The Bowl Projections…they’re getting closer.

Posted on November 27, 2023 by guelphbossman

But before we get to those I must put out the final Bossman Top 26 of the season. I make it sound like I did like 20 of these when the reality is I didn’t even make it to five. I should rectify that next year. Anyway, here goes nothing!

#1	Georgia (12-0)
#2	Michigan (12-0)
#3	Washington (12-0)
#4	Oregon (11-1)
#5	Florida State (12-0)
#6	Texas (11-1)
#7	Alabama (11-1)
#8	Ohio State (11-1)
#9	Missouri (10-2)
#10	Penn State (10-2)
#11	Ole Miss (10-2)
#12	LSU (9-3)
#13	Arizona (9-3)
#14	Oklahoma (10-2)
#15	Notre Dame (9-3)
#16	Oklahoma State (9-3)
#17	Louisville (10-2)
#18	Iowa (10-2)
#19	Oregon State (8-4)
#20	Tulane (11-1)
#21	NC State (9-3)
#22	James Madison (11-1)
#23	Tennessee (8-4)
#24	Liberty (12-0)
#25	Toledo (11-1)
#26	Utah (8-4)

Alright, let’s take a look at this. Yes, I have FSU at #5. Without Jordan Travis, they are not as good as either Washington or Oregon. However, they move into #4 if the win the ACC Championship and take the spot of whoever loses the Pac-12 Championship. So they still control their destiny. The only thing that may hurt them is Louisville’s loss to Kentucky which drops them in my poll to #17. Now, a win over the Cards isn’t nearly as good as it was a few days ago. Ole Miss absolutely needs at least one upset on conference championship week and it can’t be the ACC Championship. Otherwise they are looking at a good bowl but not a New Year’s Six one. Finally, as for the Group of Five, Tulane is in the driver’s seat. Win and they go back to the NY6. Lose and it’s probably either Liberty or SMU. My best guess is it will be Liberty that gets in unless SMU does to the Green Wave what they did to Navy this past Saturday. Toledo has almost no chance to get in. They would need losses by Tulane and Liberty and to absolutely destroy Miami-OH in Detroit and then get some sympathy from The Committee.

So there’s still a lot to figure out, even in this season which has been almost completely devoid of big upsets. Which brings us to the main event of this post: the bowl projections. I am sure I will still have some wrong even on Sunday morning just before the selection show begins. So will all the other bowl prognosticators, guys who are much better at this than I am. At least with James Madison now in the mix it makes it interesting since they are a good chance to play a Power Five team, something most Group of Five teams don’t get a chance to do during bowl season. Let’s get on with this and see where we sit after the final week of the regular season.

Sugar Bowl	CFP #1 vs. CFP #4	Georgia vs. Florida State
Rose Bowl	CFP #2 vs. CFP #3	Michigan vs. Washington

One change. I figured all four of the teams above would win. I am thinking a bit more strongly that the Noles will have enough to beat Louisville, win the ACC Championship, and sneak into the final spot in the CFP. Georgia and Michigan should take care of business and in the biggest game of the weekend (on Friday night), I believe the Huskies win a close one over Oregon to clinch their spot. Pretty easy so far.

Did any of the NY6 selections change (other than the one obvious change from my previous projection post)?

Fiesta Bowl	CFP at-large vs. CFP at-large/G-5 #1	Oregon vs. Tulane
Orange Bowl	ACC Champ vs. Big Ten/Notre Dame/SEC	Louisville vs. Ohio State
Peach Bowl	CFP at-large vs. CFP at-large/G-5 #1	Alabama vs. Penn State
Cotton Bowl	CFP at-large vs. CFP at-large/G-5 #1	Texas vs. Missouri

Louisville’s loss made me want to put FSU into the Top 4. This meant that Texas would fall back into the Cotton Bowl spot and now a date with Mizzou. Two old Big XII foes who will now be in the SEC together. I think it made sense to move Penn State out of the Fiesta and slot them up against Bama. No disrespect to Tulane but pairing them the Tide could be bad news. Not saying they are going to beat Oregon but I think they have a much better chance to do so and Bama-PSU is a bit of a dream matchup.

Car wreck time. Let’s proceed.

Citrus Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Ole Miss vs. Iowa
ReliaQuest Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Kentucky vs. Northwestern
Arizona Bowl	MWC vs. MAC	Boise State vs. Bowling Green
Music City Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	LSU vs. Wisconsin
Liberty Bowl	SEC vs. Big XII	Auburn vs. Kansas State
Sun Bowl	ACC vs. Pac-12	Notre Dame vs. Utah
Gator Bowl	SEC vs. ACC	Tennessee vs. NC State
Alamo Bowl	Big XII vs. Pac-12	Oklahoma vs. Arizona
Pop Tarts Bowl	ACC vs. Big XII	Clemson vs. Oklahoma State
Pinstripe Bowl	Big Ten vs. ACC	Rutgers vs. Georgia Tech
Fenway Bowl	2 of ACC/AAC/C-USA	Virginia Tech vs. SMU
Texas Bowl	SEC vs. Big XII	Texas A&M vs. Iowa State
Holiday Bowl	ACC vs. Pac-12	Boston College vs. Oregon State
Duke’s Mayo Bowl	SEC vs. ACC	Minnesota vs. North Carolina
Military Bowl	ACC vs. AAC	Miami vs. UTSA
Guaranteed Rate Bowl	2 of Big Ten/Big XII/MWC	UNLV vs. West Virginia
First Responder Bowl	2 of ACC/Big XII/AAC/Sun Belt/C-USA	UCF vs. Georgia Southern
Quick Lane Bowl	Big Ten vs. MAC	Duke vs. Toledo
Hawaii Bowl	AAC vs. MWC	Rice vs. Fresno State
Las Vegas Bowl	Big Ten vs. Pac-12	Maryland vs. USC
68 Ventures Bowl	2 of Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC	Troy vs. Liberty
Idaho Potato Bowl	2 of MWC/MAC/Sun Belt	Wyoming vs. Arkansas State
Armed Forces Bowl	Big XII vs. C-USA	Kansas vs. WKU
Birmingham Bowl	2 of SEC/ACC/AAC/C-USA	Louisiana vs. Memphis
Camellia Bowl	2 of Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC	Old Dominion vs. Eastern Michigan
Gasparilla Bowl	2 of SEC/ACC/AAC/C-USA	Syracuse vs. USF
Boca Raton Bowl	2 of AAC/Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC	Appalachian State vs. Ohio
Frisco Bowl	2 of AAC/Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC	Texas State vs. Utah State
Famous Toastery Bowl	MAC vs. C-USA	Georgia State vs. Jacksonville State
Independence Bowl	Big XII vs. Pac-12	Texas Tech vs. California
LA Bowl	Pac-12 vs. MWC	UCLA vs. San Jose State
New Mexico Bowl	2 of Group of Five	Air Force vs. Marshall
Cure Bowl	2 of AAC/Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC	Coastal Carolina vs. Northern Illinois
New Orleans Bowl	Sun Belt vs. C-USA	James Madison vs. New Mexico State
Myrtle Beach Bowl	2 of AAC/Sun Belt/C-USA/MAC	South Alabama vs. Miami-OH

Some notes on this dog’s breakfast:

I changed a few teams from last week’s post but that meant I had to change a few others because the tie-ins didn’t work. So then I changed a few more and ended up with this. Fucking ridiculous. I love doing this shit. Welcome to Bowl Season! I wonder if it will be like this next year. Oh, who am I kidding, of course it will!
The SEC can’t fulfill their bowl tie-ins. For once, their non-bowl-eligible teams were truly dreadful. That is why you see Minnesota in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl to play North Carolina. Speaking of the Traveling Flecks…
There ended up being 79 bowl eligible teams. There are 82 bowl slots. So James Madison and Jacksonville State at least got into the postseason the roundabout way. One spot was left for a smart team. That team ended up being Minnesota. It would have gone to Colorado State but they lost on an insane game-winning field goal by Hawaii in the final regular season game not including Army or Navy.
Speaking of Navy……they can get to six wins if they defeat Army in the Army-Navy Game. It seems like no bowl is willing to save a spot for Navy even they beat the Black Knights. As far as I know, a team is not allowed to practice if they are not set for a bowl game. This means the team that would be selected if Navy lost, Mississippi State, would not be allowed to practice at all until they knew they would be in the bowl game, which would give a whole lot less practices to the Bulldogs than their opponents. Look, I like the Army-Navy game. But it’s only had its own week since 2009. This isn’t exactly a ton of history. There has to be another way to do this but we know how the NCAA is resistant to change.

Hey, remember when we had football every day? That was fun. We no longer have that. Which is sad. Means we have to wait for football. In this case, for college football, we have to wait all the way until Friday evening! No MACtion. No Fun Belt. No whatever Conference USA calls their weekday games in October. All we can hope for is a great weekend of conference championship football. Enjoy the rest of your week everyone!

The G-5. It’s like that big vat of McDonald’s orange drink…

Posted on July 23, 2023 by guelphbossman

Many of the better teams have gone on to greener pastures. They have been replaced (kind of) by weaker teams from FCS. So yeah, they keep watering down the Group of Five. How far can they water it down? Groundskeeper Willie thinks we need to stop. I sort of agree with the angry Scot.

As you already know, Houston, UCF and Cincinnati left the American Conference for the Big(ger) XII. BYU joined them from the Independent ranks but the Cougs were always a weird hybrid since leaving the Mountain West. Not quite Power Five but better than Group of Five. Either way, they moved up as well.

Coming up from FCS is Sam Houston (not the wrestler) and Jacksonville State (two Gamecocks? What is this, the CFL?). Kennesaw State joins next season. All three teams will be in Conference USA. Yeah, the teams coming in don’t exactly measure up to the teams leaving.

What this does, though, is open the door for other teams to ascend to a level where they are almost always competing for the Group of Five crown. Boise State is the only program left who constantly contends for the one G-5 spot in the New Year’s Six. Tulane went last season and looks like a team that should continue that kind of success this season. UTSA, SMU, San Diego State and a few Sun Belt squads also have their eye on that singular prize. Let’s get to the conference standings and see where I believe thing will head this season.

Man, imagine the Big East was back? That conference would be…well, it would be pretty good. Not amazing. But a step above the Group of Five. Anyway…

The cream of the crop among Group of Five conferences is the AAC until further notice. The Mountain West has tried their best but it feels like that competition is over, even if Boise State does win the G-5 title. The Sun Belt is gaining but I can never see them catching the American under the current format. So let’s look at the predictions for the Kings of the G-5 followed by some marinations:

	Conference		Overall
	W	L	W	L
Tulane	8	0	11	1
UTSA	7	1	10	2
Memphis	6	2	8	4
SMU	6	2	8	4
FAU	4	4	6	6
East Carolina	4	4	7	5
Navy	4	4	5	7
North Texas	4	4	7	5
UAB	3	5	4	8
Tulsa	3	5	4	8
USF	3	5	3	9
Rice	2	6	4	8
Temple	2	6	4	8
Charlotte	0	8	1	11

Marinating in American Sauce

Honestly, that sounds disgusting. I am surprised no one has created it…whatever it might end up being.
Look, Tulane is not coming down from their perch. The schedule is, once again, in their favour and other than a huge matchup against South Alabama to start their season and their season-ending matchup with UTSA, the rest of the schedule is more than manageable. Expect the American Championship to go through New Orleans for the second straight year.
No surprise with the Roadrunners of UTSA (I just said that in Greg Gumbel voice) being the team that will end up facing the Green Wave for the conference title. This program is seriously on the rise and could soon enough be called the premiere Group of Five team (until they are poached by the Big XII).
Memphis and SMU will be good once again. But as has been the case, both teams will probably drop at least one game they should win and that is what will ultimately cost them the chance to upset Tulane for the league title.
Some people are very high on Florida Atlantic with their new head coach Tom Herman. I am taking more of a wait and see approach. The same goes for North Texas as they break in a new head coach as well.
I believe Navy will go into the Army-Navy Game needing a win for bowl eligibility. Well, you can tell by their record what I think will happen. I wonder how bowl committees will deal with this. Maybe some bowl gives them the first ever conditional bowl bid? That would actually be kind of exciting. Win and you’re in. Lose and your bid goes to James Madison.
As for the AAC Championship, I see Tulane winning their second game against UTSA in as many weeks to be crowned the AAC champion. I don’t see the Green Wave having an easy time in either game though but they will feel lucky not to be in the Alamodome for either of these games.
Seven projected bowl bids for a conference with fourteen teams. Not exactly great but I think it will take some time for teams like Charlotte and Rice to get acclimated to their new surroundings. Especially since they weren’t that great in the conference they came from.

I am a bit worried that I won’t be ready to do the long Saturday nights that the Mountain West (and Pac-12) give us. Don’t even mention the Hawaii Tests. And this is at a time when I am desperately trying to restrict my caffeine intake. Ugh, this could be very interesting. Maybe I’ll just drink the entire time.

This is the second year of the Mountain West deal with FOX so we won’t see nearly as many MWC games. Yes there will be at least one every week on CBS Sports Network and we get some early-season CBS affairs but with no conference games on any of the ESPN networks, it really hinders our ability as Canadians to watch this conference. Hell, we can probably watch more Conference USA this season.

OK let’s get to this season’s predictions followed by sleep deprived lunacy:

	Conference		Overall
	W	L	W	L
Boise State	8	0	10	2
San Diego State	6	2	8	4
Fresno State	6	2	8	4
Air Force	5	3	9	3
Wyoming	5	3	7	5
San Jose State	4	4	6	6
UNLV	4	4	5	7
Utah State	3	5	4	8
Nevada	3	5	3	9
Colorado State	2	6	3	9
New Mexico	1	7	2	10
Hawaii	1	7	3	10

Juuuuust a tiny bit of Sleep-Deprived Lunacy

You will notice something different with these standings compared to all the others I have predicted in the past. No divisions! About damn time. Divisions are just useless in this day and age. And soon enough, no FBS conference will have divisions. I am certain of that.
Reader John might not be too pleased with this but I think Boise State runs through the conference schedule with relative ease. Not saying teams like SDSU, FSU or Air Force aren’t good. It’s just that the Broncos’ schedule is so favourable you’d have to be crazy to think they don’t have a great shot not just to win the conference, but that one New Year’s Six spot. Really, their September will shape their season. Be at least 3-2 at the end of the month and they will be on their way. Less than that and the conference might just be up for grabs.
In terms of teams just below that top tier, Wyoming should ho-hum their way into another bowl game. I can’t believe Craig Bohl has been in Laramie for almost half of the life of the Mountain West conference it self. SJSU and UNLV will be in a dogfight for a bowl spot and I could honestly see it going either way. But no, I don’t agree with that one voter who thinks the Rebels will win the conference crown. I think that person was obviously coming off a gambling-coke-and-booze fueled bender when they made that choice.
I’ve got the Aztecs winning the tiebreaker with Fresno to get the other MWC Championship spot opposite Boise on the frigid smurf turf. I think the weather is what gives the Broncos the edge in this one as I have them winning the conference championship and then awaiting to see what happens in the rest of the Group of Five.

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd we’re back down to four teams. Liberty and New Mexico State fucked off to Conference USA and BYU headed to the Big XII, leaving Notre Dame less little brothers to have to hang around with. The thing is, if you took UMass out of the equation…well, you’ll see. Let’s get right to the short set of predictions followed by some actual team-by-team analysis (which is much easier with just four teams):

	Overall
	W	L
Notre Dame	10	2
Army	6	6
UConn	6	6
UMass	1	11

Actual Team-by-Team Analysis (I wasn’t lying!)

Of course we have to start with the team that doesn’t belong in this entire post, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. It was tough going through their schedule because I don’t know how much they will improve from last year. But they have Sam Hartman. A bonafide Heisman contender at quarterback for the first time in I don’t know how many years. So my ten win prediction for them doesn’t seem too far off the mark and it wouldn’t surprise me if they were able to get to eleven either and get in the College Football Playoff converstaion.
Hey, remember what I said about Navy earlier? That they would be playing for their bowl-eligibility lives in the Army-Navy game? Well, guess who else I think will be in the same boat. Oh yes. I think this will be, easily, the most important Army-Navy Game in a long time. I now wonder if the provisional bowl selection will be a winner-take-all type of deal. Which would be so damn awesome to see.
Will UConn get back to a bowl game? That seems to be a huge question. And to be honest, I think bowl eligibility is almost the floor for this program. Amazing what can happen when you get the right coach in the right spot. Is Jim Mora Jr. an amazing coach? Not really. But he’s good and he landed in the perfect spot for him and the Huskies. Now they have to avoid what happened in the past even when they were somewhat decent: lose games to teams they should beat. Do that and they should be in the postseason once again.
And finally we get to the Minutemen and yes, they will be awful. Quite possibly the worst FBS team once again. I predict them to win one game. That’s it. And it won’t be against Merrimack. I think they squeak by New Mexico and that’s all. And even then, I could see this team go winless. I’m not as huge an advocate of moving teams back down to FCS as I used to be but I do wonder if UMass just needs to drop down. There’s nothing keeping them up in FBS. No conference affiliation and no possibilities in the near future. It might be time to pull the trigger on this program’s demotion.

The Sun Belt (and MAC) are being joined by Conference USA when it comes to mid-week action this season. I will have to check but we may have football every day for over a month.

Other than that, there are less similarties than ever between the Sun Belt and the MAC or Conference USA. The Fun Belt has set themselves up pretty well as the third best Group of Five conference. They are actually closer in quality to the Mountain West than the MAC which is something that never would have been said even five years ago. Also, they seem to be pretty safe from any realignment unless some doomsday scenario comes about and college football conferences as we know it change forever. And I’m not going to say that won’t happen.

Anyway, for now, let’s get to my predictions for the eighth-best FBS conference followed by some upbeat comments:

	Conference		Overall
East	W	L	W	L
Appalachian State	7	1	8	4
James Madison	6	2	8	4
Coastal Carolina	6	2	9	3
Marshall	5	3	7	5
Georgia State	2	6	4	8
Georgia Southern	2	6	5	7
Old Dominion	0	8	1	11
West
South Alabama	7	1	9	3
Troy	7	1	10	2
Southern Miss	5	3	6	6
Louisiana	4	4	7	5
Arkansas State	2	6	4	8
Texas State	2	6	3	9
ULM	1	7	2	10

Upbeat Comments

Well…upbeat for some teams.
The top of each of the divisions continue to be exciting. It’s the one conference that defies my No Divisions preference. In the East, you have four legitimate contenders and you can possibly say the same for the West. Parity rules the day in the Sun Belt once again.
App State, after an odd year that saw some pretty extreme highs and lows, should be back on top of the mountion in the East, barely beating out JMU and Coastal.
South Alabama will finally get their shot at the Sun Belt Championship with what I believe will be a late-season win over Troy.
As for bowl games, officially only seven of the contenders I’ve mentioned would be able to go to a bowl. But, I have a bit of a surprise for Dukes fans once I put out my bowl predictions post.
I still say the Sun Belt champ should get a shot at an SEC team in New Orleans. Imagine how many fans they would get for that?

As I said above, the Sun Belt and Conference USA have a lot of weekday night games now. But it still isn’t MACtion. The originators to us sickos that love more and more and more football. I don’t even care about the attendance issues that these games cause. The MAC is getting their ESPN money and I am getting my football fix. Everyone wins!

Alright, predictions time followed by some points in a Midwestern accent:

	Conference		Overall
East	W	L	W	L
Ohio	7	1	8	4
Miami-OH	5	3	7	5
Buffalo	4	4	5	7
Bowling Green	3	5	4	8
Akron	3	5	4	8
Kent State	0	8	1	11
West
Toledo	7	1	9	3
Eastern Michigan	6	2	9	3
Central Michigan	4	4	4	8
Northern Illinois	3	5	5	7
Western Michigan	3	5	3	9
Ball State	3	5	4	8

Points with Pork Chops and Aeeeplesauce

I mean I’m not gonna lie: I like pork chops and applesauce. I just think it’s way more of a staple in a place like Minnesota than here.
Looks like two teams who are used to being near the top should head back to the MAC title game. Not that Toledo and Ohio won’t have their speed bump games in the MAC but I feel they have the best talent to win their respective divisions.
Only two teams that will be with new head coaches this season and both of them are going to struggle. Lance Taylor takes over for Tim Lester at Western Michigan where Lester just couldn’t do what P.J. Fleck did there. Tall order but most were hoping he would be close and he wasn’t. As for Kent State, they lose Sean Lewis to Coach Prime and Colorado. Bring in Kenni Burns. Yes Kenni with an i. And ho boy is it going to be a long season in Kent for Mr. Burns.
I only see four bowl-eligible teams from the MAC. I have done this before and I was wrong. I just can’t see most of these teams doing enough in their non-conference schedule to get them to a bowl game in December.
Ford Field should see another dandy for the MAC Championship. I’ve got Ohio winning a close one over Toledo with the prize being to go back to Ford Field a few weeks later. At least the tie-in there states that they should face a Big Ten team. That’s the way it should be.

Hey remember what I used to say about Conference USA? Well, it has pretty much come to fruition. You would have to be some kind of dumb or not watch college football to know that this is now the bottom of the barrel when it comes to FBS conferences. I warned them. I’m sure others did too. And now they are stuck. Could they end up being not last place? Sure, maybe. But other than WKU and Liberty, what other teams are really pushing things here? That’s what I thought. Luckily they were able to snag a contract with ESPN to show games on weeknights in October. And when I say weeknights I mean all weeknight games. No Saturday conference games that month. I will be happy though because it means there will be college football on like four consecutive Tuesdays. Not a bad thing at all.

Now it’s time for predictions for the new-ish Conference USA followed by some weeknight non-sitcom commentary:

	Conference		Overall
	W	L	W	L
WKU	7	1	9	3
Middle Tennessee	6	2	8	4
Liberty	6	2	9	3
UTEP	4	4	6	6
New Mexico State	4	4	7	6
Louisiana Tech	2	6	4	8
Sam Houston	2	6	3	9
Jacksonville State	2	6	3	9
FIU	1	7	2	10

Weeknight Non-Sitcom Commentary

Look, with Austin Reed back at QB, he may throw over 5,000 yards. They should win the regular season title pretty easily and it wouldn’t surprise me if they ended up running the table as well.
There are some newcomers! Liberty is that one newcomer, though, that most are saying will win the conference title in their first year in C-USA. I say not so fast my friend. I don’t even see them getting to the conference title game. The Flames will most likely lose a game they should win and it will cost them that spot.
Yes, I have NMSU making a bowl game again! Jerry Kill has really turned things around in Las Cruces and with this new conference I see them already in the middle if not near the top.
On the other hand, Jacksonville State and Sam Houston make their FBS debut this season and it won’t be a kind one. They will struggle and need some time to find their way. Down the road, though, at least one of these programs will turn into one of the conference’s best, if not both of them. But at least they won’t be as bad as…
FIU. Yeesh. Mike MacIntyre will be pulling his hair out by the time this season is over.
So yeah, it’s Middle Tennessee against WKU and I don’t see it being that close but you never know. The Hilltoppers should win going away. Do you think these two teams are regretting not heading to the MAC?

We have completed the journey! Well…half of it. Next up is the Power Five conferences. Then, finally, a nice little bow to tie this whole thing together. Have a great week everyone!

Hey, Let’s Rank the Bowl Games!

Posted on January 12, 2023 by guelphbossman

It’s been a bit since I’ve done this and since I’m currently unemployed and watching my bank account get redder than a super-ripe tomato I figured I have some time to do this.

College football is now over for another season and I am sad. But I have to say it was a pretty good bowl season, despite some in the college football media saying it was bad. Really? I’ve been through some not-so-good bowl seasons and this was not one of them. Then again, some just have to be the counterpoint so that they feel special and/or their life sucks. Oh well, let’s get to the rankings!

Peach Bowl (Georgia 42 Ohio State 41) – This was, without exaggeration, the greatest College Football Playoff game of all-time. It had a bit of everything from two teams throwing haymakers at each other. And when it looked like tOSU had it in the bag, UGA stormed back and took the lead late. And as the clock struck midnight on 2022, the Buckeyes’ season struck midnight as the game-winning field goal attempt went wide left. Just an amazing football game and what college football is all about.
Cotton Bowl (Tulane 46 USC 45) – For most of this game, it felt like a validation of Caleb Williams’ Heisman campaign. Then the Green Wave hit. Down 15 with four minutes to go, Tulane came back to score two touchdowns, the final one with just seconds left, to complete a great comeback and announce their arrival as the newest Group of Five power program.
Fiesta Bowl (TCU 51 Michigan 45) – This is the second of the two semi-final games that makes the best set of semi-finals ever in the College Football Playoff era and it’s not even close. Funny enough, the lead never changed in this game. TCU never trailed which is odd for such a high-scoring, close game. Still an incredible affair and a bit of a surprising result for some.
Liberty Bowl (Arkansas 55 Kansas 53 3OT) – I’ll be honest: once Arkansas went up 38-13 I went to put some laundry on and make something to eat. What an idiot I am. Kansas came all the way back to tie it up. Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels threw for an insane 544 yards and still ended up losing. Arkansas did everything they could early on to win and everything late to lose and still ended up winning in the end. One of the wildest bowl games of the last decade and I ended up missing a decent chunk of it. Stupid.
Sun Bowl (Pittsburgh 37 UCLA 35) – This was a wild game that came down to a late Pitt field goal to win it. Honestly it was kind of ho-hum until a bit into the fourth quarter when it went completely off the rails. The Sun Bowl is weird to me: it seems like the game is always either really good or barely mediocre and nothing in between. I still think they should have a Big XII tie-in but that’s a conversation I’ve had here many times before.
Arizona Bowl (Ohio 30 Wyoming 27 OT) – If this game is on a network, a lot more people watch it. Going in, it felt like a bowl that you could forget. Wyoming with a lot of players out and Ohio’s defense somewhat decimated. Instead, it was an exciting close affair. And, to be honest, the commentary, while less informative, was hilarious, especially down the stretch with the two colour commentators being very open as to which team they were hoping to win (and had bet on).
Cheez-It Bowl (Florida State 35 Oklahoma 32) – I mean we were only told that this was a REMATCH OF THE 2001 BCS CHAMPIONSHIP a few times, right? This ended up being, unlike that 2001 affair, a great see-saw battle with the Noles kicking the game-winning field goal late to get the victory and all the Cheez-Its. In a somewhat related note, I like Cheez-Its. A lot. It’s very easy to eat a whole box of those fuckers.
Holiday Bowl (Oregon 28 North Carolina 27) – FOX ends up getting a dandy of a game for their only bowl broadcast of the season. Oregon came back in the final quarter to defeat the Heels on an extra point that doinked off the upright and in. Even then, the Tar Heels had one final shot as they somehow got the ball into Oregon territory with no time left but the Hail Mary didn’t work. Again, another fantastic game.
Gator Bowl (Notre Dame 45 South Carolina 38) – It was seriously loud in Jacksonville for this one. It felt like a huge regular season game. The fans were rowdy and it felt like both teams were desperate to win. And credit to Shane Beamer: he left nothing on the table. He threw every trick play he could at the Irish, including a fake kick/pass for a touchdown. In the end, though, Notre Dame was too much for the Gamecocks. Super fun to watch.
Hawaii Bowl (Middle Tennessee 25 San Diego State 23) – A really good game out in Honolulu on Christmas Eve (as it should be). It felt like the Aztecs were going to run away with this, going up 14 with five minutes left in the first quarter. After that, it was mostly Middle. Another game that ended with a late game-winning field goal. A nice trend to have for bowl season for sure.
Camellia Bowl (Buffalo 23 Georgia Southern 21) – This game was awful close as neither team could pull away until midway through the final stanza. I will be honest: this game would have been much lower had the Eagles not scored a late touchdown and made it interesting near the end.
New Mexico Bowl (BYU 24 SMU 23) – The 1980 Holiday Bowl this was not; however, it was still a fun game to watch…for the final quarter. Up until that point, this looked like a relatively poorly played game where one team will win because the other made too many mistakes. Instead, it was an amazing finish where SMU went for the win on a two-point conversion and came up short. I love to see teams just go for it since this is your final game of the season. Why not leave it all out on the field?
Frisco Bowl (Boise State 35 North Texas 32) – Did you know Austin Aune is 29 years old? Christ, we only heard it a million times. At least it didn’t take away from the actual game which was a really good one. A 36-point third quarter will do that after a rather blah first half.
Bahamas Bowl (UAB 24 Miami-OH 20) – How about this to start the bowl season? A very entertaining game with a wild ending, reminiscent of the Titans loss to the Rams in Super Bowl XXXIV.
Boca Raton Bowl (Toledo 21 Liberty 19) – This had the advantage of being played in FOOTBAW WEATHER. A lot of rain and muck. I keep forgetting though that, as hilarious and fun as it is to see this type of weather for a football game, it really makes the actual football tough to watch. Luckily, this came down to another great ending (there’s that phrase again) with a failed Liberty two-point conversion being the difference.
Duke’s Mayo Bowl (Maryland 16 NC State 12) – The game wasn’t the greatest, let’s be honest here. It did have a close finish and Mike Locksley got a bunch of mayo dumped on him. Those were the redeeming qualities of this bowl game.
Cure Bowl (Troy 18 UTSA 12) – On paper this was a great Group of Five matchup. Two conference champions. Troy’s defense definitely showed up for this one so if you liked defensive contests, this one was for you.
ReliaQuest Bowl (Mississippi State 19 Illinois 10) – A very emotional game as it was the Bulldogs’ first outing after the death of Mike Leach. The game wasn’t very good but again, it was close. The ending on the other hand? Insane. MSU scored on a fumble return touchdown on the last play for one of the worst bad beats of the season. Some gamblers must have been crying afterwards.
Quick Lane Bowl (New Mexico State 24 Bowling Green 19) – This was a game between two teams who had not been to a bowl game in a few years. And it showed. Both teams put it all out there and the Aggies ended up with a win in their final season as an Independent.
LendingTree Bowl (Southern Miss 38 Rice 24) – Frank Gore Jr. went off in this one, to the tune of 329 rushing yards and a new FBS bowl record. And he told his auntie to chill after the game on national TV. The best night of that young man’s life so far.
Independence Bowl (Houston 23 Louisiana 16) – Another game that languished for about three quarters and had a great finish. I still feel like an idiot for picking the Cougs as my Group of Five Cotton Bowl pick.
Gasparilla Bowl (Wake Forest 27 Missouri 17) – It was a nice send-off for Sam Hartman who will transfer next season to Notre Dame. It will be interesting to see how the Deacs fare next season with some important players leaving.
Alamo Bowl (Washington 27 Texas 20) – There were high hopes for this one and it kind of fell flat. Don’t let the close score fool you since it wasn’t really close at all.
Pinstripe Bowl (Minnesota 28 Syracuse 20) – The Gophers won pretty easily. The highlight for me was people on Twitter telling me that P.J. Fleck was an awful coach. OK then.
Guaranteed Rate Bowl (Wisconsin 24 Oklahoma State 17) – The Badgers should be better next season with Luke Fickell at the helm. They’ve already brought in a bunch of new players. None of that mattered here as they were able to outlast a Cowboys team that struggled with a capital ‘S’ down the stretch.
Rose Bowl (Penn State 35 Utah 21) – Everything was looking like a classic until Cam Rising went down with an injury. Then things all went to shit for the Utes and Penn State cruised to an easy victory.
Idaho Potato Bowl (Eastern Michigan 41 San Jose State 27) – This was a tale of two sections. The first had the Spartans dominate early, looking like they were going to blow the Eagles out of the water. The second and last section saw EMU score 33 straight points to put this one out of reach. Entertaining for a bit but not enough to warrant a better spot on this list.
Myrtle Beach Bowl (Marshall 28 UConn 14) – I was honestly hyped for this one. I thought it was going to be interesting to see how the Huskies fared in what is basically brand new territory for them. Instead, the game was rather bland and Marshall controlled for most of it.
Orange Bowl (Tennessee 31 Clemson 14) – Clemson ran over 100 plays in this one and only scored 14 points. That feels like it would be impossible to do but there you go. The offense wasn’t better with Cade Klubnik under centre rather than D.J. Uiagalelei so there may need to be significant changes in the offseason for the Tigers. This game might have ranked even lower if it wasn’t for Joe Milton tossing piss rockets all over the place like his arm was an actual cannon.
Birmingham Bowl (East Carolina 53 Coastal Carolina 29) – This looked like it would have been far up the list after the first quarter. Then Grayson McCall went down and it was kind of easy to figure out which team was going to put up the points the rest of the way (hint: not the Chants).
Texas Bowl (Texas Tech 42 Ole Miss 25) – Ole Miss looked completely flat in this one. Like they didn’t want to be there. Texas Tech, on the other hand, looked great and played hard for first-year coach Joey McGuire who has instilled a new confidence in Lubbock. The Red Raiders also did a nice tribute to Mike Leach on their first play, lining up in the Air Raid offense.
Armed Forces Bowl (Air Force 30 Baylor 15) – The classic bowl conundrum: can a team defend against a good option team. In this case it was no. The Falcons wore the Bears down and ran for almost 300 yards in a ho-hum affair.
Sugar Bowl (Alabama 45 Kansas State 20) – Hey, for a while it looked like this was going to be a fun start to college football on New Year’s Eve. Then Bama realized they are Bama and woke up and put an absolute beatdown on the Wildcats.
Military Bowl (Duke 30 UCF 13) – I thought this would be a better game. The Blue Devils ran away with this and it wasn’t even really close. A great turnaround for Duke, I must say.
Fenway Bowl (Louisville 24 Cincinnati 7) – Other than the Scott Satterfield drama, this game was pretty boring. The unique setup of this being at Fenway Park and the potential for FOOTBAW WEATHER didn’t help enough to move this up the rankings.
New Orleans Bowl (WKU 44 South Alabama 23) – South Alabama was the fairly big favorites here and the Hilltoppers ended up mopping the floor with them. This game was good for about 17 or 18 minutes and then that was all she wrote.
LA Bowl (Fresno State 29 Washington State 6) – Man, looking back, that first Saturday of bowl games was not good. Three of the worst bowl games of the season were this day. This was one of them. Wazzu just didn’t really show up for this one.
First Responder Bowl (Memphis 38 Utah State 10) – I’ll be honest: I did not watch more than one minute of the second half of this game. It was over long before that.
College Football Playoff National Championship (Georgia 65 TCU 7) – A beatdown of monumental proportions. I don’t know if I consider it a bowl game but if you do, it’s the biggest bowl game margin of victory ever. I was wondering if the Dawgs would score 80. A rough end to a damn good season.
Las Vegas Bowl (Oregon State 30 Florida 3) – The Gators resorted to kicking a field goal in the final minute of this game. Why? To preserve their record non-shutout streak. Other than that, they were run off the field by the Beavers.
Citrus Bowl (LSU 63 Purdue 7) – “See what those Tigers did? You content with only winning by 56? Let’s beat that!” – Kirby Smart, probably
Music City Bowl (Iowa 21 Kentucky 0) – I think everyone thought it would be bad. It may have been worse than what we thought. Memories of the infamous 2018 Cheez-It Bowl come to mind as this is one of the ugliest, most unwatchable bowl game of all-time.

Hey that wasn’t so bad was it? Then again, I tend to be short and sweet with a lot of these. Maybe it’s because I run out of steam near the end. Who knows. Anyway, enjoy the NFL playoffs coming up and if you still have a hankering for some college football, there are a few all-star games coming up. The Hula Bowl is this Saturday at Noon on CBS Sports Network if that tickles your fancy. Hey, at least it’s something.

Most Important Games of the 2021 College Football Season – IV

Posted on June 12, 2021 by guelphbossman

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

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

Week 10

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Week 11

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Week 12

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Week 13

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Weeks 14 and 15

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

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

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

Everyone have a great weekend!

It’s time to see how I did on my 2019 college football predictions…hold your applause

Posted on January 27, 2020 by guelphbossman

The college football season has ended. Grab the Kleenex, dab your eyes and blow your nose. We are seven long months away from college football starting again. I might actually watch a few spring games this time around only if there’s nothing else to watch. The mock drafts will commence soon although I will not cover the Kreepy Kombine. I don’t care what a player prefers on his pizza or what he would do if he wasn’t a college football player or whether his parents are swingers. I would be very uncomfortable as a scout to ask this shit. The CFL starts in late May again this year with their pre-season (May 24th to be exact). I still don’t understand why the pre-season games aren’t all in neutral locations. Grow the damn league for god’s sake. Oh and the XFL starts soon. We shall see how version 2.0 goes. I think with the TV contracts they will be able to do what the AAF couldn’t…finish their first season. Beyond that who knows. If they can go two full seasons I would consider it at least a slight success.

Let’s get to the main event: my predictions and how I did. I am assuming I did crappy but you never know until you reflect. And if the reflection is bad, break the mirror. Anyway, let’s go.

College Football Playoff and New Year’s Six

My College Football Playoff Final Four was very close!
- Clemson – Picked them #1 and they ended up #3 and undefeated. God I’m good. OK yes most people picked them in the CFP but still.
- Oklahoma – I had them #2. They were #4 so technically I am 2-for-2. Again, this was another easy pick considering I thought no one would be close in the Big XII.
- Alabama – I figured this was a no-brainer. That’s what two losses will do to you as they didn’t even get into the New Year’s Six (although they weren’t too far out).
- Michigan – Same deal as Bama had although it was less of a shoo-in with the Wolverines. They ended up facing the Tide in the Citrus Bowl so not too bad but a little off with this pick.
How about my New Year’s Six picks? Not as good. Didn’t get a single bowl game fully correct. Utah? Should have been there but no. Texas? Nope. Washington? Nada. Notre Dame? Close but no cigar. Syracuse? Jesus Christ what was I thinking?
I did have the Group of Five pick correct though as I had Memphis going to the Cotton Bowl.
I had LSU, Oregon and Nebraska being just on the outside of the NY6 looking in but playing in good bowls. LSU was awesome, Oregon looks like they’re back being a Pac-12 power and I drank the Nebraska Kool-Aid. Two out of three isn’t bad.

Heisman Trophy

I had Trevor Lawrence and Tua Tagovailoa as my #1 and #2. If Tua hadn’t got injured he would have finished higher. Lawrence just didn’t have the greatest start to his season but ended strong.
I didn’t have Joe Burrow on my list. The only LSU player I had up there was Grant Delpit. Major fail on my part.
My picks were mostly bad. I mean Sam Ehlinger at #4? Jake Fromm at #6? Adrian Martinez at #10? Sweet Jesus. I had Hurts at #5 and Fields at #8 so at least they were in my Top 10. But no Chase Young. Yikes.

Let’s Look at Some Bad Team Predictions

Look, Army was supposed to be better and most thought they would be. I will include it here but almost everyone made that goof.
Western Kentucky was a bit of a revelation this season. I figured they would fall to the basement again but Tyson Helton did a great job with the Hilltoppers, getting back to their high-octane offensive ways.
Indiana was really good which is not what I said at the start of the year. I have to apologize to the Hoosiers. Maybe they are not just a basketball school anymore.
I also need to apologize to P.J. Fleck. He got the Golden Gophers to Row The Boat like he wanted them to. I thought they would struggle just to get bowl-eligible. Not even close there.
North Texas was quite a bit worse than I thought they would be (I figured they would challenge for the division title). Not good. And they were home for the holidays. An overall sad season for the Mean Green.
Shawn Elliott is doing some great things at Georgia State. Along with WKU they have to be considered the surprises of the season so I don’t feel too bad with my prediction here.
What Billy Napier did at Louisiana this season was amazing. He has brought the Ragin’ Cajuns back to prominence and solidified his spot as a good head coach. I figured they would win the Sun Belt West but not by as much as they did.
Nebraska. Sweet Jesus they just can’t seem to get it together. So Scott Frost isn’t quite the mastermind many thought he would be.
Northwestern was tough to watch. Like seriously tough to watch. Last year they clinched the Big Ten West with like four weeks to go. This year? Brutal.
I’m trying to remember why I had Troy so high up in the Sun Belt standings. I have a feeling I didn’t think there would be a huge drop-off even though Neal Brown left for West Virginia. I was wrong.
Nice to see Oregon State have a decent year for the first time in what felt like forever. One prediction I don’t feel too bad about since most had the Beavers at the bottom of the Pac-12 North.
The Bay Area schools had way different years than I predicted. Cal ended up being much better than my prediction and the Big Trees out at Stanford were much worse. This is getting out of hand. I wonder if the actual experts are this bad.
Chris Klieman proved his mettle as a head coach as he had the Wildcats playing much better than many experts predicted. Eight wins is no joke in the Little Apple. At least that’s what I’m telling myself.
Obviously that one terrible season last year was an aberration for Navy. The Middies turned it around and quickly back into the double-digit win club. I had them just bowl-eligible.
SMU parlayed a hot start, and a win in the Iron Skillet game, to a primetime game on ABC and the best season in the Metroplex since the death penalty in the mid-80s. I had them also just bowl-eligible.
Jim Bob McElwain did wonders in Central Michigan with the Chippewas, getting them to the MAC Championship after a horrific year last season. I didn’t think he’d turn it around that quick.
I really have to just take my Air Force predictions every year and give them an extra win or two since I am always off with them.
Well the Jeff Tedford shine wore off in the valley with Fresno State. I thought he would almost bring them to another conference championship game.
It is nice to see Hawaii do well. Will be interesting to see how well they do with Nick Rolovich off to Wazzu.
Don’t get me started with Syracuse and Florida State and Miami.

Let’s Look at Some Good Team Predictions

I’ve already discussed Oklahoma and Clemson. I also did well with my Memphis, Ohio State and Georgia predictions, even though I thought the Tigers would run the table.
I figured Tennessee would be back in bowl season this year and I was right on the mark.
Boise State, despite being an easy pick, was a good prediction on my part. I will ignore the fact that almost everyone had them winning the Mountain West.
Did not take the bait about NC State being awesome this year. They were quite good but I still figured them third in the ACC Atlantic.
Oregon and Utah pretty much dominating the Pac-12 this season. Who called it? This guy…OK you might not be able to see it but I was pointing at myself.
Kansas only winning three games. I use this example every year.
I nailed the AAC East pretty much dead-on. Only real difference was UCF and Cincinnati being switched in the top two spots.
And of course Appalachian State being pretty close to the Group of Five spot in the New Year’s Six. Then again, EVERYONE thought that.

Coaching Hot Seat Fun-Time Extravaganza

How the fuck does UConn justify keeping Randy Edsall? My guess is along with the ridiculous bonuses he gets for getting three first downs in a quarter or leading after one quarter or not shitting his pants, he has a clause that says he is paid a bajillion dollars if he is fired before his contract is up.
From the rest of the top five, only one remains and I understand why. Other than one awesome season like a decade ago, Ball State has been brutal in football. I didn’t figure Mike Neu would be able to turn this around but he has. They were almost bowl-eligible and were battling for the MAC West title up until the final two weeks. The rest of the coaches…yeah, no surprise they are all gone.
Bob Davie gone in New Mexico. No surprise there since I think everyone there was getting sick of his shit, especially the players. That only works when you win. When you lose, being a hard-ass never works. And Charlie Strong is also gone. He was fired at USF for basically getting worse every season since he started there. We will see him again in the next couple years I’m sure.
Philip Montgomery somehow got a stay of execution at Tulsa. I think part of this is the fact that who wants to go to coach at Tulsa?
My Doubtful Shitcanning list, yet again, had a few guys who had pretty good to great years. Mike Bloomgren did what I didn’t think he could do…win a game at Rice this season (they actually won three). Gus Malzahn’s Auburn Tigers beat Alabama and almost got to the New Year’s Six. And Lovie Smith did unreal things at a woebegone program at Illinois and put them in a bowl game this season so yes, I was very wrong with him since he defied logic and has this program headed in the right direction.
As for the rest of that section, I am a bit surprised Matt Luke was fired since I didn’t think Ole Miss did that bad this season. Also Brent Brennan is probably off the hot seat list after his work at San Jose State.

So again I decided to compare myself to the Stassen method of pre-season predictions. Every single year…I don’t know why I subject myself to this but I am always curious as to how I stand compared to real experts who truly study the game and don’t do this on the side…meaning it’s their actual job. So…using specialized computer software (it’s an app called Calculator), my score was calculated as (drum roll)…

134.

A little bit better than this year. So where did I land among the experts? I tied The Sporting News! Nice! Problem is they were 14th out of 19. But at least I wasn’t at the bottom. So suck it all you lesser predictors!

I am going to consider this season a quasi-success for me. Mostly because I have low expectations for my predictions. But since I am talking about my predictions and how good they were, you know what this means…college football is so far away now. 218 days away. Good god. How am I going to shirk all Saturday responsibilities now?

Super Bowl is this Sunday. No I did not watch the Pro Bowl at all. I don’t even know who won. I was more immersed in the tragic Kobe Bryant story than anything else yesterday. Anyway, I have not heard anything about changes to the broadcast info so all I can say is it is on FOX or CTV. That’s it.

Alright what do we have to look forward to: Mock drafts. I might do an XFL schedule. I have the college basketball conference tournament schedule as well which is always a crapshoot when it comes to the specialty packs (although Bell and Rogers are much better now than they were a few years back with assuring games that were scheduled actually appear). Alright have a great rest of the week folks!

Ranking the Bowl Games from First to Worst – 2019-20 Edition

Posted on January 15, 2020 by guelphbossman

Hey how did you think the bowl games went? There was definitely some good and definitely some bad. We will get to that in the rankings but overall, 2019’s college football season was much better than the 2018 season. Less disappointment that is for sure. Don’t get me wrong, I watched a bit of every game. Every single, fucking one. No matter how “useless” the game appeared to be (on paper at least). Not to the players and coaches and fans. Those games mean a shit-ton to them. And that sometimes lends to the games as the atmosphere can be great in a bowl game with a stadium that seems barely half-full.

Alright, time for reading, folks. An absolute deluge of text about bowl season. Now you can remember games that you really did not want to remember anymore. You’re welcome.

Hawaii Bowl (Hawaii 38 BYU 34) – I don’t think this has ever happened before but yes, the Christmas Eve tradition was the best bowl game. Damn was it ever fun to watch. The Hawaii Bowl is rarely this exciting. It felt like an old school WAC game. The closest thing to a really good boxing match where both boxers traded haymakers for most of the match.
Belk Bowl (Kentucky 37 Virginia Tech 30) – Should I make this number one? It’s a tough call. It was the only walkoff touchdown of bowl season which is fun (not so much for gamblers). A great back-and-forth affair in Bud Foster’s final game at VaTech. Another great game to watch. Lynn Bowden Jr. going off and cementing his draft status. Also, it’s the final Belk Bowl. So it was a bit bittersweet as well. Everything a bowl game should be.
Fiesta Bowl (Clemson 29 Ohio State 23) – Now this is the kind of semi-final game we kind of want all the time. This kind of proves that no matter what conference you are in, if you are a good team, you are a good team, period. Anyway, big plays, drama, ref issues, controversy. Sounds like a good time to me.
Rose Bowl (Oregon 28 Wisconsin 27) – Seeing the Badgers piss this one away was like a trainwreck: you couldn’t look away. The Ducks were absolutely dominated in this one. But they did enough off the Wisky turnovers to pull out the victory. We also found out that Justin Herbert has some wheels.
Outback Bowl (Minnesota 31 Auburn 24) – Considering Michigan and Alabama were playing at the exact same time, this is a good thing for both programs, especially the Gophers. Minnesota has brought the fun all season and P.J. Fleck’s energy can be infectious so I definitely look forward to seeing them play. This also showed that maybe, just maybe, Minnesota has arrived in the college football world. Also, I assume the Fire Gus rumblings will prevail well into August yet again. Poor guy.
Frisco Bowl (Kent State 51 Utah State 41) – Over 1000 yards of offense. One of the better college football games of the year, period. Nice to see the underdog Golden Flashes keep up with USU. And let’s give Sean Lewis some credit here. This team has done almost nothing for, well, the entire time the program has been around. And now Lewis, a young head coach (younger than me at least), comes along and is already turning this program around. The MAC is pretty wide open so don’t be surprised if Kent State is a conference contender next season. We also might have to get used to seeing Jordan Love on Sundays because that guy was special in this one. Too bad his defense wasn’t.
Liberty Bowl (Navy 20 Kansas State 17) – Talk about a close game! The Midshipmen and Wildcats played a tight game that wasn’t high on offense. Navy put together a Navy-like drive to set up the game-winning field goal which felt fitting in this one.
Quick Lane Bowl (Pittsburgh 34 Eastern Michigan 30) – One of the barnburners of the season and it was very unexpected. Basically what ended up being a walkoff punch by Eastern Michigan’s quarterback ended a very exciting (and surprisingly so) Quick Lane Bowl, a bowl that is usually forgotten about.
Cotton Bowl (Penn State 53 Memphis 39) – Yet again, the Group of Five representative in the New Year’s Six brought their A Game. But man Penn State was something else. In the end, Penn State’s passing game was better than Memphis’s running game and pulled away for the win. It helped that there was a terrible bowl game on at the same time as the eyeballs stayed here.
Orange Bowl (Florida 36 Virginia 28) – OK I will admit when I was wrong. I figured the Hoos had no chance but this turned into quite the competitive game. I mean Florida had control of the game most of the time but Bryce Perkins made it so you thought maybe, just maybe, the Cavaliers could pull this out. In the end, the Fighting Mullens were too much.
Texas Bowl (Texas A&M 24 Oklahoma State 21) – Thrilling? Not exactly. It felt like the Pokes were going to run away with this one, much to the chagrin of the many Aggie fans in attendance. Anyway, this game’s score doesn’t tell the whole story as other than early and very late, Texas A&M controlled the pace of the game. But it was close. So there’s that.
Gator Bowl (Tennessee 23 Indiana 22) – I thought this was a pretty sexy matchup for bowl season. A resurgent Vols team against an up-and-coming Hoosiers team. Normally the games after New Year’s aren’t watched (other than the National Championship) but this was one fantastic. It was kind of painful to watch Indiana blow this game that they really did have in the bag. Now I await Tennessee’s inclusion in the preseason Top 25 for next season.
First Responder Bowl (Western Kentucky 23 Western Michigan 20) – Is it First Responder or First Responders? Anyway, this had a crazy finish to a rather mundane game. Western Michigan was flagged for too many men on the field on a WKU Hail Mary on the last play of the game. The Hilltoppers then decided to go for the 52-yard field goal and hit it to walk it off. I think many are just glad that this bowl game was actually played after last year’s cancellation.
Camellia Bowl (Arkansas State 34 FIU 27) – Surprisingly fun to watch! The Panthers made it quite the game with their late comeback (that came up just short). Not much else to say about a bowl that is historically ignored and poorly attended.
Pinstripe Bowl (Michigan State 27 Wake Forest 21) – I was really looking forward to this game as it had two teams that, for some reason, can bring it during bowl season. Honestly, most thought this would be boring and they were part-correct. It wasn’t super exciting but it was close and it was a game you had to watch to the end. Now the Mark Dantonio watch begins as the rumours are swirling on his status in East Lansing.
National Championship (LSU 42 Clemson 25) – This was a pretty damn good game for about 2.5 quarters. Then Joe Burrow. That’s it. Can we call it the greatest season by a player in college football history? It’s easily Top 10 for sure.
Peach Bowl (LSU 63 Oklahoma 28) – Basically this game was over early. If it wasn’t for the fact it was a semi-final and Joe Burrow going crazy in the first half it would have been unwatchable. Oklahoma might just want to decline their invite next year if they are selected for the College Football Playoff.
Sun Bowl (Arizona State 20 Florida State 14) – This game looked like the Redbox Bowl from last year for over a half. It was like neither team really wanted to win. It did lead to a fairly wild finish though which is one of the things we like as college football fans. I am sure Noles fans want to put James Blackman into a cannon and fire him straight into the transfer portal after his performance. Also, nice touch with Herm Edwards getting the Frosted Flakes dumped on him at the end. This needs to continue even during the regular season.
Cheez-It Bowl (Air Force 31 Washington State 21) – Ah, the hilarious Cheez-It Bowl. This year’s edition was much less hilarious and much less exciting. I mean Wazzu made it close early in the fourth quarter but the Falcons’ rushing offense ground the Cougs defense into dust, as most of us thought would happen. Realistically though, the final score doesn’t portray how much Air Force dominated this.
Music City Bowl (Louisville 38 Mississippi State 28) – No real stars in this one didn’t help this bowl game but it was another case of a game where the score does not indicate how not close this game was. Louisville looked dominant most of this one. If it wasn’t for the Joe Moorhead rumours (which turned out to be true) this game might have gone down a few notches.
Cure Bowl (Liberty 23 Georgia Southern 16) – Not exciting. Not terrible. Kind of in the middle. Which is where it ranks. Nice to see Liberty win their first bowl game ever, I guess.
Sugar Bowl (Georgia 26 Baylor 14) – Look this went exactly as most people thought it would go, no offense to Baylor. Really it was not very memorable and, to be honest, it was so late on New Year’s Day that I was getting tired (plus I had to work the next day).
Boca Raton Bowl (Florida Atlantic 52 SMU 28) – This was set up to be one of the better bowl games between the two great Power Five teams. So good that it was being aired on ABC. I thought it would be really close and it ended up being anything but. Plus all the Lane Kiffin talk really got to be too much by the second half. We get it: he left the Owls. Let’s move on.
Holiday Bowl (Iowa 49 USC 24) – Everything was going great for this game until Kedon Slovis got injured. Then it went to shit for the Trojans and the fans watching at home. The only good thing is that we were able to actually see this game in Canada despite it being on FOX Sports One.
Mobile Bowl (Louisiana 27 Miami-OH 17) – This game was the final bowl game before the national championship. The only reason to watch is if you weren’t bowled out yet and kind of missed Monday Night Football. I have to get the game credit since a botched snap near the goal line for the Redhawks was all that separated this from moving up the chain. Also, I guess this is now called the LendingTree Bowl. Ugh.
Citrus Bowl (Alabama 35 Michigan 16) – Michigan was in this exact same spot last year. And they scored one more point than last year’s bowl game. The Wolverines were boatraced by Bama in the second half, just like last year’s game against Florida. The Outback Bowl, on at the same time, was a much more satisfying game to watch and so that’s where I spent most of my time.
Redbox Bowl (California 35 Illinois 20) – I was hoping for Lovie Smith to pick up a bowl win but hey, the Illini just getting to a bowl game is huge enough. If it wasn’t for this possibility, this may have gone farther down the list as Cal never seemed to be out of control of the game.
Gasparilla Bowl (UCF 48 Marshall 25) – I guess it’s good this game isn’t at Tropicana Field anymore. Otherwise, this game was over early.
New Orleans Bowl (Appalachian State 31 UAB 17) – All UAB early, All App State late. Hell, the Mountaineers even almost covered the spread. They didn’t though (considering the spread was like 16.5).
Idaho Potato Bowl (Ohio 30 Nevada 21) – The score makes it seem like it might have been close. It wasn’t. The only exciting thing about this game, other than how much Ohio might win by, is Frank Solich getting showered in french fries after the bowl win.
Armed Forces Bowl (Tulane 30 Southern Miss 13) – I will be completely honest…after the first half I watched very little of this game. Came back with about half the fourth quarter to play, saw Tulane was handily in front, and felt good about my decision. I guess sometimes morning football isn’t that great.
Military Bowl (North Carolina 55 Temple 13) – Was there really anything good about this game? Now we have got a lot of people on the North Carolina bandwagon for 2020. Sam Howell could end up being a darkhorse Heisman contender if the Heels contend in the ACC.
Las Vegas Bowl (Washington 38 Boise State 7) – The only intriguing part of this game is seeing how Washington would fare in the Chris Petersen farewell game. Looks like they did well.
New Mexico Bowl (San Diego State 48 Central Michigan 11) – The normally first FBS bowl game of the year was a dud. Maybe because they weren’t the first bowl game of the season. Either way it was not exciting after about the 12 minute mark of the first quarter. Jimmy Mac’s great season in Mount Pleasant ends in a dud. And, shock of all shocks, Rocky Long retired so that was his last game as well.
Bahamas Bowl (Buffalo 31 Charlotte 9) – This was the first bowl game of the season, on a Friday afternoon. So I barely watched any of this one. But the fact this is Charlotte’s first bowl game and Buffalo’s first bowl win ever keeps it from falling even further (even though there isn’t far to fall from here).
Alamo Bowl (Texas 38 Utah 10) – Maybe the Utes were honestly that crushed with losing the Pac-12 title game and their chance at the College Football Playoff. This was pretty non-competitive and now I am sure we will hear about Texas being in the preseason Top 25 like almost every year. Let’s not give in to the media peer pressure folks!
Camping World Bowl (Notre Dame 33 Iowa State 9) – God this was awful. Notre Dame is that weird team that is probably better than playing in any bowl game except when it gets to the New Year’s Six where they play terrible and are “exposed” as a not-so-good team.
Independence Bowl (Louisiana Tech 14 Miami 0) – This should have been a better game. Miami, who is usually at least not too bad and LaTech who is a good Group of Five team. This ended up being a mess of a game and showed how bad Miami really is. The entire program will be under the microscope for the next season.
Birmingham Bowl (Cincinnati 38 Boston College 6) – Hey remember what the Birmingham Bowl has been like in recent years? Forget all that. This was shit. It would be the worst bowl game this season if it wasn’t for the next horrific, forgettable game.
Arizona Bowl (Wyoming 38 Georgia State 17) – On CBS Sports Network. When other bowl games were on. And it was boring. It’s the bowl game shitfest trifecta. I think I watched one minute of this.

So in the end, better than last bowl season but not awesome by any stretch of the imagination. This weekend we have some college all-star games. The East-West Shrine Game and the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl are on the NFL Network on Saturday at 2:00 and 6:00 respectively. Yes they tend to have some weird rules but it’s still college football (technically).

Your very short NFL schedule will be coming your way either tomorrow or Friday. Have a great hump day everyone!

The Footballgasm Continues! – Week 12 College Football TV Schedule

Posted on November 14, 2019 by guelphbossman

You like that? You like that! You can use that Kirk Cousins line for so many different scenarios.

Of course the Footballgasm alludes to football every day until the day before American Thanksgiving. It is a great time of year to be a football fan, college or pro. As for what else has been happening lately, the same mid-week things occur every season happened again: the CFP Rankings and MACtion:

The CFP Rankings came out on Tuesday again. A lot of movement and contrived controversy. People who hate Alabama hate the fact that they didn’t fall like 20 spots after their loss to the #1 team in the poll, LSU. Meanwhile, Georgia sits at #5 with a loss to South Carolina of all teams. Yuck. And remember, no Group of Five teams allowed in the Top 4. Hell keep them out of the Top 10. This an unofficial rule. The Committee won’t tell you this but it’s true.
MACtion graces our screens on weekdays now. MACtion is fun to watch I will admit. Usually some pretty good close games. Attendance, however, at games during mid-week MACtion is abysmal. This is nothing new. Going to a sporting event on a weekday night is tough. As a student, even worse. Luckily for the MAC, during the season there have been more games getting a national spotlight on Saturdays. This way, MACtion isn’t the first check-in on the conference all season for most college football fans.

Anyway, other than that, not much to discuss so let’s get into the schedule alright?

Thursday

		US	Canada
Buffalo at Kent State	7:00 PM
North Carolina at Pittsburgh	7:30 PM

So an OK MAC game and an OK ACC game. Not too bad at all and these games actually have some stakes to them. Kent State and North Carolina aren’t nearly as bad as they were last year which helps a lot here. I just hope at least one of these games stays close or otherwise it’s off to Thursday Night Football.

Friday

		US	Canada
Louisiana Tech at Marshall	7:00 PM
Fresno State at San Diego State	9:30 PM

OK another couple of average, but relatively important, games. The Conference USA game is important since it could be a preview of the conference championship. Fresno State, despite not being near the team they were the last two seasons, somehow holds all the cards and sits in the catbird seat in the Mountain West West…win out and they go the Mountain West Championship to somehow keep things close with Boise State (again).

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
Indiana at #9 Penn State	Noon
UMass at Northwestern	Noon
#14 Wisconsin at Nebraska	Noon
#11 Florida at Missouri	Noon
VMI at Army	Noon
#5 Alabama at Mississippi State	Noon
TCU at Texas Tech	Noon
Tulane at Temple	Noon
Michigan State at #15 Michigan	Noon
Kansas at #22 Oklahoma State	Noon
Alabama State at Florida State	Noon

We get the Rodney Dangerfield of programs, Indiana, facing Penn State trying to put the nail in the coffin of their College Football Playoff chances. We get little brother Michigan State trying to derail Michigan’s postseason hopes. We also get Nebraska’s final chance, really, to look like an important team this season (and not make my preseason projection look even more awful) as they host Wisconsin in Lincoln. And there’s a few other good games as well. Oh and also UMass-Northwestern which could be brutal if the weather doesn’t cooperate.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
#23 Navy at #16 Notre Dame	2:30 PM
Wake Forest at #3 Clemson	3:30 PM
#2 Ohio State at Rutgers	3:30 PM
#4 Georgia at #12 Auburn	3:30 PM
Central Michigan at Ball State	3:30 PM
West Virginia at #24 Kansas State	3:30 PM
#18 Memphis at Houston	3:30 PM
#19 Texas at Iowa State	3:30 PM
Virginia Tech at Georgia Tech	3:30 PM
Kentucky at Vanderbilt	3:30 PM
Syracuse at Duke	4:00 PM
Wyoming at Utah State	4:00 PM
#8 Minnesota at #20 Iowa	4:00 PM
Stanford at Washington State	4:30 PM

Three huge games in the afternoon timeslot. Navy visits South Bend hoping for an upset to put themselves firmly in the Group of Five race, Georgia is on upset alert as they head to the Plains to face Auburn and Minnesota has to prove that their jump in the rankings (the largest jump to get into the Top 10 in the history of those rankings) wasn’t a fluke. An Auburn win will definitely end UGA’s CFP chances and an Iowa win would do the same to Minnesota. Also if we get Mississippi State somehow upsetting Bama we are getting close to 1990-style chaos which I would definitely welcome.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
#17 Cincinnati at USF	7:00 PM
#1 LSU at Ole Miss	7:00 PM
Air Force at Colorado State	7:00 PM
#10 Oklahoma at #13 Baylor	7:30 PM
Louisville at NC State	7:30 PM
#25 Appalachian State at Georgia State	7:30 PM
Arizona State at Oregon State	7:30 PM
South Carolina at Texas A&M	7:30 PM
UCLA at #7 Utah	8:00 PM

And now a game of the year candidate. Oklahoma and Baylor, despite both of them being fairly far out of the Top 4, have the biggest Big XII game of the season. This game will decide if Baylor honestly has what it takes to get to the CFP or if the Sooners are still the cream of the crop in the conference. The only TSN game of the week appears in this timeslot as LSU heads to face Ole Miss. Why not show the 3:30 game as well? Seems weird to me. They must have something important on in that timeslot. So what is taking college football out of that timeslot? The ATP Tennis tour semi-finals. Wow. OK then. That couldn’t be on another of the TSNs? I get that it is part of the contract to show that (and for tennis fans it’s a huge event) but nothing in the contract says it has to appear on TSN2…or at least I assume that’s the case since that would be really oddly specific.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
New Mexico at #21 Boise State	10:15 PM
Arizona at #6 Oregon	10:30 PM
USC at California	11:00 PM

No big games here but USC-Cal is clearly the least important game of the late night sked. Never thought I’d say that about a USC game but there you go. Boise State should continue their charge for the New Year’s Six spot and Oregon tries not to be complacent against an entirely average Wildcats squad.

Games to set your eyeballs on

Georgia at Auburn (3:30, CBS) – This is the Game of the Week but there could be a few choices here. So we will call it GOTW 1A. Auburn has a chance to cause major problems for the SEC with a win here. Well at least the SEC East since it means the Dawgs don’t clinch the division yet and it eliminates them (for sure this time) from the College Football Playoff. It also keeps Auburn somehow in the hunt. I would chuckle if Auburn wins and is at like #7 next week with a legitimate shot at the Top 4 and watch the media go crazy over it.

Oklahoma at Baylor (7:30, ABC) – This should have more hype attached to it and it may by the time the game beings. This game harkens back to the time RGIII passed his way past Oklahoma with a last minute touchdown which was a bit shocking at the time despite the fact the Bears were a good team that year. I expect the same thing here. Even if the Bears win, they will probably sit at like #8 and still won’t get the praise they do deserve for still being undefeated. Matt Rhule really has done the best job in college football this season and should be the Coach of the Year (sorry to Ed Orgeron and P.J. Fleck). I still believe we could get a Minnesota-Baylor Fiesta Bowl CFP semi-final which would be hilarious and make ESPN somewhat sad.

Minnesota at Iowa (4:00, FOX) – Speaking of big tests, Minnesota has two left. This is the first one with Wisconsin on the final weekend. Look, the Gophers are undefeated. Not their fault they aren’t a blueblood program like some of the others. To me this is worse than blaming Clemson for being in the shitty ACC or Bama for not beating a ranked opponent. But at least Minnesota is in the Big Ten so if they beat Iowa, Wisconsin and the East Division champ they are in no matter what. The tough part about this may be playing in Iowa City since the Hawkeyes tend to be tough to beat at home.

Navy at Notre Dame (2:30, NBC) – Navy is back! Now we can definitely say that last season was an aberration and people like me were slightly fooled (since I still had Navy winning six games). The Irish have been shaky lately so it wouldn’t surprise me if they struggled with the ol’ option offense. Navy needs this way more than Notre Dame as a win here for them puts them in the G-5 conversation for the NY6. The Irish do, however, need a win here to keep their New Year’s Six hopes alive.

Indiana at Penn State (Noon, ABC) – Flip a coin between this and like six other games to determine who should inherit this spot. I picked this game since I believe Indiana should be ranked, even if it was at #25. And they could give the Nittany Lions some headaches.

Honourable mention: Michigan State at Michigan (Noon, FOX); Louisiana Tech at Marshall (Friday, 7:00, CBS Sports Network); Texas at Iowa State (3:30, FloSports)

Some gambling fun and games

Let’s not look at my last week’s picks. Things were going well, I got the upset pick of VaTech over Wake Forest and then BLAMMO, four straight wrong picks (including the two big games of the week). So I am going to forget that and move on with this week’s picks. Here we go:

Marshall over Louisiana Tech

Oklahoma over Baylor

Auburn over Georgia (big upset!)

Iowa State over Texas (upset?)

Penn State over Indiana

Michigan over Michigan State

Iowa over Minnesota (big upset!)

Notre Dame over Navy

Appalachian State over Georgia State

Clemson over Wake Forest

Oregon over Arizona

Ah more Thursday Night Football. Better than Monday Night Football! That should be their new slogan. I remember a time when Thursday Night Football was hot garbage and should have been abolished. Now it’s Monday Night Football that might end up going back to ABC? The last time MNF was any good (and yes I miss the old MNF theme). Anyway, tonight’s game is the Steelers, who somehow have become good again, and the Browns, who have been playing like the Browns teams we all know and love. Should be good. And cold.

Not going to get a full day of watching college football in but will watch most of it. Plus I will be up until god knows when in the morning so I am sure I will see all the highlights I need to see depending on what I miss.

NFL schedule tomorrow as per usual. Enjoy the games everyone!

I have a proposal – Week 11 College Football Recap

Posted on November 12, 2019 by guelphbossman

You probably know this already but Chad Morris has been fired as head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks. No surprise there. Arkansas has been awful this season. No denying that. While pretty much every other team not named Vanderbilt is improving in the SEC, the Razorbacks are getting worse somehow. Chad Morris was supposed to be the savior (somewhat) for this program and at least get it back to playing in bowl games every season if not actually competing for the SEC West title. But in what may be the worst coaching job in the state since John L. Smith was brought in for a short (and disastrous) period of time, nothing went right in Fayetteville (and sometimes Little Rock). Their shellacking at the hands of Western Kentucky on Saturday was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Not saying Morris would have been back next year since he probably wouldn’t have been but there has to be a huge shot to the ego to be fired during a season. Basically the school is saying you aren’t even good enough to coach this already shitty team for the rest of the season. You are so bad that we have to replace you now.

Earlier this season, Rutgers finally shitcanned Chris Ash. It was about a season or so too late but at least they finally did it. So I have a proposal here that I think may have been said before but hear me out. As much as people say there are too many bowl games, people obviously watch them since they usually get more viewers than anything else on at that time, other than the NFL or World Juniors. So why not add another postseason game? Here’s what I think: have the two worst Power Five teams face off to figure out the bottom team of the year. Arkansas vs. Rutgers! Who says no? And play it in a spot where there is a good chance of horrible weather like Montana. Someone will broadcast it for sure. And I will watch it. Let’s make it happen!

Alright enough of Relegation Bowl 2019. On to the recap of what was an amazingly crazy week of college football. I can honestly say it was one of the most enjoyable weeks of college football this year. My only hope is that the last few weeks of the regular season are just as good (if not better).

Recap

Minnesota had a nice win over Penn State in chilly conditions in Minneapolis in one of two battles of undefeated teams. Row The Boat, indeed. It was a historic victory for a program not known for playing big-time college football. This means that the Golden Gophers’ hopes for the College Football Playoff are still alive. And with Iowa, Northwestern and Wisconsin left on their sked, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that the Fighting Flecks are in the Top 4 come conference championship weekend. As for PSU, they aren’t out of things yet but they have to win out and get a LOT of help.
Clemson clinched the ACC Atlantic with a relatively easy win over NC State in primetime. It was actually a close game for all of like a minute and then the Tigers were off to the races in a horribly boring affair. It was weird to see the primetime sked be so much worse than the earlier two timeslots but there we had it. If you needed to get anything done on Saturday, that was probably your chance.
A very slow start for Georgia turned into a bit of a rout when they scored 27 unanswered on Missouri to pick up the win. They still have two more big games against Auburn and Texas A&M coming up that could put other teams back in the SEC East race. The Dawgs would have to lose both though and I honestly can’t see that happening.
Oh yeah there was a kind of big matchup down in Tuscaloosa. Talk about an instant classic. Two of the best coaches in the game. Two of the best quarterbacks (although Tua was obviously in pain late in the game). Two of the best offenses and defenses in the game. And it was a great game. LSU was way up by halftime but there was always that feeling that Alabama could come back. And come back they did. They made a game out of it with Tua Tagovailoa’s gutsy play. But the Tigers were too much and Joe Burrow may have clinched the Heisman with his performance. Yes it wasn’t under the lights but it was still an amazing game that will be remembered for a long time and may, dare I say it, knock Bama out of the College Football Playoff.
In Big XII news, Baylor BARELY beat TCU. It was looking for a while there that the Horned Frogs had the Bears’ number. The Bears needed a FG late and then some overtime heroics to win this one. So I just assume the Bears fans’ blood pressure is through the roof for most of this one and will continue to be until they lose (if they lose).
Illinois was down 28-3 to Michigan State and all the hope for Illini fans seemed to be draining. Then they started the biggest comeback in program history, about to tie up the game after a touchdown aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand they miss the extra point. Oh no. But they persevered and scored late again to pick up the massive win over the Spartans and become bowl-eligible for the first time in five long years. Amazing how keeping Lovie Smith (and his glorious beard) on for another year (after really not deserving another year) has led to hope inside this program.
Appalachian State ended up with what was not really an upset as they beat South Carolina in a close one. Can you imagine what would be going on right now if App State hadn’t looked like shit against Georgia Southern? You would have been seeing the Mountaineers as a good possibility as the first ever Sun Belt team to get to the New Year’s Six. Now? They need some help.
Could the Oklahoma freakin’ Sooners somehow get back into the CFP race? They sure could. I mean their game against Iowa State was pretty tough to watch and they struggled at times but they won and in the end that’s what matters…kind of. They are just lucky that ISU went to the Mack Brown School of Two Point Conversion Plays. They need to figure out that defense though as they can’t play like that against Baylor this Saturday or otherwise it will be lights out. Then again, Baylor struggled to score against TCU so…who knows.
Your 2019 Ohio State Buckeyes are a God damned juggernaut. They mopped the floor with Maryland dropping SEVENTY-THREE POINTS on them. Their path to the Big Ten Championship is now very simple. Don’t lose to Penn State and they will basically win the Big Ten East and head to Indianapolis.
So what can we make of the Tennessee Volunteers this season? They looked OK, I guess, against Kentucky and were able to eek out a win. They’ve been all over the place this season with some great games and truly awful ones. Amazingly enough, through all this, the Vols are one win away from being bowl-eligible and maybe, just maybe, they are back to building something good in Knoxville.
UCF lost to Tulsa. No New Year’s Six for you!
There was one more game with two ranked teams going at it and it was a close one as well. Iowa and Wisconsin played some classic Big Ten West football against each other and very few watched it because it was on at the same time as LSU-Alabama. Couldn’t this have been a night game? Anyway, the Hawkeyes missed on the two-point conversion late and Paul Chryst’s Badgers survived and now remain the only real challenger to Minnesota in the division.
Wow Boise State is making it very difficult to give them the New Year’s Six spot. Or is it that Boise State is making it tough to keep them out of the New Year’s Six spot? Probably a bit of both. They probably should have lost that game against Wyoming but somehow, someway, pulled out the win in overtime. They are still right in the thick of the hunt for the Group of Five spot and it would not surprise me to see them get it if they can blow through the rest of their schedule.
Oh Kansas State. It’s like they couldn’t handle the rarified air of the Top 25. I get that it’s been a struggle since 109-year-old Bill Snyder left the program but hopefully Chris Klieman has them back to where they had been during the Snyder era. And Texas is back……in the Top 25 (I think).
Florida beat Vanderbilt. In other news, sometimes we get snow in the winter.
Wake Forest had a ton of trouble with the Bud Foster Hokie defense and now will be out of the Top 25 (I think). So who in the hell is going to go to the Orange Bowl out of the ACC? It’s going to be an unranked Virginia I think. Sad. I think it’s about time to cut back a bit on the bowl tie-ins since that is ridiculous.
Finally, SMU put up almost 60 points on East Carolina. Unfortunately, East Carolina put up a bit more than 50 on the Mustangs. Not good for a team that is hoping for a wing and a prayer and a chance to somehow get to the AAC Championship.

We are now getting into the real important part of the season. OK not as important as American Thanksgiving Footballgasm time but still important. This past weekend, though, led to some big changes in the polls. That’s the way these things go in November. Here’s my Top 25:

#1	LSU
#2	Ohio State
#3	Georgia
#4	Clemson
#5	Utah
#6	Minnesota
#7	Alabama
#8	Oregon
#9	Baylor
#10	Oklahoma
#11	Auburn
#12	Florida
#13	Penn State
#14	Michigan
#15	Wisconsin
#16	Notre Dame
#17	Cincinnati
#18	Memphis
#19	Texas
#20	Boise State
#21	SMU
#22	Iowa
#23	Indiana
#24	Navy
#25	Texas A&M

Something has happened at the top and more is to come. Unless something weird happens, both LSU and Georgia won’t get to the CFP. LSU is almost a shoo-in at this point unless they don’t just shit the bed but fill the bedroom with diarrhea. Clemson wins out and they are essentially a lock. Ohio State is the same. I still think Ohio State blows it against Michigan though. I am going to continue to drink the Kool-Aid and say Michigan will finally break the streak this season. The most important thing here though? Indiana is in the Top 25. Every year it seems there has to be a basketball school in the Top 25. Last year it was Kentucky. The few years before that was Duke. Lately, that is the case. I would love to see Indiana win out and get in the conversation for the College Football Playoff because I like the discomfort of a team like that being in the mix. The media, as much as they they say otherwise, do not want these non-traditional football powers in these big games. Except for the ones who love controversy like it’s crack.

So this post is a day late so I won’t hype the Monday Night Football game (not that I ever hype it). But last night’s game was great. One of the best MNF games in a long time. And now there are no undefeated teams. The ’72 Dolphins can pop that champagne.

We got some MACtion tonight! Eastern Michigan and Akron tussle starting at 6:00 on the specialty pack and Western Michigan faces off against Ohio starting at 6:30. The games aren’t early because of the CFP Rankings Show. It’s because the weather is supposed to be bad so they are starting the games an hour or so earlier than normal. It is supposed to frigid in Ohio tonight so don’t expect to see packed stands there. Then tomorrow night is another set of MACtion games both on the specialty pack: Northern Illinois-Toledo and Bowling Green-Miami-OH.

Tomorrow we got some bowl projections (which aren’t early anymore). Thursday it’s another weekend-plus of college football and its TV schedule. Finally, the NFL gets the sked treatment on Friday. Enjoy your week (and the games) everyone!

I don’t know why people are surprised by this – Week 11 College Football TV Schedule

Posted on November 7, 2019 by guelphbossman

The College Football Playoff rankings came out on Tuesday evening. And of course there is a spot of controversy. Not a whole lot though. Ohio State is considered #1 with LSU at #2. This is fine. Alabama gets the #3 spot and it’s Penn State, not Clemson, at #4 (the Tigers are #5). This is good. Clemson doesn’t deserve to be above Penn State. To be honest, I would have put Bama at #4 as well but I don’t think The Committee has balls that big (yet). Georgia is #6 which is a lot of people upset since their lone loss is a terrible one at home to South Carolina where as Oregon’s only loss is to Auburn. I’d have to look at the rest of their schedules but I have a feeling the rest of UGA’s schedule is tougher than Oregon’s so it still kind of makes sense and there is an argument for it.

The problem with this is the same problem with the AP rankings. Having pre-season rankings should be abolished. There is no reason they should be done before Week 1 is over. Hell, make a whole AP Rankings show if you want, ESPN. I don’t care. The same goes for the CFP Rankings. Honestly I think they are one week too soon. The more weeks are over, the better the rankings will be but it’s tough for The Committee, who are made up of human beings, won’t take the previous week’s rankings into account. This will lead to certain teams being ranked too high to start not falling as far as they should and some teams who are too low right now having the opposite problem if they continue to win. Maybe this is something they can think of next year. They won’t because MONEY but they should consider it as the more teams that are truly in the race, the better. And that will also lead to more money.

Another point I have to make is that we are in the middle of MACtion. It’s the same point I make every year. It is great for people watching on TV since they now have football to watch on a Tuesday night rather than having to find something on Netflix or watching Sword Wars or Bagel Wars or whatever the fuck reality show is on. The problem is the stands look empty. There is proof that less fans go to these weekday night games (Friday excepted). MACtion was the first but the Sun Belt does it as does the ACC and Pac-12. But I have noticed this year that MACtion started later in the season (as did Fun Belt) and there are less weekday night games up until now. What caused this? The biggest thing is, amazingly enough, the ACC Network. More MAC and Sun Belt games have ended up on ESPNU on a Saturday than ever before. This means that attendance will increase as well as still having national visibility on a Saturday. It really is a win-win. I wonder what would happen if the Big XII ever got their act together and created a Big XII Network.

Alright let’s get right to the schedule!

Thursday

		US	Canada
Louisiana at Coastal Carolina	7:30 PM
Temple at USF	8:00 PM

So this is football. It’s cold outside. So might as well stay in and watch some college football. I have a feeling a lot of people will be watching Thursday Night Football instead.

Friday

		US	Canada
UCF at Tulsa	7:00 PM
Washington at Oregon State	10:30 PM

The first game might be over by the end of the first quarter. Or we could get Weird Tulsa who keeps it close and frustrates the Knights all night long. The nightcap actually might be fairly entertaining considering the Beavers have improved immensely over the past few years. Still, it would be considered a massive upset if OSU upended the Huskies.

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
#4 Penn State at #17 Minnesota	Noon
Florida State at Boston College	Noon
Purdue at Northwestern	Noon
UMass at Army	Noon
Vanderbilt at #10 Florida	Noon
Texas Tech at West Virginia	Noon
East Carolina at #25 SMU	Noon
Maryland at #1 Ohio State	Noon
#12 Baylor at TCU	Noon
Western Kentucky at Arkansas	Noon
Georgia Tech at Virginia	12:30 PM

Huge game in the early window and it’s not on FOX. ABC gets the huge Penn State-Minnesota game early because Minnesota declined to have night games in November. I understand this since it is probably fucking freezing in Minneapolis on a Saturday night under the stars (and possibly snowflakes). Other than that it isn’t the greatest schedule. Baylor-TCU could be interesting but the rest is just merely OK and will only be great if the game is close going into the fourth quarter.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
Stanford at Colorado	3:00 PM
USC at Arizona State	3:30 PM
#19 Wake Forest at Virginia Tech	3:30 PM
#2 LSU at #3 Alabama	3:30 PM
UConn at #20 Cincinnati	3:30 PM
#16 Kansas State at Texas	3:30 PM
Louisville at Miami	3:30 PM
Dartmouth vs. Princeton (in Yankee Stadium)	3:30 PM
Illinois at Michigan State	3:30 PM
UAB at Southern Miss	3:30 PM
#16 Iowa at #13 Wisconsin	4:00 PM
New Mexico State at Ole Miss	4:00 PM

“WHY ISN’T LSU-BAMA ON IN PRIMETIME???????” CBS already used their primetime matchup early in the season with Notre Dame-Georgia and I assume they couldn’t get a deal to get another primetime game. Sucks but it is what it is but it does mean that the first two timeslots of the day have at least one absolute must-see game which is somewhat rare.

Iowa-Wisky is also a big game and we also see KSU-UT and Dartmouth-Princeton? Huh? Yeah I mean this is the biggest Ivy League game in a long time between two really good (FCS) teams but the fact this game got a national spot in the middle of Saturday tells you what the entirety of the week’s schedule is like.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Utah State at Fresno State	7:00 PM
Missouri at #6 Georgia	7:00 PM
Appalachian State at South Carolina	7:00 PM
Washington State at California	7:00 PM
#5 Clemson at NC State	7:30 PM
#15 Notre Dame at Duke	7:30 PM
Liberty at BYU	7:30 PM
Tennessee at Kentucky	7:30 PM
Iowa State at #9 Oklahoma	8:00 PM

Nothing really that huge in primetime which is kind of a letdown after the first seven hours of the day. Notre Dame-Duke could be good as both teams do actually have something at stake. Missouri could end the so-called CFP Rankings controversy with UGA if they can pull off the win Between The Hedges.

As for TSN, they have TSN3 showing Mizzou-UGA and show two games early which is about on par with most of the weeks this season. Let’s see what else TSN has on their schedule on this day:

October Plays/Bloopers of the Month. Good god.
Engraved on a Nation. Why are they replaying this AGAIN?
Plays of the Week.
Top TFC Moments. Ok considering the MLS Cup is the next day, this is fine.
CFL Wired. Seriously?
Under-18 Women’s National Championship. It’s hockey so I get it.
Under-17 Challenge. More hockey.
Tennis. Probably contractually obligated to do so.
NASCAR. Another thing that is contractually obligated.
UFC Fight Night from Russia. That’s why it is being shown starting at Noon.
NBA game. Yep. Contract.
SportsCentre. Of course.
Must See SC. Another worthless show.

This is almost as bad as Sportsnet showing Hockey Night in Canada replays on Sundays. I still maintain that live sports are the reason that we even have two different sports networks in this nation. That’s why the hockey and tennis and NASCAR and UFC and NBA is all fine. The rest is mostly dreck and not needed.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
Wyoming at #22 Boise State	10:15 PM
Nevada at San Diego State	10:30 PM

Nothing big although Wyoming-Boise could be a fun game to watch on the blue turf. Plus if it’s frozen it will basically become a skating rink which would be hilarious to watch.

Games to set your eyeballs on

LSU at Alabama (3:30, CBS) – Now this is what I’m talking about! I get it, it would be better at night but still, this is a game fans have to watch. Both teams are playing crazy good so far this season and it’s honestly a surprise that the Tigers aren’t #1. I believe the Tide is actually an underdog for this one so Nick Saban can try and play that up for his plucky, beleaguered squad. Both teams still have challenges the rest of the way so this doesn’t clinch anything but LSU has an easier path than Bama at this point.

Penn State at Minnesota (Noon, ABC/TSN4) – Speaking of games where one team winning would cause a bit of carnage, here’s one. Everyone is expecting PSU to mop the floor with the Fighting Flecks here. Then again, this could get weird as it should be pretty damn cold in Minneapolis and if there’s snow, watch out. I wonder if The Committee would put the Gophers in the Top 10 if they win this one. Honestly, I don’t think they have the guts to do so.

Iowa at Wisconsin (4:00, FOX) – Let’s see how fucked up the Big Ten West can get. If Minnesota starts losing, then the best this division may have is a 4-loss champion. Don’t get me wrong, there are some good teams in the division. Really, only Purdue and Northwestern aren’t good at all (and Illinois and Nebraska are just OK really). Problem is, these teams beat up on each other and there may not be a single dominating team, unless the Gophers start to lose games and fast. Loser here has no shot at going to Indianapolis.

Missouri at Georgia (7:00, TSN3) – I guess I can put these here despite the fact we still don’t know if Mizzou can go bowling this year or not. If the Tigers can pull off the upset here, this throws the SEC East into potential disarray. At the very least, it means UGA will be shot like a cannon down the rankings where everyone seems to think they belong. Remember, depending on what happens, the Dawgs might be in the Top 4 come Tuesday which I am sure would make some experts’ heads explode.

Wake Forest at Virginia Tech (3:30, specialty pack) – I almost think this should have been the ACC Primetime game rather than Clemson-NC State. Wake is probably in the Top 15 and on the precipice of the New Year’s Six with a win. A VaTech win means Bud Foster’s final season is not totally in vain as at least the Hokies will be bowl-eligible. All I know is that no matter what, Dave Clawson is one of the most severely underrated coaches in college football and it will be a shock if some program throws a boatload of money at him to turn their program around (maybe Florida State should look into him).

Honourable mention: Wyoming at Boise State (10:15, specialty pack); Iowa State at Oklahoma (8:00, FOX); Clemson at NC State (7:30, ABC)

Some gambling fun and games

My picks last week were well short of fantastic. At least I got two upsets correct, even if they were minor upsets (Georgia and Memphis). I even called the Illinois win (although it was against Rutgers but hey, a win is a win. Here are this week’s possibly not-so-good picks.

Notre Dame over Duke

Clemson over NC State

Virginia Tech over Wake Forest

Boise State over Wyoming

Oklahoma over Iowa State

Georgia over Missouri

Alabama over LSU

Penn State over Minnesota

South Carolina over Appalachian State

Arizona State over USC

Southern Miss over UAB

Alright Thursday Night Football so what sad sack teams are playing…wait a minute…this isn’t the case anymore since it’s shown on FOX (as well as the NFL Network but most importantly, FOX). We get the Chargers and Raiders in what is actually a pretty big AFC West mid-season game. I find it hilarious that CBS and NBC never got games even this good when they aired TNF. Anyway, since it’s an important game, and considering the college football sked tonight, I will probably end up watching a good amount of this one in front of the rabid Raiders fanbase.

Yet again I will probably be up until 2 in the morning watching games. Maybe there’s something wrong with me. But with only three months (and a bit) of regular season college football I have to watch as much as I can. The other nine months have bowl games (good), Week Zero (not too bad), college football all-star games (with their weird rules) and then the X…………..F……………L!!!!!! At least they get Steve Levy and Tom Hart to call games with Greg McElroy, Joey Galloway and Pat Fucking McAfee with the analysis. Pretty good crews. Let’s hope the XFL is better than the AAF although I’m not holding my breath. Anyway, enjoy the games this weekend everyone!

Well it took about two months but we finally got it! – Week 9 College Football Recap

Posted on October 28, 2019 by guelphbossman

Oh. Yes. Was it the craziest weekend in college football history? No. But it was damn good and it led to a LOT of change in the Top 25.

Look let’s just get right to the recap to talk about the craziest week of the 2019 season. Saturday started with a banger and it just kept going from there. It’s the kind of college football Saturday I love to see. Let’s get to it!

Don’t write off Oklahoma just yet. We knew the Sooners would have a bit of a tough road to the College Football Playoff. The loss to Kansas State, however, was a bit shocking. I mean yes, they came back from being down three scores to within a crazy onside kick of having a shot to win. But it’s still a loss to an unranked team and those aren’t always forgivable. As for the Wildcats, they may be in the running to have a rematch with those same Sooners in a little over a month if they can keep this up and somehow pass Baylor who is now…leading the Big XII? Wow, OK then.

One of the craziest finishes you will ever see. And, of course, it stars The Hat, Les Miles. Kansas stays close with Texas Tech and then comes back to tie it up. They drive for the winning field goal and it’s blocked! This is where everything went haywire. A Red Raider player, Douglas Coleman, picked it up. This is the same guy that leads the nation in interceptions so he knows what to do with the ball. Except this time when he tried to lateral it to…nobody. This led to a Jayhawk lineman falling on the ball with 2 seconds left to allow them to get another chance to win the game. And they made the most of it, ending a wild game and giving Kansas their first win over Texas Tech in 17 years and their first road Big XII win in….look it’s been a long time since Kansas has done anything of note in football.

Florida State-Miami could be actually somewhat important again. So Florida State used some crazy trickeration to beat Syracuse. OK that wasn’t the only thing they used as they beat the Orange into dust. The Orange are so much worse than pretty much everyone thought it’s insane. I wonder if Dino Babers survives this. I guess we now know how valuable Eric Dungey was…more valuable than two Lamar Jacksons. On the other hand, Miami won thanks, in part, to Pitt’s ineptness and Pat Narduzzi’s insistence on yet again going for a field goal when it made sense to try for the touchdown. It allowed the Canes to drive late and win the game on a 32-yard TD with under a minute left in the game. Anyway, this means that the winner of the FSU-UM game is almost assuredly going bowling and the loser might not. Big stakes for two programs who, up until ten years ago, would have scoffed at a game like this.

Rain, Rain on Old Notre Dame! Brian Kelly has a serious problem with precipitation. And the fact he loves to pass the damn ball in rainstorms. I honestly don’t get it and I don’t think many watching understood it either. At least now the Irish are assuredly out of the College Football Playoff conversation. That’s music to many people’s ears. As for the Fighting Harbaughs, they aren’t done yet! Somehow they stick around and really Michigan would be stupid to fire Jimbo since he has been averaging 10 wins a season. Unless your last name is Saban or Swinney, you just don’t do that in this day and age.

We are down to a single digit amount of undefeated teams. And one of them is, yep, you guessed it, Minnesota. Let’s be real here: the Golden Gophers’ schedule hasn’t been exactly scintillating and full of great teams. In the end though, it doesn’t matter. This team will play Penn State, probably, in a battle of undefeateds in November. Who the hell thought that would happen? P.J. Fleck is again, rowing the damn boat harder than any coach in America and is changing how the fanbase feels about a team that really hasn’t been this good in about eight decades.

Back to Big XII Upset Watch. The THIRD upset of the day in the Big XII came in Fort Worth. The TCU Horned Frogs kept Texas from doing much of anything all day and held on for the victory. This may have ruined Texas’ chances of getting to the Big XII Championship but considering the way the conference was on this particular day, nothing is out of the question. We also got to listen to Gary Patterson who barely has a voice at the best of times, try to get through a post-game interview. He should just learn sign language at this point.

And then there was one. Well, one team to beat Alabama for the SEC West title. That team is LSU after winning a close one over Auburn. Auburn was able to keep up defensively with the amazing LSU offense. Problem is that their offense could barely do anything. Bo Nix looked every but the freshman and the running attack mustered basically nothing. It shows that teams have to play a complete game to beat the Tigers…of LSU.

Yes, the other Wildcats didn’t score a point. One set of Wildcats got an upset for the ages. The other, the Northwestern version, has struggled to score all year and are now the worst offense in the FBS. Yes, even worse than UMass or New Mexico State or Akron or any shitty teams like that. This week’s loss was to Iowa, a team praying that Minnesota falls off a cliff so that they can sneak through and go to Indianapolis for the Big Ten Championship. It would be a very Ferentzian way for the Hawkeyes to get to a conference championship game.

How about the crazy finish in Tulsa? What was it about crazy finishes in midwestern states? Memphis certainly didn’t look like a team that was still a New Year’s Six contender. But it was enough to stay ahead of the Golden Hurricane for most of the game. But with the Tigers (yes another Tigers) up by one, Tulsa drove down the field and set up a chip shot field goal to win the game. The fans, as much as they could be in Tulsa, were electric. Then Tulsa’s kicker pushed the 29-year field goal try left of the uprights and Memphis escaped. You had to feel for Tulsa who has had some shitty luck this season to be sure.

Oregon should have been punished. How do you live with yourself when you decide to punt from the opponent’s 33-yard line with 3 minutes to go and a six-point lead? It’s the kind of playcall that should lead to disaster. And for a bit, it looked like Mario Cristobal would be punished for it when Wazzu went up by 1 on his Oregon Ducks. Luckily, they were playing Washington State’s defense and were able to drive for the winning field goal. Still, someone should slap Cristobal in the face for that bullshit. You do that if you are up by like 40, not in a close game against an offensive guru.

And now to the other half of the Pac-12… Yeah Utah leads the Pac-12 South. After shellacking Cal they look like they are in the driver’s seat. But they aren’t. Get this…the team that holds its own destiny is USC. Yes, that USC. Clay Helton’s USC. Their win over Colorado has kept them at the point where they hold the keys to the divisional kingdom thanks to their upset win over the Utes earlier this season. Crazy.

Oh and who is in the ABC Primetime game next week? Yep, it’s your Southern Methodist University Mustangs. No kidding. SMU’s win over hapless Houston, along with Memphis surviving Tulsa, means the Mustangs will travel to the Liberty Bowl to play the Tigers in the big game of the week and the biggest game in the American conference this season. An SMU win, and they are that much closer to that coveted Group of Five spot in the NY6. It also means college football has another team playing well in the Metroplex and that’s always good.

Alright, enough recappin’. Let’s get to the Bossman Top 25!

#1	LSU
#2	Ohio State
#3	Alabama
#4	Penn State
#5	Clemson
#6	Oregon
#7	Florida
#8	Utah
#9	Baylor
#10	Georgia
#11	Michigan
#12	Minnesota
#13	Oklahoma
#14	Auburn
#15	SMU
#16	Iowa
#17	Notre Dame
#18	Wisconsin
#19	Cincinnati
#20	Appalachian State
#21	Boise State
#22	Wake Forest
#23	Texas
#24	Kansas State
#25	Washington

Yes I have Alabama at #3. They have looked really good but compared to LSU and Ohio State I don’t think they measure up…yet. Clemson is down at #5 but we know what their schedule is like so no worries there yet. The first CFP Rankings come out in a little over a week and I am sure The Committee won’t totally agree with my rankings and I honestly don’t give a rat’s ass. Other than Clemson, no one in the Top 10 has an easy road to the CFP so a lot will change over the next week or two. Let’s not sleep on Oregon/Utah out of the Pac-12 since they are not far from the Top 4. With the Big XII becoming a shitshow and the ACC already a disaster, there could be room for a Pac-12 champ in there if a few things happen above them. Also, remember that Baylor is lurking in the weeds. Beat Oklahoma and they start looking really good (despite the Sooners loss to KSU). As for SMU I have them at #15 and the AP Poll has them the same and I feel that their ceiling is #10 unless more of that sweet chaos happens.

Football. Every. Day. That’s right. Every day between Halloween and the day before American Thanksgiving. And that day is the only day off between now and December 2nd. Let’s drink it in and enjoy this! Saying that we are a little late to the party this year as there is no Tuesday or Wednesday night MACtion or Fun Belt action yet. But soon. Be patient. Have a great week everyone.

PONY UP! – Week 6 College Football Recap

Posted on October 7, 2019 by guelphbossman

It’s like 1982 all over again!

If you don’t know much about the history of SMU and the Southwest Conference, then let’s take a trip down memory lane. Back to the early to mid-80s. The days of Eric Dickerson (who definitely didn’t know about any improprieties…sure), hooker killer Craig James and a merry band of insane boosters. The days when the Mustangs of Southern Methodist University were the toast of the Southwest Conference (along with Texas of course). Then came the NCAA and they came down hard on the school giving them the only football death penalty ever given. What it did to the football program was catastrophic. It has taken them over three decades to return to being a contender of sorts. But it finally has come. They came into their home game with Tulsa ranked in the Top 25 for the first time since 1982. So how did they start? By going down 30-9 after three quarters to an average-at-best Golden Hurricane team. Ouch.

Then one of the best comebacks in recent memory occurred. The Mustangs scored three straight touchdowns to force overtime. Both teams scored touchdowns in the first overtime. Then SMU fumbled and Tulsa recovered. All they had to do was get a field goal and they win. Instead they fail to gain a yard and a kicker who had never kicked a field goal in a college football game missed just wide left to send the game to triple overtime. There, Tulsa was stopped again and James Proche caught a Shane Buechele pass in the corner of the end zone for the TD and to finish the wild comeback. Things are hopping in Dallas right now and there is some serious New Year’s Six chatter following this team. Good to see a team who has struggled for decades finally put it all together.

As for the rest of the weekend it was…technically college football. A couple more really good games but for the most part it wasn’t the greatest week of college football I have watched. Closer to the worst to be honest. Let’s get down to recapping all this shall we?

And now for the rest of the recap

A great game down in Gainesville this past weekend. Florida won over Auburn in a game many would call an upset. I would kind of agree since up until this point the Tigers looked like a great team and Florida looked like a very overrated Top 10 team. Instead the Gators gutted out a win and now their Cocktail Party game against Georgia could have massive implications. As for the ol’ Gus Bus, it was a flat tire for sure. The bus needs some work and wasn’t roadworthy on Saturday. They have a fairly difficult rest of the schedule so games like that can’t be repeated if they are looking at a NY6 spot.
Another kinda sorta upset type of thing on Friday night. Cincinnati held on to beat UCF in front of a raucous home crowd. For a while it looked like the Knights would pull away and get back to being in the New Year’s Six conversation. Problem is, the Fighting Fickells wouldn’t go away. If it wasn’t for UC’s defense (in the second half) and the running of Michael Warren II, the Bearcats probably wouldn’t have been close. I was right with my pick so now I wonder if UCF can even get back into the NY6 talk. I say no.
How about that game down in south Florida? Miami was way down to Virginia Tech, 28-7 going into the second half. They came all the way back only to gack the game away in the end. The ACC Coastal is a mess, let’s be honest. Other than Virginia, no team seems to want to be on top. So knowing how things are going, we can expect Pitt to somehow win the division.
Speaking of Pitt, they almost allowed Duke to come back from down 23 points in the third quarter. It felt like the Pittening was about to happen. The Panthers were able to hold on as they continue to confound media pundits who can’t get a true read on this team.
Louisville beat Boston College. Seriously. I watched none of it since I couldn’t find the ending of the damn game. Louisville could be good again. That seems shocking. Also, I think the end of the line is coming for Mister Dudes Being Dudes, Steve Addazio. The fanbase is fine with winning seven games every year and not coming close to contending for a division title. But winning four games is unacceptable goddamit.
Let history show that the Tennessee football Volunteers led Georgia 14-13 in a game in 2019. I know that UGA scored the last thirty points of the game but for a bit, the Vols were competitive. It was nice to see. Now we have to wonder if Jeremy Pruitt will survive to the next decade. I’m skeptical. Good ol’ Rocky Bottom.
I thought Michigan State could keep it close. I really did. This Buckeyes team looks like it could be more dominant than any of Urban Meyer’s squads. Justin Fields has pushed his way into the Heisman conversation and the whole offense just looks overwhelming. I mean don’t get me wrong: I could probably coach this team to bowl eligibility. But Ryan Day is doing something special in Columbus and it could lead to a spot in the College Football Playoff if things keep going this way.
Texas kind of struggled with the Mountaineers of West Virginia. Not a good look for the Longhorns that’s for sure. Whether anyone can even approach the Sooners in the Big XII (they beat Kansas pretty thoroughly) is up in the air but it doesn’t look to be the case. The Big XII has basically become Oklahoma and nine other teams.
For a while, the Cal-Oregon game was resembling last year’s Cheez-It Bowl. A hilariously poor showing of football in all facets. I mean Oregon pulled it out in the end but geez they didn’t actually look that great. The Pac-12 is a bit of a dumpster fire at this point.
P.J. Fleck is Rowing That God Damn Boat in Minneapolis. The Gophers are 5-0 and look like they will probably be 8-0 when they get into November. I find it interesting that this team is STILL not in the Top 25 and are getting no CFP chatter. This team could be one of the most underrated teams in recent memory and they may shock a few teams along the way.
In yet another upset, Texas Tech PEW! PEW! PEWed their way over Oklahoma State. It was a fun game that had no shortage of offense and shows that the Big XII mid-card is rather strong.
What is Washington’s deal with Stanford? They looked great last week against USC and then can’t do anything against an average Cardinal team. It’s yet another nail in the Pac-12’s CFP coffin. And it’s early October. Good lord.
Back to speaking about games that resembled the Cheez-It Bowl. Michigan beat Iowa 10-3 in an absolute snoozer…unless you love punting. If you love punting this was the game for you. This was so awful to watch and really does not show either team in a good light going forward. One of these teams is going to somehow end up in the New Year’s Six, I just know it.
USF’s game against UConn was moved to Noon thanks to a mosquito-borne infection of sorts in the Hartford/Storrs area. Only at UConn. Anyway, it was supposed to be live on CBS Sports Network at 7:00 and instead went to the website with a tape delayed broadcast at 7. How many people watched this rebroadcast? Did it even hit triple digits? They should have just ran a long version of their highlights show, Inside College Football.
Finally, Tulane took down Army. So now you have to include the Green Wave (of all teams) in the Group of Five conversation. Who knows if they can actually crack the top tier but Willie Fritz has to be commended for taking what was mostly a woebegone program and has steered it in the right direction.

Not the most amazing weekend, not gonna lie. We need a seriously crazy weekend of college football so even at 2 in the morning I am still wide awake because I can’t believe what has happened in the previous 14 hours.

Alright, let’s now look at the Bossman Top 25:

#1	Alabama
#2	Ohio State
#3	Georgia
#4	Florida
#5	Clemson
#6	LSU
#7	Notre Dame
#8	Oklahoma
#9	Wisconsin
#10	Penn State
#11	Texas
#12	Auburn
#13	Michigan
#14	Oregon
#15	Boise State
#16	Utah
#17	Virginia
#18	Iowa
#19	Arizona State
#20	Wake Forest
#21	Texas A&M
#22	SMU
#23	Baylor
#24	Missouri
#25	Minnesota

Yes there are some differences between my rankings and the AP Poll. I have Ohio State at #2 and Clemson down at #5. Clemson will definitely move up as at least one of the teams above them lose. As for #6 through #9, pick the teams out of a hat to figure out the order. A lot can happen the rest of the way and at this point, no one team is that much better than another. Yes I have Minnesota at #25. I know the AP Poll doesn’t have them in there but man they deserve to be there in my humble opinion. Also, yes I have Missouri at #24. It sounds like they won’t be bowling this year but still, they are playing well. Of course this year, of all years, they are under sanctions. Bad luck.

Hey guess what we have? FUN BELT! Yes, weekday Sun Belt action is back and it starts on Wednesday night. 8:00 but only on the specialty pack. And it’s a big one. Appalachian State and Louisiana. I love weekday football. Honestly, and I know I rail on the NFL being on Thursday but between late August and early January, the more football the better. Have a good week everyone!

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

Tag Archives: P.J. Fleck

I don’t know why people are surprised by this – Week 11 College Football TV Schedule

Thursday

Friday

Saturday Early

Saturday Afternoon

Saturday Primetime

Saturday Late Night

Thursday

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Saturday Early

Saturday Afternoon

Saturday Primetime

Saturday Late Night

Thursday

Friday

Saturday Early

Saturday Afternoon

Saturday Primetime

Saturday Late Night

Friday