If you're a fan of Army-Navy or actual, honest to goodness college football playoffs, this is the weekend for you!  The game of the week may be at the D-III level where perennial power #1 Mount Union, who has scored 72, 55, and 72 points in their first three playoff games, plays #2 Mary Hardin-Baylor in a national semifinal.

FBS

Saturday, December 8

3 PM- Navy vs. Army (CBS, cbssports.com) Verne Lundquist, Gary Danielson, Tracy Wolfson

FCS

Friday, December 7

8 PM- Sam Houston State at Montana State (ESPN2) Tom Hart, John Congemi, Allison Williams

Saturday, December 8

Noon- Georgia Southern at Old Dominion (ESPN) Clay Matvick, Matt Stinchcomb

1 PM- SWAC Championship: Arkansas-Pine Bluff vs. Jackson State (ESPNU) Joe Davis, Jay Walker

ESPN3 exclusives

3 PM- Wofford at North Dakota State- Jonathan Yardley, Ben Leber

6 PM- Illinois State at Eastern Washington- Trey Bender, Jay Taylor

D2

All Games ESPN3 exclusives

3 PM- Valdosta State at Minnesota St.- Mankato- Shawn Kenney, John Bunting

6:30 PM- West Texas A&M at Winston- Salem State- John Sadak, Rene Ingoglia

D3

All Games ESPN3 exclusives

2 PM- Mary Hardin-Baylor at Mount Union- Dan Gutowsky, John Gregory

3 PM- Wisconsin-Oshkosh at St. Thomas (MN)- Peter Young, Corey Chavous 

H/T Daniel!

On his radio program this week, WFAN sports talk host/frequent cat napper Mike Francesa admitted to forgetting to turn in his Heisman vote.  He uses the late date of the Army/Navy game as his excuse for not getting his vote in on time... but the Army/Navy game is being played on the same weekend as the Heisman Trophy presentation for the fourth year in a row now... so that really doesn't make sense.

What does make sense about this clip?  Nothing really, because Mike Francesa evidently has a Heisman Trophy vote he can forget to submit.  

[WFAN Audio]

In what is certainly a distressing report regarding the future of the conference, the Big East television rights are proving to be as valuable as a second rate reality show.  Not the good ones like Duck Dynasty, Swamp People, or Storage Wars... something like Couples Therapy or Extreme Couponing.  That's what the Big East has become.  They're the Extreme Couponing of college conferences.

Dennis Dodd at CBSSports.com reports the Big East may only be able to fetch $60-80 million dollars per year, which would amount to just $4-5 million dollars per team.  Last year, the Big East turned down a deal from ESPN that would have been worth triple that amount.

Eep...

Colin Cowherd is leaving ESPN2's SportsNation. This development has been expected for months but Bristol finally made it official this week. Cowherd will remain in Bristol, where he will focus on his nationally syndicated radio show (and potentially add to those duties somewhere down the line). At the end of December, SportsNation will relocate from ESPN’s Bristol campus to a new set at ESPN's Los Angeles studio. Host Charissa Thompson will be joined by new co-host Marcellus Wiley.

The tumultuousrun of The Ultimate Fighter on FX will go in a different direction for the 17th season of the series. The next season, with coaches Jon Jones and Chael Sonnen, will shift from Friday to Tuesday, and will be starting an hour earlier at 9 PM as opposed to the 10 PM timeslot that the show has been synonymous with for years.

Ratings for the two seasons of The Ultimate Fighter on FX have been a disaster on Friday nights. Season 15 that took place in the spring with a brand new live format regularly failed to draw one million viewers per episode, including the final five episodes of the season (excluding the live, fight-laden finale). Season 16, currently taking place, has seen ratings drop even further. Of the 11 episodes to air so far this season, only two have topped one million viewers. Considering that during the show's 14 seasons on Spike, each episode averaged 1.7 million viewers, the dropoff since the UFC has shifted to FX has been dramatic.

Last month, Charles Barkley said in an SI interview that calling a college basketball game with ESPN's Dick Vitale was one thing in broadcasting he'd like to do before leaving the industry.  Although there are numerous hurdles and hoops in the way of ESPN's Vitale and Turner's Barkley sharing a booth, momentum is building for the pair to one day announce a game (or games together).  Perhaps on ESPN, maybe on CBS, and possibly even for the NCAA Tournament.

CBS has been interested in using Dick Vitale for its NCAA Tournament coverage in past years, but ESPN has said no.  Now, there are reports that Bristol may be willing to allow Vitale the opportunity to work tourney games with an ESPN executive VP telling USA Today the network is open to some kind of arrangement.  Barkley and Vitale are still publicly stating their interest in working together, but CBS and Turner aren't commenting directly about the future possibility.

Here's the relevant quotes from the parties involved from Michael Hiestand at USA Today:

Gus Johnson returns!  He'll announce Panthers-Falcons in his first NFL action this season with the college football regular season finished.

Thursday, December 6

Denver Broncos @ Oakland Raiders [NFLN 8:20PM] Brad Nessler, Mike Mayock & Alex Flanagan

Sunday, December 9

Chicago Bears @ Minnesota Vikings [FOX 1PM] Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston, Tony Siragusa
Dallas Cowboys @ Cincinnati Bengals [FOX 1PM] Thom Brennaman, Brian Billick & Laura Okmin
Philadelphia Eagles @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers [FOX 1PM] Dick Stockton, John Lynch & Jennifer Hale
Atlanta Falcons @ Carolina Panthers [FOX 1PM] Gus Johnson, Charles Davis & Katarina Pink
St. Louis Rams @ Buffalo Bills [FOX 1PM] Ron Pitts, Mike Martz & Krista Voda

San Diego Chargers @ Pittsburgh Steelers [CBS 1PM] Jim Nantz, Phil Simms
Baltimore Ravens @ Washington Redskins [CBS 1PM] Marv Albert, Rich Gannon
New York Jets @ Jacksonville Jaguars [CBS 1PM] Kevin Harlan, Solomon Wilcots
Tennessee Titans @ Indianapolis Colts [CBS 1PM] Ian Eagle, Dan Fouts
Kansas City Chiefs @ Cleveland Browns [CBS 1PM] Bill Macatee, Steve Tasker

Miami Dolphins @ San Francisco 49ers [CBS 4:05PM] Greg Gumbel, Dan Dierdorf

New Orleans Saints @ New York Giants [FOX 4:25PM] Joe Buck, Troy Aikman & Pam Oliver
Arizona Cardinals @ Seattle Seahawks [FOX 4:25PM] Chris Myers, Tim Ryan & Jaime Maggio

Detroit Lions @ Green Bay Packers [NBC 8:20PM] Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth & Michelle Tafoya

Monday, December 10

Houston Texans @ New England Patriots [ESPN 8:30PM] Mike Tirico, Jon Gruden & Lisa Salters

H/T Sammy!

Former Cleveland Browns QB Bernie Kosar appeared on ESPN Radio Cleveland yesterday afternoon and gave a short, troubling interview where he audibly stumbled and slurred over his words.  Kosar was doing his weekly spot on The Hooligans when the conversation devolved into a series of incoherent comments from the former Browns legend.  Kosar talked about "franks and beans" and referred to "ducks and dynasty" and clearly was in no shape to be interviewed.  Host Bruce Hooley actually tried to cut Kosar off, but the interview continued for another couple uncomfortable minutes.  

Yesterday, Denver Post columnist and Around the Horn jokester Woody Paige reported the big news on the University of Colorado's next head coach.  Paige definitively stated Cincinnati head coach Butch Jones accepted the position and the Denver Post had another article by Tom Kensler saying Jones was the man...

Today, it was reported by several outlets that Butch Jones withdrew from the running for the Colorado job.

This is what happens when you don't check Rick Reilly's Twitter feed first.

There was reported a crazy rumor recently that Monday Night Football analyst and former Super Bowl winning NFL Head Coach Jon Gruden was offered the University of Tennessee job, along with a Cleveland Browns' ownership stake. All parties involved promptly disputed the report, with Gruden saying "I'm just excited about Monday Night Football. I like what I'm doing. I'm just trying to hang on to the job that I have."

Of course, that doesn't mean these crazy rumors won't keep appearing. On the contrary, they will probably keep on popping up until he actually does leave and return to the NFL. And as it so happens, the latest one gaining steam on outlets like CBS and PFT has him returning to coach... the Oakland Raiders. The rumor originated from an interview Pro Football Weekly's Hub Arkush gave to WSCR Radio in Chicago.