Thanksgiving Football Schedule: Time, TV, Watch NFL, Memphis-Tulane

First, happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. I hope you’re able to spend it as you choose, and whether it’s with family, friends, or solo, I hope you know that you’re loved and we need every single one of you. If you’ve chosen to make Off Tackle Empire part of that in any way—welcome, thank you for being here, and pass the Malort.

For reasons I’ll talk vaguely address throughout, I’ve done a little soul-searching over the course of this year: what OTE should be going forward, what I want my role to be now that I have a child and AlmaOtter basically runs the damn place anyway, what the point of any of this is when we’re on an island in the SBNation and Vox Media empire* and this will all come crumbling down any day now.
* Think “Ottomans, circa 1917”

There were going to be some fun little things I had planned—a look at all 24 mascots of the D-II football playoffs (a lot), the first-ever Thanksgiving Day game between the Young America Cricket Club and Germantown Cricket Club, a brief history of college basketball being played overseas (apparently the first was that UConn–Michigan State game in 2012), or going back to the New Deal well and looking at stadiums—including Camp Randall—that either haven’t been added yet or were just added*.
* Including one by one of my current students. I didn’t know she was going to write it—she just did over the summer because she enjoyed our class so much, and it’s turned into her senior thesis that I get to direct as a now second-year faculty member. For as much as I bitch about my job, I’m a lucky guy to have it and to meet so many motivated young men and women.

If I would have written any of those, it would’ve been about the Burley Bowl, a Thanksgiving Day bowl game played in Johnson City, Tennessee, from 1945-1956.

Called for by A.E. Hamil, president of the Retail Division of the Johnson City Chamber of Commerce as early as May 1945—while the United States was still, to use a technical historical term, balls deep in World War II—the Burley Bowl was but one part of a broader tobacco festival for the area. Organizers and the press promised that it would symbolize “the Appalachian area’s rich tobacco belt,” to be completed with the crowning of a “tobacco queen.”

Johnson City Press-Chronicle (Nov. 6, 1945), 7. via newspapers.com

I can not over-emphasize, reader, what a big deal the Burley Bowl was to eastern Tennessee in the fall of 1945. People were pumped for this—particularly coming out of World War II.

Bristol Herald-Courier (Nov. 29, 1945), 9. via newspapers.com

The first game featured nearby High Point (of North Carolina) and Milligan College (of Elizabethton, TN). The tobacco parade was a huge hit. Disabled veterans were present. That it ended in a 7-7 tie marred by sleet and snow was almost immaterial. (Of course, that the Milligan touchdown came as a result of what the Johnson City Press-Chronicle dubbed a “boner” was of never-ending delight.)

Two of the next three official Burley Bowls were won by West Chester of Pennsylvania, a fact that will be interesting to exactly one person—but for whom this is a test—and, over the next decade, the Burley Bowl featured four appearances by Appalachian State Teachers College and Emory & Henry College, five by hometown East Tennessee State College, and one by Memphis State, which pasted hometown ETSC (which was just 4-4) 32-12 in the 1956 Burley Bowl, Memphis’s first-ever bowl game. The Tigers announced 22 new community-funded football scholarships the next June—Memphis State’s star was on the rise.

The Burley Bowl’s was not. Citing a loss of interest—which they used to mask three straight years of financial losses—in March 1957 the Johnson City Chamber of Commerce announced they would no longer sponsor the Burley Bowl. Left up to the local Washington County clubs, the game foundered, and in July 1957 the athletic director for ETSC announced that, because the Buccaneers already had 11 games scheduled, they would not be participating in a hypothetical 1957 edition.’

The Johnson City Shrine Club declared that they’d host the Burley Bowl that fall with two local colleges as an annual affair for disabled children, but that September the Washington County Council of Community Clubs planned a Thanksgiving Harvest Dinner instead. On October 30, news officially came down: the Burley Bowl was no more.

JCPC (Oct. 27, 1957), 17.

As late as 1968, the Johnson City Press was providing updates on former Burley Bowl participants like Lebanon Valley of Pennsylvania—and identifying them as such. It remained a part of Johnson City lore for decades, even after its home, Memorial Stadium—originally Roosevelt Field—was demolished in 2010.

There’s more to be told here: the role of the Chamber of Commerce and sports in an Appalachian town, the rising and setting stars of Memphis and East Tennessee, the tobacco industry’s image in an era where Operation Dixie sought to unionize Black workers in factories like those in North Carolina. And, history grad students who I know eagerly read this blog, there’s work to be done with their papers in the ETSU Archives.

Bet y’all wish this was just a rumination on the Salisbury Seagulls now, huh?

Thanksgiving Day

Don’t Watch This

Chicago Bears at Detroit Lions [11:30am, CBS]
New York Giants at Dallas Cowboys [3:30pm, FOX]

UEFA Europa and Conference League [11:45am and 2pm, Paramount+]

Astana vs. Vitoria Guimares [9:30am, Paramount+]
AZ vs. Galatasaray [11:45am, CBSSN]
Real Sociedad vs. Ajax [2pm, CBSSN]
Tottenham Hotspur vs. Roma [2pm, TUDN]

Watch That

Tuskegee Golden Tigers vs. Alabama State Hornets

1pm | ESPNU | Turkey Day Classic

College Basketball of Interest

Minnesota vs. Wichita State [11am, ESPN2, ESPN Events Invitational]
West Virginia vs. Lhvl [11am, ESPN, Battle 4 Atlantis]
#13 Purdue vs. NC State [2pm, FS1, Rady Children’s Invitational]
#19 Arkansas vs. Illinois [3pm, CBS, Thanksgiving Hoops Showdown]

As I write this on Wednesday evening, I think back to the days immediately post-college when “Go to the hometown bar and drink yourself silly with classmates you didn’t really like” was the play.

We had my 15-year class reunion this month, and it was at one of those hometown bars along the Mississippi River. The place was ours, and there were about 45 of my graduating class of 245—not bad, for having been slapped together on a few months’ notice and reliant exclusively on Facebook and word-of-mouth.

My wife—and a couple friends’ spouses—came along. They were three of approximately six significant others in the entire place, and we were looked at like aliens for bringing them along. A couple classmates even said there was no way in hell they’d bring their spouses—never mind that your then-girlfriend, now-spouse, was shitfaced alongside you at the hometown bar on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving all those years ago. I’m sure that says something, and I probably don’t want to dwell too much on what it is.

We’re well past “hometown bar” days, though, and tonight, there’s a surfeit of craft beer in the house (it’s packed for the lake on Friday), but I happened to find a case of Whiteclaw in the basement.

So I’m drinkin’ Claws by myself. AIN’T NO LAWS, DWT.

Some things never change, I guess.

Thursday Evening

Don’t Watch This

Miami Dolphins at Green Bay Packers [7:20pm, NBC]

Other Soccer

Atletico San Luis vs. Tigres UANL [6:30pm, TUDN]
Antigua GFC vs. Municipal [9pm, FOX Deportes]
Monterrey vs. Pumas UANM [9pm, TUDN/Univision]

Watch That

Memphis Tigers at #17 Tulane Green Wave

6:30pm | ESPN | Tulane -14.5 | O/U 56.5

College Basketball of Interest

Northwestern vs. Butler [6pm, CBSSN, Arizona Tip-Off]
USC vs. Saint Mary’s [8pm, truTV, Acrisure Classic]
New Mexico vs. Arizona State [10:30pm, truTV, Acrisure Classic]

Looking for something else from DWT days gone by, I came across this—the September 23, 2018 edition of Don’t Watch This; Watch That. I think this was the first-ever edition of this article, as I’d been doing research on the Great Alaska Shootout (some things never change) and decided I wanted to write about the college football schedule.

In September 2018, I had been married for five months and owned a house for six. I was traveling to Atlanta and Boston on a dissertation grant. I had not yet eaten a Chessie.

Six years later, here we are. I’ve been married for six years and had a child for two of those. I completed my PhD and have taught at eight different universities since. I have eaten a Chessie.

Life has a funny way about it.

Friday Morning

Don’t Watch This

Oregon State Beavers at #11 Boise State Broncos (-20.5, O/U 56.5) [11am, FOX]
Oklahoma State Cowboys at #25 Colorado Buffaloes (-17, O/U 65.5) [11am, ABC]
Balls Tate Robotbirds at Ohio Bobcats (-14.5, O/U 52.5) [11am, CBSSN]
Navy Midshipmen (-1, O/U 56.5) at East Carolina Pirates [11am, ESPN]

Seek Help

Minnesota Golden Gophers at wisconsin badgers

11am | CBS | wisc -2 | O/U 43.5

Watch That

Miami Hydroxide Redhawks at Bowling Green Falcons

11am | ESPNU | BG -2 | O/U 41.5

All that above and I never even mentioned that what distracted me in the first place was deciding that I was going to assign my students old episodes of In Living Color to look at Black culture in the 1990s.

YouTube’s got ‘em! (Here’s what I’m assigning in the future:)

You’re going to watch badger-gopher—because it’d be hilarious if wisconsin’s Bill Callahan and/or Michael Dukakis missed a bowl game—but Miami-Bowling Green is for an automatic spot in the MACtion Championship Game.

That’s the play here whether you want it to be or not.

Friday Afternoon

Don’t Watch This

Mississippi State Bulldogs at #14 Ole Miss Rebels (-26, O/U 61.5) [2:30pm, ABC]
Sam Houston Bearkats (+3, O/U 47.5) [2:30pm, CBSSN]
Utah State Aggies at Colorado State Rams (-6, O/U 58.5) [2:30pm, FS1]
Alabama A&M Bulldogs at Florida A&M Rattlers [3pm, ESPN+]

Random Assorted Soccer

St. Pauli vs. Holstein Kiel [1:30pm, ESPN+]
Cagliari vs. Hellas Verona [1:45pm, Paramount+]
Reims vs. Lens [1:45pm, beIN]
Brighton & Hove Albion vs. Southampton [2pm, Peacock]
Mallorca vs. Valencia [2pm, ESPN+]
Sheffield United vs. Sunderland [2pm, Paramount+/CBS Sports Golazo]

Watch That

Harrogate Town vs. Gainsborough Trinity

1:45pm | ESPN+ | FA Cup Round 2

Texas State Bobcats at South Alabama Jaguars

2:30pm | ESPN+ | TXSt -1 | O/U 60.5

Stanford Cardinal at San Jose State Spartans

3pm | CBS | SJSU -3 | O/U 55.5 | BILL WALSH CLASSIC

As I write this at 12:52am, there are still 68 seconds left in the first half of Houston-Notre Dame. The Coogs lead the Fighting Irish, 34-29. There appear to be about 1,000 people at the MGM Grand in Vegas. What an era of players’ rights we’ve entered.

Mississippi State-Ole Miss should be on Thanksgiving Night, and it should be batshit insane. This one’s just going to be a 20-point Rebels win. That’s dumb — so let’s watch Nick Nash continue to put up eye-popping numbers for San Jose State instead.

Friday Evening

Don’t Watch This

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at #7 Georgia Bulldogs (-19.5, O/U 53.5) [6:30pm, ABC]
Utah Utes at UCF Citronauts (-10, O/U 47.5) [7pm, FOX]

Watch That

Nebraska Cornhuskers at Iowa Hawkeyes

6:30pm | NBC | Iowa -5.5 | O/U 39.5

What a booby prize for the Utes and Citronauts, huh? Join the Big XII, get one last Friday night game that’s completely irrelevant and requires cross-country travel for a game no one is interested in.

At least in Nebraska-Iowa there’s the bleak glimmer of hope that someone lives in a state shittier than you.

Jury remains out on which is which.

Saturday Morning

Don’t Watch This

#23 Illinois Fighting Illini (-7.5, O/U 44.5) “at” Northwestern Wildcats [11am, BTN]
Michigan Wolverines at #2 Ohio State Buckeyes (-21, O/U 42.5) [11am, FOX]
#8 Tennessee Volunteers (-10.5, O/U 48.5) at Vanderbilt Commodores [11am, ABC]
Lhvl Cardinals (-3.5, O/U 48.5) at Kentucky Wildcats [11am, SECN]
UConn Huskies (-10.5, O/U 49.5) at UMass Minutemen [11am, ESPN+]
Duke Blue Devils (-4, O/U 53.5) at Wake Forest Demon Deacons [11am, ACCN]
Kansas Jayhawks at Baylor Bears (-1, O/U 61.5) [11am, ESPN2]
West Virginia Mountaineers at Texas Tech Red Raiders (-3.5, O/U 64.5) [11am, FS1]
Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns (-9.5, O/U 48.5) at UL Monroe Warhawks [11am, ESPNU]
North Texas Mean Green (-10.5, O/U 64.5) at Temple Owls [11am, ESPN+]
FCS Playoffs Round 1 [various times — see table, ESPN+]

Watch That

#15 South Carolina Gamecocks at #12 Clemson Tigers

11am | ESPN | Clemson -2.5 | O/U 49.5

UTSA Roadrunners at Army Black Knights

11am | CBSSN | Army -7 | O/U 54.5

Eastern Michigan Eagles at Western Michigan Broncos

12:30pm | ESPN+ | WMU -7.5 | O/U 56.5

The winner of EMU-WMU not only wins the Michigan MAC Trophy, they make it to 6-6 and thus a bowl game. IT’S ALL ON THE LINE.

I normally wouldn’t put South Carolina-Clemson as a “Watch That”. I don’t get it, and it doesn’t interest me. But…call it a hunch, I guess?

It was that or UConn-UMass, and you all get mad at me when I tell you that you should be watching UConn football. I don’t understand why—what do you have against Aeropostale?

Saturday Afternoon

Don’t Watch This

MTSU Blue Raiders at FIU Sunblazers (-9, O/U 51.5) [1pm, ESPN+]
Coastal Carolina Chanticleers at Georgia State Panthers (-1, O/U 55.5) [1pm, ESPN+]
Southern Miss Golden Iggles at Troy Trojans (-17.5, O/U 48.5) [1pm, ESPN+]
South Florida Brahman Bulls (-4.5, O/U 52.5) at Rice Owls [1pm, ESPN+]
Pittsburgh Panthers at Boston College Eagles (-5, O/U 48.5) [2pm, The CW]
Old Dominion Monarchs (-4, O/U 58.5) at Arkansas State Red Wolves [2pm, ESPN+]
Maryland Terrapins at #4 Penn State Nittany Lions (-25.5, O/U 50.5) [2:30pm, BTN]
#5 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (-7.5, O/U 51.5) at USC Trojans [2:30pm, CBS]
Auburn Tigers at #13 Alabama Crimson Tide (-11.5, O/U 52.5) [2:30pm, ABC]
#6 Miami Fluoride Hurricanes (-10.5, O/U 67.5) at Syracuse Orange [2:30pm, ESPN]
California Golden Bears at #9 SMU Cocaineponies (-13.5, O/U 56.5) [2:30pm, ESPN2]
#16 Arizona State Sun Devils (-9.5, O/U 53.5) at Arizona Wildcats [2:30pm, FOX]
Arkansas Razorbacks at #21 Mizzou Tigers (-3.5, O/U 54.5) [2:30pm, SECN, Battle Line Rivalry]
Fresno State Bulldogs at UCLA Bruins (-9.5, O/U 46.5) [2:30pm, BTN]
NC State Wolfpack at North Carolina Tar Heels (-3.5, O/U 55.5) [2:30pm, ACCN]
Central Michigan Chippewas at Northern Illinois Huskies (-12.5, O/U 45.5) [2:30pm, CBSSN]
UAB Blazers at Charlotte 49ers (-3, O/U 60.5) [2:30pm, ESPN+]
FAU Owls (-1.5, O/U 57.5) at Tulsa Golden Hurricane [2:30pm, ESPN+]
Kennesaw State Owls at Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (-12.5, O/U 42.5) [3pm, ESPN+]
UTEP Miners at New Mexico State Aggies (-2.5, O/U 51.5) [3pm, ESPN+, Battle for the Silver Spade]

Watch That

Rutgers Scarlet Knights at Michigan State Spartans

2:30pm | FS1 | MSU -1.5 | O/U 47.5

Jacksonville State Gamecocks at Western Kentucky Hilltoppers

3pm | ESPNU | WKU -1.5 | O/U 60.5

It’s not lost on me above that I wrote something like 1,000 words on the Burley Bowl after saying I really didn’t have anything to write about this week. But you’ve all learned something.

The RichRod-led Gamecocks are already in the C-USA Championship Game at 7-0 (seriously), but 5-2 WKU is currently on the outside looking in—they need to win and get 5-2 Sam Houston to beat the other 5-2 team in C-USA. So THAT’S all to play for.

But Michigan State is 5-6, and damn if I’m not intrigued.

(Also, if you watch USC-Notre Dame, you’re basically a terrorist.)

Saturday Evening

Don’t Watch This

TCU Horned Frogs (-2.5, O/U 58.5) at Cincinnati Bearcats [5pm, ESPN+]
Wyoming Cowboys at Washington State Cougars (-17.5, O/U 58.5) [5:30pm, The CW]
Purdue Boilermakers at #10 Indiana Hoosiers (-29.5, O/U 56.5) [6pm, FS1]
Florida Gators (-14.5, O/U 45.5) at Florida State Seminoles [6pm, ESPN2]
Oklahoma Sooners at LSU Tigers (-6, O/U 47.5) [6pm, ESPN]
#3 Texas Longhorns (-6, O/U 48.5) at #20 Texas A&M Aggies [6:30pm, ABC]
Nevada Wolf Pack at #22 UNLV Rebels (-17.5, O/U 55.5) [7pm, CBSSN]
Virginia Cavaliers at Virginia Tech Hokies (-7.5, O/U 48.5) [7pm, ACCN]
Marshall Thundering Herd at James Madison Dukes (-3.5, O/U 52.5) [7pm, ESPNU]

Watch That

Appalachian State Mountaineers at Georgia Southern Eagles

5pm | ESPN+ | GASo -2.5 | O/U 62.5

Washington Huskies at #1 Oregon Ducks

6:30pm | NBC | Oregon -19.5 | O/U 50.5

#24 Kansas State Wildcats at #18 Iowa State Cyclones

6:30pm | FOX | ISU -3 | O/U 51.5 | FARMAGEDDON

App State-Georgia Southern is an old FCS rivalry that’s worth a read, and while I don’t quite understand our new northwestern brethen, they tell me Washington-Oregon matters, and I actually don’t hate the Huskies +19.5 (and who knows, maybe straight-up?) in this game. So we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt here.

Now that that’s out of the way: if Purdue saved its Harbor for this game and this game only, they will be my heroes.

Not because I hold anything against the 2024 Hoosiers, mind you, but because it would be the most Purdue (and, really, Indiana) thing to ever happen.

Another thing to watch for, speaking of the 10-win Hoosiers: Iowa State has the chance to also exit the “P5 schools to never win 10 games in a season” ranks against Kansas State in FARMAGEDDON.

Despite associating far too much with Iowans, I don’t have anything major against the Cyclones…and yet I really don’t want them to win this game. Maybe it’s that they’d also get a chance to win their first conference championship since, like, the Missouri Valley in 1908 (or something?). Maybe it’s that winning 10 games AND a conference championship bid AND potentially a College Football Playoff berth is too much all at once. Maybe I’m still mad about patronizing Olde Main Brewing during my time in Ames when it turns out they weren’t good at business, and that Torrent Brewing never really hit me between the eyes. (Alluvial’s great, though.)

Regardless: go purple cats.

It’s late and I’m drunk…

Don’t Watch This

Houston Cougars at #19 BYU Cougars (-13.5, O/U 41.5) [9:15pm, ESPN]
Air Force Falcons (-3.5, O/U 43.5) at San Diego State Aztecs [9:30pm, FS1]

Watch That

Tennessee State Tigers at Montana Grizzlies

9:15pm | ESPN2 | FCS Playoffs Round 1

New Mexico Lobos at Hawai’i Rainbow Warriors

10pm | Team1Sports | UNM -2.5 | O/U 61.5

Hawai’i, at 4-7, is out…but New Mexico is 5-6 and could—through maybe just the efforts of diminutive QB Devon Dampier—squeak into a bowl game.

Huge shoutout to Eddie George—yes, that Eddie George—and the Tennessee State Tigers, who finished 9-3, tied for the OVC/Big South title, and made the FCS playoffs for just the second time this millennium. The Tigers, at #21, are likely well out of the Grizzlies’ league, especially at 8:15pm local time in a hostile—and cold—environment. They lost 52-3 to North Dakota State earlier this year. But hell, I’ll tune in for a minute and see them chase the dream. Beats the hell outta UH limping to the finish and whatever AFA-SDSU is.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I am truly grateful for this beautiful, dumb community you all make so great. Travel safe, eat well, and enjoy the games.