CFB TV Confirmations for 2021 Week 6 (10/9/21)

This post will be updated as announcements come out for start times for 10/9/21 from the twelve day selection process that most TV networks adhere to. 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), along with the games that have already been set.

All times Eastern

12pm ABC: Oklahoma vs. Texas

12pm FOX: Maryland at Ohio State

12pm ESPN2: South Carolina at Tennessee

12pm FS1: West Virginia at Baylor

12pm SECN: Vanderbilt at Florida

12pm BTN: Michigan State at Rutgers

12pm ESPN+: Akron at Bowling Green

12:30pm ACC RSN: Georgia Tech at Duke

3:30pm FS1: San Jose State at Colorado State

3:30pm ESPNU: Ball State at Western Michigan

3:30pm BTN: Wisconsin at Illinois

3:30pm ESPN3: Middle Tennessee at Liberty

3:30pm ESPN+: Central Michigan at Ohio

3:30pm ESPN+: Miami (OH) at Eastern Michigan

4pm SECN: North Texas at Missouri

4pm Pac-12: Oregon State at Washington State

6pm ESPN+: ECU at UCF 

7pm ESPN: TCU at Texas Tech

7pm ESPNU: Buffalo at Kent State

7pm ESPN+: South Alabama at Texas State

7pm ESPN+: Georgia Southern at Troy

7:30pm ABC: Michigan at Nebraska

7:30pm SECN: LSU at Kentucky

7:30pm ACCN: Notre Dame at Virginia Tech

8pm CBS: Alabama at Texas A&M

8pm ESPN3: Georgia State at ULM

8pm FOX: Utah at USC

9pm ESPN2: Memphis at Tulsa

9pm FS1: New Mexico vs. San Diego State 

10:30pm ESPN: UCLA at Arizona

Six Day Decisions

Florida State at North Carolina - 3pm or 3:30pm ET on ACCN, ABC, ESPN or ESPN2

Virginia at Louisville - 3pm or 3:30pm ET on ACCN, ABC, ESPN or ESPN2

Wake Forest at Syracuse - 3pm or 3:30pm ET on ACCN, ABC, ESPN or ESPN2

Boise State at BYU - 3:30pm ABC or ESPN

Arkansas at Ole Miss - 3:30pm CBS or 12pm ESPN

Georgia at Auburn - 3:30pm CBS or 12pm ESPN

Some early indications of ESPN Networks Men's Basketball Schedule for November

One of the nice things that ESPN does is publish out listings far in advance through their portal.  It helps me with the game predictions that I do weekly during the college football season and while they don't have the exact games listed, it can provide a glimpse into the early season college basketball schedule.

I'm not going to go through the various early season events that are already in place and you can find some games that have already been scheduled at my site.

ESPN

Sunday 11/14 - ESPN's schedule starts with the Champions Classic doubleheader on the opening night, November 9th, but they jump in with a doubleheader a few days later, currently listed as a SEC game at 1pm ET and a Pac-12 game at 3pm ET.  

What games are likely?  I think the SEC game is Florida State at Florida.  I'm less certain about the Pac-12 game unless a game is moved from another date as the currently released schedules don't have a game for that date.

Tuesday 11/16 - Another doubleheader is listed, this time as American (8pm ET) and Pac-12 (10pm).  We know the PK Invitational game between BYU and Oregon is already set for 10pm on ESPN, so what is the American's game?  I believe that will be Virginia at Houston which is scheduled for that day.

ESPN2

Tuesday 11/9 - A Big Ten game is listed at 6pm and there's nothing that stands out.  When all else fails - Akron at Ohio State.

Saturday 11/13 - A Pac-12 game is listed at 11:30pm ET and I can't figure out what it is unless the game is mislabeled as a Pac-12 game.  There's a WCC game, Texas at Gonzaga, that I could certainly see being the chosen game.

Sunday 11/14 - An ACC game is listed at 5pm ET as a lead-in to the Asheville Invitational Championship.  Neither game currently scheduled for that day screams "TELEVISE ME!", but if I had to guess, I'd choose Drexel at Syracuse over Fairfield at Boston College.

ESPNU

For ESPNU, I'm going to go with more of a highlights and oddities theme.

1. An ACC game at 6pm on Tuesday 11/9 seems like a place to open the Hubert Davis era at UNC as they host Loyola (MD) that night.
2. A Big 12 game is scheduled for 8:30pm ET on 11/12.  Pitt at West Virginia makes sense.
3. There's an ASun game at 4pm on 11/16.  Just so happens that USC is visiting Florida Gulf Coast that day.  Why?  USC coach Andy Enfield came from FGCU and their run as "Dunk City".

ESPN+ (maybe?)

There's a handful of games that don't seem to be earmarked for a place, particularly with college football taking up valuable space on Saturdays.  Those games include:

Georgia at Cincinnati (11/13)

USC at Temple (11/13)

Stanford at Baylor (11/20)

Oklahoma at UCF (11/27)

There also might be games that end up on other networks, such as Villanova's visit to UCLA on Friday 11/12.  Hopefully we'll start to get clarity in the upcoming two weeks.

CFB TV Guesses for 2021 Week 6 (10/9/21)

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

I have done my best to list what TV windows are out there. Every listing service has a little different schedule for these networks. It is also possible that a window could be eliminated or the time of a window could shift slightly to accommodate a network's needs.

Some considerations you may want to be aware of

* ESPN has preselected the following games but not slotted their network and/or start time:

• Oklahoma vs. Texas (ABC, ESPN, ESPN2)
• Notre Dame at Virginia Tech (ACC Network)

* FOX Sports has preselected the following games but not slotted their network and/or start time:

• Utah at USC (FOX or FS1)
• San Jose State at Colorado State (FOX, FS1 or FS2)
• New Mexico vs. San Diego State (FOX, FS1 or FS2)

* The following Big Ten games have already had their start times set as homecoming games:

• Maryland at Ohio State (12pm)
• Michigan State at Rutgers (12pm)
• Wisconsin at Illinois (3:30pm or 4pm)

* CBS has a SEC doubleheader with a primetime game.  When this occurs, ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU cannot air any primetime SEC games.  Only SEC Network can.

* Speaking of the SEC doubleheader - some TV stations and publications may have given away the games they chose, which aren't surprising choices at all.

* BTN will not have a primetime game as they have women's volleyball scheduled.

* Both ESPN2 and FS1 are carrying the prelim bouts for the Tyson Fury-Deonte Wilder card from 7-9pm ET as it is a joint Top Rank-PBC promoted card, meaning that ESPN and FOX Sports are jointly producing and promoting the PPV card.

* FOX has three Saturday broadcast network windows for the first time since Labor Day Weekend.  They have no MLB postseason commitments on this day as the ALDS has a travel day scheduled.

* When FOX locked in Penn State-Iowa for their mid-afternoon game, it made for interesting slotting of the Maryland-Ohio State, Oklahoma-Texas and West Virginia-Baylor.  An alternative to what I have listed is to have Oklahoma-Texas at 12pm on ABC, Maryland-Ohio State on FOX at 12pm and West Virginia-Baylor on ABC at 3:30pm.  That alternative could also swap WVU-Baylor to ABC's primetime slot with Michigan-Nebraska going to mid-afternoon on ABC.

* FS2 isn't listing any windows, so I slipped both Mountain West games into openings on FS1.

* The top picks from the Big 12 (ESPN), Big Ten (FOX) and Pac-12 (FOX) seemed to be done in advance.

Some early trends to consider:

Big Ten

* ESPN appears to have had the top Saturday selection just once (9/18, Auburn at Penn State), so I would expect them to go on a run of top selections.

* Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Penn State and Wisconsin needs to appear once on BTN against another Big Ten opponent.  In the case of Minnesota, it is once more against a Big Ten school as they did not have any non-conference games on BTN.

* Counting future selections

• ESPN Networks: 11
• Four in primetime (including weeknights) with a minimum of six
• FOX Sports: 16
• Six in primetime (including weeknights) with a max of nine.

Big 12

* More of an even split in terms of top Saturday choice

• ESPN Networks: 9/11, 9/25, 10/9
• FOX Sports: 9/4, 9/18, 10/2

* ESPN Networks has used 13 of their 23 selections.

* At least 15 games have been earmarked for ABC, FOX, ESPN or FS1 out of a minimum of 25 games.

Pac-12

* In terms of Saturday top choice, I think this is the following split, though the Pac-12's use of priority selections where both ESPN and FOX can choose a game in advance of the weekly draft order skews this somewhat

• ESPN Networks:  9/25, 10/2
• FOX Sports: 9/4, 9/11, 9/18, 10/9

* ESPN Networks has used 10 of their 22 selections and must air one more game on ABC that is in primetime on the east coast.

* FOX Sports has used 12 of their 22 selections.  Four more games must air on FOX and of those four, at least two must air in primetime on the east coast.

Now to the guesses.  All times Eastern:

12pm ABC: Maryland at Ohio State

12pm FOX: West Virginia at Baylor

12pm ESPN: Arkansas at Ole Miss

12pm ESPN2: Vanderbilt at Florida

12pm FS1: TCU at Texas Tech

12pm ESPNU: Miami (OH) at Eastern Michigan

12pm SECN: North Texas at Missouri

12pm BTN: Michigan State at Rutgers

12pm ACCN: Notre Dame at Virginia Tech

12:30pm ACC RSN: Wake Forest at Syracuse

3:30pm ABC: Oklahoma vs. Texas

3:30pm CBS: Georgia at Auburn

3:30pm ESPN: Boise State at BYU

3:30pm ESPN2: ECU at UCF

3:30pm FS1: San Jose State at Colorado State

3:30pm ESPNU: Middle Tennessee at Liberty

3:30pm BTN: Wisconsin at Illinois

4pm SECN: South Carolina at Tennessee

4pm ACCN: Virginia at Louisville

6pm Pac-12: Oregon State at Washington State

7pm ESPN: Florida State at North Carolina

7pm ESPNU: South Alabama at Texas State

7:30pm ABC: Michigan at Nebraska

7:30pm SECN: LSU at Kentucky

7:30pm ACCN: Georgia Tech at Duke

8pm CBS: Alabama at Texas A&M

8pm FOX: Utah at USC

9pm ESPN2: Memphis at Tulsa

9pm FS1: New Mexico vs. San Diego State

10:30pm ESPN: UCLA at Arizona

ESPN3 or ESPN+

Georgia Southern at Troy

Georgia State at ULM

Akron at Bowling Green

Ball State at Western Michigan

Buffalo at Kent State

Central Michigan at Ohio

CFB TV Confirmations for 2021 Week 5 (10/2/21)

This post will be updated as announcements come out for start times for 10/2/21 from the twelve day selection process that most TV networks adhere to. 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), along with the games that have already been set.

All times Eastern

12pm ABC: Texas at TCU

12pm FOX: Michigan at Wisconsin

12pm ESPN: Arkansas at Georgia

12pm ESPN2: Duke at North Carolina

12pm ESPNU: Memphis at Temple

12pm SECN: Tennessee at Missouri

12pm BTN: Charlotte at Illinois

12pm BTN: Minnesota at Purdue

12pm CBSSN:  Western Michigan at Buffalo

12pm ACCN: Pitt at Georgia Tech

12:30pm ACC RSN: Louisville at Wake Forest

2pm Pac-12: USC at Colorado

2pm ESPN+: Appalachian State at Georgia State

2:30pm ESPN+: Eastern Michigan at Northern Illinois

2:30pm ESPN+: ULM at Coastal Carolina

3:30pm ABC: Oregon at Stanford

3:30om CBS: Ole Miss at Alabama

3:30pm FOX: Oklahoma at Kansas State

3:30pm ESPN2: Texas Tech at West Virginia

3:30pm FS1: Nevada at Boise State

3:30pm SECN: Troy at South Carolina

3:30pm BTN: Ohio State at Rutgers

3:30pm ACCN: Syracuse at Florida State

3:30pm ESPN3: Ohio at Akron

3:30pm ESPN+: Tulane at ECU

3:30pm ESPN+: Bowling Green at Kent State

3:30pm ESPN+: Central Michigan at Miami (OH)

4pm ESPNU: USF at SMU

4pm ESPN+: Arkansas State at Georgia Southern

5pm ESPN+: Army West Point at Ball State

5:30pm Pac-12: Washington State at California

6pm ACCNX/ESPN+: Louisiana Tech at NC State

6:30pm FS2: Air Force at New Mexico

7pm ESPN2: Baylor at Oklahoma State

7pm FS1: Kansas at Iowa State

7:30pm ABC: Indiana at Penn State

7:30pm ESPNU: UConn at Vanderbilt

7:30pm BTN: Northwestern at Nebraska

7:30pm BTN: WKU at Michigan State

7:30pm ACCN: Boston College at Clemson

8pm ESPN+: Louisiana at South Alabama

9pm ESPN: Auburn at LSU

9pm Pac-12: Washington at Oregon State 

10:30pm FS1: Arizona State at UCLA

Six Day Network Decision (don't believe this is a six day hold)

Florida at Kentucky - 6pm ESPN or 7pm SEC Network

Mississippi State at Texas A&M - 6pm ESPN or 7pm SEC Network

CFB TV Guesses for 2021 Week 5 (10/2/21)

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

I have done my best to list what TV windows are out there. Every listing service has a little different schedule for these networks. It is also possible that a window could be eliminated or the time of a window could shift slightly to accommodate a network's needs.

A few notes and considerations:

* Three Big Ten games are locked into their start times as homecoming games:

• Minnesota at Purdue (12pm)
• Northwestern at Nebraska (7:30pm)
• WKU at Michigan State (7:30pm)

* Boston College at Clemson has been preselected to air on ACC Network, but the start time is not finalized.

* Air Force at New Mexico and Nevada at Boise State will air on a FOX Sports platform.

* FOX is scheduled to air MLB in the evening.

* ESPN advance schedule lists games at 6pm and 9pm ET, which in the past has meant a doubleheader of SEC games in the evening.

* FS1 has NASCAR Trucks in the early afternoon.

* FS2 has one slot in the evening.

* CBS Sports Network has a selection from the MAC at 12pm ET.

My thoughts

* On the most recent episode of Richard Deitsch's podcast, Gus Johnson believed that his next game after Notre Dame vs. Wisconsin is Michigan at Wisconsin.  They're not 100% accurate on knowing their upcoming schedule, but let's assume Gus is accurate and that FOX had the top Big Ten choice this week.

* I have ABC with the top Big 12 and Pac-12 selections.

12pm ABC: Baylor at Oklahoma State

12pm FOX: Michigan at Wisconsin

12pm ESPN: Mississippi State at Texas A&M

12pm ESPN2: Duke at North Carolina

12pm ESPNU: Memphis at Temple

12pm SECN: Troy at South Carolina

12pm BTN: Minnesota at Purdue

12pm BTN: Charlotte at Illinois

12pm CBSSN: Army West Point at Ball State

12pm ACCN: Louisville at Wake Forest

12:30pm ACC RSN: Louisiana Tech at NC State

3pm Pac-12: Washington State at California

3:30pm ABC: Indiana at Penn State 

3:30om CBS: Ole Miss at Alabama

3:30pm FOX: Texas at TCU

3:30pm ESPN2: Syracuse at Florida State

3:30pm FS1: Texas Tech at West Virginia

3:30pm ESPNU: ULM at Coastal Carolina

3:30pm BTN: Ohio State at Rutgers

4pm SECN: Tennessee at Missouri

4pm ACCN: Pitt at Georgia Tech

6pm ESPN: Arkansas at Georgia

6:30pm Pac-12: USC at Colorado

7pm ESPN2: Kansas at Iowa State

7pm ESPNU: UConn at Vanderbilt

7pm FS1: Nevada at Boise State

7:30pm ABC: Oklahoma at Kansas State

7:30pm SECN: Florida at Kentucky

7:30pm FS2: Air Force at New Mexico

7:30pm BTN: WKU at Michigan State

7:30pm BTN: Northwestern at Nebraska

7:30pm ACCN: Boston College at Clemson

9pm ESPN: Auburn at LSU

10pm Pac-12: Washington at Oregon State

10:30pm ESPN2: Arizona State at UCLA

10:30pm FS1: Oregon at Stanford

ESPN3 or ESPN+

Tulane at ECU

USF at SMU

Bowling Green at Kent State

Central Michigan at Miami (OH)

Eastern Michigan at Northern Illinois

Western Michigan at Buffalo

Louisiana at South Alabama

Arkansas State at Georgia Southern

Appalachian State at Georgia State

CFB TV Confirmations for 2021 Week 4 (9/25/21)

This post will be updated as announcements come out for start times for 9/25/21 from the twelve day selection process that most TV networks adhere to. 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), along with the games that have already been set.

All times Eastern

12pm ABC: Texas Tech at Texas

12pm ESPN: LSU at Mississippi State

12pm ESPN2: Missouri at Boston College

12pm FS1: SMU at TCU

12pm ESPNU: Bowling Green at Minnesota

12pm SECN: Georgia at Vanderbilt

12pm BTN: Villanova at Penn State

12pm BTN: Ohio at Northwestern

12pm ACCN: Richmond at Virginia Tech

12pm ACCNX/ESPN+: New Hampshire at Pitt

12pm ESPN+: FIU at Central Michigan

12:30pm ACC RSN: Central Connecticut at Miami (FL)

1pm ESPN+: UMass at Coastal Carolina

2pm ESPN+: Toledo at Ball State

2pm ESPN+: Texas State at Eastern Michigan

2pm ESPN+: San Jose State at Western Michigan

2:30pm Pac-12: Washington State at Utah

2:30pm ESPN3: Maine at Northern Illinois

3:30pm CBS: Texas A&M vs. Arkansas

3:30pm FOX: Iowa State at Baylor 

3:30pm ABC or ESPN: Clemson at NC State

3:30pm ABC or ESPN: Rutgers at Michigan

3:30pm ESPN2: Louisville at Florida State

3:30pm FS1: Colorado State at Iowa

3:30pm ESPNU: UTSA at Memphis

3:30pm BTN: Kent State at Maryland

3:30pm BTN: Illinois at Purdue

4pm SECN: Georgia State at Auburn

4pm ACCN: Kansas at Duke

5pm ESPN+: Arkansas State at Tulsa

6pm Pac-12: UCLA at Stanford

6pm ESPN+: Louisiana at Georgia Southern

7pm ESPN: Tennessee at Florida

7pm ESPN2: Kentucky at South Carolina

7pm FS1: Nebraska at Michigan State

7pm ESPNU: Navy at Houston

7pm ESPN+: Kansas State at Oklahoma State

7:30pm ABC: West Virginia at Oklahoma 

7:30pm SECN: Southern Miss at Alabama

7:30pm ACCN: North Carolina vs. Georgia Tech

7:30pm BTN: Akron at Ohio State

8pm FS2: Florida Atlantic at Air Force 

8pm ESPN+: UAB at Tulane

8pm ESPN+: Troy at ULM

9:30pm Pac-12: California at Washington

10:15pm ESPN2/ESPNU: USF at BYU

10:30pm ESPN: Arizona at Oregon

10:30pm ESPN2/ESPNU: Colorado at Arizona State

10:30pm FS1: Oregon State at USC

CFB TV Guesses for 2021 Week 4 (9/25/21)

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

I have done my best to list what TV windows are out there. Every listing service has a little different schedule for these networks. It is also possible that a window could be eliminated or the time of a window could shift slightly to accommodate a network's needs.

A few notes and considerations:

* Bowling Green at Minnesota & Rutgers at Michigan are homecoming games and are locked to their start times. 

* Advance listings only have FS1 games at 12pm & 7pm ET.  There's a game listed on FS2 at 3:30pm ET, which I'm assuming is for the Mountain West.  If there's is a 3:30pm ET game, move a Pac-12 game from Pac-12 Networks to FS1.  My move would be Oregon State at USC, or move SMU at TCU from ESPN+ to FS1.

* I'm not certain on the number of Pac-12 Networks games.  I went with four game windows.  Could be less.

* BTN listings have two games at 12pm and 3:30pm, and a single game at 7:30pm ET.

* FOX has no primetime game, choosing to air MLB instead.  Their 12pm window has already been selected and check the link in the 1st sentence for that game.

* I assume FOX took the top Big Ten selection with their 12pm game, leaving ESPN to take the next best game.

* For the Pac-12, I gave ESPN the top choice and the top choice from the Big 12 as well.

12pm ABC: Nebraska at Michigan State

12pm ESPN: Tennessee at Florida

12pm ESPN2: Colorado State at Iowa

12pm FS1: Kansas State at Oklahoma State

12pm ESPNU: Bowling Green at Minnesota

12pm SECN: Georgia at Vanderbilt

12pm BTN: Kent State at Maryland

12pm BTN: Villanova at Penn State

12pm ACCN: Kansas at Duke

12:30pm ACC RSN: Richmond at Virginia Tech

1:30pm Pac-12: Washington State at Utah

3:30pm ABC: Rutgers at Michigan

3:30pm CBS: Arkansas vs. Texas A&M

3:30pm FOX: UCLA at Stanford

3:30pm ESPN: Clemson at NC State

3:30pm ESPN2: Texas Tech at Texas

3:30pm ESPNU: Navy at Houston

3:30pm FS2: Florida Atlantic at Air Force

3:30pm BTN: Akron at Ohio State

3:30pm BTN: Ohio at Northwestern

4pm SECN: Kentucky at South Carolina

4pm ACCN: Louisville at Florida State

4:30pm Pac-12: Oregon State at USC

7pm ESPN: Southern Miss at Alabama

7pm ESPN2: Missouri at Boston College

7pm FS1: Iowa State at Baylor

7pm ESPNU: Georgia State at Auburn

7:30pm ABC: West Virginia at Oklahoma

7:30pm SECN: LSU at Mississippi State

7:30pm ACCN: North Carolina vs. Georgia Tech

7:30pm BTN: Illinois at Purdue

7:30pm Pac-12: California at Washington

10:15pm ESPN2: USF at BYU

10:30pm ESPN: Arizona at Oregon

11pm Pac-12: Colorado at Arizona State

ESPN3 or ESPN+

SMU at TCU

Central Connecticut at Miami (FL)

New Hampshire at Pitt

Arkansas State at Tulsa

UAB vs. Tulane

UTSA at Memphis

Toledo at Ball State

FIU at Central Michigan

Maine at Northern Illinois

San Jose State at Western Michigan

Texas State at Eastern Michigan

Louisiana at Georgia Southern

Troy at ULM

UMass at Coastal Carolina