Hey let’s do some Bowl Game Rankings!!!!

I’ve done some different scales for this post. In some cases I have done just a straight ranking, other times I have done the Network Scale and of course there is the Uncle Verne scale.

This year I will go slightly different. I am introducing the Play-by-Play Announcer Scale! That’s right, I am going to rank the bowl games going from best play-by-play announcers down to, well, not as good ones let’s say. I mean if you aren’t Mike Goldberg you are at least competent at calling football, right?

So let’s get started. 41 bowl games. 8 tiers. 1 blog post. This sounds like Survivor.

The Jackson/Musburger Tier

Must-see games. No matter what. Even if you are a casual college football fan, you will want to watch these.

Peach Bowl – Georgia vs. Ohio State (Dec. 31, 8:00, TSN2) – There is a reason this game was chosen for primetime and not the other College Football Playoff semi-final. On paper, this is the bowl game of the season and nothing else is really close. Yes, the Buckeyes backed in to the CFP which will make a few fans upset but don’t worry: in two years that won’t make a difference. Georgia does look primed to repeat as national champs but this one will not be easy and it might not end before 2022 ends. My pick: Georgia 40 Ohio State 34.

Fiesta Bowl – Michigan vs. TCU (Dec. 31, 4:00, TSN3) – Normally I would rail against the College Football Playoff semi-final games being on New Year’s Eve but to be honest, I don’t care this year. Not going out for New Year’s so it’s football watching time. I can see many people up here, who are watching TV at least, being split between this and Canada’s World Juniors game against Sweden. How close this is will probably dictate what kind of viewing audience the hockey game gets. Anyway, fingers crossed this is a good one as many think TCU can’t hang with the Wolverines. To be honest, as much as I would love to see the Horned Frogs pull this out, I can’t see it happening. My pick: Michigan 39 TCU 21.

Rose Bowl – Penn State vs. Utah (Jan. 2, 5:00, TSN2) – I always wish the Rose Bowl would go back to ABC. It just feels like it belongs there. The Nittany Lions come in here exactly where pretty much everyone thought they would be. Losses to Michigan and Ohio State and relatively mundane victories over everyone else. Utah is probably the hotter team coming in, coming off their Pac-12 Championship win over USC. My pick: Utah 35 Penn State 30.

Orange Bowl – Clemson vs. Tennessee (Dec. 30, 7:30, TSN2) – This bowl is orange. ORANGE bowl. ORANGE tigers. ORANGE volunteers. ORANGE everything! Let’s just hope both teams don’t figure they should be wearing orange uniforms. This might end up being the most competitive of the New Year’s Six bowl games. This might have been the top New Year’s Six game if not the top bowl game period (seriously) but without Hendon Hooker, it won’t be the case. My pick: Clemson 27 Tennessee 24.

Alamo Bowl – Texas vs. Washington (Dec. 29, 9:00, specialty pack) – It felt like these two teams had good chances to be involved in conference championship weekend. Alas, they both came up short in odd circumstances (especially in hindsight) so they land here in San Antonio. The Alamo Bowl is usually one of the top non-CFP, non-NY6 bowl games and this one is no exception. There should be a LOT of points with Quinn Ewers and Michael Penix Jr. chucking the ball over the field indoors. Take the over. My pick: Washington 48 Texas 40.

The Lundquist/Nessler Tier

These are still big although these guys were hampered by some, uh, questionable analysts *COUGH*Gary Danielson*COUGH*

Cotton Bowl – USC vs. Tulane (Jan. 2, 1:00, TSN2) – Some may call this the worst of the New Year’s Six games. I disagree. It could end up being a fun one especially if USC tackles like they did in the Pac-12 Championship. A lot will ride on if Caleb Williams is 100% or not because if he isn’t, the Green Wave could pull off the biggest victory in the long history of that program. My pick: USC 44 Tulane 31.

Holiday Bowl – North Carolina vs. Oregon (Dec. 28, 8:00, FOX) – If you watch this game for one thing, it should be the quarterbacks. Oregon’s Bo Nix is confirmed to be ready to go and Drake Maye will be there as well and hopefully not playing like he did in the ACC Championship (which was easily his worst game of the season). My pick: Oregon 38 North Carolina 25.

Sugar Bowl – Alabama vs. Kansas State (Dec. 31, Noon, TSN3) – This is gonna feel REAL odd to see the Sugar Bowl on at Noon on New Year’s Eve. Let’s consider this the lesser of the New Year’s Six games. Still good but it’s a wonder whether one of the teams will show up. The Wildcats certainly will be ready to go but will Bama be ready for this one? I could see several Bama players opting out or entering the transfer portal or just not caring. Also, Nick Saban is either going to seriously pissed off and motivating his players like crazy or barely wanting to be there himself. My pick: Kansas State 31 Alabama 28.

Cure Bowl – UTSA vs. Troy (Dec. 16, 3:00, TSN1) – EASILY the best pre-Christmas bowl game. And it is played on a Friday afternoon. Ugh. Surprisingly, this is the only bowl game that features two conference champions. And it’s a bit of a classic offense vs. defense matchup as the Roadrunners, who definitely live up to their name, take their high-octane offense to Orlando to face the all-time leader in tackles in FBS in Carlton Martial. Should be a good one. My pick: UTSA 33 Troy 26.

Gator Bowl – South Carolina vs. Notre Dame (Dec. 30, 3:30, TSN2) – The Gamecocks had, arguably, the two biggest season-changing wins this season, destroying Tennessee and eeking out a victory against Clemson. These two games changed the College Football Playoff and New Year’s Six for sure. As for the Irish, things looked bleak but Marcus Freeman has turned things around and are trying to finish his first season with a big bowl win. My pick: Notre Dame 28 South Carolina 17.

The Fowler/McDonough Tier

You know, at the very least, that a game called by either of these two will be a great one…on paper. No guarantees otherwise.

ReliaQuest Bowl – Mississippi State vs. Illinois (Jan. 2, Noon, specialty pack) – The Outback Bowl is history. Honestly I went once and it was pretty overrated (except for the Bloomin’ Onion which was fantastic). Now it’s sponsored by ReliaQuest which is supposedly a cybersecurity company. Fun. My pick: Illinois 27 Mississippi State 19.

Citrus Bowl – LSU vs. Purdue (Jan. 2, 1:00, ABC/TSN3) – The first game on ABC on this list. How sad. I guess this a nice consolation for getting boatraced in a conference championship game as both of these teams were. Let’s see which team is hungrier and wants to create some momentum going into the offseason. My pick: Purdue 39 LSU 36 (OT)

Texas Bowl – Ole Miss vs. Texas Tech (Dec. 28, 9:00, TSN3) – Do not, and I repeat, do not go grab a snack or a drink unless you are sure it’s a commercial break. These two teams will light up the scoreboard. I can see this game not ending until after 1 in the morning. My pick: Ole Miss 51 Texas Tech 42.

LA Bowl – Washington State vs. Fresno State (Dec. 17, 3:30, ABC/TSN3) – This could be another game where you should probably take the over. At the very least, Jake Haener should light the Wazzu defense up. Whether the Cougs can do what the Cougs usually do (throw the ball about 2,000 times a game) is up for debate. My pick: Fresno State 49 Washington State 28.

Sun Bowl – Pittsburgh vs. UCLA (Dec. 30, Noon, CBS) – If it wasn’t for Pitt actually turning things around late in the season, I would have had the Bruins winning this one in a cakewalk. My pick: UCLA 35 Pittsburgh 29.

The Franklin/Enberg Tier

Two old-school announcers who might actually be underrated. It was always good to hear their voice though.

Cheez-It Bowl – Oklahoma vs. Florida State (Dec. 29, 5:30, specialty pack) – This game is at the top of the list if it’s 1987. Now? Not so much. I mean at least the Noles are holding up their end of the bargain. The Sooners? That’s a different story. My pick: Florida State 40 Oklahoma 30.

Las Vegas Bowl – Florida vs. Oregon State (Dec. 17, 2:15, TSN2) – Thanks to the Raiders being terrible, this game was moved back from their ABC primetime slot to a mid-afternoon slot on ESPN. Ugh. I think the Beavers deserved better. This could be a 10-win season for a team that almost never hits that plateau. And with Anthony Richardson opting out of this one, it won’t be pretty. My pick: Oregon State 36 Florida 10.

Military Bowl – Duke vs. UCF (Dec. 28, 2:00, TSN3) – This game may be overlooked by many and it shouldn’t be. I mean the timeslot doesn’t help but I could see this being a good game. A really good Group of Five team up against a much-improved Power Five team. It’s kind of what bowl season is partially about. My pick: Duke 31 UCF 27.

Duke’s Mayo Bowl – Maryland vs. NC State (Dec. 30, Noon, TSN2) – It’s always fun when you know the winning coach gets a big vat of mayo dumped on them at the end. This also being a matchup of former ACC foes gives this at least a bit of intrigue. My pick: Maryland 41 NC State 38 (OT).

Fenway Bowl – Louisville vs. Cincinnati (Dec. 17, 11:00 AM, TSN2) – This would have been well down the list if it weren’t for the fact that Scott Satterfield just left Louisville to become the new head coach at Cincinnati. He should try and coach both teams. I would definitely love to see that. My pick: Louisville 29 Cincinnati 21.

The GUS/TESSITORE Tier

MY GOD! DID YOU JUST…..SEE………THAT THREE-YARD RUN! FANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNTASTIC. Lots of enthusiasm for this tier from two guys who get enthusiastic for a touchback.

Armed Forces Bowl – Baylor vs. Air Force (Dec. 22, 7:30, TSN2) – Other than the Bears nearly beating TCU they did nothing of note this season. A big downgrade from the previous season. The academy is actually winning games because of their defense. So a great defense against a coach who is known for great defenses. Choose the under. My pick: Air Force 24 Baylor 20.

Liberty Bowl – Arkansas vs. Kansas (Dec. 28, 5:30, TSN3) – The Jayhawks were the feel-good story through the end of October this season. Unfortunately they are not playing very good football lately. Arkansas on the other hand…well, they’ve been no more than mediocre all season but they have the talent to put up points especially if they get the running game going. My pick: Arkansas 26 Kansas 21.

Music City Bowl – Kentucky vs Iowa (Dec. 31, Noon, ABC/TSN2) – Thankfully for all of us there is another bowl game on at the same time. This could end up being a yawner. You would have to be a moron to pick the over here. My pick: Kentucky 14 Iowa 10.

Pinstripe Bowl – Minnesota vs. Syracuse (Dec. 29, 2:00, TSN1) – The Cuse is back in the Bronx and I remember the last time they were here. A fabulous FOOTBAW WEATHER game against Kansas State. I hope the weather is shit for this one. Sorry to all the players and coaches and fans. My pick: Minnesota 29 Syracuse 17.

Gasparilla Bowl – Missouri vs. Wake Forest (Dec. 23, 6:30, specialty pack) – Still wish this was sponsored by Bad Boy Mowers. That was fun. This should be the swansong for Sam Hartman so expect the Deacs to throw the ball over the field. I can’t see Mizzou stopping them, plus they have already lost a few players to the transfer portal. My pick: Wake Forest 36 Missouri 14.

The Jones/Criqui Tier

Ah remember when these two would call a game on NBC? It was either a great bowl game or perhaps even a Notre Dame game when they started on NBC. Those were the days. They don’t quite measure up to the ones above them but are still great play-by-play guys.

New Mexico Bowl – BYU vs. SMU (Dec. 17, 7:30, ABC/TSN3) – And we start this section with a rematch of the 1980 Holiday Bowl that had an absolutely insane ending (look it up if you haven’t seen it before). I could see another shootout here, especially from SMU since they did put up 77 on a pretty good Houston team. My pick: SMU 39 BYU 34.

New Orleans Bowl – South Alabama vs. WKU (Dec. 21, 9:00, specialty pack) – This used to be the game where the Sun Belt and Conference USA champs went. Not anymore. At least we have two programs on the rise, especially South Alabama who is looking for their first 11-win season. My pick: South Alabama 38 WKU 16.

Birmingham Bowl – Coastal Carolina vs. East Carolina (Dec. 27, 6:45, TSN2) – Let’s call it the Battle for Lesser Carolina since the five ACC Carolina schools (as well as South Carolina) would have a fit if I called it the Battle for the Carolinas. If Grayson McCall plays this could be one of the best bowls of the season. We know Holton Ahlers will throw the ball about 50 times so there will be no shortage of offense. I’m going out on a limb and saying McCall will be ready. My pick: Coastal Carolina 49 East Carolina 47.

Guaranteed Rate Bowl – Wisconsin vs. Oklahoma State (Dec. 27, 10:15, TSN2) – Wisky comes in with no head coach as Luke Fickell won’t start with the team until after the bowl game. The Pokes definitely have a head coach and Captain Mullet watched his quarterback and the Badgers’ QB head to the transfer portal. It should be close but might not have as many points as the previous game on this list. And by might not, I mean definitely won’t. My pick: Wisconsin 28 Oklahoma State 23.

Arizona Bowl – Wyoming vs. Ohio (Dec. 30, 4:30, Barstool Sports) – The only bowl game you can’t get here. Hell, there may not even be an illegal stream for this one. Ohio has to be disappointed that they came pretty close to winning their first conference title in over five decades. I can see them coming in here wanting to prove a point. My pick: Ohio 32 Wyoming 21.

The Patrick/Hammond Tier

Here’s some 90s guys for you. They weren’t the greatest but they were pretty good and you knew their voices. They just tended to fuck up every so often…Patrick more than Hammond because Hammond only had to cover Notre Dame and whatever team Notre Dame was playing that weekend.

Boca Raton Bowl – Toledo vs. Liberty (Dec. 20, 7:30, TSN2) – Hey, the Rockets won the MAC and the Flames started 8-1 so it’s not like we have two teams who crawled into bowl season. Neither team scores much and both have had their embarrassing losses so maybe it’s time for some players to impress their coach, right? My pick: Toledo 34 Liberty 33.

Myrtle Beach Bowl – UConn vs. Marshall (Dec. 19, 2:30, TSN1) – Sorry for Marshall fans but no one gives a fuck that your team is in this bowl. It’s all about UConn. An unreal turnaround by Jim Mora Jr. and the Huskies as this team improbably going bowling on the teal turf on the South Carolina coast. Now watch the Herd destroy the fun. My pick: Marshall 35 UConn 17.

Independence Bowl – Houston vs. Louisiana (Dec. 23, 3:00, TSN2) – This feels like the death spot in the bowl schedule. Pre-Christmas, Christmas Eve Eve if you will. In the afternoon. Ugh. Also you have two up-and-down teams that really don’t have a calling card. I’ll watch it but if it gets to be out of hand in the second half, there’s no guarantees I will keep it on. My pick: Houston 32 Louisiana 14.

Idaho Potato Bowl – San Jose State vs. Eastern Michigan (Dec. 20, 3:30, TSN2) – Many fans will pull for the Spartans considering the tragedy that happened late in the season. Don’t forget there’s another team in Boise for this game, though. The Eagles have quietly gone to five bowl games since Chris Creighton took over in a stunning turnaround for a once terrible program. I still wish this game was played at night so it could be icy cold and the field may or may not turn into an ice rink. My pick: San Jose State 24 Eastern Michigan 20.

Frisco Bowl – North Texas vs. Boise State (Dec. 17, 9:15, TSN2) – Almost a home game for North Texas here. And no this isn’t the legendary Frisco Football Classic that had a one-and-done deal last year. Another classic offense vs. defense matchup as the Mean Green can move the ball but Boise has had their best defense in a long time. I wonder how UNT will be considering they just fired Seth Littrell in a bit of shocking move. My pick: Boise State 27 North Texas 10.

The Ward/Bestwick Tier

OK I lied. Not that there are bowl games that you shouldn’t watch. But that there are announcers that are fucking terrible. These two are arguably the worst ever. I would never turn off a game but I definitely did mute it at times with these two on the call. Brutal.

Hawaii Bowl – Middle Tennessee vs. San Diego State (Dec. 24, 8:00, TSN2) – I love this game. Why? Because it’s the perfect time to get all the stocking stuffers wrapped and in their stockings. This is the first time since 2019 we will see this game and it is at the converted high school in Honolulu that the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors play at. Fun times. My pick: San Diego State 26 Middle Tennessee 21.

First Responder Bowl – Memphis vs. Utah State (Dec. 27, 3:15, TSN2) – Utah State was surprisingly good this season. Memphis did about as expected. Both teams like to move FAST on offense. This one might be over by 5:30. My pick: Memphis 37 Utah State 31.

Bahamas Bowl – UAB vs. Miami-OH (Dec. 16, 11:30 AM, TSN1) – Two teams, playing in front of about 5,000 fans in usually breezy weather near the ocean. Yeah these two programs lucked out wouldn’t you say? I sure would. Better than Shreveport or Boise, at least in terms of the weather. My pick: UAB 34 Miami-OH 13.

Quick Lane Bowl – New Mexico State vs. Bowling Green (Dec. 26, 2:30, TSN3) – The Aggies are back in a bowl game! The drought was only six years this time so it’s not nearly as exciting. The bowl drought was actually longer for the Falcons, at seven years. This is NMSU’s final game as an Independent as they join Conference USA next season. I might be out, playing Free Uber for my kids as they spend their gift cards that day so we shall see how much of this I get to watch. My pick: Bowling Green 21 New Mexico State 20.

Camellia Bowl – Georgia Southern vs. Buffalo (Dec. 27, Noon, TSN2) – Both teams BARELY made it to bowl eligibility. The Eagles beat Appalachian State in double overtime and the Bulls squeaked by Akron in a rescheduled game. The only oddity here is that Georgia Southern is not a running team anymore: they pass the ball almost as much as any team in the land. Feels weird to day. My pick: Georgia Southern 37 Buffalo 28.

LendingTree Bowl – Southern Miss vs. Rice (Dec. 17, 5:45, TSN2) – Alright the worst bowl game of the bunch. A Southern Miss team that doesn’t feel like a bowl eligible team and a Rice team that lead the APR list to get here at 5-7. Ugh. There are other bowls at the same time so unless this is close, I hate to say it, you can probably avoid it. My pick: Southern Miss 35 Rice 10.

Done! All the bowl games ranked and my predictions locked in place. I am going to make another prediction: that my predictions won’t be that great. Enjoy the bowl games everybody!

The Land of the Undefeated 7.0

Yes we are at that point of the season where I am going to look at all the undefeated teams left. I can’t believe this is the seventh version of this post. And I can safely assume that Alabama was probably in all of them.

I’m glad I do this after Week 6 now since otherwise it would end up being like a fifth of the entire FBS that would be undefeated and that’s quite a few teams. Conference play tends to pare that down pretty fast. Alright, let’s get to the list!

#1 Georgia (6-0) – They were in this spot in last year’s post and they are here again. It hasn’t been as smooth as their start last year. A sloooow start against Kent State and a tough game against Missouri has kept them from being the overwhelming #1 at the mid-point of the season. And if they sweep the rest of the schedule, they will deserve the #1 ranking. Florida, Tennessee, Mississippi State and Kentucky in consecutive weeks. Yikes. That’s a gauntlet. But, I think they will pull it off. Barely. But they will. Predicted record: 12-0.

#2 Ohio State (6-0) – No surprise at the #2 spot…ok maybe some surprise since I assume some would have Alabama at #2 at this point. The top three are kind of interchangeable at this point to be honest. Will they have a tough time going undefeated the rest of the way? Possibly with Penn State and Michigan on the schedule but I think they will do it. Predicted record: 12-0.

#3 Alabama (6-0) – Yes I’m sure Nick Saban is secretly pissed off that the Tide are #3 in the rankings, despite getting eleven first place votes (out of the 63 total). They’ve had quite the roller coaster first half of the season…at least for them. By all rights, they should have lost to Texas and thanks to Jimbo Fisher Jimboing all over himself, they survived the Aggies. I assume Bryce Young will be back for the rest of the season and that is why I also have them running the table. If he isn’t back right away, well…. Predicted record: 12-0.

#4 Clemson (6-0) – D.J. Uiagalelei has looked quite a bit better than most predicted he would. He’s done enough to hold up their end while a good Clemson defense does their thing (other than against Wake Forest). They basically escaped Winston-Salem with a win but have looked great otherwise. I don’t see them quite running the table but they will do enough to make them a College Football Playoff possibility come conference championship time. Predicted record: 11-1.

#5 Michigan (6-0) – Despite the fact that FOX has a serious Michigan fetish this season, not that many are discussing the Wolverines as a true contender. They are rolling so far but have a tough back half of the schedule. Their undefeated run could end as early as six days from now (I don’t think it will but it’s very possible). They won’t make it to the end unscathed. Predicted record: 11-1.

#6 Tennessee (5-0) – Quite the start for the Vols this season. Many, especially Volunteer fans, have been waiting for this for a long time. They have their biggest test of the season coming up next week with a game against Bama. If they win, or lose a close one, we can confirm that Tennessee is finally back where they should be…competing for SEC East crowns at the very least. I don’t think they’re quite there yet…but they’re close. Predicted record: 10-2.

#7 USC (6-0) – The Trojans are fun again! Ever since the Pete Carroll days, this team has struggled to maintain their spot at or near the top of the Pac-12. One or two years they are quite good; then they lay an egg. Frustrating to say the least for USC fans. I might catch some flak for this but I don’t see USC running the table. Actually, I see their run ending this coming Saturday. Predicted record: 10-2.

#8 Oklahoma State (5-0) – The Pokes were on this list last year. Mullet Mike continues to do a fantastic job coaching this team. Spencer Sanders is finally looking like a big-time Big XII quarterback. And they are being virtually ignored in their own conference. The rest of their schedule is BRUTAL with a capital B so there is almost no way they run the table. Saying that, this is a team that could potentially make The Committee have to take a hard look at them. Predicted record: 11-1.

#9 Ole Miss (6-0) – You might not want to hear this but Lane Kiffin is, once again, doing an amazing coaching job in Oxford. Yes, this team was going to improved from last year but this has been a great start for the Rebels. If they can beat Bama in a month’s time, they could make the Egg Bowl extremely relevant for the first time in forever. I see them falling short there and in one other game, unfortunately for them. Predicted record: 10-2.

#10 Penn State (5-0) – I’ll be honest with you: I don’t like Penn State’s chances against Michigan and Ohio State. The rest of the schedule? Sure, they’re fine. Predicted record: 10-2.

#11 UCLA (6-0) – Eleven straight undefeated teams at the top of the rankings. I don’t think this has ever happened. No, I’m not going to check. Some will be surprised the Bruins are here but I am not. I had this team playing very good ball and Chip Kelly finally (FINALLY!) doing what he did when he was at Oregon. It won’t be clean but expect this team at least to be looking at the New Year’s Six come early December. Predicted record: 11-1.

#13 TCU (5-0) – If the Big XII was going to have a team on this list, other than the Pokes, most would have figured Oklahoma. Or Baylor. Maybe Texas. Not TCU. Sonny Dykes is doing some amazing things in Fort Worth with this Horned Frogs squad but it has become a very tough conference and the road will be rife with speed bumps. Expect them to have a bit of a rough ride the rest of the way. Predicted record: 9-3.

#18 Syracuse (5-0) – I’ll be honest: I didn’t think the Orange would even win five games all season let alone win their first five games of the season. At some point the bubble will burst. I say it happens this coming weekend and it’s mostly downhill from there. I’d love to be wrong but I don’t think I will be. Predicted record: 6-6.

#25 James Madison (5-0) – This should be a huge story. I mean it is, but it should be bigger. But it won’t be. Why? Because the NCAA are full of fucking idiots who can’t figure out that archaic rules need to be changed. JMU is not eligible to play in a bowl game because they are “transitioning” from FCS to FBS. There’s no real “transition” per se. They are playing one less game than everyone else because of needing to change up their schedule. Other than that, they are like every FBS team. But they aren’t treated like one. Hopefully the NCAA gets off their ass and does something about this. But they won’t. we know that. Too bad for the Dukes who are doing something no other team has done moving to FBS/Division 1-A ever: be ranked in their first year. Will they finish undefeated? I highly doubt it. That’s not really the point here. The point is they deserve respect…plain and simple. Predicted record: 7-4.

Coastal Carolina (6-0) – Now here’s where things get even more interesting. Coastal really has the only legitimate shot among Group of Five teams to go undefeated and may be the only G-5 team to have less than two losses. So how do you keep them out of the Cotton Bowl (which is where the best G-5 team most likely goes)? I wonder if The Committee will find a way. If there are other one loss teams in the G-5 that have played amazing, even in their lone loss then sure, there’s a good debate brewing. But if no other G-5 team has less than two losses? Come on. I kind of hope they do get in so that the Sun Belt will finally get their New Year’s Six payday. Predicted record: 12-0.

We have fifteen undefeated teams as we motor past (Canadian) Thanksgiving. There’s still a lot of time for chaos on this list. Before November hits, the Nittany Lions play both the Buckeyes and Wolverines, the Tide faces off against the Volunteers, the Tigers get the surprising Orange at home and Oklahoma State travels to Fort Worth to face TCU. So this number will dip to at least eleven by the time the calendar turns to the next month. Knowing the chaos we have seen already, I wouldn’t be surprised if we were down to seven or even six by that point.

College football schedule and NFL schedule upcoming later on this week as per usual. Have a great (taco) Tuesday everyone!

Hey, how about some more lists of games?

No, no, this won’t be bad, I promise you. OK, promise is a strong word. It will be fine. No need to worry. Look, I will just get right to the lists and then if you want to tell me afterwards that it was all bullshit then I may listen.

Sneaky-Good/Underrated Games

Let’s start with the games I would consider underrated or sneaky-good. These games are not in the Top 30 list but should be very good (and close) games. Now watch half of them be blowouts. Let’s begin.

1. Cincinnati at Arkansas (Week 1, 3:30, ESPN, confirmed) – A lot of college football fans (including myself) are looking forward to this one. Let’s just see how good the Bearcats still are after their glass ceiling-shattering performance of 2021. And the Hogs are no slouch either. This gun be good.
2. Kentucky at Tennessee (Week 9, 7:00, ESPNU) – These two teams feel like the only ones that can truly challenge Georgia in the SEC East (no offense to Florida). Whether this gets off of ESPNU is another story but if at least one of these teams is doing really well, I would think that would be considered.
3. Pittsburgh at Miami (Week 13, Noon, ABC) – This could be a massive game if either team plays above their talent this season. Pitt is coming off an amazing ACC title run and Miami feels like they may be starting to actually get back to those 80s and 90s Hurricane squads. Now watch both teams be 6-5 and this game mean absolutely jack shit.
4. Tennessee at LSU (Week 6, Noon, ESPN) – I am sure Tigers fans will be pissed off that this game isn’t at night since ALL GAMES AT DEATH VALLEY SHOULD BE AT NIGHT according to them. Not saying it’s a great atmosphere but you have to be realistic. Both teams will need this early conference win to have any hopes of a potential New Year’s Six berth.
5. Michigan State at Penn State (Week 13, 3:30, ABC) – Chances of this being part of a huge Big Ten doubleheader after tOSU-Michigan are slim. Who knows where this game will land when it comes to importance. I assume at least one of these teams will have an outside shot at an NY6 slot going into this week.
6. Tennessee at Pittsburgh (Week 2, 3:30, ABC, confirmed) – Wow, I have the Volunteers in a lot of these games. Their season could be the most volatile of all teams, at least in the SEC. We are looking at anywhere from five to maybe ten wins for this squad. If they do get to double digit wins, fans in Knoxville are going to build a statue (a small one but still a statue) of Josh Heupel in front of Neyland Stadium.
7. Kentucky at Ole Miss (Week 5, 7:30, SEC Network) – Love him or hate him, you can’t deny that Lane Kiffin is entertaining. And he brings an offense that could average 40 a game if he wanted to really let go of the reins. The Wildcats are no pushovers and it is a bit of a surprise that Mark Stoops hasn’t been offered a more prominent head coaching position. Maybe after this season he will get that if the Cats hit heights that have never been achieved in Lexington.
8. Arkansas at BYU (Week 7, 10:30, ESPN) – Honestly, this could be one of the most fun games to watch all year. Two great coaches, two teams that score a lot of points, and two great fanbases (no matter what you think about the people of Provo). BYU’s only possible chance at the New Year’s Six is to win games like this and they have to hope the raucous crowd at LaVell Edwards Stadium will help them in this one.
9. Baylor at Texas (Week 13, Friday, 3:30, ABC) – This could game could end up being even more important than Bedlam, which is saying something. There are even some that say that this could be foreshadowing a rematch the following week at Jerrah’s house. I mean I’m not one of them but there are some out there.
10. Purdue at Wisconsin (Week 8, Noon, ABC) – Alright, hear me out. Is Purdue now a Top 25 team? Debatable. Could they make some noise in the Big Ten West? Absolutely. And someone has to challenge the Badgers, right?

Best Group of Five Games

Let’s give the G5 some love! These games are ones that only include Group of Five teams (so no G5 vs. P5 games here). Something tells me the American Conference will show up a lot here. Oh, and by the way, I am also not putting BYU games in this section. To me they are a Power Five team.

1. Cincinnati at UCF (Week 9, Noon, ESPN) – For the second straight fucking year, Cincinnati and Houston do not play each other during the regular season. I honestly don’t get how the AAC does their schedules but it’s fucking bonkers. This means that this game ends up being the G5 game of the year and it might not even mean anything if UCF isn’t improved. Let’s hope the Gus Bus has a full tank and is ready to go.
2. Fresno State at Boise State (Week 6, 3:30, FS1) – The first game on any of these lists that we won’t be able to see here (unless you have IPTV or an illegal stream or something that most of us can probably easily find). And no, there is no way it can be moved unless FOX decides to put it on the national network because all Broncos home games are on FOX, FS1 or FS2.
3. Boise State at Air Force (Week 8, 7:00, CBSSN, confirmed) – Here’s the other part of Boise’s TV contract. Their road games must be on CBS or CBSSN. They are the special team of the Mountain West, make no mistake about it. They are the ones that bring in the eyeballs. Considering what has happened in realignment, the conference might want to add a couple teams to strengthen it and potentially weaken another FBS conference because soon enough, the Broncos will go to another conference and not change their mind.
4. Cincinnati at SMU (Week 8, 4:00, ESPNU) – Every year lately I have heard that SMU might put it all together and make a run. SMU has the pass offense to do some great things. SMU’s defense is good enough to stop the best American Conference teams. Blah, blah, blah. Until they actually do these things, I won’t believe any of the hype. If they keep this close, colour me impressed. I mean they do have the offense to do so but they have to keep the Bearcats under 50 points to have a shot here.
5. Houston at UTSA (Week 1, 3:30, CBSSN, confirmed) – I’m kind of surprised that CBS picked Arizona-San Diego State instead of this game for Week 1. Houston is the one team that many believe could knock Cincy off their perch but UTSA was amazing last year. Such a fun ride watching the Roadrunners reel off eleven straight wins and give them a much deserved national spotlight. This game will show all of us which of these two teams (if not both of them) are ready to do some damage again this year. Maybe I should have put this at #4. Too late now.
6. East Carolina at Cincinnati (Week 11, Friday, 7:30, ESPN2, confirmed) – Now here’s a team in ECU that likes to throw the ball all over the damn field. I’m sure Mike Houston’s strategy is to throw the ball until Holton Ahlers’ arm falls off…and then make him use the other arm. Bet the over.
7. Air Force at Utah State (Week 6, 7:00, FS1) – Both teams rolled past Boise State last year and don’t want to give up that top spot in the Mountain West. One team has to lose here, though, since the NCAA would rather have 53 overtimes of two-point conversions than a tie.
8. Appalachian State at Coastal Carolina (Week 10, Thursday, 7:30, ESPN, confirmed) – The Fighting Mullets are back to see if they can go back-to-back-to-back double digit win seasons. And let’s be honest: App State is always at the top of the Sun Belt heap (or near it). I love late season weekday night college football and the Fun Belt may be the top conference in providing it (no offense, MACtion).
9. UTSA at UAB (Week 10, 6:00, Facebook) – Yes, Facebook. There’s a reason these two teams (with four others) are leaving Conference USA for the American Conference next season. It’s the TV contract. It has been horrifically bad basically since the conference was created and nothing they’ve done has made it any better. And with these teams leaving, don’t think ESPN or FOX will step up to pick up games from this woebegone conference that may have completely lost its way and dropped to the bottom of the FBS pecking order.
10. San Diego State at Fresno State (Week 9, 10:30, FS1) – Your Mountain West Squared Division Championship (probably). Winner most likely ends up as the road team for the Mountain West Championship and the loser will go to Albuquerque or Boise or some other odd bowl destination. I know I’ll be watching…until about 2 in the morning.

Best Group of Five vs. Power Five Games

A new section this year! I figured I would put in just a few of these games. Group of Five teams always dream to have their shot at a Power Five team and every year there are legitimate possibilities for upsets among these games. Some P5 teams hate scheduling the better G5 teams for this reason.

1. Cincinnati at Arkansas (Week 1, 3:30, ESPN, confirmed) – I already covered this in the last post so I won’t bother here. But yeah this should be a good one.
2. Fresno State at USC (Week 3, 10:30, FOX, confirmed) – Late night FOX football is back! And if USC wants to be considered back in the Pac-12 saddle, these are the games they have to win. The Bulldogs are no pushover and they are almost feeling like the Pat Hill Anywhere, Anytime, Fresno State of the 2000s.
3. Appalachian State at Texas A&M (Week 2, 3:30, ESPN2, confirmed) – Is App State the best Sun Belt team again? A win here might confirm that. They are usually a fun team to watch but this is a brutal early season trip that won’t be easy. Almost 110,000 crazy fans (and if you’ve seen the Midnight Yell, you know they’re crazy) will make sure of it.
4. San Diego State at Utah (Week 3, 10:00, ESPN2, confirmed) – Last year these two teams played a hell of a game in front of a not-even-half-filled Dignity Health Sports Park all the way in Carson, the former home of the formerly homeless Los Angeles Chargers. The Aztecs pulled off the upset in triple overtime. This year, yeah, the MUSS will be loud and Rice-Eccles Stadium will be full so SDSU better be ready for a much different atmosphere this time around.
5. Boise State at Oregon State (Week 1, 10:30, ESPN, confirmed) – I can’t see the Broncos having two straight mediocre seasons. So expect fireworks in this one. I implore you to stay up late for this one since it should be good. Also, there’s a good chance this game makes it to TSN although that is not confirmed at this point obviously.

Worst Power Five Games

Honestly, this is one of my favourite sections to look at because it tells me the games I should avoid. Unless they are really close late in the fourth quarter and I will bite my tongue and go and watch it because I am a deranged college football fan.

1. Duke at Kansas (Week 4, Noon, FS1) – Oh my, look at what we start with. This is absolutely disgusting and glorious all at the same time. Watch it be one of the games of the year with a ton of offense and a close finish.
2. Duke at Georgia Tech (Week 6, 12:30, FSN – Regional) – It feels like Duke is going to be in this section a lot. Poor Blue Devils football fans thought they were out of this basement. Alas, it wasn’t to be. Don’t worry, though: college basketball is only about three-and-a-half months away.
3. Arizona State at Colorado (Week 9, 3:30, ESPN2) – Kind of surprised this isn’t a Pac-12 Network game. I mean, it could end up being that so I should stop before I make any guarantees. I’m wondering if by this point we know the fate of good ol’ Herm Edwards since it is just a matter of time before he is shitcanned down in Tempe.
4. Duke at Northwestern (Week 2, Noon, FS1, confirmed) – Should I just put all of Duke’s road games on this list? Luckily for most Canadians, you don’t have to subject yourself to this one since you can’t get FOX Sports One.
5. Indiana at Rutgers (Week 8, 3:00, BTN) – Ah, Rutgers our old friend is back in the list they are so very accustomed to. I mean I guess rabid college football fans are happy that they get the Big Ten Network as part of their normal cable packages now. I do miss the Big East, though. What could have been.
6. Colorado at Arizona (Week 5, 5:30, Pac-12 Network) – There we go. The Pac-12 Network has made their first appearance here. Many are saying Zona will be better than last year. Well no shit. They couldn’t be much worse. They made Kansas look competent last season.
7. Virginia at Duke (Week 5, 3:30, ACC Network) – Hey, how about one more Duke game? First ACC Network appearance. Three conference networks down, one to go.
8. Kansas at Texas Tech (Week 11, 7:00, FS1) – If the Big XII had a network AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Sorry, I couldn’t finish that sentence. FOX Sports One might be the most extreme of channels when it comes to game quality. They always get at least one very good game a season and then they get this. Sometimes on the same day. Imagine being on that Zoom call when they figure out announcer assignments and you are praying you aren’t being sent to Lubbock. Good times.
9. Virginia at Georgia Tech (Week 8, Thursday, 7:30, ESPN, confirmed) – Not all Thursday night games are made equal. I’m sure there’s a Sun Belt game on at the same time that would be much more intriguing.
10. Illinois at Northwestern (Week 13, 7:00, FS1) – Hey maybe one of these teams will be bowl-eligible by this point so it won’t feel so bad.

Alright, that wasn’t too bad, eh? Maybe I will go this route again this coming year. We will see about that.

So it looks like everything is calm right now and HOLY SHIT, USC AND UCLA ARE GOING TO THE BIG TEN! What in the fuck? OK then, I think this kind of derails my immediate posting plans. I may have to just do an analysis of this because this is realignment insanity. This is what we call college football media crack-cocaine.

Well…have a great Canada Day weekend everyone (or, if you are reading this south of the border, have a happy Fourth of July weekend). Stay tuned for the next post!

Someone might want to avoid airport tarmacs – the Week 2 Recap

The camera’s not on him all the time so I am sure he has that reaction a lot.  And that reaction definitely came up the other night a lot.  USC looked like complete garbage in most of their loss against Stanford.  It feels like Kedon Slovis, after a promising start to his young career, has had his progress stall.  A lot of that has to land on Helton.  This team has had the talent to contend before and they have underperformed almost every season under his watch.  It feels like, with ten games left in the season, that he will have to win at least eight of those to keep his job.  And even then, that might not be enough.  He is on one of the hottest seats right now for sure.

This week of college football really had a dearth of marquee games (other than the top two), as is somewhat usual for Week 2.  But, as per usual, it overdelivered giving us a wild weekend of football.  Let’s go through the week that was!

• Michigan 31 Washington 10 – What a game this was for the Wolverines.  Washington is, to put it one word, awful.  This team should have the talent to at least be sniffing the Top 25 and they are nowhere close.  Maybe that loss against Montana wasn’t an aberration after all but more a warning for things to come in Jimmy Lake’s first full season at the helm.  As for Michigan, this could be an interesting year in Ann Arbor with perhaps a shot at a New Year’s Six bowl?  The next few weeks will tell a lot about this team.
• Texas A&M 10 Colorado 7 – A classic Big XII matchup that had an absolute dearth of offense.  Yes, the defenses both played well but the offenses were pretty bad.  There were a couple of opportunities for the Buffs to extend their lead and they just couldn’t do it.  The Aggies survived and may have lost their quarterback Haynes King for an extended period of time.  A little bit of sweating in College Station going forward.
• Oregon 35 Ohio State 28 – It felt that the Buckeyes would, at some point, comeback and win this one.  I mean it’s Ohio State in the Horseshoe.  They almost never lose there.  Even without Kayvon Thibodaux, the Ducks played very well on defense for most of the game and didn’t allow tOSU to really get their offense humming.  Oregon did just enough and Joe Morehead showed he still has quite the mind for offense as he called a masterful game.
• Jacksonville State 20 Florida State 17 – For fuck’s sake Mike Norvell.  If everyone thought it was bad during the Willie Taggart era, then strap in for this one.  The Noles allowed JSU to stay close with their offense just not playing well at all.  McKenzie Milton looked off and the running game was non-existent.  But it looked like FSU would still hold on for the somewhat undeserving victory.  Then it happened.  The Gamecocks score on the final play of the game on a pass to the 20-yard line that the receiver was able to run in.  No laterals.  Not a Hail Mary.  Just a pass and run.  Norvell didn’t think to put more players closer to the goal line because there was, and I quote, “still six seconds and they were on their own side of the field.”  What in the blue hell are you talking about, Mike?  They only had one play left.  That was it.  Yes the tackling, or lack there of, was horrible there but no excuse not to put more players back there.  What a fucking disgrace.  And yes, Norvell is on a seat that’s only a couple degrees cooler than Clay Helton’s.
• BYU 26 Utah 17 – The Cougars celebrated their acceptance into the Big XII by beating the Utes in a game that wasn’t as close as the score indicated.  BYU was superior in pretty much every aspect of the game.  They look better than advertised, even with Zach Wilson gone, as Jaren Hall had a great game.  Definitely quelled the worries of the Provo faithful over the quarterback position.
• Coastal Carolina 49 Kansas 22 – As I’ve said before many times, I don’t have a horse in this entire college football race.  I just hope to watch some exciting football and with the college game, I get that at least once a weekend during the season.  Saying all that, I was kind of pulling for the Jayhawks to at least keep it close.  They didn’t, but even in a 27-point loss, it felt like they have taken more strides in game two under Lance Leipold than they had in the previous two entire coaching regimes.  That’s how bad things have got in Lawrence and how much ground they have to make up in the Big XII, now with extra BYU and AAC sauce.
• TCU 34 California 32 – Now let’s go to a game that very few people watched but probably should have.  I am not being facetious here.  This was just a fantastic game from start to finish.  Don’t think TCU played poorly or down to the Bears.  They are a good team and could start moving up the rankings soon.  California has had a rough start.  Two good games played and no wins to show for it.  Yes, starting with Nevada and TCU isn’t exactly a recipe for sure success but it has to be a bit frustrating to not be at least 1-1 at this point.  I expect they will still be a bit of a player in the Pac-12 North though.
• Alabama 48 Mercer 14 – Alabama beat Mercer.  Ho hum.  It was fun, though, to turn to TSN2 (yes this game was actually aired on TSN2) and see Nick Saban getting seriously pissed off at his squad after they went up 31-0.  Only Saban.
• Notre Dame 32 Toledo 29 – Toledo almost upset Notre Dame.  In the hindsight is 20/20 department, it would have made more sense for Toledo’s quarterback, instead of running for that 30+ yard touchdown late in the game, to fall around the 1 and then drain the clock to allow the Rockets to kick the winning field goal.  But they didn’t and Toledo’s defense decided to get a flag on almost every play, and the Irish made them pay.  If Brian Kelly wanted to execute his team last week, I can’t imagine what he is thinking today.  And all this was over on the ‘Cock!  Yep, that’s right, it was on NBC’s streaming service, Peacock, not on NBC proper.  I’m sure no one was upset by this at all because college football fans tend to be rational people, right?
• Miami 25 Appalachian State 23 – It was quite the exciting game down at Hard Rock Stadium and I wasn’t that surprised by it.  People getting on the Canes have to realize that the Mountaineers are quite a good team.  So not totally shocking for it to go almost down to the end.  The most exciting thing to happen there that game, though, had nothing to do with what was happening on the field.  A cat all of a sudden was shown dangling from the upper deck.  No, I do not know how it got there or why it was dangling there.  All the fans in the area were watching and hoping the cat didn’t get hurt or die by falling.  The cat did fall…right into a guy holding an American flag who caught the cat in the flag.  On the 20th anniversary of 9/11.  Don’t be surprised if there’s a 30 for 30 Short on that one day.
• Iowa 27 Iowa State 17 – Um, could this finally be the year that Kirk Ferentz takes the Iowa Hawkeyes to the Big Dance?  This team is looking seriously good.  No mistake that they looked overpowering compared to Iowa State on Saturday.  And don’t think the Cyclones are out of it just yet.  I think their College Football Playoff hopes, however slim, are probably squashed but a New Year’s Six spot is still theirs if they can win out the rest of the regular season.  Don’t be surprised if both of these teams are playing on conference championship weekend in games that mean a whole lot.
• Rutgers 17 Syracuse 7 – Don’t look now but the 2021 version of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team is 2-0.  And looking pretty good doing it, especially on defense.  Yes it’s early and yes the Scarlet Knights might be in the second toughest division in college football but things are finally looking up for a team that has been not a lot better than hot garbage since joining the Big Ten.
• Arkansas 40 Texas 21 – Oh boy is Texas not back.  The Longhorns were boatraced by Arkansas in a game that may not even been as close as the score indicated.  I’m mistaken.  Texas is back…..back bacon.
• Pittsburgh 41 Tennessee 34 – At times this game was like snorting coke off a hooker’s ass, then taking a shot of absinthe, then getting on a motorcycle and gunning the engine to jump out of a plane.  It was that ridiculous.  At times both teams did everything they could to win, then not minutes later both teams would be trying their darndest to lose.  Completely bonkers.  In the end, it was a Volunteering that happened, not a Pittening.  I’m sure fans on Rocky Top are not happy right now because Tennessee?  Not back.
• Oklahoma State 28 Tulsa 23 –  I know people love to use the College Football Transitive Property.  Team A beat Team B who beat Team C so Team A is better than Team C.  It was almost to the point in this one where we’d have to say that UC-Davis was better than Oklahoma State because of that.  Now Vanderbilt’s victory over Colorado State probably does fit.  East Tennessee State beat Vanderbilt who beat Colorado State.  So ETSU is better than CSU.  Which may be true because the Rams got trounced by South Dakota State in Week 1.  Ouch.
• Houston 44 Rice 7 – Hey, who was possibly the only guy on the Internet to pick Rice to win this one?  That would be me.  And it’s a lesson to all you out there that I have mentioned multiple times before: do not use my picks to gamble with.  You are playing with fire if you do so.
• Army 38 Western Kentucky 35 – It seemed fitting that Army won on the anniversary of 9/11.  WKU did not make it easy as they have a seriously prolific passing game with Bailey Zappe under centre.  But Army’s option offense is, much of the time, too difficult to defend against because they don’t deviate from it, ever.  Georgia Southern and Navy and Air Force, they have times were they pass the ball a decent amount.  Hell, Georgia Tech has abandoned it altogether.  Not the Black Knights.  The option.  That’s it.  And it works most of the time.
• Purdue 49 UConn 0 – The Huskies have not scored a point since Randy Edsall quit/retired.  Not that they scored a lot of points anyway during his second tenure in Storrs.  This is going to be a looooooooooooong season for that fanbase.

Recap complete!  As I always say, some of the worst looking weeks on paper end up being some of the best to watch and this past weekend was a ton of fun to watch.  You know what?  Let’s bust out the first Bossman Top 25!

#1	Alabama
#2	Oregon
#3	Georgia
#4	Texas A&M
#5	Oklahoma
#6	Iowa
#7	Cincinnati
#8	Notre Dame
#9	Clemson
#10	Penn State
#11	Ohio State
#12	Florida
#13	Coastal Carolina
#14	Wisconsin
#15	Iowa State
#16	UCLA
#17	North Carolina
#18	Virginia Tech
#19	Ole Miss
#20	Miami
#21	Arizona State
#22	Auburn
#23	TCU
#24	Arkansas
#25	Liberty

Always seem to be close to the AP Poll but there’s always interesting differences.  Yes, I had Oregon moving all the way up to #2 and deservedly so.  Also, I didn’t quite move Iowa into the Top 5 as many had (and AP did).  Give it time and I’m sure they will get there.  I try not to go crazy and overrate a team after one huge victory.  That is why I only put Arkansas at #24.  If they start stringing more victories together, then sure I will definitely move them up.  They have to earn it right?  Well, it is college football polls so “earning it” can be a very subjective measure.

Another recap done and getting in the football groove with Fall just around the corner.  I will be going back to the normal college football schedule on Thursday, NFL schedule on Friday format that you all know and love (well, at least I think you love….I know you know).  It’s getting slightly cooler (although it was quite humid today) and it is starting to feel a bit like football weather.  I love it.  Have a great week everyone!

WOO PIG! – Week 7 College Football Recap

OK we might have to finally agree that what Sam Pittman has done so far this season at Arkansas has been remarkable.  I mean they should be 3-1 if it wasn’t for an absolutely all-timer of an atrocious call.  They looked good against Ole Miss on Saturday and it feels like it has been a long time since the horrific Chad Morris days.  Now I’m not saying they are ready for Alabama (almost no one is) but they could cause some serious issues for other SEC teams this season.  It’s nice to see the Hogs back to playing well.  It’s been too long.  It was also nice to see someone like Stewart Mandel, who made light of the fact that there were six elite coaches in the SEC West and then Pittman, have to eat crow (especially since The Athletic, by and large, have become a bunch of sanctimonious pricks).  Alright let’s get on to the rest of the recap:

Man, that offense is for real:  Alabama had the biggest win in the biggest game as they beat Georgia in a rivalry that is quickly becoming the SEC’s best.  And, man did you see that Bama offense?  No matter what teams put up against the Tide, they can’t seem to stop their offense.  Ole Miss failed as did the Dawgs.  Saying that, I am sure it was a coup for CBS as they had by far the biggest game of the year so far and had it in primetime.  CBS has been quite brilliant with putting their primetime game early on in the season (Notre Dame-Georgia was the other one) getting massive ratings.  As for UGA, don’t count them out.  Just know that they are a tier below the Fighting Nick Sabans (who got to coach after three negative COVID-19 tests).

CHANTS!  That is pronounced “Shawnt”.  The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers were able to pull out a huge victory over #21 Louisiana and will almost certainly be ranked this week.  It’s now a definite that their game against Appalachian State, if both teams keep this up, will be for the Sun Belt East, the Sun Belt (essentially) and perhaps a look at the New Year’s Six.  That would be a boon to the Sun Belt who is still looking for their first NY6 representative.

Can we blame Gus Malzahn for this one?  Auburn never seemed in this one.  South Carolina wasn’t dominating play but it felt like it was just a matter of time before they pulled this one out.  And it’s not like Auburn didn’t have chances to win.  They did, and they could never capitalize on those.  Many will want to blame Gus but Bo Nix has been nothing short of awful so far this season.  What Malzahn does next with the quarterbacking situation is what will determine his fate after this season.

OK so what does Mike Leach do now?  Not that I thought they would absolutely win but they looked dreadful on offense again.  I honestly thought the Bulldogs would at least be able to move the ball.  Boy was I ever wrong.  Texas A&M keeps on rolling and very little seems in their way that could stop them…from getting to the New Year’s Six.

The Pittening:  It has happened and with no divisions we can pretty much safely say that Pitt will not be going to the ACC Championship.  The Canes have played well (except against teams that rhyme with Blemson).  Even though it was only a 12-point win for The U, this did not feel close.  The Canes are still trying to keep pace in second place to try and get that other spot opposite Clemson in the ACC title game (to get their asses kicked again, probably).

Time to watch the Cougars:  Of the BYU variety.  For three quarters it looked like Houston was ready to pull the rug out from the BYU party (with no alcohol or caffeine).  Then Zach Wilson decided to declare himself a Heisman contender with a bonkers fourth quarter.  BYU’s 22 fourth quarter points put away the Fighting Holgorsens and kept them undefeated.  Even with the rest of the conferences starting shortly, you have to watch out for this team.  Can you keep them out of the New Year’s Six when they’re undefeated?  I don’t think you can but it will put The Committee in an interesting position.

You just got LAWRENCED!  That sounds disgusting but may be true for some women on the campus at Clemson University.  This game was rough to watch.  Trevor Lawrence, Travis Etienne and the vaunted Clemson offense absolutely annihilated poor Georgia Tech.  Clemson keeps on chugging and really has no roadblocks now to get to the CFP until they face Notre Dame in November.  Georgia Tech still has work to do but they are, this game notwithstanding, on the right track now under Geoff Collins.

Is Notre Dame’s defense that good?  Their defense could be what keeps the Irish going this season.  They had to be as their offense sputtered against Louisville, of all teams.  Only 46 points allowed through 4 games so far and I can’t see Pitt or Georgia Tech putting up a boatload of points against them.  Geez.  Their game in three weeks with Clemson could be something special.  Interesting to see how Trevor Lawrence does against his first truly good defensive opponent this season (no offense to Miami).

SMU?  SMU!  I am sure there are some people who thought SMU would be 5-0 at this point but not many.  Will they finish undefeated?  I doubt it.  But to be honest, they are, right now, the Group of Five favourite to go to the NY6 despite Cincinnati ranking higher than them.  It wasn’t easy to keep that unblemished record as Tulane gave them all they could handle and took them to overtime.  Next week’s game against Cincinnati could decide one of the entrants in the AAC Championship game.

Oh North Carolina, no!  Mack Brown looked like they had a relatively easy road to the ACC Championship (as long as they took care of business against Notre Dame later in the season).  They had everything going for them and Florida State, yes, FLORIDA STATE snuffed that all out.  The Seminoles got out to a huge 31-7 lead going into halftime and held on to beat the Tar Heels by 3.  Embarrassing on the Heels’ part to allow FSU to get that far out in front for sure.  Despite there being no ACC Coastal division, most of the conference IS the ACC Coastal division (apart from Clemson and Notre Dame at this point).

Is this considered an upset?  I don’t know.  Honestly, I am leaning towards no.  Yes, Tennessee was ranked and it was in Knoxville but Kentucky’s defense has been pretty dominant this season.  They continued that trend by catching a lot of passes from Jarrett Guarantano.  Problem for the Volunteers is that’s their quarterback.  Not good.

Hey what about the Hokies?  Not saying Boston College is horrible but they were pretty much boatraced by Virginia Tech.  It was kind of close early but the Hokies blew it wide open in the third.  They don’t have a super easy schedule the rest of the way but all the games are winnable until they host Clemson in early December.  Look, if they end up with two losses, both to Top 10 teams at the time, and somehow win the ACC Championship that could make for some fun chaos.  The Big Ten and Pac-12 are watching this team closely hoping they shit the bed just once more to ease their minds.

Good lord Kansas:  So Les Miles has COVID so he couldn’t show up to coach the Jayhawks against West Virginia.  This meant the spread changed from the Mountaineers as 23 point favourites to just 21.5.  Fucking hilarious.  Not that it mattered since they still lost.  Well it may have mattered to degenerate gamblers but other than that, yeah, nobody gives a shit.

Thoughts and prayers to the Orange:  The Orange of Syracuse lost to Liberty.  No I am not lying.  And Liberty ran roughshod over Syracuse.  This wasn’t really that close at all.  So now what does the Cuse have up next?  Well it’s the ACC so it can’t be too b…oh my god.  They play Clemson next.  Pray for Dino Babers.  As for Liberty, they are 5-0.  Hugh Freeze is doing an amazing job in Lynchburg.  This means next year he will be back in the SEC.  Vanderbilt, perhaps?

A palette cleanser:  Alright we aren’t looking at the Memphis or UCF of the past few years.  But when they face each other, you just have that feeling it will be special.  No exception here.  This game was fucking amazing.  UCF took the lead.  The Tigers roared back with a big third quarter and then the fourth was absolute drugs.  Memphis scored two touchdowns in the final 3:45 to win this one.  It’s amazing how often that it’s the American conference that just blows everyone away with a fantastic game that people keep talking about.

Well all in all it was a fun weekend of college football.  So now let’s get to the Bossman Top 25:

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

Not a ton of movement in the Top 25 to be honest.  Really though, past #1 and #2 (and maybe the Irish at #3) you could put almost any combination and you could be considered somewhat correct (well, unless you put Kansas in your Top 25).  Some may bristle at me putting BYU at #10 but let’s be honest: this may be as high as they get.  Their schedule will not help them and any hope of them getting to the New Year’s Six hinges on chaos above them (which I am fully for).  This weekend helped but they need much more.  Also, I get that there is a Top 25 match between Michigan and Minnesota this coming weekend (welcome back, Big Ten by the way…oh yeah and the Mountain West).  But there are no fans at College Gameday so why go there?  Instead, head to Myrtle Beach.  Coastal Carolina is in the Top 25 for the first time and there is probably not a better chance to go there than now.  Nothing against Minnesota but this is another mark against the Group of Five and college football’s perception of those programs.

Alright, in the end, it was a good weekend of college football.  Let’s hope for a lot more the rest of the way.  Enjoy your week everyone!

Alright let’s talk about IPTV – Week 6 College Football TV Schedule

More of you have been asking about this so I decided it is time to start discussing IPTV.  It’s not a new phenomenon but with everyone “cutting the cord” (which should actually be called “cutting the cable” if we’re being honest) it has become more an option for viewing television shows and, most importantly to some, live sports.  I am going to do this in a pros/cons method.  Let’s start with the cons first:

• You need good Internet for this so your cost for Internet service may go up.  If you don’t have good Internet, expect a lot of buffering and a lot of frustration.
• Channels sometimes will not work or will loop around to show the same 15 seconds of video or buffer quite a bit.  This can happen.  Remember, these channels are being picked up from various Internet sites so sometimes they don’t work so well.  Another frustration every so often.
• Many of the channels are not in English.  I mean if you speak another language then you could get a lot of channels from that country that you could never get through a cable provider here.  But if you don’t, you may have to wade through a lot of channels to find what you want (although there are relatively easy ways around this).
• The outlay can be expensive.  There are different ways to get IPTV services.  I use an Android box but you can also use your Smart TV (if you have one) or an Apple TV box.  This may not be cheap if you don’t already have one of these things.

And now the pros:

• A lot of channels.  Depending on the company you go with and the package you get (if they have multiple packages) you could get anywhere from 1,000 to over 10,000 channels.
• Pretty much every American sports channel you could want.  This includes all the ESPNs, FS1, Pac-12 Network, CBS Sports Network, etc.  Many have the SEC Network, ACC Network, Stadium and local FOX affiliates as well.
• Depending on how you get your IPTV, there are options to use a PVR-like feature as well.
• There are ways to sort channels or set a group of favourites (like I have) so that you don’t have to scroll through all the channels.  With mine, and many others I’ve seen, they are usually grouped by country which makes things a lot easier.
• It is a hell of a lot cheaper.  I pay approximately $13 a month for all this.  Compare that to a lot more for a normal cable subscription you would need to get even close to this, not including having to add expensive specialty packs.

So there you go.  Now you have a better idea to IPTV.  I will be honest: despite the frustration every so often with channels buffering or just flat-out not working, I have a lot more choice when it comes to college football and can watch at least 50% more games than I could in Canada in any one week.  And since I love to channel surf like a person from the 90s, I am surprised I haven’t worn out the batteries on my remote yet (although I know it’s coming).

So let’s get to the schedule.  That’s the reason you’re here, right?  I am going to include some games that aren’t on Canadian TV at this time for two reasons: 1) just in case they do end up on a channel all of us can get because with all the issues surrounding scheduling this season this can and has happened and 2) to give you an idea of a few of the other games you could get through IPTV (or some other means of getting these American channels).  Let’s get to it!

Thursday

		US	Canada
Tulane at Houston	7:30 PM

Holy shit Houston might get to play a game!  I am so waiting to see how Dana Holgorsen looks.  I am guessing he looks like he came off a full-week bender.

Friday

		US	Canada
Louisville at Georgia Tech	7:00 PM

Only one game on Friday night.  This will change soon but for now we get very little in the way of weeknight football.

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
#19 Virginia Tech at #8 North Carolina	Noon
NC State at Virginia	Noon
#4 Florida at #21 Texas A&M	Noon
Oklahoma vs. #22 Texas (in Dallas)	Noon
The Citadel at Army	1:30 PM

Alright here we go!  This is where we start getting some huge games.  Three games with ranked teams with two of them being ranked-on-ranked.  Arguably the biggest game in this timeslot is UF-TAMU but VaTech-UNC and the Red River Shootout are also huge games for different reasons.  And for everyone saying they should put the RRR/RRS on in primetime it will never happen.  The Cotton Bowl isn’t exactly in the nicest neighbourhood in Dallas and with the State Fair of Texas not being run this year, it means everyone in the stadium would be the only people in that area.  Not an ideal look for college football to be honest.

Also, Missouri-LSU was supposed to be the latest game of the week and to be shown at 9pm on TSN2.  However, with Hurricane Delta possibly about to wreak havoc on Louisiana and the Baton Rouge area in particular, the game has been moved to Columbia and to Noon.  It might end up on ESPN2 and might end up on a TSN channel.  As of now I see nothing but if something changes, I will update you.

UPDATE #2: I was right about Missouri-LSU.  They will now be on TSN2 at Noon.  NC State-Virginia will now no longer be on TSN2.  Yeah I think it’s an upgrade.  Thanks to reader Gordo for this information.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
Texas Tech at #24 Iowa State	3:30 PM
#14 Tennessee at #3 Georgia	3:30 PM
UTSA at #15 BYU	3:30 PM
Kansas State at TCU	4:00 PM
Arkansas at #13 Auburn	4:00 PM

It’s an OK schedule with one really huge game.  Tennessee-Georgia is the huge game in this timeslot.  Another test for the Bulldogs and if they pass it they have to be considered true national title contenders and people will go back to trashing the Volunteers like they have up until the first game of this season.  TTU-ISU is, funny enough, an important Big XII game somehow.  The Cyclones could be the top team in the conference after this day.  Nice to see TSN putting games on three channels.  A definite step up from the norm so far this season and it makes me even want to not mention the odd changing of channels on the American end (like going from an ACC Network game to a ESPN2 game right afterwards).  Well, almost.

UDPATE #3: A bizarre update.  It looks like UTSA-BYU and TTU-ISU have switched TSN stations.  I don’t get why.  I am not even going to try and contemplate it.  It just is what it is.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Temple at Navy	6:00 PM
#2 Alabama at Ole Miss	6:00 PM 7:30 PM
#7 Miami at #1 Clemson	7:30 PM
UTEP at Louisiana Tech	7:30 PM
Florida State at #5 Notre Dame	7:30 PM

And a Game of the Year candidate in this timeslot.  For only having six conferences playing, we are getting quite the treat on this day.  At one point, some would have said we have another potential GOTY candidate.  Uh, not so much now.  The Seminoles are pretty bad and Notre Dame at least looks really good so far this season.  I mean it should be a blowout but you never know (spoiler alert: I think most of us know).  I have also shown two games that probably won’t be shown up here unless specialty packs decide to start showing games.  I am still a bit confused as to what is happening with Bell Fibe and Satellite but I know Rogers, Cogeco, and Eastlink still don’t have any college football on their Super Sports Pack.  Maybe that will change once all the conferences are back but I am not holding my breath as you have kind of figured out by now.

UPDATE: Bama-Ole Miss has been moved to 7:30 but will still air on ESPN.  It might now end up on TSN2 as well.

UPDATE #4: Miami-Clemson now moved to TSN2 which actually does make sense now that Texas Tech-Iowa State is on TSN2.  Both ABC games.  Also, Bama-Ole Miss does get to TSN but it’s TSN3.

Games to set your eyeballs on

Miami at Clemson (7:30, ABC/TSN3) – Can Miami shut the haters up with a win here?  Probably.  A win here would be their biggest in a long time for The U.  I mean I know there are some people who would say if all the teams were playing that the Canes would not be in the Top 10.  I disagree.  D’Eriq King has been a revelation and the defense has held up very well so far.  Normally I would say this is Clemson’s biggest hurdle of the season but they have Notre Dame and Virginia Tech still left on the schedule.  This won’t be an easy run to the College Football Playoff this time around for the Fighting Dabos.

Tennessee at Georgia (3:30, CBS) – Tennessee absolutely needs the win here.  Let me explain.  Despite the fact the Vols have played well, many still don’t believe they will even be in the Top 25 at the end of the season.  A win here would prove that UT is for real.  Georgia is coming off an absolute hammering of Auburn so for their sake you gotta hope it’s not a letdown spot.  Not that they will act that way but you never know.  Here’s to hoping Brad and Gary get a decent game for once.

Florida at Texas A&M (Noon, TSN3) – Look I know what happened last weekend with the Aggies and Bama.  But it’s a new week and you have to wonder if the Aggies will be playing angry in this one.  Don’t be surprised if Texas A&M keeps this close or somehow wins it.  Florida needs the win to continue to convince AP voters (for now) that they belong in the Top 5 because as soon as the other conferences begin, they won’t want to be moved down the list for no reason other than other teams have shown up to play.

Virginia Tech at North Carolina (Noon, ABC) – Who would have thought that Clemson would not have an easy road to the ACC title for once?  It is honestly nice to see some true competition in that conference for the first time in a few years.  Both of these teams have looked good so far this season but not great.  The Tar Heels, in particular, have struggled a couple times, most notably needing a pick-two to finish off Boston College last weekend.  The Heels don’t have Clemson on their schedule so this could be the biggest game for them until a back-to-back nightmare scenario in late November/early December as they get Notre Dame and then Miami.

UTSA at BYU (3:30, TSN2) – OK yes it kind of falls off a cliff after the first four games on the list.  But this is a statement game for both teams.  BYU looks to stay undefeated on their hopeful march to the New Year’s Six.  UTSA, on the other hand, is in new territory, for them.  They have never been on this list (congrats by the way) and have never had as hot a start as this.  An upset here and we have a new contender in Conference USA.

Honourable mention: Pittsburgh at Boston College (4:00, ACC Network); Tulane at Houston (Thursday, 7:30, ESPN); Oklahoma vs. Texas (Noon, FOX)

Some gambling fun and games

Hey, I picked an upset correctly!  That still doesn’t mean you should use my picks for anything other than entertainment but I am impressed with myself.  Anyway, here are more picks for you gambling heathens out there.

Houston over Tulane (upset?)

Texas A&M over Florida (yeah this would be an upset)

Oklahoma over Texas (this would be a mini-upset I believe)

North Carolina over Virginia Tech

Pittsburgh over Boston College

Tennessee over Georgia (another upset!)

Clemson over Miami

BYU over UTSA

Louisville over Georgia Tech

Virginia over NC State

Iowa State over Texas Tech

This is what I put in this very post last year: I can’t see the schedules up anywhere past tonight.  I am kind of happy I don’t have to deal with this anymore (except for the purposes of this blog) but I have my own problems with IPTV.  Or more like problems most people are having with IPTV with many channels not working.  I keep telling myself “It’s cheaper than cable…just deal with it.”  Although that’s seriously tough at times.  So you can see that IPTV isn’t exactly the utopia that some may say it is.  But it’s better than what I had.

Hey, hey some Thursday Night Football again.  We really have not had good games so far.  I mean sure some may have been close but it’s not like we are getting some great matchups.  But now FOX is in the game and you can tell because things ratchet up considerably.  There is a bit of luck here but still we have a good game coming up.  Now just because two good teams face each other doesn’t mean we will have a good game.  But look at tonight.  We have a big NFC showdown between the Buccaneers and Bears.  The Bucs were expected to be this good and have been despite Tom Brady being relatively average (for him) so far.  And the Bears…well.  They have an amazing defense and now with Big Dick Nick behind centre they might have something going on offense.  I do feel a tiny bit bad for Mitch Trubisky, though.  It wasn’t his fault the Bears traded up to get him.  But still I think this may be the end of the line for him in the Windy City.

I will be live-tweeting most of Saturday (@TheBauceman).  College football Twitter, for the most part, can be pretty fun.  Unlike political Twitter which is a complete and utter shitshow.  Should be another fun Saturday.  Enjoy the games everyone!

OK now that we know when the SEC on CBS ends, do we…Celebrate? Honour? Demonize?

So now we know.  CBS has decided not to renew the SEC on CBS contract after the 2023 season.  That came quicker than anyone thought it would.  They keep saying they are “going in a different direction with their sports coverage” but that translates to “it would cost too much fucking money.”  I don’t fully blame them despite the fact it’s a massive property and one of the most important contracts in sports today.  CBS offered $300 million per season and I guess that wasn’t enough.  Jesus.  Instead we will get the SEC probably going full-time back to ESPN.  While I am not looking forward to that it does mean we will get at least one SEC game in the ABC primetime slot which is good, even if it lessens the Big Ten’s stranglehold on the timeslot.

Alright the SEC on CBS will be done soon.  So what do we do know?  Do you celebrate the likes of Verne Lundquist calling games on the network and becoming a shoo-in for college football announcing’s Mount Rushmore?  Do we honour some of the better names there like Verne’s replacement, Brad Nessler (another Rushmore possibility), Brent Musburger, Sean McDonough and, for like one season, Jim Nantz?  Do we demonize them for foisting full seasons of Gary Danielson on us?  Or worse, hate them for giving us even one single season of Craig James?  You can think a lot of things about the SEC on CBS but we have to agree it’s must-see viewing every week for college football fans, even if you mute the TV.

But that’s the future.  Let’s focus on this season, whatever it may end up looking like.  I know I am a little late starting these network-specific posts and part of it is because life gets in the way and part of it is I honestly don’t know what will happen with the 2020 college football season.  The disclaimer has a change this year: there are no games confirmed that I could see so all of these are very educated guesses.  My choices are based on mostly logic.  Some teams will be better than advertised and some will be worse: that’s the nature of the sport.  So please don’t take this as gospel or say “Bossman is fucking awesome so why would he be wrong on this?”  First of all, thank you for understanding my awesomeness.  And secondly, I don’t guarantee anything here.  So let’s just get to the darn schedule of the conference that just means more on the network that is an eyeball (along with a few other games that will stand out like the one penne that always seems to get in the bag of fusilli):

September 5th		Colorado at Colorado State		3:30 PM
September 12th		Boise State at Air Force		3:30 PM
September 19th		Georgia at Alabama		3:30 PM
September 26th		Florida at Tennessee		3:30 PM
October 3rd		Texas A&M at Mississippi State		Noon
October 3rd		Alabama at Ole Miss		3:30 PM
October 10th		LSU at Florida		3:30 PM
October 17th		Texas A&M at Auburn		3:30 PM
October 24th		Mississippi State at LSU		3:30 PM
October 31st		Florida vs. Georgia (in Jacksonville)		3:30 PM
November 7th		Alabama at LSU		3:30 PM
November 14th		Tennessee at Georgia		3:30 PM
November 21st		Texas A&M at Alabama		3:30 PM
November 21st		LSU at Auburn		8:00 PM
November 27th		Arkansas at Missouri		2:30 PM
November 29th		Auburn at Alabama		3:30 PM
December 5th		SEC Championship Game		4:00 PM
December 12th		Army vs. Navy (in Philadelphia)		3:00 PM
December 31st		Sun Bowl		2:00 PM

Eyeball Network Deep South Football Conference Analysis:

• This should not be a surprise but here are the SEC on CBS appearances for each team:
  • 5 times – Alabama
  • 4 times – LSU
  • 3 times – Auburn, Texas A&M, Florida, Georgia
  • 2 times – Mississippi State, Tennessee
  • 1 time – Arkansas, Ole Miss, Missouri
  • Not a single time – Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Kentucky
• I have three teams not getting an appearance: Vandy, the Cocks, and UK.  Vandy isn’t really a surprise since, other than maybe a Noon game on a week where CBS has two SEC picks, the Dores are not a big enough name to bring viewers to the network.  UK is also not as much of a surprise, especially since I see I have the Wildcats on ESPN quite often instead (so they aren’t stuck on the SEC Network like eight times).  South Carolina is the oddity here.  Even I am surprised I don’t have them there but really they are never in the biggest two games of the week: at any point.  The only time I can make that argument is the week CBS has two games.  Since it is a Noon game they get the first and fourth selection.  The second pick that week would be the South Carolina-Florida game which I have on ESPN.  So there.  Logic.
• Many will be surprised at Tennessee only appearing in two games.  Look, I agree with many that the Vols will be the best they’ve been in years.  And I think two appearances is pretty good considering that’s the most they were getting most of the last decade.  Could a third appearance be in the cards for the Volunteers?  Sure if they are looking like an SEC East contender into November.  But until they string together two or three good seasons together in a row, don’t expect them to feature on CBS much at all.
• The SEC Network, as always, gets at least their three games a week and ESPN/ESPN2 pick up the rest.  It’s a rarity but even ESPNU picks up the odd SEC game (especially non-conference ones).  And there’s really no need for it now that the SEC Network exists.  Also remember that CBS still has the exclusive window for the SEC so usually (USUALLY!) only the SEC Network will have other SEC games on at the same time (actually I think that’s in CBS’s contract).
• As for the non-SEC fare this year, here is where we find something new.  Army-Navy of course ends the regular season.  Navy is technically the host for Notre Dame but the game is in Dublin and during Week Zero.  And of course, the Sun Bowl, which will never change tie-ins because they illogical dolts that just want to continue to piss me off, is on New Year’s Eve.  When an ACC team is there facing a non-Arizona based team out of the Pac-12, you will struggle to fill the stadium, period.
• The new stuff comes from the Mountain West.  Yes, the Boise plus Eleven conference!  They have two games on the main network, as per the new contract they have with CBS, which will bring a nice change and might be a harbinger of what CBS plans to do after 2023.  Brad Nessler calling a Colorado State home game.  2020 still doing wacky things.

Next up will be the schedule for ABC.  Then FOX.  I should be a lot better at this one now that I have a good idea of how their schedule is structured, how they work around MLB playoff games, etc.  Then comes CBS Sports Network which normally is simple because most of the schedule is set but this year, yeah not so much.  Finally, TSN.  That should be interesting but I will give it my best go.  Remember, 2020 has put itself in a blender and crushed and cut and sliced and diced everything up and mixed it together so no one knows what the fuck is going on.  That includes college football.

64 days to go.  The countdown is on people…I hope.  Usually once it’s late July I get really ready for the season.  But with no pro sports yet (except for UFC and golf), who knows what will happen.  The CFL won’t start until Labour Day at the earliest.  The NFL says they will start on time but have already cancelled the Hall of Fame Game.  It’s more important for people to stay safe and healthy and move along SLOWLY towards the goal of the new normal.  Rushing things only causes another rise in cases so let’s not give in even though it is very difficult for many during these times (believe me, I know what some of you are going through).  Have a great weekend everyone!

Most Important Games of the 2020 College Football Season – The Second Part

Hey remember when I mentioned that we were getting closer to the NCAA Football video game series returning?  It now looks like that may not be the case.  Even with the NCAA allowing players to receive money for their name and likeness, without school licensing, the players would not be able to be represented in the video game.  The next step would have to be some sort of group licensing that involves school logos, names, stadiums, etc.  So the sadness remains with all those people who would buy a PS4 or PS5 or whatever the most recent X-Box is just for this game.  Which includes me.  I say that even though I just sold the game since I just don’t play anymore…the PlayStation going up to my son’s room accelerated that.  Am I officially a miserable adult now?

So normally, I do the first post of this series and a day or two later more schedule updates appear changing my original guesses already.  It would make me feel a bit dumb.  This year?  Of course that didn’t happen.  COVID-19 has changed so much and this is yet another thing that has changed.  Instead of some games being confirmed, this year we have the question of which schools would even participate in a college football season in 2020.  Here is what I know so far:

• The SEC seems all in.  This is not a surprise.  Hell even Mizzou is showing their SEC-ness.  Did you see the picture of the Lake of the Ozarks the other day?  Marty Byrde would be all over that action.
• The Big Ten seems iffy.  Michigan has already stated that unless students are on campus and everything is back to some sense of normalcy, there may not be a season for the Wolverines.  I have heard rumblings of other schools feeing the same way.
• John Swofford of the ACC had a more measured approach.  He said with his conference being in ten different states there may be a possibility that some schools are playing this season and others may not.  It’s a wait-and-see approach there.
• The rest of the conferences, for the most part, have said nothing.

This could lead to a massive amount of schedule changes.  If some schools don’t play, the schools that have scheduled them would have to replace them on the sked.  It means we could see some huge matchups throughout the season.  It also may mean that conference play doesn’t matter.  A lot could happen.

Saying all that, I feel better about my predictions for the schedule this season because in the end, it may not matter.  So let’s go with the second part of this series.

Week 4

Game of the Week: Wisconsin at Michigan (Noon, FOX) – FOX gets a few marquee games to put at Noon during the season.  This is definitely one of them.  You can say what you want about the Wolverines but they bring ratings, love em or hate em.  It does help that there aren’t many other games this week so FOX could easily have the biggest game of the week and win the ratings war.  I would love to say this could be a Big Ten Championship preview but I would be lying.

Other Really Important Games: Virginia at Clemson (3:30, ABC) – I could see this moving to primetime but again, it all hinges on every conference getting their contracted amount of primetime games on ABC in.  On a week with not a lot of great options, this could get a lot of eyeballs.  It is yet another opportunity for an ACC team to topple the mighty Fighting Dabo Swinneys.  Until it happens, we have to continue to believe that the Tigers are a favourite to get to the College Football Playoff.  If the Hoos can somehow pull off the upset, that entire conference could be in a heap of trouble to get a team to the dance.

Florida at Tennessee (3:30, CBS) – “Is Tennessee Back” is the new “Texas is Back.”  There were hints last year that maybe, just maybe, the Volunteers are back to the Phil Fulmer days of being in the top tier of the SEC every year. I will be honest: it is almost sad to see a fanbase of a team that used to be good go through five-plus years of no better than mediocrity. Almost…those same fans tend to be complete assholes at times which means the hate is still there for every other fanbase. On the other side of the fence is one of the best coaches in the land and a team that is nipping at Georgia’s heels in the SEC East.  These are the kinds of games they have to win if they want to get back to the SEC Championship for the first time since 2016.

Louisiana Tech at Baylor (Noon, FloSports) – Will Baylor be as good as last season?  That is the question since Dr. Matt Rhule, D.D.S. left for the greener pastures of the NFL and the Carolina Panthers.  The Bears have a history of having a season every so often that makes them seem like a real contender followed by a few seasons of being a pretender.  As for the Bulldogs, this is their first time in the important games section.  Congratulations to them.  This is the kind of game they must win if they want to be the first Conference USA team to make it to the New Year’s Six.

Notre Dame at Wake Forest (3:30, specialty pack) – Can we just finally say that the Deacs are an upper tier ACC team?  I’m serious.  This may say more about the conference as a whole, beyond Clemson, than anything but I think you can’t help but agree.  I wouldn’t say this is a massive game for both teams but it’s one that both programs have on their radar right now.  This is part of the Notre Dame-ACC agreement that runs for a long time, like until the year 2245 or something.  It still feels weird to this day and probably always will.  Anyway, this should be fun so watch it.  Or don’t.  I mean I’m not going to force you to or anything.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Arizona State at USC (7:00, specialty pack) – This may essentially end up being an early season Pac-12 South elimination game.  This may also end up being one of the Pac-12 South round robin games where the division winner has three conference losses.  This should be a pretty even match and these two teams have had some great games in the past.  Now watch it be a blowout.  I am glad this game was this week since my next pick would have been Western Kentucky-Louisville.  My god.

Best Group of Five Game: Temple at Navy (3:30, CBS Sports Network) – You know, after one bad Navy season many people, including myself, figured the Midshipmen would get back to .500 and maybe end up with a winning season.  So what did Ken Niumatalolo do?  Put them in the Top 25 for a while.  This year should be no different for this team.  And I have noticed in the past few years that playing at Navy is not an easy thing for teams to do.  I don’t know what it is but it feels like an intimidating place to play, something the other two military academies can’t boast.

Worst Power Five Game: Stanford at UCLA (6:30, DAZN) – It is a bit odd to see Stanford in this spot but they were not good last year and I can’t see them being a ton better this year.  And I wonder when the Chip Kelly Experience will actually pay dividends for the Bruins since nothing has really worked so far.

Week 5

Game of the Week: Baylor at Oklahoma (3:30, ABC) – The best week of the year has one of the potential games of the year right here.  But this is only if Baylor doesn’t struggle with Matt Rhule not around.  That is the caveat.  We know the Sooners will be good since they are always good, like it or not.  Now watch this game end up being a blowout.  And in the Big XII, blowouts can get crazy.

Other Really Important Games: Wisconsin at Notre Dame (in Green Bay) (7:30, NBC) – Despite the fact that the Irish have five ACC games every season, they always find a way to schedule their rivals (like USC, Michigan and Navy).  They also add a juicy game or two every season.  I remember the last time there was a game at Lambeau Field: the Badgers upset LSU and destroyed my national championship pick early on in the season.  Thanks a bunch guys.  This ends up being a primetime NBC game so we should be expecting something special here.

Penn State at Michigan (Noon, ABC/TSN1/TSN4) – This does not feel like a Noon Big Ten Game.  At all.  This is the kind of game that is usually on ABC in primetime.  We should hear the familiar refrain of the Woes of James Harbaugh throughout this one.  The continued talk about James Franklin resurrecting the program at Happy Valley.  And somewhere in there will be an actual college football game.  Let’s call it a Big Ten East elimination game since it probably is one.

Washington at Oregon (10:30, specialty pack) – Well at least Chris Petersen isn’t around to freak the fuck out about this game being on in the late night timeslot.  Now this could end up on ABC in primetime since my current choice, Florida State-NC State, really does not look like a good game on paper.  I guess it’s the problem with these conferences having these kinds of minimums in their television contracts.  Although can you imagine if that wasn’t the case?  I am sure we would almost never see the Pac-12 or the ACC ever again.  Anyway, as of right now, this is Pac-12 After Dark which is sometimes good for some late night insanity.  I will most certainly be watching, losing some sleep in the process.

USC at Utah (10:30, FloSports) – This could be one of the best late night schedules ever and you will see why below.  We have the game above and now this one that we can now see!  I am sure Clay Helton will be sweating all throughout this one as he continues his rocky tenure as the head coach in LA.  I do wonder if Utah can recreate the magic of last season and make another run at the College Football Playoff.  Now that LSU broke through and won the whole thing, we need another new team to get into the mix so why not the Utes?

Kentucky at Auburn (7:30, specialty pack) – I have this game on the SEC Network.  Seriously.  If the Wildcats are any good this season, we could be watching a barnburner on an American specialty sports network that is shown on a specialty pack here in Canada.  It’s also kind of interesting that this is the best week of the season and this is the first appearance of the SEC on this list.

Texas at Kansas State (Noon, FloSports) – Normally one of the games we wouldn’t be able to see.  Before this season, it’s the Big XII that we Canadians would miss most of.  The one conference without a conference network (and no, the Longhorn Network does not count) has struggled overall compared to the other Power Five conferences to get their games on in the best timeslots.  If it wasn’t for the Sooners and at least one other Big XII team, no one would notice this conference.  Both these programs are trying to be that “one other team” this season.  Would be fun to see Kansas State back being a true contender.  Especially since what the hell else is there to do in the Little Apple?

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: North Carolina at Virginia (7:00, specialty pack) – The Tar Heels are fun again under Mack Brown for the first time since, well, Mack Brown was coaching.  Bronco Mendenhall is doing the same types of things he did at BYU in Charlottesville.  These are the two teams I would consider as the best bets to dethrone Clemson (or at least give them a conference loss).  No this is not a de facto division title game since this is the ACC Coastal division and this division is utterly insane.  I wait for the season that everyone ends up 4-4 and there’s a seven-way tie for the division crown.  God that would be glorious.

Best Group of Five Game: Navy at Air Force (10:30, specialty pack) – This is the third game in the late night triple threat this week.  There were a few choices I could have put here.  Memphis-SMU and Utah State-BYU fit the bill as well and on any other week would have been here.  But this game should be great and considering the way the two offenses are, should be over before Saturday Night Live’s episode that week is done.  I think this is the first time a Navy-AFA game could be this big.  It could also be the first time, as far as I know, that both teams come into this one ranked.  Now that would be something.

Worst Power Five Game: Nebraska at Northwestern (Noon, TSN5) – Now this…this feels like a Big Ten game at Noon.  It means that either Beth Mowins or Steve Levy has to call it, right?

Week 6

Game of the Week: LSU at Florida (3:30, CBS) – God damn this could be a MASSIVE game this season.  Two SEC contenders.  Potentially, two CFP contenders.  This is still a possibility to be moved to a primetime SEC on CBS game as it is that big.  Or for some reason CBS allows ESPN to pick it up and even put it at that odd 6:00 start time.  You never really know.  Anyway, this could be a CFP elimination game.  By this point we should know if the Tigahs are ready to defend their national championship or not.

Other Really Important Games: Auburn at Georgia (7:00, specialty pack) – Many would say this should be the game of the week.  It’s a good game but I don’t think it hits the heights of the previous game.  Also this could be a good week for CBS to exercise that doubleheader they get to do once a year.  Both teams look good heading into the season and there’s always talk about Gus Malzahn being shitcanned so that is fun for people who like that kind of thing.  Some also hate Kirby Smart as well because he hasn’t won an SEC title yet.  Life can’t be easy for an SEC head coach (although I am sure the crap-ton of money they get eases the pain a bit).

Iowa at Ohio State (Noon, FOX) – FOX not taking a back seat to Disney this week for game selections. Then again this could end up as the ABC primetime game.  You just never know with the schedules.  Man, the Pac-12 still has to be livid that FOX said that their best games will be on at Noon.  When do they finally say Fuck it and say “Fine, put a game on at 9 local time.  I’m sure no one will care and besides, we want the main event!”  If Chris Petersen was still around I am sure this would have been pushed.

Minnesota at Wisconsin (Noon, TSN4) – Man the Noon timeslot is fantastic this week.  Many would consider this further down the list to be honest.  I still have faith that the Golden Gophers can Row The Boat and stay atop the Big Ten West.  Wisky will be Wisky and try and run the ball for like 500 yards on what looks like seriously uncomfortable turf in Madison.  I can’t imagine what’s that like to get tackled on in late November.

Oklahoma vs. Texas (in Dallas) (Noon, ABC/TSN2) – It’s something when this is the fifth-best game of the week.  The Red River Shootout (SHOOTOUT!) is always a crazy game so I always enjoy watching it.  Now we have to continue hoping that the decrepit Cotton Bowl doesn’t collapse during one of these games.  This could end up being a FOX selection just for the teams involved but there are a lot of options this week so both networks will have to pick carefully.

Utah at Washington (8:00, FOX) – This could be a preview of the Pac-12 title game and it is this far down the list.  That tells you more about the Pac-12 than the state of college football.  Call it East Coast bias if you want but the teams out west just don’t seem to have the cache these days that many teams east of them do. Knowing that, I could see them moving this to 10:30 or 11:00 at night.

Clemson at Florida State (3:30, specialty pack) – Hey remember when both of these teams were legitimate contenders and this could be counted on as a potential game of the year?  The Tigers have been carrying the conference so their shoulders must be tired at this point.  The Noles have been average, at best, and are looking to re-establish their identity in the ACC.  A win here would be a fans-storm-the-field kind of instance for Florida State.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Virginia Tech at North Carolina (8:00, specialty pack) – One team has to emerge from the ACC Coastal Division, technically.  The Hokies and the Heels are as good a bet as any to make it to the ACC Championship.  I’d like to say the loser here is eliminated from the race but not in this wacky division.

Best Group of Five Game: Louisiana at Appalachian State (Wednesday, 7:00, specialty pack) – This could end up being one of the games that decides the Group of Five New Year’s Six spot.  Don’t laugh.  The Sun Belt has been steadily improving over the past few years.  Everyone knows what App State can do but the Ragin’ Cajuns have been underrated recently.  This could be a breakout game.  It also could be a preview of the Sun Belt Championship game.

Worst Power Five Game: Rutgers at Purdue (Noon, BTN) – Ah Rutgers back in the Rutgers spot.  Remember what I said about the huge Noon slate?  Well it’s still true so I wonder how many people would actually watch this game.  Not many I think.

Week 7

Game of the Week: Iowa at Penn State (Noon, ABC/TSN1) – The Big Ten has a huge week this week.  And this is the biggest game of a huge bunch.  Kirk Ferentz will try and do some Kirk Ferentz things to lead his Hawkeyes to a victory.  Penn State has been close to the big dance and needs a win here to try and break through to the next level for the first time in a long time.

Other Really Important Games: Texas A&M at Auburn (3:30, CBS) – This is one of three games that could be considered the game of the week.  It really isn’t a huge week for top-of-the-line game quality but there are a lot of good games this week.  It used to be that everyone was trying to catch Alabama.  Now it’s everyone in the SEC West trying to catch LSU.  The Gus Bus and whatever vehicle you want to associate with Jimbo Fisher will be hard up to win the division if they lose here.

Michigan at Minnesota (7:30, FloSports) – See now that Canadians can access these FOX Sports One games, I don’t care that they move some big games there. I understand the reasoning behind doing that because it makes it so FS1 would eventually be in more homes in the U.S..  Saying this, this game could be moved anywhere on the FOX schedule this week, especially if both teams have had hot starts to the season.

Oklahoma at Iowa State (Noon, FOX) – It’s nice to see a program like Iowa State have a sustained string of successful seasons.  Matt Campbell has done a phenomenal job in Ames.  And they have pulled a massive upset on the Sooners in recent years.  Nothing says it can’t happen again.  I know the rest of the Big XII will be rooting for the Cyclones even if they don’t admit it.  Anything to knock the Sooners off their perch would be a good thing for the rest of the conference.

Ohio State at Michigan State (7:30, ABC) – A lot of good games this week as I mentioned above.  Now there’s a caveat with this one: the Spartans have to be better than they were this year to make this a reality.  In most years this would be in consideration for Game of the Week.  With the Mark Dantonio era over, things start anew in East Lansing with Mel Tucker.  They always have a gauntlet with the Big Ten East, having to face Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan and, these days, Indiana every year.  Don’t be surprised if FOX picks this one up for their primetime game if ABC passes on it.

Oregon at California (Friday, 10:00, FloSports) – The Golden Bears are good again!  A young enthusiastic head coach and a program that is on the right recruiting trails helps.  The Pac-12 not being the Pac-12 of old is also a factor here but make no mistake about it, Cal could make some noise in the Pac-12 North with a win here.  The Mario Cristobal Show rolls on in Eugene as he tries to take the final step to get the Ducks into the College Football Playoff.  It would be good since we need some new blood in there (I know, Oregon has been once before but it feels like that was DECADES ago).

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Wake Forest at Florida State (Noon, specialty pack) – OK I had to dig a bit deeper to find a good underrated game.  I would say that this is the only one that truly qualifies and it’s more because of Wake than FSU.  With the way the Noon schedule is, if this does appear in that timeslot it will be drowned out by the other bigger games so it better be close to be relevant.

Best Group of Five Game: UCF at Memphis (Friday, 8:00, specialty pack) – As of right now, this game will sort of split the national spotlight with the UO-Cal game I mentioned above.  The American conference loves their Friday night games and they usually get some good ones in on those nights (unlike the ACC that drops whatever shit there and doesn’t think of the matchup).  This should be a barnburner as per usual between these two teams.  This could possibly move to TSN.  This game is one of the G-5 games of the year and will shape the New Year’s Six, guaranteed.

Worst Power Five Game: Maryland at Northwestern (3:30, BTN) – Man the Big Ten has some bad games this season.  The bottom tier of the conference can compete with any of the other Power Five conferences to stay they are the bottom of the barrel.  I guess the silver lining here is that it isn’t Rutgers this time?  I wonder if the Big Ten is still happy with getting the Scarlet Knights and the Terrapins into the conference a few years back.  I mean I know the money is a big part of it but man, on the football field they have been atrocious.

We are more than halfway through the season now (with these posts).  With only thirteen weeks this season I had to have one longer post because of it.  Sorry about that.  The next two posts will be the most difficult as almost none of it is set out beforehand and with 6 and 12-day holds on scheduling games, many of the choices are done later in the season.  This means many of these could be wrong because of that.  And in those cases I will blame the networks.  Not me.

I have not picked up a college football preview magazine yet.  Why?  Because none of them are out yet.  I can’t even order the Phil Steele magazine because of everything that is going on with the pandemic.  I am hoping to get it sometime in early August but no guarantees.  With bookstores closed I will have to keep an eye out for the others and order them when I get a chance.  Anyway, we are 88 days from the scheduled opening of the college football season.  A lot is up in the air at this point but as of right now I am assuming they will start, with empty stadiums, on time.  Hope everyone has a great week and enjoy the weather!

Finally! – Week 7 College Football Recap

It wasn’t a ton of chaos but there was still a bit which makes Professor Chaos happy…I think.  It was about damn time.  We’ve needed some movement in the rankings since the first month-and-a-bit of the season had very little of that.  So let’s get on to the recap:

Hold that Tiger!  LSU had the biggest win in the biggest game as they beat Florida in a rivalry that seems to be blooming.  And for once it’s all about LSU’s offense.  It’s the one thing the Tigers have been missing for years but now that they have it, it is scary for other teams in the SEC for sure.  After many failed attempts, LSU has arrived again.  I am sure CBS is already working to get the Bama-LSU game in primetime.  They’d be smart to give ESPN whatever they want to make that happen.

QUACK!  QUACK!  Oregon is starting to look like the dominating force they once were.  The Ducks made easy work of Cal and has created a bit of a stranglehold at the top of the Pac-12.  It is their Pac-12 North to lose now although we know how the Pac-12 has worked as of late.  They are probably the Pac-12’s only College Football Playoff hope at this point.

Can’t blame Mark Richt for this one:  Georgia never seemed in this one.  South Carolina wasn’t dominating play but there certainly seemed like the better team.  But Georgia had chances to win.  And they could never capitalize on those.  The playcalling of Kirby Smart was also strange especially down the stretch.  Nothing went right for UGA and now their CFP chances have taken a huge hit.

I don’t know why I keep falling for this:  Maybe it’s because I hope Bama will lose because it will create CHAOS.  I honestly thought the Aggies would keep it close with the Tide.  Boy was I ever wrong.  Alabama keeps on rolling and very little seems in their way that could stop them (at least during the regular season).

Bronco Buster:  I figured it would be Miami and Virginia for the ACC Coastal title.  Well the Canes haven’t exactly lit it up so far this season.  Both teams played quite well on defense and the Turnover Chain got to make a few appearances.  The offenses were less than good in this one.  However it was The U that did just enough to get into the division catbird seat.  Or not.  I don’t really know.  I wouldn’t be surprised if it ended up a 7-way tie for the title with every team at 4-4.  Oh wait, Georgia Tech is in that division.  Six-way tie.   Yeah, six-way tie.

Red River Battle Royale:  Hey wasn’t that fun?  It was a good game that started with a bit of a brew-ha-ha which prompted “The Gun Show” Mike Defee to give everyone an unsportsmanlike penalty.  Can you imagine if the entire sideline got two warnings during the game.  What happens then?  Technically the entire team would be thrown out.  That would have been something to behold.  Anyway, the Sooners basically outlasted Texas in this one and has taken a big stranglehold on the Big XII that might only be broken by Baylor.  Yes, Baylor.

You just got LAWRENCED!  That sounds disgusting but may be true for some women on the campus at Clemson University.  Florida State was never able to hang with the Tigers.  In the end it was Trevor Lawrence who had one of his best games of his career as they annihilated the Seminoles.  Clemson keeps on chugging and really has no roadblocks now to get to the CFP.  Florida State is going to have to do some work to be bowl eligible and to save Willie Taggart’s job as he is on quite the hot seat now in Tallahassee.

Is Wisconsin’s defense that good?  Their defense could be the best this century.  Forget Clemson’s defense a year ago: this Badger D could be better.  They are halfway through their season and have allowed only 29 points with four shutouts.  Geez.  Their game in two weeks with Ohio State could be something special.  Interesting to see how Justin Fields does with this.

Baylor?  Baylor!  If anyone of you thought Baylor would be 6-0, put your hands down because I know you’re lying.  Will they finish undefeated?  I doubt it.  But this is still a huge accomplishment for Matt Rhule and the Bears.  And it took two overtimes to beat a fairly good Texas Tech team to remain unblemished.  There is now a very real possibility that the Bears could be 9-0 when they play Oklahoma in November.  This is the kind of chaos I love.

So is Utah finally going to get its chance?  Kyle Whittingham and the Utes really do have the Pac-12 South by its balls.  They have everything going for them and hold their destiny in their hands.  Utah destroyed Oregon State on Saturday and looks to be set up to cause some major damage the rest of the way.  And maybe this time the Utes will score more than 3 points in the Pac-12 Championship if they get there.

Biggest upset of the week goes to…  Bowling Green.  Yes, Bowling Fucking Green.  In a game very few watched because of the schedule, the Falcons came in to their game against Toledo as 26.5 point underdogs.  Yet they thoroughly whipped the hapless Rockets in spectacular fashion.  First win for BG over Toledo in a decade to win the Battle of I-75.  Nice.

Another close call for the Irish:  Not saying USC is horrible but Notre Dame should have beaten pretty handily.  This shouldn’t have been close yet it was.  They don’t have a super easy schedule the rest of the way but all the games are winnable.  They go 11-1 and they would have a really good shot at the College Football Playoff and, again, many people wouldn’t like that at all.  Knowing this team, I can see one slip up the rest of the way to make The Committee’s job easier…well at least when it comes to the CFP.  The New Year’s Six, not as easy.

Good lord Vanderbilt:  What the fuck is going on in Nashville?  Vandy loses big to UNLV.  UNLV.  Unbelievable.  I think Derek Mason’s time as head man of the Commodores is about to come to an end as this could be the worst Vandy team since before James Franklin was coaching there.

Orange Britches!  The Volunteers of Tennessee have won an SEC game!  There had to be a few people out there who wondered when that would be said again.  But against Mississippi State?  I think the Joe Moorhead honeymoon is now over.  I hate to say he may be on the hot seat but it’s getting warm.  And Tennessee may not be as bad as we thought?  I say that six days before they play Alabama in Bryant-Denny at night.  Let’s hope they keep it within 30 so Saban gets REALLY angry.

Frost Warning:  OK nobody thought Minnesota would be that good.  But Nebraska is, yet again, worse than most people thought.  You know, except for all those people who are going “Oh yeah I definitely didn’t think Nebraska would be that good.  I figured they would be exactly where they are right now.”  And then you see they have no proof of that and you then know you are talking to one of “those people.”  The ones who tell everyone about what they did right but man, when it’s something wrong, they lack that one thing…what’s it called?  Oh yeah, accountability.  Wow, that took a bit of a dark turn.

Well all in all it was a fun weekend of college football.  So now let’s get to the Bossman Top 25:

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

That was quite the week in movements in the Top 25.  Basically #1 is set and after that it is a complete gongshow and no one would be wrong with their own personal rankings (well, unless you put Illinois in your Top 25).  Some would put Boise State higher up after a win over Hawaii but I don’t buy that…yet.  Let’s be honest: their schedule will not help them and any hope of them getting to the CFP hinges on chaos above them (which I am fully for).  This weekend helped but won’t be nearly enough.  As a bit of an aside, what is with College Gameday going to State College instead of Dallas to showcase a Top 25 SMU team?  The stories write themselves there.  Nope, go for the Whiteout.  Of course.  Nothing against Penn State but this is another mark against the Group of Five and college football’s perception of those programs.

As for what I think the CFP combatants will be, here is what I think will end up being the rankings at the top (at this time):

1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Oklahoma
4. Ohio State
5. LSU
6. Utah
7. Georgia

The top three are basically set as long as they don’t mess things up royally.  It’s the number four spot that will be under a lot of scrutiny.  The rest of those teams all will or might have black marks on their resume.  None of the Group of Five teams will be in this conversation and I am pretty sure about that.  This basically says that Bama will beat LSU later on which means that the Big Ten would probably send its champ at that point.  At this point, I think Ohio State but Wisconsin could be in the mix as well.  Way too much football to play to make any definitive statements.

Alright, in the end, it was a good weekend of college football.  Let’s hope for a lot more the rest of the way.  Enjoy your week everyone!

Let’s recap my thoughts about the schedule and do the Week 4 recap at the same time, OK?

No?  Well too bad.  Third year in a row doing this and I figured it was a good idea to recap a, let’s say, insane weekend of college football.

Week 4 Prediction Recap Time!

Houston at Tulane:  Only one game.  Not good.

I should have known what was up for the weekend after the ending of this game.  The “only one game” part had to do with this being the only game on Thursday night.  But man what a game it was.  A back-and-forth affair that ended with the Green Wave getting a long touchdown pass with very little time left to break the tie and win the game and introduce themselves as a true player in the AAC West.

#10 Utah at USC:  Utah has to be careful with the Trojans since who knows what USC team will show up.

What did I say?  I warned the Utes.  The “good” Trojans showed up Friday night and continued to completely fuck up the Pac-12’s College Football Playoff hopes in what I would call a mild upset.  It also probably saves Clay Helton’s job through Thanksgiving…our Thanksgiving.

#11 Michigan at #13 Wisconsin:  A loss by either team might eliminate them from the College Football Playoff (and in Michigan’s case, put Jimmy Khakis back on the coaching hot seat).

Michigan struggled big time with the Badgers.  This game was never in doubt as Wisky went out to a huge lead.  And yes, the rumblings about Jim Harbaugh are starting again.

#8 Auburn at #17 Texas A&M:  Huge game on CBS with Auburn and Texas A&M where the winner honestly still has a shot at either LSU or Bama in the SEC West.

And it certainly did end up being a great game.  A close game and all this proved is that Bo Nix is the real deal…I think.  The Gus Bus may cause chaos in the SEC again if they continue to play this well.

#7 Notre Dame at #3 Georgia:  Notre Dame-UGA.  Funny enough, the Dawgs are favoured by 12.  Seriously.  Many think it will be over by halftime.  For CBS and Brad Nessler’s sake, I hope it’s a close game.

Oh yes.  This game was fantastic.  Brad Nessler had to have been so pleased.  I do seriously worry about him considering most of the games he has called on CBS since taking over for Uncle Verne have been terrible.  Let’s hope this is one of the many good games he gets to call.  And let’s give the Irish credit.  They kept it close with Georgia when almost no one thought that would be the case.  Win out and they have a case for the CFP.

UCLA at #19 Washington State:  Pac-12 After Dark!  Usually this is a fun game.  Usually.  This may not be the case here.  The other two games will probably be much better than the UCLA-Wazzu affair.

This is the game of the year.  If anything beats it I will be shocked.  This was so crazy.  Washington State up by 32 in the third quarter.  Then UCLA comes back by scoring 50 points in the final 19 minutes of the game.  Chip Kelly folks!  Anthony Gordon threw nine, yes NINE, touchdowns and lost!  This is exactly the kind of game that makes me say that college football is ALWAYS better than the NFL.  I wasn’t even tired when it was over and it was almost 2:30 in the morning.

The other two games ended up being really good too.  Utah State had to hold off a late San Diego State charge to win a crucial conference game and Toledo beat Colorado State in another wild one out in Fort Collins.  Arguably one of the greatest Saturday late night set of games ever.

#16 Oregon at Stanford:  Stanford over Oregon (this may be the last time I ever pick Stanford)

Can someone hold me to this?  At the very least I can’t pick them again this season since that would be stupid.

Other games I didn’t mention in the schedule post

Tennessee at #9 Florida:  God the Volunteers are awful.  There was a point during this game where I thought they could keep it close into the fourth quarter.  Then anything could happen (see UCLA at Washington State above).  Instead, they look like shit and I don’t see how Jeremy Pruitt keeps his job unless they turn it around and at least be bowl-eligible at the end of the season.

#23 California at Ole Miss:  What a wild finish to this one.  Ole Miss drove down the field in the final minute and looked like they had scored a touchdown with less than ten seconds left.  The official, however, said the player was short of the goal line and with no timeouts, the time ran out on the Rebels.  From what I could see, it looked almost impossible for the ball not to be in the end zone because most of the receiver’s body was in the end zone.  I digress though.  Amazing game and, ladies and gentlemen, Cal is your only undefeated team left in the Pac-12.  In late September.  Yeah.

#15 UCF at Pittsburgh:  Can we stop calling that trick play that the Philadelphia Eagles used the _______ Special?  I mean yes it was fun to see Pitt use the “Pitt Special” to defeat previously undefeated Group of Five darling UCF.  But they had the chance to call it Pitty City and they didn’t use it?  C’mon man.

Miami-OH at #6 Ohio State:  Miami-OH was up 5-0 at one point.  Then tOSU put up 76 straight.  Wow.

Temple at Buffalo:  So one week after Temple upset Maryland, Buffalo upsets (kind of) Temple.  The College Football Transitive Property has had a heyday with this one and I am sure it will continue if Buffalo is beaten by like Akron later in the season.

SMU at #25 TCU:  The Iron Skillet is going back to Dallas as the Mustangs defeated TCU in a close one.  So now the AAC West has Memphis, Tulane and SMU.  Going to be a tough go this year for Houston and Navy me thinks.

Appalachian State at North Carolina:  Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.  App State blocked a kick on the last play of the game to upset a Power Five team.  I know right?  Now the Mountaineers have put themselves in the thick of the New Year’s Six race.  Also, the bloom has come off the rose of the Mack Brown Chapel Hill Experience (Part Deux).

San Jose State at Arkansas:  Arkansas sucks.  No other way to put it.  The Spartans looked like the better team and showed it.  Chad Morris may not be long for Fayetteville as it’s getting to the point where the Hogs fans are tired of the losing.

There were upsets galore last weekend and a lot of movement.  So let’s look at the new Bossman Top 25!

#1	Clemson
#2	Georgia
#3	LSU
#4	Alabama
#5	Auburn
#6	Ohio State
#7	Wisconsin
#8	Florida
#9	Oklahoma
#10	Texas
#11	Penn State
#12	Notre Dame
#13	Oregon
#14	Iowa
#15	Virginia
#16	Washington
#17	Michigan
#18	California
#19	Boise State
#20	Utah
#21	Texas A&M
#22	UCF
#23	Michigan State
#24	USC
#25	Kansas State

Well aren’t I a cheeky bastard.  Bama at 4?  Utah over USC?  UCF still in the Top 25?  No this isn’t a joke: this is my Top 25.  And yes, I have four of the top five spots as SEC teams (and six of the top eight).  It won’t stay that way.  We know that.  But for now that’s how I have it.  I’m sure if I was some “expert” I would have 1,000 tweets at this point telling me what a moron I was.

So that was a great college football Saturday.  Already this feels like a better season than 2018.  Let’s hope it keeps up.  Have a great week everyone!

Week 1 College Football Recap – The future of coaching is here!

This is just seriously fucking hilarious.  Look, I get that Hugh Freeze is hurt.  He has a back injury.  I can appreciate that.  But you cannot tell me that this whole thing with him in an actual hospital bed in the press box still coaching wasn’t a big rah-rah, toughness in football sort of lesson for his Liberty Flames.  Like I get it Hugh…you’re the head coach.  It’s your first game at Liberty.  However, I don’t think anyone would think lesser of you if you weren’t at the game and let one of the coordinators be the interim coach for one game…much less a game that there was almost no chance you were going to win.  Considering why you were fired by Ole Miss, almost nothing you do could be considered more pathetic and/or stupid.

Anyway, welcome back everyone!  So happy to have college football back.  It felt….right.  Not that the action was amazing although some games definitely were great.  So let’s get right to the recap!

• The game of the week was a barnburner.  Auburn and Oregon, while not in mid-season form yet, were hopping right from the opening kickoff.  For much of the game it looked like Oregon would be able to hold on for the victory and start the season as one of the Pac-12 favourites.  Enter Bo Nix.  The freshman starting quarterback for the Tigers looked like a freshman starting quarterback for about 57 minutes.  Then came the final three and he may have clinched the job for the season and saved Gus Malzahn’s job for the season since Gus is always on the hot seat.  I mean it’s permanently glued to his ass at this point.  This was the only game with two ranked teams playing each other which I will admit is kind of weak for Week 1 and the hype that came along with it.
• How about those Volunteers?  Woof.  That could have been the biggest upset of the season and it happened in Week 1 as Georgia State beat Tennessee.  Not Georgia.  Georgia State.  A brutal beginning of the season for a team that is supposed to be improving.  Of course they should have seen something coming when a boat basically blew the fuck up on the river outside Neyland Stadium that morning.  Who knew it would be a harbinger of something that bad for the program.   Oh and congrats to Georgia State of course.
• USC held on against Fresno State late Saturday night.  Their quarterback was not so lucky.  J.T. Daniels is now out for the season with a torn meniscus and ACL.  So yeah, the Trojans will have a much tougher time this season and Clay Helton’s hot seat is now lava.
• How about those Seminoles?  The first half it looked like the Noles were back to being the Noles of old (like earlier this decade).  Then halftime hit and something must have happened since Boise State absolutely dominated the second half and came back from 17 down to beat FSU in Tallahassee after the game had been moved there because of Hurricane Dorian.  And now we hear from Willie Taggart that dehydration could have been the issue for the Florida State players.  Seriously?  So the team that is used to playing in freezing temperatures could handle the heat yet the team that plays in that humid area of the country couldn’t?  Get the fuck outta here.
• It was the Return of the Mack this past Saturday.  I mean it wasn’t a huge upset but still and upset that North Carolina beat South Carolina.  And they did it by playing good football in the fourth quarter, something they kind of forgot to do under Larry Fedora.  And the emotions after the game that Mack Brown showed…that tells you how much this meant to him.  It was great to see.  Les Miles also won his first game with his new team but Kansas honestly struggled a bit with Indiana State so it could be a tougher slog for the Jayhawks.  The Heels could be looking at bowl eligibility if things keep falling their way.
• Yes Maryland scored 79 points.  Jordan McNair wore #79 before he died.  Nice coincidence.  Thing is, he was killed due to negligence by some on the Maryland staff.  It wasn’t an accident.  For ESPN to gloss over that part in a tweet that many people looked at is not a good look for the four-letter network.  Call it like it is.  D.J. Durkin is an asshole and shouldn’t get a coaching job ever again.
• Did you happen to see the stands in Nashville for the Georgia-Vanderbilt game?  It was a home game for the Dores but the stands were 90% red.  I don’t know if I have ever seen a fanbase take over a stadium like the UGA fans did on Saturday.
• By the way, it’s spelled FIGHT ON.  Not FIHT ON.  Not FIHGT ON.  Just so the USC painted fans and Rod Gilmore understand.
• Geez Iowa State made things really interested against Northern Iowa.  Triple overtime.  They came oh so close to being the biggest FCS-over-FBS upset this season but the Cyclones pulled it out.  I hope this is a lot like Washington State losing to Eastern Washington and then finishing with eight wins despite that.
• I wondered if Houston could keep it close with Oklahoma.  In the end, it really wasn’t even close.  It shows that Jalen Hurts and the Sooners are for real and are looking at the College Football Playoff again.  I wouldn’t put Dana Holgorsen on any kind of hot seat as there was a lot to like about the Cougs and they could be a handful once conference play begins in the American.
• The Labour Day ACC game honestly wasn’t that bad despite the fact almost everyone figured it would be.  Louisville had Notre Dame fans sweating during the first half as they went blow-for-blow with the Irish.  The second half had Ian Book helping Notre Dame pull away but the Cards had a good showing.  Maybe they are already getting some of that Petrino stink off of them.
• UCLA went to Nippert Stadium and ended up looking…well, not so good.  I am still sticking with my assumption that the Bruins can become bowl-eligible but yeesh, that was not a good start.  The Fighting Fickells on the other hand look like a team that could cause a lot of problems at the top of the AAC.  Don’t be surprised if they are mentioned as a dark horse pick for the New Year’s Six as the season goes on.

OK Week 1 is in the books!  Good start.  Let us all rejoice in this time considering we know what happens around four-and-a-half months from now.

No Top 25 after Week 1.  I will start it next week when there’s two weeks (or so) in the books.

Now we are almost back into the swing of things.  Starting Thursday it will be the regular schedule:

• College football schedule on Thursday
• NFL schedule on Friday
• College football recap on Monday

Hope you had as good a time as I did watching Week 1 and let’s hope for a great season.  Enjoy the rest of your week.