CFB TV Confirmations for 2017 Week 6 (10/7/17)

This post will be updated as announcements come out for start times for 10/7 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 Week Five 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 based on the available openings (they'll prove to be incorrect) and here is the current schedule for the week as several FBS games do have their time & television/webcast assignments already accounted for.  

All times Eastern.

Pac-12 Six Day Holds (8pm FOX or 10:45pm ESPN)
Washington St. at Oregon
California at Washington

12pm FOX: Iowa St. at Oklahoma
12pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2: Penn St. at Northwestern
12pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2: Wake Forest at Clemson
12pm ESPN/ESPN2 or SEC: Ole Miss at Auburn
12pm ESPN/ESPN2 or SEC: Georgia at Vanderbilt
12pm FS1: Texas Tech at Kansas
12pm ESPNU: Temple at East Carolina
12pm BTN: Illinois at Iowa
12pm CBSSN: Eastern Michigan at Toledo
12:20pm ACC Network: Duke at Virginia
12:30pm ACC RSNs: Pittsburgh at Syracuse
2pm ESPN3: Central Michigan at Ohio
2pm ESPN3: Stephen F. Austin at Sam Houston St.
2:30pm ESPN3: Bowling Green at Miami (OH)
3pm ESPN3: UL-Monroe at Texas St.
3:30pm CBS: LSU at Florida
3:30pm ABC or ESPN: Miami (FL) at Florida St.
3:30pm ABC or ESPN: Notre Dame at North Carolina
3:30pm ESPN2: Minnesota at Purdue
3:30pm FS1: West Virginia at TCU
3:30pm BTN: Charleston Southern at Indiana
3:30pm ESPN3: Western Michigan at Buffalo
3:30pm ESPN3: Ball St. at Akron
3:30pm ESPN3: Kent St. at Northern Illinois
3:30pm ESPN3: New Mexico St. at Appalachian St.
4pm FOX: Maryland at Ohio St.
4pm ESPNU: Tulsa at Tulane
4pm SEC: Arkansas at South Carolina
4pm Pac-12: Oregon St. at USC
5pm ESPN3: UL-Lafayette at Idaho
5pm Southland Digital: Incarnate Word at Southeastern Louisiana
6:30pm ESPN3: Georgia St. at Coastal Carolina
7pm FS1: Kansas St. at Texas
7pm CBSSN: SMU at Houston
7pm FOX Sports Southwest+: Central Arkansas at Houston Baptist
7:15pm ESPN: Alabama at Texas A&M
7:15pm ESPN2: Virginia Tech at Boston College
7:30pm ABC: Michigan St. at Michigan
7:30pm SEC: Missouri at Kentucky
8pm Pac-12: Arizona at Colorado
8pm ESPNU: UCF at Cincinnati
8pm BTN: Wisconsin at Nebraska
8pm Eleven Sports: McNeese at Abilene Christian
10:15pm FS1: Stanford at Utah
10:45pm ESPN2: San Diego St. at UNLV

CFB TV Guesses for 2017 Week Six (10/7/17)

If you have a couple minutes, take a look at this post regarding September's CFB TV selections.  Here are the games already set for television and/or webcast.  Here are the known available telecast windows

* ABC's primetime window is again at 7:30pm ET, which indicates a Big Ten game is being selected.  Let's assume ABC has the top choice of Big Ten games.
* I assumed that FOX had top choice for both the Big 12 and Pac-12.
* ESPN will again have an early start to their primetime games, removing a 3:30pm ET window.  I elected to place Miami (FL) at Florida St. here, but I expect the 6pm window to be a SEC game.
* Moving Miami (FL) at Florida St. here presented an exta layer of complexity.  I placed this game behind both Wake Forest at Clemson and Notre Dame at North Carolina.  As far as I can tell, they didn't add a TV window to the date.
* The addition of Charleston Southern at Indiana didn't drastically affect anything.  The Big Ten noted they would carry games at 12pm & 3:30pm.  Their program guide for 10/8 listed a TBA programming block from 7:30pm-11pm ET, so I added a game window here.
* FOX broadcast network will start with tripleheaders from here on out except for weeks they are carrying MLB playoff action.
* Having two Pac-12 games located in the Mountain Time Zone limits the available games that FS1 can carry at 11pm.  Since Pac-12 Networks TV windows do move around, you could see the 9pm window move back 30 minutes to fall in line with Pac-12 TV rules about overlap with broadcast network games in east coast primetime.
* Since it is an off day in FS1's ALDS coverage, they'll have four telecast windows.  They'll also do this on 10/14 when FOX has no college football windows due to NASCAR, the ALCS and boxing.
* With no late ESPNU window, it is possible the evening game could start a bit later, like 7:30pm ET.
* CBS Sports Network has two wildcard choices, one each from the MAC and American.
* Three Big Ten games are semi-locked into their start times as homecoming games.  Both Penn St. at Northwestern and Illinois at Iowa will be at 12pm ET while Maryland at Ohio St. will be at either 3:30pm or 4pm ET.

All times Eastern.

12pm ABC: Wake Forest at Clemson
12pm FOX: Iowa St. at Oklahoma
12pm ESPN: Notre Dame at North Carolina
12pm ESPN2: Wisconsin at Nebraska
12pm FS1: Penn St. at Northwestern
12pm ESPNU: Virginia Tech at Boston College
12pm SEC: Arkansas at South Carolina
12pm BTN: Illinois at Iowa
12pm CBSSN: Eastern Michigan at Toledo
12:20pm ACC Network: Duke at Virginia
12:30pm ACC RSNs: Pittsburgh at Syracuse
3:30pm CBS: Alabama at Texas A&M
3:30pm ABC/ESPN2: Oregon St. at USC
3:30pm ABC/ESPN2: West Virginia at TCU
3:30pm FS1: Texas Tech at Kansas
3:30pm ESPNU: SMU at Houston
3:30pm BTN: Minnesota at Purdue
4pm FOX: Maryland at Ohio St.
4pm SEC: Missouri at Kentucky
4pm Pac-12: Arizona at Colorado
6pm ESPN: Miami (FL) at Florida St.
7pm ESPN2: LSU at Florida
7pm ESPNU: UCF at Cincinnati
7pm CBSSN: Tulsa at Tulane
7:30pm ABC: Michigan St. at Michigan
7:30pm FS1: Kansas St. at Texas
7:30pm SEC: Georgia at Vanderbilt
7:30pm BTN: Charleston Southern at Indiana
8pm FOX: California at Washington
9pm ESPN: Ole Miss at Auburn
9pm Pac-12: Stanford at Utah
10:30pm ESPN2: San Diego St. at UNLV
11pm FS1: Washington St. at Oregon

ESPN3, other streaming or no video
Temple at East Carolina
Louisiana Tech at UAB
Western Kentucky at UTEP
Bowling Green at Miami (OH)
Western Michigan at Buffalo
Kent St. at Northern Illinois
Central Michigan at Ohio
New Mexico St. at Appalachian St.
Georgia St. at Coastal Carolina
UL-Lafayette at Idaho
UL-Monroe at Texas St.

CFB TV Facts, Figures and Speculation for September

Some notable items when it comes to TV selections for future weeks.  I'll do another one of these in a couple weeks at the midpoint of the season and again after selections are finalized for October 28th.

American
* Including the conference championship game, 19 games have been scheduled to air on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU out of a required 28 games.
* 14 games are scheduled to air as ESPN3 exclusives or on local/regional TV.  Assuming no other games air on ESPN3 or local/regional TV (I'm unsure that will hold up), 82% of games would air on national TV.

Big 12
* ESPN has made seven of its 23 selections.  Two of the six have been placed on ESPNU, which is limited to 4-5 games per season.
* FOX is required to air at least three more Big 12 games (six for the season) on their broadcast network.
* Overall, ESPN & FOX Sports have combined to air 12 games on ABC, FOX, ESPN, ESPN2 and FS1.  The two TV partners must combine to air 25 games, which includes reverse mirror telecasts.  This count includes Tulsa at Oklahoma St., which is allowed to count here even though it was Oklahoma St.'s member retained game, per those with knowledge of the game's classification against the current TV deals.
* COMPLETE SPECULATION: Assuming priority of broadcast television over pay TV and primetime vs. mid-afternoon (with some exceptions), I believe the following TV partners had top choice in September:

• 9/2: FOX Sports (UTEP-Oklahoma)
• 9/9: ESPN (Iowa-Iowa St.)
• 9/16: ESPN (SMU-TCU)
• 9/23: ESPN (TCU-Oklahoma St.)
• 9/30: FOX Sports (Oklahoma St.-Texas Tech)

Big Ten
* If weeknight primetime games count towards the number of primetime games FOX Sports and ESPN are allowed to carry, FOX Sports has five scheduled so far and ESPN has four.  If weeknight games are excluded, each partner has carried two Saturday night games.
* Purdue has yet to be scheduled on BTN.
* Indiana, Nebraska, Ohio St., Rutgers, Penn St. have completed all required appearances on BTN, which are two games with at least one of the two being an intraconference game.
* FOX Sports has used 14 selections so far and ESPN has used 12.  Both are expected to use the maximum of 27 selections.
* COMPLETE SPECULATION: Assuming priority of broadcast television over pay TV and primetime vs. mid-afternoon (with some exceptions), I believe the following TV partners had top  choice in September:

• 9/2: ESPN (Ohio St.-Indiana)
• 9/9: ESPN (Oklahoma-Ohio St.)
• 9/16: FOX Sports (Army-Ohio St.)
• 9/23: FOX Sports (Notre Dame-Michigan St. by virtue of being selected in the spring)
• 9/30: ESPN (Northwestern-Wisconsin)

Pac-12
* Both FOX and ABC are required to air one more Pac-12 game in primetime on the east coast.  FOX is also required to air four more Pac-12 games in total.  ABC's required primetime game will fulfill their requirement to air Pac-12 football.
* ESPN has scheduled half of their required 22 Pac-12 games.  FOX Sports has used 12 of their 22 picks
* Arizona St., Colorado, Oregon, Oregon St., Stanford, Washington, Washington St. are allowed to be selected by either ESPN or FOX Sports for the rest of the season.  These schools will have a maximum of nine appearances on those two networks due to other games already selected for Pac-12 Networks.  The other five Pac-12 schools must appear once more each on Pac-12 Networks.
* COMPLETE SPECULATION: Assuming priority of broadcast television over pay TV and primetime vs. mid-afternoon (with some exceptions), I believe the following TV partners had top  choice in September:

• 9/2: FOX Sports (Texas A&M-UCLA)
• 9/9: FOX Sports (Stanford-USC)
• 9/16: FOX Sports (Texas-USC)
• 9/23: ESPN (USC-California)
• 9/30: ESPN (Colorado-UCLA)
• I could be swayed to FOX Sports selecting California-Oregon ahead of this one.

SEC
* Georgia, Tennessee and Florida have each been scheduled for two CBS games that count towards the maximum five appearances.  This rule is flexible where a school could get a sixth appearance.
* Arkansas's appearance vs. TCU was sublicensed from ESPN.  Only the scheduled Black Friday game vs. Missouri counts.

Notes on Big 12 FB Champ Game Start Time & Several MBK TV Releases

* It appears that FOX affiliates have been told that the Big 12 football championship game will be an early afternoon affair on Saturday 12/2.  The conference announced a sponsored tailgate tour with the date of the championship game prominently mentioning the Saturday date.

The only thing left was the time of the game, but that could be relatively easy to deduce when looking at the schedule of college basketball games on FOX & FS1 that day, the Big Ten championship on FOX in primetime, and UFC PPV prelims that I've tentatively targeted to FS1 that evening.

When you take those items into account, the open time on 12/2 was in the early afternoon on FOX.  Even if you move the UFC prelims to FX or FXX, my hunch with respect to programming is that FOX has less hefty competition in the early afternoon with the American & either the MAC and/or C-USA championship games compared to the Big 12, ACC and Mountain West in the evening.

As for the possibility of a Friday 12/1 night game, my opinion is that possibility took a severe hit when the Cowboys were scheduled for a Thursday night home game on 11/30.  If the Big 12 needed control of the field for any sponsor related events prior to the game, Friday is now the only time to do those.  The Big 12 was non-commital about the date during spring meetings and football media days, which could have been the conference trying to find out about the feasibility of a Friday night game as the Cowboys' Thursday night home game was already known.

* A few items around the Pac-12 TV release:

• Gonzaga at Washington on Pac-12 Networks on 12/10 - I have to assume there was a selection order or priority hold placed on this one by Pac-12 Networks.  Last year, FS1 picked up the Zags' game at Washington St. and I would think a game from the national runner-up would merit selection by either FOX Sports or ESPN, regardless of the stature of the Huskies.
• Cincinnati at UCLA on CBS on 12/16 - I don't quibble with the choice (this game comes out of ESPN's pool of games).  This is more surprise that CBS took a Pac-12 non-conference game.  Will be doubleheadered wth Syracuse-Georgetown, which comes from FOX as part of an agreement with CBS Sports for Big East games.
• Utah at Arizona on FOX on 1/27 - If you're asking "Why the 5:30pm ET start time with no game before it? Did you mean to put it on Sunday after Purdue at Indiana?", the answer could be tied to the 24 Hours of Daytona, which starts on the 27th and had its first three hours of competition air on FOX last year.  I'm under the impression that the endurance race will once again start on FOX and have a lot of coverage on FS1 for the remainder of the race.

* Weeknight men's basketball tripleheaders are not new to ESPN as they'll often have three games on either ESPN2 or ESPNU on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.  But they are different with FS1 where they have typically stuck with doubleheaders, but they'll have weeknight tripleheaders on the following dates:

• 2/1/18 - Creighton at Villanova, Northwestern at Wisconsin & Oregon St. at Stanford
• 2/21/18 - Xavier at Georgetown or Seton Hall at Providence, then Depaul at Villanova followed by USC at Colorado
• 2/22/18 - Purdue at Illinois, Arizona at Oregon St. & Arizona St. at Oregon

Those last two dates are important because it shows FS1 stacking their schedule to the weeknights due to NASCAR responsibilities on Friday and Saturday, along with NHRA on Sunday.

* I counted six doubleheaders on FS1 involving the Big Ten & Pac-12.

* ESPN and FS1 are splitting a pair of neutral site doubleheaders.  The Never Forget Tribute on 12/9 from Newark will have one game on FOX (Seton Hall-VCU) and one on ESPN2 (Florida-Cincinnati).  The Under Armour Reunion from MSG will have the same structure, with the Seton Hall-Texas Tech game on FS1 followed by Temple-South Carolina on ESPNU.

* Per a couple the American Athletic schools, the conference tournament schedule will now air on ESPNU in full on day one (now four games, previously three games with two on ESPNEWS).  For now, the Friday games will continue to be split on ESPN2 and ESPNU.  Note that the 2018 championship only will have the semifinals and final on CBS via sublicense due to the Big Ten championship being held a week earlier.

* As ROOT Sports Rocky Mountain has expanded its territory further west with the addition of the regional rights to the Vegas Golden Knights, it also stepped up coverage beyond the Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico based Mountain West schools with 11 total games involving UNLV and Nevada.   Last year, just two games on ROOT Sports involved the Nevada based schools.

CFB TV Confirmations for 2017 Week 5 (9/30/17)

This post will be updated as announcements come out for start times for 9/30 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 Week Four 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 based on the available openings (they'll prove to be incorrect) and here is the current schedule for the week as several FBS games do have their time & television/webcast assignments already accounted for.  

All times Eastern.

12pm ABC: Northwestern at Wisconsin
12pm ESPN: Vanderbilt at Florida
12pm ESPN2: North Carolina at Georgia Tech
12pm FS1: Maryland at Minnesota
12pm ESPNU: Houston at Temple
12pm CBSSN: USF at East Carolina
12pm SECN: New Mexico St. at Arkansas
12pm ACC RSNs: Rice at Pittsburgh
12:20pm ACC Network: Syracuse at NC State
1pm ACC Network Extra: Central Michigan at Boston College
3:30pm CBS: Georgia at Tennessee
3:30pm ABC or ESPN2: Baylor at Kansas St.
3:30pm ABC or ESPN2: Florida St. at Wake Forest
3:30pm ESPNU: Navy at Tulsa
3:30pm BTN: Indiana at Penn St.
3:30pm ACC RSNs: Murray St. at Louisville
3:30pm ESPN3: Buffalo at Kent St.
4pm FOX: Iowa at Michigan St.
4pm ESPNEWS: Connecticut at SMU
4pm SECN: Eastern Michigan at Kentucky
4pm Pac-12: Arizona St. at Stanford
6pm ESPN: Mississippi St. at Auburn
6pm ESPN3: Akron at Bowling Green
7pm ESPN2: Memphis at UCF
7pm ESPNU: Troy at LSU
7pm ESPN3: Marshall at Cincinnati
7pm ESPN3: Ball St. at Western Michigan
7pm ESPN3: Coastal Carolina at UL-Monroe
7:30pm SECN: South Carolina at Texas A&M
7:30pm BTN: Ohio St. at Rutgers
8pm ABC: Clemson at Virginia Tech
8pm FOX: Oklahoma St. at Texas Tech
8pm Pac-12: Washington at Oregon St.
9pm ESPN: Ole Miss at Alabama
10:30pm ESPN2: Colorado at UCLA

10:30pm FS1: California at Oregon

10:30pm ESPNU: San Jose St. at UNLV

CFB TV Guesses for 2017 Week Five (9/30/17)

Here are the games already set for television and/or webcast.  Here are the known available telecast windows.

* BTN listings did not have a schedule of telecast windows available, so I am assuming two telecast windows at 12pm & 3:30pm ET.
* I'm looking at FOX to take a Big Ten game in primetime, thinking that they'll have the top pick of Big Ten games, but not another selection since they have Nebraska at Illinois on Friday night.  Also think they'll have the top pick of Big 12 games where ESPN should have the top Pac-12 pick.
* Also, I believe FOX will take both available Big 12 games with ESPN carrying Texas at Iowa St. on Thursday night.
* I could see FOX waiting for the result of Penn St at Iowa before deciding their choice. For now, I went with higher ranked Penn St.  Because of that, you might see both that game and Iowa at Michigan St. held as night game with one on FOX and the other on ESPN2, or maybe even ESPN if they flip the 6pm & 9pm window combo over to ESPN.
* Ohio St. at Rutgers would clear the Buckeyes of all required BTN appearances if chosen (two games on BTN with one of those appearances being an intraconference game).
* Initial listings indicate two ACC RSN games at 12pm & 3:30pm ET.
* I had to play with the available games for the ACC Network and ACC RSN windows as I wanted to give the ACCN slot a intraconference game, plus I had to consider who might not be available due to MLB for each of the ACC RSN windows.  NESN, for example, may have a 4pm Red Sox game and has a UMass game at 3:30pm on NESN+.  Meanwhile, the Pirates have a 7pm game on AT&T SportsNet and the RSNs typically do not like to give up their pregame shows.  With BC already playing a conference game on ACC Network Extra, Rice-Pittsburgh was the odd game out.
* If ESPN isn't interested in televising San Jose St. at UNLV, they could place it on ESPN3 and ditch the late ESPNU window.

All times Eastern.

12pm ABC: Florida St. at Wake Forest
12pm ESPN: Vanderbilt at Florida
12pm ESPN2: North Carolina at Georgia Tech
12pm FS1: Baylor at Kansas St.
12pm ESPNU: Navy at Tulsa
12pm ESPNEWS: Connecticut at SMU
12pm CBSSN: USF at East Carolina
12pm SECN: Eastern Michigan at Kentucky
12pm BTN: Ohio St. at Rutgers
12pm ACC RSNs: Central Michigan at Boston College
12:20pm ACC Network: Syracuse at NC State
3:30pm CBS: Georgia at Tennessee
3:30pm ABC: Northwestern at Wisconsin
3:30pm ESPN2: Houston at Temple
3:30pm ESPNU: Memphis at UCF
3:30pm BTN: Maryland at Minnesota
3:30pm ACC RSNs: Murray St. at Louisville
4pm FOX: Oklahoma St. at Texas Tech
4pm SECN: New Mexico St. at Arkansas
4pm Pac-12: Washington at Oregon St.
6pm ESPN: Ole Miss at Alabama
7pm ESPN2: Iowa at Michigan St.
7pm ESPNU: South Carolina at Texas A&M
7:30pm SECN: Troy at LSU
8pm ABC: Clemson at Virginia Tech
8pm FOX: Indiana at Penn St.
8pm Pac-12: Arizona St. at Stanford
9pm ESPN: Mississippi St. at Auburn
10:15pm ESPNU: San Jose St. at UNLV
10:30pm ESPN2: California at Oregon

10:30pm FS1: Colorado at UCLA

Online only (ESPN3, ACC Network Extra or other) or no video

Marshall at Cincinnati
Rice at Pittsburgh
Charlotte at FIU
North Texas at Southern Miss
Akron at Bowling Green
Buffalo at Kent St.
Ball St. at Western Michigan

CFB TV Confirmations for 2017 Week 4 (9/23/17)

This post will be updated as announcements come out for start times for 9/23 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 Week Three 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 based on the available openings (they'll prove to be incorrect) and here is the current schedule for the week as several FBS games do have their time & television/webcast assignments already accounted for.  

All times Eastern.

SEC (7pm ESPN2 or 7:30pm ESPNU/SEC Network)
Florida at Kentucky, Syracuse at LSU & Auburn at Missouri

12pm ABC/ESPN2: Texas Tech at Houston
12pm ABC/ESPN2:  NC State at Florida St.
12pm ESPN: Arkansas vs. Texas A&M
12pm ESPNU: West Virginia at Kansas
12pm CBSSN: Army at Tulane
12pm SECN: Massachusetts at Tennessee
12pm ACC RSNs: Kent St. at Louisville
12pm BTN: UNLV at Ohio St.
12:20pm ACC Network: Pittsburgh at Georgia Tech
1:30pm ESPN3: New Mexico at Tulsa
2pm ACC Network Extra: Old Dominion at Virginia Tech
2pm ESPN3: Ohio at Eastern Michigan
2pm ESPN3: Idaho at South Alabama
3pm FS1: UCF at Maryland
3:30pm CBS: Alabama at Vanderbilt
3:30pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2: USC at California
3:30pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2: TCU at Oklahoma St.
3:30pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2: Boston College at Clemson
3:30pm ESPNU: Duke at North Carolina
3:30pm SECN: Louisiana Tech at South Carolina
3:30pm BTN: Georgia Southern at Indiana
3:30pm BTN: Rutgers at Nebraska
3:30pm ACC RSNs: Toledo at Miami (FL)
3:30pm ESPN3: Miami (OH) at Central Michigan
3:30pm ESPN3: Wake Forest at Appalachian St.
4pm FOX: Michigan at Purdue
5pm ESPN3: UL-Monroe at UL-Lafayette
6pm Pac-12: Nevada at Washington St.
6pm ESPN3: Akron at Troy
6:30pm FS1: Oklahoma at Baylor
6:30pm ESPN3: Western Illinois at Coastal Carolina
7pm ESPN: Mississippi St. at Georgia
7pm ESPN3: FAU at Buffalo
7pm ESPN3: Wagner at Western Michigan
7:30pm ABC: Penn St. at Iowa
7:30pm ESPN3: UTSA at Texas St.
8pm ESPN3: UTEP at New Mexico St.
10pm FS1: Washington at Colorado
10pm Pac-12: Oregon at Arizona St.
10:15pm ESPN2: Hawai'i at Wyoming

10:30pm ESPN: UCLA at Stanford

Pre-Schedule Release Notes from the Big East & Pac-12

* With respect to non-conference play for the Pac-12, the following games were found as selected by ESPN in ESPN MediaZone:

• Georgia Tech vs. UCLA (11/10, played in Shanghai, China)
• North Carolina at Stanford (11/20)
• Alabama at Arizona (12/9)
• Kansas St. vs. Washington St. (12/20, played in Spokane)
• Connecticut at Arizona (12/21)
• Kansas vs. Stanford (12/21, played in Sacramento)

In addition, six conference games were selected by ESPN for airing on ESPN or ESPN2:

• Washington St. at USC (12/29)
• Washington St. at UCLA (12/31)
• Arizona at Utah (1/4)
• Utah at UCLA (1/11)
• Oregon at Arizona (1/13)
• UCLA at Oregon (1/20)

If FS1 picks up any Pac-12 games in November or December, and they've stayed away from non-conference Pac-12 games in prior years with a few exceptions, here's some candidates (NOTE: some of these games could end up on ESPNU as their December schedule has not been published. Pac-12 Networks schedules also are awaiting finalization.):

• Missouri at Utah (11/16) - Incoming freshman Michael Porter seems to be driving some TV decisions on ESPN2 for Mizzou in non conference play with games vs. Wagner & Stephen F. Austin to be shown.  Would probably need to be the last game of a tripleheader after Nebraska at St. John's & Xavier at Wisconsin
• Texas A&M at USC (11/26) - No Big East games currently scheduled for that day.  Maybe paired with UC Riverside at Michigan as a doubleheader.
• Gonzaga at Washington (12/10) - Maybe pair it with Philly Big 5 matchup La Salle at Villanova.
• Cincinnati at UCLA (12/16) - ESPN has bowl games this day, while ESPN2 has three MBK games, plus the Division II football championship & NCAA women's volleyball tournament (championship?).
• Vanderbilt at Arizona St. (12/17) - I have nothing for this one.

* The other side of this is the dates where FS2, FSN or CBS Sports Network could end up being used for the Big East due to other commitments for FS1 or FOX.

• 11/10 - All schools openers except for DePaul & Georgetown, though we don't know when Georgetown's opener is.  CBSSN isn't available at all either, so look for FS2 and FSN, plus the possibility of FOX College Sports to be used
• 11/11 - This would be DePaul's opener and the CFB schedule for FS1 only has one game, followed by UFC in the evening, so they could slot this one to tip at around 4pm ET on FS1.
• 11/13 - At least one of Delaware St.-DePaul and Rider-Xavier.  Minnesota-Providence on FS1 already.
• 11/14 - At least one of Central Connecticut-St. John's and Nicholls-Villanova.  Purdue-Marquette on FS1 already.
• 11/17 - Only Lafayette vs. Villanova.  NASCAR on FS1.
• 11/18 - Three games: UMES at Georgetown, Furman at Butler, NJIT at Seton Hall
• 11/25 - Boston College at Providence could end up on FS1 at 8pm ET, but SIU Edwardsville at Creighton probably ends up on FS2.
• 12/2 - Of the five games currently on the schedule (Cincy-Xavier, Saint Louis-Butler, Younsgtown St.-DePaul, Sacred Heart-St. John's & Georgia-Marquette), I'd throw at least the DePaul & St. John's games on secondary outlets.  FS1 should also have UFC PPV prelims in the evening.
• 12/9 - FS1 has a UFC card at night.  Colorado-Xavier & Nebraska-Creighton should be on FS1 and Marquette-Wisconsin is either on FOX or FS1.  Look for NCA&T-Georgetown or Youngstown St.-Butler to slide over.
• 12/16 - FS1 should have UFC prelims before FOX takes over in the evening.  Kansas at Nebraska is on FS1 at 8pm and the Orange Bowl Classic is on FS2 from 2pm to 6:30pm.  
• 11/29, 12/5, 12/6 & 12/21 are weeknights with three Big East games scheduled.  Typically you can only get two games in on FS1 from the conference on an evening.

* Based on FS1 schedules, look for the Big East schedule to start on December 30th.  December 28th has the Holiday Bowl and the 29th has UMBC at Maryland in the evening, possibly paired with a Pac-12 game.  Saturday the 30th has one Big Ten game (Brown at Northwestern) with a TBA start time, so they may be looking to slot Big East games around that one.

CFB TV Guesses for 2017 Week Four (9/23/17)

Here are the games already set for television and/or webcast.  Here are the known available telecast windows.

* The 7:30pm ET ABC window indicates a Big Ten game will air at this time.  Also indicates that FOX and ABC can show Big Ten games concurrently.
* BTN does not have a night game window.  They are carrying women's volleyball instead.
* Listings indicate two ACC RSN windows at 12pm & 3:30pm ET.
* FS1 listings provided to Screener/Zap2It had UCF at Maryland (3pm) & TCU at Oklahoma St. (6:30pm) in the first two FS1 windows.  The Pac-12 game at 10pm did not have any game attached to it.
* Rutgers at Nebraska & Michigan at Purdue are homecoming games and are slotted to air at 3:30pm or 4pm ET.
* ESPNU does not have a late evening window.
* ESPNEWS has no game windows scheduled.
* I could be talked into taking Alabama at Vanderbilt on CBS instead of Mississippi St. at Georgia.
* I'm under the assumption that FOX is selecting first for the Big Ten & used it on the previously announced Notre Dame at Michigan St. game.  With FS1 listings indicating they have UCF at Maryland, that pushed both Michigan at Purdue and Penn St. at Iowa over to ESPN.
* If ESPN has the top pick of Big 12 games (I have the top Big 12 pick with FOX), slide Oklahoma at Baylor over to the slot occupied by USC at California and move that one over to FOX.  I believe ESPN had the top Pac-12 choice for this week.

All times Eastern.

12pm ABC: Boston College at Clemson
12pm ESPN: Florida at Kentucky
12pm ESPN2: NC State at Florida St.
12pm ESPNU: Georgia Southern at Indiana
12pm CBSSN: Texas Tech at Houston
12pm SECN: Louisiana Tech at South Carolina
12pm ACC RSNs: Kent St. at Louisville
12pm BTN: UNLV at Ohio St.
12:20pm ACC Network: Pittsburgh at Georgia Tech
3pm FS1: UCF at Maryland
3:30pm CBS: Mississippi St. at Georgia
3:30pm ABC/ESPN2: Michigan at Purdue
3:30pm ABC/ESPN2: USC at California
3:30pm ESPN: Duke at North Carolina
3:30pm ESPNU: West Virginia at Kansas
3:30pm BTN: Rutgers at Nebraska
3:30pm ACC RSNs: Old Dominion at Virginia Tech
4pm FOX: Oklahoma at Baylor
4pm SECN: Texas A&M vs. Arkansas
4pm Pac-12: UCLA at Stanford
6:30pm FS1: TCU at Oklahoma St.
7pm ESPN: Alabama at Vanderbilt
7pm ESPN2: Auburn at Missouri
7pm ESPNU: Massachusetts at Tennessee
7:30pm ABC: Penn St. at Iowa
7:30pm SECN: Syracuse at LSU
8pm Pac-12: Nevada at Washington St.
10pm FS1: Washington at Colorado
10:15pm ESPN2: Hawai'i at Wyoming
10:30pm ESPN: Oregon at Arizona St.

ESPN3 or local TV
Toledo at Miami (FL)
Army at Tulane
New Mexico at Tulsa
Miami (OH) at Central Michigan
Ohio at Eastern Michigan
FAU at Buffalo
Wagner at Western Michigan
UTEP at New Mexico St. (AggieVision ??)
UTSA at Texas St. (local TV in San Antonio & Austin ??)
Wake Forest at Appalachian St.
Idaho at South Alabama
Western Illinois at Coastal Carolina
Akron at Troy

Notes on ACC, A-10. Big Ten & MAC MBK TV Schedule Releases

Some random stuff I picked out while combing through the TV schedules.

ACC
Atlantic 10
Big Ten
MAC

* Call this a bit of homerism, but I'm slightly surprised that FOX allowed CBS to take Syracuse at Georgetown, regardless of how big a rebuild the Hoyas are in for.  I don't know if CBS gets the ability to pick games off the top from FOX and FOX pushed them this one instead of, say, Duke at St. John's as Duke is much more of a national draw.

Per Jon Rothstein, the Big East schedule should be out next week, so we'll see at that time the other Big East games they've received to air on CBS & CBS Sports Network.

* NBCSN went in on four Atlantic 10 non-conference games after not selecting any last year.  With that said, I'm checking on the counts for ESPN and CBS Sports Network as they don't match the number of games announced.

You'll notice that Stadium was not announced as a TV partner, but that the conference talked about additional regional & local TV announcements forthcoming.  When this round of TV partners were set in 2012, it was noted that NBC Sports regional networks would have some level of commitment to carry games from member schools.  Nine schools reside in areas covered by NBC Sports RSNs.

* The Big Ten release did not have any information about TV for the ACC-Big Ten Challenge nor the Gavitt Games vs. the Big East, but the ACC's release did carry the info.  I assume that the Big East's TV release would have Gavitt Games information.  Maybe.  Possibly.

* Also missing from the Big Ten release: Wildcard windows for CBS and BTN.  I don't know if its because of the compressed schedule for 2018, but all games were slotted to a specific date and TV network, with a handful of games awaiting tip times either based on the NFL or other programming.

* Besides a decent number of Monday & Friday Big Ten games during conference play, five Thursday & four Sunday night windows were also secured by FS1.  Those games could being paired with Pac-12 games, particularly the Thursday night games.  One Sunday window will likely be paired against the Phoenix NHRA event (February 25th).

* The MAC release had seven CBS Sports Network and two ESPN telecast windows.   I assume that each network will have a handful of wildcard windows later in the season.

The conference semifinals are once again on CBS Sports Network and it will be interesting to see where the semifinals, along with C-USA's semifinals are slotted in on the network.  Last year, the Mountain West semifinals were moved back an hour, but the 2018 schedule has them returning to their traditional 9pm & 11:30pm ET starts, which could move the MAC or C-USA semis to start at 4:30pm ET & someone (maybe the MAC) to have semifinals start at noon ET on a Friday.  Yuck.

* The first Duke-North Carolina meeting has been scheduled as a Thursday night game for the second consecutive year.  The ACC will again fill ESPN's open NBA Wednesday night in February during the NBA All Star break with the same four schools from 2017 (Duke, Louisville, North Carolina & Syracuse) in diffrerent matchups: North Carolina-Syracuse & Duke-Louisville

* Potentially a side effect of the loss of several Big Ten games to FOX and changes to the SEC schedule appear to have left ESPN with an opening for women's basketball on Thursday nights.  Per ESPN MediaZone, each Thursday night in January there will be a women's basketball game on ESPN.  I can't say whether this will extend to February, but this is in addition to the Big Monday ESPN2 slot.

Brief Notes On 2017-18 Big 12 Men's Basketball Schedule Release

A few notes on the schedule that came out yesterday.

(Side note: there's a lot of games here through January that conferences & TV networks have not yet announced.  Worth a peek)

* The Big 12 appears to be a beneficiary of the move of 30+ Big Ten games over to FOX Sports in two places

• Only six conference games will appear on ESPNEWS, down from fifteen in 2016-17.  It bears watching when the American's schedule comes out if they have less games on ESPNEWS or not.  Right now, I see 4-5 more games on ESPNU compared to last year in the regular season for the Big 12.
• A few more Monday games compared to last year, with a couple ESPN2 Monday games in addition to the ESPN Big Monday game.  Do wonder if this is ESPN counterprogramming against what is rumored to be a package of Big Ten games on Mondays or if they are using a couple men's games to draw additional eyeballs to the women's basketball Big Monday games on ESPN2.  Also wonder if the ACC will join the Monday ESPN2 party.  They had one late season ESPN2 Monday game last season (Miami (FL) at Virginia Tech, 2/27).

* As you can see from the release, six intraconference games were't picked up for national TV & revert back to the home team school for their local/regional packages.  As you've probably picked up from prior years, this allows ESPN to push a few Texas home games vs. Big 12 schools over to Longhorn Network.  Those games are:

12/29: Baylor at Texas Tech 

1/6: Kansas St. at Texas Tech 

1/17: Texas Tech at Texas

2/7: Kansas St. at Texas

2/21: TCU at Iowa St.

2/24: Oklahoma St. at Texas

Iowa St.'s game will be on the Cyclones.TV channel, while I would expect FOX Sports Southwest to take the two Texas Tech games.

* Besides the 84 conference games that were selected for national TV,  18 additional non-conference games will air on ESPN network, five of those belonging to the challenge series with the SEC.  Here's a breakdown by network so far: 

CBS - 3

ESPN - 10

ESPN2 - 23

ESPN or ESPN2 - 18

ESPN2 or ESPNU - 1

ESPNU - 37

ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU - 5 (SEC challenge series)

ESPNEWS - 6