All Aboard the Coaching Carousel! (and the Week 6 College Football TV Schedule)

Posted on October 5, 2022 by guelphbossman

The fun-time coaching carousel has been filling up a bit earlier this year. None of us are used to this many coaches being shitcanned this early on. We are just into October and many of the good horses (or the one cool love seat thing that seems to be on every carousel) are going fast. And the tickets are EXPENSIVE.

This week it started with Karl Dorrell getting fired at Colorado which is no surprise because Colorado is easily the worst Power Five team out there. No team is close to their ineptitude so far this season. But the real bombshell came later the same day when Paul Chryst, he of the 67-26 record, seven straight winning seasons before this year, six bowl victories, and two New Year’s Six triumphs, was fired by Wisconsin. I knew he might be in a bit of trouble but that was shocking. And his buyout? Remember I talked about the tickets on this carousel being expensive? Yeah, his cost is around $11 million. My god. These buyout clauses are just completely absurd now and mean nothing to these schools anymore.

Anyway, this actually may be strategic on Wisky’s part. Jim Leonhard is the interim head coach and the prevailing sentiment is that they want to see what he can do over the final seven games of the season. If he can turn the ship around, there’s a good chance he will be named the permanent replacement. If not, well he had more than half a season and that would be enough of a barometer to know they have to send a Brinks truck to Lance Leipold’s house as soon as possible after the season ends.

I know, the coaching carousel is interesting. I wouldn’t call it fun. That would be a bit morbid. But enough of that; it’s schedule time and it starts on Wednesday this week and it’s not MACtion!

Wednesday

		US	Canada
SMU at UCF	7:00 PM

Tonight, we only have the one game. Technically this is a Week 5 game but the Mustangs and Knights both have this week as a bye week so you can all it a Week 6 game if you want. This is rescheduled because of Hurricane Ian.

Friday

		US	Canada
Harvard at Cornell	7:00 PM
Nebraska at Rutgers	7:00 PM
Houston at Memphis	7:30 PM
Colorado State at Nevada	10:00 PM
UNLV at San Jose State	10:30 PM

Is the highlight here the Nebraska-Rutgers game? Sure, I guess. The Huskers could be in the first in the Big Ten West for about 17 hours if they win this one. Speaking of that game, it’s the first of a doubleheader with three-hour fucking windows. Stupid FS1. I hope the early game goes to 16 overtimes now.

Dana Holgorsen might be on the hot seat if the Cougs don’t beat Memphis, Jay Norvell is hating life in Fort Collins and UNLV continues to try to look like a contender in the Mountain West! Makes up for the night before where there is no college football. It’s like they don’t want to compete with the NFL anymore. I mean it’s not a bad idea.

Saturday Early

A couple of good ones here with UT-LSU and Gameday going to Lawrence before TCU plays Kansas. It’s too bad they decided to go to that football hotbed of Bloomington, Indiana for Big Noon Saturday rather than Kansas. What the hell was FOX thinking? Oh that’s right…they’re hard for the Big Ten.

How about the Red River Shootout having both teams come in unranked? I’m sure if I went to ESPN’s website it would tell me the last time this happened but I have a feeling it was a looooooooooooooooooong time ago. We also have a couple potential sneaky-good games with Arkansas-MSU and Purdue-Maryland. So a relatively loaded start to the day.

Saturday Afternoon

For some reason the ABC afternoon game starts at 4:00. I don’t remember the last time that has happened. I mean it all comes out in the wash anyway but it’s odd this has happened this weekend for no rhyme or reason. CBS was hoping Auburn would have won last week to set up the AU-UGA game with both teams ranked. Alas, it was not to be and I have this feeling this will be an absolute drubbing.

I find it odd that Utah-UCLA, a game between two very good teams, is the FOX afternoon game which is basically the third best game most of the time in the FOX tripleheader. I would have thought it was heading to ABC in primetime. Again, the Pac-12 seems to be getting shafted and if things don’t change, we may have to get used to less coverage from that conference in this area.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Wyoming at New Mexico	7:00 PM
Air Force at Utah State	7:00 PM
James Madison at Arkansas State	7:00 PM
#5 Clemson at Boston College	7:30 PM
Iowa at Illinois	7:30 PM
#20 Kansas State at Iowa State	7:30 PM
Washington State at #6 USC	7:30 PM
#16 BYU vs. Notre Dame (in Las Vegas)	7:30 PM
South Carolina at #13 Kentucky	7:30 PM
Florida State at #14 NC State	8:00 PM
Texas A&M at #1 Alabama	8:00 PM

Not as big as the early sked but still pretty darn good. This is the one primetime game the SEC on CBS has and it’s….well, not as good as CBS had hoped for. The Aggies have been a major disappointment and the Tide are dominant. This could be over by 10:00.

BYU has a massive game in Vegas. A must-win for them. Lose this and it’s pretty much the Hawaii Bowl on Christmas Eve. Win and they stay alive for a New Year’s Six spot. Clemson-BC is a special game in Boston as it’s the Red Bandana Game. It’s in honour of Welles Crowther, a former BC lacrosse player who headed a rescue effort on 9/11 and got a lot of people rescued. He was known for wearing a red bandana and that’s what one of the people who were saved that day saw from the guy heading up the building when everyone was escaping down. Good to see this game in a huge national spotlight.

Finally, James Madison has a national game. Sure it’s the NFL Network but the Dukes are undefeated in their first FBS season. They really need to get rid of that archaic rule that says teams can’t qualify for a bowl game in their first season in FBS, transitioning up from FCS.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
#12 Oregon at Arizona	9:00 PM
Fresno State at Boise State	9:45 PM
Hawaii at San Diego State	10:30 PM
Oregon State at Stanford	11:00 PM

This is….not a good late night schedule. Which means something wacky is coming our way. That’s the way it works in college football. I don’t make the rules.

TSN has their first quadrupleheader of the season which is always nice to see, especially for the non-specialty pack people. And let’s discuss the ESPN schedule this week. Early game. VERY late game. Nothing in between. What are they showing? Ah, that’s right. They have the Wild Card games in baseball this season. So as long as the second Wild Card game doesn’t go too far into extra innings, the Beavers-Cardinal game will start precisely at…11:00 eastern. This is almost as crazy as the Hawaii Test.

Big Games O’ The Week

Utah at UCLA (3:30, FOX) – Ya know, some people are going to bristle at this choice for top game of the week. Here are the facts: Utah is ranked #11 and is still the favourite to win the Pac-12 South. UCLA is ranked #18 and is undefeated. The winner here faces USC later in the season for the de facto Pac-12 South championship and, potentially a New Year’s Six or, dare I say it, College Football Playoff spot. So yeah, this is huge.

Tennessee at LSU (Noon, TSN3/TSN5) – Are the Vols for real (I refuse to ask if they are back…aw shit, I just did)? This is a big chance for them to prove it as the Tigers have started to claw their way back after a seriously shaky start under new head coach Jim Bob Brian Kelly. Tennessee can move up towards the Top 4 with a win here and an eventual showdown with Georgia. Maybe, LSU could put a scare in some teams…even…Bama? Wouldn’t that be something…that Saban would hate.

TCU at Kansas (Noon, FOX Sports One) – In your wildest imagination, did you think this could be one of the games of the week when this season started? No. No one did. Even TCU and Kansas fans thought that would be ridiculous. But here we are. Early October. Ranked TCU. Ranked Kansas. College Gameday in Lawrence. Its put up or shut up time for both teams. And man, if the Jayhawks pull this one out, they will be safely in the Top 15 and looking at heights that haven’t been seen around those parts since the magical 2007 season.

Florida State at NC State (8:00, specialty pack) – I’m sure many feel this is a game the Wolfpack will easily win to get back on track. This isn’t the Noles of the past five or six years though. These guys can play. I have a feeling this could very close. The ACC Network with a bit of a coup getting this one at this point of the season.

Washington State at USC (7:30, FOX) – A tiny bit surprised this didn’t end up on either ABC or ESPN but FOX gets a good primetime game here that actually will match up well with CBS’s offering. USC is on a roll and it feels like nothing will stop them. That’s why this is such a speed bump game for the Trojans. Win here and their game against Utah is probably one of the Games of the Year the following week.

Psycho Game of the Week

Wisconsin at Northwestern (3:30, Big Ten Network) – Another game where, at the start of the season, I never would have thought it would end up in this particular spot in the blog post. Northwestern is thankful that Colorado exists and Wisconsin has been a shell of its former self. Should be a fun one! And by fun, I mean horribly painful to watch.

Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week

Auburn at Georgia (3:30, CBS) – I have a feeling that this is going to get really bad, really fast for the Tigers. I also have a feeling that Bryan Harsin will not be fired after this one since everyone expects Auburn to get boatraced Between The Hedges.

Fun-Time Stats of the Week

Rutgers has lost all five of their meetings with Nebraska but every game the margin of victory has decreased. Last time they met, they only lost by 7.
Washington has lost the last seven times they traveled to Tempe to face Arizona State.
New Mexico has more wins over Wyoming than any other Mountain West team. They have beat the Cowboys 36 times.

The Degenerate Portion of Our Show

I made some picks last week. Some were good. I picked Illinois to cover the spread against Wisconsin. As for the rest don’t bother since I was horrible. Let’s just move on to this week’s picks that people should only use at Gamblers Anonymous meetings.

Nebraska (-3) over Rutgers
UNLV (+7) over San Jose State (SJSU will win in a close one)
Eastern Michigan (+5) over Western Michigan (WMU will win the battle for Directional Michigan though)
Oklahoma (+7) over Texas (and the outright victory)
Tennessee (-3) over LSU
Wisconsin (-10) over Northwestern
UCLA (+4.5) over Utah (but the Utes will win a very close affair)
Michigan State (+26.5) over Ohio State (but tOSU will win by approximately three touchdowns just to make it feel close for gamblers)
James Madison (-11.5) over Arkansas State
Wyoming (-3.5) over New Mexico
Iowa (+3.5) over Illinois (and the outright win)
Washington State (+13) over USC (Trojans win)
Oregon (-13) over Arizona

Alright we have the rare October Wednesday night game that doesn’t involve Sun Belt teams, nothing tomorrow night and then things really get into action on Friday. And it’s Thanksgiving this weekend! So enjoy the games and enjoy the turkey (or ham, if you don’t like turkey).

Power Five….Power Four? Power THREE?

Posted on August 15, 2022 by guelphbossman

Really, who knows what we are looking at in the next few years. For sure, the two conferences on the left are the major players. I would be very shocked if neither conference went to 18 teams by 2025. As for the other three conferences, it’s a big game of conference chicken right now. I would say the Big XII has the slight upper hand at this point but that could change in an instant. So if you love realignment, ho boy, you must have a raging hard-on right now (and will for the next few years).

OK enough of that disgusting talk. Let’s get to the meat of this post. The Power Five conference predictions. All of them. Don’t lie, you liked all the Group of Five conference (and Independent) predictions in the last post, DIDN’T YOU? So one more time, I will cram as much information down your gullet I possibly can without choking you to death with college football information. Let’s begin.

Let’s start with the….well I can’t call them the undisputed king of conferences anymore because the Big Ten is making a big charge at them. Saying that, I can still call them #1…for now. Here are the predicted SEC standings followed by some grits and chitlins and other weird Southern “delicacies.”

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

Chitlins…GROSS!

Who the fuck figured out to eat the large intestine of a hog?
Yep, two undefeated teams coming from the SEC. Bama and UGA don’t play each other during the regular season. UGA has a relatively easy schedule (in an SEC sense). Yes they have Oregon in a neutral-site game to start the season but they avoid the Tide, Aggies and Ole Miss out of the West. Lucky Dawgs!
As for the Fighting Nick Sabans, damn near everyone has them running the table, at least during the regular season, and I am going right along with that prediction. Other than their matchup against TAMU (at home) and Ole Miss in Oxford, I can’t foresee any close games all season.
As for the Aggies and their weird traditions (just watch a Midnight Yell practice…it’s fucking bizarre), I see them ending up one game short of getting to the SEC Championship. Also one game short of the College Football Playoff. Critics of Jimbo Fisher will find a way to make this sound like a failure of a season if they do comfortably make it to the New Year’s Six.
As per usual, the SEC West is an absolute minefield. The worst team is Mississippi State and they wouldn’t be last in any other conference…not by a long shot. Unfortunately, Bama’s continued dominance and TAMU and Ole Miss not falling at all will mean the rest of the teams are playing for fourth.
The Tennessee Volunteers are my Drinking The Kool-Aid pick of the year. I’m buying that they will be improved enough to be on the precipice of a double-digit win season. I can see them beating Pitt and South Carolina on the road and being perfect at home. Now watch them go 5-7 and make me look like a dummy.
Conference Championship prediction: Alabama 38 Georgia 30. Closer than last year’s win by the Tide but still not enough for UGA.

When are they going to change the name of this conference? Just call it the BIG Conference now or something like that. Big Ten. For a conference with sixteen schools. Schools. Educational institutions. And they can’t count. Glorious. Anyway, here are the predictions followed by some BTN After Dark comments:

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

BTN After Dark Comments

I am so looking forward to Rutgers travelling clear across the country to face UCLA on Big Ten Network starting at 10:30 at night.
Can The Fighting Ann Arbor Khaki Warriors repeat as Big Ten champs? To be honest, I don’t think they will even repeat as Big Ten East champs. It will come down to their big matchup with tOSU two days after American Thanksgiving. This one is in Columbus so I am giving the nod to the Buckeyes here which will be huge when it comes to what The Committee has to look at.
You know, considering how good the Terps’ recruiting has been lately, do you think they kind of wish, money aside, that they were back in the ACC? Not saying they could beat Clemson but man, they would look like a really good team there.
The Big Ten West is going to be ridiculous. I just have this feeling. Five teams within one game of each other. Yes, even Nebraska is in there. In the end, Wisconsin will win some sort of game of Spin The Bottle, except using an ear of corn, and end up getting to the Big Ten Championship where they can scare the Buckeyes for a quarter-and-a-half.
Conference Championship prediction: Ohio State 32 Wisconsin 10. As I said in the previous point, this will be close well into the second quarter and then the Buckeyes will decide enough’s enough and do away with Wisky on their way to the CFP.

I think that right there tells you all you need to know about what’s going on with the rest of the Power Five. The ACC, at this point, might as well chill since their contract with ESPN lasts for more than another decade and any change would require a hell of a lot more money to leave than what USC and UCLA will have to deal with.

Now, there are rumblings that ESPN is stepping in and trying to broker an ACC/Pac-12 merger of sorts but I can’t see that happening to be perfectly honest with you. As long as the Big Ten or SEC doesn’t decide to poach any of their members (which is still a possibility), they should be fine for the time being. Alright, let’s get to the predictions, followed by a bong hit or five:

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

Hey Dude

I’ve honestly thought of going to one of those cannabis shops to see what’s there. It’s basically punishable by death here (in this condo area) to have anything weed-related so I’d have to be super sneaky about it.
Hey, is Clemson back on top? Sure looks like it although NC State is going to give them a serious run for their money. Both teams look like they are a tier above the rest (sorry Miami and Pitt) and their game on October 1st will probably be for the division title. High stakes for sure.
Coastal Chaos is…not back. Speaking of the Canes and Panthers, they are also a step above all the other teams in that division. They will battle it out in another important ACC game on American Thanksgiving weekend which might just decide who gets their shit pushed in by the Tigers or Wolfpack.
I don’t consider this a Kool-Aid pick. Florida State will be better. No stupid upset losses to FCS schools. Just the slow ascent back to, potentially, the top of the ACC. Same goes for Louisville (without the FCS issue).
I did have Wake also in the ACC title hunt but the news that Sam Hartman will be out for at least a bit is a massive worry in Winston-Salem. He steers the ship and without him, sorry Deacs fans, the offense just doesn’t go like it normally does.
Remember last year when I had North Carolina bullying their way into the College Football Playoff? Yeah, not falling for that this time, Mack.
Conference Championship prediction: Clemson 47 Miami 14. Yeah this won’t be close.

OK now we get to the first of the quasi-feuding brothers (sisters? cousins?). The Big XII is adding four teams next season and is pushing hard to get the rest of the Pac-12 teams to join them. It’s almost a certainty Oregon and Washington would rather drop football than join this conference but the rest of the schools remaining could very well be up for grabs, especially the two Arizona schools and the Mountain region schools. Until the next shoe drops, though, it’s another year of the Big XII with X schools. Here are my predictions followed by musings from a pissed off Count Von Count:

	Conference		Overall
	W	L	W	L
Baylor	8	1	10	2
Oklahoma	8	1	10	2
Texas	7	2	9	3
Oklahoma State	7	2	9	3
TCU	4	5	6	6
Iowa State	4	5	6	6
Kansas State	3	6	6	6
West Virginia	2	7	4	8
Texas Tech	2	7	3	9
Kansas	0	9	2	10

ZERO! ZERO FUCKS GIVEN! AH AH AH!

Funny that if things stay as they are, the Big XII will actually get back to twelve teams so at least one conference understands preschool math.
The bottom of the Big XII looks to be the same. Kansas at the bottom. Texas Tech not far from them. And it always feels like one of West Virginia, Kansas State or TCU ending up in eighth. Will this change with the newcomers? I’m gonna say no.
Not quite their swan song in the conference but I see the Sooners, despite all the defections, getting back to the Big XII Championship. They are just too deep a team to not contend for, at the very least, a NY6 spot. I expect Baylor to continue to do well under Dave Aranda and join OU at JerryWorld.
Conference Championship prediction: Baylor 25 Oklahoma 23. Yeah I am predicting the Bears to finish the Big XII Championship State of Oklahoma sweep by beating the Sooners in a very close game.

I remember doing a post eight years ago on my Pac-12 predictions. Here is what I said in that post:

The Pac-12 has become the de facto second best conference in the land and it’s by a long shot as well.

Wow. I mean eight years is a long time but the fall off the cliff of the Pac-12 started not long after this post. It has been a near-disastrous eight years for the Conference of Champions in football and with USC and UCLA leaving for the Big Ten things are looking even worse for the soon-to-be Pac-10.

Look, let’s just get to the predictions before I make Bill Walton cry:

	Conference		Overall
North	W	L	W	L
Oregon	9	0	11	1
Oregon State	4	5	7	5
Washington	4	5	6	6
California	3	6	5	7
Washington State	3	6	5	7
Stanford	3	6	4	8
South
Utah	8	1	10	2
UCLA	7	2	10	2
USC	6	3	9	3
Arizona State	4	5	6	6
Arizona	2	7	3	9
Colorado	1	8	1	11

Bill Walton’s Tears

Hey remember I had U of A being terrible last year and I was right? Well, this year I am doubling down with the Colorado Buffaloes. I have a feeling Karl Dorrell is going to be taking a lot of ibuprofen this season. And may start drinking if he doesn’t already do so.
I see a lot of experts saying USC is going to win the Pac-12 South. They will be better, there’s no doubt about it. But win the division after going 4-8 last year? Let’s pump the brakes a bit. I think Lincoln Riley is still a season away from really pushing USC to the heights they were at during the Pete Carroll era.
So who will win the South Division? I think Utah repeats as South Division champions but it will be UCLA that will give them the toughest time. The Bruins should be really good…like New Year’s Six good. Now watch them go 4-8 and Chip Kelly get fired.
As for the North Division, Oregon should clinch by Thanksgiving…our Thanksgiving. There is no one close to them.
Conference Championship prediction: Utah 32 Oregon 20. Closer than last year but this time the Utes will destroy the Ducks’ dreams of the CFP.

There you go! All conference standings predictions complete! Next up I will put it all together and tell you who I think will win the whole thing. Have a great week everyone!

Can anyone upend Bama? Week 3 College Football TV Schedule

Posted on September 15, 2021 by guelphbossman

I mean you have to say yes, right? Not much feels worse than knowing the outcome (or having a very good idea of it) early on in the season. And so far, Alabama has looked a whole lot better than any other college football team in the land. Now if you recall my SEC preview, you will remember me saying Bama will drop a game during the regular season. Some of you may scoff at that right now since it looks like they won’t lose at all until well into the 2022 season. That’s the interesting thing about college football though: it is easily the most random of the well watched sports over here in this part of the world. Many early polls look like complete ravings of dummies when at least 20% of the teams end up being terrible. But there are always a few constants and that is that if you see a team in the Top 10, don’t be surprised if they win it all at the end of the season. And that means Bama is always a contender these days. And will be until Nick Saban decides to retire, probably when he’s like 91 years old.

Let’s stop talking about the Alabama Crimson Tide…well, specifically since they show up later in this post. How about a look at the schedule for Week 3? Isn’t that why you’re here? I sure hope so because other than that (and my witty banter) I don’t know why you’d read this.

Thursday

		US	Canada
Alabama A&M at Bethune-Cookman	7:30 PM
Ohio at Louisiana	8:00 PM

Two games. One is the introduction of a new member to a conference. The other a game between a team just outside the Top 25 and one who just lost to an FCS school. Bethune-Cookman has it’s first SWAC conference game after joining the conference along with Florida A&M. Look, you can think what you want about Deion Sanders but he made a good point about this realignment the other day. He said that the MEAC should consider joining forces with the SWAC to make one HBCU mega-conference in FCS. Honestly, it’s not a bad idea, especially if they decide to allow their champ to go to the FCS playoffs once again. As for the other game, I will just assume Louisiana will be up by about 30 by halftime.

Friday

		US	Canada
UCF at Louisville	7:30 PM

Only one game tonight. This could be one that Scott Satterfield absolutely needs to keep his job. Not saying the Cards are going to win but they have to stay close.

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
Michigan State at #24 Miami	Noon
Albany at Syracuse	Noon
Northern Illinois at #25 Michigan	Noon
UConn at Army	Noon
#8 Cincinnati at Indiana	Noon
#16 Coastal Carolina at Buffalo	Noon
Boston College at Temple	Noon
Nebraska at #3 Oklahoma	Noon
Western Michigan at Pittsburgh	Noon
New Mexico at #7 Texas A&M	Noon

Whoa! TSN has games on every one of their channels to start the day. Very impressive. The expectation, at this point, is that the Albany-Syracuse game would be the one game not on a TSN channel (that could be put on there) but that could change. I’m glad they are going this route because it means they aren’t relying on just showing the ABC game on multiple TSN channels since it kind of defeats the purpose of even having the contract to be able to show ABC/ESPN network games. Honestly, the schedule isn’t great but that’s when you get some crazy good games so watch out for ones like MSU-Miami and Coastal-Buffalo. As for Huskers-Sooners? I don’t think this will harken memories of the old Big Eight.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
Purdue at #12 Notre Dame	2:30 PM
Georgia Tech at #6 Clemson	3:30 PM
Delaware at Rutgers	3:30 PM
Kent State at #5 Iowa	3:30 PM
#1 Alabama at #11 Florida	3:30 PM
SMU at Louisiana Tech	3:30 PM
Florida State at Wake Forest	3:30 PM
USC at Washington State	3:30 PM
Northwestern at Duke	4:00 PM
Mississippi State at Memphis	4:00 PM
Colorado State at Toledo	4:00 PM
Georgia Southern at #20 Arkansas	4:00 PM

Possible Game of the Year? If Florida can keep this close after three quarters then watch out. Also, Notre Dame gets the opportunity to be upset on regular NBC this week so that more people can watch. I do wonder how many people signed up for Peacock for the one reason that one Notre Dame football game was on there this season. If they can prove that a lot of people signed up for that then maybe it was all worth it. Until I see evidence of that, I still believe streaming services really have no hope of competing with television channels. That will most certainly change in the next decade but it’s slow moving for sure and will be for a while. Oh, remember what I said about TSN in the first timeslot? Yeah they are now down to one game in this timeslot (and then none after this). Oh well, it’s still CFL season so have to expect those games to be shown on all the channels. Between that, UFC, MLS and (ugh) NASCAR, there is no room for college football for the most part after the Noon timeslot until into November really. It is what it is. Kind of why I wish Sportsnet would figure out a way to get in on the action but they won’t because HOCKEY!

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Utah at San Diego State	7:00 PM
South Carolina at #2 Georgia	7:00 PM
#22 Auburn at #10 Penn State	7:30 PM
Virginia at #21 North Carolina	7:30 PM
Furman at NC State	7:30 PM
Central Michigan at LSU	7:30 PM
Tulane at #17 Ole Miss	8:00 PM
Stanford at Vanderbilt	8:00 PM

The Tigers-Nittany Lions game should be a good one and was a good choice by ABC to show in primetime. Expect a few other games to be pretty good. No UGA should mop the floor with the Gamecocks. But many of the rest could be relatively close. Utah-SDSU should be fun, UVA-UNC could be surprisingly close unless the Tar Heels are back to the form many thought they would be in and Stanford-Vandy are two schools that have high academic standards…OK that last one should be a blowout as well.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
#19 Arizona State at #23 BYU	10:15 PM
#14 Iowa State at UNLV	10:30 PM

Actually this is pretty good…well, except for one team. Can’t win ’em all right? ASU-BYU should be a barnburner and we will see if the Cougars are for real. Iowa State should put away the Rebels by midnight.

Games to set your eyeballs on

Alabama at Florida (3:30, CBS) – Huge Game of the Year possibility here and possibly a harbinger of what the SEC season will look like (until Bama and Georgia meet up). And it’s on the SEC on CBS which means we get….ugh….the return of Gary Danielson. I believe Brad Nessler is one of the greatest college football play-by-play guys in history. Danielson is just…not that good at his job. His obvious love for everything Alabama I’m sure will shine through again in this one and his analysis of the game is lacklustre at best. Honestly, it’s time to put him out to pasture and bring up Aaron Taylor and be done with it.

Auburn at Penn State (7:30, ABC) – How often do the top two games of the week end up in the two most important slots? Surprisingly enough, I think it’s rare. But this is classic college football for sure. I can just see the old CFA logo on the top of the screen during the intro as this would be one of those matchups that you never see, even in bowl season. Anyway, this will be the first big test for Bryan Harsin as he finally gets some serious competition in a potentially underrated Penn State team (if you can believe it). With the Ohio State loss this past weekend, the Big Ten is a bit more open than people may have thought it would be this year so Penn State has to capitalize on these opportunities.

Arizona State at BYU (10:15, specialty pack) – Would it be an upset if the Cougs beat ASU? Not really. BYU might be almost as good as last year’s team which is scary, especially with a better schedule. Could this team somehow make their way into the Top 10? If they win games like this one, absolutely. On the other foot, Arizona State has every opportunity to cease control in the Pac-12 South with USC being an utter mess. Yes they still have UCLA and Utah to contend with but these kinds of games are important as well. I’ll be honest: even though it’s BYU I’m surprised this game wasn’t put in primetime or the afternoon timeslot. I guess at least this way most of the eyeballs will be here for college football fans so it’s a win for ESPN in that regard.

Cincinnati at Indiana (Noon, TSN3) – Sure the Bearcats weren’t that impressive against Murray State but it was Murray State so who cares. This is one of the games that Cincy absolutely has to win if they want to have a fighter’s chance at the College Football Playoff. They also have to have Indiana be really good so the Hoosiers starting 1-2 wouldn’t make that very easy for them. It’s quite the conundrum Cincinnati is in really. Indiana is really still looking to bounce back from being trounced by Iowa in Week 1 (although if Iowa ends up in the CFP, Hoosiers fans shouldn’t feel too bad about that).

Michigan State at Miami (Noon, ABC/TSN4) – Put your hand up if you thought the Spartans would look this impressive early on. Now put them down because pretty much no one did. Yes, their big win is over Northwestern who could actually be merely mediocre but still, things are looking a whole lot better after Mel Tucker’s debut last year. This is the first test (in a lot of tests this season) and if they win this, they are easily in the Top 25 and have to be considered dangerous the rest of the way. The Canes need something since they have had a rocky start to the surprise of no one. Get boatraced by Bama? Check. Win a close one over App State? Check. Like they are following a script. The script says they should win this easily but who knows.

Honourable mention: Purdue at Notre Dame (2:30, NBC), Nebraska at Oklahoma (Noon, FOX), Coastal Carolina at Buffalo (Noon, TSN1)

You bet!

I know. I picked Houston over Rice, Iowa State over Iowa, USC over Stanford and Texas over Arkansas. Sweet Jesus. I did pick Oregon over Ohio State but who gives a shit with that track record. Here are this week’s picks to hopefully take that awful taste out of the gambling mouth:

Coastal Carolina over Buffalo

Alabama over Florida

Penn State over Auburn

Arizona State over BYU

Notre Dame over Purdue

Cincinnati over Indiana

Miami over Michigan State

Oklahoma over Nebraska

SMU over Louisiana Tech

Texas A&M over New Mexico

UCF over Louisville

Again this is not the greatest schedule, on paper. We know how that generally works out. So buckle up because this should be good and you don’t know when the next great finish will be. Enjoy the games everyone and have a great weekend!

Week 1 College Football Recap – Can we call this the greatest Week 1 ever?

Posted on September 7, 2021 by guelphbossman

mackb

“AH don’t think so” – what Mack Brown probably said.

Honestly, I do not have a dog in this hunt. I don’t have a favourite team that I only root for and the rest of the teams can eat shit. I just love watching college football. Saying all that, I had selected (not too long ago and you know that since you are a faithful reader) North Carolina to go to the College Football Playoff. I had the Tar Heels overcoming Clemson in the ACC Championship to get in. I was dead serious about it. So of course their O-line goes and plays like shit and Mack looked hungover most of the night and the Heels lost to a game Virginia Tech team. The Hokies played well…on defense. But the Heels were supposed to win this one relatively easily and they laid an egg. I’ve had this happen before. Years ago I picked Michigan State to get to the CFP and they were horrible all season. Another year I picked LSU and Wisconsin upset them in Lambeau of all places to start the season. It happens. UNC may still get to the playoff. Run the table and they are probably there but man it looks bad (not to mention the Sam Howell-for-Heisman takes getting a creamy dump all over them).

Enough of the bad (and it’s not even really that bad). Let’s look at the fact that college football is back! It feels like a real season after last year’s COVID-stained debacle. And I have to ask the question: is this the greatest Week 1 in college football history? Let’s recap and put the pieces together.

The game of the week was a war of attrition. It was a slugfest from the opening bell and both Georgia and Clemson weren’t going to give an inch. The defenses were on point all night. The only touchdown was a pick six by UGA. Both quarterbacks, D.J. Uiagalelei and J.T. Daniels, struggled as the defense pressured them all game. In the end, the Dawg defense held out and look like a serious national title contender. Not saying Clemson is done, especially after North Carolina’s loss the night before, but it’s a rough start and the offense does not look in sync at all. It was, in the end, a close game with two contenders and a lot of fun to watch.
How about those Washington Huskies? Woof. The 20th ranked possible Pac-12 favourites lost to Montana. Montana. And the score was 13-7. Are you fucking kidding me? The hype over the first game back at Husky Stadium was palpable and the team goes out and shits the bed. An unreal start for poor Jimmy Lake who will have to turn things around fast or he will be on a most-unexpected hot seat soon enough.
But hey, it’s not like Oregon played awesome. They could not put Fresno State away. The Bulldogs are obviously better than I (and many others) thought they were but the Ducks are considered the team that could bring the Pac-12 back to the CFP dance. Instead, they looked mediocre for most of the game and pulled the game out at the end. Not good either. Pac-12 North struggling to start the year. Don’t even get me started on Stanford and Washington State.
Wisconsin and Penn State, for three quarters, was a gongshow. Neither team seemed to want to win. The kickers didn’t want to help matters either. Wisconsin was inside the PSU 10, three separate times and came away with no points. The Nittany Lions were hardly better on offense. It felt like a classic Big Ten three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust matchup. PSU’s defense held up and it was again, at least for the fourth quarter, a really fun game to watch that came down to the wire. And honestly, it was nice to see Jump Around at Camp Randall once again. Almost brought tears to my eyes.
How about them Jayhawks? OK look it was only South Dakota and they barely squeaked out a win. But at least they weren’t like five other FBS teams who fell to FCS squads, including Vanderbilt getting pasted by East Tennessee State and Colorado State getting hammered by South Dakota State’s potent offense. Also, you can say, for now, that Lance Leipold is undefeated in Lawrence. Good times.
Yes, Alabama beat Miami up pretty good. Not that that was unexpected. The way they did it, combined with the way other top teams handled their opening contests says something that was a bit unexpected, though. That Bama is still heads above the field until we see otherwise. Bryce Young looked great in his first start. The rest of the Tide offense did their thing and the defense was all over D’Eriq King and the Canes all day. Even the turnover chain didn’t feel great for Canes fans after a turnover was overturned and they had to put the chain back in the box. Nothing went right for The U yesterday.
Hey, maybe Chip Kelly has finally figured it out in Westwood. UCLA looked damn good in their upset victory of LSU and should hit the rankings this week. Maybe, just maybe, the Bruins could sneak through and win the Pac-12 South. Wouldn’t that be a coup for this program.
I am hereby starting a petition. All Duke’s Mayo Bowls/Classics/Kickoffs/Whatevers need to finish with the following: the winning coach getting a big bucket of mayo dumped on them. It is only fitting and would provide some excitement. This also means we will see Bret Bielema beg to be in every Duke’s Mayo game from here until he stops coaching.
At one point it looked like the Gus Bus had gone off the rails already in Orlando. Then UCF came back and pulled out the victory over Boise State in a huge Group of Five opener. Now Gus Malzahn is hailed as a great coach and maybe the guy who will bring the Knights back to glory. This guy’s blood pressure either goes up and down every few minutes or is so stationary that it’s statistically impossible since I don’t know how one man can go through the roller-coaster stuff he’s gone through as a coach.
I honestly wondered if Tulane would get blown out by Oklahoma. Man, was I ever wrong. The Green Wave, who couldn’t host the game in New Orleans due to the effects of Hurricane Ida, made things VERY difficult for the Sooners. After recovering an onside kick late, they had a chance to win the game and couldn’t get it done. What it did do is two things though: show us that Tulane might be a darkhorse contender in the American conference and that the Sooners defense is brutal which seems to be the same story every year. This team will never win a national championship if they can’t shore up that side of the ball.
The Labour Day ACC game was pretty bad…well for one team it was. I mean Ole Miss played really well but Louisville is awful. I don’t think Scott Satterfield is long for coaching in the ACC. Is Bobby Petrino available?
Who picked Iowa to win the Big Ten West? That’s right, this guy….I’m pointing at myself. The Hawkeyes looked like the northern version of Alabama as they beat the tar out of Indiana. Sure the Hoosiers may have been a tad overrated going into this season but this was a joke from the word go. Maybe Iowa can now get some national respect going forward this season (until they lose a game to a team they should have easily beat).
Finally, the Sunday night game was an unreal one. Jack Coan proved that Brian Kelly was right in having faith in him as their new starting quarterback. And Florida State? Well, they may finally be looking like the Florida State we all know for the first time truly since the Jameis Winston days. Also a great tribute to Bobby Bowden at halftime and it’s always great to see the Doak rockin’ like it was in the 90s. And how can I forget McKenzie Milton. What a return from a guy who wasn’t even supposed to be walking ever again after that brutal leg injury almost three years ago. Almost brought the Noles to victory in his comeback when he came in late in the game. And let’s not talk about Brian Kelly’s callback to John McKay of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the postgame interview.

So let’s go back to the question I posed earlier. Is this the greatest Week 1 in college football history? I’m not sure. We have to be careful here. After not having a big start to last season, this felt amazing. And yes there were quite a few important games right out of the gate and also a fair share of upsets and FCS wins over FBS teams. But is it the very best? I’ll say it’s one of the best. Definitely the best since I started this blog almost a decade ago. And a great start to the season where many are hoping that we don’t get into any kind of COVID madness. We are still slowly getting back to normality (and have a ways to go) and some cannot afford a step back in any situation.

I will not do a Top 25 after Week 1. This is what I’ve been doing. I wish college football waited a while but they won’t.

Now I can hopefully get back into the swing of things. We can get back to the normal college football schedule/NFL schedule/college football recap/rinse and repeat deal that seems to work. The world is getting back to normal, including in my little portion of the globe.

I sincerely hope you had fun watching the games during Week 1. I know I did. I kind of needed it in a way. Sounds weird to some that I need that but I did especially with my life (along with many other lives) being so topsy-turvy for about a year-and-a-half now. Enjoy the rest of your week.

We got the Week Zero appetizer. Now it’s time for the Week 1 Main Course!

Posted on September 1, 2021 by guelphbossman

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Yes we have made it to what is really the official start of the college football season. You can count Week Zero if you want, and I do, but let’s be honest: it’s merely a tiny appetizer to what’s ahead. Like getting a platter of nachos before your meal except there are only four nacho chips on the platter with a tiny bit of melted cheese, a splatter of salsa and no jalapenos. Week One…now that’s where it’s at. A meatier schedule that really immerses us (finally) in what college football is all about. It gets me back into doing sweet fuck all most Saturdays (if I can help it). Great times.

So let’s get right down to brass tacks. Here is the glorious Week 1 schedule (in high def).

Wednesday

		US	Canada
Jacksonville State at UAB	7:30 PM

Wednesday? WEDNESDAY! Man this is great. Now we have SIX nights of college football during Week 1. Just awesome. I mean this game probably won’t be that good but at least it will be at UAB’s new stadium and not at Legion Field which looked like it was going to collapse at any moment.

UPDATE #2: This game is not in Birmingham. I wonder if their new stadium isn’t ready yet. Instead it is in Montgomery, site of the legendary Camellia Bowl.

UPDATE #3: Maybe I should have waited. Thanks to Pete Thamel on Twitter, UAB’s new stadium opens in October.

Thursday

		US	Canada
Temple at Rutgers	6:30 PM
Boise State at UCF	7:00 PM
USF at NC State	7:30 PM
East Carolina vs. Appalachian State (in Charlotte)	7:30 PM
Weber State at #24 Utah	7:30 PM
#4 Ohio State at Minnesota	8:00 PM
Bowling Green at Tennessee	8:00 PM
Southern Utah at #25 Arizona State	10:30 PM

Pretty big time Group of Five start with Boise State heading to Orlando to face the Knights of UCF. And FOX has an opening week Thursday game! Noice! Nice to see them jump into the pool. Not like it’s a super competitive matchup but it’s put them in the weekday night game and that’s hugely important. A couple of things I have to mention before you get too far into reading this. I am still not quite sure that you can get the Pac-12 Network on DAZN here in Canada. You’re supposed to be able to get the P12N games on there but looking at the site, that might not be the case. I will have to dig further. The other thing is that the specialty packs are, well, there. I don’t see anything there in terms of a schedule yet but I assume these games will end up there as they normally do.

UPDATE #4: Temple-Rutgers has been moved to Saturday at Noon because of the weather issues in and around New York City and will still be able to be seen on BTN.

UPDATE #5: Thanks to reader Dan, we now know that the Pac-12 Network is not on DAZN. But it’s free (for now) on their YouTube page. Nice!

Friday

		US	Canada
#10 North Carolina at Virginia Tech	6:00 PM
Old Dominion at Wake Forest	7:00 PM
Duke at Charlotte	7:00 PM
Michigan State at Northwestern	9:00 PM
Northern Colorado at Colorado	9:00 PM

OK this is better than Thursday night…but not by much. North Carolina starts what could be their biggest campaign ever with a tough one in Blacksburg. We get a nice TSN doubleheader with ESPN’s stupid three-hour windows. They just never learn. Also, if you are a glutton for punishment, check out Duke face Charlotte. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if the 49ers (not the San Francisco kind) beat Dook in what would be considered an upset but not a huge one.

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
#2 Oklahoma at Tulane (in Norman)	Noon
Colgate at Boston College	Noon
Fordham at Nebraska	Noon
Holy Cross at UConn	Noon
Western Michigan at Michigan	Noon
Army at Georgia State	Noon
#19 Penn State at #12 Wisconsin	Noon
ULM at Kentucky	Noon

A lot of games here. PSU-Wisky is a pretty massive game to start is off on Week 1. The winner here has the inside track on what could be a special Big Ten season (if they can beat Ohio State). We shall see if OU-Tulane will be played in New Orleans as the people of that area are dealing with Hurricane Ida as we speak. UPDATE: No. No it won’t be. It will be in Norman. And will Scott Frost be fired? If they somehow lose to Fordham then Frost might be fired during the post-game interview on the field.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
Fresno State at #11 Oregon	2:00 PM
#1 Alabama vs. #14 Miami (in Atlanta)	3:30 PM
#17 Indiana at #18 Iowa	3:30 PM
Marshall at Navy	3:30 PM
West Virginia at Maryland	3:30 PM
UMass at Pittsburgh	4:00 PM
Louisiana Tech at Mississippi State	4:00 PM
Central Michigan at Missouri	4:00 PM
#23 Louisiana at #21 Texas	4:30 PM
San Jose State at #15 USC	5:00 PM

Whoa now THIS is impressive for Week 1. Bama-Miami, if close, could be an amazing game. Indy-Iowa is a massive get for the Big Ten Network. The best game of the weekend could be FOX’s afternoon affair as the Ragin Cajuns look to pull off….I’m going to call it a VERY minor upset if they beat the Longhorns and only because it’s in Austin. Louisiana is that good and will be part of the Group of Five story all season. Don’t sleep on the Spartans heading to LA to play USC (if you get Pac-12 Network), WVU-Maryland could be quite close if Tagovailoa Dos can carry the Terps and LaTech heading to CLANGAland could be sneaky good. A lot of channel surfing/stream switching in this timeslot for sure.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Syracuse at Ohio	7:00 PM
Texas Tech vs. Houston (in NRG Stadium)	7:00 PM
#5 Georgia vs. #3 Clemson (in Charlotte)	7:30 PM
Northern Illinois at Georgia Tech	7:30 PM
UTSA at Illinois	7:30 PM
William & Mary at Virginia	7:30 PM
Florida Atlantic at #13 Florida	7:30 PM
Kent State at #6 Texas A&M	8:00 PM
Montana at #20 Washington	8:00 PM
#16 LSU at UCLA	8:30 PM

One game, obviously, is going to carry most of the hype. UGA-Clemson is a Game of the Year candidate but make no mistake about it: the loser is not out of the College Football Playoff picture by a longshot. The loser of this one could run the table and be as high as the #2 seed going into the CFP. UCLA showed that it will not be a pushover and that LSU should be ready for the Bruins. Sure it would be an upset if UCLA won but not a huge one and if they can pull it off, Chip Kelly might finally strike fear into the rest of the Pac-12 South. Glad to see most of the networks showing games in primetime unlike 2019 (I won’t discuss 2020 because that’s not fair). It means we get that good game on FOX. It means TTU-UH could be a lot of fun to watch and we get to see it. It means we get to see if Florida Atlantic and Kent State can follow up a good year with another good year. By this point we will all be on college football overload but I have faith we can all get through it and plow into the late night sked.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
New Mexico State at San Diego State	10:30 PM
BYU vs. Arizona (in Las Vegas)	10:30 PM
Utah State at Washington State	11:00 PM

OK so it kind of falls off a cliff here. Can’t win ’em all. Here’s hoping at least one of these games is close since, on paper, none of them look to be.

Sunday

		US	Canada
Jackson State vs. Florida A&M (in Miami)	3:00 PM
Grambling vs. Tennessee State (in Canton)	4:00 PM
Fort Valley State vs. Tuskegee (in Montgomery)	7:00 PM
#9 Notre Dame at Florida State	7:30 PM

A lot of FCS action on the Sunday before Labour Day. Smart work by the HBCU schools to do this as it should get a lot of eyeballs on their games. I wonder if we will get the game in Canton here since the NFL Network can be a bit funny with their schedule when it comes to what Canadians get to watch. It feels like Florida State could cause the Irish some problems. Let’s all hope so or else it’s an early bedtime for everyone.

Monday

		US	Canada
Ole Miss at Louisville	8:00 PM

This may not look great but Ole Miss should be quite a good team this year. I mean at least their offense should be fun to watch with Lane Kiffin as the head coach. I’m glad the CFL (and TSN) ditched the stupid idea of putting the Labour Day Classic (Eastern edition) in primetime. Fucking dumb. Ti-Cats-Argos should be on at 1 and ~~Eskimos~~ Elks-Stamps on at around 4:30 or so. That’s tradition so keep it that way because there’s no reason not to.

Games to set your eyeballs on

Georgia vs. Clemson (in Charlotte) (7:30, ABC/TSN2) – This is one of the Game of the Year candidates and is a relatively easy choice for Week 1 Game of the Week. Could it be a national championship preview? Some think so. Not me, but I know some do. This is where we get to see if D.J. Uiagalelei wasn’t a flash in the pan after his two games last season. We get to see if J.T. Daniels (what is it with initialed quarterback first names?) is the real deal and a potential Heisman candidate. We also get to see two of the whitest, southernest coaches around. Now this is college football at it’s finest.

Penn State at Wisconsin (Noon, FOX) – BIG NOON SATURDAY gets a damn good game to start their season. I am somewhat positive this is where Gus and Joel will be but it’s not a guarantee with another great FOX game right afterwards (and another great one after that). This is probably going to be somewhat underhyped but is extremely important in the Big Ten scheme of things as if Ohio State trips up at some point this season, one of these two teams could be the one sneaking past into the top spot. After years of crap Week 1s, FOX really has hit it out of the park this year. I don’t expect this all season but at least it’s a good start.

Indiana at Iowa (3:30, BTN) – I’m not lying. BTN. The Big Ten Network. Every year this network gets one game that would easily be on either FOX or ESPN and somehow they nab it. The good thing about the way the Big Ten Network contract is structured because every team has to show up at least twice with one game being a conference game. This could be the closest game of the day and we shall see if the Hoosiers are still climbing or if Iowa will somehow Ferentz their way to a victory to open their season.

Louisiana at Texas (4:30, FOX) – I’m serious when I said above this would not be much of an upset if Louisiana won. The Ragin Cajuns are a serious contender for the single Group of Five New Year’s Six spot (although don’t be surprised if two or even three teams really push the envelope this season). And we all know what opening weekend Texas games are like. Really wild and completely wacky doesn’t quite cover it.

LSU at UCLA (8:30, FOX) – Yeah, all three FOX tripleheader games in the GOTW section. First time ever? I would check but I’m lazy so I’m going to say no, it has never happened before. If the Bruins’ performance in Week Zero is any indication as to what this team could be like, this game will be a ton of fun. Then again they were playing a Hawaii team that looked like it wasn’t ready to start the game at all. The Tigers lost their starting quarterback before the season began so it could be an interesting journey for Ed Orgeron’s team this season (plus we may see Coach Eaux on the hot seat amazingly enough if things go south).

Honourable mention: North Carolina at Virginia Tech (Friday, 6:00, TSN2); Notre Dame at Florida State (Sunday, 7:30, ABC); San Jose State at USC (5:00, DAZN)

Some gambling fun and games

Oh man, this fuckery again. OK look I don’t pick against the spread, just straight up win or loss. I also advise you never to copy these picks. Yes I may be fully correct once but after like 100 misses you’d lose a lot of money. Let’s go:

Notre Dame over Florida State

Texas over Louisiana (but it will be close)

Clemson over Georgia

Alabama over Miami

North Carolina over Virginia Tech

LSU over UCLA

USC over San Jose State

Indiana over Iowa (slight upset?)

Duke over Charlotte

UCF over Boise State

Tennessee over Bowling Green (I might regret this)

SIX straight days of college football starts tonight! I believe I am ready to go. College football gives you Week Zero to get a bit acclimated and then BAM! It’s go time! I’m struggling with specialty pack information as I haven’t seen this little information in years on it. Saying that, it’s pretty easy to outline what games will probably appear on them. As for the Pac-12 Network/DAZN situation, I am looking into it and hoping to get an answer before the first potential P12N game in Canada this year Thursday night. I will definitely hit the Twitter machine and try to stay in my lane (college football, NFL and a little general sports sprinkled in) and not venture into Politicsland or Vaccineville, two places no one should ever go to when dealing with Twitter.

As per usual on this blog, we will soon get into the CFB schedule/NFL schedule/watch some damn football/recap/rinse/repeat carousel. No NFL recaps since a) I really barely have time to do this blog so doing NFL recaps would be tough and b) there are plenty of places to find those recaps out there and they aren’t hard to find. I’m glad to be back. Glad to have all of you back. It’s going to be a fun season. I can feel it. Have a great week everyone and enjoy Week 1!

Yes it’s a small recap, but still a recap…for Week Zero

Posted on August 29, 2021 by guelphbossman

GAH! I should have warned you. But as of right now, August 28, 2021 will be forever known in Champaign as Bret Bielema today. So get drunk and eat two full racks of ribs (in his honour of course).

The last two years, the Week Zero recap has been, let’s say, hijacked. In 2019 it was the absolutely shocking sudden retirement of Andrew Luck basically during a Colts preseason game. That took social media and the football world by storm so much of the Week Zero college football action was pushed aside. Last year was a fucking mess and no real Week Zero (at least for FBS teams). The two weeks following it had a lot of news in the college football world as pretty much all the conferences decided to play after opting out for the season. It was crazy and, despite the fact COVID is still a huge deal, it’s not nearly as big as it was a year ago at this point. I’ve mentioned it before but we are sloooooooooooowly getting back to normality. Like a three steps forward, two steps back kind of deal. Yes, COVID boosters are the future but if it allows us to live life the way it was before then for fuck’s sake, why are people even arguing over it?

Anyway, there was some Week Zero action….OK maybe action is a strong word. I shall recap the so-called action for you right now.

Maybe Chip Kelly has figured it out. Hawaii’s players were starting this game at 9:30am Hawaii time. It’s Week Zero. There is quite a bit of rust for a lot of teams. But good lord did UCLA mop the floor with the Rainbow Warriors. 24 first quarter points basically ended the game early. And I was giggling when Kirk Herbstreit said the Bruins would win the Pac-12 South. This could be a VERY interesting division this season.

Did Edsall get a bonus? That’s really the only question needed for UConn’s Week 0 performance. I get it: it’s even worse for the Huskies because they haven’t played since late 2019. So yeah, this could be a very long season in Storrs. But yeah, I am sure Randy Edsall got some absurd bonuses for converting at least one third down or keeping the opposing team under 50 or something stupid like that.

BERT! As I said above, August 28th will now, and forever more, be Bret Bielema Day in Champaign…unless they win a Big Ten title then the day they win the title will become Bret Bielema Day. Not like Nebraska were huge favourites but Illinois looked far superior in this one. Other than one play, 11th-year senior Adrian Martinez looked awful. The Husker defense did not look too polished. And now Scott Frost is on a serious hot seat in Lincoln. I already feel dumb for saying the Huskers would be bowl-eligible this season.

Look I’m not going to review San Jose State blowing Southern Utah out of the water or UTEP and New Mexico State playing in a game that about 435 people watched on TV. Even the MEAC-SWAC Challenge was kind of meh as Alcorn State just couldn’t get any offense going. All in all, kind of a shit week but at least it’s a start. Not like I was expecting much. I just felt good watching college football for damn near most of the day.

Soon we have, no, not a five-day stretch of football. Oh no that’s not enough. A damn six-day stretch of college football in September! Starts Wednesday night and goes to Monday night. Unreal. The college football schedule should come in earlier this coming week because of that. Enjoy the week everyone!

So…..what now? (The Pac-12 Predictions)

Posted on July 28, 2021 by guelphbossman

confused-o

Yeah you could say a lot has happened lately in the college football world. With none of it having to do with the Pac-12. They watched Texas and Oklahoma not join their conference instead going to the SEC, possibly as early as 2022. They have to know that ESPN probably had a lot to do with the Texahoma Four (UT, OU, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State) not going to the Pac-12 years ago and a lot to do with the Horns (Down) and Sooners heading to the SEC. So the Pac-12’s question is….what now?

They have some options, none of them amazing. They could probably pillage some of the teams from the Wreck of the Edmund FitzBig12. They almost certainly wouldn’t get Kansas and their lucrative basketball program. But those few teams would push them into the Central Time Zone which isn’t all bad. Or they could bring in a Mountain West team or two *COUGH* Boise State *COUGH*. I’m sure the Pac will not back BYU, no matter how much they claim religious bias. Or they could take a combination from the two conferences. Or they could stand pat (for now) at twelve teams. Again, do any of these options sound amazing? No. But they should be on the horn with FOX and probably CBS (or even NBC as well) and determine what their potential TV contract options are since it sounds like it’s the networks, mainly ESPN, that drive all this realignment. So might as well go straight to the source(s).

A lot will happen even in the next month. There will be more rumours for sure. Hell, there is one out there that says all eight remaining Big XII teams are considering merging with the Pac-12. That sounds insane to me but you never know. We are headed for a whole new world. I just hope this new college football world doesn’t contain divisions.

A perfect lead-in to the Pac-12 predictions (which contains divisions unfortunately). I will follow these with some Mystery Musings:

	Conference		Overall
North	W	L	W	L
Washington	8	1	11	1
Oregon	7	2	10	2
Stanford	5	4	7	5
California	5	4	6	6
Washington State	2	7	4	8
Oregon State	0	9	3	9
South
USC	8	1	10	2
Utah	7	2	9	3
Arizona State	6	3	9	3
UCLA	4	5	6	6
Colorado	2	7	4	8
Arizona	0	9	1	11

Mystery Musings

Is Arizona really that bad? Look, Jedd Fisch steps into a horrific situation in Tucson. This team could potentially lay claim to the title of Worst Power Five team for 2021. It is going to take a lot for them to get more than one win this season. Luckily they have Northern Arizona on their schedule. And at home.
The South Division could be very close…again. Arizona State could surprise everyone, including myself, and be even better than I predicted but man it’s a mess down there (what in the fuck is wrong with college football in the state of Arizona). I still think USC is the class team of the Pac-12 South and should outlast the Utes for the division crown.
Are the Cardinal back? Wait…Is the Cardinal back? That also doesn’t sound right. Anyway, Stanford is slowly making their way back up the North Division ladder. This won’t be the year they get to the top and to the Pac-12 Championship game but they are trending in the right direction yet again.
As for the top of the North Division, I am going against the grain and saying Washington will beat Oregon in their meeting at Husky Stadium and claim the division title. Most have Oregon as a Top 10 team and I see them just outside looking in.
Oregon State was getting oh so close to getting back to a bowl game. I see them taking a step back unfortunately as they don’t have the horses to compete with the top 4 in the division. Poor Beaver fans.
So for the Pac-12 title game I have USC defeating Washington. Meaning the Pac-12 would, yet again, miss out on the College Football Playoff. I am sure they cannot wait until the 12-team playoff begins.
I see the Pac-12 getting eight bowl teams. I think I say that pretty much every year and they almost never hit that mark. Maybe one day I’ll learn.

We are more than three-quarters done the conference prediction posts. Next is the conference that may be R’ing In P soon, the Big XII. I almost feel sorry for them but this is the way college football is headed.

So we are exactly one month away from the start of the college football season. I get it: Week Zero isn’t exactly everyone’s cup of tea and I fully understand. I get way too excited for it only because it’s the start of the season, not because it has amazing matchups because it almost never does. As for where these games will go, there are two games on ESPN that day. Still no word on any semblance of a TSN schedule for the college football season so it wouldn’t surprise me if these go to the specialty pack. Or if Bell, Rogers, Eastlink and any other cable company with a college football specialty pack of some sort decides they can’t start showing those games because they start their schedule Week 1, then these will appear nowhere in Canada. Oh well, we can’t win ’em all. Have a great rest of the week everyone!

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!

Most Important Games of the 2021 College Football Season – The Third Part

Posted on June 9, 2021 by guelphbossman

It’s getting seriously hot and (at times) seriously humid outside. Meaning summer is basically here. Thank God this province wants us not to engage in any sports or camping or get togethers of any kind. Think of all the money we save on sunscreen! I need to work on this blog to get my mind off the bullshit. So let’s just get on with this already!

Week 7

Game of the Week: Oklahoma State at Texas (7:30, ABC) – You don’t see many Big XII games in this spot anymore. To be honest, you don’t see many Big XII games in Canada either. Will these games mean as much when the playoff expands (which it most certainly is now)? Who knows to be honest. All I can say is I will continue to enjoy the games as much as I can as they try to, well, “make the postseason better.” To be honest, expanding the playoff would be down my list a bit. Number one on my list? Abolishing divisions.

Other Really Important Games: Miami at North Carolina (3:30, ABC) – If Miami truly gets their act together, this could end up being the Game of the Week (and possibly a Game of the Year candidate). Either way this is probably a huge game for both teams in the ACC. The winner of this game gets a leg up on the division that Clemson is not in (see my point about getting rid of divisions?).

Florida at LSU (3:30, CBS) – Hey it’s one of those weeks where the main networks (ABC, CBS…let’s throw FOX in there as well) have the biggest games. Another game that you could argue has a chance to be GOTW. Still wondering what will happen once the SEC on CBS contract ends. We have three more seasons of this and then all SEC games will be on ESPN/ABC (or ESPN2…or the SEC Network…or maybe ESPN+ you get the idea). Will CBS acquire another conference’s games? I think they’d be dumb not to. The Pac-12 could be ripe for the picking to be honest.

UCLA at Washington (3:30, Pac-12 Network/DAZN) – Let me explain since that might look like Greek to some of you. As of right now I have the Bruins and Huskies on the Pac-12 Network. First of all, it’s in the afternoon so Chris Petersen shouldn’t be upset. Secondly, Pac-12 teams have to have a minimum amount of games on the Pac-12 Network and the network usually gets a good game or two every season because it has to fill its quota. And finally, it looks like the Pac-12 Network will be available on DAZN in Canada. That may change by the time the season commences. Fingers crossed it doesn’t.

TCU at Oklahoma (4:00, FOX Sports One) – This could be worse. At first I had this game on FSN. I honestly don’t know if FSN will even have Big XII games. I have a feeling they won’t but who knows with the Mountain West invading the FOX networks. Anyway, until further notice, the Sooners will continue to be the class of the conference. At some point, though, a team is going to come along and knock them off their perch…for real. Maybe Gary Patterson’s Horned Frogs can do the trick.

Kentucky at Georgia (7:00, specialty pack) – There are a lot of good games this week. Unfortunately, after the top games (and a few others), it drops off a cliff. Normally, I wouldn’t put Kentucky in the Games of the Week but, by all accounts, this seems to be a team that could cause a lot of problems inside the SEC East. A win here and the Cats could, once again, be a contender in the SEC East. Look, I get they are very pessimistic about their football program in Lexington but if Mark Stoops somehow gets this team to the SEC Championship, they should offer him like a 15-year deal. No questions asked.

UCF at Cincinnati (4:00, specialty pack) – Yes a Group of Five game in the Games of the Week section! I have a feeling this will be the only G-5 game in this section this season. This is seriously huge too as these are the two teams that most would consider the top contenders for the Group of Five spot in the New Year’s Six (along with Boise State and maybe Coastal Carolina). Don’t be surprised if ABC pulls the trigger and gets this game in primetime knowing it may be their best chance at getting a really good AAC game on in primetime.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Ole Miss at Tennessee (Noon, specialty pack) – Don’t laugh. Both teams could be quite good this year. I said don’t laugh. Either team could win nine games. I told you not to laugh. Both teams could win their division. OK now you can laugh.

Best Group of Five Game: UCF at Memphis (4:00, specialty pack) – See above.

Worst Power Five Game: Texas Tech at Kansas (7:00, ESPN+) – Jesus Christ who would watch this? This game would have to be seriously close for me to even consider watching it. Which I can’t if I predict right and this ends up on ESPN+. Crisis averted.

Week 8

Game of the Week: Oregon at UCLA (4:00, FOX) – Wow, ok. Yeah this week, on paper, does not deliver. This is easily the worst week that I will cover in these final two posts. I mean you have to think Oregon blows the doors off the Bruins but what if UCLA has one of those crazy games they’ve had in recent years under Chip Kelly? It would be fun to see them just go off and score like 50 on the Ducks. They still might lose but hey…50-burger!

Other Really Important Games: Oklahoma State at Iowa State (Noon, FOX) – Hmmm…maybe this should be game of the week especially since it’s on BIG NOON SATURDAY. I still wait for the day where Matt Campbell finally gets a job offer he can’t refuse and leaves Ames. As horrible as it sounds for Cyclone fans, I could see Iowa trying to hire him once Kirk Ferentz decides to retire.

USC at Notre Dame (7:30, NBC) – Remember when almost every year a game between these two teams was a big deal? Sometimes for only of these teams but a handful of times for both programs. This may be one of those games. The Irish will once again feed off the hatred of all non-Irish fans and hope to get into the College Football Playoff yet again, pissing off a bunch of people. USC is in the wide open Pac-12 South and a win like this doesn’t help them inside the conference but will be a huge plus when it comes to their place in the Top 25.

Ohio State at Indiana (7:30, ABC) – I think it every year. Ohio State is going to visit a Big Ten East team not named Penn State or Michigan State and lose. Haha, of course I don’t mean Michigan, silly! The Hoosiers still look like they could make some noise in the Big Ten East but they have to hope to recreate some of last year’s magic to have any hope of beating the Fighting Ryan Days.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: LSU at Ole Miss (6:00, specialty pack) – Ugh, I hate the three-hour timeslots. They serve no purpose whatsoever. Like unless you are showing Army or Navy or any other team who might want to try the option, this won’t work. And SEC games are not known for ending before the three-and-a-half hour mark. So good luck to the game after this one (I have BYU-Wazzu starting at 9). Have fun on ESPNEWS for perhaps an hour.

Best Group of Five Game: Coastal Carolina at Appalachian State (Wednesday, 7:30, TSN1/TSN4) – I don’t know if I am in the minority but I like watching Sun Belt football. And despite App State’s success since their move up to FBS, last year’s performance by the Chants shone a huge light on the conference and proved that one of these years, their champion will make the New Year’s Six. This is probably the Sun Belt East Division championship. See? Divisions suck (no offense to the Ragin’ Cajuns of Louisiana).

Worst Power Five Game: Georgia Tech at Virginia (Noon, specialty pack) – Honestly, this isn’t too bad. For the worst of the week? I’ve seen much worse games in this spot. Not saying I’m watching the bulk of the game but I wouldn’t mind tuning in for a bit. For such a not-so-good week it seems to have a good mid-card set of matches.

Week 9

Game of the Week: Penn State at Ohio State (Noon, FOX) – Oh my. This could be…well, this could be an amazing game. Penn State should be finally back at least sniffing the Top 10 and tOSU is tOSU. This is almost a shoo-in to end up on BIG NOON SATURDAY.

Other Really Important Games: North Carolina at Notre Dame (7:30, NBC) – A second consecutive week that Notre Dame on NBC will be in primetime. If the Irish can somehow get through this rough two-game stretch they could be home-free the rest of the way. I will admit, I am a sucker for good primetime Notre Dame football on NBC. I don’t know what it is. It just feels special, kind of like when the SEC has their one primetime game on CBS every season.

Florida vs. Georgia (in Jacksonville) (3:30, CBS) – THE MOTHERFUCKING GOD DAMNED WORLD’S LARGEST OUTDOOR COCKTAIL PARTY!!!!! Perhaps you could put this at number one. I wouldn’t argue. I also wouldn’t argue if you said it would be the best football game played in Jacksonville all year. I still say an open bar is the way to go for Brad and Gary in this one. Imagine a drunk Gary Danielson crying over a call that went against Alabama three seasons ago? Actually, maybe we should cancel the open bar.

Iowa at Wisconsin (Noon, specialty pack) – The Big Ten West Championship game? Maybe? Honestly these are the only two teams I would trust to win the Big Ten, despite the fact they haven’t won all the West division titles. But would you trust Northwestern? Minnesota? NEBRASKA? I thought so.

Florida State at Clemson (3:30, ABC) – OK this might be a stretch. Especially since this is in Death Valley. But one of these years, FSU is going to beat Clemson and everyone is going to be left with their jaw on the floor. You might snicker at that but Pitt beat them at Clemson a few years back. So there is hope you Nole fans.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Iowa State at West Virginia (Noon, ABC/TSN2) – I am not going to make the mistake of saying Dana Holgorsen is the Mountaineers’ head coach like last time. I mean, I miss him as WVU’s coach because he was in some big games meaning he would blow his stack more often than he does now at Houston. I wonder if he just drinks less Monster Energy or Red Bull or whatever he has ten of before Noon.

Best Group of Five Game: SMU at Houston (3:30, ESPN+) – I had to dig a bit deeper this week for a good Group of Five game. It was either this or Troy-Coastal Carolina. I am sticking with this one although the Sun Belt game is on Thursday night and at least on the specialty pack where as this one I have on ESPN+. Why? Same problem every year when we get into mid-October towards the end of the season: so many good conference games and only so many slots to put them in. Every so often the American gets the shaft. This looks like it will be one of those weeks.

Worst Power Five Game: Rutgers at Illinois (Noon, BTN) – Good lord. Just don’t. If it plays out the way I think it will, there is probably two games at this time meaning you wouldn’t get it even if you had the Big Ten Network. Probably for the best.

A mixed bag (as October usually is). But still…it’s a bag full of college football games. I am getting excited. I’m also getting a bit nervous as I know what I am like during those Saturdays. A completely unproductive glutton. I can live with the unproductive part but I am trying to get back into some semblance of decent shape after gaining a lot of weight during the pandemic. And the type of food I would eat on college football Saturdays is no bueno anymore…at least that amount of food. I might have to do food prep Friday night just to get through the day!

Still have not got a preview magazine although I haven’t really tried. Hoping the Athlon one (which is part of my subscription) comes in the mail soon. At least unlike last year, Indigo is open so I can go in and check it out one of these days. Also I am still going back and forth on whether to order the Phil Steele magazine. It’s rather expensive and takes a while to come in the mail. I might do the thing I did a few years back and pair it with the NFL magazine (if they do one) and get them shipped at the same time. It sucks because it means I wouldn’t get it until early August but it’s such a great magazine that I don’t know if I can not buy it, you know? If you have never seen the magazine before you don’t know but believe me, it’s PACKED with info. Can I really go into the season not knowing who the Rutgers long snapper will be?

Normally, the CFL would be starting their preseason soon. However, with the NBA and NHL seasons going into July this year and the U.S. Open coming up (yeah I watch the golf majors, don’t judge me), I won’t be missing football nearly as much. Instead it looks like the CFL will start August 5th with a slightly shortened schedule. And the Grey Cup will be moved into December and is in Hamilton. The only Grey Cup I’ve ever went to was the 1996 one that has been dubbed the Snow Bowl. It was cold, snowy, and a shit-ton of fun to watch. Maybe I will buy tickets to this one as long as they aren’t brutally expensive. OK so yeah I miss football. Have a great week everyone!

Most Important Games of the 2021 College Football Season – Let’s Go For Two!

Posted on May 30, 2021 by guelphbossman

I hate what they have done to college football overtime. I was fine when they said you had to start going for two starting with the third overtime. Would I prefer they make the teams start at the 30 or the 35 rather than the 25? Yes but I am OK with the way that is. Now it has become a two-point conversion shootout starting with the fifth overtime. Why? Because one stupidly awesome game went to seven overtimes and it was a classic? Seems like a serious overreaction to me (and probably many others). It has got to the point that maybe the NFL overtime is starting to look a bit better. I never would have said that even a couple of years ago but here we are.

So normally, I do the first post of this series and a day or two later more schedule updates appear changing my original guesses already. It would make me feel a bit dumb. This year? The same fucking thing happened! God damn when will I ever learn? Anyway, it was the mother of all schedule dumps. Like a crazy amount of games were set. Let’s look at what has changed with the first post in this series:

Penn State-Wisconsin I had right in terms of it being on FOX. But it’s not on at 4:00. It’s the BIG NOON SATURDAY game for Week One.
Now here’s a headscratcher. Iowa-Indiana is not the BIG NOON SATURDAY game on FOX. It’s not even on FOX. It’s on BTN. BTN! At 3:30 in the afternoon. It has to be due to the amount of appearances that one or both of these teams are perceived to have later on in the season on BTN since all Big Ten teams must have a minimum of two BTN appearances on the season with one of those appearances being a conference game. That’s the only thing I can think of since this is FOX or ESPN/ABC worthy in my opinion.
I was sooooooo close with LSU-UCLA. It’s on FOX. In primetime. But not at 8:00. It’s at 8:30. To me that seems like a weird time but I guess FOX is fine with the game ending probably around midnight if not a little later. Not like they have anything other than TMZ and infomercials to show afterwards on most of their affiliates.
Again, so close with one. Boise State-UCF is on at 7:00, not 7:30. My guess is it will be on at least one TSN station.
Oregon State-Purdue is now on FS1 in primetime. Big deal.
ABC nabbed CyHawk for their afternoon game.
Liberty-Troy has moved to primetime. But it’s still on ESPN+. So in the end it doesn’t matter anyway.
I totally forgot about how the ACC Network does Week 2. They show four games, starting at 11 in the morning to fit them all in so they don’t have to send a bunch to a regional FOX Sports Network (hmmm…should I call them Bally’s now?) or, even worse, ACC Network Extra which they are loathe to do. Anyway, it’s not at noon, it’s at 2:00 and should be on the specialty pack.
Cincinnati-Indiana has been picked up by ESPN/ABC. It will probably air on ABC and is definitely scheduled for Noon.
Oklahoma State-Boise State will be on FOX Sports One. But now it’s at 9:00. In the evening. Why? Because there is a game at 12:30 Sunday morning! Yep, for you crazies that can watch this game, San Jose State and Hawaii kick off after midnight and won’t end until about 4 in the morning. That’s crazy. I will watch at least three quarters of that.
Hey Coastal Carolina-Buffalo isn’t being relegated to ESPN+! It’s on at Noon, probably on the specialty pack here. Good to see some respect for these two schools.
Speaking of respect, let’s look at the absolute lack of respect ESPN/ABC has for the Kansas Jayhawks football program. Like no respect at all. They aren’t the Thursday night ESPN game. They aren’t even available to Canadians. Hell, it isn’t even available to most Americans. It’s on at 3:30, Saturday afternoon…on ESPN+. Yeah. That’s sad. But understandable.

I will probably make this same mistake next year because I’m an idiot who never learns.. Let’s just get to the second part of this series.

Week 4

Game of the Week: Notre Dame vs. Wisconsin (in Chicago) (Noon, FOX) – This kind of tells you what kind of weekend this will be, on paper. Not saying these aren’t two good teams because they are. But the Badgers are always juuuuuust on the outside looking in and don’t feel like an elite team. And the Irish are considered an elite team more often than they actually are. Not saying I wouldn’t be surprised if either team is in contention for the College Football Playoff late in the season but this being the game of the week means we aren’t looking at a ton of great games. Now watch this one go to like four overtimes and be an instant classic.

Other Really Important Games: West Virginia at Oklahoma (7:30, ABC) – Will the Sooners finally get over the top now with Spencer Rattler in his second year at quarterback? That is the question for Boomer Sooner this season as they could be in for a special two-season stretch (before Rattler goes to the NFL as a high first round pick). Unless they can get yet another great QB, this may be the best two-year stretch possibility for Lincoln Riley’s boys (before Riley gets an offer from the Dallas Cowboys that he can’t refuse). As for the Mountaineers, they have Dana Holgorsen. That’s fun enough since you are assured of him going off on the refs or his players or his coaches or the other team’s coaches or the other team’s players or the fans at least once a game. That’s what happens when you down six Red Bulls by lunch.

Clemson at NC State (3:30, ABC) – I could see this moving to primetime but it really has more to do with how many Big XII game would appear on ABC in the primetime timeslot all season (or at least how many they believe will appear there). The first three games listed this week cover the top three timeslots so you can kind of figure out where all the hype will be. This could be Dave Doeren’s final chance to get his program-defining win. Pull this off and he will never have to pay for another drink in Raleigh again. It also puts the entire conference in an interesting spot as Clemson is their hope for the CFP until another team steps up. Most believe it will be NC State’s interstate rivals, North Carolina, but the Wolfpack are known for their upsets over the past two decades. Just ask Florida State.

Tennessee at Florida (3:30, CBS) – Can Tennessee just be back already? It took so damn long for Texas to be back and now they aren’t quite back again so who knows if the college football media will be asking that question (that I will not type here) all season. Luckily for the fans (and haters) of Texas, that question is no longer asked. For Vol fans, it’s becoming the conversation every day in Knoxville. Until this team truly competes in the SEC East (and no, being third doesn’t count as competing) this may be the most annoying, pathetic fanbase in college football. So maybe, just maybe, they can pull this off and look like the program that everyone on Rocky Top desperately wants them to be. Now watch them lose this one by 40 and we wonder if they can beat a down Vanderbilt squad.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Nebraska at Michigan State (3:30, BTN) – You are looking LIVE…at two programs who are struggling, one more than the other. The Huskers feel like an afterthought now that they have been in the Big Ten for a while and for good reason. Their fans long for even the days of the Big XII, forget the Big Eight. And let’s be honest: other than the one year where Sparty went to the College Football Playoff, it’s not like they have been setting the college football world on fire the past couple of decades. This could be a very good game that could propel one of these programs back into prominence. This will almost assuredly go to the Big Ten Network.

Best Group of Five Game: Marshall at Appalachian State (Thursday, 7:30, specialty pack) – Two of the Group of Five’s stalwarts meet here in a much deserved Thursday night ESPN spot. Both teams had weird years this past season but that’s to be expected since the whole damn season was kind of weird. Expect both of these programs to at least flirt with the Top 25 most of the season. This should be an early Group of Five New Year’s Six elimination game as I am sure both teams will come into this undefeated (or in App State’s case, maybe a close loss to Miami early on).

Worst Power Five Game: Kansas at Duke (Noon, specialty pack) – Good god. You have to be some kind of masochist to want to watch more than maybe a few minutes of this game. Kansas is Kansas and Duke is nowhere near the heights they got to a few years back. You can easily avoid this one. I wouldn’t be surprised if doesn’t even go to the ACC Network and gets relegated to ACC Network Extra even if they have a timeslot available for them.

Week 5

Game of the Week: Ole Miss at Alabama (Noon, TSN5) – I have this game on ESPN2. Seriously. Look, there is a limit as to how many times a team can appear on the SEC on CBS. Otherwise Bama would appear like 8 times every season (the max is five by the way). This could still move to ESPN or even CBS so who knows. Ole Miss is expected to start the season either just inside or just outside the Top 25 and besides, it’s Lane Kiffin getting another shot at Nick Saban. He would be a God in Oxford if the Rebels can win this game.

Other Really Important Games: Cincinnati at Notre Dame (2:30, NBC) – I’m honestly confused as to why some Irish on NBC games are on at 2:30 and why some are on at 3:30. There is really no rhyme or reason as to why these happen the way they do. Maybe they anticipate a hot newscast on this night. Anyway, this game is ripe for an upset…kind of. If Cincy upset Notre Dame would it be considered an upset? If it was up to me, I would have put this game on in primetime. Unfortunately for the Bearcats, they don’t draw so that would be a no go.

Indiana at Penn State (Noon, ABC/TSN1/TSN4) – This does not feel like a Noon Big Ten Game. At all. This is the kind of game that is usually on ABC in primetime. Or should be especially after last year’s amazing finish. I can honestly say that maybe, just maybe, it’s the Hoosiers, not Penn State (or Michigan or Michigan State) that will be the team that will finally knock Ohio State off their perch atop the Big Ten East. Seeing the Hoosiers win this game and run the table into November would be great because it would make some TV executives at Disney a trifle nervous.

Michigan at Wisconsin (Noon, FOX) – Is Jim Harbaugh still special enough to warrant a BIG NOON SATURDAY timeslot? I could see this being moved, especially if the brass at FOX decides that the Big XII has a game they could show instead here. Or maybe they do another Pac-12 morning kickoff like they did with Arizona State-USC last year. This has to be a bounce-back season for the Wolverines. If not, what happens to Kaptain Khaki? Could he be fired? For the first time during his tenure in Ann Arbor, it would make sense to at least consider it, especially after last season’s disastrous season.

Texas at TCU (6:30, FOX Sports One) – Again, don’t be surprised if this, among almost every game this week, gets moved from where I have it. The Big XII has quickly become the major conference that Canadians rarely see. Not that they care down there if Canadians get to see their conference or not but it’s the same in the States. With no conference network, they are being left out in the cold. And their expansion blunder of a few years back is still being felt. They’ve already gone to Disney to look for a contract extension and ESPN/ABC said no. The contract ends after the 2025 season and with other TV contracts also ending around that time, realignment talk will heat up yet again. The conference is in trouble and really hinges on what Texas and Oklahoma decide to do. Expect a lot of changes in the next few years.

Florida at Kentucky (Noon, specialty pack) – Remember when the Wildcats were SEC East contenders? It wasn’t too long ago. Kentucky could be primed for another breakthrough and the fans in Lexington are chomping at the bit to see that happen. At some point, some team has to break the Florida-Georgia stranglehold in the division and what better year than this one? Right now, I have this on the SEC Network because I honestly had no idea where to put it once other better timeslots started filling up. I could see this somehow getting to ESPN or ESPN2 though since I have the SEC Network with four games during this week.

Arizona State at UCLA (3:30, specialty pack) – It feels like we are getting less and less late night games that are any good. I mean it won’t stop me from watching them but I’m used to a few each year at least. This is supposed to be the season where we finally see what Chip Kelly can do in Westwood. A good Bruins team is always welcome in college football. The Sun Devils are also expected to be quite good so maybe we will see a logjam at the top of the Pac-12 South. Not like that hasn’t happened before, am I right? Guys? Hello?

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Tennessee at Missouri (Noon, specialty pack) – No, we aren’t looking at two amazing teams. Or even one. But man, for such a good week, there are a lot of games (outside of the ones I listed above) that look like they won’t be close at all. I’d love to call this a SEC East eliminator game. But it’s not. With two teams so closely matched, though, it should be fun to watch and could be the surprise game of the early timeslot (if not the whole week).

Best Group of Five Game: Nevada at Boise State (10:00, FOX Sports One) – Could FS1, of all channels, have one of the best lineups this week? Look there were a few choices I could have put here instead of this one. Houston-Tulsa and Liberty-UAB fit the bill as well but neither really scream “Top Group of Five game.” Plus I am a bit fascinated with FOX’s foray into the Mountain West, mostly because I can see all the games now. This could end up being very lucrative for the conference as long as FOX continues to invest heavily into college football.

Worst Power Five Game: Pittsburgh at Georgia Tech (Noon, specialty pack) – I mean it’s not a bad game per se. But with the rest of the Noon options (and there are a lot of them), I can’t see this game getting many eyeballs.

Week 6

Game of the Week: Alabama at Texas A&M (8:00, CBS) – God damn this could be a MASSIVE game this season. Jimbo Fisher has guaranteed a win over Bama (not the smartest idea in the world but hey, gotta shot your shot). Even with the loss of Kellen Mond, this could be the Aggies year to get into the College Football Playoff. And now with probably a full house in College Station, the 100,000 plus members of the 12th Man will make life very difficult for the Tide. CBS has chosen this week to be the SEC doubleheader with the primetime game so it’s almost assured that this will be the pick.

Other Really Important Games: Oklahoma vs. Texas (in Dallas) (Noon, FOX) – Back where this belongs…almost. Depending on how the Aggies look early on, this could be considered the true GOTW. I’m still waiting for the day the Cotton Bowl collapses during the Red River Shootout. It’s going to happen and it’s going to be a tragedy that could be avoided by either fixing the fucking place or moving this game to JerryWorld. There’s almost no doubt in my mind this ends up being the BIG NOON SATURDAY pick by FOX.

Georgia at Auburn (3:30, CBS) – Wow, does CBS ever get an amazing doubleheader this season. Saying that, the Tigers aren’t the Tigers they have been in the past. Unless Bo Nix all of a sudden figures things out, Auburn will be middle of the pack, at best, in the SEC West. Still a good team but not close to contending in the always extremely tough SEC West. I just wish they would do away with divisions. Don’t get me wrong, the SEC East champ is usually good but who wouldn’t have enjoyed Bama playing LSU or TAMU playing Mississippi State or Ole Miss playing Auburn or any one of those combinations in Atlanta in December?

Maryland at Ohio State (Noon, TSN4) – This is guaranteed for Noon and almost a shoo-in to be on ESPN. Will this be close? Eh, who knows. OK I am pretty positive it won’t be. But if there’s any year where Ohio State could be vulnerable, it is this one. If the Terps can’t keep it close this time around they may never do so. I’m sure there are many who long to be back in the ACC, regardless of TV money.

Florida State at North Carolina (Noon, ABC/TSN2) – No, this isn’t here because it’s the Noles. I probably don’t have to say that anymore and it is sad that FSU just can’t seem to get over the hump and get back to the way they were. You never know, though. They beat the Heels here, it’s massive and could lead to huge things for this squad. North Carolina is in New Year’s Six or Bust mode this season as the NY6 is their floor. Anything less would be a disappointment with Sam Howell a serious Heisman contender.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: LSU at Kentucky (Noon, TSN1) – No, I’m not joking with this. The Tigers will be close to the bottom spot of the Top 25 and the Cats will be just outside looking in, at least at the start of the season. This is probably a bigger game for Kentucky than it is for LSU as there is no way that Ed Orgeron’s guys will be competing for the SEC West this season.

Best Group of Five Game: Boise State at BYU (10:30, specialty pack) – Is this considered a Group of Five game? I’m going to say it is. BYU seems to be in this no-man’s land when it comes to where they belong. I know they want to be Power Five and they should be Power Five but they aren’t quite there yet and until they are invited into a conference or get closer in reputation to Notre Dame, they won’t be. It is usually a lot of fun when these two teams meet. I am looking forward to Provo After Dark which sounds like a show on at Midnight on Vision TV or some other religious network where they do nasty things like drink coffee or say “fuck.”

Worst Power Five Game: Georgia Tech at Duke (12:30, specialty pack) – Two straight weeks for the Ramblin’ Wreck in this spot. The thing is they aren’t even that bad. But last week was a pretty good schedule, at least in the Power Five and this week the next worse choice would be Wake Forest-Syracuse which isn’t nearly as bad as this.

We are almost halfway through the season now (with these posts). With only thirteen weeks this season I had to have one longer post because of it. It will be the final one. The final two posts are usually the most difficult since almost none of the games are scheduled this far out, at least from a Power Five perspective. So the chances of me getting many of these predictions wrong are quite good. Just letting you know in advance.

It’s getting close to College Football Preview magazine season. Or maybe it has already started and I just don’t know about it. I have an Athlon subscription now so I am just waiting for that one to come in the mail. If there are others available I will check Indigo to see if I can get it. As for the Phil Steele magazine, I am going back and forth whether to order it or get the online version (if they have it this year). I love the magazine, don’t get me wrong. It’s an awesome read and has a shit-ton of information. Problem is, it shows up sometime in late July at the earliest which doesn’t help me at all with my predictions and makes it tough to read before the season begins (yes I am one of those insane people who try to read that magazine front-to-back). So we shall see. Anyway, have a great upcoming week and let’s hope the warm weather is here to stay and that we can forget what it was like on Friday.

Alright let’s try the Bossman tradition now – Week 15 College Football TV Schedule

Posted on December 9, 2020 by guelphbossman

Normally for American Thanksgiving weekend I do a post that is centered around a concept called Footballgasm. There is so much damn football usually from Thursday afternoon through the end of Sunday and good football, especially at the college level. I freakin’ love it! Thanks to 2020, this did not happen this year. That weekend became just another weekend in college football now that there were a few more weeks of the regular season after it.

So I will do this schedule in the style that I normally reserve for Thanksgiving, Yankee Style. Every game is not important but everything gets its own section. Good for them, right? For some teams, the highlight of their season. Let’s go!

Thursday

Florida Atlantic at Southern Miss

6:30 PM

Florida Atlantic has a chance at the Conference USA East division crown but they need to start with a win here. The Golden Eagles, on the other hand, just hired their new coach and want to forget this season ever existed. Now I find out that the Charlotte-Marshall game is cancelled so if FAU wins, they will go to the Conference USA title game.

Friday

Arizona State at Arizona

7:30 PM

These two teams have combined for….wait a minute, getting out the calculator….carry the 3….ZERO WINS this season. I can’t see either of these teams getting to go to a bowl game but you never know.

Nevada at San Jose State

10:00 PM

This is easy. A Spartans win puts SJSU in the Mountain West Conference Championship for the first time ever. A loss and Nevada could go if Boise State can win on Saturday. Huge conference implications here and probably a must-watch.

Saturday Early

~~#11 Oklahoma at West Virginia~~ Michigan State at Penn State

Noon

This tends to be the issue with this weekend of college football. Games that have very little stakes end up on big-time networks like ABC or FOX or ESPN because of contracts with the conferences. Who knows with 2020 if that is the case but I am wondering. The Sooners have already qualified for the Big XII Championship and West Virginia is wondering what bowl game they will be invited to. So yeah, no stakes at all. UPDATE: The game has been cancelled. WVU has shut everything down until next week.

UPDATE #3: Michigan State-Penn State has been moved into this timeslot.

Rutgers at Maryland

Noon

This is a massive game with a lot of different scenarios in play. Haha, just kidding. There is no reason to watch this game unless it’s close. And it might be. I mean, Rutgers is a hell of a lot better than last season and Maryland is no pushover either.

Illinois at #14 Northwestern

Noon

Northwestern has an outside chance at the New Year’s Six. They need to win here and hope for some help. Illinois is…Illinois. This may be Lovie Smith’s last game as head coach in Champaign but I have said that before and well, you know has happened.

#1 Alabama at Arkansas

Noon

TSN with a relatively weak schedule this week but don’t blame them. The schedule itself could be considered sub-part by most standards. Anyway, I would love to see Arkansas win here. Just for the chaos it would bring.

Utah at #21 Colorado

Noon

Colorado finishes undefeated this season with a win here over the Utes. That is pretty damn shocking for this Buffs team. If it wasn’t for Tom Allen and Jamey Chadwell, Karl Dorrell would get more looks for Coach of the Year. Anyway, it might not matter because if USC wins they probably win the Pac-12 South and continue to show the Pac-12 as the dumbest Power Five conference around. Glad to see FOX stepped up and moved this to Noon to replace Ohio State-Michigan. But man, a 10 am local start? Not going to be easy for either team.

#9 Georgia at #25 Missouri

Noon

A game between two ranked teams that means almost nothing to Mizzou. Georgia, on the other hand, needs the win to stay in the NY6 race. A loss and they could be toast.

Minnesota at Nebraska

Noon

Um….this is football, technically. Maybe we will get a fun football-weather game in Lincoln for this one.

Saturday Afternoon

Akron at Buffalo

2:30 PM

I wonder how much Buffalo will be favoured by in this one? I think it will be about 40.

Navy at Army

3:00 PM

Army-Navy game, but in Michie Stadium. And a bunch of other games on the same day. I hate to say it but this will not feel like the normal Army-Navy Game experience that we have had for over the past decade now.

#17 North Carolina at #10 Miami

3:30 PM

This is actually a pretty big game. Miami’s seriously slim College Football Playoff hopes will go out the window if they don’t destroy the Heels. UNC, on the other hand, could sneak into the New Year’s Six with a win. The Canes will guarantee themselves a spot in the NY6 with a win no matter what.

~~Michigan State at Penn State~~ Oklahoma State at Baylor

3:30 PM

Could this be the worst Land Grant Trophy game ever? I’m just going to go ahead and say yes. UPDATE #4: This game has been moved to Noon on ABC and TSN4.

UPDATE #10: Oklahoma State-Baylor moves into this timeslot.

~~Houston at Memphis~~

3:30 PM

A couple years ago this would have been a huge game. This year, not so much. UPDATE #11: Oh man, 11 updates. Anyway, this has been moved to ESPN2.

Wisconsin at #16 Iowa

3:30 PM

This looks weird. Not Iowa being ranked since they are ranked at least once almost every season. Wisconsin, who has had some of their season completely wiped out, not being ranked looks odd. I think they are a good example of why the Big Ten were dumb to not start their season when everyone else was. This would have allowed them to include weeks where make-up games could be, well, made up. Instead, they’ve barely played.

~~#20 Texas at Kansas~~ Houston at Memphis

~~4:00 PM 3:30 PM~~ 3:45 PM

I would love to see Kansas pull off the upset here. It doesn’t matter to Texas since they will probably go to the Alamo Bowl but it could matter to Tom Herman’s future. A Kansas win may make the first instance (that I know of) of two coaches being fired after the same game. UPDATE #2: Issues inside the Longhorns program with COVID-19 has forced this game to be cancelled.

UPDATE #7: Oklahoma State-Baylor has moved into this timeslot and it has changed from 4:00 to 3:30.

UPDATE #9: This has changed again. Now Houston-Memphis is here and Oklahoma State-Baylor moves to ESPN.

~~Washington at Oregon~~ ~~California at Washington State~~

4:00 PM

Huge Pac-12 game. The winner here goes to the Pac-12 Championship, probably against USC. Both these teams are lucky that the conference hasn’t stepped in like the Big Ten did for Ohio State. I assume the winner here will also be ranked going into conference championship weekend. UPDATE #5: The Huskies don’t have enough players on their roster to play this weekend. Now, they don’t win the Pac-12 North yet as all other Pac-12 games would have to be played as scheduled. If not, it’s advanced trigonometry time. The game is being replaced here by Cal-Wazzu.

UPDATE #15: Easily a new record on this blog! Cal-Wazzu has been cancelled (two hours before kickoff!) due to massive contract tracing issues at Cal. What a complete mess.

Tennessee at Vanderbilt

4:00 PM

One of the worst battles between these two teams ever. Vandy is horrifically bad and Tennessee is not a whole lot better. It’s too bad TSN1 didn’t have any other options. I am sure the focus here will be on Sarah Fuller so if you want to watch potential history being made, this is your game. UPDATE #13: TSN3 will now also show UT-VU.

Saturday Primetime & Late Night

Boise State at Wyoming

6:00 PM

This game means everything to the Broncos. Win and they are going to the Mountain West Championship. It could be their final Mountain West Championship since Bryan Harsin has pushed for Boise to go independent since the MWC delayed the start of their season. A Wyoming win will set up a bit more chaos at the top of the Mountain West for sure.

LSU at #6 Florida

7:00 PM

Wow, how things have changed. Last year at this time, the Tigers were preparing for the SEC Championship. The Gators…they were waiting to see what bowl they would be invited to. Now it’s Florida with everything to gain as they hope to keep their CFP chances alive against Ed Orgeron’s bunch, who are playing for pride at this point.

Louisiana Tech at TCU

7:00 PM

This game was created so that TCU would have a non-conference game for the season like all their Big XII brethren. Could be fun to watch because LaTech is a good team but there are no real stakes here.

~~#22 Oklahoma State at Baylor~~

7:00 PM

This game means very little. Ok, I lied. It means pretty much nothing. UPDATE #8: This game has moved to 3:30 on ESPN2 due to the Texas-Kansas cancellation.

Auburn at Mississippi State

7:30 PM

If you had told me that Auburn and Mississippi State would be on the SEC Network for the final regular season weekend I would have thought you were joking. But here we are. This game means nothing but it could mean a lot when it comes to Gus Malzahn’s future as Auburn head coach. A loss here and it might be the final blow to his Auburn tenure.

#15 USC at UCLA

7:30 PM

USC must win this game to go to the Pac-12 Championship. And UCLA has actually started to show some improvement under Chip Kelly. This makes for an exciting Battle for Los Angeles. My best guess is that if the Trojans pull this out that they would be ahead of Colorado no matter what. I am sure they will want to put everything in their hands and blow the Bruins out.

~~Utah State at Colorado State~~

9:30 PM

I’m starting to wonder if CBS Sports Network should stick with these offset starting times. When they have a game with some significance, or an upset, or a huge performance, more people would go over to CBSSN than if it’s on at the same time as every other game in the timeslot. Anyway, both of these teams are not good so unless something crazy happens, it’s a game you can avoid. UPDATE #14: OK this is a bizarre one. Most of USU’s players have refused to travel to Fort Collins because of Utah State administration’s comments on the Aggies interim head coach Frank Maile and his association with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. For this reason the game is cancelled. The interesting part is that Utah State has already hired Blake Anderson to be their new head coach so this would have been Maile’s final game, at least as the head guy.

San Diego State at #18 BYU

10:00 PM

Honestly there doesn’t seem to be much importance in this game. BYU’s loss to Coastal Carolina on Saturday eliminated them from the New Year’s Six (unless almost everyone loses above them).

~~California at Washington State~~ Fresno State at New Mexico

10:30 PM

Pac-12 After Dark. So despite the fact that both teams aren’t playing for anything, this could get weird. UPDATE #6: This game has been moved to FOX at 4:00 to replace UW-Oregon. Fresno State-New Mexico moves here.

Oregon State at Stanford

~~10:30 PM~~ 10:00 PM

Another Pac-12 After Dark game. Chances of both games being mundane affairs is almost zero. So let’s see which game dives into chaos! UPDATE #12: This game has been moved up to 10:00.

Some gambling fun and games

No point in having the Games of the Week section since I went through every game that could be televised above (and some that can’t be seen up here). I have had a couple of Super Hyper Omni you know the deal type of posts lately, I don’t need more. Let’s get to the super-sized set of Bossman’s picks shall we?

Arizona State over Arizona

Utah over Colorado (upset?)

Auburn over Mississippi State

Oklahoma over West Virginia

Baylor over Oklahoma State (upset!)

Navy over Army (slight upset)

Alabama over Arkansas

LSU over Florida (huge upset)

Miami over North Carolina

Tennessee over Vanderbilt

Texas over Kansas

Missouri over Georgia (upset!)

TCU over Louisiana Tech

Memphis over Houston

Northwestern over Illinois

Nebraska over Minnesota

Wisconsin over Iowa (is this really an upset?)

Penn State over Michigan State

Maryland over Rutgers

Boise State over Wyoming

Nevada over San Jose State

BYU over San Diego State

Colorado State over Utah State

California over Washington State

Oregon State over Stanford

USC over UCLA

Oregon over Washington

Buffalo over Akron

Hopefully this weekend turns out to be super-enjoyable. I think we need a great end to the regular season. Enjoy the games everyone!

Bossman's Blog

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

Tag Archives: Pac-12 South

All Aboard the Coaching Carousel! (and the Week 6 College Football TV Schedule)

Wednesday

Friday

Saturday Early

Saturday Afternoon

Saturday Primetime

Saturday Late Night

Can anyone upend Bama? Week 3 College Football TV Schedule

Thursday

Friday

Saturday Early

Saturday Afternoon

Saturday Primetime

Saturday Late Night

So…..what now? (The Pac-12 Predictions)

Alright let’s try the Bossman tradition now – Week 15 College Football TV Schedule

Thursday

Friday

Saturday Early

Saturday Afternoon

Saturday Primetime & Late Night

Wednesday

Friday

Saturday Early

Saturday Afternoon

Saturday Primetime

Saturday Late Night

Thursday

Friday

Saturday Early

Saturday Afternoon

Saturday Primetime​

Saturday Late Night

Wednesday

Thursday​

Friday

Saturday Early

Saturday Afternoon

Saturday Primetime

Saturday Late Night

Sunday

Monday

Thursday​

Friday

Saturday Early

Saturday Afternoon

Saturday Primetime & Late Night​

Saturday Primetime

Thursday

Thursday

Saturday Primetime & Late Night