Way Too Early CFB TV Guesses for Weeks Zero & One For 2017

Schedule for weeks zero & one

These are guesses, particularly with a few of the games switching to a weeknight or Sunday date.  Please do not take this as gospel or that I have some inside track on a move, because I don't.  There seems to be an appetite for these posts at this point in the year.  I'm just feeding it.

If a game isn't listed, assume ESPN3, Campus Insiders or a conference's/school's streaming package.

"Week Zero" (all Saturday 8/26)
Games on "Week Zero" either involve Hawai'i, opponents of Hawai'i in 2016, games outside the continental U.S. or FCS games that are moved for the explicit purpose of national television.  Florida A&M at Texas Southern, which was scheduled for 8/26, may not have all the necessary paperwork in place to play on this date.

I know there was a graphic touting a 8pm ET start for Stanford at Rice.  That's 10am local time in Sydney.  I'll push that a couple hours to match last year's noon start.

3pm BYUtv: Portland St. at BYU
7pm ASN: Hawai'i at Massachusetts
7pm ESPN: Chattanooga vs. Jacksonville St. (confirmed)
7pm CBSSN: USF at San Jose St.
10pm ESPN2: Stanford vs. Rice

Thursday 8/31
I think the ACC RSN package will again have a game this evening with there being very few FOX affiliated RSNs that could have baseball that evening right now.  Also, Kentucky at Southern Miss has not moved to Thursday from its Saturday date, so that's a guess on both the date change and TV outlet.

7pm ACC RSNs: Presbyterian at Wake Forest
7:30pm ESPNU: Kentucky at Southern Miss
7:30pm Pac-12: North Dakota at Utah
7:30pm SNY: Holy Cross at Connecticut
8pm ESPN: Ohio St. at Indiana
8pm BTN: Buffalo at Minnesota
10:30pm Pac-12: New Mexico St. at Arizona St.

Friday 9/1
Both the US and Mexico have World Cup qualifiers on this day.  FOX Sports has the English speaking rights to Mexico's game.  I'm unsure who would get the US match as FOX Sports & ESPN split the rights.  As for Big Ten Friday night games, FOX was noted as a possibility for airing games, not just FS1 and ESPN.  I'm also assuming the trend of Michigan St. opening with a Friday night home game will continue as they've opened on a Friday night at home five of the last six years, with the exception being 2015, when they opened on the road on a Friday night at Western Michigan.

7pm FOX: Washington at Rutgers
7pm CBSSN: Fordham at Army
7:30pm BTN: Bowling Green at Michigan St.
8pm ESPN: Utah St. at Wisconsin
8pm ESPNU: Boston College at Northern Illinois
10pm FS1: Colorado St. vs. Colorado

Saturday 9/2
ESPN2 should be unavailable due to US Open tennis.  FS1 has two MLB games scheduled, at 4pm & 7:15pm ET.  The 7:15pm game, Angels at Rangers, is important because it should be a national exclusive to FS1 as both teams have their regional TV deals with FOX Sports.  I could drone on about FS1 & how its national MLB contract appears to work, but this should free up FOX Sports Southwest to carry (concurrent?) Big 12 games.

I am aware that Alabama vs. Florida St. could be selected by CBS.  For the past two seasons, CBS has sublicensed SEC games from ESPN to be able to show SEC games every week of the season, so it appears those weeks they've had anywhere from the second to fourth choice of games and ESPN has been able to show games on ESPN or ESPN2 at the same time.  I just don't know if/how selecting Alabama vs. Florida St. could affect future selections during the season.

12pm ABC: California at North Carolina
12pm ESPN: Akron at Penn St.
12pm FS1: Wyoming at Iowa
12pm ESPNU: Tulsa at Oklahoma St.
12pm FSN: Liberty at Baylor
12pm SEC: Appalachian St. vs Georgia
12pm SEC: Missouri St. at Missouri
12pm BTN: Nevada at Northwestern
12:30pm ACC Network: Kent St. at Clemson
2pm Pac-12: Southern Utah at Oregon
3:30pm ABC: BYU vs. LSU
3:30pm CBS: NC State vs. South Carolina
3:30pm FOX: Louisville vs. Purdue
3:30pm NBC: Temple at Notre Dame
3:30pm ESPNU: Vanderbilt at Middle Tennessee
3:30pm FSN: Eastern Washington at Texas Tech
3:30pm CBSSN: Houston at UTSA
3:30pm BTN: Ball St. at Illinois
3:30pm ASN: Miami (OH) at Marshall
4pm SEC: Charleston Southern at Mississippi St.
5pm Pac-12: Montana St. at Washington St.

5:30pm ESPN: Texas A&M at UCLA
7pm ESPNU: Georgia Southern at Auburn
7pm CBSSN: FIU at UCF
7pm FSN: Jackson St. at TCU
7pm ASN: Grambling at Tulane

7pm beIN Sports: Navy at FAU

7pm Sooners PPV: UTEP at Oklahoma
7pm Jayhawk Sports: Southeast Missouri at Kansas
7pm K-StateHD.TV: Central Arkansas at Kansas St.
7:30pm FOX: Maryland at Texas

7:30pm SEC: South Alabama at Ole Miss
7:30pm SEC: Florida A&M at Arkansas
8pm ABC: Alabama vs. Florida St.

8pm BTN: Arkansas St. at Nebraska
8pm Pac-12: Portland St. at Oregon St.
8pm Cyclones.TV: Northern Iowa at Iowa St.
9pm ESPN: Florida vs. Michigan
10pm FS1: Western Michigan at USC
10:15pm ESPNU: Troy at Boise St.
11pm Pac-12: Northern Arizona at Arizona

Sunday 9/3

Since Florida vs. Michigan won't be moving to Sunday, I'll take a flier on West Virginia vs. Virginia Tech to move instead, though nothing is set in stone.  FS1 has a NASCAR truck series race & could show a portion of NHRA US Nationals qualifying delayed in the early evening, so they may not move any Big 12 games here.

If no game moves to Sunday, push the 5:30pm & 9pm windows to 7pm (Florida vs. Michigan) & 10:30pm (Texas A&M at UCLA) on Saturday, respectively, put California at North Carolina at 3:30pm ET on ESPN and West Virginia vs. Virginia Tech at 12pm on ABC.

12pm ESPN: South Carolina St. at Southern
3:30pm ESPN: West Virginia vs. Virginia Tech

Monday 9/4

8pm ESPN: Tennessee vs. Georgia Tech