Week 12 College Football TV Schedule – Sponsored by “That” week in the SEC schedule

I have harped on this before but I feel that every year I should help pile on to the vitriol that the SEC gets for the schedule the week before American Thanksgiving. It is such a god-awful schedule, it boggles the mind.   I truly believe that there should be no FCS games in November at all. I even hate them in October but the way scheduling can be, sometimes they have to be that way. However, in my opinion, pretty much all FBS vs. FCS games should be in September (or August if the season starts then). From here on, until this changes, I hope the best SEC team at the time blows a gasket and either loses against an FCS team or barely wins, making The Committee drop them in the CFP rankings. It will serve them right for this horseshit. I don’t care about the whole “Well, the SEC has the toughest schedule in the land.” Overall, perhaps. But this type of scheduling doesn’t help their cause. So the motto should be “Say no to scheduling FCS teams (in November).”

Alright, this is a good week to have to PVR the games. The worst week of November (and most of October as well) considering the quality of games goes down the shitter (in some conferences…except the Big XII and their backloading craziness). I don’t understand how it is always like this but it is. I am not saying there aren’t a few big games (because there are a few huge ones and I will get to that in a moment) but compared to next week (or last week) it is definitely lacking.

Let’s begin with the easy part…the cable schedule:

			ROGERS	FIBE	SATELLITE
East Carolina at UCF (Thu)	7:30 PM	TSN2	X	X	X
Cincinnati at USF (Fri)	8:00 PM	CBSSN	X	X
#12 Michigan at Penn State	12:00 PM	ABC/TSN4	X	X	X
Princeton at Dartmouth	12:00 PM	MyTV	X	X
Indiana at Maryland	12:00 PM	BTN	X
Rutgers at Army	12:00 PM	CBSSN	X	X
Purdue at #5 Iowa	12:00 PM	TSN2	X	X	X
Syracuse at NC State	12:30 PM	WSBK	X	X	X
#9 Michigan State at #3 Ohio State	3:30 PM	ABC/TSN4	X	X	X
#20 Northwestern at #25 Wisconsin	3:30 PM	BTN	X
#15 LSU at #22 Ole Miss	3:30 PM	CBS	X	X	X
Buffalo at Akron	3:30 PM	CBSSN	X	X
Wake Forest at #1 Clemson	3:30 PM	TSN2	X	X	X
UCLA at #13 Utah	3:30 PM	FOX	X	X	X
#16 Navy at Tulsa	7:00 PM	CBSSN	X	X
Mississippi State at Arkansas	7:00 PM	TSN4	X	X	X
#10 Baylor at #6 Oklahoma State	7:30 PM	FOX	X	X	X
#18 TCU at #7 Oklahoma	8:00 PM	ABC/TSN3	X	X	X
San Diego State at UNLV	10:30 PM	CBSSN	X	X

Quite a few games again as TSN is stepping up. The only thing that irks me a bit is the fact they tend to simsub ABC games a lot. Saying that, I am still glad they show their fair share of games. The biggest games seem to also be on the cable schedule this week as well so that should make non-specialty pack people very happy (as this is not always the case).

And herrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre comes the shitshow (specialty pack schedule):

		ROGERS	FIBE	SATELLITE
ULM at Texas State (Thu)	9:30 PM	X
Air Force at Boise State (Fri)	9:30 PM	X
#17 North Carolina at Virginia Tech	12:00 PM	X	X	X
#21 Memphis at Temple	12:00 PM	X	X	X
Florida Atlantic at #8 Florida	12:00 PM		X	X
The Citadel at South Carolina	12:00 PM		X	X
Georgia Tech at Miami	12:30 PM	X	X	X
Chattanooga at #14 Florida State	3:00 PM		X	X
#24 USC at #23 Oregon	3:30 PM	X	X	X
#19 Houston at Connecticut	3:30 PM	X	X	X
Idaho at Auburn	4:00 PM		X	X
Charleston Southern at #2 Alabama	4:00 PM		X	X
Georgia Southern at Georgia	7:00 PM	X	X	X
Tennessee at Missouri	7:15 PM	X	X	X
Charlotte at Kentucky	7:30 PM		X	X
Texas A&M at Vanderbilt	7:30 PM		X	X
California at #11 Stanford	10:30 PM	X	X	X
Colorado at Washington State	10:45 PM	X	X	X

Shitshow is probably putting it mildly. They don’t even have slots open for some of the games this weekend. Ridiculous. OK let’s go through the carnage here:

• The two SEC Network games at 4:00 are not shown on either of the Bell guides (Fibe or Satellite). However, the slots are there so they will be put in eventually (hopefully not Saturday morning). The same goes with the SEC Network Alternate at 7:30 (Charlotte-Kentucky) but I can see it not airing as well.
• The Noon, 3:30, and 10:30 ESPN games are not showing up anywhere, but again, there is a slot open for them. The same cannot be said for the Noon ESPNU game between Memphis and Temple. Mysteriously, it is nowhere to be found. I just don’t get it.
• The same thing can be said for the ACC Network alternate game and the FOX Sports Net ACC game in the middle of the afternoon. These are two games that are not anywhere on the guides and may never show up at all. We may not know this until Saturday morning (or even into Saturday afternoon since they “don’t get the guide info on time”…yeah right).

UPDATE: All games are appearing (for the most part) on the guides.  UTC-FSU still not appearing on Rogers guide as of now.  Also, with Fibe there are some issues with the HD channels.  No guide information for the 3:30 games.  No issues with the games on the SD channels.

The GOTW

#9 Michigan State at #3 Ohio State (3:30, ABC/TSN4) – I’d love to say this is the game that decides the Big Ten East. But it’s not true. Michigan (and technically, Penn State) are lurking in the weeds, waiting for the results of this one. Penn State needs a lot of help but Michigan basically has to win this week, then beat Ohio State and they are going to Indianapolis and will put the CFP on its ear again. I still think tOSU will win this one (being at The Shoe and all) but it should be a close affair.

#10 Baylor at #6 Oklahoma State (7:30, FOX) – Another game in the Big XII Round-Robin Backload Extravaganza Party. This conference better hope one team emerges from this demolition derby. I have this bad feeling that the Big XII’s conference champion will have one loss. Well, bad for them. Good for the 47 expansion candidates.

#18 TCU at #7 Oklahoma (8:00, ABC/TSN3) – Another game in the Big XII Round-Robin, oh you know the deal here. Basically, if Oklahoma wins here and the Pokes win down the road in Stillwater, Bedlam becomes a MASSIVE game and will, in all likelihood, be the ABC Saturday Night game. This means Oklahoma will have three consecutive appearances on ABC Saturday Night. That has to be a record.

#15 LSU at #22 Ole Miss (3:30, CBS) – Two teams who have taken big steps backwards, allowing Alabama to control its own destiny (Bama plays the mighty Charleston Southern Buccaneers on Saturday by the way). The winner still has a slim chance of getting into the New Year’s Six. The loser may be lucky to go to the TaxSlayer Bowl.

#20 Northwestern at #25 Wisconsin (3:30, BTN) – Everyone is basically looking up at Iowa in the Big Ten West. The chances of either of these teams catching the Hawkeyes is almost none. They have to hope for chaos above them to even make the New Year’s Six. Tough times for two teams that, for the most part, have done very well this season but hiccupped at the absolute wrong time.

#24 USC at #23 Oregon (3:30, specialty pack) – The only game of the week on the specialty pack. This could still be big if Stanford falters against Cal and the Ducks pick up the win here. USC still fighting for the Pac-12 South which would be crazy if they ended up winning. If they do, I have a feeling Clay Helton moves up the list of potential permanent head coaches for the Trojans next season.

If I Threw Down Some Money

I would probably be broke. Here are my picks for this week:

Ohio State over Michigan State

Baylor over Oklahoma State (commence the Big XII chaos)

Oklahoma over TCU

Ole Miss over LSU (LSU’s first three-game losing streak in a loooooooong time)

Wisconsin over Northwestern (mini-upset)

Oregon over USC

North Carolina over Virginia Tech (I think Tech may keep the Heels under 50)

Michigan over Penn State

Houston over Connecticut

UCLA over Utah (another mini-upset)

As you will have noticed, Boston College-Notre Dame in Fenway Park is nowhere to be found. That’s because it has been relegated to NBC Sports Network which no one gets in this area (and why the hell would you get it? It looks like a really shitty sports channel). Why was this moved there? NBC wanted to put one Irish game there and figured this was the worst of the bunch (I would have moved the Wake Forest or UMass game myself but anyway). Watch it be an awesome game and BC take Touchdown Jesus to the wire.

Alright, two games tonight, two games tomorrow night. And the worst uniforms in NFL history tonight (which is saying a lot).