Things to know in advance
* The following games have had their start times set without a TV assignment:
- Purdue at Iowa, 12pm ET
- Wisconsin at Illinois, 12pm ET
- Minnesota at Rutgers, 3:30pm or 4pm ET
* The following games have had their network groups set:
- Boise St. at BYU (All ESPN platforms except ESPNEWS & ESPN+)
- Nevada at Utah St. (All ESPN platforms except ESPN+)
- Old Dominion at UAB (ESPN+)
* FOX literature has their two windows as being a pair of Big 12 games at 12pm & 4pm ET. My assumption is that if ALCS Game 6 is a midday game, it will be on FS1 at 4pm as there are college football game windows on FS1 at 12pm & 10:30pm ET. If the ALCS game is a night game, I assume it will be on FOX.
* FOX Sports Networks is scheduled to carry a Big 12 game at 12pm ET.
* FOX Sports Networks is scheduled to carry a Big 12 game at 12pm ET.
* ESPN again does not have a 3:30pm window. Instead they have 6pm & 9pm, which has often signaled a SEC doubleheader, but 10/12 had a similar listing & they deviated from that.
* Per a podcast with the Pac-12's liaison for television Duane Lindberg, ESPN will pick first for the Pac-12, then the Pac-12 Networks.
* Per listings, ACC RSNs will have a doubleheader at 12pm & 3:30pm ET.
* Per BTN.com, they will have two games at 3:30pm ET.
* Per BTN.com, they will have two games at 3:30pm ET.
Decisions I made
* I gave ESPN the top Big Ten selection and FOX the top two remaining Big 12 selections. I believe ESPN picked Kansas at Texas knowing that FOX either had the top two selections for the Big 12 selections and did not intend to select Kansas at Texas or was picking 1st and 3rd. Its also possible that Kansas at Texas was the top Big 12 pick and ESPN had earmarked it for their Longhorn Network game. Either way, I have FOX with the top two remaining Big 12 selections.
* I considered Oregon at Washington for the ABC primetime game, but with two BTN games at 3:30pm and what appears to be a currently vacant 7:30pm window, it looks like ABC is set up to carry Michigan at Penn St. in primetime. Oregon at Washington still looks solid for an ABC game to get them halfway home on their Pac-12 requirement for that network.
* It is very possible that CBS could use a six day hold between LSU at Mississippi St., Florida at South Carolina & Kentucky at Georgia. At this time, I leaned Georgia, but the winner of LSU at Florida could make a compelling case for their game to be chosen.
* I went with the two ACC RSN games that I chose because of the lack of potential NHL conflicts. Carolina & Washington do not play on Saturday, and Boston plays at night, so NC State at Boston College gets the early slot and UNC at Virginia Tech gets the later one. I considered Georgia Tech at Miami (FL) for the 2nd RSN game, but both Florida & Tampa Bay have NHL games on Saturday night, making it harder for those RSNs to carry games without split feeds.
* Placing Purdue at Iowa on BTN clears the Hawkeyes requirement for two BTN appearances with one of the two being a Big Ten opponent. In case you're curious, the following Big Ten schools need to make a 2nd appearance on BTN: Iowa, Northwestern, Ohio St. and Penn St. In Iowa's case, they need their 1st appearance as their final regular season game vs. Nebraska is already scheduled for BTN.
* USC needs to make one appearance on Pac-12 Networks the rest of the year, with ten of their games as part of the Pac-12's television contract. Nine of those ten can be carried as part of the ESPN & FOX Sports packages. I considered Arizona at USC for the slot occupied by California at Oregon St. If FOX were to have selected Arizona St. at Utah, it would have to move the TV window up to 10pm ET as no Pac-12 game can have its TV window start later than 8pm local time. If both Pac-12 Networks games are being selected before FS1's game, swap California at Oregon St. & Arizona at USC.
* If there are three Pac-12 Networks windows, since this configuration puts ESPN with three Pac-12 selections this week (they have UCLA at Stanford on Thursday night), make the following changes:
- Colorado at Washington St. to Pac-12 Networks at 10pm ET
- Boise St. at BYU to ESPN2 at 10:15pm ET
- Tulsa at Cincinnati to ESPN2 at 7pm ET
- UL-Monroe at Appalachian St. to ESPNU at 12pm ET
* I wanted to get a Boise St. game out of the late evening slots now since they are the highest ranked Group of Five team.
12pm ABC: Clemson at Louisville
12pm FOX: West Virginia at Oklahoma
12pm ESPN: Florida at South Carolina
12pm ESPN2: TCU at Kansas St.
12pm ESPNU: Tulsa at Cincinnati
12pm FS1: Wisconsin at Illinois
12pm SEC: Auburn at Arkansas
12pm CBSSN: Toledo at Ball St.
12pm BTN: Purdue at Iowa
12pm ACCN: Duke at Virginia
12pm ACC RSNs: NC State at Boston College
12pm FSN: Iowa St. at Texas Tech
2pm Pac-12: Arizona St. at Utah
3pm ESPN+: Old Dominion at UAB
3pm ESPN+: Old Dominion at UAB
3:30pm ABC: Oregon at Washington
3:30pm CBS: Kentucky at Georgia
3:30pm ESPN2: Temple at SMU
3:30pm ESPNU: Tulane at Memphis
3:30pm BTN: Minnesota at Rutgers
3:30pm BTN: Indiana at Maryland
3:30pm ACC RSNs: North Carolina at Virginia Tech4pm FOX: Baylor at Oklahoma St.
4pm SEC: Missouri at Vanderbilt
4pm ACCN: Georgia Tech at Miami (FL)
5:30pm Pac-12: Oregon St. at California
6pm ESPN: Tennessee at Alabama7pm ESPN2: Boise St. at BYU
7pm ESPNU: Houston at Connecticut
7pm CBSSN: East Carolina at UCF
7:30pm ABC: Michigan at Penn St.
7:30pm ACCN: Florida St. at Wake Forest
9pm ESPN: LSU at Mississippi St.
10:15pm ESPN2: Colorado at Washington St.
10:15pm ESPNU: Nevada at Utah St.
10:30pm FS1: Arizona at USC
10:30pm FS1: Arizona at USC
5 comments:
Chris Fowler said on his recap of the week on his way home (on Instagram), that "we'll have the White Out Game in 2 weeks". So that confirms your thinking that Michigan-Penn State will be on ABC.
Wilner had a story a few weeks ago that said 10/19 was the weekend that Pac-12 Network got the first pick, but that FOX had trumped them using one of the four priority selections for the year, presumably to take Oregon-Washington. But then he tweeted out yesterday that the order was ESPN, P12N, ESPN, P12N, and P12N, which isn't consistent with his article. On top of that, if yesterday's tweet is correct, there can't be a late night window for FS1.
Oregon-Washington is a better option for 3:30 than the second Big 12 selection, but if they really had the first week for 10/19 you would assume their literature wouldn't include the two Big 12 games on the broadcast network.
Yeah, Wilner's article differed from the podcast, where it was clearly stated ESPN had top pick on 10/19 via a "First Four" selection.
As for the late FS1 window, I can only go on what I see. Didn't see Jon's tweet, but did see the window when I searched.
It would seem strange for FOX to have only three games all day and for Pac-12 Network to have three games this far into the season. Having to hold multiple windows for baseball is a challenge, but your scenario of FS1 in the afternoon and FOX in the evening makes the most sense.
WVU @ OU would make 4 straight 11am kickoffs including 2 at home. That would just be cruel.
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