Yes, it’s already the first mock draft of the year (along with some network change news)

Posted on February 24, 2024 by guelphbossman

Do I have time to do this? No. So why am I doing it? I honestly don’t know. I think I just feel I should put a bit more into the offseason portion of my blog. I mean it is half the year and there have been times I have gone dark for like a month. What will people read? The newspaper? Get the fuck outta here.

Honestly, I feel that even though this blog will turn 11 in a few months, I haven’t tried enough to take it to the next level, so to speak. Maybe not more posts but better posts. More informative stuff. It almost feels like this may be a make-or-break twelve months for me. With all the shit I have to do to get my career to the next step, it means there will be less and less time to do stuff I enjoy, like this blog. I always have to remind myself why I started this in the first place: to organize my own college football viewing. It allowed me to watch more college football than ever before and be efficient with it as well, while still making time for my kids. Then again, I ended up separated four months after the blog started so…..yeah.

So let’s just get on with the first mock draft of who knows how many leading up to the draft and hey how about that, look who’s going first overall.

1	Chicago	Caleb Williams, QB (USC)
2	Washington	Jayden Daniels, QB (LSU)
3	New England	Drake Maye, QB (North Carolina)
4	Arizona	Marvin Harrison Jr., WR (Ohio State)
5	LA Chargers	Brock Bowers, TE (Georgia)
6	NY Giants	Byron Murphy II, DT (Texas)
7	Tennessee	Joe Alt, OT (Notre Dame)
8	Atlanta	Malik Nabers, WR (LSU)
9	Chicago	Rome Odunze, WR (Washington)
10	NY Jets	Olumuyiwa Fashanu, OT (Penn State)
11	Minnesota	Dallas Turner, OLB (Alabama)
12	Denver	Laiatu Latu, DE (UCLA)
13	Las Vegas	Bo Nix, QB (Oregon)
14	New Orleans	J.C. Latham, OT (Alabama)
15	Indianapolis	Nate Wiggins, CB (Clemson)
16	Seattle	Kris Jenkins, DT (Michigan)
17	Jacksonville	Quinyon Mitchell, CB (Toledo)
18	Cincinnati	Michael Hall Jr., DT (Ohio State)
19	LA Rams	Kamren Kitchens, S (Miami)
20	Pittsburgh	Jordan Morgan, OT (Arizona)
21	Miami	Troy Fautanu, OG (Washington)
22	Philadelphia	Jared Verse, DE (Florida State)
23	Houston	Kamari Lassiter, CB (Georgia)
24	Dallas	Brian Thomas Jr., WR (LSU)
25	Green Bay	Cooper DeJean, S (Iowa)
26	Tampa Bay	Xavier Legette, WR (South Carolina)
27	Arizona	Terrion Arnold, CB (Alabama)
28	Buffalo	Kool-Aid McKinstry, CB (Alabama)
29	Detroit	Cam Hart, CB (Notre Dame)
30	Baltimore	Xavier Worthy, WR (Texas)
31	San Francisco	Tyler Guyton, OT (Oklahoma)
32	Kansas City	Tallies Fuaga, OT (Oregon State)

I am firmly in the camp that says that the Bears will trade Justin Fields. Whether it’s before the draft, during the draft, or after the draft, I don’t know. I just can’t see them passing up on Williams when they could get him AND a really good receiver for their first two picks. On top of that, they could get more picks that will help them later in the draft or in the following year’s event. Not quite a win-win but damn near close. The Commanders and Patriots also need quarterbacks desperately so they will be watching what the Bears do very closely…and possibly even calling them to inquire about how much it would take to trade for that top pick of theirs. Other interesting notes from this first kick at the can:

The first team that doesn’t need a quarterback is the Cardinals and they are very much hoping the Bears take Caleb Williams since it will mean that Marvin Harrison Jr. will fall into their lap. Pairing him with Kyler Murray could be quite something for a moribund Cards’ offense.
The Chargers need almost everything that isn’t the quarterback position. If I am them, I nab Bowers, pick another receiver up later on, and bulk up the offense. Win games in true Big XII fashion this coming season. It may be their only hope at getting close to a playoff spot.
Any potential steals here? Not really but the Saints nabbing Latham at #14 would be good value as would the Eagles picking up Jared Verse at #22.

Will I do more mock drafts? Of course. When? I have no clue.

Now let’s look at the changes coming to conferences and broadcast networks in the Fall. There really is only one major change but it does have a domino effect. The SEC is now fully on ABC/ESPN/SEC Network/ESPN2/ESPNU (if they absolutely have to be) and ESPN+ because they are contractually obligated to be once a season (at least that’s the way the previous SEC contract played out). With the SEC on ABC, they will easily get the majority of the Saturday night games. Not all, but with 14 weeks worth of games, the SEC will get no less than ten of those.

So that domino effect…SEC had every evening ESPN game last year. I can’t see that being the case since that would compete directly with the game on ABC. So they should get a lot less of those and they should get filled with the ACC and Big XII. The American might end up actually getting more games on ESPN with this new arrangement which seems crazy but with the ACC and, to a lesser extent, the Big XII getting hurt by this from a Disney/ESPN perspective, the American Conference is ready to pick up a few pieces here and there.

The Big XII won’t cry about this though. For everything they will end up losing from ESPN/ABC, they will gain more than that quite possibly from the FOX side of things. Sure, the Big Ten will get many of the Big Noon Kickoff games. But beyond that? Remember, the Big Ten has a game a week on CBS, a game a week on NBC and eight games on Peacock. Also, you might see a couple of late night Big Ten affairs on the Big Ten Network. So there will be plenty of spots on FOX and FOX Sports One for the Big XII to fill in since there is no more Pac-12. The other conference that wins here? The Mountain West. They should get a lot more FS1 games with how things are shaking out.

So even though the SEC and Big Ten will start to dominate the landscape of college football, we might get more chances than ever to watch other conferences. Now if they can just figure out how to get FS1 games up here legally and Canadians won’t have any reason to complain about access to CFB games in the future ever again (other than the one Notre Dame game a season on Peacock and weird stuff like the Hawaii Tests).

Alright more posts to come but no football for over a month. The UFL starts in late March and I’m…honestly not that excited about it but it’s football so I am sure will watch some at some point since it’s football and I love football. Better than watching the news, right? Have a good weekend everyone!

2023 Bowl Game Rankings and Predictions for those Bowl Games!

Posted on December 15, 2023 by guelphbossman

We are a little over a week away from Christmas. You have your Bowl Season schedule and now you need some Bowl Game rankings and Bowl Game predictions from your friendly neighbourhood Bossman.

Time to go back to basics…I think? After introducing the Play-by-Play Announcer Scale last year we are heading back in time to the broadcasting network scale. An oldie but a goodie but since much has changed in the past few years, there are a couple of newbies and some networks that just don’t broadcast college football anymore. So let’s get right into this!

Now one thing that will change is this will be in tiers. 8 tiers like last year but with networks instead of announcers. Let’s fucking go!

The ABC Saturday Night Tier

Game of the Year type games right here. The games that matter. In this day and age that means the College Football Playoff and the New Year’s Six.

Rose Bowl – #1 Michigan vs. #4 Alabama (Jan. 1, 5:00, TSN3) – This will get a lot of viewers. I am starting to wonder if ESPN kind of helped with all the controversy to get even more people to watch. Let’s be honest: these two teams may be the two most hated college football teams in the land right now. And they are both just fine with that. Expect this to be a very close and very exciting game. My pick: Michigan 36 Alabama 31.

Sugar Bowl – #2 Washington vs. #3 Texas (Jan. 1, 8:45, TSN3) – They should have had the Rose and Sugar as the College Football Playoff semi-finals from the get-go. But it’s college football so they sometimes trip over themselves figuring things out. They still haven’t learned from having games on New Year’s Eve where the ratings, while still good, were probably much lower than they could have been. Normally one CFP semi-final is a fair amount worse than the other. This is the case this year and it has nothing to do with the Huskies or the Longhorns. At least it feels like both game will be really good because it’s rough to watch a CFP game get out of hand (see 2022 national championship). My pick: Washington 27 Texas 24.

Peach Bowl – #10 Penn State vs. #11 Ole Miss (Dec. 30, Noon, TSN5) – Two teams with head coaches that their fanbase doesn’t fully trust. I kind of get it but, because it’s college football, many go overboard. I mean who is going to State College or Oxford and doing a lot better than James Frankin or Lane Kiffin are? It would be a tough sell at Penn State to get a truly elite coach and even tougher at Ole Miss. Honestly, both coaches will probably be around through the end of next season so fans might as well focus on this game and stop talking about their next hypothetical coach. My pick: Penn State 21 Ole Miss 14.

Orange Bowl – #5 Florida State vs. #6 Georgia (Dec. 30, 4:00, TSN1/5) – This bowl has gone off the rails and it’s two weeks away. Now we have some Georgia lawmaker wanting to make the Orange Bowl another semi-final. So how the fuck is that going to work, Jethro? The winners get together for a hot game of rock, paper, scissors? Or maybe a three-way Cage of Death match up in Barrow, Alaska. Televised LIVE by ESPN AND NO ONE ELSE of course. What a fucking shitshow. I’m almost ready for the 2024 season to start so we can be done with this season. My pick: Georgia 35 Florida State 25.

Alamo Bowl – #12 Oklahoma vs. #14 Arizona (Dec. 28, 9:15, TSN3) – Well hey look at this. Not a CFP bowl and not an NY6 bowl! I say it almost every year but the Alamo Bowl, on paper, is one of, if not the very, best bowl games outside the major bowls. I wonder what will happen with the tie-ins with the Pac-12 being history. Either way, a great game to watch even if you end up exhausted at work the next day. My pick: Arizona 42 Oklahoma 39.

The SEC on CBS Tier

I’m shedding a tear right now looking at that logo. Long live the SEC on CBS. Things will never be the same again.

Cotton Bowl – #7 Ohio State vs. #9 Missouri (Dec. 29, 8:00, TSN2) – One team who was one win away from being in the College Football Playoff against one team who played way better than anyone expected. I can’t see this game being done before Midnight. Thankfully it’s Saturday the next day. We shall see if the absence of Kyle McCord really does affect the Buckeyes. I think it will. My pick: Missouri 34 Ohio State 20.

Armed Forces Bowl – James Madison vs. Air Force (Dec. 23, 3:30, ABC/TSN2) – The best pre-Christmas bowl game and of course it features America’s (Eastern) Team, the James Madison Dukes (America’s (Western) Team resides in Las Cruces as you already know). As for the Falcons, talk about a horrible slide to end their season. They were at the top of the Group of Five mountain going into November and by Selection Sunday were an afterthought. My pick: James Madison 31 Air Force 10.

Pop Tarts Bowl – #18 NC State vs. #25 Kansas State (Dec. 38, 5:45, TSN3) – This has to be the bowl game with the most questions. Nothing to do with the two teams involved who did very well this season but were one or two bad losses away from causing potential chaos. No, I’m talking about the edible Pop Tarts Bowl mascot. You read that right. Edible. Mascot. We don’t even know what flavour it is. Watch it be a really shitty flavour like blueberry or the disappointing chocolate fudge one or grass and dirt. Wait, there’s a pumpkin pie one? That one then. Ugh, just the thought of that makes my stomach churn. My pick: Kansas State 36 NC State 28.

Fiesta Bowl – #8 Oregon vs. #23 Liberty (Jan. 1, 1:00, TSN3) – The worst of the New Year’s Six games and it’s really not even close. That seems to be the take everyone has, partly because Oregon is one win over Washington from being in the playoff and partly because many hate Liberty because of the university itself. Ugh. Oh well, I’d love to say this could be close. I just don’t think it will be. My pick: Oregon 52 Liberty 28.

Citrus Bowl – #17 Iowa vs. #21 Tennessee (Jan. 1, 1:00, ABC/TSN+) – It must look weird to have an Iowa game here but hey, the Iowa defense was one of the best in the country. Sure they couldn’t score for the life of them but defense wins championships, right? It feels like football is trying to do away with that adage. Look, at least the over/under isn’t as ridiculous as the last few Hawkeye games this season (it’s 36.5 the last time I checked which is still low but I digress). My pick: Tennessee 21 Iowa 14.

The Big Noon Kickoff Tier

Really good games that are approaching the SEC on CBS level except when they end up showing Indiana or Nebraska playing a team like Ohio State. Then it’s not so fun and you fear for Gus and Joel’s sanity.

Holiday Bowl – #15 Louisville vs. USC (Dec. 27, 8:00, FOX) – Of course the BNK section has to have the only FOX bowl game. I’m just happy they don’t have a bowl game on FOX Sports One anymore. Sure I can watch it but many Canadians can’t and I am a man of the people. Anyway, GUS won’t get to call any Caleb Williams on-field action because he’s not playing. Between players opting out and players transferring before bowl games, Bowl Season is becoming, I hate to say, a bit of a mess. Hopefully someone fixes it. They won’t though. My pick: Louisville 36 USC 19.

Guaranteed Rate Bowl – Kansas vs. UNLV (Dec. 26, 9:00, TSN2) – UNLV has been better than advertised this season. Barry Odom has done an unbelievable job in Vegas. And you know my thoughts on Lance Leipold and the direction of the Jayhawk football program. Hell, the renovations are going to be so big that it may cause them to have to play at least one game at Arrowhead Stadium next season. That wouldn’t have happened with the 2010s Kansas Jayhawks. This may end up being one of the most fun games to watch. My pick: Kansas 31 UNLV 27.

Duke’s Mayo Bowl – North Carolina vs. West Virginia (Dec. 27, 5:30, TSN5) – I don’t usually like picking sides. But there is something intriguing about the idea of Mack Brown being buried in Duke’s Mayo. OK wait, buried was the wrong word. I didn’t mean… My pick: North Carolina 45 West Virginia 42.

Liberty Bowl – Memphis vs Iowa State (Dec. 29, 3:30, TSN2) – This could be a bit of a track meet game if the Tigers get rolling in front of their home crowd. What I’m saying is: take the over. My pick: Memphis 49 Iowa State 40.

Sun Bowl – #16 Notre Dame vs. #19 Oregon State (Dec. 29, 2:00, CBS) – At one point this was going to be THE non-CFP/non-NY6 bowl game. Then we have D.J. Uiagalelei transferring. Jonathan Smith is now head coach at Michigan State. Sam Hartman might not play for the Irish. From a game that looked like it would be loaded with points, it might not end up being that way now. My pick: Notre Dame 23 Oregon State 21.

The Notre Dame and/or B1G on NBC Tier

Notre Dame games still hold a lot of reverance for fans and the Big Ten will slowly make their mark, especially with Noah Eagle and Todd Blackledge calling their games.

Arizona Bowl – Wyoming vs. Toledo (Dec. 30, 4:00, The CW) – Yes the C Fucking W. They may go down in the list of notable networks that have broadcast bowl games like Mizlou Network and the American Sports Network. This bowl is sponsored by Barstool Sports so many won’t watch it just for that. I do kind of get it since it’s like watching a game at one of those sportsbooks in Vegas with 10,000 screens and odds on everything and anything. But it could end up being a good game and I don’t want to miss that, right? My pick: Toledo 33 Wyoming 27.

Cure Bowl – Appalachian State vs. Miami-OH (Dec. 16, 3:30, ABC/TSN2) – Even though it’s on ABC it might be overshadowed by other bowl games. Which is too bad since we have the MAC champs and the Mountaineers that are back after missing Bowl Season last year (in one of the craziest seasons in Sun Belt history). Don’t sleep on this matchup despite the fact it could be a bit of a defensive slugfest. Like if you enjoy Iowa football this may be your type of game. My pick: Appalachian State 20 Miami-OH 18.

ReliaQuest Bowl – #13 LSU vs. Wisconsin (Jan. 1, Noon, TSN+/specialty pack) – The first football game of 2024 is also the first game on this list that is on TSN+ and the specialty packs. Also, if Heisman winner Jayden Daniels does decide to play, this shouldn’t be cloase at all. My pick: LSU 48 Wisconsin 13.

Music City Bowl – Auburn vs. Maryland (Dec. 30, 2:00, ABC/TSN+) – Auburn has been all over the place this year. The highs are always high playing in the SEC. The lows can be very low although a loss to New Mexico State doesn’t look as bad as some may think. This is the younger Tagovailoa’s final game at Maryland and I think he goes out with a bang against an inconsistent Tigers team. My pick: Maryland 49 Auburn 29.

Gator Bowl – #22 Clemson vs. Kentucky (Dec. 29, Noon, TSN2) – If the Tigers hadn’t had a hell of a November, this may have been an even matchup. But it won’t be. At least I doubt it. My pick: Clemson 41 Kentucky 15.

The Late Night ESPN Tier

Jesus Christ that looks horrible. Oh well, I don’t feel like finding another logo. Basically this tier is the ESPN game that’s not the SEC primetime ESPN game of the week. So it could be the Noon, 3:30 or late night affair. So still a pretty good game but a step below the rest.

Independence Bowl – Texas Tech vs. California (Dec. 16, 9:15, TSN+/specialty pack) – This feels like an odd pairing in Shreveport of all places. Maybe next season they can get the Sun Belt champ to play an SEC team here, like God (or the Bossman in various posts) intended. I’m going with the team that scratched and clawed their way to bowl eligibility and have a bit of momentum as they head to the ACC. My pick: California 41 Texas Tech 27.

LA Bowl – UCLA vs. Boise State (Dec. 16, 7:30, ABC/TSN2) – This is going up against the rest of opening day of Bowl Season plus a few NFL games plus a couple of lower-level playoff games. So, yeah this isn’t exactly high up on anyone’s list of appointment viewing I’m sure. Considering Gronk is involved, my interest has dwindled even farther. Maybe it will be close and keep my attention. I don’t think it will be though. My pick: Boise State 39 UCLA 26.

New Mexico Bowl – Fresno State vs. New Mexico State (Dec. 16, 5:45, TSN+/specialty pack) – Hey it’s America’s (Western) Team, the New Mexico State Aggies! They ended up giving Liberty quite the run for the Conference USA Championship. They get a head coach-less Bulldogs squad that had the inside track to the Mountain West Championship and blew it because of a loss to, well how about that, New Mexico. The script writes itself. My pick: New Mexico State 44 Fresno State 31.

Texas Bowl – Texas A&M vs. #20 Oklahoma State (Dec. 27, 9:00, TSN5) – Usually this game has been a fairly good one so at least we have that going for it. Problem is you have a team that might not have one of the best running backs in the nation for the game up against a team that just spent a shit-ton of money to get rid of their old coach. It will be close only because neither team will be able to pull away. My pick: Texas A&M 28 Oklahoma State 23.

Birmingham Bowl – Duke vs. Troy (Dec. 23, Noon, ABC/TSN2) – This was looking like a really even game and the kind of game I love to see during bowl season. Instead, Duke loses their quarterback and I have a feeling the Trojans will run away with this one. My pick: Troy 36 Duke 20.

The FS1/ESPN2/ESPNU/SEC Network/ACC Network Tier

If you’re a college football fan you are watching these games. If not, well………

Fenway Bowl – Boston College vs. SMU (Dec. 28, 11:00 AM, TSN3) – It’s late morning football in what should be chilly BAW-stun. This could be considered the Mustangs’ first ACC game as they join the conference next season. I believe they will show the Eagles why they were coveted by the conference. My pick: SMU 48 Boston College 21.

Gasparilla Bowl – Georgia Tech vs. UCF (Dec. 22, 6:30, TSN5) – I don’t get the start time but whatever. The Knights have to consider their first season in the Big XII a success as they go bowling. And Brent Key may have just started the Ramblin’ Wreck’s ascent back up the ACC standings. This should be another good one but I will go with the home cookin’. My pick: UCF 22 Georgia Tech 17.

Hawaii Bowl – Coastal Carolina vs. San Jose State (Dec. 24, 10:30, TSN+/specialty pack) – Coastal has had a great run recently so this season feels…a little blah by their now lofty standards. Much of that has to do with the rest of the conference catching up and, for some teams, passing them. I honestly have no real intuition about this game so I will pick the team that doesn’t have to travel clear across the entire country and then half the Pacific Ocean. My pick: San Jose State 45 Coastal Carolina 24.

New Orleans Bowl – Louisiana vs. Jacksonville State (Dec. 16, 2:15, TSN+/specialty pack) – The Ragin’ Cajuns are close to home where they have played in front of some good bowl game crowds at the Superdome. But the Gamecocks are playing in their first bowl game ever and are doing it with RichRod at the helm! No offense to Cajun fans but I have to go with my heart. My pick: Jacksonville State 36 Louisiana 28.

Military Bowl – Virginia Tech vs. Tulane (Dec. 27, 2:00, TSN5) – I am shocked at how well the Hokies did this season. And I was so close at getting my G-5 NY6 pick correct but the Green Wave fell in the American Conference Championship. I usually don’t feel good about teams whose coaches have left for (usually) greener pastures but I think this will be a very close and competitive game. My pick: Tulane 30 Virginia Tech 29.

The CW Tier

When it was announced The CW would be doing an ACC game most weeks, most laughed. I sure did. But holy shit, despite the average commentary, the sub-HD look and the overall lack of production values, they had a few games that hit it out of the park. So you can’t sleep on this station because you might miss a really good game!

Pinstripe Bowl – Rutgers vs. Miami (Dec. 28, 2:15, TSN3) – Ah, an old Big East showdown. Maybe years from now, when conferences hit 28 teams, some teams start to hate it and they break off into smaller conferences, like the Big East. Just a thought. I don’t trust Mario Cristobal to coach this team to a bowl victory as far as I can throw my car. My pick: Rutgers 34 Miami 19.

First Responder Bowl – Rice vs. Texas State (Dec. 26, 5:30, TSN2) – G.J. Kinne has done a fantastic job in San Marcos, coaching the team to its first bowl game ever. Rice did better than expected and could look even better next year in the AAC. This feels like the kind of game that should be on ESPNU that everyone will turn to because there’s the possibility of a fantastic finish. My pick: Texas State 45 Rice 39.

Las Vegas Bowl – Northwestern vs. Utah (Dec. 23, 7:30, ABC/TSN2) – Got to give the Wildcats kudos for a great season considering what things were looking like heading into it. But they are facing a Utah team that, if it weren’t for injuries, would have been in that super dogfight at the top of the Pac-12. I still think the Utes on most nights are safe pick and this is no exception. My pick: Utah 31 Northwestern 10.

Myrtle Beach Bowl – Georgia Southern vs. Ohio (Dec. 16, 11:00 AM, TSN+/specialty pack) – Ohio has Canadian quarterback Kurtis Rourke here so…wait…they don’t? Looks like Rourke entered the transfer portal and has already been picked up by Indiana of all the teams. So my Bobcats pick has to be changed to an Eagles pick since without Rourke I don’t think they have a shot here. My pick: Georgia Southern 32 Ohio 13.

Frisco Bowl – UTSA vs. Marshall (Dec. 19, 9:00, TSN3) – This is the same spot the Frisco Bowl was in last year. So yeah it’s not like they are getting amazing teams to come to Frisco (other than North Dakota State most seasons). At least it’s another Texas team here as the Roadrunners meep their way up the state to face the Thundering Herd. I see Frank Harris, in what his finally his final game, lighting it up one last time. My pick: UTSA 51 Marshall 27.

The Pac-12 Network Tier

They should have taken the two worst teams in football and had them play a “bowl game” on a weeknight at 11 Eastern on the Pac-12 Network. Just to show how little that conference network mattered. I don’t get it. You create a conference network and make it available to most people and people will watch. Hell, the Longhorn Network is still around and that thing is garbage. Yet, this network will die sometime in the late Spring (I assume) and pretty much no one will miss it because they COULDN’T FUCKING WATCH IT! Man. Anyway, this is the bottom tier. Still games I will watch but if you miss them it’s not the end of the world (at least watch the highlights though).

Famous Toastery Bowl – Old Dominion vs. WKU (Dec. 18, 2:30, TSN1/3) – This was supposed to be the Bahamas Bowl but because of renovations to their only stadium on the island capable of hosting this game, it had to be moved. Thus is the creation of the Famous Toastery Bowl. My hope is that the winning coach gets a whole whack of toast dumped on him. Or even French toast. Ugh that would be so sticky (especially if you include syrup which you should) but would be worth it for my entertainment. The game? It will probably be close only because these two are arguably the worst two teams to make bowl season. The closeness keeps it from the bottom. My pick: Old Dominion 23 WKU 20.

Camellia Bowl – Arkansas State vs. Northern Illinois (Dec. 23, Noon, TSN+/specialty pack) – Despite the fact ASU has done better than I thought they would this season, their defense is still atrocious. They couldn’t stop a slight breeze. NIU loves to run the ball so despite the clock always moving this could see a lot of points. My pick: Northern Illinois 50 Arkansas State 38.

Idaho Potato Bowl – Utah State vs. Georgia State (Dec. 23, 3:30, TSN+/specialty pack) – Let’s follow one lowly bowl with another. Sometimes Boise gets a great matchup. This, I’m sure, does not qualify as one. GSU limped into the postseason on a 5-game losing streak. Make it six. My pick: Utah State 37 Georgia State 13.

Quick Lane Bowl – Minnesota vs. Bowling Green (Dec. 26, 2:00, TSN2) – Almost everything about this spot on the list is the same as last year. Same bowl. Bowling Green is in it. It’s on Boxing Day. Hell, it’s on a TSN station and only half-an-hour earlier than last year’s edition. Kind of creepy. I remember a time when the MAC champion would go here and face a fairly decent Big Ten team. I guess those days are gone. My pick: Minnesota 21 Bowling Green 14.

Boca Raton Bowl – Syracuse vs. USF (Dec. 21, 8:00, TSN+/specialty pack) – USF might get a boost from being so close to home. That is until their defense hits the field and they have to try to stop the pass which they couldn’t all season. Look, their game against Alabama was wild and fun to watch but Bama struggled to throw the ball all day. Syracuse won’t. My pick: Syracuse 45 USF 14.

68 Ventures Bowl – South Alabama vs. Eastern Michigan (Dec. 23, 7:00, TSN+/specialty pack) – Different name, same shitty bowl game. This is the second straight year the former LendingTree Bowl ends up in the bottom spot on my list. Even the Jag-you-ares playing in front of a home crowd isn’t enough to pull this out from the bottom rung of the ladder. I like EMU but this won’t be even remotely close. My pick: South Alabama 44 Eastern Michigan 9.

There you go! Bowl schedule, bowl rankings, bowl predictions: all complete. All there is now to do is watch the games.

As an add-on, there are some lower-level playoff games. Hell, let’s do another mini-schedule right here!

FCS Semi-Final: UAlbany at South Dakota State	Friday, 7:00
Division III Championship: Cortland vs. North Central (in Salem, VA)	Friday, 7:00
Celebration Bowl: Howard vs. Florida A&M (in Atlanta)	Saturday, Noon
Division II Championship: Harding vs. Colorado School of Mines (in McKinney, TX)	Saturday, 1:00
FCS Semi-Final: North Dakota State at Montana	Saturday, 4:30

All of these games are on TSN+ and the specialty pack except for the Celebration Bowl which goes to ABC.

It looks like other than one game, your boy Bossman can watch every game if he wishes. I most definitely will, thank you very much. And you too…enjoy the games. We’re almost ready to wrap up this season of college football season so get as much viewing in as you can.

Coaching Carousel Time! And the Week 12 College Football TV Schedule

Posted on November 14, 2023 by guelphbossman

Yeah it’s that time of the year. The coaching carousel has begun! And what I am going to do this time around is actually compare it to my start-of-the-year predictions. I mean what could go wrong, right?

Let’s look at who has already been shown the door. Jimbo Fisher, Andy Avalos, Zach Arnett and now soon-to-be-retired Brady Hoke…none of who were on my list. Great start, Bossman. Mel Tucker was on my list in the Doubtful Shitcanning section although even I couldn’t think that the way he went out would be the way he went out. What a fucking perv. As for who is currently on the hot seat and was on my list?

Neal Brown. Now Neal probably just has to win one of his final two games to secure his job for next season. Lose both those games and end up 6-6? That would be an interesting conversation.
Dana Holgorsen. You can give them a bit of slack as they stepped up their competition by joining the Big XII. But Drunk Uncle Dana has been a hot seat regular for a while now and at some point he’s either got to prove he’s still the guy or find a coordinator position somewhere.
Danny Gonzales. One of the toughest places to be an FBS head coach, Gonzales probably would have been safe for another year. But with New Mexico State doing so well, some in the New Mexico athletic department might wonder if they should try someone else at the helm.
Tom Allen. It’s pretty damn obvious now that the 2020 season was an anomaly and that the Hoosiers are barely treading water with Allen. I doubt he makes it to 2024.

I really don’t want to talk much about certain coaches appearing my list. Guys like Jeff Hafley or Scot Loeffler or Shawn Elliott or Greg Schiano or Brent Pry or Mike Bloomgren and definitely not Eliah Drinkwitz. Nope. Got nothing. So let’s just move on and stop talking about my hot seat list, ALRIGHT ALREADY?

Ok calm down Bossman. Time to give the people what they want: hot, nasty college football TV schedules for Canadians who enjoy watching college football on their television sets.

Tuesday

		US	Canada
Akron at Eastern Michigan	7:00
Toledo at Bowling Green	7:00
Western Michigan at Northern Illinois	7:00

Toledo has already clinched a spot in the MAC Championship. Now we are looking at bowl eligibility battles. Eastern Michigan has to beat the Zips to stay alive for a bowl game. And the WMU-NIU game is a Loser Won’t Go Bowling matchup. Big stakes on MACtion Tuesday.

Wednesday

		US	Canada
Buffalo at Miami-OH	7:00
Central Michigan at Ohio	7:00

The Redhawks clinch the MAC East with a victory here and will get their rematch with Toledo in Detroit in December. And the Chippewas become bowl-eligible if they can somehow beat Ohio. Another important MACtion evening.

Thursday

		US	Canada
Boston College at Pittsburgh	7:00

Yeah this is about as unimportant a weeknight slate as you can get. One game. No stakes. Meh.

Friday

		US	Canada
USF at UTSA	9:00

This, on the other hand, is a much more important night. Both teams with a lot to play for and USF is definitely not the USF of recent years (as we could see from their near-upset of Alabama earlier in the season).

Saturday Early

A pretty heavy early slate with two ESPN+ games appearing on TSN+. I can see that being a feature all next season. As for the important games in this window I count one big one. The Mustangs and Tigers face off in a matchup that essentially eliminates the loser but doesn’t automatically guarantee the winner a spot in the American Championship. Everything else is kind of meh, although the Sooners could keep up their hopes of one final Big XII Championship appearance in JerryWorld. Finally, the annual Harvard-Yale game appears in this timeslot as per usual.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
#22 Utah at #17 Arizona	2:30
Duke at Virginia	3:00
UCLA at USC	3:30
NC State at Virginia Tech	3:30
#1 Georgia at #18 Tennessee	3:30
UNLV at Air Force	3:30
#20 North Carolina at Clemson	3:30
Bethune-Cookman vs. Florida A&M (in Orlando)	3:30
Wake Forest at #19 Notre Dame	3:30
Louisiana at Troy	3:30
Minnesota at #2 Ohio State	4:00
#23 Oklahoma State at Houston	4:00
#6 Oregon at Arizona State	4:00
New Mexico State at Auburn	4:00

UGA-UT is the big one, obviously, here. A lot of other choice with a lot of other teams looking to stay near the top of the rankings. Oregon, tOSU, and Utah are in must-win mode if they want to keep any CFP or even NY6 possibilities alive. Also, the Rebels of Nevada-Las Vegas play in what could be considered the biggest football game in school history. A win here and they all but clinch a spot in the conference title game. And this is something I never thought of. If UNLV is the #1 team, will they play at home? That game would be about 16 hours after the end of the Pac-12 Championship which is already being played at Allegiant Stadium (which I think is a dumb idea but that’s for another post). So the turnaround would be crazy for the stadium crew.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
North Alabama at #4 Florida State	6:30
California at Stanford	6:30
Boise State at Utah State	7:00
#5 Washington at #11 Oregon State	7:30
Florida at #9 Missouri	7:30
FIU at Arkansas	7:30
Nebraska at Wisconsin	7:30
Kentucky at South Carolina	7:30
Syracuse at Georgia Tech	8:00
Georgia State at #15 LSU	8:00
#7 Texas at Iowa State	8:00

Speaking of big games, U-Dub has to try and win in one of the toughest small stadiums to win in, Reser Stadium in Corvallis. Lose and the Pac-12 is all but done in the College Football Playoff race and it opens up a bevy of possibilities to replace the Huskies at the top. The Longhorns are trying to do what the Sooners are also trying to do: give the Big XII one last Fuck You before leaving for the SEC by playing for their conference championship. And finally, you are not seeing things. It is true. A god damn CW DOUBLEHEADER! I hate to admit that the CW has delivered but it has. It has had some great games which has made up for some sub-par production values.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
San Diego State at San Jose State	10:30

Yeah. You could probably go to bed early if you wanted.

Hey, Watch This

Washington at Oregon State (7:30, ABC/TSN2) – I think it’s been a long time since the Beavers have been in the Game of the Week. And I would honestly call this Game 1A since you could easily switch it with the next game on this list and no one would bat an eye. I just think this game has the possibility of being much closer than the other one. The Huskies put themselves in the Pac-12 Championship with a win in Corvallis but Oregon State could put the entire college football world on its head if they pull off the upset.

Georgia at Tennessee (3:30, CBS) – One of the final SEC on CBS games ever and it’s a huge one. If this game was Between the Hedges it wouldn’t be this high. But this game is on the shores of the Tennessee River and it will be one of the loudest Neyland Stadium crowds in recent memory. Another game where an upset is not crazy talk and it would also cause absolute chaos at the top of the college football food chain.

Utah at Arizona (2:30, Pac-12 Network) – Jesus Christ who made the call to get this game on the fucking Pac-12 Network? Well at least us Canadians have an easy time of getting it. Hop on YouTube and search for the Pac-12 Network channel and you’re good to go. Americans…well, they have a much tougher time if it’s not a part of their cable package. What a dumb network. Anyway, both teams have outside chances of getting to the Pac-12 Championship but they would need a lot to happen. A win here isn’t enough. Also, you have to be impressed with the job Jedd Fisch has done in Tucson. This team could be a force in the expanded Big XII next season.

Kansas State at Kansas (7:00, FOX Sports One) – Man, you know it’s kind of a fucked week when two of the top four games are on the Pac-12 Network and FS1. So yeah, can’t see this one if you are a Canadian unless you have other means. I have IPTV. There are also many streams out there to watch. Go find one. Shouldn’t be too hard. Plus, this should be the best Sunflower Showdown maybe ever. Has there been one where both teams were ranked? I don’t think so. Plus, the Wildcats have extra incentive here as they have an outside shot at spoiling a potential Texas-Oklahoma conference championship if they can win here.

Sickos Game of the Week

Michigan State at Indiana (Noon, Big Ten Network) – There are quite a few options for this spot but I will give it to a Big Ten game for once. Here are two terrible teams who will probably have a terrible game that will somehow be close near the end. Think 13-10 which means you almost have to watch because the finish could be spectacular. I almost feel dirty watching games like that.

Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week

Chattanooga at Alabama (Noon, TSN+) – Once I saw TSN+ was showing this game I knew which game would go in this section. This will be over by halftime. The question is how long does Nick Saban leave Jalen Milroe in.

Wanna Bet?

How about we look back at my picks from last week………..alright, maybe not. I mean I got my first upset pick right with Southern Miss and then it went downhill from there. Stupid Penn State. Anyway, let’s get going with this week’s pickaroos…that sounded dumb.

Miami-OH 31 Buffalo 28

Michigan 42 Maryland 10

Ole Miss 48 ULM 20

Utah 40 Arizona 19

Duke 38 Virginia 24

Tennessee 31 Georgia 27 (yes, I am calling this massive upset)

USC 36 UCLA 26

Ohio State 51 Minnesota 16

Oregon 59 Arizona State 24

South Carolina 42 Kentucky 37

Oregon State 46 Washington 35 (yep, going out on a limb again)

Missouri 41 Florida 20

San Jose State 34 San Diego State 28

Look, normally I am up into the wee hours of the morning watching college football. And I rarely miss games. Well, rarely miss full ones. But I am looking at the Saturday late night sked and asking myself “Bossman, do you really need to watch this game?” The answer is obviously no but I have to convince my brain that that is the correct answer. We shall see how it goes this Saturday. Enjoy the games everyone!

49! (and the Week 6 College Football TV Schedule)

Posted on October 4, 2023 by guelphbossman

49…ok then. What do you mean by that Bossman?

What do I mean? Oh, I will tell you what I fucking mean. Starting today, there will be either college football or the NFL for 49 straight days.

FORTY-NINE. STRAIGHT. FUCKING. DAYS.

If I am not mistaken, this is the longest string of days with football in the history of ever. So embrace it. Drink it in. Enjoy yourself. This might be one of the greatest times ever to be a football fan.

And with that in mind, let’s get right to the college football schedule for this week, Week Six.

Wednesday

		US	Canada
Jacksonville State at Middle Tennessee	8:00
FIU at New Mexico State	9:00

This starts Conference USA’s October of Weekdays! No games on Saturday. None. I’m not kidding. It’s not MACtion or Fun Belt but football on a Wednesday night is always welcome in the Bossman home.

Thursday

		US	Canada
Sam Houston at Liberty	7:00
WKU at Louisiana Tech	8:00

More ConFUNerence USA action. Actually, no that sucks. I’m not using that again.

Friday

		US	Canada
Cornell at Harvard	7:00
Kansas State at Oklahoma State	7:30

The weekday sked? More like weak-day sked am I right? Ugh. Anyway, we have some Ivy action in Haw-vud and the possibility that Captain Mullet himself, Mike Gundy, could be put on a serious hot seat if his Cowboys don’t show up for this one.

Saturday Early

One of the biggest Red River Shootouts of all-time and the final one for both teams in the Big XII headlines the early slate. Really, nothing else comes that close to the RRS but LSU-Mizzou will also have their share of eyeballs as it’s a huge game for the Tigers. See what I did there?

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
Marshall at NC State	2:00
Howard at Northwestern	3:00
#13 Washington State at UCLA	3:00
Virginia Tech at #5 Florida State	3:30
Wake Forest at Clemson	3:30
#11 Alabama at Texas A&M	3:30
North Texas at Navy	3:30
Syracuse at #14 North Carolina	3:30
Kent State at Ohio	3:30
Texas State at Louisiana	3:30
USF at UAB	4:00
UCF at Kansas	4:00
Vanderbilt at Florida	4:00

A lot of games in the afternoon schedule with no real breakout games. Saying that, the Aggies could do the most ridiculous thing so far this season if they can upend the Tide. Seeing Wake and Clemson relegated to the ACC Network afternoon slot is jarring to say the least. Florida State has to better than they have been lately even if it is just the Hokies. And the most fun team in this timeslot? That would be the Texas State Bobcats who could take a major step towards bowl eligibility with a win over Louisiana.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Colorado at Arizona State	6:30
#20 Kentucky at #1 Georgia	7:00
Florida A&M at Southern	7:00
#10 Notre Dame at #25 Louisville	7:30
#2 Michigan at Minnesota	7:30
Arkansas at #16 Ole Miss	7:30
Georgia Tech at #17 Miami	8:00
San Jose State at Boise State	8:00
Texas Tech at Baylor	8:00
#24 Fresno State at Wyoming	8:00

I believe FOX is finally putting their main event on in primetime. The Mountain West on actual FOX! Love to see it. And this may essentially be a Group of Five elimination game with both teams playing great football to start the season. That’s not to belittle ND-UL and UK-UGA which will also be huge games in a pretty damn loaded timeslot. I will say though that it is a bit odd to see FAMU-Southern on actual network television in a group of games like this. We are seeing more Group of Five and FCS games ending up on network television because of Peacock and conference networks. I’m not complaining. At all.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
#15 Oregon State at California	10:00
Arizona at #9 USC	10:30

Normally I would say this looks like a bit of a piss-poor Pac-12 After Dark slate. But we see what happened last week with Arizona keeping it very close with Washington. So either we get a good game or two or an early bedtime! Sounds like a win-win.

Hey, Watch This!

Oklahoma vs. Texas (in Dallas) (Noon, ABC/TSN3) – This is going to be possibly the most heavily hyped Red River Shootout ever. Both teams having legitimate national championship aspirations (if they win this game) and in their last season in the Big XII Conference. And both teams with not exactly tough schedules the rest of the way. I honestly can’t see there ever being the same amount of hype again when they both go to the SEC. They will always be a bit buried in the sheer amount of good SEC games every year.

Kentucky at Georgia (7:00, TSN+/specialty pack) – Too bad TSN couldn’t pick this up but we know how it is until the CFL is finished for the season. And with the CFL doing Saturday playoff games it will be extended a couple of weeks. Anyway, this is a chance for the Wildcats to shed the basketball-school moniker (possibly for good) and shut the naysayers up with a win here. And man, a win would be epic and earth-shattering (in a college football sense). After this, the Dawgs have an easy one with Vanderbilt then four relatively tough games so a win here is imperative to keep atop the SEC East.

Notre Dame at Louisville (7:30, ABC/TSN+) – The way things are looking the Irish will have this game and next week’s game against USC as their final two true tests of the season (especially with Clemson Clemsoning hard this year). So this game becomes very important. Win the next two and they can, unless they shit the bed, pretty much lock up a New Year’s Six spot. The Cards, on the other hand, haven’t felt like this good of a team since Lamar Jackson was under centre. This would be Jeff Brohm’s signature win in his first year back at his alma mater.

LSU at Missouri (Noon, TSN+/specialty pack) – Who would have thought Mizzou would be here at this point of the season? Probably nobody, let’s be honest. Now this is their chance to really prove they are the second-best team in the SEC East and the biggest threat to Georgia. This is the first of a four-game minefield for this team and if they even go 3-1 they are in great shape. LSU needs to win to have any shot of making waves in the SEC West.

Sickos Game of the Week

Howard at Northwestern (3:00, Big Ten Network) – Nebraska-Illinois is lucky that it’s on FOX Sports One and we can’t see it up here. I have to have rules for this section, otherwise it would be a shitty ESPN+ game every week. Normally, I wouldn’t include an FCS team in this section but I am making an exception here. You have to be some kind of sicko to watch any more than, let’s say, one minute of this game.

Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week

Virginia Tech at Florida State (3:30, ABC/TSN+) – I still think the Hokies are one of the worst teams in the FBS and I have a feeling that the Noles are going to take out a lot of their frustrations of the past few weeks on VaTech in this one.

Wanna Bet?

So I tried doing scores last week. I think I am going to continue with it. I mean it’s no worse than me picking against the spread since I was average at best at that. So now let’s get to the section that you gambling heathens love.

Liberty 17 Sam Houston 14

Kansas State 33 Oklahoma State 20

Army 35 Boston College 21

LSU 28 Missouri 19

Texas 56 Oklahoma 54 (5OT)

Mississippi State 30 Western Michigan 26

North Carolina 24 Syracuse 21

Ohio 38 Kent State 24

Navy 45 North Texas 16

UAB 37 USF 35

Georgia 41 Kentucky 30

Notre Dame 42 Louisville 29

Miami 28 Georgia Tech 14

Reader Gordo asked me on Saturday why Texas A&M-Arkansas wasn’t on the specialty pack. So I figured I would ask a customer service rep about it since it should have been. The response from the CSR? “It looks like Texas is only available on ESPN.” I give up with Rogers/Cogeco/Eastlink/any other companies using the Super Sports Pak. Same with Bell and their college sports package. They don’t understand so no point in asking.

I will be live-tweeting…live-Xing? That sounds dirty. Anyway, I will be online on Saturday and for good portions of the other three weeknights. Should be another fun week of college football. Enjoy the games everyone!

The Week 5 College Football TV Schedule and an Intro that might hurt some

Posted on September 28, 2023 by guelphbossman

Hey Miami fans, remember this guy? It’s Al Golden (and Al Golden’s tie)! He parlayed a fairly decent run at lowly Temple (I mean they were really bad before he got there) into a head coaching job at Miami where he was absolutely mediocre. Canes fans couldn’t wait for this guy to get shitcanned and they finally got their wish in 2015 after four-and-a-half seasons in Coral Gables.

So where’s Al been since? He spent six seasons in the NFL before getting hired to be Marcus Freeman’s defensive coordinator at Notre Dame. The move made sense. As a DC, he was pretty good. One of those guys who probably fits best as a coordinator but should never be a head coach.

Which brings us to what happened this past Saturday in South Bend. Good god. I will say, it was a good defensive battle although both offenses did their part in the low scoring affair. Ohio State got one last chance to drive for the win. On the final two defensive plays for the Irish, they had ten men on the field. OK…to have that happen once, it sucks and chances are a player missed an assignment. For it to happen TWICE IN A ROW? What in the hell? Marcus Freeman took the blame for it. As he said, he is the head coach so it falls on him. Admirable. But not fully correct. Golden has to know what the fuck is happening and it seems like he had no clue.

Will Golden be the defensive coordinator beyond this season? Quite possibly. It was a huge fuckup that cost them a win but the Notre Dame defense has been pretty damn stout otherwise so it will take more than that for him to get fired. That’s no consolation to Irish fans who saw their team snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Also, a reminder of a not-so-good era in Miami Hurricanes football that they are still struggling to recover from.

OK enough about that. Time to think of the future. Week 5 to be exact. Let me get you your Canadian college football television information for the upcoming Saturday (and I’ll throw in Thursday and Friday for no charge).

Thursday

		US	Canada
Middle Tennessee at WKU	7:30
Temple at Tulsa	7:30
Jacksonville State at Sam Houston	8:00

Interesting start to the week. Conference USA begins their no-Saturdays schedule with these games on Thursday night. It is feeling like WKU and Liberty will end up in the Conference USA Championship game but watch out for newcomer Jacksonville State. The Fighting RichRods are playing WAY better than anyone thought they would and could surprise.

Friday

		US	Canada
Louisville at NC State	7:00
Columbia at Princeton	7:00
Louisiana Tech at UTEP	9:00
Cincinnati at BYU	10:15

Hey, Louisville is pretty good although they better not look ahead to their huge showdown with Notre Dame. NC State has a knack for making teams struggle in games like that. Also first game between new Big XIIers (Big XII-ites?) as Cincinnati travels to Provo to face the Cougs.

Saturday Early

You read it correctly: USC and Colorado are playing at Noon. 10:00 am local time in Boulder. I guess that’s the price the Pac-12 has to pay to be in early games. Although that ends this year so not too much of a deal to do it once. A few other intriguing games with Clemson playing Syracuse and almost feeling like an underdog and Florida facing Kentucky where Kentucky feels like they should be the favourite.

Finally, there’s the story of James Madison. Huge game against USA here. As of right now, the Dukes are ineligble for the Sun Belt Championship and a bowl game. Would the Sun Belt push for them to become eligible if they end up running the table the rest of the way? It’s possible since it would put them right in the mix for that one Group of Five spot (and would be the first Sun Belt team to earn that spot if it happens). A big question as long as JMU stays undefeated.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
Virginia at Boston College	2:00
Arizona State at California	3:00
#24 Kansas at #3 Texas	3:30
Bowling Green at Georgia Tech	3:30
Indiana at Maryland	3:30
Wagner at Rutgers	3:30
#1 Georgia at Auburn	3:30
USF at Navy	3:30
Northern Illinois at Toledo	3:30
#2 Michigan at Nebraska	3:30
Boise State at Memphis	4:00
#23 Missouri at Vanderbilt	4:00

Yep, it’s time for the SEC late doubleheader ESPN windows which means no ESPN game at 3:30. I guess with the clock changes the three-hour windows would work except for the people who believe that they’ve cut 17,000 plays from every game because of the new clock rules.

KU-UT is obviously the standout game here but watch for UGA heading to Auburn and Boise State facing off against Memphis. Those two games could be sneaky good.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
#13 LSU at #20 Ole Miss	6:00
#9 Oregon at Stanford	6:30
Coastal Carolina at Georgia Southern	7:00
#11 Notre Dame at #17 Duke	7:30
Charlotte at SMU	7:30
Michigan State at Iowa	7:30
South Carolina at #21 Tennessee	7:30
Pittsburgh at Virginia Tech	8:00
San Diego State at Air Force	8:00
West Virginia at TCU	8:00

Alright things get better but it’s not like it’s a huge jolt and a bunch of great games in the primetime slot. Two games containing ranked-on-ranked violence, two more games involving ranked teams and SDSU-AFA which will be huge in the Mountain West with no divisions this season. I still don’t agree with the short ESPN window but there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. This is the final year of these SEC tripleheaders. The reason? No exclusivity around the CBS 3:30 window now that the SEC is moving fully back to ESPN and ABC and the Big Ten will pick up the afternoon mantle going forward. Thank fucking God. My prayers have been answered!

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
#12 Alabama at Mississippi State	9:00
#7 Washington at Arizona	10:00

An extremely light schedule. Doesn’t happen too often. Both games feature ranked teams. Might be an early bedtime (for college football season) if the latest game goes the way most believe it will.

Hey, Watch This!

Notre Dame at Duke (7:30, ABC/TSN+) – A lot of good/not great games this week. I will put this one at the top but it could really be anywhere in this section. This should be the most-watched football game in Duke history and if they can pull off the upset, the rest of the ACC will have to take notice. The Irish, however, might want to take out last week’s frustrations on the Blue Devils.

Kansas at Texas (3:30, ABC/TSN+) – I honestly don’t know why the ABC games are also being shown on TSN+. For completion’s sake I guess? Anyway, this could end up being the most exciting of the games this weekend just for the fact that almost every college football fan remembers “that upset” that the Jayhawks had over Texas a few years back. And now that the Jayhawks are actually good, the Horns cannot overlook them with the Red River Shootout coming up next week.

Utah at Oregon State (Friday, 9:00, FOX Sports One) – Well it’s about time a game that we couldn’t get up here would appear on this list. It happens less than ever but it makes sense it would happen at least a few times this season. And it’s a big Pac-12 game although any game with two of the top seven teams in the conference will be a big game this year. The Beavs probably can’t lose this game because, with two conference losses, it would pretty much eliminate them from any chance at the Pac-12 Championship game (unless true chaos happens which, considering it’s the Pac-12, could very well occur).

LSU at Ole Miss (6:00, TSN+/specialty pack) – I remember back in the days when I had to set up my PVR because I would be busy doing stuff with my kids. And this is the type of situation that would infuriate me because I’d either have to record this game and leave a bunch of games out or just forget this one because it didn’t follow the normal TV windows. This actually may be a big game for the Rebels as the rumour is that the locals are souring a bit on Lane Kiffin. As silly as it sounds, he may end up on a serious hot seat if they can’t at least keep things close with a very good Tigers squad.

Sickos Game of the Week

Virginia at Boston College (2:00, The CW) – Hey, the CW! This is the first time the CW appears on this list (or any list for that matter). Many feel this is the first leg of the ACC Basement Round Robin which also involves Virginia Tech. I still believe the Hokies are the worst of the bunch but these two teams don’t look a whole lot better so far.

Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week

Penn State at Northwestern (Noon, Big Ten Network) – The Wildcats have somehow won two games this season. I don’t think they win any more to be honest with you and that streak will start here. Sure, the Cats beat a Minnesota team that played super-poorly last week but this is the Nittany Lions we are talking about. If this is within 40 by the end I will be shocked.

Wanna Bet?

Yeah that wasn’t the greatest showing for me last weekend that’s for sure. Good thing I don’t bet actual money on college football (anymore). Let’s move on to this week’s picks which may or may not be any better. And you know what? I’m going to do something different. I’m actually going to post my predicted final score. This will go well, right?

Tulsa 42 Temple 14

NC State 26 Louisville 25

Utah 28 Oregon State 20

Kentucky 35 Florida 13

James Madison 30 South Alabama 24

USC 52 Colorado 23

Boston College 27 Virginia 21

Maryland 39 Indiana 7

Navy 44 USF 34

Texas 45 Kansas 16

Ole Miss 34 LSU 31

Coastal Carolina 35 Georgia Southern 14

Notre Dame 44 Duke 28

As far as I can tell, everything is up as far as the specialty packs are concerned. I have to watch for what BTN shows and I’m starting to wonder if it makes a difference where you are in Canada as to which game you get. It probably shouldn’t but you never know. This is Rogers/Bell/Eastlink/Shaw/Cogeco we are talking about.

I will be on the Twitter machine on Saturday and probably Thursday and Friday night as well so follow along or join there for some college football banter and try your best to avoid the assholes (it’s a fun game albeit sometimes frustrating). Enjoy the games everyone!

Oh man, here we go again

Posted on August 1, 2023 by guelphbossman

It felt like things were calm. We were all lulled into this. It was just the eye of the storm. Sure the wind wasn’t moving but about 200 metres away, a cow just went flying headlong into a barn.

What am I talking about? Realignment, of course! Another shoe has dropped…OK let me use a different analogy. Sorry Deion. We have another big move as Colorado will be going back to the Big XII starting next season. And that probably won’t be all. The rumours have at least one of Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, Oregon or Washington following the Buffaloes. Or, if no other schools leave the Pac-12, the Big XII is more than willing to dip into the American Conference (hello SMU, Memphis, Tulane) or even way out east…yes, UConn! And maybe once the Pac-12 (or more like Pac-9) gets their act together, they can start bringing in teams from the Group of Five. The same teams from the American would be in play, especially SMU. Also, the Mountain West would be watching closely as San Diego State, Boise State and perhaps Colorado State and UNLV could be looked at. There will be a lot of meetings in the next month or so to determine where this all leads.

For now let’s focus on what this post was supposed to be (and still will be). It’s time for the Power Five conference predictions. This will give a better indication on how I think things will go during this season. So let’s dive right in!

Changes are coming soon for the Ess Ee Cee. Texas and Oklahoma join the conference next season. Also, no more SEC on CBS after this year. Everything moves to ABC and ESPN. And finally, no divisions. Halle-fucking-lujah.

As for this year, all the talk is about Georgia and doing something no team has done (fully) in the AP Poll era: win three national championships in a row. It’s not like they will fall apart, despite the fact they lost their starting quarterback and a bunch of other players in the NFL Draft. Then again, I’m sure Kirby Smart has looked them all dead in the eye and told them “Everyone thinks you are going to go 5-7 and lose to Vanderbilt. Prove them wrong!” And they will believe it because college football head coaches are just a notch-and-a-half below cult leaders in the pecking order of how much they can make their “followers” drink their Kool-Aid.

Remember, though, there are other teams in the conference as well. Like those lovable underdogs from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and the team that just reeks of success (in the classroom and on the baseball diamond), Vanderbilt. And eleven other teams. Want to find out how I think they will do? OK. I will do that. Just for you.

	Conference		Overall
East	W	L	W	L
Georgia	7	1	11	1
Tennessee	6	2	10	2
South Carolina	5	3	8	4
Kentucky	3	5	6	6
Missouri	2	6	5	7
Florida	2	6	5	7
Vanderbilt	1	7	4	8
West
Alabama	8	0	12	0
LSU	6	2	9	3
Ole Miss	4	4	8	4
Texas A&M	4	4	8	4
Arkansas	3	5	7	5
Auburn	3	5	7	5
Mississippi State	2	6	6	6

Just For You

You might think I am crazy for having UGA not run the table. I do think they will lose a regular season game and it will be to those upstart Tennessee Volunteers. It won’t keep them from winning the division though as you can see I have those same Vols losing two conference games during the regular season.
As for the SEC West, though, Bama will once again rule the roost….as long as they figure out their quarterback situation. I am thinking they will and will go undefeated and be #1 in the nation going into conference championship weekend. If they don’t get their QB situation settled…well, maybe they lose two games? Three? It’s not like they will fall to 6-6.
I could see South Carolina or last year’s SEC West champs, LSU, making a bit of a run this time around. They have the top two quarterbacks in the SEC and could each put up piles of points. Watch for the Cocks’ game against Georgia early on in the season and LSU’s post-Halloween trip to Bryant-Denny to face the Tide. Upsets in either of those games will seriously upset the apple cart.
Look, the Gators were barely .500 with who I think may be one of the most overhyped quarterbacks in recent memory. I don’t think Anthony Richardson was that great. And now they don’t even have him. Unless every other part of the roster improved (it didn’t), how do people expect this team to bounce back and all of a sudden become an eight or nine win team? Spoiler alert: they won’t.
I have Mississippi State at 6-6. They will do just enough to get a bowl game. I wonder how tough it will be after the loss of Mike Leach but I can see them straightening things out just in time late in the season.
As for the SEC Championship, SURPRISE! I have the Dawgs beating the Tide and creating a massive clusterfuck in the final College Football Playoff rankings. Fun times!
Eleven bowl teams from the SEC with two juuuuuust on the outside. That’s insane and I don’t think I will be that far off with this prediction. Next year could be even crazier with Texas and Oklahoma joining the conference that just means more.

Man have things really changed in terms of where you will see Big Ten games this season. Gone are ABC and ESPN. In is NBC and CBS. This is gonna feel weird the first time I see it. And maybe the next few times as well. I will get used to it at some point. Now if you want the opportunity to watch every Big Ten game, better find a way to get FOX Sports One and Peacock otherwise you will be shit out of luck to watch potential bangers like Northwestern-Purdue and Indiana-Rutgers (if they end up there and not the Big Ten Network).

Alright, let’s get into the final conference predictions before the B1G gives a big Fuck You to geography and brings in USC and UCLA.

	Conference		Overall
East	W	L	W	L
Michigan	8	1	11	1
Penn State	8	1	11	1
Ohio State	8	1	10	2
Michigan State	5	4	7	5
Maryland	5	4	8	4
Indiana	1	8	3	9
Rutgers	1	8	4	8
West
Minnesota	6	3	8	4
Wisconsin	6	3	9	3
Iowa	6	3	9	3
Illinois	5	4	7	5
Nebraska	2	7	5	7
Purdue	2	7	5	7
Northwestern	0	9	2	10

Geogpraphy, Go Eat a Dick

Look, I know some might look at the Big Ten East standings and think I am a bit crazy. I am not. Although that is what a crazy person would tell you. Yep, a three-way tie at the top at 8-1 between Big Blue, tOSU and PSU. Because each team will be 1-1 against the other two, the CFP Rankings will decide the winner. I believe the Wolverines will somehow win that. And yes, I think Ohio State also loses to Notre Dame. O-H! I-No.
If Sparty doesn’t make it to a bowl game, they may end up giving Mel Tucker the Herm Edwards treatment and fire him before he can leave the playing surface one game. I get they have a tough division but they should be able to do well enough against the rest of their schedule to get back in the postseason after last year’s debacle.
No, I don’t have Wisconsin winning the West division. Meaning I am different than almost every expert out there. Also, there’s the fact I’m not an expert but I digress. Again I have a damn three-way tie but no need to look at the rankings for this one as I believe the Gophers will Row the Fucking Boat all the way to Indianapolis after beating both Wisky and the high-octane Iowa Hawkeyes. See what I did there? Yeah, I don’t care that the Hawkeyes have a new quarterback in town. Until Kirk tells his son to do better, Iowa will be pushing for some 7-6 victories. Sorry. 8-6. Two field goals and a late safety to win.
Nebraska will be better but I think the Huskers are a season away from getting back to the top of the West…just in time for the West to just not exist anymore.
As for Northwestern…man. What a shitshow. Look, I played a lot of sports earlier in my life and did so at the university level. Are there fun little pranks and stupid things the rookies have to do? Sometimes. But it’s usually harmless. Carrying bags, standing up during a team dinner to get embarrassed by singing some Mariah Carey song, dumb things like that. Not getting fucking dry humped in some cultish fashion by weirdos in robes. What the fuck is wrong with that school? And yes, it’s not just the football program. Sounds like at least half the teams there have serious issues. Ugh.
Now let’s get crazy. Yeah! The Big Ten Championship will…OK who am I kidding. It won’t be close. I have Michigan plowing through Minny to clinch their spot, yet again, in the College Football Playoff.

Might as well call this the Stable Conference…for now. Just nothing happening here which is just fine for most of the teams in the ACC. Status quo isn’t a bad thing. There are some changes with where you will see games. The CW…yes, the C-Fucking-W, will have an ACC game during most of the weeks of the season. You can take the ACC out of Jefferson-Pilot (or Raycom) but you can’t take the Jefferson-Pilot (or Raycom) out of the ACC. Or something like that.

So before this conference possibly gets pillaged by the Big Ten and SEC, let’s get to the predictions followed by some deep tissue massage and/or analysis.

	Conference		Overall
	W	L	W	L
Clemson	8	0	12	10
Florida State	7	1	11	1
North Carolina	6	2	9	3
Pittsburgh	5	3	8	4
Louisville	5	3	8	4
Duke	4	4	8	4
Wake Forest	4	4	7	5
NC State	4	4	7	5
Miami	4	4	7	5
Syracuse	3	5	6	6
Boston College	2	6	5	7
Virginia	2	6	4	8
Georgia Tech	2	6	4	8
Virginia Tech	0	8	1	11

Deep Tissue Massage and/or Analysis

I should book a massage. My back is in horrible shape.
Some may scoff at me having Clemson going undefeated this season. They have the schedule to do it and if Cade Klubnik is as good as he can be this could relatively easily happen. If Klubnik struggles…well then this entire set of standings might need to be scrubbed from existence.
Reader Gord will like where I have Florida State. This team could be scary good. And at the very least, they will be near the top of the ACC standings this season. Mike Norvell has done a great job getting this team back to what it was like during the Jimbo Fisher days. I had my doubts about him but I have to admit he has been the right guy to right the ship in Tallahassee.
Hey did you notice? NO DIVISIONS! I love it.
Don’t be surprised that if Clemson or FSU stumbles that there are no shortage of teams that could get one of the two ACC title game slots. A list of seven teams could pull off a couple of upsets and be at the top and it wouldn’t be a huge surprise. A slight surprise sure. Maybe a slightly bigger surprise if it was Miami or NC State. But not a massive surprise.
Poor Virginia Tech. I think this will be their worst team since before Frank Beamer graced Blacksburg. It feels like it has been forever since the Hokies were contenders. It was only seven years ago when they were in the ACC Championship and almost upset the eventual national champions, Clemson. This team is pretty bad in almost every aspect of the game and the schedule will not be helpful to them. Other than Old Dominion I don’t see them winning any other game and the Monarchs have given VT all sorts of fits the past few years.
Look for a tiny bit of a bounce back from Virginia. Just them taking the field after what happened last year is a win in my books.
For that ACC title game, how about another game that will turn everything on its head. Yep, I think the Noles will get revenge for a regular season loss by inching out the Tigers. Chaos!

OK it’s about time the Big XII rebrands. They will have at least thirteen teams by the time the 2024 season starts and it may be as high as sixteen. So change the fucking name. They have the rights to the Big Fourteen and Big Sixteen so use one of those. It would be easy. Find a graphic design student at Kansas and have them do a new logo. Easy peasy. Why do I have to come up with everything?

Where was I? Oh that’s right, predictions. Let’s see if this conference will go all Pac-12 and cannibalize itself or if they can see a team get to the CFP once again. Also, Texas and Oklahoma will be trying their best to leave the conference on a high note much to the chagrin of the rest of the schools in the conference. So here are the Big XII standings predictions, followed by Belly Expansions.

	Conference		Overall
	W	L	W	L
Texas	8	1	10	2
Kansas State	7	2	10	2
Baylor	6	3	8	4
TCU	6	3	9	3
Oklahoma	6	3	9	3
Texas Tech	5	4	8	4
Oklahoma State	5	4	8	4
Kansas	4	5	7	5
UCF	4	5	7	5
BYU	3	6	5	7
Cincinnati	3	6	5	7
Houston	2	7	4	8
Iowa State	2	7	4	8
West Virginia	2	7	3	9

Belly Expansions

No I don’t mean pregnancy. I mean eating a big meal and having to loosen the ol’ belt or just unbuckle the pants altogether. Funny enough, people in the restaurant don’t appreciate that.
Let’s start at the bottom. There won’t be one truly bad team. There will be a bunch of below-average ones. West Virginia, Iowa State, Houston, Cincinnati and BYU could all finish last and I am sure no one would bat an eye.
I see the Longhorns making their final Big XII season a special one. They have the team, the schedule and the head coach (I think) to be the top team in this conference this season. The only question will be can Quinn Ewers hold off Arch Manning. Will one of them transfer in the offseason? Remember, when you have two starting quarterbacks, you have none. I think.
How about this lukewarm take: Kansas State will be good again. Yeah really going out on a limb there Bossman. This team has become so steady-as-she-goes it’s almost boring. The people in the Little Apple are fine with this.
I do think one of the newcomers will make a bowl game and that team will be UCF. I think they are the most prepared of the newbies coming into this conference. But make no mistake about it: all four teams will be good at various points over the next few years.
I can’t see Oklahoma taking enough of a leap to get to the Big XII Championship. Nor do I think the Horned Frogs of TCU have the, uh, toads? to make it back to the conference title game. Good seasons for both, yes, but not great.
The Longhorns should win the conference title game in their final season in the Big XII. Will this get them into the CFP or will it “relegate” them to the New Year’s Six? I think you can tell from my predictions so far but you will know for sure in a different post.

So where are we going to be able to watch Pac-12 games in the future? Who the hell knows. My money is on PBS.

But seriously, the Pac-12 is quickly dropping from the Conference of Champions to almost a Group of Five conference. They are losing USC and UCLA next year to the Big Ten. They knew that already. The bombshell of Colorado leaving now has them at nine teams starting the 2024 season. And it may not end there. The only schools I haven’t heard potentially leaving are Oregon State and Washington State. That’s not to say all these rumours will be correct but I will be pretty surprised if no more teams leave for the Big XII before next season. It’s sad for a conference that really started their slide once Pete Carroll left USC for the NFL. Thanks a bunch, Peter.

Prediction time! No divisions which is one thing they are ahead of the game with, starting that last year. Let’s get to those divisionless predictions followed by some California Nightmarin’.

	Conference		Overall
	W	L	W	L
USC	8	1	10	2
Utah	7	2	9	3
Oregon	7	2	9	3
Oregon State	7	2	10	2
Washington State	6	3	8	4
Washington	6	3	9	3
UCLA	5	4	8	4
Colorado	3	6	4	8
California	2	7	4	8
Arizona	2	7	4	8
Arizona State	1	8	3	9
Stanford	0	9	2	10

California Nightmarin’

No state will have it better this year in the Pac-12 than the state of Oregon. Both the Ducks and the Beavers look to be serious contenders and only need the ball to bounce their way one extra time to maybe get to the Pac-12 Championship. And considering the way that title game has gone, who knows what may happen after that.
The strongest team, though, should be USC. They have Caleb Williams coming back to try and do what no one other than some guy named Archie has ever done, and that’s win two Heisman Trophies. The hope there is that the sting of the two season-ending losses will motivate them to push themselves that final step into the CFP.
OK look, I know you see Washington in sixth place and you are wondering what the fuck is wrong with me. This is another case where the schedule is just flat-out against them. A slightly easier schedule and I might put this team at eleven or even, dare I say it, twelve wins. It will be that close at the top of the conference.
On the other hand, I am sure no will think I’m crazy for putting Stanford in last place. It’s been a long time since the Cardinal have been this bad and it doesn’t look like they will be ready for bowl action for another year at least.
I think I was fair putting Colorado at 4-8 for this season and playing fairly meaningful football going into November. There seems to be two schools of thought with this team. One section thinks Coach Prime has done wonders and with all the fresh faces in the lineup it will push the team over the line and into bowl-eligibility territory. The other section thinks the entire program is overhyped and they will win maybe two games. I am in the middle on this. This team won’t go bowling this year. That would be too much of a leap. But they should win more games than they did last year. If not, what the hell was all this hoopla for?
As for the Pac-12 title game, USC gets the Pac-12 Championship they probably should have won last year. Problem is that by this point there will be a lot of teams in the mix for those four College Football Playoff spots and in typical Pac-12 fashion, the league will have cannabilized itself again and missed out on the CFP again.

There you go! You now have a complete set of Bossman conference predictions. Next up, is kind of the wrap-up post where I put everything in a nice, neat little ball and let you know who I believe will win the whole damn deal. Have a great week everyone!

ALL. THE. SCHEDULES!!!!

Posted on July 9, 2023 by guelphbossman

OK not all the schedules but quite a few. I mean there’s some I may not even take a guess at.

Just like last year I am going to put all my schedule predictions in one long-ass post. So wait until you have to take an absolute monster of a shit before taking this one into the bathroom to read. Let’s go!

This is a crazy transition year for CBS. Out with the old (SEC) and in with the new (Big Ten). A few sprinkles (Mountain West) and you have a brand new college football sundae. Sorry fans, Gary Danielson, as far as I can tell, is still around. Worst part is we have heard him be one of the best analysts in the business. More often than not, though, he goes off on some stupid tangent that ends up with him declaring he has a college football boner for Bama.

As is the norm, I will let you know which games are confirmed. The ones that are not…well, some of them will be right because it makes sense and the rest will be not right because one or both of the teams I predicted to play at that time or not nearly as good as I thought they would be and/or I’m an idiot. So let’s start this bizarrely stupid puzzle and follow it with some It Just Means More Sweet Tea Analysis (which may or may not contain grits):

It Just Means More (Games other than the SEC on CBS) Analysis:

I feel like I shouldn’t have to remind you but in all these tables, a game in bold means it has been confirmed. Not bold? Bossman used his dumb brain to try and figure it out.
The appearance list will look a bit different this time as it will have a few conferences involved so let’s start with the SEC appearances:
- 5 times – Alabama, Georgia
- 3 times – Ole Miss, LSU
- 2 times – Kentucky, Arkansas, Auburn, Tennessee
- 1 time – South Carolina, Mississippi State, Florida, Missouri
- No times – Vanderbilt, Texas A&M
Wait, WHAT? No TAMU on CBS? Wow, I honestly didn’t notice until now when I started breaking out the different schedules. Crazy. I guess they will have to prove it this season to maybe get on late in the year.
Now we have the Big Ten appearance list:
- 3 times – Iowa
- 2 times – Ohio State, Rutgers, Penn State, Nebraska
- 1 time – Indiana, Northwestern, Michigan, Purdue, Maryland, Minnesota
- No times – Michigan State, Wisconsin, Illinois
I look at these numbers and can glean….well, nothing from it. Wisconsin is good and appears no times and Rutgers appears twice. However, tOSU also appears twice and Michigan State doesn’t appear at all. Seems all very random. Which could very well be the case at least for this first season.
I’m not going to get into the Mountain West game count since there aren’t enough games to see any trends.
The Army-Navy game heads to New England for the first time ever. Foxborough gets the game this year and I like this idea. Not saying they have to move it around all over the place but every two or three years to take it out of Philly is a smart move.

What is ABC going to do for this one season without the Big Ten and with the SEC showing up in 2024? They will have to lean heavily on the other three Power Five conferences to carry the load, especially when it comes to the primetime schedule. Don’t worry though: there are enough good teams in these conferences to fill most of these spots where it looks like the network won’t have missed a beat. Then next year, might as well pencil (or pen…or Sharpie) the SEC in for the majority of those primetime games.

But hey we haven’t hit 2024 yet. It’s still 2023 so let’s get to the ESPN on ABC regular season college football schedule for the FBS for this season. I will follow it up with some Power(ful) Two Thoughts:

Power(ful) Two Thoughts

Once again, ABC puts on a mega-matchup on the night before Labour Day. LSU-FSU, if it is anything like last year’s game, should be a massive ratings success. Oh and also a game that could shape the entire college football season.
With the Big Ten saying adios to ESPN/ABC, the primetime slots really opened up. I expect the ACC to pick up most of those times the Big Ten has left behind with the Big XII and Pac-12 coming in just behind. Right now I have 6 ACC primetime games, 5 Pac-12, and 4 Big XII. Even if I’m wrong with which games go where I see this being pretty equitable.
I am not doing a TSN schedule because there is no point right now. TSN struggles to get anything that’s not the CFL scheduled out more than a couple of weeks. Right now I have 23 ABC games that would be simulcast on TSN. That seems high but I am going off of last year’s numbers and it was actually very close to that. So we shall see.
I am calling for three games to be on Black Friday on ABC. Miami-BC at Noon and TTU-UT at 7:30 are set. I think they select an American conference game in the middle so that there isn’t a gap in the middle of the day with nothing to show AND to fulfill the American’s contract. Now watch it not happen at all that way.
First few weeks are confirmed but that’s pretty much it. The rest is a bit of a crapshoot. Also, if you couldn’t tell Week 2 was a pretty bad week, look at the ABC schedule. Woof. Wisky-Wazzu as the primetime game? Ouch. It’s been a while since there has been that poor a game for the ABC Saturday Night game.
Finally it’s time for the conference breakdown. Remember I am doing things slightly differently. Every time a team appears, they get counted as an appearance. So Miami-Boston College, for example, counts as two appearances for the ACC. Here we go:
- ACC – 37 (including conference championship)
- Big XII – 29 (including conference championship)
- Pac-12 – 12 (including conference championship)
- AAC – 5 (including conference championship)
- SEC – 5
- Notre Dame – 4
- FCS – 2
- Mountain West – 1
- Big Ten – 1
The ACC is really picking up the slack here. The Big XII is not all that far behind and, ho boy, is the Pac-12 lagging here. Problem is other than their top five teams I don’t feel right putting the rest of the teams in any of the ABC timeslots and that includes Colorado. Also, I have not included bowl tie-ins here because we know that bowls break them all the time.
Speaking of bowl games, ABC has SEVEN this time! That’s great! A step in the right direction. I still think the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl should move back to ABC as well but that’s just my opinion (and the opinion of a lot of other people).

For quite a long time it felt like there was quite a drop-off in play-by-play prowess after GUS JOHNSON. But now with Jason Benetti cemented as the number two man, you know you have two solidly called games every week on FOX. Tim Brando is the #3 guy and is pretty good although I still think it would be great to hear him back in the studio.

OK so the Big Ten is a bit more in with FOX meaning the Big XII and Pac-12 might suffer because of that. Let’s find out! Here’s the predicted 2023 FOX college football broadcast schedule followed by some Johnsonian rhetoric.

SOME JOHNSONIAN RHETORIC…..WOAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

So FOX has abandoned putting a game on Labour Day for putting a game on the Thursday before it. Interesting. Not a bad strategy as they can try and get a jump start on the season. Sure Florida-Utah could get more eyeballs but starting with a Big Ten conference game? That will get their fair share of looks for sure.
With the Big Ten leaving ESPN/ABC, it means most of their big games will land on FOX. That is a huge coup for the network. Couple that with the few huge games out of the Big XII and Pac-12 and you can finally, honestly, put their Big Noon Saturday schedule up against ABC’s Saturday Primetime schedule. Of course that may all change next year when ESPN/ABC gets the SEC. But for one year, let’s savour this.
FOX only going with two Black Friday games again this season and they are both confirmed. And it is two huge games (or could be). TCU-OU could be for a spot in the Big XII Championship. Same with the Civil War game between Oregon State and Oregon. I guess they will be moving WWE Smackdown to FS1 for this night which I’m sure won’t upset wrestling fans in the least.
Conference breakdown time! Remember, a conference game I am counting as two appearances for that conference:
- Big XII – 32
- Big Ten – 30 (including conference championship)
- Pac-12 – 17
Shockingly, the Big XII has moved to the top of the list. Now, this has more to do with the Big Ten moving some games to NBC and CBS than anything but still, it proves that the Big XII carries a bit more weight than the Pac-12 these days.
I have no Mountain West games on the main FOX network. They have quite a few on FOX Sports One, though. I don’t know if FOX’s strategy is to eventually put more than the MWC conference championship on the main network or if they just stay the way they are. I suspect starting next year we will see at least a couple of Mountain West games on the main network, especially when there’s a quadrupleheader.
And speaking of quadrupleheaders, I have a feeling we will see two of them just like last season. One is confirmed for Week 2 and I believe the other will land, just like last year, during Week 11. I love the quadrupleheader idea, especially if you only do it twice since it feels special.
FOX has only one bowl game and it is the only bowl game, at this time, without a confirmed date. The Holiday Bowl, I believe, will end up on December 27th but that is definitely subject to change.
I honestly don’t know what will happen come October with the MLB playoffs. I know during the early rounds, FOX tends not to be used nearly as much as FS1 for their baseball games. Come World Series time though, expect FOX to scale back on college football broadcasting windows.

Alright let’s get to the Notre Dame on NBC sched…WAIT JUST A MINUTE! THAT’S THE BIG TEN’S MUSIC!!!!

For the first time in a loooooooooooong time, Notre Dame will share NBC’s college football coverage with other teams under other contracts. The Big Ten will have games almost every week on the network and usually in primetime going forward. So yeah, this will be the longest NBC schedule I will ever predict unless the network really goes all-in with college football and invites another party (COUGH*Pac-12*COUGH) in to the pool. Let’s get to it!

Touchdown Jesus, Meet Purdue Pete

Look, it’s not like the Irish haven’t seen Big Ten teams before. They play at least one every year and probably will until the Earth explodes. But sharing the entire network with them? I have a feeling this may impact Notre Dame’s next contract talks with NBC which will start soon with the contract ending at the conclusion of the 2025 season.
Only two primetime Notre Dame games this season but they add a game during Week Zero against Navy over in Ireland. I have the Big Ten moving their game to Noon when the Irish are on in primetime.
As for the Big Ten, let’s look at the breakdown:
- 4 times – Penn State, Purdue, Michigan State
- 3 times – Michigan
- 2 times – Maryland, Ohio State
- 1 time – Northwestern, Illinois, Iowa, Rutgers, Indiana, Wisconsin, Northwestern
- No times – Nebraska
I think more so than the CBS breakdown for the Big Ten, the better teams, for the most part, will appear on NBC more often. I believe that will be the case going forward as well.

Let’s be honest here: nothing much will change for this network. It’s not like they will all of a sudden be showing Michigan-Ohio State. Saying that, it’s one of the channels you almost need to complete your college football viewing experience. I don’t want to speak for anyone else but I love watching close finishes, regardless of the game, so if Rutgers and Northwestern are going down to the wire, I want to watch that shit. Alright let’s get to my projected schedule:

September 2nd	Fresno State at Purdue	Noon
September 2nd	Towson at Maryland	3:30 PM
September 2nd	Toledo at Illinois	7:30 PM
September 8th	Indiana State at Indiana	7:00 PM
September 9th	Youngstown State at Ohio State	Noon
September 9th	UTEP at Northwestern	3:30 PM
September 9th	Richmond at Michigan State	3:30 PM
September 9th	Eastern Michigan at Minnesota	7:30 PM
September 9th	Temple at Rutgers	7:30 PM
September 16th	Louisville vs. Indiana (in Indianapolis)	Noon
September 16th	Georgia Southern at Wisconsin	Noon
September 16th	Western Michigan at Iowa	3:30 PM
September 16th	Virginia Tech at Rutgers	3:30 PM
September 16th	Bowling Green at Michigan	7:30 PM
September 21st	Louisiana Tech at Nebraska	7:30 PM
September 23rd	Akron at Indiana	Noon
September 23rd	Maryland at Michigan State	3:30 PM
September 23rd	Florida Atlantic at Illinois	7:30 PM
September 30th	Louisiana at Minnesota	Noon
September 30th	Wagner at Rutgers	3:30 PM
September 30th	Indiana at Maryland	7:30 PM
October 7th	Howard at Northwestern	3:00 PM
October 14th	Iowa at Wisconsin	Noon
October 14th	UMass at Penn State	3:30 PM
October 14th	Indiana at Michigan	7:30 PM
October 21st	Rutgers at Indiana	Noon
October 21st	Wisconsin at Illinois	3:30 PM
October 28th	Maryland at Northwestern	2:30 PM
November 4th	Ohio State at Rutgers	Noon
November 4th	Iowa vs. Northwestern (in Chicago)	3:30 PM
November 4th	Nebraska at Michigan State	7:30 PM
November 11th	Northwestern at Wisconsin	Noon
November 11th	Minnesota at Purdue	3:30 PM
November 18th	Michigan State at Indiana	Noon
November 18th	Purdue at Northwestern	3:30 PM
November 18th	Rutgers at Penn State	7:30 PM
November 24th	Indiana at Purdue	3:00 PM
November 25th	Maryland at Rutgers	Noon
November 25th	Northwestern at Illinois	3:30 PM

B1G Country Notes (no, not Bryant Reeves)

The first three weeks are completely booked. After that…nothing. Well, that’s not entirely true. There are a few homecoming games that are almost guaranteed to hit BTN but I won’t call them confirmed until, well, they are actually confirmed.
Let’s get right to the appearance list (with the conference and non-conference split) and then some explanations on the numbers:
- 8 times – Indiana (3 non-con, 5 conference)
- 7 times – Northwestern (2 NC, 5 C), Rutgers (3 NC, 4 C)
- 5 times – Maryland (1 NC, 4 C)
- 4 times – Purdue (1 NC, 3 C), Illinois (2 NC, 2 C), Michigan State (1 NC, 3 C), Wisconsin (1 NC, 3 C)
- 3 times – Minnesota (2 NC, 1 C), Iowa (1 NC, 2 C), Penn State (1 NC, 2 C)
- 2 times – Ohio State (1 NC, 1 C), Michigan (1 NC, 1 C), Nebraska (1 NC, 1 C)
Every school must make at least 2 BTN appearances. Plus, one of those appearances has to be a conference game. My predictions satisfy that criteria and I think the amount of appearances will be failry close to what actually happens. I was a bit surprised to see what I had done with Nebraska. Maybe I am drinking a tiny bit of Husker Kool-Aid.

Alright now we have what could be the longest schedule of the bunch. Surprisingly though, it has the most confirmed games, easily. I guess when you have a good portion of the Group of Five stationed here, you will have a lot of games. And if you don’t watch college football on CBSSN? Shame on you. There are some great games on there and you get to see teams you wouldn’t normally see. Time for the huge-ass schedule followed by a few G5 musings:

Gee-Five Musings

Really, CBS Sports Network doesn’t have to lock in over 80% of the games. Nice to see that they do though. Honestly, over the past few years, CBSSN has had their fair share of exciting games so waiting to see what ESPN doesn’t take really doesn’t make sense for them. It won’t change the amount of viewers they get (for the most part). Just scoreboard watch like I do.
CBSSN lands a couple of Black Friday games this season, which seems to be the norm now. One is confirmed and the other is a MAC game. Which leads us to…
The non-confirmed games. Most of them are MAC-controlled games. They will be 12-day selections during the season. The others might not end up happening as those timeslots may be used for something else.
Conference breakdown time!
- Mountain West – 49
- Conference USA – 33
- MAC – 21
- Army – 7
- AAC (other than Navy) – 6
- UConn – 5
- FCS – 5
- Navy – 4
- ACC – 3
- Sun Belt – 3
- Pac-12 – 2
- SEC – 1
- Big XII – 1
- UMass – 1
OK so it was more than conferences but it gives you an idea of what is happening this year versus previous years. During October, Conference USA will have all their conference games on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. A crazy idea but hey, that’s how MACtion was born. It also means we will go nearly two months with football almost every day! What’s wrong with that?

We made it! Schedule Journey 2023 is over! Christ, that was long. And no, I will not do a TSN schedule. That would be a complete guess. Up next are the season predictions. Expect that post (which will also be a stupidly long one) some time in late July.

Have a fantastic rest of your Sunday and let’s hope for nice weather this coming week…for people who aren’t stuck working in an office. For those people, I am sure you are fine if it rains all week.

Lists, Lists…..LISTS!

Posted on June 29, 2023 by guelphbossman

You’d think I was employed by Buzzfeed with all these lists I’m making.

So just like last year, I will add a few more lists to accompany the Most Important Games post. It should give you a good idea of the important games to watch (at least at this point) and maybe some games to avoid (unless you are a Sicko like me and will watch any football…even, yes…arena football!)

I know, I know, I have always stated my disgust for arena football but I have to admit it does have its own trashy charm to it. OK let’s just get to the lists, shall we?

Sneaky-Good/Underrated Games

I used to list a game like this for every week of the season. This time I will rank the top dozen games that should be considered underrated but very good and that didn’t rank in the Top 35 from the previous post.

Oklahoma vs. Texas (at the Cotton Bowl) (Week 6, Noon, ABC/TSN2) – First of all, I am not on drugs. Not many are talking about the Sooners and most are calling for the Longhorns to walk off to the SEC with a Big XII Championship title. Do you remember what game this is? It’s the god damn Red River Shootout/Rivalry/Game/Brawl/Drinking Contest. Many times it is ridiculous, crazy, wild and just plain dumbfounding. Don’t count OU out…at least in this one game…….oh the second thing. Yeah, ABC has picked up this game but the time hasn’t been set. It will be either Noon or 3:30 because the State Fair of Texas becomes a gangland shootout at night or something like that.
TCU at Kansas State (Week 8, Noon, specialty pack) – The rematch of last year’s Big XII title game loses a bit of its luster but should still be important in the grand scheme of things in the conference. I get it’s not Gary Patterson anymore but Sonny Dykes is already showing he can also make the whole greater than the sum of the parts. Chris Klieman will get every opportunity to show off why he got a big extended contract and this is one of those opportunities at home in front of the Wildcat faithful.
Iowa at Wisconsin (Week 7, Noon, Big Ten Network) – As I said in the Most Important Games post, it feels like all the conference networks get at least one good game a season now. This could be that game, if it ends up there. Once again this could be for the Big Ten West title but it’s going to feel weird with Wisconsin not running the ball as much. Iowa, on the other hand, should be exactly the same, trying to win games 6-5.
Texas A&M at Ole Miss (Week 10, Noon, specialty pack) – Many will sleep on these two teams…wait, bad analogy. I forgot Petrino was at College Station. Anyway, two teams that many will cast aside but it’s almost a guarantee one of them will cause a bit of a stink in the conference. Also, take the over.
UCLA at Oregon State (Week 7, 5:30, Pac-12 Network) – Speaking of conference networks, here’s the worst of the bunch. That includes the Big XII’s non-existent network. Look, one of these two teams is going to be very good (I think) and will cause quite a few headaches at the top of the Pac-12 food chain (I think) and will end up being in the Pac-12 Championship (ehhhh, I don’t know).
TCU at Oklahoma (Week 13, Friday, Noon, FOX, confirmed) – Black Friday will start with a game between a team who just got destroyed in the national championship and a team that normally is great and struggled to be bowl-eligible. Both teams will have something to prove and this could be their last real chance to do so (and make it count) this season.
Kansas State at Texas Tech (Week 7, 3:30, ABC/TSN2) – I guess it makes sense that the Big XII fills a good portion of this section after almost being shut out of my Top 35 most important games of the season. The Red Raiders always put up the points, no matter who the quarterback, head coach, or receivers are. And KSU can also do that when they want to. Should be a shootout (of sorts).
South Carolina at Texas A&M (Week 9, Noon, specialty pack) – More Fun Bobby! And Fun Shane…ok that one doesn’t have as good a ring to it. But BeamerBall 2.0 is a lot of fun to watch.
Arkansas at Ole Miss (Week 6, 7:30, specialty pack) – Could Sam Pittman be the most lovable coach in the game right now? Perhaps. He still feels like a bit of an underdog and you always root for the underdog, right? Wait…I’m getting something here….a message…ah, OK. Lane Kiffin doesn’t agree.
Minnesota at Iowa (Week 8, 3:30, FOX) – Row The Boat vs. Single-Digit Scoring. I am intrigued, I’m not going to lie. Plus we will see the best new tradition in all of not just college football but sports in general, the Iowa Wave.
Duke at North Carolina (Week 11, 8:00, specialty pack) – The Eastern version of the Victory Bell could be important once again. Both teams look like they could slot in anywhere from three to six in the ACC this year (with no divisions thank god). So a win here and maybe an upset or two somewhere else and one of these programs will duke it out for a conference championship.
Ole Miss at Tulane (Week 2, 3:30, specialty pack) – The game time is confirmed. I assume it heads to the specialty pack. Too bad because TSN would be smart to pick up this game. The Green Wave, who have to be considered to have the best odds to make it back as the best Group of Five team, hosting Ole Miss in what will be stiflingly hot weather in New Orleans…yeah I like Tulane’s chances but I still think it will be a close one.

Best Group of Five Games

Next up is our friends from the Group of Five. Three of them got invited to sit up at the adult table so overall this group is a tiny bit weaker. That just means other teams will have opportunities that they may not have had before. So let’s look at the best Group of Five games this season. And no, the Ole Miss-Tulane game above doesn’t count. This is full G5-on-G5 violence, bruh.

UTSA at Tulane (Week 13, 7:00, specialty pack) – As per usual, the American Conference should make up the bulk of this list. The defending Group of Five champion (and Cotton Bowl champion), Tulane is the favourite to do it again. UTSA is in its first season in the American but already could be the team to knock the Green Wave off their perch. Huge game where I have to favour Tulane only because it’s in New Orleans not the Alamodome where the Roadrunners have a huge home advantage.
Air Force at Boise State (Week 13, Friday, 4:00, FOX Sports One, confirmed) – Not having FS1 will deprive Canadians of a lot of good Mountain West action. This should be the conference’s game of the year and the winner probably goes to the Mountain West Championship. Being on the Smurf Turf, I would give the Broncos the slight edge here.
South Alabama at Tulane (Week 1, 8:00, specialty pack) – This game is set for ESPNU on opening Saturday and, I can almost guarantee, will head to the specialty pack. The Jaguars (Jag-you-ares) came out of nowhere last season to almost win the Sun Belt. They are the favourites to win the conference and if they can pull the mini-upset here, could feasibly run the table. I guess I could say the same thing about Tulane.
Boise State at Fresno State (Week 10, 10:00, CBS Sports Network, confirmed) – Hey it’s CBSSN’s first foray onto any of these lists. CBSSN is a nice palette cleanser really. It shows games you never would have normally watched. Plus it shows most of UConn’s games. I am liking CBSSN having the CFL. Yes it’s just a simulcast of TSN’s showing but it works. Kind of wish they would come up with at least their own play-by-play and analysis and just use the TSN visuals.
Tulane at Memphis (Week 7, Friday, 7:00, TSN2) – It’s the time of year when the American and ACC split most of the Thursday and Friday night games on ESPN and their dysfunctional family of networks. TSN tends to show more Friday night games because they can put it on TSN2 and not have it interfere with the CFL’s Friday Night Football. Anyway, yes, it’s the Green Wave again. Bored yet? They might be that good. Maybe even legit Top 12 good if everything falls right.
Boise State at San Diego State (Week 4, Friday, 10:30, CBS Sports Network, confirmed) – And here comes Boise State again. I mean I want to say there aren’t two obvious frontrunners in the G5 but there are. Both the Broncos and Tulane should be in it to the end to see who gets that single spot.
South Alabama at Troy (Week 10, Thursday, 7:30, specialty pack) – Hey it’s not Tulane, Boise State, the American or the Mountain West! Let’s give the Sun Belt a lot of respect. They have become the third-best Group of Five conference and it’s a pretty wide gap between them and the two conferences below them, the MAC and Conference USA. The Battle for the Belt (so good to have a wrestling title belt as the rivalry trophy) should be for the de facto Sun Belt West title unless Louisiana or maybe Southern Miss has something to say about it.
Boise State at Memphis (Week 5, 3:30, specialty pack) – This might end up on ESPN or ESPN2 depending on how both teams are doing at this point. I could see it happening because ESPN made a point to trade with CBS for this BSU road game.
Tulane at East Carolina (Week 10, 3:30, specialty pack) – I figured East Carolina would have to find someone to replace Holton Ahlers and his 245 passes per game. Instead they plan to completely turn to the running game and grind teams into the turf. If this somehow works, Georgia Tech fans are gonna be real mad.
WKU at Troy (Week 4, 3:30, ESPN+) – First Conference USA appearance and it heads to ESPN+. I have that this year for the first time so I am going to have a lot of fun and totally destroy my remote control this season with that. Kind of wish it even got to ESPNU so that the specialty packs could pick it up. I still think WKU and MTSU were foolish not to take the MAC’s potential invite as they are stuck now in arguably the worst FBS conference with not much in the way of rivalries.
San Diego State at Air Force (Week 5, 8:00, CBS Sports Network, confirmed) – OK two teams that aren’t quite fitting the mold of the top G5 teams. Nice. And, if things go according to plan, we should see a bazillion yards rushing and the game might be over by 10:00.
Eastern Michigan at Toledo (Week 11, Wednesday, 7:00, specialty pack) – Finally we end this list with a MACtion game since I have to. MACtion is awesome. We also have Fun Belt now and whatever the American conference calls their weeknight games. Oh and Conference USA is doing pretty much all weeknight games in October. Crazy! Anyway, this could very well be the two best MAC teams so let’s call this the de facto MAC West championship.

Best Group of Five vs. Power Five Games

Let’s bring back this section because these games are the ones many college football fans feast on. What is better than watching your hated rival lose to a Group of Five team? Not much. And I have always said, Group of Five teams, at least the better ones, should get their shot at Power Five teams to see what they are worth. If it wasn’t for that happening, very few teams would have moved up and the Power Five may have already separated from the rest of college football by now.

Ole Miss at Tulane (Week 2, 3:30, specialty pack) – This was already discussed above but it is the biggest G5 vs. P5 game of the season and hosted by the Group of Five team which is a rarity but happening more often these days which is nice to see.
UTSA at Tennessee (Week 4, 7:30, specialty pack) – The Roadrunners meep their way up the food chain to the American Conference this season and are already a contender for the league title (and perhaps a NY6 spot). The Vols will be really good this season but a UTSA win her would be massive for the program and for the college football season as a whole.
Boise State at Washington (Week 1, 3:30, ABC/TSN2) – Everything is confirmed except for if the game will appear on TSN. I believe it will but we won’t know for like another two months. Ridiculous. Washington is looking to ride their Heisman contender quarterback all the way, hopefully, to the College Football Playoff so a slip-up here would almost derail that entire plan.
WKU at Ohio State (Week 3, 4:00, FOX, confirmed) – Look, are the Hilltoppers going to win this? No. All we can hope for is for WKU to put a scare into tOSU. If, somehow, they ended up with the upset, it would be the biggest upset in the history of college football and you wouldn’t be able to convince me otherwise.
Troy at Kansas State (Week 2, Noon, FOX Sports One, confirmed) – OK now this one has intrigue written all over it. Troy is one of a handful of teams that has legit New Year’s Six aspirations out of the Group of Five. Kansas State is the defending Big XII champions but have a few question marks. This feels ripe for an upset.
SMU at TCU (Week 4, Noon, specialty pack) – The Battle for the Iron Skillet. This might be the best one yet if the Mustangs are as good as some say they will be. Not the favourite in the American so they will have to show out in games like this to catch voters’ eyes. This could be a good litmus test to see how far TCU has fallen from last year’s national runner-up team.
San Diego State at Oregon State (Week 3, 3:30, FOX Sports One, confirmed) – This could be a tasty affair if the Aztecs step up and prove they could be eventually Pac-12 worthy in football. Otherwise, you might hear a lot of chainsaws going in this one since Oregon State is definitely a dark horse contender this season.
SMU at Oklahoma (Week 2, 6:00, ESPN+, confirmed) – Ouch. Seeing this relegated to ESPN+ surprises me a bit but the Sooners are not the team they had been for the past few decades. The Sooners are going to try and come out of the gate swinging but don’t be surprised if the Stangs give them some trouble in this one.
UCF at Boise State (Week 2, 7:00, FOX Sports One, confirmed) – Last year this would have been in the previous section. Now the Knights are in the Big XII but they may still be an underdog on this one. If I were a betting man I would put my money on the Broncos here as they are hoping to run the table and get back to where they believe they belong: as the top dog among the Group of Five.
East Carolina at Michigan (Week 1, Noon, Peacock, confirmed) – The debut of Peacock on these lists. I am sure at some point it will be available for Canadians but we aren’t quite there yet. Yeah I don’t think this will be really close but you never know. I wonder if ECU can run on this Michigan offense. If they can, the entire Big Ten will be watching tape of this game all season to see if they can replicate it.
UCLA at San Diego State (Week 2, 7:30, CBS, confirmed) – Nice to see the Mountain West appearing on CBS. The week before this we get Texas Tech/Wyoming and here we get a very interesting matchup that could easily lead to an upset, if SDSU has things going by the second week of the season.
UTSA at Houston (Week 1, 7:00, FOX Sports One, confirmed) – The Cougs have stepped up to the Big XII conference. Good for them. Problem is they start their first season back on the top tier of college football against one of the best Group of Five teams. The only thing helping Houston is that the game is in Houston and not San Antonio. I am sure Drunk Uncle Dana will be about seven Red Bulls in by the time this one starts.

Worst Power Five Games

Didn’t think I’d forget this section, right? These are the games that you can probably avoid, unless they are close. They fill conference networks (and really are the reason those networks exist but I will not complain about that) and even sometimes creep onto FOX or an ESPN2 or ESPNU. Sad but true. Spoiler alert: I will still watch most of these games.

Northwestern at Rutgers (Week 1, Sunday, Noon, CBS, confirmed) – What a way to show off the new Big Ten on CBS with a game between *checks notes* uh….Northwestern and Rutgers? My God that is not good at all. Who the hell is picking these games at CBS? The only thing I can think happened was that it was the last game remaining…like picking the last kid in dodgeball. Well, nothing else will be on at that time at least in a college football sense so guess what ol’ Bossman will be watching?
Stanford at Colorado (Week 7, Friday, 10:00, TSN2) – This is confirmed for ESPN2 but who knows if TSN will pick it up or not. Look I understand there is a lot of hype with Deion Sanders now coaching at Colorado. And that’s a good thing for that program. But they will struggle to be bowl-eligible this season. Now Stanford….that’s a different story. They are back to the days before Jim Harbaugh and then David Shaw resurrected this program. They may just be the worst Power Five team at this point. What a fall from grace.
Virginia Tech at Virginia (Week 13, Noon, specialty pack) – What happened last year at Virginia was tragic. Three players gunned down late in the season. UVA rightfully cancelled their final two games, including the Commonwealth Cup game against VaTech. Now they are back but this will not be an easy season for the Hoos, both on the field and emotionally. The Hokies are as bad as I have ever seen them be. Then again, I only mostly saw them as a Frank Beamer team. Beamerball, this is not. Look, I hate putting this game here but these two teams might be god-awful this season.
Rutgers at Indiana (Week 8, Noon, Big Ten Network) – Rutgers is, unfortunately, back to being Rutgers. And Indiana without Michael Penix Jr…well we found out they were bad. Both coaches will be on the hot seat with Tom Allen in the much hotter seat for sure. The loser might not win a Big Ten game this season.
Virginia at Boston College (Week 5, Noon, specialty pack) – As for non-Virginia teams in the ACC who probably won’t be going bowling, BC comes to mind. I can’t see them finding the magic formula especially with a young, relatively untested quarterback manning the ship.
California at Stanford (Week 12, 9:00, Pac-12 Network) – Ah, the worst of the conference networks. What a shitshow it is. Anyway, The Big Game will be anything but big this season as I already mentioned how bad Stanford will be and I don’t know how many people outside the Cal football program care about Cal football. A shame, really.
Colorado at Arizona State (Week 6, 9:00, Pac-12 Network) – Remember when ASU was the laughing stock of the Pac-12 for like a second? Everyone thought their ship was going to come crashing down. Well it did but other teams flew past them into the basement. That doesn’t mean this is some kind of comeback story, though. They still aren’t good and will be fighting for bowl eligibility. Wins in games like this are a must for that to happen.
Georgia Tech at Virginia (Week 10, 3:30, specialty pack) – It feels kind of weird watching Georgia Tech play football when they aren’t running the Paul Johnson option offense. You know, I’m starting to think they never should have changed from that. Made them unique and helped them win just as often as they lost.
Virginia Tech at Rutgers (Week 3, 3:30, Big Ten Network, confirmed) – Hey let’s dip into some non-con action now. I would ask who the hell scheduled a game like this but it was probably scheduled back when the Hokies played their first season in the ACC.
Arizona at Stanford (Week 4, 7:00, FOX Sports One) – I have to be honest: Jedd Fisch has already exceeded my expectations for a) his coaching in Tucson and b) a guy named Jedd. This team is on the brink of getting back to postseason play for the first time in years. I will put the over/under on fans attending this game at 14,000.
Arizona State at California (Week 5, 9:30, Pac-12 Network) – I am still on the record saying that there should be a pure sports-style Netflix or Amazon Prime out there. One where you can add or subtract whatever channels you want based on sport, country, etc. Would it be the death knell to cable? No but it would be quite the flesh wound. By the way, this game has some pretty good Pac-12 After Dark vibes to it and could get wacky because both teams are just not that good.
Northwestern at Nebraska (Week 8, 2:30, Peacock) – I would be remiss if I didn’t include Nebraska somewhere on this list. They’ve fooled and many others over the past few years. So until they prove it, I will not take the bait. Nope, no more. I refuse to drink the Husker Koolaid.

Alright, done and dusted. A reminder that tomorrow is the end of the fiscal year for pretty much all the FBS schools. There are rumours that something on the realignment (oh god that word) front could happen by the end of the night or the very next day. Last year it was USC and UCLA to the Big Ten. Can’t see anything as big as that but you never know.

Well, I would like to wish everyone a great Canada Day weekend and Fourth of July celebration. We are less than two months away folks. Nice to be talking college football again.

Most Important Games of the 2023 College Football Season

Posted on June 25, 2023 by guelphbossman

Yeah I’m that fucking excited.

Spoiler alert: UConn does not appear on this list. If you were expecting them, I apologize for their absence.

Alright it’s time to start getting on the next season’s worth of college football posts and I always start with the most important games of the upcoming season. Remember last season when I did this post? I didn’t do three or four posts. I did one long-ass post. So guess what? No, we are not going back to three or four posts. It’s one massive post once again. I think it worked last year so I’m going back to the newer well rather than the older well that did me….well, over a bunch of years.

Now some might say “Bossman, it’s too early for this.” To them I say “Eat shit.” FBSchedules has their helmet schedules out and preview magazines are out. I’ve almost ready all of the Lindy’s one and I have the Athlon one ready to go right after. The Phil Steele magazine, the god damn granddaddy of them all, will be here in the next couple of weeks. So yeah I’m getting ready and yeah, it’s time to talk some college football.

Remember how this goes: I am listing the most important games that will shape the outcome of the entire college football season. Sure, Army-Navy is a huge game but unless either team is undefeated going into that one, the game means very little in the grand scheme of things, bowl-wise or other.

So boys and girls (maybe), how do we always start this post? That’s right, with the ranking of the weeks of the season. It is sponsored by the letter R and the number 0. Every year it is usually pretty close to the same. Week 2 is not all of a sudden going to be the biggest week of the college football season. It just never happens. So here are those rankings followed by some witty and potentially insightful banter (a reminder that the week is listed by the Saturday it corresponds to):

Week 11 – November 11
Week 13 – November 25
Week 10 – November 4
Week 4 – September 23
Week 8 – October 21
Week 7 – October 14
Week 12 – November 18
Week 6 – October 7
Week 5 – September 30
Week 9 – October 28
Week 3 – September 16
Week 2 – September 9
Week 1 – September 2

Sweet Jesus, Week 1 looks fucking awful. I mean it’s the first full week of the season so I will be all in but still…it’s like college football has taken several steps backwards from a few years ago when Week 1 was about the fifth or sixth-best week of the season and there were five or six HUGE games. This season, the opening week is highlighted by LSU/Florida State which is great. Then the quality falls off a massive cliff with the next biggest game being the annual Labour Day ACC clash, this time with Clemson and Duke. Woof. Three weeks in November, as per usual, are at the top with Week 11 being the top week this season. It was the same thing five years ago as the week is crammed with huge conference games. I don’t know if I can even call it SEC Sleepwalk/Sleepover/Shitbreak Week anymore as Week 12, the penultimate regular season week, is again near the middle of the rankings. Also, I don’t rate Week Zero. But it will be a ton of fun since it will be the first college football action in over 7 months. So yeah my eyeballs will be fucking glued to Navy/Notre Dame out in Dublin, Ireland, Hawaii/Vanderbilt and UMass/New Mexico State of course!

OK just like last year I will not be going week-to-week. I’m just listing the top games. The top 35 (up from 30) most important games of the college football season. I’ll do this list and then in late November we will all watch a team like Arkansas or Iowa or NC State play in a game that could send them well on their way to the College Football Playoff. It is what it is. Let’s get to the list! For this list, any confirmed broadcast info will be noted. Of course, nothing for TSN will be confirmed until like the night before any of these games because fuck you that’s why.

Ohio State at Michigan (Week 13, Noon, FOX, confirmed) – Chances are this is essentially for a spot in the College Football Playoff. Next year, this might be for a first-round bye in the CFP. How times change. Either way, this is unequivocally the biggest game of the season and the one where FOX sends basically everyone that works under the sports umbrella to work on the 83-hour BIG NUDE SATURDAY.
LSU at Alabama (Week 10, 8:00, CBS) – Alabama is pretty much the go-to pick for CBS’s lone primetime game of the season for the SEC and this year will be no different. This is the final SEC on CBS primetime game and should be a great one as these two teams are, once again, the pillars of the SEC West. The winner here is almost guaranteed (jury is still out on Ole Miss and TAMU) a spot in Atlanta to try and dethrone Georgia (probably).
Michigan at Penn State (Week 11, Noon, FOX, confirmed) – This game, like the first game on the list, could have national championship implications. It really is just a hair below the top two games on this list. FOX is hitting it out of the park with big games this season. I think the Big Ten might be just fine not being on ESPN/ABC going forward.
LSU at Florida State (Week 1, Sunday, 7:30, ABC, confirmed) – Two games in the top four for LSU means they will have a very tough road to get back to having some semblance of a shot at the College Football Playoff (or even the New Year’s Six). This seems like it could finally be the year that FSU returns to the top of the ACC mountain as Mike Norvell has his most talented team in Tallahassee. I love seeing ABC put a great game on the night before Labour Day. At least Week One can always rely on that.
Georgia at Tennessee (Week 12, 3:30, CBS) – If Joe Milton III continues to throw piss rockets like he did against Clemson in the Orange Bowl, this could ascend to Game of the Year territory. The Vols may have the best chance to beat the Dawgs with the game being at what should be a raucous Neyland Stadium. Not confirmed but I would be shocked if this isn’t CBS’s choice for the SEC on CBS this week.
Penn State at Ohio State (Week 8, Noon, FOX) – Man, GUS JOHNSON is getting a great set of games this season to call (if my predictions hold up). This is the final game on this list in the three-team Big Ten East Round Robin Tournament El Fantastico to determine which team (if not two) go to the CFP. I would say the Nittany Lions are pretty good underdogs here but they finally have a quarterback who looks like he can throw the ball downfield a bit so you never know. tOSU has question marks at QB so this could be quite the interesting matchup.
Florida State at Clemson (Week 4, 7:30, ABC/TSN2) – Could the Noles be the favourite here? It’s possible. Unlikely but I wouldn’t go much past a pickem for this one. With the Big Ten leaving ESPN/ABC, these primetime ABC slots open up a lot. And really, it is still the biggest timeslot of the week. This is the year the ACC has to hopefully grab as many of these as possible as next year…yeah, the SEC may end up with all of them.
Tennessee at Alabama (Week 8, 3:30, CBS) – Not going to lie: it is going to feel very weird when the SEC isn’t on CBS every Saturday afternoon. I guess that’s where a huge Big Ten game will go but I can’t see them getting most of the big games because FOX gets their pick of the litter most weeks. Going to be very interesting to watch going forward. Man, I thought figuring out this year’s schedule was difficult. Next year’s is going to seriously tough.
Ohio State at Notre Dame (Week 4, 7:30, NBC, confirmed) – The first non-conference affair on this list and it is a juicy one. Both teams should be undefeated coming into this one unless the Irish have an inexplicable loss like they had last season to Marshall or Stanford. If Touchdown Jesus pulls this one out, expect Sam Hartman to rocket up most Heisman lists.
Texas at Alabama (Week 2, 7:00, specialty pack) – This game is confirmed for ESPN but I have this funny feeling TSN won’t pick it up. Call it a CFL or US Open-based hunch. We shall see though. Let’s be clear: the Horns were fucking robbed of the win last year by the referees. This time they will have a chance to make up for that but it is not easy winning in Tuscaloosa. Ask almost every team that’s travelled there in the past decade-plus.
Utah at USC (Week 8, 7:30, ABC) – Hey, the Pac-12 has joined the party. This is the swansong season in the conference for the Trojans and they are hoping to win the conference championship in their final year. Winning games like these is a must for that to happen. This could be the game that either elevates Caleb Williams to college football history and only the second player to win two Heismans or destroy his chances at repeating.
Ohio State at Wisconsin (Week 9, 7:30, NBC) – Yeah I think NBC will get a couple good Big Ten games and this will be one of them it sounds like. Wisconsin has a new head coach and a new quarterback and a new offensive coordinator that won’t run the ball as much as Wisconsin is supposed to. Hmmm…that is going to feel very unAlvarez-like. At least the kids will get to jump around after the third quarter, testing the structure of Camp Randall like a bunch of engineers.
Washington at USC (Week 10, 3:30, specialty pack) – Again, I have this feeling that TSN will not show this game and that it will head to the specialty pack, much to the chagrin of regular Canadian cable subscribers (which I am not one of). It feels like either this game or the aforementioned Utes-Trojans game will be the game of the year in the conference and will decide at least one of the championship game participants (thanks to no divisions). It’s too bad FOX has their premiere game every week at Noon since this would be a great pick as their game of the week.
Ole Miss at Georgia (Week 11, 3:30, CBS) – Wouldn’t it be something if the Fighting Kiffins of Oxford upset UGA here? The entire college football world would be flipped upside down. And you know how I love upsets. We need another 2007!
Utah at Washington (Week 11, 3:30, TSN2) – Alright, the first game I predict will hit TSN that isn’t already on ABC. Kind of sad that TSN barely cares about their college football contract until bowl season when they suddenly show almost every bowl game despite also showing every World Juniors hockey game. Crazy. If Cam Rising is able to return for opening week then this could be a massive game. I am hoping for his sake (and for Utes fans’ sake) that is the case.
USC at Notre Dame (Week 7, 7:30, NBC, confirmed) – The traditional yearly matchup is back again and even with the Trojans moving to the Big Ten, this matchup will continue. By this point in the season, both of these teams should be in the Top 15 looking at a potential College Football Playoff berth. The loser here loses that and perhaps an NY6 spot.
Alabama at Texas A&M (Week 6, Noon, TSN3/TSN5) – OK I am sure you are looking at this and wondering if I suddenly developed brain damage. I truly believe that the Aggies will be a ton better than they were last season when they essentially bottomed out under Jimbo Fisher. Plus, the Aggies always play the Tide tough so they could throw a big-ass monkey wrench in the entire SEC West picture here with a win.
Notre Dame at Clemson (Week 10, 3:30, ABC) – OK so this is confirmed for ABC but the time is not confirmed. I am guessing it will be on in the afternoon with Kansas State-Texas being the ABC Primetime game. This could end up being switched if both the Irish and Tigers are undefeated going into this one. For once, Clemson isn’t the ACC favourite. It’s kind of refreshing. It will be interesting to see if Cade Klubnik, the next man up at quarterback, can lead the Tigers back to the promised land. I don’t see it but then again, I thought D.J. Uiagelelei was going to be the guy and he’s now out in the boonies of Oregon.
USC at Oregon (Week 11, 7:30, ABC) – Speaking of Oregon, the Trojans head there on Remembrance Day night (or I guess it’s Veterans Day down in the States). Yet another tough test for the Trojans. We all know what’s going to happen though. The best four or five Pac-12 teams will beat on each other and no team will get out unscathed so no team will go to the CFP yet again. That conference just loves to cannibalize itself.
Ole Miss at Alabama (Week 4, 3:30, CBS) – A bit of an early shit-test game for the Tide. A game that they should win but they may have trouble with because their opponent is so damn pesky and annoying. I mean it is Lane Kiffin’s boys so you expect the Ole Miss offense to chug along. Bet the over.
Oregon at Utah (Week 9, 7:30, ABC/TSN2) – Could the Utes fall back to the middle of the pack if they don’t have Cam Rising to start the season? Quite possibly. I mean seeing this game in the Top 25 games of the season means I clearly think Rising will be ready to play on opening night. If not, pray for the Utes since it could be a long season (comparatively…I mean they will still win 8 or 9 games regardless).
Washington at Oregon State (Week 12, 10:30, TSN2) – Hey remember when I mentioned D.J. Uiagelelei? Here’s where he ended up. The metropolis of Corvallis. The Beavs might actually have a contender if D.J. can do what he was supposed to do at Clemson. On the other side of the line, Michael Penix Jr. should be considered the Heisman favourite since I can’t see voters giving it to Caleb Williams again (unless he has an all-timer of a season).
Texas A&M at LSU (Week 13, 3:00, specialty pack) – I actually have this game on the SEC Network. Yeah it may sound weird but this has happened before. And that final week of the regular season is ridiculous for scheduling anyway. At least one of the conference networks ends up getting a beauty of a game. Now if this is somehow for the SEC West title then yeah, it won’t even sniff the SEC Network. But I feel it won’t be so it will end up there.
Oregon at Washington (Week 7, 8:00, FOX) – Last year’s game was crazy with the Huskies having a huge comeback win to keep their Pac-12 hopes alive and ruin Oregon’s. I wonder if Mario Cristobal wishes he was back in Eugene considering how piss poor his Miami Hurricanes did in his first season back with his alma mater.
Utah at Oregon State (Week 5, Friday, 9:00, FOX Sports One, confirmed) – And finally we get a game that, well, Canadians won’t get (unless you have IPTV or find some probably illegal stream). You know, for a stadium that’s been under construction and only holds 27,000, those games in Corvallis can sound VERY loud. Then again, when they start that chainsaw, that’s loud enough. You ever been near one of those? Sweet fucking Jesus they are loud with great ear protection so I can imagine what it’s like being within twenty feet of the thing.
LSU at Ole Miss (Week 5, Noon, TSN2) – A lot of people will feel like this is a game for second place in the SEC West but with Bama’s QB questions, this could hold a lot more importance than that. Not saying the division is a free-for-all but I have these two teams, Bama and even the Aggies having legitimate shots at winning the division so they can be pummeled by UGA in the SEC Championship.
Iowa at Penn State (Week 4, 7:30, CBS, confirmed) – The first game on this list that has the Big Ten on CBS (man that sounds weird). This is confirmed and I believe the Penn State Whiteout Game is also confirmed. To say it’s an intimidating sight for a visiting team would be an understatement.
South Carolina at Georgia (Week 3, 3:30, CBS, confirmed) – This may be the first game that feels like it might not be that close. Saying that, Shane Beamer has the Gamecocks playing great football and they have the enthusiasm and work ethic to give the Dawgs a very tough time. Problem is they are playing this game between the hedges and not at Williams-Brice. If UGA can’t win this by a bunch, the rest of the SEC East should take notice.
Oregon State at Oregon (Week 13, Friday, 8:30, FOX, confirmed) – This could be one of the biggest Civil War games ever. Oh wait, I can’t call it’s the Civil War, can I? Anyway, the winner of this game probably will have a good chance to be in the Pac-12 Championship.
Kansas State at Texas (Week 10, 8:30, FOX) – It took until the thirtieth game to get a Big XII conference game. Look, as much crap as the Pac-12 has taken over the Spring (and rightfully so), the Big XII might be at its weakest in a long time unless a few programs step up (Texas, Oklahoma, Baylor) or maintain what they did last season (Kansas State, TCU, Kansas). This conference should feel lucky that the Pac-12 is in such dire straits. The latest rumor has Colorado and Arizona headed to the Big XII and it wouldn’t surprise me but from a football standpoint…woof.
Texas A&M at Tennessee (Week 7, Noon, TSN3) – OK maybe I should have stopped at 30. No, no, I promised 35 for some strange reason and dammit I am going to pull through. I am actually looking forward to Texas A&M’s season for one reason…Bobby Fucking Petrino. At some point you know it will be a disaster in College Station. It is bound to happen. Until then though you have one of the best offensive minds in college football trying to push this Aggie team to the next level. Just tell him to steer clear of motorcycles and young female former athletes-turned-office staff.
Texas at TCU (Week 11, 7:00, FOX) – What a run the Horned Frogs had last year (if you don’t include the thrashing they took in the national championship game). They probably won’t be as good this season. To lose who they lost and somehow come back and do what they did would be almost impossible. Saying that, the Longhorns should not take this team lightly as they have struggled in the past with them even when TCU wasn’t that great. We should also definitely know by this point whether Quinn Ewers has completely taken that quarterback job or if Arch Manning’s time has arrived in Austin.
North Carolina at Clemson (Week 12, 7:30, ABC) – Look let’s not look past the Tar Heels. They have a Heisman candidate at quarterback in Drake Maye and sometimes that is enough to propel a team to an extra win or two, which is pretty much what UNC would need to get to the ACC Championship. Death Valley East is still Death Valley East and playing there at night is very difficult for opponents. But again, don’t look past the Heels and Mack Brown.
UCLA at USC (Week 12, 8:00, FOX) – Time once again for the Victory Bell and it is gonna feel weird. Final Victory Bell in the Pac-12. No DTR means possible trouble for the Bruins and if they can’t find a quarterback to lead them this season then this game has no right to be in the Top 35.
Clemson at South Carolina (Week 13, 7:00, TSN2) – My hope is that TSN does pick up the ball a bit for the final week of the season like they used to. It was 2019 when they were doing double digits’ worth of games for the final college football weekend. Now, we are lucky to get 4 or 5 which is crazy since there’s almost nothing to compete with it in the live sports arena. Anyway, it’s the Battle for the Palmetto State and it is usually a fun game that can get way too rough at times. Should be good. I hope.

Finished! Top 35 games of the season. I am sure there will be some that end up not coming close to being as important as I thought. That’s the nature of the game. Can’t always be right with these things. I will have another blog post shortly highlighting some other good (and perhaps not-so-good) games this season coming up shortly. 62 days left until Week Zero! Sure it’s not the best college football you will see all season but it will be college football so yeah I’m gonna fucking watch it all if I can! Have a great week, everyone!

2023 NCAA Basketball Conference Tournament TV Schedule

Posted on March 3, 2023 by guelphbossman

Alright after a one-year absence from this, the conference tournament schedule post is back. Hold your applause.

I’m glad we are (pretty much) clear of the COVID mess that destroyed the 2020 postseason and threatened the 2021 postseason. This is my seventh time doing this and I keep trying to make things better so that you have the best schedule information possible from a Canadian standpoint. Meaning I will include as many networks as makes sense. So no FOX Sports One like I did the last time. Let us just get to the schedule before I regret doing this.

March 3rd	OVC Semi-Final #1	8:00
March 3rd	OVC Semi-Final #2	10:30
March 4th	MVC Semi-Final #1	2:30
March 4th	MVC Semi-Final #2	5:00
March 4th	OVC Championship	8:00
March 4th	WCC Quarter-Final #1	10:00
March 5th	WCC Quarter-Final #2	12:30 AM
March 6th	CAA Semi-Final #1	6:00
March 6th	Horizon Semi-Final #1	7:00
March 6th	SoCon Championship	7:00
March 6th	Sun Belt Championship	7:00
March 6th	CAA Semi-Final #2	8:30
March 6th	WCC Semi-Final #1	9:00
March 6th	Horizon Semi-Final #2	9:30
March 6th	WCC Semi-Final #2	11:30
March 7th	ACC First Round #1	2:00
March 7th	ACC First Round #2	4:30
March 7th	Southland Semi-Final #1	6:30
March 7th	ACC First Round #3	7:00
March 7th	NEC Championship	7:00
March 7th	CAA Championship	7:00
March 7th	Horizon Championship	7:00
March 7th	Big Sky Semi-Final #1	8:30
March 7th	WCC Championship	9:00
March 7th	Summit Championship	9:00
March 7th	Big Sky Semi-Final #2	11:00
March 8th	ACC Second Round #1	Noon
March 8th	ACC Second Round #2	2:30
March 8th	Southland Championship	5:00
March 8th	Big Ten First Round #1	6:30
March 8th	ACC Second Round #3	7:00
March 8th	Big XII First Round #1	7:00
March 8th	SEC First Round #1	7:00
March 8th	Patriot Championship	7:30
March 8th	Big Ten First Round #2	9:00
March 8th	SEC First Round #2	9:00
March 8th	ACC Second Round #4	9:30
March 8th	Big XII First Round #2	9:30
March 8th	Big Sky Championship	11:30
March 9th	Big Ten Second Round #1	Noon
March 9th	ACC Quarter-Final #1	Noon
March 9th	Big XII Quarter-Final #1	12:30
March 9th	American First Round #1	12:30
March 9th	SEC Second Round #1	1:00
March 9th	ACC Quarter-Final #2	2:30
March 9th	Big Ten Second Round #2	2:30
March 9th	Big XII Quarter-Final #2	3:00
March 9th	American First Round #2	3:00
March 9th	MWC Quarter-Final #1	3:00
March 9th	SEC Second Round #2	3:00
March 9th	MWC Quarter-Final #2	5:30
March 9th	Big Ten Second Round #3	6:30
March 9th	ACC Quarter-Final #3	7:00
March 9th	Big XII Quarter-Final #3	7:00
March 9th	American First Round #3	7:00
March 9th	SEC Second Round #3	7:00
March 9th	Big Ten Second Round #4	9:00
March 9th	MWC Quarter-Final #3	9:00
March 9th	ACC Quarter-Final #4	9:30
March 9th	Big XII Quarter-Final #4	9:30
March 9th	SEC Second Round #4	9:30
March 9th	Pac-12 Quarter-Final #4	11:30
March 9th	MWC Quarter-Final #4	11:30
March 10th	Big Ten Quarter-Final #1	Noon
March 10th	C-USA Semi-Final #1	12:30
March 10th	American Quarter-Final #1	1:00
March 10th	SEC Quarter-Final #1	1:00
March 10th	Big Ten Quarter-Final #2	2:30
March 10th	American Quarter-Final #2	3:00
March 10th	C-USA Semi-Final #2	3:00
March 10th	SEC Quarter-Final #2	3:30
March 10th	MAC Semi-Final #1	5:00
March 10th	Big Ten Quarter-Final #3	6:30
March 10th	ACC Semi-Final #1	7:00
March 10th	Big XII Semi-Final #1	7:00
March 10th	American Quarter-Final #3	7:00
March 10th	SEC Quarter-Final #3	7:00
March 10th	MAC Semi-Final #2	7:30
March 10th	American Quarter-Final #4	9:00
March 10th	Big Ten Quarter-Final #4	9:00
March 10th	ACC Semi-Final #2	9:30
March 10th	Big XII Semi-Final #2	9:30
March 10th	SEC Quarter-Final #4	9:30
March 10th	MWC Semi-Final #1	9:30
March 10th	Pac-12 Semi-Final #2	11:30
March 10th	Big West Semi-Final #2	11:30
March 11th	MWC Semi-Final #2	Midnight
March 11th	Big West Semi-Final #1	2:00 AM
March 11th	America East Championship	11:00 AM
March 11th	Ivy League Semi-Final #1	11:00 AM
March 11th	A-10 Semi-Final #1	1:00
March 11th	Big Ten Semi-Final #1	1:00
March 11th	SEC Semi-Final #1	1:00
March 11th	MEAC Championship	1:00
March 11th	Ivy league Semi-Final #2	1:30
March 11th	American Semi-Final #1	3:00
March 11th	SEC Semi-Final #2	3:00
March 11th	A-10 Semi-Final #2	3:30
March 11th	Big Ten Semi-Final #2	3:30
March 11th	American Semi-Final #2	5:00
March 11th	SWAC Championship	5:30
March 11th	MWC Championship	6:00
March 11th	Big XII Championship	6:00
March 11th	Big East Championship	6:30
March 11th	MAAC Championship	7:30
March 11th	MAC Championship	7:30
March 11th	ACC Championship	8:30
March 11th	C-USA Championship	8:30
March 11th	Big West Championship	9:30
March 11th	Pac-12 Championship	10:30
March 11th	WAC Championship	11:30
March 12th	Ivy League Championship	Noon
March 12th	A-10 Championship	1:00
March 12th	SEC Championship	1:00
March 12th	American Championship	3:15
March 12th	Big Ten Championship	3:10
March 12th	Selection Sunday	6:00

Some notes on all this

You know what? I kind of like the West Coast Conference bracket. Some may say it’s unfair but it absolutely is not. The top two teams get a TRIPLE BYE. That’s insane and awesome at the same time. I mean we all know that was set up to appease Gonzaga but whoever is at the top with them get’s a great tournament setup for themselves (this year that team is Saint Mary’s).
TSN has their schedule up and, to be honest, it’s quite thin (as you can tell). Not many games on the five TSN channels. There are a few more of these games on the TSN.ca app or TSN+ or whatever the fuck they’re calling it (TSN+ sounds about right since copying ESPN is right up their alley…and yes I know ESPN owns a stake in TSN but still).
I can guarantee that it’s Gumbel and the Boys doing the Selection Sunday show on CBS. It’s a show I try my best to always watch. It’s fun, it’s relatively quick and it shows quite a bit of emotion as you see the highs of the teams who find out they’re in the Big Dance and the lows of the teams who have to head to the dreaded NIT. I just wish college football would take my lead and do a similar show for bowl season.
I didn’t list the Pac-12 Network games since I really don’t know what is happening with the international YouTube feed. I assume it’s still up but I am not totally sure. It’s not like you miss a ton of games by not having it but if you like Pac-12 basketball (and I don’t really know why anyone is liking anything Pac-12 other than baseball and softball) then the possibility might be there.

Remember, you can’t see the First Four on an American station because we don’t get TruTV. To be honest, I don’t know if anyone in the world can watch it because I don’t know if anyone on the planet gets that channel. It should be on TSN both nights, March 14th and 15th. Then you will get your normal wraparound coverage on at least a couple TSN channels all day through the First and Second Rounds. We are very close to the time where you fill in those brackets and hope you can win the office pool so you can tell Bill in Legal to eat shit.

I have started putting together what I think the 2023 schedule will look like. It’s a bit of a long process but I enjoy doing it bit-by-bit until I see something that approximates what it could look like. I know it ends up being not that close, especially with the games near the end of the season but most of the time I can get the times and dates correct so at least that’s something, right?

And hey, I am working again! Probably a good time to start a new job since it is football’s down time (and no I am not counting the XFL or USFL or arena football). By the time I am getting back to posting a lot I will be well into this job and can schedule my time well so I am not scrambling to get posts out since I don’t want to make my millions (……and millions) of readers angry. Have a great weekend everyone!

I’m not the only one hoping for chaos (and the Week 11 College Football TV Schedule)

Posted on November 8, 2022 by guelphbossman

Let’s be honest: many of us want chaos in our college football. It makes things exciting, no? Not saying we haven’t seen a bit of it already. Alabama has lost two times already. TWO! Clemson got absolutely waxed by Notre Dame. Texas A&M is fucking terrible!

But we want more. We are insatiable for chaos. And why? We know The Committee will do Committee things and rank teams in an odd way and then try to justify it. I’m sure if Ohio State lost they would drop maybe three spots because it feels like The Committee wants them in the College Football Playoff. I get they have to look at a whole season of work but it’s the same shit every year. I still think the first rankings should be no earlier than before the final regular season week but I know that will never happen. If it did, what would ESPN talk about?

OK enough of that. It’s time for this week’s schedule and the continuation of FOOTBALL EVERY DAY!

Tuesday

		US	Canada
Eastern Michigan at Akron	7:00 PM
Ohio at Miami-OH	7:30 PM
Ball State at Toledo	8:00 PM

More Tuesday night MACtion! Toledo can essentially clinch the MAC West if they can beat the Cardinals here.

UPDATE: As per reader Gordo, it looks like the Ball State-Toledo game isn’t on the specialty pack.

Wednesday

		US	Canada
Kent State at Bowling Green	7:00 PM
Buffalo at Central Michigan	7:00 PM
Northern Illinois at Western Michigan	7:00 PM

Still MACtion but maybe not as MACtiony as the previous night’s MACtion.

UPDATE #2: Ugh, both ESPN games aren’t appearing on the specialty pack. Not a good start to MACtion this week for specialty pack subscribers.

Thursday

		US	Canada
Tulsa at Memphis	7:30 PM
Georgia Southern at Louisiana	7:30 PM

Woof. Well it’s technically college football so I will watch.

Friday

		US	Canada
East Carolina at Cincinnati	8:00 PM
Fresno State at UNLV	10:30 PM

Cincinnati has a fairly meaningful game here if they want to keep in the American Conference/Cotton Bowl hunt. And, interestingly enough, the late game also could be big as both Fresno State and UNLV still have division title aspirations. Yes, UNLV.

Oh, you may have noticed I have not included FOX Sports One listings here. I decided to stop that practice since, really, unless you have a specific setup you can’t get the games here. Doesn’t help that I missed listing the late night FS1 game last week so I am already getting into the habit of forgetting them in these posts.

UPDATE #3: Good lord this is ridiculous. On the TSN website it still shows ECU-Cincy. Every other guide I am looking at, it says that TSN2 will now be showing, get this, Women’s Aussie Rules football. I don’t get it. I just don’t get it. Anyway, it looks like it is appearing on the specialty pack instead so at least it’s probably been moved there (unless the specialty packs fuck that up as well). Stupid TSN. Thanks to readers Gordo and Mike pointing out that they couldn’t see the game on their guide.

Saturday Early

One of UConn’s final two chances at bowl eligibility comes here. Unfortunately, it’s against a ranked Liberty team. This may still end up being one of the best games CBS Sports Network has had all year. As for the main network, it’s their doubleheader that includes a Noon game. It means they only get the fourth choice of games out of the SEC for the early affair. Can’t give whoever the #2 guy at CBS is a good game!

Notre Dame may still have an outside shot at the New Year’s Six. It would take a lot of chaos but we know how The Committee feels about them so they win their last three and win them big (a tall order for sure) they could sneak in. That has to start in this neutral-site affair against the Middies.

So normally I peruse ESPN to get rankings for the teams for the posts. Normally this isn’t an issue but late in the season it becomes one. According to the schedule currently on the site, it lists Tennessee at #1. We know that isn’t the case but they use the College Football Playoff rankings rather than the AP poll once it comes out. And the CFP poll doesn’t get revealed until Tuesday night, after the week of games starts. So I will be using the AP poll for the rest of the regular season. So if you see the rankings here don’t jive with what they look like on Saturday, there’s your answer.

UPDATE #4: TSN has switched from LSU-Arkansas to Purdue-Illinois. Why? Because fuck you, that’s why.

Saturday Afternoon

There was a time when TSN really started ramping up the amount of games they would show around this time of the year. Not so. Sure, they have a quadrupleheader on TSN2 but that’s it. Nothing else. I just think they have contracts with way too many sports that college football gets lost in the shuffle.

Anyway, this could be a huge week for Bama haters because if they lose this one to Ole Miss it would be catastrophic. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Tulane is on ESPN2 during the regular season in a big matchup for the first time in…well I’m sure it’s a long time. Win and they take a stranglehold of one spot in the AAC Championship.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Wyoming at Colorado State	7:00 PM
#1 Georgia at Mississippi State	7:00 PM
#24 Washington at #6 Oregon	7:00 PM
#4 TCU at #18 Texas	7:30 PM
#15 North Carolina at Wake Forest	7:30 PM
Southern Miss at Coastal Carolina	7:30 PM
Texas A&M at Auburn	7:30 PM
#25 Florida State at Syracuse	8:00 PM

TCU and Oregon aren’t just playing for themselves but could be playing for their conference’s CFP hopes as well, especially in the case of TCU since past them, there really isn’t a contender at all. UGA needs to avoid a letdown after that huge win over Tennessee so their pass defense better be ready for Will Rogers to throw the ball about 80 times. Finally, surprising UNC can pretty much punch their ticket to Charlotte and a date with Clemson if they can win in Winston-Salem.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
California at Oregon State	9:00 PM
Boise State at Nevada	10:30 PM
Stanford at #13 Utah	10:30 PM
Arizona at #9 UCLA	10:30 PM

FOX QUADRUPLEHEADER ALERT! For the second time this season we get a FOX quadruplehader of college football. Love that FOX is upping their game this season. Two important Pac-12 games, one important Mountain West game and a game involving California. There you go.

Big Games O’ The Week

Alabama at Ole Miss (3:30, CBS) – This is an SEC West elimination match. Tell someone that two months ago and they’d laugh in your face. Bama might be in panic mode as another loss probably leaves them out of the NY6 which would be massive. Both teams are chasing LSU but need some help from the Tigers in the form of the Tigers shitting the bed at some point down the stretch.

TCU at Texas (7:30, ABC) – I mentioned this above but the Big XII’s CFP chances really do ride on TCU winning this game (and winning out, really). If the Longhorns win this, and they are talented enough to do so, you can kiss the conference’s chances goodbye.

North Carolina at Wake Forest (7:30, specialty pack) – One of the stories that seems to be ignored this season is what Mack Brown and the Tar Heels are doing. 8-1, in complete control of the ACC Coastal, and with a good shot at the New Year’s Six if they win their last three regular season games. No one is talking about them! A win here and they basically clinch the division. Wake is just playing for a better bowl game now.

UCF at Tulane (3:30, specialty pack) – The Green Wave on the other hand are not being ignored. Many pushed for College Gameday to go to New Orleans (which I think would have been a good idea). All the other two-loss teams in the Group of Five are watching this game closely this weekend (that being Cincinnati, UTSA, San Jose State, Troy and South Alabama) along with one-loss Coastal Carolina. A Tulane loss here brings those teams back into the fold to have at least a sliver of hope to go to the Cotton Bowl. If Tulane wins and goes to 9-1 it’s pretty much game over for most of those teams (unless they lay an egg in their final two games). For the Knights, a win here may actually put them in the driver’s seat for the Group of Five NY6 spot. A lot at stake. Yeah, I think they should have sent Gameday to Nawlins.

Washington at Oregon (7:00, FOX) – In all the hoopla surrounding the Battle for Los Angeles between Pac-12 turncoats UCLA and USC, some have forgotten that the Ducks are right there with those two teams. Win out and they have a legitimate shot at the College Football Playoff. They cannot sleep on the Huskies though. They’ve been better than advertised and Kalen Deboer just wins everywhere he goes. Could be a low-key great game.

Maryland at Penn State (3:30, FOX) – The Terps are finally playing as well as their recruiting classes said they would. Mike Locksley is finally making things work in the DMV. Saying that, these are the kinds of games Maryland has to win and has never been able to do since joining the Big Ten. A statement win is needed. And what a statement it would be since the Nittany Lions have a relatively good chance at a New Year’s Six bowl if they can run the table the rest of the way.

Psycho Game of the Week

SMU at USF (Noon, specialty pack) – First of all, I will not call this the Sickos Game of the Week. Do I enjoy the Sickos Committee Twitter account? Absolutely. But Sickos content is their thing. I won’t steal it. Besides, I think it makes just as much sense to call you a psycho for watching this abomination. USF just fired Jeff Scott, though, so they should come out and give the Mustangs all sorts of problems. Seriously this is an easy one to avoid.

Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week

Missouri at Tennessee (Noon, CBS) – I am not making the same mistake I did last week. I picked Ohio State to mop the floor with Northwestern and they barely beat the Wildcats. Sure, there was bad weather but come on, the Buckeyes played like shit. So even though I think they will beat Indiana to a pulp, I am going with another Noon game. I think the Vols are going to come into this game angry and wanting to prove a point. Poor Mizzou is going to take this one on the chin.

The Degenerate Portion of Our Show

Look, are these picks of the same quality as The Committee’s rankings for the College Football Playoff? Eh, it’s debatable.

Miami-OH (+2.5) over Ohio (and the outright win!)
Kent State (-2.5) over Bowling Green
Liberty (-14.5) over UConn
Rutgers (+10) over Michigan State (RU will cover the spread but won’t win)
Virginia Tech (+9.5) over Duke (Duke will win, however)
Kentucky (-18) over Vanderbilt
Army (+9) over Troy (The Black Knights cover but don’t win)
Air Force (-22) over New Mexico
Clemson (-7) over Louisville
Ole Miss (+11.5) over Alabama (Bama will win outright)
Wyoming (-8.5) over Colorado State
Wake Forest (-3.5) over North Carolina
Stanford (+24) over Utah (Utes will win relatively easily)

There you go! I will keep a watch on potential specialty pack changes but I don’t foresee any. It gets a bit difficult having to do the schedule so early but I make due…I think. Have a great rest of the week everyone and enjoy the games!

August 26th	UTEP at Jacksonville State	5:30 PM
August 26th	FIU at Louisiana Tech	9:00 PM
August 31st	NC State at UConn	7:30 PM
September 1st	Stanford at Hawaii	11:00 PM
September 2nd	Bowling Green at Liberty	Noon
September 2nd	USF at WKU	3:30 PM
September 2nd	Washington State at Colorado State	7:00 PM
September 2nd	Idaho State at San Diego State	10:30 PM
September 9th	Delaware State at Army	Noon
September 9th	Wagner at Navy	3:30 PM
September 9th	Air Force vs. Sam Houston (in Houston)	8:00 PM
September 15th	Utah State at Air Force	8:00 PM
September 16th	Liberty at Buffalo	Noon
September 16th	FIU at UConn	3:30 PM
September 16th	Vanderbilt at UNLV	7:00 PM
September 16th	Kansas at Nevada	10:30 PM
September 22nd	Delaware State at Miami-OH	7:00 PM
September 22nd	Boise State at San Diego State	10:30 PM
September 23rd	Tulsa at Northern Illinois	Noon
September 23rd	Duke at UConn	3:30 PM
September 23rd	Appalachian State at Wyoming	7:00 PM
September 23rd	Kent State at Fresno State	10:30 PM
September 28th	Middle Tennessee at WKU	7:30 PM
September 29th	Louisiana Tech at UTEP	9:00 PM
September 30th	Utah State at UConn	Noon
September 30th	USF at Navy	3:30 PM
September 30th	San Diego State at Air Force	8:00 PM
October 4th	FIU at New Mexico State	9:00 PM
October 5th	Sam Houston at Liberty	7:00 PM
October 7th	Boston College at Army	Noon
October 7th	North Texas at Navy	3:30 PM
October 7th	San Jose State at Boise State	8:00 PM
October 10th	Louisiana Tech at Middle Tennessee	7:00 PM
October 11th	Sam Houston at New Mexico State	9:00 PM
October 13th	Fresno State at Utah State	8:00 PM
October 14th	Kent State at Eastern Michigan	Noon
October 14th	Troy at Army	3:30 PM
October 14th	Wyoming at Air Force	7:00 PM
October 14th	San Diego State at Hawaii	11:00 PM
October 17th	Middle Tennessee at Liberty	7:00 PM
October 18th	FIU at Sam Houston	7:00 PM
October 21st	Akron at Bowling Green	Noon
October 21st	USF at UConn	3:30 PM
October 21st	Utah State at San Jose State	7:00 PM
October 21st	Colorado State at UNLV	10:30 PM
October 24th	New Mexico State at Louisiana Tech	7:00 PM
October 25th	Jacksonville State at FIU	7:00 PM
October 28th	UMass at Army	Noon
October 28th	Miami-OH at Ohio	3:30 PM
October 28th	Air Force at Colorado State	7:00 PM
October 28th	New Mexico at Nevada	10:30 PM
November 3rd	Colorado State at Wyoming	8:00 PM
November 4th	Army vs. Air Force (in Denver)	2:30 PM
November 4th	Louisiana Tech at Liberty	6:00 PM
November 4th	Boise State at Fresno State	10:00 PM
November 7th	Central Michigan at Western Michigan	7:00 PM
November 8th	Akron at Miami-OH	7:00 PM
November 11th	Holy Cross at Army	Noon
November 11th	UAB at Navy	3:30 PM
November 11th	San Diego State at Colorado State	7:00 PM
November 11th	Fresno State at San Jose State	10:30 PM
November 14th	Akron at Eastern Michigan	7:00 PM
November 18th	Coastal Carolina at Army	Noon
November 18th	UNLV at Air Force	3:30 PM
November 18th	Boise State at Utah State	7:00 PM
November 18th	San Diego State at San Jose State	10:30 PM
November 24th	Ohio at Akron	Noon
November 24th	Utah State at New Mexico	3:30 PM
November 25th	Northern Illinois at Kent State	Noon
November 25th	Liberty at UTEP	3:30 PM
November 25th	Wyoming at Nevada	9:00 PM

Bossman's Blog

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

Tag Archives: Fox Sports One

Yes, it’s already the first mock draft of the year (along with some network change news)

Coaching Carousel Time! And the Week 12 College Football TV Schedule

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday Early

Saturday Afternoon

Saturday Primetime

Saturday Late Night

Hey, Watch This

Sickos Game of the Week

Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week

Wanna Bet?

Most Important Games of the 2023 College Football Season

2023 NCAA Basketball Conference Tournament TV Schedule