CFB TV Guesses for 2018 Week Seven (10/13/18)

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

* FOX Sports' only windows are scheduled for FS1.  The broadcast network is scheduled to carry NASCAR, NLCS Game 2 and non-sports programming in the evening.
* Five of the seven Big Ten games are homecoming games and set for specific parts of the day.  Nebraska at Northwestern, Rutgers at Maryland at Iowa at Indiana are set for 12pm, with Iowa at Indiana selected to air on either ABC, ESPN or ESPN2.  Michigan St. at Penn St. & Purdue at Illinois will start in mid-afternoon.
* ABC also has a 7:30pm ET start time for their primetime game, so look for a Big Ten game at that time.  Wisconsin at Michigan and Minnesota at Ohio St. are the options, in my opinion.  You could easily swap the two places where I have them.  I went with Ohio St. by looking ahead at the possibility that Michigan's home game vs. Penn St. could be at night on 11/3, even if that competes with Notre Dame at Northwestern for a primetime slot within the conference and Alabama at LSU on CBS.  That also should speak to why looking ahead that far can make your head spin because there's still plenty of games to be played.
* BTN only has 12pm & 3:30pm windows.  Their fall schedule has a volleyball match scheduled for 8pm.
* ESPN does not have a late evening telecast window.  They have a Top Rank boxing card scheduled.
* I gave ESPN the top Big Ten and Big 12 choices.  Top Saturday choice in the case of the Big 12 since TCU at Texas Tech is already on ESPN on Thursday night. 
* I tossed the top Saturday Pac-12 choice to FOX, but I have Pac-12 Networks choosing before ESPN2 as they can do periodically during the year.  It would not surprise me if Pac-12 Networks has the top choice as they have the option at least once a season.
* I didn't have a use for the two ESPNEWS windows listed at 12pm & 4pm ET.  When I looked at ESPN MediaZone this morning, only the 12pm window remained.

12pm ABC: Wisconsin at Michigan
12pm ESPN: Tennessee at Auburn
12pm ESPN2: Iowa at Indiana
12pm FS1: Rutgers at Maryland
12pm ESPNU: Louisville at Boston College
12pm SEC: Florida at Vanderbilt
12pm BTN: Nebraska at Northwestern
12pm CBSSN: Houston at East Carolina
12:20pm ACC Network: Virginia Tech at North Carolina
12:30pm ACC RSNs: Duke at Georgia Tech
3:30pm ABC: Baylor at Texas
3:30pm CBS: Georgia at LSU
3:30pm ESPN: Michigan St. at Penn St.
3:30pm ESPN2: UCF at Memphis
3:30pm FS1: Oklahoma St. at Kansas St.
3:30pm ESPNU: Hawai'i at BYU
3:30pm BTN: Purdue at Illinois
4pm SEC: Ole Miss at Arkansas
4pm Pac-12: Colorado at USC
7pm ESPN: Missouri at Alabama
7pm ESPN2: Miami (FL) at Virginia
7pm FS1: West Virginia at Iowa St.
7pm ESPNU: Wyoming at Fresno St.
7pm CBSSN: Ohio at Northern Illinois
7:30pm ABC: Minnesota at Ohio St.
7:30pm SEC: Texas A&M at South Carolina
10:30pm ESPN2: UCLA at California
10:30pm FS1: Washington at Oregon

10:30pm ESPNU: Army vs. San Jose St.

Streaming
Akron at Buffalo
Ball St. at Central Michigan
Toledo at Eastern Michigan
Kent St. at Miami (OH)

CFB TV Confirmations for 2018 Week 6 (10/6/18)

This post will be updated as announcements come out for start times for 10/6 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 will 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. 

The number of six day holds available for each conference
ACC: 3 (one used on 10/6)
American: 2
Big 12: 4
Big Ten: 4 
SEC: 2
Pac-12: 3 (one used on 10/6 by FOX)

Games held for six day option
Florida St. at Miami (FL)
Clemson at Wake Forest
Notre Dame at Virginia Tech
Vanderbilt at Georgia
Auburn at Mississippi St.
Kentucky at Texas A&M
Utah at Stanford
Washington at UCLA

ACC options are 3:30pm ABC, 3:30pm ESPN and 8pm ABC.

SEC options are 7pm ESPN, 7:30pm ESPN2 and 7:30pm SEC Network.  The SEC holds do not constitute using a six day hold for time & does not count as a true six day hold.  ESPN does this a lot with night games in the SEC.

Pac-12 options are 7:30pm FOX & 10:30pm ESPN.

12pm ABC: Maryland at Michigan
12pm ESPN: Alabama at Arkansas
12pm ESPN2/ESPNU: Kansas at West Virginia
12pm ESPN2/ESPNU: Tulane at Cincinnati
12pm FS1: Northwestern at Michigan St.
12pm ESPNEWS: East Carolina at Temple
12pm SEC: Missouri at South Carolina
12pm BTN: Illinois at Rutgers
12pm CBSSN: Buffalo at Central Michigan
12pm ESPN+: Eastern Michigan at Western Michigan
12:20pm ACC Network: Syracuse at Pittsburgh
12:30pm ACC RSNs: Boston College at NC State
3pm ESPN3: Northern Illinois at Ball St.
3:30pm CBS: LSU at Florida
3:30pm ESPN2/ESPNU: Iowa St. at Oklahoma St.
3:30pm ESPN2/ESPNU: San Diego St. at Boise St.
3:30pm FS1: Kansas St. at Baylor
3:30pm BTN: Iowa at Minnesota
4pm FOX: Indiana at Ohio St.
4pm SEC: UL-Monroe at Ole Miss
4pm Pac-12: Arizona St. at Colorado
7pm ESPNU: SMU at UCF
7pm CBSSN: Connecticut at Memphis
7:30pm BTN: Nebraska at Wisconsin
9pm Pac-12: Washington St. at Oregon St.
10pm FS1: California at Arizona
10:30pm ESPNU: Fresno St. at Nevada

CFB TV Guesses for 2018 Week Six (10/6/18)

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

* FOX Sports selected Oklahoma vs. Texas in advance of the season and set the start time & TV network in advance of the 12 day selection process.
* Four Big Ten homecoming games are scheduled this week.  Maryland at Michigan and Northwestern at Michigan St. will be played at 12pm ET, while Indiana at Ohio St. and Iowa at Minnesota are set for mid-afternoon start times.
* FS1 is scheduled to carry prelim matches for the UFC pay-per-view from 8pm - 10pm ET.
* CBS Sports Network will have MAC and American Athletic selections, but they are not set for a specific conference in the 12pm & 7pm windows.
* Notre Dame at Virginia Tech would have looked a lot better had the Hokies not lost to Old Dominion.  With that said, I think its best available game for ESPN to work with for ABC primetime.  If anything, there might be a consideration for Florida St. at Miami along with this one to be held for a six day decision based on the result of Stanford-Notre Dame
* I gave LSU at Florida the slot nod over Auburn at Mississippi St.  I could be swayed to swap the two games, but Mississippi St.'s loss yesterday didn't help.
* I slotted FOX with the top Big 12 selection (OU-Texas) and the top Big Ten pick (Indiana-OSU).  I pushed the top Pac-12 selection to ESPN, where I think another six day hold could be used.  ESPN could use a pair of six day holds with the result of Stanford-Notre Dame shaping both the game selections of the Pac-12 (10:30pm ESPN vs. 8pm FOX) and the ACC..

12pm ABC: Maryland at Michigan
12pm ESPN: Alabama at Arkansas
12pm ESPN2: Kansas at West Virginia
12pm FS1: Iowa St. at Oklahoma St.
12pm ESPNU: SMU at UCF
12pm ESPNEWS: East Carolina at Temple
12pm SEC: Missouri at South Carolina
12pm BTN: Northwestern at Michigan St.
12pm CBSSN: Buffalo at Central Michigan
12:20pm ACC Network: Boston College at NC State
12:30pm ACC RSNs: Syracuse at Pittsburgh
3:30pm ABC: Florida St. at Miami (FL)
3:30pm CBS: LSU at Florida
3:30pm ESPN: Clemson at Wake Forest
3:30pm ESPN2: Iowa at Minnesota
3:30pm FS1: Kansas St. at Baylor
3:30pm ESPNU: Connecticut at Memphis
3:30pm BTN: Illinois at Rutgers
4pm FOX: Indiana at Ohio St.
4pm SEC: UL-Monroe at Ole Miss
4pm Pac-12: California at Arizona
7pm ESPN: Auburn at Mississippi St.
7pm ESPN2: Vanderbilt at Georgia
7pm ESPNU: San Diego St. at Boise St.
7pm CBSSN: Tulane at Cincinnati
7:30pm FOX: Washington at UCLA
7:30pm SEC: Kentucky at Texas A&M
7:30pm BTN: Nebraska at Wisconsin
8pm ABC: Notre Dame at Virginia Tech
9pm Pac-12: Washington St. at Oregon St.
10pm FS1: Arizona St. at Colorado
10:30pm ESPN: Utah at Stanford
10:30pm ESPNU: Fresno St. at Nevada

Streaming
Eastern Michigan at Western Michigan
Northern Illinois at Ball St.
Ohio at Kent St.
Miami (OH) at Akron
Bowling Green at Toledo

Quick CFB & MBK Notes

Apologies on the number of mistakes in the weekly blog entry keeping track of the 12 day selections and the updates to the schedule each week.  There's probably errors here too.  Will do better.

Football

* If you're keeping track of who picked first for the Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12, my belief is these are the weeks each network picked first, including future weeks:

• Big 12
• FOX Sports: 8/30-9/1, 9/8, 9/22, 10/6 (Oklahoma-Texas)
• ABC & ESPN: 9/15, 9/29, 11/17 (Iowa St.-Texas, per ISU), 11/23-24 (WVU-Oklahoma)
• Big Ten
• FOX Sports: 9/22, 10/21 , 11/23 (Nebraska-Iowa), 11/24 (Michigan-Ohio St.)
• Note: Big Ten treats Black Friday as a individual week independent from Saturday
• ABC & ESPN: 8/30-9/1, 9/8, 9/15, 9/29, 11/3 (Notre Dame-Northwestern)
• Pac-12
• FOX Sports: 8/30-9/1, 9/8, 9/29
• ABC & ESPN: 9/15, 9/22
• Pac-12: None Yet

* Other random stats that may matter

• Big Ten primetime games, including weeknights
• ABC & ESPN: 3 (at least six per season, max of nine)
• FOX Sports: 5 (max of nine per season)
• FOX needs one more Pac-12 primetime game to fulfill their maximum.  ABC has met theirs.
• FOX has met their minimum for Big 12 games on FS1.
• Combined, FOX Sports and ESPN have to air 25 games nationally on ABC, FOX, ESPN, ESPN2 and FS1.  21 have aired on these networks so far.
• In-season selections remaining:
• Big 12 
• ABC & ESPN: 11 (max of 23)
• Big Ten (assuming 27 selections each)
• ABC & ESPN: 16
• FOX Sports: 12
• Pac-12 (22 selections each)
• ABC & ESPN: 11
• FOX Sports: 11
• Sixteen American Athletic games have been scheduled to air on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU.  At least two more will be added to this count on Black Friday.

* The sheer number of cancellations over the first few weeks, most of them due to the hurricane, might affect the overall number of selections each conference has for a particular network.  To the positive or negative?  I can't say.  I suspect Raycom, for example, will end up with an extra window somewhere, much like they did when ULM-Florida St. was postponed last year & a midseason primetime window popped up.  Even though it wasn't a primetime game, maybe they get an extra selection down the road.

* Conference Championship Saturday might look like the following with men's basketball scheduled from 3pm-9pm ET on ESPN2 and from 3:30pm-7:30pm on ESPN.  Should be able to finalize this on 10/1.

ABC: 12pm Big 12, 3:30pm American, 8pm ACC
ESPN: 12pm Sun Belt, 7:30pm Mountain West

Basketball

* One of the trends that stuck out to me were more Sunday games on FOX & FS1, particularly from the Big East.  14 intraconference games will air on Sundays during the upcoming season, compared to six in 2017-18 and ten in 2016-17.  Three of those in 2016-17 were part of a opening weekend tripleheader on New Years Day.

Two of those Sunday Big East games will air on FOX with the start time dependent on the NFL playoffs, something CBS has done with multiple college basketball selections over the past decade.  Another two will be part of a doubleheader on 1/27/19, which is the Sunday between the NFL conference championship games and the Super Bowl.   Last year it was used for a Big East-Big Ten doubleheader.

I reached out to someone at FOX Sports to find out if the greater use of Sunday was by design but have not heard back from them. EDIT: Per someone with knowledge of the scheduling process, building availability was the reason for the use of more Sunday slots.

There's also four Saturday night games on FS1.  To further the point regarding arena availability, two of those four games (DePaul at Seton Hall on 1/19 & Seton Hall at St. John's on 2/23) happen to have NHL games airing at the home site earlier in the day. A third game, Depaul at Butler on 2/16, falls on NBA All Star Game weekend and would sometime air after the Daytona Xfinity Series race, assuming it airs on FS1.  The fourth, Depaul at Xavier on 2/9, I believe would air after NASCAR practices and, likely, the Daytona ARCA race.

* Four releases from conferences where ESPN Networks have a lot of games (ACC, Big 12, Big Ten and WCC) showed an increase in ESPN looking to program the best available games on the mothership.  Will be something to keep an eye on as the season moves forward.

* Also of note: the lack of announcements regarding non-conference games from the Big 12 and ACC.  Would expect something similar from the SEC.  Can't explain it, though I do expect it more from the SEC.

* Per Kansas, their home game vs. Villanova will lead into ESPN's FBS bowl game schedule on 12/15.  We're still waiting to see which game, if any, will lead into CBS's SEC Championship Game coverage on 12/1 with the Pac-12, American and SEC TV schedules waiting to be announced.

* Interesting to see ESPN and Raycom with a wildcard selection on February 26th.  One game airs on ESPN and the other on ACC Network with the choices of Syracuse at North Carolina & Duke at Virginia Tech.  I wasn't sure if these were games that were concurrent telecasts on those two entities for those games like the first Duke-UNC matchup, but UNC's schedule clearly marked those games are ESPN or Raycom where the Duke game is marked ESPN and Raycom

* I'm curious to see the effects of the schedule for the Alliance of American Football affecting the placement of games on CBS Sports Network.  I assume the games will be on Saturday nights, but I can't seem to find any information on that other than the schedule starting on Saturday 2/9 on the broadcast network.

CFB TV Confirmations for 2018 Week 5 (9/29/18)

This post will be updated as announcements come out for start times for 9/29 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 will 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. 

The number of six day holds available for each conference
ACC: 4
American: 2
Big 12: 4
Big Ten: 4 (I think, only 3 were used last year)
SEC: 2
Pac-12: 4 (2 each for FOX Sports and ESPN)

12pm ABC: Syracuse at Clemson
12pm ESPN: Arkansas vs. Texas A&M
12pm ESPN2/ESPNU: Texas Tech at West Virginia
12pm ESPN2/ESPNU: Temple at Boston College
12pm FS1: Central Michigan at Michigan St.
12pm FSN: Oklahoma St. at Kansas
12pm SEC: UL-Lafayette at Alabama
12pm BTN: Indiana at Rutgers
12pm CBSSN: Army at Buffalo
12pm ACC RSN: Bowling Green at Georgia Tech
12:20pm ACC Network: Virginia at NC State
2pm ESPN3: Massachusetts at Ohio
3pm ESPN+: Kent St. at Ball St.
3:30pm ABC: Baylor at Oklahoma
3:30pm CBS: Tennessee at Georgia
3:30pm ESPN2/ESPNU: Florida St. at Louisville
3:30pm ESPN2/ESPNU: Pittsburgh at UCF
3:30pm FS1: Texas at Kansas St.
3:30pm BTN: Purdue at Nebraska
3:30pm CBSSN: Cincinnati at Connecticut
3:30pm ACC RSN: Rice at Wake Forest
3:30pm ESPN3: Old Dominion at East Carolina
3:30pm ESPN+: Western Michigan at Miami (OH)
4pm ESPNEWS: Nevada at Air Force
4pm SEC: Southern Miss at Auburn
4pm SEC Alt: Tennessee St. at Vanderbilt
4:30pm FOX: Michigan at Northwestern
6pm ESPN: Florida at Mississippi St.
6pm Pac-12: Utah at Washington St.
6pm ESPN+: Northern Illinois at Eastern Michigan
7pm ESPN2/ESPNU: Iowa St. at TCU
7pm ESPN2/ESPNU: Virginia Tech at Duke
7pm ESPN3: Charlotte at UAB
7pm ESPN+: Arkansas St. at Georgia Southern
7:30pm ABC: Ohio St. at Penn St.
7:30pm SEC: South Carolina at Kentucky
8:30pm FOX: BYU at Washington
9:15pm ESPN: Ole Miss at LSU
10pm Pac-12: Oregon St. at Arizona St.
10:30pm FS1: Oregon at California
10:30pm ESPN2: USC at Arizona
10:30pm ESPNU: Toledo at Fresno St.

CFB TV Guesses for 2018 Week Five (9/29/18)

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

* Purdue at Nebraska is the Cornhuskers' homecoming game and will air in a mid-afternoon time slot.
* Per several RSN listings, there will be two ACC RSN games.
* ESPN listings have games in the evening at 6pm and 9pm ET, which often indicates a SEC doubleheader.  ESPN can occasionally start a SEC game during CBS's TV window, but no earlier than 6pm ET.
* ESPN Mediazone listings indicate that the SEC alternate will be used at  either 4pm or 7:30pm ET for a second game.
* ESPN Mediazone also lists the primetime window on ABC as starting at 7:30pm ET, which often means a Big Ten game will be picked to air here.
* CBS Sports Network has a MAC selection for noon and an American Athletic Conference window for 3:30pm ET.
* BTN is not scheduled to air a primetime game.  They have a previously scheduled volleyball telecast.
* I originally had a ESPNEWS window written down at 4pm, but that seems to have disappeared from ESPN's listings, so just the 8pm window there.
* All remaining Saturday Sun Belt games were set for ESPN digital properties & won't be part of the Saturday selection process for the remainder of the season.
* I am assuming two Pac-12 windows, but I have no idea to be honest with you.  I randomly placed the two windows at 6pm & 10:30pm ET based on the games I chose plus I didn't place any Pac-12 games on broadcast television, so there isn't a need for any TV window exclusivity.
* I considered Texas at Kansas St. for the 12pm ABC window, but moved it to 3:30pm because I wanted to spread out the Big 12 games a bit.
* I gave ABC the top Big Ten selection (Ohio St. at Penn St.), ESPN2 the top Pac-12 selection (BYU at Washington) and FOX the top Big 12 selection (Baylor at Oklahoma).

12pm ABC: Syracuse at Clemson
12pm ESPN: West Virginia at Texas Tech
12pm ESPN2: Virginia Tech at Duke
12pm FS1: Oklahoma St. at Kansas
12pm ESPNU: Pittsburgh at UCF
12pm FSN: Iowa St. at TCU
12pm SEC: Southern Miss at Auburn
12pm BTN: Central Michigan at Michigan St.
12pm CBSSN: Army at Buffalo
12pm ACC RSN: Rice at Wake Forest
12:20pm ACC Network: Virginia at NC State
3:30pm ABC: Texas at Kansas St.
3:30pm CBS: Tennessee at Georgia
3:30pm ESPN2: BYU at Washington
3:30pm FS1: Purdue at Nebraska
3:30pm ESPNU: Temple at Boston College
3:30pm BTN: Indiana at Rutgers
3:30pm CBSSN: Cincinnati at Connecticut
3:30pm ACC RSN: Bowling Green at Georgia Tech
4pm SEC: UL-Lafayette at Alabama
4pm SEC Alt: Tennessee St. at Vanderbilt
4:30pm FOX: Michigan at Northwestern
6pm ESPN: Florida at Mississippi St.
6pm Pac-12: Utah at Washington St.
7pm ESPN2: South Carolina at Kentucky
7pm ESPNU: Florida St. at Louiville
7:30pm ABC: Ohio St. at Penn St.
7:30pm SEC: Arkansas vs. Texas A&M
8pm FOX: Baylor at Oklahoma
8pm ESPNEWS: Nevada at Air Force
9pm ESPN: Ole Miss at LSU
10:30pm FS1: Oregon at California
10:30pm ESPN2: Oregon St. at Arizona St.
10:30pm ESPNU: Toledo at Fresno St.
10:30pm Pac-12: USC at Arizona

Streaming
Old Dominion at East Carolina
Western Michigan at Miami (OH)
Kent St. at Ball St.
Massachusetts at Ohio
Liberty at New Mexico

CFB TV Confirmations for 2018 Week 4 (9/22/18)

This post will be updated as announcements come out for start times for 9/22 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 will 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.

The number of six day holds available for each conference
ACC: 4
American: 2
Big 12: 4
Big Ten: 4 (I think, only 3 were used last year)
SEC: 2
Pac-12: 4 (2 each for FOX Sports and ESPN)

7pm ESPN/ESPN or 7:30pm SEC Network (not a six day hold)

Arkansas at Auburn

Florida St Tennessee

12pm ABC: Notre Dame at Wake Forest
12pm ESPN: Georgia at Missouri
12pm ESPN2: Boston College at Purdue
12pm FS1: Nebraska at Michigan
12pm ESPNU/ESPNEWS: Navy at SMU
12pm ESPNU/ESPNEWS: Ohio at Cincinnati
12pm FSN: Akron at Iowa St.
12pm SEC: Kent St. at Ole Miss
12pm BTN: Minnesota at Maryland
12pm BTN: Buffalo at Rutgers
12pm CBSSN: Nevada at Toledo
12:20pm ACC Network: Pittsburgh at North Carolina
12:30pm ACC RSNs: Louisville at Virginia
2pm ESPN+: Western Michigan at Georgia St.
3pm ESPN3: Western Kentucky at Ball St.
3pm ESPN+: Miami (OH) at Bowling Green

3pm ESPN+: Maine at Central Michigan
3:30pm CBS: Texas A&M at Alabama

3:30pm ABC/ESPN: Clemson at Georgia

3:30pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2: Kansas St. at West Virginia
3:30pm ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU: Northern Illinois at Florida St.

3:30pm ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU: FIU at Miami (FL)
3:30pm FS1: Kansas at Baylor

3:30pm BTN: Tulane at Ohio St.
3:30pm ACC Network Extra: NC Central at Duke
3:30pm ESPN+: Gardner-Webb at Appalachian St.
4pm ESPNEWS: Connecticut at Stacie

4pm SEC: South Carolina at Vanderbilt

4pm Pac-12: Arizona at Oregon St.
4:30pm FOX: TCU at Texas
7pm ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU: Mississippi St. at Kentucky
7pm ESPN2/ESPNU: Louisiana Tech at LSU
7pm FS1: Texas Tech at Oklahoma St.
7pm ESPN3: UNLV at Arkansas St.
7pm ESPN+: Coastal Carolina at UL-Lafayette
7pm ESPN+: Troy at UL-Monroe
7:30pm BTN: Michigan St. at Indiana

8pm ABC: Stanford at Oregon

8pm ESPNEWS: East Carolina at USF
8:30pm FOX: Wisconsin at Iowa
10:15pm ESPN2: Air Force at Utah St.

10:30pm ESPN: Arizona St. at Washington

CFB TV Guesses for 2018 Week Four (9/22/18)

Good morning.  I've done guesses on the kickoff times for college football games a day before the 12 day selection process starts for several years.  I try to apply what I know with respect to any rules that conference & TV partners have agreed to, along with a lot of best guesses in terms of the priority of where a game sits within the other matchups of the home conference and the overall schedule of games that week.

I'll also have a separate blog entry tracking the selections each Monday.

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

* Boston College at Purdue will be a 12pm game as it is Purdue's homecoming game.  ESPN Networks have claimed it to air on ABC, ESPN or ESPN2.  As a non-conference game, it could air on ESPNU as well, but it was not listed as an option when the Big Ten and ESPN released their early season selections.
* The 12pm CBSSN window is to be a MAC selection.
* This set of picks was made with the assumptions that ESPN has the top Big 12 pick & FOX Sports has the top Big Ten pick and the top Pac-12 Saturday selection, assuming ESPN took Washington St. at USC with the top choice for the week on Friday.
* FOX Sports has apparently chosen both Wisconsin at Iowa and Nebraska at Michigan.  Wisconsin at Iowa was shown with a FOX broadcast network designation during the network's college football preview show and Nebraska at Michigan was noted as airing on FS1 in a press conference regarding a now resolved carriage issue with BTN, Comcast and FOX Sports for Big Ten games. 
* I'm also aware that Mark Silverman (FOX Sports National Networks President) in the link above said that BTN & FS1 would have every single conference game, but based on the transcript text he had to walk it back a bit.  That's why I gave Minnesota at Maryland to ESPN.  If they don't have it & BTN does at 3:30pm, move NIU-FSU up to ESPN, KU-BU to ESPN2 and UB-Rutgers to ESPNU.  If I were ESPN, and this is somewhat backwards thinking, I would take UB-Rutgers over Tulane-OSU to play the long game as it would satisfy the Buckeyes requirements to BTN (two games on BTN with one being a intraconference matchup, 9/8 vs. Rutgers being that game) and open up the rest of their games, all Big Ten matchups, for yourself.  By extension, FOX Sports too, but you have to think about what's best for your network too. 
* The first two SEC games on CBS were sublicensed from ESPN (West Virginia vs. Tennessee & Georgia at South Carolina) so the possibility of Georgia's first appearance on CBS vs. Missouri was considered, but Texas A&M's strong showing vs. Clemson plus this being Alabama's first game on the network in 2018 pushed me in that direction.  Georgia already has one appearance locked in with the Florida game & I would expect the LSU, Tennessee and Auburn games to receive strong consideration by CBS.
* I gave consideration to Arizona St. at Washington for FOX over Stanford at Oregon, but I believe the latter is more assured to be a pair of 3-0 schools, but this might be a place where FOX could consider using a six day hold.  In the Pac-12, there are four holds available to be used, two by FOX Sports and two by ESPN.
* I ran out of windows for the ACC games.  Maybe Connecticut at Syracuse would replace Ohio at Cincinnati on ESPNEWS.

12pm ABC: Notre Dame at Wake Forest
12pm ESPN: Georgia at Missouri
12pm ESPN2: Boston College at Purdue
12pm FS1: Kansas St. at West Virginia
12pm ESPNU: FIU at Miami (FL)
12pm ESPNEWS: East Carolina at USF
12pm FSN: Akron at Iowa St.
12pm SEC: South Carolina at Vanderbilt
12pm BTN: Tulane at Ohio St.
12pm CBSSN: Nevada at Toledo
12:20pm ACC Network: Pittsburgh at North Carolina
12:30pm ACC RSNs: Louisville at Virginia
3:30pm ABC: TCU at Texas
3:30pm CBS: Texas A&M at Alabama
3:30pm ESPN: Minnesota at Maryland
3:30pm ESPN2: Northern Illinois at Florida St.
3:30pm FS1: Texas Tech at Oklahoma St.
3:30pm ESPNU: Kansas at Baylor
3:30pm SEC: Kent St. at Ole Miss
3:30pm BTN: Buffalo at Rutgers
4pm ESPNEWS: Ohio at Cincinnati
4:30pm FOX: Wisconsin at Iowa
5pm Pac-12: Arizona at Oregon St.
7pm ESPN: Arkansas at Auburn
7pm ESPN2: Florida at Tennessee
7pm FS1: Nebraska at Michigan
7pm ESPNU: Mississippi St. at Kentucky
7:30pm SEC: Louisiana Tech at LSU
7:30pm BTN: Michigan St. at Indiana

8pm ABC: Clemson at Georgia Tech

8pm ESPNEWS: Navy at SMU
8:30pm FOX: Stanford at Oregon
10:15pm ESPN2: Air Force at Utah St.
10:30pm ESPN: Arizona St. at Washington

Streaming
NC Central at Duke
Connecticut at Syracuse
Western Kentucky at Ball St.
Miami (OH) at Bowling Green
Maine at Central Michigan
UNLV at Arkansas St.
Western Michigan at Georgia St.
Coastal Carolina at UL-Lafayette
Troy at UL-Monroe
Gardner-Webb at Appalachian St.