If I Could Fix the Current Postseason Format Version 4.0

The bowl games have commenced. I did horrible with my first day picks. Haven’t done a whole lot better since then. But never mind that because it’s time for me the fix the postseason….well, the current version at least.

The current postseason setup is plagued with issues but the idea that players can hop into the transfer portal BEFORE the bowl games are over is absurd. Honestly, same with coaches. There are almost needs to be a moratorium on moves that starts the day after conference championship weekend ends and finishes the day after the national championship. Otherwise it becomes the quasi-shitshow we have now.

This is now the ninth time I have done this exercise. Nine. I am not linking the previous eight but they shouldn’t be too difficult to find. Like the fact that I am sure most of these posts were done sometime in December. Should make your search a bit easier.

We begin with the opening ceremonies, so to speak: the axing of bowl games. That’s right, some bowl games just cannot exist in my version of Bowl Season. ESPN Events can fuck off if they have a problem with this. So the following bowl games will cease to exist:

• Myrtle Beach Bowl
• Bahamas Bowl
• Cure Bowl
• 68 Ventures Bowl
• Frisco Bowl
• Boca Raton Bowl
• Gasparilla Bowl
• Camellia Bowl
• Arizona Bowl

I’m sure some will bristle at the Cure Bowl because it’s a charity endeavour. Want a solution? Make more bowls like this. Have a portion of ticket revenue go to a charity of their choice. See how easy that was? Do I have to come up with all the answers? It sure feels like it.

Also, with the restrictions I have on who qualifies for the bowl games in my scenario, these bowls had to go. I get it: less football usually sucks. But the idea is to give as many of these games a full national audience as much as possible. That’s the whole point. Some of these teams just don’t get these kinds of audiences and bowl season is their one shot to do so. So let’s give it to them!

Another thing: pre-Christmas daytime starts. Those are gone. They are stupid. So don’t do them. There’s no reason for them. I think the only game that had to be played during the day was the Bahamas Bowl and, well, go back and look at the list.

Let’s bring back more games on over-the-air networks. So I am planning, as per usual, to take games off of ESPN and disperse them to ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC. No I am not putting any on the CW although I was tempted to move the Hawaii Bowl to 11:59 PM and put it on Spectrum Sports and have a bowl season Hawaii Test.

The amount of bowl tie-ins drops for an obvious reason. I am looking forward with this so I figured I might as well not include the Pac-12 and put teams in the conferences they will be in next season. So there are plenty of at-large spots available. The other incentive I always use is back: each Group of Five champion gets to face a Power Five team in a bowl game. There is a bit of a change this year. With the Pac-12 no longer in this exercise, the Mountain West doesn’t have a partner in this, so to speak. So they aren’t slotted in for one of these games. Because of this, if the Mountain West champion is the top Group of Five team, they will just take their spot in the playoffs and that’s that. If they aren’t, then that team will replace the conference that did have the top Group of Five team in their bowl game. So, in essence, each G-5 champ still has their shot against a P-5 team, with a twist.

How do you qualify for the Bossman Bowl System? 7 wins. Those teams that qualify will be placed first and then, AND ONLY THEN, will any 6-win teams be put into bowl slots.

And finally let’s look at Selection Sunday: an abomination that I am sure ESPN is proud of but they shouldn’t be because it’s a fucking garbage show with their garbage takes. Complete crap. Let’s spice it up, shall we?

• Noon-12:05 – Introduction of hosts and panel
• 12:05-12:30 – CFP byes announced with analysis
• 12:25-1:15 – First round playoff matchups announced with analysis
• 1:15-2:00 – Tie-ins filled with short analysis
• 2:00-3:30 – It’s selection time! The bowl games are selected in random order (draw would have been determined in the morning if not late the night before). At-large selections are shown every few minutes. Analysis follows every pick and new bowl game matchup is shown if both bowl slots are filled.
• 3:30-4:00 – Final analysis and thoughts

Much better. Hell, even do the live look-ins like they do at March Madness. They did it this year and there was some interesting reaction shots. Florida State’s was heartbreaking, Liberty’s was nice to see and Michigan’s was hilarious. Drama. ESPN is starting to get it but the stuff they manufacture is mostly crap. If it wasn’t for Booger McFarland squaring off with Joey Galloway that entire show would have been unwatchable.

Next year, we get the 12-team playoff. It took years but everyone realized four wasn’t the answer. Probably should have gone right to six or stayed at two. Oh well, hindsight is 20-20. The top four will be the conference champions so I have taken some leeway by taking the top ranked team in what the conferences will look like next year. The Group of Five gets their top team in and that team will usually end up being the #12 seed although there have been times where they wouldn’t have been like when Cincinnati made the 4-team playoff a few years back. So here is what the Top 12 would look like, with the upcoming criteria and teams in their new conferences:

1. Michigan (Big Ten champ)
2. Texas (SEC champ)
3. Florida State (ACC champ)
4. Arizona (Big XII champ)
5. Washington (Big Ten)
6. Alabama (SEC)
7. Georgia (SEC)
8. Ohio State (Big Ten)
9. Oregon (Big Ten)
10. Missouri (SEC)
11. Penn State (Big Ten)
12. Liberty (Conference USA)

See how much things change? Florida State AND Arizona get byes. Arizona. A team that didn’t even make the New Year’s Six this time around. It also means Ole Miss gets booted from a possible national championship spot. I’m already not liking the new system. I’m sure with the new conference alignment, we won’t see this kind of disparity from the Big Ten/SEC and the ACC/Big XII. But for this time around, this is what we’ve got.

Scheduling! It’s what I show on here. So this has to work or otherwise what have I learned the past decade? I am using this year’s dates but the setup will work in other years as well. The main thing is to use Saturdays as your playoff days. Or if that fails, New Year’s Day for one. This is how this will work. Here is what I see with this:

First Round Games – Saturday December 23rd (all times EST)

• Missouri at Georgia (Noon, ESPN)
• Penn State at Alabama (3:30, CBS)
• Oregon at Ohio State (7:00, FOX)
• Liberty at Washington (10:30, ESPN)

I’m sure Chris Petersen might be a bit miffed at the start time for the final game but using the entire Saturday is the right play here. No other bowl games will be on this day either so these four games will have full national attention until the NFL puts their games on this day because they couldn’t give two shits about anything else on TV.

Quarter-Finals – Saturday December 30th

Since college football wants to change so much then let’s change it. The New Year’s Day traditional games? That’s no more. Hey, college football started it, I’m just continuing with it. The top four teams would be slotted in to these bowl games at the start of Selection Sunday and The Committee would try their best (after eating copious amounts of Chinese food and drinking 290 coolers between the 13 of them) to put the teams in spots that are advantageous to them, not only in their location, but the home cities of the teams they may face.

• Peach Bowl (Noon, FOX) – Michigan vs. Oregon/Ohio St. winner
• Cotton Bowl (3:30, ABC) – Texas vs. Mizzou/UGA winner
• Orange Bowl (7:00, NBC) – Florida State vs. Penn St./Bama winner
• Fiesta Bowl (10:30, ESPN) – Arizona vs. Liberty/Washington winner

Again, the former Pac-12 teams seem stuck in the late night spot and this is fine by me and better damn well be fine with the powers that be.

Semi-Finals – Saturday January 6th

Again, stick to Saturdays.

• Rose Bowl (5:00, ABC) – Peach Bowl winner vs. Fiesta Bowl winner
• Sugar Bowl (8:45, ABC) – Cotton Bowl winner vs. Orange Bowl winner

I get that it’s almost a guarantee a West Coast team would come out of the Fiesta Bowl but if Michigan or Ohio State gets in, their fans travel well and to go to the Rose Bowl? They will fill their side of the stands no problem.

CFP National Championship – Saturday January 13th

We move the national championship back six days. This may mess with the NFL playoffs but that’s something that can be figured out. Hell, move the game to the 20th for all I care. Just keep it on Saturday night. And it will be, starting at 8:00 on ESPN.

Now on to the next part of our show, the tie-in portion. There are now nine less bowls as you remember. Very little overlap. Things look good. Now the teams need to be filled in. This is what the rest of the bowls will look like after all the tie-ins are dealt with and they will be dealt with. Not having official tie-ins and never even bothering with them. That shit bugs me.

DATE	TIME	BOWL	TIE-IN #1	TIE-IN #2
January 1st	7:00	Gator	SEC	ACC
January 1st	3:30	Citrus	SEC	Big Ten
January 1st	Noon	ReliaQuest	SEC	Big Ten
December 29th	8:30	Alamo	Big XII	at-large
December 29th	5:00	Music City	SEC	Big Ten
December 29th	2:30	Sun	Big XII	at-large
December 29th	Noon	Pop Tarts	ACC	at-large
December 28th	8:45	Texas	Big XII	at-large
December 28th	5:30	Duke’s Mayo	ACC	at-large
December 28th	2:15	Pinstripe	Big Ten	ACC
December 28th	11:00 AM	Fenway	AAC	at-large
December 27th	8:00	Holiday	at-large	at-large
December 27th	4:30	First Responder	Big XII	C-USA
December 27th	1:00	Military	ACC	AAC
December 26th	9:00	Guaranteed Rate	at-large	at-large
December 26th	5:30	Liberty	SEC	Sun Belt
December 26th	2:00	Independence	Sun Belt	at-large
December 24th	10:30	Hawaii	MWC	at-large
December 22nd	8:30	Idaho Potato	MWC	MAC
December 20th	8:30	Armed Forces	AAC	at-large
December 19th	8:00	Birmingham	C-USA	at-large
December 16th	10:30	Las Vegas	at-large	at-large
December 16th	8:00	LA	at-large	at-large
December 16th	5:30	New Mexico	at-large	at-large
December 16th	2:15	New Orleans	Sun Belt	at-large
December 16th	11:00 AM	Quick Lane	Big Ten	MAC

Yeah that’s a lot of at-large bids. Good. This is what makes this way of doing things that much more interesting. OK, let’s fill in those tie-ins. Remember, all teams in their new conferences (I hope I am not so confused with this next year).

DATE	TIME	NETWORK	BOWL	TEAM #1	TEAM #2
January 1st	7:00	CBS	Gator	Ole Miss	Louisville
January 1st	3:30	ABC	Citrus	Oklahoma	Iowa
January 1st	Noon	ABC	ReliaQuest	LSU	USC
December 29th	8:30	FOX	Alamo	Oklahoma State	at-large
December 29th	5:00	ESPN	Music City	Tennessee	UCLA
December 29th	2:30	CBS	Sun	Kansas State	at-large
December 29th	Noon	ESPN	Pop Tarts	NC State	at-large
December 28th	8:45	ESPN	Texas	Utah	at-large
December 28th	5:30	ESPN	Duke’s Mayo	Clemson	at-large
December 28th	2:15	ESPN	Pinstripe	Maryland	North Carolina
December 28th	11:00 AM	ESPN	Fenway	Tulane	at-large
December 27th	8:00	FOX	Holiday	at-large	at-large
December 27th	4:30	ESPN	First Responder	Kansas	Boise State
December 27th	1:00	ESPN	Military	Miami	SMU
December 26th	9:00	ESPN	Guaranteed Rate	at-large	at-large
December 26th	5:30	ESPN	Liberty	Kentucky	Troy
December 26th	2:00	ESPN	Independence	James Madison	at-large
December 24th	10:30	ESPN	Hawaii	UNLV	at-large
December 22nd	8:30	ESPN	Idaho Potato	Air Force	Toledo
December 20th	8:30	ESPN	Armed Forces	Memphis	at-large
December 19th	8:00	ESPN	Birmingham	New Mexico State	at-large
December 16th	10:30	ESPN	Las Vegas	at-large	at-large
December 16th	8:00	ABC	LA	at-large	at-large
December 16th	5:30	ESPN	New Mexico	at-large	at-large
December 16th	2:15	ESPN	New Orleans	Appalachian State	at-large
December 16th	11:00 AM	NBC	Quick Lane	Wisconsin	Miami-OH

It’s a bit confusing with the new Big Ten and SEC teams but we have to get used to it soon anyway. Might as well do it now.

The G-5 conference champions get the opportunities they deserve:

• SMU (the AAC champ) goes to the Military Bowl to face Miami
• Troy (Sun Belt champ) plays Kentucky in the Liberty Bowl, a step-up from the champ usually going to the New Orleans or Camellia Bowls
• The Quick Lane Bowl gets MAC champ Miami-OH and they end up paired up with the Wisconsin Badgers.
• Finally, with Liberty in the playoff, Boise State, the Mountain West champ, replaces them in the First Responder Bowl.

I think setting the qualification at 7 wins works well. There are 17 at-large teams remaining. This number includes Notre Dame. I don’t care about their current setup with the ACC bowl tie-ins. It’s dumb. They are an Independent. They can act like one. Same with Oregon State now. Interestingly, we have 21 at-large spots. So four more teams will get in. Four teams who had six wins during the season. Under my regime, the bowls can pick ANY six win team once the seven-win teams are all slotted. Makes things way more interesting and keeps many teams with their eyes glued to the television to see if they get in or not. So let’s start the random draw. I did this and it was random and this is how it turned out:

• Duke’s Mayo – Notre Dame
• Holiday – Oregon State
• Pop Tarts – Coastal Carolina
• Independence – West Virginia
• Texas – Texas A&M
• New Mexico – UTSA
• Hawaii – Iowa State
• Sun – Texas State
• Las Vegas – Fresno State
• Fenway – Duke
• Alamo – Jacksonville State
• LA – San Jose State
• Armed Forces – Wyoming
• Las Vegas – Northwestern
• LA – Ohio
• New Orleans – WKU
• Holiday – Bowling Green

Man, the Guaranteed Rate Bowl got fucked here. Or did they? They get two selections from the six-win pool while the Birmingham and New Mexico Bowls get one each. Who will they choose?????

• Birmingham – Auburn
• Guaranteed Rate – Texas Tech
• New Mexico – California
• Guaranteed Rate – Virginia Tech

OK well at least the Guaranteed Rate Bowl gets two fanbases who will travel. So after the fun-time selection process, this is what the new bowl schedule will look like (other than the playoffs):

DATE	TIME	NETWORK	BOWL	TEAM #1	TEAM #2
January 1st	7:00	CBS	Gator	Ole Miss	Louisville
January 1st	3:30	ABC	Citrus	Oklahoma	Iowa
January 1st	Noon	ABC	ReliaQuest	LSU	USC
December 29th	8:30	FOX	Alamo	Oklahoma State	Jacksonville State
December 29th	5:00	ESPN	Music City	Tennessee	UCLA
December 29th	2:30	CBS	Sun	Kansas State	Texas State
December 29th	Noon	ESPN	Pop Tarts	NC State	Coastal Carolina
December 28th	8:45	ESPN	Texas	Utah	Texas A&M
December 28th	5:30	ESPN	Duke’s Mayo	Clemson	Notre Dame
December 28th	2:15	ESPN	Pinstripe	Maryland	North Carolina
December 28th	11:00 AM	ESPN	Fenway	Tulane	Duke
December 27th	8:00	FOX	Holiday	Oregon State	Bowling Green
December 27th	4:30	ESPN	First Responder	Kansas	Boise State
December 27th	1:00	ESPN	Military	Miami	SMU
December 26th	9:00	ESPN	Guaranteed Rate	Texas Tech	Virginia Tech
December 26th	5:30	ESPN	Liberty	Kentucky	Troy
December 26th	2:00	ESPN	Independence	James Madison	West Virginia
December 24th	10:30	ESPN	Hawaii	UNLV	Iowa State
December 22nd	8:30	ESPN	Idaho Potato	Air Force	Toledo
December 20th	8:30	ESPN	Armed Forces	Memphis	Wyoming
December 19th	8:00	ESPN	Birmingham	New Mexico State	Auburn
December 16th	10:30	ESPN	Las Vegas	Fresno State	Northwestern
December 16th	8:00	ABC	LA	San Jose State	Ohio
December 16th	5:30	ESPN	New Mexico	UTSA	California
December 16th	2:15	ESPN	New Orleans	Appalachian State	WKU
December 16th	11:00 AM	NBC	Quick Lane	Wisconsin	Miami-OH

A few notes here:

• Auburn has to wonder why the college football Gods hate them. Another game with New Mexico State?
• Taking Notre Dame out of the ACC group when it comes to tie-ins means they can now face an ACC team in a bowl game. ND-Clemson? Yes, please.
• A few more P5 vs. G5 matches materialize because of the way the bowls are selected. James Madison gets to play West Virginia while RichRod’s Jacksonville State Gamecocks face off against Captain Mullet himself, Mike Gundy and his Oklahoma State squad.

OK look are all the matchups better here? No. That’s not really the point though. The point is to create interesting matchups that people might want to watch and to reward teams for their seasons. The hope here is that maybe a few more players will choose to play these games rather than opt out and get ready for the draft. I don’t blame them but it would be nice to see full rosters face off against each other. I think the bigger picutre has to be that the transfer portal shouldn’t open until after the bowl games are over but that’s a different conversation.

Alright, that was….well, fun may be a stretch but it was interesting to do as usual. I hope you enjoyed reading it and have a great weekend and a Merry Christmas!

The Super Bowl where? And the Week 7 NFL TV Schedule

What are we looking at here? Why, it’s Wembley Stadium, one of two London-area stadiums that the NFL uses for their games over there, the other being Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Why am I showing you a picture of this stadium (which really does look like a very nice stadium to tell you the truth)? It’s because the Commish, Roger Goodell (who recently signed an extension through 2027 which I am sure people cheered and had parties for) stated that at some point in the future he thinks the Super Bowl might come to London.

Excuse me? London? As in England? He was totally serious, by the way. He fucking loves London. Wants a team there desperately and I will find a way to do so before he is done his time as commissioner.

Look, do I really care where the Super Bowl is? Not really. I will never be able to afford to go to it. Ever. Hell, it’s tough enough to go to a single game. So I always watch at home or at a friend’s house or once at a bar which honestly kind of sucked. The thing is though, the Super Bowl, for the past God-knows how many years (OK it’s 32), has started between 6:25 and 6:40 every year. If the game is in London, that would be a no go. It would start no later than 3:30 in the afternoon on the East Coast. Can you imagine West Coast fans starting their Super Bowl parties at just after Noon? That to me would be the one thing I wouldn’t like about it. And I can’t see many people in North America liking it either.

What does this all mean? Goodell will probably eventually get his wish but he may not be around to see it. He’s got regular season games in London and Germany now. I am sure one or two more countries will be added shortly. Once half the weeks have a Europe game, talks will start about expansion there. It will happen, folks. Just a matter of time. THEN, I see the Super Bowl in London talks to heat up and not before there are expansion teams there (although that may just be my opinion).

Alright, enough of that gobshite, let’s get to what you came for, the NFL schedule (pronounced shed-jew-ull) for the week.

American Networks

Buffalo at New England	1:00	All affiliates (except Cleveland)
Cleveland at Indianapolis	1:00	Cleveland
Detroit at Baltimore	1:00		Minneapolis, Detroit
Arizona at Seattle	4:05		Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane
Pittsburgh at LA Rams	4:05		Buffalo, Rochester, Watertown, Burlington, Boston, Presque Isle
LA Chargers at Kansas City	4:25	All affiliates (except Minneapolis)
Green Bay at Denver	4:25	Minneapolis

Canadian Networks

Buffalo at New England	1:00	All affiliates
Washington at NY Giants	1:00		All affiliates (except London & Toronto)
Detroit at Baltimore	1:00		London, Toronto	TSN3, TSN4
Atlanta at Tampa Bay	1:00			TSN+
Arizona at Seattle	4:05	Vancouver, Alberta
Pittsburgh at LA Rams	4:05			TSN3, TSN4
LA Chargers at Kansas City	4:25	All affiliates (except Vancouver & Alberta)

Primetime Games

Jacksonville at New Orleans	Thursday, 8:15, Amazon Prime, CTV2, TSN 1/5
Miami at Philadelphia	8;15, NBC, CTV, TSN 1/3/4/5/+
San Francisco at Minnesota	Monday, 8:15, ABC, TSN 1/3/4/5/+

A set of American-Style Football Notes

• No games in jolly old England this weekend. Those are done for the season. Such a shame (not really).
• Games not being shown on the telly in Canada unless you receive that lovely fellow Scott Hanson’s rousing football highlights show:
  • Las Vegas at Chicago
  • Atlanta at Tampa Bay
• After last week’s mind-blowingly disgusting matchup between the New York Football Giants and the Bills of Buffalo, we are gifted a welcome matchup. Two of the best teams in the land will face off as the Eagles host the Dolphins in what should be a smashing match.
• The Monday Night Football game, on the other hand, might not be a particularly close affair. Even with the 49ers loss to the Cleveland Browns last week, they still should be heavy favourites when they travel to Minneapolis to tangle with the Vikings. Now watch it be a great game to end the football week.
• Is it just me or has CBS done quite a few games where over 90% of the affiliates are showing one game over the other(s)?

By the way, can NFL Twitter/X stop talking about that one crazy Chargers fan from the Monday night game? Like who gives a shit? People calling her a plant and a fake. Many are taking this all way too seriously. The fact that the Chargers even have a fan that is that intense should have been the main story since I don’t think they’ve had a true home field advantage since they left San Diego.

Alright, there you go. Hopefully it’s better than this past week’s games since they were mostly awful. Might have been one of the worst weeks of NFL football I have seen in a long time. Enjoy the games everyone!

The Man – Week 16 NFL TV Schedule

Drew Brees is very close to being this generation’s Dan Marino.  Lucky for him he has a Super Bowl ring whereas Marino has none.  But he has massive stats but is sometimes overlooked by more “successful” quarterbacks.  And by successful I mean Super Bowl wins (and wins in general).  Tom Brady and Peyton Manning get most of the play and I am fine with that.  I hope Brees wins the Super Bowl this year (if the Bills don’t win it) so that he can get his second ring and be in the conversation for greatest quarterback/player of all time.  I mean let’s be honest: the Saints are still in New Orleans partially because of the exploits of this man.  They could have been the San Antonio Saints instead.  Think of that.

Let’s get to the schedule.  No more Thursday Night Football, which now has a great schedule thanks to FOX.  Instead we have Saturday football, a late December NFL tradition.  Here we go!

Saturday

Houston at Tampa Bay	1:00, NFL Network, TSN1/4/5
Buffalo at New England	4:30, NFL Network, TSN1/4/5
LA Rams at San Francisco	8:15, NFL Network, TSN1/4/5

Sunday Early

Baltimore at Cleveland	All affiliates (except Detroit)		All affiliates
Cincinnati at Miami
Pittsburgh at NY Jets
Jacksonville at Atlanta
New Orleans at Tennessee		All affiliates (except Burlington)			All affiliates
Carolina at Indianapolis
NY Giants at Washington		Burlington		TSN1, TSN3, TSN4, TSN5

Sunday Late

Detroit at Denver	Detroit			TSN1, TSN3, TSN4, TSN5
Oakland at LA Chargers
Dallas at Philadelphia		Minneapolis, Detroit, Buffalo, Rochester, Burlington, Boston		Saskatchewan, Winnipeg, Northern Ontario, Kitchener, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal	Atlantic
Arizona at Seattle		Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane		Vancouver, Alberta

Sunday/Monday Primetime

Kansas City at Chicago	Sunday, 8:20, NBC, TSN1/3/4/5, CTV Two
Green Bay at Minnesota	Monday, 8:15, TSN1/4

Other things and points that probably aren’t related to Drew Brees

• FIVE games not available in Canada (other than on Sunday Ticket).  I guess there could have been interest in all of those games but with so many games, some have to be left behind.  Saying that they have loaded up on two early games and for good reason.  Just compare the Ravens-Browns and Saints-Titans games to the rest of them.  Yeesh.
• No cross-flex this week.  Which is good since people get bent out of shape over it.
• What did the poor people getting their FOX affiliate out of Burlington, Vermont do to deserve this?  They are the only ones to get the Giants-Redskins game.  Yuck.  So fucking brutal.
• Gee, I wonder what the big afternoon game is?  At least the west coast will get the Cardinals-Seahawks game for something different.  Honestly I am surprised this wasn’t flexed to Sunday night considering the stakes in this game.

We are getting very close to the end.  Only two weeks to go.  Here’s what the playoff picture looks like at this point:

#1 – Baltimore (clinched AFC North)	#1 – Seattle (clinched playoff berth)
#2 – New England (clinched playoff spot)	#2 – Green Bay (clinched playoff berth)
#3 – Kansas City (clinched AFC West)	#3 – New Orleans (clinched AFC South)
#4 – Houston	#4 – Dallas
Wild Cards:	Wild Cards:
#5 – Buffalo (clinched playoff berth)	#5 – San Francisco (clinched playoff berth)
#6 – Pittsburgh/Tennessee	#6 – Minnesota

And here is your list of eliminated teams in order of current worst to best:

• Cincinnati
• NY Giants
• Washington
• Miami
• Detroit
• Arizona
• Atlanta
• Jacksonville
• NY Jets
• LA Chargers
• Denver
• Carolina
• Indianapolis
• Tampa Bay
• Chicago

Cincinnati clinches the #1 pick in the draft with a loss to Miami.  If I’m Chase Young I seriously wonder if I declare for the draft or not.  My guess is the Bengals will take a quarterback anyway but still.  Now some clinching scenarios since that’s what most of us are watching for now anyway:

Home-field Advantage

• Baltimore clinches with a win OR (a Kansas City loss AND a New England loss)

First-round Bye

• Baltimore clinches with a win OR a Kansas City loss OR a New England loss
• New England clinches with a win AND a Kansas City loss

Division Title

• New England clinches with a win
• Houston clinches with a win OR a Tennessee loss
• Green Bay clinches with a win
• Dallas clinches with a win

Playoff Berth

• Houston clinches with a Pittsburgh loss
• Minnesota clinches with a win OR a LA Rams loss

Elimination

• Cleveland eliminated with a loss OR a Pittsburgh win
• Oakland eliminated with a loss AND a Pittsburgh win
• LA Rams eliminated with a loss OR a Minnesota win
• Philadelphia eliminated with a loss

Not nearly as many scenarios as there has been most years.  There is a huge divide between the playoff teams and the eliminated teams.  There are only five teams sitting outside playoff spots that are still alive to get in.  That’s it.  And there’s two weeks to go!

So just like last year I will not be doing bowl recaps.  I, like many others, is way too busy at holiday time.  Adding four or five more blog posts is a lot during this time of year.  At least I didn’t do what I thought I was going to do and not do any recaps at all (although I still think of it from time to time).

Alright so there you go.  A lot going on.  Bowl games start tomorrow afternoon (*angry face*) with the Bahamas Bowl and then a ton of football on Saturday, both college and pro.  Have a great weekend!

How about a little OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVERTIME and a Week 2 recap?

I love college football.  You know that.  So what’s better than a bunch of games going into overtime, eh?  Let’s recap those games right off the hop OK sounds good let’s go.

• Michigan 24 Army 21 (2OT) – What a game this was….for Army.  Michigan did not play well at all and it kind of felt like they had no idea what to do with Army’s triple option.  Even so, Shea Patterson stunk and the playcalling was puzzling at times.  Michigan lucks out by getting a strip sack in double overtime to stay in the Top 10.  As for Army, watch out for them if no teams end up undefeated this season.
• Colorado 34 Nebraska 31 (OT) – A classic Big 8 matchup that was a barnburner.  It looked like the Huskers were going to destroy the Buffs until a late game comeback by Colorado put them into overtime.  A missed field goal clinched the game and now I am starting to feel kind of stupid for drinking the Nebraska Koolaid (which was obviously cherry-flavoured).
• Kent State 26 Kennesaw State 23 (OT) – The earlier women’s field hockey game was stopped in double overtime so that this game could start on time.  Absolutely crazy.  And then we almost see Kennesaw State pull the FCS-over-FBS upset.  Kent State escapes and continues to be known for bad things, one much, MUCH worse than the rest.
• Florida State 45 ULM 44 (OT) – Good god Willie Taggart.  What is going on in Tallahassee?  Most of the fans had left by the time this game ended.  And for a while it looked like the Warhawks would win in regulation.  Instead, FSU tied it up and then won the game thanks to a ULM missed extra point.  Yeesh.  Not a good look for the Noles who may have hit a bit of a rock bottom.
• BYU 29 Tennessee 26 (2OT) – Since we are talking about once-proud teams who have fallen far, let us check in on the University of Tennessee Volunteers football program.  Gross.  They could not put BYU away.  And to top it off they have a coverage breakdown and allow BYU to go more than half the field with under 15 seconds to play to get the tying field goal just to make it to overtime.  Expect Jeremy Pruitt to now be on every hot seat list in the country.
• Minnesota 38 Fresno State 35 (2OT) – College football this past weekend conspired to not allow me to go to bed at a reasonable time…and when I say reasonable time I mean 2 in the morning.  A great back-and-forth game which ended on a great Antoine Winfield Jr. interception in double overtime.  Maybe other Big Ten teams should take note and not make trips to the West Coast.

This week of college football really had a dearth of marquee games, as is somewhat usual for Week 2.  However, the action this week was damn good.  A fun Saturday of college football was had by all (who watched).  Let’s go through the week that was!

• Let’s take a trip out to Seattle for a game that didn’t start until 1:30 in the morning.  I am not joking.  Thanks to some severe weather they had to delay the game by almost three hours.  I did not stay up to stay updated on this game and I missed a great one of course.  Washington did not play well at all and let Cal stick around for far too long.  This led to the Golden Bears winning on a last-minute field goal and furthering the Pac-12’s overall misery.
• Kansas lost a game…at home…to Coastal Carolina.  So yeah it is going to take quite a long time for Les Miles to turn this thing around.
• Clemson made relatively easy work of Texas A&M.  Yes they only won by 14 but it never felt like the Aggies were in this one.  So the Tigers beat yet another SEC team.  I think they need to stop this whole “Oh yeah well Clemson doesn’t have an SEC schedule” horseshit.  They are damn good, plain and simple.  And they are still the favourite to win the whole thing in January.
• Don’t look know but there might be a new contender in the ACC Coastal.  Step right up Mack Brown!  The Tar Heels looked good against Miami and won the game late in front of a raucous home crowd in Chapel Hill.  Yes, the same team that almost beat Florida in one of the worst college football games of the year so far.  Considering the state of the ACC Coastal beyond Virginia, don’t be surprised if North Carolina isn’t at least bowl-eligible by the end of the year which would be a huge complement to Mack Brown’s coaching ability.
• Breaking news!  West Virginia is awful.  No wonder Dana Holgorsen left for a Group of Five team.  Neal Brown is going to have a tough go here in 2019.  I sincerely hope that the Mountaineer faithful are patient with this as this will not be a fun season in Morgantown, that’s for sure.
• Maryland blew Syracuse out of the water on Saturday, winning by 43.  No that is not a misprint and no it’s not a joke.  The toughest division in college football just got a lot tougher as the Terps are looking seriously good this season so far.  As for the ACC, Virginia will replace Syracuse in the Top 25 but will more than two teams ever get into the rankings?  It doesn’t look good for the conference.
• On Friday night, Boise State beat Marshall but it sure wasn’t convincing.  14-7 doesn’t exactly speak dominance and the fact that freshman quarterback Hank Bachmeier was average at best in this one…let’s just say I am still not convinced the Broncos will be the Group of Five representative in the New Year’s Six if this keeps up.
• Joe Burrow was absolutely fantastic in the primetime ABC game as he threw for the second-most yards in LSU history.  The Tigers beat Texas but Texas also hung around as well.  Both teams need to play better defense as the season wears on but these two offenses may be two of the best in college football this year.  And Burrow may force himself into the Heisman conversation whether people like it or not.
• Ohio State shutout Cincinnati in Luke Fickell’s return to Columbus.  I don’t know, it feels like Ohio State is going to look really good at least into October and then they will lay an egg or three and we will wonder what kind of team they really are.  You know, like almost every other season they have had.
• Everyone was wondering how Kedon Slovis would play against Stanford.  Well, Clay Travis can breathe a bit of a sigh of relief as Slovis was excellent, the Trojans played a nearly flawless game, and we continue the narrative that no one really wants to win the Pac-12.  Except maybe Utah.
• I don’t think Charlie Strong is long for this 2019 season.  Another loss, this time to a rebuilding Georgia Tech team, puts the Bulls at 0-2 to start the season and at eight straight losses stretching back to last year.  For a team that not too long ago was battling with UCF to be the big-time team in this conference, this is a stunning fall and Strong is going to be the scapegoat for it, rightly or wrongly (mostly rightly).
• Oh and how could I forget UCLA?  They lost again, this time to San Diego State.  UCLA was behind most of the game and never really seemed in it.  I don’t know if it’s just Chip Kelly not having the right personnel to run his offense or what.  But for a team that many (including myself) thought would at least be going bowling this season, it’s not a good look, for the Bruins or for Kelly himself.

Recap complete!  Considering the schedule was one of the worst I have seen (beyond the top two games) it was a super fun weekend to watch college football.  The lesson?  Never assume when it comes to this sport.  Some great schedules create horrible weeks (in terms of quality of the actual games played) and some shitty schedules produce some of the most historic weeks.  You never know.  Anyway, here’s the return of the Bossman Top 25:

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

As per usual I am close to the current polls but have a few differences.  And yes, I have LSU leapfrogging Alabama for #2.  Bama ain’t played nobody and LSU just beat Texas so I have to give them the nod here.  I don’t have USC in the Top 25, yet.  Not entirely convinced that they belong there but if they win next week they will be there.  Other than that I am confident that this is the perfect Top 25.  You all agree, right?  Don’t answer that.

Another recap done.  Hurricane Dorian was devastating to the Bahamas.  The States were mostly spared from the destruction.  So for now, we can safely say there will not be games added during conference championship week.  If you have read this blog before, you know my thoughts on these games.  Now they are at the peak of hurricane system so as long as they can get through the next few weeks unscathed there shouldn’t be any scheduling issues and, most importantly, no more damage to people and their property.

Same old, same old with the college football schedule Thursday and the NFL schedule Friday.  We are back in football season, ladies and gentlemen and it feels oh so good.  Enjoy your week everyone.

Most Important Games of the 2019 College Football Season – Part Deux

It looks like we are getting closer to this.  I mean we won’t have NCAA 20 but NCAA 21 is not out of the question.  And all it took is for the NCAA to realize that maybe these players should earn some money on their likeness.  This would also solve the problem of stars getting the same as third-string guards.  So simple yet it took so damn long to figure this out.  Hopefully it pushes through and then I can get a new system to get the newest NCAA game.  Oh you can bet your bottom dollar I would get whatever new system it’s on.

So for the second straight year I feel like a complete moron.  I thought I was smart starting a day earlier than last year’s first CFB blog post.  So what happens yesterday?  A big schedule dump.  ESPN.  FOX.  CBS.  Hell, Stadium, Facebook, CBS Sports Network.  So much updating (although I will admit I had some right).  But the ones that were wrong…well, here are the updates for those:

• I had the Northwestern-Stanford game on the on FOX Sports One.  This game will now be at 4:00 on FOX.  This is a good thing to be wrong about, no?
• FIU-Tulane, the de facto best Group of Five game of Week 1, has been relegated to ESPN3.  Wow, that’s terrible.  It also means we can’t see it up here which may not be that big a loss to be honest with you.
• The OSU Bowl (Oklahoma and Oregon versions) is now not on the specialty pack.  It will be on FOX Sports One.  Had the time right, but the network wrong.  Damn.
• For the second straight year, I got a USC-Stanford game very wrong.  I had the game at 8 on FOX.  It is now on at 10:30 on the specialty pack.  Instead, FOX chose Buffalo-Penn State.  Yeah I don’t get it either.
• With WVU-Mizzou, I hilariously used 24-hour time to say that it was at 7:00.  That is wrong.  It is at noon.  It will probably still be on the specialty pack though so at least that is (probably) correct…probably.
• Arkansas-Ole Miss has moved to 7:30.  I had it 3:30.  Will still be specialty pack.
• I had a feeling that Oklahoma-UCLA might be picked up FOX.  And it was!  It will now air at 8:00.
• Stanford-UCF still will probably go to ABC but not at Noon anymore.  It has been moved to 3:30 which I am sure the people who bought tickets to that game are very happy about.
• We still can’t see Cy-Hawk but the time was moved from Noon to 4:00.

So to be honest it wasn’t THAT bad.  Now we get to what is truly speculative as 95% of games from Week 4 on have little to no information attached to them.  This is where I can REALLY screw things up.  So let’s begin shall we?

Week 4

Game of the Week: Notre Dame at Georgia (8:00, CBS) – CBS gets one primetime game a season (unless they lobby for 2 but it costs them).  Normally this is LSU-Alabama but this season they could not, in good conscience, let this one opportunity pass them by.  You can say whatever you want about the Fighting Irish but they deliver ratings and if this game lives up to the previous game these two teams, it should be massive.  It helps that the week that houses LSU-Bama is not a good week, schedule-wise, for the SEC.

Other Really Important Games: Auburn at Texas A&M (3:30, CBS) – First two games this week are CBS games.  Happens pretty much never and is a coup for the network.  The other thing that strikes me is this is happening and neither game involves Alabama.  Which I am sure someone will mention in the hype going into these two games.  Anyway, the winner keeps their shot at usurping the Tide while the loser probably hopes to go to the Outback Bowl.

Michigan at Wisconsin (Noon, FOX) – Last year, the game in this very spot was Notre Dame-Wake Forest.  Seriously.  Look it up if you want.  This is a deadly game for both teams so early on in the season.  The Big Ten is not known for having huge September conference games but here we are.  This feels like it is more important for Michigan because of two obvious facts: 1) they play in the very difficult Big Ten East which should be really good again this year, and 2) Ohio State fans won’t let them forget it if they lose.  I don’t know which is worse to be honest.

Oregon at Stanford (7:30, ABC) – At this point you still have to feel for the Oregon State Beavers.  They play these two teams, U-Dub, Wazzu and Cal every season.  They’d have to pay me a lot to even consider coaching for this program.  Not that that will be an issue but it has to be one of the toughest jobs in Power Five football.  This game here should be yet another classic between these two as (at one point) consensus 2020 #1 pick Justin Herbert faces off against a usually tough Stanford defense.  I’d love to say the winner has a leg up in the Pac-12 North but considering what happened last year, that is not a guarantee.

Michigan State at Northwestern (8:30, FOX) – This might be overshadowed by the above-mentioned Michigan-Wisky battle.  Also being on the late FOX broadcast might hurt a bit too.  Not sure it will go on this late but it is in Evanston which is Central Time Zone so who the hell knows.

Oklahoma State at Texas (7:00, specialty pack) – Will Texas be as good as last season?  There’s a good possibility yes so Tom Herman and his fancy grill can keep smiling at this point.  But you can never count out The Mullet.  Mike Gundy almost always has good teams and this year’s Cowboys should be better than last year’s so an upset is not impossible.  Sooner fans will be watching this one in earnest.

Tennessee at Florida (7:00, specialty pack) – It’s not “Is Texas Back?” anymore.  It’s “Is Tennessee back?”  Now that the Longhorns are good again, many are craving for the good ol’ days of the Vols being good as well.  Maybe once they apologize for shitcanning Phil Fulmer they can truly turn the corner since they have never really recovered from that.  No longer the Champions of Life, the Vols will try to eek out a new existence under second-year coach Jeremy Pruitt who will try to become another Kirby Smart.  Oh yeah, and Florida is in this and they will be good and have one of the best coaches in the land but who cares about that right?

Utah at USC (Friday, 9:00, FOX Sports One) – Can’t win em all right?  This may still move although it seems to be cemented on Friday night.  With no ESPN game on that night, it may appear there so who knows.  Even though it is Week Four it is still rather early to figure some of these things out.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: South Carolina at Missouri (Noon, TSN1) – This may essentially end up being an early season SEC East elimination game.  The loser here will have pretty much no shot at going to Atlanta on December 7th.  Also, this should be a pretty evenly-matched game.  Now watch it be a blowout.  Look it was either this or Cal-Ole Miss for this spot.  My options were thin.

Best Group of Five Game: Air Force at Boise State (Friday, 9:00, specialty pack) – You know, after one bad Air Force season many people, including myself, figured the Falcons would be that way for a while.  So what did Troy Calhoun do?  Just coach them to back-to-back good seasons.  And I am sure this year will be no different.  It is on the blue turf in Boise which is tough for any team but the AFA has done fairly well here in the past.

Worst Power Five Game: West Virginia at Kansas (3:30, FOX Sports One) – Let’s be honest: it will take a lot more than hiring Les Miles to turn this program around.  Even the hype of him arriving isn’t leading many to anoint Kansas as an up-and-coming team just yet.

Week 5

Game of the Week: Ohio State at Nebraska (8:30, FOX) – Not a bad week but not a great one as you can see by my choice of GOTW.  No earth-shattering potential games of the year this week (barring any upsets of course).  However, there is a caveat here:  if Scott Frost can somehow make this Husker team an 8 or 9-win team this season then watch out because this could be a prime candidate for a massive upset and season-changing game.  Or it could end up being a blowout.  Who knows.

Other Really Important Games: Mississippi State at Auburn (3:30, CBS) – CBS really racking up the good games early on in the season.  Brad Nessler must be so happy…now he just needs a close game to call, for once.  I wonder what these two programs would be like if they didn’t have Alabama in their division.  I am sure these fanbases have thought of that many times before as these two teams should be firmly in the Top 20 by this point of the season.

Virginia at Notre Dame (3:30, NBC) – The Fighting Irish’s ACC-heavy schedule continues this season (and will for the next 18 years I believe) with a game against the Hoos.  Remember the last time these two teams met?  A last-minute long touchdown pass by the Irish followed by that one fan just hanging over the wall to show his despair.  Many tried to emulate that student in subsequent games in Charlottesville but he was the original.  Anyway, I am sure many college football fans around the country would love to see the Irish faithful look that way after this game.

Washington State at Utah (9:15, specialty pack) – There were a couple of weeks last year where ESPN did not have a 3:30 game and instead ran a 6:00 and 9:15 game instead.  I have a feeling this will be one of those weeks.  Don’t ask me why though since it’s more like “they had one in September last season so I am sure they will have one in September this season”.  As for the two combatants, this should be some really good Pac-12 After Dark action between teams that are looking to make a bigger mark on the conference and win a conference title.

Northwestern at Wisconsin (Noon, ABC) – This feels like your typical early-afternoon Big Ten game.  A lot of offense although much of it will be on the ground.  Great defense, especially on the Wisky side of things.  And potentially a Big Ten West elimination game depending on how these two teams fare the rest of the way.  Should be good.

USC at Washington (7:30, ABC) – The Pac-12 always gets a couple of primetime ABC games and so does the Big XII.  Honestly it sometimes feels weird to put anything other than a Big Ten game there since they get way more games in that timeslot.  I figured this is one of the better games as long as USC is already playing better.  Let’s be honest: if the Trojans aren’t doing well at this point it might be the end for Clay Helton since that shit won’t fly (for very long) in southern California.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: NC State at Florida State (7:00, specialty pack) – Even when the Noles were really good, they seemed to have problems with the Wolfpack.  This becomes potentially one of the more important games of the week if A) NC State doesn’t lose too much with the graduation of Ryan Finley and B) Willie Taggart truly has the Seminoles firing on most, if not all, cylinders.

Best Group of Five Game: Houston at North Texas (8:00, Facebook) – Yes.  Facebook.  We are living in a bit of a new age my friend.  I watched a few minutes of a game on Twitter a couple years back and it wasn’t bad to be honest.  I prefer watching it on TV but sometimes you take what you can get.  Here we have Houston who should once again be trying to usurp UCF as the American Conference’s top dog and North Texas who should, once again, be a contender in Conference USA.  On paper this looks good.  Let’s hope it lives up to that and it will be interesting to see what it’s like to watch a game on Facebook.  I am intrigued I gotta tell ya.

Worst Power Five Game: Wake Forest at Boston College (3:30, specialty pack) – And honestly this isn’t even that bad a game.  It’s just one of those weeks with quite a few decent games but no eye-openers.

Week 6

Game of the Week: Michigan State at Ohio State (7:30, ABC) – There is a small possibility that this moves to FOX at Noon so this, like most of this post, is not set in stone yet.  Two Big Ten East contenders.  Two Big Ten contenders.  Potentially, two CFP contenders.  Now if it does go to FOX, there’s a possibility of seeing GUS JOHNSON lose his voice or have an aneurysm.  Neither of which would be nice to see at all.

Other Really Important Games: Auburn at Florida (7:00, TSN2) – Many would say this should be the game of the week.  And I wouldn’t say you were wrong.  Both teams look good heading into the season and there’s always talk about Gus Malzahn being shitcanned so that is fun for people who like that kind of thing.

Virginia Tech at Miami (3:30, ABC) – Hey remember when these two teams were in the Big East and it was awesome?  Miami is finally back to a level where they are competing for a Top 10 spot and VaTech takes a big dump for a couple years.  This could be the first year in a long time that both teams are very good and should compete for the ACC crown (yes, even with Clemson in the conference).  Ya know, I kind of wish the Big East was back.  It was a fun conference.

Washington at Stanford (7:30, FOX) – The four-team round-robin of doom and destruction for the Pac-12 North (say that five times fast) continues here.  The Pac-12 needs one of those four to just break out and win every game so they don’t look like a terrible conference yet again.  And also it’s not late night so Chris Petersen has to be happy.  Now watch it get moved to like an 11:00 pm timeslot.

Georgia at Tennessee (3:30, CBS) – The “Is Texas Back?” game is now being replaced with the “Is Tennessee back?” game.  And it may be just as annoying.  Despite the fact Florida looks like a bonafide SEC East contender and despite the fact Kentucky, Missouri and South Carolina just need a couple of breaks this season to seriously contend, many college football experts will be telling everyone who will listen how the Vols are the real scary team in the SEC East.  Uh, they have to show it first.  The former Champions of Life need to prove they compete.  This may end up as a game that shouldn’t have been in this section but for now I am going with the fact that Tennessee, at the very least, will be quite improved this season.

Iowa at Michigan (3:30, TSN2) – FOX seems to be taking a back seat to Disney this week with their (predicted) selections.  Then again, they may surprise me and take this game and not Northwestern-Nebraska for their Noon start.  Man, the Pac-12 has to be pissed that FOX said that their best games will be on at Noon.  I am sure, at some point, someone will ask if 9:00 am start times out on the West Coast are feasible.

TCU at Iowa State (3:30, specialty pack) – I would love to have them mic up the coaches for this game.  Not as much for Matt Campbell (he’s a great, young coach with a bright future), but more for Gary Patterson.  I’m sure that guy would be a ton of fun to listen to and he has shown that during those ESPN Super-Duper-MegaCast things.  Plus I am sure some stathead could come up with a metric that shows how much of his voice Gary loses during a game since it sounds like he has bronchitis every time he does an interview after a game.

Texas at West Virginia (4:00, FOX) – These are the times when I wonder if Sportsnet will ever get back into the college football game.  I know they, for some reason, have hockey games on at 2:00.  If they were ever able to push that afternoon game to 3:30 then they could simsub a game from FS1 perhaps (although we all know it would be a simsub of the FOX game instead) at Noon.  Anyway, I am quite interested to see how a Holgorsen-less Mountaineers squad does this year.  They also don’t have Will Grier but that might be less of an issue.  And Texas is (back) Texas.

Northwestern at Nebraska (Noon, FOX) – There are a lot of pretty good games this weekend.  Considering that, it is still only the 7th best week of the college football season.  And only the fifth-best before November.  Oh man I am getting stoked for this season.  So let’s see if Coach Frosty and his merry band of Huskers can improve this season and go to a bowl game or if it has just become the norm in Lincoln to have a team that does not, in any way, resemble those crazy-good teams of the 80s and 90s.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Arizona at Colorado (4:00, Pac-12 Network) – Both of these teams could put a huge monkey wrench in the often-ridiculous Pac-12 South.  And I guess some of you can watch this game if you have the means to watch the Pac-12 Network this year (I am working on that myself).

Best Group of Five Game: UCF at Cincinnati (Friday, 8:00, specialty pack) – This could end up being the game that decides the Group of Five New Year’s Six spot.  UCF is UCF and has been good for a few years now and the Bearcats have had a resurgence under Luke Fickell.  And they get most of the national spotlight on the Friday night so a lot of people will again be reminded that football in the American Conference can be pretty damn good when it doesn’t involve UConn.

Worst Power Five Game: Maryland at Rutgers (3:30, BTN) – Ah Rutgers back in the Rutgers spot.  I might even struggle to put Kansas here with the hiring of Les Miles.  Oregon State is still shitty but less people watch those games because of that damn East Coast bias and the fact that the majority of their games are on a network (Pac-12 Network) that most people in Canada don’t get.  So by default, Rutgers is the garbage juice of the Power Five this season until further notice.

Week 7

Game of the Week: Alabama at Texas A&M (3:30, CBS) – The SEC has a huge week this week.  And this is the biggest game of a huge bunch.  Jimbo might have his Aggies ready to go for this one and Kyle Field should be shaking (literally).  A Bama loss turns the College Football Playoff on its head.  I am sure that will mentioned a few hundred times early on in the game by Brad and Gary.

Other Really Important Games: Florida at LSU (7:00, TSN2) – Basically GOTW 1B to Bama-TAMU’s GOTW 1A.  Considering both of these teams are legitimate dark horse contenders for the CFP and the Gators are in the SEC’s easier division, this should be great and means, at least in the SEC’s mind, they own the late afternoon and early timeslots.  Sometimes it does just mean more, you know what I’m sayin?

Oklahoma vs. Texas (in Dallas) (Noon, FOX) – It’s the God Damn Red River Shootout!  Can we call this Game of the Week 1C?  Sure we can!  I hate the pussified version of the rivalry name because they don’t want you to use the word shoot.  Give me a fucking break.  Such a complete overreaction.  I would like to know the amount of times someone brought that up when they accused of some sort of gun-related violence.  “Yeah officer I wasn’t going to shoot but then I saw the rotten corpse of what used to be the great Cotton Bowl and remembered the Red River Shootout is still played there and I couldn’t help myself so I shot the guy eighteen times.”

Michigan State at Wisconsin (3:30, FOX Sports One) – Every year, FOX Sports One gets at least a couple of games that would easily be candidates for the main FOX network.  They are put there to raise the profile of FS1 and try to get more Americans to add the channel to their cable packages.  Unfortunately that leaves us Canadians out in the cold.  Let’s just be thankful that the College Football Playoff wasn’t moved to FS1.  I have no idea why that would happen but the uproar would be massive.

South Carolina at Georgia (Noon, TSN2) – Man this week is packed with good games.  No wonder it’s the second best week of the college football season (and the best before November).  That this is the fifth-best game of the week says it all.  I am still waiting for South Carolina to finally win the SEC one of these days.  They have been to one SEC Championship, back in 2010, and got absolutely crushed by Auburn.  It would definitely make for a good story if they made it back to Atlanta this year.  Of course the Bulldogs don’t care about good stories and Kirby Smart wants another shot at the top prize after the heartbreaking loss two years ago in the National Championship.

Virginia at Miami (Friday, 8:00, TSN2) – The Hoos are good again!  Helps to have a guy who takes no bullshit, uh, I mean, bull-phooey like Bronco Mendenhall in charge.  He didn’t take long to turn the Cavaliers around but now with guys actually being drafted it will be interesting to see the encore.  Miami has a new QB in oft-transferred Tate Martell.  He was in that Netflix show QB1: Beyond the Lights.  A good show if you want something to watch.

Florida State at Clemson (7:30, ABC) – It is rare that the ABC Primetime game would be this low on the list.  This is more of a classic matchup than the current huge games and rivalries.  Until the Noles prove that they are truly back, this should go down as an easy Clemson win.  But that’s why you play the game (as Clemson fans hark back to their upset loss a while back to Syracuse).

USC at Notre Dame (7:30, NBC) – This feels like a trap game.  For both the Irish and us fans.  First of all, the Irish have to expect to come into this game as the relatively heavy favourites even if the Trojans turn it on to start the season.  Touchdown Jesus has a tougher schedule this season so they can’t take games like this likely or otherwise they can forget the CFB or even the NY6.  As for us fans, this could end up being a primetime blowout which feels like the worst kind of blowout.  The hype coming in gets crushed quickly.  At least this week there are other options during the same timeslot.

Penn State at Iowa (Noon, ABC) – You know what?  I just love that Iowa Wave.  Just wanted to say that.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Syracuse at NC State (Thursday, 8:00, specialty pack) – Rarely does the college football week start of with a really good Thursday nighter.  I mean it’s happened before and these contests are hyped to the tits!  Until Clemson falters, these games will always feel a bit second-rate though but it should be a nice matchup for a Thursday night for sure.

Best Group of Five Game: Cincinnati at Houston (3:30, specialty pack) – I have this down as one of the very few reverse mirrors of the season and one of the very few AAC games on ABC.  Depending on what the other game is (right now I have Michigan-Illinois) we might get this game in our area as the ABC game.  Highly doubtful though.  Possible move to TSN could happen as well and I can’t even guess that at this time.  I am very intrigued to see Drunk Uncle Dana with the Cougs.  I wonder if he parlays this new job into a G5 NY6 spot.

Worst Power Five Game: Louisville at Wake Forest (4:00, specialty pack) – This is around the time the ACC Network will regress like the SEC Network does.  They get the shittier games every week and with a 12-day hold on most of them, there’s almost no chance they get a big game unless a team needs to make an appearance on the network to satisfy one of the criteria.  I feel almost sad that Wake Forest has now appeared in this spot twice.  They aren’t even a bad team.  But when they face teams like North Carolina and Louisville there’s not a whole lot they can do, right?

We are halfway through the season now (with these posts).  14 weeks this year!  WOOHOO!  And remember that networks have the options for 12-day holds on selecting games to show.  This means many of these could be wrong because of that.  That’s who I will blame if this happens.  Not myself.  No sir.

I have not picked up a college football preview magazine yet.  Are there any out?  I haven’t seen any yet but then again I haven’t been in many places that would have them.  I have ordered the Phil Steele magazine (as I have mentioned before) and will probably get Street & Smith’s, Athlon and Lindy’s.  Enough reading for the summer to set me up for college football season which is…still 82 days away.  Ugh.  Have a great week everyone!

You don’t have to be an Eli Manning fan to see this is bullshit – Week 13 NFL TV Schedule

What Ben McAdoo did in benching Eli Manning was bad.  McAdoo does deserve to be fired and I believe they should do at halftime at one of their remaining home games.  But to bench him for Geno Fucking Smith?  Seriously?  I mean it would be one thing to say “Hey we are giving Davis Webb a shot and see what he’s got.”  That would be fine.  Would suck for Eli but at least it wouldn’t leave a bad taste in everyone’s mouths.  Hell, even Cowboys, Redskins and Eagles fans are probably saying “That is some supremely fucked up shit.”  Geno Smith is not a good quarterback and really has no place in an NFL lineup.  But hey, what do I know?

So let’s just get to the schedule before this boils over into something really angry.

Sunday Early

New England at Buffalo	Seattle, Spokane, Buffalo, Rochester, Burlington, Boston		Kitchener, Toronto, Montreal, Atlantic
Kansas City at NY Jets
San Francisco at Chicago
Houston at Tennessee
Indianapolis at Jacksonville
Minnesota at Atlanta		All affiliates (except Detroit & Buffalo)	BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Winnipeg, Northern Ontario, Ottawa
Detroit at Baltimore		Detroit		TSN4
Tampa Bay at Green Bay
Denver at Miami

Sunday Late

Cleveland at LA Chargers	Minneapolis, Detroit, Cleveland			TSN4
Carolina at New Orleans		Minneapolis, Detroit, Buffalo, Rochester, Boston	Saskatchewan, Winnipeg, Northern Ontario, Kitchener, Toronto, Ottawa		Atlantic
NY Giants at Oakland		Burlington	Montreal
LA Rams at Arizona		Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane	BC, Alberta

Sunday/Monday Primetime

Philadelphia at Seattle	Sunday, 8:30, NBC, TSN1/3/4/5, CTV Two
Pittsburgh at Cincinnati	Monday, 8:30, TSN1/3/4/5

Non-Eli NFL Schedule Points and Stuff

• SIX early games not being shown in Canada.  There are actually more late games (four) being show this Sunday than early games (three).  I don’t think I have ever seen this before.  I will admit though that NE-BUF and MIN-ATL are easily the two best games of the early slate so does it really matter if you can’t see the other games (unless it’s close)?
• The cross-flex doesn’t affect us this week since it is SF-CHI being moved over to CBS and DEN-MIA moved to FOX. two games that none of us can see unless you have the DAZN which in that case…why would you be here looking for a schedule on here?  You must be here for my witty banter.  I get it now.
• No more CFL this season so you will see TSN games all day although it’s a slow start this week.  Only TSN4 showing games before Sunday night at this point.  That should change in upcoming weeks.
• Speaking of TSN, Week 17 is going to be VERY interesting.  The World Juniors will have a full slate of games that day (which usually a Canada game to highlight things in the afternoon).  And it’s the final week of the NFL regular season which is huge and TSN usually capitalizes on that with multiple games on multiple stations.  Don’t know how that will work although when it comes right down to it, hockey is king is the country so the WJHC will take precedence for sure.

Time for the updated playoff picture:

#1 – Pittsburgh (AFC North champ)	#1 – Philadelphia (NFC East champ)
#2 – New England (AFC East champ)	#2 – Minnesota (NFC North champ)
#3 – Tennessee (AFC South champ)	#3 – LA Rams (NFC West champ)
#4 – Kansas City (AFC West champ)	#4 – New Orleans (NFC South champ)
Wild Cards:	Wild Cards:
#5 – Jacksonville	#5 – Carolina
#6 – Buffalo/Baltimore	#6 – Seattle/Atlanta

The Bills and Ravens continue to hold on to a share of that final Wild Card spot with five games to go.  Unfortunately for them there are six teams within two games of them and most of them were expected to be better this season so we should see a dogfight for at least one of those spots.  Other than that not a whole lot of change.  Seeing the Packers and Cowboys two games out of the playoff picture with five games to go is honestly bizarre (although understandable considering their circumstances).

Everyone have a great weekend and enjoy the games!

Forget all the off-the-field shit…It’s turkey time! – Week 12 NFL TV Schedule

For once, let’s forget all the off-the-field shit going on.  Sound good?  So:

• I don’t give a fuck that Jerry Jones and Roger Goodell can’t share the sandbox.  Goodell basically runs the sandbox but Jones has influence over who gets the best Tonka trucks.  Let’s not care about these two jabronies for next few days (or at least until Tuesday morning).
• Ezekiel Elliott is suspended.  Thank god.  Now we can stop with the flip-flopping of will he be suspended?  Will he not be suspended?  Probably a good thing he’s gone now because if the Cowboys can make the playoffs he needs to be there.  But for now, not thinking about it.
• Colin Kaepernick has not been signed and may very well never be signed.  Are the owners colluding?  I don’t think you can legally say that but it sure as hell sounds like it.  But through this weekend, it’s out of my mind.
• Quarterback play in the NFL is probably at the lowest it has been in a couple decades.  Things are going to be looking up but we have to give it two or three years.  But for now, don’t care…ok that is an on-the-field thing but it kind of relates to the previous point so not thinking about it!
• The Chargers can’t even sell out the StubHub Center which is pretty bad because it holds about 30,000 fans.  Then they will be a tenant in the Rams stadium in a couple years.  That’s Plan A.  Brutal.  But let’s forget that the Chargers will play, basically, sixteen road games this season.

Let’s just get to the schedule and pray to God (or whoever you want to pray to) that we get at least a few good games with at least one of those good games on American Thanksgiving Day….so today.

Thursday

Minnesota at Detroit	12:30, FOX, TSN1/4/5, CTV Two
LA Chargers at Dallas	4:30, CBS, TSN1/4/5, CTV Two
NY Giants at Washington	8:30, NBC, TSN1/3/4/5, CTV Two

Sunday Early

Miami at New England	Minneapolis, Detroit, Burlington, Boston		Montreal, Atlantic
Buffalo at Kansas City	Seattle, Spokane, Buffalo, Rochester		Kitchener, Toronto
Cleveland at Cincinnati	Cleveland
Chicago at Philadelphia		Minneapolis, Detroit	BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Winnipeg, Northern Ontario, Ottawa
Carolina at NY Jets		Rochester, Burlington		TSN2
Tampa Bay at Atlanta
Tennessee at Indianapolis

Sunday Late

New Orleans at LA Rams	All affiliates		All affiliates (except BC & Atlantic)
Denver at Oakland
Jacksonville at Arizona
Seattle at San Francisco		Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane, Buffalo, Boston	BC	TSN2

Sunday/Monday Primetime

Green Bay at Pittsburgh	Sunday, 8:30, NBC, TSN2, CTV Two
Houston at Baltimore	Monday, 8:30, TSN 1/4/5

Turkey Weekend NFL-Related Points

• Four games not being shown on Sunday.  Pretty much on par with most weeks so nothing out of the ordinary although it does feel weird to see a Denver-Oakland not being seen anywhere in Canada.
• OK can we cut the FOX-NFC/CBS-ABC horseshit?  The main game on CBS late afternoon is the New Orleans Saints facing the Los Angeles Rams…two NFC teams.  Will it be a good game?  Who knows.  It’s two good teams playing each other and I am fine with that.  But with all the cross-flexing happening so far this season (and sure to happen almost every week the rest of the way) I believe it’s time to evolve how the broadcasts are chosen.  It’s not like these announcers don’t know the other conference.
• The Grey Cup is on Sunday so very little shown on the TSN networks.  One game early on TSN2 and the Sunday Night Football affair is also only on TSN2.  Next week it will be back to the way it was up until a few weeks ago with multiple TSN networks being used for the NFL on Sundays.
• Today starts with a huge game followed by two games between four teams that are kind of meh (if not outright bad).  Minnesota-Detroit will get a lot of eyeballs down south…not too many up here with many people working.  It’s the way it is since Detroit always gets the early Thanksgiving matchup.

UPDATE: Seattle at San Francisco now also appearing on TSN2.  Thanks to reader Dan for the update.

Playoff picture time!  Let’s see how bad the AFC is looking these days…

#1 – Pittsburgh (AFC North champ)	#1 – Philadelphia (NFC East champ)
#2 – New England (AFC East champ)	#2 – Minnesota (NFC North champ)
#3 – Jacksonville (AFC South champ)	#3 – New Orleans (NFC South champ)
#4 – Kansas City (AFC West champ)	#4 – LA Rams (NFC West champ)
Wild Cards:	Wild Cards:
#5 – Tennessee	#5 – Carolina
#6 – Buffalo/Baltimore	#6 – Seattle/Atlanta/Detroit

The fact that Buffalo and Baltimore are tied for the final playoff spot shows how terrible the AFC is past the top three really.  KC will have a chance to get back into that rarefied air of the AFC elite, funny enough, against the Bills on Sunday.  Let’s be honest, the NFC playoffs look STACKED and should be a lot of fun.  Meaning ESPN would get the #6 AFC seed traveling to Jacksonville.  Ugh.  I can’t say poor ESPN because they signed this deal but man do they ever get fucked with the playoffs.

Alright enjoy the games everyone.  Hopefully you get your fill of football with the NFL and the college ranks.  I can’t see how you could handle more football than you will get for the next four days because it is a shit-ton.

Who you got in a fight: Rockin’ Roger Goodell or Jumpin’ Jerry Jones? – Week 11 NFL TV Schedule

Do I really care?  No.  But it’s the NFL, once again, making the off-the-field shenanigans bigger news than anything that could happen on the field.  It’s ridiculous.  So good ol’ Double J (J-E-Double R hahaha) doesn’t want Goodell to get a contract extension.  Presumably so he can rightfully take his spot on the throne as NFL’s overlord.  And by throne I definitely mean the shitter and not anything regal.  So now some of the owners (and I assume Goodell) are looking at removing Jerry from the owners’ group.  Kind of like a no Jerrys allowed policy.  And by Jerrys I mean plural.  So Jerry Richardson can stay…for now.  It’s all one big clusterfuck and in the end, Roger will get an insane amount of money, Jonesy will slink back to Dallas with his tail between his legs and wait a few years before the next time he can raise a huge stink.  What a debacle.

Alright let’s get to the schedule…you know, the games.  The reason we watch football?

Sunday Early

Kansas City at NY Giants	Buffalo, Rochester, Burlington, Boston		Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Atlantic
Baltimore at Green Bay	Seattle, Spokane, Detroit		BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Northern Ontario
Jacksonville at Cleveland	Cleveland
Washington at New Orleans
LA Rams at Minnesota		Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane, Minneapolis, Burlington, Boston	Winnipeg		All affiliates
Arizona at Houston
Detroit at Chicago		Detroit	Kitchener
Tampa Bay at Miami

Sunday Late

New England vs. Oakland (in Mexico City)	All affiliates (except Cleveland)				All affiliates
Cincinnati at Denver	Cleveland
Buffalo at LA Chargers		Buffalo, Rochester	BC

Sunday/Monday Primetime

Philadelphia at Dallas	Sunday, 8:30, NBC, TSN 1/3/4/5, CTV Two
Atlanta at Seattle	Monday, 8:30, TSN 1/3/4/5

Random-Ass Shit and Stuff

• So again the Los Angeles area gets both LA-area teams’ games on Sunday.  I don’t know what happened last week with the Chargers and Jaguars going into overtime.  So if it worked out, then that’s good news for the NFL.  If even one little portion of viewers got switched to the later game then it’s a colossal fuck-up.  There is no in between.
• Mexico City Football!  And it’s in the afternoon timeslot!  So everyone can watch it like normal human beings.  Hey let’s scrap the London games and put them in Mexico City and Regina.  This way they would show during the day on Sunday and not either a) in the morning when fuck that we aren’t on the West Coast so Sunday morning football doesn’t work for us or b) in the early afternoon timeslot where it’s picked up by almost no affiliate and no one gives a shit.
• CFL Division Finals are this Sunday so no games during the game on TSN networks again.
• Most of the CTVs (other than BC) not showing football in the afternoon.  This is kind of odd at first.  However, I remember that CTV, almost every year, shows the Santa Claus Parade.  So there you go.
• Three games, all early ones, not showing in Canada.  Tampa Bay-Miami is the make up to the hurricane-postponed Week 1 matchup.  This means the Bucs and Dolphins have to play sixteen weeks in a row.  Nice.  They need two bye weeks and soon.

Alright now the playoff picture after Pittsburgh’s beating of Tennessee last night:

#1 – Pittsburgh (AFC North champ)	#1 – Philadelphia (NFC East champ)
#2 – New England (AFC East champ)	#2 – Minnesota (NFC North champ)
#3 – Jacksonville (AFC South champ)	#3 – New Orleans (NFC South champ)
#4 – Kansas City (AFC West champ)	#4 – LA Rams (NFC West champ)
Wild Cards:	Wild Cards:
#5 – Tennessee	#5 – Carolina
#6 – Buffalo	#6 – Seattle

Buffalo is still in the #6 spot.  So what do they do?  Decide to start Nathan Peterman over Tyrod Taylor.  What in the actual fuck?  This has the feeling of Robb Johnson over Doug Flutie all over again.  And we know how that one turned out.  This can’t go well for the suddenly imploding Bills.  In the NFC, it feels like the division leaders are WAY out in front of everyone else.  In actuality, the Rams, Saints and Vikings are all just a half-game ahead of Carolina and one game ahead of Seattle.  It’s the same scenario as the AFC really.  Just doesn’t feel that way.

Alright, enjoy the games everyone!  I am going to be slowly starting to get back into the NFL swing of things, especially with American Thanksgiving a mere six days from now.  Soon enough I will be watching almost 11 hours of football on Sunday to replace the normal 14 or so on Saturdays these days.  I’ll sleep when I’m dead.

So what the hell is happening down in Arizona? – Week 4 NFL Recap

They have the talent to win the NFC West.  Not easily, mind you.  With Seattle there it would be tough.  But overall they have probably the best team in entire league.  Problem is you have to play the games.  And they have looked like shit for the most part.  Pretty much non-competitive.  Worst part is they had Los Angeles and Buffalo on the schedule and looked bad in both.  Games they should have won.  With Tom Brady out they should have beat the Patriots.  They should be 4-0.  Should.  But they aren’t.  They’re 1-3.  I figured they’d end up 13-3 this season.  So get moving Cardinals.  Maybe Bruce Arians just needs a new funky hat.  A red sombrero perhaps?

Other Things

• American Football in London. In the morning (here at least).  On the west coast it started at 6:30.  6:30!  I get the whole West Coast-bias thing but that has to be one of the positives.  Finished watching Sunday Night Football at 9:00?  Sweet!  Oh yeah, by the way, the game was actually pretty good between two relatively bad teams.  Jacksonville should just be happy to get a national audience.
• Buffalo shut out New England. No this is not a misprint.  So the Bills finally win a big game (albeit against a third-string quarterback) and I, in my brilliance, picked the Patriots to win.  Thanks for ruining my gambling, Rex.
• Do the referees understand what a fumble is? Duke Johnson fumbles the ball for the Browns and then comes out of the pile with the ball.  The refs signal Washington ball.  Huh?  I get that officials have a tough job but come on.  It seems like more and more they are getting important calls wrong.  Not the “pass interference that may or may not be pass interference calls.”  Those are fine.  It’s the “last play of the game and is it a touchdown or not” type of call that they seem to blow time and time again.  Not good.  And why do they still have the chain gang?
• Speaking of teams that are really underperforming, what’s up with the Panthers? Another team that should have moved relatively easily through their division schedule.  So what do they do?  Start 1-3 including a loss to Atlanta where the Falcons put up 48 on them.  No wonder the dab is dead.
• The Raiders are for real. I repeat, the Raiders are for real.  Great win for Oakland over Baltimore (who has been surprisingly good so far this season).  I think we are going headlong into a Raiders-Broncos AFC West showdown since the Chiefs and Chargers look awful.
• OK what is it this season with playing football in Tampa? For the second straight week there was a weather delay in a Buccaneers game.  And for the second straight week the Bucs lost.  This one wasn’t nearly as close though.  I will say it again: even God doesn’t want the Bucs to play.
• Why do the primetime games seem so awful? Almost none of them have been close this season.  An epidemic?    I am sure Twitter has weighed in and they now have a battle royale Tweet-off to determine the winner.

OK that is it, that is all.  Next week, I will be watching college football and the NFL pretty much all weekend because I am insane.  At least I will have fun.  Now I have to figure out what awful (but tasty) food I will get to accompany my smorgasbord of football.

Bowl Game TV Schedule

It’s that time of year. It’s BOWL GAME SEASON! But I totally agree with the fact that there are too many bowls. The fact that there are three 5-7 teams in bowl games is bad enough. The worst has to be the fact that there are forty bowl games and one is stuck with an inter-conference matchup. They couldn’t figure out a way to not have this happen with about 60% of the teams involved? That’s insane. I wish they would take an objective look at this (they being the NCAA and most importantly, ESPN) and do the following:

• Take anywhere from 5-10 bowls away. There are too many. My reasoning is not because there are 5-7 teams involved (although that’s a small part of it). It more has to do with the fact that some games are on at stupid times. To have a game on a weekday a few days before Christmas in the middle of the afternoon is beyond asinine. During the week (except for Christmas Day), if a bowl game is on a weekday, it should start no earlier than 5:00 on the east coast. Fuck the people of the west coast and being three hours behind. You guys get to watch the late, late games and have them done around 11:00 while us suckers on the east coast are up until 2 in the morning. This is our payback.
• Only allow bowl tie-ins in the following ways: for Power Five conferences, they have four tie-ins; for Group of Five conferences, they have three. Beyond that, everything is at-large. On Selection Sunday (we didn’t get it here in Canada but it sounded boring as shit), have representatives from all the bowls with no tie-ins (or only one tie-in) go through a random draw a la the NBA Draft. Then once the order is determined, each spot gets five minutes to make their team selection. Talk about adding a bit of excitement to the proceedings. All of a sudden, a ton more eyeballs may be on the Cure Bowl because they somehow nabbed USC and Georgia, for example, rather than what they have now (no offense to San Jose State and Georgia State).
• Put more games on network television. I know ESPN is the KING OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL but it would be nice to spread the wealth around. Having a game on American Sports Network (MyTV out of Buffalo) is a good thing because it spreads things around. I wish they had another game or two on ABC and another game on CBS. Just a few. And for fuck’s sake, if CBS is doing the Sun Bowl can you please make it so an SEC West team has to go there. Send a Big XII team there as well. Or a Conference USA team. Having an ACC vs. Pac-12 match matchup there makes no sense in El Paso on the network that shows the SEC Game of the Week. Did no one think this through?

I have more issues but those are the major ones that, I believe, would help immensely with the cash-grab known as bowl season. Don’t even get me started with all the swag the students get. How in the hell is that OK, yet any other time if a student-athlete accepts four French fries he’s banned for life from the NCAA? What a joke.

Anyway, here is the schedule. I will do a little explaining on it below:

December 19	New Mexico Bowl (Arizona vs. New Mexico)	2:00 PM	TSN2
December 19	Las Vegas Bowl (BYU vs. Utah)	3:30 PM	ABC
December 19	Camellia Bowl (Appalachian State vs. Ohio)	5:30 PM	TSN2
December 19	Cure Bowl (Georgia State vs. San Jose State)	7:00 PM	CBSSN
December 19	New Orleans Bowl (Arkansas State vs. Louisiana Tech)	9:00 PM	TSN2
December 21	Miami Beach Bowl (USF vs. Western Kentucky)	2:30 PM	SP
December 22	Idaho Potato Bowl (Akron vs. Utah State)	3:30 PM	TSN2
December 22	Boca Raton Bowl (Temple vs. Toledo)	7:00 PM	TSN2
December 23	Poinsettia Bowl (Boise State vs. Northern Illinois)	4:30 PM	TSN*
December 23	GoDaddy Bowl (Bowling Green vs. Georgia Southern)	8:00 PM	TSN*
December 24	Bahamas Bowl (Middle Tennessee vs. Western Michigan)	12:00 PM	TSN4/TSN5
December 24	Hawaii Bowl (Cincinnati vs. San Diego State)	8:00 PM	SP
December 26	St. Petersburg Bowl (Connecticut vs. Marshall)	11:00 AM	SP
December 26	Sun Bowl (Miami vs. Washington State)	2:00 PM	CBS
December 26	Heart of Dallas Bowl (Southern Miss vs. Washington)	2:20 PM	SP
December 26	Pinstripe Bowl (Duke vs. Indiana)	3:30 PM	ABC
December 26	Independence Bowl (Tulsa vs. Virginia Tech)	5:45 PM	TSN2
December 26	Foster Farms Bowl (Nebraska vs. UCLA)	9:15 PM	TSN2
December 28	Military Bowl (Navy vs. Pittsburgh)	2:30 PM	SP
December 28	Quick Lane Bowl (Central Michigan vs. Minnesota)	5:00 PM	SP
December 29	Armed Forces Bowl (Air Force vs. California)	2:00 PM	SP
December 29	Russell Athletic Bowl (Baylor vs. North Carolina)	5:30 PM	TSN2
December 29	Arizona Bowl (Colorado State vs. Nevada)	7:30 PM	MyTV
December 29	Texas Bowl (LSU vs. Texas Tech)	9:00 PM	TSN2
December 30	Birmingham Bowl (Auburn vs. Memphis)	12:00 PM	SP
December 30	Belk Bowl (Mississippi State vs. NC State)	3:30 PM	SP
December 30	Music City Bowl (Louisville vs. Texas A&M)	7:00 PM	SP
December 30	Holiday Bowl (USC vs. Wisconsin)	10:30 PM	TSN1/TSN3
December 31	Peach Bowl (Florida State vs. Houston)	12:00 PM	SP
December 31	Orange Bowl (Clemson vs. Oklahoma)	4:00 PM	TSN*
December 31	Cotton Bowl (Alabama vs. Michigan State)	8:00 PM	TSN1/TSN4/TSN5
January 01	Outback Bowl (Northwestern vs. Tennessee)	12:00 PM	TSN4/TSN5
January 01	Citrus Bowl (Florida vs. Michigan)	1:00 PM	ABC/TSN2
January 01	Fiesta Bowl (Notre Dame vs. Ohio State)	1:00 PM	TSN1/TSN3
January 01	Rose Bowl (Iowa vs. Stanford)	5:00 PM	TSN*
January 01	Sugar Bowl (Oklahoma State vs. Ole Miss)	8:30 PM	TSN*
January 02	TaxSlayer Bowl (Georgia vs. Penn State)	12:00 PM	SP
January 02	Liberty Bowl (Arkansas vs. Kansas State)	3:20 PM	TSN2
January 02	Alamo Bowl (Oregon vs. TCU)	6:45 PM	TSN*
January 02	Cactus Bowl (Arizona State vs. West Virginia)	10:15 PM	TSN*
January 11	National Championship Game (Orange winner vs. Cotton winner)	8:30 PM	TSN*

You’ll notice some games have TSN with an asterisk beside it. At this point, TSN has not given out information on which of the five stations they will put these games on. Here is what I believe will happen:

• December 23^rd – I assume both the Poinsettia Bowl and the GoDaddy Bowl will end up on TSN2.
• December 31^st – The Orange Bowl will probably end up on the same stations as the Cotton Bowl afterwards, namely TSNs 1, 4, and 5.
• January 1^st – The Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl are both on ESPN in the States. So is the Fiesta Bowl earlier in the day. That game is on TSN1 and TSN3. My best guess is that the Rose and Sugar will end up there as well.
• January 2^nd – The Liberty Bowl is on in the middle of the afternoon on TSN2. The Alamo Bowl and Cactus Bowl follow and should follow suit (TSN2 as well).
• January 11^th – With nothing else up against it, the national championship should be on at least three TSNs if not four.

I will update the actual schedule once these stations are announced and confirmed.

As for this weekend, we still have some action. The Army-Navy game is on CBS this Saturday, starting at 3:00. Also, we have two FCS quarter-final games on the specialty packs. Charleston Southern faces off against the #1-ranked FCS team, Jacksonville State (who almost upset Auburn earlier this season). That game is Friday night at 8:00. Saturday at noon it’s Northern Iowa playing the four-time defending champion North Dakota State Bison. Update: Colgate-Sam Houston State has been added at 8:00 Saturday night on the specialty packs.  As far as I can tell it is in SD only.  Update #2: Colgate-SHSU is already over.  It was played at noon.  So I don’t know why this is appearing at 8:00 on the guide.  If it does show, it’s a replay.  So yes, a bit of a lull this weekend before we get hit with bowl game madness starting the following Saturday.