And you know what means. That’s right. It’s Army-Navy time. And the Heisman Trophy presentation. Two of the most important occurrences in any college football season. Look, let’s just get right to the schedule since it’s not that long and then get to some Heisman discussion.
Friday
FCS Quarter-Final: Furman at Montana
9:00
Last year was an FCS doubleheader in this spot. Why they didn’t do that this year? Well, my best guess is that since there are no teams from the Eastern Time Zone, it would make no sense for either South Dakota State or South Dakota to begin their game at 6:00 local time. That would make it very tough on attendance for sure. I am sure otherwise that would have been the plan since there is nothing else that was going to air on ESPN2 this night.
Saturday
FCS Quarter-Final: Villanova at South Dakota State
Noon
FCS Quarter-Final: North Dakota State at South Dakota
2:30
Army vs. Navy (in Foxborough)
3:00
FCS Quarter-Final: UAlbany at Idaho
10:00
Well, we have two new wrinkles this year. Normally we would get an FCS playoff game at Noon and the Army-Navy game at 3:00. This year, ABC is showing NDSU-USD at 2:30 which is, I believe, the first time ever that an FCS quarter-final game has appeared on ABC. Plus, the final quarter-final game should also be appearing in this area (if you have TSN+ or one of the specialty packs). Now, at this point I see no info for the final two games on the specialty pack. I honestly don’t know why the afternoon game is scheduled for TSN+ when it’s already on ABC but it is. As for the nighttime affair, I only see it appearing on TSN+ although it might end up on the specialty pack at some point. I will keep you updated on this.
TSN3 will be showing the Heisman Trophy presentation ceremony this year (Saturday night at 8:00) after being fucking dicks and not showing it last year. They probably needed to show Top 50 plays in Arizona Coyotes history or something like that. Anyway, here are the odds going into Saturday night’s ceremony:
Jayden Daniels, LSU (-1200)
Michael Penix, Jr., Washington (+900)
Bo Nix, Oregon (+1500)
Marvin Harrison, Ohio State (+20000)
Wait, +20000? Twenty thousand? So basically, Maserati Marv might as well not show up. Not saying Daniels won’t win it because he probably will but Penix and Nix are still at least in the ballpark when it comes to odds. Harrison’s odds are like if they took a single-A baseball team and put them up against an MLB all-star team. Or like if the worst football team in your high school district was going to play the Western Mustangs. It would be a bloodbath.
Anyway, Daniels most definitely deserves the award, especially considering the fact that LSU was never a contender this season. If it wasn’t for him, the Tigers are sniffing .500 and a scramble to become bowl eligible. I wonder what would have happened if either of the two Pac-12 quarterbacks had gone off during the Pac-12 Championship but, alas, neither did and they basically handed the trophy to Daniels.
And hey, remember College GameDay not going to the Army-Navy Game last year? Well, this year they will be going. It seems like there is a lot of divisiveness with the show now that Pat McAfee has joined the show and essentially replaced David Pollack. I get that they are trying to tap into a different audience. What that audience is I don’t know since I am sure most people who are fans of the Pat McAfee Show already watch copious amounts of college football but I may be wrong. And it sounds like eventually he will be the replacement for Lee Corso. I honestly don’t understand that but in the end it doesn’t matter to me. Why? Because I don’t really watch pre-game shows for any sport. They usually aren’t good or are way too long (or both). And GameDay definitely falls under the latter. I don’t even bother with the final helmet pick part of the show because I will see hundreds of people post it anyway. No skin off my back. Live sports. That’s what I watch. So just bring on the football.
The bowl schedule is up for TSN so I will go about doing that post soon along with my bowl game rankings. Whether TSN makes changes as it goes along, who knows although they were pretty good last year with it. There is no need to make changes unless something happens with any of the World Junior Hockey Championship games which is obviously priority number one to them (and I get that). Other than that, no reason to change things because they just needed to show a repeat of NFL Live or That’s Hockey (is that even a show anymore?).
Alirght, enjoy the games everyone. We are close to the end of the season so bundle up and watch as much college football as you can (or are allowed to).
If you haven’t heard, there was a huge tragedy on the campus of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Three players on the Cavaliers, Lavel Davis, D’Sean Perry and Devin Chandler were killed in a shooting at the end of a field trip. Two other students were severely injured and are in hospital. The shooter is a former UVA football player. I have not heard anything about a motive. This is just awful. Seems like more senseless violence. I don’t know how the team is going to move on for the final two games of their season. At this point, it feels pointless to move on but many of them probably need football as a distraction to help healing and mourning the loss of their teammates and friends. Condolences to everyone at the University of Virginia. I would say hopefully lessons are learned from this but they never are, unfortunately.
UPDATE: The Virginia-Coastal Carolina game will not be played this Saturday. This does not affect Canadians and what they can watch but it is noteworthy. And also not surprising in the least. There is also no word about what will happen with the Commonwealth Cup game against Virginia Tech the following weekend.
Alright, it seems much less important this week but let’s get on with the schedule.
Tuesday
US
Canada
Ohio at Ball State
7:00 PM
Bowling Green at Toledo
7:00 PM
A couple of big MACtion games to start the week. If the Bobcats can beat Ball State and the Rockets beat Bowling Green, then Toledo will help Ohio win the MAC East. This would mean that Ohio would go to Ford Field in a couple weeks to face…Toledo. Interesting how that works out.
Wednesday
US
Canada
Eastern Michigan at Kent State
6:00 PM
Miami-OH at Northern Illinois
7:00 PM
Western Michigan at Central Michigan
8:00 PM
If Ohio loses the previous night, then the EMU-KSU game becomes quite a bit more important as the MAC East will still be up for grabs. Otherwise we got some bowl-eligibility issues here: Kent State, Miami-OH and Central Michigan all have to win to keep their bowl game chances alive.
Thursday
US
Canada
SMU at #21 Tulane
7:30 PM
Only one game Thursday night (not even a game on a network Canadians can’t get). It’s a big game for the Green Wave as they absolutely need to win this one to stay alive for a berth in the AAC Championship.
Friday
US
Canada
USF at Tulsa
9:00 PM
One game here. TSN is picking it up. I don’t know why because it means nothing. Neither team can go bowling.
Saturday Early
US
Canada
Navy at #17 UCF
11:00 AM
Illinois at #3 Michigan
Noon
Duke at Pittsburgh
Noon
Indiana at Michigan State
Noon
UConn at Army
Noon
Wisconsin at Nebraska
Noon
Yale at Harvard
Noon
#4 TCU at Baylor
Noon
Florida at Vanderbilt
Noon
I’d say the most interesting game here is the TCU-Baylor game. It’s your classic trap game as the Bears are a good team and the game is in Waco. The other truly interesting one out of the bunch is the Wisky-Nebraska game in the Big Ten West Chaos Carnival. No one is in the driver’s seat (but the Huskers aren’t on the trip at all). All the teams are in seats on the bus trying to see who can last to the final stop. I think I got that analogy right.
Yes, you see that right. We have morning football. ESPN2 still has their quadrupleheader but it starts an hour early. I will explain more later in the post. And yes, you see that right. Yale and Harvard, once again, appearing on ESPNU. Despite the fact there are other teams that might deserve that spot, it’s nice to see ESPN embracing FCS football. I just wish they would do that when Gameday goes to an FCS school, like this Saturday when they head to Bozeman for the Brawl of the Wild between Montana and Montana State. That game is on at 2 in the afternoon on ESPN+. Ridiculous. Give it the late ESPNU spot for Christ’s sake!
Finally, a little bit about the UConn bowl situation. The Huskies are bowl-eligible. They do, however, have to hope that there are not enough teams to fill all the spots. There is no guarantee for them as they have no tie-in to any other bowl. Even worse, Liberty is in the same boat and is ranked way ahead of them so will get the first chance when a bowl doesn’t have two teams to fulfill the tie-ins. So the program is still fingers crossed to make a bowl as it’s not set in stone just yet.
Saturday Afternoon
US
Canada
Washington State at Arizona
2:00 PM
#25 Oregon State at Arizona State
2:15 PM
Boston College at #18 Notre Dame
2:30 PM
#2 Ohio State at Maryland
3:30 PM
NC State at Louisville
3:30 PM
#11 Penn State at Rutgers
3:30 PM
#1 Georgia at Kentucky
3:30 PM
Akron at Buffalo
3:30 PM
Miami at #9 Clemson
3:30 PM
South Alabama at Southern Miss
3:30 PM
#22 Cincinnati at Temple
4:00 PM
Iowa at Minnesota
4:00 PM
WKU at Auburn
4:00 PM
Georgia Tech at #13 North Carolina
5:30 PM
Stanford at California
5:30 PM
This might be the biggest afternoon schedule I have ever seen. Saying that, it’s definitely quantity over quality as there isn’t a ton here to whet the appetite. What does this mean? We are in for something crazy. It never fails.
I talked about TCU’s trap game earlier. You could say the same for Georgia here. I like UGA’s chances more than TCU’s obviously but if the Dawgs let the Cats stay around into the fourth quarter, expect a lot of nervous Georgia fans around the country. The Big Ten West Round Robin Fun-Time Carousel continues in this timeslot with Iowa and Minnesota facing off to see if we can get some clarity going into the final regular season week.
UPDATE #2: Akron-Buffalo has been postponed due to the snowstorm that has already hit the Buffalo area and moved this weekend’s Bills game to Detroit. The game is reportedly going to be moved to Sunday but I don’t see that happening with what the area will be like through the end of the weekend.
Saturday Primetime
US
Canada
Boise State at Wyoming
7:00 PM
#5 Tennessee at South Carolina
7:00 PM
#24 Oklahoma State at Oklahoma
7:30 PM
New Mexico State at Missouri
7:30 PM
#14 Ole Miss at Arkansas
7:30 PM
Syracuse at Wake Forest
8:00 PM
#7 USC at #16 UCLA
8:00 PM
A huge Pac-12 game that could have been one of the biggest in years if the Bruins hadn’t blown a gasket against Arizona, of all teams, last weekend. Plus the Oklahoma Sooners are in a very odd spot, at least for this program: they need a win to become bowl-eligible in November. This is a stark difference to some Bedlam games of the past decade or so where it was the Pokes who needed that win badly to play some postseason ball. The Sooners don’t need to win this one but if they lose here they only have one more shot to keep their bowl game streak going.
Saturday Late Night
US
Canada
UAB at #6 LSU
9:00 PM
Colorado at #15 Washington
9:00 PM
Fresno State at Nevada
10:30 PM
#10 Utah at #12 Oregon
10:30 PM
So the entire reason for ESPN2 starting their schedule at 11 in the morning is so that LSU could host UAB on the station at night? Are you fucking serious? That might be one of the dumbest things I’ve heard. The schedule could have easily been shuffled around to accommodate this in a normal way but ESPN is really upping how much they kowtow to the SEC. It’s probably a good thing the Big Ten is leaving for FOX. Also here we have the other high stakes Pac-12 match of the weekend that is, once again, a little less high stakes than it could have been. Both the Utes and Ducks still have Pac-12 Championship and New Year’s Six opportunities available…well, one will after this game.
Big Games O’ The Week
USC at UCLA (8:00, FOX) – I don’t remember a time when I’ve done this blog where the Pac-12 is the conference to watch on any given week. I think every other Power Five conference has had their week to shine (with the SEC and Big Ten having a lot of weeks to shine) but this may be a first for the Pac-12 on this blog. Look, a USC win may move them up to #6 or even #5 going into the final regular season week. It clinches their spot in the Pac-12 Championship Game and possibly sets them up to return to glory. A UCLA win doesn’t fully eliminate any team but makes it a lot tougher for any team from the conference to get to the College Football Playoff. What it does do, though, is cause massive Pac-12 chaos inside the conference which is also fun…for me at least.
Utah at Oregon (10:30, TSN2) – Hey a TSN quadrupleheader! That’s nice. What’s not so nice? This is probably the high water mark for TSN college football coverage this season. I will explain later. Anyway, the other big Pac-12 game this week pits two teams who still have big aspirations which hopefully lead to a Rose Bowl spot. No matter the result, there will still be a bit of chaos left in the Pac-12 to just determine it’s title game participants. Thankfully there are no divisions this year as it’s so much better to just have the best teams in.
Illinois at Michigan (12:00, ABC/TSN2) – Most years, this has the makings of a blowout. Not this time around. Yes it’s in the Big House so the Wolverines have a big home field advantage. Other than that though, this is not a game Michigan should take lightly. Illinois still has a shot at the Big Ten West title but a few other things have to go their way. A win here REALLY helps though. Michigan is heading into The Game with Ohio State and a win here, coupled with Ohio State winning, would set up the biggest matchup since…well, you could say last year but I would say since 2016’s double overtime classic.
Georgia at Kentucky (3:30, CBS) – This could be the game of a lifetime for Mark Stoops and Kentucky if they could pull off the upset. It would also completely upset the college football apple cart with very little time left. Let’s be honest though: it’s going to take a lot for the Cats to keep this close. Hopefully they have watched UGA’s games against Kent State and Missouri to figure out the best approach.
TCU at Baylor (Noon, FOX) – Dave Aranda’s Baylor Bears could throw a huge monkey wrench into TCU’s national title plans. If they beat the Horned Frogs, that probably spells the end for TCU’s CFP hopes. TCU has to be very careful with this one. It is the very definition of a college football speed bump game.
Tennessee at South Carolina (7:00, TSN2) – So it drops off a bit of a cliff after the first five games. But this could be a sneaky good one. Tennessee is not out of the College Football Playoff conversation just yet. South Carolina could put the nail in that coffin and potentially destroy the Vols’ New Year’s Six possibilities in one fell swoop if they can pull off the upset in Columbia.
Psycho Game of the Week
USF at Tulsa (Friday, 9:00, TSN2) – The Bulls are here for a second straight week. I would call that a trend. I get that TSN2, somehow, has nothing to air that night so this goes there by default. But of all the games to show. You know what, TSN? You’d be better off showing Best of Curling or World’s Most Incredible Darts Throws or something like that. This is terrible.
Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week
Colorado at Washington (9:00, Pac-12 Network) – Man, Colorado is bad. Worst Power Five team? It’s between them and Northwestern. Maybe they should play a bowl game to determine the worst of the worst. The Huskies should annihilate Colorado here in a game that might be long over by halftime.
The Degenerate Portion of Our Show
Time for my picks for the upcoming week of college football. Is there any basis for these picks? Not really. I mostly wing it.
Ball State (+3.5) over Ohio (and the mild upset win!)
Central Michigan (-11) over Western Michigan
Navy (+16.5) over UCF (they’ll cover but not win)
Northwestern (+20) over Purdue (the Boilermakers will win though)
Illinois (+18) over Michigan (covering but not winning)
TCU (-2.5) over Baylor
Oregon State (-8) over Arizona State
South Alabama (-7.5) over Southern Miss
Penn State (-19.5) over Rutgers
Miami (+19) over Clemson (the Canes will cover but the Tigers will win this one)
Minnesota (-2.5) over Iowa
Wyoming (+14) over Boise State (the Broncos will end up with the win)
Ole Miss (-2.5) over Arkansas
Oregon (-3) over Utah
OK an explanation about the TSN comment I made earlier. Normally, the final week of the regular season would bring at least 8 games on TSN if not up to 13 or 14. TSN would go all in because the CFL would be done for the season. Just like this year, the Grey Cup lands on Week 12 of the college football season. One wrinkle, though: the World Cup. It begins Sunday. TSN and CTV are showing every game of the tournament. If I just take a look at the schedule, it means the following:
It’s almost a guarantee that there will be on early Black Friday games aired on TSN.
TSN 2, 4 and 5 are available for afternoon/night Black Friday games.
The next day (Saturday, American Thanksgiving weekend) might be mostly out for college football games as there are World Cup games that overlap the early and afternoon windows. I can see TSN stepping up for primetime and late night games, though.
So, 14 games? Not going to happen. 10? Doubtful. Maybe they get back to that 8 mark but it will be dicey. Is this one of the reasons why the World Cup shouldn’t be in November and December? Yes. But it’s far down the list. Like WAY down the list. Remember…it’s in Qatar. That’s all you got to say.
Tomorrow you should get the bowl projection and rankings post and on Thursday the NFL post. Not guaranteeing anything but this is the time of year where staying on schedule is pretty imperative. Enjoy the games everyone!
Let’s be honest: many of us want chaos in our college football. It makes things exciting, no? Not saying we haven’t seen a bit of it already. Alabama has lost two times already. TWO! Clemson got absolutely waxed by Notre Dame. Texas A&M is fucking terrible!
But we want more. We are insatiable for chaos. And why? We know The Committee will do Committee things and rank teams in an odd way and then try to justify it. I’m sure if Ohio State lost they would drop maybe three spots because it feels like The Committee wants them in the College Football Playoff. I get they have to look at a whole season of work but it’s the same shit every year. I still think the first rankings should be no earlier than before the final regular season week but I know that will never happen. If it did, what would ESPN talk about?
OK enough of that. It’s time for this week’s schedule and the continuation of FOOTBALL EVERY DAY!
Tuesday
US
Canada
Eastern Michigan at Akron
7:00 PM
Ohio at Miami-OH
7:30 PM
Ball State at Toledo
8:00 PM
More Tuesday night MACtion! Toledo can essentially clinch the MAC West if they can beat the Cardinals here.
UPDATE: As per reader Gordo, it looks like the Ball State-Toledo game isn’t on the specialty pack.
Wednesday
US
Canada
Kent State at Bowling Green
7:00 PM
Buffalo at Central Michigan
7:00 PM
Northern Illinois at Western Michigan
7:00 PM
Still MACtion but maybe not as MACtiony as the previous night’s MACtion.
UPDATE #2: Ugh, both ESPN games aren’t appearing on the specialty pack. Not a good start to MACtion this week for specialty pack subscribers.
Thursday
US
Canada
Tulsa at Memphis
7:30 PM
Georgia Southern at Louisiana
7:30 PM
Woof. Well it’s technically college football so I will watch.
Friday
US
Canada
East Carolina at Cincinnati
8:00 PM
Fresno State at UNLV
10:30 PM
Cincinnati has a fairly meaningful game here if they want to keep in the American Conference/Cotton Bowl hunt. And, interestingly enough, the late game also could be big as both Fresno State and UNLV still have division title aspirations. Yes, UNLV.
Oh, you may have noticed I have not included FOX Sports One listings here. I decided to stop that practice since, really, unless you have a specific setup you can’t get the games here. Doesn’t help that I missed listing the late night FS1 game last week so I am already getting into the habit of forgetting them in these posts.
UPDATE #3: Good lord this is ridiculous. On the TSN website it still shows ECU-Cincy. Every other guide I am looking at, it says that TSN2 will now be showing, get this, Women’s Aussie Rules football. I don’t get it. I just don’t get it. Anyway, it looks like it is appearing on the specialty pack instead so at least it’s probably been moved there (unless the specialty packs fuck that up as well). Stupid TSN. Thanks to readers Gordo and Mike pointing out that they couldn’t see the game on their guide.
Saturday Early
US
Canada
#20 Notre Dame vs. Navy (in Baltimore)
Noon
Pittsburgh at Virginia
Noon
Rutgers at Michigan State
Noon
Missouri at #5 Tennessee
Noon
#19 Liberty at UConn
Noon
#7 LSU at Arkansas
Noon
Purdue at #21 Illinois
Noon
SMU at USF
Noon
Indiana at #2 Ohio State
Noon
Vanderbilt at Kentucky
Noon
One of UConn’s final two chances at bowl eligibility comes here. Unfortunately, it’s against a ranked Liberty team. This may still end up being one of the best games CBS Sports Network has had all year. As for the main network, it’s their doubleheader that includes a Noon game. It means they only get the fourth choice of games out of the SEC for the early affair. Can’t give whoever the #2 guy at CBS is a good game!
Notre Dame may still have an outside shot at the New Year’s Six. It would take a lot of chaos but we know how The Committee feels about them so they win their last three and win them big (a tall order for sure) they could sneak in. That has to start in this neutral-site affair against the Middies.
So normally I peruse ESPN to get rankings for the teams for the posts. Normally this isn’t an issue but late in the season it becomes one. According to the schedule currently on the site, it lists Tennessee at #1. We know that isn’t the case but they use the College Football Playoff rankings rather than the AP poll once it comes out. And the CFP poll doesn’t get revealed until Tuesday night, after the week of games starts. So I will be using the AP poll for the rest of the regular season. So if you see the rankings here don’t jive with what they look like on Saturday, there’s your answer.
UPDATE #4: TSN has switched from LSU-Arkansas to Purdue-Illinois. Why? Because fuck you, that’s why.
Saturday Afternoon
US
Canada
Nebraska at #3 Michigan
3:30 PM
Boston College at #17 NC State
3:30 PM
Northwestern at Minnesota
3:30 PM
#10 Alabama at #11 Ole Miss
3:30 PM
New Mexico at Air Force
3:30 PM
Louisville at #12 Clemson
3:30 PM
#22 UCF at #16 Tulane
3:30 PM
Iowa State at Oklahoma State
3:30 PM
Maryland at #14 Penn State
3:30 PM
Army at Troy
3:30 PM
Arizona State at Washington State
3:30 PM
South Carolina at Florida
4:00 PM
There was a time when TSN really started ramping up the amount of games they would show around this time of the year. Not so. Sure, they have a quadrupleheader on TSN2 but that’s it. Nothing else. I just think they have contracts with way too many sports that college football gets lost in the shuffle.
Anyway, this could be a huge week for Bama haters because if they lose this one to Ole Miss it would be catastrophic. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Tulane is on ESPN2 during the regular season in a big matchup for the first time in…well I’m sure it’s a long time. Win and they take a stranglehold of one spot in the AAC Championship.
Saturday Primetime
US
Canada
Wyoming at Colorado State
7:00 PM
#1 Georgia at Mississippi State
7:00 PM
#24 Washington at #6 Oregon
7:00 PM
#4 TCU at #18 Texas
7:30 PM
#15 North Carolina at Wake Forest
7:30 PM
Southern Miss at Coastal Carolina
7:30 PM
Texas A&M at Auburn
7:30 PM
#25 Florida State at Syracuse
8:00 PM
TCU and Oregon aren’t just playing for themselves but could be playing for their conference’s CFP hopes as well, especially in the case of TCU since past them, there really isn’t a contender at all. UGA needs to avoid a letdown after that huge win over Tennessee so their pass defense better be ready for Will Rogers to throw the ball about 80 times. Finally, surprising UNC can pretty much punch their ticket to Charlotte and a date with Clemson if they can win in Winston-Salem.
Saturday Late Night
US
Canada
California at Oregon State
9:00 PM
Boise State at Nevada
10:30 PM
Stanford at #13 Utah
10:30 PM
Arizona at #9 UCLA
10:30 PM
FOX QUADRUPLEHEADER ALERT! For the second time this season we get a FOX quadruplehader of college football. Love that FOX is upping their game this season. Two important Pac-12 games, one important Mountain West game and a game involving California. There you go.
Big Games O’ The Week
Alabama at Ole Miss (3:30, CBS) – This is an SEC West elimination match. Tell someone that two months ago and they’d laugh in your face. Bama might be in panic mode as another loss probably leaves them out of the NY6 which would be massive. Both teams are chasing LSU but need some help from the Tigers in the form of the Tigers shitting the bed at some point down the stretch.
TCU at Texas (7:30, ABC) – I mentioned this above but the Big XII’s CFP chances really do ride on TCU winning this game (and winning out, really). If the Longhorns win this, and they are talented enough to do so, you can kiss the conference’s chances goodbye.
North Carolina at Wake Forest (7:30, specialty pack) – One of the stories that seems to be ignored this season is what Mack Brown and the Tar Heels are doing. 8-1, in complete control of the ACC Coastal, and with a good shot at the New Year’s Six if they win their last three regular season games. No one is talking about them! A win here and they basically clinch the division. Wake is just playing for a better bowl game now.
UCF at Tulane (3:30, specialty pack) – The Green Wave on the other hand are not being ignored. Many pushed for College Gameday to go to New Orleans (which I think would have been a good idea). All the other two-loss teams in the Group of Five are watching this game closely this weekend (that being Cincinnati, UTSA, San Jose State, Troy and South Alabama) along with one-loss Coastal Carolina. A Tulane loss here brings those teams back into the fold to have at least a sliver of hope to go to the Cotton Bowl. If Tulane wins and goes to 9-1 it’s pretty much game over for most of those teams (unless they lay an egg in their final two games). For the Knights, a win here may actually put them in the driver’s seat for the Group of Five NY6 spot. A lot at stake. Yeah, I think they should have sent Gameday to Nawlins.
Washington at Oregon (7:00, FOX) – In all the hoopla surrounding the Battle for Los Angeles between Pac-12 turncoats UCLA and USC, some have forgotten that the Ducks are right there with those two teams. Win out and they have a legitimate shot at the College Football Playoff. They cannot sleep on the Huskies though. They’ve been better than advertised and Kalen Deboer just wins everywhere he goes. Could be a low-key great game.
Maryland at Penn State (3:30, FOX) – The Terps are finally playing as well as their recruiting classes said they would. Mike Locksley is finally making things work in the DMV. Saying that, these are the kinds of games Maryland has to win and has never been able to do since joining the Big Ten. A statement win is needed. And what a statement it would be since the Nittany Lions have a relatively good chance at a New Year’s Six bowl if they can run the table the rest of the way.
Psycho Game of the Week
SMU at USF (Noon, specialty pack) – First of all, I will not call this the Sickos Game of the Week. Do I enjoy the Sickos Committee Twitter account? Absolutely. But Sickos content is their thing. I won’t steal it. Besides, I think it makes just as much sense to call you a psycho for watching this abomination. USF just fired Jeff Scott, though, so they should come out and give the Mustangs all sorts of problems. Seriously this is an easy one to avoid.
Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week
Missouri at Tennessee (Noon, CBS) – I am not making the same mistake I did last week. I picked Ohio State to mop the floor with Northwestern and they barely beat the Wildcats. Sure, there was bad weather but come on, the Buckeyes played like shit. So even though I think they will beat Indiana to a pulp, I am going with another Noon game. I think the Vols are going to come into this game angry and wanting to prove a point. Poor Mizzou is going to take this one on the chin.
The Degenerate Portion of Our Show
Look, are these picks of the same quality as The Committee’s rankings for the College Football Playoff? Eh, it’s debatable.
Miami-OH (+2.5) over Ohio (and the outright win!)
Kent State (-2.5) over Bowling Green
Liberty (-14.5) over UConn
Rutgers (+10) over Michigan State (RU will cover the spread but won’t win)
Virginia Tech (+9.5) over Duke (Duke will win, however)
Kentucky (-18) over Vanderbilt
Army (+9) over Troy (The Black Knights cover but don’t win)
Air Force (-22) over New Mexico
Clemson (-7) over Louisville
Ole Miss (+11.5) over Alabama (Bama will win outright)
Wyoming (-8.5) over Colorado State
Wake Forest (-3.5) over North Carolina
Stanford (+24) over Utah (Utes will win relatively easily)
There you go! I will keep a watch on potential specialty pack changes but I don’t foresee any. It gets a bit difficult having to do the schedule so early but I make due…I think. Have a great rest of the week everyone and enjoy the games!
The fun-time coaching carousel has been filling up a bit earlier this year. None of us are used to this many coaches being shitcanned this early on. We are just into October and many of the good horses (or the one cool love seat thing that seems to be on every carousel) are going fast. And the tickets are EXPENSIVE.
This week it started with Karl Dorrell getting fired at Colorado which is no surprise because Colorado is easily the worst Power Five team out there. No team is close to their ineptitude so far this season. But the real bombshell came later the same day when Paul Chryst, he of the 67-26 record, seven straight winning seasons before this year, six bowl victories, and two New Year’s Six triumphs, was fired by Wisconsin. I knew he might be in a bit of trouble but that was shocking. And his buyout? Remember I talked about the tickets on this carousel being expensive? Yeah, his cost is around $11 million. My god. These buyout clauses are just completely absurd now and mean nothing to these schools anymore.
Anyway, this actually may be strategic on Wisky’s part. Jim Leonhard is the interim head coach and the prevailing sentiment is that they want to see what he can do over the final seven games of the season. If he can turn the ship around, there’s a good chance he will be named the permanent replacement. If not, well he had more than half a season and that would be enough of a barometer to know they have to send a Brinks truck to Lance Leipold’s house as soon as possible after the season ends.
I know, the coaching carousel is interesting. I wouldn’t call it fun. That would be a bit morbid. But enough of that; it’s schedule time and it starts on Wednesday this week and it’s not MACtion!
Wednesday
US
Canada
SMU at UCF
7:00 PM
Tonight, we only have the one game. Technically this is a Week 5 game but the Mustangs and Knights both have this week as a bye week so you can all it a Week 6 game if you want. This is rescheduled because of Hurricane Ian.
Friday
US
Canada
Harvard at Cornell
7:00 PM
Nebraska at Rutgers
7:00 PM
Houston at Memphis
7:30 PM
Colorado State at Nevada
10:00 PM
UNLV at San Jose State
10:30 PM
Is the highlight here the Nebraska-Rutgers game? Sure, I guess. The Huskers could be in the first in the Big Ten West for about 17 hours if they win this one. Speaking of that game, it’s the first of a doubleheader with three-hour fucking windows. Stupid FS1. I hope the early game goes to 16 overtimes now.
Dana Holgorsen might be on the hot seat if the Cougs don’t beat Memphis, Jay Norvell is hating life in Fort Collins and UNLV continues to try to look like a contender in the Mountain West! Makes up for the night before where there is no college football. It’s like they don’t want to compete with the NFL anymore. I mean it’s not a bad idea.
Saturday Early
US
Canada
Texas vs. Oklahoma (in Dallas)
Noon
Louisville at Virginia
Noon
Purdue at Maryland
Noon
Eastern Michigan at Western Michigan
Noon
#8 Tennessee at #25 LSU
Noon
Missouri at Florida
Noon
#4 Michigan at Indiana
Noon
#17 TCU at #19 Kansas
Noon
Arkansas at #23 Mississippi State
Noon
A couple of good ones here with UT-LSU and Gameday going to Lawrence before TCU plays Kansas. It’s too bad they decided to go to that football hotbed of Bloomington, Indiana for Big Noon Saturday rather than Kansas. What the hell was FOX thinking? Oh that’s right…they’re hard for the Big Ten.
How about the Red River Shootout having both teams come in unranked? I’m sure if I went to ESPN’s website it would tell me the last time this happened but I have a feeling it was a looooooooooooooooooong time ago. We also have a couple potential sneaky-good games with Arkansas-MSU and Purdue-Maryland. So a relatively loaded start to the day.
Saturday Afternoon
US
Canada
Virginia Tech at Pittsburgh
3:30 PM
Wisconsin at Northwestern
3:30 PM
Auburn at #2 Georgia
3:30 PM
Tulsa at Navy
3:30 PM
East Carolina at Tulane
3:30 PM
#11 Utah at #18 UCLA
3:30 PM
Texas Tech at #7 Oklahoma State
3:30 PM
#3 Ohio State at Michigan State
4:00 PM
North Carolina at Miami
4:00 PM
#21 Washington at Arizona State
4:00 PM
#9 Ole Miss at Vanderbilt
4:00 PM
For some reason the ABC afternoon game starts at 4:00. I don’t remember the last time that has happened. I mean it all comes out in the wash anyway but it’s odd this has happened this weekend for no rhyme or reason. CBS was hoping Auburn would have won last week to set up the AU-UGA game with both teams ranked. Alas, it was not to be and I have this feeling this will be an absolute drubbing.
I find it odd that Utah-UCLA, a game between two very good teams, is the FOX afternoon game which is basically the third best game most of the time in the FOX tripleheader. I would have thought it was heading to ABC in primetime. Again, the Pac-12 seems to be getting shafted and if things don’t change, we may have to get used to less coverage from that conference in this area.
Saturday Primetime
US
Canada
Wyoming at New Mexico
7:00 PM
Air Force at Utah State
7:00 PM
James Madison at Arkansas State
7:00 PM
#5 Clemson at Boston College
7:30 PM
Iowa at Illinois
7:30 PM
#20 Kansas State at Iowa State
7:30 PM
Washington State at #6 USC
7:30 PM
#16 BYU vs. Notre Dame (in Las Vegas)
7:30 PM
South Carolina at #13 Kentucky
7:30 PM
Florida State at #14 NC State
8:00 PM
Texas A&M at #1 Alabama
8:00 PM
Not as big as the early sked but still pretty darn good. This is the one primetime game the SEC on CBS has and it’s….well, not as good as CBS had hoped for. The Aggies have been a major disappointment and the Tide are dominant. This could be over by 10:00.
BYU has a massive game in Vegas. A must-win for them. Lose this and it’s pretty much the Hawaii Bowl on Christmas Eve. Win and they stay alive for a New Year’s Six spot. Clemson-BC is a special game in Boston as it’s the Red Bandana Game. It’s in honour of Welles Crowther, a former BC lacrosse player who headed a rescue effort on 9/11 and got a lot of people rescued. He was known for wearing a red bandana and that’s what one of the people who were saved that day saw from the guy heading up the building when everyone was escaping down. Good to see this game in a huge national spotlight.
Finally, James Madison has a national game. Sure it’s the NFL Network but the Dukes are undefeated in their first FBS season. They really need to get rid of that archaic rule that says teams can’t qualify for a bowl game in their first season in FBS, transitioning up from FCS.
Saturday Late Night
US
Canada
#12 Oregon at Arizona
9:00 PM
Fresno State at Boise State
9:45 PM
Hawaii at San Diego State
10:30 PM
Oregon State at Stanford
11:00 PM
This is….not a good late night schedule. Which means something wacky is coming our way. That’s the way it works in college football. I don’t make the rules.
TSN has their first quadrupleheader of the season which is always nice to see, especially for the non-specialty pack people. And let’s discuss the ESPN schedule this week. Early game. VERY late game. Nothing in between. What are they showing? Ah, that’s right. They have the Wild Card games in baseball this season. So as long as the second Wild Card game doesn’t go too far into extra innings, the Beavers-Cardinal game will start precisely at…11:00 eastern. This is almost as crazy as the Hawaii Test.
Big Games O’ The Week
Utah at UCLA (3:30, FOX) – Ya know, some people are going to bristle at this choice for top game of the week. Here are the facts: Utah is ranked #11 and is still the favourite to win the Pac-12 South. UCLA is ranked #18 and is undefeated. The winner here faces USC later in the season for the de facto Pac-12 South championship and, potentially a New Year’s Six or, dare I say it, College Football Playoff spot. So yeah, this is huge.
Tennessee at LSU (Noon, TSN3/TSN5) – Are the Vols for real (I refuse to ask if they are back…aw shit, I just did)? This is a big chance for them to prove it as the Tigers have started to claw their way back after a seriously shaky start under new head coach Jim Bob Brian Kelly. Tennessee can move up towards the Top 4 with a win here and an eventual showdown with Georgia. Maybe, LSU could put a scare in some teams…even…Bama? Wouldn’t that be something…that Saban would hate.
TCU at Kansas (Noon, FOX Sports One) – In your wildest imagination, did you think this could be one of the games of the week when this season started? No. No one did. Even TCU and Kansas fans thought that would be ridiculous. But here we are. Early October. Ranked TCU. Ranked Kansas. College Gameday in Lawrence. Its put up or shut up time for both teams. And man, if the Jayhawks pull this one out, they will be safely in the Top 15 and looking at heights that haven’t been seen around those parts since the magical 2007 season.
Florida State at NC State (8:00, specialty pack) – I’m sure many feel this is a game the Wolfpack will easily win to get back on track. This isn’t the Noles of the past five or six years though. These guys can play. I have a feeling this could very close. The ACC Network with a bit of a coup getting this one at this point of the season.
Washington State at USC (7:30, FOX) – A tiny bit surprised this didn’t end up on either ABC or ESPN but FOX gets a good primetime game here that actually will match up well with CBS’s offering. USC is on a roll and it feels like nothing will stop them. That’s why this is such a speed bump game for the Trojans. Win here and their game against Utah is probably one of the Games of the Year the following week.
Psycho Game of the Week
Wisconsin at Northwestern (3:30, Big Ten Network) – Another game where, at the start of the season, I never would have thought it would end up in this particular spot in the blog post. Northwestern is thankful that Colorado exists and Wisconsin has been a shell of its former self. Should be a fun one! And by fun, I mean horribly painful to watch.
Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week
Auburn at Georgia (3:30, CBS) – I have a feeling that this is going to get really bad, really fast for the Tigers. I also have a feeling that Bryan Harsin will not be fired after this one since everyone expects Auburn to get boatraced Between The Hedges.
Fun-Time Stats of the Week
Rutgers has lost all five of their meetings with Nebraska but every game the margin of victory has decreased. Last time they met, they only lost by 7.
Washington has lost the last seven times they traveled to Tempe to face Arizona State.
New Mexico has more wins over Wyoming than any other Mountain West team. They have beat the Cowboys 36 times.
The Degenerate Portion of Our Show
I made some picks last week. Some were good. I picked Illinois to cover the spread against Wisconsin. As for the rest don’t bother since I was horrible. Let’s just move on to this week’s picks that people should only use at Gamblers Anonymous meetings.
Nebraska (-3) over Rutgers
UNLV (+7) over San Jose State (SJSU will win in a close one)
Eastern Michigan (+5) over Western Michigan (WMU will win the battle for Directional Michigan though)
Oklahoma (+7) over Texas (and the outright victory)
Tennessee (-3) over LSU
Wisconsin (-10) over Northwestern
UCLA (+4.5) over Utah (but the Utes will win a very close affair)
Michigan State (+26.5) over Ohio State (but tOSU will win by approximately three touchdowns just to make it feel close for gamblers)
James Madison (-11.5) over Arkansas State
Wyoming (-3.5) over New Mexico
Iowa (+3.5) over Illinois (and the outright win)
Washington State (+13) over USC (Trojans win)
Oregon (-13) over Arizona
Alright we have the rare October Wednesday night game that doesn’t involve Sun Belt teams, nothing tomorrow night and then things really get into action on Friday. And it’s Thanksgiving this weekend! So enjoy the games and enjoy the turkey (or ham, if you don’t like turkey).
Alright, a little background info on your faithful blogger: I am an accountant and I also have a background in mathematics. Just figured I’d mention that at the start so when I say I am completely perplexed by the absolute stupidity of Trev Alberts and the Nebraska athletic department you know I come from a place of at least a bit of experience. When Trev decided to shitcan Scott Frost a few days ago rather than wait until October 1st, it cost the school an extra $7.5 million. Yes, I know, buyout clauses of that magnitude are stupid but that’s a conversation for another day. It’s just a waste of money, though. Like why bother? The season is shot. Let him coach three more games and then fire him during the postgame interview. Then hire whoever you want. But no, do it the dumb way. Maybe they can convince Bo Pelini and his dreadful four-loss seasons to return to Lincoln.
Enough of that nonsense. Let’s just get to the damn schedule while I wonder if anyone at Nebraska understands that more money is better than less.
Friday
US
Canada
Florida State at Louisville
7:30 PM
Air Force at Wyoming
8:00 PM
Two games tonight with one being slightly more important than the other. Florida State has a chance to go to 3-0 and put Scott Satterfield back on the hot seat which is actually a fireplace.
Saturday Early
US
Canada
Wofford at Virginia Tech
11:00 AM
UConn at #4 Michigan
Noon
WKU at Indiana
Noon
Southern Illinois at Northwestern
Noon
Villanova at Army
Noon
#1 Georgia at South Carolina
Noon
Purdue at Syracuse
Noon
Cincinnati vs. Miami-OH (in Paycor Stadium)
Noon
#6 Oklahoma at Nebraska
Noon
Texas State at #17 Baylor
Noon
Youngstown State at #9 Kentucky
Noon
Look there are no big games in this timeslot, I’ll be honest. But I will say I am a bit intrigued with the OU-NU game. Will this be an asskicking for the ages or will the Huskers come out fired up as they try to look good for whoever their new coach will be *COUGH*Urban Meyer*COUGH*. How UConn ends up in an ABC game every year stuns me but I can tell this week that there weren’t exactly a ton of options so I will give ABC a break; however, TSN does not get a break. This game is on TSN1 AND TSN4? What in the fuck? Put another game on TSN4, idiots.
Finally, you will notice we have MORNING COLLEJ FOOTBAW! The ACC Network is doing their annual four games in one day thing so they have to start early since I am sure no team would volunteer to start a game at 10PM local time. Although I could be wrong there.
Saturday Afternoon
US
Canada
Old Dominion at Virginia
2:00 PM
South Alabama at UCLA
2:00 PM
California at Notre Dame
2:30 PM
#20 Ole Miss at Georgia Tech
3:30 PM
New Mexico State at Wisconsin
3:30 PM
#22 Penn State at Auburn
3:30 PM
Vanderbilt at Northern Illinois
3:30 PM
Colorado at Minnesota
3:30 PM
#12 BYU at #25 Oregon
3:30 PM
Kansas at Houston
4:00 PM
UT-Martin at Boise State
4:00 PM
ULM at #2 Alabama
4:00 PM
Liberty at #19 Wake Forest
5:00 PM
Marshall at Bowling Green
5:00 PM
Colorado State at Washington State
5:00 PM
Cougs-Ducks is easily the biggest game in this timeslot. A few years ago, PSU-AU could have been but the Tigers aren’t exactly the Tigers of old. Also, this is Penn State’s first time on CBS in 22 years but it wasn’t even a national telecast. The last national telecast on CBS was a year earlier when they beat Miami in a great game.
Let’s see if Marcus Freeman can get his first win, if Kansas can stay undefeated and if ULM can stay within 50 of the Tide. Also, these three-hour windows. Not only is the ACC Network doing it but the Pac-12 Network is also doing it. Just stop. Start the games earlier if you have to, just enough of this nonsense. Unless you are Navy or Army or maybe Air Force you aren’t finishing a game in less than three hours.
Finally, Appalachian State basically stole the College Gameday host spot from Texas A&M with their upset win this past Saturday. I assume Gameday would have gone to College Station for the Aggies’ game against Miami but that was obviously not confirmed. Problem is, App State plays on ESPN+ this week. Couldn’t they have moved that game to ESPNU at least? Seems dumb to me.
Saturday Primetime
US
Canada
Mississippi State at LSU
6:00 PM
Texas Tech at #16 NC State
7:00 PM
Toledo at #3 Ohio State
7:00 PM
#11 Michigan State at Washington
7:30 PM
Maine at Boston College
7:30 PM
Nevada at Iowa
7:30 PM
UCF at Florida Atlantic
7:30 PM
#23 Pittsburgh at Western Michigan
7:30 PM
SMU at Maryland
7:30 PM
USF at #18 Florida
7:30 PM
Louisiana Tech at #5 Clemson
8:00 PM
Montana State at Oregon State
8:00 PM
Oh my god, MORE three-hour windows? It’s like the networks are trying to torture me. Nothing big here although we all remember what Western Michigan somehow did to Pitt last year, at Pitt. This year it’s in Kalamazoo so things could get wacky. I have noticed that the games on Bally haven’t been showing up on the specialty packs. I will have to watch for this and see if it continues. I would say I could ask a Rogers or Bell rep but that would be futile.
UPDATE: Looks like Maine-BC is not on the specialty pack anywhere. Interesting that now that it’s Bally Sports and not FOX Sports Network, the games aren’t appearing. Instead, UTSA-Texas appears. Where is that game? The Longhorn Network. I don’t get it. But there you go. Probably a better game to watch to be honest.
Saturday Late Night
US
Canada
#13 Miami at #24 Texas A&M
9:00 PM
San Diego State at #14 Utah
10:00 PM
Fresno State at #7 USC
10:30 PM
North Dakota State at Arizona
11:00 PM
Eastern Michigan at Arizona State
11:00 PM
You’re reading it correctly. FOX QUADRUPLEHEADER! This is such a glorious thing. I wish they did it more often but I understand networks’ need to go to local news at some point. I would say there is an Upset Alert in Tucson but would future Mountain West member NDSU beating Zona be a big upset?
Big Games O’ The Week
BYU at Oregon (3:30, FOX) – When is the last time BYU has been in the Game of the Week? Maybe when they scheduled a game with Coastal Carolina on a few minutes notice back in 20COVID. Oregon, and the Pac-12, could be in a heap of trouble here if they lose and there’s a good chance that could happen. The Cougs are looking to use this as a springboard to be ranked high enough to be picked for a New Year’s Six bowl, which won’t be easy this year.
Miami at Texas A&M (9:00, specialty pack) – Once the Aggies lost, they lost Gameday and the GOTW spot on this blog. The latter is definitely more important than the former. Miami feels like a team that, all of a sudden, not many people are talking about. You could see them make some real waves in the ACC and a win here would give their NY6 chances a boost and really hamper the Aggies’ chances.
Penn State at Auburn (3:30, CBS) – Penn State will soon be a regular on CBS but this is a rarity at this point. Auburn could put a massive dent into the Nittany Lions’ potential New Year’s Six hopes. An Auburn loss might make Bryan Harsin’s hot seat a little hotter for sure as this experiment hasn’t exactly worked out as planned.
Michigan State at Washington (7:30, ABC) – The Huskies are having a much better start than last year although that “effort” against Montana to start the 2021 season couldn’t have been worse. This could end up being an underrated game as I see Sparty maybe having some problems with the noise at Husky Stadium. And have you seen how steep the stands are there? Gives me memories of The Aud in Buffalo and the insanely steep upper deck they had.
Psycho Game of the Week
Vanderbilt at Northern Illinois (3:30, CBS Sports Network) – I mean I guess you could be kind of interested in the Dores potentially going to 3-1 which is something probably very few people predicted. But yeah, unless it’s close, hard pass.
Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week
UConn at Michigan (Noon, ABC/TSN1/TSN4) – I’ll say it again: TSN putting this game on two channels is moronic. I get it’s Michigan but this could be an epic blowout. I hope it is to be honest. Stupid TSN.
The Degenerate Portion of Our Show
Let’s see how I did last week. First pick was…..OK let’s skip this part. No, don’t go back and look at them. Let’s just move on. This week’s picks (against the spread)!
Cincinnati (-20.5) over Miami-OH
Oklahoma (-11.5)….-11.5? ELEVEN-AND-A-HALF? Alright then. Oklahoma (-11.5) over Nebraska
Western Kentucky (+6.5) over Indiana (but the Hoosiers to win)
Old Dominion (+10) over Virginia (Cavs will pull out the close win though)
Notre Dame (-10.5) over California
BYU (+3.5) over Oregon (Ducks win by a field goal)
Ole Miss (-16) over Georgia Tech
Houston (-10) over Kansas
Washington State (-16.5) over Colorado State
LSU (+2) over Mississippi State (and the outright win!)
NC State (-10.5) over Texas Tech
Michigan State (+3.5) over Washington (and an outright win)
Texas A&M (-5.5) over Miami
I am looking forward to another great weekend of college football. I’ll be on the Twitter machine for a good portion of the day. I’m trying to be healthier though so I can’t eat like I used to eat on these days. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it was some good food but I can’t eat as much of it. Enjoy the games everyone and enjoy your weekend!
The Memphis Tigers outlasted SMU this past weekend in a 54-48 thriller. This game was a ton of fun to watch and it shows again that the American Conference might be the most exciting conference in college football. The SEC might be the best. The Big XII has the best offenses/worst defenses and the ACC is completely chaotic (at least in one division). But the AAC always brings it, even if it’s just their signature games. The War on I-4 two years ago was the gold standard and there have been plenty of other examples. Now with SMU and Appalachian State falling from the realms of the undefeated (more on that below), the Group of Five is getting close to full chaos mode. Quite a few teams still with legitimate shots at the New Year’s Six spot open to the G-5 schools. At this point, however, you might have to say that Memphis is the favourite and if they win out they are definitely in. But there’s still a month of football yet to play so don’t want them to count their chickens before they hatch or some other cliche that some other media member might come up with.
Other recap points!
Speaking of beatdowns, how about the one that Michigan laid on Maryland? I mean it’s just Maryland but still, the Wolverines have looked dominant since starting their (failed) comeback against Penn State. Look don’t forget about this team. They could cause some serious damage in the College Football Playoff race. Until they beat Ohio State, though, Jim Harbaugh will still on be on an (undeserved) hot seat in Ann Arbor. Oh and remember when Maryland was ranked? Yeah, good times.
It ended up being a really good World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. As an aside, I get they don’t want to promote drinking for college students but let’s be honest here: half the people there were probably drunk so what does it really matter at this point? Just be honest with the fans. Anyway, the Gators couldn’t seem to stop the Bulldogs when it counted which has to lay at the feet of Todd Grantham. But the lasting image I will have will be Dan Mullen, not yelling at Grantham, but losing his shit on most of the offensive coaching staff for burning a timeout early in the fourth quarter. It wasn’t quite Muschamp-ian but still, it made for good TV.
The Pac-12 ain’t dead yet! Washington did what Washington does and blew an early lead to Utah. The Utes looked dominant after the Huskies took the early lead. Then they had to wait for the Oregon-USC game to see if they held their destiny in their hands or if the Trojans, of all teams, would sit in the catbird seat of the Pac-12 South. Well it didn’t take too long to see that the Ducks were easily the better team. They blew USC out of the water and probably ended the Clay Helton era in one fell swoop. We are going headlong into a Pac-12 Championship with 11-1 Oregon and 11-1 Utah and the winner could make things very difficult for the College Football Playoff Committee.
Notre Dame kept rolling along…ok rolling is the wrong word. They are doing terrible somersaults forward. They struggled all day with Bud Foster’s Virginia Tech defense. Not saying they looked like they did last week against Michigan but the Irish sure didn’t look like a Top 25 team, let alone a contender for the New Year’s Six. This won’t be Notre Dame’s last tough game as they have Duke, Navy, Boston College and Stanford to finish their season. Win every game, even if they’re close, and they deserve a NY6 spot.
Let’s go to the Big Ten and one of the big stories there…the Illinois Fighting Illini. Yes, seriously. OK they only beat Rutgers. Not a big deal per se. But Illinois is now one win away from being bowl-eligible. No one thought this would be the case. Maybe it was smart to give Lovie Smith that extension. This may be one of the most perplexingly good teams of the year. I always enjoy down on their luck teams turning it around to have one relatively special season, even if they head back to the basement shortly afterwards.
Oh Florida State? We thought two years ago was the bottom. Then it was last year that was the bottom and things were going to improve. Now, after their loss to Miami where they looked terrible, they have finally hit a new bottom (at least that’s what Noles fans hope). And to top it off, Willie Taggart was just fired today. This program needs someone to save it. Is there someone willing to take this on knowing the expectations on the program? It is an absolute mess in Tallahassee.
OK I will admit it: I drank the Nebraska hype Kool-aid. I truly thought Scott Frost had things going in Lincoln after the finish to their 2018 season. They also had Adrian Martinez who looked like a bona fide Heisman candidate. Well that’s all gone to shit now. The Huskers loss to Purdue (who is also way worse than many thought they would be) means they have to win two of their final three to go bowling. They have Wisconsin, Maryland and Iowa coming up. Good luck, Frosty.
Pitt beat Georgia Tech. Not really a big deal to beat the Yellow Jackets. But this means that Pitt might win the ACC Coastal again. Can we stomach that?
Let’s give some hype to a guy who should have some more Heisman chatter: Chuba Hubbard of Oklahoma State. First of all, he’s Canadian! It would be awesome to have a Canadian win the Heisman. But he is carrying the Pokes on his shoulders this season. And he is arguably the best running back not named Jonathan Taylor and Hubbard had been in the Big Ten, he would be on many Heisman lists. OSU is going to be going bowling and maybe in the Top 25, mostly due to this guy which is shocking considering that the Cowboys are known for their high-flying passing game.
I normally don’t talk about FCS games in this post but did you see the end of the Dartmouth-Harvard game? A crazy Hail Mary winner by the Big Green to beat the Crimson 9-6. This also keeps Dartmouth undefeated and sets up the unusual next week. Dartmouth plays Princeton, in Yankee Stadium, and this game will be on at 3:30 on ESPNU. Yes, an Ivy League game in November is getting a national broadcast spot. That’s pretty awesome.
Air Force has been quite the team this season. There is a good chance they will win at least ten games and still won’t be in the Mountain West Championship or in the NY6 chatter. They held on to beat Army in a Commander’s-In-Chief Trophy game. What followed was hilarious. Army football’s Twitter account actually blocked Air Force’s football account. See, even the service academies get into this petty rivalry stuff and I love it.
UCF beat Houston (also known from here on in as Redshirt U) and it honestly looked pretty easy. What I find odd is that people still believe the Knights could make the New Year’s Six. For that to happen, the amount of chaos that would have to occur would be monumental. I mean I would love watching it but still, the chances are VERY slim.
Don’t forget about San Diego State in the Group of Five race. They were idle this past week but with only one loss they are right in the thick of things. They have almost certainly clinched the Mountain West West Division and if they can beat Boise State for the conference championship, they have the resume to be selected.
Baylor played like a team who was barely an average Big XII game for most of Saturday. Yes they beat West Virginia and yes it means they stay undefeated but three point victories over the Mountaineers don’t exactly scream College Football Playoff contender. They get a possible speed bump game in Fort Worth against TCU this Saturday. Win that and they have one of the biggest games of the year against Oklahoma (and I wonder if Gameday would travel to Waco for this one).
Hey guess who holds their own destiny in the Pac-12 North? You guessed it, the Oregon State Beavers. I know, right? They put a pink bill (50-burger) up on Arizona this past weekend and now sit at 3-2 in the conference. If they win out, they go to the Pac-12 Championship. How ridiculous would that be? I mean they would have to beat Oregon in the Civil War so chances of it happening are almost none but it would be fun to even see them in that position to do so.
Kansas State won pretty easily over Kansas. Chris Klieman has done a masterful job in the Little Apple and they are just on the outside of the Big XII title game race. Don’t be surprised if they can somehow sneak in. But let’s give Les Miles some kudos here for what he has done in Lawrence. The Jayhawks have hope now going forward. They may not be the doormat of the Big XII for much longer and Miles has a lot to do with that.
Going back to the service academies, it looks like Navy is having the season Army was supposed to have and vice versa. Ken Niumatalolo doing a great job with the Midshipmen in a bounce back year after last season’s horrible results. They have to be the favourite in the Army-Navy game now and might win it for the first time in a few years.
That was a fun weekend of college football. Now for the Bossman Top 25!
#1
LSU
#2
Ohio State
#3
Alabama
#4
Georgia
#5
Utah
#6
Oregon
#7
Clemson
#8
Penn State
#9
Baylor
#10
Auburn
#11
Michigan
#12
Oklahoma
#13
Florida
#14
Minnesota
#15
Notre Dame
#16
Iowa
#17
Cincinnati
#18
Wisconsin
#19
Memphis
#20
Wake Forest
#21
Boise State
#22
Kansas State
#23
SMU
#24
Texas
#25
Indiana
Yes I have Alabama at #3 behind LSU and Ohio State. If the Tide win this Saturday then they are going to be #1 come this time next week, no ifs, ands or buts. Clemson I have dropped to #7. Don’t worry Tigers fans: win out and there’s no way you’re out of the CFP. Penn State is at #8 and still could end up left out of the Big Ten Championship. Florida and SMU didn’t fall far considering who they lost to. Also, watch out for Indiana. They are severely underrated and could sneak it’s way up the chain and be looking at a New Year’s Six spot. Sounds crazy but it is still technically possible.
OK it’s that time of year folks! MACtion Tuesdays. And MACtion Wednesdays! Tomorrow night will see Kent State face Toledo and the top of the MAC West, Ball State, travelling to Western Michigan to take on the Broncos. KSU-Toledo is on CBSSN and BSU-WMU goes to the specialty pack. Wednesday night’s game is also on the specialty pack and is the 150th Anniversary of college football so expect a lot of history and nostalgia to be discussed during the game. Miami-OH plays Ohio if you want to know the combatants.
Also the first CFP Rankings of the season will be revealed tomorrow night between the two NCAA basketball games on TSN1. It might be delayed depending on how long the first college basketball game goes. Oh yeah college basketball starts up again as well. So there’s that. Tomorrow I will have a crazy bowl projections post. Do not take it seriously. Have a great week everyone!
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