2024 NCAA Basketball Conference Tournament TV Schedule

Posted on March 6, 2024 by guelphbossman

Holy shit that came up fast. It felt like only a week ago we were a ways away from conference tournament time. Then BOOM! Here we are. Even with a leap year, March crept up on me.

This is my eighth time doing this. This will be some of the last games of any sport shown on the Pac-12 Network so indulge yourself. Or don’t. Not like it’s a great conference network or anything. Alright, let us begin.

March 8th	OVC Semi-Final #1	8:00
March 8th	OVC Semi-Final #2	10:30
March 9th	MVC Semi-Final #1	3:30
March 9th	MVC Semi-Final #2	6:00
March 9th	OVC Championship	8:00
March 9th	WCC Quarter-Final #1	10:00
March 10th	WCC Quarter-Final #2	12:30 AM
March 10th	Big South Championship	Noon
March 10th	MVC Championship	2:00
March 10th	A-Sun Championship	2:00
March 10th	Patriot League Semi-Final #1	2:00
March 10th	SoCon Semi-Final #1	4:00
March 10th	Patriot League Semi-Final #2	4:00
March 10th	SoCon Semi-Final #2	6:30
March 11th	CAA Semi-Final #1	6:00
March 11th	Horizon Semi-Final #1	7:00
March 11th	SoCon Championship	7:00
March 11th	Sun Belt Championship	7:00
March 11th	CAA Semi-Final #2	8:30
March 11th	WCC Semi-Final #1	9:00
March 11th	Horizon Semi-Final #2	9:30
March 11th	WCC Semi-Final #2	11:30
March 12th	ACC First Round #1	2:00
March 12th	ACC First Round #2	4:30
March 12th	America East Semi-Final #1	5:00
March 12th	Southland Semi-Final #1	6:30
March 12th	ACC First Round #3	7:00
March 12th	NEC Championship	7:00
March 12th	CAA Championship	7:00
March 12th	Horizon Championship	7:00
March 12th	Big Sky Semi-Final #1	8:30
March 12th	WCC Championship	9:00
March 12th	Summit Championship	9:30
March 12th	Big Sky Semi-Final #2	11:00
March 13th	ACC Second Round #1	Noon
March 13th	Big XII Second Round #1	12:30
March 13th	ACC Second Round #2	2:30
March 13th	Pac-12 First Round #1	3:00
March 13th	Southland Championship	5:00
March 13th	Pac-12 First Round #2	5:30
March 13th	ACC Second Round #3	7:00
March 13th	SEC First Round #1	7:00
March 13th	Patriot Championship	7:00
March 13th	Pac-12 First Round #3	9:00
March 13th	SEC First Round #2	9:30
March 13th	ACC Second Round #4	9:30
March 13th	Big XII Second Round #4	9:30
March 13th	Big Sky Championship	11:30
March 13th	Pac-12 First Round #4	11:30
March 14th	ACC Quarter-Final #1	Noon
March 14th	Big Ten Second Round #1	Noon
March 14th	Big XII Quarter-Final #1	12:30
March 14th	American Second Round #1	12:30
March 14th	SEC Second Round #1	1:00
March 14th	ACC Quarter-Final #2	2:30
March 14th	Big Ten Second Round #2	2:30
March 14th	Big XII Quarter-Final #2	3:00
March 14th	American Second Round #2	3:00
March 14th	MWC Quarter-Final #1	3:00
March 14th	Pac-12 Quarter-Final #1	3:00
March 14th	SEC Second Round #2	3:30
March 14th	MWC Quarter-Final #2	5:30
March 14th	Pac-12 Quarter-Final #2	5:30
March 14th	Big Ten Second Round #3	6:30
March 14th	ACC Quarter-Final #3	7:00
March 14th	Big XII Quarter-Final #3	7:00
March 14th	American Second Round #3	7:00
March 14th	SEC Second Round #3	7:00
March 14th	Big Ten Second Round #4	9:00
March 14th	MWC Quarter-Final #3	9:00
March 14th	Pac-12 Quarter-Final #3	9:00
March 14th	ACC Quarter-Final #4	9:30
March 14th	Big XII Quarter-Final #4	9:30
March 14th	American Second Round #4	9:30
March 14th	SEC Second Round #4	9:30
March 14th	MWC Quarter-Final #4	11:30
March 15th	Big Ten Quarter-Final #1	Noon
March 15th	C-USA Semi-Final #1	12:30
March 15th	American Quarter-Final #1	1:00
March 15th	SEC Quarter-Final #1	1:00
March 15th	Big Ten Quarter-Final #2	2:30
March 15th	American Quarter-Final #2	3:00
March 15th	C-USA Semi-Final #2	3:00
March 15th	SEC Quarter-Final #2	3:30
March 15th	MAC Semi-Final #1	5:00
March 15th	Big East Semi-Final #1	5:30
March 15th	MAAC Semi-Final #1	6:00
March 15th	Big Ten Quarter-Final #3	6:30
March 15th	ACC Semi-Final #1	7:00
March 15th	Big XII Semi-Final #1	7:00
March 15th	American Quarter-Final #3	7:00
March 15th	SEC Quarter-Final #3	7:00
March 15th	MAC Semi-Final #2	7:30
March 15th	Pac-12 Semi-Final #1	8:00
March 15th	MAAC Semi-Final #2	8:30
March 15th	American Quarter-Final #4	9:00
March 15th	Big Ten Quarter-Final #4	9:00
March 15th	ACC Semi-Final #2	9:30
March 15th	Big XII Semi-Final #2	9:30
March 15th	SEC Quarter-Final #4	9:30
March 15th	MWC Semi-Final #1	9:30
March 15th	WAC Semi-Final #2	11:30
March 15th	Big West Semi-Final #2	11:30
March 16th	MWC Semi-Final #2	Midnight
March 16th	America East Championship	11:00 AM
March 16th	Ivy League Semi-Final #1	11:00 AM
March 16th	A-10 Semi-Final #1	1:00
March 16th	Big Ten Semi-Final #1	1:00
March 16th	SEC Semi-Final #1	1:00
March 16th	MEAC Championship	1:00
March 16th	American Semi-Final #1	3:00
March 16th	SEC Semi-Final #2	3:00
March 16th	A-10 Semi-Final #2	3:30
March 16th	Big Ten Semi-Final #2	3:30
March 16th	American Semi-Final #2	5:00
March 16th	SWAC Championship	5:30
March 16th	MWC Championship	6:00
March 16th	Big XII Championship	6:00
March 16th	Big East Championship	6:30
March 16th	MAAC Championship	7:30
March 16th	MAC Championship	7:30
March 16th	ACC Championship	8:30
March 16th	C-USA Championship	8:30
March 16th	Pac-12 Championship	9:00
March 16th	Big West Championship	9:30
March 16th	WAC Championship	11:30
March 17th	Ivy League Championship	Noon
March 17th	A-10 Championship	1:00
March 17th	SEC Championship	1:00
March 17th	American Championship	3:15
March 17th	Big Ten Championship	3:30
March 17th	Selection Sunday	6:00

Some Greg Gumbel-ish notes

Hey what happened to the Selection Sunday show being on TBS every other year? They tried it once, realized it was one of the dumbest ideas in recent college basketball broadcasting history and turfed it. Greg Gumbel (and his Selection Sunday pals) belong on CBS at 6:00 after the Big Ten Championship. Period.
There are still so many conference tournaments in the New York City and Las Vegas areas. I find it hilarious that some of these conferences, despite not even having NYC or Vegas in their conference footprint, continue to put the tournaments there and then wonder why they aren’t selling out games. Mindblowing.
So it looks like if you don’t have TSN+ you aren’t watching much conference tournament action. Damn near every game that TSN is showing is going to their new streaming platform. Is it surprising? Not really. Now, if TSN+ starts getting a shit-ton of everything, including more college basketball and football, junior hockey, maybe some Canadian university sports as well, then I can say it may be worth the cost. It’s the path we are heading towards so if you are a big-time cablehead and don’t want to move off of it then get ready to be frustrated.
As I mentioned above, this is the last few months of the Pac-12 Network, which we have more access to than most Americans. How stupid is that conference. Or was that conference…*pause to shed a tear*…Anyway, the final Pac-12 Network basketball game ever will air on March 15th so if you want to, um, witness some history, watch that game. Then all that will be left, in terms of team sports, is baseball and softball. Then no more Pac-12 come the summer. What a quiet, sad end.

I am under the assumption that the First Four will also go to TSN+. I would be shocked if it didn’t. As for the first round games, with TSN’s wraparound coverage on a few different channels, you should be able to see portions of every single game so no problems there. I will keep things updated here if any conference tournament games magically get pushed from TSN+ to one of the TSN stations (although I don’t see that happening).

The Kreepy Kombine is over so I will be putting up another mock draft. Maybe I will add another round in there. Who knows!

I am slowly putting together the schedule for this upcoming season and it is quite difficult since so much has changed that there are some things I can’t compare to previous years. Hell, the MAC hasn’t even put out their schedule yet so that makes it damn near impossible to complete this puzzle (the MAC finally announced their schedule yesterday). I mean I would I love to put out schedule-based posts in May? Sure. I may even do that and not worry about broadcast information at that point. Everything is up in the air. Have a great week everyone!

Yeah let’s do another absurd Poll n’ Bowl

Posted on December 26, 2023 by guelphbossman

Wrong pole but I like your style. I hope you celebrated Festivus with a good long Airing of Grievances. And you better not have forgotten the Feats of Strength.

I have done this particular exercise a couple times before. So I guess this Version 3.00. Again, I am going to take this back to a time in college football when conference championships didn’t exist, realignment wasn’t even part of the sport’s lexicon and players only made money from secretive boosters giving them money in briefcases in remote airport parking lots (or something of that nature).

Rules of Bossman’s Poll n’ Bowl (or Bowl n’ Powl if you like that better):

Back then, approximately a third of teams made it to bowl games. That’s it. Not half. So bowl eligibility is set at 8 wins and there are 23 games. Will they be the same games as last year? Most of them will be but I have thought of perhaps a few changes.
ESPN won’t be getting close to all the bowl games. Hell, they may be lucky to get half. Look, it has to be like the 80s here.
Have to use the old sponsors. But if I can’t I will make substitutions that make sense. It would be like replacing McDonalds with Burger King. Can’t have a Crypto.com Rose Bowl when you are trying to emulate 1980s college football because “What the fuck is a crypto?” would be the question everyone would ask me.
Bowl tie-ins will be drastically different than they are now but I am going to try and get them close to the way they were.
I am doing the Plus-One. This is what should have been done long ago and it would have changed a fair amount of the past four decades, at least in terms of how the national champion is decided. So split championships can fuck off.

The time for explaining is over. The time for me….showing you what this is about is here. I guess. Alright let’s begin.

January 8th	8:00	National Championship	ESPN	#1	#2
January 1st	8:45	Nokia Sugar Bowl	ABC	SEC Champ	at-large
January 1st	5:00	Rose Bowl presented by Citi	ABC	Big Ten Champ	SEC
January 1st	1:00	Discover Orange Bowl	NBC	ACC Champ	at-large
December 30th	10:30	Thrifty Car Rental Holiday Bowl	ESPN	Big Ten	at-large
December 30th	7:00	Vizio Fiesta Bowl	NBC	at-large	at-large
December 30th	3:30	Southwestern Bell Cotton Bowl	ABC	Big XII Champ	at-large
December 30th	Noon	Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl	ESPN	ACC	at-large
December 29th	8:00	AXA Liberty Bowl	FOX	AAC Champ	at-large
December 29th	4:30	Toyota Gator Bowl	NBC	SEC	Big Ten
December 29th	1:00	John Hancock Sun Bowl	CBS	Big XII	at-large
December 27th	10:30	Sega Las Vegas Bowl	ESPN	Big XII	at-large
December 27th	7:00	Capital One Citrus Bowl	ABC	ACC	at-large
December 26th	9:30	Domino’s Pizza Copper Bowl	ESPN	MWC Champ	at-large
December 25th	3:30	Jeep Aloha Bowl	ABC	MWC	at-large
December 23rd	10:00	California Pizza Kitchen Freedom Bowl	ESPN	at-large	at-large
December 23rd	3:30	APS Payroll Independence Bowl	ESPN	Sun Belt Champ	at-large
December 22nd	8:00	Phillips 66 Bluebonnet Bowl	ABC	AAC	at-large
December 20th	8:30	Regions Financial All-American Bowl	ESPN	C-USA Champ	at-large
December 19th	7:00	Burlington Coat Factory Garden State Bowl	ESPN	at-large	at-large
December 16th	10:30	Jack in the Box California Bowl	ESPN	at-large	at-large
December 16th	7:00	Outback Bowl	NBC	SEC	at-large
December 16th	3:30	General Motors Cherry Bowl	FOX	MAC Champ	Big Ten
December 16th	Noon	Mazda Tangerine Bowl	CBS	at-large	at-large

Yeah this doesn’t look like what Bowl Season looks like now. Let’s get to some notes about the structure so far:

A ton of at-large bids. This is good since it allows bowl game committees to better choose teams they want to see.
More networks are involved and ESPN doesn’t have nearly as many games. I also threw a couple of games over to FOX even though they were barely a thing in the 80s.
Some of the sponsors were changed from the last time around because some bowls have had many sponsors. The Rose Bowl is now presented by Citi. The Las Vegas Bowl is brought to you by Sega. And the Tangerine Bowl is back to its original name and one if its early sponsors in Mazda.
Now some of the sponsors had to be just picked. I tried to be local with many of them. That’s why you see Regions Financial for the All-American Bowl (in Birmingham) and General Motors for the Cherry Bowl which is in Detroit.
Just like my Postseason Fix blog post, I have removed the Pac-12 from this. Have to move forward, ya know? Even if it is painful.

Just like last time I will tier the bowl games as follows:

Tier 1 – Current New Year’s Six bowls
Tier 2 – Post-Christmas Bowls
Tier 3 – Pre-Christmas Bowls

So the Tier 1 bowls will pick their at-large teams first, followed by the Tier 2 bowls, then finally the Tier 3 bowls. Within each tier, the order is random. Before we get to that, let’s see what the Tier 1 bowls look like with the tie-ins slotted in to their proper bowl games (remember, we are using next year’s conference alignment so, because Texas would be the highest ranked team, they are considered the “champ” of the SEC in this exercise…I am sure some SEC fans will bristle at this and frankly, I don’t give two squirts of shit about what you think about it).

Nokia Sugar Bowl	SEC Champ	at-large	#3 Texas
Rose Bowl presented by Citi	Big Ten Champ	at-large	#1 Michigan
Discover Orange Bowl	ACC Champ	SEC	#5 Florida State	#4 Alabama
Vizio Fiesta Bowl	at-large	at-large
Southwestern Bell Cotton Bowl	Big XII Champ	at-large	#14 Arizona
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl	ACC	at-large	#15 Louisville

Good ol’ random drawing determines the order of selection. The Orange Bowl doesn’t even have to show up the lucky guys.

Rose – Georgia
Cotton – Washington
Fiesta – Oregon
Sugar – Ohio State
Peach – Penn State
Fiesta – Missouri

The Tier 1/New Year’s Six bowl games have been selected!

Nokia Sugar Bowl	SEC Champ	at-large	#3 Texas	#7 Ohio State
Rose Bowl presented by Citi	Big Ten Champ	at-large	#1 Michigan	#6 Georgia
Discover Orange Bowl	ACC Champ	SEC	#5 Florida State	#4 Alabama
Vizio Fiesta Bowl	at-large	at-large	#8 Oregon	#9 Missouri
Southwestern Bell Cotton Bowl	Big XII Champ	at-large	#14 Arizona	#2 Washington
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl	ACC	at-large	#15 Louisville	#10 Penn State

What does this mean? Well, if you aren’t familiar with Poll n’ Bowl, there would be another set of rankings after these games were over to determine the two teams that would play for the national championship. Looking at this, four of the six games would be important in figuring this out with only the Fiesta and Peach Bowls not involved in painting the championship picture.

Now on to the next bowl tier. This is the post-Christmas bowl list. It does not include the Aloha Bowl which is on Christmas Day as it should be (and used to be).

Thrifty Car Rental Holiday Bowl	Big Ten	at-large	#17 Iowa
AXA Liberty Bowl	AAC Champ	at-large	#24 SMU
Toyota Gator Bowl	SEC	Big Ten	#11 Ole Miss
John Hancock Sun Bowl	Big XII	at-large	#20 Oklahoma State
Sega Las Vegas Bowl	Big XII	at-large	#25 Kansas State
Capital One Citrus Bowl	ACC	at-large	#18 NC State
Domino’s Pizza Copper Bowl	MWC Champ	at-large	Boise State

Two things here. Boise State, even though they went 7-5, got their eighth win in the conference championship and, therefore, qualifies under my bowl system. The Gator Bowl is supposed to have a Big Ten team but after Iowa was slotted into the Holiday Bowl, the Big Ten had no other 8-win teams. Yikes. So that becomes an at-large. Now we will go the LIVE selection of the Tier 2 Bowl Games, sponsored by Taco Bell. Live Mas and avoid the Diarrhea.

Citrus – LSU
Las Vegas – Notre Dame
Holiday – Oklahoma
Copper – Oregon State
Sun – Tennessee
Gator – Clemson
Liberty – James Madison

Alright here are the matchups!

Thrifty Car Rental Holiday Bowl	Big Ten	at-large	#17 Iowa	#12 Oklahoma
AXA Liberty Bowl	AAC Champ	at-large	#24 SMU	James Madison
Toyota Gator Bowl	SEC	Big Ten	#11 Ole Miss	#22 Clemson
John Hancock Sun Bowl	Big XII	at-large	#20 Oklahoma State	#21 Tennessee
Sega Las Vegas Bowl	Big XII	at-large	#25 Kansas State	#16 Notre Dame
Capital One Citrus Bowl	ACC	at-large	#18 NC State	#13 LSU
Domino’s Pizza Copper Bowl	MWC Champ	at-large	Boise State	#19 Oregon State

Some really good matchups here including KSU-ND and NCST-LSU. The Liberty Bowl would have had an opportunity to pick Liberty and I think they would choose James Madison instead.

Third tier time! According to the rules (my rules), the eight-win teams must be selected first. Then we go to those filthy seven-win teams. Ugh. Here is what we are looking at going into this final random draw:

Jeep Aloha Bowl	MWC	at-large	UNLV
California Pizza Kitchen Freedom Bowl	at-large	at-large
APS Payroll Independence Bowl	Sun Belt Champ	at-large	Troy
Phillips 66 Bluebonnet Bowl	AAC	at-large	Tulane
Regions Financial All-American Bowl	C-USA Champ	at-large	#23 Liberty
Burlington Coat Factory Garden State Bowl	at-large	at-large
Jack in the Box California Bowl	at-large	at-large
Outback Bowl	SEC	at-large
General Motors Cherry Bowl	MAC Champ	Big Ten	Miami-OH
Mazda Tangerine Bowl	at-large	at-large

The Big Ten, yet again doesn’t have a team to fill a tie-in. Same with the SEC in this case as they don’t have another eight-win team to go to the Outback Bowl. Which leads us to the final draw of teams, the one that many will watch because this will be the difference between being bowl-eligible and being home for the holidays. We start with the draw of eight win teams remaining:

Freedom – Utah
Aloha – North Carolina
California – Fresno State
Tangerine – West Virginia
Freedom – UTSA
Outback – Kansas
California – New Mexico State
Outback – Memphis
All-American – Appalachian State
Bluebonnet – Air Force
Tangerine – Jacksonville State
Garden State – Toledo
Cherry – Ohio
Garden State – Wyoming

One measly bowl slot left. So the Garden State Bowl kind of gets hosed because they are forced to pick Wyoming instead of any of the seven-win teams. Thems the breaks and the EXCITEMENT of the Bossman Poll n’ Bowl System. Which bowl is left? The Independence Bowl sponsored by Shreveport’s own APS Payroll, of course! And who will they choose? Hmmm…I think if Caleb Williams had been playing it would have been USC but I have a feeling they will go with Texas A&M instead.

Complete Poll n’ Bowl schedule here we go!

January 8th	8:00	National Championship	ESPN	#1	#2
January 1st	8:45	Nokia Sugar Bowl	ABC	#3 Texas	#7 Ohio State
January 1st	5:00	Rose Bowl presented by Citi	ABC	#1 Michigan	#6 Georgia
January 1st	1:00	Discover Orange Bowl	NBC	#5 Florida State	#4 Alabama
December 30th	10:30	Thrifty Car Rental Holiday Bowl	ESPN	#17 Iowa	#12 Oklahoma
December 30th	7:00	Vizio Fiesta Bowl	NBC	#8 Oregon	#9 Missouri
December 30th	3:30	Southwestern Bell Cotton Bowl	ABC	#14 Arizona	#2 Washington
December 30th	Noon	Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl	ESPN	#15 Louisville	#10 Penn State
December 29th	8:00	AXA Liberty Bowl	FOX	#24 SMU	James Madison
December 29th	4:30	Toyota Gator Bowl	NBC	#11 Ole Miss	#22 Clemson
December 29th	1:00	John Hancock Sun Bowl	CBS	#20 Oklahoma State	#21 Tennessee
December 27th	10:30	Sega Las Vegas Bowl	ESPN	#25 Kansas State	#16 Notre Dame
December 27th	7:00	Capital One Citrus Bowl	ABC	#18 NC State	#13 LSU
December 26th	9:30	Domino’s Pizza Copper Bowl	ESPN	Boise State	#19 Oregon State
December 25th	3:30	Jeep Aloha Bowl	ABC	UNLV	North Carolina
December 23rd	10:00	California Pizza Kitchen Freedom Bowl	ESPN	Utah	UTSA
December 23rd	3:30	APS Payroll Independence Bowl	ESPN	Troy	Texas Tech
December 22nd	8:00	Phillips 66 Bluebonnet Bowl	ABC	Tulane	Air Force
December 20th	8:30	Regions Financial All-American Bowl	ESPN	#23 Liberty	Appalachian State
December 19th	7:00	Burlington Coat Factory Garden State Bowl	ESPN	Toledo	Wyoming
December 16th	10:30	Jack in the Box California Bowl	ESPN	Fresno State	New Mexico State
December 16th	7:00	Outback Bowl	NBC	Kansas	Memphis
December 16th	3:30	General Motors Cherry Bowl	FOX	Miami-OH	Ohio
December 16th	Noon	Mazda Tangerine Bowl	CBS	West Virginia	Jacksonville State

As I ask every year, how do we figure out who plays in the national championship game? Here are the different scenarios:

Michigan is in if they win the Rose Bowl
Washington is in if they win the Cotton Bowl AND Texas doesn’t beat Ohio State by too much
Texas is in if they win by a lot over Ohio State AND either Michigan loses OR Washington loses OR Washington wins but by very little
Alabama or Florida State are in if they win AND two of Michigan, Washington or Texas lose
Georgia is in if they win AND Washington loses AND Texas loses

Could Ohio State get in? Unlikely but remember, it comes down to voters and some of them like to think of what just happened because they have CFADD (College Football Attention Deficit Disorder). The Buckeyes would have to wallop Texas, hope FSU-Bama is close, have Georgia beat Michigan but by not too much and Washington has to lose to Arizona. Possible? Sure. But I doubt it.

So is this better or worse than the current setup? Who really knows. College football is a bit of a mess and no one wants to agree on anything. Now we have Florida State openly getting ready to leave the ACC and I don’t blame them. How dare they not be like Vanderbilt and just fucking show up and be shitty at the number one money sport but be in one of the top two conferences in that sport? The audacity. I mean the whole idea of the Big Ten and the SEC having the majority of the best college football teams would hold water if Vandy, Rutgers, Indiana, Mississippi State and a few others didn’t exist. They should have just broke up football into their own special thing and left the conferences the way they were for the rest of the sports. Or….promotion and relegation. I think I might do that exercise soon and ho boy it is going to rattle some chains I’m sure (if the right people read it).

Post-Christmas Bowl Season is about to start so things are getting a bit more important in the college football world. Plus, this is the final dash to the end with a lot of college football on so watch as much as you can, fill up that PVR if you have to and enjoy the games everyone!

If I Could Fix the Current Postseason Format Version 4.0

Posted on December 23, 2023 by guelphbossman

The bowl games have commenced. I did horrible with my first day picks. Haven’t done a whole lot better since then. But never mind that because it’s time for me the fix the postseason….well, the current version at least.

The current postseason setup is plagued with issues but the idea that players can hop into the transfer portal BEFORE the bowl games are over is absurd. Honestly, same with coaches. There are almost needs to be a moratorium on moves that starts the day after conference championship weekend ends and finishes the day after the national championship. Otherwise it becomes the quasi-shitshow we have now.

This is now the ninth time I have done this exercise. Nine. I am not linking the previous eight but they shouldn’t be too difficult to find. Like the fact that I am sure most of these posts were done sometime in December. Should make your search a bit easier.

We begin with the opening ceremonies, so to speak: the axing of bowl games. That’s right, some bowl games just cannot exist in my version of Bowl Season. ESPN Events can fuck off if they have a problem with this. So the following bowl games will cease to exist:

Myrtle Beach Bowl
Bahamas Bowl
Cure Bowl
68 Ventures Bowl
Frisco Bowl
Boca Raton Bowl
Gasparilla Bowl
Camellia Bowl
Arizona Bowl

I’m sure some will bristle at the Cure Bowl because it’s a charity endeavour. Want a solution? Make more bowls like this. Have a portion of ticket revenue go to a charity of their choice. See how easy that was? Do I have to come up with all the answers? It sure feels like it.

Also, with the restrictions I have on who qualifies for the bowl games in my scenario, these bowls had to go. I get it: less football usually sucks. But the idea is to give as many of these games a full national audience as much as possible. That’s the whole point. Some of these teams just don’t get these kinds of audiences and bowl season is their one shot to do so. So let’s give it to them!

Another thing: pre-Christmas daytime starts. Those are gone. They are stupid. So don’t do them. There’s no reason for them. I think the only game that had to be played during the day was the Bahamas Bowl and, well, go back and look at the list.

Let’s bring back more games on over-the-air networks. So I am planning, as per usual, to take games off of ESPN and disperse them to ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC. No I am not putting any on the CW although I was tempted to move the Hawaii Bowl to 11:59 PM and put it on Spectrum Sports and have a bowl season Hawaii Test.

The amount of bowl tie-ins drops for an obvious reason. I am looking forward with this so I figured I might as well not include the Pac-12 and put teams in the conferences they will be in next season. So there are plenty of at-large spots available. The other incentive I always use is back: each Group of Five champion gets to face a Power Five team in a bowl game. There is a bit of a change this year. With the Pac-12 no longer in this exercise, the Mountain West doesn’t have a partner in this, so to speak. So they aren’t slotted in for one of these games. Because of this, if the Mountain West champion is the top Group of Five team, they will just take their spot in the playoffs and that’s that. If they aren’t, then that team will replace the conference that did have the top Group of Five team in their bowl game. So, in essence, each G-5 champ still has their shot against a P-5 team, with a twist.

How do you qualify for the Bossman Bowl System? 7 wins. Those teams that qualify will be placed first and then, AND ONLY THEN, will any 6-win teams be put into bowl slots.

And finally let’s look at Selection Sunday: an abomination that I am sure ESPN is proud of but they shouldn’t be because it’s a fucking garbage show with their garbage takes. Complete crap. Let’s spice it up, shall we?

Noon-12:05 – Introduction of hosts and panel
12:05-12:30 – CFP byes announced with analysis
12:25-1:15 – First round playoff matchups announced with analysis
1:15-2:00 – Tie-ins filled with short analysis
2:00-3:30 – It’s selection time! The bowl games are selected in random order (draw would have been determined in the morning if not late the night before). At-large selections are shown every few minutes. Analysis follows every pick and new bowl game matchup is shown if both bowl slots are filled.
3:30-4:00 – Final analysis and thoughts

Much better. Hell, even do the live look-ins like they do at March Madness. They did it this year and there was some interesting reaction shots. Florida State’s was heartbreaking, Liberty’s was nice to see and Michigan’s was hilarious. Drama. ESPN is starting to get it but the stuff they manufacture is mostly crap. If it wasn’t for Booger McFarland squaring off with Joey Galloway that entire show would have been unwatchable.

Next year, we get the 12-team playoff. It took years but everyone realized four wasn’t the answer. Probably should have gone right to six or stayed at two. Oh well, hindsight is 20-20. The top four will be the conference champions so I have taken some leeway by taking the top ranked team in what the conferences will look like next year. The Group of Five gets their top team in and that team will usually end up being the #12 seed although there have been times where they wouldn’t have been like when Cincinnati made the 4-team playoff a few years back. So here is what the Top 12 would look like, with the upcoming criteria and teams in their new conferences:

Michigan (Big Ten champ)
Texas (SEC champ)
Florida State (ACC champ)
Arizona (Big XII champ)
Washington (Big Ten)
Alabama (SEC)
Georgia (SEC)
Ohio State (Big Ten)
Oregon (Big Ten)
Missouri (SEC)
Penn State (Big Ten)
Liberty (Conference USA)

See how much things change? Florida State AND Arizona get byes. Arizona. A team that didn’t even make the New Year’s Six this time around. It also means Ole Miss gets booted from a possible national championship spot. I’m already not liking the new system. I’m sure with the new conference alignment, we won’t see this kind of disparity from the Big Ten/SEC and the ACC/Big XII. But for this time around, this is what we’ve got.

Scheduling! It’s what I show on here. So this has to work or otherwise what have I learned the past decade? I am using this year’s dates but the setup will work in other years as well. The main thing is to use Saturdays as your playoff days. Or if that fails, New Year’s Day for one. This is how this will work. Here is what I see with this:

First Round Games – Saturday December 23rd (all times EST)

Missouri at Georgia (Noon, ESPN)
Penn State at Alabama (3:30, CBS)
Oregon at Ohio State (7:00, FOX)
Liberty at Washington (10:30, ESPN)

I’m sure Chris Petersen might be a bit miffed at the start time for the final game but using the entire Saturday is the right play here. No other bowl games will be on this day either so these four games will have full national attention until the NFL puts their games on this day because they couldn’t give two shits about anything else on TV.

Quarter-Finals – Saturday December 30th

Since college football wants to change so much then let’s change it. The New Year’s Day traditional games? That’s no more. Hey, college football started it, I’m just continuing with it. The top four teams would be slotted in to these bowl games at the start of Selection Sunday and The Committee would try their best (after eating copious amounts of Chinese food and drinking 290 coolers between the 13 of them) to put the teams in spots that are advantageous to them, not only in their location, but the home cities of the teams they may face.

Peach Bowl (Noon, FOX) – Michigan vs. Oregon/Ohio St. winner
Cotton Bowl (3:30, ABC) – Texas vs. Mizzou/UGA winner
Orange Bowl (7:00, NBC) – Florida State vs. Penn St./Bama winner
Fiesta Bowl (10:30, ESPN) – Arizona vs. Liberty/Washington winner

Again, the former Pac-12 teams seem stuck in the late night spot and this is fine by me and better damn well be fine with the powers that be.

Semi-Finals – Saturday January 6th

Again, stick to Saturdays.

Rose Bowl (5:00, ABC) – Peach Bowl winner vs. Fiesta Bowl winner
Sugar Bowl (8:45, ABC) – Cotton Bowl winner vs. Orange Bowl winner

I get that it’s almost a guarantee a West Coast team would come out of the Fiesta Bowl but if Michigan or Ohio State gets in, their fans travel well and to go to the Rose Bowl? They will fill their side of the stands no problem.

CFP National Championship – Saturday January 13th

We move the national championship back six days. This may mess with the NFL playoffs but that’s something that can be figured out. Hell, move the game to the 20th for all I care. Just keep it on Saturday night. And it will be, starting at 8:00 on ESPN.

Now on to the next part of our show, the tie-in portion. There are now nine less bowls as you remember. Very little overlap. Things look good. Now the teams need to be filled in. This is what the rest of the bowls will look like after all the tie-ins are dealt with and they will be dealt with. Not having official tie-ins and never even bothering with them. That shit bugs me.

DATE	TIME	BOWL	TIE-IN #1	TIE-IN #2
January 1st	7:00	Gator	SEC	ACC
January 1st	3:30	Citrus	SEC	Big Ten
January 1st	Noon	ReliaQuest	SEC	Big Ten
December 29th	8:30	Alamo	Big XII	at-large
December 29th	5:00	Music City	SEC	Big Ten
December 29th	2:30	Sun	Big XII	at-large
December 29th	Noon	Pop Tarts	ACC	at-large
December 28th	8:45	Texas	Big XII	at-large
December 28th	5:30	Duke’s Mayo	ACC	at-large
December 28th	2:15	Pinstripe	Big Ten	ACC
December 28th	11:00 AM	Fenway	AAC	at-large
December 27th	8:00	Holiday	at-large	at-large
December 27th	4:30	First Responder	Big XII	C-USA
December 27th	1:00	Military	ACC	AAC
December 26th	9:00	Guaranteed Rate	at-large	at-large
December 26th	5:30	Liberty	SEC	Sun Belt
December 26th	2:00	Independence	Sun Belt	at-large
December 24th	10:30	Hawaii	MWC	at-large
December 22nd	8:30	Idaho Potato	MWC	MAC
December 20th	8:30	Armed Forces	AAC	at-large
December 19th	8:00	Birmingham	C-USA	at-large
December 16th	10:30	Las Vegas	at-large	at-large
December 16th	8:00	LA	at-large	at-large
December 16th	5:30	New Mexico	at-large	at-large
December 16th	2:15	New Orleans	Sun Belt	at-large
December 16th	11:00 AM	Quick Lane	Big Ten	MAC

Yeah that’s a lot of at-large bids. Good. This is what makes this way of doing things that much more interesting. OK, let’s fill in those tie-ins. Remember, all teams in their new conferences (I hope I am not so confused with this next year).

DATE	TIME	NETWORK	BOWL	TEAM #1	TEAM #2
January 1st	7:00	CBS	Gator	Ole Miss	Louisville
January 1st	3:30	ABC	Citrus	Oklahoma	Iowa
January 1st	Noon	ABC	ReliaQuest	LSU	USC
December 29th	8:30	FOX	Alamo	Oklahoma State	at-large
December 29th	5:00	ESPN	Music City	Tennessee	UCLA
December 29th	2:30	CBS	Sun	Kansas State	at-large
December 29th	Noon	ESPN	Pop Tarts	NC State	at-large
December 28th	8:45	ESPN	Texas	Utah	at-large
December 28th	5:30	ESPN	Duke’s Mayo	Clemson	at-large
December 28th	2:15	ESPN	Pinstripe	Maryland	North Carolina
December 28th	11:00 AM	ESPN	Fenway	Tulane	at-large
December 27th	8:00	FOX	Holiday	at-large	at-large
December 27th	4:30	ESPN	First Responder	Kansas	Boise State
December 27th	1:00	ESPN	Military	Miami	SMU
December 26th	9:00	ESPN	Guaranteed Rate	at-large	at-large
December 26th	5:30	ESPN	Liberty	Kentucky	Troy
December 26th	2:00	ESPN	Independence	James Madison	at-large
December 24th	10:30	ESPN	Hawaii	UNLV	at-large
December 22nd	8:30	ESPN	Idaho Potato	Air Force	Toledo
December 20th	8:30	ESPN	Armed Forces	Memphis	at-large
December 19th	8:00	ESPN	Birmingham	New Mexico State	at-large
December 16th	10:30	ESPN	Las Vegas	at-large	at-large
December 16th	8:00	ABC	LA	at-large	at-large
December 16th	5:30	ESPN	New Mexico	at-large	at-large
December 16th	2:15	ESPN	New Orleans	Appalachian State	at-large
December 16th	11:00 AM	NBC	Quick Lane	Wisconsin	Miami-OH

It’s a bit confusing with the new Big Ten and SEC teams but we have to get used to it soon anyway. Might as well do it now.

The G-5 conference champions get the opportunities they deserve:

SMU (the AAC champ) goes to the Military Bowl to face Miami
Troy (Sun Belt champ) plays Kentucky in the Liberty Bowl, a step-up from the champ usually going to the New Orleans or Camellia Bowls
The Quick Lane Bowl gets MAC champ Miami-OH and they end up paired up with the Wisconsin Badgers.
Finally, with Liberty in the playoff, Boise State, the Mountain West champ, replaces them in the First Responder Bowl.

I think setting the qualification at 7 wins works well. There are 17 at-large teams remaining. This number includes Notre Dame. I don’t care about their current setup with the ACC bowl tie-ins. It’s dumb. They are an Independent. They can act like one. Same with Oregon State now. Interestingly, we have 21 at-large spots. So four more teams will get in. Four teams who had six wins during the season. Under my regime, the bowls can pick ANY six win team once the seven-win teams are all slotted. Makes things way more interesting and keeps many teams with their eyes glued to the television to see if they get in or not. So let’s start the random draw. I did this and it was random and this is how it turned out:

Duke’s Mayo – Notre Dame
Holiday – Oregon State
Pop Tarts – Coastal Carolina
Independence – West Virginia
Texas – Texas A&M
New Mexico – UTSA
Hawaii – Iowa State
Sun – Texas State
Las Vegas – Fresno State
Fenway – Duke
Alamo – Jacksonville State
LA – San Jose State
Armed Forces – Wyoming
Las Vegas – Northwestern
LA – Ohio
New Orleans – WKU
Holiday – Bowling Green

Man, the Guaranteed Rate Bowl got fucked here. Or did they? They get two selections from the six-win pool while the Birmingham and New Mexico Bowls get one each. Who will they choose?????

Birmingham – Auburn
Guaranteed Rate – Texas Tech
New Mexico – California
Guaranteed Rate – Virginia Tech

OK well at least the Guaranteed Rate Bowl gets two fanbases who will travel. So after the fun-time selection process, this is what the new bowl schedule will look like (other than the playoffs):

DATE	TIME	NETWORK	BOWL	TEAM #1	TEAM #2
January 1st	7:00	CBS	Gator	Ole Miss	Louisville
January 1st	3:30	ABC	Citrus	Oklahoma	Iowa
January 1st	Noon	ABC	ReliaQuest	LSU	USC
December 29th	8:30	FOX	Alamo	Oklahoma State	Jacksonville State
December 29th	5:00	ESPN	Music City	Tennessee	UCLA
December 29th	2:30	CBS	Sun	Kansas State	Texas State
December 29th	Noon	ESPN	Pop Tarts	NC State	Coastal Carolina
December 28th	8:45	ESPN	Texas	Utah	Texas A&M
December 28th	5:30	ESPN	Duke’s Mayo	Clemson	Notre Dame
December 28th	2:15	ESPN	Pinstripe	Maryland	North Carolina
December 28th	11:00 AM	ESPN	Fenway	Tulane	Duke
December 27th	8:00	FOX	Holiday	Oregon State	Bowling Green
December 27th	4:30	ESPN	First Responder	Kansas	Boise State
December 27th	1:00	ESPN	Military	Miami	SMU
December 26th	9:00	ESPN	Guaranteed Rate	Texas Tech	Virginia Tech
December 26th	5:30	ESPN	Liberty	Kentucky	Troy
December 26th	2:00	ESPN	Independence	James Madison	West Virginia
December 24th	10:30	ESPN	Hawaii	UNLV	Iowa State
December 22nd	8:30	ESPN	Idaho Potato	Air Force	Toledo
December 20th	8:30	ESPN	Armed Forces	Memphis	Wyoming
December 19th	8:00	ESPN	Birmingham	New Mexico State	Auburn
December 16th	10:30	ESPN	Las Vegas	Fresno State	Northwestern
December 16th	8:00	ABC	LA	San Jose State	Ohio
December 16th	5:30	ESPN	New Mexico	UTSA	California
December 16th	2:15	ESPN	New Orleans	Appalachian State	WKU
December 16th	11:00 AM	NBC	Quick Lane	Wisconsin	Miami-OH

A few notes here:

Auburn has to wonder why the college football Gods hate them. Another game with New Mexico State?
Taking Notre Dame out of the ACC group when it comes to tie-ins means they can now face an ACC team in a bowl game. ND-Clemson? Yes, please.
A few more P5 vs. G5 matches materialize because of the way the bowls are selected. James Madison gets to play West Virginia while RichRod’s Jacksonville State Gamecocks face off against Captain Mullet himself, Mike Gundy and his Oklahoma State squad.

OK look are all the matchups better here? No. That’s not really the point though. The point is to create interesting matchups that people might want to watch and to reward teams for their seasons. The hope here is that maybe a few more players will choose to play these games rather than opt out and get ready for the draft. I don’t blame them but it would be nice to see full rosters face off against each other. I think the bigger picutre has to be that the transfer portal shouldn’t open until after the bowl games are over but that’s a different conversation.

Alright, that was….well, fun may be a stretch but it was interesting to do as usual. I hope you enjoyed reading it and have a great weekend and a Merry Christmas!

2023 Bowl Game Rankings and Predictions for those Bowl Games!

Posted on December 15, 2023 by guelphbossman

We are a little over a week away from Christmas. You have your Bowl Season schedule and now you need some Bowl Game rankings and Bowl Game predictions from your friendly neighbourhood Bossman.

Time to go back to basics…I think? After introducing the Play-by-Play Announcer Scale last year we are heading back in time to the broadcasting network scale. An oldie but a goodie but since much has changed in the past few years, there are a couple of newbies and some networks that just don’t broadcast college football anymore. So let’s get right into this!

Now one thing that will change is this will be in tiers. 8 tiers like last year but with networks instead of announcers. Let’s fucking go!

The ABC Saturday Night Tier

Game of the Year type games right here. The games that matter. In this day and age that means the College Football Playoff and the New Year’s Six.

Rose Bowl – #1 Michigan vs. #4 Alabama (Jan. 1, 5:00, TSN3) – This will get a lot of viewers. I am starting to wonder if ESPN kind of helped with all the controversy to get even more people to watch. Let’s be honest: these two teams may be the two most hated college football teams in the land right now. And they are both just fine with that. Expect this to be a very close and very exciting game. My pick: Michigan 36 Alabama 31.

Sugar Bowl – #2 Washington vs. #3 Texas (Jan. 1, 8:45, TSN3) – They should have had the Rose and Sugar as the College Football Playoff semi-finals from the get-go. But it’s college football so they sometimes trip over themselves figuring things out. They still haven’t learned from having games on New Year’s Eve where the ratings, while still good, were probably much lower than they could have been. Normally one CFP semi-final is a fair amount worse than the other. This is the case this year and it has nothing to do with the Huskies or the Longhorns. At least it feels like both game will be really good because it’s rough to watch a CFP game get out of hand (see 2022 national championship). My pick: Washington 27 Texas 24.

Peach Bowl – #10 Penn State vs. #11 Ole Miss (Dec. 30, Noon, TSN5) – Two teams with head coaches that their fanbase doesn’t fully trust. I kind of get it but, because it’s college football, many go overboard. I mean who is going to State College or Oxford and doing a lot better than James Frankin or Lane Kiffin are? It would be a tough sell at Penn State to get a truly elite coach and even tougher at Ole Miss. Honestly, both coaches will probably be around through the end of next season so fans might as well focus on this game and stop talking about their next hypothetical coach. My pick: Penn State 21 Ole Miss 14.

Orange Bowl – #5 Florida State vs. #6 Georgia (Dec. 30, 4:00, TSN1/5) – This bowl has gone off the rails and it’s two weeks away. Now we have some Georgia lawmaker wanting to make the Orange Bowl another semi-final. So how the fuck is that going to work, Jethro? The winners get together for a hot game of rock, paper, scissors? Or maybe a three-way Cage of Death match up in Barrow, Alaska. Televised LIVE by ESPN AND NO ONE ELSE of course. What a fucking shitshow. I’m almost ready for the 2024 season to start so we can be done with this season. My pick: Georgia 35 Florida State 25.

Alamo Bowl – #12 Oklahoma vs. #14 Arizona (Dec. 28, 9:15, TSN3) – Well hey look at this. Not a CFP bowl and not an NY6 bowl! I say it almost every year but the Alamo Bowl, on paper, is one of, if not the very, best bowl games outside the major bowls. I wonder what will happen with the tie-ins with the Pac-12 being history. Either way, a great game to watch even if you end up exhausted at work the next day. My pick: Arizona 42 Oklahoma 39.

The SEC on CBS Tier

I’m shedding a tear right now looking at that logo. Long live the SEC on CBS. Things will never be the same again.

Cotton Bowl – #7 Ohio State vs. #9 Missouri (Dec. 29, 8:00, TSN2) – One team who was one win away from being in the College Football Playoff against one team who played way better than anyone expected. I can’t see this game being done before Midnight. Thankfully it’s Saturday the next day. We shall see if the absence of Kyle McCord really does affect the Buckeyes. I think it will. My pick: Missouri 34 Ohio State 20.

Armed Forces Bowl – James Madison vs. Air Force (Dec. 23, 3:30, ABC/TSN2) – The best pre-Christmas bowl game and of course it features America’s (Eastern) Team, the James Madison Dukes (America’s (Western) Team resides in Las Cruces as you already know). As for the Falcons, talk about a horrible slide to end their season. They were at the top of the Group of Five mountain going into November and by Selection Sunday were an afterthought. My pick: James Madison 31 Air Force 10.

Pop Tarts Bowl – #18 NC State vs. #25 Kansas State (Dec. 38, 5:45, TSN3) – This has to be the bowl game with the most questions. Nothing to do with the two teams involved who did very well this season but were one or two bad losses away from causing potential chaos. No, I’m talking about the edible Pop Tarts Bowl mascot. You read that right. Edible. Mascot. We don’t even know what flavour it is. Watch it be a really shitty flavour like blueberry or the disappointing chocolate fudge one or grass and dirt. Wait, there’s a pumpkin pie one? That one then. Ugh, just the thought of that makes my stomach churn. My pick: Kansas State 36 NC State 28.

Fiesta Bowl – #8 Oregon vs. #23 Liberty (Jan. 1, 1:00, TSN3) – The worst of the New Year’s Six games and it’s really not even close. That seems to be the take everyone has, partly because Oregon is one win over Washington from being in the playoff and partly because many hate Liberty because of the university itself. Ugh. Oh well, I’d love to say this could be close. I just don’t think it will be. My pick: Oregon 52 Liberty 28.

Citrus Bowl – #17 Iowa vs. #21 Tennessee (Jan. 1, 1:00, ABC/TSN+) – It must look weird to have an Iowa game here but hey, the Iowa defense was one of the best in the country. Sure they couldn’t score for the life of them but defense wins championships, right? It feels like football is trying to do away with that adage. Look, at least the over/under isn’t as ridiculous as the last few Hawkeye games this season (it’s 36.5 the last time I checked which is still low but I digress). My pick: Tennessee 21 Iowa 14.

The Big Noon Kickoff Tier

Really good games that are approaching the SEC on CBS level except when they end up showing Indiana or Nebraska playing a team like Ohio State. Then it’s not so fun and you fear for Gus and Joel’s sanity.

Holiday Bowl – #15 Louisville vs. USC (Dec. 27, 8:00, FOX) – Of course the BNK section has to have the only FOX bowl game. I’m just happy they don’t have a bowl game on FOX Sports One anymore. Sure I can watch it but many Canadians can’t and I am a man of the people. Anyway, GUS won’t get to call any Caleb Williams on-field action because he’s not playing. Between players opting out and players transferring before bowl games, Bowl Season is becoming, I hate to say, a bit of a mess. Hopefully someone fixes it. They won’t though. My pick: Louisville 36 USC 19.

Guaranteed Rate Bowl – Kansas vs. UNLV (Dec. 26, 9:00, TSN2) – UNLV has been better than advertised this season. Barry Odom has done an unbelievable job in Vegas. And you know my thoughts on Lance Leipold and the direction of the Jayhawk football program. Hell, the renovations are going to be so big that it may cause them to have to play at least one game at Arrowhead Stadium next season. That wouldn’t have happened with the 2010s Kansas Jayhawks. This may end up being one of the most fun games to watch. My pick: Kansas 31 UNLV 27.

Duke’s Mayo Bowl – North Carolina vs. West Virginia (Dec. 27, 5:30, TSN5) – I don’t usually like picking sides. But there is something intriguing about the idea of Mack Brown being buried in Duke’s Mayo. OK wait, buried was the wrong word. I didn’t mean… My pick: North Carolina 45 West Virginia 42.

Liberty Bowl – Memphis vs Iowa State (Dec. 29, 3:30, TSN2) – This could be a bit of a track meet game if the Tigers get rolling in front of their home crowd. What I’m saying is: take the over. My pick: Memphis 49 Iowa State 40.

Sun Bowl – #16 Notre Dame vs. #19 Oregon State (Dec. 29, 2:00, CBS) – At one point this was going to be THE non-CFP/non-NY6 bowl game. Then we have D.J. Uiagalelei transferring. Jonathan Smith is now head coach at Michigan State. Sam Hartman might not play for the Irish. From a game that looked like it would be loaded with points, it might not end up being that way now. My pick: Notre Dame 23 Oregon State 21.

The Notre Dame and/or B1G on NBC Tier

Notre Dame games still hold a lot of reverance for fans and the Big Ten will slowly make their mark, especially with Noah Eagle and Todd Blackledge calling their games.

Arizona Bowl – Wyoming vs. Toledo (Dec. 30, 4:00, The CW) – Yes the C Fucking W. They may go down in the list of notable networks that have broadcast bowl games like Mizlou Network and the American Sports Network. This bowl is sponsored by Barstool Sports so many won’t watch it just for that. I do kind of get it since it’s like watching a game at one of those sportsbooks in Vegas with 10,000 screens and odds on everything and anything. But it could end up being a good game and I don’t want to miss that, right? My pick: Toledo 33 Wyoming 27.

Cure Bowl – Appalachian State vs. Miami-OH (Dec. 16, 3:30, ABC/TSN2) – Even though it’s on ABC it might be overshadowed by other bowl games. Which is too bad since we have the MAC champs and the Mountaineers that are back after missing Bowl Season last year (in one of the craziest seasons in Sun Belt history). Don’t sleep on this matchup despite the fact it could be a bit of a defensive slugfest. Like if you enjoy Iowa football this may be your type of game. My pick: Appalachian State 20 Miami-OH 18.

ReliaQuest Bowl – #13 LSU vs. Wisconsin (Jan. 1, Noon, TSN+/specialty pack) – The first football game of 2024 is also the first game on this list that is on TSN+ and the specialty packs. Also, if Heisman winner Jayden Daniels does decide to play, this shouldn’t be cloase at all. My pick: LSU 48 Wisconsin 13.

Music City Bowl – Auburn vs. Maryland (Dec. 30, 2:00, ABC/TSN+) – Auburn has been all over the place this year. The highs are always high playing in the SEC. The lows can be very low although a loss to New Mexico State doesn’t look as bad as some may think. This is the younger Tagovailoa’s final game at Maryland and I think he goes out with a bang against an inconsistent Tigers team. My pick: Maryland 49 Auburn 29.

Gator Bowl – #22 Clemson vs. Kentucky (Dec. 29, Noon, TSN2) – If the Tigers hadn’t had a hell of a November, this may have been an even matchup. But it won’t be. At least I doubt it. My pick: Clemson 41 Kentucky 15.

The Late Night ESPN Tier

Jesus Christ that looks horrible. Oh well, I don’t feel like finding another logo. Basically this tier is the ESPN game that’s not the SEC primetime ESPN game of the week. So it could be the Noon, 3:30 or late night affair. So still a pretty good game but a step below the rest.

Independence Bowl – Texas Tech vs. California (Dec. 16, 9:15, TSN+/specialty pack) – This feels like an odd pairing in Shreveport of all places. Maybe next season they can get the Sun Belt champ to play an SEC team here, like God (or the Bossman in various posts) intended. I’m going with the team that scratched and clawed their way to bowl eligibility and have a bit of momentum as they head to the ACC. My pick: California 41 Texas Tech 27.

LA Bowl – UCLA vs. Boise State (Dec. 16, 7:30, ABC/TSN2) – This is going up against the rest of opening day of Bowl Season plus a few NFL games plus a couple of lower-level playoff games. So, yeah this isn’t exactly high up on anyone’s list of appointment viewing I’m sure. Considering Gronk is involved, my interest has dwindled even farther. Maybe it will be close and keep my attention. I don’t think it will be though. My pick: Boise State 39 UCLA 26.

New Mexico Bowl – Fresno State vs. New Mexico State (Dec. 16, 5:45, TSN+/specialty pack) – Hey it’s America’s (Western) Team, the New Mexico State Aggies! They ended up giving Liberty quite the run for the Conference USA Championship. They get a head coach-less Bulldogs squad that had the inside track to the Mountain West Championship and blew it because of a loss to, well how about that, New Mexico. The script writes itself. My pick: New Mexico State 44 Fresno State 31.

Texas Bowl – Texas A&M vs. #20 Oklahoma State (Dec. 27, 9:00, TSN5) – Usually this game has been a fairly good one so at least we have that going for it. Problem is you have a team that might not have one of the best running backs in the nation for the game up against a team that just spent a shit-ton of money to get rid of their old coach. It will be close only because neither team will be able to pull away. My pick: Texas A&M 28 Oklahoma State 23.

Birmingham Bowl – Duke vs. Troy (Dec. 23, Noon, ABC/TSN2) – This was looking like a really even game and the kind of game I love to see during bowl season. Instead, Duke loses their quarterback and I have a feeling the Trojans will run away with this one. My pick: Troy 36 Duke 20.

The FS1/ESPN2/ESPNU/SEC Network/ACC Network Tier

If you’re a college football fan you are watching these games. If not, well………

Fenway Bowl – Boston College vs. SMU (Dec. 28, 11:00 AM, TSN3) – It’s late morning football in what should be chilly BAW-stun. This could be considered the Mustangs’ first ACC game as they join the conference next season. I believe they will show the Eagles why they were coveted by the conference. My pick: SMU 48 Boston College 21.

Gasparilla Bowl – Georgia Tech vs. UCF (Dec. 22, 6:30, TSN5) – I don’t get the start time but whatever. The Knights have to consider their first season in the Big XII a success as they go bowling. And Brent Key may have just started the Ramblin’ Wreck’s ascent back up the ACC standings. This should be another good one but I will go with the home cookin’. My pick: UCF 22 Georgia Tech 17.

Hawaii Bowl – Coastal Carolina vs. San Jose State (Dec. 24, 10:30, TSN+/specialty pack) – Coastal has had a great run recently so this season feels…a little blah by their now lofty standards. Much of that has to do with the rest of the conference catching up and, for some teams, passing them. I honestly have no real intuition about this game so I will pick the team that doesn’t have to travel clear across the entire country and then half the Pacific Ocean. My pick: San Jose State 45 Coastal Carolina 24.

New Orleans Bowl – Louisiana vs. Jacksonville State (Dec. 16, 2:15, TSN+/specialty pack) – The Ragin’ Cajuns are close to home where they have played in front of some good bowl game crowds at the Superdome. But the Gamecocks are playing in their first bowl game ever and are doing it with RichRod at the helm! No offense to Cajun fans but I have to go with my heart. My pick: Jacksonville State 36 Louisiana 28.

Military Bowl – Virginia Tech vs. Tulane (Dec. 27, 2:00, TSN5) – I am shocked at how well the Hokies did this season. And I was so close at getting my G-5 NY6 pick correct but the Green Wave fell in the American Conference Championship. I usually don’t feel good about teams whose coaches have left for (usually) greener pastures but I think this will be a very close and competitive game. My pick: Tulane 30 Virginia Tech 29.

The CW Tier

When it was announced The CW would be doing an ACC game most weeks, most laughed. I sure did. But holy shit, despite the average commentary, the sub-HD look and the overall lack of production values, they had a few games that hit it out of the park. So you can’t sleep on this station because you might miss a really good game!

Pinstripe Bowl – Rutgers vs. Miami (Dec. 28, 2:15, TSN3) – Ah, an old Big East showdown. Maybe years from now, when conferences hit 28 teams, some teams start to hate it and they break off into smaller conferences, like the Big East. Just a thought. I don’t trust Mario Cristobal to coach this team to a bowl victory as far as I can throw my car. My pick: Rutgers 34 Miami 19.

First Responder Bowl – Rice vs. Texas State (Dec. 26, 5:30, TSN2) – G.J. Kinne has done a fantastic job in San Marcos, coaching the team to its first bowl game ever. Rice did better than expected and could look even better next year in the AAC. This feels like the kind of game that should be on ESPNU that everyone will turn to because there’s the possibility of a fantastic finish. My pick: Texas State 45 Rice 39.

Las Vegas Bowl – Northwestern vs. Utah (Dec. 23, 7:30, ABC/TSN2) – Got to give the Wildcats kudos for a great season considering what things were looking like heading into it. But they are facing a Utah team that, if it weren’t for injuries, would have been in that super dogfight at the top of the Pac-12. I still think the Utes on most nights are safe pick and this is no exception. My pick: Utah 31 Northwestern 10.

Myrtle Beach Bowl – Georgia Southern vs. Ohio (Dec. 16, 11:00 AM, TSN+/specialty pack) – Ohio has Canadian quarterback Kurtis Rourke here so…wait…they don’t? Looks like Rourke entered the transfer portal and has already been picked up by Indiana of all the teams. So my Bobcats pick has to be changed to an Eagles pick since without Rourke I don’t think they have a shot here. My pick: Georgia Southern 32 Ohio 13.

Frisco Bowl – UTSA vs. Marshall (Dec. 19, 9:00, TSN3) – This is the same spot the Frisco Bowl was in last year. So yeah it’s not like they are getting amazing teams to come to Frisco (other than North Dakota State most seasons). At least it’s another Texas team here as the Roadrunners meep their way up the state to face the Thundering Herd. I see Frank Harris, in what his finally his final game, lighting it up one last time. My pick: UTSA 51 Marshall 27.

The Pac-12 Network Tier

They should have taken the two worst teams in football and had them play a “bowl game” on a weeknight at 11 Eastern on the Pac-12 Network. Just to show how little that conference network mattered. I don’t get it. You create a conference network and make it available to most people and people will watch. Hell, the Longhorn Network is still around and that thing is garbage. Yet, this network will die sometime in the late Spring (I assume) and pretty much no one will miss it because they COULDN’T FUCKING WATCH IT! Man. Anyway, this is the bottom tier. Still games I will watch but if you miss them it’s not the end of the world (at least watch the highlights though).

Famous Toastery Bowl – Old Dominion vs. WKU (Dec. 18, 2:30, TSN1/3) – This was supposed to be the Bahamas Bowl but because of renovations to their only stadium on the island capable of hosting this game, it had to be moved. Thus is the creation of the Famous Toastery Bowl. My hope is that the winning coach gets a whole whack of toast dumped on him. Or even French toast. Ugh that would be so sticky (especially if you include syrup which you should) but would be worth it for my entertainment. The game? It will probably be close only because these two are arguably the worst two teams to make bowl season. The closeness keeps it from the bottom. My pick: Old Dominion 23 WKU 20.

Camellia Bowl – Arkansas State vs. Northern Illinois (Dec. 23, Noon, TSN+/specialty pack) – Despite the fact ASU has done better than I thought they would this season, their defense is still atrocious. They couldn’t stop a slight breeze. NIU loves to run the ball so despite the clock always moving this could see a lot of points. My pick: Northern Illinois 50 Arkansas State 38.

Idaho Potato Bowl – Utah State vs. Georgia State (Dec. 23, 3:30, TSN+/specialty pack) – Let’s follow one lowly bowl with another. Sometimes Boise gets a great matchup. This, I’m sure, does not qualify as one. GSU limped into the postseason on a 5-game losing streak. Make it six. My pick: Utah State 37 Georgia State 13.

Quick Lane Bowl – Minnesota vs. Bowling Green (Dec. 26, 2:00, TSN2) – Almost everything about this spot on the list is the same as last year. Same bowl. Bowling Green is in it. It’s on Boxing Day. Hell, it’s on a TSN station and only half-an-hour earlier than last year’s edition. Kind of creepy. I remember a time when the MAC champion would go here and face a fairly decent Big Ten team. I guess those days are gone. My pick: Minnesota 21 Bowling Green 14.

Boca Raton Bowl – Syracuse vs. USF (Dec. 21, 8:00, TSN+/specialty pack) – USF might get a boost from being so close to home. That is until their defense hits the field and they have to try to stop the pass which they couldn’t all season. Look, their game against Alabama was wild and fun to watch but Bama struggled to throw the ball all day. Syracuse won’t. My pick: Syracuse 45 USF 14.

68 Ventures Bowl – South Alabama vs. Eastern Michigan (Dec. 23, 7:00, TSN+/specialty pack) – Different name, same shitty bowl game. This is the second straight year the former LendingTree Bowl ends up in the bottom spot on my list. Even the Jag-you-ares playing in front of a home crowd isn’t enough to pull this out from the bottom rung of the ladder. I like EMU but this won’t be even remotely close. My pick: South Alabama 44 Eastern Michigan 9.

There you go! Bowl schedule, bowl rankings, bowl predictions: all complete. All there is now to do is watch the games.

As an add-on, there are some lower-level playoff games. Hell, let’s do another mini-schedule right here!

FCS Semi-Final: UAlbany at South Dakota State	Friday, 7:00
Division III Championship: Cortland vs. North Central (in Salem, VA)	Friday, 7:00
Celebration Bowl: Howard vs. Florida A&M (in Atlanta)	Saturday, Noon
Division II Championship: Harding vs. Colorado School of Mines (in McKinney, TX)	Saturday, 1:00
FCS Semi-Final: North Dakota State at Montana	Saturday, 4:30

All of these games are on TSN+ and the specialty pack except for the Celebration Bowl which goes to ABC.

It looks like other than one game, your boy Bossman can watch every game if he wishes. I most definitely will, thank you very much. And you too…enjoy the games. We’re almost ready to wrap up this season of college football season so get as much viewing in as you can.

You asked for it (I think). So here it is. The 2023 Bowl Game TV Schedule in HIGH DEFINITION!!!

Posted on December 13, 2023 by guelphbossman

Does anyone say that anymore? That something is in high definition (or the now-even cringier term, High Def)? Feels very 2008-ish.

TSN seems to always deliver during bowl season. It’s funny how they absolutely don’t deliver at all during the rest of the season but with TSN+ they now have their very own built-in excuse to not have many games on the main five stations. Now, as I say every year, the TSN portion of the schedule could change so keep coming back for any updates.

Let’s not waste any more time. Bowl schedule. NOW!

Saturday December 16th

Myrtle Beach Bowl: Georgia Southern vs. Ohio

11:00 AM

Thanks to issues with the Bahamas Bowl (that will be explained below if you don’t already know) Bowl Season begins on the eastern coast of South Carolina. This game pits two teams who were kind of forgotten in their conferences this season but quietly put together good seasons. Should be a good start to the college football postseason on the teal turf in Conway.

It feels like many times this game features one team that could have caused some damage in the FCS playoffs and one team that scraped their way into this game. This year’s edition is no different. Florida A&M ran roughshod through most of its opponents whereas Howard barely won the MEAC. And as it usually happens, the not-so-good team gives the really good a team a run for their money and sometimes ends up winning. So don’t necessarily think this will be a blowout.

New Orleans Bowl: Louisiana vs. Jacksonville State

2:15

Opening bowl day brings the return of RichRod to postseason competition. With the Cajuns already being there, this should at least have a raucous crowd and really, that’s a big part of the bowl experience. It’s great to see a bowl game with a great crowd as it just continues to prove that most of these bowl games mean something.

What used to be the worst bowl game matchup almost every season is now being shown on ABC on opening bowl day. Great turnaround for the Cure Bowl for sure. I think we need to have more bowl games set up like this: where a good portion of the money goes to some sort of charity or towards some type of research. I think this way we can decrease the amount of people who think there are too many bowl games. I mean there will always be some that will hate it. I see their point but it’s more football. Would you prefer to take 35 minutes to find something worth watching on Netflix or Amazon Prime or would you rather watch LIVE FOOTBALL? It really shouldn’t be a choice to be honest (at least if you read this blog).

New Mexico Bowl: Fresno State vs. New Mexico State

5:45

Time to watch America’s Team in this one. No, the Dallas Cowboys aren’t playing (and no, they aren’t America’s team and haven’t been since a year that started with a 1). The New Mexico State Aggies, coached by, arguably, the best coach in the land Jerry Kill, is now America’s Team. That’s unfortunate for the Fresno State Bulldogs who won’t have their head coach, Jeff Tedford, on the sideline. They have to face the Aggies in almost a quasi-home game for them. I want to say this won’t be close but the Bulldogs are pretty good so at the very least you should see a good game here. America’s Team. Now you know. And knowing’s half the battle…………………………………………GI JOE!!!!!!

For once, the Broncos had to grind to get to a bowl game. 5-5 with their head coach being shitcanned and they somehow win the Mountain West Championship. But now with no potential Chip Kelly drama, this game loses a lot of spots in the rankings.

Independence Bowl: Texas Tech vs. California