CFB TV Confirmations for 2017 Week 11 (11/7/17 - 11/11/17)

This post will be updated as announcements come out for start times for 11/7 - 11/11 from the twelve day selection process that most TV networks adhere to (well, under twelve days for the MAC but you get the picture).  Please understand that games can be held until next Sunday if a broadcaster wants to wait on the results of the Week Ten games.  Most conferences have the possibility of having all or part of their games held for a six day hold of the start time.

Six day picks used coming into Week Eleven's selections: ACC (2 of 4), American (1 of 2), Big 12 (1 of 4), Big Ten (1 of 4 ???), SEC (1 of 2), Pac-12 (2 of 4, ESPN and FOX each have one left to use).  I don't know how many six day holds the Big Ten has as part of their new TV deal.  Per LandOf10, night games must be picked on a 12 day basis.

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'll prove to be incorrect) and here is the current schedule for the week as several FBS games do have their time & television/webcast assignments already accounted for.

Tuesday 11/7
7:30pm ESPN2: Akron at Miami (OH)
7:30pm ESPNU: Bowling Green at Buffalo

Wednesday 11/8
7pm ESPN2: Toledo at Ohio
7pm CBSSN: Kent St. at Western Michigan
8pm ESPNU: Eastern Michigan at Central Michigan

Six day holds for 11/11 for mutlitple TV windows
Iowa St. at Oklahoma St.
TCU at Oklahoma
All ACC controlled games (six)
Georgia at Auburn
Alabama at Mississippi St.

One Big 12 game will end up on FOX at 8pm ET.  The other stays with ESPN.

One SEC game will air on CBS at 3:30pm ET and the other goes to ESPN at 7pm ET.

Saturday 11/11
12pm CBS: Florida at South Carolina
12pm FOX: Michigan St. at Ohio St.
12pm FS1: Nebraska at Minnesota
12pm ESPN: Arkansas at LSU
12pm ESPNU: Connecticut at UCF
12pm FSN: Texas Tech vs. Baylor
12pm SEC: UL-Lafayette at Ole Miss
12pm BTN: Rutgers at Penn St.
12pm BTN: Indiana at Illinois
3:30pm ABC or ESPN: Iowa at Wisconsin
3:30pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU: West Virginia at Kansas St.
3:30pm BTN: Michigan at Maryland
4pm FOX: USC at Colorado
4pm SEC: Kentucky at Vanderbilt
4pm ESPN3: San Jose St. at Nevada
4pm ESPN3: Georgia St. at Texas St.
4pm ESPN3: Nicholls at Stephen F. Austin
4:30pm ESPN3: Troy at Coastal Carolina
5pm ESPN3: Arkansas St. at South Alabama
5:30pm Pac-12: Washington St. at Utah
7pm ESPN2: Northwestern at Purdue
7pm ESPNU: New Mexico at Texas A&M
7pm CST: Northwestern St. at McNeese
7pm ESPN3: Sam Houston St. at Abilene Christian
7:30pm SEC: Tennessee at Missouri
9:30pm Pac-12: Arizona St. at UCLA
10pm ESPN2: Oregon St. at Arizona
10:15pm ESPNU: Wyoming at Air Force

CFB TV Guesses for 2017 Week Eleven (11/7/17 - 11/11/17)

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

* Final Big Ten homecoming game with Rutgers at Penn St. locked to 12pm ET.
* CBS has a 12pm & 3:30pm doubleheader, which means they do not have the top two selections, but the 1st selection (3:30pm) & 4th selection (12pm) with ESPN in between.  CBS's 12pm selection is not an exclusive timeslot either and ESPN can televise SEC games on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU at the same time.
* I'm assuming Washington at Stanford (Friday on FS1) was the top Pac-12 choice.  I have the Big 12's top choice with ESPN and the top Big Ten choice with FOX Sports.
* ESPN has a Top Rank Boxing card in the late evening.
* This is the point of the season when Big Ten schools can veto the possibility of a night game, per LandOf10.com.  Because of this, I believe FOX has Michigan St. at Ohio St. on their "be ready" list to be a night game.
* Connecticut at UCF automatically belongs to ESPN Networks.  Tulane at East Carolina was selected for CBS Sports Network ahead of the 12 day selection process with only two American games available for selection on Saturday.
* I doubled up on the ACC Network 12:20pm window as I ran out of windows for Connecticut at UCF.  Didn't realize it for about four hours, which is kinda embarrassing.
* It would not surprise me to see a ESPNEWS window opened or the use of ESPN3 for Wyoming at Air Force instead of playing it at night.  Also wouldn't surprise me to see San Jose St. at Nevada on ESPN3 and both ESPN2 and ESPNU late evening windows revert to alternate programming.

Six day picks used: ACC (2 of 4), American (1 of 2), Big 12 (1 of 4), Big Ten (1 of 4 ???), SEC (1 of 2), Pac-12 (2 of 4, ESPN and FOX each have one left to use)

Who picked first so far (COMPLETE SPECULATION) and selection counts
Big 12: 

• ESPN: 9/9, 9/16, 9/23, 10/14, 10/28
• Had top choice of weeks to select first.
• 16 games scheduled out of a maximum of 23.
• FOX Sports: 9/2, 9/30, 10/7, 10/21, 11/4

Big Ten: 

• ESPN: 9/2, 9/9, 9/30, 10/7, 10/21, 11/4
• I believe ESPN selected Ohio St. at Iowa first over Penn St. at Michigan St. on 11/4.
• 22 selections used out of 27.
• FOX Sports: 9/16, 9/23, 10/14, 10/28
• FOX has overall first choice of weeks, which should be for Ohio St. at Michigan on 11/25.
• 20 selections used out of 27. Count excludes conference championship game.

Pac-12:

• ESPN: 9/23, 9/30, 10/14, 10/21, 10/28, 11/4
• 18 selections used out of 22. Count excludes conference championship game.
• FOX Sports: 9/2, 9/9, 9/16, 10/7
• FOX Sports had top choice of games to reserve in advance.  It is unknown what that game is.
• 18 selections used out of 22.

Tuesday 11/7
7:30pm ESPN2: Akron at Miami (OH)
7:30pm ESPNU: Bowling Green at Buffalo

Wednesday 11/8
7pm CBSSN: Kent St. at Western Michigan
8pm ESPN2: Toledo at Ohio
8pm ESPNU: Eastern Michigan at Central Michigan

Saturday 11/11
12pm ABC: Oklahoma St. at Iowa St.
12pm CBS: Florida at South Carolina
12pm FOX: Iowa at Wisconsin
12pm FS1: Michigan at Maryland
12pm ESPN: Virginia Tech at Georgia Tech
12pm ESPN2: Rutgers at Penn St.
12pm ESPNU: Connecticut at UCF
12pm FSN: Texas Tech vs. Baylor
12pm SEC: Tennessee at Missouri
12pm BTN: Indiana at Illinois
12:20pm ACC Net: NC State at Boston College
12:20pm ACC Net: Virginia at Louisville
3pm ACC RSNs: Wake Forest at Syracuse
3:30pm ABC: TCU at Oklahoma
3:30pm CBS: Georgia at Auburn
3:30pm ESPN: USC at Colorado
3:30pm ESPN2: Florida St. at Clemson
3:30pm ESPNU: West Virginia at Kansas St.
3:30pm SEC: UL-Lafayette at Ole Miss
3:30pm BTN: Nebraska at Minnesota
3:30pm BTN: Purdue at Northwestern
4pm FOX: Washington St. at Utah
4pm Pac-12: Oregon St. at Arizona
7pm ESPN: Alabama at Mississippi St.
7pm ESPN2: Arkansas at LSU
7pm ESPNU: New Mexico at Texas A&M
7:30pm SEC: Kentucky at Vanderbilt
8pm ABC: Notre Dame at Miami (FL)
8pm FOX: Michigan St. at Ohio St.
9pm Pac-12: Arizona St. at UCLA
10:15pm ESPN2: Wyoming at Air Force
10:30pm ESPNU: San Jose St. at Nevada

Bedlam Start Time & Network

I think a convergence of events may have contributed to placing Bedlam on FS1 in mid afternoon on November 4th.

1) I warned after guesses post for Week Ten that any night game that ESPN or FOX wants from the Big Ten after 11/4 comes with the potential for the schools to veto the night game request (warning was in a tweet, see from LandOf10.com).  With no evening window on FS1 due to UFC commitments, the only place to fulfill this request was in the evening on FOX.

2) LSU vs. Alabama draws well and it was a forgone conclusion to air in the evening.  Courtesy SportsMediaWatch, the game's rating since 2012:

2012: 6.3
2013: 6.9
2014: 5.3
2015: 6.4
2016: 5.8

Its a reasonably safe bet to draw somewhere around a 6.0.  A couple years ago, Florida St. vs. Clemson was played at 3:30pm to stay out of the way of this one to draw a 4.7.  Ohio St. vs. Michigan St. did the best against it in 2014 with a 3.9.

3) So why not FOX in mid afternoon or, gulp, a pre-noon local Bedlam?  Its a reasonable question to ask.  I think there's a couple things at play:

* FS1 really hasn't had a tentpole college football game this season like it had with Oklahoma vs. Texas last year, which it used as a lead-in to a NLDS game that ended up being postponed due to rain.  This was their tentpole Big 12 game & I believe its their highest rated college football game to date.  The highest rated game they've had this year was Ohio St. at Nebraska on 10/14.

I also believe they're attempting to trade off of the high of a lot of people watching ALCS Game 7 too.

* In a weird way, whichever Big Ten game FOX ends up with at 12pm, either Penn St. at Michigan St. or Ohio St. at Iowa, I would assume (a terrible thing to do, I know) that game will push Bedlam like no one's business, even over the Pac-12 game airing after it.

Side note: For 11/4, with the first two windows on FOX being six day picks, they really can't promote anything before Bedlam right now.

* FOX only had five Pac-12 games on their broadcast network out of their required eight.  Going into 11/11, they have four Pac-12 selections left.  One is earmarked for FS1 at 11/25 at 10pm ET with UCLA vs. California selected already for Black Friday, so they may have no other selections that day.  One is likely to be used on 11/11 on the broadcast network with only a 12pm FS1 window, leaving two for 11/18.

So with the desire to move a Big Ten game to the evening with little resistance, plus requirements around the number of Pac-12 games they need to show, they might have backed themselves into a corner.  But its a corner they may OK with.

CFB TV Confirmations for 2017 Week 10 (10/31/17 - 11/4/17)

This post will be updated as announcements come out for start times for 10/31 - 11/4 from the twelve day selection process that most TV networks adhere to.  Please understand that games can be held until next Sunday if a broadcaster wants to wait on the results of the Week Nine games.  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'll prove to be incorrect) and here is the current schedule for the week as several FBS games do have their time & television/webcast assignments already accounted for.

Tuesday 10/31
8pm ESPN2: Miami (OH) at Ohio
8pm ESPNU: Bowling Green at Kent St.

Thursday 11/2
6pm ESPNU: Northern Illinois at Toledo
6pm CBSSN: Ball St. at Eastern Michigan

Six day holds for 11/4
ACC: Virginia Tech at Miami & Clemson at NC State (3:30pm or between 7:15pm & 8pm, ABC or ESPN)
American: USF at Connecticut & UCF at SMU (ABC/ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU at 3:30pm, ESPN2 at 7:15pm or between 7:15pm & 8pm ABC)
Big Ten: Ohio St. at Iowa & Penn St. at Michigan St. (12pm FOX or 3:30pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2) Pac-12: Arizona at USC, Oregon at Washington & Stanford at Washington St. (3:30pm FOX ,10pm FS1 or 10:45pm ESPN)

Saturday 11/4
12pm ABC: Wisconsin at Indiana
12pm ESPN: Auburn at Texas A&M
12pm ESPN2: Florida at Missouri
12pm FS1: Kansas St. at Texas Tech
12pm ESPNU: Western Kentucky at Vanderbilt
12pm SEC: Massachusetts at Mississippi St.
12pm FSN: Baylor at Kansas
12pm BTN: Illinois at Purdue
12pm CBSSN: East Carolina at Houston
12:20pm ACC Network: Syracuse at Florida St.
2pm ESPN3: Incarnate Word at Sam Houston St.
2:30pm ESPN3: Austin Peay at Tennessee Tech
3pm ACC RSNs: Georgia Tech at Virginia
3pm ESPN3: Appalachian St. at UL-Monroe
3pm ESPN3: Georgia St. at Georgia Southern
3pm ESPN3: New Mexico St. at Texas St.
3:30pm CBS: South Carolina at Georgia
3:30pm ESPN2/ESPNU: Iowa St. at West Virginia
3:30pm BTN: Maryland at Rutgers
3:30pm BTN: Northwestern at Nebraska
4pm FS1: Oklahoma at Oklahoma St.
4pm SEC: Ole Miss at Kentucky
4pm SEC Alternate: Coastal Carolina at Arkansas
4pm ESPN3: Cincinnati at Tulane
4pm ESPN3: UL-Lafayette at South Alabama
4:30pm Eleven Sports: Houston Baptist at Nicholls
5pm Pac-12: Oregon St. at California
7pm ESPNU: Nevada at Boise St.
7pm CST: Southeastern Louisiana at McNeese
7pm ESPN3: Central Arkansas at Lamar
7:15pm ESPN: Texas at TCU
7:30pm FOX: Minnesota at Michigan
7:30pm SEC: Southern Miss at Tennessee
8pm CBS: LSU at Alabama
9pm Pac-12: Colorado at Arizona St.

10:30pm ESPNU: San Diego St. at San Jose St.
10:45pm ESPN2: BYU at Fresno St.

CFB TV Guesses for 2017 Week Ten (10/31/17 - 11/4/17)

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

A quick selection count for conferences where it matters
American: 27 on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU.  28 game minimum across those four channels.
Big 12: ESPN with 14 picks out of a maximum of 23. Three games so far on ESPNU out of a soft maximum of 4 to 5 games.
Big Ten: 20 selections by ESPN. 18 by FOX Sports.  Both entities with a maximum of 27.
Pac-12: 17 selections by ESPN. 16 by FOX Sports.  Both entities with a maximum of 22.

Six day picks used: ACC (1 of 4), Big 12 (1 of 4), SEC (1 of 2), Pac-12 (1 of 4, ESPN has two to use, FOX has one)

* 11/4 appears to be ABC's final 7:30pm Big Ten game for 2017.  I believe this is the top Big Ten choice.
* CBS has their yearly SEC 3:30pm & 8pm doubleheader where they get the top two choices from the SEC.  With the primetime doubleheader, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU are not allowed to televise SEC games concurrently during either CBS window, but SEC Network can.
* Per Gary Danielson during the Tennessee-Alabama game, LSU at Alabama will be the primetime CBS game.  It would not surprise me to see CBS use their other six day hold on the 3:30pm game.
* Speaking of the SEC Network, it appears that they will show two games at 4pm ET per ESPN Mediazone
* Oklahoma at Oklahoma St. was pre-selected by FOX Sports and should be considered the top Big 12 choice.  I considered it for the primetime slot but was also concerned that it would get overshadowed by both LSU at Alabama & Penn St. at Michigan St., so I ended up with Ohio St. at Iowa on FOX in the evening with Buckeyes being a bit more ratings-proof.
* The single ACC RSN window has moved to 3pm ET.
* BTN again lists the 12pm & 3:30pm windows, and then goes to TBA programming at 6:30pm.  I'll assume there's a night game in there.

Tuesday 10/31
7:30pm ESPNU: Bowling Green at Kent St.
8pm ESPN2: Miami (OH) at Ohio

Thursday 11/2
6pm ESPNU: Northern Illinois at Toledo
6pm CBSSN: Central Michigan at Western Michigan

Saturday 11/4
12pm ABC: Clemson at NC State
12pm FOX: Wisconsin at Indiana
12pm ESPN: Auburn at Texas A&M
12pm ESPN2: Ole Miss at Kentucky
12pm FS1: Minnesota at Michigan
12pm ESPNU: Western Kentucky at Vanderbilt
12pm ESPNEWS: Cincinnati at Tulane
12pm SEC: Southern Miss at Tennessee
12pm FSN: Baylor at Kansas
12pm BTN: Illinois at Purdue
12pm CBSSN: East Carolina at Houston
12:20pm ACC Network: Syracuse at Florida St.
3pm ACC RSNs: Georgia Tech at Virginia
3:30pm CBS: South Carolina at Georgia
3:30pm ABC: Virginia Tech at Miami (FL)
3:30pm ESPN: Stanford at Washington St.
3:30pm ESPN2: Iowa St. at West Virginia
3:30pm FS1: Kansas St. at Texas Tech
3:30pm ESPNU: UCF at SMU
3:30pm BTN: Northwestern at Nebraska
4pm FOX: Oklahoma at Oklahoma St.
4pm SEC: Coastal Carolina at Arkansas
4pm SEC: Massachusetts at Mississippi St.
4pm Pac-12: Oregon St. at California
7pm ESPN: Texas at TCU
7pm ESPN2: USF at Connecticut
7pm ESPNU: BYU at Fresno St.
7:30pm ABC: Penn St. at Michigan St.
7:30pm FOX: Ohio St. at Iowa
7:30pm SEC: Florida at Missouri
7:30pm BTN: Maryland at Rutgers
8pm CBS: LSU at Alabama
9pm Pac-12: Oregon at Washington

10pm FS1: Arizona at USC

10:15pm ESPN2: San Diego St. at San Jose St.

10:30pm ESPN: Colorado at Arizona St.

10:30pm ESPNU: Nevada at Boise St.

CFB TV Confirmations for 2017 Week 9 (10/26/17 - 10/28/17)

This post will be updated as announcements come out for start times for 10/26 - 10/28 from the twelve day selection process that most TV networks adhere to.  Please understand that games can be held until next Sunday if a broadcaster wants to wait on the results of the Week Eight games.  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'll prove to be incorrect) and here is the current schedule for the week as several FBS games do have their time & television/webcast assignments already accounted for.

Thursday 10/26
7:30pm CBSSN: Eastern Michigan at Northern Illinois
7:30pm ESPN3: Toledo at Ball St.

Saturday 10/28
12pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2: Wisconsin at Illinois
12pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU: Texas at Baylor
12pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU: Miami (FL) at North Carolina
12pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU: Oklahoma St. at West Virginia
12pm SEC: Arkansas at Ole Miss
12pm BTN: Rutgers at Michigan
12:20pm ACC Network: Louisville at Wake Forest
12:30pm ACC RSN: Virginia at Pittsburgh
2pm Pac-12: California at Colorado
3pm FS1: Kansas St. at Kansas
3pm BYUtv & ESPN3: San Jose St. at BYU
3:30pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2: Michigan St. at Northwestern
3:30pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2: TCU at Iowa St.
3:30pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2: UCLA at Washington
3:30pm BTN: Indiana at Maryland
3:30pm ESPN3: Georgia Southern at Troy
3:45pm ESPNU: Houston at USF
4pm SEC: Vanderbilt at South Carolina
5pm ESPN3: UL-Monroe at Idaho
5pm ESPN3: Austin Peay at UCF
5:45pm Pac-12: Utah at Oregon
6pm ESPN3: Texas St. at Coastal Carolina
6:30pm FS1: Minnesota at Iowa
6:30pm CBSSN: Missouri at Connecticut
7pm ACC Network: Duke at Virginia Tech
7:15pm ESPN: Mississippi St. at Texas A&M
7:30pm ESPNU: New Mexico at Wyoming
7:30pm BTN: Nebraska at Purdue
7:30pm SEC: Tennessee at Kentucky
8pm ABC or ESPN2: Georgia Tech at Clemson
8pm ABC or ESPN2: Texas Tech at Oklahoma
9:30pm Pac-12: Washington St. at Arizona
10:45pm ESPN: USC at Arizona St.
11:15pm ESPN2: San Diego St. at Hawai'i

CFB TV Guesses for 2017 Week Eight (10/26/17 - 10/28/17)

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

A request that you read over this CFB TV Facts & Figures post as it does have bearing over today's post.  

* With Florida vs. Georgia pre-selected by CBS, ESPN is the only SEC TV partner with any selections this week.
* FOX Sports has no selections for FOX broadcast network either.  Penn St. at Ohio St. was selected before the season started.  It is their only broadcast network window with the World Series in the evening.
* Rutgers at Michigan and Wisconsin at Illinois are locked to 12pm and Indiana at Maryland is locked to either 3:30pm or 4pm.  Note that FOX Sports doesn't have windows at any of these times on FOX or FS1.
* Michigan St. at Northwestern was preselected by ESPN/ESPN2.
* I have heard that Raycom has been promised a makeup window this week for the lost window from when UL-Monroe at Florida St. was canceled.  Will see if that holds up.
* BTN has 12pm & 3:30pm windows confirmed.  A potential 7:30pm ET window is listed with TBA programming, so it could be football or something else.  I'm assuming three BTN windows.
* Because of FOX Sports' limited windows (no nighttime broadcast network window due to the World Series, FS1 windows with NASCAR & UFC as bookends), I gave all five Big 12 selections to ESPN as they've only selected 10 of their maximum 23 games.  If you look back two weeks, you'll see that FOX Sports had all available games on 10/7, so this isn't unusual.  This would also give ESPN eight selections to use over the final four weeks of the season.
* With three selections, I gave the Pac-12 Networks the top Pac-12 choice (USC at Arizona St.).  FOX presumably has it for the Big Ten by selecting Penn St. at Ohio St. before the season started.
* BYU needs to appear once on ESPNU per contractual parameters.  With no other BYU home games available, this would appear to be that game.
* With the extra Raycom window, plus the use of three BTN windows, I dropped the 12pm ESPNEWS window.

All times Eastern

Thursday 10/26
7:30pm CBSSN: Toledo at Ball St.
7:30pm ESPN3: Eastern Michigan at Northern Illinois

Saturday 10/28
12pm ABC: Oklahoma St. at West Virginia
12pm ESPN: Miami (FL) at North Carolina
12pm ESPN2: Wisconsin at Illinois
12pm ESPNU: Kansas St. at Kansas
12pm SEC: Vanderbilt at South Carolina
12pm BTN: Rutgers at Michigan
12:20pm ACC Network: Duke at Virginia Tech
12:30pm ACC RSN: Virginia at Pittsburgh
2pm Pac-12: California at Colorado
3pm FS1: Minnesota at Iowa
3:30pm ABC: Georgia Tech at Clemson
3:30pm ESPN: Michigan St. at Northwestern
3:30pm ESPN2: Texas at Baylor
3:30pm ESPNU: San Jose St. at BYU
3:30pm SEC: Arkansas at Ole Miss
3:30pm BTN: Indiana at Maryland
5:30pm Pac-12: USC at Arizona St.
6:30pm FS1: UCLA at Washington
6:30pm CBSSN: Missouri at Connecticut
7pm ESPN: TCU at Iowa St.
7pm ESPN2: Mississippi St. at Texas A&M
7pm ESPNU: Houston at USF
7pm ACC Network: Louisville at Wake Forest
7:15pm SEC: Tennessee at Kentucky
7:30pm BTN: Nebraska at Purdue
8pm ABC: Texas Tech at Oklahoma
10:15pm ESPN2: San Diego St. at Hawai'i
10:15pm ESPNU: New Mexico at Wyoming
10:30pm ESPN: Utah at Oregon

10:30pm Pac-12: Washington St. at Arizona