Bowl Games 2023: Opening Slate

It’s that time again, and unlike last season we’ve got a full day of football tomorrow.

A few notes:

  • The bowl tracker page will be updated soon.
  • The Watchability Tiers are defined here.
  • I forgot what the third thing was, maybe I’ll remember before I finish this post.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Saturday, December 16

11:00: Ohio vs. Georgia Southern (Myrtle Beach Bowl @ Conway, SC; ESPN): The shine is completely off the Clay Helton thing, and I’m not sure this game will be able to do a lot to put it back on.
SP+ line: Ohio -2.2
Vegas line: GaSo -3.5
Watchability tier: II
Previous meetings: This is the first meeting between these teams.
Last bowl game: The Bobcats won last season’s Arizona Bowl over Wyoming, 30-27. Georgia Southern lost last year’s Camellia Bowl 23-21 to Buffalo.
Announcers: Drew Carter, Dustin Fox, and Stormy Buonantony

2:15: Louisiana vs. Jacksonville State (New Orleans Bowl @ New Orleans, LA; ESPN): This game could well be pretty fun. The Cajuns tend to fill the Superdome when they go to New Orleans (hence why they’re here). And remember Rich Rodriguez? Yep, he’s Jax State’s head coach. Expect some points in this one, and just for fun I’ll go with the Gamecocks.
SP+ line: Cajuns -1
Vegas line: JSU -3.5
Watchability tier: II
Previous meetings: This is the first FBS-level meeting between these teams, though amusingly the Ragin’ Cajuns did lose to a DI-AA Jacksonville State 28-14 in 2000.
Last bowl game: For the Cajuns, this is their sixth consecutive bowl game, going back to the 2018 Cure Bowl, where they lost 41-24 to Tulane. Last season they lost 23-16 to Houston in the Independence Bowl. For Jax State, this is their first ever bowl game.
Announcers: Anish Shroff, Andre Ware, and Taylor Davis

3:30: Appalachian State vs. Miami (Cure Bowl @ Orlando, FL; ABC):

Well it’s opening time down on fascination street
So let’s cut the conversation and get out for a bit
Because I feel it all fading and paling and I’m begging
To drag you down with me to kick the last nail in

Yeah I like you in that like I like you to scream
But if you open your mouth then I can’t be responsible
For quite what goes in or to care what comes out
So just pull on your hair just pull on your pout

And let’s move to the beat like we know that’s it’s over
If you slip going under slip over my shoulder
So just pull on your face just pull on your feet
And let’s hit opening time down on fascination street

So pull on your hair pull on your pout
Cut the conversation just open your mouth
Pull on your face pull on your feet
And let’s hit opening time down on fascination street

I like App here.
SP+ line: Miami -0.7
Vegas line: App -5.5
Watchability tier: II
Previous meetings: This is the first meeting between these teams.
Last bowl game: App last appeared in a bowl game back in the 2021 Boca Raton Bowl, where they lost 59-38 to Western Kentucky. (They did go 6-6 last season but didn’t bowl.) Miami only played three games in 2020 for hopefully obvious reasons, but they did go to the 2019-20 Mobile Alabama Bowl where they lost 27-17 to Louisiana. They lost last year’s Bahamas Bowl to UAB, 24-20.
Announcers: Bob Wischusen, Robert Griffin III, and Kris Budden

5:45: New Mexico State vs. Fresno State (New Mexico Bowl @ Albuquerque, NM; ESPN): I still don’t entirely know what happened to Fresno this year, but it’s sort of moot now because like most folks who are way too online I am all about the Aggies. As noted below, NMSU isn’t exactly a… consistently successful program, let’s put it that way. But a 10-win season out of nowhere, a second win a row over Hugh Freeze (this time AT Auburn!) and of course this season’s Bradlee Van Pelt winner in quarterback/runaway beer truck Diego Pavia make them very easy to root for.
SP+ line: Aggies -0.6
Vegas line: Aggies -3.5
Watchability tier: III
Previous meetings: With occasional times in the same conference, these teams have met 19 times. Their first meeting was a 49-17 Fresno win in 1972, and the msot recent was a 30-17 Fresno win in 2019. In fact, the only win for NMSU in the entire series was a 48-45 win in 2011, giving the Bulldogs an overall 18-1 advantage.
Last bowl game: The Aggies have only gone to 5 bowl games ever, and for the first time since 1959 and 1960 they’re going bowling in consecutive seasons. They beat Bowling Green in last season’s Quick Lane Bowl 24-19. This will be the third straight bowl game for the Bulldogs, dating to a 31-24 over UTEP in the 2021 New Mexico Bowl, and last season they pipped Wazzu in the LA Bowl, 29-6.
Announcers: Clay Matvick, Rod Gilmore, and Lauren Sisler

7:30: California-Los Angeles vs. Boise State (LA Bowl @ Inglewood, CA; ABC): The main thing I know about this one is all the Gronk commercials that will be shown during it will be exhausting. Outside of that, yeah probably UCLA but y’all the vibes are BAD. More specifically, while UCLA did beat USC they didn’t really even bother to show up after that against Cal, widely leading most to assume that it was probably time to move on from Chip Kelly. And then… nothing happened. Boise, meanwhile, fired their coach and then went out and won the Mountain West. So in the “who wants it more” department, which matters a lot in bowl games, it’s Broncos all the way here.
SP+ line: UCLA -0.5
Vegas line: UCLA -3.5
Watchability tier: III
Previous meetings: Just one: a 38-7 UCLA win in 1999.
Last bowl game: UCLA lost last season’s Sun Bowl 37-35 to Pitt. The Broncos, meanwhile, should by all rights have a bowl streak dating to 1998, which is amazing considering they’ve only been playing DI-A/FBS football since 1996. They didn’t go bowling in 1998 despite being 6-5, but the next year they won the then-Humanitarian Bowl 34-31 over Louisville. At 8-4 in 2001 they were left out again, but reeled off a streak that lasted until 2018. That game did kickoff, but with about 5 minutes left in the first quarter a thunderstorm moved in and didn’t move much afterward, and the game was called after a two hour delay. In 2020 Boise went 5-2, but, well, you know. And in 2021 they were set to play in the Arizona Bowl, but a COVID outbreak on the team led to the game getting scrapped. So because of all of that, Boise’s bowl streak is now at… two. They beat North Texas 35-32 in last season’s Frisco Bowl.
Announcers: Dave Flemming, Brock Osweiler, and Kayla Burton

9:15: Texas Tech vs. California (Independence Bowl @ Shreveport, LA; ESPN): “Shreveport After Dark” sounds like something from a campy slasher film, but that’s we’ve got here: two teams no one has any idea what to do with. This game will be somewhere between “unwatchable” and “team driving with less than a minute left down 62-60”. Well, maybe not so much the latter (I’m not sure Cal can score 60 even if there’s not a defense on the field) but that’s the gist of how I feel about this one. I’ll probably go with the Red Raiders but this one is a total coin flip.
SP+ line: TTU -2.6
Vegas line: TTU -2.5
Watchability tier: II
Previous meetings: Just one: a 45-31 Texas Tech win in the 2004 Holiday Bowl.
Last bowl game: This is the third straight bowl game for the Red Raiders, who beat Miss State 34-7 in the 2021 Liberty Bowl and Ole Miss 45-24 last season in the Texas Bowl. Unfortunately for them, this year their opponent is Cal. Speaking of the Bears, this is their first bowl game since the now-defunct semi-hometown Redbox Bowl, where they beat Illinois 35-20.
Announcers: Kevin Connors, Rocky Boiman, and Marilyn Payne

This Weekend in College Football: Week 15

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

  • Villanova @ South Dakota State (NCAA Division I Quaterfinals; ESPN)
  • Lenoir-Rhyme @ Hardin (NCAA Division II Semifinals; ESPN+)
  • Courtland @ Randolph-Macon (NCAA Division III Semifnals; ESPN+)

2:30: North Dakota State @ South Dakota (NCAA Division I Quaterfinals; ABC)

3:00: Navy vs. Army (@Foxborough, MA; CBS): In a somewhat unexpected development, the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy is on the line in this game. I say this because most of this season made it look as though it would be Air Force’s for the taking, which is about when Army rolled into Colorado Springs and completely disrupted everything and/or the Falcons forgot how to hold on to the ball. Either way, if Army wins they get the CiC Trophy, and if Navy wins it’s split. I like Army in this contest, though I do have some concerns that sort of go either way.

3:30:

  • Kutztown @ Colorado School of Mines (NCAA Division II Semifinals; ESPN+)
  • North Central @ Wartburg (NCAA Division III Semifinals; ESPN+)

10:00: Albany @ Idaho (NCAA Division I Quarterfinals; ESPN+)

This Weekend in College Football: Week 14

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Friday

7:00: New Mexico State @ Liberty (Conference USA Championship; CBSSN): I suspect Liberty will win, but that won’t stop me from pulling hard for the Aggies here. And if the Aggies do pull it off, Jerry Kill should merit some serious Coach of the Year consideration.

8:00: Washington vs. Oregon (Pacific 12 Championship @ Las Vegas, NV; ABC): There’s still a chance I may just up and off out to Vegas today because this game is not only the last ever Pac-12 Championship game (at least, as we know it) it should also be an absolute banger of a game. These are two of the best teams in the country in what is functionally a playoff quarterfinal. I am rolling with the conventional wisdom and predicting Oregon to win, but it is impossible to discount the Huskies, who seem to have a knack for getting out of close games.

Saturday

Noon:

  • Oklahoma State vs. Texas (Big 12 Championship @ Arlington, TX; ABC): This would be a super bad time for the version of Texas that existed before this season to show up. That said, so far Texas hasn’t really Texas’d this season, and there’s not any reason to think they’ll start now.
  • Toledo vs. Miami (Mid-American Championship @ Detroit, MI; ESPN): This may secretly be the better game. These are clearly the two best teams in the MAC. Toledo is rightly favored as the Rockets have shaken off their reputation for not being able to win the big game. It should be a good game, though, and may be a refuge if Texas is taking care of business.
  • Youngstown State @ Villanova (NCAA Division I Second Round; ESPN+)
  • Richmond @ State University of New York at Albany (NCAA Division I Second Round; ESPN+)

1:00: Tennessee-Chattanooga @ Furman (NCAA Division I Second Round; ESPN+)

2:00:

  • Mercer @ South Dakota State (NCAA Division I Second Round; ESPN+)
  • Sacramento State @ South Dakota (NCAA Division I Second Round; ESPN+)

3:00: Boise State @ Nevada-Las Vegas (Mountain West Championship; FOX): It’s not often that a team in a conference championship game fired their coach less than a month before said game, but that’s what the Broncos did. It does seem to have some impact, but they’re also here because the computers said they were better than San Jose State, which is the tiebreaker the Mountain West had to go with because none of the the three teams played the other. That said, it’s been a heckuva year for the Runnin’ Rebels and I don’t see it stopping here.

4:00:

  • Southern Methodist @ Tulane (American Championship; ABC): SMU got better as the year went on, but Tulane just figures to still be the class of the conference.
  • Georgia vs. Alabama (Southeastern Championship @ Atlanta, GA; CBS): Both of these teams kinda seemed to take it easy in their rivalry games. That put the Tide in real danger that took converting what might become the most famous “4th and goal from the 31” play in history. And while I’m not complaining, the Bulldogs looked pretty one-dimensional against us as they opted to rest McConkey and Bowers. (That said, when you average seven yards per carry, there’s not any reason to stop doing that.) At any rate, unlike the past couple seasons, Bama doesn’t feel like the team most capable of stopping Georgia: I would say both Michigan and Oregon could beat them. This Bama team isn’t perfect either, though they have figured what they can do with their QB the past few weeks. So, in summary, this Georgia team can get got, and while I don’t think it will happen here, I wouldn’t be surprised either.
  • Appalachian State @ Troy (Sun Belt Championship; ESPN): While JMU obviously deserves to be here, at least App beat them. Troy, though, continues to be Troy: play (relatively) great defense and run the ball. App is just too inconsistent to make me think they have a chance here.
  • Prairie View A&M @ Florida A&M (Southwestern Championship; ESPN2)

6:00: North Dakota State @ Montana State (NCAA Division I Second Round; ESPN+)

8:00:

  • Florida State vs. Louisville (Atlantic Coast Championship @ Charlotte, NC; ABC): You can discount rivalry week or not, but it’s really hard not to think about how those games might carry over to this one. FSU rallied to beat Florida and show that can still work an offense without their best player. Louisville missed a chance to finally show Kentucky who’s boss (indeed, it’s as though Kentucky’s chances of beating the Cardinals is inversely proportional to how good the Cards are that season). Add that to the sort of general “they can’t keep getting away with this!” vibe the Cardinals have been doing all season, and it’s hard to see how FSU doesn’t win this.
  • Iowa vs. Michigan (Big Ten Championship @ Indianapolis, IN; FOX): It’s very difficult to see how this will be any different from the 2021 version of this game that the Wolverines won 42-3.

9:00: Delaware @ Montana (NCAA Division I Second Round; ESPN+)

10:00: Southern Illinois @ Idaho (NCAA Division I Second Round; ESPN+)

Bowl Predictions 2023: Week 5

They’re up and they’re here!

Let’s get right into it:

  • There’s lots of garment rending and gnashing of teeth online at the moment regarding the playoff, but I think it’ll work itself out. Well, unless Oregon and Texas win. Which is what I’m betting will happen. At any rate, I will fully admit putting Oregon at #3 is just purely to get a traditional Rose Bowl. It sort of seems like that as long as Florida State stays undefeated, they’ll finish above any 1-loss team. We’ll see though!
  • Predicting this stuff isn’t what it used to be. I used to spend the post-Thanksgiving period doing Google News searches for local beat writer articles about possible bowl destinations. Now, these articles are just summations of the more prominent national writers’ bowl predictions. Gee, awesome. The whole point of this exercise for me is to use my own know-how to try to get somewhere near what might happen.
  • The exception of to the above is actually an article done the old fashioned way, and it’s very helpful because it tracks with what I was thinking and also changes my feel for how I think Georgia Tech’s bowl prospects look.
  • On that note, this article out of El Paso is also helpful – if the Sun Bowl chairman is saying out loud that he wants two “name” teams, he might well get it. (Then again, at least on the ACC side it’s up to the conference, not the bowl.)
  • On the 5-7 watch, we had to wait for the late returns from the West Coast and beyond, but with Cal whomping UCLA and Hawaii kicking a last-second field goal to conclude the regular season, we wound up 3 teams short. This means James Madison and Jacksonville State: step right up! And that means we need one 5-7 team, which looks like it’ll be Minnesota.
  • With JMU going bowling, that means the Sun Belt gets 12 of its 14 teams in, which is a pretty big accomplishment for a non-power conference. (Since, generally, each of those teams pretty much starts with 1 loss due to a paycheck game against a power team.) I did some juggling with the ESPN Events affiliated bowls to avoid Sun Belt vs. Sun Belt matchups, and I don’t think what I did was unreasonable.

That’s about it. On Sunday, I’ll be following the announcements as live as I possibly can. There’ll be one last update Saturday night after the conference title games conclude to account for any new news after this or upsets, and the final predictions will be uploaded. I may not be able to make a post. If I don’t, I will be updating the predictions on Sunday. When this happens, as long as I don’t know future results, I do update the table to account for things I get wrong in the hopes of getting bowls further down the chain correctly, so keep that in mind when assessing how correct I was.

This Weekend in College Football: Week 13

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

  • Ohio State @ Michigan (“The Game”; FOX): And once again, we start the last full day of college football with The Game, which is every bit as consequential as it has been the past two seasons. In Ohio State’s favor is human cheat code Marvin Harrison, Jr. In Michigan’s favor is a two game winning streak where they have more-or-less out-toughed the Buckeyes. It’s sort of crazy to think about, but I think the Wolverines will make it three in a row.
  • Kentucky @ Louisville (ABC): I still don’t really believe in Louisville and they could definitely lose this, but I can’t really put my fingers to the keyboard and type that.
  • Texas A&M @ Louisiana State (ESPN): A&M is probably slightly less dysfunctional on offense without Jimbo. LSU though just has a score-at-will type ability through Jayden Daniels that a lot of other teams, even top ten teams, lack.
  • Navy @ Southern Methodist (ESPN2): Ponies figure to keep the pedal down all the way through the end of the season here, with a date with Tulane next weekend looming.
  • Houston @ Central Florida (FS1): Both of these teams have been varying degrees of bad this year, especially Houston. It was a rough go for both in their first year of Big 12 play. That said, I have no idea what to expect here and I’m kind of tempted to pick Houston.
  • Indiana @ Purdue (BTN): The Old Oaken Bucket is on the line, and, well, it’s a battle of 3-8 teams. State of Indiana pride is on the line, and that’s about it. One of the things about being 3-8 is that it’s hard to say if a win over Minnesota or Wisconsin means anything when the context is that you only won two other games. I’ll take the Boilermakers because they’re at home.
  • Troy @ Southern Mississippi (ESPNU): Southern Miss did reel off two straight wins before losing to Miss State last week, but regardless Troy isn’t as good as they were, but they’re still in the upper crust of the Sun Belt. They should be fine here.
  • Pittsburgh @ Duke (ACCN): Duke has QB injury issues, but Pitt just has offense issues in general. The Blue Devils should romp.
  • Miami @ Ball State (CBSS): We’ll have some Saturday MACtion back, though this one should be straightforward for Miami.
  • Northern Illinois @ Kent State (ESPN+)
  • Middle Tennessee State @ Sam Houston State (ESPN+)
  • Connecticut @ Massachusetts (ESPN+)

1:00:

  • Florida Atlantic @ Rice (ESPN+)
  • Sacramento State @ North Dakota (NCAA Division I First Round; ESPN+)

2:00:

  • Wake Forest @ Syracuse (The CW): We’ll close out the first (only? I need to check) year of ACC football on the CW. Wake Forest has lost four straight. Yes, Syracuse just fired their coach (the second time my team has gotten a Syracuse coach fired since I matriculated) and the offense is… limited, to say the least, but they still seem like a more coherent team than Wake at this point.
  • Tulsa @ East Carolina (ESPN+)
  • Alabama-Birmingham @ North Texas (ESPN+)
  • Georgia State @ Old Dominion (ESPN+)
  • Southern vs. Grambling State (Bayou Classic @ New Orleans, LA; NBC)
  • North Carolina Central @ Richmond (NCAA Division I First Round; ESPN+)
  • Lafayette @ Delaware (NCAA Division I First Round; ESPN+)

3:00:

  • Colorado @ Utah (“Rumble in the Rockies”; Pac12): Remember what Oregon did to Colorado a couple of months back? Well, Utah doesn’t have Bo Nix (or anyone else that’s a real quarterback, for that matter), but I expect this to look pretty similar.
  • San Jose State @ Nevada-Las Vegas (MWN)
  • Louisiana-Monroe @ Louisiana (“Battle on the Bayou”; ESPN+)
  • Western Kentucky @ Florida International (ESPN+)
  • Tennessee-Chattanooga @ Austin Peay (NCAA Division I First Round; ESPN+)
  • Nicholls State @ Southern Illinois (NCAA Division I First Round; ESPN+)
  • Gardner-Webb @ Mercer (NCAA Division I First Round; ESPN+)

3:30:

  • Alabama @ Auburn (“Iron Bowl”; CBS): Okay, it’s the Iron Bowl, and it’s on the Plains, and sometimes stuff can… look, just no. The Tigers just got manhandled by New Mexico State last week. [Editor’s note: italics here for emphasis, NMSU is a FBS school.] I’m pretty sure Alabama can scheme some stuff up to do something similar. This might be a good point in the afternoon to go to the store.
  • Brigham Young @ Oklahoma State (ABC): On the one hand, Oklahoma State seems determined to show that they won their one-game season by winning Bedlam, even if they did rally and beat Houston last week. On the other, BYU is super beat up and has lost four straight. Oklahoma State may well try to throw this but just back their way into getting blasted by Texas next week. This could wind up being interesting in a certain sort of way.
  • Arizona @ Arizona State (“Territorial Cup”; ESPN): It’s generally a bad sign for your roster depth when you starting a true freshman at QB, who then got hurt, and is now starting again for the first time since September. That’s what Arizona State is doing, and I suspect that this one might be over early.
  • James Madison @ Coastal Carolina (ESPN2): It’s neat Grayson McCall came back for Coastal this season, but they just don’t have the juice this season. I like JMU here.
  • Wisconsin @ Minnesota (FS1): This is the most ambiguous Axe game in a while. Neither of these teams is especially good, with Minnesota stalling out a bit and Wisconsin going through a philosophy change on offense under a new coach. With the game effectively being a coin toss, I’ll take the home team.
  • Maryland @ Rutgers (BTN): Maryland scared the heck out of Michigan last week, even if it was never really really in doubt. I suspect that means Rutgers is going to win easily this week.
  • Northwestern @ Illinois (BTN): Northwestern’s coach should win at least one of the various coach of the year awards. Seriously. I think they win this one easily.
  • Georgia Southern @ Appalachian State (“Modern Day Hate”; ESPNU): App is still somewhat maddening, as I’d definitely written them off going into JMU last week. Naturally, they left with the upset. This is a real G5 rivalry that goes back to their FCS days and there should be a good crowd in Boone. This could be a sneaky good game, or… an App rout. We’ll see.
  • Vanderbilt @ Tennessee (SEC): Vols by a lot.
  • Virginia Tech @ Virginia (“Commonwealth Cup”; ACCN): Virginia’s upset of Duke last week aside, there’s been a lot more to be optimistic about over on Blacksburg. That said, the talent level of these two teams is similar so we could wind up with a close game, though I’m expecting a VPI win.
  • Liberty @ Texas-El Paso (CBSS): It brings me no pleasure to report that Liberty will be 12-0 after this. Tulane, we need you to win out.
  • Arkansas State @ Marshall (ESPN+)
  • Drake @ North Dakota State (NCAA Division I First Round; ESPN+)

4:00:

  • Washington State @ Washington (“Apple Cup”; FOX): Wazzu worked out some frustration last week on Colorado, subjecting the Buffs to a 56-14 game that wasn’t that close. Before that, however, the Cougs lost 6 straight after beating Oregon State, which made one feel like they’d lost the plot a bit. UDub is 11-0 and definitely more talented. I’m a bit skittish after what happened in Eugene earlier tonight, but I think this game is going to be closer than one might think.
  • Jacksonville State @ New Mexico State (ESPN+)

5:00: Duquense @ Youngstown State (NCAA Division I First Round; ESPN+)

7:00:

  • Florida State @ Florida (“Sunshine Showdown” ; ESPN): Even with their backup QB, I still expect FSU to win here. The talent level on both sides of the ball is still good and the Gators are just not good enough right now to overcome it.
  • West Virginia @ Baylor (FS1): I’m still trying to figure out what happened at Baylor after last year. ‘Neers get to one of the most unexpected 8 win seasons in the country after this one.
  • South Alabama @ Texas State (NFLN): Texas State probably won’t give up 77 again, but I don’t really trust them at this point.
  • Notre Dame @ Stanford (Pac12): It’s not a coincidence that this is one of the largest point spreads of the weekend (at Notre Dame favored by 25). Maybe it’s for the best this will probably be the last ever football game shown on the Pac-12 Network.

7:30:

  • Georgia @ Georgia Tech (“Clean, Old Fashioned Hate”; ABC): TO HELL WITH GEORGIA
  • Kansas @ Cincinnati (ESPN2): I know the QB at situation means this line is close, but KU shouldn’t have any trouble here.
  • Charlotte @ South Florida (ESPNU): USF figures to get bowl eligible against one of the worst teams in the country.
  • Clemson @ South Carolina (“Palmetto Bowl”; SEC): The Gamecocks have won three in a row and salvaged the season a little, but that figures to come to a screeching halt at the hands of a seemingly rejuvenated Clemson squad.

8:00:

  • Iowa State @ Kansas State (“Farmageddon”; FOX): This is the longest continuously played rivalry in FBS, but regardless it’s due to rotate off the Big 12 schedule in 2028. This error should be fixed. Outside of that, we’ve already remarked a couple of times that Iowa State is playing well as of late after being dead in the water earlier in the season. I hope it’s been fun, because this trip to the Little Apple isn’t likely to be.
  • North Carolina @ North Carolina State (ACCN): NC State has reached 8 wins, which isn’t exactly news, because they do that almost every year. What this does imply is that UNC will probably win. Look, I don’t make the rules, okay.

9:00: Wyoming @ Nevada (CBSS): Wyoming isn’t as good as their record (7-4), but they good enough to take care of business in Reno.

10:30:

  • California @ California-Los Angeles (ESPN): It’s a shame this game never really got a name, considering the shared history and governance of these schools. Plus that it’s probably on hold for the foreseeable future. But yeah, the main motivation in this one is that we’re going to be winding down the season with these games, and this does figure to be more watchable than the next game. That said, UCLA should handle business here.
  • Fresno State @ San Diego State (FS1): And finally, we’ve got the battle for the Oil Can. I still have no idea what is going on with Fresno after they lost to New Mexico last week, but I will still say they’re going to be able to take care of this SDSU team. Well, unless the Aztecs decide to send Brady Hoke off with a sudden burst of competence on the offensive side of the ball, which feels unlikely.

11:00: Colorado State @ Hawaii (Team1Sports): Mahalo, the 2023 college football regular season. There’s a lot of change coming in 2024, and it’s been a fun send-off to what will possibly be a very significant point in the history of the sport.