Andy

12 is probably better than 4 given the unintended consequences of 4 but I'm really going to miss having one sport where a result could fly out of nowhere and completely flip the season on its head. But really that kinda went away with 4, so it is what it is. I'm glad there are still inflection points to provide some semblance of meaning to regular season games. I just hope people aren't complaining again in 3 years like they were with this system.

Apparently Ohio State is lobbying the Rose Bowl to select Penn State (which unlike any other NY6 game they have the right to do despite the rankings) over them presuming they don't make the playoff. What a world when B1G teams are asking not to go to the Rose Bowl. Between them poaching their partner conference and their teams literally asking not to go, it's stupefying that the CFB powers that be are still hanging on their decision regarding early expansion.

Abreu posted a career-low SLG last year and is turning 36, I'm extremely fine not signing him

Carolina 1.5 games out of first place going into the bye with tiebreakers on everybody else. Playoff chase back on

Friday Akron at Buffalo (1 pm, ESPN+) Conference USA Championship Game (8 pm Friday, CBSSN) North Texas at UTSA Pac-12 Championship Game in Las Vegas (8 pm Friday, FOX) (11) Utah vs (4) USC Big 12 Championship Game in Arlington, TX (12 pm, ABC) (10) Kansas State vs (3) TCU MAC Championship Game in Detroit (12 pm, ESPN) Toledo vs Ohio Sun Belt Championship Game (3:30 pm, ESPN) Troy at Coastal Carolina Mountain West Championship Game (4 pm, FOX) Fresno State at Boise State SEC Championship Game in Atlanta (4 pm, CBS) (14) LSU vs (1) Georgia American Championship Game (4 pm, ABC) (22) UCF at (18) Tulane Big Ten Championship Game in Indianapolis (8 pm, FOX) Purdue vs (2) Michigan ACC Championship Game in Charlotte (8 pm, ABC) (23) North Carolina vs (9) Clemson Dec. 10 Navy vs Army - in Philadelphia (3 pm, CBS)

There is a recruiting ceiling at Cincy, and Wisconsin is poised to dominate a perennially weak B1G West with a halfway competent coaching staff. I can see the appeal No West after next year.

Kind of an odd move for Fickell IMO, but a great one for Wisconsin. He's rock solid and definitely fits with their manball identity in Madison.

There's only one conference title game next week that has any bearing on the CFP field at all and that game isn't even on Saturday. It obviously will not happen but I really wish we could just get rid of them with the expanded CFP, replacing them with round 1 that same weekend, rather than shifting the entire calendar of the sport (which is supposedly what they're gonna do) to accommodate money grabs. (Yes, I know that with the expanded playoff more of those games would matter)

That's clearly the 4 unless TCU or USC lose. TCU is probably in even with a loss. Michigan and Georgia are absolutely in even with losses barring wildly unrealistic embarrassing blowouts. USC likely gets bounced with a P12 CG loss, and the most likely beneficiary, I imagine, is Ohio State. Honestly there really isn't another obvious option.

Yes, I knew that an 8-3 team with no QB was not the team equipped to beat Ohio State. It's almost like one can have an opinion about a sport independent of how the team they support is doing and a smart ass retort about it is unnecessary. You made a snarky comment and I asked a legitimate question. Now you come back and pretend like you don't understand football enough that you legitimately believed all anyone had to do was chuck the ball up for grabs to beat ohio state. Give me a break - if you want to be snarky, don't then act like you had a legitimate point. I posted the original thing before Michigan started running it down OSU's throat, but whatever

It's not news that they have no QB or WRs largely because their former coach basically stopped trying to recruit them the last 5 years. They were (and still are) not equipped to throw it deep. ah, so you knew the answer? I guess running for 250 yards might also be a factor. Yes, I knew that an 8-3 team with no QB that lost to Marshall was not the team equipped to beat Ohio State. It's almost like one can have an opinion about a sport independent of how the team they support is doing and a smart ass retort about it is unnecessary.

What does it say about Notre Dame? It's not news that they have no QB or WRs largely because their former coach basically stopped trying to recruit them the last 5 years. They were (and still are) not equipped to throw it deep.

If all you ever had to do to beat Ohio State was toss up long bombs to wide open receivers, it seems like a statement about the B1G that it took 12 games to do it

Rhule officially announced at Nebraska.

Take VERY much for what it's worth because it's from da Bum, but he grew up right by Purdue and always said Ohio State fans were by far the worst visiting fans he encountered.

Virginia vs Virginia Tech canceled.

Top 25 games ------------------------------ Georgia Tech at (1) Georgia (12 pm, ESPN) (3) Michigan at (2) Ohio State (12 pm, FOX) Iowa State at (4) TCU (4 pm, FOX) (5) LSU at Texas A&M (7 pm, ESPN) (15) Notre Dame at (6) USC (7:30 pm, ABC) Auburn at (7) Alabama (3:30 pm, CBS) South Carolina at (8) Clemson (12 pm, ABC) (9) Oregon at (21) Oregon State (3:30 pm, ABC) (10) Tennessee at Vanderbilt (7:30 pm, SEC Network) Michigan State at (11) Penn State (4 pm, FS1) Kansas at (12) Kansas State (8 pm, FOX) (13) Washington at Washington State (10:30 pm, ESPN) (14) Utah at Colorado (4 pm, Pac-12 Network) Florida at (16) Florida State (7:30 pm Friday, ABC) NC State at (17) North Carolina (3:30 pm Friday, ABC) (18) UCLA at California (4 pm Friday, FOX) (19) Tulane at (24) Cincinnati (12 pm Friday, ABC) Mississippi State at (20) Ole Miss (7 pm Thursday, ESPN) (22) UCF at South Florida (7 pm, ESPN2) Baylor at (23) Texas (12 pm Friday, ESPN) (25) Louisville at Kentucky (3 pm, SEC Network) Other nationally available games --------------------------------------------------- Tuesday Bowling Green at Ohio (7 pm, ESPNU) Ball State at Miami (OH) (7 pm, ESPN+) Friday Utah State at Boise State (12 pm, CBS) Toledo at Western Michigan (12 pm, ESPNU) Central Michigan at Eastern Michigan (12 pm, CBSSN) Arizona State at Arizona (3 pm, FS1) Arkansas at Missouri (3:30 pm, CBS) New Mexico at Colorado State (3:30 pm, CBSSN) Nebraska at Iowa (4 pm, BTN) Wyoming at Fresno State (10 pm, FS1) Saturday TV West Virginia at Oklahoma State (12 pm, ESPN2) Rutgers at Maryland (12 pm, BTN) Coastal Carolina at James Madison (12 pm, ESPNU) Western Kentucky at Florida Atlantic (12 pm, CBSSN) Minnesota at Wisconsin (3:30 pm, ESPN) Memphis at SMU (3:30 pm, ESPN2) Purdue at Indiana (3:30 pm, BTN - Regional) Illinois at Northwestern (3:30 pm, BTN - Regional) Troy at Arkansas State (3:30 pm, ESPNU) Wake Forest at Duke (3:30 pm, ACC Network) UAB at Louisiana Tech (3:30 pm, CBSSN) Oklahoma at Texas Tech (7:30 pm, FS1) Tulsa at Houston (7:30 pm, ESPNU) Syracuse at Boston College (7:30 pm, RSN/ESPN3) Pittsburgh at Miami (8 pm, ACC Network) Air Force at San Diego State (9 pm, CBSSN) BYU at Stanford (11 pm, FS1) Saturday Streaming New Mexico State at Liberty (12 pm, ESPN+) Georgia State at Marshall (12 pm, ESPN+) Army at UMass (12 pm, ESPN+) Old Dominion at South Alabama (12 pm, ESPN+) Kent State at Buffalo (1 pm, ESPN+) East Carolina at Temple (1 pm, ESPN+) Akron at Northern Illinois (1:30 pm, ESPN3) Rice at North Texas (2 pm, ESPN+) UTEP at UTSA (3:30 pm, Stadium) Southern Miss at UL Monroe (5 pm, ESPN+) UL Lafayette at Texas State (5 pm, ESPN+) Middle Tennessee at Florida International (6 pm, ESPN3) Appalachian State at Georgia Southern (6 pm, ESPN+)

USC and Tennessee might combine to make Ohio State vs Michigan a purely seeding game a week ahead of time. That's what I get for having the thought that it might be cool to have one last truly important and memorable regular season matchup of unbeatens before CFP expansion.

Lot of illini fans saying Michigan should have gotten flagged for a pick on that 4th down and looking at the replays they may be right. I’ll take the W. Looked ugly, illini are the second team in the last 2 seasons to physically dominate both Michigan lines, the other being Georgia. Illinois is legit, don’t care what their record says. Right, wrong or indifferent, conference employed officials are not making game changing calls against CFP hopefuls ever. Ohio State apparently saw UM struggle and decided to raise the stakes

Stuff like that is what makes it easy to dismiss LaVine as a stat compiler incapable of winning.

If the Rams start fading out of the playoff race there's no guarantee Kupp comes back this season. That alone would scare me off this one.

I imagine Donovan's going to be taking the fall at some point, doubt he deserves it but that's how it goes.

UVA cancels Saturday's game against Coastal Carolina in the wake of this week's shooting.

Almost happened to me. I won by 1, thank goodness

It's not because A&M stinks - the new ESPN/SEC deal gives ESPN the right to put one (cupcake) game a year for every conference team on ESPN+. Bama and Mississippi State also have their ESPN+ games this weekend, most of the league had them in September. What a horsefeathering stupid deal. Sick of this streaming crap. The other day I tried to put a Dayton game on tv for my wife (her alma mater) and it was streaming only. Xfinity’s espn app was broken and wouldn’t play the game, so I pulled it up on my phone and attempted to cast it to my tv and that wouldn’t work either. After 10 mins of trying I gave up and decided to watch something else. You probably know this already, but the B1G's new TV deals that start next year include a handful of football games and a lot of basketball games on Peacock. Michigan specifically isn't gonna be dealing with too much of that, but that's the world we're in now.