FOX will not broadcast a bowl game this season.

Guaranteed Rate Bowl: Minnesota vs. West Virginia

10:15 PM

The former Cheez-It Bowl (the current Cheez-It Bowl is actually the old Camping World Bowl…yeah it’s confusing) isn’t exactly a sexy matchup. I think we can be assured, though, that we won’t see the TCU-Cal debacle from a few years back. At least I hope not since that was awful football.

Wednesday December 29th

~~Fenway Bowl: Virginia vs. SMU~~

11:00 AM

I am curious as to the setup of the field for this one. I would laugh if it was like the games at Wrigley where there is no room between the end line and the ivy of the outfield wall. Imagine a receiver catching a ball, taking two steps and crashing into the Green Monster?

UPDATE #15: I guess I have to wait another year to see how this will look since this game has been cancelled due to, you guessed it, ~~Frank Stallone~~ COVID.

Pinstripe Bowl: Maryland vs. Virginia Tech

2:15 PM

This should be a very close game between these two teams. Nice to see the Terps back in a bowl game as Mike Locksley has FINALLY had a good season at the helm…of any team. He was terrible as coach at New Mexico and wasn’t looking a whole lot better in College Park but has finally figured it out. The Hokies will be in a showcase game for new coach Brent Pry as any returning players will try their best to show why they should get a lot of playing time next year on a team that clearly has fallen to the middle of the pack in the ACC.

Cheez-It Bowl: #19 Clemson vs. Iowa State

5:45 PM

Does it feel like Clemson should be the 19th-ranked team in college football? They weren’t even that good this season. Despite the fact they are no longer the standard bearer in the ACC, this feels like a good spot to land because, honestly, they should have gone to a place like Shreveport to play. Hey, just checked the spread and I think I’m justified in how I’m thinking. Cyclones are favoured by 1 and not ranked. And Clemson lost both coordinators to head coaching positions elsewhere. Now watch the Tigers win by 50.

Alamo Bowl: #16 Oklahoma vs. #14 Oregon

9:15 PM

Best non-CFP, non-NY6 bowl? You could make the case here. The Sooners come in actually with a head coach as Mario Cristobal left the Ducks for Miami not too long ago. I don’t think Brent Venables is coaching this game although it would be funny if the Sooners defense is playing like shit and he just decides to show up and coach the rest of the way out of disgust.

UPDATE #2: As soon as I post this, I learn that Dan Lanning will be the next head coach at Oregon.

Thursday December 30th

Duke’s Mayo Bowl: South Carolina vs. North Carolina

11:30 AM

This bowl has so much at stake. OK it has two things at stake. One, this is the battle for Carolina Supremacy. OK more like teams with Carolina in their name Supremacy. OK fine, North vs. South (excluding NC State). The other is that the person who runs the Duke’s Mayo Bowl said he would donate $10,000 to the winning coach’s charity of choice if he is willing to have a Gatorade cooler full of Duke’s Mayo dumped on him after the win. This is what we’ve all wanted. This must happen. And please let it be Mack Brown.

Music City Bowl: Tennessee vs. Purdue

3:00 PM

Another bowl game that was smart to get at least one close team to play in it. Having the Vols play in Nashville pretty much guarantees a sellout. And with Purdue, it looks like we will see a good, relatively close game. It’s probably a good thing that college football fans aren’t like certain sets of soccer fans since seeing tens of thousands of people clad in bright orange tearing a stadium apart, attacking the other fans and taking on police officers would be a terrifying site (especially when the band plays Rocky Top and the Vol fans continue their attacks while singing).

Peach Bowl: #10 Michigan State vs. #12 Pittsburgh

7:00 PM

Alright, we finally have got to the first New Year’s Six bowl game. The Pat Narduzzi Bowl. If you had either of these two teams in a New Year’s Six bowl at the start of the season, then head to Vegas or buy a lottery ticket because you totally defeated the odds. Two of the best college football players of the season will be on display in this one: Kenny Pickett and Kenneth Walker III. I kind of wish the Heisman voting was done after bowl games because these showcases would be good for some of these players who are just outside the #1 spot and could use a great showing in front of a national audience to propel them to the top.

Las Vegas Bowl: Wisconsin vs. Arizona State

10:30 PM

Are the bars and casinos in Vegas ready for this one? Forget the game: the Badger fans (and to a lesser extent, Sun Devil fans) will wipe out the beer economy in this city if they are allowed to. The amount of puke in the streets and near the hotels (not to mention at the stadium) will be enormous. It’s gonna stink. I don’t know how good the game will be but the amount of fights in the stands has an over/under of 7.5.

Friday December 31st

Gator Bowl: ~~#25 Texas A&M~~ Rutgers vs. #17 Wake Forest

11:00 AM

One of the other candidates for non-NY6 bowl game of the season. Somehow, Dave Clawson wasn’t hired by another team. Texas A&M lost their defensive coordinator, Mike Elko, to Duke so this could be a bad day for the Aggie defense against Sam Hartman, who should have received more Heisman consideration if you ask me.

UPDATE #9: Texas A&M has major COVID issues inside the football program and will not have enough players ready for this game so they have pulled out. As of right now, Rutgers, Texas & Illinois seem to be up next using APR calculations. There is also the possibility that Marshall or Utah State, both teams already played in bowls this season, could be selected if a 5-7 team doesn’t accept.

UPDATE #10: Rutgers (RUTGERS!) will replace Texas A&M in the Gator Bowl. Oh my.

Sun Bowl: ~~Miami~~ Central Michigan vs. Washington State

12:30 PM

I will say it for what feels like the twentieth year in a row: this is where I hate the way bowls do tie-ins. The ACC does not belong in the Sun Bowl. Either put in the Big XII (which is what I would prefer) or do a Mountain West tie-in. You will struggle to fill half the stadium when an ACC team is there. And not having UTEP there makes this even worse since that would at least get 30,000 fans or so inside the stadium and create a great atmosphere for the game.

UPDATE #16: Miami has pulled out of the Sun Bowl due to ~~not wanting to go to El Paso~~ COVID protocols. I will keep you updated on if another team, maybe one that has already had a bowl game cancelled, will step up to play Wazzu.

UPDATE #18: Due to the Arizona Bowl being cancelled, Central Michigan is free to play in another bowl and has been invited to play in El Paso. I think it’s only like a four hour drive and now the Chips get a shit-ton more money to play in the postseason. Good work guys!

~~Arizona Bowl: Boise State vs. Central Michigan~~

2:00 PM

So….how can you even watch this game? I guess you have to go to the Barstool Sports website? How many people will watch this game, with the Cotton Bowl starting 90 minutes later, on New Year’s Eve, on a website that quite a few college football fans wouldn’t go to at gunpoint? This may work like 5 years or so from now but in 2021, this still doesn’t fly.

UPDATE #17: Well, Barstool will have to wait another year to broadcast their first bowl game. Boise State have way too many COVID issues to bring a team to Tucson so the bowl game has been cancelled.

Cotton Bowl: #1 Alabama vs. #4 Cincinnati

3:30 PM

OK we have got to the semi-final games. This looks like it could go one of two ways. The first way, and the one most people think it will go, is Bama absolutely annihilating the Bearcats and the game being essentially over by halftime. The other way is that Cincy keeps this game very close going into the fourth quarter and social media goes apeshit at the potential for one of the biggest upsets in college football history. I am praying for the latter.

Orange Bowl: #2 Michigan vs. #3 Georgia

7:30 PM

This is obviously the more exciting of the two semi-final matchups. And it’s in primetime on New Year’s Eve? I get sick of the Rose (and to a lesser extent, the Sugar) Bowl getting such preferential treatment when it comes to restructuring the playoff and Bowl Season. Not saying they have to move off of New Year’s Day if they absolutely don’t need to but those two bowls sticking to those times makes it impossible in a situation like this to have the College Football Playoff semi-finals on anything other than New Year’s Eve. It’s ridiculous and needs to be part of the conversation when they expand the playoff (which they will). Anyway, this is going to very interesting as other than the SEC Championship, UGA’s defense was one of the best in recent memory. Meanwhile, Michigan used the run better than almost any team in the nation and no team was really able to stop them, just maybe trip them up a bit. I believe this is basically a pick’em.

Saturday January 1st

Outback Bowl: #21 Arkansas vs. Penn State

Noon

Good for this game that it starts an hour earlier than the two games coming up next. Otherwise it would probably get very few viewers.

Citrus Bowl: #22 Kentucky vs. #15 Iowa

1:00 PM

Final candidate for best non-New Year’s Six bowl game and it is on at an awful time. I get that it gets crowded on New Year’s Day but overlapping with another game, a better game, is a recipe for disaster. And frankly, it’s unfair for the Wildcats and Hawkeyes who both had great seasons. Both teams will be looking to finish their seasons on a high note and go into the next season ranked in the preseason poll.

Fiesta Bowl: #5 Notre Dame vs. #9 Oklahoma State

1:00 PM

Now this should be interesting. Will the Irish feel slighted about not getting into the CFP or will they run through a brick wall for new coach Marcus Freeman? They are going to need everyone on point in this one going up against the OSU Fighting Mullets. One day, we will get the glory of Mike Gundy in the College Football Playoff. Maybe next year.

UPDATE #6: The Fiesta Bowl will also be on TSN5 around the start of the fourth quarter after the Outback Bowl is over.

Rose Bowl: #6 Ohio State vs. #11 Utah

5:00 PM

The Utes are in the Rose Bowl for the first time. This is huge for the program and proves the Pac-12 made the right call bringing them in (Colorado is still up in the air). They face a good Ohio State team who might be playing angry since they might feel they have been “relegated” to the Rose Bowl. The question going into this one (and during the game) will be what Kyle Whittingham decides to do after this one is over since there is a rumour out there that he might retire after the Rose Bowl, win or lose.

Sugar Bowl: #8 Ole Miss vs. #7 Baylor

8:45 PM

Dave Aranda has done a masterful job in Waco. As has Lane Kiffin in Oxford. This feels like a matchup of completely opposite head coaches, at least in terms of personality.

UPDATE #7: The Sugar Bowl will also be on TSN4 at around 11:00. I don’t get why they just HAVE to show Sportscentre after the Clippers-Nets game but obviously they do.

Tuesday January 4th

Texas Bowl: LSU vs. Kansas State

9:00 PM

Interesting that the Texas Bowl didn’t get a team from Texas to play in it. Saying that, they got two fanbases that travel very well so it would be surprising if this wasn’t at least close to a sellout. By this point, I will probably be bowled out but I will still watch because I know what’s coming shortly after this.

UPDATE #14: This is not being shown on a TSN channel.

Monday January 10th

College Football Playoff National Championship

8:00 PM

The final game of the season (other than the weird All-Star games). Cherish it…even if it’s not good.

OK at this point this is what the breakdown looks like for Canadians with cable packages:

TSN – 26 bowl games (with 2 simulcast from ABC)
ABC – 4 bowl games
FOX – 1 bowl game
CBS – 1 bowl game
Barstool Sports – 1 bowl game
specialty pack – 12 bowl games

OK now I am officially confused (if this works out the way I think it will). 26 bowl games being shown on TSN? The schedule is only finalized through Christmas Day but there are 16 games up until then definitely scheduled on TSN. So after a season where TSN had very little coverage of college football at all (it felt like they had gone back about a decade), they push forward by showing more than 50% of the bowl games. Crazy. We will see how the World Juniors affects this but I have a feeling it’s pretty close to the true number.

Alright, that was a seriously long post. But it was needed as the postseason begins now…at least at the FBS level. Have a great rest of the weekend everyone!

And now it begins…with bowl games – Week 14 College Football TV Schedule

Posted on December 2, 2020 by guelphbossman

We have had it happen so often this season it has become old hat at this point. Cancellations. Postponements. Postponements of earlier postponements. The college football schedule has been a disaster. I don’t know why anyone would be surprised by this anymore. If it doesn’t get to double-digits’ worth of postponed/cancelled games then that’s more of a shock these days.

So it doesn’t surprise me in the least that the Sun Bowl has been cancelled this year. This is the first time since 1934 that the Sun Bowl hasn’t been played. Why hadn’t it been played that year? Because it didn’t exist! This is huge for college football. This is not like the Pinstripe Bowl or Quick Lane Bowl, both which were cancelled earlier this year. This bowl game, while not a huge game anymore, has been around for 85 years and now will not be played. The city of El Paso has struggled with the pandemic (as has neighbouring New Mexico and much of far west Texas) so they made the choice to shut the game down. This will not be the only bowl game cancelled. I can guarantee it. The Las Vegas Bowl still has not been confirmed for this year and a couple other bowl games have already been moved. How many get cancelled? Who knows at this point although amazingly enough we are 17 days away from the first bowl game! So this needs to be figured out quick since college football refuses to push things back a bit to allow the season to be played as fully as possible.

So we have now finally hit the penultimate week of the college football regular season. Sort of. Conference championship week will also have regular season games including the Big Ten’s “Champions Week” which is the fucking dumbest tagline for a week of college football ever. If I were a conference, I would promote the hell out of the conference championship (for the most part) and not really talk about the other games being played, especially if they are previously postponed games that have been rescheduled. Oh wait, no. What I REALLY would try to avoid is discussing why a first place team is not in a conference championship since that’s what the Big Ten is looking at with Wisconsin (and Ohio State if they have one more cancelled game). Let’s just get to the schedule for god’s sake!

Thursday

		US	Canada
Louisiana Tech at North Texas	6:00 PM
Air Force at Utah State	9:30 PM

Two games. One with a bizarre time. Why is this happening? I think less and less programs are caring as long as they get these games in and move on with their season. Also, I assume, because the AFA-USU game was scheduled a month ago, the LaTech-UNT game was kind of shoehorned into the 6pm slot (5pm local time). And not having to worry about fans makes this pretty easy to do. Anyway, the Bulldogs still have a shot, albeit slim, to go to the Conference USA Championship. But they need help. They can start now by beating a Mean Green program that is on the decline. The other game is technically football.

Friday

		US	Canada
#25 Louisiana at Appalachian State	8:30 PM
~~Boise State at UNLV~~	9:30 PM

Two games on Friday as well. Are they any more important than the previous night’s games? I don’t know about that. Boise State’s game is important as they continue their run to the Mountain West Championship. Their New Year’s Six chances are almost gone but they can keep those slim hopes by destroying their opposition. Louisiana beating App State big can help one team: Coastal Carolina. If the Chanticleers want any chance at the NY6, the Ragin’ Cajuns winning huge over App State would definitely help.

UPDATE #5: BSU-UNLV has been cancelled. It sounds like both teams have issues with COVID so this is not surprising.

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
#4 Ohio State at Michigan State	Noon
Nebraska at Purdue	Noon
~~Kent State at Miami-OH~~	Noon
#5 Texas A&M at Auburn	Noon
#15 Oklahoma State at TCU	Noon
Texas at Kansas State	Noon
Penn State at Rutgers	Noon

Last week began the annual TSN step-up when it comes to airing college football games. This week isn’t as huge but still pretty good. Again, I am not understanding why this wasn’t the case more since the CFL didn’t play this year. In terms of this timeslot, TSN hasn’t stepped up much but I don’t blame them. It’s not exactly the greatest timeslot. At least TSN has been smart and have kept networks (for the most part) with the same American network all day. Something they struggled with in years past for some odd reason. Again, I don’t know why, they just do that. As for the games, nothing huge here. tOSU tries to avoid the upset, as does TAMU, as does the Big XII’s version of OSU. Rutgers is still not favoured but could be considered a good shot to beat Penn State. And Nebraska might play good football. Or not. I’m going with not.

UPDATE: And it begins. Kent State-Miami (OH) has been cancelled. No news on if CBS Sports Network will replace it with another game.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
Liberty at #18 Coastal Carolina	2:00 PM
Syracuse at #2 Notre Dame	2:30 PM
#12 Indiana at #16 Wisconsin	3:30 PM
~~Maryland at Michigan~~	3:30 PM
#6 Florida at Tennessee	3:30 PM
~~Buffalo at Ohio~~	3:30 PM
West Virginia at #9 Iowa State	3:30 PM
#24 Tulsa at Navy	3:30 PM
#19 Iowa at Illinois	3:30 PM
Stanford at #22 Washington	4:00 PM
~~Vanderbilt at #8 Georgia~~	4:00 PM

Notice something here? Yeah, the weird ESPNU time. I would have to check but I am sure there is a college basketball game on before this. Plus with no game to put on in the late night timeslot on ESPNU, it allowed for this to happen. And it’s where College Gameday is (Conway, South Carolina). Biggest game in the history of both Liberty and Coastal Carolina so if you can get it, watch it. Also, Indiana’s New Year’s Six hopes probably hinge on this game against Wisconsin.

UPDATE #3: Maryland-Michigan has been cancelled due to COVID issues inside the Michigan program.

UPDATE #6: Biggest update for the weekend. Liberty is out. They cannot play due to COVID issues. In their place? BYU! Wow! A huge matchup between undefeateds. This game now moves to 5:30 on ESPNU and the Ball State-Central Michigan game moves up to 2:00.

UPDATE #7: Vandy-UGA has been postponed because the Dores just don’t have enough players to play. You don’t say?

UPDATE #8: Man, CBS Sports Network’s schedule is slowly being decimated for this Saturday. Now Buffalo-Ohio is cancelled so we don’t get the encore Jaret Patterson performance.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Ball State at Central Michigan	5:30 PM
Colorado State at San Diego State	7:00 PM
#23 Oregon at California	7:00 PM
Colorado at Arizona	7:00 PM
#3 Clemson at Virginia Tech	7:30 PM
South Carolina at Kentucky	7:30 PM
#1 Alabama at LSU	8:00 PM
Baylor at #11 Oklahoma	8:00 PM

Oh man. Remember when a Bama-LSU game was a huge thing? Yeah, I do…sadly. I do think this is an aberration in the LSU program considering how many players they lost but CBS putting this in primetime was an interesting choice. Then again, with the rumour that this could be the final year of the SEC on CBS with the rest of the contract being bought by ESPN, they need one more good primetime game so fingers crossed this is the one.

Oh yeah and Clemson will probably destroy Virginia Tech in another horrendous ABC primetime game. Ya gotta feel bad for Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit at this point.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
~~Houston at SMU~~	9:00 PM
Wyoming at New Mexico	10:30 PM
Oregon State at Utah	10:30 PM
UCLA at Arizona State	10:30 PM

OK at least there are a few choices late. The interesting game could be Oregon State-Utah since who knows which teams will show up for this one. This does mean I will be up late so I have to prepare for this.

UPDATE #4: Houston-SMU has been cancelled due to some position groups being completely wiped out from contact tracing in the SMU program.

Sunday

		US	Canada
~~UAB at Middle Tennessee~~	2:30 PM
Washington State at #20 USC	7:30 PM

Sunday football? And of the college variety? Well this is interesting. Thanks to ~~our friend~~ that fucking virus, this happens. The Wazzu-USC game is set for FS1. The UAB-MTSU game, however, has a time but not a place, so to speak. It’s assumed it will end up on CBS Sports Network but it hasn’t been announced yet. Anyway, the woeful Pac-12 sees their odds-on favourite try and keep on that perch. And the Blazers need this game to be allowed to qualify for the Conference USA Championship! What a mess.

UPDATE #2: The UAB-MTSU game has now been cancelled. The Blazers don’t need to add a game as far as I know since their game the following weekend against Rice would make for enough conference games to qualify for the C-USA Championship. Now if that game gets cancelled…not good news for the Blazers.

Games to set your eyeballs on

Indiana at Wisconsin (3:30, ABC/TSN1/TSN5) – The fact this is the biggest game of the week says all you need about the new Sleepwalk Week (can’t say it’s the SEC anymore). Anyway, both of these teams are ranked but division titles are not really an issue here. The Hoosiers’ loss to Ohio State means they won’t win the Big Ten East (unless the Buckeyes have another game cancelled) and the Badgers are already ineligible for the Big Ten Championship. Indy is poised for the New Year’s Six but must win here or else that dream might end.

Texas A&M at Auburn (Noon, TSN2) – Can the Aggies get to the College Football Playoff? We will have to stay tuned but they are set up for a great possibility. TAMU, with a win here, may move into the Top 4 in the CFP Rankings which would be crazy for a team that really doesn’t have a chance at this point to win their division even, let alone their conference. An Auburn loss may be the nail in the coffin for the Gus Malzahn era. Do I agree with this? I don’t know. He’s done a lot for the program but ever since the Kick Six the team has been just above-average and that’s not really enough anymore for the War Eagle fans.

Liberty at Coastal Carolina (2:00, ESPNU) – Oh baby! First time for College Gameday to be near Myrtle Beach! And two programs having the season of a lifetime. This could be the biggest game for any team in Sun Belt history as well. The Chants continue their run to try and be the first Sun Belt team in the NY6. The Flames, on the other hand, looking to complete an improbable ten-win season. The worst part about this? There’s a rumour that they may not even be selected for a bowl game. How the fuck is that possible? Anyway, this could end up being the game of the week.

West Virginia at Iowa State (3:30, TSN2) – Alright it falls off a bit here. Not off a cliff but a decent size hill. Matt Campbell has done wonders in Ames and if the Cyclones win here, they clinch their first trip to the Big XII Championship. The Mountaineers try to play spoilers and continue a pretty good year of their own. Texas and Oklahoma State will be watching this game closely as they have to hope for an ISU loss to keep their own conference championship hopes alive.

Louisiana at Appalachian State (Friday, 8:30, TSN1/TSN3) – If this was 2019, I would actually put this game farther up the list. Both of these programs are still good and among the best of the Group of Five. ULL has already clinched their Sun Belt Championship spot. And the Mountaineers are playing for pride really (and potentially a better bowl game bid). But hey, it’s Friday night football on two TSN stations so I am happy with this.

Honourable mention: Buffalo at Ohio (3:30, CBS Sports Network); Ball State at Central Michigan (5:30, ESPNU); Fresno State at Nevada (10:30, FOX Sports One)

Some gambling fun and games

A couple games didn’t happen and the rest I didn’t do too well on. Yes I picked Texas (ugh). Yes I picked North Carolina (double ugh). Yes I picked Navy…ok enough of this let’s just get on to the fucking picks this week alright?

Appalachian State over Louisiana (slight upset)

Coastal Carolina over Liberty

Auburn over Texas A&M (saving Gus’s job….for a week at least!)

Iowa State over West Virginia

Wisconsin over Indiana (upset?)

Nevada over Fresno State

Central Michigan over Ball State

Buffalo over Ohio

USC over Washington State

UAB over Middle Tennessee

SMU over Houston

Well it’s a college football week. Now, these are the kinds of weeks that usually give us some insanity and chaos and that is what I am hoping for. Enjoy the games everyone.

2017 Bowl Game Rankings and Predictions!

Posted on December 13, 2017 by guelphbossman

Let us rejoice! It’s bowl season! And Christmas too. But BOWL SEASON! The last bunch of college football games of the season (other than the few all-star games in January). Then we go to an EXTREMELY dry period of no college football. It frankly sucks ass. But what can you do right? Maybe I will get to the 273 TV series that everyone says I have to watch.

Hey let’s talk a bit about the Army-Navy game before we get to rankings and predictions. Could that have been one of the best Army-Navy games ever? It was easily one of the best of this century so far. The weather. The old-school running attacks. The close game. And the fact it came down to a missed field goal with no time left. Amazing. Sometimes I lament why this game is on its own after the conference championships. Then games like Saturday’s remind me why. Just fantastic.

Alright I have done some different scales in the past for the different posts, most notably the UNCLE VERNE SCALE. This year, I figured, since this is site that is primarily for college football television schedules in Canada, I would rank them based on the network these games would show up on if it were, say, a week in the middle of October. Makes perfect sense for this site no? You may have to bear with me on some of these and, in your opinion, some you may move up or down one or two slots but other than that I think this’ll work. Famous last words. Here we go!

10 out of 10! This is Saturday Night on ABC kind of games

Game of the week quality. So the College Football Playoff and the best two New Year’s Six games land here.

Sugar Bowl – Clemson vs. Alabama (Jan. 1, 8:45, TSN1/TSN3/TSN4/TSN5) – Clemson-Bama III. Not in the championship but still the rubber match. Clemson has reinvented itself from last season which is a remarkable feat in and of itself. Alabama is Alabama and always has to be considered dangerous since they have no big weaknesses. This should be close. Watch it not be. But I am hoping it will since I will be up quite late to watch this one. My pick: Alabama 35-28.

Rose Bowl – Oklahoma vs. Georgia (Jan. 1, 5:00, TSN1/TSN3/TSN4/TSN5) – Thank God the College Football Playoff games are on New Year’s Day and not New Year’s Eve. In the States, it’s because many people are out on New Year’s Eve and can’t watch it where they are. Here in Canada we have that problem along with another “problem”: the World Juniors. New Year’s Eve is a full slate of games including, usually, a huge Canada game late afternoon. So this year we do not have that problem. Oh, by the way this could be consider 1B to the Sugar Bowl’s 1A. Both CFP games are very good this season. My pick: Oklahoma 33-23.

Cotton Bowl – USC vs. Ohio State (Dec. 29, 8:30, TSN5 (JIP)) – I wish this was on ABC. Why? Because the whole “Joined in Progress” thing that TSN5 will be doing kind of worries me since doing anything other than broadcasting the whole game in the past hasn’t worked out too well. Anyway, this is my pick for best New Year’s Six game and if it’s anything like USC’s last bowl game than saddle up…this gun be fun! My pick: USC 44-39.

Peach Bowl – Auburn vs. UCF (Jan. 1, 12:30, TSN1/TSN3/TSN4/TSN5) – January 1st has three of the top four bowl games this season. Just like old times. I believe this could be one of the most anticipated bowls as it usually is. We get to play that game of “Can the Group of Five champ hang with a really good Power Five team.” Scott Frost’s last hurrah for the Knights is here as well. My pick: UCF 43-42.

9 out of 10! This is the SEC on CBS quality…normally

Arguably the biggest game of the day but goes here because the SEC is never on ABC (at least as the home team).

Orange Bowl – Miami vs. Wisconsin (Dec. 30, 8:00, TSN3) – Two teams who had their chances to make the College Football Playoff and gacked them away. Wisconsin probably came closer than Miami since the Canes already fucked up their season with an inexplicable Black Friday loss to Pitt. But I still think they have a more talented team than the Badgers. Why? Call it intuition I guess. Hey, I’m not an expert! My pick: Miami 36-30.

Fiesta Bowl – Penn State vs. Washington (Dec. 30, 4:00, TSN3) – This is the worst New Year’s Six game. Think about it. That’s still damn good. Neither team is their 2016 version but I am really looking forward to the Trace McSorley-Jake Browning showdown. Unfortunately I think the Nittany Lions will be WAY too much for the Huskies. My pick: Penn State 37-17.

Citrus Bowl – LSU vs. Notre Dame (Jan. 1, 1:00, ABC) – As I said in my bowl schedule post, both teams took very different paths to get here. Hopefully this gets Brian Kelly and Ed Orgeron (two hot seat punching bags) from even sniffing the hot seat area…you know at least until mid-season when one or both is being skewered in the media for underperforming. My pick: Notre Dame 23-20.

Alamo Bowl – Stanford vs. TCU (Dec. 28, 9:00, TSN3) – We still haven’t hit a specialty pack game. Good on TSN for stepping up especially with HOCKEY in the way between Christmas and New Year’s. The Citrus and Alamo Bowls are undoubtedly the best two non-CFP/non-NY6 bowl games and should be exciting affairs. My pick: Stanford 26-23.

8 out of 10! I’ll call this ESPN…on Saturday…or maybe Thursday night…but not always Saturday late night

Still really good games. Must-see for college football fans at this point.

Camping World Bowl – Oklahoma State vs. Virginia Tech (Dec. 28, 5:15, specialty pack) – Probably the best game on the specialty pack this season. Again, this should be good and we get Mike Gundy’s mullet! Bonus! I just remembered that I am turning 40 next year (I’M A MAN! I’M 40!) My pick: Virginia Tech 41-35.

Liberty Bowl – Iowa State vs. Memphis (Dec. 30, 12:30, ABC) – Is this our Arena Football Bowl game of the season? Perhaps. Memphis usually puts up a boatload of points and ISU is a Big XII team. Take the over. My pick: Memphis 45-35.

Holiday Bowl – Michigan State vs. Washington State (Dec. 28, 9:00, FOX Sports One) – I smell a trend. A bad, bad trend. Well, for Canadians at least. We can’t see this game. At all. This blows. I won’t even bother analyzing it. My pick: Not that it matters but Michigan State 29-23.

Las Vegas Bowl – Oregon vs. Boise State (Dec. 16, 3:30, ABC) – OK you know what? No…THIS is the Arena Football Bowl game of the year. Oregon might just hit the 50-burger…which will be something because I picked the Broncos. My pick: Boise State 55-44.

7 out of 10! This is FOX territory. You could move this up 1 if GUS JOHNSON! is calling the game

Most college football fans should watch these games but we are getting eerily close to the equivalent of a game where Kansas is involved (despite the fact they are in a Power Five conference.

Texas Bowl – Missouri vs. Texas (Dec. 27, 9:00, TSN2 (JIP at 9:30)) – Still waiting for that Texas-Texas A&M matchup. This would be the obvious place to put it. Can you imagine if a bowl’s organizers decided to invite those two teams? Could be the first time since Louisiana Tech a few years back where a team declined an invitation. Anyway, I am actually picking Texas here despite the fact Missouri is easily the most volatile team here. They might score 60 but let up 80 for all we know. My pick: Texas 36-35.

Armed Forces Bowl – Army vs. San Diego State (Dec. 23, 3:30, specialty pack) – Two programs that would have been interesting selections to play Power Five schools. And I think with the offenses these two teams run it wouldn’t be easier for those big boy programs to win. This should have at least 700 yards rushing and may be over before I even have dinner. My pick: San Diego State 38-21.

Birmingham Bowl – Texas Tech vs. USF (Dec. 23, Noon, TSN1) – I have a feeling this game will be overlooked by many. Why? It’s on at Noon two days before Christmas. At least it’s on a Saturday. I honestly can’t see the Red Raiders being within two touchdowns of the Fighting Charlie Strongs by the time the first quarter is halfway done. My pick: USF 55-21.

TaxSlayer Bowl – Mississippi State vs. Louisville (Dec. 30, Noon, TSN3) – This might be overshadowed by the Liberty Bowl on at the same time. It would have been pretty even but with Nick Fitzgerald out for the season there is no bloody way Lamar Jackson will let another bowl game go the way it did last year. My pick: Louisville 40-24.

6 out of 10. We will put NBC here because they have to go somewhere.

Let’s be honest, NBC has very few games during a college football season. Like seven of them. But one or two are REALLY big games so on average, you have to put them above some other networks right? Plus all the Notre Dame fanboys would have a shit fit if I put NBC any lower.

Outback Bowl – South Carolina vs. Michigan (Jan. 1, Noon, TSN2) – Jadeveon Clowney might as well show up for this game, strap on the pads, and recreate that hit from the bowl game against Michigan a couple years back since it will be shown and talked about approximately 100 times by the time kickoff occurs. My pick: South Carolina 27-25.

Foster Farms Bowl – Purdue vs. Arizona (Dec. 27, 8:30, FOX) – Here’s FOX’s only bowl game on the main network this season. They should have multiple games. Then again, so should CBS. And NBC should get one. And Don Criqui should call that game. Yeah. Anyway, Purdue is fun again! And Khalil Tate is a joy to watch for Arizona. This could be a very underrated game. My pick: Purdue 44-38.

Sun Bowl – Arizona State vs. NC State (Dec. 29, 3:00, CBS) – It’s CBS. There should be an SEC team here. Other than the Army-Navy game (which is usually awesome) CBS should always have games with at least one SEC team in it. What is this, the 1980s? Well as I said in the schedule post, at least Arizona State is here so it won’t look so empty in El Paso. My pick: NC State 43-27.

Dollar General Bowl – Toledo vs. Appalachian State (Dec. 23, 7:00, specialty pack) – Good thing Canada doesn’t have bowl games. Can you imagine? The Value Village Bowl LIVE on OMNI1. I shudder at the thought. We have two Group of Five champs going to head-to-head in this bowl game here so it should be a good one. My pick: Apppalachian State 43-40…hell I will even say it ends in overtime!

5 out of 10. Some hot ESPN2/ESPNU/SEC Network action right here!

These are the networks I really love to be honest with you. They provide a shit-ton of football on the specialty pack and at least once a week you get a great game on it. Well a great finish at least which is what we might have to hope for with this group of games.

Belk Bowl – Texas A&M vs. Wake Forest (Dec. 29, 1:00, specialty pack) – Wake Forest is in bowl games in two straight seasons. Nice. Dave Clawson doing some good things in Winston-Salem. And the Aggies? Well, the Aggies struck the mother lode by bringing in Jimbo Fisher. This could be the first game on the Aggie SEC Redemption Tour. My pick: Texas A&M 35-28.

Cactus Bowl – UCLA vs. Kansas State (Dec. 26, 9:00, TSN2) – I can’t see either of these teams or their fans enjoying the fact they have to head to Tempe for bowl season. For UCLA it will feel like a conference game to be played on the Pac-12 Network. For KSU it might feel a bit like failure since other than Kansas can they say they are truly better than any other Big XII team this season? My pick: Kansas State 33-28.

Music City Bowl – Kentucky vs. Northwestern (Dec. 29, 4:30, specialty pack) – WILDCAT BOWL! This feels so Canadian. Or at least like the SEC. Either way Northwestern should mop the floor with Kentucky in this one but that’s why you have to play the games, right? I’m just kidding, Northwestern should crush them. Seriously. My pick: Northwestern 33-10.

Hawaii Bowl – Fresno State vs. Houston (Dec. 24, 8:30, specialty pack) – Nice to see Fresno State back in a bowl game. Jeff Tedford and former Hamilton Tiger-Cat Orlondo Steinauer have done wonders for this Bulldogs team. And Houston…well, the Cougs aren’t the Cougs of last year that is for sure. If it wasn’t for Ed Oliver I don’t think this game would be even close. My pick: Fresno State 27-21.

4 out of 10. I have to grudgingly put FOX Sports One here.

If we don’t get one of these games, one of them will be an AWESOME game and we will kick ourselves for not watching it (or not being able to). That’s how I feel with FOX Sports One and for God’s sake can we at least get the FS1 games on the specialty pack next season? Please?

Heart of Dallas Bowl – West Virginia vs. Utah (Dec. 26, 1:30, specialty pack) – Boxing Day. Going out to get good deals. Eating Christmas Dinner leftovers. And watching Drunk Uncle Dana Holgorsen go apeshit at least five times during the game. And that’s with me picking them to win. Fun times. My pick: West Virginia 39-33.

New Orleans Bowl – North Texas vs. Troy (Dec. 16, 1:00, TSN2) – Some classic mid-2000s Sun Belt action! Actually these are two pretty good teams with good offenses although the Mean Green certainly didn’t show it in the Conference USA Championship game. Troy has all the momentum right now and should run away with this one. My pick: Troy 48-27.

Pinstripe Bowl – Iowa vs. Boston College (Dec. 27, 5:15, specialty pack) – I’m gonna be honest: this game doesn’t really float my boat. I will watch it and I wouldn’t be surprised if either team put up a bunch of points but it just seems like a meh matchup between two Power Five mid-carders. The only thing that keeps from being lower on my list is that I think it will be a close game (and Yankee Stadium is kind of a cool backdrop for a college football bowl game in December). My pick: BC 29-28.

Bahamas Bowl – UAB vs. Ohio (Dec. 22, 12:30, TSN2) – There may not be a better story in college football than UAB this season. Two years not playing football at all. First year back and they go bowling. And it wasn’t any 6-6 kind of thing. They became bowl-eligible with a few weeks left in the season. Impressive. How Bill Clark wasn’t named Coach of the Year I will never know. My pick: UAB 35-31.

3 out of 10. CBS Sports Network or Big Ten Network type games. The whole “it’s about quantity, not quality” rule.

OK maybe I am a little down on BTN because I don’t get that network but how often do you see quality games on there? Same goes for CBSSN. OK full disclosure, I would watch the shit out of BTN games if I was able to get BTN because I watch way too much college football and that’s not a problem right? RIGHT?

Military Bowl – Virginia vs. Navy (Dec. 28, 1:30, specialty pack) – A home game for the Midshipmen that for some reason doesn’t feel like as much of a home game. Navy is on a down year this season, only finishing 6-6. Bronco Mendenhall has done a masterful job in Charlottesville this year and I think will pull this one out. My pick: Virginia 27-17.

Boca Raton Bowl – Akron vs. Florida Atlantic (Dec. 19, 7:00, TSN1) – It’s the Lane Kiffin Show! Starring Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaane…KIFFIN! Don’t get me wrong, I think the guy is hilarious on Twitter and an underrated coach with, sometimes, a bit of an attitude problem. What I do not enjoy is when the media (ESPN) talks about it 563,741 times before, during and even after the game is done. We get it: he’s a polarizing figure. Can you please talk about something else? Like the fact Devin Singletary will probably run for 2 bills in this one and that FAU should mop the floor with Terry Bowden’s squad? Please? My pick: Florida Atlantic 58-28.

Frisco Bowl – SMU vs. Louisiana Tech (Dec. 20, 8:00, TSN2) – The Miami Beach Bowl bit the dust. ESPN bought it from whomever and moved it to Frisco. I kind of like this move. The FCS Championship is played there and it’s a fun little venue that is the perfect size for the smaller bowl games with G-5 teams like this one. I just don’t think the game itself will be that good beyond like the 10 minute mark of the second quarter. My pick: SMU 43-20.

Independence Bowl – Southern Miss vs. Florida State (Dec. 27, 1:30, TSN2) – Florida State in Shreveport. If you told me this would happen a few months ago I would have thought you were crazy. But here we are. And on top of that, Jimbo Fisher left for Texas A&M and Willie Taggart is in. Crazy times in Tallahassee. In the end though it doesn’t matter since the Noles should (SHOULD!) mop the floor with Southern Miss. My pick: Florida State 39-13.

2 out of 10. This is some ACC Network dreck over here.

Once the ACC Network is actually like the SEC Network this should move up the chain. This is the first year I haven’t had access to ACC Network games and unlike the BTN issue I talked about above, I can’t see me going out of my way to get any of these games. Until further notice lower-level Big Ten games > lower-level ACC games.

Arizona Bowl – Utah State vs. New Mexico State (Dec. 29, 5:30, CBS Sports Network) – This bowl game would honestly be in the lowest tier if it wasn’t for the story of the New Mexico State Aggies. First bowl game in 57 years. FIFTY-SEVEN! That is insane. And they’ve been in FBS/Division 1-A/Division 1 all that time. You’d have a better chance of winning Lotto 6/49 twice than doing that. So for that reason I have to pick the Aggies. For sentimental reasons. And that’s why my picks sometimes suck. My pick: New Mexico State 30-27.

Quick Lane Bowl – Northern Illinois vs. Duke (Dec. 26, 5:15, TSN2) – Full disclosure (and I have said it before): I really wanted Florida Atlantic here. Quick Lane. Lane Kiffin. The jokes would write themselves. Instead we have two teams that aren’t from Michigan in a bowl game in Detroit. We know how that usually goes in terms of attendance, especially with a MAC team here instead of two Power Five squads. My pick: Duke 26. Northern Illinois 20. Attendance <15,000.

Camellia Bowl – Middle Tennessee vs. Arkansas State (Dec. 16, 8:00, TSN2) – The Camellia Bowl might suffer from bowl fatigue. Hear me out. The first day of bowl season is exciting. Fun. It’s college football on Saturday with multiple games again. But once the nightcap comes around and it’s only one game and it’s this one, it better be good or many people will tune out. And with the NFL on at the same time, this might be tough sledding for ratings and viewership. My pick: Arkansas State 45-31.

New Mexico Bowl – Colorado State vs. Marshall (Dec. 16, 4:30, TSN2) – I hate to say it but if it wasn’t on the opening day of bowl season it might go into the bottom rung. Again, they are going up against the NFL so it will be interesting to see the ratings it gets. At least this game, like my previous section (Camellia) will have a lot of offense. Maybe the only thing that will save this from being close to unwatchable. My pick: Colorado State 48-32.

1 out of 10. Or zero. I don’t care. It’s football. I might watch. That’s the best I can do. This is the FSN regional or ESPN3 game that, for some odd reason, magically appears on the specialty pack. Most of the time you didn’t need or ask for this game.

There is a good chance I am putting these games on the PVR. If they aren’t close I might watch about five minutes of them. There is only so much I can take. I love college football and even I have a limit. I mean natrually I will pine for these games in May but for now, no.

Idaho Potato Bowl – Wyoming vs. Central Michigan (Dec. 22, 4:00, TSN2) – Mid-afternoon on the Friday before Christmas? Talk about the timeslot of death. I guess they decided, after last year’s icy skating rink of a field, to move this game up a few hours. Thing is, last year’s Idaho Potato Bowl was one of the best bowl games. This will not be. And the timeslot makes it worse. This goes to PVR City. My pick: Wyoming 39-28.

Gasparilla Bowl – FIU vs. Temple (Dec. 21, 8:00, TSN1) – This should be in the bottom tier every year. Why? Because of the shitty field they play in and the shitty stadium that field is in. Tropicana Field is a joke. Are you telling me they couldn’t figure out a way to play this game at Raymond James Stadium? Outdoors in nice weather? No? I don’t believe it. This bowl is sparsely attended, looks terrible on TV, and never has good teams and rarely has a good game. This will be no exception I think (unfortunately) My pick: FIU 33-21.

Cure Bowl – Western Kentucky vs. Georgia State (Dec. 16, 2:30, CBS Sports Network) – The worst bowl game of the bunch. This is almost universally accepted this season. It’s on opening day, yes; but it’s in the middle of other games on other networks so it doesn’t truly get the national platform it could get. Being on CBS Sports Network doesn’t help (although it is nice to see games not on ESPN). Either way, I will watch this because I have the opportunity to but still…ugh. My pick: Western Kentucky 45-14.

So there you go! The bowl schedule and rankings are done. So now you can enjoy the games!

As for other college football games going on in lower divisions, I honestly don’t know what is going on there. Last weekend we were supposed to get two of FCS semi-final games and we didn’t. No reason given. They just never appeared. This Friday/Saturday, based on previous years and the fact that the specialty pack is supposed to show college football from ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU regardless of what division it is, should (SHOULD!) look like this for these other games on the specialty pack:

NCAA Division III Championship: Mary Hardin-Baylor vs. Mount Union (Friday, 7:00, ESPNU)
FCS Semi-Final #1: Sam Houston State at North Dakota State (Friday, 8:00, ESPN2)
FCS Semi-Final #2: South Dakota State at James Madison (Saturday, 4:30, ESPNU)
NCAA Division II Championship: Texas A&M-Commerce vs. West Florida (Saturday, 6:00, ESPN2)

UPDATE: So the Friday night games never showed but right now the SDSU-JMU game is showing on the specialty pack. Go figure.

UPDATE #2: I feel tricked. They showed the first few minutes of the SDSU-JMU game and then it went off the air. Ugh.

I get that it’s not bowl games or NFL games but it’s still football and we could see a great game or two among these four. Whether they will actually appear on the specialty pack is another story. I am not convinced it will happen. Makes no sense but then again, when do a lot of what the telcos do with these specialty packs make sense?

SO…….MANY……BOWL GAMES!!! Bowl Game TV Schedule

Posted on December 11, 2017 by guelphbossman

There are 41 college football bowl games this season if you include the Celebration Bowl and the CFP National Championship. Might as well at this point right? Before I get too deep into the schedule, let me divert your attention momentarily….I plan to do another “If I Ran the Bowl Games” post at some point in the next week. Should be fun right? I enjoy doing that post, feeling all high and mighty and then realizing my plans for change will never come to fruition. Oh well.

Amazingly enough TSN has their whole bowl schedule up! Then again, when I thought that last year, they ended up changing some games and one game never appeared on the guide, showed up anyway in SD, then disappeared in the second quarter for good. Fun times. Not really. Let’s get on with this!

Saturday December 16th

Celebration Bowl: Grambling vs. North Carolina A&T

Noon

Bowl season starts, once again, with the Celebration Bowl between the two FCS HBCU conference champions. Funny thing here is that North Carolina A&T was ranked in the top 10 near the end of the season. I wish they would just sack up and give it a go in the FCS Playoffs. Can you imagine an HBCU school getting to, say, the semi-finals? Or even the quarters? The SWAC and MEAC already do usually lead FCS in attendance so this could be huge for attendance and ESPN. By the way, remember how last year’s Celebration Bowl ended? That’s right…with an excessive celebration penalty that led to a blocked extra point which lead to Grambling’s one point victory. Irony.

New Orleans Bowl: North Texas vs. Troy

1:00 PM

And here starts TSN’s foray into bowl season. It’s actually better than last year for non-specialty pack citizens. Last year was brutal. Pretty much half the bowl games went to the specialty pack. Will be a lot less this time. Also, this is some CLASSIC Sun Belt action from the mid-2000s. Yay, nostalgia!

Cure Bowl: Western Kentucky vs. Georgia State

2:30 PM

It seems that this game is pretty much universally considered the worst bowl game of this season. Georgia State is here for a second year in a row I think. Right? No, wait it isn’t. It was the inaugural game two years ago. That’s it. Anyway at least the proceeds for this game are going to charity which is a good thing.

Las Vegas Bowl: Oregon vs. Boise State

3:30 PM

In terms of pre-Christmas bowl games this is the tops. This is almost always a good matchup as the Mountain West sends their champ and the Pac-12 doesn’t send their worst bowl team. Kind of the way it should be for all G-5 champs’ bowl games but nonetheless. Hopefully the hype matches the actual game.

New Mexico Bowl: Colorado State vs. Marshall

4:30 PM

It’s opening day for bowl games so I will watch this. I know I will. Plus, the New Mexico Bowl is usually a fun game and these two teams can definitely bring the offense so take the over.

Camellia Bowl: Middle Tennessee vs. Arkansas State

8:00 PM

It feels like these two teams are always in bowl games. They need to get their chance against Power Five teams in the postseason. Anyway, should be a fun one between two teams with head coaches who I am surprised haven’t left for better conferences.

Tuesday December 19th

Boca Raton Bowl: Akron vs. Florida Atlantic

7:00 PM

It’s the Lane Kiffin Bowl! The Fighting Kiffins get to stay home for the holidays so hopefully they get a good crowd for some LaneBall (actually that sounds like a bowling knockoff). Anyway, FAU is going to try to put up a bunch of points so let’s see how the Zips fare in this one.

Wednesday December 20th

Frisco Bowl: SMU vs. Louisiana Tech

8:00 PM

For people railing against this game being played in a soccer stadium, remember two things:

This stadium has been used for the FCS Championship the past few years and it looks like a good stadium. Not too big so the fans will feel close to the game.
The Chargers play in a soccer stadium and, ya know what, forget this point.

UPDATE: The Frisco Bowl has been taken off TSN2 and put on the specialty pack.

Thursday December 21st

Gasparilla Bowl: FIU vs. Temple

8:00 PM

More like GAH!sparilla am I right? Ugh, I can’t believe they continue to have a bowl game at this hellhole. The Trop is a fucking joke. I mean I will watch this game (or at least parts of it) but I still can’t stand a field that looks worse than an inner-city football field that hasn’t been tended to in months. And it’s turf for fuck’s sake! Can’t they replace it?

Friday December 22nd

Bahamas Bowl: UAB vs. Ohio

12:30 PM

This is one of my pet peeves with bowl season. Are there too many bowl games? Absolutely. But that doesn’t bother me much. This does. An early afternoon game on the Friday before Christmas? Who the fuck is going to watch this? Bowl games are supposed to be national showcases for teams, not PVR showcases. Glad to see UAB here though so I will definitely watch (much later on).

Idaho Potato Bowl: Wyoming vs. Central Michigan

4:00 PM

This isn’t a whole lot better but at least you could probably see the second half live depending on what you do for a living. All I know is this game will be cold. At least it isn’t on at night like last year’s affair. Although that’s part of what it made so hilariously awesome!

Saturday December 23rd

Birmingham Bowl: Texas Tech vs. USF

Noon

This should be a good game as USF is still an exciting team to watch. And Texas Tech is, well, Texas Tech. Expect a lot of points here.

Armed Forces Bowl: Army vs. San Diego State

3:30 PM

I estimate this will have about 900 yards of rushing between these two teams and the game should be done by 6:00. This is also the first bowl that hits the specialty pack as we start getting closer to World Juniors time.

Dollar General Bowl: Toledo vs. Appalachian State

7:00 PM

G-5 Champ-on-G-5 Champ Violence! One of the very few good games that people are looking forward to before Christmas. Looks like an evenly matched game and a bit more of a must-watch at this time of the year.

Sunday December 24th

Hawaii Bowl: Fresno State vs. Houston

8:30 PM

The annual Present Wrapping Bowl! Isn’t that what most parents (who are also college football fans) do during this bowl?

Tuesday December 26th

Heart of Dallas Bowl: West Virginia vs. Utah

1:30 PM

Arguably one of the worst P5 vs. P5 bowl games and it’s still a good game. These two teams last met like three-quarters of a century ago in Atlantic City. Yeah. I can’t imagine putting a bowl game in an arena. Although it might be fun if they didn’t fully do arena football rules.

Quick Lane Bowl: Northern Illinois vs. Duke

5:15 PM

Full disclosure: I was hoping Florida Atlantic would go here. Quick Lane. Lane Kiffin. God, the jokes write themselves!

Cactus Bowl: UCLA vs. Kansas State

9:00 PM

Some people are saying this is a great matchup. I’m not so sure. I mean it’s still college football but there are a bunch of other better games. Just not in this exact timeslot so I will be watching of course (like the madman I am).

Wednesday December 27th

Independence Bowl: Southern Miss vs. Florida State

1:30 PM

I am fine with Florida State being here. It’s Shreveport. Nothing special. The bigger story is this: they did get a great head coaching hire though with Willie Taggart so you never know what they will be like next season (watch me peg them at like 7-5 and they run the table).

Pinstripe Bowl: Iowa vs. Boston College

5:15 PM

Unless BC or Iowa fans travel well I can’t see this being really well attended as it’s in New York, outdoors, just after Christmas.

Foster Farms Bowl: Purdue vs. Arizona

8:30 PM

The only game on the main FOX network during bowl season (we will get to the wrinkle in all this in a bit). Nice to see Purdue back in a bowl game at least.

Texas Bowl: Missouri vs. Texas

9:00 PM

Here’s an interesting one. Technically it’s on TSN2 but it won’t get to TSN2 until about 9:30. My guess is that Slovakia-Canada is on right before this. This may mean we don’t get to see the start of the game anywhere since I can’t see the telcos putting the start of the game on the specialty pack and then going to TSN2 one the World Junior game is over. It wouldn’t surprise me if this just gets moved to the specialty pack, period.

UPDATE #3: This game has been moved to the specialty pack. Probably a good thing.

Thursday December 28th

Military Bowl: Virginia vs. Navy

1:30 PM

So of course the big story here is the guy who left BYU to coach Virginia facing the guy who was favoured to get the BYU job after the previous coach left. Bronco Mendenhall and Ken Niumatololo are two damn good coaches. I am sure BYU would prefer one of them to be their coach right now.

Camping World Bowl: Oklahoma State vs. Virginia Tech

5:15 PM

Now we are getting into the big-time bowls. Outside the CFP and NY6 many may argue that this is the best bowl left. Two really good teams who were never really considered in the New Year’s Six conversation. And of course we get more of Mike Gundy’s fabulous mullet so it’s a win-win!

UPDATE #4: This doesn’t happen too often but this game has been moved from the specialty pack to TSN3. Nice. Shoutout to @CamPeverley on Twitter for letting me know about this change.

Alamo Bowl: Stanford vs. TCU

9:00 PM

Back-to-back huge bowl games. This one should be another good one between two conference runner-ups. Let’s see how Bryce Love takes out his Heisman loss on the TCU defense.

Holiday Bowl: Michigan State vs. Washington State

9:00 PM

Yep, the Canadian info is empty. Why? Because it’s on FOX Sports One. Not surprised this is starting to happen. Expect to see more bowl games head there next season meaning less we can actually see at all.

Friday December 29th

Belk Bowl: Texas A&M vs. Wake Forest

1:00 PM

It’s kind of a home game for the Deacs but we will see what kind of home advantage they have as we know that Aggie fans travel well. Could be an underrated bowl game at this point.

Sun Bowl: Arizona State vs. NC State

3:00 PM

I will continue my quest to either a) get this game off of CBS which I really don’t want to do or b) get an SEC team into this bowl game since it’s on CBS and CBS is the home of the SEC. An SEC West team would slot perfectly in here and possibly fill the stadium, something that is hard to do depending on who is invited to play. This shouldn’t be much of an issue this year with Arizona State being there but some years it has been relatively empty in the stands in El Paso.

Music City Bowl: Kentucky vs. Northwestern

4:30 PM

We were denied the rumoured Owl Bowl in Boca Raton. But we will NOT be denied the Wildcat Bowl. WILDCAT BOWL! Prediction? The Wildcats will win. Ahahahahahaha I am so funny.

Arizona Bowl: Utah State vs. New Mexico State

5:30 PM

This is another pretty cool story. NMSU is in a bowl game for the first time since 1960. Nineteen fucking sixty! That’s insane! Let’s hope for good attendance at this one, which is the last game for the Aggies officially in the Sun Belt conference as they go Independent starting next season.

Cotton Bowl: USC vs. Ohio State

8:30 PM

I believe this is the best non-semifinal game of the bowl season. This should be a classic. And it’s the first New Year’s Six game of the season. Now, in an interesting note, TSN5 will pick this one up in progress at around 10:00. How this will work with the specialty packs I don’t know but I have this funny feeling that we will not get the first 90 minutes of this game. Not impressed for sure. This is why there needs to be a standalone package for college football games that doesn’t really care if TSN shows a game or not. This way this wouldn’t be an issue.

UPDATE #5: This has been moved to the specialty pack but is still appearing on TSN5 as well. This should change soon enough.

UPDATE #6: This is also on TSN4 and is slated to appear on TSN5 after the Sens-Blue Jackets game.

Saturday December 30th

TaxSlayer Bowl: Mississippi State vs. Louisville

Noon

I have a bad feeling this game won’t be close considering Nick Fitzgerald is out for the season for the Bulldogs. Lamar Jackson might just go crazy in this game which would be a far cry from last year’s pathetic performance in the bowl game.

Liberty Bowl: Iowa State vs. Memphis

12:30 PM

I believe this is a massive game and one of the best examples of what bowl games are all about. A good Group of Five team gets a chance to compete against a Power Five team on a national broadcast. Doesn’t happen too often (a couple times or so every bowl season) so it’s good to see this. Should also be one of the better bowl games of the season.

Fiesta Bowl: Penn State vs. Washington

4:00 PM

When this is the worst New Year’s Six game (arguably) then you know The Committee picked some good games. This should still be a good game and if it’s anything like PSU’s bowl game last year it will be a must-watch. And it’s not on New Year’s Eve this year! WOOHOO!!!

Orange Bowl: Miami vs. Wisconsin

8:00 PM

Again we have two conference runner-ups facing off in a big bowl game. I’m sure at least one of these teams will be playing What-If in their minds as they try to take out all their frustrations on their opponent.

Monday January 1st

Outback Bowl: South Carolina vs. Michigan

Noon

How many times will they replay that Jadeveon Clowney hit from a few years back? I put the over/under at 5.5.

Peach Bowl: Auburn vs. UCF

12:30 PM

Other than the semi-final games, this could be the one game that most people are looking forward to. To see if, once again, a Group of Five team can hang with and/or beat a good Power Five team. Auburn was an SEC Title game away from playing in the Sugar Bowl so UCF will have its work cut out for them. Nice to see Scott Frost stay to coach this bowl game despite the fact he was hired by Nebraska near the end of the AAC Championship Game. Very rarely do you see a coach finish what they started when they are lured away by another school. This will one will be on TSN1, TSN4 and TSN5 from the start and will be joined on TSN3 in progress at some point.

Citrus Bowl: LSU vs. Notre Dame

1:00 PM

In the end, this is my choice for best non-CFP/non-NY6 game. Both teams were good but took wildly different paths to get here. There was a time not so long ago when Notre Dame was considered for the College Football Playoff until late season losses to Miami and Stanford. LSU, on the other hand, started slowly but has become one of the hottest teams in college football over the past two months. Should be a great matchup.

Rose Bowl: Oklahoma vs. Georgia

5:00 PM

If this was almost any other day during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, there is no way this game ends up on this many TSN channels. But New Year’s Day is the only day not used by the World Juniors so it’s free for college football. And with the only other competition at any point of the day being the New Year’s Classic NHL game, the bowl games should fare well. This is my choice for best bowl game of the year (other than the national championship of course) and should be a dandy (as Keith Jackson would say).

UPDATE #7: The other ESPN feeds (including the Coaches’ Film Room) for this game and the Sugar Bowl are on TSN GO.

Sugar Bowl: Clemson vs. Alabama

8:45 PM

I am going to be so fucking exhausted for work the next day. And I won’t care. This should be another good game. Clemson-Bama III: the Rubber Match. To be honest, I almost want the Rose Bowl winner to win the national title because it would be something new. But this will be good college football so I will be enthralled with it.

Monday January 8th

College Football Playoff National Championship

8:00 PM

Last game of the college football season (other than the all-star games) comes to us January 8th. TSN4 will join in progress after the completion of the hockey game so you are looking at about 9:30 or so.

The breakdown looks like so for us Canadians:

TSN – 21 bowl games
ABC – 4 bowl games
CBS Sports Network – 2 bowl games
FOX – 1 bowl game
CBS – 1 bowl game
specialty pack – 11 bowl games
one bowl game will not be seen here

UPDATE #2: Specialty pack now up to double digits but still less than last season’s bowl games.

Wow TSN really stepped up this season. 23 games. And this drops the amount of games on the specialty pack back down to single digits. Good stuff. Don’t get me wrong, I like the specialty pack but it’s nice to see when games are on channels that most people can get if they want to.

OK I will make all my picks and rank the bowl games in a post later this week. Also, the NFL schedule will be posted Thursday to make way for Thursday Night Football. Enjoy your week everyone!

The 2017 College Football Coaching Hot List – Sponsored by the Lane Kiffin Redemption Story

Posted on August 22, 2017 by guelphbossman

Yep. This guy again.

He’s on the road back to redemption and he had one of the greatest firings of all-time, being shitcanned on an airport tarmac while at USC. Nice! I love stories like that.

It’s HOT SEAT TIME! Last year, two of my four top selections and three of my top six were sent packing. Unfortunately some coaches (like Craig Bohl) made me look like a fool by being really successful. Thanks a lot Craig. Like the haircut though.

Alright, here we go with the list. I have ordered this (like last year) from most likely to be in the unemployment line to least likely:

Almost Guaranteed Shitcanning

Paul Haynes (Kent State) – He was #4 on my list last season. How he kept his job is beyond me. He just was put into a bad situation when he had to replace Darrell Hazell (who went on to do sweet fuck all at Purdue himself). Needed to keep his job – A god damn miracle. Prediction – Mid-season shitcanning and perhaps a year off of coaching altogether.
Lance Leipold (Buffalo) – Let’s stay in the MAC shall we? Leipold came into much fanfare (well as much as you can get in the MAC). He had guided Wisconsin-Whitewater to what seemed like a bajillion D-III titles. His first year in Buffalo showed promise. This past season not so much. I can’t see this ending well for Sir Lance-a-not-so-much. Needed to keep his job – vying for bowl eligibility in the final weekend. Prediction – Scraping the bottom of the MAC barrel and heading back to FCS at the highest (if not back to D-III).
Todd Graham (Arizona State) – I remember when this guy liked to hop from job to job because he could. He was a good head coach and many programs wanted to have him. Now he will be hopping to his next job but not of his own volition. Needed to keep his job – Bowl eligibility and a victory over Arizona. Prediction – 3 wins and who really cares at that point if the Sun Devils beat the Wildcats or not (see below for the reason why).
Kliff Kingsbury (Texas Tech) – Looks matter. How do I know? Well, many things in my life that I won’t get into now. Also, Kute Kliff Kingsbury. Here’s a guy who hit his high point halfway through his first season in Lubbock and is still around. Why? If it’s not his looks he must have damning photos of the athletic director in a compromising position. Needed to keep his job – Some semblance of defense from his squad. Prediction – Thousands of female college football fans crying and taking his offensive acumen to the FCS.

Probable Shitcanning

Sean Kugler (UTEP) – He was good for a soundbite or three when UTEP was good that one season. Well, good enough in a Conference USA kind of way. Since then, El Paso has once again become a college football outpost that no one wants to be in. Needed to keep his job – bowl eligibility. Prediction – I can’t see them winning more than one game so this may happen during the season rather than wait for the misery to be over.
Kevin Sumlin (Texas A&M) – He seems to be on this list a lot. But he is never in the almost-guaranteed-to-be-fired part. He just hasn’t seemed to recreate the magic when Johnny Manziel was around. And yes, a big part was Gianni Party’s play but Sumlin had done wonders in Houston and appeared to be doing them in College Station. That may not be the case anymore. Needed to keep his job – 9 wins and be at least on the cusp of contending in the SEC West. Prediction – 7 wins and the top Group of Five opening next season for Mr. Sumlin.
Mark Whipple (UMass) – When is UMass heading back to FCS? Whenever it is, I can’t foresee Coach Whipple being there when it happens. Needed to keep his job – at least 4 wins and to stay competitive in more games. Prediction – 2 wins and a quiet exit.
Rich Rodriguez (Arizona) – Remember what I said above about Todd Graham? I think RichRod is also in a hot seat but not nearly as hot as T-Graham’s. No improvement in the desert may seal his fate though. Needed to keep his job – being better than Arizona State. Prediction – will not be better than Arizona State…and will be fired for it (along with many other reasons).
Brian Kelly (Notre Dame) – Kelly suffers from two things: 1) the Irish got to the national championship not too long ago and 2) the expectations in South Bend are ALWAYS at least 10 wins. If he wasn’t such an insufferable prick at times I would feel sorry for him. Needed to keep his job – 10 wins. Did you not just read what I typed? Prediction – 8 wins and I am sure he will yell at at least one player in plain view of a camera in front of a national audience.
David Beaty (Kansas) – Poor Dave Beaty. Does he really have a chance in Lawrence to do anything except maybe (MAYBE) win four games at most? I fail to see how he can win more with the state the program is. God, I wish there was promotion/relegation. Needed to keep his job – 4 wins. Prediction – Half of that. Or 2 wins for the less mathematically inclined. Again, Poor Dave.

Possible Shitcanning

Lovie Smith (Illinois) – This isn’t the NFL, Lovie. I think he understands that now. An unenviable task in Champaign to turn around a program that has had little success in the past two decades (save the crazy 2007 season). Needed to keep his job – 4 wins but be competitive and look like they could be a bowl team next year. Prediction – 3 wins and the AD is going to have to take a long, hard look as to whether to retain Lovie or not.
Bret Bielema (Arkansas) – The SEC is still a gauntlet. Saying that, the SEC is not known for a ton of coaching turnover. One or two each season usually. Bielema has a tough task ahead as the SEC West especially is difficult to say the least. Needed to keep his job – Stay in the middle of the pack in the SEC West and at least scare one of Bama, Auburn, or LSU. Prediction – 7 wins and at least some fans calling for his firing.

Doubtful Shitcanning

Steve Addazio (Boston College) – This is the exact same spot Steve-O was in last year. And he came through with a 7-win season that led BC fans to still call for his head. Guy can’t catch a break! Needed to keep his job – Get to bowl eligibility again and hope the fans calm down a bit. Prediction – 4 wins and it will be tough not to move way up this list next year.
David Bailiff (Rice) – I remember when he was consistently getting the Owls to bowl games. I also remember when the Owls were in the Southwest Conference. Times change. Sometimes coaches have to as well. But maybe not quite yet with Mr. Bailiff. Needed to keep his job – some sense of improvement from last year’s down season. Prediction – they will improve even if it doesn’t show up in their record.
Tyson Summers (Georgia Southern) – One year in and the athletic department had to send out a press release saying Summers would be retained for this season. Confidence, gone. Needed to keep his job – 5 wins and at least look like a potential bowl team. Prediction – 5 wins and they will look like a bowl team for the most part.
Jim Mora (UCLA) – Jim needs the Rosen One to play like he has a shot at winning the Heisman this season. And I think it will happen. Not saying he will win the Heisman but he will be much improved and so will the Bruins. Needed to keep his job – 7 wins. Prediction – 9 wins and making USC sweat for the Victory Bell.
Chris Ash (Rutgers) – Coaching at Rutgers must be tough now that the team is firmly in the Big Ten basement. Let’s be honest: very few people want that job. Ash is a hero! Needed to keep his job – he’s safe since no one else wants it for now. Prediction – 3 wins and keeping Michigan under 60 points.
Butch Jones (Tennessee) – The Champions of Life. Butch really needs to learn to just shut his mouth and coach sometimes. Needed to keep his job – 9 wins and being a contender in the SEC East. Prediction – 10 wins and STILL….CHAMPIONS OF LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIFE…THE TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS!!!!

Done. That took too long. I don’t want to say I hope all these coaches get fired but I do like being accurate.

Next up will be my Heisman ballot. No one should give me a Heisman ballot. I will demonstrate why in the next post. After that will have to be…yes, it’s the FIRST SCHEDULE POST OF THE SEASON!!!!!!!!!!!!! Woohoo! Finally made it. We are four days out. Problem is, I still don’t know where all the U.S. College Sports Package channels have gone to now that they have been replaced by regional CTV channels which, in essence, replaced the need for Sunday Ticket since DAZN now has it. I will say this often I believe but if DAZN somehow gets a good college football package then I might be changing my tune about it.

Which conference is this? Oh the one with Lane Kiffin in it? That should be exciting.

Posted on August 4, 2017 by guelphbossman

kiffin

Kiff always brings the lulz.

Let’s be honest here: Conference USA is hodge-podge bag of crap. The island of misfit football programs if you will. They aren’t important enough to rank with the AAC or Mountain West. But they truly believe they are higher in the pecking order than the MAC or Sun Belt (debatable). So they are caught in an awkward FBS No-Fly Zone of sorts. Doesn’t help that they have the worst set of TV contracts in FBS by far and there is no regional atmosphere. Programs span from the Atlantic Ocean all the way to El Paso. If they were smart they would start talks with the Sun Belt to “create” two new conferences with more of a geographical nature to them. This would cut travel time and travel costs, foster rivalries that make sense (oh you mean that hot Charlotte-North Texas rivalry hasn’t piqued fans’ interests?), and probably boost attendance (which, for some teams, is sad). I have done this before but here’s how I would envision the split (you know, if conferences honestly gave a shit about college football as a whole which they don’t):

New Conference USA	New Sun Belt
North	East
Appalachian State	Troy
Coastal Carolina	South Alabama
Old Dominion	Louisiana Tech
Charlotte	UL-Lafayette
Marshall	ULM
Western Kentucky	Arkansas State
South	West
Georgia Southern	UTSA
Georgia State	Rice
Florida Atlantic	North Texas
FIU	UTEP
Middle Tennessee	Texas State
UAB	New Mexico State

This is based on New Mexico State being allowed to stay in the newly formed Sun Belt. If not, take NMSU out, put Liberty in C-USA and move UAB to the Sun Belt. Easy. So there you go, Conference USA would be more of an Eastern and Southern conference with the Sun Belt going to a South/Southwest feel. They could each use one out-of-conference game against the other conference. Also, it would make a lot of sense to try and get an OOC game with a Power Five school close by. Again, keeping travel down. Go talk to NBC and see if you could perhaps get a game on NBCSN every week (with the conference championship on the main network). There are ways to do this: it’s just that no one wants to. And it will lead to another major shift in college football in the next decade. It’s inevitable.

UPDATE: In my haste I forgot Southern Miss. That’s not nice. They can replace New Mexico State, move to the East, and then Arkansas State can head to the west. Or they can just move up to the American. Either one works.

Alright, enough of Fantasyland. It’s time for predictions…which is kind of a fantasy type thing since it’s predictions (although I don’t use bias here…otherwise FAU would mop the floor with everyone granting us more Kiffin Greatness). These predictions will be followed by some pedestrian commentary:

	Conference		Overall
East	W	L	W	L
Western Kentucky	8	0	11	1
Middle Tennessee	7	1	8	4
Marshall	5	3	7	5
Old Dominion	5	3	7	5
Florida Atlantic	3	5	5	7
FIU	1	7	2	10
Charlotte	1	7	3	9
West
Louisiana Tech	7	1	9	3
UTSA	7	1	9	3
Southern Miss	5	3	7	5
Rice	3	5	3	9
North Texas	2	6	3	9
UAB	1	7	3	9
UTEP	1	7	1	11

Pedestrian Commentary

Ho-hum. WKU will again be the class of Conference USA. I honestly believe this team would do pretty well in the American Conference. They will pass the ball like 100 times a game and make football look fun (not that we will see a lot of it).
Hey UAB returns! So ridiculous that they decided to shutter football in the first place (or more like the university up in Tuscaloosa kind of decided for them) but it’s nice that they are back. Now take your place in the basement of the, wait, what?
That’s right, UTEP is god-awful. Like seriously bad. I can’t honestly see them getting more than one win. I’ve been wrong before but I don’t see any other experts saying the Miners will be bowl-eligible or anything like that so I feel safe with that prediction.
You know who else will be pretty bad? Florida International. And who’s their new coach? That’s right, Butch Davis! Yes, THAT Butch Davis. Florida is going to be awfully fun as a whole for college football this season.
Which brings us back to the Kiff. You just know that somehow Kiffin is going to make this team competitive. I have them being juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust outside bowl eligibility but I could see them eeking out the one extra win to go bowling. Which would mean more Kiffin in a national spotlight. Oh my.
I have UTSA and LaTech finishing atop the West but the head-to-head will go to the Bulldogs meaning the Roadrunners (Meep Meep!) will have to wait another year before getting to a conference title game. Saying that, we should see them, along with WKU, at the top of the C-USA standings for years to come.
The C-USA Championship should be an easy win for the Hilltoppers. Should be. Saying that, these G5 championship games can sometimes be a crapshoot. Either way, unless USF somehow blows a gasket and loses a game, Western Kentucky won’t even be sniffing a New Year’s Six spot.
Seven bowl eligible teams is what I am predicting for the Conference of the U, S, and A. Six primary bowl tie-ins along with a seventh secondary one will provide just enough spots for the teams. Yay me?

We are almost at the end folks. Next up it’s a little Fun Belt time! Then finally it will be the MAC and then the conferences will be done with being predicted. Posts follow with bowl predictions, my (usually) horrible Heisman ballot, hot seat coach report, and perhaps other posts. Who knows right? Season is 22 days away. A little over 3 weeks. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

flair flair flair

From one legend to another – this is your (very tentative) SEC on CBS schedule

Posted on June 22, 2017 by guelphbossman

Well, along with a couple other games but yeah it’s very SEC heavy.

Yes Verne Lundquist is gone. God rest his broadcasting soul since he’s not dead but he is no longer doing the SEC on CBS which is still painful in a way. He is easily on the Mount Rushmore of college football play-by-play men along with Keith Jackson and Brent Musburger. A while back I stated the same thing, wondering who the fourth one could be. Well, his replacement might just be it. Brad Nessler is also a damn legend and CBS somehow got him to replace Uncle Verne. What a coup! Well it was either him or Carter Blackburn and his star has fallen quite a bit since he was lured to CBS years ago as the heir apparent. Poor guy. Maybe he should try FOX now that they have a bazillion games a week.

Alright onto my projected schedule. I have noted when the times are confirmed although it seems that some confirmed times have been changed after they were supposedly confirmed. Yeah. Anyway, here you go followed by some DEEP ANALYSIS:

September 9th	TCU at Arkansas (confirmed)	3:30 PM
September 16th	Tennessee at Florida (confirmed)	3:30 PM
September 23rd	Arkansas vs. Texas A&M (in Arlington)	3:30 PM
September 30th	Georgia at Tennessee	3:30 PM
October 7th	Alabama at Texas A&M	3:30 PM
October 14th	Auburn at LSU	3:30 PM
October 21st	Tennessee at Alabama	3:30 PM
October 28th	Florida vs. Georgia (in Jacksonville) (confirmed)	3:30 PM
November 4th	Florida at Missouri	3:30 PM
November 4th	LSU at Alabama	8:00 PM
November 11th	Florida at South Carolina	Noon
November 11th	Arkansas at LSU	3:30 PM
November 18th	Kentucky at Georgia	Noon
November 18th	LSU at Tennessee	3:30 PM
November 24th	Missouri at Arkansas (confirmed)	2:30 PM
November 25th	Alabama at Auburn	3:30 PM
December 2nd	SEC Championship Game (confirmed)	4:00 PM
December 9th	Army vs. Navy (in Philadelphia) (confirmed)	3:00 PM
December 29th	Sun Bowl (confirmed)	3:00 PM

DEEP ANALYSIS:

This year, from what I can see, the schedule will not be heavily skewed towards the SEC West this season. Here is the count:
- 4 times – Arkansas, Tennessee, Florida, Alabama, LSU
- 3 times – Georgia
- 2 times – Texas A&M, Auburn, Missouri
- 1 time – South Carolina, Kentucky
- Not a single time – Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, Mississippi State
Looking at the numbers it may come as a bit of a surprise to see Arkansas at 4 and Missouri at 2. Remember, they get the Black Friday game every year. Also, South Carolina and Kentucky I both have in for Noon games where it is obviously not the first or second SEC choice. As for the three no-shows, considering the pedigree, I am not surprised at all at this number for them. Not saying all three haven’t had their moments recently (with the two Mississippi schools near the top of the rankings two seasons ago for a time) but not everyone can be on CBS (unless they do doubleheaders every week which would make the non-specialty pack citizens VERY happy).
Most of the other SEC games will appear on either ESPN or the SEC Network. ESPN2 gets probably a dozen at most (I would have to actually count that and I am not in the mood for it right now). ESPNU gets very few and now with the Big Ten getting a lot of their games moving over to FOX and FS1 I can see a time very soon where no SEC games would go to ESPNU.
Other conferences get in on the action as well! TCU gets to appear along with Army and Navy as per usual. The Sun Bowl again appears on CBS even though the SEC doesn’t send a team to remote El Paso (I have gone over this before a few times). As you will also see, CBS does not have a game during Week 1 this season. With what was available, I have a feeling CBS opted out of grabbing a game from ESPN despite the fact they don’t have the US Open tennis tournament anymore. What does it mean? CBS will have sweet fuck all on that weekend. Movie of the week (probably an 80s movie starring Lou Diamond Phillips), infomercials with Billy Mays’ ghost, and reruns of 2 Broke Girls is what you will probably get.

Next up? ABC. This shouldn’t be too bad. Then FOX. Now that is one schedule I will probably butcher. Then again, other than the games that FOX itself has said they would broadcast, it’s really a crapshoot this year. No one knows because there is no historical basis for it. Plus, there’s tripleheaders! That’s a good thing right! Just please don’t put Joe Buck on a broadcast. Thanks.

Finally, there is 65 days until the first official college football game of the season. I love doing the countdown. Gets me anxious but also gets me excited for the days where I spend 14+ hours watching college football on a Saturday and accomplish absolutely nothing. YAY!

Ranking the Bowl Games from First to Worst

Posted on January 14, 2017 by guelphbossman

Before we begin, let me just put this here:

san-diego-ron-burgundy

That franchise is a complete mess. This is coming from someone who lives, technically, in the Buffalo Bills area and knows how shitty a franchise can get. So let me get this straight…the Chargers are moving to the fucking StubHub Center to play the 2017 season? It only has about 30,000 seats! I would laugh (out loud even) if they had a game where they didn’t sell out. Why don’t they move to a city that actually wants a team and MAY be able to support it with their current infrastructure? There has to be some city that at least has something in place to do that. Instead they go to Los Angeles, a city that wants the Raiders back and gets the lowly Rams instead and it showed with their pathetic attendance totals. What a gongshow. I am starting to wonder if the NFL has reached its peak and will now come back to Earth a bit and not be the mega-league that can do whatever the hell they feel like and get away with it.

OK back to college football. The bowl games are now over. They have come and gone. And me, being a bit of an idiot, watched at least a part of every game except the Arizona Bowl. I don’t get MyTV anymore (downgraded my package so to speak) and wasn’t around to watch it live online. I feel like I didn’t miss much there. For other games, I was glad I watched all or nearly all of the game since we had a few epic bowl games that will be remembered for a long time (at least by college football fans). Let’s get to the rankings shall we?

National Championship (Clemson 35 Alabama 31) – What a game. You can argue whether this game or the 2006 Rose Bowl was the better national championship game and you wouldn’t be wrong on either side of the fence. An absolute instant classic. Deshaun Watson cemented his legacy in this one. A great way to end a somewhat average year in college football.
Rose Bowl (USC 52 Penn State 49) – Another awesome game. I, along with many others, figured this would be the best game of the bowl season and the national championship would be a letdown. Expect both of these teams to be College Football Playoff contenders next season.
Orange Bowl (Florida State 33 Michigan 32) – Yet another amazing game. The New Year’s Six this year was light years better than last year’s despite the fact the CFP semi-finals were pretty bad. This had almost everything, including the Wolverines getting within one late with a returned extra point. Almost anything Jim Harbaugh is involved in is worth watching and this was no exception.
Birmingham Bowl (USF 46 South Carolina 39 (OT)) – I am amazed how good this game was. And at one point it looked like the Bulls had this one in the bag. A furious Gamecock comeback sent it to overtime where USF ended up winning it. For such a crappy bowl in a crappy stadium it was a fun watch.
Armed Forces Bowl (Louisiana Tech 48 Navy 45) – This game came down to a walk-off field goal for the Bulldogs. I like option football to be honest (I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea) and Navy showed why they are the best in the biz at it (even over Georgia Tech). But their defense was horrid which kept this game close much to the glee of, well, me (and a lot of other viewers).
Idaho Potato Bowl (Idaho 61 Colorado State 50) – This game was scoreless through the first quarter. So they put 111 points on the board between them in the last three quarters. That has to be a record. Add in that it was one of the coldest games on record and that the blue turf was basically a skating rink made it that much more exciting. Cherry on top of the bowl game sundae? Idaho wins in their second-last season in FBS before moving DOWN to FCS. All the insanity of college football in one game. WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!
Sun Bowl (Stanford 25 North Carolina 23) – No McCaffrey? No problem. CBS gets a gift with this amazing bowl game despite the fact it was missing a superstar and it was played in El Paso, a place no one seems to want to play. This is all without an SEC team (for CBS’s sake) or a Big XII team (for El Paso’s local fans’ sake). I still think the Browns are going to try their best to get their homegrown college star, Mitch Trubisky, to be the next QB for that god-awful franchise.
Foster Farms Bowl (Utah 26 Indiana 24) – It’s nice to see CBS and FOX getting good games considering the crap they have to put up with at bowl time. Then again, most people seem to just expect every bowl game is on ESPN so I wonder how many people watched this one. Indiana did their Hoosier thing and played the annoying pest to Utah’s person trying to swat the mosquito away. Great game and it was close and it had GUS JOHNSON!
Camellia Bowl (Appalachian State 31 Toledo 28) – A great game that was close from the opening gun. Also, two of the better Group of Five teams from the two conferences that tend to get left behind in the G-5 shuffle (Sun Belt and MAC). This is the argument for keeping bowl games.
Poinsettia Bowl (BYU 24 Wyoming 21) – A good game in San Diego. You can insert your own joke here about how rare that is. This was played in FOOTBAW WEATHER as all the rain that the San Diego area gets in a year fell during this one game (or at least it felt that way). Also, BYU is usually a fun (albeit sometimes too rough) team to watch and Wyoming’s resurgence under Craig Bohl (Game) was a nice heartwarming story.
Cotton Bowl (Wisconsin 24 Western Michigan 16) – I think the lead-up to this game helped it a lot. It felt like we were just waiting for the Broncos to Row That Damn Boat and start their comeback. When they finally did we felt the Broncos would then tie it up. Alas, that didn’t happen but it showed that WMU was deserving of this spot and that Wisky will still be a tough out next season in the Big Ten.
Dollar General Bowl (Troy 28 Ohio 23) – How is it that a dollar store can sponsor a bowl game? If, let’s say, Value Village decided to sponsor any game of this magnitude, I would assume it would be played on a not-so-well-manicured high school field with wooden bleachers. Anyway, this was a good game. Not great, but worth watching.
Texas Bowl (Kansas State 33 Texas A&M 28) – To be honest, I really want to put this lower but I hear that it was a good game. Thanks to the colossal shitshow that occurred with TSN, Rogers, and Bell, none of us got to see this game. Worst part is I still don’t know where to lay the majority of the blame but I am going with TSN at this point (which is surprising since, normally, TSN is really good with this).
Heart of Dallas Bowl (Army 38 North Texas 31 (OT)) – Option football. And this was a rematch. It was setup for (most) fans to look away. Instead it was a pretty good game with a lot of intrigue. And now I honestly wouldn’t mind Army joining the AAC. I mean why not?
Bahamas Bowl (Old Dominion 24 Eastern Michigan 20) – A team going to their first bowl game ever against a team going to their first bowl in 30 years. Great storylines for the media which turned into a fun game to watch. Bobby Wilder alone pushes this game into the top 15. He’s like the eastern seaboard P.J. Fleck. Just like Fleck going to Minnesota will be good for college football, Wilder moving up the line will be good for college football as well (once it happens).
Belk Bowl (Virginia Tech 35 Arkansas 24) – The absolute meltdown of the Razorbacks in this one was hilarious and sad to watch all at once. No one should lose a 24-0 lead in a bowl game ever. It’s happened twice now in the last two seasons (let’s remember Oregon last season). Bret Bielema is now on a VERY hot seat in Fayetteville and wishing he never left the Badgers (and all the cheese he could eat) in the Big Ten.
Military Bowl (Wake Forest 34 Temple 26) – WAKEYLEAKS! It felt like it was brought up about a dozen separate times. Honestly it was a pretty good game to watch with a near-Temple comeback. It solidified that the Demon Deacons’ season wasn’t a fluke (and actually could have been better considering what occurred).
Quick Lane Bowl (Boston College 36 Maryland 30) – If Maryland had taken the lead late, this game would have moved way up the list considering the Terrapins’ comeback in this one. Oh well, there’s probably not much more we can expect in a game between Boston College and Maryland in Detroit during the afternoon between Christmas and New Year’s.
Pinstripe Bowl (Northwestern 31 Pittsburgh 24) – I remember a few years ago when they announced they would be playing a bowl game at Yankee Stadium. I thought it was a stupid idea at the time. It has turned out to be one of the most consistently better bowl games in the past few years. This year was no exception.
St. Petersburg Bowl (Mississippi State 17 Miami-OH 16) – I hate putting this game this high on the list. I really do. It is such a shitty bowl. But it was a close game the entire time and the game was decided on a blocked field goal, giving the Bulldogs the W. I still think that bowl game and the field itself should cease to exist.
Liberty Bowl (Georgia 31 TCU 23) – It was close but never felt like that great a game. It was good because it was college football but not fantastic by any means.
Holiday Bowl (Minnesota 17 Washington State 12) – P.J. Fleck is the right man to right the ship (pun VERY intended) in Minneapolis. It was a shitshow and I am almost angry they won after what the players (and Tracy Claeys) did earlier that week. Plus what the hell happened to the vaunted Mike Leach offense we saw all season?
New Mexico Bowl (New Mexico 23 UTSA 20) – The first bowl of the season (other than the wacky Celebration Bowl) was pretty good. I am surprised that they didn’t fill the stands for this one though. Doesn’t make sense since the home team and a team from Texas were there. It felt like there should have been more fans there. A strike against the bowl system.
Sugar Bowl (Oklahoma 35 Auburn 19) – After the Rose Bowl I was almost worn out. Auburn scoring a touchdown on the final play was very Gus Malzahn-y. If Jim Harbaugh had been the other coach, it would have been a brawl afterwards.
Music City Bowl (Tennessee 38 Nebraska 24) – I sure hope this doesn’t spur the same reactions almost everyone had last year after Tennessee won their bowl game handily. Look, they will be good but don’t get a Sharpie and write them in as SEC East champs just yet.
Peach Bowl (Alabama 24 Washington 7) – The first semi-final felt close for a while. Bama didn’t play that great and neither did the Huskies and you thought that maybe Washington has a chance. Then the pick-six happened and you knew it was pretty much over so let’s get to the next game quickly.
Boca Raton Bowl (Western Kentucky 51 Memphis 31) – I figured there would be more fight from the Tigers but the sheer amount of offense in this one makes up for it being a relatively boring game.
New Orleans Bowl (Southern Miss 28 UL-Lafayette 21) – It was close but it came after a few not-so-great bowl games so interest (at least on my end) was relatively low. The Ragin’ Cajuns have to be sick of this bowl by now despite the fact it still gets decent fan attendance.
Cactus Bowl (Baylor 31 Boise State 12) – Admittedly I didn’t watch much of this game once Baylor went up by a good margin. It felt weird to see the Bears win considering how the second half of their season went and how their program has been viewed in general. It will take a few years for people to focus on the football aspect of things in Waco.
Hawaii Bowl (Hawaii 52 Middle Tennessee 35) – This defense-optional matchup was fine if you like arena football-like scores but other than that? Also, the stands were basically empty. Can we scrap this game please? If the home team can’t even bring in fans I don’t know what will.
Citrus Bowl (LSU 29 Louisville 9) – Man that was rough to watch. Lamar Jackson looked terrible and the Tigers didn’t even blink an eye even with Leonard Fournette skipping this one. So many fumbles by the Cardinals this season; it is actually surprising that they led the FBS in that category. It truly shows how good Lamar Jackson was for most of the season to have to overcome that.
Russell Athletic Bowl (Miami 31 West Virginia 14) – Is The U back? It sure looks like it. You have to feel good for Mark Richt. He has already done a great job in Miami and it’s only his first season. I expect them to contend for the division title next year and, perhaps, finally closing it out and making their first trip to the ACC Championship. Also, watching Drunk Uncle Dana go apeshit on the sideline is kind of fun to watch.
TaxSlayer Bowl (Georgia Tech 33 Kentucky 18) – Kentucky has to consider this a successful season. Same with Georgia Tech. Other than that, it was a game that was on while other bowl games were on as well. Didn’t bode well for this one.
Las Vegas Bowl (San Diego State 34 Houston 10) – I think the media would put this higher considering the Tom Herman saga and Donnel Pumphrey breaking (kind of) the NCAA all-time rushing yards record. But really? The game sucked.
Independence Bowl (NC State 41 Vanderbilt 17) – I am kind of a Vandy fan in a way. I always like to see them do well. But they were awful here. Not even Dancin’ Derek Mason could help the team out here. And is NC State good? Who knows. Ask Wolfpack fans and you would get varying responses, all ending with “Fire Doeren.”
Fiesta Bowl (Clemson 31 Ohio State 0) – This may be worse than Alabama’s drubbing of Michigan State last season. It was brutal and I stopped watching early in the fourth quarter since the game was already in hand.
Arizona Bowl (Air Force 45 South Alabama 21) – I didn’t watch this game. Don’t get MyTV. Wasn’t able to watch it live so watching it online wasn’t an option either. However, saying all that, there were four games worse than one I didn’t even watch. Yeah they were that bad and it’s an argument against more bowl games (or an argument for less bowl games than we have now).
Alamo Bowl (Oklahoma State 38 Colorado 8) – The only reason a lot of people (including myself) continued to watch was to see if the Buffs could break the goose egg. And they did. And then I turned it off because it was awful.
Outback Bowl (Florida 30 Iowa 3) – I had rated this game lower than many online experts had. It gives me a small amount of satisfaction to say I was right. This game sucked. No surprise here.
Miami Beach Bowl (Tulsa 55 Central Michigan 10) – I think the thing people were waiting for was to see if Tulsa would put up a 60-burger. They did not. I wish they would just scrap this game. It’s on in the afternoon on a weekday before Christmas. Who the fuck thinks this is a good idea?
Cure Bowl (Arkansas State 31 UCF 13) – All this game cured was people’s insomnia.

There you go. We’re done. And I am a bit sad. But we still have some football. Usually the best weekend of playoff football is upon us in the NFL with the Divisional Playoffs. Enjoy the games everyone!

Bowl Recap #3 – Get ready for the wall of text

Posted on December 31, 2016 by guelphbossman

I have a lot to say and a lot of bowl games to go through so let’s just get right to it.

St. Petersburg Bowl – Mississippi State 17 Miami-OH 16

This one was not the prettiest game to watch. Both teams struggled a lot. The field looked like shit since it was in the Trop which is a terrible stadium to begin with. Luckily for them it went down to the wire and was won on a Mississippi State blocked field goal. Let’s give the Redhawks some credit since they shouldn’t have been even close with MSU and they did just that.

Quick Lane Bowl – Boston College 36 Maryland 30

Boston College scored 36 points in a single game. I was very surprised as were most people. They were way in front for most of the game but allowed the Terps a chance late to try and tie the game but to no avail. Not a bad game amazingly enough.

Independence Bowl – NC State 41 Vanderbilt 17

I would have figured Vandy would have put up more of a fight. The Wolfpack were an interesting team this season. They almost beat Clemson and Florida State, the only team to come close to beating both other than Louisville, then gakked away games against East Carolina and Boston College. They could have easily been 9-3 or even 10-2 going into bowl season. It will be interesting to see if they build off this momentum next season.

Military Bowl – Wake Forest 34 Temple 26

Wake Forest got out to a shocking early lead and held on for dear life to beat a very good Temple Owls team. A nice end to a season that was marred by Wakeyleaks. Temple will have to navigate life without Matt Rhule next season so their stay atop the AAC may not continue.

Heart of Dallas Bowl – Army 38 North Texas 31 (OT)

One of the better bowl games so far. I was surprised it was this good. Army has had their best season in years and hopefully they can play off of this one and continue to be fairly successful.

Holiday Bowl – Minnesota 17 Washington State 12

The Holiday Bowl is usually known for being high-scoring. Not this time around. Not the most visually appealing game but at least it was close. I am glad the Minnesota players came to their senses and ended their boycott once they found out what happened with the sexual assault case from earlier in the season.

Cactus Bowl – Baylor 31 Boise State 12

To the chagrin of many, the Bears stomped all over the Broncos in this one. I figured it would have been the other way around. Hopefully now that Matt Rhule is taking over with a brand-new coaching staff we can put what happened at Baylor over the past year or so behind us. Programs have to start becoming more diligent with reporting and dealing with player crime. Coaches’ first instinct is to protect their players and I understand that but once something comes up that is serious they need to forget that and think of the victim(s) of whatever happens and the program as a whole. Art Briles and many of his supporters still don’t seem to understand that and maybe they never will. Still a sad state when it comes to how college football is perceived in the United States.

Pinstripe Bowl – Northwestern 31 Pittsburgh 24

The last game for James Conner didn’t go as planned as the Wildcats scratched and clawed their way to a bowl victory, something that is a rarity at Northwestern. Good game to start the day.

Russell Athletic Bowl – Miami 31 West Virginia 14

Great performance by The U here. After the first quarter, Brad Kaaya and the Miami offense woke up and had a great performance. I still believe Kaaya would be best suited to come back for one more year to work on his skills some more and probably become one of the top 5 picks of the 2018 draft.

Foster Farms Bowl – Utah 26 Indiana 24

Indiana is like that fly that just won’t leave you alone. Many Big Ten teams have figured that out over the past two seasons and now Utah got the pleasure of dealing with the rash that won’t go away of college football. By all rights, the Utes should have mopped the floor with Indy but the Hoosiers are a tough out now and one of these years they will turn a lot of those close losses into wins and move up the Big Ten ladder.

Texas Bowl – Kansas State 33 Texas A&M 28

How the fuck would I know if this game was any good? I find out the day before that TSN had taken this game off their bowl schedule. It couldn’t have happened before Christmas Eve because I had checked the games again to see if any changes needed to be made to my blog post. So then comes the night of the game and it’s nowhere. The specialty pack doesn’t have it. Then all of a sudden I find it in SD. I think “OK this is better than nothing.” Then after a half an hour the game goes off the air. What the fuck? Why does this happen? In 2016 no less. It’s absurd. It tells me that college football is, and always will be, a lower-than-second-class citizen when it comes to broadcast sports in this country. I mean the fucking Spengler Cup gets more play than a lot of things in this country and hardly anyone gives two shits about that tournament. What bugs me about this the most is that the blame is not just with one company. TSN knew their schedule at least two weeks out and should have left that game off the schedule. My guess is the inclusion there meant the specialty pack wouldn’t pick the game up. I have this feeling that Bell/Rogers have to wait on TSN when it comes to this so TSN changing their mind would screw things up on their end. However, that theory was blown up a bit when I found the game on SD. So if was there, why was it removed in the MIDDLE OF THE GAME? Just completely ridiculous. I pay for the specialty pack for a reason. If you want to know why many Canadians go through illegal means to get sports that no one will broadcast properly in this country, there’s your answer: because what you pay for you may not get and if you don’t then tough shit. At least that’s what Bell, Rogers, and all the other cable providers would say (not to your face though). Alright, rant over.

Birmingham Bowl – USF 46 South Carolina 39 (OT)

Now this was an exciting game. I thought USF was going to run away with it and the Gamecocks kept chipping away and somehow tied it up at the end of regulation. They may have lost but I think this USC team will be one to watch in the SEC East next season. Also, USF may be just fine without Willie Taggart considering the talent they have and the fact Charlie Strong is now the new head man. Football in Florida will be fun to watch next year for sure.

Belk Bowl – Virginia Tech 35 Arkansas 24

Arkansas played the epitome of 2016 Arkansas Razorback football in this one. They had been a first half team all season and it showed here. A 24-0 lead at halftime and they blew it, not scoring a point the rest of the way. Biggest comeback in VaTech history. Bret Bielema is now on quite the hot seat in Fayetteville and it would not surprise me to see a coaching change during the 2017 season if it doesn’t improve.

Alamo Bowl – Oklahoma State 38 Colorado 8

OK now it looks like there was a very good reason Colorado wasn’t selected by the Rose Bowl. Wow, the Pokes destroyed the Buffs here. And they did something very uncharacteristic in this one: they played lights-out defense. It actually got to the point it was painful to watch but I stuck it out to the end. Lost a few z’s but oh well. Isn’t that what bowl season is partially about?

Liberty Bowl – Georgia 31 TCU 23

A game that was not that fun to watch for about three quarters became exciting at the end. It seems to be a trend this year. It was a bit of a sloppy affair but both teams woke up near the end. Georgia is another team to watch next season in the SEC East, a division that SHOULD be better than it was this year.

Sun Bowl – Stanford 25 North Carolina 23

No McCaffrey? No problem. It wasn’t easy but the Cardinal held off Mitch Trubisky and the Tar Heels at the end for the Sun Bowl victory in fairly unpleasant El Paso. Sounds like they do an amazing job before the bowl game starts so at least there’s that since I haven’t seen one Sun Bowl game in a long time where there was nice weather, sunshine and not cool temperatures. Oh and I have a feeling the Browns are honestly thinking about picking Trubisky, him being a Cleveland native and all. I think Myles Garrett of Texas A&M should be the #1 choice but it would be tough to ignore Mitch in this case.

Music City Bowl – Tennessee 38 Nebraska 24

A bowl game that made sense. Too bad it was overlapped by another bowl for quite a bit. I didn’t watch much of this bowl because the Sun Bowl was pretty good. Plus the game was never close. I am sure I have already heard one person state that Tennessee is the team to beat in the SEC East. Some things never change.

Arizona Bowl – Air Force 45 South Alabama 21

To be honest, I didn’t watch this game. Just some of the highlights. I re-jigged my cable package to save like $15 a month and got rid of a LOT of channels I don’t watch. Might as well. I know it’s only $15 a month but it’s still something. And to miss the ASN games that appear on MyTV or the ACC Network game of the week is something I can be fine with. It’s not like I am missing the ABC games every week.

Orange Bowl – Florida State 33 Michigan 32

We are only one game into the New Year’s Six and it is already LIGHT YEARS better than last year’s version. This was an absolutely awesome game. And the thing is, for a while, both offenses sputtered…badly. But when it came to the fourth quarter it was one of the most entertaining quarters of football anyone has seen in the past few years. This game alone is the argument for bowl games. When you can pair a game of this quality with all the charity work done, the amount of money pumped into the communities that hold the games, and the players having a great experience they may never be able to top (well, at least the ones that play the games), it is college football at its best. Oh, and Dalvin Cook and Taco Charlton have probably rocketed up many draft boards. Expect teams to be very happy with picking them in the spring.

Alright, let’s hope the rest of the New Year’s Six even closely resembles last night’s game. After last year’s shitshow, anything is better by comparison. Four games today including two that start at 11 in the morning! MORNING FOOTBAW!!!!! And then the College Football Playoff semi-finals later today. I sincerely hope Bama doesn’t destroy Washington too badly. Want the ratings for these games to continue to drop? Have that happen on New Year’s Eve. Thankfully it’s a Saturday this time around so at least more people will be able to watch it live. Enjoy the games everyone and have a happy New Year!

Bowl Recap #3 – Sponsored by gaining weight over the holidays

Posted on December 29, 2015 by guelphbossman

It sucks doesn’t it? I feel like a sloth right now. My theory to deal with this is along the same lines as the theory I use for leftover Halloween candy. Eat as much of it as quick as possible to get rid of it. You might feel like shit for a day or two but then it’s gone and you can get back to having a relatively normal diet. It doesn’t seem to be working this time. Oh well, there’s so much football to watch it’s not like I can leave the couch for too long. That’s my excuse and I am sticking to it. Anyway…

Bowl Recap-o

ST. PETERSBURG BOWL – Marshall 16 UConn 10

OK first off the 11am starting time on Boxing Day is interesting but sucks for anyone who has responsibilities and/or is recovering from Christmas Day festivities (read: drinks). And for the love of God, enough of playing a bowl game on this shitty field. I would rather watch it played on a poorly maintained high school football field instead. The Trop is a fucking dump. They should just tear it down (and move the Rays to Montreal). Anyway, the game was close but not really that exciting. UConn might be an interesting team to watch next year in the AAC East.

SUN BOWL – Washington State 20 Miami 14

Sun Bowl. I always laugh at that moniker for this game because most of the time this game is played in either a) snow b) rain or c) sunny but frigid weather. Almost never is it sunny and fairly nice weather. It’s fucking El Paso. I don’t get it. It’s like it’s in some sort of weird weather vortex. Plus they need to make it so it’s an SEC team against a Big XII team. That’s the easiest way to fill the stands. As for the game, Wazzu held on in sloppy snowy weather to defeat The U in the final Richt-less game for the Hurricanes. Also, is Mike Leach drunk when he’s coaching? His halftime and post-game interviews are equal parts hilarious and disturbing for the fact he never really answers the questions asked of him.

HEART OF DALLAS BOWL – Washington 44 Southern Miss 31

I’ll be honest: I watched very little of this game. With the Sun Bowl on at virtually the same time and the Pinstripe Bowl starting about an hour afterwards, I would be surprised if many (outside UW or USM alums/fans) would watch this one. Another example of poor timing of bowl games. They would have been better off putting this on at 9 in the morning.

PINSTRIPE BOWL – Duke 44 Indiana 41 (OT)

Good lord this was a fantastic game. It had a bit of everything. A lot of scoring. Those one or two defensive stops when absolutely needed. Overtime. And controversy…in overtime even. Both of these teams are looking quite good for next season I have to say. The controversy was over the field goal missed (made?) by the Hoosiers in their half of overtime to extend the game to 2OT. The ball went fully over the uprights. From some angles it looked good. I never saw an angle that definitively showed the ball would have been outside the uprights. However, that is not reviewable. This one I kind of get. How would you review it? Either we will get a rule in the next few seasons that the uprights need to be extended a foot or two higher or this will be lost to history as a controversial but highly unusual occurrence that lends to the magic of college football (except for IU fans).

INDEPENDENCE BOWL – Virginia Tech 55 Tulsa 52

From the sublime to the ridiculous, we present you the Independence Bowl. Frank Beamer’s Last Stand. This game was ridiculous. Most points scored in the first half in any bowl EVER. Yet it felt like Tulsa still wasn’t fully out of it at any point. I’m surprised we didn’t see Bud Foster drinking right out of the whiskey bottle on the sidelines. This was clearly defense-optional and it showed. A nice (albeit weird) way for Frank Beamer to go out. Very subdued at the end which kind of matches Frank’s personality. I am sure that’s the way he would have wanted it. As for who is now the leader at the FBS coaching ranks in all-time wins, look no further than Evil Nick Saban who is one win ahead of Papa Bill Snyder.

FOSTER FARMS BOWL – Nebraska 37 UCLA 29

This ended up being another good game. Unfortunately, with the Huskers winning, it means the idea of 5-7 teams playing in bowl games becomes that much more accepted which is the wrong way to go. I don’t usually care one way or another who wins a bowl game as long as it’s a good game. This one was one where I hoped UCLA mopped the floor with Nebraska. That did not happen so we should look forward to 10 more bowl games in the next few years. I tip my cap to Mike Riley’s team as they had one of the most frustrating seasons in recent memory. To end like this is a nice way to end it for them and allows them to look forward to next season with a bit of momentum.

MILITARY BOWL – Navy 44 Pittsburgh 28

Normally a game like this wouldn’t have elicited much interest. However, with the Panthers players playing their hearts out for James Conner (who is suffering from Hodgkin’s Lymphoma) and Keenan Reynolds looking to retake the career touchdown record from Kenneth Dixon there was at least a little intrigue. Also, Reynolds had the opportunity to set a new record for rushing yards by a QB, which he did. Not very close (for the most part) but a pretty fun game to watch at a very fun atmosphere. Whoever made the decision to have the Military Bowl be played at Annapolis is a genius.

QUICK LANE BOWL – Minnesota 21 Central Michigan 14

If it wasn’t for the fact this bowl was close it would have been thoroughly unwatchable. Even ESPN didn’t think much about it as it’s the only game to be relegated to ESPN2 this bowl season (other than on New Year’s Day but that’s a little different scenario). All three 5-7 teams won their bowl games. I am less than pleased. Also, it will be very interesting to see how Tracy Claeys does over a full season in the relatively competitive Big Ten West.

Alright my NFL recap for this previous week will be combined with the NFL Week 17 schedule to create some sort of superpost (super referring to the length of the post and not the quality of the post). I am hoping to do this tomorrow but it all depends on when the coverage maps are done (courtesy of 506sports.com). Four bowl games today with two that are almost must-see (Russell Athletic and Alamo Bowls). Four bowl games tomorrow as well but with not nearly the hype of today’s games. Then, in two days, the College Football Playoff and New Year’s Six are finally upon us! Enjoy the games everyone.

Bossman's Blog

A lot of college football (and perhaps a bit of miscellaneous crap that I think warrants a post)

Tag Archives: El Paso

Which conference is this? Oh the one with Lane Kiffin in it? That should be exciting.

From one legend to another – this is your (very tentative) SEC on CBS schedule

Bowl Recap #3 – Get ready for the wall of text

Bowl Recap #3 – Sponsored by gaining weight over the holidays

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