College football schedule TV selections for the weekend of October 2, 2021 will be made today. Selections will be made by the five power conferences, while some Group of Five games will also be set.
A few games were held under the six-day option. Those game times and/or TV will be finalized on Sunday, Sept. 26. Games times and TV will be updated below as selections are announced.
Week 5 TV Schedule Selections
All times Eastern
ACC
Virginia at Miami FL – 7:30pm, ESPN (Thu.)
Duke at North Carolina – 12pm, ESPN2
Pitt at Georgia Tech – 12pm, ACCN
Louisville at Wake Forest – 12:30pm, RSN/ESPN3
Syracuse at Florida State – 3:30pm, ACCN
LA Tech at NC State – 6pm, ACCNExtra/ESPN+
Boston College at Clemson – 7:30pm, ACCN
Off: Virginia Tech
American
Houston at Tulsa – 7:30pm, ESPN (Fri.)
Memphis at Temple – 12pm, ESPNU
Cincinnati at Notre Dame – 2:30pm, NBC
Tulane at East Carolina – 3:30pm, ESPN+
UCF at Navy – 3:30pm, CBSSN
USF at SMU – 4pm, ESPNU
Off: None
Big 12
Texas at TCU – 12pm, ABC
Oklahoma at Kansas State – 3:30pm, FOX
Texas Tech at West Virginia – 3:30pm, ESPN2
Baylor at Oklahoma State – 7pm, ESPN2
Kansas at Iowa State – 7pm, FS1
Off: None
Big Ten
Iowa at Maryland – 8pm, FS1 (Fri.)
Minnesota at Purdue – 12pm, BTN
Charlotte at Illinois – 12pm, BTN
Michigan at Wisconsin – 12pm, FOX
Ohio State at Rutgers – 3:30pm, BTN
Indiana at Penn State – 7:30pm, ABC
Northwestern at Nebraska – 7:30pm, BTN
WKU at Michigan State – 7:30pm, BTN
Off: None
Conference USA
Charlotte at Illinois – 12pm, BTN
FIU at Florida Atlantic – 3:30pm, Stadium
LA Tech at NC State – 6pm, ACCNExtra/ESPN+
UNLV at UTSA – 6pm, ESPN+
Southern Miss at Rice – 6:30pm, ESPN3
Liberty at UAB – 7pm, CBSSN
Marshall at Middle Tennessee – 7pm, Stadium
WKU at Michigan State – 7:30pm, BTN
Old Dominion at UTEP – 9pm, ESPN+
Off: North Texas
Independents
BYU at Utah State – 9pm, CBSSN (Fri.)
Toledo at UMass – 12pm, FloFootball/NESN or NESN+
Cincinnati at Notre Dame – 2:30pm, NBC
Army at Ball State – 5pm, ESPN+
Liberty at UAB – 7pm, CBSSN
UConn at Vanderbilt – 7:30pm, ESPNU
NM State at San Jose St. – 10:30pm, NBCSCA
Off: None
MAC
Toledo at UMass – 12pm, FloFootball/NESN or NESN+
Western Michigan at Buffalo – 12pm, CBSSN
Eastern Michigan at NIU – 2:30pm, ESPN+
Bowling Green at Kent St. – 3:30pm, ESPN+
CMU at Miami (Ohio) – 3:30pm, ESPN+
Ohio at Akron – 3:30pm, ESPN3
Army at Ball State – 5pm, ESPN+
Off: None
Mountain West
BYU at Utah State – 9pm, CBSSN (Fri.)
Nevada at Boise State – 3:30pm, FS1
UNLV at UTSA – 6pm, ESPN+
Air Force at New Mexico – 6:30pm, FS2
NM State at San Jose St. – 10:30pm, NBCSCA
Fresno State at Hawaii – 11pm, CBSSN
Off: Colorado State, San Diego State, Wyoming
Pac-12
USC at Colorado – 2pm, P12N
Oregon at Stanford – 3:30pm, ABC
Washington State at California – 5:30pm, P12N
Washington at Oregon State – 9pm, P12N
Arizona State at UCLA – 10:30pm, FS1
Off: Arizona, Utah
SEC
Tennessee at Missouri – 12pm, SECN
Arkansas at Georgia – 12pm, ESPN
Ole Miss at Alabama – 3:30pm, CBS
Troy at South Carolina – 3:30pm, SECN
Florida at Kentucky – 6pm, ESPN
Mississippi St. at TAMU – 7pm, SECN
UConn at Vanderbilt – 7:30pm, ESPNU
Auburn at LSU – 9pm, ESPN
Off: None
Sun Belt
App State at Georgia State – 2pm, ESPN+
ULM at Coastal Carolina – 2:30pm, ESPN+
Troy at South Carolina – 3:30pm, SECN
A-State at Ga. Southern – 4pm, ESPN+
Louisiana at South Alabama – 8pm, ESPN+
Off: Texas State
With Indiana landing the ABC Saturday Night Football slot, that will be all of the non-SEC P5 teams having been on at least once.
Duke/UNC should be week 13….
The ACC should adopt this divisional alignment:
James Division (named for Bob James, ACC commissioner from 1971-87, contains most pre-2004 ACC schools):
Clemson
Duke
Georgia Tech
North Carolina
North Carolina State
Virginia
Wake Forest
Tranghese Division (named for former Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese, most schools in this division were in the BE while he led it):
Boston College
Florida State
Louisville
Miami
Pittsburgh
Syracuse
Virginia Tech
It puts the four NC schools in the same division and puts Miami in a division with the other former Big East members, three of which are in the Northeast and thus have a lot of alumni in the Miami area.
Protected crossovers:
Clemson-Miami
Duke-Syracuse
Georgia Tech-Florida State
North Carolina-Louisville
North Carolina State-Boston College
Virginia-Virginia Tech
Wake Forest-Pittsburgh
The Thanksgiving weekend schedule under this divisional alignment would include Virginia-Virginia Tech every year. The four NC schools would rotate among themselves on Thanksgiving weekend. Pittsburgh and Boston College would alternate playing at Miami every year, the school that doesn’t would play Syracuse. The four remaining schools would play their in-state SEC opponents as they usually do.
So Lost in VA, Duke-UNC would sometimes be a season finale, but once every three years only, to give all the Tobacco Road games a Thanksgiving weekend slot over a three-year period.
Z Man I like this idea but why not just switch Louisville and Virginia? That way all big rivalries are protected in divisional play and you don’t have to have cross overs.
The idea is to sort teams by how long they have been in the ACC. Plus two of the protected crossovers are between schools known for their basketball prowess. Another is between two schools with orange as a school color, that being Clemson-Miami, which I want to promote as the Orange Crush Bowl. The team hosting the game in a given year would wear all-orange (helmets, jerseys, pants), and the visitors would wear white. Winning team gets a year supply of Orange Crush soda, a sister product to Dr Pepper which has a long association with CFB.
interesting divisional alignment there z man, the only thing I would switch is having Clemson/FSU and GT/Miami being permanent crossovers.
As someone from the west coast, I feel like it would be easier if they just did North/South. I know that the 2 divisions right now are Atlantic and Coastal, but I have no idea who’s in which division. It reminds me of when the Big Ten had Legends and Leaders.
So apparently ESPN is showing a documentary from 4-5:30 PM ET on Saturday, October 2, which is why they will be airing games at 6 PM and 9 PM ET that night (instead of 3:30 and 7). What documentary could be so important that they have to air it on a jam-packed college football Saturday?