More like Mari-No Cristobal, am I right? And the Week 7 College Football TV Schedule

Posted on October 10, 2023 by guelphbossman

If you missed it this past Saturday, one of the most egregiously bad coaching decisions in college football history occurred.

Miami had Georgia Tech beat. All they had to do was kneel down with 33 seconds left in the game and they would have escaped with a win over the Yellow Jackets. Tech had no timeouts. This is about the easiest call to make. A horrible high school football coach could figure it out. Not Mario though.

The Canes instead ran the ball and fumbled. The fumble was close. Honestly, if it had been called not a fumble and the runner down initially, I think it would have stayed that way. Instead, Georgia Tech got the ball back and went down the field and scored a touchdown with only a couple of seconds left (that play alone was ridiculous as Haynes King seemed to scramble forever and then found a relatively wide open Christian Leary for the TD pass).

Immediately, some harkened back to Cristobal doing almost the exact same thing when he was the head coach at Oregon. Kind of the same situation where a kneel down would almost certainly have got them the win over Stanford. Instead, the Ducks ran a play, fumbled, Stanford recovered and would go on to win in overtime.

Whether Cristobal survives this is debatable. Even with Miami still at 4-1, some Canes backers will want him gone unless they can at least be ranked at the end of the season. Either way, that set of events will go down in college football infamy.

OK enough of Fumblegate or Kneelgate or Cristogate or whatever some idiot will come up with for this. It’s schedule time!

Tuesday

		US	Canada
Louisiana Tech at Middle Tennessee	7:00
Coastal Carolina at Appalachian State	7:30
Liberty at Jacksonville State	7:30

Here we go. Conference USA weekday action. All October. No Saturday games. It’s like somewhat southern fried MACtion except not as good. Also throw in a Fun Belt game and you got a decent night of football.

Wednesday

		US	Canada
UTEP at FIU	7:30
Sam Houston at New Mexico State	9:00

The latter half of the first early week Conference USA set of games. Nothing super important here although we will see if Sam Houston can get their first FBS victory in program history.

Thursday

		US	Canada
Wagner at St. Francis	7:00
SMU at East Carolina	7:30
Fort Valley State at Benedict	7:30

This is easily the weirdest schedule segment I have ever put on my blog. The first ever NEC game appears as Wagner travels to St. Francis. Also, a rare Division II matchup between Fort Valley State and Benedict. Why is this D-II game on this Thursday night? Hell, if I know but it’s football so I will watch.

Friday

		US	Canada
Tulane at Memphis	7:00
Fresno State at Utah State	8:00
Stanford at Colorado	10:00

TSN going with the late game and not the early game is certainly a choice. Two things though: CFL football is on in the early window and TSN probably wants to get in on the Colorado ratings early-season juggernaut.

Saturday Early

This is not as good as your normal Nooner schedule. It’s surprising since most networks are trying to avoid going up against USC-Notre Dame in the primetime window and Oregon-Washington in the afternoon window. And yet still, the best game in this timeslot is arguably Syracuse-FSU (although I think Georgia Southern-JMU will be the better game).

UPDATE: Syracuse-FSU has been added to TSN+.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
California at #16 Utah	3:00
#8 Oregon at #7 Washington	3:30
Wake Forest at Virginia Tech	3:30
UMass at #6 Penn State	3:30
Texas A&M at #19 Tennessee	3:30
Troy at Army	3:30
BYU at TCU	3:30
FAU at USF	3:30
Illinois at Maryland	3:30
Florida at South Carolina	3:30
Ohio at Northern Illinois	4:00
Iowa at Wisconsin	4:00

OK now this is a timeslot. A ton of choice. The undisputed game of the week lands here along with a bunch of other tasty college football platters for our consumption. UW-UO is that big game of the week (year?) and will have a huge impact on the Pac-12 going forward (and even the national championship picture). TAMU-UT could be low-key good and Iowa-Wisconsin might just be for the Big Ten West title. Let’s see if Iowa can put up some offense for once.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
#14 Louisville at Pittsburgh	6:30
Wyoming at Air Force	7:00
Auburn at #22 LSU	7:00
Marshall at Georgia State	7:00
Arizona at #19 Washington State	7:00
#25 Miami at #12 North Carolina	7:30
#10 USC at #21 Notre Dame	7:30
Missouri at #24 Kentucky	7:30
NC State at #17 Duke	8:00
UAB at UTSA	8:00
#18 UCLA at #15 Oregon State	8:00

I already mentioned the big USC-Notre Dame game that appears here alongside UCLA-Oregon State which is another Pac-12 cannibalization game that I believe will keep the Pac-12 out of the College Football Playoff once again. You will notice that UF-SC is not on TSN+ even though it probably should be. I wonder if it’s an error in the current schedule as otherwise it would make absolutely no sense but would be right up TSN’s alley when it comes to college football broadcasting gaffes of the past.

UPDATE #2: Normally I would chastise myself for not waiting but didn’t have time to wait (thanks a bunch, Conference USA). Anyway, Mizzou-UK has been added to TSN+ as I thought would happen.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
Montana at Idaho	10:30
San Diego State at Hawaii	11:00

Ho boy. Is it an interesting schedule? Sure. But there isn’t much meat on the bone here. It does give Canadians the rare opportunity to participate in the Hawaii Test though.

Hey, Watch This!

Oregon at Washington (3:30, ABC/TSN+) – I have mentioned the Pac-12 and how they tend to cannibalize themselves often. It’s happened a few times in the past few years already. And it’s already rearing its ugly head again. Wazzu beat Oregon State and then promptly lost to UCLA. So yeah, no guarantees for the winner here except the fact they should be in the Top 5 with a win and will remain among the (quickly shrinking) land of the undefeated.

USC at Notre Dame (7:30, NBC) – This might have been considered for Game of the Week if the Irish had been able to beat Louisville last Saturday. A Trojan win here keeps them in at least of a share of the driver’s seat to go to Las Vegas for the Pac-12 Championship and conference supremacy. An Irish win and the Trojans cost themselves greatly and Caleb Williams’ chance at history could take a huge hit.

UCLA at Oregon State (8:00, FOX) – Man, this is truly the Pac-12’s week to shine. Five of the six teams in the games of the week reside in a conference that will be dead very soon. How sad. Anyway, the Beavers could put UCLA out of the mix at this point if they get the victory here. The Bruins would be the shock of the college football world if they could somehow make it to the Pac-12 Championship. It would also validate (finally) Chip Kelly’s hiring.

Missouri at Kentucky (7:30, specialty pack) – I mentioned above that this game was not on TSN+ and only on the specialty pack at this point. That should change but until I see it I won’t post it. Anyway, this section drops off a bit of a cliff after the top three games. Both of these teams had their chances last week to make serious noise in the SEC. The Wildcats got blasted by Georgia and the Tigers couldn’t outlast one of the other Tigers in the conference (LSU). The winner here still has an outside shot at the New Year’s Six with the loser being relegated to the third tier of the SEC East behind the winner and, of course, UGA.

Sickos Game of the Week

Wake Forest at Virginia Tech (3:30, TSN+/specialty pack) – Every conference network has their share of, let’s say, not-so-good games and this is certainly one of them. The Demon Deacons aren’t nearly as good as they have been in recent years and the Hokies are bordering on awful. Luckily for these two teams, Virginia and Boston College exist in the ACC. Honestly, there really aren’t too many seriously bad games that we can watch here so this will look better than most of the games that appear in this spot this season.

Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week

UMass at Penn State (3:30, Big Ten Network) – Good god. I wonder if the Nittany Lions can put an 80-burger on the board in this one. This will be bowling shoe ugly for sure.

Wanna Bet?

Look, I had Texas-Oklahoma being close. And it was. A great Red River Shootout as it almost always is. Some of my other picks….well…I’m looking at that Miami over Georgia Tech pick and shaking my head. Not because it was a bad pick: it’s because of what you saw at the top of our show. So let’s move on to this week and not dwell too much on the past.

New Mexico State 24 Sam Houston 21

Florida State 49 Syracuse 14

Michigan 54 Indiana 27

James Madison 47 Georgia Southern 10

Texas A&M 33 Tennessee 24 (mild upset)

FAU 45 USF 25

Washington 34 Oregon 31

TCU 35 BYU 21

Wisconsin 30 Iowa 10

Pittsburgh 31 Louisville 22 (fairly big upset!)

Kentucky 27 Missouri 21

Notre Dame 38 USC 35 (OT)

Oregon State 31 UCLA 19

Alright we shall see how busy I get. I am sure to wtch a fair amount of college football on Saturday but it might not be my usual all-day affair. I hate to say I hope for somewhat shitty weather on Fall Saturdays sometimes but I do. It gives me all the excuses I need to stay inside and be a slob and watch football.

Also, small apology for the blog post coming out after the games commenced this week. Starting the week on a Tuesday certainly creates a time crunch even with a holiday Monday. Anyway, enjoy the games everyone!

ALL. THE. SCHEDULES!!!!

Posted on July 9, 2023 by guelphbossman

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Power(ful) Two Thoughts

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

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

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

SOME JOHNSONIAN RHETORIC…..WOAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

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

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

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

Touchdown Jesus, Meet Purdue Pete

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

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

September 2nd	Fresno State at Purdue	Noon
September 2nd	Towson at Maryland	3:30 PM
September 2nd	Toledo at Illinois	7:30 PM
September 8th	Indiana State at Indiana	7:00 PM
September 9th	Youngstown State at Ohio State	Noon
September 9th	UTEP at Northwestern	3:30 PM
September 9th	Richmond at Michigan State	3:30 PM
September 9th	Eastern Michigan at Minnesota	7:30 PM
September 9th	Temple at Rutgers	7:30 PM
September 16th	Louisville vs. Indiana (in Indianapolis)	Noon
September 16th	Georgia Southern at Wisconsin	Noon
September 16th	Western Michigan at Iowa	3:30 PM
September 16th	Virginia Tech at Rutgers	3:30 PM
September 16th	Bowling Green at Michigan	7:30 PM
September 21st	Louisiana Tech at Nebraska	7:30 PM
September 23rd	Akron at Indiana	Noon
September 23rd	Maryland at Michigan State	3:30 PM
September 23rd	Florida Atlantic at Illinois	7:30 PM
September 30th	Louisiana at Minnesota	Noon
September 30th	Wagner at Rutgers	3:30 PM
September 30th	Indiana at Maryland	7:30 PM
October 7th	Howard at Northwestern	3:00 PM
October 14th	Iowa at Wisconsin	Noon
October 14th	UMass at Penn State	3:30 PM
October 14th	Indiana at Michigan	7:30 PM
October 21st	Rutgers at Indiana	Noon
October 21st	Wisconsin at Illinois	3:30 PM
October 28th	Maryland at Northwestern	2:30 PM
November 4th	Ohio State at Rutgers	Noon
November 4th	Iowa vs. Northwestern (in Chicago)	3:30 PM
November 4th	Nebraska at Michigan State	7:30 PM
November 11th	Northwestern at Wisconsin	Noon
November 11th	Minnesota at Purdue	3:30 PM
November 18th	Michigan State at Indiana	Noon
November 18th	Purdue at Northwestern	3:30 PM
November 18th	Rutgers at Penn State	7:30 PM
November 24th	Indiana at Purdue	3:00 PM
November 25th	Maryland at Rutgers	Noon
November 25th	Northwestern at Illinois	3:30 PM

B1G Country Notes (no, not Bryant Reeves)

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

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

Gee-Five Musings

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

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

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

Most Important Games of the 2023 College Football Season

Posted on June 25, 2023 by guelphbossman

Yeah I’m that fucking excited.

Spoiler alert: UConn does not appear on this list. If you were expecting them, I apologize for their absence.

Alright it’s time to start getting on the next season’s worth of college football posts and I always start with the most important games of the upcoming season. Remember last season when I did this post? I didn’t do three or four posts. I did one long-ass post. So guess what? No, we are not going back to three or four posts. It’s one massive post once again. I think it worked last year so I’m going back to the newer well rather than the older well that did me….well, over a bunch of years.

Now some might say “Bossman, it’s too early for this.” To them I say “Eat shit.” FBSchedules has their helmet schedules out and preview magazines are out. I’ve almost ready all of the Lindy’s one and I have the Athlon one ready to go right after. The Phil Steele magazine, the god damn granddaddy of them all, will be here in the next couple of weeks. So yeah I’m getting ready and yeah, it’s time to talk some college football.

Remember how this goes: I am listing the most important games that will shape the outcome of the entire college football season. Sure, Army-Navy is a huge game but unless either team is undefeated going into that one, the game means very little in the grand scheme of things, bowl-wise or other.

So boys and girls (maybe), how do we always start this post? That’s right, with the ranking of the weeks of the season. It is sponsored by the letter R and the number 0. Every year it is usually pretty close to the same. Week 2 is not all of a sudden going to be the biggest week of the college football season. It just never happens. So here are those rankings followed by some witty and potentially insightful banter (a reminder that the week is listed by the Saturday it corresponds to):

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

Sweet Jesus, Week 1 looks fucking awful. I mean it’s the first full week of the season so I will be all in but still…it’s like college football has taken several steps backwards from a few years ago when Week 1 was about the fifth or sixth-best week of the season and there were five or six HUGE games. This season, the opening week is highlighted by LSU/Florida State which is great. Then the quality falls off a massive cliff with the next biggest game being the annual Labour Day ACC clash, this time with Clemson and Duke. Woof. Three weeks in November, as per usual, are at the top with Week 11 being the top week this season. It was the same thing five years ago as the week is crammed with huge conference games. I don’t know if I can even call it SEC Sleepwalk/Sleepover/Shitbreak Week anymore as Week 12, the penultimate regular season week, is again near the middle of the rankings. Also, I don’t rate Week Zero. But it will be a ton of fun since it will be the first college football action in over 7 months. So yeah my eyeballs will be fucking glued to Navy/Notre Dame out in Dublin, Ireland, Hawaii/Vanderbilt and UMass/New Mexico State of course!

OK just like last year I will not be going week-to-week. I’m just listing the top games. The top 35 (up from 30) most important games of the college football season. I’ll do this list and then in late November we will all watch a team like Arkansas or Iowa or NC State play in a game that could send them well on their way to the College Football Playoff. It is what it is. Let’s get to the list! For this list, any confirmed broadcast info will be noted. Of course, nothing for TSN will be confirmed until like the night before any of these games because fuck you that’s why.

Ohio State at Michigan (Week 13, Noon, FOX, confirmed) – Chances are this is essentially for a spot in the College Football Playoff. Next year, this might be for a first-round bye in the CFP. How times change. Either way, this is unequivocally the biggest game of the season and the one where FOX sends basically everyone that works under the sports umbrella to work on the 83-hour BIG NUDE SATURDAY.
LSU at Alabama (Week 10, 8:00, CBS) – Alabama is pretty much the go-to pick for CBS’s lone primetime game of the season for the SEC and this year will be no different. This is the final SEC on CBS primetime game and should be a great one as these two teams are, once again, the pillars of the SEC West. The winner here is almost guaranteed (jury is still out on Ole Miss and TAMU) a spot in Atlanta to try and dethrone Georgia (probably).
Michigan at Penn State (Week 11, Noon, FOX, confirmed) – This game, like the first game on the list, could have national championship implications. It really is just a hair below the top two games on this list. FOX is hitting it out of the park with big games this season. I think the Big Ten might be just fine not being on ESPN/ABC going forward.
LSU at Florida State (Week 1, Sunday, 7:30, ABC, confirmed) – Two games in the top four for LSU means they will have a very tough road to get back to having some semblance of a shot at the College Football Playoff (or even the New Year’s Six). This seems like it could finally be the year that FSU returns to the top of the ACC mountain as Mike Norvell has his most talented team in Tallahassee. I love seeing ABC put a great game on the night before Labour Day. At least Week One can always rely on that.
Georgia at Tennessee (Week 12, 3:30, CBS) – If Joe Milton III continues to throw piss rockets like he did against Clemson in the Orange Bowl, this could ascend to Game of the Year territory. The Vols may have the best chance to beat the Dawgs with the game being at what should be a raucous Neyland Stadium. Not confirmed but I would be shocked if this isn’t CBS’s choice for the SEC on CBS this week.
Penn State at Ohio State (Week 8, Noon, FOX) – Man, GUS JOHNSON is getting a great set of games this season to call (if my predictions hold up). This is the final game on this list in the three-team Big Ten East Round Robin Tournament El Fantastico to determine which team (if not two) go to the CFP. I would say the Nittany Lions are pretty good underdogs here but they finally have a quarterback who looks like he can throw the ball downfield a bit so you never know. tOSU has question marks at QB so this could be quite the interesting matchup.
Florida State at Clemson (Week 4, 7:30, ABC/TSN2) – Could the Noles be the favourite here? It’s possible. Unlikely but I wouldn’t go much past a pickem for this one. With the Big Ten leaving ESPN/ABC, these primetime ABC slots open up a lot. And really, it is still the biggest timeslot of the week. This is the year the ACC has to hopefully grab as many of these as possible as next year…yeah, the SEC may end up with all of them.
Tennessee at Alabama (Week 8, 3:30, CBS) – Not going to lie: it is going to feel very weird when the SEC isn’t on CBS every Saturday afternoon. I guess that’s where a huge Big Ten game will go but I can’t see them getting most of the big games because FOX gets their pick of the litter most weeks. Going to be very interesting to watch going forward. Man, I thought figuring out this year’s schedule was difficult. Next year’s is going to seriously tough.
Ohio State at Notre Dame (Week 4, 7:30, NBC, confirmed) – The first non-conference affair on this list and it is a juicy one. Both teams should be undefeated coming into this one unless the Irish have an inexplicable loss like they had last season to Marshall or Stanford. If Touchdown Jesus pulls this one out, expect Sam Hartman to rocket up most Heisman lists.
Texas at Alabama (Week 2, 7:00, specialty pack) – This game is confirmed for ESPN but I have this funny feeling TSN won’t pick it up. Call it a CFL or US Open-based hunch. We shall see though. Let’s be clear: the Horns were fucking robbed of the win last year by the referees. This time they will have a chance to make up for that but it is not easy winning in Tuscaloosa. Ask almost every team that’s travelled there in the past decade-plus.
Utah at USC (Week 8, 7:30, ABC) – Hey, the Pac-12 has joined the party. This is the swansong season in the conference for the Trojans and they are hoping to win the conference championship in their final year. Winning games like these is a must for that to happen. This could be the game that either elevates Caleb Williams to college football history and only the second player to win two Heismans or destroy his chances at repeating.
Ohio State at Wisconsin (Week 9, 7:30, NBC) – Yeah I think NBC will get a couple good Big Ten games and this will be one of them it sounds like. Wisconsin has a new head coach and a new quarterback and a new offensive coordinator that won’t run the ball as much as Wisconsin is supposed to. Hmmm…that is going to feel very unAlvarez-like. At least the kids will get to jump around after the third quarter, testing the structure of Camp Randall like a bunch of engineers.
Washington at USC (Week 10, 3:30, specialty pack) – Again, I have this feeling that TSN will not show this game and that it will head to the specialty pack, much to the chagrin of regular Canadian cable subscribers (which I am not one of). It feels like either this game or the aforementioned Utes-Trojans game will be the game of the year in the conference and will decide at least one of the championship game participants (thanks to no divisions). It’s too bad FOX has their premiere game every week at Noon since this would be a great pick as their game of the week.
Ole Miss at Georgia (Week 11, 3:30, CBS) – Wouldn’t it be something if the Fighting Kiffins of Oxford upset UGA here? The entire college football world would be flipped upside down. And you know how I love upsets. We need another 2007!
Utah at Washington (Week 11, 3:30, TSN2) – Alright, the first game I predict will hit TSN that isn’t already on ABC. Kind of sad that TSN barely cares about their college football contract until bowl season when they suddenly show almost every bowl game despite also showing every World Juniors hockey game. Crazy. If Cam Rising is able to return for opening week then this could be a massive game. I am hoping for his sake (and for Utes fans’ sake) that is the case.
USC at Notre Dame (Week 7, 7:30, NBC, confirmed) – The traditional yearly matchup is back again and even with the Trojans moving to the Big Ten, this matchup will continue. By this point in the season, both of these teams should be in the Top 15 looking at a potential College Football Playoff berth. The loser here loses that and perhaps an NY6 spot.
Alabama at Texas A&M (Week 6, Noon, TSN3/TSN5) – OK I am sure you are looking at this and wondering if I suddenly developed brain damage. I truly believe that the Aggies will be a ton better than they were last season when they essentially bottomed out under Jimbo Fisher. Plus, the Aggies always play the Tide tough so they could throw a big-ass monkey wrench in the entire SEC West picture here with a win.
Notre Dame at Clemson (Week 10, 3:30, ABC) – OK so this is confirmed for ABC but the time is not confirmed. I am guessing it will be on in the afternoon with Kansas State-Texas being the ABC Primetime game. This could end up being switched if both the Irish and Tigers are undefeated going into this one. For once, Clemson isn’t the ACC favourite. It’s kind of refreshing. It will be interesting to see if Cade Klubnik, the next man up at quarterback, can lead the Tigers back to the promised land. I don’t see it but then again, I thought D.J. Uiagelelei was going to be the guy and he’s now out in the boonies of Oregon.
USC at Oregon (Week 11, 7:30, ABC) – Speaking of Oregon, the Trojans head there on Remembrance Day night (or I guess it’s Veterans Day down in the States). Yet another tough test for the Trojans. We all know what’s going to happen though. The best four or five Pac-12 teams will beat on each other and no team will get out unscathed so no team will go to the CFP yet again. That conference just loves to cannibalize itself.
Ole Miss at Alabama (Week 4, 3:30, CBS) – A bit of an early shit-test game for the Tide. A game that they should win but they may have trouble with because their opponent is so damn pesky and annoying. I mean it is Lane Kiffin’s boys so you expect the Ole Miss offense to chug along. Bet the over.
Oregon at Utah (Week 9, 7:30, ABC/TSN2) – Could the Utes fall back to the middle of the pack if they don’t have Cam Rising to start the season? Quite possibly. I mean seeing this game in the Top 25 games of the season means I clearly think Rising will be ready to play on opening night. If not, pray for the Utes since it could be a long season (comparatively…I mean they will still win 8 or 9 games regardless).
Washington at Oregon State (Week 12, 10:30, TSN2) – Hey remember when I mentioned D.J. Uiagelelei? Here’s where he ended up. The metropolis of Corvallis. The Beavs might actually have a contender if D.J. can do what he was supposed to do at Clemson. On the other side of the line, Michael Penix Jr. should be considered the Heisman favourite since I can’t see voters giving it to Caleb Williams again (unless he has an all-timer of a season).
Texas A&M at LSU (Week 13, 3:00, specialty pack) – I actually have this game on the SEC Network. Yeah it may sound weird but this has happened before. And that final week of the regular season is ridiculous for scheduling anyway. At least one of the conference networks ends up getting a beauty of a game. Now if this is somehow for the SEC West title then yeah, it won’t even sniff the SEC Network. But I feel it won’t be so it will end up there.
Oregon at Washington (Week 7, 8:00, FOX) – Last year’s game was crazy with the Huskies having a huge comeback win to keep their Pac-12 hopes alive and ruin Oregon’s. I wonder if Mario Cristobal wishes he was back in Eugene considering how piss poor his Miami Hurricanes did in his first season back with his alma mater.
Utah at Oregon State (Week 5, Friday, 9:00, FOX Sports One, confirmed) – And finally we get a game that, well, Canadians won’t get (unless you have IPTV or find some probably illegal stream). You know, for a stadium that’s been under construction and only holds 27,000, those games in Corvallis can sound VERY loud. Then again, when they start that chainsaw, that’s loud enough. You ever been near one of those? Sweet fucking Jesus they are loud with great ear protection so I can imagine what it’s like being within twenty feet of the thing.
LSU at Ole Miss (Week 5, Noon, TSN2) – A lot of people will feel like this is a game for second place in the SEC West but with Bama’s QB questions, this could hold a lot more importance than that. Not saying the division is a free-for-all but I have these two teams, Bama and even the Aggies having legitimate shots at winning the division so they can be pummeled by UGA in the SEC Championship.
Iowa at Penn State (Week 4, 7:30, CBS, confirmed) – The first game on this list that has the Big Ten on CBS (man that sounds weird). This is confirmed and I believe the Penn State Whiteout Game is also confirmed. To say it’s an intimidating sight for a visiting team would be an understatement.
South Carolina at Georgia (Week 3, 3:30, CBS, confirmed) – This may be the first game that feels like it might not be that close. Saying that, Shane Beamer has the Gamecocks playing great football and they have the enthusiasm and work ethic to give the Dawgs a very tough time. Problem is they are playing this game between the hedges and not at Williams-Brice. If UGA can’t win this by a bunch, the rest of the SEC East should take notice.
Oregon State at Oregon (Week 13, Friday, 8:30, FOX, confirmed) – This could be one of the biggest Civil War games ever. Oh wait, I can’t call it’s the Civil War, can I? Anyway, the winner of this game probably will have a good chance to be in the Pac-12 Championship.
Kansas State at Texas (Week 10, 8:30, FOX) – It took until the thirtieth game to get a Big XII conference game. Look, as much crap as the Pac-12 has taken over the Spring (and rightfully so), the Big XII might be at its weakest in a long time unless a few programs step up (Texas, Oklahoma, Baylor) or maintain what they did last season (Kansas State, TCU, Kansas). This conference should feel lucky that the Pac-12 is in such dire straits. The latest rumor has Colorado and Arizona headed to the Big XII and it wouldn’t surprise me but from a football standpoint…woof.
Texas A&M at Tennessee (Week 7, Noon, TSN3) – OK maybe I should have stopped at 30. No, no, I promised 35 for some strange reason and dammit I am going to pull through. I am actually looking forward to Texas A&M’s season for one reason…Bobby Fucking Petrino. At some point you know it will be a disaster in College Station. It is bound to happen. Until then though you have one of the best offensive minds in college football trying to push this Aggie team to the next level. Just tell him to steer clear of motorcycles and young female former athletes-turned-office staff.
Texas at TCU (Week 11, 7:00, FOX) – What a run the Horned Frogs had last year (if you don’t include the thrashing they took in the national championship game). They probably won’t be as good this season. To lose who they lost and somehow come back and do what they did would be almost impossible. Saying that, the Longhorns should not take this team lightly as they have struggled in the past with them even when TCU wasn’t that great. We should also definitely know by this point whether Quinn Ewers has completely taken that quarterback job or if Arch Manning’s time has arrived in Austin.
North Carolina at Clemson (Week 12, 7:30, ABC) – Look let’s not look past the Tar Heels. They have a Heisman candidate at quarterback in Drake Maye and sometimes that is enough to propel a team to an extra win or two, which is pretty much what UNC would need to get to the ACC Championship. Death Valley East is still Death Valley East and playing there at night is very difficult for opponents. But again, don’t look past the Heels and Mack Brown.
UCLA at USC (Week 12, 8:00, FOX) – Time once again for the Victory Bell and it is gonna feel weird. Final Victory Bell in the Pac-12. No DTR means possible trouble for the Bruins and if they can’t find a quarterback to lead them this season then this game has no right to be in the Top 35.
Clemson at South Carolina (Week 13, 7:00, TSN2) – My hope is that TSN does pick up the ball a bit for the final week of the season like they used to. It was 2019 when they were doing double digits’ worth of games for the final college football weekend. Now, we are lucky to get 4 or 5 which is crazy since there’s almost nothing to compete with it in the live sports arena. Anyway, it’s the Battle for the Palmetto State and it is usually a fun game that can get way too rough at times. Should be good. I hope.

Finished! Top 35 games of the season. I am sure there will be some that end up not coming close to being as important as I thought. That’s the nature of the game. Can’t always be right with these things. I will have another blog post shortly highlighting some other good (and perhaps not-so-good) games this season coming up shortly. 62 days left until Week Zero! Sure it’s not the best college football you will see all season but it will be college football so yeah I’m gonna fucking watch it all if I can! Have a great week, everyone!

The Week 5 College Football TV Schedule is important…but not as important as this

Posted on September 28, 2022 by guelphbossman

This happens almost every year. It’s hurricane season in Florida (and other parts of the southern United States). Scary times for the residents there. It’s a time where some need to make the decision of staying or leaving for a time, depending on the severity of the hurricane.

Which brings us to Hurricane Ian. It looks like it is going to batter a good part of the state. I hope the residents don’t get hit too hard with it. This does affect the college football schedule. Yes it’s a minor thing but considering the subject matter of this blog, I need to cover it. The following games have had their times and/or dates altered:

SMU at UCF has been moved to Sunday at 1:00
EWU at Florida has been moved to Sunday at Noon
SC State at South Carolina has been moved to Thursday at 7:00

More changes are coming I’m sure. The one interesting thing might be the ABC primetime game. It’s at Clemson. The Gamecocks have already moved their game from Saturday up to Thursday. This could be a very interesting scenario that hasn’t come into play ever for the big timeslot of the week.

UPDATE #3: SMU-UCF has now been moved to Wednesday night. No word if it will be shown here or not.

UPDATE #4: OK it looks like SMU-UCF will be Wednesday at 7:00 PM. The game will be on ESPN2 so there is a good chance it will be on the specialty pack as well.

Alright, let’s get to the schedule and see how this goes.

Thursday

Two games on tonight although originally it was supposed to only be the one. As I mentioned above SC State-USC was moved to Thursday because of Hurricane Ian. I don’t know why some games are being moved up and some are being moved back but I am sure there is a good reason for it. Anyway, both games should be blowouts so you can definitely check out the…wait a second…undefeated Miami Dolphins? OK then.

UPDATE: OK I see that games in Florida are being moved back because the hurricane is hitting there…well, pretty much right now. The hurricane will start moving up the east coast starting Friday night/Saturday early morning so it makes sense to move games in Georgia and South Carolina up to avoid that and allow road teams to leave the area before it hits.

Friday

A heavy Friday schedule with six games. That is quite unusual. One of these games is a rather big one as the somewhat surprising Washington Huskies travel to Los Angeles to face UCLA. Maybe the Bruins will finally get a good crowd for a game as the early attendance has been dismal. The Ivy League has their first game on ESPNU this season and we shall see if Boise State can turn around this season at all or if they will be pining for the return of Bryan Harsin the rest of the season.

Saturday Early

This is…different. It is the first time that the ACC Network has a game on multiple TSN channels. I’d have to look to see how often the ACC Network has been on TSN, period since I am sure I can count that on one hand. CBS has a doubleheader this week that starts with the first leg of the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy and ends at the normal SEC on CBS time later on. Finally, there is one quite big game that will fall under the radar this weekend and it occurs in Oxford. Kentucky and Ole Miss are both wanting to prove they are for real. A UK win here…that would make things awful interesting in the SEC East where I figured Georgia would easily win the division.

Oh you will notice the SEC Network doesn’t have a game in this timeslot. It was the one moved to Thursday night. Will they put another game here to replace it? Probably not.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
Oregon State at #12 Utah	2:00 PM
#22 Wake Forest at #23 Florida State	3:30 PM
Virginia Tech at North Carolina	3:30 PM
Rutgers at #3 Ohio State	3:30 PM
#2 Alabama at #20 Arkansas	3:30 PM
Fresno State at UConn	3:30 PM
Northwestern at #11 Penn State	3:30 PM
Iowa State at Kansas	3:30 PM
#9 Oklahoma State at #16 Baylor	3:30 PM
Michigan State at Maryland	3:30 PM
Central Michigan at Toledo	3:30 PM
#17 Texas A&M at Mississippi State	4:00 PM
California at Washington State	5:30 PM

OK now we are getting into weeks where some timeslots are loaded with good games. This is one of them. Wake-FSU, Bama-Hogs and Pokes-BU are all big games that could shape how the season pans out. And if you can watch them live and not have to use a PVR, all the better. I am thankful I don’t have to do that anymore.

Not everything makes sense though here. And it has more to do with the specialty packs than anything. There should be four games in this window on the specialty packs. Right now I only see one confirmed: TAMU-MSU. Why? It makes no sense. We know they will end up there. So just do it all at once. Then again, maybe they won’t because things almost seem worse than ever at times with these specialty packs. Just schedule all the games you’re allowed to show. It’s easy. I don’t get why this is so complicated. Christ, I’m getting worked up and I don’t even have cable anymore.

UPDATE #2: If I just waited a few minutes, I could have looked again and saw that the specialty packs were updated and all the games that should appear there, are appearing there.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
LSU at Auburn	7:00 PM
Cincinnati at Tulsa	7:00 PM
#10 NC State at #5 Clemson	7:30 PM
Indiana at Nebraska	7:30 PM
San Jose State at Wyoming	7:30 PM
West Virginia at Texas	7:30 PM
#1 Georgia at Missouri	7:30 PM
Georgia Tech at #24 Pittsburgh	8:00 PM

NC State-Clemson. A huge ACC game. And I have this funny feeling it will be moved, rescheduled, something. I mentioned it above and I will say it again. It really makes no sense for South Carolina to move their home game up two days and Clemson, a mere two hours away, is doing nothing at this point. Just feels like a disaster waiting to happen. Fingers crossed nothing bad occurs.

As for the rest of the primetime schedule, it’s alright. LSU-Auburn get an undeserved ESPN spot, Georgia is yet again on the SEC Network, and we will see if Georgia Tech learned what not to do from the Geoff Collins era.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
Colorado at Arizona	9:30 PM
UC-Davis at Montana State	10:15 PM
Arizona State at #6 USC	10:30 PM
Stanford at #13 Oregon	11:00 PM

Four games in the late night sked and one really stands out like a sore thumb. Yes you are reading that correctly: the game on ESPNU will be UC-Davis against Montana State. ESPN has done this before, putting a Big Sky match on in the late night window because there wasn’t much else to put on there. This is especially the case now with ESPN not having Mountain West games. So it’s Pac-12 or bust and if any other network has Pac-12 games, it really dials back the inventory they can choose from. There’s three Pac-12 games on in this window but one is on the Pac-12 Network and another on FOX Sports One. So yeah, either ESPNU shows the FCS game, a rerun of an HBCU game (which they do from time-to-time) or something that isn’t live sports that won’t get the same ratings.

Big Games O’ The Week

NC State at Clemson (7:30, ABC) – One of the games of the year and, I would say, a pretty easy choice for Game of the Week. Let’s see if D.J. Uiagalelei can keep things going and play well enough to beat a very good Wolfpack team. No offense to Wake Forest but this is the Tigers’ greatest competition of the regular season. Win this and they are a win over Florida State away from going back to the ACC Championship. If the Pack win…ho boy this gets very interesting.

Kentucky at Ole Miss (Noon, TSN2) – Did I fool you there? You thought another SEC game would fall here. Not so fast. This game has a lot on the line and will send the winner into the hype zone, at least for the immediate future. Don’t want to use the terms “College Football Playoff” or “New Year’s Six” here for two teams that aren’t used to that much success (especially Kentucky) but you’ll hear that during the broadcast, I can guarantee that.

Alabama at Arkansas (3:30, CBS) – This is the game that most people would have put at least in the #2 spot and I wholeheartedly disagree. I believe Bama won’t have a ton of trouble with the Hogs. I’d love to see the Razorbacks win; mostly because I love chaos in college football. But until they show they can hang with the Tide, then I can’t believe they will get it done. Now watch them put up a 40-burger against them just to prove me wrong.

Oklahoma State at Baylor (3:30, FOX) – Yeah I’m going to go ahead and call this Okie State’s first true test of the season. No offense to Central Michigan, Arizona State or mighty Arkansas-Pine Bluff but they don’t hold a candle to the Bears. Also, I am waiting to see if Spencer Sanders truly can take this team to new heights since I have never been fully impressed with him.

Wake Forest at Florida State (3:30, ABC) – Look, Wake Forest isn’t completely out of the ACC Atlantic race just yet. To get back in the race, though, they have to win here. The Noles have finally found their footing under Mike Norvell and want the opportunity to at least play for the division later in the season.

Washington at UCLA (Friday, 10:30, TSN2) – I never would have thought I’d have this game on the list when the season started. The Huskies are better than advertised. The Bruins…well at least we can say they are undefeated. They haven’t made it look easy and they haven’t exactly played tough competition. A Friday night test for both teams.

Oklahoma at TCU (Noon, ABC) – The Sooners came crashing down to Earth last week against Kansas State…kind of. I think part of this is the horrendous non-conference schedule they had with no real competition. More teams really have to get away from that kind of thinking as it never prepares them for conference season. At least TCU had SMU last week after beating the worst Power Five team in the land, Colorado, and Tarleton State, who honestly might beat Colorado if they played each other.

Psycho Game of the Week

Colorado at Arizona (9:30, YouTube) – You have to be some kind of sick to want to watch this. Sure, the Wildcats are improved but they couldn’t have been any worse than they were last season. And the Buffs…my God. They are seriously awful. If they lose this one, the Karl Dorrell hot seat talk will be top of the list in that state (at least when it comes to college football).

Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week

Rutgers at Ohio State (3:30, BTN) – With all due respect to the Fighting Schianos of Piscataway, this won’t be close. I am almost thinking of praying for Rutgers to keep tOSU under 60 points in this one.

Fun-Time Stats of the Week

BYU and Utah State are actually in a trophy game on Thursday. They play for the Old Wagon Wheel. The Cougs have won it 17 times since 1994.
The only team that Boise State has a losing record against in the Mountain West is San Diego State.
The Crimson Tide have won 15 in a row against Arkansas.

The Degenerate Portion of Our Show

I’m not going to delve into my picks from last week. I just won’t. You shouldn’t either. Let’s just move on to this week’s picks:

Houston (-2.5) over Tulane
UNLV (-14.5) over New Mexico
Illinois (+7) over Wisconsin (Wisky to win game)
Oklahoma (-6.5) over TCU
Oregon State (+10.5) over Utah (Utes to win game)
Fresno State (-24) over UConn
Penn State (-26.5) over Northwestern
Florida State (-7) over Wake Forest
Auburn (+9) over LSU (and the Tigers to win outright in my upset of the week)
NC State (+6.5) over Clemson (Tigers win a close one)
Pittsburgh (-22) over Georgia Tech
Arizona State (+25) over USC (USC will win the game)
Oregon (-17) over Stanford

I will keep watching and keep you up to date on anything that changes the schedule due to Hurricane Ian. It already looks bad along Florida’s west coast and the storm just hit. Hopefully there are no casualties down that way.

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

Posted on August 21, 2022 by guelphbossman

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Almost Guaranteed Shitcanning

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

Probable Shitcanning

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

Possible Shitcanning

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

Doubtful Shitcanning (although it still could happen)

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

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

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

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

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

Honourable Mention

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

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

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

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

Power Five….Power Four? Power THREE?

Posted on August 15, 2022 by guelphbossman

Really, who knows what we are looking at in the next few years. For sure, the two conferences on the left are the major players. I would be very shocked if neither conference went to 18 teams by 2025. As for the other three conferences, it’s a big game of conference chicken right now. I would say the Big XII has the slight upper hand at this point but that could change in an instant. So if you love realignment, ho boy, you must have a raging hard-on right now (and will for the next few years).

OK enough of that disgusting talk. Let’s get to the meat of this post. The Power Five conference predictions. All of them. Don’t lie, you liked all the Group of Five conference (and Independent) predictions in the last post, DIDN’T YOU? So one more time, I will cram as much information down your gullet I possibly can without choking you to death with college football information. Let’s begin.

Let’s start with the….well I can’t call them the undisputed king of conferences anymore because the Big Ten is making a big charge at them. Saying that, I can still call them #1…for now. Here are the predicted SEC standings followed by some grits and chitlins and other weird Southern “delicacies.”

	Conference		Overall
East	W	L	W	L
Georgia	8	0	12	0
Tennessee	5	3	9	3
Florida	5	3	8	4
Kentucky	3	5	7	5
South Carolina	3	5	6	6
Missouri	1	7	4	8
Vanderbilt	0	8	2	10
West
Alabama	8	0	12	0
Texas A&M	7	1	11	1
Ole Miss	4	4	8	4
Arkansas	4	4	7	5
Auburn	3	5	7	5
LSU	3	5	7	5
Mississippi State	2	6	6	6

Chitlins…GROSS!

Who the fuck figured out to eat the large intestine of a hog?
Yep, two undefeated teams coming from the SEC. Bama and UGA don’t play each other during the regular season. UGA has a relatively easy schedule (in an SEC sense). Yes they have Oregon in a neutral-site game to start the season but they avoid the Tide, Aggies and Ole Miss out of the West. Lucky Dawgs!
As for the Fighting Nick Sabans, damn near everyone has them running the table, at least during the regular season, and I am going right along with that prediction. Other than their matchup against TAMU (at home) and Ole Miss in Oxford, I can’t foresee any close games all season.
As for the Aggies and their weird traditions (just watch a Midnight Yell practice…it’s fucking bizarre), I see them ending up one game short of getting to the SEC Championship. Also one game short of the College Football Playoff. Critics of Jimbo Fisher will find a way to make this sound like a failure of a season if they do comfortably make it to the New Year’s Six.
As per usual, the SEC West is an absolute minefield. The worst team is Mississippi State and they wouldn’t be last in any other conference…not by a long shot. Unfortunately, Bama’s continued dominance and TAMU and Ole Miss not falling at all will mean the rest of the teams are playing for fourth.
The Tennessee Volunteers are my Drinking The Kool-Aid pick of the year. I’m buying that they will be improved enough to be on the precipice of a double-digit win season. I can see them beating Pitt and South Carolina on the road and being perfect at home. Now watch them go 5-7 and make me look like a dummy.
Conference Championship prediction: Alabama 38 Georgia 30. Closer than last year’s win by the Tide but still not enough for UGA.

When are they going to change the name of this conference? Just call it the BIG Conference now or something like that. Big Ten. For a conference with sixteen schools. Schools. Educational institutions. And they can’t count. Glorious. Anyway, here are the predictions followed by some BTN After Dark comments:

	Conference		Overall
East	W	L	W	L
Ohio State	8	1	11	1
Michigan	8	1	11	1
Michigan State	6	3	9	3
Penn State	6	3	8	4
Maryland	4	5	7	5
Indiana	1	8	3	9
Rutgers	1	8	3	9
West
Wisconsin	6	3	9	3
Minnesota	6	3	9	3
Purdue	6	3	9	3
Nebraska	5	4	8	4
Iowa	5	4	8	4
Northwestern	1	8	4	8
Illinois	0	9	3	9

BTN After Dark Comments

I am so looking forward to Rutgers travelling clear across the country to face UCLA on Big Ten Network starting at 10:30 at night.
Can The Fighting Ann Arbor Khaki Warriors repeat as Big Ten champs? To be honest, I don’t think they will even repeat as Big Ten East champs. It will come down to their big matchup with tOSU two days after American Thanksgiving. This one is in Columbus so I am giving the nod to the Buckeyes here which will be huge when it comes to what The Committee has to look at.
You know, considering how good the Terps’ recruiting has been lately, do you think they kind of wish, money aside, that they were back in the ACC? Not saying they could beat Clemson but man, they would look like a really good team there.
The Big Ten West is going to be ridiculous. I just have this feeling. Five teams within one game of each other. Yes, even Nebraska is in there. In the end, Wisconsin will win some sort of game of Spin The Bottle, except using an ear of corn, and end up getting to the Big Ten Championship where they can scare the Buckeyes for a quarter-and-a-half.
Conference Championship prediction: Ohio State 32 Wisconsin 10. As I said in the previous point, this will be close well into the second quarter and then the Buckeyes will decide enough’s enough and do away with Wisky on their way to the CFP.

I think that right there tells you all you need to know about what’s going on with the rest of the Power Five. The ACC, at this point, might as well chill since their contract with ESPN lasts for more than another decade and any change would require a hell of a lot more money to leave than what USC and UCLA will have to deal with.

Now, there are rumblings that ESPN is stepping in and trying to broker an ACC/Pac-12 merger of sorts but I can’t see that happening to be perfectly honest with you. As long as the Big Ten or SEC doesn’t decide to poach any of their members (which is still a possibility), they should be fine for the time being. Alright, let’s get to the predictions, followed by a bong hit or five:

	Conference		Overall
Atlantic	W	L	W	L
Clemson	8	0	11	1
NC State	7	1	11	1
Florida State	5	3	8	4
Louisville	5	3	7	5
Wake Forest	4	4	8	4
Boston College	3	5	6	6
Syracuse	1	7	3	9
Coastal
Miami	6	2	9	3
Pittsburgh	6	2	9	3
Virginia Tech	4	4	6	6
North Carolina	4	4	6	6
Virginia	2	6	5	7
Georgia Tech	1	7	2	10
Duke	0	8	2	10

Hey Dude

I’ve honestly thought of going to one of those cannabis shops to see what’s there. It’s basically punishable by death here (in this condo area) to have anything weed-related so I’d have to be super sneaky about it.
Hey, is Clemson back on top? Sure looks like it although NC State is going to give them a serious run for their money. Both teams look like they are a tier above the rest (sorry Miami and Pitt) and their game on October 1st will probably be for the division title. High stakes for sure.
Coastal Chaos is…not back. Speaking of the Canes and Panthers, they are also a step above all the other teams in that division. They will battle it out in another important ACC game on American Thanksgiving weekend which might just decide who gets their shit pushed in by the Tigers or Wolfpack.
I don’t consider this a Kool-Aid pick. Florida State will be better. No stupid upset losses to FCS schools. Just the slow ascent back to, potentially, the top of the ACC. Same goes for Louisville (without the FCS issue).
I did have Wake also in the ACC title hunt but the news that Sam Hartman will be out for at least a bit is a massive worry in Winston-Salem. He steers the ship and without him, sorry Deacs fans, the offense just doesn’t go like it normally does.
Remember last year when I had North Carolina bullying their way into the College Football Playoff? Yeah, not falling for that this time, Mack.
Conference Championship prediction: Clemson 47 Miami 14. Yeah this won’t be close.

OK now we get to the first of the quasi-feuding brothers (sisters? cousins?). The Big XII is adding four teams next season and is pushing hard to get the rest of the Pac-12 teams to join them. It’s almost a certainty Oregon and Washington would rather drop football than join this conference but the rest of the schools remaining could very well be up for grabs, especially the two Arizona schools and the Mountain region schools. Until the next shoe drops, though, it’s another year of the Big XII with X schools. Here are my predictions followed by musings from a pissed off Count Von Count:

	Conference		Overall
	W	L	W	L
Baylor	8	1	10	2
Oklahoma	8	1	10	2
Texas	7	2	9	3
Oklahoma State	7	2	9	3
TCU	4	5	6	6
Iowa State	4	5	6	6
Kansas State	3	6	6	6
West Virginia	2	7	4	8
Texas Tech	2	7	3	9
Kansas	0	9	2	10

ZERO! ZERO FUCKS GIVEN! AH AH AH!

Funny that if things stay as they are, the Big XII will actually get back to twelve teams so at least one conference understands preschool math.
The bottom of the Big XII looks to be the same. Kansas at the bottom. Texas Tech not far from them. And it always feels like one of West Virginia, Kansas State or TCU ending up in eighth. Will this change with the newcomers? I’m gonna say no.
Not quite their swan song in the conference but I see the Sooners, despite all the defections, getting back to the Big XII Championship. They are just too deep a team to not contend for, at the very least, a NY6 spot. I expect Baylor to continue to do well under Dave Aranda and join OU at JerryWorld.
Conference Championship prediction: Baylor 25 Oklahoma 23. Yeah I am predicting the Bears to finish the Big XII Championship State of Oklahoma sweep by beating the Sooners in a very close game.

I remember doing a post eight years ago on my Pac-12 predictions. Here is what I said in that post:

The Pac-12 has become the de facto second best conference in the land and it’s by a long shot as well.

Wow. I mean eight years is a long time but the fall off the cliff of the Pac-12 started not long after this post. It has been a near-disastrous eight years for the Conference of Champions in football and with USC and UCLA leaving for the Big Ten things are looking even worse for the soon-to-be Pac-10.

Look, let’s just get to the predictions before I make Bill Walton cry:

	Conference		Overall
North	W	L	W	L
Oregon	9	0	11	1
Oregon State	4	5	7	5
Washington	4	5	6	6
California	3	6	5	7
Washington State	3	6	5	7
Stanford	3	6	4	8
South
Utah	8	1	10	2
UCLA	7	2	10	2
USC	6	3	9	3
Arizona State	4	5	6	6
Arizona	2	7	3	9
Colorado	1	8	1	11

Bill Walton’s Tears

Hey remember I had U of A being terrible last year and I was right? Well, this year I am doubling down with the Colorado Buffaloes. I have a feeling Karl Dorrell is going to be taking a lot of ibuprofen this season. And may start drinking if he doesn’t already do so.
I see a lot of experts saying USC is going to win the Pac-12 South. They will be better, there’s no doubt about it. But win the division after going 4-8 last year? Let’s pump the brakes a bit. I think Lincoln Riley is still a season away from really pushing USC to the heights they were at during the Pete Carroll era.
So who will win the South Division? I think Utah repeats as South Division champions but it will be UCLA that will give them the toughest time. The Bruins should be really good…like New Year’s Six good. Now watch them go 4-8 and Chip Kelly get fired.
As for the North Division, Oregon should clinch by Thanksgiving…our Thanksgiving. There is no one close to them.
Conference Championship prediction: Utah 32 Oregon 20. Closer than last year but this time the Utes will destroy the Ducks’ dreams of the CFP.

There you go! All conference standings predictions complete! Next up I will put it all together and tell you who I think will win the whole thing. Have a great week everyone!

The Student Finally Defeats the Master – Week 6 College Football Recap

Posted on October 11, 2021 by guelphbossman

Up until early Saturday evening, Nick Saban had been 24-0 against his former assistants. 24-0. That’s like an Undertaker-like streak. Completely insane. Then came the game.

The Aggies came out strong and it looked like the Crimson Tide defense was struggling. Yes we had seen this earlier in the year but it’s not like things had gone off the rails for them. But Bama’s offense could only do so much and couldn’t pull away. And even though TAMU was keeping pace, it felt to me (and I assume a lot of others) that eventually the Tide would win. Until Seth Small hit the field goal with no time left to clinch the Aggie victory, I still thought the Tide would pull it off, somehow. That’s just what they do. This time it did not happen. The field goal was good (barely) and the fans stormed the field. The mighty Alabama Crimson Tide had been defeated, 41-38 in a thriller.

For people saying this is starting to feel like 2007, you might want to tuck that away. This is shaping up as being way more volatile than 2007 could ever think to be. I’ve said something every week about this and major things continue to happen. We aren’t even halfway through the season. And this past week could have been considered one of the best Saturdays of college football in a long time. A lot of good games, a lot of close games and just a lot of shit happening that is turning the college football world upside down. If it’s chaos you want, this season is bringing it. Now let’s see what pitfall Georgia will fall victim to because we kind of know that’s coming, right?

Let’s get right to the recap as it was a fun (for the most part) 14+ hours of football.

And now for the rest of the recap

A great game down in Iowa City this past weekend. Iowa grinded out a victory over Penn State in a Top 5 matchup. Sean Clifford was knocked out of the game in the second quarter with the Nittany Lions leading 17-3 and the offense fell apart. Iowa’s defense saved the day and now the Hawkeyes have legit College Football Playoff aspirations. I think everyone agrees except for one Penn State fan who was pretty upset that I had mentioned Iowa and the CFP. He basically said I was dumb and that Iowa should be ranked 6th in the new poll, so three spots down…after a win. Riiiiiiiiiiight. I mentioned Iowa should be #3 and I will admit I was wrong. They are actually #2 now. My mistake.
An absolutely insane game went down at the Cotton Bowl for the Red River Shootout and it’s no surprise since this game is almost always nuts. Texas looked like they had Oklahoma on the ropes early. Then Spencer Rattler was benched so I assume most thought it was over. But Caleb Williams came in and did a good job in bringing the Sooners all the way back from a 21-point deficit to win the game. Let’s be honest here though: the combination of Kennedy Brooks going crazy (including what was essentially a walk-off touchdown to win the game) and the Longhorn defense self-destructing was what gave Boomer Sooner the big win. Oklahoma had looked like the worst undefeated Top 10 team in quite some time but this victory could be a turning point for a team who may not meet an equal until Bedlam in late November.
How about that game down in Lincoln? As the game went along, I really started to believe that finally the Huskers, under Scott Frost, would get that huge victory to start turning the program around. Man, was I wrong. In typical heartbreaking fashion, Nebraska blew the game late and allowed Michigan a late game-winning field goal. The Wolverines honestly looked pretty pedestrian for a good portion of the game. They really can’t be like that going forward considering how brutally difficult the Big Ten East looks. As for Nebraska, oof. Another loss, another black mark on Scott Frost’s record and unless things turn around I could see the program moving on since nothing is really improving at the end of the day.
Speaking of hot seats, there was another great game on the night, this one in Blacksburg. It felt like the Hokies would hand Notre Dame their second straight loss and almost destroy their New Year’s Six chances. Instead, Jack Coan, who played like shit early on, came on, drove the Irish down the field for the touchdown and game-tying two-point conversion and then drove them again for the winning field goal with only 17 seconds remaining. Great performance but Virginia Tech had their chances to stop the Irish as their defense had been pretty good in the second half. Unfortunately they came up short and Justin Fuente’s seat gets juuuuuuust a bit hotter.
To start Saturday there was the Arkansas-Ole Miss game which was basically drugs. So damn ridiculous and completely defense-optional. Both offenses went crazy and both teams got 50-burgers on the day. It came down to the end where Sam Pittman decided he has balls the size of coconuts and would go for 2 and the lead instead of the extra point to send it to overtime. The pass fell incomplete and the Rebels won a game that raised the blood pressure of both team’s fanbases. Now the Rebel fans can truly enjoy that popcorn.
Let history show that the Auburn Tigers were, at one point, tied with the Georgia Bulldogs 3-3. I’m sure most fans on The Plains who watched the game would love to just remember up to that point and forget the rest. Georgia proved they are the undisputed number one team in the land (for now) as they destroyed Auburn by 24. And this is with Stetson “The Mailman” Bennett at quarterback. What happens when J.T. Daniels comes back? Or do they platoon? This team has looked better than Bama all season and now they will have the #1 ranking to back that up. Their next two games against Kentucky and Florida will either prove that’s where they belong or bring them back down to Earth a bit.
I didn’t think Florida State could keep close with North Carolina. So what did they do? Just beat them fairly easily and look as good as they were back in the Jameis Winston days (OK maybe not THAT good but still pretty good). I am ruing the day I decided to be a smart guy and pick North Carolina as my chic pick to get to the College Football Playoff. I feel like an idiot. So they can now go 3-9 for all I care since it doesn’t really matter anymore (to me, anyway).
Another game that was bonkers that no one saw was the game between South Alabama and Texas State. I believe this is the longest game since they changed the overtime rules yet again. I am not a fan of the new rules. If you don’t know, starting in the second overtime, you must go for two after a touchdown and then starting with the third overtime, it becomes a two-point conversion contest. The college football equivalent of hockey’s shootout. Ugh. Anyway, this game went to four overtimes and there were so many reviews it got ridiculous. Like the replay booth was being paid per review. Texas State won after stopping USA’s two-point conversion attempt.
If I told you in, say, August of 2020 that Ed Orgeron would be on one of the hottest seats in the nation by October of 2021 you would have thought I was smoking crack. But LSU’s loss to Kentucky this past Saturday will put Coach Eaux in that seat. Look, Kentucky is a damn good team and losing to them is not a bad thing. Not looking competitive when you are a team that should be in the Top 25 range is a different story altogether. The team looks like there is a lack of effort and it shows. The next few weeks will probably help determine Eddie O’s future.
Ugh what a fall from grace for BYU. The Cougars were stunned by Boise State and are now not undefeated. Unless a lot of truly wacky things occur (and I’m not saying they won’t), BYU’s chances of the New Year’s Six are essentially gone. What does this mean? It means when they do become bowl-eligible they will be locked in to the Independence Bowl in Shreveport. Yuck. Imagine dropping from a potential Fiesta Bowl berth to that. Brutal.
Put up your hand if you thought Wake Forest…ok I am going to stop there since no one really thought much of Wake Forest this season. OK that’s not totally true. I had them going 9-3 this season and many had them in the 6-8 win range. But to think this team is the only ACC hope left for the College Football Playoff in mid-October? Yeah, no one thought that. Wake had to survive a surprisingly tough Syracuse team, in overtime, to stay undefeated. Now, with their next three games against Army, Duke and North Carolina, it looks like the Deacs could be 9-0 and firmly in the Top 10 when they host NC State in mid-November. They have Clemson and Boston College after that so they have a rough end of the season to look forward to but get through all those unscathed? They could make some history in December.
Welp, Oregon State’s time in the sun went quick. The Beavers were looking like they could make some hay in the Pac-12 with all the turmoil in the conference. Instead, they shit the bed and lost to a Washington State team who’s biggest news has been coach Nick Rolovich and his absolute refusal to get the COVID vaccine. That conference is an absolute mess.
Another great game was shockingly at the Naval Academy. No I’m not kidding. The Midshipmen played undefeated SMU very tough. The Ponies needed a fourth quarter touchdown and a couple of big defensive stops to escape Annapolis with the W. I think Navy, despite being 1-4, is probably quite a bit better than their record indicates. SMU? They are very lucky considering some of the games they’ve been in this season. If they can win their next four, a massive, probably primetime, game with Cincinnati looms large.
Louisville…ugh. They had the game won against Virginia. But instead of going for it on 4th and about 3 fairly deep in Hoos territory, they kicked the field goal. Then their defense allowed Virginia to drive the length of the field in two minutes for the touchdown and the win. Cowardly coaching from Scott Satterfield and it might cost him his job. And did anyone think this Cavaliers team would be 4-2 at this point? I highly doubt it. The ACC is another conference that’s just a dog’s breakfast (other than Wake Forest).
Finally, UTSA was able to outlast Western Kentucky’s potent offense. Quietly, the Roadrunners are 6-0, undefeated, and no one is noticing. So what happens if this team finishes undefeated? My guess is they will get no respect in the polls but they really should, despite the conference they are in.

Alright that was seriously fun. And the late night schedule was light so it made it easier to pay a bit of attention rather than have my full attention which can get tiring into the wee hours of the morning. Alright, let’s now look at the Bossman Top 25:

#1	Georgia
#2	Iowa
#3	Cincinnati
#4	Oklahoma
#5	Ohio State
#6	Oregon
#7	Alabama
#8	Michigan
#9	Penn State
#10	Ole Miss
#11	Notre Dame
#12	Michigan State
#13	Coastal Carolina
#14	Kentucky
#15	Oklahoma State
#16	Wake Forest
#17	Florida
#18	Texas A&M
#19	Arkansas
#20	BYU
#21	Arizona State
#22	NC State
#23	Auburn
#24	Clemson
#25	SMU

Yes there are a few somewhat glaring differences between my poll and the AP Poll and that happens of course. I have Alabama at #7 and they only dropped to #5 in the AP Poll. AP dropped Oregon whereas I moved them up to #6 since they didn’t play so why should they drop? You can put the #8 through #12 teams in a hat and mix them up and any combination would probably be fine. A lot is going to happen for these teams the next three weeks so no point in getting all bent out of shape about it now. And I did mention undefeated UTSA earlier. I also don’t have them in my Top 25 but they are just outside of it meaning a win next week should put them in. Finally, I got Coastal at #13 and they are #15 in the AP Poll and Coaches Poll. I have a feeling they may get to #12 or even #11 but that would be their ceiling unless a lot of crazy shit happens to the teams currently above them. Which, considering the way this season has gone, wouldn’t surprise me one bit.

WEEKDAY FUN BELT ACTION! Yes, it’s that time of year that we start getting more weekday football. And this one, between Appalachian State and Louisiana, is a pretty big game. And it’s tomorrow night! Hell yeah! God, I love Tuesday and Wednesday night college football. Kind of feels like now we can say that Autumn has truly commenced. Have a good week everyone!

Urban Warfare – Week 6 College Football TV Schedule

Posted on October 6, 2021 by guelphbossman

OK I know this is an NFL issue but really it does have college connections. If you don’t know what’s going on with Urban Meyer…actually, you know what I will just assume you will know he got wasted and tried fingering a younger woman’s ass on the dance floor after she was grinding on him. Gonna be honest I have never had that happen to me but then again I’m not a multi-millionaire former college/current NFL coach so there’s that. So now Urban has gone in to full blown PR apology mode. His press conference was ridiculous where he wouldn’t even look into the camera or at the people asking him questions. Supposedly the team has no confidence in him anymore although I wonder why they would have had confidence in him in the first place since he has a history of things “happening” when things aren’t going his way. Not saying he didn’t do this on purpose to get fired but you never know with this guy. He obviously doesn’t give a shit about his wife and family so there’s also that. Like why do trust this guy to coach? Oh that’s right, he won. A lot. No one gives a shit if you’re a complete asshole if you win/are successful. That seems to be the modus operandi of society in general. The fact that people may be shocked by this is ridiculous.

Anyway, how does this relate to college football? Come on, really? There is one job opening available that’s lucrative with another on the way (probably). The Urban Meyer to USC (or Miami) chatter has started and it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if this was his angle. If these schools had any dignity they wouldn’t hire the fucker but, again, winning is the only thing so these schools will do whatever it takes. Let’s be honest: all you have to do is look at a bunch of college football programs, see the issues that have happened there, and realize that many of these coaches get away with way too much and are way too powerful on campus. The sooner this type of crap ends, the better. But it won’t so I’ll just stop right there.

Enough of the rant, let’s get to the schedule.

Thursday

		US	Canada
Houston at Tulane	7:30 PM
#15 Coastal Carolina at Arkansas State	7:30 PM

Uncle Dana may have a good thing going in H-Town. It would really suck for them to stumble in New Orleans. Same goes for the Chants but I think they will have an easier time of it.

Friday

		US	Canada
Charlotte at FIU	7:00 PM
Temple at #5 Cincinnati	7:00 PM
Morgan State at Howard	8:00 PM
Stanford at #22 Arizona State	10:30 PM

Four games and only one that could end up being truly interesting. Weeknight Pac-12 After Dark could be fun with a pretty good ASU team hosting a Stanford team coming off a massive (albeit controversial) upset of Oregon. I am just going to assume that Cincy has to win by 50 to stay in the Top 5.

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
#6 Oklahoma vs. #21 Texas (in Dallas)	Noon
#11 Michigan State at Rutgers	Noon
Northern Illinois at Toledo	Noon
#13 Arkansas at #17 Ole Miss	Noon
South Carolina at Tennessee	Noon
Maryland at #7 Ohio State	Noon
Vanderbilt at #20 Florida	Noon
Georgia Tech at Duke	12:30 PM

As big as last week? No, but still fairly good. Five games with ranked teams and two with some ranked team-on-ranked team violence. The biggest game in this timeslot is, by far, the Red River Shootout. And again I will mention that this will never be in primetime because of the area the Cotton Bowl is in. It’s not the safest of neighbourhoods and that is not a great look to have 80,000 fans leaving a stadium to an area like that.

Arkansas-Ole Miss would have been on CBS if one of those teams had won last week. Instead, both teams got blown out and end up at Noon and don’t even get the ESPN primetime spot. The rest of the games, even the ones with ranked teams, aren’t the greatest but you can be sure at least one of them will be really good because that’s how college football operates. If I had to pick, I would go with Rutgers giving MSU a hard time.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
Virginia at Louisville	3:00 PM
Boise State at #10 BYU	3:30 PM
Wisconsin at Illinois	3:30 PM
#2 Georgia at #18 Auburn	3:30 PM
#24 SMU at Navy	3:30 PM
Florida State at North Carolina	3:30 PM
#19 Wake Forest at Syracuse	3:30 PM
Ball State at Western Michigan	3:30 PM
#4 Penn State at #3 Iowa	4:00 PM
North Texas at Missouri	4:00 PM

OK things pick up in the afternoon. PSU-Iowa is a Game of the Year candidate for sure. UGA also gets a test on the Plains (if Bo Nix goes all Johnny Manziel again). Glad to see BYU and Boise State getting to be on ABC. It’s too bad that Boise isn’t as good as it has been in the past few years but still a big game. It’s too bad that TSN isn’t really stepping up just yet. I get that they still have other contractual obligations to deal with but this is part of the reason people like me move to IPTV. Not like they care though.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Wyoming at Air Force	7:00 PM
TCU at Texas Tech	7:00 PM
Buffalo at Kent State	7:00 PM
#9 Michigan at Nebraska	7:30 PM
#14 Notre Dame at Virginia Tech	7:30 PM
LSU at #16 Kentucky	7:30 PM
#1 Alabama at Texas A&M	8:00 PM
Utah at USC	8:00 PM

For the first few weeks of the season, it looked like we would get a Game of the Year candidate. I had pegged Bama and TAMU to be in the primetime CBS game. It was looking huge. Yeah that has fizzled out. Bama is looking like one of the best two teams in college football and Aggie fans are wondering how much more money that will give to/waste on Jimbo Fisher. I have a feeling CBS may regret making this their singular primetime affair of the season. Honestly, you have to consider ND-VT and even Michigan-Nebraska as better games than the aforementioned CBS primetime affair. Also, we get to see Kentucky hopefully not blow a Top 20 ranking. I get that Mark Stoops has done a good job in Lexington but his blood pressure must be all over the place.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
Memphis at Tulsa	9:00 PM
New Mexico State at Nevada	10:30 PM
UCLA at Arizona	10:30 PM

This is a less than stellar late night schedule. Three games that might end up being over relatively early. With no Hawaii Test it might be an early night for the ol’ Bossman.

Games to set your eyeballs on

Penn State at Iowa (4:00, FOX) – This is an absolutely massive game now that Ohio State has hit a bit of a speed bump. Whoever wins this becomes the de facto new Big Ten favourite. It doesn’t disqualify either team from the College Football Playoff with a loss but it does make it difficult for sure. Is this the biggest game ever in Iowa City? Perhaps. At the very least it’s probably the biggest game in Kirk Ferentz’s time at the helm of the Hawkeyes. A win here may allow us to eventually see some new blood in the CFP (although I guess I could say the same about Penn State).

Georgia at Auburn (3:30, CBS) – Auburn absolutely needs this win here. They still don’t seem to be getting a whole lot of respect and Bo Nix, in particular, despite the fact he went off against LSU is still considered not much of a starting quarterback. A Tiger victory proves they, and Bo, are for real. Georgia won’t be treating this as a letdown spot and will be aggressive from the opening bell like they were against Arkansas. I think in the end we just hope they all have fun and that Brad gets to call a good game, right?

Oklahoma vs. Texas (in Dallas) (Noon, ABC) – Ah, the Red River Shootout. In the decrepit Cotton Bowl. I get that it’s historic but one of these days one of the stands is going to collapse. I mean at least UAB figured out to move out equally broken down Legion Field and get their own stadium. Anyway, this game should be wild and wacky because most of the time it is. So don’t write in the Sooners as the victors just yet.

Arkansas at Ole Miss (Noon, TSN2) – If both of these teams had won, would CBS have tried to switch the primetime game? I think they are already a bit miffed with the choice: kind of like when they picked the Egg Bowl over the Iron Bowl a few years back and both Mississippi teams fell off their perch before that. Not saying both of these teams aren’t good because they are. They are, however, still second-tier in the SEC and in the SEC West and will not get above that this season. I see both squads being angry after coming off ass-whoopings so expect a chippy affair in Oxford.

Notre Dame at Virginia Tech (7:30, specialty pack) – It falls off a steep cliff after the first four games. How far of a fall you ask? Well, this game is on the ACC Network. This may be their first appearance in the top 5 games of the week and I’m too lazy to look back so I will just say that’s the case. The Irish could be a tad upset after dropping a game to Cincinnati last week (despite the fact the Bearcats are really good). But it is in Blacksburg and Justin Fuente, as is the norm, is fighting for his job as we kind of knew would happen once Frank Beamer and Bud Foster left. So it could end up being a sneaky good game.

Honourable mention: Alabama at Texas A&M (8:00, CBS); LSU at Kentucky (7:30, specialty pack); Stanford at Arizona State (Friday, 10:30, specialty pack)

Wanna Bet?

Man, I made a lot of wrong picks last week. Yes I got quite a few right but picking Notre Dame, UCLA, LSU and Florida don’t look good. Alright, well this is the gambling section so here it is, you degenerates.

Georgia over Auburn

LSU over Kentucky (upset!)

Alabama over Texas A&M

Ole Miss over Arkansas

Oklahoma over Texas

Iowa over Penn State

Arizona State over Stanford

Notre Dame over Virginia Tech

Nevada over New Mexico State

Kent State over Buffalo

Missouri over North Texas

I will be probably live-tweeting most of Saturday (@TheBauceman). I do end up taking Twitter breaks because I just can’t handle it for that many hours in a row. But I do scoreboard watch and Twitter watch to see if there are games I have to turn to soon to watch a great finish. I always try to be smart in that way so I don’t miss anything good since it’s much better to watch live than during a highlight package (especially when you already know what happened but haven’t seen it). Have a great rest of the week everyone!

Truly welcome the Mountain West but don’t quite say goodbye to the SEC though – the CBS schedule

Posted on June 20, 2021 by guelphbossman

What conference will be slotted into that logo in a couple seasons? I mean it won’t be the Mountain West, we know that. They could get a slightly bigger slice of the CBS pie though when it comes to games starting in the 2024 season. And depending on the contract signed for the next conference coming in, the MWC could get a few games in the hallowed 3:30 Eastern spot. I just don’t think the CBS will fully get out of Power Five football. It makes no sense. They have the Mountain West now so why just leave that as the standalone conference, especially since a few games have to be on the main network and not jettisoned to CBS Sports Network? Answer is they won’t. I’d say, right now, the Pac-12 is the favourite to pick up some sort of contract with CBS, even if it’s for just a small portion of games to air on CBS. It would give the Pac-12 that afternoon national spot that they can’t be guaranteed at this point that they have sorely wanted.

For this year though, we still have the SEC on CBS and the Mountain West a couple times on CBS. Still some crazy good games will appear on the network. We still have Brad and unfortunately, Gary. I wonder what happens with those two once the SEC on CBS departs. Do they leave as well? I guess it depends on what CBS is willing to do to keep them since if they go low on costs for announcers, they will not even get one of the best play-by-play guys in the game (which you can probably count on one hand really). A lot hinges on what they decide to do.

Let’s look at 2021 for now though. I would say it’s what I know but I know little about it and have to make guesses on the rest which, some of the time, will be wrong. I’m not going to hamstring myself by choosing Vanderbilt to be on CBS multiple times this season but still, some of the choices aren’t easy and some things you can’t predict happening. Anyway, let’s get to the CBS college football schedule (predicted) for the 2021 season followed by some musings not related to moving:

September 11th	Air Force at Navy	3:30 PM
September 18th	Alabama at Florida	3:30 PM
September 25th	Boise State at Utah State	Noon
September 25th	Tennessee at Florida	3:30 PM
October 2nd	Auburn at LSU	3:30 PM
October 9th	Georgia at Auburn	3:30 PM
October 9th	Alabama at Texas A&M	8:00 PM
October 16th	Kentucky at Georgia	Noon
October 16th	Florida at LSU	3:30 PM
October 23rd	Tennessee at Alabama	3:30 PM
October 30th	Florida vs. Georgia (in Jacksonville)	3:30 PM
November 6th	Army vs. Air Force (in Arlington)	11:30 AM
November 6th	LSU at Alabama	3:30 PM
November 13th	Texas A&M at Ole Miss	3:30 PM
November 20th	Florida at Missouri	3:30 PM
November 26th	Boise State at San Diego State	Noon
November 26th	Missouri vs. Arkansas (in Little Rock)	3:30 PM
November 27th	Alabama at Auburn	3:30 PM
December 4th	SEC Championship Game	4:00 PM
December 11th	Army vs. Navy (in East Rutherford)	3:00 PM
December 31st	Sun Bowl	12:30 PM

SEC Departing CBS Soon Musings and Movings (Moving Fees Extra):

This should not be a surprise but here are the SEC on CBS appearances for each team:
- 5 times – Alabama, Florida
- 4 times – no team
- 3 times – Auburn, LSU, Georgia
- 2 times – Tennessee, Texas A&M, Missouri
- 1 time – Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri
- Not a single time – Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Mississippi State
I have three teams not getting an appearance: Vandy, the Cocks, and Mississippi State. I don’t even remember the last time Vanderbilt appeared in the afternoon game on CBS but I have this feeling they won’t ever again (research has shown it was 2013 during the James Franklin era). South Carolina has been regressing big time the past few years so their exclusion merits no double takes. Mississippi State could be considered a bit of an oddity not appearing on the network once this year (at least not predicted to appear) but other than the Noon game that CBS gets once a season for the SEC, they wouldn’t warrant a spot to be honest.
Texas A&M only in two games? Hmmm. Going back over the games list for the SEC, it doesn’t appear that they would fit more than two times and that’s due more to their opponents than themselves. If the Aggies are somehow running the table into November (meaning they have beaten Bama) then I could see a third and maybe even a fourth appearance on the Eyeball Network.
The one primetime pick I believe will be used on Bama-TAMU. It just makes too much sense and both teams should be undefeated coming into that game. It’s the one game that I could truly say where the Tide could be upset. Kentucky gets their one appearance thanks to how the SEC picks games when they choose a Noon SEC affair as part of an SEC doubleheader. CBS will get their afternoon pick, then ESPN gets the next two picks and THEN CBS comes back for the Noon selection. It is how teams like Vandy and teams in off years have got to appear on the network a lot in the past decade.
As for the non-SEC fare this year, here is where we find something new. Army-Navy, as has been the case for a while now, ends the regular season. Also, for September 11th, Air Force and Navy will play in a game that will be steeped in Americana. Finally, the Commander’s-in-Chief Trophy ends the round robin by also having Army and Air Force appear on CBS at the odd time of 11:30 in the morning. I will be very curious to see what the crowd is like in Arlington for that one that starts at 10:30 local time. Finally, the god damned Sun Bowl with their illogical tie-ins is again on New Year’s Eve and also gets a 10:30 local start. I get that it’s tradition but when will the committee that runs the Sun Bowl finally go to CBS and say “Look, can you please stop fucking us over with these ridiculous kickoff times and terrible conference tie-ins?” Probably never.
The Mountain West now finally gets their introduction to fans who watch their college football on CBS. They have two conference games on the main network, along with Air Force appearing twice (as I mentioned above with the CIC trophy series). CBS was smart and selected Boise State road games for their two choices (Boise State’s home conference games are FOX property). And looking perhaps a bit at future and how college football games get scheduled, the Black Friday game between Boise and San Diego State will start at Noon. That’s 9:00 am in San Diego. That’s the kind of thing I would expect for the softball tournaments I coach in (if not earlier) but not for high level college football. I guess that’s the price the Mountain West (and the Pac-12 probably) will have to pay in the future to get games to be shown nationally.

Next up is ABC and then I get to other networks like TSN and CBS Sports Network. Notre Dame on NBC is in there somewhere as well. I might do another schedule or two but we shall see as it will come down to time and, the most important thing, how much of it will be seen by Canadians. Like I won’t do the predicted schedule for FOX Sports One since we can’t see any of those games up here (well I can but you get my point…I think…look if you don’t just ask or search my posts for IPTV and that will give you a better clue). At least this season we shouldn’t see too many cancellations although I’m curious to see how they deal with multiple COVID tests on a team. We still might see some scheduling irregularities if vaccination doesn’t ramp up in the next two months down south.

69 (NICE!) days to go until Week Zero which I will be irrationally pumped up for. I also started reading my first preview mag. About 50 pages in and it just feels good to read about the upcoming college football season. The CFL will be starting August 5th which is later than usual but it allows the league to get all their protocols set to play for the first time since 2019. That same night, the NFL has their Hall of Fame game. So there is absolutely no football until then so the waiting will be tough. Hopefully it will be worth it to see the NFL have a normal season, college football have a full season, and the CFL just have a season. For all the fathers out there, hope you had a great Father’s Day weekend and for all of you, have a good week!

OK so where does this leave FOX?

Posted on June 18, 2021 by guelphbossman

CFB-conferences

Alright so let’s look at the lay of the land here when it comes to college football TV contracts:

The SEC on CBS will be done after the 2023 season as that conference heads fully to ESPN/ABC. They join the ACC as fully under the ESPN/ABC umbrella in some capacity with each conference having their own network.
The Big Ten has deals with FOX and ESPN that end after next season.
The Pac-12’s deals with both ESPN and FOX end after the 2023 season.
The Big XII is under contract for the longest really at this point (except for the ACC that has such a ridiculously long contract with ABC/ESPN I won’t even mention it here) as they are in their ESPN and FOX contracts through the end of the 2024 season.

I am not including the Group of Five conferences although I will say the Mountain West is in with FOX now with the MAC, American and Sun Belt conferences mostly in bed with ESPN. Conference USA has, yet again, a bit of a hodgepodge with nothing really that great.

Here’s the thing with the SEC’s move: it creates a domino effect. What the dominoes will be and how they will fall is a matter of conjecture at this point. Saying that, expect a lot of noise, probably next year, as the Big Ten’s deals end with ESPN and FOX. With the SEC almost guaranteed to get plenty of ABC primetime games, the Big Ten might look to shop a bit and talk with CBS or get something more lucrative from FOX. Also there’s the Big XII and Pac-12 who have FOX contracts that end relatively soon. Will they contact CBS? Will NBC start talk of adding games so they aren’t just the Notre Dame channel? Will FOX start doing late night games regularly so they can air more games, thus getting more money from conferences? Will FOX add another G-5 conference to their stable? A lot of questions that could be answered in the next twelve months. My best guess, at this point, is that FOX starts doing more late night games on the main network, they start adding more games to FS2 and will probably try to rope in the Big Ten for something bigger than they already have. Maybe FOX’s primetime game will become a big deal and they won’t rely on BIG NOON SATURDAY to bring college fans to the network.

OK enough of that for now, it’s time to do some scheduling! Well not by me, I mean the networks created the schedules and I just kind of report them and make guesses. If I talk about myself and make it seem I have little importance then any errors in the upcoming table (and boy oh boy there will be guesses that will be WAY off) won’t seem so bad. Anyway, let’s get to the predicted schedule followed by some probably non-contract-related points (confirmed games are in BOLD this time around…trying to change things up a bit):

August 28th	Nebraska at Illinois	1:00 PM
September 2nd	Ohio State at Minnesota	8:00 PM
September 4th	Penn State at Wisconsin	Noon
September 4th	Louisiana at Texas	4:30 PM
September 4th	LSU at UCLA	8:30 PM
September 11th	Oregon at Ohio State	Noon
September 11th	Texas A&M at Colorado	3:30 PM
September 11th	Stanford at USC	10:30 PM
September 18th	Nebraska at Oklahoma	Noon
September 18th	USC at Washington State	3:30 PM
September 25th	Notre Dame at Wisconsin	Noon
October 2nd	Michigan at Wisconsin	Noon
October 2nd	Oklahoma at Kansas State	3:30 PM
October 9th	Oklahoma vs. Texas (in Dallas)	Noon
October 9th	Utah at USC	4:00 PM
October 9th	Oregon State at Washington State	8:00 PM
October 16th	Michigan State at Indiana	Noon
October 23rd	Oklahoma State at Iowa State	Noon
October 23rd	Oregon at UCLA	4:00 PM
October 30th	Penn State at Ohio State	Noon
October 30th	UCLA at Utah	3:30 PM
November 6th	Texas at Iowa State	Noon
November 6th	Oklahoma State at West Virginia	4:00 PM
November 6th	USC at Arizona State	8:00 PM
November 13th	TCU at Oklahoma State	Noon
November 13th	Purdue at Ohio State	4:00 PM
November 13th	Northwestern at Wisconsin	8:00 PM
November 20th	Texas at West Virginia	Noon
November 20th	Purdue vs. Northwestern (in Chicago)	4:00 PM
November 20th	UCLA at USC	8:00 PM
November 26th	Kansas State at Texas	Noon
November 26th	TCU at Iowa State	3:30 PM
November 26th	Colorado at Utah	8:00 PM
November 27th	Ohio State at Michigan	Noon
November 27th	BYU at USC	4:00 PM
November 27th	Northwestern at Illinois	8:00 PM
December 4th	Mountain West Championship Game	4:15 PM
December 4th	Big Ten Championship Game	8:00 PM
December 30th	Redbox Bowl	3:00 PM

Non-contract related points

Hey remember what I said about the Mountain West? After doing up this schedule I noticed that the Mountain West was not represented at all on the main network. They have a ton of FOX Sports One games so it’s a good consolation in their first full year under the new contract (can’t count last year’s shitshow). Will the Mountain West end up on FOX for at least a game? It wouldn’t surprise me if it did in November if either a) one of the conferences has hit their FOX contract limit and/or b) the two teams playing are both really not that good.
You don’t have vision problems (or maybe you do…now I feel like an asshole saying that): there is a game on FOX starting at 10:30 pm! Stanford-USC has been confirmed for some Pac-12 After Dark on September 11th. Interesting that FOX would do that considering news channels should get a lot of viewership on that day (if you haven’t figured it out, it’s the 20-year anniversary of 9/11 so expect a lot of American flags on your television screen that day).
Also, FOX is wading into foreign waters by putting a Week One game on the main network on Thursday night. The Big Ten is fine with that game but would have flat-out refused if it was a November game. I don’t blame them to be honest. As hilarious as it is to watch, I can’t see teams loving the idea of playing a weeknight game in below freezing temperatures.
Looks like FOX getting three games on Black Friday will be an ongoing thing and that’s a good idea. The Noon game is confirmed but I actually had figured it out before it was confirmed that it would be KSU-UT (should be UT-TAMU but yeah I’m not getting into it). My guess is FOX will pick up another Big XII game for the afternoon. And I have a feeling FOX will move WWE Smackdown to FS1 to accommodate a Pac-12 game, which I believe will be the Buffs and the Utes. I feel safe saying this knowing that there is a precedent set with Smackdown moving to FS1 for the night. If they were smart (and if it was possible) they should do a replay on the main network starting at like Midnight. More viewers! You can thank me later Vince McMahon.
There are a bunch of games confirmed already. All of September, Week Zero, and two games on American Thanksgiving weekend. Very nice. The rest…well……we shall see.
Here is the conference breakdown for ya:
- Big Ten – 15 (including conference championship)
- Pac-12 – 13
- Big XII – 11
- Mountain West – 1…the conference championship
- Sun Belt – 1
- SEC – 2
- Independents – 2
The game totals are adjusted a tiny bit from the previous season. The Big Ten has a few less games although I have them appearing on ABC/ESPN more so that evens things out. As I mentioned before, the Mountain West I have with zero regular season games and only their conference championship on the main network. The Pac-12 Championship is no longer on FOX since they got sick of the Friday night in Santa Clara garbage (and it is shitty make no mistake about it). I got the Big XII with a couple more games this season than last year’s prediction. And hey, the Sun Belt, SEC and even the Independents get in on the action with some appearances.
Just like the last few years, FOX gets two bowl games and puts one on FS1. As per usual, the Holiday Bowl goes to FOX Sports One and the Redbox Bowl is on FOX. With the College Football Playoff semi-finals on New Year’s Eve (dammit), it makes it pretty easy for these two games to avoid going to that day.
The only turd in the punch bowl every year for FOX’s college football coverage is FOX’s baseball coverage (you could switch out FOX for FS1 and it’s the same deal). This is, I believe, one of the biggest reasons why they put their biggest game on at Noon and not in primetime. MLB almost never has games that early in the day for the playoffs. They would rather put on a game at 10 pm local time than start one at Noon.

So I switched it up this year and put FOX first. Next up is the SEC (and the Mountain West) on CBS. I can still say that for now. By the way, finally got my first preview magazine. I just decided to up and go to Indigo and pick one up. I got the Lindy’s one since that was the only one available which kind of surprised me. Also, I had to line up just to get into the store. We are SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWLY getting back to normal….but it is slow. Seriously slow. Anyway, have a good weekend and a good Father’s Day for you all you Dads out there.

Most Important Games of the 2021 College Football Season – Let’s Go For Two!

Posted on May 30, 2021 by guelphbossman

I hate what they have done to college football overtime. I was fine when they said you had to start going for two starting with the third overtime. Would I prefer they make the teams start at the 30 or the 35 rather than the 25? Yes but I am OK with the way that is. Now it has become a two-point conversion shootout starting with the fifth overtime. Why? Because one stupidly awesome game went to seven overtimes and it was a classic? Seems like a serious overreaction to me (and probably many others). It has got to the point that maybe the NFL overtime is starting to look a bit better. I never would have said that even a couple of years ago but here we are.

So normally, I do the first post of this series and a day or two later more schedule updates appear changing my original guesses already. It would make me feel a bit dumb. This year? The same fucking thing happened! God damn when will I ever learn? Anyway, it was the mother of all schedule dumps. Like a crazy amount of games were set. Let’s look at what has changed with the first post in this series:

Penn State-Wisconsin I had right in terms of it being on FOX. But it’s not on at 4:00. It’s the BIG NOON SATURDAY game for Week One.
Now here’s a headscratcher. Iowa-Indiana is not the BIG NOON SATURDAY game on FOX. It’s not even on FOX. It’s on BTN. BTN! At 3:30 in the afternoon. It has to be due to the amount of appearances that one or both of these teams are perceived to have later on in the season on BTN since all Big Ten teams must have a minimum of two BTN appearances on the season with one of those appearances being a conference game. That’s the only thing I can think of since this is FOX or ESPN/ABC worthy in my opinion.
I was sooooooo close with LSU-UCLA. It’s on FOX. In primetime. But not at 8:00. It’s at 8:30. To me that seems like a weird time but I guess FOX is fine with the game ending probably around midnight if not a little later. Not like they have anything other than TMZ and infomercials to show afterwards on most of their affiliates.
Again, so close with one. Boise State-UCF is on at 7:00, not 7:30. My guess is it will be on at least one TSN station.
Oregon State-Purdue is now on FS1 in primetime. Big deal.
ABC nabbed CyHawk for their afternoon game.
Liberty-Troy has moved to primetime. But it’s still on ESPN+. So in the end it doesn’t matter anyway.
I totally forgot about how the ACC Network does Week 2. They show four games, starting at 11 in the morning to fit them all in so they don’t have to send a bunch to a regional FOX Sports Network (hmmm…should I call them Bally’s now?) or, even worse, ACC Network Extra which they are loathe to do. Anyway, it’s not at noon, it’s at 2:00 and should be on the specialty pack.
Cincinnati-Indiana has been picked up by ESPN/ABC. It will probably air on ABC and is definitely scheduled for Noon.
Oklahoma State-Boise State will be on FOX Sports One. But now it’s at 9:00. In the evening. Why? Because there is a game at 12:30 Sunday morning! Yep, for you crazies that can watch this game, San Jose State and Hawaii kick off after midnight and won’t end until about 4 in the morning. That’s crazy. I will watch at least three quarters of that.
Hey Coastal Carolina-Buffalo isn’t being relegated to ESPN+! It’s on at Noon, probably on the specialty pack here. Good to see some respect for these two schools.
Speaking of respect, let’s look at the absolute lack of respect ESPN/ABC has for the Kansas Jayhawks football program. Like no respect at all. They aren’t the Thursday night ESPN game. They aren’t even available to Canadians. Hell, it isn’t even available to most Americans. It’s on at 3:30, Saturday afternoon…on ESPN+. Yeah. That’s sad. But understandable.

I will probably make this same mistake next year because I’m an idiot who never learns.. Let’s just get to the second part of this series.

Week 4

Game of the Week: Notre Dame vs. Wisconsin (in Chicago) (Noon, FOX) – This kind of tells you what kind of weekend this will be, on paper. Not saying these aren’t two good teams because they are. But the Badgers are always juuuuuust on the outside looking in and don’t feel like an elite team. And the Irish are considered an elite team more often than they actually are. Not saying I wouldn’t be surprised if either team is in contention for the College Football Playoff late in the season but this being the game of the week means we aren’t looking at a ton of great games. Now watch this one go to like four overtimes and be an instant classic.

Other Really Important Games: West Virginia at Oklahoma (7:30, ABC) – Will the Sooners finally get over the top now with Spencer Rattler in his second year at quarterback? That is the question for Boomer Sooner this season as they could be in for a special two-season stretch (before Rattler goes to the NFL as a high first round pick). Unless they can get yet another great QB, this may be the best two-year stretch possibility for Lincoln Riley’s boys (before Riley gets an offer from the Dallas Cowboys that he can’t refuse). As for the Mountaineers, they have Dana Holgorsen. That’s fun enough since you are assured of him going off on the refs or his players or his coaches or the other team’s coaches or the other team’s players or the fans at least once a game. That’s what happens when you down six Red Bulls by lunch.

Clemson at NC State (3:30, ABC) – I could see this moving to primetime but it really has more to do with how many Big XII game would appear on ABC in the primetime timeslot all season (or at least how many they believe will appear there). The first three games listed this week cover the top three timeslots so you can kind of figure out where all the hype will be. This could be Dave Doeren’s final chance to get his program-defining win. Pull this off and he will never have to pay for another drink in Raleigh again. It also puts the entire conference in an interesting spot as Clemson is their hope for the CFP until another team steps up. Most believe it will be NC State’s interstate rivals, North Carolina, but the Wolfpack are known for their upsets over the past two decades. Just ask Florida State.

Tennessee at Florida (3:30, CBS) – Can Tennessee just be back already? It took so damn long for Texas to be back and now they aren’t quite back again so who knows if the college football media will be asking that question (that I will not type here) all season. Luckily for the fans (and haters) of Texas, that question is no longer asked. For Vol fans, it’s becoming the conversation every day in Knoxville. Until this team truly competes in the SEC East (and no, being third doesn’t count as competing) this may be the most annoying, pathetic fanbase in college football. So maybe, just maybe, they can pull this off and look like the program that everyone on Rocky Top desperately wants them to be. Now watch them lose this one by 40 and we wonder if they can beat a down Vanderbilt squad.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Nebraska at Michigan State (3:30, BTN) – You are looking LIVE…at two programs who are struggling, one more than the other. The Huskers feel like an afterthought now that they have been in the Big Ten for a while and for good reason. Their fans long for even the days of the Big XII, forget the Big Eight. And let’s be honest: other than the one year where Sparty went to the College Football Playoff, it’s not like they have been setting the college football world on fire the past couple of decades. This could be a very good game that could propel one of these programs back into prominence. This will almost assuredly go to the Big Ten Network.

Best Group of Five Game: Marshall at Appalachian State (Thursday, 7:30, specialty pack) – Two of the Group of Five’s stalwarts meet here in a much deserved Thursday night ESPN spot. Both teams had weird years this past season but that’s to be expected since the whole damn season was kind of weird. Expect both of these programs to at least flirt with the Top 25 most of the season. This should be an early Group of Five New Year’s Six elimination game as I am sure both teams will come into this undefeated (or in App State’s case, maybe a close loss to Miami early on).

Worst Power Five Game: Kansas at Duke (Noon, specialty pack) – Good god. You have to be some kind of masochist to want to watch more than maybe a few minutes of this game. Kansas is Kansas and Duke is nowhere near the heights they got to a few years back. You can easily avoid this one. I wouldn’t be surprised if doesn’t even go to the ACC Network and gets relegated to ACC Network Extra even if they have a timeslot available for them.

Week 5

Game of the Week: Ole Miss at Alabama (Noon, TSN5) – I have this game on ESPN2. Seriously. Look, there is a limit as to how many times a team can appear on the SEC on CBS. Otherwise Bama would appear like 8 times every season (the max is five by the way). This could still move to ESPN or even CBS so who knows. Ole Miss is expected to start the season either just inside or just outside the Top 25 and besides, it’s Lane Kiffin getting another shot at Nick Saban. He would be a God in Oxford if the Rebels can win this game.

Other Really Important Games: Cincinnati at Notre Dame (2:30, NBC) – I’m honestly confused as to why some Irish on NBC games are on at 2:30 and why some are on at 3:30. There is really no rhyme or reason as to why these happen the way they do. Maybe they anticipate a hot newscast on this night. Anyway, this game is ripe for an upset…kind of. If Cincy upset Notre Dame would it be considered an upset? If it was up to me, I would have put this game on in primetime. Unfortunately for the Bearcats, they don’t draw so that would be a no go.

Indiana at Penn State (Noon, ABC/TSN1/TSN4) – This does not feel like a Noon Big Ten Game. At all. This is the kind of game that is usually on ABC in primetime. Or should be especially after last year’s amazing finish. I can honestly say that maybe, just maybe, it’s the Hoosiers, not Penn State (or Michigan or Michigan State) that will be the team that will finally knock Ohio State off their perch atop the Big Ten East. Seeing the Hoosiers win this game and run the table into November would be great because it would make some TV executives at Disney a trifle nervous.

Michigan at Wisconsin (Noon, FOX) – Is Jim Harbaugh still special enough to warrant a BIG NOON SATURDAY timeslot? I could see this being moved, especially if the brass at FOX decides that the Big XII has a game they could show instead here. Or maybe they do another Pac-12 morning kickoff like they did with Arizona State-USC last year. This has to be a bounce-back season for the Wolverines. If not, what happens to Kaptain Khaki? Could he be fired? For the first time during his tenure in Ann Arbor, it would make sense to at least consider it, especially after last season’s disastrous season.

Texas at TCU (6:30, FOX Sports One) – Again, don’t be surprised if this, among almost every game this week, gets moved from where I have it. The Big XII has quickly become the major conference that Canadians rarely see. Not that they care down there if Canadians get to see their conference or not but it’s the same in the States. With no conference network, they are being left out in the cold. And their expansion blunder of a few years back is still being felt. They’ve already gone to Disney to look for a contract extension and ESPN/ABC said no. The contract ends after the 2025 season and with other TV contracts also ending around that time, realignment talk will heat up yet again. The conference is in trouble and really hinges on what Texas and Oklahoma decide to do. Expect a lot of changes in the next few years.

Florida at Kentucky (Noon, specialty pack) – Remember when the Wildcats were SEC East contenders? It wasn’t too long ago. Kentucky could be primed for another breakthrough and the fans in Lexington are chomping at the bit to see that happen. At some point, some team has to break the Florida-Georgia stranglehold in the division and what better year than this one? Right now, I have this on the SEC Network because I honestly had no idea where to put it once other better timeslots started filling up. I could see this somehow getting to ESPN or ESPN2 though since I have the SEC Network with four games during this week.

Arizona State at UCLA (3:30, specialty pack) – It feels like we are getting less and less late night games that are any good. I mean it won’t stop me from watching them but I’m used to a few each year at least. This is supposed to be the season where we finally see what Chip Kelly can do in Westwood. A good Bruins team is always welcome in college football. The Sun Devils are also expected to be quite good so maybe we will see a logjam at the top of the Pac-12 South. Not like that hasn’t happened before, am I right? Guys? Hello?

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Tennessee at Missouri (Noon, specialty pack) – No, we aren’t looking at two amazing teams. Or even one. But man, for such a good week, there are a lot of games (outside of the ones I listed above) that look like they won’t be close at all. I’d love to call this a SEC East eliminator game. But it’s not. With two teams so closely matched, though, it should be fun to watch and could be the surprise game of the early timeslot (if not the whole week).

Best Group of Five Game: Nevada at Boise State (10:00, FOX Sports One) – Could FS1, of all channels, have one of the best lineups this week? Look there were a few choices I could have put here instead of this one. Houston-Tulsa and Liberty-UAB fit the bill as well but neither really scream “Top Group of Five game.” Plus I am a bit fascinated with FOX’s foray into the Mountain West, mostly because I can see all the games now. This could end up being very lucrative for the conference as long as FOX continues to invest heavily into college football.

Worst Power Five Game: Pittsburgh at Georgia Tech (Noon, specialty pack) – I mean it’s not a bad game per se. But with the rest of the Noon options (and there are a lot of them), I can’t see this game getting many eyeballs.

Week 6

Game of the Week: Alabama at Texas A&M (8:00, CBS) – God damn this could be a MASSIVE game this season. Jimbo Fisher has guaranteed a win over Bama (not the smartest idea in the world but hey, gotta shot your shot). Even with the loss of Kellen Mond, this could be the Aggies year to get into the College Football Playoff. And now with probably a full house in College Station, the 100,000 plus members of the 12th Man will make life very difficult for the Tide. CBS has chosen this week to be the SEC doubleheader with the primetime game so it’s almost assured that this will be the pick.

Other Really Important Games: Oklahoma vs. Texas (in Dallas) (Noon, FOX) – Back where this belongs…almost. Depending on how the Aggies look early on, this could be considered the true GOTW. I’m still waiting for the day the Cotton Bowl collapses during the Red River Shootout. It’s going to happen and it’s going to be a tragedy that could be avoided by either fixing the fucking place or moving this game to JerryWorld. There’s almost no doubt in my mind this ends up being the BIG NOON SATURDAY pick by FOX.

Georgia at Auburn (3:30, CBS) – Wow, does CBS ever get an amazing doubleheader this season. Saying that, the Tigers aren’t the Tigers they have been in the past. Unless Bo Nix all of a sudden figures things out, Auburn will be middle of the pack, at best, in the SEC West. Still a good team but not close to contending in the always extremely tough SEC West. I just wish they would do away with divisions. Don’t get me wrong, the SEC East champ is usually good but who wouldn’t have enjoyed Bama playing LSU or TAMU playing Mississippi State or Ole Miss playing Auburn or any one of those combinations in Atlanta in December?

Maryland at Ohio State (Noon, TSN4) – This is guaranteed for Noon and almost a shoo-in to be on ESPN. Will this be close? Eh, who knows. OK I am pretty positive it won’t be. But if there’s any year where Ohio State could be vulnerable, it is this one. If the Terps can’t keep it close this time around they may never do so. I’m sure there are many who long to be back in the ACC, regardless of TV money.

Florida State at North Carolina (Noon, ABC/TSN2) – No, this isn’t here because it’s the Noles. I probably don’t have to say that anymore and it is sad that FSU just can’t seem to get over the hump and get back to the way they were. You never know, though. They beat the Heels here, it’s massive and could lead to huge things for this squad. North Carolina is in New Year’s Six or Bust mode this season as the NY6 is their floor. Anything less would be a disappointment with Sam Howell a serious Heisman contender.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: LSU at Kentucky (Noon, TSN1) – No, I’m not joking with this. The Tigers will be close to the bottom spot of the Top 25 and the Cats will be just outside looking in, at least at the start of the season. This is probably a bigger game for Kentucky than it is for LSU as there is no way that Ed Orgeron’s guys will be competing for the SEC West this season.

Best Group of Five Game: Boise State at BYU (10:30, specialty pack) – Is this considered a Group of Five game? I’m going to say it is. BYU seems to be in this no-man’s land when it comes to where they belong. I know they want to be Power Five and they should be Power Five but they aren’t quite there yet and until they are invited into a conference or get closer in reputation to Notre Dame, they won’t be. It is usually a lot of fun when these two teams meet. I am looking forward to Provo After Dark which sounds like a show on at Midnight on Vision TV or some other religious network where they do nasty things like drink coffee or say “fuck.”

Worst Power Five Game: Georgia Tech at Duke (12:30, specialty pack) – Two straight weeks for the Ramblin’ Wreck in this spot. The thing is they aren’t even that bad. But last week was a pretty good schedule, at least in the Power Five and this week the next worse choice would be Wake Forest-Syracuse which isn’t nearly as bad as this.

We are almost halfway through the season now (with these posts). With only thirteen weeks this season I had to have one longer post because of it. It will be the final one. The final two posts are usually the most difficult since almost none of the games are scheduled this far out, at least from a Power Five perspective. So the chances of me getting many of these predictions wrong are quite good. Just letting you know in advance.

It’s getting close to College Football Preview magazine season. Or maybe it has already started and I just don’t know about it. I have an Athlon subscription now so I am just waiting for that one to come in the mail. If there are others available I will check Indigo to see if I can get it. As for the Phil Steele magazine, I am going back and forth whether to order it or get the online version (if they have it this year). I love the magazine, don’t get me wrong. It’s an awesome read and has a shit-ton of information. Problem is, it shows up sometime in late July at the earliest which doesn’t help me at all with my predictions and makes it tough to read before the season begins (yes I am one of those insane people who try to read that magazine front-to-back). So we shall see. Anyway, have a great upcoming week and let’s hope the warm weather is here to stay and that we can forget what it was like on Friday.

August 26th	UTEP at Jacksonville State	5:30 PM
August 26th	FIU at Louisiana Tech	9:00 PM
August 31st	NC State at UConn	7:30 PM
September 1st	Stanford at Hawaii	11:00 PM
September 2nd	Bowling Green at Liberty	Noon
September 2nd	USF at WKU	3:30 PM
September 2nd	Washington State at Colorado State	7:00 PM
September 2nd	Idaho State at San Diego State	10:30 PM
September 9th	Delaware State at Army	Noon
September 9th	Wagner at Navy	3:30 PM
September 9th	Air Force vs. Sam Houston (in Houston)	8:00 PM
September 15th	Utah State at Air Force	8:00 PM
September 16th	Liberty at Buffalo	Noon
September 16th	FIU at UConn	3:30 PM
September 16th	Vanderbilt at UNLV	7:00 PM
September 16th	Kansas at Nevada	10:30 PM
September 22nd	Delaware State at Miami-OH	7:00 PM
September 22nd	Boise State at San Diego State	10:30 PM
September 23rd	Tulsa at Northern Illinois	Noon
September 23rd	Duke at UConn	3:30 PM
September 23rd	Appalachian State at Wyoming	7:00 PM
September 23rd	Kent State at Fresno State	10:30 PM
September 28th	Middle Tennessee at WKU	7:30 PM
September 29th	Louisiana Tech at UTEP	9:00 PM
September 30th	Utah State at UConn	Noon
September 30th	USF at Navy	3:30 PM
September 30th	San Diego State at Air Force	8:00 PM
October 4th	FIU at New Mexico State	9:00 PM
October 5th	Sam Houston at Liberty	7:00 PM
October 7th	Boston College at Army	Noon
October 7th	North Texas at Navy	3:30 PM
October 7th	San Jose State at Boise State	8:00 PM
October 10th	Louisiana Tech at Middle Tennessee	7:00 PM
October 11th	Sam Houston at New Mexico State	9:00 PM
October 13th	Fresno State at Utah State	8:00 PM
October 14th	Kent State at Eastern Michigan	Noon
October 14th	Troy at Army	3:30 PM
October 14th	Wyoming at Air Force	7:00 PM
October 14th	San Diego State at Hawaii	11:00 PM
October 17th	Middle Tennessee at Liberty	7:00 PM
October 18th	FIU at Sam Houston	7:00 PM
October 21st	Akron at Bowling Green	Noon
October 21st	USF at UConn	3:30 PM
October 21st	Utah State at San Jose State	7:00 PM
October 21st	Colorado State at UNLV	10:30 PM
October 24th	New Mexico State at Louisiana Tech	7:00 PM
October 25th	Jacksonville State at FIU	7:00 PM
October 28th	UMass at Army	Noon
October 28th	Miami-OH at Ohio	3:30 PM
October 28th	Air Force at Colorado State	7:00 PM
October 28th	New Mexico at Nevada	10:30 PM
November 3rd	Colorado State at Wyoming	8:00 PM
November 4th	Army vs. Air Force (in Denver)	2:30 PM
November 4th	Louisiana Tech at Liberty	6:00 PM
November 4th	Boise State at Fresno State	10:00 PM
November 7th	Central Michigan at Western Michigan	7:00 PM
November 8th	Akron at Miami-OH	7:00 PM
November 11th	Holy Cross at Army	Noon
November 11th	UAB at Navy	3:30 PM
November 11th	San Diego State at Colorado State	7:00 PM
November 11th	Fresno State at San Jose State	10:30 PM
November 14th	Akron at Eastern Michigan	7:00 PM
November 18th	Coastal Carolina at Army	Noon
November 18th	UNLV at Air Force	3:30 PM
November 18th	Boise State at Utah State	7:00 PM
November 18th	San Diego State at San Jose State	10:30 PM
November 24th	Ohio at Akron	Noon
November 24th	Utah State at New Mexico	3:30 PM
November 25th	Northern Illinois at Kent State	Noon
November 25th	Liberty at UTEP	3:30 PM
November 25th	Wyoming at Nevada	9:00 PM

Bossman's Blog

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

Tag Archives: TAMU

More like Mari-No Cristobal, am I right? And the Week 7 College Football TV Schedule

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday Early

Saturday Afternoon

Saturday Primetime

Saturday Late Night

Hey, Watch This!

Sickos Game of the Week

Hubba Bubba Blowout of the Week

Wanna Bet?

Most Important Games of the 2023 College Football Season

The Week 5 College Football TV Schedule is important…but not as important as this

Thursday

Friday

Saturday Early

Saturday Afternoon

Saturday Primetime

Saturday Late Night

The Student Finally Defeats the Master – Week 6 College Football Recap

Urban Warfare – Week 6 College Football TV Schedule

Thursday

Friday

Saturday Early

Saturday Afternoon

Saturday Primetime

Saturday Late Night

Truly welcome the Mountain West but don’t quite say goodbye to the SEC though – the CBS schedule