Lists, Lists…..LISTS!

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

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

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

Sneaky-Good/Underrated Games

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

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

Best Group of Five Games

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

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

Best Group of Five vs. Power Five Games

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

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

Worst Power Five Games

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

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

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

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

Most Important Games of the 2019 College Football Season – Part Deux

It looks like we are getting closer to this.  I mean we won’t have NCAA 20 but NCAA 21 is not out of the question.  And all it took is for the NCAA to realize that maybe these players should earn some money on their likeness.  This would also solve the problem of stars getting the same as third-string guards.  So simple yet it took so damn long to figure this out.  Hopefully it pushes through and then I can get a new system to get the newest NCAA game.  Oh you can bet your bottom dollar I would get whatever new system it’s on.

So for the second straight year I feel like a complete moron.  I thought I was smart starting a day earlier than last year’s first CFB blog post.  So what happens yesterday?  A big schedule dump.  ESPN.  FOX.  CBS.  Hell, Stadium, Facebook, CBS Sports Network.  So much updating (although I will admit I had some right).  But the ones that were wrong…well, here are the updates for those:

• I had the Northwestern-Stanford game on the on FOX Sports One.  This game will now be at 4:00 on FOX.  This is a good thing to be wrong about, no?
• FIU-Tulane, the de facto best Group of Five game of Week 1, has been relegated to ESPN3.  Wow, that’s terrible.  It also means we can’t see it up here which may not be that big a loss to be honest with you.
• The OSU Bowl (Oklahoma and Oregon versions) is now not on the specialty pack.  It will be on FOX Sports One.  Had the time right, but the network wrong.  Damn.
• For the second straight year, I got a USC-Stanford game very wrong.  I had the game at 8 on FOX.  It is now on at 10:30 on the specialty pack.  Instead, FOX chose Buffalo-Penn State.  Yeah I don’t get it either.
• With WVU-Mizzou, I hilariously used 24-hour time to say that it was at 7:00.  That is wrong.  It is at noon.  It will probably still be on the specialty pack though so at least that is (probably) correct…probably.
• Arkansas-Ole Miss has moved to 7:30.  I had it 3:30.  Will still be specialty pack.
• I had a feeling that Oklahoma-UCLA might be picked up FOX.  And it was!  It will now air at 8:00.
• Stanford-UCF still will probably go to ABC but not at Noon anymore.  It has been moved to 3:30 which I am sure the people who bought tickets to that game are very happy about.
• We still can’t see Cy-Hawk but the time was moved from Noon to 4:00.

So to be honest it wasn’t THAT bad.  Now we get to what is truly speculative as 95% of games from Week 4 on have little to no information attached to them.  This is where I can REALLY screw things up.  So let’s begin shall we?

Week 4

Game of the Week: Notre Dame at Georgia (8:00, CBS) – CBS gets one primetime game a season (unless they lobby for 2 but it costs them).  Normally this is LSU-Alabama but this season they could not, in good conscience, let this one opportunity pass them by.  You can say whatever you want about the Fighting Irish but they deliver ratings and if this game lives up to the previous game these two teams, it should be massive.  It helps that the week that houses LSU-Bama is not a good week, schedule-wise, for the SEC.

Other Really Important Games: Auburn at Texas A&M (3:30, CBS) – First two games this week are CBS games.  Happens pretty much never and is a coup for the network.  The other thing that strikes me is this is happening and neither game involves Alabama.  Which I am sure someone will mention in the hype going into these two games.  Anyway, the winner keeps their shot at usurping the Tide while the loser probably hopes to go to the Outback Bowl.

Michigan at Wisconsin (Noon, FOX) – Last year, the game in this very spot was Notre Dame-Wake Forest.  Seriously.  Look it up if you want.  This is a deadly game for both teams so early on in the season.  The Big Ten is not known for having huge September conference games but here we are.  This feels like it is more important for Michigan because of two obvious facts: 1) they play in the very difficult Big Ten East which should be really good again this year, and 2) Ohio State fans won’t let them forget it if they lose.  I don’t know which is worse to be honest.

Oregon at Stanford (7:30, ABC) – At this point you still have to feel for the Oregon State Beavers.  They play these two teams, U-Dub, Wazzu and Cal every season.  They’d have to pay me a lot to even consider coaching for this program.  Not that that will be an issue but it has to be one of the toughest jobs in Power Five football.  This game here should be yet another classic between these two as (at one point) consensus 2020 #1 pick Justin Herbert faces off against a usually tough Stanford defense.  I’d love to say the winner has a leg up in the Pac-12 North but considering what happened last year, that is not a guarantee.

Michigan State at Northwestern (8:30, FOX) – This might be overshadowed by the above-mentioned Michigan-Wisky battle.  Also being on the late FOX broadcast might hurt a bit too.  Not sure it will go on this late but it is in Evanston which is Central Time Zone so who the hell knows.

Oklahoma State at Texas (7:00, specialty pack) – Will Texas be as good as last season?  There’s a good possibility yes so Tom Herman and his fancy grill can keep smiling at this point.  But you can never count out The Mullet.  Mike Gundy almost always has good teams and this year’s Cowboys should be better than last year’s so an upset is not impossible.  Sooner fans will be watching this one in earnest.

Tennessee at Florida (7:00, specialty pack) – It’s not “Is Texas Back?” anymore.  It’s “Is Tennessee back?”  Now that the Longhorns are good again, many are craving for the good ol’ days of the Vols being good as well.  Maybe once they apologize for shitcanning Phil Fulmer they can truly turn the corner since they have never really recovered from that.  No longer the Champions of Life, the Vols will try to eek out a new existence under second-year coach Jeremy Pruitt who will try to become another Kirby Smart.  Oh yeah, and Florida is in this and they will be good and have one of the best coaches in the land but who cares about that right?

Utah at USC (Friday, 9:00, FOX Sports One) – Can’t win em all right?  This may still move although it seems to be cemented on Friday night.  With no ESPN game on that night, it may appear there so who knows.  Even though it is Week Four it is still rather early to figure some of these things out.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: South Carolina at Missouri (Noon, TSN1) – This may essentially end up being an early season SEC East elimination game.  The loser here will have pretty much no shot at going to Atlanta on December 7th.  Also, this should be a pretty evenly-matched game.  Now watch it be a blowout.  Look it was either this or Cal-Ole Miss for this spot.  My options were thin.

Best Group of Five Game: Air Force at Boise State (Friday, 9:00, specialty pack) – You know, after one bad Air Force season many people, including myself, figured the Falcons would be that way for a while.  So what did Troy Calhoun do?  Just coach them to back-to-back good seasons.  And I am sure this year will be no different.  It is on the blue turf in Boise which is tough for any team but the AFA has done fairly well here in the past.

Worst Power Five Game: West Virginia at Kansas (3:30, FOX Sports One) – Let’s be honest: it will take a lot more than hiring Les Miles to turn this program around.  Even the hype of him arriving isn’t leading many to anoint Kansas as an up-and-coming team just yet.

Week 5

Game of the Week: Ohio State at Nebraska (8:30, FOX) – Not a bad week but not a great one as you can see by my choice of GOTW.  No earth-shattering potential games of the year this week (barring any upsets of course).  However, there is a caveat here:  if Scott Frost can somehow make this Husker team an 8 or 9-win team this season then watch out because this could be a prime candidate for a massive upset and season-changing game.  Or it could end up being a blowout.  Who knows.

Other Really Important Games: Mississippi State at Auburn (3:30, CBS) – CBS really racking up the good games early on in the season.  Brad Nessler must be so happy…now he just needs a close game to call, for once.  I wonder what these two programs would be like if they didn’t have Alabama in their division.  I am sure these fanbases have thought of that many times before as these two teams should be firmly in the Top 20 by this point of the season.

Virginia at Notre Dame (3:30, NBC) – The Fighting Irish’s ACC-heavy schedule continues this season (and will for the next 18 years I believe) with a game against the Hoos.  Remember the last time these two teams met?  A last-minute long touchdown pass by the Irish followed by that one fan just hanging over the wall to show his despair.  Many tried to emulate that student in subsequent games in Charlottesville but he was the original.  Anyway, I am sure many college football fans around the country would love to see the Irish faithful look that way after this game.

Washington State at Utah (9:15, specialty pack) – There were a couple of weeks last year where ESPN did not have a 3:30 game and instead ran a 6:00 and 9:15 game instead.  I have a feeling this will be one of those weeks.  Don’t ask me why though since it’s more like “they had one in September last season so I am sure they will have one in September this season”.  As for the two combatants, this should be some really good Pac-12 After Dark action between teams that are looking to make a bigger mark on the conference and win a conference title.

Northwestern at Wisconsin (Noon, ABC) – This feels like your typical early-afternoon Big Ten game.  A lot of offense although much of it will be on the ground.  Great defense, especially on the Wisky side of things.  And potentially a Big Ten West elimination game depending on how these two teams fare the rest of the way.  Should be good.

USC at Washington (7:30, ABC) – The Pac-12 always gets a couple of primetime ABC games and so does the Big XII.  Honestly it sometimes feels weird to put anything other than a Big Ten game there since they get way more games in that timeslot.  I figured this is one of the better games as long as USC is already playing better.  Let’s be honest: if the Trojans aren’t doing well at this point it might be the end for Clay Helton since that shit won’t fly (for very long) in southern California.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: NC State at Florida State (7:00, specialty pack) – Even when the Noles were really good, they seemed to have problems with the Wolfpack.  This becomes potentially one of the more important games of the week if A) NC State doesn’t lose too much with the graduation of Ryan Finley and B) Willie Taggart truly has the Seminoles firing on most, if not all, cylinders.

Best Group of Five Game: Houston at North Texas (8:00, Facebook) – Yes.  Facebook.  We are living in a bit of a new age my friend.  I watched a few minutes of a game on Twitter a couple years back and it wasn’t bad to be honest.  I prefer watching it on TV but sometimes you take what you can get.  Here we have Houston who should once again be trying to usurp UCF as the American Conference’s top dog and North Texas who should, once again, be a contender in Conference USA.  On paper this looks good.  Let’s hope it lives up to that and it will be interesting to see what it’s like to watch a game on Facebook.  I am intrigued I gotta tell ya.

Worst Power Five Game: Wake Forest at Boston College (3:30, specialty pack) – And honestly this isn’t even that bad a game.  It’s just one of those weeks with quite a few decent games but no eye-openers.

Week 6

Game of the Week: Michigan State at Ohio State (7:30, ABC) – There is a small possibility that this moves to FOX at Noon so this, like most of this post, is not set in stone yet.  Two Big Ten East contenders.  Two Big Ten contenders.  Potentially, two CFP contenders.  Now if it does go to FOX, there’s a possibility of seeing GUS JOHNSON lose his voice or have an aneurysm.  Neither of which would be nice to see at all.

Other Really Important Games: Auburn at Florida (7:00, TSN2) – Many would say this should be the game of the week.  And I wouldn’t say you were wrong.  Both teams look good heading into the season and there’s always talk about Gus Malzahn being shitcanned so that is fun for people who like that kind of thing.

Virginia Tech at Miami (3:30, ABC) – Hey remember when these two teams were in the Big East and it was awesome?  Miami is finally back to a level where they are competing for a Top 10 spot and VaTech takes a big dump for a couple years.  This could be the first year in a long time that both teams are very good and should compete for the ACC crown (yes, even with Clemson in the conference).  Ya know, I kind of wish the Big East was back.  It was a fun conference.

Washington at Stanford (7:30, FOX) – The four-team round-robin of doom and destruction for the Pac-12 North (say that five times fast) continues here.  The Pac-12 needs one of those four to just break out and win every game so they don’t look like a terrible conference yet again.  And also it’s not late night so Chris Petersen has to be happy.  Now watch it get moved to like an 11:00 pm timeslot.

Georgia at Tennessee (3:30, CBS) – The “Is Texas Back?” game is now being replaced with the “Is Tennessee back?” game.  And it may be just as annoying.  Despite the fact Florida looks like a bonafide SEC East contender and despite the fact Kentucky, Missouri and South Carolina just need a couple of breaks this season to seriously contend, many college football experts will be telling everyone who will listen how the Vols are the real scary team in the SEC East.  Uh, they have to show it first.  The former Champions of Life need to prove they compete.  This may end up as a game that shouldn’t have been in this section but for now I am going with the fact that Tennessee, at the very least, will be quite improved this season.

Iowa at Michigan (3:30, TSN2) – FOX seems to be taking a back seat to Disney this week with their (predicted) selections.  Then again, they may surprise me and take this game and not Northwestern-Nebraska for their Noon start.  Man, the Pac-12 has to be pissed that FOX said that their best games will be on at Noon.  I am sure, at some point, someone will ask if 9:00 am start times out on the West Coast are feasible.

TCU at Iowa State (3:30, specialty pack) – I would love to have them mic up the coaches for this game.  Not as much for Matt Campbell (he’s a great, young coach with a bright future), but more for Gary Patterson.  I’m sure that guy would be a ton of fun to listen to and he has shown that during those ESPN Super-Duper-MegaCast things.  Plus I am sure some stathead could come up with a metric that shows how much of his voice Gary loses during a game since it sounds like he has bronchitis every time he does an interview after a game.

Texas at West Virginia (4:00, FOX) – These are the times when I wonder if Sportsnet will ever get back into the college football game.  I know they, for some reason, have hockey games on at 2:00.  If they were ever able to push that afternoon game to 3:30 then they could simsub a game from FS1 perhaps (although we all know it would be a simsub of the FOX game instead) at Noon.  Anyway, I am quite interested to see how a Holgorsen-less Mountaineers squad does this year.  They also don’t have Will Grier but that might be less of an issue.  And Texas is (back) Texas.

Northwestern at Nebraska (Noon, FOX) – There are a lot of pretty good games this weekend.  Considering that, it is still only the 7th best week of the college football season.  And only the fifth-best before November.  Oh man I am getting stoked for this season.  So let’s see if Coach Frosty and his merry band of Huskers can improve this season and go to a bowl game or if it has just become the norm in Lincoln to have a team that does not, in any way, resemble those crazy-good teams of the 80s and 90s.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Arizona at Colorado (4:00, Pac-12 Network) – Both of these teams could put a huge monkey wrench in the often-ridiculous Pac-12 South.  And I guess some of you can watch this game if you have the means to watch the Pac-12 Network this year (I am working on that myself).

Best Group of Five Game: UCF at Cincinnati (Friday, 8:00, specialty pack) – This could end up being the game that decides the Group of Five New Year’s Six spot.  UCF is UCF and has been good for a few years now and the Bearcats have had a resurgence under Luke Fickell.  And they get most of the national spotlight on the Friday night so a lot of people will again be reminded that football in the American Conference can be pretty damn good when it doesn’t involve UConn.

Worst Power Five Game: Maryland at Rutgers (3:30, BTN) – Ah Rutgers back in the Rutgers spot.  I might even struggle to put Kansas here with the hiring of Les Miles.  Oregon State is still shitty but less people watch those games because of that damn East Coast bias and the fact that the majority of their games are on a network (Pac-12 Network) that most people in Canada don’t get.  So by default, Rutgers is the garbage juice of the Power Five this season until further notice.

Week 7

Game of the Week: Alabama at Texas A&M (3:30, CBS) – The SEC has a huge week this week.  And this is the biggest game of a huge bunch.  Jimbo might have his Aggies ready to go for this one and Kyle Field should be shaking (literally).  A Bama loss turns the College Football Playoff on its head.  I am sure that will mentioned a few hundred times early on in the game by Brad and Gary.

Other Really Important Games: Florida at LSU (7:00, TSN2) – Basically GOTW 1B to Bama-TAMU’s GOTW 1A.  Considering both of these teams are legitimate dark horse contenders for the CFP and the Gators are in the SEC’s easier division, this should be great and means, at least in the SEC’s mind, they own the late afternoon and early timeslots.  Sometimes it does just mean more, you know what I’m sayin?

Oklahoma vs. Texas (in Dallas) (Noon, FOX) – It’s the God Damn Red River Shootout!  Can we call this Game of the Week 1C?  Sure we can!  I hate the pussified version of the rivalry name because they don’t want you to use the word shoot.  Give me a fucking break.  Such a complete overreaction.  I would like to know the amount of times someone brought that up when they accused of some sort of gun-related violence.  “Yeah officer I wasn’t going to shoot but then I saw the rotten corpse of what used to be the great Cotton Bowl and remembered the Red River Shootout is still played there and I couldn’t help myself so I shot the guy eighteen times.”

Michigan State at Wisconsin (3:30, FOX Sports One) – Every year, FOX Sports One gets at least a couple of games that would easily be candidates for the main FOX network.  They are put there to raise the profile of FS1 and try to get more Americans to add the channel to their cable packages.  Unfortunately that leaves us Canadians out in the cold.  Let’s just be thankful that the College Football Playoff wasn’t moved to FS1.  I have no idea why that would happen but the uproar would be massive.

South Carolina at Georgia (Noon, TSN2) – Man this week is packed with good games.  No wonder it’s the second best week of the college football season (and the best before November).  That this is the fifth-best game of the week says it all.  I am still waiting for South Carolina to finally win the SEC one of these days.  They have been to one SEC Championship, back in 2010, and got absolutely crushed by Auburn.  It would definitely make for a good story if they made it back to Atlanta this year.  Of course the Bulldogs don’t care about good stories and Kirby Smart wants another shot at the top prize after the heartbreaking loss two years ago in the National Championship.

Virginia at Miami (Friday, 8:00, TSN2) – The Hoos are good again!  Helps to have a guy who takes no bullshit, uh, I mean, bull-phooey like Bronco Mendenhall in charge.  He didn’t take long to turn the Cavaliers around but now with guys actually being drafted it will be interesting to see the encore.  Miami has a new QB in oft-transferred Tate Martell.  He was in that Netflix show QB1: Beyond the Lights.  A good show if you want something to watch.

Florida State at Clemson (7:30, ABC) – It is rare that the ABC Primetime game would be this low on the list.  This is more of a classic matchup than the current huge games and rivalries.  Until the Noles prove that they are truly back, this should go down as an easy Clemson win.  But that’s why you play the game (as Clemson fans hark back to their upset loss a while back to Syracuse).

USC at Notre Dame (7:30, NBC) – This feels like a trap game.  For both the Irish and us fans.  First of all, the Irish have to expect to come into this game as the relatively heavy favourites even if the Trojans turn it on to start the season.  Touchdown Jesus has a tougher schedule this season so they can’t take games like this likely or otherwise they can forget the CFB or even the NY6.  As for us fans, this could end up being a primetime blowout which feels like the worst kind of blowout.  The hype coming in gets crushed quickly.  At least this week there are other options during the same timeslot.

Penn State at Iowa (Noon, ABC) – You know what?  I just love that Iowa Wave.  Just wanted to say that.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Syracuse at NC State (Thursday, 8:00, specialty pack) – Rarely does the college football week start of with a really good Thursday nighter.  I mean it’s happened before and these contests are hyped to the tits!  Until Clemson falters, these games will always feel a bit second-rate though but it should be a nice matchup for a Thursday night for sure.

Best Group of Five Game: Cincinnati at Houston (3:30, specialty pack) – I have this down as one of the very few reverse mirrors of the season and one of the very few AAC games on ABC.  Depending on what the other game is (right now I have Michigan-Illinois) we might get this game in our area as the ABC game.  Highly doubtful though.  Possible move to TSN could happen as well and I can’t even guess that at this time.  I am very intrigued to see Drunk Uncle Dana with the Cougs.  I wonder if he parlays this new job into a G5 NY6 spot.

Worst Power Five Game: Louisville at Wake Forest (4:00, specialty pack) – This is around the time the ACC Network will regress like the SEC Network does.  They get the shittier games every week and with a 12-day hold on most of them, there’s almost no chance they get a big game unless a team needs to make an appearance on the network to satisfy one of the criteria.  I feel almost sad that Wake Forest has now appeared in this spot twice.  They aren’t even a bad team.  But when they face teams like North Carolina and Louisville there’s not a whole lot they can do, right?

We are halfway through the season now (with these posts).  14 weeks this year!  WOOHOO!  And remember that networks have the options for 12-day holds on selecting games to show.  This means many of these could be wrong because of that.  That’s who I will blame if this happens.  Not myself.  No sir.

I have not picked up a college football preview magazine yet.  Are there any out?  I haven’t seen any yet but then again I haven’t been in many places that would have them.  I have ordered the Phil Steele magazine (as I have mentioned before) and will probably get Street & Smith’s, Athlon and Lindy’s.  Enough reading for the summer to set me up for college football season which is…still 82 days away.  Ugh.  Have a great week everyone!

Let’s take a look back at my predictions for Week 4 – 2018 Edition

Hey remember when I did this last year?  No?  Fine then.  I figured I would make this a yearly thing because why not?  Mix things up a bit and keep this blog from getting stale (I guess).  Let’s go!

Week 4 Prediction Recap Time!

I’m not a weatherman:  It’s still hot out.  Stinkin’ hot at times.

Yeah that ended with a thud this weekend.  Not that I minded it.  I love early Fall weather.

Florida Atlantic-UCF: FAU-UCF should be very interesting because if UCF wins they are EASILY the front runner once again for the Group of Five New Year’s Six spot.

Other than a potential shitting the bed later in the season, the Knights firmly entrenched themselves as the Group of Five team to beat by walloping the Lane Train.

Washington State-USC: USC better be careful with Wazzu.  They’ve struggle with them before on a Friday night.

USC struggled again with the Cougs, this time on the defensive side.  They needed to block a field goal that would have tied the game late to leave with the W.

Saturday Early Games: It’s a bit of a slow start to the day but don’t sleep on UGA-Mizzou or ND-WF.

Honestly, you could have slept on those.  The entire early game schedule was quite boring (at least the games we could see).  Ohio-Cincinnati was the only game that was semi-exciting.  Unless you include the Wake kicker not getting on the field in time and everyone waiting for him.

Saturday Afternoon Schedule: This still ends up being good with Clemson-GT, TAMU-Bama, KSU-WVU and TCU-UT all good games to watch.

Nope.  None of these were close.  However, the afternoon sked had one gem: Virginia Tech-Old Dominion.  What a crazy upset.  It’s the biggest upset this season and one of the biggest this decade.  It honestly made up for the first six hours of the college football day.

Stanford-Oregon: Anywho, this is the game that will show if Oregon is truly back to the Bellotti/Kelly/Helfrich days or if they are still a second-tier Pac-12 team until further notice.

I probably shouldn’t have included Helfrich there considering the way his tenure as head coach ended.  Oregon had this game and gakked it away, fumbling with under a minute to go when they were trying to run the clock down as far as possible.  Oregon is good but need to be able to close games to get back to NY6 territory.

Wisconsin-Iowa: Anyway, after Wisky’s gaffe last week against BYU they almost have to win this game against Iowa (and their awesome Iowa Wave) or else the Big Ten West is in serious trouble.

The Iowa Wave is awesome.  I am right about that.  And the Badgers held off Iowa at the end.  Basically it is their division to lose now.

Army-Oklahoma: OK this isn’t a prediction I made.  It wasn’t on the schedule for us Canadians.  And that is the crux of this part.  It was only being shown on Sooners PPV for the low, low cost of $54.99.  Sweet Jesus.  Anyway, one kind Sooner fan decided to broadcast the broadcast of the game from his living room on Twitch.  And 32,000 of us (myself included) decided to watch that way when Army came oh so close to beating Oklahoma.  It’s 2018 folks.  How college football games are on fucking pay-per-view I will never know.  This is what you get Big XII for not starting your own network.

Hey we had some upsets this past weekend?  Not in the Top 10 though.  None of those teams lost although a few had close calls.  Here’s the Bossman Top 25!

#1	Alabama
#2	Georgia
#3	Ohio State
#4	Clemson
#5	Stanford
#6	LSU
#7	Notre Dame
#8	Oklahoma
#9	Washington
#10	Penn State
#11	Auburn
#12	Wisconsin
#13	West Virginia
#14	Michigan
#15	Miami
#16	UCF
#17	Kentucky
#18	Michigan State
#19	Oregon
#20	Mississippi State
#21	BYU
#22	California
#23	Colorado
#24	Boise State
#25	Duke

Kentucky?  California?  Colorado?  DUKE?  Yes this is my actual Top 25 and other polls agree with some of those selections.  Below, say, the Top 15, things have been pretty wild and wacky so far this season.  Let’s be honest here though: some of these teams will gone by next week.  BYU being the main one there since they play Washington on Saturday.  Although an upset there would create chaos in the polls and I always love that.

So lucky for us it turned into a good college football Saturday yet again but it took a while to get there.  Let’s hope this coming Saturday has some good games in all the timeslots.  Have a great week everyone!