That said, the Big 12 will still have possibilities for Big Noon, likely during non-conference play, and Cy-Hawk will be that chance at least one time this year. Scott Dochterman of The Athletic was able to get some insights about the Big Ten draft and if you subscribe, you can read about it
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* It feels like FOX's Friday night schedule, which was extremely hyped last year, was announced as more of an afterthought this year. There are gaps in the schedule in October, presumably for MLB postseason, and one in November for reasons not yet clear to me (maybe a basketball event?). But there's only one host in the in the Eastern Time Zone (Rutgers). I'm curious if enough schools have put up roadblocks in the Big Ten where its not as viable.
FOX appears to have been able to get both Arizona schools to relax a longstanding preference for 7pm or later starts in September, with both hosting 6pm local games on Friday nights on the broadcast network. That said, that preference was relevant for the Pac-12 and I don't know if it has carried over to the Big 12.
* Reading a few tea leaves with the Big 12, BYU-Colorado feels like ESPN using one of their top 4 picks as it was outside the first four weeks of the season. It was also the only Big 12 game available on that Saturday available to be placed in the late evening slot with TCU-ASU on FOX on Friday. Also, knowing that Oregon-Penn State was selected for NBC that evening, I assume that ABC will have Alabama-Georgia in the evening.
Also, I'm a bit surprised that no Big 12 games were scheduled to air on FS1 over the early season portion of the schedule.
* As for the Big Ten, knowing that the 3rd of FOX's top 3 selections likely wasn't announced today (assume Texas-Ohio State at Ohio State-Michigan are the other two), it feels like NBC had the 4th pick by announcing Oregon-Penn State for 9/27 with the Ryder Cup occupying the afternoon on NBC that day. Was Michigan-Nebraska on 9/20 CBS's top Big Ten choice? It definitely indicates they were picking first in Week Four. Suspect we'll need to see how the season plays out.
* New Mexico at UCLA was listed as TBD on the Big Ten schedule for a Friday, and
the game showed up on the FOX Sports release, which tells me that its part of their pool, either FOX/FS1 or BTN. Since FOX already has Kansas State at Arizona that evening, the game is for either FS1 or BTN. I assume that if the game is on FS1 with maybe a 9pm or 9:30pm ET start, Indiana State at Indiana will be a 7pm ET start on BTN. If its on BTN, it looks like a doubleheader with Indiana State at Indiana at 6:30pm and New Mexico at UCLA at 10pm ET.
* I was surprised to see no Big Ten game on NBC on 9/13, though I can appreciate a network being creative. Texas A&M at Notre Dame is taking the primetime game, and Peacock will have a doubleheader that day. Per the previously mentioned Scott Dochterman article, NBC is allowed to use their choice for Peacock or move their NBC game to an earlier timeslot, and in the case of 9/13 made the choice to go with Peacock for their game, which I'll assume was the Ohio at Ohio State game.
* The Mountain West's national TV release indicated that remaining games would be part of non-national TV packages, which indicates that the deal with TNT Sports to air games on TruTV has ended. That's a bit of a surprise since
it was touted as a multi-year deal. I don't know if things soured when no men's basketball games were selected by TNT Sports when some schools indicated there were plans for games to be selected.
Really unsure. EDIT: Mountain West media relations has confirmed that only CBS Sports and FOX Sports will be the national TV partners for the conference in 2025-26, so yes, TNT Sports is out.Of the remaining 21 games (one SJSU home game was picked up for NBC Sports Bay Area), seven will be part of the Hawai'i PPV package. Most of the remaining games have hosts that have televised games via regional or local TV stations, and I'd expect them to be streamed through the conference. Have reached out to the Mountain West and TNT Sports for confirmation, but multiple MW schools have noted that their remaining MW controlled games would be shown through MW Networks and other local/regional TV means.
* ESPN backing away from Friday night NBA is college football's gain, with main ESPN carrying a game nearly every week on Friday nights, and some weeks where ESPN2 will have their own games.
* Didn't see any Ivy League Friday night games announced, nor any weeknight games from the two HBCU conferences. I assume those will show up during the summer.
