Every Monday, the five power conferences announce their football TV schedule for the weekend after next. Some selections are also made by the American, C-USA, MAC, MWC, and Sun Belt.
Today, selections were announced for the weekend of Nov. 26, 2016.
Some games were held under the six-day option. Those game times and/or TV have now been announced.
Week 13 TV Schedule Selections
All times Eastern
ACC
NC State at North Carolina – Noon, ESPN (Fri.)
Georgia Tech at Georgia – Noon, SECN
Kentucky at Louisville – Noon, ESPN
Virginia at Virginia Tech – Noon, ESPN2
Syracuse at Pitt – 12:30pm, ACCN
Boston College at Wake Forest – 3pm, RSN
Duke at Miami (FL) – 3:30pm, ESPN2
South Carolina at Clemson – 7:30pm, ESPN
Florida at Florida State – 8pm, ABC
American
Houston at Memphis – Noon, ABC (Fri.)
Cincinnati at Tulsa – 8:30pm, ESPN2 (Fri.)
UCF at USF – Noon, CBSSN
Navy at SMU – 3:30pm, ESPNU
Tulane at UConn – 4pm, ESPNews
East Carolina at Temple – 7:30pm, ESPNews
Big 12
TCU at Texas – 3:30pm, FS1 (Fri.)
Baylor vs. Texas Tech (at Arlington) – 6pm, ESPN (Fri.)
Kansas at Kansas State – Noon, FS1
West Virginia at Iowa State – 3:30pm, FS1
Off: Oklahoma, Oklahoma State
Big Ten
Nebraska at Iowa – 3:30pm, ABC (Fri.)
Michigan at Ohio State – Noon, ABC
Illinois at Northwestern – Noon, BTN
Purdue at Indiana – Noon, ESPNU
Rutgers at Maryland – Noon, ESPNews
Michigan State at Penn State – 3:30pm, ESPN
Minnesota at Wisconsin – 3:30pm, BTN
C-USA
LA Tech at Southern Miss – 4pm, ESPNews (Fri.)
FIU at Old Dominion – 3:30pm, ESPN3
Florida Atlantic at Middle Tennessee – 5:30pm, beIN Sports
Charlotte at UTSA – 7pm, CampusInsiders
WKU at Marshall – 7pm, ESPNU
North Texas at UTEP – 8pm, CUSA.TV
Rice at Stanford – 8pm, Pac-12N
Independents
Notre Dame at USC – 3:30pm, ABC
Utah State at BYU – 10:15pm, ESPNU
UMass at Hawaii – 11pm, Oceanic PPV
Off: Army
MAC
Akron at Ohio – 7pm, ESPNU (Tue.)
Ball State at Miami, OH – 7pm, ESPN3 (Tue.)
CMU at EMU – 7pm, ESPN3 (Tue.)
NIU at Kent State – Noon, CBSSN (Fri.)
Buffalo at Bowling Green – 2:30pm, ESPN3 (Fri.)
Toledo at Western Michigan – 5pm, ESPN2 (Fri.)
MWC
Boise State at Air Force – 3:30pm, CBSSN (Fri.)
San José State at Fresno State – 3:30pm, CBSSN
Nevada at UNLV – 4pm, ESPN3
Colorado State at San Diego State – 9pm, CBSSN
Utah State at BYU – 10:15pm, ESPNU
Wyoming at New Mexico – 10:15pm, ESPN2
UMass at Hawai‘i – 11pm, Oceanic PPV
Pac-12
Washington at Washington State – 3:30pm, FOX (Fri.)
Arizona State at Arizona – 9:30pm, ESPN (Fri.)
Notre Dame at USC – 3:30pm, ABC
Oregon at Oregon State – 4pm, Pac-12N
UCLA at California – 7pm, ESPN2
Utah at Colorado – 7:30pm, FOX
Rice at Stanford – 8pm, Pac-12N
SEC
LSU at Texas A&M – 7:30pm, ESPN (Thu.)
Arkansas at Missouri – 2:30pm, CBS (Fri.)
Georgia Tech at Georgia – Noon, SECN
Kentucky at Louisville – Noon, SECN
Auburn at Alabama – 3:30pm, CBS
Mississippi State at Ole Miss – 3:30pm, SECN
South Carolina at Clemson – 7:30pm, ESPN
Tennessee at Vanderbilt – 7:30pm, SECN
Florida at Florida State – 8pm, ABC
Sun Belt
Arkansas State at UL Lafayette – Noon, ASN/ESPN3
South Alabama at Idaho – 3:30pm, ASN/ESPN3
Appalachian State at New Mexico State – 4pm, ESPN3
Troy at Texas State – 4pm, ESPN3
Off: Georgia Southern, Georgia State, ULM
They put UM-OSU at noon when it could potentially decide the Big Ten East? That’s just wrong from a TV ratings standpoint. It needs to be at night.
Michigan-Ohio State is always played at noon.
Think about the fans on the West Coast though. Many OSU and UM fans in, say, California aren’t real thrilled with having to get up super early to prepare for what is a 9 AM kickoff in that state. With a night-time kickoff fans in CA aren’t pressured to get up so early.
With Fox taking part of the Big Ten contract next year it is likely they will have this game and will want it played at night especially for ratings purposes. November is a sweeps period after all.
Let’s go back to the 2006 UM-OSU game. Though the teams were both top 2 at the time it still only got a 3;30 PM slot while the inferior Cal-USC game (which USC won handily compared to the nail-biter nature of the UM-OSU game) was given the primetime slot instead. While the ratings for UM-OSU were good that year, they were stunted because of the game not being in primetime – a primetime playing of the game would have given it even higher ratings, surpassing even those of some recent LSU-Alabama games on CBS possibly.
I actually already had this response prepared because I knew what you were going to say:
Would 100,000 fans at the stadium want to sit for 3.5 hours in the cold night? I don’t think so, and I don’t think the players would either. Personally, living on the west coast, I like the early start time because it’s on not long after I wake up.
Big Ten night games are required to be scheduled before the season and both schools must agree for any night games in November. ABC/ESPN can’t unilaterally decide to schedule a night time kickoff in November.
There had never been a Big Ten night before 2014. The Penn State-Rutgers game this weekend will the latest into the season a night game has been played in the history of the Big Ten.
No other conference has that requirement and neither should the Big Ten. You have ratings to think about.
Yeah, because we all know that if there’s any conference that doesn’t know how to use branding and leverage, it’s the B1G. Great point.
Maybe its just me, but perhaps the UW/WSU game should be a saturday night prime time game. Just a thought.
If only the Pac12 schedule makers knew…
I remember a few years ago when the Pac12 schedules came out, and Oregon-Stanford was on a Thursday night, and I was made because I thought the game was too good to be a weeknight game. It ended up being a top10 matchup. I still went nevertheless, but the game lost its stature to Alabama/LSU because it was not on a Saturday.