CFB TV Guesses for 2019 Week Seven (10/12/19)

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

Things to know in advance
* FOX is only scheduled to show Oklahoma vs. Texas on their broadcast network at 12pm ET.  The evening is set aside to air ALCS Game 1 and non-network programming in mid afternoon.
* FS1 has a NASCAR truck series race at 1:30pm.  Their TV windows are listed for 4pm, 7:30pm and 11pm ET.
* BTN is once again scheduled to carry volleyball in the evening.  Their schedule at BTN.com lists two game windows at 12pm ET.
* ESPN has no 3:30pm window.  Instead they have windows at 6pm & 9pm ET.  This often indicates a doubleheader of SEC games.
* The following games are locked into their start times, or a 30 minute window of start times:

• Rutgers at Indiana (12pm)
• Maryland at Purdue (12pm)
• Michigan St. at Wisconsin (3:30pm or 4pm)

* The following games have been reserved for ESPN Networks, but without a start time

• Michigan at Illinois (ABC, ESPN or ESPN2)
• Hawai'i at Boise St. (Any ESPN platform except ESPN+)

Decisions I made

* I gave ESPN the top Big Ten and Pac-12 choices.  FOX, by use of Oklahoma-Texas, had the top Big 12 pick.

* Can Indiana & Purdue play on BTN at the same time?  Not unheard of, but it hasn't happened in several years.  I found these instances.  Most are November instances when the Big Ten was extremely strict on night games, but a couple were in October.

10/27/07: Northwestern at Purdue & Indiana at Wisconsin
11/1/08: Central Michigan at Indiana & Michigan at Purdue
11/8/08: Wisconsin at Indiana & Purdue at Michigan St.
11/7/09: Wisconsin at Indiana & Purdue at Michigan
10/23/10: Indiana at Illinois & Purdue at Ohio St.
11/6/10: Iowa at Indiana & Wisconsin at Purdue
11/19/11: Indiana at Michigan St. & Iowa at Purdue

* If Indiana & Purdue no longer can play on BTN at the same time, make the following changes:

• Move Maryland at Purdue to ESPN2, still at 12pm
• Send Iowa St. at West Virginia to FS1 at 4pm
• Put Nebraska at Minnesota on BTN at 12pm
• Move Michigan St. at Wisconsin to BTN at 3:30pm

* Also, if Indiana & Purdue can't play on BTN at the same time, my alternate scenario means that all Big 12 selections are FOX Sports & no Big Ten games would be selected by them except for BTN.  Its not unheard of FOX Sports to not select any Big Ten games for FOX & FS1.  Just look at 9/28 of this season.

* Could also see a reverse mirror on ABC & ESPN2 using the games I selected.  Pac-12 & American can be reverse mirrored.  See 10/13/18 as an example.

12pm ABC: Michigan at Illinois

12pm ESPN: Florida St. at Clemson

12pm ESPN2: Iowa St. at West Virginia

12pm ESPNU: Connecticut at Tulane

12pm SECN: Arkansas at Kentucky

12pm BTN: Rutgers at Indiana
12pm BTN: Maryland at Purdue

12pm CBSSN: Toledo at Bowling Green

12:30pm ACCN: Rhode Island at Virginia Tech

3:30pm ABC: Washington at Arizona

3:30pm CBS: Florida at LSU

3:30pm ESPN2: Memphis at Temple
3:30pm ESPNU: Cincinnati at Houston

3:30pm BTN: Nebraska at Minnesota

3:30pm CBSSN: Navy at Tulsa

4pm FS1: Michigan St. at Wisconsin

4pm SECN: Ole Miss at Missouri

4pm ACCN: Georgia Tech at Duke

6pm ESPN: South Carolina at Georgia

7pm ESPN2: BYU at USF

7pm ESPNU: UNLV at Vanderbilt
7pm Pac-12: Utah at Oregon St.

7:30pm ABC: Penn St. at Iowa

7:30pm FS1: Texas Tech at Baylor

7:30pm SECN: Mississippi St. at Tennessee

7:30pm ACCN: Louisville at Wake Forest
9pm ESPN: Alabama at Texas A&M
10:15pm ESPN2: Hawaii at Boise St.

11pm FS1: Washington St. at Arizona St.

CFB TV Confirmations for 2019 Week 6 (10/5/19)

This post will be updated as announcements come out for start times for 10/5 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 Five 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 will 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.

The number of six day holds available for each conference
ACC: 4
American: 3
Big 12: 4
Big Ten: 4
SEC: 3
Pac-12: 4

12pm ABC/ESPN: Oklahoma at Kansas

12pm ABC/ESPN: Purdue at Penn St.

12pm FOX: Iowa at Michigan

12pm ESPN2/ESPNU: TCU at Iowa St. 

12pm ESPN2/ESPNU: Kent St. at Wisconsin

12pm FS1: Oklahoma St. at Texas Tech

12pm SECN: Utah St. at LSU
12pm BTN: Maryland at Rutgers

12:30pm ACC RSNs: Boston College at Louisville
3pm ESPN+: Eastern Michigan at Central Michigan

3:30pm CBS: Auburn at Florida

3:30pm ABC/ESPN: Texas at West Virginia

3:30pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2: Virginia Tech at Miami (FL)

3:30pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2: Baylor at Kansas St.

3:30pm BTN: Illinois at Minnesota
3:30pm ESPN3: Ball St. at Northern Illinois
3:30pm ESPN+: Arkansas St. at Georgia St.
3:30pm ESPN+: Ohio at Buffalo

3:30pm ESPN+: Western Michigan at Toledo

3:45pm ESPNU: Memphis at UL-Monroe

4pm FOX: Northwestern at Nebraska

4pm SECN: Troy at Missouri

4pm ACCN: North Carolina at Georgia Tech

4:30pm Pac-12: Arizona at Colorado
7pm ESPN: Georgia at Tennessee

7pm CBSSN: Connecticut at USF
7pm ESPN+: Rice at UAB

7:30pm ABC: Michigan St. at Ohio St.
7:30pm SECN: Vanderbilt at Ole Miss

7:30pm ESPNU: Tulsa at SMU

8pm FOX: California at Oregon

8pm ACCN: Pittsburgh at Duke
9pm Pac-12: Oregon St. at UCLA

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

10:30pm ESPN: Washington at Stanford

CFB TV Guesses for 2019 Week Six (10/5/19)

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

Things to know in advance
* Four games were preselected to air on ESPN platforms.  They are:

• Purdue at Penn St. (ABC/ESPN/ESPN2)
• Michigan St. at Ohio St. (ABC or ESPN)
• Kent St. at Wisconsin (ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU)
• San Diego St. at Colorado St. (Any linear TV platform or ESPN3)

* The following games are locked into their start times or start time ranges as Big Ten homecoming games:

• Purdue at Penn St. (12pm)
• Iowa at Michigan (12pm)
• Illinois at Minnesota (3:30pm or 4pm)
• Northwestern at Nebraska (3:30pm or 4pm)
• Michigan St. at Ohio St. (7:30pm) are locked into their start times as homecoming games.

* BTN once again has no night football game planned due to a volleyball match.

* FS1 listings currently have them carrying both ALDS games on Saturday and not licensing any to MLB Network.

* ESPN2 has UFC PPV prelims scheduled from 8-10pm ET.

* Only two game windows on ACCN are listed.  Other taped programming will air in the early afternoon.

What I decided
* I gave Big Ten (Michigan St. at Ohio St., selected in preseason) & Big 12 (Texas at West Virginia) top choices to ESPN and the Pac-12 top choice to FOX (California at Oregon)
* Ball St. at Northern Illinois is listed in TitanTV as airing at 5pm ET on NBC Sports Chicago, so I decided to run with it

12pm ABC: Purdue at Penn St.

12pm FOX: Iowa at Michigan

12pm ESPN: Baylor at Kansas St.

12pm ESPN2: Oklahoma St. at Texas Tech

12pm ESPNU: Kent St. at Wisconsin

12pm FS1: Oklahoma at Kansas

12pm SECN: Troy at Missouri
12pm BTN: Maryland at Rutgers

12:30pm ACC RSNs: Pittsburgh at Duke

3:30pm ABC: Texas at West Virginia

3:30pm CBS: Auburn at Florida

3:30pm ESPN: Virginia Tech at Miami (FL)

3:30pm ESPN2: TCU at Iowa St.

3:30pm ESPNU: Tulsa at SMU

3:30pm BTN: Illinois at Minnesota

4pm FOX: Northwestern at Nebraska

4pm SECN: Vanderbilt at Ole Miss

4pm ACCN: Boston College at Louisville

4pm Pac-12: Arizona at Colorado
5pm NBC Sports Chicago: Ball St. at Northern Illinois

7pm ESPN: Georgia at Tennessee

7pm ESPNU: Memphis at UL-Monroe

7pm CBSSN: Connecticut at USF

7:30pm ABC: Michigan St. at Ohio St.
7:30pm SECN: Utah St. at LSU
7:30pm ACCN: North Carolina at Georgia Tech
8pm FOX: California at Oregon

9:30pm Pac-12: Oregon St. at UCLA

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

10:30pm ESPN: Washington at Stanford

CFB TV Guesses for 2019 Week Five (9/28/19)

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

Things to know in advance
* The literature provided for the FOX network schedule has their window at 12pm carrying a Big 12 game and the 3:30pm window showing a Pac-12 game.
* FS1 has MLB at 4pm ET & prelim matches for a PBC PPV at 8pm.
* Jon Wilner's Pac-12 Hotline had Pac-12 selection order in the following way: FOX, then FS1, ESPN and Pac-12 Networks
* Indiana is Michigan St.'s homecoming game and it will air at 3:30pm or 4pm.
* Middle Tennessee at Iowa will air on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU.
* UNLV at Wyoming & Hawai'i at Nevada will air on ESPN's linear TV platforms or ESPN3.
* No night game window is scheduled for BTN as they will be carrying volleyball.

Decisions I made
* Knowing that FOX had the top Pac- 12 choice, I assumed the following:

• The listings I was sent that FOX's broadcast windows would be Big 12 & Pac-12 pushed me in the direction of the Big Ten's top choice airing on ABC. When you add in that BTN isn't scheduled to show a football game on primetime, it puts my focus on the best Big Ten game available in the ABC 7:30 pm slot.
• From there, I assumed that FOX also had the top Big 12 selection.
• I considered Ole Miss at Alabama for the CBS pick, but want as much flexibility to choose Alabama, & have the Iron Bowl in play, for the Thanksgiving weekend selections.
• The Pirates have a home game at night, which uses shared parking for Pitt football, and Syracuse scheduled a fan fest in late afternoon, so it stands to reason that both are early afternoon starts.

12pm ABC: Clemson at North Carolina
12pm FOX: Texas Tech at Oklahoma
12pm ESPN: Rutgers at Michigan
12pm ESPN2: Texas A&M vs. Arkansas
12pm FS1: Kansas at TCU
12pm ESPNU: Georgia Tech at Temple
12pm SECN: Towson at Florida
12pm ACCN: Holy Cross at Syracuse
12pm BTN: Minnesota at Purdue
12pm CBSSN: Central Michigan at Western Michigan
12:30pm ACC RSN: Delaware at Pittsburgh
3:30pm ABC: Kansas St. at Oklahoma St.
3:30pm CBS: Mississippi St. at Auburn
3:30pm FOX: USC at Washington
3:30pm ESPN: Northwestern at Wisconsin
3:30pm ESPN2: Middle Tennessee at Iowa
3:30pm ESPNU: Connecticut at UCF
3:30pm BTN: Indiana at Michigan St.
3:30pm CBSSN: SMU at USF
4pm SECN: Northern Illinois at Vanderbilt
4pm ACCN: Wake Forest at Boston College

7pm ESPN: Ole Miss at Alabama
7pm ESPN2: Iowa St. at Baylor
7pm ESPNU: BYU at Toledo
7pm Pac-12: Stanford at Oregon St.
7:30pm ABC: Ohio St. at Nebraska
7:30pm SECN: Kentucky at South Carolina
7:30pm ACCN: NC State at Florida St.
10pm FS1: Washington St. at Utah
10:15pm ESPNU: UNLV at Wyoming
10:30pm ESPN: UCLA at Arizona

10:30pm ESPN2: Hawaii at Nevada

What I Know About ESPN+ Carrying WVU-KU Football

If you were surprised West Virginia at Kansas on 9/21 was picked up to air through ESPN+ instead of linear TV, so was I.  The literature presented from the Big 12 and its schools, contained virtually the same language, found in this PDF at the Big 12 website.

Knowing that ESPN and FOX Sports have several years remaining on their existing linear TV rights deals, and that the language in the release seems to indicate that the content wasn't coming from those agreements, one could likely deduce that the sole football game each school provides is their member retained game. So once I saw the announcement, and credit to the person who heard on WV radio that this was tipped off on Sunday, I was thrown for a loop & tried to get some information on the matter.

What I have been able to confirm

• I received an official statement from ESPN: “We’ve been able to work with the Big 12 conference and the schools to bring this game to Big 12 Now on ESPN+”.
• It was not sublicensed from FOX Sports.  A second source corroborates that it wasn't a sublicense.
• Kansas, who posted the following on the Big 12 Now content last Wednesday, didn't seem to have any idea on this possibility.

What I don't quite know

• Did ESPN's pool of selections increase?  It is my understanding that it is one of their 23 selections to use over the course of the season, per one party involved.
• Regardless of whether the pool of selections increased or decreased, are there minimum and/or maximum number of football games that can air through ESPN+ instead of linear TV?  There's a range of games that can air on ESPNU (3-5 games), a minimum that must air on FOX broadcast network and another minimum for FS1 (6 games on both networks), and a number that must air across ABC, ESPN, FOX and FS1 (25 games).  So it would stand to reason that a number would exist for ESPN+.

CFB TV Confirmations for 2019 Week 4 (9/21/19)

This post will be updated as announcements come out for start times for 9/12 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 Three 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 will 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.

The number of six day holds available for each conference
ACC: 4
American: 3
Big 12: 4
Big Ten: 4
SEC: 3
Pac-12: 4

12pm ABC: Michigan St. at Northwestern
12pm ESPN/ESPN2: Southern Miss at Alabama
12pm ESPN/ESPN2/SECN: LSU at Vanderbilt
12pm ESPN/ESPN2/SECN: Tennessee at Florida
12pm FS1: UL Monroe at Iowa St.
12pm ESPNU: California at Ole Miss
12pm ACCN: Western Michigan at Syracuse
12pm BTN: Connecticut at Indiana
12pm BTN: Boston College at Rutgers
12pm ACC RSNs: Elon at Wake Forest
2pm ESPN+: UL-Lafayette at Ohio
3pm ESPN3: Central Connecticut St. at Eastern Michigan
3pm ESPN+: Troy at Akron
3:30pm CBS: Auburn at Texas A&M 3:30pm 
3:30pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2: Washington at BYU
3:30pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2: Louisville at Florida St.
3:30pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2: UCF at Pittsburgh
3:30pm FS1: SMU at TCU
3:30pm ESPNU: Temple at Buffalo
3:30pm CBSSN: Wyoming at Tulsa
3:30pm BTN: Miami (OH) at Ohio St.
3:30pm ACC RSNs: Appalachian St. at North Carolina
3:30pm ESPN3: Bowling Green at Kent St.
4pm SECN/SECN Alt: Kentucky at Mississippi st.
4pm SECN/SECN Alt: South Carolina at Missouri
4pm ACCN: Central Michigan at Miami (FL)
4:30pm ESPN+: West Virginia at Kansas 
6pm ESPN3: William & Mary at East Carolina
7pm ESPN: Oregon at Stanford
7pm ESPN2: Old Dominion at Virginia
7pm ESPNU: Ball St. at NC State
7pm ESPN3: Southern Illinois at Arkansas St.
7pm ESPN+: Georgia St. at Arkansas St.
7:30pm ABC: Oklahoma St. at Texas
7:30pm SECN: San Jose St. at Arkansas
7:30pm ACCN: Charlotte at Clemson
8pm BTN: Nebraska at Illinois 
10pm Pac-12: Colorado at Arizona St.
10:15pm ESPN2: Toledo at Colorado St.
10:30pm ESPN: UCLA at Washington St.

CFB TV Guesses for 2019 Week Four (9/21/19)

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

Things to know in advance
* Michigan at Wisconsin was selected to air on FOX at 12pm ET in advance of the 12 day selection process.  It is the only game window scheduled for broadcast network.
* CBS selected Notre Dame at Georgia for the 8pm primetime game a few weeks ago and also selects its 3:30pm game before ESPN can choose any games.  Because of the doubleheader involving a primetime game, any SEC games on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU will air in the 12pm ET timeslot.
* Connecticut at Indiana, Boston College at Rutgers & Miami (OH) at Ohio St. were announced as airing on BTN during Big Ten Media Days.  Either Nebraska at Illinois or Michigan St. at Northwestern will also air on BTN.
* RSN listings indicate two ACC games, one at 12pm ET & one at 3:30pm ET.

Decisions I made
* In terms of pick order

• After Michigan at Wisconsin was selected by FOX, my assumption is that ESPN is choosing between Nebraska at Illinois or Michigan St. at Northwestern with whichever game isn't chosen airing on BTN as mentioned earlier.
• With FS1 carrying just two Saturday games and FOX just one, I gave ESPN both the the top Big 12 (Oklahoma St. at Texas) and the top remaining Pac-12 selections (Oregon at Stanford and Colorado at Arizona St.) as FS1 has Utah at USC on Friday night.  Weeknight games are supposedly drafted by ESPN and FOX outside of the Saturday selections, with the options available, I think ESPN is taking two Pac-12 games this week.

* The Pac-12 Networks advance schedules no longer list fixed game windows for future weeks.  I did notice that the Washington Pac-12 RSN schedule has an event for 9pm ET / 6pm PT (women's volleyball) and since the games have to be cleared on the competing regions' RSNs, I placed it at 4pm ET / 1pm PT.  East coast Pac-12 primetime games on ABC and FOX are supposed to have a exclusivity at the start of the game for at least 90 minutes, so I went with afternoon instead of 9pm ET.

* I chose Louisville at Florida St. at noon over Oklahoma St. at Texas, figuring that Oklahoma St. at Texas could help provide ESPN two good viewing options at night (Oregon at Stanford being the other) in the event Notre Dame at Georgia is a dud.

* I was nearly swayed to swap Oklahoma St. at Texas & Oregon at Stanford, but ESPN has a very small requirement of two Pac-12 games on ABC and just one in primetime.  Figured this was the better week to get it out of the way.

12pm ABC: Louisville at Florida St.
12pm ESPN: Tennessee at Florida
12pm ESPN2: California at Ole Miss
12pm FS1: UL Monroe at Iowa St.
12pm ESPNU: South Carolina at Missouri
12pm SECN: Kentucky at Mississippi St.
12pm ACCN: Old Dominion at Virginia
12pm BTN: Boston College at Rutgers
12pm BTN: Connecticut at Indiana
12pm ACC RSNs: Central Michigan at Miami (FL)
3pm Pac-12: UCLA at Washington St.
3:30pm ABC: Michigan St. at Northwestern
3:30pm CBS: Auburn at Texas A&M
3:30pm ESPN: Charlotte at Clemson
3:30pm ESPN2: Washington at BYU
3:30pm FS1: West Virginia at Kansas
3:30pm ESPNU: Ball St. at NC State
3:30pm CBSSN: Wyoming at Tulsa
3:30pm BTN: Miami (OH) at Ohio St.
3:30pm ACC RSNs: Elon at Wake Forest
4pm SECN: LSU at Vanderbilt
4pm SECN: San Jose St. at Arkansas
4pm ACCN: Western Michigan at Syracuse
7pm ESPN: Oklahoma St. at Texas
7pm ESPN2: Appalachian St. at North Carolina
7pm ESPNU: SMU at TCU
7:30pm ABC: Oregon at Stanford
7:30pm SECN: Southern Miss at Alabama
7:30pm ACCN: UCF at Pittsburgh
7:30pm BTN: Nebraska at Illinois
10:15pm ESPN2: Toledo at Colorado St.
10:30pm ESPN: Colorado at Arizona St.

ESPN3
William & Mary at East Carolina

ESPN3 or ESPN+
Troy at Akron
Temple at Buffalo
Central Connecticut St. at Eastern Michigan
UL-Lafayette at Ohio
Bowling Green at Kent St.
Southern Illinois at Arkansas St.
Georgia St. at Texas St.