Oh man, here we go again

Posted on August 1, 2023 by guelphbossman

It felt like things were calm. We were all lulled into this. It was just the eye of the storm. Sure the wind wasn’t moving but about 200 metres away, a cow just went flying headlong into a barn.

What am I talking about? Realignment, of course! Another shoe has dropped…OK let me use a different analogy. Sorry Deion. We have another big move as Colorado will be going back to the Big XII starting next season. And that probably won’t be all. The rumours have at least one of Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, Oregon or Washington following the Buffaloes. Or, if no other schools leave the Pac-12, the Big XII is more than willing to dip into the American Conference (hello SMU, Memphis, Tulane) or even way out east…yes, UConn! And maybe once the Pac-12 (or more like Pac-9) gets their act together, they can start bringing in teams from the Group of Five. The same teams from the American would be in play, especially SMU. Also, the Mountain West would be watching closely as San Diego State, Boise State and perhaps Colorado State and UNLV could be looked at. There will be a lot of meetings in the next month or so to determine where this all leads.

For now let’s focus on what this post was supposed to be (and still will be). It’s time for the Power Five conference predictions. This will give a better indication on how I think things will go during this season. So let’s dive right in!

Changes are coming soon for the Ess Ee Cee. Texas and Oklahoma join the conference next season. Also, no more SEC on CBS after this year. Everything moves to ABC and ESPN. And finally, no divisions. Halle-fucking-lujah.

As for this year, all the talk is about Georgia and doing something no team has done (fully) in the AP Poll era: win three national championships in a row. It’s not like they will fall apart, despite the fact they lost their starting quarterback and a bunch of other players in the NFL Draft. Then again, I’m sure Kirby Smart has looked them all dead in the eye and told them “Everyone thinks you are going to go 5-7 and lose to Vanderbilt. Prove them wrong!” And they will believe it because college football head coaches are just a notch-and-a-half below cult leaders in the pecking order of how much they can make their “followers” drink their Kool-Aid.

Remember, though, there are other teams in the conference as well. Like those lovable underdogs from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and the team that just reeks of success (in the classroom and on the baseball diamond), Vanderbilt. And eleven other teams. Want to find out how I think they will do? OK. I will do that. Just for you.

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

Just For You

You might think I am crazy for having UGA not run the table. I do think they will lose a regular season game and it will be to those upstart Tennessee Volunteers. It won’t keep them from winning the division though as you can see I have those same Vols losing two conference games during the regular season.
As for the SEC West, though, Bama will once again rule the roost….as long as they figure out their quarterback situation. I am thinking they will and will go undefeated and be #1 in the nation going into conference championship weekend. If they don’t get their QB situation settled…well, maybe they lose two games? Three? It’s not like they will fall to 6-6.
I could see South Carolina or last year’s SEC West champs, LSU, making a bit of a run this time around. They have the top two quarterbacks in the SEC and could each put up piles of points. Watch for the Cocks’ game against Georgia early on in the season and LSU’s post-Halloween trip to Bryant-Denny to face the Tide. Upsets in either of those games will seriously upset the apple cart.
Look, the Gators were barely .500 with who I think may be one of the most overhyped quarterbacks in recent memory. I don’t think Anthony Richardson was that great. And now they don’t even have him. Unless every other part of the roster improved (it didn’t), how do people expect this team to bounce back and all of a sudden become an eight or nine win team? Spoiler alert: they won’t.
I have Mississippi State at 6-6. They will do just enough to get a bowl game. I wonder how tough it will be after the loss of Mike Leach but I can see them straightening things out just in time late in the season.
As for the SEC Championship, SURPRISE! I have the Dawgs beating the Tide and creating a massive clusterfuck in the final College Football Playoff rankings. Fun times!
Eleven bowl teams from the SEC with two juuuuuust on the outside. That’s insane and I don’t think I will be that far off with this prediction. Next year could be even crazier with Texas and Oklahoma joining the conference that just means more.

Man have things really changed in terms of where you will see Big Ten games this season. Gone are ABC and ESPN. In is NBC and CBS. This is gonna feel weird the first time I see it. And maybe the next few times as well. I will get used to it at some point. Now if you want the opportunity to watch every Big Ten game, better find a way to get FOX Sports One and Peacock otherwise you will be shit out of luck to watch potential bangers like Northwestern-Purdue and Indiana-Rutgers (if they end up there and not the Big Ten Network).

Alright, let’s get into the final conference predictions before the B1G gives a big Fuck You to geography and brings in USC and UCLA.

	Conference		Overall
East	W	L	W	L
Michigan	8	1	11	1
Penn State	8	1	11	1
Ohio State	8	1	10	2
Michigan State	5	4	7	5
Maryland	5	4	8	4
Indiana	1	8	3	9
Rutgers	1	8	4	8
West
Minnesota	6	3	8	4
Wisconsin	6	3	9	3
Iowa	6	3	9	3
Illinois	5	4	7	5
Nebraska	2	7	5	7
Purdue	2	7	5	7
Northwestern	0	9	2	10

Geogpraphy, Go Eat a Dick

Look, I know some might look at the Big Ten East standings and think I am a bit crazy. I am not. Although that is what a crazy person would tell you. Yep, a three-way tie at the top at 8-1 between Big Blue, tOSU and PSU. Because each team will be 1-1 against the other two, the CFP Rankings will decide the winner. I believe the Wolverines will somehow win that. And yes, I think Ohio State also loses to Notre Dame. O-H! I-No.
If Sparty doesn’t make it to a bowl game, they may end up giving Mel Tucker the Herm Edwards treatment and fire him before he can leave the playing surface one game. I get they have a tough division but they should be able to do well enough against the rest of their schedule to get back in the postseason after last year’s debacle.
No, I don’t have Wisconsin winning the West division. Meaning I am different than almost every expert out there. Also, there’s the fact I’m not an expert but I digress. Again I have a damn three-way tie but no need to look at the rankings for this one as I believe the Gophers will Row the Fucking Boat all the way to Indianapolis after beating both Wisky and the high-octane Iowa Hawkeyes. See what I did there? Yeah, I don’t care that the Hawkeyes have a new quarterback in town. Until Kirk tells his son to do better, Iowa will be pushing for some 7-6 victories. Sorry. 8-6. Two field goals and a late safety to win.
Nebraska will be better but I think the Huskers are a season away from getting back to the top of the West…just in time for the West to just not exist anymore.
As for Northwestern…man. What a shitshow. Look, I played a lot of sports earlier in my life and did so at the university level. Are there fun little pranks and stupid things the rookies have to do? Sometimes. But it’s usually harmless. Carrying bags, standing up during a team dinner to get embarrassed by singing some Mariah Carey song, dumb things like that. Not getting fucking dry humped in some cultish fashion by weirdos in robes. What the fuck is wrong with that school? And yes, it’s not just the football program. Sounds like at least half the teams there have serious issues. Ugh.
Now let’s get crazy. Yeah! The Big Ten Championship will…OK who am I kidding. It won’t be close. I have Michigan plowing through Minny to clinch their spot, yet again, in the College Football Playoff.

Might as well call this the Stable Conference…for now. Just nothing happening here which is just fine for most of the teams in the ACC. Status quo isn’t a bad thing. There are some changes with where you will see games. The CW…yes, the C-Fucking-W, will have an ACC game during most of the weeks of the season. You can take the ACC out of Jefferson-Pilot (or Raycom) but you can’t take the Jefferson-Pilot (or Raycom) out of the ACC. Or something like that.

So before this conference possibly gets pillaged by the Big Ten and SEC, let’s get to the predictions followed by some deep tissue massage and/or analysis.

	Conference		Overall
	W	L	W	L
Clemson	8	0	12	10
Florida State	7	1	11	1
North Carolina	6	2	9	3
Pittsburgh	5	3	8	4
Louisville	5	3	8	4
Duke	4	4	8	4
Wake Forest	4	4	7	5
NC State	4	4	7	5
Miami	4	4	7	5
Syracuse	3	5	6	6
Boston College	2	6	5	7
Virginia	2	6	4	8
Georgia Tech	2	6	4	8
Virginia Tech	0	8	1	11

Deep Tissue Massage and/or Analysis

I should book a massage. My back is in horrible shape.
Some may scoff at me having Clemson going undefeated this season. They have the schedule to do it and if Cade Klubnik is as good as he can be this could relatively easily happen. If Klubnik struggles…well then this entire set of standings might need to be scrubbed from existence.
Reader Gord will like where I have Florida State. This team could be scary good. And at the very least, they will be near the top of the ACC standings this season. Mike Norvell has done a great job getting this team back to what it was like during the Jimbo Fisher days. I had my doubts about him but I have to admit he has been the right guy to right the ship in Tallahassee.
Hey did you notice? NO DIVISIONS! I love it.
Don’t be surprised that if Clemson or FSU stumbles that there are no shortage of teams that could get one of the two ACC title game slots. A list of seven teams could pull off a couple of upsets and be at the top and it wouldn’t be a huge surprise. A slight surprise sure. Maybe a slightly bigger surprise if it was Miami or NC State. But not a massive surprise.
Poor Virginia Tech. I think this will be their worst team since before Frank Beamer graced Blacksburg. It feels like it has been forever since the Hokies were contenders. It was only seven years ago when they were in the ACC Championship and almost upset the eventual national champions, Clemson. This team is pretty bad in almost every aspect of the game and the schedule will not be helpful to them. Other than Old Dominion I don’t see them winning any other game and the Monarchs have given VT all sorts of fits the past few years.
Look for a tiny bit of a bounce back from Virginia. Just them taking the field after what happened last year is a win in my books.
For that ACC title game, how about another game that will turn everything on its head. Yep, I think the Noles will get revenge for a regular season loss by inching out the Tigers. Chaos!

OK it’s about time the Big XII rebrands. They will have at least thirteen teams by the time the 2024 season starts and it may be as high as sixteen. So change the fucking name. They have the rights to the Big Fourteen and Big Sixteen so use one of those. It would be easy. Find a graphic design student at Kansas and have them do a new logo. Easy peasy. Why do I have to come up with everything?

Where was I? Oh that’s right, predictions. Let’s see if this conference will go all Pac-12 and cannibalize itself or if they can see a team get to the CFP once again. Also, Texas and Oklahoma will be trying their best to leave the conference on a high note much to the chagrin of the rest of the schools in the conference. So here are the Big XII standings predictions, followed by Belly Expansions.

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

Belly Expansions

No I don’t mean pregnancy. I mean eating a big meal and having to loosen the ol’ belt or just unbuckle the pants altogether. Funny enough, people in the restaurant don’t appreciate that.
Let’s start at the bottom. There won’t be one truly bad team. There will be a bunch of below-average ones. West Virginia, Iowa State, Houston, Cincinnati and BYU could all finish last and I am sure no one would bat an eye.
I see the Longhorns making their final Big XII season a special one. They have the team, the schedule and the head coach (I think) to be the top team in this conference this season. The only question will be can Quinn Ewers hold off Arch Manning. Will one of them transfer in the offseason? Remember, when you have two starting quarterbacks, you have none. I think.
How about this lukewarm take: Kansas State will be good again. Yeah really going out on a limb there Bossman. This team has become so steady-as-she-goes it’s almost boring. The people in the Little Apple are fine with this.
I do think one of the newcomers will make a bowl game and that team will be UCF. I think they are the most prepared of the newbies coming into this conference. But make no mistake about it: all four teams will be good at various points over the next few years.
I can’t see Oklahoma taking enough of a leap to get to the Big XII Championship. Nor do I think the Horned Frogs of TCU have the, uh, toads? to make it back to the conference title game. Good seasons for both, yes, but not great.
The Longhorns should win the conference title game in their final season in the Big XII. Will this get them into the CFP or will it “relegate” them to the New Year’s Six? I think you can tell from my predictions so far but you will know for sure in a different post.

So where are we going to be able to watch Pac-12 games in the future? Who the hell knows. My money is on PBS.

But seriously, the Pac-12 is quickly dropping from the Conference of Champions to almost a Group of Five conference. They are losing USC and UCLA next year to the Big Ten. They knew that already. The bombshell of Colorado leaving now has them at nine teams starting the 2024 season. And it may not end there. The only schools I haven’t heard potentially leaving are Oregon State and Washington State. That’s not to say all these rumours will be correct but I will be pretty surprised if no more teams leave for the Big XII before next season. It’s sad for a conference that really started their slide once Pete Carroll left USC for the NFL. Thanks a bunch, Peter.

Prediction time! No divisions which is one thing they are ahead of the game with, starting that last year. Let’s get to those divisionless predictions followed by some California Nightmarin’.

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

California Nightmarin’

No state will have it better this year in the Pac-12 than the state of Oregon. Both the Ducks and the Beavers look to be serious contenders and only need the ball to bounce their way one extra time to maybe get to the Pac-12 Championship. And considering the way that title game has gone, who knows what may happen after that.
The strongest team, though, should be USC. They have Caleb Williams coming back to try and do what no one other than some guy named Archie has ever done, and that’s win two Heisman Trophies. The hope there is that the sting of the two season-ending losses will motivate them to push themselves that final step into the CFP.
OK look, I know you see Washington in sixth place and you are wondering what the fuck is wrong with me. This is another case where the schedule is just flat-out against them. A slightly easier schedule and I might put this team at eleven or even, dare I say it, twelve wins. It will be that close at the top of the conference.
On the other hand, I am sure no will think I’m crazy for putting Stanford in last place. It’s been a long time since the Cardinal have been this bad and it doesn’t look like they will be ready for bowl action for another year at least.
I think I was fair putting Colorado at 4-8 for this season and playing fairly meaningful football going into November. There seems to be two schools of thought with this team. One section thinks Coach Prime has done wonders and with all the fresh faces in the lineup it will push the team over the line and into bowl-eligibility territory. The other section thinks the entire program is overhyped and they will win maybe two games. I am in the middle on this. This team won’t go bowling this year. That would be too much of a leap. But they should win more games than they did last year. If not, what the hell was all this hoopla for?
As for the Pac-12 title game, USC gets the Pac-12 Championship they probably should have won last year. Problem is that by this point there will be a lot of teams in the mix for those four College Football Playoff spots and in typical Pac-12 fashion, the league will have cannabilized itself again and missed out on the CFP again.

There you go! You now have a complete set of Bossman conference predictions. Next up, is kind of the wrap-up post where I put everything in a nice, neat little ball and let you know who I believe will win the whole damn deal. Have a great week everyone!

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!

Most Important Games of the 2021 College Football Season – IV

Posted on June 12, 2021 by guelphbossman

If you don’t know who these guys are well….you’ve never watched the hit HBO series, Entourage. Look, it’s a fun show that I actually really enjoyed. If you didn’t take it seriously, it was a good watch. I also remember it very well because I had bought the box set years ago and then decided to sell it for $100. Exchanged the DVDs for the money in a somewhat seedy Tim Horton’s parking lot and left. When I got home, I realized I was holding four $20 bills. I emailed the guy and of course he never responded. I was less than pleased. Anyway, I am going to do a kind of rating system like I’ve done every year for the final important games post. Hopefully you understand and perhaps even agree with who I assign to each week. If not…well, it really doesn’t mean much since some people I know think Entourage was shit.

We’re at the end of this exercise for this season. Final four weeks of the regular season. And you know what? All four are at least decent weeks with two of them being the best of the season. I have to retire SEC Sleepwalk Saturday into the rafters of Bossman Arena (The Bossman Dome? Oriole Park at Bossman Yards?). Can’t use the term since that week is at least decent now. I kind of miss it……ok I lied. I like this better. Let’s begin!

Week 10

This week is seriously good. The number one weekend of college football for the 2021 season. It doesn’t get any better than this (on paper). So, of course, this has to be represented by the best character on Entourage, by far, Ari Gold. If it wasn’t for Jeremy Piven’s work as the most ridiculous agent in television history, Entourage is not nearly as good of a show.

Game of the Week: LSU at Alabama (3:30, CBS) – There are four games that could inhabit this top spot and all are deserving. This is one of the deepest non-American Thanksgiving weekends in college football in recent memory. And it is LSU. I know they are down from their turn as national champs but if anyone understands how to beat Bama, it’s Ed Orgeron. Either that or this is a blowout by dinnertime.

Other Really Important Games: Oregon at Washington (10:30, specialty pack) – When a late night game is the number two game of the week, you know it’s either a really weak week or a very strong week. Nothing in between. Now this game could end up in a lot of different spots. Hell, they could end up as the BIG NOON SATURDAY game and have a 9:00 am local start which I’m sure everyone at Husky Stadium would love. This is where the schedule predictions are really a stretch unless I can use an already set game as evidence for my choice (which is usually still a bad prediction but whatever).

Texas at Iowa State (Noon, FOX) – This is the game that, at this point, I have being the BIG NOON SATURDAY game. Obviously that could change but I would be shocked if FOX passes on this game unless ABC gets it for primetime. This is essentially the game that will probably determine who faces Oklahoma at JerryWorld in December. The Big XII, not surprisingly, has fewer marquee games than the rest of the conferences. And yes, realignment and them expanding would help that. To say it wouldn’t is laughable. Maybe they should make a shocking first move and invite Arizona and Arizona State, just to see what they say.

Clemson at Louisville (3:30, ABC) – Louisville looked good last year. I say this every year but one of these times, Clemson is going to be knocked off their perch for real. None of this one loss during the season but still get out of the ACC crap. More like possibly not even going to the ACC Championship kind of thing. Yeah, I said it.

Ohio State at Nebraska (8:00, BTN) – Just like the Pac-12 Network, the Big Ten Network gets a great game or two every year. It’s mostly to make sure each team gets their two games on the network (with one having to be a conference game). But, in another way, it is to also shine a spotlight on the network to remind people that, hey, conference networks can be good sometimes as well. So I have put this game here and it wouldn’t surprise me if it stayed here. I am not a Husker fan but any stretch of the imagination, but I really do hope they can keep it within 30.

Auburn at Texas A&M (7:00, specialty pack) – I still think back to the Aggies playing the Tide early in the season. Say they win that game. They could actually be undefeated at this point and looking at the College Football Playoff! Even with one loss this game is mucho important for the Aggies. Probably not as important for Auburn as the Gus Bus seems to be having some transmission problems these days. UPDATE: Man I’m really not ready for the season. Gus Malzahn is at UCF. Bryan Harsin is now at Auburn. Hopefully the mass transit system in Orlando is better than it was in Auburn.

USC at Arizona State (8:00, FOX) – OK if there is a game (IF!) that would be put on BIG DAMN NOON SATURDAY from the Pac-12, this might be the one. For now I have it in the primetime FOX timeslot since ABC will probably go with a Big Ten game meaning FOX may actually win primetime for once. Man, it feels like I might need to change this entire week around. I will be honest, this was probably the toughest week to map out and, as you can see, I’m still not too sure of my choices.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Indiana at Michigan (3:30, specialty pack) – Don’t laugh. I think there is almost no way Michigan is as bad as they were last season. I hate using the fucked-up season of last year as an excuse but for the Wolverines it may be true. Now watch them lose this one by 40 and I am off watching whatever’s on the ACC Network to pass the time.

Best Group of Five Game: Tulsa at Cincinnati (Friday, 7:00, specialty pack) – It’s either this or Tulane-UCF on Saturday. I picked this one because this game should end up on a network we can watch whereas I have Tulane-UCF on ESPN+. After last year’s shocking Tulsa season, it will be interesting to see if the Golden Hurricane can duplicate the feat or if Cincy shows their superiority in the American.

Worst Power Five Game: Kansas State at Kansas (Thursday, 8:00, FOX Sports One) – You know what? This is fine. Do I really need to see this game? Not really (as long as there is other football on at the time and this game isn’t close).

Week 11

This week is the worst of the bunch but still pretty good. And let’s be honest: are there any really bad characters on Entourage other than Sasha Grey? I don’t really think so. I would say this is LLOYD but I think he’s not this bad. This will be Vinny Chase. Yes, despite the fact he’s supposed to be the main character of the show, he seems like the least important, ya know? Saying that, he is still VERY important to Entourage as this week is to the regular season.

Game of the Week: Arizona State at Washington (6:00, Pac-12 Network/DAZN) – Um……………..I don’t know what to say. Honestly there’s a good possibility this is not on the P12N but this is a first on here. I’d have to look but I am pretty positive no conference network has been in this spot until now. History has been (possibly) made! And if this doesn’t tell you this is the thinnest week of this bunch, I don’t know what will.

Other Really Important Games: Michigan at Penn State (3:30, specialty pack) – OK this fully about Penn State and almost not about Michigan at all. I’m actually kind of curious about the Nittany Lions since they look like they should be in the Top 10 early on if not in the preseason poll. But I’m honestly racking my brain trying to figure out what talent they have that would make it so they are that kind of contender right off the hop. And I’m coming up with nothing. God, I need a preview magazine. The college football part of my brain is turning to mush.

Texas A&M at Ole Miss (3:30, CBS) – No Bama? No Georgia? No LSU? And it’s still this high on the list? Count me interested. Really though, these are two teams to watch as both are at least New Year’s Six contenders this season despite being the horrendously tough SEC West.

Georgia at Tennessee (7:00, TSN3) – There is a part of me that hopes Tennessee can pull this off. Just to see the reaction of fans and the media…and Twitter. I’m sure all the discourse would be rational and everyone would take it in stride…….BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Northwestern at Wisconsin (8:00, FOX) – I was so close to putting this in the section above. But I just can’t. I have this feeling that Northwestern might not be as good as some are saying and/or Wisconsin will regress a bit towards the back end of the Top 25. This could end up on *deep breath* BIG NOON SATURDAY because of the lack of options.

Best Group of Five Game: UCF at SMU (7:00, specialty pack) – The AAC continues to deliver and this one is no exception. I don’t know about SMU being a contender in the AAC West this year but it does seem relatively wide open. The East, on the other hand is UCF chasing Cincinnati and everyone else chasing UCF.

Worst Power Five Game: Duke at Virginia Tech (7:30, specialty pack) – I feel almost bad putting a Hokies game here especially when it’s in Blacksburg. But Duke might just be that bad.

Week 12

Better than the previous week but not by a lot. Enough for it shed it’s SEC Sleepwalk Saturday moniker. God rest your terrible scheduling soul. You can go two ways with this. The first is to say this is represented by Turtle and Johnny Drama. Two important characters who’s stories are sometimes more important than whatever the main idea of the episode happens to be. Or you can go with Sloan and Ari’s wife. Sloan and Ari’s wife. Yes, please.

Game of the Week: Iowa State at Oklahoma (7:30, ABC) – This feels like almost a guarantee for ABC in primetime. Possibly a preview of the Big XII Championship. And really, that’s not as big of a deal as people make it out to be. It happens so damn often that you almost expect it now. Also, it’s a huge plus for Sooners fans since they will be able to watch their team start playing a game not before Noon!

Other Really Important Games: Texas at West Virginia (Noon, FOX) – *big deep breath* BIG FUCKIN’ NOON SATURDAY!!!! I would laugh if somehow the Cyclones-Sooners game ends up in this timeslot but I feel pretty safe about these two picks. By this point we will have a pretty good idea if Sark is the real deal in Austin and if not-Dana Holgorsen can keep the ‘Eers trending in the right direction.

Michigan State at Ohio State (3:30, specialty pack) – OK I am giving Mel Tucker another chance. OK not just me. Makes me sound way more important than I am. I predict that Sparty will be better than last year, maybe not by much, but enough to give the Buckeyes a scare through at least two-and-a-half quarters. If ESPN gets this game (which I predict) they have to hope for it to be close. If that happens watch a shit-ton of people move over to the four-letter network.

UCLA at USC (8:00, FOX) – Hey maybe the Victory Bell (or at least this version of it since there seems to be a bunch) could be exciting and important this season! Isn’t it nice when both of these teams are playing well? Unless you’re a fan of one of the other teams in the Pac-12 South, this is a good thing for the conference. This could be Chip Kelly’s second coming out party kinda sorta. Or Clay Helton’s last stand. Or neither. Who knows?

Oregon at Utah (10:30, specialty pack) – Honestly this could move to Thursday or Friday night and be a late night offering of FS1. That would honestly suck since it’s always nice to have a really good game on the late night sked. Otherwise it feels like I am staying up past 2 in the morning for little reason. I mean I’m gonna do it anyway but this at least gives me some semblance of justification for my irrational choices.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Minnesota at Indiana (8:00, BTN) – Minnesota is a bit of a mystery to me. But with the Big Ten’s version of Dana Holgorsen coaching them in P.J. Fleck, they will always be at least a bit better than advertised. These are the kind of games that the Hoosiers have to win if they want any shot at the NY6 this season.

Best Group of Five Game: SMU at Cincinnati (Noon, specialty pack) – Yeah I had to go down the list a bit to find the best G-5 game. This will probably end up being a blowout but it was either this or Louisiana-Liberty. Or maybe Memphis-Houston. Yeah, not exactly great choices here.

Worst Power Five Game: Arizona at Washington State (Friday, 9:00, Pac-12 Network/DAZN) – Very rarely do you see a Pac-12 game here but Jesus Christ this looks like it would suck-diddly-uck. Wazzu isn’t the Wazzu we knew and loved a couple seasons ago and, well, Zona hasn’t been relevant in quite a long time. Lucky for us, Memphis-Houston and Air Force-Nevada (and perhaps even Kansas-TCU) will be on around the same time. OK that’s sad.

Week 13

The final weekend. The four-day stretch where I am at my least productive possibly all year because I watching FOOTBAW. This is nooooooooot quite the best week of the season but it might be the most important. For that reason, this week is represented by E. Not the drug although…no forget it. E, Vince’s manager. Eric. Yeah. I’d say the most important guy in the quartet for Entourage. And I stand by that choice.

Game of the Week: Oklahoma at Oklahoma State (3:30, specialty pack) – This could move into the ABC primetime slot depending on what is left over for ABC to show. If they don’t have to show a Big Ten or Pac-12 game then I can definitely see it. I mean it’s Bedlam. Usually good. Usually. And the Sooners hate going to Stillwater. Remember that. The Fighting Mullets could drop OU out of the Big XII Championship if the opportunity arises.

Other Really Important Games: Ohio State at Michigan (Noon, FOX) – Most years this would be at least in the running to be the Game of the Week. Instead it drops into this section and honestly, for this season, it’s all because Ohio State is still quite good. But without Justin Fields, how will the Buckeyes’ passing game be? That will be the big question for this team. If that has worked itself out by this point, look out because this could be over by 1:00.

Alabama at Auburn (3:30, CBS) – The Iron Bowl is relegated to this spot. You can thank Auburn taking a step back for that. Like the tOSU-UM game, this could be a blowout. I think the one thing at least helping the Tigers is that it is at Jordan-Hare and not in Tuscaloosa. Usually that’s not a bother for the Tide but this is Auburn. I’m sure the fans aren’t exactly cordial to them. I wonder if this becomes a shoo-in in a couple years when the SEC goes to ABC/ESPN to be the primetime ABC game on American Thanksgiving weekend going forward.

Texas A&M at LSU (7:00, TSN2) – There is no chance they can recreate that insane seven overtime affair from a couple seasons ago. Makes me sad. I mean a 3:30 game or a 7:00 game going seven overtimes? Sure. A late night game going seven overtimes? God help me. I mean I’ll stay up and try not to pass out but man that would be difficult.

North Carolina at NC State (Friday, 7:30, ABC) – Black Friday’s premier game is in Raleigh this year. Everyone in the media wants to hop on Mack Brown’s dick (not literally) but ignore that the Wolfpack could very well sneak up the middle and cause a lot of trouble in the ACC. The Heels are a legit CFP contender whereas Dave Doeren hopes to get a massive contract extension and he would probably get it if he can will NCSU to the New Year’s Six.

TCU at Iowa State (Friday, 3:30, FOX) – The Big XII continues to take advantage of Black Friday although the other Power Five conferences are waking up to it. This could be the game that puts the Cyclones into the Big XII title game or ends their chances early.

Penn State at Michigan State (Noon, BTN) – Will this ultimately end up on the Big Ten Network? Well, I was shocked to see FS1 pick up Utah State-New Mexico for the odd 1:00 start time. So if this game stays in it’s Noon timeslot the amount of options are dwindling. If both teams are doing well, maybe a push to get it to ABC.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Kentucky at Louisville (7:00, specialty pack) – Unless one or both of these teams has an outside shot at a NY6 bid, this game will most likely fall to the ACC Network. Kind of sad since this is the first time both of these teams will be potentially good at the same time in quite a while.

Best Group of Five Game: Boise State at San Diego State (Friday, Noon, CBS) – That is not a misprint. This game will kickoff on Black Friday at Noon. Which makes it a 9:00 am local kickoff. We knew this was coming but it’s still a bit jarring to see it confirmed. Expect FOX and CBS do this more in the future now that they have essentially split the Mountain West conference football contract between them.

Worst Power Five Game: Pittsburgh at Syracuse (12:30, specialty pack) – Don’t be surprised if this gets moved to Black Friday. Remember when these two teams played in the Big East? I watched a fair amount of Big East football when I was younger because the Noon Big East game was one of the few games we got in this area pretty much every Saturday. Now, we have choice. So I will choose not to watch this unless it’s a good game late.

Weeks 14 and 15

No point in rating these weeks. Week 15 is Army-Navy which is always fun. I still believe that one of these days, Navy will be 12-0, coming off a conference championship and having to play Army to finish their season. Imagine if they lose? Holy shit that would be massive! Again, the Pac-12 has their conference championship on a Friday. That conference perplexes me sometimes. There was a time where the SEC Championship was rumoured to move to primetime on CBS. Instead it is confirmed to be back in the afternoon at its normal 4:00 time. I have a feeling the ACC will move their game out of primetime and go either with the Noon(ish) timeslot or up against the SEC since you have to wonder how many viewers they are losing to the Big Ten most years.

The important games blog posts are complete! Done and dusted! Still haven’t received my Athlon magazine. Haven’t phoned Phil Steele to get that magazine. Haven’t gone to Indigo to look for Lindy’s or Street and Smith. Life has got in the way so I just haven’t had that chance. Soon. And then it’s probably all I will read about between now and late August when the season begins.

Next up is the network specific posts. Remember, “Card Subject to Change”…meaning I will be wrong more than I am right…possibly. But the fact that I am about to do these posts means we are getting a bit closer to the season. We are 77 days away from Week Zero. Feels like still such a long time.

Everyone have a great weekend!

2019 Bowl Game Rankings and Predictions!

Posted on December 18, 2019 by guelphbossman

It’s almost Christmas. Meaning it is bowl season! And then college football is over. This is sad. Maybe this is the year I finally get ripped in the offseason. Haha, I will believe it when I see it.

I’ve decided to stick with the College Football Broadcast Ranking System for the bowls this year. It works well. It separates the games that even the most casual of college football fans will watch from the ones that only the complete maniacs like myself would watch. Let’s begin.

10 out of 10! This is Saturday Night on ABC kind of games

Game of the week quality. So the College Football Playoff and the best two New Year’s Six games land here.

Fiesta Bowl – Ohio State vs. Clemson (Dec. 28, 8:00, TSN3/TSN5) – Chase vs. Trevor. Defense vs. Offense. Which isn’t quite true since tOSU’s offense is spectacular and the Tigers’ defense is still Top 10. But this really is the face-off that many want to see. This should be a very close, very exciting game between two undefeated teams. Now watch it be a blowout. My pick: Clemson 40-33.

Peach Bowl – LSU vs. Oklahoma (Dec. 28, 4:00, TSN3/TSN5) – They should never have the semi-finals on New Year’s Eve again. This day is perfect. Even when the College Football Playoff expands they shouldn’t do that. It also allows avoidance of many of the World Juniors games this year since the WJHC is in the Czech Republic (or is it called Czechia now?). Both semi-finals are good games but this will be the lesser of the two. Sorry Sooner fans. My pick: LSU 44-24.

Rose Bowl – Wisconsin vs. Oregon (Jan. 1, 5:00, TSN1/TSN3/TSN4/TSN5) – I am glad this is getting quite a bit of hype. These two teams are fun to watch for very different reasons. And it’s the Rose Bowl…doesn’t it have to be a great game by default? My pick: Oregon 32-24.

Cotton Bowl – Penn State vs. Memphis (Dec. 28, Noon, specialty pack) – It’s not the Rose and Sugar at the top of the New Year’s Six list this year. This game is much more intriguing than the Sugar Bowl. Memphis is in the NY6 for the first time and we will see the first game where they are Norvell-less. It used to be these games were a no-win situation for the Power Five team but this is becoming less of an issue as the playoff gets older. Also, it’s James Franklin and hearing James Franklin makes you want to run through a brick wall. Very few guys can motivate like he can. My pick: Penn State 42-27.

9 out of 10! This is the SEC on CBS quality…normally

Arguably the biggest game of the day but goes here because the SEC is never on ABC (at least as the home team).

Outback Bowl – Auburn vs. Minnesota (Jan. 1, 1:00, TSN2) – One team is the team that ended Bama’s chances at competing for another national championship. The other team was very close to being this season’s Cinderella squad. Row The Boat vs. The Gus Bus. I am sad that this is going to be totally overshadowed by the Citrus Bowl starting at the exact same time. Why didn’t they schedule this to start at Noon? My pick: Minnesota 30-27.

Citrus Bowl – Alabama vs. Michigan (Jan. 1, 1:00, ABC) – This is the best non-New Year’s Six game (along with the Outback Bowl). Not surprised the Wolverines are in this game. But Alabama? It is honestly a bit of a shock to the system to see the Tide in a game like this. If they lose this game, could this be the worst season of the Saban era (other than his first in Tuscaloosa)? My pick: Alabama 34-30.

Las Vegas Bowl – Washington vs. Boise State (Dec. 21, 7:30, ABC) – And yet again this is the best pre-Christmas bowl game. And it is the much-ballyhooed Petersen Bowl. Final game for ol’ Chris Petersen before he returns in a few years because he missed coaching. I think the Huskies might keep this closer than many believe it will be as they will playing on a lot of emotion. My pick: Boise State 20-17.

Sugar Bowl – Georgia vs. Baylor (Jan. 1, 8:45, TSN1/TSN3/TSN4/TSN5) – Normally this is the kind of game that would be the worst of the NY6 bunch. Not so this season. It should be a decent game and hey, it’s Baylor in a huge bowl game although I know that won’t sit well with some. Well tough shit. My pick: Georgia 26-16.

8 out of 10! I’ll call this ESPN…on Saturday…or maybe Thursday night…but not always Saturday late night

Still really good games. Must-see for college football fans at this point.

Alamo Bowl – Texas vs. Utah (Dec. 31, 7:30, specialty pack) – This could be higher but hear me out. Texas was supposed to better than this and are limping into this bowl game. Utah was on the precipice of going to the CFP and now aren’t even in the NY6. So I can see one, or both, of these teams not really caring as much as they should that they are in this particular bowl game. Also it’s the final college football game of 2019 and the time is not ideal for TV watchers. My pick: Utah 20-13.

Holiday Bowl – Iowa vs. USC (Dec. 27, 8:00, FloSports) – First season where we can see all the bowl games…legally! I know that FOX is trying to bolster FS1 by putting the better of their two bowl games on there but it still feels weird for this to be here. But at least they won’t be talking as much about coaching controversies or, hopefully, players sitting out this bowl game so they can actually call the damn game. And if it’s GUS and Joel then that’s even better. My pick: USC 26-10.

Camping World Bowl – Iowa State vs. Notre Dame (Dec. 28, Noon, ABC) – Notre Dame probably doesn’t want to be here. That’s too fucking bad though. If you think this sucks, hire Charlie Weis and get back to me with how it goes. Let’s hope the players, at least, are up for this one because the Clones definitely will be. My pick: Iowa State 20-7.

Liberty Bowl – Navy vs. Kansas State (Dec. 31, 3:45, specialty pack) – Navy is good again and Kansas State is also good again. I hope Chris Klieman has taught his guys how to stop the run. My pick: Navy 46-34.

7 out of 10! This is FOX territory. You could move this up 1 if GUS JOHNSON! is calling the game

Most college football fans should watch these games but we are getting eerily close to the equivalent of a game where Rutgers is involved (despite the fact they are in a Power Five conference).

Orange Bowl – Virginia vs. Florida (Dec. 30, 8:00, TSN3) – This might be the worst New Year’s Six game ever. No offense to the Cavaliers but they really don’t belong here. This is the shitty part of bowl tie-ins. Yeah you can figure out which teams are going where (for the most part) but then we get instances like this. Now watch the Hoos mop the floor with the Gators and prove me wrong. My pick: Florida 27-14.

Cheez-It Bowl – Air Force vs. Washington State (Dec. 27, 10:15, TSN1/TSN5) – The team that was one loss against Boise State away from being in the New Year’s Six conversation will face off against the Fighting Mike Leachs of the Palouse. How Troy Calhoun did not get any Coach of the Year consideration is baffling to be honest. Again, it’s another contrast of styles game so we shall see if the run or the pass reign supreme. My pick: Air Force 54-41.

Boca Raton Bowl – SMU vs. Florida Atlantic (Dec. 21, 3:30, ABC) – The Boca Bowl gets the ABC treatment! Nice! I still don’t know if Lane Kiffin will be coaching in this one but it is starting to look less and less likely as the game approaches. This also has SMU who is back, kinda, sorta. Being an elite Group of Five team is better than being a basement Conference USA team though, right? My pick: SMU 29-20.

Texas Bowl – Texas A&M vs. Oklahoma State (Dec. 27, 6:45, TSN1/TSN5) – Why wasn’t Texas put here? This was their best chance since the Aggies left the Big XII and the bowl organizers fucked it up. Either that or one of the programs are still little bitches and won’t allow this to happen. Anyway, Canadian Chuba Hubbard could run wild in this one. My pick: Oklahoma State 37-32.

6 out of 10. We will put NBC here because they have to go somewhere.

Let’s be honest, NBC has very few games during a college football season. Like seven of them. But one or two are REALLY big games so on average, you have to put them above some other networks right? Plus all the Notre Dame fanboys would have a shit fit if I put NBC any lower.

Gator Bowl – Tennessee vs. Indiana (Jan. 2, 7:00, specialty pack) – This was supposed to be a different SEC team. I can’t even remember who it was but I know the Vols all of a sudden decided they wanted to be here rather than the Music City Bowl. I don’t know why there were just allowed to switch or that a bowl game could have allowed that but here we are. Anyway, I am interested at how much interest there is in the bowl games between New Year’s Day and the national championship, something that is back after a short hiatus. My pick: Indiana 37-36 (2OT).

Belk Bowl – Kentucky vs. Virginia Tech (Dec. 31, Noon, TSN3) – The final Belk Bowl. The best bowl Twitter account ever is done, for now, with sponsoring a bowl game. Knowing our luck there will be some weird company that steps up to sponsor this one. Or we get a hilarious one. Maybe Skoal wants to sponsor a bowl game. The Skoal Bandit Bowl. I’m smiling just thinking about it. My pick: Kentucky 24-17.

New Orleans Bowl – UAB vs. Appalachian State (Dec. 21, 9:00, TSN2) – I don’t get this tie-in. Really you should have a Louisiana team here no matter what. It’s a way to get a good crowd into the stadium since having less than half a stadium full is bad: in the Superdome it is so much worse. As much as I like what UAB is doing, I can’t see the Mountaineers taking it easy on them after barely missing the Cotton Bowl bid. My pick: Appalachian State 44-20.

Gasparilla Bowl – UCF vs. Marshall (Dec. 23, 2:30, TSN3/TSN5) – Weekday. Afternoon. Before Christmas. What do I always say about these games? My pick: UCF 46-30.

5 out of 10. Some hot ESPN2/ESPNU/SEC Network/ACC Network action right here!

These are the networks I really love to be honest with you. They provide a shit-ton of football on the specialty pack and at least once a week you get a great game on it. Well a great finish at least which is what we might have to hope for with this group of games. Also, we add the ACC Network this year!

Sun Bowl – Arizona State vs. Florida State (Dec. 31, 2:00, CBS) – Florida State barely got into a bowl game and fired their head coach. Arizona State did about as good as everyone thought they would and Herm Edwards has done great in Tempe. Now the question is how many will actually show up for this game. I put the over/under at 25,000 and that’s only because the Sun Devils are there. My pick: Arizona State 36-17.

Birmingham Bowl – Boston College vs. Cincinnati (Jan. 2, 3:00, specialty pack) – Luckily for this bowl game, it has been usually a good game in the past. Sucks that it is played in a dump like Legion Field but it could be worse. They could be at the Trop. Back to the game, the Bearcats should have no problem with the Eagles who finally fired Steve “The Dude” Addazio. About three years to late for many BC fans. My pick: Cincinnati 31-10.

Military Bowl – North Carolina vs. Temple (Dec. 27, Noon, TSN5) – Mack Brown in a bowl game in 2019. This tells you how crazy college football can be. The Tar Heels will have their work cut out for them as Temple is one of the most complete Group of Five teams around. I kind of hope it’s snowing for this one as we don’t get near enough bad weather bowl games. My pick: Temple 28-21.

Music City Bowl – Mississippi State vs. Louisville (Dec. 30, 4:00, TSN3) – The game Tennessee should have been in. Then they switched with Kentucky but Kentucky had already played Louisville for the Governor’s Cup so they switched with Mississippi State. So yeah I figured it out a few sections after I was struggling to remember. Bowl Selection Alzheimers. My pick: Mississippi State 37-23.

4 out of 10. FOX Sports One goes here although some could argue it should be higher.

Now that we can technically get FS1 games up here, I can’t use that as an excuse to put this in the 4 spot. FS1 is kind of all over the place so many times, ESPN2 has much better games but mostly ESPNU never has better games. I may have to rethink this for next season. For now, I don’t have time so here it is!

Pinstripe Bowl – Michigan State vs. Wake Forest (Dec. 27, 3:20, TSN1/TSN5) – Again, snow here would be fun. Wake Forest should be heavily favoured here but instead we will get everyone overrating Sparty. My wonder is if it will be Mark Dantonio’s last stand as MSU’s head coach. My pick: Wake Forest 47-34.

Mobile Bowl – Miami-OH vs. Louisiana (Jan. 6, 7:30, specialty pack) – Louisiana has a great run the last two seasons. If it isn’t for App State, the Ragin’ Cajuns are the best Sun Belt team around. Anyway, they go up against Miami-OH. The Cradle of Coaches probably won’t have a chance in this one and, to be honest, I can see many people taking a break before the natty by skipping this one. My pick: Louisiana 50-23.

Bahamas Bowl – Buffalo vs. Charlotte (Dec. 20, 2:00, TSN2) – This could end up being a fantastic game. Who knows? And I barely care because I won’t be able to watch it live. Oh well I guess it’s nice to see Charlotte in their first bowl ever and getting to go to the Bahamas. My pick: Buffalo 37-29.

Hawaii Bowl – BYU vs. Hawaii (Dec. 24, 8:00, specialty pack) – This is on Christmas Eve again. Where it belongs. This is an interesting game since most of the recruits on the islands go to, I believe, either Hawaii or BYU (and BYU even has a school in Hawaii somewhere). These two used to be conference foes but if it was BYU’s choice they never would be again because BYU is above the Mountain West/WAC in football I guess. My pick: BYU 26-24.

3 out of 10. CBS Sports Network or Big Ten Network type games. The whole “it’s about quantity, not quality” rule.

BTN, for some reason, gets one really good game all year and then a bunch of Rutgers games. CBSSN just has so many games but it’s all Group of Five so they have to be ranked this low. And now I can watch all these games which is really great, right? I think I need my head examined.

First Responder Bowl – Western Michigan vs. Western Kentucky (Dec. 30, 12:30, specialty pack) – Hey maybe this game will actually be played this time around. Saying that, it would be fucking hilarious if it was cancelled again. If that happened I could see this bowl just being jettisoned since it’s obviously bad luck. My pick: Western Kentucky 35-30 (if it doesn’t get cancelled).

New Mexico Bowl – San Diego State vs. Central Michigan (Dec. 21, 2:00, TSN2) – Jim McElwain did a fantastic job at Central Michigan this season. Rocky Long has been doing amazing work at SDSU for years. Top quality coaches here. I just…I don’t know. It feels like a game that’s just meh. A game that would struggle to get out of ESPN3 territory during the regular season. Nothing special. And to answer your question, yes, I will watch it. My pick: San Diego State 31-7.

Independence Bowl – Louisiana Tech vs. Miami (Dec. 26, 4:00, TSN5) – First game after Christmas. And it’s Shreveport, everyone’s least favourite bowl destination. This harkens back to like the 80s when no one really cared about things like this. Anyway, it’s the perfect bowl game for a team like Miami that barely made it to the postseason. And Louisiana Tech is almost at home for this one so hopefully the crowd is good. My pick: Louisiana Tech 21-17.

Armed Forces Bowl – Southern Miss vs. Tulane (Jan. 4, 11:30 AM, specialty pack) – I still wait for the day where Willie Fritz is picked up by a higher profile school. What he has done at Tulane is great. They are no longer a laughing stock and an easy out. Jay Hopson isn’t a slouch either. I do like the fact this starts late morning on the Saturday of Wild Card weekend. Morning college football!!! My pick: Tulane 40-20.

2 out of 10. This is some Pac-12 Network dreck over here.

The Pac-12 Network is now easily the worst of the conference networks. We don’t have a Big XII Network yet so once we get that in like 2031 we may finally get the definitive ranking. Anyway, most games on this network are pretty bad, especially for a Power Five conference. Yes, there are games that end up being great but the schedule is atrocious.

Redbox Bowl – Illinois vs. California (Dec. 30, 4:00, FOX) – It is a nice story to see Illinois in a bowl game for the first time in a few years. They are in an odd spot since they aren’t considered the worst of the Power Five bunch (even though they are in the conversation) but they are mostly forgotten in college football these days which is sad. Lovie Smith has finally done wonders in Champaign. Really though, this bowl game is between two average programs who have a good chance to be home for next year’s bowl season. My pick: Illinois 16-12.

Camellia Bowl – FIU vs. Arkansas State (Dec. 21, 5:30, TSN2) – Former Sun Belt foes (and I use that term really loosely) face off. Good chance this will be overshadowed by other game on this day, the first Saturday of bowl season. My pick: Arkansas State 36-33.

Cure Bowl – Liberty vs. Georgia Southern (Dec. 21, 2:30, CBS Sports Network) – The Cure Bowl is almost always near the bottom of the bowl rankings and this year is no different. At least they don’t have crazy competition to get viewers but the network won’t help things here. Even Liberty being in their first bowl game ever will be shit on because people just hate Liberty or they hate the man who doesn’t understand the concept of a burner phone, Hugh Freeze. My pick: Liberty 31-24.

Quick Lane Bowl – Eastern Michigan vs. Pittsburgh (Dec. 26, 8:00, TSN5) – MAC vs. Big Ten would have been better. ACC vs. Big Ten would have been better. Big Ten here would have been better, period. Thanks to stupid bowl tie-ins they didn’t have enough teams to get down to this bowl game. Oh well, at least it’s on in primetime. My pick: Pittsburgh 31-17.

1 out of 10. Or zero. Or negative numbers Who really gives a shit here? I sure don’t.

I will watch these if I can. I am a working man after all. I am an insane college football fan and even I can only take so much. In April I will be regretting treating these bowl games like a pile of diarrhea.

Frisco Bowl – Utah State vs. Kent State (Dec. 20, 7:30, TSN2) – I like the way this bowl is set up. Small-ish stadium. Football-mad state. The actual game though? Meh. It’s football and it’s on opening night so I will watch but it’s not high up on my list and they are lucky to have the audience to themselves. My pick: Kent State 39-36.

Idaho Potato Bowl – Nevada vs. Ohio (Jan. 3, 3:30, TSN2) – I always find it interesting that they make the MAC go to bowl games like this. And the Potato Bowl is always far down both conferences’ lists of where to send teams. Let’s be honest here; it’s Boise. Yes the blue turf is fun but other than it turning into a skating rink or them playing in a blizzard, this game, which is after New Year’s on a weekday in the afternoon, isn’t exactly must watch.. My pick: Ohio 47-31.

Arizona Bowl – Wyoming vs. Georgia State (Dec. 31, 4:30, CBS Sports Network) – The worst bowl game of the bunch. CBS Sports Network seems to own this spot with this bowl or the Cure Bowl. And to top it off, this game is around dinnertime on New Year’s Eve. Geez talk about a shitty spot for a lower-tier bowl. My pick: Wyoming 37-27.

So there you go! The bowl schedule and rankings are done. So now you can enjoy the games!

And hey I am posting this before bowl season begins! Nice change from last year and it means I am on the ball (for once).

I have a proposal – Week 11 College Football Recap

Posted on November 12, 2019 by guelphbossman

You probably know this already but Chad Morris has been fired as head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks. No surprise there. Arkansas has been awful this season. No denying that. While pretty much every other team not named Vanderbilt is improving in the SEC, the Razorbacks are getting worse somehow. Chad Morris was supposed to be the savior (somewhat) for this program and at least get it back to playing in bowl games every season if not actually competing for the SEC West title. But in what may be the worst coaching job in the state since John L. Smith was brought in for a short (and disastrous) period of time, nothing went right in Fayetteville (and sometimes Little Rock). Their shellacking at the hands of Western Kentucky on Saturday was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Not saying Morris would have been back next year since he probably wouldn’t have been but there has to be a huge shot to the ego to be fired during a season. Basically the school is saying you aren’t even good enough to coach this already shitty team for the rest of the season. You are so bad that we have to replace you now.

Earlier this season, Rutgers finally shitcanned Chris Ash. It was about a season or so too late but at least they finally did it. So I have a proposal here that I think may have been said before but hear me out. As much as people say there are too many bowl games, people obviously watch them since they usually get more viewers than anything else on at that time, other than the NFL or World Juniors. So why not add another postseason game? Here’s what I think: have the two worst Power Five teams face off to figure out the bottom team of the year. Arkansas vs. Rutgers! Who says no? And play it in a spot where there is a good chance of horrible weather like Montana. Someone will broadcast it for sure. And I will watch it. Let’s make it happen!

Alright enough of Relegation Bowl 2019. On to the recap of what was an amazingly crazy week of college football. I can honestly say it was one of the most enjoyable weeks of college football this year. My only hope is that the last few weeks of the regular season are just as good (if not better).

Recap

Minnesota had a nice win over Penn State in chilly conditions in Minneapolis in one of two battles of undefeated teams. Row The Boat, indeed. It was a historic victory for a program not known for playing big-time college football. This means that the Golden Gophers’ hopes for the College Football Playoff are still alive. And with Iowa, Northwestern and Wisconsin left on their sked, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that the Fighting Flecks are in the Top 4 come conference championship weekend. As for PSU, they aren’t out of things yet but they have to win out and get a LOT of help.
Clemson clinched the ACC Atlantic with a relatively easy win over NC State in primetime. It was actually a close game for all of like a minute and then the Tigers were off to the races in a horribly boring affair. It was weird to see the primetime sked be so much worse than the earlier two timeslots but there we had it. If you needed to get anything done on Saturday, that was probably your chance.
A very slow start for Georgia turned into a bit of a rout when they scored 27 unanswered on Missouri to pick up the win. They still have two more big games against Auburn and Texas A&M coming up that could put other teams back in the SEC East race. The Dawgs would have to lose both though and I honestly can’t see that happening.
Oh yeah there was a kind of big matchup down in Tuscaloosa. Talk about an instant classic. Two of the best coaches in the game. Two of the best quarterbacks (although Tua was obviously in pain late in the game). Two of the best offenses and defenses in the game. And it was a great game. LSU was way up by halftime but there was always that feeling that Alabama could come back. And come back they did. They made a game out of it with Tua Tagovailoa’s gutsy play. But the Tigers were too much and Joe Burrow may have clinched the Heisman with his performance. Yes it wasn’t under the lights but it was still an amazing game that will be remembered for a long time and may, dare I say it, knock Bama out of the College Football Playoff.
In Big XII news, Baylor BARELY beat TCU. It was looking for a while there that the Horned Frogs had the Bears’ number. The Bears needed a FG late and then some overtime heroics to win this one. So I just assume the Bears fans’ blood pressure is through the roof for most of this one and will continue to be until they lose (if they lose).
Illinois was down 28-3 to Michigan State and all the hope for Illini fans seemed to be draining. Then they started the biggest comeback in program history, about to tie up the game after a touchdown aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand they miss the extra point. Oh no. But they persevered and scored late again to pick up the massive win over the Spartans and become bowl-eligible for the first time in five long years. Amazing how keeping Lovie Smith (and his glorious beard) on for another year (after really not deserving another year) has led to hope inside this program.
Appalachian State ended up with what was not really an upset as they beat South Carolina in a close one. Can you imagine what would be going on right now if App State hadn’t looked like shit against Georgia Southern? You would have been seeing the Mountaineers as a good possibility as the first ever Sun Belt team to get to the New Year’s Six. Now? They need some help.
Could the Oklahoma freakin’ Sooners somehow get back into the CFP race? They sure could. I mean their game against Iowa State was pretty tough to watch and they struggled at times but they won and in the end that’s what matters…kind of. They are just lucky that ISU went to the Mack Brown School of Two Point Conversion Plays. They need to figure out that defense though as they can’t play like that against Baylor this Saturday or otherwise it will be lights out. Then again, Baylor struggled to score against TCU so…who knows.
Your 2019 Ohio State Buckeyes are a God damned juggernaut. They mopped the floor with Maryland dropping SEVENTY-THREE POINTS on them. Their path to the Big Ten Championship is now very simple. Don’t lose to Penn State and they will basically win the Big Ten East and head to Indianapolis.
So what can we make of the Tennessee Volunteers this season? They looked OK, I guess, against Kentucky and were able to eek out a win. They’ve been all over the place this season with some great games and truly awful ones. Amazingly enough, through all this, the Vols are one win away from being bowl-eligible and maybe, just maybe, they are back to building something good in Knoxville.
UCF lost to Tulsa. No New Year’s Six for you!
There was one more game with two ranked teams going at it and it was a close one as well. Iowa and Wisconsin played some classic Big Ten West football against each other and very few watched it because it was on at the same time as LSU-Alabama. Couldn’t this have been a night game? Anyway, the Hawkeyes missed on the two-point conversion late and Paul Chryst’s Badgers survived and now remain the only real challenger to Minnesota in the division.
Wow Boise State is making it very difficult to give them the New Year’s Six spot. Or is it that Boise State is making it tough to keep them out of the New Year’s Six spot? Probably a bit of both. They probably should have lost that game against Wyoming but somehow, someway, pulled out the win in overtime. They are still right in the thick of the hunt for the Group of Five spot and it would not surprise me to see them get it if they can blow through the rest of their schedule.
Oh Kansas State. It’s like they couldn’t handle the rarified air of the Top 25. I get that it’s been a struggle since 109-year-old Bill Snyder left the program but hopefully Chris Klieman has them back to where they had been during the Snyder era. And Texas is back……in the Top 25 (I think).
Florida beat Vanderbilt. In other news, sometimes we get snow in the winter.
Wake Forest had a ton of trouble with the Bud Foster Hokie defense and now will be out of the Top 25 (I think). So who in the hell is going to go to the Orange Bowl out of the ACC? It’s going to be an unranked Virginia I think. Sad. I think it’s about time to cut back a bit on the bowl tie-ins since that is ridiculous.
Finally, SMU put up almost 60 points on East Carolina. Unfortunately, East Carolina put up a bit more than 50 on the Mustangs. Not good for a team that is hoping for a wing and a prayer and a chance to somehow get to the AAC Championship.

We are now getting into the real important part of the season. OK not as important as American Thanksgiving Footballgasm time but still important. This past weekend, though, led to some big changes in the polls. That’s the way these things go in November. Here’s my Top 25:

#1	LSU
#2	Ohio State
#3	Georgia
#4	Clemson
#5	Utah
#6	Minnesota
#7	Alabama
#8	Oregon
#9	Baylor
#10	Oklahoma
#11	Auburn
#12	Florida
#13	Penn State
#14	Michigan
#15	Wisconsin
#16	Notre Dame
#17	Cincinnati
#18	Memphis
#19	Texas
#20	Boise State
#21	SMU
#22	Iowa
#23	Indiana
#24	Navy
#25	Texas A&M

Something has happened at the top and more is to come. Unless something weird happens, both LSU and Georgia won’t get to the CFP. LSU is almost a shoo-in at this point unless they don’t just shit the bed but fill the bedroom with diarrhea. Clemson wins out and they are essentially a lock. Ohio State is the same. I still think Ohio State blows it against Michigan though. I am going to continue to drink the Kool-Aid and say Michigan will finally break the streak this season. The most important thing here though? Indiana is in the Top 25. Every year it seems there has to be a basketball school in the Top 25. Last year it was Kentucky. The few years before that was Duke. Lately, that is the case. I would love to see Indiana win out and get in the conversation for the College Football Playoff because I like the discomfort of a team like that being in the mix. The media, as much as they they say otherwise, do not want these non-traditional football powers in these big games. Except for the ones who love controversy like it’s crack.

So this post is a day late so I won’t hype the Monday Night Football game (not that I ever hype it). But last night’s game was great. One of the best MNF games in a long time. And now there are no undefeated teams. The ’72 Dolphins can pop that champagne.

We got some MACtion tonight! Eastern Michigan and Akron tussle starting at 6:00 on the specialty pack and Western Michigan faces off against Ohio starting at 6:30. The games aren’t early because of the CFP Rankings Show. It’s because the weather is supposed to be bad so they are starting the games an hour or so earlier than normal. It is supposed to frigid in Ohio tonight so don’t expect to see packed stands there. Then tomorrow night is another set of MACtion games both on the specialty pack: Northern Illinois-Toledo and Bowling Green-Miami-OH.

Tomorrow we got some bowl projections (which aren’t early anymore). Thursday it’s another weekend-plus of college football and its TV schedule. Finally, the NFL gets the sked treatment on Friday. Enjoy your week (and the games) everyone!

Time to Tank? – Week 8 NFL TV Schedule

Posted on October 25, 2019 by guelphbossman

Alright, I admit it. Tua Tagovailoa will be a star (probably). Best quarterback in Alabama history? Yes although that is a shockingly low bar to hurdle considering the quarterbacks they have had that were successful in Tuscaloosa. So teams might want to line up to get this hot prospect. But tanking to get the top pick is not usually a football thing. You see that shit in the NBA and NHL, not the NFL! But we may be seeing it this season. The Dolphins and the Bengals have taken different paths to get to this point but both teams are winless and there is nothing that says they will get a victory all year. That is until December 22nd which may go down in history as the date the shittiest game has ever been played when these two teams meet up.

The Dolphins have basically stopped playing for Brian Flores and have traded away a couple of players. The Bengals are just terrible and Andy Dalton basically needs to start fresh somewhere else (although he may be almost done). Either way, the fans of these two teams have to be so sad at how bad their teams are. My opinion? Draft Joe Burrow instead.

Aaaaaaaaanyway, here’s the schedule which does include those two brutally bad teams:

Sunday Early


Denver at Indianapolis	Cleveland, Boston		Ottawa		London, Toronto, Atlantic
Cincinnati vs. LA Rams (in London)	Seattle				Vancouver Island, Alberta
Arizona at New Orleans	Minneapolis, Detroit			TSN3
NY Jets at Jacksonville	Spokane, Rochester, Burlington
Philadelphia at Buffalo		Buffalo, Rochester, Boston	Northern Ontario, Kitchener, Toronto, Atlantic		Ottawa
LA Chargers at Chicago		Minneapolis
NY Giants at Detroit		Detroit, Burlington	Montreal
Seattle at Atlanta		Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane	BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Winnipeg
Tampa Bay at Tennessee

Sunday Late


Cleveland at New England	All affiliates	All affiliates (except Atlantic)	TSN3	Atlantic
Oakland at Houston
Carolina at San Francisco

Sunday/Monday Primetime

Green Bay at Kansas City	Sunday, 8:30, NBC, TSN 1/3/4/5, CTV Two
Miami at Pittsburgh	Monday, 8:30, TSN 1/3/4

Random Analysis

And another London game. Thank God it’s on at 1 with all the other games. And unless you live out west or have DAZN, you aren’t seeing it. I am so glad it’s not on at 9:30. I don’t think I have watched the first half of ANY early London game since they started that. Too damn early for my liking.
Three games in the late window but would you even know since YOU WILL GET THE BROWNS AND PATRIOTS AND YOU WILL LIKE IT! This never happens. Usually the other network will have their late game on in some part of Canada. Not so this Sunday. I mean what if you were a Raiders fan or a Panthers fan or a Texans fan? You would be rare up here. Now a Niners fan…that I could see and I am surprised a team that is undefeated will get no play in Canada.
The other game not being shown is in the early part of the day. Bucs-Titans no one really cares about. To be honest, we don’t get many Bucs or Titans games up here. I don’t think I’m missing much.
Packers! Chiefs! Sunday Night aw damn it no Patrick Mahomes. This could have been a candidate for game of the damn year but Patty Mahomes is out with a dislocated kneecap which he is ALREADY PRACTICING ON? He might just be a cyborg.
In contrast to SNF, Monday Night Football looks like an absolutely atrocious matchup. The only thing that could make it worse is a lot of rain. Checking the weather it looks like they will be getting rain all weekend so hopefully the drainage system at Heinz Field is working well.

Hopefully it’s another fun weekend of football. I mean when’s the last time it’s been a fully terrible weekend of football when you combine college and pro? Has that ever happened? I’m not going to even look. Enjoy the games everyone!

Time for another conference network!

Posted on August 14, 2019 by guelphbossman

It’s time to welcome the SEC Network’s younger, less successful brother, the ACC Network!

This seems to be the future of college sports. And I am fine with this. It means there are more options to watch college football and you might see some sports you never see up here like…oh wait, this is Canada so no we don’t get that.

I am assuming this will be dealt with the same way the SEC Network was dealt with by Rogers and Bell…poorly. Bell couldn’t seem to figure it out right off the bat but eventually got the games up for Canadian viewers. As for Rogers (and, I believe, Eastlink), they had to wait a couple seasons to even get these games. Why? Who the fuck knows. I always chalk these types of things up to one of two things: either the ongoing pissing match between Rogers and Bell and/or incompetence.

Well let’s get right to the ACC predictions and then I can follow that up with some Statements of the South (but not that far south):

	Conference		Overall
Atlantic	W	L	W	L
Clemson	8	0	12	0
Syracuse	6	2	10	2
Florida State	5	3	9	3
NC State	5	3	9	3
Wake Forest	2	6	5	7
Boston College	2	6	5	7
Louisville	0	8	2	10
Coastal
Miami	7	1	10	2
Virginia Tech	6	2	9	3
Virginia	5	3	8	4
Pittsburgh	4	4	6	6
Georgia Tech	2	6	4	8
Duke	2	6	4	8
North Carolina	1	7	3	9

Statements of the South

But not too far South. I think that people in this conference forget that the word ‘Atlantic’ is in the conference name. Not Southern.
Clemson is EASILY the best team in the conference, despite their defensive line all going to the NFL. Trevor Lawrence, Travis Etienne and the offense should be even better than last season. The defense is still seriously good, even with the replacements along the line. This is about as easy a choice as their is for a team to run the table (especially inside the conference).
Again I have Miami and Virginia Tech battling for the *checks notes* Coastal Division title. I did that last year and neither team stepped up. For this reason, don’t be surprised if Virginia or even Pitt is playing for the division title in late November.
Florida State SHOULD be good this year. I mean not back to 1990s Noles standards but still, they should be in the New Year’s Six mix at least into November which should make Seminoles fans very, very happy (or more like relieved that the nightmare of the past few years is over).
Georgia Tech is going to have a difficult season in 2019. Not because of Geoff Collins. Well, actually it is. They are converting from the triple option to a pro-style attack and since Collins has had one recruiting cycle, they are at least a season away from having the players needed to make such a system work. But at least the media and fans seem to be OK with this. If this was done in Alabama, say moving to the triple option, Tuscaloosa might burn down if the media said the Tide would have a 5-7 season while transitioning to the new style.
Steve Addazio might be at the end of the line in Chestnut Hill which I don’t think would upset many Boston College fans and alumni.
I’ve got eight bowl teams coming out of the ACC with two others on the cusp. Don’t be surprised if the bowls have to dip into the 5-7 teams yet again (after getting away from this for a couple years) and take either Boston College or Wake Forest to fill a spot.
In the end, I have Clemson (like everyone else) winning the ACC Championship over a decent Miami squad (who won’t be starting Tate Martell) which will undoubtedly put them in the College Football Playoff.

That’s it. All the conferences are complete! Next up is the bowl game projections which I am sure everyone will agree with. Have a great hump day everyone! Remember, we are 10 days away from college football! Tomorrow we fall to single digits. WOOHOO!

Things have got very interesting for the favourites – Week 5 College Football TV Schedule

Posted on September 27, 2018 by guelphbossman

I had something else prepared for the opening section and it wasn’t very exciting. Once this Kelly Bryant story came out, it became a bit more intriguing. Bryant is planning to transfer to another school. This means he probably will not play again this season. Now with the new rule, players can play up to four games without burning their redshirt. So Bryant can now go to another program next season and play his redshirt senior year which will be a MASSIVE help to some programs. Jalen Hurts is contemplating the same decision down in Tuscaloosa. Tua Tagovailoa has taken over the starting position at Alabama, just like Trevor Lawrence did at Clemson.

The intriguing part comes from this: say Tagovailoa or Lawrence get hurt. Let’s be honest, if they play poorly one game it won’t matter since it’s their team now. But getting injured is a different story. Then the Tide and Tigers would not have an adequate backup. This is a serious problem for the two favourites to get to the CFP National Championship this season. Everyone involved with both programs, including their fans, better cross their fingers that nothing happens with their star quarterbacks or they could be up shit creek without a paddle. And you can’t blame Bryant or Hurts for potentially transferring. They have quarterbacked in huge games and are good quarterbacks. In the right situation, they could guide a team to a championship. They have to do what is best for themselves and their futures. It will be an interesting story to follow the rest of the season.

Enough about transferring at the moment. Time to get down to the task at hand which is getting you the college football schedule TV information for Week 5. And I will be honest: so far, on a whole, it has been easier than last season. Not much. But somewhat. Which is nice. Less headaches.

Thursday

		US	Canada
South Carolina State at North Carolina A&T	7:00 PM
North Carolina at #16 Miami	8:00 PM

Hey North Carolina doesn’t suck as bad now! I think. I don’t know. But after winning this past weekend they certainly don’t look like complete ACC doormats anymore. Now they have to face Miami so I can’t see them doing anything of note but if they keep it close, there will be people doubting Miami all season, no matter what they do.

UPDATE: UNC-Miami is also appearing on the specialty pack for some reason.

Friday

		US	Canada
Princeton at Columbia	7:00 PM
Memphis at Tulane	8:00 PM

Not much to say here although the addition of Ivy League football is a nice one. Doesn’t make me feel more educated though. I’ve watched FCS football before. I know what I’m in for (sometimes).

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
Syracuse at #3 Clemson	Noon
Army at Buffalo	Noon
#12 West Virginia at #25 Texas Tech	Noon
Indiana at Rutgers	Noon
Arkansas vs. Texas A&M (in Arlington)	Noon
Temple at Boston College	Noon
Louisiana at #1 Alabama	Noon
Virginia at NC State	12:30 PM

As per usual, the early games are interesting even if they are lacking some star power. WVU-TTU will be on the top of most people’s lists but Syracuse-Clemson could end up being a really good game. We shall see if the Orange are for real or not.

UPDATE #2: I should have trusted my original gut instincts. I thought Bowling Green-Georgia Tech would be on the specialty pack but it hadn’t shown up on any of the guides I saw. Now it has shown up. Of course.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
Baylor at #6 Oklahoma	3:30 PM
Tennessee at #2 Georgia	3:30 PM
Cincinnati at UConn	3:30 PM
Purdue at Nebraska	3:30 PM
Florida State at Louisville	3:30 PM
Pittsburgh at #13 UCF	3:30 PM
Southern Miss at #10 Auburn	4:00 PM
Tennessee State at Vanderbilt	4:00 PM
#14 Michigan at Northwestern	4:30 PM

Again with the no ESPN at 3:30 thing so that they can show a game at 6 (and then have a short window). I don’t get it but whatever. I’m not in charge.

A few decent games but nothing really stands out. All the games with ranked teams have their opponent not being that good. For example, Michigan. Yeah, OK! Against a down Northwestern team. Ugh. Oh well. Hopefully one of these will end up being really good like the Virginia Tech-Old Dominion insanity of last Saturday.

UPDATE #3: Remember what I said above about Bowling Green-Georgia Tech? Same thing goes for Rice-Wake Forest in this timeslot (3:30 pm). I wonder if this is the prelude to the ACC Network showing games on the specialty pack (hopefully) next year.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Florida at #23 Mississippi State	6:00 PM
Samford at Kennesaw State	6:00 PM
Boise State at Wyoming	7:00 PM
Virginia Tech at #22 Duke	7:00 PM
Iowa State at TCU	7:00 PM
#7 Stanford at #8 Notre Dame	7:30 PM
#4 Ohio State at #9 Penn State	7:30 PM
Louisiana Tech at North Texas	7:00 PM
South Carolina at #17 Kentucky	7:30 PM
#20 BYU at #11 Washington	8:30 PM

Holy shit do things kick into high gear in the primetime slate. Three games with ranked-on-ranked violence, three more with ranked teams and Boise State-Wyoming which could essentially be for the Mountain West Mountain Division title. This is about as loaded as you will ever see in September and it’s glorious! It makes the stupid short ESPN window not seem as such a big deal (although I really do not understand why they can’t put it at 5:30 (although I am sure something is on ESPN that needs two-and-a-half hours to air).

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
Ole Miss at #5 LSU	9:15 PM
USC at Arizona	10:30 PM
Toledo at Fresno State	10:30 PM

Pac-12 After Dark, Late Night Mountain West, and some SEC action that will go past midnight. LSU should mop the floor with the Rebels but the other two games definitely have some intrigue.

UPDATE #4: Don’t know how I missed this but USC-Arizona is not on the specialty pack. It’s on TSN2.

Games to set your eyeballs on

Ohio State at Penn State (7:30, ABC) – This is not an easy choice for the game of the week as there are quite a few good games, especially in the primetime timeslot. I have Penn State winning this one (as you will see in the next section). Either way, the winner is the Big Ten’s biggest hope of going to the College Football Playoff.

Stanford at Notre Dame (7:30, NBC) – Looks like I will be flipping back and forth between this big game and the tOSU-PSU game. It’s a good problem to have. Anyway, both teams have looked shaky at times. Stanford looked bad through about 2.5 quarters against Oregon before finally waking up. Notre Dame barely beat Vanderbilt a couple weeks ago. Here’s where we find out which team is for real…or as real as a team can get considering it’s still late September.

BYU at Washington (8:30, FOX) – Who thought BYU would be in this section at all this season? Now put down your hands you filthy liars. None of us thought this. BYU has come back a lot quicker than many anticipated which is good. To be an Independent you need to have a decent team or otherwise you barely get noticed (unless your Notre Dame or to a much lesser extent, Army). Washington is looking down the barrel at a huge showdown with Stanford in a little over a month but cannot overlook these games. Could end up being a massive roadblock for the Huskies.

West Virginia at Texas Tech (Noon, TSN3) – Four games that involve two ranked teams playing each other. That’s a good college football schedule I must say. Texas Tech is looking a hell of a lot better than many (including myself) thought they would be. A few more wins and Kute Kliff Kingsbury keeps his job for sure into next season (as long as some crazy story about him doesn’t come out in the offseason). The Mountaineers have to be considered dark horse College Football Playoff contenders now and a win here might put them in the Top 10 before October.

Syracuse at Clemson (Noon, ABC) – None of the top games are on the specialty pack. Interesting. Usually ESPN gets one really good one but not this week (although WVU-TTU is technically an ESPN game). I don’t believe Clemson is #2 in the land but they are still one of the favourites (along with Bama as I mentioned at the start of this post) to go all the way to the natty. Syracuse is really fun (thank you Dino Babers) but do we really think they will keep things close here in Death Valley? If they do, then wait for the Clemson hot takes all next week.

Honourable mention: Ole Miss at LSU (9:15, specialty pack); Oregon at California (10:30, FOX Sports Onegoddamit); South Carolina at Kentucky (7:30, specialty pack)

Some gambling fun and games

I got almost every one of those picks right last week. If it wasn’t for Oregon shitting the bed, I would have been perfect…which then would have made me sad I hadn’t put money down on it. So I guess it’s for the best. Not saying these picks this week will be as good but I sure hope so.

Oregon over California

Washington over BYU

South Carolina over Kentucky

LSU over Ole Miss

Clemson over Syracuse

West Virginia over Texas Tech

Notre Dame over Stanford

Penn State over Ohio State

Fresno State over Toledo (this one could be a wild Late Night Mountain West game)

Boise State over Wyoming

UCF over Pittsburgh

Hey everything, as far as I can tell, is showing up on the specialty packs! WOOHOO! This is the way it should be. It helps that TSN is showing almost nothing this week so it’s easier to figure out the schedule. I am a bit worried, however, about next year when the ACC Network commences. How will the specialty packs deal with it? It should be a not-so-difficult question to answer but this is Rogers/Bell/Eastlink/Shaw/Cogeco we are talking about.

Thursday Night Football will have a special feel tonight. For the first time ever, FOX will have the game on their broadcast network. So not only do you get Joe Buck and Troy Aikman (which may or many not be a good thing) you get it on FOX which, for the most part, means nothing to us since TSN gets it as well anyway. OK so maybe special feel isn’t exactly right here. But the game is big. Eagles-Rams. Which starts………5:00 local time? Sweet Jesus, have fun with that Rams fans.

I should be on the Twitter machine at some point this Saturday so follow along. Or don’t. Really doesn’t matter to me. Enjoy the games everyone!

Time for my Heisman ballot…

Posted on August 23, 2018 by guelphbossman

Heisman-Fantasy1

OK I get it. I’m awful at this. However, I did have Baker Mayfield as the runner-up last season so at least I was close. That’s gotta count for something, right? No? Fine, fuck you all. Here’s my Heisman ballot for this season:

My (Probably) Absolutely Disgusting Heisman Ballot

Bryce Love, Stanford – Love is pretty much the odds-on favourite coming into the 2018 season to win the Heisman. This means two things: 1) he probably won’t end up winning it because Stanford isn’t as good or he gets injured and 2) a few people out there will be adamant about Love not being anywhere close to the Heisman favourite. You know, to be different. Also makes those people look like stubborn assholes who probably just want attention.
Jonathan Taylor…….Thomas (ahahaha), Wisconsin – A little Home Improvement humour right there. Anyway, the other hyped running back coming into this season is shockingly (and by shockingly I mean not shocking at all) from Wisconsin, a school that churns out top-tier running backs like they just put them in the photocopier and PRESTO! Out one comes! Anyway, expect him to get a boatload of yards, especially against lesser competition as Wisconsin is, again, the favourite in the Big Ten West.
Trace McSorley, Penn State – Yes I know. Saquon Barkley is gone to the NFL. But that means this is Trace’s time to shine now. He is the man of the Penn State offense. Most everything will go through him. If Penn State is successful this season (and I think they will be), McSorley will be a big part of it and remember, Heisman voters love players on really good teams.
Will Grier, West Virginia – Of all the PEW! PEW! PEW!ing going on in the Big XII this season, Mr. Grier here will be doing the most of it. Interesting how he was given a one-year suspension for PEDs, and then Florida let him transfer and now the Gators are desperate to find a good QB. The Mountaineers’ Big XII hopes lie on Grier and that is why he will get a lot of consideration.
Tua Tagovailoa, Alabama – This will be an interesting season for the Tide and maybe in ways they don’t want. An actual quarterback competition in Tuscaloosa! It appears that Tua will have the inside track here and if he starts all the games this season he is almost a shoo-in to be in the Heisman competition. But Tagovailoa starting means they may end up losing Jalen Hurts who may want to transfer instead and who would blame him? And if Tagovailoa goes down to injury early on or plays poorly does this mean Hurts is in the Heisman hunt?
Jake Fromm, Georgia – I debated who to put here because D’Andre Swift could easily go here as well. To be honest, both could enter the race at some point this season. I think Fromm is the safer bet here and if Georgia repeats what they did last year (with one obvious exception) then Fromm will rocket up the rankings for sure.
Khalil Tate, Arizona – Can’t say East Coast bias to me. First, I have Bryce Love at #1. And second, I stay up and watch Pac-12 After Dark so I see as much college football as I can from around the country. I think defenses will be a bit more prepared for Tate this season. He will still be the main reason Arizona contends for their first-ever Rose Bowl berth this season and that alone puts him on this list.
Justin Herbert, Oregon – The sixth quarterback on this list and it’s a guy from Chip Kelly’s old stomping ground. Oregon is a much better team with Herbert in the lineup than without so the hope is that he is injury-free all season. He would have to come up with an all-timer of a season though to look like a better Heisman candidate than Love or Tate.
Jarrett Stidham, Auburn – Will Stidham be the second coming of Cam Newton? No. Will he throw the ball all over the field and have Auburn somewhat abandon their run offense? Perhaps. To be honest, if Auburn plays second fiddle to Bama (and I believe they will) then Stidham will get very few looks unless he’s tossing for 350 a game.
Ed Oliver, Houston – I really wanted Eddie to be higher on this list. I did. But the chances of a defensive player winning the Heisman these days is almost nil. He would have to have a ridiculously good season, Houston would have to be the Group of Five representative in the New Year’s Six and a few of the guys above him would have to have down seasons for him to be in the conversation. Sad, but true.

Honourable Mention

J.K. Dobbins, Ohio State
Kelly Bryant/Trevor Lawrence, Clemson (whoever ends up getting the starting QB job)
Dwayne Haskins, Ohio State
Jake Browning, Washington
Drew Lock, Missouri
McKenzie Milton, UCF
Cam Akers, Florida State
Nick Fitzgerald, Mississippi State
D’Andre Swift, Georgia

There’s the list! Now I have to hope that at least one of these names wins. I said I would retire the post last year if that happened and lucky for me, my #2 pick Baker Mayfield won it. Same promise this time around.

Now let’s see…what’s up next. Oh that’s right…MOTHERFUCKING COLLEGE FOOTBALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is about damn time. And yes, it isn’t exactly great college football but it’s college football nonetheless. It’s the kind of games I would watch but not pay a ton of attention to unless it was the only game on or if it was close. Instead, I will stay glued to it the entire time. I am that depraved.

Alright so I have talked to one Bell customer service rep. I know, after last year’s debacle, that the chances of the ESPN games showing up this Saturday are almost zero. But I have to make sure right. So I talked with this person and they said the games started on Sunday. Sunday. Yeah. I asked them twice if that was the correct day because they are being played live on Saturday. He assured me it was Sunday. So there you have it. No one knows. So my best guess is that if you get CBS Sports Network you will see Hawaii-Colorado State. The two ESPN games (North Carolina A&T vs. Jacksonville State at 7 and Wyoming at New Mexico State at 10) will probably not be shown in this area but stranger things have happened. If I find out any more updates I will let you all know.

UPDATE: Good news! After a few readers have mentioned that they are seeing the ESPN network games on their guides tonight, my cable box finally woke the hell up and now they are appearing as well. WOOHOO!!!

Next up will probably be an NFL preview of sorts since I do that every year despite the fact I am rarely right with those predictions. Everyone have a great week!

Which conference is this? Oh the one with Lane Kiffin in it? That should be exciting.

Posted on August 4, 2017 by guelphbossman

kiffin

Kiff always brings the lulz.

Let’s be honest here: Conference USA is hodge-podge bag of crap. The island of misfit football programs if you will. They aren’t important enough to rank with the AAC or Mountain West. But they truly believe they are higher in the pecking order than the MAC or Sun Belt (debatable). So they are caught in an awkward FBS No-Fly Zone of sorts. Doesn’t help that they have the worst set of TV contracts in FBS by far and there is no regional atmosphere. Programs span from the Atlantic Ocean all the way to El Paso. If they were smart they would start talks with the Sun Belt to “create” two new conferences with more of a geographical nature to them. This would cut travel time and travel costs, foster rivalries that make sense (oh you mean that hot Charlotte-North Texas rivalry hasn’t piqued fans’ interests?), and probably boost attendance (which, for some teams, is sad). I have done this before but here’s how I would envision the split (you know, if conferences honestly gave a shit about college football as a whole which they don’t):

New Conference USA	New Sun Belt
North	East
Appalachian State	Troy
Coastal Carolina	South Alabama
Old Dominion	Louisiana Tech
Charlotte	UL-Lafayette
Marshall	ULM
Western Kentucky	Arkansas State
South	West
Georgia Southern	UTSA
Georgia State	Rice
Florida Atlantic	North Texas
FIU	UTEP
Middle Tennessee	Texas State
UAB	New Mexico State

This is based on New Mexico State being allowed to stay in the newly formed Sun Belt. If not, take NMSU out, put Liberty in C-USA and move UAB to the Sun Belt. Easy. So there you go, Conference USA would be more of an Eastern and Southern conference with the Sun Belt going to a South/Southwest feel. They could each use one out-of-conference game against the other conference. Also, it would make a lot of sense to try and get an OOC game with a Power Five school close by. Again, keeping travel down. Go talk to NBC and see if you could perhaps get a game on NBCSN every week (with the conference championship on the main network). There are ways to do this: it’s just that no one wants to. And it will lead to another major shift in college football in the next decade. It’s inevitable.

UPDATE: In my haste I forgot Southern Miss. That’s not nice. They can replace New Mexico State, move to the East, and then Arkansas State can head to the west. Or they can just move up to the American. Either one works.

Alright, enough of Fantasyland. It’s time for predictions…which is kind of a fantasy type thing since it’s predictions (although I don’t use bias here…otherwise FAU would mop the floor with everyone granting us more Kiffin Greatness). These predictions will be followed by some pedestrian commentary:

	Conference		Overall
East	W	L	W	L
Western Kentucky	8	0	11	1
Middle Tennessee	7	1	8	4
Marshall	5	3	7	5
Old Dominion	5	3	7	5
Florida Atlantic	3	5	5	7
FIU	1	7	2	10
Charlotte	1	7	3	9
West
Louisiana Tech	7	1	9	3
UTSA	7	1	9	3
Southern Miss	5	3	7	5
Rice	3	5	3	9
North Texas	2	6	3	9
UAB	1	7	3	9
UTEP	1	7	1	11

Pedestrian Commentary

Ho-hum. WKU will again be the class of Conference USA. I honestly believe this team would do pretty well in the American Conference. They will pass the ball like 100 times a game and make football look fun (not that we will see a lot of it).
Hey UAB returns! So ridiculous that they decided to shutter football in the first place (or more like the university up in Tuscaloosa kind of decided for them) but it’s nice that they are back. Now take your place in the basement of the, wait, what?
That’s right, UTEP is god-awful. Like seriously bad. I can’t honestly see them getting more than one win. I’ve been wrong before but I don’t see any other experts saying the Miners will be bowl-eligible or anything like that so I feel safe with that prediction.
You know who else will be pretty bad? Florida International. And who’s their new coach? That’s right, Butch Davis! Yes, THAT Butch Davis. Florida is going to be awfully fun as a whole for college football this season.
Which brings us back to the Kiff. You just know that somehow Kiffin is going to make this team competitive. I have them being juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust outside bowl eligibility but I could see them eeking out the one extra win to go bowling. Which would mean more Kiffin in a national spotlight. Oh my.
I have UTSA and LaTech finishing atop the West but the head-to-head will go to the Bulldogs meaning the Roadrunners (Meep Meep!) will have to wait another year before getting to a conference title game. Saying that, we should see them, along with WKU, at the top of the C-USA standings for years to come.
The C-USA Championship should be an easy win for the Hilltoppers. Should be. Saying that, these G5 championship games can sometimes be a crapshoot. Either way, unless USF somehow blows a gasket and loses a game, Western Kentucky won’t even be sniffing a New Year’s Six spot.
Seven bowl eligible teams is what I am predicting for the Conference of the U, S, and A. Six primary bowl tie-ins along with a seventh secondary one will provide just enough spots for the teams. Yay me?

We are almost at the end folks. Next up it’s a little Fun Belt time! Then finally it will be the MAC and then the conferences will be done with being predicted. Posts follow with bowl predictions, my (usually) horrible Heisman ballot, hot seat coach report, and perhaps other posts. Who knows right? Season is 22 days away. A little over 3 weeks. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

flair flair flair

Now THAT’S the New Year’s Six we were hoping for (kind of)

Posted on January 3, 2017 by guelphbossman

new-years-six

We were into the fourth quarter of the first New Year’s Six game (the Orange Bowl) and it was already better than the entire New Year’s Six from the previous season. That was awful last season. This season, a fair amount better. Two amazing games, one quite good game and then three that weren’t that great. So they’re batting .500. That’s an improvement, no?

Alright let’s get to the recap of all the rest of the bowl games:

Citrus Bowl – LSU 29 Louisville 9

Talk about ending your season with a thud. The Cardinals looked lifeless in this one. And as for Leonard Fournette (or more like his absence)? No problem. Derrius Guice was good enough in this one and Arden Key was huge on defense. Also, Louisville’s turnover problems caught up with them again. Amazing that a team as good as Louisville gave up that many turnovers (the most in the FBS this season).

TaxSlayer Bowl – Georgia Tech 33 Kentucky 18

The schools from the state of Kentucky did not have a good day. Kentucky never seemed to be close with the Ramblin’ Wreck. After that one really bad season last year, the Yellow Jackets are back where they seem to always be: a few games over .500 but never really in contention for the ACC title.

Peach Bowl (College Football Playoff Semi-Final) – Alabama 24 Washington 7

It felt like I was just waiting for Bama to pull away in this one and it never happened. A couple of Husky mistakes gave the Tide some points but other than that Alabama did not look strong at all. It has to be worrying. And now with Lane Kiffin kicked to the curb before the National Championship I could see some issues with preparation. Doesn’t sound so cool and calm in Tuscaloosa (like usual).

Fiesta Bowl (College Football Playoff Semi-Final) – Clemson 31 Ohio State 0

Now this was an ass whoopin’ on a grand scale. Clemson was just way too good for the Buckeyes. Cue the “Ohio State shouldn’t have even been in the College Football Playoff because they didn’t even win their division and they lost to the true Big Ten champ and yada yada yada.” This type of talk is ridiculous. We all know that conference championships are money grabs, plain and simple. And now The Committee has made it clear that conference championships mean a lot, but not as much as strength of schedule. They have put their stake in the ground (for the most part) and now we know. I just wish they would make it clear to everyone, including fans. It would alleviate a lot of these debates.

Outback Bowl – Florida 30 Iowa 3

More scoring than I thought…at least from Florida. Looked like a boring game and I watched very little of it. I feel like I didn’t miss much.

Cotton Bowl – Wisconsin 24 Western Michigan 16

The Broncos have nothing to be ashamed of after this loss. They played well but it felt like after Wisky got that first touchdown that WMU would never be able to row the boat hard enough to get into the lead. And that was exactly the case. The Broncos also didn’t play as well as they did throughout the season so there is that. It does show, though, that the G-5 is still quite a ways away from the P-5 in terms of quality of football programs. It just is what it is unfortunately.

Rose Bowl – USC 52 Penn State 49

An absolute instant classic. Between this game and the Orange Bowl you can’t say enough good things about college football (or at least the games on the field). Penn State overcame three double-digit deficits to take a double-digit lead of their own. Then USC comes back to tie it. I feel bad for poor Trace McSorley. He was near-perfect all game and then threw up kind of a wounded duck interception in the final minute which lead to the Trojans game-winning field goal with no time left. If the National Championship ends up being a dud at least we can look at this game with some satisfaction.

Sugar Bowl – Oklahoma 35 Auburn 19

This game was never going to be in doubt. It was just waiting for Mayfield and Westbrook and Mixon and Perine and the rest of the offense to wake up. They finally did. This team is going to be something next year with all the returning pieces.

All that is left now is the Natty. I believe Clemson has a real shot here and I am going to go with a bit of an upset pick and say Clemson will win this. I will even give a score. It will contain numbers. And one number will be more than the other………………OK fine twist my arm. 31-27 Tigers. Happy?

It looks like the FCS Championship will be appearing on TSN5 according to the current schedule. Like the weather, it has the opportunity to change nine thousand times before the day arrives. So once it is confirmed I will let you know. I will also have the NFL Wild Card round schedule up once the TSN and CTV broadcasts are sorted out (hell, even my guide doesn’t even have the American networks figured out when it comes to those games). Hope everyone had a great New Year as we are almost coming to the close of the college football season.

Bossman's Blog

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

Tag Archives: Tuscaloosa