It’s the Final Mock Draft!

…..the final Mock Draft!

Yep, not kidding. This is it. I’m not going to do like four in a matter of six days or something ridiculous like that. I have a job and a life (sort of) outside of this blog. I also know things may change on the day of the draft (or more like opening day of the draft). Nothing I can do about that. Let the experts deal with it. Between ESPN and the NFL Network there has to be about 70 mock drafts ready to go in the half hour before the draft begins. So without further adieu, let’s get to l’ébauche finale:

First Round

1	Chicago	Caleb Williams, QB (USC)
2	Washington	Jayden Daniels, QB (LSU)
3	New England	Drake Maye, QB (North Carolina)
4	Arizona	Marvin Harrison Jr., WR (Ohio State)
5	LA Chargers	Malik Nabers, WR (LSU)
6	NY Giants	Dallas Turner, EDGE (Alabama)
7	Tennessee	Terrion Arnold, CB (Alabama)
8	Atlanta	J.J. McCarthy, QB (Michigan)
9	Chicago	Laiatu Latu, EDGE (UCLA)
10	NY Jets	Joe Alt, OT (Notre Dame)
11	Minnesota	Bo Nix, QB (Oregon)
12	Denver	Brock Bowers, TE (Georgia)
13	Las Vegas	Olu Fashanu, OT (Penn State)
14	New Orleans	Rome Odunze, WR (Washington)
15	Indianapolis	Quinyon Mitchell, CB (Toledo)
16	Seattle	Troy Fautanu, G (Washington)
17	Jacksonville	Taliese Fuaga, OT (Oregon State)
18	Cincinnati	J.C. Latham, OT (Alabama)
19	LA Rams	Kool-Aid McKinstry, CB (Alabama)
20	Pittsburgh	Byron Murphy II, DT (Texas)
21	Miami	Jer’Zhan Newton, DT (Illinois)
22	Philadelphia	Jared Verse, DE (Florida State)
23	Minnesota	Chop Robinson, EDGE (Penn State)
24	Dallas	Amarius Mims, OT (Georgia)
25	Green Bay	Cooper DeJean, S (Iowa)
26	Tampa Bay	Michael Penix Jr., QB (Washington)
27	Arizona	Darius Robinson, EDGE (Minnesota)
28	Buffalo	Brian Thomas Jr., WR (LSU)
29	Detroit	Jackson Powers-Johnson, G (Oregon)
30	Baltimore	Graham Barton, G (Duke)
31	San Francisco	Tyler Guyton, OT (Oklahoma)
32	Kansas City	Jordan Morgan, OT (Arizona)

Second Round

33	Carolina	Xavier Legette, WR (South Carolina)
34	New England	Kingsley Suamataia, OT (BYU)
35	Arizona	Nate Wiggins, CB (Clemson)
36	Washington	Zach Frazier, C (West Virginia)
37	LA Chargers	T.J. Tampa, CB (Iowa State)
38	Tennessee	Patrick Paul, OT (Houston)
39	Carolina	Ennis Rakestraw Jr., CB (Missouri)
40	Washington	Troy Franklin, WR (Oregon)
41	Green Bay	Chris Braswell, EDGE (Alabama)
42	Houston	Ruke Orhorhoro, DT (Clemson)
43	Atlanta	Ladd McConkey, WR (Georgia)
44	Las Vegas	Christian Haynes, G (UConn)
45	New Orleans	Marshawn Kneeland, EDGE (Western Michigan)
46	Indianapolis	Xavier Worthy, WR (Texas)
47	NY Giants	Cooper Beebe, G (Kansas State)
48	Jacksonville	Adonai Mitchell, WR (Texas)
49	Cincinnati	T’Vondre Sweat, DT (Texas)
50	Philadelphia	Kamari Lassiter, CB (Georgia)
51	Pittsburgh	Edgerrin Cooper, LB (Texas A&M)
52	LA Rams	Kamren Kinchens, S (Miami)
53	Philadelphia	Ricky Pearsall, WR (Florida)
54	Cleveland	Michael Hall Jr., DT (Ohio State)
55	Miami	Keon Coleman, WR (Florida State)
56	Dallas	Trey Benson, RB (Florida State)
57	Tampa Bay	Ja’Lynn Polk, WR (Washington)
58	Green Bay	Sedrick Van Pran, C (Georgia)
59	Houston	Cam Hart, CB (Notre Dame)
60	Buffalo	Kris Jenkins, DT (Michigan)
61	Detroit	Javon Bullard, CB (Georgia)
62	Baltimore	Roman Wilson, WR (Michigan)
63	San Francisco	Austin Booker, DE (Kansas)
64	Kansas City	Braden Fiske, DT (Florida State)

Third Round

65	Carolina	Cedric Gray, LB (North Carolina)
66	Arizona	Payton Wilson, LB (NC State)
67	Washington	Bralen Trice, EDGE (Washington)
68	New England	Jonathan Brooks, RB (Texas)
69	LA Chargers	Ja’Tavion Sanders, TE (Texas)
70	NY Giants	Caelan Carson, CB (Wake Forest)
71	Arizona	Leonard Taylor III, DT (Miami)
72	NY Jets	Tyler Nubin, S (Minnesota)
73	Detroit	Adisa Isaac, EDGE (Penn State)
74	Atlanta	Brandon Dorius, EDGE (Oregon)
75	Chicago	Christian Mahogany, G (Boston College)
76	Denver	DeWayne Carter, DT (Duke)
77	Las Vegas	Mike Sainristil, CB (Michigan)
78	Washington	Junior Colson, LB (Michigan)
79	Atlanta	Justin Egoigbe, DT (Alabama)
80	Cincinnati	Max Melton, CB (Rutgers)
81	Seattle	Tommy Eichenberg, LB (Ohio State)
82	Indianapolis	Calen Bullock, S (USC)
83	LA Rams	Spencer Rattler, QB (South Carolina)
84	Pittsburgh	Roger Rosengarten, OT (Washington)
85	Cleveland	Kiran Amedagije, OT (Yale)
86	Houston	Malachi Corley, WR (WKU)
87	Dallas	Jermaine Burton, WR (Alabama)
88	Green Bay	Blake Fisher, OT (Notre Dame)
89	Tampa Bay	Cole Bishop, S (Utah)
90	Arizona	Zak Zinter, G (Michigan)
91	Green Bay	Nehemiah Pritchett, CB (Auburn)
92	Tampa Bay	Javion Cohen, G (Miami)
93	Baltimore	Jaylen Wright, RB (Tennessee)
94	Kansas City	Blake Corum, RB (Michigan)
95	San Francisco	Elijah Jones, CB (Boston College)
96	Jacksonville	Kris Abrams-Draine, CB (Missouri)
97	Cincinnati	Johnny Wilson, WR (Florida State)
98	Pittsburgh	Jonah Ellliss, LB (Utah)
99	LA Rams	Jalyx Hunt, EDGE (Houston Christian)
100	Washington	Jalen McMillan, WR (Washington)

There are some strong opinions out there about this draft (like every draft) so let’s go through a few of them:

• The Vikings are going to trade up. This is a likely option but I don’t put trades in my mock drafts because I think dreaming up the trade packages would be insane. Saying that, I wouldn’t be surprised if they traded up to #4 or #5 to get J.J. McCarthy.
• The Cardinals are fielding a lot of trade offers. The top three picks are mostly set even though Drake Maye and Jayden Daniels seem to flip-flop in the second and third spots. The Cards are probably fielding a few offers but not as many as some might think. It will take a lot for them to trade down as they know they would get, arguably, the best overall player of the draft at a position they need.
• The Giants might be the toughest to figure out in the Top 10. Absolutely. They have all sorts of needs so there are probably 10-12 players on their board that they could conceivably take. I still like Dallas Turner at that spot but Terrion Arnold, Laiatu Latu, Brock Bowers, Quinyon Marshall and, hell, even Bo Nix could be picked at #6 by the Geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-Men (done in extreme Chris Berman voice).
• If Brock Bowers isn’t picked Top 10 he will fall…FAR. I don’t think so. The Broncos, Colts, Bengals and Dolphins might all take a gander at the big man if he is still sitting in the back room after the tenth pick (which I think he will be).

Other than that there are questions that mostly don’t have answers at this point. Like will the Bills make a surprising leap up the draft now that Stefon Diggs has been dealt? Is Michael Penix Jr. poised to have the biggest leap up the draft boards in the past couple months? Will there be actual players involved in any of the trades over the next few days? It’s a crapshoot and not my expertise so I will steer clear of most of those questions (possibly, possibly and probably are my answers).

Reminder that the draft starts tonight at 8:00 and is emanating from Detroit. Moving the draft around has been fun so let’s see what it’s like in the Motor City. As per usual, ESPN and NFL Network will be doing the entire draft…all seven rounds. I have the ESPN draft pick is in ringtone on my phone but I am still debating which network to watch, at least for night one. I have leaned NFL Network in the past but I have done both over the past decade. It’s a game-time decision.

Finally, on the Twitter Machine (fuck you, Elon) I will be live-tweeting at least the first round and am hoping to do ALL SEVEN this year. Can I do it? Who the fuck knows. Around halfway through round five is where things usually go off the rails and I might struggle to keep going at that point. I mean I will but who knows if I will be posting tweets at that point or semi-conscious, staring at the bag of pretzels on my desk and wondering about important questions in life like “Would Nathan Peterman be successful in the CFL?”

Anyway, enjoy the draft, however much you watch of it.

Time for Mock Draft 3.A.0-5

The A stands for April. Or Awesome. Or Asshole. Whatever.

Mock draft time! And it’s three glorious rounds of (probably) incorrect picks. Lovin’ it! Let’s go!

First Round

1	Chicago	Caleb Williams, QB (USC)
2	Washington	Drake Maye, QB (North Carolina)
3	New England	Jayden Daniels, QB (LSU)
4	Arizona	Marvin Harrison Jr., WR (Ohio State)
5	LA Chargers	Quinyon Mitchell, CB (Toledo)
6	NY Giants	Dallas Turner, EDGE (Alabama)
7	Tennessee	Olu Fashanu, OT (Penn State)
8	Atlanta	Malik Nabers, WR (LSU)
9	Chicago	Rome Odunze, WR (Washington)
10	NY Jets	Joe Alt, OT (Notre Dame)
11	Minnesota	Laiatu Latu, DE (UCLA)
12	Denver	Terrion Arnold, CB (Alabama)
13	Las Vegas	Nate Wiggins, CB (Clemson)
14	New Orleans	Jared Verse, DE (Florida State)
15	Indianapolis	Brian Thomas Jr., WR (LSU)
16	Seattle	J.J. McCarthy, QB (LSU)
17	Jacksonville	Jackson Powers-Johnson, OG (Oregon)
18	Cincinnati	Brock Bowers, TE (Georgia)
19	LA Rams	Bo Nix, QB (Oregon)
20	Pittsburgh	Troy Fautanu, OG (Washington)
21	Miami	Cooper DeJean, S (Iowa)
22	Philadelphia	Adonai Mitchell, WR (Texas)
23	Minnesota	Chop Robinson, EDGE (Penn State)
24	Dallas	Taliese Fuaga, OT (Oregon State)
25	Green Bay	J.C. Latham, OT (Alabama)
26	Tampa Bay	Xavier Worthy, WR (Texas)
27	Arizona	Kool-Aid McKinstry, CB (Alabama)
28	Buffalo	Jer’Zhan Newton, DT (Illinois)
29	Detroit	Byron Murphy II, DT (Texas)
30	Baltimore	Kamari Lassiter, CB (Georgia)
31	San Francisco	Amarius Mims, OT (Georgia)
32	Kansas City	Tyler Guyton, OT (Oklahoma)

Second Round

33	Carolina	Zach Frazier, C (West Virginia)
34	New England	Jordan Morgan, OT (Arizona)
35	Arizona	Darius Robinson, EDGE (Minnesota)
36	Washington	Xavier Legette, WR (South Carolina)
37	LA Chargers	Michael Hall Jr., DT (Ohio State)
38	Tennessee	T.J. Tampa, CB (Iowa State)
39	Carolina	Keon Coleman, WR (Florida State)
40	Washington	Graham Barton, OG (Duke)
41	Green Bay	Tyler Nubin, S (Minnesota)
42	Houston	Chris Braswell, EDGE (Alabama)
43	Atlanta	Michael Penix Jr., QB (Washington)
44	Las Vegas	Kingsley Suamataia, OT (BYU)
45	New Orleans	Ladd McConkey, WR (Georgia)
46	Indianapolis	Kamren Kinchens, S (Miami)
47	NY Giants	Ennis Rakestraw Jr., CB (Missouri)
48	Jacksonville	Patrick Paul, OT (Houston)
49	Cincinnati	Troy Franklin, WR (Oregon)
50	Philadelphia	Edgerrin Cooper, LB (Texas A&M)
51	Pittsburgh	T’Vondre Sweat, DT (Texas)
52	LA Rams	Bralen Trice, EDGE (Washington)
53	Philadelphia	Marshawn Kneeland, EDGE (Western Michigan)
54	Cleveland	Ruke Orhorhoro, DT (Clemson)
55	Miami	Ja’Lynn Polk, WR (Washington)
56	Dallas	Trey Benson, RB (Florida State)
57	Tampa Bay	Adisa Isaac, EDGE (Penn State)
58	Green Bay	Cooper Beebe, OG (Kansas State)
59	Houston	Malachi Corley, WR (WKU)
60	Buffalo	Max Melton, CB (Rutgers)
61	Detroit	Christian Haynes, OG (UConn)
62	Baltimore	Roman Wilson, WR (Michigan)
63	San Francisco	Brandon Dorius, EDGE (Oregon)
64	Kansas City	Jalen McMillan, WR (Washington)

Third Round

65	Carolina	Cedric Gray, LB (North Carolina)
66	Arizona	Sedrick Van Pran, C (Georgia)
67	Washington	Payton Wilson, LB (NC State)
68	New England	Ricky Pearsall, WR (Florida)
69	LA Chargers	Ben Sinnott, TE (Kansas State)
70	NY Giants	Kris Jenkins, DT (Michigan)
71	Arizona	Leonard Taylor III, DT (Miami)
72	NY Jets	Devontez Walker, WR (North Carolina)
73	Detroit	Caelan Carson, CB (Wake Forest)
74	Atlanta	Cam Hart, CB (Notre Dame)
75	Chicago	Ja’Tavion Sanders, TE (Texas)
76	Denver	Javon Bullard, CB (Georgia)
77	Las Vegas	Jonathon Brooks, RB (Texas)
78	Washington	Austin Booker, DE (Kansas)
79	Atlanta	Braden Fiske, DT (Florida State)
80	Cincinnati	Kiran Amedagije, OT (Yale)
81	Seattle	Christian Mahogany, OG (Boston College)
82	Indianapolis	Mike Sainristil, CB (Michigan)
83	LA Rams	D.J. James, CB (Auburn)
84	Pittsburgh	Roger Rosengarten, OT (Washington)
85	Cleveland	Junior Colson, LB (Michigan)
86	Houston	Kris Abrams-Draine, CB (Missouri)
87	Dallas	Renardo Green, CB (Florida State)
88	Green Bay	Khyree Jackson, CB (Oregon)
89	Tampa Bay	Beau Brade, S (Maryland)
90	Arizona	Andru Phillips, CB (Kentucky)
91	Green Bay	Jalyx Hunt, EDGE (Houston Christian)
92	Tampa Bay	Dominick Puni, OG (Kansas)
93	Baltimore	McKinnley Jackson, DT (Texas A&M)
94	Kansas City	Braelon Allen, RB (Wisconsin)
95	San Francisco	Kalen King, CB (Penn State)
96	Jacksonville	Johnny Wilson, WR (Florida State)
97	Cincinnati	Josh Newton, CB (TCU)
98	Pittsburgh	Jeremiah Trotter Jr., LB (Clemson)
99	LA Rams	Calen Bullock, S (USC)
100	Washington	James Williams, S (Miami)

The top few picks seem set in stone. Maybe on in that specific order but those top four will, most likely, be the top four come draft night. As for some of the other picks, man there were some huge drops. Like Kris Jenkins. Only a few weeks ago, a fair amount of mocks had him in the first round. I don’t think he’s even being considered as a first rounder anymore. Almost the same with Byron Murphy II. I had him going fifth to the Chargers which may have been a bit high in retrospect. But for him to drop to almost completely out of the first round is an alarming drop. Sometimes it’s fairly easy to find out what has happened to lower a potential draftee’s stock and sometimes…well, sometimes who the hell knows. It just happens.

Potential Draft Day Trades

OK so these would include trades coming up toward the draft as well, not just the ones on draft opening night. And no, I can’t see the Bears or the Commanders trading their picks so let’s start with the #3 pick.

New England (#3) – Chances of the Patriots trading this pick are slim but considering the haul that some teams have received for a top 3 pick in NFL history, the right package might come along to entice them to trade down. I have a feeling it would take at least two first-rounders, two second-rounders, and at least one other pick.

NY Giants (#6) – Probably the highest pick with true potential to be dealt is the Giants at #6. The Giants desperately need help on both lines but there are a few options available meaning they could trade down a few spots and still get one of the guys they covet. A first-round pick swap would have to happen and the team trading with the G-Men couldn’t be far below the #16 spot for this to work. Other picks would come the Giants way as well.

Tennessee (#7) – This becomes a possibility if the Patriots trade down. The reason is, one of Drake Maye or Jayden Daniels would be available and there are a few teams that would love to trade up to get one of the two. That includes the Falcons, Vikings, Broncos and Raiders. Knowing that, the Titans could get a larger pick haul than the Giants even though the pick would be later.

NY Jets (#10) – The Jets are hoping that Aaron Rodgers will be healthy this year. And to help with that, they want an offensive lineman desperately. The hope is that one of Olu Fashanu or Joe Alt fall to them. If neither of them are available, I would fully expect the Jets to shop the pick and they could drop a fair way if they wanted to.

The Vikings feel like the most likely pick to move up since, for some reason, many are saying they really want J.J. McCarthy. I think it would be crazy to trade up because I think McCarthy, at least at this point, would be available to the Vikings at #11. Maybe I’m wrong with that. They would most likely just trade picks but they have one bargaining chip that some teams might not be able to ignore: Justin Jefferson. If the Vikings can’t extend Double J, then they might include him in a trade to see what they could get. Arizona would be a trading partner if (and only if) this was a possibility.

In non-draft news, the UFL has commenced their season. Not exactly a ton of fans for a couple of these games but some wacky shit happened. Jake Bates hit a 64-yard field goal to help his Michigan Stags beat St. Louis. Funny enough, it was on the same uprights that Justin Tucker kicked his NFL-record 67-yarder to beat the Lions a couple years ago. Then you had San Antonio punter Brad Wing throwing a 40-yard touchdown pass on 4th and 11 to the team’s centre Alex Mollette. So at least it’s entertaining, you have to give it that. And it’s football. A tiny appetizer before the CFL, then college football, then NFL season starts. So embrace it. Or don’t. I don’t care. I realize March Madness was on this past weekend so I can see why people might not watch.

OK I will do one more mock draft closer to actual draft day (which starts April 25th). And even then, most of my picks will be wrong. At least I can take solace in the fact that I will have close to the same record as the so-called experts have.

The college schedule is coming into form. It’s kind of tough with the changes coming up this season so for good parts of the schedule I have nothing to compare it to. So we shall see how that goes when I start doing my most important game posts. Anyway, I hope you all had a great Easter long weekend and have a great first week of April.

The ALL-NEW Mock NFL Draft Version 2 Dash 2024 along with a look-back

That intro sounds like when The (Big Money!) Match Game 1976 would air on Game Show Network. Why did they need to put the year in? When people were watching it live, were they so fucking stoned that they had to be reminded what year it was?

Anyway, I am starting this post a couple days after Selection Sunday. Now I am not an avid college basketball watcher but I know they screwed some of these picks up. And remember, when a conference gets a team in, they get more money. That’s important. The ACC got five teams in and Virginia was one of them and they may be one of the worst at-large choices ever. A few teams that were left out, most notably Oklahoma and Indiana State, were, by most metrics, better choices. But the ACC is THE big basketball brand and only having four teams in would look disastrous. Fully deserved, mind you. But still disastrous. Luckily, I don’t care as much as I do with college football but these tournament committees are fucking terrible in every sport.

Let’s get to the root of this post: the next mock draft. I know…two mock drafts before the end of March? Haven’t done that in quite a while. And, of course, quite a bit changed thanks to the Kreepy Kombine and scouts changing their minds as much as they change their underwear (so about once every four days). Here’s the newest mock draft, now expanded to two rounds for your pleasure.

First Round

1	Chicago	Caleb Williams, QB (USC)
2	Washington	Drake Maye, QB (North Carolina)
3	New England	Jayden Daniels, QB (LSU)
4	Arizona	Marvin Harrison Jr., WR (Ohio State)
5	LA Chargers	Byron Murphy II, DT (Texas)
6	NY Giants	Dallas Turner, EDGE (Alabama)
7	Tennessee	Joe Alt, OT (Notre Dame)
8	Atlanta	Malik Nabers, WR (LSU)
9	Chicago	Rome Odunze, WR (Washington)
10	NY Jets	Olu Fashanu, OT (Penn State)
11	Minnesota	Laiatu Latu, DE (UCLA)
12	Denver	Jared Verse, DE (Florida State)
13	Las Vegas	Quinyon Mitchell, CB (Toledo)
14	New Orleans	Brian Thomas Jr., WR (LSU)
15	Indianapolis	Nate Wiggins, CB (Clemson)
16	Seattle	Bo Nix, QB (Oregon)
17	Jacksonville	Terrion Arnold, CB (Alabama)
18	Cincinnati	Brock Bowers, TE (Georgia)
19	LA Rams	Cooper DeJean, S (Iowa)
20	Pittsburgh	Troy Fautanu, OG (Washington)
21	Miami	Kris Jenkins, DT (Michigan)
22	Philadelphia	Xavier Worthy, WR (Texas)
23	Houston	Jer’Zhan Newton, DT (Illinois)
24	Dallas	Jackson Powers-Johnson, OG (Oregon)
25	Green Bay	Graham Barton, OG (Duke)
26	Tampa Bay	J.J. McCarthy, QB (Michigan)
27	Arizona	Zach Frazier, OG (West Virginia)
28	Buffalo	Tyler Nubin, S (Minnesota)
29	Detroit	Darius Robinson, EDGE (Minnesota)
30	Baltimore	Adonai Mitchell, WR (Texas)
31	San Francisco	Taliese Fuaga, OT (Oregon State)
32	Kansas City	J.C. Latham, OT (Alabama)

Second Round

33	Carolina	Chop Robinson, EDGE (Penn State)
34	New England	Tyler Guyton, OT (Oklahoma)
35	Arizona	Kool-Aid McKinstry, CB (Alabama)
36	Washington	Xavier Legette, WR (South Carolina)
37	LA Chargers	Kamari Lassiter, CB (Georgia)
38	Tennessee	Cam Hart, CB (Notre Dame)
39	NY Giants	Michael Hall Jr., DT (Ohio State)
40	Washington	Payton Wilson, LB (NC State)
41	Green Bay	Amarius Mims, OT (Georgia)
42	Minnesota	Michael Penix Jr., QB (Washington)
43	Atlanta	Ennis Rakestraw Jr., CB (Missouri)
44	Las Vegas	Jordan Morgan, OT (Arizona)
45	New Orleans	Kingsley Suamataia, OT (BYU)
46	Indianapolis	Kamren Kinchens, S (Miami)
47	NY Giants	T.J. Tampa, CB (Iowa State)
48	Jacksonville	Ladd McConkey, WR (Georgia)
49	Cincinnati	Keon Coleman, WR (Florida State)
50	Philadelphia	Chris Braswell, EDGE (Alabama)
51	Pittsburgh	Edgerrin Cooper, LB (Texas A&M)
52	LA Rams	Bralen Trice, EDGE (Washington)
53	Philadelphia	Mike Sainristil, CB (Michigan)
54	Cleveland	Braden Fiske, DT (Florida State)
55	Miami	Troy Franklin, WR (Oregon)
56	Dallas	Paul Patrick, OT (Houston)
57	Tampa Bay	Cooper Beebe, OG (Kansas State)
58	Green Bay	Javon Bullard, S (Georgia)
59	Houston	Roman Wilson, WR (Michigan)
60	Buffalo	T’Vondre Sweat, DT (Texas)
61	Detroit	Christian Haynes, OG (UConn)
62	Baltimore	Ruke Orhorhoro, DT (Clemson)
63	San Francisco	Marshawn Kneeland, EDGE (Western Michigan)
64	Kansas City	Ricky Pearsall, WR (Florida)

Are there some changes? Absolutely? Are they Earth-shattering? Not really. Although you can expect at least one of these current second-rounders to rocket up draft boards for reasons that are sometimes, well, unknown or make no sense. By this point teams should know what they see in a player. So unless that player does something negative, they shouldn’t go from a consensus low-second rounder to a mid-first round pick in a matter of a little over a month. But hey, what do I know.

Also, what is with the sudden J.J. McCarthy hype? It has that feel of some people wanting McCarthy to go higher so they are basically willing it to happen. Any team that would consider drafting McCarthy in the Top 10 is obviously fine with extreme risk. Not saying McCarthy won’t end up being good but his college career has shown nothing that says he will be a top-end starter.

OK so years ago (nine to be exact), I used part of a mock draft post to talk about sites I enjoy. And it was definitely also about helping my blog in a way since I was still pretty green at the time (two years in). Let’s look back and see if I still feel the same way about these sites.

Matt’s College Sports Media Blog – Along with Matt’s College Sports on TV is still the premier site for college football and college basketball TV scheduling news and notes. I think he still likes Formula One racing which is great if you like that. He’s also a Bills fan which is pretty damn awesome.

Phil Steele – Still the best college football preview magazine. There are other good ones out there but nothing comes close. And his site fills in the gaps. I am assuming many hardcore college football fans subscribe to his site to get a lot of great stats and gambling info. I tried it for a couple of years and it was almost overwhelming. Still…worth it just to peruse all the free stuff he does put up, which is a lot.

A Rouge Point – This site does not exist anymore. Actually, it ceased to exist not even a year after I published this original post. It’s too bad since it was a great look at sports media coverage in Canada and posted NFL and NHL schedules for Canadian viewers.

Deadspin – Speaking of sites that are no longer around, this site might as well be. At one point it was one of the great sports sites on the net. It wasn’t long after I made the original post that things started to go downhill. A site that used to be brash and willing to take on all comers became a bunch of writers who thought they were the moral compass of a good portion of the Internet (especially sports fans). Even their best writers became insufferable. Then they all got fired/walked out in late 2019 when a company told them to stick to sports which made the site even worse. Now, it looks like they have been bought out, the staff was fired (again) and they look to be getting into the sports gambling industry. Ugh.

Awful Announcing – A site that used to absolutely skewer announcers (and sometimes athletes and sports organizations in general) has gone away from their bread and butter. They still throw up the occasional great article but aren’t as good as they were in their heyday.

LSUfootball.net – The first site I came upon when figuring out the sheer amount of games available for college football viewing…in the United States. Still a very informative site.

Alright another mock draft and post in the books. I assume most of you have March Madness brackets going. Chances of me going perfect ended at the end of the first game and I’ve already lost one of my Final Four picks. Good times. Have a great rest of the weekend everyone!

Yes, it’s already the first mock draft of the year (along with some network change news)

Do I have time to do this? No. So why am I doing it? I honestly don’t know. I think I just feel I should put a bit more into the offseason portion of my blog. I mean it is half the year and there have been times I have gone dark for like a month. What will people read? The newspaper? Get the fuck outta here.

Honestly, I feel that even though this blog will turn 11 in a few months, I haven’t tried enough to take it to the next level, so to speak. Maybe not more posts but better posts. More informative stuff. It almost feels like this may be a make-or-break twelve months for me. With all the shit I have to do to get my career to the next step, it means there will be less and less time to do stuff I enjoy, like this blog. I always have to remind myself why I started this in the first place: to organize my own college football viewing. It allowed me to watch more college football than ever before and be efficient with it as well, while still making time for my kids. Then again, I ended up separated four months after the blog started so…..yeah.

So let’s just get on with the first mock draft of who knows how many leading up to the draft and hey how about that, look who’s going first overall.

1	Chicago	Caleb Williams, QB (USC)
2	Washington	Jayden Daniels, QB (LSU)
3	New England	Drake Maye, QB (North Carolina)
4	Arizona	Marvin Harrison Jr., WR (Ohio State)
5	LA Chargers	Brock Bowers, TE (Georgia)
6	NY Giants	Byron Murphy II, DT (Texas)
7	Tennessee	Joe Alt, OT (Notre Dame)
8	Atlanta	Malik Nabers, WR (LSU)
9	Chicago	Rome Odunze, WR (Washington)
10	NY Jets	Olumuyiwa Fashanu, OT (Penn State)
11	Minnesota	Dallas Turner, OLB (Alabama)
12	Denver	Laiatu Latu, DE (UCLA)
13	Las Vegas	Bo Nix, QB (Oregon)
14	New Orleans	J.C. Latham, OT (Alabama)
15	Indianapolis	Nate Wiggins, CB (Clemson)
16	Seattle	Kris Jenkins, DT (Michigan)
17	Jacksonville	Quinyon Mitchell, CB (Toledo)
18	Cincinnati	Michael Hall Jr., DT (Ohio State)
19	LA Rams	Kamren Kitchens, S (Miami)
20	Pittsburgh	Jordan Morgan, OT (Arizona)
21	Miami	Troy Fautanu, OG (Washington)
22	Philadelphia	Jared Verse, DE (Florida State)
23	Houston	Kamari Lassiter, CB (Georgia)
24	Dallas	Brian Thomas Jr., WR (LSU)
25	Green Bay	Cooper DeJean, S (Iowa)
26	Tampa Bay	Xavier Legette, WR (South Carolina)
27	Arizona	Terrion Arnold, CB (Alabama)
28	Buffalo	Kool-Aid McKinstry, CB (Alabama)
29	Detroit	Cam Hart, CB (Notre Dame)
30	Baltimore	Xavier Worthy, WR (Texas)
31	San Francisco	Tyler Guyton, OT (Oklahoma)
32	Kansas City	Tallies Fuaga, OT (Oregon State)

I am firmly in the camp that says that the Bears will trade Justin Fields. Whether it’s before the draft, during the draft, or after the draft, I don’t know. I just can’t see them passing up on Williams when they could get him AND a really good receiver for their first two picks. On top of that, they could get more picks that will help them later in the draft or in the following year’s event. Not quite a win-win but damn near close. The Commanders and Patriots also need quarterbacks desperately so they will be watching what the Bears do very closely…and possibly even calling them to inquire about how much it would take to trade for that top pick of theirs. Other interesting notes from this first kick at the can:

• The first team that doesn’t need a quarterback is the Cardinals and they are very much hoping the Bears take Caleb Williams since it will mean that Marvin Harrison Jr. will fall into their lap. Pairing him with Kyler Murray could be quite something for a moribund Cards’ offense.
• The Chargers need almost everything that isn’t the quarterback position. If I am them, I nab Bowers, pick another receiver up later on, and bulk up the offense. Win games in true Big XII fashion this coming season. It may be their only hope at getting close to a playoff spot.
• Any potential steals here? Not really but the Saints nabbing Latham at #14 would be good value as would the Eagles picking up Jared Verse at #22.

Will I do more mock drafts? Of course. When? I have no clue.

Now let’s look at the changes coming to conferences and broadcast networks in the Fall. There really is only one major change but it does have a domino effect. The SEC is now fully on ABC/ESPN/SEC Network/ESPN2/ESPNU (if they absolutely have to be) and ESPN+ because they are contractually obligated to be once a season (at least that’s the way the previous SEC contract played out). With the SEC on ABC, they will easily get the majority of the Saturday night games. Not all, but with 14 weeks worth of games, the SEC will get no less than ten of those.

So that domino effect…SEC had every evening ESPN game last year. I can’t see that being the case since that would compete directly with the game on ABC. So they should get a lot less of those and they should get filled with the ACC and Big XII. The American might end up actually getting more games on ESPN with this new arrangement which seems crazy but with the ACC and, to a lesser extent, the Big XII getting hurt by this from a Disney/ESPN perspective, the American Conference is ready to pick up a few pieces here and there.

The Big XII won’t cry about this though. For everything they will end up losing from ESPN/ABC, they will gain more than that quite possibly from the FOX side of things. Sure, the Big Ten will get many of the Big Noon Kickoff games. But beyond that? Remember, the Big Ten has a game a week on CBS, a game a week on NBC and eight games on Peacock. Also, you might see a couple of late night Big Ten affairs on the Big Ten Network. So there will be plenty of spots on FOX and FOX Sports One for the Big XII to fill in since there is no more Pac-12. The other conference that wins here? The Mountain West. They should get a lot more FS1 games with how things are shaking out.

So even though the SEC and Big Ten will start to dominate the landscape of college football, we might get more chances than ever to watch other conferences. Now if they can just figure out how to get FS1 games up here legally and Canadians won’t have any reason to complain about access to CFB games in the future ever again (other than the one Notre Dame game a season on Peacock and weird stuff like the Hawaii Tests).

Alright more posts to come but no football for over a month. The UFL starts in late March and I’m…honestly not that excited about it but it’s football so I am sure will watch some at some point since it’s football and I love football. Better than watching the news, right? Have a good weekend everyone!

How about I rank the bowl games now that they are complete?

Wait, WAIT! Look you’ve read some of my longer posts on here so don’t leave now. Honestly, this won’t be as long as some of the crazy-ass long posts I’ve done in the past. Plus, we can re-live some of Bowl Season’s greater moments together. Because let’s be honest: this wasn’t exactly the best Bowl Season ever. Not the worst mind you; but yeah, definitely not the best. So how about we just dive in and get started, OK?

1. Rose Bowl (Michigan 27 Alabama 20 (OT)) – This was one of the greatest College Football Playoff games of all-time. And funny enough, it still wasn’t exactly the cleanest game. Sloppy play by both teams made it so neither team could pull away. And in the end, the issue that caused Bama fits all game, poor snaps from center, came back to haunt them one final time. The low snap on 4th and Goal caused Jalen Milroe to panic and run up the middle to try and score. The play that was drawn up would have had a good chance of working if the snap had been perfect. Michigan finally erases so much CFP pain and will now have their chance at a national championship.
2. New Orleans Bowl (Jacksonville State 34 Louisiana 31 (OT)) – This feels like the validation of Jax State’s ascent to the FBS level. For some reason, some schools make it work and others (see UMass) can’t figure it out. The thing about this game is that it felt like the Gamecocks were throwing it away, literally. Three defensive touchdowns by the Cajuns kept them in the game. All it did though, is delay a backup kicker, who rarely played, kicking the game winning field goal for the Cocks. This is the perfect argument for why bowls do, and should in the future, exist.
3. Sugar Bowl (Washington 37 Texas 31) – The second of the two semi-final games was easily the worst…if you just watched the first 58 minutes or so of the game. Then the Huskies decided that maybe, juuuuuuuuuuuust maybe, they didn’t feel like going to the national championship after all. U-Dub was able to hold on when Texas almost seized that final chance and will now play for all the glory. Also, some people were actually introduced, truly, to Michael Penix Jr. for the first time. And I include people who report on college football as they were astounded by what he did despite the fact he did that in half the games this season.
4. Gator Bowl (Clemson 38 Kentucky 35) – Put your hand up if you thought Kentucky would be in one of the best bowl games of the year. Now put your hands down, you filthy liars. No one, not even Kentucky fans, thought that would be the case. That insane fourth quarter alone, with 42 points scored between the two teams, was enough to put this game in the upper echelon of this year’s Bowl Season.
5. Famous Toastery Bowl (WKU 38 Old Dominion 35 (OT)) – And the award for the most stupidly awesome bowl game of the year goes to this one. The Hilltoppers were down 21-0 just seven minutes in. I actually stopped watching for the next hour. I come back to see what’s going on and see the first touchdown of what would be the fourth-greatest comeback in bowl game history. How did it end? A blocked field goal in the fourth quarter, followed by another blocked field goal in overtime, leading to a walk-off field goal and then toast angels on the field. How can you not love college football?
6. Arizona Bowl (Wyoming 16 Toledo 15) – If you had said this bowl game would have been the one out of the two on at the same time to be the better bowl game I would have…well maybe not laughed but been intrigued by your logic. This game went up against the blowout that was the Orange Bowl so it was easy to tune into this game. This is the second straight year the Arizona Bowl has been a great game and Wyoming, this time, is on the better end of the score. A perfect end to Craig Bohl’s coaching career.
7. ReliaQuest Bowl (LSU 35 Wisconsin 31) – This ended up being a great battle, something that many thought wouldn’t be the case. The Badgers certainly showed up for this one after a lacklustre season. The Tigers didn’t even have the lead until their final touchdown with a little over three minutes to go. A good college football start to 2024.
8. Camellia Bowl (Northern Illinois 21 Arkansas State 19) – This falls under “It’s So Bad, It’s Good” territory. Not exactly the best of the best but the final portion of the game makes up for it with its sheer insanity. ASU went the entire length of the field to get within two, missed the two-point conversion, then recovered the onside kick! But it was flagged for offside in one of the biggest botched calls of the entire season which made Butch Jones go as red as a ripe tomato. Entertainment…that’s what we want from our bowl games, right?
9. Quick Lane Bowl (Minnesota 30 Bowling Green 24) – Minnesota threw for 26 yards and won this game. Hilarious. It helps that they could hand the ball off to Darius Taylor who went off for over 200 yards. Fun fact: the Gophers have now won seven consecutive bowl games. That has to be tops, no?
10. Pinstripe Bowl (Rutgers 31 Miami 24) – A good game at Yankee Stadium. Now I’m not huge on regular season games at baseball stadiums (as in they should be banned) but I am totally fine with them during bowl season. There was more scoring than many thought there would be but there was no stupidity from Mario Cristobal, which was also expected (by me).
11. Cure Bowl (Appalachian State 13 Miami-OH 9) – This game was played in atrocious weather. I fucking loved it. It was just a bunch of silly backyard-style football fun, if your backward was a swimming pool. At one point it felt like they were going for the bowl game fumbles record. Combined, the two teams ended up with 12. How either team got a kick off, I will never know.
12. Peach Bowl (Ole Miss 38 Penn State 25) – Most thought it would be a great matchup between the seriously up tempo Rebel offense against the Nittany Lions’ stout defense. It was not to be. The Fighting Kiffins shredded PSU and pulled away in the second half. So Lane is safe in the fans’ minds in Oxford. James Franklin…well I am sure there are many unhappy people in…(Un)Happy Valley.
13. Pop Tarts Bowl (Kansas State 28 NC State 19) – Let’s be honest here: all we wanted to see was what would happen at the end with the mascot. And it was fucking glorious. Whoever thought of this should get a MASSIVE bonus. Also, the game was pretty good with it being close nearly the entire way.
14. Alamo Bowl (Arizona 38 Oklahoma 24) – Man, the Wildcats are going to be a load in the Big XII next year. They went blow-for-blow with the Sooners and ended up leaving them in their dust thanks to causing six turnovers. Gotta hand it to Jedd Fisch: not many thought he would get the program to this point this fast. So is he the best coach out of the Bill Belichick coaching tree? Oh wait, Nick Saban did a few years under Belichick. So yeah Jedd you will always be second in this case.
15. Guaranteed Rate Bowl (Kansas 49 UNLV 36) – Speaking of teams who could be really good next year in the Big XII, the Jayhawks overcame being called for over 200 yards worth of penalties to almost put up a 50-burger. Jason Bean has been a god-send considering Jalon Daniels was injured most of the season. And he showed it in his final game throwing for six touchdowns. This was KU’s first bowl win in 15 years. Incredible. And don’t shortchange the Rebels who also had a pretty good game and great season.
16. LA Bowl (UCLA 35 Boise State 22) – Look, I think most were interested to see if Chip Kelly’s team would show up for what was basically a home game for them. And they sure did. The Bruins were able to stick with Boise until the second half and then pulled away for a relatively easy victory and a tiny bit of momentum going into the Big Ten next season.
17. Texas Bowl (Oklahoma State 31 Texas A&M 23) – Somehow, the Aggies, with all sorts of players not playing (for various reasons), came back from an 18-point halftime deficit to make things very interesting late. Also, Mike Gundy has won 10 games in a season EIGHT TIMES? Really? Wow. This guy should get more credit for what he’s done in Stillwater.
18. Armed Forces Bowl (Air Force 31 James Madison 21) – Some called it bad and I think it’s because the Dukes lost. Air Force showed why they were the Group of Five favourite heading into November. JMU tried to make a game of it but the Falcons’ run game was way too much for them. A perfectly good bowl.
19. Holiday Bowl (USC 42 Louisville 28) – Miller Moss took advantage of Caleb Williams opting out of this game by throwing for a Holiday Bowl record six touchdowns. I will be honest by saying that the amount of people online saying we have an early Heisman frontrunner irked me. This isn’t preseason hype: this is the end of the previous season hype. Ridiculous. Not saying he won’t be good but I wish some in college football media would pump the brakes sometimes since they sound like idiots every so often.
20. Gasparilla Bowl (Georgia Tech 30 UCF 17) – The slightly weird start time didn’t detract from a pretty good bowl game. Despite the loss and the 6-7 finish, you have to think the Knights thought this season was a success. Their first as a Power Five team and they showed they could compete. As for the Ramblin’ Wreck, well, I am sure they sent a postcard to Mario Cristobal for gifting them that win that essentially put them in this bowl game.
21. Birmingham Bowl (Duke 17 Troy 10) – I tend to rank closer games higher than offensive shootouts that end with one team winning by like 21. That’s just me. Very little is more exciting in college football than a chance for a team to tie or win a game late. Both teams had interim coaching staffs so we can use that as an excuse for this one although it feels like it’s happening more and more these days. Not a good trend.
22. Las Vegas Bowl (Northwestern 14 Utah 7) – A great ending for the Wildcats who wildly exceeded expectations this season. Utah just didn’t have the players to contend in this one. If you liked defense…well, you still might not have liked this one since it was more the offenses struggling than anything.
23. Liberty Bowl (Memphis 36 Iowa State 26) – There were some high hopes for this one. Iowa State was a better-than-advertised Big XII school and Memphis was at home. And it wasn’t a bad game but it felt like the Tigers were in control for most of it which kind of sucks the life out of a bowl game in the latter stages.
24. Hawaii Bowl (Coastal Carolina 24 San Jose State 14) – Pretty good game but drops a few notches because it wasn’t on Christmas Eve WHERE IT BELONGS.
25. Fenway Bowl (Boston College 23 SMU 14) – It was cold. It was wet. It was fun…for me to watch. Not for the players, coaches and fans, I’m sure. Well, at the time it was probably not too bad. I’ve played in games like that and it was fine until after the game. Then you feel like shit. You might feel less shitty if you win…but you still feel like crap. Anyway, this is a conference game next season! A-C-C! A-C-C! A-C-C! A-C-C!
26. Independence Bowl (Texas Tech 34 California 14) – After a full opening day of bowl games I was hoping this one would be good. Or fun. Or weird. It was none of the three. It was fine until about halfway through the second quarter and the Red Raiders rode away with it. Lack of drama drops this way down.
27. Military Bowl (Virginia Tech 41 Tulane 20) – This was a nasty weather game so you’d think I would rank it higher. There were a lot of fumbles and chaos so you’d think I would rank it higher. I don’t know what it was but this felt like not a very fun game to watch. I kind of stopped paying attention in the second half. I really didn’t think the Green Wave was in it nor did they care much to be there. And that can happen sometimes when your coach leaves for another school. Maybe that was the case here, I don’t know. Either way, it was meh.
28. Cotton Bowl (Missouri 14 Ohio State 3) – I was kind of hyped for this one, not gonna lie. I was thinking this would be quite the prove-it game for Mizzou and we would see if no Kyle McCord would be an issue for tOSU. I was right, for the most part, on both fronts, yet this game sucked. Luckily for the Buckeyes, their awesome defense kept them in it going into the fourth quarter but their offense was painful to watch. They should have found a student in the crowd to play quarterback since it would have been just as good.
29. Frisco Bowl (UTSA 35 Marshall 17) – Would this have been better if 14th-year senior Frank Harris had been able to play? It would have been a blowout rather than a relatively easy victory for the Roadrunners, that’s about it. Biggest take from this game? The starting quarterbacks were Cole Pennington for Marshall (Chad’s son) and Owen McCown for the Roadrunners (Josh’s son). I feel seriously fucking old.
30. First Responder Bowl (Texas State 45 Rice 21) – Not the greatest game to be honest as the Bobcats were in control for most of it. It was definitely helped, though, by the fans (especially the Texas State ones) who were jacked for this one. So jacked that they ran out of beer at the game. Five minutes into the third quarter. Yeah.
31. Idaho Potato Bowl (Georgia State 45 Utah State 22) – The Aggies looked pretty damn flat in this one. The Panthers, on the other hand, overcame their late-season collapse and get back to that early season form. Almost 650 yards of offense for GSU and they were way too much for USU. Even with the french fry bath, this was a bottom tier bowl game this season.
32. Myrtle Beach Bowl (Ohio 41 Georgia Southern 21) – A bit of a ho-hum affair kicked off Bowl Season this time around thanks to the Bahamas Bowl having to move to Charlotte. Ohio went up big and kept the lead the entire game. Nothing super interesting with this one.
33. Music City Bowl (Maryland 31 Auburn 13) – This game was over early and was done without Taulia Tagovailoa. So it was impressive. Just not interesting to watch after the first quarter.
34. New Mexico Bowl (Fresno State 37 New Mexico State 10) – I thought this would be a good game. I had high hopes for NMSU in this one. It was not to be. Fresno State cranked it up late and ran away with this one but even earlier on it didn’t really feel close as the Bulldogs showed the form that had them the favourite for about seven days to be the Group of Five representative in the New Year’s Six. Oh well.
35. Duke’s Mayo Bowl (West Virginia 30 North Carolina 10) – Props to West Virginia for completing a good season, much better than most thought would happen. Neal Brown got mayo dumped on him. And that’s about it. The game was forgettable.
36. Sun Bowl (Notre Dame 40 Oregon State 8) – Boy, for a game that was sold out quicker than I think any other Sun Bowl ever, this game was an absolute dud. Notre Dame’s backups beat the ever-loving shit out of Oregon State’s backups. Ugh.
37. Fiesta Bowl (Oregon 45 Liberty 6) – I think we’ve found our new BYU. No, I don’t mean weird religious institution (even though they are). I mean a team that’s probably too good (most of the time) for their conference but not really good enough to be in the Power Five (or maybe even a better conference). Didn’t help that Oregon came in looking pissed off and after the Flames took a 6-0 lead it was all Ducks. 45 unanswered points and Bo Nix left as a record-setting quarterback. This was a trainwreck, really.
38. Citrus Bowl (Tennessee 35 Iowa 0) – Geez, where do I begin with this one? This was one of the most Iowa games of the season which is saying something. The offense was awful. The Brian Ferentz Experience has come to an end and I am positive most in Iowa City are thankful for that. What made it worse was two other games on at the same time. So I watched almost none of the second half. And I don’t feel bad about that at all.
39. 68 Ventures Bowl (South Alabama 59 Eastern Michigan 10) – I am starting to wonder why this bowl even exists. Even by ESPN Events standards, this is shit. I love more football but good God. The Jags just ran the Eagles off the field in another boring 68 Ventures Bowl which was called…like seven other things before this. This is perfect fodder for the Too Many Bowl Games crowd.
40. Boca Raton Bowl (USF 45 Syracuse 0) – This was one of the biggest beatdowns in bowl game history. Well at least I thought that until…I’ll get to that in a second. Anyway, I figured the Orange would show up. They did…technically. They were the opposition…technically. Other than that, USF, a middle-of-the-road American Conference team who played out of its mind for new coach Alex Golesh, beat the brakes off of Cuse. It was a pathetic performance, regardless of who was missing from the lineup. And speaking of players missing from the lineup…
41. Orange Bowl (Georgia 63 Florida State 3) – This picture encapsulates this game perfectly:

Mike Norvell looks like he wants to be anywhere other than where he was at that moment. This game is THE biggest win in bowl game history. So Georgia one-upped themselves. This game, and everything leading up to it, was a completely fucking mess of a shitshow and is a big part of what’s wrong with college football today. Florida State (and to a lesser extent, Georgia) being left out of the College Football Playoff, some even saying that FSU should boycott the game, some politician trying to force the CFP to put the Noles in (somehow), then all sorts of players opting out or transferring out (from both sides mind you). It all led to this travesty of a game. Even Kirby Smart, during the post-game press conference, told everyone “if this doesn’t show that there needs to be some change, then I don’t know what does.” I’m paraphrasing but he’s right on the money. When players can transfer, when coaches can leave a school to get hired somewhere else, what happens to a player’s NIL when they opt out of a bowl game…all this stuff needs to be dealt with. If it doesn’t, these bowl games will get less and less important. And this is after the playoff has already eroded the bowl system (a bit).

See? Not my longest post ever. So no complaining.

Well we’ve hit the end my friends. One last game. The national championship is tonight and, other than the weird all-star games with their weird rules, it’s the final college football game of the season. Cherish it. Even if it’s a blowout. Remember: the wait for the next season can be long and arduous. Enjoy the game everyone!

Alright, Let’s Do This! The Week 18 NFL TV Schedule

Last year around this time we were discussing the final week of the regular season, sure. However, we were also kind of recovering from what happened to Damar Hamlin’s on-field cardiac arrest. It was one of the craziest times in NFL history and I hope we never have to deal with something like that again.

This year, let’s look at the positive. All the playoff races that are left. And there are plenty. Let’s get to that schedule and then we will do my typical final NFL regular season week analysis. Here we go!

American Networks

Atlanta at New Orleans	1:00	Seattle, Spokane, Minneapolis, Detroit
Cleveland at Cincinnati	1:00	Cleveland
Jacksonville at Tennessee	1:00	Buffalo, Rochester, Watertown, Burlington, Boston, Presque Isle
Minnesota at Detroit	1:00		Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane, Minneapolis, Detroit
NY Jets at New England	1:00		Buffalo, Rochester, Watertown, Burlington, Boston, Presque Isle
Chicago at Green Bay	4:25	Seattle, Spokane, Minneapolis, Detroit, Cleveland
Philadelphia at NY Giants	4:25	Buffalo, Rochester, Watertown, Burlington, Boston, Presque Isle
Seattle at Arizona	4:25		Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane
Dallas at Washington	4:25		Minneapolis, Buffalo, Rochester, Watertown, Burlington, Boston, Presque Isle
LA Rams at San Francisco	4:25		Detroit

Canadian Networks

Jacksonville at Tennessee	1:00	Northern Ontario, Kitchener, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Atlantic
Atlanta at New Orleans	1:00		Vancouver Island, Alberta	TSN1, TSN4, TSN5
Minnesota at Detroit	1:00	Vancouver, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Winnipeg	All affiliates (except Vancouver Island & Alberta)
Chicago at Green Bay	4:25	Alberta, Saskatchewan, Winnipeg, Northern Ontario, Ottawa		TSN1, TSN4, TSN5
Philadelphia at NY Giants	4:25	Montreal, Atlantic
Dallas at Washington	4:25	Kitchener, Toronto
Seattle at Arizona	4:25	Vancouver

Saturday Games and Sunday Night Game

Pittsburgh at Baltimore	Saturday, 4:30, ABC, CTV, TSN 1/3/4/5
Houston at Indianapolis	Saturday, 8:15, ABC, CTV, TSN 1/3/4/5
Buffalo at Miami	Sunday, 8:15, NBC, CTV, TSN 1/3*/4*/5/+

Some Super Special Last Regular Season Weekend Notes

• As per usual, it’s all divisional matchups for the final week of the season. And there are a lot of playoff races as I will discuss later on.
• You see the asterisks for the Bills-Dolphins game for TSN3 and TSN4. Well, the game will start airing on TSN3 after the Jets-Coyotes game and, for some unknown and stupid reason, Sportscentre. So it will start around 10:00: a little into the third quarter. As for TSN4, they have the Raptors and Warriors so they won’t get to the game until about 11:00. The football game should be well into the fourth quarter at that point. So really, stick to TSN1 or 5 (or + if you like the “enhanced” game feed).
• The three national games were pretty easy choices, for the most part. Bills-Dolphins felt like a lock for the Sunday nighter once Miami was blown away by Baltimore. Texans-Colts was also pretty much a lock for a standalone game considering it’s win-or-go-home. The other choice was interesting for sure. A lot of possibilities. Steelers-Ravens makes sense just because a win by the Steelers makes the Buffalo-Miami game all the more important for the Bills. It becomes a much bigger risk-reward game for the Bills as they almost assuredly out with a loss in this case.
• Games not being shown here unless you have the Sunday Ticket or RedZone magic potion:
  • Kansas City at LA Chargers
  • Tampa Bay at Carolina
  • Denver at Las Vegas
• No surprise really with the first and third games on that list not being available up here. The second one is a bit interesting since the Bucs win the NFC South with a win, no matter what happens with the Saints and Falcons. I think the issue north of the border was where would this be shown that would take the place of the other two games on in this timeslot on FOX. It probably could have replaced the Jets-Patriots game to be honest but I have a feeling that FOX figured the AFC East, even with a meaningless game, would be more watched than an NFC South matchup in the Northeastern United States and most of Eastern Canada. And they are probably right.
• Hey thankfully I don’t have to go over the strangest set of scenarios ever like last season. Let’s hope that never happens again…more for Damar Hamlin’s case than anything.

So this is it. We have made it. The final playoff picture of the season:

AFC	NFC
#1 Baltimore (13-3) (clinched home-field advantage)	#1 San Francisco (12-4) (clinched home-field advantage)
#2 Miami (11-5) (clinched playoff berth)	#2 Dallas (11-5) (clinched playoff berth)
#3 Kansas City (10-6) (clinched AFC West)	#3 Detroit (11-5) (clinched NFC North)
#4 Jacksonville (9-7)	#4 Tampa Bay (8-8)
Wild Cards:	Wild Cards:
#5 Cleveland (11-5) (clinched playoff berth)	#5 Philadelphia (11-5) (clinched playoff berth)
#6 Buffalo (10-6)	#6 LA Rams (9-7) (clinched playoff berth)
#7 Indianapolis (9-7)	#7 Green Bay (8-8)

Alright so what do we have left to determine? Four divisions still up for grabs as the AFC East, AFC South, NFC East and NFC South still hasn’t determined their champion. Also, one Wild Card spot in the NFC and two in the AFC with still a few teams in the mix there. A lot can happen during this weekend so let’s get right to the scenarios.

Pittsburgh at Baltimore

• Pittsburgh clinches a playoff spot under the following scenarios:
  • A win AND either a Buffalo loss OR a Jacksonville loss/tie
  • A win AND an Indianapolis tie
  • A tie AND two of Indianapolis, Jacksonville, or Houston lose
  • Jacksonville loses AND Denver wins AND either Indianapolis or Houston lose
• Pittsburgh is eliminated under the following scenarios:
  • A Jacksonville win AND a Buffalo win/tie AND either an Indianapolis OR Houston win
  • A loss/tie AND either a Jacksonville win/tie OR an Indianapolis tie
  • A loss AND a Denver loss/tie

Houston at Indianapolis

• Indianapolis clinches the AFC South with (a win AND a Jacksonville loss/tie) OR (a tie AND a Jacksonville loss)
• Houston clinches the AFC South with a win AND a Jacksonville loss/tie
• Indianapolis clinches a playoff spot with a win OR (a tie AND a Pittsburgh loss/tie)
• Houston clinches a playoff spot wth a win OR (a tie AND a Jacksonville loss AND a Pittsburgh loss/tie)
• Houston is eliminated with a loss OR (a tie AND either a Jacksonville win/tie OR a Pittsburgh win)
• Indianapolis is eliminated with a loss OR (a tie AND a Jacksonville win/tie AND a Pittsburgh win)

Jacksonville at Tennessee

• Jacksonville clinches the AFC South with a win OR (a tie and an Indianapolis tie)
• Jacksonville clinches a playoff spot with (a tie AND a Pittsburgh loss/tie) OR (a Pittsburgh loss AND a Denver loss/tie AND either Houston OR Indianapolis loses)
• Jacksonville is eliminated with (a tie AND a Pittsburgh win AND either a Houston or Indianapolis win) OR (a loss AND either a Pittsburgh win/tie OR a Denver win OR an Indianapolis tie)

Atlanta at New Orleans

• Atlanta clinches the NFC South with a win AND a Tampa Bay loss
• New Orleans clinches the NFC South with (a win AND a Tampa Bay loss/tie) OR (a tie AND a Tampa Bay loss)
• New Orleans clinches a playoff spot with (a win AND a Green Bay loss/tie AND a Seattle loss/tie) OR (a tie AND a Green Bay loss AND a Seattle loss)
• Atlanta is eliminated with a loss/tie OR a Tampa Bay win/tie
• New Orleans is eliminated with a loss OR (a tie AND a Tampa Bay win/tie AND either a Green Bay or Seattle win/tie) OR (a Tampa Bay win AND either a Green Bay or Seattle win)

Minnesota at Detroit

• Minnesota clinches a playoff spot with a win AND a Seattle loss AND a Green Bay loss AND either a Tampa Bay OR New Orleans loss
• Minnesota is eliminated with a loss/tie OR a Seattle win/tie OR a Green Bay win/tie OR Tampa Bay and New Orleans both winning or tying

Tampa Bay at Carolina

• Tampa Bay clinches the NFC South with a win OR (a tie and a New Orleans loss/tie)
• Tampa Bay clinches a playoff spot with a tie AND a Seattle loss AND a Green Bay loss/tie
• Tampa Bay is eliminated with a loss OR (a tie AND a New Orleans win AND either a Seattle win/tie or a Green Bay win)

Chicago at Green Bay

• Green Bay clinches a playoff spot with a win OR:
  • a tie AND (a Seattle loss/tie AND a New Orleans loss/tie) OR (a Seattle tie AND a Tampa Bay loss/tie) OR (a Seattle loss AND a Tampa Bay loss)
  • a loss AND a Seattle loss AND a Minnesota loss/tie AND either a Tampa Bay or New Orleans loss
• Green Bay is eliminated with (a loss AND either (a Minnesota win or a Seattle win/tie or (a Tampa Bay win/tie and a New Orleans win/tie)) OR a tie AND either (a Seattle win or (a Tampa Bay win and a New Orleans win) or (a Seattle loss AND a New Orleans win AND a Tampa Bay tie)

Philadelphia at NY Giants

• Philadelphia clinches the NFC East with (a win AND a Dallas loss/tie) OR (a tie AND a Dallas loss)

Dallas at Washington

• Dallas clinches the NFC East with a win OR (a tie and a Philadelphia tie) OR a Philadelphia loss

Seattle at Arizona

• Seattle clinches a playoff spot with a win AND a Green Bay loss AND either a New Orleans or Tampa Bay loss/tie) OR (a win AND a Green Bay loss/tie)
• Seattle is eliminated with a loss OR (a tie AND a New Orleans win AND a Tampa Bay win) OR (a tie AND a Green Bay tie) OR a Green Bay win

Buffalo at Miami

• Buffalo clinches the AFC East with a win
• Miami clinches the AFC East with a win OR a tie
• Buffalo clinches a playoff spot with a tie OR a Pittsburgh loss/tie OR a Jacksonville loss/tie OR an Indianapolis tie
• Buffalo is eliminated with a loss AND one of the following three scenarios:
  • a Jacksonville win AND a Houston win AND a Pittsburgh loss/tie
  • a Jacksonville win AND an Indianapolis win AND a Pittsburgh loss/tie
  • a Pittsubrgh win AND an Indianapolis tie
  • a Jacksonville loss/tie AND a Pittsburgh win

If there is a tie….in almost any game….this is going to become a mess. Although it does become super interesting if that is the case and I do love chaos.

I was going to do tables to show where teams could land based on the scenarios above (obviously leaving ties out) but the NFC one alone would be insane. Viewing it on a cell phone would be impossible. Hell, viewing it on a wide-screen TV might be difficult. So I will not bother with that. Instead, I will do a seeding breakdown like I did last year. I will not include ties here. Here are the seeding scenarios.

AFC

#1 seed

• Baltimore locked in

#2 seed

• Miami – win
• Buffalo – win

#3 seed

• Kansas City locked in

#4 seed

• Jacksonville – win
• Indianapolis – win AND Jacksonville loss
• Houston – win AND Jacksonville loss

#5 seed

• Cleveland locked in

#6 seed

• Miami – loss
• Buffalo – loss AND Pittsburgh loss AND Jacksonville loss
• Indianapolis – win AND Jacksonville win AND Buffalo loss
• Houston – win AND Jacksonville win AND Buffalo loss
• Pittsburgh – win AND Jacksonville loss AND Buffalo loss

#7 seed

• Buffalo – loss AND (Jacksonville win AND Pittsburgh loss AND either Houston or Indianapolis loss) OR (Jacksonville loss AND Pittsburgh win)
• Indianapolis – win AND Jacksonville win AND Buffalo win
• Pittsburgh – dog’s breakfast (win AND Buffalo win AND Jacksonville loss) OR (win AND Buffalo loss AND Jacksonville win AND either Houston OR Indianapolis win) OR (loss AND Jacksonville loss AND Denver win AND either Houston OR Indianapolis win)
• Jacksonville – loss AND Pittsburgh loss AND Denver loss AND either Houston OR Indianapolis loss
• Houston – win AND Jacksonville win AND Buffalo win

NFC

#1 seed

• San Francisco locked in

#2 seed

• Dallas – win OR (loss AND Philadelphia loss AND Detroit loss)
• Philadelphia – win AND Dallas loss
• Detroit – win AND Dallas loss AND Philadelphia loss

#3 seed

• Dallas – loss AND Philadelphia loss AND Detroit win
• Detroit – loss OR Dallas win OR Philadelphia win

#4 seed

• Tampa Bay – win
• New Orleans – win AND Tampa Bay loss
• Atlanta – win AND Tampa Bay loss

#5 seed

• Philadelphia – loss OR Dallas win
• Dallas – loss AND Philadelphia win

#6 seed

• Green Bay – win AND LA Rams loss
• LA Rams – win OR Green Bay loss

#7 seed

• Green Bay – (win AND LA Rams win) OR (loss AND Seattle loss AND Minnesota loss AND either Tampa Bay OR New Orleans loss)
• Minnesota – win AND Seattle loss AND Green Bay loss AND either Tampa Bay OR New Orleans loss
• New Orleans – win AND Tampa Bay win AND Green Bay loss AND Seattle loss
• LA Rams – loss AND Green Bay win
• Seattle – win AND Green Bay loss

Holy shit we are in for one hell of a weekend of American Professional Football. I really don’t need to say this but enjoy the games everyone!

Remember when this used to be the end? The Week 17 NFL TV Schedule

It wasn’t long ago that Week 17 was the ultimate week. So much on the line. Playoff spots gained or lost. First round byes on the line. Entire seasons on the brink. Fantastic stuff.

Now, Week 17 is the penultimate week of the regular season. With the seventeenth game added to the regular season, it meant that Week 18 had to be added. My guess is Week 19 will be added soon enough to give each team two byes during the season and push the Super Bowl to around Valentine’s Day.

But just because this isn’t the final week doesn’t mean this isn’t a huge week! So let’s get to the schedule!

American Networks

Miami at Baltimore	1:00	Seattle, Spokane, Minneapolis, Detroit, Cleveland
New England at Buffalo	1:00	Buffalo, Rochester, Watertown, Burlington, Boston, Presque Isle
LA Rams at NY Giants	1:00		Rochester, Watertown, Burlington
Pittsburgh at Seattle	4:05		Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane, Minneapolis, Detroit, Buffalo, Boston, Presque Isle
Cincinnati at Kansas City	4:25	All affiliates

Canadian Networks

New England at Buffalo	1:00	Northern Ontario, Kitchener, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Atlantic
Miami at Baltimore	1:00	Vancouver, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Winnipeg	All affiliates (except Vancouver Island & Alberta)
San Francisco at Washington	1:00		Vancouver Island, Alberta	TSN1, TSN4, TSN5
New Orleans at Tampa Bay	1:00			TSN+
Pittsburgh at Seattle	4:05	Vancouver, Alberta		TSN1, TSN4, TSN5
Cincinnati at Kansas City	4:25	All affiliates (except Vancouver & Alberta)

Primetime Games

NY Jets at Cleveland	Thursday, 8:15, Amazon Prime, ABC Cleveland, CTV2, TSN 1/4/+
Detroit at Dallas	Saturday, 8:15, ABC, CTV, TSN 1/5
Green Bay at Minnesota	Sunday, 8:15, NBC, CTV, TSN 1/3/4/+

New Year’s Notes and Thoughts

• There are games upcoming that you will not be able to see if you do not have Sunday Ticket and/or RedZone. They are as follows:
  • Las Vegas at Indianapolis
  • Carolina at Jacksonville
  • Atlanta at Chicago
  • Arizona at Philadelphia
  • Tennessee at Houston
  • LA Chargers at Denver
• Now this is some horseshit right here. Six games? SIX? That’s insane. And that’s after TSN decides to put a different game on TSN+ for some variety. I don’t get it. Not saying many of these games are worth watching but if you are trying to push people to order Sunday Ticket or RedZone, you may be succeeding. Or you may be pushing them to go the route I took that I will never come back from, IPTV. Either one, congratulations assholes.
• No Monday Night Football this week as that would go up against the College Football Playoff semi-finals and even the NFL knows when to take a step back. What does that mean? We have the game essentially being moved to Saturday night. And it is a massive one. Lions-Cowboys in what could be an NFC Championship preview.
• I don’t know how many people can even get ABC out of Cleveland so I listed it here. UPDATE: No one can but there are some who can get it out of Toledo. How about that? You learn something new every day.

Things are getting very interesting. It’s the second-last playoff picture of the season:

AFC	NFC
#1 Baltimore (12-3) (clinched playoff spot)	#1 San Francisco (11-4) (clinched NFC West)
#2 Miami (11-4) (clinched playoff spot)	#2 Philadelphia (11-4) (clinched playoff spot)
#3 Kansas City (9-6)	#3 Detroit (11-4) (clinched NFC North)
#4 Jacksonville (8-7)	#4 Tampa Bay (8-7)
Wild Cards:	Wild Cards:
#5 Cleveland (10-5)	#5 Dallas (10-5) (clinched playoff spot)
#6 Buffalo (9-6)	#6 LA Rams (8-7)
#7 Indianapolis/Houston/Pittsburgh/Cincinnati (8-7)	#7 Seattle (8-7)

Look at the ridiculous logjam in the AFC. So many teams for, well, still quite a few spots. The Wild Card race is going to be insane and will require some logic puzzle-style explanations. The NFC is not much different even though it doesn’t look like it. There are 4 teams just a game back of the Bucs, Rams and Seahawks. Hell, even the Bears are technically still in it. Yeah it’s this crazy.

Before we get to the clinching scenarios, here is your updated list of eliminated teams (in order of draft position):

• Carolina
• Arizona
• Washington
• New England
• NY Giants
• LA Chargers
• Tennessee
• NY Jets

Just a reminder that the Bears have the Panthers pick because the Panthers’ front office are idiots.

Now it’s time for the clinching scenarios and, as per usual, I will not include ties until the final weekend of the regular season.

First Round Bye and Home Field Advantage

• San Francisco clinches with a win AND a Philadelphia loss AND a Detroit loss
• Baltimore clinches with a win

Division Title

• Philadelphia clinches the NFC East with a win AND a Dallas loss
• Tampa Bay clinches the NFC South with a win
• Baltimore clinches the AFC North with a win OR a Cleveland loss
• Miami clinches the AFC East with a win OR a Buffalo loss
• Kansas City clinches the AFC West with a win OR (a Denver loss AND a Las Vegas loss)
• Jacksonville clinches the AFC South with a win AND an Indianapolis loss AND a Houston loss

Playoff Berth

• LA Rams clinch a playoff berth with a win AND a Seattle loss
• Cleveland clinches a playoff berth with a win OR a Pittsburgh loss OR a Buffalo loss OR a Jacksonville loss OR (a Houston loss AND an Indianapolis loss)
• Buffalo clinches with a win AND (a Pittsburgh loss AND a Cincinnati loss) OR (a Pittsburgh loss AND a Jacksonville loss) OR (a Pittsburgh loss AND an Indianapolis loss AND a Houston loss) OR (a Cincinnati loss AND a Jacksonville loss) OR (a Cincinnati loss AND an Indianapolis loss AND a Houston loss)

Elimination

• Minnesota is eliminated with a loss AND a Seattle win AND an LA Rams win
• Green Bay is eliminated with a loss AND (a Seattle win OR an LA Rams win OR (a New Orleans win AND an Atlanta win AND an Arizona win AND a Dallas win AND a Washington win AND a Cincinnati win AND a Cleveland win AND an Indianapolis win AND an Jacksonville win AND a Denver win))
• Chicago is eliminated with a loss OR (a Seattle win AND an LA Rams win) OR (a Seattle win AND a Green Bay win) OR (a Seattle win AND a Minnesota win) OR (an LA Rams win AND a Green Bay win) OR (an LA Rams win AND a Minnesota win)
• New Orleans is eliminated with a loss
• Atlanta is eliminated with a Tampa Bay win AND (a loss) OR (an LA Rams win AND a Seattle win)
• Pittsburgh is eliminated with a loss AND a Buffalo win AND an Indianapolis win AND (a Houston win AND a Denver loss) OR (a Houston win AND a Jacksonville loss AND a Kansas City win) OR (a Jacksonville win AND a Denver loss)
• Cincinnati is eliminated with a win AND a Pittsburgh win AND a Buffalo win
• Houston is eliminated with a loss AND an Indianapolis win AND a Jacksonville win AND (a Buffalo win) OR (a Cincinnati win AND a Pittsburgh loss AND a Denver loss)
• Las Vegas is eliminated with a loss
• Denver is eliminated with a loss OR (a Kansas City win AND a Buffalo win AND a Pittsburgh win) OR (a Kansas City win AND a Buffalo win AND a Houston win AND an Indianapolis win AND a Jacksonville loss) OR (a Kansas City win AND a Houston win AND an Indianapolis win AND a Jacksonville loss AND a Pittsburgh loss)

Alright, should be a fun few days of football. Chances are this will be my final post of the season so I hope each and every one of you have a happy New Year! See you all in 2024 and, as always, enjoy the games!

What a dreadful existence – Week 16 NFL TV Schedule

This was the scene at Bank of America Stadium this past weekend in Charlotte for the Falcons-Panthers game. And if you think that’s just maybe part of the upper deck, think again. The entire stadium looked like this. Don’t believe me?

That is during the game as you can see a play going on in this picture. How sad is this? How dreadful must it be to be a Carolina Panthers fan right now? Not only does your team suck-diddly-uck but you don’t even get the chance at the number one draft choice. Why? Well, the Panthers wanted Bryce Young so badly that they exchanged first round picks with the Bears last year. The Panthers had to sweeten the deal so sent a 2025 second rounder, D.J. Moore and…..their first round pick in the upcoming draft. Yeesh. There is a good chance that will be the #1 pick and Bears fans are salivating at the thought. Marvin Harrison Jr.? Caleb Williams? Drake Maye? Maybe another position of need since they aren’t very good either? The possibilities are endless.

For Panthers fans, though, the possibilities aren’t. They won’t pick first overall, they very well might finish last in the league and unless some of their young players (and 2024 draftees) step up in a hurry, this is not a playoff team next season. Nowhere close. Frustrating for sure.

Not frustrating? Getting to watch NFL football on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!!! Let’s fucking go! Here’s the schedule to get you all amped up!

American Networks

Seattle at Tennessee	1:00	Seattle, Spokane
Cleveland at Houston	1:00	Cleveland, Buffalo, Rochester, Watertown, Burlington, Boston, Presque Isle
Detroit at Minnesota	1:00		All affiliates
Jacksonville at Tampa Bay	4:05	Minneapolis, Detroit
Dallas at Miami	4:25		All affiliates

Canadian Networks

Seattle at Tennessee	1:00		Vancouver Island, Alberta	TSN1, TSN3, TSN4, TSN5
Cleveland at Houston	1:00		All affiliates (except Vancouver Island & Alberta)
Detroit at Minnesota	1:00	All affiliates
Indianapolis at Atlanta	1:00			TSN+
Jacksonville at Tampa Bay	4:05			TSN1, TSN3, TSN4, TSN5
Dallas at Miami	4:25	All affiliates

Primetime & Saturday & Monday (Christmas Day!) Games

New Orleans at LA Rams	Thursday, 8:15, Amazon Prime, CTV2, TSN 1/3/4/+
Cincinnati at Pittsburgh	Saturday, 4:30, NBC, CTV, TSN 1/4
Buffalo at LA Chargers	Saturday, 8:00, NBC Buffalo, CTV2, TSN 1/3/4/5
New England at Denver	Sunday, 8:00, NFL Network, ABC Boston, CTV2, TSN 1/3/4/5/+
Las Vegas at Kansas City	Monday, 1:00, CBS, CTV, TSN 1/3/4/5/+
NY Giants at Philadelphia	Monday, 4:30, FOX, CTV, TSN 1/3
Baltimore at San Francisco	Monday, 8:15, ABC, CTV, TSN 1/3/4/5

Christmas-y Type Notes

• There are some games on this week that, somehow, are not being shown here in Canada without the assistance of a Sunday Ticket or a RedZone:
  • Washington at NY Jets
  • Green Bay at Carolina
  • Arizona at Chicago
• How in the blue hell can three games not be shown at all here with how spread out the games are this week? The power of scheduling. Maybe they do need to go to Matt Zemek’s idea of three Sunday timeslots.
• Look at all the national and almost-national telecasts. It is, I believe, an NFL record for the most national broadcasts in one week with seven. Then there’s two on Sunday that might as well be national broadcasts as well.
• Just so you know, the Bills-Chargers game will be joined in progress on TSN3 and TSN5 at about 10:30 after the World Juniors pre-competition game between Canada and the U.S. (on TSN3) or the Lakers-Thunder game (on TSN5). Man, TSN loves the World Juniors.
• As I said before, a lot of nationwide broadcasts. If you love watching football on CTV, then I hope you love one of four teams because those are the only ones appearing on Sunday afternoon. Lions-Vikings followed by Cowboys-Dolphins across the entire network. At least they should be two really good games.
• Finally, the Nickolodeon game is back. This year’s “Nickmas” game will be the early Christmas Day affair between the Raiders and the Chiefs. It’s only on TSN+ up here but if you have it and have younger kids who may be interested it’s….kinda fun, not gonna lie.

OK we are getting close to the end of the season. Three games remain. Here’s what the playoff picture looks like at this point:

AFC	NFC
#1 Baltimore (11-3) (clinched playoff spot)	#1 San Francisco (11-3) (clinched NFC West)
#2 Miami (10-4)	#2 Dallas (10-4) (clinched playoff spot)
#3 Kansas City (9-5)	#3 Detroit (10-4)
#4 Jacksonville (8-6)	#4 Tampa Bay (7-7)
Wild Cards:	Wild Cards:
#5 Cleveland (9-5)	#5 Philadelphia (10-4) (clinched playoff spot)
#6 Cincinnati (8-6)	#6 Minnesota (7-7)
#7 Indianapolis/Houston/Buffalo (8-6)	#7 LA Rams/Seattle/New Orleans (7-7)

As I’ve said before, this Wild Card race may be the wildest in years, no pun intended. Oh and my dream of a 7-10 NFC South champion has gone up in flames as the Bucs and Saints face each other next week so the division champion can have no fewer than eight wins. Damn.

And behold, your list of eliminated teams:

• Carolina
• New England
• Arizona
• Washington
• NY Jets
• Tennessee

Only six. And only maybe three or four will join the list after this week. Good to see a lot of teams still in the mix instead of a few of the seasons in the recent past where half the league was pretty much done with a couple weeks to go.

Now some clinching scenarios. That’s what we are looking at these days anyways and wait until you see some of the scenarios. Fucking ridiculous:

First-Round Bye and Home-Field Advantage

• San Francisco clinches with a win AND a Dallas loss AND a Philadelphia loss AND a Detroit loss

Division Title

• Detroit clinches the NFC North with a win
• Baltimore clinches the AFC North with a win AND a Cleveland loss
• Kansas City clinches the AFC West with a win
• Miami clinches the AFC East with a win AND a Buffalo loss

Playoff Berth

• Detroit clinches with an LA Rams loss OR a Seattle loss
• Miami clinches with a win
• Cleveland clinches with a win AND (a Denver loss AND an Indianapolis loss AND a Buffalo loss AND a Miami win) OR (a Pittsburgh loss AND (a Denver loss AND an Indianapolis win AND a Jacksonville loss) OR (a Denver loss AND a Miami win and one of Buffalo/Indianapolis/Jacksonville losing) OR (a Buffalo loss AND an Indianapolis win AND a Jacksonville loss AND (a Miami win OR a Kansas City win)))

Elimination

• Chicago is eliminated with loss AND (an LA Rams win) OR (a Seattle win AND one of Minnesota/Green Bay/Tampa Bay winning) OR (a Tampa Bay win AND one of Minnesota/Green Bay/NY Giants winning)
• NY Giants are eliminated with a loss AND (an LA Rams win) OR (a Seattle win AND (one of Minnesota/Green Bay/Tampa Bay winning) OR (an Atlanta win AND a Chicago win)) OR (a Tampa Bay win AND (one of Minnesota/Green Bay winning) OR (an Atlanta win AND a Chicago win)) OR (a Minnesota win AND a Green Bay win AND an Atlanta win AND a Chicago win) OR (a Green Bay win AND a Chicago win AND an Atlanta win)
• Las Vegas is eliminated with a loss
• LA Chargers are eliminated with a loss OR a Jacksonville win OR (a Cincinnati win AND an Indianapolis win AND (a Houston win OR a Denver win OR two of Washington/Detroit/New Orleans/Arizona/Tennessee winning)) OR (a Cincinnati win AND a Houston win AND (a Denver win OR three of Washington/Detroit/New Orleans/Arizona/Tennessee winning)) OR (a Cincinnati win AND a Denver win AND (a Las Vegas win OR one of Washington/Detroit/New Orleans/Arizona/Tennessee winning)) OR (a Cincinnati win AND four of Washington/Detroit/New Orleans/Arizona/Tennessee winning) OR (a Pittsburgh win AND an Indianapolis win AND a Houston win AND a Las Vegas win) OR (a Pittsburgh win AND an Indianapolis win AND a Houston win AND one of Washington/Detroit/Green Bay/New Orleans/Arizona/Baltimore/Tennessee winning) OR (a Pittsburgh win AND an Indianapolis win AND a Denver win) OR (a Pittsburgh win AND an Indianapolis win AND a Cleveland win AND one of Washington/Detroit/New Orleans/Arizona/Tennessee winning) OR (a Pittsburgh win AND a Houston win AND two of Washington/Detroit/New Orleans/Arizona/Tennessee winning) OR (a Pittsburgh win AND a Cleveland win AND a Denver win AND a Las Vegas win) OR (a Pittsburgh win AND a Cleveland win AND a Denver win AND a New Orleans win AND one of Washington/Detroit/Green Bay/Arizona/LA Rams/Baltimore/Tennessee winning) OR (a Pittsburgh win AND a Cleveland win AND a Denver win AND an LA Rams win AND one of Washington/Detroit/Arizona/Tennessee winning) OR (a Pittsburgh win AND a Cleveland win AND three of Washington/Detroit/New Orleans/Arizona/Tennessee winning)

For fuck’s sake that is crazy. But if you are a betting man (or woman) you could make a boatload of money if one of these stupid Chargers scenarios hits.

So there you go. Enjoy the NFL football over the holidays and have a Merry Christmas!

2023 Bowl Game Rankings and Predictions for those Bowl Games!

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

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

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

The ABC Saturday Night Tier

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

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

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

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

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

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

The SEC on CBS Tier

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Big Noon Kickoff Tier

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Notre Dame and/or B1G on NBC Tier

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Late Night ESPN Tier

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The CW Tier

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Pac-12 Network Tier

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Brazil? – The Week 15 NFL TV Schedule

Yep, the NFL is heading to Brazil next year! Not Rio, which is pictured here but Sao Paulo. The plan is to have a game at Corinthians Arena and it will be the fifth country outside the U.S. to host a regular season game after Canada, England, Mexico and Germany.

So how do I feel about this? Eh, I’m fine with it. It won’t be played in the morning which makes me happy and I’m sure the NFLers that get to go there will be happy to enjoy some Brazilian culture like walking down the beach and things that occur on LiveLeak.

I think the bigger story was after this when it was announced that there would be EIGHT international games in 2025. My guess is, at some point, every team in the league will play one international game a season until the NFL eventually expands there because that’s what Commissioner Goodell wants, dammit!

Until then we are stuck with 32 teams and schedules that still aren’t too large. So let’s get to that not-too-big schedule followed by a few musings:

American Networks

Tampa Bay at Green Bay	1:00	Minneapolis, Detroit
NY Jets at Miami	1:00	Buffalo, Rochester, Watertown, Burlington, Presque Isle
Kansas City at New England	1:00		All affiliates (except Rochester & Watertown)
NY Giants at New Orleans	1:00		Rochester, Watertown
San Francisco at Arizona	4:05	Seattle, Spokane, Cleveland, Boston
Dallas at Buffalo	4:25		All affiliates

Canadian Networks

NY Jets at Miami	1:00		All affiliates
Tampa Bay at Green Bay	1:00			TSN1, TSN4
Kansas City at New England	1:00	All affiliates
Chicago at Cleveland	1:00			TSN+
San Francisco at Arizona	4:05			TSN1, TSN4
Dallas at Buffalo	4:25	All affiliates

Primetime and Saturday Games!

LA Chargers at Las Vegas	Thursday, 8:15, Amazon Prime, CTV2, TSN 1/3/+
Minnesota at Cincinnati	Saturday, 1:00, NFL Network, CBS Minneapolis, TSN 1/3
Pittsburgh at Indianapolis	Saturday, 4:30, NFL Network, TSN 1/3
Denver at Detroit	Saturday, 8:15, NFL Network, FOX Detroit, TSN 1/3
Baltimore at Jacksonville	Sunday, 8:15, NBC, CTV, TSN 1/3/4/+
Philadelphia at Seattle	Monday, 8:15, ABC, TSN 1/3/+

Non-Brazilian Musings

• Are you ready? Are you ready for some football? A, uh, Saturday afternoon and evening partayyyyyyyyy? Yep, it’s that time of year where the NFL says fuck it, we are taking over more days and if we were allowed we’d have games every day of the damn week. Problem for me is that it’s the start of Bowl Season. Will I watch some of these games? Sure but my focus is almost always on college football (sorry pro football enthusiasts/college football haters).
• Games not being shown in the region of Canada without the use of Sunday Ticket or RedZone:
  • Houston at Tennessee
  • Atlanta at Carolina
  • Washington at LA Rams
• Quite the mixed bag for all the non-Sunday afternoon games. For every Ravens-Jags there’s a Chargers-Raiders. Can’t win em all with six games in those timeslots. Hey, at least we get Kevin Fucking Harlan on the call for the Saturday nighter which is a Mount Everest-sized step up from the earlier play-by-play guys, Chris Rose and Rich Eisen.
• For the first time in a long time, we have an Absolute National Game. The Cowboys and Bills are on every FOX station in the U.S. meaning the same thing in Canada. Not surprising with so many games not on Sunday but in previous years the Niners and Cardinals would have been shown on televisions in about 53 combined city blocks in the cities of San Francisco and Phoenix. Why I’m so glad the true AFC on CBS/NFC on FOX thing has ended. Progress. Should have done it years ago.

Hey let’s get an updated playoff picture since there’s a team ACTUALLY ALREADY IN THE PLAYOFFS (it’s the Niners):

AFC	NFC
#1 Baltimore (10-3)	#1 San Francisco (10-3) (clinched playoff spot)
#2 Miami (9-4)	#2 Dallas (10-3)
#3 Kansas City (8-5)	#3 Detroit (9-4)
#4 Jacksonville (8-5)	#4 Tampa Bay (6-7)
Wild Cards:	Wild Cards:
#5 Cleveland (8-4)	#5 Philadelphia (10-3)
#6 Pittsburgh (7-6)	#6 Minnesota (7-6)
#7 Indianapolis/Houston/Denver/Cincinnati/Buffalo (7-6)	#7 Green Bay/LA Rams/Seattle/Atlanta/New Orleans (6-7)

Holy shit. What an absolute clusterfuck at the bottom of the Wild Card list. In each conference, five teams are tied for the final spot with the first team in each list (the Colts and Packers) holding what I assume are insane tiebreakers over the other four teams. This could end up being one of the best final months of a season in a long time.

And now on to the teams that have been officially eliminated:

• Carolina
• New England

That’s it. Two. With three games to go. Yeah this is nuts. This week that number should go up but maybe by only a couple as you will see in all the clinching scenarios:

Division Title

• San Francisco clinches the NFC West with a win OR an LA Rams loss

Playoff Berth

• Philadelphia clinches with a win OR (a Minnesota loss AND an Atlanta loss AND (an LA Rams loss OR (a San Francisco win AND a Detroit win))) OR (a Minnesota loss AND a Tampa Bay win AND (an LA Rams loss OR (a San Francisco win AND a Detroit win))) OR (a Green Bay loss AND an Atlanta loss AND (an LA Rams loss OR (a San Francisco win AND a Detroit win)))
• Dallas clinches with a win OR (a Tampa Bay loss AND (a Detroit win AND a San Francisco win) OR (a Detroit win AND an LA Rams loss) OR (a Minnesota loss AND a Detroit win) OR (a Minnesota loss AND an LA Rams loss) OR (a Minnesota loss AND a Seattle loss)) OR (an Atlanta loss AND a Green Bay loss AND (a Detroit win OR an LA Rams loss OR a Seattle loss)) OR (a Seattle loss AND (an LA Rams loss) OR (a Minnesota loss AND a NY Giants win AND a New England win AND a Cleveland win AND a Pittsburgh win AND a Tennessee win AND an LA Chargers win))
• Detroit clinches with a win AND (a Seattle loss AND a Green Bay loss) OR (a Seattle loss AND a Minnesota loss) OR (a Seattle win AND a LA Rams loss) OR (an LA Rams loss AND an Atlanta loss AND a Minnesota loss) OR (an LA Rams loss AND a Tampa Bay loss AND a Minnesota loss) OR (an LA Rams loss AND a Green Bay loss AND an Atlanta loss)
• Baltimore clinches with a win AND (a Pittsburgh loss AND a Buffalo loss) OR (a Pittsburgh loss and a Denver loss) OR a (Buffalo loss and a Denver loss) OR (a Cleveland loss AND a a Buffalo loss) OR (a Cleveland loss AND a Denver loss) OR (a Houston loss AND a Buffalo loss) OR (a Houston loss AND a Denver loss)

Elimination

• Arizona is eliminated with a loss OR (an LA Rams win AND a Minnesota win) OR (an LA Rams win AND a Green Bay win) OR (an LA Rams win AND a New Orleans win AND a Chicago win AND an Atlanta win) OR (a Minnesota win AND a Green Bay win AND a New Orleans win AND an Atlanta win AND a Chicago win)
• Washington is eliminated with a loss
• Tennessee is eliminated with a loss AND (a Pittsburgh win) OR (an Indianapolis win) OR (a Cincinnati win) OR (a Denver win AND a Las Vegas win) OR (a Buffalo win AND a Denver win AND a LA Chargers win)
• NY Jets are eliminated with a loss AND (a Buffalo win AND an Indianapolis win) OR (a Buffalo win AND a Pittsburgh win) OR (a Buffalo win AND a Houston win) OR (a Buffalo win AND a Cincinnati win) OR (an Indianapolis win AND a Cincinnati win AND a Houston win) OR (a Cleveland win AND an Indianapolis win AND a Cincinnati win) OR (a Cleveland win AND a Pittsburgh win AND a Houston win)

For fuck’s sake that is ridiculous. And it’s only Week 15. Can you imagine that last Dallas scenario hitting? It would be the ultimate parlay win. A $10 bet would probably make you a millionaire. OK enjoy the games everyone and remember there are Saturday games this week (although the NFL will never, EVER let you forget).

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

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

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

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

Saturday December 16th

Myrtle Beach Bowl: Georgia Southern vs. Ohio

11:00 AM

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

Celebration Bowl: Florida A&M vs. Howard

Noon

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

New Orleans Bowl: Louisiana vs. Jacksonville State

2:15

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

Cure Bowl: Appalachian State vs. Miami-OH

3:30

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

New Mexico Bowl: Fresno State vs. New Mexico State

5:45

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

LA Bowl: UCLA vs. Boise State

7:30

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

Independence Bowl: Texas Tech vs. California

9:15

Shreveport seems like an odd spot for two Power Five teams in their bowl game but that used to be the norm. Maybe the Independence Bowl should have been used in the new 12-team playoff somehow. I mean who says no, other than ESPN who would prefer to put every game in the biggest neutral site stadium they can find for MAXIMUM MONEY.

Monday December 18th

Famous Toastery Bowl: Old Dominion vs. WKU

2:30

This will most likely be my favourite one-off bowl ever. Because of renovations at Thomas Robinson Stadium, the Bahamas Bowl could not be played on the island since there are no other stadiums able to hold the game there. Charlotte got the call and this game will be played at the 49ers’ home field and with a new sponsor, Famous Toastery. I don’t think it’s even famous at all in that area of the country but I like their confidence. I pray that the winning coach gets buried in a mountain of toast.

Tuesday December 19th

Frisco Bowl: UTSA vs. Marshall

9:00

Frisco gets two postseason games: this one and then the FCS Championship. The FCS title game is there through at least next season but beyond that, who knows. The Frisco Bowl, on the other hand, is here to stay. At least we have two good Group of Five teams here and with UTSA not being too far away it may approach a sellout.

Thursday December 21st

Boca Raton Bowl: Syracuse vs. USF

8:00

Back to grinding for bowl-eligibility, here are two teams that epitomized that. Syracuse, who has completely re-done their coaching staff and USF, whose close game with Bama earlier on in the season made the College Football Playoff debate that much worse. Look it’s either this or the Saints and the Rams on Amazon Prime. You know what to choose.

Friday December 22nd

Gasparilla Bowl: Georgia Tech vs. UCF

6:30

Interesting start time for this game. I get that it’s only half-an-hour before games normally would start locally but why do that? Bizarre. This is probably the highest-profile matchup this bowl game has ever had and it should bring a good amount of fans with one team not too far from Tampa. Hey, at least’s it not at the Trop.

Saturday December 23rd

Birmingham Bowl: Duke vs. Troy

Noon

This should be a good game and it’s the kind of game I always talk about. A Group of Five conference champion getting their shot at a Power Five team. That’s part of what bowl season should be all about and I have said that often in the past. Will college football listen to me? No. And it’s their loss.

Camellia Bowl: Arkansas State vs. Northern Illinois

Noon

Two teams that have got basically no coverage this season. I’m honestly surprised that no team looked at Butch Jones to be their new head coach. He’s brought ASU back from being horrible for both of Jones’ first two seasons (and Blake Anderson’s last in Jonesboro) to being respectable. I think the fact that the Sun Belt is so damn good now (in G-5 terms), this team gets overshadowed a lot.

Idaho Potato Bowl: Utah State vs. Georgia State

3:30

Again, two teams who were overshadowed by a bunch of better teams in their respective conferences. Plus it’s on the blue turf and that’s always a bit of fun, especially if it’s freezing cold (OK not so much for the players and fans but hilarious for us viewers at home).

Armed Forces Bowl: Air Force vs. James Madison

3:30

The Dukes in a bowl game! As it should be. And it shouldn’t have taken the lengths it did but luckily there weren’t enough 6-win teams to fill all the bowl slots. Air Force had a monumental collapse to end their season after being the Group of Five favourite to go to the New Year’s Six coming into November so momentum is not on their side.

68 Ventures Bowl: South Alabama vs. Eastern Michigan

7:00

Chris Creighton has done amazing things in Ypsilanti. He has made EMU relevant for really the first time ever. As for South Alabama, it looked like they would be the Sun Belt’s darling this year after an early win over Oklahoma State. The bottom fell out for this team and they barely made it to bowling. Massive contrast of seasons here.

Las Vegas Bowl: Northwestern vs. Utah

7:30

Northwestern and Utah aren’t exactly the fanbases I think of when I think of fans who could completely wreck hotel rooms and drink a bar dry…well, Utah maybe. Maybe that is by design. Have to give credit to a Northwestern team that should have been terrible and ended up doing quite well in the final Big Ten West season. And we will never know how good the Utes could have been with the injuries they had.

Hawaii Bowl: San Jose State vs. Coastal Carolina

10:30

It’s the annual Stocking Stuffer Bowl where many parents finally fill the stockings of their children so that when they wake up they will know Santa (or some other fat white dude) came down the chimney (or more like through a window because he’s fat) to give them presents because…we as parents didn’t give them enough? Is that how the story goes? Anyway, I will enjoy a nice scotch after all that stocking stuffer stuff is done and watch some great football during a bowl that should start at one minute before Midnight on Spectrum Sports so most of the college football world has to scramble to find it.

Tuesday December 26th

Quick Lane Bowl: Minnesota vs. Bowling Green

2:00

OK not exactly what I’ve always had in mind but still. It’s a G-5 team against a P-5 team. The P-5 team is in because they are smart. The G-5 team is in because the MAC, past the top three teams, was pretty bad this year. Advantage? The fans who get to watch college football on a weekday afternoon when you probably will be off work. Probably. For those who must work I hope you have a good PVR setup.

First Responder Bowl: Rice vs. Texas State

5:30

Hey remember when this bowl game was cancelled because of weather? What a shitshow that was. I’d be surprised if they ever let that happen again considering the fallout. When it comes to this year’s First Responder Bowl, you have to like what you see in Texas State. In a really good Sun Belt, they were able to go 7-5 and get to their first bowl game ever. Tulsa is going to rue the day they decided not to hire G.J. Kinne as their coach. Rice, I believe, lucked out due to a much-less powerful AAC. Not to say they didn’t play well but I believe the Sun Belt, top to bottom, is the best Group of Five conference.

Guaranteed Rate Bowl: Kansas vs. UNLV

9:00

This is why bowl games matter. UNLV is back in a bowl game for the first time in a decade thanks in large part to a guy who should have got more votes for Coach of the Year, Barry Odom. Speaking of guys who should have got Coach of the Year consideration, Lance Leipold has done wonders and the Jayhawks are doing everything they can to keep him in Lawrence. Big question for this game will be if Jalon Daniels will play after his somewhat mysterious back injury from earlier this year kept him out of action for most of the season.

Wednesday December 27th

Military Bowl: Virginia Tech vs. Tulane

2:00

Maybe we will see some snow for this one. Not gonna lie: VaTech was WAY the fuck better than I thought they would be. They did a masterful job in an ACC that, below FSU and Louisville, wasn’t that great. They will face a Tulane squad that just lost Willie Fritz to Houston. I know some teams struggle when their coach leaves before a bowl game and I could see that happening here.

Duke’s Mayo Bowl: North Carolina vs. West Virginia

5:30

North Carolina with a big home advantage at the Mayo Bowl. In the end, though, that advantage means little. The game itself only means so much. No, what really matters, is who is going to get a big tub of mayo dumped on them, Mack Brown or Neal Brown? Either way, Duke’s Mayo is going to be down on Brown in this one………wait, that doesn’t sound right.

Holiday Bowl: #15 Louisville vs. USC

8:00

Caleb Williams has opted out of this one. No surprise there. But they could be playing a team that, despite being ranked 15th in the nation, hasn’t exactly lit it up lately. Let’s see if Louisville can actually play a decent game for the first time in weeks after shitting the bed against Kentucky and looking mediocre against Florida State.

Texas Bowl: Texas A&M vs. #20 Oklahoma State

9:00

Some classic Big XII action here. Cue the Big XII on FOX Sports Net music and get Joel Meyers back to call this one. The Aggies should be doubly pissed since the Pokes had a chance to knock those damn Longhorns off their perch and they couldn’t get it done. So now they have to watch Texas play in the College Football Playoff while the Aggies are in a decent bowl but one quite a ways down the pecking order.

Thursday December 28th

Fenway Bowl: Boston College vs. #24 SMU

11:00 AM

Morning football at Fenway. See, morning football is fine if it bleeds into the afternoon. None of this 9:30 in the morning horseshit. I guess this could be considered the Ponies’ first ACC test as these two teams will be roommates next year.

Pinstripe Bowl: Rutgers vs. Miami

2:15

I honestly think this will end up being a good game. I mean what’s not to like? OK there are probably a few things not to like, such as Mario Cristobal’s continued contract as head coach of the Miami football Hurricanes but I digress. It’s Rutgers football. In NYC. An old Big East matchup (I really wish the Big East was back…in football). I look forward to it, especially if there is some serious football weather that day.

Pop Tarts Bowl: #18 NC State vs. #25 Kansas State

5:45

OK so get this. The mascot for the new Pop Tarts Bowl is, of course, a Pop Tart. So far, so uninteresting. Then everything goes off the rails when we are told that this will be the first edible mascot ever and that the winning team gets to eat it. What? I mean, hey, it’s got me interested just to see what absurdity will unfold after what should be one of the better non-CFP/non-NY6 bowl games.

Alamo Bowl: #12 Oklahoma vs. #14 Arizona

9:15

Usually the Alamo Bowl gives us one of, if not the, best non-CFP/non-NY6 bowl matchups. This year is no exception. Oklahoma’s final ride in the Big XII before they head to the prosperous SEC. Jedd Fisch’s resurgent Arizona Wildcats who are looking to head to the Big XII next year with a lot of momentum. This feels like it will be a slobberknocker to quote good ol’ JR.

Friday December 29th

Gator Bowl: Kentucky vs. #22 Clemson

Noon

If Kentucky hadn’t beat Louisville I would have said this could end up being complete domination by the Tigers. It probably still will be but at least there feels like the Cats could have a fighting chance here.

Sun Bowl: #19 Oregon State vs. #16 Notre Dame

2:00

This game sold out in about an hour or so. And all because of a random draw. All the bowls left with ACC tie-ins wanted Notre Dame so I guess they did the whole coin toss thing they did in Friday Night Lights or a no holds barred cage fight or whatever the fuck they do to figure these things out. The Sun Bowl won out. So for the last time that they get a Pac-12 team, one of the oldest bowl games around got the one with one of the most rabid fanbases and then got them paired with Notre Dame, the team whose fans travel, arguably, the best. OK I changed my mind…this is the best non-CFP/non-NY6 matchup. I’m starting to feel like Bobby Heenan changing my pick all the time.

Liberty Bowl: Iowa State vs. Memphis

3:30

So Memphis is playing at home so this bowl game should have a great turnout. They will have to wait to get eyeballs on their game since the Sun Bowl will overlap the Liberty Bowl’s first half.

Cotton Bowl: #9 Missouri vs. #7 Ohio State

8:00

Quite the prove-it game for a team that some still don’t feel truly belong in the SEC. This is the type of big time bowl game that people expect the Buckeyes to be in but the Tigers, not so much. This will be a definite contrast of styles. Missouri’s run game with one of the best running backs in the country, Cody Schrader going up against the Ohio State passing attack led by Marvin Harrison Jr. The absence of Kyle McCord, as average as he could be at times, could play a role here.

Saturday December 30th

Peach Bowl: #11 Ole Miss vs. #10 Penn State

Noon

Interesting matchup. Fans were making a myriad of arguments as to why one of these teams shouldn’t be in the New Year’s Six. And then both make it and get paired up down in Atlanta. No matter how some fans feel, a potential Top 10 season should cut down on the hate for both teams’ head coaches. It won’t but it should.

Music City Bowl: Auburn vs. Maryland

2:00

Divisions in the Big Ten are going away. “Hooray” – Maryland. Washington, Oregon, USC and UCLA are joining the conference. “FUCK!” – Maryland. Hey Terps fans, look, it could be worse. You could be in the ACC, a conference that seems to be ready to join the Pac-12 in completely imploding.

Orange Bowl: #6 Georgia vs. #5 Florida State

4:00

My brief thoughts on the whole Florida State/College Football Playoff situation is this: The Committee have no plans for anything. Everything is a knee-jerk reaction. Want proof? They knew what they were heading towards. They were going to have to make a decision between a Jordan Travis-less Noles team and two of Texas, Georgia or Alabama, depending on the outcomes on conference championship weekend. So what did they do in the final CFP rankings before that weekend? Have FSU at #4. They could have moved Oregon ahead of them instead into the #4 spot but didn’t. It set everything up for the chaos that occurred during Selection Sunday. Deep down I don’t really care who made it but if The Committee were more transparent and thought about things for more than two minutes then the anger would have been reduced immensely. But no, they fucked up and now FSU fans have a right to be furious. Anyway, I hope this game is at least close because otherwise SEC fans and talking head morons like Paul Finebaum will never let anyone hear the end of it.

One note about this game: it will start on TSN1 at about 6:30. My guess is that it will be because of a World Juniors game being aired at the same time as the start of the Orange Bowl but who knows since the tournament is in Sweden.

Arizona Bowl: Wyoming vs. Toledo

4:00

Could this be an interesting game? Perhaps. Unfortunately, it will be overshadowed by two things: that this game is the first bowl game ever to appear on The CW and that it is sponsored by Barstool Sports. The game is also being called by Barstool personalities and seeing what it was like last year, they go overboard on certain things, especially the gambling aspect of college football. Not saying others don’t talk about it because they do but they beat you over the head with it all game. Oh well, you don’t have to watch if you don’t want to since the Orange Bowl is on at the exact same time (someone didn’t think this one through).

Monday January 1st

ReliaQuest Bowl: #13 LSU vs. Wisconsin

Noon

I have a feeling this game might not be that close. Wisconsin feels like a shell of Badger teams in the past. Then again, there have been crazier bowl results.

UPDATE: Looks like this bowl game is on TSN2 which is a bit surprising. This means no TSN+ and no specialty pack.

Fiesta Bowl: #8 Oregon vs. #23 Liberty

1:00

This could be an big-time shootout if Liberty can keep up. Nice to see Conference USA finally get into the New Year’s Six for the first time. All it took was for a program that many people do not like to jump up from the FCS and immediately become the conference favourite. Easy stuff. Look, I’m sure many players don’t care about what the leaders at Liberty are all about. Same as at BYU or Notre Dame or Baylor or any other university with a religious affiliation. They just want to play football. I think people forget that (or want to forget that).

UPDATE #2: This game will also appear on TSN 1, 4 and 5. It will start on TSN5 right at 1:00 and join in progress on the other three stations at about 3:30.

Citrus Bowl: #21 Tennessee vs. #17 Iowa

1:00

Thankfully Tennessee is in this game. Otherwise, this could smash the record that is repeatedly set by this year’s Iowa team for lowest over/under ever. Kirk Ferentz is desperately hoping for a 7-6 with a good ol’ Iowa touchdown (a field goal and two safeties).

Rose Bowl: #1 Michigan vs. #4 Alabama

5:00

Did Nick Saban do one of his best coaching jobs ever with this group? Yes. Yes he did. Should Michigan be allowed in the College Football Playoff? I’m sure there are many (SEC fans) who think that Michigan should have their entire football program shut down because “Michigan cheated.” Not that I disagree that Michigan cheated because it sure felt like they did but I am under the assumption that at least half the Power Five schools cheat in some manner. It’s college football: it’s never been squeaky clean. Ever. To think it was…well, you’re just wrong.

UPDATE #3: This will appear on TSN1, 4 and 5 as well. There will be an update sometime in the next few days to determine which feed appears where.

UPDATE #6: The entire game will appear on TSN1, 4 and 5.

Sugar Bowl: #2 Washington vs. #3 Texas

8:45

Will I watch this entire game? Abso-fucking-lutely. Will I be a bit tired at work the next day? Maybe. I wonder if I should just book a vacation day. “Hey Bossman, doing anything fun on your vacation day?” “Well I’m definitely not recovering from watching the Sugar Bowl, that’s for sure.” Then they’d look at me like I have six heads.

UPDATE #4: Same update as the Rose Bowl.

UPDATE #7: The entire game will appear on TSN1, 4, and 5.

Monday January 9th

College Football Playoff National Championship

8:00

At this point, this game isn’t appearing on the TSN schedule. Neither are the New Year’s Day ones although that might come as early as tomorrow. If it’s the same as last year then those are three stations it will appear on. Also, I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the special feeds goes to TSN+. Final game of the year (other than the wacky all-star games that are fun but not as exciting as the rest of the games). I will probably be wearing a frown when this game ends.

UPDATE #5: This game will also appear on TSN4. Determination of feed will probably happen closer to New Year’s Day.

Breakdown time!

• TSN only (regular channels) – 22 games
• TSN+ & specialty pack – 10 games
• ABC & TSN – 6 games
• ABC & TSN+ – 2 games
• FOX – 1 game
• CBS – 1 game
• The CW – 1 game

TSN is showing EVERY bowl game. Every. Single. One. With a caveat. We are starting to see the TSN+ effect. TSN+ will have 12 of the bowl games, either paired with airing on ABC or paired with appearing on the specialty pack. This is the future. Get ready for it. And also get ready for a day when at least the college football portion of the specialty pack goes away since I think that day is coming as well.

Next up are the bowl game rankings and the NFL schedule post for the upcoming week. I am still going back and forth on whether I will do another post on how I would fix the postseason. It’s a bit tougher now that they have gone to a 12-team playoff but with less conferences. Expect at least (AT LEAST) seven Big Ten/SEC teams in every playoff going forward unless something wacky happens. That would leave, at most, the G-5 champ and two each from the ACC and Big XII. Sounds about right (unfortunately for many schools). Anyway, I will make the decision at some point over the next week or so. Enjoy the rest of your week everyone and get ready for the bowl games in THREE DAYS!