Quick Recap of 11/7 CFB TV Openings

While waiting on Pac-12 Networks(?) to set start times for Stanford at Colorado and UCLA at Oregon St., here's a rough placement of the remaining games based on start times & the noted TV outlets:

Here's the schedule as currently announced.  All times Eastern

12pm has four slots open between ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU with these games guaranteed to start in a slot here:

• Notre Dame at Pittsburgh (ABC, ESPN or ESPN2)
• Either Duke at North Carolina or NC State at Boston College (ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU.  The other on ACC Network)
• Either Vanderbilt at Florida or Kentucky at Georgia (ESPN/ESPN2 or SEC Network) 

3:30pm has five open slots (same nets as 12pm plus one for BTN) with two games set for this time slot, but without a network decided:

• Army at Air Force (ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU)
• Florida St. at Clemson (ABC, ESPN or ESPN2)
• Wisconsin at Maryland (ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU or BTN)

7pm has three openings.

• Iowa St. at Oklahoma (ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU)
• Michigan St. at Nebraska (ESPN or ESPN2)

10:30pm on ESPN & ESPN2 are relatively straightforward.  Both Pac-12 games.

Because the Big Ten sets its night games very far in advance, I expect them to take the 12pm and 3:30pm openings.  The two American games should fill one of the 7pm openings.  As for the 2nd American game, I think ESPNEWS at 8pm is still an option.  Don't forget that the ACC and American do not require full national coverage of their games when they air on ABC.  Nor does the Big Ten at 8pm.  Do not be surprised if an American game gets split with Ohio St. at Minnesota.

CFB TV Guesses for 2015 Week Ten (11/5/15 - 11/7/15)

Here is what is already set for television.  

* Both FOX and CBS will have doubleheaders.  The CBS doubleheader allows them to take the top two SEC games this week.  Both of their games are exclusive telecast windows, so any SEC games on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU will air at 12pm ET.  SEC Network's games can air in their normal windows of 12pm, 4pm and 7:30pm ET.
* Four Big Ten games are locked into their start times, either as homecoming games or as night games: Illinois at Purdue (12pm), Wisconsin at Maryland (3:30pm), Michigan St. at Nebraska (7pm) and Ohio St. at Minnesota (8pm).
* CBS Sports Network has a pair of 12 day selections on 11/7.  One is for a MAC game (12pm) and one for the American Athletic Conference (7:30pm).
* My thinking on placing Florida St. at Clemson at 3:30pm instead of primetime is to get it away from LSU at Alabama and Ohio St. at Minnesota.  I would have placed TCU at Oklahoma St. at 3:30pm also, but with the Pac-12 Network window at 8pm, I think the Big 12 will have the evening slot on FOX.
* To me, there isn't a standout Pac-12 game, especially with the loss by Utah.  Might see a six day hold here by FOX and/or ESPN.
* I am aware that a Pitt student email suggested a start time of Notre Dame at Pittsburgh for 6pm, but their isn't an advertised telecast window for that time.  Having a window at that time on ESPN or ESPN2 means there likely isn't a 3:30pm window on one of those channels.

All times Eastern.

Thursday
7:30pm CBSSN: Ball St. at Western Michigan
7:30pm ESPN3: Buffalo at Kent St.

Saturday
12pm ABC: Notre Dame at Pittsburgh
12pm ESPN: Arkansas at Ole Miss
12pm ESPN2: Iowa St. at Oklahoma
12pm FS1: Texas Tech at West Virginia
12pm ESPNEWS: Connecticut at Tulane
12pm ESPNU: NC State at Boston College
12pm FSN: FAU at Western Kentucky
12pm SEC: South Carolina at Tennessee
12pm CBSSN: Akron at Massachusetts
12pm BTN: Illinois at Purdue
12pm ACC Network: Virginia at Miami (FL)
3pm ACC RSN: Syracuse at Louisville
3:30pm CBS: Vanderbilt at Florida
3:30pm FOX: Utah at Washington
3:30pm ABC: Florida St. at Clemson
3:30pm ESPN: Rutgers at Michigan
3:30pm ESPN2: Iowa at Indiana
3:30pm FS1: Arizona at USC
3:30pm ESPNU: Penn St. at Northwestern
3:30pm FSN: Marshall at Middle Tennessee
3:30pm BTN: Wisconsin at Maryland
4pm ESPNEWS: Cincinnati at Houston
4pm SEC: Kentucky at Georgia
4pm Pac-12: Stanford at Colorado
7pm ESPN: Michigan St. at Nebraska
7pm ESPN2: Duke at North Carolina
7pm ESPNU: Navy at Memphis
7:30pm FOX: TCU at Oklahoma St.
7:30pm CBSSN: USF at East Carolina
7:30pm SEC: Auburn at Texas A&M
8pm ABC: Ohio St. at Minnesota

8pm CBS: LSU at Alabama

8pm ESPNEWS: UCF at Tulsa
8pm Pac-12: Arizona St. at Washington St.
10:15pm ESPNU: Army at Air Force
10:30pm ESPN: California at Oregon
10:30pm ESPN2: UCLA at Oregon St.

Bowl Eligibility for 2015-16

Going to list this a little differently for 2015-16 since HTML tables don't scale well on mobile browsers.  Right now I'm listing each conference's primary bowl tie-ins and each conference, unless noted, is listed in its stated bowl selection order.  Here is the bowl schedule for 2015-16.

I'll update this each week.

As of 12/5, 77 schools are bowl eligible with six or more wins.  There will be a need for at least two 5-7 schools.

ACC
Bowls: CFP amd/or NY6 Access Bowl, Russell Athletic, Belk, Sun, Pinstripe, TaxSlayer/Music City (last four grouped together), Military, Advocare V100, Quick Lane (last three grouped together).
In: Florida St., Clemson, Pittsburgh, Duke, North Carolina, NC State, Miami (FL), Louisville, Virginia Tech
Out: Boston College, Georgia Tech, Virginia, Wake Forest, Syracuse
Notes: Notre Dame, if not in a New Year's Six bowl, will appear in an ACC contracted game.  It appears that all ACC bowls will be filled and one ACC school may need to take an at-large slot.  This depends on how the NY6 bowls are set, including Notre Dame's bowl location.

American
Bowls: Miami Beach, Cure, Boca Raton, Hawai'i, St. Petersburg, Military, Birmingham
In: Houston, Memphis, Temple, Navy, Cincinnati, USF, Connecticut, Tulsa
Out: UCF, SMU, Tulane, East Carolina
Notes: To my knowledge, no selection order, but the Military & Birmingham games offer Power 5 opponents and could be slotted ahead of other games.  EDIT: Navy had a pre-existing agreement to play in the Military Bowl in 2015 while an independent, provided they aren't selected for a NY6 bowl.  Both the conference and bowl game have agreed to honor this commitment for 2015.  Navy will also play in the 2016 Armed Forces Bowl if eligible.  This is from the comment below from Sean O'Leary.

Houston, in all likelihood, will take the Group of Five's Access Bowl slot, which means that all American Athletic schools will fill their contracted tie-ins.  Cincinnati, per ESPN's Brett McMurphy, will play in the Hawai'i Bowl.

Big 12
Bowls: Sugar and/or CFP, Alamo, Russell Athletic, Texas, Liberty, Cactus, Heart of Dallas
In: Baylor, Oklahoma St., TCU, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, West Virginia, Kansas St.
Out: Kansas, Iowa St., Texas
Notes: Oklahoma appears destined for the CFP.  Due to Baylor's loss to Texas on 12/5, Oklahoma St. will play in the Sugar Bowl (again, assuming OU in the CFP) by virtue of a head to head win over TCU who they were tied with in the Big 12 standings..  It appears that the Heart of Dallas Bowl will be filled with an at-large opening.

Big Ten
Bowls: Rose and/or CFP (includes Orange partial tie-in), Citrus, Outback, Holiday, TaxSlayer/MusicCity, Pinstripe, Foster Farms, Quick Lane, Armed Forces
In: Iowa, Michigan St., Ohio St., Penn St., Wisconsin, Northwestern, Michigan, Indiana
Out: Purdue, Maryland, Rutgers, Nebraska*, Illinois*, Minnesota
Note: Tiered selection process.  The Orange/Citrus, Outback and Holiday and one tier, the TaxSlayer/Music City, Pinstripe & Foster Farms are the next highest tier and the Quick Land & Armed Forces are at the bottom.

Depending on the winner of the Big Ten Championship game, the conference should place two schools in the NY6 bowls with the Rose being filled by either the Big Ten champion or the next available Big Ten school, which is the discretion of the Rose Bowl and does not have to be the conference championship game loser or next highest ranked school in the CFP Poll.

Nebraska, Minnesota and Illinois have indicated that they will accept bowl bids if offered.  Nebraska has the best APR of all 5-7 schools, so it appears they will be going to a bowl.  Minnesota is tied for 3rd with San Jose St. and Illinois is tied with Rice for 4th.

C-USA
Bowls: New Mexico, New Orleans, Miami Beach, Bahamas, St. Petersburg, Heart of Dallas, Arizona
In: Marshall, Western Kentucky, Louisiana Tech, Southern Miss, Middle Tennessee
Out: Charlotte, North Texas, UTSA, FAU, FIU, UTEP, Rice, Old Dominion
Note: No stated selection order, but the winner of the conference championship game gets to pick their bowl destination.  At least two C-USA bowl games will be filled via at-large selections.  Middle Tennessee has already announced that it accepted a Bahamas Bowl invitation.  Rice is tied for fifth in APR for 5-7 schools, but they may be left out if bowls are allowed to choose between schools who are tied with the same APR.

Independents
Bowls: All ACC bowls for Notre Dame (can be ACC's opponent in Orange), Hawai'i or Las Vegas for BYU, Poinsettia for Army
In: Notre Dame, BYU
Out: Army
Notes: MAC is the backup conference for Army in the Poinsettia.  BYU has accepted an invite from the Las Vegas Bowl and will face a Pac-12 school.

MAC
Bowls: Camellia, Famous Idaho Potato, Boca Raton, GoDaddy, Bahamas, Poinsettia
In: Toledo, Bowling Green, Northern Illinois, Western Michigan, Ohio, Central Michigan, Akron
Out: Miami (OH), Eastern Michigan, Massachusetts, Ball St., Kent St.
Note: No stated selection order, but the GoDaddy Bowl might have preference.  Not sure.  If you know, pass along and I'll correct it.  The MAC is the backup conference for the Poinsettia Bowl since Army will not be eligible.  Western Michigan has accepted a Bahamas Bowl invite.  One MAC school will be sent to an at-large opening.

Mountain West
Bowls: New Mexico, Las Vegas/Hawai'i, Famous Idaho Potato, Poinsettia, Armed Forces, Arizona
In: Boise St., San Diego St., Air Force, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah St., Colorado St.
Out: Wyoming, Hawai'i, Fresno St., UNLV
Note: Pretty sure Las Vegas & Poinsettia have some sort of preferential status, but Las Vegas has elected to select BYU instead of a Mountain West school, leaving the MW to place a school in the Hawai'i Bowl.  One Mountain West school will end up filling an at-large opening.  San Jose St. may fill an opening if there are four available slots.

Pac-12
Bowls: Rose and/or CFP, Alamo, Holiday, Foster Farms, Sun, Cactus, Las Vegas
In: Utah, Stanford, UCLA, Washington St., Oregon, USC, California, Arizona, Arizona St., Washington
Out: Oregon St., Colorado
Note: Cactus and Las Vegas may be tied at the bottom of the order.  Not sure.  Have read conflicting things about it.  The conference has a surplus of two to three bowl eligible teams depending on the NY6 bowl selections and could end up sending a school to the best available open tie-in after the Las Vegas Bowl is filled.

SEC
Bowls: Sugar and/or CFP (includes Orange partial tie-in), Citrus, Outback, Music City, TaxSlayer, Liberty, Texas, Belk (last six grouped together), Birmingham, Advocare V100
In: Alabama, Florida, LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi St., Texas A&M, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Auburn
Out: South Carolina, Vanderbilt, Missouri, Kentucky
Notes: Depending on the NY6, the Advocare V100 bowl should require at an-large school and
Birmingham may as well.  Missouri, who has the same APR score as Kansas St., has removed itself from bowl consideration.

Sun Belt
Bowls: Camellia, Cure, New Orleans, GoDaddy
In: Appalachian St., Georgia Southern, Arkansas St., Georgia St.
Out: New Mexico St., UL-Monroe, Troy, Texas St., Idaho, UL-Lafayette
Note: Arkansas St. will play in New Orleans, Georgia Southern will face a MAC school in the GoDaddy Bowl and Appalachian St. will face another MAC school in the Camellia Bowl.  The Cure Bowl could go at-large, but South Alabama and Georgia St. remain potentially eligible, but need to win on 12/5.  If both are eligible, the Sun Belt is the backup conference for the Arizona Bowl and could fill the opening that C-USA will not fill.

CFB TV Selections for 10/29/15 - 10/31/15 (Week Nine)

This post will be updated as announcements come out for start times on 10/29 & 10/31 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 10/17 games.

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, which will prove to be incorrect, and the schedule for week nine.  Games that have already been set for TV are listed on the schedule page and not listed here (see the link in the last sentence).  I'll update the schedule page when all / nearly all decisions are made.

Oklahoma at Kansas & California at USC are on six day hold.  Either 3pm FOX or 3:30pm FS1.

Saturday
12pm ABC: Syracuse at Florida St.
12pm ESPN/SEC Network: South Carolina at Texas A&M
12pm ESPN/SEC Network: Ole Miss at Auburn
12pm ESPN2/ESPNU: Nebraska at Purdue
12pm ESPN2/ESPNU: Illinois at Penn St.
12pm ESPNEWS: UCF at Cincinnati
12pm FSN: Western Kentucky at Old Dominion
12pm BTN: Rutgers at Wisconsin
12:30pm ACC Network: Virginia Tech at Boston College
1pm ESPN3: Massachusetts at Ball St.
2pm ESPN3: Central Michigan at Akron
3pm Pac-12: Colorado at UCLA
3pm ACC RSNs: Georgia Tech at Virginia
3:30pm ABC/ESPN2 (reverse mirror): Maryland at Iowa
3:30pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2: Oklahoma St. at Texas Tech
3:30pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2: Clemson at NC State
3:30pm ESPNU: Boise St. at UNLV
3:30pm FSN: Marshall at Charlotte
3:30pm ESPN3: Troy at Appalachian St.
4pm ESPNEWS: Tulsa at SMU
4pm SEC: UT Martin at Arkansas
5pm ESPN3: UL-Monroe at UL-Lafayette
7pm ESPN: Michigan at Minnesota
7pm ESPN2/ESPNU: Vanderbilt at Houston
7pm ESPN2/ESPNU: Miami (FL) at Duke
7pm FS1: Texas at Iowa St.
7pm CBSSN: Tulane at Memphis
7pm Pac-12: Oregon St. at Utah
7:30pm SEC: Tennessee at Kentucky
8pm ABC: Notre Dame at Temple

8pm: Georgia St. at Arkansas St.
10:30pm ESPN: Stanford at Washington St.
11pm FS1: Arizona at Washington

CFB TV Guesses for 2015 Week Nine (10/29/15 - 10/31/15)

* CBS pre-selected Georgia vs. Florida and will not have a 12 day selection.  ESPN, for all intents and purposes, has the first 12 day selection for the SEC this week.  CBS might have taken Georgia-Florida anyways, so that's another debate for another time.
* Michigan at Minnesota is set as a night game on ABC, ESPN or ESPN2.
* If you wanted to put Notre Dame at Temple at night on ABC, and it might be the best matchup record-wise, I think you would end up doing the following:

• Reverse mirror on ESPN2 with Michigan at Minnesota (has to stay at 8pm)
• Move USC at California to ESPN
• Syracuse at Florida St. moves to 12pm on ABC, or Ole Miss at Auburn moves to 12pm on ESPN with another noon game moving to ABC, or they move Syracuse at Florida St. to 3:30pm and move a 3:30pm game to 12pm.

* I did not schedule a 3:30pm BTN game as listings for the channel only have a 12pm game.
* I moved up the 11pm FS1 window by 30 minutes.
* The need to get Utah and UCLA two Pac-12 Networks appearances in the next five games is the reason why both of their games, particularly Utah's game (though Oregon St. isn't very good), goes to the Pac-12 Networks.
* You might see a network flex decision made on the Ole Miss at Auburn & South Carolina at Texas A&M games.  Winner of Texas A&M at Ole Miss on ESPN, loser on SEC Network.
* At one point, the American Sports Network website had a MAC football telecast window listed for 10/31.  It currently does not.  I've listed a selection in the event they have a game.

Here is what is already set for television.  All times Eastern.

Thursday
7:30pm CBSSN: Buffalo at Miami (OH)
7:30pm ESPN3: Western Michigan at Eastern Michigan

Saturday
12pm ABC: Notre Dame at Temple
12pm ESPN: Illinois at Penn St.
12pm ESPN2: Miami (FL) at Duke
12pm ESPNU: Rutgers at Wisconsin
12pm ESPNEWS: Vanderbilt at Houston
12pm FSN: Marshall at Charlotte
12pm SEC: Tennessee at Kentucky
12pm BTN: Nebraska at Purdue
12:30pm ACC Network: Georgia Tech at Virginia
3pm ACC RSNs: Virginia Tech at Boston College
3:30pm FOX: Stanford at Washington St.
3:30pm ABC/ESPN2: Maryland at Iowa
3:30pm ABC/ESPN2: Oklahoma St. at Texas Tech
3:30pm ESPN: Clemson at NC State
3:30pm FS1: Oklahoma at Kansas
3:30pm ESPNU: Tulane at Memphis
3:30pm FSN: Western Kentucky at Old Dominion
4pm ESPNEWS: Tulsa at SMU
4pm SEC: UT Martin at Arkansas
4pm Pac-12: Oregon St. at Utah
7pm ESPN: Ole Miss at Auburn
7pm ESPN2: Syracuse at Florida St.
7pm FS1: Texas at Iowa St.
7pm ESPNU: Boise St. at UNLV
7pm CBSSN: UCF at Cincinnati
7:30pm SEC: South Carolina at Texas A&M
8pm ABC: Michigan at Minnesota
8pm Pac-12: Colorado at UCLA
10:30pm ESPN2: USC at California
10:30pm FS1: Arizona at Washington
TBA ASN: Central Michigan at Akron

Brief Men's Basketball TV Update for 2015-16

Here's the week-by-week schedule so far.

* Went looking through the American Sports Network website schedule yesterday and a pair of neutral site tournaments appeared there.  One, the Music City Challenge, was alluded to in a recent press release by Stephen F. Austin.  The other one, which is a bit of a surprise, is the Barclays Center Classic on November 27th & 28th.  The schools involved have not yet released the info but the two semifinal games and the championship game are on the schedule, along with the Louisville vs. Saint Louis game in the evening on the 28th.

To my knowledge, the ASN schedule is awaiting selections from the American and Big South conferences.  Games from the A-10, CAA, C-USA, Horizon, Ivy League, MAC, OVC, Patriot League, SoCon, Southland and WAC are already on the site and are on my site (provided I didn't miss any).

* I have always been a bit in awe of the Ivy League with respect to broadcasting contracts & limits, because they don't lock themselves into long term deals and, presumably, their athletic departments don't need the money to stay afloat.  FOX Sports 1 picked up three Ivy League MBK regular season games as part of their schedule, along with setting aside a time slot in the event of an Ivy League playoff game.  Last year the conference scrambled a bit to secure a broadcaster, going with the American Sports Network with a simulcast on ESPN3.

In addition to the Ivy League, the Big East final moves to FOX broadcast network with an early evening start time of 5:30pm ET.  Also, the semifinals will start 30 minutes earlier.  The nice thing about this, assuming no overtime, is that there should be no issues with the second semifinal running into the start of the second Pac-12 semifinal.

6:30pm: Big East semi #1
9pm: Big East semi #2
11:30pm:Pac-12 semi #2

* CBS Sports released their college basketball schedules for their networks on Thursday.  The games I added that weren't previously on the site were seven Friday night MAC wildcard windows (games most likely moved from Saturday), three NEC games and a Southland Conference game.

* The Big South is in process of looking for a new home for their conference tournament, which was to be hosted by Coastal Carolina in Myrtle Beach.  The conference has a rule regarding departing members hosting conference championship events that are not "earned seed" sports (ie. sports where regular season champ is the host).

* Since SMU is not appealing their NCAA tournament ban for 2015-16, I would expect that their tournament will decrease by one game and that the tournament will revert to a ten team tournament with the top six gaining byes to the quarterfinals, similar to the format run by the Big 12, Big East and MVC.  On the other, the Atlantic Sun has elected to allow Stetson to appear in the conference tournament even though they are barred from the NCAAs due to APR sanctions, but has modified their automatic bid criteria.

CFB TV Selections for 10/24/15 (Week Eight)

* Will do my best to update while traveling today. You may also want to check FBSchedules.com, LSUFootball.net and their Twitter timelines. You should be following them if you aren't already. Now to the standard disclaimer:

This post will be updated as announcements come out for start times on 10/24 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 10/17 games.

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, which will prove to be incorrect, and the schedule for week eight.  Games that have already been set for TV are listed on the schedule page and not listed here.  I'll update the schedule page when all / nearly all decisions are made.

All times Eastern

CBS has six day hold on either Tennessee at Alabama or Texas A&M at Ole Miss. ESPN will air the other at 7pm.

ESPN has Clemson at Miami (FL) & Florida St. at Georgia Tech on six day hold. Presumably 12pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 or 7pm ESPN2

12pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2: Northwestern at Nebraska
12pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2:  Iowa St. at Baylor
12pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2:
12pm FS1: Kansas St. at Texas
12pm ESPNU: Pittsburgh at Syracuse
12pm ESPNEWS: Houston at UCF
12pm SEC: Auburn at Arkansas
12pm ACC RSNs: NC State at Wake Forest
12:30pm ACC Network: Boston College at Louisville
1pm ESPN3: Bowling Green at Kent St.
2pm ESPN3: Fresno St. at Air Force
3pm ESPN3: Toledo at Massachusetts
3pm ESPN3: Central Michigan at Ball St.
3:30pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2: Indiana at Michigan St.
3:30pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2: Penn St. vs. Maryland
3:30pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2: Texas Tech at Oklahoma
3:30pm FS1: Kansas at Oklahoma St.
3:30pm FSN: North Texas at Marshall
3:30pm ESPNU: Duke at Virginia Tech
3:30pm BTN: Wisconsin at Illinois
3:30pm ACC RSNs: Virginia at North Carolina
3:30pm ASN: Ohio at Buffalo
3:30pm ESPN3: Eastern Michigan at Northern Illinois
4pm ESPNEWS: SMU at USF
4pm SEC: Missouri at Vanderbilt
4pm Pac-12: Washington St. at Arizona
4:30pm CBSSN: Connecticut at Cincinnati
7pm ESPN2:
7pm ESPNU: Western Kentucky at LSU
7:30pm FOX: Utah at USC
7:30pm SEC: Kentucky at Mississippi St.
8pm ABC:
10:15pm ESPN2/ESPNU: Wyoming at Boise St.
10:30pm ESPN: Washington at Stanford
10:30pm Pac-12: Colorado at Oregon St.