Short Post About the National Championship(s)

Posted on January 7, 2024 by guelphbossman

Alright a short post about the national championships coming up. That’s right…national championships. Two of them to be exact.

Let’s start with the one that’s on today. For some unknown reason, someone decided that the FCS Championship should be on in the middle of the NFL’s final regular season week. Are they fucking stupid? I don’t need anyone to answer that since I know the answer already. This game could have been on Saturday and been done before the first Saturday NFL game even starts. But no. Instead it’s today at 2:00 on ABC and TSN+.

The Grizzlies of Montana face off against the juggernaut South Dakota State Jackrabbits. What the hell is in the water in the Dakotas to produce all these good football teams? Here’s hoping it’s a close one since SDSU hasn’t seen a close game in quite a while.

As for the other championship, the College Football Playoff National Championship, it airs on Monday night on TSN 1, 3 and 4. It also appears on TSN5 after the women’s hockey game is over. So around 8:30 or just into the second quarter. TSN+ will have a bunch of alternate broadcasts of the game, including the All-22 view, Skycast and the Pat McAfee Show version. So whichever way you want to watch the game, it’s there for you. I still think they should bring back the Coach’s Filmroom but provide an open bar for the coaches. That alone would bring a lot of entertainment I’m sure.

UPDATE: I forgot to post the time of the game! It starts at 7:30 although I’m sure you already knew that.

The game itself should be a good one. Will it approach how insanely good the semi-finals were? That would be something. Now who does the Bossman think will win the whole thing? Well, how about we look back at what I said in August about this game:

I had Michigan beating Bama in the semis. Well I’ll be damned. Might as well go for the whole thing and say that I am sticking with Big Blue to win the title over a different type of Dawg. And yes, I think Harbaugh heads back to the NFL after this. Remember, I predicted he would leave before all the shit he has had to endure (some of it partially his own doing) and the suspensions he had to deal with (meaning his own…two of them…for six games total). So I think he is a lock to leave if the Wolverines win the title. Score? Let’s go 34-30 Michigan.

So for the last time this college football season…enjoy the games everyone!

The Week 5 College Football TV Schedule and an Intro that might hurt some

Posted on September 28, 2023 by guelphbossman

Hey Miami fans, remember this guy? It’s Al Golden (and Al Golden’s tie)! He parlayed a fairly decent run at lowly Temple (I mean they were really bad before he got there) into a head coaching job at Miami where he was absolutely mediocre. Canes fans couldn’t wait for this guy to get shitcanned and they finally got their wish in 2015 after four-and-a-half seasons in Coral Gables.

So where’s Al been since? He spent six seasons in the NFL before getting hired to be Marcus Freeman’s defensive coordinator at Notre Dame. The move made sense. As a DC, he was pretty good. One of those guys who probably fits best as a coordinator but should never be a head coach.

Which brings us to what happened this past Saturday in South Bend. Good god. I will say, it was a good defensive battle although both offenses did their part in the low scoring affair. Ohio State got one last chance to drive for the win. On the final two defensive plays for the Irish, they had ten men on the field. OK…to have that happen once, it sucks and chances are a player missed an assignment. For it to happen TWICE IN A ROW? What in the hell? Marcus Freeman took the blame for it. As he said, he is the head coach so it falls on him. Admirable. But not fully correct. Golden has to know what the fuck is happening and it seems like he had no clue.

Will Golden be the defensive coordinator beyond this season? Quite possibly. It was a huge fuckup that cost them a win but the Notre Dame defense has been pretty damn stout otherwise so it will take more than that for him to get fired. That’s no consolation to Irish fans who saw their team snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Also, a reminder of a not-so-good era in Miami Hurricanes football that they are still struggling to recover from.

OK enough about that. Time to think of the future. Week 5 to be exact. Let me get you your Canadian college football television information for the upcoming Saturday (and I’ll throw in Thursday and Friday for no charge).

Thursday

		US	Canada
Middle Tennessee at WKU	7:30
Temple at Tulsa	7:30
Jacksonville State at Sam Houston	8:00

Interesting start to the week. Conference USA begins their no-Saturdays schedule with these games on Thursday night. It is feeling like WKU and Liberty will end up in the Conference USA Championship game but watch out for newcomer Jacksonville State. The Fighting RichRods are playing WAY better than anyone thought they would and could surprise.

Friday

		US	Canada
Louisville at NC State	7:00
Columbia at Princeton	7:00
Louisiana Tech at UTEP	9:00
Cincinnati at BYU	10:15

Hey, Louisville is pretty good although they better not look ahead to their huge showdown with Notre Dame. NC State has a knack for making teams struggle in games like that. Also first game between new Big XIIers (Big XII-ites?) as Cincinnati travels to Provo to face the Cougs.

Saturday Early

You read it correctly: USC and Colorado are playing at Noon. 10:00 am local time in Boulder. I guess that’s the price the Pac-12 has to pay to be in early games. Although that ends this year so not too much of a deal to do it once. A few other intriguing games with Clemson playing Syracuse and almost feeling like an underdog and Florida facing Kentucky where Kentucky feels like they should be the favourite.

Finally, there’s the story of James Madison. Huge game against USA here. As of right now, the Dukes are ineligble for the Sun Belt Championship and a bowl game. Would the Sun Belt push for them to become eligible if they end up running the table the rest of the way? It’s possible since it would put them right in the mix for that one Group of Five spot (and would be the first Sun Belt team to earn that spot if it happens). A big question as long as JMU stays undefeated.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
Virginia at Boston College	2:00
Arizona State at California	3:00
#24 Kansas at #3 Texas	3:30
Bowling Green at Georgia Tech	3:30
Indiana at Maryland	3:30
Wagner at Rutgers	3:30
#1 Georgia at Auburn	3:30
USF at Navy	3:30
Northern Illinois at Toledo	3:30
#2 Michigan at Nebraska	3:30
Boise State at Memphis	4:00
#23 Missouri at Vanderbilt	4:00

Yep, it’s time for the SEC late doubleheader ESPN windows which means no ESPN game at 3:30. I guess with the clock changes the three-hour windows would work except for the people who believe that they’ve cut 17,000 plays from every game because of the new clock rules.

KU-UT is obviously the standout game here but watch for UGA heading to Auburn and Boise State facing off against Memphis. Those two games could be sneaky good.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
#13 LSU at #20 Ole Miss	6:00
#9 Oregon at Stanford	6:30
Coastal Carolina at Georgia Southern	7:00
#11 Notre Dame at #17 Duke	7:30
Charlotte at SMU	7:30
Michigan State at Iowa	7:30
South Carolina at #21 Tennessee	7:30
Pittsburgh at Virginia Tech	8:00
San Diego State at Air Force	8:00
West Virginia at TCU	8:00

Alright things get better but it’s not like it’s a huge jolt and a bunch of great games in the primetime slot. Two games containing ranked-on-ranked violence, two more games involving ranked teams and SDSU-AFA which will be huge in the Mountain West with no divisions this season. I still don’t agree with the short ESPN window but there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. This is the final year of these SEC tripleheaders. The reason? No exclusivity around the CBS 3:30 window now that the SEC is moving fully back to ESPN and ABC and the Big Ten will pick up the afternoon mantle going forward. Thank fucking God. My prayers have been answered!

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
#12 Alabama at Mississippi State	9:00
#7 Washington at Arizona	10:00

An extremely light schedule. Doesn’t happen too often. Both games feature ranked teams. Might be an early bedtime (for college football season) if the latest game goes the way most believe it will.

Hey, Watch This!

Notre Dame at Duke (7:30, ABC/TSN+) – A lot of good/not great games this week. I will put this one at the top but it could really be anywhere in this section. This should be the most-watched football game in Duke history and if they can pull off the upset, the rest of the ACC will have to take notice. The Irish, however, might want to take out last week’s frustrations on the Blue Devils.

Kansas at Texas (3:30, ABC/TSN+) – I honestly don’t know why the ABC games are also being shown on TSN+. For completion’s sake I guess? Anyway, this could end up being the most exciting of the games this weekend just for the fact that almost every college football fan remembers “that upset” that the Jayhawks had over Texas a few years back. And now that the Jayhawks are actually good, the Horns cannot overlook them with the Red River Shootout coming up next week.

Utah at Oregon State (Friday, 9:00, FOX Sports One) – Well it’s about time a game that we couldn’t get up here would appear on this list. It happens less than ever but it makes sense it would happen at least a few times this season. And it’s a big Pac-12 game although any game with two of the top seven teams in the conference will be a big game this year. The Beavs probably can’t lose this game because, with two conference losses, it would pretty much eliminate them from any chance at the Pac-12 Championship game (unless true chaos happens which, considering it’s the Pac-12, could very well occur).

LSU at Ole Miss (6:00, TSN+/specialty pack) – I remember back in the days when I had to set up my PVR because I would be busy doing stuff with my kids. And this is the type of situation that would infuriate me because I’d either have to record this game and leave a bunch of games out or just forget this one because it didn’t follow the normal TV windows. This actually may be a big game for the Rebels as the rumour is that the locals are souring a bit on Lane Kiffin. As silly as it sounds, he may end up on a serious hot seat if they can’t at least keep things close with a very good Tigers squad.

Sickos Game of the Week

Virginia at Boston College (2:00, The CW) – Hey, the CW! This is the first time the CW appears on this list (or any list for that matter). Many feel this is the first leg of the ACC Basement Round Robin which also involves Virginia Tech. I still believe the Hokies are the worst of the bunch but these two teams don’t look a whole lot better so far.

Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week

Penn State at Northwestern (Noon, Big Ten Network) – The Wildcats have somehow won two games this season. I don’t think they win any more to be honest with you and that streak will start here. Sure, the Cats beat a Minnesota team that played super-poorly last week but this is the Nittany Lions we are talking about. If this is within 40 by the end I will be shocked.

Wanna Bet?

Yeah that wasn’t the greatest showing for me last weekend that’s for sure. Good thing I don’t bet actual money on college football (anymore). Let’s move on to this week’s picks which may or may not be any better. And you know what? I’m going to do something different. I’m actually going to post my predicted final score. This will go well, right?

Tulsa 42 Temple 14

NC State 26 Louisville 25

Utah 28 Oregon State 20

Kentucky 35 Florida 13

James Madison 30 South Alabama 24

USC 52 Colorado 23

Boston College 27 Virginia 21

Maryland 39 Indiana 7

Navy 44 USF 34

Texas 45 Kansas 16

Ole Miss 34 LSU 31

Coastal Carolina 35 Georgia Southern 14

Notre Dame 44 Duke 28

As far as I can tell, everything is up as far as the specialty packs are concerned. I have to watch for what BTN shows and I’m starting to wonder if it makes a difference where you are in Canada as to which game you get. It probably shouldn’t but you never know. This is Rogers/Bell/Eastlink/Shaw/Cogeco we are talking about.

I will be on the Twitter machine on Saturday and probably Thursday and Friday night as well so follow along or join there for some college football banter and try your best to avoid the assholes (it’s a fun game albeit sometimes frustrating). Enjoy the games everyone!

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

Posted on September 21, 2023 by guelphbossman

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

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

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

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

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

Thursday

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

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

Friday

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

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

Saturday Early

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

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

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

Saturday Afternoon

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

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

Saturday Primetime

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

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

Saturday Late Night

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

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

(An expanded) Hey, Watch This!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sickos Game of the Week

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

Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week

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

Wanna Bet?

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

Boise State (-7) over San Diego State

Troy (-3.5) over WKU

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

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

Duke (-21.5) over UConn

Utah (-4.5) over UCLA

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

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

Tennessee (-21) over UTSA

Wake Forest (-4) over Georgia Tech

Oregon State (-3) over Washington State

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

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

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

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

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

Posted on July 23, 2023 by guelphbossman

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Marinating in American Sauce

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

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

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

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

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

Juuuuust a tiny bit of Sleep-Deprived Lunacy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Upbeat Comments

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

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

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

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

Points with Pork Chops and Aeeeplesauce

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

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

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

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

Weeknight Non-Sitcom Commentary

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

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

Lists, Lists…..LISTS!

Posted on June 29, 2023 by guelphbossman

You’d think I was employed by Buzzfeed with all these lists I’m making.

So just like last year, I will add a few more lists to accompany the Most Important Games post. It should give you a good idea of the important games to watch (at least at this point) and maybe some games to avoid (unless you are a Sicko like me and will watch any football…even, yes…arena football!)

I know, I know, I have always stated my disgust for arena football but I have to admit it does have its own trashy charm to it. OK let’s just get to the lists, shall we?

Sneaky-Good/Underrated Games

I used to list a game like this for every week of the season. This time I will rank the top dozen games that should be considered underrated but very good and that didn’t rank in the Top 35 from the previous post.

Oklahoma vs. Texas (at the Cotton Bowl) (Week 6, Noon, ABC/TSN2) – First of all, I am not on drugs. Not many are talking about the Sooners and most are calling for the Longhorns to walk off to the SEC with a Big XII Championship title. Do you remember what game this is? It’s the god damn Red River Shootout/Rivalry/Game/Brawl/Drinking Contest. Many times it is ridiculous, crazy, wild and just plain dumbfounding. Don’t count OU out…at least in this one game…….oh the second thing. Yeah, ABC has picked up this game but the time hasn’t been set. It will be either Noon or 3:30 because the State Fair of Texas becomes a gangland shootout at night or something like that.
TCU at Kansas State (Week 8, Noon, specialty pack) – The rematch of last year’s Big XII title game loses a bit of its luster but should still be important in the grand scheme of things in the conference. I get it’s not Gary Patterson anymore but Sonny Dykes is already showing he can also make the whole greater than the sum of the parts. Chris Klieman will get every opportunity to show off why he got a big extended contract and this is one of those opportunities at home in front of the Wildcat faithful.
Iowa at Wisconsin (Week 7, Noon, Big Ten Network) – As I said in the Most Important Games post, it feels like all the conference networks get at least one good game a season now. This could be that game, if it ends up there. Once again this could be for the Big Ten West title but it’s going to feel weird with Wisconsin not running the ball as much. Iowa, on the other hand, should be exactly the same, trying to win games 6-5.
Texas A&M at Ole Miss (Week 10, Noon, specialty pack) – Many will sleep on these two teams…wait, bad analogy. I forgot Petrino was at College Station. Anyway, two teams that many will cast aside but it’s almost a guarantee one of them will cause a bit of a stink in the conference. Also, take the over.
UCLA at Oregon State (Week 7, 5:30, Pac-12 Network) – Speaking of conference networks, here’s the worst of the bunch. That includes the Big XII’s non-existent network. Look, one of these two teams is going to be very good (I think) and will cause quite a few headaches at the top of the Pac-12 food chain (I think) and will end up being in the Pac-12 Championship (ehhhh, I don’t know).
TCU at Oklahoma (Week 13, Friday, Noon, FOX, confirmed) – Black Friday will start with a game between a team who just got destroyed in the national championship and a team that normally is great and struggled to be bowl-eligible. Both teams will have something to prove and this could be their last real chance to do so (and make it count) this season.
Kansas State at Texas Tech (Week 7, 3:30, ABC/TSN2) – I guess it makes sense that the Big XII fills a good portion of this section after almost being shut out of my Top 35 most important games of the season. The Red Raiders always put up the points, no matter who the quarterback, head coach, or receivers are. And KSU can also do that when they want to. Should be a shootout (of sorts).
South Carolina at Texas A&M (Week 9, Noon, specialty pack) – More Fun Bobby! And Fun Shane…ok that one doesn’t have as good a ring to it. But BeamerBall 2.0 is a lot of fun to watch.
Arkansas at Ole Miss (Week 6, 7:30, specialty pack) – Could Sam Pittman be the most lovable coach in the game right now? Perhaps. He still feels like a bit of an underdog and you always root for the underdog, right? Wait…I’m getting something here….a message…ah, OK. Lane Kiffin doesn’t agree.
Minnesota at Iowa (Week 8, 3:30, FOX) – Row The Boat vs. Single-Digit Scoring. I am intrigued, I’m not going to lie. Plus we will see the best new tradition in all of not just college football but sports in general, the Iowa Wave.
Duke at North Carolina (Week 11, 8:00, specialty pack) – The Eastern version of the Victory Bell could be important once again. Both teams look like they could slot in anywhere from three to six in the ACC this year (with no divisions thank god). So a win here and maybe an upset or two somewhere else and one of these programs will duke it out for a conference championship.
Ole Miss at Tulane (Week 2, 3:30, specialty pack) – The game time is confirmed. I assume it heads to the specialty pack. Too bad because TSN would be smart to pick up this game. The Green Wave, who have to be considered to have the best odds to make it back as the best Group of Five team, hosting Ole Miss in what will be stiflingly hot weather in New Orleans…yeah I like Tulane’s chances but I still think it will be a close one.

Best Group of Five Games

Next up is our friends from the Group of Five. Three of them got invited to sit up at the adult table so overall this group is a tiny bit weaker. That just means other teams will have opportunities that they may not have had before. So let’s look at the best Group of Five games this season. And no, the Ole Miss-Tulane game above doesn’t count. This is full G5-on-G5 violence, bruh.

UTSA at Tulane (Week 13, 7:00, specialty pack) – As per usual, the American Conference should make up the bulk of this list. The defending Group of Five champion (and Cotton Bowl champion), Tulane is the favourite to do it again. UTSA is in its first season in the American but already could be the team to knock the Green Wave off their perch. Huge game where I have to favour Tulane only because it’s in New Orleans not the Alamodome where the Roadrunners have a huge home advantage.
Air Force at Boise State (Week 13, Friday, 4:00, FOX Sports One, confirmed) – Not having FS1 will deprive Canadians of a lot of good Mountain West action. This should be the conference’s game of the year and the winner probably goes to the Mountain West Championship. Being on the Smurf Turf, I would give the Broncos the slight edge here.
South Alabama at Tulane (Week 1, 8:00, specialty pack) – This game is set for ESPNU on opening Saturday and, I can almost guarantee, will head to the specialty pack. The Jaguars (Jag-you-ares) came out of nowhere last season to almost win the Sun Belt. They are the favourites to win the conference and if they can pull the mini-upset here, could feasibly run the table. I guess I could say the same thing about Tulane.
Boise State at Fresno State (Week 10, 10:00, CBS Sports Network, confirmed) – Hey it’s CBSSN’s first foray onto any of these lists. CBSSN is a nice palette cleanser really. It shows games you never would have normally watched. Plus it shows most of UConn’s games. I am liking CBSSN having the CFL. Yes it’s just a simulcast of TSN’s showing but it works. Kind of wish they would come up with at least their own play-by-play and analysis and just use the TSN visuals.
Tulane at Memphis (Week 7, Friday, 7:00, TSN2) – It’s the time of year when the American and ACC split most of the Thursday and Friday night games on ESPN and their dysfunctional family of networks. TSN tends to show more Friday night games because they can put it on TSN2 and not have it interfere with the CFL’s Friday Night Football. Anyway, yes, it’s the Green Wave again. Bored yet? They might be that good. Maybe even legit Top 12 good if everything falls right.
Boise State at San Diego State (Week 4, Friday, 10:30, CBS Sports Network, confirmed) – And here comes Boise State again. I mean I want to say there aren’t two obvious frontrunners in the G5 but there are. Both the Broncos and Tulane should be in it to the end to see who gets that single spot.
South Alabama at Troy (Week 10, Thursday, 7:30, specialty pack) – Hey it’s not Tulane, Boise State, the American or the Mountain West! Let’s give the Sun Belt a lot of respect. They have become the third-best Group of Five conference and it’s a pretty wide gap between them and the two conferences below them, the MAC and Conference USA. The Battle for the Belt (so good to have a wrestling title belt as the rivalry trophy) should be for the de facto Sun Belt West title unless Louisiana or maybe Southern Miss has something to say about it.
Boise State at Memphis (Week 5, 3:30, specialty pack) – This might end up on ESPN or ESPN2 depending on how both teams are doing at this point. I could see it happening because ESPN made a point to trade with CBS for this BSU road game.
Tulane at East Carolina (Week 10, 3:30, specialty pack) – I figured East Carolina would have to find someone to replace Holton Ahlers and his 245 passes per game. Instead they plan to completely turn to the running game and grind teams into the turf. If this somehow works, Georgia Tech fans are gonna be real mad.
WKU at Troy (Week 4, 3:30, ESPN+) – First Conference USA appearance and it heads to ESPN+. I have that this year for the first time so I am going to have a lot of fun and totally destroy my remote control this season with that. Kind of wish it even got to ESPNU so that the specialty packs could pick it up. I still think WKU and MTSU were foolish not to take the MAC’s potential invite as they are stuck now in arguably the worst FBS conference with not much in the way of rivalries.
San Diego State at Air Force (Week 5, 8:00, CBS Sports Network, confirmed) – OK two teams that aren’t quite fitting the mold of the top G5 teams. Nice. And, if things go according to plan, we should see a bazillion yards rushing and the game might be over by 10:00.
Eastern Michigan at Toledo (Week 11, Wednesday, 7:00, specialty pack) – Finally we end this list with a MACtion game since I have to. MACtion is awesome. We also have Fun Belt now and whatever the American conference calls their weeknight games. Oh and Conference USA is doing pretty much all weeknight games in October. Crazy! Anyway, this could very well be the two best MAC teams so let’s call this the de facto MAC West championship.

Best Group of Five vs. Power Five Games

Let’s bring back this section because these games are the ones many college football fans feast on. What is better than watching your hated rival lose to a Group of Five team? Not much. And I have always said, Group of Five teams, at least the better ones, should get their shot at Power Five teams to see what they are worth. If it wasn’t for that happening, very few teams would have moved up and the Power Five may have already separated from the rest of college football by now.

Ole Miss at Tulane (Week 2, 3:30, specialty pack) – This was already discussed above but it is the biggest G5 vs. P5 game of the season and hosted by the Group of Five team which is a rarity but happening more often these days which is nice to see.
UTSA at Tennessee (Week 4, 7:30, specialty pack) – The Roadrunners meep their way up the food chain to the American Conference this season and are already a contender for the league title (and perhaps a NY6 spot). The Vols will be really good this season but a UTSA win her would be massive for the program and for the college football season as a whole.
Boise State at Washington (Week 1, 3:30, ABC/TSN2) – Everything is confirmed except for if the game will appear on TSN. I believe it will but we won’t know for like another two months. Ridiculous. Washington is looking to ride their Heisman contender quarterback all the way, hopefully, to the College Football Playoff so a slip-up here would almost derail that entire plan.
WKU at Ohio State (Week 3, 4:00, FOX, confirmed) – Look, are the Hilltoppers going to win this? No. All we can hope for is for WKU to put a scare into tOSU. If, somehow, they ended up with the upset, it would be the biggest upset in the history of college football and you wouldn’t be able to convince me otherwise.
Troy at Kansas State (Week 2, Noon, FOX Sports One, confirmed) – OK now this one has intrigue written all over it. Troy is one of a handful of teams that has legit New Year’s Six aspirations out of the Group of Five. Kansas State is the defending Big XII champions but have a few question marks. This feels ripe for an upset.
SMU at TCU (Week 4, Noon, specialty pack) – The Battle for the Iron Skillet. This might be the best one yet if the Mustangs are as good as some say they will be. Not the favourite in the American so they will have to show out in games like this to catch voters’ eyes. This could be a good litmus test to see how far TCU has fallen from last year’s national runner-up team.
San Diego State at Oregon State (Week 3, 3:30, FOX Sports One, confirmed) – This could be a tasty affair if the Aztecs step up and prove they could be eventually Pac-12 worthy in football. Otherwise, you might hear a lot of chainsaws going in this one since Oregon State is definitely a dark horse contender this season.
SMU at Oklahoma (Week 2, 6:00, ESPN+, confirmed) – Ouch. Seeing this relegated to ESPN+ surprises me a bit but the Sooners are not the team they had been for the past few decades. The Sooners are going to try and come out of the gate swinging but don’t be surprised if the Stangs give them some trouble in this one.
UCF at Boise State (Week 2, 7:00, FOX Sports One, confirmed) – Last year this would have been in the previous section. Now the Knights are in the Big XII but they may still be an underdog on this one. If I were a betting man I would put my money on the Broncos here as they are hoping to run the table and get back to where they believe they belong: as the top dog among the Group of Five.
East Carolina at Michigan (Week 1, Noon, Peacock, confirmed) – The debut of Peacock on these lists. I am sure at some point it will be available for Canadians but we aren’t quite there yet. Yeah I don’t think this will be really close but you never know. I wonder if ECU can run on this Michigan offense. If they can, the entire Big Ten will be watching tape of this game all season to see if they can replicate it.
UCLA at San Diego State (Week 2, 7:30, CBS, confirmed) – Nice to see the Mountain West appearing on CBS. The week before this we get Texas Tech/Wyoming and here we get a very interesting matchup that could easily lead to an upset, if SDSU has things going by the second week of the season.
UTSA at Houston (Week 1, 7:00, FOX Sports One, confirmed) – The Cougs have stepped up to the Big XII conference. Good for them. Problem is they start their first season back on the top tier of college football against one of the best Group of Five teams. The only thing helping Houston is that the game is in Houston and not San Antonio. I am sure Drunk Uncle Dana will be about seven Red Bulls in by the time this one starts.

Worst Power Five Games

Didn’t think I’d forget this section, right? These are the games that you can probably avoid, unless they are close. They fill conference networks (and really are the reason those networks exist but I will not complain about that) and even sometimes creep onto FOX or an ESPN2 or ESPNU. Sad but true. Spoiler alert: I will still watch most of these games.

Northwestern at Rutgers (Week 1, Sunday, Noon, CBS, confirmed) – What a way to show off the new Big Ten on CBS with a game between *checks notes* uh….Northwestern and Rutgers? My God that is not good at all. Who the hell is picking these games at CBS? The only thing I can think happened was that it was the last game remaining…like picking the last kid in dodgeball. Well, nothing else will be on at that time at least in a college football sense so guess what ol’ Bossman will be watching?
Stanford at Colorado (Week 7, Friday, 10:00, TSN2) – This is confirmed for ESPN2 but who knows if TSN will pick it up or not. Look I understand there is a lot of hype with Deion Sanders now coaching at Colorado. And that’s a good thing for that program. But they will struggle to be bowl-eligible this season. Now Stanford….that’s a different story. They are back to the days before Jim Harbaugh and then David Shaw resurrected this program. They may just be the worst Power Five team at this point. What a fall from grace.
Virginia Tech at Virginia (Week 13, Noon, specialty pack) – What happened last year at Virginia was tragic. Three players gunned down late in the season. UVA rightfully cancelled their final two games, including the Commonwealth Cup game against VaTech. Now they are back but this will not be an easy season for the Hoos, both on the field and emotionally. The Hokies are as bad as I have ever seen them be. Then again, I only mostly saw them as a Frank Beamer team. Beamerball, this is not. Look, I hate putting this game here but these two teams might be god-awful this season.
Rutgers at Indiana (Week 8, Noon, Big Ten Network) – Rutgers is, unfortunately, back to being Rutgers. And Indiana without Michael Penix Jr…well we found out they were bad. Both coaches will be on the hot seat with Tom Allen in the much hotter seat for sure. The loser might not win a Big Ten game this season.
Virginia at Boston College (Week 5, Noon, specialty pack) – As for non-Virginia teams in the ACC who probably won’t be going bowling, BC comes to mind. I can’t see them finding the magic formula especially with a young, relatively untested quarterback manning the ship.
California at Stanford (Week 12, 9:00, Pac-12 Network) – Ah, the worst of the conference networks. What a shitshow it is. Anyway, The Big Game will be anything but big this season as I already mentioned how bad Stanford will be and I don’t know how many people outside the Cal football program care about Cal football. A shame, really.
Colorado at Arizona State (Week 6, 9:00, Pac-12 Network) – Remember when ASU was the laughing stock of the Pac-12 for like a second? Everyone thought their ship was going to come crashing down. Well it did but other teams flew past them into the basement. That doesn’t mean this is some kind of comeback story, though. They still aren’t good and will be fighting for bowl eligibility. Wins in games like this are a must for that to happen.
Georgia Tech at Virginia (Week 10, 3:30, specialty pack) – It feels kind of weird watching Georgia Tech play football when they aren’t running the Paul Johnson option offense. You know, I’m starting to think they never should have changed from that. Made them unique and helped them win just as often as they lost.
Virginia Tech at Rutgers (Week 3, 3:30, Big Ten Network, confirmed) – Hey let’s dip into some non-con action now. I would ask who the hell scheduled a game like this but it was probably scheduled back when the Hokies played their first season in the ACC.
Arizona at Stanford (Week 4, 7:00, FOX Sports One) – I have to be honest: Jedd Fisch has already exceeded my expectations for a) his coaching in Tucson and b) a guy named Jedd. This team is on the brink of getting back to postseason play for the first time in years. I will put the over/under on fans attending this game at 14,000.
Arizona State at California (Week 5, 9:30, Pac-12 Network) – I am still on the record saying that there should be a pure sports-style Netflix or Amazon Prime out there. One where you can add or subtract whatever channels you want based on sport, country, etc. Would it be the death knell to cable? No but it would be quite the flesh wound. By the way, this game has some pretty good Pac-12 After Dark vibes to it and could get wacky because both teams are just not that good.
Northwestern at Nebraska (Week 8, 2:30, Peacock) – I would be remiss if I didn’t include Nebraska somewhere on this list. They’ve fooled and many others over the past few years. So until they prove it, I will not take the bait. Nope, no more. I refuse to drink the Husker Koolaid.

Alright, done and dusted. A reminder that tomorrow is the end of the fiscal year for pretty much all the FBS schools. There are rumours that something on the realignment (oh god that word) front could happen by the end of the night or the very next day. Last year it was USC and UCLA to the Big Ten. Can’t see anything as big as that but you never know.

Well, I would like to wish everyone a great Canada Day weekend and Fourth of July celebration. We are less than two months away folks. Nice to be talking college football again.

Iiiiiiiiiiit’s…TIME! For another Thanksgiving* FOOTBALLGASMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!

Posted on November 22, 2022 by guelphbossman

*of course I mean American Thanksgiving but you already knew that….right?

Just because it’s Thanksgiving south of the border doesn’t mean we can’t have turkey and mashed potatoes and gravy and peas and sweet potatoes and stuffing and pumpkin pie and…oh man I’m getting hungry. I think it’s a good way to support our ‘Murican friends on Turkey Day, don’t you think?

One sad thing is that everyday college football ends tonight. Tomorrow there are no games. I think there should be one. When I become commissioner of college football, I will do that. For all of you. There’s still college football on American Thanksgiving Day along with the usual NFL fare and then things ramp the fuck up starting Black Friday. I am so ready. Let’s get to the schedules and again it will be in the normal Thanksgiving style that I use….with a bit of a twist this year. Again, I am using AP Poll rankings because this blog post will come out a few hours before the next College Football Playoff Rankings come out.

Tuesday

Bowling Green (+6.5) at Ohio

7:00 PM

The week starts with the MAC East Division title game. If the Bobcats win, they head to Detroit. If the Falcons win, as of right now, they also head to Detroit. What is planned for Buffalo with their cancelled game against Akron is anyone’s guess. Predicted score: Ohio 38 Bowling Green 28.

Thursday

Mississippi State (+2.5) at #20 Ole Miss

7:00 PM

There is no chance this game could be important. It would have been if the Rebs could have beat Arkansas last week. Instead they were run out of the building. There may also be the distraction of Lane Kiffin possibly being named head coach of Auburn soon. Oh, and if you’ve noticed, I’m including the spread and a predicted score for each game. Predicted score: Ole Miss 41 Mississippi State 24.

Friday

I’m glad that ABC has made sure to have the AAC appear a few times on the main network during a season. Otherwise, this would have gone to, at best, ESPN if not lower. Huge game. Winner goes into the catbird seat for the Cotton Bowl spot. The loser could still go to the AAC Championship Game with a UCF loss later on. Predicted score: Cincinnati 43 Tulane 27.

Utah State (+16.5) at Boise State

Noon

I’m sure CBS was hoping for a much bigger game here. USU is already bowl-eligible and Boise has clinched their spot in the Mountain West Championship. That’ll be a pass for me, dawg. Predicted score: Boise State 34 Utah State 27.

Central Michigan (-2) at Eastern Michigan

Noon

Speaking of games that mean nothing, here’s another one. CMU is not going bowling. EMU is. Predicted score: Eastern Michigan 35 Central Michigan 27.

Baylor (+8.5) at #23 Texas

Noon

This could mean big things for Texas. They have to take care of business on their own end and beat the Bears here. If they do, they can then watch Kansas State-Kansas and hope the Wildcats lose for them to get a Big XII Championship opportunity. Predicted score: Texas 41 Baylor 39.

Toledo (-7.5) at Western Michigan

Noon

Nothing really to see here. Toledo is going to Ford Field for the MAC Championship and WMU is home for the holidays. Predicted score: Toledo 30 Western Michigan 19.

The Tar Heels will use this as a tune-up for their game against Clemson the following weekend. Beating the Tigers is the only probably way for UNC to get to the Orange Bowl. Predicted score: NC State 30 North Carolina 29.

Arkansas (-3) at Missouri

3:30 PM

Mizzou needs a win here to go bowling. Arkansas is already in…barely. Could be fun. Predicted score: Arkansas 26 Missouri 24.

New Mexico (+7.5) at Colorado State

3:30 PM

Arguably the two worst teams in the Mountain West here. There are better options on at the same time. Predicted score: Colorado State 18 New Mexico 12.

Nebraska (+10.5) at Iowa

4:00 PM

I do find it a bit funny that this seems to get relegated more and more to the Big Ten Network. Anyway, a win here and the offensively challenged Hawkeyes get a trip to Indianapolis. Lose and there are ways in which they still go to the Big Ten Championship and other ways where they don’t. I went over that in the previous post and flat-out refuse to go into it here. Predicted score: Iowa 32 Nebraska 17.

The Bruins played themselves out of a potential Pac-12 Championship berth so they are playing for the extremely slim possibility of going to a New Year’s Six bowl. And it is EXTREMELY slim. Predicted score: UCLA 45 California 27.

Does this game mean much in the grand scheme of things? Not really. The Noles would need a lot to happen to get into the NY6 and the Gators are bowl-eligible. Does this game mean much to fans of either team? Abso-fucking-lutely. Predicted score: Florida State 33 Florida 14.

Saturday Early

With so many options, this is one of them. Could the Cocks shock the Tigers? Yeah I guess. I can’t see it happening though. Clemson does need to win here, though, to keep any small College Football Playoff possibilities alive. Predicted score: Clemson 43 South Carolina 24.

Rutgers (+14) at Maryland

Noon

Rutgers is out, Maryland is in. I think we will see a fair amount of these types of games for this week. Predicted score: Maryland 38 Rutgers 24.

WKU (-7) at Florida Atlantic

Noon

The Owls are fighting for their bowl lives here. The Hilltoppers need a win (and a North Texas loss) to play for the Conference USA Championship. For once, there are some good stakes from the noon CBSSN game. Predicted score: WKU 38 Florida Atlantic 31.

Georgia Tech (+35.5) at #1 Georgia

Noon

Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate. There actually is quite a bit of importance to this one. Georgia cannot slip up if they want to go into conference championship week as the number one team in the land. Tech needs a victory to go bowling which would be an absolutely remarkable turnaround from the dreadful Geoff Collins era. Predicted score: Georgia 52 Georgia Tech 20.

West Virginia (+8.5) at Oklahoma State

Noon

No. I mean why? To see if Neal Brown gets fired after the game ends, Herm Edwards-style? Predicted score: Oklahoma State 30 West Virginia 28.

Coastal Carolina (+13.5) at James Madison

Noon

This seems like a huge spread in favour of JMU considering how good the Chanticleers have been this season. I guess it does show what kind of home field advantage the Dukes have. Unfortunately, thanks to stupid NCAA rules, JMU can’t go to a bowl game because they had the audacity to be good in their first year at the FBS level. Stupid. CCU needs a win and a LOT of help to be considered in the Cotton Bowl conversation. Predicted score: Coastal Carolina 24 James Madison 18.

The Game. The biggest one in a few years. Winner almost guarantees themselves a spot in the College Football Playoff. The loser isn’t out either if things go their way. High, HIGH stakes here in a game where Gus Johnson might lose his voice. Predicted score: Ohio State 38 Michigan 37.

Saturday Afternoon

Prairie View A&M had a chance to wrap up the SWAC West Division title and were stunned by lowly Mississippi Valley State. This means that Southern can now sneak in and win the division and a date with Jackson State in the SWAC Championship if they beat Grambling. Predicted score (I couldn’t find any gambling lines for this game): Southern 40 Grambling 24.

And odd start time here, especially by SEC Network standards. Both teams are bowling. Neither team can get to the New Year’s Six. People will watch if this game stays close but otherwise there is no reason to. Predicted score: Kentucky 33 Louisville 26.

Look, Oregon State is a good team. No, I’m not lying. No wonder the spread is so low. Could be very loud in Corvallis for this one. The Ducks need a win here to get to the Pac-12 Championship and keep their CFP hopes alive. Oregon State is going for their ninth victory of the season, their highest win total since 2012. Predicted score: Oregon 41 Oregon State 40.

Illinois (-14) at Northwestern

3:30 PM

We will know by now whether this game actually means anything to Illinois. I could see Bret Bielema getting a nice, fat extension in the offseason. As of right now, I have no idea whether this game or the other BTN game on at this time will be shown on the specialty pack. The specialty pack schedules show neither at this point which is always a bad sign. Hopefully this gets rectified by Saturday. Predicted score: Illinois 41 Northwestern 21.

UPDATE #2: This is now showing on the specialty pack guide.

Purdue (-10.5) at Indiana

3:30 PM

The Old Oaken Bucket. Again, we will know by start time whether Purdue has a shot at the Big Ten West or not. I have this game in the BTN slot that Canadians would get. Who the hell knows what will happen though. Predicted score: Purdue 30 Indiana 15.

Auburn (+22) at #7 Alabama

3:30 PM

Alabama doesn’t really have a chance at the College Football Playoff, do they? I mean I don’t think so but I know ESPN’s love for the Bama brand. Oh and do you want some laughs? Auburn needs a win here to be bowl-eligible AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Barely got that out before laughing. Predicted score: Alabama 41 Auburn 17.

UAB (-17.5) at Louisiana Tech

3:30 PM

The Blazers are having a down year. At least a down for year for this program since they were resurrected. They can get in to a bowl game with a win here. Predicted score: UAB 35 Louisiana Tech 18.

Minnesota (+3.5) at Wisconsin

3:30 PM

Look there’s nothing much going on here. Neither team really has a legit shot at the Big Ten West title. And they are both going bowling. Meh. Predicted score: Wisconsin 30 Minnesota 26.

Duke has been a massive surprise this season. They have been seriously competitive all season and Mike Elko is going to get a bit of Coach of the Year consideration (even though he won’t win). This game doesn’t mean anything as both teams are comfortably bowl-eligible. Predicted score: Wake Forest 38 Duke 26.

UPDATE #3: This still isn’t showing on the specialty pack guide although it should in the next 24 hours.

Virginia at Virginia Tech

3:30 PM

cancelled

The Commonwealth Cup game between UVA and VT has been cancelled. I am not surprised by this decision and it was made a lot easier by the fact that neither team would be going to a bowl game this year anyway. I put forth an idea on Twitter of maybe having the game during Army-Navy week (before the game perhaps) and have the ticket money go to the families or charity or something like that. Don’t think that would go through as I have a feeling the Virginia football program just needs this season to end so they can continue their mourning.

Memphis (+4.5) at SMU

3:30 PM

Both teams are 6-5. This means very little in the grand scheme of things. Predicted score: SMU 31 Memphis 25.

UPDATE #4: This isn’t showing on the specialty pack guide. I am sure the UVA-VT cancellation has to be adjusted before this will show up.

Troy (-13.5) at Arkansas State

3:30 PM

This is an odd one. This game was moved here during the shuffle caused by the Hoos-Hokies cancellation. Non-cable users in the U.S. can get this game on ESPN+ as an ESPNU game. I have a feeling this might be enough to screw things up on the specialty pack end of things meaning this game would show up nowhere here. We shall see. Predicted score: Troy 36 Arkansas State 13.

UPDATE #5: Well I am right that at this point the specialty pack is not showing this game. I have a feeling that will change by Thursday afternoon but I will keep you all updated.

The Horned Frogs cannot falter here. They are closing in on a dream season and the last thing they need is a struggle against the Cyclones. I could see ISU keeping this one close in what could be Matt Campbell’s final game as head coach of the Clones. Predicted score: TCU 34 Iowa State 24.

#14 Utah (-29.5) at Colorado

4:00 PM

Utah doesn’t have a shot at the Pac-12 Championship so this means little to them. Colorado is horrendously awful so I am sure they want this season to end quickly. Predicted score: Utah 42 Colorado 10.

Saturday Primetime

#5 LSU (-10) at Texas A&M

7:00 PM

LSU cannot look ahead to Georgia despite the fact that the Aggies might very well be the worst team in the SEC this year. Never thought I would say that about a Jimbo Fisher-coached team but they are awful. Predicted score: LSU 39 Texas A&M 23.

#22 UCF (-19.5) at USF

7:00 PM

The Knights should mop the floor with USF. They need to, otherwise they unbelievably won’t go to the AAC Championship and destroyed their Cotton Bowl chances in a matter of one week. Predicted score: UCF 48 USF 14.

Notre Dame looked dead to rights earlier in the season. Now, if they win here, they probably lock up an Orange Bowl bid. Incredible. USC, on the other hand, has already clinched a spot in the Pac-12 title game and have to win here to keep their CFP hopes alive. ABC was smart to put this in primetime. Predicted score: USC 43 Notre Dame 40.

Tulsa (+12) at Houston

7:30 PM

Nothing to play for here. Unless it’s close, don’t bother. Predicted score: Houston 31 Tulsa 26.

This is actually a big game for both teams. Crazy, right? The Dores win here and they go bowling which would be huge for this program that has struggled since James Franklin left. The Vols need to keep up with the rest of the teams above them if they want any hope of getting into the College Football Playoff, as much of a long shot as it is. And both teams will want to destroy the chances of the other. Too bad for Vandy that I have a feeling Tennessee will show up VERY angry. Predicted score: Tennessee 49 Vanderbilt 13.

A Miami win gets the Canes bowl-eligible. It’s shocking how far this team has fallen. Good call shitcanning Manny Diaz for no reason other than to nab Mario Cristobal, right? Some of these programs just overthink these kinds of things, usually to their detriment. Predicted score: Miami 22 Pittsburgh 15.

OK sure the primetime slate doesn’t have some of the pizazz as the earlier games of the day (minus the ND-USC game) but a lot of these games still have importance. KSU wins here and they head to JerryWorld for the first time for the Big XII Championship. Kansas can stop that from happening. And it could happen. Kansas is actually pretty good. Predicted score: Kansas State 36 Kansas 30.

Saturday Late Night

Air Force (-1.5) at San Diego State

9:00 PM

SDSU and the AFA squandered any chances of promising seasons early on in the season. Both teams are still having decent years but they are being overshadowed by a few other teams who have just been that much better when it counted. Predicted score: San Diego State 23 Air Force 17.

SE Missouri State at Montana

10:00 PM

How about this? FCS Playoffs on ESPN2? Sure. But the first round of the playoffs? This has not happened since they expanded to 24 teams in 2013. Should be a nice change of pace. And it should be seriously cold up in Missoula. Predicted score: Montana 38 SE Missouri State 36.

UPDATE #6: For some reason, this isn’t appearing on the specialty pack guide. I’m sure it will soon enough but being an FCS game I am a bit worried it won’t end up appearing at all.

#13 Washington (-2) at Washington State

10:30 PM

If Oregon loses to Oregon State earlier in the day, this game becomes massive. The Huskies can then clinch a Pac-12 Championship Game spot with a win here in the Apple Cup. Otherwise, this game isn’t really that important. I mean I will watch it. Hell, I will also watch the BYU-Stanford game that starts half an hour after this. Why? Because that’s what I do. I honestly can’t totally figure it out anymore. Predicted score: Washington State 24 Washington 14.

UPDATE: I have updated the rankings to match the CFP Rankings.

Holy shit that’s a lot of football! No complaints though since we know what it will be like in a few months. I will be on Twitter often but not all the time as even I need sleep/pass out. As I mentioned about TSN last week, their coverage is much reduced this year for the final week of the college football regular season. I wouldn’t look too much into this as the World Cup takes up most of the early window and that’s where TSN usually had three or four games alone. Does it suck for college football fans who don’t have the specialty pack? Absolutely. But I guess if you are a college football fan, buying a specialty pack would be the least you would do, no?

I will keep this post updated when need be. It wouldn’t surprise me if there were some specialty pack updates. I hope TSN is set but I don’t trust them fully. Anyway, have a great rest of the week and enjoy the games everyone!

Hey let’s look ahead (and also give you the Week 8 College Football TV schedule)

Posted on October 19, 2022 by guelphbossman

I tend to do most of my psychic work in the offseason…or when looking at bowl projections. Neither of which I do very well. So yeah sounds like a great idea to do it again in the middle of the season right? I never learn.

Will the SEC send a team not from Alabama or Georgia to the College Football Playoff? Tennessee and Ole Miss are both looking the real deal this season. The Vols already pulled off a big upset with their win over the Tide. The Rebels get their shot next month. Tennessee still has to get by Georgia to win the division. So maybe we could be looking at a Vols-Rebels SEC Championship? Honestly, I don’t think so but you never know.

Does the Big Ten still come down to The Big Game? Yes. I think Illinois is doing great and Purdue might end up being the new power in the Big Ten West but it still all comes down to the The Big Game between Michigan and Ohio State. Winner probably wins the conference and heads to the CFP. Loser to the New Year’s Six and the Rose Bowl. I don’t see another scenario unless one of the teams is upset before then.

What’s going to happen with the Pac-12? If Oregon loses this Saturday to UCLA then it will be either the Bruins or Trojans with the only shot for the College Football Playoff. How sad is that for this conference? USC and UCLA leave in 2024 and there are a lot of rumours that Oregon and Washington will follow, possibly for that same season. It’s been bad for the conference for a while but they somehow are coming up with new lows. I assume they poach the Mountain West for at least two teams to stay at the Pac-10 going forward but it won’t be the conference that it’s been in the past, much to Bill Walton’s chagrin.

Is TCU the Big XII’s only hope? No, nor are they a good choice either. I can’t see the Horned Frogs running the table. There is a much better chance of Oklahoma State or even Texas having a shot. A lot would have to happen for the Longhorns to be in contention but it could happen. Me? I’m hoping for chaos and a two-loss team in the CFP. Wouldn’t that be wild?

Who’s the next coach to be fired? It feels like it will be Bryan Harsin and that it will happen any day now. I think he will be after the next coach to be fired. I believe the next coach fired will be Neal Brown instead. It hasn’t been an abject disaster in Morgantown but Brown has shown no signs of improving this program. With Texas Tech and Kansas possibly passing them in the Big XII pecking order, they maybe sitting in the basement by the end of 2022.

Who will win the Heisman? I think if Tennessee goes undefeated through the regular season, it’s Hendon Hooker’s Heisman (Triple H) to lose. One loss or a really bad game from Hooker and it opens the door to like half-a-dozen others, including C.J. Stroud, Dorian Thompson-Robinsion, Bryce Young and Caleb Williams.

Alright that’s enough predictions for now. You didn’t come for that (I don’t think). You came for schedules, right? So let’s get right to them!

Wednesday

		US	Canada
Georgia State at Appalachian State	7:30 PM

Before the season this felt like it could be huge in deciding the Sun Belt East. Not so much anymore.

Thursday

		US	Canada
Virginia at Georgia Tech	7:30 PM
Troy at South Alabama	7:30 PM

The highlight here, honestly, is what could be the Sun Belt West title game. South Alabama is WAY better than advertised and Troy has improved from last year as well. Also, Georgia Tech might actually be favoured in a conference game as the Hoos come to Atlanta. Wouldn’t have been that way with Geoff Collins still in charge, I can guarantee that.

Friday

		US	Canada
Princeton at Harvard	7:00 PM
Tulsa at Temple	7:30 PM
UAB at WKU	8:00 PM

Nothing of serious importance although it could be interesting to see what happens in Bowling Green (not the university, the town). Winner there stays in the hunt to get to the Conference USA Championship game.

Saturday Early

I would say this is a good appetizer for the games later on but there’s a main course mixed in there. Syracuse travels to Death Valley East with legitimate upset aspirations. They win here and they turn the ACC (and college football in general) kind of upside down. What many would have picked as the game of the afternoon at the start of the season could look like an absolute blowout. Could Iowa lose by 50? Quite possibly.

Kansas still getting no love. ESPN2 for a big game against Baylor? Come on man. What really is perplexing, though, is UT-Martin getting on to TSN. UT-Martin? I get that Tennessee is good but there are a few other games that could have gone there…like the KU-BU game I just mentioned!

Saturday Afternoon

If UCLA and USC don’t get to the Victory Bell game in November both undefeated then the Bruins’ game against Oregon here might be the Pac-12 Game of the Year (and their best chance to put a team into the College Football Playoff).

You may notice that the UNLV-Notre Dame game isn’t on this list. That’s because this is the one game this season that NBC moves to Peacock. I hope the Rebels somehow win. The Longhorns and Pokes might be in a quasi-elimination game, especially if TCU keeps winning. Ole Miss and Purdue have landmine games where an upset or two wouldn’t be a total surprise.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Boise State at Air Force	7:00 PM
#24 Mississippi State at #6 Alabama	7:00 PM
Minnesota at #16 Penn State	7:30 PM
UCF at East Carolina	7:30 PM
Texas A&M at South Carolina	7:30 PM
Pittsburgh at Louisville	8:00 PM
#17 Kansas State at #8 TCU	8:00 PM
Colorado at Oregon State	8:00 PM

Two underrated teams no more as Kansas State travels to Fort Worth to face an undefeated Horned Frogs team. This is absolutely massive for both teams and would have been on FOX if FOX didn’t have baseball that night.

The rest of the primetime schedule could be considered a bit weak unless the Bulldogs can put a scare into Bama. The ABC primetime matchup is very weak considering some of the games that are on this Saturday. I don’t get it sometimes with these picks but at least the network won’t lean on the Big Ten all the time like they’ve been doing in recent years. FOX has taken up that mantle.

Also, we have what might as well be the de facto Mountain West Mountain championship between Boise and AFA. And we have another Pat McAfee night on ESPN2. Great…..

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
San Diego State at Nevada	10:30 PM
Washington at California	10:30 PM
Montana at Sacramento State	11:00 PM

OK so the primetime schedule might be weak in spots but this is brutal. Meaning either Cal is beating the Huskies or Nevada ends the Brady Hoke era at SDSU. Otherwise this is a fucking joke. Oh, plus we are stuck with the Sacramento Test this week. And no, that’s not a test of Sacramento Kings’ fans’ patience.

Big Games O’ The Week

UCLA at Oregon (3:30, FOX) – There are a few games that could occupy this top spot but I picked the one which I believe has the most at stake. If the Bruins win, it sets them up perfectly for the Battle for Los Angeles against their crosstown rivals, USC. A loss and, quite frankly, the Pac-12 could be sitting out the CFP yet again. As I said, huge stakes.

Syracuse at Clemson (Noon, ABC/TSN4) – The Orange Dream Season Express rolls on here as The Fighting Babers look to pull off the upset of all upsets. And we’ve seen that D.J. Uiagalelei has had poor games in the past. A Cuse win here would throw everyone’s ACC predictions into a dumpster (and then that dumpster to be set on fire).

Kansas State at TCU (8:00, FOX Sports One) – This still will not get as much attention as the Texas-Oklahoma State game earlier in the day and I think that suits these two teams just fine. A TCU win keeps their CFP hopes very much alive whereas a Kansas State win puts a bunch of teams back in the mix for the Big XII title game at JerryWorld.

Mississippi State at Alabama (7:00, specialty pack) – Some are actually wondering why Mississippi State is in the Top 25. I think if the Bulldogs had any semblance of a running game they’d be clearly in the Top 20 and contending for an SEC West title. Instead, they have Will Rogers throw the ball a million times and hope for the best. Classic Mike Leach. I kind of hope this is close but don’t be surprised if it’s over by 8:00.

Texas at Oklahoma State (3:30, ABC) – ABC’s ongoing love affair with the Big Ten, despite the fact they will be leaving the network soon, pushes a game like this to the afternoon timeslot. I don’t think many thought Texas would be in a game that, if they win, could put them in the driver’s seat to get to the Big XII Championship. Kansas State, TCU and even Kansas will watch this game with quite a bit of interest.

Ole Miss at LSU (3:30, CBS) – Ole Miss can’t have this be a speed bump game. LSU is better than they were last year and may be shaking of the early season shitshow and are playing good ball under Brian Kelly. The Lane Train needs to mow teams like this down knowing that Bama is coming down the line.

Minnesota at Penn State (7:30, ABC) – Is it one of the big time games you’d want to see in the ABC Primetime window? No. This could end up being a good game though. And James Franklin certainly wants his Nittany Lions to play well after the disaster that was their game in Ann Arbor last weekend.

Psycho Game of the Week

Arizona State at Stanford (4:00, Pac-12 Network) – Two terrible Pac-12 teams here. This is the second straight week the Pac-12 has appeared in this section. And it won’t be the last. I honestly do wonder if David Shaw will get to 2023 considering how poor Stanford has been this year (and the past couple of years).

Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week

Iowa at Ohio State (Noon, FOX) – Yep, I am officially calling it. This could get VERY ugly. Iowa’s offense is anemic and shouldn’t fare too well against the Buckeye defense. They might cover the 29 point spread by 1:00.

Fun-Time Stats of the Week

Kansas’ last win over Baylor was fifteen years ago. They have also ten in a row to the Bears against the spread.
Notre Dame is 30-6 vs. the Mountain West.
Appalachian State has never lost to Georgia State in eight meetings. They’ve also won seven of those games by double digits.

The Degenerate Portion of Our Show

I don’t consider myself a gambler. Mostly because I’m not very good at it. I’m sure I am not too far away from some of the experts though in terms of success. Remember that guy on the late night commercials? What was his name? I want to say Cash Palmer. Anyway, him, along with a bunch of other guys who I wouldn’t hire to mow my townhouse lawn, would hock their picks at like 3 in the morning to degenerates who figured they couldn’t do this themselves. I assume all those guys are dead or in an old folks’ home. Anyway, enough of that. Call me Boss Bucks, or something equally stupid, and let’s get the show on the road.

Georgia State (+9.5) over Appalachian State (the Mountaineers win a nailbiter)
Troy (+3) over South Alabama with the outright win
Tulsa (-13) over Temple
UT-Martin (+37.5) over Tennessee with the Vols still winning by four touchdowns
Baylor (-8) over Kansas
Army (-7) over ULM
Liberty (+6.5) over BYU (the Cougs will win this game though in a close one)
Maryland (-13.5) over Northwestern
Boston College (+20.5) over Wake Forest (the Deacs cruise to a relatively easy victory)
Vanderbilt (+14) over Missouri (Mizzou will win the game)
Mississippi State (+21) over Alabama (Tide win after Bulldogs keep it close for three quarters)
UCF (-5) over East Carolina for the road victory
Nevada (+7) over San Diego State (with the Aztecs winning)

The Bossman Top 25!

It’s back! I figured it was about time to whip out a set of rankings for everyone. It’s early so there isn’t a reason to debate but I’m sure some of the spots will make you do a double take. Here we go:

#1	Georgia
#2	Tennessee
#3	Ohio State
#4	Michigan
#5	Clemson
#6	TCU
#7	Ole Miss
#8	Alabama
#9	Oregon
#10	Oklahoma State
#11	Syracuse
#12	UCLA
#13	Utah
#14	Wake Forest
#15	USC
#16	Kansas State
#17	Kentucky
#18	Penn State
#19	Cincinnati
#20	NC State
#21	Illinois
#22	North Carolina
#23	Texas
#24	Purdue
#25	Mississippi State

I’m sure some will look and say why is Tennessee in the #2 spot. Or why is TCU ahead of Alabama. Or why UCLA is not in the Top 10. Look, as I say every year, these things will work themselves out. It’s still early remember. We are only at the halfway point. Come mid-November, then some true debates can be had but until then, it’s just preference. Unless someone puts Alabama at #20 because they don’t like Bama. In that case, that’s fucking stupid.

It’s a little late to get the blog posted and I apologize for that. Just been feeling under the weather and I’m sure how crappy it’s been outside hasn’t helped matters. Looking forward to another great week of college football. Enjoy the games everyone!

So I wonder how he got back from Ireland? Oh, and the Week 1 college football schedule

Posted on August 31, 2022 by guelphbossman

I can’t see the Nebraska team and staff and everyone else who made the trip to Dublin allowing Frosty the Coachman to board the same flight as him. Probably safer for him anyway. He would have been thrown out of the plane over the Atlantic somewhere. All because of a horrible onside kick playcall that was not needed (among other poor coaching decisions). Just a complete fucking disaster for that team and now Frost’s hot seat is basically the surface of the sun.

Finally we have made it! Week One! And a full schedule. Hell, more than a full schedule it feels like. So much football and I will watch as much as I can because come January, it feels bad when it’s all gone. Let’s right to the (true) opening weekend schedule.

Thursday

		US	Canada
West Virginia at #17 Pittsburgh	7:00 PM
Central Michigan at #12 Oklahoma State	7:00 PM
Ball State at Tennessee	7:00 PM
VMI at #22 Wake Forest	7:30 PM
Alabama A&M at UAB	8:00 PM
Louisiana Tech at Missouri	8:00 PM
Penn State at Purdue	8:00 PM
New Mexico State at Minnesota	9:00 PM
Northern Arizona at Arizona State	10:00 PM
Cal Poly at at Fresno State	10:30 PM

As I said during the Week Zero schedule post, I would be including games that most Canadians won’t get up here, even with the specialty packs. I’m doing this because some have switched to an IPTV provider and can get some (or all) of these games. So while the NAU-ASU game might not look exciting (and it probably won’t be), I will still list it.

Nice to see the Backyard Brawl back as WVU and Pitt get a bit of a national spotlight for this one. Also, you have to wonder if Mike Gundy has the last game the Pokes played against CMU in his mind when the Chips won on a Hail Mary play that shouldn’t have even been allowed. Also, FOX will show a Thursday night game on the network to start the season. I wish they did that more often and they honestly could with the NFL’s Thursday Night Football package moving to Amazon Prime.

Friday

		US	Canada
Western Michigan at #15 Michigan State	7:00 PM
Virginia Tech at Old Dominion	7:00 PM
Temple at Duke	7:30 PM
Illinois at Indiana	8:00 PM
TCU at Colorado	10:00 PM

3-hour windows. Good lord. Yes, TSN’s schedule says that the TCU-CU game starts at 10:30 but that’s not true. Stupid ESPN.

UPDATE: If you were planning on watching the WMU-MSU game on ESPN, you will have to move to ESPN2 as ESPN is now showing US Open tennis.

Saturday Early

First full slate of Saturday games. Feels good. Nothing big here. The UNC-App State game could be the most intriguing as you don’t often see Power Five teams travel to Group of Five teams so there is some upset potential there.

Saturday Afternoon

Now we get to the meat of Week One. I am not really a fan of neutral-site games but let’s be honest: we are all watching a good portion of that UGA-UO matchup. Perhaps a College Football Playoff elimination game there (although we know one loss almost never kills a Power Five team’s chances). I’m interested to see what the brand new era of Sooner football will look like with Brent Venables now at the helm. And CBS opens with SDSU’s brand new stadium as they finally left the cavernous Murph for a more intimate viewing arrangement.

Also, you will notice a couple of other things. First, no games on ESPN2. As is usually the case, the U.S. Open tennis tournament is on ESPN2 all Saturday so that’s why there are no games airing there. It’s also why most of the TSNs aren’t available to show games this week. Secondly, the odd timing of the Pac-12 Network games. Well, thanks to the brains of Larry Scott (and others, yes, I know, but he was the commish), the Pac-12 Network has a national feed and regional feeds for all the schools. Each pair of schools shares a region. In this timeslot, the UCD-Cal game is actually only available on the P12N Bay Area feed. The BGSU-UCLA game is the P12N National game. Confused? Yeah it’s dumb.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Rice at #14 USC	6:00 PM
#7 Utah at Florida	7:00 PM
Illinois State at #18 Wisconsin	7:00 PM
#5 Notre Dame at #2 Ohio State	7:30 PM
SMU at North Texas	7:30 PM
Memphis at Mississippi State	7:30 PM
Utah State at #1 Alabama	7:30 PM
Louisville at Syracuse	8:00 PM
Colgate at Stanford	8:00 PM

Game of the year in the opening weekend? You could argue that. The Irish and the Buckeyes face off in a massive non-conference matchup (I don’t know why I’m even saying that since the Irish will NEVER join a conference, right?). This will hopefully be worth the hype (and boy is ESPN/ABC going to push the hype to the next level for this one). So you could watch that OR you can watch Bama beat the snot out of USU. Your choice. Now watch that game be closer than the ND-tOSU game.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
Idaho at Washington State	9:30 PM
Boise State at Oregon State	10:30 PM
Kent State at Washington	10:30 PM

One of the more interesting matchups of the weekend goes down in Corvallis. I would normally say Boise is the favorite here but the Beavs have been a much improved team as of late. Also, there’s a true Hawaii Test if you can find a way to stream it (it starts at midnight).

Sunday

		US	Canada
Florida A&M vs. Jackson State (in Miami)	3:00 PM
Tuskegee vs. Fort Valley State (in Montgomery)	7:00 PM
LSU vs. Florida State (in New Orleans)	7:30 PM

Speaking of interesting matchups, LSU-FSU is a juicy one down at the Superdome. Both teams are popular picks to improve this year. Let’s see how definitely Southern Brian Kelly fares in his opening contest in the SEC.

I am not sure about the two non-FBS games appearing on the specialty pack. Over the years, these opening Sunday games have been hit or miss so stay tuned.

Monday

		US	Canada
#4 Clemson at Georgia Tech	8:00 PM

Geoff Collins wouldn’t be fired after Week 1 would he?

Big Games O’ The Week

Notre Dame at Ohio State (7:30, ABC/TSN2) – Sure there is another game that’s huge but this is THE big game of the week. I don’t remember the Irish starting with a game like this in recent memory and no, Texas doesn’t count. Now we have to hope ND doesn’t play like shit and makes the game unwatchable in the second half.

Georgia vs. Oregon (in Atlanta) (3:30, ABC/TSN2) – A new head coach for the Ducks up against a team trying to do the toughest thing in sports: repeat as champs. If you want, you can call this Game 1A of the Week (especially if you are a whiny SEC fan). A few questions will definitely be asked here, chief among them being can Bo Nix thrive outside the SEC, because last season he certainly didn’t thrive inside it.

Cincinnati at Arkansas (3:30, specialty pack) – If you had said three years ago that this would be the third best game of opening weekend, I would have drove you to the nearest AA or NA meeting. It’s a new college football world, though, and the Bearcats are still the Group of Five’s signature team until they are beaten. And Arkansas is slowly moving up the SEC ranks under possibly the most underrated head coach in the land, Sam Pittman. The Cats lost a lot of talent so this will give everyone a good idea as to what we can expect from them this season.

West Virginia at Pittsburgh (Thursday, 7:00, TSN2) – The Backyard Brawl is BACK! I am sure we will see references to 13-9 up until and throughout the game. Let’s see if the ‘Eers can put a bit of hurt on a Pitt team that believes they can repeat as ACC champs.

Psycho Game of the Week

Temple at Duke (Friday, 7:30, specialty pack) – Every week now instead of listing honourable mentions in the games of the week section, I will list a game that we all can get here but you would have to be a complete psycho to watch the entirety of (or you are a fan of one of the teams and even then). This week we have Temple travelling to the Carolinas to face Duke. Ugh. This feels like it could be a torture device used by the military. Anyway, unless it’s close, just avoid it.

The Degenerate Portion of Our Show

This section is the section for all you gambling degenerates out there and you KNOW WHO YOU ARE! I do bet on the NFL from time to time but I stopped gambling on college games. I think it took the fun out of it to be honest. Also, I sucked at it.

Alright, this season I am going to do something different. I am going to pick AGAINST THE SPREAD. That’s right! Make things a bit more difficult for me and gives all the more reason for you to not use these picks for your own gambling. I’ve warned you. Let’s begin.

Pittsburgh (-7.5) over West Virginia

Missouri (-19.5) over Louisiana Tech

Purdue (+3.5) over Penn State (with the Boilermakers winning outright)

Duke (-7.5) over Temple

TCU (-14) over Colorado

Appalachian State (+1.5) over North Carolina (with the Mountaineers winning outright)

San Diego State (-6) over Arizona

Oregon (+17) over Georgia (with the Bulldogs winning the game)

Florida (+3) over Utah (Gators win outright in upset)

Notre Dame (+17.5) over Ohio State (tOSU wins but game will be close)

Oregon State (-3) over Boise State

LSU (-3) over Florida State

And there you go! We are at Week 1 so rejoice, college football fans! I am so happy we have made it to this point. I will try to keep things updated over the next couple of days (if need be). I will be on Twitter (@TheBauceman) for a good portion of the action so check me there if you wish. And everyone enjoy the games!

Group of Five Conference Predictions. All of them.

Posted on August 4, 2022 by guelphbossman

“Oh god, not again. Look the last post was…”

“HERE ARE THE PREDICTIONS FOR EVERY SINGLE DAMN GROUP OF FIVE TEAM! PLUS THE INDEPENDENTS!!!!!!!”

That’s right! Back at it again with the predictions. Remember what I said…less is more. Meaning less posts. Not less information.

Annnnnyway, this means I will be putting all my predictions for the G-5 conference standings right here. Hell, I’ll include the Independents as well as a treat since they don’t really belong anywhere and some of them know it. So let’s get started!

We begin with what is still the best Group of Five conference in the land. And next year…looks like they still will probably be in that spot despite all the realignment. Here are my predicted standings followed by musings and other nonsense:

	Conference		Overall
	W	L	W	L
Houston	8	0	12	0
UCF	7	1	11	1
Cincinnati	7	1	10	2
Memphis	5	3	8	4
SMU	5	3	8	4
Tulsa	3	5	5	7
East Carolina	3	5	5	7
USF	3	5	4	8
Navy	2	6	3	9
Tulane	1	7	4	8
Temple	0	8	2	10

Musings and Other Nonsense

Remember what Cincinnati was like last year? That is Houston this season…almost. They almost have too easy of a schedule and now that we know what the ceiling is (for now) for the Group of Five, that could come back to haunt them. Realistically, their opening contest of the season could be their most difficult. They travel to the Alamodome to face the Roadrunners of UTSA in a great Group of Five battle. Win that one and I can’t see how they don’t run the table.
UCF and Cincinnati will tie for second but the Bearcats’ lone loss, I believe, will be to the Knights. It seems since the American went to no divisions, at least two of the top few teams don’t play each other in a season. One of the few perils of having no divisions in a big conference, I guess. I don’t mind though since I hate divisions (if you didn’t already know).
Memphis should see a lot of improvement. As should USF. For the Bulls it won’t be enough to be bowl-eligible but anything is better than what they have seen the past few years.
I think Tulsa and East Carolina will slip below .500. Both teams don’t exactly have nice schedules and it could cost them down the stretch when they need victories and they have to play some of the better teams in the conference.
Conference Championship prediction: Houston 41 UCF 13. I can’t see it being close to be perfectly honest. Uncle Dana is going to be so hopped up on Red Bull his head might explode.

Hey, number two ain’t bad.

The Mountain West is still firmly in the number two spot among Group of Five conferences and were left alone during this round of realignment. Will they do something in the near future to bolster their ranks? There is always rumblings of them bringing in some Dakota schools or Montana/Montana State (or both) or even bringing UTEP and perhaps…ugh….New Mexico State along for the ride. But for now, it’s status quo. Well…almost.

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

Status Quo?

Yes…for a few more months. Then…no divisions! Fuck yeah! So now we might finally get two teams from what were the same division playing each other for the right to win the Mountain West title and, perhaps, the Group of Five spot in the New Year’s Six. Glad to see the conference doing it and look forward to the rest of the conferences abolishing their shitty divisions. I’m Bossman and I approve this message (of hating divisions).
I think it’s finally time we see Air Force truly soar. The Falcons are the most complete team in the entire conference. Yes, I get that they run the option but they are actually somewhat dangerous in the passing game. And their defense should be pretty tough to beat this season. I think they can pull out that one victory they need, over Boise State, to clinch the division.
Remember my last place prediction for Fresno State last season? Ah, good times. I’m not falling for that again. I think they have enough to outlast perennial contender SDSU for the West Division crown. Now watch Hawaii win it and make me look like an idiot again.
Speaking of the Fighting Rainbow Warriors, I do have them sinking to the bottom of the West Division. The program is a bit of a gongshow at this point. They’re basically the Arizona Coyotes of the Mountain West, playing in a smallish high school stadium for another few years until Aloha Stadium is renovated or a new stadium is built or something. They can’t keep recruits on the island anymore and being on that island is becoming very difficult for the football program as a whole. I hope it turns around again and not just for a single season but this will not be that year (despite what I said in the previous point).
Conference Championship prediction: Air Force 38 Fresno State 14. Air Force will finally win their first Mountain West title. They haven’t won a conference championship since the WAC so it’s a long time coming for Troy Calhoun’s squad.

Look, I know Notre Dame doesn’t belong here but it’s not my fault they are an Independent still and they are grouped with a few teams that barely qualify as FCS programs. Let’s just get to the standings before I start swearing too much.

	Overall
	W	L
Notre Dame	10	2
Army	10	2
BYU	9	3
Liberty	8	4
New Mexico State	2	10
UConn	2	10
UMass	1	11

No Profanity Notes

- No profanity? Let’s see how long this lasts.
- Let’s start with the kings of the group: the Fighting Irish. The question is always “Will they make the College Football Playoff this season?” I honestly can’t see it this season. Their schedule is brutal with trips to Columbus and the LA Coliseum along with home dates against Clemson and BYU. I have them losing two of those four and it wouldn’t shock me if they dropped all four of those. They always have a shot at the New Year’s Six and I see them sneaking in but it won’t be easy.
- I have, yet again, got Army winning ten games. They are a good team with a breeze of a schedule. One year, they might enter that Army-Navy Game at 11-0 and at least will have some people wondering if they deserve that one spot in the NY6.
- BYU is finally joining a conference again. The Cougs are headed for the Big XII next year so this is their final season as an Independent. And once again they are hoping to do enough to get into the Top 20 and make the College Football Playoff Committee really take a hard look at what they’ve done. Their schedule is, once again, quite difficult. Not Notre Dame difficult but not easy at all. They won’t come out of it unscathed and I don’t think they have enough in the tank to be ranked. Expect another trip to a mediocre bowl game…but at least the Provo faithful can be done with that after this year.
- Hey, speaking of teams leaving the Independent world, it’s the fighting Hugh Freezes of Liberty. They head to whatever the hell Conference USA is going to be next season. I can’t see this being the end goal for them as they have a lot of resources to move up even more. I know most people hate to hear that but it’s the truth. This year, expect them in another low-level bowl before next year when they will have a chance to win one of Conference USA’s bowl slots to go to…yet another low-level bowl.
- And yet another team moving to a conference. The Aggies join Liberty in going to Conference USA. Someone invited them to a party! Yay for them! They are still light years away from competing in any sense and when other teams from FCS join them there (like Sam Houston State) they will be blown by in no time flat. It’s not easy recruiting for Las Cruces but something has to change there.
- Just a reminder…UConn has their own contract with CBS Sports Network. Say that again in your head. Yeah I don’t get it either. I mean if it was football AND basketball then sure, it makes a ton of sense since UConn basketball is a huge brand. But just UConn football. CBS can’t be making any money off this deal. Anyway, you can watch them get their ass kicked (at least at home) if you so choose.
- I don’t know what UMass will be able to do with three teams leaving the Independent ranks for conferences next season. It means we will be back down to four teams for next season. Sure, they can get their ass kicked by Notre Dame and Army, if they choose to play the Huskies. They can be competitive with UConn. Other than that? It’s two FCS opponents and find at least seven other FBS teams to play them. Not an easy task. Honestly, unless the American wants to take them on at some point (which I can’t see happening), it may be best for them to head back to FCS. I’ve said it before and I’m not wavering from that.
- See? Didn’t swear! I am fuuuuuuuuuuny and smart. Yeah. Phew! That was a close one.

One of the winners of realignment is the Sun Belt. Four new members! Good additions to a conference that has solidified itself as the number three conference in the Group of Five. Now let’s get to some of these sunny predictions and I will discuss some of the changes going on here:

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

Sunny Predictions (see what I did there)

I’m going to say it again…this conference, like all conferences, need to go to no divisions. One year it will bite them in the ass. Guaranteed. And they better hope it’s not the year when they have a legitimate shot to put a team in the New Year’s Six.
It won’t be the normal cakewalk for Louisiana to win the West Division this season. Saying that, it’s not like they have real good competition like the East. The best bet to dethrone the Ragin’ Cajuns are Troy and South Alabama and they have a ways to go to be considered conference title contenders. So chances are, we will see this team, yet again, in the Sun Belt title game.
Coastal and App State can’t be happy to have Marshall in their division now. The Thundering Herd are a very dangerous team and I believe they have enough to sneak up the middle in their first year of Sun Belt competition and take the East crown. And yes, I know I have James Madison at 3-8 or 11 games played. That’s how many they’re playing. I guess they couldn’t get another non-conference game quickly enough so don’t think I am having issues with counting.
Conference Championship prediction: Marshall 33 Louisiana 30. Louisiana will not repeat as champ. I think Marshall is going to make good on their move to a new conference by winning the Sun Belt.

I’m not going to put them last. I could. This conference has just irritated me for a long time. They have had the worst TV contracts in recent memory for an FBS conference, constantly allow the better schools to leave and backfill with worse options and had the audacity to turn down the Sun Belt when discussion of making geographically better conferences came up. Stupidity. Alright, let’s just get to the conference standings before I blow a gasket:

	Conference		Overall
	W	L	W	L
UTSA	8	0	9	3
WKU	6	2	9	4
UAB	6	2	9	3
UTEP	6	2	8	4
Florida Atlantic	4	4	6	6
Louisiana Tech	4	4	5	7
North Texas	4	4	5	7
Middle Tennessee	3	5	5	7
Charlotte	3	5	4	8
FIU	0	8	3	9
Rice	0	8	1	11

Alright Let’s Just Get This Over With

No divisions so at least that’s a plus even though it happened because teams left.
Many are discounting UTSA but I think they have it in them to run the table in the conference this season, something they didn’t do last year during their glorious run to a C-USA title. Second place, on the other hand, I see being a complete dogfight. WKU, UAB and UTEP are all good teams and because of scheduling quirks, I have the Hilltoppers getting the opportunity to travel to San Antonio for the conference championship.
It is going to be a long season for Rice and FIU, two programs who honestly really don’t understand success in the first place so maybe it won’t hit them so hard.
Conference Championship prediction: UTSA 45 WKU 38. I think this may actually end up being one of the more fun conference championship games. Both teams can score and even without Bailey Zappe, I’m sure WKU will be tossing the ball all over the field.

And finally….IT’S MACTION TIME, BABY! I know we don’t get much MACtion before late October but I always look forward to it. And yes, the attendance figures for these games, for the most part, aren’t exactly stellar. But to be able to watch these games when I would have had absolutely no opportunity to otherwise? Love it! Here are your 2022 MAC predicted standings:

	Conference		Overall
East	W	L	W	L
Miami-OH	7	1	8	4
Kent State	5	3	6	6
Ohio	3	5	4	8
Buffalo	3	5	5	7
Bowling Green	1	7	2	10
Akron	0	8	1	11
West
Northern Illinois	7	1	9	3
Toledo	7	1	9	3
Central Michigan	6	2	9	3
Western Michigan	5	3	6	6
Eastern Michigan	3	5	5	7
Ball State	1	7	3	9

MACtion Magic

Look I’m going to level with you. The MAC East is a terrible division. Realistically, none of the teams deserve to be in the MAC Championship and I am sure I could make a case for none of them to go bowling either. Alas, the rules state otherwise. The Redhawks should be the best of a not-that-good bunch with Kent State giving them a bit of a run.
The West, on the other hand, will be a lot of fun. Three good teams at the top with very little to separate them. The schedule favours Northern Illinois to pull out a squeaker to win the West but you could put them, Toledo or CMU in the conference championship and they would all make sense and you could make strong arguments for them.
Ball State. Bowling Green. Akron. All bad.
Conference Championship prediction: Miami-OH 27 Northern Illinois 26. Because of course this is the way it would work out in this crazy conference.

We made it! The Group of Five is done! Who out of this group will make it to the New Year’s Six? Seriously? You couldn’t figure it out from all the info I gave you? Well, I will be doing bowl predictions later this month so no need to worry if you can’t put this puzzle together.

Next up is the Power Five. When will that happen? Who fucking knows?!!!! Have a great rest of the week everybody!

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

Posted on July 20, 2022 by guelphbossman

Fox_College_Football_logo abc college football

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

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

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

CBS

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

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

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

CBS stuff (for now):

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

abc_gold

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

September 3rd	Colorado State at Michigan	Noon
September 3rd	Georgia vs. Oregon (in Atlanta)	3:30 PM
September 3rd	Notre Dame at Ohio State	7:30 PM
September 4th	LSU vs. Florida State (in New Orleans)	7:30 PM
September 10th	Ohio at Penn State	Noon
September 10th	Tennessee at Pittsburgh	3:30 PM
September 10th	USC at Stanford	7:30 PM
September 17th	UConn at Michigan	Noon
September 17th	Ole Miss at Georgia Tech	3:30 PM
September 17th	Michigan State at Washington	7:30 PM
September 24th	Baylor at Iowa State	Noon
September 24th	Iowa at Rutgers	3:30 PM
September 24th	Wisconsin at Ohio State	7:30 PM
October 1st	Michigan State at Maryland	Noon
October 1st	NC State at Clemson	3:30 PM
October 1st	Northwestern at Penn State	7:30 PM
October 8th	Texas vs. Oklahoma (in Dallas)	Noon
October 8th	Florida State at NC State	3:30 PM
October 8th	Ohio State at Michigan State	7:30 PM
October 15th	Kansas at Oklahoma	Noon
October 15th	Penn State at Michigan	3:30 PM
October 15th	Oklahoma State at TCU	7:30 PM
October 22nd	Purdue at Wisconsin	Noon
October 22nd	UCLA at Oregon	3:30 PM
October 22nd	Iowa at Ohio State	7:30 PM
October 29th	Baylor at Texas Tech	Noon
October 29th	Oklahoma State at Kansas State	3:30 PM
October 29th	Ohio State at Penn State	7:30 PM
November 5th	Ohio State at Northwestern	Noon
November 5th	Oregon at Colorado	3:30 PM
November 5th	Florida State at Miami	7:30 PM
November 12th	Notre Dame vs. Navy (in Baltimore)	Noon
November 12th	Pittsburgh at Virginia	3:30 PM
November 12th	Oklahoma at West Virginia	7:30 PM
November 19th	Iowa at Minnesota	Noon
November 19th	Ohio State at Maryland	3:30 PM
November 19th	Utah at Oregon	7:30 PM
November 25th	Tulsa at Houston	Noon
November 25th	Baylor at Texas	3:30 PM
November 25th	Florida at Florida State	7:30 PM
November 26th	Pittsburgh at Miami	Noon
November 26th	Michigan State at Penn State	3:30 PM
November 26th	Notre Dame at USC	7:30 PM
December 3rd	Big XII Championship Game	Noon
December 3rd	AAC Championship Game	4:00 PM
December 3rd	ACC Championship Game	8:00 PM
December 17th	Celebration Bowl	Noon
December 17th	LA Bowl	3:30 PM
December 17th	Las Vegas Bowl	7:30 PM
December 31st	Music City Bowl	Noon
January 2nd	Citrus Bowl	1:00 PM

ABC things (at this moment):

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

fox_network

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

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

August 27th	Nebraska vs. Northwestern (in Dublin, Ireland)	12:30 PM
September 1st	Penn State at Purdue	8:00 PM
September 3rd	UTEP at Oklahoma	3:30 PM
September 10th	Alabama at Texas	Noon
September 10th	Washington State at Wisconsin	3:30 PM
September 17th	Oklahoma at Nebraska	Noon
September 17th	BYU at Oregon	3:30 PM
September 17th	Toledo at Ohio State	7:00 PM
September 17th	Fresno State at USC	10:30 PM
September 24th	Kansas State at Oklahoma	Noon
September 24th	Texas at Texas Tech	3:30 PM
October 1st	Oklahoma State at Baylor	Noon
October 1st	Iowa State at Kansas	3:30 PM
October 8th	Michigan at Indiana	Noon
October 8th	Iowa at Illinois	4:00 PM
October 8th	Utah at UCLA	8:00 PM
October 15th	Iowa State at Texas	Noon
October 15th	Washington State at Oregon State	8:30 PM
October 22nd	Texas at Oklahoma State	Noon
October 22nd	Arizona State at Stanford	3:30 PM
October 29th	Michigan State at Michigan	Noon
October 29th	USC at Arizona	3:30 PM
November 5th	Baylor at Oklahoma	Noon
November 5th	Michigan at Rutgers	3:30 PM
November 5th	Michigan State at Illinois	7:30 PM
November 12th	Wisconsin at Iowa	Noon
November 12th	Nebraska at Michigan	4:00 PM
November 12th	Iowa State at Oklahoma State	8:00 PM
November 19th	Oklahoma State at Oklahoma	Noon
November 19th	Kansas State at West Virginia	4:00 PM
November 19th	Oregon State at Arizona State	8:00 PM
November 25th	Oklahoma at Texas Tech	Noon
November 25th	UCLA at California	4:30 PM
November 26th	Michigan at Ohio State	Noon
November 26th	Oregon at Oregon State	4:00 PM
November 26th	Minnesota at Wisconsin	8:00 PM
December 2nd	Pac-12 Championship Game	Noon
December 3rd	Mountain West Championship Game	4:00 PM
December 3rd	Big Ten Championship Game	8:00 PM
December 28th	Holiday Bowl	8:00 PM

FOX crap (this second):

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

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

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

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

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

August 27th	Austin Peay at Western Kentucky	Noon
August 27th	Idaho State at UNLV	3:30 PM
August 27th	Charlotte at Florida Atlantic	7:00 PM
August 27th	Vanderbilt at Hawaii	10:30 PM
September 1st	Alabama A&M at UAB	8:00 PM
September 3rd	Delaware at Navy	Noon
September 3rd	Houston at UTSA	3:30 PM
September 3rd	SMU at North Texas	7:30 PM
September 9th	Boise State at New Mexico	9:00 PM
September 10th	UTSA at Army	Noon
September 10th	Memphis at Navy	3:30 PM
September 10th	Syracuse at UConn	7:00 PM
September 10th	Oregon State at Fresno State	10:30 PM
September 16th	Air Force at Wyoming	8:00 PM
September 17th	Villanova at Army	Noon
September 17th	Vanderbilt at Northern Illinois	3:30 PM
September 17th	UCF at Florida Atlantic	7:30 PM
September 23rd	Boise State at UTEP	9:00 PM
September 24th	Buffalo at Eastern Michigan	Noon
September 24th	FIU at Western Kentucky	3:30 PM
September 24th	UNLV at Utah State	7:00 PM
September 24th	Western Michigan at San Jose State	10:30 PM
September 30th	UTSA at Middle Tennessee	7:30 PM
September 30th	New Mexico at UNLV	11:00 PM
October 1st	Georgia State at Army	Noon
October 1st	Fresno State at UConn	3:30 PM
October 1st	San Jose State at Wyoming	7:30 PM
October 7th	UNLV at San Jose State	10:30 PM
October 8th	Eastern Michigan at Western Michigan	Noon
October 8th	Tulsa at Navy	3:30 PM
October 8th	Wyoming at New Mexico	7:00 PM
October 8th	Hawaii at San Diego State	10:30 PM
October 14th	UTSA at FIU	8:00 PM
October 15th	Colgate at Army	Noon
October 15th	Northern Illinois at Eastern Michigan	3:30 PM
October 15th	Utah State at Colorado State	7:00 PM
October 15th	Air Force at UNLV	10:30 PM
October 21st	UAB at Western Kentucky	8:00 PM
October 22nd	ULM at Army	Noon
October 22nd	Akron at Kent State	3:30 PM
October 22nd	Boise State at Air Force	7:00 PM
October 22nd	San Diego State at Nevada	10:30 PM
October 28th	Louisiana Tech at FIU	8:00 PM
October 29th	Boston College at UConn	Noon
October 29th	Temple at Navy	3:30 PM
October 29th	UAB at Florida Atlantic	7:00 PM
October 29th	Nevada at San Jose State	10:30 PM
November 3rd	UTEP at Rice	7:00 PM
November 4th	UMass at UConn	7:00 PM
November 5th	Western Kentucky at Charlotte	Noon
November 5th	New Mexico at Utah State	3:30 PM
November 5th	UNLV at San Diego State	7:00 PM
November 8th	Ohio at Miami-OH	7:00 PM
November 9th	Buffalo at Central Michigan	7:00 PM
November 11th	Fresno State at UNLV	10:30 PM
November 12th	Liberty at UConn	Noon
November 12th	New Mexico at Air Force	3:30 PM
November 12th	Wyoming at Colorado State	7:00 PM
November 12th	Boise State at Nevada	10:30 PM
November 16th	Western Michigan at Central Michigan	7:00 PM
November 19th	UConn at Army	Noon
November 19th	Akron at Buffalo	3:30 PM
November 19th	Boise State at Wyoming	7:00 PM
November 19th	Fresno State at Nevada	10:30 PM
November 25th	Toledo at Western Michigan	Noon
November 25th	New Mexico at Colorado State	3:30 PM
November 26th	Western Kentucky at Florida Atlantic	Noon
November 26th	UAB at Louisiana Tech	3:30 PM
November 26th	Air Force at Colorado State	9:00 PM
December 2nd	Conference USA Championship Game	8:00 PM

Just some CBS Sports Network notes and garbage:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted on July 2, 2022 by guelphbossman

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

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

What are we looking at now?

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

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

What is coming up for the Big Ten?

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

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

What does this do to the Pac-12?

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

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

What about the rest of the conferences?

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

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

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

What about the Rose Bowl?

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

What happens to the bowl system in general?

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

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

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

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

Bossman's Blog

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

Tag Archives: SDSU

Short Post About the National Championship(s)

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

Thursday

Friday

Saturday Early

Saturday Afternoon

Saturday Primetime

Saturday Late Night

(An expanded) Hey, Watch This!

Sickos Game of the Week

Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week

Wanna Bet?

Iiiiiiiiiiit’s…TIME! For another Thanksgiving* FOOTBALLGASMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!

Tuesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday Early

Saturday Afternoon

Saturday Primetime

Saturday Late Night

Hey let’s look ahead (and also give you the Week 8 College Football TV schedule)

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday Early

Saturday Afternoon

Saturday Primetime

Saturday Late Night

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