Oh man, here we go again

Posted on August 1, 2023 by guelphbossman

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Just For You

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

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

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

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

Geogpraphy, Go Eat a Dick

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

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

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

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

Deep Tissue Massage and/or Analysis

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

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

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

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

Belly Expansions

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

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

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

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

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

California Nightmarin’

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

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

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

Posted on November 22, 2022 by guelphbossman

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

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

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

Tuesday

Bowling Green (+6.5) at Ohio

7:00 PM

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

Thursday

Mississippi State (+2.5) at #20 Ole Miss

7:00 PM

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

Friday

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

Utah State (+16.5) at Boise State

Noon

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

Central Michigan (-2) at Eastern Michigan

Noon

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

Baylor (+8.5) at #23 Texas

Noon

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

Toledo (-7.5) at Western Michigan

Noon

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

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

Arkansas (-3) at Missouri

3:30 PM

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

New Mexico (+7.5) at Colorado State

3:30 PM

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

Nebraska (+10.5) at Iowa

4:00 PM

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

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

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

Saturday Early

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

Rutgers (+14) at Maryland

Noon

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

WKU (-7) at Florida Atlantic

Noon

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

Georgia Tech (+35.5) at #1 Georgia

Noon

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

West Virginia (+8.5) at Oklahoma State

Noon

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

Coastal Carolina (+13.5) at James Madison

Noon

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

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

Saturday Afternoon

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

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

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

Illinois (-14) at Northwestern

3:30 PM

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

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

Purdue (-10.5) at Indiana

3:30 PM

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

Auburn (+22) at #7 Alabama

3:30 PM

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

UAB (-17.5) at Louisiana Tech

3:30 PM

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

Minnesota (+3.5) at Wisconsin

3:30 PM

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

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

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

Virginia at Virginia Tech

3:30 PM

cancelled

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

Memphis (+4.5) at SMU

3:30 PM

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

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

Troy (-13.5) at Arkansas State

3:30 PM

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

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

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

#14 Utah (-29.5) at Colorado

4:00 PM

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

Saturday Primetime

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

7:00 PM

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

#22 UCF (-19.5) at USF

7:00 PM

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

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

Tulsa (+12) at Houston

7:30 PM

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

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

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

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

Saturday Late Night

Air Force (-1.5) at San Diego State

9:00 PM

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

SE Missouri State at Montana

10:00 PM

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

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

#13 Washington (-2) at Washington State

10:30 PM

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

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

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

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

It’s coming soon and the debates will be ridiculous – Week 11 College Football TV Schedule

Posted on November 11, 2020 by guelphbossman

The College Football Playoff rankings come out for the first time in a couple of weeks. It’s a few weeks later than normal but not surprising for what’s happening during this wacky year. And of course I am sure there will be controversy. Remember the first ever CFP Rankings that had Texas A&M at #4 and everyone lost their fucking minds? Or when TCU was #3, destroyed Iowa State and ended up #5 at the end of the day? Or when Alabama became the first team not to even win their division to be in the Top 4? Good shit. You know the first rankings will create a ton of debate in the college football media. To be frank, it annoys the hell out of me. It’s one thing to have a discussion on it. It’s a whole other thing for it to dominate talks and create complete assholes out of people who are normally very nice people.

And again, I have an issue with these rankings in general. The first time the College Football Playoff Committee should give their rankings out is before conference championship weekend. Before that there is no point in it. All of a sudden these rankings are supposed to be used instead of the AP Rankings that were used all season up until that point? That is so dumb. Then again, I believe that all these rankings are done so that many in the group I call college football media can debate them and talk about something. Otherwise why would they even be needed?

Alright we are over two months into this season (even though it definitely doesn’t feel that way). Are you used to no fans in the stands? Gonna be honest: I’m used to it but I don’t like it. I much prefer when there is even 10% of the stands filled for a game. The games that look like midweek MACtion or Fun Belt games just seem to have a better atmosphere. Big Ten and Pac-12 of course are not allowing fans. It’s not like I didn’t totally agree with them not starting on time but scrambling then to start late has been a disaster for those conferences already. What a complete mess. If you couldn’t tell from my bowl projections post, that almost hammers the point home. Anyway, I will say it is nice to see more Sun Belt games on Saturdays that we can actually see here. That’s a plus through all this.

Alright enough of this let’s get to the damn schedule already!

Wednesday

		US	Canada
Eastern Michigan at Ball State	7:00 PM

So this is football. It’s starting to get cold outside for good after a pretty nice early November. So might as well stay in and watch some college football. That’s what MACtion is all about.

Thursday

No football tonight. Well there is a game on FOX Sports One if you get that. You’re stuck with NFL Thursday Night Football otherwise!

Friday

		US	Canada
Florida Atlantic at FIU	7:00 PM
East Carolina at #7 Cincinnati	7:30 PM

The second game might be over by the end of the first quarter. Or we could get Bizarro East Carolina who keeps it close and frustrates the Bearcats all night long. The other game is the annual Shula Bowl game. Again, it’s college football so I will definitely watch.

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
#10 Indiana at Michigan State	Noon
Illinois at Rutgers	Noon
#9 Miami at Virginia Tech	Noon
TCU at West Virginia	Noon
Penn State at Nebraska	Noon
Middle Tennessee at #16 Marshall	~~1:30 PM~~ Noon

No seriously huge games but definitely some interesting ones early on. ESPN2 gets The U and VaTech which could be very interesting and ripe for an upset. I have it down as being on TSN2 but I honestly don’t know. Georgia-Missouri was supposed to be on TSN2 in this timeslot and it is one of four SEC games cancelled due to COVID-19. Christ’s sake. I will get into more detail as this post goes on.

UPDATE #3: UM-VT has been moved to ESPN.

UPDATE #5: IU-RU moves to 1:00.

UPDATE #6: I guessed wrong on Miami-VT being on TSN. It will now be IU-MSU going there.

UPDATE #8: MTSU-Marshall has been moved to Noon for some reason.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
#2 Notre Dame at Boston College	3:30 PM
~~#3 Ohio State at Maryland~~	3:30 PM
Colorado at Stanford	3:30 PM
#20 USC at Arizona	3:30 PM
Baylor at Texas Tech	4:00 PM

“Why is there no CBS game at 3:30?” I can see people asking this and it’s a simple answer. Thanks to the insanity that is 2020, the Masters is on this weekend. CBS and Augusta National did a good job to accommodate both college football and the NFL this weekend. So the third round of the Masters was going to air until 5:30 so that the SEC on CBS pre-game show can start on time. I will get to that in the next timeslot.

Again, no real huge games here but some interesting ones. The Pac-12 games are still important at this point as we all kind of know one loss kills any team’s chance at the College Football Playoff. Also, you have to wonder when the Notre Dame Speedbump Game is going to happen. This may be it and if it is that would be entertaining.

UPDATE: Yet another game cancelled. Ohio State-Maryland is not being played due to, you guessed it, ~~Frank Stallone~~ COVID-19.

UPDATE #2: CU-Stanford has been moved to ESPN.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Southern Miss at Western Kentucky	6:00 PM
Arkansas at #6 Florida	7:00 PM
#19 SMU at Tulsa	7:00 PM
#11 Oregon at Washington State	7:00 PM
#13 Wisconsin at Michigan	7:30 PM
#23 Northwestern at Purdue	7:30 PM

OK so now you are noticing no CBS game. Well four (yes, FOUR) SEC games have been postponed this weekend and one of them was Alabama-LSU which was supposed to air at 6:00 on CBS right after the third round of the Masters. I have a feeling this game will end up being outright cancelled because LSU has no open weeks before the SEC Championship. Why didn’t they just move all the conference championships to Boxing Day? Oh that’s right, because the fucking Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl just have to be on New Year’s Day otherwise the world will explode or something like that. Give me a break.

And the Masters is also the reason why TSN isn’t showing many games today. Normally TSN would fill in all the spots after 3:30 with worthless dreck that most people won’t watch. At least this year they have a reason to not show much college football on this particular weekend.

UPDATE #4: Northwestern-Purdue has moved to 5:00 EST. It will still be on the Big Ten Network.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
~~California at Arizona State~~	10:30 PM
~~Utah at UCLA~~	10:30 PM
Oregon State at Washington	11:00 PM

FOX QUADRUPLEHEADER!!!!!!! Thanks to issues within the Utah Utes football team with COVID and contact tracing they asked for a move of their game from Friday night to Saturday night. And this was the only spot where it could go. First network college football broadcast to go this late ever. Glorious!

UPDATE #7: Cal-ASU has been cancelled due to multiple positive COVID-19 tests inside the Sun Devils program, including head coach Herm Edwards. I don’t know what TSN’s plan is now but I guess is they just won’t show a late game.

UPDATE #9: Another cancellation: Utah-UCLA is now cancelled. No FOX quadrupleheader. No history being made. So sad.

Games to set your eyeballs on

Miami at Virginia Tech (Noon, TSN2) – Amazingly enough, with all the conferences back, this is arguably the best game of the week (although you could make an argument for a few others). Honestly, if it wasn’t for a Fuente fuck-up in the Liberty game, they could be 5-2 and ranked and this would be truly a big game. Miami needs this victory badly since their chances of getting to the ACC Championship are slim so they may have to take the backdoor route to get to the College Football Playoff. It does feel like a game that could be an upset possibility, though so at the very least it should be very entertaining. The fact this game is on ESPN2 in the United States shows how little respect the ACC still gets, despite the fact they have Notre Dame this season.

Notre Dame at Boston College (3:30, ABC/TSN2) – Speaking of games where one team winning would cause a bit of carnage, here’s one. Everyone is expecting the Irish to mop the floor with the Eagles here. Then again, this could get weird as it should be pretty damn cold in Chestnut Hill and if there’s snow, watch out. I wonder how far Notre Dame would fall with a loss here. Despite the fact many would want the Irish out of the Top 10, I don’t see them dropping more than three spots regardless of what happens here.

Oregon at Washington State (7:00, FOX) – Let’s see how fucked up the Pac-12 North can get. If Oregon loses then Wazzu becomes the leader of the division. Like that would not look good on that division. And who else would really contend for the Pac-12 crown out of the North? Nobody. Brutal. The conference is praying the Ducks can win this and win it big.

SMU at Tulsa (7:00, TSN1) – I would say we’ve fallen off a cliff now but really, were we at the top of the cliff to begin with? If the Golden Hurricane can pull off the upset here, this throws the AAC into potential disarray. At the very least, it means SMU will be shot like a cannon down the rankings where everyone seems to think they belong. It would also leave just Cincinnati to carry the conference’s hopes of getting to the New Year’s Six.

Northwestern at Purdue (7:30, BTN) – Honestly, this could have been the primetime ABC game. I know Michigan is a college football blueblood but this game is basically a Big Ten West elimination game. A Wildcat win puts Pat Fitzgerald firmly back in the echelon of best coaches in college football. I guess I have to say the same if the Boilermakers come up victorious. Purdue winning, though, would be an upset no matter which way you slice it. The Big Ten Network lucked out with this one, in my opinion.

Honourable mention: Coastal Carolina at Troy (Noon, ESPNU); Wake Forest at North Carolina (Noon, ACC Network); Hawaii at San Diego State (4:00, Spectrum PPV…yes, I’m serious)

UPDATE #10: Yep, double digits for the first time this season and it’s not hurricane-related. CCU-Troy has been postponed but will most likely be cancelled due to COVID-related issues.

Some gambling fun and games

My picks last week were actually pretty fantastic. I got a minor upset in Florida beating Georgia. I even called the BYU win. Only losses were on picks that almost everyone would have got wrong. So here are this week’s possibly also pretty great picks.

SMU over Tulsa

Notre Dame over Boston College

Troy over Coastal Carolina (pretty big upset)

Virginia Tech over Miami (another upset)

Northwestern over Purdue

San Diego State over Hawaii

Oregon over Washington State

North Carolina over Wake Forest

Florida over Arkansas

Baylor at Texas Tech

Marshall over Middle Tennessee

For the second week in a row I will probably be up until 2 in the morning watching games. Maybe there’s something wrong with me. But with only three months (actually almost four this year) of regular season college football I have to watch as much as I can. The other nine months have bowl games (good), Week Zero (which was basically nothing this year), college football all-star games (who knows if these will even happen) and then…nothing. Then again, who knows what is going to happen with sports schedules from now on thanks to this insane year. Anyway, enjoy the games this weekend everyone!

Now are we looking at Clemson-Alabama V: Return of the Nickpire?

Posted on September 15, 2020 by guelphbossman

Honestly I forget what the Star Wars titles are. I think Return of the Empire is the fifth movie. Even though it was made second. Thanks for making it nice and confusing, George.

Alright it’s bowl projection time. Yes this is late and really, it is pieced together because really, bowl season looks like a dog’s breakfast at this point. Who knows what bowl eligibility will look like. Nobody knows which bowl games will go ahead and which won’t. It’s a gongshow. And wait until the Big Ten decides to return in October. Ho boy, this is seriously fucked up.

Let us begin with the College Football Playoff matchups. These will be played and I am almost sure of it. Remember, the rankings I have here are the rankings I believe these teams will be going into the bowl season. I know some will be very wrong but I am hoping to hit on most and I have a feeling the CFP is a good start on my behalf:

January 1st	Sugar Bowl	#1 Clemson	#4 Texas A&M
January 1st	Rose Bowl	#2 Alabama	#3 Oklahoma

Two of these were automatics. Bama and Clemson are easy picks since everyone (and I do mean everyone) is selecting those two for the CFP. Again, I don’t have Alabama as running the table like the Tigers but I think they win the SEC Championship which puts them in the Final Four. I think Oklahoma gets in as the Big XII champ even though they fail as well in their push to go undefeated. The only problem could end up being the rematch in the Big XII Championship, whoever ends up getting there. And the controversial fourth team…Texas A&M! Look I get it. I don’t have the Aggies even winning their division. But think who else could be there. Even though there are less teams playing, the Group of Five will continue to be shutout. There are very few teams who would have as tough a schedule as TAMU would have. And yes, two losses. Problem there again is I have no other Power Five teams with one or no losses. In the end, though it is a crapshoot as you could put any one of Florida, Auburn, LSU, Texas, North Carolina or Notre Dame here and it would have to be the same argument. So for once, the #5 team can bitch and complain because this will not be easy on The Committee.

This leads us to the New Year’s Six with only one game actually on New Year’s Day. College football, everybody!

January 2nd	Orange Bowl	#5 North Carolina	#6 Auburn
January 2nd	Fiesta Bowl	#9 Texas	#7 Notre Dame
January 1st	Peach Bowl	#8 LSU	#12 Appalachian State
December 28th	Cotton Bowl	#11 Oklahoma State	#10 Florida

I can see some debate here with these picks, as per usual. This year, more than any other, being in the Top 12 pretty much will assure you a spot in the NY6 since I believe a Group of Five team will crack that mark this season. Florida will get in after losing their conference championship to Bama. They should be high enough in the rankings that they wouldn’t fall out of the NY6 or the Top 10 (I see the Gators being #6 going into conference championship weekend). I think Appalachian State will beat up most of the teams they face and sneak into the Top 12 undefeated. I want to say Notre Dame will take advantage of finally being in a conference but they won’t. They will, however, still be good enough to snag a spot in the Fiesta Bowl. North Carolina should be in the Top 10 most of the season and even two losses to Clemson won’t push them out. Auburn, Texas and LSU all will not be in their conference championships but in this pandemic year, that will matter a lot less. Finally, Oklahoma State should hang on to the final spot and get to go to the Cotton Bowl. I think it will be a close call at the end of the year between the Cowboys and BYU for the final spot but I can’t see The Committee leaving Oklahoma State out. Most of this will come into play thanks to BYU’s extremely easy schedule so despite me calling them to go undefeated I see them on the outside looking in.

Not often is it that the Top 12 all get in to the New Year’s Six but I see it happening this year. The ACC Champion is contractually obligated to go to the Orange Bowl. Since Clemson is obviously in the CFP, North Carolina would be the highest ranked team to go here but they should be high enough all year that no one will bat an eye. It will be a nice change from seeing a team ranked somewhere around #20 getting in.

Now the rest of the bowl matchups and this is something I had to Frankenstein together. This is a mess and no one really knows what’s going on so this will probably change but it’s the best I can do for now:

January 6th	LendingTree Bowl	Troy	#13 BYU
January 4th	Gator Bowl	Kentucky	#17 Miami
January 1st	Citrus Bowl	#14 Georgia	#23 Memphis
December 31st	Liberty Bowl	#22 Tennessee	West Virginia
December 31st	Sun Bowl	Arkansas State	#21 Florida State
December 31st	Duke’s Mayo Bowl	#20 UCF	#18 Louisville
December 29th	Alamo Bowl	#16 Baylor	Southern Miss
December 28th	Camping World Bowl	#19 Iowa State	#15 Virginia Tech
December 26th	Pinstripe Bowl	#25 Cincinnati	Pittsburgh
December 26th	Independence Bowl	Army	Charlotte
December 19th	New Orleans Bowl	#24 UAB	Louisiana
December 19th	Boca Raton Bowl	Navy	Florida Atlantic
December 19th	New Mexico Bowl	Tulane	Western Kentucky
December 19th	Frisco Bowl	SMU	Louisiana Tech
December 18th	Cure Bowl	Georgia Southern	Marshall

This is starting to look like the 90s when there were a lot less bowl games. Bowl games are supposed to be played in Boston and Myrtle Beach but I can’t see those happening with the truncated bowl game schedule. The “We Need Less Bowl Games” crowd will love this obviously. Again, this is all conjecture. There has been no talk about what will happen with bowl games because most teams have just been worried about getting their seasons going and rightfully so. I assume we will have a better idea by the end of the month as to what will happen here. I just hope they don’t decide this is time to expand to an 8-team playoff because it’s not. At all. Anyway, some notes on the shortened fun-time magical bowl season:

I somehow only have three games predicted between ranked teams: UGA-Memphis in the Citrus, UCF-UL in the new Duke’s Mayo Bowl (which is replacing the Belk Bowl and it’s hilarious Twitter account), & ISU-VT in the Camping World. Three very good matchups for bowl season that people would watch no matter the time of year.
Normally I put asterisks when teams fill in for other conferences because those conferences can’t fulfill their tie-ins. No point in that right now since teams will have been shifted around.
As for what I have done here, here are a few points about that:
- I put every team in their bowl tie-in spot to begin with.
- I added Army and BYU in the Independence and LendingTree Bowls, respectively.
- Bowl games that had two participants I left as is.
- The rest of the teams that did not have an opponent I shifted around.
- I really didn’t look at which bowls would be most likely played and which wouldn’t at this point since that would be an exercise in futility.

See? Ridiculous. And this will change as the season goes on so don’t look for much accuracy at this point. Alright, as you could probably tell from the title of the post, I have Clemson and Bama winning their CFP semi-final games and clashing in the championship. This time around, I have Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide winning yet another title.

Next up is my most accurate report I do (other than the schedules): the Coaching Hot Seat Report. I will follow that with my worst post in terms of accuracy, my Heisman ballot. I am not doing a recap this week since I have to get through all these prediction posts instead. Plus there weren’t a ton of games so it’s not like it would fully require it’s own post. I may do the same thing with recaps next week but we will see about that. Hopefully the specialty pack has decided to run games this week but I am not holding my breath. Have a great Tuesday everyone!

Let’s just call this a Scheduling Update post alright?

Posted on July 21, 2020 by guelphbossman

I’m going to be honest with you: I have no idea what is going to happen. Let’s go through what has happened on a college football scheduling front:

The Ivy League kicked things off by saying they would not have any fall sports. Many in the media said this would basically make the decision for all the Power Five conferences which we all knew was bullshit because very few people care about Ivy League football.
The Big Ten decided on a conference-only schedule. This was the real first domino to fall as it affected many teams and their non-conference schedules, especially the MAC. Because let’s be honest: Illinois going to play Rutgers is a lot safer than Illinois going to play Northern Illinois. That makes sense, right?
The Pac-12 followed suit with the conference only schedule. Again, some of it doesn’t make sense although some games, like USC-Notre Dame, make sense to cancel.
The MEAC became the first Division I HBCU conference to shut things down for the fall. For us in Canada, it meant specialty packs lost a few Thursday night games. The SWAC followed suit, officially, yesterday.
The Patriot League has decided to not have fall sports. Army and Navy, who are in the PL for basketball, would not be affected by this decision.
The CAA has decided to not have football but James Madison and Elon are potentially looking at playing independent schedules for the season, with the thought that the FCS playoffs will still happen closer to winter.

The ACC is possibly going to a conference-only football schedule as well. If this came to fruition, they would include Notre Dame in this agreement. The SEC and Big XII have said very little on this so at this point we have to assume that it is business as usual (as much as it can be) when it comes to football.

The idea of conference-only schedules is kind of weird and, in some cases, really makes no sense. When some of the teams would still have to travel over 1000 miles to get to some of these games means this has nothing to do with safety and everything to do with…well, I don’t know what it has to do with.

Now let’s look at how this affects what us as Canadians now will be seeing, if nothing else changes (and that includes predicted broadcast networks and times). I am just going to look at the first three weeks, along with Week Zero.

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

With the Pac-12’s decision to only have conference games, the Rocky Mountain Showdown has now been cancelled. A possible replacement for that week would be Louisiana Tech-UNLV which is a weak replacement but they are almost out of potential Mountain West replacement games.

September 5th	Michigan State at Northwestern	Noon
September 5th	~~Bowling Green at Ohio State~~	3:30 PM
September 5th	~~Alabama vs. USC (in Arlington)~~	7:30 PM
September 12th	~~Penn State at Virginia Tech~~	Noon
September 12th	Auburn vs. North Carolina (in Atlanta)	3:30 PM
September 12th	Tennessee at Oklahoma	7:30 PM
September 19th	~~Maryland at West Virginia~~	Noon
September 19th	~~Arkansas State at Michigan~~	3:30 PM
September 19th	USC at Stanford	7:30 PM

Weeks 1 and 3 have two games cancelled and Week 2 would have one. Here are the possible replacements:

BG-tOSU could be replaced by Indiana-Wisconsin if it will move from Friday.
Bama-USC was one of the few headline matchups during Week 1. I could see Florida State-West Virginia, that I originally had on at Noon on ABC, move from 3:30 to primetime as it is a neutral-site game.
PSU-VT could be replaced by Mississippi State-NC State which is a non-conference game but the ACC hasn’t made the call just yet to off the non-conference schedule.
UMD-WVU could be replaced by Vanderbilt-Kansas State which would put Vandy on ABC for the first time I think ever.
ASU-UM could be replaced by Iowa-Minnesota if it moves off of Friday night.

USC-Stanford would be the first conference game of the year shown on ABC.

September 5th	Purdue at Nebraska	Noon
September 5th	~~Michigan at Washington~~	3:30 PM
September 12th	~~Iowa State at Iowa~~	Noon
September 12th	~~Ohio State at Oregon~~	3:30 PM
September 12th	~~Syracuse at Rutgers~~	7:30 PM
September 19th	Florida State at Boise State	Noon
September 19th	~~Buffalo at Ohio State~~	4:00 PM
September 19th	~~Arizona at Texas Tech~~	8:00 PM

Shit talking about a schedule being ruined. FOX is almost to the point they might as well put everything they thought about the season into the shredder, pour a few stiff drinks and re-do everything.

UM-UW could be replaced by USF-Texas if the Longhorn Network determines it can get a game later on in the season to air.
ISU-Iowa doesn’t need to be replaced. The teams are like two hours apart. Why the fuck do this? Anyway, this could be replaced by Kansas-Baylor since as a conference game there is a better chance this will end up staying on the schedule.
tOSU-UO, one of the biggest games of the season, cannot be replaced by something of equal value. Best bet could be Tulsa-Oklahoma State just to get something in that timeslot as Week 2, as a whole, looks like the biggest mess of them all.
Oh man how many people will complain that Syracuse-Rutgers won’t air? Again, they have almost nothing available but if they want to keep a primetime game and not just have MLB show a game, they could put UTEP-Nevada in that timeslot since CBS will not be giving up Boise State-Air Force, especially now.
UB-tOSU could be replaced by Boston College-Kansas. The MAC is going to suffer immensely with the loss of so many money games against Big Ten teams.
UA-TTU could be replaced by UNLV-Iowa State.

This is where I believe the schedules could end up being put in a blender and all sorts of games moving to earlier weeks.

September 3rd	Eastern Washington at Florida (TSN5)	7:00 PM
September 3rd	~~BYU at Utah (TSN5)~~	10:15 PM
September 4th	North Carolina at UCF (TSN5)	8:00 PM
September 5th	Clemson at Georgia Tech (TSN2)	Noon
September 5th	UTSA at LSU (TSN2)	7:00 PM
September 5th	~~TCU at California (TSN2)~~	10:30 PM
September 6th	Notre Dame at Navy (TSN2)	2:00 PM
September 6th	Ole Miss vs. Baylor (in Houston) (TSN2)	7:30 PM
September 7th	Georgia at Virginia (TSN1, TSN4, TSN5)	8:00 PM
September 12th	Tennessee at Oklahoma (TSN2)	7:30 PM
September 18th	UCF at Georgia Tech (TSN2)	8:00 PM
September 19th	~~Maryland at West Virginia (TSN1, TSN4)~~	Noon
September 19th	~~Rutgers at Temple (TSN3, TSN5)~~	Noon

Huh, how about that? My predicted TSN schedule isn’t altered that much. That kind of surprises me.

The Holy War being cancelled is dumb. They are so close, you could probably shoot a cannon between the two schools and hit the campus…I think. I don’t know. All I know is that they are in the same state so cancelling this game but allowing Utah to travel to southern California is OK. Alright then. Anyway, this could be replaced by Georgia Southern-Boise State if that game gets moved from FOX Sports One to an ESPN channel.
TCU-Cal could be replaced by probably nothing. I am guessing TSN just doesn’t show a college football game in that timeslot. It’s a late night timeslot so it’s not really a huge deal for most people. UPDATE: TCU will now play UNLV during Week Zero. Whether this game is on TSN is up in the air.
UMD-WVU could be replaced by Auburn-Ole Miss which is appearing on ESPN.
RU-TU could be replaced by NC State-Troy which is appearing on ESPNU.

I will not bother with the other schedules since there will be loads of changes. I would drive myself nuts as I am still trying to edit out just the games that won’t be happening. I will try and send an update to this post if another conference, mostly the ACC, makes a decision that alters the schedule before any games are moved back into September which is what I assume will happen.

Anyway, at this point, Week Zero is still on although there will only be a few games, at most. As of right now we are 39 days away from the college football season starting. What it will look like I have no fucking idea. I have a better chance of finding a single specific bolt in an IKEA store. Have a great rest of the week and let’s cross our fingers and hope for at least some semblance of team sports (not including soccer) returning soon.

Hey it’s that time of the year again! Week 3 College Football TV Schedule

Posted on September 13, 2018 by guelphbossman

It’s hurricane season for the Southern and Southeastern United States. And the East Coast really. So like a good portion of the country. And man do they get hit hard with these storms. The amount of destruction is something most of us have never gone through (thankfully). And it happens every year (for the most part) and always seems to centre in September. At this point I am surprised Bermuda even exists with what hits them on a yearly basis.

Now this isn’t a weather blog. This is a college football blog (OK and an NFL blog as well). So how does Hurricane Florence affect the college football world? Plenty. First of all, we already have a few games being moved up so they can be played earlier and a bunch of games have been cancelled. With a couple of those games scheduled for ESPNU this Saturday this will definitely make things interesting. Which makes it worse for us since, in my experience, the specialty packs really struggle when this happens. It’s like they don’t know what to do anymore because one game has been replaced by a different game (chances are). It boggles my mind how this happens. Don’t even get me started on PVRing games. You might want to be cautioned on that this Saturday. I don’t do that anymore (unless I absolutely have to) so thankfully I won’t have to deal with that mess.

In the end, this is more about people’s safety than anything. College football is secondary and by a wide margin. Now let’s get to the schedule…or at least what I can piece together:

Thursday

		US	Canada
Boston College at Wake Forest	5:30 PM

The scheduling changes start tonight as BC-WF is moved up to 5:30, probably so the Eagles can get the fuck outta there before anything hits (although according to that weather map above, they should be playing in a monsoon by the start of the 4th quarter). TSN2 still showing this game. Good on them for keeping with it with the time change.

Friday

		US	Canada
Georgia State at Memphis	7:00 PM

Memphis is in the western part of Tennessee so they won’t be affected as much or as early as the places east of them by the hurricane. Memphis should win in a walk but wacky things have happened on Friday nights in the past.

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
#5 Oklahoma at Iowa State	Noon
Florida State at Syracuse	Noon
#21 Miami at Toledo	Noon
Hawaii at Army	Noon
Troy at Nebraska	Noon
Temple at Maryland	Noon
Ball State at Indiana	Noon
~~UCF at North Carolina~~	Noon
Georgia Southern at #2 Clemson	Noon
Murray State at Kentucky	Noon
UTEP at Tennessee	Noon
~~East Carolina at #13 Virginia Tech~~	12:30 PM

Here we get to see part of the domino effect of rescheduled and cancelled games. UCF-UNC and ECU-VT have been outright cancelled. No replacement has been named for the ACC Network although it wouldn’t shock me if they put Georgia Tech-Pitt on in this timeslot (since it’s already at 12:30 on a regional FOX Sports Network). Georgia Southern-Clemson was at 3:30 on ESPN2 and has been moved to Noon. Chances are it will end up on ESPNU and thus the specialty pack but nothing is confirmed yet. UPDATE #2: This game is confirmed for ESPNU. OU-ISU is probably the biggest game at Noon (especially if the Cyclones can repeat what they did last year in Norman).

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
Vanderbilt at #8 Notre Dame	2:30 PM
BYU at #6 Wisconsin	3:30 PM
#12 LSU at #7 Auburn	3:30 PM
Lehigh at Navy	3:30 PM
USF vs. Illinois (in Chicago)	3:30 PM
SMU at #19 Michigan	3:30 PM
Miami-OH at Minnesota	3:30 PM
#17 Boise State at #24 Oklahoma State	3:30 PM
~~#14 West Virginia at NC State~~	3:30 PM
Colorado State at Florida	4:00 PM
North Texas at Arkansas	4:00 PM
Houston at Texas Tech	4:30 PM

Possibly a PEW! PEW! PEW! game of the year as Boise State goes to Stillwater to face the Pokes. WVU-NCSU cancelled means ESPNU loses another game due to the hurricane. This is a trend. Tiger Bowl is also huge in this timeslot as the winner joins Mississippi State as the only (probably) real contenders to Alabama. Also, note the different start time for the VU-ND game. Notre Dame football on NBC used to start a lot of their games at 2:30 instead of 3:30. I kind of like it. Especially if it gets to be a competitive game at the end.

UPDATE: I haven’t even finished the post for this week and already have an update. Figured I’d put it here. Ohio vs. Virginia, which has been moved to Vanderbilt Stadium in Nashville, will now air at 4:30 on ESPN2 and, presumably, the specialty pack. Fingers crossed this all works out.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Arkansas State at Tulsa	7:00 PM
#1 Alabama at Ole Miss	7:00 PM
~~Middle Tennessee at #3 Georgia~~	7:15 PM
UMass at FIU	7:30 PM
Missouri at Purdue	7:30 PM
Northern Iowa at Iowa	7:30 PM
Akron at Northwestern	7:30 PM
Louisiana at Mississippi State	7:30 PM
~~Marshall at South Carolina~~	7:30 PM
Oregon State at Nevada	7:00 PM
ULM at Texas A&M	7:30 PM
#4 Ohio State vs. #15 TCU (in Arlington)	8:00 PM
#22 USC at Texas	8:00 PM

Huge primetime game at JerryWorld between the Buckeyes and the Horned Frogs. Final game of Urban Meyer’s way-too-short suspension and will be the biggest test by far in non-conference play. USC goes to Austin to face Texas (are they back yet?) and Bama playing Ole Miss in Oxford are the other two good games in this timeslot. ESPNU gets the clean sweep of cancellations as Marshall-SC has been kiboshed. MTSU-UGA has been moved to Noon and we won’t see it because it will be on ESPNEWS. I know it’s out of order but Oregon State-Nevada has been moved from ESPN3 to ESPNU to replace the Marshall-SC cancellation. Louisiana-Mississippi State has been moved up from the SEC Network to ESPN2. Doesn’t really matter to us since we would see it anyway on the specialty pack.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
#10 Washington at Utah	10:00 PM
#23 Arizona State at San Diego State	10:30 PM

Another of those Power Five team visiting a Group of Five team deals that happens like four or five times a season. The Sun Devils have been WAY better than I or anyone else thought they would be. If they lay an egg at the Murph (or whatever it’s called now) this Saturday then I don’t know what to think anymore. Huskies-Utes could be big in the fact that a Washington loss will make it VERY tough for the Pac-12 to get to the College Football Playoff.

Games to set your eyeballs on

Ohio State vs. TCU (in Arlington) (8:00, ABC) – To all the SEC homers out there, this is the game of the week. I am not sorry for saying that. This is a game that undoubtedly shapes the College Football Playoff whereas the other game may shape the SEC West. Maybe. Anyway, this is one of those neutral-site games that aren’t really netural-site games that I despise. I get it: it’s to sell more tickets. Smart. But to call it neutral-site is ridiculous.

LSU at Auburn (3:30, CBS) – Let’s be honest here: Brad Nessler has not called very many good games since moving to the SEC on CBS to replace Uncle Verne. I think he had two good games last season and that’s it. This should be a good one. Should be. I hope so for his sake since he is, arguably, the best announcer currently on the air today for college football.

Boise State at Oklahoma State (3:30, specialty pack) – The Pokes aren’t the Pokes of old but they still can put up a pile of points. And Boise State is Boise State but better this season. This could easily top 100 points but I would still be a bit shocked if the Cowboys were within two touchdowns of the Broncos at the end.

Oklahoma at Iowa State (Noon, ABC/TSN5) – Remember what happened last season? Of course you remember. Joel Lanning went all Joel Lanning and produced one of the most complete games we’ve ever seen and Kyle Kempt, a former walk-on, started his first game ever and threw for 300+ and 3 scores. It was lightning in a bottle for the Cyclones. Will that happen again? It would be fun to see and give a big boost off the hop to an average (and somewhat haphazard) college football Saturday.

Alabama at Ole Miss (7:00, specialty pack) – To be honest I could have stopped the list at four games. It really drops off after this. This is more of a curiosity game. Ole Miss allowed Southern Illinois to score 41 points on them last week. How many will the Fighting Sabans drop on them this Saturday? The Rebels may have to score like 80 just to have a chance to win.

Honourable mention: BYU at Wisconsin (3:30, ABC); Washington at Utah (10:00, specialty pack); Vanderbilt at Notre Dame (2:30, NBC).

Some gambling fun and games

Some of my original picks were games that no longer will be played. So many changes. Here we go with my (decent at best) gambling picks o’ the week:

Notre Dame over Vanderbilt

Boise State over Oklahoma State

Alabama over Ole Miss

Auburn over LSU

Wisconsin over BYU

Oklahoma over Iowa State

TCU over Ohio State (there’s your quasi-upset of the week)

Stanford over San Diego State

Washington over Utah

San Diego State over Arizona State (another upset perhaps?)

Texas over USC (ok maybe I need my head checked)

The specialty pack schedules were up. With all these changes, though, who knows how it will shake out. Should be interesting for sure. I am looking forward to it but also not looking forward to it (considered I had two updates already before this was even posted).

Hey the Thursday Night Football matchup is on FOX! Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, the broadcast team everyone loves, right? Baltimore travels to Cincinnati. I am sure many people will have HOT TAKES on how shitty FOX does at something they have done for years, but now on a different night. Because everyone cares about everyone’s opinion in 2018. Ugh. Anyway, enjoy the games everyone!

Most Important Games of the 2018 College Football Season – Part IV…..Horsemen (WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!)

Posted on June 20, 2018 by guelphbossman

If you don’t know who these guys are well….I guess that just means you never watched wrestling. That sounded like it was going to be really mean but ended up being very pedestrian. Anyway, the greatest overall stable probably of all-time (sorry NWO) had pieces that fit together almost perfectly. Almost. And they always had four members. Four Horsemen. Four Members. See? Wrestling isn’t dumb. Anyway, this fits here in two ways: a) this is the fourth, and final, installment of this series and b) each one of these weeks can fit a member (or that member’s standing) of the Horsemen. So it’s kind of a rating system. Kind of. OK I better move on here or I will confuse myself.

Final four weeks of the season. We have gone through this exercise before but we know what this last month is like. Three incredible. One shit. Here we go!

Week 10

This week is that third member of the Horsemen. Always important and still one of the best wrestlers around but not on the same level as the top two in terms of importance. So Week 10 is one of Ole Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Sid Vicious, Brian Pillman, Lex Luger, Barry Windham, etc.

Game of the Week: Penn State at Michigan (7:30, FOX) – For the first time in a long time, I don’t consider Bama-LSU as the game of the week. But it’s close. Call them 1A and 1B. This should be a HUGE Big Ten East tilt. YUGE even. And by this point we will know if we will be seeing years of Harbaughll to come or if there will be a funeral planned for the his khakis. This is one third of the massive primetime schedule as well. So PVR un-friendly. Which I don’t really have to worry about anymore (thank God).

Other Really Important Games: Alabama at LSU (8:00, CBS) – The yearly Bama-LSU primetime SEC on CBS game is upon us this week. I would say that they should spread the SEC wealth but other than perhaps TAMU-Auburn there is nothing else even remotely close to primetime worthy on the SEC schedule. And CBS only gets one of these a year so they have to make the most of it. I kind of hope LSU wins here so Ed Orgeron gets a big extension so people can be pissed off that he got a big extension. Ah, the Internet. Where everyone has an opinion/hot take.

Stanford at Washington (3:30, ABC) – Part whatever of the ongoing Pac-12 North battle for supremacy. And hey Chris Petersen. An afternoon timeslot which means an early afternoon local start. There you go. So stop pissing and moaning. I wonder if the Pac-12 will cannibalize itself again this season. It seems to be the only time we have realignment rumours is when a Power Five conference does horrendously bad. God forbid the SEC ever has a down year. The rumours would get to the point that the SEC would be a 30-team mega-conference with divisions like Major League Baseball (but with interleague play!).

Texas A&M at Auburn (Noon, TSN4) – Speaking of TAMU, I am wondering if I have them rated too highly in this exercise. I mean I know they know have Jimbo Fisher at the helm and that’s a really good thing for College Station but it does take time for a new coach (usually) to find his bearings and guide the team in his vision. Anyway, I assume with the SEC on CBS getting their primetime game this week that they would shy away from putting anything on against it on ESPN which is where the SEC usually lands in primetime. That is why it goes to the death spot at Noon. But hey at least it’s on TSN (I think).

Louisville at Clemson (8:00, ABC) – Very interested to see how the Fighting Petrinos bounce back from not having Lamar Jackson this season. I think they will still do quite well, like a normal 8-9 win season that they are used to at (shitty) Papa John’s Stadium. Seriously have you ever tried Papa John’s pizza? Overpriced and mediocre at best. I would say it’s not quality pizza at all. By the way this is somehow the worst of the three primetime matchups this week. So saddle up!

Notre Dame at Northwestern (3:30, specialty pack) – First appearance of the specialty pack this week. You know it’s a big week when the specialty pack takes a bit of a back seat to what is on, let’s call it, regular cable. I hope I haven’t overrated both of these teams but Notre Dame is a serious NY6 contender and Northwestern has to be considered a Big Ten West contender. Watch them both come into this game under .500.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Florida State at NC State (Noon, specialty pack) – Underrated? Probably will be even though these two rabid fanbases would say otherwise. By this point, yes, both the Seminoles and Wolfpack probably won’t be sneaking up on anyone. But unless one of these teams is undefeated (or perhaps with one loss), very few will be talking about this game (other than the fanbases I mentioned above). Also, we know what NC State tends to do to Florida State (give them fits) so this should be good.

Best Group of Five Game: Temple at UCF (Thursday, 8:00, TSN2) – UCF is basically starting to own this spot. I was going to put the Boise State game here but they play BYU and I am not so sure BYU will be quite back to normal BYU standards yet. Whereas I know Temple at least will be pretty decent and UCF might just run the table again. See this is what these weekday night games are for: national exposure for Group of Five conferences. One is plenty. Putting on like four during the week is absurd (looking at you MACtion).

Worst Power Five Game: Minnesota at Illinois (3:30, BTN) – These are the times that I am fine with not having the Big Ten Network. Although really I still do want it because COLLEJ FOOTBAW!

Week 11

This is the week that is pretty much neck-and-neck with American Thanksgiving Footballgasm Week. It doesn’t have the pizazz of that week but is still considered super important and may become, in hindsight, more like the most important week of this season (although most seasons it is still a tad behind). It really is the 1B to Week 13’s 1A. Week 11 is Arn Anderson.

Game of the Week: Auburn at Georgia (3:30, CBS) – The UGA revenge game. Not that it really mattered. Auburn beat both Bama and the Dawgs last season and their reward was being beaten pretty well by the so-called “real National Champs” UCF. Gotta win em all (or at least only lose one). Unless it’s 2007. Anyway, there are a bunch of really good games this week so I kind of took a shot in the dark as to which one I would pick. Almost all the games in the next section could qualify for this spot.

Other Really Important Games: Ohio State at Michigan State (7:30, ABC/TSN1) – There is pretty much no way that ABC/ESPN will let this one go to FOX. They already lose PSU-OSU and Michigan-OSU. Losing a third tOSU game wouldn’t be good optics for Disney. Also, most people would put this at the very top of the list. As I said above, it’s a crapshoot as to what is the best game this week. Also, this will have a ton of competition in primetime so the ESPN suits better hope this turns out to be a good game. If it is then cue Michael Geiger pumpernickel down the sidelines after game-winning kick.

Mississippi State at Alabama (Noon, CBS) – Yes most of the reason this is here is because of Evil Saban and the Fighting Crimson Tide Juggernaut Express. However, I expect Joe Moorhead to have his Bulldogs scoring a lot more points than usual. No, not Big XII levels of scoring but still a good amount. I do wonder if this game will end up here because CBS usually has the fourth pick when they have a Noon game so ESPN would get to pick two games after CBS picks their SEC on CBS afternoon game. For now I say yes since there are a few other decent SEC games this week that ESPN might bite on.

Wisconsin at Penn State (8:00, FOX) – This (I believe) will be the game that FOX gets that they will put in primetime. And it is the biggest stumbling block (along with their game in Ann Arbor a month earlier) for the Badgers towards another undefeated regular season. Not saying they will win all their other games but they will certainly be favoured. Gary Andersen has to hate seeing this. Still have no idea why he left but Paul Chryst is sure happy he did!

Florida State at Notre Dame (7:30, NBC) – Not quite Catholics vs. Convicts but FSU and Touchdown Jesus did have one of the 243 Games of the Century back in 1993. Bobby Bowden (who still may not realize that one field goal was wide right) and Lou Holtz (who thankfully no longer works the highlights desk at ESPN) in classic games with guys who did almost nothing in the NFL but were GODS on campus I’m sure. This is where this whole Notre Dame-ACC quasi-marriage thing works. Where it doesn’t work (as well) is when the Irish have to play a team having a horrible season.

Oklahoma State at Oklahoma (4:00, FOX) – BEDLAM! This falls to the #5 spot for the sheer fact that I don’t think Oklahoma State will be as good as it has been in the past few years. Saying that, this game ends up being somewhat like the Red River Shootout: it has goofy results that really have nothing to do with how the two teams were doing coming into it. I also have TCU-West Virginia starting the FOX tripleheader this day so if that ends up being the case then that is a mighty fine trio of games for the network that everyone trashes.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: South Carolina at Florida (Noon, specialty pack) – Two teams who will most likely be better than they were last season? Sign me up! Also, because of all the decent games on even at Noon, this might be pushed to the SEC Network. I mean it doesn’t really matter to us here but still…that shows what kind of week we are looking at.

Best Group of Five Game: Fresno State at Boise State (Friday, 10:15, specialty pack) – Rematch of last year’s Mountain West Championship and the last game of the Mountain West regular season. I know the MWC didn’t plan that out but it didn’t look good that’s for sure. Anyway, the Mountain West is so unbelievably top-heavy it’s ridiculous. Beyond these two teams and San Diego State are there any teams that have even a snowball’s chance of the New Year’s Six? Most of them will be in a battle just to go bowling. It feels like a lot of Group of Five conferences are like this but the Mountain West could be the worst with Conference USA not far behind.

Worst Power Five Game: Kansas at Kansas State (Noon, specialty pack) – Yes, this is the worst game of the week. And it involves Kansas State. So yeah this is a good week to be a college football fan.

Week 12

This is the week I loathe….well as much as I can loathe a college football week (which isn’t very much really). It’s SEC Sleepwalk Week (or whatever the fuck ESPN is calling it). Many SEC teams like to schedule cupcakes the week before Footballgasm (also known as American Thanksgiving). Don’t get me wrong, a few other Power Five teams to do and it annoys me; however the SEC has made somewhat of a tradition of this. I have always been of the opinion that games against FCS schools should be in September and October (and in August if the season goes that early). The games against G5 teams are not as big a deal really. Anyway, this means that Week 12 is usually the crappiest of college football weeks. For this reason, Week 12 is Paul Roma.

Game of the Week: Miami at Virginia Tech (Noon, TSN2) – See what I mean? This would be no higher than #3 at best in any other week of the season. It’s the kind of week where if I had to miss watching games live and had to resort to going old school and using the PVR to record as many games as possible and making that very same PVR work its ass off all Saturday and well into Sunday morning it wouldn’t be a problem. Anyway, yes this is the best game but a pretty high margin. Sad.

Other Really Important Games: Duke at Clemson (Noon….we may not get this at all) – This has gone south pretty quickly. Hopefully Duke is actually a decent football team this season or this being the #2 game of the week is pretty bad for college football in general. And I say that we may not get this game at all because at this point I actually have it on the FOX Sports Regional channel that we sometimes get games from. So it’s a crapshoot as to if this will happen or not.

USC at UCLA (8:00, ABC/TSN3) – This could end up being the GOTW if Chip Kelly gets the Bruins ship righted quickly. I’m not totally counting on that and who knows with USC (although you can almost be assured of at least 9 wins from the Trojans). This will probably end up on ABC more so because the Pac-12 doesn’t exactly get many games in this timeslot on ABC during the season and because other than Miami-VT there isn’t another game that screams out ABC in Primetime. Obviously that can change if some teams are much better than predicted.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Wisconsin at Purdue (3:30, ABC) – Yes only three games in the first two sections. Yikes. This could be good if Purdue exceeds their performance from last season. This could be a potentially massive speed bump for Wisconsin who seems to be a big favourite for the Big Ten West title yet again. A loss here could derail that chance and will definitely derail their College Football Playoff hopes.

Best Group of Five Game: San Diego State at Fresno State (10:30, CBS Sports Network) – This is essentially your Mountain West West Division championship right here. Honestly, no other team is close to these two. Not saying we won’t see a surprise, kind of like what Fresno State did last season. But I honestly don’t see any team being at least three wins better than what most are predicting. Going to be honest here: CBS Sports Network has a pretty decent schedule this season. Having a quadrupleheader almost every week doesn’t hurt.

Worst Power Five Game: Iowa at Illinois (Noon, Big Ten Network) – There are a lot to choose from here. And it’s not that this is ridiculously bad. Iowa should be a pretty good team this season. Illinois is trash and Lovie Smith is, unfortunately, not long for that head coaching job. There are a lot of games like this where you have one decent team and one not-so-decent team. Or two mediocre teams. It’s a week littering with games that casual fans, for the most part, wouldn’t tune into. So we know what will probably happen. We’re going to have like eight really close games with some fantastic finishes and it will be the most exhausting, yet smile-inducing, week of the season. I’m fine with that.

Week 13

The ultimate. The footballgasm. The week most college football fans look forward to. It’s American Thanksgiving Week(end). And it is oh so glorious. I love this time so much that I usually get Black Friday off just to watch college football. Yes, I realize I am completely insane. And I don’t care! So for obvious reasons, Week 13 is “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Game of the Week: Auburn at Alabama (3:30, CBS) – Again, CBS will not make the mistake of not having the Iron Bowl. Boy did they ever pay for that. Thanks a bunch Mississippi State and Ole Miss. Anyway, this could be considered the Game of the Year and is almost always a massive game, not only in the SEC West or SEC, but for the New Year’s Six and College Football Playoff. Last year’s game was no exception. Depending on how these teams are doing (and how Michigan and tOSU are doing) this might move to the second most important game of the week. A very important note here: there is a real possibility this game could be moved to Black Friday. Sweet fucking Jesus.

Other Really Important Games: Michigan at Ohio State (Noon, FOX) – The other potential Game of the Week/Year. If Jimmy Insane-o can get the Wolverines to play some damn good ball coming into this one, FOX might outhype the college football hype machine known as ESPN College Gameday. OK maybe that’s going a bit too far but it wouldn’t surprise me to see them do a true pre-game show on the main network to get things going for this one. Expect peak GUS JOHNSON with this one.

Notre Dame at USC (8:00, ABC/TSN1) – This is always the week where TSN goes nuts with college football. CFL is over and we haven’t quite got to those weird Saturday NFL games yet. From what I can see from the TSN schedule for this season there will be 12 games from Thursday night through Saturday night. A huge plus to the non-specialty pack people out there. And as someone with the specialty pack I don’t really care to be honest because there are some weeks where it is absolutely imperative to have it. Anyway, this game is probably at least a New Year’s Six quasi-play-in-game. Maybe they should play it in Dayton.

South Carolina at Clemson (3:45, TSN3) – The final regular season week usually has a bunch of rivalry games and some of these are non-conference affairs. It sometimes plays a tiny bit of havoc with the schedules since CBS only has SEC games on at 3:30 and if a lot of the SEC teams are on the road, we may be stuck with a hot Tennessee-Vandy game in the primetime ESPN slot on Saturday. I mean this won’t happen but we have been close before to this and have also been close to super games being put on the SEC Network or BTN. Crazy. Anyway, this should be a good one and might be Clemson’s final hurdle before the ACC Championship and potential CFP spot.

Mississippi State at Ole Miss (Thursday, 7:30, TSN2) – Last year’s Egg Bowl was equal parts somewhat pathetic and very horrific. Can’t forget what happened to poor Nick Fitzgerald in this one. The game was delayed for like 15 minutes just to get him off the field (or at least it felt that way). Hopefully we don’t get a repeat of that. I know Ole Miss isn’t going bowling but should be better than last year now that possible-bowling-professional-turned-college-football-coach Matt Luke has discarded the interim tag. And the Bulldogs could be really fun offensively with Joe Moorhead at the helm. Plus it’s either this or the Thursday Night NFL game. So yeah, I’ll choose this.

LSU at Texas A&M (Noon, TSN2) – See? I had to put either this or GT-UGA on the SEC Network. Luckily I am sure TSN will pick this game up since there are so many games they will have, even an SEC Network game looks good. This could be Ed Orgeron’s last (regular season) stand so let’s drink it all in. Watch LSU win, the players put Orgeron on their shoulders and walk off the field, and the AD gives Cajun Boy a six-year extension. Some people would lose their damn minds.

Oklahoma State at TCU (3:30, TSN2) – Could be a Big XII Championship play-in game. Pair it with ND-USC you got a great First Four on a Tuesday night on truTV. Now the biggest challenge: find out what truTV even is. Anyway, this is our pew-pew game of the week, even more so than Oklahoma-West Virginia.

Washington at Washington State (Friday, 8:00, FOX) – The Apple Cup is almost always a joy to watch. And now that it will be on Black Friday it will be a nice cap to the appetizer for Footballgasm Weekend. I’m sure Mike Leach will be doing something completely nuts at this point and Chris Petersen won’t complain about kickoff time. Good stuff! Also, if Wazzu does win this, it may clinch another year of the Pac-12 being terrible with no teams going to the College Football Playoff. OK that’s not quite true: the Pac-12 is good. They just have so many upper-tier teams (not elite-tier) that they cannibalize themselves and no one comes out alive.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Wake Forest at Duke (7:00, specialty pack) – Among all the good games this week, this one will fly so under-the-radar it will be considered a submarine. But make no mistake about it; this should be a good matchup. And there’s the possibility one (or both) of these teams will be playing for their bowl lives. That always ratchets up the excitement at this time of the season.

Best Group of Five Game: UCF at USF (Friday, 3:30, ABC) – A rematch of what was the (regular season) Game of the Year. Not just in the Group of Five. But overall. This was an unreal game and if you watched it you were glued to it. Couldn’t take your eyes off it because you wanted to see what happened next. Which is something for someone like me who likes to college-football-channel-surf like I have severe ADHD. This will probably be the best Group of Five game of the week again unless fellow conference foes Houston and Memphis steal their thunder earlier on Black Friday.

Worst Power Five Game: Colorado at California (4:30, Pac-12 Network) – I was tempted to put Tennessee-Vanderbilt here but I will be able to see that one whereas Colorado-Cal I can’t see without a subscription to the (sub-par) Pac-12 Network. So to make myself feel better about this spot (and the whole week in general), I made my choice. And yes, very little can dampen my spirits about this week of college football.

Weeks 14 and 15

Shouldn’t probably rate these to be honest. It’s all conference championship games. And then Army-Navy in Week 15. Very important games for sure and really it’s the bow that ties the season together. The glue, if you will. So let’s say the last two weeks are J.J. Dillon.

Not going to do parse these games out since I don’t know who will be in them. It is a new world now with all conferences enjoying the payouts of conference title games despite the fact some of these conference title games are underwhelming and may not bring in the audience that networks hope for. Nonetheless, it really does put all conferences on an even playing field with regards to the 13th game argument. Which means expect more Alabama in 2017 situations in the future since conference championship games will be more likely to knock a team out of the CFP than put them in it.

Army-Navy is always huge. People who say otherwise are, well, I don’t know. I think they’re just barking up the wrong tree if they think it’s not special. And I still hope that one day Navy comes in undefeated, after winning the American Conference championship, with an absolute shit-ton on the line. Think of the ratings. Or even Army. Hell, Army would have more on the line because a loss if they came in undefeated would give them absolutely no shot at the New Year’s Six. Maybe this will be the year. Probably not, but we can always hope.

I have finally completed this monumental task. OK maybe not so much monumental but long. Very long. And if you got this far, then congratulations! You are almost as crazy about college football as I am. Which is pretty damn crazy.

Next up is the network specific posts and this year I will actually be able to do a somewhat accurate post for TSN. How about that? I mean I will still end up being relatively wrong the farther into the year we get but all I can do is try my best. It also means we are getting that much closer to college football season officially starting. 66 days away!

Anyway, all of you have a great rest of the week!

What an unbelievable Saturday…and Friday…and Thursday night – Week 13 College Football Recap

Posted on November 27, 2017 by guelphbossman

So I have decided to do this recap differently as well, using my scheduling post to go through the week that was. And what a week it was in college football.

So much happened and I am exhausted just thinking about it. Smiling, but exhausted. A lot of football to watch and I was glad to do it. I will remember this week in a few months where this is no college football and none on the horizon. Dark times, my friends. Here we go!

This recap will consist of the scores alongside what the broadcast information was. We shall see if this ends up being easier than the normal recap I do. The answer, I am sure, is no but I’m going to give it a shot anyway.

Thursday

Ole Miss 31 Mississippi State 28

7:30 PM

Mississippi State had an outside shot at a New Year’s Six bowl game. This loss sealed their fate. The one thing everyone will be talking about with this Egg Bowl is Nick Fitzgerald’s injury. It was gruesome and tough to watch. If you haven’t seen it, let’s just say it’s an ankle injury and leave it at that. He will be back next season so at least it wasn’t a career-ender. But still, tough on that kid for this to happen. And on top of that, Dan Mullen coached his last game in Starkville as Florida hired him as their new head coach. Rough week for the Bulldogs.

Friday

Toledo 37 Western Michigan 10

11:30 AM

Toledo dominated WMU and if it wasn’t for an upset at the hands of Ohio they may have been in the New Year’s Six mix. Instead they will head to Detroit for the MAC Championship for the first time in over a decade. That seems shocking to me considering how good the Rockets have been the past decade.

Pittsburgh 24 Miami 14

Noon

Is this 2007? Pittsburgh did the same thing to a #2 team back then by foiling West Virginia’s national championship hopes. They may have hampered the Canes’ hopes with this win but The U can still get in to the College Football Playoff with a win in the ACC Championship on Saturday. One of the best parts of this was Pat Narduzzi at halftime basically saying this would happen. Gutsy. Anyway, this may have usurped Syracuse’s upset of Clemson as Upset of the Year.

Central Michigan 31 Northern Illinois 24

Noon

With Toledo blowing WMU out this game became not important at all to NIU. And then the Chippewas beat the Huskies anyway.

Houston 24 Navy 14

Noon

Nothing important here although I am seriously wondering if Navy goes to the Army-Navy game as an underdog.

Missouri 48 Arkansas 45

2:30 PM

Bret Bielema was fired on the field after the game. That’s insane. And classless. The Razorbacks are in disarray and I don’t know of a prominent coach will go there now considering what just happened. I am guessing Bielema will take a one-year break from coaching to head to the booth.

UCF 49 USF 42

3:30 PM

Possibly the best Group of Five game ever. This game was bonkers. So much scoring, especially late in the game. Have to give the Bulls credit, they kept it close. UCF might be the best G-5 team of the CFP era but they still have a tough AAC Championship against Memphis coming up.

San Diego State 35 New Mexico 10

3:30 PM

Not important although surprising how far New Mexico fell in one season.

FIU 41 Western Kentucky 17

7:00 PM

FIU has been surprisingly good this season. In all the Lane Kiffin hoopla, people forgot that Butch Davis came to Florida International and has turned the program around quickly as well.

Virginia Tech 10 Virginia 0

8:00 PM

This was not a good game. Possibly the only good thing about it was it was done in about three hours.

Texas Tech 27 Texas 23

8:00 PM

This game was significantly longer than the VT-UVA game that was on at the same time. The Red Raiders pulled it out at the end to become bowl-eligible and crush the spirits of many 5-7 teams.

Saturday Early

Memphis 70 East Carolina 13

Noon

Good god. Memphis-UCF is going to be fun next week. Whatever you do, take the over.

Georgia 38 Georgia Tech 7

Noon

Georgia proved why they are still possibly deserving of a CFP spot. Or Georgia Tech proved why they should stay home for bowl season. Probably a bit of both.

SMU 41 Tulane 38

Noon

If you saw the end of this game, it would have infuriated you. Temple was on the SMU 2 with a few seconds left. For some unknown reason they called a run play, and it looked like the QB crossed the plane of the goal line for a touchdown with no time left. This would have sent Tulane to a bowl game. The referee called the runner down just outside the goal line. Replay couldn’t see the obvious that he had to have crossed the goal line with the ball. In the end, the Green Wave will be home for the holidays because of a completely botched call. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for replay and getting calls right. But when the officials AND the replay officials both fuck things up then we have a serious problem.

Florida State 38 Florida 22

Noon

Florida State won this easily. Both teams are god-awful. Now let’s hope Florida State has to go to Shreveport since there are other ACC teams that deserve to go to better locales because they had better seasons.

Purdue 31 Indiana 24

Noon

Can’t call them Purdon’t anymore! Purdue has had quite the bounceback season under Jeff Brohm who I am sure will be courted by some of the football powers in college football. Feels weird to put Purdue in my bowl projections just so you know.

Ohio State 31 Michigan 20

Noon

FOX had to be happy that almost no other game was relatively close (and the two that were were games of lesser importance overall). tOSU keeps on trucking with this win and now they could legitimately be one win away from the College Football Playoff which seems absurd for a team that allowed Iowa to score 55 points on them. It’s not 2007. It’s not 1990. But it is this decade’s crazy college football year for sure.

Louisville 44 Kentucky 17

Noon

This was revenge for last season. Pure and simple.

Boston College 42 Syracuse 14

12:30 PM

Syracuse’s late-season collapse is one of the more confusing aspects of a season full of confusion and chaos. How Dino Babers’ squad went from what was at the time the upset of the year (and may still be labelled as such by some) over Clemson to being an ACC also-ran in a matter of a a little over a month is mind-boggling. Babers is probably squarely on the hot seat now for next season.

Saturday Afternoon

Auburn 26 Alabama 14

3:30 PM

This game pretty much lived up to all the hype. Auburn is the real deal and Bama can be slayed. In the end this could mean that both teams make the College Football Playoff but for now let’s drink in the chaos, maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!

NC State 33 North Carolina 21

3:30 PM

I think I watched about 28 seconds of this game.

Wisconsin 31 Minnesota 0

3:30 PM

Here’s another game I watched very little of. It felt from about the halfway mark of the first quarter that there was no way Wisconsin was losing this. Now they are one win over Ohio State away from being in the College Football Playoff (like I said at the start of the season…kind of).

Fresno State 28 Boise State 17

3:30 PM

Fresno State’s win means the Mountain West has no shot at a New Year’s Six bowl. These same two teams meet again in Boise this Saturday. You know what, I can buy the arguments against conference championships. Here’s a prime example. It’s why Bedlam was moved a few weeks up; to avoid having a rematch in back-to-back weeks.

Oklahoma 59 West Virginia 31

3:30 PM

Man the Sooners put a hurtin’ on the Mountaineers. And what was all the horseshit with the captains carrying Baker Mayfield’s jersey to midfield for the coin toss. He didn’t fucking die. He wasn’t paralyzed from a hit. He wasn’t in an accident. He wasn’t wrongly convicted of a crime. He got suspended for grabbing his junk and telling the Kansas sideline to fuck off. And the suspension lasted…two plays. What a joke. He will still win the Heisman and we will all forget about this in a few weeks.

Kansas State 20 Iowa State 19

3:30 PM

What a fantastic finish here. Nothing really to play for but KSU marching down the field (which is kind of unlike them) and scoring on the final play of the game was awesome to watch and part of what makes college football so great.

Penn State 66 Maryland 3

3:30 PM

I’m not sad I don’t have BTN. Honestly.

Michigan State 40 Rutgers 7

4:00 PM

So Rutgers on FOX eh? How did that work out? Can we just reform the Big East already?

Vanderbilt 42 Tennessee 24

4:00 PM

The Sadness Bowl. Remember folks, we have seen history this season. Arguably the worst Tennessee team ever. And they aren’t even the Champions of Life anymore. What a shitshow.

Saturday Primetime & Late Night

Oregon 69 Oregon State 10

7:00 PM

The Ducks scored 69 points. Giggity.

Louisiana Tech 20 UTSA 6

7:30 PM

A surprisingly good game that was a close defensive battle. Watching a team battle for their bowl lives on the final regular season weekend is always great to watch. LaTech’s win pretty much put the nail in the 5-7 teams’ coffins for this season.

Clemson 34 South Carolina 10

7:30 PM

This wasn’t even close. I think many were kind of hoping for more chaos after what we had seen the previous 48 hours. It was not to be and Clemson should be #1 come Tuesday.

LSU 45 Texas A&M 21

7:30 PM

Kevin Sumlin’s last game at Texas A&M wasn’t a good one. And can you call what Ed Orgeron has done in Baton Rouge this year a quiet 9-3? You almost have to. He has proven that he was probably the right guy for the job all along.

Stanford 38 Notre Dame 20

8:00 PM

Not quite the beatdown most people are calling this but it really wasn’t close. At all. Stanford pulled away and then heard about Washington pasting Washington State so now they get to go to the Pac-12 Championship. Could they get in to the New Year’s Six with a win? It’s not out of the realm of possibility.

Washington 41 Washington State 14

8:00 PM

What is Wazzu’s problem with Washington? They seem to almost always fall flat in the Apple Cup. And this was their chance to solidify a NY6 spot. Instead they will be in a lesser bowl and might see their coach leave to go elsewhere.

BYU 30 Hawaii 20

9:00 PM

I honestly didn’t watch much of this game. Both teams were worse than last year. BYU’s fall from at least being an above-average team is stunning really.

Air Force 38 Utah State 35

10:15 PM

This ended up being a close game. I will be honest…I went to bed just before 1:00 AM. I was actually footballed out (and battling a bit of an illness).

Bowl eligibility

The following teams clinched bowl eligibility this past weekend:

Temple

Florida State (kind of…they are almost assured a win against ULM on Saturday so they might as well be included here)

Duke

Texas Tech

Purdue

Middle Tennessee

Louisiana Tech

Buffalo

UCLA

Utah

And UL-Lafayette and New Mexico State can clinch this Saturday. Good lord. Well I guess my bowl projections past the CFP and NY6 are going to change a bit. Plus this basically eliminates any 5-7 team from playing in a bowl game. By my count, at least one 6-6 team will not be invited to the party. Again, I will reiterate my bowl plans and that this should happen starting next season. Just sayin’.

Coaching Carousel

Can you hear the circus music (in your head)? I know I can. The coaching carousel is always a bit wacky but this is bordering on absurd now.

It started with Chip Kelly being hired as coach at UCLA. We knew it would start a domino effect. We didn’t realize that the dominoes would be covered in gasoline and set on fire. Here’s what has happened since then (these are in no particular order):

Many Florida fans thought Kelly was going to Gainesville. When that didn’t happen they made an awesome hire but getting Dan Mullen to move over from Mississippi State. Now a huge opening at an SEC school that might get a great Group of Five coach.
Bret Bielema was fired basically on the field after the Hogs’ loss on Black Friday. Pathetic. You couldn’t do it the next day? It will be interesting to see who the new AD and head coach will be there because they have a major image cleanup to do.
Texas A&M, not surprisingly, shitcanned Kevin Sumlin. Other than the Manziel years he didn’t quite get to the spot where many Aggie faithful thought he’d be. But it looks like he may end up in Tempe because…
Arizona State fired Todd Graham. Why? Couldn’t be because of this year. They did well. The previous two not so much and it felt like he would had to have had a better shot at the Pac-12 South to keep his job for next season.
Matt Luke had the interim tag taken off at Ole Miss. Interesting. If he wins 8 or more games next season (which is entirely possible) this will be considered one of the best coaching moves of 2017.
Mike Riley was fired at Nebraska. Again, not surprising. Let’s get the Scott Frost takes going now!
Kliff Kingsbury was…NOT fired at Texas Tech. That win over Texas probably saved his job. Next year the leash will be much shorter. I think seven wins at least or he’s a goner.
Kansas also did not fire their head coach. Why? Who knows. I think it’s time to seriously consider bringing Mark Mangino back. Who cares if he’s a shitbag.
Ty Detmer was let go as offensive coordinator at BYU. Yeah because the offense was the only problem. Right.
David Bailiff was let go by Rice. Not a surprise. The Owls were awful this year and hadn’t been consistent in the past few years under Bailiff.
Joey Jones is gone at South Alabama. He couldn’t build off that bowl game appearance and has since been passed by almost every team in the Sun Belt save Coastal Carolina (who’s new) and Texas State.

So who’s going where now? Well let’s just say the hiring season started with a bang…if by bang you mean nuclear bomb explosion:

Tennessee hired Greg Schiano. Or tried to. People literally went fucking crazy in Knoxville. Hell, even the wrestler Kane (who may go by Mayor Kane soon enough) chimed in saying it probably wasn’t a good idea to hire ol’ Greg. Why? People said he knew more than he told when he was at Penn State about the goings-on of one Jerry Sandusky. Other people ripped on other issues that have happened with Schiano at the helm. You want to know the real reason? It’s because he was average, at best, as a head coach. Derek Dooley would be a better hire than this guy. If they need a defensive coordinator, by all means, give the guy a shot but not as a head coach. Some guys just aren’t meant to be the main man. So now Tennessee is back to the drawing board.

Potential coaches on the move and where they could go:

Mike Leach – A lot of people in Knoxville want Leach to coach the Volunteers. Whether he wants to go there is a different story.
Mike Norvell – This is the next big thing (along with Scott Frost) in college coaching. Tennessee would be a good fit but don’t be surprised if Mississippi State gets him now that their spot is open.
Scott Frost – He is almost a shoo-in to go to Nebraska.
Jeff Brohm – What he has done at Purdue has been spectacular. Whether he would be a fit in the SEC is another story. Arkansas might be the only fit here.
Kevin Sumlin – Looks like he is heading to Arizona State.
Lane Kiffin – Isn’t he going to be the coach of every team that needs a coach. Either him or…
Jon Gruden.

I am sure there are more possibilities but I don’t feel like listing them at this time. Tomorrow I will have my bowl projections up then it’s back to the normal college schedule on Thursday, NFL schedule on Friday bit. Enjoy your week everyone!

Are you ready for the FOOTBALLGASMMMMMMMMMMMMM – Week 13 College Football TV Schedule

Posted on November 22, 2017 by guelphbossman

After what has to be a disappointing weekend of college football, Footballgasm 2017 is upon us! So much college football and NFL football from Thursday until Monday night thanks to Americans celebrating their turkey day. I could say that we beat them to the punch by about six weeks but they have a holiday on a Thursday. And many people get the Friday off as well. So yeah I am a bit jealous of that.

Time for the college football schedule and I will do it more like the American Thanksgiving style I have used in past years. Not every game is important but every game gets its spotlight. Here we go! Brace yourselves! Remember that the first graphic is the American network and the second graphic (or set of graphics) is where we can see the game here in the Great White North.

Thursday

Ole Miss at #14 Mississippi State

7:30 PM

Ole Miss is just playing for pride here as they are not going bowling this year thanks to Hugh Freeze and his penchant for escorts. Mississippi State, on the other hand, still has a chance at a New Year’s Six bowl so this is huge for them. They are currently #14 and would need a bit of help so a big win here would be a good start.

UPDATE #6: This has been moved to TSN2.

Friday

Western Michigan at Toledo

11:30 AM

A Toledo win here clinches their spot in the MAC Championship and a date with Akron (who clinched the MAC East last night). A loss and they have to wait to see what Northern Illinois does in their game.

#2 Miami at Pittsburgh

Noon

The comparisons are going to come up so let’s just state them here. Many teams are hoping that in this game, playing the part of the 2007 West Virginia Mountaineers will be the 2017 Miami Hurricanes and playing the part of the 2007 Pitt Panthers will be the 2017 Pitt Panthers. Not quite the Backyard Brawl but man it would cause a shit-ton of chaos which I would be very fine with.

Northern Illinois at Central Michigan

Noon

This game only becomes important if Western Michigan can pull off the upset of Toledo a bit earlier in the day. A lot of scoreboard-watching will be happening in Mount Pleasant for sure.

Navy at Houston

Noon

At the start of the season, there were many that figured this would be a supremely important game for the New Year’s Six spot. Didn’t turn out that way. Both teams are bowl-eligible so this game is really not important. Let’s hope no one gets severely injured in this one. That’s all we can hope for.

Missouri at Arkansas

2:30 PM

This game will be overshadowed by the rumours of Bret Bielema’s demise in Fayetteville. He is almost guaranteed to be shitcanned so the rumour mill will be in full force in this one. The nice story of Missouri means nothing here because they are already bowl-eligible.

USF at #15 UCF

3:30 PM

The game of the day! The War on I-4 winner goes to the AAC Championship. A UCF win and they are one win away from going to the Peach Bowl (probably). A USF win and there will be a lot of intrigue when the College Football Playoff rankings come out on Tuesday. Memphis awaits the winner of this game in the AAC title tilt.

New Mexico at San Diego State

3:30 PM

This game really does mean nothing. SDSU going bowling, New Mexico not.

Western Kentucky at FIU

7:00 PM

Another game that means nothing since both teams are going bowling…unless there are two many bowl-eligible teams. Then this game would be somewhat important. Otherwise, nah.

#25 Virginia Tech at Virginia

8:00 PM

The Commonwealth Cup, for once, doesn’t mean a whole lot as both teams are heading to bowl games. However, this is the first instance of not really knowing where this game will head. It shows up on the specialty pack for Bell but not for Rogers. TSN1 and TSN3 have the game on their schedule as well so my guess is it will end up here, especially since this is the week where people who don’t get the specialty pack finally get their fill of college football.

UPDATE #1: Might as well start numbering them now. This game has been moved from TSN1 and TSN3 to TSN2. Why? So they can show replays of the CFL Division Finals. Yeah.

Texas Tech at Texas

8:00 PM

Big game here for the Red Raiders as a win gets them to bowl-eligibility. Tom Herman’s Longhorns would like nothing more than to send Kute Kliff Kingsbury and his squad home for the holidays.

Saturday Early

East Carolina at #20 Memphis

Noon

Memphis still has a shot at the New Year’s Six spot. They have to take care of business here first against a lowly Pirates team who is fully regretting letting Ruffin McNeill go a couple seasons ago.

#7 Georgia at Georgia Tech

Noon

Georgia Tech needs a monster upset here to go bowling. For Georgia, the stakes are higher. A win probably guarantees a New Year’s Six bowl at the very least. It also gives them an outside shot at the CFP if things shake out their way (let’s just say they will be huge Auburn fans later in the day).

Tulane at SMU

Noon

Tulane has done way better than most thought they would. Willie Fritz is spinning his genius again. A win here completes a great season as the Green Wave would go bowling. The Mustangs are already going bowling and are a great story in their own right with Chad Morris bringing this team back in a short time to bowl contention.

Florida State at Florida

Noon

First off, Bell has this on the specialty pack and TSN3. My guess is it ends up on TSN3 (kind of like the VT-UVA game the previous night). Florida is playing solely for pride as they are 4-6. FSU is also 4-6 but rescheduled the ULM game that had been cancelled earlier in the year due to the hurricane. This game happens during Conference Championship Week. This means that if the Noles win here they will probably be bowl-eligible. What a joke. I hope the Gators win by 40.

Indiana at Purdue

Noon

The winner goes bowling. Loser is home for the holidays. So this is actually pretty huge. Now this is a bit of an issue since it appears on the specialty pack. However, TSN2 has a game but the teams are TBA. My gut says its IU-PU but it could be one of the other games being already shown on a TSN network. For now, let’s say it will be on the specialty pack but stay tuned for updates.

UPDATE #3: With UL-UK being moved to TSN2 (for now), this game is on the specialty pack only.

#9 Ohio State at Michigan

Noon

This is an interesting one as so many scenarios affecting the CFP and NY6 come out of this game. A Michigan win hurts tOSU’s NY6 chances and completely destroys their CFP chances. It also hurts Wisconsin. A Buckeye win keeps them with slim hopes for the College Football Playoff and almost guarantees a New Year’s Six spot. It also helps Wisconsin. So much riding on this game. It’s also the first year FOX has broadcast The Game. So many changes in college football broadcasting this season. Let’s hope we get caught up at some point and get FOX Sports One but that’s a different argument for a different time.

Louisville at Kentucky

Noon

Louisville is going bowling. Kentucky is going bowling. It’s a rivalry game so at least there’s that. Other than that, there are many other options in this timeslot.

UPDATE #2: This game has been added on TSN2 instead of Indiana-Purdue. It is still showing on specialty pack guides as well. This should change by late tomorrow.

UPDATE #7: Yep, this game has gone to TSN2. However, Duke-Wake Forest has been added to the specialty pack.

Boston College at Syracuse

12:30 PM

This game also means nothing since BC is going to a bowl game and Syracuse basically collapsed after the upset of the year over Clemson.

Saturday Afternoon

#1 Alabama at #6 Auburn

3:30 PM

The game of the day and the one that could turn the College Football Playoff and New Year’s Six upside down. We all remember what happened last time these two teams met as Top 10 teams in the Iron Bowl. Auburn is hoping for a repeat of that performance. The winner here goes to the SEC Championship against Georgia. A Bama win means Auburn is eliminated from CFP contention and UGA has a slim chance (with a win over GT). An Auburn win and then who knows what happens. The SEC won’t be eliminated in this case but we could see a #3 or even #4 seed be an SEC team which would be odd to see.

North Carolina at NC State

3:30 PM

Not important at all although you have to wonder about Larry Fedora’s future after the Tar Heels bottomed out this season.

#5 Wisconsin at Minnesota

3:30 PM

The Badgers need to win here. And they almost need to win in a blowout as their strength-of-schedule will hurt them without some huge wins. They still have the Big Ten Championship and a big win there will help as well. Minnesota would need the massive upset win to go bowling this year, not what P.J. Fleck expected in his first year with the Gophers.

#23 Boise State at Fresno State

3:30 PM

And here is an argument against conference championships. This game is the first in a series of two since these two teams meet again next weekend in the Mountain West Championship. The only thing with this game is Boise needs a win to keep their New Year’s Six hopes alive.

West Virginia at #4 Oklahoma

3:30 PM

The Big XII’s CFP hopes rest on Oklahoma’s shoulders so a win here is desperately needed by the Sooners.

Iowa State at Kansas State

3:30 PM

Both teams are going bowling so no issues there. However, ISU is the only team that could leap past TCU and go to the Big XII Championship. We will know whether they have a chance at all since TCU plays Baylor the day before. A TCU win and this game is essentially meaningless.

#10 Penn State at Maryland

3:30 PM

Thanks to PSU’s collapse against Ohio State, this game means nothing. It’s probably also the reason this game is on the Big Ten Network.

#16 Michigan State at Rutgers

4:00 PM

This game really doesn’t mean anything. It just feels weird to see Rutgers on FOX.

Vanderbilt at Tennessee

4:00 PM

Both teams are home for the holidays. This could be the most meaningless game in this rivalry in a very long time. Sad times in the state of Tennessee.

Saturday Primetime & Late Night

Oregon State at Oregon

7:00 PM

Oregon is going bowling and Oregon State is definitely not. This game, as of right now, is showing up on the specialty pack guides AND TSN2. My guess, again, is that TSN will get the game.

UPDATE #4: This game has been moved to the specialty pack.

UTSA at Louisiana Tech

7:30 PM

The Bulldogs need a win to go bowling here. This game isn’t showing on the Bell specialty pack yet but is on the Super Sports Pack. That issue should sort itself out in the next 24 hours.

#3 Clemson at #24 South Carolina

7:30 PM

One of the big games of the night as Clemson has to be on upset alert here. Another game that could really cause chaos for The Committee. The Tigers are already locked into the ACC Championship but a loss here affects both them and Miami. Big stakes here.

Texas A&M at #18 LSU

7:30 PM

The biggest issue here? Kevin Sumlin’s future in College Station. It is rumoured that he will be fired after this game (or the next morning). To be honest, even if he isn’t fired right after this game, his time is over as Aggies head coach. I can almost guarantee that he won’t be the head coach of Texas A&M for the 2018 season.

#8 Notre Dame at #21 Stanford

8:00 PM

Big game here for Notre Dame and for Stanford. Different stakes though. Stanford as no shot at the College Football Playoff but could move up towards a New Year’s Six spot with a big win here. Their Pac-12 fate is not in their own hands as their conference schedule is done and they have to watch what happens in the Apple Cup. As for the Irish, they need a big win here and a lot of chaos in front of them. A win basically locks them into a NY6 spot at the very least. If enough happens in front of them, they could sneak into the #4 spot and play in the CFP semi-finals.

UPDATE #5: This game has been moved from TSN4 to TSN1. The Raptors game has been moved to TSN4 which necessitated this move. Twitter user @CamPeverley notified me of the TSN changes. Thanks go out to him.

#13 Washington State at #17 Washington

8:00 PM

Biggest Apple Cup ever? Close. It doesn’t mean much to the Huskies except for pride…and the fact if they win then Wazzu is knocked out of the Pac-12 Championship. The Cougs control their fate. Win and go to the Pac-12 Championship to face USC. Lose and they won’t even get a New Year’s Six spot. It’s that simple.

BYU at Hawaii

9:00 PM

This happens pretty much every year. CBS Sports Network shows college basketball after their afternoon game and then goes to this odd timeslot for the final college football game of the day on the network. And it’s always a game that has no stakes. No difference here. Both teams were disappointing this year with BYU being VERY disappointing.

Utah State at Air Force

10:15 PM

Utah State will play in a bowl game this year. Air Force will not. The crazy weekend of college football ends with a whimper.

Some gambling fun and games

I combined the primetime and late night portions of the schedule here because really, the late night schedule is the calming down after a crazy two days. I eliminated the games of the week since there are a bunch of them and a bunch of secondary ones. Only a handful of games have no stakes other than pride (which sometimes can make for the best games). After a week of relatively easy picks, let’s start this week’s picks which should be a lot more difficult. I will provide way more picks this week than normal, just an FYI.

Mississippi State over Ole Miss

Toledo over Western Michigan

Miami over Pittsburgh

Central Michigan over Northern Illinois

UCF over USF

Virginia Tech over Virginia

Texas over Texas Tech

Memphis over East Carolina

Georgia over Georgia Tech

Tulane over SMU

Florida over Florida State

Indiana over Purdue

Michigan over Ohio State (yes I am calling for the big upset)

Alabama over Auburn (although it will be close)

Wisconsin over Minnesota

Boise State over Fresno State

Oklahoma over West Virginia

Kansas State over Iowa State

Louisiana Tech over UTSA

Clemson over South Carolina

Stanford over Notre Dame

Washington over Washington State

This is gonna be fun. I can feel it. Only once in the past few years has this final weekend of the regular season (for most conferences) disappointed in general. I can’t see this being the case this year.

I figured i would do this post today and the NFL one, in its entirety, tomorrow. I will be doing updates over the next few days for the college football schedule as there are sure to be a few. I am also live-tweeting most of Friday and pretty much all of Saturday. Enjoy the games everyone!

Faux Outrage over the first CFP Rankings and your STACKED Week 10 College Football TV Schedule

Posted on November 2, 2017 by guelphbossman

It’s here! We know it’s the start of the best time of the year if you are a football fan. From late October through the end of November there are only a few non-football days. We are in the midst of 27 in a row right now. Then there’s a one-day reprieve. Then American Thanksgiving’s five-day FOOTBALLGASM! Yeah it’s awesome.

But this also means it’s time for overreaction season. The first College Football Playoff Rankings came out Tuesday evening and boy were there reactions to it. How could Ohio State be so low? How could Clemson be so high? Bama should be first gul darn it! Wisconsin and Miami ain’t gettin no love! You know what? Who gives a shit. These rankings, like the preseason AP Poll mean almost nothing. Not completely nothing but pretty close to it. I still think October is too early for these rankings. Maybe the first Tuesday in November works. Then at least 75% of the season is in the books and we can make pretty good assumptions. A week can make all the difference. Look at all the teams that have fallen from the Top 5 this season so far. So everyone should calm down. Next week when the rankings come out and somehow Alabama is back to #1 then you can start getting pissed off. Until then, have a beer and cool down.

Now it’s on to an absolutely STACKED Saturday in college football. Good lord this gun be fun! I had this as the third best college football week of the season and it looks to be a spot on prediction (behind November 11th and American Thanksgiving’s Football-kakke). Enough slapping my back, it’s Sked Time!

Thursday

		US	Canada
Ball State at Eastern Michigan	6:00 PM
Northern Illinois at Toledo	6:00 PM
Navy at Temple	8:00 PM
Idaho at Troy	9:15 PM

OK so we start low and slow with the schedule this week. Nothing huge of note although some interesting early MACtion start times. And the final two games could be very interesting ones as well with all four teams not quite being up to the preseason snuff that people expected of them. This could also likely be Idaho’s last national FBS broadcast ever since they move to FCS next season. So a tiny bit of college football history there.

Friday

		US	Canada
Marshall at Florida Atlantic	6:00 PM
#23 Memphis at Tulsa	8:00 PM

Is the Memphis-Tulsa game important? Only if UCF ends up blowing a gasket between now and the conference championship. Then these are the types of games that could be very important. Look for the Tigers to shoot for a 70-burger in this one.

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
East Carolina at Houston	Noon
#9 Wisconsin at Indiana	Noon
Illinois at Purdue	Noon
#14 Auburn at Texas A&M	Noon
Florida at Missouri	Noon
Western Kentucky at Vanderbilt	Noon
UMass at #16 Mississippi State	Noon
#7 Penn State at #24 Michigan State	Noon
Syracuse at Florida State	12:30 PM

And it starts out fast and furious. PSU-MSU in the noon slot is a pretty big deal since very rarely do you see ranked-on-ranked violence this early on. FOX is really hitting out of the park with their main network games this season. A few other good games in this timeslot as well. These good games do not include Syracuse-FSU. Oh and did you hear that the Noles are wanting to play that lost game against ULM during conference championship week? Talk about pathetic. They aren’t making a bowl game so why bother?

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
Kennesaw State at Montana State	2:00 PM
Army at Air Force	3:30 PM
South Carolina at #1 Georgia	3:30 PM
Northwestern at Nebraska	3:30 PM
Maryland at Rutgers	3:30 PM
#4 Clemson at #20 NC State	3:30 PM
#6 Ohio State at Iowa	3:30 PM
#15 Iowa State at West Virginia	3:30 PM
#21 Stanford at #25 Washington State	3:30 PM
Wake Forest at #3 Notre Dame	3:30 PM
USF at UConn	3:30 PM
Coastal Carolina at Arkansas	4:00 PM
Ole Miss at Kentucky	4:00 PM

OK let’s not talk about quality for a second. When is the last time there has been this many games in one timeslot? Thirteen! This is something else! So much choice.

Alright back to the quality of the games. They are good. Damn good. Two huge ranked team games. Worst part is? The best game (Bedlam) won’t be seen in this neck of the woods. Sucks really but considering what we are getting up here I will let it slide (as long as we get FS1 next year…if not then this is bullshit).

UPDATE #2: Thanks to the ridiculously long weather delay in East Lansing (looks like it will be a new college football record), Stanford-Wazzu has been moved to FOX Business Network meaning we lose that game now. However, we do get the start of Bedlam on FOX. Once PSU-MSU resumes, we will get that game.

UPDATE #3: Stupid me. How could I think it would be even remotely smooth. Stanford-Wazzu will continue on FOX until PSU-MSU resumes. Then we won’t get Stanford-Wazzu at all after that (except for the West Coast which might continue to get that game). We also still don’t get to see Bedlam. What a gongshow.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Colorado State at Wyoming	7:00 PM
Nevada at Boise State	7:00 PM
Texas at #8 TCU	7:15 PM
#18 UCF at SMU	7:15 PM
Southern Miss at Tennessee	7:30 PM
UTEP at Middle Tennessee	7:30 PM
Minnesota at Michigan	7:30 PM
#13 Virginia Tech at #20 Miami	8:00 PM
#19 LSU at #2 Alabama	8:00 PM

Interesting. Yet again you can make the argument that the afternoon window is better than the primetime window. It’s a little less obvious this week though. Two huge matchups for sure though including the Tide’s first true test. They have two more (Mississippi State and Auburn) left and this is the way they move back to #1 in the CFP rankings: by winning these games. VT-Miami is for all the (ACC Coastal) marbles. UCF also has a tricky one in Dallas against the Mustangs. Lose and the Group of Five goes into chaos!

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
San Diego State at San Jose State	10:30 PM
#22 Arizona at #17 USC	10:45 PM
BYU at Fresno State	10:45 PM

And some more huge games. Ok, game. Singular. But still. This is the de facto Pac-12 South Championship that no one figured at the start of the season. Khalil Tate could signal his true Heisman arrival if he goes off on the Trojans in this one.

Games to set your eyeballs on

Oklahoma at Oklahoma State (4:00, FOX Sports One) – OK remember what I said above? OK I am a bit more pissed than that. It’s the game of the week, man. We should all be able to see it on a channel that we can all get if we want to. When a huge game ends up on the specialty pack I don’t gripe about it because 1) I get the specialty pack already and 2) you have the ability to see the game legally in Canada if you want to. In this case we can’t. Which is bullshit. OK I better stop now before I get too heated. Anyway, this could be a preview of the Big XII Championship. Could be. Loser is almost certainly eliminated from the CFP and will struggle to even get a New Year’s Six spot.

Virginia Tech at Miami (8:00, ABC) – So many games to choose from. I will choose this one here. Two reasons: one, it’s in primetime on ABC so it has to be considered at least somewhat big. And two, the winner of this game basically clinches the ACC Coastal and has a decent shot at either getting to the College Football Playoff or ruining Clemson’s chances of getting into the final four. I know Mark Richt is, deep down, champing at the bit to get a chance at Georgia in the semis. You just know it.

Clemson at NC State (3:30, ABC) – The other half of the ACC puzzle will also probably be figured out after this one is complete. It’s in Raleigh and the Wolfpack took the Tigers to the limit last year (and should have won it really). Dave Doeren gets at least until October with no calls for his job if he wins this one. Winner, in all likelihood, gets the VT-Miami winner in early December in Charlotte.

Arizona at USC (10:45, specialty pack) – Another division championship and one of the few times Pac-12 After Dark is one of the top games of the week. No one thought the Fighting RichRods would be in this position at the start of the year. No one. Not even the majority of Wildcat fans. Khalil Tate is a revelation and this could be his signal to the rest of the Heisman contenders that he is for real. There is a very real possibility that USC could fall out of the Top 25 if they lose here. Would serve me right for jumping on the Clay Helton/Sam Darnold bandwagon. Shame on you, Bossman. Shame.

LSU at Alabama (8:00, CBS) – Usually this game is at or near the top of this list. This year it BARELY makes it into the top 5. Everyone is expecting Bama to go off on the Tigers here. Luckily for Coach O, he won’t get a plethora of calls calling for his job after this one. Now, if he keeps it close (or if somehow LSU pulls off the stunner) it buys him quite a bit of time in Baton Rouge. The Fighting Evil Sabans may be a bit perturbed after being only #2 in the inaugural 2017 CFP Rankings. Expect them to play a bit pissed off.

Honourable mention: Stanford at Washington State (3:30, FOX); South Carolina at Georgia (3:30, CBS); Wake Forest at Notre Dame (3:30, NBC); Ohio State at Iowa (3:30, TSN4…yes couldn’t leave this one out so had to throw in FOUR honourable mentions!); Penn State at Michigan State (Noon, FOX…ok make that five!)

Some gambling fun and games

My Ohio State pick from last week looks damn good now! Same with my Northwestern one. Last week was pretty good to be honest. Let’s see if I can keep going with the pretty good picks (not great…just pretty good).

Ohio State over Iowa

Alabama over LSU

Miami over Virginia Tech

USC over Arizona

Oklahoma State over Oklahoma

Clemson over NC State

Washington State over Stanford

Penn State over Michigan State

Georgia over South Carolina

Notre Dame over Wake Forest

SMU over UCF (massive upset but I could seriously see it happening)

So as of right now, no information on the specialty packs on Saturday. Rogers/Eastlink/Shaw/Whomever else at least has information for tonight and tomorrow on their guides. Can’t say the same thing for Bell who, for two nights in a row, aired MACtion games with no guide info whatsoever. Re-goddamn-diculous.

UPDATE: The info appeared just before the MAC Thursday night game. It’s about time. All games in for Bell (and it looks like for SSP subscribers as well).

Thursday Night Football yet again. Can we please stop this? At least until American Thanksgiving. Then have all the Thursday Night Football you want. Until then? Can it already. Anyway, where was I…oh yes, tonight’s Thursday Night Football matchup! The Bills travel to somewhere in New Jersey to face the New York Jets. I don’t think they are doing Color Rush this year which is good because most of those uniforms were god awful. This is the kind of game the Bills fucking LOVE to lose. A game they should win that would keep them in the thick of a playoff race and they inexplicably play horrible and it puts them back outside looking in. Same old Bills.

I have Saturday to myself. You know what this means…live-tweeting the entire day of college football (@LikeABauce1978). I understand Twitter is now the scourge of social media thanks to Donald J. Asshole. But like most social media you just have to try and steer clear of the garbage. I enjoy Twitter to be honest. I don’t know if I could do a full day of college football anymore without it. Actually I know I couldn’t. I’d either have to take multiple decent-sized breaks throughout the day or PVR certain timeslots. Both of these things are wimp moves in my estimation. Go big or go home, right? I know I will regret this Sunday morning but again, I don’t care. No wonder I look and feel like shit all the time. Anyway, enjoy the games everyone!

Still Way-way-way-too early Bowl Projections

Posted on November 2, 2016 by guelphbossman

It’s getting better though. I mean at least the first set of College Football Playoff rankings are out. And lo and behold, there is already a lot of debate about them. Texas A&M at #4 and Washington at #5. Add Ohio State at #6 and it becomes a bit confusing. The Aggies are obviously in the 4-spot because of their strength of schedule. So why is Ohio State below Washington then when their only loss is to a Penn State team who somehow got to #12? Again, this will clear itself up but there will be hiccups along the way. It also gives every college football media person a chance to give their CFP picks and debate about it ad nauseum.

Alright on to the task at hand. Bowl projections. OK just hear me out. Yes it is still really too early. But at least now my projections can make some sense (unlike my predictions before the start of the season which were terrible this year). Let’s start with my CFP projections:

December 31, 2016	7:00	Fiesta Bowl	Clemson	Washington
December 31, 2016	3:00	Peach Bowl	Alabama	Ohio State

I think tOSU will beat Michigan in The Game and then win the Big Ten Championship. The other three will win out. Makes it very easy to select the top four. Tough luck Big XII. Now onto the New Year’s Six bowls:

January 2, 2017	8:30	Sugar Bowl	Texas A&M	Oklahoma
January 2, 2017	5:00	Rose Bowl	Michigan	Utah
January 2, 2017	1:00	Cotton Bowl	North Carolina	Western Michigan
December 30, 2016	8:00	Orange Bowl	Louisville	Wisconsin

The five conference tie-ins plus Western Michigan are relatively easy picks. It’s the other at-large and the shared tie-in for the Orange Bowl that becomes a bit of a prickly issue. For those two spots I would have to select from Baylor, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Virginia Tech, and LSU. I believe the Hokies and Heels would both win out, meaning VT would get to the ACC Championship Game. A loss to Clemson there would actually bump them below UNC in the pecking order, giving the Fighting Fedoras a spot opposite WMU in the Cotton Bowl. As for the Orange Bowl spot, it would be down to a Big Ten or SEC team: so Wisconsin or LSU. Even with a Big Ten Championship loss I think Wisconsin would have the resume to get the nod over LSU. Then again, a lot can change between now and the beginning of December.

Finally, here are the other projections:

January 2, 2017	1:00	Outback Bowl	Florida	Nebraska
December 31, 2016	11:00	TaxSlayer Bowl	Tennessee	Florida State
December 31, 2016	11:00	Citrus Bowl	LSU	Penn State
December 30, 2016	5:30	Arizona Bowl	New Mexico	Georgia Southern
December 30, 2016	3:30	Music City Bowl	Arkansas	Northwestern
December 30, 2016	2:30	Sun Bowl	Stanford	North Carolina
December 30, 2016	12:00	Liberty Bowl	Auburn	TCU
December 29, 2016	9:00	Alamo Bowl	Washington State	Baylor
December 29, 2016	5:30	Belk Bowl	Kentucky	Wake Forest
December 29, 2016	2:00	Birmingham Bowl	Ole Miss	Temple
December 28, 2016	9:00	Texas Bowl	Georgia	West Virginia
December 28, 2016	5:30	Russell Athletic Bowl	Oklahoma State	Virginia Tech
December 28, 2016	2:00	Pinstripe Bowl	Minnesota	Miami
December 27, 2016	10:15	Cactus Bowl	UCLA	Kansas State
December 27, 2016	7:00	Holiday Bowl	Iowa	Colorado
December 27, 2016	3:30	Military Bowl	Pittsburgh	USF
December 27, 2016	12:00	Heart of Dallas Bowl	Colorado State*	Southern Miss
December 26, 2016	5:00	Independence Bowl	South Carolina	Western Kentucky
December 26, 2016	2:30	Quick Lane Bowl	Maryland	Eastern Michigan
December 26, 2016	11:00	St. Petersburg Bowl	Georgia Tech	Houston
December 24, 2016	8:00	Hawaii Bowl	Hawaii	Middle Tennessee
December 23, 2016	8:00	Dollar General Bowl	Ohio	Arkansas State
December 23, 2016	4:30	Armed Forces Bowl	Navy	Texas
December 23, 2016	1:00	Bahamas Bowl	Tulsa	Akron
December 22, 2016	10:30	Foster Farms Bowl	Indiana	USC
December 22, 2016	7:00	Idaho Potato Bowl	San Diego State	Toledo
December 21, 2016	9:00	Poinsettia Bowl	BYU	Air Force
December 20, 2016	7:00	Boca Raton Bowl	Cincinnati	Old Dominion
December 19, 2016	2:30	Miami Beach Bowl	Memphis	Ball State
December 17, 2016	9:00	New Orleans Bowl	Louisiana Tech	Appalachian State
December 17, 2016	5:30	Camellia Bowl	Central Michigan	Troy
December 17, 2016	5:30	Cure Bowl	Boston College**	Idaho
December 17, 2016	3:30	Las Vegas Bowl	Arizona State	Boise State
December 17, 2016	2:00	New Mexico Bowl	Wyoming	South Alabama*

*conference cannot fill spot

**team with 5-7 record with highest APR score

To be honest I am totally guessing on the APR score. It could be almost any 5-7 team. I still cannot foresee a scenario where all the bowl slots will be filled with bowl-eligible teams. Army cannot get in at 6-6 since they have two wins over FCS teams. They would have to get to 7-5 and I don’t see that happening. However, I don’t know if they would be included before a 5-7 team here.

At this point I see some pretty good pre-Christmas bowl matchups including BYU/Air Force at the Poinsettia, Arizona State/Boise State at the Las Vegas, and Navy/Texas at the Armed Forces. There’s a good chance none of these will happen. But remember the hype when there was that possibility that the Holy War between BYU and Utah would go to Vegas and then it happened. People lost their minds about it. It was almost the only hype on that entire day when all the bowl spots were handed out. Which brings me back to my post I made about how I would fix the bowl games. One idea is to make it like CBS’s Selection Sunday for the NCAA Tournament. If ESPN could somehow make a show where most of the bowl selections are made live it would actually generate ratings and interest. Won’t happen but hey, they can send me a message if they want: I have a ton of ideas.

Alright, tomorrow will be the CFB TV schedule, followed by the NFL version on Friday. Tonight we got some more MACtion for you people with the specialty pack. Toledo travels to Akron needing to win to keep their MAC West hopes alive. Also, rumour has it there is an important baseball game tonight. Enjoy!

Bossman's Blog

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

Tag Archives: VT

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

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It’s coming soon and the debates will be ridiculous – Week 11 College Football TV Schedule

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Let’s just call this a Scheduling Update post alright?

What an unbelievable Saturday…and Friday…and Thursday night – Week 13 College Football Recap

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Saturday Primetime & Late Night

Are you ready for the FOOTBALLGASMMMMMMMMMMMMM – Week 13 College Football TV Schedule

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Still Way-way-way-too early Bowl Projections

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