Hey how did I do? Also, my updated NFL playoff predictions.

Posted on January 14, 2022 by guelphbossman

Basically, this is a post of how shitty my predictions are. And some of them are BAD.

Let’s start with the college football portion of our show. As I usually do, despite the fact I make my predictions public, I always assume some of them will be horrible. But I made my choices, dammit, and I’m gonna stick with them. Unlike some of you loser experts out there. Alright let’s get going with this.

College Football Playoff and New Year’s Six

OK then here we go. This is gonna be bad, I can just feel it:
- Alabama – Picked them #2 and they ended up #1. Nice. Good start for the ol’ Bossman.
- Ohio State – I figured this was a no-brainer. It wasn’t. I had then #3 and they ended up at the Rose Bowl. So not too bad as a lot of experts had them in their Top 4.
- Oklahoma – I had them #1. Then the first game of the season happened and I realized it wouldn’t happen. Ended up outside the New Year’s Six and lost both quarterbacks to the transfer portal. Not good.
- North Carolina – What in the fuck was I thinking? I did not bank on the O-line being possibly the worst in the country, that’s what I was thinking. Anyway, they came oh so close to not even being bowl-eligible. Completely gross pick on my part.
How about my New Year’s Six picks? Might as well go through them one-by-one as well:
- I had Notre Dame going to the Fiesta Bowl. Spot on!
- Clemson to the Peach Bowl. Ugh. Not that Clemson had a terrible season but they were really never close to the New Year’s Six.
- Cincinnati to the Peach Bowl. They did better than I thought they would. Congrats to them and for breaking the Group of Five ceiling.
- Iowa State to the Sugar Bowl. I honestly though ISU would finally break through and get that Sugar Bowl bid. They hung in there but really were never in the Big XII race.
- Texas A&M to the Sugar Bowl. I figured after they beat Bama that they would be in this spot. Man, was I wrong.
- Wisconsin to the Rose Bowl. Honestly, they were a tough loss to Minnesota away from the Big Ten Championship and then who knows what happens if they get there.
- USC to the Rose Bowl. Holy shit.
- Washington to the Fiesta Bowl. Double holy shit. I whiffed so badly on my two Pac-12 picks.
Other terrible predictions included Texas at #21 and going to the Alamo Bowl, TCU being #23 and heading to the Cheez-It Bowl and Nebraska going to a bowl at all. I fall for it every year it seems.
I had Georgia, Coastal Carolina and Oregon being just on the outside of the NY6 looking in. Georgia was a huge miss on my part. Oregon ended up pretty much right where I thought they would. Coastal Carolina wasn’t as good but still won double-digit games. So I would call those not so bad picks.

Heisman Trophy

I had Spencer Rattler and Sam Howell as my #1 and #2. Well this is a great start.
OK this isn’t bad. I had Bryce Young at #5. I wondered if he could come out from under Mac Jones’ shadow and he did more than that for sure, especially in the SEC Championship where he clinched the trophy.
Let’s look at some of the rest of my Top 10:
- D.J. Uiagalelei at #3. Ouch. Despite the fact Clemson still did pretty good this season, D.J. was mediocre for much of it.
- J.T. Daniels at #7. Oh my. Georgia fans are very happy that Stetson Bennett, the former walk-on, came through for them to win the title.
- Kedon Slovis at #8. OK then. He’s now in the transfer portal which says all you need to know about how his season went.
- D’Eriq King at #10. Alright, I’m done here.

Coaching Hot Seat

I usually do pretty well with this. Let’s see.

Normally I do pretty well with the coaches on Almost Guaranteed Shitcanning section. Not so this season. Only Walt Bell was fired on this list with Jeff Brohm and Dino Babers possibly saving their jobs well into 2022. Even the things I do well at I’m not doing well at.
The next section I predicted better. Two out of three. Saying that, Jonathan Smith almost did a good enough job to be considered for other coaching openings.
I should apologize to Jim Harbaugh though. I shouldn’t have even put him on the list and I did in the Possible Shitcanning section. Stupid me. He had the best season he’s had in Ann Arbor and may end up back in the NFL in 2022.
Honestly, most of the coaches did not get fired on my list and some actually did quite a bit better than most thought. My excuse? Look at how the season was. It was insane! How was I to know it would be this crazy?

Just A Bunch of Predictions, Good and Bad

Let’s be honest: it’s probably mostly bad but let’s go through this exercise anyway.

Most of the teams I had with good records (at least 10 wins) did well if you don’t include North Carolina, Washington and USC, which I mentioned earlier.
I predicted a fair amount of games on TSN during the regular season. Boy, was I wrong. It was very weird since TSN totally dropped the ball during the regular season. Then come bowl season, TSN went nuts and broadcast almost every game. They did more college games during the past few weeks then they had during the three-plus months before it. Just bizarre. So, in the end, I wish they would balance it out a bit more but they didn’t do too badly, I guess.
Hey look who got the UTSA conference title win correct? This guy…I’m pointing at myself. They may be building something big in San Antonio with the Roadrunners. I mean it’s in Texas, a big city with only one pro team and they are joining the best Group of Five conference, the American, for 2023. Things are looking up for this quite new football team.
Boise State. Talk about being overshadowed in the Mountain West. They haven’t looked this average in a long, loooooooong time. I figured they would win the Mountain West, like they usually do, and it ended up they didn’t even get to the title game and had five teams legitimately better than them during the season.
I shouldn’t have gone all-in with Oklahoma. I think I bought the Spencer Rattler hype. OK, I know I did. I should have remembered him in that QB1 series. He’s a dick.
It still seems like no one can win at Kansas. It looks like Lance Leipold is on the right track, especially with a win over Texas, but I nailed the pick (almost) and know it will take at least another year to get all the kinks out of the program so that Leipold can put his stamp on it. I hope he gets that chance.
Who did I get right in the Pac-12? Almost none of the teams. I had Oregon winning 10 games, Utah winning 9 and Arizona State winning 9. Not bad. I also had Washington winning 11 (ugh), Oregon State winning 3 (yikes) and Washington State winning 4 (oops).
I got all 7 teams in the SEC West going bowling. I’ll give myself a light pat on the back for that because it wasn’t a huge stretch to think that would happen. I will say, though, that South Carolina was quite a bit better than I thought they would be. Same with Tennessee. Florida? Yeah that was a surprise. Same with the Dan Mullen firing. Didn’t see that coming…back in July.
Maybe I overestimated how good Coastal Carolina would be. They still won 10 games though so I wasn’t THAT far off.
Yeah I couldn’t see all the realignment that happened just before the season commenced. Could anyone have foreseen this? Probably not. I’ll go with that.
Hey who got the AAC Championship pairing correct? I think I may have been one of very few to nail the Houston pick (having them be second to Cincinnati).
The Independents were, honestly, pretty easy. Notre Dame, Liberty, Army, BYU: good. New Mexico State, UConn, UMass: bad. Simple.
Ugh, my ACC predictions. Oof, my Big Ten predictions (although I did have Iowa in the Big Ten title game). Oh god, my MAC predictions. Not even fucking close. OK enough of this.

I don’t feel like doing a Stassen score to be honest with you. I’m not as good as some of the normal prediction mags and that’s fine. I have fun doing the predictions, even when they end up being shitty.

Now, the NFL Playoffs. I have to revise my choices from August since some teams (COUGH*Seattle*COUGH) underperformed and others were better than advertised because the NFL season was almost as crazy as the college season. So here goes:

Wild Card Round

Buffalo def. New England

Kansas City def. Pittsburgh

Cincinnati def. Las Vegas

LA Rams def. Arizona

San Francisco def. Dallas

Tampa Bay def. Philadelphia

Divisional Playoffs

Tennessee def. Cincinnati

Buffalo def. Kansas City

LA Rams def. Tampa Bay

Green Bay def. San Francisco

Conference Championships

Buffalo def. Tennessee (revenge for the Music City Miracle)

LA Rams def. Green Bay

Super Bowl

Buffalo def. LA Rams

So I still have the Bills winning over an NFC West team. So not a huge change, I guess.

Now that the college football season is over it’s time for the weird all-star games they have. Some of them have bizarre rules. But at least it’s still a chance to see some college players before they head to the NFL or an NFL practice squad or the CFL or the XFL or the USFL. Man, there’s a lot of leagues. You’d think the CFL would cave and put some teams in strategic NORTHERN American cities. It worked in Baltimore, it could work again. Just don’t put a team in fucking Shreveport. Anyway, here is the schedule for the crazy all-star games:

Hula Bowl – January 15th at Noon on CBS Sports Network
NFLPA Collegiate Bowl – January 29th on NFL Network (time TBA)
East West Shrine Game – February 3rd at 8:00 on NFL Network
Senior Bowl – February 5th at 2:30 on NFL Network

After those games, no more college football until late August. Prepare for the dry season.

What will the upcoming posts be?

Spring football? No. Not a chance.
The NCAA basketball conference tournament schedules will definitely return. Those start in a little over a month so learn about some of the teams that may try and bust your brackets.
The NFL Draft. How many mock drafts will I do? I don’t know. One for sure just before the draft. I may do others. I may not. Who knows.
I’m sure there will be a random post or two in there. You know, when I’m bored.

So as I said before we are getting into the dead period…for college football. A sad, sad time. Maybe one of these years I will take the time away from watching the greatest sport on Earth (after Chess Boxing) to improve myself top to bottom. Ah, who am I kidding. Have a great weekend everyone!

OK this is a new one – Week 4 College Football Recap

Posted on September 27, 2021 by guelphbossman

I don’t think I have ever seen something like this before. And it sounds like most of college football media had never seen it before either.

Let’s see if I can wrap my head around all that happened here. K’Vaughan Pope, Ohio State’s senior linebacker had been grumbling about lack of playing time. Totally understandable. So during this weekend’s game against Akron, Pope tried to enter the game but another linebacker waved him off. So Pope decided to head towards the locker room until someone from the Ohio State staff brought him back to the sideline. What happens next seems ridiculous. Pope gets back to the sideline, briefly argues with a coach, throws his gloves into the stands and starts taking his jersey off. He had a further conversation with another coach who then got someone to take Pope off the field and to the locker room. While the game was still happening, Pope tweeted “Fucc Ohio State.” He deleted that tweet, then tweeted “Good lucc to my teammates” (I see he did well in English class). Yesterday he apologized and instead of quitting said he was taking some time off. Ohio State removed him from the roster anyway. That is so completely insane. In a way, though, it speaks to the pressures some of these athletes are under. We don’t know how he’s doing in school or what his family life is like or anything else going on with him. Things could be going poorly away from the field. No excuses for doing what he did but there may be reasons behind it.

So yeah, some excitement at least in a game where Akron was blown out of the water by Ohio State. Normally I would do recaps of my predictions during this week’s recap but instead I will do just a straight recap of a rather insane weekend of college football. Let’s begin.

Week 4 Recap Time!

Fresno State 38 UNLV 30

Oof. For a good part of the game the Rebels were handling the Bulldogs and it felt like it would be one and done in the Top 25 for the surprising Fresno State. But they were able to get ahead and hold on for the victory and, amazingly enough, may be the Mountain West’s best hope for the New Year’s Six. I will be glad to say I was very wrong with my prediction for this team.

Oregon 41 Arizona 19

This was actually a close game a few minutes into the fourth quarter. I am not joking. Arguably, the worst Power Five team in the nation kept things close with a Top 5 team. The Ducks did make quick work of them in the final 12 minutes but still. I’d say this looks bad for Oregon and the Pac-12 but this isn’t shaping up to be a normal year.

Oklahoma 16 West Virginia 13

It was so bad this night for Spencer Rattler that Sooner fans were chanting for his backup and openly booing him. Worst part is he didn’t do that bad. One interception and a few bad passes and the fans made it out like he threw two pick-sixes in succession. I will say this though: this team does not look like a national championship contender in any way, shape or form. At least their defense was better, right?

Oregon State 45 USC 27

To the USC fans who gave me shit last week: you can all suck it. Kedon Slovis was merely pedestrian and the Trojan defense was fucking atrocious. It’s a sad state of affairs in L.A. (at least for one team). As for the Beavers, it’s a better start than most believed and they could be looking at 7-1 or even 8-1 going into November if they play like this. Another strange occurrence of this football season that is already starting to feel like the norm.

Louisville 31 Florida State 23

Oh my. It’s not a matter of if but when Mike Norvell will be shitcanned. I mean Louisville is turning out to be a decent team so no shame in losing to them. Let’s just look at the Noles schedule coming up: vs. Syracuse, at North Carolina, then vs. UMass. So they could conceivably be 0-6 when they host the Minutemen who are god awful. Will Norvell be gone by then? I think many Noles fans hope so, so that the coaching search can start sooner rather than later, knowing they will have to compete with at least one team (USC) for potential head coaches.

Washington 31 California 24 (OT)

The Huskies may actually be back in the hunt in the Pac-12 North. And it’s not like they deserved to win this one since they didn’t but the Golden Bears made enough mistakes to allow Washington to get the duke with the final mistake, a fumble near the goal line in overtime, being the difference.

Arkansas 20 Texas A&M 10

Man, the Hogs may be for real, folks. They built a 17-0 lead until late in the first half and then the defense took over. If you put money down on the Razorbacks being the team that might have the best shot to usurp Alabama in the SEC West then congratulations. Also, maybe you can help me with my NFL picks since they are, well, let’s say less than good.

NC State 27 Clemson 21 (2OT)

What a huge upset that has turned the ACC upside down…sort of. Clemson really hasn’t looked good at all so far this season and it showed here. Their offense can’t get anything going and D.J. Uiagalelei is not looking like the heir apparent that many thought he would be. As for the sort of comment, the ACC was already in a mess and this makes things worse for the conference as a whole.

Baylor 31 Iowa State 29

OK the Cyclones fooled a lot of us. Matt Campbell doesn’t look like the guy who will head to USC to try and turn around their fortunes. All this could change if ISU runs the table the rest of the way. The real surprise here is Baylor who, at the very least, looks like they will be bowl bound this season. Dave Aranda is showing why he finally deserved a shot at his own head coaching gig.

BYU 35 USF 27

BYU is slowly moving its way up the rankings. They may regret allowing the Bulls to get so close but if they keep winning then the New Year’s Six is a lock for them.

Bowling Green 14 Minnesota 10

Ouch. The same team that went toe-to-toe with Ohio State for three quarters earlier this season looked overmatched against who I (and some others) thought would be the worst team in FBS this season. This also hurts Ohio State as their win over Minnesota may mean almost nothing if the Gophers continue to struggle.

Arizona State 35 Colorado 13

Hey, the Buffaloes finally scored a touchdown! I don’t think anyone thought they’d be as good as last year’s surprise showing but the offense is putrid in Boulder. Arizona State, on the other hand, is motoring along and could luck out based on everyone else in their division struggling at times so far this season.

UTSA 31 Memphis 28

This was a great game that not many people would have ended up watching (even though they could have). The Roadrunners are the surprise Group of Five team for some but I figured they’d be really good. OK, not this good. Honestly, they may very well be a game against UAB later this season away from a perfect regular season and a potential New Year’s Six bowl. This all for a program that didn’t start playing football until 2011.

Notre Dame 41 Wisconsin 13

It looked close for three quarters. We were getting ready for a fantastic fourth quarter at Soldier Field. Then the Fighting Irish went crazy, scoring 31 points in the final frame to completely decimate the Badgers. It was a very impressive showing and proved this team could be a tough out the rest of the way.

Alright that was a fun and crazy weekend. How about a Top 25? Alright, here you go:

#1	Alabama
#2	Georgia
#3	Oregon
#4	Oklahoma
#5	Penn State
#6	Notre Dame
#7	Iowa
#8	Cincinnati
#9	Arkansas
#10	Ohio State
#11	Florida
#12	Texas A&M
#13	Coastal Carolina
#14	BYU
#15	Ole Miss
#16	Michigan State
#17	Michigan
#18	Fresno State
#19	Auburn
#20	UCLA
#21	Oklahoma State
#22	Baylor
#23	Maryland
#24	Wake Forest
#25	NC State

I thought of putting Boston College or Kentucky in the Top 25 but had Maryland, Wake and NC State in the final three spots. You could debate those five teams in any order and it would make perfect sense. I have the Irish at #6 and don’t understand how they are barely in the Top 10 of the AP Poll after their big win over Wisconsin. Yet Arkansas, who won by less, rocketed up 8 spots. How do you not think there’s an SEC bias of sorts when shit like that happens in the polls? I still believe polls shouldn’t start until after Week 1’s games are completed, at the absolute earliest. I am sure almost no one in college football media would agree even if some say they would because rankings are talking points and sometimes they need them when they don’t have some Tom Rinaldi-esque story to talk about.

So that was a great college football Saturday. It has been a great season so far. I hope I haven’t jinxed it by saying that. Have a great week everyone!

Are we looking at chaos? – Week 3 College Football Recap

Posted on September 20, 2021 by guelphbossman

After this past week, you have to wonder. Clemson, Notre Dame and Oklahoma all won but they were close games against teams they should have blown out of the water. Cincinnati struggled for a little over a half with Indiana but was able to pull away late. Virginia Tech and UCLA lost. Even Alabama almost allowed Florida to come all the way back to beat them. Remember what I said last week about Bama? You can scratch that…kind of. I still think Alabama, and probably Georgia, are a cut above the rest. But it’s not like they are unbeatable. And the rest of the Top 10, at this point, has looked vulnerable. Many in the college football media are already looking at possibly comparing this season to 2007. It may be a bit too soon to say that but there has been more chaos than normal through three weeks. Usually, as Fall officially begins, you can still look at like 10-15 teams and say they are serious contenders and they are in that tier above everyone else. This season? Yeah, might want to put the brakes on that idea. I hope it does end up that way because it’s always fun to see some college football chaos! I mean unless you’re a college football coach and fans of certain teams.

Alright, enough comparisons. Let’s get to the action from the weekend of college football!

Fun-Time Crazy Recap!

Well, the Buckeyes sure didn’t look too sharp against Tulsa. Luckily they had TreVeyon Henderson go off for over 250 yards on the ground since other than that, no one would be scared of the rest of the Buckeyes that played this past Saturday. Remember, this is the Tulsa team that lost to UC-Davis. It totally fits in to what I mentioned above with teams having fairly big questions already in the season. Now that I say that, watch them blow through the rest of their schedule to finish 11-1 and be #1 at some point.
If you missed the Arizona State-BYU game, boy did you miss a good one. Just look up this one play. Jaren Hall throws an ill-timed interception as he’s falling down. Arizona State picks it up and the defender runs down the sidelines. Then Tyler Allgeier catches up to him, jumps over his back and knocks the ball out of his hands and back into play. After all that, Jaren Hall is the one that recovers the fumble. Absolutely insane. The Cougs would win this one and are now 3-0 against the Pac-12. The Pac-12 had a pretty horrific weekend unless you talk about to the people I encountered on Twitter…
So I made a tweet during the third quarter of the USC-Washington State game. The score was tied at 14 and I said “I see the Clay Helton firing really got the Trojans going.” Then Kedon Slovis goes down with an injury and Jaxson Dart replaces him and plays amazing and the Trojans score 31 unanswered. So yeah, the tweet did not age well and I said that. That wasn’t enough for some USC fans. Some mentioned the same thing and I am fine with it. Someone called me “son” for some reason. And some buffoon put a pic that said “I don’t even have a meme for this kind of fuckery.” Really? Very classy. I don’t mind normal discourse on Twitter which a few of them did (and rightfully so) but why go over the line? To make themselves feel better. Maybe because their lives are shitty so they want to take it out on someone else. Who knows. It’s the one major thing I hate about Twitter (and social media in general): people can’t help but be assholes to others just because they can. As Mike Tyson said, “Social media has made acceptable to say things to people that they would never say to their face.” So true. By the way, Mike Tyson Mysteries? Hilarious show (RIP Norm MacDonald).
College Gameday was in State College this past weekend. The whiteout was in full effect and it showed during their primetime game with Auburn. The offense struggled at times with the crowd noise. They still didn’t play poorly as if it wasn’t for a couple of miscues, the Tigers would have had a chance to win. I think both teams could be en route to the New Year’s Six if they keep playing like that (especially against lesser teams).
I did not pass the Hawaii test. I just couldn’t. I assume the game didn’t end until 4 in the morning and I was already feeling kind of crappy by 11 so I felt good just to get to the end of the normal late night slate.
A horrible blown call (one of quite a few this past weekend) cost Boise State a touchdown against Oklahoma State and, eventually, the game. I mean not that either team really wanted to win after the first half since there was absolutely no scoring in the second half. None. Very un-Boise and un-Poke like for sure. I’m surprised Mike Gundy’s mullet didn’t start shedding from the panic. Also, I can’t remember the last time Boise State started 1-2. I assume it was in Division 1-AA (remember that?).
Uh, what the hell happened in Clemson? I get that a two-hour lightning delay can mess up a team’s flow. But how do they allow Georgia Tech, who is still learning how to live without the option, almost beat them at home? I would say that maybe their run at the top of the ACC is done but then I see what Virginia Tech did in their loss to West Virginia and, even worse, how Miami got beat up by Michigan State and realize they’re still fine for now.
Oh, UCLA. The Bruins were looking pretty damn good through their first two games this season. Then in comes Fresno State to the Rose Bowl, a team I figured would suck this season. Boy was I (along with many others) wrong. This was an amazing game that had four lead changes in the final eight minutes that ended with injured Bulldog quarterback Jake Haener willing his team to the winning touchdown and the upset. After getting off the hot seat it seemed for the rest of the season, Chip Kelly maybe feeling a tiny bit of a temperature hike now.
Alabama plays Ole Miss in two weeks. Considering what Ole Miss did to Tulane (yes the same Tulane that almost beat Oklahoma), the over/under for this one should be 100 and I think I’m being conservative with that number.
I don’t like the new overtime rules. After one overtime, it becomes a two-point conversion contest. The equivalent of hockey’s shootout (which I also despise). It may have finally got to the point that the NFL somehow has the better overtime system (and it’s still not that great). Can there be a perfect system for overtime? I don’t know to be honest but it feels like college football is going backwards.
How about what went down in The Swamp? Early on it looked like yet another Bama rout as they were up 21-3 14 minutes into the game. So I stopped watching for a bit and focused on other games. I would see in the ticker that Florida got a touchdown. Then another. The Tide responded but then the Gators got another TD to get it within 5. Florida would score a touchdown with three minutes to go but couldn’t convert on the two-pointer and that was the margin of victory. So the Fighting Sabans aren’t so dominating it seems. This is a very interesting turn of events for this already crazy 2021 season.
In another episode of “Refs Make The Darndest Calls,” Memphis’ Calvin Austin scored on a questionable punt return where the back official seemed to have signaled for the clock to stop but the play kept going. In the end, Mississippi State had a chance to tie it on a two-point conversion but failed, losing by the same 31-29 score as the game in the previous point. Look, I get that officials aren’t perfect. And this is fine. It is what it is. But when something happens that becomes a turning point or the reason (at the end) that one team wins or loses, then it’s tough to swallow. Let’s not even get into the gambling aspect of what this can do.
It looked like Louisiana Tech was going to get a huge home victory over a good SMU squad. But LaTech allowed SMU one final shot and they took advantage with a 33-yard Hail Mary touchdown pass on the final play of the game. This was a game with almost 750 yards passing combined from two former Oklahoma quarterbacks. How are the Sooners losing these quarterbacks? I get that Spencer Rattler is really good but it’s not like the two starters in this one, Austin Kendall and Tanner Mordecai, aren’t. It’s nice to see these guys get their shot at other programs.
Finally, speaking of Oklahoma, that was yet another less than impressive showing by the Sooners. They barely got out with a win yesterday over Nebraska. Yes, the same Nebraska that has struggled for a few years now and lost to Illinois to start their season. Scott Frost had to be happy with his team’s performance and the fact that his hot seat will get slightly cooler. Oklahoma, on the other hand, does not look like the national title contender I thought they were going to be and that has to be a bit concerning in Norman. Conference play will show all of us what this Sooners team is really made of.

So another great weekend of college football. My remote control suffered as I believe I watched portions of almost 40 games. As for my Top 25, well, here it is!

#1	Alabama
#2	Georgia
#3	Oregon
#4	Oklahoma
#5	Texas A&M
#6	Penn State
#7	Cincinnati
#8	Iowa
#9	Notre Dame
#10	Clemson
#11	Ohio State
#12	Iowa State
#13	Florida
#14	Coastal Carolina
#15	Wisconsin
#16	Ole Miss
#17	BYU
#18	North Carolina
#19	Arkansas
#20	Michigan State
#21	Michigan
#22	Auburn
#23	TCU
#24	Liberty
#25	Fresno State

Is it really truly fair to rank teams this early in the season? That’s debatable but everyone else is doing it so I might as well, too. Nice to see Cincinnati, Coastal Carolina, Liberty and Fresno State in the Top 25 with a few other Group of Five teams lurking just outside. Should be an exciting race to the Group of Five spot in the New Year’s Six. Also, are we heading to undefeated Michigan State playing undefeated Michigan the night before Halloween? Can you even imagine the media hype, let alone the fan banter? I’m almost getting sick of it already.

Have a good week everyone.

Someone might want to avoid airport tarmacs – the Week 2 Recap

Posted on September 13, 2021 by guelphbossman

The camera’s not on him all the time so I am sure he has that reaction a lot. And that reaction definitely came up the other night a lot. USC looked like complete garbage in most of their loss against Stanford. It feels like Kedon Slovis, after a promising start to his young career, has had his progress stall. A lot of that has to land on Helton. This team has had the talent to contend before and they have underperformed almost every season under his watch. It feels like, with ten games left in the season, that he will have to win at least eight of those to keep his job. And even then, that might not be enough. He is on one of the hottest seats right now for sure.

This week of college football really had a dearth of marquee games (other than the top two), as is somewhat usual for Week 2. But, as per usual, it overdelivered giving us a wild weekend of football. Let’s go through the week that was!

Michigan 31 Washington 10 – What a game this was for the Wolverines. Washington is, to put it one word, awful. This team should have the talent to at least be sniffing the Top 25 and they are nowhere close. Maybe that loss against Montana wasn’t an aberration after all but more a warning for things to come in Jimmy Lake’s first full season at the helm. As for Michigan, this could be an interesting year in Ann Arbor with perhaps a shot at a New Year’s Six bowl? The next few weeks will tell a lot about this team.
Texas A&M 10 Colorado 7 – A classic Big XII matchup that had an absolute dearth of offense. Yes, the defenses both played well but the offenses were pretty bad. There were a couple of opportunities for the Buffs to extend their lead and they just couldn’t do it. The Aggies survived and may have lost their quarterback Haynes King for an extended period of time. A little bit of sweating in College Station going forward.
Oregon 35 Ohio State 28 – It felt that the Buckeyes would, at some point, comeback and win this one. I mean it’s Ohio State in the Horseshoe. They almost never lose there. Even without Kayvon Thibodaux, the Ducks played very well on defense for most of the game and didn’t allow tOSU to really get their offense humming. Oregon did just enough and Joe Morehead showed he still has quite the mind for offense as he called a masterful game.
Jacksonville State 20 Florida State 17 – For fuck’s sake Mike Norvell. If everyone thought it was bad during the Willie Taggart era, then strap in for this one. The Noles allowed JSU to stay close with their offense just not playing well at all. McKenzie Milton looked off and the running game was non-existent. But it looked like FSU would still hold on for the somewhat undeserving victory. Then it happened. The Gamecocks score on the final play of the game on a pass to the 20-yard line that the receiver was able to run in. No laterals. Not a Hail Mary. Just a pass and run. Norvell didn’t think to put more players closer to the goal line because there was, and I quote, “still six seconds and they were on their own side of the field.” What in the blue hell are you talking about, Mike? They only had one play left. That was it. Yes the tackling, or lack there of, was horrible there but no excuse not to put more players back there. What a fucking disgrace. And yes, Norvell is on a seat that’s only a couple degrees cooler than Clay Helton’s.
BYU 26 Utah 17 – The Cougars celebrated their acceptance into the Big XII by beating the Utes in a game that wasn’t as close as the score indicated. BYU was superior in pretty much every aspect of the game. They look better than advertised, even with Zach Wilson gone, as Jaren Hall had a great game. Definitely quelled the worries of the Provo faithful over the quarterback position.
Coastal Carolina 49 Kansas 22 – As I’ve said before many times, I don’t have a horse in this entire college football race. I just hope to watch some exciting football and with the college game, I get that at least once a weekend during the season. Saying all that, I was kind of pulling for the Jayhawks to at least keep it close. They didn’t, but even in a 27-point loss, it felt like they have taken more strides in game two under Lance Leipold than they had in the previous two entire coaching regimes. That’s how bad things have got in Lawrence and how much ground they have to make up in the Big XII, now with extra BYU and AAC sauce.
TCU 34 California 32 – Now let’s go to a game that very few people watched but probably should have. I am not being facetious here. This was just a fantastic game from start to finish. Don’t think TCU played poorly or down to the Bears. They are a good team and could start moving up the rankings soon. California has had a rough start. Two good games played and no wins to show for it. Yes, starting with Nevada and TCU isn’t exactly a recipe for sure success but it has to be a bit frustrating to not be at least 1-1 at this point. I expect they will still be a bit of a player in the Pac-12 North though.
Alabama 48 Mercer 14 – Alabama beat Mercer. Ho hum. It was fun, though, to turn to TSN2 (yes this game was actually aired on TSN2) and see Nick Saban getting seriously pissed off at his squad after they went up 31-0. Only Saban.
Notre Dame 32 Toledo 29 – Toledo almost upset Notre Dame. In the hindsight is 20/20 department, it would have made more sense for Toledo’s quarterback, instead of running for that 30+ yard touchdown late in the game, to fall around the 1 and then drain the clock to allow the Rockets to kick the winning field goal. But they didn’t and Toledo’s defense decided to get a flag on almost every play, and the Irish made them pay. If Brian Kelly wanted to execute his team last week, I can’t imagine what he is thinking today. And all this was over on the ‘Cock! Yep, that’s right, it was on NBC’s streaming service, Peacock, not on NBC proper. I’m sure no one was upset by this at all because college football fans tend to be rational people, right?
Miami 25 Appalachian State 23 – It was quite the exciting game down at Hard Rock Stadium and I wasn’t that surprised by it. People getting on the Canes have to realize that the Mountaineers are quite a good team. So not totally shocking for it to go almost down to the end. The most exciting thing to happen there that game, though, had nothing to do with what was happening on the field. A cat all of a sudden was shown dangling from the upper deck. No, I do not know how it got there or why it was dangling there. All the fans in the area were watching and hoping the cat didn’t get hurt or die by falling. The cat did fall…right into a guy holding an American flag who caught the cat in the flag. On the 20th anniversary of 9/11. Don’t be surprised if there’s a 30 for 30 Short on that one day.
Iowa 27 Iowa State 17 – Um, could this finally be the year that Kirk Ferentz takes the Iowa Hawkeyes to the Big Dance? This team is looking seriously good. No mistake that they looked overpowering compared to Iowa State on Saturday. And don’t think the Cyclones are out of it just yet. I think their College Football Playoff hopes, however slim, are probably squashed but a New Year’s Six spot is still theirs if they can win out the rest of the regular season. Don’t be surprised if both of these teams are playing on conference championship weekend in games that mean a whole lot.
Rutgers 17 Syracuse 7 – Don’t look now but the 2021 version of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team is 2-0. And looking pretty good doing it, especially on defense. Yes it’s early and yes the Scarlet Knights might be in the second toughest division in college football but things are finally looking up for a team that has been not a lot better than hot garbage since joining the Big Ten.
Arkansas 40 Texas 21 – Oh boy is Texas not back. The Longhorns were boatraced by Arkansas in a game that may not even been as close as the score indicated. I’m mistaken. Texas is back…..back bacon.
Pittsburgh 41 Tennessee 34 – At times this game was like snorting coke off a hooker’s ass, then taking a shot of absinthe, then getting on a motorcycle and gunning the engine to jump out of a plane. It was that ridiculous. At times both teams did everything they could to win, then not minutes later both teams would be trying their darndest to lose. Completely bonkers. In the end, it was a Volunteering that happened, not a Pittening. I’m sure fans on Rocky Top are not happy right now because Tennessee? Not back.
Oklahoma State 28 Tulsa 23 – I know people love to use the College Football Transitive Property. Team A beat Team B who beat Team C so Team A is better than Team C. It was almost to the point in this one where we’d have to say that UC-Davis was better than Oklahoma State because of that. Now Vanderbilt’s victory over Colorado State probably does fit. East Tennessee State beat Vanderbilt who beat Colorado State. So ETSU is better than CSU. Which may be true because the Rams got trounced by South Dakota State in Week 1. Ouch.
Houston 44 Rice 7 – Hey, who was possibly the only guy on the Internet to pick Rice to win this one? That would be me. And it’s a lesson to all you out there that I have mentioned multiple times before: do not use my picks to gamble with. You are playing with fire if you do so.
Army 38 Western Kentucky 35 – It seemed fitting that Army won on the anniversary of 9/11. WKU did not make it easy as they have a seriously prolific passing game with Bailey Zappe under centre. But Army’s option offense is, much of the time, too difficult to defend against because they don’t deviate from it, ever. Georgia Southern and Navy and Air Force, they have times were they pass the ball a decent amount. Hell, Georgia Tech has abandoned it altogether. Not the Black Knights. The option. That’s it. And it works most of the time.
Purdue 49 UConn 0 – The Huskies have not scored a point since Randy Edsall quit/retired. Not that they scored a lot of points anyway during his second tenure in Storrs. This is going to be a looooooooooooong season for that fanbase.

Recap complete! As I always say, some of the worst looking weeks on paper end up being some of the best to watch and this past weekend was a ton of fun to watch. You know what? Let’s bust out the first Bossman Top 25!

#1	Alabama
#2	Oregon
#3	Georgia
#4	Texas A&M
#5	Oklahoma
#6	Iowa
#7	Cincinnati
#8	Notre Dame
#9	Clemson
#10	Penn State
#11	Ohio State
#12	Florida
#13	Coastal Carolina
#14	Wisconsin
#15	Iowa State
#16	UCLA
#17	North Carolina
#18	Virginia Tech
#19	Ole Miss
#20	Miami
#21	Arizona State
#22	Auburn
#23	TCU
#24	Arkansas
#25	Liberty

Always seem to be close to the AP Poll but there’s always interesting differences. Yes, I had Oregon moving all the way up to #2 and deservedly so. Also, I didn’t quite move Iowa into the Top 5 as many had (and AP did). Give it time and I’m sure they will get there. I try not to go crazy and overrate a team after one huge victory. That is why I only put Arkansas at #24. If they start stringing more victories together, then sure I will definitely move them up. They have to earn it right? Well, it is college football polls so “earning it” can be a very subjective measure.

Another recap done and getting in the football groove with Fall just around the corner. I will be going back to the normal college football schedule on Thursday, NFL schedule on Friday format that you all know and love (well, at least I think you love….I know you know). It’s getting slightly cooler (although it was quite humid today) and it is starting to feel a bit like football weather. I love it. Have a great week everyone!

Bossman’s Shitty Heisman Ballot: A tradition unlike any other

Posted on August 8, 2021 by guelphbossman

Heisman-Fantasy1

I don’t understand myself sometimes. Why do I put myself through this? I guess I’m just a creature of habit. Like a dog who knows it gets fed at 4:00 every day. Anyway, here is my (quite probably terrible) ballot for the Heisman for the 2021 season:

My Brutally Bad Heisman Ballot

Spencer Rattler, Oklahoma – Rattler is pretty much everyone’s favourite to win the Heisman this season. We know what this means: either he runs away with it with no real challengers or something happens and he falls out of the Top 10. With how I predict Oklahoma will do this season, I have a feeling he could approach some Joe Burrow-type numbers and run (not walk) away with the Heisman.
Sam Howell, North Carolina – Nice to see a player from a basketball school up for the Heisman. All kidding aside, he will be the main reason my prediction (hopefully) comes true and the Tar Heels end up in the College Football Playoff. He will be in tough to pass Rattler in the Heisman list but if he also puts up some Joe Burrow-like numbers it could become an interesting race. A lot will have to do with how much these players play in the fourth quarters of some games.
D.J. Uiagalelei, Clemson – Alright, let’s try this. *clears throat* Ahem…Oo-ee-un-guh-luh-lay. Now you know. And knowing is half the battle. The replacement for Trevor Lawrence has huge shoes to fill but looked damn good in the game against Notre Dame last season. So it wouldn’t be too far fetched to consider him a Heisman threat. D.J. may need a conference championship (and of course some great performances throughout the season) to garner some true Heisman hype.
C.J. Stroud, Ohio State – Just like with Justin Fields a couple years ago, I am hesitant to put Stroud this high. No real work at the college level along with a really good running game doesn’t look like Heisman material. But with a very good Buckeyes team (again), he may get enough hype to carry him into November at the very least.
Bryce Young, Alabama – Yet another Bama quarterback on the Heisman watch list. The Tide is the Tide so Young will get a lot of media play this season. It’ll be up to him to come out from under Mac Jones’ shadow much like Mac Jones came out from under Tua Tagovailoa’s shadow.
Matt Corral, Ole Miss – OK hear me out. The Rebels are going to be much better this season than they have been the past few years. Like Top 25 good. And nothing says the Heisman winner has to be on a team that’s Top 10. With Lane Kiffin’s offense, the sky is almost the limit for Corral as long as he doesn’t have a 5-interception performance or something dreadful like that which kills his Heisman chances.
J.T. Daniels, Georgia – DJ, CJ, JT. Part of me hopes those three are the top Heisman vote getters. Daniels looked really good in the final few games of Georgia’s season. He has to have a hot start to stay in the Heisman mix, even with the Dawgs opening against Clemson.
Kedon Slovis, USC – It feels like a prerequisite that a USC quarterback has to be at least on the Heisman preseason watch list. Now if USC does what they did last year and continues that into this year, Slovis will probably be a big reason for it. And despite the fact a receiver won last year, we all know the Heisman is predominantly a quarterback award. Otherwise, Slovis might not crack the Top 10 but I have to be realistic and realize it’s not always about the best player to win the Heisman (despite the fact that’s the whole point of the fucking award but I digress).
Brock Purdy/Breece Hall, Iowa State – OK I am cheating a bit but does it really matter? I don’t want to pick between these two since who knows who will have the better season. Whoever has the better season obviously will have the better chance at the Heisman, despite the point I made above. This also makes Hall the first non-quarterback on this list. Congrats, I guess.
D’Eriq King, Miami – Back to quarterbacks (kind of). Manny Diaz should have his best Miami team since he spurned Temple and went to South Beach. If King can stay healthy, he may rocket up this list as he is a huge running threat along with having a good arm.

Honourable Mention

Emory Jones, Florida
Bijan Robinson, Texas
Jayden Daniels, Arizona State
D’Andre Swift, Georgia
Casey Thompson, Texas
Michael Penix, Indiana
Desmond Ridder, Cincinnati
Dillon Gabriel, UCF
Malik Willis, Liberty

Good luck to the players on this list! You might need it with my history with this list. I’m not even going to bother threatening not doing this post again because I know I will. As I stated above, I will never learn.

Guess what? That was the final college football prediction post before the college football season begins! Week Zero is only 20 days away. No real huge games this year during the opening week but it’s still college football. So I will watch it all.

I am hoping soon to get the Week Zero schedule up. I have seen nothing from TSN although it is almost three weeks away so I got to give them a break for now. I hope it will be up soon. Even as I go on three years-plus doing the IPTV thing, I still plan to give out the most complete college football schedule for Canadians I can muster. Can’t forget the roots of the blog.

So chances are I will be going with my NFL preview first. Plenty of time before the season begins as we just had the Hall of Fame Game. Man I’m really ahead of the game. I shouldn’t jinx it. Everyone have a great final day of the weekend!

He finally has his signature win – Week 10 College Football Recap

Posted on November 9, 2020 by guelphbossman

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish outlasted the number one team in the land, Clemson, this past weekend in a 47-40 double overtime thriller. This game was a ton of fun to watch and could be the best game that has been on NBC in a long time. I mean the ACC at the top is one of the best conferences in football. The ACC mid-card is actually pretty brutal though and keeps the conference from ascending towards the top of the FBS. But back to this one. Brian Kelly has been looking for his signature win since he started as head coach of the Irish years ago. And he finally got it in Notre Dame’s first season ever in a conference. They are now in the driver’s seat to get to the ACC Championship game but still have a few potential speedbump games left with BC, North Carolina and Wake still on the schedule. But if they win out, you have to wonder if they make it to the College Football Playoff even if they lose a probably rematch with the Tigers in the ACC title game. But there’s still a month of football yet to play so don’t want them to count their chickens before they hatch or some other cliche that some other media member might come up with.

Other recap points!

Speaking of beatdowns, how about the one that Maryland laid on Penn State? The Nittany Lions are looking awful so far this season but this has to be a plus for the Terps. It will be quite amusing that if later this season Michigan is facing PSU and the loser ends up in the basement of the Big Ten East. Because that could very easily happen. Oh and I think Maryland may have finally found their quarterback. Who knew another Tagovailoa could chuck the ball like that?
It ended up being a really good World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. The fans were jacked. Brawls in the stands. A guy falling several rows because he was wasted. Good times. Also the football game was good. Anyway, the Bulldogs couldn’t seem to stop the Gators at all in this one. Kyle Trask laid waste to the Georgia defense and have really distanced themselves from the rest of the SEC East. Hopefully this will make Kirby Smart take a good hard look at his team and realize this isn’t working and that they have to go back to the drawing board and retool for another true run at the SEC title.
Pac-12 is back! And the best game was easily the Pac-12 Before Brunch contest between Arizona State and USC. The Sun Devils looked dominant for most of the game. They were up by 13 with less than three minutes to go and looked well on their way to victory. Then Kedon Slovis showed up and the Trojans completed a miraculous comeback to win their season opener. Heartbreaking for ASU but, again, it came down to recovering an onside kick which many teams, college and pro, are struggling to do for some reason this season. We are obviously very early in the Pac-12 schedule but someone is going to have to go unscathed to have a shot at the CFP so why not the Trojans?
Liberty kept rolling along…and I know people will be upset with that. Something you have to admit, though, is that this is a really good team. They were able to dice through Virginia Tech’s defense rather easily but still needed a sad sequence of events at the end to win. Liberty tried a long field goal, it was blocked and returned by the Hokies with no time left in what looked like a crazy walk-off win for VaTech. Unfortunately Justin Fuente called timeout to ice the kicker before the play. Liberty gets another shot and the kicker drills the field goal to win the game. I can see a lot of people wanting Fuente gone after that. I don’t get it. Icing the kicker has proven to not work too often, even at the college level. So why do it? I know that was a rare occurrence what happened in this game but it still makes Fuente look like a moron.
Let’s go back to the Big Ten and one of the big stories there…the Indiana Hoosiers. Yes, seriously. Wins over Penn State, Rutgers and now Michigan have put them at the top of the Big Ten East division with Ohio State. That’s a pretty big deal for this team. Really, the entire division probably comes down to their trip to Columbus in two weeks. No one thought this would be the case. Tom Allen is one of several Coach of the Year candidates but a win over the Buckeyes would put him over the top for sure. Many wondered if they would ever get over the hump and turn into a Top 10 team. That time has arrived. Now we have to see if they can sustain it.
Oh BYU? Yeah I don’t think anyone can keep them out of contention this season. They absolutely annihilated Boise State on Friday night and it really looks like they won’t lose this season. They only have two games left: North Alabama and San Diego State. So they are assured of 10-0. The question though is this: will another team step up and schedule them on an open date? And if it’s a good team, it could real interesting. One more big victory signals BYU being easily in the New Year’s Six and being a complete thorn in the side of The Committee.
This year I was not going to fall for any Nebraska hype. I learned my lesson after last season’s debacle. So it didn’t surprise me to see them lose to Northwestern. Actually the Huskers aren’t as bad as they were last year as they kept it close with a team that could end up winning the Big Ten West. Last season is starting to look like an aberration in Evanston as Pat Fitzgerald has the Wildcats back in contention once again. As for Scott Frost, you have to wonder if this may be his last year in Lincoln after all the hope he brought with him after his super successful stint at UCF.
Miami beat NC State. Barely. Slowly, but surely, the Canes are making their way back up the rankings and could sneak into the College Football Playoff if everyone falls just right for them. Especially after Clemson’s loss to Notre Dame. Other than that one bad loss The U had, they have looked pretty good and D’Eriq King is still looking like the real deal. They can’t afford any hiccups the rest of the way though and almost need to look more dominant to cement their spot at least in the New Year’s Six.
Well it was definitely ugly but Oklahoma State stays in the catbird seat in the Big XII with their close win over Kansas State. But it shouldn’t have been this way. Chris Klieman’s coaching gaffe in the second quarter is an example of coaches overthinking when to go for two. The Wildcats just went up 12-0 and decided to go for two to make it 14-0 for some reason. I guess it looks better on the scoreboard, I don’t know. Anyway, they fail on their attempt. And funny thing, OSU ended up winning by two. Chasing points at any point before the fourth quarter drives me up the wall. There is no point in it. What you are saying is either a) I don’t trust my kicker which isn’t good for the kicker’s state of mind or b) I don’t trust my defense later on which isn’t good for the defensive players’ states of mind. Dumb. So for that reason, in my opinion, KSU deserved to lose. Period.
I normally don’t talk about Rutgers games in this post unless it’s about how bad they are. Yes they lost by 22 to Ohio State. But man does this team look like a lot of fun. A few trick plays that totally fooled tOSU and it’s obvious that Greg Schiano has already put his touch on the program (again). These kids believe they are not the worst team in the Big Ten East and it shows this year as they may truly be the third or fourth best team. Sounds crazy but it’s true.
So the Air Force-Army game was cancelled due to issues surrounding COVID-19 at the Academy. And now their game next Saturday against Wyoming has also been cancelled. Yikes. I wonder what happens to the Commander’s-In-Chief Trophy. I mean it’s 2020 so they could reschedule some sort of game between Air Force and Navy to play for it in a championship style game. Who knows. I mean at this point, any idea is at least a decent idea since this season has been so screwed up.
Cincinnati beat Houston very easily. The Bearcats have the inside track on the New Year’s Six spot. All they have to do is not lose. With their remaining schedule, they could very well get to the AAC Championship unscathed and in the driver’s seat. Oh, and for people who are saying they deserve to be in the College Football Playoff, save it. A lot would have to happen above them for that to happen, starting with teams like Notre Dame and Alabama losing for one.
Don’t forget about San Jose State in the Group of Five race. No, no, no not San DIEGO State. San JOSE State. After beating the Aztecs, they are quietly at 3-0 on the season. Their game against Boise State at the end of the month is looming large as they very well could be 5-0 as they head to the blue turf in Boise.
Iowa State certainly did not look like a team that could end up in the Big XII Championship in mid-December. Yes they beat Baylor and yes it means they stay right in the thick of the race but seven point victories over the Bears don’t exactly scream conference champion, let alone NY6 team. They get a week off and then a possible tough one against Kansas State. Win that and they have one of the biggest games of the year in the Big XII against Texas. There’s a good chance the winner clinches a spot in the conference championship game.
Hey guess who holds their own destiny in the Pac-12 North? You guessed it, the Washington State Cougars. I know, it’s been one game but I wondered if they’d even win one this season. And without Max Borghi who is arguably their best player. Look it would be a lot of fun if this team was in contention in December. How ridiculous would that be? Mike Leach would be pissed off. He’d probably just blame his own players on Mississippi State.
Oklahoma just destroyed Kansas. Do not sleep on the Sooners. Don’t be surprised if they can somehow sneak into the Big XII Championship. Win out and that’s where they will be. As for the Jayhawks, Les Miles just isn’t working out. There needs to be a complete overhaul of that program. I don’t know who can bring this team out of their decade-plus long funk but nothing has worked since the late 2000s.
And more Big XII as Texas survived against West Virginia in what was certainly not your typical Big XII slugfest. Tom Herman could be doing just enough to get the Horns back to JerryWorld in a little over a month. The conference, while being a shitshow, is still an entertaining shitshow. You have to agree with that, no?

That was a fun weekend of college football. Now for the Bossman Top 25!

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

Yes I have Clemson at #7 behind BYU and Cincinnati. If the Tigers win their final three games of the season they will be up in the Top 4 no matter what. Indiana I have not really moving, still at #13. Don’t worry Hoosiers fans: win out and there’s no way you’re out of the CFP either. Miami is at #8 and there’s a good chance they will be left out of the ACC Championship. Georgia didn’t fall too far considering who they lost to. Also, watch out for Marshall. They are severely underrated and could sneak it’s way up the chain and be looking at a New Year’s Six spot. Sounds crazy but it is still technically possible.

OK it’s that time of year folks! MACtion Tuesdays. And MACtion Wednesdays! Tomorrow night will see Akron face Ohio, Kent State head to Bowling Green, and the top of the MAC East, Buffalo, hosting Miami-OH. Akron-Ohio is on CBSSN and the other two games, unfortunately, won’t be seen up here. Wednesday also sees three games, with one on CBS Sports Network, that one being Eastern Michigan at Ball State.

Anyway, tomorrow I will have my first bowl projections post and man is it ever a doozy. Because I have no fucking idea what will end up happening because all teams are bowl-eligible. I will explain more in the post. Have a great week everyone.

Ranking the Bowl Games from First to Worst – 2019-20 Edition

Posted on January 15, 2020 by guelphbossman

Hey how did you think the bowl games went? There was definitely some good and definitely some bad. We will get to that in the rankings but overall, 2019’s college football season was much better than the 2018 season. Less disappointment that is for sure. Don’t get me wrong, I watched a bit of every game. Every single, fucking one. No matter how “useless” the game appeared to be (on paper at least). Not to the players and coaches and fans. Those games mean a shit-ton to them. And that sometimes lends to the games as the atmosphere can be great in a bowl game with a stadium that seems barely half-full.

Alright, time for reading, folks. An absolute deluge of text about bowl season. Now you can remember games that you really did not want to remember anymore. You’re welcome.

Hawaii Bowl (Hawaii 38 BYU 34) – I don’t think this has ever happened before but yes, the Christmas Eve tradition was the best bowl game. Damn was it ever fun to watch. The Hawaii Bowl is rarely this exciting. It felt like an old school WAC game. The closest thing to a really good boxing match where both boxers traded haymakers for most of the match.
Belk Bowl (Kentucky 37 Virginia Tech 30) – Should I make this number one? It’s a tough call. It was the only walkoff touchdown of bowl season which is fun (not so much for gamblers). A great back-and-forth affair in Bud Foster’s final game at VaTech. Another great game to watch. Lynn Bowden Jr. going off and cementing his draft status. Also, it’s the final Belk Bowl. So it was a bit bittersweet as well. Everything a bowl game should be.
Fiesta Bowl (Clemson 29 Ohio State 23) – Now this is the kind of semi-final game we kind of want all the time. This kind of proves that no matter what conference you are in, if you are a good team, you are a good team, period. Anyway, big plays, drama, ref issues, controversy. Sounds like a good time to me.
Rose Bowl (Oregon 28 Wisconsin 27) – Seeing the Badgers piss this one away was like a trainwreck: you couldn’t look away. The Ducks were absolutely dominated in this one. But they did enough off the Wisky turnovers to pull out the victory. We also found out that Justin Herbert has some wheels.
Outback Bowl (Minnesota 31 Auburn 24) – Considering Michigan and Alabama were playing at the exact same time, this is a good thing for both programs, especially the Gophers. Minnesota has brought the fun all season and P.J. Fleck’s energy can be infectious so I definitely look forward to seeing them play. This also showed that maybe, just maybe, Minnesota has arrived in the college football world. Also, I assume the Fire Gus rumblings will prevail well into August yet again. Poor guy.
Frisco Bowl (Kent State 51 Utah State 41) – Over 1000 yards of offense. One of the better college football games of the year, period. Nice to see the underdog Golden Flashes keep up with USU. And let’s give Sean Lewis some credit here. This team has done almost nothing for, well, the entire time the program has been around. And now Lewis, a young head coach (younger than me at least), comes along and is already turning this program around. The MAC is pretty wide open so don’t be surprised if Kent State is a conference contender next season. We also might have to get used to seeing Jordan Love on Sundays because that guy was special in this one. Too bad his defense wasn’t.
Liberty Bowl (Navy 20 Kansas State 17) – Talk about a close game! The Midshipmen and Wildcats played a tight game that wasn’t high on offense. Navy put together a Navy-like drive to set up the game-winning field goal which felt fitting in this one.
Quick Lane Bowl (Pittsburgh 34 Eastern Michigan 30) – One of the barnburners of the season and it was very unexpected. Basically what ended up being a walkoff punch by Eastern Michigan’s quarterback ended a very exciting (and surprisingly so) Quick Lane Bowl, a bowl that is usually forgotten about.
Cotton Bowl (Penn State 53 Memphis 39) – Yet again, the Group of Five representative in the New Year’s Six brought their A Game. But man Penn State was something else. In the end, Penn State’s passing game was better than Memphis’s running game and pulled away for the win. It helped that there was a terrible bowl game on at the same time as the eyeballs stayed here.
Orange Bowl (Florida 36 Virginia 28) – OK I will admit when I was wrong. I figured the Hoos had no chance but this turned into quite the competitive game. I mean Florida had control of the game most of the time but Bryce Perkins made it so you thought maybe, just maybe, the Cavaliers could pull this out. In the end, the Fighting Mullens were too much.
Texas Bowl (Texas A&M 24 Oklahoma State 21) – Thrilling? Not exactly. It felt like the Pokes were going to run away with this one, much to the chagrin of the many Aggie fans in attendance. Anyway, this game’s score doesn’t tell the whole story as other than early and very late, Texas A&M controlled the pace of the game. But it was close. So there’s that.
Gator Bowl (Tennessee 23 Indiana 22) – I thought this was a pretty sexy matchup for bowl season. A resurgent Vols team against an up-and-coming Hoosiers team. Normally the games after New Year’s aren’t watched (other than the National Championship) but this was one fantastic. It was kind of painful to watch Indiana blow this game that they really did have in the bag. Now I await Tennessee’s inclusion in the preseason Top 25 for next season.
First Responder Bowl (Western Kentucky 23 Western Michigan 20) – Is it First Responder or First Responders? Anyway, this had a crazy finish to a rather mundane game. Western Michigan was flagged for too many men on the field on a WKU Hail Mary on the last play of the game. The Hilltoppers then decided to go for the 52-yard field goal and hit it to walk it off. I think many are just glad that this bowl game was actually played after last year’s cancellation.
Camellia Bowl (Arkansas State 34 FIU 27) – Surprisingly fun to watch! The Panthers made it quite the game with their late comeback (that came up just short). Not much else to say about a bowl that is historically ignored and poorly attended.
Pinstripe Bowl (Michigan State 27 Wake Forest 21) – I was really looking forward to this game as it had two teams that, for some reason, can bring it during bowl season. Honestly, most thought this would be boring and they were part-correct. It wasn’t super exciting but it was close and it was a game you had to watch to the end. Now the Mark Dantonio watch begins as the rumours are swirling on his status in East Lansing.
National Championship (LSU 42 Clemson 25) – This was a pretty damn good game for about 2.5 quarters. Then Joe Burrow. That’s it. Can we call it the greatest season by a player in college football history? It’s easily Top 10 for sure.
Peach Bowl (LSU 63 Oklahoma 28) – Basically this game was over early. If it wasn’t for the fact it was a semi-final and Joe Burrow going crazy in the first half it would have been unwatchable. Oklahoma might just want to decline their invite next year if they are selected for the College Football Playoff.
Sun Bowl (Arizona State 20 Florida State 14) – This game looked like the Redbox Bowl from last year for over a half. It was like neither team really wanted to win. It did lead to a fairly wild finish though which is one of the things we like as college football fans. I am sure Noles fans want to put James Blackman into a cannon and fire him straight into the transfer portal after his performance. Also, nice touch with Herm Edwards getting the Frosted Flakes dumped on him at the end. This needs to continue even during the regular season.
Cheez-It Bowl (Air Force 31 Washington State 21) – Ah, the hilarious Cheez-It Bowl. This year’s edition was much less hilarious and much less exciting. I mean Wazzu made it close early in the fourth quarter but the Falcons’ rushing offense ground the Cougs defense into dust, as most of us thought would happen. Realistically though, the final score doesn’t portray how much Air Force dominated this.
Music City Bowl (Louisville 38 Mississippi State 28) – No real stars in this one didn’t help this bowl game but it was another case of a game where the score does not indicate how not close this game was. Louisville looked dominant most of this one. If it wasn’t for the Joe Moorhead rumours (which turned out to be true) this game might have gone down a few notches.
Cure Bowl (Liberty 23 Georgia Southern 16) – Not exciting. Not terrible. Kind of in the middle. Which is where it ranks. Nice to see Liberty win their first bowl game ever, I guess.
Sugar Bowl (Georgia 26 Baylor 14) – Look this went exactly as most people thought it would go, no offense to Baylor. Really it was not very memorable and, to be honest, it was so late on New Year’s Day that I was getting tired (plus I had to work the next day).
Boca Raton Bowl (Florida Atlantic 52 SMU 28) – This was set up to be one of the better bowl games between the two great Power Five teams. So good that it was being aired on ABC. I thought it would be really close and it ended up being anything but. Plus all the Lane Kiffin talk really got to be too much by the second half. We get it: he left the Owls. Let’s move on.
Holiday Bowl (Iowa 49 USC 24) – Everything was going great for this game until Kedon Slovis got injured. Then it went to shit for the Trojans and the fans watching at home. The only good thing is that we were able to actually see this game in Canada despite it being on FOX Sports One.
Mobile Bowl (Louisiana 27 Miami-OH 17) – This game was the final bowl game before the national championship. The only reason to watch is if you weren’t bowled out yet and kind of missed Monday Night Football. I have to get the game credit since a botched snap near the goal line for the Redhawks was all that separated this from moving up the chain. Also, I guess this is now called the LendingTree Bowl. Ugh.
Citrus Bowl (Alabama 35 Michigan 16) – Michigan was in this exact same spot last year. And they scored one more point than last year’s bowl game. The Wolverines were boatraced by Bama in the second half, just like last year’s game against Florida. The Outback Bowl, on at the same time, was a much more satisfying game to watch and so that’s where I spent most of my time.
Redbox Bowl (California 35 Illinois 20) – I was hoping for Lovie Smith to pick up a bowl win but hey, the Illini just getting to a bowl game is huge enough. If it wasn’t for this possibility, this may have gone farther down the list as Cal never seemed to be out of control of the game.
Gasparilla Bowl (UCF 48 Marshall 25) – I guess it’s good this game isn’t at Tropicana Field anymore. Otherwise, this game was over early.
New Orleans Bowl (Appalachian State 31 UAB 17) – All UAB early, All App State late. Hell, the Mountaineers even almost covered the spread. They didn’t though (considering the spread was like 16.5).
Idaho Potato Bowl (Ohio 30 Nevada 21) – The score makes it seem like it might have been close. It wasn’t. The only exciting thing about this game, other than how much Ohio might win by, is Frank Solich getting showered in french fries after the bowl win.
Armed Forces Bowl (Tulane 30 Southern Miss 13) – I will be completely honest…after the first half I watched very little of this game. Came back with about half the fourth quarter to play, saw Tulane was handily in front, and felt good about my decision. I guess sometimes morning football isn’t that great.
Military Bowl (North Carolina 55 Temple 13) – Was there really anything good about this game? Now we have got a lot of people on the North Carolina bandwagon for 2020. Sam Howell could end up being a darkhorse Heisman contender if the Heels contend in the ACC.
Las Vegas Bowl (Washington 38 Boise State 7) – The only intriguing part of this game is seeing how Washington would fare in the Chris Petersen farewell game. Looks like they did well.
New Mexico Bowl (San Diego State 48 Central Michigan 11) – The normally first FBS bowl game of the year was a dud. Maybe because they weren’t the first bowl game of the season. Either way it was not exciting after about the 12 minute mark of the first quarter. Jimmy Mac’s great season in Mount Pleasant ends in a dud. And, shock of all shocks, Rocky Long retired so that was his last game as well.
Bahamas Bowl (Buffalo 31 Charlotte 9) – This was the first bowl game of the season, on a Friday afternoon. So I barely watched any of this one. But the fact this is Charlotte’s first bowl game and Buffalo’s first bowl win ever keeps it from falling even further (even though there isn’t far to fall from here).
Alamo Bowl (Texas 38 Utah 10) – Maybe the Utes were honestly that crushed with losing the Pac-12 title game and their chance at the College Football Playoff. This was pretty non-competitive and now I am sure we will hear about Texas being in the preseason Top 25 like almost every year. Let’s not give in to the media peer pressure folks!
Camping World Bowl (Notre Dame 33 Iowa State 9) – God this was awful. Notre Dame is that weird team that is probably better than playing in any bowl game except when it gets to the New Year’s Six where they play terrible and are “exposed” as a not-so-good team.
Independence Bowl (Louisiana Tech 14 Miami 0) – This should have been a better game. Miami, who is usually at least not too bad and LaTech who is a good Group of Five team. This ended up being a mess of a game and showed how bad Miami really is. The entire program will be under the microscope for the next season.
Birmingham Bowl (Cincinnati 38 Boston College 6) – Hey remember what the Birmingham Bowl has been like in recent years? Forget all that. This was shit. It would be the worst bowl game this season if it wasn’t for the next horrific, forgettable game.
Arizona Bowl (Wyoming 38 Georgia State 17) – On CBS Sports Network. When other bowl games were on. And it was boring. It’s the bowl game shitfest trifecta. I think I watched one minute of this.

So in the end, better than last bowl season but not awesome by any stretch of the imagination. This weekend we have some college all-star games. The East-West Shrine Game and the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl are on the NFL Network on Saturday at 2:00 and 6:00 respectively. Yes they tend to have some weird rules but it’s still college football (technically).

Your very short NFL schedule will be coming your way either tomorrow or Friday. Have a great hump day everyone!

The Awful Coast Conference – Week 3 College Football Recap

Posted on September 16, 2019 by guelphbossman

You know, everyone shits on the Pac-12. As well we should since it’s a conference that has accomplished very little since USC had their historic run last decade. But now they have company in the ACC. We all knew that Clemson would be the top dog. That was not in dispute. But many figured that at least a couple of teams would step up and be sniffing at the New Year’s Six based on merit and not because an ACC team will have to go to the Orange Bowl. So how about we see what happened in the ACC this past weekend shall we? OK.

Wake Forest beat North Carolina in a non-conference game. That’s right. A non-conference game. Don’t ask. Anyway, the darlings of the first two weeks crashed and burned and now Wake Forest is 3-0. Yeah. And that’s the good part.
Boston College was destroyed by Kansas. Yes, Kansas. I can’t see Steve Addazio lasting to 2020 the way things are going out in Massachusetts.
Clemson started slow (as did Trevor Lawrence) but slowly pulled away and ended up winning by 35. Again, we know what we are getting with the Tigers but man does Syracuse not look good so far this season.
Penn State played awful in terrible weather in State College but it was still enough to beat a woeful Pitt team who had some, let’s just say, “questionable” coaching decisions.
Virginia beat Florida State because Florida State Florida Stated all over the place. I will admit that the Seminoles should have got a few more seconds near the end of the game when the game clock didn’t stop on a first down but still, the Noles blew a lead yet again. Poor Willie Taggart’s hot seat is basically the temperature of the surface of the sun right now.
NC State couldn’t handle West Virginia. And West Virginia won’t be that good this year.
Virginia Tech struggled to put away Furman. Yeah I get that Furman is one of the better SoCon teams but it’s still Furman. Justin Fuente is also hot seating it right now.
Georgia Tech lost in overtime to The Citadel. I see the transition from the triple option is going well in Atlanta.

Yes Louisville, Miami and Duke won but they were supposed to and no one gives a shit. A complete and utter disaster for the conference this past weekend. Maybe it’s time to move Clemson to the SEC and drop the ACC to the Group of Five.

But hey there was more action this past weekend and some of it was also crazy. Let’s get to it.

Fun-Time Crazy Recap!

Poor Feleipe Franks. He is now out for the year after a gruesome ankle injury. Kyle Trask stepped in and led the Gators comeback to beat Kentucky but the rest of the season is looking less rosy in Gainesville. Should we just give Georgia the tickets to Atlanta now?
If you missed the Arizona State-Michigan State game, don’t worry. It was arguably one of the worst games this decade. So of course, what happened? The last few minutes were insane. It all ended when the Spartans hit a field goal to tie the game but was called for too many men on the field. The next attempt wasn’t even close and Sparty lost 10-7 to the Fighting Herm Edwards. Remember, you play…to win…the game. You don’t play to just play.
USC…is not back. And Clay Helton most definitely won’t be back next season. I think everyone jumped on the Kedon Slovis bandwagon a teensy bit too quickly. BYU was ready for them and played well enough to pull off the win in overtime in front of a raucous crowd in Provo. I won’t call it an upset despite the fact the Trojans were ranked since I didn’t think they should have been. Oh and I called that too. Have to give myself pats on the back when I can ya know?
College Gameday went to Ames on Saturday for the first time ever. The reward? Almost three hours worth of weather delays. At one point, some of the students did not heed the hail warning and stormed the field when security went for cover. It’s too bad that most of Canada (unless you get Flo Sports) could watch this one since it was also nuts and had one of the craziest endings ever. Iowa punts the ball with about 90 seconds left and as the Iowa State player is waiting to catch the punt he gets absolutely leveled by his own player which causes a fumble which Iowa recovers. I am sure Kirk Ferentz had something in his contract that gave him a bonus for that exact play. He also probably gets another few year extension on his contract and will basically coach until he dies on the sideline at the age of 112.
A very classy gesture in Athens as the Dawgs fans wore pink in remembrance of Arkansas State head coach Blake Anderson’s wife who passed away from breast cancer recently. It’s the kind of thing I love to see about college football and it has nothing to do with making money off of it (you hear that, NFL?). Anyway, ASU was boatraced by UGA 55-0.
Tua played in the fourth quarter. I’m not kidding! The Tide looked really good against South Carolina and this one was never in doubt.
Yeah the final score was 45-27 but really it was not that close. UCF ran roughshod over Stanford like a forest fire runs over all those trees. I have to wonder now if my pick of Memphis getting the Group of Five spot was more boredom in picking UCF or reality since the Knights look seriously good.
I would say the Dana Holgorsen Experiment in Houston isn’t working. However you have to admit that Houston didn’t exactly make themselves an easy non-conference schedule. And they have kept in their games with Oklahoma and Washington State this past Friday night longer than many thought they would. It’s too bad since they may have had a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate in D’Eriq King if they had had a great season. Isn’t meant to be I guess.
Oh Chip Kelly. UCLA just looks awful so far this season. The old Chip Kelly isn’t resurfacing in Westwood with the Bruins. Problem is probably that he doesn’t have the personnel to run his kind of offense but still. They still have the possibility of going 0-12 hanging over their head. If this doesn’t improve, Kelly will not get a third season to get his recruits going.
Why does Rice play Texas? This is what JFK asked in a speech decades ago. The answer is still, who the hell knows.
You want to know how lean this week was? Portland State was on ESPN2 facing Boise State. Yeah.
Kansas State might be the real deal, folks. Chris Klieman is a very successful coach and is continuing going with things in the Little Apple. Is it surprising me? Absolutely. So I guess I can’t be surprised if they insert themselves in the Big XII Championship conversation even if it is to cause trouble for the current front-runners, Oklahoma and Texas.
Eastern Michigan beat Illinois. Doesn’t feel like an upset. Chris Creighton has done a great job in Ypsilanti making this look like an actual FBS football program. I wonder if Lovie Smith will get an extension after this loss since everything that has happened in Champaign has been the opposite of success for years.
Minnesota successfully ran the gauntlet of teams you might not want to schedule because they could be dangerous. Wins over South Dakota State, Fresno State and, this past weekend, Georgia Southern may not seem like much considering every game was close. But the Gophers may have done something more important by preparing themselves for a tough Big Ten schedule by having a pretty good non-conference schedule. Maybe P.J. Fleck knows what he’s doing there.

So it was a fun day of watching college football. A few upsets and a bit of movement in the polls. Including mine which actually isn’t a poll since I am the only being asked. Oh well. Time for the Bossman Top 25:

#1	Clemson
#2	Alabama
#3	LSU
#4	Ohio State
#5	Georgia
#6	Oklahoma
#7	Florida
#8	Michigan
#9	Auburn
#10	Notre Dame
#11	Penn State
#12	Utah
#13	UCF
#14	Wisconsin
#15	Texas
#16	Iowa
#17	Texas A&M
#18	Oregon
#19	Washington State
#20	Washington
#21	Boise State
#22	Virginia
#23	TCU
#24	California
#25	Oklahoma State

Yes there are some differences from the AP Poll. That’s fine. I have agreed with them in one aspect though. I have put Bama back at #2. What can I say, teams move up and down during the season. No I don’t have Arizona State in the poll (I have them #27 so just outside). Same with Kansas State (#28). They continue to play like they’re playing, they will be in next week for sure. I also wonder about where Iowa is. I had toyed with putting them at 14 or 15 but settled at 16 but many have them lower. Is Iowa State not a good victory? Makes no sense.

Back to Willie Taggart, it looks like some kid is selling lemonade to try and raise enough money to buy out ol’ William. Only $17 million less about $500 to go, pal!

Same schedule for later in the week. College football schedule Thursday. NFL schedule Friday. Have a good week everyone.

How about a little OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVERTIME and a Week 2 recap?

Posted on September 9, 2019 by guelphbossman

I love college football. You know that. So what’s better than a bunch of games going into overtime, eh? Let’s recap those games right off the hop OK sounds good let’s go.

Michigan 24 Army 21 (2OT) – What a game this was….for Army. Michigan did not play well at all and it kind of felt like they had no idea what to do with Army’s triple option. Even so, Shea Patterson stunk and the playcalling was puzzling at times. Michigan lucks out by getting a strip sack in double overtime to stay in the Top 10. As for Army, watch out for them if no teams end up undefeated this season.
Colorado 34 Nebraska 31 (OT) – A classic Big 8 matchup that was a barnburner. It looked like the Huskers were going to destroy the Buffs until a late game comeback by Colorado put them into overtime. A missed field goal clinched the game and now I am starting to feel kind of stupid for drinking the Nebraska Koolaid (which was obviously cherry-flavoured).
Kent State 26 Kennesaw State 23 (OT) – The earlier women’s field hockey game was stopped in double overtime so that this game could start on time. Absolutely crazy. And then we almost see Kennesaw State pull the FCS-over-FBS upset. Kent State escapes and continues to be known for bad things, one much, MUCH worse than the rest.
Florida State 45 ULM 44 (OT) – Good god Willie Taggart. What is going on in Tallahassee? Most of the fans had left by the time this game ended. And for a while it looked like the Warhawks would win in regulation. Instead, FSU tied it up and then won the game thanks to a ULM missed extra point. Yeesh. Not a good look for the Noles who may have hit a bit of a rock bottom.
BYU 29 Tennessee 26 (2OT) – Since we are talking about once-proud teams who have fallen far, let us check in on the University of Tennessee Volunteers football program. Gross. They could not put BYU away. And to top it off they have a coverage breakdown and allow BYU to go more than half the field with under 15 seconds to play to get the tying field goal just to make it to overtime. Expect Jeremy Pruitt to now be on every hot seat list in the country.
Minnesota 38 Fresno State 35 (2OT) – College football this past weekend conspired to not allow me to go to bed at a reasonable time…and when I say reasonable time I mean 2 in the morning. A great back-and-forth game which ended on a great Antoine Winfield Jr. interception in double overtime. Maybe other Big Ten teams should take note and not make trips to the West Coast.

This week of college football really had a dearth of marquee games, as is somewhat usual for Week 2. However, the action this week was damn good. A fun Saturday of college football was had by all (who watched). Let’s go through the week that was!

Let’s take a trip out to Seattle for a game that didn’t start until 1:30 in the morning. I am not joking. Thanks to some severe weather they had to delay the game by almost three hours. I did not stay up to stay updated on this game and I missed a great one of course. Washington did not play well at all and let Cal stick around for far too long. This led to the Golden Bears winning on a last-minute field goal and furthering the Pac-12’s overall misery.
Kansas lost a game…at home…to Coastal Carolina. So yeah it is going to take quite a long time for Les Miles to turn this thing around.
Clemson made relatively easy work of Texas A&M. Yes they only won by 14 but it never felt like the Aggies were in this one. So the Tigers beat yet another SEC team. I think they need to stop this whole “Oh yeah well Clemson doesn’t have an SEC schedule” horseshit. They are damn good, plain and simple. And they are still the favourite to win the whole thing in January.
Don’t look know but there might be a new contender in the ACC Coastal. Step right up Mack Brown! The Tar Heels looked good against Miami and won the game late in front of a raucous home crowd in Chapel Hill. Yes, the same team that almost beat Florida in one of the worst college football games of the year so far. Considering the state of the ACC Coastal beyond Virginia, don’t be surprised if North Carolina isn’t at least bowl-eligible by the end of the year which would be a huge complement to Mack Brown’s coaching ability.
Breaking news! West Virginia is awful. No wonder Dana Holgorsen left for a Group of Five team. Neal Brown is going to have a tough go here in 2019. I sincerely hope that the Mountaineer faithful are patient with this as this will not be a fun season in Morgantown, that’s for sure.
Maryland blew Syracuse out of the water on Saturday, winning by 43. No that is not a misprint and no it’s not a joke. The toughest division in college football just got a lot tougher as the Terps are looking seriously good this season so far. As for the ACC, Virginia will replace Syracuse in the Top 25 but will more than two teams ever get into the rankings? It doesn’t look good for the conference.
On Friday night, Boise State beat Marshall but it sure wasn’t convincing. 14-7 doesn’t exactly speak dominance and the fact that freshman quarterback Hank Bachmeier was average at best in this one…let’s just say I am still not convinced the Broncos will be the Group of Five representative in the New Year’s Six if this keeps up.
Joe Burrow was absolutely fantastic in the primetime ABC game as he threw for the second-most yards in LSU history. The Tigers beat Texas but Texas also hung around as well. Both teams need to play better defense as the season wears on but these two offenses may be two of the best in college football this year. And Burrow may force himself into the Heisman conversation whether people like it or not.
Ohio State shutout Cincinnati in Luke Fickell’s return to Columbus. I don’t know, it feels like Ohio State is going to look really good at least into October and then they will lay an egg or three and we will wonder what kind of team they really are. You know, like almost every other season they have had.
Everyone was wondering how Kedon Slovis would play against Stanford. Well, Clay Travis can breathe a bit of a sigh of relief as Slovis was excellent, the Trojans played a nearly flawless game, and we continue the narrative that no one really wants to win the Pac-12. Except maybe Utah.
I don’t think Charlie Strong is long for this 2019 season. Another loss, this time to a rebuilding Georgia Tech team, puts the Bulls at 0-2 to start the season and at eight straight losses stretching back to last year. For a team that not too long ago was battling with UCF to be the big-time team in this conference, this is a stunning fall and Strong is going to be the scapegoat for it, rightly or wrongly (mostly rightly).
Oh and how could I forget UCLA? They lost again, this time to San Diego State. UCLA was behind most of the game and never really seemed in it. I don’t know if it’s just Chip Kelly not having the right personnel to run his offense or what. But for a team that many (including myself) thought would at least be going bowling this season, it’s not a good look, for the Bruins or for Kelly himself.

Recap complete! Considering the schedule was one of the worst I have seen (beyond the top two games) it was a super fun weekend to watch college football. The lesson? Never assume when it comes to this sport. Some great schedules create horrible weeks (in terms of quality of the actual games played) and some shitty schedules produce some of the most historic weeks. You never know. Anyway, here’s the return of the Bossman Top 25:

#1	Clemson
#2	LSU
#3	Alabama
#4	Georgia
#5	Ohio State
#6	Oklahoma
#7	Michigan
#8	Florida
#9	Auburn
#10	Notre Dame
#11	Utah
#12	Penn State
#13	Wisconsin
#14	UCF
#15	Texas
#16	Michigan State
#17	Texas A&M
#18	Oregon
#19	Iowa
#20	Washington State
#21	Washington
#22	Boise State
#23	Iowa State
#24	Maryland
#25	Virginia

As per usual I am close to the current polls but have a few differences. And yes, I have LSU leapfrogging Alabama for #2. Bama ain’t played nobody and LSU just beat Texas so I have to give them the nod here. I don’t have USC in the Top 25, yet. Not entirely convinced that they belong there but if they win next week they will be there. Other than that I am confident that this is the perfect Top 25. You all agree, right? Don’t answer that.

Another recap done. Hurricane Dorian was devastating to the Bahamas. The States were mostly spared from the destruction. So for now, we can safely say there will not be games added during conference championship week. If you have read this blog before, you know my thoughts on these games. Now they are at the peak of hurricane system so as long as they can get through the next few weeks unscathed there shouldn’t be any scheduling issues and, most importantly, no more damage to people and their property.

Same old, same old with the college football schedule Thursday and the NFL schedule Friday. We are back in football season, ladies and gentlemen and it feels oh so good. Enjoy your week everyone.

You know what time it is? WEEK 1 OVERREACTION TIME! Oh and the Week 2 TV Schedule as well.

Posted on September 5, 2019 by guelphbossman

Who saw that coming for Tennessee last Saturday? What’s Jeremy Pruitt’s future with the team? Should people dump garbage on his lawn because they are upset? Overreaction? Absolutely! But some people think that and are serious about it. Week 1 of the college football season is always chock full of these tasty nuggets. Like these:

UCLA will lose almost every game this season. Not so fast. One game against one of the better Group of Five teams does not a season make. Now if the Bruins lose to San Diego State this Saturday then yeah maybe you can start to panic.
The SEC is terrible! The SEC is a lot like many of the Power Five conferences: the top three-to-six teams are good to great and the rest are mediocre to trash. No difference here.
Boise State has clinched the New Year’s Six spot. Uh, no. I will admit the Broncos are a great contender but UCF is still the favourite and I still have Memphis as my choice.
The Pac-12 has no chance at going to the College Football Playoff. Um, Oregon is not the only good team in the Pac-12. Now apologize to Utah and Washington THIS INSTANT!

Alright Week 1 is in the books and it’s time for Week 2’s schedule and yeah, it’s pretty bad. Sorry guys.

Friday

		US	Canada
WIlliam & Mary at Virginia	8:00 PM
Wake Forest at Rice	8:00 PM
Marshall at #24 Boise State	9:00 PM

A huge Group of Five game starts the week as two New Year’s Six contenders clash on the blue turf of Boise. Still got to favour Boise State in this one but you never know as they always struggle at least once year when they shouldn’t. The Deacs are playing Rice in one of those not-so-odd-anymore Power Five at Group of Five games as well. And yes, there is no Thursday college football. Don’t want to compete with opening night in the NFL since no one would watch the college game (I hate to say that but it’s true).

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
Ohio at Pittsburgh	11:00 AM
Cincinnati at #5 Ohio State	Noon
Vanderbilt at Purdue	Noon
UAB at Akron	Noon
#21 Syracuse at Maryland	Noon
West Virginia at Missouri	Noon
Old Dominion at Virginia Tech	Noon
Army at #7 Michigan	Noon
Charleston Southern at South Carolina	Noon
Western Carolina at NC State	12:30 PM

As per usual, a boatload of games in the early timeslot. And yes, one game starts at 11 in the morning. You can thank the ACC Network going with stupid three hour windows in their second week of existence. Ridiculous. So if you are an ACC fan you will miss the first quarter of multiple games almost guaranteed. A few good ones early on with UC-tOSU and Army-UM the two biggest (although the over/under for Cuse-UMD could be seriously high). I am going out on a limb and saying Western Carolina-NC State will appear on the specialty pack although I see nothing yet in any of the guides.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
USF at Georgia Tech	2:00 PM
#12 Texas A&M at #1 Clemson	3:30 PM
Central Michigan at #17 Wisconsin	3:30 PM
Eastern Illinois at Indiana	3:30 PM
Illinois at UConn	3:30 PM
Southern Miss at Mississippi State	3:30 PM
#25 Nebraska at Colorado	3:30 PM
Grambling at Louisiana Tech	3:30 PM
Murray State at #3 Georgia	4:00 PM
New Mexico State at #2 Alabama	4:00 PM
ULM at Florida State	5:00 PM

One of the games of the year right here in this timeslot. The Aggies will make a massive statement and upset the college football apple cart if they can somehow beat Clemson. Here you see the continuation of the weird ACC Network times. If you are using a PVR this may get frustrating but I know it’s because there are so many ACC non-conference games this week, more than any other week by a country mile. The rest of the games are technically college football games so let’s all hope they are at least close going into the fourth quarter. Also we have the debut of the NFL Network as they will be broadcasting Conference USA games this season. Interesting contract but hey, it could work for the conference as they need some sort of quasi-national audience so they don’t fall behind the rest of the Group of Five conferences.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
#18 UCF at Florida Atlantic	7:00 PM
BYU at Tennessee	7:00 PM
#6 LSU at #9 Texas	7:30 PM
Western Michigan at #19 Michigan State	7:30 PM
Tulane at #10 Auburn	7:30 PM
UT-Martin at #11 Florida	7:30 PM
Buffalo at #15 Penn State	7:30 PM
Eastern Michigan at Kentucky	7:30 PM
Arkansas at Ole Miss	7:30 PM
Miami at North Carolina	8:00 PM

Not exactly stacked but this does contain another potential Game of the Year as LSU travels to Austin to play the Longhorns. Again, don’t need to belabour the point but this could lead to College Football Playoff chatter (along with New Year’s Six chatter). Yes, Miami-UNC could be good considering how the Tar Heels have already looked impressive and Miami…not so much. Also the Cougars of BYU travel to Knoxville to face a team with the most frustrated fanbase in college football. Other than that there are a few decent games and some dreck. Can’t win ’em all.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
Minnesota at Fresno State	10:30 PM
#23 Stanford at USC	10:30 PM

Not much of a late night sked but two pretty good games, at least on paper. Clay Helton better pray his new quarterback, true freshman Kedon Slovis, figures things out quick or Helton’s days may be numbered…and by numbered I mean single digits. The other game should be close as Minnesota looked shitty against South Dakota State and should be better against a good Mountain West team in the Bulldogs.

Games to set your eyeballs on

LSU at Texas (7:30, ABC/TSN2) – This is the only game on TSN this week and it’s the game of the week. Honestly this isn’t a huge deal since there is only one other game that could warrant GOTW status. But we know what happens on weeks like this. Usually absolute chaos and/or some fantastic finishes. Anyway, we have to say that this is a huge game that could shape both teams’ seasons. The winner has a leg up on hopefully getting to the College Football Playoff whereas the loser almost has to look at the New Year’s Six (unless more chaos happens later on in the season).

Texas A&M at Clemson (3:30, ABC) – Survive this game and the Tigers don’t have much to stop them from winning the ACC Atlantic Division. Before I continue, can they either make the divisions make more sense geographically or get rid of divisions altogether? That would be great. Don’t think this will be an easy one for the Dangerous Dabos since TAMU might be improved from last year when they took Clemson to the limit. I still think this would be a monumental upset, though, if the Aggies can pull it out.

Cincinnati at Ohio State (Noon, ABC) – Man, does this ever drop off after the first two. But ABC does have the top three games of the week officially. Time to celebrate? I’d say no. Honestly I can’t see this game being close but it does mark the return of Luke Fickell to Columbus. And now the Bearcats are actually a good team. Still though. I won’t regret putting this game on the list since there isn’t much to pick from.

Army at Michigan (Noon, FOX) – Hey, finally a non-ABC game. Fantastic. I hope FOX really doesn’t care about this week since this is not good as their best game. Saying that, remember what the Black Knights did in Oklahoma last season. They almost pulled off the monumental upset of the Sooners. Now if they can somehow finish things off this year it would do two things: have everyone saying Michigan still sucks and putting Army squarely in the New Year’s Six conversation. Actually there will be a third thing. Jimmy Harbaugh will go back to the hot seat list which he is almost never off of anyway.

Stanford at USC (10:30, specialty pack) – Look, USC is an interesting story so far this season. And now they have lost their starting quarterback for the season and will have to start a true freshman. But this is USC so you know they always have a chance. Plus, the Cardinal didn’t exactly look like world-beaters against Northwestern last week. Don’t be surprised if around 1:30 in the morning, many eyeballs are on this game because it’s close.

Honourable mention: Buffalo at Penn State (7:30, FOX); Syracuse at Maryland (Noon, specialty pack); Marshall at Boise State (Friday, 9:00, specialty pack)

Some gambling fun and games

Like last year at this very same time, I will say that Florida State losing wasn’t a bad pick on my part since they should have won. Picking Oregon was also not a bad pick since that was a great again against Auburn. Other than that I did amazing last week. So let’s get to another week of fantastic (or not fantastic) picks that are straight up and not against the spread:

Boise State over Marshall

Penn State over Buffalo

Texas over LSU (upset pick!)

Clemson over Texas A&M

Michigan over Army

Ohio State over Cincinnati

Syracuse over Maryland

USC over Stanford (another upset pick!)

Tennessee over BYU

Arkansas State over UNLV

Wisconsin over Central Michigan

As of now I see nothing on the guide for the specialty pack. Nothing. I know the games are coming but don’t see them yet. Frustrating. Maybe that will change by the time the games start tomorrow. I wonder if it’s due to nothing on tonight for college football. Who the fuck knows. Either way, the schedule I have above (less the one game on FOX Sports Network) should appear as I have said it will.

The reason no college football tonight? The NFL is back baybee! The opening game for this season (which is the NFL’s 100th season) is the Packers and the Bears. We will get a good idea of if Aaron Rodgers can co-exist with new head coach Matt Lafleur. Also we will get a good idea of Vic Fangio was the reason for the Bears’ success last season. The game is on NBC, CTV2 and all the TSNs except TSNs 2 and 5.

I will be on the Twitter machine again this weekend. I made it to the end last Saturday. I felt very proud of myself. It means I know I’m ready for the season. Now I have to hope a late night game doesn’t go to like five overtimes otherwise I will be a brain-dead idiot on Sunday. Enjoy the games everyone!

Bossman's Blog

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

Tag Archives: Kedon Slovis

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