Every Monday, the five power conferences announce their football TV schedule for the weekend after next. Some selections are also made by the American, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, and Sun Belt.
Today, college football schedule selections were announced for the weekend of Nov. 24, 2018 (Thanksgiving week and weekend). A few games were held under the six-day option. Those game times and/or TV will be finalized by Sunday, Nov. 18.
Week 13 TV Schedule Selections
All times Eastern
ACC
Virginia at Virginia Tech – 3:30pm, ABC (Fri.)
Georgia Tech at Georgia – Noon, SECN
Florida at Florida State – Noon, ABC
Syracuse at Boston College – Noon, ESPN
NC State at UNC – 12:20pm, Raycom
Wake Forest at Duke – 12:30pm, RSN
Pitt at Miami – 3:30pm, ESPN
South Carolina at Clemson – 7pm, ESPN
Kentucky at Louisville – 7pm, ESPN2
American
Houston at Memphis – Noon, ABC (Fri.)
ECU at Cincinnati – 3:30pm, CBSSN (Fri.)
UCF at USF – 4:15pm, ESPN (Fri.)
Navy at Tulane – 12pm, ESPN
Temple at UConn – 3:30pm, ESPNU
SMU at Tulsa – 12 or 3:30pm, CBSSN
Big 12
Texas at Kansas – Noon, FS1 (Fri.)
Oklahoma at West Virginia – 8pm, ESPN (Fri.)
Baylor vs. Texas Tech (Arlington) – Noon, FS1
K-State at Iowa St. – 7pm, FS1
Oklahoma St. at TCU – 8pm, FOX
Big Ten
Nebraska at Iowa – Noon, FOX (Fri.)
Michigan at Ohio St. – Noon, FOX
Purdue at Indiana – Noon, ESPN2
Illinois at Northwestern – 3:30pm, BTN
Maryland at Penn St. – 3:30pm, ABC
Minnesota at Wisconsin – 3:30om, ESPN2
Rutgers at Michigan St. – 4pm, FOX
Conference USA
Marshall at FIU – Noon, Facebook
WKU at LA Tech – Noon, CBSSN
Old Dominion at Rice – 1pm, ESPN+
Southern Miss at UTEP – 3pm, ESPN+
UAB at MTSU – 3pm, ESPN3
Charlotte at FAU – 6pm, Stadium
North Texas at UTSA – 7pm, ESPN+
Independents
New Mexico St. at Liberty – 2pm, ESPN3
Notre Dame at USC – 8pm, ABC
BYU at Utah – 10pm, FS1
Off: Army, UMass
MAC
Tuesday, Nov. 20
Ball St. at Miami – 7pm, ESPN+
NIU at WMU – 7pm, ESPNU
Friday, Nov. 23
Akron at Ohio – Noon, CBSSN
Buffalo at BGSU – Noon, ESPNU
CMU at Toledo – Noon, ESPN3
EMU at Kent St. – Noon, ESPN3
Mountain West
Colorado St. at Air Force – 3:30pm, CBSSN (Thu.)
Wyoming at New Mexico – 2:30pm, ATTSN
San Jose St. at Fresno St. – 7pm, ESPNU
Nevada at UNLV – 9:30pm, CBSSN
Utah St. at Boise St. – 10:15pm, ESPN
Hawaii at San Diego St. – 10:30pm, ESPNU
Pac-12
Oregon at Oregon St. – 4pm, FS1 (Fri.)
Washington at Washington St. – 8:30pm, FOX (Fri.)
Stanford at UCLA – 3pm, Pac-12N
Arizona State at Arizona – 3:30pm, FS1
Colorado at California – 7pm, Pac-12N
Notre Dame at USC – 8pm, ABC
BYU at Utah – 10pm, FS1
SEC
Mississippi St. at Ole Miss – 7:30pm, ESPN (Thu.)
Arkansas at Missouri – 2:30pm, CBS (Fri.)
Florida at FSU – Noon, ABC
Georgia Tech at Georgia – Noon, SECN
Auburn at Alabama – 3:30pm, CBS
Tennessee at Vanderbilt – 4pm, SECN
Kentucky at Louisville – 7pm, ESPN2
S. Carolina at Clemson – 7pm, ESPN
LSU at Texas A&M – 7:30pm, SECN
Sun Belt
CCU at South Alabama – 3pm, ESPN+ (Fri.)
Ga. Southern at Georgia St. – 2pm, ESPN+
Troy at Appalachian St. – 2:30pm, ESPN+
Louisiana at ULM – 3pm, ESPN+
Arkansas St. at Texas St. – 4pm, ESPN3
The UM-OSU game should be Fox’s primetime game this week. It has much bigger playoff implications than either of the Big 12 games being considered for the slot. Ratings wise it would make much more sense to put the Big 12 game at noon and the Big Ten game at night. But the Big Ten is too scared to play at night this late in the season. After this year Fox and other TV partners should have complete control of when Big Ten football games are played and that will likely mean scheduling UM-OSU at night they have their ratings to worry about.
The Big Ten isn’t too scared to play at night, it’s just not practical, and they know that people will still watch UM/OSU due to implications, no matter the time.
If the MAC can play at night in the cold then so can the Big Ten. It doesn’t matter about TV contracts saying they have to, the MAC has quite the success doing it, because they’re not competing with other conferences on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. Only other sports options. Every other power conference is playing at night too.
Then you have West Coast fans to worry about. A noon start time on the East Coast is 9 AM on the West Coast and even earlier in Alaska and Hawaii. The Big Ten is forcing those poor OSU and UM fans to wake up super early to prepare for such a big game. If it were at night, those fans, not caring about any other game, could sleep in. An 8 PM East Coast start time is 5 PM Pacific, 4 PM Alaska and just only 3 PM Hawaii – that’s late enough in those time zones that OSU and UM fans could sleep in then get up at a good time to start preparing for the game.
The West Coast Fox affiliates do have the option of tape-delaying UM-OSU to air at night, since otherwise they’d be airing local programming. And that’s what they should do, so they can let fans of those teams out there sleep in. And if they can resist the urge to find out the score online, bless them.
Z-Man – Are you Rupert Murdoch in disguise? Why are you so concerned about Fox not getting a good primetime game? None of this makes any sense.
Considering my better half will be out of the house at noon Christmas shopping, this is just going to make the game even better for me.
No MAC game draws anywhere as many fans as UM-OSU.
The B10 bans night games in late November because of public safety concerns. If there is inclement weather, everyone, including local police and other officials, would much prefer that 100K people and tens of thousands of cars move their way home when there is still light out and it is warmer than close to midnight and it is colder and more likely to be below freezing.
And this policy just happens to screw over fans of B1G teams on the West Coast
And I can tell you that Fox is probably not happy about having to televise a game with such huge playoff implications in the noon slot while being forced to televise a game that will certainly lose the primetime ratings battle to Notre Dame-USC at night.
Big Ten tv scheduler would disagree: “It’s special to begin with,” Rudner said. “You’re not going to get any bigger by going to prime time.” https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1099192-michigan-vs-ohio-state-football-why-the-game-needs-to-be-in-prime-time
And so do UM and OSU ADs: “Dave Brandon, the athletic director at Michigan, and I constantly have conversations that that should not be a night game, and it will not be a night game,” Smith said. “It won’t be (at night) this year, nor in following years.” http://www.sportingnews.com/us/ncaa-football/news/ohio-state-michigan-ad-gene-smith-night-game-/14ah7nq76q8ekzqa0miixi8kj
Read my comment above about how the noon scheduling screws over West Coast fans.
I live on the west coast. I think it’s perfect–I wake up, and the game is on.