Dumb offseason analysis post.
I know the ACC is beneath us as a conference, but they released their week 1 schedule today and ECU at NC State is on Thursday, Notre Dame at Miami is Sunday, TCU at North Carolina is Monday, and South Carolina vs. Virginia Tech (scheduled for Sunday) is at the Benz alongside Syracuse vs. Tennessee (Saturday).
ABC is a shoo-in to show Alabama at Florida State and LSU at Clemson in the 3:30 and 7:30 spots. Fox is for sure showing Texas-Ohio State in Big Noon.
This is dependent on two things - which Big 12 TV partner takes Cincinnati vs. Nebraska (Thursday), tech at Colorado, and Auburn at Baylor; and how many MLB games Fox is showing that weekend. Fox has shown a week 1 Thursday game in the past, but also shows baseball on Thursdays as well. Their Saturday primetime MLB game is also skipped a couple weeks for college football. They also have the Friday night package now.
All that being said - if Fox takes the nerds/Prime and Auburn/Baylor games, Marshall at Georgia might be ESPN’s best choice for a night game. Boise State at USF and Miss State at Southern Miss seem worthy of ESPN linear games to get their contract requirements in with those conferences, but neither 4 of those teams move the needle like UGA.
I’m pretty sure Austin Peay will be our ESPN+ game and will be played in the afternoon, like the 2022 Kent State and 2024 Tennessee Tech games before it, as Kirby doesn’t like night games the week before a road trip (2022 Mizzou, 2024 Kentucky).
However, as of today, I’m predicting that the North siders in the sun will only have to risk heat stroke for one cupcake game, not two. We will find out in late May.
I know the ACC is beneath us as a conference, but they released their week 1 schedule today and ECU at NC State is on Thursday, Notre Dame at Miami is Sunday, TCU at North Carolina is Monday, and South Carolina vs. Virginia Tech (scheduled for Sunday) is at the Benz alongside Syracuse vs. Tennessee (Saturday).
ABC is a shoo-in to show Alabama at Florida State and LSU at Clemson in the 3:30 and 7:30 spots. Fox is for sure showing Texas-Ohio State in Big Noon.
This is dependent on two things - which Big 12 TV partner takes Cincinnati vs. Nebraska (Thursday), tech at Colorado, and Auburn at Baylor; and how many MLB games Fox is showing that weekend. Fox has shown a week 1 Thursday game in the past, but also shows baseball on Thursdays as well. Their Saturday primetime MLB game is also skipped a couple weeks for college football. They also have the Friday night package now.
All that being said - if Fox takes the nerds/Prime and Auburn/Baylor games, Marshall at Georgia might be ESPN’s best choice for a night game. Boise State at USF and Miss State at Southern Miss seem worthy of ESPN linear games to get their contract requirements in with those conferences, but neither 4 of those teams move the needle like UGA.
I’m pretty sure Austin Peay will be our ESPN+ game and will be played in the afternoon, like the 2022 Kent State and 2024 Tennessee Tech games before it, as Kirby doesn’t like night games the week before a road trip (2022 Mizzou, 2024 Kentucky).
However, as of today, I’m predicting that the North siders in the sun will only have to risk heat stroke for one cupcake game, not two. We will find out in late May.
