NFL schedule got released. Going to have some pretty good games on CBS Thursday nights this fall...
9/11 Pittsburgh @ Baltimore(going up against Houston/BYU)
9/18 Tampa Bay @ Atlanta(Auburn/Kansas St)
9/25 NY Giants @ Washington(UCLA/Arizona St or Texas Tech/Okla St)
10/2 Minnesota @ Green Bay(Arizona/Oregon)
10/9 Indianapolis @ Houston(BYU/UCF)
10/16 NY Jets @ New England(VT/Pitt or Utah/Ore St)
10/23 San Diego @ Denver(Miami/VT)

NFL Network
10/30 New Orleans @ Carolina(Florida St/Louisville)
11/6 Cleveland @ Cincinatti(Clemson/Wake Forest)
11/13 Buffalo @ Miami(Cal/USC)
11/20 Kansas City @ Oakland(UNC/Duke or Kansas St/WV)
12/4 Dallas @ Chicago(UCF/ECU)

The ACC had 3 weeks in a row where they have pretty solid Thursday night games- and they are going up against probably the 3 best TNF games of the year. Some of the games that are weaker NFL games are giong up against mediocre college games.

Oh and Thanksgiving with LSU/Texas A&M or TCU/Texas has to go up against Seattle/San Francisco(after Philly/Dallas). Yipes.

I have truly come to loathe the NFL. I will not be watching any of these games, not that there are any good matchups anyway...

(04-24-2014 01:16 PM)All Dukes_All Day Wrote:  I have truly come to loathe the NFL. I will not be watching any of these games, not that there are any good matchups anyway...

And I've gone the other way with all this power 5 BS. Just goes to show that depending on where your school falls in the groupings makes all the difference.

not good matchups?
San Diego/Denver is a real good matchup...
New Orleans/Carolina is a real good matchup..
Pittsburgh/Baltimore is a real good matchup..
Dallas/Chicago is a real good matchup..

even NY Giants/Washington is good....

Seattle/San Francisco is one of the top 5 games of the year...

Minnesota/Green Bay- could that be when they retire Favre's number?

Really not many ugly games quite frankly.... MUCH stronger than last year's schedule.

(04-24-2014 01:21 PM)stever20 Wrote:  not good matchups?
San Diego/Denver is a real good matchup...
New Orleans/Carolina is a real good matchup..
Pittsburgh/Baltimore is a real good matchup..
Dallas/Chicago is a real good matchup..

even NY Giants/Washington is good....

Seattle/San Francisco is one of the top 5 games of the year...

Minnesota/Green Bay- could that be when they retire Favre's number?

Really not many ugly games quite frankly.... MUCH stronger than last year's schedule.

Outside of Seattle/San Fran and NO/Car, you'd have to pay me to watch any of the others. I just don't find the constat commercial fest league that interesting anymore.

(04-24-2014 01:21 PM)stever20 Wrote:  not good matchups?
San Diego/Denver is a real good matchup...
New Orleans/Carolina is a real good matchup..
Pittsburgh/Baltimore is a real good matchup..
Dallas/Chicago is a real good matchup..

even NY Giants/Washington is good....

Seattle/San Francisco is one of the top 5 games of the year...

Minnesota/Green Bay- could that be when they retire Favre's number?

Really not many ugly games quite frankly.... MUCH stronger than last year's schedule.

I will be watching the first three you list for sure.

What I'd like to know is whether ESPN had enough sense of what was going on to have factored this into their rights fee negotiation. If it was something not anticipated or fully anticipated, then ESPN's ability to get ROI on Thursday games is damaged.

it's definitely an upgraded schedule... last year remember had almost nothing. Now to have of the 14 like 7 that will get good ratings pretty much no matter what- that's huge. Also in comparison, the college schedule looks much weaker this year than before.

(04-24-2014 01:33 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(04-24-2014 01:21 PM)stever20 Wrote:  not good matchups?
San Diego/Denver is a real good matchup...
New Orleans/Carolina is a real good matchup..
Pittsburgh/Baltimore is a real good matchup..
Dallas/Chicago is a real good matchup..

even NY Giants/Washington is good....

Seattle/San Francisco is one of the top 5 games of the year...

Minnesota/Green Bay- could that be when they retire Favre's number?

Really not many ugly games quite frankly.... MUCH stronger than last year's schedule.

I will be watching the first three you list for sure.

What I'd like to know is whether ESPN had enough sense of what was going on to have factored this into their rights fee negotiation. If it was something not anticipated or fully anticipated, then ESPN's ability to get ROI on Thursday games is damaged.

I dunno. I kind of get the feeling like this was somewhat out of the blue.

What we may start seeing is some of the games that used to be Thursday night games will start to return to Saturday 3:30pm games on ABC.

(04-24-2014 01:28 PM)All Dukes_All Day Wrote:  

(04-24-2014 01:21 PM)stever20 Wrote:  not good matchups?
San Diego/Denver is a real good matchup...
New Orleans/Carolina is a real good matchup..
Pittsburgh/Baltimore is a real good matchup..
Dallas/Chicago is a real good matchup..

even NY Giants/Washington is good....

Seattle/San Francisco is one of the top 5 games of the year...

Minnesota/Green Bay- could that be when they retire Favre's number?

Really not many ugly games quite frankly.... MUCH stronger than last year's schedule.

Outside of Seattle/San Fran and NO/Car, you'd have to pay me to watch any of the others. I just don't find the constat commercial fest league that interesting anymore.

The biggest mistake that I always see on this board is confusing personal preferences ("I don't like the NFL; I think the Big Ten is boring; I'd rather watch C-USA teams all day over the SEC") with the broader demographic and viewership trends that actually matter.

The NFL Thursday night schedule next year is definitely very good compared to prior years. It's very hard for me to see why any upper tier college football program is going to agree to play on Thursday night going forward with how formidable the NFL competition is. The only CBS Thursday night game that looks like a potential drag nationally is Tampa Bay vs. Atlanta. Otherwise, every other game as at LEAST one "sexy" team involved (all of the NFC East/Steelers/Pats/Packers/Bears/team with a superstar QB).

I'd even go so far to look at the worst games...
9/18- Tampa Bay at Atlanta. going up against Auburn/Kansas St. Probably the one game that will challenge the NFL game... although if Tampa/Atlanta get off to good starts(being week 3) could be interesting.
11/6- Cleveland @ Cincy. going up against Clemson/Wake Forest.
11/13- Buffalo @ Miami. going up against Cal/USC
11/20- Kansas City @ Oakland Going up against UNC/Duke or WVU/Kansas St

of the 4 dogs, 2 weeks are against dreadful competition and a 3rd has USC but against a bad Cal team. NFL I think kind of shoehorned their worst games against the worst college games. And best games against the better college games.

(04-24-2014 01:49 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(04-24-2014 01:28 PM)All Dukes_All Day Wrote:  

(04-24-2014 01:21 PM)stever20 Wrote:  not good matchups?
San Diego/Denver is a real good matchup...
New Orleans/Carolina is a real good matchup..
Pittsburgh/Baltimore is a real good matchup..
Dallas/Chicago is a real good matchup..

even NY Giants/Washington is good....

Seattle/San Francisco is one of the top 5 games of the year...

Minnesota/Green Bay- could that be when they retire Favre's number?

Really not many ugly games quite frankly.... MUCH stronger than last year's schedule.

Outside of Seattle/San Fran and NO/Car, you'd have to pay me to watch any of the others. I just don't find the constat commercial fest league that interesting anymore.

The biggest mistake that I always see on this board is confusing personal preferences ("I don't like the NFL; I think the Big Ten is boring; I'd rather watch C-USA teams all day over the SEC") with the broader demographic and viewership trends that actually matter.

The NFL Thursday night schedule next year is definitely very good compared to prior years. It's very hard for me to see why any upper tier college football program is going to agree to play on Thursday night going forward with how formidable the NFL competition is. The only CBS Thursday night game that looks like a potential drag nationally is Tampa Bay vs. Atlanta. Otherwise, every other game as at LEAST one "sexy" team involved (all of the NFC East/Steelers/Pats/Packers/Bears/team with a superstar QB).

I suspect if the ratings play out the way they likely will, the bigger teams won't have any input on whether they get to play Thursday night games because ESPN won't waste that content going head-to-head with the NFL.

The bigger question is will ESPN go to counter-programming (ie. non-football content) on Thursday or just throw expendable games there.

Also makes you wonder how well this was all known when you recall Delany talked of Friday rather than Thursday games.

(04-24-2014 02:16 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(04-24-2014 01:49 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(04-24-2014 01:28 PM)All Dukes_All Day Wrote:  

(04-24-2014 01:21 PM)stever20 Wrote:  not good matchups?
San Diego/Denver is a real good matchup...
New Orleans/Carolina is a real good matchup..
Pittsburgh/Baltimore is a real good matchup..
Dallas/Chicago is a real good matchup..

even NY Giants/Washington is good....

Seattle/San Francisco is one of the top 5 games of the year...

Minnesota/Green Bay- could that be when they retire Favre's number?

Really not many ugly games quite frankly.... MUCH stronger than last year's schedule.

Outside of Seattle/San Fran and NO/Car, you'd have to pay me to watch any of the others. I just don't find the constat commercial fest league that interesting anymore.

The biggest mistake that I always see on this board is confusing personal preferences ("I don't like the NFL; I think the Big Ten is boring; I'd rather watch C-USA teams all day over the SEC") with the broader demographic and viewership trends that actually matter.

The NFL Thursday night schedule next year is definitely very good compared to prior years. It's very hard for me to see why any upper tier college football program is going to agree to play on Thursday night going forward with how formidable the NFL competition is. The only CBS Thursday night game that looks like a potential drag nationally is Tampa Bay vs. Atlanta. Otherwise, every other game as at LEAST one "sexy" team involved (all of the NFC East/Steelers/Pats/Packers/Bears/team with a superstar QB).

I suspect if the ratings play out the way they likely will, the bigger teams won't have any input on whether they get to play Thursday night games because ESPN won't waste that content going head-to-head with the NFL.

The bigger question is will ESPN go to counter-programming (ie. non-football content) on Thursday or just throw expendable games there.

Also makes you wonder how well this was all known when you recall Delany talked of Friday rather than Thursday games.

I think you'll find more games like Clemson/Wake Forest for example. The 2nd tier type matchups. Games like the Louisville/FSU game won't ever be on Thursday nights again after this year.

(04-24-2014 02:16 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(04-24-2014 01:49 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(04-24-2014 01:28 PM)All Dukes_All Day Wrote:  

(04-24-2014 01:21 PM)stever20 Wrote:  not good matchups?
San Diego/Denver is a real good matchup...
New Orleans/Carolina is a real good matchup..
Pittsburgh/Baltimore is a real good matchup..
Dallas/Chicago is a real good matchup..

even NY Giants/Washington is good....

Seattle/San Francisco is one of the top 5 games of the year...

Minnesota/Green Bay- could that be when they retire Favre's number?

Really not many ugly games quite frankly.... MUCH stronger than last year's schedule.

Outside of Seattle/San Fran and NO/Car, you'd have to pay me to watch any of the others. I just don't find the constat commercial fest league that interesting anymore.

The biggest mistake that I always see on this board is confusing personal preferences ("I don't like the NFL; I think the Big Ten is boring; I'd rather watch C-USA teams all day over the SEC") with the broader demographic and viewership trends that actually matter.

The NFL Thursday night schedule next year is definitely very good compared to prior years. It's very hard for me to see why any upper tier college football program is going to agree to play on Thursday night going forward with how formidable the NFL competition is. The only CBS Thursday night game that looks like a potential drag nationally is Tampa Bay vs. Atlanta. Otherwise, every other game as at LEAST one "sexy" team involved (all of the NFC East/Steelers/Pats/Packers/Bears/team with a superstar QB).

I suspect if the ratings play out the way they likely will, the bigger teams won't have any input on whether they get to play Thursday night games because ESPN won't waste that content going head-to-head with the NFL.

The bigger question is will ESPN go to counter-programming (ie. non-football content) on Thursday or just throw expendable games there.

Also makes you wonder how well this was all known when you recall Delany talked of Friday rather than Thursday games.

NFL hadn't gone all in on TH at the times these deals were done. The pros have a free farm system for football and basketball in college, but are abusing it like they do the cities for their stadiums. Tuesday would work better logistically for them than Thursday and they would leave the colleges alone, but Thursday is a more important TV night. So those colleges with TH night games are going to get low ratings and see the value the networks put in disappear. And of course, there is the one and done with basketball.

I think the one and done with basketball is nearing a end. Think there's a real shot that this freshman crop that we just had will be the last one that can go pro after 1 year. I think the upcoming freshmen class will be under 2 and done.

(04-24-2014 01:13 PM)stever20 Wrote:  NFL schedule got released. Going to have some pretty good games on CBS Thursday nights this fall...

10/23 San Diego @ Denver(Miami/VT)

- I like this matchup because of East Coast vs. West Coast.

(04-24-2014 01:13 PM)stever20 Wrote:  NFL Network
10/30 New Orleans @ Carolina(Florida St/Louisville)
11/6 Cleveland @ Cincinatti(Clemson/Wake Forest)
11/20 Kansas City @ Oakland(UNC/Duke or Kansas St/WV)

The ACC had 3 weeks in a row where they have pretty solid Thursday night games- and they are going up against probably the 3 best TNF games of the year. Some of the games that are weaker NFL games are giong up against mediocre college games.

That 10/30 game will be tough because it's South vs. South.
11/6 is not so bad because it's Ohio vs NC/SC
11/20 is another East/West so again, the ACC game may do just fine.

College football won't do as well in the ratings, but college fans tend to be pretty loyal, so in the end it may not matter if there's an NFL game on. I guess we'll find out for sure this Fall...

(04-24-2014 02:16 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(04-24-2014 01:49 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(04-24-2014 01:28 PM)All Dukes_All Day Wrote:  

(04-24-2014 01:21 PM)stever20 Wrote:  not good matchups?
San Diego/Denver is a real good matchup...
New Orleans/Carolina is a real good matchup..
Pittsburgh/Baltimore is a real good matchup..
Dallas/Chicago is a real good matchup..

even NY Giants/Washington is good....

Seattle/San Francisco is one of the top 5 games of the year...

Minnesota/Green Bay- could that be when they retire Favre's number?

Really not many ugly games quite frankly.... MUCH stronger than last year's schedule.

Outside of Seattle/San Fran and NO/Car, you'd have to pay me to watch any of the others. I just don't find the constat commercial fest league that interesting anymore.

The biggest mistake that I always see on this board is confusing personal preferences ("I don't like the NFL; I think the Big Ten is boring; I'd rather watch C-USA teams all day over the SEC") with the broader demographic and viewership trends that actually matter.

The NFL Thursday night schedule next year is definitely very good compared to prior years. It's very hard for me to see why any upper tier college football program is going to agree to play on Thursday night going forward with how formidable the NFL competition is. The only CBS Thursday night game that looks like a potential drag nationally is Tampa Bay vs. Atlanta. Otherwise, every other game as at LEAST one "sexy" team involved (all of the NFC East/Steelers/Pats/Packers/Bears/team with a superstar QB).

I suspect if the ratings play out the way they likely will, the bigger teams won't have any input on whether they get to play Thursday night games because ESPN won't waste that content going head-to-head with the NFL.

The bigger question is will ESPN go to counter-programming (ie. non-football content) on Thursday or just throw expendable games there.

Also makes you wonder how well this was all known when you recall Delany talked of Friday rather than Thursday games.

ESPN/Fox already have the right to ask for their weeknight Pac-12 games on Friday instead of Thursday, if they decide they want them all on Friday from now on. They've been pretty cooperative with the schools, so I think they wouldn't make a team play a Friday home game if the team thinks it would pizz off local high schools (but that's much less of an issue in the west than it is in the south). And IIRC they have a maximum on weeknights but not a minimum, so they could also move them all to Saturdays if they want.

Don't know about the other P5 leagues, but I suspect it's similar for them.

(04-24-2014 01:49 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(04-24-2014 01:28 PM)All Dukes_All Day Wrote:  

(04-24-2014 01:21 PM)stever20 Wrote:  not good matchups?
San Diego/Denver is a real good matchup...
New Orleans/Carolina is a real good matchup..
Pittsburgh/Baltimore is a real good matchup..
Dallas/Chicago is a real good matchup..

even NY Giants/Washington is good....

Seattle/San Francisco is one of the top 5 games of the year...

Minnesota/Green Bay- could that be when they retire Favre's number?

Really not many ugly games quite frankly.... MUCH stronger than last year's schedule.

Outside of Seattle/San Fran and NO/Car, you'd have to pay me to watch any of the others. I just don't find the constat commercial fest league that interesting anymore.

The biggest mistake that I always see on this board is confusing personal preferences ("I don't like the NFL; I think the Big Ten is boring; I'd rather watch C-USA teams all day over the SEC") with the broader demographic and viewership trends that actually matter.

The NFL Thursday night schedule next year is definitely very good compared to prior years. It's very hard for me to see why any upper tier college football program is going to agree to play on Thursday night going forward with how formidable the NFL competition is. The only CBS Thursday night game that looks like a potential drag nationally is Tampa Bay vs. Atlanta. Otherwise, every other game as at LEAST one "sexy" team involved (all of the NFC East/Steelers/Pats/Packers/Bears/team with a superstar QB).

I'll be watching every NFL game, like I do every year. Even if Fresno St. was playing vs random NFL game, I'd still watch more of the NFL game, better play, possible playoff implications, fantasy.

(04-24-2014 01:49 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(04-24-2014 01:28 PM)All Dukes_All Day Wrote:  

(04-24-2014 01:21 PM)stever20 Wrote:  not good matchups?
San Diego/Denver is a real good matchup...
New Orleans/Carolina is a real good matchup..
Pittsburgh/Baltimore is a real good matchup..
Dallas/Chicago is a real good matchup..

even NY Giants/Washington is good....

Seattle/San Francisco is one of the top 5 games of the year...

Minnesota/Green Bay- could that be when they retire Favre's number?

Really not many ugly games quite frankly.... MUCH stronger than last year's schedule.

Outside of Seattle/San Fran and NO/Car, you'd have to pay me to watch any of the others. I just don't find the constat commercial fest league that interesting anymore.

The biggest mistake that I always see on this board is confusing personal preferences ("I don't like the NFL; I think the Big Ten is boring; I'd rather watch C-USA teams all day over the SEC") with the broader demographic and viewership trends that actually matter.

The NFL Thursday night schedule next year is definitely very good compared to prior years. It's very hard for me to see why any upper tier college football program is going to agree to play on Thursday night going forward with how formidable the NFL competition is. The only CBS Thursday night game that looks like a potential drag nationally is Tampa Bay vs. Atlanta. Otherwise, every other game as at LEAST one "sexy" team involved (all of the NFC East/Steelers/Pats/Packers/Bears/team with a superstar QB).

I never said that the NFL is going to suffer or that college football is better, I just can't stand the NFL. The NFL can basically do whatever it wants in this point and the masses are going to droll all over it so that they can check their fantasy teams constantly. Fantasy football has really put the NFL on a whole new tier of entertainment than anything else.

(04-24-2014 04:31 PM)All Dukes_All Day Wrote:  

(04-24-2014 01:49 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(04-24-2014 01:28 PM)All Dukes_All Day Wrote:  

(04-24-2014 01:21 PM)stever20 Wrote:  not good matchups?
San Diego/Denver is a real good matchup...
New Orleans/Carolina is a real good matchup..
Pittsburgh/Baltimore is a real good matchup..
Dallas/Chicago is a real good matchup..

even NY Giants/Washington is good....

Seattle/San Francisco is one of the top 5 games of the year...

Minnesota/Green Bay- could that be when they retire Favre's number?

Really not many ugly games quite frankly.... MUCH stronger than last year's schedule.

Outside of Seattle/San Fran and NO/Car, you'd have to pay me to watch any of the others. I just don't find the constat commercial fest league that interesting anymore.

The biggest mistake that I always see on this board is confusing personal preferences ("I don't like the NFL; I think the Big Ten is boring; I'd rather watch C-USA teams all day over the SEC") with the broader demographic and viewership trends that actually matter.

The NFL Thursday night schedule next year is definitely very good compared to prior years. It's very hard for me to see why any upper tier college football program is going to agree to play on Thursday night going forward with how formidable the NFL competition is. The only CBS Thursday night game that looks like a potential drag nationally is Tampa Bay vs. Atlanta. Otherwise, every other game as at LEAST one "sexy" team involved (all of the NFC East/Steelers/Pats/Packers/Bears/team with a superstar QB).

I never said that the NFL is going to suffer or that college football is better, I just can't stand the NFL. The NFL can basically do whatever it wants in this point and the masses are going to droll all over it so that they can check their fantasy teams constantly. Fantasy football has really put the NFL on a whole new tier of entertainment than anything else.

nail on the head. I liked college football and college basketball better until 2000, when I started playing fantasy football. It opened up whole new ways to watch and be tied in to most games. I've played college fantasy but it's not the same. Too many teams to track. By 2004 I moved all of my college basketball jerseys to the office and redecorated my den w/ NFL jerseys, mini helmets, pennants. I still watch college every fri, sat. I still watch college bball starting w/ conf championship week.

even those that don't do fantasy will like the improved matchups this year.