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

Posted on October 17, 2023 by guelphbossman

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

OK enough Nostradamusing….it’s sked time!

Tuesday

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

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

Wednesday

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

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

Thursday

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

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

Friday

		US	Canada
SMU at Temple	7:00

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

Saturday Early

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

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

Saturday Afternoon

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

Saturday Primetime

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

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

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

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

Saturday Late Night

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

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

Hey, Watch This!

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

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

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

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

Sickos Game of the Week

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

Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week

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

Wanna Bet?

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

UTEP 29 New Mexico State 23

Ohio State 34 Penn State 24

Air Force 39 Navy 38

Ohio 20 Western Michigan 16

Arkansas 21 Mississippi State 14

UAB 38 Memphis 35 (upset!)

Oklahoma State 27 West Virginia 23

Alabama 31 Tennessee 28

North Carolina 41 Virginia 33

Michigan 45 Michigan State 17

Florida State 30 Duke 13

USC 20 Utah 16

Louisiana 25 Georgia State 24

The Bossman Top 26!

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

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

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

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

The 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!

The Fun-Time College Coaching Carousel – Week 9 College Football TV Schedule

Posted on October 27, 2021 by guelphbossman

OK this happens every year but it feels like it has been jumped up a notch or two. Like what is being talked about more right now, the coaching carousel and hot seat or the Heisman race? It’s easily the coaching situations in college football. Might as well start this with the USC sitch. The rumour mill is going crazy with potential names to be the next head coach in LA. The candidates listed since Clay Helton was fired include Luke Fickell, Matt Campbell, James Franklin and Kalani Sitake. Jeff Fisher was mentioned as a possibility and he fairly quickly refuted it, probably because it would be impossible for him to go 7-9. Mike Tomlin was also mentioned which is weird since unless the Pittsburgh Steelers are planning to fire him, I don’t know why he’d leave one of the better coaching spots in the NFL to coach at a place with high expectations like USC. With Franklin getting a new agent, my guess is he has become the odds-on favourite and if Penn State loses badly this weekend, expect that talk to heat up a lot.

So now let’s head to the Bayou and the LSU Tigers. Ed Orgeron probably doesn’t give a single solitary shit now so is off fucking co-eds and getting drunk instead of fulfilling his head coaching duties at LSU. I kid, but I’m sure he has been hungover at his desk in the morning at least once since his shitcanning. So what’s next in Baton Rouge? Campbell, Franklin and Fickell show up on this list as well but there are other, possibly more intriguing, options. Like Dave Aranda. LSU’s former defensive coordinator would be welcomed back with open arms after the job he has done at Baylor. Billy Napier has been lights out at Louisiana, making them one of the best Group of Five programs around. And the most intriguing of possibilities, Mel Tucker. Michigan State is a very unexpected Top 10 team and Tucker is a big reason why.

This will be a story that won’t go away for a while. For my money, I think it will end up being Franklin going to USC and Aranda heading to LSU. There will be other openings showing up soon I’m sure and Fickell is almost certain to get one of them. Matt Campbell, on the other hand, I could see staying at Iowa State for at least one more season, especially if they somehow make their way to the Big XII Championship. Anyway, enough coach talk, on to the schedule!

Thursday

		US	Canada
USF at East Carolina	7:30 PM
Troy at #24 Coastal Carolina	7:30 PM

Very soon we will be at the point where it’s football every day! It means that the football matchups don’t have to always be fantastic because it’s football every damn day so let’s enjoy it! What would you rather watch, football or something meaningless like poker? Other than the NFL Thursday Nighter, nothing else worth watching will be on this night. It’s a travel day for the Houston Astros and Atlanta Braves so no baseball to distract you. So unless the pro game is good, you can sit down and watch…let’s see here….oh my….um….well, it’s college football technically. With Coastal losing last week, neither of these games are really that appealing to be perfectly honest.

Friday

		US	Canada
Princeton at Cornell	7:00 PM
Navy at Tulsa	7:30 PM
UNLV at Nevada	10:00 PM

OK so things don’t get a whole lot better on Friday night. Saying that, the Battle for the Fremont Cannon is always fun and, two years ago, ended in a massive brawl. Good times!

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
Texas at #16 Baylor	Noon
Miami at #17 Pittsburgh	Noon
Indiana at Maryland	Noon
Rutgers at Illinois	Noon
Bowling Green at Buffalo	Noon
#9 Iowa at Wisconsin	Noon
#2 Cincinnati at Tulane	Noon
Texas State at Louisiana	Noon
#6 Michigan at #8 Michigan State	Noon
Virginia Tech at Georgia Tech	Noon

One game here will get all the attention and rightfully so. The Michigan-Michigan State rivalry hits a new high with both teams ranked in the Top 10. That’s not the only game here though as Iowa-Wisky could end up being interesting on the other side of the Big Ten division menu. Pitt and Baylor try to continue their magical seasons and Cincy has to beat Tulane by a lot to probably keep that lofty #2 ranking. Finally there is Techmo Bowl to see if one of the coaches coaching in the game get fired during the halftime show. I give the odds at 10-1.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
Missouri at Vanderbilt	3:00 PM
Texas Tech at #4 Oklahoma	3:30 PM
Minnesota at Northwestern	3:30 PM
Florida vs. #1 Georgia (in Jacksonville)	3:30 PM
Louisiana Tech at Old Dominion	3:30 PM
Florida State at Clemson	3:30 PM
Purdue at Nebraska	3:30 PM
TCU at Kansas State	3:30 PM
Colorado at #7 Oregon	3:30 PM
Boston College at Syracuse	3:30 PM
Duke at #13 Wake Forest	4:00 PM

I’m sure Brad Nessler would love to have an open bar for the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. Dealing with Gary Danielson and blowouts every week has to be gnawing at him and I think he might snap, despite the fact he is very professional. I know I would. The SEC Network going with some odd timeslots this week and I don’t know if this is a test for going forward or they had to do so because of other programming. I’m going with the former until I can find something concrete that HAD to be on from Noon until 3:00. Other than that there’s not much of note here. Maybe watch Wake keep their undefeated streak going until the second quarter once they pull away from Dook or Texas Tech pretend they can stay with Oklahoma for more than 10 minutes if you want.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Boise State at Colorado State	7:00 PM
#10 Ole Miss at #18 Auburn	7:00 PM
#19 SMU at Houston	7:00 PM
Arizona at USC	7:00 PM
#12 Kentucky at Mississippi State	7:00 PM
#20 Penn State at #5 Ohio State	7:30 PM
Louisville at NC State	7:30 PM
North Carolina at #11 Notre Dame	7:30 PM

Penn State-Ohio State was going to be a huge game for ABC. Then last weekend’s nine-overtime clusterfuck happens and this game doesn’t mean nearly as much. It’s almost the same thing that happened last year as PSU lost to Indiana the week before tOSU. It’s like they’re looking ahead to the Buckeyes and taking their eye off the ball (or Franklin is checking his email every few minutes for something from a certain west coast school). And there’s no guarantee they get the most viewers in this timeslot, especially if it becomes a blowout. You have Ole Miss-Auburn which should be a dandy and SMU trying to stay undefeated, mostly for Cincinnati’s gain. You could also watch North Carolina who is way worse than some thought they would be (*AHEM* me *AHEM*), travel to South Bend and hopefully not get beaten up by the Irish.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
UCLA at Utah	10:00 PM
Virginia at #25 BYU	10:15 PM
Fresno State at #21 San Diego State	10:30 PM

Late night college football returns this week after last week’s odd scheduling. The biggest match will happen in ~~San Diego~~ Carson, California where the Aztecs hope to remain undefeated against a very good Bulldogs team. CBS Sports Network really lucked out with getting this one. We also have the return of Bronco as Mr. Mendenhall brings his Cavaliers to Provo to face his old team.

Games to set your eyeballs on

Michigan at Michigan State (Noon, FOX) – Put up your hands if you figured both teams would be undefeated coming into this one. Absolutely no hands should be up right now, not even Spartans and Wolverines fans. One of these teams will have a legitimate shot at the College Football Playoff after this coming weekend. That sounds absurd but it’s very true. The winner here will have Ohio State later on in the season for what will probably be a winner-take-all game for the Big Ten East crown. Michigan is considered the slight favourite to win here. I would wonder about Sparty’s chances though. They really will all come down to what Kenneth Walker III does in this game. Walker has vaulted himself into the Heisman race and really if the season ended now he should get strong consideration to win the damn thing. Really, this should be a solid Game of the Year candidate so let’s hope it’s not a blowout…otherwise we get Sad Gus Johnson which never sounds good.

Ole Miss at Auburn (7:00, specialty pack) – Will either of these teams usurp Bama at the top of the SEC West? Not likely but this year there is at least a tiny sliver of hope. The winner of this one is in the driver’s seat to have that opportunity, especially if it’s Auburn who still has a game against the Tide. And with Lane Kiffin coaching in this game, the interviews, along with the offense, should be fun.

Penn State at Ohio State (7:30, ABC/TSN2) – If this was in State College I probably move it up to the number two spot on this list. Tough to move them up farther with neither team undefeated and Penn State suffering a horrible loss to Illinois. As I mentioned above, the Nittany Lions had the same fate last year, losing the game before the Ohio State one. Yes it was their first game of the year so take it with a grain of salt. They did end up losing to Ohio State last year (and the three games after that). Can’t see that kind of losing streak from this team this year but you never know. Either way, the winner here will face the winner of the Michigan-MSU game later in the season for the division crown and the rest of the teams will battle for the slight chance at a New Year’s Six spot.

SMU at Houston (7:00, specialty pack) – Yes SMU is undefeated but the Cougs are undefeated in the conference as well. This game pretty much determines who gets to face Cincinnati in the AAC Championship in December. This could also be the beginning of the end of Sonny Dykes in the Metroplex as there are rumours he will end up as the head coach at Texas Tech. Wouldn’t surprise me at all, what with his dad coaching there years ago.

Fresno State at San Diego State (10:30, CBS Sports Network) – Another surprising team shows up on the list here. Somehow, the Bulldogs are 6-2 and in the driver’s seat in the Mountain West West Division with a win here in Carson. Kalen DeBoer has done a fantastic job in the Valley for a team that many (myself included) wouldn’t even get to .500 this season. And look who is doing a great coaching job at SDSU. Brady Hoke is back, baby! He has proven to be a great coach at the Group of Five level and he’s doing it once again. The Aztecs somewhat surprising run to, hopefully, a NY6 spot hinges on winning games like this (and hoping Cincinnati loses at least once before the end of the season).

Honourable mention: Texas Tech at Oklahoma (3:30, ABC); Florida vs. Georgia (3:30, CBS); Virginia at BYU (10:15, specialty pack)

Wanna bet?

OK at least I got one upset pick right. I thought Air Force could somehow come back and beat San Diego State but sadly, for me, it did not happen. As for the rest of my picks, yeah there were a couple bad ones there as well. Look, let’s forget that and just move forward, OK?

Houston over SMU (let’s start with an upset)

Michigan over Michigan State

Ohio State over Penn State

BYU over Virginia

Georgia over Florida

Auburn over Ole Miss

San Diego State over Fresno State

Oklahoma over Texas Tech

Buffalo over Bowling Green

Louisiana Tech over Old Dominion

Coastal Carolina over Troy

Will I watch the approximately 24 hours of college football being served up over the next few days? It will be pretty close, not gonna lie. It’s mostly a free weekend so add in about 11 hours of NFL football and we get to the 35-hour mark. I am such a fucking degenerate when it comes to football. Kind of glad I don’t do the recaps anymore since it usually cut into in my NFL watching time. Honestly, I struggle with that kind of multi-tasking. Anyway. enjoy the games everyone!

Could this be the year?

Posted on July 20, 2021 by guelphbossman

Fickell

There are many that are coming just short of begging for one of the many Group of Five teams to have their chance in the College Football Playoff. Could this be the year it happens? Luke Fickell’s Cincinnati Bearcats are, arguably, the best American Conference team possibly ever. And to some they don’t get near the respect they deserve. Last year, the Bearcats got as high as #6 in the AP Poll and #7 in the CFP Rankings. It’s tough to move much higher than that if you haven’t got the schedule to back it up. The only other way for it to happen is for all the Power Five teams to drop off so a G-5 team can sneak in. That will change soon with the proposed 12-team playoff. Then, the best Group of Five conference champion will be guaranteed at least one spot in the mix. I know some are angry at that as well. I think in the end, you can’t please everyone.

Alright let’s get to the predictions to see if anyone pulls away from the rest of the crowd. I will follow that with some Massive Conference Footprint Points:

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

Massive Conference Footprint Points

Cincinnati is really good. Like seriously good. They will probably have a good shot at getting back to the New Year’s Six. Their schedule is not easy though. The state of Indiana is pretty much where their season will come down to. They start in Bloomington in Week 3 against Indiana and then travel to South Bend in Week 5 to play Notre Dame. I can’t see them winning both. But if they do, watch out since they have to get consideration for the College Football Playoff if they also run the rest of the table.
No divisions now which is great. I can’t stand divisions. This way the top two teams will be in the championship game. And this year I have Houston of all teams making it. I know I might get some flack for it (if people cared that much) but the Cougs should be improved and have the schedule to kind of sneak up the middle and grab that second spot. The reward? An ass-kicking in the AAC Championship.
Houston will just beat out UCF and Memphis for that spot. The Cougs don’t play the Knights this season which is a huge advantage for Houston. I believe that if they had played that UCF passes Houston in the standings but the schedule is set this way and there isn’t much that can be done about that. I have Houston beating Memphis late in the season, at home, to secure the #2 spot in the conference.
East Carolina will improve a lot this year. To the point where they are on the precipice of bowl season for the first time in a long time. Mike Houston is doing great work in Greenville and is very close to putting the Pirates back in contention to win this conference.
I have a feeling Tulane slips back under .500 and mostly due to their schedule. The schedule maker wasn’t exactly kind to the Green Wave this season and it’s going to be a struggle for them to do anything of note.
Cincinnati should easily beat Houston and move on, probably to the New Year’s Six. With one predicted loss, their dream of getting into the College Football Playoff will go up in smoke.
I have the AAC getting six of their teams into bowl games. Just over half of the conference. This is…acceptable I guess. With some of the bowls having general Group of Five spots to fill them, the idea of conferences desperately trying to claim all their tie-ins is becoming of less and less importance. And next year with probably less bowl games the idea of these tie-ins might change again.

We are almost at the halfway mark of the conference predictions. Next up is the conference that joins MACtion and giving all of us that sweet, sweet midweek football, the Sun Belt. 39 days away and counting.

Have a great rest of the week everyone!

Everyone in the pool! – Week 10 College Football TV Schedule

Posted on November 4, 2020 by guelphbossman

Except for you Old Dominion. And you UConn. Yeah I don’t think so New Mexico State.

Pretty much the full roster of FBS teams will finally start playing football this week. The Pac-12 and MAC commence play and we get IMMEDIATE MACTION! You have to wonder if the Pac-12 has any shot at the College Football Playoff because of their late start to the season. It’s just so messed up a season that no one really knows at this point.

We are now starting almost a month straight of FOOTBAW on every day! Rejoice all you college football hooligans! Now the schedules get seriously stacked…or at least we see a lot more games this week than we have all season. Let’s go!

Wednesday

		US	Canada
Ball State at Miami-OH	7:00 PM
Ohio at Central Michigan	7:00 PM

MACTION!!!!!! It has finally returned. Tonight there are six MAC games, most on any weeknight in history. We only get two of these games up here. But it will be nice to have some Wednesday night football. Also it’s a palette cleanser for Americans after last night’s, um, festivities (for some…maybe…OK no one knows).

Thursday

		US	Canada
Wyoming at Colorado State	9:00 PM

Only one game. It is technically football but I can see a LOT of eyeballs moving to NFL Thursday Night Football.

Friday

		US	Canada
#11 Miami at NC State	7:30 PM
San Jose State at San Diego State	9:00 PM

Despite Miami’s loss to Clemson, they are almost in the Top 10 and could sneak in with a win over the Wolfpack. They need the win to keep pace with Notre Dame in the ACC (man that sounds so weird).

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
~~Air Force at Army~~	11:30 AM
West Virginia at #22 Texas	Noon
#25 Liberty at Virginia Tech	Noon
Nebraska at Northwestern	Noon
~~Tulsa at Navy~~	Noon
Michigan State at Iowa	Noon
North Carolina at Duke	Noon
Arizona State at #20 USC	Noon
#23 Michigan at #13 Indiana	Noon

Not a ton here as it really is the appetizer to the rest of the day which is MUCH better than this timeslot. Huge game in Bloomington as the Hoosiers host the Wolverines, hoping to get into the Top 10 for the first time since 1967. That’s insane. AFA-Army could be a surprise game that could also be over by 1:30. Also, we have Pac-12 Bacon & Eggs Breakfast! 9:00 AM local start for ASU and USC. Wow. Hate to say it but the Pac-12 needs to do this a few times a season. Maybe this will be the impetus to re-explore getting Texas and/or Oklahoma (along with other Texas or Oklahoma schools) into the conference.

UPDATE #2: I should just call these COVID updates because that’s what all of them are. Anyway, AFA-Army has been cancelled due to COVID issues at Air Force. Who knows what happens now with the Commander-In-Chief Trophy.

UPDATE #3: Man, what’s up with the military academies? Because of positive COVID-19 tests and contact tracing at Navy, the Tulsa-Navy game has been postponed and will probably be cancelled due to there not being an open date that both teams could reschedule this for.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
Houston at #6 Cincinnati	3:30 PM
Maryland at Penn State	3:30 PM
Minnesota at Illinois	3:30 PM
#8 Florida vs. #5 Georgia (in Jacksonville)	3:30 PM
Fresno State at UNLV	3:30 PM
Kansas at #19 Oklahoma	3:30 PM
~~Arizona at Utah~~	3:30 PM
Texas Tech at TCU	3:30 PM
#14 Oklahoma State at Kansas State	4:00 PM

Now this gets good. The Cocktail Party! Another three games involving a ranked team. Makes for quite a good afternoon slate which I won’t call great because it isn’t. UMD-PSU, Minny-Illinois and FSU-UNLV aren’t exactly must-watch. Considering we are into November now, these are not really the kinds of games that would even come close to highlighting anything. But, we have all the conferences now so at least that’s something. And we could look back at some of these games and realize they were pivotal to a conference’s season. You never know.

Oh and you may be wondering why you don’t see the Wisconsin-Purdue game here. That’s because, for the second straight week, Wisky has a game cancelled because of too many positive COVID-19 tests. If they miss one more game, they are no longer eligible to be in the Big Ten Championship. That could make things a bit more interesting in the Big Ten West.

UPDATE #5: Arizona-Utah now cancelled due to positive COVID tests and contact tracing. This is starting to get out of hand.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
~~Louisiana Tech at North Texas~~	7:00 PM
#7 Texas A&M at South Carolina	7:00 PM
UCLA at Colorado	7:00 PM
Baylor at #17 Iowa State	7:00 PM
Stanford at #12 Oregon	7:30 PM
Rutgers at #3 Ohio State	7:30 PM
#1 Clemson at #4 Notre Dame	7:30 PM
Tennessee at Arkansas	7:30 PM

Game of the fucking year right here. Massive, massive game in South Bend and NBC will actually win a primetime timeslot for the first time in a long time. Stanford-Oregon should be a good one as this could be the game that puts David Shaw back in the conversation of best coach in the game and ruins the CFP chances of the Pac-12 favourite in their first week. Don’t sleep on Baylor-ISU as that could be VERY interesting. TAMU-USCe could also be a big-time matchup as it has the feel of a Gamecock upset. A damn good primetime slate overall to be honest.

UPDATE #4: CBS Sports Network’s schedule is getting decimated this weekend. LaTech-UNT has been cancelled due to ongoing COVID issues at North Texas.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
~~Washington at California~~	10:30 PM

One game we can see here. But it is the first time we get Pac-12 After Dark and it ends a day where, for the first time ever, the Pac-12 has games in all four timeslots. And we know how weird it gets when Washington plays Cal (for some odd reason).

UPDATE: Washington-Cal has been cancelled due to multiple positive COVID tests among the Cal players.

Games to set your eyeballs on

Clemson at Notre Dame (7:30, NBC) – Was there any doubt this is the Game of the Week? And putting it in primetime was a smart move by NBC as they should win the timeslot easily. The Irish are at #4 and despite all their haters, their defense has been on fire. Brian Kelly is again having a great season at the helm and would look even better if Ian Book had a full four quarters of good football one of these games. As for the Fighting Dabos, this is Clemson’s biggest test this season. Win this and they probably run the table, get to the ACC Championship where they may end up facing…the Irish again. It definitely won’t be as easy this year for the Tigers as it has been in the past few years.

Florida vs. Georgia (in Jacksonville) (3:30, CBS) – The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party! It’s time to give an open bar to Brad Nessler and Gary Danielson. They deserve it. Well more like Brad deserves it putting up with some of the inane and biased commentary of one Mr. Danielson. I know I would probably not change the channel…more than 20 times. Anyway, the winner here has basically clinched the SEC East since no other team is close to these two. It feels like old hat at this point since ever since Missouri somehow went back to back as division winners it has been Gators and Dawgs.

BYU at Boise State (Friday, 9:45, FOX Sports One) – The Mountain West is getting a lot of play now that they have a contract with FOX. Problem is, all the games so far and in the near future are on FS1. Not good for Canadians. This is the biggest game of the season for the Cougars. They win this, they should move up in the rankings and could be well on their way to running the table. It would also put The Committee in an awkward position as BYU could be good enough to get an at-large bid to the New Year’s Six. As for Boise, they really can’t lose a game if they want to go to the NY6 themselves thanks to the truncated season. So this is huge on the blue (and probably cold and slippery) turf in Idaho.

Michigan at Indiana (Noon, FOX Sports One) – Indiana at #13. Are we seeing the emergence of a potential football power? Who knows but I would honestly consider the Hoosiers a very tough out regardless the rest of the way. Man FS1 getting some great games this week which is surprising since many of these would end up on FOX normally. Indiana losing would put Ohio State in the driver’s seat with literally no one near them in the Big Ten East.

Oklahoma State at Kansas State (4:00, FOX) – I feel kind of weird putting a Big XII game in this section at this point of the season. It’s not like the conference has been great this season. Saying that, this is a supremely important game since the winner has a leg up in the race for the trip to JerryWorld. OSU being at #14 tells you all need to know about this season so far since they are not a #14 ranked team. A Wildcats win will easily put them in the Top 25 again. Maybe this time they won’t immediately lose and fall out of the Top 25.

Honourable mention: Miami at NC State (Friday, 7:30, TSN1/TSN4); West Virginia at Texas (Noon, ABC/TSN3); Liberty at Virginia Tech (Noon, ACC Network).

Some gambling fun and games

How about my West Virginia over Kansas State pick! And….well…..ugh. I missed on a couple others and looked foolish with my Oklahoma State pick. But hey we are on to a new week with new picks so let’s do this!

Miami over NC State

Virginia Tech over Liberty

Florida over Georgia (mild upset)

Oklahoma State over Kansas State (hope they don’t let me down again)

Clemson over Notre Dame

Indiana over Michigan

BYU over Boise State

Texas over West Virginia

Washington over California

Cincinnati over Houston

Louisiana Tech over North Texas

Thursday Night Football is upon us again and hey this could be pretty good. Green Bay at San Francisco. I am very interested to see if the Packers can run away with an honestly pretty bad NFC North (don’t let the Bears’ record fool you). Now I am sure FOX would have preferred a Niners squad that isn’t all over the place and not nearly as good as their record indicates but c’est la vie. Honestly, Monday Night Football is the one thing I don’t watch nearly as much anymore. If they took it off the air, I don’t think I would miss it. Crazy I know but it rarely has good games anymore. I would say “Poor ESPN” but it’s ESPN so no. I think I have said the same thing for the past few years.

I, as per usual, will be on Twitter this Saturday although I have to take breaks throughout the day. I am showing my age. But I do enjoy interacting with people online and it adds to the day of watching 14+ hours of college football (which may or may not require some caffeine assistance). I try my best to not get into online arguments because people who are willing to go into full argument mode are not ones to even debate because you can’t win a debate against an idiot. Enjoy the games everyone!

Well this certainly makes things interesting – Week 9 College Football Recap

Posted on November 2, 2020 by guelphbossman

Look I knew that Trevor Lawrence being out due to a positive COVID-19 test would be huge and would hamper Clemson’s offense a bit. But man, I didn’t think the defense would be affected as much. Clemson had to come back from 18 down to beat Boston College. This does not bode well for next Saturday night’s game against Notre Dame where they will be without Lawrence again. DJ Uiagalelei looks like the quarterback of the future but he will have to seriously step up to combat the Irish’s fairly stingy defense. Makes thinks a lot more interesting next weekend for sure.

Alright let’s get to the final recap that doesn’t include Pac-12 After Dark or MACtion. Things are really starting to heat up. Let’s go!

Don’t write off Oklahoma just yet. We knew the Sooners would have a bit of a tough road to even get to the Big XII Championship, let alone the New Year’s Six. The losses to Kansas State and Iowa State definitely did not help. I mean yes they didn’t lose by much and were competitive in both games. But a loss is a loss and even in this pandemic year, two losses pretty much ruins a College Football Playoff opportunity. As for the Red Raiders, who the Sooners destroyed, even with every team being bowl-eligible, I can’t see them being selected for one unless they win most of the rest of their games.

I think most of us thought Oklahoma State would win. And, of course, I was one of them. This game was all over the place but Texas was carrying things most of the way in the first half. Problem was it didn’t lead to, well, a lead. The Cowboys actually went up by 11 in the third. Texas immediately started their comeback with a kickoff return for a touchdown and then a long drive in the fourth to take the lead. The Pokes needed a field goal late in the fourth just to get to overtime. But man, they looked awful in overtime. Six plays that gained no yards. Brutal. This effectively eliminates the Big XII from the CFP picture…at Halloween.

Could Ohio State-Indiana become the pivotal Big Ten game of the season? Don’t be surprised. Indiana made sure that Rutgers didn’t get that Schiano magic once again (except for that eight-lateral touchdown that didn’t count that would have been one of the greatest touchdowns in college football history if it had counted). The Buckeyes are still damn good as they showed in holding off a game Penn State team. So this brings us to November 21st when the Buckeyes host the Hoosiers. As of this point, this looks like the most important Big Ten game of the season by a country mile. Are there any teams really close to these two? You could argue Wisconsin could be but we haven’t seen much of them yet after their game against Nebraska was cancelled due to a ton of positive COVID tests within the Badgers team. Other than that, nah. Tom Allen should get a big raise if somehow he is able to coax a win over tOSU from his Indy squad.

Let’s talk about Atlantic Coast Conference contender, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Brian Kelly has a damn good team in South Bend this season. Well, the offense is good, not great, to be honest. But the defense has been phenomenal and has mostly carried this team to a 6-0 record. The Irish are solidly in the College Football Playoff conversation. That will make a lot of people cringe due to their hatred of everything Notre Dame. But really, they are two games against Clemson (probably) from being in the Final Four. Georgia Tech is still improving…slowly. It takes time to do what Geoff Collins is doing in Atlanta and it’s a good thing to see he is getting that time.

Yep, Cincinnati is still undefeated. Not totally surprised but man have the Bearcats looked good this season. Let’s be real here: the Bearcats being in the American Conference will probably make it so they are excluded from the CFP. Saying that though, they are now #6 in the country. If a few things happen to the teams above them then who knows? Honestly, it’s not like the Bearcats have a tough schedule the rest of the way. If they can mow down the opposition and look good doing it, they may not fall out of the Top 10 and may be close enough to sniff that rarified air of the College Football Playoff which would be a huge news story going into December.

Back to Big XII Upset Watch. The other upset of the day in the Big XII came in Morgantown. The West Virginia Mountaineers kept Kansas State from doing much of anything all day and ran away with a huge win. This may have ruined KSU’s chances of getting to the Big XII Championship but considering the way the conference has been this year, who the fuck even knows anymore. I am sure Drunk Uncle Dana was at his Red Bull-infused best during this one.

Well we know there will be a new champion. Man has the bloom come off the rose quickly in Baton Rouge. LSU got boatraced by Auburn in a game that was never close. And it’s not like Auburn is great because they aren’t. Bo Nix has been underwhelming this season and yet looked almost like Auburn Cam Newton in this one. LSU’s defense couldn’t stop anything. Again the SEC on CBS was a complete waste of time to watch. Maybe it’s not a bad thing the contract will be going to another network in a few years.

Yes, a Mike Leach team didn’t score a point. Yep, it looks like it took one game for the SEC to figure out the Air Raid. Alabama toasted Mississippi State to the tune of 41-0. And that’s with Bama only getting two touchdowns in the second half. It feels like it was years ago when that massive win over LSU happened and it’s looking worse and worse every week…for both teams. The Pirate is going to have to do something slightly different or it could be a long year in Starkville for the Bulldogs.

How about the crazy finish in Tulsa? Or more like the refs robbing East Carolina? Tulsa never led until their touchdown with 29 seconds left. But it shouldn’t have even got to the point where the Golden Hurricane could take the lead. It had looked like Tulsa’s T.K. Wilkerson fumbled with the Pirates recovering the ball, essentially ending the game. Somehow the replay booth said Wilkerson recovered the ball when he hadn’t. This allowed the drive to continue and for Tulsa to get the winning score. My hope is that the replay official is at least suspended for that mistake since that cost ECU a victory. Problem is, the officials almost never get punished. And you wonder why people hate the refs. There’s one reason why.

Is Georgia any good? Like I honestly don’t know after this weekend’s horrible performance against Kentucky. They won 14-3 but the Wildcats are a complete disaster on offense so it’s not like the UGA defense had a tough fight out there. Stetson Bennett only threw 13 passes and had 2 interceptions. A horrible day all around. They should feel lucky to escape Lexington with a win. With the Cocktail Party coming up, the Bulldogs have to be considered the easy underdog here (no pun intended).

Lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllet’s get ready to RUMBLE! Oh man did you see that halftime brawl between Florida and Missouri? Florida players were pretty upset at a non-call when Missouri defenders should have been called for roughing the quarterback. Then Dan Mullen comes sprinting off the sideline at the officials, screaming his damn head off. This gets some of the players involved and then the fists starting flying. For football, it was quite the brawl. Then, as heads into the tunnel for halftime, Mullen acts like a babyface wrestler riling up the crowd. So fucking hilarious. I’m not saying we need more brawls in football because we definitely don’t. But Mullen to me is a great personality and we need more coaches and players showing personality (without getting violent of course.

Well the Tar Heels to the College Football Playoff train just crashed into a wall. Many of us wondered if the loss to Florida State was just a speedbump on North Carolina’s season. Well, maybe that wasn’t the case. Virginia’s win over the Heels means UNC’s chances at the College Football Playoff, New Year’s Six…hell, the ACC Championship game are pretty much gone. Don’t get me wrong: I still expect Mack Brown to get this team to seven or eight wins this year. Which is a step in the right direction. But they are obviously still a year away from truly contending.

Alright, enough recappin’. Let’s get to the Bossman Top 25!

#1	Clemson
#2	Alabama
#3	Ohio State
#4	Notre Dame
#5	Cincinnati
#6	Georgia
#7	Florida
#8	Miami
#9	BYU
#10	Texas A&M
#11	Wisconsin
#12	Oklahoma State
#13	Oregon
#14	Coastal Carolina
#15	Marshall
#16	SMU
#17	Indiana
#18	Iowa State
#19	Oklahoma
#20	USC
#21	Michigan
#22	Auburn
#23	Louisiana
#24	North Carolina
#25	Boise State

Yes I have Alabama at #2. They have looked really good but compared to Clemson I don’t think they measure up…yet. Cincinnati is at #5 but we know what their schedule is like so this might end up being their peak ranking. The first CFP Rankings don’t come out for over three weeks due to this season being a bit of a mess. There is a possibility Cincinnati is barely in the Top 10 at that point even if they are undefeated. It’s just the way things are unfortunately. This is mostly because the Pac-12 starts their season (finally) this coming week and expect teams to move up the rankings rapidly if they do well. With the Big XII already a shitshow, there could be room for a Pac-12 champ in there if a few things happen above them. But there will have to be an undefeated season in there first. Without that, there is no possible way, in my opinion, that a Pac-12 team gets into the CFP. As for BYU I have them at #9 and the AP Poll has them the same and I feel that their ceiling is #12 or #13 unless a lot of chaos happens. This is due to their quite weak schedule which is an unfortunate byproduct of the pandemic.

Football. Every. Day. That’s right. Every day between Wednesday and the day before American Thanksgiving. And that day is the only day off between now and the end of November. Let’s drink it in and enjoy this! Saying that we are a little late to the party but we know what starts Wednesday night: MACtion Baby! If it wasn’t for the American election it would have started Tuesday night but hey, good things come to those who wait, right? Have a great week everyone.

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

Posted on September 16, 2020 by guelphbossman

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

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

Almost Guaranteed Shitcanning

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

Probable Shitcanning

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

Possible Shitcanning

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

Doubtful Shitcanning (although it still could happen)

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

Yes a much shorter list. Blame COVID.

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

My Usually Awful Heisman Ballot

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

Honourable Mention

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

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

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

The Footballgasm Continues! – Week 12 College Football TV Schedule

Posted on November 14, 2019 by guelphbossman

You like that? You like that! You can use that Kirk Cousins line for so many different scenarios.

Of course the Footballgasm alludes to football every day until the day before American Thanksgiving. It is a great time of year to be a football fan, college or pro. As for what else has been happening lately, the same mid-week things occur every season happened again: the CFP Rankings and MACtion:

The CFP Rankings came out on Tuesday again. A lot of movement and contrived controversy. People who hate Alabama hate the fact that they didn’t fall like 20 spots after their loss to the #1 team in the poll, LSU. Meanwhile, Georgia sits at #5 with a loss to South Carolina of all teams. Yuck. And remember, no Group of Five teams allowed in the Top 4. Hell keep them out of the Top 10. This an unofficial rule. The Committee won’t tell you this but it’s true.
MACtion graces our screens on weekdays now. MACtion is fun to watch I will admit. Usually some pretty good close games. Attendance, however, at games during mid-week MACtion is abysmal. This is nothing new. Going to a sporting event on a weekday night is tough. As a student, even worse. Luckily for the MAC, during the season there have been more games getting a national spotlight on Saturdays. This way, MACtion isn’t the first check-in on the conference all season for most college football fans.

Anyway, other than that, not much to discuss so let’s get into the schedule alright?

Thursday

		US	Canada
Buffalo at Kent State	7:00 PM
North Carolina at Pittsburgh	7:30 PM

So an OK MAC game and an OK ACC game. Not too bad at all and these games actually have some stakes to them. Kent State and North Carolina aren’t nearly as bad as they were last year which helps a lot here. I just hope at least one of these games stays close or otherwise it’s off to Thursday Night Football.

Friday

		US	Canada
Louisiana Tech at Marshall	7:00 PM
Fresno State at San Diego State	9:30 PM

OK another couple of average, but relatively important, games. The Conference USA game is important since it could be a preview of the conference championship. Fresno State, despite not being near the team they were the last two seasons, somehow holds all the cards and sits in the catbird seat in the Mountain West West…win out and they go the Mountain West Championship to somehow keep things close with Boise State (again).

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
Indiana at #9 Penn State	Noon
UMass at Northwestern	Noon
#14 Wisconsin at Nebraska	Noon
#11 Florida at Missouri	Noon
VMI at Army	Noon
#5 Alabama at Mississippi State	Noon
TCU at Texas Tech	Noon
Tulane at Temple	Noon
Michigan State at #15 Michigan	Noon
Kansas at #22 Oklahoma State	Noon
Alabama State at Florida State	Noon

We get the Rodney Dangerfield of programs, Indiana, facing Penn State trying to put the nail in the coffin of their College Football Playoff chances. We get little brother Michigan State trying to derail Michigan’s postseason hopes. We also get Nebraska’s final chance, really, to look like an important team this season (and not make my preseason projection look even more awful) as they host Wisconsin in Lincoln. And there’s a few other good games as well. Oh and also UMass-Northwestern which could be brutal if the weather doesn’t cooperate.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
#23 Navy at #16 Notre Dame	2:30 PM
Wake Forest at #3 Clemson	3:30 PM
#2 Ohio State at Rutgers	3:30 PM
#4 Georgia at #12 Auburn	3:30 PM
Central Michigan at Ball State	3:30 PM
West Virginia at #24 Kansas State	3:30 PM
#18 Memphis at Houston	3:30 PM
#19 Texas at Iowa State	3:30 PM
Virginia Tech at Georgia Tech	3:30 PM
Kentucky at Vanderbilt	3:30 PM
Syracuse at Duke	4:00 PM
Wyoming at Utah State	4:00 PM
#8 Minnesota at #20 Iowa	4:00 PM
Stanford at Washington State	4:30 PM

Three huge games in the afternoon timeslot. Navy visits South Bend hoping for an upset to put themselves firmly in the Group of Five race, Georgia is on upset alert as they head to the Plains to face Auburn and Minnesota has to prove that their jump in the rankings (the largest jump to get into the Top 10 in the history of those rankings) wasn’t a fluke. An Auburn win will definitely end UGA’s CFP chances and an Iowa win would do the same to Minnesota. Also if we get Mississippi State somehow upsetting Bama we are getting close to 1990-style chaos which I would definitely welcome.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
#17 Cincinnati at USF	7:00 PM
#1 LSU at Ole Miss	7:00 PM
Air Force at Colorado State	7:00 PM
#10 Oklahoma at #13 Baylor	7:30 PM
Louisville at NC State	7:30 PM
#25 Appalachian State at Georgia State	7:30 PM
Arizona State at Oregon State	7:30 PM
South Carolina at Texas A&M	7:30 PM
UCLA at #7 Utah	8:00 PM

And now a game of the year candidate. Oklahoma and Baylor, despite both of them being fairly far out of the Top 4, have the biggest Big XII game of the season. This game will decide if Baylor honestly has what it takes to get to the CFP or if the Sooners are still the cream of the crop in the conference. The only TSN game of the week appears in this timeslot as LSU heads to face Ole Miss. Why not show the 3:30 game as well? Seems weird to me. They must have something important on in that timeslot. So what is taking college football out of that timeslot? The ATP Tennis tour semi-finals. Wow. OK then. That couldn’t be on another of the TSNs? I get that it is part of the contract to show that (and for tennis fans it’s a huge event) but nothing in the contract says it has to appear on TSN2…or at least I assume that’s the case since that would be really oddly specific.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
New Mexico at #21 Boise State	10:15 PM
Arizona at #6 Oregon	10:30 PM
USC at California	11:00 PM

No big games here but USC-Cal is clearly the least important game of the late night sked. Never thought I’d say that about a USC game but there you go. Boise State should continue their charge for the New Year’s Six spot and Oregon tries not to be complacent against an entirely average Wildcats squad.

Games to set your eyeballs on

Georgia at Auburn (3:30, CBS) – This is the Game of the Week but there could be a few choices here. So we will call it GOTW 1A. Auburn has a chance to cause major problems for the SEC with a win here. Well at least the SEC East since it means the Dawgs don’t clinch the division yet and it eliminates them (for sure this time) from the College Football Playoff. It also keeps Auburn somehow in the hunt. I would chuckle if Auburn wins and is at like #7 next week with a legitimate shot at the Top 4 and watch the media go crazy over it.

Oklahoma at Baylor (7:30, ABC) – This should have more hype attached to it and it may by the time the game beings. This game harkens back to the time RGIII passed his way past Oklahoma with a last minute touchdown which was a bit shocking at the time despite the fact the Bears were a good team that year. I expect the same thing here. Even if the Bears win, they will probably sit at like #8 and still won’t get the praise they do deserve for still being undefeated. Matt Rhule really has done the best job in college football this season and should be the Coach of the Year (sorry to Ed Orgeron and P.J. Fleck). I still believe we could get a Minnesota-Baylor Fiesta Bowl CFP semi-final which would be hilarious and make ESPN somewhat sad.

Minnesota at Iowa (4:00, FOX) – Speaking of big tests, Minnesota has two left. This is the first one with Wisconsin on the final weekend. Look, the Gophers are undefeated. Not their fault they aren’t a blueblood program like some of the others. To me this is worse than blaming Clemson for being in the shitty ACC or Bama for not beating a ranked opponent. But at least Minnesota is in the Big Ten so if they beat Iowa, Wisconsin and the East Division champ they are in no matter what. The tough part about this may be playing in Iowa City since the Hawkeyes tend to be tough to beat at home.

Navy at Notre Dame (2:30, NBC) – Navy is back! Now we can definitely say that last season was an aberration and people like me were slightly fooled (since I still had Navy winning six games). The Irish have been shaky lately so it wouldn’t surprise me if they struggled with the ol’ option offense. Navy needs this way more than Notre Dame as a win here for them puts them in the G-5 conversation for the NY6. The Irish do, however, need a win here to keep their New Year’s Six hopes alive.

Indiana at Penn State (Noon, ABC) – Flip a coin between this and like six other games to determine who should inherit this spot. I picked this game since I believe Indiana should be ranked, even if it was at #25. And they could give the Nittany Lions some headaches.

Honourable mention: Michigan State at Michigan (Noon, FOX); Louisiana Tech at Marshall (Friday, 7:00, CBS Sports Network); Texas at Iowa State (3:30, FloSports)

Some gambling fun and games

Let’s not look at my last week’s picks. Things were going well, I got the upset pick of VaTech over Wake Forest and then BLAMMO, four straight wrong picks (including the two big games of the week). So I am going to forget that and move on with this week’s picks. Here we go:

Marshall over Louisiana Tech

Oklahoma over Baylor

Auburn over Georgia (big upset!)

Iowa State over Texas (upset?)

Penn State over Indiana

Michigan over Michigan State

Iowa over Minnesota (big upset!)

Notre Dame over Navy

Appalachian State over Georgia State

Clemson over Wake Forest

Oregon over Arizona

Ah more Thursday Night Football. Better than Monday Night Football! That should be their new slogan. I remember a time when Thursday Night Football was hot garbage and should have been abolished. Now it’s Monday Night Football that might end up going back to ABC? The last time MNF was any good (and yes I miss the old MNF theme). Anyway, tonight’s game is the Steelers, who somehow have become good again, and the Browns, who have been playing like the Browns teams we all know and love. Should be good. And cold.

Not going to get a full day of watching college football in but will watch most of it. Plus I will be up until god knows when in the morning so I am sure I will see all the highlights I need to see depending on what I miss.

NFL schedule tomorrow as per usual. Enjoy the games everyone!

It’s Grab-Bag Time! The rest of the schedules…well, most of them

Posted on July 10, 2019 by guelphbossman

Yeah not like I am doing the schedule for Facebook although I probably could. But what’s the point. Even stupider would be me doing the schedule for FOX Sports Network. I mean I am sure there will be some close games on there like when Kansas inevitably plays a close game against an FCS school. But if Canadians can’t see it then there is no point. Let’s begin!

A seriously long schedule to begin with here. CBS Sports Network is home to the American Conference, Mountain West Conference, Conference USA, and the MAC. So most of the Group of Five has games here. Which means you will get some good matchups from time to time and, considering it’s college football, some crazy games. Want proof? Old Dominion beat Virginia Tech last season. Yes. ODU…beat…VaTech. Checkmate. Alright let’s get right to the schedule now that I have proven its worth, followed by some minor thoughts:

August 24th	Villanova at Colgate (confirmed)	Noon
August 24th	Arizona at Hawaii (confirmed)	10:30 PM
August 29th	Florida A&M at UCF (confirmed)	7:30 PM
August 30th	Rice at Army (confirmed)	6:00 PM
August 30th	Purdue at Nevada (confirmed)	9:30 PM
August 31st	Indiana vs. Ball State (in Indianapolis) (confirmed)	Noon
August 31st	Holy Cross at Navy (confirmed)	3:30 PM
August 31st	Missouri at Wyoming (confirmed)	7:30 PM
September 7th	UAB at Akron (confirmed)	Noon
September 7th	Illinois at UConn (confirmed)	3:30 PM
September 7th	UCF at Florida Atlantic (confirmed)	7:00 PM
September 7th	Minnesota at Fresno State (confirmed)	10:30 PM
September 14th	Maryland at Temple (confirmed)	Noon
September 14th	East Carolina at Navy (confirmed)	3:30 PM
September 14th	Texas vs. Rice (in NRG Stadium, Houston) (confirmed)	8:00 PM
September 20th	FIU at Louisiana Tech (confirmed)	8:00 PM
September 21st	Morgan State at Army (confirmed)	Noon
September 21st	Wyoming at Tulsa	3:30 PM
September 21st	Baylor at Rice (confirmed)	7:00 PM
September 21st	Utah State at San Diego State (confirmed)	10:30 PM
September 27th	San Jose State at Air Force (confirmed)	8:00 PM
September 28th	BYU at Toledo	Noon
September 28th	UConn at UCF	3:30 PM
September 28th	Colorado State at Utah State (confirmed)	7:30 PM
October 4th	New Mexico at San Jose State (confirmed)	10:00 PM
October 5th	Tulane at Army (confirmed)	Noon
October 5th	Air Force at Navy (confirmed)	3:30 PM
October 5th	Tulsa at SMU	7:00 PM
October 5th	Boise State at UNLV (confirmed)	10:30 PM
October 11th	Colorado State at New Mexico (confirmed)	8:00 PM
October 12th	BYU at USF	Noon
October 12th	Northern Illinois at Ohio	3:30 PM
October 12th	Fresno State at Air Force (confirmed)	7:00 PM
October 12th	Wyoming at San Diego State (confirmed)	10:30 PM
October 18th	Marshall at Florida Atlantic (confirmed)	6:30 PM
October 18th	UNLV at Fresno State (confirmed)	10:00 PM
October 19th	Buffalo at Akron	Noon
October 19th	USF at Navy (confirmed)	3:30 PM
October 19th	Tulane at Memphis	7:00 PM
October 19th	Air Force at Hawaii (confirmed)	11:00 PM
October 24th	Ohio at Ball State	7:00 PM
October 26th	San Jose State at Army (confirmed)	Noon
October 26th	Tulane at Navy (confirmed)	3:30 PM
October 26th	Nevada at Wyoming	7:00 PM
October 26th	San Diego State at UNLV (confirmed)	10:30 PM
November 1st	UNLV at Colorado State	9:00 PM
November 2nd	SMU at Memphis	Noon
November 2nd	Army at Air Force (confirmed)	3:30 PM
November 2nd	Tulsa at Tulane	7:00 PM
November 2nd	Boise State at San Jose State (confirmed)	10:30 PM
November 5th	Ball State at Western Michigan	7:00 PM
November 9th	UMass at Army (confirmed)	Noon
November 9th	UConn at Cincinnati	3:30 PM
November 9th	Utah State at Fresno State (confirmed)	7:00 PM
November 14th	Buffalo at Kent State (confirmed)	7:00 PM
November 15th	Louisiana Tech at Marshall (confirmed)	7:00 PM
November 16th	VMI at Army (confirmed)	Noon
November 16th	Central Michigan at Ball State	3:30 PM
November 16th	Tulane at Temple	7:00 PM
November 23rd	East Carolina at UConn	Noon
November 23rd	SMU at Navy (confirmed)	3:30 PM
November 23rd	Miami vs. FIU (in Marlins Park, Miami) (confirmed)	7:00 PM
November 23rd	Boise State at Utah State (confirmed)	10:30 PM
November 28th	Utah State at New Mexico	3:30 PM
November 29th	Toledo at Central Michigan	Noon
November 29th	Boise State at Colorado State (confirmed)	3:30 PM
November 30th	FIU at Marshall (confirmed)	Noon
November 30th	UConn at Temple	3:30 PM
November 30th	BYU at San Diego State (confirmed)	9:00 PM
December 1st	Army at Hawaii (confirmed)	1:30 AM
December 7th	Conference USA Championship Game (confirmed)	1:30 PM
December 21st	Cure Bowl (confirmed)	2:30 PM
December 31st	Arizona Bowl (confirmed)	4:30 PM

Minor (League) Thoughts

CBS Sports Network must like someone like me to confirm more than half their games already. Let’s be honest though: they are hoping for the best Group of Five games so they try their best to get Boise State against random Mountain West opponent and UCF playing random American Conference opponent. This way you take a good chunk of inventory from ESPN which is huge in this day and age. The hope is that some of the late season games could end up becoming supremely important meaning a lot of people will be trying to figure out where CBS Sports Network is in the channel lineup.
CBSSN also gets two bowl games. The Cure Bowl is not on opening day anymore as two bowl games decided to get in on the action early. The Arizona Bowl is actually the one that may end up being a bit buried as it won’t end until around 8:00 which means many will miss the end of it since they are already out starting their New Year’s festivities and/or are already shitfaced.
Black Friday seems to have its own traditions (somewhat) and one is having two games on CBS Sports Network: usually a MAC game followed by one from the other three conferences CBSSN covers. Also glad to see them continuing to have a game on American Thanksgiving afternoon. I mean why not? There will be some people who will watch it and if it’s an important game, they will pull some viewers from the corresponding NFL game (which will involve either the Cowboys or Lions).
As for the non-confirmed games, I have a pretty good idea of what they will be. I like the fact that CBSSN says which conference they will have in each timeslot. So at the very least, the conference I have put in for each of the non-confirmed games is correct. And considering they don’t have the first pick of games, chances are movement will be less so than it would be with ESPN.
Here is the conference breakdown for ya:
- Conference USA – 10 (including conference championship)
- Mountain West – 25
- AAC – 20
- MAC – 11
- Army – 5
- FCS – 1
Army still has their CBS Sports Network agreement through the 2022 season (it was recently extended). Navy’s weird setup also continues. ESPN will get the Navy-Notre Dame game when it isn’t at South Bend and a Navy home game every year but that doesn’t start until 2020. If the AAC decides to invite Army this whole scheduling thing with CBS Sports Network could become really interesting.
The Mountain West still takes precedence with the amount of games but the AAC isn’t close behind. Conference USA still has four more years of 10 games on the network although it will be interesting to see how they do with games now on the NFL Network every week. The NFL Network could turn its Saturdays into a college football station (kind of). Wouldn’t be a bad thing considering they also show two of the weird collegiate all-star games at the end of the season.

Notre Dame on NBC. One of the few instances of college football we used to get up here. But now with more choices, less people watch the Peacock Network on Fall Saturdays…even when Notre Dame is coming off a perfect regular season. Here is the fully confirmed schedule:

September 14th	New Mexico at Notre Dame	2:30 PM
September 28th	Virginia at Notre Dame	3:30 PM
October 5th	Bowling Green at Notre Dame	3:30 PM
October 12th	USC at Notre Dame	7:30 PM
November 2nd	Virginia Tech at Notre Dame	2:30 PM
November 16th	Navy at Notre Dame	2:30 PM
November 23rd	Boston College at Notre Dame	2:30 PM

Only one primetime game this year and it’s, of course, the USC one. The other big Notre Dame primetime game is the one against Georgia which will be on CBS this season. A couple of 3:30 starts as they seem to want to stick to the 2:30 start times more often. Probably a good thing as a) it allows NBC to go to news around 6:00 and b) the end of the game will be about an hour before most of the afternoon games end which may allow for a lot of viewers to move over to these games. With the PGA’s schedule changed so that their season ends in August, there are no issues with the Notre Dame on NBC schedule in that regard.

Considering the ACC Network, as we knew it, is no more, I figured it was time to include a different schedule. Hopefully one day Bell will get the Big Ten Network since I can’t understand the reason why they wouldn’t….oh yeah the ol’ Rogers/Bell beef that seems to continue while almost no one cares. How will the specialty packs handle the brand-new ACC Network? Hopefully just like they did with the SEC Network (eventually) but seeing how many channel slots are available it could end up being very interesting. Anyway, back to BTN. Here’s the schedule for ya!

August 30th	UMass at Rutgers (confirmed)	7:15 PM
August 31st	Howard at Maryland (confirmed)	Noon
August 31st	Akron at Illinois (confirmed)	Noon
August 31st	Idaho at Penn State (confirmed)	3:30 PM
August 31st	Middle Tennessee at Michigan (confirmed)	7:30 PM
September 7th	Western Michigan at Michigan State (confirmed)	Noon
September 7th	Vanderbilt at Purdue (confirmed)	Noon
September 7th	Eastern Illinois at Indiana (confirmed)	3:30 PM
September 7th	Central Michigan at Wisconsin (confirmed)	3:30 PM
September 14th	Eastern Michigan at Illinois (confirmed)	Noon
September 14th	UNLV at Northwestern (confirmed)	3:30 PM
September 14th	Georgia Southern at Minnesota (confirmed)	3:30 PM
September 14th	TCU at Purdue (confirmed)	7:30 PM
September 21st	UConn at Indiana	Noon
September 21st	Boston College at Rutgers	3:30 PM
September 21st	Miami-OH at Ohio State	7:30 PM
September 28th	Rutgers at Michigan	3:30 PM
September 28th	Indiana at Michigan State	7:30 PM
October 5th	Maryland at Rutgers	3:30 PM
October 5th	Illinois at Minnesota	7:30 PM
October 12th	Rutgers at Indiana	Noon
October 12th	Maryland at Purdue	Noon
October 19th	Wisconsin at Illinois	Noon
October 19th	Indiana at Maryland	3:30 PM
October 26th	Liberty at Rutgers	Noon
October 26th	Illinois at Purdue	3:30 PM
October 26th	Indiana at Nebraska	7:30 PM
November 2nd	Rutgers at Illinois	Noon
November 2nd	Northwestern at Indiana	3:30 PM
November 9th	Illinois at Michigan State	Noon
November 9th	Purdue at Northwestern	3:30 PM
November 16th	UMass at Northwestern	Noon
November 16th	Ohio State at Rutgers	3:30 PM
November 23rd	Michigan State at Rutgers	Noon
November 23rd	Nebraska at Maryland	Noon
November 23rd	Illinois at Iowa	3:30 PM
November 23rd	Michigan at Indiana	3:30 PM
November 29th	Iowa at Nebraska (confirmed)	2:30 PM
November 30th	Rutgers at Penn State	3:30 PM
November 30th	Indiana at Purdue	7:30 PM

All the games start at either Noon, 3:30, or 7:30 except for two: the Black Friday game between Iowa and Nebraska (the REAL Farmageddon if you ask me) and the opening night matchup between UMass and Rutgers. To be honest, much of this is a guess but at least most of the times should be good. As for games on BTN at the same time, in the States there is a BTN Alternate Channel. Of course we don’t get that up here and if you are with Bell you don’t get the Big Ten Network at all. For the readers that get their specialty pack through Rogers or Eastlink, you should get the alternate games (i.e. the games not appearing on BTN in your guide) to go to the specialty pack. Rarely are there two decent games on at the same time so it really isn’t that big a deal but still, you get the specialty pack for a reason (some of you) and that’s to get ALL the games you might not possibly get (that the CRTC approves of).

Alright that’s it that’s all. No more schedule posts until we get to Week 0 of the season (which is 45 days away!). There are some other schedules that could be mentioned like the new Conference USA on the NFL Network or games that appear on Facebook. Not going over those here. I might do that next year but who knows.

Soon up is the conference predictions which I have not started the work on at all. I’m sure they will go well after doing so poorly at it for most of the life of this blog. This is really the bridge to the college football season since by the time I do all ten conferences, the Independents, and a few other prediction posts, it will be almost Week Zero. In the meantime you can watch the CFL or, soon enough, NFL preseason if you absolutely need football until then. Have a great week everyone!

Could we be getting close to the end of the SEC on CBS?

Posted on June 18, 2019 by guelphbossman

I mean not that the end is coming soon. The contract runs through the end of the 2023 season. I am sure the negotiations for the next contract will start sometime around 2021. And there are already rumours out there that CBS will have to shell out big time to keep the SEC on the Eyeball Network. Especially since you consider they pay about $55 million a year for this contract. That’s half of what ESPN pays for their shitty Monday Night Football and one Wild Card game a year contract. So expect this new contract to be at least four times larger than the current one and that’s only if the SEC sees the value in staying on CBS (they should but that’s a different story altogether). If the Ess-Ee-See says no to CBS expect FOX to try and swoop in and pick that up since that would be a major coup for them.

But that’s a few years down the line. Let’s focus on this season. I have finally finished the most important games posts (which you adored…OK liked….OK tolerated) and now it’s on to the network-specific posts. Again, I will put this disclaimer in: beyond the games that are confirmed, everything else is an educated guess. My choices are based on mostly logic. But that’s not to say that teams won’t be much better or much worse than they are predicted to be. So don’t be surprised if a team that was supposed to win ten games but has won one going into November is never shown on CBS despite the fact that “Well, Bossman said they would and he’s awesome and never wrong.” First of all, thank you for understanding my awesomeness. And secondly, I don’t guarantee anything here. Alright so let’s begin with the SEC (means more) on CBS schedule for 2019 (along with a couple other non-SEC games) followed by some DEEP SOUTH ANALYSIS Y’ALL!

September 14th	Alabama at South Carolina (confirmed)	3:30 PM
September 21st	Auburn at Texas A&M	3:30 PM
September 21st	Notre Dame at Georgia	8:00 PM
September 28th	Mississippi State at Auburn	3:30 PM
October 5th	Georgia at Tennessee	3:30 PM
October 12th	Alabama at Texas A&M	3:30 PM
October 19th	Texas A&M at Ole Miss	Noon
October 19th	LSU at Mississippi State	3:30 PM
October 26th	Auburn at LSU	3:30 PM
November 2nd	Florida vs. Georgia (in Jacksonville) (confirmed)	3:30 PM
November 9th	Tennessee at Kentucky	Noon
November 9th	LSU at Alabama	3:30 PM
November 16th	Georgia at Auburn	3:30 PM
November 23rd	Texas A&M at Georgia	3:30 PM
November 29th	Missouri at Arkansas (in Little Rock) (confirmed)	2:30 PM
November 30th	Alabama at Auburn	3:30 PM
December 7th	SEC Championship Game (confirmed)	4:00 PM
December 14th	Army vs. Navy (in Philadelphia) (confirmed)	3:00 PM
December 31st	Sun Bowl (confirmed)	2:00 PM

DEEP SOUTH ANALYSIS Y’ALL:

Not nearly as spread out as I thought it was going to be last year. Four teams combine for 18 appearances:
- 5 times – Auburn, Georgia
- 4 times – Alabama, Texas A&M
- 3 times – LSU
- 2 times – Mississippi State, Tennessee
- 1 time – South Carolina, Ole Miss, Florida, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas
- Not a single time – Vanderbilt
I have the only team not getting an appearance being Vandy. Not a surprise since even when they were pretty good in the James Franklin years, they got very little respect when it came to TV appearances. And really, it always comes down to how many people will watch a certain game, and how much they can get for advertising. And Vandy is just not a real big name, even in the SEC.
Many will be surprised at Florida only appearing in one game. The Cocktail Party is locked in but other than that I have no appearances for them. Really it comes down to what the best games are each Saturday and every time there is a better game that does not involve Florida. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a second game for the Gators but no more than that. Kentucky only having one game makes more sense. They are a newbie, in a way, to the top tier. One great season does not a program make. They aren’t nearly popular enough to warrant more than one SEC on CBS game a year at this point.
The SEC Network, as always, gets at least their three games a week and ESPN/ESPN2 pick up the rest. Very rarely will you see an SEC game on ESPNU anymore. And there’s really no need for it now that the SEC Network exists. Also remember that CBS still has the exclusive window for the SEC so usually (USUALLY!) only the SEC Network will have other SEC games on at the same time.
As for the non-SEC fare this year, there is almost nothing. . Army-Navy of course ends the regular season. However, the Notre Dame-Navy game is in South Bend so will be seen on NBC. And of course, the Sun Bowl, which will never change tie-ins, ever, since they are stuck in the fucking 80s or something. I guess they still get decent crowds but having an SEC and Big XII team there would make loads more sense than Pac-12 and ACC teams. But that’s just me I guess.
Also, the ESPN sublicensing of SEC games to CBS for Weeks 1 and 2 is now a thing of the past. I guess CBS decided not to continue the agreement so CBS is back to not having college football of any kind until Week 3 of the season.

Next up will be the schedule for ABC. Then FOX. I should be a lot better at this one now that I have a good idea of how their schedule is structured, how they work around MLB playoff games, etc. Then comes CBS Sports Network which should be easy since at least half the games are set already. Finally, TSN. That should be interesting but I will give it my best go.

67 days to go. The countdown is on people. It won’t feel truly real until a) the countdown is under 30 days or b) we are in August. In the meantime, satisfy yourself (phrasing?) with the CFL and, soon, NFL preseason. Any kind of football really. Hell, I watched that series on Netflix, QB1: Beyond the Lights. It was pretty good. Really I will stay tuned to almost any football, even classic football games, for a few minutes here and there. Except arena football. For some reason, I just can’t get into that. Anyway, enjoy your week everyone!

The 2017 College Football Coaching Hot List – Sponsored by the Lane Kiffin Redemption Story

Posted on August 22, 2017 by guelphbossman

Yep. This guy again.

He’s on the road back to redemption and he had one of the greatest firings of all-time, being shitcanned on an airport tarmac while at USC. Nice! I love stories like that.

It’s HOT SEAT TIME! Last year, two of my four top selections and three of my top six were sent packing. Unfortunately some coaches (like Craig Bohl) made me look like a fool by being really successful. Thanks a lot Craig. Like the haircut though.

Alright, here we go with the list. I have ordered this (like last year) from most likely to be in the unemployment line to least likely:

Almost Guaranteed Shitcanning

Paul Haynes (Kent State) – He was #4 on my list last season. How he kept his job is beyond me. He just was put into a bad situation when he had to replace Darrell Hazell (who went on to do sweet fuck all at Purdue himself). Needed to keep his job – A god damn miracle. Prediction – Mid-season shitcanning and perhaps a year off of coaching altogether.
Lance Leipold (Buffalo) – Let’s stay in the MAC shall we? Leipold came into much fanfare (well as much as you can get in the MAC). He had guided Wisconsin-Whitewater to what seemed like a bajillion D-III titles. His first year in Buffalo showed promise. This past season not so much. I can’t see this ending well for Sir Lance-a-not-so-much. Needed to keep his job – vying for bowl eligibility in the final weekend. Prediction – Scraping the bottom of the MAC barrel and heading back to FCS at the highest (if not back to D-III).
Todd Graham (Arizona State) – I remember when this guy liked to hop from job to job because he could. He was a good head coach and many programs wanted to have him. Now he will be hopping to his next job but not of his own volition. Needed to keep his job – Bowl eligibility and a victory over Arizona. Prediction – 3 wins and who really cares at that point if the Sun Devils beat the Wildcats or not (see below for the reason why).
Kliff Kingsbury (Texas Tech) – Looks matter. How do I know? Well, many things in my life that I won’t get into now. Also, Kute Kliff Kingsbury. Here’s a guy who hit his high point halfway through his first season in Lubbock and is still around. Why? If it’s not his looks he must have damning photos of the athletic director in a compromising position. Needed to keep his job – Some semblance of defense from his squad. Prediction – Thousands of female college football fans crying and taking his offensive acumen to the FCS.

Probable Shitcanning

Sean Kugler (UTEP) – He was good for a soundbite or three when UTEP was good that one season. Well, good enough in a Conference USA kind of way. Since then, El Paso has once again become a college football outpost that no one wants to be in. Needed to keep his job – bowl eligibility. Prediction – I can’t see them winning more than one game so this may happen during the season rather than wait for the misery to be over.
Kevin Sumlin (Texas A&M) – He seems to be on this list a lot. But he is never in the almost-guaranteed-to-be-fired part. He just hasn’t seemed to recreate the magic when Johnny Manziel was around. And yes, a big part was Gianni Party’s play but Sumlin had done wonders in Houston and appeared to be doing them in College Station. That may not be the case anymore. Needed to keep his job – 9 wins and be at least on the cusp of contending in the SEC West. Prediction – 7 wins and the top Group of Five opening next season for Mr. Sumlin.
Mark Whipple (UMass) – When is UMass heading back to FCS? Whenever it is, I can’t foresee Coach Whipple being there when it happens. Needed to keep his job – at least 4 wins and to stay competitive in more games. Prediction – 2 wins and a quiet exit.
Rich Rodriguez (Arizona) – Remember what I said above about Todd Graham? I think RichRod is also in a hot seat but not nearly as hot as T-Graham’s. No improvement in the desert may seal his fate though. Needed to keep his job – being better than Arizona State. Prediction – will not be better than Arizona State…and will be fired for it (along with many other reasons).
Brian Kelly (Notre Dame) – Kelly suffers from two things: 1) the Irish got to the national championship not too long ago and 2) the expectations in South Bend are ALWAYS at least 10 wins. If he wasn’t such an insufferable prick at times I would feel sorry for him. Needed to keep his job – 10 wins. Did you not just read what I typed? Prediction – 8 wins and I am sure he will yell at at least one player in plain view of a camera in front of a national audience.
David Beaty (Kansas) – Poor Dave Beaty. Does he really have a chance in Lawrence to do anything except maybe (MAYBE) win four games at most? I fail to see how he can win more with the state the program is. God, I wish there was promotion/relegation. Needed to keep his job – 4 wins. Prediction – Half of that. Or 2 wins for the less mathematically inclined. Again, Poor Dave.

Possible Shitcanning

Lovie Smith (Illinois) – This isn’t the NFL, Lovie. I think he understands that now. An unenviable task in Champaign to turn around a program that has had little success in the past two decades (save the crazy 2007 season). Needed to keep his job – 4 wins but be competitive and look like they could be a bowl team next year. Prediction – 3 wins and the AD is going to have to take a long, hard look as to whether to retain Lovie or not.
Bret Bielema (Arkansas) – The SEC is still a gauntlet. Saying that, the SEC is not known for a ton of coaching turnover. One or two each season usually. Bielema has a tough task ahead as the SEC West especially is difficult to say the least. Needed to keep his job – Stay in the middle of the pack in the SEC West and at least scare one of Bama, Auburn, or LSU. Prediction – 7 wins and at least some fans calling for his firing.

Doubtful Shitcanning

Steve Addazio (Boston College) – This is the exact same spot Steve-O was in last year. And he came through with a 7-win season that led BC fans to still call for his head. Guy can’t catch a break! Needed to keep his job – Get to bowl eligibility again and hope the fans calm down a bit. Prediction – 4 wins and it will be tough not to move way up this list next year.
David Bailiff (Rice) – I remember when he was consistently getting the Owls to bowl games. I also remember when the Owls were in the Southwest Conference. Times change. Sometimes coaches have to as well. But maybe not quite yet with Mr. Bailiff. Needed to keep his job – some sense of improvement from last year’s down season. Prediction – they will improve even if it doesn’t show up in their record.
Tyson Summers (Georgia Southern) – One year in and the athletic department had to send out a press release saying Summers would be retained for this season. Confidence, gone. Needed to keep his job – 5 wins and at least look like a potential bowl team. Prediction – 5 wins and they will look like a bowl team for the most part.
Jim Mora (UCLA) – Jim needs the Rosen One to play like he has a shot at winning the Heisman this season. And I think it will happen. Not saying he will win the Heisman but he will be much improved and so will the Bruins. Needed to keep his job – 7 wins. Prediction – 9 wins and making USC sweat for the Victory Bell.
Chris Ash (Rutgers) – Coaching at Rutgers must be tough now that the team is firmly in the Big Ten basement. Let’s be honest: very few people want that job. Ash is a hero! Needed to keep his job – he’s safe since no one else wants it for now. Prediction – 3 wins and keeping Michigan under 60 points.
Butch Jones (Tennessee) – The Champions of Life. Butch really needs to learn to just shut his mouth and coach sometimes. Needed to keep his job – 9 wins and being a contender in the SEC East. Prediction – 10 wins and STILL….CHAMPIONS OF LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIFE…THE TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS!!!!

Done. That took too long. I don’t want to say I hope all these coaches get fired but I do like being accurate.

Next up will be my Heisman ballot. No one should give me a Heisman ballot. I will demonstrate why in the next post. After that will have to be…yes, it’s the FIRST SCHEDULE POST OF THE SEASON!!!!!!!!!!!!! Woohoo! Finally made it. We are four days out. Problem is, I still don’t know where all the U.S. College Sports Package channels have gone to now that they have been replaced by regional CTV channels which, in essence, replaced the need for Sunday Ticket since DAZN now has it. I will say this often I believe but if DAZN somehow gets a good college football package then I might be changing my tune about it.

Bossman's Blog

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

Tag Archives: South Bend

Everyone in the pool! – Week 10 College Football TV Schedule

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Well this certainly makes things interesting – Week 9 College Football Recap

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Could we be getting close to the end of the SEC on CBS?

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