Friday, October 30, 2009

Week 10 TV Selections

Finally recovered from vacation and travel. Here's week 10's TV selections, done on 10/26.

ACC
Duke at North Carolina, 3pm ESPN360

The other four games are on a six day selection. The slots that are available include Raycom at 12pm, ESPNU at 12pm, ABC at 3:30pm and 8pm and ESPN/ESPN2 at 7:15pm

UPDATE (11/1/09)
Virginia at Miami (FL), 12pm Raycom
Maryland at NC State, 1pm ESPN360
Wake Forest at Georgia Tech, 3:30pm ABC/ESPN2
Duke at North Carolina, 3:30pm ESPNU (change from original announcement)
Florida St. at Clemson, 7:45pm ESPN

Big 12
UCF at Texas, 12pm FSN
Texas A&M at Colorado. 1:30pm Fox College Sports

Three other telecasts will be selected for TV: Oklahoma St. at Iowa St., Kansas at Kansas St. and Oklahoma at Nebraska. Two will be selected by ABC, one at 3:30pm and one at 8pm. The other will be on Versus at 12:30pm.

UPDATE (11/1/09)
Kansas at Kansas St., 12:30pm Versus
Oklahoma St. at Iowa St., 3:30pm ABC
Oklahoma at Nebraska, 8pm ABC

Big East
Syracuse at Pittsburgh, 12pm ESPNU
Louisville at West Virginia, 12pm Big East Network

Connecticut at Cincinnati is on a six day selection for either ABC at either 3:30pm or 8pm or ESPN/ESPN2 in primetime.

UPDATE: Connecticut at Cincinnati, 8pm ABC

Big Ten
Northeastern at Iowa, 12pm ESPN
Wisconsin at Indiana, 12pm Big Ten
Illinois at Minnesota, 12pm Big Ten
Western Michigan at Michigan St., 12pm Big Ten
Purdue at Michigan, 12pm Big Ten
Ohio St. at Penn St., 3:30 ABC/ESPN

MAC (Thursday 11/5)
Eastern Michigan at Northern Illinois, 7:30pm ESPNU
Miami (OH) at Temple, 7:30pm ESPN360

PAC-10
Oregon at Stanford, 3:30pm FSN
Washington at UCLA, 3:30pm FSN Regional
Washington St. at Arizona, 3:30pm Fox College Sports
Oregon St. at California, 7pm FSN
USC at Arizona St., 8pm ABC (time previously confirmed)

SEC
South Carolina at Arkansas, 12pm SEC Network
Eastern Kentucky at Kentucky, 1pm PPV
LSU at Alabama, 3:30pm CBS
Memphis at Tennessee, 7pm ESPNU
Vanderbilt at Florida, 7:15pm ESPN/ESPN2
Northern Arizona at Ole Miss, 7:30pm SEC/CSS HD

UPDATE: Vanderbilt at Florida will be on ESPN2.

Two other telecast confirmations were made this week for 11/14: Houston at UCF, 12pm on CBS College Sports and Idaho at Boise St., 3:30pm on ESPNU.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

MWC Makes Bowl Deals

The Mountain West Conference announced three bowl deals today with one of those deals with a bowl they were not previously affiliated with. For the 2010-13 bowl cycle, the Independence Bowl will match MWC #3 vs. ACC #7. The New Mexico and Armed Forces bowl games were also renewed. These two bowl games will make a mutual decision to invite the most appropriate team based on the markets where those bowl games reside.

For 2009, the MWC has an agreement with the Humanitarian Bowl in Boise, ID. There has been no announcement whether the MWC was interested in extending that agreement now that they are involved with the I-Bowl.

MWC Bowls
#1 Las Vegas
#2 Pointsettia
#3 Independence
#4 New Mexico or Armed Forces
#5 New Mexico or Armed Forces

Monday, October 19, 2009

Week 9 Network Selections

Here's a placeholder for the telecast selections for games to kick off on 10/31. I will be flying back to Cleveland from Florida most of the morning and early afternoon, so this post may stay empty for longer than it normally would.

Also, there are no Big Ten selections to be made today, but there will be selections from the other five AQ conferences.

ACC
NC State at Florida St., Raycom 12pm
Coastal Carolina at Clemson, ESPN360 1:30pm
Central Michigan at Boston College, ESPNU 3:30pm
Duke at Virginia, ESPN360 3:30pm
Miami at Wake Forest, ABC 3:30pm

Big 12
Missouri at Colorado, FSN 1:30pm
Nebraska at Baylor, Versus 12:30pm
Kansas at Texas Tech, ABC 3:30pm
Texas at Oklahoma St., ABC/ESPN2 OR ESPN2 only 8pm
Oklahoma at Kansas St., FSN 7pm

Big East
Cincinnati at Syracuse, ESPNU 12pm
Rutgers at UConn, Big East Network 12pm

PAC-10
California at Arizona St., ABC 3:30pm

USC at Oregon will also have its television assignment decided next week, either on ABC and reverse mirrored on ESPN2 or completely on ABC.

SEC
Ole Miss at Auburn, SEC Network 12pm
Eastern Michigan at Arkansas, ESPNU 7pm
Mississippi St. at Kentucky, SEC/FSN 7pm
Georgia Tech at Vanderbilt, SEC/CSS 7:30pm
South Carolina at Tennessee, ESPN 7:45pm
Tulane at LSU, TigerVision PPV 8pm

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Week 9 TV Guesses

Big Ten is already confirmed for time and TV, SEC had its top game chosen before the season started and two ACC games had at least time confirmed and the times seem to point to ESPN360.

I'm guessing USC at Oregon moves to ESPN which would get both that game and the Texas-Oklahoma St. game wider coverage. According to the Sun Sports TV schedule, FSN added one regional SEC telecast at 7pm which opens up that possibility.

CBS
Florida vs. Georgia (confirmed), 3:30pm

ABC
Michigan at Illinois (rm, confirmed), Miami (FL) at Wake Forest (rm), Kansas at Texas Tech, UCLA at Oregon St., 3:30pm
Texas at Oklahoma St., 8pm

ESPN
Indiana at Iowa, 12pm (time confirmed)
Penn St. at Northwestern, 4:30pm (confirmed)
USC at Oregon, 8pm

ESPN2
Purdue at Wisconsin, 12pm (time confirmed)
ABC Reverse Mirror, 3:30pm
Ole Miss at Auburn, 8pm

ESPNU
NC State at Florida St., 12pm
Rutgers at UConn, 3:30pm
South Carolina at Tennessee, 7pm

FSN
Nebraska at Baylor, 12:30pm
Missouri at Colorado, 7pm

Versus
Iowa St. at Texas A&M, 12:30pm

Big Ten
New Mexico St. at Ohio St., 12pm (confirmed)
Michigan St. at Minnesota, 8pm (confirmed)

Others
Mississippi St. at Kentucky, 12pm SEC Network
Duke at Virginia, 12pm Raycom
Cincinnati at Syracuse, 12pm Big East
Central Michigan at Boston College, 1pm ESPN360 (time confirmed)
Coastal Carolina at Clemson, 1:30pm ESPN360 (confirmed)
Eastern Michigan at Arkansas, 7pm ESPN Classic
Georgia Tech at Vanderbilt, SEC/FSN Regional
Tulane at LSU, 7:30pm SEC/CSS <--- Note that Cox/CST carries the SEC games from CSS
California at Arizona St., 10pm FSAZ/CSN Bay Area

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Updated 2010-2013 Bowl Affiliations

Since both the Big 12 and Big Ten announced their agreeements yesterday here's an updated bowl lineup at the non-BCS bowl level:

Las Vegas: PAC-10 No. 5 vs. MWC No. 1
Pointsettia: MWC No. 2 vs. WAC, Army or Navy (depending on the year)
Hawai'i: WAC vs. C-USA No. 2
Little Caesar's: MAC vs. Big Ten No. 8
Emerald: PAC-10 No. 6 vs. WAC, Army or Navy (depending on the year)
Champs Sports: Big East No. 2 vs. ACC No. 3
Holiday: PAC-10 No.4 vs. Big 12 No. 5
Texas: Big 12 No. 6 vs. Big Ten No. 6
Insight: Big 12 No. 4 vs. Big Ten No. 4/5
Outback: Big Ten No. 3 vs. SEC No. TBA
Gator: Big Ten No. 4/5 vs. SEC No. TBA
Cotton: Big 12 No. 2 vs. SEC No. TBA
Alamo: PAC-10 No. 3 vs. Big 12 No. 3

New bowls
Dallas (at Cotton Bowl Stadium): Big Ten No. 7 vs. C-USA
New York City (at Yankee Stadium): Big 12 No. 7 vs. Big East No. 4

Big 12 Bowl Lineup Set

The Big 12 announced its bowl lineup for the 2010-2013 postseasons with a couple changes. The new lineup is the following:

1. Fiesta vs. BCS
2. Cotton vs. SEC
3. Alamo vs. PAC-10
4. Insight vs. Big Ten
5. Holiday vs. PAC-10
6. Texas vs. Big Ten
7. NY Yankees vs. Big East (pending certifications)

Apparently the Big 12 could be a conditional partner in the Dallas Football Classic game that the Big Ten and C-USA will be a part of.

In short, the Insight moved up, the Holiday moved down and both the Independence and Sun bowl games will disappear from the Big 12's lineup.

Week Seven Viewers Guide

Took last week off due to some traveling down to the Orlando area. Still in FL on the west coast so I'm catching up on what I missed this weekend. Here's what to watch

Thursday
Cincinnati at USF, 7:30pm (ESPN HD) - I'm planning on being in attendance for this one. Tony Pike is slowly getting some Heisman pub and this game could go a long way towards getting him in the mix. Cincy is ranking #6 in passing yards per game where USF is #9 against the pass, so something has to give. BJ Daniels is continuing to get his feet wet, but the Bearcats are more susceptible to the pass, which gives this game a little bit of a shootout feeling. Hope I'm right.

Friday
Pittsburgh at Rutgers, 8pm (ESPN HD) - Pitt has looked very sharp offensively each week. Its been the defense that has been hit or miss. The Scarlet Knights have had a very slow start to their season and are really an unknown quantity with two wins vs. FCS compeition and Florida International on the schedule. Rutgers run defense is top 10, but against far lesser competition and the offense has been quite stagnant at times with inexperienced QB play from both Savage and Natale.

Saturday
Oklahoma vs. Texas, 12pm (ABC HD) - No Saturday night football, so you get your main course at noon ET. Let's be honest, this game doesn't have the cache that it would if Sam Bradford hadn't been hurt and the Sooners lost a pair of games. I don't know if the Sooners have it. Rumor has it that most of the seats on Stubhub for this game are in the OU sections, so their fans are skeptical too. Texas is No. 4 in overall defense (No. 1 against the run) so the Sooners will need Bradford to be at his best. With the line play that's been shown so far, that's not a gimme.

Iowa at Wisconsin, 12pm (ESPN HD) - Big Ten also provides a nice early game, mostly because Penn St. decided that their homecoming game would be this weekend at 3:30pm, so ABC picked it up. Both teams are rather average on offense and defense, though the ground attack for Wisconsin could prove to be the difference.

USC at Notre Dame, 3:30pm (NBC HD) - Clearly not the USC offensive team of the past couple years, whereas Notre Dame's games have had much more drama. Jimmy Claussen contiues to get the Heisman hype and a win over USC would do wonders for his candidacy. USC's defense is still stout though they may bend more than they have the previous few weeks.

Hawai'i at Idaho, 5pm (ESPN GamePlan/ESPN360.com) - Idaho is the story to watch here. The Vandals have managed to get to a 5-1 start after being a doormat of the WAC since their arrival four years ago. With a win over the Warriors, the Vandals could be bowl eligible for the first time in a decade. The Vandals, like many WAC teams, are all offense and no defense, so this one, like the games the rest of the way, could be a shootout.

Virginia Tech at Georgia Tech, 6pm (ESPN2 HD) - Winner goes to the front of the line in the Coastal Division. Neither team is built to throw the ball around the yard, though Tyrod Taylor seems to be developing into a capable, efficient passer that could give the Hokies that extra dimension. Both teams have top 20 rushing attacks, but the Hokies might have those extras to get over the hump.

South Carolina at Alabama, 7:45pm (ESPN HD) - The Ol' Ball Coach has flipped the script with a top 15 defense (right at #15 nationally) and a mediocre offense, complete with a rushing offense ranked slightly higher than the passing offense. 'Bama is no slouch at #2 defensively. Remember that 3-2 Auburn-Mississippi St. barnburner from 2008? It might be quite similar. Stephen Garcia's QB play for the 'Cocks should be the difference maker.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Big Ten Bowl Lineup

The Big Ten will announce its bowl lineup for the 2010-2013 postseasons today with a special on the Big Ten Network. According to ESPN's Adam Ritterberg, the lineuip will look like this.

1. Rose vs. PAC-10/BCS
2. Capital One vs. SEC
3. Outback vs. SEC
4 or 5. Gator vs. SEC
4 or 5. Insight vs. Big 12
6. Texas vs. Big 12
7. New Bowl - Played at Cotton Bowl Stadium vs. Big 12 or C-USA
8. Little Caesar's vs. MAC

The new bowl game should be announced any day now and like the Yankee Bowl matchup between the Big 12 and Big East is also pending certification.

The Gator and Texas bowls are new tie-ins, replacing the Champs Sports and Alamo bowls.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Week 8 Network Selections

Here's a placeholder for the kickoff times for October 24th which will be announced today.

ACC
Georgia Tech at Virginia, 12pm Raycom
Maryland at Duke, 1:30pm ESPN360
Clemson at Miami (FL), ABC 3:30pm or 8pm

Big 12
Iowa St. at Nebraska, 12:30pm FSN
Oklahoma St. at Baylor, 12:30pm Versus
Oklahoma at Kansas, ABC TBA
Texas at Missouri, ABC TBA

Big East
UConn at West Virginia, 12pm ESPNU
USF at Pittsburgh, 12pm Big East
Louisville at Cincinnati, 3:30pm ESPNU

Big Ten
Minnesota at Ohio St., 12pm ESPN/ESPN2
Illinois at Purdue, 12pm ESPN/ESPN2
Indiana at Northwestern, 12pm Big Ten HD
Penn St. at Michigan, 3:30pm ABC/ESPN

PAC-10
Oregon at Washington, 3:30pm ABC
UCLA at Arizona, 6:30pm FSN Regional (Prime Ticket and FS Arizona)

SEC
Arkansas at Ole Miss, 12pm SEC Network
Tennessee at Alabama, 3:30pm CBS
Vanderbilt at South Carolina, 7pm ESPNU
UL-Monroe at Kentucky, 7pm SEC/FSN Regional
Auburn at LSU, 7:30pm ESPN/ESPN2
Florida at Mississippi St., 7:30pm ESPN/ESPN2

WAC
Fresno St. at New Mexico St., 10:30pm ESPNU

Friday, October 9, 2009

Week 8 TV Guesses

CBS
Tennessee at Alabama, 3:30pm

ABC
Clemson at Miami (FL) (RM), Oklahoma at Kansas, Oregon at Washington, Penn St. at Michigan (RM) 3:30pm
Texas at Missouri & Oregon St. at USC (2nd game confirmed), 8pm

ESPN
Minnesota at Ohio St., 12pm
Florida at Mississippi St., 7:45pm

ESPN2
Louisville at Cincinnati, 12pm
Auburn at LSU, 8pm

ESPNU
Akron at Syracuse, 12pm
USF at Pittsburgh, 3:30pm
Vanderbilt at South Carolina, 7pm

FSN
Iowa St. at Nebraska, 12:30pm
Arizona St. at Stanford, 10:15pm (confirmed)

Versus
Texas A&M at Texas Tech, 12:30pm

Big Ten
Indiana at Northwestern & Illinois at Purdue, 12pm
Iowa at Michigan St., 7pm

Others
Arkansas at Ole Miss, 12pm SEC Network
Connecticut at West Virginia, 12pm Big East
Georgia Tech at Virginia, 12pm Raycom
Maryland at Duke, 3:30pm ESPN360
Oklahoma St. at Baylor, 7pm FSN Regional/Fox College Sports
UL-Monroe at Kentucky, 7pm SEC/FSN
Washington St. at California, 6:30pm CSN California/FSN NW
UCLA at Arizona, 6:30pm FSAZ/Prime Ticket

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Bowl News

Two bowls made conference announcements in the past two weeks
  • Yankee Stadium will host a bowl game, pending certification, starting in 2010. The Big East and the Big 12 are the conferences tied to the bowl with the Big East providing its 3rd non-BCS selection (2nd when Notre Dame goes to the Champs Sports Bowl) and the Big 12 providing its 6th non-BCS selection. No date or television partner has been announced.

    The bowl is rumored to pay more than the Meineke Car Care Bowl, but that is also taking into account that it will cost teams more to travel to New York City around the holidays.
  • The Champs Sports Bowl filled the other half of their tie-in with the ACC's 2nd non-BCS choice. The bowl is now the same as the Gator Bowl tie-in when the Big East is the ACC's opponent.

    It also appears that the Gator will be announced as an SEC v. Big Ten bowl and it could be moving from CBS to ESPN.

Here's a list of the bowl tie-ins to start next year (confirmed tie-ins only):

Las Vegas: MWC No. 1 vs. PAC-10 No. 5
Pointsettia: MWC No. 2 vs. Navy (2010, WAC backup), WAC (2011 & 2012), Army (2013, WAC backup)
Hawai'i: WAC vs. C-USA No. 2
Little Caesar's: MAC No. 1 or 2 vs. TBA
Emerald: PAC-10 No. 6 vs. WAC (2010 & 2013), Army (2011), Navy (2012)
Champs Sports: Big East No. 2/Notre Dame vs. ACC No. 3
Rose: BCS/Big Ten No. 1 vs. BCS/PAC-10 No. 1
Sugar: BCS/SEC No. 1 vs. TBA
Orange: BCS/ACC No. 1 vs. TBA
Fiesta: BCS/Big 12 No. 1 vs. TBA
International: MAC No. 3 vs. TBA
Alamo: PAC-10 No. 2 vs. TBA
GMAC: MAC No. 1 or No. 2 vs. TBA

Monday, October 5, 2009

Week 7 TV Selections

Late, but here's the selections. Note that the Sun Belt was able to take advantage of being part of the 12 day selection process for the 1st time.

ACC
Wake Forest at Clemson, Raycom, noon
NC State at Boston College, ABC, 3:30 pm
Virginia at Maryland, ESPNU, 4 pm
Virginia Tech at Georgia Tech, ESPN2, 6 pm

Big Ten
Iowa at Wisconsin, ESPN/ESPN2, 12pm
Northwestern at Michigan State, ESPN/ESPN2, 12pm
Ohio State at Purdue, Big Ten Network, 12pm
Delaware State at Michigan, Big Ten Network, 12pm

Big 12
Texas Tech at Nebraska, ABC/ESPN, 3:30pm <- Reverse Mirror
Kansas at Colorado, FSN, 7pm
Missouri at Oklahoma St., ESPN2, 9:15pm

PAC-10
California at UCLA, ABC, 3:30pm
Stanford at Arizona, Versus, 7:30pm

SEC
Georgia at Vanderbilt, SEC Network, 12pm
UAB at Ole Miss, SEC/FSN, 7pm
Kentucky at Auburn, ESPNU, 7:30pm

The South Carolina-Alabama & Arkansas-Florida games are being held for a six-day pick. One game will air on CBS at 3:30pm, the other will air on ESPN at 7:45pm.

Sun Belt
Mississippi St. at Middle Tennessee, ESPNU, 12:30pm

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Week 7 TV Guesses

I think its very possible that any of these things could occur:
  1. The SEC could again go on a six day pick, particularly for the cable windows
  2. The Big 12 could shift their TV windows around, like they did last year for because of the Red River Shootout. Possibly a pair of evening games on ESPN/ESPN2 and no 2nd game on ABC, giving FSN the 3:30pm slot. Particularly because there are only four ACC games to choose and only one is an above average matchup.
Sticking with what we know (except I did give the Big 12 two games at night on ESPN)

CBS
South Carolina at Alabama, 3:30pm

ABC
Oklahoma vs. Texas, 12pm (confirmed)
Minnesota at Penn St. (confirmed, RM), Stanford at Arizona, Texas Tech at Nebraska, Virginia Tech at Georgia Tech (RM), 3:30pm

ESPN
Iowa at Wisconsin, 12pm
ABC Reverse Mirror, 3:30pm
Kansas at Colorado, 7:45pm

ESPN2
Ohio St. at Purdue, 12pm
Kentucky at Auburn, 6pm
Texas A&M at Kansas St., 9:15pm

ESPNU
Wake Forest at Clemson, 12pm
Virginia at Maryland, 3:30pm
Arkansas at Florida, 7pm

FSN
Missouri at Oklahoma St., 7pm
Washington at Arizona St., 10:15pm (confirmed)

Versus
California at UCLA, 7:30pm

Big Ten
Northwestern at Michigan St. & Delaware St. at Michigan, 12pm
Indiana at Illinois, 7pm (confirmed)

Others
Georgia at Vanderbilt, 12pm SEC Network
NC State at Boston College, 12pm Raycom
Louisville at Connecticut, 12pm Big East
UAB at Ole Miss, 7pm SEC/FSN
Baylor at Iowa St., 7pm Fox College Sports

Friday, October 2, 2009

Week Five Viewers Guide

Week five got off to a start already with the weeknight games. Didn’t have much to say about them since I thought they had outcomes that were relatively not in doubt, though West Virginia sure attempted to keep Colorado in the game.

All games Saturday

UCLA at Stanford (3:30pm, ABC) – Stanford has shown real progress over Jim Harbaugh’s tenure and UCLA has been able grind out their victories so far with mediocre offense. The Cardinal have the offensive stars in this game with RB Toby Gerhart and QB Andrew Luck and will have to be controlled for UCLA to have a chance.

Air Force at Navy (3:30pm, CBS College) – 1st matchup in the Commander-in-Chief series for 2009. Should be a quick game in the sense that neither team prefers to run the ball. On a per game basis, Air Force leads the nation and Navy is 6th.

William & Mary at Villanova (3:30pm, Versus) – An FCS matchup makes it here because it’s a CAA matchup between two top 5 teams. Both teams are fairly balanced run/pass on offense and both are among the CAA teams to notch wins over FBS competition (‘Nova over Temple, W&M over Virginia). The QBs are the key with ‘Nova’s Chris Whitney a dual threat with the arm and his legs where Tribe QB RJ Archer moves the ball down the field more methodically.

Both of the next two games would have been a lot more interesting a week ago

USC at California (8pm, ABC) – Jahvid Best had the Heisman roughly at the quarter pole of this season until he came up short, along with the rest of his teammates vs. Oregon. USC is ripe for the picking this season with the way Ohio St. played against them at the line of scrimmage and the lack of solid QB play. Don’t kid yourselves, the Trojans are really 1-1 because the Washington St. and San Jose St. games were essentially scrimmages.

Oklahoma at Miami (FL) (8pm, ABC) – Folks expect that the Sooners are OK because they won their last two games via shutout and put up at least 45 points in both games. But don’t kid yourself; those were against Idaho St. and Tulsa, competition that hasn’t been quite on the level as the Sooners. Miami (FL) has stepped up in class each week with three ACC opponents and all three ranked at the time of the game, no small feat. If you were the Hurricanes, would you be happy with 3-1 or 2-2, with one ACC loss, if your opponents to start the year were Florida St., Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and Oklahoma?