HEY, YOU WANT ALL THE NETWORK SCHEDULES IN ONE LONG POST?

“Well, I was kind of hoping for all of them on separate post…”

“THAT’S WHAT I THOUGHT YOU COLLEGE FOOTBALL-ADDICTED MOTHERFUCKER SO HERE YOU FUCKING GO.  ALL.  THE.  SCHEDULES.”

Remember what I said?  Less is more.  Meaning less posts but a shit-ton more information.  So get ready since this is going to be a seriously long (but informative) post.

I can’t even call this the SEC on CBS schedule because the Mountain West has squeezed in a few games now.  And remember, this is the second-last season that the SEC will have their game of the week on CBS.  I said last year that the Pac-12 was the favourite to pick up this package but, how about that, the Pac-12 might not even exist by 2024.  So who knows what will happen since FOX and ESPN will have almost taken over college football broadcasting by that point.  Maybe the new supersized Big XII can sneak in there.

But for this year it’s still the SEC (plus some MWC) on CBS.  Brad, Gary and not Jamie will be back for another season as far as I know.  Same old, same old for now.  At least one thing in college football is staying the same…for now.  Anyway, let’s get to the predicted schedule (confirmed games are in BOLD):

September 3rd		Arizona at San Diego State		3:30 PM
September 10th		Colorado at Air Force		3:30 PM
September 17th		Penn State at Auburn		3:30 PM
September 24th		Arkansas vs. Texas A&M (in Arlington)		3:30 PM
October 1st		Navy at Air Force		Noon
October 1st		Alabama at Arkansas		3:30 PM
October 8th		Auburn at Georgia		3:30 PM
October 8th		Texas A&M at Alabama		8:00 PM
October 15th		Alabama at Tennessee		3:30 PM
October 22nd		Ole Miss at LSU		3:30 PM
October 29th		Florida vs. Georgia (in Jacksonville)		3:30 PM
November 5th		Army vs. Air Force (in Arlington)		11:30 AM
November 5th		Alabama at LSU		3:30 PM
November 12th		Missouri at Tennessee		Noon
November 12th		Georgia at Mississippi State		3:30 PM
November 19th		Georgia at Kentucky		3:30 PM
November 25th		Utah State at Boise State		Noon
November 25th		Arkansas at Missouri		3:30 PM
November 26th		Auburn at Alabama		3:30 PM
December 3rd		SEC Championship Game		4:00 PM
December 10th		Army vs. Navy (in Philadelphia)		3:00 PM
December 30th		Sun Bowl		Noon

CBS stuff (for now):

• Projected SEC on CBS appearances:
  • 5 times – Alabama
  • 4 times – Georgia
  • 3 times – Auburn, Arkansas
  • 2 times – Tennessee, Texas A&M, Missouri, LSU
  • 1 time – Ole Miss, Florida, Mississippi State, Kentucky
  • Not a single time – Vanderbilt, South Carolina
• Only two teams on my list won’t get an appearance: Vanderbilt and South Carolina.  Vandy is self-explanatory.  The Gamecocks on the other hand…I do feel a bit weird not putting them on CBS.  Problem is there are only so many spots and this is about as spread out as it has been in years with only two schools getting more than three games.
• And now we get into service academy football!  For the second straight year, the entire Commander’s-in-Chief Trophy will be broadcast on CBS.  It starts on October 1st when Navy travels to Colorado Springs to face Air Force in a game starting at 10:00 in the morning local time.  The now-annual Army-AFA game in Arlington is back in early November.  Then, of course, the Army-Navy Game.  I don’t know about you but I kind of like service academy football.  Some people call it boring but I enjoy watching it.  Now, if most teams used the option I’m sure it would get seriously tiring (although all games would fit into broadcast windows, no problem).
• The Mountain West is back with more games this time around.  CBS gets the choice of putting Boise State home games on the main network or CBS Sports Network so that’s why we have the Black Friday game against Utah State on the main network.  Also, a bit of an odd choice, but Arizona-SDSU is confirmed for Week 1.  Hey, at least we have college football on CBS every week of the season.
• Yeah I said not Jamie.  Jamie Erdahl is now going to be on Good Morning Football on the NFL Network.  Jenny Dell will replace her on the SEC on CBS.

Now we have the network where I do kind of miss Keith Jackson and Brent Musburger.  Not saying Chris Fowler isn’t good.  He is.  Unfortunately, once you get past him and a couple others, the play-by-play takes a bit of a nosedive.  But, in the end, I am going to watch the games.  I don’t care if the worst announcing team is calling the game, I will watch.  Man, I need help.

September 3rd		Colorado State at Michigan		Noon
September 3rd		Georgia vs. Oregon (in Atlanta)		3:30 PM
September 3rd		Notre Dame at Ohio State		7:30 PM
September 4th		LSU vs. Florida State (in New Orleans)		7:30 PM
September 10th		Ohio at Penn State		Noon
September 10th		Tennessee at Pittsburgh		3:30 PM
September 10th		USC at Stanford		7:30 PM
September 17th		UConn at Michigan		Noon
September 17th		Ole Miss at Georgia Tech		3:30 PM
September 17th		Michigan State at Washington		7:30 PM
September 24th		Baylor at Iowa State		Noon
September 24th		Iowa at Rutgers		3:30 PM
September 24th		Wisconsin at Ohio State		7:30 PM
October 1st		Michigan State at Maryland		Noon
October 1st		NC State at Clemson		3:30 PM
October 1st		Northwestern at Penn State		7:30 PM
October 8th		Texas vs. Oklahoma (in Dallas)		Noon
October 8th		Florida State at NC State		3:30 PM
October 8th		Ohio State at Michigan State		7:30 PM
October 15th		Kansas at Oklahoma		Noon
October 15th		Penn State at Michigan		3:30 PM
October 15th		Oklahoma State at TCU		7:30 PM
October 22nd		Purdue at Wisconsin		Noon
October 22nd		UCLA at Oregon		3:30 PM
October 22nd		Iowa at Ohio State		7:30 PM
October 29th		Baylor at Texas Tech		Noon
October 29th		Oklahoma State at Kansas State		3:30 PM
October 29th		Ohio State at Penn State		7:30 PM
November 5th		Ohio State at Northwestern		Noon
November 5th		Oregon at Colorado		3:30 PM
November 5th		Florida State at Miami		7:30 PM
November 12th		Notre Dame vs. Navy (in Baltimore)		Noon
November 12th		Pittsburgh at Virginia		3:30 PM
November 12th		Oklahoma at West Virginia		7:30 PM
November 19th		Iowa at Minnesota		Noon
November 19th		Ohio State at Maryland		3:30 PM
November 19th		Utah at Oregon		7:30 PM
November 25th		Tulsa at Houston		Noon
November 25th		Baylor at Texas		3:30 PM
November 25th		Florida at Florida State		7:30 PM
November 26th		Pittsburgh at Miami		Noon
November 26th		Michigan State at Penn State		3:30 PM
November 26th		Notre Dame at USC		7:30 PM
December 3rd		Big XII Championship Game		Noon
December 3rd		AAC Championship Game		4:00 PM
December 3rd		ACC Championship Game		8:00 PM
December 17th		Celebration Bowl		Noon
December 17th		LA Bowl		3:30 PM
December 17th		Las Vegas Bowl		7:30 PM
December 31st		Music City Bowl		Noon
January 2nd		Citrus Bowl		1:00 PM

ABC things (at this moment):

• This year I am going to do a slightly different calculation for appearances by conference.  I am going to count having one team in the game as one appearance and having both teams in a game as two appearances.  This will give a better idea as to how different the conferences are.
• So here are the predicted ABC appearances by conference:
  • Big Ten – 31 appearances
  • Big XII – 16 appearances (plus conference championship)
  • ACC – 14 appearances (plus conference championship)
  • Pac-12 – 11 appearances
  • SEC – 5 appearances
  • AAC – 3 appearances (plus conference championship)
  • Notre Dame – 3 appearances
  • Mountain West – 1 appearance
  • MAC – 1 appearance
  • UConn – 1 appearance
• ABC still loves the Big Ten and loves to put them on in primetime.  I can safely say that will change in 2024 what with the SEC coming to ESPN/ABC and all the crazy realignment going on.  Big Ten will tether itself to FOX for sure.  Now, whether that starts next season or not is a different story.
• The Big XII, ACC and Pac-12 will pick up those games the Big Ten leaves next season (if this occurs).  As for now, the Pac-12 is the low man on the totem pole and I can’t see that changing regardless of what happens this season.
• I have a feeling the American could pick up another game somewhere but there wasn’t a spot that made sense from what I could see when I mapped out the schedules at this point.

We have what looks like the “ESPN conference” in the SEC and the “FOX conference” in the Big Ten.  Everything else is up for grabs and if there is ever a time for FOX to really start using FOX Sports Two (and put it in more homes), it would be starting next season since the seismic shifts begin at that point.

For now, Canadians can’t get FOX Sports 2.  Hell, we don’t even get FOX Sports 1.  So forget about that for now.  Let’s see what I have predicted for the FOX college football schedule for this season:

August 27th		Nebraska vs. Northwestern (in Dublin, Ireland)		12:30 PM
September 1st		Penn State at Purdue		8:00 PM
September 3rd		UTEP at Oklahoma		3:30 PM
September 10th		Alabama at Texas		Noon
September 10th		Washington State at Wisconsin		3:30 PM
September 17th		Oklahoma at Nebraska		Noon
September 17th		BYU at Oregon		3:30 PM
September 17th		Toledo at Ohio State		7:00 PM
September 17th		Fresno State at USC		10:30 PM
September 24th		Kansas State at Oklahoma		Noon
September 24th		Texas at Texas Tech		3:30 PM
October 1st		Oklahoma State at Baylor		Noon
October 1st		Iowa State at Kansas		3:30 PM
October 8th		Michigan at Indiana		Noon
October 8th		Iowa at Illinois		4:00 PM
October 8th		Utah at UCLA		8:00 PM
October 15th		Iowa State at Texas		Noon
October 15th		Washington State at Oregon State		8:30 PM
October 22nd		Texas at Oklahoma State		Noon
October 22nd		Arizona State at Stanford		3:30 PM
October 29th		Michigan State at Michigan		Noon
October 29th		USC at Arizona		3:30 PM
November 5th		Baylor at Oklahoma		Noon
November 5th		Michigan at Rutgers		3:30 PM
November 5th		Michigan State at Illinois		7:30 PM
November 12th		Wisconsin at Iowa		Noon
November 12th		Nebraska at Michigan		4:00 PM
November 12th		Iowa State at Oklahoma State		8:00 PM
November 19th		Oklahoma State at Oklahoma		Noon
November 19th		Kansas State at West Virginia		4:00 PM
November 19th		Oregon State at Arizona State		8:00 PM
November 25th		Oklahoma at Texas Tech		Noon
November 25th		UCLA at California		4:30 PM
November 26th		Michigan at Ohio State		Noon
November 26th		Oregon at Oregon State		4:00 PM
November 26th		Minnesota at Wisconsin		8:00 PM
December 2nd		Pac-12 Championship Game		Noon
December 3rd		Mountain West Championship Game		4:00 PM
December 3rd		Big Ten Championship Game		8:00 PM
December 28th		Holiday Bowl		8:00 PM

FOX crap (this second):

• Predicted FOX appearances by conference using the method I mentioned above:
  • Big XII – 25 appearances
  • Big Ten – 24 appearances (plus conference championship)
  • Pac-12 – 16 appearances (plus conference championship)
  • MWC – 1 appearance (plus conference championship)
  • MAC – 1 appearance
  • BYU – 1 appearance
  • SEC – 1 appearance
  • Conference USA – 1 appearance
• I have the Big Ten and Big XII with roughly the same amount of appearances.  This might change if my Big XII number for ESPN is low. The Mountain West has an interesting deal with the network. Unlike CBS, FOX does not have to put any of their games on the main network. Fresno State is the only team making an appearance during the regular season in the conference.
• Quick quiz: what does FOX do that ABC and CBS don’t?  You guessed it, Frank Stallone an early season QUADRUPLEHEADER!!!! Week 3 will be highlighted by four games in a row on the main network. Not saying all the games will be good because they probably won’t be but hey, it’s nice to see FOX doing something like this. Late night main network college football is good for everyone in my biased opinion.

This will be the one schedule that people either really pay attention to or could not care less about.  At least with this schedule, I can confidently say that all the games are confirmed.  I will bold them anyway for people who don’t like to read things not near nice pictures:

September 10th		Marshall at Notre Dame		2:30 PM
September 17th		California at Notre Dame		2:30 PM
October 8th		BYU vs. Notre Dame (in Las Vegas)		7:30 PM
October 15th		Stanford at Notre Dame		7:30 PM
October 22nd		UNLV at Notre Dame		2:30 PM
November 5th		Clemson at Notre Dame		7:30 PM
November 19th		Boston College at Notre Dame		2:30 PM

Three primetime games this year for the Irish on NBC!  The BYU and Clemson games are not surprising to be put in primetime.  The Stanford one is a bit surprising but I guess if they were putting three games on in primetime this season, which one would you replace this with?  UNLV?  It also looks like NBC has decided to stick with the 2:30 start time.  It flows better into the evening news on local NBC affiliates as the games end at around the 6:00 mark.  If they had multiple games on each week (which may happen soon enough) this would probably have to change.  But for now, if an Irish game is close, they will get a lot of people to change the channel, either hoping the Irish pull another close one out or they lose a game they should have won which makes them happy.  It’s one extreme or the other with this program, I tell ya!

Alright that’s just about…oh wait, we’re still going?  Yeah I might as well.  A lot of people have this channel and, amazingly enough, most of the schedule is set.  It’s crazy how they have done this the past few years but they are able to get most of their schedule announced a few months before the season even starts.  It’s honestly impressive.  And remember, this channel has had some of the best college football finishes of the past few years.  So don’t ignore it.  Let’s get to this schedule which is a fairly large one:​

August 27th		Austin Peay at Western Kentucky		Noon
August 27th		Idaho State at UNLV		3:30 PM
August 27th		Charlotte at Florida Atlantic		7:00 PM
August 27th		Vanderbilt at Hawaii		10:30 PM
September 1st		Alabama A&M at UAB		8:00 PM
September 3rd		Delaware at Navy		Noon
September 3rd		Houston at UTSA		3:30 PM
September 3rd		SMU at North Texas		7:30 PM
September 9th		Boise State at New Mexico		9:00 PM
September 10th		UTSA at Army		Noon
September 10th		Memphis at Navy		3:30 PM
September 10th		Syracuse at UConn		7:00 PM
September 10th		Oregon State at Fresno State		10:30 PM
September 16th		Air Force at Wyoming		8:00 PM
September 17th		Villanova at Army		Noon
September 17th		Vanderbilt at Northern Illinois		3:30 PM
September 17th		UCF at Florida Atlantic		7:30 PM
September 23rd		Boise State at UTEP		9:00 PM
September 24th		Buffalo at Eastern Michigan		Noon
September 24th		FIU at Western Kentucky		3:30 PM
September 24th		UNLV at Utah State		7:00 PM
September 24th		Western Michigan at San Jose State		10:30 PM
September 30th		UTSA at Middle Tennessee		7:30 PM
September 30th		New Mexico at UNLV		11:00 PM
October 1st		Georgia State at Army		Noon
October 1st		Fresno State at UConn		3:30 PM
October 1st		San Jose State at Wyoming		7:30 PM
October 7th		UNLV at San Jose State		10:30 PM
October 8th		Eastern Michigan at Western Michigan		Noon
October 8th		Tulsa at Navy		3:30 PM
October 8th		Wyoming at New Mexico		7:00 PM
October 8th		Hawaii at San Diego State		10:30 PM
October 14th		UTSA at FIU		8:00 PM
October 15th		Colgate at Army		Noon
October 15th		Northern Illinois at Eastern Michigan		3:30 PM
October 15th		Utah State at Colorado State		7:00 PM
October 15th		Air Force at UNLV		10:30 PM
October 21st		UAB at Western Kentucky		8:00 PM
October 22nd		ULM at Army		Noon
October 22nd		Akron at Kent State		3:30 PM
October 22nd		Boise State at Air Force		7:00 PM
October 22nd		San Diego State at Nevada		10:30 PM
October 28th		Louisiana Tech at FIU		8:00 PM
October 29th		Boston College at UConn		Noon
October 29th		Temple at Navy		3:30 PM
October 29th		UAB at Florida Atlantic		7:00 PM
October 29th		Nevada at San Jose State		10:30 PM
November 3rd		UTEP at Rice		7:00 PM
November 4th		UMass at UConn		7:00 PM
November 5th		Western Kentucky at Charlotte		Noon
November 5th		New Mexico at Utah State		3:30 PM
November 5th		UNLV at San Diego State		7:00 PM
November 8th		Ohio at Miami-OH		7:00 PM
November 9th		Buffalo at Central Michigan		7:00 PM
November 11th		Fresno State at UNLV		10:30 PM
November 12th		Liberty at UConn		Noon
November 12th		New Mexico at Air Force		3:30 PM
November 12th		Wyoming at Colorado State		7:00 PM
November 12th		Boise State at Nevada		10:30 PM
November 16th		Western Michigan at Central Michigan		7:00 PM
November 19th		UConn at Army		Noon
November 19th		Akron at Buffalo		3:30 PM
November 19th		Boise State at Wyoming		7:00 PM
November 19th		Fresno State at Nevada		10:30 PM
November 25th		Toledo at Western Michigan		Noon
November 25th		New Mexico at Colorado State		3:30 PM
November 26th		Western Kentucky at Florida Atlantic		Noon
November 26th		UAB at Louisiana Tech		3:30 PM
November 26th		Air Force at Colorado State		9:00 PM
December 2nd		Conference USA Championship Game		8:00 PM

Just some CBS Sports Network notes and garbage:

• Predicted CBSSN appearances by conference:
  • Mountain West – 52 appearances
  • Conference USA – 29 appearances (plus conference championship)
  • MAC – 20 appearances
  • American (excluding Navy) – 6 appearances
  • FCS – 6 appearances
  • Army – 6 appearances
  • UConn – 6 appearances
  • Navy – 4 appearances
  • SEC – 2 appearances (both by Vanderbilt)
  • ACC – 2 appearances
  • Sun Belt – 2 appearances
  • Pac-12 – 1 appearance
  • UMass – 1 appearance
  • Liberty – 1 appearance
• Every conference except the Big Ten and Big XII appear at least once on CBS Sports Network. Nice.
• The Mountain West absolutely dominates the appearance list even with a portion of the MWC football TV contract with FOX. It helps that all Boise State conference road games have to appear here.
• Army and Navy and now UConn have their own CBS Sports Network contracts for home games. How that is affected by realignmentpalooza I have no idea. Army’s agreement runs through 2028, UConn has there’s until the end of the 2023 season and Navy’s contract goes until 2027.
• Most of the games are set. The few that aren’t are all MAC games that should end up being 12-day choices during the season.

No.  Just, no.  This isn’t happening.  I can’t piece together this schedule yet.  To be honest, I probably won’t be able to at all before the season commences.  TSN struggles enough with setting up the schedule a week in advance.  I can’t expect them to have the entire season’s worth (or at least the timeslots set for the games) a month-and-a-half in advance!  Silly Bossman.

Alright, that’s it.  Not doing the Big Ten Network either and not including their logo because I think this has gone on long enough, don’t you think?

Next up will be, finally, predictions for the season.  I don’t know when I will have that up but I am hoping I can get going by the end of the month.  Best laid plans…

Have a great week and avoid the heat…unless you love the heat then get all you can!

Poll n’ Bowl? Poll n’ Bowl!

I’ve tried to remake the bowl system.  I’ve gone farther and tried my hand at fixing the postseason in college football.  Now let’s go back to the sport’s roots (kind of) and do a Poll n’ Bowl version!  What’s Poll n’ Bowl?  Well it was the way things were before the BCS.  Let’s even go before conference championships.  The final regular season poll was followed by bowl games.  That’s it, that’s all.  And then the national championship was selected after the bowls were done.  Easy peasy.

Now it’s time to do a little math.  I decided to just pick a season at random and determine the amount of bowl games and Division 1-A (not FBS yet) teams.  There were 110 teams and 18 bowl games in the 1985 season.  That meant that approximately 1/3rd of teams would get into a bowl game.  Not even close to the percentage this season which was over 60%.  So bowls were much more important back then because they were a bit more prestigious.  Couldn’t go 6-5 a lot of times (only a 11-game regular season back then) and make it into a bowl game.  With 130 teams, that would mean about 44 teams should qualify meaning there should be 22 bowl games if we are treating this like we would have in the 80s.

So I have to come up with some criteria here because a .500 record isn’t enough to get to a bowl game.  So I have decided to make it so a team would need 8 wins to be bowl-eligible.  This will make it a bit more difficult for Group of Five teams to qualify but that’s the way it was in the Poll n’ Bowl era.  Saying that, it also meant that a team from a non-power conference that made a bowl game was actually really good.

Also I need to go back and find some historic bowl games from the past.  No more Bahamas Bowl.  Say good bye Frisco Football Classic.  Playing in the LA Bowl?  Not anymore.  To get back to the roots (so to speak) we need to use the same vernacular as you saw back in the 80s and 90s when it came to bowl season.

Hey, remember when all the bowl games weren’t on ESPN?  Well it’s time to, kind of, go back to that.  Give the other networks a game or two and spread the wealth so to speak.  And put the fucking Rose Bowl back on ABC…and the Sugar Bowl while you’re at it!

I’m going to have to take a few liberties with the bowl tie-ins.  Older bowl games won’t obviously have the same tie-ins as they do now.  Hell, the American Conference didn’t exist until about a decade ago.   Don’t worry, some matchups will still exist.  The Big Ten and Pac-12 champions will face off in the Granddaddy of them All, the Rose Bowl.  That will not change.  But a lot of the rest will, I’m not going to lie.

So here is what the structure would look like.  Obviously there could be some tweaks but I want to have national spotlights for every bowl game:

January 10, 2022	8:00	National Championship	ESPN	#1	#2
January 1, 2022	8:45	USF&G Sugar Bowl	ABC	SEC Champ	at-large
January 1, 2022	5:00	Rose Bowl presented by AT&T	ABC	Big Ten Champ	Pac-12 Champ
January 1, 2022	1:00	Tostitos Fiesta Bowl	NBC	Big Ten	Big XII
December 31, 2021	7:30	FedEx Orange Bowl	NBC	ACC Champ	at-large
December 31, 2021	3:30	Mobil Cotton Bowl	ESPN	Big XII Champ	SEC
December 31, 2021	Noon	Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl	ESPN	at-large	at-large
December 30, 2021	9:00	Bluebonnet Bowl	FOX	Big XII	at-large
December 30, 2021	5:30	Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl	ESPN	SEC	ACC
December 30, 2021	2:00	Hall of Fame Bowl	ESPN	Big Ten	ACC
December 29, 2021	7:00	Mazda Gator Bowl	CBS	American Champ	at-large
December 29, 2021	3:00	John Hancock Sun Bowl	CBS	Pac-12	at-large
December 28, 2021	8:00	St. Jude Liberty Bowl	ESPN	at-large	at-large
December 25, 2021	3:30	Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl	ESPN	MWC Champ	at-large
December 24, 2021	8:00	All-American Bowl	ESPN	C-USA Champ	at-large
December 24, 2021	4:30	Poulan Weed Eater Independence Bowl	ESPN	Sun Belt Champ	at-large
December 22, 2021	8:00	Pacific Life Holiday Bowl	FOX	Pac-12	at-large
December 21, 2021	10:30	EA Sports Las Vegas Bowl	ESPN	MWC	at-large
December 21, 2021	7:00	GoDaddy.com Bowl	ESPN	at-large	at-large
December 18, 2021	9:30	Alamo Bowl presented by MasterCard	ESPN	at-large	at-large
December 18, 2021	6:00	Little Caesar’s Bowl	ESPN	MAC Champ	at-large
December 18, 2021	2:30	Blockbuster Bowl	ABC	American	at-large
December 18, 2021	11:00	Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl	ABC	at-large	at-large

Alright this will look quite a bit different than the normal bowl schedule you see these days.  Let’s get into the details:

• There are a lot of at-large bids, more than you would normally see.  Remember, there were always quite a few Independent teams back in the 80s so you can’t tie all the bowls into a conference.
• I can’t do what I do with my postseason fixes and that’s make sure the Group of Five conference champions get to face a Power Five team in a bowl game.  That’s just not possible.  Not saying it won’t happen but it’s not guaranteed.
• There’s one thing I would do differently than used to be done.  I would pit the top two teams against each other AFTER all the bowls are completed.  That would be the true national championship.  The site can be rotated and does not have to be a bowl game site.  Like this year in Indianapolis.
• ESPN isn’t broadcasting 90% of the bowl games here.  I have definitely spread the wealth including what I said earlier in the post: putting the Rose and Sugar Bowls back on ABC.
• I even put in some of the old sponsors.  Some of these businesses don’t even exist anymore!  But man, to hear Brent Musburger say, one more time, “This one is for all the Tostitos” would be great.

Alright this is where it gets a little weird.  Because we only have a few Independent Teams now and some of them are horrible (UMass, UConn), many teams from conferences will have to fill the at-large spots.  This is fine.  What isn’t fine is getting all the tie-ins completed and then doing the at-large bids.  It would mean that the way I have set things, the Sugar Bowl would always get one team that isn’t exactly New Year’s Day worthy if you know what I mean.  To get around this, we will just start from the top and work our way down.  If a bowl committee has an at-large bid and wants a team that’s not an Independent, they can just invite them.  The only thing that’s set here, really, is the conference champion slots.  Those cannot be changed.  Clear as mud, right?  Alright, let’s just fill these in the way I have a feeling they would have been filled in (given the rankings this year):

January 10, 2022	8:00	National Championship	ESPN	#1	#2
January 1, 2022	8:45	USF&G Sugar Bowl	ABC	SEC Champ	at-large	#1 Alabama	#5 Notre Dame
January 1, 2022	5:00	Rose Bowl presented by AT&T	ABC	Big Ten Champ	Pac-12 Champ	#2 Michigan	#11 Utah
January 1, 2022	1:00	Tostitos Fiesta Bowl	NBC	Big Ten	Big XII	#6 Ohio State	#9 Oklahoma State
December 31, 2021	7:30	FedEx Orange Bowl	NBC	ACC Champ	at-large	#12 Pittsburgh	#3 Georgia
December 31, 2021	3:30	Mobil Cotton Bowl	ESPN	Big XII Champ	SEC	#7 Baylor	#8 Ole Miss
December 31, 2021	Noon	Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl	ESPN	at-large	at-large	#10 Michigan State	#17 Wake Forest
December 30, 2021	9:00	Bluebonnet Bowl	FOX	Big XII	at-large	#16 Oklahoma	#13 BYU
December 30, 2021	5:30	Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl	ESPN	SEC	ACC	#21 Arkansas	#18 NC State
December 30, 2021	2:00	Hall of Fame Bowl	ESPN	Big Ten	ACC	#15 Iowa	#19 Clemson
December 29, 2021	7:00	Mazda Gator Bowl	CBS	American Champ	at-large	#4 Cincinnati	#22 Kentucky
December 29, 2021	3:00	John Hancock Sun Bowl	CBS	Pac-12	at-large	#14 Oregon	#24 San Diego State
December 28, 2021	8:00	St. Jude Liberty Bowl	ESPN	at-large	at-large	#20 Houston	#25 Texas A&M
December 25, 2021	3:30	Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl	ESPN	MWC Champ	at-large	Utah State	Central Michigan
December 24, 2021	8:00	All-American Bowl	ESPN	C-USA Champ	at-large	UTSA	Minnesota
December 24, 2021	4:30	Poulan Weed Eater Independence Bowl	ESPN	Sun Belt Champ	at-large	#23 Louisiana	Wisconsin
December 22, 2021	8:00	Pacific Life Holiday Bowl	FOX	Pac-12	at-large	Arizona State	Fresno State
December 21, 2021	10:30	EA Sports Las Vegas Bowl	ESPN	MWC	at-large	Air Force	UCLA
December 21, 2021	7:00	GoDaddy.com Bowl	ESPN	at-large	at-large	Western Kentucky	Nevada
December 18, 2021	9:30	Alamo Bowl presented by MasterCard	ESPN	at-large	at-large	UAB	SMU
December 18, 2021	6:00	Little Caesar’s Bowl	ESPN	MAC Champ	at-large	Northern Illinois	Purdue
December 18, 2021	2:30	Blockbuster Bowl	ABC	American	at-large	UCF	Appalachian State
December 18, 2021	11:00	Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl	ABC	at-large	at-large	Coastal Carolina	Army

So how does the national championship game get filed?  Here are the scenarios:

• Alabama is in if they win the Sugar Bowl.
• Michigan is in if they win the Rose Bowl or if Georgia or Alabama lose.
• Georgia is in if they win by a good margin and Michigan does not (or outright loses) or if Alabama loses.
• Cincinnati is in if they blow the bricks off of Kentucky and if Michigan, Georgia, and Ohio State all lose.
• Notre Dame is in if they beat Alabama and if one of Michigan or Georgia loses.

Other than complete chaos, there are no other scenarios for the national championship game in my opinion.

Alright is that better?  I honestly don’t know.  The Cotton Bowl is the same matchup as what we got but some of the other bowl games are wildly different.  I think the addition of the Plus-One is what was always missing from that era and they let it go by the wayside with the introduction of the Bowl Alliance and then the BCS.  Now you can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube and we are headed for an expanded playoff.  Will this kill off the bowl games?  Not unless they don’t bring in the viewers which they still do at this point…to the tune of millions per game in some cases.  Doesn’t mean the system will be good, it just is what it will end up being.

Just a note: the FCS National Championship is Saturday.  You can see it on TSN2 before the Saturday NFL games start.  And then the College Football Playoff is Monday night.  It’s on every TSN channel except TSN5.  As far as I can tell, the normal broadcast will be on TSN1 and TSN4 and the Megacast broadcast will be on TSN2 and TSN3.  And then that will be it for college football for the season (except for the weird all-star games).  So cherish it.  Have a great rest of the week!

If I Could Fix The Postseason Version 2.0

I used to do a post where I would re-do Bowl Season in a way that I figured would make it better.  I did it five times.  Here are the posts: here, here, here, here, and finally, here.  I still plan on “re-doing” this so to speak but really it’s all about the postseason now and how to “fix” it.  And it needs fixing.  Don’t get me wrong, I love college football so I am fine with all the bowl games but even I have to admit this has probably got out of hand.  With players opting out to prepare for the draft more often than ever, we are getting to the point where even the New Year’s Six games will lose prominent players.  The bowl games, I hate to say, are mattering less than ever, especially for Power Five teams.  And there really is no going back to the way it was so if you are hoping for that, brace yourselves for what will happen in the college football world in the next few years.

Last year I did a few different scenarios.  This time I am not.  One scenario.  That’s it.  I am sure it will need some tweaking but I am going to try and get this as “perfect” as we can get it considering what I have to work with.  Let’s go!

The Only Scenario

Considering where we are at now, there’s a fair amount that has to change.  The playoff will be expanding.  Let’s not deny it.  I get that some of you hate it and I can understand why but it’s imminent so might as well…not exactly embrace it but, how about tolerate it.  Sound good?  Alright we are all in agreement.  And by all, I mean me.

Let’s start with the format.  There are some people that want it to mirror the NCAA Basketball Tournament.  68 teams.  Fuck those people.  Stupid idiots.  There has to be an advantage for finishing at the top of the rankings.  Otherwise, there is no incentive to play your starters in a game if you would be assured that there’s no advantage for winning out.  They are going to go to 12 (again, whether we like it or not) so I am going to mimic that.  One thing is, top four teams must be conference champions.  Make it important to win your conference (if they abolished divisions it would be even better but that’s a different conversation that I have had on here many times).  After that, it’s the next best eight teams, regardless of if you win your conference or not.  For this season, the top 12 would look like this (with the conference champion criteria I mentioned above):

1. Alabama (SEC champs)
2. Michigan (Big Ten champs)
3. Cincinnati (American champs)
4. Baylor (Big XII champs)
5. Georgia
6. Notre Dame
7. Ohio State
8. Ole Miss
9. Oklahoma State
10. Michigan State
11. Utah
12. Pittsburgh

Sorry BYU.  Too bad Oregon.  Better luck next year Iowa.  Can’t get too crazy (since 12 is going to feel crazy enough at first).

Now we get to how this would have been scheduled.  I will use this year’s dates to make it a bit easier to understand.  I will also use bowl games since I have a feeling most of the commissioners will not go with on-campus games in any of the rounds (especially the SEC):

• First round games – Friday December 10th/Saturday December 11th:
  • Gator Bowl (Friday, 7:00) – Georgia vs. Pittsburgh
  • Citrus Bowl (Saturday, Noon) – Ohio State vs. Michigan State
  • Alamo Bowl (Saturday, 7:00) – Ole Miss vs. Oklahoma State
  • Holiday Bowl (Saturday, 10:30) – Notre Dame vs. Utah
  • I put these four bowl games as the next four “most prestigious” after the New Year’s Six bowl games.  This also allows Army-Navy to play in their regular afternoon timeslot (although it may be pushed to 3:30).  Also, FOX should get at least one of these games (most likely the Holiday Bowl since they have the rights to it now).
• Quarter-Finals – December 18th:
  • Peach Bowl (Noon) – Alabama vs. Ole Miss/OK State winner
  • Cotton Bowl (3:30) – Baylor vs. UGA/Pitt winner
  • Orange Bowl (7:00) – Michigan vs. tOSU/MSU winner
  • Fiesta Bowl (10:30) – Cincinnati vs. ND/Utah winner
  • Look, the Rose and Sugar Bowls aren’t changing their days.  They just aren’t.  Is it frustrating?  Fucking right it is.  Nothing we can do about it.  For now.
  • Also, one of these games goes to FOX as well.  I am going to go with the Fiesta Bowl.
• Semi-Finals – New Year’s Day @ the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl (at 5:00 PM and 8:30 PM, respectively)
• National Championship – January 10th

As you can see, ten bowl games are being used in this exercise.  It keeps whatever shred of history is left with bowl games and uses them in a new way.  Kind of like recycling.

As for the rest of the bowl games and their brand new tie-ins, here is what I would propose:

January 1, 2022	1:00 PM	Outback Bowl	SEC	Big Ten
December 31, 2021	7:30 PM	Texas Bowl	SEC	Big XII
December 31, 2021	3:30 PM	Sun Bowl	Big XII	at-large
December 31, 2021	Noon	Cheez-It Bowl	ACC	at-large
December 30, 2021	10:30 PM	Las Vegas Bowl	Big XII	Pac-12
December 30, 2021	7:00 PM	Music City Bowl	SEC	at-large
December 30, 2021	3:30 PM	Duke’s Mayo Bowl	Big Ten	ACC
December 30, 2021	Noon	Pinstripe Bowl	Big Ten	AAC
December 29, 2021	8:00 PM	Liberty Bowl	ACC	AAC
December 29, 2021	3:30 PM	Military Bowl	MAC	at-large
December 29, 2021	Noon	Quick Lane Bowl	Big Ten	MAC Champ
December 28, 2021	10:30 PM	LA Bowl	Pac-12	MWC Champ
December 28, 2021	7:00 PM	Birmingham Bowl	SEC	Sun Belt Champ
December 28, 2021	3:30 PM	Fenway Bowl	ACC	AAC Champ
December 28, 2021	Noon	Armed Forces Bowl	Big XII	C-USA Champ
December 27, 2021	4:30 PM	LendingTree Bowl	Sun Belt	at-large
December 27, 2021	1:00 PM	Frisco Bowl	at-large	at-large
December 24, 2021	8:00 PM	Hawaii Bowl	Pac-12	MWC
December 24, 2021	4:30 PM	Independence Bowl	C-USA	at-large
December 24, 2021	1:00 PM	New Orleans Bowl	at-large	at-large
December 22, 2021	9:00 PM	Guaranteed Rate Bowl	at-large	at-large
December 21, 2021	9:00 PM	Idaho Potato Bowl	MWC	at-large
December 17, 2021	9:00 PM	New Mexico Bowl	Pac-12	at-large

As you can see I have taken a few bowl games out of the mix.  Yes they all get quite a few viewers but no one will miss them.  Well maybe the glorious Frisco Football Classic.  Anyway, new tie-ins makes things a bit better.  Also, the Group of Five conference champs get their shot at a Power Five team in a bowl game which to me is one of the biggest misses happening right now with bowl season.  This gives all these schools in the G-5 a chance to play in a game to prove their mettle.  For now, most of them get to go to a place like Boca Raton (which is still nice this time of year) to play another team from the Group of Five in a game very few care about.  And isn’t this what bowl games are missing (at least a bit)?  The caring?  Not just by fans but by players and coaches?  I thought so.

If you went ahead and read up on my previous ideas to run the bowl games (it’s at the top of this post if you don’t remember) you know I have other ideas on how to set up bowl season.  It’s all about entertainment and presentation.  If people aren’t watching, then why not try something new?  So I have come up with a way to revamp all this shit.  Let’s start with the Selection Sunday show which, as of now, is horrible and pretty much unwatchable.  We need to spice it up!

How are we going to do this?  Easy.  Shake up the way Selection Sunday is shown.  This is how I would schedule this with the setup I have above:

• Noon-12:05 – Introduction of hosts and panel.  Look, we don’t need a 90-second monologue from Jesse Palmer explaining his opinions before the show really even gets started.  Just say “Hi, I’m Jesse” (like he’s in an AA meeting), maybe give him a name tag like they do on The Price is Right and continue on to the next analyst.  This shouldn’t take long.
• 12:05-1:00 – CFP Bowl selections and analysis.  Now, we should listen to Jesse…and Rece and Herbie and Galloway and David Pollack and Bear and whoever else wants to chime in.  Do a quick interview with Gary Barta so he can drone on about eye test and strength of schedule like he knows what the fuck he’s talking about and you’ve got the makings of a full segment with a lot of information.
• 1:00-2:15 – Tie-ins filled with analysis.  A little more needed here but it doesn’t need a ton of time especially since they spend very little time on this anyway to begin with.  There are 32 tie-ins but most of these should go quick which leaves some time for analysis.
• 2:15-3:30 – Selection time.  Bowls are selected in random order of selection the day before (to give bowl committees time to pick teams and send out invites).  At-large selections will be shown as they are made.  Analysis will follow every pick.

It’s like the March Madness show except longer.  Hell, give Greg Gumbel a massive contract to come over just to do this show every year.  Who says no (other than the accountants at ESPN)?  Anyway, this is what we would see after the tie-ins are set for the non-playoff bowls:

January 1st	1:00 PM	Outback Bowl	ABC	SEC	Big Ten	Tennessee	Iowa
December 31st	7:30 PM	Texas Bowl	ESPN	SEC	Big XII	Arkansas	Oklahoma
December 31st	3:30 PM	Sun Bowl	CBS	Big XII	at-large	Kansas State
December 31st	Noon	Cheez-It Bowl	ABC	ACC	at-large	Clemson
December 30th	10:30 PM	Las Vegas Bowl	ESPN	Big XII	Pac-12		Arizona State
December 30th	7:00 PM	Music City Bowl	ABC	SEC	at-large	Kentucky
December 30th	3:30 PM	Duke’s Mayo Bowl	ESPN	Big Ten	ACC	Wisconsin	Wake Forest
December 30th	Noon	Pinstripe Bowl	ESPN	Big Ten	AAC	Minnesota	UCF
December 29th	8:00 PM	Liberty Bowl	FOX	ACC	AAC	NC State	East Carolina
December 29th	3:30 PM	Military Bowl	ESPN	MAC	at-large	Central Michigan
December 29th	Noon	Quick Lane Bowl	ESPN	Big Ten	MAC Champ	Purdue	Northern Illinois
December 28th	10:30 PM	LA Bowl	ESPN	Pac-12	MWC Champ	UCLA	Utah State
December 28th	7:00 PM	Birmingham Bowl	CBS	SEC	Sun Belt Champ	Texas A&M	Louisiana
December 28th	3:30 PM	Fenway Bowl	ESPN	ACC	AAC Champ	Miami	Houston
December 28th	Noon	Armed Forces Bowl	ESPN	Big XII	C-USA Champ	Iowa State	UTSA
December 27th	4:30 PM	LendingTree Bowl	ESPN	Sun Belt	at-large	Appalachian State
December 27th	1:00 PM	Frisco Bowl	ESPN	at-large	at-large
December 24th	8:00 PM	Hawaii Bowl	ESPN	MWC	Pac-12	San Diego State	Oregon
December 24th	4:30 PM	Independence Bowl	ESPN	C-USA	at-large	Western Kentucky
December 24th	1:00 PM	New Orleans Bowl	ESPN	at-large	at-large
December 22nd	9:00 PM	Guaranteed Rate Bowl	ESPN	at-large	at-large
December 21st	9:00 PM	Idaho Potato Bowl	FOX	MWC	at-large	Fresno State
December 17th	9:00 PM	New Mexico Bowl	ESPN	Pac-12	at-large	Washington State

Let me summarize:

• The 5 Group of Five champs get a game against a Power Five opponent.  In the American Conference’s case, with Cincinnati in the new College Football Playoff, the next best team takes their place.  That would be Houston.
• All the bowl tie-ins were filled except for one in this case.  My criteria is that you have to win SEVEN games, not six, to qualify for a bowl game.  West Virginia went 6-6 and is thus not eligible.  That means the Big XII did not have enough teams to fulfill their tie-in obligations.  This means the spot that the Big XII would have had goes into the at-large pot of teams.
• ALL games get national viewings.  No shared timeslots.  These are supposed to be showcase games.  Make them that way.
• You will notice that FOX, ABC and CBS get a couple more games.  Better to spread the wealth I believe.  It also makes these games special when they aren’t all on ESPN (despite what ESPN might think).
• Way more at-large bids than there are now.  I like the fact they have gone to some bowls having G-5 bids meaning any Group of Five team can get in but it still isn’t enough.  This opens it up and allows the next part of the exercise to happen.

So now we get to the fun part.  Now we do the random draw of at-large spots.  In the real world, the draw would have been done the previous day to allow these bowl committees to figure out who they want.  Then the order of the at-large bids (picked at random) would start being filled live on air.  If there are no spoilers (which is tough in this day and age) it would be like most March Madness shows where even the teams don’t know where they are headed until they find out along with everyone else tuning in.

Here is the random order and the teams that I would have selected, considering the order:

• Sun – BYU
• LendingTree – Mississippi State
• Frisco – SMU
• New Orleans – UAB
• Music City – Penn State
• Idaho Potato – Oregon State
• Independence – Liberty
• Guaranteed Rate – Nevada
• Las Vegas – Boise State
• Military – Army
• New Mexico – UTEP
• New Orleans – Coastal Carolina
• Cheez-It – Georgia State
• Guaranteed Rate – Kent State
• Frisco – Air Force

Alright all the picks have been made and now we have the final bowl listings for the non-playoff games:

January 1st	1:00 PM	Outback Bowl	ABC	SEC	Big Ten	Tennessee	Iowa
December 31st	7:30 PM	Texas Bowl	ESPN	SEC	Big XII	Arkansas	Oklahoma
December 31st	3:30 PM	Sun Bowl	CBS	Big XII	at-large	Kansas State	BYU
December 31st	Noon	Cheez-It Bowl	ABC	ACC	at-large	Clemson	Georgia State
December 30th	10:30 PM	Las Vegas Bowl	ESPN	Big XII	Pac-12	Boise State	Arizona State
December 30th	7:00 PM	Music City Bowl	ABC	SEC	at-large	Kentucky	Penn State
December 30th	3:30 PM	Duke’s Mayo Bowl	ESPN	Big Ten	ACC	Wisconsin	Wake Forest
December 30th	Noon	Pinstripe Bowl	ESPN	Big Ten	AAC	Minnesota	UCF
December 29th	8:00 PM	Liberty Bowl	FOX	ACC	AAC	NC State	East Carolina
December 29th	3:30 PM	Military Bowl	ESPN	MAC	at-large	Central Michigan	Army
December 29th	Noon	Quick Lane Bowl	ESPN	Big Ten	MAC Champ	Purdue	Northern Illinois
December 28th	10:30 PM	LA Bowl	ESPN	Pac-12	MWC Champ	UCLA	Utah State
December 28th	7:00 PM	Birmingham Bowl	CBS	SEC	Sun Belt Champ	Texas A&M	Louisiana
December 28th	3:30 PM	Fenway Bowl	ESPN	ACC	AAC Champ	Miami	Houston
December 28th	Noon	Armed Forces Bowl	ESPN	Big XII	C-USA Champ	Iowa State	UTSA
December 27th	4:30 PM	LendingTree Bowl	ESPN	Sun Belt	at-large	Appalachian State	Mississippi State
December 27th	1:00 PM	Frisco Bowl	ESPN	at-large	at-large	Air Force	SMU
December 24th	8:00 PM	Hawaii Bowl	ESPN	MWC	Pac-12	San Diego State	Oregon
December 24th	4:30 PM	Independence Bowl	ESPN	C-USA	at-large	Western Kentucky	Liberty
December 24th	1:00 PM	New Orleans Bowl	ESPN	at-large	at-large	UAB	Coastal Carolina
December 22nd	9:00 PM	Guaranteed Rate Bowl	ESPN	at-large	at-large	Nevada	Kent State
December 21st	9:00 PM	Idaho Potato Bowl	FOX	MWC	at-large	Fresno State	Oregon State
December 17th	9:00 PM	New Mexico Bowl	ESPN	Pac-12	at-large	Washington State	UTEP

I’m just going to say it’s much better.

So there you go.  This is better than the current system.  Not that it’s the only way to skin a cat.  There are a myriad of ways to fix bowl season but make no mistake about it, it need fixing.  Like, badly.  And for people that want to go back to the BCS or the Bowl Alliance or Poll n’ Bowl, just stop.  It’s not happening and really, the farther back you go, the more disorganized college football was.  To the point where Alabama claims, what, 53 national championships or something like that?

As for players opting out for the draft, you may never fix that short of offering a cash prize to the winning team to be distributed among the players.  Or taking that money and putting towards the charity of the players’ choosing.  Even that might not help if there’s a player who’s probably a first rounder deciding to secure his future (and a shit-ton of money) by not playing in what is essentially an exhibition game.

That’s it for this long post on how I would fix the college football postseason.  Now I just need someone to hire me to oversee it all.  It won’t cost you much.  A few milly should do it.

2021 Bowl Game Rankings and Predictions!

It is the holiday season which always coincides with Bowl Season!  This is our last chance to watch college football during the 2021 season and what a season it has been.  Honestly I don’t want it to end but all good things must come to an end.  That’s the rule (from what I’ve been told).

After last year’s complete shitshow of a bowl season, I am going back to the College Football Broadcasting Ranking System.  It works as it shows what games everyone can enjoy and what games only complete lunatics like myself will enjoy.  Strap in and let’s get going!

10 out of 10!  Put these games on ABC in primetime!

This is game of the year stuff right here.  So, as per usual, both College Football Playoff games and the top two New Year’s Six games show up here.

Orange Bowl – Michigan vs. Georgia (Dec. 31, 7:30, TSN3/TSN5) – Two amazing defenses.  Aidan Hutchinson on one side, one of the most historically amazing defenses (bar the SEC Championship) on the other side.  Not saying this will automatically be a defensive affair but don’t expect a Big XII-style shootout.  I would say this is easily the most anticipated bowl game of the season.  This should be a great competitive game which will finish very close to the time the clock strikes midnight on 2021.  My pick: Georgia 24-20.

Cotton Bowl – Alabama vs. Cincinnati (Dec. 31, 3:30, TSN3/TSN5) – Ugh, semi-finals on New Year’s Eve.  Not that I’m huge into going out on NYE anymore.  It’s not that I’m too old, it’s more that I don’t see the point in paying three times the amount for everything to go out drinking when it’s possibly freezing out and yeah I’m sounding old.  Anyway, there are two ways this could go and I sure hope it’s the one where the Bearcats keep it close.  Fingers crossed.  My pick: Alabama 43-34.

Peach Bowl – Michigan State vs. Pittsburgh (Dec. 30, 7:00, TSN3/TSN5) – This is a VERY intriguing matchup.  Two different ways these teams generate offense: Kenny Pickett and the pass vs. Kenneth Walker III and the run.  The Peach Bowl seems to always come up with a great game and this should be no exception.  My pick: Michigan State 37-32.

Rose Bowl – Ohio State vs. Utah (Jan. 1, 5:00, TSN1/TSN3/TSN4/TSN5) – The biggest thing here is whether the Utes can handle the pressure of the first Rose Bowl in team history.  The Kyle Whittingham rumours will be flowing throughout the game I’m sure.  Honestly, this is huge for the Pac-12 as a whole as they have been the runt of the Power Five litter for a while now and need a favourable outcome.  I just don’t think it will happen here.  My pick: Ohio State 37-24.

9 out of 10! I would even go so far as to say some of these could approach SEC on CBS in PRIMETIME!

This is going to change a couple years from now but during daylight hours, nothing beats the SEC on CBS.

Sugar Bowl – Ole Miss vs. Baylor (Jan. 1, 8:45, TSN1/TSN3/TSN4/TSN5) – Not quite the worst of the NY6 bunch meaning it will still probably be an amazing game.  These two squads have a lot to be proud of this season and will want to keep that momentum going into what could be a national championship contending season in 2022.  It’s going to be another amazing offense vs. tough defense game so we will see who breaks first.  Get your popcorn ready.  My pick: Ole Miss 39-30.

Fiesta Bowl – Notre Dame vs. Oklahoma State (Jan. 1, 1:00, TSN3/TSN5) – One team has a new head coach after theirs bolted for LSU.  The other team was so close to crashing the CFP party (possibly at Cincinnati’s expense).  Touchdown Jesus vs. The Mullet.  This will totally overshadow the other bowl game on at the exact same time.  ESPN just doesn’t understand nor do I think they care.  My pick: Notre Dame 34-20.

Alamo Bowl – Oklahoma vs. Oregon (Dec. 29, 9:15, specialty pack) – The best non-NY6 bowl and it’s also the Interim Coach Bowl.  It’s the return of Bob Stoops to coach the Sooners.  I think they need to get Mike Bellotti to coach the Ducks to make things even.  Both teams disappointed this season so they are playing for some pride here.  Oklahoma has to be the favourite here with Kayvon Thibodaux deciding to skip the bowl and declare for the NFL Draft.  My pick: Oklahoma 35-29.

Frisco Bowl – San Diego State vs. UTSA (Dec. 21, 7:30, TSN1) – The best pre-Christmas bowl game is surprisingly in Frisco.  Two teams who probably deserved better bowl destinations face off in a big Group of Five battle.  This should be a close one and we shall see if the Roadrunners are for real or not.  My pick: UTSA 36-33.

8 out of 10! This is FOX territory.  Definitely a BIG NOON SATURDAY kind of game!

You will never see Kansas in these games, just like they are never on Big Noon Saturday.  Can you even imagine GUS JOHNSON calling a Kansas game?

Gator Bowl – Texas A&M vs. Wake Forest (Dec. 31, 11:00 AM, specialty pack) – Not quite the Alamo Bowl but still a great bowl game.  If it’s anything like their last meeting, this will be a barnburner.  Now watch one team completely blow out the other.  My pick: Texas A&M 49-40.

Cheez-It Bowl – Iowa State vs. Clemson (Dec. 29, 5:45, specialty pack) – The team who was still the favourite to win the ACC and disappointed big time takes on the team who was expected to at least challenge for a spot in the Big XII Championship.  It will be interesting to see how Dabo Swinney deals with both coordinators leaving in the last couple weeks.  I think it’s the loss of Brent Venables that will be bigger here as the Cyclones can pile on the points.  My pick: Iowa State 33-13.

Holiday Bowl – NC State vs. UCLA (Dec. 28, 8:00, FOX) – The only bowl on FOX this year so we know we will get GUS JOHNSON on the call.  Nice!  I wonder if Chip Kelly will even be the Bruins head coach by the time we hit gameday.  Now with Clemson being knocked down a peg, NC State seems like an ideal candidate to rise up the ranks so they are looking to get some momentum going into 2022.  My pick: NC State 32-31.

Citrus Bowl – Kentucky vs. Iowa (Jan. 1, 1:00, ABC) – I wonder why Mark Stoops didn’t get more looks from teams looking for a new head coach.  He has a chance to put another ten-win season on the board for the Wildcats.  They will have to try and figure out the stingy defense of Iowa in this one.  Take the under.  My pick: Kentucky 17-13.

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

Casual fans may skip these but college football fans will consider these still must-see bowl games.

Outback Bowl – Arkansas vs. Penn State (Jan. 1, Noon, specialty pack) – This is an interesting spot.  Penn State was supposed to be better but had some injuries and some bad luck.  Arkansas had a great season and was in the Top 25 for a while.  It would be easy to say the Nittany Lions don’t care about this bowl game but I’m sure they do.  James Franklin won’t let them not care.  My pick: Arkansas 27-12.

Music City Bowl – Tennessee vs. Purdue (Dec. 30, 3:00, TSN3) – This could be a dark horse contender for bowl game of the season.  It’s buried on New Year’s Eve Eve so it might be overlooked but you should not overlook it.  If David Bell plays this would have gone up a section but no one knows if he will so I have to hedge my bets.  My pick: Purdue 44-41.

Boca Raton Bowl – Appalachian State vs. Western Kentucky (Dec. 18, 11:00 AM, TSN4) – I’m sure WKU is going to try to throw for a thousand yards in this one.  App State will reply with a good rushing attack going up against a horrible Hilltoppers run defense.  If you like offense, this is one of the games for you.  My pick: Appalachian State 41-35.

LA Bowl – Oregon State vs. Utah State (Dec. 18, 7:30, ABC) – Jimmy Kimmel sponsors this bowl.  I used to watch Kimmel back in the day.  His talk show?  Not so much.  I still don’t get why they didn’t get UCLA here but I’m done trying to figure that out.  My pick: Oregon State 24-23.

Las Vegas Bowl – Wisconsin vs. Arizona State (Dec. 30, 10:30, specialty pack) – Jesus Christ, I hope the city gets all the beer they can get for this one.  Expect a lot of ground game from the Badgers, relatively uninspired football from the Sun Devils (even though it has somehow worked most of the season) and the smell of Coors and puke in the stands.  My pick: Wisconsin 35-25.

6 out of 10.  Even when Toledo plays Notre Dame, it somehow becomes exciting.

NBC is all about quality over quantity.  OK I lied.  NBC is about Notre Dame.  Saying that, even in a down year, a lot of people watch Notre Dame football so they have to be in the upper half of these rankings.

Independence Bowl – UAB vs. BYU (Dec. 18, 3:30, ABC/TSN3) – This is a terrible tie-in for the Cougs.  They should have got something better but that’s the life of a non-Notre Dame Independent team.  Anyway, they get their shot to finish as a Top 10 team against a rather tough UAB team that shouldn’t be overlooked.  Honestly, I see BYU taking out a lot of their frustrations on the Blazers.  My pick: BYU 52-14.

Birmingham Bowl – Auburn vs. Houston (Dec. 28, Noon, specialty pack) – Now this is how you get a sellout.  Auburn’s fans will pack UAB’s new stadium so it will feel like a home crowd for the Tigers.  It could be tough sledding against a really good Cougars team led by Marcus Jones, one of the best return men ever.  My pick: Houston 28-27.

New Orleans Bowl – Louisiana vs. Marshall (Dec. 18, 9:15, specialty pack) – The Ragin Cajuns are back at the Superdome.  Should be loud and at least half full.  My pick: Louisiana 41-36.

Cure Bowl – Coastal Carolina vs. Northern Illinois (Dec. 17, 6:00, TSN2) – The best quarterback in college football history (if you go by QB Rating) will lead the Chants into Orlando to face the MAC Champs.  This game could be done in a little over two hours as both teams love to run the ball.  My pick: Coastal Carolina 26-13.

5 out of 10. ESPN2 and FS1 get good games every so often.

I’d say that happens at least a few times for each of these channels during the college football year.  I mean it sucks that Canadians don’t get FOX Sports One but it is what it is.

First Responder Bowl – Air Force vs. Louisville (Dec. 28, 3:15, specialty pack) – Louisville barely got to bowl eligibility and struggled quite often during the season.  Air Force, of course, ran the ball a ton and looked good all year.  Unless Malik Cunningham puts the Cards on his shoulders, this game might not be too close.  My pick: Air Force 29-14.

Sun Bowl – Miami vs. Washington State (Dec. 31, 12:30, CBS) – Both teams will have new coaches next season.  So who knows where either of these teams are at going into a bowl game that possibly neither team wants to be in.  My pick: Miami 24-18.

Fenway Bowl – Virginia vs. SMU (Dec. 29, 11:00 AM, specialty pack) – My curiosity is all about how this game looks at Fenway Park.  I would love to see a quarterback rifle a ball too high and it just caroms off the Green Monster.  You want people to be interested in a game like this?  Have the wall be in play.  I would definitely watch that.  My pick: Virginia 20-17.

Liberty Bowl – Mississippi State vs. Texas Tech (Dec. 28, 6:45, specialty pack) – The Mike Leach Bowl!  The Air Raid up against a team that struggles to stop the pass.  This feels like a blowout.  My pick: Mississippi State 44-19.

4 out of 10.  ESPNU, SEC Network, ACC Network, Big Ten Network…take your pick.

I call these the unsung heroes of college football broadcasting.  They give you a ton of games and you’re assured of at least one of them every week being a really good one.  Maybe the Big XII will wake up now and realize a conference network is a good thing.

Gasparilla Bowl – UCF vs. Florida (Dec. 23, 7:00, specialty pack) – This has already sold out.  Is it safe to say UCF should be heavily favoured here?  Well they aren’t; however, any time a team loses their head coach before a bowl game it’s a red flag.  Couple that with the fact that I’m sure the Gators feel like they are slumming it in this bowl game leads me to believe this won’t be that close.  My pick: UCF 40-28.

Quick Lane Bowl – Nevada vs. Western Michigan (Dec. 27, 11:00 AM, TSN5) – Expect a lot of points in this one.  This is probably the final game for Carson Strong so he will be flinging the ball all over the field.  WMU upset Pitt and scored a boatload of points in conference play.  It will be a nice thing to watch while you finish your brunch/begin eating lunch/wake up.  My pick: Nevada 41-31.

Arizona Bowl – Boise State vs. Central Michigan (Dec. 31, 2:00, Barstool Sports) – So let me get this straight: this game gets a New Year’s Eve timeslot and will partially go up against the Cotton Bowl and is on the Barstool Sports website which not many people are signed up for.  Who fucking thought this was a good idea?  My pick: Boise State 42-24.

Guaranteed Rate Bowl – Minnesota vs. West Virginia (Dec. 28, 10:15, TSN1/TSN5) – Both of these teams come into this game on a roll.  So at least both teams want to be here.  It is the ghost of the old Cheez-It Bowl so hopefully it doesn’t devolve into a TCU-Cal 10-7 type of affair.  My pick: Minnesota 32-18.

3 out of 10. CBS Sports Network type games.  You’ll head here if it’s close.

CBSSN gets a ton of games every season.  Usually four games every Saturday and a bunch of weekday games sprinkled throughout the season.  So you’re bound to get a gem in there somewhere but quite often the quality of these games is rather low.

Texas Bowl – LSU vs. Kansas State (Jan. 4, 9:00, TSN5) – This is the only bowl game on between New Year’s Day and the national championship.  Saying that, it’s not exactly the greatest matchup.  If Ed Orgeron had decided to coach instead of heading off to Destin to get a piece of ass, this might be a lot more interesting.  My pick: Kansas State 40-23.

New Mexico Bowl – Fresno State vs. UTEP (Dec. 18, 2:15, TSN4) – Kalen DeBoer, gone.  Jake Haener, also gone.  So the Bulldogs are going to be a bit shorthanded for this one.  As for the Miners, they are limping into this game after a seriously hot start to their season (which almost led to College Gameday heading there).  This feels like a game that is just technically a game and nothing more.  This would have been on Stadium at best during the season.  My pick: Fresno State 23-3.

Military Bowl – Boston College vs. East Carolina (Dec. 27, 2:30, TSN5) – If ECU has another good season in 2022, expect Mike Houston to get a lot of looks.  What he has done in Greenville is nothing short of remarkable.  And they are a very dangerous underdog here against the Eagles.  BC started hot but like a few other teams are crawling into the postseason.  This feels ripe for a mini-upset.  My pick: East Carolina 34-14.

Armed Forces Bowl – Army vs. Missouri (Dec. 22, 8:00, TSN1) – This could be the worst matchup of bowl season.  Army runs the ball.  A lot.  Mizzou has one of the worst rushing defenses in the nation.  This won’t be pretty.  My pick: Army 42-9.

2 out of 10. Stupid Pac-12 Network.

Maybe with new commissioner George Kliavkoff things will get better.  It can’t get any worse.  Larry Scott really dropped the ball with this for years.  Anyway, we have now firmly got into insane-o territory.

Duke’s Mayo Bowl – South Carolina vs. North Carolina (Dec. 30, 11:30 AM, TSN3) – Carolina Bragging Rights Game…sort of.  Look I’m just interested to see if either coach has the sack to be doused in Duke’s Mayo if their team wins.  My pick: North Carolina 23-20 (meaning Mack Brown would get that mayo bath).

LendingTree Bowl – Liberty vs. Eastern Michigan (Dec. 18, 5:45, specialty pack) – For those who feel this is pointless to watch, let me make a case for at least tuning in for a bit.  Malik Willis is competing to be the top quarterback taken in the NFL Draft.  This game would be the national spotlight he sorely needs to move up the rankings.  Other than that, not much to see here.  My pick: Liberty 26-19.

Pinstripe Bowl – Maryland vs. Virginia Tech (Dec. 29, 2:15, TSN3/TSN5) – It is a heartwarming story to see the Terps back in a bowl game for the first time since 2016 (and looking for their first bowl victory since 2010).  Lucky for them they had a 4-0 start since they struggled the rest of the way and needed to beat mighty Rutgers to go here.  Justin Fuente was fired as the Hokies did not live up to expectations again.  Sounds like a broken record.  The only hopes this game has for being watchable is it being close near the end or if there is some ridiculous FOOTBAW WEATHER.  My pick: Maryland 20-17.

Bahamas Bowl – Middle Tennessee vs. Toledo (Dec. 17, Noon, TSN3/TSN5) – This shouldn’t be a very close game at all.  The first bowl game of the season should be played under sunny skies in the Caribbean and with the Blue Raiders getting boatraced by the Rockets.  My pick: Toledo 51-24.

1 out of 10.  Who watches these games?  Guys like me.

Let’s be honest: very few are watching these games.  The Too Many Bowl Games crowd uses these as examples of why there are, well, too many bowl games.  You won’t be saying that in March when there’s no football to watch at all.

Idaho Potato Bowl – Wyoming vs. Kent State (Dec. 21, 3:30, TSN1) – Again, why does the MAC have a tie-in here?  At least this makes sense for the Mountain West.  And I’m going to be honest: I am over the blue turf in Boise.  It is fine if it’s nasty weather or super cold but otherwise it kind of looks like shit and these gimmicky fields became old a few years ago.  My pick: Wyoming 46-31.

Myrtle Beach Bowl – Tulsa vs. Old Dominion (Dec. 20, 2:30, TSN1) – Speaking of off-colour turf.  The only thing I hope for is that Tulsa plays a normal Tulsa game, meaning it will be very close.  Otherwise it’s two completely average teams and with it being on a weekday afternoon before Christmas, you may not be missing much.  My pick: Tulsa 42-39.

Camellia Bowl – Georgia State vs. Ball State (Dec. 25, 2:30, TSN2) – College football on Christmas Day.  Will I watch this?  Yeah some of it but it might end up being background noise at best.  I guess it’s a better timeslot than the same time on a weekday before Christmas (sounds familiar) but still not great. My pick: Georgia State 28-24.

Hawaii Bowl – Memphis vs. Hawaii (Dec. 24, 8:00, TSN2) – This is a good distraction on Christmas Eve while I finish wrapping any final presents that arrived late from Amazon or gift cards I forgot to get weeks earlier.  This might not be the most aesthetically pleasing bowl game since it will be played in a high school stadium.  The reason for this is that Aloha Stadium is so structurally unsound it makes Legion Field look like a fortress.  My pick: Hawaii 36-29.

0 out of 10.  Nothing.  Nada.  Zilch.  Brutal.

A made-up game.  That’s all you need to know here.

Frisco Football Classic – North Texas vs. Miami-OH (Dec. 23, 3:30, specialty pack) – As I said, this bowl was just created so all bowl-eligible teams (plus Hawaii who was 6-7 on the season) could play in a bowl game.  I don’t know what to say except that you might be insane if you watch this.  Which means I am probably insane.  My pick: North Texas 21-10.

Bowl schedule and bowl predictions complete!  Now you have info you need (I think) to do pools, either straight up or confidence-style.

I hope you all enjoy the bowl games, all 42 of them…well 43 if you include the national championship.

So….many……BOWL GAMES!!!!! The Bowl Game TV Schedule

Let’s look at this graphic.  I think it’s like four or five years old.  How many of these bowls don’t exist anymore?  Well, let’s take a look.  The Russell Athletic Bowl, Cactus Bowl, St. Petersburg Bowl, Miami Beach Bowl, Poinsettia Bowl and Heart of Dallas Bowl all don’t exist, at least under those names.  I’m not even going to start on the sponsors.  There have been some absurd bowl sponsors but I am sincerely hoping they get even more absurd.  Like why not bring back the International Bowl in Toronto but call it the Timbit Bowl sponsored by Tim Hortons?  Or get Pornhub to sponsor a bowl game.  The possibilities are endless.

So supposedly TSN has at least part of their bowl schedule up.  I can see a link but it links to a previous year’s bowl schedule.  Hopefully it’s fixed and once it does, I can make sure the schedule is proper on this post.  I would try and predict it but considering what they are doing on the first three days of bowl season, I don’t know what’s going on there.  And with the World Juniors coming soon…yeah I’ll try my best but I will let you know when it’s all set.

So after last year where Bowl Season was an absolute shitshow, we are back to some normality.  Now let’s hope none of these bowls get cancelled for any reason.  Let’s get going with the even longer bowl schedule!

Friday December 17th

Bahamas Bowl: Middle Tennessee vs. Toledo

Noon

This may be the one case where I think it’s OK to have a game on a weekday before Christmas.  I know there are logistical hurdles with this game so there’s a lot to do and also I am sure the stadium there wouldn’t be able to do a night game.  So I give this bowl game a pass.  Oh well, if this is like Bahamas Bowls of the past this should be good.

Cure Bowl: Coastal Carolina vs. Northern Illinois

6:00 PM

This bowl got some good Group of Five teams for once in its short history.  The Chants are still a team people love and the Huskies won the MAC.  It’s the passing acumen of Grayson McCall vs. the stingy defense of NIU.  Nice contrast of styles.  This is also only one of two bowl games on ESPN2 this season.  Why not give it to CBS if that’s the case?

Saturday December 18th

Boca Raton Bowl: Appalachian State vs. Western Kentucky

11:00 AM

Morning football.  We will see a lot of this for the first time ever as ESPN restructures how their bowl schedule shapes up.  And what a way to wake up than with a game where we could see 100 combined points.  This is a national showcase for Bailey Zappe as he is rocketing up draft boards around the NFL.

Celebration Bowl: Jackson State vs. South Carolina State

Noon

The only FCS bowl around as the rest of the teams play in the FCS Playoffs.  If you really like the college bands that HBCU schools have then this is the game for you.  Also, you will see one of the best HBCU teams in recent memory.  I still await the time when Deion Sanders gets a legit offer to coach at the FBS level.  It could come around this time considering the sheer amount of openings still around.

New Mexico Bowl: Fresno State vs. UTEP

2:15 PM

I know I am going to watch this.  Yes there are other games on at the same time but I am such a channel flipper that I end up watching games that probably don’t warrant watching.  Like I’ve watched at least an hour’s worth of UMass football this season.  What the fuck is wrong with me?  Anyway, two teams who were once WAC teams face off in this one.  I wonder if this will get close to a sell-out considering UTEP doesn’t exactly go to a lot of bowls and Albuquerque isn’t too far from El Paso.

UPDATE #4: With the Raiders-Browns game being postponed, this game will also be on TSN5.

Independence Bowl: #13 BYU vs. UAB

3:30 PM

I’m wondering how much BYU fans can’t wait to be in the Big XII.  This right here shows that being a college football Independent really only works if you’re Notre Dame.  People can crow about their good schedule and all that crap.  But your reward for almost getting into the New Year’s Six is to be in fucking Shreveport before Christmas?  The bowl system is broken and this is a perfect example.  Also, the Cougs are only favoured by 7?  I just don’t get this.

UPDATE #3: With the Raiders-Browns game being postponed, this game will also be on TSN1.

LendingTree Bowl: Liberty vs. Eastern Michigan

5:45 PM

Two relatively average Group of Five teams.  As I’ve said earlier, I watch games like this.  I am hoping it is a close one to keep my attention.

LA Bowl: Oregon State vs. Utah State

7:30 PM

So let met get this straight.  It’s the first ever Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl.  And instead of having UCLA there to hopefully pack a good portion of the stadium, they get Oregon State.  This is completely stupid.  This isn’t even about getting the best bowl matchup, as they love to say.  UCLA against USU would be just as good as the matchup we see here.  And this is on ABC to boot.  Dumb.

New Orleans Bowl: #23 Louisiana vs. Marshall

9:00 PM

Finally, the Ragin Cajuns ascended to the top of the Sun Belt mountain.  Their reward was to stay near home to play at the Superdome.  This should sell quite a few tickets.  They go up against a really good Marshall offense in this one to finish the first big day of bowl season (no offense to the previous day but come on).

Monday December 20th

Myrtle Beach Bowl: Tulsa vs. Old Dominion

2:30 PM

So they have this game on in the middle of the day, five days before Christmas.  I get that Monday Night Football is on at night.  So if that’s the case, don’t put a fucking bowl game on that day.  There are ways around this and ESPN just doesn’t seem to understand that they can do that.  They control the broadcasts for over 90% of the bowl games.  Figure it out!  On top of that, Coastal isn’t in this game so they may not even sell out the small stadium near Myrtle Beach.  Ugh.

UPDATE #5: This game has been moved to TSN2 with the NFL game now being on TSN1.

Tuesday December 21st

Idaho Potato Bowl: Wyoming vs. Kent State

3:30 PM

Why don’t they put this game on late and have the Frisco Bowl on in early spot?  Do I have to do everything around here?  Hopefully it’s a good Footbaw Weather game and we witness some crazy shenanigans because otherwise many of you will only be able to see the second half at most.

Frisco Bowl: #24 San Diego State vs. UTSA

7:30 PM

This could be the first bowl game that comes close to must-see territory.  And it gets a primetime spot which is good.  Both teams are two of the better Group of Five teams this season with UTSA coming within one destruction at the hands of North Texas from being undefeated this season and SDSU looking great all year except for getting boatraced by Utah State in the Mountain West Championship.

UPDATE #8: This game has been moved to TSN3 because of the WFT-Eagles game being put on TSN1.

Wednesday December 22nd

Armed Forces Bowl: Army vs. Missouri

8:00 PM

The Armed Forces Bowl with Army.  Makes sense.  Mizzou being here?  Sure I guess although I am surprised they didn’t get a team from the state of Texas to play here against the Black Knights.

Thursday December 23rd

Frisco Football Classic: North Texas vs. Miami-OH

3:30 PM

So ESPN created a bowl game so that all bowl-eligible teams (plus Hawaii who had six wins but also seven losses) to play in bowl games this season.  That is very nice of them.  That’s why we get this game, the (not-so) awesomely named Frisco Football Classic.  This one-off game (we think) will pit two teams who are positively average.  And (this sounds like a broken record….Google what a record is, kids) this game is on in the afternoon on a weekday before Christmas.  Not ideal.​

UPDATE #11: This is now airing on TSN1 and TSN3.

Gasparilla Bowl: UCF vs. Florida

7:00 PM

I wonder if this game will sell out Raymond James Stadium.  You have to think there’s a great opportunity here.  See, this is the best of what bowl games can provide.  Two teams that really never play each other and aren’t too far from each other facing off in a national spotlight game.  UCF really could close the door on any debate for state supremacy with a win here.

UPDATE #12: This is now airing on TSN2.

UPDATE: This game is a sellout.

Friday December 24th

Hawaii Bowl: Hawaii vs. Memphis

8:00 PM

The Christmas Eve tradition continues!  I love having this on while I finish last minute wrapping and stocking stuffer stuffing.  Not going to lie to you all…I just got my Christmas tree up.  Yeah I’m crawling slowly into Christmas season unlike others who have 15,000 lights on outside and have bought the 146 presents that are already sitting under the tree.

UPDATE #13: Due to COVID (and other things), Hawaii has pulled out of the Hawaii Bowl meaning this game is cancelled.  Now what the hell am I going to do while I put the finishing touches on Christmas wrapping?

Saturday December 25th

Camellia Bowl: Georgia State vs. Ball State

2:30 PM

Football on Christmas Day.  Will this compete with the NBA and their traditional Christmas Day games?  Probably not, but it’s football so I will watch.  And if it’s close, even better.  Means I won’t change the channel.  My remote control would be happy.

Monday December 27th

Quick Lane Bowl: Nevada vs. Western Michigan

11:00 AM

This is one of those games that the Too Many Bowls crowd would point to and say “Hey…there’s too many bowls.”  I honestly don’t care because, as I have said often, it’s football so I will watch it.  We’ll see how I feel about the sheer amount of morning starts during bowl season.  I can see it getting old fast but who knows.

Military Bowl: Boston College vs. East Carolina

2:30 PM

Mike Houston has done a fantastic job down in Greenville with the Pirates.  I don’t think anyone, including ECU fans, thought this team would be bowling this season.  Instead, they have a chance to close out their season with eight wins if they can beat a very inconsistent BC squad.​

UPDATE #14: This game has been cancelled because of major COVID issues with the BC football team.

Tuesday December 28th

Birmingham Bowl: Auburn vs. #20 Houston

Noon

Good to see this game has moved to UAB’s new Protective Stadium.  Gets it out of Legion Field which always looked like it was about to collapse during a game.  This also gets quite the good matchup.  This is the kind of game I would get more of during bowl season: P5 vs. G5.

First Responder Bowl: Air Force vs. Louisville

3:15 PM

I still remember back to the 2018 version of this game between Boston College and Boise State.  If you remember, the weather was so bad in the area that they had to completely cancel the game.  I am honestly shocked they did that since I figured they would do anything to get a bowl game completed.  I guessed wrong.  Anyway, Air Force will run a lot (spoiler alert) so let’s see if the Cards’ defense can stop the Falcons attack and keep this close.

Liberty Bowl: Mississippi State vs. Texas Tech

6:45 PM

The Mike Leach Bowl!  Mike Leach’s current team, the Bulldogs, face a team he used to coach and left on less-than-nice terms, the Red Raiders.  If it was totally up to Leach, the game would end up 77-76 with about 1400 yards passing between the two teams.

Holiday Bowl: #18 NC State vs. UCLA

8:00 PM

FOX is now down to one bowl game, this one.  At least it ended up a pretty good matchup in what could be Chip Kelly’s final game as Bruins head coach.  I assume that soon enough, Wolfpack fans will be back to wanting to fire Dave Doeren but it won’t happen after this game…unless they lose by like 30.

UPDATE #19: 19 updates.  Sweet Jesus.  Hey, stop me if you’ve heard this before.  Another bowl game cancelled.  UCLA basically has almost no defensive line to play tonight (among issues with some of the other units) thanks to COVID so this game is being cancelled.  This means FOX will not broadcast a bowl game this season.

Guaranteed Rate Bowl: Minnesota vs. West Virginia

10:15 PM

The former Cheez-It Bowl (the current Cheez-It Bowl is actually the old Camping World Bowl…yeah it’s confusing) isn’t exactly a sexy matchup.  I think we can be assured, though, that we won’t see the TCU-Cal debacle from a few years back.  At least I hope not since that was awful football.

Wednesday December 29th

Fenway Bowl: Virginia vs. SMU

11:00 AM

I am curious as to the setup of the field for this one.  I would laugh if it was like the games at Wrigley where there is no room between the end line and the ivy of the outfield wall.  Imagine a receiver catching a ball, taking two steps and crashing into the Green Monster?

UPDATE #15: I guess I have to wait another year to see how this will look since this game has been cancelled due to, you guessed it, Frank Stallone COVID.

Pinstripe Bowl: Maryland vs. Virginia Tech

2:15 PM

This should be a very close game between these two teams.  Nice to see the Terps back in a bowl game as Mike Locksley has FINALLY had a good season at the helm…of any team.  He was terrible as coach at New Mexico and wasn’t looking a whole lot better in College Park but has finally figured it out.  The Hokies will be in a showcase game for new coach Brent Pry as any returning players will try their best to show why they should get a lot of playing time next year on a team that clearly has fallen to the middle of the pack in the ACC.​

Cheez-It Bowl: #19 Clemson vs. Iowa State

5:45 PM

Does it feel like Clemson should be the 19th-ranked team in college football?  They weren’t even that good this season.  Despite the fact they are no longer the standard bearer in the ACC, this feels like a good spot to land because, honestly, they should have gone to a place like Shreveport to play.  Hey, just checked the spread and I think I’m justified in how I’m thinking.  Cyclones are favoured by 1 and not ranked.  And Clemson lost both coordinators to head coaching positions elsewhere.  Now watch the Tigers win by 50.

Alamo Bowl: #16 Oklahoma vs. #14 Oregon

9:15 PM

Best non-CFP, non-NY6 bowl?  You could make the case here.  The Sooners come in actually with a head coach as Mario Cristobal left the Ducks for Miami not too long ago.  I don’t think Brent Venables is coaching this game although it would be funny if the Sooners defense is playing like shit and he just decides to show up and coach the rest of the way out of disgust.

UPDATE #2: As soon as I post this, I learn that Dan Lanning will be the next head coach at Oregon.

Thursday December 30th

Duke’s Mayo Bowl: South Carolina vs. North Carolina

11:30 AM

This bowl has so much at stake.  OK it has two things at stake.  One, this is the battle for Carolina Supremacy.  OK more like teams with Carolina in their name Supremacy.  OK fine, North vs. South (excluding NC State).  The other is that the person who runs the Duke’s Mayo Bowl said he would donate $10,000 to the winning coach’s charity of choice if he is willing to have a Gatorade cooler full of Duke’s Mayo dumped on him after the win.  This is what we’ve all wanted.  This must happen.  And please let it be Mack Brown.

Music City Bowl: Tennessee vs. Purdue

3:00 PM

Another bowl game that was smart to get at least one close team to play in it.  Having the Vols play in Nashville pretty much guarantees a sellout.  And with Purdue, it looks like we will see a good, relatively close game.  It’s probably a good thing that college football fans aren’t like certain sets of soccer fans since seeing tens of thousands of people clad in bright orange tearing a stadium apart, attacking the other fans and taking on police officers would be a terrifying site (especially when the band plays Rocky Top and the Vol fans continue their attacks while singing).

Peach Bowl: #10 Michigan State vs. #12 Pittsburgh

7:00 PM

Alright, we finally have got to the first New Year’s Six bowl game.  The Pat Narduzzi Bowl.  If you had either of these two teams in a New Year’s Six bowl at the start of the season, then head to Vegas or buy a lottery ticket because you totally defeated the odds.  Two of the best college football players of the season will be on display in this one: Kenny Pickett and Kenneth Walker III.  I kind of wish the Heisman voting was done after bowl games because these showcases would be good for some of these players who are just outside the #1 spot and could use a great showing in front of a national audience to propel them to the top.

Las Vegas Bowl: Wisconsin vs. Arizona State

10:30 PM

Are the bars and casinos in Vegas ready for this one?  Forget the game: the Badger fans (and to a lesser extent, Sun Devil fans) will wipe out the beer economy in this city if they are allowed to.  The amount of puke in the streets and near the hotels (not to mention at the stadium) will be enormous.  It’s gonna stink.  I don’t know how good the game will be but the amount of fights in the stands has an over/under of 7.5.

Friday December 31st

Gator Bowl: #25 Texas A&M Rutgers vs. #17 Wake Forest

11:00 AM

One of the other candidates for non-NY6 bowl game of the season.  Somehow, Dave Clawson wasn’t hired by another team.  Texas A&M lost their defensive coordinator, Mike Elko, to Duke so this could be a bad day for the Aggie defense against Sam Hartman, who should have received more Heisman consideration if you ask me.

UPDATE #9: Texas A&M has major COVID issues inside the football program and will not have enough players ready for this game so they have pulled out.  As of right now, Rutgers, Texas & Illinois seem to be up next using APR calculations.  There is also the possibility that Marshall or Utah State, both teams already played in bowls this season, could be selected if a 5-7 team doesn’t accept.

UPDATE #10: Rutgers (RUTGERS!) will replace Texas A&M in the Gator Bowl.  Oh my.

Sun Bowl: Miami Central Michigan vs. Washington State

12:30 PM

I will say it for what feels like the twentieth year in a row: this is where I hate the way bowls do tie-ins.  The ACC does not belong in the Sun Bowl.  Either put in the Big XII (which is what I would prefer) or do a Mountain West tie-in.  You will struggle to fill half the stadium when an ACC team is there.  And not having UTEP there makes this even worse since that would at least get 30,000 fans or so inside the stadium and create a great atmosphere for the game.

UPDATE #16: Miami has pulled out of the Sun Bowl due to not wanting to go to El Paso COVID protocols.  I will keep you updated on if another team, maybe one that has already had a bowl game cancelled, will step up to play Wazzu.

UPDATE #18: Due to the Arizona Bowl being cancelled, Central Michigan is free to play in another bowl and has been invited to play in El Paso.  I think it’s only like a four hour drive and now the Chips get a shit-ton more money to play in the postseason.  Good work guys!

Arizona Bowl: Boise State vs. Central Michigan

2:00 PM

So….how can you even watch this game?  I guess you have to go to the Barstool Sports website?  How many people will watch this game, with the Cotton Bowl starting 90 minutes later, on New Year’s Eve, on a website that quite a few college football fans wouldn’t go to at gunpoint?  This may work like 5 years or so from now but in 2021, this still doesn’t fly.

UPDATE #17: Well, Barstool will have to wait another year to broadcast their first bowl game.  Boise State have way too many COVID issues to bring a team to Tucson so the bowl game has been cancelled.

Cotton Bowl: #1 Alabama vs. #4 Cincinnati

3:30 PM

OK we have got to the semi-final games.  This looks like it could go one of two ways.  The first way, and the one most people think it will go, is Bama absolutely annihilating the Bearcats and the game being essentially over by halftime.  The other way is that Cincy keeps this game very close going into the fourth quarter and social media goes apeshit at the potential for one of the biggest upsets in college football history.  I am praying for the latter.

Orange Bowl: #2 Michigan vs. #3 Georgia

7:30 PM

This is obviously the more exciting of the two semi-final matchups.  And it’s in primetime on New Year’s Eve?  I get sick of the Rose (and to a lesser extent, the Sugar) Bowl getting such preferential treatment when it comes to restructuring the playoff and Bowl Season.  Not saying they have to move off of New Year’s Day if they absolutely don’t need to but those two bowls sticking to those times makes it impossible in a situation like this to have the College Football Playoff semi-finals on anything other than New Year’s Eve.  It’s ridiculous and needs to be part of the conversation when they expand the playoff (which they will).  Anyway, this is going to very interesting as other than the SEC Championship, UGA’s defense was one of the best in recent memory.  Meanwhile, Michigan used the run better than almost any team in the nation and no team was really able to stop them, just maybe trip them up a bit.  I believe this is basically a pick’em.

Saturday January 1st

Outback Bowl: #21 Arkansas vs. Penn State

Noon

Good for this game that it starts an hour earlier than the two games coming up next.  Otherwise it would probably get very few viewers.

Citrus Bowl: #22 Kentucky vs. #15 Iowa

1:00 PM

Final candidate for best non-New Year’s Six bowl game and it is on at an awful time.  I get that it gets crowded on New Year’s Day but overlapping with another game, a better game, is a recipe for disaster.  And frankly, it’s unfair for the Wildcats and Hawkeyes who both had great seasons.  Both teams will be looking to finish their seasons on a high note and go into the next season ranked in the preseason poll.

Fiesta Bowl: #5 Notre Dame vs. #9 Oklahoma State

1:00 PM

Now this should be interesting.  Will the Irish feel slighted about not getting into the CFP or will they run through a brick wall for new coach Marcus Freeman?  They are going to need everyone on point in this one going up against the OSU Fighting Mullets.  One day, we will get the glory of Mike Gundy in the College Football Playoff.  Maybe next year.

UPDATE #6: The Fiesta Bowl will also be on TSN5 around the start of the fourth quarter after the Outback Bowl is over.

Rose Bowl: #6 Ohio State vs. #11 Utah

5:00 PM

The Utes are in the Rose Bowl for the first time.  This is huge for the program and proves the Pac-12 made the right call bringing them in (Colorado is still up in the air).  They face a good Ohio State team who might be playing angry since they might feel they have been “relegated” to the Rose Bowl.  The question going into this one (and during the game) will be what Kyle Whittingham decides to do after this one is over since there is a rumour out there that he might retire after the Rose Bowl, win or lose.

Sugar Bowl: #8 Ole Miss vs. #7 Baylor

8:45 PM

Dave Aranda has done a masterful job in Waco.  As has Lane Kiffin in Oxford.  This feels like a matchup of completely opposite head coaches, at least in terms of personality.

UPDATE #7: The Sugar Bowl will also be on TSN4 at around 11:00.  I don’t get why they just HAVE to show Sportscentre after the Clippers-Nets game but obviously they do.

Tuesday January 4th

Texas Bowl: LSU vs. Kansas State

9:00 PM

Interesting that the Texas Bowl didn’t get a team from Texas to play in it.  Saying that, they got two fanbases that travel very well so it would be surprising if this wasn’t at least close to a sellout.  By this point, I will probably be bowled out but I will still watch because I know what’s coming shortly after this.

UPDATE #14: This is not being shown on a TSN channel.

Monday January 10th

College Football Playoff National Championship

8:00 PM

The final game of the season (other than the weird All-Star games).  Cherish it…even if it’s not good.

OK at this point this is what the breakdown looks like for Canadians with cable packages:

• TSN – 26 bowl games (with 2 simulcast from ABC)
• ABC – 4 bowl games
• FOX – 1 bowl game
• CBS – 1 bowl game
• Barstool Sports – 1 bowl game
• specialty pack – 12 bowl games

OK now I am officially confused (if this works out the way I think it will).  26 bowl games being shown on TSN?  The schedule is only finalized through Christmas Day but there are 16 games up until then definitely scheduled on TSN.  So after a season where TSN had very little coverage of college football at all (it felt like they had gone back about a decade), they push forward by showing more than 50% of the bowl games.  Crazy.  We will see how the World Juniors affects this but I have a feeling it’s pretty close to the true number.

Alright, that was a seriously long post.  But it was needed as the postseason begins now…at least at the FBS level.  Have a great rest of the weekend everyone!

Final 2021 Bowl Games Confirmed

Finalized!

Orange Bowl	CFP Poll #2 vs. CFP Poll #3	Michigan vs. Georgia
Cotton Bowl	CFP Poll #1 vs. CFP Poll #4	Alabama vs. Cincinnati

Sugar Bowl	SEC #1 vs. Big XII #1	Ole Miss vs. Baylor
Rose Bowl	Big Ten #1 vs. Pac-12 #1	Ohio State vs. Utah
Fiesta Bowl	CFP At-Large vs. CFP At-Large/G-5 #1	Notre Dame vs. Oklahoma State
Peach Bowl	CFP At-Large vs. CFP At-Large/G-5 #1	Michigan State vs. Pittsburgh

Texas Bowl	SEC vs. Big XII	LSU vs. Kansas State
Citrus Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Kentucky vs. Iowa
Outback Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Arkansas vs. Penn State
Arizona Bowl	MWC vs. MAC	Boise State vs. Central Michigan
Sun Bowl	ACC vs. Pac-12	Miami vs. Washington State
Gator Bowl	SEC vs. ACC	Texas A&M vs. Wake Forest
Las Vegas Bowl	Big Ten vs. Pac-12	Wisconsin vs. Arizona State
Music City Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Tennessee vs. Purdue
Duke’s Mayo Bowl	SEC vs. ACC	South Carolina vs. North Carolina
Alamo Bowl	Big XII vs. Pac-12	Oklahoma vs. Oregon
Cheez-It Bowl	Big XII vs. ACC	Iowa State vs. Clemson
Pinstripe Bowl	Big Ten vs. ACC	Maryland vs. Virginia Tech
Fenway Bowl	ACC/C-USA vs. American	Virginia vs. SMU
Guaranteed Rate Bowl	Big Ten vs. Big XII	Minnesota vs. West Virginia
Holiday Bowl	ACC vs. Pac-12	NC State vs. UCLA
Liberty Bowl	SEC vs. Big XII	Mississippi State vs. Texas Tech
First Responder Bowl	2 from Big XII, ACC, Pac-12, American	Air Force vs. Missouri
Birmingham Bowl	SEC vs. American	Auburn vs. Houston
Military Bowl	ACC vs. American	Boston College vs. East Carolina
Quick Lane Bowl	Big Ten vs. MAC	Nevada vs. Western Michigan
Camellia Bowl	Sun Belt/C-USA vs. MAC	Georgia State vs. Ball State
Hawaii Bowl	American vs. MWC	Memphis vs. Hawaii
Gasparilla Bowl	2 from SEC, ACC, Pac-12, American	UCF vs. Florida
Frisco Football Classic	2 from Group of Five	North Texas vs. Miami-OH
Armed Forces Bowl	2 from Big XII, Pac-12, C-USA, Army	Army vs. Louisville
Frisco Bowl	2 from Group of Five	San Diego State vs. UTSA
Idaho Potato Bowl	MWC vs. MAC	Wyoming vs. Kent State
Myrtle Beach Bowl	American/MAC/G-5 vs. Sun Belt	Tulsa vs. Old Dominion
New Orleans Bowl	Sun Belt vs. C-USA	Louisiana vs. Marshall
LA Bowl	Pac-12 vs. MWC	Oregon State vs. Utah State
LendingTree Bowl	Sun Belt vs. MAC	Liberty vs. Eastern Michigan
Independence Bowl	BYU vs. C-USA	BYU vs. UAB
New Mexico Bowl	MWC vs. C-USA	Fresno State vs. UTEP
Boca Raton Bowl	2 from Group of Five	Appalachian State vs. Western Kentucky
Cure Bowl	2 from Group of Five	Coastal Carolina vs. Northern Illinois
Bahamas Bowl	C-USA vs. MAC	Middle Tennessee vs. Toledo

• Wazzu will face off against Miami in El Paso at the Sun Bowl.
• Virginia Tech is locked in to the Military Bowl.
• Air Force is getting a shot against a Power Five team.  They will play Louisville at the Armed Forces Bowl.
• Utah State might actually be the favourites in Los Angeles at the Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl as they square off against Oregon State.
• Mike Leach’s Mississippi State Bulldogs will play Mike Leach’s former team, Texas Tech, at the Liberty Bowl.
• The Guaranteed Rate Bowl is guaranteed to technically be a football game.  Minnesota and West Virginia in that one.
• Interesting matchup at Fenway as SMU will take on Virginia.
• An all-Florida matchup in Tampa as the Gators will go up against UCF at the Gasparilla Bowl.
• Army has their opponent for the Armed Forces Bowl.  They will play Eliah Drinkwitz’s Missouri Tigers.
• Birmingham Bowl gets Auburn and Houston.
• There’s only one team left to slot.  The Maryland Terrapins will play Virginia Tech at the Pinstripe Bowl.

OK that happened ridiculously fast.  Last season was a mess and the season before that this process didn’t end until well after 4:00.  I mean it’s nice to have this put to bed early but it’s a roller coaster while it’s happening.  I guess it was much easier this time around since the CFP and NY6 slotted very easily.

So there you go.  I will have a full schedule post up at some point before the bowl games begin in twelve days.  Have a great rest of the weekend, everyone!

Updated Bowl Projections as of 3:25 PM EST

Bowl selections are now trickling in for the rest of the games remaining.

Orange Bowl	CFP Poll #2 vs. CFP Poll #3	Michigan vs. Georgia
Cotton Bowl	CFP Poll #1 vs. CFP Poll #4	Alabama vs. Cincinnati

Sugar Bowl	SEC #1 vs. Big XII #1	Ole Miss vs. Baylor
Rose Bowl	Big Ten #1 vs. Pac-12 #1	Ohio State vs. Utah
Fiesta Bowl	CFP At-Large vs. CFP At-Large/G-5 #1	Notre Dame vs. Oklahoma State
Peach Bowl	CFP At-Large vs. CFP At-Large/G-5 #1	Michigan State vs. Pittsburgh

Texas Bowl	SEC vs. Big XII	LSU vs. Kansas State
Citrus Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Kentucky vs. Iowa
Outback Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Arkansas vs. Penn State
Arizona Bowl	MWC vs. MAC	Boise State vs. Central Michigan
Sun Bowl	ACC vs. Pac-12	Louisville vs. Washington State
Gator Bowl	SEC vs. ACC	Texas A&M vs. Wake Forest
Las Vegas Bowl	Big Ten vs. Pac-12	Wisconsin vs. Arizona State
Music City Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Tennessee vs. Purdue
Duke’s Mayo Bowl	SEC vs. ACC	South Carolina vs. North Carolina
Alamo Bowl	Big XII vs. Pac-12	Oklahoma vs. Oregon
Cheez-It Bowl	Big XII vs. ACC	Iowa State vs. Clemson
Pinstripe Bowl	Big Ten vs. ACC	Minnesota vs. Miami
Fenway Bowl	ACC/C-USA vs. American	Boston College vs. UCF
Guaranteed Rate Bowl	Big Ten vs. Big XII	Auburn* vs. Texas Tech
Holiday Bowl	ACC vs. Pac-12	NC State vs. UCLA
Liberty Bowl	SEC vs. Big XII	Missouri vs. West Virginia
First Responder Bowl	2 from Big XII, ACC, Pac-12, American	SMU vs. Maryland
Birmingham Bowl	SEC vs. American	Mississippi State vs. Houston
Military Bowl	ACC vs. American	Boston College vs. East Carolina
Quick Lane Bowl	Big Ten vs. MAC	Nevada vs. Western Michigan
Camellia Bowl	Sun Belt/C-USA vs. MAC	Georgia State vs. Ball State
Hawaii Bowl	American vs. MWC	Memphis vs. Hawaii
Gasparilla Bowl	2 from SEC, ACC, Pac-12, American	Utah State vs. Virginia
Frisco Football Classic	2 from Group of Five	North Texas vs. Miami-OH
Armed Forces Bowl	2 from Big XII, Pac-12, C-USA, Army	Army vs. Florida
Frisco Bowl	2 from Group of Five	San Diego State vs. UTSA
Idaho Potato Bowl	MWC vs. MAC	Wyoming vs. Kent State
Myrtle Beach Bowl	American/MAC/G-5 vs. Sun Belt	Tulsa vs. Old Dominion
New Orleans Bowl	Sun Belt vs. C-USA	Louisiana vs. Marshall
LA Bowl	Pac-12 vs. MWC	Oregon State vs. Air Force
LendingTree Bowl	Sun Belt vs. MAC	Liberty vs. Eastern Michigan
Independence Bowl	BYU vs. C-USA	BYU vs. UAB
New Mexico Bowl	MWC vs. C-USA	Fresno State vs. UTEP
Boca Raton Bowl	2 from Group of Five	Appalachian State vs. Western Kentucky
Cure Bowl	2 from Group of Five	Coastal Carolina vs. Northern Illinois
Bahamas Bowl	C-USA vs. MAC	Middle Tennessee vs. Toledo

• Kentucky and Iowa confirmed for the Citrus Bowl.  Not a shock there.
• Now, for an actual shock: Penn State is in a New Year’s Day bowl game.  They get Arkansas at the Outback Bowl.
• The Chanticleers of Coastal Carolina will go south to Orlando to the Cure Bowl and pair off against the MAC Champion Northern Illinois Huskies.
• A weird one: Nevada is going to the Quick Lane Bowl.  Their opponents will be Western Michigan.
• The Cheez-It Bowl should be really good this year: Iowa State vs. Clemson.
• Liberty has their opponent in the LendingTree Bowl.  They will play Chris Creighton’s Eastern Michigan Eagles.
• Georgia State and Ball State will square off at the Camellia Bowl on Christmas Day.
• Army is locked into the Armed Forces Bowl.  Their opponent should be named in the next hour.
• A bit of a surprise that LSU is heading to the Texas Bowl.  The Orgeron-less Tigers will face Kansas State.
• The Volunteers stay close to home as they go to Nashville and the Music City Bowl.  Their opponents will be Purdue.
• The Sun Devils are…relatively close to home.  They head north to Vegas to play Wisconsin.
• I don’t really understand this but UCLA will not be in the LA Bowl.  They will be in the Holiday Bowl against NC State.
• The Mayo Bowl gets the battle of the Carolinas: North vs. South.
• Arguably the biggest non-NY6, non-CFP bowl, the Alamo Bowl will pit Oklahoma against Oregon.
• East Carolina has their Military Bowl opponent: surprisingly it is Boston College, who will not play at home in the Fenway Bowl.
• Another great bowl game set: the Gator Bowl will be Texas A&M vs. Wake Forest.

OK we should get the rest of the bowl game selections completed in the next hour.  I am hoping the next post will be the finalized bowl setup.  We shall see.

Updated Bowl Projections after New Year’s Six selections

OK the next big part is done.  ESPN makes this last WAY too long.

Orange Bowl	CFP Poll #2 vs. CFP Poll #3	Michigan vs. Georgia
Cotton Bowl	CFP Poll #1 vs. CFP Poll #4	Alabama vs. Cincinnati

Sugar Bowl	SEC #1 vs. Big XII #1	Ole Miss vs. Baylor
Rose Bowl	Big Ten #1 vs. Pac-12 #1	Ohio State vs. Utah
Fiesta Bowl	CFP At-Large vs. CFP At-Large/G-5 #1	Notre Dame vs. Oklahoma State
Peach Bowl	CFP At-Large vs. CFP At-Large/G-5 #1	Michigan State vs. Pittsburgh

• No surprise with the Peach Bowl.  Michigan State will play ACC champion Pitt.
• Some thought Oklahoma State would not be the last one in but they do get that spot and will face Notre Dame at the Fiesta Bowl.
• The other two bowls were pretty much set and just had to be confirmed (due to existing tie-ins).

Texas Bowl	SEC vs. Big XII	Arkansas vs. Oklahoma
Citrus Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Kentucky vs. Iowa
Outback Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Tennessee vs. Wisconsin
Arizona Bowl	MWC vs. MAC	Boise State vs. Central Michigan
Sun Bowl	ACC vs. Pac-12	Louisville vs. Arizona State
Gator Bowl	SEC vs. ACC	Mississippi State vs. Clemson
Las Vegas Bowl	Big Ten vs. Pac-12	Minnesota vs. Washington State
Music City Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Texas A&M vs. Purdue
Duke’s Mayo Bowl	SEC vs. ACC	South Carolina vs. NC State
Alamo Bowl	Big XII vs. Pac-12	Kansas State vs. Oregon
Cheez-It Bowl	Big XII vs. ACC	Iowa State vs. Wake Forest
Pinstripe Bowl	Big Ten vs. ACC	Penn State vs. Miami
Fenway Bowl	ACC/C-USA vs. American	Boston College vs. UCF
Guaranteed Rate Bowl	Big Ten vs. Big XII	Auburn* vs. Texas Tech
Holiday Bowl	ACC vs. Pac-12	NC State vs. Oregon State
Liberty Bowl	SEC vs. Big XII	Missouri vs. West Virginia
First Responder Bowl	2 from Big XII, ACC, Pac-12, American	SMU vs. Eastern Michigan
Birmingham Bowl	SEC vs. American	LSU vs. Houston
Military Bowl	ACC vs. American	Virginia Tech vs. East Carolina
Quick Lane Bowl	Big Ten vs. MAC	Maryland vs. Ball State
Camellia Bowl	Sun Belt/C-USA vs. MAC	Georgia State vs. Northern Illinois
Hawaii Bowl	American vs. MWC	Memphis vs. Hawaii
Gasparilla Bowl	2 from SEC, ACC, Pac-12, American	Utah State vs. North Carolina
Frisco Football Classic	2 from Group of Five	North Texas vs. Miami-OH
Armed Forces Bowl	2 from Big XII, Pac-12, C-USA, Army	Army vs. Coastal Carolina
Frisco Bowl	2 from Group of Five	San Diego State vs. UTSA
Idaho Potato Bowl	MWC vs. MAC	Wyoming vs. Kent State
Myrtle Beach Bowl	American/MAC/G-5 vs. Sun Belt	Tulsa vs. Old Dominion
New Orleans Bowl	Sun Belt vs. C-USA	Louisiana vs. Marshall
LA Bowl	Pac-12 vs. MWC	UCLA vs. Nevada
LendingTree Bowl	Sun Belt vs. MAC	Liberty vs. Western Michigan
Independence Bowl	BYU vs. C-USA	BYU vs. UAB
New Mexico Bowl	MWC vs. C-USA	Fresno State vs. UTEP
Boca Raton Bowl	2 from Group of Five	Appalachian State vs. Western Kentucky
Cure Bowl	2 from Group of Five	Florida vs. Air Force
Bahamas Bowl	C-USA vs. MAC	Middle Tennessee vs. Toledo

• UTEP will play close to home as they are going to the New Mexico Bowl.  Their opponent will be the Bulldogs of Fresno State (say that in Greg Gumbel’s voice).
• The new mystery bowl in Texas has a tentative name (the Frisco Football Classic) and their two teams: North Texas and Miami-OH.  It will be played Dec. 23 but I don’t know the time.  The Gasparilla Bowl is that night at 7:00.
• The Boca Bowl gets Appalachian State and Western Kentucky.
• Wyoming won’t be travelling to far as they head to the Idaho Potato Bowl in Boise to face Kent State.
• As expected, Louisiana will be close to home as they play in the New Orleans Bowl.  Their opponent will be Marshall.
• It was rumoured for a while that UTSA would face BYU at the Independence Bowl.  It has now been confirmed that it will be UAB, not UTSA, going up against the Cougs in Shreveport.
• Boise State and Central Michigan will head to Tucson to play in the Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl which will probably be watched by like 85 people.
• In a bit of a surprise, Coastal Carolina will not play at home in Myrtle Beach.  It will be Tulsa and Old Dominion facing off on the teal turf.
• In another surprise, San Diego State is not going to the LA Bowl.  They will play UTSA in the Frisco Bowl (not Frisco Classic).

A lot of the Group of Five bowl slots filled just before the New Year’s Six selections.  Reason probably is with Cincinnati in the College Football Playoff, all the NY6 picks would not affect the G-5 bowl selections so might as well get them out of the way and confirm them.

Updated Bowl Projections after College Football Playoff Selections

Alright, the first big part of this is complete.

Orange Bowl	CFP Poll #2 vs. CFP Poll #3	Michigan vs. Georgia
Cotton Bowl	CFP Poll #1 vs. CFP Poll #4	Alabama vs. Cincinnati

• So no surprises here except, for me, which teams are going to which bowl games.
• I am a bit surprised that Alabama is going to the Cotton rather than the Orange but I guess it was a bit of a toss-up and the Tide would get more of a home-field advantage with their fans going to Arlington rather than Miami.

Sugar Bowl	SEC #1 vs. Big XII #1	Ole Miss vs. Baylor
Rose Bowl	Big Ten #1 vs. Pac-12 #1	Ohio State vs. Utah
Fiesta Bowl	CFP At-Large vs. CFP At-Large/G-5 #1	Notre Dame vs. Oklahoma State
Peach Bowl	CFP At-Large vs. CFP At-Large/G-5 #1	Michigan State vs. Pittsburgh

• These games will be fully set by about 2:30 PM EST.

Texas Bowl	SEC vs. Big XII	Arkansas vs. Oklahoma
Citrus Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Kentucky vs. Iowa
Outback Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Tennessee vs. Wisconsin
Arizona Bowl	MWC vs. MAC	Fresno State vs. Miami-OH
Sun Bowl	ACC vs. Pac-12	Louisville vs. Arizona State
Gator Bowl	SEC vs. ACC	Mississippi State vs. Clemson
Las Vegas Bowl	Big Ten vs. Pac-12	Minnesota vs. Washington State
Music City Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Texas A&M vs. Purdue
Duke’s Mayo Bowl	SEC vs. ACC	South Carolina vs. NC State
Alamo Bowl	Big XII vs. Pac-12	Kansas State vs. Oregon
Cheez-It Bowl	Big XII vs. ACC	Iowa State vs. Wake Forest
Pinstripe Bowl	Big Ten vs. ACC	Penn State vs. Miami
Fenway Bowl	ACC/C-USA vs. American	Boston College vs. UCF
Guaranteed Rate Bowl	Big Ten vs. Big XII	Auburn* vs. Texas Tech
Holiday Bowl	ACC vs. Pac-12	NC State vs. Oregon State
Liberty Bowl	SEC vs. Big XII	Missouri vs. West Virginia
First Responder Bowl	2 from Big XII, ACC, Pac-12, American	Tulsa vs. UTEP*
Birmingham Bowl	SEC vs. American	LSU vs. Houston
Military Bowl	ACC vs. American	Virginia Tech vs. East Carolina
Quick Lane Bowl	Big Ten vs. MAC	Maryland vs. Kent State
Camellia Bowl	Sun Belt/C-USA vs. MAC	Appalachian State vs. Northern Illinois
Hawaii Bowl	American vs. MWC	Memphis vs. Hawaii
Gasparilla Bowl	2 from SEC, ACC, Pac-12, American	Florida vs. North Carolina
Armed Forces Bowl	2 from Big XII, Pac-12, C-USA, Army	Army vs. Old Dominion
Frisco Bowl	2 from Group of Five	Nevada vs. North Texas
Idaho Potato Bowl	MWC vs. MAC	Utah State vs. Central Michigan
Myrtle Beach Bowl	American/MAC/G-5 vs. Sun Belt	SMU vs. Coastal Carolina
New Orleans Bowl	Sun Belt vs. C-USA	Louisiana vs. Western Kentucky
LA Bowl	Pac-12 vs. MWC	UCLA vs. San Diego State
LendingTree Bowl	Sun Belt vs. MAC	Liberty vs. Western Michigan
Independence Bowl	BYU vs. C-USA	BYU vs. UTSA
New Mexico Bowl	MWC vs. C-USA	Boise State vs. Marshall
Boca Raton Bowl	2 from Group of Five	Georgia State vs. Wyoming
Cure Bowl	2 from Group of Five	UAB vs. Eastern Michigan
Bahamas Bowl	C-USA vs. MAC	Middle Tennessee vs. Toledo
Mystery Texas Bowl	2 from Group of Five	Air Force vs. Ball State

• Starting at about 3:00 PM EST there will be an absolute flood of bowl game announcements.  I will try to keep up as best I can but will have a full set of confirmed bowl games at the end of the day.

Stay tuned.  It’s going to be a long few hours.

Updated Bowl Projections as of December 4th 11:55 PM EST

Only a couple changes.

Orange Bowl	CFP Poll #1 vs. CFP Poll #4	Alabama vs. Cincinnati
Cotton Bowl	CFP Poll #2 vs. CFP Poll #3	Michigan vs. Georgia

• Michigan’s win pretty much confirms that the Top 4 will be the teams you see above.
• Now the question is who gets #1 between Bama and Michigan and who gets #3 between UGA and Cincy.  They will avoid a Bama-UGA rematch in the semis.

Sugar Bowl	SEC #1 vs. Big XII #1	Ole Miss vs. Baylor
Rose Bowl	Big Ten #1 vs. Pac-12 #1	Ohio State vs. Utah
Fiesta Bowl	CFP At-Large vs. CFP At-Large/G-5 #1	Notre Dame vs. Oklahoma State
Peach Bowl	CFP At-Large vs. CFP At-Large/G-5 #1	Michigan State vs. Pittsburgh

• Pittsburgh’s ACC Championship victory means they are in the New Year’s Six.  Chances are they end up in the Peach.

Texas Bowl	SEC vs. Big XII	Arkansas vs. Oklahoma
Citrus Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Kentucky vs. Iowa
Outback Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Tennessee vs. Wisconsin
Arizona Bowl	MWC vs. MAC	Fresno State vs. Miami-OH
Sun Bowl	ACC vs. Pac-12	Louisville vs. Arizona State
Gator Bowl	SEC vs. ACC	Mississippi State vs. Clemson
Las Vegas Bowl	Big Ten vs. Pac-12	Minnesota vs. Washington State
Music City Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Texas A&M vs. Purdue
Duke’s Mayo Bowl	SEC vs. ACC	South Carolina vs. NC State
Alamo Bowl	Big XII vs. Pac-12	Kansas State vs. Oregon
Cheez-It Bowl	Big XII vs. ACC	Iowa State vs. Wake Forest
Pinstripe Bowl	Big Ten vs. ACC	Penn State vs. Miami
Fenway Bowl	ACC/C-USA vs. American	Boston College vs. UCF
Guaranteed Rate Bowl	Big Ten vs. Big XII	Auburn* vs. Texas Tech
Holiday Bowl	ACC vs. Pac-12	NC State vs. Oregon State
Liberty Bowl	SEC vs. Big XII	Missouri vs. West Virginia
First Responder Bowl	2 from Big XII, ACC, Pac-12, American	Tulsa vs. UTEP*
Birmingham Bowl	SEC vs. American	LSU vs. Houston
Military Bowl	ACC vs. American	Virginia Tech vs. East Carolina
Quick Lane Bowl	Big Ten vs. MAC	Maryland vs. Kent State
Camellia Bowl	Sun Belt/C-USA vs. MAC	Appalachian State vs. Northern Illinois
Hawaii Bowl	American vs. MWC	Memphis vs. Hawaii
Gasparilla Bowl	2 from SEC, ACC, Pac-12, American	Florida vs. North Carolina
Armed Forces Bowl	2 from Big XII, Pac-12, C-USA, Army	Army vs. Old Dominion
Frisco Bowl	2 from Group of Five	Nevada vs. North Texas
Idaho Potato Bowl	MWC vs. MAC	Utah State vs. Central Michigan
Myrtle Beach Bowl	American/MAC/G-5 vs. Sun Belt	SMU vs. Coastal Carolina
New Orleans Bowl	Sun Belt vs. C-USA	Louisiana vs. Western Kentucky
LA Bowl	Pac-12 vs. MWC	UCLA vs. San Diego State
LendingTree Bowl	Sun Belt vs. MAC	Liberty vs. Western Michigan
Independence Bowl	BYU vs. C-USA	BYU vs. UTSA
New Mexico Bowl	MWC vs. C-USA	Boise State vs. Marshall
Boca Raton Bowl	2 from Group of Five	Georgia State vs. Wyoming
Cure Bowl	2 from Group of Five	UAB vs. Eastern Michigan
Bahamas Bowl	C-USA vs. MAC	Middle Tennessee vs. Toledo
Mystery Texas Bowl	2 from Group of Five	Air Force vs. Ball State

• With Wake’s loss to Pitt, I had them swap places.  This puts the Deacs in the Cheez-It Bowl for now.

I am under the assumption that nothing will happen during or after the USC-Cal game so this is probably the final update until tomorrow morning at the earliest.  Reminder that they announce the CFP games at 12:15 EST tomorrow afternoon.

Updated Bowl Projections as of December 4th 7:45 PM EST

Alright, quite a bit has changed after the afternoon conference championship games completed.

Orange Bowl	CFP Poll #1 vs. CFP Poll #4	Alabama vs. Cincinnati
Cotton Bowl	CFP Poll #2 vs. CFP Poll #3	Michigan vs. Georgia

• Cincinnati has won the AAC Championship and are now guaranteed a spot in the Top 4.  They have made history as the first Group of Five team to do so.
• Alabama’s win over Georgia more than likely puts them at #1 meaning they would get the Bearcats in the Orange Bowl.  This drops UGA to #3 and a date with Michigan in the Cotton.

Sugar Bowl	SEC #1 vs. Big XII #1	Ole Miss vs. Baylor
Rose Bowl	Big Ten #1 vs. Pac-12 #1	Ohio State vs. Utah
Fiesta Bowl	CFP At-Large vs. CFP At-Large/G-5 #1	Notre Dame vs. Oklahoma State
Peach Bowl	CFP At-Large vs. CFP At-Large/G-5 #1	Michigan State vs. Wake Forest

• So with Bama now in the CFP, it means the SEC would take the next best team which should be Ole Miss.
• Notre Dame is now back in the NY6 so they would go to the Fiesta, moving Michigan State to the Peach to take on Wake.

Texas Bowl	SEC vs. Big XII	Arkansas vs. Oklahoma
Citrus Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Kentucky vs. Iowa
Outback Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Tennessee vs. Wisconsin
Arizona Bowl	MWC vs. MAC	Fresno State vs. Miami-OH
Sun Bowl	ACC vs. Pac-12	Louisville vs. Arizona State
Gator Bowl	SEC vs. ACC	Mississippi State vs. Clemson
Las Vegas Bowl	Big Ten vs. Pac-12	Minnesota vs. Washington State
Music City Bowl	SEC vs. Big Ten	Texas A&M vs. Purdue
Duke’s Mayo Bowl	SEC vs. ACC	South Carolina vs. NC State
Alamo Bowl	Big XII vs. Pac-12	Kansas State vs. Oregon
Cheez-It Bowl	Big XII vs. ACC	Iowa State vs. Pittsburgh
Pinstripe Bowl	Big Ten vs. ACC	Penn State vs. Miami
Fenway Bowl	ACC/C-USA vs. American	Boston College vs. UCF
Guaranteed Rate Bowl	Big Ten vs. Big XII	Auburn* vs. Texas Tech
Holiday Bowl	ACC vs. Pac-12	NC State vs. Oregon State
Liberty Bowl	SEC vs. Big XII	Missouri vs. West Virginia
First Responder Bowl	2 from Big XII, ACC, Pac-12, American	Tulsa vs. UTEP*
Birmingham Bowl	SEC vs. American	LSU vs. Houston
Military Bowl	ACC vs. American	Virginia Tech vs. East Carolina
Quick Lane Bowl	Big Ten vs. MAC	Maryland vs. Kent State
Camellia Bowl	Sun Belt/C-USA vs. MAC	Appalachian State vs. Northern Illinois
Hawaii Bowl	American vs. MWC	Memphis vs. Hawaii
Gasparilla Bowl	2 from SEC, ACC, Pac-12, American	Florida vs. North Carolina
Armed Forces Bowl	2 from Big XII, Pac-12, C-USA, Army	Army vs. Old Dominion
Frisco Bowl	2 from Group of Five	Nevada vs. North Texas
Idaho Potato Bowl	MWC vs. MAC	Utah State vs. Central Michigan
Myrtle Beach Bowl	American/MAC/G-5 vs. Sun Belt	SMU vs. Coastal Carolina
New Orleans Bowl	Sun Belt vs. C-USA	Louisiana vs. Western Kentucky
LA Bowl	Pac-12 vs. MWC	UCLA vs. San Diego State
LendingTree Bowl	Sun Belt vs. MAC	Liberty vs. Western Michigan
Independence Bowl	BYU vs. C-USA	BYU vs. UTSA
New Mexico Bowl	MWC vs. C-USA	Boise State vs. Marshall
Boca Raton Bowl	2 from Group of Five	Georgia State vs. Wyoming
Cure Bowl	2 from Group of Five	UAB vs. Eastern Michigan
Bahamas Bowl	C-USA vs. MAC	Middle Tennessee vs. Toledo
Mystery Texas Bowl	2 from Group of Five	Air Force vs. Ball State

• No changes as of yet.  A bit hinges on the two primetime conference championship games.

Alright we are done most of the conference championships.  Two more to go tonight.