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

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

1. Rose Bowl (Michigan 27 Alabama 20 (OT)) – This was one of the greatest College Football Playoff games of all-time. And funny enough, it still wasn’t exactly the cleanest game. Sloppy play by both teams made it so neither team could pull away. And in the end, the issue that caused Bama fits all game, poor snaps from center, came back to haunt them one final time. The low snap on 4th and Goal caused Jalen Milroe to panic and run up the middle to try and score. The play that was drawn up would have had a good chance of working if the snap had been perfect. Michigan finally erases so much CFP pain and will now have their chance at a national championship.
2. New Orleans Bowl (Jacksonville State 34 Louisiana 31 (OT)) – This feels like the validation of Jax State’s ascent to the FBS level. For some reason, some schools make it work and others (see UMass) can’t figure it out. The thing about this game is that it felt like the Gamecocks were throwing it away, literally. Three defensive touchdowns by the Cajuns kept them in the game. All it did though, is delay a backup kicker, who rarely played, kicking the game winning field goal for the Cocks. This is the perfect argument for why bowls do, and should in the future, exist.
3. Sugar Bowl (Washington 37 Texas 31) – The second of the two semi-final games was easily the worst…if you just watched the first 58 minutes or so of the game. Then the Huskies decided that maybe, juuuuuuuuuuuust maybe, they didn’t feel like going to the national championship after all. U-Dub was able to hold on when Texas almost seized that final chance and will now play for all the glory. Also, some people were actually introduced, truly, to Michael Penix Jr. for the first time. And I include people who report on college football as they were astounded by what he did despite the fact he did that in half the games this season.
4. Gator Bowl (Clemson 38 Kentucky 35) – Put your hand up if you thought Kentucky would be in one of the best bowl games of the year. Now put your hands down, you filthy liars. No one, not even Kentucky fans, thought that would be the case. That insane fourth quarter alone, with 42 points scored between the two teams, was enough to put this game in the upper echelon of this year’s Bowl Season.
5. Famous Toastery Bowl (WKU 38 Old Dominion 35 (OT)) – And the award for the most stupidly awesome bowl game of the year goes to this one. The Hilltoppers were down 21-0 just seven minutes in. I actually stopped watching for the next hour. I come back to see what’s going on and see the first touchdown of what would be the fourth-greatest comeback in bowl game history. How did it end? A blocked field goal in the fourth quarter, followed by another blocked field goal in overtime, leading to a walk-off field goal and then toast angels on the field. How can you not love college football?
6. Arizona Bowl (Wyoming 16 Toledo 15) – If you had said this bowl game would have been the one out of the two on at the same time to be the better bowl game I would have…well maybe not laughed but been intrigued by your logic. This game went up against the blowout that was the Orange Bowl so it was easy to tune into this game. This is the second straight year the Arizona Bowl has been a great game and Wyoming, this time, is on the better end of the score. A perfect end to Craig Bohl’s coaching career.
7. ReliaQuest Bowl (LSU 35 Wisconsin 31) – This ended up being a great battle, something that many thought wouldn’t be the case. The Badgers certainly showed up for this one after a lacklustre season. The Tigers didn’t even have the lead until their final touchdown with a little over three minutes to go. A good college football start to 2024.
8. Camellia Bowl (Northern Illinois 21 Arkansas State 19) – This falls under “It’s So Bad, It’s Good” territory. Not exactly the best of the best but the final portion of the game makes up for it with its sheer insanity. ASU went the entire length of the field to get within two, missed the two-point conversion, then recovered the onside kick! But it was flagged for offside in one of the biggest botched calls of the entire season which made Butch Jones go as red as a ripe tomato. Entertainment…that’s what we want from our bowl games, right?
9. Quick Lane Bowl (Minnesota 30 Bowling Green 24) – Minnesota threw for 26 yards and won this game. Hilarious. It helps that they could hand the ball off to Darius Taylor who went off for over 200 yards. Fun fact: the Gophers have now won seven consecutive bowl games. That has to be tops, no?
10. Pinstripe Bowl (Rutgers 31 Miami 24) – A good game at Yankee Stadium. Now I’m not huge on regular season games at baseball stadiums (as in they should be banned) but I am totally fine with them during bowl season. There was more scoring than many thought there would be but there was no stupidity from Mario Cristobal, which was also expected (by me).
11. Cure Bowl (Appalachian State 13 Miami-OH 9) – This game was played in atrocious weather. I fucking loved it. It was just a bunch of silly backyard-style football fun, if your backward was a swimming pool. At one point it felt like they were going for the bowl game fumbles record. Combined, the two teams ended up with 12. How either team got a kick off, I will never know.
12. Peach Bowl (Ole Miss 38 Penn State 25) – Most thought it would be a great matchup between the seriously up tempo Rebel offense against the Nittany Lions’ stout defense. It was not to be. The Fighting Kiffins shredded PSU and pulled away in the second half. So Lane is safe in the fans’ minds in Oxford. James Franklin…well I am sure there are many unhappy people in…(Un)Happy Valley.
13. Pop Tarts Bowl (Kansas State 28 NC State 19) – Let’s be honest here: all we wanted to see was what would happen at the end with the mascot. And it was fucking glorious. Whoever thought of this should get a MASSIVE bonus. Also, the game was pretty good with it being close nearly the entire way.
14. Alamo Bowl (Arizona 38 Oklahoma 24) – Man, the Wildcats are going to be a load in the Big XII next year. They went blow-for-blow with the Sooners and ended up leaving them in their dust thanks to causing six turnovers. Gotta hand it to Jedd Fisch: not many thought he would get the program to this point this fast. So is he the best coach out of the Bill Belichick coaching tree? Oh wait, Nick Saban did a few years under Belichick. So yeah Jedd you will always be second in this case.
15. Guaranteed Rate Bowl (Kansas 49 UNLV 36) – Speaking of teams who could be really good next year in the Big XII, the Jayhawks overcame being called for over 200 yards worth of penalties to almost put up a 50-burger. Jason Bean has been a god-send considering Jalon Daniels was injured most of the season. And he showed it in his final game throwing for six touchdowns. This was KU’s first bowl win in 15 years. Incredible. And don’t shortchange the Rebels who also had a pretty good game and great season.
16. LA Bowl (UCLA 35 Boise State 22) – Look, I think most were interested to see if Chip Kelly’s team would show up for what was basically a home game for them. And they sure did. The Bruins were able to stick with Boise until the second half and then pulled away for a relatively easy victory and a tiny bit of momentum going into the Big Ten next season.
17. Texas Bowl (Oklahoma State 31 Texas A&M 23) – Somehow, the Aggies, with all sorts of players not playing (for various reasons), came back from an 18-point halftime deficit to make things very interesting late. Also, Mike Gundy has won 10 games in a season EIGHT TIMES? Really? Wow. This guy should get more credit for what he’s done in Stillwater.
18. Armed Forces Bowl (Air Force 31 James Madison 21) – Some called it bad and I think it’s because the Dukes lost. Air Force showed why they were the Group of Five favourite heading into November. JMU tried to make a game of it but the Falcons’ run game was way too much for them. A perfectly good bowl.
19. Holiday Bowl (USC 42 Louisville 28) – Miller Moss took advantage of Caleb Williams opting out of this game by throwing for a Holiday Bowl record six touchdowns. I will be honest by saying that the amount of people online saying we have an early Heisman frontrunner irked me. This isn’t preseason hype: this is the end of the previous season hype. Ridiculous. Not saying he won’t be good but I wish some in college football media would pump the brakes sometimes since they sound like idiots every so often.
20. Gasparilla Bowl (Georgia Tech 30 UCF 17) – The slightly weird start time didn’t detract from a pretty good bowl game. Despite the loss and the 6-7 finish, you have to think the Knights thought this season was a success. Their first as a Power Five team and they showed they could compete. As for the Ramblin’ Wreck, well, I am sure they sent a postcard to Mario Cristobal for gifting them that win that essentially put them in this bowl game.
21. Birmingham Bowl (Duke 17 Troy 10) – I tend to rank closer games higher than offensive shootouts that end with one team winning by like 21. That’s just me. Very little is more exciting in college football than a chance for a team to tie or win a game late. Both teams had interim coaching staffs so we can use that as an excuse for this one although it feels like it’s happening more and more these days. Not a good trend.
22. Las Vegas Bowl (Northwestern 14 Utah 7) – A great ending for the Wildcats who wildly exceeded expectations this season. Utah just didn’t have the players to contend in this one. If you liked defense…well, you still might not have liked this one since it was more the offenses struggling than anything.
23. Liberty Bowl (Memphis 36 Iowa State 26) – There were some high hopes for this one. Iowa State was a better-than-advertised Big XII school and Memphis was at home. And it wasn’t a bad game but it felt like the Tigers were in control for most of it which kind of sucks the life out of a bowl game in the latter stages.
24. Hawaii Bowl (Coastal Carolina 24 San Jose State 14) – Pretty good game but drops a few notches because it wasn’t on Christmas Eve WHERE IT BELONGS.
25. Fenway Bowl (Boston College 23 SMU 14) – It was cold. It was wet. It was fun…for me to watch. Not for the players, coaches and fans, I’m sure. Well, at the time it was probably not too bad. I’ve played in games like that and it was fine until after the game. Then you feel like shit. You might feel less shitty if you win…but you still feel like crap. Anyway, this is a conference game next season! A-C-C! A-C-C! A-C-C! A-C-C!
26. Independence Bowl (Texas Tech 34 California 14) – After a full opening day of bowl games I was hoping this one would be good. Or fun. Or weird. It was none of the three. It was fine until about halfway through the second quarter and the Red Raiders rode away with it. Lack of drama drops this way down.
27. Military Bowl (Virginia Tech 41 Tulane 20) – This was a nasty weather game so you’d think I would rank it higher. There were a lot of fumbles and chaos so you’d think I would rank it higher. I don’t know what it was but this felt like not a very fun game to watch. I kind of stopped paying attention in the second half. I really didn’t think the Green Wave was in it nor did they care much to be there. And that can happen sometimes when your coach leaves for another school. Maybe that was the case here, I don’t know. Either way, it was meh.
28. Cotton Bowl (Missouri 14 Ohio State 3) – I was kind of hyped for this one, not gonna lie. I was thinking this would be quite the prove-it game for Mizzou and we would see if no Kyle McCord would be an issue for tOSU. I was right, for the most part, on both fronts, yet this game sucked. Luckily for the Buckeyes, their awesome defense kept them in it going into the fourth quarter but their offense was painful to watch. They should have found a student in the crowd to play quarterback since it would have been just as good.
29. Frisco Bowl (UTSA 35 Marshall 17) – Would this have been better if 14th-year senior Frank Harris had been able to play? It would have been a blowout rather than a relatively easy victory for the Roadrunners, that’s about it. Biggest take from this game? The starting quarterbacks were Cole Pennington for Marshall (Chad’s son) and Owen McCown for the Roadrunners (Josh’s son). I feel seriously fucking old.
30. First Responder Bowl (Texas State 45 Rice 21) – Not the greatest game to be honest as the Bobcats were in control for most of it. It was definitely helped, though, by the fans (especially the Texas State ones) who were jacked for this one. So jacked that they ran out of beer at the game. Five minutes into the third quarter. Yeah.
31. Idaho Potato Bowl (Georgia State 45 Utah State 22) – The Aggies looked pretty damn flat in this one. The Panthers, on the other hand, overcame their late-season collapse and get back to that early season form. Almost 650 yards of offense for GSU and they were way too much for USU. Even with the french fry bath, this was a bottom tier bowl game this season.
32. Myrtle Beach Bowl (Ohio 41 Georgia Southern 21) – A bit of a ho-hum affair kicked off Bowl Season this time around thanks to the Bahamas Bowl having to move to Charlotte. Ohio went up big and kept the lead the entire game. Nothing super interesting with this one.
33. Music City Bowl (Maryland 31 Auburn 13) – This game was over early and was done without Taulia Tagovailoa. So it was impressive. Just not interesting to watch after the first quarter.
34. New Mexico Bowl (Fresno State 37 New Mexico State 10) – I thought this would be a good game. I had high hopes for NMSU in this one. It was not to be. Fresno State cranked it up late and ran away with this one but even earlier on it didn’t really feel close as the Bulldogs showed the form that had them the favourite for about seven days to be the Group of Five representative in the New Year’s Six. Oh well.
35. Duke’s Mayo Bowl (West Virginia 30 North Carolina 10) – Props to West Virginia for completing a good season, much better than most thought would happen. Neal Brown got mayo dumped on him. And that’s about it. The game was forgettable.
36. Sun Bowl (Notre Dame 40 Oregon State 8) – Boy, for a game that was sold out quicker than I think any other Sun Bowl ever, this game was an absolute dud. Notre Dame’s backups beat the ever-loving shit out of Oregon State’s backups. Ugh.
37. Fiesta Bowl (Oregon 45 Liberty 6) – I think we’ve found our new BYU. No, I don’t mean weird religious institution (even though they are). I mean a team that’s probably too good (most of the time) for their conference but not really good enough to be in the Power Five (or maybe even a better conference). Didn’t help that Oregon came in looking pissed off and after the Flames took a 6-0 lead it was all Ducks. 45 unanswered points and Bo Nix left as a record-setting quarterback. This was a trainwreck, really.
38. Citrus Bowl (Tennessee 35 Iowa 0) – Geez, where do I begin with this one? This was one of the most Iowa games of the season which is saying something. The offense was awful. The Brian Ferentz Experience has come to an end and I am positive most in Iowa City are thankful for that. What made it worse was two other games on at the same time. So I watched almost none of the second half. And I don’t feel bad about that at all.
39. 68 Ventures Bowl (South Alabama 59 Eastern Michigan 10) – I am starting to wonder why this bowl even exists. Even by ESPN Events standards, this is shit. I love more football but good God. The Jags just ran the Eagles off the field in another boring 68 Ventures Bowl which was called…like seven other things before this. This is perfect fodder for the Too Many Bowl Games crowd.
40. Boca Raton Bowl (USF 45 Syracuse 0) – This was one of the biggest beatdowns in bowl game history. Well at least I thought that until…I’ll get to that in a second. Anyway, I figured the Orange would show up. They did…technically. They were the opposition…technically. Other than that, USF, a middle-of-the-road American Conference team who played out of its mind for new coach Alex Golesh, beat the brakes off of Cuse. It was a pathetic performance, regardless of who was missing from the lineup. And speaking of players missing from the lineup…
41. Orange Bowl (Georgia 63 Florida State 3) – This picture encapsulates this game perfectly:

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

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

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

The Bowl Projections…they’re getting closer.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Car wreck time. Let’s proceed.

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

Some notes on this dog’s breakfast:

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

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

Let’s bid farewell to a couple of legends – Week 11 College Football TV Schedule

I don’t think we have ever seen two football minds like this get let go within a week of each other. It is crazy to think this could happen, but it did. Two legends who didn’t get their proper sendoff on here. So here we go.

*deep breath*

Ladies and gentlemen, it is time to say farewell to two of, arguably……….the worst coordinators in recent Power Five football history. Brian Ferentz, son of Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz, had to be put on a points minimum to be able to keep his contract after this season was over. And Alex Grinch, one of Lincoln Riley’s loyal soldiers. Two men who undoubtdedly pushed football back 50 years with their horrendous playcalling and obvious lack of attention to detail.

Ferentz wasn’t even allowed to take a shot at the points amount (it had to be at least an average of 25 a game). He was told by interim Iowa athletic director Beth Goetz, who obviously knew his chances of hitting that mark were slim, that he would not be retained for the 2024 season. So technically he is still around although he’s in a lame duck position. Not so for Grinch who wasn’t allowed to continue putting out awful defense after awful defense, something that has almost killed USC’s chances of anything but going to a bowl game. Riley had no choice in the end but to axe him.

Realistically, these two guys should have been let go weeks ago. It was apparent to anyone with some knowledge of college football that these two weren’t cutting it. But nepotism and loyalty can go a long way in this sport and we have seen it time and again in the past. And it will continue to do so. Hopefully head coaches learn to take a step back and look at a situation from a bird’s-eye view so that they can honestly assess it. Otherwise you hurt the team and, potentially, yourself.

Alright, enough of fired coaches. Let’s get to the damn schedule!

Tuesday

		US	Canada
Ball State at Northern Illinois	7:00
Central Michigan at Western Michigan	7:00
Ohio at Buffalo	7:30

Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit’s MACTION!!!!!!! Second week of MACtion and boy do I love it. Also, the College Football Playoff rankings come out a few minutes into the early games so I am sure the announcers will stick to calling the games and not mention anything about the rankings. I’m sure of it.

Wednesday

		US	Canada
Bowling Green at Kent State	7:00
Eastern Michigan at Toledo	7:00
Akron at Miami-OH	7:00

EMU-Toledo is easily the biggest game here. Depending on a few other results, the Rockets could clinch the MAC West with a win.

Thursday

		US	Canada
Virginia at #11 Louisville	7:30
Southern Miss at Louisiana	7:30

Louisville’s potential run to the New Year’s Six might have some potholes. This shouldn’t be one of them. Thing is, it’s either that, the Fun Belt game or one of the worst Thursday Night Football games ever. I’ll stick with the ACC matchup as long as I can (with some check-ins on the Southern Miss-Louisiana game of course).

Friday

		US	Canada
North Texas at SMU	9:00
Grambling at Arkansas-Pine Bluff	9:00

The Mustangs feel like a bit of a surprise team at the top of the American Conference and they shouldn’t be. Some had them at least getting to the conference championship. Take the over with this one.

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
Georgia Tech at Clemson	Noon
Virginia Tech at Boston College	Noon
Indiana at Illinois	Noon
Holy Cross at Army	Noon
#8 Alabama at Kentucky	Noon
Tulsa at #23 Tulane	Noon
Yale at Princeton	Noon
#3 Michigan at #10 Penn State	Noon
Vanderbilt at South Carolina	Noon

Absolutely colossal matchup in the early window. Yes, I am talking about Indiana-Illinois Michigan-Penn State. The second of the three-game Big Ten East round robin of Fun and Frolic lands in State College. Should this be under the lights with a Penn State Whiteout? Yeah, probably. But FOX is adamant that Noon is their big game. Big Noon Saturday. It’s not called Big Evening Saturday for a reason.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
NC State at Wake Forest	2:00
#21 Arizona at Colorado	2:00
Miami at #4 Florida State	3:30
Pittsburgh vs. Syracuse (in the Bronx)	3:30
Rutgers at #22 Iowa	3:30
#13 Tennessee at #14 Missouri	3:30
UAB at Navy	3:30
#15 Oklahoma State at UCF	3:30
NC Central at Howard	3:30
#18 Utah at #5 Washington	3:30
Minnesota at Purdue	3:30
Washington State at California	4:00
Auburn at Arkansas	4:00
Stanford at #12 Oregon State	5:30

Utah-Washington. Big game. Tennessee-Missouri. Big game (but not as big as the first one). Miami-FSU. Big game, mostly for one team. So there are some important games in this timeslot. It’s rare to see a November Saturday timeslot not to have an important game at all. Now, all games are not equal. Let’s be honest: very few will give a shit about Pitt-Cuse even if it is at Yankee Stadium.

And on that note, can we quit with putting football games on in baseball stadiums? Look at last week’s shitshow at Wrigley. I mean the game was hilariously bad as is considering the two teams playing. But the turf was in shambles. At one point they were trying to fix a patch that looked to be about two feet long and one foot wide. Like, seriously? Want to go to new places? Play in more NFL stadiums. Play in big high school stadiums. Hell, go to Barrow, Alaska and play on their field that borders the Arctic Ocean. Just stay away from the baseball stadiums or otherwise one day some guy is going to get seriously hurt.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
San Diego State at Colorado State	7:00
#9 OIe Miss at #2 Georgia	7:00
West Virginia at #17 Oklahoma	7:00
Georgia Southern at Marshall	7:00
#7 Texas at TCU	7:30
Mississippi State at Texas A&M	7:30
Rice at UTSA	7:30
Michigan State at #1 Ohio State	7:30
Florida at #19 LSU	7:30
Duke at #25 North Carolina	8:00

You are going to notice that TSN (other than TSN+) is barely appearing this Saturday. Well, just like last week, the CFL has their playoff games on a Saturday. I guess it makes sense from a viewer perspective since I am sure they lose viewers to the NFL on Sunday and would lose less viewers going up against college football. I think it has become apparent that TSN is pushing college football (among a few other live sports properties) to TSN+ and putting much less on their actual television networks. Sad for fans who either don’t want to spend more money on an online platform or just would struggle figuring out the online platform to begin with. Sure, live sports on TV is still a huge thing and will be for a long time but slowly…SLOWLY…more and more things are moving online. Give it, let’s say, 20 years and I could see a big difference in what you see now.

Anyway, the actual schedule has Ole Miss-Georgia as the main game and a few other games that could have been huge if certain teams hadn’t shit the bed. Take Duke-UNC. UNC losing on the CW to Virginia and then to Georgia Tech made this game an afterthought. Same with WVU-Oklahoma. The Sooners’ upset losses to Kansas and then Oklahoma State in the final Bedlam have killed the hype for this matchup. It happens every season.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
Arizona State at UCLA	9:00
Iowa State at BYU	10:15
Fresno State at San Jose State	10:30
USC at #6 Oregon	10:30

FOX quadrupleheader! Gotta love when they do this. I wish ABC would just do it once. I think they’d be surprised how many people would tune in to a late night game on ABC. USC could put a massive wrench in Oregon’s plans of at least getting to the New Year’s Six with a win here and Fresno State needs to keep winning to have any hope of having the same kind of plans.

Hey, Watch This

Michigan at Penn State (Noon, FOX) – This is easily the most hyped game of the weekend and rightly so. Penn State (and James Franklin) has a chance to do what many have been waiting for them to do: take that final step towards the CFP. This is their final chance this season. Lose this and perhaps even an NY6 spot is gone. Lose and The Game becomes so massive it may overshadow last year’s affair and maybe even 2006’s Game of the Century. Win and they move up the rankings and then pray for a Michigan victory over Ohio State. Then they would head way down the tiebreaker list to see who wins the division. Oh, and the last tiebreaker? A random draw. I am not joking. Wouldn’t that be insane television? ESPN and FOX would go nuts.

Ole Miss at Georgia (7:00, TSN+/specialty pack) – This should be almost as hyped as the UM-PSU game but for one thing: the Rebels need Bama to lose two conference games for them to win the division. So the Fighting Kiffins’ best shot is to win out, go 11-1, and hope for some chaos around them. Then they might sneak into the playoff. As for Georgia, this is yet another prove-it game. Last week was Missouri, this week Ole Miss, next week Tennessee. Survive those then they may not even have to win the conference championship to go to the playoff.

Utah at Washington (3:30, FOX) – Man, FOX has a crazy-good set of games for their quadrupleheader this Saturday. The Huskies have been sort of hanging on lately. Almost like TCU did last year winning games late and winning games that are close. That has to be their mantra right now though: Al Davis’s popular “Just Win Baby.” As for the Utes, could they almost kill the Pac-12’s playoff hopes with a win here? Not totally but they would do a lot of damage and something tells me they would be happy doing that.

USC at Oregon (10:30, FOX) – Two ranked teams facing each other warrants a spot (most of the time) on this list. Well, ranked in the AP Poll at least (sorry, USC). USC could be just like Utah in the previous game: be the spoiler. Oregon has recovered very nicely from their close loss to Washington. Win here, don’t stumble against Arizona State and then win the Civil War over the Beavers and they get their chance at revenge (probably) on Washington.

Tennessee at Missouri (3:30, CBS) – This is an interesting one. The Vols were expected to at least be in the New Year’s Six conversation. Mizzou? Not at all. They have played out of their minds most of the season and put a scare into UGA last week. They can’t win the SEC East so they have to push to win out and give The Committee something to think about. The Vols actually can win the East but it would take the craziest of scenarios to have that happen.

Sickos Game of the Week

Vanderbilt at South Carolina (Noon, TSN+/specialty pack) – The SEC never ends up here. Nor should they. But this game has awful written all over it. It was down to this one and Pitt-Cuse but I will give this game the nod. The Pitt-Cuse game is at Yankee Stadium which is kind of cool but I am sure the field conditions will not be. But the aura of it being in a baseball stadium is what I will use to grudgingly tip the scales towards Vandy and the Cocks getting this spot. Now, if this game had been played at Vandy’s Bob the Builder Stadium then it would have been a no doubter.

Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week

Michigan State at Ohio State (7:30, NBC) – OK hear me out. At some point, the Buckeyes have to stop with their extremely slow starts. Enough of them being in a dogfight with Rutgers or Maryland. One game it will catch up to them. I think that Ryan Day might finally push them hard to come out of the gate strong. If they do, this game will essentially be over at the half and NBC will be less than pleased with the viewers flocking elsewhere (but, that’s what they signed up for).

Wanna Bet?

I was SO close on the score of my Tennessee-UConn bet. And honestly, I wasn’t too far off with USC-Washington even if I did have the Trojans winning in an upset. And I got Bama’s points dead on. Don’t look at my Virginia pick. Let’s get to this week’s picks, shall we?

Southern Miss 29 Louisiana 28 (upset!)

North Texas 31 SMU 27 (another upset!)

Alabama 34 Kentucky 21 (no upset)

Penn State 30 Michigan 23 (yet another upset!)

Tulane 41 Tulsa 10

Wake Forest 31 NC State 27 (minor upset)

Florida State 42 Miami 32

Washington 34 Utah 14

Tennessee 45 Missouri 35

Washington State 31 California 24 (very slight upset)

Georgia 38 Ole Miss 27

UTSA 37 Rice 21

Oregon 63 USC 33

OK I picked a ton of upsets here and look at Oregon. Yeah I think they are going to have a field day with the USC defense even with Alex Grinch not there to fuck things up.

I am preparing for another day of college football, starting Saturday at Noon and going into Sunday morning. Remember, we are in November, people. We don’t have much longer to go. Soon enough it will be conference championship weekend and the schedules like these go away. So savour it. Take your time to watch a lot of football before it’s gone and the only thing to watch (after the Super Bowl is over at least) is the Xtreme United States Football Association and/or League, also known as the XUSFAL. That acronym will probably end up being better than what they come up with. I’d put money on it. Like ten bucks. Enjoy the games everyone!

We’re looking ahead again (and giving you the Week 8 College Football TV Schedule)

Last year I decided to do some looking ahead in the middle of the season. Did it work out then? Eh. So why not try it again? What’s the worst that could happen? Why so many questions?

Will one of the surprise Group of Five teams keep things going into November? Air Force realistically has a clear path to 10-0 now. They end up with UNLV and Boise State and that’s where their mettle will be tested. If they don’t get there undefeated then they may not deserve that Group of Five New Year’s Six spot. James Madison, at this point, really has nothing to play for although that could be scary. They could run the table almost to spite the NCAA at this point. Finally, if things go awry for the AFA, JMU (and Liberty), watch out for Miami-Ohio. Quietly they are 6-1 and have the biggest game of the MAC season against the other 6-1 team in the conference, Toledo. Win that and they could conceivably go 11-1 and pout a lot of pressure on the top G-5 teams.

Is there anyone who will stop a Georgia-Alabama SEC Championship? Are there some small landmines left on UGA’s schedule? Sure. And now with Brock Bowers out for the season, any one of Tennessee, Missouri and, yes, Florida could upend the apple cart so to speak. Out in the SEC West, Bama has a much tougher road to hoe but if they can get through their next two games against the Vols and LSU, it might be clear sailing to Atlanta.

Can Penn State finally push through in the Big Ten East? Yes. This might be their best chance ever. They have to show that, though, this coming Saturday. Lose to Ohio State and forget about it. Win and they will make all Michigan fans nervous until their mega-matchup. This next month will define James Franklin’s tenure at State College.

Which conference will miss the College Football Playoff? Or will it be conferences…plural? If UGA and Bama make it to conference championship weekend undefeated then it will be two conferences being left out almost guaranteed. If not, then it will be a dogfight but I still worry about the Pac-12 and what feels like the inevitable cannibalization which has kind of already started. Washington is their best best but absolutely cannot lose more than one game the rest of the way.

The biggest upset the rest of the way will be…I am going to go with Oklahoma losing to either Oklahoma State in Bedlam or TCU on Black Friday. Something tells me they will not get through unscathed.

Now who will win the Heisman? Caleb Williams isn’t out of the race but man he looked awful in South Bend. Michael Penix Jr. is now the frontrunner but he will have to basically outlast Bo Nix, Jordan Travis, Drake Maye and J.J. McCarthy of all people who is slowly and efficiently powering Michigan through everyone on their schedule. This might be one of the tightest races in recent memory.

OK enough Nostradamusing….it’s sked time!

Tuesday

		US	Canada
Middle Tennessee at Liberty	7:00
Southern Miss at South Alabama	7:30
WKU at Jacksonville State	7:30

Time for some CU(SA) Next Tuesday action as the two conference favourites play…in two separate games. Some Fun Belt action alongside it as well. I am so loving football every day for damn near two months.

Wednesday

		US	Canada
FIU at Sam Houston	7:00
New Mexico State at UTEP	9:00

Maybe, just maybe, Sam Houston can finally get their first FBS win. Also, the Battle of I-10 (now a conference game!) is later on as the Aggies and Miners play for the Silver Spade. I also love these less-well-known trophy games. You can always tell it means a lot to these teams even if they don’t mean much in the grand scheme of things.

Thursday

		US	Canada
James Madison at Marshall	7:00
Rice at Tulsa	7:00
NC Central at Morgan State	7:30

Easily the highlight of the weeknight games is the Dukes travelling to Huntington to face off against the Thundering Herd. I hope that JMU can get a waiver to go bowling because if they keep going like this they deserve it. Also, the first of two HBCU games this weekend that you can see up here. Other than Week Zero that is something that almost never happens.

Friday

		US	Canada
SMU at Temple	7:00

Look, there’s nothing else on…maybe baseball. So hopefully this one gets weird.

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
UCF at #6 Oklahoma	Noon
Boston College at Georgia Tech	Noon
Rutgers at Indiana	Noon
#22 Air Force at Navy	Noon
Western Michigan at Ohio	Noon
Mississippi State at Arkansas	Noon
Memphis at UAB	Noon
Norfolk State at Howard	Noon
#7 Penn State at #3 Ohio State	Noon

The absolute main course of the week goes off at noon hour with PSU and tOSU facing off. Many hate the fact these big games are on at Noon but I saw a tweet that said this is a good way to get people to watch college football all day as since they introduced the ABC Saturday Night game, viewers shifted their viewing habits and were watching the games starting 3:30 and after way more than the Noon games. Not anymore.

We also have a big Group of Five matchup as Air Force looks to continue their undefeated run in a Commander’s-In-Chief Trophy game against Navy. Finally, Rutgers (RUTGERS!) could clinch bowl-eligibility with a win over the lowly Indiana Hoosiers.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
Washington State at #9 Oregon	3:30
Pittsburgh at Wake Forest	3:30
Northwestern at Nebraska	3:30
#17 Tennessee at #11 Alabama	3:30
USF at UConn	3:30
Oklahoma State at West Virginia	3:30
North Texas at #23 Tulane	3:30
Minnesota at #24 Iowa	3:30
South Carolina at #20 Missouri	3:30
Toledo at Miami-OH	4:00
#8 Texas at Houston	4:00

Could the Vols upset the Tide? It’s entirely possible considering how average Bama has sometimes been. Wazzu and Oregon face off in a Pac-12 elimination game of sorts. The two most surprising teams in the Big XII will try and keep their surprising runs going. Imagine one of Texas or Oklahoma loses out on a Big XII Championship spot in their final year in the conference because of Oklahoma State? Or even worse, West Virginia? Big XII fans would never let either school live it down.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Virginia at #10 North Carolina	6:30
Utah State at San Jose State	7:00
#13 Ole Miss at Auburn	7:00
TCU at Kansas State	7:00
Appalachian State at Old Dominion	7:00
#16 Duke at #4 Florida State	7:30
#2 Michigan at Michigan State	7:30
Army at #19 LSU	7:30
Clemson at Miami	8:00
Georgia State at Louisiana	8:00
#14 Utah at #18 USC	8:00

The biggest game of the night is…*checks notes*…Florida State hosting Duke? DUKE? Yep. This could be a massive upset if the Blue Devils can pull it off. Also, let’s not understate that if the Noles win it counts as a big win and gives them another big push towards the College Football Playoff.

The rest of the primetime schedule features another Pac-12 elimination game. Imagine saying that the Trojans and Caleb Williams are eliminated from the Pac-12 race over a week before Halloween? Say that at the start of the season and some would have thought you were crazy.

Also, we have a potential Fight Night II as Michigan heads to East Lansing to face Baby Brother, the Spartans. If there’s even a sniff of a potential brawl it will get a lot of attention. I’m sure Captain Khaki will tell his players to steer clear of any of that shit because they have national championship aspirations and any suspensions could cause serious problems.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
#25 UCLA at Stanford	10:30
Montana State at Sacramento State	10:30

Wow this is….this is technically the late night schedule. Look, if the Montana State-Sac State game is anything like the Montana-Idaho game last Saturday night then this could be a fun one to watch.

Hey, Watch This!

Penn State at Ohio State (Noon, FOX) – There is no other game that could occupy this top spot. This is one of the three-team Big Ten East Round Robin Games of the Year (along with the games against Michigan) where one or even two teams will be eliminated from the CFP conversation for having the audacity to be in the same division as the other teams. A loss here doesn’t fully eliminate either team from contention as you will know from my preview posts back in August.

Duke at Florida State (7:30, ABC) – The Blue Devil Dream Season could hit a crescendo at around 11:00. Weeks after, arguably, their biggest win in program history over Clemson they could one-up that if they pull off the monumental upset here. On the other hand, Jordan Travis could re-introduce himself into the Heisman race if he can put on a big performance and lead FSU to victory.

Tennessee at Alabama (3:30, CBS) – Gee, I wonder who Gary Danielson will be pulling for in this one? Look, I am sure there are some people who are surprised that the Vols are only 6 spots behind the Tide in the rankings. You shouldn’t be. As I said above, Bama has looked entirely average at times this season (see their game against USF). Saying all that, this is still the Alabama Damn Crimson Tide and you know Nick Saban will have the players up for this game so UT can’t afford a slow start here.

Utah at USC (8:00, FOX) – If USC hadn’t played poorly last Saturday in South Bend and if the Utes hadn’t looked terrible against Oregon State a couple weeks back, this game could have been close to number one on the list. Instead, both squads will be fighting for their Pac-12 lives which is something no one figured for this game considering there is still more than a month left in the season.

Sickos Game of the Week

Northwestern at Nebraska (3:30, Big Ten Network) – This is why conference networks exist. To bury games like this far away from many eyes while still being able to say it’s being broadcast to a fairly wide audience. I can’t see there being much interest in this game anywhere, except for Wildcat and Cornhusker fans (and even then).

Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week

Army at LSU (7:30, TSN+/SP) – There are speed bump games and then there is this. Unless LSU shits the bed, this is not going to end well for the Black Knights. So no, this is not a speed bump game or a lookahead game or anything else you want to call it. It will probably end up being a good old fashioned beatdown.

Wanna Bet?

Who called the Pitt upset? This fucking guy….I’m pointing at myself. Enough said. Let’s get on to this week’s picks!

UTEP 29 New Mexico State 23

Ohio State 34 Penn State 24

Air Force 39 Navy 38

Ohio 20 Western Michigan 16

Arkansas 21 Mississippi State 14

UAB 38 Memphis 35 (upset!)

Oklahoma State 27 West Virginia 23

Alabama 31 Tennessee 28

North Carolina 41 Virginia 33

Michigan 45 Michigan State 17

Florida State 30 Duke 13

USC 20 Utah 16

Louisiana 25 Georgia State 24

The Bossman Top 26!

It’s baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! Yeah, I figured it was about time to whip out the Bossman Top 25 so here it is in all its….well, glory might be too strong a word…wait hold on…oh no. Not the Top 25. I’m going one better. Top 26, motherfuckers! Let’s ride!

#1	Georgia
#2	Michigan
#3	Ohio State
#4	Washington
#5	Florida State
#6	Penn State
#7	Oklahoma
#8	Alabama
#9	Oregon State
#10	Texas
#11	North Carolina
#12	Oregon
#13	Ole Miss
#14	Notre Dame
#15	Utah
#16	Tennessee
#17	USC
#18	LSU
#19	Duke
#20	Missouri
#21	Louisville
#22	Tulane
#23	UCLA
#24	Iowa
#25	Air Force
#26	James Madison

“Bossman, why don’t you have Michigan at #1?” “Bossman, why do you have Bama up at #8?” “Bossman, why don’t you have James Madison in the Top 25?” Look, I try to base this on how good a team is, their record, and who they have played. You could exchange Air Force and JMU and it makes not a lick of difference. You could flip flop Georgia and Michigan. You could have Oregon State above Alabama. You could do all these things, sure. And it may end up working out that way. I find it much easier (now) to start the rankings in the middle of the season because I have a better idea of where most of the teams should be. Plus I know that all the big games coming up will actually alter how the season plays out, something that can’t be done with a preseason poll.

Football every day, folks. FOOTBALL….EVERY DAMN DAY! Until American Thanksgiving Eve. Embrace it. Everyone have a great rest of the week and enjoy the games!

The Land of the Undefeated 8.0

Yep. It’s that time again. It’s the eighth (EIGHTH?) edition of looking at the undefeated teams left in college football around the halfway mark of the season. Fun stuff, right? One day I should go back and see how accurate I was with these predictions. Though to be honest, I think I would be scared to do so since my predictions have been so great, right (see Tigers, Clemson). Anyway, let’s get going with this!

#1 Georgia (6-0) – The Dawgs have, at times, looked a bit shaky. Tough wins over South Carolina and Auburn made it seem like this team may struggle at some point. Then they demolish Kentucky and it feels like all is normal again. I still think there is a loss in there but they will, once again, walk to another SEC East title and a berth in the SEC Championship. Predicted record: 11-1.

#2 Michigan (6-0) – Now here is a team that has not struggled. At all. In any sense. The Wolverines are just that good. I do, however, think they will lose a game this season (I have it being a loss to Penn State although it could just as easily be Ohio State). They will still make the Big Ten Championship and throttle whichever sad sack team comes out of the Big Ten West and head to the College Football Playoff. Predicted record: 11-1.

#3 Ohio State (5-0) – Speaking of tOSU, I figure they will also lose one game. I have them losing The Game to Michigan which would knock them out of a shot at the Big Ten Championship (in what could be the most scrutinized tiebreaker ever). The Buckeyes, though, have to quit with the slow starts or otherwise some other team is going to surprise them and it will be lights out for their national championship hopes. Predicted record: 11-1.

#4 Florida State (5-0) – They may end up dropping even more if they can’t show how dominant they really are. Then again, they may not have to since I honestly believe they will be the only undefeated team at the end of the regular season (can you smell those 2007 vibes?). Predicted record: 12-0.

#5 Oklahoma (6-0) – Quite a few people are suprised Oklahoma is doing this well. I figured that they would lose against Texas but would only have that one loss against them at this point. Look, Dillon Gabriel wasn’t going to be as bad as he was last season and the defense was definitely going to be better under Captain Defense himself, Brent Venables. Will they go the rest of the way unscathed. Eh…. Predicted record: 10-2.

#6 Penn State (5-0) – PSU really doesn’t seem to have any weaknesses. They could go on a serious run, the likes which haven’t been seen in State College in quite a long time. It is Penn State, though. They are bound to lose one and I think they will to Ohio State (which would make for a fun three-way tie at 11-1). Predicted record: 11-1.

#7 Washington (5-0) – The Pac-12 is up for grabs. The worry is that the conference will cannibalize itself. I agree with that notion. Predicted record: 9-3.

#8 Oregon (5-0) – If you take out the weird Texas Tech game, the Ducks have looked awesome. They would seem to be on a fast track to the Pac-12 Championship if USC, Washington, UCLA, Oregon State and Washington State weren’t in their conference. If one Pac-12 team gets out with only one loss, I wonder if The Committee gives them a bit of a bump because of how difficult the road to get there would have been. Predicted record: 10-2.

#10 USC (6-0) – Now we get to the Trojans, the preseason Pac-12 favourites. Man, have they had a roller coaster season so far. Three close games in a row now for this team. And their defense is atrocious. If Lincoln Riley wants to stick with Alex Grinch as his defensive coordinator then so be it. It will most likely cost USC a trip to the CFP (if not also the New Year’s Six). Predicted record: 10-2.

#12 North Carolina (5-0) – Maybe this will finally be the Heels’ year. They are flying under the radar and playing really good football if you take away the game against Appalachian State where they survived in double overtime. Will they struggle with their ACC schedule? Looking at it, they probably should be 9-0 going into the Victory Bell game against Duke. Then all bets are off. Predicted record: 11-1.

#14 Louisville (6-0) – This is arguably the biggest surprise on this list. Not saying no one thought Louisville wouldn’t be good. Just not this good. I had them 4-2 at this point which is pretty good but not undefeated. I would say they now have the meat of their conference schedule remaining but realistically, if they can beat Duke, they could conceivably be 11-0 and playing Kentucky for the Governor’s Cup in late November. Sounds crazy but you never know. Predicted record: 10-2.

Air Force (5-0) – They have ascended to the top of the Group of Five pecking order…for now. They have Wyoming this weekend in what could be the biggest game of the season. Other than that, it could end up being a showdown with Boise State to end the regular season which will tell us whether the Falcons will have their first shot at the New Year’s Six or not. Predicted record: 10-2.

Liberty (5-0) – The Flames are playing….pretty good. Holding on to beat Sam Houston isn’t a good look though. They also might have the easiest schedule remaining of any team in FBS. So even if they ran the table it would probably mean nothing unless utter chaos happened. Predicted record: 10-2.

James Madison (5-0) – Now here’s a frustrating one. JMU is undefeated. Would be bowl-eligible except for the NCAA’s ridiculous rule that teams moving up from FCS must serve a two-year transition. The thing is, that is to keep teams from not having full FBS schedules from becoming bowl-eligible. The Dukes weren’t even like that last year in their first year in FBS. Hopefully someone comes to their senses and gives this team a shot at a bowl game, if not the Sun Belt Championship. Predicted record: 10-2.

14 teams left unscathed. We are in mid-October. I wouldn’t be surprised if we headed into November with only 5 or 6 undefeated teams. At least we know for sure that by early Sunday morning there will only be a maximum of 13 undefeated teams with Washington and Oregon meeting in a mega-matchup.

Tomorrow…yes, TOMORROW…is the start of the college football week. Conference USA continues their October Weekday Warrior schedule with two games. The Fun Belt adds to the mix with a game of their own. Wednesday then has two more C-USA games. Football every day folks. Gotta love it! Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving Day!

YOU READY FOR MORE DEIONMANIA, BROTHER? (and the Week 4 College Football TV Schedule)

Actually you know what? Bad choice of theme and picture. I don’t think the Hulkster cares too much for Deionmania.

But, Deionmania is upon us. Has it got out of hand? Yes. Absolutely. There is no question about it. If we were talking about Colorado playing Oregon or USC at home then fine, it would make all the sense in the world. But they were playing Colorado State. Sure it’s a rivalry game (the Rocky Mountain Showdown for any who didn’t know the name) but it’s Colorado State. It felt like a huge case of FOMO (fear of missing out) by both networks to not strike while the iron is hot. Even the Jay Norvell hat and sunglasses comment before the game rankled Sanders to the point he was giving his signature shades to his team and that company sold more than a million dollars worth of sunglasses in just a few days.

So what did we get for the game that started at 10:00 in the Eastern time zone? It was a classic. Colorado State seemed to have figured out Shedeur Sanders. The Buffaloes’ running game was non-existent. The Rams’ offense was humming. Travis Hunter was knocked out by a dirty hit in the second quarter. Then the Buffs made their late comeback. Down 11 with four minutes to go they tied it up to send it to overtime. In the first overtime, it was shocking to see Norvell not go for two and the win. Felt like some scared coaching. Colorado ended it in the next overtime. Have to say, it was a great game.

Now…Colorado was favoured by 23 points. So they didn’t exactly look awesome. And now they lose Hunter for three weeks. So things aren’t looking rosy for their next two games. Do the networks care? No because this week they are on ABC and the following week they play in Los Angeles against USC…at Noon….in the East! A 9:00 local start time. Crazy!

OK let’s calm down from all the insanity that is anything revolving around the Colorado football program and get to what you came for: hot, nasty, college football schedules. Oh yeah.

Thursday

		US	Canada
Georgia State at Coastal Carolina	7:30
Arkansas-Pine Bluff at Alabama A&M	7:30

GSU-CCU might end up being a sleeper Sun Belt hit. Top two passing offenses in the conference. Take the over. Or go over to Amazon Prime and the other TSNs (and I think the CTVs as well) and watch the Giants get slaughtered out in San Francisco. Your choice.

Friday

		US	Canada
NC State at Virginia	7:30
Boise State at San Diego State	10:30

Two games on Friday evening (with two not airing up here). Boise-SDSU could very well be for one of the Mountain West Championship spots (with Fresno State watching this game VERY closely). The other game is your run-of-the-mill ACC Friday nighter meaning there is the possibility things could get wacky.

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
#4 Florida State at Clemson	Noon
Army at Syracuse	Noon
Rutgers at #2 Michigan	Noon
Tulsa at Northern Illinois	Noon
Auburn at Texas A&M	Noon
Virginia Tech at Marshall	Noon
WKU at Troy	Noon
#16 Oklahoma at Cincinnati	Noon
Kentucky at Vanderbilt	Noon

Only one of two games on TSN appear here and it’s a simsub of the ABC game. Ugh. I would have thought FSU-Clemson would have ended up as the ABC Primetime game but Clemson isn’t exactly lighting it up and the Noles barely survived Boston College last weekend. FOX Big Noon Kickoff picking Cincinnati as their destination hours before the Bearcats get beat by Miami-OH was definitely a choice. Also, don’t sleep on WKU-Troy. Could low-key be one of the best games of the early part of the day.

UPDATE: I guess TSN forgot they had a contract to show La Liga games? The FSU-Clemson game will not be shown on TSN2 now and is being replaced by FC Barcelona hosting RC Celta de Vigo.

UPDATE #2: I should go over the entire schedule before making updates. FSU-Clemson has been moved to TSN3.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
#19 Colorado at #10 Oregon	3:30
Boston College at Louisville	3:30
FAU at Illinois	3:30
Louisiana Tech at Nebraska	3:30
#15 Ole Miss at #13 Alabama	3:30
#18 Duke at UConn	3:30
BYU at Kansas	3:30
Ohio at Bowling Green	3:30
#20 Miami at Temple	3:30
#22 UCLA at #11 Utah	3:30
Maryland at Michigan State	3:30
Rice at USF	4:00
UTSA at #23 Tennessee	4:00

Business seriously picks up here. The best timeslot of the season so far and it’s not even close. Three games between ranked teams at one time doesn’t happen very often so savour it. Plus there is UTSA-UT and BYU-KU that should be added to the games to watch category. I wonder how far I can stretch it this week.

UPDATE #3: You can now also see Colorado-Oregon on TSN3.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Georgia Tech at Wake Forest	6:30
Appalachian State at Wyoming	7:00
Arkansas at #12 LSU	7:00
#14 Oregon State at #21 Washington State	7:00
Arizona at Stanford	7:00
#3 Texas at Baylor	7:30
Minnesota at Northwestern	7:30
Akron at Indiana	7:30
#24 Iowa at #7 Penn State	7:30
UAB at #1 Georgia	7:30
Memphis at Missouri	7:30
#6 Ohio State at #9 Notre Dame	7:30
Mississippi State at South Carolina	7:30
#17 North Carolina at Pittsburgh	8:00

Sweet God Damn Jesus! Three more games in this timeslot between ranked teams. Maybe this is the best timeslot. Either way, we are getting a hell of a day of college football. If you feel like also showing another game on one of your other screens, consider Appalachian State-Wyoming for the possible sheer insanity.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
Kent State at Fresno State	10:30
California at #8 Washington	10:30
#5 USC at Arizona State	10:30

Another FOX quadrupleheader. Good stuff. Will it be close? Highly doubtful. Same with the other Pac-12 After Dark matchup in Seattle. Actually, to be honest, all three games shouldn’t be that close. Not gonna lie.

(An expanded) Hey, Watch This!

Ohio State at Notre Dame (7:30, NBC) – So many good games but I am putting this game at the top and the rest of this section can fight to be 2A, 2B, 2C, etc. This really is a prove-it game for both squads. Neither team has been tested yet so let’s see how Sam Hartman and Kyle McCord do against much better defenses. Don’t be surprised if this ends up being a bit of a defensive struggle, regardless of the wealth of talent both offenses possess.

Ole Miss at Alabama (3:30, CBS) – This could end up being the most exciting game of the week just for the fact that Ole Miss and Bama have played a couple of great ones in recent history and they are so closely ranked. Bama doesn’t feel like Bama. Ole Miss, on the other hand, feels exactly like Ole Miss. Which could spell a lot of trouble for the Tide if the Rebels can pile the points on because I don’t think Alabama has the offense to compete that way.

Colorado at Oregon (3:30, ABC) – In terms of most viewers, this game is going to give the rest a run for their money for sure. Oregon has a hi-octane offense and we’ve seen that Colorado can score points in bunches. Definitely take the over. And if the Buffaloes win this one, watch out since they would have to be considered a dark horse contender for at least the Pac-12 Championship game and the New Year’s Six.

Iowa at Penn State (7:30, CBS) – First time ever for the B1G on CBS to appear on this list. Huge Whiteout game so already the Nittany Lions have an advantage. Honestly, I can’t see Brian Ferentz’s offense putting up that many points against PSU but I guess stranger things have happened.

Oregon State at Washington State (7:00, FOX) – That’s right…it’s the Pac-2 Championship on FOX! Kind of wish who was announcing the game (probably Tim Brando) would start with that. The two remaining Pac-12 schools face off with both undefeated, both ranked and the winner staying in the hunt in a crazy final Pac-12 season.

UCLA at Utah (3:30, FOX) – No specialty pack. All network games. Like the good ol’ days. Kind of. Anyway, it could be argued that this is the “worst” of the six games on this list. It’s why I put it last. But these are two teams that are still serious Pac-12 contenders and are one of eight undefeated conference teams at the moment. Something has to give and I feel this is going to be the start of another season where the Pac-12 teams beat up on each other and no team comes out unscathed. Sucks for the conference but until a team gets to like 6-0 or 7-0 I won’t believe one can make it out alive, so to speak.

Sickos Game of the Week

Akron at Indiana (7:30, specialty pack) – This probably won’t end up on BTN for anyone since they have Minnesota-Northwestern on at the same time. You know it’s bad when a game featuring Northwestern is light years better than the other game. I could honestly see Akron winning here. Look, you have much better choices so don’t punish yourselves by even looking for this game.

Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week

USC at Arizona State (10:30, FOX) – UAB-UGA would have been the easy, albeit lazy, choice. This one could end up being a lot worse since I can’t see the Trojans letting up on the Sun Devils like Georgia will probably eventually do with UAB. Forks Down.

Wanna Bet?

Interesting week last week for the Bossman. Some good picks that I didn’t follow through on (Florida to cover but not beat Tennessee) and some I absolutely regret (UConn over FIU). Anyway, maybe I will think a little harder before making these picks and not just ALRIGHT HERE WE GO!!!!!!

Boise State (-7) over San Diego State

Troy (-3.5) over WKU

Auburn (+7.5) over Texas A&M (but the Aggies to pull it out)

Temple (+23.5) over Miami (the U will win by about 10)

Duke (-21.5) over UConn

Utah (-4.5) over UCLA

Colorado (+21) over Oregon (but I do have the Ducks winning a fairly close affair)

Ole Miss (+6.5) over Alabama (Bama survives by a field goal)

Tennessee (-21) over UTSA

Wake Forest (-4) over Georgia Tech

Oregon State (-3) over Washington State

Notre Dame (+3) over Ohio State (with the big win)

Iowa (+15) over Penn State (PSU wins in the final minute)

Last I checked, everything is up except for that fact that most of the schedules I look at have FAU-Illinois going to the specialty pack rather than LaTech-Nebraska. I’ll have to watch for that on Saturday.

Look, it could end up being an all-timer of a college football weekend. Let’s hope so. Enjoy the games everyone!

Oh man, here we go again

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!

Realignment: One of college football’s dirtiest words

Realignment. It excites and infuriates people. It has changed college football (and college basketball) forever. Money rules the day as some of these conferences don’t even make sense anymore. The Big Ten will soon have sixteen teams with two of them based in California: thousands of miles away from all the other teams in the conference. The SEC will have sixteen teams and, sorry, Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Missouri really don’t qualify as “Southeastern” unless you are terrible at geography. Don’t even get me started on how the Sun Belt and Conference USA have bungled realignment in the past. At least the Sun Belt a) has Fun Belt football and b) acquired some good programs. Something Conference USA just hasn’t figured out.

I figured, since I’m bored and there’s not a ton to post about and we are about to go into the football dead season (don’t say XFL or USFL), I would make this post on realignment. Don’t run away! I plan to look at realignment the way I would have had it done or what I thought would have made sense. I’m not going to put Texas State in the SEC or anything stupid like that but I will take a thoughtful look at what has happened and what I think should have happened. In some cases, they may be the same! Let’s get started before I regret doing this.

Now I don’t plan on going back to 1962 and say “Well, the Border Conference never should have been disbanded.” Before my time so I don’t really care. I also won’t say the Georgia Tech or Tulane shouldn’t have left the SEC. Of course they shouldn’t have. But they were going to at some point, be it in the mid-60s or even in the 80s. It was going to happen. I will start with a year that is not paramount at all in the minds of realignmentheads but will contain something from earlier in the 80s that many know about…

(WARNING: This will be a very, very long post so strap in.)

1987

Wichita State drops football for good. Akron moves up from Division 1-AA (remember that?) to be an Independent. Nothing big. Oh wait…

Hey, remember the Big East? In football? OK it wasn’t a thing in 1987 but the conference had been formed back in 1979. In ’82, Penn State applied for membership. Georgetown, St. John’s and Villanova voted against the Nittany Lions joining. This would have been on that Freezing Cold Takes Twitter account if it Twitter existed like 30 years ago. If I had been in charge, I would have made sure at least one of those schools changed their vote to include Penn State. And instead of waiting until the 90s, I would have started Big East football in 1987 because why the hell not. So nine Independent schools would form this new conference:

• Penn State, Syracuse, Rutgers, Boston College, Pittsburgh, Miami, Temple, Virginia Tech and West Virginia

Way to go Georgetown, St. John’s and Villanova. Idiots. Also, this means Penn State doesn’t move to the Big Ten in the early 90s.

1989

Louisiana Tech moves up from 1-AA to 1-A as an Independent. Also, SMU returns from the death penalty that, in hindsight, was a terrible move. Either go after more of the schools that had issues (like the entire Southwest Conference) or just ban SMU from bowl games for a bunch of years. What they did set SMU football (and only SMU football) back 20 years. Notice how they have never done it again in football despite the fact they could have easily done it on a few occasions? That’s why.

1991

In one of the biggest moves at the time, Florida State joins the ACC.

1992

Look, I get it. The Southwest Conference was a complete mess for most of its existence. Sure, they had some great football teams but more often than not they were mired in some sort of scandal.

Saying that, I would have done my darndest to keep Arkansas in the SWC. And I wouldn’t have stopped there. Rice, sorry, you gone. There’s no reason to keep you around since you’re terrible in football and not much better in basketball. Yes, it’s one of the top academic schools in the nation and no, I don’t care. They can become an Independent. So at this point, the SWC would look like this:

• Arkansas, Baylor, Texas, Texas A&M, SMU, TCU, Texas Tech, Houston

That’s still a good, competitive conference at this point.

South Carolina, on the other hand, does join the SEC, moving that conference to a somewhat awkward eleven teams. Akron moves to the MAC. Fresno State goes from the Big West to the WAC and Long Beach State drops their football program altogether. To replace LBSU and Fresno, Nevada moves up from 1-AA to 1-A and the Big West. Finally, Arkansas State also moves up from Division 1-AA to Division 1-A as an Independent.

1993

Penn State DOESN’T join the Big Ten since they are part of a better Big East (in my opinion). Cal State-Fullerton becomes the second Big West team in as many years to drop football altogether. Because of this, the Big West went on an invitation spree, bringing in Arkansas State, Louisiana Tech, Northern Illinois and Southwestern Louisiana (which is now just Louisiana), meaning they really had forgot about the West part of their conference name.

1994

Northeast Louisiana moves up from Division 1-AA to 1-A. They are now called ULM. Ho hum.

1995

Another almost-nothing year. North Texas moves to 1-A. Big whoop.

1996

This was a huge year in realignment as the Big XII came into existence, with the Big Eight absorbing four programs from the Southwest Conference. I wouldn’t go that route. I think it would be the reverse. The Southwest Conference keeps their name and absorbs all eight of the Big 8 schools. The new sixteen-team conference would be huge. I just hope they don’t go to pod scheduling. Wait, I’m running things. So no, they won’t go that route. Anywhere from two-to-four yearly opponents with the rest being filled in based on order of finish the previous season, like it should be almost everywhere.

Now, because of this, Conference USA loses one member, Houston. With some foresight, they should have kept the other five teams they had and added Rice, Tulsa, Louisiana Tech (from the Big West) and North Texas. This would give this conference the following:

• Cincinnati, Louisiana Tech, Louisville, Memphis, North Texas, Rice, Southern Miss, Tulane, Tulsa

That’s a pretty good start for a new mid-major conference in football.

The WAC also has to change. See, they now don’t get Rice, SMU, TCU or Tulsa. So time to pick up some other teams. Time to basically fuck the Big West over. Bring in Nevada, Utah State, UNLV and New Mexico State. This would give the conference the following teams:

• BYU, Utah, New Mexico, UTEP, Wyoming, San Diego State, Colorado State, Air Force, Fresno State, San Jose State, Hawaii, UNLV, Nevada, Utah State

That’s a lot of realignment and we aren’t even done yet. The Big West is pretty much ravaged by what the WAC did. Boise State and Idaho move up from 1-AA to 1-A to replace some of the teams but Pacific drops football altogether. The Big West sticks at six teams as Northern Illinois stays in the conference rather than going back to Independent status. Same with Louisiana and Arkansas State although it’s obvious the Big West is on its last legs as a football conference.

Finally, UCF and UAB move from Division 1-AA to 1-A as Independents.

1997

The MAC only gets Northern Illinois (from the Big West) as I would have Marshall head to Conference USA along with East Carolina.

With only five teams remaining, the Big West Conference is dead as it pertains to football. Boise State and San Jose State are invited to the WAC, while the other three teams (Arkansas State, Idaho and Louisiana) become Independents.

1998

Army does not join Conference USA. We all know how that worked out and even at the time, a lot of people thought it was a bad idea.

1999

Yeah sure why not. Let’s form the Mountain West. Arkansas State might as well stay Independent for now. The Big West doesn’t exist and there’s no reason for them to head to the WAC. Buffalo moves up from 1-AA right into the MAC. Middle Tennessee also moves up but as an Independent. Idaho moves into the WAC. Finally, UAB finds a conference home as they head to Conference USA.

2000

Two fairly benign moves: USF and UConn join the Division 1-A Independents from Division 1-AA.

2001

The Big West died (in football) and the Sun Belt started sponsoring football. Thing is, I eliminated the Big West five years ago. So Idaho and New Mexico State, now in the WAC, will not move to the Sun Belt because they don’t have to. Also, Utah State can stay in the WAC now. So the Sun Belt would comprise of Arkansas State, Louisiana, ULM, Middle Tennessee and North Texas, who moves from Conference USA. They bring in Troy State so the Trojans aren’t an Independent.

2002

Another skipped move: UCF just doesn’t bother joining the MAC because it’s the fucking MAC and they don’t need a team in Florida. Instead they just move to Conference USA a year early.

2003

Utah State doesn’t move to the Sun Belt because WHY? They are in the WAC and they can stay there. USF does, however, move. They head to Conference USA to join brother UCF.

2004

Oh baby here we go. Miami and Virginia Tech will NOT be moving to the ACC! They will stay in the Big East as UConn joins. I mean we don’t get ACC Coastal Chaos but I think we can live without it.

Florida Atlantic and Florida International transition up from Division 1-AA to Independent status.

2005

This leads us to the next year where Boston College also doesn’t leave for the ACC. And with Cincinnati, Louisville and USF joining the Big East, it is becoming quite the conference. TCU doesn’t go to the Mountain West because they are already in the Southwest Conference which has weathered the storm until now. SMU also stays in the SWC and doesn’t move to Conference USA. UTEP does move from the WAC to Conference USA as it makes a bit more sense for them. FAU and FIU, one year after joining Division 1-A, move to the Sun Belt Conference. Finally, Temple does not get dropped from the Big East despite their terrible football program. I’m doing a lot of nothing with this which I am sure people will find actually refreshing. I’m sure that will change soon.

2008

WKU joins Division 1-A. I’m just going to put them right in the Sun Belt.

2011

Things were quiet for almost six years. Then the big bang hit in college football and everything went haywire went it came to the conferences and realignment. Will this be the same in Bossman’s Realignmentpalooza? No.

First off, Nebraska does leave for the Big Ten. Since Penn State never went to the Big Ten back in the 90s, this puts the new Big Ten at eleven teams. To make it even, they also invite KANSAS! Yes, I am serious. Kansas wasn’t too far from a few seasons of great football. And their basketball team was awesome as always. So this makes a lot of sense.

As for the Pac-10, they decided they wanted to bring in six schools from the Big XII. Instead, they will bring in those same six schools from the SWC: Colorado, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech. This also means Utah does not join the now Pac-16 conference.

The SWC is now down to eight schools and, chances are, would lose their automatic BCS bowl bid. With a roster of Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas State, Missouri, TCU, Houston, SMU and Arkansas they can’t make a claim to be worthy of one now. And because of that, Arkansas finally accepts the SEC’s overtures and heads there, dropping the SWC to a seven-team conference.

The trickle down effect was in play. Utah stayed in the Mountain West and was joined by Boise State. BYU also doesn’t leave the Mountain West for Independence at this point.

2012

Another crazy year in realignment that won’t be as crazy when I’m done with it. First off, Texas A&M won’t move to the SEC since they are happy in the somewhat new Pac-16. West Virginia also doesn’t move to the SWC since it would be even more ridiculous than their current move there is (although with Cincinnati in the fold it now makes more sense). Fresno State, Hawaii and Nevada leave the WAC for the Mountain West as it happened in real life. This leaves the WAC with four teams (New Mexico State, San Jose State, Idaho and Utah State). Texas State and UTSA joined to make six. For now, this leaves the WAC as a football conference…but barely.

Oh and Missouri does not go the SEC. I still believe this makes absolutely no sense. For now they stay in the SWC but it won’t be for long.

South Alabama moves up from an FCS Independent right to the Sun Belt conference.

Finally, UMass does not join the MAC. Another weird move by the MAC that doesn’t make sense now and didn’t back then.

2013

First of all, no American Conference. It’s still the Big East. If the basketball schools don’t like it, they can fuck off for the Patriot League or whatever. Also, Pitt and Syracuse do not leave the Big East for the ACC.

Now this becomes an issue because some schools were slated to head to the new American Conference. This is how I would plan to deal with this. Houston and SMU, instead of going to the AAC, stay in the Southwest Conference. They are joined by Memphis, who leaves C-USA for the SWC.

Remember TCU, Boise State and San Diego State heading to the Big East/American? I don’t see that happening now. Instead, Boise State and San Diego State head to the SWC.

San Jose State and Utah State put the final nail in the WAC football coffin by accepting bids to the Mountain West. Idaho and New Mexico State are, once again, Independent teams. Texas State heads to the Sun Belt with UTSA going to Conference USA.

UCF heads to the Big East (not American). Then Conference USA raids the Sun Belt for four teams: FAU, FIU, Middle Tennessee and North Texas. Finally, the Sun Belt reloads, kind of, by accepting Georgia State from FCS.

2014

Louisville does decide to leave the Big East for the ACC. A bit surprising but I feel they belong there a bit better than the Big East.

I know the Big Ten wants to expand into new markets. But it won’t be happening in New York and Washington as Rutgers and Maryland do not leave their current conferences. They’ve been outliers since they moved there so I want to rectify that issue.

East Carolina heads to the Big East. An odd fit but between that and Conference USA, no one conference is a perfect fit for them so might as well move them up, so to speak. Tulane and Tulsa, on the other hand, do not go to the Big East. They head to the SWC, which is finally renamed the Big XII.

Conference USA backfills their losses with WKU from the Sun Belt and Old Dominion from FCS. After that, Appalachian State and Georgia Southern head to the Sun Belt from the FCS. Idaho and New Mexico State stay right where they are as Independents.

2015

The big happening in 2015 was UAB shuttering their football program. I am here to say it won’t happen! I don’t know how I would make that happen but I’ll figure something out.

Navy joins the Big East, ending over 100 years of Independent football and Charlotte transitions to FBS by joining Conference USA.

2017

One item: Coastal Carolina joins the Sun Belt from FCS.

2018

Poor Idaho. You would have thought they could have stayed up in FBS but it wasn’t to be. The Mountain West, the one conference it made sense for them to be in, didn’t want them. And the Sun Belt, which had them in reality for a few years, might as well have been on the moon compared to where they were situated. So they are gone to FCS, probably never to return.

In actuality, Liberty replaced them as an Independent. I’m just moving them straight to Conference USA instead. Take out the middle man.

2021

I’m not including any COVID-related moves like Notre Dame being in the ACC for one season (and almost winning the conference title).

UConn left the American to go back to the basketball-oriented Big East. In my world, that doesn’t happen. Actually, nothing happens at all here because the next year, the realignment bubble doesn’t burst: it gets blown up. So I have to put new pieces together in a brand new puzzle to make it work. Should be fun right?

2022

Who’s idea was this? Good lord. At least now we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

This season had some movement but at the low end of FBS. James Madison, an FCS powerhouse, finally moved up to FBS and joined the Sun Belt. Joining them would be three Conference USA teams: Marshall, Old Dominion and Southern Miss.

Now, if you have read my blog before, you know how I feel about the Sun Belt and Conference USA. I find them to be unwieldy conferences with massive geographical footprints that, especially in C-USA’s case, make no sense. I plan on fixing it but not this year. Let the new teams breathe in their new conference before I blow things up with enough C-4 to level a city.

2023

Alright, let’s blow shit up.

Let’s start with the SEC which has been left behind a bit in my version of realignment. Consistency was the name of the game in the conference where it just means more. Well now they get the infusion they always hoped for. Sorry ACC. Sorry Big East. It was bound to happen. The SEC invites Florida State, Miami, Georgia Tech and Clemson. They finally have attained that superconference status.

The ACC is gutted but won’t be for long. We will get to that in a bit.

The Big XII gets an infusion of teams as well. BYU, from the Mountain West, along with Cincinnati and UCF from the Big East, move to the Big XII. Because Houston was already in the Big XII, they now sit at fifteen teams. Not the best idea, especially for scheduling purposes. So they invite one more team: Utah. After missing out on the Pac-10/12/16/whatever years ago, they finally get into a power conference and deservedly so.

Hey remember what I said way back at the start. You know, the point about Penn State not going to the Big Ten. Well, it’s time they moved. With the Big East losing some teams and some conference strength, it’s time for the Nittany Lions to move up. They will bring with them Pittsburgh. Sure it’s not a brand new market but it gives PSU a travel partner and doesn’t go too far outside the current Big Ten geographic footprint, something I find important (although college sports most definitely does not).

New Mexico State gets a conference home again when they move to Conference USA. They are joined by Sam Houston and Jacksonville State who move up from FCS.

Done for this coming season but wait, there’s more!

2024

You really think I would have USC and UCLA go to the Big Ten? Fuck that noise. What I will be doing, however, is rather seismic.

The ACC is going to raid the Big East yet again. With only seven teams for the 2023 season, they were looking like a sorry-ass football conference. So they take Boston College, Rutgers, Syracuse, UConn, Virginia Tech and West Virginia from the Big East. I’m not a fan of odd-numbered conferences, so they also pluck UCF from the Big XII.

Now we start the trickle-down effect. The Big XII (now Big XVI) will take Colorado State from the Mountain West. The Mountain West responds by grabbing New Mexico State from Conference USA.

And then, the coup de grace. I am going to totally remake Conference USA and the Sun Belt and finally put the nail in the coffin of Big East football, all in one fell swoop. This is how it will work (pay close attention):

• Conference USA will be the western-most conference of the two with the Sun Belt being the eastern-most. Why did I do this? Who knows.
• All four former Big East teams (East Carolina, Navy, Temple and USF) join the Sun Belt.
• Arkansas State, Louisiana, South Alabama, Southern Miss, Texas State, Troy and ULM move from the Sun Belt to Conference USA.
• Then Charlotte, FAU, FIU, Liberty and WKU move from Conference USA to the Sun Belt.

Look at that; two sixteen-team conferences that have a tighter geographic footprint. Makes travel easier and fosters better rivalries. Like college sports had been like for DECADES. Oh and if Louisiana Tech complains even once about being in the same conference as Louisiana or ULM they can be sent to FCS for all I care.

Alright, so now I bet you want to know what this all looks like. So here it is, in chart form with NO DIVISONS because divisions suck:

SEC	Big Ten	Pac-16	ACC	Big XVI
Alabama	Illinois	Arizona	Boston College	Baylor
Arkansas	Indiana	Arizona State	Duke	Boise State
Auburn	Iowa	California	Louisville	BYU
Clemson	Kansas	Colorado	Maryland	Cincinnati
Florida	Michigan	Oklahoma	NC State	Colorado State
Florida State	Michigan State	Oklahoma State	North Carolina	Houston
Georgia	Minnesota	Oregon	Rutgers	Iowa State
Georgia Tech	Nebraska	Oregon State	Syracuse	Kansas State
Kentucky	Northwestern	Stanford	UCF	Memphis
LSU	Ohio State	Texas	UConn	Missouri
Miami	Penn State	Texas A&M	Virginia	San Diego State
Mississippi State	Pittsburgh	Texas Tech	Virginia Tech	SMU
Ole Miss	Purdue	UCLA	Wake Forest	TCU
South Carolina	Wisconsin	USC	West Virginia	Tulane
Tennessee		Washington		Tulsa
Vanderbilt		Washington State		Utah
Mountain West	MAC	Sun Belt	Conference USA	Independents
Air Force	Akron	Appalachian State	Arkansas State	Army
Fresno State	Ball State	Charlotte	Jacksonville State	Notre Dame
Hawaii	Bowling Green	Coastal Carolina	Louisiana	UMass
Nevada	Buffalo	East Carolina	Louisiana Tech
New Mexico	Central Michigan	FAU	Middle Tennessee
New Mexico State	Eastern Michigan	FIU	North Texas
San Jose State	Kent State	Georgia Southern	Rice
UNLV	Miami-OH	Georgia State	Sam Houston
Utah State	Northern Illinois	James Madison	South Alabama
Wyoming	Ohio	Liberty	Southern Miss
	Toledo	Marshall	Texas State
	Western Michigan	Navy	Troy
		Old Dominion	UAB
		Temple	ULM
		USF	UTEP
		WKU	UTSA

Holy crap that took forever. But look at those conferences. I think they look way better than what we will see in reality, if I do say so myself. And if another team is moving up from FCS, they may just have to be an Independent for the near future…dammit Kennesaw State is moving up in 2024? Nope, not anymore. Not in Bossman’s realignment. I’m done.

Ridiculous Poll n’ Bowl? Sure, why not!

Remember last year when I did my own version of Poll n’ Bowl? No? Well if you want, click on the link and refresh your memory. Or don’t. I don’t give a shit.

It’s all about taking this exercise back to the sport’s roots…sort of. Back when there weren’t even conference championships. Hell, some conferences couldn’t even do proper conference schedules. It was a wacky time in college football for sure and if it was like that now, social media would have a field day with it. More so than now. Guaranteed. So let’s get started with version 2 of this…whatever you want to call it. Well version 2 may not make sense since this will be a bit more ridiculous than last year’s version.

The math was done the first time I did this exercise. I figured out about a third of teams would get into a bowl game which is much less than today. So this meant after much mathing I determined that 8 wins would qualify you for a bowl game. Yes, this makes qualification more difficult, especially for Group of Five teams, but that is the way it was in the Poll n’ Bowl era where there were as many games on ESPN as there were on the Mizlou Network, which I still believe may have been made up for the sole purpose of broadcasting two bowl games every year. What does this all mean? 23 bowl games. 46 teams. That’s what I’m doing. You want more bowl games? Don’t live in 1987.

Which leads me to the next point. ESPN isn’t getting all the bowl games. Not even close. Why? Because that’s the way it was back then (I’m using the 80s for the back then reference for the most part here). So yeah, the Rose and Sugar go back to ABC, period.

Oh and all those bowl games you (supposedly) love these days? Most of them are gone. Some will stay. This is one way I am not going totally retro as there are some games that need to stay because they’ve become a big part of Bowl Season. Also, some of the sponsors will change. Some will revert to older ones, some will stay the same. Some will even be updated from previous sponsors.

Of course the bowl tie-ins will be shifted…in some cases, dramatically. Some will revert to the way it was (or still kind of is). Like the Rose Bowl who will get the Big Ten and Pac-12 champions. That will endure. Some other tie-ins though will hit the road.

One more thing…I am doing a plus-one. It should have been done years ago and who knows how much that would have changed the landscape (quite a bit I think). No split championships at the very least and some huge debates answered on the field.

Alright, enough talk (text?). Time for the structure. Here it is.

January 9th	8:00	National Championship	ESPN	#1	#2
January 2nd	8:00	Nokia Sugar Bowl	ABC	SEC Champ	at-large
January 2nd	4:30	Sony Playstation 5 Rose Bowl	ABC	Big Ten Champ	Pac-12 Champ
January 2nd	1:00	Mobil Cotton Bowl	ABC	Big XII Champ	at-large
December 31st	7:00	FedEx Orange Bowl	NBC	ACC Champ	SEC
December 31st	3:30	Tostitos Fiesta Bowl	NBC	at-large	at-large
December 31st	Noon	Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl	ESPN	ACC	at-large
December 30th	10:30	Sea World Holiday Bowl	ESPN	Pac-12	Big Ten
December 30th	7:00	Outback Gator Bowl	NBC	Big Ten	SEC
December 30th	2:30	Taco Bell Sun Bowl	CBS	Big XII	at-large
December 30th	Noon	Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl	ABC	ACC	at-large
December 29th	4:30	St. Jude Liberty Bowl	FOX	American Champ	at-large
December 29th	Noon	Poulan Weed Eater Independence Bowl	ESPN	American	at-large
December 28th	9:00	Cheez-It Bowl	ESPN	Pac-12	at-large
December 27th	9:00	EA Sports Las Vegas Bowl	ESPN	MWC Champ	at-large
December 26th	4:00	Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl	ESPN	MWC	at-large
December 24th	8:30	Sheraton Hawaii Bowl	ESPN	at-large	at-large
December 23rd	7:00	Duke’s Mayo Bowl	CBS	at-large	at-large
December 21st	8:00	Papa John’s Bowl	ESPN	C-USA Champ	at-large
December 20th	9:00	Gildan New Mexico Bowl	ESPN	at-large	at-large
December 17th	10:30	In N’ Out California Bowl	ESPN	at-large	at-large
December 17th	7:00	Whataburger Bluebonnet Bowl	ABC	Big XII	at-large
December 17th	3:30	Little Caesars Pizza Bowl	ABC	MAC Champ	at-large
December 17th	Noon	Beef O’ Brady’s Bowl	FOX	Sun Belt Champ	at-large

Does this look a lot different? I told you so. Way more at-large bids, only one bid for three of the conferences and many more networks joining in the bowl game fun. The most fun change? The sponsors. Some highlights:

• “This one is for all the Tostitos!” Of course Tostitos is back as the Fiesta Bowl sponsor.
• Old school sponsors like Nokia and Mobil are back for the Sugar and Cotton Bowls, respectively. I have updated the Rose Bowl since you can’t have it sponsored by Sony Playstation 2 so it’s now sponsored by Sony Playstation 5.
• We need Outback Steakhouse back as a sponsor. They go back to being the Gator Bowl sponsor.
• Fuck it, let’s go all in with the stereotypes. Imagine Taco Bell sponsoring the Sun Bowl? Yeah you can imagine they would market the absolute shit out of it.
• Buffalo Wild Wings is also back. We lost our Buffalo Wild Wings here a few months back. I’m still sad about that.
• The ridiculous Poulan Weed Eater Independence Bowl has returned.
• The Duke’s Mayo Bowl gets to make the cut with the old boys. Why? The coach gets a bucket of mayo dumped on him if he wins. That is fun. Bowls are supposed to be fun.
• I’ve also made the first day a virtual foodies bowl day. Beef O God Damn Brady’s is back along with Little Caesars. Joining them are newcomers Whataburger and In N’ Out. If you don’t get hungry at some point watching these bowls, I don’t know what’s wrong with you since there certainly is something wrong.

Now the biggest difference is that now we only have a few Independent teams whereas back in the 80s there was regularly 20+ teams not in a conference. With a ton of at-large bids this becomes tough to manage. Last year when I did this exercise, I started at the top and worked my way down. That works. But that’s not game show-y enough for me. Oh no. Instead I will tier the bowls as follows:

• Tier 1 – Current New Year’s Six bowls
• Tier 2 – Post-Christmas Bowls
• Tier 3 – Pre-Christmas Bowls

How this will work is that all the at-large spots for Tier 1 will go in a pot/bowl/hat/whatever. Out of the eligible at-large teams, the bowl games will be selected at random and they will pick at-large teams until all the slots have been filled. Then we will move to the Tier 2 bowls and then finally the tier 3 ones. This way, the bowls near the end of Bowl Season will still be huge no matter what at-large teams get in there. It sounds convoluted and probably is but here goes nothing.

First, let’s look at the current Tier 1 bowls with teams filled in their proper spots so far:

Nokia Sugar Bowl	SEC Champ	at-large	#1 Georgia
Sony Playstation 5 Rose Bowl	Big Ten Champ	Pac-12 Champ	#2 Michigan	#8 Utah
Mobil Cotton Bowl	Big XII Champ	at-large	#9 Kansas State
FedEx Orange Bowl	ACC Champ	SEC	#7 Clemson	#5 Alabama
Tostitos Fiesta Bowl	at-large	at-large
Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl	ACC	at-large	#13 Florida State

A random drawing is held and this is the order of the draw with the team they end up selecting:

• Fiesta – TCU
• Sugar – Ohio State
• Peach – Tennessee
• Cotton – USC
• Fiesta – Washington

So that gives us this for the tier 1 bowl games (the current New Year’s Six):

Nokia Sugar Bowl	SEC Champ	at-large	#1 Georgia	#4 Ohio State
Sony Playstation 5 Rose Bowl	Big Ten Champ	Pac-12 Champ	#2 Michigan	#8 Utah
Mobil Cotton Bowl	Big XII Champ	at-large	#9 Kansas State	#10 USC
FedEx Orange Bowl	ACC Champ	SEC	#7 Clemson	#5 Alabama
Tostitos Fiesta Bowl	at-large	at-large	#3 TCU	#12 Washington
Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl	ACC	at-large	#13 Florida State	#6 Tennessee

Interesting so far. It also means, potentially, that four of these bowl games will be in the running to get to the final two teams for the national championship.

Now, the next tier of bowl games. By the way, this is all being done like my fixing the bowls and postseason posts. A lot like March Madness where you see teams sitting in gymnasiums/auditoriums/stadiums/cafeterias/food courts/open field/median of a highway waiting to see where they will go. Adds to the excitement of it all if you ask me.

Sea World Holiday Bowl	Pac-12	Big Ten	#14 Oregon State	#11 Penn State
Outback Gator Bowl	Big Ten	SEC	Purdue	#17 LSU
Taco Bell Sun Bowl	Big XII	at-large	#20 Texas
Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl	ACC	at-large	#23 NC State
St. Jude Liberty Bowl	American Champ	at-large	#16 Tulane
Poulan Weed Eater Independence Bowl	American	at-large	UCF
Cheez-It Bowl	Pac-12	at-large	#15 Oregon
EA Sports Las Vegas Bowl	MWC Champ	at-large	Fresno State
Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl	MWC	at-large	Boise State

Here is the LIVE second tier selection, not hosted by Greg Gumbel (although hiring him just for this would be worth the money, in my opinion):

• Las Vegas – UCLA
• Cheez-It – Notre Dame
• Sun – UTSA
• Independence – Mississippi State
• Citrus – South Carolina
• Humanitarian – North Carolina
• Liberty – Ole Miss

That gives us these matchups:

Sea World Holiday Bowl	Pac-12	Big Ten	#14 Oregon State	#11 Penn State
Outback Gator Bowl	Big Ten	SEC	Purdue	#17 LSU
Taco Bell Sun Bowl	Big XII	at-large	#20 Texas	#25 UTSA
Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl	ACC	at-large	#23 NC State	#19 South Carolina
St. Jude Liberty Bowl	American Champ	at-large	#16 Tulane	Ole Miss
Poulan Weed Eater Independence Bowl	American	at-large	UCF	#22 Mississippi State
Cheez-It Bowl	Pac-12	at-large	#15 Oregon	#21 Notre Dame
EA Sports Las Vegas Bowl	MWC Champ	at-large	Fresno State	#18 UCLA
Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl	MWC	at-large	Boise State	North Carolina

Some more good matchups here with the Oregon State-PSU and Oregon-ND games the most intriguing. Also, since the Sun Bowl picked up UTSA, the next best Conference USA team would pick up the Papa John’s Bowl bid, as long as they qualify.

Finally, we have hit the final tier. This is where things get interesting. All the eight-win teams must be selected before we dip into the disgusting seven-win teams. This makes the random draw that much more fun (or not so fun depending on the bowl committee). Here is what we have for the Tier 3 (it’s not much):

Sheraton Hawaii Bowl	at-large	at-large
Duke’s Mayo Bowl	at-large	at-large
Papa John’s Bowl	C-USA Champ	at-large	WKU
Gildan New Mexico Bowl	at-large	at-large
In N’ Out California Bowl	at-large	at-large
Whataburger Bluebonnet Bowl	Big XII	at-large
Little Caesars Pizza Bowl	MAC Champ	at-large	Toledo
Beef O’ Brady’s Bowl	Sun Belt Champ	at-large	#24 Troy

The Big XII does not have another eight-win team so, for now, that becomes an at-large spot. Also, even though Toledo didn’t win eight games during the regular season, their MAC Championship win qualified them for the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl spot.

Let’s go to the final draw with a lot of at-large tie-ins to fill:

• Hawaii – James Madison
• California – Illinois
• Duke’s Mayo – Duke (of course)
• Hawaii – Minnesota
• New Mexico – Pittsburgh
• Beef O’ Brady’s – Air Force
• Duke’s Mayo – Coastal Carolina
• California – South Alabama
• Bluebonnet – Marshall
• New Mexico – Ohio
• Little Caesars – Liberty
• Papa John’s – Eastern Michigan

One bowl slot left and no eight-win teams remaining. Somehow the draw has the Bluebonnet Bowl picking last which means they can now pick a seven-win Big XII team. They would, grabbing Texas Tech.

Alright, here is the complete bowl game schedule:

January 9th	8:00	National Championship	ESPN	#1	#2
January 2nd	8:00	Nokia Sugar Bowl	ABC	SEC Champ	at-large	#1 Georgia	#4 Ohio State
January 2nd	4:30	Sony Playstation 5 Rose Bowl	ABC	Big Ten Champ	Pac-12 Champ	#2 Michigan	#8 Utah
January 2nd	1:00	Mobil Cotton Bowl	ABC	Big XII Champ	at-large	#9 Kansas State	#10 USC
December 31st	7:00	FedEx Orange Bowl	NBC	ACC Champ	SEC	#7 Clemson	#5 Alabama
December 31st	3:30	Tostitos Fiesta Bowl	NBC	at-large	at-large	#3 TCU	#12 Washington
December 31st	Noon	Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl	ESPN	ACC	at-large	#13 Florida State	#6 Tennessee
December 30th	10:30	Sea World Holiday Bowl	ESPN	Pac-12	Big Ten	#14 Oregon State	#11 Penn State
December 30th	7:00	Outback Gator Bowl	NBC	Big Ten	SEC	Purdue	#17 LSU
December 30th	2:30	Taco Bell Sun Bowl	CBS	Big XII	at-large	#20 Texas	#25 UTSA
December 30th	Noon	Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl	ABC	ACC	at-large	#23 NC State	#19 South Carolina
December 29th	4:30	St. Jude Liberty Bowl	FOX	American Champ	at-large	#16 Tulane	Ole Miss
December 29th	Noon	Poulan Weed Eater Independence Bowl	ESPN	American	at-large	UCF	#22 Mississippi State
December 28th	9:00	Cheez-It Bowl	ESPN	Pac-12	at-large	#15 Oregon	#21 Notre Dame
December 27th	9:00	EA Sports Las Vegas Bowl	ESPN	MWC Champ	at-large	Fresno State	#18 UCLA
December 26th	4:00	Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl	ESPN	MWC	at-large	Boise State	North Carolina
December 24th	8:30	Sheraton Hawaii Bowl	ESPN	at-large	at-large	Minnesota	James Madison
December 23rd	7:00	Duke’s Mayo Bowl	CBS	at-large	at-large	Duke	Coastal Carolina
December 21st	8:00	Papa John’s Bowl	ESPN	C-USA Champ	at-large	WKU	Eastern Michigan
December 20th	9:00	Gildan New Mexico Bowl	ESPN	at-large	at-large	Ohio	Pittsburgh
December 17th	10:30	In N’ Out California Bowl	ESPN	at-large	at-large	Illinois	South Alabama
December 17th	7:00	Whataburger Bluebonnet Bowl	ABC	Big XII	at-large	Texas Tech	Marshall
December 17th	3:30	Little Caesars Pizza Bowl	ABC	MAC Champ	at-large	Toledo	Liberty
December 17th	Noon	Beef O’ Brady’s Bowl	FOX	Sun Belt Champ	at-large	#24 Troy	Air Force

So how do we get to the National Championship Plus-One Game from here? The scenarios:

• Georgia is in if they win the Sugar Bowl.
• Michigan is in if they win the Rose Bowl.
• TCU is in if they win the Fiesta Bowl AND (Georgia loses the Sugar Bowl OR Michigan loses the Rose Bowl).
• Ohio State is in if they win the Sugar Bowl AND (Michigan loses the Rose Bowl OR TCU loses the Fiesta Bowl).
• Alabama is in if they win the Orange Bowl AND (Ohio State wins the Sugar Bowl AND Michigan loses the Rose Bowl AND TCU loses the Fiesta Bowl.

Now there is a scenario (I think) where either Tennessee or Clemson could get in. They would have to win and hope for chaos above them (i.e. Ohio State, Michigan and TCU losing) and the other team in this scenario losing (so for Tennessee to get in the Tigers would have to lose and vice versa). And I believe that’s it for the scenarios unless the voters decide to smoke crack during their discussions.

Is this better or worse? Who knows but one thing I do know is that this year’s bowl season delivered! Tough to name a better overall bowl season in the last couple decades. I will say that the Poll n’ Bowl era really screwed up by not implementing the Plus-One which could have allowed us to at least avoid the dumb Bowl Alliance setup. The BCS/College Football Playoff was going to be a part of the college football lexicon at some point but who knows if the BCS starts when it does if the Plus-One had been around. It’s all a moot point now with a 12-team playoff gracing us after next season.

We are getting close to the end folks. This coming weekend is the final week of the NFL regular season, the FCS Championship and then, on Monday night, the College Football Playoff National Championship. Soak it in everyone!

Injuries, Injuries, Injuries…and the Week 7 College Football TV Schedule

It happens every year. Some of the best college players get injured and teams have to go without them for a game up to an entire season. Here’s a short list of just some of the players who have gone down to injury so far this season:

• Bryce Young (Alabama) – Injured his shoulder this past Saturday and is questionable for the most important game of the year so far (vs. Tennessee).
• Zach Calzada (Auburn) – A shoulder injury against Missouri has knocked Calzada out for the rest of the season.
• Charlie Brewer (Liberty) – Had issues with his thumb in their opener against Southern Miss and has had surgery to repair it. Could be back in a couple weeks.
• Cade McNamara (Michigan) – A leg injury could have McNamara out for the season.
• Chris Autman-Bell (Minnesota) – All that is known is that he had a lower-body injury that he sustained in the Gophers’ victory over Colorado that will sideline him for the rest of the season.
• Tyler Buchner (Notre Dame) – The man who was supposed to start for the Irish has been knocked out for the season with a joint sprain in his shoulder.
• Cedric Tillman (Tennessee) – The Vols wide receiver might return before the end of October if his ankle is strong enough.

Hell it’s got to the point that injuries are being reported that the players are denying. There was a report that Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels would be out for the season with a shoulder injury: a report that Daniels thought was interesting and news to him. He’s still doubtful for the Jayhawks’ next game but he is disputing that he would be done for the season.

Also, there are some teams that are suffering because of the sheer amount of injuries. Want to know why Wisconsin might not be as good as had been advertised? Currently they have seventeen players out with injuries. Seventeen. Good god.

Part of the point of all this is to say football is a contact sport. Players will get hurt. So for the powers that be to essentially want to add games to the schedule makes the season more of a war of attrition than anything. Until North Dakota State started their run of FCS championships, that’s what the FCS playoffs was. The healthiest team won and they were almost never the best (or second-best or third-best or fourth-best, etc.) team going in. And we know what college football media can be like. They will be all over the injury angle if, say, the top three teams in an expanded College Football Playoff don’t win it all because of injuries to important players. It’ll happen. You just watch.

OK that was enough of a rant. Time for what you came here for. Some hot college football schedule action. Or more like slightly warm since the weather has started to change.

Wednesday

		US	Canada
Louisiana at Marshall	7:30 PM

Hey, we have our first instance of Fun Belt football this season! I figured both of these teams would be better than they have been so far. Marshall is trying to make a name for itself in its first season in the Sun Belt, whereas Louisiana is trying their hardest to get back to the Sun Belt Championship for a fourth consecutive time.

Thursday

		US	Canada
Temple at UCF	7:00 PM
Baylor at West Virginia	7:00 PM

Neither of these games should be close; however, we know what Thursday Night Football has been like so far this season so pick your poison.

Friday

		US	Canada
Brown at Princeton	7:00 PM
Navy at SMU	7:30 PM
UTSA at FIU	8:00 PM

Woof. This is….technically a schedule with three football games on it. Hopefully one of them is close.

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
Iowa State at #22 Texas	Noon
Minnesota at #24 Illinois	Noon
Colgate at Army	Noon
Auburn at #9 Ole Miss	Noon
#19 Kansas at Oklahoma	Noon
Old Dominion at Coastal Carolina	Noon
#10 Penn State at #5 Michigan	Noon

Alright now this is what I’m talking about. If there was a ever a need for a college football-style RedZone channel, this would be the week for it. The sheer amount of good-to-great games this week is staggering. And it starts here with PSU-Michigan in a massive Big Ten East game. Kansas gets to prove that they really are for real this season against an average Sooners team. And how about Coastal Carolina? It may be the first of a bunch of national games for them if they keep winning.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
California at Colorado	2:00 PM
#8 Oklahoma State at #13 TCU	3:30 PM
#15 NC State at #18 Syracuse	3:30 PM
#3 Alabama at #6 Tennessee	3:30 PM
Ohio at Western Michigan	3:30 PM
Arkansas at BYU	3:30 PM
Maryland at Indiana	3:30 PM
Vanderbilt at #1 Georgia	3:30 PM
Tulane at USF	4:00 PM
Wisconsin at Michigan State	4:00 PM
Arizona at Washington	5:30 PM

Great early schedule is followed by an even better afternoon schedule, if you can believe it. I guess you could say the highlight is Bama-UT but you also have the Pokes and Horned Frogs as well. Undefeated teams falling everywhere by force! The fact that NC State-Syracuse is on the ACC Network has made no one bat an eye. Normally, people would be a bit outraged by this. But there’s nothing you can do about it. That’s how good this schedule is in this timeslot. Oh and Vandy-UGA might be essentially over by 4:15 if you are a sadist.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Utah State at Colorado State	7:00 PM
LSU at Florida	7:00 PM
ULM at South Alabama	7:00 PM
#4 Clemson at Florida State	7:30 PM
Nebraska at Purdue	7:30 PM
Memphis at East Carolina	7:30 PM
Stanford at Notre Dame	7:30 PM
#16 Mississippi State at #22 Kentucky	7:30 PM
North Carolina at Duke	8:00 PM
#7 USC at #20 Utah	8:00 PM

And then we have yet another huge game. The Trojans get a huge test heading to Utah. Win this and they might be headed for a Victory Bell showdown with UCLA that has CFP implications. Maybe Florida State can prove something against Clemson and upset the ACC apple cart while doing it.

One game I am looking forward to is the battle for first place in the Big Ten West between…Nebraska and Purdue? Yep! Oh my. Oh and who thought putting Stanford and Notre Dame in primetime was a good idea?

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
Washington State at Oregon State	9:00 PM
Air Force at UNLV	10:30 PM

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd the week ends with a thud. I guess there’s always a Hawaii Test if you feel the need to stay up extremely late.

Big Games O’ The Week

Alabama at Tennessee (3:30, CBS) – So many games could be the Game of the Week but I went with this one mostly because the Vols are really good and if Bryce Young doesn’t end up playing, this is ripe for a huge upset. If you had said at the start of the season that there was even a possibility of an undefeated Georgia having to beat an undefeated Tennessee to win the SEC East I would have laughed. Well, who’s laughing now? Uh…not me, I guess. Bama doesn’t want to lose because it brings all the teams that are essentially eliminated in the SEC West back into play along with Ole Miss who is nipping at their heels. Huge stakes.

Penn State at Michigan (Noon, FOX) – Let’s call it 1B to Bama-Tennessee’s 1A. Or more like 1E because it is a bit down the list from that game. Luckily it’s in the Big Noon Saturday spot…or more like Big Blue Saturday. Seriously, what is FOX’s deal with Michigan? They in love or something? Anyway, winner faces Ohio State for the Big Ten East title. Loser, though, is still not out of the race for, well, anything really.

Oklahoma State at TCU (3:30, ABC/TSN2) – I am praying for people who have to rely on their PVR this weekend. Decisions, decisions. Who would have thought there would be three games between undefeated teams this week. Nobody. Especially this game. Realistically, this could end up being a Big XII Championship preview if things shake out right for both teams. Either way, big New Year’s Six implications with this one.

USC at Utah (8:00, FOX) – For the first time in quite a while, USC is in a game that truly matters. The Utes are used to these kinds of games now and the MUSS is no joke for visiting teams. The Trojans can continue to drive a final stake in the Pac-12 heart with a win here. Poor Conference of Champions.

NC State at Syracuse (3:30, specialty pack) – The Wolfpack’s only loss is to Clemson and the Orange have made it through the first part of their schedule unscathed. The winner here still has a shot at usurping Clemson at the top of the ACC Atlantic, especially Syracuse. I don’t know if either team is ready for College Football Playoff conversation but it will be there for the winner.

Mississippi State at Kentucky (7:30, specialty pack) – The Wildcats have stumbled a bit since their hot start while MSU is soaring under Mike Leach as Will Rogers throws the ball like fifty times a game. At some point Rogers’ arm will fall clean off but until then, Leach will ride him as the captain of the offense. If the Bulldogs can win this one, is a New Year’s Six spot in their future? They will be in the conversation for sure.

Minnesota at Illinois (Noon, Big Ten Network) – The Illini in the Games of the Week list? Wow, this year has been crazy but this might be over the top. A win here and Bert’s Boys would be the odds-on favourite to win the Big Ten West and get absolutely slaughtered by whoever wins the Big Ten East. Fun times. I can’t wait for divisions to be abolished for good.

Clemson at Florida State (7:30, ABC/TSN2) – Holy crap we’re still going with this. So many good games. Now, to be honest, this might not be as good as the rest on this list but if the Noles decide to show up and cause problems, you never know. This could cause the greatest earthquake in the rankings if FSU pulls off the upset.

Psycho Game of the Week

California at Colorado (2:00, Pac-12 Network) – Good lord, why would you torture yourself with this? I mean with this game you have to put forth more effort to even watch it. This is definitely for psychos.

Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week

UTSA at FIU (Friday, 8:00, CBS Sports Network) – Most would put Vandy-Georgia in this spot but may I present to you this affair. UTSA is a good Group of Five team. FIU, despite winning two games this season, is not a good team. At all. The Roadrunners will make the Golden Panthers look like then Wile E. Coyotes in this one.

Fun-Time Stats of the Week

• Nick Saban is 15-0 vs. Tennessee.
• Mack Brown has won 11 straight Victory Bells over Duke during his two stints at North Carolina.
• Oklahoma has won 17 straight games over Kansas but has failed to cover the spread in three of the last four meetings.

The Degenerate Portion of Our Show

Oh god I picked Oklahoma last week to win. OK let’s just get going on this week’s picks. I can’t believe I did that.

• Baylor (-3.5) over West Virginia
• Coastal Carolina (-12) over Old Dominion
• Michigan (-7) over Penn State
• Ole Miss (-14.5) over Auburn
• Maryland (-11.5) over Indiana
• BYU (+1.5) over Arkansas (and the outright victory)
• Michigan State (+7.5) over Wisconsin (and the upset!)
• Washington (-14) over Arizona
• ULM (+17) over South Alabama (but the Jaguars will win a close one)
• Kentucky (+4) over Mississippi State (and the win!)
• Nebraska (+14) over Purdue (but the Boilermakers will win the game)
• North Carolina (-7) over Duke
• UNLV (+10) over Air Force (the Falcons will grind this one out but it won’t be easy)

We are finally into true mid-week college football! And this is shaping up to be a monster week, one that could shape the rest of the season. Enjoy the games everyone!

Nebraska Cornhuskers Football is a Dumpster Fire (oh, and the Week 3 College Football TV Schedule)

Alright, a little background info on your faithful blogger: I am an accountant and I also have a background in mathematics. Just figured I’d mention that at the start so when I say I am completely perplexed by the absolute stupidity of Trev Alberts and the Nebraska athletic department you know I come from a place of at least a bit of experience. When Trev decided to shitcan Scott Frost a few days ago rather than wait until October 1st, it cost the school an extra $7.5 million. Yes, I know, buyout clauses of that magnitude are stupid but that’s a conversation for another day. It’s just a waste of money, though. Like why bother? The season is shot. Let him coach three more games and then fire him during the postgame interview. Then hire whoever you want. But no, do it the dumb way. Maybe they can convince Bo Pelini and his dreadful four-loss seasons to return to Lincoln.

Enough of that nonsense. Let’s just get to the damn schedule while I wonder if anyone at Nebraska understands that more money is better than less.

Friday

		US	Canada
Florida State at Louisville	7:30 PM
Air Force at Wyoming	8:00 PM

Two games tonight with one being slightly more important than the other. Florida State has a chance to go to 3-0 and put Scott Satterfield back on the hot seat which is actually a fireplace.

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
Wofford at Virginia Tech	11:00 AM
UConn at #4 Michigan	Noon
WKU at Indiana	Noon
Southern Illinois at Northwestern	Noon
Villanova at Army	Noon
#1 Georgia at South Carolina	Noon
Purdue at Syracuse	Noon
Cincinnati vs. Miami-OH (in Paycor Stadium)	Noon
#6 Oklahoma at Nebraska	Noon
Texas State at #17 Baylor	Noon
Youngstown State at #9 Kentucky	Noon

Look there are no big games in this timeslot, I’ll be honest. But I will say I am a bit intrigued with the OU-NU game. Will this be an asskicking for the ages or will the Huskers come out fired up as they try to look good for whoever their new coach will be *COUGH*Urban Meyer*COUGH*. How UConn ends up in an ABC game every year stuns me but I can tell this week that there weren’t exactly a ton of options so I will give ABC a break; however, TSN does not get a break. This game is on TSN1 AND TSN4? What in the fuck? Put another game on TSN4, idiots.

Finally, you will notice we have MORNING COLLEJ FOOTBAW! The ACC Network is doing their annual four games in one day thing so they have to start early since I am sure no team would volunteer to start a game at 10PM local time. Although I could be wrong there.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
Old Dominion at Virginia	2:00 PM
South Alabama at UCLA	2:00 PM
California at Notre Dame	2:30 PM
#20 Ole Miss at Georgia Tech	3:30 PM
New Mexico State at Wisconsin	3:30 PM
#22 Penn State at Auburn	3:30 PM
Vanderbilt at Northern Illinois	3:30 PM
Colorado at Minnesota	3:30 PM
#12 BYU at #25 Oregon	3:30 PM
Kansas at Houston	4:00 PM
UT-Martin at Boise State	4:00 PM
ULM at #2 Alabama	4:00 PM
Liberty at #19 Wake Forest	5:00 PM
Marshall at Bowling Green	5:00 PM
Colorado State at Washington State	5:00 PM

Cougs-Ducks is easily the biggest game in this timeslot. A few years ago, PSU-AU could have been but the Tigers aren’t exactly the Tigers of old. Also, this is Penn State’s first time on CBS in 22 years but it wasn’t even a national telecast. The last national telecast on CBS was a year earlier when they beat Miami in a great game.

Let’s see if Marcus Freeman can get his first win, if Kansas can stay undefeated and if ULM can stay within 50 of the Tide. Also, these three-hour windows. Not only is the ACC Network doing it but the Pac-12 Network is also doing it. Just stop. Start the games earlier if you have to, just enough of this nonsense. Unless you are Navy or Army or maybe Air Force you aren’t finishing a game in less than three hours.

Finally, Appalachian State basically stole the College Gameday host spot from Texas A&M with their upset win this past Saturday. I assume Gameday would have gone to College Station for the Aggies’ game against Miami but that was obviously not confirmed. Problem is, App State plays on ESPN+ this week. Couldn’t they have moved that game to ESPNU at least? Seems dumb to me.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Mississippi State at LSU	6:00 PM
Texas Tech at #16 NC State	7:00 PM
Toledo at #3 Ohio State	7:00 PM
#11 Michigan State at Washington	7:30 PM
Maine at Boston College	7:30 PM
Nevada at Iowa	7:30 PM
UCF at Florida Atlantic	7:30 PM
#23 Pittsburgh at Western Michigan	7:30 PM
SMU at Maryland	7:30 PM
USF at #18 Florida	7:30 PM
Louisiana Tech at #5 Clemson	8:00 PM
Montana State at Oregon State	8:00 PM

Oh my god, MORE three-hour windows? It’s like the networks are trying to torture me. Nothing big here although we all remember what Western Michigan somehow did to Pitt last year, at Pitt. This year it’s in Kalamazoo so things could get wacky. I have noticed that the games on Bally haven’t been showing up on the specialty packs. I will have to watch for this and see if it continues. I would say I could ask a Rogers or Bell rep but that would be futile.

UPDATE: Looks like Maine-BC is not on the specialty pack anywhere. Interesting that now that it’s Bally Sports and not FOX Sports Network, the games aren’t appearing. Instead, UTSA-Texas appears. Where is that game? The Longhorn Network. I don’t get it. But there you go. Probably a better game to watch to be honest.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
#13 Miami at #24 Texas A&M	9:00 PM
San Diego State at #14 Utah	10:00 PM
Fresno State at #7 USC	10:30 PM
North Dakota State at Arizona	11:00 PM
Eastern Michigan at Arizona State	11:00 PM

You’re reading it correctly. FOX QUADRUPLEHEADER! This is such a glorious thing. I wish they did it more often but I understand networks’ need to go to local news at some point. I would say there is an Upset Alert in Tucson but would future Mountain West member NDSU beating Zona be a big upset?

Big Games O’ The Week

BYU at Oregon (3:30, FOX) – When is the last time BYU has been in the Game of the Week? Maybe when they scheduled a game with Coastal Carolina on a few minutes notice back in 20COVID. Oregon, and the Pac-12, could be in a heap of trouble here if they lose and there’s a good chance that could happen. The Cougs are looking to use this as a springboard to be ranked high enough to be picked for a New Year’s Six bowl, which won’t be easy this year.

Miami at Texas A&M (9:00, specialty pack) – Once the Aggies lost, they lost Gameday and the GOTW spot on this blog. The latter is definitely more important than the former. Miami feels like a team that, all of a sudden, not many people are talking about. You could see them make some real waves in the ACC and a win here would give their NY6 chances a boost and really hamper the Aggies’ chances.

Penn State at Auburn (3:30, CBS) – Penn State will soon be a regular on CBS but this is a rarity at this point. Auburn could put a massive dent into the Nittany Lions’ potential New Year’s Six hopes. An Auburn loss might make Bryan Harsin’s hot seat a little hotter for sure as this experiment hasn’t exactly worked out as planned.

Michigan State at Washington (7:30, ABC) – The Huskies are having a much better start than last year although that “effort” against Montana to start the 2021 season couldn’t have been worse. This could end up being an underrated game as I see Sparty maybe having some problems with the noise at Husky Stadium. And have you seen how steep the stands are there? Gives me memories of The Aud in Buffalo and the insanely steep upper deck they had.

Psycho Game of the Week

Vanderbilt at Northern Illinois (3:30, CBS Sports Network) – I mean I guess you could be kind of interested in the Dores potentially going to 3-1 which is something probably very few people predicted. But yeah, unless it’s close, hard pass.

Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week

UConn at Michigan (Noon, ABC/TSN1/TSN4) – I’ll say it again: TSN putting this game on two channels is moronic. I get it’s Michigan but this could be an epic blowout. I hope it is to be honest. Stupid TSN.

The Degenerate Portion of Our Show

Let’s see how I did last week. First pick was…..OK let’s skip this part. No, don’t go back and look at them. Let’s just move on. This week’s picks (against the spread)!

Cincinnati (-20.5) over Miami-OH

Oklahoma (-11.5)….-11.5? ELEVEN-AND-A-HALF? Alright then. Oklahoma (-11.5) over Nebraska

Western Kentucky (+6.5) over Indiana (but the Hoosiers to win)

Old Dominion (+10) over Virginia (Cavs will pull out the close win though)

Notre Dame (-10.5) over California

BYU (+3.5) over Oregon (Ducks win by a field goal)

Ole Miss (-16) over Georgia Tech

Houston (-10) over Kansas

Washington State (-16.5) over Colorado State

LSU (+2) over Mississippi State (and the outright win!)

NC State (-10.5) over Texas Tech

Michigan State (+3.5) over Washington (and an outright win)

Texas A&M (-5.5) over Miami

I am looking forward to another great weekend of college football. I’ll be on the Twitter machine for a good portion of the day. I’m trying to be healthier though so I can’t eat like I used to eat on these days. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it was some good food but I can’t eat as much of it. Enjoy the games everyone and enjoy your weekend!