TV ramifications of MWC bringing back Boise St.

Happened to listen to the Mountain West teleconference replay.  Found some interesting items.

* In terms of the reconfigured TV deal between the MWC and CBS, the MWC will be selling packages of games.  CBS will retain a select number of priority picks and retains primary status.  The MWC can then sell two additional packages of games, where in the past CBS could sell those packages.  To me, this kinda feels like how the English Premier League does their TV rights bidding, where a package of games is sold and that package may have a mix of top choice, 2nd choice or 3rd choice.

In short, I don't believe Boise St. home games will be a specific package.  At least that's how it was framed by Craig Thompson on the call.  I think its home games will be spread out over multiple networks.  And Boise St.'s MWC road games could be in those packages too.

EDIT (1/2/13):  Boise St.'s term sheet with the MWC explains quite clearly that BSU's home TV rights will not be part of the MWC deal with CBS unless BSU & the MWC allow for it.  That would also include allowing CBS to sublicense the package of BSU games to another party, which BSU and the MWC would have to approve.

* There is a cherry for playing on national TV of $300K per school, plus an additional bonus of $200K for that game being on a Saturday.  Boise St. made its bones on weeknights on ESPN, but has only played one home weeknight game in the MWC, so in some ways, there's additional incentive to keep Boise St. on Saturday if national TV is an option.   So whatever the MWC collects in TV money from CBS (lets say $12 millions) plus whatever they get from their other packages goes into a pool.  The national TV payouts go first, then the rest gets spread evenly.  If we were to use 2012 as an example:

• Boise St. & Nevada (playing each other on ABC) and Air Force (vs. Navy on CBS) would get $500K for appearing on a national TV game on a Saturday
• UNLV (vs. Washington St.), Boise St. (vs. BYU), Hawai'i & Air Force (against each other) would receive $300K

So under just the CBS contract, assuming they paid out $12 million last year (and I'm not sure that's true), $2.7 million off the top would be paid out in appearance money and the remaining $9.3 million would be shared.

Note that the "national TV" designation is just the four broadcast networks, plus ESPN and ESPN2.  No NBC Sports Network, ESPNU, FOX Sports One/FX or the Turner networks if they decide to get into CFB.

* Teams that scheduled 13 games with the intention of playing at Hawai'i, such as Colorado St., may have to consider giving up a game under the possibility that a '13 schedule could have them not playing at Hawai'i.

* Boise St.'s existing non-conference games with dates attached must be honored by the MWC.  So that long term series with BYU, if it had any future dates on it, the MWC must schedule around it.

* Will this accelerate realignment in other areas such as the Big Ten with Rutgers & Maryland, or the ACC with Louisville, or C-USA with FAU & Middle Tennnessee?  Suppose it could.  Depends on the finances needed to break agreements and move on.

* The Big East really lost out on the chance to sell a conference championship game, at least until Navy joins in '15.  They'll have 11 members in '13 & '14, assuming things stay in place, at least for the next 20 seconds or so.  I think I have about four Big East rights fee articles in draft status for various incarnations of the conference that are worthless now.

Guesses on week one for 2013

Bored.  Haven't written anything worthwhile in a few weeks, plus...I'm bored.  So I'm thinking a little about 2013.  At least the opening weekend.

* Now that the MWC has resolved some contract issues with CBS for the final three years of their deal, I expect that ESPN will have a few games from the conference again this year.  Since CBS says they'll have some priority picks over those other two packages the MWC can sell, I'm thinking they'll keep that USC at Hawai'i game on the opening weekend, but the Rutgers at Fresno St. game is wide open for another network.  For the opening weekend, after being part of the Pac-12 rights package the last two years, I'm listing the Colorado-Colorado St. game as a MWC game.

* Georgia at Clemson looks so good as a spotlight game on Labor Day evening.  Clemson could get by with South Carolina St. on  short rest.  I can't see any scenario where Georgia would be willing to do the same when it comes to playing South Carolina.  Expect it on a Saturday.  Alabama vs. Virginia Tech, as someone else pointed out to me, could be a possibility.  The Tide are open the week after and Virginia Tech has Western Carolina.  Duke could end up hosting Wake Forest that day, but it doesn't have the pop.

Another possibility, particularly because its out west: Boise St. and Washington finished 2012 against each other and they'll start 2013 as opponents in Seattle.  Washington is off the week after this game, Boise St. has UT-Martin.  In my opinion, Texas Tech at SMU is also a possibility for a Thursday (ESPNU), Sunday or Monday game from the Big East.  I also think that there's a chance that Vanderbilt could consider moving its game with Ole Miss to Sunday of Labor Day weekend.

* FOX's choices for Conference USA's opening weekend are pretty ugly.  Would not surprise me to see FOX ask to pair UTEP at Tulane as a possible matchup to fill an FSN slot.  After that, Miami (OH) at Marshall is a possibility.

Here's something to talk about, argue with me over, etc. Guessing week one.  I'm listing the FOX national cable games as FX/FS1.  FS1 is the heavily rumored FOX Sports One that is expected to start in August.

Happy Holidays

Thursday
7pm ESPN: North Carolina at South Carolina
7:30pm ESPNU: Texas Tech at SMU
8pm BTN: UNLV at Minnesota
10:30pm ESPN: Rutgers at Fresno St.
11pm CBSSN: USC at Hawai'i

Friday
8pm ESPN, Purdue at Cincinnati

Saturday
12pm FX/FS1: UL-Monroe at Oklahoma
12pm ESPN: Mississippi St. vs. Oklahoma St.
12pm ESPN2: Buffalo at Ohio St.
12pm ESPNU: Ohio at Louisville
12pm FSN: New Mexico St. at Texas
12pm CBSSN: Morgan St. at Army
12pm BTN: Central Michigan at Michigan
12pm SECNet: UL-Lafayette at Arkansas
12:30pm ACCNet: Louisiana Tech at NC State
3pm ACC RSNs: FIU at Maryland
3:30pm ABC: Georgia at Clemson
3:30pm NBC: Temple at Notre Dame
3:30pm ESPN: Toledo at Florida
3:30pm ESPN2: Penn St. vs. Syracuse
3:30pm ESPNU: BYU at Virginia
3:30pm FSN: UTEP at Tulane
3:30pm BTN: Northern Illinois at Iowa
3:30pm BTN: Western Michigan at Michigan St.
4pm FX/FS1: Utah St. at Utah
7pm ESPN: LSU vs. TCU
7pm ESPNU: Washington St. at Auburn
7pm NBCSN: Colorado vs. Colorado St.
7pm SEC/FSN: Rice at Texas A&M
7:30pm FOX: Nevada at UCLA
8pm ABC: Virginia Tech vs. Alabama
8pm BTN: Massachusetts at Wisconsin
8pm BTN: Indiana St. at Indiana
10:30pm ESPN: Northwestern at California

Sunday
3:30pm ESPN: Ole Miss at Vanderbilt

Monday
Afternoon: Wake Forest at Duke
Evening: Boise St. at Washington

Setting up CFB 2013

* Was looking through the opening week schedule for the ACC.  If the ACC is planning to have a game on Labor Day that will have some interest, they're going to have to move some games around.  BC, Duke and Wake Forest are currently open, but a conference game involving those three schools isn't going to move the needle.  The best looking game that weekend is Georgia at Clemson, but with Georgia hosting South Carolina the following week, I get the feeling that Georgia would strongly resist moving the date of that to Labor Day.  BYU at Virginia is also that weekend, but the Cougars would be hosting Texas on a short week  if they elected to move that one.  Same with the Penn St- Syracuse game at Met Life Stadium.

* Speaking of that Penn St.-Syracuse game, I do not know who the rights holder is for the game.  I've sent notes to both schools' media relations departments and have not yet received a response.  I'm listing it as a Big Ten game until I hear otherwise.

* Always important to check on when other sporting events conflict with college football schedules.  CBS's SEC schedule is expected to start during the 3rd week of the season.  ABC will carry NASCAR Nextel Cup in the evening on 9/7 and 10/12.  ESPN will have NASCAR Nationwide races throughout most of the season, though they'll have those races on Fridays the same weekends ABC has Nextel Cup races.  As an aside, an interesting schedule quirk with the Nationwide races has that series off for two straight weeks at the end of October.

* Because the ACC made an extremely late change back to an eight game conference schedule, multiple ACC schools likely will end up playing two FCS schools.  So far that list starts with Clemson and Georgia Tech.  At least 3-4 other ACC schools could join that list.  If they win both of those games, they would still need five FBS wins to guarantee bowl eligibility.   The number of teams needing a game this year is far fewer than previous years even with the amount of teams moving around.

* I'm told the Big East is still negotiating the TV rights for the 2013 conference championship game.  ESPN still gets 1st crack.  The game could be tacked on to the 2013 contract for ESPN, sold along with other Big East CCGs for future years to someone or it could be tacked onto a future regular season rightsholders' deal.

* Also with the Big East, the minimum number of games they must have carried on ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 is 17, but that number was based on an eight team conference (28 conference games) and whatever number of non-conference games were available.  The number for 2013 will be 48 conference games, so I'd expect the number to be adjusted by ESPN and the conference.  ESPN is the full rightsholder to the conference right now, so for them to take on the additional games could be tough.  There is the ability for Boise St. and San Diego St. to take up spots in the late evening, and its possible there could be some doubling up on Thursdays or Fridays on ESPN & ESPN2, not through a doubleheader but by concurrent games.  There is also the matter of the syndication package taking on games out west.  Could the conference request that some games be sold off to another party?  Possibly, but that would be ESPN's decision to make.

* While I'm unaware of any minimums/maximums when it comes to the number of ACC football games that appear on the various ESPN platforms, there will also be some adjustments to that schedule to get extra games on the air.  We know that Syracuse and Boston College will be part of Friday night games and that there will be a Black Friday game.  I think the possibility exists that there will be a few more split regional ACC Network games.  The RSN package could also be expanded for another doubleheader or two.

* Let's assume FOX is again doing one game per week for the 1st three weeks of the season.  And yes, I know we don't have the complete Pac-12 schedule in hand.  Here's what I do see

• 8/31 - Assuming the Pac-12 doesn't put together a conference game for its opening week, Boise St. at Washington looks like its best offering.  And looking over the Big 12, there's nothing of substance that they're offering.
• 9/7 - The Big 12 put a conference game with West Virginia visiting Oklahoma, so that's inviting.  The non-conference games available with the Pac-12 look weak.  I'd say a conference game that weekend is possible.
• 9/14 - Cy-Hawk, Ole Miss-Texas and TCU-Texas Tech are all available.  Wisconsin visiting Arizona St., Ohio St. going to Cal, Tennessee at Oregon and Boston College at USC have to be under consideration.

* Handful of game notes...With that 9/7 date, the Notre Dame-Michigan game again appears to be under strong consideration for a Michigan home night game, likely on ESPN...There was also talk from Vanderbilt's AD that the Ole Miss-Vanderbilt game could end up as the opening Thursday night game for ESPN...When the Big 12 schedule was announced, two games were set with flexible dates: Texas at Iowa St. could move from 10/5 to Thursday 10/3, presumably for ESPN, and the Iowa St.-West Virginia game could be moved from 11//30 to Black Friday 11/29...The Iowa-Nebraska series being played on Black Friday was initially done for two years.  I have not heard if this has been extended.  Same goes for LSU-Arkansas.  Another SEC series could be requested for a two year stint on that date if CBS wants it.

* There's still a fair amount of speculation as to what FOX Sports One will look like when the switch is flipped from SPEED to the all-sports format.  The expectation remains that FOX would move the telecasts from F/X over to the network.  The possibility exists that some of the content on FSN could move as well.  I do not know if FOX would be able work in any alterations with pay-TV providers to get the channel in more homes before launch.

* With the mass amount of schools moving over the next few years, the folks in various conference offices who develop initial schedules that get handed over to athletics directors and television outlets deserve some kudos.  I'm sure it can't be easy to throw a school out of a scheduling program, along with any requests they have, and to tack on someone else.  In some cases, trying to juggle geography and scheduling "fairness" can't be easy.

Bowl selection postscript

Why not start out with the most polarizing topics...

* Northern Illinois - If you want to say they didn't deserve it, have at it.  If you want to say they didn't earn it, not true.  This system and its qualification parameters were agreed upon by the conferences and independents encompassing FBS.  They may have backed into it by using the lesser of the two qualification methods (finishing in the top 16 with both Louisville and Wisconsin finishing lower than 16th), but they played their way into that position.

No, they would not have been part of a playoff after the 2014, and they aren't in the title game this year.  The 2014 system does eliminate some of the qualification parameters that hamper the BCS, such as no more than two teams from a conference.  There's also two more at-large slots to be filled by this committee.  And Northern Illinois would have been part of one of those three access bowls in 2014 as the highest ranking "Group of Five" conference champion.

* Louisiana Tech - Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.  By not winning the WAC, they were guaranteed nothing.  Zero.  Zip.  The conference only had one tie-in, the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, and sent its champion there.  San Jose St. was sent clear across the country, but its a bowl game.   Saturday morning, we knew there was a possibility that with a UCLA loss, NIU could get moved up.  The place to look for NIU for its poll help was the beating Nebraska took.  Getting pushed behind NIU in both polls was huge for them, and disastrous for Louisiana Tech.

I don't like it, but in these cases, bowls are going to look at a AQ conference team over a non-AQ team every time.  It sucks, but its fact unfortunately.  Arkansas St. was also in the running for the Liberty Bowl slot that La Tech coveted per the twitter timeline of Sun Belt PR man John McElwain, and arguably more worthy since they won their conference.

* Georgia Tech - Should not have been granted a waiver.  Had someone contend to me that GT should be in a bowl game because at 6-7 they stayed with Florida St.  In that sense, and I'm making a bit of a leap, because it was a moral victory for them to stay within a TD of FSU, they should have been in a bowl game.

No.  The NCAA screwed this one up, but the ACC and Miami put them in this spot far too late in the season.  The NCAA made the rules, they didn't stick by them.  Miami, by waiting until they were bowl eligible before eliminating themselves from bowl selection, did GT no favors since it force them to win arguably one of the two toughest games on their schedule to get to seven wins.  The ACC should have put pressure on Miami earlier in the season to declare their bowl intentions so that everyone was on the same page.

At 6-6, should they have went to a bowl in my mind?  Absolutely.  Qualified within the existing parameters of the system.  At 6-7 with 71 other eligible teams, and that's the key: 71 other eligible teams, they should not have been available for selection.  If we were under 70 teams, no issue with them taking a spot because the NCAA determined a 6-7 team who lost in a conference championship game to be part of the an eligible pool of teams after 6-6 teams who either had a win vs. FCS who didn't met scholarship requirements or 6-6 teams who had two FCS wins.

There is that whole matter of them going to a bowl game, while Middle Tennessee sits at home too.  9/29/12 - Middle Tennessee 49, Georgia Tech 24.

Let's get to some better topics.

* We have No. 1 vs. No. 2.  That's really all that matters in the BCS and the BCS executives will tell you that.  After that matchup is settled, its a shell game.

* There were stories earlier this year about how Kansas St. elected to cancel a series with Oregon.  Low and behold, we still got the game.

* The Holiday Bowl game between UCLA and Baylor will be awesome.  Fitting tribute that the final season for the WAC, who help put together the Holiday Bowl after the Arizona schools left the WAC and the conference lost the Fiesta Bowl tie-in, has a Holiday Bowl with two teams who should put up the points.  Also fitting that the other game managed by the Holiday Bowl committee, the Poinsettia Bowl, has two schools who in the early 90s played some great games.

1990: 62-34 BYU
1991: 52-52 Tie
1992: 45-28 SDSU
1993: 45-44 BYU

* I do wonder if Syracuse and WVU will dust off the Schwartzwalder Trophy for the Pinstripe Bowl.  Have heard mixed reviews on that idea.  Should be a lot of offense there too.  I also wonder if they considered taking Pitt at all.  I kinda feel bad that the BBVA Compass Bowl will have Pitt once again.  I suspect that if an SEC team would not have been available to this bowl, Pitt would have ended up playing UCF in Tampa.  The goal at that point in the selection order is to match and SEC team vs. a Big East team.

* Contrast of styles: Arizona St.-Navy in the Kraft Fights Hunger Bowl

* After the title game and Kansas St.-Oregon, the Cotton Bowl and the Chick-Fil-A Bowl are the prime rib of the non-BCS games.  The Outback Bowl is the baked potato.

Bowl Guesses, Part Deux

Now that we know Georgia Tech is going to a bowl at 6-7 and that we have 70 other eligible teams, I'll try this again.  Going to make the following assumptions:

* Northern Illinois wins MAC, which means Kent St. does not go to a BCS bowl.  I'm not sure that they would even if Kent St. wins.  The loss by Rutgers last night I think hurt them a little bit.
* Stanford wins the Pac-12
* Alabama wins the SEC.
* Florida St. wins the ACC
* UCF wins C-USA.  This affects the selections of the four of C-USA's bowl tie-in.
* Kansas St. wins the Big 12
* Nebraska wins the Big Ten
* Arkansas St. wins the Sun Belt
* Boise St. wins but doesn't move enough in BCS rankings to be an at-large option
* Connecticut loses to Cincinnati and does not go to a bowl
* Pittsburgh beats USF, becomes #72 and takes a Big East bowl slot
* Florida, as a top 4 BCS team who does not win a conference, automatically goes to a BCS bowl.  I'm not sure that Oregon will get there, but I do believe they'll be selected by the BCS.
* The Sugar will get 1st chance to replace Alabama.  After that selection, the at-large order is Fiesta, Sugar, Orange.
* I have the Sugar selecting Oklahoma over Clemson, unless Oklahoma is upset by TCU.

Selection notes
* I have two MAC teams sitting at home: Bowling Green & Central Michigan.  Stinks for them.  I did juggle the MAC selections to get good matchups between my projected MAC champ & WAC champ Utah St., plus Louisiana Tech, ranked most of this year, and Kent St.  I figured that without a Big Ten team opposite the MAC in the Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl, the bowl would request to take the closest available team and that is Toledo.
* Heard that Arizona is requesting to not play in the New Mexico Bowl because they have a top draw men's basketball home game later that night vs. Clemson and are requesting a different bowl game.
* I believe the Big East will forego their BBVA Compass Bowl selection so that Pitt will not be sent there for the 3rd straight year.
* With the ACC and Army not able to fill their tie-ins for the Military Bowl, I have the MAC filling a backup selection and the Sun Belt backfilling as an at-large.
* I thought of the possibility of the Big East asking the Russell Athletic Bowl to take Cincinnati instead of Rutgers due to RU leaving the conference, but that could lead to a regular season rematch between Virginia Tech and Cincinnati in the Belk Bowl, so I switched NC State and VT.
* Also thought about the possibility of West Virginia playing in the Pinstripe Bowl against Syracuse due to the regional nature of that rivalry, though I believe WVU's travel rep wins out even with a trip to California.
* For that same reason (ie. Oregon St. having a solid travel rep), I have them leapfrogging UCLA for the Alamo Bowl slot.  Should have plenty of Bruin fans in San Diego County.
* I did consider the possibility of Duke vs. Vanderbilt in the Music City Bowl, but I believe that they'll look to Ole Miss to fill some extra hotel rooms and seats.  UCF vs. Vanderbilt should be a great game too.
* I believe Clemson will go back to Atlanta, where they started the season.  I have them vs. Mississippi St. to avoid the repeat of the Palmetto State matchup.  Wouldn't be stunned if South Carolina was selected though.
* I really wanted to make sure that San Jose St. was placed in a game.  A game vs. UL-Monroe should be an interesting contrast.  SJSU played solid defense most of the year and outlasted Louisiana Tech, a team who plays a similar hyperspeed style to ULM.

Confirmed selections in bold

New Mexico: Arizona St. vs. Nevada
Famous Idaho Potato: Utah St. vs. Northern Illinois
Poinsettia: BYU vs. San Diego St.
St. Petersburg: Pittsburgh vs. East Carolina
New Orleans: Rice vs. UL-Lafayette
Las Vegas: Boise St. vs. USC
Hawai'i: SMU vs. Fresno St.
Little Caesar's: Toledo vs. Western Kentucky
Military: Middle Tennessee vs. Ohio
Belk: NC State vs. Cincinnati
Holiday: West Virginia vs. UCLA
Independence: Louisiana Tech vs. Kent St.
Russell Athletic: Virginia Tech vs. Rutgers
Texas: TCU vs. Minnesota
Armed Forces: Air Force vs. Tulsa
Pinstripe: Baylor vs. Syracuse
Kraft Fights Hunger: Navy vs. Arizona
Alamo: Oklahoma St. vs. Oregon St.
Buffalo Wild Wings: Texas Tech vs. Wisconsin
Music City: Duke vs. Ole Miss
Sun: Georgia Tech vs. USC
Liberty: UCF vs. Vanderbilt
Chick-Fil-A: Clemson vs. Mississippi St.
Gator: Michigan St. vs. South Carolina
Heart of Dallas: Iowa St. vs. Purdue
Capital One: Michigan vs. Georgia
Outback: Northwestern vs. LSU
Cotton: Texas vs. Texas A&M
BBVA Compass: UL-Monroe vs. San Jose St.
GoDaddy.com: Ball St. vs. Arkansas St.

Fiesta: Kansas St. vs. Oregon
Rose: Nebraska vs. Stanford
Orange: Florida St. vs. Louisville
Sugar: Florida vs. Oklahoma
BCS Championship: Notre Dame vs. Alabama

What I learned in CFB TV this year

Was an interesting year.

* FOX was a welcomed addition to many of our Saturdays.  As a nation we likely saw more of both the Big 12 and Pac-12 than in prior seasons on both the broadcast network and F/X.  In a couple years we might see some more CFB on FOX when the rumored FOX Sports One comes to fruition and FOX looks to move more MLB to its cable network.

* I learned that the Big Ten, at 12 teams, continues to have a requirement of 41 contracted games but that those can be spread out over ABC, ESPN and ESPN2.  There used to be a requirement that no more than 17 games could air on ABC, but that no longer exists.

* On the flip side, we saw less FSN than previous years.  Not in terms of games, but in terms of RSNs carrying the games.  Comcast dropped the programming from its RSNs about a month before the season started and was only able to replace those games on a piecemeal basis in some of those markets.  Chicago was completely shut out of FSN games.  ROOT Sports, in their Northwest and Rocky Mountain RSNs, also dumped out of many games in favor of Big Sky or Mountain West regional contests.  That hurt both the Big 12 and C-USA packages.  Next year, and possibly this year after it has finished, I'll drop FSN down to "regional syndication" for both the Big 12 and C-USA due to the hybrid nature of distribution.

* The Pac-12 Network started this year.  Was a welcome sight tor those who were able to get the channel.  DirecTV continues to be the national carrier without the channel, though Charter in Los Angeles is notable for not carrying it either.  Basketball, while encompassing more events on the channel, likely won't drive either one to make a deal anytime soon.  Wait 'til next year.

* The addition of Missouri and Texas A&M caused additional headaches for ESPN when it came to the television appearances for the SEC.  We had one SEC Network doubleheader and a couple split regional windows, which I'm told the SEC prefers not to do.  The regional cable package didn't increase in size, rumored to be due to FOX and Comcast knowing those games would be lost to "Project X" whenever it takes shape. It also didn't help that the CBS primetime window this year was in November.  When it has been in September & October in previous years, ESPN would essentially flip flop their early afternoon Big Ten games to the evening and have the SEC take the early slots.  Couldn't do that this year, though ESPN carried multiple Big Ten games at 3:30pm to make up the difference.

* Random stats: The ACC had its lowest number of contracted ABC games since 2005 with nine.  Conversely, the Big East had six games on ABC, tying its highest number with 2009...The SEC had 29 games on ESPN/ESPN2, up eight over 2011...The WAC, who will no longer sponsor football after this year, had the same number of ESPN/ESPN2 games as the Sun Belt (3)...The Big 12, by realigning its TV deals, increased the number of broadcast network games it had this year, up five to 21 games.  FOX had nine of those games, ABC had 12.  The conference had 14 fully distributed national cable games. ESPN had five, F/X carried nine.

Bowl Predictions for 2012-13

* 61 teams are eligible going into Friday's games
* Based on point spreads of this week's games and using a guideline of a 3.5 point home favorite or better or a 1 point road underdog or better, I'm considering the following teams bowl eligible: Virginia Tech, Michigan St., Purdue, Central Michigan, West Virginia, Rice & Baylor.
* I'm considering Georgia Tech to be eligible, regardless of losing the GT game.  At 6-7, they would be at least conditionally eligible.
* I have Wake Forest as a 5-7 bowl eligible team as the best APR of 5 win teams, just ahead of Missouri.

70 teams on the nose.  What a cluster.  Here we go. Confirmed teams in bold

THESE ARE GUESSES!!

New Mexico: Arizona St. vs. Nevada
Famous Idaho Potato: Utah St. vs. Toledo
Poinsettia: BYU vs. Fresno St.
St. Petersburg: Western Kentucky vs. Central Michigan
New Orleans: East Carolina vs. Middle Tennessee
Las Vegas: San Diego St. vs. Arizona
Hawai'i: Boise St. vs. Rice
Little Caesar's: Kent St. vs. UL-Lafayette
Military: West Virginia vs. Bowling Green
Belk: Cincinnati vs. Georgia Tech
Holiday: Washington vs. Oklahoma St.
Independence: Louisiana Tech vs. Wake Forest
Russell Athletic: Louisville vs. Virginia Tech
Texas: Purdue vs. TCU
Armed Forces: Air Force vs. Tulsa
Pinstripe: Syracuse vs. Baylor
Kraft Fights Hunger: Navy vs. USC
Alamo: Oregon St. vs. Oklahoma
BW3: Texas Tech vs. Minnesota
Music City: Vanderbilt vs. Ohio
Sun: UCLA vs. Duke
Liberty: UCF vs. San Jose St.
Chick-Fil-A: NC State vs. LSU
Gator: Wisconsin vs. Mississippi St.
Heart of Dallas: Iowa St. vs. Michigan St.
Capital One: Michigan vs. Florida
Outback: Northwestern vs. South Carolina
Cotton: Texas vs. Texas A&M
BBVA Compass: UL-Monroe vs. Ball St.
GoDaddy.com: Northern Illinois vs. Arkansas St.

Rose: Stanford vs. Nebraska
Fiesta: Kansas St. vs. Oregon
Sugar: Georgia vs. Clemson
Orange: Florida St. vs. Rutgers
NCG: Notre Dame vs. Alabama

12/1 CFB Confirmations

12/1 Guesses
Full list of games

If there are any TV confirmations today, here's the list.  Thanks for stopping by the site and the blog during football season.  Please stick around for basketball season.  Fewer in season TV adjustments, but tons of games.

EDIT: Everything except Kansas-West Virginia went on six day pick.  My guesses haven't changed.

I'll do a bowl predictions thread later this week.

12pm F/X:
12pm ESPN & WatchESPN:
12pm ESPN2 & WatchESPN:
2:30pm FSN: Kansas at West Virginia
3:30pm ABC:
7pm ESPN2:
7:45pm ESPN & WatchESPN:
8pm ABC:
10:30pm ESPN2:
TBA ESPN3:

11/23 & 11/24 Late Selections plus 12/1 Selections

Guesses for 11/23 & 11/24 late selections

* Toledo-NIU is the key MAC game in the west and if NIU wins on 11/14, it would render any west games moot. MAC East would be the focus.
* Miami (FL) at Duke, more of less, would decide the ACC Coastal.  Georgia Tech cannot win the ACC Coastal it in a tiebreaker with Miami because the Hurricanes won head-to-head.  They need to win this week vs. Duke, then hope for a Duke win over Miami to clinch the ACC Coastal.
* Of the three games at 3:30pm, I'm expecting Florida-Florida St. to be national even though it means nothing to either the ACC or SEC, though it could be important to the ACC and/or SEC having two BCS teams.  Yes, knock the ACC, it deserves it, but if Florida St. and Clemson are top ten, there's probably a decent chance both will have BCS aspirations, particularly since Florida St. and Clemson can't play each other in the ACC title game.
* Per TitanTV, FOX's evening window is a 6:30pm start time.  For some reason, FOX moved from 3pm & 7pm times this week to 2:30pm & 6:30pm respectively.
* Missouri-Texas A&M may not mean anything by the time it kicks off when it comes to the SEC West title, but I think it will be the ESPN game even though Palmetto State matchup could have BCS bowl implications for at-large spots.
* I'm assuming Oregon beats Stanford, making it black-n-white for FOX to choose a game, a choice to take the top ranked Pac-12 team.  If they don't, FOX will have to weigh the possibility of Stanford facing UCLA twice in back-to-back weeks if UCLA wins the Crosstown Rivalry & wins the Pac-12 South.  Yes, its very real.  And there are scenarios where Stanford would host UCLA, but UCLA could also host back-to-back games with Stanford.

Friday
11am ESPNU: Buffalo vs. Bowling Green
TBA ESPN3: Ohio at Kent St.

Saturday
12pm ESPN2: Miami (FL) at Duke
12pm ESPNU: Rutgers at Pittsburgh
12:30pm ACC Network: Maryland at North Carolina
12:30pm ACC Network: Virginia at Virginia Tech
3pm ACC RSNs: Boston College at NC State
3:30pm ABC: Florida at Florida St.
3:30pm ESPN: Oklahoma at Oklahoma St.
3:30pm ESPN2: Wisconsin at Penn St.
3:30pm ESPNU: Vanderbilt at Wake Forest
6:30pm FOX: Oregon at Oregon St.
7pm ESPN: Missouri at Texas A&M
7pm ESPN2: South Carolina at Clemson
10:30pm Pac-12 Network: Stanford at UCLA

Guesses for 12/1

* No ESPNU slots on this day.  Wall-to-wall college basketball that day
* No Reverse Mirrors available.  ESPN2 has college basketball at 3pm, ESPN has MLS Cup action.
* ABC does not currently list a 12pm slot that day, just 3:30pm & 8pm.
* Big East contract says there will be one Saturday primetime game per year.  Here it is.  Cincinnati could win a share of conference, possibly the entire thing, based on remaining games.

12pm ESPN: Pittsburgh at USF
12pm ESPN2: C-USA Championship
12pm F/X: Oklahoma St. at Baylor
12pm FSN: Kansas at West Virginia
3pm ESPN3: Middle Tennessee at Arkansas St.
3:30pm ABC: Oklahoma at TCU
7pm ESPN2: Cincinnati at Connecticut
7:45pm ESPN: ACC Championship
8pm ABC: Texas at Kansas St.
10:30pm ESPN2: Boise St. at Nevada

11/23 & 11/24 TV Confirmations

Full list of games
My incorrect guesses

* ACC is on six day pick for its games, except for Florida-Florida St. and South Carolina-Clemson.  Georgia Tech-Georgia is part of the SEC package.  Slots available are 12pm (ESPN2 or ESPNU), 12:30pm (ACC Network), 3pm (ACC RSNs) and 3:30pm (ESPNU).  ESPN3 or an ACC Network split regional telecast could be used.
* Pac-12 appears to be on a six day pick for the Oregon St.-Oregon and UCLA-Stanford games.  Slots available are FOX in the evening and a Pac-12 Network slot to be determined.
* MAC is on hold for its Black Friday slots.  Those could be decided after the midweek MACtion.  Options are 11am ESPNU and an ESPN3 slot to be determined.

Friday
11am ESPN2 & WatchESPN: Syracuse at Temple
7pm ESPN & WatchESPN: USF at Cincinnati

Saturday
12pm ESPN/ESPN2 & WatchESPN: Georgia Tech at Georgia
12pm ESPN2/ESPNU & WatchESPN: Rutgers at Pittsburgh
12pm SEC Network & ESPN3: Kentucky at Tennessee
12pm Big East Network & ESPN3: Connecticut at Louisville
12pm BTN & BTN2Go.com:  Illinois at Northwestern
12pm BTN & BTN2Go.com:  Indiana at Purdue
2:30pm FOX: Texas Tech vs. Baylor
3:30pm CBS & CBSSports.com: Auburn at Alabama
3:30pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 & WatchESPN: Wisconsin at Penn St.
3:30pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 & WatchESPN: Florida at Florida St.
3:30pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 & WatchESPN: Oklahoma St. at Oklahoma
3:30pm BTN & BTN2Go.com: Michigan St. at Minnesota
3:30pm ESPN3: BYU at New Mexico St.
7pm ESPN/ESPN2 & WatchESPN: Missouri at Texas A&M
7pm ESPN/ESPN2 & WatchESPN: South Carolina at Clemson
7pm ESPNU & WatchESPN: Mississippi St. at Ole Miss

11/23 & 11/24 CFB 12 Day Selection Guesses

Full list of games

* Black Friday slots for Big East are 11am ESPN2 and 7pm ESPN. Why they couldn't kick off the ESPN2 slot at 12pm and move Best Of shows for First Take and SportsNation to before the game...I don't know.
* I believe that ABC has one remaining six day hold to use on the ACC (9/29, 11/10, 11/17). Don't be surprised if they hold off on Florida-Florida St. at South Carolina-Clemson.
* FOX and ABC (specifically ABC, not ESPN) have stayed out of each others' way when it comes to the Pac-12.  That's why I have the Civil War at 3pm.
* I put the UCLA-Stanford game in late evening because USC-ND, while having national title implications, has no impact on Pac-12 races.  This game could still impact the Pac-12 races if Stanford beats Oregon on 11/17.
* There is no late window on ESPN or ESPN2 for a Pac-12 game.  Coming into the week, ABC/ESPN has scheduled all 22 of its Pac-12 windows.  FOX has their one broadcast window to use.
* If Louisville had won, I would have had them switch with the 7:45pm ESPN slot, taking care of the requirement that one Big East game be on Saturday in primetime per year.  If Cincinnati can pick off a share of the Big East title, and possibly the BCS berth on 12/1, their game vs. UConn will probably be the primetime game on ESPN2.
* If Alabama had won vs. Texas A&M, I would have left the Iron Bowl on CBS.
* Texas A&M is in the 12pm slot because if beat Missouri, they force Alabama to win vs. Auburn to win the SEC West.  If its a three way tie between Alabama, LSU and Texas A&M, I'll let you figure it out.  If LSU slips up against Ole Miss or Arkansas, Alabama must win out because Texas A&M has the head to head tie-breaker.
* The Big Ten coming into the selection process has 40 games on ABC, ESPN & ESPN2.  I'm expecting only one more game (Wisconsin-Penn St.) to be on those networks, with the rest on BTN.
* To make things work, and there's still one ESPN3 exclusive, I had to do an ACC Network split regional window.  Kinda works because of the Virginia in-state rivalry game.
* There will be four FCS first round games this weekend and all are on ESPN3.

* Commentary:  There is something really wrong and missing from this weekend.  You figure it out.

Friday
11am ESPN2 & WatchESPN: Syracuse at Temple
11am ESPNU & WatchESPN: Ohio at Kent St.
7pm ESPN & WatchESPN: USF at Cincinnati
TBA ESPN3: Ball St. at Miami (OH)

Saturday
12pm ESPN/ESPN2 & WatchESPN: Connecticut at Louisville
12pm ESPN/ESPN2 & WatchESPN: Missouri at Texas A&M
12pm ESPNU & WatchESPN: Miami (FL) at Duke
12pm BTN & BTN2Go.com: Michigan St. at Minnesota
12pm SEC Network & ESPN3: Kentucky at Tennessee
12pm Big East Network & ESPN3: Rutgers at Pittsburgh
12:30pm ACC Network (split) & ESPN3: Maryland at North Carolina
12:30pm ACC Network (split) & ESPN3: Virginia at Virginia Tech
3pm FOX: Oregon at Oregon St.
3pm ACC RSNs & ESPN3: Boston College at NC State
3:30pm CBS & CBSSports.com: Georgia Tech at Georgia
3:30pm ABC with RM: Wisconsin at Penn St.
3:30pm ABC with RM: Florida at Florida St.
3:30pm ESPN/ESPN2 & WatchESPN: Baylor vs. Texas Tech
3:30pm BTN & BTN2Go.com: Illinois at Northwestern
3:30pm BTN & BTN2Go.com: Indiana at Purdue
7pm FOX: Oklahoma St. at Oklahoma
7pm ESPN2 & WatchESPN: Auburn at Alabama
7pm ESPNU & WatchESPN: Mississippi St. at Ole Miss
7:45pm ESPN & WatchESPN: South Carolina at Clemson
10:30pm ESPNU: BYU at New Mexico St.
10:30pm Pac-12 Network: UCLA at Stanford
TBA ESPN3 Vanderbilt at Wake Forest

Six day guesses for 11/17

Will keep this short.  ACC, Pac-12 and WAC are part of the six day pick.

12pm ESPNU: Florida St. at Maryland
12:30pm ACC Network: Duke at Georgia Tech
3pm FOX: USC at UCLA
3pm ACC RSNs: Virginia Tech at Boston College
3pm Pac-12 Network: Washington St. at Arizona St.
3:30pm ABC/ESPN2 RM: NC State at Clemson
3:30pm ESPNU: USF at Miami (FL)
8pm ABC: Stanford at Oregon
10pm ESPN2: Arizona at Utah
10:30pm ESPNU: BYU at San Jose St.

Administrative note re: copy/paste from my site.

Some of you have emailed me re: the inability to copy/paste pages from the site.  That has been done for a reason.  I found someone taking full pages and portraying them as their own work on another site.  Not to mention the images were being pulled directly from my site.  While I have unlimited bandwidth, its the principle of hotlinking, which is frowned on.  That's why I put up the alert box.

Side note:  I'll be changing how I link to the ABC/ESPN coverage maps next year.  While I don't load those coverage maps as the page loads, by only linking to the image could be considered hotlinking on my part.  That will change.

There are the text-only pages for each week where you can choose to list the games that are available to you, which can be printed out.  I use them and make notes on them as needed.

Thank you and I apologize for the inconvenience.  I hope you understand my position on this matter.

College Basketball 2012-13 Viewing Changes & Additions

Want to get a few things out of the way for the 2012-13 listings

* Exhibitions are not listed here.  Don't care about them.
* Tape delayed airings are in the same boat as exhibitions.  Don't care about them.  Will not list them.
* I do the basketball listings a little differently than the football listings.  I don't put the WatchESPN & ESPN3 designation on basketball games like I do football.  General rule of thumb: If its on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU: WatchESPN, otherwise if its on Full Court it will be on ESPN3.  I will list situations where a game is on ESPN3 but not on Full Court, regardless of whether its an ESPN3 exclusive.
* I'm not chasing down all of the free or pay streaming packages.  I'll list ESPN3 exclusives and nothing else.  Consult your favorite school/conference for stuff that isn't listed.
* As of 10/31/12, I'll try to list affiliates for ACC Network, Big East Network (Game of the Week only), SEC Network & Big 12 Network.  But I make no guarantee on that.  When I decided not to list them last year, no one complained.
* Please just take a few minutes and check the site regarding missing games/images.  If there's a image missing, I try to go through the site twice a day in fairly decent detail (you may disagree with that level of detail).  If I don't catch it after a day, say something.  Thanks.

To the changes...

* First, the Pac-12's new deal.  Around 40 games will air on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU, 22 will air on FSN and the rest on Pac-12 Network.  For the conference championship, if the year ends in an odd number, ESPN will air the final.  Otherwise FOX Sports has the rights to it.  During conference season, the Pac-12 will have a regular slot on Wednesday nights on ESPN2 and games on Thursday & Saturdays on ESPN/2/U.  FSN's games will air mostly on Saturday & Sundays during conference season.  The Pac-12 Network will pick up the slack in the schedule, including the majority of the conference tournament.  Note that a handful of Pac-12 Network non-conference games will be split regional telecasts.

* With only 22 Pac-12 games, FSN has scaled back its national college basketball coverage by close to 50%.  In addition to the Pac-12, ten C-USA games will air across the network along with a handful of special events.

* NBC Sports Network gets involved big time.  Not just with the MWC, but the addition of the CAA, Ivy League and a sampler of Atlantic 10 games before NBCSN starts up with a 25 game package from the A-10 next year.  NBCSN will have over 50 games this year with the crown jewel being the CAA Championship.  Watch as the season goes on as they may attempt to add more games if the NHL lockout continues.  They've added three more CAA games to their November schedule plus two more Ivy League games.

* CBS Sports Network also added extra Atlantic 10 games, doubling their number from 16 to 32 this year.  They also added a few special events like the Paradise Jam & the Great Alaska Shootout.

* CBS and ESPN made a deal where ESPN will sublicense a pool of Big 12, Pac-12 and ACC games to CBS.  Also included in the package is the MVC Championship for the next few years and the A-10 championship for this season.

* To compensate for the loss of the Pac-12 title game, coupled with the mtn. ceasing operations, CBS & CBS Sports Network will carry the MWC tournament except for the 1st round game.  The quarterfinals will move to Wednesday and air on CBSSN,  then an off day on Thursday (CBSSN is carrying the C-USA quarterfinals that day).  CBSSN will again air the semifinals, but the final will now air on CBS broadcast network instead of NBC Sports Network/Versus where it has aired since 2007.

* The new Big 12 media rights deals focused on football, but several schools negotiated new deals with FOX Sports regional networks to air men's basketball.  I don't know of their availability yet on Full Court, but those who are in-market for these games could see around 40 games on these RSNs.

* Still waiting on the Big Sky's package of games to air on ROOT Sports.  ROOT may have been waiting to finalize their MWC schedule of games, which they did yesterday, before settings their Big Sky schedule.  The Big Sky package on ROOT should be around 10 regular season games, plus parts of the conference tournament.

* The Big South made several adjustments.  It moved its conference tournament to a permanent site and decided to end its conference tournament on a Sunday.  By doing that, I believe it traded it airing the two semifinals on ESPNU for a pair of regular season games.  Meanwhile, it has also traded it in its Game Of The Week package, choosing to place those on ESPN3 exclusively instead of on MASN.  In addition to the Big South, the Southland Conference elected to go with ESPN3 exclusives in lieu of its Southland TV Network package.

* The SoCal FOX RSNs made a deal for increased exposure for the Big West.  This year the increase is around three more regular season games (10 games total) plus the addition of airing the Big West quarterfinal games.  In 2013-14, an additional 12 games will be added to the deal involving San Diego St.

* The WCC made a deal with Time Warner SportsNet for production of a regional Game Of The Week during the conference season to air on RSNs around the WCC.  TWSN will tack on a few Loyola Marymount, San Diego and Pepperdine games outside of the game of the week package, in addition to several San Diego St. and UNLV games purchased from CBS Sports Network to air regionally.

11/17 CFB TV Confirmations

Full List of Games
List of Guesses

* ACC on six day hold for their games. Options are ESPNU (12pm & 3:30pm), ABC with ESPN2 RM (3:30pm), ACC Network (12:30pm) and ACC RSNs (3pm).
* USC-UCLA & Stanford-Oregon on six day hold for ABC (8pm) and FOX (3pm).
* Arizona-Utah & Washington St.-Arizona St. on six day hold for Pac-12 Network (TBA) or ESPN2/ESPNU (late evening).
* BYU-San Jose St. network is also on hold, but time remains 10:30pm.

12pm ESPN/ESPN2 & WatchESPN: Iowa at Michigan
12pm ESPN/ESPN2 & WatchESPN: Northwestern at Michigan St.
12pm FSN: UCF at Tulsa
12pm BTN & BTN2Go.com: Indiana at Penn St.
12pm SEC Network (split) & ESPN3.com: Arkansas at Mississippi St.
12pm SEC Network (split) & ESPN3.com: Western Carolina at Alabama
1pm PPV: Wofford at South Carolina
1:30pm F/X: Washington at Colorado
3:30pm CBS: Ole Miss at LSU
3:30pm ABC with ESPN2 RM: Ohio St. at Wisconsin
3:30pm FSN: Texas Tech at Oklahoma St.
3:30pm BTN & BTN2Go.com: Minnesota at Nebraska
3:30pm BTN & BTN2Go.com: Purdue at Illinois
7pm FOX: Oklahoma at West Virginia
7pm ESPN2 & WatchESPN: Tennessee at Vanderbilt
7pm ESPNU & WatchESPN: Syracuse at Missouri
7pm FSN: Iowa St. at Kansas
7:30pm SEC/CSS & ESPN3.com: Samford at Kentucky
8pm ESPN & WatchESPN: Kansas St. at Baylor
10:30pm Pac-12 Network & Pac-12.com: California at Oregon St.

11/10 Six Day Confirms & 11/17 12 Day Guesses

First, here's the 11/10 selections that have been made six days in advance and the schedule for the week:

12pm ABC (split): Louisville at Syracuse
12pm ABC (split): Miami (FL) at Virginia
12pm ESPN: Northwestern at Michigan
12pm ESPN2: Wisconsin at Indiana
12pm ESPNU: Army at Rutgers
12:30pm ACC Network: Georgia Tech at North Carolina
3pm FOX: Stanford at Oregon St.
3pm Pac-12 Network: Arizona St. at USC
3pm ACC RSNs: Wake Forest at NC State
3:30pm CBS: Texas A&M at Alabama
3:30pm ABC with ESPN2 RM: West Virginia at Oklahoma St.
3:30pm FSN: Baylor at Oklahoma
3:30pm ESPNU: Maryland at Clemson
4pm Southland: Sam Houston St. at Northwestern St.
7pm FOX: Kansas St. at TCU
7pm ESPN: Mississippi St. at LSU
8pm ABC: Notre Dame at Boston College
10:30pm ESPN: California at Oregon
10:30pm ESPN2: UCLA at Washington St.
10:30pm Pac-12 Network: Utah at Washington

Notes on the 11/17 guesses
* There isn't much of a delineation to me between the ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU 12pm games so I could see them being set for times, but not a network
* Minnesota at Nebraska is virtually assured of BTN because the Cornhuskers haven't played a conference game on the network yet and their final regular season game vs. Iowa is on ABC.
* Big week for SEC PPV/local games.  Alabama used their PPV game earlier in the year, so they'll probably take the CSS slot.
* There's a lot to play around with when it comes to the Pac-12 & Big 12 and the ABC and FOX slots.  The general rule of thumb I've seemed to notice is that if ABC is airing a Big 12 game, FOX will only show theirs on FSN or F/X, if at all, with the exception of this past weekend where FOX and ABC had Big 12 games airing simultaneously (ABC was also carrying wall-to-wall Big 12 games this weekend) and 10/20.  The same seems to be holding true for the Pac-12.
* If Cincinnati-Rutgers was between two ranked teams, I might have tried to play around with moving it to a national stage, but it will remain the Big East Network 12pm game as it was selected before the season started.
* I do think Stanford-Oregon is the best game on the board and ABC will take that for primetime, leaving FOX to show the Crosstown Rivalry in the afternoon.  FOX will then get a chance to show Kansas St. in primetime.  Did not notice this, but Oregon had not yet appeared on FOX or ABC until the USC game, but I expect them to be there all of November.

12pm ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU: Northwestern at Michigan St.
12pm ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU: NC State at Clemson
12pm ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU: Iowa at Michigan
12pm FSN: Texas Tech at Oklahoma St.
12pm BTN: Indiana at Penn St.
12pm BTN: Minnesota at Nebraska
12pm SEC Network: Tennessee at Vanderbilt
12:30pm ACC Network: Duke at Georgia Tech
1pm Local/PPV: Samford at Kentucky
1:30pm F/X: Arizona at Utah
2pm Local/PPV: Wofford at South Carolina
3pm FOX: USC at UCLA
3pm ACC RSNs: Virginia Tech at Boston College
3pm Pac-12 Network: Washington at Colorado
3:30pm CBS: Ole Miss at LSU
3:30pm ABC/ESPN RM: Ohio St. at Wisconsin
3:30pm ABC/ESPN RM: Florida St. at Maryland
3:30pm ESPNU: USF at Miami (FL)
3:30pm FSN: Iowa St. at Kansas
3:30pm BTN: Purdue at Illinois
7pm FOX: Kansas St. at Baylor
7pm ESPN: Oklahoma at West Virginia
7pm ESPNU: Syracuse at Missouri
7pm FSN: UCF at Tulsa
7:30pm SEC/CSS: Western Carolina at Alabama
7:45pm ESPN2: Arkansas at Mississippi St.
8pm ABC: Stanford at Oregon
9:30pm Pac-12 Network: Washington St. at Arizona St.
10:30pm ESPN: California at Oregon St.
10:30pm ESPN2: BYU at San Jose St.

11/10 Six Day Selection Guesses

I'm thinking they'll try to get a split telecast window at 12pm.  It isn't ideal, but it beats having to try to reverse mirror two games if a Big Ten game is in play and possibly having to place another game on ESPN3 exclusively.

Enjoy your Saturday, I'll be away for most of it.

12pm ABC: Louisville at Syracuse
12pm ABC: Clemson at Maryland
12pm ESPN: Northwestern at Michigan
12pm ESPN2: Wisconsin at Indiana
12pm ESPNU: Cincinnati at Temple
12pm Big East Network: Army at Rutgers
12:30pm ACC Network: Georgia Tech at North Carolina
3pm FOX: Oregon at California
3pm ACC RSNs: Miami (FL) at Virginia
3:30pm CBS: Texas A&M at Alabama
3:30pm ABC/ESPN2: Oregon St. at Stanford
3:30pm ABC: West Virginia at Oklahoma St.
3:30pm ESPNU: Wake Forest at NC State
3:30pm FSN: Baylor at Oklahoma
7pm FOX: Kansas St. at TCU
7:45pm ESPN: Mississippi St. at LSU
8pm ABC: Notre Dame at Boston College
10:30pm ESPN2: Arizona St. at USC

11/10 TV Confirmations

My guesses
Full list of games

Its one giantic six day hold.  If you're game isn't listed, go to the full list of games, scroll to the bottom and show non-televised games and it might show possible TV windows for your game.

12pm CBS & CBSSports.com: Arkansas at South Carolina
12pm FSN: Kansas at Texas Tech
12pm BTN & BTN2Go.com: Purdue at Iowa
12pm SEC Network & ESPN3 (split): Missouri at Tennessee
12pm SEC Network & ESPN3 (split): UL-Lafayette at Florida
12pm Longhorn Network & LonghornNetwork.com: Iowa St. at Texas

1:30pm F/X: Colorado at Arizona
3pm ACC RSNs & ESPN3:
3:30pm ABC with ESPN2 Reverse Mirror: Penn St. at Nebraska
3:30pm BTN & BTN2Go.com: Minnesota at Illinois

7pm ESPN2 & WatchESPN: Georgia at Auburn

7pm ESPNU & WatchESPN: Vanderbilt at Ole Miss

7pm FSN: Southern Miss at SMU

7pm Longhorn Network & LonghornNetwork.com: Louisiana Tech at Texas St.

11/10 Selection Guesses

Abbreviated.  I thought I had this article already written.

* ABC has a 12pm window to use
* CBS has an afternoon doubleheader with the SEC, 12pm & 3:30pm.  They pick 1st, then 4th, with ESPN in the middle
* The FSN/SEC regional package ended on 11/3
* F/X is again an early afternoon kickoff, likely for Pac-12
* I think FOX strays from the script again

Since its short, let me know what I missed or what you think is wrong.

12pm CBS: Missouri at Tennessee
12pm ABC: Notre Dame at Boston College
12pm ESPN/ESPN2: Northwestern at Michigan
12pm ESPN2/ESPN2: Louisville at Syracuse
12pm ESPNU: Vanderbilt at Ole Miss
12pm FSN: Kansas at Texas Tech
12pm BTN: Purdue at Iowa
12pm BTN: Wisconsin at Indiana
12pm SEC Net: Arkansas at South Carolina
12pm Big East Net: Cincinnati at Temple
12pm Longhorn: Iowa St. at Texas
12:30pm ACC Net: Miami (FL) at Virginia
1:30pm F/X: Colorado at Arizona
3pm FOX: Oregon St. at Stanford
3pm ACC RSNs: Georgia Tech at North Carolina
3pm Pac-12 Net: Utah at Washington
3:30pm CBS:  Texas A&M at Alabama
3:30pm ABC with RM: Penn St. at Nebraska
3:30pm ABC with RM: Baylor at Oklahoma
3:30pm ABC: Maryland at Clemson
3:30pm ESPNU: Wake Forest at NC State
3:30pm FSN: West Virginia at Oklahoma St.
3:30pm BTN: Minnesota at Illinois
5pm Longhorn: Louisiana Tech at Texas St.
7pm FOX: Kansas St. at TCU
7pm ESPN: Mississippi St. at LSU
7pm ESPN2: Georgia at Auburn
7pm ESPNU: UL-Lafayette at Florida
7pm FSN: Southern Miss at SMU
8pm ABC: California at Oregon
10:30 pm ESPN: Arizona St. at USC
10:30pm Pac-12 Net: UCLA at Washington St.

ESPN Exclusive
Army at Rutgers

Late selection guesses for 11/3 and some other stuff

* First, because I don't want it skimmed over, I'll be unavailable most of next week.  Will post selections on Sunday & Monday because I'll have time to do so & fix up the site for Saturday 11/3 during late evenings.  For the most part your tweets and emails will go ignored/unanswered until late evening.

* Unlike the SEC contract, which I'm told forbids it when unless both sides agree to it, the ACC contract must allow for Raycom to do a split regional game.  The ACC may also have a limit on the number of conference games that can be placed on ESPN3 exclusively and this is the way around it.

* The bad news at 12pm-3:30pm on 11/3 is that a few games aren't likely going to be shown through GamePlan.  GamePlan only has six channels available to use at any time.  With three SEC regional games, a Big East game, two ACC games, two ABC regional games and a MAC game, someone is likely going to get set aside.  At least the MAC game will get tossed, maybe joined in progress.  I'm pretty sure the ACC games can be viewed regardless of location over at the ACC website, so those two may have to sit the bench too.

* Sometimes when it comes to deciding who goes in what slot, sometimes I go with a ranking order with the combined number of wins by the two teams.  In that case, assuming that ESPNU is in more homes than the Big East Network, I wouldn't have placed UConn-USF in that slot since it had the least number of combined wins compared to the other two Big East games.

* Inquiring minds: ABC/ESPN will have used 14 of its 18 allotted slots once the 11/3 announcements come out.  10 on ABC, 2 on ESPN and 2 on Longhorn Network...The Big East minimum of 17 telecasts on ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 has also been hit (they're at 18), but they have not yet used their one Saturday night window on ABC/ESPN/ESPN2.  Don't think that the Florida St./USF 6pm start counts towards that either...ABC/ESPN have a max of 41 total football selections from the Big Ten.  There used to be a limit to the number of games on ABC (max of 16) and ESPN/ESPN2 (max of 25), but those no longer exist.  The selections can be spread out.  31 games, including two games on 11/3, have been set for ABC/ESPN/ESPN2.  I do not know if ESPNU games are part of the count.  If so, the number is 33...ABC/ESPN has scheduled 18 of its 22 Pac-12 windows, FOX has scheduled 17 of its 22 including the two Black Friday games on FOX & F/X.  FOX will likely use three more broadcast windows, meaning that the two remaining Pac-12 windows probably come from F/X on 11/10 and 11/17.

Here's the guesses

12pm ABC:  Oklahoma at Iowa St.
12pm ESPN: Texas A&M at Mississippi St.
12pm ESPN2: Ole Miss at Georgia
12pm BTN: Nebraska at Michigan St.
3pm FOX: Texas at Texas Tech
3:30pm CBS: Missouri at Florida
3:30pm ABC with Reverse Mirror:  TCU at West Virginia
3:30pm ABC with Reverse Mirror: Michigan at Minnesota
3:30pm ESPN: Illinois at Ohio St.
3:30pm ESPNU: Penn St. at Purdue
3:30pm BTN: Iowa at Indiana
8pm ABC: Oklahoma St. at Kansas St.

11/3 CFB TV Confirmations

My guesses, which you'll find to be incorrect
Full list for week 10

Following slots are on six day pick:

12pm ABC & ESPN3: Big 12 (split with Temple-Louisville)
12pm ESPN & WatchESPN: SEC
12pm ESPN2 & WatchESPN: SEC
12pm BTN & BTN2Go.com: Big Ten
3pm FOX: Big 12
3:30pm CBS: SEC
3:30pm ABC with Reverse Mirror: Big 12 & Big Ten
3:30pm ESPN & WatchESPN: Big Ten
3:30pm ESPNU & WatchESPN: Big Ten
3:30pm BTN & BTN2Go.com: Big Ten
8pm ABC: Big 12

Confirmations
TBA BTN: Iowa at Indiana (12pm or 3:30pm)
12pm ABC & ESPN3: Temple at Lousville
12pm ESPNU & WatchESPN: Vanderbilt at Kentucky
12pm FSN: Houston at East Carolina
12pm SEC Network & ESPN3: Tulsa at Arkansas
12pm Big East Network & ESPN3: Syracuse at Cincinnati
12pm SEC/FOX RSNs & ESPN3: Troy at Tennessee
12:30pm ACC Network (split) & ESPN3: Virginia at NC State
12:30pm ACC Network (split) & ESPN3: Georgia Tech at Maryland
12:30pm SEC/CSS & ESPN3: New Mexico St. at Auburn
2pm F/X: Stanford at Colorado
3pm Pac-12 Network & Pac-12.com: Washington St at Utah

3:30pm FSN: Kansas at Baylor

3:30pm ACC RSNs & ESPN3: Boston College at Wake Forest

7pm FOX: Oregon at USC

7pm ESPN2 & WatchESPN: Clemson at Duke

7pm ESPNU & WatchESPN: Connecticut at USF

10:30pm ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU & WatchESPN: Arizona St. at Oregon St.

10:30pm Pac-12 Network & Pac-12.com: Arizona at UCLA

11/3 CFB TV Selection Guesses

Notes on the guesses (EDIT: 10/21/12 3:42 PM - disregard the strikethrough item)

* November means no more Big Ten night games.  Granted they select them months in advance anyways, but it isn't an option anymore.
* Conversely, the SEC's primetime doubleheader is this week.  CBS has exclusivity in both the 3:30pm and 8pm time slots.
* No ESPN slot at 7pm.  NASCAR Nationwide series duties.
* F/X lists their timeslot as 1:30pm.  Makes it eligible for a portion of the Pac-12 who resides in the mountain timezone (11:30am local time), and on 11/10 & 11/17, the Arizona schools.  F/X might be able to adjust their kick time too for a Pac-12 game slightly.
* My thought with Arizona St.-Oregon St. on Pac-12 Network is that with FOX clearly having the best available game in Oregon-USC, the Pac-12 Network may have a week where they leap over ESPN to take the next best game.  Just a hunch, nothing more.
* I could see a 12 day pick being used on some of the Big 12 games, but it would be rather wasteful, IMO.  Could also see some of the ESPNU slots in a 12 day pick with the ACC & Big East too.
* I thought about placing both Michigan-Minnesota & Illinois-Ohio St. on ESPN & ESPN2.  I'm trying to get clarification from the Big Ten, but they have 16 games already scheduled for ABC.  Under the terms of their pre-Nebraska fact sheet, no more than 17 games can air on ABC.  I don't think ABC has to select a Big Ten game at 3:30pm.  In '07, no Big Ten game was selected on 10/27 at 3:30pm and Michigan-Minnesota aired on ESPN Classic with special permission for Detroit's ABC affiliate to pick up the game (there was an 8pm Big Ten ABC game).
* Oklahoma St.-Kansas St. was on FOX's list to televise.  I don't think they'd pass it up, but the mess involves the Texas-Texas Tech game and I think they have to stray from the list again.  Earlier this week I wrote that Texas is up against the appearance limit in the ABC/ESPN package.  Either the Texas Tech game or the Kansas St. game has to air in the FOX portion of the contract either on cable/broadcast network.  The Texas-Kansas St. game is the final week of the season and FOX does not have a broadcast window scheduled for that day.  If I'm the Big 12 and ABC, I politely ask FOX to take Texas-Texas Tech (which is still a pretty good game involving a top 20 ranked team), so that ABC has the option to take Texas-Kansas St. on 12/1
* Last one: It wouldn't surprise me to see Temple-Louisville land on ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 in primetime.  Big East gets one Saturday primetime appearance per year on either of those three networks.  If Louisville is undefeated, it could get a look to flip with Oklahoma-Iowa St. for ESPN2 or be split with Oklahoma St.-Kansas St. on ABC, which would put BC-Wake Forest on television somewhere.

12pm ESPN/ESPN2: Missouri at Florida
12pm ESPN/ESPN2: Ole Miss at Georgia
12pm ESPNU: Troy at Tennessee
12pm BTN: Iowa at Indiana
12pm BTN: Nebraska at Michigan St.
12pm FSN: Houston at East Carolina
12pm SEC/FOX RSNs: Tulsa at Arkansas
12pm SEC Network: Vanderbilt at Kentucky
12pm Big East Network: Connecticut at USF
12:30pm ACC Network: Georgia Tech at Maryland
12:30pm SEC/CSS: New Mexico St. at Auburn
1:30pm F/X: Stanford at Colorado
3pm FOX: Texas at Texas Tech
3pm Pac-12 Network: Washington St. at Utah
3:30pm CBS: Texas A&M at Mississippi St.
3:30pm ABC w/ESPN2: Reverse Mirror: Michigan at Minnesota
3:30pm ABC w/ESPN2: Reverse Mirror: TCU at West Virginia
3:30pm ABC: Clemson at Duke
3:30pm ESPN: Illinois at Ohio St.
3:30pm ESPNU: Syracuse at Cincinnati
3:30pm FSN: Baylor at Kansas
3:30pm ACC RSNs: Virginia at NC State
3:30pm BTN: Penn St. at Purdue
7pm FOX: Oregon at USC (99% confirmed)
7pm ESPN2: Oklahoma at Iowa St.
7pm ESPNU: Temple at Louisville
8pm CBS: Alabama at LSU (confirmed)
8pm ABC: Oklahoma St. at Kansas St.
10pm Pac-12 Network: Arizona St. at Oregon St.

10:30pm ESPN: Arizona at UCLA

ESPN3 Exclusive
Boston College at Wake Forest

Appearance counts and why they matter to networks

The four football conferences that I know of that stipulate some form of appearance count for schools are the Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC.  In most cases, the goal of the appearance count is to make sure that the conference's cable package or conference TV network has some value and chance to pick the top teams.  Here's where we stand as of the kickoffs for 10/27, along with any games in November & December which have been selected for television.

Big 12
The ABC/ESPN portion of the Big 12 contract still has an appearance maximum of six appearances per team, per the Big 12 office.  Only Texas is close with five scheduled appearances so far with two on Longhorn Network (one of Texas' three games on LHN is considered an institutional game), one on ESPN and two on ABC.  TCU, Texas Tech and Oklahoma each have three appearances on the networks.  If TCU's remaining games without television are picked up by the ABC/ESPN package, they would max out at six, so they aren't in trouble.

At a minimum, at least one of the remaining Texas Tech games and two of Oklahoma's November & December games must appear in the FOX network/cable package.  If the FOX broadcast tentative package holds up, those two schools will have games in that package.

Conversely, either of Texas's road games at Kansas St. or Texas Tech must be televised in the FOX package of games.  If the Texas Tech game is chosen by ABC or ESPN, the Kansas St. game must be televised by FOX, probably on their cable outlets since they do not have a game listed for FOX's broadcast network on 12/1.

Big Ten
The Big Ten Network has an two appearance requirement and one of those appearances must be a conference game.  Nebraska and Penn St. have only made one appearance on the network and must make a 2nd sometime in November.

Pac-12
Per the Pac-12 office, each school cannot appear in the FOX and ESPN packages no more than nine times combined.  The perceived goal is that each school will have at least one appearance on the Pac-12 Network if the national packages take a schools' entire conference schedule and leave the non-conference schedule alone, or if the national packages pick up any non-conference games, a conference game is there for the Pac-12 Network

Arizona St. and USC have the highest number of scheduled appearances in those at six with three remaining games not set for television, so they are in the clear.  Oregon has five appearances in those packages with four games not set, so they are also OK.

In other words, no team is in danger.

SEC
The CBS package of games has an appearance limit of six per school, with four exceptions over the life of the contract where a team can be shown seven times.  The appearance limit excludes the conference championship game.

Alabama, LSU and Florida are at three scheduled appearances each.  None seem to be in danger of hitting the six appearance limit and would only be able to max out at six appearances.

Again, no team is in danger of having a major game deliberately fall to the ESPN or regional packages.

10/27 CFB TV Confirmations

Here's the timeslots to be filled.

What I thought would happen and will be proven incorrect.
Entire list of games for week nine

12pm ESPN & WatchESPN: Tennessee at South Carolina
12pm ESPN2 & WatchESPN: Iowa at Northwestern
12pm ESPNU & WatchESPN: Kentucky at Missouri
12pm FSN: Texas at Kansas
12pm BTN & BTN2Go.com: Indiana at Illinois
12pm Big East Network & ESPN3: Temple at Pittsburgh
12pm SEC Network & ESPN3: Ole Miss at Arkansas
12:30pm ACC Network & ESPN3: NC State at North Carolina
1pm ESPN3: Maryland at Boston College
3pm F/X:  UCLA at Arizona St.
3pm ACC RSNs & ESPN3: BYU at Georgia Tech
3pm Pac-12 Network & Pac-12.com: Colorado at Oregon
3:30pm FOX: Texas Tech at Kansas St.
3:30pm ABC with ESPN2 Reverse Mirror: Michigan St. at Wisconsin
3:30pm ABC with ESPN2 Reverse Mirror:  USC at Arizona
3:30pm ESPNU & WatchESPN: Duke at Florida St.
3:30pm FSN: TCU at Oklahoma St.
3:30pm BTN & BTN2Go.com: Purdue at Minnesota
3:30pm FOX College Sports: Navy at East Carolina
5:30pm ESPN & WatchESPN: Ohio St. at Penn St.
6pm ESPN3: Western Kentucky at FIU
6:15pm Pac-12 Network & Pac-12.com: Washington St. at Stanford
7pm ESPNU & WatchESPN: Texas A&M at Auburn
7pm FSN: Baylor at Iowa St.
7pm SEC/FOX RSNs & ESPN3: Massachusetts at Vanderbilt
7pm ESPN3: Syracuse at USF
8pm ABC: Notre Dame at Oklahoma
8pm ESPN2 & WatchESPN: Michigan at Nebraska
8:30pm ESPN & WatchESPN: Mississippi St. at Alabama

9:45pm Pac-12 Network (Bay Area & Rocky Mountain) & Pac-12.com: California at Utah

10:15pm Pac-12 Network & Pac-12.com: Oregon St. at Washington

Early kickoff times and the SEC

When you've been on the west coast for four days, then come to the east coast, stay at your parents' for a few days while watching Yankee games go far too long into the evening for a week, then drive a few hours back to your house for the 1st time in several days...your sleep patterns get totally messed up.

Hence, I'm writing at 2am ET.  Let's see how this goes.

I spotted a back & forth between an ESPN PR employee and Clay Travis, who runs Outkick The Coverage.  I don't have Clay as one of the people I follow on Twitter.  I have ESPN PR because they often tweet out game times for both college football and men's college basketball.  Its the crux of my site, so that's the decision that I made.

Anyways, Clay wrote an article and wasn't happy that his first trip to College Station for a game will be a pre-noon local time kickoff.  As I read the article, he seems to place the blame on ESPN "protecting" the Baylor-Texas game, which will be at 8pm on ABC.  I don't share his viewpoint at all, at least the opinion that Baylor-Texas is being "protected".

First, I don't believe that LSU-A&M should be the 12pm game.  When I did my late predictions this week, which were done before any games were played on Saturday, I felt the LSU-A&M game was going to be on CBS.  Someone in the know from an SEC school inferred to me that CBS wanted to do one home game each from the new members, Missouri & Texas A&M.  Missouri had a home game on CBS on 10/13 vs. Alabama (in part due to ESPN selecting South Carolina-LSU ahead of CBS thanks to concessions from CBS airing LSU-Alabama as a 2nd primetime game in '11), and A&M would not have another SEC home game until the Missouri game on 11/24.  Of the three available games, Alabama-Tennessee seemed like the lesser of the three games even though Alabama was likely going to be #1 after their game with Missouri.

Here's where things became messy with the six day pick.  Some blame lies with ESPN, some of this is a shared problem between the SEC and the networks:

1) ESPN committed specific games to specific time slots, but not a particular network - They did this with the Big 12, ACC and SEC games.  Did North Carolina-Duke, Georgia-Kentucky & Middle Tennessee-Mississippi St. need to be slotted for 7pm?  Could they have been available for 12pm?  Why wasn't Baylor-Texas available for 12pm, or Texas Tech-TCU available at 8pm, or why was Iowa St.-Oklahoma St. an option for all three time slots (12pm FX, 3:30pm & 8pm ABC), but not the other two games.  Why did Virginia Tech-Clemson have to air at 12pm?

I believe the time slot "locking" was part of the problem.  I don't know if the conferences/schools stipulated that a kickoff time decision had to be made on some of these games.  I did see that TCU, Kentucky & Mississippi St. have their games on 10/20 as homecoming, and much like the Big Ten schools could have requested a fixed kickoff time, or at least a limited range of times, instead of being open.

Then again, Oklahoma St. is having homecoming on 10/20 and were open about their kickoff time.  Different strokes for different folks maybe.

2) More people, at least nationally, are going to see LSU-Texas A&M regardless of when it kicks off compared to Baylor-Texas.  As Clay notes, Baylor-Texas is being split with Florida St.-Miami.  Of those four teams, FSU is the highest ranking team and I'd expect that game to be seen by the majority nationally.  The only place they'd be protecting anything is inside of Texas.  The rest of us probably are going to need ESPN3 or Gameplan if we even want to watch that one.

Heck, if anything, I'm surprised both weren't airing at the same time.  I've seen ESPN tout how well it does when it airs three Big Ten-SEC bowl games simultaneously over three networks on New Year's Day (Outback, Capital One, Gator).  I've seen ESPN PR toss their ratings numbers around when their great.  They'd love to let you know that some insane number of households in Texas were viewing either A&M or Texas AT THE SAME TIME across their networks!

3) Expansion has made things a cluster**** for SEC television scheduling - CBS didn't take more SEC games when A&M and Mizzou were added.  Neither did the FOX RSN package nor did Comcast/Charter's CSS, especially now that they know they won't have those games in a couple years once the SEC builds out their 24/7 network.  ESPN is stuck with a glut of SEC games, still has to fit in games from several other conferences on Saturdays, and they didn't increase the number of hours in the day nor find a way to fit games into smaller time slots.  The only thing they did was add the new late evening slots for the Pac-12 and last I checked, there aren't any SEC teams yet residing in the Mountain or Pacific time zones.

There are 99 SEC controlled games this year, up from 85 last year, not counting the conference championship.  CBS is taking the same 14 regular season games.  FOX & CSS took 15 games last year and are taking only 14 this year it appears.  There were nine PPV games last year.  There have been eight so far this year.  Let's say that there will be 12 this year.

Last year, ESPN had to spread 47 games across its cable networks plus the SEC Network syndication package.  This year that number should be 59 games.  That's 12 more games ESPN has to find a place for.  One of which they elected to use on their syndication package as part of a double header on 9/8 (WKU-Alabama).  Assuming that they won't do any split regional games as I've been told that the SEC asked that the package not have split regional games, 11 games will have to fit on the ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU schedule somewhere.  Roughly an extra game per week has to be placed somewhere, and because CBS has exclusivity in its 3:30pm and 8pm time slots, ESPN is limited as to where they can place those games.

I've heard from folks at SEC schools who have said that fitting in these extra games has been a headache for both ESPN and the schools.  Consider these items:

* The SEC minimum for games on ESPN & ESPN2 is 19.  They had 21 games on those two networks in all of 2011.  As of the 10/20 kickoffs, they'll already have 20 games on those networks with five more weeks of SEC games to slot into the schedule.

* Of those 21 last year, only two aired at 12pm (Utah St.-Auburn on 9/1, Texas A&M-Arkansas on 10/1), and A&M-Arkansas was due to the TV schedule shift when CBS does its primetime game.  We're now at three 12pm starts in '12 (Auburn-Mississippi St., Auburn-Arkansas, LSU-A&M) with a fourth likely coming on 11/3.  I suppose it kinda evens out when you add in that ESPNU had a pair of 12pm starts in 2011 and none have aired at that time in '12 yet, but I'd expect 1-2 12pm starts on ESPNU before the season's done.

So I don't think ESPN was out to protect Texas, though I do believe this game should have been a night game.  Feel free to leave a comment and tell me I'm off my rocker.

10/27 CFB TV Selection Guesses

A few notes

* CBS has already selected the Florida-Georgia game from Jacksonville for its 3:30pm ET game.  A fairly safe bet either way when you look at the rest of the SEC schedule, save for Mississippi St.-Alabama which looks decent right now.

* FOX does not have a primetime game this week due to the World Series.  They'll have a 3:30pm game on FOX and a 3pm game on F/X

* I've moved the Michigan-Nebraska game up one hour to 7pm on ESPN2.  This is to accommodate a Pac-12 window in the evening, allow for Ohio St.-Penn St. to be a doubleheader on ESPN and give Notre Dame-Oklahoma a full national telecast on ABC at 8pm.

* FOX did have Texas-Kansas in its leaked list.  I'm moving away from that and giving Texas Tech-Kansas St. the 3:30pm slot

* Yes, I crammed four games into ABC's 3:30pm slot.  SEC overcrowding from other slots never helps.  I know the Pac-12 games are supposed to be full national, at least that's what they've told us.  Not much I can do.

* Pac-12 Network is expected to do a tripleheader

12pm ESPN/ESPN2 & WatchESPN: Iowa at Northwestern (time confirmed)

12pm ESPN/ESPN2 & WatchESPN: Tennessee at South Carolina

12pm ESPNU & WatchESPN: Ole Miss at Arkansas

12pm FSN: Baylor at Iowa St.

12pm BTN & BTN2Go: Indiana at Illinois (time confirmed)

12pm SEC Network & ESPN3: Texas A&M at Auburn

12pm Big East Network & ESPN3: Syracuse at USF

12:30pm ACC Network & ESPN3: NC State at North Carolina

3pm F/X: Oregon St. at Washington

3pm Pac-12 Network & Pac-12.com: Washington St. at Stanford

3pm ACC RSNs & ESPN3: Maryland at Boston College

3:30pm FOX: Texas Tech at Kansas St.

3:30pm CBS & CBSSports.com: Florida vs. Georgia (confirmed)

3:30pm ABC/ESPN2 RM & WatchESPN: Michigan St. at Wisconsin (confirmed)

3:30pm ABC/ESPN2 RM & ESPN3: Colorado at Oregon

3:30pm ABC & ESPN3: TCU at Oklahoma St.

3:30pm ABC & ESPN3: Duke at Florida St.

3:30pm ESPNU & WatchESPN: BYU at Georgia Tech

3:30pm FSN: Texas at Kansas

3:30pm BTN & BTN2Go: Purdue at Minnesota

6pm ESPN & WatchESPN: Ohio St. at Penn St.

6:30pm Pac-12 Network & Pac-12.com: California at Utah

7pm ESPN2 & WatchESPN: Michigan at Nebraska

7pm ESPNU & WatchESPN: Kentucky at Missouri

7pm FSN: Navy at East Carolina (selected, time not confirmed)

7pm SEC/FOX RSNs & ESPN3: Massachusetts at Vanderbilt

8pm ABC: Notre Dame at Oklahoma

9:15pm ESPN & WatchESPN: Mississippi St. at Alabama

10:30pm ESPN & WatchESPN: USC at Arizona

10:30pm Pac-12 Network & Pac-12.com: UCLA at Arizona St.

ESPN3 Exclusives

Utah St. at UTSA

Temple at Pittsburgh

Week 8 Late Selection Guesses

So many games were left to six day selections that I guess its worth doing guesses against them.  I'll break it down by conference and, more or less, the order that the dominoes will likely fall.

I'm making some assumptions.  Yell at me later if you think I'm on drugs if I don't pick your team.

SEC
Alabama at Tennessee, ESPN 12pm
LSU at Texas A&M, CBS 3:30pm
South Carolina at Florida, ESPN 7pm
Middle Tennessee at Mississippi St., FOX RSNs 7pm
Georgia at Kentucky, ESPN2 7:45pm

Big Ten
Michigan St. at Michigan, ESPN2 12pm
Purdue at Ohio St., BTN 12pm
Nebraska at Northwestern, ABC w/reverse mirror 3:30pm

Big 12
Texas Tech at TCU, F/X 12pm
Iowa St. at Oklahoma St., ABC w/reverse mirror 3:30pm
Baylor at Texas, ABC 8pm

NOTE: USF-Louisville in this scenario becomes a ABC regional game with ESPN3/Gameplan needed to see it in other areas.

ACC
Virginia Tech at Clemson, ABC 12pm
Duke at North Carolina, ESPNU 7pm

Postscript on 10/13 CFB TV selections

10/13 TV selections

* I don't know that it is 100% set in stone that Oregon St.-BYU will be reverse mirrored with Illinois-Michigan in Big Ten areas.  I know ESPN PR tweeted it was a split national telecast.  I say proceed with caution.  There may be dependencies on the West Virginia-Texas Tech and Washington St.-Oregon St. games, in addition to Utah St.-BYU.  ESPN's website schedule just lists the games as ABC, though what is known is that Illinois-Michigan will be mirrored on ESPN to those who don't see it on ABC.  The Big 12 contract doesn't require every game be full national, nor does it have a limit on reverse mirror games.  Stay tuned.  Wait for maps.

* I think the lack of flexibility that the Big Ten provides with respect to homecoming games hampers some network selections.  I agree with the need to limit and confirm night games early in the year, but don't understand the need to tie down homecoming kickoff times.

* The addition of the Texas A&M-Louisiana Tech game to the day, and the Bulldogs great play so far, added several twists to the scheduling.  A fourth ESPNU window was shoehorned in to the schedule to play this game at night and all other ESPNU windows were moved up one hour.  ESPNU initially was to replay their Midnight Madness coverage from the night before.

* Regardless of the A&M-LaTech being added to the schedule, one game was going to be put on ESPN3 from either the ACC or the Big East.  Part of the problem ESPN has with the glut of games it is trying to fit on their networks.

* Don't know if there is a limit on the number of 8:15pm local time starts the SEC will allow in a given season.  I know that the Big 12 does limit it.  That could be why the ESPN2 evening windows were pushed up a little with Boston College-Florida St. starting at 5:30pm ET (up from 6pm) and Tennessee-Mississippi St. at 9pm ET (up from 9:15pm).

* ESPN appears to have used both of its SEC priority picks for 2012 as part of allowing CBS to carry LSU-Alabama in primetime in 2011.  On 9/22 LSU-Auburn was the selection per ESPN's Brett McMurphy and the 10/13 selection of South Carolina-LSU was the other pick per Tuscaloosa News' Cecil Hurt.

* The new Big 12 contract rules (or lack of rules) shows up again with concurrent windows for ABC and FOX cable during both the Red River Shootout national window and the ABC 3:30pm window.  FOX did appear to adjust things with their Big 12 windows.  FOX College Sports showed Big 12 games on FSN at 12pm and 3:30pm with a C-USA game at 7pm.  The 12pm and 7pm windows have flip flopped. Maybe the conference wanted to have an evening game or did not want to overload the 12pm window with games on ABC, F/X and FSN at the same time.

* Don't know how close the NHL is to cancelling regular season games, since the regular season does start next Thursday.  But several RSNs are waiting to add college football games like FSN mid-afternoon and evening games, depending on the status of the NHL lockout.

* Administrative note: Due to travel next week, there's a decent chance I won't be blogging about selections, selection predictions or a look back at the selections made.  In the words of Mike Leach, "don't let it hamp your day".

Apology on 10/13 confirmations

I played a little too fast & loose with the last couple, particularly the Oregon St.-BYU game.  Didn't have complete info on Oregon St.-BYU and didn't read the info out there completely on West Virginia-Texas Tech.   Will do better.

10/13 CFB TV Confirmations

Should be able to update this as the announcements come out this week

What I thought should happen
Complete list of games

11am ESPNU & WatchESPN: Louisville at Pittsburgh
12pm ABC: Oklahoma vs. Texas
12pm F/X: Kansas St. at Iowa St.
12pm ESPN/ESPN2 & WatchESPN: Northwestern at Minnesota
12pm ESPN/ESPN2 & WatchESPN: Iowa at Michigan St.
12pm FSN: UAB at Houston
12pm BTN & BTN2Go: Wisconsin at Purdue
12pm Big East Net & ESPN3: Syracuse at Rutgers
12pm SEC Net & ESPN3: Auburn at Ole Miss
12:30pm ACC Net & ESPN3: Duke at Virginia Tech
1pm ESPN3: Temple at Connecticut
2pm ESPN3: Akron at Ohio
2:30pm ESPNU & WatchESPN: North Carolina at Miami (FL)
3pm FOX: Utah at UCLA
3pm ACC RSNs & ESPN3: Maryland at Virginia
3pm ESPN3: Western Michigan at Ball St.
3:30pm CBS & CBSSports.com: Alabama at Missouri
3:30pm ABC & ESPN3: West Virginia at Texas Tech
3:30pm ABC/ESPN & ESPN3: Illinois at Michigan (confirmed)
3:30pm ABC/ESPN: Oregon St. at BYU
3:30pm FSN: Oklahoma St. at Kansas
5:30pm ESPN2 & WatchESPN: Boston College at Florida St.
6pm ESPNU & WatchESPN: Florida at Vanderbilt
7pm FOX: USC at Washington
7pm FSN: TCU at Baylor
7pm SEC/FOX RSNs & ESPN3: Kentucky at Arkansas
8pm ESPN & WatchESPN: South Carolina at LSU
9pm ESPN2 & WatchESPN: Tennessee at Mississippi St.
9:15pm ESPNU & WatchESPN: Texas A&M vs. Louisiana Tech
10:30pm Pac-12 Net & Pac-12.com: California at Washington St.

Week Seven (10/13) CFB 12 day TV Predictions

* ABC does not have a prime time window due to NASCAR.  To compensate, ESPN's primetime window moves to 8pm
* A Pac-12 late window on ESPN doesn't exist with the later start time for the primetime window.  ESPN2 has games at 6pm and 9:15pm.  FOX is expected to choose a pair of Pac-12 games and ABC is expected to air Big 12 games in both of their time slots.
* I do see the possibility of a six-day pick between the F/X 12pm window (if it stays at 12pm), the ABC   3:30pm window if a Big 12 game is chosen there and possibly the 12pm FSN window if the choices involve TCU-Baylor and West Virginia-Texas Tech.
* If Texas A&M-Louisiana Tech isn't chosen for ESPNU (it would be a shame if it isn't), Maryland-Virginia probably takes its place.
* I believe ESPN continues to hold onto its remaining priority pick for the SEC until later in the season.

Oklahoma vs. Texas, 12pm ABC (confirmed for ABC, time not confirmed)
TCU at Baylor, 12pm F/X
Northwestern at Minnesota, 12pm ESPN/ESPN2
Boston College at Florida St., 12pm ESPN/ESPN2
Texas A&M vs. Louisiana Tech, 12pm ESPNU (confirmed to air on ESPN platform)
Kansas St. at Iowa St.,12pm FSN
Wisconsin at Purdue, 12pm BTN
Iowa at Michigan St., 12pm BTN
Syracuse at Rutgers, 12pm Big East
Florida at Vanderbilt, 12pm SEC Net
Duke at Virginia Tech, 12:30pm ACC Net
Utah at UCLA, 3pm FOX (semi-confirmed)
North Carolina at Miami (FL), 3pm ACC RSNs
South Carolina at LSU, 3:30pm CBS
Illinois at Michigan, 3:30pm ABC/ESPN (confirmed)
West Virginia at Texas Tech, 3:30pm ABC/ESPN
Louisville at Pittsburgh, 3:30pm ESPNU
Oklahoma St. at Kansas, 3:30pm FSN
Tennessee at Mississippi St., 6pm ESPN2
USC at Washington, 7pm FOX (semi-confirmed)
Auburn at Ole Miss, 7pm ESPNU
UAB at Houston, 7pm FSN (confirmed for FSN, time semi-confirmed)
Kentucky at Arkansas, 7pm SEC/FOX RSNs
Alabama at Missouri, 8pm ESPN
Oregon St. at BYU, 9:15pm ESPN2
California at Washington St., 10pm Pac-12 Net

ESPN3
Maryland at Virginia, Time TBA
Temple at Connecticut, Time TBA (could be Big East local on SNY at 3:30pm)

Postscript on 10/6 CFB TV selections

Confirmations for 10/6

This one is light.  Couldn't think of enough to write about.  Sorry.

* FOX deviated with a pair of selections from listings on their RSN sites and from leaked schedules

• UCLA at Cal - Leaked schedules had it as the early game of the FOX broadcast doubleheader.  Instead its the late game on Pac-12 Network.  Closer inspection notes that the other three games available in the Pac-12 all have ranked teams and this one no longer does thanks to UCLA's loss to Oregon St.
• Boise St. at Southern Miss - FOX RSN schedules had a listing for "Conference USA on FOX / FX Replay" for 10/6 and also listed a pair of Big 12 games at 12pm & 3:30pm on FSN.  What changed? Boise St.'s play has been inconsistent & Southern Miss is 0-3 right now.  Now tack on Kansas St.'s upset of Oklahoma and the Sunflower State matchup with Kansas has a top ten team.

* I'm scratching my head on how Arkansas at Auburn is on ESPN or ESPN2 at 12pm.  Granted, SEC fans don't like the early starts when they can be avoided, plus they tend to have the connotation that the early game is the game no TV partner wants.  I suppose that ESPN has to fill their extra SEC games and this is one way to do it.  If it were me, I'd swap UConn at Rutgers or Mississippi St. at Kentucky with this one. At least you'd have a ranked team, with both Rutgers and Mississippi St. on bye next week.

* I think we'll see ABC and ESPN play around with the 3:30pm slot when they have the flexibility to do so.  NASCAR Nationwide Series is off on 10/6 so ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 were in play.  It sounds like their will be a reverse mirror of either Oklahoma at Texas Tech or Georgia Tech at Clemson.

* It would not surprise me if the ABC 8pm window ends up being a reverse mirror between Ohio St. at Nebraska & Florida St. at NC State.  Sounds like ABC is covering its bases in the event of any of the teams losing, particularly Florida St.

TV Confirmations for 10/6 CFB Games

Will just plug them in here as needed.  All times Eastern

What I thought would happen and will be proven incorrect

12pm F/X: Kansas at Kansas St.
12pm ESPN/ESPN2 & WatchESPN: Northwestern at Penn St.
12pm ESPN/ESPN2 & WatchESPN: Arkansas at Auburn
12pm ESPNU & WatchESPN: Connecticut at Rutgers
12pm FSN: Boise St. at Southern Miss
12pm BTN & BTN2Go: Michigan St. at Indiana
12pm SEC Net & ESPN3: Mississippi St. at Kentucky
12pm Big East Net & ESPN3: USF at Temple
12:30pm ACC Net & ESPN3: Virginia Tech at North Carolina
3pm FOX: Arizona at Stanford
3pm ACC RSNs & ESPN3: Virginia at Duke
3:30pm CBS & CBSSports.com: LSU at Florida
3:30pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 & WatchESPN : Oklahoma at Texas Tech
3:30pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 & WatchESPN: Illinois at Wisconsin
3:30pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 & WatchESPN: Georgia Tech at Clemson
3:30pm ESPNU & WatchESPN: Maryland at Wake Forest
3:30pm FSN: Iowa St. at TCU
6pm Pac-12 Network & Pac-12.com: Washington St. at Oregon St.
7pm FOX: West Virginia at Texas
7pm ESPN & WatchESPN: Georgia at South Carolina
7pm ESPNU & WatchESPN: Texas A&M at Ole Miss
7pm SEC/FOX RSNs & ESPN3: Vanderbilt at Missouri
8pm ABC: Nebraska at Ohio St. or Florida St. at NC State
8pm ESPN2 & WatchESPN: Nebraska at Ohio St. or Florida St. at NC State
10pm Pac-12 Network & Pac-12.com: UCLA at California
10:30pm ESPN & WatchESPN: Washington at Oregon