Here are the games already set for television and/or webcast. Here are the known available telecast windows.
* CBS does not have a SEC selection as they pre-selected Georgia vs. Florida over the summer.
* FOX Sports will have three Big 12 and two Pac-12 selections. The broadcast network window, due to the World Series, plus the FSN game, are at 12pm & will be Big 12 games while one of the two Pac-12 games on FS1 will be at 11pm ET.
* Northwestern at Ohio St. is locked for 3:30pm ET after being moved from 5:30pm, as is Nebraska at Wisconsin for 7pm ET. Minnesota at Illinois is locked into a 12pm ET start.
* As an aside, if I had the ability to move that Nebraska at Wisconsin game back one hour, I'd ask the schools if they be willing to do it. Right now, I am under the impression that this isn't an option, but I wasn't expecting Northwestern at Ohio St.'s start time to change either.
* With Northwestern at Ohio St. being an option for ESPN or ESPN2 along with ABC, I'm under the impression that the 5:30pm has completely been abandoned. I've swtiched the 9pm window to a 7pm window.
* It appears that the opening on ASN at 12pm is for a Sun Belt game. The opening at 3:30pm is for the MAC. The Southland has an opening at 7pm that ASN's website lists as being Abilene Christian at McNeese.
* The single Pac-12 Networks window, at 6pm ET, would need to be moved 30-90 minutes earlier to allow for a Pac-12 telecast window on ABC at 8pm ET. More on that in the next point.
* ESPN has only one Pac-12 selection with California at USC on their network on Thursday 10/27. Since ESPN's Saturday window is late in the evening, I think this is one of those situations where a good matchup like Washington at Utah is a "good" problem to have for someone. The window is moved to 10pm ET is always possible. I think that's the only situation where Washington at Utah ends up on ESPN without sending an ACC or American game exclusively to ESPN3, or in the case of the ACC, a split Raycom Sports window. Otherwise I think it ends up on FS1 at either 3:30pm ET or 7pm ET.
* If the 5:30pm window hasn't completely disappeared, or can be repurposed, consider the following, though its highly unlikely as I don't think at 8pm split national window is an option with the quality of available games. Big Ten games don't have to be reverse mirroed in the 8pm telecast window. See 11/1/14, though the Big Ten matchup wasn't as high profile as Nebraska at Wisconsin could be. This also cuts out the need for the late ESPN/ESPN2 Pac-12 window:
3:30pm ABC/ESPN2: Northwestern at Ohio St.
3:30pm ABC/ESPN2: Louisville at Virginia
3:30pm FS1: Arizona St. at Oregon
5:30pm ESPN: Baylor at Texas
7pm ESPN2: Auburn at Ole Miss
8pm ABC with ESPN3 outermarket: Clemson at Florida St.
8pm ABC with ESPN3 outermarket: Nebraska at Wisconsin
9pm ESPN: Washington at Utah
All times Eastern
Thursday 10/27
7:30pm CBSSN: Ohio at Toledo
7:30pm BCSN/Spectrum: Akron at Buffalo
Saturday 10/29
12pm ABC: Michigan at Michigan St.
12pm FOX: West Virginia at Oklahoma St.
12pm ESPN: Tennessee at South Carolina
12pm ESPN2: Texas Tech at TCU
12pm ESPNU: Penn St. at Purdue
12pm FSN: Kansas St. at Iowa St.
12pm ESPNEWS: Cincinnati at Temple
12pm SEC: New Mexico St. at Texas A&M
12pm CBSSN: Kent St. at Central Michigan
12pm BTN: Minnesota at Illinois
12pm ASN: Georgia St. at South Alabama
12:30pm ACC Network: Army at Wake Forest
3pm ACC RSNs: Duke at Georgia Tech
3pm ESPN3: Eastern Illinois at Jacksonville St.
3:30pm ABC/ESPN2: Northwestern at Ohio St.
3:30pm ABC/ESPN2: Baylor at Texas
3:30pm FS1: Washington at Utah
3:30pm ESPN: Louisville at Virginia
3:30pm ESPNU: Boston College at NC State
3:30pm CBSSN: Tulsa at Memphis
3:30pm BTN: Maryland at Indiana
3:30pm ASN: Miami (OH) at Eastern Michigan
4pm ESPNEWS: Connecticut at East Carolina
4pm SEC: Samford at Mississippi St.
6pm Pac-12: Washington St. at Oregon St.
7pm ESPN: Nebraska at Wisconsin
7pm ESPN2: Auburn at Ole Miss
7pm ESPNU: UCF at Houston
7pm FS1: Kansas at Oklahoma
7:30pm SEC: Kentucky at Missouri
8pm ABC: Clemson at Florida St.
8pm ESPNEWS: SMU at Tulane
10:30pm ESPN: Arizona St. at Oregon
11pm FS1: Stanford at Arizona
I can see a split Raycom Sports window- but would WLOS(the ACCN station here in Asheville) would be willing to preempt Michigan-Michigan State? Also does FOX really need a Big 12 game ebcause of the World Series?
ReplyDeleteIt's not that they need a Big 12 game, it's that FOX schedules the window so early to account for potential delays or the possibility of a really long running game.
DeleteThere is a very good likelihood that Washington will be in the top 4-5 and Utah in the top 20 when they play each other a week from Saturday. Based on the competitiveness of this game compared to Northwestern-Ohio State and Baylor-Texas, ABC and the two schools can try to work out a way to make the game either a reverse mirror or full national at 3:30 PM.
ReplyDeleteYeah, i can see now why.
ReplyDeleteFOX had a issue with a Big 12 game a few years ago and the World Series, so having a 12:00 start gives them some leeway.
And we also just witnessed a near five hour game a couple weeks back (Tennessee-Texas A&M).
DeleteHere's a way they can move the Washington-Utah game to 3:30 PM:
ReplyDelete12 pm ABC/ESPN2: Michigan-Michigan State
12 pm ABC/ESPN2: West Virginia-Oklahoma State
12 pm FOX: Baylor-Texas
3:30 pm ABC/ESPN2: Washington-Utah
3:30 pm ABC/ESPN2: Northwestern-Ohio State
I would not be surprised if the networks did a 6-day hold on the Washington-Utah game based on the outcome of the Utah-UCLA game on Saturday afternoon. The proposed schedule I have is based on Utah beating UCLA. If Utah loses to UCLA, then FS1 or ESPN should do the game. Your thoughts?
I think, in a vacuum, that works. When you start taking into account the number of games those nets have to carry from other conferences, it doesn't work as well. For example, SEC Network has three windows & right now, none has two concurrent games. So one of those is at 12 pm ESPN & 7pm ESPN2 alongside Nebraska-Wisconsin? From there, where sites that leave one other Big 12 game (Big 12 has a soft ESPNU limit too), Louisville-Virginia & other ACC games? I think that scenario you have still requires a split ACC Network or SEC Network window or someone taking the hit with an ESPN3 exclusive in the American or ACC.
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DeleteBut I agree that they may kick the can down the road & use a six day IF they have ability to take Washington-Utah. No guarantees they do. FS1 may still be ahead. We'll see tomorrow.
DeleteWith Washington-Utah, could FOX go with a 12pm MT/2pm EDT window? World Series could be a problem, but maybe it would not be an issue.
ReplyDeleteGood suggestion. Whether FOX goes this route is another question. The World Series probably would not be a problem, since the football game would start at 2 PM ET, while the World Series game would probably not start until 7:30-8 PM ET. If FOX can work out this issue, that would be fantastic. We'll see what happens either tomorrow or next Sunday in terms of what network covers the Washington-Utah game.
ReplyDeleteI brought up possibility of maybe just sliding the window back to 1pm / 11am MT on Twitter. Like you said, whether they do it is another story. FOX is scheduled to air an encore presentation of the Monster Energy Cup motorcycle race after CFB. Either way, the network currently has five & 1/2 hours of sports programming booked, including 30 minute CFB pregame currently scheduled for 11:30am ET, through 5pm ET.
ReplyDeleteI had thought about 2pm for Washington-Utah, but it being on FS1 kind of makes sense. Too much of a risk due to the World Series, so FS1 would make sense. I thought about ABC/ESPN2 RM, but FS1 seems to be the way they were going here.
ReplyDelete