It Actually Happened (the Week 17 NFL TV Schedule)

I kind of joked earlier in the year that I think Nathaniel Hackett should have been fired during the season. I think quite a few people said it as well. The thing is, that happens rarely in the NFL. This isn’t college football where there are coaching changes all the time.

But guess what? It happened! It actually happened! The Denver Broncos pulled the trigger and shitcanned Hackett. I am actually surprised since I figured they would let him finish out the season and then fire him on Black Monday. Problem is, the Broncos looked so horrifically bad in their loss to the Rams this past weekend (where I am surprised Nickolodeon didn’t run out of slime despite the fact it’s all animated) that I think they had no choice but to axe him. It’s a smart move. No head coach has looked as inept at his job than Hackett did (although Jeff Saturday is trying his best to change that mindset). He was not ready and to be honest, I don’t think he will ever be ready to be a head coach. Good offensive coordinator, bad head coach. It’s the Wade Phillips corollary (paradox? equation?). Not every coordinator can run a team. And Hackett can’t…..hack it.

Let’s get to the schedule, which will not contain Nathaniel Hackett. It’s the second-last week of the season so a lot can happen and I’m not just talking about the standings. Here we go.

American Networks

Indianapolis at NY GIants	1:00	Seattle, Spokane, Detroit, Buffalo, Rochester, Watertown
Miami at New England	1:00	Minneapolis, Cleveland, Burlington, Boston, Presque Isle
Chicago at Detroit	1:00		Minneapolis, Detroit
NY Jets at Seattle	4:05		All affiliates (except Minneapolis & Detroit)
Minnesota at Green Bay	4:25	All affiliates

Canadian Networks

Indianapolis at NY Giants	1:00	Vancouver, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Winnipeg	London, Toronto
Miami at New England	1:00	Montreal, Atlantic	Ottawa	TSN1, TSN3, TSN4, TSN5
Denver at Kansas City	1:00		Vancouver Island, Alberta
Chicago at Detroit	1:00	Kitchener, Toronto, Ottawa
Carolina at Tampa Bay	1:00	Northern Ontario	Atlantic
NY Jets at Seattle	4:05	Vancouver, Alberta		TSN1, TSN3, TSN4
Minnesota at Green Bay	4:25	Saskatchewan, Winnipeg, Northern Ontario, Kitchener, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal	Atlantic

Primetime Games

Dallas at Tennessee	Thursday, 8:15, Amazon Prime, CTV2, TSN1
Pittsburgh at Baltimore	8:15, NBC, CTV2, TSN1/3/4
Buffalo at Cincinnati	8:30, ABC, CTV, TSN3

Non-Nathaniel Things

• I get that Jeff Saturday is an interim head coach and not the full-time guy but still, he’s terrible. And shouldn’t be back next year in any capacity.
• If all you can get is games from the American networks (I don’t know why that would be the case) then this may be the worst week ever. Five games over the entire afternoon? That’s the kind of schedule you would get in 1992, not 2022.
• Canadians have it a bit better obviously but they are still missing games: Jaguars/Texans, Rams/Chargers, Saints/Eagles, Browns/Commanders, Cardinals/Falcons, 49ers/Raiders. Six. That’s not good either.
• I am sure at least a few people are pissed off that the NFL is on New Year’s Day and the Rose Bowl isn’t. Too fucking bad. They decided to move last week’s games to Christmas Eve and they damn well weren’t going to do that this weekend. Put the games on New Year’s Eve when you don’t have to? Ratings suicide. And this is coming from a huge college football fan who still thinks ESPN is leaving viewers on the table by having the College Football Playoff semi-finals on New Year’s Eve.

UPDATE: I forgot about the small tweak to the smart time of the Monday night game. It will start at 8:30 and not 8:15. The Rose Bowl is on immediately before it so don’t be surprised if we don’t get to actually start watching the Bills-Bengals game until close to 9:00.

Almost there! This week and next week and it’s playoff time. Here’s what the playoff picture looks like at this point:

AFC	NFC
#1 Buffalo (clinched AFC East)	#1 Philadelphia (clinched playoff berth, leads NFC East)
#2 Kansas City (clinched AFC West)	#2 Minnesota (clinched NFC North)
#3 Cincinnati (clinched playoff berth, leads AFC North)	#3 San Francisco (clinched NFC West)
#4 Jacksonville (leads AFC South)	#4 Tampa Bay (leads NFC South)
Wild Cards:	Wild Cards:
#5 Baltimore (clinched playoff berth)	#5 Dallas (clinched playoff berth)
#6 LA Chargers (clinched playoff berth)	#6 NY Giants
#7 Miami	#7 Washington

And here is your list of eliminated teams (whether you like it or not):

• Houston
• Chicago
• Denver
• Arizona
• Indianapolis
• Atlanta
• LA Rams
• Cleveland

That’s it? Yep. This is what happens when you have two atrocious divisions. I don’t think that’s ever happened before and I hope this makes it so the NFL changes their ridiculously dumb playoff structure. Division winners should only be guaranteed a playoff spot. Maybe a top 5. But not a home playoff game. That’s dumb. It’s why I hope both the AFC South and NFC South champs have losing records. To shed light on stupidity.

Anyway, when it comes to the draft, the Texans can clinch with a loss and a Bears win. It feels like a guarantee that Bryce Young is going to be Houston’s new quarterback but stranger things have happened.

Now for the clinching scenarios list which is getting much longer (and what’s most of us are watching these games for anyway):

First Round Bye

• Philadelphia clinches with a win OR (a Dallas loss AND a San Francisco loss AND a Minnesota loss)
• Buffalo clinches with a win AND a Kansas City loss

Division Title

• Philadelphia clinches the NFC East with a win OR a Dallas loss
• Tampa Bay clinches the NFC South with a win
• Cincinnati clinches the AFC North with a win AND a Baltimore loss

Playoff Berth

• NY Giants clinch with a win OR (a Washington loss AND a Detroit loss AND a Green Bay loss) OR (a Washington loss AND a Seattle loss) OR (a Seattle loss AND a Detroit loss AND a Green Bay loss)
• Washington clinches with a win AND a Seattle loss AND a Detroit loss AND a Green Bay loss
• Miami clinches with a win AND a NY Jets loss

Elimination

• New Orleans is eliminated with a loss OR (a Tampa Bay win AND a Washington win) OR (a Tampa Bay win AND a Detroit win AND a Green Bay win)
• Carolina is eliminated with a loss
• Washington is eliminated with a loss AND a Detroit win AND a Green Bay win
• Detroit is eliminated with a loss AND a Washington win
• Green Bay is eliminated with a loss AND (a Detroit win OR a Washington win)
• Seattle is eliminated with (a loss AND a Washington win) OR (a loss AND a Detroit win AND a Green Bay win)
• New England is eliminated with a loss
• NY Jets are eliminated with a loss
• Pittsburgh is eliminated with a loss OR a Miami win
• Las Vegas is eliminated with a loss OR a Miami win OR a NY Jets win

Washington is in an interesting and relatively rare spot. It’s the penultimate week of the season yet they have both playoff clinching and elimination scenarios and both of them involve the same two teams, the Lions and Packers. You don’t see that very often. Also, there aren’t that many clinching scenarios to be honest. Yet, look at the sheer list of teams that could be eliminated this week. Ten. That’s a lot. Won’t happen but it’s still a lot.

As for the final week, the schedule will have, as far as I know, two Saturday games, one Sunday night game, and the rest of the games on Sunday afternoon with the more important ones falling in the 4:25 timeslot. What could we see? Here is what I think will probably happen:

• It is a foregone conclusion that the Tennessee-Jacksonville game will be either the Saturday night or Sunday night game. I am going out on a limb and saying they will be the Saturday nighter.
• Baltimore-Cincinnati is the favorite to be the Sunday nighter. I can’t see NBC picking Baltimore twice in a row. It’s their fault for picking them this week to begin with (I believe the pick this week is baffling). So no Ravens-Bengals Sunday nighter and they can’t be on Saturday because the Bengals are playing Monday night this week. So as long as the Bengals don’t clinch the AFC North this week, it will be a Sunday late game.
• If New England and the NY Jets win this week, I see the Pats-Bills game being the Sunday nighter. The Pats would be in a win-and-in situation. The Bills could also be in a situation where they would need to win to get the first round bye. So a lot would be on the line.
• If New England loses but the Jets win, then we could see the Jets-Dolphins game slot into the Sunday night spot.
• Alright I will have to make a concession: if the Pats and Jets both lose this week then I do have a feeling NBC might just pick the Ravens-Bengals game (as long as the Bengals haven’t clinched the division).
• Now…..ugh…if all three situations above don’t occur then the next game up would somehow be Lions-Packers but a bit has to happen for this game to get this slot (and we might be in a situation where the final game of the season means nothing because of what could happen earlier in the day).
• If the Bucs don’t clinch the NFC South this week then the Saturday afternoon will probably be Panthers-Saints, especially if the Saints also win this week. It would be for the NFC South title I believe (I would have to check the tiebreakers but I think the Bucs would have the lowest percentage chance to win the division if both Carolina and New Orleans win this weekend).

So there you go. A lot of possibilities for next week’s single-game timeslots and we should find out late in the afternoon Sunday as to what we will see. It’s the time of season where there is a shit-ton of football on, both college and the NFL. So enjoy it because you know it doesn’t last. Have a Happy New Year everyone!

If I Could Fix The Postseason Version 3.0

It’s that time, people. The time when I look at how the postseason could be better and tackle the issues that plague FBS’s postseason at this point, which include:

• Potential high draft picks opting out of bowl games
• Some still thinking there are too many bowl games
• Major injuries that occur during these bowl games to players who would probably be in the draft
• Attendance problems at certain bowl games
• Going up against the NFL (and up here, the World Juniors)

Will my solution fix everything here? No. Especially the injury one. Those will happen. I can see potential first rounders still opting out in the future and that would be the main reason: preventing injury going into workouts and the Combine. The other three…yeah I can deal with those.

Look I have done this so many times before that I won’t link them here. You should be able to find them but if you do need help, let me know.

Now that we definitely have a 12-team playoff in a couple years, I have to adjust my solution a bit. I won’t go against what they are doing, I am just trying to enhance it for everyone’s enjoyment.

First thing we have to do is actually eliminate some of the bowl games. This will make the “Too Many Bowl Games” crowd happy but the reason I am doing this is to tighten things up a bit. ESPN Events owns about half of these anyway so I can’t see them being missed and I honestly doubt the economics of how much it helps a host city. So the following bowls will just have to cease to exist:

• Cure Bowl
• New Orleans Bowl
• Birmingham Bowl
• Quick Lane Bowl
• Frisco Bowl
• Arizona Bowl
• Cheez-It Bowl
• Bahamas Bowl
• LendingTree Bowl

For the most part, these bowl games will be missed by almost nobody. This allows for more bowl games to get their own national spotlights and makes it so we aren’t putting pretty much all 5-7 teams in to the postseason. I love college football but that, to me, is where it gets a bit absurd.

Now let’s get to the format, as it will be going forward (until people start griping and it expands to 16 teams). There is an advantage now for finishing at the top of the rankings AND for winning your conference championship. The first order of business is that divisions will be abolished in all FBS conferences. I don’t care if the Big Ten expands to the Big Ten Times Two (meaning twenty teams). No divisions. This way the best two teams get to the title game and we won’t see some weird 8-5 Wisconsin team somehow get a first-round bye. Also, at least one Group of Five team gets invited. More if they are in the Top 12 but we know it will be one for the foreseeable future. I know you’ve seen this a few times already on other websites or on ESPN but here’s what the top 12 will look like this with the new playoff criteria:

1. Georgia (SEC champs)
2. Michigan (Big Ten champs)
3. Clemson (ACC champs)
4. Utah (Pac-12 champs)
5. TCU
6. Ohio State
7. Alabama
8. Tennessee
9. Kansas State
10. USC
11. Penn State
12. Tulane

Sorry to Washington, Florida State, both Oregons and whoever else felt they should be in the field. You are denied this time. Do better.

Now to the format/schedule. Let’s use this year’s dates to show how this works to make it a tiny bit easier to understand. I’m also using the CFP’s newer date setup so it will be slightly different than mine was last year (and won’t interrupt the Army-Navy game). The other difference between this format and the one I used last year is that first round games will be on-campus. So those bowl games go back in the regular mix.

First Round Games – Friday, December 16th/Saturday December 17th (all times EST)

• Tulane at TCU (Friday, 8:00)
• Penn State at Ohio State (Saturday, Noon)
• USC at Alabama (Saturday, 3:30)
• Kansas State at Tennessee (Saturday, 7:00)

Really, you could mix and match as to where to put these games. The only thing that comes into play is when you have a team from the Mountain or Pacific time zones. You ideally should slot them either Friday or Saturday night and definitely not at Noon on the Saturday.

Quarter-Finals – Thursday, December 30th/Friday December 31st

Normally these games would be on December 31st, January 1st and January 2nd. This year that can’t be the case with New Year’s Day being a Sunday and you can’t have playoff games two days apart. The top-ranked team would be put at a bowl site that is most advantageous to them. Then the next team would be put in the best spot out of the bowls left and so forth until all four games are filled.

• Orange Bowl (Thursday, 8:00) – Georgia vs. Kansas State/Tennessee winner
• Sugar Bowl (Friday, Noon) – Clemson vs. Penn State/Ohio State winner
• Rose Bowl (Friday, 4:00) – Utah vs. Tulane/TCU winner
• Cotton Bowl (Friday, 8:00) – Michigan vs. USC/Alabama winner

Yes I have the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Eve. I think that’s a possibility going forward. I hope it is. Just to fuck with their commmittee.

Semi-Finals – Thursday, January 5th/Friday, January 6th

Can’t do Saturday and Sunday because it would interfere with the NFL (although I could see one game on an early Saturday).

• Peach Bowl (Thursday, 7:00) – Orange Bowl winner vs. Rose Bowl winner
• Fiesta Bowl (Friday, 8:00) – Cotton Bowl winner vs. Sugar Bowl winner

Again, The Committee would put Georgia in the best bowl for them which would obviously be the Peach Bowl. Even if they didn’t win, I think these semi-final combinations would be set in stone.

CFP National Championship – Monday, January 16th

So all this does is move the national championship one week back. Not a big deal really and still stays mostly out of the way of the NFL playoffs (which have also shifted back a week due to the extra regular season week they have now).

Only the six current New Year’s Six bowl games are being used as opposed to the ten I had in my scenario last year (I included the Gator, Citrus, Alamo and Holiday Bowls for the first round games).

Now for the rest of the bowl games. As you saw above, I lopped off nine of them. Would they even fill half the stadium? Maybe close but mostly likely not. I plan on not having any pre-Christmas daytime games. I say that every year. There are dumb. I get that not everyone works a 9ish-to-5ish job but, unfortunately to us night owls, the work world revolves around this schedule pretty closely. Even with PVRs still being a big thing, it’s pointless to have a bowl game on a random Wednesday before Christmas at 2 in the afternoon. Live sports are what most people want to see so having more games in primetime allows more people to watch. It’s actually pretty damn simple.

I also plan to move a few games off of ESPN. I hate the fact that games are pretty spread out among the networks all through the regular season. Then the bowl games come and WHAM! Pretty much all of them go to ESPN. Look, I will say I’m a bit selfish and patriotic because I am doing this, somewhat, for Canadians. Oh and with the Arizona Bowl being off the table, that means Barstool Sports is shit out of luck again. I assume one day they will pick up another bowl but for this scenario, nothing.

Bowl tie-ins are also going to be decreased as is what I do normally when I used to fix the bowl games. Many bowl games don’t even follow them anyway so why should I? I will have it set up like this:

• SEC, Big Ten, ACC – 5 bowl tie-ins
• Big XII, Pac-12 – 4 bowl tie-ins
• AAC, MWC, Sun Belt – 3 bowl tie-ins
• C-USA, MAC – 2 bowl tie-ins

If a team doesn’t get put in a bowl with a tie-in, they go to the at-large bucket. I believe this will make for at least a slightly better overall bowl lineup and my past posts have proven that. And I’m also going to have every Group of Five conference champion get to face a Power Five team in a bowl game. That’s a huge incentive compared to now where most of the G-5 conference champions get a banner and an unknown destination.

To qualify, teams must win seven games. If all those teams are placed and there are still more bowl slots, 6-win teams will be put in and let’s do it based on APR since that’s the way the NCAA does it with 5-win teams.

OK so now that that’s all out of the way, let’s get to what the tie-ins will look like:

January 4, 2023	10:30 PM	Las Vegas Bowl	Pac-12	MWC
January 4, 2023	7:00 PM	Gator Bowl	SEC	ACC
January 3, 2023	10:30 PM	LA Bowl	Pac-12	at-large
January 3, 2023	7:00 PM	Duke’s Mayo Bowl	ACC	at-large
January 2, 2023	3:00 PM	ReliaQuest Bowl	SEC	Big Ten
January 2, 2023	12:00 PM	Citrus Bowl	SEC	Big Ten
December 30, 2022	4:30 PM	Music City Bowl	SEC	Big Ten
December 30, 2022	1:00 PM	Liberty Bowl	SEC	Sun Belt
December 30, 2022	Noon	Sun Bowl	Big XII	Pac-12
December 28, 2022	10:30 PM	Guaranteed Rate Bowl	at-large	at-large
December 28, 2022	8:30 PM	Alamo Bowl	Big XII	at-large
December 28, 2022	7:00 PM	Military Bowl	Big Ten	MAC
December 28, 2022	3:30 PM	Gasparilla Bowl	ACC	AAC
December 28, 2022	Noon	Fenway Bowl	AAC	at-large
December 27, 2022	8:30 PM	Texas Bowl	Big XII	at-large
December 27, 2022	7:00 PM	Pinstripe Bowl	Big Ten	ACC
December 27, 2022	5:00 PM	Camellia Bowl	Sun Belt	at-large
December 27, 2022	1:30 PM	First Responder Bowl	Big XII	C-USA
December 26, 2022	3:30 PM	Armed Forces Bowl	AAC	at-large
December 26, 2022	Noon	Boca Raton Bowl	ACC	at-large
December 25, 2022	Noon	Myrtle Beach Bowl	MAC	at-large
December 24, 2022	9:30 PM	Hawaii Bowl	MWC	at-large
December 23, 2022	8:00 PM	Holiday Bowl	Pac-12	at-large
December 22, 2022	9:30 PM	Idaho Potato Bowl	MWC	at-large
December 21, 2022	9:30 PM	New Mexico Bowl	at-large	at-large
December 20, 2022	8:00 PM	Independence Bowl	Sun Belt	C-USA

As promised, all the Group of Five conference champions get their shot at a Power Five team in a bowl game. I still believe this is one of the things sorely missing from bowl season: the chance for a lower level team to go up against a potential power. Otherwise they are just playing an extra game. Good for the players and staff but in the end, it means jack shit because it won’t help nearly as much with recruiting and won’t enhance these schools brands when it comes to football.

There are also a lot of at-larges and we will get to that in a bit. Again, this is about trying my best to create a better bowl lineup and flexibility certainly helps in that regard.

And part of the way to do that is to overhaul the shitty Selection Sunday show that ESPN does. And it is shitty. Seriously shitty. You could take out 85% of the show and still get everything you need and more. To change this I will show you my perfect setup for the show, something I have done in previous years:

• Noon-12:05 – Introduction of hosts, panel and all the reporters at the various sites around the U.S. We don’t need Desmond Howard’s reasoning behind putting Texas A&M in the College Football Playoff at the start of the season and how it somehow ties into today’s proceedings. It doesn’t so knock it off.
• 12:05-1:00 – College Football Playoff rankings reveal and game selections. This includes analysis from everyone: Herbstreit, Desmond, Rece Davis, David Pollack, fifteen people from around the country. Then an interview with whomever heads The Committee and you’ve filled the rest of the first hour. Easy, right?
• 1:00-2:00 – Show the bowl tie-ins and do some analysis on those. I am giving a bit less time than I have in previous years to give as much time as possible to the at-large selection process which is the meat of the show (along with live look-ins to the players sitting around, awaiting their destination, a la the March Madness Selection Show.
• 2:00-3:45 – Selection time. The random order for selection would have been done the day prior so as to give bowl committees time to send out invites although in this day and age, it’s rare to see a team decline a bowl invite. At-large selections are shown as they are made. Analysis by the crew following every pick.

Yes it’s 4 hours long (last 15 minutes can be used to wrap everything up and remind people of when certain games air); but you can cram a lot of excitement and interest into those four hours rather than have people drone on and on about nothing.

So…here is what the bowl schedule would look like after slotting all the conferences’ tie-ins:

January 4, 2023	10:30 PM	ESPN	Las Vegas Bowl	Oregon	Fresno State
January 4, 2023	7:00 PM	CBS	Gator Bowl	LSU	North Carolina
January 3, 2023	10:30 PM	ESPN	LA Bowl	Washington	at-large
January 3, 2023	7:00 PM	NBC	Duke’s Mayo Bowl	Florida State	at-large
January 2, 2023	3:00 PM	ESPN	ReliaQuest Bowl	South Carolina	Purdue
January 2, 2023	12:00 PM	ABC	Citrus Bowl	Kentucky	Iowa
December 30, 2022	4:30 PM	ESPN	Music City Bowl	Mississippi State	Illinois
December 30, 2022	1:00 PM	ESPN	Liberty Bowl	Ole Miss	Troy
December 30, 2022	Noon	CBS	Sun Bowl	Big XII	UCLA
December 28, 2022	10:30 PM	ESPN	Guaranteed Rate Bowl	at-large	at-large
December 28, 2022	8:30 PM	FOX	Alamo Bowl	Texas	at-large
December 28, 2022	7:00 PM	ESPN	Military Bowl	Maryland	Toledo
December 28, 2022	3:30 PM	ESPN	Gasparilla Bowl	Duke	UCF
December 28, 2022	Noon	ESPN	Fenway Bowl	Cincinnati	at-large
December 27, 2022	8:30 PM	ESPN	Texas Bowl	Texas Tech	at-large
December 27, 2022	7:00 PM	ABC	Pinstripe Bowl	Minnesota	Pittsburgh
December 27, 2022	5:00 PM	ESPN	Camellia Bowl	South Alabama	at-large
December 27, 2022	1:30 PM	ESPN	First Responder Bowl	Oklahoma State	UTSA
December 26, 2022	3:30 PM	ESPN	Armed Forces Bowl	SMU	at-large
December 26, 2022	Noon	ESPN	Boca Raton Bowl	Syracuse	at-large
December 25, 2022	Noon	ESPN	Myrtle Beach Bowl	Ohio	at-large
December 24, 2022	9:30 PM	ESPN	Hawaii Bowl	Wyoming	at-large
December 23, 2022	8:00 PM	FOX	Holiday Bowl	Oregon State	at-large
December 22, 2022	9:30 PM	ESPN	Idaho Potato Bowl	Boise State	at-large
December 21, 2022	9:30 PM	ESPN	New Mexico Bowl	at-large	at-large
December 20, 2022	8:00 PM	ESPN	Independence Bowl	James Madison	North Texas

• The G-5 conference champion process has set up the following matchups:
  • UCF (the runner-up in the American since Tulane is in the CFP) goes to the Gasparilla Bowl to play Duke.
  • Fresno State (Mountain West champ) plays Oregon in the Las Vegas Bowl, which ends up being the final bowl game before the College Football Playoff semi-finals.
  • The First Responder Bowl gets Conference USA champ UTSA and the high-octane offense of the Oklahoma State Cowboys.
  • The Sun Belt champ (Troy) faces off against Ole Miss in the Liberty Bowl.
  • Finally, the MAC champ, Toledo, plays Maryland in the Military Bowl. Yes the MAC will have to travel for every bowl game now that I have axed the Quick Lane Bowl.
• Some of the bowl matchups are the same (sorry, I still have Kentucky-Iowa) and some have probably improved a bit (Ole Miss-Troy looks like a good one).
• I have given FOX, ABC, CBS and even NBC some bowl games. ESPN will hate it but too fucking bad.
• Finally you will notice I have put James Madison in a bowl game. Yeah, fuck the transition rule. An 8-3 team should go to a bowl game. Period.

Alright so there are a bunch of teams left who have won at least seven games. Seventeen of them to be exact. For 17 spots. That worked out perfectly! You will notice that the Big XII did not have enough teams to fill the few bowl slots they had. So the Sun Bowl goes into the pool to pick from the remaining teams.

Here is that random draw and the teams I think would have been selected:

• LA – Notre Dame
• Armed Forces – BYU
• Boca Raton – Liberty
• Texas – Houston
• Camellia – Louisville
• Idaho Potato – Washington State
• Duke’s Mayo – East Carolina
• Myrtle Beach – Coastal Carolina
• Sun – Air Force
• Holiday – San Diego State
• New Mexico – San Jose State
• Alamo – Wake Forest
• Guaranteed Rate – NC State
• Hawaii – WKU
• Fenway – Eastern Michigan
• New Mexico – Marshall
• Guaranteed Rate – Middle Tennessee

So after these selections this is what the rest of the bowls (beyond the playoffs) would look like:

January 4, 2023	10:30 PM	ESPN	Las Vegas Bowl	Oregon	Fresno State
January 4, 2023	7:00 PM	CBS	Gator Bowl	LSU	North Carolina
January 3, 2023	10:30 PM	ESPN	LA Bowl	Washington	Notre Dame
January 3, 2023	7:00 PM	NBC	Duke’s Mayo Bowl	Florida State	East Carolina
January 2, 2023	3:00 PM	ESPN	ReliaQuest Bowl	South Carolina	Purdue
January 2, 2023	12:00 PM	ABC	Citrus Bowl	Kentucky	Iowa
December 30, 2022	4:30 PM	ESPN	Music City Bowl	Mississippi State	Illinois
December 30, 2022	1:00 PM	ESPN	Liberty Bowl	Ole Miss	Troy
December 30, 2022	Noon	CBS	Sun Bowl	Air Force	UCLA
December 28, 2022	10:30 PM	ESPN	Guaranteed Rate Bowl	NC State	Middle Tennessee
December 28, 2022	8:30 PM	FOX	Alamo Bowl	Texas	Wake Forest
December 28, 2022	7:00 PM	ESPN	Military Bowl	Maryland	Toledo
December 28, 2022	3:30 PM	ESPN	Gasparilla Bowl	Duke	UCF
December 28, 2022	Noon	ESPN	Fenway Bowl	Cincinnati	Eastern Michigan
December 27, 2022	8:30 PM	ESPN	Texas Bowl	Texas Tech	Houston
December 27, 2022	7:00 PM	ABC	Pinstripe Bowl	Minnesota	Pittsburgh
December 27, 2022	5:00 PM	ESPN	Camellia Bowl	South Alabama	Louisville
December 27, 2022	1:30 PM	ESPN	First Responder Bowl	Oklahoma State	UTSA
December 26, 2022	3:30 PM	ESPN	Armed Forces Bowl	SMU	BYU
December 26, 2022	Noon	ESPN	Boca Raton Bowl	Syracuse	Liberty
December 25, 2022	Noon	ESPN	Myrtle Beach Bowl	Ohio	Coastal Carolina
December 24, 2022	9:30 PM	ESPN	Hawaii Bowl	Wyoming	WKU
December 23, 2022	8:00 PM	FOX	Holiday Bowl	Oregon State	San Diego State
December 22, 2022	9:30 PM	ESPN	Idaho Potato Bowl	Boise State	Washington State
December 21, 2022	9:30 PM	ESPN	New Mexico Bowl	San Jose State	Marshall
December 20, 2022	8:00 PM	ESPN	Independence Bowl	James Madison	North Texas

So there are a few games that look quite a bit better than what we had. Especially when there are storylines like:

• Notre Dame facing Washington in what would be a massively hyped LA Bowl.
• The Texas Bowl gets a huge boost with two teams from the state playing.
• Syracuse/Liberty could end up being a juicy matchup.
• Coastal Carolina playing at home on Christmas Day.
• The Idaho Potato Bowl getting a massive boost with Wazzu coming in to face the hometown Broncos.

Is it a massive change? No, but when you do a few small things you can create a lot more excitement overall to a system that, outside the playoff, has become rather stagnant.

A reminder (you shouldn’t need it but here it is) that bowl season begins this morning! The Bahamas Bowl starts a three-week-plus college football postseason journey that ends with the national championship on January 9th. Along with the bowl games, there are playoff games in other divisions going on.

• FCS Semi-final: Incarnate Word at North Dakota State (Friday, 7:00, specialty pack)
• Division III Championship: North Central vs. Mount Union (in Annapolis) (Friday, 7:00, specialty pack)
• Division II Championship: Colorado School of Mines vs. Ferris State (in McKinney, Texas) (Saturday, 1:00, specialty pack)
• FCS Semi-final: Montana State at South Dakota State (Saturday, 4:00, specialty pack)

From what I can see, the specialty packs are being dickheads again with none of these games listed. I hope they show up but I know last weekend I only remembered them appearing on Bell guides. Fingers crossed. Especially with the FCS games as it feels like we are heading for a Battle of the Dakotas for the FCS National Championship.

Alright, enjoy the games everyone. A LOT of football between now and Sunday night. Savour it.

Well what do you know? The 2022 Bowl Game TV Schedule

I am honestly shocked. I was not impressed with TSN’s coverage of college football this season. The World Cup didn’t help and I understand that but it seemed like TSN was hellbent on showing less college football than they had in years.

Then I find the TSN bowl game schedule and holy shit! Damn near most of the games are being shown on a TSN channel. Very impressive. I have to, for once, give TSN props for really going all in with the college football postseason: the most important but also weirdest part of the college football schedule.

Anyway, let’s get right to the sked!

Friday December 16th

Bahamas Bowl: UAB vs. Miami-OH

11:30 AM

Bowl season starts with the Bahamas Bowl in front of maybe 10,000 fans. Maybe. Probably not. This is the most extreme version of the destination bowl game. Attendance can’t be good because Thomas Robinson Stadium in Nassau only holds 15,000. And I don’t remember the stands ever being half-full for this game. But for the players and staff? Holy shit this is great. Playing football in great weather and being able to experience the GOD DAMN BAHAMAS! It’ll be a trip of a lifetime for at least 90% involved.

Cure Bowl: #25 UTSA vs. #24 Troy

3:00 PM

As I said, TSN has seriously stepped up this season. I will show how much they have stepped up after the schedule. This game is EASILY the best pre-Christmas game and it’s not even close. How the Cure Bowl got two Top 25 teams, who are also both conference champions, I will never know. But I’m glad it happened.

Saturday December 17th

Fenway Bowl: Louisville vs. Cincinnati

11:00 AM

This was always going to be an odd bowl game what with the Fenway Park configuration and the Green Monster in the background. Now with Scott Satterfield leaving Louisville to coach at Cincinnati? Ho boy this is going to be something.

Celebration Bowl: North Carolina Central vs. Jackson State

Noon

Look, in my opinion, it doesn’t matter if Jackson State loses here. They are the best HBCU football team in the land by a country mile. It’s not even close. And really, the MEAC isn’t close anymore to the SWAC. Outgoing JSU head coach Deion Sanders said the SWAC and MEAC should merge into one super-HBCU conference. I agree. What would this do to the Celebration Bowl? Probably end it. However, I am of the opinion that every so often there is an HBCU school that could do serious damage in the FCS Playoffs. This year would have been Jackson State. Do I think they would have been a dark horse contender for the FCS title? Yes, absolutely. It would have also been a way to probably get more FCS playoff games on channels everyone can see (as in not ESPN+) but that’s another story.

Las Vegas Bowl: Florida vs. #14 Oregon State

2:15 PM

This was supposed to become somewhat of a premier bowl game once the SEC was tagged to replace the Mountain West here. Hasn’t happened that way. Sure, Florida is a good brand but it’s not nearly a good football team as some other SEC teams (or MWC teams for that matter). Oregon State probably deserved better. Also, this game was originally slated for ABC in primetime but because the Las Vegas Raiders are a terrible football franchise, their game the next day was flexed out of Sunday Night Football and moved back into the afternoon. It meant there wouldn’t be enough time to make sure the stadium was ready after this game. So this game swapped with the New Mexico Bowl and gets a 12:15 local start.

LA Bowl: Washington State vs. Fresno State

3:30 PM

It’s the opening Saturday for bowl games. Will I watch this? Yes, of course. Will I pay full attention to this? Depends on other overlapping bowl games and what happens with the NFL games being played on the same day.

LendingTree Bowl: Southern Miss vs. Rice

5:45 PM

Rice got in thanks to the fact they are graduating students at a better rate than all the other football programs at the FBS level who had 5-7 records. Seems awfully specific. Anyway, it’s a bowl game so I’m there.

New Mexico Bowl: BYU vs. SMU

7:30 PM

It’s been 42 years but SMU might finally get its revenge for one of the greatest bowl comebacks of all time: the 1980 Holiday Bowl. I remember playing that on Heisman level in NCAA Football 2005 (or was it 2004?). Talk about one of the toughest challenges to defeat. Anyway, this should be fun.

Frisco Bowl: North Texas vs. Boise State

9:15 PM

The site of the FCS Championship also hosts the Frisco Bowl and the short-lived Frisco Football Classic which we should never talk about again. I’m surprised they don’t move the FCS title game around but I guess it gets good crowds and decent weather so why mess with a good thing. Boise will definitely be the visiting team here.

Monday December 19th

Myrtle Beach Bowl: UConn vs. Marshall

2:30 PM

UConn in a bowl game! That alone is worth watching. Will anyone care that poor Marshall is there and had a pretty good first Sun Belt season? No because the UCONN HUSKIES ARE BOWLING! Now if we can somehow get UMass to go bowling…God help us all.

Tuesday December 20th

Idaho Potato Bowl: San Jose State vs. Eastern Michigan

3:30 PM

A rematch of the 1987 California Bowl. Back when these two teams were not highly regarded at all. I guess you could have said the same thing like a decade ago as well. These two programs have become relatively consistent winners and have stabilized themselves. I think many of the fans would be pulling for the Spartans here considering the tragedy that befell the team late in the season. I still wish this game was on at night so that blue turf could basically become an ice rink.

Boca Raton Bowl: Toledo vs. Liberty

7:30 PM

So why wasn’t this game put on during the day? Play in Boca in the afternoon sun? That would be good, no? Anyway, I have somewhat softened my stance on bowl games during weekdays (days!) before Christmas so when it comes right down to it, I don’t really care when it airs. I guess this is the attitude that comes about thanks to COVID and being home a lot more than we were ever used to.

Wednesday December 21st

New Orleans Bowl: South Alabama vs. WKU

9:00 PM

The first game to appear on the specialty pack. So if you had the specialty pack all year, you were thrilled because TSN didn’t exactly light it up with college football game coverage on their schedule. Bowl time…well, that’s where things fall apart for you. Yes there are a few games that head to the specialty pack but TSN ends up with the majority of the games. I guess it’s the price you pay to get a good amount of college football throughout the season.

Thursday December 22nd

Armed Forces Bowl: Baylor vs. Air Force

7:30 PM

Air Force loves to run the ball. Baylor is alright defensively but this seems to be a step below a Dave Aranda defense. Expect a lopsided time of possession battle.

Friday December 23rd

Independence Bowl: Houston vs. Louisiana

3:00 PM

Aesthetically, the Independence Bowl looks the worst now that the Gasparilla Bowl moved outdoors to Raymond James Stadium. But I like it. Gives off that 80s grungy college football old-school style that you just don’t see anymore…partially thanks to cameras that give us better than Betamax quality.

Gasparilla Bowl: Missouri vs. Wake Forest

6:30 PM

I never get why TSN does this though. Early game on a TSN station. Later game…not. I know there are other live sports contracts that TSN has to deal with but it just seems odd, especially when a game goes over that three hour, thirty minute time window.

Saturday December 24th

Hawaii Bowl: Middle Tennessee vs. San Diego State

8:00 PM

The annual Present Wrapping Bowl. Or more like Stocking Stuffer Bowl since I make sure to have all the presents wrapped before Christmas Eve. Isn’t that what we’re supposed to do during this bowl game?

Monday December 26th

Quick Lane Bowl: New Mexico State vs. Bowling Green

2:30 PM

Normally, very few would want to watch this. But it’s a Monday. And for college football fans, it’s a chance to see New Mexico State in a bowl game. At one point they were the Halley’s Comet of FBS schools when it came to bowl games but now they go every few years. Not bad. Helps to have a good coach like Jerry Kill there. Hey, how the hell did they get Jerry Kill to coach in Las Cruces in the first place?

Tuesday December 27th

Camellia Bowl: Georgia Southern vs. Buffalo

Noon

I see the Christmas Day Camellia Bowl idea died a quiet death. Probably a good thing. If I recall correctly, the only bowl game that ever worked on Christmas Day was the Aloha Bowl back in the 80s and 90s. I remember watching it at my aunt and uncle’s house one year during Christmas dinner. I don’t think you’d catch anyone watching college football during Christmas dinner in this part of the world anymore.

First Responder Bowl: Memphis vs. Utah State

3:15 PM

This is technically a bowl game. Look it’s on a Tuesday afternoon. Many people are working (although some get between Christmas and New Year’s off). It just screams low-level bowl game and is the example used by the “Too Many Bowl Games” crowd.

Birmingham Bowl: Coastal Carolina vs. East Carolina

6:45 PM

Coastal has fallen off a cliff in their last few games this season. Barely beating App State and Southern Miss and then getting destroyed by James Madison and Troy. Not a good look. Now their coach is off to Liberty. They are hoping to get some momentum going into next year against ECU. Also, I wonder when this bowl game will get a sponsor. Isn’t Pornhub looking to invest in sports?

Guaranteed Rate Bowl: Wisconsin vs. Oklahoma State

10:15 PM

Wisconsin got a great head coach hire in Luke Fickell. I don’t know if he’s coaching the team in this bowl game but I’m sure that will be most of the talk here. Otherwise, it’s a late night bowl game that everyone hopes becomes super wacky.

Wednesday December 28th

Military Bowl: Duke vs. UCF

2:00 PM

Always nice to see Duke in a bowl game. It’s funny: everyone kind of likes Duke football. Duke basketball: not so much.

Liberty Bowl: Arkansas vs. Kansas

5:30 PM

It’s the battle for Kansas (kind of)! This is a nice consolation prize for us not getting Kansas-Missouri in a bowl game. And I know Missouri said they didn’t duck the Jayhawks but you think they would admit that? It’s like Texas repeatedly dodging Texas A&M in bowl games. Like just man up and if you get a bid there, play them. Stop being such pussies.

Holiday Bowl: North Carolina vs. #15 Oregon

8:00 PM

I honestly thought the Tar Heels would give Clemson a good game in the ACC Championship. Boy, was I ever wrong. This isn’t a bad spot to land though. Bo Nix will play so I can see this being a VERY motivated Ducks team.

Texas Bowl: Ole Miss vs. Texas Tech

9:00 PM

A team that looked like an honest contender up against a team who had a good season under a fiery coach. Oh and their fans love to throw tortillas. The Lane Train vs. The Taco Express.

Thursday December 29th

Pinstripe Bowl: Minnesota vs. Syracuse

2:00 PM

I always sincerely hope it is snowing like crazy when this game is played. I remembered the Kansas State-Syracuse classic from years ago and it was a great game and fun to watch. I’m sure not pleasant at all for players or coaches or fans but who cares. It’s all about entertaining me!

Cheez-It Bowl: Oklahoma vs. #13 Florida State

5:30 PM

If this was 1992, people would be putting this game at the top of the must-watch lists. Alas, Oklahoma was as bad as its been since before Bob Stoops took over. FSU on the other hand is a fun team finally on the rise. And they will definitely be a heavy home favourite here in the 19th bowl game out of 254 played in Orlando every year (unofficially).

Alamo Bowl: #20 Texas vs. #12 Washington

9:00 PM

Almost a home game for the Longhorns and that could spell trouble for the Huskies in a packed Alamodome. The Alamo Bowl almost always has one of the top three non-CFP, non-NY6 bowl games and this year is no exception.

Friday December 30th

Sun Bowl: Pittsburgh vs. #18 UCLA

Noon

OK so now that CBS will be done with the SEC after next season…I still haven’t changed what I think about the bowl tie-ins. An SEC West team should be here. Or a Big XII team. Or hell, a Mountain West team. Against a Pac-12 team. That’s how this should work. You want fans? Do this. Guaranteed there will be plenty of good seats available for this one in El Paso for the *checks notes* 10:00 AM LOCAL KICKOFF?

Duke’s Mayo Bowl: Maryland vs. #23 NC State

Noon

So who gets the big vat of mayo dumped on them at the end of this one? I think it would be funnier if Mike Locksley gets doused in mayo rather than Dave Doeren so I will pull for the Terps here.

Gator Bowl: #19 South Carolina vs. #21 Notre Dame

3:30 PM

Two good underrated teams here at a game that hasn’t been used to getting good teams lately. So move the game to the middle of the day on December 30th and watch what happens. Supposedly, the Gator Bowl committee pushed hard to get Notre Dame. Probably a good idea instead of an ACC team.

Arizona Bowl: Wyoming vs. Ohio

4:30 PM

The second year of Barstool Sports being the sponsor for this bowl game. I don’t know how many people go to Barstool Sports’ website to watch this one. I can’t see it being very high but this very much is the future of bowl games. I do kind of wish they would partner up with some network, even one like NESN, so that at least some people can watch this bowl game until it becomes a bigger deal.

Orange Bowl: #7 Clemson vs. #6 Tennessee

8:00 PM

And finally we get to the New Year’s Six bowl games and holy shit is this one orange. Orange Bowl. Orange uniforms. Orange logos. Orange everywhere. You’ll be able to see this game from space. This should be a really good game as you have two teams who weren’t that far away from being in the College Football Playoff getting that national spotlight.

Saturday December 31st

Music City Bowl: Kentucky vs. Iowa

Noon

The over/under for this one is 31.5. 31.5. I repeat, THIRTY-ONE POINT FIVE. That is ridiculous. I would still bet the under. This bowl needed its own timeslot and they aren’t getting it so I see a lot of people flocking to the other game on at the exact same time.

Sugar Bowl: #5 Alabama vs. #9 Kansas State

Noon

This could be an interesting game. If both teams show up to play then I see the Wildcats giving the Tide all they can handle. I don’t know how Nick Saban will hide his disappointment in not getting into the College Football Playoff after that ridiculous halftime interview he was allowed to give to state his team’s case for the playoff. Dumb. It is also going to be weird to see the Sugar Bowl on at Noon. On New Year’s Eve.

Fiesta Bowl: #2 Michigan vs. #3 TCU

4:00 PM

So many think TCU shouldn’t have even been in this game meaning there are many who want the Horned Frogs to be blown out in this one. I could see this being closer than many people think. Also, the 2-3 matchup is almost always better, historically, than the 1-4 matchup in the College Football Playoff.

Peach Bowl: #1 Georgia vs. #4 Ohio State

8:00 PM

The Buckeyes backing into the playoff has left a sour taste in some people’s mouths. I get it but I still think there is way too much emphasis on conference championship games. Until they get rid of divisions in every conference, some of the conference championships look horrible. It is kind of weird to see this one on TSN2 when the previous game is on TSN3 but my guess is that the Canada-Sweden World Juniors game will end up on all the other TSNs other than TSN2 (which is still seen as an alternate channel to an extent).

Monday January 2nd

ReliaQuest Bowl: #22 Mississippi State vs. Illinois

Noon

Two of the more popular head coaches in college football will clash here in the former Outback Bowl. Complete contrast in styles: Mike Leach’s Run n’ Gun up against Bret Bielema’s Ground n’ Pound. Should be a good first game of the new year.

Citrus Bowl: #17 LSU vs. Purdue

1:00 PM

It’s always a tiny bit weird to have these college bowl games on January 2nd instead of New Year’s Day. You can’t have them going up against the NFL, though, and no one would probably even attempt it (plus TSN might be a bit miffed if that happened). So on the first day back at work for some people, they may miss some good football. I guess that’s one of the downsides of a lot of bowl games.

Cotton Bowl: #10 USC vs. #16 Tulane

1:00 PM

I find with the way the College Football Playoff has been set up, the best Group of Five team, more often than not, is in a bit of a lose-lose situation. They show up to this big bowl game and if they win, there will be piles of excuses heaped on to why (and it usually revolves around injuries). If they lose, then they didn’t belong in the first place. This is something you don’t get for Power Five teams (except in the semi-finals). I do find college football media a bit odd that way.

Rose Bowl: #11 Penn State vs. #8 Utah

5:00 PM

It is going to be really weird to watch this bowl game and realize that the next game is the national championship. No Sugar Bowl. No odd bowl game here and there between now and the title game. This is it. I think this will be the underrated bowl game of the year (or at least as much as it can be when both teams are in the Top 15).

Monday January 9th

College Football Playoff National Championship

8:00 PM

This is the one game that, at this point, is not confirmed for where it will appear on TSN. I am putting down these three channels because ESPN usually does like 43 different broadcasts for this event and TSN always picks up the main broadcast, plus one or two of the others. I sincerely hope they have the Coaches Room again and if they do, it should be a open bar for them. Free food. The works. Want to know how they really feel? That’s how you do it. Talk about ratings gold!

Let’s look at the breakdown for the games:

• TSN – 30 games
• ABC & TSN – 5 games
• FOX – 1 game
• CBS – 1 game
• Barstool Sports – 1 game
• specialty pack – 5 games

See what I mean? TSN will be showing 35 of the 43 bowl games this season. Over 80%. Amazing. I just wish they would show more games during the season.

Alright I have started toying with a new format for the blog posts. Not saying this is set in stone but I am going to try it out for a bit and if I feel it’s working then this is what it will look like going forward (until I get bored and want to change it again). Enjoy the rest of your week everyone!

SUPER MEGA HYPER OMNI POST! Version 6.0.0

I have sent out the warning before so if you know about it you can skip to the next section. But if you are new to this, here it is: this post is insanely long. Don’t read this on the toilet since I am sure you could get hemorrhoids for being on the can that long. Hell, don’t even take it into the bath with you. I don’t think your skin can wrinkle that much. You have been forewarned. So get your favourite drink, sit down and enjoy this absolute avalanche of information.

This is the sixth version of this stupidly long post; however, it’s only the second with the same format as last year’s. Longer and uncut. No recaps since I don’t do those anymore but my Top 25, bowl projections, conference championship scenarios and some other crazy crap that you may or may not have even wanted to look at. Let’s get the ball rolling with the Bossman Top 25.

#1	Georgia
#2	Ohio State
#3	TCU
#4	USC
#5	Michigan
#6	LSU
#7	Oregon
#8	Clemson
#9	Alabama
#10	Penn State
#11	Tennessee
#12	Washington
#13	Utah
#14	Kansas State
#15	Notre Dame
#16	Florida State
#17	Tulane
#18	UCLA
#19	North Carolina
#20	Oregon State
#21	Cincinnati
#22	Ole Miss
#23	Texas
#24	Coastal Carolina
#25	UCF

So nothing really happened near the top although I have adjusted my rankings a bit. I have USC in now and Michigan out. I still think Michigan’s schedule has been mostly shit this season. That will all change if they beat tOSU so really, this doesn’t matter. I think USC has put themselves in the driver’s seat to get one of the Top 4 spots. Beat Notre Dame and win the Pac-12 Championship and they are golden…I think. The Group of Five will go through the American Conference although UCF’s loss to Navy has opened the door for a trio of Sun Belt teams (Coastal Carolina, Troy and South Alabama) to still have a sliver of hope although a lot has to happen for them to even have a legitimate shot. Finally, I think the Big XII will have the lowest ranked team in the New Year’s Six because I can’t see Kansas State beating TCU for the Big XII title.

Alright so far so good. I think. I hope. Let’s get on with the second part of this massive post, the conference championship game scenarios.

Toledo has clinched the MAC West already. In the MAC East, Ohio can clinch tomorrow night with a win over Bowling Green. Now, with Buffalo’s game against Akron getting postponed and probably cancelled outright, I don’t know what happens if Ohio loses and then the Bulls beat Kent State. The Bulls would have played one less conference game and would win the division if they had been allowed to play Akron and then won. An odd scenario that may become moot if the Bobcats win.

UTSA has clinched a spot in the conference title game and will host (I had wondered if the game would be moved permanently to the Alamodome but that won’t happen now that UTSA heads to the AAC next season).

North Texas is in the driver’s seat for the other spot (remember there are no divisions in Conference USA this season thank fucking God). If the Mean Green beat Rice they are off to San Antonio. Lose then that opens the door for WKU. If they can beat FAU they will play the Roadrunners.

Coastal Carolina is already in the championship game. It’s going to be close but I have a feeling the Chants will host the game as well. The host is the highest ranked team in the CFP Poll.

Troy beat South Alabama earlier this season so if they beat Arkansas State they will win the Sun Belt West. A loss and a USA win and it’s the Jaguars who will win. Both teams are looking for their first division title.

Boise State and Fresno State punched their tickets to the conference championship game with wins this weekend.

UCF had a chance to claim one of the conference title game spots but lost against Navy. They are still in with a win in the War on I-4 against USF. If they lose then the loser of the Tulane-Cincinnati game will play…the winner of the Tulane-Cincinnati game in the championship.

This was looking like a complete shitshow going into the previous week. Things have really been clarified after the results on Saturday.

USC is already in thanks to their amazing win over UCLA in one of the best Pac-12 games in recent memory (that actually meant something). Oregon eliminated Utah by beating them two nights ago. They are in the driver’s seat for the other spot. Washington still has a chance. They must win the Apple Cup and hope Oregon loses the Civil War to go to Santa Clara.

It feels like TCU clinched about a month ago. Kansas State sits in second and just has to beat Kansas in the Sunflower Showdown to make it to JerryWorld. Most years that would be a foregone conclusion but not so this season. If the Wildcats lose, Texas can get there if they beat Baylor on the final weekend.

Clemson vs. North Carolina has been booked for a couple weeks now.

We know what it comes down to. The Game. Ohio State-Michigan. Winner is in, loser has to await their fate for the College Football Playoff. In the West, Iowa, with their horrible offense, is somehow in the lead and has the easiest path to the Big Ten Championship. Beat Nebraska on Black Friday and none of the other games matter in the Big Ten West. If they lose, it opens up a few possibilities. Purdue can win it by then beating Indiana for the Old Oaken Bucket. If they also lose, well then God help us all. Illinois should handle Northwestern. Wisconsin and Minnesota play each other. It would give us a four-way tie between Purdue, Iowa, Illinois and the Minny/Wisky winner. Here’s how all this would look in terms of the head-to-head tiebreaker:

• Iowa lost to Illinois but beat Purdue, Wisconsin and Minnesota.
• Purdue beat Minnesota and Illinois and lost to Wisconsin and Iowa.
• Illinois beat Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin but lost to Purdue.
• Minnesota lost to Purdue, Illinois and Iowa and still have to face Wisconsin.
• Wisconsin still has to play Minnesota. They lost to Illinois and Iowa, but beat Purdue.

So, after all that, if there was a four-way tie and Minnesota beat Wisconsin, then Iowa, Purdue and Illinois would all be 2-1 in the head-to-head standings. Then comes divisional records where Iowa and Illinois would be tied at 4-1. The next tiebreaker is record against progressively worse teams in the division. Iowa and Illinois both beat Wisconsin and Nebraska and Northwestern. So now we go to common conference opponents. Meaning the divisional record plus any games they both played against the same teams in the East. The only team both faced was Michigan and both teams lost. This is getting insane. Next up is the cumulative conference record of their non-conference opponents and here is where it’s not really that close. Illinois’ East Division opponents have gone 13-11 in the conference going into the final week. Iowa’s opponents from the East have gone 17-7. So Iowa would get in.

If Wisconsin beats Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois would be tied at 2-1 with Purdue and Wisconsin at 1-2 in head-to-head matchups. I am not going through all the tiebreakers again but Iowa beats Illinois.

So if we get the four-way tie, no matter what, Iowa will go to face the East Division winner. Man, I hope I have that all right.

Well this will be a lot easier than the Big Ten scenarios. Georgia and LSU have already clinched their divisions and will face off in Atlanta. See? Much easier.

I’m already tired. But I will soldier on. Time for the updated bowl projections.

Fiesta Bowl	CFP #2 vs. CFP #3	Ohio State vs. TCU
Peach Bowl	CFP #1 vs. CFP #4	Georgia vs. Michigan

From my previous bowl projections two weeks ago, the Fiesta Bowl has not changed one bit. As for the Peach Bowl, Georgia is still #1. Now I have Michigan in instead of UCLA. UCLA not being in is an easy choice after they lost to USC. I see Michigan losing a close one to Ohio State. That is the first step. I also see LSU and USC losing their conference championship games. Finally, even though I think Clemson beats North Carolina in a relatively close ACC Championship, they don’t have the strength of schedule anymore to leapfrog Michigan for the #4 spot. Many will bitch and complain, much like they have when two SEC teams got in but I think this has a really good shot at happening.

Now on to the New Year’s Six which has got quite interesting over the past couple weeks.

Rose Bowl	Big Ten #1 vs. Pac-12 #1	Penn State vs. Oregon
Cotton Bowl	CFP At-large vs. G-5 #1	USC vs. UCF
Sugar Bowl	SEC #1 vs. Big XII #1	Alabama vs. Kansas State
Orange Bowl	ACC #1 vs. Big Ten/Notre Dame/SEC	Clemson vs. LSU

OK so a lot more changed here than in the CFP projections. Here we go:

• Normally the Big Ten champ would go to the Rose Bowl. With Ohio State and Michigan both in the CFP, the next best team out of the Big Ten would get this spot and that would be Penn State since it’s a long drop to whoever would be next.
• I believe Oregon beats USC in the Pac-12 Championship. This boots the Pac-12 out of the CFP and puts the Ducks in the Rose against the Nittany Lions.
• USC’s loss won’t drop them far and they should nab the only true at-large spot to go to the Cotton Bowl.
• The Trojans opponent will be UCF as I think they win their final regular season game and then the AAC Championship.
• Clemson’s victory over North Carolina gives them the ACC’s Orange Bowl spot.
• It’s a big drop from TCU to the next team and that won’t change from my last set of bowl projections until bowl selection day. I have Kansas State there and I think they will be juuuuuuust in the Top 20, making them the lowest ranked team in the NY6.
• Alabama will get the Sugar Bowl spot because Georgia is in the CFP. It could go to LSU, which would put Bama in the Orange. Honestly, they are fairly interchangeable.

Quite a bit of change there that would leave Tennessee, Washington, Utah and Florida State outside looking in. Very few would argue for those teams to get in so at least it would be, well, less controversy than normal since there’s always an argument (and if there isn’t, ESPN will find one). Alright now on to the rest of the bowl projections.

Citrus Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Ole Miss vs. Purdue
ReliaQuest Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	South Carolina vs. Iowa
Music City Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Tennessee vs. Illinois
Gator Bowl	SEC vs. ACC	Arkansas vs. North Carolina
Arizona Bowl	MWC vs. MAC	San Jose State vs. Toledo
Sun Bowl	ACC vs. Pac-12	NC State vs. Oregon State
Duke’s Mayo Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Florida vs. Wisconsin
Alamo Bowl	Big XII vs. Pac-12	Texas vs. Washington
Cheez-It Bowl	Big XII vs. ACC	Oklahoma State vs. Florida State
Pinstripe Bowl	Big Ten vs. ACC	Maryland vs. Notre Dame
Texas Bowl	SEC vs. Big XII	Mississippi State vs. Baylor
Holiday Bowl	ACC vs. Pac-12	Louisville vs. UCLA
Liberty Bowl	SEC vs. Big XII	Miami* vs. Oklahoma
Military Bowl	ACC vs. AAC	Wake Forest vs. Cincinnati
Guaranteed Rate Bowl	Big Ten vs. Big XII	Minnesota vs. Kansas
Birmingham Bowl	SEC vs. AAC/ACC/C-USA	Liberty* vs. Duke
First Responder Bowl	2 of AAC, Big XII, C-USA, Sun Belt, MWC	Texas Tech vs. Memphis
Camellia Bowl	Sun Belt vs. MAC/C-USA	South Alabama vs. UTSA
Quick Lane Bowl	Big Ten vs. MAC	UConn* vs. Eastern Michigan
Hawaii Bowl	BYU/AAC/C-USA vs. MWC	BYU vs. Wyoming
Independence Bowl	AAC vs. Army	Tulane vs. Army
Gasparilla Bowl	2 of AAC, ACC, SEC, Pac-12	Pittsburgh vs. East Carolina
Armed Forces Bowl	2 of Big XII, C-USA, AAC	SMU vs. Middle Tennessee
New Orleans Bowl	Sun Belt vs. C-USA	Troy vs. WKU
Boca Raton Bowl	2 of AAC, Sun Belt, C-USA, MAC	Marshall vs. Bowling Green
Idaho Potato Bowl	MWC vs. MAC	San Diego State vs. Ohio
Myrtle Beach Bowl	2 of AAC, Sun Belt, C-USA, MAC	Appalachian State vs. Miami-OH
Frisco Bowl	2 of AAC, MWC, Sun Belt, C-USA, MAC	Fresno State vs. Southern Miss
Las Vegas Bowl	SEC vs. Pac-12	Kentucky vs. Washington State
LendingTree Bowl	Sun Belt vs. MAC/C-USA	Coastal Carolina vs. UTEP
LA Bowl	Pac-12 vs. MWC	Utah vs. Boise State
New Mexico Bowl	MWC vs. AAC/C-USA/MAC	Utah State vs. UAB
Fenway Bowl	ACC vs. AAC	Syracuse vs. Houston
Cure Bowl	2 of AAC, MWC, Sun Belt, C-USA, MAC	Air Force vs. Louisiana
Bahamas Bowl	C-USA vs. MAC	Florida Atlantic vs. Buffalo

There are just enough bowl-eligible teams to fill all the bowl spots; however, the SEC and Big Ten will fall short of fulfilling all their tie-ins. This has to do with more teams in the CFP and NY6 than other conferences. Miami, Liberty and UConn will fill in there (as noted by an asterisk). The ACC actually has more bowl-eligible teams than tie-ins so Miami gets slotted into the Liberty Bowl to face Oklahoma in a game straight out of the 80s. Liberty and UConn technically have to wait until all other bowl-eligible teams get their spots before they can find out where they go. With exactly two bowl games not having two teams, they go there (Liberty to the Birmingham and UConn to the Quick Lane). Finally, despite the fact North Texas won six games, in my scenario they lose the Conference USA Championship and fall to 6-7. If there weren’t enough teams available they would get a waiver to compete. Unfortunately for them there are no spots available to them so they will be home for the holidays.

Hey let’s continue! Time to look at various postseason scenarios. I will not use the AP Poll for some of these. I will use where I think teams will end up going into bowl season (my end-of-season rankings) for the first two.

12-Team College Football Playoff

This is the playoff format that’s coming soon. And if that pesky Rose Bowl can fall in line, it could be as early as 2024. Crazy to think but this is the case. So, if we had that this year, this is what it would look like:

Remember, only conference champions can get a first-round bye in this soon-to-be new format. That’s why Oregon replaces Michigan at #4. Where these teams would play I would leave out other than the first round games which are at the home field of the higher seed. Is it too much? Probably, but it’s college football so I will watch it and hope it works out properly (which no postseason format has been able to do every time but I digress).

6-Team College Football Playoff

This is what I started advocating for even though I had also pushed for just one new playoff team for a while. That dream is gone but here is what it would look like at the end of this season:

Pretty self-explanatory. They would still use bowl games for this. For this year, I think it would be the Cotton Bowl and the Orange Bowl for the first round since the Rose and Sugar, being on January 1st, would not give enough time for the playoffs to be done before the middle of the month. The semis would remain the Fiesta and Peach Bowls.

Poll-and-Bowl

Let’s go back to a simpler time. When the talk of a playoff or a plus-one was just that: talk. The only committees we knew were the bowl committees that went to all sorts of games in November to figure out which teams to select. Now let’s see what that might look like with the better teams in the polls. As I did last year when I did this exercise I have to take some liberty with bowl tie-ins. Also for this I will use current AP Poll listings for variety’s sake:

• Rose Bowl (Big Ten Champ vs. Pac-12 Champ): #2 Ohio State vs. #5 USC
• Sugar Bowl (SEC Champ vs. Big XII Champ): #1 Georgia vs. #4 TCU
• Cotton Bowl (Big XII #2 vs. Pac-12 #2): #15 Kansas State vs. #10 Oregon
• Orange Bowl (ACC Champ vs. SEC #2): #7 Clemson vs. #6 LSU
• Peach Bowl (ACC #2 vs. at-large): #16 Florida State vs. #3 Michigan
• Citrus Bowl (SEC #3 vs. Big Ten #2): #8 Alabama vs. #11 Penn State
• Fiesta Bowl (Big XII #3 vs. at-large): #24 Texas vs. #9 Tennessee

I’ll stop there as I have the top ten teams. Maybe there would be more at-large teams involved (say in the Cotton or Orange Bowls) but realistically this is what you would see in and around New Year’s Day. Sure there are some lopsided bowl matchups (see the Fiesta Bowl) but I think it’s that way to an extent anyway. Really this would come down to three games: the Sugar, Rose and Peach Bowls. Georgia wins they are the champ. Only way that doesn’t happen is if UGA barely beats TCU and Ohio State drops the hammer on USC. If the Dawgs lose and tOSU win, they are the champs. If both those teams lose, then Michigan could win it all in the Peach Bowl. If the top three teams lose, it will come down to TCU and USC and might end up being who looked better in the bowl game (or won by a larger margin). It would make things interesting that is for sure. Better? Debatable.

24-Team College Football Playoff

Oh god, why am I doing this to myself. Maybe I’m trying to prove some point. Well, to be fair, I have hammered this point home before. The longer the tournament, the more it becomes a war of attrition. The winning team, in the end, becomes the healthiest one, not necessarily the best one. It’s been seen often in FCS football, even with some of those North Dakota State teams that won it all. So….*deep breath*, let’s look at how at 24-team playoff would work (I’ll just use AP rankings again):

OK that’s a lot. To me this feels like WAY too much. Overkill. When the 24th-ranked team, Texas, has a chance to win the national championship, college football, at least at the FBS level, has lost a lot of what makes it special. Some want to go even farther and I say to that, put down the crackpipe.

Done. No more. I can’t do it. It’s so much information. But there it is. Read it, do with it what you will. Then in about a week’s time we can forget all of it since it will change…in some cases a lot.

Tomorrow, it’s time for the super American Thanksgiving schedule so prepare for a lot more reading but at least this you can use the rest of the week through late Saturday night. Have a great week, everyone!