SUPER MEGA HYPER OMNI POST! V3.0

I have done this two times before. Let’s go for number three here. Warning: this post is seriously fucking long. So grab a drink (caffeinated would be a good idea) and settle in.
Instead of doing a full recap and then a full bowl projections post, I figured I would combine them into one insanely long post! Why? I am going to tell myself it’s a great way to save time and not have to do two posts. That is completely erroneous to be truthful but I will keep telling myself that little fib. It was a fairly good weekend of college football which had two major upsets. We are headed into an exciting finish to the season.  Also this post is different and exciting to commemorate the 150th anniversary of when Rutgers could be considered a top team in college football.

Let’s start with recapping the week that was.  Some fun stuff happened and I was totally sleep deprived for Sunday.  A Fall tradition.

• The only ranked-on-ranked game of the week had Ohio State outlast Penn State.  The difference here was basically one guy: Chase Young.  His return from his stupid suspension was a boon for the Buckeye defense as he was all over the Nittany Lion backfield.  He is a lot like Ndamukong Suh was at Nebraska; the best player in the nation who won’t get true Heisman hype.  The tOSU offense did just enough as Justin Fields, who is the second best player on the team, may have booked his trip to New York City in December.  In the end, though, it won’t mean nearly as much if they can’t extend their winning streak against The Team Up North this Saturday.
• LSU beat Arkansas easily.  Alabama beat Western Carolina even easier during SEC Sleepwalk Saturday.  The Tide have to be rooting for the Tigers to win this Saturday and at the SEC Championship and hopefully win big both times.  It’s Bama’s best chance to get in if the Fighting Orgerons look like a dominant #1 team (or at least something to include in the argument for them to be included in the CFP).
• You all saw it I’m sure.  The students from Harvard and Yale doing a protest just before the second half was to begin in the annual game between the two Ivy League stalwarts.  I can honestly say this is something I have never seen before during a game.  And of course Twitter, being full of very level-headed people, went crazy.  People aligned themselves on one side or the other which is what happens in situations like this nowadays.  Here is my take on this.  Are protests a fabric of both the United States and Canada?  I believe they are.  Saying people can’t protest makes us a lot more like China than the countries we are.  Does this also do a disservice to the people involved in the football game?  Absolutely.  Both of these things are, and can be, true.  If these students truly understood the issues surrounding climate change and Harvard and Yale’s role in it, then great.  It’s very rare that this is the case as I have seen many protests in this country where many really have no idea what they are truly protesting and just want to be loud and want to belong.  I think the police did as good a job as they could and didn’t let it become something violent.  I do wish the students that wouldn’t leave unless they were arrested just left.  Being arrested will probably just be something they can yell and scream about when in reality, no one gives a shit because the protest is over at that point.  On top of all this, the game was played at the Yale Bowl which does not have lights and after an hour-plus delay, went to double overtime.  If it had gone any farther the game probably would have had to end in a tie since darkness was quickly settling in.  Just a bizarre day in college football to say the least.
• Georgia’s offense basically took the day off on Saturday.  If it wasn’t for hipster kicker Rodrigo Blankenship, the Dawgs may have blown it against Texas A&M.  A 19-13 victory over the Aggies doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in the team going into the SEC Championship.  They play like this and LSU will put a 50-burger on them and the game will essentially be over by 5:00 Eastern.
• Oregon blew it against Arizona State.  I guess they didn’t play to win the game.  This is bad, not just for the Ducks but for Utah as well (and the Pac-12 as a whole).  Now Utah beating Oregon will not be them beating a Top 10 team.  Chances are Oregon will be a Top 15 team which makes a difference.  It’s also what is needed for the Bama backers who desperately want their team in the College Football Playoff.
• The other huge upset of the day was FIU beating Miami.  Yes this isn’t the Canes of early this century but good God is this team not very good.  And in a pretty bad ACC.  And now they lose to former head coach Butch Davis on the field that was built on the old Orange Bowl grounds.  Yeah this is about as bad as it gets for The U.  Manny Diaz will be on a seriously hot seat to start next season and now some have to look back and take back their thoughts of basically poaching him from Temple as the Owls are doing great under Rod Carey while Miami struggles.
• Some would include Colorado’s victory over Washington as an upset as well.  I do not.  This is easily Chris Petersen’s worst team in all his years of coaching college football.  Mel Tucker has brought the Buffs back to, at least, respectability.  They now have a chance to go bowling.  All they have to do is *checks the schedule* beat Utah.  Aw man.  Sorry guys.
• Cincinnati beat Temple in a very close one.  It all turned on one play.  Temple had an extra point blocked and returned for two points.  So a three point swing on one play.  The Bearcats ended up winning by 2 and seem to be sharing the Group of Five seat with Memphis at the moment.
• If you missed it, there was an absolutely bonkers Pac-12 After Dark affair up in eastern Washington.  It was on the Pac-12 Network (or DAZN up here) so very few would have watched it but it was fantastic.  A back and forth affair where Oregon State scored 29 points in the fourth quarter and LOST!  Wazzu pulled out with a touchdown with 2 seconds left to win 54-53.  So now Oregon State has to *checks the schedule* beat Oregon in the Civil War to become bowl-eligible.  Ugh.  Washington State is now bowl-eligible again and Mike Leach in the postseason is always fun.
• Oklahoma is going to the Big XII Championship!  They clinched their spot by BARELY getting by TCU.  I’m sorry but the Sooners will struggle with Baylor if they play like that (the Bears beat Texas handily).  Then again, if Boomer Sooner wins, do you really want them in the CFP?  I don’t know.
• Wisconsin and Minnesota both won so they are slated to play for the Big Ten West this weekend.  And College Gameday is heading to Minneapolis (finally).  So it is going to be a huge day for the Golden Gophers and if they win they basically clinch no worse than the Rose Bowl in my opinion.
• What a great way to have the Bud Foster send-off.  Virginia Tech whitewashed Pitt and were dominant on defense.  Awesome for Foster’s final game at Lane Stadium.
• Great story of the weekend?  Charlotte becoming bowl-eligible for the first time.  Will Healy did wonders at Austin Peay which was such a terrible FCS program they went almost four years without winning a game and he arrives and they almost go to the playoffs.  Now he does amazing things in his first year in North Carolina and gets the 49ers to the promised land (probably).  Watch them get picked up by the American Conference in a few years to replace UConn.

Now let’s move on to how the conference championships are shaping up as we are down to the ultimate week of the regular season.

It’s the second annual Sun Belt Championship game and I honestly believe Mountain Dew or Peterbilt or something like that should sponsor it.  This is set.  Appalachian State and Louisiana have won their respective divisions and will face off in the championship game at the home of the Mountaineers in Boone, North Carolina.

Conference USA is going to have an exciting race towards the end of the season in the West.  In the East, Florida Atlantic has clinched their spot in the title game.  As for the West, it’s between UAB, Louisiana Tech and Southern Miss and it’s messy.  So on Saturday:

• If all three teams win, Southern Miss wins the division.  Same thing if all three teams lose.
• If Louisiana Tech wins and UAB loses, Louisiana Tech wins the division.
• If UAB and Southern Miss win, Southern Miss wins the division.
• If only one of the three teams wins, that winning team obviously wins the division.

Good lord.  But at least it means it will be a fun final Saturday for this oft-ignored conference.

The MAC title tilt is halfway set.  Miami-OH has already clinched the MAC East.  The MAC West could be finished off tonight.  If Western Michigan beats Northern Illinois, they will go to Detroit to face the Redhawks.  If they lose then Central Michigan has a chance to clinch on Black Friday in their Noon game against Toledo.

This is easy.  Boise State clinched with their crushing of Utah State and then a bit of a shock as Hawaii clinched the West Division as they beat San Diego State in an low-scoring affair.  The game will be on the blue turf in Boise.

Alright Cincinnati is already in.  The West is also easy.  Memphis beats Cincy in the season finale they will have a rematch against the Bearcats also at home.  If they don’t win, and then Navy defeats Houston on Saturday night, the Middies will be heading to Cincinnati.  If both teams lose, Memphis will go to southern Ohio and play Cincinnati quite possibly for the Cotton Bowl spot.

It’s Clemson up against the winner of the Commonwealth Cup.  This is the most important game in the battle for Virginia possibly ever.

This has been set.  The surprising Baylor Bears get their chance at revenge on Oklahoma at JerryWorld.

Oregon is in for the game which starts at 5 local time yet again.  The Pac-12 has, by far, the shittiest set of TV contracts for the Power Five.  This is atrocious.  Now, if Utah wins they face Oregon but if Colorado pulls off the upset then it will be USC, of all teams, going against the Ducks.

Ohio State clinched a tough Big Ten East and will await the Wisconsin-Minnesota winner in Indianapolis.

LSU and Georgia.  No Bama.  The way things are going, though, UGA is going to get boatraced by the Tigers.

So there you go.  Coming up later in the week, we have the massive American Thanksgiving post which is, you guessed it, massive.

Alright, on to my bowl projections as of this today:

Fiesta Bowl	CFP Poll #2 vs. CFP Poll #3	Clemson vs. Ohio State
Peach Bowl	CFP Poll #1 vs. CFP Poll #4	LSU vs. Utah

No changes here.  Utah’s resume took a hit with Oregon’s loss but I still see them holding on to this spot (which means I will probably be wrong).

Has anything changed in the New Year’s Six?

Sugar Bowl	SEC #1 vs. Big XII #1	Alabama vs Baylor
Rose Bowl	Big Ten #1 vs. Pac-12 #1	Michigan vs. Oregon
Orange Bowl	ACC #1 vs. SEC #2/Big Ten #2/Notre Dame/G-5 #1	Wake Forest vs. Georgia
Cotton Bowl	CFP At-Large vs. CFP At-Large/G-5 #1	Oklahoma vs. Boise State

One change.  I’ve put Michigan in the Rose Bowl, replacing Penn State which I am sure no one will bat an eye at, right OK let’s move on.  A LOT could very well change on this section this coming week and I kind of expect it to but I have to go with my gut at this point.  The Orange Bowl spot for the ACC champ is still hilariously sad and I think that might be the big change during the next CFP contract and not a move to expand to eight teams (although a move to five would be fine by me to be honest).

Now the rest of bowl season which is a gongshow because even bowl tie-ins mean nothing anymore but not in a good way.

Mobile Bowl	MAC vs. Sun Belt	Miami-OH vs. Arkansas State
Armed Forces Bowl	Big Ten vs. MWC	Indiana vs. Utah State
Idaho Potato Bowl	MWC vs. MAC	Nevada vs. Ohio
Gator Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Tennessee vs. Minnesota
Birmingham Bowl	SEC/ACC vs. American/ACC	Liberty* vs. Memphis
Outback Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Auburn vs. Penn State
Citrus Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Florida vs. Wisconsin
Alamo Bowl	Big XII vs. Pac-12	Iowa State vs. USC
Arizona Bowl	MWC vs. Sun Belt	San Diego State vs. Arkansas State
Liberty Bowl	SEC/American vs. Big XII/American	Mississippi State vs. Oklahoma State
Sun Bowl	Pac-12 vs. ACC	California vs. Notre Dame
Belk Bowl	SEC vs. ACC	Texas A&M vs. Virginia
Redbox Bowl	Big Ten vs. Pac-12	Illinois vs. Arizona State
Music City Bowl	SEC vs. ACC	Kentucky vs. Virginia Tech
First Responder Bowl	Big XII vs. C-USA	Kansas State vs. Florida Atlantic
Camping World Bowl	Big XII vs. ACC	Texas vs. Miami
Cheez-It Bowl	Big XII/MWC vs. Pac-12/MWC	Hawaii vs. Southern Miss*
Holiday Bowl	Big Ten vs. Pac-12	Iowa vs. Washington State
Texas Bowl	SEC vs. Big XII	Missouri vs. TCU
Pinstripe Bowl	Big Ten vs. ACC	Nebraska vs. Pittsburgh
Military Bowl	ACC vs. American	Louisville vs. Navy
Quick Lane Bowl	Big Ten/MAC vs. ACC/MAC	Western Michigan vs. Florida State
Independence Bowl	SEC/C-USA vs. ACC/American	Marshall vs. Cincinnati
Hawaii Bowl	BYU vs. American/MWC	BYU vs. Wyoming
Gasparilla Bowl	American/ACC vs. C-USA/ACC	UCF vs. UAB
New Orleans Bowl	C-USA vs. Sun Belt	Louisiana Tech vs. Louisiana
Las Vegas Bowl	Pac-12 vs. MWC	Washington vs. Air Force
Camellia Bowl	MAC vs. Sun Belt	Central Michigan vs. Georgia Southern
Boca Raton Bowl	American vs. MAC	SMU vs. Buffalo
Cure Bowl	American vs. Sun Belt	Temple vs. Georgia State
New Mexico Bowl	MWC vs. C-USA	Army* vs. Western Kentucky
Frisco Bowl	American vs. MAC/C-USA	Tulane vs. Eastern Michigan
Bahamas Bowl	MAC vs. C-USA	Toledo vs. Charlotte

A few notes for your perusal:

• No 5-7 teams.  And no teams left out at 6-6.  Everything fits perfectly like a puzzle with all the pieces actually in the box.  We all know what will happen right?  Certainly not this.
• I am sticking with the tie-ins as best I can.  I don’t know why though since the bowls don’t seem to care themselves sometimes.
• Hawaii, as far as I know, is not locked in to the Hawaii Bowl now that they are bowl-eligible.  Still a good chance they end up there but I have this feeling they will hit the mainland for their bowl game this season.
• Look at Charlotte!  I have them kicking off the bowl season by going to the Bahamas!  Talk about a great season for those players and staff.
• As for tie-ins that don’t work, I have Army filing in to the New Mexico Bowl thanks to Boise State going to the Cotton Bowl, Southern Miss going to the Cheez-It Bowl because the Big XII and Pac-12 don’t have enough eligible teams (thanks to me putting Utah in the CFP) and Liberty heading to the Birmingham Bowl due to the SEC and ACC not having enough eligible teams.  These split tie-ins are so weird and even dumber when they don’t even work out.  When two conferences can’t fill a single bowl slot you know there’s an issue.

Other than those few items, not much to talk about specifically about the bowl projections.  Nothing much changed except some of my opinions.  That might change starting tonight.  Ohio has a chance to become bowl-eligible and, at the same time, Akron could be the only winless team this season in the FBS.  The game is on ESPN+ so none of us can see it.  The other game, between WMU and NIU, is important for the Broncos as a win there clinches a trip to beautiful Detroit for the MAC Championship which isn’t on Friday night this season.  Then Wednesday, take a deep breath.  There is no football at all.  Don’t drink too much but maybe take the time to do something around the house.  Go out.  Catch up on some Netflix.  Something.  Because you will need the rest to prepare for FOOTBALLGASM 2019!

A couple of quick Canadian football notes:

• The Grey Cup occurred this past Sunday.  I am a bit sad that Hamilton lost but at least it was to Winnipeg who had an even longer Grey Cup drought at 29 years!  Plus, a fan who said, in 1990, he wouldn’t wear pants until the next time the Blue Bombers won the Cup again, can wear pants again!  Which is good in Winnipeg since it is seriously fucking freezing there.
• The Vanier Cup occurred.  I have no idea where it was on.  I think CBC online?  Ridiculous.

Alright that is it.  No more.  A seriously long post is complete.  American Thanksgiving Footballgasm post will show up later this week along with the NFL sked post.  Have a good week everyone!

Oh it’s Sleepwalk time! – Week 13 College Football TV Schedule

Yeah it’s time for the annual SEC Sleepwalk Saturday.  I am not a fan, gonna be honest.  I still believe that these kinds of games should be played before November hits.  Many don’t agree with me and I don’t give a shit.  Do you honestly think Western Carolina is going to beat Alabama this weekend?  And no, I don’t mean beat the spread.  And I will include this addendum here since I have had someone say “Well it’s not just the SEC that does it.”  And they are correct.  However, the SEC does it more on this one weekend and they do it better than any other conference.  It’s like the SEC is a Bob Ross painting compared to the other Power Five conferences which are a grade 8 art project.

Saying all this, it isn’t quite as bad as recent years.  Still not the greatest schedule but there are some good games in here mixed in with the crap.  Let’s go!

Thursday

		US	Canada
NC State at Georgia Tech	8:00 PM

It starts with this.  Technically it’s football.

Friday

		US	Canada
Colorado State at Wyoming	9:30 PM

Ho boy this doesn’t get a whole lot better.  Tough when there’s only one game each night.

Saturday Early​

		US	Canada
#10 Minnesota at Northwestern	Noon
Illinois at #17 Iowa	Noon
UCF at Tulane	Noon
Western Carolina at #5 Alabama	Noon
#21 Oklahoma State at West Virginia	Noon
Harvard at Yale	Noon
#8 Penn State at #2 Ohio State	Noon
Michigan State at Rutgers	Noon
Liberty at Virginia	Noon
Samford at #15 Auburn	Noon

A lot of games here.  Like a ton for any timeslot ever.  Are there any important games?  Other than a potential Game of the Year candidate in PSU-tOSU?  Meh.  I would love to say most of my time will be spent on that one game but I know myself.  I will be using my remote control like I need a serious thumb workout.  Also, you will notice Harvard and Yale are on ESPNU here.  They did this last year during SEC Sleepwalk Saturday which tells you that in the end, it’s still not the greatest schedule.  And Western Carolina appears on ESPN.  And Rutgers is on FS1.  I could go on and on but I won’t bore you.

Saturday Afternoon​

		US	Canada
Boston College at #16 Notre Dame	2:30 PM
UCLA at #23 USC	3:30 PM
Nebraska at Maryland	3:30 PM
Texas A&M at #4 Georgia	3:30 PM
#25 SMU at Navy	3:30 PM
#13 Michigan at Indiana	3:30 PM
Pittsburgh at Virginia Tech	3:30 PM
Texas at #14 Baylor	3:30 PM
Mercer at North Carolina	3:30 PM
North Texas at Rice	3:30 PM
UT-Martin at Kentucky	3:30 PM
East Tennessee State at Vanderbilt	3:30 PM
Syracuse at Louisville	4:00 PM
#18 Memphis at USF	4:00 PM
Purdue at #12 Wisconsin	4:00 PM
California at Stanford	4:00 PM

Sweet Jesus that’s a ton of games.  There have never been sixteen games in a timeslot (available to Canadians) ever.  There is no one game that highlights this timeslot but TAMU-UGA should be fun (and I hope it is for Brad Nessler’s sake), Baylor has to avoid another trip up as they host the Longhorns and Michigan and Wisconsin need to look seriously impressive to move back up the chain into the Top 10.  I also see a potential upset alert with Vandy hosting ETSU of the SoCon.  I know the AD said that Derek Mason will be back next season but if the Dores lose this one, I find it hard to believe that will be the case.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Miami vs. FIU (in Marlins Park)	7:00 PM
Arkansas at #1 LSU	7:00 PM
Temple at #19 Cincinnati	7:00 PM
Kansas State at Texas Tech	7:00 PM
#6 Oregon at Arizona State	7:30 PM
Duke at Wake Forest	7:30 PM
Houston at Tulsa	7:30 PM
Tennessee at Missouri	7:30 PM
Abilene Christian at Mississippi State	7:30 PM
TCU at #9 Oklahoma	8:00 PM

Ho boy.  This kind of drops off a cliff and I don’t mean just in sheer quantity.  I mean Oregon-ASU is the ABC Primetime game.  I guess that is what happens when FOX gets the big game of the week.  Anyway, TCU-OU could be interesting if the Horned Frogs don’t let the Sooners get too far ahead too early.  Miami-FIU will make for an interesting visual, harkening back to the times of the Miami Beach Bowl (and the Memphis-BYU brawl).  I wonder if LSU can put a 70-burger on the hapless Hogs.  Also, it will be interesting now that Cincinnati is not in the catbird seat for the Group of Five spot in the New Year’s Six thanks to their performance on the field The Committee putting them one spot below Memphis.  Will they take that anger out on Temple or will their chances end for a Cotton Bowl bid?

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
Oregon State at Washington State	9:00 PM
Washington at Colorado	10:00 PM
#7 Utah at Arizona	10:00 PM
#20 Boise State at Utah State	10:30 PM
Nevada at Fresno State	10:30 PM

Five game in the late night timeslot?  Well if you were looking for quantity this is the week you were wanting.  Oregon State could give Wazzu all sorts of problems in the cold of Pullman.  Boise State-Utah State is pretty much for the Mountain West Mountain title.  Welp, looks like I am definitely staying up late since I can’t see all of these games being blowouts that are basically over by 1 in the morning (although yes, 1 in the morning is still late but I digress).

Games to set your eyeballs on

Penn State at Ohio State (Noon, FOX) – This is far and away the Game of the Week and could be the Game of the Year.  I guess I am starting to get used to big games being on in the Noon timeslot since that wasn’t a thing before FOX entered the college football game at a national level.  It’s also smart by FOX to say that Noon will be their big game most of the time (Big Noon Saturday, right?) considering the afternoon slot is usually CBS’s and the primetime slot is usually ABC’s.  Anyway, if tOSU wins, they clinch their spot in Indianapolis.  If the Nittany Lions pull off the upset (and it would be an upset if they won), they are in the driver’s seat for the Big Ten East crown.  Also, a loss by either team probably ends their College Football Playoff hopes (unless there’s a bit of chaos).

Texas A&M at Georgia (3:30, CBS) – Yeah so there is a bit of a fall from the Game of the Week but this is still a great get for CBS considering the quality of the SEC games this week.  This has to be considered a speed bump game for UGA.  They have already clinched the SEC East but at #4 they still have a very legitimate shot at the College Football Playoff.  A TAMU win, however, puts the CFP in chaos and that is kind of what I am hoping for.  At least for some it would be good since many think the Dawgs’ loss to South Carolina should mean they don’t get in which isn’t a terrible argument.  But in the end, if they win the SEC, they go to the CFP no matter what.  That’s really the only important game for Georgia (as long as they can win this one and beat Georgia Tech next week).

Michigan at Indiana (3:30, TSN3) – Hey the Hoosiers as one of the games of the week!  I don’t know if that says more about Indiana doing well this season or about the quality of games here on SEC Shitgame Saturday.  At least we finally get a huge step up from TSN this week with 8 games on the various channels.  I am surprised it took this long to get to this point (the penultimate week) but I am glad it is here.  Anyway, the Wolverines being at #13 means they have a really good shot at the New Year’s Six so a win here is imperative.  The Hoosiers could play spoiler and maybe, just maybe, rocket up the rankings if they can pull off the upset.

Texas at Baylor (3:30, FloSports) – It seriously falls off a cliff after the first three games.  I picked this one because Baylor is still in the race, not just for the Big XII Championship, but for the New Year’s Six.  Texas could screw this all up and, inadvertently, screw up Oklahoma’s CFP chances with a win here since the more Baylor loses, the worse Oklahoma’s comeback win over the Bears looks.

Temple at Cincinnati (7:00, specialty pack) – Because of TSN having more games this week it means the specialty pack will, consequently, have less games.  But since the week is thin on big games, this slots in as the fifth best game of the week and the only one on this list on the specialty pack.  The American is still the pre-eminent Group of Five conference so the winner will, in all likelihood, go to the Cotton Bowl.  So even though Cincinnati is now one spot below Memphis in the CFP Rankings, it really doesn’t matter as long as they stay above Boise State and end up winning the AAC Championship.  If that happens, they are in no questions asked.  An Owls win means that a) Memphis is probably the AAC’s last hope for the Cotton Bowl and b) the AAC East is still not clinched.

Honourable mention: Boise State at Utah State (10:30, CBS Sports Network); Oregon at Arizona State (7:30, ABC); SMU at Navy (3:30, CBS Sports Network)

Some gambling fun and games

You should go back and look at my picks from last week.  Man was I on.  Called two upsets and if Auburn had been able to come all the way back it would have been three.  Otherwise?  Perfection.  Oh yeah.  I think I need to start learning more about gambling because I clearly have too much debt and need to add more just based on my one day’s worth of picks.  Anyway, here are this week’s picks:

Boise State over Utah State

Texas over Baylor (big upset!)

Oregon over Arizona State

Georgia over Texas A&M

Michigan over Indiana

Ohio State over Penn State

Cincinnati over Temple

Navy over SMU (mild upset)

Wake Forest over Duke

Notre Dame over Boston College

Miami over FIU

The Thursday Night Football affair will be Indianapolis against Houston.  Huge AFC South matchup.  Considering the Thursday night college football schedule of one game, I see myself watching quite a bit of this game.

I have to figure out how to use the PVR functionality with my Android box since there are some things I am missing since moving to IPTV.  I don’t have to use it for Saturdays anymore which is great since, for the most part, I never miss a full timeslot.  I’m sure I will figure it out.  Anyway, NFL sked tomorrow.  Enjoy the games everyone!

You know what time it is? WEEK 1 OVERREACTION TIME! Oh and the Week 2 TV Schedule as well.

Who saw that coming for Tennessee last Saturday?  What’s Jeremy Pruitt’s future with the team?  Should people dump garbage on his lawn because they are upset?  Overreaction?  Absolutely!  But some people think that and are serious about it.  Week 1 of the college football season is always chock full of these tasty nuggets.  Like these:

• UCLA will lose almost every game this season.  Not so fast.  One game against one of the better Group of Five teams does not a season make.  Now if the Bruins lose to San Diego State this Saturday then yeah maybe you can start to panic.
• The SEC is terrible!  The SEC is a lot like many of the Power Five conferences: the top three-to-six teams are good to great and the rest are mediocre to trash.  No difference here.
• Boise State has clinched the New Year’s Six spot.  Uh, no.  I will admit the Broncos are a great contender but UCF is still the favourite and I still have Memphis as my choice.
• The Pac-12 has no chance at going to the College Football Playoff.  Um, Oregon is not the only good team in the Pac-12.  Now apologize to Utah and Washington THIS INSTANT!

Alright Week 1 is in the books and it’s time for Week 2’s schedule and yeah, it’s pretty bad.  Sorry guys.

Friday

		US	Canada
WIlliam & Mary at Virginia	8:00 PM
Wake Forest at Rice	8:00 PM
Marshall at #24 Boise State	9:00 PM

A huge Group of Five game starts the week as two New Year’s Six contenders clash on the blue turf of Boise.  Still got to favour Boise State in this one but you never know as they always struggle at least once year when they shouldn’t.  The Deacs are playing Rice in one of those not-so-odd-anymore Power Five at Group of Five games as well.  And yes, there is no Thursday college football.  Don’t want to compete with opening night in the NFL since no one would watch the college game (I hate to say that but it’s true).

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
Ohio at Pittsburgh	11:00 AM
Cincinnati at #5 Ohio State	Noon
Vanderbilt at Purdue	Noon
UAB at Akron	Noon
#21 Syracuse at Maryland	Noon
West Virginia at Missouri	Noon
Old Dominion at Virginia Tech	Noon
Army at #7 Michigan	Noon
Charleston Southern at South Carolina	Noon
Western Carolina at NC State	12:30 PM

As per usual, a boatload of games in the early timeslot.  And yes, one game starts at 11 in the morning.  You can thank the ACC Network going with stupid three hour windows in their second week of existence.  Ridiculous.  So if you are an ACC fan you will miss the first quarter of multiple games almost guaranteed.  A few good ones early on with UC-tOSU and Army-UM the two biggest (although the over/under for Cuse-UMD could be seriously high).  I am going out on a limb and saying Western Carolina-NC State will appear on the specialty pack although I see nothing yet in any of the guides.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
USF at Georgia Tech	2:00 PM
#12 Texas A&M at #1 Clemson	3:30 PM
Central Michigan at #17 Wisconsin	3:30 PM
Eastern Illinois at Indiana	3:30 PM
Illinois at UConn	3:30 PM
Southern Miss at Mississippi State	3:30 PM
#25 Nebraska at Colorado	3:30 PM
Grambling at Louisiana Tech	3:30 PM
Murray State at #3 Georgia	4:00 PM
New Mexico State at #2 Alabama	4:00 PM
ULM at Florida State	5:00 PM

One of the games of the year right here in this timeslot.  The Aggies will make a massive statement and upset the college football apple cart if they can somehow beat Clemson.  Here you see the continuation of the weird ACC Network times.  If you are using a PVR this may get frustrating but I know it’s because there are so many ACC non-conference games this week, more than any other week by a country mile.  The rest of the games are technically college football games so let’s all hope they are at least close going into the fourth quarter.  Also we have the debut of the NFL Network as they will be broadcasting Conference USA games this season.  Interesting contract but hey, it could work for the conference as they need some sort of quasi-national audience so they don’t fall behind the rest of the Group of Five conferences.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
#18 UCF at Florida Atlantic	7:00 PM
BYU at Tennessee	7:00 PM
#6 LSU at #9 Texas	7:30 PM
Western Michigan at #19 Michigan State	7:30 PM
Tulane at #10 Auburn	7:30 PM
UT-Martin at #11 Florida	7:30 PM
Buffalo at #15 Penn State	7:30 PM
Eastern Michigan at Kentucky	7:30 PM
Arkansas at Ole Miss	7:30 PM
Miami at North Carolina	8:00 PM

Not exactly stacked but this does contain another potential Game of the Year as LSU travels to Austin to play the Longhorns.  Again, don’t need to belabour the point but this could lead to College Football Playoff chatter (along with New Year’s Six chatter).  Yes, Miami-UNC could be good considering how the Tar Heels have already looked impressive and Miami…not so much.  Also the Cougars of BYU travel to Knoxville to face a team with the most frustrated fanbase in college football.  Other than that there are a few decent games and some dreck.  Can’t win ’em all.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
Minnesota at Fresno State	10:30 PM
#23 Stanford at USC	10:30 PM

Not much of a late night sked but two pretty good games, at least on paper.  Clay Helton better pray his new quarterback, true freshman Kedon Slovis, figures things out quick or Helton’s days may be numbered…and by numbered I mean single digits.  The other game should be close as Minnesota looked shitty against South Dakota State and should be better against a good Mountain West team in the Bulldogs.

Games to set your eyeballs on

LSU at Texas (7:30, ABC/TSN2) – This is the only game on TSN this week and it’s the game of the week.  Honestly this isn’t a huge deal since there is only one other game that could warrant GOTW status.  But we know what happens on weeks like this.  Usually absolute chaos and/or some fantastic finishes.  Anyway, we have to say that this is a huge game that could shape both teams’ seasons.  The winner has a leg up on hopefully getting to the College Football Playoff whereas the loser almost has to look at the New Year’s Six (unless more chaos happens later on in the season).

Texas A&M at Clemson (3:30, ABC) – Survive this game and the Tigers don’t have much to stop them from winning the ACC Atlantic Division.  Before I continue, can they either make the divisions make more sense geographically or get rid of divisions altogether?  That would be great.  Don’t think this will be an easy one for the Dangerous Dabos since TAMU might be improved from last year when they took Clemson to the limit.  I still think this would be a monumental upset, though, if the Aggies can pull it out.

Cincinnati at Ohio State (Noon, ABC) – Man, does this ever drop off after the first two.  But ABC does have the top three games of the week officially.  Time to celebrate?  I’d say no.  Honestly I can’t see this game being close but it does mark the return of Luke Fickell to Columbus.  And now the Bearcats are actually a good team.  Still though.  I won’t regret putting this game on the list since there isn’t much to pick from.

Army at Michigan (Noon, FOX) – Hey, finally a non-ABC game.  Fantastic.  I hope FOX really doesn’t care about this week since this is not good as their best game.  Saying that, remember what the Black Knights did in Oklahoma last season.  They almost pulled off the monumental upset of the Sooners.  Now if they can somehow finish things off this year it would do two things: have everyone saying Michigan still sucks and putting Army squarely in the New Year’s Six conversation.  Actually there will be a third thing.  Jimmy Harbaugh will go back to the hot seat list which he is almost never off of anyway.

Stanford at USC (10:30, specialty pack) – Look, USC is an interesting story so far this season.  And now they have lost their starting quarterback for the season and will have to start a true freshman.  But this is USC so you know they always have a chance.  Plus, the Cardinal didn’t exactly look like world-beaters against Northwestern last week.  Don’t be surprised if around 1:30 in the morning, many eyeballs are on this game because it’s close.

Honourable mention: Buffalo at Penn State (7:30, FOX); Syracuse at Maryland (Noon, specialty pack); Marshall at Boise State (Friday, 9:00, specialty pack)

Some gambling fun and games

Like last year at this very same time, I will say that Florida State losing wasn’t a bad pick on my part since they should have won.  Picking Oregon was also not a bad pick since that was a great again against Auburn.  Other than that I did amazing last week.  So let’s get to another week of fantastic (or not fantastic) picks that are straight up and not against the spread:

Boise State over Marshall

Penn State over Buffalo

Texas over LSU (upset pick!)

Clemson over Texas A&M

Michigan over Army

Ohio State over Cincinnati

Syracuse over Maryland

USC over Stanford (another upset pick!)

Tennessee over BYU

Arkansas State over UNLV

Wisconsin over Central Michigan

As of now I see nothing on the guide for the specialty pack.  Nothing.  I know the games are coming but don’t see them yet.  Frustrating.  Maybe that will change by the time the games start tomorrow.  I wonder if it’s due to nothing on tonight for college football.  Who the fuck knows.  Either way, the schedule I have above (less the one game on FOX Sports Network) should appear as I have said it will.

The reason no college football tonight?  The NFL is back baybee!  The opening game for this season (which is the NFL’s 100th season) is the Packers and the Bears.  We will get a good idea of if Aaron Rodgers can co-exist with new head coach Matt Lafleur.  Also we will get a good idea of Vic Fangio was the reason for the Bears’ success last season.  The game is on NBC, CTV2 and all the TSNs except TSNs 2 and 5.

I will be on the Twitter machine again this weekend.  I made it to the end last Saturday.  I felt very proud of myself.  It means I know I’m ready for the season.  Now I have to hope a late night game doesn’t go to like five overtimes otherwise I will be a brain-dead idiot on Sunday.  Enjoy the games everyone!

Oh It’s THAT week in college football – Week 12 College Football Schedule

You know the week.  Highlighted by the SEC’s non-conference scheduling falling off a cliff.  Don’t get me wrong: if you looked at a typical SEC team’s non-conference sked it pretty much evens out.  They have at least one difficult team on the schedule and then a creampuff.  What I hate is that these creampuffs come in November.  Ridiculous.  I truly believe that all those easy games should be over with by the end of October.  I would prefer them all to be in late August and September but I understand the complexities of scheduling outside the conference.  But most of us fans are ramping up to when they select the College Football Playoff teams and all the other bowl games.  This feels like a big valley in the middle of a steep ascent.

Alright here we go, time for some schedules and shit for the next few days.  Let’s begin!

Thursday

		US	Canada
#5 Louisville at Houston	8:00 PM	ESPN	TSN2
Arkansas State at Troy	9:30 PM	ESPNU	SP

Tonight is a huge much less important game between Louisville and Houston.  If the Cougs had just kept up their end of the bargain this could have been the game of the week.  Alas, it was not to be.  Also, Troy looks to basically clinch the Sun Belt tonight as well as they face Arkansas State.

Friday

		US	Canada
Memphis at Cincinnati	8:00 PM	CBSSN	CBSSN
UNLV at #20 Boise State	9:00 PM	ESPN2	TSN2

Two games, one not important at all really.  The other is a bit more important.  UNLV beating Wyoming last week has made their game against Boise State big.  If the Rebs can somehow win, Wyoming is going to the Mountain West title game.  A Broncos win forces Wyoming to have to beat San Diego State on Saturday, no easy task.

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
#7 Wisconsin at Purdue	12:00 PM	ABC	ABC
Iowa at Illinois (Rogers)	12:00 PM	BTN	BTN
Morgan State at Army (Rogers/Fibe)	12:00 PM	CBSSN	CBSSN
#2 Ohio State at Michigan State	12:00 PM	ESPN	TSN3
Kansas State at Baylor	12:00 PM	ESPN2	SP
UTSA at #25 Texas A&M	12:00 PM	ESPNU	SP
UL-Lafayette at Georgia (Bell)	12:00 PM	SEC Network	SP
Miami at NC State	12:30 PM	ACC Network	WSBK
Virginia at Georgia Tech	12:30 PM	ACC Network	WNLO
#23 Florida at #16 LSU (Bell)	1:00 PM	SEC Network	SP

The interesting game here is the Florida-LSU game, made up from earlier in the year after some fun scheduling re-arrangements and a lot of bullshit.  1:00 starting time on the SEC Network for a game that has huge implications.  For Americans, not a big deal.  For anyone not on Bell in Canada, a much bigger one.

Also, we have yet another ACC Network split.  So if you get your ACC Network game from WSBK out of Boston, you’re seeing Miami-NC State.  If you get your ACC Network game out of Buffalo on WNLO, you’re seeing Virginia-Georgia Tech.  If you get both, you can’t complain.

Finally, even though it’s a reverse mirror situation, very few of us up here (if any) would get Texas-Kansas on ABC.  No reverse mirror early on though.  Everyone gets Wisconsin-Purdue early on ABC.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
#17 Florida State at Syracuse	3:30 PM	ABC/ESPN2	ABC
Texas at Kansas	3:30 PM	ABC/ESPN2	SP
Temple at Tulane (Rogers/Fibe)	3:30 PM	ASN	MyTV
Northwestern at Minnesota (Rogers)	3:30 PM	BTN	BTN
Missouri at #19 Tennessee	3:30 PM	CBS	CBS
San Diego State at Wyoming (Rogers/Fibe)	3:30 PM	CBSSN	CBSSN
Indiana at #3 Michigan	3:30 PM	ESPN	TSN3
Buffalo at #21 Western Michigan	3:30 PM	ESPNU	SP
#22 Washington State at #10 Colorado	3:30 PM	FOX	FOX
Virginia Tech at Notre Dame	3:30 PM	NBC	NBC
Western Carolina at South Carolina (Bell)	4:00 PM	SEC Network	SP
Austin Peay at Kentucky (Bell)	4:30 PM	SEC Network	SP
Southern Miss at North Texas	5:30 PM	beIn Sports	beIn Sports

Washington State and Colorado are playing a football game on FOX.  Washington State.  And Colorado.  In the year 2016.  We live in strange times folks.  I am truly glad to see these teams doing well though since for years they received little respect (and rightfully so in some years).  Now, with Washington, they are anchoring the Pac-12, something the California schools can’t be too pleased about.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
USF at SMU (Rogers/Fibe)	7:00 PM	CBSSN	CBSSN
#4 Clemson at Wake Forest	7:00 PM	ESPN	TSN2
Chattanooga at #1 Alabama	7:00 PM	ESPN2	SP
Arkansas at Mississippi State	7:00 PM	ESPNU	SP
Arizona State at #6 Washington	7:30 PM	FOX	FOX
Alabama A&M at #15 Auburn (Bell)	7:30 PM	SEC Network	SP
#9 Oklahoma at #14 West Virginia	8:00 PM	ABC	ABC
#8 Penn State at Rutgers (Rogers)	8:00 PM	BTN	BTN
Ole Miss at Vanderbilt (Bell)	8:00 PM	SEC Network	SP

This is what I don’t get.  The first two ESPN games of the day are on TSN3.  Then it moves to TSN2 at 7:00.  Why?  Is there a reason there this is happening?  TSN3 has Golden State-Milwaukee on at 8:30 on TSN3.  So why not move that to TSN2?  Or have the CFB games on TSN2 all day?  This is just lazy programming if you ask me.  We are going to get overlap at 7:00 for at least a few minutes and have two channels showing the same thing.  Ugh.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
New Mexico at Colorado State	10:15 PM	ESPN2	SP
Air Force at San Jose State (Rogers/Fibe)	10:30 PM	CBSSN	CBSSN
#13 USC at UCLA	10:30 PM	ESPN	TSN2

But hey, I can’t truly complain when TSN picks up some #Pac12AfterDark action.  Usually The Battle for L.A. is on at 3:30 or 8 on ABC.  Thanks to UCLA stinking up the joint this season it has been “relegated” to 10:30 on ESPN.  Still not bad really.

The Ones to Watch

#9 Oklahoma at #14 West Virginia (8:00, ABC) – I don’t remember the last time West Virginia had a home game in primetime on a big network on a Saturday.  So let’s just say it’s been a long time.  This game could end up being for the Big XII title and a guaranteed spot in the Sugar Bowl.  However, if we see more chaos like we had this past weekend, the College Football Playoff is not totally out of the realm of possibility (although the chances are still remote).  Since this starts in primetime, Dana Holgorsen will have probably gone through a case of Red Bull by this time.

#22 Washington State at #10 Colorado (3:30, FOX) – I will reiterate this again.  Did you, as a college football fan, ever think you would see Wazzu and the Buffs on a major network in an important timeslot?  Did you think they would ever comprise of the second biggest game of any week?  I didn’t think so.  A Wazzu win will set up the biggest Apple Cup of all-time on Black Friday.  A Colorado win sets up a massive showdown with Utah next week.  Interesting times in the Pac-12 for sure.

#23 Florida at #16 LSU (1:00, specialty pack) – Ah this game.  The rescheduled one.  The one that caused so many issues.  Finally, it can be played and we can get this ordeal over with.  If the Gators can win this, they clinch the SEC East and go to Atlanta to probably get crushed by Alabama.  A Gator loss opens the door for Tennessee, somehow, to win the SEC East which would arguably make it an even worse SEC Championship game.

#5 Louisville at Houston (Thursday, 8:00, TSN2) – If Houston was even 9-1 we could have a huge Thursday night matchup here: possibly the biggest Thursday night game in a long time.  Instead, we have a Louisville team who doesn’t control their destiny at all against a Cougars team who we know now is not nearly as good as the pre-season hype.  And this is the fourth-best game this week.  Yeah.

#4 Clemson at Wake Forest (7:00, TSN2) – Remember, it’s these types of down weeks where we tend to see more craziness.  I don’t expect it here.  I also don’t expect Clemson to find out about Wake Forest’s new plays, am I right Bobby Petrino?

#11 Oklahoma State at TCU (Noon, FOX Sports One, check the highlights) –  A sneaky good one here.  Gary Patterson’s Horned Frogs could throw a monkey wrench in Okie State’s plans.  They beat the Cowboys and a Big XII title opportunity goes up in smoke and makes the OU-WVU game in primetime that much bigger.  But you won’t get to see it so, as I said, check the highlights during halftime of whatever game you’re watching in your area.

Da Peeks boss.  Da peeks!

Here are my less-than-scientific picks for the week upcoming in college football.  And since it’s a not-so-great schedule, I have to pick some upsets!

Oklahoma over West Virginia (no upset yet)

Washington State over Colorado (yeah I guess some would call this an upset)

LSU over Florida

Houston over Louisville (there it is!)

Clemson over Wake Forest

Oklahoma State over TCU

Western Michigan over Buffalo

Troy over Arkansas State

USC over UCLA (although I think the Bruins will keep it close)

San Diego State over Wyoming

So there you are.  Also, for any Canadian University football fans, the national semi-finals are this Saturday as well.  Laurier plays Laval at Noon and St. FX plays Calgary at 4.  All on Sportsnet 360 who now all of a sudden has an interest in university football.  What a joke.  They should be showing a game every week all season.  That’s how you promote it.

I am going the PVR route this weekend.  Wish me luck, I might need it since this is a bit of a funny schedule this time around (thanks a lot Florida, LSU, and the SEC).  NFL schedule will be out tomorrow.  Enjoy the games everyone!

Week 11 College Football TV Schedule – Sponsored by the men and women who have fought for our country

It’s a day late I know but I usually don’t put out the college football TV schedule until Thursday because, well, if you have read this blog before you know exactly why I do that. Anyway, I actually saw some things online about people not paying their respects yesterday to remember all the people who have defended our country in the past. For fuck’s sake, it’s one god damned day. Would it kill you to take a little time out to show your gratitude? Ok, let’s get back to the task at hand before this gets out of control…

Time for the college football TV schedule for Week 11. It’s November so every week is important now…even the one next week where most of the SEC decides to play teams like Northwest Arkansas School for the Blind. Let’s start with the cable schedule for this week as it seems like the entire schedule is like one big puzzle from the show Survivor:

			ROGERS	FIBE	SATELLITE
USC at Colorado (Fri) (moved to specialty pack)	9:00 PM	TSN2	X	X	X
#3 Ohio State at Illinois	12:00 PM	ABC/TSN4	X	X	X
Penn at Harvard	12:00 PM	MyTV	X	X
Purdue at #18 Northwestern	12:00 PM	BTN	X
Georgia at Auburn	12:00 PM	CBS	X	X	X
Tulane at Army	12:00 PM	CBSSN	X	X
#11 Florida at South Carolina	12:00 PM	TSN1	X	X	X
Maryland at #13 Michigan State	12:00 PM	TSN2	X	X	X
Texas at West Virginia	12:00 PM	TSN3	X	X	X
NC State at #16 Florida State (also on Rogers SSP)	12:30 PM	WSBK	X	X	X
#14 Michigan at Indiana	3:30 PM	ABC/TSN4	X	X	X
Nebraska at Rutgers	3:30 PM	BTN	X
#2 Alabama at #17 Mississippi State	3:30 PM	CBS	X	X	X
SMU at #20 Navy	3:30 PM	CBSSN	X	X
#8 Oklahoma State at Iowa State	3:30 PM	TSN1	X	X	X
#1 Clemson at Syracuse	3:30 PM	TSN2	X	X	X
Wake Forest at #4 Notre Dame	3:30 PM	NBC	X	X	X
#22 Temple at USF	7:00 PM	CBSSN	X	X
Arkansas at #9 LSU	7:15 PM	TSN1/TSN4	X	X	X
Oregon at #7 Stanford	7:30 PM	FOX	X	X	X
#12 Oklahoma at #6 Baylor	8:00 PM	ABC	X	X	X
Minnesota at #5 Iowa	8:00 PM	BTN	X
Wyoming at San Diego State	10:30 PM	CBSSN	X	X
Washington State at #19 UCLA	10:45 PM	TSN1	X	X	X

The silliness starts tomorrow night with the cable schedule. Every guide I have seen shows USC-Colorado on TSN2, except for one…the guide on the actual TSN site. It shows, well, something completely different. I don’t know how often TSN updates those guides so maybe that’s the case here. UPDATE: USC-Colorado has moved to the specialty packs.  So TSN was right after all.  That begs the question…where the fuck does Rogers and Bell get their info from if TSN themselves didn’t have it on their schedule?  For all of you non-specialty pack people, this is a boon this week. TEN games on the TSN networks when you include tomorrow night’s game. That is unprecedented. Bravo to TSN for stepping up, especially when there really isn’t anything else on. It’s something Sportsnet struggled to do before they picked up their Hockeygasm package.

Now the specialty pack schedule which takes on a bit of intrigue (and frustration) this week:

		ROGERS	FIBE	SATELLITE
Virginia Tech at Georgia Tech (Thu)	7:30 PM	X	X	X
UL-Lafayette at South Alabama (Thu)	7:30 PM	X	X	X
North Texas at Tennessee*	12:00 PM		X	X
Virginia at Louisville (not appearing on Rogers guide yet)	12:30 PM	X	X	X
Miami at #23 North Carolina	3:30 PM	X	X	X
Kentucky at Vanderbilt*	4:00 PM		X	X
#21 Memphis at #24 Houston	7:00 PM	X	X	X
Western Carolina at Texas A&M	7:00 PM	X	X	X
BYU vs. Missouri (in Kansas City)	7:30 PM		X	X
New Mexico at Boise State	10:15 PM	X	X	X

Holy crap there are as many games on TSN these next few days as there is the specialty pack: ten. This would be the kind of week that would make me wonder why I have the specialty pack to begin with but most of the weeks are not like this. Anyway, about half the schedule is not showing up which isn’t surprising. The only surprising issue is tonight’s Battle of the Techs (Virginia’s and Georgia’s) isn’t showing anywhere. The game is on tonight! Oh well it will show up for sure. I think the fact there are so few Saturday games on the packs (nine) that it’s pretty easy to piece together where those games will go as well. Again, the asterisks are there to show which games aren’t actually showing up on the guide but there are places set out for them. The usual rigmarole that we get from this package.  Update #2: ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPNU games are all set.  Only the Noon and 4:00 SEC Network games on Bell are not showing yet.  They should be showing by tonight.

Fun Time Games of the Week

I’m home this Saturday. So my PVR gets a break. I’m sure it will thank me some day.

#12 Oklahoma at #6 Baylor (8:00, ABC) – Finally, the Big XII schedule has beefed up. And for those that say they didn’t backload the schedule, give your head a shake. Did you think Kansas was going to be angling for a College Football Playoff spot at this point? Please. Anyway, this should be a fun one (as most of the ABC Saturday Night games have been). Expect at least 70 points (and I am really low-balling with that number) and some Madden-esque playcalling from Art Briles. Definitely looking forward to it.

#2 Alabama at #17 Mississippi State (3:30, CBS) – The Bulldogs could put a MASSIVE wrench into the SEC West and Bama’s CFP plans with a win here. And don’t count them out. Even when the Bulldogs were kind of shitty they always had quite the home-field advantage at Cowbell City (that kind of rhymes). A Bama win almost guarantees them the SEC West. MSU winning could destroy the SEC’s chances of putting a team in the CFP. A lot at stake here.

#21 Memphis at #24 Houston (7:00, specialty pack) – The AAC has become a lot more interesting now that Memphis has lost. Yes, Memphis winning out would have been interesting from a CFP standpoint, but from a Group of Five and AAC standpoint it would have made for a little more boring end to the season. Memphis can essentially put the Group of Five spot into chaos and thrust themselves back into that spot over Navy with a win here. If Houston wins here, then they will probably be undefeated going into the inaugural AAC title game against Temple with that same Go5 spot on the line. A lot going on with this one.

#3 Ohio State at Illinois (Noon, ABC/TSN4) – OK hear me out here. Normally you would look at this game and go “Really? A game of the week? Nah.” I know Ohio State usually comes in as the favourite but it was only 8 years ago when a relatively good Illini team went into Columbus and shocked the #1 Buckeyes (and the college football world…ok maybe not it was 2007) who were staring down a spot in the BCS National Championship at the time. Considering the season we have had, I can see the Illini doing it this time around, especially since they are at home. Remember, this isn’t Tim Beckman’s Illini.

Arkansas at #9 LSU (7:15, TSN1/TSN4) – Another game that at first glance you’d wonder why it was placed here. Arkansas has been all over the map; more so than any other team in college football. They have a chance here to become bowl-eligible and beat the arch-rivals to the south. Won’t be easy since Death Valley on a Saturday night is kryptonite to damn near every team in college football. If the Fighting Bielemas are on point they should have a shot at this. Plus, this will be a good gauge to see if LSU (and Leonard Fournette) can recover from the can of whoop ass opened on them by Bama last weekend.

Oregon at #7 Stanford (7:30, FOX) – Ah, staggered start times. I love it…when I can watch college football that day. I love the fact FOX likes to start games at slightly different times than the ESPN conglomerate of networks. If it’s a good game it will get a lot of eyeballs. The Cardinal win this one and they clinch the Pac-12 North with two weeks to go. Pretty impressive. Lose, and it’s not the Pac-12 North title that will be the big deal. Any chance at the CFP goes up in flames with a loss here. Oregon has played just well enough to keep themselves out of also-ran territory. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them pull off the upset.

Greasy Vegas Picks of the Week

If I had hair, I know I wouldn’t grease it back like many of those bookies. See, if a bookie wants to make himself look inconspicuous in Vegas, he should grow an afro. No one is looking for a guy with an afro to make bets for them. Anyway, here’s my picks of the week if I cared to gamble on them:

Baylor over Oklahoma (60-54 in overtime is the prediction here)

Alabama over Mississippi State

Memphis over Houston (to put the Go5 in a bit of chaos)

Ohio State over Illinois (but not by much)

LSU over Arkansas

Oregon over Stanford (upset of the week)

Florida State over NC State

Utah over Arizona

Washington State over UCLA (mini-upset of the week)

North Carolina over The U

Alright, so as far as I can tell, we have the Technicolor Dreamcoat matchup between the Bills and Jets tonight, along with two college football games: one is set on the specialty pack, the other should show up in the next few hours. Tomorrow night, again as far as I know, USC-Colorado the only game and it should be on TSN2 (despite what TSN itself is saying). And then Saturday should be a lot of fun! Enjoy the games.

Week 3 College Football TV Schedule – Sponsored by Bell not fucking up (and Rogers too…and throw in TSN)

So it seems we are back to week one scheduling where everything was flowers and unicorns. Or so it seems. I will not hold my breath until Saturday morning when the schedule becomes official because I know how Bell, Rogers, and even TSN, work. It’s like this is the way they do their scheduling when something changes:

Throw the chicken in and see where it lands

So as of now, I will say these schedules are set. Going out on a limb with that comment but I am willing to take the chance. Let’s begin with the cable schedule:

			ROGERS	FIBE	SATELLITE
Clemson at Louisvile (Thu)	7:30 PM	TSN3/5	X	X	X
Florida State at Boston College (Fri)	8:00 PM	TSN2	X	X	X
Idaho State at Boise State (Fri)	9:00 PM	CBSSN	X	X
Air Force at Michigan State	12:00 PM	ABC/TSN5	X	X	X
Buffalo at Florida Atlantic	12:00 PM	MyTV	X	X
UNLV at Michigan	12:00 PM	BTN	X
Wake Forest at Army	12:00 PM	CBSSN	X	X
Connecticut at Missouri	12:00 PM	TSN3	X	X	X
Northwestern at Duke	12:30 PM	WSBK	X	X	X
Nebraska at Miami (replaced by Northern Illinois at Ohio State)	3:30 PM	ABC	X	X	X
Troy at Wisconsin	3:30 PM	BTN	X
Auburn at LSU	3:30 PM	CBS	X	X	X
East Carolina at Navy	3:30 PM	CBSSN	X	X
Georgia Tech at Notre Dame	3:30 PM	NBC	X	X	X
Colorado State vs. Colorado (in Denver)	7:00 PM	CBSSN	X	X
California at Texas	7:30 PM	FOX	X	X	X
Stanford at USC	8:00 PM	ABC	X	X	X
Rutgers at Penn State	8:00 PM	BTN	X
Utah at Fresno State	10:30 PM	CBSSN	X	X

I had made a mistake up until now when it came to MyTV out of Buffalo (WNYO). I had assumed that both Fibe and Satellite customers had that channel but it turns out that it is not on the listing of channels for Bell Satellite. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like you’re missing the highest calibre of games or anything but at least a couple times a year you get a game with a great finish and it makes it worth having. Gee, Bell Satellite is looking worse and worse every week.

As for the games themselves (on cable), the quality is much better than last week’s sked. Stanford-USC, Georgia Tech-Notre Dame, and Auburn-LSU highlight quite a good cable package this coming weekend. As of right now, the ABC game at noon on both FIbe and Satellite is TBA but it appears on Rogers as AFA-Sparty so I have a hunch that is what Bell will show too. The afternoon ABC game is also TBA across all platforms but Nebraska-Miami is set in that spot so I expect that game to appear at 3:30. I have heard there may be a reverse mirror for the 3:30 game but all signs at this time point toward NU-UM being the only game on ABC (since NIU-tOSU has been sent to the specialty packs already). Update: Well, it looks like about 75% of the US and all of Canada are getting NIU-tOSU on ABC.  So Nebraska-Miami is sent to the specialty pack. Gee, I sure hope Bell and Rogers don’t fuck this up.  Speaking of the specialty packs…

Here’s the specialty pack schedule:

		ROGERS	FIBE	SATELLITE
Clemson at Louisvile (Thu)	7:30 PM		X	X
Florida A&M at South Carolina State (Thu)	7:30 PM	X	X	X
Hampton vs. Howard (in Washington) (Fri)	7:30 PM	X	X	X
Florida State at Boston College (Fri)	8:00 PM		X	X
Air Force at Michigan State	12:00 PM		X	X
Kent State at Minnesota	12:00 PM	X
Illinois at North Carolina	12:00 PM	X	X	X
Connecticut at Missouri	12:00 PM		X	X
Nevada at Texas A&M	12:00 PM		X	X
Northwestern at Duke	12:30 PM	X
Central Michigan at Syracuse	12:30 PM	X
Northern Illinois at Ohio State (replaced by Nebraska at Miami)	3:30 PM	X	X	X
Virginia Tech at Purdue	3:30 PM	X	X	X
Northwestern State at Mississippi State	4:00 PM		X	X
South Carolina at Georgia	6:00 PM	X	X	X
Furman at UCF	6:00 PM	X
Texas Tech at Arkansas	7:00 PM	X	X	X
Western Carolina at Tennessee	7:00 PM	X	X	X
Florida at Kentucky	7:30 PM		X	X
Pittsburgh at Iowa	8:00 PM	X
Maine at Tulane	8:00 PM	X
Ole Miss at Alabama	9:15 PM	X	X	X

Rogers up to their old tricks again, adding games to make up for no SEC Network games (I’m pretty sure that is false but it sounds about right for Rogers). Furman-UCF and Maine-Tulane (hey it rhymes!) on ESPN3 have been added to Rogers’ Super Sports Pack. This means Bell may or may not pick these games up by noon on Saturday. Bell has kind of done the same with the Thursday and Friday night games.  I can see those coming off the specialty pack since they are already on a TSN station.  Still nothing special about the SEC Network games this season so far although UF-UK last season was an amazing game (triple overtime if I remember correctly). The highlight here most definitely is Ole Miss with their Madden-like offense playing Bama. I am pretty positive the Rebs won’t drop 70 on the Tide.  Update #2: Clemson-Louisville ended up being taken off the specialty pack since it was already on two TSN channels.  I expect the same tonight.  FSU-BC will be listed on the specialty pack but, since it’s also on TSN2, there’s a good chance it will not appear on a specialty pack channel.

Set Your Eyeballs on These Games

Ole Miss at Alabama (9:15, specialty pack) – OK so maybe not easily the biggest game of the week but it is (by a slight margin). Bama’s first SEC test and Ole Miss’s first test period. This game will go a long way towards determining who will reign supreme (I miss the original Iron Chef) in the SEC West (especially now with Auburn playing poorly to start the season and Arkansas falling off a cliff).

Georgia Tech at Notre Dame (3:30, NBC) – Not quite the game of the week but one of the biggest games shown on NBC in a long time. DeShone Kizer gets to show what he’s made of against a tough Ramblin’ Wreck D and we see if Brian Van Gorder (yet another good coordinator who was a shit head coach) remembers what he tried to destroy at Georgia Southern (hint: it’s the option).

Auburn at LSU (3:30, CBS) – After watching Fun Bobby Petrino forget how to manage the clock and Vandy somehow sneak onto our (cable) television screens, CBS gets a really good SEC West showdown that many will want to see. LSU should be favoured by a boatload in this one. I wouldn’t be surprised if Gus Malzahn lit a fire under his players’ asses after their scare against Jacksonville State so this may end up being a good one even with LSU and the Death Valley advantage.

BYU at UCLA (10:30 on FOX Sports Fucking One) – Wait. I said set your eyeballs on these games? Sorry. None of us will get that opportunity other than the occasional highlight (if you’re even up that late). Should be a good one…unfortunately for us.

Northwestern at Duke (12:30, WSBK and for Rogers Customers, the Super Sports Pack for some reason) – Yes. Northwestern. And Duke. Seriously. Understand this…the winner moves to 3-0 and is almost a shoo-in for a bowl game (if not more). The winner will be in the top 25 and in Northwestern’s case, probably the top 20. The Wildcats are better than advertised and the ACC Network has to be very pleased they basically stumbled onto a potentially great game.

Georgia State at Oregon (2:00, Pac-12 Network which does not exist here in Canada) – Should be over by the 45 second mark but I would love to see Oregon try and drop 90 on the Panthers.

Losing Money

Some bets that I would make if I wanted to gamble and lose my money. Here we go. And remember, these are straight-up and not against the spread:

Clemson over Louisville (god Louisville does not look good so far this season)

Michigan State over Air Force

Duke over Northwestern

Notre Dame over Georgia Tech

LSU over Auburn

Alabama over Ole Miss

UCLA over BYU

USC over Stanford

Miami over Nebraska

Georgia over South Carolina

This Saturday could be interesting for viewing on my part since the slopitch playoffs start that morning. I hope to get as much viewing in as possible to make up for my craptastic recap of the previous week’s festivities. Either way I will be live-tweeting off and on all throughout Saturday again (@LikeABauce1978 for you Twitter people and no, I don’t do Instagram at all) and eating food that’s probably not good for me and larger-than-normal quantities.