As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong. Thursday, January 1 12:00: Texas Tech (#4) vs. Oregon (#5) (Orange Bowl @ Miami Gardens, FL; ESPN): This is probably the most intriguing of all the playoff matchups. In some ways, you'd probably expect that from the 4 vs. 5 game, but still. The dynamics in play are "new money" versus "even newer money", as Texas Tech was the most aggressive team in the transfer portal last year, with this the intended result.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong. Monday, December 29 2:00: Appalachian State vs. Georgia Southern ("Deeper Than Hate"; Birmingham Bowl @ Birmingham, AL; ESPN): Alas, missed another one. And for the record, I missed this one as I had App winning. SP+ line: App St by 0.9 Vegas line: GSU by 3.5 Watchability tier: I Previous meetings: These rivals have met plenty of times, but for our purposes we only consider FBS records.

This one is going to be short and sweet, as I've got eight games to cover. Like the title says, it's almost a proper Saturday. As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong. Saturday, December 27 11:00: Pittsburgh vs. East Carolina (Military Bowl @ Annapolis, MD; ESPN): We'll get started in the AM with a matchup from Navy's home stadium, and the Midshipmen aren't playing in it.

A quick note: I haven't figured out how to display my picks on the bowl page yet, and there are some other errors. I will work on fixing the factual errors shortly, but for now winner/loser info will not be available. Rest assured, I'm keeping track internally. As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong. Monday, December 22 2:00: Utah State vs.

Bowl season is here! In fact, it's more than here: it already started! While last weekend I folded the LA Bowl into normal coverage, from here we'll forward lower-level games of interest into the bowl slate as well. As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong. Tuesday, December 16 9:00: Jacksonville State vs. Troy (Veterans Bowl @ Montgomery, AL; ESPN): For the record, this game already happened, and I had Troy winning.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong. Friday 9:00: Stephen F. Austin @ Montana State (NCAA Division I Quarterfinal; ESPN) Saturday Noon:  Villanova @ Tarleton State (NCAA Division I Quarterfinal; ESPN) South Carolina State vs. Prairie View A&M (Celebration Bowl @ Atlanta, GA; ABC) Newberry @ Ferris State (NCAA Division II Semifinal; ESPN+) 3:00: Army vs. Navy (@Baltimore, MD; CBS): Navy should win a rare potentially pointsy Army-Navy game.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong. Friday 7:00: Kennesaw State @ Jacksonville State (Conference USA Championship Game; CBSS): The primetime action gets started with a surprising season by the Owls. They're genuinely good, but one of the revisit the site of one of their defeats a month ago. The conventional wisdom is that "it's hard to beat a team twice", which, yes, but I still like the Jacksonville (Alabama) State to do it again.

They're updated right here. Let's hit the highlights. First, yeah, there's still 5 SEC teams. Unfortunately, the relatively chalky rivalry weekend didn't shake things up too much. The one upset that did happen, Texas over Texas A&M, likely cost the Aggies a first round bye, as their ticket to a bye with their schedule was to suffer their only loss in the SEC Championship Game.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong. Noon: Miami @ Pittsburgh (ABC): Okay, so Miami is going to win this game... unless the Pitt Superweapon has heretofore unknown multi-week properties. This is mostly because when Pat Narduzzi said he didn't care if Pitt lost 100-0 to Notre Dame as long as they won the next two games, he apparently…

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong. Tuesday 4:30: Bowling Green @ Massachusetts (ESPNU): So this game already started, and while UMass is working on making it interesting, let's talk about something more exciting than whether UMass will go 0-12 or not: this will be the 1000th post on this website! Not bad for something I started right before my final semester of college.

A lo, the upsets have happened, so I was only three teams short. Here's the latest. It sure looks like we're going to see five SEC teams in the playoff. What no one really seems to be talking about is the knock-on effect on the SEC's bowl tie-ins. Obviously, I don't think the conference itself is too worried about this, but the folks in Nashville, Charlotte, and Memphis might be.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong. Noon: Missouri @ Oklahoma (ABC): This looked like a cracker of a matchup a couple months ago, but with Mizzou's quarterback situation so unsettled I'm not sure how they're going to prevail against a Brent Veneables defense. Rutgers @ Ohio State (FOX): We'll finally have something to talk about with Ohio State next week, at least.

I don't have a lot to note here except I that I really hope the "5 SEC teams in the playoff" thing doesn't come to pass. Based on my projections, I have Texas A&M playing Alabama in the SEC title game. I'd have to think that the only thing that would knock Bama out in that scenario is just getting completely walloped by the Aggies. So... let's hope for something weird next weekend in Jordan-Hare Stadium?

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong. Noon: Notre Dame @ Pittsburgh (ABC): It's the biggest game in a minute for Pitt, a team looking to top the ACC and shore-up their play-off bona fides. That said, while I can see the superweapon firing once again or just Pitt dragging the Irish down to their level, there's stakes for them as well.

The bowl predictions page has been updated. Once again, we're six teams short, so I had to use both the transitioning schools (Delaware and Missouri State) and four 5-7 teams (in order: Northwestern, Auburn, Rice, and Central Florida). Once again, since I predict the games out using SP+, there is a potential that any team I have projected to finish 5-7 finds one more upset and qualifies normally.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong. Noon: Brigham Young @ Texas Tech (ABC): This is the game of the year in the Big 12, so naturally it kicks off at 11am local time. Expect these two to meet again, though.  For now, I like the Red Raiders at home. Indiana @ Pennsylvania State (FOX): I expect Indiana to continue to do Indiana things here.