Thoughts on 9/28 Big Ten Selection Order

Have had a few people ask about the six day hold selection order for the Big Ten used in Week Five.  We really don't get a lot, if any, information anymore about six day hold order.  280 characters on X really doesn't provide me enough length to discuss it, so lets start here.

What we learned from the initial selections

Two games were selected off the bat: Ohio State at Michigan State for an evening Peacock exclusive game and Maryland at Indiana for 12pm ET on BTN.  We also learned that Illinois at Penn State would be an evening game (7pm or 7pm ET) as it was PSU's homecoming game so it had its start time set within a short range and that Wisconsin at USC would be at 3:30pm, 7pm or 7:30pm ET due to Parents' Weekend festivities.

Nebraska at Purdue was also locked to 12pm ET as Purdue's homecoming game.

What order do I believe was used on 9/28?

I think the order used that week looked like this:

FOX

CBS

NBC

FOX Sports (FOX or FS1)

Peacock

Peacock

BTN

I think Ohio State at Michigan State was taken with the 1st Peacock selection.

Couldn't Ohio State at Michiga State be the 1st selection? 

Its not supposed to be the top choice.  Per an Athletic interview with Big Ten COO Kerry Kenny, selections that are to air on FS1, Peacock and BTN are supposed to occur after the 1st 45 picks, essentially the broadcast network picks that would be used by FOX, CBS and NBC.  

“Those three networks for the first 42 or 45 picks — depending on the length of the season — they will select which weeks that they’ll be in the No. 1 pick position or the No. 2 pick position or the No. 3 pick position,” Kenny said. “Once you get through those top three picks in the season, for each of those weeks, then it goes to FS1, Peacock and BTN entering the draft and selecting the remaining picks in each of those weeks beyond that.”

I do believe some leeway has been provided to FOX to be able to fill out its Friday night schedule and some of those selections come from the FS1 pool on the back half of the draft.

Wasn't there a complication where FOX appears to have wanted to switch slots with CBS?

I believe FOX was looking at selecting Wisconsin at USC, but couldn't choose it as a 9am host location start. CBS apparently alerted affiliates that their game could air at either noon ET or 3:30pm ET.

Why didn't NBC just take Illinois at Penn State instead of the six day hold?

I suppose NBC may have considered Oregon at UCLA, which would have dropped Illinois at Penn State to FS1.  We know CBS considered taking Oregon at UCLA at 3:30pm ET (their graphic at the end of USC-Michigan confirmed this possibility), which means that NBC's choice could have been between Wisconsin-USC and Illinois-Penn State.

One of the things to remember is that there were a lot of moving parts in the six day hold.  This didn't just include five Big Ten games, but also included games from the Big 12 and Mountain West.

But FOX had this late evening broadcast network window to fill.  Didn't that mean Oregon-UCLA had to be late?

If you remember, Fresno State at UNLV's TV designation added FS2 as a possibility, meaning that FS1 could have been open to take a Big Ten game (or a Big 12 game).

Why bother holding Nebraska at Purdue?

Nebraska was undefeated at the time (this was before their Friday night loss to Illinois).  I suppose there was a chance that FOX or CBS would consider them for noon based on other results, which might make the selection order look at bit like this:

FOX or CBS at noon - Nebraska at Purdue
CBS or FOX at 3:30pm - Wisconsin at USC
NBC - Illinois at Penn State
FOX Sports - Oregon at UCLA
Peacock - Minnesota at Michigan