Oh man, here we go again

Posted on August 1, 2023 by guelphbossman

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Just For You

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

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

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

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

Geogpraphy, Go Eat a Dick

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

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

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

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

Deep Tissue Massage and/or Analysis

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

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

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

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

Belly Expansions

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

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

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

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

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

California Nightmarin’

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

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

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

Posted on July 23, 2023 by guelphbossman

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Marinating in American Sauce

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

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

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

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

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

Juuuuust a tiny bit of Sleep-Deprived Lunacy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Upbeat Comments

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

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

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

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

Points with Pork Chops and Aeeeplesauce

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

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

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

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

Weeknight Non-Sitcom Commentary

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

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

ALL. THE. SCHEDULES!!!!

Posted on July 9, 2023 by guelphbossman

OK not all the schedules but quite a few. I mean there’s some I may not even take a guess at.

Just like last year I am going to put all my schedule predictions in one long-ass post. So wait until you have to take an absolute monster of a shit before taking this one into the bathroom to read. Let’s go!

This is a crazy transition year for CBS. Out with the old (SEC) and in with the new (Big Ten). A few sprinkles (Mountain West) and you have a brand new college football sundae. Sorry fans, Gary Danielson, as far as I can tell, is still around. Worst part is we have heard him be one of the best analysts in the business. More often than not, though, he goes off on some stupid tangent that ends up with him declaring he has a college football boner for Bama.

As is the norm, I will let you know which games are confirmed. The ones that are not…well, some of them will be right because it makes sense and the rest will be not right because one or both of the teams I predicted to play at that time or not nearly as good as I thought they would be and/or I’m an idiot. So let’s start this bizarrely stupid puzzle and follow it with some It Just Means More Sweet Tea Analysis (which may or may not contain grits):

It Just Means More (Games other than the SEC on CBS) Analysis:

I feel like I shouldn’t have to remind you but in all these tables, a game in bold means it has been confirmed. Not bold? Bossman used his dumb brain to try and figure it out.
The appearance list will look a bit different this time as it will have a few conferences involved so let’s start with the SEC appearances:
- 5 times – Alabama, Georgia
- 3 times – Ole Miss, LSU
- 2 times – Kentucky, Arkansas, Auburn, Tennessee
- 1 time – South Carolina, Mississippi State, Florida, Missouri
- No times – Vanderbilt, Texas A&M
Wait, WHAT? No TAMU on CBS? Wow, I honestly didn’t notice until now when I started breaking out the different schedules. Crazy. I guess they will have to prove it this season to maybe get on late in the year.
Now we have the Big Ten appearance list:
- 3 times – Iowa
- 2 times – Ohio State, Rutgers, Penn State, Nebraska
- 1 time – Indiana, Northwestern, Michigan, Purdue, Maryland, Minnesota
- No times – Michigan State, Wisconsin, Illinois
I look at these numbers and can glean….well, nothing from it. Wisconsin is good and appears no times and Rutgers appears twice. However, tOSU also appears twice and Michigan State doesn’t appear at all. Seems all very random. Which could very well be the case at least for this first season.
I’m not going to get into the Mountain West game count since there aren’t enough games to see any trends.
The Army-Navy game heads to New England for the first time ever. Foxborough gets the game this year and I like this idea. Not saying they have to move it around all over the place but every two or three years to take it out of Philly is a smart move.

What is ABC going to do for this one season without the Big Ten and with the SEC showing up in 2024? They will have to lean heavily on the other three Power Five conferences to carry the load, especially when it comes to the primetime schedule. Don’t worry though: there are enough good teams in these conferences to fill most of these spots where it looks like the network won’t have missed a beat. Then next year, might as well pencil (or pen…or Sharpie) the SEC in for the majority of those primetime games.

But hey we haven’t hit 2024 yet. It’s still 2023 so let’s get to the ESPN on ABC regular season college football schedule for the FBS for this season. I will follow it up with some Power(ful) Two Thoughts:

Power(ful) Two Thoughts

Once again, ABC puts on a mega-matchup on the night before Labour Day. LSU-FSU, if it is anything like last year’s game, should be a massive ratings success. Oh and also a game that could shape the entire college football season.
With the Big Ten saying adios to ESPN/ABC, the primetime slots really opened up. I expect the ACC to pick up most of those times the Big Ten has left behind with the Big XII and Pac-12 coming in just behind. Right now I have 6 ACC primetime games, 5 Pac-12, and 4 Big XII. Even if I’m wrong with which games go where I see this being pretty equitable.
I am not doing a TSN schedule because there is no point right now. TSN struggles to get anything that’s not the CFL scheduled out more than a couple of weeks. Right now I have 23 ABC games that would be simulcast on TSN. That seems high but I am going off of last year’s numbers and it was actually very close to that. So we shall see.
I am calling for three games to be on Black Friday on ABC. Miami-BC at Noon and TTU-UT at 7:30 are set. I think they select an American conference game in the middle so that there isn’t a gap in the middle of the day with nothing to show AND to fulfill the American’s contract. Now watch it not happen at all that way.
First few weeks are confirmed but that’s pretty much it. The rest is a bit of a crapshoot. Also, if you couldn’t tell Week 2 was a pretty bad week, look at the ABC schedule. Woof. Wisky-Wazzu as the primetime game? Ouch. It’s been a while since there has been that poor a game for the ABC Saturday Night game.
Finally it’s time for the conference breakdown. Remember I am doing things slightly differently. Every time a team appears, they get counted as an appearance. So Miami-Boston College, for example, counts as two appearances for the ACC. Here we go:
- ACC – 37 (including conference championship)
- Big XII – 29 (including conference championship)
- Pac-12 – 12 (including conference championship)
- AAC – 5 (including conference championship)
- SEC – 5
- Notre Dame – 4
- FCS – 2
- Mountain West – 1
- Big Ten – 1
The ACC is really picking up the slack here. The Big XII is not all that far behind and, ho boy, is the Pac-12 lagging here. Problem is other than their top five teams I don’t feel right putting the rest of the teams in any of the ABC timeslots and that includes Colorado. Also, I have not included bowl tie-ins here because we know that bowls break them all the time.
Speaking of bowl games, ABC has SEVEN this time! That’s great! A step in the right direction. I still think the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl should move back to ABC as well but that’s just my opinion (and the opinion of a lot of other people).

For quite a long time it felt like there was quite a drop-off in play-by-play prowess after GUS JOHNSON. But now with Jason Benetti cemented as the number two man, you know you have two solidly called games every week on FOX. Tim Brando is the #3 guy and is pretty good although I still think it would be great to hear him back in the studio.

OK so the Big Ten is a bit more in with FOX meaning the Big XII and Pac-12 might suffer because of that. Let’s find out! Here’s the predicted 2023 FOX college football broadcast schedule followed by some Johnsonian rhetoric.

SOME JOHNSONIAN RHETORIC…..WOAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

So FOX has abandoned putting a game on Labour Day for putting a game on the Thursday before it. Interesting. Not a bad strategy as they can try and get a jump start on the season. Sure Florida-Utah could get more eyeballs but starting with a Big Ten conference game? That will get their fair share of looks for sure.
With the Big Ten leaving ESPN/ABC, it means most of their big games will land on FOX. That is a huge coup for the network. Couple that with the few huge games out of the Big XII and Pac-12 and you can finally, honestly, put their Big Noon Saturday schedule up against ABC’s Saturday Primetime schedule. Of course that may all change next year when ESPN/ABC gets the SEC. But for one year, let’s savour this.
FOX only going with two Black Friday games again this season and they are both confirmed. And it is two huge games (or could be). TCU-OU could be for a spot in the Big XII Championship. Same with the Civil War game between Oregon State and Oregon. I guess they will be moving WWE Smackdown to FS1 for this night which I’m sure won’t upset wrestling fans in the least.
Conference breakdown time! Remember, a conference game I am counting as two appearances for that conference:
- Big XII – 32
- Big Ten – 30 (including conference championship)
- Pac-12 – 17
Shockingly, the Big XII has moved to the top of the list. Now, this has more to do with the Big Ten moving some games to NBC and CBS than anything but still, it proves that the Big XII carries a bit more weight than the Pac-12 these days.
I have no Mountain West games on the main FOX network. They have quite a few on FOX Sports One, though. I don’t know if FOX’s strategy is to eventually put more than the MWC conference championship on the main network or if they just stay the way they are. I suspect starting next year we will see at least a couple of Mountain West games on the main network, especially when there’s a quadrupleheader.
And speaking of quadrupleheaders, I have a feeling we will see two of them just like last season. One is confirmed for Week 2 and I believe the other will land, just like last year, during Week 11. I love the quadrupleheader idea, especially if you only do it twice since it feels special.
FOX has only one bowl game and it is the only bowl game, at this time, without a confirmed date. The Holiday Bowl, I believe, will end up on December 27th but that is definitely subject to change.
I honestly don’t know what will happen come October with the MLB playoffs. I know during the early rounds, FOX tends not to be used nearly as much as FS1 for their baseball games. Come World Series time though, expect FOX to scale back on college football broadcasting windows.

Alright let’s get to the Notre Dame on NBC sched…WAIT JUST A MINUTE! THAT’S THE BIG TEN’S MUSIC!!!!

For the first time in a loooooooooooong time, Notre Dame will share NBC’s college football coverage with other teams under other contracts. The Big Ten will have games almost every week on the network and usually in primetime going forward. So yeah, this will be the longest NBC schedule I will ever predict unless the network really goes all-in with college football and invites another party (COUGH*Pac-12*COUGH) in to the pool. Let’s get to it!

Touchdown Jesus, Meet Purdue Pete

Look, it’s not like the Irish haven’t seen Big Ten teams before. They play at least one every year and probably will until the Earth explodes. But sharing the entire network with them? I have a feeling this may impact Notre Dame’s next contract talks with NBC which will start soon with the contract ending at the conclusion of the 2025 season.
Only two primetime Notre Dame games this season but they add a game during Week Zero against Navy over in Ireland. I have the Big Ten moving their game to Noon when the Irish are on in primetime.
As for the Big Ten, let’s look at the breakdown:
- 4 times – Penn State, Purdue, Michigan State
- 3 times – Michigan
- 2 times – Maryland, Ohio State
- 1 time – Northwestern, Illinois, Iowa, Rutgers, Indiana, Wisconsin, Northwestern
- No times – Nebraska
I think more so than the CBS breakdown for the Big Ten, the better teams, for the most part, will appear on NBC more often. I believe that will be the case going forward as well.

Let’s be honest here: nothing much will change for this network. It’s not like they will all of a sudden be showing Michigan-Ohio State. Saying that, it’s one of the channels you almost need to complete your college football viewing experience. I don’t want to speak for anyone else but I love watching close finishes, regardless of the game, so if Rutgers and Northwestern are going down to the wire, I want to watch that shit. Alright let’s get to my projected schedule:

September 2nd	Fresno State at Purdue	Noon
September 2nd	Towson at Maryland	3:30 PM
September 2nd	Toledo at Illinois	7:30 PM
September 8th	Indiana State at Indiana	7:00 PM
September 9th	Youngstown State at Ohio State	Noon
September 9th	UTEP at Northwestern	3:30 PM
September 9th	Richmond at Michigan State	3:30 PM
September 9th	Eastern Michigan at Minnesota	7:30 PM
September 9th	Temple at Rutgers	7:30 PM
September 16th	Louisville vs. Indiana (in Indianapolis)	Noon
September 16th	Georgia Southern at Wisconsin	Noon
September 16th	Western Michigan at Iowa	3:30 PM
September 16th	Virginia Tech at Rutgers	3:30 PM
September 16th	Bowling Green at Michigan	7:30 PM
September 21st	Louisiana Tech at Nebraska	7:30 PM
September 23rd	Akron at Indiana	Noon
September 23rd	Maryland at Michigan State	3:30 PM
September 23rd	Florida Atlantic at Illinois	7:30 PM
September 30th	Louisiana at Minnesota	Noon
September 30th	Wagner at Rutgers	3:30 PM
September 30th	Indiana at Maryland	7:30 PM
October 7th	Howard at Northwestern	3:00 PM
October 14th	Iowa at Wisconsin	Noon
October 14th	UMass at Penn State	3:30 PM
October 14th	Indiana at Michigan	7:30 PM
October 21st	Rutgers at Indiana	Noon
October 21st	Wisconsin at Illinois	3:30 PM
October 28th	Maryland at Northwestern	2:30 PM
November 4th	Ohio State at Rutgers	Noon
November 4th	Iowa vs. Northwestern (in Chicago)	3:30 PM
November 4th	Nebraska at Michigan State	7:30 PM
November 11th	Northwestern at Wisconsin	Noon
November 11th	Minnesota at Purdue	3:30 PM
November 18th	Michigan State at Indiana	Noon
November 18th	Purdue at Northwestern	3:30 PM
November 18th	Rutgers at Penn State	7:30 PM
November 24th	Indiana at Purdue	3:00 PM
November 25th	Maryland at Rutgers	Noon
November 25th	Northwestern at Illinois	3:30 PM

B1G Country Notes (no, not Bryant Reeves)

The first three weeks are completely booked. After that…nothing. Well, that’s not entirely true. There are a few homecoming games that are almost guaranteed to hit BTN but I won’t call them confirmed until, well, they are actually confirmed.
Let’s get right to the appearance list (with the conference and non-conference split) and then some explanations on the numbers:
- 8 times – Indiana (3 non-con, 5 conference)
- 7 times – Northwestern (2 NC, 5 C), Rutgers (3 NC, 4 C)
- 5 times – Maryland (1 NC, 4 C)
- 4 times – Purdue (1 NC, 3 C), Illinois (2 NC, 2 C), Michigan State (1 NC, 3 C), Wisconsin (1 NC, 3 C)
- 3 times – Minnesota (2 NC, 1 C), Iowa (1 NC, 2 C), Penn State (1 NC, 2 C)
- 2 times – Ohio State (1 NC, 1 C), Michigan (1 NC, 1 C), Nebraska (1 NC, 1 C)
Every school must make at least 2 BTN appearances. Plus, one of those appearances has to be a conference game. My predictions satisfy that criteria and I think the amount of appearances will be failry close to what actually happens. I was a bit surprised to see what I had done with Nebraska. Maybe I am drinking a tiny bit of Husker Kool-Aid.

Alright now we have what could be the longest schedule of the bunch. Surprisingly though, it has the most confirmed games, easily. I guess when you have a good portion of the Group of Five stationed here, you will have a lot of games. And if you don’t watch college football on CBSSN? Shame on you. There are some great games on there and you get to see teams you wouldn’t normally see. Time for the huge-ass schedule followed by a few G5 musings:

Gee-Five Musings

Really, CBS Sports Network doesn’t have to lock in over 80% of the games. Nice to see that they do though. Honestly, over the past few years, CBSSN has had their fair share of exciting games so waiting to see what ESPN doesn’t take really doesn’t make sense for them. It won’t change the amount of viewers they get (for the most part). Just scoreboard watch like I do.
CBSSN lands a couple of Black Friday games this season, which seems to be the norm now. One is confirmed and the other is a MAC game. Which leads us to…
The non-confirmed games. Most of them are MAC-controlled games. They will be 12-day selections during the season. The others might not end up happening as those timeslots may be used for something else.
Conference breakdown time!
- Mountain West – 49
- Conference USA – 33
- MAC – 21
- Army – 7
- AAC (other than Navy) – 6
- UConn – 5
- FCS – 5
- Navy – 4
- ACC – 3
- Sun Belt – 3
- Pac-12 – 2
- SEC – 1
- Big XII – 1
- UMass – 1
OK so it was more than conferences but it gives you an idea of what is happening this year versus previous years. During October, Conference USA will have all their conference games on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. A crazy idea but hey, that’s how MACtion was born. It also means we will go nearly two months with football almost every day! What’s wrong with that?

We made it! Schedule Journey 2023 is over! Christ, that was long. And no, I will not do a TSN schedule. That would be a complete guess. Up next are the season predictions. Expect that post (which will also be a stupidly long one) some time in late July.

Have a fantastic rest of your Sunday and let’s hope for nice weather this coming week…for people who aren’t stuck working in an office. For those people, I am sure you are fine if it rains all week.

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

Posted on July 2, 2022 by guelphbossman

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

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

What are we looking at now?

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

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

What is coming up for the Big Ten?

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

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

What does this do to the Pac-12?

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

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

What about the rest of the conferences?

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

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

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

What about the Rose Bowl?

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

What happens to the bowl system in general?

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

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

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

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

Most Important Games of the 2022 College Football Season: Prepare for Change

Posted on June 28, 2022 by guelphbossman

Alright let’s be honest here. It has been a slooooooow return for ol’ Bossman. This is partially done on purpose, though, not because I have forgotten about all of you. I am going with the less is more approach…kind of. At least in the off-season. I think an explanation is warranted here. The plan, on my part, is to post less but to put a lot more in each post. Like not going to Wendy’s as often but when you do…it’s Dave’s Triple Cheeseburger time! I think this might just work. Or it won’t. I mean you never know with these things, right? Anyway, where was I?

Ah yes: change. Change is sometimes tough but is also sometimes needed. So as it pertains to the usual four-post Most Important College Games series, it is going to go through an overhaul. This post will be just about the most important games but I won’t be going week-by-week. It will be a relatively well-thought out selection of the best 30 games of this coming year (at least at this very early point). Don’t worry, I will still rate the weeks. Can’t change everything. Then I will post again later on with some other lists of games. You know, the worst Power Five games, best Group of Five games, etc. You ready? I am. Let’s go.

Remember the rules (my rules). Most of the games after Week 3 are not set in terms of time or network. Any game that is confirmed, I will let you know that it is. This time I won’t include Canadian info because, especially with TSN, it’s a complete crapshoot. Just assume that ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ACC Network and SEC Network games will appear on TSN or on the specialty packs.

It’s…time! IT’S….TIME! IT’S……RANKING TIME! (cue Vader theme) Alright the first piece of college football to discuss is the ranking of the weeks. We know how this usually goes and it is almost never a surprise when it comes out that way. So let’s get right to it and then I can tell you how I did this (if you didn’t know before) and all that jazz:

Week 13 (November 26 – American Thanksgiving)
Week 6 (October 8)
Week 10 (November 5)
Week 5 (October 1)
Week 9 (October 29)
Week 12 (November 19)
Week 7 (October 15)
Week 11 (November 12)
Week 4 (September 24)
Week 8 (October 22)
Week 3 (September 17)
Week 1 (September 3)
Week 2 (September 10)

Same as always, there are thirteen weeks of the regular season. Week Zero is starting to get more games as more waivers are being granted but until they have I’d say at least 30 games on the schedule that Saturday then it can’t be counted as its own week. I mean I could but it would be last place every year without a doubt. I’ve said this before but I wish they would always have fourteen weeks in a season. This way, every team gets two bye weeks and it’s perfect for the health and safety of the players (something that is sometimes put on the backburner). I’m sure the NCAA will go along with my idea by the year 2058. As for the rankings this season, not too many surprises. The final week of the regular season is back on its perch as the best weekend of college football this season. Week 1 has dropped off a cliff and doesn’t look that great but the hype around it will be off the charts, I can guarantee you that. October has a massive week as Week 6 truly starts the conference season in a big way (and you’ll see later on why I say that). Just like last year, November is great, even SEC Sleepwalk Saturday which is a middle-of-the-road week rather than the awful week of games it used to be. And of course, September is, well, September in college football. A few really good games surrounded by a lot of meh but you know what will happen. That’s right, ~~Frank Stallone~~ quite a few upsets since that’s how college football works.

Normally this would be the time I start the weekly breakdowns but those are no more (at least for this year). This is a long list but I think it will be a good list. It’s the top 30 most important games of the college football season (until some team like Northwestern comes out of nowhere and is battling for a conference title).

Texas A&M at Alabama (Week 6, 8:00, CBS) – Yes, Bama is again the favourite to win it all this season. But the Aggies might be as ready as they have ever been during the Jimbo Fisher era. Almost a guarantee this will end up as the lone CBS primetime game of the year.
Michigan at Ohio State (Week 13, Noon, FOX, confirmed) – Captain Khaki brings his Wolverines to Columbus to see if he can get his team to relive the magic of last season once again. They haven’t won at the Horseshoe in 22 years. Winner of this one most likely heads to the Big Ten Championship so huge stakes, as it usually is with this rivalry.
Notre Dame at Ohio State (Week 1, 7:30, ABC, confirmed) – As is normally the case, the Irish have a bunch of landmine games this season. No game is a bigger landmine than this one. If Notre Dame can pull this off, then the season is already turned on its head and Marcus Freeman immediately becomes a legend in his second game as head coach.
Clemson at Notre Dame (Week 10, 7:30, NBC, confirmed) – Clemson will be looking for a tiny bit of a rebound this year and retake control of the ACC. Yes, this isn’t an ACC conference game but winning this game would put every other team in the conference on notice. I am wondering, with all this realignment happening, if we may get to the point where the Irish are the only Independent team remaining. This is something I wouldn’t have said even two years ago.
Georgia vs. Oregon (in Atlanta) (Week 1, 3:30, ABC, confirmed) – Is this an early-season College Football Playoff elimination game? Could very well be. Georgia is still loaded for bear again and the Ducks are ready to make that final climb back into the CFP. This game (plus the ND-tOSU game later in the night) are the easy highlights of a relatively bland Week 1 schedule.
Notre Dame at USC (Week 13, 7:30, ABC) – It would be either a) horrible for Notre Dame fans if the Irish came in undefeated and blew a tire here against a probably good USC team or b) great for Notre Dame haters who don’t want them anywhere near the College Football Playoff (or the New Year’s Six for that matter). This could end up being a massively important game in the grand scheme of things.
Utah at Oregon (Week 12, 7:30, ABC) – This might just be a preview of the Pac-12 title game and a statement game for both teams…as long as both teams are ranked at this point. With the Pac-12 finally on the rise again (I think), this could bring in a lot of eyeballs during a week that is usually not the greatest on paper.
NC State at Clemson (Week 5, 3:30, ABC) – This is probably the game for the Atlantic Division title…the final Atlantic Division title if I get my way and divisions are abolished going forward. With all due respect to Wake Forest, unless they pull off at least one upset, they aren’t getting close to these two teams. This being in Death Valley may give the Tigers the slight edge but the Wolfpack have had some seriously huge wins on the road in their past.
USC at Utah (Week 7, 3:30, ESPN) – As I said above, I am only including American broadcast info at this point. That will change when I get to network-specific posts later in the summer. The Utes should worry about this USC team. They are finally poised to get back into Top 10 territory and an upset of Utah isn’t a crazy idea at this point. If Lincoln Riley can get the Trojans to pull this off, it may be off to the races and a return to glory in Los Angeles.
Michigan State at Michigan (Week 9, Noon, FOX) – Big brother and little brother are both good. This always make this rivalry game extra spicy. This game could honestly derail Michigan’s season before they get to the Game. This should end up on FOX which means no THERE’S A TROUBLE WITH THE SNAP! AND THE BALL IS FREE AND IT’S PICKED UP BY MICHIGAN STATE’S JALEN WATTS-JACKSON AND HE SCORES ON THE LAST PLAY OF THE GAME! All in Sean McDonough Cracked-Voice perfection.
Clemson at Wake Forest (Week 4, 3:30, ESPN2) – This might be the first game I get seriously wrong. Saying that, the ACC tends to get neglected in favour of the other Power Five conferences when it comes to game placement…especially when Wake Forest is involved. And some would still consider this a surprising pick in the #11 spot but I stand by it. Remember what I said above about the Deacs? Well this would be their chance, at home, to shock the world and announce their true arrival as contenders for at least the New Year’s Six.
Ohio State at Michigan State (Week 6, 7:30, ABC) – Another THE Ohio State University roadblock game here. Nothing would please Spartans fans (and Wolverine fans) for Sparty to knock off the mighty Buckeyes here.
Baylor at Oklahoma (Week 10, Noon, FOX) – Dave Aranda might be the most popular coach in college football and he wouldn’t give two shits about that nor would his facial expression change. He’s in Waco to coach college football, dammit, and that’s all. I’m sure his family has seen him smile before but those rumours are unconfirmed. Lincoln Riley-less Oklahoma could be an interesting team to watch this year since no one knows how they will fare. As much of a wild card as any team expected to be in the Top 25 to start the season.
Tennessee at Georgia (Week 10, Noon, ESPN) – This could very well be an SEC East title match although you never know what team will kind of come out of nowhere to cause havoc at the top. Kentucky may still be good and the rest of the teams, sans Vanderbilt, could make a run if they get an upset or three. Until further notice, though, the Dawgs are the defending champs so someone has to knock them off their perch. Who better than the Vols? I’m sure there would be many people who could give me quite a few examples.
Miami at Clemson (Week 12, 3:30, ESPN2) – If this was the 80s or early 90s or early 2000s, this wouldn’t be here because Miami would be like a 30-point favourite. I’m sure there’d be a lot more cocaine and steroids involved as well, but I digress. Instead, it’s the Tigers who could be a double-digit favourite coming into this potentially huge conference matchup for both teams.
Alabama at Tennessee (Week 7, 3:30, CBS) – Man, it took long enough to get to our first afternoon CBS game. I guess that’s what happens when Alabama is on the network all the time. So speaking of heavy favourites, the Tide will be those here. The Vols, however, are better than they have been in over a decade and with the game at Neyland, who knows. If this game is close going into the fourth quarter, watch out.
Miami at Texas A&M (Week 3, 9:00, ESPN, confirmed) – Oh god the weird three-hour windows rear their ugly head this week. Game at 6:00 followed by a game at 9:00. Can ESPN just fuck off with this horseshit? What’s the big deal putting this at 9:30? Half an hour won’t make a difference. Anyway, this should be a pretty good game I think but those FUCKING THREE-HOUR WINDOWS…OK I’m gonna stop now.
Wisconsin at Ohio State (Week 4, 7:30, ABC) – If the Big Ten abolished divisions, this would become a much bigger game. I mean it’s still huge but…OK fine I just hate divisions. I’m sure Wisky’s gameplan here is to run the ball 60 times and hope tOSU’s run defense is snoozing for most of the game.
Wake Forest at NC State (Week 10, 7:30, ACC Network) – Look, this might change between now and then but as I’ve said before, this is how little respect the Demon Deacons get. If both teams only have one loss (or less) at this point, then it definitely gets moved to ESPN or ABC. Otherwise, there’s a good chance this is where this game will end up, sadly. The winner here is probably the one and only contender to screw up Clemson’s ACC run this season.
Oklahoma State at Baylor (Week 5, Noon, FOX) – First appearance for the Fighting Mullets from Stillwater on this list. The Pokes are almost always in contention even when it feels like they aren’t. Eleventh-year starter Spencer Sanders hopes to finally find some consistency at quarterback and beat a Baylor team that could be even more special than last year’s squad.
Georgia at Kentucky (Week 12, 3:30, CBS) – Fine, I will put this game here but it’s iffy whether it belongs. It isn’t like the SEC West where even the worst team usually isn’t that bad. Saying that, UK could be good again. It wouldn’t fully shock me. The only thing on their side is this is in Lexington which is underrated for how rowdy the fans can get.
Arkansas vs. Texas A&M (in Arlington) (Week 4, 3:30, CBS) – Considering the SEC slate of games this week, it is almost a guarantee that this game will be on CBS. Last year, the Razorbacks won this game rather easily and a good thing they did since they lost three straight right afterwards. If both teams are as good as they are predicted to be, maybe JerryWorld will be at least three-quarters full this time around. I still don’t get this always being a neutral-site game but whatever.
Ohio State at Penn State (Week 9, 7:30, ABC) – Now we are getting into the games that might not look close on paper but have a history of being inexplicably close. I’ve seen the Nittany Lions make things difficult for tOSU so it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility for them to pull off an upset on a night that will most certainly be a White-Out.
Alabama at Arkansas (Week 5, 3:30, CBS) – See what I mean? Saying that, it’s not like this game will be relegated to the SEC Network as Sam Pittman has the Hogs looking good. Not Bama-good, but definitely a far cry from the Bret Bielema/Chad Morris years.
Oklahoma State at Oklahoma (Week 12, Noon, FOX) – BEDLAM! Normally near the top of these kinds of lists, this could be a sneaky-good game this season for once. The Sooners feel like they are in rebuild mode when they really aren’t and the Pokes always feel like they are a step behind one team every season in the Big XII. By this point, we will know if either of these teams have a hope for the Big XII Championship and a trip to good ol’ JerryWorld or not.
Penn State at Michigan (Week 7, 3:30, ABC) – Not exactly a CFP elimination matchup but it will be very important in terms of the Big Ten East Division race. Look, PSU now has Sean Clifford hopefully back for a full, healthy year. That alone makes the Nittany Lions a bit more dangerous than they were last year. Michigan is loaded for bear so this will not be easy between the two teams with the biggest stadiums in the land.
LSU at Texas A&M (Week 13, Noon, ESPN) – This could end up being a forgotten matchup by this point of the season. LSU is certainly not the Joe Burrow LSU Tigers. And Texas A&M has been hanging on the periphery of greatness for a while now. At some point, you think something has to give. My guess is there is a good possibility a NY6 spot could be on the line here.
Wisconsin at Michigan State (Week 7, 7:30, ESPN2) – At this point I would call this an underrated game as many would probably put it in the same spot I’m putting it now. The Badgers are probably the odds-on favourite to win the Big Ten West which is never on par with winning the much more difficult Big Ten East. The Spartans need to win games like this to have any chance of doing what they did last year (or even more).
BYU vs. Notre Dame (in Las Vegas) (Week 6, 7:30, NBC, confirmed) – BYU’s final year as an Independent and as usual they have loaded up. Call it a Western version of the typical Notre Dame schedule. These teams don’t play nearly enough against each other if you ask me so it’s fun when they do. And boy, will they have a TV audience, there is no denying that. The Irish love these games because it’s a recruiting bonanza. I guess the same for the Cougs. Independent supremacy is on the line in this one.
Florida vs. Georgia (in Jacksonville) (Week 9, 3:30, CBS, confirmed) – The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. How can this not be on this list of games? I guess if both teams were bad which hasn’t happened in….well, it’s been a while. This is my seventh straight year, I believe, imploring CBS to give the broadcast crew an open bar for this one. Hey, either Gary Danielson becomes seriously fun to listen to or…he’s still Gary Danielson.

There you go. Top 30 games of the season. That wasn’t so bad, eh? There is only 60 days left until the season begins. That is much closer than I am used to when doing this post. I may have to up my game over the next two months.

I’m not going to lie, this felt like a lot of work but it also felt good to do. The craziness hasn’t stopped in my life and so this is my chance to start getting a break from “reality” by doing this blog again. I think I’ve needed it (although I had to be sure I was ready to go again). Have a great week everyone!

Oh, it’s that time…CRAZY BOWL PROJECTIONS!!!

Posted on November 15, 2021 by guelphbossman

This is the fourth edition of this ridiculous post. And this could be the year where these might happen because the 2021 college football season has been a shitshow. So you never know…these somewhat illogical choices that I will show you might become somewhat logical after the next week’s games are done. And if all these came to fruition I would take the first flight to Vegas.

As per usual, I will not do all the bowl games. Past the New Year’s Six, it becomes a lot less crazy to be honest. But these predictions (and I use that term very loosely) are insane. So maybe crazy isn’t quite the word for it. Look, let’s just get right down to it so you can determine how drunk I was when figuring this all out.

Orange Bowl	CFP Poll #1 vs. CFP Poll #4	Cincinnati vs. Ole Miss
Cotton Bowl	CFP Poll #2 vs. CFP Poll #3	Wake Forest vs. Baylor

What in the blue fucking hell is going on here? Alright, let’s get to the, ahem, logic of all this ridiculousness:

Alabama loses to both Arkansas and Auburn. I don’t know, maybe they have like 10 injuries in the first quarter of the game against the Hogs. Ole Miss wins out and actually passes Bama to shockingly win the SEC West. So what happens to the SEC East champs? Georgia stumbles against Georgia Tech which drops them out of the #1 spot in the CFP rankings. The Rebels shock the college football world again and beat the Dawgs and get in as the #4 seed with their SEC title win.
Wake wins their final two games and wins the ACC Atlantic rather easily. In the Coastal, chaos reigns, as per usual. Pitt loses to the Virginia, allowing the Hoos to win the ACC Coastal division. In the ACC title game, the Deacs mop the floor with UVA, moving them into the #2 spot in the rankings as the only 1-loss team in the Power Five conferences. OK this might not be so crazy.
Ohio State loses to both the Michigans. But Michigan also loses to Maryland so that leaves Sparty as the one team left standing (somehow). Wisconsin gets stunned by Minnesota which allows Iowa, who wins their final two, to win the Big Ten West and go to Indianapolis, where they best the Spartans in a close one. This knocks Michigan State out of the Top 4.
Could the Pac-12 become more of a mess than it is now? Absolutely! Oregon State (yes, OREGON STATE!) will win their final two which will include a Civil War victory over their rivals, Oregon, which gives the Beavers the Pac-12 North title and a trip to somewhere near San Francisco. They get Utah who, despite a close loss to Colorado, win the South Division. Oregon State beats Utah in a tight Pac-12 Championship but really does not have the resume to be in the semi-finals.
Oklahoma continues their run of suck by losing their next two games against Iowa State and Oklahoma State. This puts the Cowboys in the Big XII Championship against…Baylor who wins their final two and sneaks in the back door. The Bears then promptly upset the Pokes to replace them in the Top 4.
Cincinnati runs the table and is one of two undefeated teams left. They destroy the rest of their opponents and have to be the only choice for #1. The Committee, after choosing the Bearcats at #1, get blind drunk trying to forget what they went through this season.

The Top 4, in this case, would be pretty set with fairly little argument. Iowa and Oregon State wouldn’t be nearly good enough to get into the Top 4 and the rest are conference champions. Cincinnati being #1 would make a few in college football media upset so I could see them dropping to #2 and Wake Forest or Baylor replacing them at #1 but I’m sticking with what I have because it’s CRAZY bowl projections, not SOMEWHAT CRAZY BUT STEEPED IN REALITY bowl projections. This would definitely push the conferences to move quickly on expanding the playoff because this would be exactly what the P5 conferences do not want. Whether they do go to twelve teams, which seems to be getting the most steam, is unknown. Alright, let’s see how stupid the New Year’s Six is in this scenario.

Sugar Bowl	SEC Champ vs. Big XII Champ	Georgia vs. Oklahoma State
Rose Bowl	Big Ten Champ vs. Pac-12 Champ	Iowa vs. Oregon State
Fiesta Bowl	CFP At-large vs. CFP At-large/G5 #1	Michigan vs. Notre Dame
Peach Bowl	CFP At-large vs. CFP At-large/G5 #1	Texas A&M vs. Michigan State

Ooooooook then. Some of this was explained above, some of it needs a longer explanation. Here goes nothing:

Michigan, by beating Ohio State AND being out of the conference championship, stays near the Top 4 with no way of getting in. It’s an easy choice for The Committee to put them in the Fiesta Bowl.
Georgia’s fall from #1 is quick after losing to Georgia Tech and then Ole Miss in the SEC Championship. They slot in to the SEC spot at the Sugar Bowl.
Texas A&M is the beneficiary of the Tide’s collapse. They win their final two games and watch chaos happen around them and get in rather easily to take the an at-large spot in the Peach Bowl.
Oklahoma State’s loss to Baylor knocks them out of the Top 4 and they are relegated to the Sugar Bowl.
I have Michigan State falling fairly far after their loss to Iowa; enough to easily fall out of the Top 4. The loss is their second of the season and because they aren’t the Big Ten champion they cannot go to the Rose Bowl. With Michigan already going to the Fiesta Bowl, it leaves the Peach Bowl as the only option for the Spartans.
As I mentioned above, Michigan State’s fall is completed by Iowa, who ends up as Big Ten champions. With how far down they were in the rankings going into the final two weeks there is no way they get to the Top 4 so they end up in the Rose Bowl.
Oregon State shocks a lot of people by winning the Pac-12 title over Utah to gain the conference’s Rose Bowl spot. Honestly, I don’t think Utah winning would do any different.
Now to the final spot in the NY6. This might end up being a bit controversial considering their loss to Georgia Tech but I have Notre Dame getting the final spot. Their other loss being to Cincinnati definitely helps here. My assumption is that The Committee would pick the Irish over Oregon and Alabama because of those two teams ending the season on two-game losing streaks. I also can’t see a three-loss team getting into the New Year’s Six unless they are a conference champion. I don’t think it’s happened before and I can’t see it happening under the current format.

Alright I have completed that exercise. That was tougher than I thought it would be. Now, will all these thing happen? No, not even half. But some of them occurring? Considering the season we’ve seen so far, I can almost guarantee it.

Alright, we are down to three undefeated teams with two weeks still to go. Amazing. Here’s my latest Top 25.

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

Not a whole lot happening near the top other than Baylor’s win over Oklahoma. It’s still probably set up for Georgia and Bama to get their shot to both get into the CFP which I am not a fan of. As long as the Dawgs win their final two regular season games, they are pretty much a shoo-in for the Top 4, regardless of the outcome of the SEC Championship. Oregon wins out and they are pretty much in as well. Ohio State has a rough road ahead of them and if they can get out unscathed, they deserve to be in the CFP. Cincinnati will make things tough if they can win the rest of their games handily. None of this winning by like 14 points over a team that’s at the bottom half of the American Conference. Continue to do stuff like that and it will be easy for The Committee to rank them #5 and be done with it. The wild card in all of this may end up being Oklahoma State. They face Texas Tech, then Oklahoma and then possibly Oklahoma again for the Big XII Championship. Win all three and that becomes a conundrum. Two huge victories and another quality win to finish off the season at 12-1. How do you keep a team like that out of the conversation? They are the kind of team that many would want to see in but college football, being as it is, might look at the Pokes as a non-traditional power and that’s always a bad thing to be labelled when it comes to playoff conversations.

Hey there’s MACtion tomorrow night! Western Michigan will spar with Eastern Michigan in a Battle for Directional Michigan starting at 7:30 and then Bowling Green heads to Oxford to face Miami-OH at 8. Both games are on the specialty pack. Enjoy the rest of your week everyone!

So now we have the Dirty Dozen

Posted on June 14, 2021 by guelphbossman

No the movie the Dirty Dozen has nothing to do with the news that the College Football Playoff will be expanding to 12 teams, probably to start for the 2023 season. But what else was I supposed to put: a carton of eggs?

So if you have been living under a rock that may or may not give you all the news you want but mutes everything college football-related, the College Football Playoff will be expanded to 12 teams. This announcement was made late this past week and was met with, well, mixed remarks. Some loved it, some loathed it, some were indifferent, some were harping on other issues in the game. We all know what they are trying to do. Capture the magic of March Madness or perhaps the NCAA baseball postseason or even the FCS playoffs. The problem is that parity really does not exist in college sports. At all. And never has. Yes teams rise and teams fall but parity is not a thing that has existed. Let’s take those FCS playoffs. North Dakota State has dominated like no team ever before by winning eight of the last ten championships. That’s not parity. Before that, Appalachian State went back-to-back-to-back in the mid 2000s, and back in the 90s, Georgia Southern, Youngstown State and Marshall reigned supreme almost every year. People want to compare opening up the possibilities to that when the possibilities weren’t there? Sure, ok. I get it. Other teams technically get their shot. They’re in the dance, so to speak. I can appreciate that. But to say that this will create parity in FBS football is laughable. It might give us an upset or two but that’s about it. That’s the reality.

So why was this really done? Come on, do I have to spell it out for you? C-A-S-H. Money. Scratch. Other terms for legal tender. That’s all it is. More money. The New Year’s Six will essentially become the playoffs. Here is how it looks like it will shape up (since I am sure more details will be forthcoming in the months ahead):

12 teams qualify for the playoffs.
The top 6 ranked conference champions, regardless of if they are Power Five or Group of Five conferences, qualify automatically.
6 at-large teams are selected from the rest. They might have won their conference championship and not have been in the top 6 conference champions.
The top 4 ranked conference champions will receive first round byes.
Notre Dame and BYU cannot be in the top 4 teams because they are not in a conference. The best they can do is be #5.
The other eight will play in first round games at on-campus sites.

That was really the only info given. So a lot is left to be stated. My guess is this is how the rest of it will look:

The first round will be #5 vs. #12, #6 vs. #11, #7 vs. #10, and #8 vs. #9. This has been implied but not actually stated.
The winner of the #5/#12 matchup would face the #4 team. #6/#11 winner would get the #3 team, #7/#10 winner would get the #2 team and the #8/#9 winner would go to meet the #1 team. This is done so people can kind of get travel plans set up and not have to wait for reseeding after the first round.
The quarter-finals would all be current New Year’s Six bowl games. Same with the semi-finals. I want to say that the Rose and Sugar would be the semi-finals but that is not a guarantee at this point.
The championship would still be at another neutral site.

Pluses

For those who really hate almost any kind of playoff and yearn for the “good old days” of college football, there are no pluses. For those who eventually want a 64-team playoff say it’s all pluses. Let me be somewhat realistic about the pluses to this:

The Group of Five is guaranteed a spot. With six conference champions guaranteed in, at least one G-5 team will get in, perhaps two. That is the biggest issue that has bothered the pro-playoff people, the lack of Group of Five teams. That worry is gone.
The New Year’s Six bowls that aren’t the semi-finals will now be very relevant. The NY6 bowls that weren’t the semi-final games in any given year meant as much as the other bowl games: not a whole lot. Fun for the players, great for the coaches, and relatively profitable to the communities and charities but other than a banner, a win there itself meant nothing. Now they will mean something because they will be quarter-final games.
Schools get another home game to make a ton of money. The 5 through 8 teams may make out the best here. They get another home game which should rack up a lot of dough for the program.
Upsets. Let’s be honest: one of the biggest reasons, other than gambling, why March Madness is so amazing is upsets. Well, now you might have relatively monumental upsets (i.e. a G-5 team beating a P-5 team). And that’s what The Committee wants.

Minuses

Now for the minuses. And there are some for sure.

The bigger regular season games aren’t as big anymore. This is undoubtedly true. The biggest games of the regular season won’t be nearly as important anymore. They can’t be. When 12 teams qualify, a game between the #1 and #5 team in the land is just for seeding purposes and byes. Not to miss the playoffs altogether.
A better chance for a bad conference champion to make the playoff. I will get to more of this later but the chances of a 7-5 team winning their conference championship and getting to the CFP is on the table. And sorry, as much as teams should have a chance to play their way in, a team with 4 or 5 losses shouldn’t be in. Period.
The other bowls mean even less. They were almost irrelevant as it is except for the communities and the charity work done there. Now these bowls will mean even less. And guaranteed at least a few of them will be eliminated (which will make the Too Many Bowls crowd happy at least).

A lot to digest for sure. I still have problems with moving to a 12-team playoff when there are other issues that have to be dealt with to set college football up to have a “proper playoff” so to speak. Eliminating divisions, having all conferences play the same amount of conference games, and eliminating preseason polls altogether are three issues that must be looked at or otherwise we could have a ton of problems with this new format. I mean some love it but they may not when there’s four SEC teams in the semi-finals and they made it there because the format allowed it, not because they “earned” it.

Alright let’s shift gears here. Many pundits are “re-doing” previous years with the new 12-team CFP structure. So I will select a few random years to see how it would set up and what we might see. Now remember, the rankings that year might not have been the rankings under this system because you have to be sure that The Committee might not see it the same way as it was back then. Also, I am going to assume the Rose and Sugar Bowls ARE the semi-finals in these exercises. Let’s begin!

1993

Let’s start with 1993. The year of the newest Game of the Century between Notre Dame and Florida State (and holy shit was it ever a great game). Florida State was able to recover from that loss to win the national championship. The Irish inexplicably fell to Boston College the following week to end their title hopes. Hell, the second spot in the championship probably should have gone to West Virginia instead of Florida State. So how would a 12-team playoff look during this season:

Byes: #1 Florida State (ACC champ), #2 Nebraska (Big 8 champ), #3 West Virginia (Big East champ), #7 Texas A&M (SWC champ)

#9 Wisconsin (Big 10 champ) at #8 Florida (SEC champ) (winner plays FSU in Orange Bowl)

#10 Miami at #6 Tennessee (SWC champ) (winner plays Nebraska in Cotton Bowl)

#11 Ohio State at #5 Auburn (winner plays West Virginia in Fiesta Bowl)

#12 North Carolina at #4 Notre Dame (winner plays Auburn in Citrus Bowl)

Interesting since Florida State being #1 means they could face Florida in the quarters at the Orange Bowl which would be a massive ratings success and could be a very tough game for the Noles. Other than if UNC beat the Irish, no other result would feel like an upset. I guess Nebraska and West Virginia (and maybe the Noles) not getting to the semis would kind of be considered an upset but really not. My guess is we would see two of the three I just mentioned in the championship game so not much would change.

2011

We leap to 2011. The year two SEC teams met in the national championship which basically was the final nail in the coffin for the BCS so we could say hello to the College Football Playoff. Also, if it hadn’t been for Iowa State upsetting Oklahoma State, the Cowboys of all teams would have found themselves facing the Tigers for the title. If the new setup was in place, that game really means nothing other than it was a cool upset to watch. Who knows if the BCS keeps going if that happens. Anyway, here we go:

Byes: #1 LSU (SEC champ), #3 Oklahoma State (Big XII champ), #5 Oregon (Pac-12 champ), #10 Wisconsin (Big Ten champ)

#8 Kansas State at #7 Boise State (winner plays LSU in Cotton Bowl)

#9 South Carolina at #6 Arkansas (winner plays Alabama in Orange Bowl)

#15 Clemson (ACC champ) at #4 Stanford (winner plays Oklahoma State in Capital One Bowl)

#18 TCU (MWC champ) at #2 Alabama (winner plays Oregon in Fiesta Bowl)

Here’s where things kind of go off the rails at the bottom of the bracket. Normally you would have had two of Virginia Tech, Michigan, or Oklahoma here. Bluebloods. Not so with the criteria. With only four conference champions in the top ten teams, Clemson and TCU get in as the next highest ranked conference champions. Houston would have been a shoo-in to go but their loss in the Conference USA championship leaves them on the outside looking in. Also, would they allow the Gamecocks to face Arkansas when they are in the same conference? I could see South Carolina ending up going to Boise (talk about your horrible weather game) and Arkansas getting Kansas State. Again, I can’t see any team outside the top three getting through this but you never know. Really, the biggest thing here would be if Boise handles Kansas State, can they somehow shock the world and beat LSU?

1987

This season ended up with Miami facing Oklahoma in a 1 vs. 2 matchup in the Orange Bowl for the national championship. Somewhat rare to have a bowl game get the top two teams back then. Syracuse was also a serious contender but ended up #4. Oh and SMU started the first year of their death penalty, something the NCAA will never give out again (and probably can’t at least in football).

Byes: #1 Oklahoma (Big 8 champ), #6 Auburn (SEC champ), #8 Michigan State (Big Ten champ), #10 UCLA (Pac-10 co-champ)

#7 LSU at #5 Nebraska (winner plays Oklahoma in Cotton Bowl)

#9 South Carolina at #4 Syracuse (winner plays Auburn in Orange Bowl)

#13 Texas A&M (SWC champ) at #3 Florida State (winner plays Michigan State in Citrus Bowl)

#14 Clemson (ACC champ) at #2 Miami (winner plays UCLA in Fiesta Bowl)

OK this DEFINITELY wouldn’t have worked back in ’87. Clemson again sneaks in because they need more conference champs. Same with Texas A&M this time around. Oklahoma State and Notre Dame miss out. Luckily back then there weren’t as many talking heads who would, you know, talk about it. But the conference champ in the top four thing can’t work back then with the amount of independents there were. This was before the Big East and before the ACC decided they needed Florida State. This means the Canes, Noles AND Orange would have to play in the first round. Brutal. This also means three of the four teams with first round byes would definitely be underdogs in the quarter-finals unless they were upsets. Crazy. Honestly, this could have been an interesting once since any one of the top 6 teams could have ended up in the final two considering this setup.

2007

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! The Committee would have been full-fledged alcoholics after this season. Things changed so often from week-to-week that they would have struggled to wrap their heads around the whole thing. Even Ohio State, easily the #1 team, looked horrible in a loss to Illinois (ILLINOIS!) during the season. And remember, the #2 team lost seven times in the final nine weeks, an unprecedented amount that will probably never be matched. Let’s see what this shitshow would have churned out:

Byes: #1 Ohio State (Big 10 champ), #2 LSU (SEC champ), #3 Oklahoma (Big XII champ), #5 Virginia Tech (ACC champ)

#9 Florida at #8 Kansas (winner plays Ohio State in Cotton Bowl)

#10 Hawaii (WAC champ) at #7 Missouri (winner plays LSU in Outback Bowl)

#11 West Virginia (Big East champ) at #6 USC (Pac-10 champ) (winner plays Oklahoma in Fiesta Bowl)

#12 Arizona State at #4 Georgia (winner plays Virginia Tech in Orange Bowl)

And after I saw it will be a shitshow, it ends up being clean. Absolutely clean. I mean the road to get here would have been filled with potholes but the end result was, while not perfect, quite nice. A few nicks, no outright cuts. And some of the quarter-final matchups…wow! Could Kansas somehow beat tOSU? Could Mizzou keep the magical season going against who ended up being the national champ, LSU? And either West Virginia or USC playing Oklahoma? Yes, please. If this happened we wouldn’t think that 2007 was as wacky as it actually was.

So there you go. Four random seasons with varying degrees of success, so to speak. In the end, though, the cream will rise to the top. With four rounds to the playoffs, it will be rare if a team can run the table from the first round. I would expect one of the teams with a bye will end up winning the national championship. It will be interesting to see if college football continues to thrive or if they may have gone a bit too far this time. In terms of money and viewers, the sport keeps growing. Even with attendance going down slightly every season, those are the metrics they need to see grow. The next set of TV contracts will be the barometer of if this has already started to work or not.

Have a great rest of the weekend!

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!

If I Could Fix The Postseason Version 1

Posted on December 29, 2020 by guelphbossman

Normally this would be my post where I run the bowl games in my vision. I did it five times. Don’t believe me? Here they are: here, here, here, here, and finally, here. But with what happened in the past couple weeks, I figured re-doing the bowl games means less than it ever has. So I decided I should fix the entire postseason instead! Spoiler alert: this is going to be a long post.

Scenario #1

Where to start. Let’s start with expanding the playoff. It’s going to happen, we all know it. But not until the 2026 season. There is almost no way they would change it before the contract ends. Then again, who knows after the year we all went through.

First, the format. I have heard a ton of people saying different ideas of how many teams should be in. Most people say 8, but I have heard 6, 12, 16, and even 24. 24? Get the fuck outta here. Anyway, I have decided on 10. I think having a Top 10 has a certain ring to it and really, at the #9 and #10 spots, you are stretching for a deserving contender. So for this crazy season the rankings would look like this:

Alabama
Clemson
Ohio State
Notre Dame
Texas A&M
Oklahoma
Florida
Cincinnati
Georgia
Iowa State

Sorry Indiana. And sorry Coastal Carolina. I love both of those teams this year but you have to cut it off somewhere. Besides, this was a weird year. So this would lead to the following schedule (during a normal season, not this fucked up one):

First round games – December 12th (one before and one after the Army-Navy game). The games would be Florida vs. Iowa State and Cincinnati vs. Georgia.
Quarter-Finals – December 19th (if things work out you get four games in all on the same day…if not, one moves to Friday night…which is what would have happened this year). Ohio State vs. Oklahoma and Notre Dame vs. Texas A&M are set here. Alabama would get the lowest-ranked winner, whereas Clemson would get the other winner from the first round.
Semi-Finals – New Year’s Day @ the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl (at 4:00 PM and 8:00 PM, respectively)
National Championship – January 11th

I would use the other four New Year’s Six bowls for the quarter-finals. For the first round matchups, you can either have them on campus (preferred) or, if they absolutely want them in bowl games, I would nominate the Sun Bowl and Citrus Bowl. One in the east and one in the west and two of the longest-lasting bowl games.

As for the rest of the bowl games and their tie-ins, here is what I would propose:

January 2, 2020	10:30 PM	Holiday Bowl	Pac-12	MWC Champ
January 2, 2020	7:00 PM	Independence Bowl	C-USA Champ	SEC
January 2, 2020	3:30 PM	Liberty Bowl	AAC	ACC
January 2, 2020	Noon	Outback Bowl	SEC	Big Ten
January 1, 2020	Noon	Gator Bowl	AAC Champ	ACC
December 31, 2019	10:30 PM	Las Vegas Bowl	Pac-12	Big XII
December 31, 2019	7:00 PM	Little Caesar’s Bowl	MAC Champ	Big Ten
December 31, 2019	3:30 PM	Guaranteed Rate Bowl	Pac-12	at-large
December 31, 2019	Noon	Cheez-It Bowl	ACC	at-large
December 30, 2019	7:30 PM	Alamo Bowl	Big XII	Sun Belt Champ
December 30, 2019	4:00 PM	Idaho Potato Bowl	at-large	Big Ten
December 30, 2019	12:30 PM	Duke’s Mayo Bowl	ACC	Big Ten
December 29, 2019	8:30 PM	LendingTree Bowl	SEC	at-large
December 29, 2019	5:00 PM	Music City Bowl	SEC	C-USA
December 29, 2019	1:30 PM	New Orleans Bowl	at-large	at-large
December 26, 2019	8:00 PM	Redbox Bowl	at-large	at-large
December 26, 2019	4:30 PM	Armed Forces Bowl	Big XII	at-large
December 26, 2019	1:00 PM	Texas Bowl	Big XII	Sun Belt
December 24, 2019	8:00 PM	Hawaii Bowl	MWC	at-large
December 23, 2019	8:30 PM	Birmingham Bowl	AAC	MAC
December 22, 2019	9:00 PM	New Mexico Bowl	MWC	Pac-12

Now with more at-large teams, bowl game committees can have a better chance of creating better matchups. The Power Five conferences get more tie-ins than the Group of Five conferences. And the main thing? Just like when I ran the bowl games, the Group of Five conference champs get their shot at a Power Five team in a bowl game. If a G-5 conference champion is in the Top 10, they get replaced with the second-best team. All this is a lot like my earlier posts. Now let’s get to the next way of fixing the postseason.

Scenario #2

If you are old enough, you remember what things were like three-plus decades ago. There were less bowl games but most of them weren’t on ESPN. Crazy, right? Hell, there were always at least 15 Independent teams at the top level, which was called Division 1-A back then. So let’s go back to that. It’s Poll n’ Bowl time!

How are we going to do this? Easy. Every bowl game is just that: a bowl game. But after the bowl games are done, they do what should have been done and had been talked about for years: The Plus-One. So after the bowls are done, the next day, the #1 and #2 teams would be announced and they would face off for the national championship. It could have solved a few odd seasons, most notably, 1984 and 1990. Let’s look at how all the bowls would look with this kind of setup:

January 2, 2020	8:00 PM	Cotton Bowl	1 of top 4 at-large teams	1 of top 4 at-large teams
January 2, 2020	4:00 PM	Fiesta Bowl	1 of top 4 at-large teams	1 of top 4 at-large teams
January 1, 2020	8:00 PM	Sugar Bowl	SEC Champ	Big XII Champ
January 1, 2020	4:00 PM	Rose Bowl	Big Ten Champ	Pac-12 Champ
January 1, 2020	Noon	Orange Bowl	ACC Champ	SEC
December 31, 2019	7:00 PM	Liberty Bowl	Sun Belt Champ	SEC
December 31, 2019	3:30 PM	Sun Bowl	Big XII	Pac-12
December 31, 2019	Noon	Citrus Bowl	SEC	Big Ten
December 30, 2019	10:30 PM	Holiday Bowl	MWC Champ	Pac-12
December 30, 2019	7:00 PM	Peach Bowl	SEC	ACC
December 30, 2019	3:30 PM	Independence Bowl	ACC	AAC
December 30, 2019	Noon	Outback Bowl	Big Ten	at-large
December 29, 2019	10:30 PM	Las Vegas Bowl	Pac-12	at-large
December 29, 2019	7:00 PM	Little Caesar’s Bowl	MAC Champ	Big Ten
December 29, 2019	3:30 PM	Guaranteed Rate Bowl	at-large	at-large
December 29, 2019	Noon	Gator Bowl	AAC Champ	ACC
December 26, 2019	10:30 PM	Redbox Bowl	Big Ten	Pac-12
December 26, 2019	7:00 PM	Alamo Bowl	C-USA Champ	Big XII
December 26, 2019	3:30 PM	Idaho Potato Bowl	MWC	at-large
December 26, 2019	Noon	Cheez-It Bowl	AAC	at-large
December 24, 2019	8:00 PM	Hawaii Bowl	MWC	at-large
December 23, 2019	7:30 PM	Music City Bowl	at-large	at-large
December 22, 2019	8:00 PM	LendingTree Bowl	C-USA	at-large
December 19, 2019	10:30 PM	New Mexico Bowl	at-large	at-large
December 19, 2019	7:00 PM	Texas Bowl	Big XII	at-large
December 19, 2019	3:30 PM	New Orleans Bowl	Sun Belt	at-large
December 19, 2019	Noon	Duke’s Mayo Bowl	ACC	at-large
December 18, 2019	8:30 PM	Armed Forces Bowl	at-large	at-large
December 17, 2019	8:00 PM	Birmingham Bowl	MAC	at-large

Let me summarize:

The 5 Power Five champs get into the Rose, Sugar and Orange Bowls, due to their tie-ins.
The 5 Group of Five champs get a game against a Power Five opponent.
The top 4 at-large teams would play in the Cotton and Fiesta Bowls. If a Group of Five champ is one of these top four teams, they would play in one of those two bowls and would be replaced as conference champ by the second best team in their conference.
ALL games get national viewings. No shared timeslots. These are supposed to be showcase games. Make them that way.
Bringing back more at-large bids allows bowl game committees to get better games. This isn’t rocket appliances.

So on January 3rd, the “Rankings Show” would happen. I would time it to go at Noon so that it doesn’t interfere with the final week of the NFL. This is where the final rankings are given, and the announcement of the national championship game between the top two teams. Not exactly the BCS, but allows teams to play for the title on the field (more so at least).

For this season, the top bowl games would look like this:

January 2, 2020	8:00 PM	Cotton Bowl	Florida	Cincinnati
January 2, 2020	4:00 PM	Fiesta Bowl	Notre Dame	Georgia
January 1, 2020	8:00 PM	Sugar Bowl	Alabama	Oklahoma
January 1, 2020	4:00 PM	Rose Bowl	Ohio State	Oregon
January 1, 2020	Noon	Orange Bowl	Clemson	Texas A&M

Then, after Bama blows the doors off the Sooners and Clemson wins a relatively close one over TAMU, the Tide and Tigers would get picked for the championship so nothing would change but it would still give a bit of a blast from the past (and some tradition) while keeping the idea that the top two teams should meet on the field for the title game.

Scenario #3

Now the final possibility. Let’s be honest here: the Group of Five is probably never getting a shot to be in the College Football Playoff unless they have a historically amazing season, along with at least two wins over Power Five teams in convincing fashion. Last time a team would have been seriously considered is a decade ago. The 2010 TCU Horned Frogs were an unbelievable team who mopped the floor with every team they faced except one and was selected for the Rose Bowl as the #3 team in the nation.

For this reason, it’s time the Group of Five have their own playoffs. Yes, I know the arguments against this. People say the ratings will be down. People say the teams won’t care. People say the fans won’t care. I think these arguments are overblown to be honest. If this was all the case, no one would watch the FCS Playoffs. Yet they do. So these games would get TV viewers and fans, as long as they aren’t treated like shit by the broadcasters.

How many teams would qualify? To begin, I think you start relatively low. Otherwise you diminish not just the reason for this to exist but the games being shown. I am putting the amount of teams at eight. This is not a case where all conference champions are included. This would go based on AP Poll rankings. Also, I am including all the Independent teams, except Notre Dame. So this is what we would have:

Quarter-final #1: Army at Cincinnati
Quarter-final #2: Liberty at Coastal Carolina
Quarter-final #3: Tulsa at BYU
Quarter-final #4: San Jose State at Louisiana

Sorry to the MAC and Conference USA but no teams would have qualified here. I think with the proper networks and timeslots, this would work. The rest of the Group of Five teams can participate in bowl games if they are invited.

So there you go. Are any of these better than the current system? Yes. It’s not even a debate anymore. And people can say all they want about teams deserving or not deserving certain things. But it’s not 1990 anymore. People can create change if enough of them want it. And if college football continues on this route, the next big TV contract won’t be as large as many believe it will be. By that time, it might be too late to fix things and an overhaul will need to take place. This isn’t really an overhaul, it’s just a postseason adjustment. Tweaks. The powers that be can do this. They just choose not to for monetary purposes.

The Coaching Hot Seat Report, My Heisman Ballot and whatever the Big Ten is doing all in one post!

Posted on September 16, 2020 by guelphbossman

That’s what this is: a god damned dumpster fire.

Alright I am going to leave the Big Ten stuff to the end as I don’t want this to go off the rails so early. First up will be the HOT SEAT REPORT! My most accurate predictions of all. This year, though I have no clue. Let’s get right to it and as it is every year, this is ordered from most likely to be fired to least likely (NOW with Big Ten coaches!). Let us begin:

Almost Guaranteed Shitcanning

Dana Dimel (UTEP) – Things are looking terrible for UTEP football right now. All the rest of the teams seem to be leaving the Miners in their dust except for Old Dominion but that’s because they aren’t playing this Fall. And with most teams having smaller non-conference schedules, this doesn’t look like UTEP’s time to improve. Needed to keep his job – UTEP to be competitive in most of their conference games. Prediction – Will be gone before the end of the season as UTEP will struggle to get more than two wins.
Derek Mason (Vanderbilt) – Vanderbilt has been an SEC also-ran for most of their time in the conference other than the James Franklin years. Unfortunately, Mason hasn’t improved things in Nashville in his stint here. It is tough because he’s a great coach and a great interview but you have to wonder if he is just better as a defensive coordinator somewhere, especially at the Power Five level. Needed to keep his job – Bowl eligibility at the very least. Prediction – He will be gone with either one or two games to go and will become a defensive coordinator somewhere at a lower level in the next year or two.
Will Muschamp (South Carolina) – At the time, the hiring of Muschamp looked like a good one even though he had been fairly mediocre at Florida. But he hasn’t been able to make a dent in the SEC and is 2-13 against ranked teams, something that will keep him near the bottom of the division. Needed to keep his job – Play meaningful football in late November and beat a ranked team or two. Prediction – He will probably be fired with one or two games left but be the lame duck coach and finish out the string.

Probable Shitcanning

Philip Montgomery (Tulsa) – Tulsa has struggled for most of Montgomery’s reign here except for one great season. He was a can’t miss coaching prospect who so far has missed badly. I think the Golden Hurricane is going to be worse this season so it may signal the end for him in Oklahoma (the state, not the school). Needed to keep his job – Battling for .500 late in the season. Prediction – One win and a coaching search to start shortly after the season ends.
Lovie Smith (Illinois) – Being successful this past season may have actually been the worst thing for Lovie’s coaching future in Champaign. Now the expectations will be higher and with Northwestern improving, I can’t see the Illini going bowling once they get back to playing in October. Needed to keep his job – To be in contention for bowl-eligibility late into the season. Prediction – I think they end up winning three or four games but won’t be enough to go bowling and will probably cost him his job but who knows with Illinois.

Possible Shitcanning

Manny Diaz (Miami) – Let’s just say the Manny Diaz era did not get off to a great start after he left Temple (after a few weeks) for his dream job. But things are looking up with transfer quarterback D’Eriq King under centre (well, in the shotgun because no one goes under centre these days). His status will fully depend on the improvement the Canes show on the field. Needed to keep his job – At least 7 wins but preferably at least 8 and looking at a possible conference championship berth. Prediction – I see The U at the 8-win mark so that should placate the fans in south Florida.
Scott Frost (Nebraska) – Look, I drank the Nebraska Koolaid last year. I admit it. But the bloom is off the rose now in Lincoln and anything short of at least .500 and a bowl game could spell the end for the guy that was supposed to lead the Huskers back to prominence. Needed to keep his job – .500 record. Prediction – I see them being around that mark so he might not be fired but it will be a huge discussion in the off-season about his future.
Steve Campbell (South Alabama) – It was looking like the Jaguars were going to have a 2-0 start and it probably would have kept Campbell off this list. But their collapse against Tulane makes it so his job is at least in some jeopardy. With the opening of their brand-new stadium, I am sure the brass were hoping for a team that could maybe even contend in the Sun Belt West. With Louisiana in the division that won’t happen but maybe a bowl game for them? The other thing is, if they let Campbell go, who would be up to replace him? Not like this is a sought-after job. Needed to keep his job – For USA to win close to five games. Prediction – I have the Jaguars winning four games so at the very least, Campbell is looking at a hotter seat for next season.

Doubtful Shitcanning (although it still could happen)

Dino Babers (Syracuse) – Dino needs to get some slack here. There were some injuries last year and a lot of underperforming. Saying that, with only one great season under his belt, this season will have to at least look like an improvement over last year or he may be jettisoned. Needed to keep his job – Battling for bowl eligibility late in the season. Prediction – I have the Orange winning 4 so they need an upset to go bowling, if not two. No bowl game means Babers will have at least a molten lava hot seat going into next season.
Matt Viator (ULM) – Things were looking good in Monroe. Then the Ragin’ Cajuns down in Lafayette burned some rubber and left them in their dust. Now they will be battling South Alabama and Texas State to stay out of the bottom of the Sun Belt West division. Needed to keep his job – Honestly? Just don’t finish last in the division. Prediction – Ummmm….well….I do have them finishing last so this could get interesting.
Tom Herman (Texas) – Herman hasn’t exactly set the Big XII on fire in Austin. The fans at UT want to be in the Big XII Championship (OK they want to win the Big XII but baby steps). Not getting there this year would put Herman on a bit of a hot seat going into 2021. Needed to keep his job – Like keep his job for sure and maybe get an extension? A trip to the Big XII Championship game. Prediction – Losing to Oklahoma State to be left out of the title game and a lot of grumblings in Longhorn land.

Yes a much shorter list. Blame COVID.

Now I will post my (shorter) Heisman ballot. This is usually less accurate but at least I am on par with many so-called experts since many frosh and sophomores are in contention and it’s tough to figure them out compared to the juniors and seniors. Alright here we go:

My Usually Awful Heisman Ballot

Trevor Lawrence, Clemson – Alright I had Lawrence winning it last year and he came up well short. This year he is one of the favourites to win it so I am picking him yet again. Maybe this time he won’t let me down…and the team. Most importantly the team. And the fanbase. But me too.
Justin Fields, Ohio State – I feel a bit hesitant to put Fields this high. This time it is because the Big Ten is starting later and he will have to be in Heisman form from the beginning. I haven’t even done Big Ten predictions yet but I assume Ohio State will be favoured in all their games. So as long as the Buckeyes aren’t upset along the way and Fields has a bad game or two, he should be in the Heisman conversation.
Spencer Rattler, Oklahoma – The streak ended last year. Jalen Hurts had a good season but it wasn’t enough to bag the Sooners their third straight Heisman winner (who was also a transfer quarterback). Rattler is a Lincoln Riley recruit so this is a little different than what we are used to with OU. I still predict Oklahoma to get to the College Football Playoff which probably will mean Rattler will have had a great season so that puts him here.
D’Eriq King, Miami – This is the big transfer of the off-season and he could be the guy that saves Manny Diaz his job (and may get him an extension). It was a bit of a shock that he first decided to redshirt at Houston and then transfer to Miami but here we are. I think the Canes are going to be in New Year’s Six contention all season so the dual threat King will be a big part of that.
Chuba Hubbard, Oklahoma State – Hubbard for some reason came back for his senior year. What it does is sets Hubbard up to become the next big running back to come out of Oklahoma State after Barry Sanders. It also could make him the first Canadian to win the Heisman. That would be cool. He will actually need to run for more yards than he did last year so it may be difficult but if he does it, he will be at least the best running back in college football and a surefire first round pick in the 2021 draft.
Ian Book, Notre Dame – I know people will be upset at this. Slow your roll and check your Notre Dame hate at the door. The Irish are in a conference for the first time ever and are a contender to make their first-ever conference championship. And if that does come to fruition, Book will be the biggest reason why. And he could be a hero in South Bend forever if they somehow get to the College Football Playoff and don’t count them out of that.
Sam Ehlinger, Texas – For the second straight year, Ehlinger might be the second best quarterback in the Big XII. Now if he somehow gets the Longhorns to the conference championship then he might rocket up this list.
Bo Nix, Auburn – The son of former Auburn star Patrick Nix plays in the toughest division in college football. And if the Tigers have any thoughts of going to the New Year’s Six (if not the CFP), it will have to ride on his strong arm. With a lot of new quarterbacks in the SEC, he could end up getting the lion’s share of the attention at the position which could be good for him to move up this list.

Honourable Mention

Travis Etienne, Clemson
Spencer Sanders, Oklahoma State
Myles Brennan, LSU
Zamir White, Georgia
Najee Harris, Alabama
Adrian Martinez, Nebraska
Sam Howell, North Carolina

OK now we get to the Big Ten insanity. Remember when they decided they weren’t going to have a Fall season and there was a huge uproar because three of the five Power Five conferences decided to plow ahead with a season anyway? Pepperidge Farms (and all of us) remembers. Now the Big Ten has decided to reverse course. They plan on having a nine-week conference season. It will start on October 24th and go through to December 19th when the Big Ten Championship will occur. But that’s not all! They will also have a kind of East vs. West challenge that week where the 2nd place team from the East faces the 2nd place team from the West, 3rd place against 3rd place, etc. all the way down to the last place teams in both divisions. Just crazy. This conference is a shitshow. But money and FOMO ruled the day with the announcement. Now the Pac-12 is the only P5 conference sitting out and that will be, unfortunately, horrible for the conference going into 2021. College football, everybody!

Alright a slight change for this week’s posts. I will be posting the NFL schedule on Thursday and the college sked on Friday since there are no college games on Thursday night. I will do that for any other weeks this happens but as of this point, I can only see it happening maybe once more. Anyway, hope you have had a great hump day!

AMERICAN (conference), FUCK YEAH!

Posted on September 14, 2020 by guelphbossman

The American Athletic Conference. Still the best Group of Five conference. More and more this conference looks like it belongs as a power conference. The whole P6 thing isn’t ridiculous like UCF claiming a national championship a few years back. The teams at the top are as good, at least, as the middle of any of the Power Five conferences and that’s not hyperbole. And now with UConn gone, the conference is even stronger. Now they just have to figure out a way to get through their schedules this year. We will get to that in a bit.

So let’s get to the those predictions shall we? And I will follow that with some A Little Less Massive Conference Footprint Musings:

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

A Little Less Massive Conference Footprint Musings

Ho hum, UCF is still really good. It isn’t a difficult schedule but I honestly don’t see them getting through the conference schedule unscathed. Memphis, Tulane and Cincinnati are all difficult games and it would be huge if they could win them all. And losing more than one game could make things difficult with the top-heavy nature of the conference.
No divisions (WOOHOO!) thanks to UConn being gone. This is the way it should be. I know I’ve said this before but I feel like I need to reiterate it.
Along with the Knights you have a bevy of teams right there challenging them to get to the conference championship. Memphis, Cincinnati and SMU should be right there nipping at UCF’s heels. As for Navy, I know I have them at 6-2 in the conference but I am already worried about that after they got slaughtered by BYU. I mean they should be over .500 this season but anything beyond that could be difficult. But these are the predictions I made and I have to stick with them.
Tulane will be right there if they can pull off an upset or two. The rest of the teams I can’t see being anywhere near bowl eligibility although you never know especially since I have no idea yet what bowl eligibility will look like.
As you can tell, the non-conference schedules are a mess. It has already been decided that teams can schedule as many or as few non-conference games as they can get. Some, like SMU, Tulane and USF, have three games where at this point, Temple doesn’t have a single one although that should change since teams are scheduling games for less than a week from now which is unheard of in college football. But hey, these are the times we live in.
I have UCF and Memphis outlasting all the other teams to meet in the AAC Championship. Who knows how many fans will be allowed to be at the game but they would probably see a doozy with UCF winning a close one.

As for seeing the AAC on television this year, expect to see a lot. With the SEC and ACC trying to at least fill two of their conference network timeslots every week and no Big Ten and Pac-12 (for now), the AAC will get a lot of ABC/ESPN spots this season. We may even see them in the ABC primetime game again once or even twice, especially if there are a lot of teams in the Top 25. And with the Mountain West not playing in the Fall, the American is the premier G-5 conference as I stated before. Don’t get me wrong, the Sun Belt did a fantastic job on the weekend but are still a ways away from challenging the AAC. Now it will be interesting to see if the American tries to replace UConn with a football only school. I am sure they have had at least one conversation with Army about that. Army has a contract with CBS Sports Network so they could keep that and appear on ESPN networks more often. Yes they would have a tougher schedule as they are used to getting two FCS schools and at least 6 Group of Five teams and wouldn’t have that with a move. But more people would watch Army, meaning more football recruits, meaning a better program overall. This isn’t like when Army joined Conference USA years ago and it was a disaster. The Black Knights are much more prepared this time around.

That is the final conference prediction post. We made it! Better late than never I guess. Next up will be my bowl predictions and I will have to do some explaining to help you out. Also, some expertise in advanced physics might be required.

Have a great start to your week everyone!

August 26th	UTEP at Jacksonville State	5:30 PM
August 26th	FIU at Louisiana Tech	9:00 PM
August 31st	NC State at UConn	7:30 PM
September 1st	Stanford at Hawaii	11:00 PM
September 2nd	Bowling Green at Liberty	Noon
September 2nd	USF at WKU	3:30 PM
September 2nd	Washington State at Colorado State	7:00 PM
September 2nd	Idaho State at San Diego State	10:30 PM
September 9th	Delaware State at Army	Noon
September 9th	Wagner at Navy	3:30 PM
September 9th	Air Force vs. Sam Houston (in Houston)	8:00 PM
September 15th	Utah State at Air Force	8:00 PM
September 16th	Liberty at Buffalo	Noon
September 16th	FIU at UConn	3:30 PM
September 16th	Vanderbilt at UNLV	7:00 PM
September 16th	Kansas at Nevada	10:30 PM
September 22nd	Delaware State at Miami-OH	7:00 PM
September 22nd	Boise State at San Diego State	10:30 PM
September 23rd	Tulsa at Northern Illinois	Noon
September 23rd	Duke at UConn	3:30 PM
September 23rd	Appalachian State at Wyoming	7:00 PM
September 23rd	Kent State at Fresno State	10:30 PM
September 28th	Middle Tennessee at WKU	7:30 PM
September 29th	Louisiana Tech at UTEP	9:00 PM
September 30th	Utah State at UConn	Noon
September 30th	USF at Navy	3:30 PM
September 30th	San Diego State at Air Force	8:00 PM
October 4th	FIU at New Mexico State	9:00 PM
October 5th	Sam Houston at Liberty	7:00 PM
October 7th	Boston College at Army	Noon
October 7th	North Texas at Navy	3:30 PM
October 7th	San Jose State at Boise State	8:00 PM
October 10th	Louisiana Tech at Middle Tennessee	7:00 PM
October 11th	Sam Houston at New Mexico State	9:00 PM
October 13th	Fresno State at Utah State	8:00 PM
October 14th	Kent State at Eastern Michigan	Noon
October 14th	Troy at Army	3:30 PM
October 14th	Wyoming at Air Force	7:00 PM
October 14th	San Diego State at Hawaii	11:00 PM
October 17th	Middle Tennessee at Liberty	7:00 PM
October 18th	FIU at Sam Houston	7:00 PM
October 21st	Akron at Bowling Green	Noon
October 21st	USF at UConn	3:30 PM
October 21st	Utah State at San Jose State	7:00 PM
October 21st	Colorado State at UNLV	10:30 PM
October 24th	New Mexico State at Louisiana Tech	7:00 PM
October 25th	Jacksonville State at FIU	7:00 PM
October 28th	UMass at Army	Noon
October 28th	Miami-OH at Ohio	3:30 PM
October 28th	Air Force at Colorado State	7:00 PM
October 28th	New Mexico at Nevada	10:30 PM
November 3rd	Colorado State at Wyoming	8:00 PM
November 4th	Army vs. Air Force (in Denver)	2:30 PM
November 4th	Louisiana Tech at Liberty	6:00 PM
November 4th	Boise State at Fresno State	10:00 PM
November 7th	Central Michigan at Western Michigan	7:00 PM
November 8th	Akron at Miami-OH	7:00 PM
November 11th	Holy Cross at Army	Noon
November 11th	UAB at Navy	3:30 PM
November 11th	San Diego State at Colorado State	7:00 PM
November 11th	Fresno State at San Jose State	10:30 PM
November 14th	Akron at Eastern Michigan	7:00 PM
November 18th	Coastal Carolina at Army	Noon
November 18th	UNLV at Air Force	3:30 PM
November 18th	Boise State at Utah State	7:00 PM
November 18th	San Diego State at San Jose State	10:30 PM
November 24th	Ohio at Akron	Noon
November 24th	Utah State at New Mexico	3:30 PM
November 25th	Northern Illinois at Kent State	Noon
November 25th	Liberty at UTEP	3:30 PM
November 25th	Wyoming at Nevada	9:00 PM

Bossman's Blog

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

Tag Archives: Power Five conferences

Oh, it’s that time…CRAZY BOWL PROJECTIONS!!!

The Coaching Hot Seat Report, My Heisman Ballot and whatever the Big Ten is doing all in one post!