12 Day Guesses for October 2nd

I have a feeling that Oklahoma vs. Texas will be national, possibly through a reverse mirror and that we will see another ABC/ESPN2 split at 8pm.

There is an ESPN Classic window and I believe the Big Ten will use it. Also, when the SEC had their primetime doubleheader, their regional window on FSN became a 12:30pm start and I think it will move slightly from the 12pm start that it is currently listed at. Same with the ESPNU windows. Last year they were shifted slightly to get a Sun Belt game early in the day.

12pm ESPN or ESPN2: Miami (FL) at Clemson
12pm ESPN or ESPN2: Michigan at Indiana
12pm ESPN Classic: Wisconsin at Michigan St.
12pm Big Ten: Northwestern at Minnesota
12pm SEC Network: Kentucky at Ole Miss
12pm Big East: Vanderbilt at UConn
12pm ACC/Raycom: Virginia Tech at NC State
12:30pm FSN: Texas Tech at Iowa St.
12:30pm SEC/FSN Regional: ULM at Auburn
12:30pm PPV: Alcorn St. at Mississippi St.
1pm ESPNU: Louisville at Arkansas St.
1pm ESPN3: Duke at Maryland
1:30pm ESPN3: Florida St. at Virginia
3:30pm CBS: Tennessee at LSU (semi-confirmed)
3:30pm ABC/ESPN: Ohio St. at Illinois
3:30pm ABC/ESPN: Oklahoma vs. Texas (confirmed, may be reverse mirrored)
3:30pm Big East/SNY: Tulane at Rutgers
4:30pm ESPNU: FIU at Pittsburgh
6pm ESPN3: East Carolina at North Carolina
7pm FSN: Georgia at Colorado (confirmed)
7pm Fox College: Kansas at Baylor
8pm CBS: Florida at Alabama (semi-confirmed)
8pm ABC/ESPN2: Penn St. at Iowa
8pm ABC/ESPN2: Washington at USC
8pm ESPN: Notre Dame at Boston College
8pm ESPNU: Georgia Tech at Wake Forest
11:15pm ESPN: Stanford at Oregon (confirmed)

9/25/10 Six Day Selections

Late last night/early this morning, Mike Humes from ESPN PR passed along the six day selections on Twitter:

12pm ESPN: Georgia Tech at NC State
12pm ESPN2: Bowling Green at Michigan
12pm ACC Network: Virginia Tech at Boston College
3:30pm ABC: UCLA at Texas
3:30pm ABC: Wake Forest at Florida St.
3:30pm ESPNU: North Carolina at Rutgers
6pm ESPN2: Oklahoma at Cincinnati
8pm ABC: Oregon St. at Boise St.

Humes also mentioned that College Gameday will originate from Boise.

What to Watch, Week 3

Notre Dame and Michigan gave us great drama again and Denard Robinson is the unofficial leader for the Heisman right now. He'll get a week to pad his stats further against Massachusetts, but there are better things you could be watching.

On Friday night, California and Nevada is mildly interesting (ESPN2, Friday 10pm). Colin Kaperneck is a dual threat, like Robinson, though his passing skills might be slightly more polished. Cal has yet to be challenged and Kevin Riley, thought to be a still be a question mark at QB despite starting parts of the past two seasons, has been effective enough to keep the Bears offense rolling.

Early afternoon on Saturday doesn't have much to hold interest, so its a day for the clicker to get a workout. Maryland at West Virginia (12pm, ESPNU) is the renewal of a longstanding rivalry, being played for the 1st time since the 2007 season after the two teams met for 28 straight campaigns, including twice in 2003. Georgia Tech at North Carolina (12pm, ACC/Raycom) is the ACC opener for both teams. UNC is still reeling from suspensions due to activity involving agents and Tech is coming into the game after being on the losing end at Kansas.

Mid afternoon doesn't exactly bring much more to the table. Florida is at Tennessee in their traditional SEC opener (3:30pm, CBS) and Nebraska at Washington will be the feature ABC game at 3:30pm and will be seen in some areas on ESPN2. Jake Locker warmed himself up for the Blackshirts by torching Syracuse for four passing TDs. Nebraska hasn't exactly been tested to this point with Western Kentucky and Idaho. BYU at Florida St. (ESPNU, 3:30pm) may be worth taking a flyer on as both look to improve on disastrous performances from last week. Another sneaky game could be Baylor-TCU (4:30pm, Versus) as Baylor now has a healthy Robert Griffin whose mobility will be a test for the Horned Frogs.

Clemson at Auburn starts off the nighttime action (7pm, ESPN) and its a game that Clemson, and the ACC, could use to improve their reputation. Kyle Parker came back for his sophomore season of football after flirting with a career in baseball (he'll likely go back to the diamond before all is done) and was efficient in his 1st two games, but Auburn is a step up. Cam Newton is the man under center of a three pronged rushing attack in Auburn. Newton is the leading rusher right now, but whatever relief Onterrio McCalebb and Michael Dyer can provide will help the Tigers as they move towards SEC play.

While the ABC split national games will be worth flipping between (Notre Dame-Michigan St. & Texas at Texas Tech, the other game will be on ESPN2), Iowa at Arizona (10:30pm, ESPN) will be worth turning in for as two QBs highlight the action with Iowa's Ricky Stanzi and Arizona's Nick Foles. Houston at UCLA will also be worth watching but not for the Bruins (FSN, 10:30pm). I believe this one will be Case Keenum's best national showcase because its an opponent from an AQ conference and its in a big media market.

Week Four 12 Day Selections

On 9/14, networks will be able to select games for Week Four using the 12 day selection process. Networks can choose games as little as six days in advance, negotiated with individual conferences in terms of how many times they can do it during a season.

Generally, the networks won't waste those six day exceptions early in the season. Here's my guesses

ABC
3:30pm: Oklahoma at Cincinnati, Bowling Green at Michigan
8pm: UCLA at Texas, Oregon St. at Boise St.

CBS
Arkansas at Alabama, 3:30pm

ESPN
12pm: Ball St. at Iowa
3:30pm: ABC Reverse Mirror
7:45pm: South Carolina at Auburn

ESPN2
12pm: Temple at Penn St.
6pm: Virginia Tech at Boston College
9:15pm: West Virginia at LSU

ESPNU
12pm: Wake Forest at Florida St.
3:30pm: North Carolina at Rutgers
7pm: Kentucky at Florida

Big Ten Network
12pm: Northern Colorado at Michigan St., Central Michigan at Northwestern, Eastern Michigan at Ohio St., Toledo at Purdue, Austin Peay at Wisconsin

Others
12pm SEC Network: Georgia at Mississippi St.
12pm Raycom: NC State at Georgia Tech
12pm Big East Network: Buffalo at Connecticut
3pm FSN PPV: South Dakota St. at Nebraska
6pm ESPN3.com: Army at Duke
6pm ESPN3.com: FIU at Maryland
6pm ESPN3.com: VMI at Virginia
7pm SEC/FSN Regional: UAB at Tennessee
7:30pm SEC/CSS: Fresno St. at Ole Miss

Confirmed & Semi Confirmed
3pm FSN Regional: UCF at Kansas St. (semiconfirmed)
3pm FSN Regional: USC at Washington St.
3:30pm ESPN3.com: Colgate at Syracuse
7pm Fox College: New Mexico St. at Kansas
7pm Big East: Western Kentucky at USF
10pm CSN BA+/Wildcats Sports: California at Arizona
10:30pm FSN: Oregon at Arizona St.

What to Watch, Week 2

Eased our way into the season last week. Week two is a prime cut compared to last week's cubed steak.

All times Eastern

Friday

West Virginia at Marshall is the 1st half of a Friday night C-USA home game doubleheader on ESPN at 7pm. The Mountaineers go with sophomore Geno Smith leading the attack, but the question is whether Noel Devine will have a jaw-dropping run that gets his Heisman candidacy going.

Second game is a revenge game of sorts. Last year Houston was flying along in the top 20 when they went to El Paso and were exposed for the 1st time that season by the Miners as a team with an extremely suspect defense to the tune of 58-41. The offense for the Cougs should remain its high flying self, but the defense is starting over replacing 1/2 of the starters from last season. No idea here if the incoming starts will be able to help the defense step up (ESPN, 10:15pm).

Saturday

USF at Florida (12pm, SEC Network syndication) is the appetizer. The word around Tampa is that Skip Holtz has brought a calmness to the team, compared to the high strung nature that former coach Jim Leavitt brought to the table. Florida had many problems last week offensively with shotgun snaps during John Brantley's 1st start at QB. Better to work out those kinks vs. Miami (OH) than USF. The Bulls have a chance if they can disrupt the Gators offensive tempo and if BJ Daniels limits his mistakes.

Michigan at Notre Dame starts the main course (3:30pm, NBC). The Irish, working in Brian Kelly's faster paced offensive philosophy, maintained a run-pass balance that was more rooted in the running game, something that Kelly didn't always adhere to at Cincinnati. Michigan looked very machine-like in their win over UConn and Denard Robinson may have made his case that Michigan doesn't need anyone else lining up at the QB position. Robinson's game was very Heisman worthy (19-22, 186 yds, 1 TD; 29 carries, 197 yds rushing, 1 TD). Another game like that, versus an Irish team that the media tends to value when it comes to Heisman performances, can get his name out there early in the race.

Florida St. at Oklahoma (3:30pm, ABC/ESPN2) and Miami (FL) at Ohio St. (3:30pm, ESPN/ESPN 3D) are the other big ones. Oklahoma playing Utah St. closer than they should have was surprising. On the flipside, we need to see more from Florida St. now that Jimbo Fisher is the sole head coach. The media seems to be touting the Hurricanes loss vs. Ohio St. in the national title game a few years ago, but no players are left and only Jim Tressel remains as a head coach, though Randy Shannon was on staff at UM. We're still waiting for the big Miami re-awakening and last year was a start, but they need that signature OOC win. Beating USF is nice, but a win in convincing fashion at the 'shoe makes a big statement.

Penn St. at Alabama (7pm, ESPN) and Oregon at Tennessee (7pm, ESPN2) share the spotlight at 7pm, though the lights will shine brighter in Tuscaloosa. Mark Ingram may not see the field again due to knee issues, but Alabama went RB by committee vs. San Jose St. and did just fine. The place where Alabama could excel in this game is through the air. Youngstown St. didn't throw for over 200 yards, but they were able to go 21-for-25 and a controlled passing game by the Tide could be the equalizer.

As for the Vols, they eased themselves into the Derek Dooley era, but get a Oregon team that blitzed New Mexico and barely allowed the Lobos over 100 yards in total offense. Special teams keyed a 2nd quarter tidal wave with two punts returned for TDs by the Ducks. If Tennessee is not careful, the Ducks could have that all-important 3rd phase to the game that can get them good field position and change the game.

A pair of PAC-10 late games will be worth watching too as a midnight snack. Stanford travels to UCLA to start PAC-10 play (10:30pm, ESPN) and Virginia travels cross-country to visit USC (10:30pm, FSN). The Cardinal managed 213 yards on the ground vs. Sacramento St. without any back gaining more than 57 yards or over eight carries, a true ground game by committee as Andrew Luck is the man that makes that offense go. UCLA's Kevin Prince was tuned up by a suspect Kansas St. team and the Bruins may end up taking a step backwards this season if Prince remains the starter.

Rumblings from several around the coaching fraternity believes there are serious cracks in the USC foundation and the Trojans could be ripe for the picking, but I don't think that Virginia is the team to get the job done. Traveling to the west coast in Mike London's second game, couple with how well London's former team (Richmond) hung with the Cavaliers tells me this could again be high scoring, but in USC's favor.

Who to watch, Week 1

Opening weekend's schedule, in my opinion, is extremely light in terms of quality. So there's a few things to watch for the first week of the college football season.

All times Eastern.

Thursday

Pittsburgh at Utah (8:30pm, Versus) is the best game based on where the teams are ranked. QB is a question for the Panthers with Tino Sunseri taking over as the starter. Dion Lewis is not a question and I expect him to be featured early and often as the Utes lost over half of their defensive starters. Utah's offense may be the key to the as they return eight starters from last year's 10-3 team, including nearly the entire offensive line.

USC at Hawai'i (11pm, ESPN) is more interesting as we will see how a Trojans team starts out what amounts to two seasons of lame-duck play. No bowls to play for, no reward outside of the chance to be ranked in the AP poll. I don't believe that Hawai'i will provide a stiff challenge, but I want to see the Trojans step up and not go through motions.

Some might turn in to Northern Illinois at Iowa St. (8pm, most FSN regions), but not to watch the game but for the possibility of critiquing the graphics that may be used. There's a chance that FSN will use the graphics that FOX debuted in the NFL preseason.

Saturday

More trainwreck-type games here. UConn at Michigan (3:30pm, ABC or ESPN2) begins Rich Rodriguez's 3rd year in Ann Arbor. Could be his final year too if the maize & blue don't finish the year in a bowl game. The Huskies are not flashly, they're a fundamentals team, out-working opponents and executing their game plan. Their downhill attack on the ground can wear out anyone.

LSU at North Carolina (8pm, ABC) seemed to be a very interesting on-field matchup, but now with the NCAA sniffing around for violations in the UNC program, who knows if UNC may have a team that can even keep it close for a couple quarters.

As for an intriguing game, check out Washington at BYU (7pm, CBS College). BYU lost key components on offense (QB Max Hall, RB Harvey Unga, TE Dennis Pitts) and will alternate QBs with Jake Heaps & Riley Nelson. It's rare that you'll find a team have much success with platooning QBs, but BYU returns nearly all of their starting offensive line. Meanwhile, Washington QB Jake Locker begins his senior season with a Heisman campaign and at the top of Mel Kiper's Big Board of NFL prospects.

TCU's game vs. Oregon St. (7:45pm, ESPN) also brings a lot to the table. The Beavers return 17 starters from last years 8-5 team, a team that had a chance at the Rose Bowl if they would have won their Civil War matchup vs. Oregon. The game also serves as a return to Texas for the Rodgers brothers. TCU's offense returns nine starts and Gary Patterson has been able to plug in players on defense and consistently rank as one of the top defensive teams in the majors, but both starting CBs are stepping up from the bench and could be targeted early & often.

Monday

Navy vs. Maryland (4pm, ESPN) is the undercard based on time zone, but Middie QB Ricky Dobbs has a small but dedicated following for the Heisman and he runs the type of offense that can get him a lot of attention. He'll have the ball in his hands on every snap and his ability to run the ball can lead to some eye-popping highlights that everyone loves.

Boise St. vs. Virginia Tech (8pm, ESPN) wraps up week one as Boise begins their much-hyped season towards a national championship with a game. Boise returns all but two starters from last year's undefeated team, while the Hokies rebuild on defense. The Hokies will also start an entire new left side of the offensive line, so expect the Broncos to test the line often with blitzes, stunts and other defensive schemes designed to exploit and confuse the Hokies. And with a mostly new secondary at VT, Kellen Moore should take to the air.

Small change as a new season starts

Very few changes this season with respect to college football telecast coverage. With the ACC contract kicking in next season, we'll have more to talk about, but here's what we got.

• Big 12 and FSN solidify relationship - ABC and ESPN's Big 12 sublicense remain, but FSN will be primary provider of Big 12 football on cable this fall. They (or at the Big 12's request) ended their sublicense of games to Versus. The Versus games were usually at 12:30pm ET, which many Big 12 schools don't care for. FSN will handle 24 national telecasts this season, 25 if you count Northern Illinois-Iowa St. going to almost the entire nation, and those games will air at either 12/12:30pm ET and 7pm virtually every week.
  
  
• Pac-10 flips their script - Changes abound here. ABC may have as few as six Pac-10 games while ESPN and FSN will co-exist in several time slots. FSN could handle the extra Big 12 games because they decided to sublicense more Pac-10 games to Versus, specifically Pac-10 slots at 7pm/7:30pm ET. The goal here is to piggyback onto SEC time slots on ESPN and also open up slots where regional networks, often involving FSN, can get PAC-10 games on TV when national games aren't being shown. So far it has worked with virtually every conference-controlled game through October 2nd on TV somewhere.
  
  
• MAC gets a new regional partner - FSN Ohio was more of a marriage of convenience, but now that SportsTime Ohio has picked up the conference, the network plans for more regional coverage of the conference, both in live action in football and basketball, but bumper programming like season previews. What remains to be seen is how they will get these games outside of Ohio. Some of the game selections in football involved Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan and Buffalo.
  
  
• The WAC announced, in a rather vague announcement, that it would be starting the WAC Sports Network. Not really sure if all affiliates will see all games or not. Seems kinda like SportsWest, the WAC's previous syndication partner who had affiliates in virtually every WAC market, but only syndicated games between the markets of the competing teams.
  
  
• The mtn goes HD - At least for game productions as all mtn. live games will be in HD this season.
  
  
• ABC Reverse Mirror to include Pac-10 - Larry Scott stated that the previous administration of the Pac-10 wanted to be paid to be part of the ABC Reverse Mirror with the Big Ten. Larry Scott made the decision that exposure in the midwest was much more important and gave ABC the ability to pick these games free of charge. Makes you wonder how out of it Tom Hansen was. Sucks for the ACC as they were the primary benefactor of the reverse mirror. The Big 12 will also get more reverse mirror opportunities.

I'll be enjoying the opening weekend at Syracuse-Akron. Take care.