If I had the power to change things – UPDATED VERSION!

Posted on March 3, 2024 by guelphbossman

I did this post over nine years ago. Crazy, right? I went over some of the things I would do if I was put in control of college football. So maybe it’s about time to see how I did and then look at a few more things I would do. Let’s fucking go with this potential bullshit!

In OT, they should start farther back than the 25-yard line. OK they still haven’t changed this and they have made it worse by going to the 2-point shootout after the second overtime period. That is so ridiculous. Either take out the gimmick (which reminds me of the penalty shootout at the end of regular season hockey games which also drives me nuts) or make it so teams can tie after two overtime periods like in the CFL. College football had the greatest overtime format and they have somehow been overtaken by the NFL who, for all the good they do with rule changes, spent years fucking up their overtime games and basically stumbled upon rules changes thanks to the Bills and…well, I don’t want to talk about it.
Stop time after EVERY first down makes the game a little longer than most can handle. They listened! THEY LISTENED! Kind of. I had proposed doing it in the final five minutes of each half or even in the second and fourth quarter only. They do it all game now. Which is good? Problem is, some of that saved time has gone to more ad breaks. That is not so good. All in all, we will call this a push but it definitely leads into my next point that I had made…
Three-hour TV windows are dumb. This is still the case. And it’s done even more than it was back then. ESPN does it a few times a year with their evening games by pushing them to 6:00 and 9:00 so that the late SEC game isn’t TOO late. Now the ACC Network also does this one week, usually Week 2. They have so many games for their teams that they have to do this. At least they are smart enough to start at 11:00 and this past season, moved to three hour, fifteen minute windows for some of the games. That’s a perfect compromise. Expect other conference networks to potentially try this with conferences becoming bloated.
Can we stop with the games against FCS schools outside of the first month? No, it seems like they can’t. The SEC has dialed it back a bit. Only about half their teams (if that) play those games during the penultimate weekend of the regular season. But now we have the ACC doing it now. Stop it. Please. Play them in October. November should be for the biggest games, not Western Illinois (no offense to the Leathernecks) going to Georgia to get their asses handed to them for three-quarters of a mil.
Start Division 4 right now. I think I need to tweak this idea since a fuck-ton of realignment has happened in nine years. I am going to change this into football becoming its own special college sport and not totally following conference alignments in the rest of the sports. Don’t get me wrong, some of the realignments have been good but many have been weird, head-scratching, money-hungry or just plain dumb. So let football have their own conference alignments and allow the rest of the sports to go back to having the Southwest Conference or the Metro Conference or maybe other, better, more geographically sensible conferences since even in basketball, going halfway across the United States for a Tuesday night conference game is beyond ridiculous.
Is it time about time that CIS teams move south so to speak? At the time, I used Simon Fraser being in D-II as a starting point. Now, SFU doesn’t even have a football team thanks to their athletic department being a complete dumpster fire (not to mention much of the administration). Rogers still has their NHL contract for another few years (and there seems to be a bit of regret on their end which I mentioned would happen) so any CIS football, especially OUA, won’t be shown on their network any time soon. Maybe TSN can step up a bit with TSN+. Putting even one game a week (to start) on the streaming platform would be a good beginning to get eyeballs back on university football in this country. So, do I still think CIS teams should join the NCAA? Not nearly as much as I used to but some programs (I’m looking at you, York) need to seriously think about whether continuing having a football program is worth it.
Let us all be able to get the ESPNs, FOX Sports 1, etc. Yeah not even close. The amount of games available to us up here is still the same, if not a bit less now. Peacock has joined the fray and we cannot get those games up here. Still can’t get any of the FOX, FS1 or, now, FS2 games up here in Canada. I’ve always said (and I will continue to say it) that the death of cable (which still will happen regardless of all these streaming services teaming up in a way) will partially come down to not giving the customers what they want to see, especially if they are willing to pay for it. I had mentioned years ago that I would pay a few hundred bucks a season if I could have access to have every FBS game on TV. Every one. I don’t care about news or movies or TV shows or much else. Those I can watch when I want on Netflix or Hulu or Amazon Prime or some other streaming service if I really want to. But college football is the one thing I would want all of and should have the ability to get but I have the god damn audacity to be Canadian. What a dick I am. So yeah, this should still happen.
Do not put out the CFP poll until the bowl games are being selected. Because The Committee is filled with people who know college football but struggle with logic, you get situations like you got this past season. It easily (and I mean FUCKING EASILY) could have been rectified if when they had dropped Florida State to #5 after Week 13, they kept them there after Week 14, even though they knew one of Michigan and Ohio State was going to lose. Sure it wouldn’t have been that well received but then they wouldn’t have looked like complete assholes when they dropped them in the final poll to destroy their national championship hopes. If they wait until just as the bowl games and playoff seedings are being selected, then there’s not nearly as much of a problem. Debate all you want but at least you don’t compare it to previous weeks’ polls which make The Committee look like fucking idiots.

Alright, that was the list nine long years ago. I was in my 30s. And, looking at my body, a lot fitter. I hate the fact that injuries can happen due to nothing but air and movement these days. Other than what I see in the mirror, a lot has changed in college football as well since then. So I guess I have to come up with a few more things I would change. Here we go.

Someone other than the NCAA has to put forth strict NIL rules and regulations. This feels like a no-brainer. When NIL started, it was great. Great stories of these players getting some nice deals and some players even sharing the wealth with their teammates. Awesome. Then, to the shock of absolutely no one, things got out of hand. Quickly. Now players are making hundreds of thousands of dollars (which is fine) but it has nothing to do with their name, image or likeness. All it has to do with a booster (or group of boosters) ponying up a bunch of money to buy a player’s loyalty (for at least a year). Isn’t this the same kind of shit SMU got the death penalty for? There has to be rules to all this and keeping boosters out of the player payment business would be first and foremost on that agenda. Start there, draft something up, tell all the teams they will abide by it or there will be penalties. Keep going against the rules, you will give up the one thing they all covet: money. If a program is fined millions of dollars, they will think twice of allowing some of these boosters, who think they can do whatever the fuck they feel like, from digging their claws into some of their roster.
Football players (if not players in other sports) should be able to drop down to a part-time course load during the season. Playing college sports is not easy. You have to organize your time. I remember when I was a university athlete. I couldn’t get things right. I found it too difficult to commit to a sport AND a full-time course load. I am sure other athletes feel the same way. And the way college athletics are going, these students don’t need to finish their degrees before they leave school. They should be able to finish when they can. This may also push some student-athletes to be in more difficult programs. I mean there can only be so many communications jobs out there, right?
Targeting HAS to be figured out. Does anyone really know what targeting is? Hell, the officials struggle to figure it out so I am not surprised everyone else is perplexed by it. Most of it seems to centre around hitting a player with the crown of your helmet. And yes, it’s dangerous. I still remember getting speared in practice in high school by a guy who had never been on special teams before. It knocked the wind out me something fierce. It’s a player safety issue and has to be taken seriously. Splitting the penalty into Targeting 1 and Targeting 2 penalties is a good start in my opinion. Targeting 2 can be reserved for the egregious penalties where the player deserves to be ejected. And hell, throw a 20-yard penalty on to it instead of a 15. Hopefully that helps a bit. Targeting 1 can still be 15 yards but the player stays in the game. The coaches and players may understand this better and we can see how it goes for a few years before looking into it again and adjusting it where need be.
If there are going to be more superconferences (and less conferences in FBS in general) it’s time all conferences go to nine conference games. A few years back I would have railed against this idea but I didn’t realize that conferences might hit the 20-team mark in the next few years. Give it a decade and there is no way there will be nine conferences like there are now. At least one, if not multiple, conferences will cease to exist. With upwards of 18 teams at this point, putting an extra conference game makes all the sense in the world. Many Power Five teams can still have their one FCS non-conference game (which gives some FCS teams a much needed infusion of cash), along with a Group of Five non-conference game. Add a P5 non-conference game and there you go. See how easy that is? Do I have to figure everything out for you guys?

Are there other things needed to “fix” college football? Of course. It feels like college football is barreling down (in one of those Japanese bullet trains) towards no return. Where it will look not a whole lot different than the minor league of the NFL. It kind of is already but in 2030 I have a feeling we will look at even just before COVID and say “college football wasn’t like that, was it?”

The combine is occurring and I am glad to see some players saying “Fuck that noise.” If scouts can’t figure things out from the absolute avalanche of game film on these guys then they should find another line of work. No, instead we have to do drills that, as much as some want to say otherwise, don’t mean a whole lot compared to how they play the game. Tom fucking Brady just ran the 40 faster at 46 years old than he did when he was at the Combine. If that doesn’t tell you that the Combine is just basically Scouting Bonerfest, I don’t know what will.

Anyway, the UFL is coming up at the end of the month and I am less than mildly interested. I’ll watch but I won’t be really watching. Now, this European League of Football…if I could get that it would be interesting. It looks like if you had MACtion in Germany. I love it. Anyway, everyone have a great week.

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

Posted on January 8, 2024 by guelphbossman

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

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

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

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

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

This kind of thing bugs me (and the Week 10 College Football TV Schedule)

Posted on October 31, 2023 by guelphbossman

Deion Sanders did it this past weekend. So did Pat Narduzzi. And other coaches have done it in the past.

What am I talking about? I’m talking about calling our your players during a press conference and basically running them down in front of the entire college football world. I honestly don’t get the point of it.

Let me start by being VERY clear here: I am not saying players don’t need the proverbial boot up their ass every so often. It’s part of coaching. As long as it’s not abusive, it will probably help in a player’s overall development. Players need to hear what they are doing wrong or otherwise how can they not do that thing wrong again? It’s the same with management in the rest of the working world (I won’t get into the fact that I estimate a good 70% or so of managers don’t know how to manage and that management is a skill because this blog post would end up taking you three hours to read). You have to help your team get better. It makes everything a bit easier, a bit better, and reflects well on the manager.

Saying all that, telling a ton of people that a player or group of players suck(s) is not the way to go about it. I get that coaches can be frustrated but doing that just makes you a bad manager/coach/mentor/teacher/trainer, etc. You do that in private.

Worst part of all this, in Sanders’ case, is Deion’s son is the quarterback and he verbally lambasted the offensive line in that press conference. Look, I agree: their offensive line is not good at all and Shedeur is getting his ass handed to him back there. So will these players step up and do a whole lot better or will they get pissed off and maybe allow a defensive lineman or two by a little bit easier? It’s not Shedeur’s fault but he may end up taking the brunt of this. Is it right to do this? No, but you never know how people are going to act when the coach tells everyone you suck and he has no faith in you.

As for Narduzzi’s, this may be worse. Unlike Deion, Narduzzi recruited all these players. They’re essentially his choices to play at Pitt. So if they don’t do well or don’t develop, he has to take at least a part of the blame as head coach and recruiter. So to throw them under the bus (or at least appear to) looks very poorly on him. And the players are obviously upset. Again, this really isn’t the way to push a player to do better. It may work but it would almost be out of spite rather than from Narduzzi’s choice words.

OK we are still in the midst of football EVERY DAMN DAY! So we must rejoice, no matter the quality of the games. Hey, Conference USA had a few good ones in October and now MACtion and the Fun Belt take over in the final regular season month of the college football season. Let’s get to that schedule which includes more weekday fun!

Tuesday

		US	Canada
Northern Illinois at Central Michigan	7:00
Buffalo at Toledo	7:30

Ah, it’s that time of year. MACtion on a Halloween night. By the time the games start, most of the kids are finished trick-or-treating so we can sit down and watch all four of these teams play, probably in relatively frigid temperatures, all for our enjoyment. God bless college football.

Wednesday

		US	Canada
Ball State at Bowling Green	7:00
Kent State at Akron	7:00

OK not nearly as good a MACtion night as the previous one but Bowling Green is way better than they probably had any right to be so far this season so there’s that.

Thursday

		US	Canada
Wake Forest at Duke	7:30
South Alabama at Troy	7:30
Mississippi Valley State at Bethune-Cookman	7:30

I figured the USA-Troy game would be for the Sun Belt West title but both teams have stumbled a bit. Now, the loser is pretty much out and has no shot at a conference championship game appearance.

Friday

		US	Canada
Princeton at Dartmouth	7:00
Boston College at Syracuse	7:30
Colorado State at Wyoming	8:00

Have you noticed there are never ranked teams playing on weeknights? It’s like the schedule makers understood the assignment. “Give them football but not great football teams.” Anyway, the hilariously awful bottom half of the ACC continues their march to…can’t even say mediocrity for this one. Loser will have it rough to become bowl eligible the rest of the way.

Saturday Early

Quite a few decent games here. I figured Notre Dame-Clemson was going to be a much bigger game but Dabo decided he’s allergic to NIL. KSU-UT could decide one of the teams going to the Big XII Championship. And…if you had said Jacksonville State would be the favoured Cocks in this matchup I would have thought you were on serious drugs. Not the unserious ones.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
Georgia Tech at Virginia	2:00
Arizona State at #18 Utah	2:00
Army vs. #17 Air Force (in Denver)	2:30
#10 Oklahoma at Oklahoma State	3:30
Virginia Tech at #15 Louisville	3:30
Illinois at Minnesota	3:30
#14 Missouri at #1 Georgia	3:30
#4 Florida State at Pittsburgh	3:30
#23 James Madison at Georgia State	3:30
#21 Tulane at East Carolina	3:30
#9 Penn State at Maryland	3:30
Auburn at Vanderbilt	4:00
California at #6 Oregon	5:30

OK things start to pick up here. One big game against two ranked teams where Mizzou could shock the entire college football world. Plus another NINE games involving ranked teams. It’s rare to see that many ranked teams in one timeslot. Realistically, all the ranked teams should worry at least a bit as you never know when the underdog can rise up and bite you in the ass. Except for Tulane. I have a feeling they will do just fine with East Carolina.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Louisiana Tech at Liberty	6:00
Marshall at Appalachian State	6:00
#22 Kansas at Iowa State	7:00
#5 Washington at #24 USC	7:30
SMU at Rice	7:30
Purdue at #2 Michigan	7:30
Kentucky at Mississippi State	7:30
#13 LSU at #8 Alabama	7:45
Miami at NC State	8:00

Ah, the annual SEC on CBS primetime matchup between LSU and Alabama. A tradition unlike any other. Well, that tradition comes to an end on this night. Other than possible Ole Miss shenanigans, this game should determine the SEC West champion. The Huskies’ game against the Trojans looked much bigger a few weeks ago but USC has struggled mightily on defense and really should move on from Alex Grinch if they are to have any chance at becoming a true contender. Finally, it will be interested to see what happens if Liberty ends up the only undefeated Group of Five team. At this point, their schedule is so weak that they wouldn’t be able to pass most of the one-loss teams if that was the case. But there is a month left so you never really know what could happen.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
Stanford at Washington State	9:00
Boise State at Fresno State	10:00
#16 Oregon State at Colorado	10:00

Big Mountain West game. Even with Boise starting the season off pretty badly, they still have a very good shot at getting back to the Mountain West Championship game. The Broncos will need a win down in the valley in Fresno to keep their hopes alive. The Bulldogs held on for a big win last week over UNLV and are sitting second behind Air Force for that other conference championship spot. Stakes are high.

Hey, Watch This

LSU at Alabama (7:45, CBS) – Don’t mind the bizarre start time. It may be something they are trying out for the future since even the slightest edge can help in the ratings war. This is CBS’s only primetime pick of the season and yet again, it’s the Tigers and the Tide. Unless Ole Miss makes a run, this is for the SEC West crown. LSU is going to be trying their damndest to be the first ever two-loss College Football Playoff team but they need a lot of help. First off, they need to take care of business in one of the toughest stadiums to play in as a visitor against one of the toughest coaches to ever play against. Easy, right?

Missouri at Georgia (3:30, CBS) – Both ends of the SEC on CBS doubleheader are the top two games of the week. Just like they drew it up. Mizzou has played way above their heads all season. Not saying they have talent. They do but Eli Drinkwitz has, I don’t know, finally figured things out and is doing the best coaching of his career. And if the Tigers win here, boy oh boy, there is going to be a lot of talk about this in the college football media and you probably won’t hear of anything else.

Kansas State at Texas (Noon, FOX) – This and the next game could be swapped and no one would bat an eye. This feels like a Big XII semi-final as neither team probably has a shot at going to JerryWorld if they lose here. I am sure GUS JOHNSON and Joel Klatt are praying for a close game here. They switched to the 3:30 game last week and, lo and behold, the Big Noon Kickoff game ended up being a classic. Poor guys. There’s only so much excitement you can infuse into a blowout, you know? Unless you’re Joe Tessitore and everything is exciting.

Washington at USC (7:30, ABC/TSN+) – Washington is still undefeated. It feels like they are trying not to be but they have pulled out some close ones against *checks notes* Arizona State and Stanford. OK then. Look, if the Huskies don’t put at least 40 on the board here, they should consider it a loss. USC’s defense is atrocious. Their offense, on the other hand…they can put up points in bunches so U-Dub better watch out and not fall too far behind early in this one at the Coliseum.

Sickos Game of the Week

Iowa vs. Northwestern (at Wrigley Field) (3:30, Peacock) – Look, I know. I am breaking my own rules here. We can’t this game (legally) up here. But the over/under is 29.5. TWENTY-NINE-AND-A-HALF. That is so fucking absurd. And yes, I would still consider betting the under. This feels like a game straight out of 1912. Maybe it’s a good thing we can’t see it.

Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week

UConn at Tennessee (Noon, TSN+/specialty pack) – I think we have to consider that last season’s UConn Huskies football squad’s performance may have been a fluke. This team is not good again. Not as bad as the years before 2022. But still bad. Plus, the Vols need the warmup for when they head to CoMo the following Saturday.

Wanna Bet?

How about my two upset picks last week? Yeah, they were shit. As were my Oklahoma, Clemson and Oregon State picks. Yeesh. Let’s just get on to the new week and see if I can somehow do better.

Tennessee 56 UConn 6

South Carolina 31 Jacksonville State 17

Texas 34 Kansas State 28

Virginia 41 Georgia Tech 23

Utah 31 Arizona State 14

Florida State 43 Pittsburgh 20

Minnesota 23 Illinois 13

Georgia 30 Missouri 24

Auburn 26 Vanderbilt 19

Appalachian State 48 Marshall 21

USC 56 Washington 46 (small upset)

Alabama 42 LSU 37

Oregon State 34 Colorado 16

As is the usual, I will be on X/Twitter/Elon Musk’s money-losing venture this Saturday. I always hope to be able to interact with other college football fans because that is part of the fun of all this. It’s one thing to watch the games: bantering with others while doing it makes it more enjoyable. As long as no one acts like a complete asshat. Then it brings everyone down. That’s why I stick with college football Twitter (which is honestly OK to pretty good) compared to, say, NFL Twitter, which can be rough. Or political Twitter which is a fucking cesspool. Anyway, many hours of college football coming up for all of us. Enjoy the games everyone!

That was a nice appetizer. Now the real fun begins! Your Week 1 College Football TV Schedule

Posted on August 31, 2023 by guelphbossman

Alright, we fucking made it! Well, we mostly made it last week. The appetizer. The scallops if you like watching Hell’s Kitchen. But this is the main course coming up. The true start of the season for the rest of college football. I still agree with some people that either Week Zero has to be bulked up a bit to give it some extra oomph to start the season or just start calling it Week One since Week Zero is honestly a dumb name. Well, if I was college football commissioner…

…ha ha like they’d give that title to a Canadian. That would be blasphemy, especially in the states on the southern end of the spectrum, geographically (and educationally) speaking.

OK enough is enough! It’s schedule time. I have to get back into posting mode and what a way to do it than to wade in the shallow end a bit last week and then plunge off a dock 200 metres out into a deep lake this week. What could go wrong?

Thursday

We get right into two fairly big games on the first Thursday of the college football season. Matt Rhule gets to start proving he can turn around any college football team as his Huskers travel to Minneapolis and the question about Cam Rising and Brant Kuithe playing might be answered by the morning of the game but who knows with Kyle Whittingham. I am sure gamblers would be pissed if they had to wait until just before gametime. TSN also starts their season with the UF-Utah game.

UPDATE: Cam Rising has been ruled out for the UF-Utah game.

Friday

Hate to say it but the game of the night might end up being The Battle for Miami between the Miami of Ohio and the Miami of Florida. That is unless Mario Cristobal has truly turned the Canes around. Then it might be a bloodbath. UL-GT might end up being good but you never know which Louisville team you are going to get. Finally…it’s Hawaii Test time! Starting just an hour before midnight? Oh baby, bring it on!

By the way, UL-GT will start on TSN5 joined in progress after the NWSL game is complete, which should be around 10:00.

Saturday Early

The first true remote control portion of the season. My remote control is going to hate me. Well, hate me more. It already hates me I’m sure. We shall see how Neon Deion does in Colorado’s opener in TCU. I mean, hell, if you looked at the ads for the game, you would have figured TCU was an FCS team with how little they were shown. FSU-PU should be a fairly interesting game and a good potential for a win by the Group of Five over the Power Five. Also, UVA returns to the field for the first time since the horrific tragedy late last season where three of their players were gunned down during a school excursion.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
Portland State at #15 Oregon	3:00
Boise State at #10 Washington	3:30
Wofford at Pittsburgh	3:30
Towson at Maryland	3:30
#3 Ohio State at Indiana	3:30
USF at WKU	3:30
UMass at Auburn	3:30
Rice at #11 Texas	3:30
Tennessee State at #13 Notre Dame	3:30
California at North Texas	4:00
SE Louisiana at Mississippi State	4:00

I guess you could say things get slightly better here. Boise-Washington could end up being very important when it comes to the New Year’s Six. By the way, the new clock rules started this past weekend. The ones where the clock doesn’t stop on first down until the final two minutes of the first and second halves. A little more extreme than my suggestion of doing it for the first and third quarters but I digress. Anyway, it seems like the amount of time saved during the game was equal to the amount of commercials added on. I’ll admit it: didn’t see that one coming. Especially since baseball broadcasts are shorter with their pitch clock. Either way, to the people who said this is what ruins the game, I am sure you are the same people who thought playing freshmen and NIL were horrible things as well. Also, to the people who did the whole “I told you so” thing…unless you have the receipts you can shove that shit up your ass.

“I told you so!”

“When?”

“Uh…”

Yeah that’s right, go fuck yourself.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Nevada at #6 USC	6:30
Washington State at Colorado State	7:00
New Mexico at #23 Texas A&M	7:00
Army at ULM	7:00
South Carolina vs. #21 North Carolina (in Charlotte)	7:30
Toledo at Illinois	7:30
Texas Tech at Wyoming	7:30
West Virginia at #7 Penn State	7:30
Middle Tennessee at #4 Alabama	7:30
Old Dominion at Virginia Tech	8:00
South Alabama at #24 Tulane	8:00

This primetime schedule looks a fair amount different than most of the primetime schedules in the past. Big Ten on NBC! Mountain West on CBS! I’m sure we will get used to it very quickly. Well, maybe not the Mountain West on CBS since they only have a few games on the main network. USA-Tulane is a massive Group of Five match and the winner gets a quick leg up on the competition for that one spot in a New Year’s Six bowl game. SC-NC should be good and I hope it’s a good crowd for a neutral site since I usually don’t like college neutral site games. Finally, Wazzu and CSU meet in what could end up being a conference game starting next season.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
Northern Arizona at Arizona	10:00
Idaho State at San Diego State	10:30
Coastal Carolina at UCLA	10:30

After the Hawaii Test the night before, I should be ready to tackle this set of late night games. Then again, I will be ten hours in once the NAU-U of A game starts so we shall see how I am at that point. Almost feels like I’m training for this which is absurd but I’m sure some people do it (how I don’t know). UCLA is on upset alert with the Chants coming into the Rose Bowl. A win there and the Sun Belt could look like the Group of Five conference to beat going forward.

Sunday

		US	Canada
Northwestern at Rutgers	Noon
Jackson State vs. Florida A&M (in Miami)	3:00
#18 Oregon State at San Jose State	3:30
#5 LSU vs. #8 Florida State (in Orlando)	7:30

Sunday CBS doubleheader? Sunday CBS doubleheader! That’s right, two games on CBS on Sunday including Northwestern playing their first game after all the ridiculousness about the team came out a month or so ago. And yes, I will watch that game. But the game of the day, week, and one of the games of the year goes Sunday night. Winner probably puts themselves immediately into the national title picture while the loser, while not eliminated, has to pretty much run the table the rest of the way to get a shot. High stakes in the happiest place on Earth (if you don’t live anywhere near Scandinavia).

Monday

		US	Canada
#9 Clemson at Duke	8:00

There are quite a few people who are putting Clemson on Upset Alert for this one. Really? I mean I can’t see it happening but man would it be a crazy way to start the season.

Hey, Watch This!

LSU vs. Florida State (in Orlando) (Sunday, 7:30, ABC) – Easily the game to watch for Week 1 and an early candidate for Game of the Year if it’s anything like last year’s game. Even casual college football fans should be geared up for this one. As I said above, the winner is instantly in the national title picture, the loser will have some work to do.

South Carolina vs. North Carolina (in Charlotte) (7:30, ABC/TSN2) – Neutral site games are ruling the day as the battle for which Carolina is better (that’s a pretty wordy name for a rivalry game) happens in Charlotte in primetime (said that in my head in Chris Berman’s voice) on ABC (and TSN2). Should be quite the intriguing game and I’d be shocked if it wasn’t a packed house for this one. Because if it isn’t, those two fanbases should be ashamed of themselves.

Boise State at Washington (3:30, ABC/TSN2) – The return of the Chris Petersen Bowl. Many have the Huskies and Michael Penix Jr. doing big things this season. I just have this funny feeling that the schedule will be too daunting for them to motor through. And that includes this game right here against a Broncos team that wants to get back to the New Year’s Six badly and believes they have their best shot in a long time after the American Conference exodus of their three best programs.

South Alabama at Tulane (8:00, specialty pack) – This is a big mega Group of Five matchup right here. Two of the favourites going toe-to-toe with the winner getting to the front of the G-5 pack right off the hop. Kind of wish it got a better network assignment considering the not-so-great Week 1 schedule but hey, at least we can see the game up here, right?

Sickos Game of the Week

Old Dominion at Virginia Tech (8:00, specialty pack) – Like last year, I will also pick a game that you would have to be a complete Sicko to watch the entirety of. I think I might qualify and if this was a standalone game then God damn it I would watch the whole fucking thing. The criteria are as follows:

The game must be not good on paper. Preferably horrifically bad on paper.
The game must be shown here in Canada in some form (no IPTV or illegal streams allowed in this section).

Yeah that’s it. Two criteria. That’s all.

Anyway, this is the pick for Week One because holy shit this could be all kinds of awful. I’m not going to go into too much depth on this one because it frankly doesn’t deserve it. Now watch it end up being a thrilling game.

Also, I am going with the term Sickos this season. Every true college football fan knows what a Sicko is and if you don’t, follow Sickos Committee on Twitter or X or whatever the fuck Elon is calling it these days. One of the best accounts on Twitter bar none. Or X. Or…something even worse.

Wanna Bet?

Now we really get into the gambling and things. And yes, I am picking against the spread since picking games straight up doesn’t make me look bad enough!

Nebraska (+7) over Minnesota (with the Gophers wininng a close one)

Florida (+4.5) over Utah (and the outright win for a mini-upset!)

Miami (-16.5) over Miami-OH

Stanford (-3.5) over Hawaii

Ball State (+26) over Kentucky (with the Cats winning relatively easily)

Virginia (+28) over Tennessee (Vols win by about three touchdowns)

Indiana (+30) over Ohio State (tOSU wins easy but a bit of a sloppy start to the season for the Buckeyes)

Washington (-14) over Boise State

Texas (-35) over Rice (why does Rice play Texas?)

South Carolina (+2.5) over North Carolina (and the outright win)

Tulane (-6.5) over South Alabama

Oregon State (-16.5) over San Jose State

Florida State (+2.5) over LSU (and the big opening night win)

Five straight days of college football coming up, people! Hopefully I am ready for it. Takes a lot of stamina to watch that much football. As far as I can tell, everything is set on the specialty packs although I did notice one schedule I look at having no ESPN games for Rogers but all the others were listed. Werid. I’m sure the ESPN games will be there for all you subscribers. I wil be on the X machine (@TheBauceman) most of the time games are on so you can check me out there if you are still OK with what that site has become. Without Tweetdeck it is infinitely shittier but I make due.

We made it. Time for you to be a crazy Canadian college football fan. I know I am. Have a great rest of your week everyone.

This is your brain on college football. Now this is your brain on college football realignment.

Posted on July 2, 2022 by guelphbossman

So if you have not been living under a rock, you know by now that USC and UCLA are going to be joining the Big Ten in 2024. Yes. The Big Ten. This is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, a realignment earthquake. Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC may have been big but it feels so tiny compared to this Earth-shattering news.

So what happens now? We know this isn’t the end…for some it’s the beginning of the end and they may be right. College football as it was is dead. Yes, it has been pushing into semi-pro status for a long time now. Many thought NIL was going to be the thing that pushed this over the edge. I disagree. This is what has done it. A blatant cash-grab that’s classic college football for the past three decades or so. If you had said this would happen ten years ago, people would have laughed at you and rightfully so. The idea of conferences with any regional identity has gone up in smoke. Might as well go to a promotion-relegation system at this point to spice things up even more.

What are we looking at now?

So now the Big Ten is at 16 teams, same as the SEC. Both conferences are seriously damn close to being considered mega-conferences. The Pac-12 is now back to technically being the Pac-10. We thought all the realignment was done for at least a few years but boy, were we wrong.

It will be interesting to see if any TV contracts are reworked after what has happened here. The Big Ten is so much stronger now and I am sure ESPN or FOX would love to add to their contracts. CBS might also be lurking to see what they can provide. The Pac-whatever is now weaker so, yeah, don’t expect too many ABC Primetime games going forward once this all comes to fruition.

What is coming up for the Big Ten?

I can’t see the Big Ten being finished here. I also can’t see USC and UCLA being the only teams from the Pac-12 moving to the Big Ten. Main reason being they need a few more travel partners to make it so they aren’t spending a boatload on travel. Here are some options of what could be done here:

The Big Ten might invite two more Pac-12 members to get to 18. Oregon and Washington come to mind. There might be a linking of state schools to the main universities, so if the Big Ten wanted them they would have to either take Oregon State and Wazzu or come up with something creative to just take the two. Yes, they weren’t invited now but I’d be shocked if they weren’t being at least considered at this point.
Could the Big Ten make a controversial splash and take Arizona and Arizona State? Probably not considering ASU’s current problems but you never know.
Is the Big Ten waiting to see what Notre Dame will do? If so, they might be waiting for a long time since the Irish have the best TV contract in college football and would need an absolute sweetheart deal to do anything else.

What does this do to the Pac-12?

Well, first of all, I guess we should call them the Pac-10 again. With two major lynchpins leaving the conference, the rest of the programs have to have a bit of a plan as to what to do next. This isn’t Larry Scott’s Pac-12 (by the way, fuck that guy for what he did and then walked away with millions of dollars).

The Pac-12 Network, not that it was worth a lot to begin with, is worth much less now. Not having USC two times a season is a blow to the network which, at this point, is an abject failure.
Who is the big program now in the Pac-12? Is it Oregon? Washington? Maybe it’s the educational base that is Stanford and Cal. Who knows. But not having it in Los Angeles is a massive hit to this conference.
Do they look to expand immediately with Mountain West teams? It feels like this is Boise State and San Diego State’s chance to get into a Power Five conference. Not to mention teams like Colorado State and Air Force. Do they bring a lot to the table? Boise and SDSU have their pluses so they would but otherwise it’s dicey.
Does the Pac-12 approach the Big XII? There are a few programs that would be good for the Pac-12 to poach for expansion purposes, especially with the Big XII’s big expansion coming next year.
Or does the Big XII approach the Pac-12? Look, the Pac-12/10 isn’t exactly in a position of strength right now. They have almost nothing going for them that other Power Five conferences don’t have. So maybe the Big XII is the one that initiates contact. Guaranteed they have already decided that the two Arizona schools would be good adds at this point.

What about the rest of the conferences?

All the conferences are watching this unfold and a few may be…ok panicking might be the wrong word but they are a bit stressed. The most stressed conference has to be the ACC. They know that the SEC will look at this and immediately start talking about expanding to 18 or even 20 teams. And who will they poach from?

Don’t give me that crap that they want to expand into newer markets. They just got Texas for fuck’s sake. So Clemson and North Carolina would seem like relatively obvious choices for the SEC, followed by Florida State and Miami. Beyond that, who knows. Especially since the Big Ten isn’t done and could now go anywhere in the country. Oregon? Sure. Pitt? Why not. UConn? Uh, no let’s not get crazy.

I mentioned the Big XII in the previous section but how about the Group of Five conferences? They may come out of this relatively unscathed but you never know, especially in the case of the Mountain West. Then there’s Notre Dame who holds a lot of cards now and, as per usual, can kind of write their own ticket if they so choose.

What about the Rose Bowl?

Yes, the granddaddy of them all. The Rose Bowl normally pits the Big Ten champion against the Pac-12 champion. Yes, the BCS and College Football Playoff has changed that sometimes but that is the normal state of things. You have to wonder if that might change. The Pac-12, in particular commissioner George Kliavkoff, has to be pretty upset with the Big Ten. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Rose Bowl was as well. Two conferences that had worked fairly well together when they needed to and it all collapsed in one fell swoop. Does the Rose Bowl change their tie-ins? Do they decide they don’t need to be on New Year’s Day anymore? Who knows. Which leads us to…

What happens to the bowl system in general?

Despite the fact there are more bowl games than ever and I’m sure there are more potential bowl game destinations out there, the bowl system is on thin ice. The CFP will be expanded to at least 12 teams for the next contract and perhaps even to 16. Yes, some of the bowl games might be used as sites for playoff games but then are they really bowl games anymore? They’re just playoff sites: no different than the site of the national championship.

And what about the rest of the bowls that aren’t involved in the playoff in any way? They will now become less important than they ever have in the history of college football. It will still be a nice reward for players at the end of the season but won’t mean nearly as much to the school or some of its fans.

Then there’s tie-ins. The Pac-12 has to lose some tie-ins since they will never fulfill them. Do they lose the Rose Bowl tie-in? Doubtful but you never know. I’ve always said they need less tie-ins for bowl games, not more. Maybe this is a way to force that.

There are other issues that will arise from this for sure. This is as huge an off-season college football event as there has been in a long time. There is a good chance it changes college football forever. Have a great weekend, everyone!

I think I want to be the football commissioner

Posted on June 11, 2022 by guelphbossman

I don’t mean commissioner of the NFL. I mean commissioner of football. All of it…ok maybe not all of it. I don’t really need to deal with high school football. For now. So no worries, Texas, you can still go batshit crazy over a game being played by 14-17 year-olds. When you say it that way, ugh.

So I will go through some of the changes I feel should be made to make various leagues better. You may agree. You may disagree. You may not care. Whatever. I’m bored and trying to figure out how to do the schedule posts in a slightly different manner this year so this is what you get, dammit. Let’s begin.

Just don’t bother. How there are multiple arena football leagues I will never understand.

We need to take out the rouge for punts. I think it’s a dumb rule and I get that it has been around forever but still. I don’t mind if the receiving team didn’t get the ball way out at the 20 or 25 but had to start at the 10 instead. At least that’s some sort of “punishment” for allowing the opposition to punt into your end zone. But other than that, I think it’s dumb. And would it be missed? Doubtful.
Get rid of the salary cap. Why does it exist? They make it sound like a couple of the teams are super rich. Newsflash: none of them are. It’s either that or have one player on both sides of the ball be excluded from the salary cap calculations. Something has to change there.
Now let’s to a bit of a thorny issue. Expansion. I know the CFL (and many of their fans) are very hesitant to talk about this after being snakebitten before. Problem is, the American expansion, outside of Baltimore was completely dumb and never thought out. A team in fucking Shreveport? Who’s bright idea was that? So I figured I would come up with some potential candidates over the next decade and explain the rationale behind at least considering these cities/areas. Let’s start with Canadian locales:
- Quebec City – This is the first and obvious choice to everyone not named the Montreal Alouettes. They “claim” Quebec as their own when it comes to the CFL. It’s archaic. They don’t like it? Fold. You’ve done it before. Yes, there are issues with Quebec City but I am sure they would gladly expand Telus Stadium to at least 20,000 to make it CFL-ready.
- Moncton/Halifax – Ah, the Atlantic Schooners. Ready to take the field in 1984. 1984! Yeah they missed by only four decades. Good job. Realistically, either city would have to build a brand new stadium since even the sites of the Touchdown Atlantic games aren’t big enough for a full-time CFL team. But it’s doable.
- London/Saskatoon/Windsor/Waterloo/Victoria – No, I will not put Guelph there. I live in Guelph. There is no fucking way this city would support a CFL team. And no, they really did not support the Ti-Cats when they were here for one year. Remember, there were only like 12,000 seats. So stop. Saying that, I would be shocked if any of these other cities in this point could do it as well. A lot would have to be done to get these cities ready for that, not including a brand new stadium.
OK so realistically there are two Canadian spots. Now, how about CFL American Expansion 2.0? Hear me out. There’s a way this could work. Let’s start with not having some of the teams 50,000 miles away from the Canadian border. There’s a good start. Alright, here we go:
- Portland, Oregon – This seems to be the most obvious choice for a south of the border team. If they could use Providence Park (home of the Timbers), it would be perfect. 25,000 seat stadium, not too far from the border, an almost instant rivalry with the BC Lions. And other than those aforementioned Timbers and the Trailblazers, there are no other pro sports and probably won’t be. So this could be a win-win for the league and the city.
- Fargo/Grand Forks – Yes, North Dakota State football is huge here. But there’s nothing else. For miles. This would be the only pro game in town and with two good football stadiums (domed as well) it would make for a great atmosphere. Are the stadiums a little small? Sure but I am sure at least early on they could get around that.
- Syracuse – This is an interesting one since the Carrier Dome (or whatever it’s called now) might actually be too big for CFL standards. Almost 50,000 seats so it would be around Commonwealth Stadium size. And that stadium looks like shit when it’s less than half full. So they might want to watch it. Along with Fargo/Grand Forks, there might be an issue with the size of the field and how they would be able to go back and forth between that and an American-sized field.
- Spokane – This is a city that I don’t think is on anyone’s list. They have a stadium big enough (28,000 capacity) and really nothing in the area in terms of pro sports. They are not too far of a drive from Calgary (Google Maps tells me seven hours…OK so that’s relatively far). It feels like it could work. And we see horrible weather in Calgary and Regina anyway for games so seeing 12 feet of snow for a game in Eastern Washington state wouldn’t be a tough sell.
- Utah/Idaho/South Dakota/Montana/Wyoming – Like any state in the West that has almost nothing going for it that’s actually near the border (somewhat). So no, no franchise for Vegas at Sam Boyd Stadium where the field is hotter than the surface of the sun. Be realistic. Honestly, these spots aren’t totally realistic but some of them have big stadiums (Provo, Salt Lake City, Boise) that could easily handle a CFL team.
- Milwaukee – Hmmm…this is an odd one. Remember, there was a time when the Green Bay Packers would play at least one game every season in Milwaukee. That’s when the city had County Stadium. I doubt the Brewers would allow football to be played in their probably baseball-only stadium so this might have to be ruled out.
There are other cities you could consider like Omaha or Norfolk or some in the Vermont/New Hampshire/Maine area but really those are longshots.
The other part that many will hate to discuss is a relationship with the NFL. Most don’t want it because “I don’t want to deal with those damn ‘Muricans.” Well, at some point, there should be an agreement. If the CFL isn’t going to partner with the XFL (which is fine), they should at least talk to the NFL about some partnership agreement. This would help the CFL in the long run. Rules don’t have to be changed to mirror the NFL: it would just allow players on practice rosters to get real game action which can only help them and their NFL contract holders.

My god where do I start with this. U Sports is a mess. It has never meant less than it does now. Apologies to all the athletes playing university sports (I was once one, myself) but this is ridiculous. It’s like no one cares anymore. If there weren’t students who, every so often, went out to support these football teams, I’m sure everything would be shut down. I don’t know what the answer is to be honest. Realistically, joining the NCAA in some capacity would be difficult and the rule changes would call for a lot of money needing to be spent at these football stadiums…money that some of these schools don’t have. Really, though, until every conference has a serious TV partner (and no, local cable is not a serious TV partner), then nothing can change. Not being able to watch the games has been a bit of a death knell for U Sports. And no, just having the final three games on CBC is not nearly good enough.

Hell, I could put any other spring league here as well like the AAF. Can someone figure out how to run a proper league in the Spring? Because it feels like no one has a clue. Here are a few things that almost need to be done:

Have one league. The XFL and USFL competing means, probably, that both leagues will cease to exist in a couple years. Figure this shit out and combine forces. It’s not like everyone is clamoring for Spring football. It’s obvious they aren’t. So watching two leagues will be done by almost nobody.
Continue with having good TV partners. This is one thing that these leagues have somehow done well with. Keep that up.
Do not use just one stadium for all the games. It’s dumb. And it’s Legion Field which is a shithole. Someone should get their ass fired for that idea. I get that it saved travel expenses but if that’s the case, don’t have a fucking league in the first place. Which leads me to my next point…
Regionalize the teams. You want two divisions? Perfect. Have the teams in each division, at this point, be relatively close. This way, travel costs are cut down immensely. So don’t put a team in Birmingham then have them in the same division as a team in New York. It’s stupid.
Saying that, have more than eight teams. If you have twelve teams, you can have three divisions. Home and away inside the division is six games. Either two or four games outside the division and that’s it. Short season, not a ton of travel, and rivalries can blossom inside the divisions. When the league is making some serious coin, then expand and go elsewhere.
Do what I told the CFL to do: have a partnership with the NFL. A real one. Ask for players from practice squads so they can get some game experience. It’s worth it.

I actually don’t have too many things that I would want to change about the NFL. It’s great. And they’ve done a great job with tweaking things as the years have gone on. Take a look at overtime. Now it seems as fair and logical as it has ever been. Yes, it took time but we got there. Saying that, there are still a few more issues at hand:

I have discussed this at length before but here we go again. Division winners should only be guaranteed a top 5 seed. They shouldn’t automatically get a home playoff game in the Wild Card round because they were lucky enough to be in a shitty division. Also, the best Wild Card team, if they have a better record than the worst division winner, shouldn’t be penalized for having the audacity to be in a division with an even better team.
Stop making pass interference a spot foul. Some of these quarterbacks heave balls 40 yards down the field hoping for this call and some get it which is absurd. If they want to punish teams more than the 15-yard penalty that is done in college, then make it a 20-yard penalty (or spot foul if it’s less than a 20-yard pass). But making it a spot foul is too detrimental to defenses and defensive backs for merely trying to do their job.
The fumble through the end zone rule. Good lord. This goes for the college game as well. That should never be a touchback. I don’t know what the rule should be but that is honestly one of the worst in football. The ball should either be returned to the spot of the fumble or automatically put somewhere, like the ten-yard line. Penalizing a team that much for a fumble that isn’t recovered by either team is preposterous.

See, not too much right? Oh and don’t put a team in London. Please. I am not a fan of the early morning Sunday games.

Man, where do I start here? For a game that I love, I sure do want a lot of changes. So let’s just get to them and hope it doesn’t make this post so long that I need to include chapters.

I’ve mentioned this before but don’t stop the clock for first downs in the first and third quarters. You’d be amazed at how much time can be made up with this. Drop ten minutes off the average college game and a lot less games go over that magical 3.5 hour window.
Let the players taunt. Who gives a shit? Horns Down? Perfect. Do it. What’s the problem? We want to treat these kids as adults then tell them not to do stuff like this. Can the professionalism argument. It’s not like it happens 100 times a game. Besides, you want to stop the taunts? Score on them. That shuts them up real quick.
There needs to be two separate kinds of targeting fouls. I’m not the only one who has said this and the NCAA seems to be waffling over this decision. I don’t understand why. If there is clear intent to injure (or more like it definitely wasn’t accidental), it’s 15-yards and a 1-game suspension. If it is accidental or deemed to be not egregious, 15 yards and the offending player stays in the game. I get that it becomes up to the officials to call this and it might not be fully consistent but you have to start somewhere with this.
Can we stop with making overtime ridiculous? If they want to go college-style fine. Both teams get a chance from the 35-yard line. Keep going until one team wins. No 2-point shootouts. Hell, no need to even go to two-point conversions only after a touchdown. That’s fine. If we want full possessions, give both teams at least one shot. If it’s still tied, then it’s sudden death. Why does this have to be needlessly complicated?
Now to conference schedules. Have every conference play a nine-game conference schedule. What this does is two-fold. It heightens rivalries inside the conference and also makes non-conference games that much more exciting since you will see 25% less of them (approximately). This lends itself to bowl games as well as you might see a matchup that has never happened before and this also piques fans’ interest in these exhibition games.
I think the structure of college football when it comes to the players has to be adjusted. NIL has been a good thing. It is, however, getting to the point where these players are just being given money by the schools. OK then. If we’re being honest, college football is THE college sport. Brings in more money than any other sport by a wide margin. So it should be treated differently. Like why are players forced to carry an entire semester schedule? This leads to some cheating, some taking stupidly easy courses, some even in degree programs that are useless. So make it so they only have to take two or three courses during the Fall semester. Remember, they can always come back after being a pro or once their college career is over to finish all the credits needed. This way, you’d have less problems with academics (I think) and coaches would kind of get their way but not allowing said academics to get in the way of fielding a winning program.
A better way to determine first downs. Lasers? Microchips in the footballs? Something. Anything. It’s 2022. Come on guys. And while you’re at it, goal line cameras at all FBS stadiums!
Finally, the bowl/playoff system. I’ve kind of gone back-and-forth on this and even done different scenarios in the same season to show how things could be altered as to who wins in the end. This is very tough. If there were only a few bowl games (like 20 years ago or so), then this becomes less of an issue. But with the sheer amount of bowl games, they have to mean something. I mentioned above that nine-game conference schedules would help in this regard as it would create a bit more uniqueness when it comes to the bowl matchups. I think, though, in the end, despite the fact that the playoff is here to stay, it’s not the best option. Why do I believe that? Because it won’t stop at 8 or 12 or even 16. It will go to at least 24 and bowl games will either be cut altogether or used as sites for playoff games. We know this. It’s inevitable. It may take three decades but we will get there. Does this make the sport as a whole better? I don’t know if it does. If you want the bowl games to matter and you want to keep the exclusiveness of playing for a national championship to very few teams every season, then going back to a quasi-poll n’ bowl system would work best. Do it the way it was back in the 80s and 90s but add the plus-one game. Or do the four-team playoff after the bowls. I am not saying the current playoff is bad because it isn’t. I kind of like it even though many of the semi-final games end up being crap. But when we start talking about quarter-finals and first round games, it may lose its lustre. Actually, I know it will. Will it change the sport forever? We will find out soon enough.

OK that’s about enough. There are more things I probably missed and things I, at some point, wanted to mention and just plain forgot. Oh well. My application is ready. I’ll send it off to….that’s probably the first thing I have to figure out. Probably ESPN. They run things don’t they? Anyway, have a great weekend everyone!

SUPER MEGA HYPER OMNI POST! V5.0

Posted on November 23, 2021 by guelphbossman

I’m going to warn you again. This post is stupidly long. So if you are reading this on the toilet, I hope you have a massive shit brewing so you have the time to read it all. I won’t even rate this but it would be an NC-17 post if it had to be rated…which means I just technically rated it. Dammit. Oh well, viewer discretion is advised.

This is the fifth version of this ridiculously long post.

It is going to be different this year without the recap portion. But there will be my Top 25, plus bowl projections, plus conference championship scenarios, PLUS different versions of the playoff. This is going to take forever. I don’t know why I put myself through this to be honest.

Let’s going with the Bossman Top 25 which has obviously had some changes after yet another crazy week.

#1	Georgia
#2	Ohio State
#3	Alabama
#4	Cincinnati
#5	Michigan
#6	Notre Dame
#7	Oklahoma State
#8	Ole Miss
#9	Baylor
#10	Oklahoma
#11	BYU
#12	Utah
#13	UTSA
#14	Oregon
#15	Michigan State
#16	Iowa
#17	Texas A&M
#18	Wisconsin
#19	Houston
#20	Pittsburgh
#21	Louisiana
#22	Wake Forest
#23	NC State
#24	San Diego State
#25	Penn State

Well looky here. Cincinnati finally gets into the Top 4. And they finally figured things out, thrashing SMU in a game they desperately needed to win by a lot. Saying that, it mostly helped that Oregon got destroyed by Utah. And with Notre Dame laying waste to Georgia Tech, the big Bearcat win over the Irish keeps looking really good as we get to the final week of the regular season. The Irish, Wolverines, and Pokes are laying in the weeds, just waiting for the current top teams to lose but I honestly can’t see that happening this coming weekend. What I will be interested in is BYU’s possibility of a New Year’s Six spot. I have them higher than the College Football Playoff rankings but still, they win this coming week and a few other things happen, they could be ranked high enough to make The Committee at least ponder what to do with them.

Now it’s time to get to something I didn’t do last year: conference championship scenarios. Last season was a mess so there was no point in doing it but we are back to mostly normal (at least in the college football world) so it’s time to do these.

The MAC title tilt has one team qualified. Northern Illinois has clinched what turned out to be a very good MAC West divisional race. The MAC East race will end on Saturday. Miami-OH and Kent State face off in a winner-take-all showdown for the right to face the Huskies.

Much like the MAC, Conference USA has one part of their title game set up. In the West, UTSA has clinched the division. As for the East, one final game between Western Kentucky and Marshall for the division.

After not getting a Sun Belt superclash between Louisiana and Coastal Carolina last year, we get it this year…with one exception. Coastal will not be there. Appalachian State and Louisiana have won their respective divisions and will face off, yet again, in the Sun Belt title game, this time in Lafayette.

This is quite interesting. San Diego State has only one loss this year; problem is it’s to the team one game behind them, Fresno State. If the Aztecs take care of business on Black Friday against Boise State, they will host the Mountain West Championship. Before that occurs, Fresno State goes to San Jose to face the Spartans. The Bulldogs lose, SDSU clinches the division. If the Bulldogs win, the Aztecs must win.

In the Mountain Division, it’s even more confusing as there is a current three-way tie between Boise State, Air Force and Utah State. Here’s how this works:

Boise State clinches the division if they beat San Diego State and Air Force loses to UNLV.
Utah State clinches the division if they beat New Mexico and Boise State loses to San Diego State.
Air Force clinches the division if they beat UNLV and Utah State loses to New Mexico.
In the case of a three-way tie, the winner of the division would be, you guessed it, ~~Frank Stallone~~ Air Force.

Alright this is simple. Houston finished the conference schedule undefeated. Cincinnati, if they defeat East Carolina on Friday, will also finish undefeated. They are both locked in to the conference title game. The only thing left to figure out is who hosts. Obviously, it comes down to the Cincy-ECU result.

Utah is in for the ridiculous Friday early evening start time. I wonder if that changes after this season since that is so ridiculous. As for the North, it’s still a bit interesting. Three teams still with a chance to go face the Utes in Santa Clara. Here are the scenarios:

Oregon clinches the division if they beat Oregon State.
Oregon State clinches the division if they beat Oregon and Washington beats Washington State.
Washington State clinches the division if they beat Washington to win the Apple Cup and Oregon State beats Oregon in the Civil War. It would go to tiebreakers. Head-to-head would produce nothing as all three teams would have 1-1 records against the other two. Division record is next, where Wazzu’s 4-1 mark would best Oregon and OSU’s 3-2.

The Cougs going to the Pac-12 Championship would be the cherry on a ridiculous cake after having to fire their coach earlier this season.

Somehow, the ACC Coastal has already been clinched. No chaos! Pittsburgh has already booked their flights to Charlotte. As for the ACC Atlantic, it’s down to three teams: Wake Forest, Clemson and NC State.

Wake Forest has the easiest way. Win over Boston College and they win the division.
NC State has it slightly harder. They need Wake to lose to BC and they need to take care of their own business and beat North Carolina to win the division.
For Clemson to head to Charlotte in a little less than two weeks, they need Wake and NC State to lose. They are done their conference schedule and face South Carolina in their annual rivalry game this weekend.

Oklahoma State is already set to head to JerryWorld. Oklahoma has to beat the Pokes in Bedlam to clinch the other spot. If they lose, and Baylor beats Texas Tech then it will be the Bears facing OSU in the Metroplex.

The winner of the The Game clinches the East Division. In the West, it’s….complicated. Here goes nothing:

Wisconsin beats Minnesota they are in.
Iowa is in if they beat Nebraska and Minnesota defeats Wisconsin.
Minnesota goes to Indianapolis with a win over Wisconsin, an Iowa loss AND a Purdue win in the Old Oaken Bucket over Indiana.

Purdue cannot get in but can play spoiler to help the Gophers get in.

Georgia against Alabama. It’s set.

OK it’s bowl projection time now!

Orange Bowl	CFP Poll #1 vs. CFP Poll #4	Georgia vs. Notre Dame
Cotton Bowl	CFP Poll #2 vs. CFP Poll #3	Ohio State vs. Cincinnati

Oregon is now out and Notre Dame is in. I think with what happens around them, the Irish should clinch the #4 spot which would guarantee the Bearcats the #3 spot. Ohio State needs to beat Michigan or else The Committee will have a much tougher time with this.

Alright let’s see how the New Year’s Six has changed.

Sugar Bowl	SEC #1 vs. Big XII #1	Alabama vs Oklahoma State
Rose Bowl	Big Ten #1 vs. Pac-12 #1	Michigan vs. Oregon
Fiesta Bowl	CFP At-Large vs. CFP At-Large/G-5 #1	Oklahoma vs. Michigan State
Peach Bowl	CFP At-Large vs. CFP At-Large/G-5 #1	Pittsburgh vs. Ole Miss

Definitely some changes in the past couple weeks. I already mentioned Oregon being out after their loss to Utah but I think they avenge it in the Pac-12 Championship after winning the Civil War. I don’t think Wake Forest will get to the ACC Championship and then Pitt would beat Clemson to get to the Peach Bowl. Oklahoma has struggled as of late but even losing the Big XII title game won’t drop them below the NY6. I’m sure The Committee wants to avoid putting BYU in until they are actually in the Big XII so Michigan State will get the nod there. I believe Ole Miss wipes the floor with Mississippi State to win the Egg Bowl and also grab an at-large spot.

Now the rest of Bowl SZN. I’m sure this won’t be correct by the end of Black Friday.

Texas Bowl	SEC vs. Big XII	Auburn vs. Baylor
Citrus Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Kentucky vs. Wisconsin
Outback Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Tennessee vs. Iowa
Arizona Bowl	MWC vs. MAC	Nevada vs. Central Michigan
Sun Bowl	ACC vs. Pac-12	Louisville vs. Washington State
Gator Bowl	SEC vs. ACC	Texas A&M vs. Clemson
Las Vegas Bowl	Big Ten vs. Pac-12	Penn State vs. Arizona State
Music City Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Arkansas vs. Purdue
Duke’s Mayo Bowl	SEC vs. ACC	South Carolina vs. Wake Forest
Alamo Bowl	Big XII vs. Pac-12	Iowa State vs. Utah
Cheez-It Bowl	Big XII vs. ACC	Texas Tech vs. Virginia
Pinstripe Bowl	Big Ten vs. ACC	Minnesota vs. Miami
Fenway Bowl	ACC/C-USA vs. American	Boston College vs. East Carolina
Guaranteed Rate Bowl	Big Ten vs. Big XII	Florida* vs. Texas**
Holiday Bowl	ACC vs. Pac-12	NC State vs. Oregon State
Liberty Bowl	SEC vs. Big XII	Missouri vs. Kansas State
First Responder Bowl	2 from Big XII, ACC, Pac-12, American	USC vs. Memphis
Birmingham Bowl	SEC vs. American	Mississippi State vs. Houston
Military Bowl	ACC vs. American	Virginia Tech vs. UCF
Quick Lane Bowl	Big Ten vs. MAC	Rutgers vs. Kent State
Camellia Bowl	Sun Belt/C-USA vs. MAC	Coastal Carolina vs. Northern Illinois
Hawaii Bowl	American vs. MWC	SMU vs. Air Force
Gasparilla Bowl	2 from SEC, ACC, Pac-12, American	LSU vs. North Carolina
Armed Forces Bowl	2 from Big XII, Pac-12, C-USA, Army	Army vs. Florida Atlantic
Frisco Bowl	2 from Group of Five	Fresno State vs. UAB
Idaho Potato Bowl	MWC vs. MAC	Boise State vs. Western Michigan
Myrtle Beach Bowl	American/MAC/G-5 vs. Sun Belt	Miami-OH vs. Appalachian State
New Orleans Bowl	Sun Belt vs. C-USA	Louisiana vs. UTSA
LA Bowl	Pac-12 vs. MWC	UCLA vs. San Diego State
LendingTree Bowl	Sun Belt vs. MAC	Georgia State vs. Eastern Michigan
Independence Bowl	BYU vs. C-USA	BYU vs. Marshall
New Mexico Bowl	MWC vs. C-USA	Utah State vs. UTEP
Boca Raton Bowl	2 from Group of Five	Liberty vs. San Jose State
Cure Bowl	2 from Group of Five	Wyoming vs. Ball State
Bahamas Bowl	C-USA vs. MAC	Western Kentucky vs. Toledo

A few notes after that deluge of information:

BYU is already locked in to the Independence Bowl but Army has a few options. The Armed Forces Bowl seems the most likely place for them.
I like the fact some of the ESPN Events bowl games have looser tie-ins. Putting all the G5 teams in a bowl tie-in makes for easier placement.
You will notice Florida has an asterisk (*) beside it. They are filling in at the Guaranteed Rate Bowl because the Big Ten will not have enough bowl-eligible teams to fill this slot.
Texas has two asterisks (**) beside its name. I have it that the bowl games will be one team short of fulfilling all the bowl slots. So a 5-7 team would have to fill in. I am assuming Texas would have as good a shot as any program because it is based on APR score (Academic Progress Rate) and last time I checked, UT-Austin is a really good school.

I am assuming a bit more will be known after this week’s games. I’m just glad that all the bowl games are back after last year with the pandemic cancelling about half of them. It’s a mess we don’t need to see repeated.

And now the final part of this hilariously long post that has drained me of my mental energy. It’s time to look at what various different playoff scenarios would look like. I will use the current AP Poll rankings since the CFP ones won’t be out until tonight.

The six-team CFP

I used to advocate for one extra team to be including in the CFP to bring it to five teams. That definitely won’t happen so I will look at what adding two teams does to this. Let’s go:

Rose Bowl: #4 Cincinnati vs. #5 Notre Dame
Sugar Bowl: #3 Alabama vs. #6 Michigan
Orange Bowl: #1 Georgia vs. lower-ranked winner from play-in weekend
Cotton Bowl: #2 Ohio State vs. higher-ranked winner from play-in weekend

Since this solely based on current AP rankings, it would have Cincy facing the Fighting Irish in a rematch. I doubt that would happen in reality but we are going to go with it here. I’m sure the Rose Bowl would be adamant about their bowl game staying with their current New Year’s Day timeslot so this would extend the season out to Monday January 17th which is seriously late but I think we are approaching that anyway with an expanded playoff.

The eight-team CFP

Orange Bowl: #1 Georgia vs. #8 Ole Miss
Sugar Bowl: #2 Ohio State vs. #7 Oklahoma State
Cotton Bowl: #3 Alabama vs. #6 Michigan
Rose Bowl: #4 Cincinnati vs. #5 Notre Dame

Now we got eight teams which seems to be a popular idea out there. Here’s the thing: I am not including all Power Five conference champions. That is fucking absurd with only eight teams.

This would mean some teams might play four postseason games if you include the conference championship games. Would this be smart? I don’t know but it feels like the wave of the future. I guess the powers that be think that now that students get NIL money they can surely play an extra game or two.

The twelve-team CFP

Oh boy. I think this is where we are headed so let’s dive in!

Las Vegas Bowl: #7 Oklahoma State vs. #9 Baylor
Citrus Bowl: #6 Michigan vs. #11 Oregon
Peach Bowl: #8 Ole Miss vs. #10 Oklahoma
Fiesta Bowl: #5 Notre Dame vs. #20 Pittsburgh
Orange Bowl: #1 Georgia vs. Ole Miss/Oklahoma winner
Cotton Bowl: #4 Cincinnati vs. Notre Dame/Pitt winner
Sugar Bowl: #3 Alabama vs. Michigan/Oregon winner
Rose Bowl: #2 Ohio State vs. Oklahoma St./Baylor winner

I can’t make Oklahoma State and Oklahoma play three weeks in a row. That would be completely ridiculous. Now with this setup, all Power Five conference champions get in. Pitt is the best ACC team right now. Sad, but true. So they get in over current #12 Michigan State. The brackets would have to be set up beforehand because I can’t see how they could re-seed teams after the first round. Also, I am assuming they would use bowl games for the playoffs so that is why I included the Citrus Bowl (I’m sure it was between them and the Peach when originally coming up with the New Year’s Six) and the Las Vegas Bowl (because they would want a splashy bowl in a brand-new stadium). This wouldn’t be bad but I wonder if it would feel like overload.

G-5 Playoffs

Let’s go back to an idea that has been brought up before. One that would see the Group of Five run their own eight-team playoff. The quarter-finals would look like this:

Cincinnati vs. Air Force
BYU vs. Appalachian State
UTSA vs. Louisiana
Houston vs. San Diego State

I would love to watch this. Imagine these four games being on in one day? Cincinnati at Noon, Houston at 3:30, UTSA at 7:00, BYU finishes off the day at 10:30. Brilliant.

Poll-and-Bowl

Let’s go back to the 80s and early 90s shall we? A simpler time…ok maybe not simpler overall, but in terms of how teams were picked for bowl games it was. No committees. Just teams go to the bowls they are tied in to based on their conference. Let’s look what the top teams would do in these case. I’ve had to take some liberty with some of the bowl games:

Orange Bowl (ACC champ vs. SEC #2): #5 Notre Dame vs. #3 Alabama
Cotton Bowl (Big XII #2 vs. Pac-12 #2): #9 Baylor vs. #16 Utah
Sugar Bowl (SEC champ vs. Big XII champ): #1 Georgia vs. #7 Oklahoma State
Rose Bowl (Big Ten champ vs. Pac-12 champ): #2 Ohio State vs. #11 Oregon
Peach Bowl (Big Ten #2 vs. ACC #2): #6 Michigan vs. #20 Pittsburgh
Fiesta Bowl (Big XII #3 vs. ACC #3): #10 Oklahoma vs. #13 BYU
Citrus Bowl (SEC #3 vs. Big Ten #3): #8 Ole Miss vs. #12 Michigan State
Las Vegas Bowl (Pac-12 #3 vs. G-5 #1): Oregon State vs. #4 Cincinnati

The one caveat here is that Independent teams like Notre Dame can be slotted anywhere. It’s only fair. That’s why I put the Irish in the Orange Bowl. Would this give us some lopsided bowl matchups? Absolutely. Teams like Texas A&M, UTSA, Iowa and Wisconsin would be left out in the cold (kind of) for a team like Pitt or Oregon State. Wow, the ACC really sucks this season (and the Pac-12 isn’t a whole lot better). So in this scenario, it really comes down to three games: the Orange, Sugar and Rose Bowls. Georgia wins they probably are voted champs unless they win close and Ohio State wins big. Now if both Georgia and Ohio State lose, it’s up for grabs to the Irish and Tide. Interesting. Would it work? Who the hell knows.

OK I’ve had enough. I can’t do anymore. I’m worded out (is that even a thing). More posts later this week. Footballgasm is upon us. Oh, wait, one more thing: MACtion tomorrow night! Western Michigan and Northern Illinois will be on the specialty pack. Buffalo-Ball State is on ESPN+ and not available to us Canadians. Have a great week everyone!

The 2021 College Football Coaching Hot Seat List

Posted on August 4, 2021 by guelphbossman

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

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

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

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

Almost Guaranteed Shitcanning

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

Probable Shitcanning

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

Possible Shitcanning

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

Doubtful Shitcanning (although it still could happen)

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

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

Could it be? – Week 10 College Football TV Schedule

Posted on October 31, 2019 by guelphbossman

The NCAA decided, two days ago, to modify their rules about how players can make money off their name, image and likeness (NIL). If you had said this would happen even a month or so ago I would have scoffed at the notion. But once California passed a bill to allow collegiate athletes to make money off their NIL it felt like a matter of time where the NCAA would have to at least meet them halfway. Whether they just let it be carte blanche or there will be some relatively strict rules doesn’t matter so much at this point. It’s a step in the right direction. Funny how SMU is in the Top 15 for the first time since before they got their death penalty for paying players.

What else does this mean? Oh yes it will be happening soon: the return of the NCAA Football video games. I will actually buy a new system to get this game. I still love it on my PS3 and don’t play it near enough to be honest with you. This is super exciting. Sorry Doug Flutie Maximum Football. Your stay at the top (so to speak) will be temporary and probably lost to history but hey, you gave it a shot, right?

We are now starting almost a month straight of FOOTBAW on every day! Rejoice all you college football hooligans! Normally I would say this is where the schedules become seriously stacked. You might notice something different about this week’s schedule though…that it’s about as stacked as a single, sad pancake. Let’s get to the schedule and examine this odd phenomenon (at least for college football).

Thursday

		US	Canada
Georgia Southern at #20 Appalachian State	8:00 PM
West Virginia at #12 Baylor	8:00 PM

Baylor tries to stay perfect with a below-average Mountaineers team coming to Waco. Speaking of Mountaineers, App State also tries to stay undefeated and in the Group of Five race against rival Georgia Southern. This is one of very few high points to the schedule.

Friday

		US	Canada
Princeton at Cornell	6:00 PM
Navy at UConn	8:00 PM

Technically this is football. I guess you could be interested on how UConn’s defense handles Navy who is playing like Army was supposed to play this season (and vice versa).

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
#14 Michigan at Maryland	Noon
Boston College at Syracuse	Noon
Northern Illinois at Central Michigan	Noon
NC State at #23 Wake Forest	Noon
Houston at UCF	Noon
Buffalo at Eastern Michigan	Noon
Nebraska at Purdue	Noon
UTSA at Texas A&M	Noon

Not a ton here as it really is the appetizer to the rest of the day which is I guess better but not amazing by any stretch of the imagination. Big games for Nebraska and Wake Forest but for slightly different reasons. UB-EMU could end up being the surprise great early game. Other than that, it’s football and that’s all that counts at this point.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
Virginia Tech at #16 Notre Dame	2:30 PM
Miami at Florida State	3:30 PM
Rutgers at Illinois	3:30 PM
#6 Florida vs. #8 Georgia (in Jacksonville)	3:30 PM
Army at Air Force	3:30 PM
TCU at Oklahoma State	3:30 PM
Arkansas State at ULM	3:30 PM
#22 Kansas State at Kansas	3:30 PM
UTEP at North Texas	3:30 PM
Wofford at #4 Clemson	4:00 PM
Tulsa at Tulane	4:00 PM
#9 Utah at Washington	4:00 PM
Pittsburgh at Georgia Tech	4:00 PM
Mississippi State at Arkansas	4:00 PM
Oregon State at Arizona	4:30 PM

Now this gets good. The Cocktail Party! Another four games involving a ranked team. Plus Pitt and Georgia Tech in the crazy ACC Coastal. Makes for quite a good afternoon slate which I won’t call great because it isn’t. OSU-UA, MSU-Arkansas and Arkansas State-ULM (which somehow gets on to ESPNU) aren’t exactly must-watch. Considering we are into November now, these are not really the kinds of games that would even come close to highlighting anything.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
#17 Cincinnati at East Carolina	7:00 PM
Ole Miss at #11 Auburn	7:00 PM
UAB at Tennessee	7:00 PM
Northwestern at Indiana	7:00 PM
#15 SMU at #24 Memphis	7:30 PM
Virginia at North Carolina	7:30 PM
Vanderbilt at South Carolina	7:30 PM
#7 Oregon at USC	8:00 PM

If it wasn’t for SMU-Memphis which, at this point, could be a candidate for game of the year if it comes close to past AAC big games, the primetime timeslot wouldn’t be as good as the afternoon timeslot which seems to be happening with more and more regularity. Oregon-USC should be a good one as this could be the game that gives Clay Helton his safety into next season (and perhaps continues to destroy the Pac-12’s College Football Playoff chances. Don’t sleep on UAB-Tennessee as that could be VERY interesting. UVA-UNC is a big ACC (Crazy) Coastal Division matchup. Despite all I’ve said here, though, it is still one of the weaker primetime skeds of the season.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
Colorado at UCLA	9:00 PM
BYU at Utah State	10:00 PM
#21 Boise State at San Jose State	10:30 PM
New Mexico at Nevada	10:30 PM

Any big games here? No. But Boise State has to not trip up against a surprisingly decent SJSU team. The other games are college football games so I will watch them as well and get less sleep than I should going into Sunday morning.

Games to set your eyeballs on

Florida vs. Georgia (in Jacksonville) (3:30, CBS) – The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party! They should have Uncle Verne come back to help out in the booth even it’s for just part of the game. Or they could do what I have said they should do: have an open bar in the booth. Drunk Gary Danielson? Think of the ratings! Anyway, the winner here has basically clinched the SEC East since no other team is close to these two. Should be electric in the home of the Jag-You-Ares.

SMU at Memphis (7:30, ABC) – I love to see these American Conference games in primetime on ABC. It usually means it’s a game that will probably be the biggest piece of the Group of Five race for the New Year’s Six spot. Also, it’s SMU. SMU! Really this shouldn’t be happening but the Mustangs have surprised everyone and now get the biggest national spotlight since…well you know. Don’t sleep on Memphis either. They were my pick for the New Year’s Six and other than a terrible loss to Temple and a surprisingly tough win over Tulsa, they have looked damn good. They could actually put Appalachian State into the driver’s seat if they can defeat the Stangs here.

Oregon at USC (8:00, FOX) – Oregon at #7. Are we back to the Oregon Ducks of old? Who knows but I would honestly consider this a speed bump game for Oregon as we don’t know which USC will show up. Considering what these two teams can be like, don’t be surprised if the game is going on after midnight (which is official Pac-12 After Dark time). As I say almost every week, the favourite here (Oregon) losing would be disastrous to the conference’s (Pac-12) CFP chances, which may be in the negative at this point anyway.

Virginia Tech at Notre Dame (2:30, NBC) – NBC going with the classic 2:30 start time for this one to give it more of a spotlight. Smart move. The Hokies are just outside the Top 25 which is surprising until you realize they are 5-2 and have been playing pretty good. Justin Fuente’s hot seat is now a lot less hot and the last chapter of the Bud Foster story might actually end up being great. A second straight loss here by the Irish could spell trouble for Brian Kelly as the rumours are hot and heavy that Urban Meyer might be hired to bring Touchdown Jesus back to glory. Wouldn’t that just piss off all the Fighting Irish haters?

Georgia Southern at Appalachian State (Thursday, 8:00, specialty pack) – When has a Sun Belt game ever been in my top five games of the week? I don’t feel like looking so I will just say never. Depending on what happens in the second best game of the week, this could end up being hugely important in the whole Group of Five rankings. I don’t see the Mountaineers losing this one but Georgia Southern has given them fits in the past so don’t put it past them to knock App State out of the ranks of the undefeated. Plus it’s Halloween night so let’s say it could be a weird night to start this week of college football.

Honourable mention: NC State at Wake Forest (Noon, TSN1); Kansas State at Kansas (yes, the battle for Kansas and it goes off at 3:30, FloSports); Utah at Washington (4:00, FOX).

Some gambling fun and games

How about my Michigan over Notre Dame pick! And my Florida State over Syracuse pick! Just ignore most of the rest of my picks last week though. But hey we are on to a new week with new picks so let’s do this!

Notre Dame over Virginia Tech

NC State over Wake Forest (upset number one!)

Appalachian State over Georgia Southern

Kansas State over Kansas

Georgia over Florida (upset number two!)

Oregon over USC

Washington over Utah (upset number three!)

Memphis over SMU (upset number four?)

Eastern Michigan over Buffalo (upset number five!)

Tennessee over UAB

Illinois over Rutgers

Thursday Night Football is upon us again and hey this could be pretty good. San Francisco at Arizona. I am very interested to see if the Niners can get to 8-0 which would be something special. The execs at FOX have to be super happy to get an up-and-coming Cardinals team against a really good San Fran team. FOX (and I guess the NFL Network) have got a pretty darn good schedule this year for Thursday Night Football. Honestly, Monday Night Football is the one thing I don’t watch nearly as much anymore. If they took it off the air, I don’t think I would miss it. Crazy I know but it rarely has good games anymore. I would say “Poor ESPN” but it’s ESPN so no.

I, as per usual, will be on Twitter this Saturday although I have to take breaks throughout the day. I am showing my age. But I do enjoy interacting with people online and it adds to the day of watching 14+ hours of college football (which may or may not require some caffeine assistance). I try my best to not get into online arguments because people who are willing to go into full argument mode are not ones to even debate because you can’t win a debate against an idiot. Enjoy the games everyone!

Bossman's Blog

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

Tag Archives: NIL

I think I want to be the football commissioner

The 2021 College Football Coaching Hot Seat List