Arizona Bowl tech experience and some commentary on costs

* I tuned into the Arizona Bowl for five minutes to check on some of the technical aspects of it.  For the most part I've stayed away from watching bowl games, but since this bowl was being presented differently using syndication for TV and digital platforms, I wanted to check it out and the execution of the technical side.  Here's some brief observations that I made using a Chromecast device, my Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone and my Windows laptop:

• Sinclair's American Sports Network, as the TV partner, provided the base production, graphics, etc.  Campus Insiders provided some ancillary items that were only on the Campus Insiders feed.
• Campus Insiders, it appears, was only providing the online extras.  They were announced as the original digital partner, but it looks like their infrastructure was bypassed by 120 Sports as they had their branding on the video player at Campus Insiders.  The video feed on the ASN website did not have this branding.
• 120 Sports uses Baseball Advanced Media's video infrastructure, which is extremely solid, but when using my Chromecast, I could not natively cast it through my laptop where Campus Insiders normal infrastructure (LiveStream) is natively castable.
• When going to Campus Insiders website on my phone, I clicked on the game and was redirected to the 120 Sports website, which is fine, but a different experience than my laptop.  
• When casting on the 120 Sports website, which had a video experience that allowed for native Chromecast casting, I had to start the video feed after initializing the casting of the video, otherwise the video did not start at live action, but at the pregame show.
• For phone app usage, both 120 Sports and the go90 apps had the game.  I can't speak for the experience in the go90 app, but the 120 Sports app does have native casting and seemed to provide the best experience if you did not have a local station carrying the game, which is different than Campus Insiders, who admitted their app is not compatible with Chromecast after they had added the option last March.

To be clear, 120 Sports and Campus Insiders are both part of the Silver Chalice media company, so maybe it was simply a branding exercise with CI being focused on collegiate sports.  Personally, I found it slightly clunky to traverse through multiple websites to get to a video feed on mobile.

* Austin Karp of Sports Business Journal noted that ESPN's starting subscriber count for 2016 will be 91.4 million (my assumption is that this figure comes from Nielsen).  While ESPN and ESPN2 are typically neck and neck in terms of subscriber numbers, I would be interested to see how this affects ESPNU and ESPNEWS.  Are the people who are cutting the cord subscribers of big digital bundles?  Are they subscribing to (mostly) analog packages that often don't have ESPNU or ESPNEWS in them?  I guess what I'm getting at is whether the gap between the number of ESPN and ESPNU subscribers is constant or shrinking.

ESPN, the main channel, is where the subscriber cost is typically stuffed and costs for ESPN2, ESPNU, etc. are usually much lower, maybe as low as five percent of the cost of ESPN.  In some ways, that helps programmers spread the costs of the channel.  It can also help when a channel like FS1 or NBCSN goes to negotiate with a provider and their programming numbers are compared with ESPN2 or ESPNU instead of ESPN, where the cable company may look to negotiate a lower rate.  The website What You Pay For Sports articulates this way better than I can.

For me, it trickles down to that sports package purchase each fall.  I used to purchase it for the extra Pac-12 games and the Big 12 games that I couldn't get on FOX Sports Ohio, later because FSOhio wasn't offered full time in HD on DirecTV.  I won't deny that I probably "carried the water" for DirecTV when I subscribed to them and some of these sports networks.  I've rethought a lot of that.  Not solely because of cost but whether that cost is worth it vs. subscribing to MLB.TV or Netflix, for example.  The cost I used to willingly pay for the ability to see the Pac-12 or Big 12's No. 2 or No. 3 game each week moved to FS1 and I'm now looking at whether paying for one or two C-USA games or the ACC's fifth best game is worth it on U-Verse.

Not to mention paying HD fees on top of that.  I love the clarity of HD and sometimes I grouse over people complaining about graphics being "4:3 safe" but when providers tack on as much as a $10 fee, sometimes for providing a proper aspect ratio, it feels a bit much.  I happened to look at my U-Verse add-ons (HD Premium & Sports) and the after seeing that HD feed of MLB Network was included in HD premium and only the SD feed is standard in the U300 package, and my first thought is "can I cast it from my phone using MLB At Bat since MLBN now has an authenticated stream through the app?" (the answer is yes through casting my phone's screen, not natively through the app) because I'd really like to dump ~$17 a month from my bill for the spring and summer.

And I think many of us are getting to that point.  We're finding alternate means to do things.  We're foregoing the extras, or if you believe that ESPN is with the "basics", we're pushing back there.  In some ways, and I'll gladly admit it if its revisionist on my part, I wish we as consumers fought harder against the SEC Network like we've seem to fought against the Pac-12 Networks, now that we know what we're getting out of each channel (lump BTN in there if you want too).

But while we can push at times, but the networks shoulder some blame too, even if its our insatiable demand for product.  A interesting piece on the Longhorn Nework came out this week and it brought me back to how FOX was originally in the lead for the network through existing relationships at FOX Sports Southwest.  We can say that bidding $15 million per year is a small price (five times what FOX offered) compared to what a conference is offered, but there were other costs that ESPN had to shoulder such as production, staffing, etc.  And these were for events, that for the majority, are secondary or tertiary in nature.  We, along with advertisers, paid the freight.  But did it reset the market for every other school when it came to those events?  Does a LHN at that rate ESPN paid increase the lesser rights at every school?  Is that why we have an SEC Network?  At least with the Big Ten, we know the schools have a skin in the game through equity.  Same with the Pac-12 and the market is, in at least one case, making its choice known.

I can't say.  I really can't.  But I can say that the line items on the bill get more scrutiny each month in my home and sports is now driving that scrutiny.

Random commentary on bowls, TV contracts, etc.

* Have come across a couple responses back at me regarding the TV coverage, or lack of it, for the Arizona Bowl.   But isn't this part of hitting the saturation point for a product?

I'm fully aware that some of you will embrace and watch every bowl, and that you can't get enough of them because its college football.  That's fine, that's your prerogative.  But at the same time, what value do you put on those bowl games, or what value should be put on those games?  If you consider them strictly exhibitions, should we care that a game has went back to the syndication model & having trouble being cleared in some markets, albeit with a free streaming option?  Isn't that the market determining the value of said bowl?  Or if we stamp it with it airing on ESPN or ESPN2 does it increase the value because of its status as the go-to network for nearly every bowl game?

I remarked before that bowl season can be a time that a game that only fans of the competing schools would watch on ESPN3 in week two, yet becomes a game in mid-December that draws a 1.2 rating.  I probably took some liberties on that, but I don't believe its far off because of how there are 50-60+ games a week with probably 15-20 running at the same time, either with the same or staggered start times.

* I don't know the status of C-USA's rights agreement negotiations, but I admit that I'm not beating down the door for info because it doesn't pay to do that anymore.  I still believe that CBS Sports Network may be moving on, or drastically scaling back at least in football, with the sublicensing they've done from ESPN for other conferences' content and how those agreements feel like they would overlap with places where C-USA content resides.

I am curious if C-USA will be broadening its agreement with Sinclair's American Sports Network, maybe even taking on primary rights.  A show labeled "C-USA Spotlight" is now appearing on ASN's schedules starting in January and I assume it is similar to the show ASN produces for the Atlantic 10.  FOX Sports has aired "C-USA Showcase" over the life of its TV contract and it wouldn't be the first time a conference has had a magazine show from two separate rightsholders, with both ESPN and FOX Sports producing Big 12 shows.

ASN is also the TV rightsholder for the previously mentioned Arizona Bowl and C-USA would have provided a school to the bowl had there been enough eligible schools from the conference.  The bowl's digital rightholder, Silver Chalice's Campus Insiders, might make sense to take on C-USA's digital assets from CBS Sports' College Sports Live product, similar to their work with the Mountain West as C-USA commissioner Judy MacLeod has been open about the conference trying new distribution methods and a need to increase the conference's profile in men's basketball.

* I am also curious to see who exactly is pushing the Ivy League to add a men's basketball tournament.  FOX Sports has picked up three regular season games from the conference and will air this year's playoff game if it is needed.  Incidentally, its the same number of C-USA controlled regular season games that will air on FS1, though C-USA allows its games to air on other FOX platforms such as their regional networks.

CBS Sports Network aired Ivy League games last year and could have room if they do not keep the C-USA semifinals.  ASN aired the game in 2014 with an ESPN3 simulcast and they are also airing Ivy League basketball again this year.

One item that I wasn't aware of, or just didn't consider, is that the NIT doesn't have to take a representative from the Ivy League in the event there are two schools that are tied for first in the standings.  Suppose this makes sense though as I think other conferences are in the same boat, regardless of whether they use divisions or not, and since the Ivy League uses the playoff instead of head-to-head tiebreakers, they truly only crown an outright champion in the regular season.  By going to a tournament, the conference could potentially claim an NIT automatic bid if the regular season champion loses in a tournament.

I've always believed that the Ivy League schools have leverage with respect to money when it comes to athletics.  In short, they don't need television money to fund athletic programs because they are so self-sufficient as schools with their endowments and a perception that athletics are secondary.  If they decide to move into the realm of a conference tournament, even if its a four team tournament or just between the top two schools (maybe a best of three like the CBI?), maybe they'll reconsider their stance on playing in the FCS playoffs.  Or not.

I'm not sure I want the Ivy League to change though, at least in men's basketball.  I like the fact that conference play, the "14 game tournament", means something and that they haven't, so far, taken the money of a conference tournament or championship game.  If they do, my only hope is that if they decide on a championship is that the Palestra is the place to play it.

* When I go through the listings for men's basketball games on ESPN College Extra, I'm extremely underwhelmed.  Sure, I get that so many conferences have elected to start their own networks that it has left ESPN largely devoid of content to put on the former Game Plan & Full Court packages.  But, at least on the basketball side, the only games that are being placed on the package are games that are being televised either locally or regionally, which is different from the football side where ESPN3 exclusives did end up on College Extra.

I guess no one should complain since they're giving away the package as long as you buy the right tiered package from your TV provider, though if you were expecting a step up and hoping for HD quality, you're not getting it from most providers and might be better off investing in a Roku, Chromecast or Apple TV that can push ESPN3 content directly to your TV screen.

2015 CFB TV Facts & Figures

I've written report card-type posts on CFB at the end of the season by conference the last couple years.  To try to provide a few more details on each conference & maybe a bit more context, I've decided to break the posts into conference-specific posts.  I'll handle the independents in a single post as well.

As comparisons are made to 2014, it should be noted that 2014's regular season was played over fifteen weeks (fourteen weeks plus Championship Saturday) where 2015's was contested over fourteen weeks (thirteen weeks plus Championship Saturday).  With that said, ESPN had more telecast windows available on a weekly basis with ABC regularly showing games at 12pm ET both ESPN and ESPN2 showing three to four games per week due to NASCAR moving its 2nd half schedule to NBC Sports.

ACC
American
Big 12
Big Ten
C-USA
Independents
MAC
Mountain West
Pac-12
SEC
Sun Belt

2015 CFB TV Facts & Figures - Independents

Army, BYU and Notre Dame are the remaining independents in college football.  Army and Notre Dame started new television contracts with their existing television partners and have all of their home games set in advance, where BYU does participate in the in-season television selection process for their home games.

Because there are limits on where these schools can place their games, I'm going list notable items instead about 2015:

* BYU had their first season with two games on BYUtv, though the second game (Fresno St. on 11/21) was simulcast on ESPN3.  BYU's TV contract has some leeway after ESPN meets its minimums of three home games on ABC, ESPN or ESPN2, one game on ESPNU and BYUtv carrying a game.  Usually ESPN took on every game after BYUtv reserved their sole game.

* Army signed a new TV deal with CBS Sports Network to continue their partnership.  Staying true to one of the key items within the press release was that each Saturday home game started at 12pm ET, which is the goal of the TV deal.

* The Black Knights once again moved their opener to a Friday night instead of playing during Labor Day Weekend.  They also elected to do this in 2013.

* Notre Dame had their first regularly scheduled "home" game on NBCSN with the Boston College game from Fenway Park.  NBCSN noted that the game provided their highest rated college football game.

* Two games in South Bend were played at night (9/3 vs. Texas, 10/17 vs. USC).  NBC will work with the school to schedule up to three home games at night on a rolling two year basis, which means one game in 2016 should be available to be played under the lights.

2015 CFB TV Facts & Figures - Sun Belt

I wish I more to say about the Sun Belt, but I don't.  The conference seems to be getting their appearances on weeknights and mostly at the minimum levels that ESPN requires to show the conference.  It is very dependent on ESPN3 to distribute games.

* One game was selected through the in-season selection process for linear television: NC State at South Alabama on 9/26, airing on ESPNEWS.

* The Charlotte at Georgia St. game on 9/4 was the only pre-selected Friday game.  Due to the use of the Georgia Dome for the Chick-Fil-A Kickoff, Georgia St. has had to move their opener two straight years from its originally scheduled date, though both times the games received ESPNU coverage.

* Arkansas St. and South Alabama each had three nationally televised games.

* Four schools either contracted out production or self-produced regional telecasts for at least one game: Appalachian St., Idaho, New Mexico St., Texas St.

* ESPN3 exclusively carried one Sun Belt controlled game vs. a Power Five school: Missouri at Arkansas St. on 9/12.

2015 CFB TV Facts & Figures - SEC

The 2015 season had a pair of minor changes with the SEC's TV contracts. One change was bringing back the sublicensed content from FSN back into ESPN's inventory for use on the SEC Network and ESPN's other national television platforms.

A second change appears to be due to ESPN televising the US Open, where CBS negotiated with ESPN to sublicense two games, though it should be noted that it doesn't appear that CBS was allowed to take the best available games on those Saturdays.  Since the games were sublicensed from ESPN, CBS also did not retain exclusivity over ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU for those two games (Louisville vs. Auburn on 9/5 and Georgia at Vanderbilt on 9/12)

Here's some notable items on the SEC, excluding the conference championship game:

* Alabama made six regular season appearances on CBS, which usually requires CBS to exercise a clause in their contract with the conference to get a sixth game.  It was floated out there that when CBS took the Iron Bowl, it may have been due to LSU vs. South Carolina on 10/10 being allowed to air on ESPN at 3:30pm ET during CBS's telecast window, which is supposed to be exclusive from ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU.  I have not been able to confirm that, so for the moment, I'm under the assumption CBS wanted the Iron Bowl and exercised their option.

* Georgia appeared on CBS five times, second only to Alabama, though it should be noted that the two games ESPN sublicensed to CBS (Louisville vs. Auburn & Georgia at Vanderbilt) did not count towards CBS's appearance maximums, meaning Georgia had only four of those games count towards their CBS number.

* South Carolina & Kentucky were the only schools not to appear on CBS, regardless of whether a game was sublicensed from ESPN or not.

* East Division winner Florida made two appearances on CBS.  Overall, the SEC West schools accounted for 22 appearances on the broadcast network, while East schools made just eleven appearances.

* After the Florida vs. Georgia game on 10/31, CBS carried seven games.  Only one of those games, the Black Friday matchup of Missouri and Arkansas selected in May by CBS, involved a school from the Eastern Division.

* It is a bit unfair to compare game counts to 2014 on ESPN due to re-absorbing of the FSN sublicensed games and then sending CBS a couple games.  Here's the breakdown of games by network:

• ESPN: 21
• ESPN2: 7
• ESPNU: 10
• SEC Network: 49

* 68% of the games on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU started at 6pm ET or later (26 of 38).  In an interesting twist, the conference also had the most noon ET starts on ESPN (five), with a six game originally scheduled for 12pm but moved due to flooding in South Carolina (LSU vs. South Carolina on 10/10).

* Arkansas & Ole Miss made the most appearances on either ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU with seven games for both schools.  LSU, Florida and South Carolina each made six appearances.

* For games on the SEC Network, Kentucky had the most appearances by far with ten games.  Missouri was the runner up with seven appearances, with South Carolina and Vanderbilt each with six games on the network, regardless of whether the game was on the alternate channel or the main feed.

2015 CFB TV Facts & Figures - Pac-12

The Pac-12 entered into the fourth year of their rights agreements with ESPN and FOX.  There seemed to be more planning on FOX's part when it came to issues around baseball postseason coverage compared to past years (no game moved to FS2, no worries about a game on FS1), but each week seemed to be a mixed bag when it came who came out with a particular game and complaints continued from coaches with respect to start times and travel, which is due to the nature of their TV deals with mid-afternoon west coast games (east coast primetime), in most cases, requiring exclusivity for a period of time

Here's a report card, excluding the conference championship game:

* Thirteen games aired on broadcast networks, down three from 2014.  FOX's total of ten games remained flat from last season, while the number of games on ABC dropped by 50%.  It should be noted that the conference's location hurts as they are really only available for around 2/3rd of the available windows.

* UCLA made the most appearances on broadcast TV with five games, followed by Utah and USC each appearing four times.  Colorado and Oregon St. were the two schools who did not appear on either broadcast network.

* Utah was the last school to fulfill its Pac-12 Networks requirements.  The Utes game vs. Colorado was required to air on Pac-12 Networks because they had appeared in the two primary packages a total of nine times, which is the maximum.

* Since the Pac-12 is zero-sum for its two primary packages with respect to cable/broadcast splits, the 31 games on pay television was an increase of three over 2014.  Since FOX's count for broadcast TV was flat vs. 2014, the same is true for the pay TV count and ESPN's side accounted for the increase in pay TV games.

* In terms of Saturday selections, there was a fairly even distribution for the schools.  Arizona St. was a popular choice for the primary pay TV networks as their games were selected five times.  For overall games on pay TV on an specific TV partner's networks, Arizona was selected five times for games airing on FS1 and Oregon made five appearances on ESPN Networks, the most for each party.  Stanford made a combined six total appearances, followed by California and USC appearing five times between FS1 and ESPN Networks.

* Here's the breakdown of games by the two primary packages, with the number of Saturday games in parenthesis:

• FOX: 10 (9)
• ABC: 3 (3)
• ESPN: 14 (10)
• ESPN2: 5 (3)
• FS1: 12 (9)

* For the first time, ESPNU did not air any Pac-12 games.

* Here's a breakdown of each properties' Saturday start equalized to local start time:

ABC & ESPN Networks

• Noon-3:29pm: 2
• 3:30pm-6:59pm: 2
• 7pm and later: 12

FOX & FS1

• Noon-3:29pm: 6
• 3:30pm-6:59pm: 6
• 7pm and later: 6

Pac-12 Networks

• Pre-Noon: 5 (four telecast windows)
• Noon-3:29pm: 12
• 3:30-6:59pm: 5 (four telecast windows)
• 7pm and later: 7

2015 CFB TV Facts & Figures - Mountain West

The Mountain West wasn't prominently involved in the fight for the Group of Five's access bowl slot and it showed with the number of selections that ESPN decided to move over to ESPN3 instead of televise late in the evening.  Conversely, CBS elected before the season to not pick up its option to show the conference's championship game for a third season with ESPN picking it up for 2015 and future seasons, though the conference remains tethered to CBS Sports Network for the rest of the decade.

Some notes on the Mountain West:

* Nine Saturday games were selected to air on ESPN's television outlets through the in-season selection process.  Four games aired on ESPN2 and five on ESPNU.  Overall, this was down two from 2014 when eleven Saturday games aired over ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPNews.

* Seven games were streamed exclusively through ESPN3, the most the conference has had streamed in the three years they've been back with ESPN.

* Sixteen regular season games aired on ESPN television, excluding the conference championship game.  This is a four game decrease from 2014.

• ESPN: 1 (-2)
• ESPN2: 9 (+2)
• ESPNU: 6 (-1)
• ESPNEWS: 0 (-3)

* Four games, by decision of the home schools, did not have any live video.  There's been some conjecture that the decision is due to the conference requiring a higher quality webcast for those games than the schools could make available, but I do not know if that was the actual reason.

* CBS Sports Network did not select any extra games after ROOT Sports and Campus Insiders set their schedules, leaving their number for 2015 at one less game (22) than 2014.  It should be noted that neither CBSSN nor ESPN is required to select a game after ROOT and CI select theirs.  ESPN made the only selection of Tulsa at New Mexico, which aired on ESPN3.

* In terms of the range of nationally televised game start times (schools are allowed to pick their own start times for ESPN3 games), equalizing it to the location of the game, here's the breakdown by network for Saturday games:

• CBSSN
• 12pm-3:29pm: 5
• 3:30pm-6:59pm: 5
• 7pm and later: 7
• ESPN2 and ESPNU: 
• 12pm-3:29pm: 2
• 7pm and later: 8

* For those keeping track of the bonuses that are earned by Mountain West schools, note that it was tweaked slightly to help out schools in the Western Division who do not play Boise St. every season, unlike Mountain Division schools.

2015 CFB TV Facts & Figures - MAC

The MAC entered 2014 with an expanded ESPN television arrangement, but many fans felt that the contract didn't quite live up to its billing as games on regional television disappeared in favor of ESPN3 streaming.  In 2015, the national and regional exposures increased through sublicensing from ESPN, which is intended to increase in 2016 as well.

Here's the MAC's scorecard.  Please note these counts exclude the conference championship game:

* Six regular season games aired on ESPN2, down two from the eight games that aired on ESPN or ESPN2 in 2014.  Another eight aired on ESPNU, up one from last season.

* Overall, the number of games on ESPN's linear TV channels (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPNEWS) was only down one from 2014 with the networks airing 15 games in 2015.

* Nineteen games were sublicensed by ESPN to regional and national television outlets.  American Sports Network picked up ten games and Buckeye Cable took another three games, both for regional television with ESPN3 distribution outside of the TV footprint.  CBS Sports Network took another six games for national television and will add another six games per season over the next three seasons.

* 44 games aired exclusively on ESPN3, down eleven from 2014.  Sublicensing to television outlets no doubt cut into this count.

* Of the 34 games shown on TV either regionally or nationally, Ohio and Western Michigan each appeared eight times.  Western Michigan made the most national TV appearances with six.

2015 CFB TV Facts & Figures - Conference USA

The 2015 season was the final year of all rights agreements pertaining to C-USA football with each agreement concluding at the end of the 2015-16 athletic year.  Very little is known about the future of the conference's rights, but it is known that the conference wants to increase their profile with respect to men's basketball and that they may be willing to try some alternative distribution methods.

Here's how things shook out in 2015:

* The combined fourteen games on FS1 and CBS Sports Network represent the lowest number of games televised by those two networks when compared vs. both 2014 (16) and 2013 (24).  To be fair and provide context, none of these years had the exact same conference members as 2013 had members transitioning out to the American Athletic Conference after the season and 2014 was the final year (for now) of UAB football.

* While this is more of a function of the setup of the C-USA schedule, nine of the fourteen games that aired on FS1 or CBSSN were played on a day other than a Saturday.

* Eight of the fourteen FS1 & CBSSN games were non-conference games.

* FS1 did not pick up any C-USA games through the in-season selection process.  Every one of these games aired on either FSN or FOX College Sports.

* Part of the zero-sum aspect of the C-USA deal with FOX as they have a fixed number of games: FSN carried fourteen games in 2015, up two from 2014.  FS1 carried seven games, down two from 2014.

* The school that was featured the most on FS1 and CBSSN was Western Kentucky, who appeared in four of the fourteen games.  WKU also appeared four times on FSN, sharing the honor for the most FSN appearances with Louisiana Tech, Marshall

* American Sports Network again televised 30 games.  Unfortunately for the second straight year, ASN did not stream these games nationally.

2015 CFB TV Facts & Figures - Big Ten

2016 will be the final year of the rights agreements the Big Ten has with ESPN and FOX (championship game only, BTN is a separate longer deal).  With 2015 being the second year of the conference's current configuration, let's drill down and look at where the conference's games landed in 2015.

* 21 games were shown on ABC either full national or via reverse mirror with ESPN2, an increase of one from 2014.  There were no regionally split games that required ESPN3 to see the game when a game was not shown on ABC.  Fourteen of the 21 were full national on ABC, an increase of four from 2014.

* Six of the seven ABC games shown on ESPN2 via reverse mirror started at 3:30pm ET.

* Four conference controlled games aired on ABC in the Saturday Night Football slot, more than any other conference who allows their games to be shown on ABC.  For the Saturday games, seven were 12pm ET starts, nine started at 3:30pm ET and the previously mentioned four at 8pm.

* After Ohio St.'s required two BTN games, every Big Ten controlled Ohio St. game aired on ABC (eight games).  None air on ESPN Networks.  Iowa and Michigan St., the two competing schools in the Big Ten championship, appeared on ABC seven times combined as part of the Big Ten TV package.

* Purdue was the only school not to appear on ABC as part of the Big Ten's TV package.  They only appeared once on ESPN or ESPN2 as well, with their Big Ten controlled games concentrated between BTN, ESPNU and ESPNEWS.

* 37 games were shown on full national on ESPN's pay TV channels, 21 of those aired on ESPN (10) or ESPN2 (11) with the remaining sixteen evenly split between ESPNU and ESPNEWS.  The 21 on ESPN and ESPN2 matched the combined total for those two networks when compared with 2014, while ESPNEWS carried three more games compared to 2014.

* BTN was scheduled to carry forty games as they were in 2014.  One minor difference was that one game had to be produced and moved to the BTN2Go streaming service (Kent St. at Illinois) due a start date change from poor weather.

2015 CFB TV Facts & Figures - American Athletic

The American's second year with ESPN is the first year they will hold a conference championship game.  During the season the conference was able to get exposures on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 through mid-season non-conference scheduling and schools that were regularly ranked in the top 25.

* Four regular season games aired on ABC during the season.  Three were non-conference games and the fourth decided the conference's Western Division on Black Friday, the first intraconference game to air on ABC.  In 2014, the three conference controlled games on ABC were non-conference games.

* Two of the four ABC regular season games were reverse mirrored with Big Ten games (Virginia Tech at East Carolina & Ole Miss at Memphis).

* The conference made its first appearance as the home team on ABC's Saturday Night Football when Temple hosted Notre Dame on 10/31.

* Five Saturday games aired on ESPN or ESPN2, four of which were selected through the in-season selection process.  All four of the in season selections aired on ESPN2.  In '14, two games were selected through the in-season selection process and both of those games aired on the final Saturday of the season where the conference now has a championship game.

* Twelve regular season games were selected to air on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU through the in-season selection process, up from nine in '14.

* The breakdown by network, excluding the conference championship game which will air on ABC:

• ABC: 4
• ESPN: 7
• ESPN2: 8
• ESPNU: 8
• ESPNEWS: 14
• CBS Sports Network: 15⁺
• ESPN3: 10
• Regional TV: 2

⁺Navy home games on CBS Sports Network are under a separate TV contract for the next few years and are not counted here.

* The dominant start time for Saturday national TV games was 12pm ET with fifteen regular season games starting at that time.

* The number of ESPN3 exclusives decreased by one, down to ten.  No intraconference games aired exclusively on ESPN3 in '15 compared to two late season intraconference webcasts in '14.

2015 CFB TV Facts & Figures - ACC

The ACC is locked in with ESPN for the next decade and its contract has a fair amount of flexibility for the networks with respect to choice of games.  I can't really give you anything else about them to set up the notes.

Here's the ACC.

* The conference had twelve games on ABC, eight of which were full national games and four reverse mirror games. Seven of the twelve were at 3:30pm ET with another three at 12pm ET and two at 8pm. The twelve games on ABC is nearly double the number of games on ABC when compared to 2014 (seven).

* Clemson appeared in six of the twelve ABC games.  After that, Miami (FL) and Florida St. each appeared three times.  Overall, at least one of those three schools appeared in ten of the twelve games on ABC.  The exceptions were Notre Dame at Virginia game on 9/12 and North Carolina at NC State on 11/28.

* All three ACC home games vs. Notre Dame were shown full national on ABC.

* The conference championship game will air on ABC for the fourth straight year in primetime.

* Twelve ACC games were aired on ESPN, which is down by six from 2014 (Eighteen games).  Of those twelve, four were on Saturdays.  The remaining games aired on Thursdays, Fridays or Labor Day.

* Eight games aired on ESPN2, up from six in 2014.  Six of the eight were Saturday telecasts.

* ESPNU aired eight ACC controlled games, which was down from fifteen in 2014.  Also, ESPNEWS aired three games, up one from 2014.

* When grouping together the games on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPNEWS (), eleven started around 12pm ET, seven in mid-afternoon (approximately 3:30pm) and four were evening games.

* The number of games provided to Raycom for sublicensing remained constant at 32.  They were distributed at the same rate as 2014 with 15 airing via the ACC Network syndication package and 17 being provided to regional sports networks.

* Five schools played half of their schedule on Raycom-controlled packages: Syracuse, NC State, Wake Forest, Virginia and Boston College.  Of those five, only NC State is bowl eligible.

* Virginia actually played their six ACC Network/RSN games over six straight weeks.  They played Pitt on 10/10 on the ACC Network, then played their next five on the RSN package.

* Florida St. made its first appearance on the ACC Network since 2011 with their game vs. NC State on 11/14/15.  The previous apperaance in the syndication package was 10/8/11 vs. Wake Forest.

2015 CFB TV Facts & Figures - Big 12

I've considered the Big 12's TV deals to be the most flexible and they'll undergo a few minor changes in 2016.

• The number of games that ESPN will be allowed to select will increase from a maximum of 19 to 23 
• Commentary: It would not surprise me if Longhorn Network ended up with one or two more games, if the competing schools agree to it.
• ESPN and FOX will alternate the weekly top selection on a yearly basis, with FOX getting the top selection in even numbered years (2016 being the first) and ESPN getting it in odd numbered years.  Those two networks will then collaborate to determine weekly selection orders. (edited: 2/13/15)
• ESPN will no longer have to adhere to a limit of six appearances for a school on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2(?, at least ABC & ESPN), so there won't be a need to count the number of times a school appears on those networks.

The reason for the changes is that when the Big 12 changed its rights agreements in 2012, it kept some of the contractual terms in place from the ABC contract that would have expired in 2016.

Here's how the Big 12 looked in 2015.

* There was a slight decrease in the number of games on broadcast television.  ABC carried eight games, down one from 2014, while FOX carried seven games, down one as well.

* Oklahoma (six) and TCU (five) had the most appearances on the two broadcast networks.  

* The distribution of games on broadcast networks slanted towards mid-afternoon & east coast primetime.  Six of the fifteen games started at 7:30pm or 8pm ET and another six started between 3:30pm & 4:45pm (FOX had a couple odd start times).  

* On national pay TV, FS1 carried 22 games (nineteen on Saturdays), ESPN showed six (four on Sat and ESPN2 and ESPNU each showed two.  

* Nine of the nineteen FS1 games were 12pm ET / 11am CT starts.  This falls in line with the conferences available to FS1 as they carried ten total 12pm ET starts.

* Overall, the Big 12 requires 25 games to be full national on broadcast or pay TV, specifically ABC, FOX, ESPN, ESPN2 or FS1.  46 games were shown on those platforms.

* Eight games on FSN were outside of the games returned to the schools to place on institutional packages, some of which ended up on FSN.  The Kansas at Texas game could also be lumped in here due to it being distributed on Longhorn Network and Kansas' Jayhawk Network, but was not the institutionally held game for either school.  Of the nine total games, four featured the Jayhawks.

* Not by coincidence, Kansas was the only Big 12 school who did not appear on either ABC or FOX.  Every game involving Kansas aired on either FS1, FSN, Jayhawk Network or the combined Longhorn Network/Jayhawk Network production.

CFB TV Selections for 11/27/15 & 11/28/15 (Week Thirteen)

Last one for 2015.  Not going to do one for the bowls or Championship Saturday.

This post will be updated as announcements come out for start times for 11/27 & 11/28 from the twelve day selection process that most TV networks adhere to.  Please understand that games can be held until next Sunday if a broadcaster wants to wait on the results of the 11/21 games.  Most conferences have the possibility of having all or part of their games held for a six day hold of the start time.

The list of available TV windows are based on media websites, TV listings and press releases.  They can change based on the needs of the broadcaster or the conference.

Here's what I guessed, which will prove to be incorrect, and the schedule for week thirteen.  Games that have already been set for TV are listed on the schedule page and not listed here (see the link in the last sentence).  I'll update the schedule page when all / nearly all decisions are made.

Friday 11/27
12am ABC/ESPN2: Miami (FL) at Pittsburgh
12pm ABC/ESPN2: Navy at Houston
12pm CBSSN: Western Michigan at Toledo
12pm ASN: Kent St. at Akron
1pm ESPN3: Eastern Michigan at Central Michigan
2pm ESPN3: Troy at Georgia St.
3:30pm ABC: Iowa at Nebraska
3:30pm FOX: Washington St. at Washington
4pm FS1: Oregon St. at Oregon
4:30pm ESPNU: Massachusetts at Buffalo
8pm ESPNU: Tulsa at Tulane

Saturday 11/28

Oklahoma at Oklahoma St. will air on ABC, ESPN or ESPN2 at either 12pm or 3:30pm or ABC at 8pm ET.

Notre Dame at Stanford & UCLA at USC will air on either ABC, ESPN or ESPN2 at 3:30pm, FOX at 7:30pm or ABC at 8pm.  FOX will get one game & the other will air on ABC or ESPN Networks.

Three ACC games are being held & will air on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU at either 12pm or 3:30pm ET.  They are Georgia at Georgia Tech, North Carolina at NC State and Virginia Tech at Virginia.

12pm ABC/ESPN: Ohio St. at Michigan
12pm ESPN/ESPN2: Clemson at South Carolina
12pm FS1: Iowa St. at West Virginia
12pm ESPNEWS: SMU at Memphis
12pm SEC: Louisville at Kentucky
12pm CBSSN: Cincinnati at East Carolina
12pm BTN: Indiana at Purdue
12pm BTN: Maryland at Rutgers
12:30pm ACC Network: Duke at Wake Forest
12:30pm ACC RSNs: Boston College at Syracuse
2pm ESPN3: UL-Lafayette at Appalachian St.
2pm ESPN3: South Alabama at Georgia Southern
2:30pm Pac-12: Colorado at Utah
3:30pm CBS: Alabama at Auburn
3:30pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2: Penn St. at Michigan St.
3:30pm ESPN2/ESPNU: Northwestern vs. Illinois
3:30pm BTN: Wisconsin at Minnesota
4pm FS1: Kansas St. at Kansas
4pm SEC: Vanderbilt at Tennessee
5pm ESPN3: Texas St. at Idaho
7pm ESPNU: Connecticut at Temple
7:15pm ESPN2: Ole Miss at Mississippi St.
7:30pm ESPN: Florida St. at Florida
7:30pm SEC: Texas A&M at LSU
10pm FS1: Arizona St. at California
10:15pm ESPNU: Air Force at New Mexico
10:45pm ESPN2: Nevada at San Diego St.

CFB TV Guesses for 2015 Week Thirteen (11/27/15 & 11/28/15)

Here is what is already set for television.  Unfortunately for many of you, I believe each Power 5 conference plus the American could still have a six day hold available to use on 11/27-11/28.  I know the Pac-12 does.  I believe everyone else does too.

* A second appearance on Pac-12 Networks is required of Utah.  A Pac-12 school cannot have more that nine Pac-12 controlled appearances total in the ESPN and FOX packages.  The UCLA game on FOX on 11/21 will be the Utes' ninth appearance.
* ESPN has used up 21 of its 22 Pac-12 selections (2 on ABC, 19 on ESPN/ESPN2).  For 11/28, they'll have one selection to use, FOX will have two remaining of their 22 (nine already scheduled for the broadcast network and 11 on FS1), and the Pac-12 Networks will have one game.  I believe ESPN will get top choice, if they haven't already locked in Notre Dame at Stanford.
* Oklahoma will make its sixth Big 12 controlled appearance on either ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU.  This should lock Bedlam (Oklahoma at Oklahoma St.) into a FOX platform provided, as I've mentioned earlier, it appears that ESPN cannot select a Big 12 school more than six times for their Big 12 package.
* If ESPN hasn't locked in Notre Dame at Stanford and FOX takes it, ESPN could take UCLA at USC (maybe for 8pm ET ABC?) as it could decide the Pac-12 South since both schools hold tiebreakers over Utah in the event of a two or three way tie.  Notre Dame at Stanford or Bedlam could air on either FS1 at 4pm ET or FOX at 7:30pm, moving Arizona St. at California to the 10pm ET FS1 slot.  Just an alternate scenario.
* Because FOX has four windows total over both FS1 and FOX broadcast network on 11/28 and two games are to be Pac-12 games, a couple of the Big 12 games will air on ESPN Networks.  This would get the Big 12 to their max of 19 Big 12 controlled games. Remember that the Texas at Kansas game counts in the 19 for ESPN since it was on Longhorn Network and it wasn't Texas's institutionally controlled game.
* It looks like the MAC will also have an opening on ESPN Networks in addition to the CBSSN and ASN telecast windows on 11/27.  It would appear that ASN's MAC window on Black Friday is a 12pm ET window per advance listing from CSN Chicago.
* I gave Navy at Houston preference over Miami (FL) at Pittsburgh because it could decide the American's Western Division champion.
* Ohio St. at Michigan is already locked into a 12pm start.
* Both C-USA games for 11/28 have already been slotted for FSN.
* Unless CBS elects to use a special provision to get a sixth regular season appearance for a SEC school, Alabama in this case, the Iron Bowl will air on ESPN.
* Air Force at New Mexico, I believe, will have bearing on the winner of the MW Mountain Division.  Gave it preference over Nevada at San Diego St. as SDSU could clinch the MW West if they win at UNLV on 11/21.

All times Eastern.

Friday 11/27
11:30am ESPN2: Miami (FL) at Pittsburgh
12pm ABC: Navy at Houston
12pm CBSSN: Massachusetts at Buffalo
12pm ASN: Eastern Michigan at Central Michigan
3:30pm ABC: Iowa at Nebraska
3:30pm FOX: Oregon St. at Oregon
4pm FS1: Washington St. at Washington
4:30pm ESPNU: Western Michigan at Toledo
8pm ESPNU: Tulsa at Tulane

Saturday 11/28
12pm ABC: Ohio St. at Michigan
12pm ESPN: Ole Miss at Mississippi St.
12pm ESPN2: Georgia at Georgia Tech
12pm FS1: Iowa St. at West Virginia
12pm ESPNU: Kansas St. at Kansas
12pm ESPNEWS: Connecticut at Temple
12pm SEC: Clemson at South Carolina 
12pm CBSSN: Cincinnati at East Carolina
12pm BTN: Indiana at Purdue
12:30pm ACC Network: Duke at Wake Forest
12:30pm ACC RSNs: Boston College at Syracuse
3:30pm ABC: Penn St. at Michigan St.
3:30pm CBS: Florida St. at Florida
3:30pm ESPN: North Carolina at NC State
3:30pm ESPN2: Virginia Tech at Virginia
3:30pm ESPNU: Northwestern vs. Illinois
3:30pm BTN: Maryland at Rutgers
3:30pm BTN: Wisconsin at Minnesota
4pm FS1: Arizona St. at California
4pm SEC: Louisville at Kentucky
4pm Pac-12: Colorado at Utah
7pm ESPN2: Texas A&M at LSU
7pm ESPNU: SMU at Memphis
7:30pm FOX: Oklahoma at Oklahoma St.
7:30pm SEC: Vanderbilt at Tennessee
7:45pm ESPN: Alabama at Auburn
8pm ABC: Notre Dame at Stanford
10pm FS1: UCLA at USC
10:15pm ESPN2: Air Force at New Mexico
10:30pm ESPNU: Nevada at San Diego St.

Six Day Guesses for 11/21

* I added in the few games that were set with respect to start time but waiting on a TV network, such as Memphis at Temple, North Carolina at Virginia Tech and Wake Forest at Clemson.
* Should be noted that 11/21 selections could end up affecting 11/28 selections:

• For example, it appears that ESPN will use three total Pac-12 selections for 11/21 with Colorado at Washington St. already selected.  What that means is that ESPN will have used 21 of their 22 selections, leaving them with a single choice on 11/28.  FOX will have two on 11/28, in addition to the games they'll carry on Black Friday, and Pac-12 Networks have a single choice as well.
• As I've probably beaten into the ground, if TCU at Oklahoma airs on ABC, it may signal that FOX has Bedlam on 11/28 (Oklahoma at Oklahoma St.).  This might have been why ESPN was able to select Texas at Baylor on 12/5 early.
• By placing both Memphis at Temple & Navy at Tulsa on one of the primary television outlets for the American's television contract (ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU), this puts them at 24 games scheduled to air on those networks.  The 2014 media guide said that a minimum of 28 games would have to air on those networks.  Two Black Friday games should air those outlets as well, which should lead to either one or two games on 11/28 as I do not know if the conference's championship game, scheduled to air on ABC or ESPN on 12/5, can be included in the count.

The rest of the FBS selections for 11/21 have been announced.

12pm ABC: TCU at Oklahoma
12pm ESPN: Michigan at Penn St.
12pm ESPN2: North Carolina at Virginia Tech
12pm ESPNU: Memphis at Temple
12pm ESPNEWS: Illinois at Minnesota
12pm BTN: Northwestern at Wisconsin
3:30pm ABC: Michigan St. at Ohio St.
3:30pm FOX: UCLA at Utah
3:30pm ESPN: Wake Forest at Clemson
3:30pm ESPN2: Purdue at Iowa
3:30pm ESPNU: Navy at Tulsa
3:30pm BTN: Indiana at Maryland
3:45pm ESPNEWS: Louisville at Pittsburgh
7pm CBSSN: Houston at Connecticut
7:30pm FOX: Baylor at Oklahoma St.
8pm ABC: California at Stanford
10:30pm ESPN: USC at Oregon

Notable Men's Basketball Television & Webcast Changes

2015-16 Schedule
Week 1

* With the focus on more webcasts, I'm listing as many free webcasts as possible.  This was the impetus for changing the navigation at the top of the schedule pages, which I've made as many modifications for to keep the page loading time normal, to allow you to change time zone or remove web exclusive games in the middle of the page, and to account for increasing mobile traffic.

Some items to help you when viewing the pages:

• If you're just looking for your favorite school's game(s), use the browser's Find command
• Consider clicking on the "Hide Web Exclusive Games".  It will cut down your scroll.
• Any game listed with the ESPN College Extra logo in the Coverage Notes area is also available on ESPN3.
• To cut down on the load times of the pages, I'm not listing WatchESPN, FOX Sports Go or NBC Sports Live Extra on games that they would apply to.  For example, I'm going to trust you are aware that a game on FS1 or FS2 is on FSGo.  Same with an ESPN game on WatchESPN.
• I fear that compiling the additional free streams will take up a lot of time.  I have tried to get as much of a head start on them as possible.  I will do my best to have these ready a few days before a week would start.

Thank you for your patience.

* To view these free online webcasts, Chromecast, Roku and Apple TV are a must.  Apps like LiveStream (WCC, Patriot League, MW), Youtube and ESPN3.  Conferences like the OVC have launched Roku channels while ESPN maintains Roku portals for several other conferences.

* Multiple conferences and individual schools have joined in with ESPN's University Production Initiative.  UNC Greensboro invested in a production trailer.  Canisius, my alma mater, put together a studio & new major for ESPN3 productions.  The SoCon & MVC will have many self produced games outside of those being nationally & regionally televised and the Sun Belt is going to ramp up.  Nine MAC schools will self produce the majority of their home basketball games.

* CBS Sports Network is deepening its sublicensing ties with ESPN, picking up games from the MAC and Missouri Valley Conference.  For 2015-16, the MAC package is a bit limited (seven games) but will expand next year (up to twelve games).  For the MVC it includes the semifinals of the conference tournament and lines up with CBS taking on the championship game from ESPN.  The two conferences join the American as a sublicense partner from ESPN.

* In addition to the CBSSN sublicenses, Sinclair's American Sports Network is also picking up MAC & American content from ESPN.  Similar to other ASN sublicenses from ESPN, the games will be webcast on ESPN3.  ASN has also picked up the rights to the Barclays Center Classic, previously carried by NBCSN, along with the Music City Challenge event.  They'll also have a pair of games at the beginning of the Atlantic 10 tournament in addition to their C-USA tournament coverage.  

* As previously announced, FOX has elevated the Big East championship game to the broadcast network with an early evening start time.  FS1 has also picked up a few Ivy League telecasts.

* For conference tournaments, the Horizon League's move to a neutral site tournament in Detroit has allowed the semifinal round to move to a Monday night, with both games airing live on ESPNU. And while it isn't a tournament, FS1 has landed the rights to a potential Ivy League playoff if it is needed.

* Pac-12 Networks will again do whiparound coverage of the opening night of games on their networks through their national feed starting at 7pm ET.  If you want to see individual games in full, use your online access or go to the RSN channels.  It also appears that men's basketball games will be shown on the national feed (if there are not multiple games going on at the same time) & the corresponding RSN feed where a school resides only, so a game involving Arizona will not be shown on the Rocky Mountain RSN for example, unless they are facing Utah or Colorado.

* Similar to last season, ESPN is going with wildcards for the basketball version of College Gameday.  The setup looks like this for potential games, but it is always subject to change based on in-season results:

1/24: Arizona at California, Vanderbilt at Kentucky or Maryland at Michigan St.

1/31: Iowa St. at Texas A&M, Oklahoma at LSU or Kentucky at Kansas

2/6: NC State at Duke or North Carolina at Notre Dame

2/13: Virginia at Duke or Texas at Iowa St.

2/20: Kentucky at Tennessee, Purdue at Indiana or Connecticut at Cincinnati

On the final two Saturdays of the regular season (2/27 & 3/5), all games scheduled for ESPN or ESPN2 will remain without tip times until about two weeks until before game date, which is the same as last year.

CFB TV Selections for 11/21/15 (Week Twelve)

This post will be updated as announcements come out for start times for 11/21 from the twelve day selection process that most TV networks adhere to.  Please understand that games can be held until next Sunday if a broadcaster wants to wait on the results of the 11/14 games.  Most conferences have the possibility of having all or part of their games held for a six day hold of the start time.

The list of available TV windows are based on media websites, TV listings and press releases.  They can change based on the needs of the broadcaster or the conference.

Here's what I guessed, which will prove to be incorrect, and the schedule for week twelve.  Games that have already been set for TV are listed on the schedule page and not listed here (see the link in the last sentence).  I'll update the schedule page when all / nearly all decisions are made.

Six Day Holds
Baylor at Oklahoma St. & TCU at Oklahoma - 12pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2, 3:30pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2, 7:30pm FOX or 8pm ABC

Michigan St. at Ohio St. & Michigan at Penn St. - 12pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 or 3:30pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2

All other Big Ten games - 12pm (ABC, BTN and all ESPN channels) or 3:30pm (same as 12pm
except ESPNEWS)

Houston at Connecticut & Navy at Tulsa - 7pm CBSSN or a multitude of places.

Louisville at Pittsburgh - 3:30pm ESPN2 or ESPNU or 3:45pm ESPNEWS

UCLA at Utah, USC at Oregon & California at Stanford - 3:30pm ABC/ESPN, 3:30pm FOX, 8pm ABC or 10:30pm ESPN.

12pm ABC/ESPN/2/U: North Carolina at Virginia Tech 
12pm ESPN/2/U/NEWS: Memphis at Temple
12pm FS1: Iowa St. at Kansas St.
12pm FSN: West Virginia at Kansas
12pm SEC: FAU at Florida
12pm SEC Alt: The Citadel at South Carolina
12:30pm ACC Network: Georgia Tech at Miami (FL)
12:30pm ACC Network: Syracuse at NC State
1pm ESPN3: Miami (OH) at Massachusetts
3pm BYUtv & ESPN3: Fresno St. at BYU
3pm ACC RSNs: Chattanooga at Florida St.
3:30pm CBS: LSU at Ole Miss
3:30pm ABC/ESPN/2/U: Wake Forest at Clemson
3:30pm FS1: Arizona at Arizona St.
3:30pm CBSSN: Buffalo at Akron
3:30pm ESPN3: Nevada at Utah St.
3:30pm ESPN3: Duke at Virginia
4pm SEC: Charleston Southern at Alabama
4pm SEC Alt: Idaho at Auburn
6pm Pac-12: Washington at Oregon St.
7pm ESPN: Mississippi St. at Arkansas
7pm ESPNU: Georgia Southern at Georgia
7:15pm ESPN2: Tennessee at Missouri
7:30pm SEC: Texas A&M at Vanderbilt
7:30pm SEC Alt: Charlotte at Kentucky
8pm ESPNEWS: Tulane at SMU
10:45pm ESPN2: Colorado at Washington St.

CFB TV Guesses for 2015 Week Twelve (11/21/15)

Here is what is already set for television.  

* Each SEC Network window is scheduled to have two games concurrently.
* The 3:30pm CBSSN window is set aside for the MAC.  The American will be slotted at 7pm.
* Both FOX and ESPN come into this week with four remaining Saturday selections to use on the Pac-12.  Since there is only one Pac-12 Network window scheduled each of the next two weeks, expect one of the two sides to choose three games this week of the six available and only choose one on 11/28 of the five games on offer (the other would take two each week).  And I can absolutely see the possibility of a six day hold for 11/21 being used here with the possibility of Stanford wrapping up the Pac-12 North.
* The Big 12 has a real possibility of a six day hold, pending the outcome of Oklahoma at Baylor.  I'm assuming both Baylor & Oklahoma St. wins on 11/14 in this scenario below.  Taking Baylor at Oklahoma St. also gives ESPN maximum flexibility with their remaining Big 12 selections.  They would not be locked out of any games of potential importance in the final two weeks (ie. Oklahoma at Oklahoma St. aka Bedlam & Texas at Baylor), though FOX could be selecting ahead of them.  Especially since they pre-selected Baylor at TCU on Black Friday.
* It is my understanding that the Big Ten is currently not flexible with respect to allowing in-season night game selections, which is why Michigan St. at Ohio St. is at 3:30pm.  Not sure I'd play it at night right now either if both Baylor and Oklahoma St are undefeated.
* To shoehorn everything in, I put the ACC Network in a split window at 12:30pm along with two BTN games at 12pm.  Also moved up the ESPN2 10:30pm window to 10:15pm.
* Chattanooga at Florida St. isn't missing.  I believe its going to be on ESPN3 like anything else not listed from the FBS conferences.
* I gave Virginia a reprieve from the ACC RSN package.  They've been selected for the package five straight weeks (10/17 - 11/14) and on 10/10 were on the ACC Network vs. Pittsburgh.  To do a split ACC window with a NC State game eliminated the possibility of Duke at Virginia being the other half since Duke & NC State are in the same local market (yes, I know that Duke's following isn't as big in the Triangle, etc.).

All times Eastern.

12pm ABC/ESPN2: Michigan at Penn St.
12pm ABC/ESPN2: Wake Forest at Clemson
12pm ESPN: North Carolina at Virginia Tech
12pm FS1: Iowa St. at Kansas St.
12pm ESPNU: FAU at Florida
12pm ESPNEWS: Houston at Connecticut
12pm FSN: West Virginia at Kansas
12pm SEC: Charlotte at Kentucky
12pm SEC: The Citadel at South Carolina
12pm BTN: Purdue at Iowa
12pm BTN: Indiana at Maryland
12:30pm ACC Network: Syracuse at NC State
12:30pm ACC Network: Louisville at Pittsburgh
3pm ACC RSNs: Georgia Tech at Miami (FL)
3:30pm CBS: LSU at Ole Miss
3:30pm FOX: TCU at Oklahoma
3:30pm ABC: Michigan St. at Ohio St.
3:30pm ESPN: California at Stanford
3:30pm ESPN2: Northwestern at Wisconsin
3:30pm FS1: USC at Oregon
3:30pm ESPNU: Duke at Virginia
3:30pm CBSSN: Buffalo at Akron
3:30pm BTN: Illinois at Minnesota
4pm ESPNEWS: Tulane at SMU
4pm SEC: Texas A&M at Vanderbilt
4pm SEC: Idaho at Auburn
4pm Pac-12: Arizona at Arizona St.
7pm ESPN: Memphis at Temple
7pm ESPN2: Mississippi St. at Arkansas
7pm ESPNU: Georgia Southern at Georgia
7pm CBSSN: Navy at Tulsa
7:30pm FOX: UCLA at Utah
7:30pm SEC: Tennessee at Missouri
7:30pm SEC: Charleston Southern at Alabama
8pm ABC: Baylor at Oklahoma St.
8pm ESPNEWS: Nevada at Utah St.

10:15pm ESPN2: Fresno St. at BYU

10:15pm ESPNU: Washington at Oregon St.

10:30pm ESPN: California at Washington St.

Appearance Count Notes, C-USA Rights Update, Plus a New Bowl Game Outlet

* Regarding appearance counts for the final few weeks of the 2015 college football season:

• FOX will meet all of its requirements for the broadcast network portion of its Pac-12 agreement with their scheduled Black Friday game.  They will televise four Pac-12 games in east coast primetime of the seven games they've selected already.
• One of Utah's final two games must air on Pac-12 Networks.  Decent chance it is the Colorado game, but we'll see.  Could be the UCLA game depending on selection order.  Since the Utes are still in the driver's seat in the Pac-12 South, networks may look to see if the Colorado game will matter going into the final week of the season.
• LSU at Alabama has a lot of implications towards the remaining selections CBS can make.  If LSU wins, you might see their final three games on CBS...if they beat Ole Miss on 11/21.  An Alabama win could provide CBS a conundrum.  Do you take Alabama at Mississippi St., knowing that you could be locked out of the Iron Bowl, where Alabama could still be playing for the SEC West title if Alabama beats LSU and LSU beats Ole Miss.  Or is Egg Bowl more of a priority?  Fascinating stuff.
• Chris Fowler did tweet that he'll be calling Baylor at Oklahoma on 11/14, which would seem to place the Sooners on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU five times.  This would mean that either the TCU or Oklahoma St. game would be on a FOX platform, provided that ESPN still has a six appearance maximum for Big 12 schools.
• 21 American games have appeared on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU, with the potential for at least one more once 11/14 games have been finalized.  Should be relatively easy to get to 28 over the final few weeks when considering they should have two games on those networks on Black Friday.
• The MAC will have a game on ASN on Black Friday in addition to a CBS Sports Network window at 12pm ET.

* A new men's basketball event to be held in the Cayman Islands will start in November 2017.  No rightsholder was announced nor was a date specified for the event.

* Conference USA is still in process of negotiating with rightholders for their next agreement, which would start in about eight months.  FOX and CBS are still in active discussions.   A while back, I tried handicapping the potential future rightsholders.  New C-USA commissioner Judy MacLeod wants to raise the profile of the conference in men's basketball and to get the conference to have multiple schools in the NCAA tournament.  To do that, she may need to convince FOX and/or CBS to take on more games on their national platforms.  That might be tougher to do for CBS since they've added MAC and MVC games to their network.  FOX, on the other hand, could offer FS2 as a place for games in addition to FS1 and FSN if she desires more national telecasts.

I suppose we can't discount Sinclair's American Sports Network either, especially due to the next item.

* The Arizona Bowl seems to be a bit of a test lab.  The game initially announced that Campus Insiders would provide a national digital platform for the game and this week Sinclair's American Sports Network was announced as the television rightsholder.  Of note is that both entities are rightsholders of the two primary tie-in conferences (C-USA: ASN, MW: Campus Insiders).

This will be the first bowl game shown through a syndication outlet in nearly two decades⁺.  Through the early 90s, syndicators like Mizlou, Katz, Metrosports, Raycom and others often carried secondary bowl games with ESPN, in some cases, providing supplemental coverage or outright simulcasting the syndicator's coverage.

The last syndicated bowl game, from what I've been able to find over at 506Sports.com, is the 1994 Freedom Bowl which was syndicated by Raycom Sports.

⁺If you consider FSN a syndication outlet, and it has become one of sorts, you might consider the first two Silicon Valley Football Classics as the last syndicated bowl games.  That's your opinion, though FSN was more of a national platform back then.

Six day guesses for 11/14

* If Florida beats Vanderbilt on 11/7, it renders the South Carolina game meaningless with respect to the SEC East race.  So I devalue the South Carolina game a little bit and have that on ESPN2 at 12pm (not pictured).
* I have FS1 getting the 2nd best Big 12 game available, or at least the 2nd best team available.
* Alabama at Mississippi St. would be Alabama's final appearance on CBS provided CBS doesn't try to get a sixth appearance for the Tide. Granted, there are a lot of different scenarios out there for the SEC West.
* EDIT: I'm pretty terrible at this and forgot NC State at Florida St. originally.  I shoehorned it in at 12pm in a split national scenario with Ohio St. at Illinois because I don't believe the Big Ten requries a reverse mirror at 12pm, just 3:30pm ET.  If they require a reverse mirror or full national telecast, swap Oklahoma St. at Iowa St. with Ohio St. at Illinois as I know both the ACC & Big 12 allow for games to be televised on ABC regionally without a reverse mirror.

12pm ABC: Ohio St. at Illinois
12pm ABC: NC State at Florida St.
12pm ESPN: Michigan at Indiana
12pm FS1: Kansas at TCU
12pm ESPNU: Oklahoma St. at Iowa St.
12:30pm ACC Network: Pittsburgh at Duke
3:30pm CBS: Alabama at Mississippi St.
3:30pm ABC/ESPN2: Maryland at Michigan St.
3:30pm ABC/ESPN2: Clemson at Syracuse
3:30pm ESPN: Memphis at Houston
3:30pm ESPNU: Texas at West Virginia
7pm ESPN2: Miami (FL) at North Carolina
7:15pm ESPN: Arkansas at LSU
7:30pm CBSSN: Temple at USF
8pm ABC: Oklahoma at Baylor

CFB TV Selections for 11/10/15 - 11/14/15 (Week Eleven)

This post will be updated as announcements come out for start times from 11/10 - 11/14 from the twelve day selection process that most TV networks adhere to.  Please understand that games can be held until next Sunday if a broadcaster wants to wait on the results of the 11/7 games.  I'm also not sure if they'll announce anything for the Tuesday & Wednesday MAC slots until after this week's midweek games are played.

The list of available TV windows are based on media websites, TV listings and press releases.  They can change based on the needs of the broadcaster or the conference.

Here's what I guessed, which will prove to be incorrect, and the schedule for week eleven.  Games that have already been set for TV are listed on the schedule page and not listed here (see the link in the last sentence).  I'll update the schedule page when all / nearly all decisions are made.

Six day holds
All Big 12 except Kansas St. at Texas Tech
Three Big Ten 
Four ACC 
Two American
Two SEC

Saturday
12pm CBS: Georgia at Auburn
12pm ESPN/ESPN2: Florida at South Carolina
12pm FSN: UTEP at Old Dominion
12pm SEC: North Texas at Tennessee
12pm BTN: Purdue at Northwestern 

12pm ASN: Akron at Miami (OH)

12:30pm ACC RSNs: Virginia at Louisville
2pm ESPN3: Utah St. at Air Force
3pm Pac-12: Washington at Arizona St.
3pm ESPN3: Massachusetts at Eastern Michigan
3:30pm FS1: Kansas St. at Texas Tech
3:30pm FSN: FIU at Marshall
3:30pm BTN: Nebraska at Rutgers
4pm SEC: Kentucky at Vanderbilt
7pm ESPNU: Western Carolina at Texas A&M
7:30pm FOX: Stanford at Oregon
7:30pm SEC: BYU vs. Missouri
7:30pm ESPNEWS: Tulsa at Cincinnati
10pm FS1: Utah at Arizona
10:15pm ESPNU: New Mexico at Boise St.
10:30pm Pac-12: Oregon St. at California
10:45pm ESPN: Washington St. at UCLA

CFB TV Guesses for 2015 Week Eleven (11/10/15 - 11/14/15)

Here is what is already set for television.  

* CBS has a doubleheader including a 12pm game.  CBS will take their 3:30pm game first, ESPN will select two games, then CBS will come back for their 12pm game.
* If CBS were to select Alabama at Mississippi St., it would lock them out of taking the Iron Bowl as Alabama would have reached their maximum of five appearances on CBS, unless they were to play one of their exceptions to get Alabama on six times.  CBS may elect to wait until after the result of LSU at Alabama on 11/7 to make their choice.
* As we've seen for several weeks, the Pac-12 Networks windows are not set in stone.  They could move around.
* I dropped the ESPN2 10:30pm window.  Part of that is due to placing Memphis at Houston on ABC.  I thought a game between two ranked teams was worth being shown on network TV, plus the Big Ten games do not require 100% national coverage outside of the 3:30pm ABC window.
* If Baylor at Oklahoma airs on ABC, it would be the Sooners' fifth ABC/ESPN appearance.  It is my understanding that a Big 12 school cannot appear more that six times on either ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU as part of the Big 12 TV deals, so FOX should end up with either the TCU or Oklahoma St. game in coming weeks.
* I tossed in several weeknight games.
* EDIT: I guess Syracuse has some festivities planned that would affect parking areas for season ticket holders.  You could flip the places of NC State at Florida & Clemson at Syracuse if this is an issue.

All times Eastern.

Tuesday
8pm ESPN2: Toledo at Central Michigan
8pm ESPNU: Kent St. at Ohio

Wednesday

8pm ESPN2: Bowling Green at Western Michigan

8pm ESPNU: Northern Illinois at Buffalo

Saturday

12pm CBS: Georgia at Auburn
12pm ABC: Michigan at Indiana
12pm ABC: Memphis at Houston
12pm ESPN: Clemson at Syracuse
12pm ESPN2: Maryland at Michigan St.
12pm FS1: Oklahoma St. at Iowa St.
12pm ESPNU: Pittsburgh at Duke
12pm ESPNEWS: Temple at USF
12pm FSN: FIU at Marshall
12pm SEC: BYU vs. Missouri
12pm BTN: Nebraska at Rutgers
12:30pm ACC Network: Miami (FL) at North Carolina
12:30pm ACC RSNs: Virginia at Louisville
3pm Pac-12: Washington at Arizona St.
3:30pm CBS: Arkansas at LSU
3:30pm ABC/ESPN2: Ohio St. at Illinois
3:30pm ABC/ESPN2: NC State at Florida St.
3:30pm ESPN: Texas at West Virginia
3:30pm FS1: Kansas at TCU
3:30pm ESPNU: Kansas St. at Texas Tech
3:30pm FSN: UTEP at Old Dominion
3:30pm BTN: Purdue at Northwestern
4pm ESPNEWS: Utah St. at Air Force
4pm SEC: Western Carolina at Texas A&M
7pm ESPN: Alabama at Mississippi St.
7pm ESPN2: Florida at South Carolina
7pm ESPNU: Kentucky at Vanderbilt
7pm CBSSN: Tulsa at Cincinnati
7:30pm FOX: Oregon at Stanford
7:30pm SEC: North Texas at Tennessee
8pm ABC: Oklahoma at Baylor
10pm FS1: Utah at Arizona
10:15pm ESPNU: New Mexico at Boise St.
10:30pm ESPN: Washington St. at UCLA
10:30pm Pac-12: Oregon St. at California
TBA ASN: Akron at Miami (OH)

Quick Recap of 11/7 CFB TV Openings

While waiting on Pac-12 Networks(?) to set start times for Stanford at Colorado and UCLA at Oregon St., here's a rough placement of the remaining games based on start times & the noted TV outlets:

Here's the schedule as currently announced.  All times Eastern

12pm has four slots open between ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU with these games guaranteed to start in a slot here:

• Notre Dame at Pittsburgh (ABC, ESPN or ESPN2)
• Either Duke at North Carolina or NC State at Boston College (ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU.  The other on ACC Network)
• Either Vanderbilt at Florida or Kentucky at Georgia (ESPN/ESPN2 or SEC Network) 

3:30pm has five open slots (same nets as 12pm plus one for BTN) with two games set for this time slot, but without a network decided:

• Army at Air Force (ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU)
• Florida St. at Clemson (ABC, ESPN or ESPN2)
• Wisconsin at Maryland (ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU or BTN)

7pm has three openings.

• Iowa St. at Oklahoma (ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU)
• Michigan St. at Nebraska (ESPN or ESPN2)

10:30pm on ESPN & ESPN2 are relatively straightforward.  Both Pac-12 games.

Because the Big Ten sets its night games very far in advance, I expect them to take the 12pm and 3:30pm openings.  The two American games should fill one of the 7pm openings.  As for the 2nd American game, I think ESPNEWS at 8pm is still an option.  Don't forget that the ACC and American do not require full national coverage of their games when they air on ABC.  Nor does the Big Ten at 8pm.  Do not be surprised if an American game gets split with Ohio St. at Minnesota.

CFB TV Guesses for 2015 Week Ten (11/5/15 - 11/7/15)

Here is what is already set for television.  

* Both FOX and CBS will have doubleheaders.  The CBS doubleheader allows them to take the top two SEC games this week.  Both of their games are exclusive telecast windows, so any SEC games on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU will air at 12pm ET.  SEC Network's games can air in their normal windows of 12pm, 4pm and 7:30pm ET.
* Four Big Ten games are locked into their start times, either as homecoming games or as night games: Illinois at Purdue (12pm), Wisconsin at Maryland (3:30pm), Michigan St. at Nebraska (7pm) and Ohio St. at Minnesota (8pm).
* CBS Sports Network has a pair of 12 day selections on 11/7.  One is for a MAC game (12pm) and one for the American Athletic Conference (7:30pm).
* My thinking on placing Florida St. at Clemson at 3:30pm instead of primetime is to get it away from LSU at Alabama and Ohio St. at Minnesota.  I would have placed TCU at Oklahoma St. at 3:30pm also, but with the Pac-12 Network window at 8pm, I think the Big 12 will have the evening slot on FOX.
* To me, there isn't a standout Pac-12 game, especially with the loss by Utah.  Might see a six day hold here by FOX and/or ESPN.
* I am aware that a Pitt student email suggested a start time of Notre Dame at Pittsburgh for 6pm, but their isn't an advertised telecast window for that time.  Having a window at that time on ESPN or ESPN2 means there likely isn't a 3:30pm window on one of those channels.

All times Eastern.

Thursday
7:30pm CBSSN: Ball St. at Western Michigan
7:30pm ESPN3: Buffalo at Kent St.

Saturday
12pm ABC: Notre Dame at Pittsburgh
12pm ESPN: Arkansas at Ole Miss
12pm ESPN2: Iowa St. at Oklahoma
12pm FS1: Texas Tech at West Virginia
12pm ESPNEWS: Connecticut at Tulane
12pm ESPNU: NC State at Boston College
12pm FSN: FAU at Western Kentucky
12pm SEC: South Carolina at Tennessee
12pm CBSSN: Akron at Massachusetts
12pm BTN: Illinois at Purdue
12pm ACC Network: Virginia at Miami (FL)
3pm ACC RSN: Syracuse at Louisville
3:30pm CBS: Vanderbilt at Florida
3:30pm FOX: Utah at Washington
3:30pm ABC: Florida St. at Clemson
3:30pm ESPN: Rutgers at Michigan
3:30pm ESPN2: Iowa at Indiana
3:30pm FS1: Arizona at USC
3:30pm ESPNU: Penn St. at Northwestern
3:30pm FSN: Marshall at Middle Tennessee
3:30pm BTN: Wisconsin at Maryland
4pm ESPNEWS: Cincinnati at Houston
4pm SEC: Kentucky at Georgia
4pm Pac-12: Stanford at Colorado
7pm ESPN: Michigan St. at Nebraska
7pm ESPN2: Duke at North Carolina
7pm ESPNU: Navy at Memphis
7:30pm FOX: TCU at Oklahoma St.
7:30pm CBSSN: USF at East Carolina
7:30pm SEC: Auburn at Texas A&M
8pm ABC: Ohio St. at Minnesota

8pm CBS: LSU at Alabama

8pm ESPNEWS: UCF at Tulsa
8pm Pac-12: Arizona St. at Washington St.
10:15pm ESPNU: Army at Air Force
10:30pm ESPN: California at Oregon
10:30pm ESPN2: UCLA at Oregon St.

Bowl Eligibility for 2015-16

Going to list this a little differently for 2015-16 since HTML tables don't scale well on mobile browsers.  Right now I'm listing each conference's primary bowl tie-ins and each conference, unless noted, is listed in its stated bowl selection order.  Here is the bowl schedule for 2015-16.

I'll update this each week.

As of 12/5, 77 schools are bowl eligible with six or more wins.  There will be a need for at least two 5-7 schools.

ACC
Bowls: CFP amd/or NY6 Access Bowl, Russell Athletic, Belk, Sun, Pinstripe, TaxSlayer/Music City (last four grouped together), Military, Advocare V100, Quick Lane (last three grouped together).
In: Florida St., Clemson, Pittsburgh, Duke, North Carolina, NC State, Miami (FL), Louisville, Virginia Tech
Out: Boston College, Georgia Tech, Virginia, Wake Forest, Syracuse
Notes: Notre Dame, if not in a New Year's Six bowl, will appear in an ACC contracted game.  It appears that all ACC bowls will be filled and one ACC school may need to take an at-large slot.  This depends on how the NY6 bowls are set, including Notre Dame's bowl location.

American
Bowls: Miami Beach, Cure, Boca Raton, Hawai'i, St. Petersburg, Military, Birmingham
In: Houston, Memphis, Temple, Navy, Cincinnati, USF, Connecticut, Tulsa
Out: UCF, SMU, Tulane, East Carolina
Notes: To my knowledge, no selection order, but the Military & Birmingham games offer Power 5 opponents and could be slotted ahead of other games.  EDIT: Navy had a pre-existing agreement to play in the Military Bowl in 2015 while an independent, provided they aren't selected for a NY6 bowl.  Both the conference and bowl game have agreed to honor this commitment for 2015.  Navy will also play in the 2016 Armed Forces Bowl if eligible.  This is from the comment below from Sean O'Leary.

Houston, in all likelihood, will take the Group of Five's Access Bowl slot, which means that all American Athletic schools will fill their contracted tie-ins.  Cincinnati, per ESPN's Brett McMurphy, will play in the Hawai'i Bowl.

Big 12
Bowls: Sugar and/or CFP, Alamo, Russell Athletic, Texas, Liberty, Cactus, Heart of Dallas
In: Baylor, Oklahoma St., TCU, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, West Virginia, Kansas St.
Out: Kansas, Iowa St., Texas
Notes: Oklahoma appears destined for the CFP.  Due to Baylor's loss to Texas on 12/5, Oklahoma St. will play in the Sugar Bowl (again, assuming OU in the CFP) by virtue of a head to head win over TCU who they were tied with in the Big 12 standings..  It appears that the Heart of Dallas Bowl will be filled with an at-large opening.

Big Ten
Bowls: Rose and/or CFP (includes Orange partial tie-in), Citrus, Outback, Holiday, TaxSlayer/MusicCity, Pinstripe, Foster Farms, Quick Lane, Armed Forces
In: Iowa, Michigan St., Ohio St., Penn St., Wisconsin, Northwestern, Michigan, Indiana
Out: Purdue, Maryland, Rutgers, Nebraska*, Illinois*, Minnesota
Note: Tiered selection process.  The Orange/Citrus, Outback and Holiday and one tier, the TaxSlayer/Music City, Pinstripe & Foster Farms are the next highest tier and the Quick Land & Armed Forces are at the bottom.

Depending on the winner of the Big Ten Championship game, the conference should place two schools in the NY6 bowls with the Rose being filled by either the Big Ten champion or the next available Big Ten school, which is the discretion of the Rose Bowl and does not have to be the conference championship game loser or next highest ranked school in the CFP Poll.

Nebraska, Minnesota and Illinois have indicated that they will accept bowl bids if offered.  Nebraska has the best APR of all 5-7 schools, so it appears they will be going to a bowl.  Minnesota is tied for 3rd with San Jose St. and Illinois is tied with Rice for 4th.

C-USA
Bowls: New Mexico, New Orleans, Miami Beach, Bahamas, St. Petersburg, Heart of Dallas, Arizona
In: Marshall, Western Kentucky, Louisiana Tech, Southern Miss, Middle Tennessee
Out: Charlotte, North Texas, UTSA, FAU, FIU, UTEP, Rice, Old Dominion
Note: No stated selection order, but the winner of the conference championship game gets to pick their bowl destination.  At least two C-USA bowl games will be filled via at-large selections.  Middle Tennessee has already announced that it accepted a Bahamas Bowl invitation.  Rice is tied for fifth in APR for 5-7 schools, but they may be left out if bowls are allowed to choose between schools who are tied with the same APR.

Independents
Bowls: All ACC bowls for Notre Dame (can be ACC's opponent in Orange), Hawai'i or Las Vegas for BYU, Poinsettia for Army
In: Notre Dame, BYU
Out: Army
Notes: MAC is the backup conference for Army in the Poinsettia.  BYU has accepted an invite from the Las Vegas Bowl and will face a Pac-12 school.

MAC
Bowls: Camellia, Famous Idaho Potato, Boca Raton, GoDaddy, Bahamas, Poinsettia
In: Toledo, Bowling Green, Northern Illinois, Western Michigan, Ohio, Central Michigan, Akron
Out: Miami (OH), Eastern Michigan, Massachusetts, Ball St., Kent St.
Note: No stated selection order, but the GoDaddy Bowl might have preference.  Not sure.  If you know, pass along and I'll correct it.  The MAC is the backup conference for the Poinsettia Bowl since Army will not be eligible.  Western Michigan has accepted a Bahamas Bowl invite.  One MAC school will be sent to an at-large opening.

Mountain West
Bowls: New Mexico, Las Vegas/Hawai'i, Famous Idaho Potato, Poinsettia, Armed Forces, Arizona
In: Boise St., San Diego St., Air Force, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah St., Colorado St.
Out: Wyoming, Hawai'i, Fresno St., UNLV
Note: Pretty sure Las Vegas & Poinsettia have some sort of preferential status, but Las Vegas has elected to select BYU instead of a Mountain West school, leaving the MW to place a school in the Hawai'i Bowl.  One Mountain West school will end up filling an at-large opening.  San Jose St. may fill an opening if there are four available slots.

Pac-12
Bowls: Rose and/or CFP, Alamo, Holiday, Foster Farms, Sun, Cactus, Las Vegas
In: Utah, Stanford, UCLA, Washington St., Oregon, USC, California, Arizona, Arizona St., Washington
Out: Oregon St., Colorado
Note: Cactus and Las Vegas may be tied at the bottom of the order.  Not sure.  Have read conflicting things about it.  The conference has a surplus of two to three bowl eligible teams depending on the NY6 bowl selections and could end up sending a school to the best available open tie-in after the Las Vegas Bowl is filled.

SEC
Bowls: Sugar and/or CFP (includes Orange partial tie-in), Citrus, Outback, Music City, TaxSlayer, Liberty, Texas, Belk (last six grouped together), Birmingham, Advocare V100
In: Alabama, Florida, LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi St., Texas A&M, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Auburn
Out: South Carolina, Vanderbilt, Missouri, Kentucky
Notes: Depending on the NY6, the Advocare V100 bowl should require at an-large school and
Birmingham may as well.  Missouri, who has the same APR score as Kansas St., has removed itself from bowl consideration.

Sun Belt
Bowls: Camellia, Cure, New Orleans, GoDaddy
In: Appalachian St., Georgia Southern, Arkansas St., Georgia St.
Out: New Mexico St., UL-Monroe, Troy, Texas St., Idaho, UL-Lafayette
Note: Arkansas St. will play in New Orleans, Georgia Southern will face a MAC school in the GoDaddy Bowl and Appalachian St. will face another MAC school in the Camellia Bowl.  The Cure Bowl could go at-large, but South Alabama and Georgia St. remain potentially eligible, but need to win on 12/5.  If both are eligible, the Sun Belt is the backup conference for the Arizona Bowl and could fill the opening that C-USA will not fill.