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

USCanada
Ball State at Northern Illinois7:00
Central Michigan at Western Michigan7:00
Ohio at Buffalo7:30

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

USCanada
Bowling Green at Kent State7:00
Eastern Michigan at Toledo7:00
Akron at Miami-OH7:00

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

USCanada
Virginia at #11 Louisville7:30
Southern Miss at Louisiana7:30

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

USCanada
North Texas at SMU9:00
Grambling at Arkansas-Pine Bluff9:00

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

USCanada
Georgia Tech at ClemsonNoon
Virginia Tech at Boston CollegeNoon
Indiana at IllinoisNoon
Holy Cross at ArmyNoon
#8 Alabama at KentuckyNoon
Tulsa at #23 TulaneNoon
Yale at PrincetonNoon
#3 Michigan at #10 Penn StateNoon
Vanderbilt at South CarolinaNoon

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

USCanada
NC State at Wake Forest2:00
#21 Arizona at Colorado2:00
Miami at #4 Florida State3:30
Pittsburgh vs. Syracuse (in the Bronx)3:30
Rutgers at #22 Iowa3:30
#13 Tennessee at #14 Missouri3:30
UAB at Navy3:30
#15 Oklahoma State at UCF3:30
NC Central at Howard3:30
#18 Utah at #5 Washington3:30
Minnesota at Purdue3:30
Washington State at California4:00
Auburn at Arkansas4:00
Stanford at #12 Oregon State5:30

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

USCanada
San Diego State at Colorado State7:00
#9 OIe Miss at #2 Georgia7:00
West Virginia at #17 Oklahoma7:00
Georgia Southern at Marshall7:00
#7 Texas at TCU7:30
Mississippi State at Texas A&M7:30
Rice at UTSA7:30
Michigan State at #1 Ohio State7:30
Florida at #19 LSU7:30
Duke at #25 North Carolina8:00

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

USCanada
Arizona State at UCLA9:00
Iowa State at BYU10:15
Fresno State at San Jose State10:30
USC at #6 Oregon10:30

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!

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

USCanada
Georgia State at Coastal Carolina7:30
Arkansas-Pine Bluff at Alabama A&M7:30

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

USCanada
NC State at Virginia7:30
Boise State at San Diego State10:30

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

USCanada
#4 Florida State at ClemsonNoon
Army at SyracuseNoon
Rutgers at #2 MichiganNoon
Tulsa at Northern IllinoisNoon
Auburn at Texas A&MNoon
Virginia Tech at MarshallNoon
WKU at TroyNoon
#16 Oklahoma at CincinnatiNoon
Kentucky at VanderbiltNoon

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

USCanada
#19 Colorado at #10 Oregon3:30
Boston College at Louisville3:30
FAU at Illinois3:30
Louisiana Tech at Nebraska3:30
#15 Ole Miss at #13 Alabama3:30
#18 Duke at UConn3:30
BYU at Kansas3:30
Ohio at Bowling Green3:30
#20 Miami at Temple3:30
#22 UCLA at #11 Utah3:30
Maryland at Michigan State3:30
Rice at USF4:00
UTSA at #23 Tennessee4:00

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

USCanada
Georgia Tech at Wake Forest6:30
Appalachian State at Wyoming7:00
Arkansas at #12 LSU7:00
#14 Oregon State at #21 Washington State7:00
Arizona at Stanford7:00
#3 Texas at Baylor7:30
Minnesota at Northwestern7:30
Akron at Indiana7:30
#24 Iowa at #7 Penn State7:30
UAB at #1 Georgia7:30
Memphis at Missouri7:30
#6 Ohio State at #9 Notre Dame7:30
Mississippi State at South Carolina7:30
#17 North Carolina at Pittsburgh8:00

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

USCanada
Kent State at Fresno State10:30
California at #8 Washington10:30
#5 USC at Arizona State10:30

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!

What is wrong with the Week 3 College Football TV Schedule?

Nothing, really.

Now if you asked me what is wrong with Mel Tucker? Or Jeff Lebby? Or a host of past football coaches? I’d say plenty. I mean what the fuck is up with some people?

If you haven’t heard about ol’ Tucks, here’s a brief rundown:

Brenda Tracy, a well-known rape victim advocate (and victim herself), was hired to speak to the Spartans football team two years ago. Depending on who you believe, Tucker and Tracy became friends and then developed a bit of a romantic interest in each other. Tucker says this is true, Tracy denies this. He said, she said. Then last April, there was a phone call between the two where Tucker decided it should be phone sex (Tucker says they were both speaking in that manner) and then decided to whip it out and jerk off on the phone.

Tracy filed a formal complaint in December and then a report was filed in July to say that they should have a hearing to discuss whether Tucker violated a school policy on sexual misconduct. This hearing was to be next month. Now Tucker is suspended and probably will be fired with cause.

Crazy. And ridiculous. And even if it isn’t all true, the stuff Tucker admits paints him as a guy who can’t control himself. Then his letter on the matter makes him sound like a fucking idiot. No matter what, this is not going to turn out well for someone.

As for Jeff Lebby, he decided this was a perfect time to let his father-in-law, disgraced piece of shit former head coach Art Briles, on to the field after an Oklahoma victory on Saturday. Lebby just wanted his family on the field. Which includes Briles. I don’t know if Lebby understood the whole situation which makes him a complete dummy. He did apologize, though. Whether he meant it or did it while Brent Venables held a gun to his nuts, we will never know.

All of this is to say that there are some college football head coaches, past and present, who seem to think they can do whatever the fuck they feel like and get away with it. Again, even if Tucker is deemed not guilty, he admitted to cheating on his wife and pretty much seems OK with it. Lebby didn’t think once that “hey, my father-in-law, who has not been hired anywhere else since he was fired from Baylor for pretty fucking terrible reasons, should get to have Sooners gear on and come on the Sooners field and celebrate with the Sooners because…”…..why exactly? Oh, because he pretty much doesn’t give a shit. That’s why some of these players need to be told “Don’t be like your coach. He’s an asshole.”

Alright, enough of that nonsense. It’s schedule time.

Thursday

USCanada
Bethune-Cookman at #22 Miami7:30
Navy at Memphis7:30

Nothing much of note here but I am interested in seeing Navy truly for the first time this season (after watching very little of them earlier on).

Friday

USCanada
Army at UTSA7:00
Utah State at Air Force8:00

Interestingly enough, the other two military academies play on Friday night. So all three are done before Midnight on Friday. Odd. But fun that they are all pretty much getting national play on their own.

Saturday Early

USCanada
#3 Florida State at Boston CollegeNoon
Louisville vs. Indiana (in Indianapolis)Noon
Georgia Southern at WisconsinNoon
Liberty at BuffaloNoon
#14 LSU at Mississippi StateNoon
Wake Forest at Old DominionNoon
Iowa State at OhioNoon
#7 Penn State at IllinoisNoon
#15 Kansas State at MissouriNoon

Big games? Ah no. So devoid of big games that Big Noon Kickoff decided not to stick with Champaign as the site before the Illini host Penn State. They moved it to Colorado so they can keep that Deion Boner going. I guess you got to strike while the iron is hot.

Saturday Afternoon

USCanada
VMI at NC State2:00
Weber State at #12 Utah2:00
#10 Alabama at USF3:30
Northwestern at #21 Duke3:30
Western Michigan at #25 Iowa3:30
Virginia Tech at Rutgers3:30
South Carolina at #1 Georgia3:30
FIU at UConn3:30
Minnesota at #20 North Carolina3:30
East Carolina at Appalachian State3:30
#19 Oklahoma at Tulsa3:30
Tulane at Southern Miss4:00
WKU at #6 Ohio State4:00
ULM at Texas A&M4:00
NC Central at #24 UCLA5:00

A ton of choice here. The CW gets to show an afternoon game. Also a Pac-12 Network quardrupleheader. Well, a quadrupleheader here if you watch Pac-12 International on YouTube. See, the games on Pac-12 International are the Pac-12 Network national feed games. There are a couple other games that won’t be shown in Canada because they are regional only. Again, no big games here but we all remember what South Carolina did Between the Hedges back in 2019. If an upset of that magnitude happened again, it immediately changes the season and turns it on its head. Finally, Notre Dame is playing today…at home. But it’s on Peacock so no getting it here.

UPDATE: Thanks to reader William, I have found out about Fighting Irish TV (https://fightingirishtv.live/login). If you want to watch the game on Peacock, there’s your ticket.

Saturday Primetime

USCanada
Vanderbilt at UNLV7:00
#11 Tennessee at Florida7:00
James Madison at Troy7:00
Pittsburgh at West Virginia7:30
Bowling Green at #2 Michigan7:30
BYU at Arkansas7:30
Akron at Kentucky7:30
Syracuse at Purdue7:30
Georgia Tech at #17 Ole Miss7:30
FAU at Clemson8:00
TCU at Houston8:00
Wyoming at #4 Texas8:00
Hawaii at #13 Oregon8:00

No massive games but Tennessee travelling to The Swamp to face Florida bears some interest since the Vols have struggled there a lot in years past. Still no Harbaugh on the sidelines (unless you count Jack) as the Wolverines host Bowling Green who hopes to keep things relatively close. And lookie here…the Longhorn Network? That’s right. For the first time ever (as far as I can tell), LHN can be viewed (legally) in Canada. Hopefully Wyoming can play like they did against Texas Tech and keep this game competitive.

Saturday Late Night

USCanada
Colorado State at #18 Colorado10:00
Kansas at Nevada10:30
UTEP at Arizona11:00

Finally, the game that’s being played where both ESPN and FOX’s pregame shows were at…Colorado hosting mighty Colorado State. It must be since both networks were there. Don’t get me wrong, I totally get the hype but with two much bigger games coming up for the Buffaloes you think they would save this for the next couple of weeks. Or they might just camp out there until October. I mean why take the set down if you are just going to put it back up again a few days later?

Hey, Watch This!

South Carolina at Georgia (3:30, CBS) – Yes this is, arguably, the best game of the week. Kind of sad, not gonna lie. Saying that, if 2019 happens again, the SEC is seriously wide open. Don’t bet against the Gamecocks, even if they did look mediocre against North Carolina earlier this year. Or do because you think UGA will win. Either way.

Washington at Michigan State (5:00, Peacock) – This feels a bit icky but there is a ton of intrigue now with this one. A very good Huskies team against a team that will have to fight some adversity without their disgraced head coach. And it’s on Peacock of all places. NBC might have inadvertantly struck it rich by putting this game on the streaming service a while back.

Tennessee at Florida (7:00, TSN+/SP) – As I said above, the Vols, and many teams, have struggled in the hot and humid Swamp in Septembers past. Will it happen here? Eh, probably not. Man, how can a week be that devoid of big games?

Minnesota at North Carolina (3:30, TSN+/SP) – Um……well, it’s two undefeated teams so there’s that. Yeah, I got nothing.

Sickos Game of the Week

Vanderbilt at UNLV (7:00, CBSSN) – Look, there is a possibility that we see a 3-0 UNLV team by the end of Saturday night. So yeah, you could say the season is already a bit strange. And if Barry Odom wants a signature victory of sorts, this game is ripe for the picking. Or…OR…this could be a hilariously bad game that one team has to win. I am morbidly curious.

Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week

Alabama at USF (3:30, ABC/TSN2) – Why is this game on ABC? Well, it’s not like there are a ton of strong contenders *waves wildly at the Games of the Week list*. Coming off a loss, Nick Saban is going to be uber-pissed. Which will make the rest of the coaches pissed. Which will make the players very angry. And they are going to take it out on a Bulls team who might not know what hit them until long after this one is over.

Wanna Bet?

Will this list be decent? After looking back at my picks last week, I am going to venture to say that’s a no.

Bethune-Cookman (+53.5) over Miami (but the U wins by 40)

Buffalo (+3.5) over Liberty (and the outright win)

LSU (-9.5) over Mississippi State

UConn (-7) over FIU

North Carolina (-7.5) over Minnesota

South Carolina (+27.5) over Georgia (and I think this will be relatively close but the Dawgs will hold on for the W)

Tulane (-13) over Southern Miss

Florida (+6.5) over Tennessee (the Vols win a VERY close one)

Vanderbilt (-4.5) over UNLV

Michigan (-40.5) over Bowling Green

Clemson (-24.5) over FAU

Oregon (-38) over Hawaii

Colorado (-23) over Colorado State

Spotty information so far for the specialty packs as I see some information but not all of it. It should all be up by tomorrow and should match what I have. Funny enough, TSN+ has their shit together and has their full schedule up (and has since Monday).

I’ll be on the TwiXter machine this Saturday (@TheBauceman) so you can interact mwith me there if you like. Or you can just sit in your favourite chair like a normal person and watch more than 14 hours of football unlike a normal person. Enjoy the games everyone!

Man, oh man, were there some overreactions this week…oh and the Week 2 College Football TV Schedule

Look, did Colorado surprise a lot of people this past weekend? Absolutely. No doubt about it. Deion Sanders is proving, whether you like him or not, that he can flat-out coach. And overhauling the roster like he did was not a bad idea at all. It does suck for the players that had to transfer out but unfortunately it’s football and the name of the game is winning.

Saying that………the amount of people I saw on Twitter that said Colorado will win 10 or 11 games this season was way too much. It should have been zero. Colorado may be better than advertised but they aren’t all of a sudden a New Year’s Six possibility. But hey, that’s the reactions from Week 1 of college football. Every. Single. Fucking. Year.

So let’s do it again on here! It’s overreaction time! Let’s look at some of the other overreactions you may (or may not) have heard after the Week 1 games were complete:

  • Ohio State is just an average team. Do we expect more from the Buckeyes against a team like Indiana? Sure. But they are bringing in a new quarterback and their best receiver was not 100%. The defense was amazing. Now the offense does have to be ready since in about a week and a half they get Notre Dame and that could get ugly if they don’t produce more points.
  • Colorado will have not one, but TWO Heisman finalists. What in the fuck? Who are the morons saying this? They are out there for sure. I saw them. Sure, they did great in their opening week win over TCU but calm the fuck down. TCU isn’t the TCU of last season for one and it’s only WEEK ONE. Anyway, moving on…
  • Gene Chizik has finally got the defense cooking in Chapel Hill. Again, it’s one game. Do the Heels look improved? Sure. But it’s not like South Carolina played well at all because, for the most part they didn’t. That, and the chain gang wouldn’t eat their hot dogs fast enough. Let’s see how UNC does when a top-notch offense is staring them in the face.
  • Jalen Milroe is already looking like another Alabama Jalen…that being Hurts. My God where do these people come up with this shit? Milroe looked OK but it was Middle Tennessee and he’s playing for Ala-frickin-Bama. We will see how he handles SEC competition before crowning him anything.
  • Washington has the best offense in the country. Could that end up being the case? Possibly. Michael Penix Jr. has already started his Heisman campaign in style. But let’s slow our roll here. There are at least four teams who looked better on offense (Colorado, Florida State, Oklahoma, Oregon) during Week 1. And I wouldn’t even say any of those teams will be the best offense in the country so why go ahead and put the Huskies at #1?
  • Book the Sooners for the Big XII Championship NOW! As I said, their offense was on fire but they were playing Arkansas State. We are all waiting to see if Brent Venables can have a Venables-type defense in Norman. If that happens, this could very well happen. But for now, I wouldn’t book any tickets yet if I were a Sooners fan.
  • Miami is BACK. Ho boy. Pump the damn brakes.

Let’s just put Week 1 behind us, shall we? Let’s move on to Week 2 which…oh my. Well, it’s better than Week 1. That’s really all I can say. But you know what that usually means. That’s right…chaos!

Thursday

USCanada
Murray State at Louisville7:30

Yep, that’s a new logo you see. TSN+ will be showing college football games this year. It kind of mimics the specialty pack but there are a few differences. But if you want to get TSN+ rather than the specialty pack for your college football fix, you are getting close to the same. Not a bad alternative and a good move by TSN to copy ESPN for the 10,000th time.

Friday

USCanada
Indiana State at Indiana7:00
Illinois at Kansas7:30

It kind of feels like this could be a relatively important game when the Illini travel to Lawrence to face the Jayhawks. Imagine saying that even two years ago. You’d be laughed out of whatever building you were in.

Saturday Early

USCanada
Vanderbilt at Wake Forest11:00 AM
#10 Notre Dame at NC StateNoon
Youngstown State at #5 Ohio StateNoon
Delaware State at ArmyNoon
#12 Utah at BaylorNoon
Purdue at Virginia TechNoon
James Madison at VirginiaNoon
Nebraska at #22 ColoradoNoon
Ball State at #1 GeorgiaNoon

Is the quality there? Eh, not really. But there’s choice. A lot of it. Can’t ask for much else. Also…MORNING FOOTBAW! The ACC Network’s weird annual Week 2 quadrupleheader hits again with the odd three hour-and-fifteen-minute windows. This will be a lot easier to do next year when Stanford and California join as you know one of them will host the ACC After Dark Week 2 matchup, guaranteed.

Saturday Afternoon

USCanada
Charleston Southern at #25 Clemson2:15
#23 Texas A&M at Miami3:30
UTEP at Northwestern3:30
Richmond at Michigan State3:30
UNLV at #2 Michigan3:30
Wagner at Navy3:30
#20 Ole Miss at #24 Tulane3:30
Iowa at Iowa State3:30
Marshall at East Carolina4:00
Kent State at Arkansas4:00
Tulsa at #8 Washington5:00
Appalachian State at #17 North Carolina5:15

Is the afternoon slate better than the Noon slate? Sure. Not by much though. Some intriguing matchups though. As per the rules, one of Texas A&M or Miami must win their game against each other. Ties were outlawed almost three decades ago. Will CyHawk feature more than 30 points? Can App State and UNC put up ridiculous numbers like last year? And this will be Tulane’s opportunity to get a huge leg up in the Group of Five. A win over Ole Miss would be massive.

Saturday Primetime

USCanada
Ohio at FAU6:00
Cincinnati at Pittsburgh6:30
#11 Texas at #3 Alabama7:00
#13 Oregon at Texas Tech7:00
Houston at Rice7:00
#19 Wisconsin at Washington State7:30
Eastern Michigan at Minnesota7:30
Temple at Rutgers7:30
UCLA at San Diego State7:30
Grambling at #14 LSU7:30
McNeese State at Florida7:30
Charlotte at Maryland7:30
Arizona at Mississippi State7:30
Air Force vs. Sam Houston (in NRG Stadium)8:00
Southern Miss at #4 Florida State8:30

FIFTEEN GAMES! Holy shit! I think this has to be the most in one timeslot ever on this blog. I don’t feel like checking so let’s just say we have a new record! Plenty of games but most people will be watching one game in particular, that being the Longhorns and the Crimson Tide. If Texas can somehow do what they were robbed of last season and upset Bama, this season turns on its head. This game is so big that they are also showing it on ESPN2 in the US and on TSN+ and the specialty packs. But it’s not the same broadcast. It’s the Pat McAfee Show alternate broadcast. So if you like that kind of thing, have at it.

Also, you will notice we have a new network showing college football. That’s right, the CW, with such hits as 7th Heaven, Gilmore Girls, Smallville and LIV Golf (well it was a hit with the golfers who got fucking PAID with that Saudi blood money) will be showing ACC football (and later on, ACC basketball) this year. This replaces Bally which, for all intents and purposes, is flat broke. There will be games most weeks and, it looks like, at odd times. 6:30? Weird.

Saturday Late Night

USCanada
UC-Davis at #16 Oregon State9:00
Auburn at California10:30
Stanford at #6 USC10:30

FOX quadrupleheader? Don’t mind if I do. TSN2 quadrupleheader? Yes, please. A good week if you are a Canadian as I don’t remember seeing this much college football being shown up here in a while. Maybe things are turning around. Looks like TSN finally gives a shit about things that aren’t the CFL, NFL, and NHL (which they don’t even have the national broadcasting rights to).

Hey, Watch This!

Texas at Alabama (7:00, TSN2/TSN+/specialty pack) – Unequivocally the game of the week and there’s nothing else close. That also means there will be some wild and wacky finishes that might overshadow this game. That is, unless, this is a close one and the Longhorns pull off the upset. Then it will be THE story in college football no matter what else happens.

Ole Miss at Tulane (3:30, TSN+/specialty pack) – As I mentioned above, if the Green Wave pull off a win here in front of what should be a raucous crowd in hot and humid New Orleans, there’s not a whole lot that will prevent them from a perfect regular season and another New Year’s Six spot. Normally I would say this is a lose-lose situation for any Power Five team in this situation but when the Group of Five team is ranked it can count as a big win (as long as that team doesn’t totally shit the bed the rest of the way).

Texas A&M at Miami (3:30, ABC/TSN2) – I made the joke above that one of these teams has to win, as per the rules of college football. We may actually see which one of these teams is back (for the most part) and which team still has some work to do. Now watch it be a 13-10 almost-unwatchable slog.

Nebraska at Colorado (Noon, FOX) – Alright, I’ll bite. Let’s see if the hype matches what ends up happening. Some might have put this higher but that’s crazy. It makes this list because of the talk, not because of the teams involved. And Colorado can’t just win this game by a little. That would prove nothing. If they beat the brakes off the Huskers, then we all have to take notice and maybe think the Buffs could be for real.

Sickos Game of the Week

Temple at Rutgers (7:30, specialty pack) – Look, Rutgers is probably going to start 2-0 which really doesn’t mean a whole lot considering their schedule but still, that’s something right? With everything on at this time, you would have to be a complete psychopath to watch this game. I will make sure to tune in and watch at least a few plays. I feel like I owe it to everyone and myself.

Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week

Ball State at Georgia (Noon, TSN+/specialty pack) – Time to bring back the blowout of the week segment. And this could be the dictionary definition of blowout. I could see UGA putting up 60 on the poor Cardinals.

Wanna Bet?

Nebraska was actually a good bet. That game ended up exactly how I thought it would (for the most part). Florida, however….well the less said about that one the better. Time for my gambling picks for the second week of the college football season. Use them at your own peril.

Indiana (-30.5) over Indiana State

Purdue (+3) over Virginia Tech (and the outright win)

Ohio State (-41.5) over Youngstown State

Utah (-8) over Baylor

Nebraska (+2.5) over Colorado (and the upset win…definitely going out on a limb with this one)

Michigan (-37.5) over UNLV

Tulane (+7.5) over Ole Miss (but the Rebs will hold on for a close victory)

Texas A&M (-4) over Miami

Alabama (-7) over Texas

Washington State (+6) over Wisconsin (with the Badgers winning a tight affair)

Minnesota (-20.5) over Eastern Michigan

Mississippi State (-9) over Arizona

Stanford (+29.5) over USC (I feel a backdoor cover in this one)

I will be on the Twitter/X machine again this weekend. Even without Tweetdeck I am figuring out how to navigate fairly well. We shall see if I can make it two Saturdays in a row making it all the way to the end. Enjoy the games everyone!

ALL. THE. SCHEDULES!!!!

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

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

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

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

September 2ndOhio State at Indiana3:30 PM
September 2ndTexas Tech at Wyoming7:30 PM
September 3rdNorthwestern at RutgersNoon
September 3rdOregon State at San Jose State3:30 PM
September 9thUNLV at Michigan3:30 PM
September 9thUCLA at San Diego State7:30 PM
September 16thSouth Carolina at Georgia3:30 PM
September 23rdOle Miss at Alabama3:30 PM
September 23rdIowa at Penn State7:30 PM
September 30thAlabama at Mississippi State3:30 PM
October 7thKentucky at Georgia3:30 PM
October 14thArkansas at AlabamaNoon
October 14thAuburn at LSU3:30 PM
October 21stAir Force at NavyNoon
October 21stTennessee at Alabama3:30 PM
October 28thPurdue at NebraskaNoon
October 28thFlorida vs. Georgia (in Jacksonville)3:30 PM
November 4thPenn State at MarylandNoon
November 4thKentucky at Mississippi State3:30 PM
November 4thLSU at Alabama8:00 PM
November 11thOle Miss at Georgia3:30 PM
November 11thRutgers at Iowa7:30 PM
November 18thMinnesota at Ohio StateNoon
November 18thGeorgia at Tennessee3:30 PM
November 24thIowa at NebraskaNoon
November 24thMissouri at Arkansas4:00 PM
November 24thSan Jose State at UNLV7:30 PM
November 25thAlabama at Auburn3:30 PM
December 2ndSEC Championship4:00 PM
December 9thArmy vs. Navy (in Foxborough)3:00 PM
December 29thSun Bowl2:00 PM

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

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

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

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

August 26thJackson State vs. South Carolina State (in Atlanta)7:30 PM
September 2ndTennessee vs. Virginia (in Nashville)Noon
September 2ndBoise State at Washington3:30 PM
September 2ndSouth Carolina vs. North Carolina (in Charlotte)7:30 PM
September 3rdLSU vs. Florida State (in Orlando)7:30 PM
September 9thNotre Dame at NC StateNoon
September 9thTexas A&M at Miami3:30 PM
September 9thWisconsin at Washington State7:30 PM
September 16thFlorida State at Boston CollegeNoon
September 16thAlabama at USF3:30 PM
September 16thPittsburgh at West Virginia7:30 PM
September 23rdTexas Tech at West VirginiaNoon
September 23rdTexas at Baylor3:30 PM
September 23rdFlorida State at Clemson7:30 PM
September 30thNotre Dame at DukeNoon
September 30thKansas at Texas3:30 PM
September 30thClemson at Syracuse7:30 PM
October 7thOklahoma vs. Texas (in Dallas)Noon
October 7thNotre Dame at Louisville3:30 PM
October 7thWake Forest at Clemson7:30 PM
October 14thKansas at Oklahoma StateNoon
October 14thKansas State at Texas Tech3:30 PM
October 14thBYU at TCU7:30 PM
October 21stDuke at Florida StateNoon
October 21stClemson at Miami3:30 PM
October 21stUtah at USC7:30 PM
October 28thDuke at LouisvilleNoon
October 28thClemson at NC State3:30 PM
October 28thOregon at Utah7:30 PM
November 4thFlorida State at PittsburghNoon
November 4thNotre Dame at Clemson3:30 PM
November 4thKansas State at Texas7:30 PM
November 11thBaylor at Kansas StateNoon
November 11thMiami at Florida State3:30 PM
November 11thUSC at Oregon7:30 PM
November 18thKansas State at KansasNoon
November 18thTexas at Iowa State3:30 PM
November 18thNorth Carolina at Clemson7:30 PM
November 24thMiami at Boston CollegeNoon
November 24thNavy at SMU3:30 PM
November 24thTexas Tech at Texas7:30 PM
November 25thPittsburgh at DukeNoon
November 25thHouston at UCF3:30 PM
November 25thWashington State at Washington7:30 PM
December 1stPac-12 Championship8:00 PM
December 2ndBig XII ChampionshipNoon
December 2ndAmerican Championship4:00 PM
December 2ndACC Championship8:00 PM
December 16thCelebration BowlNoon
December 16thCure Bowl3:30 PM
December 23rdBirmingham BowlNoon
December 23rdArmed Forces Bowl3:30 PM
December 23rdLas Vegas Bowl7:30 PM
December 30thMusic City Bowl2:00 PM
January 1stCitrus Bowl1:00 PM

Power(ful) Two Thoughts

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

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

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

August 31stNebraska at Minnesota8:00 PM
September 2ndColorado at TCUNoon
September 2ndRice at Texas3:30 PM
September 9thNebraska at ColoradoNoon
September 9thIowa at Iowa State3:30 PM
September 9thOregon at Texas Tech7:00 PM
September 9thStanford at USC10:30 PM
September 16thPenn State at IllinoisNoon
September 16thWKU at Ohio State4:00 PM
September 16thTCU at Houston8:00 PM
September 22ndBYU at Kansas8:00 PM
September 23rdUCF at Kansas StateNoon
September 23rdOklahoma State at Iowa State4:00 PM
September 23rdUSC at Arizona State8:00 PM
September 30thMichigan at NebraskaNoon
September 30thIowa State at Oklahoma3:30 PM
October 7thTCU at Iowa StateNoon
October 7thTexas Tech at Baylor3:30 PM
October 7thMichigan at Minnesota7:30 PM
October 14thOhio State at PurdueNoon
October 14thIllinois at Maryland4:00 PM
October 14thOregon at Washington8:00 PM
October 21stPenn State at Ohio StateNoon
October 21stMinnesota at Iowa3:30 PM
October 28thOhio State at WisconsinNoon
October 28thOregon State at Arizona3:30 PM
November 4thOklahoma at Oklahoma StateNoon
November 4thHouston at Baylor7:00 PM
November 11thMichigan at Penn StateNoon
November 11thIndiana at Illinois3:30 PM
November 11thTexas at TCU7:00 PM
November 11thArizona State at UCLA10:30 PM
November 18thBaylor at TCUNoon
November 18thIllinois at Iowa4:00 PM
November 18thUCLA at USC8:00 PM
November 24thTCU at OklahomaNoon
November 24thOregon State at Oregon8:30 PM
November 25thOhio State at MichiganNoon
November 25thBYU at Oklahoma State4:00 PM
November 25thWest Virginia at Baylor8:00 PM
December 2ndMountain West Championship3:00 PM
December 2ndBig Ten Championship8:00 PM
December 27thHoliday Bowl8:00 PM

SOME JOHNSONIAN RHETORIC…..WOAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

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

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

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

August 26thNavy vs. Notre Dame (in Dublin)2:30 PM
September 2ndTennessee State at Notre Dame3:30 PM
September 2ndWest Virginia at Penn State7:30 PM
September 9thCharlotte at Maryland7:30 PM
September 16thSyracuse at Purdue7:30 PM
September 23rdOhio State at Notre Dame7:30 PM
September 30thPenn State at NorthwesternNoon
September 30thIllinois at Purdue7:30 PM
October 7thPurdue at Iowa7:30 PM
October 14thMichigan State at RutgersNoon
October 14thUSC at Notre Dame7:30 PM
October 21stMichigan at Michigan State7:30 PM
October 28thPittsburgh at Notre Dame3:30 PM
October 28thIndiana at Penn State7:30 PM
November 4thPurdue at Michigan7:30 PM
November 11thMichigan State at Ohio State7:30 PM
November 18thWake Forest at Notre Dame3:30 PM
November 18thMichigan at Maryland7:30 PM
November 24thPenn State vs. Michigan State (in Detroit)7:30 PM
November 25thSouthern vs. Grambling (in New Orleans)2:00 PM
November 25thWisconsin at Minnesota7:30 PM

Touchdown Jesus, Meet Purdue Pete

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

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

September 2nd Fresno State at PurdueNoon
September 2ndTowson at Maryland3:30 PM
September 2ndToledo at Illinois7:30 PM
September 8thIndiana State at Indiana7:00 PM
September 9thYoungstown State at Ohio StateNoon
September 9thUTEP at Northwestern3:30 PM
September 9thRichmond at Michigan State3:30 PM
September 9thEastern Michigan at Minnesota7:30 PM
September 9thTemple at Rutgers7:30 PM
September 16thLouisville vs. Indiana (in Indianapolis)Noon
September 16thGeorgia Southern at WisconsinNoon
September 16thWestern Michigan at Iowa3:30 PM
September 16thVirginia Tech at Rutgers3:30 PM
September 16thBowling Green at Michigan7:30 PM
September 21stLouisiana Tech at Nebraska7:30 PM
September 23rdAkron at IndianaNoon
September 23rdMaryland at Michigan State3:30 PM
September 23rdFlorida Atlantic at Illinois7:30 PM
September 30thLouisiana at MinnesotaNoon
September 30thWagner at Rutgers3:30 PM
September 30thIndiana at Maryland7:30 PM
October 7thHoward at Northwestern3:00 PM
October 14thIowa at WisconsinNoon
October 14thUMass at Penn State3:30 PM
October 14thIndiana at Michigan7:30 PM
October 21stRutgers at IndianaNoon
October 21stWisconsin at Illinois3:30 PM
October 28thMaryland at Northwestern2:30 PM
November 4thOhio State at RutgersNoon
November 4thIowa vs. Northwestern (in Chicago)3:30 PM
November 4thNebraska at Michigan State7:30 PM
November 11thNorthwestern at WisconsinNoon
November 11thMinnesota at Purdue3:30 PM
November 18thMichigan State at IndianaNoon
November 18thPurdue at Northwestern3:30 PM
November 18thRutgers at Penn State7:30 PM
November 24thIndiana at Purdue3:00 PM
November 25thMaryland at RutgersNoon
November 25thNorthwestern at Illinois3:30 PM

B1G Country Notes (no, not Bryant Reeves)

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

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

August 26thUTEP at Jacksonville State5:30 PM
August 26thFIU at Louisiana Tech9:00 PM
August 31stNC State at UConn7:30 PM
September 1stStanford at Hawaii11:00 PM
September 2ndBowling Green at LibertyNoon
September 2ndUSF at WKU3:30 PM
September 2ndWashington State at Colorado State7:00 PM
September 2ndIdaho State at San Diego State10:30 PM
September 9thDelaware State at ArmyNoon
September 9thWagner at Navy3:30 PM
September 9thAir Force vs. Sam Houston (in Houston)8:00 PM
September 15thUtah State at Air Force8:00 PM
September 16thLiberty at BuffaloNoon
September 16thFIU at UConn3:30 PM
September 16thVanderbilt at UNLV7:00 PM
September 16thKansas at Nevada10:30 PM
September 22ndDelaware State at Miami-OH7:00 PM
September 22ndBoise State at San Diego State10:30 PM
September 23rdTulsa at Northern IllinoisNoon
September 23rdDuke at UConn3:30 PM
September 23rdAppalachian State at Wyoming7:00 PM
September 23rdKent State at Fresno State10:30 PM
September 28thMiddle Tennessee at WKU7:30 PM
September 29thLouisiana Tech at UTEP9:00 PM
September 30thUtah State at UConnNoon
September 30thUSF at Navy3:30 PM
September 30thSan Diego State at Air Force8:00 PM
October 4thFIU at New Mexico State9:00 PM
October 5thSam Houston at Liberty7:00 PM
October 7thBoston College at ArmyNoon
October 7thNorth Texas at Navy3:30 PM
October 7thSan Jose State at Boise State8:00 PM
October 10thLouisiana Tech at Middle Tennessee7:00 PM
October 11thSam Houston at New Mexico State9:00 PM
October 13thFresno State at Utah State8:00 PM
October 14thKent State at Eastern MichiganNoon
October 14thTroy at Army3:30 PM
October 14thWyoming at Air Force7:00 PM
October 14thSan Diego State at Hawaii11:00 PM
October 17thMiddle Tennessee at Liberty7:00 PM
October 18thFIU at Sam Houston7:00 PM
October 21stAkron at Bowling GreenNoon
October 21stUSF at UConn3:30 PM
October 21stUtah State at San Jose State7:00 PM
October 21stColorado State at UNLV10:30 PM
October 24thNew Mexico State at Louisiana Tech7:00 PM
October 25thJacksonville State at FIU7:00 PM
October 28thUMass at ArmyNoon
October 28thMiami-OH at Ohio3:30 PM
October 28thAir Force at Colorado State7:00 PM
October 28thNew Mexico at Nevada10:30 PM
November 3rdColorado State at Wyoming8:00 PM
November 4thArmy vs. Air Force (in Denver)2:30 PM
November 4thLouisiana Tech at Liberty6:00 PM
November 4thBoise State at Fresno State10:00 PM
November 7thCentral Michigan at Western Michigan7:00 PM
November 8thAkron at Miami-OH7:00 PM
November 11thHoly Cross at ArmyNoon
November 11thUAB at Navy3:30 PM
November 11thSan Diego State at Colorado State7:00 PM
November 11thFresno State at San Jose State10:30 PM
November 14thAkron at Eastern Michigan7:00 PM
November 18thCoastal Carolina at ArmyNoon
November 18thUNLV at Air Force3:30 PM
November 18thBoise State at Utah State7:00 PM
November 18thSan Diego State at San Jose State10:30 PM
November 24thOhio at AkronNoon
November 24thUtah State at New Mexico3:30 PM
November 25thNorthern Illinois at Kent StateNoon
November 25thLiberty at UTEP3:30 PM
November 25thWyoming at Nevada9:00 PM

Gee-Five Musings

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

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

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

This is just awful (and the Week 12 College Football TV Schedule)

If you haven’t heard, there was a huge tragedy on the campus of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Three players on the Cavaliers, Lavel Davis, D’Sean Perry and Devin Chandler were killed in a shooting at the end of a field trip. Two other students were severely injured and are in hospital. The shooter is a former UVA football player. I have not heard anything about a motive. This is just awful. Seems like more senseless violence. I don’t know how the team is going to move on for the final two games of their season. At this point, it feels pointless to move on but many of them probably need football as a distraction to help healing and mourning the loss of their teammates and friends. Condolences to everyone at the University of Virginia. I would say hopefully lessons are learned from this but they never are, unfortunately.

UPDATE: The Virginia-Coastal Carolina game will not be played this Saturday. This does not affect Canadians and what they can watch but it is noteworthy. And also not surprising in the least. There is also no word about what will happen with the Commonwealth Cup game against Virginia Tech the following weekend.

Alright, it seems much less important this week but let’s get on with the schedule.

Tuesday

USCanada
Ohio at Ball State7:00 PM
Bowling Green at Toledo7:00 PM

A couple of big MACtion games to start the week. If the Bobcats can beat Ball State and the Rockets beat Bowling Green, then Toledo will help Ohio win the MAC East. This would mean that Ohio would go to Ford Field in a couple weeks to face…Toledo. Interesting how that works out.

Wednesday

USCanada
Eastern Michigan at Kent State6:00 PM
Miami-OH at Northern Illinois7:00 PM
Western Michigan at Central Michigan8:00 PM

If Ohio loses the previous night, then the EMU-KSU game becomes quite a bit more important as the MAC East will still be up for grabs. Otherwise we got some bowl-eligibility issues here: Kent State, Miami-OH and Central Michigan all have to win to keep their bowl game chances alive.

Thursday

USCanada
SMU at #21 Tulane7:30 PM

Only one game Thursday night (not even a game on a network Canadians can’t get). It’s a big game for the Green Wave as they absolutely need to win this one to stay alive for a berth in the AAC Championship.

Friday

USCanada
USF at Tulsa9:00 PM

One game here. TSN is picking it up. I don’t know why because it means nothing. Neither team can go bowling.

Saturday Early

USCanada
Navy at #17 UCF11:00 AM
Illinois at #3 MichiganNoon
Duke at PittsburghNoon
Indiana at Michigan StateNoon
UConn at ArmyNoon
Wisconsin at NebraskaNoon
Yale at HarvardNoon
#4 TCU at BaylorNoon
Florida at VanderbiltNoon

I’d say the most interesting game here is the TCU-Baylor game. It’s your classic trap game as the Bears are a good team and the game is in Waco. The other truly interesting one out of the bunch is the Wisky-Nebraska game in the Big Ten West Chaos Carnival. No one is in the driver’s seat (but the Huskers aren’t on the trip at all). All the teams are in seats on the bus trying to see who can last to the final stop. I think I got that analogy right.

Yes, you see that right. We have morning football. ESPN2 still has their quadrupleheader but it starts an hour early. I will explain more later in the post. And yes, you see that right. Yale and Harvard, once again, appearing on ESPNU. Despite the fact there are other teams that might deserve that spot, it’s nice to see ESPN embracing FCS football. I just wish they would do that when Gameday goes to an FCS school, like this Saturday when they head to Bozeman for the Brawl of the Wild between Montana and Montana State. That game is on at 2 in the afternoon on ESPN+. Ridiculous. Give it the late ESPNU spot for Christ’s sake!

Finally, a little bit about the UConn bowl situation. The Huskies are bowl-eligible. They do, however, have to hope that there are not enough teams to fill all the spots. There is no guarantee for them as they have no tie-in to any other bowl. Even worse, Liberty is in the same boat and is ranked way ahead of them so will get the first chance when a bowl doesn’t have two teams to fulfill the tie-ins. So the program is still fingers crossed to make a bowl as it’s not set in stone just yet.

Saturday Afternoon

USCanada
Washington State at Arizona2:00 PM
#25 Oregon State at Arizona State2:15 PM
Boston College at #18 Notre Dame2:30 PM
#2 Ohio State at Maryland3:30 PM
NC State at Louisville3:30 PM
#11 Penn State at Rutgers3:30 PM
#1 Georgia at Kentucky3:30 PM
Akron at Buffalo3:30 PM
Miami at #9 Clemson3:30 PM
South Alabama at Southern Miss3:30 PM
#22 Cincinnati at Temple4:00 PM
Iowa at Minnesota4:00 PM
WKU at Auburn4:00 PM
Georgia Tech at #13 North Carolina5:30 PM
Stanford at California5:30 PM

This might be the biggest afternoon schedule I have ever seen. Saying that, it’s definitely quantity over quality as there isn’t a ton here to whet the appetite. What does this mean? We are in for something crazy. It never fails.

I talked about TCU’s trap game earlier. You could say the same for Georgia here. I like UGA’s chances more than TCU’s obviously but if the Dawgs let the Cats stay around into the fourth quarter, expect a lot of nervous Georgia fans around the country. The Big Ten West Round Robin Fun-Time Carousel continues in this timeslot with Iowa and Minnesota facing off to see if we can get some clarity going into the final regular season week.

UPDATE #2: Akron-Buffalo has been postponed due to the snowstorm that has already hit the Buffalo area and moved this weekend’s Bills game to Detroit. The game is reportedly going to be moved to Sunday but I don’t see that happening with what the area will be like through the end of the weekend.

Saturday Primetime

USCanada
Boise State at Wyoming7:00 PM
#5 Tennessee at South Carolina7:00 PM
#24 Oklahoma State at Oklahoma7:30 PM
New Mexico State at Missouri7:30 PM
#14 Ole Miss at Arkansas7:30 PM
Syracuse at Wake Forest8:00 PM
#7 USC at #16 UCLA8:00 PM

A huge Pac-12 game that could have been one of the biggest in years if the Bruins hadn’t blown a gasket against Arizona, of all teams, last weekend. Plus the Oklahoma Sooners are in a very odd spot, at least for this program: they need a win to become bowl-eligible in November. This is a stark difference to some Bedlam games of the past decade or so where it was the Pokes who needed that win badly to play some postseason ball. The Sooners don’t need to win this one but if they lose here they only have one more shot to keep their bowl game streak going.

Saturday Late Night

USCanada
UAB at #6 LSU9:00 PM
Colorado at #15 Washington9:00 PM
Fresno State at Nevada10:30 PM
#10 Utah at #12 Oregon10:30 PM

So the entire reason for ESPN2 starting their schedule at 11 in the morning is so that LSU could host UAB on the station at night? Are you fucking serious? That might be one of the dumbest things I’ve heard. The schedule could have easily been shuffled around to accommodate this in a normal way but ESPN is really upping how much they kowtow to the SEC. It’s probably a good thing the Big Ten is leaving for FOX. Also here we have the other high stakes Pac-12 match of the weekend that is, once again, a little less high stakes than it could have been. Both the Utes and Ducks still have Pac-12 Championship and New Year’s Six opportunities available…well, one will after this game.

Big Games O’ The Week

USC at UCLA (8:00, FOX) – I don’t remember a time when I’ve done this blog where the Pac-12 is the conference to watch on any given week. I think every other Power Five conference has had their week to shine (with the SEC and Big Ten having a lot of weeks to shine) but this may be a first for the Pac-12 on this blog. Look, a USC win may move them up to #6 or even #5 going into the final regular season week. It clinches their spot in the Pac-12 Championship Game and possibly sets them up to return to glory. A UCLA win doesn’t fully eliminate any team but makes it a lot tougher for any team from the conference to get to the College Football Playoff. What it does do, though, is cause massive Pac-12 chaos inside the conference which is also fun…for me at least.

Utah at Oregon (10:30, TSN2) – Hey a TSN quadrupleheader! That’s nice. What’s not so nice? This is probably the high water mark for TSN college football coverage this season. I will explain later. Anyway, the other big Pac-12 game this week pits two teams who still have big aspirations which hopefully lead to a Rose Bowl spot. No matter the result, there will still be a bit of chaos left in the Pac-12 to just determine it’s title game participants. Thankfully there are no divisions this year as it’s so much better to just have the best teams in.

Illinois at Michigan (12:00, ABC/TSN2) – Most years, this has the makings of a blowout. Not this time around. Yes it’s in the Big House so the Wolverines have a big home field advantage. Other than that though, this is not a game Michigan should take lightly. Illinois still has a shot at the Big Ten West title but a few other things have to go their way. A win here REALLY helps though. Michigan is heading into The Game with Ohio State and a win here, coupled with Ohio State winning, would set up the biggest matchup since…well, you could say last year but I would say since 2016’s double overtime classic.

Georgia at Kentucky (3:30, CBS) – This could be the game of a lifetime for Mark Stoops and Kentucky if they could pull off the upset. It would also completely upset the college football apple cart with very little time left. Let’s be honest though: it’s going to take a lot for the Cats to keep this close. Hopefully they have watched UGA’s games against Kent State and Missouri to figure out the best approach.

TCU at Baylor (Noon, FOX) – Dave Aranda’s Baylor Bears could throw a huge monkey wrench into TCU’s national title plans. If they beat the Horned Frogs, that probably spells the end for TCU’s CFP hopes. TCU has to be very careful with this one. It is the very definition of a college football speed bump game.

Tennessee at South Carolina (7:00, TSN2) – So it drops off a bit of a cliff after the first five games. But this could be a sneaky good one. Tennessee is not out of the College Football Playoff conversation just yet. South Carolina could put the nail in that coffin and potentially destroy the Vols’ New Year’s Six possibilities in one fell swoop if they can pull off the upset in Columbia.

Psycho Game of the Week

USF at Tulsa (Friday, 9:00, TSN2) – The Bulls are here for a second straight week. I would call that a trend. I get that TSN2, somehow, has nothing to air that night so this goes there by default. But of all the games to show. You know what, TSN? You’d be better off showing Best of Curling or World’s Most Incredible Darts Throws or something like that. This is terrible.

Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week

Colorado at Washington (9:00, Pac-12 Network) – Man, Colorado is bad. Worst Power Five team? It’s between them and Northwestern. Maybe they should play a bowl game to determine the worst of the worst. The Huskies should annihilate Colorado here in a game that might be long over by halftime.

The Degenerate Portion of Our Show

Time for my picks for the upcoming week of college football. Is there any basis for these picks? Not really. I mostly wing it.

  • Ball State (+3.5) over Ohio (and the mild upset win!)
  • Central Michigan (-11) over Western Michigan
  • Navy (+16.5) over UCF (they’ll cover but not win)
  • Northwestern (+20) over Purdue (the Boilermakers will win though)
  • Illinois (+18) over Michigan (covering but not winning)
  • TCU (-2.5) over Baylor
  • Oregon State (-8) over Arizona State
  • South Alabama (-7.5) over Southern Miss
  • Penn State (-19.5) over Rutgers
  • Miami (+19) over Clemson (the Canes will cover but the Tigers will win this one)
  • Minnesota (-2.5) over Iowa
  • Wyoming (+14) over Boise State (the Broncos will end up with the win)
  • Ole Miss (-2.5) over Arkansas
  • Oregon (-3) over Utah

OK an explanation about the TSN comment I made earlier. Normally, the final week of the regular season would bring at least 8 games on TSN if not up to 13 or 14. TSN would go all in because the CFL would be done for the season. Just like this year, the Grey Cup lands on Week 12 of the college football season. One wrinkle, though: the World Cup. It begins Sunday. TSN and CTV are showing every game of the tournament. If I just take a look at the schedule, it means the following:

  • It’s almost a guarantee that there will be on early Black Friday games aired on TSN.
  • TSN 2, 4 and 5 are available for afternoon/night Black Friday games.
  • The next day (Saturday, American Thanksgiving weekend) might be mostly out for college football games as there are World Cup games that overlap the early and afternoon windows. I can see TSN stepping up for primetime and late night games, though.

So, 14 games? Not going to happen. 10? Doubtful. Maybe they get back to that 8 mark but it will be dicey. Is this one of the reasons why the World Cup shouldn’t be in November and December? Yes. But it’s far down the list. Like WAY down the list. Remember…it’s in Qatar. That’s all you got to say.

Tomorrow you should get the bowl projection and rankings post and on Thursday the NFL post. Not guaranteeing anything but this is the time of year where staying on schedule is pretty imperative. Enjoy the games everyone!

I’m not the only one hoping for chaos (and the Week 11 College Football TV Schedule)

Let’s be honest: many of us want chaos in our college football. It makes things exciting, no? Not saying we haven’t seen a bit of it already. Alabama has lost two times already. TWO! Clemson got absolutely waxed by Notre Dame. Texas A&M is fucking terrible!

But we want more. We are insatiable for chaos. And why? We know The Committee will do Committee things and rank teams in an odd way and then try to justify it. I’m sure if Ohio State lost they would drop maybe three spots because it feels like The Committee wants them in the College Football Playoff. I get they have to look at a whole season of work but it’s the same shit every year. I still think the first rankings should be no earlier than before the final regular season week but I know that will never happen. If it did, what would ESPN talk about?

OK enough of that. It’s time for this week’s schedule and the continuation of FOOTBALL EVERY DAY!

Tuesday

USCanada
Eastern Michigan at Akron7:00 PM
Ohio at Miami-OH7:30 PM
Ball State at Toledo8:00 PM

More Tuesday night MACtion! Toledo can essentially clinch the MAC West if they can beat the Cardinals here.

UPDATE: As per reader Gordo, it looks like the Ball State-Toledo game isn’t on the specialty pack.

Wednesday

USCanada
Kent State at Bowling Green7:00 PM
Buffalo at Central Michigan7:00 PM
Northern Illinois at Western Michigan7:00 PM

Still MACtion but maybe not as MACtiony as the previous night’s MACtion.

UPDATE #2: Ugh, both ESPN games aren’t appearing on the specialty pack. Not a good start to MACtion this week for specialty pack subscribers.

Thursday

USCanada
Tulsa at Memphis7:30 PM
Georgia Southern at Louisiana7:30 PM

Woof. Well it’s technically college football so I will watch.

Friday

USCanada
East Carolina at Cincinnati8:00 PM
Fresno State at UNLV10:30 PM

Cincinnati has a fairly meaningful game here if they want to keep in the American Conference/Cotton Bowl hunt. And, interestingly enough, the late game also could be big as both Fresno State and UNLV still have division title aspirations. Yes, UNLV.

Oh, you may have noticed I have not included FOX Sports One listings here. I decided to stop that practice since, really, unless you have a specific setup you can’t get the games here. Doesn’t help that I missed listing the late night FS1 game last week so I am already getting into the habit of forgetting them in these posts.

UPDATE #3: Good lord this is ridiculous. On the TSN website it still shows ECU-Cincy. Every other guide I am looking at, it says that TSN2 will now be showing, get this, Women’s Aussie Rules football. I don’t get it. I just don’t get it. Anyway, it looks like it is appearing on the specialty pack instead so at least it’s probably been moved there (unless the specialty packs fuck that up as well). Stupid TSN. Thanks to readers Gordo and Mike pointing out that they couldn’t see the game on their guide.

Saturday Early

USCanada
#20 Notre Dame vs. Navy (in Baltimore)Noon
Pittsburgh at VirginiaNoon
Rutgers at Michigan StateNoon
Missouri at #5 TennesseeNoon
#19 Liberty at UConnNoon
#7 LSU at ArkansasNoon
Purdue at #21 IllinoisNoon
SMU at USFNoon
Indiana at #2 Ohio StateNoon
Vanderbilt at KentuckyNoon

One of UConn’s final two chances at bowl eligibility comes here. Unfortunately, it’s against a ranked Liberty team. This may still end up being one of the best games CBS Sports Network has had all year. As for the main network, it’s their doubleheader that includes a Noon game. It means they only get the fourth choice of games out of the SEC for the early affair. Can’t give whoever the #2 guy at CBS is a good game!

Notre Dame may still have an outside shot at the New Year’s Six. It would take a lot of chaos but we know how The Committee feels about them so they win their last three and win them big (a tall order for sure) they could sneak in. That has to start in this neutral-site affair against the Middies.

So normally I peruse ESPN to get rankings for the teams for the posts. Normally this isn’t an issue but late in the season it becomes one. According to the schedule currently on the site, it lists Tennessee at #1. We know that isn’t the case but they use the College Football Playoff rankings rather than the AP poll once it comes out. And the CFP poll doesn’t get revealed until Tuesday night, after the week of games starts. So I will be using the AP poll for the rest of the regular season. So if you see the rankings here don’t jive with what they look like on Saturday, there’s your answer.

UPDATE #4: TSN has switched from LSU-Arkansas to Purdue-Illinois. Why? Because fuck you, that’s why.

Saturday Afternoon

USCanada
Nebraska at #3 Michigan3:30 PM
Boston College at #17 NC State3:30 PM
Northwestern at Minnesota3:30 PM
#10 Alabama at #11 Ole Miss3:30 PM
New Mexico at Air Force3:30 PM
Louisville at #12 Clemson3:30 PM
#22 UCF at #16 Tulane3:30 PM
Iowa State at Oklahoma State3:30 PM
Maryland at #14 Penn State3:30 PM
Army at Troy3:30 PM
Arizona State at Washington State3:30 PM
South Carolina at Florida4:00 PM

There was a time when TSN really started ramping up the amount of games they would show around this time of the year. Not so. Sure, they have a quadrupleheader on TSN2 but that’s it. Nothing else. I just think they have contracts with way too many sports that college football gets lost in the shuffle.

Anyway, this could be a huge week for Bama haters because if they lose this one to Ole Miss it would be catastrophic. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Tulane is on ESPN2 during the regular season in a big matchup for the first time in…well I’m sure it’s a long time. Win and they take a stranglehold of one spot in the AAC Championship.

Saturday Primetime

USCanada
Wyoming at Colorado State7:00 PM
#1 Georgia at Mississippi State7:00 PM
#24 Washington at #6 Oregon7:00 PM
#4 TCU at #18 Texas7:30 PM
#15 North Carolina at Wake Forest7:30 PM
Southern Miss at Coastal Carolina7:30 PM
Texas A&M at Auburn7:30 PM
#25 Florida State at Syracuse8:00 PM

TCU and Oregon aren’t just playing for themselves but could be playing for their conference’s CFP hopes as well, especially in the case of TCU since past them, there really isn’t a contender at all. UGA needs to avoid a letdown after that huge win over Tennessee so their pass defense better be ready for Will Rogers to throw the ball about 80 times. Finally, surprising UNC can pretty much punch their ticket to Charlotte and a date with Clemson if they can win in Winston-Salem.

Saturday Late Night

USCanada
California at Oregon State9:00 PM
Boise State at Nevada10:30 PM
Stanford at #13 Utah10:30 PM
Arizona at #9 UCLA10:30 PM

FOX QUADRUPLEHEADER ALERT! For the second time this season we get a FOX quadruplehader of college football. Love that FOX is upping their game this season. Two important Pac-12 games, one important Mountain West game and a game involving California. There you go.

Big Games O’ The Week

Alabama at Ole Miss (3:30, CBS) – This is an SEC West elimination match. Tell someone that two months ago and they’d laugh in your face. Bama might be in panic mode as another loss probably leaves them out of the NY6 which would be massive. Both teams are chasing LSU but need some help from the Tigers in the form of the Tigers shitting the bed at some point down the stretch.

TCU at Texas (7:30, ABC) – I mentioned this above but the Big XII’s CFP chances really do ride on TCU winning this game (and winning out, really). If the Longhorns win this, and they are talented enough to do so, you can kiss the conference’s chances goodbye.

North Carolina at Wake Forest (7:30, specialty pack) – One of the stories that seems to be ignored this season is what Mack Brown and the Tar Heels are doing. 8-1, in complete control of the ACC Coastal, and with a good shot at the New Year’s Six if they win their last three regular season games. No one is talking about them! A win here and they basically clinch the division. Wake is just playing for a better bowl game now.

UCF at Tulane (3:30, specialty pack) – The Green Wave on the other hand are not being ignored. Many pushed for College Gameday to go to New Orleans (which I think would have been a good idea). All the other two-loss teams in the Group of Five are watching this game closely this weekend (that being Cincinnati, UTSA, San Jose State, Troy and South Alabama) along with one-loss Coastal Carolina. A Tulane loss here brings those teams back into the fold to have at least a sliver of hope to go to the Cotton Bowl. If Tulane wins and goes to 9-1 it’s pretty much game over for most of those teams (unless they lay an egg in their final two games). For the Knights, a win here may actually put them in the driver’s seat for the Group of Five NY6 spot. A lot at stake. Yeah, I think they should have sent Gameday to Nawlins.

Washington at Oregon (7:00, FOX) – In all the hoopla surrounding the Battle for Los Angeles between Pac-12 turncoats UCLA and USC, some have forgotten that the Ducks are right there with those two teams. Win out and they have a legitimate shot at the College Football Playoff. They cannot sleep on the Huskies though. They’ve been better than advertised and Kalen Deboer just wins everywhere he goes. Could be a low-key great game.

Maryland at Penn State (3:30, FOX) – The Terps are finally playing as well as their recruiting classes said they would. Mike Locksley is finally making things work in the DMV. Saying that, these are the kinds of games Maryland has to win and has never been able to do since joining the Big Ten. A statement win is needed. And what a statement it would be since the Nittany Lions have a relatively good chance at a New Year’s Six bowl if they can run the table the rest of the way.

Psycho Game of the Week

SMU at USF (Noon, specialty pack) – First of all, I will not call this the Sickos Game of the Week. Do I enjoy the Sickos Committee Twitter account? Absolutely. But Sickos content is their thing. I won’t steal it. Besides, I think it makes just as much sense to call you a psycho for watching this abomination. USF just fired Jeff Scott, though, so they should come out and give the Mustangs all sorts of problems. Seriously this is an easy one to avoid.

Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week

Missouri at Tennessee (Noon, CBS) – I am not making the same mistake I did last week. I picked Ohio State to mop the floor with Northwestern and they barely beat the Wildcats. Sure, there was bad weather but come on, the Buckeyes played like shit. So even though I think they will beat Indiana to a pulp, I am going with another Noon game. I think the Vols are going to come into this game angry and wanting to prove a point. Poor Mizzou is going to take this one on the chin.

The Degenerate Portion of Our Show

Look, are these picks of the same quality as The Committee’s rankings for the College Football Playoff? Eh, it’s debatable.

  • Miami-OH (+2.5) over Ohio (and the outright win!)
  • Kent State (-2.5) over Bowling Green
  • Liberty (-14.5) over UConn
  • Rutgers (+10) over Michigan State (RU will cover the spread but won’t win)
  • Virginia Tech (+9.5) over Duke (Duke will win, however)
  • Kentucky (-18) over Vanderbilt
  • Army (+9) over Troy (The Black Knights cover but don’t win)
  • Air Force (-22) over New Mexico
  • Clemson (-7) over Louisville
  • Ole Miss (+11.5) over Alabama (Bama will win outright)
  • Wyoming (-8.5) over Colorado State
  • Wake Forest (-3.5) over North Carolina
  • Stanford (+24) over Utah (Utes will win relatively easily)

There you go! I will keep a watch on potential specialty pack changes but I don’t foresee any. It gets a bit difficult having to do the schedule so early but I make due…I think. Have a great rest of the week everyone and enjoy the games!

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

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

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

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

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

Wednesday

USCanada
SMU at UCF7:00 PM

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

Friday

USCanada
Harvard at Cornell7:00 PM
Nebraska at Rutgers7:00 PM
Houston at Memphis7:30 PM
Colorado State at Nevada10:00 PM
UNLV at San Jose State10:30 PM

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

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

Saturday Early

USCanada
Texas vs. Oklahoma (in Dallas)Noon
Louisville at VirginiaNoon
Purdue at MarylandNoon
Eastern Michigan at Western MichiganNoon
#8 Tennessee at #25 LSUNoon
Missouri at FloridaNoon
#4 Michigan at IndianaNoon
#17 TCU at #19 KansasNoon
Arkansas at #23 Mississippi StateNoon

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

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

Saturday Afternoon

USCanada
Virginia Tech at Pittsburgh3:30 PM
Wisconsin at Northwestern3:30 PM
Auburn at #2 Georgia3:30 PM
Tulsa at Navy3:30 PM
East Carolina at Tulane3:30 PM
#11 Utah at #18 UCLA3:30 PM
Texas Tech at #7 Oklahoma State3:30 PM
#3 Ohio State at Michigan State4:00 PM
North Carolina at Miami4:00 PM
#21 Washington at Arizona State4:00 PM
#9 Ole Miss at Vanderbilt4:00 PM

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

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

Saturday Primetime

USCanada
Wyoming at New Mexico7:00 PM
Air Force at Utah State7:00 PM
James Madison at Arkansas State7:00 PM
#5 Clemson at Boston College7:30 PM
Iowa at Illinois7:30 PM
#20 Kansas State at Iowa State7:30 PM
Washington State at #6 USC7:30 PM
#16 BYU vs. Notre Dame (in Las Vegas)7:30 PM
South Carolina at #13 Kentucky7:30 PM
Florida State at #14 NC State8:00 PM
Texas A&M at #1 Alabama8:00 PM

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

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

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

Saturday Late Night

USCanada
#12 Oregon at Arizona9:00 PM
Fresno State at Boise State9:45 PM
Hawaii at San Diego State10:30 PM
Oregon State at Stanford11:00 PM

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

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

Big Games O’ The Week

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

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

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

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

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

Psycho Game of the Week

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

Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week

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

Fun-Time Stats of the Week

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

The Degenerate Portion of Our Show

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

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

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

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

USCanada
Florida State at Louisville7:30 PM
Air Force at Wyoming8:00 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

USCanada
Wofford at Virginia Tech11:00 AM
UConn at #4 MichiganNoon
WKU at IndianaNoon
Southern Illinois at NorthwesternNoon
Villanova at ArmyNoon
#1 Georgia at South CarolinaNoon
Purdue at SyracuseNoon
Cincinnati vs. Miami-OH (in Paycor Stadium)Noon
#6 Oklahoma at NebraskaNoon
Texas State at #17 BaylorNoon
Youngstown State at #9 KentuckyNoon

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

USCanada
Old Dominion at Virginia2:00 PM
South Alabama at UCLA2:00 PM
California at Notre Dame2:30 PM
#20 Ole Miss at Georgia Tech3:30 PM
New Mexico State at Wisconsin3:30 PM
#22 Penn State at Auburn3:30 PM
Vanderbilt at Northern Illinois3:30 PM
Colorado at Minnesota3:30 PM
#12 BYU at #25 Oregon3:30 PM
Kansas at Houston4:00 PM
UT-Martin at Boise State4:00 PM
ULM at #2 Alabama4:00 PM
Liberty at #19 Wake Forest5:00 PM
Marshall at Bowling Green5:00 PM
Colorado State at Washington State5:00 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

USCanada
Mississippi State at LSU6:00 PM
Texas Tech at #16 NC State7:00 PM
Toledo at #3 Ohio State7:00 PM
#11 Michigan State at Washington7:30 PM
Maine at Boston College7:30 PM
Nevada at Iowa7:30 PM
UCF at Florida Atlantic7:30 PM
#23 Pittsburgh at Western Michigan7:30 PM
SMU at Maryland7:30 PM
USF at #18 Florida7:30 PM
Louisiana Tech at #5 Clemson8:00 PM
Montana State at Oregon State8:00 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

USCanada
#13 Miami at #24 Texas A&M9:00 PM
San Diego State at #14 Utah10:00 PM
Fresno State at #7 USC10:30 PM
North Dakota State at Arizona11:00 PM
Eastern Michigan at Arizona State11:00 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!

HEY, YOU WANT ALL THE NETWORK SCHEDULES IN ONE LONG POST?

Fox_College_Football_logoNBC_2014_Ident.svgTSN logoabc college football

“Well, I was kind of hoping for all of them on separate post…”

“THAT’S WHAT I THOUGHT YOU COLLEGE FOOTBALL-ADDICTED MOTHERFUCKER SO HERE YOU FUCKING GO.  ALL.  THE.  SCHEDULES.”

Remember what I said?  Less is more.  Meaning less posts but a shit-ton more information.  So get ready since this is going to be a seriously long (but informative) post.

CBS

I can’t even call this the SEC on CBS schedule because the Mountain West has squeezed in a few games now.  And remember, this is the second-last season that the SEC will have their game of the week on CBS.  I said last year that the Pac-12 was the favourite to pick up this package but, how about that, the Pac-12 might not even exist by 2024.  So who knows what will happen since FOX and ESPN will have almost taken over college football broadcasting by that point.  Maybe the new supersized Big XII can sneak in there.

But for this year it’s still the SEC (plus some MWC) on CBS.  Brad, Gary and not Jamie will be back for another season as far as I know.  Same old, same old for now.  At least one thing in college football is staying the same…for now.  Anyway, let’s get to the predicted schedule (confirmed games are in BOLD):

September 3rd Arizona_Wildcats_logo Arizona at San Diego State San_Diego_State_Aztecs_logo 3:30 PM
September 10th Colorado_Buffaloes_logo Colorado at Air Force 3:30 PM
September 17th Penn_State_Nittany_Lions_logo Penn State at Auburn 3:30 PM
September 24th Arkansas vs. Texas A&M (in Arlington) 3:30 PM
October 1st Navy at Air Force Air_Force_Falcons Noon
October 1st Alabama at Arkansas arkansas 3:30 PM
October 8th Auburn at Georgia georgia 3:30 PM
October 8th Texas_A&M_University_logo Texas A&M at Alabama 8:00 PM
October 15th Alabama at Tennessee 3:30 PM
October 22nd Ole Miss at LSU 3:30 PM
October 29th Florida vs. Georgia (in Jacksonville) 3:30 PM
November 5th Army vs. Air Force (in Arlington) Air_Force_Falcons 11:30 AM
November 5th Alabama at LSU LSU-Tigers-Head 3:30 PM
November 12th Missouri at Tennessee Noon
November 12th Georgia at Mississippi State Mississippi_State_Bulldogs_logo 3:30 PM
November 19th georgia Georgia at Kentucky Kentucky_Wildcats_logo 3:30 PM
November 25th Utah_State_Aggies_logo Utah State at Boise State Noon
November 25th arkansas Arkansas at Missouri 3:30 PM
November 26th Auburn_Tigers_Logo Auburn at Alabama Alabama_Crimson_Tide_logo 3:30 PM
December 3rd SEC Championship Game 4:00 PM
December 10th Army vs. Navy (in Philadelphia) 3:00 PM
December 30th Sun Bowl Noon

CBS stuff (for now):

  • Projected SEC on CBS appearances:
    • 5 times – Alabama
    • 4 times – Georgia
    • 3 times – Auburn, Arkansas
    • 2 times – Tennessee, Texas A&M, Missouri, LSU
    • 1 time – Ole Miss, Florida, Mississippi State, Kentucky
    • Not a single time – Vanderbilt, South Carolina
  • Only two teams on my list won’t get an appearance: Vanderbilt and South Carolina.  Vandy is self-explanatory.  The Gamecocks on the other hand…I do feel a bit weird not putting them on CBS.  Problem is there are only so many spots and this is about as spread out as it has been in years with only two schools getting more than three games.
  • And now we get into service academy football!  For the second straight year, the entire Commander’s-in-Chief Trophy will be broadcast on CBS.  It starts on October 1st when Navy travels to Colorado Springs to face Air Force in a game starting at 10:00 in the morning local time.  The now-annual Army-AFA game in Arlington is back in early November.  Then, of course, the Army-Navy Game.  I don’t know about you but I kind of like service academy football.  Some people call it boring but I enjoy watching it.  Now, if most teams used the option I’m sure it would get seriously tiring (although all games would fit into broadcast windows, no problem).
  • The Mountain West is back with more games this time around.  CBS gets the choice of putting Boise State home games on the main network or CBS Sports Network so that’s why we have the Black Friday game against Utah State on the main network.  Also, a bit of an odd choice, but Arizona-SDSU is confirmed for Week 1.  Hey, at least we have college football on CBS every week of the season.
  • Yeah I said not Jamie.  Jamie Erdahl is now going to be on Good Morning Football on the NFL Network.  Jenny Dell will replace her on the SEC on CBS.

abc_gold

Now we have the network where I do kind of miss Keith Jackson and Brent Musburger.  Not saying Chris Fowler isn’t good.  He is.  Unfortunately, once you get past him and a couple others, the play-by-play takes a bit of a nosedive.  But, in the end, I am going to watch the games.  I don’t care if the worst announcing team is calling the game, I will watch.  Man, I need help.

September 3rd Colorado_State_Rams_logo Colorado State at Michigan Noon
September 3rd georgia Georgia vs. Oregon (in Atlanta) Oregon_Ducks_logo 3:30 PM
September 3rd Notre_Dame_Leprechaun_logo Notre Dame at Ohio State 7:30 PM
September 4th LSU-Tigers-Head LSU vs. Florida State (in New Orleans) 7:30 PM
September 10th Ohio_Bobcats_logo Ohio at Penn State Noon
September 10th Tennessee_Volunteers_logo Tennessee at Pittsburgh Pitt_Panthers_wordmark 3:30 PM
September 10th USC at Stanford 7:30 PM
September 17th Connecticut_Huskies_logo UConn at Michigan Michigan_Wolverines_Logo Noon
September 17th Ole_Miss_Rebels_logo Ole Miss at Georgia Tech Georgia_Tech_Yellow_Jackets_logo 3:30 PM
September 17th Michigan_State_Spartans_alternate_logo Michigan State at Washington 7:30 PM
September 24th Baylor_Athletics_logo Baylor at Iowa State Noon
September 24th Iowa at Rutgers Rutgers_Scarlet_Knights_logo 3:30 PM
September 24th Wisconsin_Badgers_logo Wisconsin at Ohio State Ohio_State_Buckeyes_logo 7:30 PM
October 1st Michigan_State_Spartans_alternate_logo Michigan State at Maryland Noon
October 1st NC State at Clemson Clemson_University_Tiger_Paw_logo 3:30 PM
October 1st Northwestern at Penn State 7:30 PM
October 8th Texas vs. Oklahoma (in Dallas) Noon
October 8th Florida State at NC State 3:30 PM
October 8th Ohio_State_Buckeyes_logo Ohio State at Michigan State Michigan_State_Spartans_alternate_logo 7:30 PM
October 15th Kansas_Jayhawks Kansas at Oklahoma Oklahoma_Sooners_logo Noon
October 15th Penn State at Michigan Michigan_Wolverines_Logo 3:30 PM
October 15th Oklahoma State at TCU 7:30 PM
October 22nd Purdue_Boilermakers_logo Purdue at Wisconsin Wisconsin_Badgers_logo Noon
October 22nd UCLA_Bruins_script UCLA at Oregon Oregon_Ducks_logo 3:30 PM
October 22nd Iowa at Ohio State Ohio_State_Buckeyes_logo 7:30 PM
October 29th Baylor_Athletics_logo Baylor at Texas Tech Noon
October 29th Oklahoma_State_University_Athletics_logo Oklahoma State at Kansas State Kansas_State_Wildcats_logo 3:30 PM
October 29th Ohio_State_Buckeyes_logo Ohio State at Penn State 7:30 PM
November 5th Ohio_State_Buckeyes_logo Ohio State at Northwestern Noon
November 5th Oregon_Ducks_logo Oregon at Colorado Colorado_Buffaloes_logo 3:30 PM
November 5th Florida State at Miami 7:30 PM
November 12th Notre_Dame_Leprechaun_logo Notre Dame vs. Navy (in Baltimore) Navy_Athletics_logo Noon
November 12th Pitt_Panthers_wordmark Pittsburgh at Virginia 3:30 PM
November 12th Oklahoma_Sooners_logo Oklahoma at West Virginia 7:30 PM
November 19th Iowa_Hawkeyes_logo Iowa at Minnesota Minnesota_Golden_Gophers_logo Noon
November 19th Ohio_State_Buckeyes_logo Ohio State at Maryland Maryland_Terrapins_logo 3:30 PM
November 19th Utah_Utes_logo Utah at Oregon Oregon_Ducks_logo 7:30 PM
November 25th Tulsa_Golden_Hurricane_logo Tulsa at Houston Houston_Cougars_Logo_(1999-2012) Noon
November 25th Baylor_Athletics_logo Baylor at Texas Texas_Longhorns_logo 3:30 PM
November 25th florida Florida at Florida State Florida_State_Seminoles_logo 7:30 PM
November 26th Pitt_Panthers_wordmark Pittsburgh at Miami Miami_Hurricanes_logo Noon
November 26th Michigan_State_Spartans_alternate_logo Michigan State at Penn State Penn_State_Nittany_Lions_logo 3:30 PM
November 26th Notre_Dame_Leprechaun_logo Notre Dame at USC USC_Trojans_logo 7:30 PM
December 3rd Big XII Championship Game Noon
December 3rd AAC Championship Game 4:00 PM
December 3rd ACC Championship Game 8:00 PM
December 17th Celebration Bowl Noon
December 17th la bowl-logo LA Bowl la bowl-logo 3:30 PM
December 17th Las_Vegas_Bowl_logo Las Vegas Bowl Las_Vegas_Bowl_logo 7:30 PM
December 31st Franklin-American-Mortgage-Music-City-Bowl-Official-Logo Music City Bowl Franklin-American-Mortgage-Music-City-Bowl-Official-Logo Noon
January 2nd Overton's_Citrus_Bowl Citrus Bowl Overton's_Citrus_Bowl 1:00 PM

ABC things (at this moment):

  • This year I am going to do a slightly different calculation for appearances by conference.  I am going to count having one team in the game as one appearance and having both teams in a game as two appearances.  This will give a better idea as to how different the conferences are.
  • So here are the predicted ABC appearances by conference:
    • Big Ten – 31 appearances
    • Big XII – 16 appearances (plus conference championship)
    • ACC – 14 appearances (plus conference championship)
    • Pac-12 – 11 appearances
    • SEC – 5 appearances
    • AAC – 3 appearances (plus conference championship)
    • Notre Dame – 3 appearances
    • Mountain West – 1 appearance
    • MAC – 1 appearance
    • UConn – 1 appearance
  • ABC still loves the Big Ten and loves to put them on in primetime.  I can safely say that will change in 2024 what with the SEC coming to ESPN/ABC and all the crazy realignment going on.  Big Ten will tether itself to FOX for sure.  Now, whether that starts next season or not is a different story.
  • The Big XII, ACC and Pac-12 will pick up those games the Big Ten leaves next season (if this occurs).  As for now, the Pac-12 is the low man on the totem pole and I can’t see that changing regardless of what happens this season.
  • I have a feeling the American could pick up another game somewhere but there wasn’t a spot that made sense from what I could see when I mapped out the schedules at this point.

fox_network

We have what looks like the “ESPN conference” in the SEC and the “FOX conference” in the Big Ten.  Everything else is up for grabs and if there is ever a time for FOX to really start using FOX Sports Two (and put it in more homes), it would be starting next season since the seismic shifts begin at that point.

For now, Canadians can’t get FOX Sports 2.  Hell, we don’t even get FOX Sports 1.  So forget about that for now.  Let’s see what I have predicted for the FOX college football schedule for this season:

August 27th Nebraska_Cornhuskers_logo,_1992–2003 Nebraska vs. Northwestern (in Dublin, Ireland) 12:30 PM
September 1st Penn State at Purdue Purdue_Boilermakers_logo 8:00 PM
September 3rd UTEP_Miners_logo UTEP at Oklahoma 3:30 PM
September 10th Alabama_Crimson_Tide_logo Alabama at Texas Noon
September 10th Washington_State_Cougars_logo Washington State at Wisconsin Wisconsin_Badgers_logo 3:30 PM
September 17th Oklahoma_Sooners_logo Oklahoma at Nebraska Nebraska_Cornhuskers_logo,_1992–2003 Noon
September 17th BYU_Athletic_Logo.svg_ BYU at Oregon Oregon_Ducks_logo 3:30 PM
September 17th Toledo_Rockets_logo Toledo at Ohio State 7:00 PM
September 17th Fresno_State_Bulldogs_logo Fresno State at USC 10:30 PM
September 24th Kansas_State_Wildcats_logo Kansas State at Oklahoma Oklahoma_Sooners_logo Noon
September 24th Texas_Longhorns_logo Texas at Texas Tech 3:30 PM
October 1st Oklahoma State at Baylor Baylor_Athletics_logo Noon
October 1st Iowa State at Kansas Kansas_Jayhawks 3:30 PM
October 8th Michigan_Wolverines_Logo Michigan at Indiana Indiana_Hoosiers_logo Noon
October 8th Iowa_Hawkeyes_logo Iowa at Illinois Fighting_Illini_logo 4:00 PM
October 8th Utah_Utes_logo Utah at UCLA UCLA_Bruins_script 8:00 PM
October 15th Iowa_State_Cyclones_logo Iowa State at Texas Texas_Longhorns_logo Noon
October 15th Washington_State_Cougars_logo Washington State at Oregon State Oregon_State_Beavers_logo 8:30 PM
October 22nd Texas_Longhorns_logo Texas at Oklahoma State Oklahoma_State_University_Athletics_logo Noon
October 22nd Arizona State Sun Devils Arizona State at Stanford Stanford_Cardinal_logo 3:30 PM
October 29th Michigan_State_Spartans_alternate_logo Michigan State at Michigan Noon
October 29th USC_Trojans_logo USC at Arizona Arizona_Wildcats_logo 3:30 PM
November 5th Baylor_Athletics_logo Baylor at Oklahoma Oklahoma_Sooners_logo Noon
November 5th Michigan_Wolverines_Logo Michigan at Rutgers Rutgers_Scarlet_Knights_logo 3:30 PM
November 5th Michigan_State_Spartans_alternate_logo Michigan State at Illinois Fighting_Illini_logo 7:30 PM
November 12th Wisconsin_Badgers_logo Wisconsin at Iowa Iowa_Hawkeyes_logo Noon
November 12th Nebraska_Cornhuskers_logo,_1992–2003 Nebraska at Michigan Michigan_Wolverines_Logo 4:00 PM
November 12th Iowa_State_Cyclones_logo Iowa State at Oklahoma State Oklahoma_State_University_Athletics_logo 8:00 PM
November 19th Oklahoma_State_University_Athletics_logo Oklahoma State at Oklahoma Oklahoma_Sooners_logo Noon
November 19th Kansas_State_Wildcats_logo Kansas State at West Virginia west virginia 4:00 PM
November 19th Oregon_State_Beavers_logo Oregon State at Arizona State Arizona State Sun Devils 8:00 PM
November 25th Oklahoma_Sooners_logo Oklahoma at Texas Tech Texas_Tech_Athletics_logo Noon
November 25th UCLA_Bruins_script UCLA at California California_Golden_Bears_logo 4:30 PM
November 26th Michigan_Wolverines_Logo Michigan at Ohio State Ohio_State_Buckeyes_logo Noon
November 26th Oregon_Ducks_logo Oregon at Oregon State Oregon_State_Beavers_logo 4:00 PM
November 26th Minnesota_Golden_Gophers_logo Minnesota at Wisconsin Wisconsin_Badgers_logo 8:00 PM
December 2nd Pac-12-FINAL-twt Pac-12 Championship Game Pac-12-FINAL-twt Noon
December 3rd Mountain West Conference Mountain West Championship Game Mountain West Conference 4:00 PM
December 3rd big10_logo_detail Big Ten Championship Game big10_logo_detail 8:00 PM
December 28th holiday__bowl-primary Holiday Bowl holiday__bowl-primary 8:00 PM

FOX crap (this second):

  • Predicted FOX appearances by conference using the method I mentioned above:
    • Big XII – 25 appearances
    • Big Ten – 24 appearances (plus conference championship)
    • Pac-12 – 16 appearances (plus conference championship)
    • MWC – 1 appearance (plus conference championship)
    • MAC – 1 appearance
    • BYU – 1 appearance
    • SEC – 1 appearance
    • Conference USA – 1 appearance
  • I have the Big Ten and Big XII with roughly the same amount of appearances.  This might change if my Big XII number for ESPN is low. The Mountain West has an interesting deal with the network. Unlike CBS, FOX does not have to put any of their games on the main network. Fresno State is the only team making an appearance during the regular season in the conference.
  • Quick quiz: what does FOX do that ABC and CBS don’t?  You guessed it, Frank Stallone an early season QUADRUPLEHEADER!!!! Week 3 will be highlighted by four games in a row on the main network. Not saying all the games will be good because they probably won’t be but hey, it’s nice to see FOX doing something like this. Late night main network college football is good for everyone in my biased opinion.

This will be the one schedule that people either really pay attention to or could not care less about.  At least with this schedule, I can confidently say that all the games are confirmed.  I will bold them anyway for people who don’t like to read things not near nice pictures:

September 10th Marshall_Thundering_Herd_logo Marshall at Notre Dame 2:30 PM
September 17th California_Golden_Bears_logo California at Notre Dame 2:30 PM
October 8th BYU_Athletic_Logo.svg_ BYU vs. Notre Dame (in Las Vegas) 7:30 PM
October 15th Stanford_Cardinal_logo Stanford at Notre Dame 7:30 PM
October 22nd UNLV_Rebels_logo UNLV at Notre Dame 2:30 PM
November 5th Clemson_University_Tiger_Paw_logo Clemson at Notre Dame 7:30 PM
November 19th Boston_College_Eagles_logo Boston College at Notre Dame 2:30 PM

Three primetime games this year for the Irish on NBC!  The BYU and Clemson games are not surprising to be put in primetime.  The Stanford one is a bit surprising but I guess if they were putting three games on in primetime this season, which one would you replace this with?  UNLV?  It also looks like NBC has decided to stick with the 2:30 start time.  It flows better into the evening news on local NBC affiliates as the games end at around the 6:00 mark.  If they had multiple games on each week (which may happen soon enough) this would probably have to change.  But for now, if an Irish game is close, they will get a lot of people to change the channel, either hoping the Irish pull another close one out or they lose a game they should have won which makes them happy.  It’s one extreme or the other with this program, I tell ya!

Alright that’s just about…oh wait, we’re still going?  Yeah I might as well.  A lot of people have this channel and, amazingly enough, most of the schedule is set.  It’s crazy how they have done this the past few years but they are able to get most of their schedule announced a few months before the season even starts.  It’s honestly impressive.  And remember, this channel has had some of the best college football finishes of the past few years.  So don’t ignore it.  Let’s get to this schedule which is a fairly large one:​

August 27th Austin Peay Austin Peay at Western Kentucky WKU_Athletics_logo Noon
August 27th idaho-state-bengals Idaho State at UNLV UNLV_Rebels_logo 3:30 PM
August 27th 49ers_wordmark Charlotte at Florida Atlantic Florida_Atlantic_Owls_logo 7:00 PM
August 27th Vanderbilt_Commodores_logo Vanderbilt at Hawaii Hawaii_Warriors_logo 10:30 PM
September 1st Alabama A&M Alabama A&M at UAB UAB 8:00 PM
September 3rd delaware Delaware at Navy Navy_Athletics_logo Noon
September 3rd Houston_Cougars_Logo_(1999-2012) Houston at UTSA UTSA logo 3:30 PM
September 3rd SMU_Mustang_logo SMU at North Texas North_Texas_Mean_Green_logo 7:30 PM
September 9th boise state Boise State at New Mexico New_Mexico_Lobos_logo 9:00 PM
September 10th UTSA logo UTSA at Army Army_West_Point_logo Noon
September 10th Memphis_Tigers_logo Memphis at Navy Navy_Athletics_logo 3:30 PM
September 10th Syracuse_Orange Syracuse at UConn Connecticut_Huskies_logo 7:00 PM
September 10th Oregon_State_Beavers_logo Oregon State at Fresno State Fresno_State_Bulldogs_logo 10:30 PM
September 16th Air_Force_Falcons Air Force at Wyoming Wyoming_Athletics_logo 8:00 PM
September 17th Villanova_Wildcats_logo Villanova at Army Army_West_Point_logo Noon
September 17th Vanderbilt_Commodores_logo Vanderbilt at Northern Illinois Northern_Illinois_Huskies_logo 3:30 PM
September 17th UCF_Knights_logo UCF at Florida Atlantic Florida_Atlantic_Owls_logo 7:30 PM
September 23rd boise state Boise State at UTEP UTEP_Miners_logo 9:00 PM
September 24th Buffalo_Bulls_logo Buffalo at Eastern Michigan Eastern_Michigan_Eagles_logo Noon
September 24th FIU_Panthers_logo FIU at Western Kentucky WKU_Athletics_logo 3:30 PM
September 24th UNLV_Rebels_logo UNLV at Utah State Utah_State_Aggies_logo 7:00 PM
September 24th Western_Michigan_Broncos_logo Western Michigan at San Jose State San_Jose_State_Spartans_logo 10:30 PM
September 30th UTSA logo UTSA at Middle Tennessee Middle_Tennessee_Athletics_logo 7:30 PM
September 30th New_Mexico_Lobos_logo New Mexico at UNLV UNLV_Rebels_logo 11:00 PM
October 1st Georgia_State_Athletics_logo Georgia State at Army Army_West_Point_logo Noon
October 1st Fresno_State_Bulldogs_logo Fresno State at UConn Connecticut_Huskies_logo 3:30 PM
October 1st San_Jose_State_Spartans_logo San Jose State at Wyoming Wyoming_Athletics_logo 7:30 PM
October 7th UNLV_Rebels_logo UNLV at San Jose State San_Jose_State_Spartans_logo 10:30 PM
October 8th Eastern_Michigan_Eagles_logo Eastern Michigan at Western Michigan Western_Michigan_Broncos_logo Noon
October 8th Tulsa_Golden_Hurricane_logo Tulsa at Navy Navy_Athletics_logo 3:30 PM
October 8th Wyoming_Athletics_logo Wyoming at New Mexico New_Mexico_Lobos_logo 7:00 PM
October 8th Hawaii_Warriors_logo Hawaii at San Diego State San_Diego_State_Aztecs_logo 10:30 PM
October 14th UTSA logo UTSA at FIU FIU_Panthers_logo 8:00 PM
October 15th Colgate_Raiders_logo Colgate at Army Army_West_Point_logo Noon
October 15th Northern_Illinois_Huskies_logo Northern Illinois at Eastern Michigan Eastern_Michigan_Eagles_logo 3:30 PM
October 15th Utah_State_Aggies_logo Utah State at Colorado State Colorado_State_Rams_logo 7:00 PM
October 15th Air_Force_Falcons Air Force at UNLV UNLV_Rebels_logo 10:30 PM
October 21st UAB UAB at Western Kentucky WKU_Athletics_logo 8:00 PM
October 22nd Louisiana–Monroe_Warhawks_logo ULM at Army Army_West_Point_logo Noon
October 22nd Akron_Zips_logo Akron at Kent State Kent_State_athletic_logo 3:30 PM
October 22nd boise state Boise State at Air Force Air_Force_Falcons 7:00 PM
October 22nd San_Diego_State_Aztecs_logo San Diego State at Nevada Nevada_Wolf_Pack_logo 10:30 PM
October 28th Louisiana_Tech_Athletics_logo Louisiana Tech at FIU FIU_Panthers_logo 8:00 PM
October 29th Boston_College_Eagles_logo Boston College at UConn Connecticut_Huskies_logo Noon
October 29th Temple_T_logo Temple at Navy Navy_Athletics_logo 3:30 PM
October 29th UAB UAB at Florida Atlantic Florida_Atlantic_Owls_logo 7:00 PM
October 29th Nevada_Wolf_Pack_logo Nevada at San Jose State San_Jose_State_Spartans_logo 10:30 PM
November 3rd UTEP_Miners_logo UTEP at Rice Rice_Owls_logo 7:00 PM
November 4th UMass_Amherst_Athletics_logo UMass at UConn Connecticut_Huskies_logo 7:00 PM
November 5th WKU_Athletics_logo Western Kentucky at Charlotte 49ers_wordmark Noon
November 5th New_Mexico_Lobos_logo New Mexico at Utah State Utah_State_Aggies_logo 3:30 PM
November 5th UNLV_Rebels_logo UNLV at San Diego State San_Diego_State_Aztecs_logo 7:00 PM
November 8th Ohio_Bobcats_logo Ohio at Miami-OH Miami_Redhawks_logo 7:00 PM
November 9th Buffalo_Bulls_logo Buffalo at Central Michigan Central_Michigan_Chippewas_logo 7:00 PM
November 11th Fresno_State_Bulldogs_logo Fresno State at UNLV UNLV_Rebels_logo 10:30 PM
November 12th Liberty_Flames_logo Liberty at UConn Connecticut_Huskies_logo Noon
November 12th New_Mexico_Lobos_logo New Mexico at Air Force Air_Force_Falcons 3:30 PM
November 12th Wyoming_Athletics_logo Wyoming at Colorado State Colorado_State_Rams_logo 7:00 PM
November 12th boise state Boise State at Nevada Nevada_Wolf_Pack_logo 10:30 PM
November 16th Western_Michigan_Broncos_logo Western Michigan at Central Michigan Central_Michigan_Chippewas_logo 7:00 PM
November 19th Connecticut_Huskies_logo UConn at Army Army_West_Point_logo Noon
November 19th Akron_Zips_logo Akron at Buffalo Buffalo_Bulls_logo 3:30 PM
November 19th boise state Boise State at Wyoming Wyoming_Athletics_logo 7:00 PM
November 19th Fresno_State_Bulldogs_logo Fresno State at Nevada Nevada_Wolf_Pack_logo 10:30 PM
November 25th Toledo_Rockets_logo Toledo at Western Michigan Western_Michigan_Broncos_logo Noon
November 25th New_Mexico_Lobos_logo New Mexico at Colorado State Colorado_State_Rams_logo 3:30 PM
November 26th WKU_Athletics_logo Western Kentucky at Florida Atlantic Florida_Atlantic_Owls_logo Noon
November 26th UAB UAB at Louisiana Tech Louisiana_Tech_Athletics_logo 3:30 PM
November 26th Air_Force_Falcons Air Force at Colorado State Colorado_State_Rams_logo 9:00 PM
December 2nd c-usa Conference USA Championship Game c-usa 8:00 PM

Just some CBS Sports Network notes and garbage:

  • Predicted CBSSN appearances by conference:
    • Mountain West – 52 appearances
    • Conference USA – 29 appearances (plus conference championship)
    • MAC – 20 appearances
    • American (excluding Navy) – 6 appearances
    • FCS – 6 appearances
    • Army – 6 appearances
    • UConn – 6 appearances
    • Navy – 4 appearances
    • SEC – 2 appearances (both by Vanderbilt)
    • ACC – 2 appearances
    • Sun Belt – 2 appearances
    • Pac-12 – 1 appearance
    • UMass – 1 appearance
    • Liberty – 1 appearance
  • Every conference except the Big Ten and Big XII appear at least once on CBS Sports Network. Nice.
  • The Mountain West absolutely dominates the appearance list even with a portion of the MWC football TV contract with FOX. It helps that all Boise State conference road games have to appear here.
  • Army and Navy and now UConn have their own CBS Sports Network contracts for home games. How that is affected by realignmentpalooza I have no idea. Army’s agreement runs through 2028, UConn has there’s until the end of the 2023 season and Navy’s contract goes until 2027.
  • Most of the games are set. The few that aren’t are all MAC games that should end up being 12-day choices during the season.

TSN logo

No.  Just, no.  This isn’t happening.  I can’t piece together this schedule yet.  To be honest, I probably won’t be able to at all before the season commences.  TSN struggles enough with setting up the schedule a week in advance.  I can’t expect them to have the entire season’s worth (or at least the timeslots set for the games) a month-and-a-half in advance!  Silly Bossman.

Alright, that’s it.  Not doing the Big Ten Network either and not including their logo because I think this has gone on long enough, don’t you think?

Next up will be, finally, predictions for the season.  I don’t know when I will have that up but I am hoping I can get going by the end of the month.  Best laid plans…

Have a great week and avoid the heat…unless you love the heat then get all you can!

OK now that Clay’s gone, who’s next? – Week 4 College Football TV Schedule

manny diaz

Clay Helton started the Coaching Carousel for us early this year.  Pair that with Randy Edsall’s resignation/retirement/whatever/bonus payment and it’s been a rough start for the Hot Seat coaches.  So the question now is, who will be next.  Let’s look at the candidates:

  • Got to start with Manny Diaz.  He hasn’t exactly lit things up in Miami and brought back memories of The U.  The problem is, it’s not like they have a lot of money to throw around to pay a buyout and bring in another coach.  So they may be stuck at least through this season unless things get really bad in south Florida.
  • Mike Norvell.  Good lord have the Noles been awful this year.  I wonder when enough will be enough.  This program doesn’t need to get back to the Bobby Bowden era but they have to get back to approaching the Jimbo Fisher era or they could have problems for years.
  • Geoff Collins.  I know he needed time to change the team from an option team to run a pro-style offense.  But when is it supposed to happen?  It feels like it never will and that Collins really doesn’t deserve a chance to continue his quest in Atlanta.
  • Rod Carey.  Let’s get out of the ACC and move to the American.  Carey left a good gig at Northern Illinois to replace dental hygienist-in-training Matt Rhule at Temple and it has been an unmitigated disaster.  If it wasn’t for USF they would be looking at an easy trip to the AAC basement.
  • Nick Rolovich.  Rolovich’s problems aren’t just on the field where Wazzu has struggled mightily so far.  His ideas about the COVID vaccine have rankled a lot of people and I honestly wonder if they will get rid of him just because he has become an annoying pest.
  • Walt Bell.  Are they really going to get anyone great to come to UMass?

As you can see, I haven’t put some of the usual suspects like Frost, Brohm, Babers or Harbaugh.  Probably because they have at least not done worse than expectations at this point and, in Harbaugh’s case, has exceeded them (so far).  We are only a quarter of the way through the season so now that conference play is slowly beginning we will see how these coaches’ fortunes turn out.

So far after three weeks we have had a damn good season.  Like a return to college football, if you will.  Here’s hoping this continues.  Let’s get to the schedule!

Thursday

US Canada
Marshall at Appalachian State 7:30 PM
Alcorn State at Arkansas-Pine Bluff 7:30 PM

Two games.  Neither of them really that good.  I mean, yeah, App State is still pretty good and could sneak through and cause a lot of problems in the Sun Belt.  Marshall just a blew a big fourth quarter lead and lost to East Carolina.  Nothing against the Pirates but yeesh that’s bad.  But it is still mid-week college football which is always better than no mid-week college football.  Especially if the Thursday Night Football matchup is not exactly great.  And, how about that, it isn’t.  The Panthers, they’re good.  The Texans…yes I know they’re 1-1 but they beat the Jaguars so no, they are not good.

Friday

US Canada
Middle Tennessee at Charlotte 6:30 PM
Wake Forest at Virginia 7:00 PM
Brown at Harvard 7:00 PM
Liberty at Syracuse 8:00 PM
UNLV at #22 Fresno State 10:00 PM

OK this is better.  Five games.  And CBS Sports Network is doing a doubleheader with their weird 6:30 start time.  It will be interesting to see how badly Fresno State will beat the Rebels, who now have Tate Fucking Martell as their quarterback.  I really don’t get how he gets so many opportunities.  Anyway, we also have the first look at Ivy League action for the first time since 2019.  OK Wake-Hoos could be good so maybe put your focus on that one.

Saturday Early

US Canada
Texas Tech at Texas Noon
Richmond at Virginia Tech Noon
Ohio at Northwestern Noon
Villanova at #6 Penn State Noon
Boise State at Utah State Noon
Miami-OH at Army Noon
LSU at Mississippi State Noon
Missouri at Boston College Noon
Bowling Green at Minnesota Noon
#12 Notre Dame vs. #18 Wisconsin (in Chicago) Noon
#2 Georgia at Vanderbilt Noon
CCSU at Miami 12:30 PM

Normally TSN would be just starting to step up with a bit more college football coverage.  Not this weekend though.  The Ryder Cup will dominate the TSN airwaves for a good part of Saturday so that moves all college football to TSN2 where there will be a quadrupleheader.  As for the games themselves, past ND-Wisky, not a whole lot that would be considered must-watch.  And you know what happens during weeks like this.  So expect one of the following to happen:

  • Villanova comes close to upsetting Penn State but the Nittany Lions close it late.
  • Richmond shocks Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.
  • The Red Raiders throw for like 600 yards and beat Texas in a barnburner.
  • Mizzou and BC go to eight overtimes and maybe, just maybe, the new overtime rules aren’t as bad as I thought (they still are but anyway).

Finally, the Mountain West finally makes their way to CBS with Boise State who is just somewhat average going to Utah State who suddenly may have a prolific offense again.  1-3 start for the Broncos?  Wouldn’t be a total shock.

Saturday Afternoon

US Canada
Rutgers at #19 Michigan 3:30 PM
Illinois at Purdue 3:30 PM
Kent State at Maryland 3:30 PM
#7 Texas A&M vs. #16 Arkansas (in Arlington) 3:30 PM
Wyoming at UConn 3:30 PM
#9 Clemson at NC State 3:30 PM
Louisville at Florida State 3:30 PM
UTSA at Memphis 3:30 PM
#14 Iowa State at Baylor 3:30 PM
Kansas at Duke 4:00 PM
Georgia State at #23 Auburn Noon

A good old Southwest Conference showdown highlights the afternoon sked.  For once, this neutral site game that Arkansas plays every year at JerryWorld is between two good teams.  And Rutgers is on ABC!  I was so hoping they would be on in primetime but I’ll take it.  Other than that there’s not much of note unless you really need to watch Kansas and Duke play…in football.  Oh and how does CBS now think about the UConn contract?  This Huskies could be worse than the 2019 version which was one of the worst teams in a long time.  To see some of the teams that end up on ESPN+ (or somehow worse) and then know that UConn is getting a national game many weeks is pretty sad (except for Conference USA teams who unfortunately are stuck with horrible TV contracts as it is).

Saturday Primetime

US Canada
Tennessee at #11 Florida 7:00 PM
Kentucky at South Carolina 7:00 PM
Navy at Houston 7:00 PM
West Virginia at #4 Oklahoma 7:30 PM
#21 North Carolina vs. Georgia Tech (in Mercedes-Benz Stadium) 7:30 PM
Akron at #10 Ohio State 7:30 PM
Southern Miss at #1 Alabama 7:30 PM
Indiana at Western Kentucky 8:00 PM

Oh man.  Feels like such a drop-off from the first two timeslots.  WVU-Sooners could be pretty good if the Mountaineers get their offense going early.  Navy and Houston, no matter how good or bad they both are, usually put on a great show.  As for the rest?  Bleh.

Saturday Late Night

US Canada
USF at #15 BYU 10:15 PM
Arizona at #3 Oregon 10:30 PM
Colorado at Arizona State 10:30 PM

Mormon After Dark!  If the Cougs play like the Cougs have played so far, that game should be done by halftime.  As should the Zona-UO game.  The only interesting one could be Colorado, who struggles to score, against Arizona State, who struggles to hold on to the ball.  Fun times.  Just a reminder, the Arizona-Oregon game will start in progress after Southern Miss-Alabama is done.  Thus are the perils of hopping from network to network throughout the day and I always wonder why TSN does this.

Games to set your eyeballs on

Texas A&M vs. Arkansas (in Arlington) (3:30, CBS) – If you thought Arkansas would be in the Top 20 at this point of the season, raise your hand.  Now put your hands down, you dirty liars.  No one thought the Hogs would be this good.  Maybe bowl-eligible.  But they have looked seriously good and could put a serious damper on the Aggies’ national title aspirations and it wouldn’t be a total shock if the Razorbacks won.  Also good to see Arkansas on CBS since they almost never get on there (except for the Black Friday game against Mizzou).

Notre Dame vs. Wisconsin (in Chicago) (Noon, FOX) – So the first two games on this list are neutral-site games.  In late September.  I mean they are great games and I am looking forward to them but I find all these neutral-site games usually take away from the pageantry and specialness of games in actual college football stadiums.  It’s part of what sets it apart from the NFL.  Anyway, the Irish continue their schedule hoping to win a game without struggling…..BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.  That was a good one.  This should be close which will make Irish fans sweat once again.

West Virginia at Oklahoma (7:30, ABC) – Is this the PEW! PEW! PEW! matchup of the week?  Considering the Sooners defense and the Sooners offense, I would put the over/under at about 90.  One of the worst Top 5 teams I’ve seen in a while.  At some point, they are going to either blow a team out and remind them what they are really about or will lose a game they probably shouldn’t have and confirm what many think about them.  Don’t count the ‘Eers out of this one as long as their offense plays like they did early against Virginia Tech and not late.

Rutgers at Michigan (3:30, ABC) – Fuck, yeah!  Rutgers, baby!  They haven’t been 3-0 in so long and haven’t been in a relatively important game on ABC in a long time as well.  And they have a challenge because Michigan is also playing better than many believed.  The winner stays alive in a seriously competitive Big Ten East.  But the way things are going, both teams will be going bowling and maybe, just maybe, all seven teams in the division will be in the postseason as well for the first time ever.

Iowa State at Baylor (3:30, FOX) – No specialty pack games on the Games of the Week list, which is good for many Canadians.  Yes, Iowa State was expected to be good and they have been underperforming.  And Baylor has not been good since Matt Rhule left.  Things, however, are changing in Waco with Dave Aranda in charge as they have started 3-0.  And ISU should still have quite a good season so this could be a darkhorse great game.

Honourable mention: Clemson at NC State (3:30, TSN2); Tennessee at Florida (7:00, TSN2); Kansas State at Oklahoma State (7:00, not able to be seen in this country)

You wanna bet?

Eight out of eleven isn’t too bad.  I mean it’s not awesome but hey I’ve had much worse weeks. Yes I picked Arizona State.  Yes I picked UCF (which most others did) and yeah I also picked Miami (which most others did as well).  So really not that bad I think OK fine let’s just get to this week’s picks already:

Michigan over Rutgers

Wisconsin over Notre Dame

Florida over Tennessee

Texas A&M over Arkansas

Clemson over NC State

Iowa State over Baylor

Oklahoma State over Kansas State

Oklahoma over West Virginia

Charlotte over Middle Tennessee

Arizona State over Colorado

Houston over Navy

OK here’s hoping we have another solid weekend of college football action.  Enjoy the games everyone!