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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thursday​

Southern Miss 45 Florida Atlantic 31

6:30 PM

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

Friday

Arizona State 70 Arizona 7

7:30 PM

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

San Jose State 30 Nevada 20

10:00 PM

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

Saturday Early

Penn State 39 Michigan State 24

Noon

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

Rutgers 27 Maryland 24

Noon

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

Northwestern 28 Illinois 10

Noon

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

Alabama 52 Arkansas 3

Noon

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

Utah 38 Colorado 21

Noon

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

Georgia 49 Missouri 14

Noon

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

Minnesota 24 Nebraska 17

Noon

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

Saturday Afternoon

Buffalo 56 Akron 7

2:30 PM

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

Army 15 Navy 0

3:00 PM

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

North Carolina 62 Miami 26

3:30 PM

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

Oklahoma State 42 Baylor 3

3:30 PM

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

Iowa 28 Wisconsin 7

3:30 PM

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

Memphis 30 Houston 27

3:45 PM

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

Tennessee 42 Vanderbilt 17

4:00 PM

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

Saturday Primetime & Late Night​

Boise State 17 Wyoming 9

6:00 PM

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

LSU 37 Florida 34

7:00 PM

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

TCU 52 Louisiana Tech 10

7:00 PM

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

Auburn 24 Mississippi State 10

7:30 PM

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

USC 43 UCLA 38

7:30 PM

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

BYU 28 San Diego State 14

10:00 PM

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

New Mexico 49 Fresno State 39

10:30 PM

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

Stanford 27 Oregon State 24

10:00 PM

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

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

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

Alright let’s try the Bossman tradition now – Week 15 College Football TV Schedule

Normally for American Thanksgiving weekend I do a post that is centered around a concept called Footballgasm.  There is so much damn football usually from Thursday afternoon through the end of Sunday and good football, especially at the college level.  I freakin’ love it!  Thanks to 2020, this did not happen this year.  That weekend became just another weekend in college football now that there were a few more weeks of the regular season after it.

So I will do this schedule in the style that I normally reserve for Thanksgiving, Yankee Style.  Every game is not important but everything gets its own section.  Good for them, right?  For some teams, the highlight of their season.  Let’s go!

Thursday​

Florida Atlantic at Southern Miss

6:30 PM

Florida Atlantic has a chance at the Conference USA East division crown but they need to start with a win here.  The Golden Eagles, on the other hand, just hired their new coach and want to forget this season ever existed.  Now I find out that the Charlotte-Marshall game is cancelled so if FAU wins, they will go to the Conference USA title game.

Friday

Arizona State at Arizona

7:30 PM

These two teams have combined for….wait a minute, getting out the calculator….carry the 3….ZERO WINS this season.  I can’t see either of these teams getting to go to a bowl game but you never know.

Nevada at San Jose State

10:00 PM

This is easy.  A Spartans win puts SJSU in the Mountain West Conference Championship for the first time ever.  A loss and Nevada could go if Boise State can win on Saturday.  Huge conference implications here and probably a must-watch.

Saturday Early

#11 Oklahoma at West Virginia Michigan State at Penn State

Noon

This tends to be the issue with this weekend of college football.  Games that have very little stakes end up on big-time networks like ABC or FOX or ESPN because of contracts with the conferences.  Who knows with 2020 if that is the case but I am wondering.  The Sooners have already qualified for the Big XII Championship and West Virginia is wondering what bowl game they will be invited to.  So yeah, no stakes at all.​  UPDATE: The game has been cancelled.  WVU has shut everything down until next week.

UPDATE #3: Michigan State-Penn State has been moved into this timeslot.

Rutgers at Maryland

Noon

This is a massive game with a lot of different scenarios in play.  Haha, just kidding.  There is no reason to watch this game unless it’s close.  And it might be.  I mean, Rutgers is a hell of a lot better than last season and Maryland is no pushover either.

Illinois at #14 Northwestern

Noon

Northwestern has an outside chance at the New Year’s Six.  They need to win here and hope for some help.  Illinois is…Illinois.  This may be Lovie Smith’s last game as head coach in Champaign but I have said that before and well, you know has happened.

#1 Alabama at Arkansas

Noon

TSN with a relatively weak schedule this week but don’t blame them.  The schedule itself could be considered sub-part by most standards.  Anyway, I would love to see Arkansas win here.  Just for the chaos it would bring.

Utah at #21 Colorado

Noon

Colorado finishes undefeated this season with a win here over the Utes.  That is pretty damn shocking for this Buffs team.  If it wasn’t for Tom Allen and Jamey Chadwell, Karl Dorrell would get more looks for Coach of the Year.  Anyway, it might not matter because if USC wins they probably win the Pac-12 South and continue to show the Pac-12 as the dumbest Power Five conference around.  Glad to see FOX stepped up and moved this to Noon to replace Ohio State-Michigan.  But man, a 10 am local start?  Not going to be easy for either team.

#9 Georgia at #25 Missouri

Noon

A game between two ranked teams that means almost nothing to Mizzou.  Georgia, on the other hand, needs the win to stay in the NY6 race.  A loss and they could be toast.

Minnesota at Nebraska

Noon

Um….this is football, technically.  Maybe we will get a fun football-weather game in Lincoln for this one.

Saturday Afternoon

Akron at Buffalo

2:30 PM

I wonder how much Buffalo will be favoured by in this one?  I think it will be about 40.

Navy at Army

3:00 PM

Army-Navy game, but in Michie Stadium.  And a bunch of other games on the same day.  I hate to say it but this will not feel like the normal Army-Navy Game experience that we have had for over the past decade now.

#17 North Carolina at #10 Miami

3:30 PM

This is actually a pretty big game.  Miami’s seriously slim College Football Playoff hopes will go out the window if they don’t destroy the Heels.  UNC, on the other hand, could sneak into the New Year’s Six with a win.  The Canes will guarantee themselves a spot in the NY6 with a win no matter what.

Michigan State at Penn State Oklahoma State at Baylor

3:30 PM

Could this be the worst Land Grant Trophy game ever?  I’m just going to go ahead and say yes.  UPDATE #4: This game has been moved to Noon on ABC and TSN4.

UPDATE #10: Oklahoma State-Baylor moves into this timeslot.

Houston at Memphis

3:30 PM

A couple years ago this would have been a huge game.  This year, not so much.  UPDATE #11: Oh man, 11 updates.  Anyway, this has been moved to ESPN2.

Wisconsin at #16 Iowa

3:30 PM

This looks weird.  Not Iowa being ranked since they are ranked at least once almost every season.  Wisconsin, who has had some of their season completely wiped out, not being ranked looks odd.  I think they are a good example of why the Big Ten were dumb to not start their season when everyone else was.  This would have allowed them to include weeks where make-up games could be, well, made up.  Instead, they’ve barely played.

#20 Texas at Kansas Houston at Memphis

4:00 PM 3:30 PM 3:45 PM

I would love to see Kansas pull off the upset here.  It doesn’t matter to Texas since they will probably go to the Alamo Bowl but it could matter to Tom Herman’s future.  A Kansas win may make the first instance (that I know of) of two coaches being fired after the same game.  UPDATE #2: Issues inside the Longhorns program with COVID-19 has forced this game to be cancelled.

UPDATE #7: Oklahoma State-Baylor has moved into this timeslot and it has changed from 4:00 to 3:30.

UPDATE #9: This has changed again.  Now Houston-Memphis is here and Oklahoma State-Baylor moves to ESPN.

Washington at Oregon California at Washington State

4:00 PM

Huge Pac-12 game.  The winner here goes to the Pac-12 Championship, probably against USC.  Both these teams are lucky that the conference hasn’t stepped in like the Big Ten did for Ohio State.  I assume the winner here will also be ranked going into conference championship weekend.  UPDATE #5: The Huskies don’t have enough players on their roster to play this weekend.  Now, they don’t win the Pac-12 North yet as all other Pac-12 games would have to be played as scheduled.  If not, it’s advanced trigonometry time.  The game is being replaced here by Cal-Wazzu.

UPDATE #15: Easily a new record on this blog!  Cal-Wazzu has been cancelled (two hours before kickoff!) due to massive contract tracing issues at Cal.  What a complete mess.

Tennessee at Vanderbilt

4:00 PM

One of the worst battles between these two teams ever.  Vandy is horrifically bad and Tennessee is not a whole lot better.  It’s too bad TSN1 didn’t have any other options.  I am sure the focus here will be on Sarah Fuller so if you want to watch potential history being made, this is your game.  UPDATE #13: TSN3 will now also show UT-VU.

Saturday Primetime & Late Night​

Boise State at Wyoming

6:00 PM

This game means everything to the Broncos.  Win and they are going to the Mountain West Championship.  It could be their final Mountain West Championship since Bryan Harsin has pushed for Boise to go independent since the MWC delayed the start of their season.  A Wyoming win will set up a bit more chaos at the top of the Mountain West for sure.

LSU at #6 Florida

7:00 PM

Wow, how things have changed.  Last year at this time, the Tigers were preparing for the SEC Championship.  The Gators…they were waiting to see what bowl they would be invited to.  Now it’s Florida with everything to gain as they hope to keep their CFP chances alive against Ed Orgeron’s bunch, who are playing for pride at this point.

Louisiana Tech at TCU

7:00 PM

This game was created so that TCU would have a non-conference game for the season like all their Big XII brethren.  Could be fun to watch because LaTech is a good team but there are no real stakes here.

#22 Oklahoma State at Baylor

7:00 PM

This game means very little.  Ok, I lied.  It means pretty much nothing.  UPDATE #8: This game has moved to 3:30 on ESPN2 due to the Texas-Kansas cancellation.

Auburn at Mississippi State

7:30 PM

If you had told me that Auburn and Mississippi State would be on the SEC Network for the final regular season weekend I would have thought you were joking.  But here we are.  This game means nothing but it could mean a lot when it comes to Gus Malzahn’s future as Auburn head coach.  A loss here and it might be the final blow to his Auburn tenure.

#15 USC at UCLA

7:30 PM

USC must win this game to go to the Pac-12 Championship.  And UCLA has actually started to show some improvement under Chip Kelly.  This makes for an exciting Battle for Los Angeles.  My best guess is that if the Trojans pull this out that they would be ahead of Colorado no matter what.  I am sure they will want to put everything in their hands and blow the Bruins out.

Utah State at Colorado State

9:30 PM

I’m starting to wonder if CBS Sports Network should stick with these offset starting times.  When they have a game with some significance, or an upset, or a huge performance, more people would go over to CBSSN than if it’s on at the same time as every other game in the timeslot.  Anyway, both of these teams are not good so unless something crazy happens, it’s a game you can avoid.  UPDATE #14: OK this is a bizarre one.  Most of USU’s players have refused to travel to Fort Collins because of Utah State administration’s comments on the Aggies interim head coach Frank Maile and his association with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  For this reason the game is cancelled.  The interesting part is that Utah State has already hired Blake Anderson to be their new head coach so this would have been Maile’s final game, at least as the head guy.

San Diego State at #18 BYU

10:00 PM

Honestly there doesn’t seem to be much importance in this game.  BYU’s loss to Coastal Carolina on Saturday eliminated them from the New Year’s Six (unless almost everyone loses above them).

California at Washington State Fresno State at New Mexico

10:30 PM

Pac-12 After Dark.  So despite the fact that both teams aren’t playing for anything, this could get weird.  UPDATE #6: This game has been moved to FOX at 4:00 to replace UW-Oregon.  Fresno State-New Mexico moves here.

Oregon State at Stanford

10:30 PM 10:00 PM

Another Pac-12 After Dark game.  Chances of both games being mundane affairs is almost zero.  So let’s see which game dives into chaos!  UPDATE #12: This game has been moved up to 10:00.

Some gambling fun and games

No point in having the Games of the Week section since I went through every game that could be televised above (and some that can’t be seen up here).  I have had a couple of Super Hyper Omni you know the deal type of posts lately, I don’t need more.  Let’s get to the super-sized set of Bossman’s picks shall we?

Arizona State over Arizona

Utah over Colorado (upset?)

Auburn over Mississippi State

Oklahoma over West Virginia

Baylor over Oklahoma State (upset!)

Navy over Army (slight upset)

Alabama over Arkansas

LSU over Florida (huge upset)

Miami over North Carolina

Tennessee over Vanderbilt

Texas over Kansas

Missouri over Georgia (upset!)

TCU over Louisiana Tech

Memphis over Houston

Northwestern over Illinois

Nebraska over Minnesota

Wisconsin over Iowa (is this really an upset?)

Penn State over Michigan State

Maryland over Rutgers

Boise State over Wyoming

Nevada over San Jose State

BYU over San Diego State

Colorado State over Utah State

California over Washington State

Oregon State over Stanford

USC over UCLA

Oregon over Washington

Buffalo over Akron

Hopefully this weekend turns out to be super-enjoyable.  I think we need a great end to the regular season.  Enjoy the games everyone!

Another proposal from yours truly – Week 11 College Football Recap

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

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

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

Recap

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Almost Guaranteed Shitcanning

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

Probable Shitcanning

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

Possible Shitcanning

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

Doubtful Shitcanning (although it still could happen)

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

Yes a much shorter list.  Blame COVID.

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

My Usually Awful Heisman Ballot

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

Honourable Mention

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

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

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

It’s time to see how I did on my 2019 college football predictions…hold your applause

The college football season has ended.  Grab the Kleenex, dab your eyes and blow your nose.  We are seven long months away from college football starting again.  I might actually watch a few spring games this time around only if there’s nothing else to watch.  The mock drafts will commence soon although I will not cover the Kreepy Kombine.  I don’t care what a player prefers on his pizza or what he would do if he wasn’t a college football player or whether his parents are swingers.  I would be very uncomfortable as a scout to ask this shit.  The CFL starts in late May again this year with their pre-season (May 24th to be exact).  I still don’t understand why the pre-season games aren’t all in neutral locations.  Grow the damn league for god’s sake.  Oh and the XFL starts soon.  We shall see how version 2.0 goes.  I think with the TV contracts they will be able to do what the AAF couldn’t…finish their first season.  Beyond that who knows.  If they can go two full seasons I would consider it at least a slight success.

Let’s get to the main event: my predictions and how I did.  I am assuming I did crappy but you never know until you reflect.  And if the reflection is bad, break the mirror.  Anyway, let’s go.

College Football Playoff and New Year’s Six

• My College Football Playoff Final Four was very close!
  • Clemson – Picked them #1 and they ended up #3 and undefeated.  God I’m good.  OK yes most people picked them in the CFP but still.
  • Oklahoma – I had them #2.  They were #4 so technically I am 2-for-2.  Again, this was another easy pick considering I thought no one would be close in the Big XII.
  • Alabama – I figured this was a no-brainer.  That’s what two losses will do to you as they didn’t even get into the New Year’s Six (although they weren’t too far out).
  • Michigan – Same deal as Bama had although it was less of a shoo-in with the Wolverines.  They ended up facing the Tide in the Citrus Bowl so not too bad but a little off with this pick.
• How about my New Year’s Six picks? Not as good.  Didn’t get a single bowl game fully correct.  Utah?  Should have been there but no.  Texas?  Nope.  Washington?  Nada.  Notre Dame?  Close but no cigar.  Syracuse?  Jesus Christ what was I thinking?
• I did have the Group of Five pick correct though as I had Memphis going to the Cotton Bowl.
• I had LSU, Oregon and Nebraska being just on the outside of the NY6 looking in but playing in good bowls. LSU was awesome, Oregon looks like they’re back being a Pac-12 power and I drank the Nebraska Kool-Aid.  Two out of three isn’t bad.

Heisman Trophy

• I had Trevor Lawrence and Tua Tagovailoa as my #1 and #2.  If Tua hadn’t got injured he would have finished higher.  Lawrence just didn’t have the greatest start to his season but ended strong.
• I didn’t have Joe Burrow on my list.  The only LSU player I had up there was Grant Delpit.  Major fail on my part.
• My picks were mostly bad.  I mean Sam Ehlinger at #4?  Jake Fromm at #6?  Adrian Martinez at #10?  Sweet Jesus.  I had Hurts at #5 and Fields at #8 so at least they were in my Top 10.  But no Chase Young.  Yikes.

Let’s Look at Some Bad Team Predictions

• Look, Army was supposed to be better and most thought they would be.  I will include it here but almost everyone made that goof.
• Western Kentucky was a bit of a revelation this season.  I figured they would fall to the basement again but Tyson Helton did a great job with the Hilltoppers, getting back to their high-octane offensive ways.
• Indiana was really good which is not what I said at the start of the year.  I have to apologize to the Hoosiers.  Maybe they are not just a basketball school anymore.
• I also need to apologize to P.J. Fleck.  He got the Golden Gophers to Row The Boat like he wanted them to.  I thought they would struggle just to get bowl-eligible.  Not even close there.
• North Texas was quite a bit worse than I thought they would be (I figured they would challenge for the division title).  Not good.  And they were home for the holidays.  An overall sad season for the Mean Green.
• Shawn Elliott is doing some great things at Georgia State.  Along with WKU they have to be considered the surprises of the season so I don’t feel too bad with my prediction here.
• What Billy Napier did at Louisiana this season was amazing.  He has brought the Ragin’ Cajuns back to prominence and solidified his spot as a good head coach.  I figured they would win the Sun Belt West but not by as much as they did.
• Nebraska.  Sweet Jesus they just can’t seem to get it together.  So Scott Frost isn’t quite the mastermind many thought he would be.
• Northwestern was tough to watch.  Like seriously tough to watch.  Last year they clinched the Big Ten West with like four weeks to go.  This year?  Brutal.
• I’m trying to remember why I had Troy so high up in the Sun Belt standings.  I have a feeling I didn’t think there would be a huge drop-off even though Neal Brown left for West Virginia.  I was wrong.
• Nice to see Oregon State have a decent year for the first time in what felt like forever.  One prediction I don’t feel too bad about since most had the Beavers at the bottom of the Pac-12 North.
• The Bay Area schools had way different years than I predicted.  Cal ended up being much better than my prediction and the Big Trees out at Stanford were much worse.  This is getting out of hand.  I wonder if the actual experts are this bad.
• Chris Klieman proved his mettle as a head coach as he had the Wildcats playing much better than many experts predicted.  Eight wins is no joke in the Little Apple.  At least that’s what I’m telling myself.
• Obviously that one terrible season last year was an aberration for Navy.  The Middies turned it around and quickly back into the double-digit win club.  I had them just bowl-eligible.
• SMU parlayed a hot start, and a win in the Iron Skillet game, to a primetime game on ABC and the best season in the Metroplex since the death penalty in the mid-80s.  I had them also just bowl-eligible.
• Jim Bob McElwain did wonders in Central Michigan with the Chippewas, getting them to the MAC Championship after a horrific year last season.  I didn’t think he’d turn it around that quick.
• I really have to just take my Air Force predictions every year and give them an extra win or two since I am always off with them.
• Well the Jeff Tedford shine wore off in the valley with Fresno State.  I thought he would almost bring them to another conference championship game.
• It is nice to see Hawaii do well.  Will be interesting to see how well they do with Nick Rolovich off to Wazzu.
• Don’t get me started with Syracuse and Florida State and Miami.

Let’s Look at Some Good Team Predictions

• I’ve already discussed Oklahoma and Clemson.  I also did well with my Memphis, Ohio State and Georgia predictions, even though I thought the Tigers would run the table.
• I figured Tennessee would be back in bowl season this year and I was right on the mark.
• Boise State, despite being an easy pick, was a good prediction on my part.  I will ignore the fact that almost everyone had them winning the Mountain West.
• Did not take the bait about NC State being awesome this year.  They were quite good but I still figured them third in the ACC Atlantic.
• Oregon and Utah pretty much dominating the Pac-12 this season.  Who called it?  This guy…OK you might not be able to see it but I was pointing at myself.
• Kansas only winning three games.  I use this example every year.
• I nailed the AAC East pretty much dead-on.  Only real difference was UCF and Cincinnati being switched in the top two spots.
• And of course Appalachian State being pretty close to the Group of Five spot in the New Year’s Six.  Then again, EVERYONE thought that.

Coaching Hot Seat Fun-Time Extravaganza

• How the fuck does UConn justify keeping Randy Edsall?  My guess is along with the ridiculous bonuses he gets for getting three first downs in a quarter or leading after one quarter or not shitting his pants, he has a clause that says he is paid a bajillion dollars if he is fired before his contract is up.
• From the rest of the top five, only one remains and I understand why.  Other than one awesome season like a decade ago, Ball State has been brutal in football.  I didn’t figure Mike Neu would be able to turn this around but he has.  They were almost bowl-eligible and were battling for the MAC West title up until the final two weeks.  The rest of the coaches…yeah, no surprise they are all gone.
• Bob Davie gone in New Mexico.  No surprise there since I think everyone there was getting sick of his shit, especially the players.  That only works when you win.  When you lose, being a hard-ass never works.  And Charlie Strong is also gone.  He was fired at USF for basically getting worse every season since he started there.  We will see him again in the next couple years I’m sure.
• Philip Montgomery somehow got a stay of execution at Tulsa.  I think part of this is the fact that who wants to go to coach at Tulsa?
• My Doubtful Shitcanning list, yet again, had a few guys who had pretty good to great years.  Mike Bloomgren did what I didn’t think he could do…win a game at Rice this season (they actually won three).  Gus Malzahn’s Auburn Tigers beat Alabama and almost got to the New Year’s Six.  And Lovie Smith did unreal things at a woebegone program at Illinois and put them in a bowl game this season so yes, I was very wrong with him since he defied logic and has this program headed in the right direction.
• As for the rest of that section, I am a bit surprised Matt Luke was fired since I didn’t think Ole Miss did that bad this season.  Also Brent Brennan is probably off the hot seat list after his work at San Jose State.

So again I decided to compare myself to the Stassen method of pre-season predictions.  Every single year…I don’t know why I subject myself to this but I am always curious as to how I stand compared to real experts who truly study the game and don’t do this on the side…meaning it’s their actual job.  So…using specialized computer software (it’s an app called Calculator), my score was calculated as (drum roll)…

134.

A little bit better than this year.  So where did I land among the experts?  I tied The Sporting News!  Nice!  Problem is they were 14th out of 19.  But at least I wasn’t at the bottom.  So suck it all you lesser predictors!

I am going to consider this season a quasi-success for me.  Mostly because I have low expectations for my predictions.  But since I am talking about my predictions and how good they were, you know what this means…college football is so far away now.  218 days away.  Good god.  How am I going to shirk all Saturday responsibilities now?

Super Bowl is this Sunday.  No I did not watch the Pro Bowl at all.  I don’t even know who won.  I was more immersed in the tragic Kobe Bryant story than anything else yesterday.  Anyway, I have not heard anything about changes to the broadcast info so all I can say is it is on FOX or CTV.  That’s it.

Alright what do we have to look forward to: Mock drafts.  I might do an XFL schedule.  I have the college basketball conference tournament schedule as well which is always a crapshoot when it comes to the specialty packs (although Bell and Rogers are much better now than they were a few years back with assuring games that were scheduled actually appear).  Alright have a great rest of the week folks!

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

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.

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. 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.
13. 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.
14. 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.
15. 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.
16. 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.
17. 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.
18. 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.
19. 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.
20. 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.
21. 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.
22. 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).
23. 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.
24. 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.
25. 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.
26. 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.
27. 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.
28. 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.
29. 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).
30. 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.
31. 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.
32. 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.
33. 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.
34. 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.
35. 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).
36. 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!
37. 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.
38. 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.
39. 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.
40. 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!

2019 Bowl Game Rankings and Predictions!

It’s almost Christmas.  Meaning it is bowl season!  And then college football is over.  This is sad.  Maybe this is the year I finally get ripped in the offseason.  Haha, I will believe it when I see it.

I’ve decided to stick with the College Football Broadcast Ranking System for the bowls this year.  It works well.  It separates the games that even the most casual of college football fans will watch from the ones that only the complete maniacs like myself would watch.  Let’s begin.

10 out of 10!  This is Saturday Night on ABC kind of games

Game of the week quality.  So the College Football Playoff and the best two New Year’s Six games land here.

Fiesta Bowl – Ohio State vs. Clemson (Dec. 28, 8:00, TSN3/TSN5) – Chase vs. Trevor.  Defense vs. Offense.  Which isn’t quite true since tOSU’s offense is spectacular and the Tigers’ defense is still Top 10.  But this really is the face-off that many want to see.  This should be a very close, very exciting game between two undefeated teams.  Now watch it be a blowout.  My pick: Clemson 40-33.

Peach Bowl – LSU vs. Oklahoma (Dec. 28, 4:00, TSN3/TSN5) – They should never have the semi-finals on New Year’s Eve again.  This day is perfect.  Even when the College Football Playoff expands they shouldn’t do that.  It also allows avoidance of many of the World Juniors games this year since the WJHC is in the Czech Republic (or is it called Czechia now?).  Both semi-finals are good games but this will be the lesser of the two.  Sorry Sooner fans.  My pick: LSU 44-24.

Rose Bowl – Wisconsin vs. Oregon (Jan. 1, 5:00, TSN1/TSN3/TSN4/TSN5) – I am glad this is getting quite a bit of hype.  These two teams are fun to watch for very different reasons.  And it’s the Rose Bowl…doesn’t it have to be a great game by default?  My pick: Oregon 32-24.

Cotton Bowl – Penn State vs. Memphis (Dec. 28, Noon, specialty pack) – It’s not the Rose and Sugar at the top of the New Year’s Six list this year.  This game is much more intriguing than the Sugar Bowl.  Memphis is in the NY6 for the first time and we will see the first game where they are Norvell-less.  It used to be these games were a no-win situation for the Power Five team but this is becoming less of an issue as the playoff gets older.  Also, it’s James Franklin and hearing James Franklin makes you want to run through a brick wall.  Very few guys can motivate like he can.  My pick: Penn State 42-27.

9 out of 10! This is the SEC on CBS quality…normally

Arguably the biggest game of the day but goes here because the SEC is never on ABC (at least as the home team).

Outback Bowl – Auburn vs. Minnesota (Jan. 1, 1:00, TSN2) – One team is the team that ended Bama’s chances at competing for another national championship.  The other team was very close to being this season’s Cinderella squad.  Row The Boat vs. The Gus Bus.  I am sad that this is going to be totally overshadowed by the Citrus Bowl starting at the exact same time.  Why didn’t they schedule this to start at Noon?  My pick: Minnesota 30-27.

Citrus Bowl – Alabama vs. Michigan (Jan. 1, 1:00, ABC) – This is the best non-New Year’s Six game (along with the Outback Bowl).  Not surprised the Wolverines are in this game.  But Alabama?  It is honestly a bit of a shock to the system to see the Tide in a game like this.  If they lose this game, could this be the worst season of the Saban era (other than his first in Tuscaloosa)?  My pick: Alabama 34-30.

Las Vegas Bowl – Washington vs. Boise State (Dec. 21, 7:30, ABC) – And yet again this is the best pre-Christmas bowl game.  And it is the much-ballyhooed Petersen Bowl.  Final game for ol’ Chris Petersen before he returns in a few years because he missed coaching.  I think the Huskies might keep this closer than many believe it will be as they will playing on a lot of emotion.  My pick: Boise State 20-17.

Sugar Bowl – Georgia vs. Baylor (Jan. 1, 8:45, TSN1/TSN3/TSN4/TSN5) – Normally this is the kind of game that would be the worst of the NY6 bunch.  Not so this season.  It should be a decent game and hey, it’s Baylor in a huge bowl game although I know that won’t sit well with some.  Well tough shit.  My pick: Georgia 26-16.

8 out of 10!  I’ll call this ESPN…on Saturday…or maybe Thursday night…but not always Saturday late night

Still really good games.  Must-see for college football fans at this point.

Alamo Bowl – Texas vs. Utah (Dec. 31, 7:30, specialty pack) – This could be higher but hear me out.  Texas was supposed to better than this and are limping into this bowl game.  Utah was on the precipice of going to the CFP and now aren’t even in the NY6.  So I can see one, or both, of these teams not really caring as much as they should that they are in this particular bowl game.  Also it’s the final college football game of 2019 and the time is not ideal for TV watchers.  My pick: Utah 20-13.

Holiday Bowl – Iowa vs. USC (Dec. 27, 8:00, FloSports) – First season where we can see all the bowl games…legally!  I know that FOX is trying to bolster FS1 by putting the better of their two bowl games on there but it still feels weird for this to be here.  But at least they won’t be talking as much about coaching controversies or, hopefully, players sitting out this bowl game so they can actually call the damn game.  And if it’s GUS and Joel then that’s even better.  My pick: USC 26-10.

Camping World Bowl – Iowa State vs. Notre Dame (Dec. 28, Noon, ABC) – Notre Dame probably doesn’t want to be here.  That’s too fucking bad though.  If you think this sucks, hire Charlie Weis and get back to me with how it goes.  Let’s hope the players, at least, are up for this one because the Clones definitely will be.  My pick: Iowa State 20-7.

Liberty Bowl – Navy vs. Kansas State (Dec. 31, 3:45, specialty pack) – Navy is good again and Kansas State is also good again.  I hope Chris Klieman has taught his guys how to stop the run.  My pick: Navy 46-34.

7 out of 10! This is FOX territory.  You could move this up 1 if GUS JOHNSON! is calling the game

Most college football fans should watch these games but we are getting eerily close to the equivalent of a game where Rutgers is involved (despite the fact they are in a Power Five conference).

Orange Bowl – Virginia vs. Florida (Dec. 30, 8:00, TSN3) – This might be the worst New Year’s Six game ever.  No offense to the Cavaliers but they really don’t belong here.  This is the shitty part of bowl tie-ins.  Yeah you can figure out which teams are going where (for the most part) but then we get instances like this.  Now watch the Hoos mop the floor with the Gators and prove me wrong.  My pick: Florida 27-14.

Cheez-It Bowl – Air Force vs. Washington State (Dec. 27, 10:15, TSN1/TSN5) – The team that was one loss against Boise State away from being in the New Year’s Six conversation will face off against the Fighting Mike Leachs of the Palouse.  How Troy Calhoun did not get any Coach of the Year consideration is baffling to be honest.  Again, it’s another contrast of styles game so we shall see if the run or the pass reign supreme.  My pick: Air Force 54-41.

Boca Raton Bowl – SMU vs. Florida Atlantic (Dec. 21, 3:30, ABC) – The Boca Bowl gets the ABC treatment!  Nice!  I still don’t know if Lane Kiffin will be coaching in this one but it is starting to look less and less likely as the game approaches.  This also has SMU who is back, kinda, sorta.  Being an elite Group of Five team is better than being a basement Conference USA team though, right?  My pick: SMU 29-20.

Texas Bowl – Texas A&M vs. Oklahoma State (Dec. 27, 6:45, TSN1/TSN5) – Why wasn’t Texas put here?  This was their best chance since the Aggies left the Big XII and the bowl organizers fucked it up.  Either that or one of the programs are still little bitches and won’t allow this to happen.  Anyway, Canadian Chuba Hubbard could run wild in this one.  My pick: Oklahoma State 37-32.

6 out of 10.  We will put NBC here because they have to go somewhere.

Let’s be honest, NBC has very few games during a college football season.  Like seven of them.  But one or two are REALLY big games so on average, you have to put them above some other networks right?  Plus all the Notre Dame fanboys would have a shit fit if I put NBC any lower.

Gator Bowl – Tennessee vs. Indiana (Jan. 2, 7:00, specialty pack) – This was supposed to be a different SEC team.  I can’t even remember who it was but I know the Vols all of a sudden decided they wanted to be here rather than the Music City Bowl.  I don’t know why there were just allowed to switch or that a bowl game could have allowed that but here we are.  Anyway, I am interested at how much interest there is in the bowl games between New Year’s Day and the national championship, something that is back after a short hiatus.  My pick: Indiana 37-36 (2OT).

Belk Bowl – Kentucky vs. Virginia Tech (Dec. 31, Noon, TSN3) – The final Belk Bowl.  The best bowl Twitter account ever is done, for now, with sponsoring a bowl game.  Knowing our luck there will be some weird company that steps up to sponsor this one.  Or we get a hilarious one.  Maybe Skoal wants to sponsor a bowl game.  The Skoal Bandit Bowl.  I’m smiling just thinking about it.  My pick: Kentucky 24-17.

New Orleans Bowl – UAB vs. Appalachian State (Dec. 21, 9:00, TSN2) – I don’t get this tie-in.  Really you should have a Louisiana team here no matter what.  It’s a way to get a good crowd into the stadium since having less than half a stadium full is bad: in the Superdome it is so much worse.  As much as I like what UAB is doing, I can’t see the Mountaineers taking it easy on them after barely missing the Cotton Bowl bid.  My pick: Appalachian State 44-20.

Gasparilla Bowl – UCF vs. Marshall (Dec. 23, 2:30, TSN3/TSN5) – Weekday.  Afternoon.  Before Christmas.  What do I always say about these games?  My pick: UCF 46-30.

5 out of 10. Some hot ESPN2/ESPNU/SEC Network/ACC Network action right here!

These are the networks I really love to be honest with you.  They provide a shit-ton of football on the specialty pack and at least once a week you get a great game on it.  Well a great finish at least which is what we might have to hope for with this group of games.  Also, we add the ACC Network this year!

Sun Bowl – Arizona State vs. Florida State (Dec. 31, 2:00, CBS) – Florida State barely got into a bowl game and fired their head coach.  Arizona State did about as good as everyone thought they would and Herm Edwards has done great in Tempe.  Now the question is how many will actually show up for this game.  I put the over/under at 25,000 and that’s only because the Sun Devils are there.  My pick: Arizona State 36-17.

Birmingham Bowl – Boston College vs. Cincinnati (Jan. 2, 3:00, specialty pack) – Luckily for this bowl game, it has been usually a good game in the past.  Sucks that it is played in a dump like Legion Field but it could be worse.  They could be at the Trop.  Back to the game, the Bearcats should have no problem with the Eagles who finally fired Steve “The Dude” Addazio.  About three years to late for many BC fans.   My pick: Cincinnati 31-10.

Military Bowl – North Carolina vs. Temple (Dec. 27, Noon, TSN5) – Mack Brown in a bowl game in 2019.  This tells you how crazy college football can be.  The Tar Heels will have their work cut out for them as Temple is one of the most complete Group of Five teams around.  I kind of hope it’s snowing for this one as we don’t get near enough bad weather bowl games.  My pick: Temple 28-21.

Music City Bowl – Mississippi State vs. Louisville (Dec. 30, 4:00, TSN3) – The game Tennessee should have been in.  Then they switched with Kentucky but Kentucky had already played Louisville for the Governor’s Cup so they switched with Mississippi State.  So yeah I figured it out a few sections after I was struggling to remember.  Bowl Selection Alzheimers.  My pick: Mississippi State 37-23.

4 out of 10.  FOX Sports One goes here although some could argue it should be higher.

Now that we can technically get FS1 games up here, I can’t use that as an excuse to put this in the 4 spot.  FS1 is kind of all over the place so many times, ESPN2 has much better games but mostly ESPNU never has better games.  I may have to rethink this for next season.  For now, I don’t have time so here it is!

Pinstripe Bowl – Michigan State vs. Wake Forest (Dec. 27, 3:20, TSN1/TSN5) – Again, snow here would be fun.  Wake Forest should be heavily favoured here but instead we will get everyone overrating Sparty.  My wonder is if it will be Mark Dantonio’s last stand as MSU’s head coach.  My pick: Wake Forest 47-34.

Mobile Bowl – Miami-OH vs. Louisiana (Jan. 6, 7:30, specialty pack) – Louisiana has a great run the last two seasons.  If it isn’t for App State, the Ragin’ Cajuns are the best Sun Belt team around.  Anyway, they go up against Miami-OH.  The Cradle of Coaches probably won’t have a chance in this one and, to be honest, I can see many people taking a break before the natty by skipping this one.  My pick: Louisiana 50-23.

Bahamas Bowl – Buffalo vs. Charlotte (Dec. 20, 2:00, TSN2) – This could end up being a fantastic game.  Who knows?  And I barely care because I won’t be able to watch it live.  Oh well I guess it’s nice to see Charlotte in their first bowl ever and getting to go to the Bahamas.  My pick: Buffalo 37-29.

Hawaii Bowl – BYU vs. Hawaii (Dec. 24, 8:00, specialty pack) – This is on Christmas Eve again.  Where it belongs.  This is an interesting game since most of the recruits on the islands go to, I believe, either Hawaii or BYU (and BYU even has a school in Hawaii somewhere).  These two used to be conference foes but if it was BYU’s choice they never would be again because BYU is above the Mountain West/WAC in football I guess.  My pick: BYU 26-24.

3 out of 10. CBS Sports Network or Big Ten Network type games.  The whole “it’s about quantity, not quality” rule.

BTN, for some reason, gets one really good game all year and then a bunch of Rutgers games.  CBSSN just has so many games but it’s all Group of Five so they have to be ranked this low.  And now I can watch all these games which is really great, right?  I think I need my head examined.

First Responder Bowl – Western Michigan vs. Western Kentucky (Dec. 30, 12:30, specialty pack) – Hey maybe this game will actually be played this time around.  Saying that, it would be fucking hilarious if it was cancelled again.  If that happened I could see this bowl just being jettisoned since it’s obviously bad luck.  My pick: Western Kentucky 35-30 (if it doesn’t get cancelled).

New Mexico Bowl – San Diego State vs. Central Michigan (Dec. 21, 2:00, TSN2) – Jim McElwain did a fantastic job at Central Michigan this season.  Rocky Long has been doing amazing work at SDSU for years.  Top quality coaches here.  I just…I don’t know.  It feels like a game that’s just meh.  A game that would struggle to get out of ESPN3 territory during the regular season.  Nothing special.  And to answer your question, yes, I will watch it.  My pick: San Diego State 31-7.

Independence Bowl – Louisiana Tech vs. Miami (Dec. 26, 4:00, TSN5) – First game after Christmas.  And it’s Shreveport, everyone’s least favourite bowl destination.  This harkens back to like the 80s when no one really cared about things like this.  Anyway, it’s the perfect bowl game for a team like Miami that barely made it to the postseason.  And Louisiana Tech is almost at home for this one so hopefully the crowd is good.  My pick: Louisiana Tech 21-17.

Armed Forces Bowl – Southern Miss vs. Tulane (Jan. 4, 11:30 AM, specialty pack) – I still wait for the day where Willie Fritz is picked up by a higher profile school.  What he has done at Tulane is great.  They are no longer a laughing stock and an easy out.  Jay Hopson isn’t a slouch either.  I do like the fact this starts late morning on the Saturday of Wild Card weekend.  Morning college football!!!  My pick: Tulane 40-20.

2 out of 10. This is some Pac-12 Network dreck over here.

The Pac-12 Network is now easily the worst of the conference networks.  We don’t have a Big XII Network yet so once we get that in like 2031 we may finally get the definitive ranking.  Anyway, most games on this network are pretty bad, especially for a Power Five conference.  Yes, there are games that end up being great but the schedule is atrocious.

Redbox Bowl – Illinois vs. California (Dec. 30, 4:00, FOX) – It is a nice story to see Illinois in a bowl game for the first time in a few years.  They are in an odd spot since they aren’t considered the worst of the Power Five bunch (even though they are in the conversation) but they are mostly forgotten in college football these days which is sad.  Lovie Smith has finally done wonders in Champaign.  Really though, this bowl game is between two average programs who have a good chance to be home for next year’s bowl season.  My pick: Illinois 16-12.

Camellia Bowl – FIU vs. Arkansas State (Dec. 21, 5:30, TSN2) – Former Sun Belt foes (and I use that term really loosely) face off.  Good chance this will be overshadowed by other game on this day, the first Saturday of bowl season.  My pick: Arkansas State 36-33.

Cure Bowl – Liberty vs. Georgia Southern (Dec. 21, 2:30, CBS Sports Network) – The Cure Bowl is almost always near the bottom of the bowl rankings and this year is no different.  At least they don’t have crazy competition to get viewers but the network won’t help things here.  Even Liberty being in their first bowl game ever will be shit on because people just hate Liberty or they hate the man who doesn’t understand the concept of a burner phone, Hugh Freeze.  My pick: Liberty 31-24.

Quick Lane Bowl – Eastern Michigan vs. Pittsburgh (Dec. 26, 8:00, TSN5) – MAC vs. Big Ten would have been better.  ACC vs. Big Ten would have been better.  Big Ten here would have been better, period.  Thanks to stupid bowl tie-ins they didn’t have enough teams to get down to this bowl game.  Oh well, at least it’s on in primetime.  My pick: Pittsburgh 31-17.

1 out of 10.  Or zero.  Or negative numbers  Who really gives a shit here?  I sure don’t.

I will watch these if I can.  I am a working man after all.  I am an insane college football fan and even I can only take so much.  In April I will be regretting treating these bowl games like a pile of diarrhea.

Frisco Bowl – Utah State vs. Kent State (Dec. 20, 7:30, TSN2) – I like the way this bowl is set up.  Small-ish stadium.  Football-mad state.  The actual game though?  Meh.  It’s football and it’s on opening night so I will watch but it’s not high up on my list and they are lucky to have the audience to themselves.  My pick: Kent State 39-36.

Idaho Potato Bowl – Nevada vs. Ohio (Jan. 3, 3:30, TSN2) – I always find it interesting that they make the MAC go to bowl games like this.  And the Potato Bowl is always far down both conferences’ lists of where to send teams.  Let’s be honest here; it’s Boise.  Yes the blue turf is fun but other than it turning into a skating rink or them playing in a blizzard, this game, which is after New Year’s on a weekday in the afternoon, isn’t exactly must watch..  My pick: Ohio 47-31.

Arizona Bowl – Wyoming vs. Georgia State (Dec. 31, 4:30, CBS Sports Network) – The worst bowl game of the bunch.  CBS Sports Network seems to own this spot with this bowl or the Cure Bowl.  And to top it off, this game is around dinnertime on New Year’s Eve.  Geez talk about a shitty spot for a lower-tier bowl. My pick: Wyoming 37-27.

So there you go!  The bowl schedule and rankings are done.  So now you can enjoy the games!

And hey I am posting this before bowl season begins!  Nice change from last year and it means I am on the ball (for once).

Bowls, bowls, bowls, bowls, bowls, bowls, bowls, bowls, bowls, etc. (The Bowl Game TV Schedule)

 

Look at all those bowl games.  LOOK AT THEM!  Ok I get it.  Some of these bowl games have changed and many of the sponsors have as well.  I don’t care.  It’s a good pic that shows the absurdity and awesomeness of bowl season.  The bowl season could be better and I could help out since I have tried in the past to do so.  If someone is fine with giving me a boatload of money to make bowl season even better, I’m fine with accepting said money.  All in the name of college football (and making me rich).

TSN has their bowl game schedule up…kind of!  Everyone rejoice…sort of!  Will it change?  Probably.  I mean all it says at this point is TSN…doesn’t show us which TSN station although you can see what bowl games will be on a part of the TSN network.  But at least the first draft of it is up and that is good enough for me (until I get a bit miffed that they change something for no reason whatsoever).  Anyway, here’s the fairly long bowl schedule!

Friday December 20th

Bahamas Bowl: Buffalo vs. Charlotte

2:00 PM

Again, why does this happen?  WHY?  I guess it’s a little bit better since this game isn’t starting at Noon but at 2:00 but it’s still stupid.  They need to do a better job scheduling these games.  Since I will be working that day I will inevitably miss it so hopefully one team beats the other by like 40 so I don’t feel bad missing a good game.  So stupid.  Oh well, it’s Charlotte’s first bowl game ever so we know they will be jacked for it.

Frisco Bowl: Utah State vs. Kent State

7:30 PM

The Frisco Bowl seems to be the most balanced bowl in how it is stuctured.  Decent-sized stadium but not too good.  Primetime spot.  College football-mad area.  Mountain West tie-in.  The only thing missing is replacing the MAC with either Conference USA or the Big XII.  Also it is nice to see Kent State in a bowl game for the first time in a while.

Saturday December 21st

Celebration Bowl: Alcorn State vs. North Carolina A&T

Noon

The Celebration Bowl does not start the bowl season anymore.  It’s still the biggest game of the HBCU season, though, and if you like bands you can hear a lot of the bands during the broadcast.  Usually this bowl is quite a good game so don’t skip out on this early one because you might not know anyone from either of these two teams but there is a good chance at least one player here will be drafted in a few months’ time.

New Mexico Bowl: Central Michigan vs. San Diego State

2:00 PM

It’s opening Saturday for bowl games so I will watch this.  I know I will.  This is usually a fun bowl to watch in front of a possibly half-filled stadium.  This isn’t the sexiest of matchups but the intrigue on Jim McElwain will be on full display throughout this one.

Cure Bowl: Liberty vs. Georgia Southern

2:30 PM

A normally shitty bowl is a bit more important this season.  Liberty’s first bowl ever and they play one of the better Group of Five teams in Georgia Southern, the team that made it so Appalachian State is not in the Cotton Bowl.  A lot of passing vs. a lot of rushing.  Nice contrast of styles.

Boca Raton Bowl: SMU vs. Florida Atlantic

3:30 PM

The Owls are at home at this one.  I believe Lane Kiffin is coaching this one but I am not sure.  We have two of the better G5 teams here and it’s on ABC.  This is a great national showcase for these two programs (and might be a personal showcase for Sonny Dykes).

Camellia Bowl: FIU vs. Arkansas State

5:30 PM

Well this is football so I’ll watch it.  Butch Davis still doing a good job at FIU.  Blake Anderson, for everything he has gone through, this has to be a nice reward for him and his squad.  I wonder when either of these two guys will be poached for better jobs.

Las Vegas Bowl: #19 Boise State vs. Washington

7:30 PM

The Chris Petersen Bowl!  The coach’s final stand (for now) in college football will be this game as he coaches his current team against his former team.  The Huskies seriously underperformed this season whereas the Broncos were within a pubic hair of the Cotton Bowl spot.  But this means nothing in bowl season when crazy results can happen.  But yeah I would pick the Broncos here to win big.

New Orleans Bowl: #20 Appalachian State vs. UAB

9:00 PM

App State was one bad game from getting some serious New Year’s Six consideration…again.  One of the best Group of Five teams plays UAB, who is an amazing story in their own right.  I still believe G-5 conference champs should get their shot against Power Five teams though.  That’s how you sell tickets and grab viewers.

Tuesday December 23rd

Gasparilla Bowl: UCF vs. Marshall

2:30 PM

I’m still happy this game was moved from the shithole that is Tropicana Field to Raymond James Stadium.  Even with UCF there I can’t see a sellout or anything close.  Ugh it’s on in the afternoon?  Why?  This makes no sense.

Wednesday December 24th

Hawaii Bowl: Hawaii vs. BYU

8:00 PM

Back to Christmas Eve where this game belongs.  Gives me something to watch while I do the final Christmas preparations, especially stuffing the stocking stuffers into the stockings.  And for once, pretty much all my Christmas shopping is done already!  Oh yeah!

Saturday December 26th

Independence Bowl: Louisiana Tech vs. Miami

4:00 PM

I’m wondering if Miami would have preferred if Temple had kept Manny Diaz.  Then again, there still seems to be a talent issue at The U and it’s not always that they have a lack of it.  Remember, being idiots only works when you win or are a good player.  Otherwise that shit is annoying, right Tate Martell?  Anyway, they belong in the bowl outpost known as Shreveport in my opinion.  I am still surprised that no one has contacted Skip Holtz at a better program that needs a coach.

Quick Lane Bowl: Pittsburgh vs. Eastern Michigan

8:00 PM

This is technically a bowl game.  Watch it be super exciting and one of the better games of the year.  Only the second game on the specialty pack during bowl season as TSN has FINALLY stepped up to the plate with college football this season.  Took you guys long enough.

UPDATE: This game has been moved to TSN5.

Friday December 27th

Military Bowl: North Carolina vs. Temple

Noon

Mack Brown did a fantastic job in his first season back at Chapel Hill.  Same thing with Rod Carey in Philadelphia.  This could be a surprisingly good bowl game.​

Pinstripe Bowl: Michigan State vs. Wake Forest

3:20 PM

I think the Deacs should be a huge favourite here but I am sure Sparty will be overrated going into this one.  I don’t buy it and I wonder about Mark Dantonio’s future with the Spartans.​

Texas Bowl: #25 Oklahoma State vs. Texas A&M

6:45 PM

Texas A&M should have basically a home advantage for this one despite the fact that this is still Big XII country and the Pokes will have a good turnout at this game.  This should be a sellout considering the teams involved which is something that honestly doesn’t happen for non-CFP, non-NY6 bowls before New Year’s.

Holiday Bowl: #22 USC vs. #16 Iowa

8:00 PM

Hey we actually can get this game this year!  And it’s one of the very few games that aren’t New Year’s Six games that have two ranked teams involved.  And now that Clay Helton is for sure coming back next season (and Kirk Ferentz has basically a lifetime contract), there should be no talk about the coaches right?  I assume most of the talk will be about where the media wants to put USC in next season’s pre-season rankings (don’t be surprised if it’s in the #7-#10 range).

Cheez-It Bowl: Air Force vs. Washington State

10:15 PM

The Cheez-It Bowl last year was hilariously bad.  This year is the ultimate match of contrasts.  Expect about 1,400 yards offense and take the over.

Saturday December 28th

Camping World Bowl: #15 Notre Dame vs. Iowa State

12:00 PM

Irish fans are pissed to be here.  I am sure the Irish themselves are as well.  Iowa State is always happy to make it to a bowl game even with the program doing quite well this decade.  I hope the Cyclones win by 40.

Cotton Bowl: #17 Memphis vs. #10 Penn State

12:00 PM

This should be a really good one.  Nice to see the Tigers in a NY6 bowl for the first time ever.  And look, I get all the people who are pissed off that the best Group of Five team gets into the New Year’s Six automatically but I like it.  Almost always they are good, competitive games.  Now as for automatically giving them a shot at the national championship…that’s a different story for a different day.

Peach Bowl: #4 Oklahoma vs. #1 LSU

4:00 PM

The winner vs. the runner-up, for the second year in a row in the semi-finals.  I’m talkin’ about the Heisman race as Joe Burrow beat out Jalen Hurts (who was somehow second over Chase Young which makes no sense to me but whatever) for the Heisman Trophy this year.  The Sooners missed out on three Heisman winners in a row but I am sure they would prefer a win here over the team most people are thinking will win the whole thing.  I sincerely hope this isn’t a dud because that would put a lot of pressure on the next game to carry the load.

Fiesta Bowl: #3 Clemson vs. #2 Ohio State

8:00 PM

The second of the two semi-finals should be a good one and, I believe, it’s the first time two undefeated teams have faced each other in the semi-finals.  So it should be, in theory, a good game.  Both teams are seriously deep on both sides of the ball and everyone shouldn’t sleep on Clemson since they are still the reigning, defending, undisputed college football champion until they get beaten.

Monday December 30th

First Responder Bowl: Western Kentucky vs. Western Michigan

12:30 PM

I wonder if this First Responder Bowl will be played this time.  If you remember last year’s edition, weather forced the cancellation of the game.  To me that sucks since many people spend a lot of money and time going to these games and for it to be outright cancelled is a huge slap in the face to the programs involved (which were Boston College and Boise State).  I would kind of laugh if it happened again though.

Redbox Bowl: California vs. Illinois

4:00 PM

Lovie Smith in a bowl game.  If you had told me that four months ago I would have laughed and/or wondered if you were drunk.

Music City Bowl: Mississippi State vs. Louisville

4:00 PM

Scott Satterfield did a great job at Louisville bringing the Cardinals back from the Petrino mess.  Mississippi State kind of did the opposite and were worse than many (including myself) thought.  They needed the craziest of mistakes in the Egg Bowl just to go bowling.  Now watch the Bulldogs boatrace the Cards.

Orange Bowl: #9 Florida vs. #24 Virginia

8:00 PM

Ugh.  OK I get that there are tie-ins but seriously?  People are jumping all over Memphis being in the New Year’s Six but this is much more egregious.  Nothing against the Hoos but they don’t belong here.  There are other teams that could have, and should have been selected to play here.  Like say….Utah.  Part of the evolution of college football should be about making these games make sense in terms of scheduling and that tie-ins don’t become the be-all-end-all here yet in lesser bowls they are sometimes fully ignored.  Hopefully when they do expand (which they will) the College Football Playoff, they look at this issue as well because it is a problem.

Tuesday December 31st

Belk Bowl: Virginia Tech vs. Kentucky

Noon

The final Belk Bowl will be upon us.  Belk ends its sponsorship with this one and it was supposed to be Tennessee but I explained what happened in the final confirmed bowls post as to what happened (basically it was that the Vols acted like whiny little bitches and got their way).  I will miss the Belk Bowl Twitter account.  So fun and entertaining.

UPDATE #2: The Belk Bowl has been moved from TSN1 to TSN2.  It is still on ABC as well.

Sun Bowl: Florida State vs. Arizona State

2:00 PM

Look, even when ASU played the last time here the place was barely over half full.  What will it take for the Sun Bowl to get a Big XII team in here instead of an ACC team which absolutely makes no sense.  Either that or take it off CBS.  That will never happen so revert to my first point.

Liberty Bowl: #23 Navy vs. Kansas State

3:45 PM

Kansas State always seems to end up at bowls like this.  They never seem to get into like the Alamo Bowl or some other bowl that the Big XII has ties with.  They will have headaches with the most un-Big XII team there is (arguably) so hopefully they have learned how to stop the run or this could get ugly real fast.

UPDATE #3: Reader Troy’s worst fear has come to fruition (or at least the worst fear from this post) as TSN is not showing the Liberty Bowl.  Why?  Because showing the Tetris World Championship is more important.  I shit you not.

Arizona Bowl: Wyoming vs. Georgia State

4:30 PM

I mean guess it’s in its own time slot and not up against a CFP game.  So that’s a good thing.  But this is not must-see, especially being on New Year’s Eve.

Alamo Bowl: #11 Utah vs. Texas

7:30 PM

Two teams who probably really do not want to be in this bowl game and for very different reasons.  The Utes thought they’d still be in the NY6 but have been “relegated” to this game.  The Longhorns were supposed to be much better and have an outside shot at the NY6 and weren’t even close.  It also doesn’t help it won’t finish until 11 on New Year’s Eve night which, unless it’s a close game, will drive a ton of fans away.

Wednesday January 1st

Outback Bowl: #18 Minnesota vs. #12 Auburn

1:00 PM

This will be totally overshadowed by the other bowl game on at that same time.  Too bad for the Golden Gophers who had a great season.

UPDATE #4: This game is now on TSNs 1, 3 and 4 which starts the tripleheader on TSN with the Rose and Sugar.

Citrus Bowl: #14 Michigan vs. #13 Alabama

1:00 PM

This is the game with the two highest ranked teams not in the NY6 or CFP and not named Utah or Auburn.  And it will get the most attention to those games by a country mile.  Two teams who everyone thought would be in the College Football Playoff this season are here in Orlando.  I wonder if Bama gets pissed off and runs the Wolverines out of the building or if they really don’t show up acting like they don’t really care because it’s beneath them.  Both would be entertaining to be honest with you.

Rose Bowl: #6 Oregon vs. #8 Wisconsin

5:00 PM

Cue the Pac-12 disrespect.  We will get it in spades during this game.  Which sucks for the conference but they really do put it on themselves.  I get that the nine-game schedule is a good idea but they don’t have to do it.  And even with all the money pumped into some of these programs, they lose recruits by the fistful to teams east of them.  But the media doesn’t help.  Oregon could win this by 60 and still would be no higher than like #9 in next year’s preseason rankings.

Sugar Bowl: #5 Georgia vs. #7 Baylor

8:45 PM

Again I will be super exhausted going into work the day after but I don’t care.  This should be a really fun game that will end after midnight between two teams who had their destiny in their own hands and blew it back on conference championship weekend.

Thursday January 2nd

Birmingham Bowl: Boston College vs. #21 Cincinnati

3:00 PM

Thankfully the Birmingham Bowl always delivers since Legion Field is a shithole although I think they have done some work on it to make it better.  We are back to having lower-tier bowls after all the big bowls.  I like it.  Saying that, it’s on at 3 in the fucking afternoon so I guess I won’t be watching most of it.

Gator Bowl: Indiana vs. Tennessee

7:00 PM

Two teams that are better than many thought they would be.  And the Vols are here only because, as I said above, they whined and complained to be changed to here rather than the Music City Bowl.

Friday January 3rd

Idaho Potato Bowl: Ohio vs. Nevada

3:30 PM

Another game on during a weekday when I work in the afternoon.  Fuck.  Oh well, there’s only so much ESPN can do with these games.  Anyway, if I should be able to catch the second half and it should be hilarious because cold-weather bowl games are always fun to watch.

UPDATE #5: This has been moved from TSN2 to TSN1 and TSN3.  Either way, it’s in the afternoon on a weekday after New Year’s.  Why couldn’t have this been on at night again?

Saturday January 4th

Armed Forces Bowl: Southern Miss vs. Tulane

11:30 AM

Morning football!  This is to make sure this is fully done before even the NFL playoff pre-game show starts.  Smart move there.  Saying that I now wonder if it’s the ESPN/ABC game that this runs into.

Monday January 6th

Dollar General Bowl: Louisiana vs. Miami-OH

7:30 PM

One quite good Group of Five team and one average Group of Five team.  By this point I might be worn out but I will watch because this is when we start to realize the end is near.

Monday January 13th

College Football Playoff National Championship

8:00 PM

We’ve had some good and some not-so-good championship games.  Let’s hope this is the former.

The breakdown looks like so for us Canadians:

• TSN – 23 bowl games (with 1 simulcast from ABC)
• ABC – 6 bowl games
• CBS Sports Network – 2 bowl games
• FOX – 1 bowl game
• CBS – 1 bowl game
• FloSports – 1 bowl game
• specialty pack – 8 bowl games

23 games on TSN?  More than half.  That’s nice.  Now the schedule isn’t truly finalized after December 28th so that might change.  My thought is that we won’t get less games on TSN but that the channels I have chosen might not be the right ones.  I will make sure to update this when there are updates to be had so always check the post out for the latest.

Alright I have a lot of posts to do with my rankings and the NFL schedule and I am sure a few others.  So gear up for more Bossman’s Blog this week.  Have a great week everyone!

I have a proposal – Week 11 College Football Recap

You probably know this already but Chad Morris has been fired as head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks.  No surprise there.  Arkansas has been awful this season.  No denying that.  While pretty much every other team not named Vanderbilt is improving in the SEC, the Razorbacks are getting worse somehow.  Chad Morris was supposed to be the savior (somewhat) for this program and at least get it back to playing in bowl games every season if not actually competing for the SEC West title.  But in what may be the worst coaching job in the state since John L. Smith was brought in for a short (and disastrous) period of time, nothing went right in Fayetteville (and sometimes Little Rock).  Their shellacking at the hands of Western Kentucky on Saturday was the straw that broke the camel’s back.  Not saying Morris would have been back next year since he probably wouldn’t have been but there has to be a huge shot to the ego to be fired during a season.  Basically the school is saying you aren’t even good enough to coach this already shitty team for the rest of the season.  You are so bad that we have to replace you now.

Earlier this season, Rutgers finally shitcanned Chris Ash.  It was about a season or so too late but at least they finally did it.  So I have a proposal here that I think may have been said before but hear me out.  As much as people say there are too many bowl games, people obviously watch them since they usually get more viewers than anything else on at that time, other than the NFL or World Juniors.  So why not add another postseason game?  Here’s what I think: have the two worst Power Five teams face off to figure out the bottom team of the year.  Arkansas vs. Rutgers!  Who says no?  And play it in a spot where there is a good chance of horrible weather like Montana.  Someone will broadcast it for sure.  And I will watch it.  Let’s make it happen!

Alright enough of Relegation Bowl 2019.  On to the recap of what was an amazingly crazy week of college football.  I can honestly say it was one of the most enjoyable weeks of college football this year.  My only hope is that the last few weeks of the regular season are just as good (if not better).

Recap

• Minnesota had a nice win over Penn State in chilly conditions in Minneapolis in one of two battles of undefeated teams.  Row The Boat, indeed.  It was a historic victory for a program not known for playing big-time college football.  This means that the Golden Gophers’ hopes for the College Football Playoff are still alive.  And with Iowa, Northwestern and Wisconsin left on their sked, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that the Fighting Flecks are in the Top 4 come conference championship weekend.  As for PSU, they aren’t out of things yet but they have to win out and get a LOT of help.
• Clemson clinched the ACC Atlantic with a relatively easy win over NC State in primetime.  It was actually a close game for all of like a minute and then the Tigers were off to the races in a horribly boring affair.  It was weird to see the primetime sked be so much worse than the earlier two timeslots but there we had it.  If you needed to get anything done on Saturday, that was probably your chance.
• A very slow start for Georgia turned into a bit of a rout when they scored 27 unanswered on Missouri to pick up the win.  They still have two more big games against Auburn and Texas A&M coming up that could put other teams back in the SEC East race.  The Dawgs would have to lose both though and I honestly can’t see that happening.
• Oh yeah there was a kind of big matchup down in Tuscaloosa.  Talk about an instant classic.  Two of the best coaches in the game.  Two of the best quarterbacks (although Tua was obviously in pain late in the game).  Two of the best offenses and defenses in the game.  And it was a great game.  LSU was way up by halftime but there was always that feeling that Alabama could come back.  And come back they did.  They made a game out of it with Tua Tagovailoa’s gutsy play.  But the Tigers were too much and Joe Burrow may have clinched the Heisman with his performance.  Yes it wasn’t under the lights but it was still an amazing game that will be remembered for a long time and may, dare I say it, knock Bama out of the College Football Playoff.
• In Big XII news, Baylor BARELY beat TCU.  It was looking for a while there that the Horned Frogs had the Bears’ number.  The Bears needed a FG late and then some overtime heroics to win this one.  So I just assume the Bears fans’ blood pressure is through the roof for most of this one and will continue to be until they lose (if they lose).
• Illinois was down 28-3 to Michigan State and all the hope for Illini fans seemed to be draining.  Then they started the biggest comeback in program history, about to tie up the game after a touchdown aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand they miss the extra point.  Oh no.  But they persevered and scored late again to pick up the massive win over the Spartans and become bowl-eligible for the first time in five long years.  Amazing how keeping Lovie Smith (and his glorious beard) on for another year (after really not deserving another year) has led to hope inside this program.
• Appalachian State ended up with what was not really an upset as they beat South Carolina in a close one.  Can you imagine what would be going on right now if App State hadn’t looked like shit against Georgia Southern?  You would have been seeing the Mountaineers as a good possibility as the first ever Sun Belt team to get to the New Year’s Six.  Now?  They need some help.
• Could the Oklahoma freakin’ Sooners somehow get back into the CFP race?   They sure could.  I mean their game against Iowa State was pretty tough to watch and they struggled at times but they won and in the end that’s what matters…kind of.  They are just lucky that ISU went to the Mack Brown School of Two Point Conversion Plays.  They need to figure out that defense though as they can’t play like that against Baylor this Saturday or otherwise it will be lights out.  Then again, Baylor struggled to score against TCU so…who knows.
• Your 2019 Ohio State Buckeyes are a God damned juggernaut.  They mopped the floor with Maryland dropping SEVENTY-THREE POINTS on them.  Their path to the Big Ten Championship is now very simple.  Don’t lose to Penn State and they will basically win the Big Ten East and head to Indianapolis.
• So what can we make of the Tennessee Volunteers this season?  They looked OK, I guess, against Kentucky and were able to eek out a win.  They’ve been all over the place this season with some great games and truly awful ones.  Amazingly enough, through all this, the Vols are one win away from being bowl-eligible and maybe, just maybe, they are back to building something good in Knoxville.
• UCF lost to Tulsa.  No New Year’s Six for you!
• There was one more game with two ranked teams going at it and it was a close one as well.  Iowa and Wisconsin played some classic Big Ten West football against each other and very few watched it because it was on at the same time as LSU-Alabama.  Couldn’t this have been a night game?  Anyway, the Hawkeyes missed on the two-point conversion late and Paul Chryst’s Badgers survived and now remain the only real challenger to Minnesota in the division.
• Wow Boise State is making it very difficult to give them the New Year’s Six spot.  Or is it that Boise State is making it tough to keep them out of the New Year’s Six spot?  Probably a bit of both.  They probably should have lost that game against Wyoming but somehow, someway, pulled out the win in overtime.  They are still right in the thick of the hunt for the Group of Five spot and it would not surprise me to see them get it if they can blow through the rest of their schedule.
• Oh Kansas State.  It’s like they couldn’t handle the rarified air of the Top 25.  I get that it’s been a struggle since 109-year-old Bill Snyder left the program but hopefully Chris Klieman has them back to where they had been during the Snyder era.  And Texas is back……in the Top 25 (I think).
• Florida beat Vanderbilt.  In other news, sometimes we get snow in the winter.
• Wake Forest had a ton of trouble with the Bud Foster Hokie defense and now will be out of the Top 25 (I think).  So who in the hell is going to go to the Orange Bowl out of the ACC?  It’s going to be an unranked Virginia I think.  Sad.  I think it’s about time to cut back a bit on the bowl tie-ins since that is ridiculous.
• Finally, SMU put up almost 60 points on East Carolina.  Unfortunately, East Carolina put up a bit more than 50 on the Mustangs.  Not good for a team that is hoping for a wing and a prayer and a chance to somehow get to the AAC Championship.

We are now getting into the real important part of the season.  OK not as important as American Thanksgiving Footballgasm time but still important.  This past weekend, though, led to some big changes in the polls.  That’s the way these things go in November.  Here’s my Top 25:

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

Something has happened at the top and more is to come.  Unless something weird happens, both LSU and Georgia won’t get to the CFP.  LSU is almost a shoo-in at this point unless they don’t just shit the bed but fill the bedroom with diarrhea.  Clemson wins out and they are essentially a lock.  Ohio State is the same.  I still think Ohio State blows it against Michigan though.  I am going to continue to drink the Kool-Aid and say Michigan will finally break the streak this season.  The most important thing here though?  Indiana is in the Top 25.  Every year it seems there has to be a basketball school in the Top 25.  Last year it was Kentucky.  The few years before that was Duke.  Lately, that is the case.  I would love to see Indiana win out and get in the conversation for the College Football Playoff because I like the discomfort of a team like that being in the mix.  The media, as much as they they say otherwise, do not want these non-traditional football powers in these big games.  Except for the ones who love controversy like it’s crack.

So this post is a day late so I won’t hype the Monday Night Football game (not that I ever hype it).  But last night’s game was great.  One of the best MNF games in a long time.  And now there are no undefeated teams.  The ’72 Dolphins can pop that champagne.

We got some MACtion tonight!  Eastern Michigan and Akron tussle starting at 6:00 on the specialty pack and Western Michigan faces off against Ohio starting at 6:30.  The games aren’t early because of the CFP Rankings Show.  It’s because the weather is supposed to be bad so they are starting the games an hour or so earlier than normal.  It is supposed to frigid in Ohio tonight so don’t expect to see packed stands there.  Then tomorrow night is another set of MACtion games both on the specialty pack: Northern Illinois-Toledo and Bowling Green-Miami-OH.

Tomorrow we got some bowl projections (which aren’t early anymore).  Thursday it’s another weekend-plus of college football and its TV schedule.  Finally, the NFL gets the sked treatment on Friday.  Enjoy your week (and the games) everyone!

 

The American Conference does it again – Week 10 College Football Recap

The Memphis Tigers outlasted SMU this past weekend in a 54-48 thriller.  This game was a ton of fun to watch and it shows again that the American Conference might be the most exciting conference in college football.  The SEC might be the best.  The Big XII has the best offenses/worst defenses and the ACC is completely chaotic (at least in one division).  But the AAC always brings it, even if it’s just their signature games.  The War on I-4 two years ago was the gold standard and there have been plenty of other examples.  Now with SMU and Appalachian State falling from the realms of the undefeated (more on that below), the Group of Five is getting close to full chaos mode.  Quite a few teams still with legitimate shots at the New Year’s Six spot open to the G-5 schools.  At this point, however, you might have to say that Memphis is the favourite and if they win out they are definitely in.  But there’s still a month of football yet to play so don’t want them to count their chickens before they hatch or some other cliche that some other media member might come up with.

Other recap points!

• Speaking of beatdowns, how about the one that Michigan laid on Maryland?  I mean it’s just Maryland but still, the Wolverines have looked dominant since starting their (failed) comeback against Penn State.  Look don’t forget about this team.  They could cause some serious damage in the College Football Playoff race.  Until they beat Ohio State, though, Jim Harbaugh will still on be on an (undeserved) hot seat in Ann Arbor.  Oh and remember when Maryland was ranked?  Yeah, good times.
• It ended up being a really good World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.  As an aside, I get they don’t want to promote drinking for college students but let’s be honest here: half the people there were probably drunk so what does it really matter at this point?  Just be honest with the fans.  Anyway, the Gators couldn’t seem to stop the Bulldogs when it counted which has to lay at the feet of Todd Grantham.  But the lasting image I will have will be Dan Mullen, not yelling at Grantham, but losing his shit on most of the offensive coaching staff for burning a timeout early in the fourth quarter.  It wasn’t quite Muschamp-ian but still, it made for good TV.
• The Pac-12 ain’t dead yet!  Washington did what Washington does and blew an early lead to Utah.  The Utes looked dominant after the Huskies took the early lead.  Then they had to wait for the Oregon-USC game to see if they held their destiny in their hands or if the Trojans, of all teams, would sit in the catbird seat of the Pac-12 South.  Well it didn’t take too long to see that the Ducks were easily the better team.  They blew USC out of the water and probably ended the Clay Helton era in one fell swoop.  We are going headlong into a Pac-12 Championship with 11-1 Oregon and 11-1 Utah and the winner could make things very difficult for the College Football Playoff Committee.
• Notre Dame kept rolling along…ok rolling is the wrong word.  They are doing terrible somersaults forward.  They struggled all day with Bud Foster’s Virginia Tech defense.  Not saying they looked like they did last week against Michigan but the Irish sure didn’t look like a Top 25 team, let alone a contender for the New Year’s Six.  This won’t be Notre Dame’s last tough game as they have Duke, Navy, Boston College and Stanford to finish their season.  Win every game, even if they’re close, and they deserve a NY6 spot.
• Let’s go to the Big Ten and one of the big stories there…the Illinois Fighting Illini.  Yes, seriously.  OK they only beat Rutgers.  Not a big deal per se.  But Illinois is now one win away from being bowl-eligible.  No one thought this would be the case.  Maybe it was smart to give Lovie Smith that extension.  This may be one of the most perplexingly good teams of the year.  I always enjoy down on their luck teams turning it around to have one relatively special season, even if they head back to the basement shortly afterwards.
• Oh Florida State?  We thought two years ago was the bottom.  Then it was last year that was the bottom and things were going to improve.  Now, after their loss to Miami where they looked terrible, they have finally hit a new bottom (at least that’s what Noles fans hope).  And to top it off, Willie Taggart was just fired today.  This program needs someone to save it.  Is there someone willing to take this on knowing the expectations on the program?  It is an absolute mess in Tallahassee.
• OK I will admit it: I drank the Nebraska hype Kool-aid.  I truly thought Scott Frost had things going in Lincoln after the finish to their 2018 season.  They also had Adrian Martinez who looked like a bona fide Heisman candidate.  Well that’s all gone to shit now.  The Huskers loss to Purdue (who is also way worse than many thought they would be) means they have to win two of their final three to go bowling.  They have Wisconsin, Maryland and Iowa coming up.  Good luck, Frosty.
• Pitt beat Georgia Tech.  Not really a big deal to beat the Yellow Jackets.  But this means that Pitt might win the ACC Coastal again.  Can we stomach that?
• Let’s give some hype to a guy who should have some more Heisman chatter: Chuba Hubbard of Oklahoma State.  First of all, he’s Canadian!  It would be awesome to have a Canadian win the Heisman.  But he is carrying the Pokes on his shoulders this season.  And he is arguably the best running back not named Jonathan Taylor and Hubbard had been in the Big Ten, he would be on many Heisman lists.  OSU is going to be going bowling and maybe in the Top 25, mostly due to this guy which is shocking considering that the Cowboys are known for their high-flying passing game.
• I normally don’t talk about FCS games in this post but did you see the end of the Dartmouth-Harvard game?  A crazy Hail Mary winner by the Big Green to beat the Crimson 9-6.  This also keeps Dartmouth undefeated and sets up the unusual next week.  Dartmouth plays Princeton, in Yankee Stadium, and this game will be on at 3:30 on ESPNU.  Yes, an Ivy League game in November is getting a national broadcast spot.  That’s pretty awesome.
• Air Force has been quite the team this season.  There is a good chance they will win at least ten games and still won’t be in the Mountain West Championship or in the NY6 chatter.  They held on to beat Army in a Commander’s-In-Chief Trophy game.  What followed was hilarious.  Army football’s Twitter account actually blocked Air Force’s football account.  See, even the service academies get into this petty rivalry stuff and I love it.
• UCF beat Houston (also known from here on in as Redshirt U) and it honestly looked pretty easy.  What I find odd is that people still believe the Knights could make the New Year’s Six.  For that to happen, the amount of chaos that would have to occur would be monumental.  I mean I would love watching it but still, the chances are VERY slim.
• Don’t forget about San Diego State in the Group of Five race.  They were idle this past week but with only one loss they are right in the thick of things.  They have almost certainly clinched the Mountain West West Division and if they can beat Boise State for the conference championship, they have the resume to be selected.
• Baylor played like a team who was barely an average Big XII game for most of Saturday.  Yes they beat West Virginia and yes it means they stay undefeated but three point victories over the Mountaineers don’t exactly scream College Football Playoff contender.  They get a possible speed bump game in Fort Worth against TCU this Saturday.  Win that and they have one of the biggest games of the year against Oklahoma (and I wonder if Gameday would travel to Waco for this one).
• Hey guess who holds their own destiny in the Pac-12 North?  You guessed it, the Oregon State Beavers.  I know, right?  They put a pink bill (50-burger) up on Arizona this past weekend and now sit at 3-2 in the conference.  If they win out, they go to the Pac-12 Championship.  How ridiculous would that be?  I mean they would have to beat Oregon in the Civil War so chances of it happening are almost none but it would be fun to even see them in that position to do so.
• Kansas State won pretty easily over Kansas.  Chris Klieman has done a masterful job in the Little Apple and they are just on the outside of the Big XII title game race.  Don’t be surprised if they can somehow sneak in.  But let’s give Les Miles some kudos here for what he has done in Lawrence.  The Jayhawks have hope now going forward.  They may not be the doormat of the Big XII for much longer and Miles has a lot to do with that.
• Going back to the service academies, it looks like Navy is having the season Army was supposed to have and vice versa.  Ken Niumatalolo doing a great job with the Midshipmen in a bounce back year after last season’s horrible results.  They have to be the favourite in the Army-Navy game now and might win it for the first time in a few years.

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

#1	LSU
#2	Ohio State
#3	Alabama
#4	Georgia
#5	Utah
#6	Oregon
#7	Clemson
#8	Penn State
#9	Baylor
#10	Auburn
#11	Michigan
#12	Oklahoma
#13	Florida
#14	Minnesota
#15	Notre Dame
#16	Iowa
#17	Cincinnati
#18	Wisconsin
#19	Memphis
#20	Wake Forest
#21	Boise State
#22	Kansas State
#23	SMU
#24	Texas
#25	Indiana

Yes I have Alabama at #3 behind LSU and Ohio State.  If the Tide win this Saturday then they are going to be #1 come this time next week, no ifs, ands or buts.  Clemson I have dropped to #7.  Don’t worry Tigers fans: win out and there’s no way you’re out of the CFP.  Penn State is at #8 and still could end up left out of the Big Ten Championship.  Florida and SMU didn’t fall far considering who they lost to.  Also, watch out for Indiana.  They are severely underrated and could sneak it’s way up the chain and be looking at a New Year’s Six spot.  Sounds crazy but it is still technically possible.

OK it’s that time of year folks!  MACtion Tuesdays.  And MACtion Wednesdays!  Tomorrow night will see Kent State face Toledo and the top of the MAC West, Ball State, travelling to Western Michigan to take on the Broncos.  KSU-Toledo is on CBSSN and BSU-WMU goes to the specialty pack.  Wednesday night’s game is also on the specialty pack and is the 150th Anniversary of college football so expect a lot of history and nostalgia to be discussed during the game.  Miami-OH plays Ohio if you want to know the combatants.

Also the first CFP Rankings of the season will be revealed tomorrow night between the two NCAA basketball games on TSN1.  It might be delayed depending on how long the first college basketball game goes.  Oh yeah college basketball starts up again as well.  So there’s that.  Tomorrow I will have a crazy bowl projections post.  Do not take it seriously.  Have a great week everyone!