Tag Archives: Illini

Thanksgiving. Footballgasm. Let’s Do This!

Posted on by
2

The 2023 version of Footballgasm has arrived! Get ready for an absolute fuck-ton of college football and NFL football from Thursday through to Monday night. Why does this happen? Americans need something to do while they let all that food settle in their stomachs. I mean our Thanksgiving comes first and is pretty good but we really missed the mark. Take out green bean casserole and there’s very little to dislike about American Thanksgiving.

Alright time to unleash the college football schedule for this week, the final week of the regular season. This is done in traditional Bossman’s Blog American Thanksgiving style. Every game is listed. Some are not important. Some are very important. But every game gets their own section. College football deserves it (for the most part).

Tuesday

Bowling Green (-1.5) at Western Michigan7:00

Does this mean anything? No. But it’s the final night of MACtion so enjoy it. Predicted score: Western Michigan 27 Bowling Green 24.

Eastern Michigan (+6.5) at Buffalo7:30

Now this game is more important…well, at least for one team. The Eagles can become bowl eligible with a win here. The Bulls are just here to try and play spoiler. Predicted score: Buffalo 31 Eastern Michigan 21.

Thursday

#12 Ole Miss (-11) at Mississippi State7:30

The Rebels are juuuuuuuuuuuust on the outside looking in at the New Year’s Six. Could they leapfrog Missouri or Penn State without those two teams losing? It’s doubtful but they could strengthen their case by putting a beating on Mississippi State. Predicted score: Ole Miss 34 Mississippi State 30.

Friday

Miami (-9) at Boston CollegeNoon

Miami destroyed any chance of doing anything this season, mostly with piss-poor coaching (although Tyler Van Dyke seriously regressed this season). The Eagles on the other hand, they played much better than expected and Jeff Hafley has saved his job. Predicted score: Miami 38 Boston College 15.

#17 Iowa (+2) at NebraskaNoon

Big game here for the Huskers. Win and they are bowl-eligible in Matt Rhule’s first season in Lincoln. Maybe, just maybe, the sun is finally shining on Huskerland for the first time in quite a few years. To do that, though, they will have to upset the Hawkeyes who have defied every odd and probably some theories of offensive football to become Big Ten West champs. Take the under (even though the over/under is a record-low 26.5). Predicted score: Iowa 14 Nebraska 7.

Ohio (-14) at AkronNoon

Ohio can win their ninth game of the season which is pretty impressive. Unfortunately, it won’t be enough to win the division. Akron is hoping to stay out of double digits in the loss column. Predicted score: Ohio 30 Akron 10.

Memphis (-11.5) at TempleNoon

Memphis lost their shot at a potential American Conference championship spot last weekend. So really, this means nothing. Predicted score: Memphis 31 Temple 7.

Toledo (-10.5) at Central MichiganNoon

The Rockets will need a win and a lot of help to somehow sneak into the New Year’s Six. The Chips are trying to get to their sixth win. Actually, quite a bit at stake here. Predicted score: Toledo 34 Central Michigan 16.

TCU (+10) at #13 OklahomaNoon

Huge game here for the Sooners. An Oklahoma win and they still have a shot at going to JerryWorld one last time, much to the chagrin of the rest of the Big XII members. TCU isn’t going to lie down for them, though. They have to win to go bowling. Predicted score: TCU 38 Oklahoma 26.

UTSA (+3) at #23 Tulane3:30

Tulane gets to eleven wins with a win here. More importantly, a win here puts them in the AAC Championship game and makes them the favourite to go back to the New Year’s Six. I am honestly shocked that no team has taken a flyer on Willie Fritz, despite his age. A Roadrunners win doesn’t eliminate the Green Wave either although they would need some help from Navy. A UTSA win would put them in the conference championship and would finish one of the best conference moves (outside the Sun Belt) in recent memory. Predicted score: Tulane 29 UTSA 24.

Utah State (-7.5) at New Mexico3:30

The Aggies go bowling if they beat the Lobos. A UNM win would put them at five for the season which, honestly, would probably save Danny Gonzales’ job and constitute one of their better seasons in a long time. Predicted score: Utah State 49 New Mexico 31.

#9 Missouri (-7.5) at Arkansas4:00

Mizzou locks themselves into the New Year’s Six if they can defeat the lowly Hogs. Sam Pittman has already been retained for next year so no surprise shitcanning in Fayetteville like Bret Bielema got a few years back. Predicted score: Missouri 33 Arkansas 14.

Texas Tech (+13) at #7 Texas7:30

A massive game for the Longhorns. There is honestly so much on the line here. The most important being a spot in the final four-team College Football Playoff. It’s within their grasp but they have to stop allowing teams to stick around in games. The Red Raiders, on the other hand, are playing for one thing since they are already bowl eligible: spoiling the Horns’ entire season. Predicted score: Texas 31 Texas Tech 17.

#11 Penn State (-21) vs. Michigan State (in Detroit)7:30

Do the Nittany Lions deserve to be in a New Year’s Six bowl? It’s debatable but at this point, a win probably clinches a spot unless Ole Miss goes nuts on Mississippi State the night before. The Spartans just want to end one of the most miserable seasons in their program’s history, on and off the field. Predicted score: Penn State 49 Michigan State 28.

#16 Oregon State (+13.5) at #6 Oregon8:30

The Ducks want a rematch with Washington for the Pac-12 Championship. The Beavers just want to spoil Oregon’s season as all teams do in rivalry games. Predicted score: Oregon 44 Oregon State 29.

Saturday Early

Kentucky (+7) at #10 LouisvilleNoon

Louisville needs a win to keep their slim CFP hopes alive. That alone will make this game interesting. Kentucky has no stakes other than maybe trying not to lose too badly so that Mark Stoops can be guaranteed for 2024. Predicted score: Louisville 31 Kentucky 10.

Pittsburgh (+6) at DukeNoon

Duke is already going bowling and are middle of the ACC standings. Pitt is pretty awful (other than playing lights out against Louisville) and are looking forward to the offseason. A lot of better options in this window. Predicted score: Duke 20 Pittsburgh 7.

Indiana (+3) at PurdueNoon

The Old Oaken Bucket. Even with this being a rivalry game, it’s really not worth watching. Predicted score: Purdue 32 Indiana 13.

Miami-OH (-6.5) at Ball StateNoon

Redhawks are in. Cardinals are out. Let’s see if Mike Neu finally gets the axe like I’ve predicted for a few seasons now. Predicted score: Miami-OH 30 Ball State 28.

Texas A&M (+10.5) at #14 LSUNoon

For two good teams (OK one quite good team and one OK team), this game does not mean a whole lot. The Aggies are bowling and playing under an interim coach. LSU would need a damn miracle to get into the New Year’s Six so should start packing for a Florida bowl game. Predicted score: LSU 45 Texas A&M 31.

Navy (+20) at SMUNoon

Now with TSN pushing a lot to TSN+, games like this will almost never make it to the regular TSN channels again which sucks for people who don’t subscribe. It feels like it has finally come to the point where you have to either get one off the specialty packs, get TSN+ or go the IPTV route to see as much college football as you want as a Canadian. Anyway, Navy has two shots to go bowling and would like to close that out here. The Mustangs are in the American Championship with a win in Big D. Predicted score: SMU 48 Navy 20.

Troy (-17) at Southern MissNoon

Troy has no shot at the New Year’s Six and is already hosting the Sun Belt Championship. Southern Miss is home for the holidays. Meh. Predicted score: Troy 23 Southern Miss 8.

#2 Ohio State (+3.5) at #3 MichiganNoon

Another huge version of The Game. Not a total surprise. The winner is in the Big Ten Championship and all but guarantees a spot in the playoff. And just like last year, the loser isn’t out with a loss depending on what happens on conference championship weekend. If GUS JOHNSON would ever pass out from lack of oxygen, this would be the game he would do it in. Predicted score: Michigan 28 Ohio State 24.

Saturday Afternoon

Wake Forest (+3) at Syracuse2:00

The two worst teams in the ACC but it’s still important for one team. The Orange need a win here to somehow become bowl eligible. Wake would be just outside at five wins if they win here and could nab a spot due to their great APR score if it comes down to that. Predicted score: Syracuse 35 Wake Forest 15.

Southern vs. Grambling (in New Orleans)2:00

Prairie View A&M has already clinched the SWAC West so this means nothing for either team other than bragging rights: both for the football teams and the bands. Predicted score: Southern 23 Grambling 18.

Colorado (+22) at Utah3:00

Utah has been very good considering the sheer amount of injuries that team sustained. The Buffaloes season finally ends after the most hype ever given to a one-win team before the season began (and well into the season as well). Predicted score: Utah 39 Colorado 17.

BYU (+17.5) at #20 Oklahoma State3:30

BYU needs to win here to be in a bowl game. It would be a pretty big upset if they did, but hey, crazier things have happened. The Pokes are holding on to an outside shot at the Big XII Championship. They need to win and have a few other things go their way but again, it’s not impossible. Predicted score: BYU 49 Oklahoma State 31.

Virginia Tech (-3) at Virginia3:30

Last year’s Commonwealth Cup was cancelled after the murders of three Virginia players. Just having this game will bring back quite a few emotions I’m sure for the Cavs. For the Hokies, they can do the improbable and become bowl eligible if they beat their rivals. Predicted score: Virginia 40 Virginia Tech 35.

Northwestern (+6) at Illinois3:30

If you had told me at the start of the season that this game would have Northwestern already going bowling and the Illini fighting for their bowl lives, I would have thought you had just went to a cannabis shop for the first time in your life and ate a few too many edibles. But here we are. The Wildcats have been amazing considering their offseason. David Braun has done a masterful job in Evanston. Bret Bielema on the other hand is still at the helm of a struggling Illini team. He will make it to 2024 but a loss here will put him on a much shorter leash. Predicted score: Illinois 31 Northwestern 23.

Maryland (-1.5) at Rutgers3:30

I have this game showing in most homes in this area. I have no idea what will happen. Hell, I have Big Ten Network and three alternate BTNs and even then, one game usually gets left out for everyone. Why do they do this when they honestly don’t have to? Anyway, both teams are going bowling so are looking for momentum heading into the postseason and nothing else. Predicted score: Maryland 20 Rutgers 17.

#8 Alabama (-14.5) at Auburn3:30

How close can the Tigers keep this game? The spread honestly seems way too low. Don’t even bother talking about an upset. Kind of a dud for the final SEC on CBS regular season game if you ask me. Now watch it be close deep into the fourth quarter. Predicted score: Alabama 41 Auburn 21.

#25 Liberty (-17) at UTEP3:30

In what is feeling like a broken record, here’s another game that means very little. Sure, the Flames can finish an undefeated season with a win over the terrible Miners. Problem is they need quite a bit of help to get that coveted NY6 spot. I just can’t see it happening. Predicted score: Liberty 38 UTEP 20.

#15 Arizona (-11.5) at Arizona State3:30

ASU is already home for the Christmas holidays. The Wildcats have to win here and hope Oregon has already lost the Civil War. So we will know going in whether this game means anything or not. Predicted score: Arizona 23 Arizona State 13.

James Madison (-9) at Coastal Carolina3:30

Big game in the Sun Belt and unfortunately only for one team. The Dukes are almost guaranteed a bowl slot after all the bowl eligible teams get their spots. For the Chants, because of JMU’s ineligibility for the Sun Belt title, they win this and they will face Troy for the Sun Belt Championship. Predicted score: James Madison 42 Coastal Carolina 24.

Georgia Southern (+8.5) at Appalachian State3:30

The Mountaineers will be scoreboard-watching and trying to pay attention to the task at hand. Not easy for sure. If CCU can’t beat JMU then App State, with a win, will head to Troy and face the Trojans as the champions of the Sun Belt East. Predicted score: Appalachian State 26 Georgia Southern 10.

Vanderbilt (+27) at #21 Tennessee3:30

This would have been at least a bit more humourous being played at Vanderbilt’s stadium with their ongoing construction issues. Predicted score: Tennessee 49 Vanderbilt 21.

Washington State (+16.5) at #4 Washington4:00

The Apple Cup continues to produce high drama. The Huskies’ dream season could come crashing down if they get upset by the Cougs. Wazzu has to win to become bowl-eligible. This should nab a lot of viewers until it gets out of hand. Predicted score: Washington 52 Washington State 17.

Saturday Primetime

#5 Florida State (-6.5) at Florida7:00

If this had been discussed a week ago the spread might have been over 20 points. Instead, we will find out if the Noles can continue their success without Jordan Travis. The Gators could do the improbable by going bowling with a win here. Predicted score: Florida State 36 Florida 27.

South Alabama (-6) at Texas State7:00

Two teams that are already bowl-eligible here. Good for them but it means that the NFL Network’s final game of the year will not get a whole lot of viewers. Predicted score: South Alabama 20 Texas State 14.

#18 Notre Dame (-26) at Stanford7:00

I’m sorry but this is fucking hilarious. The final Pac-12 Network football game ever and it will feature Notre Dame. NOTRE DAME. Irish fans are going to be so damn pissed off trying to find a way to watch this. That alone makes this fun. Not quite worth watching a lot of but still, you’ll be seeing history at the end as the worst conference network closes its football doors for good. Predicted score: Notre Dame 42 Stanford 32.

#1 Georgia (-24) at Georgia Tech7:30

A little Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate. I love some of the names of these rivalries. There might be a bit of intrigue to see if UGA can cap off another undefeated regular season but other than that, you can avoid this one. Predicted score: Georgia 34 Georgia Tech 10.

Kansas (-6) at Cincinnati7:30

Kansas is pretty good again this season. It’s nice to see. Cincinnati, on the other hand, may be regretting the Scott Satterfield hire although he deserves another season to see how they can truly compete in the Big XII. Predicted score: Kansas 28 Cincinnati 14.

Charlotte (+5.5) at USF7:30

Speaking of teams playing much better than most thought they would, the Bulls are one win away from going bowling. They showed a lot in the near-upset of Alabama back in September and have scratched and clawed their way to this point. The only thing standing in their way? The bare arms of Biff Poggi and his Charlotte 49ers. Might not be as easy as USF thinks it should be. Predicted score: USF 31 Charlotte 30.

#24 Clemson (-7) at South Carolina7:30

Gotta give Dabo Swinney from credit for turning around the team after that poor start. Either that or we give all the praise to Tyler from Spartanburg for lighting a fire under the Tigers. Either way, they come into this game as actually one of the hottest teams in the country. And they could actually make their season for a lot of fans by ruining South Carolina’s. The Gamecocks need the win to be bowl eligible. I don’t think this will be as feisty as their brawl-filled game many years ago but I could see it getting chippy. Predicted score: Clemson 41 South Carolina 24.

North Carolina (-3) at #22 NC State8:00

North Carolina was supposed to be one of the teams to go to the ACC Championship this year. NC State was supposed to be fighting for a .500 record. Instead, they both come in at 8-3 with maybe something other than bragging rights on the line. Let’s be honest: teams would much rather go to a Florida destination than the Sun Bowl or Military Bowl. Predicted score: North Carolina 28 NC State 27.

Iowa State (+10) at #19 Kansas State8:00

By this point, we will know if the Wildcats have any shot at the Big XII Championship. Other than that, neither team has anything to play for other than to win…FARMAGEDDON. Predicted score: Kansas State 50 Iowa State 34.

Saturday Late Night

Wyoming (-11) at Nevada9:00

Yes, the odd CBS Sports Network Thanksgiving Saturday timeslot is back again. At least they do their best to cram in as much live sports as humanly possible into this day. Predicted score: Wyoming 35 Nevada 27.

California (+9.5) at UCLA10:30

It’s really hit or miss with this final game of the regular season. Sometimes, it’s a massively important game that is must-watch and keeps everyone up well past Midnight. Other times we get games that have absolutely no importance. For once, it’s somewhere in the middle. Shockingly, the Bears are in line for a bowl spot if they can pull the upset on a Bruins team who might still be on a high after defeating USC for the Victory Bell this past weekend. Predicted score: UCLA 38 California 34.

That’s a lot of football. I am not complaining. At all. I would have thought TSN might have stepped up for the final regular season weekend but, alas, that is not the case. They are pushing TSN+ for college football so that is the future we have to live with. Oh well…progress, right? Ugh.

I will update the rankings when I see them. I figured I should get this post out in some form so my MACtion predictions don’t look too fishy. Enjoy the games everyone!

What is wrong with the Week 3 College Football TV Schedule?

Posted on by
4

Nothing, really.

Now if you asked me what is wrong with Mel Tucker? Or Jeff Lebby? Or a host of past football coaches? I’d say plenty. I mean what the fuck is up with some people?

If you haven’t heard about ol’ Tucks, here’s a brief rundown:

Brenda Tracy, a well-known rape victim advocate (and victim herself), was hired to speak to the Spartans football team two years ago. Depending on who you believe, Tucker and Tracy became friends and then developed a bit of a romantic interest in each other. Tucker says this is true, Tracy denies this. He said, she said. Then last April, there was a phone call between the two where Tucker decided it should be phone sex (Tucker says they were both speaking in that manner) and then decided to whip it out and jerk off on the phone.

Tracy filed a formal complaint in December and then a report was filed in July to say that they should have a hearing to discuss whether Tucker violated a school policy on sexual misconduct. This hearing was to be next month. Now Tucker is suspended and probably will be fired with cause.

Crazy. And ridiculous. And even if it isn’t all true, the stuff Tucker admits paints him as a guy who can’t control himself. Then his letter on the matter makes him sound like a fucking idiot. No matter what, this is not going to turn out well for someone.

As for Jeff Lebby, he decided this was a perfect time to let his father-in-law, disgraced piece of shit former head coach Art Briles, on to the field after an Oklahoma victory on Saturday. Lebby just wanted his family on the field. Which includes Briles. I don’t know if Lebby understood the whole situation which makes him a complete dummy. He did apologize, though. Whether he meant it or did it while Brent Venables held a gun to his nuts, we will never know.

All of this is to say that there are some college football head coaches, past and present, who seem to think they can do whatever the fuck they feel like and get away with it. Again, even if Tucker is deemed not guilty, he admitted to cheating on his wife and pretty much seems OK with it. Lebby didn’t think once that “hey, my father-in-law, who has not been hired anywhere else since he was fired from Baylor for pretty fucking terrible reasons, should get to have Sooners gear on and come on the Sooners field and celebrate with the Sooners because…”…..why exactly? Oh, because he pretty much doesn’t give a shit. That’s why some of these players need to be told “Don’t be like your coach. He’s an asshole.”

Alright, enough of that nonsense. It’s schedule time.

Thursday

USCanada
Bethune-Cookman at #22 Miami7:30
Navy at Memphis7:30

Nothing much of note here but I am interested in seeing Navy truly for the first time this season (after watching very little of them earlier on).

Friday

USCanada
Army at UTSA7:00
Utah State at Air Force8:00

Interestingly enough, the other two military academies play on Friday night. So all three are done before Midnight on Friday. Odd. But fun that they are all pretty much getting national play on their own.

Saturday Early

USCanada
#3 Florida State at Boston CollegeNoon
Louisville vs. Indiana (in Indianapolis)Noon
Georgia Southern at WisconsinNoon
Liberty at BuffaloNoon
#14 LSU at Mississippi StateNoon
Wake Forest at Old DominionNoon
Iowa State at OhioNoon
#7 Penn State at IllinoisNoon
#15 Kansas State at MissouriNoon

Big games? Ah no. So devoid of big games that Big Noon Kickoff decided not to stick with Champaign as the site before the Illini host Penn State. They moved it to Colorado so they can keep that Deion Boner going. I guess you got to strike while the iron is hot.

Saturday Afternoon

USCanada
VMI at NC State2:00
Weber State at #12 Utah2:00
#10 Alabama at USF3:30
Northwestern at #21 Duke3:30
Western Michigan at #25 Iowa3:30
Virginia Tech at Rutgers3:30
South Carolina at #1 Georgia3:30
FIU at UConn3:30
Minnesota at #20 North Carolina3:30
East Carolina at Appalachian State3:30
#19 Oklahoma at Tulsa3:30
Tulane at Southern Miss4:00
WKU at #6 Ohio State4:00
ULM at Texas A&M4:00
NC Central at #24 UCLA5:00

A ton of choice here. The CW gets to show an afternoon game. Also a Pac-12 Network quardrupleheader. Well, a quadrupleheader here if you watch Pac-12 International on YouTube. See, the games on Pac-12 International are the Pac-12 Network national feed games. There are a couple other games that won’t be shown in Canada because they are regional only. Again, no big games here but we all remember what South Carolina did Between the Hedges back in 2019. If an upset of that magnitude happened again, it immediately changes the season and turns it on its head. Finally, Notre Dame is playing today…at home. But it’s on Peacock so no getting it here.

UPDATE: Thanks to reader William, I have found out about Fighting Irish TV (https://fightingirishtv.live/login). If you want to watch the game on Peacock, there’s your ticket.

Saturday Primetime

USCanada
Vanderbilt at UNLV7:00
#11 Tennessee at Florida7:00
James Madison at Troy7:00
Pittsburgh at West Virginia7:30
Bowling Green at #2 Michigan7:30
BYU at Arkansas7:30
Akron at Kentucky7:30
Syracuse at Purdue7:30
Georgia Tech at #17 Ole Miss7:30
FAU at Clemson8:00
TCU at Houston8:00
Wyoming at #4 Texas8:00
Hawaii at #13 Oregon8:00

No massive games but Tennessee travelling to The Swamp to face Florida bears some interest since the Vols have struggled there a lot in years past. Still no Harbaugh on the sidelines (unless you count Jack) as the Wolverines host Bowling Green who hopes to keep things relatively close. And lookie here…the Longhorn Network? That’s right. For the first time ever (as far as I can tell), LHN can be viewed (legally) in Canada. Hopefully Wyoming can play like they did against Texas Tech and keep this game competitive.

Saturday Late Night

USCanada
Colorado State at #18 Colorado10:00
Kansas at Nevada10:30
UTEP at Arizona11:00

Finally, the game that’s being played where both ESPN and FOX’s pregame shows were at…Colorado hosting mighty Colorado State. It must be since both networks were there. Don’t get me wrong, I totally get the hype but with two much bigger games coming up for the Buffaloes you think they would save this for the next couple of weeks. Or they might just camp out there until October. I mean why take the set down if you are just going to put it back up again a few days later?

Hey, Watch This!

South Carolina at Georgia (3:30, CBS) – Yes this is, arguably, the best game of the week. Kind of sad, not gonna lie. Saying that, if 2019 happens again, the SEC is seriously wide open. Don’t bet against the Gamecocks, even if they did look mediocre against North Carolina earlier this year. Or do because you think UGA will win. Either way.

Washington at Michigan State (5:00, Peacock) – This feels a bit icky but there is a ton of intrigue now with this one. A very good Huskies team against a team that will have to fight some adversity without their disgraced head coach. And it’s on Peacock of all places. NBC might have inadvertantly struck it rich by putting this game on the streaming service a while back.

Tennessee at Florida (7:00, TSN+/SP) – As I said above, the Vols, and many teams, have struggled in the hot and humid Swamp in Septembers past. Will it happen here? Eh, probably not. Man, how can a week be that devoid of big games?

Minnesota at North Carolina (3:30, TSN+/SP) – Um……well, it’s two undefeated teams so there’s that. Yeah, I got nothing.

Sickos Game of the Week

Vanderbilt at UNLV (7:00, CBSSN) – Look, there is a possibility that we see a 3-0 UNLV team by the end of Saturday night. So yeah, you could say the season is already a bit strange. And if Barry Odom wants a signature victory of sorts, this game is ripe for the picking. Or…OR…this could be a hilariously bad game that one team has to win. I am morbidly curious.

Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week

Alabama at USF (3:30, ABC/TSN2) – Why is this game on ABC? Well, it’s not like there are a ton of strong contenders *waves wildly at the Games of the Week list*. Coming off a loss, Nick Saban is going to be uber-pissed. Which will make the rest of the coaches pissed. Which will make the players very angry. And they are going to take it out on a Bulls team who might not know what hit them until long after this one is over.

Wanna Bet?

Will this list be decent? After looking back at my picks last week, I am going to venture to say that’s a no.

Bethune-Cookman (+53.5) over Miami (but the U wins by 40)

Buffalo (+3.5) over Liberty (and the outright win)

LSU (-9.5) over Mississippi State

UConn (-7) over FIU

North Carolina (-7.5) over Minnesota

South Carolina (+27.5) over Georgia (and I think this will be relatively close but the Dawgs will hold on for the W)

Tulane (-13) over Southern Miss

Florida (+6.5) over Tennessee (the Vols win a VERY close one)

Vanderbilt (-4.5) over UNLV

Michigan (-40.5) over Bowling Green

Clemson (-24.5) over FAU

Oregon (-38) over Hawaii

Colorado (-23) over Colorado State

Spotty information so far for the specialty packs as I see some information but not all of it. It should all be up by tomorrow and should match what I have. Funny enough, TSN+ has their shit together and has their full schedule up (and has since Monday).

I’ll be on the TwiXter machine this Saturday (@TheBauceman) so you can interact mwith me there if you like. Or you can just sit in your favourite chair like a normal person and watch more than 14 hours of football unlike a normal person. Enjoy the games everyone!

Man, oh man, were there some overreactions this week…oh and the Week 2 College Football TV Schedule

Posted on by
Reply

Look, did Colorado surprise a lot of people this past weekend? Absolutely. No doubt about it. Deion Sanders is proving, whether you like him or not, that he can flat-out coach. And overhauling the roster like he did was not a bad idea at all. It does suck for the players that had to transfer out but unfortunately it’s football and the name of the game is winning.

Saying that………the amount of people I saw on Twitter that said Colorado will win 10 or 11 games this season was way too much. It should have been zero. Colorado may be better than advertised but they aren’t all of a sudden a New Year’s Six possibility. But hey, that’s the reactions from Week 1 of college football. Every. Single. Fucking. Year.

So let’s do it again on here! It’s overreaction time! Let’s look at some of the other overreactions you may (or may not) have heard after the Week 1 games were complete:

  • Ohio State is just an average team. Do we expect more from the Buckeyes against a team like Indiana? Sure. But they are bringing in a new quarterback and their best receiver was not 100%. The defense was amazing. Now the offense does have to be ready since in about a week and a half they get Notre Dame and that could get ugly if they don’t produce more points.
  • Colorado will have not one, but TWO Heisman finalists. What in the fuck? Who are the morons saying this? They are out there for sure. I saw them. Sure, they did great in their opening week win over TCU but calm the fuck down. TCU isn’t the TCU of last season for one and it’s only WEEK ONE. Anyway, moving on…
  • Gene Chizik has finally got the defense cooking in Chapel Hill. Again, it’s one game. Do the Heels look improved? Sure. But it’s not like South Carolina played well at all because, for the most part they didn’t. That, and the chain gang wouldn’t eat their hot dogs fast enough. Let’s see how UNC does when a top-notch offense is staring them in the face.
  • Jalen Milroe is already looking like another Alabama Jalen…that being Hurts. My God where do these people come up with this shit? Milroe looked OK but it was Middle Tennessee and he’s playing for Ala-frickin-Bama. We will see how he handles SEC competition before crowning him anything.
  • Washington has the best offense in the country. Could that end up being the case? Possibly. Michael Penix Jr. has already started his Heisman campaign in style. But let’s slow our roll here. There are at least four teams who looked better on offense (Colorado, Florida State, Oklahoma, Oregon) during Week 1. And I wouldn’t even say any of those teams will be the best offense in the country so why go ahead and put the Huskies at #1?
  • Book the Sooners for the Big XII Championship NOW! As I said, their offense was on fire but they were playing Arkansas State. We are all waiting to see if Brent Venables can have a Venables-type defense in Norman. If that happens, this could very well happen. But for now, I wouldn’t book any tickets yet if I were a Sooners fan.
  • Miami is BACK. Ho boy. Pump the damn brakes.

Let’s just put Week 1 behind us, shall we? Let’s move on to Week 2 which…oh my. Well, it’s better than Week 1. That’s really all I can say. But you know what that usually means. That’s right…chaos!

Thursday

USCanada
Murray State at Louisville7:30

Yep, that’s a new logo you see. TSN+ will be showing college football games this year. It kind of mimics the specialty pack but there are a few differences. But if you want to get TSN+ rather than the specialty pack for your college football fix, you are getting close to the same. Not a bad alternative and a good move by TSN to copy ESPN for the 10,000th time.

Friday

USCanada
Indiana State at Indiana7:00
Illinois at Kansas7:30

It kind of feels like this could be a relatively important game when the Illini travel to Lawrence to face the Jayhawks. Imagine saying that even two years ago. You’d be laughed out of whatever building you were in.

Saturday Early

USCanada
Vanderbilt at Wake Forest11:00 AM
#10 Notre Dame at NC StateNoon
Youngstown State at #5 Ohio StateNoon
Delaware State at ArmyNoon
#12 Utah at BaylorNoon
Purdue at Virginia TechNoon
James Madison at VirginiaNoon
Nebraska at #22 ColoradoNoon
Ball State at #1 GeorgiaNoon

Is the quality there? Eh, not really. But there’s choice. A lot of it. Can’t ask for much else. Also…MORNING FOOTBAW! The ACC Network’s weird annual Week 2 quadrupleheader hits again with the odd three hour-and-fifteen-minute windows. This will be a lot easier to do next year when Stanford and California join as you know one of them will host the ACC After Dark Week 2 matchup, guaranteed.

Saturday Afternoon

USCanada
Charleston Southern at #25 Clemson2:15
#23 Texas A&M at Miami3:30
UTEP at Northwestern3:30
Richmond at Michigan State3:30
UNLV at #2 Michigan3:30
Wagner at Navy3:30
#20 Ole Miss at #24 Tulane3:30
Iowa at Iowa State3:30
Marshall at East Carolina4:00
Kent State at Arkansas4:00
Tulsa at #8 Washington5:00
Appalachian State at #17 North Carolina5:15

Is the afternoon slate better than the Noon slate? Sure. Not by much though. Some intriguing matchups though. As per the rules, one of Texas A&M or Miami must win their game against each other. Ties were outlawed almost three decades ago. Will CyHawk feature more than 30 points? Can App State and UNC put up ridiculous numbers like last year? And this will be Tulane’s opportunity to get a huge leg up in the Group of Five. A win over Ole Miss would be massive.

Saturday Primetime

USCanada
Ohio at FAU6:00
Cincinnati at Pittsburgh6:30
#11 Texas at #3 Alabama7:00
#13 Oregon at Texas Tech7:00
Houston at Rice7:00
#19 Wisconsin at Washington State7:30
Eastern Michigan at Minnesota7:30
Temple at Rutgers7:30
UCLA at San Diego State7:30
Grambling at #14 LSU7:30
McNeese State at Florida7:30
Charlotte at Maryland7:30
Arizona at Mississippi State7:30
Air Force vs. Sam Houston (in NRG Stadium)8:00
Southern Miss at #4 Florida State8:30

FIFTEEN GAMES! Holy shit! I think this has to be the most in one timeslot ever on this blog. I don’t feel like checking so let’s just say we have a new record! Plenty of games but most people will be watching one game in particular, that being the Longhorns and the Crimson Tide. If Texas can somehow do what they were robbed of last season and upset Bama, this season turns on its head. This game is so big that they are also showing it on ESPN2 in the US and on TSN+ and the specialty packs. But it’s not the same broadcast. It’s the Pat McAfee Show alternate broadcast. So if you like that kind of thing, have at it.

Also, you will notice we have a new network showing college football. That’s right, the CW, with such hits as 7th Heaven, Gilmore Girls, Smallville and LIV Golf (well it was a hit with the golfers who got fucking PAID with that Saudi blood money) will be showing ACC football (and later on, ACC basketball) this year. This replaces Bally which, for all intents and purposes, is flat broke. There will be games most weeks and, it looks like, at odd times. 6:30? Weird.

Saturday Late Night

USCanada
UC-Davis at #16 Oregon State9:00
Auburn at California10:30
Stanford at #6 USC10:30

FOX quadrupleheader? Don’t mind if I do. TSN2 quadrupleheader? Yes, please. A good week if you are a Canadian as I don’t remember seeing this much college football being shown up here in a while. Maybe things are turning around. Looks like TSN finally gives a shit about things that aren’t the CFL, NFL, and NHL (which they don’t even have the national broadcasting rights to).

Hey, Watch This!

Texas at Alabama (7:00, TSN2/TSN+/specialty pack) – Unequivocally the game of the week and there’s nothing else close. That also means there will be some wild and wacky finishes that might overshadow this game. That is, unless, this is a close one and the Longhorns pull off the upset. Then it will be THE story in college football no matter what else happens.

Ole Miss at Tulane (3:30, TSN+/specialty pack) – As I mentioned above, if the Green Wave pull off a win here in front of what should be a raucous crowd in hot and humid New Orleans, there’s not a whole lot that will prevent them from a perfect regular season and another New Year’s Six spot. Normally I would say this is a lose-lose situation for any Power Five team in this situation but when the Group of Five team is ranked it can count as a big win (as long as that team doesn’t totally shit the bed the rest of the way).

Texas A&M at Miami (3:30, ABC/TSN2) – I made the joke above that one of these teams has to win, as per the rules of college football. We may actually see which one of these teams is back (for the most part) and which team still has some work to do. Now watch it be a 13-10 almost-unwatchable slog.

Nebraska at Colorado (Noon, FOX) – Alright, I’ll bite. Let’s see if the hype matches what ends up happening. Some might have put this higher but that’s crazy. It makes this list because of the talk, not because of the teams involved. And Colorado can’t just win this game by a little. That would prove nothing. If they beat the brakes off the Huskers, then we all have to take notice and maybe think the Buffs could be for real.

Sickos Game of the Week

Temple at Rutgers (7:30, specialty pack) – Look, Rutgers is probably going to start 2-0 which really doesn’t mean a whole lot considering their schedule but still, that’s something right? With everything on at this time, you would have to be a complete psychopath to watch this game. I will make sure to tune in and watch at least a few plays. I feel like I owe it to everyone and myself.

Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week

Ball State at Georgia (Noon, TSN+/specialty pack) – Time to bring back the blowout of the week segment. And this could be the dictionary definition of blowout. I could see UGA putting up 60 on the poor Cardinals.

Wanna Bet?

Nebraska was actually a good bet. That game ended up exactly how I thought it would (for the most part). Florida, however….well the less said about that one the better. Time for my gambling picks for the second week of the college football season. Use them at your own peril.

Indiana (-30.5) over Indiana State

Purdue (+3) over Virginia Tech (and the outright win)

Ohio State (-41.5) over Youngstown State

Utah (-8) over Baylor

Nebraska (+2.5) over Colorado (and the upset win…definitely going out on a limb with this one)

Michigan (-37.5) over UNLV

Tulane (+7.5) over Ole Miss (but the Rebs will hold on for a close victory)

Texas A&M (-4) over Miami

Alabama (-7) over Texas

Washington State (+6) over Wisconsin (with the Badgers winning a tight affair)

Minnesota (-20.5) over Eastern Michigan

Mississippi State (-9) over Arizona

Stanford (+29.5) over USC (I feel a backdoor cover in this one)

I will be on the Twitter/X machine again this weekend. Even without Tweetdeck I am figuring out how to navigate fairly well. We shall see if I can make it two Saturdays in a row making it all the way to the end. Enjoy the games everyone!

Crazy Bowl Projections V5.0!

Posted on by
Reply

This is the fifth edition of this completely ridiculous post. I still wish one year we get close to what I post on these but it would cement that season as the new craziest season ever. Even more so than 2007. And then if it happened I would do anything I could to get to Vegas. Fly, drive, hitchhike, I don’t give a shit. That’s a heater you ride until it ends.

I will not do all the bowl games. What would be the point? To see how WILD it would be to see Eastern Michigan in the, say, Gasparilla Bowl? Ooooooooooh, so crazy. No I’m just looking at the top because the amount of upsets it would take just to get to what I’m suggesting is staggering.

Fiesta BowlCFP #1 vs. CFP #4TCU vs. Illinois
Peach BowlCFP #2 vs. CFP #3Utah vs. Tennessee

Illinois? ILLINOIS? Coached by this guy?

Alright just give me a minute or two here. Let’s go through everything that would get us to this point (since it’s a lot to absorb). Hell, it even took me a bit of time to go back through everything to say “Yep, this is fucked but it seems to work.”

  • TCU wins out. That’s it. OK, we’re off to a good start. Is it crazy? No, but after last night’s College Football Playoff Rankings Show of Destruction and Doom El Fantastico, it seems like many at ESPN would love if the Horned Frogs would fuck right off already.
  • Utah also wins out. That would include wins over Oregon, mighty Colorado, and UCLA in the Pac-12 title game. Oregon would also lose the Civil War to Oregon State pulling them right out of contention for anything. USC would lose to UCLA (who also wins their final regular season game to stay near the top of the rankings) and Notre Dame who is on quite the run as the season goes on. Washington loses to Wazzu and that wraps up the Pac-12 picture. OK, not too bad honestly. All this has the potential to happen.
  • Tennessee. The Vols! I think Rece Davis wants them in so here you go ya Chris Fowler doppelganger. How they get here? Buckle up.
    • Georgia loses to Kentucky. Chaos ensues.
    • Tennessee beats the holy hell out of South Carolina.
    • LSU beats UAB. Big deal.
    • Alabama beats Austin Peay. Who cares.
    • Ole Miss beats Arkansas. No surprise.
    • The following week Georgia loses to GEORGIA TECH? OK then. Couldn’t handle the option I guess.
    • Tennessee beats Vanderbilt by 50.
    • LSU loses to, oh no, Texas A&M.
    • Alabama loses the Iron Bowl to Auburn!
    • Ole Miss wins the Egg Bowl over Mississippi State.
    • UGA then beats LSU for the SEC Championship.
    • All this means, LSU and Georgia would both be outside the Top 10 going into the SEC Championship. Meaning neither could get into the Top 4. Tennessee and Ole Miss would be the only two teams and UT gets in at 11-1 and Ole Miss falls just short.
    • Gary Danielson would lose his ever-loving mind over all this.
  • Oh man we haven’t even got Illinois yet. OK. First of all, the Illini pull off a huge upset and beat Michigan. That is paired with Ohio State being stunned by Maryland (finally getting Mike Locksley and the program their signature Big Ten win). The following week, Michigan wins The Game and Purdue loses to Indiana for the Old Oaken Bucket. Illinois calmly beats Northwestern by about 40 and wins the Big Ten West. This means they get a rematch with Big Ten East champ, Michigan. They beat them yet again and leapfrog a few teams, including Michigan, to nab the final CFP spot. Penn State wins out but doesn’t have enough left to climb into the Top 4 so they barely miss out.

You’re probably asking where the ACC is. Well, North Carolina wins out but Clemson loses their final two. The ACC Championship, which was already set, has the Tigers regaining their crown in an upset over the Tar Heels. North Carolina was ranked too low in the previous rankings and needed to completely win out to have any shot at the CFP and they come up just short.

OK so that was ridiculous. It was looking good until we got to the SEC. If some of those results happen….I will be so fucking excited. But some of those game results I mentioned? They aren’t that far-fetched. On we go to the New Year’s Six where things may get weirder.

Rose BowlBig Ten #1 vs. Pac-12 #1Penn State vs. UCLA
Cotton BowlCFP at-large vs. G-5 #1Michigan vs. Tulane
Sugar BowlSEC #1 vs. Big XII #1Georgia vs. Texas
Orange BowlACC #1 vs. Big Ten/Notre Dame/SECClemson vs. Ole Miss

OK so not totally messed up. Explanation:

  • As I said above, Ole Miss wins out but they won’t have enough to move up the rankings without being in a conference championship game so they fall just short of the CFP but are easily in the New Year’s Six.
  • Tulane is not the current G-5 favourite after their loss to UCF. Tulane, though, will win out while UCF gets shocked by Navy. The Green Wave winning their final two includes a victory over Cincinnati. No other conference has a team close enough and Tulane wins the AAC Championship to get the Cotton Bowl bid.
  • Clemson, despite their problems to end the season, shock North Carolina and win the ACC title which gives them the automatic Orange Bowl spot.
  • Speaking of teams kind of coming back out of nowhere to win their conference championship, here come the Georgia Bulldogs. Their win over LSU in the SEC Championship means their ranking doesn’t matter. They go to the Sugar Bowl no matter what as they would have been well out of the Top 4 after their late season collapse.
  • With Illinois getting into the College Football Playoff, the Rose Bowl spot opens up to the best Big Ten team remaining. And that team would be the Penn State Nittany Lions who just kind of hid and waited for all the other teams to collapse around them.
  • This puts Michigan in the Cotton Bowl as the only true at-large team in the New Year’s Six. Honestly, you could interchange Penn State and the Wolverines and it’s fine either way.
  • I briefly discussed UCLA above. They slot into the Rose Bowl after losing the Pac-12 Championship which comes after their slight upset of USC.
  • Finally, the Big XII spot in the Sugar Bowl. I have it going to Texas. In what would mirror what will probably happen, the Big XII would still have the lowest-ranked team in the New Year’s Six as past TCU there are a lot of good teams but no teams that could be considered great. Texas is the best of this bunch, barely beating out Kansas State and Oklahoma State.

So there you go. Yeah it’s pretty insane and makes no sense but was fun to do and if even half this stuff happens it would be quite the roller coaster for college football fans.

Next up is the Bossman Top 25.

#1Georgia
#2Ohio State
#3TCU
#4Michigan
#5USC
#6Tennessee
#7LSU
#8Alabama
#9Utah
#10Clemson
#11Penn State
#12Washington
#13North Carolina
#14Oregon
#15Kansas State
#16Ole Miss
#17UCF
#18UCLA
#19Notre Dame
#20Florida State
#21Oklahoma State
#22Tulane
#23NC State
#24Texas
#25Cincinnati

My Top 4 is close to everyone else’s Top 4. Michigan may actually be a better team than TCU but sorry, they haven’t shown it and their non-conference schedule was horrific. If they beat Ohio State, then they can lay claim to a better ranking than the Horned Frogs. LSU is sitting there waiting and if they win the SEC Championship, it could cause some major issues at the top. And ESPN’s favourite, Alabama sits at #8. Unfortunately for them, they have no real way to move up except for complete chaos above them. And even then.

Alright next week I will be back with, let’s call them regular bowl projections. Enjoy the rest of your week!

Injuries, Injuries, Injuries…and the Week 7 College Football TV Schedule

Posted on by
Reply

It happens every year. Some of the best college players get injured and teams have to go without them for a game up to an entire season. Here’s a short list of just some of the players who have gone down to injury so far this season:

  • Bryce Young (Alabama) – Injured his shoulder this past Saturday and is questionable for the most important game of the year so far (vs. Tennessee).
  • Zach Calzada (Auburn) – A shoulder injury against Missouri has knocked Calzada out for the rest of the season.
  • Charlie Brewer (Liberty) – Had issues with his thumb in their opener against Southern Miss and has had surgery to repair it. Could be back in a couple weeks.
  • Cade McNamara (Michigan) – A leg injury could have McNamara out for the season.
  • Chris Autman-Bell (Minnesota) – All that is known is that he had a lower-body injury that he sustained in the Gophers’ victory over Colorado that will sideline him for the rest of the season.
  • Tyler Buchner (Notre Dame) – The man who was supposed to start for the Irish has been knocked out for the season with a joint sprain in his shoulder.
  • Cedric Tillman (Tennessee) – The Vols wide receiver might return before the end of October if his ankle is strong enough.

Hell it’s got to the point that injuries are being reported that the players are denying. There was a report that Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels would be out for the season with a shoulder injury: a report that Daniels thought was interesting and news to him. He’s still doubtful for the Jayhawks’ next game but he is disputing that he would be done for the season.

Also, there are some teams that are suffering because of the sheer amount of injuries. Want to know why Wisconsin might not be as good as had been advertised? Currently they have seventeen players out with injuries. Seventeen. Good god.

Part of the point of all this is to say football is a contact sport. Players will get hurt. So for the powers that be to essentially want to add games to the schedule makes the season more of a war of attrition than anything. Until North Dakota State started their run of FCS championships, that’s what the FCS playoffs was. The healthiest team won and they were almost never the best (or second-best or third-best or fourth-best, etc.) team going in. And we know what college football media can be like. They will be all over the injury angle if, say, the top three teams in an expanded College Football Playoff don’t win it all because of injuries to important players. It’ll happen. You just watch.

OK that was enough of a rant. Time for what you came here for. Some hot college football schedule action. Or more like slightly warm since the weather has started to change.

Wednesday

USCanada
Louisiana at Marshall7:30 PM

Hey, we have our first instance of Fun Belt football this season! I figured both of these teams would be better than they have been so far. Marshall is trying to make a name for itself in its first season in the Sun Belt, whereas Louisiana is trying their hardest to get back to the Sun Belt Championship for a fourth consecutive time.

Thursday

USCanada
Temple at UCF7:00 PM
Baylor at West Virginia7:00 PM

Neither of these games should be close; however, we know what Thursday Night Football has been like so far this season so pick your poison.

Friday

USCanada
Brown at Princeton7:00 PM
Navy at SMU7:30 PM
UTSA at FIU8:00 PM

Woof. This is….technically a schedule with three football games on it. Hopefully one of them is close.

Saturday Early

USCanada
Iowa State at #22 TexasNoon
Minnesota at #24 IllinoisNoon
Colgate at ArmyNoon
Auburn at #9 Ole MissNoon
#19 Kansas at OklahomaNoon
Old Dominion at Coastal CarolinaNoon
#10 Penn State at #5 MichiganNoon

Alright now this is what I’m talking about. If there was a ever a need for a college football-style RedZone channel, this would be the week for it. The sheer amount of good-to-great games this week is staggering. And it starts here with PSU-Michigan in a massive Big Ten East game. Kansas gets to prove that they really are for real this season against an average Sooners team. And how about Coastal Carolina? It may be the first of a bunch of national games for them if they keep winning.

Saturday Afternoon

USCanada
California at Colorado2:00 PM
#8 Oklahoma State at #13 TCU3:30 PM
#15 NC State at #18 Syracuse3:30 PM
#3 Alabama at #6 Tennessee3:30 PM
Ohio at Western Michigan3:30 PM
Arkansas at BYU3:30 PM
Maryland at Indiana3:30 PM
Vanderbilt at #1 Georgia3:30 PM
Tulane at USF4:00 PM
Wisconsin at Michigan State4:00 PM
Arizona at Washington5:30 PM

Great early schedule is followed by an even better afternoon schedule, if you can believe it. I guess you could say the highlight is Bama-UT but you also have the Pokes and Horned Frogs as well. Undefeated teams falling everywhere by force! The fact that NC State-Syracuse is on the ACC Network has made no one bat an eye. Normally, people would be a bit outraged by this. But there’s nothing you can do about it. That’s how good this schedule is in this timeslot. Oh and Vandy-UGA might be essentially over by 4:15 if you are a sadist.

Saturday Primetime

USCanada
Utah State at Colorado State7:00 PM
LSU at Florida7:00 PM
ULM at South Alabama7:00 PM
#4 Clemson at Florida State7:30 PM
Nebraska at Purdue7:30 PM
Memphis at East Carolina7:30 PM
Stanford at Notre Dame7:30 PM
#16 Mississippi State at #22 Kentucky7:30 PM
North Carolina at Duke8:00 PM
#7 USC at #20 Utah8:00 PM

And then we have yet another huge game. The Trojans get a huge test heading to Utah. Win this and they might be headed for a Victory Bell showdown with UCLA that has CFP implications. Maybe Florida State can prove something against Clemson and upset the ACC apple cart while doing it.

One game I am looking forward to is the battle for first place in the Big Ten West between…Nebraska and Purdue? Yep! Oh my. Oh and who thought putting Stanford and Notre Dame in primetime was a good idea?

Saturday Late Night

USCanada
Washington State at Oregon State9:00 PM
Air Force at UNLV10:30 PM

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd the week ends with a thud. I guess there’s always a Hawaii Test if you feel the need to stay up extremely late.

Big Games O’ The Week

Alabama at Tennessee (3:30, CBS) – So many games could be the Game of the Week but I went with this one mostly because the Vols are really good and if Bryce Young doesn’t end up playing, this is ripe for a huge upset. If you had said at the start of the season that there was even a possibility of an undefeated Georgia having to beat an undefeated Tennessee to win the SEC East I would have laughed. Well, who’s laughing now? Uh…not me, I guess. Bama doesn’t want to lose because it brings all the teams that are essentially eliminated in the SEC West back into play along with Ole Miss who is nipping at their heels. Huge stakes.

Penn State at Michigan (Noon, FOX) – Let’s call it 1B to Bama-Tennessee’s 1A. Or more like 1E because it is a bit down the list from that game. Luckily it’s in the Big Noon Saturday spot…or more like Big Blue Saturday. Seriously, what is FOX’s deal with Michigan? They in love or something? Anyway, winner faces Ohio State for the Big Ten East title. Loser, though, is still not out of the race for, well, anything really.

Oklahoma State at TCU (3:30, ABC/TSN2) – I am praying for people who have to rely on their PVR this weekend. Decisions, decisions. Who would have thought there would be three games between undefeated teams this week. Nobody. Especially this game. Realistically, this could end up being a Big XII Championship preview if things shake out right for both teams. Either way, big New Year’s Six implications with this one.

USC at Utah (8:00, FOX) – For the first time in quite a while, USC is in a game that truly matters. The Utes are used to these kinds of games now and the MUSS is no joke for visiting teams. The Trojans can continue to drive a final stake in the Pac-12 heart with a win here. Poor Conference of Champions.

NC State at Syracuse (3:30, specialty pack) – The Wolfpack’s only loss is to Clemson and the Orange have made it through the first part of their schedule unscathed. The winner here still has a shot at usurping Clemson at the top of the ACC Atlantic, especially Syracuse. I don’t know if either team is ready for College Football Playoff conversation but it will be there for the winner.

Mississippi State at Kentucky (7:30, specialty pack) – The Wildcats have stumbled a bit since their hot start while MSU is soaring under Mike Leach as Will Rogers throws the ball like fifty times a game. At some point Rogers’ arm will fall clean off but until then, Leach will ride him as the captain of the offense. If the Bulldogs can win this one, is a New Year’s Six spot in their future? They will be in the conversation for sure.

Minnesota at Illinois (Noon, Big Ten Network) – The Illini in the Games of the Week list? Wow, this year has been crazy but this might be over the top. A win here and Bert’s Boys would be the odds-on favourite to win the Big Ten West and get absolutely slaughtered by whoever wins the Big Ten East. Fun times. I can’t wait for divisions to be abolished for good.

Clemson at Florida State (7:30, ABC/TSN2) – Holy crap we’re still going with this. So many good games. Now, to be honest, this might not be as good as the rest on this list but if the Noles decide to show up and cause problems, you never know. This could cause the greatest earthquake in the rankings if FSU pulls off the upset.

Psycho Game of the Week

California at Colorado (2:00, Pac-12 Network) – Good lord, why would you torture yourself with this? I mean with this game you have to put forth more effort to even watch it. This is definitely for psychos.

Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week

UTSA at FIU (Friday, 8:00, CBS Sports Network) – Most would put Vandy-Georgia in this spot but may I present to you this affair. UTSA is a good Group of Five team. FIU, despite winning two games this season, is not a good team. At all. The Roadrunners will make the Golden Panthers look like then Wile E. Coyotes in this one.

Fun-Time Stats of the Week

  • Nick Saban is 15-0 vs. Tennessee.
  • Mack Brown has won 11 straight Victory Bells over Duke during his two stints at North Carolina.
  • Oklahoma has won 17 straight games over Kansas but has failed to cover the spread in three of the last four meetings.

The Degenerate Portion of Our Show

Oh god I picked Oklahoma last week to win. OK let’s just get going on this week’s picks. I can’t believe I did that.

  • Baylor (-3.5) over West Virginia
  • Coastal Carolina (-12) over Old Dominion
  • Michigan (-7) over Penn State
  • Ole Miss (-14.5) over Auburn
  • Maryland (-11.5) over Indiana
  • BYU (+1.5) over Arkansas (and the outright victory)
  • Michigan State (+7.5) over Wisconsin (and the upset!)
  • Washington (-14) over Arizona
  • ULM (+17) over South Alabama (but the Jaguars will win a close one)
  • Kentucky (+4) over Mississippi State (and the win!)
  • Nebraska (+14) over Purdue (but the Boilermakers will win the game)
  • North Carolina (-7) over Duke
  • UNLV (+10) over Air Force (the Falcons will grind this one out but it won’t be easy)

We are finally into true mid-week college football! And this is shaping up to be a monster week, one that could shape the rest of the season. Enjoy the games everyone!

The Land of the Undefeated 6.0

Posted on by
Reply

It’s the sixth edition of The Land of The Undefeated!  Last year, obviously, it made no sense to do one so this is the first time in two years that we will be looking at the undefeated teams remaining and how I believe they will do the rest of the way.

Normally I do this after Week 5 and I didn’t.  Why?  Honestly, it’s because I forgot to.  It happens.  At least I got to it before it got to like Week 12.  That would have been a relatively short post.  Anyway, here we go!

#1 Georgia (6-0) – I figured they were going to have two losses by now.  Lucky for them, Clemson and Auburn aren’t as good as they were advertised and the rest of their sked has been relatively easy.  The rest of their schedule…is kind of the same other than their next two games.  Kentucky this Saturday and Florida at the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party are what is keeping the Dawgs from a sure 12-0 and #1 ranking going into conference championship week.  I think they do just that and almost assuredly clinch their spot in the College Football Playoff.  Predicted record: 12-0.

#2 Iowa (6-0) – Somewhat of a surprise at the #2 spot but it shows how crazy the season has been so far.  Unless their offense starts showing some real pop, though, it will be tough to get out of the regular season unscathed.  And I believe they will drop a single game on their way to what will still be a relatively easy Big Ten West division crown.  Predicted record: 11-1.

#3 Cincinnati (5-0) – Quite the start for the Bearcats.  Big win over the Irish is the thing that will keep them in the mix.  They have a tough test this Saturday against UCF but if they win, they should be 10-0 when they host SMU.  It’s their Group of Five spot, at the very least, to lose but Luke Fickell’s team’s goal is, and has been all season, the CFP.   Predicted record: 12-0.

#4 Oklahoma (6-0) – The Sooners have had quite the first half of the season.  They somehow got past Texas in the Red River Shootout to get to 6-0 and are really lucky to be there.  I think it won’t be luck the rest of the way as they may have found something with Caleb Williams and Kennedy Brooks is proving to be a beast on the ground.  They should win out.  Predicted record: 12-0.

#8 Michigan (6-0) – They’ve looked a lot better than many people thought they would be.  Not awesome but good enough to be undefeated.  They were able to escape Lincoln with a win and made Wisconsin look terrible a couple weeks ago.  Problem for Michigan is that they are in the toughest division in college football and surviving that is a slim possibility.  I’m going to go further and say the possibility is zero for the Wolverines.  Predicted record: 10-2.

#10 Michigan State (6-0) – Very few are talking about Michigan State being in the Top 10 but here they are.  The Spartans are rolling but soon enough hit the big part of their conference schedule which will be a minefield.  I believe they are going to start to struggle with a very tough schedule the rest of the way.  Saying that, they should get to the Michigan game the day before Halloween undefeated.  After that….ugh.  Predicted record: 9-3.

#11 Kentucky (6-0) – The Wildcats sure are fun to watch.  That fun may go by the wayside very soon as they have Georgia on the schedule next week.  Win that and it might be smooth sailing.  I am assuming rough waters for the Cats for that game and a game they should win but end up shitting the bed on.  Predicted record: 10-2.

#12 Oklahoma State (5-0) – Just another fantastic coaching job done by Mike Gundy this season.  Considering that no one figured this team would be any better than probably 4th in the conference, they are overachieving so far.  They are also a team that has snuck their way into the Top 15.  The sneaking is going to stop soon now that they have everyone’s attention.  Predicted record: 9-3.

#15 Coastal Carolina (6-0) – It always felt like the Sun Belt never had a really good team well into October and now it happens every season.  The conference is set up well for the next set of realignment that’s for sure.  As for Coastal, they are having another great season but still have to hope that Cincinnati trips up at least once for them to nab that New Year’s Six spot.  Coastal probably won’t lose the rest of the way so their fate lies in the rest of the Bearcats’ conference opponents.   Predicted record: 12-0.

#16 Wake Forest (6-0) – This feels like I am repeating myself but Dave Clawson is doing an amazing coaching job in Winston-Salem.  They are the ACC’s final hope for the College Football Playoff and it’s a slim one.  I can’t see them pulling through.  Predicted record: 10-2.

#23 SMU (6-0) – I’ll be honest with you: I still don’t have the Mustangs making it to the AAC Championship Game.  Seriously.  They are very lucky to still be undefeated and that luck will end soon with a brutal schedule the rest of the way.  Predicted record: 8-4.

#24 San Diego State (5-0) – Kind of surprising to see the Aztecs here.  This was a team that seemed destined to win 7 or 8 games again and go to a low-level bowl.  Instead, they are technically still in the mix for the Group of Five NY6 spot although they would need a lot of help.  A great season for a team that is playing nowhere close to their campus.  I mean it’s not going to continue but it’s been fun to watch so far if you were willing to stay up that late.  Predicted record: 8-4.

UTSA (6-0) – I figured the Roadrunners would lose in Champaign to Illinois and then maybe once more all year.  Instead, they beat the Illini, then also beat Memphis to complete a perfect non-conference schedule.  Looking at the rest of their schedule, they would have to botch a game seriously to fall from the land of the undefeated.  They should make for three undefeated Group of Five teams at the end of the season and eventually (hopefully next week) be ranked in the Top 25.  Predicted record: 12-0.

13 undefeated teams remain as we head into mid-October.  This post is a lot shorter than normal because it’s a couple of weeks later and we’ve had a bit of chaos at the top.  I can almost guarantee that by Halloween this number will be in the single digits.  I do have five teams finishing the season undefeated, however, so it will be interesting to see how The Committee would deal with that at the end of the season.  My guess is with a lot of booze.

Tonight is a big Sun Belt affair on TSN2 with Appalachian State visiting Louisiana.  Wednesday I will have your college football schedule and Thursday I will present the NFL schedule.  Same old, same old.  Have a great Tuesday!

It’s here….WEEK……ZERO!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted on by
2

ea-sports-college-football

OK we may be a year or so away from that but it’s coming too!  But for now, let’s celebrate the fact that college football is back.  It feels so cathartic and right to finally make this post.  Last year was brutal for a lot of people, me included.  This year has been marginally better but there are still a lot of things going on in my life that, quite frankly, I need to settle and move on from as they are putting their claws into my mental health and that is never a good thing.

The 27th.  We aren’t that far away from opening day in college football, somewhat strangely named Week Zero.  I guess only college football fans would kind of understand why it’s called that and even then it’s absurd.  Do I even care?  Absolutely not.  Look let’s just get right down to it and wash the offseason filth off by getting to the damn schedule already!

Saturday Afternoon

US Canada
Nebraska at Illinois 1:00 PM Fox_College_Football_logo Fox_College_Football_logo
UConn at Fresno State 2:00 PM
Hawaii at UCLA 3:30 PM TSN2

No huge games for Week Zero but we do see a newcomer to this oddity that only college football can provide.  FOX has decided to dip their toe in to the Week Zero pool although you could say it’s arguably the biggest game of the week.  Before FOX cheers, that’s not saying much.  It is the return of Bert Bielema to the Big Ten as his Illini take on the “kind of wish Bo Pelini was still here” Cornhuskers of Nebraska.  The annual Hawaii Week Zero game sees a twist as they are on the road!  The Rose Bowl is their destination and you know what, this is the game of the week (again, not saying much).  Smack dab in the middle of these two games is UConn playing their first game in nearly two years.  I’m sure Randy Edsall has a bonus in his contract for playing a game after a long layoff.  I am going to assume the specialty pack will pick up the Rainbow Warriors-Bruins game but who knows.  Nothing yet from TSN on this.  UPDATE: TSN will show Hawaii-UCLA on TSN2.  TSN doing Week Zero.  You love to see it!

Saturday Evening

US Canada
Alcorn State vs. NC Central (in Atlanta) 7:00 PM sp logo
Southern Utah at San Jose State 10:00 PM

A little FCS fun to finish our day.  That and a San Jose State team that is not your dad’s San Jose State Spartans (or your grandfather’s…or your older brother’s for that matter).  They host the Southern Utah Thunderbirds as they hit the Canadian airwaves for probably the first time I have to believe.  That game should be over by midway through the third meaning it’s an early night to start the season.  The FCS Kickoff happens yet again and I think it will end up on the specialty pack (fingers crossed).  A bigger SWAC is represented by Alcorn State and a smaller MEAC is repped by NC Central.  Should be a fun game and hey, it’s college football, so of course I will enjoy it.

UPDATE #2: I don’t see anything for any of the specialty packs at this point (Wednesday night).  It would not surprise me if Alcorn-NC Central does not show up anywhere here.

UPDATE #3: OK I see nothing about specialty pack college football games tomorrow.  Not surprising since the telecoms don’t usually show Week Zero on their specialty packs.  Stupid but what can you do.  I know if I called they would just blame ESPN (which they have done in the past).

No point in doing the games of the week since I’d end up listing all of them and, let’s be honest, none of them warrant that.  Oh, you want gambling picks then?  Fine.  Nebraska, Fresno State, UCLA, Alcorn State, San Jose State.  There you go.

For another almost two weeks you have NFL preseason and early regular season CFL.  So you have something to whet the appetite until college football and the real NFL season begins.  I mean I was getting super excited over plays by Buffalo Bills players that will end up on the practice squad.  So yeah I’m ready for copious amounts of football.  Now I gotta figure out how to navigate this season and lose weight since I desperately need to do so.  Should be a lot of fun.  And by a lot of fun I mean no fun at all.  Enjoy the games everyone and I will keep you apprised of any changes before the games begin.

BERT…..IS………BACK!!!!!!! (The Big Ten predictions)

Posted on by
Reply

bret bielema

BRET!  FUCKING!  BIELEMA!!!!!!!  Look at that man.  I SAID LOOK AT HIM!  300+pounds of real college football coach, oh yeah.  This guy eats, drinks, sleeps, shits, breathes, eats, naps, and eats college football.  Remember what he did in Wisconsin?  Those were the good times.  And now he’s back in the Big Ten (let’s not discuss anything Arkansas-related, shall we?)!!!!!  The Lovie Smith Experience came to an abrupt end as after taking one corner they ended up running into a wall.  Enter Bert.  This guy was made for Big Ten football.  Well, at least to coach it.  But the Illini is not exactly a sought-after job.  It’s been quite a long time since this program has been able to string together multiple positive seasons and the hope is that this man can do the job.  If he can somehow turn this team into a yearly contender (or even a team that always gets to bowl games) he won’t have to buy another drink (or pizza or steak or sandwich or bucket of chicken) in Champaign again.  I never really truly have a rooting interest but I would love to see this team do well.  I mean it won’t happen this season but maybe next year they really start turning things around.

So there you go.  Bielema.  There’s also Ohio State trying to repeat yet again, Jim Harbaugh trying to rebound in Ann Arbor and not being on quite the hot seat he’s used to (which makes no sense but that’s a whole different conversation), Indiana being a football school and maybe, just maybe, some Rutgers bowl action.  I will continue this in the Sausage and Peppers Summary (I’m getting hungry):

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

Sausage and Peppers Summary (with onions…can’t forget the onions)

  • Is the Big Ten East the toughest division in football?  I still think it’s a slight close second to the SEC West but now that Indiana and even Rutgers are looking competitive, it’s close.  A good Michigan team and an improved Sparty would put the group over the top.  Sorry, Maryland.  Really, they should just head back to the ACC.
  • OK I am not going to be stupid this time around.  I am picking tOSU to win the East division.  I’ve spent too many previous years thinking a team would beat the Buckeyes and it hasn’t happened in a while.  Way too many meaning more than zero.  And they will run the Big Ten table during the regular season.  Enough of this dumb bullshit from me thinking that I’ll be edgy and pick them to lose a conference game during the regular season.  They won’t.
  • As for the bottom of the East, yeah it’s Maryland and a retooling Michigan State team and those two really aren’t close to the other five.
  • Time for Kirk Ferentz to take his merry band of Hawkeyes back to Indianapolis for the Big Ten title game.  It won’t be easy with Wisky and Northwestern trailing them and even, dare I say it….OK I’ll say it….Nebraska possibly giving teams trouble.  Iowa will have just enough to get a division title by winning the tiebreaker over Wisconsin due to their predicted victory over the Badgers.
  • The B1G doesn’t just have the second-best division, they are the second-best conference.  Not quite at the SEC’s level but they boast a great top team in the Buckeyes and a solid mid-card.  And yes, I am sure Illinois could beat Vanderbilt.  So it’s a pretty tight race there and that does help when it comes to The Committee.  The tougher the conference, the more sway you have with them.
  • Nine bowl teams predicted here.  Not the greatest but not entirely bad.  Tough when you have a few rebuilding teams or teams that are just struggling to figure things out.  It will almost certainly be less that make it to the postseason once the NEW College Football Playoff comes around.  Almost sounds like the New Big Money Match Game ’76.  With much less Charles Nelson Reilly.
  • Hey remember the Hot Seat report I do every season?  I can’t put Lovie Smith on it anymore.  So who in the Big Ten could replace him?  Mike Locksley is a good possibility.  As is Jeff Brohm.  And don’t forget good ol’ Frosty the Huskerman, Scott Frost.  If the Huskers don’t get at least to .500 they might end up just hunting him for sport rather than fire him.
  • Iowa is not going to allow the Buckeyes to run away with the Big Ten Championship.  But in the end…death, taxes, and the Ohio State football Buckeyes winning the Big Ten.  It’s been the case more often that not it seems.  This would also give them an inside track shot at the College Football Playoff (which is still at four teams at present time).

Next up will be the conference that, lately, has been Clemson and 13 other teams, the ACC.  Two conferences down, eight more to go…well, nine if you include the Independents.  Things will be going quickly now as we count down to the start of the season.  Just can’t wait for Week Zero.  I think us college football fans need a full college football season.  Or more like any football at this point.  42 long days away.  It’ll be here in a flash (I think).  Have a great weekend everyone!

That was LSU’s Shoeper Bowl! – Week 15 College Football Recap

Posted on by
1

This is a new one.  Gators’ Marco Wilson tackled Kole Taylor short of the first down marker late in the fourth quarter in Florida’s game against LSU.  Then he got up with Taylor’s shoe in his hand and, in the words of the referee, threw it 20 yards downfield.  This meant he got a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty which kept LSU going and lead to Cade York’s insane 57-yard field goal into the fog at The Swamp to win the game.  This could end up costing Florida even a New Year’s Six spot (as their College Football Playoff chances are gone).  Horrible.  And stupid.  You couldn’t script this to be more ridiculous.

As per tradition, when I use the Footballgasm template, I must complete the week by doing the recap in the same manner.  Let’s go!

Thursday​

Southern Miss 45 Florida Atlantic 31 6:30 PM

This was a nice ending to a horrible season in Hattiesburg for the Golden Eagles.  Now they can hopefully start fresh with new coach Will Hall.  And to find out that even if FAU won, they wouldn’t have gone to the conference championship game was a big letdown.  Oh well.  Decent start to the week.

Friday

Arizona State 70 Arizona 7 7:30 PM

The Territorial Cup goes to the Sun Devils in one of the biggest beatdowns in Pac-12 history.  I was definitely one who thought Arizona’s hire of Kevin Sumlin a few years back was a coup.  Yeah now we know that it was his great quarterbacks at Houston and Texas A&M that really helped him along.  Paging Brent Brennan!

San Jose State 30 Nevada 20 10:00 PM

OK this game was being played between the Spartans and the Wolf Pack in Las Vegas at the field being used by the New Mexico Lobos.  Got it?  Anyway, the Spartans win puts them in the Mountain West Championship and also puts Boise State in as well.  This has been an amazing season for SJSU which means what I said above may happen…again.

Saturday Early

Penn State 39 Michigan State 24 Noon

This was actually a pretty good game into the fourth quarter and the Nittany Lions pulled away to win their first home game of the season (if you can believe that).  James Franklin is going to be on quite the hot seat going into 2021 as this has to be considered nothing short of a disappointment for this team, despite what 2020 brought.

Rutgers 27 Maryland 24 Noon

Meaningless game won by Rutgers.  Well maybe not meaningless to the Scarlet Knights and especially Greg Schiano.  The hiring of Schiano may make Rutgers look very smart (and Tennessee very stupid for deciding not to hire him).

Northwestern 28 Illinois 10 Noon

Northwestern, already clinching the Big Ten West, put a beatdown on the Illini.  And guess what happened yesterday?  Lovie Smith was finally shitcanned.  Oh wait, he agreed to part ways with the team.  Whatever.  Just a few years too late in my humble opinion.

Alabama 52 Arkansas 3 Noon

Not surprising that the Tide won.  Now we await to see what devastation they will wreak on Florida in the SEC Championship.  I don’t think it will be very pretty.  I’ve said it already but CBS may regret putting that game in primetime.

Utah 38 Colorado 21 Noon

The Buffs shouldn’t have had problems with the Utah offense but they did.  Their loss made things super easy for the Pac-12 as now they wouldn’t be undefeated along with USC.  At least we got to see some FOOTBAW WEATHER in Boulder for this one.

Georgia 49 Missouri 14 Noon

Speaking of games that weren’t close, here’s a great example.  Many people, myself included, thought it would be though.  For a while it looked like UGA was what everyone thought they were: a good team not deserving of a New Year’s Six spot.  It was tied at 14 late in the second quarter.  35 unanswered points later, the Dawgs proved that maybe they should be put in an important bowl game.

Minnesota 24 Nebraska 17 Noon

Minnesota wins this one as they hold on to beat the Huskers.  Is there anyone that can turn this program around?  Not saying Scott Frost had all the pieces when he arrived but man this has been an unbridled disaster in Lincoln.  Definite hot seat material for next season.

Saturday Afternoon

Buffalo 56 Akron 7 2:30 PM

Disappointing.  I was hoping for Jaret Patterson to score ten touchdowns.

Army 15 Navy 0 3:00 PM

I wonder if a lot of people forgot this game was even on.  Sad for a game with this kind of history but 2020 has wreaked havoc on college football (along with damn near everything else).  Unfortunately the game was not good at all which meant few people would even watch to the end to see Army sing second.

North Carolina 62 Miami 26 3:30 PM

Not even close this one.  The Heels really wanted this one and it showed.  I think it’s about time I believe that Miami is not a College Football Playoff team under Manny Diaz.  Or maybe Mack Brown is still pissed about that game against BYU years ago when Diaz was his defensive coordinator.  Either way.

Oklahoma State 42 Baylor 3 3:30 PM

What a way to finish a season.  Even without Chuba Hubbard, who has declared for the NFL Draft, the Fighting Mullets blew the doors of Baylor in this one.  This was a rough season as the Pokes never got respect all season and could very well end up in the Top 15 at the end of it all.  Probably still behind Oklahoma though which will irk all their fans but hey, can’t win em all.

Iowa 28 Wisconsin 7 3:30 PM

Slow start but the Hawkeyes pulled away in the second half to beat the Badgers and set up…an almost useless game next week.  I know the Big Ten doesn’t want to overshadow the conference championship game but Iowa-Indiana would have been a huge matchup with big NY6 implications.  Instead, they fucked up Champions Week.  Way to go, guys.

Memphis 30 Houston 27 3:45 PM

Well the Tigers won which really meant nothing since both teams are going bowling.  Now the question is will Ryan Silverfield be around next season in Memphis.  He is a dark horse candidate for a couple of jobs so it will be interesting to see if he ends up heading elsewhere like his predecessors, Mike Norvell and Justin Fuente, did.  As for Dana Holgorsen, he has already downed four cans of Red Bull by the time you got to this point in this post.

Tennessee 42 Vanderbilt 17 4:00 PM

Tennessee won.  Sarah Fuller kicked two extra points and made many men mad.  That’s about all I can say about the battle for state supremacy (no offense, Middle Tennessee).

Saturday Primetime & Late Night​

Boise State 17 Wyoming 9 6:00 PM

A really slow start here by both teams and it never really got going after that.  Blame all the snow that fell in Laramie as it made for a sloppy game.  Honestly, they should have a bowl game there.  That would be fun to watch.  Probably horrible for the players and the coaching staffs though.  Anyway, this meant nothing after San Jose State’s win the previous night but good to see Boise finish off the regular season with a win as they try to win yet another Mountain West conference championship.

LSU 37 Florida 34 7:00 PM

Hey at least it was a fun, close game right?  Forget the Shoe Throw of Doom that I mentioned at the beginning.  Florida did not look like a Top 10 team here at all.  Either that or LSU looked better than their record states.  Both are probably correct.  The Gators needed this game and couldn’t pull away from the Tigers.  Their punishment will probably be the Outback Bowl or Citrus Bowl or some close-by bowl game.

TCU 52 Louisiana Tech 10 7:00 PM

Well, at least TCU was able to get their non-conference game in.

Auburn 24 Mississippi State 10 7:30 PM

Didn’t matter.  Wasn’t as close as the final score indicated.  And now Gus Malzahn has finally, mercifully, been fired.  He is now almost $22 million richer because of it.  Ain’t college football a great sport?

USC 43 UCLA 38 7:30 PM

This ended up being one of the best finishes of the season.  The Trojans, in my opinion, will not get into the CFP (fuck you ESPN Playoff Predictor).  The Bruins, I have to say, have really improved (FINALLY) under Chiop Kelly.  Took long enough.  UCLA scored late in this one to take the three point lead and it looked like the Pac-12 was completely ruined (as opposed to mostly ruined which they are at this point).  Instead, the men of Troy march down the field quickly and score a touchdown to win the game.  And to the chagrin of some USC fans, I have a feeling Clay Helton will get a contract extension in the offseason.

BYU 28 San Diego State 14 10:00 PM

Nice to see the Cougars finish with ten wins since their original schedule was completely obliterated.  People still like to underestimate BYU (or downright hate them) but Kalani Sitake has shown that this program is still one to watch, year in and year out.  Still won’t get them a New Year’s Six spot but still has to be considered a successful season.

New Mexico 49 Fresno State 39 10:30 PM

New Mexico is quietly turning things around while they are banished to Vegas.  Danny Gonzales has done a masterful job starting this turnaround.  Don’t be surprised if they are over .500 next season and, perhaps, back to the Rocky Long days of prosperity.

Stanford 27 Oregon State 24  10:00 PM

This was actually a great Pac-12 After Dark game (as is tradition).  Back-and-forth throughout the entire game and it meant that you had to continue to watch well into the night.  Jet Toner (great name for, well, anything) hit the game-winning field goal with a little less than two minutes left.  Stanford, somehow, ended up 3-2 going into whatever the Pac-12 is calling the final week of the season.  That feels weird considering how they have played the past almost-two seasons.

Normally the next week is conference championship week ONLY.  But man this has been such a crazy year that there are a bunch of games also scheduled.  So this could end up being a bit more interesting than usual when it comes to this week in college football.  Also, there’s a bowl game that day as well.  Yeah, none of this makes sense.

Alright so next up is the bowl projections list with a few bowl games actually already confirming their matchups.  Nice to see but really it is a necessity considering the way the bowl schedule is structured.  College and NFL schedules later in the week.

Another proposal from yours truly – Week 11 College Football Recap

Posted on by
Reply

You probably know this already but over 15% of the college football games this past weekend were postponed or outright cancelled.  Unfortunately this is not a surprise considering we are in the throes of the second wave of COVID-19.  College football doesn’t get exempted from this.  And to be honest, it feels like even though the powers that be are doing the best they can, they are screwing things up.  Considering it’s the kind of year it has been you have to be flexible with a lot of things these days.  College football is doing that as well.  Just look at the Pac-12 with UCLA and California.  They both had their games cancelled so on Friday, set up a game for yesterday.  This has never been done before in the history of college football considering some teams schedule non-conference games 25 years out.  So it shows you don’t need weeks to prepare for scheduling changes.  Which brings me to my proposal.

Just so you know, this is something that has been bandied about by quite a few people in and out of the college football mediasphere.  Really, it is the same thing I have said about the NFL: create a week (or two) at the end of the season (or near the end) to fill in these games that have been lost to allow for a fuller season to be played.  The SEC has kind of done that as during conference championship week, teams can reschedule lost games if they can’t find an open week any other time.  A good idea but mine would be better.  Just move conference championship day to Boxing Day.  Now you have December 19th for make-up games which could end up being very important.  And don’t start bowl season the day of the conference championships.  I mean way to make those two teams playing that bowl game feel like shit.  Start the bowls on the 28th, and move the damn Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl back.  Many are saying you can’t but have you noticed how fucked up everything is these days?  Is the most important thing to get the season finished properly?  Oh that’s right, it’s not.  It’s about money.  Just not for the players.

Alright enough of my awesome plan to help college football (yet again).  On to the recap of what was a pretty good week of college football.  It wasn’t the best week and I think a lot had to do with all the games cancelled.  My only hope is that the last month of the regular season is better (fingers crossed).

Recap

  • Nebraska had a nice win over Penn State in a battle of winless teams.  Scott Frost has to be relieved.  It was a huge victory that has been mired in a slump not seen in this part of the country in decades.  Not saying this makes it so the Huskers now have a shot at the division title because they really don’t.  Saying that, it’s not like their schedule is super difficult.  Illinois, Iowa, Purdue, and Minnesota left for them.  Win out and they are 5-2 and with some help who knows.  As for PSU, wow the bottom has dropped out for them.  Only winless team left in the Big Ten.  This is not looking good for them and for James Franklin.
  • NC State is quietly at 5-3 on the season after their win over the hapless Florida State Seminoles.  The game wasn’t even as close as the 38-22 score would make you believe.  FSU being relegated to the ACC Network says all you need to know about the state of that program.  They are in dire straits meaning Mike Norvell will be on a hot seat starting next season for sure.
  • A very slow start for Cincinnati turned into an absolute rout when they scored 28 second quarter points on East Carolina to pick up the win.  They still have two more big games against UCF and Tulsa coming up that could put other teams back in the race to get to the American Conference Championship.  The Bearcats would have to lose at least one of those, if not both, though and I honestly can’t see that happening.
  • No big matchups this day but there was the Red Bandana Game at Boston College.  If you haven’t heard about it, it’s in honour of Welles Crowther.  He was a lacrosse player at BC who ended up moving to New York City to become an equities trader.  The other thing he was was a volunteer firefighter.  He ended up helping people get out of the South Tower during 9/11 and ended up dying.  One of the people who survived talked about being saved by a man who wore a red bandana and that man was Crowther .  So this game was created annually and it’s a great tradition that was created in Boston.  And then Notre Dame came in and beat the Eagles pretty badly.  Actually that may have been a little bit of an exaggeration but the Eagles were never really close.  The Irish were too much for BC and Ian Book may have pushed himself into the Heisman conversation.  Notre Dame continues their run to the ACC Championship but have to get through North Carolina first which could be a very interesting game.
  • In Big XII news, Texas Tech BARELY beat Baylor.  It was looking for a while there that the Bears had the Red Raiders’ number.  Tech needed a FG late to win this one and got it.  Neither team is doing any good, especially Baylor who has only won against Kansas and may not win another game this year.  Rough start for Dave Aranda in Waco.
  • Illinois had an actual great game against Rutgers and no, I am not joking.  It looked like the Scarlet Knights were driving for the winning score until an unfortunate interception.  Huge for the Illini.  This allowed them to hit a long field goal with almost no time left to get their first win of the season.  And with all teams bowl-eligible, Lovie Smith could take his team to a bowl game in two consecutive seasons.  The last time that happened in Champaign?  2010 and 2011 in the last two years under Ron Zook.  Yeah.
  • Appalachian State ended up with what ended up as a huge win as they beat Georgia State in a close one.  This makes it so their game against Coastal Carolina is still huge and for the Sun Belt East division crown.  The Mountaineers have no real shot at the New Year’s Six so now their goal is to kill the Chanticleers’ chances.  It wouldn’t surprise me if they were the favourite when those two teams meet up this coming Saturday.
  • Could the Florida Gators somehow be a true factor in the CFP race?   They sure could.  I mean their offense took Arkansas to the woodshed and now Kyle Trask has to be considered a real Heisman candidate.  And the Hogs aren’t bad this year.  The Gators still need to truly figure out their defense since the entire conference has decided to become the Big XII East.  A game against Vanderbilt coming up should help them figure things out before the final stretch of games.
  • Are the Wisconsin Badgers a juggernaut?  They mopped the floor with Michigan dropping 49 relatively easy points on them.  Their path to the Big Ten Championship is now very simple.  Beat Northwestern this Saturday, don’t lose anymore games to COVID and they are headed to Indianapolis.
  • So what can we make of the Kentucky Wildcats this season?  They looked OK, I guess, against Vanderbilt and were able to eek out a win.  They’ve been all over the place this season and no one can quite figure them out.  Unfortunately for them, their next two games against Alabama and Florida.  Good fucking luck.
  • SMU lost to Tulsa.  No New Year’s Six for you!
  • There were no games between ranked teams this past weekend.  The closest we probably got is Miami’s thrilling victory over Virginia Tech.  A back-and-forth affair that came down to the wire with The U pulling out the win with a touchdown with six minutes to go and a defensive stand shortly after that.  The Canes need to keep winning to move up the chain and hope that one of Clemson or Notre Dame loses down the stretch so they can get back into the ACC Championship.
  • Maybe we should call them Windiana.  Are the Hoosiers ready for real pressure?  They have it coming up.  They went way out in front against Michigan State and cruised to the shutout this past weekend to move themselves squarely into the Top 10.  Now they have, arguably, the biggest game in program history as they play Ohio State this coming Saturday.  They win that and they have to be considered, amazingly enough, a true College Football Playoff contender.  Amazing.
  • It looked for a while that Oregon was not going to be able to pull through in their game against Washington State.  A 22-point fourth quarter helped them to the big win.  At this point, other than maybe USC, the Ducks are feeling like the only Pac-12 hope for the CFP.  And struggling to beat a team like Wazzu just doesn’t cut it.
  • Marshall beat Middle Tennessee.  I would honestly be shocked if the Thundering Herd don’t get to 10-0 going into the Conference USA Championship.
  • Is the ACC the new Big XII?  North Carolina and Wake Forest both put up 50-burgers in their defense-optional matchup.  Both teams are the epitome of the ACC mid-card.  Good teams but none of them seem like contenders, even if they are ranked as such.  Both of these teams are good and it wouldn’t surprise me to see them both ranked at the end of the season but neither of them look like they could contend with Clemson or Notre Dame.  Now watch the Heels beat the Irish.
  • Finally, USC and Arizona had a fun match out in Pac-12 land.  Another back-and-forth match with three touchdowns in the final four minutes.  The Trojans keep rolling with the win and are looking like the only challenger to Oregon in the entire Pac-12.

Normally at this point of the season we would be heading into SEC Sleepwalk Saturday followed by Footballgasm Weekend and that would end the regular season.  Instead, we have a good week coming up, followed by American Thanksgiving, followed by two more weeks of the regular season.  So yeah these games are important but still not as important as those final regular season games.  Anyway, let’s get to my Top 25 which may or may not be of any importance:

#1 Alabama
#2 Notre Dame
#3 Florida
#4 Ohio State
#5 Cincinnati
#6 BYU
#7 Clemson
#8 Texas A&M
#9 Oregon
#10 Miami
#11 Wisconsin
#12 Indiana
#13 Oklahoma State
#14 Georgia
#15 Marshall
#16 Coastal Carolina
#17 USC
#18 Iowa State
#19 Oklahoma
#20 Auburn
#21 Texas
#22 Northwestern
#23 Louisiana
#24 Liberty
#25 North Carolina

Not much has happened at the top but there should be a lot to come in the last few weeks of the regular season.  Unless something weird happens, both Georgia and Auburn won’t get to the CFP.  Alabama is almost a shoo-in at this point unless they don’t just shit the bed but fill the bedroom with diarrhea.  Notre Dame wins out and they are essentially a lock.  Ohio State is probably the same.  I can’t see a game that Ohio State would lose the rest of the way.  I am going to continue to drink the Kool-Aid and say Cincinnati and BYU are going to make things very difficult for The Committee.  The most important thing here though?  Indiana is in the Top 10 in the AP Poll but not quite in my poll.  They beat tOSU though, they are easily in the Top 10 if not the Top 5 in both of those venerable polls.  And let’s not forget about Coastal Carolina.  And Marshall.  Two Group of Five teams who are playing well, haven’t lost, and could cause other issues for The Committee.  I would love to see Indiana win out and get in the conversation for the College Football Playoff because I like the discomfort of a team that is not a college football blueblood being in the mix.  The media, as much as they they say otherwise, do not want these non-traditional football powers in these big games.  Except for the ones who love controversy like it’s crack.  Those are the people I like.

We got some MACtion tomorrow night!  Buffalo and Bowling Green tussle starting at 7:00 on CBS Sports Network and Akron faces off against Kent State starting at 7:00 on ESPNU (if you can get that).  Ohio and Miami-OH were supposed to play but they are the first MACtion game to be cancelled due to the Coronavirus.  Even MACtion can’t handle the virus.  Then the next night is another set of MACtion games with one of them being on CBSSN: Toledo-Eastern Michigan.

Tomorrow we got some bowl projections (which aren’t early anymore).  Wednesday, I will try and get the weekend-plus of college football and its TV schedule up.  Finally, the NFL gets the sked treatment on Thursday (hopefully).  Wish me luck and enjoy your week (and the games) everyone!

The Coaching Hot Seat Report, My Heisman Ballot and whatever the Big Ten is doing all in one post!

Posted on by
Reply

That’s what this is: a god damned dumpster fire.

Alright I am going to leave the Big Ten stuff to the end as I don’t want this to go off the rails so early.  First up will be the HOT SEAT REPORT!  My most accurate predictions of all.  This year, though I have no clue.  Let’s get right to it and as it is every year, this is ordered from most likely to be fired to least likely (NOW with Big Ten coaches!).  Let us begin:

Almost Guaranteed Shitcanning

  1. Dana Dimel (UTEP) – Things are looking terrible for UTEP football right now.  All the rest of the teams seem to be leaving the Miners in their dust except for Old Dominion but that’s because they aren’t playing this Fall.  And with most teams having smaller non-conference schedules, this doesn’t look like UTEP’s time to improve.  Needed to keep his job – UTEP to be competitive in most of their conference games.  Prediction – Will be gone before the end of the season as UTEP will struggle to get more than two wins.
  2. Derek Mason (Vanderbilt) – Vanderbilt has been an SEC also-ran for most of their time in the conference other than the James Franklin years.  Unfortunately, Mason hasn’t improved things in Nashville in his stint here.  It is tough because he’s a great coach and a great interview but you have to wonder if he is just better as a defensive coordinator somewhere, especially at the Power Five level.  Needed to keep his job – Bowl eligibility at the very least.  Prediction – He will be gone with either one or two games to go and will become a defensive coordinator somewhere at a lower level in the next year or two.
  3. Will Muschamp (South Carolina) – At the time, the hiring of Muschamp looked like a good one even though he had been fairly mediocre at Florida.  But he hasn’t been able to make a dent in the SEC and is 2-13 against ranked teams, something that will keep him near the bottom of the division.  Needed to keep his job – Play meaningful football in late November and beat a ranked team or two.  Prediction – He will probably be fired with one or two games left but be the lame duck coach and finish out the string.

Probable Shitcanning

  1. Philip Montgomery (Tulsa) – Tulsa has struggled for most of Montgomery’s reign here except for one great season.  He was a can’t miss coaching prospect who so far has missed badly.  I think the Golden Hurricane is going to be worse this season so it may signal the end for him in Oklahoma (the state, not the school).  Needed to keep his job – Battling for .500 late in the season.  Prediction – One win and a coaching search to start shortly after the season ends.
  2. Lovie Smith (Illinois) – Being successful this past season may have actually been the worst thing for Lovie’s coaching future in Champaign.  Now the expectations will be higher and with Northwestern improving, I can’t see the Illini going bowling once they get back to playing in October.  Needed to keep his job – To be in contention for bowl-eligibility late into the season.  Prediction – I think they end up winning three or four games but won’t be enough to go bowling and will probably cost him his job but who knows with Illinois.

Possible Shitcanning

  1. Manny Diaz (Miami) – Let’s just say the Manny Diaz era did not get off to a great start after he left Temple (after a few weeks) for his dream job.  But things are looking up with transfer quarterback D’Eriq King under centre (well, in the shotgun because no one goes under centre these days).  His status will fully depend on the improvement the Canes show on the field.  Needed to keep his job – At least 7 wins but preferably at least 8 and looking at a possible conference championship berth.  Prediction – I see The U at the 8-win mark so that should placate the fans in south Florida.
  2. Scott Frost (Nebraska) – Look, I drank the Nebraska Koolaid last year.  I admit it.  But the bloom is off the rose now in Lincoln and anything short of at least .500 and a bowl game could spell the end for the guy that was supposed to lead the Huskers back to prominence.  Needed to keep his job – .500 record.  Prediction – I see them being around that mark so he might not be fired but it will be a huge discussion in the off-season about his future.
  3. Steve Campbell (South Alabama) – It was looking like the Jaguars were going to have a 2-0 start and it probably would have kept Campbell off this list.  But their collapse against Tulane makes it so his job is at least in some jeopardy.  With the opening of their brand-new stadium, I am sure the brass were hoping for a team that could maybe even contend in the Sun Belt West.  With Louisiana in the division that won’t happen but maybe a bowl game for them?  The other thing is, if they let Campbell go, who would be up to replace him?  Not like this is a sought-after job.  Needed to keep his job – For USA to win close to five games.  Prediction – I have the Jaguars winning four games so at the very least, Campbell is looking at a hotter seat for next season.

Doubtful Shitcanning (although it still could happen)

  1. Dino Babers (Syracuse) – Dino needs to get some slack here.  There were some injuries last year and a lot of underperforming.  Saying that, with only one great season under his belt, this season will have to at least look like an improvement over last year or he may be jettisoned.  Needed to keep his job – Battling for bowl eligibility late in the season.  Prediction – I have the Orange winning 4 so they need an upset to go bowling, if not two.  No bowl game means Babers will have at least a molten lava hot seat going into next season.
  2. Matt Viator (ULM) – Things were looking good in Monroe.  Then the Ragin’ Cajuns down in Lafayette burned some rubber and left them in their dust.  Now they will be battling South Alabama and Texas State to stay out of the bottom of the Sun Belt West division.  Needed to keep his job –  Honestly?  Just don’t finish last in the division.  Prediction – Ummmm….well….I do have them finishing last so this could get interesting.
  3. Tom Herman (Texas) – Herman hasn’t exactly set the Big XII on fire in Austin.  The fans at UT want to be in the Big XII Championship (OK they want to win the Big XII but baby steps).  Not getting there this year would put Herman on a bit of a hot seat going into 2021.  Needed to keep his job – Like keep his job for sure and maybe get an extension?  A trip to the Big XII Championship game.  Prediction – Losing to Oklahoma State to be left out of the title game and a lot of grumblings in Longhorn land.

Yes a much shorter list.  Blame COVID.

Now I will post my (shorter) Heisman ballot.  This is usually less accurate but at least I am on par with many so-called experts since many frosh and sophomores are in contention and it’s tough to figure them out compared to the juniors and seniors.  Alright here we go:

My Usually Awful Heisman Ballot

  1. Trevor Lawrence, Clemson – Alright I had Lawrence winning it last year and he came up well short.  This year he is one of the favourites to win it so I am picking him yet again.  Maybe this time he won’t let me down…and the team.  Most importantly the team.  And the fanbase.  But me too.
  2. Justin Fields, Ohio State – I feel a bit hesitant to put Fields this high.  This time it is because the Big Ten is starting later and he will have to be in Heisman form from the beginning.  I haven’t even done Big Ten predictions yet but I assume Ohio State will be favoured in all their games.  So as long as the Buckeyes aren’t upset along the way and Fields has a bad game or two, he should be in the Heisman conversation.
  3. Spencer Rattler, Oklahoma – The streak ended last year.  Jalen Hurts had a good season but it wasn’t enough to bag the Sooners their third straight Heisman winner (who was also a transfer quarterback).  Rattler is a Lincoln Riley recruit so this is a little different than what we are used to with OU.  I still predict Oklahoma to get to the College Football Playoff which probably will mean Rattler will have had a great season so that puts him here.
  4. D’Eriq King, Miami – This is the big transfer of the off-season and he could be the guy that saves Manny Diaz his job (and may get him an extension).  It was a bit of a shock that he first decided to redshirt at Houston and then transfer to Miami but here we are.  I think the Canes are going to be in New Year’s Six contention all season so the dual threat King will be a big part of that.
  5. Chuba Hubbard, Oklahoma State – Hubbard for some reason came back for his senior year.  What it does is sets Hubbard up to become the next big running back to come out of Oklahoma State after Barry Sanders.  It also could make him the first Canadian to win the Heisman.  That would be cool.  He will actually need to run for more yards than he did last year so it may be difficult but if he does it, he will be at least the best running back in college football and a surefire first round pick in the 2021 draft.
  6. Ian Book, Notre Dame – I know people will be upset at this.  Slow your roll and check your Notre Dame hate at the door.  The Irish are in a conference for the first time ever and are a contender to make their first-ever conference championship.  And if that does come to fruition, Book will be the biggest reason why.  And he could be a hero in South Bend forever if they somehow get to the College Football Playoff and don’t count them out of that.
  7. Sam Ehlinger, Texas – For the second straight year, Ehlinger might be the second best quarterback in the Big XII.  Now if he somehow gets the Longhorns to the conference championship then he might rocket up this list.
  8. Bo Nix, Auburn – The son of former Auburn star Patrick Nix plays in the toughest division in college football.  And if the Tigers have any thoughts of going to the New Year’s Six (if not the CFP), it will have to ride on his strong arm.  With a lot of new quarterbacks in the SEC, he could end up getting the lion’s share of the attention at the position which could be good for him to move up this list.

Honourable Mention

  • Travis Etienne, Clemson
  • Spencer Sanders, Oklahoma State
  • Myles Brennan, LSU
  • Zamir White, Georgia
  • Najee Harris, Alabama
  • Adrian Martinez, Nebraska
  • Sam Howell, North Carolina

OK now we get to the Big Ten insanity.  Remember when they decided they weren’t going to have a Fall season and there was a huge uproar because three of the five Power Five conferences decided to plow ahead with a season anyway?  Pepperidge Farms (and all of us) remembers.  Now the Big Ten has decided to reverse course.  They plan on having a nine-week conference season.  It will start on October 24th and go through to December 19th when the Big Ten Championship will occur.  But that’s not all!  They will also have a kind of East vs. West challenge that week where the 2nd place team from the East faces the 2nd place team from the West, 3rd place against 3rd place, etc. all the way down to the last place teams in both divisions.  Just crazy.  This conference is a shitshow.  But money and FOMO ruled the day with the announcement.  Now the Pac-12 is the only P5 conference sitting out and that will be, unfortunately, horrible for the conference going into 2021.  College football, everybody!

Alright a slight change for this week’s posts.  I will be posting the NFL schedule on Thursday and the college sked on Friday since there are no college games on Thursday night.  I will do that for any other weeks this happens but as of this point, I can only see it happening maybe once more.  Anyway, hope you have had a great hump day!