Week 2 Viewers Guide

Week one had some great surprises. BYU winning in Arlington vs. Oklahoma will get discounted by some national media because of Sam Bradford's injury, but they were holding their own while he was in there, plus OU's defense wasn't injured. BYU had to score, and they got just enough. Notre Dame and Michigan also began to re-assert themselves as top programs in the midwest and look who happens to play each other this week...

Two programs that hit rock bottom also appeared to pick themselves up off the mat with good showings in defeat were Syracuse and Washington. Washington had one too many turnovers again LSU and Syracuse had one unfortunate turnover in OT against Minnesota, but neither one appears to be the pushover they've been in prior seasons.

The schedule itself is a little bit lighter like other Week Two schedules from past seasons.

Thursday

Clemson at Georgia Tech (ESPN HD, 7:30pm) - 1^st ACC conference game to be played this year and both schools. Georgia Tech's run attack was in full force against Jacksonville St. but one concern could be the lack of work Johnathan Dwyer got in the game as he sat out the 2^nd half and only had seven carries for 95 yards, 74 of that coming on the 1^st play of the game. Clemson's CJ Spiller also sat out much of the game vs. Middle Tennessee, but because he was dinged up. No word on his status.

Saturday

There isn't much to whet the appetite early in the afternoon. Syracuse at Penn St. (12pm, Big Ten HD) provides some intrigue for me, but I'm not naive to think that the Nittany Lions should be highly favored. Stanford at Wake Forest (12pm, Raycom HD) and Pittsburgh at Buffalo (12pm, ESPN+) also bear watching, but not with great detail.

Notre Dame at Michigan (ABC HD, 3:30pm) – National telecast here and both teams came out on fire against lesser opponents. Both Casey Clausen and Tate Forcier were efficient, Clausen also providing the downfield element to the ND offense. Michigan got a lot of mileage out of their ground attack too and maybe Rich Rodriguez's offense is rapidly taking hold in season #2.

Houston at Oklahoma St. (FSN HD, 3:30pm) – The Cowboys got a huge win vs. Georgia in the game where Boone Pickens Stadium was rededicated. Houston may not provide the defensive punch that the Bulldogs did to Dez Bryant and Zac Robinson, but they'll bring the passing game. Could be a wild shootout.

South Carolina at Georgia (ESPN2 HD, 7pm) – Should be a physical SEC matchup. South Carolina and Georgia brough the lumber to NC State and Oklahoma St., respectively. Steve Spurrier let everyone know that there would be more attention paid to the SC ground game and Stephen Garcia was more caretaker than ball slinger, even if the ground game didn't pile up yards. Georgia was run over by OK State and will need to provide better defense to not get behind the Gamecocks in conference.

USC at Ohio St. (ESPN HD, 8pm) – USC appeared to be going through the motions early on against San Jose St. before turning it on late. Navy is a unique team to prepare for in that the blocking schemes they use, coupled with the one-sided slant towards running the football can leave a team using personnel groupings that they normally would not rely on for a game. But Navy's ability to pass and run on Ohio St. has to be troubling. Yes, OSU struggled with Ohio last year before the USC game in LA last year, but they can't afford to repeat the same result in Columbus. USC's reliance on Joe McKnight and at least three other RBs to take the pressure off Matt Barkley will be the difference as to whether Ohio St. can hang with the Trojans.

Conference TV Contract: The WAC

The WAC brand has meant a lot of different things over the past ten years. A league of western transplants. Teams left behind from the MWC split and a near collapse. A conference that started completely over but has been able to place teams in the top 25 and in the BCS bowls. Its reward? A gradual increase in the number of exposures over the past decade to a level similar to other non-AQ conferences.

http://mattsarzsports.com/2009/WAC.aspx

The WAC signed a new seven year contract with ESPN Networks with increases in the number of games available for ESPN/ESPN2 to select, plus games available for ESPNU. The contract starts with the 2010-11 athletic year and includes increased exposure for other sports. The ESPNU component of the contract started immediately when it was signed. Under the final year of the current deal, ESPN/ESPN2 has the rights to at least eight football games (they usually televise more than that) and under the new deal the minimum will increase to ten games. ABC could also pick up WAC games if it desires to. Many of the ESPN/ESPN2 games appear on weeknights.

ESPNU is a new component to the deal. The WAC placed some games on ESPNU when it started but backed off of that once ESPN said they would not compensate the conference for the ESPNU games. Under the new deal, ESPNU will have at least six games. For now, they can select games as available.

ESPN Regional is the regional rightsholder and can choose up to five games to syndicate across the conference footprint. This amount will not change going into the new contract. Unlike other deals that ESPN has done, ESPN360.com cannot choose games for exclusive webstreaming, though they can simulcast any ESPN/ESPN2, ABC or game appearing on ESPN GamePlan. For the games not chosen by these entities, the schools retain the right to televise games locally. Many schools provide telecasts only for road games, some provide them for all games not selected by ESPN/ESPN2 and Hawai'i goes with a very lucrative PPV contract.

Most ESPN/ESPN2 games are selected before the season starts. Depending on the available telecasts later in the season and the available teams, WAC games have been added to the schedule as the season progresses. The ESPNU games generally will be Saturday games. If they involve Hawai'i they must be on Saturdays due to travel. A requirement that must be met each season is that every team makes at least one appearance on ESPN, ESPN2, ABC or ESPNU as part of the WAC contract.

The WAC has changed in membership and size over the past decade. Members have come and gone. Exposure has increased, from a small package on Fox Sports Net, a return to ESPN and increases in exposure with the last two contracts. BCS appearances by Hawai'i and Boise St. have raised the profile of the conference and the media side of the house is in in great shape. Now it needs for the bottom of the conference to, as the WAC says, "Play Up" and get better.

Conference TV Contract: The Sun Belt

The Sun Belt is the youngest D-I football conference, beginning play in 2001 as a response to the Big West dropping sponsorship of football. Several schools played in the Big West as football only members and the Sun Belt made sense as a new home.

http://mattsarzsports.com/2009/SBC.aspx

The Sun Belt has a three year contract with ESPN, starting with the 2009 serason. It provides for at least two televised games per year on ESPN/ESPN2. The contract requests that the conference provides these games at ESPN's request and that they may be weeknight games. A new component not available in the original ESPN contract was for games to appear on ESPNU on Saturdays and that the Sun Belt would be available to provide games on a 12 day basis.

ESPN Regional has the right to select up to five Sun Belt games per year as well. Previously ESPN Regional was the primary regional rightsholder for the conference. That now appears to below to a pair of regional sports networks. Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast (CSS) and Cox Sports TV (CST) jointly own the regional rights, calling the broadcasts the Sun Belt Network. The Sun Belt Network games are part of a larger, all-sports contract that these two entities run.

Any games not selected for TV revert back to the schools to sell. Some schools do sell some non-conference games to local stations and ESPN360.com can also choose games during the year. Many schools partner up with their website host to stream home games.

The Sun Belt has gradually improved as a conference and are taking steps to get more games on campus and play fewer money games. By doing this, they can get more fans in the stands and get more opportunities for national television. Also, by not locking themselves into longer term deals, they can quickly react to the marketplace and strike the best deal.

Week 1 Channel Surfing

We'll try to do one of these each week, going from channel to channel on the DirecTV here. I'll have this as a running entry for Saturday and, for this week, Sunday and Monday.

Please be aware, I might leave the house, take a nap, have a life...

11:20pm

• They talk about how Husky Stadium will often noticeably shake when the crowd is really hot there and with an opening score against LSU, its no different. Lot of LSU fans in Seattle too.
• Just showed Nick Holt on TV. Holt had an interesting set of job changes in 2006, resigning as Idaho's head coach to take an assistant coaching job with the St. Louis Rams on 2/6/06, then resigned from the Rams a day later (no signed contract) to take the defensive coordinator job at USC.
  

8:10pm

• SEC regional cable telecasts debuted and both entities that broadcast these games (Fox Sports regional and CSS) are using the ESPN look and feel instead of using the FSN and CSS graphics. The FSN game was branded as SEC College Football Saturday, similar to FSN's other franchises, Big 12 College Football Saturday and PAC-10 College Football Saturday.
  
• I really wish Florida would have found a better FCS team than Charleston Southern.
• Unexpected surprise: The national telecast of Alabama - Va. Tech is on ESPN360.com which I didn't see noted on other listings.
• Never noticed the Cougar helmet stickers for BYU.
• Nice touch for HBCU fans. Prairie View A&M - Texas Southern is airing live on ESPN360.com where it will be aired on delay on ESPNU.
  

6:04pm

• Took the afternoon off for a nap. Either way, I'm not quite buying the HD that FSN Northwest was selling for the Stanford-WSU game. Portland St.-Oregon St. looked like HD, this looks like widescreen, kinda.
  

3:22pm

• Couple nice finishes in the Big Ten: Navy - Ohio St. game where you had to figure the Mids would bring it and they did. Then Northern Iowa with the wacky finish when they had their game winning FG blocked but recovered it behind the line, so it remained UNI ball. Took about seven minutes to finally rule. And...they blocked another kick.
  
• Doug Marrone coached in the pros and he has to know prevent defense prevents wins.
  

2:20pm

• Flipped on the FSN Northwest pregame show for their doubleheader. Looks like both games in HD as the pregame show appears to be in HD, or at least in widescreen. Looks like we'll see a fair amount of regional FSN games in HD.
  

1:18pm

• SEC Network looks sharp. Looks like ESPN, sounds like Raycom, at least with Dave Neal at the mic.
• While it isn't appearing on their own website, Zap2it.com is reporting that New Orleans' based RSN Cox Sports TV (CST) will also air the Western Carolina-Vandy game tonight.
  

12:54pm

• ECU finally appears on MASN, with a telecast that so far has no PxP. Feels like the scoreboard feed. But then after commercial we get announcers and a welcome regarding the MASN telecast.
  

12:42pm

• ECU fans outside of the WITN broadcast area must be wondering where their MASN telecast is. MASN hasn't even put up a courtesy crawl in the event there is a problem providing MASN the game
• Taking the SEC pregame show must be an option. Doesn't look like MSG picked it up but Fox Sports Detroit did.
• Primary game on the tube is the Minnesota-Syracuse game, which seems to be taking a long time. At least the dome seems to be into it.
• My 1st extended use of ESPN360.com since I moved to a house that was able to get AT&T DSL. I like it, even if it seems to be about 5 seconds behind live action. Nice to quickly switch between games.
  

Arizona goes back to Fox Sports

Late this afternoon, Arizona announced a renewal of their partnership with Fox Sports Arizona for Wildcat football and basketball games. The deal was not completed in time to allow for a live airing of the Central Michigan game on Saturday outside of Arizona, so that game will be aired on KWBA-Tuscon and KAZT-Phoenix live and delayed on Fox Sports Arizona.

KWBA/KGUN in Tuscon will remain "affiliates" for these games and Fox Sports AZ will televise the games to the rest of the state, with the telecasts available on Fox College Sports.

No word was given as to why the change was made to go back to Fox Sports, but the GM of IMG College, UA's local media rightsholder, unexpectedly resigned last week. Brent Seebohm, the executive who resigned, was quoted as saying the network would cost at least $800,000 to run and that cost could be made up in advertising.

Arizona, AWSN update

Looks like Fox Sports Arizona will remain in the game to show Arizona athletics outside of the Tuscon area. Sounds like Comcast could be out as a distributor.

No idea what they are going to do for the CMU game but I'm guessing it will be live in Tuscon and delayed on Fox Sports Arizona.

Personally, I'm thinking that this could be the PAC-10 and FSN slapping the hand of the Wildcats and reminding them of the TV agreements in place. The AWSN's original affiliate list included Altitude and several Comcast SportsNet affiliates and had the feel of UA creating its own national network to compete with FSN. My guess is that FSN reminded them that there were certain regional rights that they had to adhere to and that AWSN with the out-of-market affiliates violated those rights.



Stay tuned...

Fox College Sports Games

Fox College Sports has published its schedule of games for 2009. Still missing is the CMU-Arizona game so I'm still trying to find out what channel that game will appear on. The rest of the listings are on my site.

As with any list that I've encountered with FCS, it tends to change quite a bit as the season so consider it tentative on a week by week basis.