I did this last year. It was a raging success (from a time management perspective). So let’s fucking do it again! Who’s with me?
I hope you’re still with me because if not this is a long post for few to read.
![](https://bossmansblog.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/cbs.jpg?w=1024)
We will start with a change that might feel the weirdest of them all with all the changes coming this season. The SEC on CBS is no more. Now it’s the Big Ten (and sometimes the Mountain West) on CBS. CBS had a steal with the SEC for years, financially. They were paying $55 million a year during that final contract that ended last year. What is CBS paying now for the Big Ten? Honestly, I don’t know but I will say this: CBS, FOX and NBC are paying the Big Ten around $1 billion per year. There is no way CBS’s cut is only around $55 million so it’s obvious they are paying a ton more for this contract. And that’s the thing: if they had wanted to keep the SEC’s top game every week, the contract was going to be at least four times the amount of the previous contract and CBS wasn’t willing to do that.
That means this season’s schedule will look quite different than any other one I have done before for CBS. As per usual, with all these schedules, some games are confirmed and the rest are based on educated guesses by yours truly. This means some team that wasn’t supposed to be good this season could be in line for a potential College Football Playoff spot and will, therefore, get more games on CBS (even though CBS doesn’t have the top pick every week; that goes to FOX). OK let’s get going with the first schedule in this post since this is going to take a while (but will be very informative…I think…OK, I don’t know but I hope).
August 31st | ![]() | Akron at Ohio State | ![]() | 3:30 |
August 31st | ![]() | UCLA at Hawaii | ![]() | 7:30 |
September 7th | ![]() | Iowa State at Iowa | ![]() | 3:30 |
September 14th | ![]() | Notre Dame at Purdue | ![]() | 3:30 |
September 14th | ![]() | Colorado at Colorado State | ![]() | 7:30 |
September 21st | ![]() | USC at Michigan | ![]() | 3:30 |
September 28th | ![]() | Oregon at UCLA | ![]() | 3:30 |
October 5th | ![]() | Navy at Air Force | ![]() | Noon |
October 5th | ![]() | Iowa at Ohio State | ![]() | 3:30 |
October 12th | ![]() | Penn State at USC | ![]() | 3:30 |
October 19th | ![]() | UCLA at Rutgers | ![]() | 3:30 |
October 26th | ![]() | Michigan State at Michigan | ![]() | 3:30 |
November 2nd | ![]() | Air Force at Army | ![]() | Noon |
November 2nd | ![]() | Wisconsin at Iowa | ![]() | 3:30 |
November 9th | ![]() | Maryland at Oregon | ![]() | 3:30 |
November 16th | ![]() | Oregon at Wisconsin | ![]() | 3:30 |
November 23rd | ![]() | Penn State at Minnesota | ![]() | 3:30 |
November 29th | ![]() | Minnesota at Wisconsin | ![]() | Noon |
November 29th | ![]() | Stanford at San Jose State | ![]() | 4:00 |
November 30th | ![]() | Notre Dame at USC | ![]() | 3:30 |
December 7th | ![]() | SEC Championship | ![]() | 4:00 |
December 14th | ![]() | Army vs. Navy (in Landover, MD) | ![]() | 3:00 |
December 31st | ![]() | Sun Bowl | ![]() | 2:00 |
It Just Means (No) More Analysis
- Your yearly reminder that anything that is in bold is confirmed.
- The amount of appearances for Big Ten teams is a lot more spread out than the SEC team appearances ever was on CBS.
- 3 times – USC, Oregon, Wisconsin, UCLA, Iowa
- 2 times – Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Minnesota
- 1 time – Purdue, Rutgers, Michigan State, Maryland
- Not a single time – Indiana, Illinois, Nebraska, Northwestern, Washington
- The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame also appear twice on this list. Also, the Commander’s-in-Chief Trophy series is all on CBS. Air Force, Army and Navy will have their round-robin appear on the main network.
- Back to the Big Ten list, some may be surprised with Washington not appearing. The Huskies have some of the least hype for a team that was the national runner-up since…OK well since TCU the previous year. Don’t be surprised to see the Huskies near the bottom of the Top 25 going into the season.
- Some also may be surprised with Northwestern and Nebraska not appearing at least once. Remember, CBS and NBC will have, for the most part, an equal amount of important games this season so when you don’t see one team on CBS you are almost assured that you will see them on NBC and vice versa. Plus, I can’t see networks frothing at the mouth to broadcast games from the Wildcats’ temporary stadium this year. And we are still waiting for the Huskers to finally turn it around. Soon enough they will become the new “Texas Is Back” team. I am almost sure of it.
- And yes, it will still feel a bit weird to have the CBS college football theme play for a college football game involving two Big Ten teams.
![](https://bossmansblog.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/abc-college-football.jpg?w=242)
Quite a bit of change this year and all of it due to the SEC coming to ABC. If people thought the Big Ten took up way too many of the ABC primetime games, wait until this season. There is no specific number that the SEC will get but I assume it will be anywhere in the 9-12 range (and remember, there are only fourteen weeks). Also, they get a regular 3:30 game every week on ABC. So the only spot open for the Big XII and ACC will pretty much be Noon…and I’m sure there will be at least a couple of SEC games there as well. This will push some of the Big XII and ACC (especially ACC) games to ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU which will further push the American, Sun Belt…you get where I’m going with this. The domino effect will be something this year.
Look, let’s just get down to it, alright? Here is the projected 2024 ABC college football schedule followed by some (potentially dirty) Brent Musburger thoughts:
August 24th | ![]() | Norfolk State vs. Florida A&M (in Atlanta) | ![]() | 7:30 |
August 31st | ![]() | Clemson vs. Georgia (in Atlanta) | ![]() | Noon |
August 31st | ![]() | Miami at Florida | ![]() | 3:30 |
August 31st | ![]() | Notre Dame at Texas A&M | ![]() | 7:30 |
September 1st | ![]() | USC vs. LSU (in Las Vegas) | ![]() | 7:30 |
September 7th | ![]() | Arkansas at Oklahoma State | ![]() | Noon |
September 7th | ![]() | South Carolina at Kentucky | ![]() | 3:30 |
September 7th | ![]() | Tennessee at NC State | ![]() | 7:30 |
September 14th | ![]() | LSU at South Carolina | ![]() | Noon |
September 14th | ![]() | Texas A&M at Florida | ![]() | 3:30 |
September 14th | ![]() | Georgia at Kentucky | ![]() | 7:30 |
September 21st | ![]() | Florida at Mississippi State | ![]() | Noon |
September 21st | ![]() | Tennessee at Oklahoma | ![]() | 3:30 |
September 21st | ![]() | NC State at Clemson | ![]() | 7:30 |
September 28th | ![]() | Kentucky at Ole Miss | ![]() | Noon |
September 28th | ![]() | Mississippi State at Texas | ![]() | 3:30 |
September 28th | ![]() | Georgia at Alabama | ![]() | 7:30 |
October 5th | ![]() | West Virginia at Oklahoma State | ![]() | Noon |
October 5th | ![]() | Auburn at Georgia | ![]() | 3:30 |
October 5th | ![]() | Clemson at Florida State | ![]() | 7:30 |
October 12th | ![]() | Clemson at Wake Forest | ![]() | Noon |
October 12th | ![]() | Oklahoma vs. Texas (in Dallas) | ![]() | 3:30 |
October 12th | ![]() | Ole Miss at LSU | ![]() | 7:30 |
October 19th | ![]() | UCF at Iowa State | ![]() | Noon |
October 19th | ![]() | Alabama at Tennessee | ![]() | 3:30 |
October 19th | ![]() | Georgia at Texas | ![]() | 7:30 |
October 26th | ![]() | Notre Dame vs. Navy (in East Rutherford) | ![]() | Noon |
October 26th | ![]() | Missouri at Alabama | ![]() | 3:30 |
October 26th | ![]() | West Virginia at Arizona | ![]() | 7:30 |
November 2nd | ![]() | Kansas State at Houston | ![]() | Noon |
November 2nd | ![]() | Florida vs. Georgia (in Jacksonville) | ![]() | 3:30 |
November 2nd | ![]() | Louisville at Clemson | ![]() | 7:00 |
November 9th | ![]() | Clemson at Virginia Tech | ![]() | Noon |
November 9th | ![]() | Oklahoma at Missouri | ![]() | 3:30 |
November 9th | ![]() | Georgia at Ole Miss | ![]() | 7:30 |
November 16th | ![]() | Clemson at Pittsburgh | ![]() | Noon |
November 16th | ![]() | LSU at Florida | ![]() | 3:30 |
November 16th | ![]() | Tennessee at Georgia | ![]() | 7:30 |
November 23rd | ![]() | Pittsburgh at Louisville | ![]() | Noon |
November 23rd | ![]() | Kentucky at Texas | ![]() | 3:30 |
November 23rd | ![]() | Alabama at Oklahoma | ![]() | 7:30 |
November 29th | ![]() | Oklahoma State at Colorado | ![]() | Noon |
November 29th | ![]() | Mississippi State at Ole Miss | ![]() | 3:30 |
November 29th | ![]() | Georgia Tech at Georgia | ![]() | 7:30 |
November 30th | ![]() | South Carolina at Clemson | ![]() | Noon |
November 30th | ![]() | Auburn at Alabama | ![]() | 3:30 |
November 30th | ![]() | Texas at Texas A&M | ![]() | 7:30 |
December 6th | ![]() | American Championship | ![]() | 8:00 |
December 7th | ![]() | Big XII Championship | ![]() | Noon |
December 7th | ![]() | SEC Championship | ![]() | 4:00 |
December 7th | ![]() | ACC Championship | ![]() | 8:00 |
December 14th | ![]() | Celebration Bowl | ![]() | Noon |
December 20th | ![]() | CFB Playoff First Round Game #1 | ![]() | 8:00 |
December 21st | ![]() | CFB Playoff First Round Game #4 | ![]() | 8:00 |
December 28th | ![]() | Pinstripe Bowl | ![]() | Noon |
December 28th | ![]() | Pop-Tarts Bowl | ![]() | 3:30 |
December 28th | ![]() | Alamo Bowl | ![]() | 7:30 |
December 31st | ![]() | Citrus Bowl | ![]() | 3:00 |
You are looking LIVE at my thoughts and notes
- I wouldn’t call it a mega-matchup on Labour Day Sunday but they do have one good fanbase and one REALLY good fanbase and they’re in Vegas for this one. Yeah, this could get out of hand.
- As I mentioned above, the SEC gets all the 3:30 games on ABC. I am sure someone asked about the SEC getting all the primetime games instead but ABC isn’t stupid. It’s bad enough how all-in they are with the SEC, but to give them all the primetime games as well would all but alienate the Big XII and ACC. I mean they are kind of doing it already but this would be a little too much. That is until a few of the ACC teams head to the SEC in a few years.
- I am not even going to try and figure out which games, at this point, will appear on TSN. And now with TSN+, this becomes a much more difficult exercise. I think the scheduling people at TSN would lose their God damn minds if they saw how far out many of these college football games are scheduled. Anyway, the breakdown I have right now is that 25 of the games would be simsubbed on one of the five TSN channels and 23 would be simsubbed on TSN+. I could see even more games going to TSN+ as TSN tries to gain subscribers. I will also monitor what this does with Bell’s U.S. College Sports Package. Don’t be surprised if this goes away in a few years because all these games are on TSN+. Bell owns TSN. You can connect the dots.
- The three Black Friday games are confirmed. Also, the first three weeks are confirmed (as usual) and three other games are confirmed which is somewhat unusual. Two games on September 28th (Kentucky-Ole Miss and UGA-Bama) and the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party on November 2nd between the Gators and Bulldogs.
- I have no games for the American Conference scheduled for ABC other than the conference championship (and that’s on a Friday night). They are one of the “victims” of the SEC’s new contract with ABC. The best they will probably do is ESPN unless there is a game late in the year between two teams that are up for the Group of Five spot in the College Football Playoff. Hell, even the MEAC and SWAC get a game on ABC (two if you include the Celebration Bowl).
- The conference breakdown is pretty skewed but here it is (remember, a conference game will count as two appearances and bowl game tie-ins aren’t counted):
- SEC – 60 (including conference championship)
- ACC – 22 (including conference championship)
- Big XII – 12 (including conference championship)
- American – 3 (including conference championship)
- Notre Dame – 2
- MEAC – 1
- SWAC – 1
- Big Ten – 1
- Don’t need to delve into the conference breakdown too much other than to say the SEC: It Just Means More (Games on ABC).
- Five bowl games will appear on ABC. Two less than last season but there is a big reason for that: two of the first round games of the CFP will appear on both ABC and ESPN. The other two were sold to TNT, of all networks. Can’t wait to hear Charles Barkley wax poetic about why his Auburn Tigers didn’t make the playoff, why Bama sucks and other potentially crazy thoughts which will be much more entertaining than any other pre-game personality in televised sports today.
![](https://bossmansblog.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/bnk-on-fox.jpg?w=1024)
BIG NOON FUCKING KICKOFF, BITCHES! Say what you want but FOX has really pushed their early Saturday coverage. The pregame show that FOX puts on is arguably better than College Gameday (or at least on par with it from the little I’ve watched and what I’ve heard on the Twitter Machine). Big Noon Kickoff is their big game of the week which, other than one time I believe, pushed the Pac-12 to the backburner. And there are times they put very little thought into what either the afternoon or primetime game is. I’m fine with the afternoon game being a bit of a throwaway game but I still believe in this day and age, the primetime game should be somewhat important. What have you done for me lately, so to speak. Or as late as possible. Saying that, they do put games on late night on the main network which is pretty awesome. Kind of wish other networks would do it, even if it was just one time a season.
Anyway, enough of all that, it’s time to get to the schedule. Again, the first three weeks are set. A few other games are set and you will see something VERY new and I will touch on that after the schedule listings. So here we go, followed by some (No) Smackdown Musings (OK I may have given the surprise away):
August 29th | ![]() | North Carolina at Minnesota | ![]() | 8:00 |
August 31st | ![]() | Penn State at West Virginia | ![]() | Noon |
August 31st | ![]() | UTEP at Nebraska | ![]() | 3:30 |
September 7th | ![]() | Texas at Michigan | ![]() | Noon |
September 7th | ![]() | Baylor at Utah | ![]() | 3:30 |
September 7th | ![]() | Texas Tech at Washington State | ![]() | 10:00 |
September 13th | ![]() | Arizona at Kansas State | ![]() | 8:00 |
September 14th | ![]() | Alabama at Wisconsin | ![]() | Noon |
September 14th | ![]() | Oregon at Oregon State | ![]() | 3:30 |
September 14th | ![]() | UCF at TCU | ![]() | 7:30 |
September 20th | ![]() | Illinois at Nebraska | ![]() | 8:00 |
September 21st | ![]() | Houston at Cincinnati | ![]() | Noon |
September 21st | ![]() | Kansas at West Virginia | ![]() | 3:30 |
September 21st | ![]() | Arizona State at Texas Tech | ![]() | 7:00 |
September 21st | ![]() | Baylor at Colorado | ![]() | 10:30 |
September 27th | ![]() | Washington at Rutgers | ![]() | 8:00 |
September 28th | ![]() | Ohio State at Michigan State | ![]() | Noon |
September 28th | ![]() | Washington State at Boise State | ![]() | 3:30 |
October 4th | ![]() | Michigan State at Oregon | ![]() | 9:00 |
October 5th | ![]() | UCLA at Penn State | ![]() | Noon |
October 5th | ![]() | Baylor at Iowa State | ![]() | 4:00 |
October 5th | ![]() | USC at Minnesota | ![]() | 8:00 |
October 11th | ![]() | Northwestern at Maryland | ![]() | 8:00 |
October 12th | ![]() | Washington at Iowa | ![]() | Noon |
October 12th | ![]() | Cincinnati at UCF | ![]() | 4:00 |
October 12th | ![]() | Arizona at BYU | ![]() | 8:00 |
October 18th | ![]() | Oregon at Purdue | ![]() | 8:00 |
October 19th | ![]() | Houston vs. Kansas (in Kansas City) | ![]() | Noon |
October 19th | ![]() | Arizona State at Cincinnati | ![]() | 4:00 |
October 19th | ![]() | Kansas State at West Virginia | ![]() | 8:00 |
October 25th | ![]() | Rutgers at USC | ![]() | 11:00 |
October 26th | ![]() | Kansas at Kansas State | ![]() | Noon |
October 26th | ![]() | Washington at Indiana | ![]() | 3:30 |
November 2nd | ![]() | Ohio State at Penn State | ![]() | Noon |
November 2nd | ![]() | USC at Washington | ![]() | 3:30 |
November 8th | ![]() | Iowa at UCLA | ![]() | 9:00 |
November 9th | ![]() | Iowa State vs. Kansas (in Kansas City) | ![]() | Noon |
November 9th | ![]() | West Virginia at Cincinnati | ![]() | 3:30 |
November 9th | ![]() | UCF at Arizona State | ![]() | 7:00 |
November 15th | ![]() | UCLA at Washington | ![]() | 9:00 |
November 16th | ![]() | Arizona State at Kansas State | ![]() | Noon |
November 16th | ![]() | Cincinnati at Iowa State | ![]() | 4:00 |
November 16th | ![]() | Kansas at BYU | ![]() | 8:00 |
November 22nd | ![]() | Purdue at Michigan State | ![]() | 8:00 |
November 23rd | ![]() | Northwestern at Michigan | ![]() | Noon |
November 23rd | ![]() | Wisconsin at Nebraska | ![]() | 4:00 |
November 23rd | ![]() | Cincinnati at Kansas State | ![]() | 8:00 |
November 29th | ![]() | Oregon State at Boise State | ![]() | Noon |
November 29th | ![]() | Utah at UCF | ![]() | 8:00 |
November 30th | ![]() | Michigan at Ohio State | ![]() | Noon |
November 30th | ![]() | Illinois at Northwestern | ![]() | 4:00 |
November 30th | ![]() | Arizona State at Arizona | ![]() | 8:00 |
December 6th | ![]() | Mountain West Championship | ![]() | 8:00 |
December 27th | ![]() | Holiday Bowl | ![]() | 8:00 |
Musings from a Complete Lack of Smackdown
- You’re not seeing things. Friday night college football comes to FOX! September 6th will be the final episode of WWE Smackdown on FOX. The following week, the first game of FOX’s new set of Friday night college football games begins. Honestly, I am loving it even if some of the games defy logic. The time isn’t the same every week. So yes, more than half the time the games start at 8:00 but a few start at 9:00 and one starts at, brace yourselves, 11:00 at night. Rutgers and USC no less! That is insane and I will so watch it.
- FOX will try, much of the time, to get great games in their Noon timeslot but it doesn’t work every week that way. When they get the top selection, it’s pretty obvious. UM-tOSU, Bama-Wisky, UT-UM, tOSU-PSU. Yeah, some of the top games of the year. Then there are some weeks when they won’t be as good. Like Houston-Cincy or ASU-KSU. OK, let’s be honest: almost every Big XII game in this timeslot pales in comparison to the Big Ten Big Noon Kickoff games.
- Black Friday will see the typical two FOX games. This year, Boise State gets a Black Friday home game, AT NOON, on the main network. I guess if you want to be on FOX, sometimes you have to sacrifice a bit. This will be one of only two games on FOX for the Mountain West. And they both have Boise State at home. And they contain both teams from the Pac-2. Yeah, other than Boise, FOX doesn’t think much of that conference.
- So the Friday games are confirmed as are the first three weeks of the season. They start with a Thursday nighter in Week One. UNC-Minny goes up against ESPN’s choice of NDSU-Colorado. Should be an interesting ratings battle.
- Conference breakdown and you might be a tiny bit surprised at the results:
- Big XII – 48
- Big Ten – 46
- Mountain West – 4 (including conference championship)
- Pac-2/Wazzu & Oregon State – 4
- SEC – 2
- ACC – 1
- Conference USA – 1
- If you are surprised by this, you shouldn’t be. The Big XII dominates the afternoon and primetime timeslots. 30 of their appearances land here compared to 11 for the Big Ten. It is pretty similar to where things stood last year.
- FOX has only one conference championship this year, the Mountain West Championship. In odd numbered years they also get the Big Ten Championship. And with just one bowl game, they are almost entirely shut out of everything that would be considered the college football postseason.
- October can be odd with scheduling for FOX, especially with the MLB playoffs going on the entire month. A lot of inventory does move to FOX Sports One. Saying that, if it matches last year, there was only one Saturday in October that didn’t have a primetime game on FOX and that’s late in the month (along with early November…man the baseball season is WAY too long). I believe FOX tries their best to put as many college football games and work it around the baseball playoffs. They also sometimes use FOX Business (which we don’t have up here) for college football if MLB games go long.
![](https://bossmansblog.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/big-ten-saturday-night-logo.png?w=1024)
Yeah it’s not just Notre Dame on NBC anymore. The Big Ten has moved into the basement apartment and is racking up the hydro bill. And can they get their dog to stop barking in the middle of the night? For now, this is a peaceful union, mostly because the Big Ten doesn’t automatically get the primetime spot every Saturday. This agreement lasts through 2030. After that, I could honestly see the conference flexing their muscle and basically demanding all primetime games. What could that do to Notre Dame? Who knows since they always get at least a couple of primetime affairs and I can’t see them giving that up anytime soon.
Should be interesting but that’s six years away. For now, let’s look at the brand-spanking new NBC schedule:
August 31st | ![]() | Fresno State at Michigan | ![]() | 7:30 |
September 7th | ![]() | Northern Illinois at Notre Dame | ![]() | 3:30 |
September 7th | ![]() | Colorado at Nebraska | ![]() | 7:30 |
September 14th | ![]() | Indiana at UCLA | ![]() | 7:30 |
September 21st | ![]() | Miami-OH at Notre Dame | ![]() | 3:30 |
September 21st | ![]() | Iowa at Minnesota | ![]() | 7:30 |
September 28th | ![]() | Illinois at Penn State | ![]() | 7:30 |
October 5th | ![]() | Michigan at Washington | ![]() | 7:30 |
October 12th | ![]() | Stanford at Notre Dame | ![]() | 3:30 |
October 12th | ![]() | Ohio State at Oregon | ![]() | 7:30 |
October 19th | ![]() | Iowa at Michigan State | ![]() | 7:30 |
October 26th | ![]() | Penn State at Wisconsin | ![]() | 7:30 |
November 2nd | ![]() | Oregon at Michigan | ![]() | 7:30 |
November 9th | ![]() | Washington at Penn State | ![]() | 3:30 |
November 9th | ![]() | Florida State at Notre Dame | ![]() | 7:30 |
November 16th | ![]() | Virginia at Notre Dame | ![]() | 3:30 |
November 16th | ![]() | Ohio State vs. Northwestern (in Chicago) | ![]() | 7:30 |
November 23rd | ![]() | USC at UCLA | ![]() | 3:30 |
November 23rd | ![]() | Army vs. Notre Dame (in New York) | ![]() | 7:00 |
November 29th | ![]() | Nebraska at Iowa | ![]() | 7:30 |
November 30th | ![]() | Southern vs. Grambling (in New Orleans) | ![]() | 2:00 |
November 30th | ![]() | Washington at Oregon | ![]() | 7:30 |
Overrated Tirico Thoughts
- OK before you get pissed off, calm down and let me explain. I do think Mike Tirico is good at all the announcing and studio jobs he has had in the past. The idea, though, that he is one of the greatest announcers out there is a bit far-fetched. And now with Noah Eagle doing the Big Ten games, there’s no need to find anyone better. I mean we all remember the medicore Notre Dame days of Tom Hammond. And don’t get me started on the Jac Collinsworth experiment. One of the worst, in my opinion.
- The Irish get two primetime games this season. Florida State was an easy choice since that could very well be a College Football Playoff Elimination Game. The Army game was a bit of a surprise although looking at the rest of the schedule it’s not like the Irish have a lot of tough teams coming to South Bend.
- Number of appearances for Big Ten teams:
- 3 appearances – Iowa, Michigan, Penn State, Oregon, Washington
- 2 appearances – Ohio State, Nebraska, UCLA
- 1 appearance – Indiana, Illinois, USC, Minnesota, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Northwestern
- No appearances – Purdue, Rutgers, Maryland
- This is fairly well spread out which I believe is a good idea to do with these Big Ten broadcasts. If you start showing one team more than the others, regardless of how good they are, the brand starts becoming too attached to that team. Kind of like how for years the SEC on CBS was the Alabama Show.
- Again, first three weeks of the schedule are set, as are all the Notre Dame games. Just like with the Big Ten on CBS, this is a total guess since the order is a bit up in the air and I have no idea what this will look like over a full season. We will know, in about five months’ time, how this CBS/NBC/FOX Big Ten partnership will work (for the most part) going forward.
![](https://bossmansblog.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/cbssportsnetwork_logo_on_light.jpg?w=184)
CBSSN has a seriously long schedule. Longer than the rest. But, they also make sure at least 75% is set before the season begins. Holy shit, scheduling most of the games already? TSN doesn’t even know what to think of that statement. Anyway, there are always a handful of great games that air on this network and this year will be no different. Plus, they share in MACtion with ESPN so got to give them props for that. Alright, here we go with the schedule:
August 24th | ![]() | SMU at Nevada | ![]() | 8:00 |
August 29th | ![]() | Coastal Carolina at Jacksonville State | ![]() | 8:00 |
August 30th | ![]() | Lehigh at Army | ![]() | 6:00 |
August 31st | ![]() | Bucknell at Navy | ![]() | Noon |
August 31st | ![]() | Merrimack at Air Force | ![]() | 3:30 |
September 7th | ![]() | Army at FAU | ![]() | Noon |
September 7th | ![]() | Temple at Navy | ![]() | 3:30 |
September 7th | ![]() | San Jose State at Air Force | ![]() | 7:00 |
September 7th | ![]() | Oregon State at San Diego State | ![]() | 10:30 |
September 14th | ![]() | UMass at Buffalo | ![]() | 1:00 |
September 14th | ![]() | Utah at Utah State | ![]() | 4:30 |
September 14th | ![]() | BYU at Wyoming | ![]() | 9:00 |
September 21st | ![]() | Rice at Army | ![]() | Noon |
September 21st | ![]() | Memphis at Navy | ![]() | 3:30 |
September 21st | ![]() | FAU at UConn | ![]() | 7:00 |
September 28th | ![]() | Buffalo at UConn | ![]() | Noon |
September 28th | ![]() | Old Dominion at Bowling Green | ![]() | 3:30 |
September 28th | ![]() | Air Force at Wyoming | ![]() | 8:00 |
October 3rd | ![]() | Sam Houston at UTEP | ![]() | 9:00 |
October 4th | ![]() | Jacksonville State at Kennesaw State | ![]() | 7:00 |
October 5th | ![]() | UMass at Northern Illinois | ![]() | Noon |
October 5th | ![]() | Temple at UConn | ![]() | 3:30 |
October 5th | ![]() | Hawaii at San Diego State | ![]() | 8:00 |
October 8th | ![]() | FIU at Liberty | ![]() | 7:00 |
October 10th | ![]() | Middle Tennessee at Louisiana Tech | ![]() | 8:00 |
October 11th | ![]() | UNLV at Utah State | ![]() | 9:00 |
October 12th | ![]() | UAB at Army | ![]() | Noon |
October 12th | ![]() | San Diego State at Wyoming | ![]() | 3:30 |
October 12th | ![]() | Oregon State at Nevada | ![]() | 7:30 |
October 12th | ![]() | Boise State at Hawaii | ![]() | 11:00 |
October 15th | ![]() | Kennesaw State at Middle Tennessee | ![]() | 8:00 |
October 16th | ![]() | FIU at UTEP | ![]() | 9:00 |
October 18th | ![]() | Fresno State at Nevada | ![]() | 10:30 |
October 19th | ![]() | Wake Forest at UConn | ![]() | Noon |
October 19th | ![]() | Charlotte at Navy | ![]() | 3:30 |
October 19th | ![]() | Colorado State at Air Force | ![]() | 8:00 |
October 22nd | ![]() | UTEP at Louisiana Tech | ![]() | 8:00 |
October 23rd | ![]() | Liberty at Kennesaw State | ![]() | 7:00 |
October 25th | ![]() | Boise State at UNLV | ![]() | 10:30 |
October 26th | ![]() | Bowling Green at Toledo | ![]() | Noon |
October 26th | ![]() | Rice at UConn | ![]() | 3:30 |
October 26th | ![]() | Utah State at Wyoming | ![]() | 7:00 |
October 26th | ![]() | Washington State at San Diego State | ![]() | 10:30 |
October 29th | ![]() | New Mexico State at FIU | ![]() | 7:00 |
October 30th | ![]() | Jacksonville State at Liberty | ![]() | 7:00 |
November 1st | ![]() | Georgia State at UConn | ![]() | 7:00 |
November 2nd | ![]() | Toledo at Eastern Michigan | ![]() | Noon |
November 2nd | ![]() | Middle Tennessee at UTEP | ![]() | 3:30 |
November 2nd | ![]() | Colorado State at Nevada | ![]() | 8:00 |
November 9th | ![]() | Liberty at Middle Tennessee | ![]() | 1:00 |
November 9th | ![]() | Jacksonville State at Louisiana Tech | ![]() | 4:30 |
November 9th | ![]() | UNLV at Hawaii | ![]() | 9:00 |
November 12th | ![]() | Central Michigan at Toledo | ![]() | 7:00 |
November 13th | ![]() | Akron at Northern Illinois | ![]() | 7:00 |
November 15th | ![]() | Wyoming at Colorado State | ![]() | 8:00 |
November 16th | ![]() | Louisiana Tech at WKU | ![]() | Noon |
November 16th | ![]() | Oregon State at Air Force | ![]() | 3:30 |
November 16th | ![]() | Boise State at San Jose State | ![]() | 7:00 |
November 16th | ![]() | San Diego State at UNLV | ![]() | 10:30 |
November 19th | ![]() | Akron at Kent State | ![]() | 7:00 |
November 23rd | ![]() | Sam Houston at Jacksonville State | ![]() | Noon |
November 23rd | ![]() | San Diego State at Utah State | ![]() | 3:30 |
November 23rd | ![]() | Boise State at Wyoming | ![]() | 7:00 |
November 23rd | ![]() | Colorado State at Fresno State | ![]() | 10:30 |
November 29th | ![]() | Miami-OH at Bowling Green | ![]() | Noon |
November 29th | ![]() | Liberty at Sam Houston | ![]() | 3:30 |
November 30th | ![]() | UTSA at Army | ![]() | Noon |
November 30th | ![]() | Central Michigan at Northern Illinois | ![]() | 3:30 |
November 30th | ![]() | Nevada at UNLV | ![]() | 8:00 |
December 6th | ![]() | Conference USA Championship | ![]() | 8:00 |
Little Brother Thoughts
- As I’ve said above, damn near all the games are confirmed. The only ones that aren’t are MAC-controlled games. So, it might not necessarily be the game I listed but it will be a MAC game and, depending on the week, there might not be a ton of options.
- CBSSN gets one conference championship, and it’s on a Friday night. Unfortunately, two other conference championships are on at the exact same time. That’s too bad since they used to get the C-USA Championship on and would get at least the first half on its own. Meaning if it was a close game they could keep much of the audience rather than lose it to, usually, the Pac-12 and their championship that they would stupidly put on at 6:00 local time in Santa Clara.
- The Black Friday tradition continues as they get two games that day: a MAC affair at Noon and what could be a huge game for Liberty during the afternoon.
- Here is the conference/team appearance breakdown for y’all:
- Mountain West – 46
- Conference USA – 35 (including conference championship)
- MAC – 18
- American – 11
- UConn – 6
- Army – 5
- Navy – 4
- Pac-2 – 4
- Sun Belt – 3
- FCS – 3
- Big XII – 2
- UMass – 2
- ACC – 1
- CBSSN has 69 regular season games. Nice.
- Also, the American shows up eleven times because Army has joined Navy in the American conference starting this season.
- C-USA is widening the gap between themselves and the MAC and are closing the gap on the Mountain West. More MAC games are going to ESPN and more MWC games are going to the FOX family of networks. This is a far cry from before COVID when Conference USA would barely get into the double digits in appearances.
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BTN might be a bit bulked up this season. More teams means more games have to come their way. Also…BTN AFTER DARK. Oh my.
August 29th | ![]() | Howard at Rutgers | ![]() | 6:00 |
August 29th | ![]() | Eastern Illinois at Illinois | ![]() | 9:00 |
August 30th | ![]() | FAU at Michigan State | ![]() | 7:00 |
August 31st | ![]() | Illinois State at Iowa | ![]() | Noon |
August 31st | ![]() | Indiana State at Purdue | ![]() | Noon |
August 31st | ![]() | FIU at Indiana | ![]() | 3:30 |
August 31st | ![]() | Miami-OH at Northwestern | ![]() | 3:30 |
August 31st | ![]() | Idaho at Oregon | ![]() | 7:30 |
August 31st | ![]() | Weber State at Washington | ![]() | 11:00 |
Sepember 6th | ![]() | Western Illinois at Indiana | ![]() | 7:00 |
September 7th | ![]() | Bowling Green at Penn State | ![]() | Noon |
September 7th | ![]() | Akron at Rutgers | ![]() | Noon |
September 7th | ![]() | Michigan State at Maryland | ![]() | 3:30 |
September 7th | ![]() | Eastern Michigan at Washington | ![]() | 3:30 |
September 7th | ![]() | Western Michigan at Ohio State | ![]() | 7:30 |
September 7th | ![]() | Utah State at USC | ![]() | 11:00 |
September 14th | ![]() | Arkansas State at Michigan | ![]() | Noon |
September 14th | ![]() | Prairie View A&M at Michigan State | ![]() | 3:30 |
September 14th | ![]() | Nevada at Minnesota | ![]() | 3:30 |
September 14th | ![]() | Eastern Illinois at Northwestern | ![]() | 7:30 |
September 14th | ![]() | Northern Iowa at Nebraska | ![]() | 7:30 |
September 21st | ![]() | Kent State at Penn State | ![]() | Noon |
September 21st | ![]() | Northwestern at Washington | ![]() | 3:30 |
September 28th | ![]() | Maryland at Indiana | ![]() | Noon |
September 28th | ![]() | Wisconsin at USC | ![]() | 3:30 |
September 28th | ![]() | Minnesota at Michigan | ![]() | 7:30 |
October 5th | ![]() | Rutgers at Nebraska | ![]() | Noon |
October 5th | ![]() | Indiana at Northwestern | ![]() | 3:30 |
October 12th | ![]() | Purdue at Illinois | ![]() | Noon |
October 12th | ![]() | Minnesota at UCLA | ![]() | 3:30 |
October 19th | ![]() | Nebraska at Indiana | ![]() | Noon |
October 19th | ![]() | Wisconsin at Northwestern | ![]() | 3:30 |
October 19th | ![]() | Michigan at Illinois | ![]() | 7:30 |
October 26th | ![]() | Maryland at Minnesota | ![]() | Noon |
October 26th | ![]() | Illinois at Oregon | ![]() | 3:30 |
October 26th | ![]() | Nebraska at Ohio State | ![]() | 7:30 |
November 2nd | ![]() | Northwestern at Purdue | ![]() | Noon |
November 2nd | ![]() | Minnesota at Illinois | ![]() | 3:30 |
November 9th | ![]() | Michigan at Indiana | ![]() | Noon |
November 9th | ![]() | Minnesota at Rutgers | ![]() | 3:30 |
November 9th | ![]() | Purdue at Ohio State | ![]() | 7:30 |
November 16th | ![]() | Rutgers at Maryland | ![]() | Noon |
November 16th | ![]() | Nebraska at USC | ![]() | 4:00 |
November 16th | ![]() | Penn State at Purdue | ![]() | 7:30 |
November 23rd | ![]() | Iowa at Maryland | ![]() | Noon |
November 23rd | ![]() | Illinois at Rutgers | ![]() | 4:00 |
November 23rd | ![]() | Indiana at Ohio State | ![]() | 7:30 |
November 30th | ![]() | Purdue at Indiana | ![]() | Noon |
November 30th | ![]() | Rutgers at Michigan State | ![]() | 3:30 |
November 30th | ![]() | Fresno State at UCLA | ![]() | 7:30 |
Late-Night Big Ten Action and Shenanigans
- OK so there are only two instances of BTN After Dark. But still…that’s two more than we used to have.
- You will also see a few instances of two games on at the same time. I think I have discussed this before but here is the rationale I see behind this. The more marketable game of the two would be on the main Big Ten Network channel. The other game would be on the BTN Alternate channel which no one in Canada gets. So you miss one of the games. To use an example, on August 31st there are two games on at Noon: Illinois State-Iowa and Indiana State-Purdue. In terms of the two FCS schools, one is not wildly better than the other so consider that a wash. Between Iowa and Purdue, most would rather watch the Hawkeyes. So, chances are, Illinois State-Iowa will get the main network. Rogers, at least as of last year, was still showing the BTN alternate games in the specialty pack. Until I see otherwise I will continue to believe this is happening.
- Amount of appearances for B1G schools:
- 8 appearances – Indiana
- 7 appearances – Rutgers
- 6 appearances – Illinois, Purdue, Northwestern, Minnesota
- 5 appearances – Maryland, Nebraska
- 4 appearances – Michigan State, Ohio State, Michigan
- 3 appearances – Penn State, USC
- 2 appearances – Iowa, Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin, UCLA
- So the rule is every Big Ten team has to appear on the Big Ten Network twice a season, with one of the games being a conference game. That’s why you will see a game like Northwestern-Washington on here rather than on FOX or FS1. There has to be enough inventory to satisfy that rule. It feels like almost every season there is at least one pretty good game that falls to BTN.
- From the list here, it feels like most of the teams with at least five appearances are teams that many think will be near the bottom of the B1G standings and that will probably very well be the case. No one believes Indiana will be any good this year, thus two-thirds of their games appear here.
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A newcomer to the schedule lists. The CW is very new at this and has already had some wacky games, all in the ACC so far. Well, brace yourselves because they add the Pac-12 Pac-2 this season! Most of Wazzu and Oregon State’s home games appear here as well. So let’s get right to the schedule:
August 31st | ![]() | Portland State at Washington State | ![]() | 3:00 |
August 31st | ![]() | Idaho State at Oregon State | ![]() | 6:30 |
September 7th | ![]() | Marshall at Virginia Tech | ![]() | 4:30 |
September 14th | ![]() | Ole Miss at Wake Forest | ![]() | 6:30 |
September 20th | ![]() | San Jose State at Washington State | ![]() | 10:00 |
September 21st | ![]() | Georgia Tech at Louisville | ![]() | 5:00 |
September 21st | ![]() | Purdue at Oregon State | ![]() | 8:30 |
September 28th | ![]() | Louisiana at Wake Forest | ![]() | 2:00 |
October 5th | ![]() | Boston College at Virginia | ![]() | 2:00 |
October 5th | ![]() | Colorado State at Oregon State | ![]() | 6:30 |
October 12th | ![]() | California at Pittsburgh | ![]() | 2:00 |
October 19th | ![]() | UNLV at Oregon State | ![]() | 3:30 |
October 19th | ![]() | SMU at Stanford | ![]() | 6:30 |
October 19th | ![]() | Hawaii at Washington State | ![]() | 10:00 |
October 26th | ![]() | Oregon State at California | ![]() | 6:30 |
November 2nd | ![]() | Virginia Tech at Syracuse | ![]() | 2:00 |
November 9th | ![]() | Utah State at Washington State | ![]() | 3:30 |
November 9th | ![]() | Virginia at Pittsburgh | ![]() | 7:00 |
November 9th | ![]() | San Jose State at Oregon State | ![]() | 10:30 |
November 16th | ![]() | Wake Forest at North Carolina | ![]() | 3:00 |
November 23rd | ![]() | The Citadel at Clemson | ![]() | 3:00 |
November 23rd | ![]() | Washington State at Oregon State | ![]() | 6:30 |
November 30th | ![]() | California at SMU | ![]() | 2:00 |
November 30th | ![]() | Wyoming at Washington State | ![]() | 6:30 |
The Darn C-Dub, Y’all!
- Most of Oregon State and Washington State’s games are set. Well, the dates are set, and they are on the CW…it’s just the times. They may end up switching spots on the days they both are on the network.
- There are some Saturdays where I have three games on the CW. I will be interested to see if that actually happens but looking at the schedule it may be difficult to avoid it.
- The reason for that? Hmmm…maybe this should have been part of the last point. Oh well. Anyway, the ACC gets 13 games on the CW. Almost one a week. And there’s no game on Week 1 so I assume the rest of the weeks get one ACC game each. Call it a hunch. Now watch me be wrong and instead there’s one week where there’s somehow a quadrupleheader.
Alright that’s it and that’s all. The final schedule post before we get close to Week Zero. And remember…the college football season is a mere 56 days away. Soon, my friends.
Next up will be all the conference predictions. I will have to figure out how to break them up this year since it’s not really a super nice split like it has been with the Power Five and Group of Five. Also, I haven’t even started looking at predicting the games so, yeah, don’t expect this post anytime soon. In the meantime, watch some CFL. It’s like 57 minutes of pretty good football followed by 3 minutes of absolute insane chaos almost every game. It’s to the point where you can almost honestly say that a three-possession lead with about five minutes to go is not necessarily safe. Believe me, it will get you through the hard times. More than NFL preseason football ever will. Have a great Canada Day weekend everyone and, for the love of everything that is holy, don’t start the fireworks tonight. Do them on Canada Day. That’s it. I am honestly shocked I haven’t heard any yet. Maybe I’m just not paying attention.