Should I do a Draft Recap?

Yeah, why not. Not like I am stupidly busy with life.

Alright we made it through all seven rounds (and the various undrafted signees over the following 48 hours). It was a slog at time but there was some very interesting spots during the three days, especially night one. Let’s just do this point form, shall we? I don’t feel like putting a ton of effort into something that is done in a much more thorough fashion by some websites who go as far as rating EVERY PICK. Yeah I’m not doing that.

• The most stunning development of the draft, by a country mile, was the Atlanta Falcons and their pick at the #8 spot in the draft. I wondered if they would pick J.J. McCarthy in my final mock draft to back Kirk Cousins up for a season and then see where things are. I was right…the Falcons did draft a quarterback. That quarterback’s name, though, was Michael Penix Jr. People were stunned. Hell, Cousins was stunned. He certainly DID NOT LIKE THAT. This has all the makings of a three-ring circus so we shall see how things progress down in the heart of Georgia.
• Speaking of stunning, how about Penix being one of the six quarterbacks picked in the first 12 spots of the draft. Incredible. Easily a new record for the draft.
• Hey, look at me! I got the first four picks absolutely correct…as did I think almost everyone. It was almost a no-brainer as to who the first four selections would be and in what order they would go in.
• Now, as for the first stretch of the draft I would go with Penix at #8 since I figured he would go much later in the first round. As for bigger stretches, how about Ricky Pearsall at #31, Max Melton at #43 (again with those Falcons) and Ben Sinnott at #53 who I had going sometime after the third round. Yikes.
• Over 700,000 fans were at this draft. 700,000. I mean it wasn’t 700,000 different people but still. That’s an insane amount of people. And let’s be honest here: other than the people under the structure and close enough to be maybe caught on camera once, is it really that fun an experience? It looks awful to be part of unless you are close enough and feel like you are part of the “action” for lack of a better term. At least it doesn’t cost anything to go there so you could come and go as you please (as far as I know).
• I perused all three shows on Night One. Gotta say, Nick Saban was a breath of fresh air. Honest insight and gave you info that always seemed to be missing from previous draft broadcasts. NFL Network did their usual solid job. And if you want to know how ESPN did, as soon as I went over to that broadcast, the first thing I saw is Mel Kiper basically yelling right in Booger McFarland’s face. So yeah, I would go 1) ABC 2) NFLN 3) watching people on Twitter bitch and complain about all things draft-related but at least picks weren’t getting tipped early unless you were looking for it 4) ESPN.

Let’s get to the winners and loser of this draft:

Winners

• As I usually do, I will preface this with the fact that it is really too soon to truly understand the ramifications of this draft. Many pundits have been wrong. No one thought Tom Brady would be what he ended up being after being drafted 199th back in 2000.
• Da Bears – Caleb Williams was the no-brainer first overall pick. Getting Rome Odunze to pair with him eight picks later was a big pick. Then to pick Tory Taylor in the fourth round was a coup. Overall, a great draft from Ryan Poles.
• Da Vikings – This seems to be a bit more polarizing. As a friend of mine stated, he just wanted the Vikings to have a plan and stick with it. So if it’s taking J.J. McCarthy, then take J.J. McCarthy and don’t overthink it. Which they did. Then they moved up to get Dallas Turner in one of the best trade-ups of the draft. Including Khyree Jackson as their fourth-round pick means they actually got a lot of value with some of their picks, something many teams can’t say.
• Philly – Their secondary is going to be something to deal with. Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean were drafted lower than many thought they would be (including myself). And now with Vic Fangio running the defense? Watch out.
• Indy – They got quite the haul with their 2024 draft. And Adonai Mitchell actually picked around where he was supposed to be picked (if not a little later which makes him a bit of a steal). How about that?

Losers

• I don’t care what anyone thinks but drafting Michael Penix Jr. at #8 is a terrible choice. I mentioned it above and I am not going to go over it again. There’s a GM overthinking things and it was interesting watching him try to basically justify the pick to Arthur Blank (or at least that’s what it looked like).
• The Raiders – Now the Raiders, they needed a quarterback. Gardner Minshew and Aidan O’Connell are not the answer unless one of them plays out of his mind this season. So did they trade up? No. They did get Brock Bowers which is a good pick but they need someone to throw him the fucking ball.
• Buffalo* – I put an asterisk here. When they didn’t trade up to grab Brian Thomas Jr. I thought, OK maybe they aren’t go to draft a receiver. Then they trade with the Chiefs to move down to #32 which is kind of weird. The Chiefs picking Xavier Worthy is so much less of a deal than many made it out to be, it’s laughable. According to some, Worthy is nine Puka Nacuas rolled into one. Get the fuck outta here. The Chiefs reached for Worthy according to almost everyone’s thoughts going into the draft so cut it with the “he’s a sure-fire HOFer with Patrick Mahomes” horseshit. THEN, the Bills trade down AGAIN to get out of the first round altogether. Sure, the Panthers also reached with their receiver pick but still, what was Brandon Beane trying to accomplish? And please, moving up on Day 3 of the draft means very little, admit it. So after all this, what do the Bills do? DRAFT A RECEIVER! Are you kidding me? I mean the guy is hilariously entertaining but trading down twice to do what you could have done the previous night all to move up some of your later picks? Oh yeah, real big brain stuff. Again, get the fuck outta here. Over………thinking. And that kind of thing pushes general managers out the door.

OK I have to calm down. Enough of the draft. I was getting pretty pissed off there at the end. Maybe it’s the residual from the Leafs losing in heartbreaking fashion…again. Being a Leafs fan and a Bills fan I should know the pain is coming. But even though I do, it still sucks. Big time.

Were there other winners and losers at this draft? Sure. I don’t have the time, energy or inkling to even go into that. Not my forte, so I dip my toe in the water and steer clear of the “experts” who do this for a living.

Now a little blurb about what is happening with Rogers and their NHL contract. Remember what I said years ago about it? Let’s step into the way-back machine and take a look, shall we?

My opinion was that Rogers would rue the day they made that deal. Not the cost (although it was a ton) but the length of the deal. Twelve years at the time. Now it took longer than I thought it would (and that’s because Rogers couldn’t do this before now becuase there was no interest) but Rogers is selling off the Monday Night NHL game package to Amazon. Yep, it’s only the last two years of the twelve-year contract but still, I had a feeling it would happen. I don’t think Rogers is getting the return on investment they desired and that’s obvious with this move. I am guessing they will be much less of a major player when the Canadian rights come up in 2026. Feels good to be right at least some of the time, especially when others don’t quite agree with you. Then again, I live in the middle of a hockey-mad country that just watched the first- or second-most popular team (depending on who you ask) get bounced from the playoffs….OK I’m not going back to that well. It’s done. Over with. Stop it, Bossman.

Soon enough I will get back in the groove of things. Most important games lists. Conference predictions. My (probably shitty) Heisman ballot. I know it’s only May but with the new college football video game coming out soon I am starting to feel it. College football is in the air (kind of). Have a great week everyone!

Yes, it’s already the first mock draft of the year (along with some network change news)

Do I have time to do this? No. So why am I doing it? I honestly don’t know. I think I just feel I should put a bit more into the offseason portion of my blog. I mean it is half the year and there have been times I have gone dark for like a month. What will people read? The newspaper? Get the fuck outta here.

Honestly, I feel that even though this blog will turn 11 in a few months, I haven’t tried enough to take it to the next level, so to speak. Maybe not more posts but better posts. More informative stuff. It almost feels like this may be a make-or-break twelve months for me. With all the shit I have to do to get my career to the next step, it means there will be less and less time to do stuff I enjoy, like this blog. I always have to remind myself why I started this in the first place: to organize my own college football viewing. It allowed me to watch more college football than ever before and be efficient with it as well, while still making time for my kids. Then again, I ended up separated four months after the blog started so…..yeah.

So let’s just get on with the first mock draft of who knows how many leading up to the draft and hey how about that, look who’s going first overall.

1	Chicago	Caleb Williams, QB (USC)
2	Washington	Jayden Daniels, QB (LSU)
3	New England	Drake Maye, QB (North Carolina)
4	Arizona	Marvin Harrison Jr., WR (Ohio State)
5	LA Chargers	Brock Bowers, TE (Georgia)
6	NY Giants	Byron Murphy II, DT (Texas)
7	Tennessee	Joe Alt, OT (Notre Dame)
8	Atlanta	Malik Nabers, WR (LSU)
9	Chicago	Rome Odunze, WR (Washington)
10	NY Jets	Olumuyiwa Fashanu, OT (Penn State)
11	Minnesota	Dallas Turner, OLB (Alabama)
12	Denver	Laiatu Latu, DE (UCLA)
13	Las Vegas	Bo Nix, QB (Oregon)
14	New Orleans	J.C. Latham, OT (Alabama)
15	Indianapolis	Nate Wiggins, CB (Clemson)
16	Seattle	Kris Jenkins, DT (Michigan)
17	Jacksonville	Quinyon Mitchell, CB (Toledo)
18	Cincinnati	Michael Hall Jr., DT (Ohio State)
19	LA Rams	Kamren Kitchens, S (Miami)
20	Pittsburgh	Jordan Morgan, OT (Arizona)
21	Miami	Troy Fautanu, OG (Washington)
22	Philadelphia	Jared Verse, DE (Florida State)
23	Houston	Kamari Lassiter, CB (Georgia)
24	Dallas	Brian Thomas Jr., WR (LSU)
25	Green Bay	Cooper DeJean, S (Iowa)
26	Tampa Bay	Xavier Legette, WR (South Carolina)
27	Arizona	Terrion Arnold, CB (Alabama)
28	Buffalo	Kool-Aid McKinstry, CB (Alabama)
29	Detroit	Cam Hart, CB (Notre Dame)
30	Baltimore	Xavier Worthy, WR (Texas)
31	San Francisco	Tyler Guyton, OT (Oklahoma)
32	Kansas City	Tallies Fuaga, OT (Oregon State)

I am firmly in the camp that says that the Bears will trade Justin Fields. Whether it’s before the draft, during the draft, or after the draft, I don’t know. I just can’t see them passing up on Williams when they could get him AND a really good receiver for their first two picks. On top of that, they could get more picks that will help them later in the draft or in the following year’s event. Not quite a win-win but damn near close. The Commanders and Patriots also need quarterbacks desperately so they will be watching what the Bears do very closely…and possibly even calling them to inquire about how much it would take to trade for that top pick of theirs. Other interesting notes from this first kick at the can:

• The first team that doesn’t need a quarterback is the Cardinals and they are very much hoping the Bears take Caleb Williams since it will mean that Marvin Harrison Jr. will fall into their lap. Pairing him with Kyler Murray could be quite something for a moribund Cards’ offense.
• The Chargers need almost everything that isn’t the quarterback position. If I am them, I nab Bowers, pick another receiver up later on, and bulk up the offense. Win games in true Big XII fashion this coming season. It may be their only hope at getting close to a playoff spot.
• Any potential steals here? Not really but the Saints nabbing Latham at #14 would be good value as would the Eagles picking up Jared Verse at #22.

Will I do more mock drafts? Of course. When? I have no clue.

Now let’s look at the changes coming to conferences and broadcast networks in the Fall. There really is only one major change but it does have a domino effect. The SEC is now fully on ABC/ESPN/SEC Network/ESPN2/ESPNU (if they absolutely have to be) and ESPN+ because they are contractually obligated to be once a season (at least that’s the way the previous SEC contract played out). With the SEC on ABC, they will easily get the majority of the Saturday night games. Not all, but with 14 weeks worth of games, the SEC will get no less than ten of those.

So that domino effect…SEC had every evening ESPN game last year. I can’t see that being the case since that would compete directly with the game on ABC. So they should get a lot less of those and they should get filled with the ACC and Big XII. The American might end up actually getting more games on ESPN with this new arrangement which seems crazy but with the ACC and, to a lesser extent, the Big XII getting hurt by this from a Disney/ESPN perspective, the American Conference is ready to pick up a few pieces here and there.

The Big XII won’t cry about this though. For everything they will end up losing from ESPN/ABC, they will gain more than that quite possibly from the FOX side of things. Sure, the Big Ten will get many of the Big Noon Kickoff games. But beyond that? Remember, the Big Ten has a game a week on CBS, a game a week on NBC and eight games on Peacock. Also, you might see a couple of late night Big Ten affairs on the Big Ten Network. So there will be plenty of spots on FOX and FOX Sports One for the Big XII to fill in since there is no more Pac-12. The other conference that wins here? The Mountain West. They should get a lot more FS1 games with how things are shaking out.

So even though the SEC and Big Ten will start to dominate the landscape of college football, we might get more chances than ever to watch other conferences. Now if they can just figure out how to get FS1 games up here legally and Canadians won’t have any reason to complain about access to CFB games in the future ever again (other than the one Notre Dame game a season on Peacock and weird stuff like the Hawaii Tests).

Alright more posts to come but no football for over a month. The UFL starts in late March and I’m…honestly not that excited about it but it’s football so I am sure will watch some at some point since it’s football and I love football. Better than watching the news, right? Have a good weekend 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

		US	Canada
Murray State at Louisville	7:30

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

		US	Canada
Indiana State at Indiana	7:00
Illinois at Kansas	7:30

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

		US	Canada
Vanderbilt at Wake Forest	11:00 AM
#10 Notre Dame at NC State	Noon
Youngstown State at #5 Ohio State	Noon
Delaware State at Army	Noon
#12 Utah at Baylor	Noon
Purdue at Virginia Tech	Noon
James Madison at Virginia	Noon
Nebraska at #22 Colorado	Noon
Ball State at #1 Georgia	Noon

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

		US	Canada
Charleston Southern at #25 Clemson	2:15
#23 Texas A&M at Miami	3:30
UTEP at Northwestern	3:30
Richmond at Michigan State	3:30
UNLV at #2 Michigan	3:30
Wagner at Navy	3:30
#20 Ole Miss at #24 Tulane	3:30
Iowa at Iowa State	3:30
Marshall at East Carolina	4:00
Kent State at Arkansas	4:00
Tulsa at #8 Washington	5:00
Appalachian State at #17 North Carolina	5:15

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

		US	Canada
Ohio at FAU	6:00
Cincinnati at Pittsburgh	6:30
#11 Texas at #3 Alabama	7:00
#13 Oregon at Texas Tech	7:00
Houston at Rice	7:00
#19 Wisconsin at Washington State	7:30
Eastern Michigan at Minnesota	7:30
Temple at Rutgers	7:30
UCLA at San Diego State	7:30
Grambling at #14 LSU	7:30
McNeese State at Florida	7:30
Charlotte at Maryland	7:30
Arizona at Mississippi State	7:30
Air Force vs. Sam Houston (in NRG Stadium)	8:00
Southern Miss at #4 Florida State	8:30

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

		US	Canada
UC-Davis at #16 Oregon State	9:00
Auburn at California	10:30
Stanford at #6 USC	10:30

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!

Hey, what happened in the NFL offseason? Probably nothing.

Oh wait, it’s the NFL…all sorts of shit happens in the offseason. It’s a year-long drama with this league. Even soap operas look at some of this stuff and say “that’s unrealistic.”

Deshaun Watson, the Cleveland Browns’ starting quarterback (and I use that term this season loosely) will be suspended for the first eleven games of the 2022 NFL season because of his issue with masseuses. Big issues. Bad issues. “If they’re true” some will say. I don’t remember players in football getting suspended for more than half a season for something they didn’t do.

Tom Brady decided to retire then got pissy because Adam Schefter broke the news too early I guess. So he unretired. There’s more to it but still, I am 99.9% sure that’s part of it.

Sean Payton is no longer the coach of the New Orleans Saints. You watch that movie about him going to coach his son’s team while he was suspended for a year? He was played by Kevin James. It was not good.

Brian Flores sued the NFL for racial discrimination. It will be interesting to see where this goes as it’s not a good look for the league. Now if he sued Dolphins owner Stephen Ross for being a complete shitbag, then he’d win no problem.

Aaron Rodgers again played coy and acted like he’d leave the Green Bay Packers. He didn’t although he very well could have and made a lot of many elsewhere. A-A-Ron also knows that Matt LaFleur will put up with his bullshit for another season so that helps.

Receivers now making crazy money, Russell Wilson out of Seattle, Baker Mayfield out of Cleveland (and no more commercials from that stadium I assume), Matt Ryan ending up in Indy, Washington getting a new team name and still being a gongshow of an organization, the playoff overtime format changing (thankfully) and many other things happened as well. So yeah…calm.

OK enough of all that because we are almost ready for the NFL season! September 8th, the Bills travel to Los Angeles to face the Rams to start the new season. I am very much looking forward to this and you might see why from the upcoming predictions. Let’s get right to them (as per usual, an * means that team was able to snag a Wild Card spot…good for them):

AFC East		NFC East
Buffalo	13-4	Philadelphia	10-7
New England	9-8	Dallas*	10-7
Miami	9-8	Washington	7-10
NY Jets	6-11	NY Giants	5-12
AFC North		NFC North
Baltimore	10-7	Green Bay	12-5
Cincinnati*	10-7	Minnesota*	9-8
Cleveland	8-9	Detroit	6-11
Pittsburgh	8-9	Chicago	5-12
AFC South		NFC South
Indianapolis	10-7	Tampa Bay	12-5
Tennessee*	10-7	New Orleans	8-9
Jacksonville	5-12	Carolina	7-10
Houston	4-13	Atlanta	4-13
AFC West		NFC West
Kansas City	11-6	LA Rams	12-5
LA Chargers*	11-6	San Francisco*	9-8
Las Vegas	9-8	Arizona	9-8
Denver	9-8	Seattle	5-12

Notes on those standings predictions:

• Yep, I have the Buffalo Bills as the only 13-win team in the league. I know that probably won’t happen. They may win 14!
• The NFC will be a bit clogged at the top with three teams trying to get the only first round bye. I have the Bucs getting that first round bye thanks to a complicated set of tiebreakers that ends with a game of dizzy bat.
• I foresee quite a few close division races with the AFC North, AFC South, AFC West, and NFC East all ending up tied at the end of the season. Not having a home playoff game can be seriously rough so feel bad for the Bengals, Titans, Chargers, and Cowboys if you feel like it.
• As it normally is, the Wild Card races should be fun. I have the Titans and Bengals being one game up on the Patriots, Dolphins, Raiders, and Broncos to nab the final two spots. In the NFC, the Vikings and Niners do just enough to stay ahead of the Cardinals to make the playoffs.
• The race to the bottom pits Houston against Atlanta, although the Jags, Giants and Seahawks will try their best to dive to bottom of the NFL ocean. I have the Falcons “winning” the #1 pick for next year’s draft and the chance to, at this point, bring in Bryce Young as their franchise quarterback.
• I think Josh Allen beats out a bevy of other quarterbacks to win the MVP. Tom Brady, Justin Herbert and Joe Burrow will be close but not enough to overtake the man who I believe will take the Bills to the best record in the league.
• Rookie of the Year is, as I always say, a complete crapshoot. I will go with the players that I believe will play the most. So I am picking Aidan Hutchinson on the defensive side and Kenny Pickett on the offensive side.
• Coach of the Year? Ah, why not, I’m good at getting these predictions wrong, what’s one more? I’ll go with Sean McDermott of the Bills since, other than Dan Campbell and the Detroit Lions, I don’t see another team having a big improvement from the previous year.

And now it’s time to go to the playoff predictions. Last year’s were…not good. Let’s hope for better time around.

Wild Card Round

Kansas City (2) def. Tennessee (7)

Cincinnati (6) def. Baltimore (3)

LA Chargers (5) def. Indianapolis (4)

Green Bay (2) def. San Francisco (7)

LA Rams (3) def. Minnesota (6)

Dallas (5) def. Philadelphia (4)

Divisional Round

Buffalo (1) def. Cincinnati (6)

LA Chargers (5) def. Kansas City (2)

Tampa Bay (1) def. Dallas (5)

LA Rams (3) def. Green Bay (2)

Conference Championships

Buffalo (1) def. LA Chargers (5)

LA Rams (3) def. Tampa Bay (1)

Super Bowl

Buffalo (1) def. LA Rams (3)

Yes for the second year in a row I have the Buffalo Bills winning the Super Bowl. I feel better about this year’s prediction than last year’s. Then again, last year I picked Seattle to go to the Super Bowl so it’s a low bar to begin with. At least now if they go to overtime, they know they will get a chance to score.

I hope you enjoyed Week Zero of the college football season. It was…technically college football. I wonder if Scott Frost was left in Ireland. Anyway, soon enough we get back to in the old rotation of things and all will feel right in the world. Have a great week everyone!

Alright let’s wrap this up in a nice, neat little package

Oh man did you actually believe that?  LITTLE?  Have you not noticed what I’ve been doing the last little while?  Oh this will not be a little package I assure you; but it will be an important package of information that you, the college football fan, would like to see (I hope).

So yes, you will see what I believe the College Football Playoff and the New Year’s Six will look like.  You will get bowl projections from yours truly.  You will also get my Heisman ballot which is usually a big steaming pile of horseshit.  And you will get my coaching hot seat list which, honestly, is usually pretty good if I say so myself.

Let’s get right to it with the top of the pyramid (scheme)…the College Football Playoff predictions.  You probably have a good idea from the conference predictions as to who will end up here and you also know that there is a good chance I will fail miserably with one of these picks:

December 31st	Fiesta Bowl	#2 Ohio State	#3 Georgia
December 31st	Peach Bowl	#1 Alabama	#4 Clemson

New Year’s Eve semi-finals.  Will they never learn?  Anyway, Bama is the easy call here as I see them running the table and then beating UGA in what may be the biggest SEC Championship ever (and that’s saying a lot).  This also means that Georgia is probably a fairly easy call as well.  Sure, they will lose to the Tide but if they go in at #2 (which I expect them to) and lose to #1 (which I assume Bama would be) then a drop to #3 is as far as they will go.  No way they are leaving out a one-loss Big Ten champ so tOSU gets in and takes advantage of one of Alabama or Georgia having to lose to get to the #2 spot.  OK take advantage is a strong phrase since being #2 means very little other than avoiding #1 until, potentially, the title game.  Clemson ends up beating out Texas A&M, Michigan and NC State, all one-loss teams who didn’t win their division, rather easily to grab the final semi-final spot.  Oregon would have their shot at the Pac-12 Championship but lose to Utah making The Committee’s job (at least for these two games) rather straightforward.

Now we will go to the New Year’s Six bowl games where, thanks to the NFL, none of them are on New Year’s Day.  Eat shit, Rose Bowl.

January 2nd	Rose Bowl	#6 Michigan	#10 Utah
January 2nd	Cotton Bowl	#11 Oregon	#8 Houston
December 31st	Sugar Bowl	#5 Texas A&M	#9 Baylor
December 30th	Orange Bowl	#7 NC State	#12 Notre Dame

As always, it’s debate time.  Every year which is fine as long as the debates devolve into some stupid Twitter spat.  Only one conference championship loser is getting in here and that’s Oregon.  They’ll be high enough in the rankings (potentially in the Top 4) going into Conference Championship weekend that there is no way they drop out of a NY6 bowl.  Houston won’t be this year’s Cincinnati but they will be this year’s Group of Five representative in the New Year’s Six and they will coast to get here.  Michigan is going to have another good year but they have the audacity to be in the same division as Ohio State.  Assholes.  This will be enough to keep them out of the CFP.  Same goes for TAMU and NC State.  What were they thinking being in a division with other good schools.  And you wonder why I hate divisions.  We could have a tOSU-UM rematch and a Clemson-NCST rematch for conference championships.  Talk about a lot more being on the line and a hell of a lot more intrigue.

Utah, with their win over Oregon in the Pac-12 Championship, gets the other Rose Bowl spot opposite Michigan.  Luckily, they should ascend to somewhere around the #10 ranking that I have them in so they will look like they belong.  Baylor also gets the benefit of a good bowl tie-in and I have them facing their old Southwest Conference foe, the Aggies of Texas A&M.  Just like Utah, the Bears will be good enough to belong here and not spark any crazy debate about bowl tie-ins.  The only debate will be for the final spot.  Look, it’s Notre Dame.  If the Irish go 10-2, they are not being left out of this group of bowl games.  As much as some of you want that to be the case, it never will be (until the CFP structure changes).  They beat out UCLA, Oklahoma and Marshall.  Very few, other than those schools’ fans, will be super upset they were left out.

Now it’s time for the rest of BOWL SZN.  At least I know these bowls won’t be cancelled…I hope.

January 2nd	Citrus Bowl	#17 Tennessee	#18 Michigan State
January 2nd	ReliaQuest Bowl	Florida	#20 Minnesota
December 31st	Music City Bowl	Ole Miss	#22 Purdue
December 30th	Gator Bowl	Arkansas	#19 Pittsburgh
December 30th	Arizona Bowl	Boise State	Northern Illinois
December 30th	Sun Bowl	Louisville	Oregon State
December 30th	Duke’s Mayo Bowl	Kentucky	Penn State
December 29th	Alamo Bowl	#15 Oklahoma	#13 UCLA
December 29th	Cheez-It Bowl	Iowa State	Miami
December 29th	Pinstripe Bowl	Iowa	Florida State
December 28th	Texas Bowl	LSU	#21 Texas
December 28th	Holiday Bowl	Virginia Tech	#24 USC
December 28th	Liberty Bowl	South Carolina	#23 Oklahoma State
December 28th	Military Bowl	Wake Forest	#16 UCF
December 27th	Guaranteed Rate Bowl	Nebraska	Kansas State
December 27th	Birmingham Bowl	Auburn	#25 Cincinnati
December 27th	First Responder Bowl	Colorado State	Troy
December 27th	Camellia Bowl	Coastal Carolina	UAB
December 26th	Quick Lane Bowl	Maryland	Miami-OH
December 24th	Hawaii Bowl	BYU	Fresno State
December 23rd	Independence Bowl	Memphis	Army
December 23rd	Gasparilla Bowl	Boston College	Tulsa
December 22nd	Armed Forces Bowl	TCU	UTEP
December 21st	New Orleans Bowl	#14 Marshall	UTSA
December 20th	Boca Raton Bowl	Appalachian State	Florida Atlantic
December 20th	Idaho Potato Bowl	San Diego State	Toledo
December 19th	Myrtle Beach Bowl	Georgia State	Liberty
December 17th	Frisco Bowl	San Jose State	South Alabama
December 17th	Las Vegas Bowl	Mississippi State	Arizona State
December 17th	LendingTree Bowl	Louisiana	Kent State
December 17th	LA Bowl	Washington	Air Force
December 17th	New Mexico Bowl	Utah State	Western Michigan
December 17th	Fenway Bowl	North Carolina	SMU
December 16th	Cure Bowl	East Carolina	UNLV
December 16th	Bahamas Bowl	WKU	Central Michigan

More bowl games!  Honestly, I don’t care nearly as much as I used to.  It’s more football at this point.  Once the 12-team playoff (or whatever it ends up being) comes to fruition, I will be interested to see what happens to some of the lower-level bowl games.  Hey, as long as Canadians can see most of these games on TSN then there’s no real problem.  Let’s look at a few points from that long table of information I just posted:

• Only two games between ranked teams?  Good lord.  UT-MSU at the Citrus and Oklahoma-UCLA at the Alamo and that’s it.  Those two bowls are used to having fairly big matchups.  It would probably be more of a shock if the Bahamas Bowl had a Top 25 matchup (although it would definitely intrigue me that’s for sure).
• I’m not bothering with listing bowl tie-ins and or conferences that couldn’t fill their bowl quota or even 5-7 teams that I have in to fill the bowl games that don’t have two teams.
• Some of the other good matchups after the Citrus and Alamo:
  • Ole Miss-Purdue in Nashville
  • Arkansas-Pitt at the Gator
  • Iowa-Florida State playing in the cold of the Bronx
  • Wake-UCF in the Military Bowl
  • LSU going into Longhorn country (kind of) to play Texas
  • Marshall-UTSA in Nawlins
  • Nebraska-Kansas State in a Big Eight matchup in Tempe
• The Husker one is very interesting because they have the longest Big Ten bowl drought.  Can you fucking believe it?  I would have bet money that it was Rutgers or…Rutgers.  Nope.  The Huskers went to the Music City Bowl in late 2016 and haven’t gone back to a bowl game since.  Wow.

History states at least one of the CFP semi-final games will not be that good.  I hate to do this to the Tigers but sorry, Bama should win that one easy.  The Buckeyes will have big problems with the Dawgs but in the end, they will punch their ticket to the national title game to lose to the Tide who will be back on top once again.  No real surprises here.

So now that COVID is…well not behind us but it is not nearly as serious as it was, we can really get back to normality. That means that the college football head coaches are getting shorter leashes again, folks! The shitcanning season will be upon us at some point this Fall!

And when I mean short leashes I mean seriously short. Like maybe a foot long. Some athletic directors are now realizing that the college football world is pretty much fully back to normal and they have some time to make up. Some coaches received reprieves in the past two seasons thanks to the pandemic but that leeway is fucking gone now.

Look I don’t want to toot my own horn but I usually do fairly well with this list. So let’s just get right down to it, shall we? If you recall, the order is from most likely to be fired to most likely to keep their job. They are also categorized in a few different sections. Let’s go!

Almost Guaranteed Shitcanning

1. Geoff Collins (Georgia Tech) – This should be a surprise to absolutely no one.  The experiment to move away from the option to more of a pro-style offense has failed spectacularly in the ATL.  I honestly see no possible improvement here and a possible in-season firing.  Needed to keep his job – Get into the final few weeks of the season with at least a mathematical possibility of going bowling.  Prediction – He’s going to get shitcanned some time in November in the midst of a ten-loss season for the Rambling Wreck.
2. Karl Dorrell (Colorado) – Can we say that weird 2020 season was an aberration?  I think we can as the Buffaloes are dropping down the ladder once again in the Pac-12 as realignment goes wild everywhere.  Needed to keep his job – Have a shot at bowl eligibility going into the final two games.  Prediction – A whole lot of frustration for Dorrell, the Buffaloes, the other coaches, alumni and current students. And no job for Dorrell…he may end up not coaching the final game of the season.
3. Neal Brown (West Virginia) – Brown’s first year in Morgantown was considered a success.  Last year’s, not so much.  And with an improving Big XII around them, I see them falling even farther in Brown’s third year when he has most of his recruits in.  Not looking good for a guy who was a big up-and-comer not too long ago.  Needed to keep his job – Not continue the downward slide.  Prediction – I remember going to Wet n’ Wild as a kid. It doesn’t exist anymore. But it had some cool waterslides. That is how ol’ Neal is going to feel this season. He’ll end the season on the unemployment line.
4. Mike Bloomgren (Rice) – No one is really expecting Rice to be a power player in football.  Saying that, they had to the American Conference next season and I can’t see Bloomgren being the head coach.  Other than a couple of good seasons, he’s done very little in the Houston area and has fallen FAR behind their neighbour.  Needed to keep his job – Something more than what I feel they will do this year.  Prediction – The bloom has come off the rose (ha ha) and he will be looking for a new school to coach at for 2023.
5. Herm Edwards (Arizona State) – It feels inevitable that, at the very best, Herm will be done at the end of the season.  Their recruiting issues are well known and it may end up being the NCAA coming down hard on ASU (and, eventually, Herm himself).  It won’t help his cause that the Sun Devils won’t be as good as they were last year.  Needed to keep his job – I don’t know if there is anything short of a Pac-12 title that would save his job (and even then).  Prediction – Herm is shown the door before the last game of the season as the powers that be in Tempe decide it’s time to rebuild again.

Probable Shitcanning

6. Dino Babers (Syracuse) – How long has Dino been on the hot seat?  Everything was looking golden in 2018 for Babers but since then…yeesh.  I’m not saying Syracuse is a destination spot for coaching but you know things are getting tense within the athletic department with this.  Needed to keep his job – The Orange to recapture at least some of that 2018 magic.  Prediction – Dino will be a coordinator somewhere next year.
7. Scot Loeffler (Bowling Green) – I’m sure there are times where Scotty (Scoty?) would love to be back at any of the schools he used to be at.  This is his first head coaching gig and it has been a rough one to be honest.  Even though Bowling Green isn’t exactly a hotspot in college football, at some point the athletic director will be done with the team not performing.  7-22 isn’t exactly the type of record that keeps a job.  Needed to keep his job – 4 or 5 wins and look competitive inside the MAC.  Prediction – Double-digit losses and a pink slip.
8. Danny Gonzales (New Mexico) – Speaking of tough places to coach, here are the Lobos looking at potentially another coaching change on the horizon.  Definitely a spot a younger coach in the West would maybe take a shot at.  Beware though: the last time UNM won at least ten games was four decades ago.  Unfortunately between them and NMSU, the state is a dead spot for college football.  Needed to keep his job – Close to bowl eligibility.  Prediction – Three wins and a tough decision to be made from the higher ups.

Possible Shitcanning

9. Seth Littrell (North Texas) – Littrell hasn’t done bad in Denton.  Five bowls in his six seasons there is pretty darn good for a team in Conference USA.  Problem is he has lost every single one.  It truly does feel like they are kind of stuck in the middle of the conference and that’s getting some people antsy.  Needed to keep his job – At least 5 wins and competing for bowl eligibility near the end of the season.  Prediction – That’s exactly where I have the Mean Green. I think he probably survives the season but the leash will be extremely short going forward.
10. Bryan Harsin (Auburn) – This was considered a coup when the Tigers plucked him from Boise State.  His first season on the Plains was…rocky to put it mildly.  There was an attempt to get him ousted after last season ended.  Obviously it didn’t work but there are some thinking maybe he just doesn’t fit at Auburn (or the SEC for that matter).  Needed to keep his job – A winning record and better recruiting.  Prediction – I got the Tigers winning 7 to stay out of the basement of the SEC West. That should be enough to save him at least into ‘crootin season. That’s where he needs to improve or otherwise he may not see the 2023 season on the field at Jordan-Hare.
11. Ken Niumatalolo (Navy) – It is tough putting Ken on this list, I’m not going to lie.  Problem is, Navy has been pretty bad for three of the past four seasons.  That 2019 season where they won 11 games seems like a fluke, almost.  I’m sure it would take a lot to fire Niumatalolo but another season like the previous two and who knows.  Needed to keep his job – At least 6 wins.  Prediction – I have the Middies only winning three so this could be a very interesting offseason in Annapolis.
12. Terry Bowden (ULM) – I might get some flak for this one.  I know he’s only been in Monroe for a season.  I do think this year the Warhawks are going to be one of the worst teams in the FBS. Maybe there is someone on his staff who will take over for him next year so that ULM brass will feel OK to fire him? I don’t know but this doesn’t seem to be leading anywhere in a much-improved Sun Belt Conference.  Needed to keep his job – Improvement from the previous season.  Prediction – As I said, they won’t be good. I have them predicted at 1-11. I can see this being done relatively quietly in the offseason (Terry’s shitcanning that is).
13. Rick Stockstill (Middle Tennessee) – Stockstill has been at Middle for what seems like forever.  And it doesn’t feel like anything would happen because of that.  Saying that, the Blue Raiders need to do something since they have been mediocre most of the last few seasons. They also turned down a (possible?) invitation to the MAC so this is their chance to become the best of a not-so-good bunch. Will Rick lead them through that though?  Needed to keep his job – Got to be bowl eligibility really.  Prediction – I got MTSU winning 5 games which will make for some very interesting offseason chatter in Murfreesboro.
14. Greg Schiano (Rutgers) – This isn’t the Schiano that went 56-33 in his final seven seasons during his first run in Piscataway.  That was in the Big East and Rutgers is…well, they definitely aren’t in a conference like that anymore.  Still, fans were hoping for something a bit more from a guy who runs blitzes during kneel down plays.  Unfortunately, I think this won’t be that year.  Needed to keep his job – Real bowl eligibility, not the 5-7 you are a smart school kind.  Prediction – I have the Scarlet Knights regressing a bit this year. Whether Schiano returns has a lot to do with whether they think they’ve truly bottomed out and if they believe they can get a good coach in.
15. Jake Spavital (Texas State) – Has anyone ever expected the Bobcats to do anything of significance on the football field? Really, that lack of winning culture could be the one thing that gives Spavital one more season at the helm. Needed to keep his job – 5 wins and some meaningful November football. Prediction – 4 wins and a short leash into 2023.

Doubtful Shitcanning (although it still could happen)

16. Jeff Scott (USF) – Not a whole lot has gone well for the former Clemson coordinator down in Tampa.  Remember when the Bulls were #2 in the nation?  Not even Pepperidge Farms remembers that I don’t think.  What it does say, though, is that you can win at this school.  Now it’s just a matter of how long the USF athletic department will give Scott to truly turn things around.  Needed to keep his job – Stay out of the American Conference basement.  Prediction – They aren’t going to a bowl game but expect them to win around four games and be quite clear of the bottom rung of the AAC.
17. Scott Frost (Nebraska) – It has become a difficult job to recruit players to Lincoln.  I think Frost has finally figured it out and the Huskers, at the very least, should be back bowling this season. Now watch them completely tank.  Needed to keep his job – Bowl-eligibility at the very least.  Prediction – No Kool-Aid this time but I have the Huskers winning eight games. Don’t laugh.
18. David Shaw (Stanford) – I remember when Shaw was getting Stanford to bowl games and contending in the Pac-12 on a consistent basis.  Make no bones about it, he’s still a great head coach.  Give him time and he will have the Cardinal back on top of what will be the Pac-10 going forward.  Needed to keep his job –  Look better than the 2021 season.  Prediction – I have Stanford winning 4 games but the bottom of the Pac-12 North is crowded so an upset or two isn’t out of the realm of possibility for this team. Shaw is safe for another season at the very least.
19. Mike Norvell (Florida State) – Things are finally looking up in Tallahassee.  For real this time. It would have to get really bad for the Noles this season for Norvell to be let go.  Needed to keep his job – Bowl eligibility at the very least.  Prediction – Eight wins and a new lease on life. Teams won’t have it easy against this team this season.
20. Tom Allen (Indiana) – I would put Tom farther up this list as Indiana was BAD last year and won’t be a whole lot better this season.  Thing is, his buyout is huge so unless the Hoosiers absolutely have to fire him, he won’t be let go.  Needed to keep his job – Don’t do something illegal or unethical.  Prediction – Other than punching the coach of the opposing team, I can’t see Allen doing anything bad. Yes I only have them winning three games this season but that doesn’t really matter here in the grand scheme of things.

One of these days I have to go back and see how truly successful I have been at this hot seat list. I still think the numbers will back me up.

Now from a normally good section (for me) to a notoriously horrible section (for me). My Heisman ballot is back. And I don’t know if it can be any worse than what I have done for the past few years. But, I always give it my all so here’s another edition of Bossman’s Heisman Trophy Ballot If He Got a Vote (which he most certainly should not):

My Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Heisman Ballot

1. C.J. Stroud, Ohio State – Last year’s ballot was horrifically bad but I did have Stroud in at #4 (and Bryce Young at #5).  So it wasn’t all bad (but mostly it was).  I have the Buckeyes getting to the National Championship and he will be the main reason why. It will be a close race this year, I believe, but Stroud will put up the numbers and get the big victories that put him over the top.
2. Bryce Young, Alabama – Yes, I do have the Tide winning the national title this year.  It still won’t be enough to not join the list of players who had a shot at pulling an Archie Griffin and came up short.  Unlike everyone else on the list, he won’t make it easy on the other contenders. The only thing holding him back is how many other Heisman candidates this team has. They are loaded.
3. Caleb Williams, USC – It was a huge coup for Lincoln Riley to convince Williams to follow him from Oklahoma to USC.  Among the contenders, Williams may have the toughest job helping turn around a 4-8 team so quickly.  This is one of the few instances where a team only being so good might end up costing a player during a Heisman campaign.
4. Will Anderson Jr., Alabama – I believe Anderson is the best defensive player in the country and it’s really not even close.  He’s also one small part of the reason that I think Bryce Young won’t win the Heisman.  He will take some of the votes that would have been thrown Young’s way.  It could work in reverse as well. Anderson could be primed to be the first defensive player in a long time to win the Heisman Trophy but all the good Bama players, including Young, makes it a bit more difficult for him.
5. D.J. Uiagalelei, Clemson – Should we try this again? Why not.  *clears throat*  Ahem…Oo-ee-un-guh-luh-lay.  Just like last year.  And just like last year I have him #5 in my Heisman rankings.  He will have to show some serious improvement and I am betting he will.  It will help that he will have a better team around him that will be competing fort he College Football Playoff.  I think we will have a good idea what kind of season he will have once September ends.
6. Tyler Van Dyke, Miami – This guy looked like the real deal down the stretch last season and could have been considered the best ACC player the last few weeks of the regular season.  The Canes will be better but, as per usual, doing better will help a lot. If the Canes can somehow win the ACC title, Van Dyke’s chances might soar.
7. Dillon Gabriel, Oklahoma – A fantastic quarterback at UCF.  And thanks to TransferPortalMania, he ends up in Norman, replacing Caleb Williams (and, sure, Spencer Rattler).  Being the quarterback for the Sooners is always a pressure situation but the pressure should be a lot less this season which may allow Gabriel to thrive.
8. Bijan Robinson, Texas – Running backs still get shafted, to an extent, when it comes to Heisman voting.  It takes a phenomenal year for one to win it and you have to pair it with no outstanding quarterbacks.  An uphill battle for sure.  But if there’s one running back who could break through this season, it could be the new king of dijon mustard, Bijan Robinson. He will be the guy who makes the Texas offense go so if they win even 9 games this year, look for him to get a lot of attention from voters.
9. Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Ohio State – Hey, how about the guy who had a breakout game for the ages at the Rose Bowl?  He will have arguably the best quarterback in the country throwing to him.  As we know, that’s a plus and a minus when it comes to the Heisman.  At the very least, he is the highest rated receiver coming into the season so that counts for something.
10. Hendon Hooker, Tennessee – This may feel to some like an out-of-nowhere kind of pick.  Hooker showed what he could do running a decent Vols offense.  With Tennessee having a lot more talent on that side of the ball this season, he may have some crazy stats. If Tennessee somehow gets to a New Year’s Six bowl, he will get a ton of hype.

Honourable Mention

• TreVeyon Henderson, Ohio State
• Jahmyr Gibbs, Alabama
• Braelon Allen, Wisconsin
• Jaxson Dart, Ole Miss
• Quinn Ewers, Texas
• Spencer Rattler, South Carolina
• Grayson McCall, Coastal Carolina
• Jordan Addison, USC
• Devin Leary, NC State

I am going to wish the players on this list good luck since there is a chance the winner is nowhere to be found here. Because I am terrible at this.

All the predictions I have are now complete! In about five months or so I will find out how poorly I did.

Next up will be…hold on let me check my notes…yes….YES……YEEEEEES! College football is back! Week Zero! I mean it’s just Week Zero but still….WEEK ZERO! I will have the schedule up at some point early in the week. I’ve already been asked about the specialty packs as it pertains to this coming Saturday. My guess is they won’t show anything since normally they don’t because…who knows but I will chalk it up to some sort of incompetence since what they (Bell and Rogers) tell me makes no sense. I will keep everyone updated. Have a great rest of the weekend everyone!

Bossman’s Shitty Heisman Ballot: A tradition unlike any other

I don’t understand myself sometimes.  Why do I put myself through this?  I guess I’m just a creature of habit.  Like a dog who knows it gets fed at 4:00 every day.  Anyway, here is my (quite probably terrible) ballot for the Heisman for the 2021 season:

My Brutally Bad Heisman Ballot

1. Spencer Rattler, Oklahoma – Rattler is pretty much everyone’s favourite to win the Heisman this season.  We know what this means: either he runs away with it with no real challengers or something happens and he falls out of the Top 10.  With how I predict Oklahoma will do this season, I have a feeling he could approach some Joe Burrow-type numbers and run (not walk) away with the Heisman.
2. Sam Howell, North Carolina – Nice to see a player from a basketball school up for the Heisman.  All kidding aside, he will be the main reason my prediction (hopefully) comes true and the Tar Heels end up in the College Football Playoff.  He will be in tough to pass Rattler in the Heisman list but if he also puts up some Joe Burrow-like numbers it could become an interesting race.  A lot will have to do with how much these players play in the fourth quarters of some games.
3. D.J. Uiagalelei, Clemson – Alright, let’s try this.  *clears throat*  Ahem…Oo-ee-un-guh-luh-lay.  Now you know.  And knowing is half the battle.  The replacement for Trevor Lawrence has huge shoes to fill but looked damn good in the game against Notre Dame last season.  So it wouldn’t be too far fetched to consider him a Heisman threat.  D.J. may need a conference championship (and of course some great performances throughout the season) to garner some true Heisman hype.
4. C.J. Stroud, Ohio State – Just like with Justin Fields a couple years ago, I am hesitant to put Stroud this high.  No real work at the college level along with a really good running game doesn’t look like Heisman material.  But with a very good Buckeyes team (again), he may get enough hype to carry him into November at the very least.
5. Bryce Young, Alabama – Yet another Bama quarterback on the Heisman watch list.  The Tide is the Tide so Young will get a lot of media play this season.  It’ll be up to him to come out from under Mac Jones’ shadow much like Mac Jones came out from under Tua Tagovailoa’s shadow.
6. Matt Corral, Ole Miss – OK hear me out.  The Rebels are going to be much better this season than they have been the past few years.  Like Top 25 good.  And nothing says the Heisman winner has to be on a team that’s Top 10.  With Lane Kiffin’s offense, the sky is almost the limit for Corral as long as he doesn’t have a 5-interception performance or something dreadful like that which kills his Heisman chances.
7. J.T. Daniels, Georgia – DJ, CJ, JT.  Part of me hopes those three are the top Heisman vote getters.  Daniels looked really good in the final few games of Georgia’s season.  He has to have a hot start to stay in the Heisman mix, even with the Dawgs opening against Clemson.
8. Kedon Slovis, USC – It feels like a prerequisite that a USC quarterback has to be at least on the Heisman preseason watch list.  Now if USC does what they did last year and continues that into this year, Slovis will probably be a big reason for it.  And despite the fact a receiver won last year, we all know the Heisman is predominantly a quarterback award.  Otherwise, Slovis might not crack the Top 10 but I have to be realistic and realize it’s not always about the best player to win the Heisman (despite the fact that’s the whole point of the fucking award but I digress).
9. Brock Purdy/Breece Hall, Iowa State – OK I am cheating a bit but does it really matter?  I don’t want to pick between these two since who knows who will have the better season.  Whoever has the better season obviously will have the better chance at the Heisman, despite the point I made above.  This also makes Hall the first non-quarterback on this list.  Congrats, I guess.
10. D’Eriq King, Miami – Back to quarterbacks (kind of).  Manny Diaz should have his best Miami team since he spurned Temple and went to South Beach.  If King can stay healthy, he may rocket up this list as he is a huge running threat along with having a good arm.

Honourable Mention

• Emory Jones, Florida
• Bijan Robinson, Texas
• Jayden Daniels, Arizona State
• D’Andre Swift, Georgia
• Casey Thompson, Texas
• Michael Penix, Indiana
• Desmond Ridder, Cincinnati
• Dillon Gabriel, UCF
• Malik Willis, Liberty

Good luck to the players on this list!  You might need it with my history with this list.  I’m not even going to bother threatening not doing this post again because I know I will.  As I stated above, I will never learn.

Guess what?  That was the final college football prediction post before the college football season begins!  Week Zero is only 20 days away.  No real huge games this year during the opening week but it’s still college football.  So I will watch it all.

I am hoping soon to get the Week Zero schedule up.  I have seen nothing from TSN although it is almost three weeks away so I got to give them a break for now.  I hope it will be up soon.  Even as I go on three years-plus doing the IPTV thing, I still plan to give out the most complete college football schedule for Canadians I can muster.  Can’t forget the roots of the blog.

So chances are I will be going with my NFL preview first.  Plenty of time before the season begins as we just had the Hall of Fame Game.  Man I’m really ahead of the game.  I shouldn’t jinx it.  Everyone have a great final day of the weekend!

Predictions from the conference that keeps me up all…..night…..long!

Am I stupid?  Wait, don’t answer that.  Sometimes I wonder what is wrong with me when I decide, of my own volition, to stay up sometimes to almost 3:00 in the morning on Saturday nights for 13 straight weeks starting in late August.  And that doesn’t even include the times when I decide to find a Hawaii broadcast online.  Part of me thinks I might as well not go to bed and then go to sleep early on Sunday but there’s NFL football and….ugh.  One day I will learn.  AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA just kidding I never will.

Hey, might as well talk about realignment again.  Thanks a bunch Texas and Oklahoma!  Look what you’ve done.  Made us all talk about the so-called evolution of college football while some fans (and even a few media) think it’s the start of the demise of the sport.  Either way it’s coming fast and furious and the next couple years are going to tell us a lot as to the direction of the highest level of college football.  And the Mountain West could be in the thick of it.  With the Longhorns and Sooners going to the SEC, it could present the MWC with an interesting proposition.  Or, it could put them in a horrible spot.  Depending on what happens with the Big XII and the AAC in the next little while, the Mountain West could become a lot stronger or possibly even cease to exist as a conference.  Yes, it could be that extreme.  If the Big XII somehow survives intact and actually absorbs some AAC teams (and perhaps a Mountain West team or two), then the MWC could look into expanding and, at the very least, will be very much safe for quite a while.  On the other hand, if the AAC decides they are going to poach a ton of teams to make an even bigger conference (I have heard as high as 20 teams if you can believe it), the Mountain West could see their conference be much weaker or completely die on the vine.  Gonna be a topsy-turvy next 24 months or so.

Alright enough realignment talk for once.  Let’s get to the conference predictions followed by some Cocaine-Covered Coffee Beans with a Jolt Cola chaser Thoughts YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH:

		Conference		Overall
	Mountain	W	L	W	L
	Boise State	8	0	10	2
	Wyoming	5	3	9	3
	Air Force	5	3	7	5
	New Mexico	3	5	5	7
	Colorado State	1	7	3	9
	Utah State	1	7	2	10
	West
	Nevada	7	1	11	1
	San Jose State	6	2	9	3
	Hawaii	5	3	8	5
	San Diego State	4	4	7	5
	UNLV	2	6	3	9
	Fresno State	1	7	3	9

Cocaine-Covered Coffee Beans with a Jolt Cola Chaser

• Boise State is the favourite to win the Mountain Division and honestly it isn’t really close.  The issue the Broncos will have is their non-conference schedule.  With UCF, Oklahoma State and BYU on the sked, I wish them all the luck in the world.  I would be shocked if they run the table but this squad has done it in tougher times so you never know.
• It’s finally the Wolfpack’s time!  With a quarterback-receiver duo that rivals most Power Five schools, Nevada looks like they should outlast everyone to win the West.  The Spartans and the Fighting Rainbow Warriors of Hawaii (with no real home field) will be tough to beat but the division runs through Reno in 2021.
• For the first time in forever, New Mexico isn’t going to be too bad.  I have them within a scrotum’s hair from a bowl game (that’s pretty close).  An upset would put them in a bowl game for the first time in a while (after a tiny bit of research…on Wikipedia…it’s been since 2016…..so not THAT long ago).
• Fresno State is going to be in a position they aren’t really used to: at the bottom of the West.  Blake Anderson needs at least another season to get things back on track at Utah State.  Colorado State almost needs Jim McElwain back.  But hey, UNLV has an awesome new stadium!  Gotta look at the positives, no?
• Will Nevada finally fulfill their destiny and win the Mountain West Championship for the first time?  Um…that would be no.  I still think Boise will eek out a win over the Wolfpack and be back on top of the MWC mountain.
• Seven Mountain West bowl teams.  With no team going to the New Year’s Six it looks like at least a couple of teams will get one of the G-5 bowl spots.

Next up is the final set of conference previews.  The conference that gets overlooked all the time.  I’m talking about Conference USA.  Last day of July so the college football season is right around the corner!  Have a great weekend, everyone!

Hey, I just noticed Hawaii’s logo is not in that graphic at the top.  That is strange.

Well that was different – the (relatively short) NFL Draft recap

OK so this is how the 2020 NFL Draft started.  Roger Goodell in his pretty nice basement printing out the names he was given through email or Zoom or something on those NFL draft cards and telling the world which team drafting whom.  It was definitely different but again, everything is different these days.  The thing is, we are obviously starved for sports.  The ratings for Night One were through the roof.  People want to see something live, anything that isn’t the news about the Coronavirus.

So yeah this is how it started.  By night number two, this is what we started to see:

Roger clearly already sick of doing this and I am sure there is a tall glass of straight gin somewhere just off camera.  I am going to be honest with you: by the end of night two I was done as well.  I watched, I believe, about 90 minutes of day three which was seven hours long.  I love college football.  I love the NFL.  I enjoy watching the NFL Draft (yes I am one of those guys).  But after a while this got brutal.  I will explain all this below in the rather late but at least truncated recap of sorts.  Let us begin.

• “Here’s the drafted player.  And here is the worst thing that has ever happened to him.”  This was the theme all draft long but it was especially the case in round one.  It felt like since ESPN couldn’t do a normal draft they decided to go Full Rinaldi and do emotional stories about every damn draft pick.  After a while this felt very exploitative.  I get that some of these players have gone through a lot.  But to you use it to fill the time between picks felt creepy.  Hopefully with the next draft (either the NHL or NBA) they do not do the same.
• Luckily for Las Vegas they will get their chance to hold a draft in 2022.  Or as Roger said, 2020.  Meaning now.  Maybe he was drunk the entire time.
• The first three picks I nailed.  Nailed!  Then again almost everyone did.  After that my mock draft went to shit, as did everyone else’s.  Rinse and repeat for next year.
• This wasn’t a crazy draft.  Very few trades early on and no stupid picks or huge reaches, at least on night one.  No Daniel Jones picks this time around.  No trading up to start Mitchapalooza.  None of that.  It was actually a bit refreshing not to have crazy drama on draft night.
• We didn’t get a former player trolling the fans.  Which is fine since it would have been in Vegas.  Who would they troll?  The locals are getting a new team.  You could tell them all to eat shit and I am sure they wouldn’t care.
• We also didn’t get players doing all sorts of crazy high fives and potentially setting themselves up for Rock Bottoms and Stone Cold Stunners all night which that pussy Goodell won’t take advantage of.  I would actually respect him more if he did even if tons of people would rip him apart shortly afterwards.
• Back to the basement, I am sure Roger’s basement, despite him being a millionaire, is crazy amazing.  I don’t have a finished basement so any finished basement feels amazing to me I think.
• Jerry Jones doing his draft from a yacht: hilarious.
• Bill Belichick having his dog at the computer when the Patriots pick came in?  Also hilarious.

Winners

• This is way too early.  For winners and losers.  We know this.  But let’s see what the first opinions are anyway since at least a few of them will be correct although there’s always one “bad” draft class that ends up being quite good.  Happens every time.
• Arizona – The Cards did quite well.  They got Isaiah Simmons in the first round which was kind of an underrated pick.  They also picked Josh Jones well below where he probably should have gone.  None of their picks were reaches and they may have a great late-round steal with Eno Benjamin.  Good job by Cardinals GM Steve Keim.
• Baltimore – Nothing flashy but the Ravens are known for getting one absolute steal and this was no different.  With the amount of picks they had they were bound to get at least some picks right but they hit paydirt with almost every pick.  Patrick Queen was a great pick as I believe he’s quite the underrated linebacker that was on a team loaded with talent.  J.K. Dobbins was also a great pick.  They also pick up two great receivers in Devin Duvernay and James Proche later on.  The Ravens are going to be quite the team soon enough with these picks.
• Buffalo – They didn’t have a first round pick because they traded it away but getting Stefon Diggs for it is a good replacement.  I believe A.J. Epenesa was a great pick as was Jake Fromm on day three.  And they had the balls to pick a kicker which I believe is smart if you need one.  At this point, the Bills may have had one of the smallest but most fruitful drafts.
• Jacksonville – C.J. Henderson, K’Lavon Chaisson, Laviska Shenault and DaVon Hamilton as their first four picks?  I’d say that’s a great haul.

Losers

• Green Bay – Hey how pissed off is Aaron Rodgers at the team for picking Jordan Love?  It’s not like the Packers picked a guy who will be a career backup: they have their quarterback of the future.  The Pack fulfilled almost none of their needs.  Tight end Josiah Deguara was a massive reach with a few much better tight ends on the board.  The Packers, I can safely say, appear to have the worst draft and it’s not really close (although this would barely be bottom three in most drafts of the past).
• Las Vegas – Where do I start with this?  Henry Ruggs III is a good receiver but could have been available later on.  Same goes for Damon Arnette which may be the worst first round pick of this draft.  Their first night, overall, was brutal.  The rest of their picks weren’t reaches really but none of them pop out as potential starters.
• New England – Fire that dog.  Kyle Dugger at that spot was not good.  They followed it up with Josh Uche which was a good pick.  Then the bottom fell out.  The rest of their draft really was not that good.  Hey at least they didn’t draft a long snapper right?
• Seattle – Jordyn Brooks was a bit of a reach as most didn’t consider him a first rounder.  Things didn’t get better on night two.  Nothing special here with their day three being pretty disgusting overall.

As I alluded to earlier, I still got most of my mock draft wrong but at least I got the first three correct.  This is from me doing my final mock draft the day before the draft.  Definitely helped me this time around.  I am honestly wondering if I should do even less mock drafts next year.  Not that I did many.  I did three.  But I am thinking about dropping that to two.  Other than the final mock, it feels like I am just doing one so that I have a post.  I may have to find other things to discuss on the ol’ blog instead.

Did I watch the whole draft?  No.  I did watch the first round live and most of the second night as well live.  I was chatting with friends during both nights and it was a nice change from the past few years when I was on Twitter, just trying to keep up with all the action.  The final day I did not even watch most of it.  Day three is about the first three rounds and analyzing them.  I really don’t need to see that again.  I will be honest though: with less drama, Twitter didn’t explode like it has in the past.  The tipped picks (which still happens) can get kind of annoying but for the most part it was great to have something to watch live during this very weird time.

I want to say we are getting closer but that might not be the case.  As of right now, it looks like the college football season will go on as scheduled but things can change.  Look at how much has changed in the past two months.  So anyway, if the college football season were to start on time, we would be, at this point, 117 days away from Week Zero.  I am hoping to get preview magazines soon and once that happens, I will start getting pumped for a season that may or may not happen the way it normally does.  Well have a good week everyone and fingers crossed everything gets back to normal soon, whatever the new normal ends up being.

Most Important Games of the 2017 College Football Season – Part II

Yes the wait is still a long one; however, this way everything seems that much better when the games begin again in late August.  At least that’s what I tell myself…

Back to the most important games of the season.  It’s going to be five posts this year, not four.  Wouldn’t want a case of verbal diarrhea for four straight blog posts (like I have done in the past).

 

Week 4

NC State at Florida State (3:30, specialty pack) – Now I understand why this week is near the bottom of the list.  Yeesh.  This is the best game of the week (arguably).  Not a bad game obviously but I am sure Wolfpack fans would not be impressed if I said a Dave Doeren-coached team was part of the GOTW.  Then again, NC State has given FSU troubles in the past so maybe this will be a classic?  Who knows?

Oklahoma at Baylor (7:30, FOX) – A couple seasons ago this would have easily been the game of the week.  My how Baylor has fallen.  Good luck to Matt Rhule dealing with that firestorm.  What this could end up being is Baker Mayfield going all Patrick Mahomes and throwing for a ton of yards and making the game last into the next morning.

TCU at Oklahoma State (3:30, specialty pack) – To be honest, with this Big Ten to FOX deal, I honestly don’t know where many of these games will go past Week 3.  I do know one thing: there are a lot more games this year on the main FOX network.  From a quick glance there’s not quite twice as many with a few tripleheaders sprinkled throughout the season.  I don’t know why I said this here since I see this game going to ESPN (and hence the specialty pack).  I guess I figured I needed to say it at some point.  As for this game, expect a lot of offense.  Basically you will have to win out to keep pace with Oklahoma this season.

Penn State at Iowa (3:30, ABC) – OK maybe I should have put that FOX mini-rant here as this game has a chance to move over to FOX but for now I have stuck it on ABC.  Penn State will have to grind out these types of games if they are to be a College Football Playoff contender (and I fully expect them to be one this season).

Washington at Colorado (8:00, ABC) – See?  My schedule has already broken down a bit.  I don’t think Colorado will fall as far as many feel they will but they won’t be going to the Pac-12 title game this season that is for sure.  This is here more for Washington who is an instant national championship contender and needs solid wins over teams like the Buffs if they are to keep in the Top 4.

Honourable mention: UCLA at Stanford (3:00, FOX Sports One…ugh), Florida at Kentucky (6:00, specialty pack), Alabama at Vanderbilt (Noon, TSN3), Mississippi State at Georgia (Noon, TSN2), Arkansas vs. Texas A&M (in Arlington) (3:30, CBS).

Worst televised game of the week: Georgia State at Charlotte (7:00, beIn Sports) – Wow, beIn Sports really scraping the bottom of the barrel with this one.  Watch it be an awesome game that comes down to the wire.  Still isn’t enough to make me want to get this channel.

Week 5

Clemson at Virginia Tech (8:00, ABC) – An even worse week than the previous one.  At least this week’s top game is a big one.  Potential ACC Title game preview?  Could be.  I could see the Fighting Fuentes getting over the hump this year and perhaps looking at some CFP talk.  Clemson has to get through a brutal early schedule without Deshaun Watson (and a few others).  Can’t see them repeating but you never know if they find the heir apparent early.

USC at Washington State (Friday, 10:30, specialty pack) – I sincerely hope Mike Leach is at his Leachiest in this one.  It’s the only way I will feel good about staying up VERY late on a Friday night to watch this.  I mean I still will but I might not feel good about it (the next morning).

Georgia at Tennessee (3:30, CBS) – Has the talk of Tennessee winning the SEC East started yet?  I know they will have to defend their “Champions at Life” crown this season.  I’m sure there will be many contenders for that.

Ole Miss at Alabama (7:00, specialty pack) – I was just getting used to Ole Miss giving the Tide a tough time every season and then last year happened and the Rebs went to shit (kind of).  This being the fourth most important game of the week tells you how shitty this week is especially since we are almost into full conference play at this point.

Northwestern at Wisconsin (3:30, ABC) – This is a bit of a tasty affair and I am starting to think I should have moved it up a spot.  Well too late!  Northwestern will still be good and Wisky has a pretty easy schedule for a B1G team, one that could see them making a run to the CFP if they don’t fuck up or have injuries to starters.

Honourable mention: Mississippi State at Auburn (7:00, specialty pack), Baylor at Kansas State (Noon, ABC), Indiana at Penn State (3:30, specialty pack), North Carolina at Georgia Tech (3:30, specialty pack), South Carolina at Texas A&M (7:30, specialty pack).

Worst televised game of the week: Nevada at Fresno State (10:15, specialty pack) – ESPN2 and ESPNU get a LOT of Mountain West games in the late night slots.  When they involve Boise State or San Diego State or Wyoming or even Air Force then fine.  But then you get this.  Nevada should be improved from last season but FSU is still pretty bad.  Thankfully there should be other games on in that time slot like…Colorado at UCLA?  Hmmm, maybe I will go to bed early instead.

Week 6

LSU at Florida (7:00, TSN1/TSN5) – Remember last year’s ridiculous circumstances involving the game between these two?  So much controversy.  But hey, the game itself was not bad (OK it was mediocre with an amazing finish).  This year should be no exception…well except that the game is scheduled, probably won’t move, and is earlier on in the season so they may still both think they have national championship aspirations.

Alabama at Texas A&M (3:30, CBS) – Important Game 1B right here.  Will Bama win?  Probably.  At this point I would be interested to see how many times Brad Nessler talks about Kevin Sumlin’s possible shitcanning during this game.

Louisville at NC State (Thursday, 8:00, TSN2) – First true Thursday nighter on this list.  I could see a lot of people (i.e. Wolfpack fans) saying that if Dave Doeren isn’t fired by this point that this game shouldn’t be this high on the list.  I can honestly see NC State becoming a thorn in the side of the ACC Atlantic Big Three (UL, Clemson, FSU) this season.  They will get a chance to prove it here (again…man they have a tough three-game stretch).

Penn State at Northwestern (Noon, TSN3) – I can see this being the week where TSN finally starts getting their shit together and really brings it with a robust college football schedule.  Saying that, this game could end up on FOX for all I know (or the dreaded FS1).  God, I wish we got the games from FS1 (not the channel…I don’t need or want more Skip Bayless in my life).

Kansas State at Texas (Noon, FOX) – Yes we do not get FS1 up here or the FS1 college football games.  However, FOX is showing tripleheaders a few times this season so at least it’s being made up somewhat.  I still say I would pay a premium to get a tailored college football package where I could see all the games I want.  Basically I would want P5 conferences, BYU, Notre Dame, Boise State.  The rest is gravy really but those are the most important teams to watch.  Anyway, where was I?  Oh yes, let’s see what Tom Herman is made of when he goes up against Jesus’s college football coach, Bill Snyder.

Honourable mention: Washington State at Oregon (10:30, FOX Sports One…I hope this changes), Wisconsin at Nebraska (7:30, ABC), Ole Miss at Auburn (7:30, specialty pack), Stanford at Utah (8:00, FOX), Notre Dame at North Carolina (Noon, ABC/TSN5).

Worst televised game of the week: Fresno State at San Jose State (Friday, 10:00, CBS Sports Network) – Two straight weeks with the Fighting Bulldogs of Fresno State in this slot.  Poor Fresno State.  No, really, poor Fresno State.  They will have a poor team this season.  Possibly the worst in the Mountain West.  It’s probably a good thing this is on a Friday night since people too worn out by the rest of the action on Saturday would avoid this game like the plague.

Three more weeks complete.  Not quite halfway through the season.  We will get there but I figured might as well spread out the posts since there’s nothing much college football to talk about except…

Holy shit Bob Stoops retired!  Wow.  Talk about a bombshell.  The timing is a bit odd.  It would have made more sense to retire a few months back around the time of spring ball so that the new head coach would get acclimated to the team.  I get it, it’s Lincoln Riley, the offensive coordinator, taking over but still…new position takes time to iron out the kinks and infuse it with his own personality.  I think there is something else to this but for now I guess we just have to say Goodbye to Big Game Bob.  That’s two sudden retirements in two years (The HBC was the other one).  It will be interesting to see how the Sooners players respond to this.

Most Important Games of the 2017 College Football Season – Part I

OK we can finally start talking about college football….alright I can start talking about college football.  Preview magazines are coming out.  I ordered the Phil Steele one (which isn’t cheap) but it seems that there are very few places that sell a good compliment of sports magazines anymore.  Since I will be getting my Phil Steele magazine in late June I might just stick with that one and to hell with the rest.  I mean other than pictures of cheerleaders and nicer colours on the pages in general, what is in a Lindy’s preview that isn’t in the Bible of College Football Preview Mags?  Nothing, that’s what.  Anyway where was I?

Oh yeah, I’m going to start getting back into college football posts.  A little earlier than usual but I figured what the hell might as well!  I get most of the game information (network and time) wrong after September anyway so what does it truly matter?  OK every so often I do get it right and it’s not like I am putting that hot Vanderbilt-Missouri matchup as the SEC Game of the Week on CBS but it’s a lot tougher as the season wears on to figure out who’s good and who isn’t (since that’s all that matters when figuring out when a game will air and on what network).

Also, just so you know, some of the broadcast info my change between now and the time I do my network-specific posts.  And I understand that.  Bear with me.  Or don’t.  I don’t care.

A little bit of a change this time around.  I will list the top 5 games (instead of 6) every week.  There will be some honourable mention games (usually 5) and then I will list the worst game I believe we will be able to get in this country every week.  And no, I am not including games that can be received if you have got a Slingbox and are able to illegally get ESPN because you put an American zip code and somehow snagged an American credit card on top of that.  No dice.  Doesn’t count.  Trying to stay legitimate here (or as legit as I can possibly be).

First off, let’s look at the week rankings.  Usually they turn out the same way from year-to-year with little variation.  Here are the rankings followed with some follow-up notes (remember, I list the week and the date that corresponds to the Saturday of that week):

1. Week 13 (November 25 – American Thanksgiving)
2. Week 11 (November 11)
3. Week 10 (November 4)
4. Week 8 (October 21)
5. Week 7 (October 14)
6. Week 2 (September 9)
7. Week 6 (October 7)
8. Week 3 (September 16)
9. Week 1 (September 2)
10. Week 9 (October 28)
11. Week 4 (September 23)
12. Week 5 (September 30)
13. Week 12 (November 18)

Just like last year, the hype surrounding Week 1 is for the few best games.  After that it falls off a cliff (like almost every opening week of every college football season).  American Thanksgiving weekend has again ascended to the top of the rankings after a one-year sabbatical.  It’s amazing how three of the four weekends in November constitute the top three weeks of the season and the other week is the worst.  Then again, that’s the SEC’s Bathroom Break Week (I sincerely hope ESPN markets it as such) where they play some awesome FCS “foes.”  It’s my wish every year that a top team blows a gasket and loses one of these games and it costs them a big bowl payout.  Two of the five weeks in September also highlight the bottom three and that’s also the norm.  And yes I know there is a Week Zero but I will include that in Week One’s matchups since all those matchups are sub-par and are only there to get us back watching college football before September rolls around and I am all for that thank you very much.  OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOK then…

Here we go with the weekly breakdowns.  Yes some of the American times and networks have been established but without any insight into what will show on TSN, I will refrain from saying anything is confirmed at this point.

Week 1

Alabama vs. Florida State (in Atlanta) (8:00, ABC/TSN2) – One of the games of the year and we get it during the first ABC primetime game of the season.  Nice.  Unfortunately for the Noles, this has a feel of last year’s Bama/USC game.  Many felt the Trojans would give the Tide a run and it never happened and the Fighting Evil Sabans won going away.  Until otherwise, I will take any idea that FSU will make this a game and perhaps win with a grain of salt.

Florida vs. Michigan (in Arlington) (3:30, ABC/TSN2) – Two exciting teams from last season face off for the season opener.  OK scratch that: one relatively boring, but effective team (Florida) faces a more exciting team with an insane head coach (Michigan).  Yeah, that sounds better.  I honestly think this will end up being one of the more exciting games of the week.

Tennessee vs. Georgia Tech (in Atlanta) (Monday, 8:00, specialty pack) – And here we go with all the neutral-site games with many of them being as neutral-site as the Buffalo Bills playing the Los Angeles Rams in Syracuse.  Cue the “Tennessee for SEC East Champs” rhetoric as Butch Jones tries to keep himself out of the weird spot that’s not quite great coach and not quite hot seat.

BYU vs. LSU (in Houston) (9:30, TSN1) – ESPN going with the three and three-and-a-quarter hour windows again.  Why?  WHY??????  They should just start games at 11 in the morning and do 4-hour windows all day.  Yeah that’s the ticket.  And I’d still stay up until 2 in the morning (or so) to watch games.  Anyway where was I?  Oh yes, BYU and LSU.  I don’t know why they are in Houston for this one.  But at least this is truly neutral-site.  You can almost consider this a statement game early on as the loser receives the statement “Not good enough for the New Year’s Six” carved in granite.

Texas A&M at UCLA (Sunday, 7:30, FOX) – College football, after last year’s ND-Texas extravaganza, realizes that Sunday football on opening weekend is a must-do from now on.  So now we get multiple games that day highlighted by this one.  Two teams who need to bounce back from off years, the Bruins more so than the Aggies.  Will be interesting to see how The Rosen One comes back after a difficult season in 2016.  Also, this qualifies as the best non-neutral-site game of the week.

Honourable mention: Ohio State at Indiana (Thursday, 8:00, specialty pack), Virginia Tech vs. West Virginia (in Landover) (Sunday, 7:30, ABC), NC State vs. South Carolina (in Charlotte) (3:00, specialty pack), Western Michigan at USC (10:30, FOX Sports Fucking One…here we go again), Tulsa at Oklahoma State (Noon, FOX Sports One again…dammit).

Worst televised game of the week: Alabama A&M at UAB (6:00, beIn Sports) – Let’s be honest: beIn Sports is just dipping its toe into the college football pond with broadcasting Conference USA games.  And this is the week they are stuck with a raw deal.  Yes, it’s UAB’s return after a short sabbatical from football altogether.  But this is just so awful.  I don’t get beIn Sports so I don’t care to be honest but some of you do (and a lot of you can get the channel).  Avoid this one unless it’s really close with less than 30 seconds to go.

Week 2

Oklahoma at Ohio State (7:30, ABC) – Yes it’s not the same 8:00 starting time.  The Big Ten is getting an exemption from this to push games up to 7:30 instead.  I mean these games are never over before 11:30 anyway so half-an-hour is huge for those teams.  This is another potential game of the season.  Last year, Ohio State blew Boomer Sooner out of the water and it was in Norman.  Saying that, I can see this one being a lot closer but still quite high scoring.

Auburn at Clemson (3:30, ABC) – It feels like these two teams face each other every season for some reason.  Clemson, coming off their national championship, gets a cupcake to start their season and then this.  This will be the early sign whether they are ready to repeat or not.  As for Auburn, they are hoping to just get on the GUS BUS and get a huge road victory so that they can already keep pace in the SEC West.

Stanford at USC (8:00, FOX) – It will be very interesting to see what a Christian McCaffrey-less Cardinal can do.  I mean it is David Shaw coaching them so we know they will still be a very good team but it’s a question lingering on everyone’s minds.  Sam Darnold starts his Heisman and #1 Overall Draft Pick campaign during this game.

Pittsburgh at Penn State (4:30, FOX) – And thus begins the era of the B1G on FOX (and I know that the logo will contain something along those lines).  Pitt is still considered a team that can do damage in the ACC Division-that-Clemson-Louisville-and-Florida-State-Aren’t-In despite the fact they lost Nathan Peterman and James Conner.  Penn State will be trying to go undefeated and get to the National Championship and the possibility is there with Trace McSorley under centre.

Georgia at Notre Dame (7:30, NBC) – OK before you get on my case for this choice, hear me out.  I am under the assumption that the Irish cannot be as bad as last season.  I am also under the assumption that the Dawgs will finally find their legs under Kirby Smart.  Assuming those two assumptions are correct (Assume-ception!) then this becomes a tasty, early-season, primetime affair.  And hey, we might get Mike Tirico to call the games.  I mean he’s not the greatest but has to be an improvement on Dan Hicks (who himself was an improvement on Tom Hammond).

Honourable mention: Louisville at North Carolina (Noon, ABC/TSN3), Boise State at Washington State (2:00, Pac-12 Network which we may get soon enough), TCU at Arkansas (7:00, specialty pack), Nebraska at Oregon (10:30, TSN3), Utah at BYU (10:15, TSN1).

Worst televised game of the week: Southern at Southern Miss (6:00, beIn Sports) – OK this isn’t a trend.  It is more a matter of many teams loading up on FCS games early on in the season.  There are only so many games to go around for Conference USA with CBS Sports Network and ESPNEWS getting a few as well during the season.  I do believe C-USA will show up again in this section but not all the time…despite the fact they have slowly slipped to almost the worst FBS conference.

Week 3

Miami at Florida State (8:00, ABC) – If Miami is the real deal and FSU pulls off the upset of the Tide in Week 1, this game could have National Championship implications all over it.  Saying that, it is still a big deal and one of the games of the week and is the earliest big ACC game of the season (along with the next game on this list).  Big stuff.  And in primetime as I see ABC is back to getting the best games of the week again (for now).

Clemson at Louisville (3:30, ABC) – If you don’t think the Canes-Noles game is the GOTW, then maybe this will float your boat.  Last year’s game in Clemson was a classic ended by a complete brainfart on the part of a Louisville receiver.  This year, the game moves to Papa John’s so it is not a guarantee that Clemson will get the W here.  Man, they have a rough early season schedule.

Texas at USC (8:00, FOX) – FOX has announced that they have this game and it’s all but guaranteed to go to primetime.  The network better hope Texas FINALLY lives up to preseason hype and looks good going into this game.  Speaking of tough schedules, USC has this game after Western Michigan and Stanford.  Yikes.

Tennessee at Florida (3:30, CBS) – Rocky Top heads to the Swamp (sorry, Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at the Steve Spurrier Swamp…is that right?  Talk about wordy).  Could this be the de facto SEC East Championship so early in the season?  Of course not.  Both of these teams will fuck up royally during the season.  It’s a tradition.  Saying that, the winner here gets a leg up on the rest of the SEC competition which really has no true weak spots (if Missouri improves and Vandy doesn’t regress).

LSU at Mississippi State (7:00, specialty pack) – Yes this doesn’t seem to compare with the other fifth-best games on the list so far.  But after this, there are at least 10 other games that could slot in here.  So no massive games but a lot of depth this week (which a lot of times makes for a great week of viewing).  Anyway, LSU HAS to win games like these.  Even if it’s just for Ed Orgeron’s job security.  He had a pretty good run last year when he stepped in for Les Miles so the Tigers are hoping for more of the same.  Speaking of hot seats, one of the big ones has Dan Mullen sitting squarely on it.  Two years removed from Dak Prescott and a #1 ranking in the polls, he may be gone if he can’t again produce a decent team (which in the SEC West is like 8-4).

Honourable mention: Oklahoma State at Pittsburgh (3:30, specialty pack), Colorado State at Alabama (7:00, specialty pack), Wisconsin at BYU (10:15, specialty pack), Stanford at San Diego State (10:30, CBS Sports Network), UCLA at Memphis (Noon, specialty pack).

Worst televised game of the week: Morgan State at Rutgers (Noon, BTN) – So far we have three games involving FCS teams.  Not surprising.  But this is a Power Five team (technically).  Rutgers is such a dumpster fire that I can honestly see this being close so maybe you should watch it (if you get the Big Ten Network that is).

Alright, done the first three weeks.  Don’t want to overload you all at once (or burn myself out either).  Trying to determine if I should do this in the normal four posts or five.  I will keep you posted (no pun intended).