Oh man, here we go again

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Just For You

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

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

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

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

Geogpraphy, Go Eat a Dick

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

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

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

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

Deep Tissue Massage and/or Analysis

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

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

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

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

Belly Expansions

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

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

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

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

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

California Nightmarin’

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

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

SUPER MEGA HYPER OMNI POST! V4.0.1

This post is really long.  Like seriously fucking long.  So if you are not fully awake or have some caffeine in your system, you might want to wait to read this.  Viewer discretion is strongly advised.

I have done this three times before.  It’s time for number four!

Instead of doing a full recap and then a full bowl projections post, I figured I would combine them into one insanely long post!  Why?  To save time! That is complete bullshit but that is what I have told myself every year so I will continue to do so.  It was an…let’s call it an OK week of college football that contained a few exciting games.  We are headed into an exciting finish to the season.  Now we can see how COVID will wreak havoc on it since it will most certainly happen.  We just don’t know when and to what team(s).

Let’s start with recapping the week that was.  There were a few fun things that happened and I slept in way too long Sunday morning.  A Fall tradition.

• One of three ranked-on-ranked games on the week had Iowa State outlast Texas.  The difference here was mostly one guy: Breece Hall.  His work on the ground was a boon for the Cyclone offense as he was able to help ISU milk a lot of clock in this one.  He is a lot like a Clone legend: Troy Davis.  A great player who won’t get any Heisman hype because of the team he plays for.  So now Iowa State has almost clinched their ticket to JerryWorld which will be a nice change from seeing mostly bluebloods in the Big XII Championship since it returned.
• Florida beat Kentucky easily.  Georgia beat South Carolina even easier this past weekend.  The Dawgs have to be rooting for the Vols to win this Saturday over Florida to have any chance at being in the SEC Championship.  I can see many UGA fans having a bad taste in their mouth for having to root for Tennessee but it is what it is.  You know what?  Blame it on COVID.  It will make it feel a bit better.
• You all saw it I’m sure.  Sarah Fuller became the first woman to play in a Power Five football game.  That, in and of itself, is a huge accomplishment.  And of course Twitter, being full of very level-headed people, went crazy over it.  Many loved it but there were some that said it was nothing but a PR stunt.  Here is my take on this.  Vandy had no kickers.  They needed to find someone to kick the damn ball during their game against Missouri.  Was Fuller the best option?  Who knows but she was at least a decent option as she played for the Dores’ SEC Championship women’s soccer team.  So let’s get to her kicking off to start the second half of the game which was her first opportunity to kick the ball.  It was a squib kick that went a little over 30 yards.  For people that don’t think it was a squib kick, give me a fucking break.  The ball wasn’t on a tee, it was held by a player and the Commodores overloaded on the right side, where the squib went.  They wanted to do something different to hopefully get anything going for them in this game.  That was Fuller’s only kick of the game as Vandy was shutout 41-0 by Mizzou.  I think people have to realize something about all this.  Vandy is straight trash this season.  No COVID excuses here: they are just awful.  This felt like trying something different to try something different.  That it was historic is icing on the cake.  Now there seems to be other issues as Derek Mason was just fired and it sounded, from the words of Fuller, a few players and a couple of coaches, that there was no energy on the sideline most of the season and it’s like many had given up before the season had started.  They need a jolt in Nashville to get this team at least being competitive in the SEC.  And that might involve a complete rethinking of the football program at Vanderbilt.  Thank you for coming to my college football Ted Talk.
• LSU’s offense basically took the day off on Saturday.  If it wasn’t for a late touchdown they would have been shutout by Texas A&M.  It’s funny that a 20-7 dominating win over the defending national champions does very little to move the needle for the Aggies.  I still think they have an inside shot at the College Football Playoff but will need to run their next two opponents off the field to convince The Committee.
• Oregon blew it against Oregon State.  But that wasn’t the story.  The story was the Pac-12 officiating crew calling the game.  Oregon goes offside (that anyone could see) and it’s not called.  The Beavers scored a touchdown but it was called short.  This meant another play had to be run where their quarterback got injured.  This was all in the final minute.  And the officials seemed to have no idea how to call anything.  It was atrocious.  I am sure they will get a pay raise for it.
• In almost-upset news, Iowa almost gakked their game away to Nebraska in the annual Black Friday CornHub game.  And this is not really a good Huskers program these days.  They really have not been a contender for a long time (and no I don’t include that time they started 7-0 a few years back and then were terrible the rest of the way).  I am sure they long for the days of Bo Pelini.  Hell they may desire the Bill Callahan days!  Scott Frost will be on a seriously hot seat to start next season and now some have to look back and take back their thoughts of basically poaching him from UCF as the Knights are still doing quite well under Josh Heupel.
• The game that was created mere days in advance, put on late night on ESPN because of other cancellations, then moved into the ABC primetme spot due to MORE cancellations, did not disappoint.  It was all Utah in the first half and then all Washington in the second half.  The Huskies ended up holding on for the victory after taking a late lead and stay undefeated.  This may only lead to a possible New Year’s Six bid but at this point I am sure Pac-12 teams are very happy to be playing (when they get the opportunity to play that is).
• SMU got boatraced for most of the game by *checks notes* East Carolina?  What the hell?  It was 45-7 at the half for the Pirates.  So either ECU is much better than most of us figured or the Mustangs are not nearly as good as many of us thought.  I’m going to go with the latter so this doesn’t seem like a massive upset.
• If you missed it, history was made in western New York.  Buffalo Bulls running back Jaret Patterson went off on Kent State.  Patterson scored eight rushing touchdowns, tying Howard Griffith’s 30-year-old record!  He also came within 18 yards of Samaje Perine’s single-game record of 427 rushing yards.  An absolutely unreal performance.  And get this: Bulls head coach Lance Leipold had no idea he had tied the record and took him out for their final drive (where Patterson’s backup scored a touchdown).  Worst part is Patterson will get no Heisman hype at all.  But some NFL team will be very happy to have him on Sundays (and Thursdays and Mondays and sometimes Tuesdays).
• A game that almost no one would have watched had a great finish in Big XII country.  Baylor finally got their second win under first-year head coach Dave Aranda.  It was a wild fourth quarter against Kansas State where 31 points were scored and the Bears scored with no time remaining.  Hey remember early on in the season when the Wildcats were getting some contender hype?  Yeah, neither do I.
• Penn State and Michigan played football on Saturday.  That’s almost all I can say about that.  At least the Nittany Lions got their first win of the season.
• Let’s get back to some insane football, Big XII Style.  Oklahoma State and Texas Tech put on an (offensive) performance for the ages during the third quarter of their game.  The two teams combined for five touchdowns in six minutes of play.  Crazy!  That included the Cowboys getting a touchdown off a Red Raider onside kick.  The Pokes ended up winning, keeping their very slim Big XII Championship hopes alive.
• And now to look at something that was not so good.  Late in their game against NC State, Syracuse quarterback Rex Culpepper gets sacked on third and long.  So now, with no timeouts, they have to run a play as there is less than 10 seconds remaining.  Instead, he gets under centre, gets the ball, and spikes it.  That is really the perfect example of Syracuse’s season.
• Finally, a week after Northwestern beat Wisconsin to take full control of the Big Ten West, they get upset by Michigan State and look terrible doing it.  College football, everybody!

Normally I would look at the conference championships and give out scenarios as to what may happen.  With two weeks left, I won’t be doing that.  Also, the fact most of the conference races are a mess doesn’t help.  I will try and bring you this next week..

Alright, on to my bowl projections as of this moment, which may have no worth to them:

Sugar Bowl	CFP Poll #1 vs. CFP Poll #4	Alabama vs. Ohio State
Rose Bowl	CFP Poll #2 vs. CFP Poll #3	Notre Dame vs. Miami

Clemson out, Notre Dame in.  I think the Irish win the rematch in the ACC Championship to clinch the #2 spot.  Ohio State’s resume took a hit with the cancellation of their game but I still see them holding on to the #4 spot.

Which means the New Year’s Six has changed.  But how has it changed?

Orange Bowl	ACC Champ vs. SEC #2	Clemson vs. Texas A&M
Fiesta Bowl	CFP At-large vs. CFP At-large/G5 #1	USC vs. Oklahoma
Peach Bowl	CFP At-large vs. CFP At-large/G5 #1	Florida vs. Cincinnati
Cotton Bowl	CFP At-large vs. CFP At-large/G5 #1	Iowa State vs. Georgia

A lot of changes.  I already mentioned Clemson losing to Notre Dame again but with Miami in the Top 4, they are slotted in the Orange Bowl as the ACC representative.  I have decided that Texas A&M might be picked instead of Florida for the Orange Bowl.  I don’t know why, I just thought that.  So that moves Florida to the Peach Bowl.  Oklahoma, losers of the Big XII Championship, would still be high enough to get the Fiesta Bowl bid since The Committee obviously doesn’t want to put BYU in.  Iowa State, now Big XII champions in my projections, go to the Cotton Bowl and face Georgia who replaces Texas as the final team in.

Now the rest of bowl season which is a shitshow with the pandemic and every team being bowl-eligible and no one knowing the criteria anymore and man I think I need to make myself a drink.

Outback Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Kentucky vs. Northwestern
Gator Bowl	SEC vs. ACC	Ole Miss vs. NC State
Citrus Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Auburn vs. Indiana
Birmingham Bowl	SEC/ACC vs. G5	Mississippi State vs. BYU
Texas Bowl	SEC vs. Big XII	Missouri vs. TCU
Liberty Bowl	SEC vs. Big XII	Tennessee vs. West Virginia
Arizona Bowl	MWC vs. MAC	Nevada vs. Buffalo
Sun Bowl	Pac-12 vs. ACC	Colorado vs. Boston College
Armed Forces Bowl	Big XII vs G5	Baylor vs. Liberty
LA Bowl	Pac-12 vs. MWC	Arizona State vs. San Jose State
Music City Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	LSU vs. Iowa
Duke’s Mayo Bowl	Big Ten vs. ACC	Wisconsin vs. North Carolina
Alamo Bowl	Big XII vs. Pac-12	Texas vs. Oregon
Cheez-It Bowl	Big XII vs. ACC	Oklahoma State vs. Virginia Tech
Military Bowl	American vs. ACC	Memphis vs. Virginia
Guaranteed Rate Bowl	Big XII vs. Big Ten	Kansas State vs. Nebraska
Independence Bowl	Army vs. Pac-12	Army vs. Utah
LendingTree Bowl	Sun Belt vs. G5	Appalachian State vs. SMU
First Responder Bowl	Big XII/ACC vs. G5	Texas Tech vs. Louisiana
Cure Bowl	G5 vs. G5	Florida Atlantic vs. UCF
Gasparilla Bowl	SEC/ACC vs. G5	Wake Forest vs. Miami-OH
Camellia Bowl	G5 vs. G5	UTSA vs. Fresno State
New Mexico Bowl	MWC vs. G5	Air Force vs. Louisiana Tech
Montgomery Bowl	ACC vs. American	Pittsburgh vs. Tulsa
New Orleans Bowl	C-USA vs. Sun Belt	Marshall vs. Coastal Carolina
Boca Raton Bowl	G5 vs. G5	Central Michigan vs. Charlotte
Idaho Potato Bowl	MWC vs. MAC	Boise State vs. Western Michigan
Myrtle Beach Bowl	G5 vs. G5	Ohio vs. San Diego State
Las Vegas Bowl	SEC vs. Pac-12	Arkansas vs. Washington
Frisco Bowl	G5 vs. G5	UAB vs. Troy

A few notes for your perusal:

• Did you notice the missing bowl?  I am guessing probably not.  The Pinstripe Bowl has been cancelled due to concerns over COVID-19 and I have a feeling it won’t be the last.
• The tie-ins actually work better this year with the pandemic parameters (pandameters?).  Putting all the G5 teams into a pool after the conference tie-ins are satisfied and having all teams eligible makes it easier to fill in the bowls.  Now the chances of me being right have gone way down because of it but that’s a different conversation.
• Army, as far as I know, is still the only team that has accepted a bowl bid.  They accepted it over a month ago.  I am not joking.
• I still have no idea if the Las Vegas Bowl is being run.  The website says the 2020 Las Vegas Bowl will be run but it doesn’t mention a date.  So I will keep it in until I find out otheriwse.
• I still don’t understand the idea of split tie-ins.  Just pick a conference and go with it.  Or have a pool of teams to pick from like they have done this year (and I hope they do in the future).  That would at least make more sense.  Then again, nothing much makes sense this year.

Other than those few items, not much to talk about specifically about the bowl projections.  A fair amount has changed in terms of what I am projecting but they aren’t wild changes.  That might change starting this coming weekend.  With only two weeks left in the regular season (kind of), much will happen over this time.  The problem is, with all teams bowl eligible, I can’t see many accepting bowl bids until conference championship weekend.

UPDATE:  The Sun Bowl, one of the longest running bowl games in college football, has been cancelled this year.  See what I mean?

Now I figured instead of doing the conference championship scenarios, I will look into potential scenarios of the future and what they would like in this crazy 2020 season (using the current AP poll rankings).

The five-team CFP

I have advocated for one more team to be added to the College Football Playoff instead of going to eight which is what many want.  What would that do this season?  This:

• Peach Bowl (play-in game): #4 Clemson vs. #5 Texas A&M
• Sugar Bowl: #1 Alabama vs. Clemson/TAMU winner
• Rose Bowl: #2 Notre Dame vs. #3 Ohio State

I would dig this.  Doing the Peach Bowl on the opening day of bowl season would allow this to happen.  Now, other things would have to take place because the schedule is a fucking mess but if it had been set up properly, this could occur.  Ratings, baby!

The six-team CFP

Two teams added.  OK.  Let’s see how this could work out:

• Orange Bowl: #3 Ohio State vs. #6 Florida
• Peach Bowl: #4 Clemson vs. #5 Texas A&M
• Sugar Bowl: #1 Alabama vs. lower-ranked winner from play-in weekend
• Rose Bowl: #2 Notre Dame vs. higher-ranked winner from play-in weekend

Again, I could go for this for sure.  Is it adding a game for two teams possibly?  Yes.  There are ways around this for sure.  Like get rid of conference championships?  Oh wait, that’s money in the conference’s pockets.  Can’t do that.  And yes, I have ISU predicted at #6.

The eight-team CFP

This is what people want.  OK what would it look like for this season?

• Peach Bowl: #1 Alabama vs. #8 BYU
• Fiesta Bowl: #2 Notre Dame vs. #7 Cincinnati
• Orange Bowl: #3 Ohio State vs. #6 Florida
• Cotton Bowl: #4 Clemson vs. #5 Texas A&M

I mean this gets Cincinnati and BYU in so that would be a plus.  I still kind of don’t like the idea of moving to eight teams but I know it will happen for the new CFP contract.

G-5 Playoffs

What if the Group of Five decided “Fuck it we are having our own tournament to crown a champion.”  They won’t but I could see a lot of people watching these games.  The quarter-finals would look like this:

• Cincinnati vs. Buffalo
• BYU vs. Liberty
• Coastal Carolina vs. Tulsa
• Marshall vs. Louisiana

I would watch the hell out of this, not going to lie.  Now I assume that, at least for the quarter-finals, the higher-ranked teams would play at home but who knows.

Alright that is it.  No more.  A seriously long post is complete.  Later this week I will try and piece together the college and pro schedules.  I think I have a better chance of herding squirrels.  Have a good week everyone!

Are they going to just keep falling? – Week 9 College Football TV Schedule

OK we all know the facts here.  Clemson plays in a shitty conference.  They have won a bunch of games in a row.  But they play in a SHITTY CONFERENCE.  They haven’t played well so far this season yet are undefeated.  It’s the ACC for God’s sake!.  So of course they have been passed by Alabama, LSU and, now, Ohio State in the AP rankings.  Clemson sits at #4 yet they are one of only ten undefeated teams remaining and they are the defending national champions.

We get it.  If you win out, you should get in to the College Football Playoff.  But the ACC, again, is horrible (outside of your team).  It’s not your fault.  But maybe now you kind of have an idea of how UCF has felt lately.  They play in the American which is a Group of Five conference.  It’s the best G-5 conference but still a G-5 conference.  So they went undefeated and had almost no chance of making it in to the Final Four.  If there isn’t promotion and relegation you are going to get a year like this every so often where this is one team in a conference that is great and the rest of the conference is average to horrible.  So Tigers fans, calm down.  People who think they know college football and are pissed about this?  Do the same.  Smoke a J.  It’s legal.  Things will work itself out…unless they for some reason drop a game to Boston College and then you’re shit out of luck.

Alright, enough about the ACC situation.  On to more important matters (for us).  The schedule!

Thursday

		US	Canada
Jackson State at Prairie View A&M	7:30 PM
#16 SMU at Houston	7:30 PM

Last year at this time we had some Sun Belt and MAC games on Thursday nights, if not earlier.  Up until this point, that isn’t the case.  I am a little disappointed since this would normally be the time where the month-long FOOTBALLGASM would begin with football on every damn day for over four weeks!  I think a few things are in play here:  First, the MAC has been pushing to have more games on Saturdays for attendance purposes.  And second, with the advent of the ACC Network, both the MAC and Sun Belt have reaped the rewards by having games on ESPNU on Saturday when that never happened in the past.  So anyway, at least the American is on tonight and the team that might just be America’s Darling right now, SMU, hopes to stay undefeated as they play a Houston team where everyone seems to want to redshirt the rest of this season.  SMU being a favourite of fans is kind of interesting after what they have gone through for three-plus decades but it’s fun to watch, I will admit.

Friday

		US	Canada
Columbia at Dartmouth	6:00 PM
USC at Colorado	9:00 PM

The Clay Helton Roller Coaster of Fun and/or Doom continues as the Trojans head to the Rocky Mountains to face the Buffaloes.  USC can continue their slow run at the Pac-12 South title that they probably won’t get but them being actually still in it is hilarious and pathetic all at once.

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
#5 Oklahoma at Kansas State	Noon
Illinois at Purdue	Noon
Liberty at Rutgers	Noon
San Jose State at Army	Noon
Miami at Pittsburgh	Noon
#20 Iowa at Northwestern	Noon
#21 Appalachian State at South Alabama	Noon
#13 Wisconsin at #3 Ohio State	Noon
Mississippi State at Texas A&M	Noon

I am still not understanding why the ACC Network does not show all the ACC games not being shown on ABC or an ESPN network.  The fact that the regional FOX networks still exist to show these games are weird.  I guess that’s part of the weird agreement as these FOX RSN’s kind of flap in the wind and no one really owns them.

As for the schedule, it’s pretty good.  tOSU-Wisky a little less important than it was before the Badgers’ upset loss to Illinois.  Huge Sun Belt game as App State continues to try and stay in the New Year’s Six conversation.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
#6 Penn State at Michigan State	3:30 PM
Virginia at Louisville	3:30 PM
Indiana at Nebraska	3:30 PM
#9 Auburn at #2 LSU	3:30 PM
Tulane at Navy	3:30 PM
Maryland at #17 Minnesota	3:30 PM
Syracuse at Florida State	3:30 PM
#15 Texas at TCU	3:30 PM
Oklahoma State at #23 Iowa State	3:30 PM
FIU at Middle Tennessee	3:30 PM
Arizona at Stanford	3:30 PM
USF at East Carolina	3:45 PM
Duke at North Carolina	4:00 PM
South Carolina at Tennessee	4:00 PM

A massive CBS game overshadows pretty much everything in this timeslot.  We shall see whether LSU is looking ahead to Bama or is smart enough to realize that the Tide’s big rival is a force as well.  CBS (and more importantly, poor Brad Nessler) gets a gift from the college football gods and gets this game between two Top 10 teams in their SEC on CBS afternoon timeslot.  Easily the game of the day (which I will tell you again below) and could be one of the most important games of this season.

I have noticed something this year: no reverse mirrors.  That’s nice to see to be honest.  Honestly, in 2019, it has to be a headache to have these reverse mirrors.  Especially since pretty much all college football fans would probably have both ABC and ESPN2 so it would make no difference which channel it’s on.  Also, for us Canadians, the specialty packs (or more like the people running the specialty packs) don’t have to worry about fucking up and showing the same game as is being shown on ABC.

Saturday Primetime​

		US	Canada
Memphis at Tulsa	7:00 PM
Arkansas at #1 Alabama	7:00 PM
UCF at Temple	7:00 PM
Texas Tech at Kansas	7:00 PM
#8 Notre Dame at #19 Michigan	7:30 PM
Boston College at #4 Clemson	7:30 PM
Colorado State at Fresno State	7:30 PM
Arizona State at UCLA	7:30 PM
Missouri at Kentucky	7:30 PM

Notre Dame-Michigan.  What else do we need to say?  These two teams could both be under .500 and they would still get a huge audience.  It’s just the facts.  It also helps that there is nothing else that could really be the top game in this timeslot.

Not quite as good as the afternoon slate.  Not even really close.  But these are the kinds of schedules that can give us great games.  Clemson has to show they are still CFP-worthy, Temple has a test hosting UCF and could Les Miles finally get his Jayhawks to crawl out of the basement?

Saturday Late Night​​

		US	Canada
California at #12 Utah	10:00 PM
Utah State at Air Force	10:15 PM
San Diego State at UNLV	10:30 PM
Washington State at #11 Oregon	10:30 PM

Two Pac-12 After Dark games and two Late Night Mountain West games. I would say Wazzu-Oregon is the most important game in this timeslot but Cal-Utah could be interesting as well.  Oregon and Utah are on a collision course in the Pac-12 title game so any hiccups would be a huge blow to the entire conference (I feel like I say this every week).

Games to set your eyeballs on

Auburn at LSU (3:30, CBS) – Tiger Bowl time!  At one point there was doubt whether this would be the game of the week.  That’s not the case now.  I am finally used to offensive juggernaut LSU.  It took a while but I am all in with this.  I think we are heading towards a 1 vs. 2 showdown with the Tigers and Bama…unless the Gus Bus decides to run over Da Coach O and sets up a huge Iron Bowl about a month from now.

Wisconsin at Ohio State (Noon, FOX) – No one should sleep on the Badgers despite their crushing loss to Illinois.  Paul Chryst is still one of the better coaches in college football right now.  They have Jonathan Taylor on the ground.  They have a team that could still sneak into the College Football Playoff.  We know what can happen here.  Wisky is still looking up at Minnesota in the Big Ten West but the Badgers hold their fate in their hands.  Win out and it’s off to Indianapolis.  Ohio State, on the other hand, is sneaking up on nobody and there are some that think this team is the best in the country.  Justin Fields has been better than advertised and Chase Young is, arguably, the best defensive player in college football.  This could end up being a slobberknocker (as ol’ JR would say).

Notre Dame at Michigan (7:30, ABC) – I may even be stretching it putting this game at #3 but I am going with my gut here.  I am starting to get a little sick of the Harbaugh Hot Seat talks.  The guy wins, on average, almost ten games a season.  Some programs would kill to have a coach like that.  Yet Michigan fans think the year starts with a 1 and that they should be Top 10 every year and in the national championship conversation.  Not saying Michigan has underperformed at times, but they aren’t terrible.  Plus, who else would you hire that would be willing to come to the pressure cooker in Ann Arbor?

Washington State at Oregon (10:30, specialty pack) – Here is Wazzu’s chance to destroy the Pac-12’s CFP hopes.  A surprisingly pedestrian 4-3 Cougs team could give the Ducks some trouble with Anthony Gordon throwing the ball like 83 times a game.  Oregon’s defense will be tested for sure.  As I mentioned above, this is the kind of game the Ducks need to win easily, not like they did against Washington the previous week.  In the end though, you have to admit that Mario Cristobal has done a great job in Eugene which isn’t surprising (except to schools like FIU who fired him for some odd reason a few years ago).

Oklahoma at Kansas State (Noon, ABC/TSN2) – The list of best games falls off a cliff here.  There could have been like six or seven different games here and every one of them would have been fine in this spot.  Anyway, this may be the best spot for something weird to happen as Kansas State is pretty good under Chris Klieman and could pull off the upset to create at least a bit more chaos at the top.

Honourable mention: Penn State at Michigan State (3:30, ABC); Oklahoma State at Iowa State (3:30, FloSports); California at Utah (10:00, FloSports)

Some gambling fun and games

OK I got none of my upset picks correct.  For a bit, I thought Washington and Oklahoma State would pull it off but no.  As for the rest of my picks I was almost perfect so let’s see if we can keep that ball rolling this week.

Michigan over Notre Dame (upset to start things off)

Utah over California

Oregon over Washington State

Michigan State over Penn State (another upset!)

Ohio State over Wisconsin

LSU over Auburn

Oklahoma over Kansas State

Iowa State over Oklahoma State

FIU over Middle Tennessee

Florida State over Syracuse

San Diego State over UNLV

As I said before…we are not quite at football every day.  Soon though.

Thursday Night Football again!  We get Washington heading to Minnesota.  Not the greatest game but they can’t all be.  I have heard a few people marvel at the games that TNF gets.  Well since they aren’t ESPN, the NFL isn’t going to give them the shittiest games.  That’s basically the gist of it.  It really has replaced Monday Night Football as the second-best night game of the week.  Like I know MNF is an institution but to be honest, I could do without it.  And many teams would feel the same way I’m sure as a lot of times these teams get a short week to prepare after their MNF game and it’s amazing what one less day of rest and practice can do.

Also, you may have noticed I finally have Pac-12 Network listings on DAZN.  So if you get DAZN, you’re welcome.

Will I watch like 26 hours of football this weekend?  No.  But I will do my best to watch as much as I can.  At some point I have other plans and have certain things to do.  Not making excuses.  Just saying that some of my recaps might make it seem like I barely watched the game.  And that might be true.  Enjoy the games everyone!

Ranking the Bowl Games from First to Worst – 2018-19 Edition

Alright well that was not nearly as good as last year’s set of bowl games.  Remember those?  The double-overtime semi-final (the greatest CFP semi ever)?  The national championship with Tua’s introduction out to the college football world?  Wake and TAMU going toe-to-toe and each putting up fifty-burgers?  Army’s crazy final minute win over San Diego State?  Yeah nothing like that.  It was kind of disappointing to be honest.  Don’t get me wrong, it was football so I watched at least a bit of every game save the Holiday Bowl which we Canadians weren’t privy to.  But still, this was, overall one of the worst seasons of college football in recent memory.  Still had some great moments but was…lacking a bit.  2019 should be better no?  This all comes off as first-world problems.  Even worse.  Guy bitching about an already-awesome sport that just wasn’t awesome enough for him.  So yeah, I’ll be that guy.  I know there’s more out there.

Let’s get to the avalanche of text that is the bowl rankings after the bowls have been played.  Be prepared to actually remember games that happened that you tried so desperately to get out of your head:

1. Alamo Bowl (Washington State 28 Iowa State 26) – Does this tell you how not-so-good bowl season was?  The best game wasn’t the national championship or one of the semi-finals.  It was the Alamo Bowl.  But damn was it ever a good game.  The Alamo Bowl is always exciting.  Funny thing is Wazzu being in the most exciting bowl game even though they couldn’t crack 30 points.  Like it was Bizarro Mike Leach at the helm of the Bizarro Cougs.
2. Cheez-It Bowl (TCU 10 California 7 (OT)) – Should I make this number one?  I don’t think I can.  Objectively it was honestly not a very good game.  A lot of turnovers but actually some pretty good defense as well.  It just seemed so hilarious.  Plus the broadcast team of Jason Benetti and Kelly Stouffer were great on it as they felt like the rest of us asking the world “What the hell just happened there?” multiple times.  This would have been number one if, for the winning field goal, Benetti had uttered the line “For ALL the Cheez-Its!”
3. Liberty Bowl (Oklahoma State 38 Missouri 33) – This felt like an old Big XII game.  I kind of wish Mizzou would head back to the Big XII but leaving the SEC would make no sense whatsoever.  Anyway, more than 1100 yards of offense, a close game, quite a few points and Mike Gundy?  Sounds like a good time to me.
4. Citrus Bowl (Kentucky 27 Penn State 24) – Seeing the Wildcats look like they were going to throttle Penn State was fun to watch.  Mostly because it’s Kentucky and they’re almost never THAT good at football.  That seems to have changed.  Now they just need to go find the next Benny Snell and everything will be alright yet again in Lexington.  That’s easy, no?
5. Birmingham Bowl (Wake Forest 37 Memphis 34) – Wake Forest has a penchant for exciting bowl games.  I actually usually look forward to seeing the Deacs in a bowl game because they always bring the fun.  So there’s a lesson for you, bowl committees: Invite Wake Forest.  You can thank me later.
6. Texas Bowl (Baylor 45 Vanderbilt 38) – Over 1200 yards of offense.  One of the better college football games of the year, period.  Nice to see Vandy keep up with a Big XII offense.  And let’s give Matt Rhule some credit here.  This team was in the shitter after the Art Briles fiasco and it took him only two seasons to turn things around.  I’d expect Baylor to maybe make things very difficult for the top teams of the Big XII in 2019.
7. Military Bowl (Cincinnati 35 Virginia Tech 31) – Talk about FOOTBAW WEATHER!  The Bearcats and Hokies played fairly well, amazingly enough, in really bad weather and it came down to the end.  What more can you ask for really?
8. Camellia Bowl (Georgia Southern 23 Eastern Michigan 21) – Even though it was two Group of Five teams this turned out to be one of the biggest barnburners of the season.  A walk-off field goal to end this, the Eagles’ players and fans going nuts and Chad Lunsford just letting all the emotions out is what put this in the top 10 bowl games.
9. Rose Bowl (Ohio State 28 Washington 23) – If we had been talking about the first three quarters then this game would have been near the bottom.  The Huskies actually made us believe they could complete the comeback of comebacks and destroy Urban Meyer Day in Pasadena.  In the end, though, Meyer’s team won and he went off into retirement…no wait, he’s just not coaching.  He’s assistant AD or something like that.  And let’s be honest: none of us would be surprised if in 2020 we hear serious rumours about Urban showing up on a Power Five campus somewhere.
10. Outback Bowl (Iowa 27 Mississippi State 22) – OK I will admit when I was wrong.  I figured the Hawkeyes had no chance but this turned into quite the competitive game.  Too bad it was overshadowed (probably) by two other bowl games in pretty much the same spot (something I am not a fan of, even if it is “New Year’s Day tradition.”
11. Bahamas Bowl (FIU 35 Toledo 32) – I still hate the timeslot this game is in and probably always will.  Friday, around Noon, in the week BEFORE Christmas?  Get the fuck outta here.  Anyway, this game’s score doesn’t tell the whole story as Toledo scored a very late touchdown to make it respectable.  This is the eleventh-best bowl of the season.  That really says it all.
12. Arizona Bowl (Nevada 16 Arkansas State 13 (OT)) – This wasn’t the sexiest matchup of bowl season.  Actually it was probably the least sexy matchup.  Funny thing is, I pretty much stuck with this game despite the fact the Cotton Bowl started when this game was in the fourth quarter.  Wasn’t the best played game and the lack of offense hurts it.  The Cheez-It Bowl this was not.  But it went into overtime so it has to be in the top half of this list.
13. Fiesta Bowl (LSU 40 UCF 32) – With all the LSU players not playing and McKenzie Milton obviously not playing for UCF, there will always be excuses for the final score.  But at least now we can move on from UCF calling themselves the national champions.  At first it kind of made sense in a roundabout way.  Then it was just funny as they kept going on about it.  Then it got annoying.
14. Sugar Bowl (Texas 28 Georgia 21) – Texas is BACK!  I think we can say this and not sound like we are making fun of all the media pundits about this.  Tom Herman has done a good job getting the Horns back to prominence.  But this game wasn’t as close as the final score indicated.  Texas seemed to dominate until late.  There was a bit of suspense as the Dawgs had an onside kick to try and get the ball back but other than that, it felt like a Texas whipping.
15. Dollar General Bowl (Troy 42 Buffalo 32) – I was really looking forward to this game as it had two powerful Group of Five teams going head-to-head.  For about 50+ minutes, this game was super exciting.  Troy pulled away at the end so it wasn’t as close as it could have been but has to be considered in the top half for having a good first three quarters.  Plus it was Neal Brown’s final game at Troy even though we didn’t know it at the time.
16. Sun Bowl (Stanford 14 Pittsburgh 13) – Basically this game was close.  That’s about it.  It was kind of sloppily played and it felt like neither team could get momentum.  If it wasn’t for it being close this game would have rocketed down the list.
17. Orange Bowl (Alabama 45 Oklahoma 34) – After Bama came out guns a-blazin’ in the first quarter, this felt like a 50-point win for the Tide.  But they couldn’t put away the Sooners.  Oklahoma held on like that piece of snot that just won’t come out of your nose when you have a cold.  In the end though, the Tide rolled (pun very intended).
18. Holiday Bowl (Northwestern 31 Utah 20) – The only game we couldn’t watch in Canada.  And it looked like an interesting game as Utah went up big in the first half and then just dissolved under the pressure.  I know this from the highlights I finally found.  Can we just get FS1 up here already?
19. Camping World Bowl (Syracuse 34 West Virginia 18) – No Will Grier pushed this game down no matter what.  And Cuse ran away with this game at the end.  So it’s average…at least in terms of this year’s bowl season.
20. Las Vegas Bowl (Fresno State 31 Arizona State 20) – Not exciting.  Not terrible.  Kind of in the middle.  Which is where it ranks.
21. Gasparilla Bowl (Marshall 38 USF 20) – This game was pretty much over by halftime.  This was my first loss in my bowl pick’em pool.  It would rate lower but I am giving the people organizing this bowl credit for moving it from the shithole known as the Trop to Raymond James Stadium.  The less anything at the Trop the better.
22. Hawaii Bowl (Louisiana Tech 31 Hawaii 14) – This wasn’t on Christmas Eve.  It started at 10:30 and ended around 2 in the morning.  I mean I watched the whole thing because…well, I don’t know why but it can’t be healthy.  I’m fine with this kind of thing during the regular season.  Bowl games ending after 1 in the morning though…not so good.
23. Cure Bowl (Tulane 41 Louisiana 24) – Somehow two Louisiana teams ended up playing in Florida instead of in Louisiana for bowl season.  OK then.  This was on when other bowl games were on so it got very little viewing from yours truly.
24. Redbox Bowl (Oregon 7 Michigan State 6) – This game was close.  It was the only reason to keep watching it since the quality of play was terrible.  And this is #24 on the list.  Let that sink in.
25. Peach Bowl (Florida 41 Michigan 15) – Another game that seemed not bad in the first half.  Then everything went to shit.  The Wolverines were boatraced by Florida in the second half and honestly, it was mostly Michigan looking bad than Florida looking amazing.
26. Boca Raton Bowl (UAB 37 Northern Illinois 13) – UAB wins a bowl game!  WOOHOO!  If it wasn’t for this story, this would be lower on the list as Northern Illinois looked like a terrible representative for the MAC as their champion in this bowl game.
27. National Championship – (Clemson 44 Alabama 16) – This was a thoroughly dominating performance by the Tigers.  It was actually a little shocking to see Bama get thoroughly whacked in this one.  But after a while the actual game felt a bit boring and it was a bit of a crappy ending to the season.
28. Quick Lane Bowl (Minnesota 34 Georgia Tech 10) – Thanks to Bell and Rogers (or maybe ESPN, who knows) fucking things up, no one could see this game.  Minnesota decided to Row the damn Boat and destroy Paul Johnson’s farewell as head man at Georgia Tech by putting up over 250 yards rushing on offense.
29. Independence Bowl (Duke 56 Temple 27) – Yet another game that was close at halftime.  Then Duke ran away with it.  This seems like a running joke now.
30. Idaho Potato Bowl (BYU 49 Western Michigan 18) – Zach Wilson was perfect on this day.  18-for-18.  It really was the only exciting thing about this game…to see if he would get an incompletion.  Otherwise, a complete blowout.
31. Gator Bowl (Texas A&M 52 NC State 13) – I will be completely honest…after the first half I watched very little of this game.  Fast forwarded through, noticed the Aggies were handling this game pretty easily, and felt good about my decision.
32. Cotton Bowl (Clemson 30 Notre Dame 3) – Was there really anything good about this game?  Everyone saying Notre Dame shouldn’t have been there have another argument in their pocket now (despite the fact they did deserve to be there and that Clemson is freakin’ awesome).
33. New Mexico Bowl (Utah State 52 North Texas 13) – The only intriguing part of this game was how the Aggies were going to fare with Matt Wells leaving for Texas Tech before the bowl game.  Well, it didn’t matter obviously since they crushed the (not so) Mean Green.
34. Armed Forces Bowl (Army 70 Houston 14) – I actually enjoyed watching this even though the quality of the actual game was bad.  Army went in dry on the Cougars in this one and did not let up one bit.  Tied the bowl record for points scored.  That means ANY bowl.  If Major Applewhite wasn’t going to be shitcanned before that game, he sure was afterwards (and lo and behold, he was!).
35. Pinstripe Bowl (Wisconsin 35 Miami 3) – This was pretty boring.  Not competitive at all.  But the fact this ended up being Mark Richt’s last game keeps it from falling even further (even though there isn’t far to fall from here).
36. New Orleans Bowl (Appalachian State 45 Middle Tennessee 13) – Maybe the Blue Raiders were honestly that crushed with losing the Conference USA title game.  This was pretty non-competitive but remember, App State is one of the better Group of Five teams despite being in the Sun Belt.
37. Music City Bowl (Auburn 63 Purdue 14) – How many blowouts were there this bowl season?  I count 14.  That’s brutal.
38. Belk Bowl (Virginia 28 South Carolina 0) – This should have been a better game.  Two underrated teams from hotbed football states and this is what happened.  It’s too bad since a) it was on ABC and b) the Belk Bowl has the most hilarious bowl Twitter account.  But even that couldn’t save this mess of a game.
39. Frisco Bowl (Ohio 27 San Diego State 0) – Hey remember what I said about the Frisco Bowl before?  Forget all that.  This was shit.  It would be the worst bowl game this season if it wasn’t for good ol’ Mother Nature.
40. First Responder Bowl (Boise State vs. Boston College) – This game was cancelled after about 10 minutes of play due to storms in the area that did not die down for quite a few hours.  Kind of shitty that these players and coaches are away for Christmas and have this cancelled.  Same with the fans that showed up.  Brutal.  I mean at least the schools were refunded the ticket costs to everyone but that doesn’t make up for the other costs and the time lost (which is probably the most important thing here).  This may be one of the big arguments for the “too many bowl games” crowd.

So in the end, not many really good bowl games.  Let’s hope 2019, in all, brings us better college football.  This weekend is the East-West Shrine Game on the NFL Network.  It starts at 3:00 on Saturday so if you’re still itching for some college football (kind of) and/or are interested in the upcoming draft then this game is good to watch.

Your very short NFL schedule will be coming your way tomorrow.  Have a great Thursday everyone!  Oh and by the way, I changed my Twitter handle from @LikeABauce1978 to @TheBauceman.  So if you want to find me (for whatever reason) I am there now.

Time for the 2018 AAC predictions – Home to your 2017 College Football National Champions (BIG ASTERISK)

I did kind of chuckle at first when UCF named itself the national champs last season.  Now it’s starting to get a bit annoying though.  I get it: that team was damn good.  Probably the best Group of Five team in the College Football Playoff era.  Should they have got a shot at winning the whole shebang?  Perhaps.  At the very least it pushed the 8-team playoff narrative forward quite a bit.  It wouldn’t surprise me if, even before the current CFP contract ended, they moved to 8-teams.  And they can thank Scott Frost (who jettisoned to Nebraska at the first opportunity) and the University of Central Florida Knights for that.

As for the rest of the conference, not a whole lot happened in the offseason.  Ed Oliver, the top defensive Heisman candidate, has already stated he will declare for the NFL Draft after this season.  Josh Heupel takes over for the aforementioned Scott Frost down in Orlando.  And…..well……..not a whole lot else.  Then again, seeing what is happening in the Big Ten with Urban Meyer should tell conferences and programs that a lot of times, no news is good news.  Let’s get to the conference predictions followed by some Big East Musings:

		Conference		Overall
	East	W	L	W	L
	UCF	8	0	11	1
	USF	6	2	9	3
	Temple	4	4	6	6
	Cincinnati	3	5	4	8
	East Carolina	1	7	2	10
	UConn	0	8	2	10
	West
	Houston	7	1	9	3
	Memphis	6	2	9	3
	Navy	6	2	10	3
	SMU	3	5	4	8
	Tulsa	2	6	3	9
	Tulane	2	6	3	9

Big East Musings

• Even with Frosty the Huskerman gone to Lincoln, UCF is still that damn good.  They do have a few landmines on their schedule and I am certain one of them will be their undoing.  Two games against ACC teams (North Carolina & Pitt), Florida Atlantic (one of their main competitors for the Group of Five New Year’s Six spot) and, of course, the War on I-4 against USF are all tough games.  Having two of those on the road doesn’t help either.
• Unlike most others, I do not have Memphis repeating as West Division champ.  I have Houston, who should bounce back from a not-so-good season (by their recent standards).  The only thing that might derail them is the fact that they play Navy and Memphis away from home.  Either way, we have a big three-team race here.
• Unfortunately for SMU, I think the loss of Chad Morris will hamper them…this season.  They still seem to be on the up-and-up but a brutal schedule to start the season (at North Texas, TCU, at Michigan, Navy) will have them trying desperately to dig out of a hole the rest of the season to make it back to a bowl game.  And I don’t see them being able to do it.
• I feel bad for Tulane.  I outlined how I feel they were jobbed out of a win in their last game in 2017 and should have gone bowling.  Instead, they are probably on the way down and mostly because they are in a tough division more than anything.  At some point though, Willie Fritz is going to have this team playing Navy in an Optiongasm Winner-Take-Tall game for the West Division title.
• I don’t think USF would have an easy out in the AAC Championship Game if they got Houston.  Or Memphis.  Or even Navy.  Then again, the Knights barely outlasted USF (in the best regular season game of the year) and then needed overtime to dispatch Memphis.  I still think UCF wins the American for a second straight season but it will be difficult.  And probably will not include a New Year’s Six bid.
• With the Knights not going to the NY6, the American would have six bowl-eligible teams.  Only half the conference.  Not a good look if you want to consider yourself one of the power conferences.

The AAC’s TV contract with ESPN (and the subcontracting of games to CBS Sports Network) ends after next season.  So we might see another round of conference realignment.  If the American wants to truly be considered as part of a new Power Six (or at least the unquestioned best G5 conference), they should consider expanding.  Maybe go back to see if Boise State is actually interested this time around.  How about BYU?  Maybe a couple other Mountain West teams to fill things out.  All of it will have to do with what the American can get in their next contract.  If, with new teams, they could get quite a bit more money then they would be dumb not to expand.  It’s not like this is some historic conference or anything.  They need to think for themselves since I can’t see the next round of contract talks being any more lucrative with the current program roster.

Urban Meyer Update!  He has now been placed on paid administrative leave and will probably be fired soon enough.  Ohio State really can’t keep him on now.  The optics would be seriously bad.  Now who knows who will actually replace him but let me put a name out there: Bob Stoops.  Last time I checked he isn’t doing anything.  And he’s one of the greatest coaches of the last two decades.  Not a bad call if you ask me.

We are past the halfway hump!  Next up is the other conference that keeps me up at night, the Mountain West.  And we are 23 days away.  Soon enough we will be down to single digits.  Fuck yeah!  Have a great day everyone!