Sunday, October 14, 2018

CFB TV Guesses for 2018 Week Nine (10/25/18 - 10/27/18)

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

* 7:30pm is the listed time for ABC's primetime window, which indicates a Big Ten game is being targeted.  Yes, they can be subbed out of & changed to 8pm for another conference.  If they wanted to choose Clemson at Florida St., for example, they could.  At this time, I'm sticking by the 7:30pm start time listing.  Please note that a Big Ten game cannot be held for a six day hold with a night game slot as an option, so if a Big Ten game is going to be played at night, that decision is going to be made on Monday.
* CBS selected Georgia vs. Florida for its afternoon game before the season started, so ESPN will be slotting the remaining SEC games into their networks.  While not a six day hold, I wouldn't be surprised if ESPN at least considered Kentucky at Missouri for the 7pm slot.  They are flexible within 30 minutes of the ESPN, ESPN2 and SEC Network nighttime starts a few times year.
* CBS Sports Network's 12pm selection is a MAC window between either Central Michigan at Akron or Army at Eastern Michigan.  The other game will revert back to ESPN's platforms.  The 3:30pm CBSSN window belongs to the American.
* ESPNEWS had a 3pm window originally scheduled, but that window appears to have been rendered unnecessary.
* BTN did not list a 12pm window for football, listing StudentU programming at both 12pm & 7:30pm ET.  That's not unheard of as last season on 9/30/17 they windows at 3:30pm & 7:30pm.  I slotted two games into the 3:30pm.  Remember that Bethune-Cookman at Nebraska was a in-season scheduling addition due to Nebraska cancelling their game vs. Akron.
* FOX has no primetime window due to World Series Game 4.  FS1 has a NASCAR race at 1pm and a UFC Fight Night at 10pm.  The UFC website also had the prelim card from 8-10pm on FS1, but listing services have the pre-fight and prelim matches on FS2.
* Multiple RSNs show a doubleheader of ACC football at 12pm & 3:30pm.
* I gave the top Big 12 and Pac-12 choices to FOX Sports and the top Big Ten choice to ESPN.  I don't have FOX Sports choosing a Big Ten game on Saturday for FOX or FS1, but they do have Indiana at Minnesota on Friday night.  It isn't unheard of for FOX to skip a Saturday on the Big Ten.  They did last year on 9/9 when ABC aired a Big Ten tripleheader and aired Ohio at Purdue on FS1 on Friday night.  Part of my reasoning also involves how far FOX Sports is ahead on selections used compared to ESPN.
* With Washington picking up their 2nd loss, I figured now was a good time to get their remaining required Pac-12 Networks game in,  I had the Pac-12 Networks picking 3rd after FOX in the afternoon and ESPN at 10:30pm.
* Where could a six day hold be used?  Whomever is picking first the in Pac-12 might look into it, choosing the game involving the winner of Oregon at Washington St. next week.  Possibly for the Big 12 if there's a desire to wait on the result of Oklahoma at TCU.  The Big Ten & Big 12 have four six day holds remaining, the ACC and Pac-12 have three each and the SEC and American each have two available to use.

Thursday 10/25
7pm ESPN2: Toledo at Western Michigan
7pm CBSSN: Ball St. at Ohio

Saturday 10/27
12pm ABC: Clemson at Florida St.
12pm FOX: Texas at Oklahoma St.
12pm ESPN: Wisconsin at Northwestern
12pm ESPN2: Purdue at Michigan St.
12pm ESPNU: Cincinnati at SMU
12pm SEC: Tennessee at South Carolina
12pm CBSSN: Army at Eastern Michigan
12pm ACC RSNs: Wake Forest at Louisville
12:20pm Raycom: North Carolina at Virginia
3pm FS1: Texas Tech at Iowa St.
3:30pm ABC: Kansas St. at Oklahoma
3:30pm FOX: Washington St. at Stanford
3:30pm ESPN: NC State at Syracuse
3:30pm ESPN2: USF at Houston
3:30pm ESPNU: Tulane at Tulsa
3:30pm CBSSN: Massachusetts at Connecticut
3:30pm BTN: Illinois at Maryland
3:30pm BTN: Bethune-Cookman at Nebraska
3:30pm ACC RSNs: Duke at Pittsburgh
4pm SEC: Vanderbilt at Arkansas
4pm Pac-12: Oregon St. at Colorado
6:30pm FS1: TCU at Kansas
7pm ESPN: Texas A&M at Mississippi St.
7pm ESPN2: Arizona St. at USC
7pm ESPNU: Northern Illinois at BYU
7:30pm ABC: Iowa at Penn St.
7:30pm SEC: Kentucky at Missouri
8pm Pac-12: Washington at California
10:30pm ESPN: Oregon at Arizona
10:30pm ESPN2: Hawai'i at Fresno St.
10:30pm ESPNU: San Diego St. at Nevada

Streaming
Central Michigan at Akron

6 comments:

daniel anderson said...

Why is it that CBS always picks Georgia-Florida before the season?

Matt Sarzyniak said...

1) Because they want it.
2) Both schools have been promised that the game won't be at night, and specifically that it will be a mid afternoon kickoff, so it's CBS.

daniel anderson said...

I do wonder what happens if the World Series is about to start, and CFB is still running, maybe move it to FS2, but that might piss off UFC fans.

Matt Sarzyniak said...

This happened before. In 2013, Texas Tech at Oklahoma was moved to FOX News before game completion from FOX to get to World Series coverage. The football game's start was delayed due to lightning. FOX Business Network might be used instead this time.

daniel anderson said...

The Bethune-Cookman at Nebraska game is at noon, i thought that BTN had StudentU programming at both 12pm & 7:30pm ET, that's changed obviously.

Matt Sarzyniak said...

The game was an in season addition, so maybe what they had sent as guide data was planned months ago and not changed.


And schedules are subject to change. The Pac-12 Network windows that are published often change when announced.