CFB TV Guesses: 2022 Week 2 (Final Revision)

Last attempt at TV guess for Week 2 as we head in to May. Games in bold are confirmed for time and TV. Games in italics are confirmed for the TV outlet but not the time. Games in purple are confirmed for a particular network family (ie. an ESPN game = could be ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, etc.).

Under the list of games there's some notes about any changes I made. Also, if your game isn't listed, assume it is being delivered digitally via ESPN+, MW Network or some other needs.

Thursday

Not planning on a FBS game with this being NFL Opening Night.

Friday

8pm ESPN2: Louisville at UCF

9pm CBSSN: Boise State at New Mexico

9:30pm FS1: Colorado at Air Force

I dropped the FIU-Texas State game from television. I don't think its out of the question that ESPN+ carries that one.  I think it may have been scheduled for Friday intentionally by the two schools, knowing that Alabama-Texas is the next day and San Marcos is less than 40 minutes away from Austin.

The two Mountain West games moved to Friday are not confirmed.  Its just me guessing.

Saturday

I have something to say regarding Alabama at Texas, so I'd ask that you read it after viewing this schedule instead of bypassing it.

12pm ABC: Washington State at Wisconsin

12pm FOX: Alabama at Texas

12pm ESPN: Tennessee at Pitt

12pm ESPN2: Missouri at Kansas State

12pm FS1: Georgia Southern at Nebraska

12pm ESPNU: North Carolina at Georgia State

12pm BTN: Arkansas State at Ohio State

12pm SECN: Wake Forest at Vanderbilt

12pm ACCN: Furman at Clemson

12pm CBSSN: UTSA at Army West Point

12:30pm ACC RSN: Western Carolina at Georgia Tech

1pm Pac-12: Southern Utah at Utah

2:30pm NBC: Marshall at Notre Dame

3:30pm ABC: Hawai'i at Michigan

3:30pm FOX: Iowa State at Iowa

3:30pm ESPN2: Arizona State at Oklahoma State

3:30pm FS1: Virginia at Illinois

3:30pm BTN: Ohio at Penn State

3:30pm BTN: Western Carolina at Minnesota

3:30pm BTN: Indiana State at Purdue

3:30pm CBSSN: Memphis at Navy

4pm ESPNU: Akron at Michigan State

4pm SECN: San Jose State at Auburn

4pm ACCN: Charleston Southern at NC State

4pm Pac-12: Eastern Washington at Oregon

6pm CBSSN on Facebook: Maryland at Charlotte

7pm ESPN: Kentucky at Florida

7pm ESPN2: Appalachian State at Texas A&M

7pm FS1: Houston at Texas Tech

7pm Sooner PPV: Kent State at Oklahoma

7pm CBSSN: Syracuse at UConn

7pm Stadium: Middle Tennessee at Colorado State

7:30pm ABC: USC at Stanford

7:30pm ESPNU: Kansas at West Virginia

7:30pm SECN: South Carolina at Arkansas

7:30pm ACCN: Boston College at Virginia Tech

7:30pm BTN: Duke at Northwestern

7:30pm BTN: Idaho at Indiana

7:30pm BTN: Wagner at Rutgers

8pm Pac-12: Portland State at Washington

10:15pm ESPN: Baylor at BYU

10:30pm ESPN2: UNLV at California

10:30pm FS1: Mississippi State at Arizona

10:30pm CBSSN: Oregon State at Fresno State

11pm Pac-12: Alabama State at UCLA

I moved Indiana State-Purdue and Wagner-Rutgers away from 12pm to give the Ohio State game standalone coverage on BTN.

Dark horse candidate for one of the ABC slots: Tennessee at Pitt.

EDIT: Heinz Field and PNC Park in Pittsburgh share a common set of parking lots. The Pirates play at 6:30pm that evening. Unless the Pirates are willing to move the start time of their game, regardless of what attendance number you think the Pirates game gets, the Pitt game is unlikely to be played at the same time.  

I can think of two instances of a conflict on this one: In 2005, Michigan State's visit to Pitt was originally scheduled for 8pm on ABC while a Pirates game was already scheduled for that evening.  After a lengthy discussion, the Pirates held firm and the Pitt game was shown on a much more limited basis at 12pm on ABC (ABC did not intend to have a 12pm game that day) with wider coverage on ESPN2. The other instance was the 2018 visit by Penn State where the Pirates did move their start time to the afternoon. 

I think there will be a Peacock exclusive Notre Dame game this year, but I think its more likely to be the UNLV game in October. I understand that the ND spring game had a graphic that had NBC as the outlet for all games, but I think they did the same in 2021 and then the Peacock game (Toledo at Notre Dame) was announced a little over a month in advance of the season starting.

Now to the elephant in the room - my belief that Alabama at Texas is earmarked for noon/11am CT on FOX:

FOX Sports has the top choice of games in the Big 12 in even numbered years (Texas is the host so its a Big 12 controlled telecast, not a SEC game), and I have them favoring Alabama at Texas over Texas vs. Oklahoma in 2022. FOX has not had a real chance to choose an Alabama game as a regular season game and while this might be their last to carry the Red River game if the two schools happen to negotiate an exit from the Big 12 before 2024, my belief is the ability to carry an Alabama game can't be passed up.

Red River has been passed up before in the yearly selection order. ESPN had top choice in 2019 and it appears that they chose LSU at Texas for an ABC telecast ahead of Red River, which aired on FOX. You might say "ESPN has plenty of chances to air LSU games", and they do, but not for a game to air on ABC, at least not until the new SEC TV deal kicks in. Right now, its just SEC controlled games and those can't air on ABC, just ESPN networks.

The choice of 12pm ET / 11am CT caused a stir when I did my initial guesses, and probably still will, and I truly do understand the complaint when it comes to heat concerns, but as Oklahoma can attest with their game last year vs. Nebraska, once that game gets picked for TV, they lose out on the ability to dictate nearly all terms with start time when TV rights are sold off and nearly all your games are selected. FOX has marketing behind their best available game being at 12pm ET and rarely strays from that. They did with the Penn State-Iowa game last year when it aired at 4pm ET because the Maryland-Ohio State game the same week was locked to 12pm due to it being the Buckeyes' homecoming game and being set for that time before the season started. Penn State-Iowa was marketed as the big game for FOX that week instead. That situation is the rare exception.

The other "issue" is that FOX also has their MLB window that day at 7pm ET (see last page), which cuts out one of their available windows. I'm under the working assumption that this will not move as FOX has this window in place in primetime for multiple Saturdays in September and October.

If FOX were to bypass Alabama at Texas, yes, it probably airs at night on ABC because ESPN's strategy has been to funnel their best game to primetime when they can. If you want to clap back when that happens, I'm fair game. I just find this game more valuable in 2022 than Red River is.