Andy

HomeTown Lenders Bahamas Bowl in Nassau, BS – 12/16, 11:30 am (ESPN) UAB vs Miami (OH) Wasabi Fenway Bowl in Boston, MA – 12/17, 11 am (ESPN) Louisville vs Cincinnati SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl in Las Vegas, NV – 12/17, 2:15 pm (ESPN) (14) Oregon State vs Florida Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl in Inglewood, CA – 12/17, 3:30 pm (ABC) Washington State vs Fresno State LendingTree Bowl in Mobile, AL – 12/17, 5:45 pm (ESPN) Southern Miss vs Rice New Mexico Bowl in Albuquerque, NM – 12/17, 7:30 pm (ABC) BYU vs SMU Myrtle Beach Bowl in Conway, SC – 12/19, 2:30 pm (ESPN) UConn vs Marshall RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl in Boca Raton, FL – 12/20, 7:30 pm (ESPN) Toledo vs Liberty R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl in New Orleans, LA – 12/21, 9 pm (ESPN) South Alabama vs Western Kentucky Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth, TX – 12/22, 7:30 pm (ESPN) Baylor vs Air Force Duluth Trading Cure Bowl in Orlando, FL – 12/17, 6 pm (ESPN2) (24) Troy vs (25) UTSA Famous Idaho Potato Bowl in Boise, ID – 12/20, 3:30 pm (ESPN) Eastern Michigan vs San Jose State Tropical Smoothie Café Frisco Bowl in Frisco, TX – 12/21, 7:30 pm (ESPN) Boise State vs North Texas Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl in Shreveport, LA – 12/23, 3 pm (ESPN) Houston vs UL Lafayette UnionHome Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl in St. Petersburg, FL – 12/23, 6:30 pm (ESPN) Wake Forest vs Missouri EasyPost Hawaii Bowl in Honolulu, HI – 12/24, 8 pm (ESPN) Middle Tennessee vs San Diego State Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit, MI – 12/26, 2:30 pm (ESPN) Bowling Green vs New Mexico State TaxAct Camellia Bowl in Montgomery, AL – 12/27, 12 pm (ESPN) Georgia Southern vs Buffalo ServPro First Responder Bowl in Dallas, TX – 12/27, 3:15 pm (ESPN) Utah State vs Memphis TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl in Birmingham, AL – 12/27, 6:45 pm (ESPN2) East Carolina vs Coastal Carolina Guaranteed Rate Bowl in Phoenix, AZ – 12/27, 10:15 pm (ESPN) Oklahoma State vs Wisconsin Military Bowl in Annapolis, MD – 12/27, 2:30 pm (ESPN) Duke vs UCF AutoZone Liberty Bowl in Memphis, TN – 12/28, 5:30 pm (ESPN) Kansas vs Arkansas San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl in San Diego, CA – 12/28, 8 pm (FOX) (15) Oregon vs North Carolina TaxAct Texas Bowl in Houston, TX – 12/28, 9 pm (ESPN) Ole Miss vs Texas Tech Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl in New York, NY - 12/29, 2 pm (ESPN) Syracuse vs Minnesota Cheez-It Bowl in Orlando, FL – 12/29, 5:30 pm (ESPN) Oklahoma vs (13) Florida State Valero Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, TX – 12/29, 9 pm (ESPN) (20) Texas vs (12) Washington Duke's Mayo Bowl in Charlotte, NC – 12/30, 12 pm (ESPN) (23) NC State vs Maryland Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl in El Paso, TX – 12/30, 2 pm (CBS) (18) UCLA vs Pittsburgh TaxSlayer Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, FL – 12/30, 3:30 pm (ESPN) (19) South Carolina vs (21) Notre Dame Barstool Arizona Bowl in Tucson, AZ – 12/30, 4:30 pm (Barstool) Wyoming vs Ohio TransPerfect Music City Bowl in Nashville, TN – 12/31, 12 pm (ABC) Iowa vs Kentucky ReliaQuest Bowl in Tampa, FL – 1/2, 12 pm (ESPN2) Illinois vs (22) Mississippi State Cheez-It Citrus Bowl in Orlando, FL – 1/2, 1 pm (ABC) Purdue vs (17) LSU “New Year’s 6” Games: Capital One Orange Bowl in Miami, FL – 12/30, 8 pm (ESPN) (6) Clemson vs (7) Tennessee Allstate Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, LA – 12/31, 12 pm (ESPN) (5) Alabama vs (9) Kansas State Goodyear Cotton Bowl in Arlington, TX – 1/2, 1 pm (ESPN) (16) Tulane vs (10) USC Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA – 1/2, 5 pm (ESPN) (8) Utah vs (11) Penn State Playoff: VRBO Fiesta Bowl Semifinal in Glendale, AZ – 12/31, 4 pm (ESPN) (3) TCU vs (2) Michigan Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Semifinal in Atlanta, GA – 12/31, 8 pm (ESPN) (4) Ohio State vs (1) Georgia College Football Championship Game in Inglewood, CA – 1/9, 7:30 pm (ESPN) Semifinal Winners

USC does not have much of a defense, ND's very average QB had a great game against them and obviously Utah tore them to pieces just two days ago. Michael Pratt should feast. Obviously Caleb - if healthy - and their skill guys are extremely imposing. But between their defense and the obvious motivational difference I definitely give the Wave a chance.

I came to post this but decided to check fangraphs. Today I learned that in his 154 PAs, he was a more productive hitter than Aaron Judge. Signing former STL players who inexplicably outperformed their talent at their most recent stop has never failed before, right?

At least 4 of the next best 6 teams will probably be pretty clear most years - in fact, a lot of the time what CubinNY is talking about will likely come to pass. Every conference that will be supplying CFP teams will have dumped divisions before expansion except for 1 more year of the SEC East/West split prior to Texas and OU joining. It'll be 1 vs 2 with only seeding on the line in most cases.

That's embarrassing, but in 2 years it's gonna be the coaches of 9-3 teams doing it so we might as well just get used to people doing this

Let's say Georgia somehow loses to LSU tomorrow and nothing else weird happens; does the committee avoid the rematch by seeding Ohio State 3 and Georgia 4? You could actually make a paper argument for it as UGA's best win of Tennessee is (barely) ranked behind OSU's best win of PSU. The teams' second-best wins (S Carolina for UGA, ND for OSU) are similarly closely positioned. I guess alternatively the committee could cheat by vaulting TCU up to 1 and claim adding one more quality win versus Michigan's nothingburger win made the difference.

He was doing some pretty absurd horsefeathers last week against ND. I think one play lasted a whole 12 seconds because of all his dancing and Jordan Addison was able to find an open spot for Williams to hit him.

If anyone wants a QB that is just good enough that you can win games in spite of him, Drew Pyne, QB of my team, has entered the transfer portal. If anyone wants a QB who is so bad his team had a losing season despite having the best player in the conference in his backfield, my alma mater's starting QB, John Paddock, also entered the portal.

Tying to find a silver lining, maybe if no one worth a damn ever wants to play WR there that wakes someone up to getting rid of Ferentz the Younger? I don't know why this year wouldn't be enough on its own, but...

Officially official. Cliffs notes: - Bowl quarterfinals presumably (though not officially) on or near NYD for the '24 and '25 seasons, with Rose and Sugar hosting quarterfinals both years while the other 4 major bowls split semifinal and quarterfinal host duties. (It's widely believed the quarterfinals will move on campus in 2026 when a new contract takes effect.) IIRC, which bowls host which quarterfinals will be determined by the teams that earn the byes and specifically what conference they are in, i.e. a B1G champ with a bye would play in the Rose, SEC champ with a bye in the Sugar, etc. - First-round games on the higher seed's campus 'near the end' of the 3rd week of December those years. - National title games still on Mondays. Jan. 20 and Jan. 19 those 2 seasons.

Winner of Big 10 SEC ACC PAC 10 Big 12 Wildcard Team not from any of the above conferences (The ND rule) That should be the playoff. 12 is way too many teams. It's a money grab. Alternatively, make a league out of the teams that make up those conferences (plus ND) and have a six-team playoff at the end of the season. None of the SEC, B1G or Notre Dame would've supported a CFP bigger than 4 without at least 4 at-large spots. And none of the others would've supported a CFP bigger than 4 without auto-bids. So anything less than 12 was a nonstarter. If people wanted exclusively conference champs or unbeaten teams playing for the title they should've stuck with 2. (And also not allowed Alabama to go over Oklahoma State in 2011.)

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.