Coaching Carousel Time! And the Week 12 College Football TV Schedule

Posted on November 14, 2023 by guelphbossman

Yeah it’s that time of the year. The coaching carousel has begun! And what I am going to do this time around is actually compare it to my start-of-the-year predictions. I mean what could go wrong, right?

Let’s look at who has already been shown the door. Jimbo Fisher, Andy Avalos, Zach Arnett and now soon-to-be-retired Brady Hoke…none of who were on my list. Great start, Bossman. Mel Tucker was on my list in the Doubtful Shitcanning section although even I couldn’t think that the way he went out would be the way he went out. What a fucking perv. As for who is currently on the hot seat and was on my list?

Neal Brown. Now Neal probably just has to win one of his final two games to secure his job for next season. Lose both those games and end up 6-6? That would be an interesting conversation.
Dana Holgorsen. You can give them a bit of slack as they stepped up their competition by joining the Big XII. But Drunk Uncle Dana has been a hot seat regular for a while now and at some point he’s either got to prove he’s still the guy or find a coordinator position somewhere.
Danny Gonzales. One of the toughest places to be an FBS head coach, Gonzales probably would have been safe for another year. But with New Mexico State doing so well, some in the New Mexico athletic department might wonder if they should try someone else at the helm.
Tom Allen. It’s pretty damn obvious now that the 2020 season was an anomaly and that the Hoosiers are barely treading water with Allen. I doubt he makes it to 2024.

I really don’t want to talk much about certain coaches appearing my list. Guys like Jeff Hafley or Scot Loeffler or Shawn Elliott or Greg Schiano or Brent Pry or Mike Bloomgren and definitely not Eliah Drinkwitz. Nope. Got nothing. So let’s just move on and stop talking about my hot seat list, ALRIGHT ALREADY?

Ok calm down Bossman. Time to give the people what they want: hot, nasty college football TV schedules for Canadians who enjoy watching college football on their television sets.

Tuesday

		US	Canada
Akron at Eastern Michigan	7:00
Toledo at Bowling Green	7:00
Western Michigan at Northern Illinois	7:00

Toledo has already clinched a spot in the MAC Championship. Now we are looking at bowl eligibility battles. Eastern Michigan has to beat the Zips to stay alive for a bowl game. And the WMU-NIU game is a Loser Won’t Go Bowling matchup. Big stakes on MACtion Tuesday.

Wednesday

		US	Canada
Buffalo at Miami-OH	7:00
Central Michigan at Ohio	7:00

The Redhawks clinch the MAC East with a victory here and will get their rematch with Toledo in Detroit in December. And the Chippewas become bowl-eligible if they can somehow beat Ohio. Another important MACtion evening.

Thursday

		US	Canada
Boston College at Pittsburgh	7:00

Yeah this is about as unimportant a weeknight slate as you can get. One game. No stakes. Meh.

Friday

		US	Canada
USF at UTSA	9:00

This, on the other hand, is a much more important night. Both teams with a lot to play for and USF is definitely not the USF of recent years (as we could see from their near-upset of Alabama earlier in the season).

Saturday Early

A pretty heavy early slate with two ESPN+ games appearing on TSN+. I can see that being a feature all next season. As for the important games in this window I count one big one. The Mustangs and Tigers face off in a matchup that essentially eliminates the loser but doesn’t automatically guarantee the winner a spot in the American Championship. Everything else is kind of meh, although the Sooners could keep up their hopes of one final Big XII Championship appearance in JerryWorld. Finally, the annual Harvard-Yale game appears in this timeslot as per usual.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
#22 Utah at #17 Arizona	2:30
Duke at Virginia	3:00
UCLA at USC	3:30
NC State at Virginia Tech	3:30
#1 Georgia at #18 Tennessee	3:30
UNLV at Air Force	3:30
#20 North Carolina at Clemson	3:30
Bethune-Cookman vs. Florida A&M (in Orlando)	3:30
Wake Forest at #19 Notre Dame	3:30
Louisiana at Troy	3:30
Minnesota at #2 Ohio State	4:00
#23 Oklahoma State at Houston	4:00
#6 Oregon at Arizona State	4:00
New Mexico State at Auburn	4:00

UGA-UT is the big one, obviously, here. A lot of other choice with a lot of other teams looking to stay near the top of the rankings. Oregon, tOSU, and Utah are in must-win mode if they want to keep any CFP or even NY6 possibilities alive. Also, the Rebels of Nevada-Las Vegas play in what could be considered the biggest football game in school history. A win here and they all but clinch a spot in the conference title game. And this is something I never thought of. If UNLV is the #1 team, will they play at home? That game would be about 16 hours after the end of the Pac-12 Championship which is already being played at Allegiant Stadium (which I think is a dumb idea but that’s for another post). So the turnaround would be crazy for the stadium crew.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
North Alabama at #4 Florida State	6:30
California at Stanford	6:30
Boise State at Utah State	7:00
#5 Washington at #11 Oregon State	7:30
Florida at #9 Missouri	7:30
FIU at Arkansas	7:30
Nebraska at Wisconsin	7:30
Kentucky at South Carolina	7:30
Syracuse at Georgia Tech	8:00
Georgia State at #15 LSU	8:00
#7 Texas at Iowa State	8:00

Speaking of big games, U-Dub has to try and win in one of the toughest small stadiums to win in, Reser Stadium in Corvallis. Lose and the Pac-12 is all but done in the College Football Playoff race and it opens up a bevy of possibilities to replace the Huskies at the top. The Longhorns are trying to do what the Sooners are also trying to do: give the Big XII one last Fuck You before leaving for the SEC by playing for their conference championship. And finally, you are not seeing things. It is true. A god damn CW DOUBLEHEADER! I hate to admit that the CW has delivered but it has. It has had some great games which has made up for some sub-par production values.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
San Diego State at San Jose State	10:30

Yeah. You could probably go to bed early if you wanted.

Hey, Watch This

Washington at Oregon State (7:30, ABC/TSN2) – I think it’s been a long time since the Beavers have been in the Game of the Week. And I would honestly call this Game 1A since you could easily switch it with the next game on this list and no one would bat an eye. I just think this game has the possibility of being much closer than the other one. The Huskies put themselves in the Pac-12 Championship with a win in Corvallis but Oregon State could put the entire college football world on its head if they pull off the upset.

Georgia at Tennessee (3:30, CBS) – One of the final SEC on CBS games ever and it’s a huge one. If this game was Between the Hedges it wouldn’t be this high. But this game is on the shores of the Tennessee River and it will be one of the loudest Neyland Stadium crowds in recent memory. Another game where an upset is not crazy talk and it would also cause absolute chaos at the top of the college football food chain.

Utah at Arizona (2:30, Pac-12 Network) – Jesus Christ who made the call to get this game on the fucking Pac-12 Network? Well at least us Canadians have an easy time of getting it. Hop on YouTube and search for the Pac-12 Network channel and you’re good to go. Americans…well, they have a much tougher time if it’s not a part of their cable package. What a dumb network. Anyway, both teams have outside chances of getting to the Pac-12 Championship but they would need a lot to happen. A win here isn’t enough. Also, you have to be impressed with the job Jedd Fisch has done in Tucson. This team could be a force in the expanded Big XII next season.

Kansas State at Kansas (7:00, FOX Sports One) – Man, you know it’s kind of a fucked week when two of the top four games are on the Pac-12 Network and FS1. So yeah, can’t see this one if you are a Canadian unless you have other means. I have IPTV. There are also many streams out there to watch. Go find one. Shouldn’t be too hard. Plus, this should be the best Sunflower Showdown maybe ever. Has there been one where both teams were ranked? I don’t think so. Plus, the Wildcats have extra incentive here as they have an outside shot at spoiling a potential Texas-Oklahoma conference championship if they can win here.

Sickos Game of the Week

Michigan State at Indiana (Noon, Big Ten Network) – There are quite a few options for this spot but I will give it to a Big Ten game for once. Here are two terrible teams who will probably have a terrible game that will somehow be close near the end. Think 13-10 which means you almost have to watch because the finish could be spectacular. I almost feel dirty watching games like that.

Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week

Chattanooga at Alabama (Noon, TSN+) – Once I saw TSN+ was showing this game I knew which game would go in this section. This will be over by halftime. The question is how long does Nick Saban leave Jalen Milroe in.

Wanna Bet?

How about we look back at my picks from last week………..alright, maybe not. I mean I got my first upset pick right with Southern Miss and then it went downhill from there. Stupid Penn State. Anyway, let’s get going with this week’s pickaroos…that sounded dumb.

Miami-OH 31 Buffalo 28

Michigan 42 Maryland 10

Ole Miss 48 ULM 20

Utah 40 Arizona 19

Duke 38 Virginia 24

Tennessee 31 Georgia 27 (yes, I am calling this massive upset)

USC 36 UCLA 26

Ohio State 51 Minnesota 16

Oregon 59 Arizona State 24

South Carolina 42 Kentucky 37

Oregon State 46 Washington 35 (yep, going out on a limb again)

Missouri 41 Florida 20

San Jose State 34 San Diego State 28

Look, normally I am up into the wee hours of the morning watching college football. And I rarely miss games. Well, rarely miss full ones. But I am looking at the Saturday late night sked and asking myself “Bossman, do you really need to watch this game?” The answer is obviously no but I have to convince my brain that that is the correct answer. We shall see how it goes this Saturday. Enjoy the games everyone!

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

Posted on September 14, 2023 by guelphbossman

Nothing, really.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thursday

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

Friday

		US	Canada
Army at UTSA	7:00
Utah State at Air Force	8:00

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

Saturday Early

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

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
VMI at NC State	2:00
Weber State at #12 Utah	2:00
#10 Alabama at USF	3:30
Northwestern at #21 Duke	3:30
Western Michigan at #25 Iowa	3:30
Virginia Tech at Rutgers	3:30
South Carolina at #1 Georgia	3:30
FIU at UConn	3:30
Minnesota at #20 North Carolina	3:30
East Carolina at Appalachian State	3:30
#19 Oklahoma at Tulsa	3:30
Tulane at Southern Miss	4:00
WKU at #6 Ohio State	4:00
ULM at Texas A&M	4:00
NC Central at #24 UCLA	5:00

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

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

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Vanderbilt at UNLV	7:00
#11 Tennessee at Florida	7:00
James Madison at Troy	7:00
Pittsburgh at West Virginia	7:30
Bowling Green at #2 Michigan	7:30
BYU at Arkansas	7:30
Akron at Kentucky	7:30
Syracuse at Purdue	7:30
Georgia Tech at #17 Ole Miss	7:30
FAU at Clemson	8:00
TCU at Houston	8:00
Wyoming at #4 Texas	8:00
Hawaii at #13 Oregon	8:00

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

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
Colorado State at #18 Colorado	10:00
Kansas at Nevada	10:30
UTEP at Arizona	11:00

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

Hey, Watch This!

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

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

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

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

Sickos Game of the Week

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

Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week

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

Wanna Bet?

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

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

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

LSU (-9.5) over Mississippi State

UConn (-7) over FIU

North Carolina (-7.5) over Minnesota

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

Tulane (-13) over Southern Miss

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

Vanderbilt (-4.5) over UNLV

Michigan (-40.5) over Bowling Green

Clemson (-24.5) over FAU

Oregon (-38) over Hawaii

Colorado (-23) over Colorado State

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

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

Bowl Games? Yep. New Year’s Six? Sure. College Football Playoff? Uh-huh. Coaching Hot Seat List? Why not? My Heisman Ballot? I mean, if you have to…

Posted on August 8, 2023 by guelphbossman

Hey remember last year when I dumped all that stuff I mentioned above into one post? Guess what I’m doing again.

Look, you could say that it would take the same amount of time to put all this in separate posts. And you’d be wrong. These tags don’t just create themselves. Although if there is a way to do tags automatically I would feel like a big fucking moron. Oh well, I’m just going to keep on living thinking I have to type in all the pertinent tags to this post. Ignorance is bliss!

Let’s start with some postseason predictions. You read the two posts where I predicted the standings for all the conferences (and those four mangy Independents). At least I hope you did. If not, you might want to so it can prepare you for this because, ho boy, this could cause some people to think twice about my mental capacity. We begin with the top of the mountain, the College Football Playoff. Here is what I think the semi-finals will look like along with the rankings of the teams involved:

January 1st	Sugar Bowl	#1 Georgia	#4 Florida State
January 1st	Rose Bowl	#2 Michigan	#3 Alabama

Am I close to the experts’ picks? I don’t really know. I think Georgia is the easiest call here but the road to get there isn’t easy. Their regular season loss to Tennessee means they had to beat Alabama in the SEC Championship to be in the Top 4. I believe they do. I also believe Bama, being #1 going into conference championship weekend, wouldn’t fall four spots on a single loss to one of the best teams in the nation. So they stay in at #3 which I am sure will cause a ton of people to become irrational and use Twitter as a ridiculous sounding board and causing people to not want to talk about college football. Sorry…use X as a ridiculous sounding board and cause people to not want to talk about college football on social media. X. What a dumb fucking name. Anyway, Michigan should get in with a in in the Big Ten Championship, even if it is over a Minnesota team that would be near the bottom of the Top 25 going in. Finally, remember what I said about the Tide? Triple that hatred for this one. Florida State, I predict, will beat Clemson for the ACC title. The Tigers would come in to the game at #2 and FSU would be #5. I have the Noles moving up a spot and the Tigers being that one-loss team that loses out in this bunch. The amount of venom spewed by college football media and fans about this, rightly or wrongly, would be way over the top. I think it would be the first time (and would be the only time) that a team goes into conference championship weekend undefeated, loses, and tumbles out of the College Football Playoff when the smoke clears. And because of that, I hope this, or something like this happens because we need a ton of chaos for the final four-team CFP ever.

Now we go to the next tier down: the New Year’s Six. The final New Year’s Six. I would shed a tear but it feels like it’s hardly been around long enough:

January 1st	Fiesta Bowl	#9 USC	#11 Ohio State
December 30th	Orange Bowl	#5 Clemson	#7 Tennessee
December 30th	Peach Bowl	#8 Penn State	#10 Notre Dame
December 29th	Cotton Bowl	#6 Texas	#14 UTSA

Do the games look interesting? Absolutely. Could there be some debate as to who is here, who isn’t and where everyone should go (and how they get there)? Absolutely. Am I backing down from these predictions? Absolutely not. I mean if this was the 12-team playoff, I am sure people would debate that as well but you can’t tell me none of these teams would be worthy of being there. That’s crazy. “Durr, Texas doesn’t deserve to be there. They won’t even be bowl-eligible.” Yeah go fuck yourself if you think that. That’s just plain dumb.

Alright, enough anger, more analysis. Let’s start with Clemson since that’s the easiest one to explain. They were #2 and undefeated, lost to Florida State in the ACC Championship, so they get the Orange Bowl spot reserved for the top ACC team remaining. Simple. The Pac-12, in their final unglorious season, will again beat each other up making it impossible for one team to come out unscathed. So the ninth-ranked Trojans will head to the Fiesta Bowl after winning the Pac-12 title. Ohio State slots in as their opponent although it could easily be Penn State. The reasoning here is that tOSU already plays Notre Dame during the season and it makes more sense for USC to play in Phoenix than Penn State for bowl season. Those Longhorns I mentioned? They go off into the sunset, leaving the Big XII as conference champions. It puts them in the Cotton Bowl against the best Group of Five team. I think Tulane almost runs the table during the regular season and gets a pretty healthy lead in the rankings over the next best teams, UTSA and Boise State. The Roadrunners’ win in the AAC Championship would trump anything the Broncos do and, should be enough to leapfrog the Green Wave to sneak into the final NY6 spot. Let’s be honest here: Texas-UTSA at AT&T Stadium for the Cotton Bowl is an instant sellout, no doubt about it.

Now for the rest of the bowl extravaganza:

January 1st	Citrus Bowl	#12 LSU	Minnesota
January 1st	ReliaQuest Bowl	#20 South Carolina	Michigan State
December 30th	Arizona Bowl	San Diego State	Toledo
December 30th	Music City Bowl	Ole Miss	#17 Iowa
December 29th	Liberty Bowl	Texas A&M	#16 TCU
December 29th	Sun Bowl	Duke	#24 Utah
December 29th	Gator Bowl	Kentucky	#21 North Carolina
December 28th	Alamo Bowl	#19 Kansas State	#18 Oregon
December 28th	Pop Tarts Bowl	Pittsburgh	Oklahoma
December 28th	Pinstripe Bowl	Maryland	Louisville
December 28th	Fenway Bowl	Syracuse	FAU
December 27th	Texas Bowl	Arkansas	Baylor
December 27th	Holiday Bowl	Miami	#13 Oregon State
December 27th	Duke’s Mayo Bowl	Wake Forest	Auburn
December 27th	Military Bowl	NC State	#15 Tulane
December 26th	Guaranteed Rate Bowl	San Jose State	Oklahoma State
December 26th	First Responder Bowl	UCF	East Carolina
December 26th	Quick Lane Bowl	Illinois	Ohio
December 23rd	Hawaii Bowl	SMU	Fresno State
December 23rd	Las Vegas Bowl	#23 Wisconsin	Washington State
December 23rd	68 Ventures Bowl	South Alabama	Middle Tennessee
December 23rd	Idaho Potato Bowl	Air Force	Miami-OH
December 23rd	Armed Forces Bowl	Kansas	UTEP
December 23rd	Birmingham Bowl	Mississippi State	North Texas
December 23rd	Camellia Bowl	Appalachian State	New Mexico State
December 22nd	Gasparilla Bowl	UCLA	James Madison
December 21st	Boca Raton Bowl	Coastal Carolina	UConn
December 19th	Frisco Bowl	Marshall	Navy
December 18th	Myrtle Beach Bowl	Southern Miss	Buffalo
December 16th	Independence Bowl	Texas Tech	Memphis
December 16th	LA Bowl	#22 Washington	#25 Boise State
December 16th	New Mexico Bowl	Wyoming	Louisiana
December 16th	Cure Bowl	Army	Georgia Southern
December 16th	New Orleans Bowl	Troy	WKU
December 16th	Bahamas Bowl	Eastern Michigan	Liberty

That is a lot of bowl games. I am not complaining. I am fully embracing the Sickos mentality of all football is good football. Even arena football if you can believe it! And why am I not complaining? Because I am desperate for the season to start. Talk to me in mid-December and I may have a slightly different answer. Some notes on these bowl games:

The teams that juuuuuuust missed out on the New Year’s Six train to nowhere include LSU, Oregon State, Tulane and TCU.
Quite a few teams would be playing close to home, including Mississippi State travelling to relatively close by Birmingham, Air Force with a not-so-long drive north into Idaho, South Alabama playing exactly 0 kilometres from their home stadium in the renamed 68 Ventures Bowl, Ohio venturing into hostile territory to play in the Quick Lane Bowl and Wake Forest making their way to hopefully get their coach dumped with mayo in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl.
Hey remember what I said two posts ago about James Madison and a surprise for their fans? I know that was a lot of reading ago. Look, there won’t be enough teams to satisfy all the bowl slots. I have a feeling that will be a trend going forward. And because of that, the Dukes will have the opportunity to go to a bowl if they are invited before the team with the best APR score. And I’m sure at least one bowl would do that since JMU should be good once again this season. Man, do I ever hate the transition rule. I get the first year coming up that you shouldn’t qualify for anything. Get your feet wet. Sure. Longer than that is just the NCAA being insufferable dicks and not updating policies that are over 50 years old.
As for those 5-7 teams making bowls they would be Georgia Southern, Buffalo, and Navy (which would kill my scenario for the Army-Navy Game).

I guess I should mention who I think will win the whole thing. Well, I’ve got Georgia beating Florida State and Michigan beating Bama in the semis and then the Wolverines ending the three-peat talk by beating the Dawgs in Houston for the title. Then Khaki Jim can ride off into the sunset…that sunset being back to the NFL.

Well look who is back in the FBS. Rich God Damn Rodriguez! He is at the helm of one of FBS’s newest teams, the Jacksonville State Gamecocks. I’m sure it won’t be an amazing season for the team but man, who thought he would be back at the top level of college football? Probably a few although I wondered if he was basically done being a head coach at this level. Shows what I know.

Hey, hey it’s HOT SEAT TIME! Last year my top two were jettisoned and Herm got an all-timer of an on-field shitcanning. I am still surprised some made it to this season (I am looking at you Mike Bloomgren) but all in all this list is a list I am actually proud of since I actually do well at it, as morbid as that sounds.

Alright let’s get to the list. Going with the new categorizations as well this time around. Let’s go!

Almost Guaranteed Shitcanning

Neal Brown (West Virginia) – He was #3 on my list last season and I honestly don’t know how he is still employed in Morgantown. And it’s not like things are looking super rosy there. Needed to keep his job – Honestly? A fucking miracle. Prediction – A mid-to-late-season shitcanning and no job next year as he starts quite a few rungs down the ladder in 2025.
Danny Gonzales (New Mexico) – Now let’s head to the southwest and a place that is very difficult to win at. Other than Rocky Long I don’t think anyone has really done anything of note in Albuquerque. The problem becomes how long do you give a coach a chance to win at a place where victories are at a premium? Honestly, Gonzales would be lower down the list if it wasn’t for what Jerry Kill did down the road in Las Cruces last year. Needed to keep his job – Vying for a bowl spot in the final two weeks of the regular season. Prediction – Near the bottom of the Mountain West pecking order yet again and maybe even a late-season firing.
Dana Holgorsen (Houston) – Look, Drunk Uncle Dana is entertaining. But the shtick gets old. And if they are as mediocre as I believe they will be in their first year in the Big XII, it’ll be lights out for Holgorsen. Needed to keep his job – Bowl eligibility, period. Prediction – I don’t think they will even have a shot at a bowl game in the final week of the season meaning Dana’s fate will be pretty much sealed by that point.
Eliah Drinkwitz (Missouri) – I don’t like harping on a guy’s looks but this guy looks more like Milton from Office Space than a college football head coach. Which is perfectly fine…if you win. This guy has hovered around .500 since coming to CoMo and I think a year under .500 would be the final straw. Needed to keep his job – At least a .500 record if not an upset or two inside the SEC. Prediction – I see him falling one game short of his goal and the athletic department feeling like they have to make a move now rather than wait.
Mike Neu (Ball State) – Neu has had his moments at Ball State but really hasn’t rose above an also-ran in the MAC. The Cardinals seem to consistently sit near the bottom of the MAC West which gives plenty of reason for a coach to get jettisoned. Needed to keep his job – Bowl eligibility. That’s it, that’s all. Prediction – I can’t see them winning more than four games this season so expect him to be the most likely MAC head coach to be fired first.

Probable Shitcanning

Ricky Rahne (Old Dominion) – Rahne really has not been able to recreate some of the magic that his predecessor, Bobby Wilder, had. I’m not saying the Monarchs were great under Wilder: but they were fun to watch and competed hard. Haven’t seen as much of that under Double R. Needed to keep his job – Be competitive and play some meaningful November football. Prediction – Quite possibly the worst Group of Five team and a tough decision to be made by the athletic director.
Tom Allen (Indiana) – Where are the 2020 Indiana Hoosiers? We can finally say that that version of the team was a complete aberration which sucks for their fans. Allen really is on borrowed time but there is the slight possibility he is kept on when the brand-new Big Ten starts next season without divisions. A SLIGHT possibility. Needed to keep his job – 4 or even 5 wins and looking more competitive against some better Big Ten teams. Prediction – 3 wins and a quiet exit (for Tom).
Mike Bloomgren (Rice) – The bloom comes off the rose yadda, yadda, yadda. One of these years I am going to be right about this guy. Not that I want to be: I am just genuinely befuddled as to why this guy is still the head coach at Rice. Needed to keep his job – Not looking like a punching bag moving up to the American Conference. Prediction – Four wins which isn’t bad but some bad losses inside the conference and finally his removal from the sidelines.

Possible Shitcanning

Billy Napier (Florida) – Napier suffers from the fact that even if the previous few coaches have ended up as disasters they had their successes as well. He hasn’t done anything and the Gators were barely bowl-eligible with a supposed franchise quarterback under centre. Now it’s a step back. It comes down to how far of a step back he will be allowed. Needed to keep his job – Bowl eligibility should do the trick. Prediction – I have them missing out on the postseason so there should be plenty of angry fans in Gainesville.
Brent Pry (Virginia Tech) – Poor Brent. Last season wasn’t too bad when he took over the Hokies. This season on the other hand…I don’t see good things in Blacksburg. Maybe I’ll be wrong (and lord knows I have been wrong in the past) but if it’s as tough a season as I think it will be for VaTech, Pry might be fine with being done as head coach. Needed to keep his job – Some improvement over last year. Prediction – I have the Hokies winning only one game this season. One. That is not improvement. At all.
Greg Schiano (Rutgers) – I don’t know where Rutgers goes from here. They’ve had a tough slog since joining the Big Ten. They are the butt of pretty much every realignment joke and meme. And I’m not sure firing Schiano, their best coach ever, will fix anything. But at some point, changes have to be made to at least try and improve. Needed to keep his job – At least 4 wins but more to be competitive inside the Big Ten. Prediction – 4 wins but the competitiveness part…yeah I don’t know about that.
Terry Bowden (ULM) – Same spot for Terry as last year. I honestly don’t know the end game for all of this. I can’t see him coaching the Warhawks into being a top notch Sun Belt team. Is he grooming the next head coach? It’s very confusing. That’s why I put him here and not higher up the list. Needed to keep his job – Have a better record than last year and put a scare into a few of the better Sun Belt teams. Prediction – Last year I predicted one win for them. This year it’s two. Something has to give at some point.
Shawn Elliott (Georgia State) – Look, it’s not like Georgia State is a destination coaching spot. Saying that, the Sun Belt has become a lot tougher over the past half-a-decade. So if you’re not moving forward, you’re falling further behind. And this is what it feels like with Georgia State. They aren’t getting worst but they aren’t improving and quite a few teams are leaving them in their dust. Needed to keep his job – Competitive football in November and possibility for bowl eligibility during the final week. Prediction – I have them at 4 wins this season so this could be an interesting off-season decision in Atlanta.
Scot Loeffler (Bowling Green) – This is Scott (with one T)’s fifth season at Bowling Green. I don’t know why that surprises me but it does. The Falcons really haven’t done anything other than sneak into one bowl game in his tenure. It is, however, Bowling Green so the expeectations are a lot lower here. At some point, though, thre has to be some semblance of results and this guy just isn’t delivering. Needed to keep his job – Bowl eligibility and looking like a contender in the MAC East. Prediction – No bowl game and they won’t look like a contender. Saying that, he may still be around for 2024 but on a very short leash.
Jeff Hafley (Boston College) – It has been a struggle on the Hill for Hafley and with no divisions there’s nowhere really to hide now in the ACC. The lack of success over the past decade-plus could be what keeps Hafley on for 2024. Needed to keep his job – 5 wins and having a shot at a bowl on the final weekend. Prediction – 5 wins and they will have two shots to claim bowl eligibilty and will fail at both but it will be enough for another year with Hafley.

Doubtful Shitcanning (although it still could happen)

Justin Wilcox (California) – Wilcox might not have to worry if Cal just shuts down the entire program. I’m only half-joking with that sentence. I think the athletic department has much bigger things to worry about right now. Meaning if Wilcox is fired it might be done by text. Needed to keep his job – Possible bowl contention. Prediction – They aren’t going to a bowl game and it looks like, for now, they have to be thinking about filling a schedule for 2024 more than dealing with their below-average head coach.
Mel Tucker (Michigan State) – Tucks signed for a lot of money to coach in East Lansing so last year better be an aberration. Let’s be honest: even with being in arguably the toughest division in college football, the Spartans will be much improved this season. Shouldn’t be much of a worry here unless they come out of the gate VERY slowly. Needed to keep his job – Probably 7 wins. Prediction – He will get them to 7 and maybe, just maybe, they will put a scare into one of the top three teams in the division.
Dana Dimel (UTEP) – Dimel must have been thanking his lucky stars once he saw the exodus from Conference USA. Having a few newcomers join makes things a bit easier for the Miners this year and gives Dimel one more year, almost certainly, on the job. Next season? Who knows. Needed to keep his job – Fighting for bowl eligibility during the final weekend. Prediction – They should be bowl eligible in early November so the pressure will be off…for now.
Thomas Hammock (Northern Illinois) – It feels like every other year at NIU things look good. And then every other year things look bad. And so forth. So it should be good this year in Dekalb, no?. Needed to keep his job – Look like a contender in the MAC West. Prediction – I have them at five wins so maybe they will shock me?
Don Brown (UMass) – Probably the toughest job for a head coach in FBS is being the head man at UMass. I have said for years now that the Minutemen should just drop to the FCS. I still think they should but I do understand the financial ramifications. Still, at some point don’t you think the fans yearn for something more than a couple of wins a season at most? Needed to keep his job – Win a game. Any game. Prediction – I think they win one game and I’m not guaranteeing it will be against their one FCS opponent. Brown should be fine going into 2024.

I think I say this ever year but I have to go back one day and really determine how good I am at this coaching hot seat list. I feel I do well and I hope the numbers would back me up. But I am used to disappointment so I am not holding my breath.

There’s a reason I don’t get a Heisman ballot. I am sure if even if I was the most prominent college football journalist in the land they would say “Sorry, Bossman, no can do.” Probably because my ballots have been mostly garbage in the past. Let’s see if I can somehow do better this year. Let’s just get to my ballot before I regret even posting this.

Bossman’s Heisman Ballot of Mediocrity

Jordan Travis, Florida State – I know everyone and their mother is picking Caleb Williams to win the Heisman. I can’t see that happening because voters almost seem to want to avoid giving any player not named Archie Griffin back-to-back Heismans and most of the time it goes to a player on a team that’s in the Top 4 (or close to it). Travis is predicted to at least go to New York for the ceremony so it’s not like I am way off here. Plus, I think his passing stats will explode as FSU hits the CFP for the first time in what feels like forever.
Caleb Williams, USC – Because I don’t have the Trojans winning the title this season or getting to the College Football Playoff is one of the main reasons I think Williams doesn’t win his second Heisman. He should be close to his passing stats from last season and at least he will make the voters think twice all year as he will never be far from the top of the Heisman hopefuls list.
Drake Maye, North Carolina – Maye is only a sophomore this season so he may be prepping for his true Heisman run in 2024. He will turn a lot of heads this season, though, with UNC battling FSU and Clemson at the top of the ACC.
Bo Nix, Oregon – Bo’s move from the SEC to the Pac-12 was huge and reinvigorated his fledgling career. Much of the Ducks’ hopes this year to win the Pac-12 in their swan song season rests on his shoulders and it is going to be a dogfight at the top. One huge game from Bo in a big conference game could put Oregon in the national title picture.
Marvin Harrison Jr., Ohio State – As long as the Buckeyes can figure out who is going to be flinging the ball over the field at quarterback, Harrison should have a monster season. There is an outside chance that he will be the #1 pick in the NFL Draft so I am sure he will be going all-out all season. As long as Ryan Day doesn’t decide to run the ball a lot more this season, Harrison is tOSU’s ticket to New York.
Michael Penix Jr., Washington – I believe that, as is the case lately, that the Pac-12 teams will beat each other up and no one will be high enough in the rankings to be in the CFP. For some players it’s not a huge issue (see: Williams, Caleb last year). For some, it’s the main reason they either don’t win the Heisman or don’t get invited to New York at all. I see Penix being one of those guys. Washington will be very good but not quite good enough and stuck in a group of six teams that are all pretty damn good this year. Playing out west doesn’t help either, despite what some may say.
J.J. McCarthy, Michigan – Here is the guy under center (centre?) who will finally push Michigan over the top this year. He won’t throw for a shit-ton of yards but it will be enough (along with this ground game) to put him in the Heisman conversation for a bit at least. A win over tOSU alone may give him the New York invite (if it was up to Michigan fans).
Quinn Ewers, Texas – Texas is probably a huge dark horse pick to win it all this year and Ewers has to be considered a bit of a dark horse Heisman cadidate. The only thing that could make this not the case is if he has a bad quarter or two and Sark gets an itchy trigger finger and puts Arch Manning in for longer than a few series.
Cade Klubnik, Clemson – The Fighting Dabos are going to be back on top…at least through the regular season. I don’t think many will be surprised with this. I’m not fully sold on Klubnik but he is an improvement on D.J. Uiagalelei and the Tigers defense will be able to pick up the slack when he struggles a bit. But those struggles will cost him a seat at the Heisman table I’m sure.
Jayden Daniels, LSU – Hey, have you ever remembred a time where the quality of the quarterbacks in the SEC has been this low? Not saying Daniels isn’t good because he is. But there are a few teams, Alabama and Georgia most notably, that have potential QB issues this season in the SEC and a few other teams that have returning quarterbacks that are honestly just above-average at best. Daniels may get some Heisman talk just because he may end up being that much better than any other QB in the conference.

Honourable Mention

Blake Corum, Michigan
Sam Hartman, Notre Dame
Joe Milton III, Tennessee
Braelon Allen, Wisconsin
Kyle McCord, Ohio State
Drew Allar, Penn State
Harold Perkins, LSU
Brock Bowers, Georgia
J.T. Tuimoloau, Ohio State

There you go. If one of those nineteen aforementioned players wins the Heisman, I will feel…well, good is not quite correct. Satisfied? Sure, let’s go with that.

The college football predictions…..they are complete! In a little less than half a year from now, I will find out how poorly I did. Gee, I can’t wait.

At some point soon I will do my lovely NFL predictions which are sure to also be not fully correct. Then…….Week…..Fucking…….ZERO!!!!!! I will have the schedule up at least a few days before the games commence. And yes, if you are looking for games on the specialty pack, don’t. Week Zero has almost never shown Week Zero games. Almost. Kind of a crapshoot with these idiotic Canadian cable companies. Enjoy your week everyone!

Oh man, here we go again

Posted on August 1, 2023 by guelphbossman

It felt like things were calm. We were all lulled into this. It was just the eye of the storm. Sure the wind wasn’t moving but about 200 metres away, a cow just went flying headlong into a barn.

What am I talking about? Realignment, of course! Another shoe has dropped…OK let me use a different analogy. Sorry Deion. We have another big move as Colorado will be going back to the Big XII starting next season. And that probably won’t be all. The rumours have at least one of Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, Oregon or Washington following the Buffaloes. Or, if no other schools leave the Pac-12, the Big XII is more than willing to dip into the American Conference (hello SMU, Memphis, Tulane) or even way out east…yes, UConn! And maybe once the Pac-12 (or more like Pac-9) gets their act together, they can start bringing in teams from the Group of Five. The same teams from the American would be in play, especially SMU. Also, the Mountain West would be watching closely as San Diego State, Boise State and perhaps Colorado State and UNLV could be looked at. There will be a lot of meetings in the next month or so to determine where this all leads.

For now let’s focus on what this post was supposed to be (and still will be). It’s time for the Power Five conference predictions. This will give a better indication on how I think things will go during this season. So let’s dive right in!

Changes are coming soon for the Ess Ee Cee. Texas and Oklahoma join the conference next season. Also, no more SEC on CBS after this year. Everything moves to ABC and ESPN. And finally, no divisions. Halle-fucking-lujah.

As for this year, all the talk is about Georgia and doing something no team has done (fully) in the AP Poll era: win three national championships in a row. It’s not like they will fall apart, despite the fact they lost their starting quarterback and a bunch of other players in the NFL Draft. Then again, I’m sure Kirby Smart has looked them all dead in the eye and told them “Everyone thinks you are going to go 5-7 and lose to Vanderbilt. Prove them wrong!” And they will believe it because college football head coaches are just a notch-and-a-half below cult leaders in the pecking order of how much they can make their “followers” drink their Kool-Aid.

Remember, though, there are other teams in the conference as well. Like those lovable underdogs from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and the team that just reeks of success (in the classroom and on the baseball diamond), Vanderbilt. And eleven other teams. Want to find out how I think they will do? OK. I will do that. Just for you.

	Conference		Overall
East	W	L	W	L
Georgia	7	1	11	1
Tennessee	6	2	10	2
South Carolina	5	3	8	4
Kentucky	3	5	6	6
Missouri	2	6	5	7
Florida	2	6	5	7
Vanderbilt	1	7	4	8
West
Alabama	8	0	12	0
LSU	6	2	9	3
Ole Miss	4	4	8	4
Texas A&M	4	4	8	4
Arkansas	3	5	7	5
Auburn	3	5	7	5
Mississippi State	2	6	6	6

Just For You

You might think I am crazy for having UGA not run the table. I do think they will lose a regular season game and it will be to those upstart Tennessee Volunteers. It won’t keep them from winning the division though as you can see I have those same Vols losing two conference games during the regular season.
As for the SEC West, though, Bama will once again rule the roost….as long as they figure out their quarterback situation. I am thinking they will and will go undefeated and be #1 in the nation going into conference championship weekend. If they don’t get their QB situation settled…well, maybe they lose two games? Three? It’s not like they will fall to 6-6.
I could see South Carolina or last year’s SEC West champs, LSU, making a bit of a run this time around. They have the top two quarterbacks in the SEC and could each put up piles of points. Watch for the Cocks’ game against Georgia early on in the season and LSU’s post-Halloween trip to Bryant-Denny to face the Tide. Upsets in either of those games will seriously upset the apple cart.
Look, the Gators were barely .500 with who I think may be one of the most overhyped quarterbacks in recent memory. I don’t think Anthony Richardson was that great. And now they don’t even have him. Unless every other part of the roster improved (it didn’t), how do people expect this team to bounce back and all of a sudden become an eight or nine win team? Spoiler alert: they won’t.
I have Mississippi State at 6-6. They will do just enough to get a bowl game. I wonder how tough it will be after the loss of Mike Leach but I can see them straightening things out just in time late in the season.
As for the SEC Championship, SURPRISE! I have the Dawgs beating the Tide and creating a massive clusterfuck in the final College Football Playoff rankings. Fun times!
Eleven bowl teams from the SEC with two juuuuuust on the outside. That’s insane and I don’t think I will be that far off with this prediction. Next year could be even crazier with Texas and Oklahoma joining the conference that just means more.

Man have things really changed in terms of where you will see Big Ten games this season. Gone are ABC and ESPN. In is NBC and CBS. This is gonna feel weird the first time I see it. And maybe the next few times as well. I will get used to it at some point. Now if you want the opportunity to watch every Big Ten game, better find a way to get FOX Sports One and Peacock otherwise you will be shit out of luck to watch potential bangers like Northwestern-Purdue and Indiana-Rutgers (if they end up there and not the Big Ten Network).

Alright, let’s get into the final conference predictions before the B1G gives a big Fuck You to geography and brings in USC and UCLA.

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

Geogpraphy, Go Eat a Dick

Look, I know some might look at the Big Ten East standings and think I am a bit crazy. I am not. Although that is what a crazy person would tell you. Yep, a three-way tie at the top at 8-1 between Big Blue, tOSU and PSU. Because each team will be 1-1 against the other two, the CFP Rankings will decide the winner. I believe the Wolverines will somehow win that. And yes, I think Ohio State also loses to Notre Dame. O-H! I-No.
If Sparty doesn’t make it to a bowl game, they may end up giving Mel Tucker the Herm Edwards treatment and fire him before he can leave the playing surface one game. I get they have a tough division but they should be able to do well enough against the rest of their schedule to get back in the postseason after last year’s debacle.
No, I don’t have Wisconsin winning the West division. Meaning I am different than almost every expert out there. Also, there’s the fact I’m not an expert but I digress. Again I have a damn three-way tie but no need to look at the rankings for this one as I believe the Gophers will Row the Fucking Boat all the way to Indianapolis after beating both Wisky and the high-octane Iowa Hawkeyes. See what I did there? Yeah, I don’t care that the Hawkeyes have a new quarterback in town. Until Kirk tells his son to do better, Iowa will be pushing for some 7-6 victories. Sorry. 8-6. Two field goals and a late safety to win.
Nebraska will be better but I think the Huskers are a season away from getting back to the top of the West…just in time for the West to just not exist anymore.
As for Northwestern…man. What a shitshow. Look, I played a lot of sports earlier in my life and did so at the university level. Are there fun little pranks and stupid things the rookies have to do? Sometimes. But it’s usually harmless. Carrying bags, standing up during a team dinner to get embarrassed by singing some Mariah Carey song, dumb things like that. Not getting fucking dry humped in some cultish fashion by weirdos in robes. What the fuck is wrong with that school? And yes, it’s not just the football program. Sounds like at least half the teams there have serious issues. Ugh.
Now let’s get crazy. Yeah! The Big Ten Championship will…OK who am I kidding. It won’t be close. I have Michigan plowing through Minny to clinch their spot, yet again, in the College Football Playoff.

Might as well call this the Stable Conference…for now. Just nothing happening here which is just fine for most of the teams in the ACC. Status quo isn’t a bad thing. There are some changes with where you will see games. The CW…yes, the C-Fucking-W, will have an ACC game during most of the weeks of the season. You can take the ACC out of Jefferson-Pilot (or Raycom) but you can’t take the Jefferson-Pilot (or Raycom) out of the ACC. Or something like that.

So before this conference possibly gets pillaged by the Big Ten and SEC, let’s get to the predictions followed by some deep tissue massage and/or analysis.

	Conference		Overall
	W	L	W	L
Clemson	8	0	12	10
Florida State	7	1	11	1
North Carolina	6	2	9	3
Pittsburgh	5	3	8	4
Louisville	5	3	8	4
Duke	4	4	8	4
Wake Forest	4	4	7	5
NC State	4	4	7	5
Miami	4	4	7	5
Syracuse	3	5	6	6
Boston College	2	6	5	7
Virginia	2	6	4	8
Georgia Tech	2	6	4	8
Virginia Tech	0	8	1	11

Deep Tissue Massage and/or Analysis

I should book a massage. My back is in horrible shape.
Some may scoff at me having Clemson going undefeated this season. They have the schedule to do it and if Cade Klubnik is as good as he can be this could relatively easily happen. If Klubnik struggles…well then this entire set of standings might need to be scrubbed from existence.
Reader Gord will like where I have Florida State. This team could be scary good. And at the very least, they will be near the top of the ACC standings this season. Mike Norvell has done a great job getting this team back to what it was like during the Jimbo Fisher days. I had my doubts about him but I have to admit he has been the right guy to right the ship in Tallahassee.
Hey did you notice? NO DIVISIONS! I love it.
Don’t be surprised that if Clemson or FSU stumbles that there are no shortage of teams that could get one of the two ACC title game slots. A list of seven teams could pull off a couple of upsets and be at the top and it wouldn’t be a huge surprise. A slight surprise sure. Maybe a slightly bigger surprise if it was Miami or NC State. But not a massive surprise.
Poor Virginia Tech. I think this will be their worst team since before Frank Beamer graced Blacksburg. It feels like it has been forever since the Hokies were contenders. It was only seven years ago when they were in the ACC Championship and almost upset the eventual national champions, Clemson. This team is pretty bad in almost every aspect of the game and the schedule will not be helpful to them. Other than Old Dominion I don’t see them winning any other game and the Monarchs have given VT all sorts of fits the past few years.
Look for a tiny bit of a bounce back from Virginia. Just them taking the field after what happened last year is a win in my books.
For that ACC title game, how about another game that will turn everything on its head. Yep, I think the Noles will get revenge for a regular season loss by inching out the Tigers. Chaos!

OK it’s about time the Big XII rebrands. They will have at least thirteen teams by the time the 2024 season starts and it may be as high as sixteen. So change the fucking name. They have the rights to the Big Fourteen and Big Sixteen so use one of those. It would be easy. Find a graphic design student at Kansas and have them do a new logo. Easy peasy. Why do I have to come up with everything?

Where was I? Oh that’s right, predictions. Let’s see if this conference will go all Pac-12 and cannibalize itself or if they can see a team get to the CFP once again. Also, Texas and Oklahoma will be trying their best to leave the conference on a high note much to the chagrin of the rest of the schools in the conference. So here are the Big XII standings predictions, followed by Belly Expansions.

	Conference		Overall
	W	L	W	L
Texas	8	1	10	2
Kansas State	7	2	10	2
Baylor	6	3	8	4
TCU	6	3	9	3
Oklahoma	6	3	9	3
Texas Tech	5	4	8	4
Oklahoma State	5	4	8	4
Kansas	4	5	7	5
UCF	4	5	7	5
BYU	3	6	5	7
Cincinnati	3	6	5	7
Houston	2	7	4	8
Iowa State	2	7	4	8
West Virginia	2	7	3	9

Belly Expansions

No I don’t mean pregnancy. I mean eating a big meal and having to loosen the ol’ belt or just unbuckle the pants altogether. Funny enough, people in the restaurant don’t appreciate that.
Let’s start at the bottom. There won’t be one truly bad team. There will be a bunch of below-average ones. West Virginia, Iowa State, Houston, Cincinnati and BYU could all finish last and I am sure no one would bat an eye.
I see the Longhorns making their final Big XII season a special one. They have the team, the schedule and the head coach (I think) to be the top team in this conference this season. The only question will be can Quinn Ewers hold off Arch Manning. Will one of them transfer in the offseason? Remember, when you have two starting quarterbacks, you have none. I think.
How about this lukewarm take: Kansas State will be good again. Yeah really going out on a limb there Bossman. This team has become so steady-as-she-goes it’s almost boring. The people in the Little Apple are fine with this.
I do think one of the newcomers will make a bowl game and that team will be UCF. I think they are the most prepared of the newbies coming into this conference. But make no mistake about it: all four teams will be good at various points over the next few years.
I can’t see Oklahoma taking enough of a leap to get to the Big XII Championship. Nor do I think the Horned Frogs of TCU have the, uh, toads? to make it back to the conference title game. Good seasons for both, yes, but not great.
The Longhorns should win the conference title game in their final season in the Big XII. Will this get them into the CFP or will it “relegate” them to the New Year’s Six? I think you can tell from my predictions so far but you will know for sure in a different post.

So where are we going to be able to watch Pac-12 games in the future? Who the hell knows. My money is on PBS.

But seriously, the Pac-12 is quickly dropping from the Conference of Champions to almost a Group of Five conference. They are losing USC and UCLA next year to the Big Ten. They knew that already. The bombshell of Colorado leaving now has them at nine teams starting the 2024 season. And it may not end there. The only schools I haven’t heard potentially leaving are Oregon State and Washington State. That’s not to say all these rumours will be correct but I will be pretty surprised if no more teams leave for the Big XII before next season. It’s sad for a conference that really started their slide once Pete Carroll left USC for the NFL. Thanks a bunch, Peter.

Prediction time! No divisions which is one thing they are ahead of the game with, starting that last year. Let’s get to those divisionless predictions followed by some California Nightmarin’.

	Conference		Overall
	W	L	W	L
USC	8	1	10	2
Utah	7	2	9	3
Oregon	7	2	9	3
Oregon State	7	2	10	2
Washington State	6	3	8	4
Washington	6	3	9	3
UCLA	5	4	8	4
Colorado	3	6	4	8
California	2	7	4	8
Arizona	2	7	4	8
Arizona State	1	8	3	9
Stanford	0	9	2	10

California Nightmarin’

No state will have it better this year in the Pac-12 than the state of Oregon. Both the Ducks and the Beavers look to be serious contenders and only need the ball to bounce their way one extra time to maybe get to the Pac-12 Championship. And considering the way that title game has gone, who knows what may happen after that.
The strongest team, though, should be USC. They have Caleb Williams coming back to try and do what no one other than some guy named Archie has ever done, and that’s win two Heisman Trophies. The hope there is that the sting of the two season-ending losses will motivate them to push themselves that final step into the CFP.
OK look, I know you see Washington in sixth place and you are wondering what the fuck is wrong with me. This is another case where the schedule is just flat-out against them. A slightly easier schedule and I might put this team at eleven or even, dare I say it, twelve wins. It will be that close at the top of the conference.
On the other hand, I am sure no will think I’m crazy for putting Stanford in last place. It’s been a long time since the Cardinal have been this bad and it doesn’t look like they will be ready for bowl action for another year at least.
I think I was fair putting Colorado at 4-8 for this season and playing fairly meaningful football going into November. There seems to be two schools of thought with this team. One section thinks Coach Prime has done wonders and with all the fresh faces in the lineup it will push the team over the line and into bowl-eligibility territory. The other section thinks the entire program is overhyped and they will win maybe two games. I am in the middle on this. This team won’t go bowling this year. That would be too much of a leap. But they should win more games than they did last year. If not, what the hell was all this hoopla for?
As for the Pac-12 title game, USC gets the Pac-12 Championship they probably should have won last year. Problem is that by this point there will be a lot of teams in the mix for those four College Football Playoff spots and in typical Pac-12 fashion, the league will have cannabilized itself again and missed out on the CFP again.

There you go! You now have a complete set of Bossman conference predictions. Next up, is kind of the wrap-up post where I put everything in a nice, neat little ball and let you know who I believe will win the whole damn deal. Have a great week everyone!

The Fun-Time College Coaching Carousel – Week 9 College Football TV Schedule

Posted on October 27, 2021 by guelphbossman

OK this happens every year but it feels like it has been jumped up a notch or two. Like what is being talked about more right now, the coaching carousel and hot seat or the Heisman race? It’s easily the coaching situations in college football. Might as well start this with the USC sitch. The rumour mill is going crazy with potential names to be the next head coach in LA. The candidates listed since Clay Helton was fired include Luke Fickell, Matt Campbell, James Franklin and Kalani Sitake. Jeff Fisher was mentioned as a possibility and he fairly quickly refuted it, probably because it would be impossible for him to go 7-9. Mike Tomlin was also mentioned which is weird since unless the Pittsburgh Steelers are planning to fire him, I don’t know why he’d leave one of the better coaching spots in the NFL to coach at a place with high expectations like USC. With Franklin getting a new agent, my guess is he has become the odds-on favourite and if Penn State loses badly this weekend, expect that talk to heat up a lot.

So now let’s head to the Bayou and the LSU Tigers. Ed Orgeron probably doesn’t give a single solitary shit now so is off fucking co-eds and getting drunk instead of fulfilling his head coaching duties at LSU. I kid, but I’m sure he has been hungover at his desk in the morning at least once since his shitcanning. So what’s next in Baton Rouge? Campbell, Franklin and Fickell show up on this list as well but there are other, possibly more intriguing, options. Like Dave Aranda. LSU’s former defensive coordinator would be welcomed back with open arms after the job he has done at Baylor. Billy Napier has been lights out at Louisiana, making them one of the best Group of Five programs around. And the most intriguing of possibilities, Mel Tucker. Michigan State is a very unexpected Top 10 team and Tucker is a big reason why.

This will be a story that won’t go away for a while. For my money, I think it will end up being Franklin going to USC and Aranda heading to LSU. There will be other openings showing up soon I’m sure and Fickell is almost certain to get one of them. Matt Campbell, on the other hand, I could see staying at Iowa State for at least one more season, especially if they somehow make their way to the Big XII Championship. Anyway, enough coach talk, on to the schedule!

Thursday

		US	Canada
USF at East Carolina	7:30 PM
Troy at #24 Coastal Carolina	7:30 PM

Very soon we will be at the point where it’s football every day! It means that the football matchups don’t have to always be fantastic because it’s football every damn day so let’s enjoy it! What would you rather watch, football or something meaningless like poker? Other than the NFL Thursday Nighter, nothing else worth watching will be on this night. It’s a travel day for the Houston Astros and Atlanta Braves so no baseball to distract you. So unless the pro game is good, you can sit down and watch…let’s see here….oh my….um….well, it’s college football technically. With Coastal losing last week, neither of these games are really that appealing to be perfectly honest.

Friday

		US	Canada
Princeton at Cornell	7:00 PM
Navy at Tulsa	7:30 PM
UNLV at Nevada	10:00 PM

OK so things don’t get a whole lot better on Friday night. Saying that, the Battle for the Fremont Cannon is always fun and, two years ago, ended in a massive brawl. Good times!

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
Texas at #16 Baylor	Noon
Miami at #17 Pittsburgh	Noon
Indiana at Maryland	Noon
Rutgers at Illinois	Noon
Bowling Green at Buffalo	Noon
#9 Iowa at Wisconsin	Noon
#2 Cincinnati at Tulane	Noon
Texas State at Louisiana	Noon
#6 Michigan at #8 Michigan State	Noon
Virginia Tech at Georgia Tech	Noon

One game here will get all the attention and rightfully so. The Michigan-Michigan State rivalry hits a new high with both teams ranked in the Top 10. That’s not the only game here though as Iowa-Wisky could end up being interesting on the other side of the Big Ten division menu. Pitt and Baylor try to continue their magical seasons and Cincy has to beat Tulane by a lot to probably keep that lofty #2 ranking. Finally there is Techmo Bowl to see if one of the coaches coaching in the game get fired during the halftime show. I give the odds at 10-1.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
Missouri at Vanderbilt	3:00 PM
Texas Tech at #4 Oklahoma	3:30 PM
Minnesota at Northwestern	3:30 PM
Florida vs. #1 Georgia (in Jacksonville)	3:30 PM
Louisiana Tech at Old Dominion	3:30 PM
Florida State at Clemson	3:30 PM
Purdue at Nebraska	3:30 PM
TCU at Kansas State	3:30 PM
Colorado at #7 Oregon	3:30 PM
Boston College at Syracuse	3:30 PM
Duke at #13 Wake Forest	4:00 PM

I’m sure Brad Nessler would love to have an open bar for the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. Dealing with Gary Danielson and blowouts every week has to be gnawing at him and I think he might snap, despite the fact he is very professional. I know I would. The SEC Network going with some odd timeslots this week and I don’t know if this is a test for going forward or they had to do so because of other programming. I’m going with the former until I can find something concrete that HAD to be on from Noon until 3:00. Other than that there’s not much of note here. Maybe watch Wake keep their undefeated streak going until the second quarter once they pull away from Dook or Texas Tech pretend they can stay with Oklahoma for more than 10 minutes if you want.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Boise State at Colorado State	7:00 PM
#10 Ole Miss at #18 Auburn	7:00 PM
#19 SMU at Houston	7:00 PM
Arizona at USC	7:00 PM
#12 Kentucky at Mississippi State	7:00 PM
#20 Penn State at #5 Ohio State	7:30 PM
Louisville at NC State	7:30 PM
North Carolina at #11 Notre Dame	7:30 PM

Penn State-Ohio State was going to be a huge game for ABC. Then last weekend’s nine-overtime clusterfuck happens and this game doesn’t mean nearly as much. It’s almost the same thing that happened last year as PSU lost to Indiana the week before tOSU. It’s like they’re looking ahead to the Buckeyes and taking their eye off the ball (or Franklin is checking his email every few minutes for something from a certain west coast school). And there’s no guarantee they get the most viewers in this timeslot, especially if it becomes a blowout. You have Ole Miss-Auburn which should be a dandy and SMU trying to stay undefeated, mostly for Cincinnati’s gain. You could also watch North Carolina who is way worse than some thought they would be (*AHEM* me *AHEM*), travel to South Bend and hopefully not get beaten up by the Irish.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
UCLA at Utah	10:00 PM
Virginia at #25 BYU	10:15 PM
Fresno State at #21 San Diego State	10:30 PM

Late night college football returns this week after last week’s odd scheduling. The biggest match will happen in ~~San Diego~~ Carson, California where the Aztecs hope to remain undefeated against a very good Bulldogs team. CBS Sports Network really lucked out with getting this one. We also have the return of Bronco as Mr. Mendenhall brings his Cavaliers to Provo to face his old team.

Games to set your eyeballs on

Michigan at Michigan State (Noon, FOX) – Put up your hands if you figured both teams would be undefeated coming into this one. Absolutely no hands should be up right now, not even Spartans and Wolverines fans. One of these teams will have a legitimate shot at the College Football Playoff after this coming weekend. That sounds absurd but it’s very true. The winner here will have Ohio State later on in the season for what will probably be a winner-take-all game for the Big Ten East crown. Michigan is considered the slight favourite to win here. I would wonder about Sparty’s chances though. They really will all come down to what Kenneth Walker III does in this game. Walker has vaulted himself into the Heisman race and really if the season ended now he should get strong consideration to win the damn thing. Really, this should be a solid Game of the Year candidate so let’s hope it’s not a blowout…otherwise we get Sad Gus Johnson which never sounds good.

Ole Miss at Auburn (7:00, specialty pack) – Will either of these teams usurp Bama at the top of the SEC West? Not likely but this year there is at least a tiny sliver of hope. The winner of this one is in the driver’s seat to have that opportunity, especially if it’s Auburn who still has a game against the Tide. And with Lane Kiffin coaching in this game, the interviews, along with the offense, should be fun.

Penn State at Ohio State (7:30, ABC/TSN2) – If this was in State College I probably move it up to the number two spot on this list. Tough to move them up farther with neither team undefeated and Penn State suffering a horrible loss to Illinois. As I mentioned above, the Nittany Lions had the same fate last year, losing the game before the Ohio State one. Yes it was their first game of the year so take it with a grain of salt. They did end up losing to Ohio State last year (and the three games after that). Can’t see that kind of losing streak from this team this year but you never know. Either way, the winner here will face the winner of the Michigan-MSU game later in the season for the division crown and the rest of the teams will battle for the slight chance at a New Year’s Six spot.

SMU at Houston (7:00, specialty pack) – Yes SMU is undefeated but the Cougs are undefeated in the conference as well. This game pretty much determines who gets to face Cincinnati in the AAC Championship in December. This could also be the beginning of the end of Sonny Dykes in the Metroplex as there are rumours he will end up as the head coach at Texas Tech. Wouldn’t surprise me at all, what with his dad coaching there years ago.

Fresno State at San Diego State (10:30, CBS Sports Network) – Another surprising team shows up on the list here. Somehow, the Bulldogs are 6-2 and in the driver’s seat in the Mountain West West Division with a win here in Carson. Kalen DeBoer has done a fantastic job in the Valley for a team that many (myself included) wouldn’t even get to .500 this season. And look who is doing a great coaching job at SDSU. Brady Hoke is back, baby! He has proven to be a great coach at the Group of Five level and he’s doing it once again. The Aztecs somewhat surprising run to, hopefully, a NY6 spot hinges on winning games like this (and hoping Cincinnati loses at least once before the end of the season).

Honourable mention: Texas Tech at Oklahoma (3:30, ABC); Florida vs. Georgia (3:30, CBS); Virginia at BYU (10:15, specialty pack)

Wanna bet?

OK at least I got one upset pick right. I thought Air Force could somehow come back and beat San Diego State but sadly, for me, it did not happen. As for the rest of my picks, yeah there were a couple bad ones there as well. Look, let’s forget that and just move forward, OK?

Houston over SMU (let’s start with an upset)

Michigan over Michigan State

Ohio State over Penn State

BYU over Virginia

Georgia over Florida

Auburn over Ole Miss

San Diego State over Fresno State

Oklahoma over Texas Tech

Buffalo over Bowling Green

Louisiana Tech over Old Dominion

Coastal Carolina over Troy

Will I watch the approximately 24 hours of college football being served up over the next few days? It will be pretty close, not gonna lie. It’s mostly a free weekend so add in about 11 hours of NFL football and we get to the 35-hour mark. I am such a fucking degenerate when it comes to football. Kind of glad I don’t do the recaps anymore since it usually cut into in my NFL watching time. Honestly, I struggle with that kind of multi-tasking. Anyway. enjoy the games everyone!

Can anyone upend Bama? Week 3 College Football TV Schedule

Posted on September 15, 2021 by guelphbossman

I mean you have to say yes, right? Not much feels worse than knowing the outcome (or having a very good idea of it) early on in the season. And so far, Alabama has looked a whole lot better than any other college football team in the land. Now if you recall my SEC preview, you will remember me saying Bama will drop a game during the regular season. Some of you may scoff at that right now since it looks like they won’t lose at all until well into the 2022 season. That’s the interesting thing about college football though: it is easily the most random of the well watched sports over here in this part of the world. Many early polls look like complete ravings of dummies when at least 20% of the teams end up being terrible. But there are always a few constants and that is that if you see a team in the Top 10, don’t be surprised if they win it all at the end of the season. And that means Bama is always a contender these days. And will be until Nick Saban decides to retire, probably when he’s like 91 years old.

Let’s stop talking about the Alabama Crimson Tide…well, specifically since they show up later in this post. How about a look at the schedule for Week 3? Isn’t that why you’re here? I sure hope so because other than that (and my witty banter) I don’t know why you’d read this.

Thursday

		US	Canada
Alabama A&M at Bethune-Cookman	7:30 PM
Ohio at Louisiana	8:00 PM

Two games. One is the introduction of a new member to a conference. The other a game between a team just outside the Top 25 and one who just lost to an FCS school. Bethune-Cookman has it’s first SWAC conference game after joining the conference along with Florida A&M. Look, you can think what you want about Deion Sanders but he made a good point about this realignment the other day. He said that the MEAC should consider joining forces with the SWAC to make one HBCU mega-conference in FCS. Honestly, it’s not a bad idea, especially if they decide to allow their champ to go to the FCS playoffs once again. As for the other game, I will just assume Louisiana will be up by about 30 by halftime.

Friday

		US	Canada
UCF at Louisville	7:30 PM

Only one game tonight. This could be one that Scott Satterfield absolutely needs to keep his job. Not saying the Cards are going to win but they have to stay close.

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
Michigan State at #24 Miami	Noon
Albany at Syracuse	Noon
Northern Illinois at #25 Michigan	Noon
UConn at Army	Noon
#8 Cincinnati at Indiana	Noon
#16 Coastal Carolina at Buffalo	Noon
Boston College at Temple	Noon
Nebraska at #3 Oklahoma	Noon
Western Michigan at Pittsburgh	Noon
New Mexico at #7 Texas A&M	Noon

Whoa! TSN has games on every one of their channels to start the day. Very impressive. The expectation, at this point, is that the Albany-Syracuse game would be the one game not on a TSN channel (that could be put on there) but that could change. I’m glad they are going this route because it means they aren’t relying on just showing the ABC game on multiple TSN channels since it kind of defeats the purpose of even having the contract to be able to show ABC/ESPN network games. Honestly, the schedule isn’t great but that’s when you get some crazy good games so watch out for ones like MSU-Miami and Coastal-Buffalo. As for Huskers-Sooners? I don’t think this will harken memories of the old Big Eight.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
Purdue at #12 Notre Dame	2:30 PM
Georgia Tech at #6 Clemson	3:30 PM
Delaware at Rutgers	3:30 PM
Kent State at #5 Iowa	3:30 PM
#1 Alabama at #11 Florida	3:30 PM
SMU at Louisiana Tech	3:30 PM
Florida State at Wake Forest	3:30 PM
USC at Washington State	3:30 PM
Northwestern at Duke	4:00 PM
Mississippi State at Memphis	4:00 PM
Colorado State at Toledo	4:00 PM
Georgia Southern at #20 Arkansas	4:00 PM

Possible Game of the Year? If Florida can keep this close after three quarters then watch out. Also, Notre Dame gets the opportunity to be upset on regular NBC this week so that more people can watch. I do wonder how many people signed up for Peacock for the one reason that one Notre Dame football game was on there this season. If they can prove that a lot of people signed up for that then maybe it was all worth it. Until I see evidence of that, I still believe streaming services really have no hope of competing with television channels. That will most certainly change in the next decade but it’s slow moving for sure and will be for a while. Oh, remember what I said about TSN in the first timeslot? Yeah they are now down to one game in this timeslot (and then none after this). Oh well, it’s still CFL season so have to expect those games to be shown on all the channels. Between that, UFC, MLS and (ugh) NASCAR, there is no room for college football for the most part after the Noon timeslot until into November really. It is what it is. Kind of why I wish Sportsnet would figure out a way to get in on the action but they won’t because HOCKEY!

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Utah at San Diego State	7:00 PM
South Carolina at #2 Georgia	7:00 PM
#22 Auburn at #10 Penn State	7:30 PM
Virginia at #21 North Carolina	7:30 PM
Furman at NC State	7:30 PM
Central Michigan at LSU	7:30 PM
Tulane at #17 Ole Miss	8:00 PM
Stanford at Vanderbilt	8:00 PM

The Tigers-Nittany Lions game should be a good one and was a good choice by ABC to show in primetime. Expect a few other games to be pretty good. No UGA should mop the floor with the Gamecocks. But many of the rest could be relatively close. Utah-SDSU should be fun, UVA-UNC could be surprisingly close unless the Tar Heels are back to the form many thought they would be in and Stanford-Vandy are two schools that have high academic standards…OK that last one should be a blowout as well.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
#19 Arizona State at #23 BYU	10:15 PM
#14 Iowa State at UNLV	10:30 PM

Actually this is pretty good…well, except for one team. Can’t win ’em all right? ASU-BYU should be a barnburner and we will see if the Cougars are for real. Iowa State should put away the Rebels by midnight.

Games to set your eyeballs on

Alabama at Florida (3:30, CBS) – Huge Game of the Year possibility here and possibly a harbinger of what the SEC season will look like (until Bama and Georgia meet up). And it’s on the SEC on CBS which means we get….ugh….the return of Gary Danielson. I believe Brad Nessler is one of the greatest college football play-by-play guys in history. Danielson is just…not that good at his job. His obvious love for everything Alabama I’m sure will shine through again in this one and his analysis of the game is lacklustre at best. Honestly, it’s time to put him out to pasture and bring up Aaron Taylor and be done with it.

Auburn at Penn State (7:30, ABC) – How often do the top two games of the week end up in the two most important slots? Surprisingly enough, I think it’s rare. But this is classic college football for sure. I can just see the old CFA logo on the top of the screen during the intro as this would be one of those matchups that you never see, even in bowl season. Anyway, this will be the first big test for Bryan Harsin as he finally gets some serious competition in a potentially underrated Penn State team (if you can believe it). With the Ohio State loss this past weekend, the Big Ten is a bit more open than people may have thought it would be this year so Penn State has to capitalize on these opportunities.

Arizona State at BYU (10:15, specialty pack) – Would it be an upset if the Cougs beat ASU? Not really. BYU might be almost as good as last year’s team which is scary, especially with a better schedule. Could this team somehow make their way into the Top 10? If they win games like this one, absolutely. On the other foot, Arizona State has every opportunity to cease control in the Pac-12 South with USC being an utter mess. Yes they still have UCLA and Utah to contend with but these kinds of games are important as well. I’ll be honest: even though it’s BYU I’m surprised this game wasn’t put in primetime or the afternoon timeslot. I guess at least this way most of the eyeballs will be here for college football fans so it’s a win for ESPN in that regard.

Cincinnati at Indiana (Noon, TSN3) – Sure the Bearcats weren’t that impressive against Murray State but it was Murray State so who cares. This is one of the games that Cincy absolutely has to win if they want to have a fighter’s chance at the College Football Playoff. They also have to have Indiana be really good so the Hoosiers starting 1-2 wouldn’t make that very easy for them. It’s quite the conundrum Cincinnati is in really. Indiana is really still looking to bounce back from being trounced by Iowa in Week 1 (although if Iowa ends up in the CFP, Hoosiers fans shouldn’t feel too bad about that).

Michigan State at Miami (Noon, ABC/TSN4) – Put your hand up if you thought the Spartans would look this impressive early on. Now put them down because pretty much no one did. Yes, their big win is over Northwestern who could actually be merely mediocre but still, things are looking a whole lot better after Mel Tucker’s debut last year. This is the first test (in a lot of tests this season) and if they win this, they are easily in the Top 25 and have to be considered dangerous the rest of the way. The Canes need something since they have had a rocky start to the surprise of no one. Get boatraced by Bama? Check. Win a close one over App State? Check. Like they are following a script. The script says they should win this easily but who knows.

Honourable mention: Purdue at Notre Dame (2:30, NBC), Nebraska at Oklahoma (Noon, FOX), Coastal Carolina at Buffalo (Noon, TSN1)

You bet!

I know. I picked Houston over Rice, Iowa State over Iowa, USC over Stanford and Texas over Arkansas. Sweet Jesus. I did pick Oregon over Ohio State but who gives a shit with that track record. Here are this week’s picks to hopefully take that awful taste out of the gambling mouth:

Coastal Carolina over Buffalo

Alabama over Florida

Penn State over Auburn

Arizona State over BYU

Notre Dame over Purdue

Cincinnati over Indiana

Miami over Michigan State

Oklahoma over Nebraska

SMU over Louisiana Tech

Texas A&M over New Mexico

UCF over Louisville

Again this is not the greatest schedule, on paper. We know how that generally works out. So buckle up because this should be good and you don’t know when the next great finish will be. Enjoy the games everyone and have a great weekend!

The 2021 College Football Coaching Hot Seat List

Posted on August 4, 2021 by guelphbossman

This is going to be a very interesting season in college football as it pertains to the college football coaching hot seat list.

Last year was an aberration, obviously. There are many programs that normally would have thought on pulling the trigger and ending their ties with their head coach. COVID-19 changed that. And we’re not out of the woods with all this pandemic shit. Saying that, 2021 is different. We are slowly getting back to normal, or at least what the new normal will look like. And the college football world is no different. Hey, look, realignment issues! The new NIL legislation! We are back to offseason craziness in the world of, let’s still call it amateur athletics. Which means some coaches are back to squarely being on the hot seat. Not good for them. Incredibly exciting for the (sometimes) bloodthirsty college football media. So let’s do this!

IT’S HOT SEAT TIME, GUYS! Got to give myself some credit: this list is somewhat accurate. That’s the history of this post. And I am hoping it continues since accuracy with predictions isn’t exactly my strong suit. Please don’t go back to previous posts to test this theory.

Let’s get to the damn list! Like every year, this is ordered from most likely to be fired to most likely to keep their job:

Almost Guaranteed Shitcanning

Jeff Brohm (Purdue) – It feels like a decade ago since the Boilermakers’ upset of Ohio State. It was actually in 2018. Since then it has been pretty much a disaster in West Lafayette. And I don’t really see any sign of improvement. Needed to keep his job – Going into the final two weeks of the season with a chance at bowl eligibility. Prediction – He won’t make it to the end of the season as Purdue will limp to a 3-win season.
Walt Bell (UMass) – It wasn’t like this in Tallahassee. Honestly, I don’t think anyone would have done a good job at this school since, well since they moved up from FCS. Needed to keep his job – Play at least one meaningful November game. Prediction – He may quit before he’s fired. Nah, he’s a college football coach. He’ll be fired before he even thinks of quitting. And fired he will be at some point in November.
Scot Loeffler (Bowling Green) – Bowling Green really isn’t historically bad. And I am sure they have never had a horrible run like this. Scotty has not done anything of note here so it’s time to move on. Quite an easy move. Also, never trust a guy who spells his first name like that. Needed to keep his job – At least three wins with one over a good MAC team. Prediction – I honestly can’t see the Falcons winning any games this season. They are easily the worst team in the MAC right now, quite a ways below Akron who is also pretty shitty.
Dino Babers (Syracuse) – It’s been a long time since so much hope was dashed so fast in Western New York. It’s been mostly bad since joining the ACC (at least in football). But this is the worst stretch they’ve had and that’s after things looked so good early on. I can’t see Babers recovering from recent performances by the Orange. Needed to keep his job – Syracuse to look halfway competitive in the ACC. Prediction – Could very well be gone before the end of the season.
Rick Stockstill (Middle Tennessee) – This is a tough one. I don’t really like the guy, especially since all the shit his team pulled in their bowl game with Navy a few years back. But he has been in Murfreesboro for so long it feels like he will retire before he gets shitcanned. I think the shine has finally come off as the Blue Raiders are struggling with no sign of real improvement. Needed to keep his job – Bowl eligibility, plain and simple. Prediction – Stockstill might be one of those few coaches who resigns before they are fired. Mostly out of pride. And yes, I believe Stockstill will be fired but maybe not until after the regular season is complete.

Probable Shitcanning

Chip Lindsey (Troy) – Troy hasn’t had a string this bad for a while. I’m sounding like a broken record here. Not saying Lindsey was a hyped coaching hire but Troy was always one of the better Sun Belt teams. Now? Not so much. Expect an interesting decision by the end of the season. Needed to keep his job – Bowl eligibility and the look of a program on the rise again in the Sun Belt. Prediction – Four wins and a very good chance that he’s looking for another job come December.
Randy Edsall (UConn) – UConn has struggled for a long time now. Ever since they somehow got to a BCS bowl. Any other program (almost) Edsall has been long fired. It’s different in Storrs, and I get that, but with him getting bonuses for making sure he eats breakfast every day, the bloom might have come off the rose a bit. Needed to keep his job – Be more competitive, especially on defense. Prediction – Three wins and a surprisingly tough call for the powers that be.
Jonathan Smith (Oregon State) – I am going out bit of a limb with this one. Things were looking very promising in Corvallis and then last year the Beavers came back to Earth a bit. I think my prediction would be enough to move Smith out of the job. Needed to keep his job – Bowl-eligibility or a win over Oregon. Prediction – Three wins, no bowl, no win over Oregon, no head coaching position for Johnny Beaver.

Possible Shitcanning

Jim Harbaugh (Michigan) – Yes, his picture is one of the pictures at the top of this post. And yes, he has been on the hot seat since the first time he lost to Ohio State. He almost got a pass from many in Ann Arbor (and the voracious college football media) which surprises me to no end. So the seat is cooler than normal but he’s not out of the woods yet. Needed to keep his job – At least 7 wins and maybe an upset inside the Big Ten. Prediction – I have the Wolverines getting right to the 7-win mark. I think he survives but then the seat becomes scorching going into next season.
Scott Frost (Nebraska) – For many having Frosty the Coachman in this spot makes no sense. I think he might get a bit of leeway and if the Huskers do what I think they will do this season, this spot makes a lot more sense so I should just stop second-guessing myself. Needed to keep his job – Bowl-eligibility at the very least. Prediction – I have them winning seven games so hopefully I haven’t drank the Husker Koolaid yet again.
Herm Edwards (Arizona State) – This is a tricky situation here. This program could be in a heap of trouble. The alleged recruiting scheme that was concocted during the worst of COVID-19 looks horrible on the Sun Devils and especially on Herm. If the NCAA can prove their point enough, Edwards may be forced out. This will have nothing to do with performance since the Sun Devils are a nearly-top-level Pac-12 team. Needed to keep his job – Herm not being found guilty in this. Prediction – A lot of times programs will fire a coach because of potential sanctions and most of those times, the team isn’t doing well anyway because they’re distracted. If ASU does as well as I predict it will, then only the NCAA coming down hard on the program will push Edwards out the door.
Matt Wells (Texas Tech) – It has been a while since this program was good. Kute Kliff Kingsbury couldn’t get the job done and he was punished with an NFL head coaching gig and probably a bunch of women at his beck and call. Wells will not have those opportunities if this doesn’t work out. For now, things are OK for the most part but it could quickly change if the Red Raiders bottom out this year. Needed to keep his job – TTU to be playing meaningful ball in November. Prediction – Define meaningful. I have the Red Raiders winning four games so if they can pull off an upset or two then you may have a bowl team down in Lubbock which could get Wells an ill-advised extension.
Scott Satterfield (Louisville) – Wow has the bloom come off the rose here. Satterfield was coaching so well early on that the fanbase had all but forgotten about their own Son of Anarchy, Bobby Petrino. Now? I am sure there is at least a decent amount of Cardinals fans who would bring Fun Bobby back in a heartbeat. That’s how much things have changed for Satterfield. He’s no longer Great Scott. More Below Average Scott. Needed to keep his job – Showing some obvious improvement from a horrible 2020. Prediction – Well, I think the Cards will win three games. That’s not many and whether they are competitive in many of their losses will signal whether Satterfield will be Satterfired or not.

Doubtful Shitcanning (although it still could happen)

Jeff Scott (USF) – I watched a YouTube video the other day about the crazy 2007 season. Remember that? At one point, the Bulls got to #2 in the nation. Good times. The times are not so good now and Scott is going to be starting to take a lot of heat for that, fair or not. Needed to keep his job – Not be worse than last season. Prediction – I’ve got them at 2 wins so technically, yes, they will be better. Plus I think they plan to give Scott at least halfway through the 2022 season before potentially pulling the trigger.
Clay Helton (USC) – Can’t Clay get a little slack here? Not like the Pac-12 as a whole is doing all that great these days. I do believe, however, this could be the year that Helton *GASP* gets off the hot seat for at least a season. What will Trojan fans complain about then? Needed to keep his job – At least 7 wins. Prediction – I have the Trojans winning 10 games meaning it’s almost an automatic to get to a New Year’s Six bowl.
Justin Fuente (Virginia Tech) – Fuente is the new Gus Malzahn. He will never get off this list. Ever. He basically has to win a national championship to do so and even then there’s no guarantee. Fans in Blacksburg are antsy for some true success. Not gonna happen yet though. Needed to keep his job – It will be a seven win season to keep his job, which will probably be the case for a long time. Prediction – 8 wins so stay tuned for next season when I put him on this exact same fucking list…again.
Thomas Hammock (Northern Illinois) – He was always going to get a lot of rope but after last year’s winless campaign, the rope has been shortened quite a bit. He has nowhere to go but up although technically he could do the same this year which would absolutely get him shitcanned. Needed to keep his job – At least a couple of victories. It’s a low bar at this point. Prediction – Three wins and Tom moving up this list next year.
Mike Bloomgren (Rice) – Again it will be a tale of two schools in the Houston area. Houston is looking for a huge rebound and I think they will be a big player in the AAC this season. Rice, on the other hand, will be just like they’ve been for most of the program’s history: below-average. Not the easiest job in the world for sure but at some point, someone has to have some semblance of success at this school, no? Needed to keep his job – Win a few games and pull off a good upset or three. Prediction – Four wins should be considered not bad and he will again be on a hot seat next season.
Marcus Arroyo (UNLV) – A bright, relatively new shiny stadium for a full season. The fact that, of all teams, the UNLV Rebels get to play at a place like Allegiant Stadium seems bizarrely funny. It really doesn’t match. I don’t think they care as long as they are out of the heat magnet masquerading as a football field called Sam Boyd Stadium. Needed to keep his job – A couple of wins and an upset at Allegiant. Prediction – They’ll win 3. As for the upset, I don’t think that will happen.
Mel Tucker (Michigan State) – OK last year he had to be given a pass. He started very late in the off-season cycle and basically did what he could for a Spartans team that needs an overhaul. He will probably get a pass for the most part this year unless they do so horribly that even Maryland is destroying them. Needed to keep his job – A move up the standings and at least 3 wins. Prediction – He should get his three wins. Moving up the standings might not happen though and the seat will most definitely get hotter next year for Mel.

Hey guess what’s next? That’s right, my Heisman ballot (which I never will, and never should, get). Then I need to do the NFL preview as well which is always a bit of a dog’s breakfast as well. 24 days away! Soon enough I will have info for Week Zero! Enjoy your day everyone!

Most Important Games of the 2021 College Football Season – IV

Posted on June 12, 2021 by guelphbossman

If you don’t know who these guys are well….you’ve never watched the hit HBO series, Entourage. Look, it’s a fun show that I actually really enjoyed. If you didn’t take it seriously, it was a good watch. I also remember it very well because I had bought the box set years ago and then decided to sell it for $100. Exchanged the DVDs for the money in a somewhat seedy Tim Horton’s parking lot and left. When I got home, I realized I was holding four $20 bills. I emailed the guy and of course he never responded. I was less than pleased. Anyway, I am going to do a kind of rating system like I’ve done every year for the final important games post. Hopefully you understand and perhaps even agree with who I assign to each week. If not…well, it really doesn’t mean much since some people I know think Entourage was shit.

We’re at the end of this exercise for this season. Final four weeks of the regular season. And you know what? All four are at least decent weeks with two of them being the best of the season. I have to retire SEC Sleepwalk Saturday into the rafters of Bossman Arena (The Bossman Dome? Oriole Park at Bossman Yards?). Can’t use the term since that week is at least decent now. I kind of miss it……ok I lied. I like this better. Let’s begin!

Week 10

This week is seriously good. The number one weekend of college football for the 2021 season. It doesn’t get any better than this (on paper). So, of course, this has to be represented by the best character on Entourage, by far, Ari Gold. If it wasn’t for Jeremy Piven’s work as the most ridiculous agent in television history, Entourage is not nearly as good of a show.

Game of the Week: LSU at Alabama (3:30, CBS) – There are four games that could inhabit this top spot and all are deserving. This is one of the deepest non-American Thanksgiving weekends in college football in recent memory. And it is LSU. I know they are down from their turn as national champs but if anyone understands how to beat Bama, it’s Ed Orgeron. Either that or this is a blowout by dinnertime.

Other Really Important Games: Oregon at Washington (10:30, specialty pack) – When a late night game is the number two game of the week, you know it’s either a really weak week or a very strong week. Nothing in between. Now this game could end up in a lot of different spots. Hell, they could end up as the BIG NOON SATURDAY game and have a 9:00 am local start which I’m sure everyone at Husky Stadium would love. This is where the schedule predictions are really a stretch unless I can use an already set game as evidence for my choice (which is usually still a bad prediction but whatever).

Texas at Iowa State (Noon, FOX) – This is the game that, at this point, I have being the BIG NOON SATURDAY game. Obviously that could change but I would be shocked if FOX passes on this game unless ABC gets it for primetime. This is essentially the game that will probably determine who faces Oklahoma at JerryWorld in December. The Big XII, not surprisingly, has fewer marquee games than the rest of the conferences. And yes, realignment and them expanding would help that. To say it wouldn’t is laughable. Maybe they should make a shocking first move and invite Arizona and Arizona State, just to see what they say.

Clemson at Louisville (3:30, ABC) – Louisville looked good last year. I say this every year but one of these times, Clemson is going to be knocked off their perch for real. None of this one loss during the season but still get out of the ACC crap. More like possibly not even going to the ACC Championship kind of thing. Yeah, I said it.

Ohio State at Nebraska (8:00, BTN) – Just like the Pac-12 Network, the Big Ten Network gets a great game or two every year. It’s mostly to make sure each team gets their two games on the network (with one having to be a conference game). But, in another way, it is to also shine a spotlight on the network to remind people that, hey, conference networks can be good sometimes as well. So I have put this game here and it wouldn’t surprise me if it stayed here. I am not a Husker fan but any stretch of the imagination, but I really do hope they can keep it within 30.

Auburn at Texas A&M (7:00, specialty pack) – I still think back to the Aggies playing the Tide early in the season. Say they win that game. They could actually be undefeated at this point and looking at the College Football Playoff! Even with one loss this game is mucho important for the Aggies. Probably not as important for Auburn as the Gus Bus seems to be having some transmission problems these days. UPDATE: Man I’m really not ready for the season. Gus Malzahn is at UCF. Bryan Harsin is now at Auburn. Hopefully the mass transit system in Orlando is better than it was in Auburn.

USC at Arizona State (8:00, FOX) – OK if there is a game (IF!) that would be put on BIG DAMN NOON SATURDAY from the Pac-12, this might be the one. For now I have it in the primetime FOX timeslot since ABC will probably go with a Big Ten game meaning FOX may actually win primetime for once. Man, it feels like I might need to change this entire week around. I will be honest, this was probably the toughest week to map out and, as you can see, I’m still not too sure of my choices.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Indiana at Michigan (3:30, specialty pack) – Don’t laugh. I think there is almost no way Michigan is as bad as they were last season. I hate using the fucked-up season of last year as an excuse but for the Wolverines it may be true. Now watch them lose this one by 40 and I am off watching whatever’s on the ACC Network to pass the time.

Best Group of Five Game: Tulsa at Cincinnati (Friday, 7:00, specialty pack) – It’s either this or Tulane-UCF on Saturday. I picked this one because this game should end up on a network we can watch whereas I have Tulane-UCF on ESPN+. After last year’s shocking Tulsa season, it will be interesting to see if the Golden Hurricane can duplicate the feat or if Cincy shows their superiority in the American.

Worst Power Five Game: Kansas State at Kansas (Thursday, 8:00, FOX Sports One) – You know what? This is fine. Do I really need to see this game? Not really (as long as there is other football on at the time and this game isn’t close).

Week 11

This week is the worst of the bunch but still pretty good. And let’s be honest: are there any really bad characters on Entourage other than Sasha Grey? I don’t really think so. I would say this is LLOYD but I think he’s not this bad. This will be Vinny Chase. Yes, despite the fact he’s supposed to be the main character of the show, he seems like the least important, ya know? Saying that, he is still VERY important to Entourage as this week is to the regular season.

Game of the Week: Arizona State at Washington (6:00, Pac-12 Network/DAZN) – Um……………..I don’t know what to say. Honestly there’s a good possibility this is not on the P12N but this is a first on here. I’d have to look but I am pretty positive no conference network has been in this spot until now. History has been (possibly) made! And if this doesn’t tell you this is the thinnest week of this bunch, I don’t know what will.

Other Really Important Games: Michigan at Penn State (3:30, specialty pack) – OK this fully about Penn State and almost not about Michigan at all. I’m actually kind of curious about the Nittany Lions since they look like they should be in the Top 10 early on if not in the preseason poll. But I’m honestly racking my brain trying to figure out what talent they have that would make it so they are that kind of contender right off the hop. And I’m coming up with nothing. God, I need a preview magazine. The college football part of my brain is turning to mush.

Texas A&M at Ole Miss (3:30, CBS) – No Bama? No Georgia? No LSU? And it’s still this high on the list? Count me interested. Really though, these are two teams to watch as both are at least New Year’s Six contenders this season despite being the horrendously tough SEC West.

Georgia at Tennessee (7:00, TSN3) – There is a part of me that hopes Tennessee can pull this off. Just to see the reaction of fans and the media…and Twitter. I’m sure all the discourse would be rational and everyone would take it in stride…….BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Northwestern at Wisconsin (8:00, FOX) – I was so close to putting this in the section above. But I just can’t. I have this feeling that Northwestern might not be as good as some are saying and/or Wisconsin will regress a bit towards the back end of the Top 25. This could end up on *deep breath* BIG NOON SATURDAY because of the lack of options.

Best Group of Five Game: UCF at SMU (7:00, specialty pack) – The AAC continues to deliver and this one is no exception. I don’t know about SMU being a contender in the AAC West this year but it does seem relatively wide open. The East, on the other hand is UCF chasing Cincinnati and everyone else chasing UCF.

Worst Power Five Game: Duke at Virginia Tech (7:30, specialty pack) – I feel almost bad putting a Hokies game here especially when it’s in Blacksburg. But Duke might just be that bad.

Week 12

Better than the previous week but not by a lot. Enough for it shed it’s SEC Sleepwalk Saturday moniker. God rest your terrible scheduling soul. You can go two ways with this. The first is to say this is represented by Turtle and Johnny Drama. Two important characters who’s stories are sometimes more important than whatever the main idea of the episode happens to be. Or you can go with Sloan and Ari’s wife. Sloan and Ari’s wife. Yes, please.

Game of the Week: Iowa State at Oklahoma (7:30, ABC) – This feels like almost a guarantee for ABC in primetime. Possibly a preview of the Big XII Championship. And really, that’s not as big of a deal as people make it out to be. It happens so damn often that you almost expect it now. Also, it’s a huge plus for Sooners fans since they will be able to watch their team start playing a game not before Noon!

Other Really Important Games: Texas at West Virginia (Noon, FOX) – *big deep breath* BIG FUCKIN’ NOON SATURDAY!!!! I would laugh if somehow the Cyclones-Sooners game ends up in this timeslot but I feel pretty safe about these two picks. By this point we will have a pretty good idea if Sark is the real deal in Austin and if not-Dana Holgorsen can keep the ‘Eers trending in the right direction.

Michigan State at Ohio State (3:30, specialty pack) – OK I am giving Mel Tucker another chance. OK not just me. Makes me sound way more important than I am. I predict that Sparty will be better than last year, maybe not by much, but enough to give the Buckeyes a scare through at least two-and-a-half quarters. If ESPN gets this game (which I predict) they have to hope for it to be close. If that happens watch a shit-ton of people move over to the four-letter network.

UCLA at USC (8:00, FOX) – Hey maybe the Victory Bell (or at least this version of it since there seems to be a bunch) could be exciting and important this season! Isn’t it nice when both of these teams are playing well? Unless you’re a fan of one of the other teams in the Pac-12 South, this is a good thing for the conference. This could be Chip Kelly’s second coming out party kinda sorta. Or Clay Helton’s last stand. Or neither. Who knows?

Oregon at Utah (10:30, specialty pack) – Honestly this could move to Thursday or Friday night and be a late night offering of FS1. That would honestly suck since it’s always nice to have a really good game on the late night sked. Otherwise it feels like I am staying up past 2 in the morning for little reason. I mean I’m gonna do it anyway but this at least gives me some semblance of justification for my irrational choices.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Minnesota at Indiana (8:00, BTN) – Minnesota is a bit of a mystery to me. But with the Big Ten’s version of Dana Holgorsen coaching them in P.J. Fleck, they will always be at least a bit better than advertised. These are the kind of games that the Hoosiers have to win if they want any shot at the NY6 this season.

Best Group of Five Game: SMU at Cincinnati (Noon, specialty pack) – Yeah I had to go down the list a bit to find the best G-5 game. This will probably end up being a blowout but it was either this or Louisiana-Liberty. Or maybe Memphis-Houston. Yeah, not exactly great choices here.

Worst Power Five Game: Arizona at Washington State (Friday, 9:00, Pac-12 Network/DAZN) – Very rarely do you see a Pac-12 game here but Jesus Christ this looks like it would suck-diddly-uck. Wazzu isn’t the Wazzu we knew and loved a couple seasons ago and, well, Zona hasn’t been relevant in quite a long time. Lucky for us, Memphis-Houston and Air Force-Nevada (and perhaps even Kansas-TCU) will be on around the same time. OK that’s sad.

Week 13

The final weekend. The four-day stretch where I am at my least productive possibly all year because I watching FOOTBAW. This is nooooooooot quite the best week of the season but it might be the most important. For that reason, this week is represented by E. Not the drug although…no forget it. E, Vince’s manager. Eric. Yeah. I’d say the most important guy in the quartet for Entourage. And I stand by that choice.

Game of the Week: Oklahoma at Oklahoma State (3:30, specialty pack) – This could move into the ABC primetime slot depending on what is left over for ABC to show. If they don’t have to show a Big Ten or Pac-12 game then I can definitely see it. I mean it’s Bedlam. Usually good. Usually. And the Sooners hate going to Stillwater. Remember that. The Fighting Mullets could drop OU out of the Big XII Championship if the opportunity arises.

Other Really Important Games: Ohio State at Michigan (Noon, FOX) – Most years this would be at least in the running to be the Game of the Week. Instead it drops into this section and honestly, for this season, it’s all because Ohio State is still quite good. But without Justin Fields, how will the Buckeyes’ passing game be? That will be the big question for this team. If that has worked itself out by this point, look out because this could be over by 1:00.

Alabama at Auburn (3:30, CBS) – The Iron Bowl is relegated to this spot. You can thank Auburn taking a step back for that. Like the tOSU-UM game, this could be a blowout. I think the one thing at least helping the Tigers is that it is at Jordan-Hare and not in Tuscaloosa. Usually that’s not a bother for the Tide but this is Auburn. I’m sure the fans aren’t exactly cordial to them. I wonder if this becomes a shoo-in in a couple years when the SEC goes to ABC/ESPN to be the primetime ABC game on American Thanksgiving weekend going forward.

Texas A&M at LSU (7:00, TSN2) – There is no chance they can recreate that insane seven overtime affair from a couple seasons ago. Makes me sad. I mean a 3:30 game or a 7:00 game going seven overtimes? Sure. A late night game going seven overtimes? God help me. I mean I’ll stay up and try not to pass out but man that would be difficult.

North Carolina at NC State (Friday, 7:30, ABC) – Black Friday’s premier game is in Raleigh this year. Everyone in the media wants to hop on Mack Brown’s dick (not literally) but ignore that the Wolfpack could very well sneak up the middle and cause a lot of trouble in the ACC. The Heels are a legit CFP contender whereas Dave Doeren hopes to get a massive contract extension and he would probably get it if he can will NCSU to the New Year’s Six.

TCU at Iowa State (Friday, 3:30, FOX) – The Big XII continues to take advantage of Black Friday although the other Power Five conferences are waking up to it. This could be the game that puts the Cyclones into the Big XII title game or ends their chances early.

Penn State at Michigan State (Noon, BTN) – Will this ultimately end up on the Big Ten Network? Well, I was shocked to see FS1 pick up Utah State-New Mexico for the odd 1:00 start time. So if this game stays in it’s Noon timeslot the amount of options are dwindling. If both teams are doing well, maybe a push to get it to ABC.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Kentucky at Louisville (7:00, specialty pack) – Unless one or both of these teams has an outside shot at a NY6 bid, this game will most likely fall to the ACC Network. Kind of sad since this is the first time both of these teams will be potentially good at the same time in quite a while.

Best Group of Five Game: Boise State at San Diego State (Friday, Noon, CBS) – That is not a misprint. This game will kickoff on Black Friday at Noon. Which makes it a 9:00 am local kickoff. We knew this was coming but it’s still a bit jarring to see it confirmed. Expect FOX and CBS do this more in the future now that they have essentially split the Mountain West conference football contract between them.

Worst Power Five Game: Pittsburgh at Syracuse (12:30, specialty pack) – Don’t be surprised if this gets moved to Black Friday. Remember when these two teams played in the Big East? I watched a fair amount of Big East football when I was younger because the Noon Big East game was one of the few games we got in this area pretty much every Saturday. Now, we have choice. So I will choose not to watch this unless it’s a good game late.

Weeks 14 and 15

No point in rating these weeks. Week 15 is Army-Navy which is always fun. I still believe that one of these days, Navy will be 12-0, coming off a conference championship and having to play Army to finish their season. Imagine if they lose? Holy shit that would be massive! Again, the Pac-12 has their conference championship on a Friday. That conference perplexes me sometimes. There was a time where the SEC Championship was rumoured to move to primetime on CBS. Instead it is confirmed to be back in the afternoon at its normal 4:00 time. I have a feeling the ACC will move their game out of primetime and go either with the Noon(ish) timeslot or up against the SEC since you have to wonder how many viewers they are losing to the Big Ten most years.

The important games blog posts are complete! Done and dusted! Still haven’t received my Athlon magazine. Haven’t phoned Phil Steele to get that magazine. Haven’t gone to Indigo to look for Lindy’s or Street and Smith. Life has got in the way so I just haven’t had that chance. Soon. And then it’s probably all I will read about between now and late August when the season begins.

Next up is the network specific posts. Remember, “Card Subject to Change”…meaning I will be wrong more than I am right…possibly. But the fact that I am about to do these posts means we are getting a bit closer to the season. We are 77 days away from Week Zero. Feels like still such a long time.

Everyone have a great weekend!

That game was drugs – Week 8 College Football Recap

Posted on October 27, 2020 by guelphbossman

And no I’m not talking about Game 4 of the World Series (although that finish was completely bonkers as well). The final part of the Penn State-Indiana was about as ridiculous as you can get. It started with a little less than two minutes left and Penn State up one.

Penn State drives down for a touchdown but Indiana’s defense allows them to score (and one of them actually celebrates when they do). The Penn State running back tried to fall before the goal line but was unsuccessful. So now the Nittany Lions are up 8.
The Hoosiers then go on a drive of their own, get a touchdown with 22 seconds left and the two-point conversion to tie it up.
Indiana’s kicker, for some reason, instead of doing a pooch kick, does more of an onside kick that no one goes after. Penn State recovers getting excellent field position at midfield.
Penn State lines up for the 57-yard field goal and kicker Jordan Stout misses it by a couple of feet. We go to overtime.
Penn State scores a touchdown to start overtime. This is the most normal thing to happen in the past half hour.
The Hoosiers get their chance and a great pass from Michael Penix Jr. to Whop Philyor in the corner of the end zone gets them a touchdown.
Instead of the extra point, Tom Allen decides to go for the win. In what seems like a broken play, Penix takes off for the corner. As you can see above in the pic, that was where he went down. That is about as close as you can get. It was ruled he got in by the officials. They went to replay for about five minutes. From what I could see, I believe the ball hit the sideline JUST before it crossed the plane of the goal line. I don’t think there was a way to overturn it though since it was too close. And that’s what happened. Indiana wins a wild one.

And of course Twitter had its normal pleasant discourse after the game.

The rest of the recap

How about them Cowboys? Yeah they haven’t exactly looked like world-beaters so far this season. But they keep winning and their victory over Iowa State puts them in the catbird seat in the Big XII. Mike Gundy has finally weaved his magic in Stillwater…on the defensive side. I still believe that at some point they will end up losing a game inside the Big XII as they still have a tough schedule left. Knowing the way this year has been though, getting through undefeated will guarantee them a spot in the College Football Playoff and make Pac-12 fans so sad since their hopes might be dashed by that. I can’t see Sooner fans being happy at this outcome.
Well the Wolverines have definitely started their season on the right note. They looked quite impressive in their beatdown of Minnesota. But we’ve heard all this before. Michigan has had great starts in many of their seasons of the last decade. And every season, at least inside the Big Ten, has ended in heartache. Michigan does not exactly have an easy schedule so maybe they will do everyone a favour and lose a couple of games before their matchup with Ohio State. Otherwise…oh my. We know what we will get.
NC State lost to North Carolina. The Heels are trying to comeback from the dreadful loss against Florida State the previous week. As for the Wolfpack, that’s the Dave Doeren-coached team we all know (and not really love).
Tennessee was fired up for their game against Bama and, well it didn’t really matter. They got smoked by the Tide and it wasn’t even close. Honestly, you have to wonder if they are going to move on from fifth-year senior quarterback Jarrett Guarantano. He just doesn’t seem to be getting over that hump to be a quality quarterback. As for Bama, this was the equivalent of a stone in the road that you easily drive over. And really, they don’t have a super tough game the rest of the way so they really do look like they will get to the SEC Championship unscathed.
Miami had quite a few problems with Virginia. Despite the fact that they ended up winning they never looked dominant in this one. Not once. They still stay in the catbird seat to get their asses royally handed to them by Clemson in the ACC Championship. You have to wonder if the D’Eriq King signing isn’t working out or it has more to do with the players around him (or the coaches sending in the plays).
Rutgers won a game. Yes, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team won a football game. A conference game to boot. Yes it may have only been Michigan State but it’s huge for this program. All we can say is Return of the Schiano is in full swing now. As for Sparty, it’s a mess there in East Lansing. Mark D’Antonio’s surprise resignation put Mel Tucker in a tough spot and it looks like he will be in tough all season. I am starting to wonder if the Spartans will win a game all season seeing how they performed in their opening game.
Wisconsin looked good in a victory over Illinois to open their season. But no one was there to see it. I do wonder if they will find a way to get fans into the stands at some point later on in the season. Not saying they need to sell the place out because that would be absolutely insane right now. But even having 10% of the seats filled does make a difference. I’m going to be honest: hearing actual fans in the stadium adds to the atmosphere, no matter how many there are.
How about those Kansas Jayhawks? Yeah they have been shitty this season. But at least their loss to Coastal Carolina doesn’t look so bad now. They have been beaten by double digits in every one of their games. And when will they be close enough to win? My guess is not until American Thanksgiving weekend when they face TCU. So can we safely say the Les Miles experiment has not worked?
Ohio State destroyed Nebraska on Big Noon Saturday. I’m not surprised by this. The best part? Ryan Day thinking he had to apologize for scoring a late touchdown against the Huskers because it was believed to be running up the score. Give me a fucking break. We need more of that. If Nebraska can’t handle it, go back to the Big Eight…oh wait.
OK what is with the Kentucky Wildcats? After their last two games, it felt like they had turned a corner. Instead they laid an absolute egg at Mizzou and looked like shit. And who do they get next? Georgia. Good fucking luck, Mark Stoops.
Boise State started the Mountain West season by easily beating Utah State. So now the question is this: if Boise runs the table, do they get the New Year’s Six spot? You have to think that something has to happen to the other undefeated Group of Five teams (Cincinnati, Marshall, and Coastal Carolina) for the Broncos to be the G-5 representative in the NY6. They don’t have the advantage of big non-conference wins so they better beat teams like they did USU on Saturday.
Even though it was on a network no one gets up here, I am sure people tried to watch it. Wake Forest caused another upset by beating Virginia Tech and knocking them out of the Top 25. Let’s be honest here: Clemson has very little competition at the top of the ACC, still. Notre Dame is the only undefeated team left and we shall see if they are still without losses when they face Clemson later in the year…and by later in the year I mean in less than two weeks.
Well I think I saw something that I will never see again. Rice was finally playing their first game of the season. They came all the way back against Middle Tennessee from being down 28-13. They get to overtime. The Blue Raiders do not score in their part of overtime. So all Rice has to do is kick a field goal and it’s over. So what do they do? Basically run into the middle of the line three times to set up their kicker in the middle of the field. Collin Riccitelli kicks it and it doinks FOUR TIMES, once off both goalposts and twice off the crossbar and drops in front of the goalposts. Talk about bad luck. The Owls ended up losing in the second overtime period.

Man I honestly thought that weekend was going to turn out pretty crappy. And it wasn’t. There were some great games and it feels more like a normal college football Saturday with the late games. We need more of these (and will get them now the rest of the way). Now to the Bossman Top 25:

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

Yes I have Ohio State down at #6. I don’t care what anyone thinks about that. Let’s be honest here: if the Buckeyes win out they’re in, no ifs, ands or buts. I also have Cincinnati ahead of them at #5 and BYU not far back at #10. Really it just comes down to with Group of Five teams are undefeated at the end of the season. Considering that it’s pretty much all conference play the rest of the way (except for BYU), it will be tough to move up from where they are unless a lot happens above them. That’s just the way it is. Gotta run up the damn score! And how about Liberty at #25! The Flames have played inspired football and could be a huge wild card the rest of this season with their ability to surprise some teams. Saying that, they will have to keep it up to stay ranked because one loss and I think they are gone. Hopefully by the time the MAC and Pac-12 are finished their second weeks we are down to not many undefeated teams in the nation.

Guess what? We are very close to mid-week college football. Starting November 4th we have football almost every day for a few weeks. Hell yeah! I’ll be back later this week with a full college football schedule (with only games on Thursday through Saturday) and may discuss this a bit more. Enjoy your week everyone!

Most Important Games of the 2020 College Football Season – Parte Trois

Posted on June 10, 2020 by guelphbossman

I think that’s the French translation (full disclosure: I was just average at French in Grade 9 and never took it afterwards). No fun picture or huge rant to start this post. Just getting right down to the schedule predictions, as wrong as they may be. This is the true start of conference play with some really good football in these three weeks. The third course of a huge Italian dinner so to speak. So the meat portion. Let’s say it’s also the cheese portion as well. It’s that important. Let’s go!

Week 8

Game of the Week: Ohio State at Penn State (7:30, ABC) – Could both of these teams enter the season in the Top 15? Top 10? Quite possibly. I just received my first preview magazine (Athlon) so I will see what it says later today. Anyway, no matter what, this is a potential Game of the Year candidate and could end up being the de facto Big Ten East championship. I still have to favour the Buckeyes in this one thanks to one of Ric Flair’s most important quotes “To be the man, you have to beat the man.” And as of right now, tOSU is still the Man of the Big Ten.

Other Really Important Games: Oklahoma State at Oklahoma (Noon, FOX) – Bedlam! Not a whole lot else has to be said here. One of the few super-important Big XII games this season. Let’s see if The Mullet can finally overcome the Sooners in a game that truly matters to the Sooners’ Big XII title hopes.

Alabama at Tennessee (6:00, specialty pack) – Jeremy Pruitt is finally bringing the Vols back to some semblance of prominence in the SEC. No easy task for sure. Maybe they can finally make some waves in the SEC East so it’s not all Cocktail Party-heavy. Yes I believe this will be one of those odd weeks with the 6:00/9:00 timeslots that ESPN uses sometimes. I hated them when I was heavily dependent on my PVR. It’s not as big a deal now but I can see some people not liking it. For those people I say this: it could end up a blowout so by the time the ABC primetime game begins, this game will be essentially over.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Michigan State at Indiana (Noon, specialty pack) – So yeah this isn’t exactly a great week on paper. The fact that there are only three true must-see games backs that up. As for this game, I expect it to be a really close one. Indiana continues to improve every season and maybe they could crack the Big Ten East’s top three. MSU starts the Mel Tucker era so I am not so sure how they will do but they have been no worse than average for the past decade (except for one season). Now watch this be a blowout and me look like an idiot.

Best Group of Five Game: Cincinnati at SMU (7:00, specialty pack) – Nice to see Cincinnati back in the spot of one of the best Group of Five teams. It’s also nice to see SMU back to being a good team for the first time since before their Death Penalty. This could end up being a preview of the AAC Championship game.

Worst Power Five Game: Nebraska at Rutgers (Noon, BTN) – Good lord.

Week 9

Game of the Week: Florida vs. Georgia (in Jacksonville) (3:30, CBS) – World’s Largest Outdoor Mother Fucking Cocktail Party! This is always fun to look forward to even if the game doesn’t always live up to the hype. It also means that every year there is at least one event in Jacksonville that deserves some hype (Jacksonville Jag-you-ares jokes, gotta love em!). I do wonder how these games will be broadcast this season. Will the announcers be at the site of the games or will they call games from the studio? Two-and-a-half months away and God only knows what will happen with all the Coronavirus stuff that could affect this season. Again, it’s a small part of how crazy this season could end up being but I have heard games called in the studio a few times and it doesn’t seem like it matches up to when the announce team is there in person.

Other Really Important Games: Baylor at Texas (3:30, FOX) – I do wonder if this game will end up at Noon. Another average week here for college football on paper so who knows what the networks will do with their weekly game picks. The Big XII tends to get a bit of the shaft when it comes to Big Noon Saturday on FOX (although obviously not as bad as the Pac-12 who is completely shut out). I will order some barbecue for dinner to watch the end of this game. Possibly because it’s an all-Texas matchup. Partially because I am a glutton. Don’t judge me.

Penn State at Indiana (3:30, specialty pack) – Two weeks in a row for the Hoosiers on this list! Tom Allen would be happy to see this and might punch a wall or headbutt a fan to celebrate. Penn State is Penn State and should be at least Top 25 at this point so this could be a game between two ranked teams. Say that about a decade ago and report back to me on the looks you get.

Kansas State at Iowa State (Thursday, 8:00, FloSports) – We are all used to the ESPN Thursday Night games. Now many of us can be introduced to the FOX Sports One Thursday night matchups that don’t happen every week like ESPN’s but still tend to be fairly big Big XII or Pac-12 games. Case in point, this matchup. Farmageddon. Two teams who will try to make it to the Big XII Championship for the first time since it has been reinstated. The loser here is almost certainly out of contention for that.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Virginia Tech at Louisville (Noon, specialty pack) – This is an odd matchup here since a few years ago this would almost certainly be in the section above. Right now I have it at Noon, going to ESPN and the specialty pack but it could end up in a variety of timeslots or networks depending on the performance of these two teams so far into the season. Most games are not that much of a crapshoot.

Best Group of Five Game: Memphis at Cincinnati (7:00, specialty pack) – The plus with the weeks that aren’t that great looking is that it usually means that we have at least one fantastic Group of Five game. This was the American Conference championship last season. Memphis has to break in a new coach although considering how Mike Norvell is doing at Florida State already, this may be a good thing. Ryan Silverfield is the new head coach and a relative unknown. So the question is how quickly will he move on to a Power Five school? Over/under set at three seasons. Cincinnati still has Adam Sandler lookalike Luke Fickell as their head man. Don’t be surprised if this gets moved to the ABC primetime slot.

Worst Power Five Game: Rutgers at Maryland (Noon, BTN) – OK I apologize to the previous week’s Worst Power Five Game entry. This could be the worst Power Five game of the season unless Mike Locksley does something that counts as progress. Great choices to add to the conference Big Ten. Money well spent.

Week 10

Game of the Week: Alabama at LSU (3:30, CBS) – OK hear me out. I know most will think that this should go to primetime on CBS and it may still end up that way. I think after the success of Notre Dame-Georgia in the ratings that they might try something different to keep from having LSU-Bama burnout (which would happen everywhere except for the states of Louisiana and Alabama). No matter where it ends up, this is a possible GOTY, possible de facto SEC West division title game, possible College Football Playoff elimination game, etc., etc. A lot of “possible” in this game.

Other Really Important Games: Clemson at Notre Dame (7:30, NBC) – One of at least two NBC primetime Irish games this season. This could also be a mega-matchup if Notre Dame is undefeated (or only have one loss) coming into this one. If the Irish aren’t really that great, this moves way down the list and NBC might hate the fact it’s in primetime.

Oklahoma State at Baylor (8:00, well…) – Let me explain this. ESPN+ will carry a certain amount of Big XII games this season. This is done to boost ESPN+ since other than UFC I don’t know why anyone would order this, despite the fact it’s only $5 a month for Americans. Now as far as I know, Canadians still cannot get ESPN+. So we may very well be shut out of a very good college football game. The more things change, the more things stay the same I guess. Now let’s hope FOX picks it up and we don’t have to deal with this.

USC at Oregon (8:00, FOX) – I really do not have an answer as to who selects first on any given week, FOX or ABC/ESPN. If FOX does pick this game, it could end up back at the 3:30 timeslot depending on the competition on other channels (and if the first game on this list does end up at 3:30). As always, it’s a numbers and contracts game to try and figure out what goes where in the schedule. Isn’t college football scheduling fun? Oh well, this should be a good game, and a potential Pac-12 Pew-Pew-Pew game that doesn’t involve Washington State.

Indiana at Ohio State (Noon, ABC/TSN4) – Three in a fucking row! I hope the Hoosiers are in contention for the New Year’s Six since this is a gauntlet of a mid-season schedule for this team. Get through this section with only one loss and many will have to look out for this squad. If I have to pick the game they would most likely lose it’s this one and only because it’s at the Horseshoe, an underrated atmosphere in college football.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Kentucky at Tennessee (Noon, specialty pack) – So which of these teams will actually be considered a contender at this point in the SEC East? Recent history tells us that the winner of this game will still be in a spot to win the SEC East. That may sound hilarious to some but Kentucky was in contention for the division into November last year so you may not want to laugh quite yet.

Best Group of Five Game: BYU at Boise State (10:30, FloSports) – I was tempted to include this in the Other Important Games of the Week section but the Cougs aren’t quite there yet. But the Fighting Sitakes always give the Broncos fits so as for late-night fare, this is almost must-see. It means that you may have to stay up to watch. I mean I will already but I watch games like San Jose State-New Mexico on ESPNU that doesn’t end until 2:30 in the morning so I may not be the best judge of all this.

Worst Power Five Game: Duke at Georgia Tech (Noon, specialty pack) – Oof. Perfect for the ACC Network. Hey did you hear about Grant Field, where the Ramblin’ Wreck play? They are changing from natural grass to Turfgrass (or artificial turf, I can’t remember) for the first time in the stadium’s history. This stadium is over a century old. And why is this happening? Because of the BTS concert that was slated to play there this summer (which has since been postponed). BTS is a K-Pop group. Korean pop music. My daughter is a huge fan of them. This is causing a stadium in college football’s heartland to change something significant about it. Just crazy. The times, they are a-changin’.

A mixed back this week. Surprising to see a couple of average weeks in this part of the season but it is what it is. But it’s still college football dammit so I will watch. If I somehow get access to ESPN+ I might not eat, drink, or go to the bathroom for 14+ hours on college football Saturdays. Maybe I should invest in adult diapers.

Finally (FINALLY!) I received my first preview magazine. Got the Athlon one yesterday and hope to get Lindy’s and Street & Smith in the next couple weeks. Problem comes with Indigo stores not open yet and all other stores that even carry magazines not having college football preview ones. So until that changes (which it may this weekend) I will go through the Athlon one. As for the Phil Steele magazine, I hope to be able to order it soon. As of right now production of the magazine has slowed with office closures and COVID-19 restrictions (and also questions about the college football season itself). I have heard that they will be finishing the magazine soon enough and shipping will begin in mid-July. This is good since I don’t want to wait too long to find out who will win the battle to be UMass’s third-string left guard.

The CFL would have been starting tomorrow night if it weren’t for the pandemic. So that means still no football to watch in any form until the potential start of the NFL preseason. And now there is news that the preseason could be shortened from four games, the current total for all teams (except for the two teams that play in the Hall of Fame Game) to either three or two. I am all for this since the preseason is always way too long. I still believe every team should have one neutral-site game as well but they haven’t heeded my advice yet. Enjoy the rest of your week, stay safe and healthy, and I will get the final post of this series up as soon as I can.

Most Important Games of the 2020 College Football Season – The Second Part

Posted on June 2, 2020 by guelphbossman

Hey remember when I mentioned that we were getting closer to the NCAA Football video game series returning? It now looks like that may not be the case. Even with the NCAA allowing players to receive money for their name and likeness, without school licensing, the players would not be able to be represented in the video game. The next step would have to be some sort of group licensing that involves school logos, names, stadiums, etc. So the sadness remains with all those people who would buy a PS4 or PS5 or whatever the most recent X-Box is just for this game. Which includes me. I say that even though I just sold the game since I just don’t play anymore…the PlayStation going up to my son’s room accelerated that. Am I officially a miserable adult now?

So normally, I do the first post of this series and a day or two later more schedule updates appear changing my original guesses already. It would make me feel a bit dumb. This year? Of course that didn’t happen. COVID-19 has changed so much and this is yet another thing that has changed. Instead of some games being confirmed, this year we have the question of which schools would even participate in a college football season in 2020. Here is what I know so far:

The SEC seems all in. This is not a surprise. Hell even Mizzou is showing their SEC-ness. Did you see the picture of the Lake of the Ozarks the other day? Marty Byrde would be all over that action.
The Big Ten seems iffy. Michigan has already stated that unless students are on campus and everything is back to some sense of normalcy, there may not be a season for the Wolverines. I have heard rumblings of other schools feeing the same way.
John Swofford of the ACC had a more measured approach. He said with his conference being in ten different states there may be a possibility that some schools are playing this season and others may not. It’s a wait-and-see approach there.
The rest of the conferences, for the most part, have said nothing.

This could lead to a massive amount of schedule changes. If some schools don’t play, the schools that have scheduled them would have to replace them on the sked. It means we could see some huge matchups throughout the season. It also may mean that conference play doesn’t matter. A lot could happen.

Saying all that, I feel better about my predictions for the schedule this season because in the end, it may not matter. So let’s go with the second part of this series.

Week 4

Game of the Week: Wisconsin at Michigan (Noon, FOX) – FOX gets a few marquee games to put at Noon during the season. This is definitely one of them. You can say what you want about the Wolverines but they bring ratings, love em or hate em. It does help that there aren’t many other games this week so FOX could easily have the biggest game of the week and win the ratings war. I would love to say this could be a Big Ten Championship preview but I would be lying.

Other Really Important Games: Virginia at Clemson (3:30, ABC) – I could see this moving to primetime but again, it all hinges on every conference getting their contracted amount of primetime games on ABC in. On a week with not a lot of great options, this could get a lot of eyeballs. It is yet another opportunity for an ACC team to topple the mighty Fighting Dabo Swinneys. Until it happens, we have to continue to believe that the Tigers are a favourite to get to the College Football Playoff. If the Hoos can somehow pull off the upset, that entire conference could be in a heap of trouble to get a team to the dance.

Florida at Tennessee (3:30, CBS) – “Is Tennessee Back” is the new “Texas is Back.” There were hints last year that maybe, just maybe, the Volunteers are back to the Phil Fulmer days of being in the top tier of the SEC every year. I will be honest: it is almost sad to see a fanbase of a team that used to be good go through five-plus years of no better than mediocrity. Almost…those same fans tend to be complete assholes at times which means the hate is still there for every other fanbase. On the other side of the fence is one of the best coaches in the land and a team that is nipping at Georgia’s heels in the SEC East. These are the kinds of games they have to win if they want to get back to the SEC Championship for the first time since 2016.

Louisiana Tech at Baylor (Noon, FloSports) – Will Baylor be as good as last season? That is the question since Dr. Matt Rhule, D.D.S. left for the greener pastures of the NFL and the Carolina Panthers. The Bears have a history of having a season every so often that makes them seem like a real contender followed by a few seasons of being a pretender. As for the Bulldogs, this is their first time in the important games section. Congratulations to them. This is the kind of game they must win if they want to be the first Conference USA team to make it to the New Year’s Six.

Notre Dame at Wake Forest (3:30, specialty pack) – Can we just finally say that the Deacs are an upper tier ACC team? I’m serious. This may say more about the conference as a whole, beyond Clemson, than anything but I think you can’t help but agree. I wouldn’t say this is a massive game for both teams but it’s one that both programs have on their radar right now. This is part of the Notre Dame-ACC agreement that runs for a long time, like until the year 2245 or something. It still feels weird to this day and probably always will. Anyway, this should be fun so watch it. Or don’t. I mean I’m not going to force you to or anything.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Arizona State at USC (7:00, specialty pack) – This may essentially end up being an early season Pac-12 South elimination game. This may also end up being one of the Pac-12 South round robin games where the division winner has three conference losses. This should be a pretty even match and these two teams have had some great games in the past. Now watch it be a blowout. I am glad this game was this week since my next pick would have been Western Kentucky-Louisville. My god.

Best Group of Five Game: Temple at Navy (3:30, CBS Sports Network) – You know, after one bad Navy season many people, including myself, figured the Midshipmen would get back to .500 and maybe end up with a winning season. So what did Ken Niumatalolo do? Put them in the Top 25 for a while. This year should be no different for this team. And I have noticed in the past few years that playing at Navy is not an easy thing for teams to do. I don’t know what it is but it feels like an intimidating place to play, something the other two military academies can’t boast.

Worst Power Five Game: Stanford at UCLA (6:30, DAZN) – It is a bit odd to see Stanford in this spot but they were not good last year and I can’t see them being a ton better this year. And I wonder when the Chip Kelly Experience will actually pay dividends for the Bruins since nothing has really worked so far.

Week 5

Game of the Week: Baylor at Oklahoma (3:30, ABC) – The best week of the year has one of the potential games of the year right here. But this is only if Baylor doesn’t struggle with Matt Rhule not around. That is the caveat. We know the Sooners will be good since they are always good, like it or not. Now watch this game end up being a blowout. And in the Big XII, blowouts can get crazy.

Other Really Important Games: Wisconsin at Notre Dame (in Green Bay) (7:30, NBC) – Despite the fact that the Irish have five ACC games every season, they always find a way to schedule their rivals (like USC, Michigan and Navy). They also add a juicy game or two every season. I remember the last time there was a game at Lambeau Field: the Badgers upset LSU and destroyed my national championship pick early on in the season. Thanks a bunch guys. This ends up being a primetime NBC game so we should be expecting something special here.

Penn State at Michigan (Noon, ABC/TSN1/TSN4) – This does not feel like a Noon Big Ten Game. At all. This is the kind of game that is usually on ABC in primetime. We should hear the familiar refrain of the Woes of James Harbaugh throughout this one. The continued talk about James Franklin resurrecting the program at Happy Valley. And somewhere in there will be an actual college football game. Let’s call it a Big Ten East elimination game since it probably is one.

Washington at Oregon (10:30, specialty pack) – Well at least Chris Petersen isn’t around to freak the fuck out about this game being on in the late night timeslot. Now this could end up on ABC in primetime since my current choice, Florida State-NC State, really does not look like a good game on paper. I guess it’s the problem with these conferences having these kinds of minimums in their television contracts. Although can you imagine if that wasn’t the case? I am sure we would almost never see the Pac-12 or the ACC ever again. Anyway, as of right now, this is Pac-12 After Dark which is sometimes good for some late night insanity. I will most certainly be watching, losing some sleep in the process.

USC at Utah (10:30, FloSports) – This could be one of the best late night schedules ever and you will see why below. We have the game above and now this one that we can now see! I am sure Clay Helton will be sweating all throughout this one as he continues his rocky tenure as the head coach in LA. I do wonder if Utah can recreate the magic of last season and make another run at the College Football Playoff. Now that LSU broke through and won the whole thing, we need another new team to get into the mix so why not the Utes?

Kentucky at Auburn (7:30, specialty pack) – I have this game on the SEC Network. Seriously. If the Wildcats are any good this season, we could be watching a barnburner on an American specialty sports network that is shown on a specialty pack here in Canada. It’s also kind of interesting that this is the best week of the season and this is the first appearance of the SEC on this list.

Texas at Kansas State (Noon, FloSports) – Normally one of the games we wouldn’t be able to see. Before this season, it’s the Big XII that we Canadians would miss most of. The one conference without a conference network (and no, the Longhorn Network does not count) has struggled overall compared to the other Power Five conferences to get their games on in the best timeslots. If it wasn’t for the Sooners and at least one other Big XII team, no one would notice this conference. Both these programs are trying to be that “one other team” this season. Would be fun to see Kansas State back being a true contender. Especially since what the hell else is there to do in the Little Apple?

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: North Carolina at Virginia (7:00, specialty pack) – The Tar Heels are fun again under Mack Brown for the first time since, well, Mack Brown was coaching. Bronco Mendenhall is doing the same types of things he did at BYU in Charlottesville. These are the two teams I would consider as the best bets to dethrone Clemson (or at least give them a conference loss). No this is not a de facto division title game since this is the ACC Coastal division and this division is utterly insane. I wait for the season that everyone ends up 4-4 and there’s a seven-way tie for the division crown. God that would be glorious.

Best Group of Five Game: Navy at Air Force (10:30, specialty pack) – This is the third game in the late night triple threat this week. There were a few choices I could have put here. Memphis-SMU and Utah State-BYU fit the bill as well and on any other week would have been here. But this game should be great and considering the way the two offenses are, should be over before Saturday Night Live’s episode that week is done. I think this is the first time a Navy-AFA game could be this big. It could also be the first time, as far as I know, that both teams come into this one ranked. Now that would be something.

Worst Power Five Game: Nebraska at Northwestern (Noon, TSN5) – Now this…this feels like a Big Ten game at Noon. It means that either Beth Mowins or Steve Levy has to call it, right?

Week 6

Game of the Week: LSU at Florida (3:30, CBS) – God damn this could be a MASSIVE game this season. Two SEC contenders. Potentially, two CFP contenders. This is still a possibility to be moved to a primetime SEC on CBS game as it is that big. Or for some reason CBS allows ESPN to pick it up and even put it at that odd 6:00 start time. You never really know. Anyway, this could be a CFP elimination game. By this point we should know if the Tigahs are ready to defend their national championship or not.

Other Really Important Games: Auburn at Georgia (7:00, specialty pack) – Many would say this should be the game of the week. It’s a good game but I don’t think it hits the heights of the previous game. Also this could be a good week for CBS to exercise that doubleheader they get to do once a year. Both teams look good heading into the season and there’s always talk about Gus Malzahn being shitcanned so that is fun for people who like that kind of thing. Some also hate Kirby Smart as well because he hasn’t won an SEC title yet. Life can’t be easy for an SEC head coach (although I am sure the crap-ton of money they get eases the pain a bit).

Iowa at Ohio State (Noon, FOX) – FOX not taking a back seat to Disney this week for game selections. Then again this could end up as the ABC primetime game. You just never know with the schedules. Man, the Pac-12 still has to be livid that FOX said that their best games will be on at Noon. When do they finally say Fuck it and say “Fine, put a game on at 9 local time. I’m sure no one will care and besides, we want the main event!” If Chris Petersen was still around I am sure this would have been pushed.

Minnesota at Wisconsin (Noon, TSN4) – Man the Noon timeslot is fantastic this week. Many would consider this further down the list to be honest. I still have faith that the Golden Gophers can Row The Boat and stay atop the Big Ten West. Wisky will be Wisky and try and run the ball for like 500 yards on what looks like seriously uncomfortable turf in Madison. I can’t imagine what’s that like to get tackled on in late November.

Oklahoma vs. Texas (in Dallas) (Noon, ABC/TSN2) – It’s something when this is the fifth-best game of the week. The Red River Shootout (SHOOTOUT!) is always a crazy game so I always enjoy watching it. Now we have to continue hoping that the decrepit Cotton Bowl doesn’t collapse during one of these games. This could end up being a FOX selection just for the teams involved but there are a lot of options this week so both networks will have to pick carefully.

Utah at Washington (8:00, FOX) – This could be a preview of the Pac-12 title game and it is this far down the list. That tells you more about the Pac-12 than the state of college football. Call it East Coast bias if you want but the teams out west just don’t seem to have the cache these days that many teams east of them do. Knowing that, I could see them moving this to 10:30 or 11:00 at night.

Clemson at Florida State (3:30, specialty pack) – Hey remember when both of these teams were legitimate contenders and this could be counted on as a potential game of the year? The Tigers have been carrying the conference so their shoulders must be tired at this point. The Noles have been average, at best, and are looking to re-establish their identity in the ACC. A win here would be a fans-storm-the-field kind of instance for Florida State.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Virginia Tech at North Carolina (8:00, specialty pack) – One team has to emerge from the ACC Coastal Division, technically. The Hokies and the Heels are as good a bet as any to make it to the ACC Championship. I’d like to say the loser here is eliminated from the race but not in this wacky division.

Best Group of Five Game: Louisiana at Appalachian State (Wednesday, 7:00, specialty pack) – This could end up being one of the games that decides the Group of Five New Year’s Six spot. Don’t laugh. The Sun Belt has been steadily improving over the past few years. Everyone knows what App State can do but the Ragin’ Cajuns have been underrated recently. This could be a breakout game. It also could be a preview of the Sun Belt Championship game.

Worst Power Five Game: Rutgers at Purdue (Noon, BTN) – Ah Rutgers back in the Rutgers spot. Remember what I said about the huge Noon slate? Well it’s still true so I wonder how many people would actually watch this game. Not many I think.

Week 7

Game of the Week: Iowa at Penn State (Noon, ABC/TSN1) – The Big Ten has a huge week this week. And this is the biggest game of a huge bunch. Kirk Ferentz will try and do some Kirk Ferentz things to lead his Hawkeyes to a victory. Penn State has been close to the big dance and needs a win here to try and break through to the next level for the first time in a long time.

Other Really Important Games: Texas A&M at Auburn (3:30, CBS) – This is one of three games that could be considered the game of the week. It really isn’t a huge week for top-of-the-line game quality but there are a lot of good games this week. It used to be that everyone was trying to catch Alabama. Now it’s everyone in the SEC West trying to catch LSU. The Gus Bus and whatever vehicle you want to associate with Jimbo Fisher will be hard up to win the division if they lose here.

Michigan at Minnesota (7:30, FloSports) – See now that Canadians can access these FOX Sports One games, I don’t care that they move some big games there. I understand the reasoning behind doing that because it makes it so FS1 would eventually be in more homes in the U.S.. Saying this, this game could be moved anywhere on the FOX schedule this week, especially if both teams have had hot starts to the season.

Oklahoma at Iowa State (Noon, FOX) – It’s nice to see a program like Iowa State have a sustained string of successful seasons. Matt Campbell has done a phenomenal job in Ames. And they have pulled a massive upset on the Sooners in recent years. Nothing says it can’t happen again. I know the rest of the Big XII will be rooting for the Cyclones even if they don’t admit it. Anything to knock the Sooners off their perch would be a good thing for the rest of the conference.

Ohio State at Michigan State (7:30, ABC) – A lot of good games this week as I mentioned above. Now there’s a caveat with this one: the Spartans have to be better than they were this year to make this a reality. In most years this would be in consideration for Game of the Week. With the Mark Dantonio era over, things start anew in East Lansing with Mel Tucker. They always have a gauntlet with the Big Ten East, having to face Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan and, these days, Indiana every year. Don’t be surprised if FOX picks this one up for their primetime game if ABC passes on it.

Oregon at California (Friday, 10:00, FloSports) – The Golden Bears are good again! A young enthusiastic head coach and a program that is on the right recruiting trails helps. The Pac-12 not being the Pac-12 of old is also a factor here but make no mistake about it, Cal could make some noise in the Pac-12 North with a win here. The Mario Cristobal Show rolls on in Eugene as he tries to take the final step to get the Ducks into the College Football Playoff. It would be good since we need some new blood in there (I know, Oregon has been once before but it feels like that was DECADES ago).

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Wake Forest at Florida State (Noon, specialty pack) – OK I had to dig a bit deeper to find a good underrated game. I would say that this is the only one that truly qualifies and it’s more because of Wake than FSU. With the way the Noon schedule is, if this does appear in that timeslot it will be drowned out by the other bigger games so it better be close to be relevant.

Best Group of Five Game: UCF at Memphis (Friday, 8:00, specialty pack) – As of right now, this game will sort of split the national spotlight with the UO-Cal game I mentioned above. The American conference loves their Friday night games and they usually get some good ones in on those nights (unlike the ACC that drops whatever shit there and doesn’t think of the matchup). This should be a barnburner as per usual between these two teams. This could possibly move to TSN. This game is one of the G-5 games of the year and will shape the New Year’s Six, guaranteed.

Worst Power Five Game: Maryland at Northwestern (3:30, BTN) – Man the Big Ten has some bad games this season. The bottom tier of the conference can compete with any of the other Power Five conferences to stay they are the bottom of the barrel. I guess the silver lining here is that it isn’t Rutgers this time? I wonder if the Big Ten is still happy with getting the Scarlet Knights and the Terrapins into the conference a few years back. I mean I know the money is a big part of it but man, on the football field they have been atrocious.

We are more than halfway through the season now (with these posts). With only thirteen weeks this season I had to have one longer post because of it. Sorry about that. The next two posts will be the most difficult as almost none of it is set out beforehand and with 6 and 12-day holds on scheduling games, many of the choices are done later in the season. This means many of these could be wrong because of that. And in those cases I will blame the networks. Not me.

I have not picked up a college football preview magazine yet. Why? Because none of them are out yet. I can’t even order the Phil Steele magazine because of everything that is going on with the pandemic. I am hoping to get it sometime in early August but no guarantees. With bookstores closed I will have to keep an eye out for the others and order them when I get a chance. Anyway, we are 88 days from the scheduled opening of the college football season. A lot is up in the air at this point but as of right now I am assuming they will start, with empty stadiums, on time. Hope everyone has a great week and enjoy the weather!

Bossman's Blog

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

Tag Archives: Mel Tucker

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