Oh man, here we go again

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!

Lists, Lists…..LISTS!

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.

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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).
6. 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.
7. 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).
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. 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.

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. 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.

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. 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.

1. 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?
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. 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.

Urban Warfare – Week 6 College Football TV Schedule

OK I know this is an NFL issue but really it does have college connections.  If you don’t know what’s going on with Urban Meyer…actually, you know what I will just assume you will know he got wasted and tried fingering a younger woman’s ass on the dance floor after she was grinding on him.  Gonna be honest I have never had that happen to me but then again I’m not a multi-millionaire former college/current NFL coach so there’s that.  So now Urban has gone in to full blown PR apology mode.  His press conference was ridiculous where he wouldn’t even look into the camera or at the people asking him questions.  Supposedly the team has no confidence in him anymore although I wonder why they would have had confidence in him in the first place since he has a history of things “happening” when things aren’t going his way.  Not saying he didn’t do this on purpose to get fired but you never know with this guy.  He obviously doesn’t give a shit about his wife and family so there’s also that.  Like why do trust this guy to coach?  Oh that’s right, he won.  A lot.  No one gives a shit if you’re a complete asshole if you win/are successful.  That seems to be the modus operandi of society in general.  The fact that people may be shocked by this is ridiculous.

Anyway, how does this relate to college football?  Come on, really?  There is one job opening available that’s lucrative with another on the way (probably).  The Urban Meyer to USC (or Miami) chatter has started and it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if this was his angle.  If these schools had any dignity they wouldn’t hire the fucker but, again, winning is the only thing so these schools will do whatever it takes.  Let’s be honest: all you have to do is look at a bunch of college football programs, see the issues that have happened there, and realize that many of these coaches get away with way too much and are way too powerful on campus.  The sooner this type of crap ends, the better.  But it won’t so I’ll just stop right there.

Enough of the rant, let’s get to the schedule.

Thursday

		US	Canada
Houston at Tulane	7:30 PM
#15 Coastal Carolina at Arkansas State	7:30 PM

Uncle Dana may have a good thing going in H-Town.  It would really suck for them to stumble in New Orleans.  Same goes for the Chants but I think they will have an easier time of it.

Friday

		US	Canada
Charlotte at FIU	7:00 PM
Temple at #5 Cincinnati	7:00 PM
Morgan State at Howard	8:00 PM
Stanford at #22 Arizona State	10:30 PM

Four games and only one that could end up being truly interesting.  Weeknight Pac-12 After Dark could be fun with a pretty good ASU team hosting a Stanford team coming off a massive (albeit controversial) upset of Oregon.  I am just going to assume that Cincy has to win by 50 to stay in the Top 5.

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
#6 Oklahoma vs. #21 Texas (in Dallas)	Noon
#11 Michigan State at Rutgers	Noon
Northern Illinois at Toledo	Noon
#13 Arkansas at #17 Ole Miss	Noon
South Carolina at Tennessee	Noon
Maryland at #7 Ohio State	Noon
Vanderbilt at #20 Florida	Noon
Georgia Tech at Duke	12:30 PM

As big as last week?  No, but still fairly good.  Five games with ranked teams and two with some ranked team-on-ranked team violence.  The biggest game in this timeslot is, by far, the Red River Shootout.  And again I will mention that this will never be in primetime because of the area the Cotton Bowl is in.  It’s not the safest of neighbourhoods and that is not a great look to have 80,000 fans leaving a stadium to an area like that.

Arkansas-Ole Miss would have been on CBS if one of those teams had won last week.  Instead, both teams got blown out and end up at Noon and don’t even get the ESPN primetime spot.  The rest of the games, even the ones with ranked teams, aren’t the greatest but you can be sure at least one of them will be really good because that’s how college football operates.  If I had to pick, I would go with Rutgers giving MSU a hard time.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
Virginia at Louisville	3:00 PM
Boise State at #10 BYU	3:30 PM
Wisconsin at Illinois	3:30 PM
#2 Georgia at #18 Auburn	3:30 PM
#24 SMU at Navy	3:30 PM
Florida State at North Carolina	3:30 PM
#19 Wake Forest at Syracuse	3:30 PM
Ball State at Western Michigan	3:30 PM
#4 Penn State at #3 Iowa	4:00 PM
North Texas at Missouri	4:00 PM

OK things pick up in the afternoon.  PSU-Iowa is a Game of the Year candidate for sure.  UGA also gets a test on the Plains (if Bo Nix goes all Johnny Manziel again).  Glad to see BYU and Boise State getting to be on ABC.  It’s too bad that Boise isn’t as good as it has been in the past few years but still a big game.  It’s too bad that TSN isn’t really stepping up just yet.  I get that they still have other contractual obligations to deal with but this is part of the reason people like me move to IPTV.  Not like they care though.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Wyoming at Air Force	7:00 PM
TCU at Texas Tech	7:00 PM
Buffalo at Kent State	7:00 PM
#9 Michigan at Nebraska	7:30 PM
#14 Notre Dame at Virginia Tech	7:30 PM
LSU at #16 Kentucky	7:30 PM
#1 Alabama at Texas A&M	8:00 PM
Utah at USC	8:00 PM

For the first few weeks of the season, it looked like we would get a Game of the Year candidate.  I had pegged Bama and TAMU to be in the primetime CBS game.  It was looking huge.  Yeah that has fizzled out.  Bama is looking like one of the best two teams in college football and Aggie fans are wondering how much more money that will give to/waste on Jimbo Fisher.  I have a feeling CBS may regret making this their singular primetime affair of the season.  Honestly, you have to consider ND-VT and even Michigan-Nebraska as better games than the aforementioned CBS primetime affair.  Also, we get to see Kentucky hopefully not blow a Top 20 ranking.  I get that Mark Stoops has done a good job in Lexington but his blood pressure must be all over the place.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
Memphis at Tulsa	9:00 PM
New Mexico State at Nevada	10:30 PM
UCLA at Arizona	10:30 PM

This is a less than stellar late night schedule.  Three games that might end up being over relatively early.  With no Hawaii Test it might be an early night for the ol’ Bossman.

Games to set your eyeballs on

Penn State at Iowa (4:00, FOX) – This is an absolutely massive game now that Ohio State has hit a bit of a speed bump.  Whoever wins this becomes the de facto new Big Ten favourite.  It doesn’t disqualify either team from the College Football Playoff with a loss but it does make it difficult for sure.  Is this the biggest game ever in Iowa City?  Perhaps.  At the very least it’s probably the biggest game in Kirk Ferentz’s time at the helm of the Hawkeyes.  A win here may allow us to eventually see some new blood in the CFP (although I guess I could say the same about Penn State).

Georgia at Auburn (3:30, CBS) – Auburn absolutely needs this win here.  They still don’t seem to be getting a whole lot of respect and Bo Nix, in particular, despite the fact he went off against LSU is still considered not much of a starting quarterback.  A Tiger victory proves they, and Bo, are for real.  Georgia won’t be treating this as a letdown spot and will be aggressive from the opening bell like they were against Arkansas.  I think in the end we just hope they all have fun and that Brad gets to call a good game, right?

Oklahoma vs. Texas (in Dallas) (Noon, ABC) – Ah, the Red River Shootout.  In the decrepit Cotton Bowl.  I get that it’s historic but one of these days one of the stands is going to collapse.  I mean at least UAB figured out to move out equally broken down Legion Field and get their own stadium.  Anyway, this game should be wild and wacky because most of the time it is.  So don’t write in the Sooners as the victors just yet.

Arkansas at Ole Miss (Noon, TSN2) – If both of these teams had won, would CBS have tried to switch the primetime game?  I think they are already a bit miffed with the choice: kind of like when they picked the Egg Bowl over the Iron Bowl a few years back and both Mississippi teams fell off their perch before that.  Not saying both of these teams aren’t good because they are.  They are, however, still second-tier in the SEC and in the SEC West and will not get above that this season.  I see both squads being angry after coming off ass-whoopings so expect a chippy affair in Oxford.

Notre Dame at Virginia Tech (7:30, specialty pack) – It falls off a steep cliff after the first four games.  How far of a fall you ask?  Well, this game is on the ACC Network.  This may be their first appearance in the top 5 games of the week and I’m too lazy to look back so I will just say that’s the case.  The Irish could be a tad upset after dropping a game to Cincinnati last week (despite the fact the Bearcats are really good).  But it is in Blacksburg and Justin Fuente, as is the norm, is fighting for his job as we kind of knew would happen once Frank Beamer and Bud Foster left.  So it could end up being a sneaky good game.

Honourable mention: Alabama at Texas A&M (8:00, CBS); LSU at Kentucky (7:30, specialty pack); Stanford at Arizona State (Friday, 10:30, specialty pack)

Wanna Bet?

Man, I made a lot of wrong picks last week.  Yes I got quite a few right but picking Notre Dame, UCLA, LSU and Florida don’t look good.  Alright, well this is the gambling section so here it is, you degenerates.

Georgia over Auburn

LSU over Kentucky (upset!)

Alabama over Texas A&M

Ole Miss over Arkansas

Oklahoma over Texas

Iowa over Penn State

Arizona State over Stanford

Notre Dame over Virginia Tech

Nevada over New Mexico State

Kent State over Buffalo

Missouri over North Texas

I will be probably live-tweeting most of Saturday (@TheBauceman).  I do end up taking Twitter breaks because I just can’t handle it for that many hours in a row.  But I do scoreboard watch and Twitter watch to see if there are games I have to turn to soon to watch a great finish.  I always try to be smart in that way so I don’t miss anything good since it’s much better to watch live than during a highlight package (especially when you already know what happened but haven’t seen it).  Have a great rest of the week everyone!

A CFP without Clemson? – Week 14 College Football Recap

Last year I did this and talked about the College Football Playoff without Alabama.  This time I posit about Clemson possibly not making the CFP.  And that could happen.  Their win over Virginia Tech looks good on paper but man it was a struggle until about the last part of the third quarter once they finally started pulling away (and after ABC hilariously aired an interview with Ian Book during the game probably thinking the Tigers would have essentially put the game away by then).  They clinch their spot in the ACC Championship and get a rematch with Notre Dame.  If they lose, they are guaranteed not to be in the CFP since the first one back in the 2014 season.  That would honestly feel odd.  Like Bama missing it last year.

Alright, enough of Clemson’s potential issues.  Let’s get to the recap!

The Recap!

• Let’s start with what ended up being the game of the week (of the year?): the game that was scheduled on THURSDAY between BYU and Coastal Carolina.  An epic affair between two Top 20 teams with the winner getting a possible legitimate shot at the New Year’s Six.  The final play looked very similar to when the Titans came up one yard short against the Rams in Super Bowl XXXIV.  Coastal ended up holding on for the victory which should move them up in the CFP rankings.  What it probably ended up doing though is far more important: BYU deciding to fill in for Liberty (who had COVID issues that made it so they couldn’t play) on a few days’ notice will create a new way to schedule games going forward.  This is huge for college football and is a much needed change from scheduling non-conference games 20 years out (which everyone, except ADs, think is absolutely ludicrous).
• Michigan State wasn’t even within an area code of Ohio State.  To be honest, it was painful to watch.  The Buckeyes continue their run to the Big Ten Championship (hopefully).  The game against Michigan this Saturday looms large.  Michigan’s game this past weekend was cancelled and if they still have issues with COVID-19 then they may have to have this one be cancelled as well.  As per the Big Ten rules, this would make tOSU in eligible for the Big Ten title game.  It’s ridiculous that this could happen but it’s possible that they would not even make their conference championship but get to the CFP.  If the Big Ten is smart, they find a way to get the Buckeyes a game if the the game against The Team Up North has to be cancelled.
• I think Iowa State heard the haters.  What they did to West Virginia was nasty.  That huge victory clinched their trip to JerryWorld for the first time in team history.  The Cyclones are trying to erase the memory of the early season loss to Louisiana although I don’t know why since the Ragin’ Cajuns are ranked.
• Speaking of the Ragin’ Cajuns that was something else down in Boone Friday night.  Some disgusting footbaw weather (rain this time) made it very difficult, especially for Louisiana’s poor long snapper who made multiple horrible snaps that kept the Cajuns from pulling away from the Mountaineers.  In the end, a missed App State field goal allowed Louisiana to get the duke and also stay ranked going into their bye week as they prepare for Coastal Carolina in the biggest Sun Belt Championship ever.
• Good job, Oklahoma State. Any hope to sneak into the Big XII Championship went up in flames Saturday in Fort Worth.  Not like TCU played all that well.  But the Cowboys were finally exposed and we have another season where the Mullet Express will not head to the Metroplex which has to be frustrating Oklahoma State fans at this point.
• Who picked Colorado to start 4-0?  Put your hands down you liars.  The Buffaloes were lead by Jarek Broussard’s insane day on the ground as he ran for 301 yards!  I get it, it was just Arizona.  But it was still impressive.  The worst part about all this?  Because their game against USC was cancelled, the Pac-12 might have two undefeated teams in the same division and only one of those teams will head to the Pac-12 Championship game.  For the final time, ABOLISH DIVISIONS!  It has run its course.  There is no need for them now.  Plus having no divisions ensures the best two teams (on the season) will play for the conference title.  Instead, we may see Oregon or even Washington in the Pac-12 title game.  Yuck.
• It felt like an upset was in the making for a while.  But Texas A&M did enough to hold on for the win over Auburn and keep their slim College Football Playoff hopes alive.  They have done this despite the team not looking all that good for much of the season.  Saying that, if the Aggies can make the CFP, the 10-year contract given to Jimbo Fisher starts to look a whole lot smarter.
• Let’s see if I get this correct:  Rice’s 20-0 win over Marshall was a shocker for sure.  The Herd threw five interceptions and looked horrible all day.  This marked the Owls’ first win over a ranked team in 23 years and their first shutout of a ranked opponent in 60 years!  It’s Marshall’s first loss, ending their slim NY6 hopes.  And it is probably the first time that a 1-win team has shut out a ranked team in December.  And of course it was on ESPN3 so barely anyone got to watch it.
• Texas scored 69 points against Kansas State.  Nice.
• The other game of the week ended up being Arkansas-Missouri.  What an amazing finish.  The Hogs go down the field, score the TD and decide to go for two.  The two-point conversion pass is in the Mizzou defender’s hands and just tips out and into the Arkansas receiver’s hands to give the Razorbacks the lead.  Then the Tigers go down the field and their freshman kicker nails the winning field goal.  Missouri is quietly 5-3 under first-year head coach Eli Drinkwitz.  Pretty impressive.
• Finally, Akron won its first game in 770 days.  That is not a typo.  They beat Bowling Green who is probably the worst FBS team this season.

Coaching Carousel

Hey let’s have some fun and look at the coaching carousel.

So what is happening on the ol’ carousel?  Let’s take a look.

• Get this.  Scott Satterfield, despite saying he wasn’t going to look for another coaching position, talked with South Carolina anyway.  Many people are very upset, especially at Louisville.  Don’t be surprised if Satterfield is shitcanned in the next few weeks.
• As for the Gamecocks job, it goes to Shane Beamer.  Yes, Frank’s son.  He wasn’t the first two choices, that we know since Billy Napier also turned down the job after Satterfield did.  He is going to have his work cut out for him making South Carolina a contender in the SEC East.
• Derek Mason was dismissed at Vanderbilt.  No real surprise there.  Who will replace him?  It seems like whoever it is really has to change the perception of the program and convince the university to spend more money on the program and/or get better recruits.
• Jay Hopson was fired a few months ago.  Yes it has been that long ago.  Will Hall, Tulane’s offensive coordinator, has been hired by the Golden Eagles to bring that program out of the dumps.
• Gary Andersen was fired a while ago at Utah State.  If I was a program, even at the FCS level, I would stay away from this clown since he is totally unreliable.

Potential other coaching moves:

• Texas – Even with Texas’s shellacking of Kansas State on Saturday, Tom Herman’s time in Austin may be over soon.  And of course who is the top candidate to replace him?  Urban Meyer, of course!  The other candidate looks to be Penn State’s James Franklin, of all people.  The real straw that may have broken the proverbial camel’s back at Texas is losing Quinn Ewers, the top-ranked quarterback for two seasons from now, to Ohio State.
• Kansas – The Les Miles Experiment really has not worked in Lawrence.  And who may be the first to admit it?  Les himself.  He may decide to retire rather than stick around knowing it will take at least another two years to get the Jayhawks back into contention in the Big XII for the first time in over a decade.
• Brent Venables – Every off-season his name comes up as it pertains to the coaching carousel.  This season is no different.  Expect a less polished Power Five program throwing out a bunch of money to possibly lure him into his first head coaching job.
• ULM – Things were on the up-and-up in Monroe under Matt Viator.  Then came this year’s collapse as the Warhawks are now the worst team in the Sun Belt.  They will look probably to the FCS to find candidates.  UPDATE: Viator has been fired.
• FIU – After two great years, things have been horrible for Butch Davis in 2020.  They thought they had their man but he may not be the guy to grow this program.  Problem is his buyout is over $1 million so that may keep him with the Golden Panthers for another season.
• Middle Tennessee – The thing I can’t believe is the buyout for Rick Stockstill.  $5.8 million!  Who the fuck put that into his contract?  Anyway, his contract runs for three more seasons so I could see MTSU bringing him back at least for 2021 to see if the Blue Raiders improve and then make a decision.
• Luke Fickell – This is probably the guy every Power Five program that has fired their coach or might let theirs go is looking at.  He has done some unreal things at Cincinnati.  And remember, so did Brian Kelly and Mark Dantonio and they both had very good coaching careers at the Power Five level.
• Jim Harbaugh/Michigan – Good lord, here we go again.  The buyout is large but his next season is technically his last in Ann Arbor under his current deal.  The Wolverines have been nothing short of awful this year and you have to wonder if Harbaugh has lost his spark.  He almost seems destined to go back to the NFL, if not for next season then definitely for 2021.  If Michigan pulls the trigger and fires him after this season, this automatically becomes the best coaching opening available with nothing else even close.
• Tom Allen – Don’t laugh.  This guy cemented his Coach of the Year with the big win over Wisconsin this past weekend.  The players and other coaches love him and he has endless energy.  If one of Michigan, Florida State, Penn State or Tennessee decides to move on, he is the guy.  It’s pricey.  They will have to probably chip in for his buyout which is, *GASP* $23.5 million.  Holy shit.  But it may be worth it.

Remember last week I said I would talk about the conference championship races?  Well here we go.  Man this post is getting into Super Mega Hyper Omni Post territory.

It’s the third annual Sun Belt Championship game and they still haven’t got Mountain Dew or Skoal or Shoney’s or some place like that to sponsor it.  This will be the first Sun Belt Championship not to feature Appalachian State.  Coastal Carolina and Louisiana have won their respective divisions and will face off in the championship game at the home of the Chanticleers in Conway, South Carolina, near Myrtle Beach (which you should know if you watched Mormons vs. Mullets on Saturday).

Conference USA has been a mess all season.  The conference seems to be limping to the end.  In the East, no-longer-undefeated Marshall must beat Charlotte to win the division.  If they don’t win, it feels like there will be some tiebreaker action between the Herd and Florida Atlantic (and possibly even Charlotte).  Stay tuned.  In the West, UTSA leads the way followed closely by UAB.  It all comes down to next week’s game between UAB and Rice.  Blazers win and they play in the conference title game.  If they lose, it goes to UTSA.

The MAC title tilt is halfway set, I think.  Nothing has been officially said but it feels like Buffalo has clinched the MAC East.  I don’t know why it hasn’t been announced yet though.  In the MAC West, Ball State faces Western Michigan this Saturday and the winner heads to Detroit.

San Jose State and Boise State seem primed to make up for their cancelled game in the conference championship with both teams still undefeated in the conference.  Boise plays Wyoming and SJSU plays Nevada this weekend.  Here are the scenarios:

• Broncos and Spartans win and they both go to the conference championship.
• Broncos win and Spartans lose, it’s Nevada and Boise in the title game.
• Both Broncos and Spartans lose, it’s Boise and SJSU in the championship.

Alright Cincinnati is already in.  And Tulsa clinched their spot this past Saturday.  Now Cincinnati heads to Tulsa this Saturday and then will host them the following weekend.  It would not surprise me to see this game cancelled to give both teams a week of rest.

It’s Clemson up against Notre Dame in a massive rematch of their earlier game.  Huge implications for this game.

This has been set.  The somewhat surprising Iowa State Cyclones get their chance against Oklahoma at JerryWorld.

The Pac-12 is a complete shitshow.  Let me try and make some understanding of all this.

• Washington could have clinched on Saturday but lost to Stanford.  So now if Washington beats Oregon they go to the Pac-12 title game, wherever that may be.
• Oregon, on the other hand, is in if they beat Washington thanks to Oregon State’s loss to Utah.
• USC, after beating Washington State, is tied with Colorado at the top of the South.
• If both teams win next weekend, it comes to who is higher up in the CFP rankings.  Meaning the Trojans will have the edge.

So, of course, the Pac-12 fucks things up again.  Undefeated Colorado quite possibly could be left out of the Pac-12 title game because they have divisions.  Can someone fire Larry Scott already?

Northwestern clinched the Big Ten West despite sitting at home and will await to see if the Ohio State-Michigan game gets played.  If the Wolverines have to cancel, that makes tOSU ineligible for the conference championship game.  This would mean Indiana would travel a short way to Indianapolis to play for the Big Ten crown.  If the game is played and the Buckeyes beat Michigan, then they are heading there.  Or, the Big Ten could change the rules and allow Ohio State to go anyway.  Who the hell knows anymore.

Alabama and Florida.  No LSU, who could be one of the worst defending champs in recent memory.  But in an interesting twist, it will be the Texas A&M Football Aggies who will be watching in earnest (as long as they take of business this weekend).

Alright that was a super long post.  But it keeps you informed going into next week, the quasi-last week of the regular season.  Now we can remember what it was like when Army-Navy shared the week with a bunch of other weird games.  Later in the week will be the normal bowl projection, college football schedule and NFL schedule posts.  Have a great week everyone!

How Did I Do? – Part B

I am still in a bit of shock that my predictions, overall, did so well. A few of my selections were horrendous so I don’t know how that happened.  So let’s break down how I did and even look at a few things that weren’t in the Stassen calculations.

I Shat the Bed

Let’s start with the bad. These picks I definitely shat the bed with.

Missouri – I finally relented and put Mizzou tied at the top of the SEC East with Georgia.  After having them much lower in the previous two seasons and the Tigers exceeding my expectations both times, I figured I would put them at the top.  Bad move.  Missouri played uninspired football at times, Gary Pinkel is now gone, and they finished well down in the second-best division in the two-division SEC.  They even stayed home for bowl season.  Not good.

Georgia Tech – This whole section could have centred around this team.  Good lord, other than one game (that amazing win over Florida State), they were awful.  I really do not know how this team could fall so far.  It’s not like they had a massive change in personnel.  They returned the same coaching staff.  It almost feels like last year was the actual illusion and this is the actual Ramblin’ Wreck.  All of a sudden, Paul Johnson finds himself on a little bit of a hotter seat, something I didn’t think would happen so soon in Hotlanta.

UCF – It feels like every bad pick was a team that I predicted to be way better than they actually ended up being.  UCF would have probably easily lost a relegation game to the FCS.  They were that bad.  George O’Leary resigned by moving to a higher position.  Former CFL all-star Danny Barrett couldn’t right the ship.  It was a whole batch of terrible down in Orlando.  But I guess there is only one way to go but up and it seems like every year there is a team that surprises in the AAC so why not the Knights next season?

Georgia State – The one pick where I put them so low and they exceeded expectations.  Damn you Trent Miles!  The Panthers, somehow, picked themselves up off the floor and made their way to the first bowl game in school history.  An impressive turnaround for a program that many wondered if they were even fit for FBS football after not performing too well in their short FCS stint.  And now with a new field coming (the old Turner Field for this coming season I believe), everything is looking good for GSU.

And now…..the awesome

I am truly amazed at how some of my individual team and full conference picks went. Truly amazed.

The entire Big Ten – My predictions tied for the best of any preseason prediction out there.  I was spot on with five teams, all in the Big Ten East, and was close with every other team.  Not that the Big Ten was super difficult to predict (maybe a bit in the middle of the standings in the West division) but still, I did good!

Clemson – There weren’t many people predicting Clemson to run the table.  I was one of them.  I figured they would get to the College Football Playoff undefeated and that’s exactly what happened.  Then again, I also figured they wouldn’t win their semi-final game so you can’t win em all.

Kansas and Eastern Michigan – I’ll put these two teams together since I think you would have to have no college football knowledge or REALLY wanted to go out on a limb to not put either of these two programs last in their conference or division.  These were easy.

MAC and Conference USA – Two Group of Five conferences where, especially in one division in each conference, it wasn’t shaping up to be too easy to get everything right.  But hey, if you don’t understand the tone of most of this article by now (you’re probably dumb) let me get you up to speed…a lot of my predictions were really good.  In both conferences, I received six points.  Like in golf, the lower the score the better.  This means I was, overall, only six spots different for the ENTIRE CONFERENCE.  Pretty impressive eh?  The MAC was probably the most impressive since I was exactly correct on eight of the thirteen teams.  If it wasn’t for my too-low pick for Buffalo I would have been almost perfect.  Yay me!

Other predictions I made

Battle of the Techs – I do a Mega-Quatro-Post on the biggest games of the upcoming season.  For Week 11 this year, I had down Virginia Tech-Georgia Tech as one of the biggest games of the week.  Good lord was I wrong.  The Hokies had to scratch and claw their way to get to a bowl in Frank Beamer’s final season.  And I already discussed the shitpile that the Yellow Jackets were.  Most of my picks for games of the year weren’t bad but this one wasn’t even close.

Picking games for networks – This is a very inexact science considering some of the times games are on don’t even come close to matching what is predicted.  Saying that, I erred fairly big a few times:

• Auburn at Texas A&M – I had them as the SEC on CBS night game this year. It ended up as the primetime SEC Network game. Yikes.
• Kansas at Oklahoma State and Arizona State at California – Looking back, I should have figured FOX would not put these games on the main network (I even stated the KU-OSU game would probably be changed to a Pac-12 affair) but I went with my gut and I was wrong. Stupid Bossman.
• Rutgers at Wisconsin – I had this pegged as a mid-afternoon ABC national game. Boy was I wrong. It ended up on BTN at noon. Same thing happened a few weeks later with Nebraska at Rutgers as they got the mid-afternoon BTN slot. Really, other than Rutgers hosting Ohio State in primetime, I shouldn’t have put Rutgers anywhere near ABC.

The Coaching Hot Seat List – I had a loooooooong list of coaches on the Hot Seat List.  Two of them, however, did pretty much the exact opposite.  First, Kevin Wilson got Indiana to a bowl game for the first time in what feels like forever.  And Willie Taggart got USF within a hair of going to the AAC Championship.  Impressive stuff.  Other than that it was a good list and a few of the coaches were actually shitcanned (including Tim Beckman, my #1 Hot Seat draft choice who got fired just before the season began).

My Heisman ballot – Good lord this again.  There’s a reason I had Derrick Henry in the honourable mention portion of my ballot: I figured he would split carries almost evenly with the other running backs that he wouldn’t break out as the star.  Boy was I wrong.  Then again, many were wrong because I don’t remember seeing Henry any higher than fifth on anyone’s list.

I picked Trevone Boykin to win it. He was good but not great.  My #3 choice, Deshaun Watson, actually ended up #3.  And for those who somehow got Christian McCaffrey on their preseason Heisman list, good for you since I am sure most didn’t.  And another season goes by where they are smart to never give me a Heisman ballot.

Postseason predictions – Ok so I had two of the four teams of the College Football Playoff selected correctly.  I even got Bama right in the national championship (although I had them losing to TCU).  I also had three more teams in my New Year’s Six picks that actually made it there.  So five out of twelve is pretty good considering everything.  My biggest gaffes were having Missouri finish #12 (and the top team not selected for the NY6), Boise State finish #8 (and in the Fiesta Bowl), and Oklahoma State unranked and relegated to the Liberty Bowl.  But, all in all, I didn’t do too bad.

So there you have it. A decent year on my part.  Hooray for me.  I wouldn’t expect a repeat performance this coming season (I’m sure not).

The Super Bowl is this Sunday. Everyone knows that.  Then we get into the football dead period other than the NFL Draft (and no, spring games aren’t exciting, they are pointless and I will not cover them).  This dead period lasts for almost six months (or a little less than five if you’re a CFL fan).  It’s a loooooooong road ahead but we can make it.  I know we can!

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

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

Bowl Recap-o

ST. PETERSBURG BOWL – Marshall 16 UConn 10

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

SUN BOWL – Washington State 20 Miami 14

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

HEART OF DALLAS BOWL – Washington 44 Southern Miss 31

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

PINSTRIPE BOWL – Duke 44 Indiana 41 (OT)

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

INDEPENDENCE BOWL – Virginia Tech 55 Tulsa 52

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

FOSTER FARMS BOWL – Nebraska 37 UCLA 29

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

MILITARY BOWL – Navy 44 Pittsburgh 28

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

QUICK LANE BOWL – Minnesota 21 Central Michigan 14

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

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

Bowl Game Recap #2 – Sponsored by being sick in and around Christmas

It’s the worst isn’t it?

RECAP TIME!

MIAMI BEACH BOWL – Western Kentucky 45 USF 35

In my post about fixing bowl season, I did not include the Miami Beach Bowl in the cuts. A couple of reasons for that.  The most important one should be how exciting the two bowl games there have been.  Last year’s Brawl for it All between BYU and Memphis was great.  This year’s game was pretty damn good too.  It’s a wonder Miami didn’t at least take a look at Willie Taggart (although Mark Richt is a really good hire in his own right).  Anyway, Brandon Doughty looked like the most prolific passer in college football in this one after a bit of a slow start.  It’s too bad he’s gone next year since he would have made the Hilltoppers an instant Group of Five contender.

BOCA RATON BOWL – Toledo 32 Temple 17

This one had the makings of a classic. Easily the best bowl game not involving Power Five teams.  Turned out to be a defensive battle that no one envisioned…at least until the fourth quarter when the Rockets finally had enough of that shit and put a 20-spot on the board to pull away.  But still, a good game to watch.  So far so good for bowl season watchability.

IDAHO POTATO BOWL – Akron 23 Utah State 21

A monumental win for the Akron program in this one. Their first bowl game in ten years and their first bowl win ever.  Say what you want about Terry Bowden (and I am sure many Auburn fans would) but he is a pretty good coach and has turned around a program that was pretty much FCS level for years into a MAC contender.  Again, another good game to watch as it came down to the wire.

POINSETTIA BOWL – Boise State 55 Northern Illinois 7

The string of relatively close bowl games had to end at some point. I never thought it was going to be this one.  It’s like all the close bowl games up until this point made it so this had to get WAY out of hand early.  Boise showed why it is still considered the premier Group of Five team.  They should be interesting to watch next year.

GODADDY BOWL – Georgia Southern 58 Bowling Green 27

Yikes. Two bowl games on December 23^rd.  Two blowouts.  The Eagles showed why they were moved up from FCS to the Sun Belt in this one.  To be honest, they would have been bowl-eligible in Conference USA and possibly the American Conference.  They are that good.  And if it wasn’t for Toledo, the MAC is looking horrible so far this bowl season.

BAHAMAS BOWL – Western Michigan 45 Middle Tennessee 31

Another team winning their first bowl game in program history. I didn’t know the Broncos hadn’t won one before since they had been six times previously.  A little personal sidenote: they were involved in the first college football game I ever saw: the short-lived International Bowl.  They played Cincinnati that year and it was quite the spectacle to see 30,000 college football fans in the Rogers Centre when the Argos usually play to a deafening lack of noise.  Speaking of Cincinnati…

HAWAII BOWL – San Diego State a lot Cincinnati hardly anything

OK the score was actually 42-7. Usually I use the Hawaii Bowl to keep me somewhat entertained while I wrap the rest of the presents and get all the Santa stuff out (don’t tell any kids…or do….whatever).  This game did not fit the bill.  I ended up tuning to the Chargers-Raiders game since that at least was close. Anyway, this game was pretty much boring after the first Aztec score.  The Bearcats were completely outmatched here and it showed.  SDSU still seems to be one of the most underrated teams in college football.  I guess that’s what you get when you are overshadowed in your conference by perennial powerhouse Boise State.

Alright, another recap over. Today we have six (count em SIX!) bowl games and an NFL game which could have the Washington Redskins somehow clinch the NFC East.  Good lord.  Hopefully some of the college games are good.  Also it’s Frank Beamer’s last game as a head coach so at least the last few minutes of that one should be good (and emotional).

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas with family and friends. Enjoy the games through to the New Year and the College Football Playoff.

Bowl Game Rankings n’ Picks

It’s that time of year. So much football. So many empty seats. So many decent to high ratings. It’s the insanity known as postseason college football…BOWL SEASON! And despite the fact it feels like there are 17864 bowl games this year, there are only 40 plus the national championship. It is time to rate these bowl games. This will be done in chronological order. The rating system will be out of 6 like last year (but no Vernes…sorry). And heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere we go!

New Mexico Bowl: Arizona vs. New Mexico – The bowl season starts again with the New Mexico Bowl (no I am not counting the Celebration Bowl since it’s not an FBS game). This should be a good one to start things out as more often than not this bowl game is an exciting one. Pick: New Mexico. Rating: 2 cacti out of 6.

Las Vegas Bowl: BYU vs. Utah – The Holy War is on again! An amazing set of circumstances got these two schools together for a bowl game. In Sin City no less. Going to be damn exciting for sure. Watch it be a blowout just to disappoint us all. Pick: Utah. Rating: 5 Vegas hookers out of 6.

Camellia Bowl: Appalachian State vs. Ohio – The former FCS powers get to play in their first bowl game with a chance to complete an 11-win season. Cue Conference USA call-up rumours. Ho-hum Frank Solich brings the Bobcats to another bowl game. Pick: Appalachian State. Rating: 2 Camellias out of 6 (what’s a Camellia?).

Cure Bowl: Georgia State vs. San Jose State – A brand-new bowl played in Orlando. I think they have nine now. Also, the first bowl game to be played on CBS Sports Network. This is also one of three bowls that has a 5-7 team involved. Georgia State and their fans will be excited but very few others will be as well. Pick: Georgia State. Rating: 1 cure for insomnia out of 6.

New Orleans Bowl: Arkansas State vs. Louisiana Tech – Another New Orleans Bowl, another team from Louisiana participating. At least the organizers for this one realize this isn’t the Sugar Bowl so you need some kind of hook to get the fans. And with some home cookin’ every year, they have done just that. Pick: Arkansas State. Rating: 2 bowls of gumbo out of 6.

Miami Beach Bowl: USF vs. Western Kentucky – Remember last year’s Miami Beach Bowl? It was awesome. It went to overtime. A high-scoring affair. And a massive brawl afterwards. If this game was in a primetime spot I am sure many would buy tickets just to potentially see one of those three things. Too bad it’s in an afternoon slot before Christmas. Who the hell figured that was a good idea? Pick: Western Kentucky. Rating: 3 black eyes out of 6.

Idaho Potato Bowl: Akron vs. Utah State – You know. I love college football. I really do. But this is going to be a tough sell, even for me. Another afternoon game just before Christmas when I kind of have to work. Yes I will put it on my PVR but it will be one of the few games I can guarantee I won’t watch most of. Pick: Utah State. Rating: 1 horrible timeslot out of 6.

Boca Raton Bowl: Temple vs. Toledo – You know you’re not in a Power Five conference when this happens to you. You have a successful season. Many are talking potential New Year’s Six bowl for your program. Even College Gameday came to your game. So what’s your reward? A trip to Boca before Christmas. Ugh. Luckily we have two very good teams so it should be a good game. Pick: Temple. Rating: 4 better conference invites out of 6.

Poinsettia Bowl: Boise State vs. Northern Illinois – From about 2006 until this past season, this would have been an amazing match to see. Not saying this won’t be, but both programs are on slightly down years compared to their usual conference domination. Just glad San Diego State isn’t there. Not that it brings a ton of fans anyway. Pick: Boise State. Rating: 3 wilting poinsettias out of 6.

GoDaddy Bowl: Bowling Green vs. Georgia Southern – Georgia Southern is another former FCS power getting their first bowl game opportunity. And they go up against a team that lost their offense-on-speed head coach Dino Babers to Syracuse which he may end up regretting. Option versus up-tempo should be fun to watch at least. Also, their timeslot is slightly better than their normal primetime after the last NFL Wild-Card game spot. Pick: Georgia Southern. Rating: 2 new websites out of 6.

Bahamas Bowl: Middle Tennessee vs. Western Michigan – Last year’s Bahamas Bowl was ridiculous. Central Michigan’s almost-comeback and last-second touchdown was epic. Unfortunately the game was on at noon on Christmas Eve. Same thing this season. How stupid is that? Bowls should ALWAYS be on at times where at least a decent part of the country can see them. Pick: Western Michigan. Rating: 1 tropical storm out of 6.

Hawaii Bowl: Cincinnati vs. San Diego State – This seems like a treat for the schools involved. I have never been to Hawaii but it looks like a beautiful place. Too bad the seats are mostly empty for this game and the teams involved are usually just OK. I guess this year we get the Mountain West champs there but this still feels meh. Pick: San Diego State. Rating: 3 hula dancers out of 6.

St. Petersburg Bowl: UConn vs. Marshall – A bit of an odd starting time (11 in the morning). I know UConn is looking forward to this. Bob Diaco has brought them back from being bottom-feeders to a bowl team. And no Bob, you don’t have to create a trophy for this game. They have one for you if you win. Pick: Marshall. Rating: 1 shitty stadium out of 6.

Sun Bowl: Miami vs. Washington State – So let’s see the logic of this entire bowl experience. First off, you have two teams that have to travel a ton of miles to get to this bowl game. Then, this game is on CBS, the home of the SEC Game of the Week, with no SEC team involved. This game needs to change into Big XII vs. SEC West immediately! Pick: Miami. Rating: 4 runs for the border out of 6.

Heart of Dallas Bowl: Southern Miss vs. Washington – One of the great turnaround stories in college football this season is that of Southern Miss. What an amazing job Todd Monken has done down in Hattiesburg. Washington has been mired in mediocrity for years now. If Chris Petersen doesn’t show some big progress next season, he could be without a job. Pick: Southern Miss. Rating: 2 ignored bowl games out of 6.

Pinstripe Bowl: Duke vs. Indiana – So where are they putting the basketball court? Hahahaha. But seriously this should actually be a pretty good team. Duke has been good now under David Cutcliffe and Indiana FINALLY made it to a bowl game after years of experts saying they should sneak in to bowl season. Pick: Duke. Rating: 3 New YAWKUZ out of 6.

Independence Bowl: Tulsa vs. Virginia Tech – If this wasn’t Frank Beamer’s final game this would be so far down the list it may not have even qualified for the list. Another case of something great happening in a game that very few will watch (until the last minute of the fourth quarter). Pick: Virginia Tech. Rating: 2 big send-offs out of 6.

Foster Farms Bowl: Nebraska vs. UCLA – Seeing the Huskers, at 5-7, getting the opportunity to play in a decent bowl against a pretty good Pac-12 team in UCLA makes me a bit sick. I hate to say it but it is surely time to stop adding bowls (and consider taking bowls away). I hope the Bruins mop the floor with them just to prove a point. Pick: UCLA. Rating: Hopefully 4 cans of whoop-ass out of 6.

Military Bowl: Navy vs. Pittsburgh – Seems fitting that Navy gets to play in the Military Bowl. I mean they don’t get to travel but they are almost certain to get a full house for this one. Plus, Pitt is a good team so this should be a good game to watch. Pick: Navy. Rating: 4 salutes out of 6.

Quick Lane Bowl: Central Michigan vs. Minnesota – Mount Pleasant isn’t too too far from Detroit. And yet they still won’t be able to fill half of cavernous Ford Field for this one. Pick: Minnesota. Rating: 1 brake check out of 6.

Armed Forces Bowl: Air Force vs. California – Another bowl that totally makes sense for one of the participants. Air Force in the Armed Forces Bowl? Slam dunk I’d say. Also, Sonny Dykes just signed a big extension so this is where he can start earning his new bigger paycheque. Pick: California. Rating: 3 flyovers out of 6.

Russell Athletic Bowl: Baylor vs. North Carolina – Many are saying this is the biggest bowl game outside of the New Year’s Six. It could very well be true as the over/under might be triple digits for this one. Just remember last year’s Russell Athletic Bowl though. Just because a matchup is uber-hyped doesn’t mean the game will end up being a good one. Pick: North Carolina. Rating: 5 copies of Madden ’16 out of 6.

Arizona Bowl: Colorado State vs. Nevada – If this doesn’t force a change in the bowl structure, nothing will. It’s nice for Mountain West commish Craig Thompson to be pissed off about this but he’s part of the problem as he wanted more bowl games for his conference’s teams. Well now you got what you wished for, dumbass. Pick: Who cares (actually I am picking Nevada). Rating: 1 minute of viewing out of 6.

Texas Bowl: LSU vs. Texas Tech – If Leonard Fournette doesn’t run for at least 200 years on this defense then he must be either injured or not caring. This should be a romp for the Tigers but that’s the thing about teams that rarely face each other: anything can happen. Pick: LSU. Rating: 5 cowboy hats out of 6.

Birmingham Bowl: Auburn vs. Memphis – It would be quite the season if Memphis could defeat two teams from the SEC West this season. If the Big XII ever expands I am sure Memphis is quickly becoming their number one choice. Pick: Memphis. Rating: 3 swings of a hammer to knock down Legion Field out of 6.

Belk Bowl: Mississippi State vs. NC State – Hmmm…there just doesn’t seem to be any hype for this game to be honest. I feel no reason to watch it. I will watch it because it’s college football but I won’t like myself afterward for doing so. Pick: Mississippi State. Rating: 3 guesses as to what Belk is out of 6.

Music City Bowl: Louisville vs. Texas A&M – Another bowl between an SEC team and an ACC team that just doesn’t draw much interest. I do think Bobby Petrino should ride onto the field on a motorcycle for shits n’ giggles. Pick: Louisville. Rating: 4 mentions of Elvis out of 6.

Holiday Bowl: USC vs. Wisconsin – Finally we are getting to some really good bowl games. I’m kind of glad they didn’t stick Northwestern out here and gave USC a good opponent for this one. This will go a long way towards figuring out the preseason rankings for next season since both teams usually get a lot of hype. Pick: USC. Rating: 5 viewings of the 30 for 30 film Trojan War out of 6.

Peach Bowl: Florida State vs. Houston – Many are already bemoaning this as the worst of the New Year’s Six bowls (I disagree…that would be the Sugar) but it should still be an awesome matchup and will show good the Cougs really are. Pick: Florida State (but it will be close). Rating: 6 juicy peaches out of 6.

Orange Bowl: Clemson vs. Oklahoma – Even though the games are on New Year’s Eve, they will still get a shit-ton of eyeballs. This is game number one and should be a dandy. Oklahoma comes in the much hotter team but Clemson has shown they know how to win. A nailbiter for sure. Pick: Clemson. Rating: 6 juicy oranges out of 6.

Cotton Bowl: Alabama vs. Michigan State – The second of the semi-final games pits the evil SEC overlords against the upstart Big Ten champs. I thought Ohio State wouldn’t keep it close last year and look what happened. I think this will be another close affair but I don’t think Sparty has what it takes to beat Evil Saban and the Crimson Tide empire. Pick: Alabama. Rating: 6 bales of cotton (I guess?) out of 6.

Outback Bowl: Northwestern vs. Tennessee – Northwestern on New Year’s Day. Tennessee on New Year’s Day. If any of you thought this would occur, stop lying. No one figured these two teams would both be in a New Year’s Day bowl. After Butch Jones’ new contract (which is fair value in the SEC) he has received a bit of hate so I think most will pick Northwestern. I am too but not for that reason. Pick: Northwestern. Rating: 5 filet mignons out of 6.

Citrus Bowl: Florida vs. Michigan – Two teams that came very close to winning their conferences. Well in Florida’s case somewhat close. In Michigan’s case, one of the worst things to ever happen on the last play of a football game cost them possibly a New Year’s Six bowl game. Anyway, two new head coaches ending their first seasons with a New Year’s Day bowl isn’t that bad a present. Pick: Michigan. Rating: 5 trips to Disneyworld out of 6.

Fiesta Bowl: Notre Dame vs. Ohio State – The Fiesta has gone back to their odd traditional time of 1:00 Eastern (which is 11:00 in the morning local time). It will also absolutely dominate the early ratings (sorry Citrus and Outback Bowls). This is arguably the best game not in the College Football Playoff. I kind of wish Don Criqui was calling this game. Pick: Ohio State. Rating: 6 burning suns out of 6.

Rose Bowl: Iowa vs. Stanford – A nice consolation prize for both these teams. Stanford is making a habit of going to the Rose Bowl but this doesn’t happen very often for the Hawkeyes. The stout Iowa defense against Christian McCaffrey is an intriguing clash. Pick: Stanford. Rating: 6 Granddaddies of them all out of 6.

Sugar Bowl: Oklahoma State vs. Ole Miss – The worst New Year’s Six bowl is still one of the best of the bunch. And you will watch it since what the hell else is on New Year’s Day evening? Pick: Oklahoma State. Rating: 5 packages of Splenda out of 6.

TaxSlayer Bowl: Georgia vs. Penn State – Can they just call it the Gator Bowl again? TaxSlayer Bowl. What a stupid name. The Kirby Smart era starts at UGA but not quite yet since he is still with Bama so it’s kind of a limbo game here for the Dawgs. Penn State did well yet still finished a distant fourth in the Big Ten East division. It’s in SEC territory so I will go with the SEC pick as a tiebreaker here. Pick: Georgia. Rating: 4 tax cheats out of 6.

Liberty Bowl: Arkansas vs. Kansas State – Lucky for this game it is on a Saturday since I am sure not too many people would watch. Being a Razorbacks fan has to be so frustrating. You don’t know which team you will be getting from week to week. If they ever got consistently good it would be scary. Papa Snyder is in 104^th bowl (unofficially). Pick: Arkansas. Rating: 4 trips to the old folks home out of 6.

Alamo Bowl: Oregon vs. TCU – This should be a fantastic game. Two great coaches. Two very good programs. And Oregon has rebounded from a pretty bad first half of the season. TCU was able to beat their rivals at Baylor to finish their season so both teams coming in pretty hot. Picking based on Alamo Bowl experience (as in last year). Pick: Oregon. Rating: 6 things other than the Spurs happening in San Antonio out of 6.

Cactus Bowl: Arizona State vs. West Virginia – At this point, many fans may have tapped out due to the sheer amount of football that had been watched. I say stick it out since this is the last game before the national championship so you will get a nine-day rest. Pick: Arizona State. Rating: 2 even sharper cacti out of 6.

Tomorrow I will be posting the bowl game schedule so you can plan out how many hours you will have to create a firm buttprint in your couch. Friday there will be the NFL schedule. Friday night starts college football for people that have the specialty pack and then Saturday begins the bowl madness so strap yourself in or something like that.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tonight

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

Friday

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Saturday early

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Saturday afternoon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Saturday primetime & late night

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Enjoy the football when you can and hopefully you survive!

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

 

Week 12 College Football Recap – Sponsored by The Mighty (and how they have fallen)

THE Ohio State Buckeyes knew that it had to end at some point. Makes sense it was against a really good team like Michigan State. Too bad the Spartans had the lead for all of NO SECONDS in the game and won it on a last second field goal. That makes two games where the Spartans never had the lead during the game but won it at the end. And it may be enough to get them into the College Football Playoff. Then again, who knows because now things are going to possibly get a bit crazy. This Friday and Saturday the CFP rankings could honestly change each hour depending on what is happening on the field. And I am looking forward to every minute of it. Oh, and on another note from this game, I totally get Ezekiel Elliott’s frustration. Only getting the ball 12 times in that weather? He should have got double the carries. Saying all that, what he did afterwards was a dick move and I am almost 100% positive he decided not to come back for his senior season at that very moment out of spite. NFL teams should watch that because for every player who has an attitude issue that turns out fine, there is one that is a complete shitshow. There is no denying Zeke has the talent, but that interview has to leave a bad taste in some people’s mouths (especially many in Columbus as I speak).

And now the rest of the recap from a relatively disjointed Saturday (on my end at least):

Well there goes Oklahoma State’s chances at the CFP. They still have a great shot at the New Year’s Six but absolute insanity would have to occur for them to get back into the top four. And despite the fact Baylor won, their chances of getting into the top four are slim as well (not as slim as OK State’s but slim nevertheless). Basically, the Big XII has to rely on…

BOOMER! SOONER! Yes, Oklahoma is probably the Big XII’s only chance of getting into the CFP and stopping expansion talk for at least another season. And the only reason they pulled it out is because Gary Patterson decided to go for two instead of overtime. Did he not notice his team had come back from way down to get to within one and that the Sooner defense was gassed. He should have tied it up and took them to overtime. I mean it probably would have iced any Big XII CFP chances but still it would have been fun to see.

It’s always fun to see the SEC sweat during Garbage Schedule Week (ESPN should have coined that). I hate the SEC’s penultimate regular season week schedule and I have hated it since they started doing it years ago. I don’t think you need to eliminate FCS games. Far from it. I do believe that they should be played before November though. November is, for the most part, conference game time. To have these cupcake games smack dab in the middle of very important football is a slap in the face for fans.

Which makes what Florida and Georgia went through much more hilarious. I was hoping beyond hope that Florida Atlantic, of all teams, would ruin Florida’s chances at the top four. If the Gators had lost that game, they could have beaten FSU by 40 and Bama by 50 and still have been left out because are you fucking kidding me it’s FLORIDA FUCKING ATLANTIC! As for Georgia, at least they faced a very good Sun Belt team. Georgia Southern ain’t no slouch. And that option offense can be frustrating to defend. Saying all that, if the Dawgs had lost, I am sure Mark Richt would have been lucky to get out of Sanford Stadium alive. And don’t even get me started on South Carolina’s loss to The Citadel. Oh and on another note, if you want a good book to read, Pat Conroy’s My Losing Season is fascinating as it outlines his time on The Citadel basketball team. That place sounds rigid. And fucked. Makes sense for a military school.

Iowa wins out, they’re in. If they don’t, they’re out. Simple. Iowa, more than any other team in the top 10, has to win out. One loss and they have no shot at the College Football Playoff, period. I still believe Nebraska is going to give them fits this Friday. Let’s be honest, the Huskers have nothing to lose. Win and they go bowling, lose and they are home for the holidays and Mike Riley gets forty For Sale signs on his front lawn (isn’t that how it works?). So they will be emptying the playbook for sure. The Hawkeyes cannot be complacent. Luckily for them they have been arguably the steadiest team in the nation this season so they seem fairly unflappable.

It’s all on Stanford now. After UCLA beat Utah, the Pac-12 had to hope Stanford beat Cal in the Big Game. They did and now they play Notre Dame in their one true opportunity to make a serious move up the rankings. With a Pac-12 Championship game against either UCLA or USC coming up in two weeks, they have to win the Notre Dame game if they hope to get into the CFP. Enough things go their way and they may just do it.

They almost sent the home crowd home happy. The Hokies had a spirited comeback against North Carolina fall just short in overtime. Would have been nice to have them win in Frank Beamer’s last home game. Honestly though, they have played like hot garbage for a good part of this season. I sincerely hope they win the Commonwealth Cup against Virginia so they can go bowling to send Frank out the right way. Plus, a Hoos win means almost nothing since they are 4-7 and Mike London should be getting the axe shortly after the season concludes.

UConn? UCONN?!?!?!?!?!? I wonder if Bob Diaco will want a trophy for this rivalry now. The Huskies played really well against Houston and cost the Cougs their undefeated season. I don’t think anyone saw this coming although UConn has quietly put together a really good season. Diaco has shown he can really coach and has brought the program back to respectability. As for Houston, in terms of the AAC West it didn’t fully matter, but when it comes to their NYS hopes, that was a huge blow. They have to beat Navy and then beat the East champ in the AAC Title game and hope Toledo doesn’t go nuts in their final game and the MAC Championship to overtake them. Should be interesting.

And back to coaches getting the axe…Scott Shafer was fired at Syracuse and Paul Rhoads will be done after the season at Iowa State. If you are a halfway-competent coach in FBS (or even a good coordinator) this has to be considered a goldmine. There are so many coaching opportunities out there that ESPN has already locked in 200 hours of future coverage to this (and I believe I am seriously lowballing here). So even though Tom Herman now makes $3 milly at Houston and Justin Fuente was offered even more at Memphis, it may not matter, especially if a bigger school like USC, Virginia Tech, South Carolina, or Miami comes calling. Prestige, a lot of times, means more than a bigger contract since if you do well it will lead into a better contract. OK so yes, the money means the most still but it’s more of a short-term pain for long-term gain kind of focus now.

Can we just have UCF face Kansas and get it over with? I know conferences are SUPER picky with how they are aligned but I almost wish they had relegation/promotion like I outlined in a previous post (you can find it…I am too lazy right now). Just have UCF play Kansas in the Toilet Bowl and loser goes to FCS. Or have them face FCS teams for the right to stay up or move up. I am sure North Dakota State could mop the floor with at least twenty of the current FBS teams and not break a sweat.

Possible coach to sign that no one is talking about. No one is discussing the possibility of hiring Willie Taggart. He has done an amazing job at USF, one of the better turnarounds in the nation. He is also a recruiting master. Miami would be wise to get this guy since he knows Florida very well.

OK as of right now we have 71 bowl-eligible teams. There are 80 bowl slots in total available. The following teams can become bowl-eligible this week (with their next game in parentheses):

• Missouri (at Arkansas, Friday)
• Nebraska (vs. Iowa, Friday)
• San Jose State (vs. Boise State, Friday)
• Washington (vs. Washington State, Friday)
• Buffalo (vs. UMass, Friday)
• Tulsa (at Tulane, Friday)
• Old Dominion (vs. Florida Atlantic, Saturday)
• Indiana (at Purdue, Saturday)
• East Carolina (vs. Cincinnati, Saturday)
• Virginia Tech (at Virginia, Saturday)
• Kentucky (vs. Louisville, Saturday)
• Minnesota (vs. Wisconsin, Saturday)
• Illinois (vs. Northwestern, Saturday)

So out of these 13 teams, I would say 5 of them are favoured. My guess is no more than 7 will clinch this week, meaning there should be at least a couple bowl-eligibility spots left to fill in the final regular season week. As far as I can tell, the NCAA still doesn’t know how they will select a 5-7 team to fill a bowl slot if it’s needed. What a shitshow. This should have been figured out before the season started! It should make the bowl selection process very interesting which I guess brings ratings (and a lot of frustration).
There are two games on tomorrow night. As far as I can tell, they should be on the specialty pack but as of Sunday night I saw no indication of that.  UPDATE: I feel stupid.  First off, one game (BGSU-Ball State) is on ESPN3 and, thus, we won’t get it here.  Second, I just checked online schedules and Ohio-Northern Illinois will be on the specialty pack at 7:30 tomorrow night.   They should appear sometime today especially now that TSN now wants to show a lot of college basketball. That’s fine but I wish they waited until mid-January to go all-in with those games rather than college football but they’ve stepped up so that is good. The College Football Playoff Top 25 show airs on TSN2 at 7:00 tomorrow night for those that want to see that.

Week 9 College Football Recap – Sponsored by The Band (They’re not on the field. AREN’T THEY SUPPOSED TO BE ON THE FIELD???)

Ho hum.  Another ridiculous ending to another ridiculous college football game.  This one was a bit more ridiculous than most.  Duke scores a touchdown with 6 seconds left.  They kickoff, then Miami laterals the ball EIGHT TIMES to score a touchdown with no time left.  Then the officials and the replay officials debated it for almost ten minutes before staying the call stood.  Holy shitshow, Batman.  I think the biggest thing that came out of this ending is that there are so many different reasons why the touchdown shouldn’t have counted, you would have to be a moron to not see it.  First off, there was a block in the back which you could have called either way.  Then just before the fourth lateral, the ball carrier’s knee was clearly down and was not called (or seen on replay…yet Twitter figured it out within three minutes).

The replay officials couldn’t see this?

Then near the end of the run, for some reason, a Miami player did another block in the back. There was no reason to as the runner was past the Duke player. An official threw a flag on that. Then you had a guy that came off the bench (I think it was way more than one) before the play was over. Worst part is, you cannot review a block in the back penalty. So that flag should have stood. The referee had no legal way to pick up that flag yet he did. All in all, a complete clusterfuck. Fun play to watch but it’s easy to figure out why the entire god damn crew was suspended for two games. I’m glad they were. It wasn’t the only set of bad calls or missed calls. The entire game was littered with them. The ACC might want to take a long hard look at these officials to determine if they should return next season.

Rest of the Fun-Time Spooky Halloween Recap

I think it’s official. No one really wants to win the ACC Coastal Division. I kind of don’t blame them. They would have to probably face that juggernaut Clemson team in the ACC Championship. Knowing this division, Duke will beat North Carolina next weekend to cause complete chaos.

Good god, Nebraska is bad. No crazy finish this time. They really shouldn’t have been in this game at all against Purdue. They flat-out got their asses handed to them. They now need to win their last three games to go to a bowl game. I don’t see them doing it. This feels worse than when Bill Callahan was there.

Congratulations Keenan! Navy’s Keenan Reynolds rushed for two touchdowns to tie Montee Ball’s career FBS record for rushing touchdowns. Funny thing is, he’s a quarterback. I have always been fascinated by why Navy (and to a lesser extent Air Force) field pretty good teams yet Army has struggled for the better part of two decades. I don’t get it.

The Yellow Jackets celebrated their win over Florida State… by looking terrible against Virginia and losing by 6. They also have to win their last three games to even be bowl-eligible. They have a little better chance than Nebraska of doing it but it will still be tough sledding. What a fall off the cliff for Paul Johnson’s Option Boys.

So Florida can clinch the SEC East next week. If the Gators beat Vanderbilt on Saturday they win the SEC East and clinch a spot over a month from now in the SEC Championship. The Gators are really good but the rest of the division is mediocre at best. Too many issues at the other six schools that they will have to fix or otherwise there’s no way they can compete in the SEC.

Well that was interesting to watch. One of the games I had on the PVR was Oklahoma State-Texas Tech. It took me a while to watch that one since there was so much scoring (123 points combined…highest FBS total this season). I am worried that when they play TCU next week I will have to put 5 hours on the PVR for the game and pray (if we even get the game in this area).

Speaking of getting games in this area… I put Clemson-NC State on the PVR to record because it would be on ESPN2 in the Buffalo or Detroit areas. Both areas had Maryland-Iowa slated for ABC. So I turn on that recording to see? Maryland-Iowa. What in the fuck happened? Not that either game was that great but if we get one game of the reverse mirror in this area on ABC, why in the fuck would the specialty packs show the same damn game? They wouldn’t do that with games on TSN (since they are always eventually taken off the specialty pack if that’s the case). I still don’t get how this works since it should be pretty easy.

Houston and Memphis play each other in two weeks. Memphis has to get by a tough Navy team first but all signs point to the Cougs and Tigers being both undefeated when the face off. It will end up being the de facto AAC West Championship game and the winner will be in the driver’s seat for sure to be the Group of Five representative at the Big Boy Table (New Year’s Six).

Wait. Iowa State SHUTOUT Texas? Yes, this isn’t a misprint. Iowa State thoroughly outplayed the Longhorns and beat them 24-0. Now Texas has to win three of their last four to be bowl-eligible and truly calm down the Fire Charlie Strong supporters. It won’t be easy for them.

Brutal way to end that one. To lose on a goal-line stand from the one with no time left is a punch in the gut. To do it in the first game after Jerry Kill had to retire due to health reasons will make this a very difficult week to deal with in Minnesota. You have to feel for that program right now.

Oh so close. Temple played Notre Dame very tough. I think they surprised a lot of people and proved they are one of the class programs of the American conference. Unfortunately, unless we get chaos with Houston, Memphis, and Toledo, the Owls have lost their shot at a Peach or Fiesta Bowl bid. It’s too bad since they will lose Tyler Matakevich, one of the best defensive players in the country, and they will probably lose Matt Rhule as well considering there are, what 10 job openings now? Speaking of job openings…

Beamer Ball is coming to an end. Frank Beamer has decided he wants to see what retirement feels like as he will be retiring as coach at Virginia Tech at the end of the season. Talk about a huge job opening, one of many now available. Expect Rhule, Justin Fuente, Tom Herman, and Matt Campbell to all get a lot of phone calls over the next month. I don’t expect any of those four guys to still be with their respective teams at the start of the 2016 season.

You really can’t blame the kicker here. Wazzu’s kicker Erik Powell had hit five field goals before lining up for the potential winning kick. He ended up missing that sixth one but you can’t really blame him. Without him, they are probably having to go for a touchdown to win the game. Stanford has to feel lucky they won. So does the Pac-12. If the Cardinal had lost, their entire conference’s chances at the College Football Playoff would rely on Utah.

Speaking of the College Football Playoff, might as well weigh in with my choices right now:

Orange Bowl: #1 Ohio State vs. #4 Baylor

Cotton Bowl: #2 Alabama vs. #3 Clemson

Hey how about that. It hasn’t changed since last week. Makes sense since three of these four teams didn’t play and the other team beat NC State by 15. But everyone knows that November is where these teams create their playoff resumes. Here are the issues facing each of these four teams for the rest of the regular season:

Ohio State – Nov. 21 vs. Michigan State, Nov. 28 at Michigan

Alabama – Nov. 7 vs. LSU, Nov. 14 at Mississippi State

Clemson – Nov. 7 vs. Florida State

Baylor – Nov. 14 vs. Oklahoma, Nov. 21 at Oklahoma State, Nov. 27 at TCU

Baylor has the toughest road by far. The Big XII’s issue could end up being all the best teams beating each other up and costing the league a CFP spot yet again (cue expansion talk). Alabama and Clemson really do have their statement games this Saturday. A Clemson win puts them in the ACC Championship. An Alabama win doesn’t automatically put them in the SEC Championship as Ole Miss controls their own fate which could set up a very interesting scenario if both Bama and the Rebels win out. We could have a similar scenario which basically made the playoff a reality. That was when the Tide weren’t even in the SEC Championship but got to the National Championship game and won. I love chaos so part of me hopes this is what happens.

As for the Group of Five spot, I am going to go a bit off the board. Most have Memphis firmly in the spot and perhaps Toledo has a shot if a lot of things go their way (including winning all their games). I am going with Houston since I think they will run the table, meaning they will beat both Memphis and Navy in the next four weeks. Navy is at Memphis this Saturday in a game that will, in all likelihood, eliminate the loser from a chance at the New Year’s Six.

We have come to November, folks. The month where this is football almost every day. Hallelujah! Tomorrow night, we have some MACtion as Northern Illinois faces Toledo in arguably the biggest MAC game of the season. Wednesday night there’s some more MACtion as Ohio travels to Bowling Green. If the Falcons win they basically clinch the MAC East with three more weeks to go. If you have the specialty pack you will get both games.