Remaining Oct. 3 Speculations:

ABC: Noon: Vanderbilt at Georgia, 3:30, Auburn at Tennessee, SNF, Miami at Clemson
ESPN: Noon: Alabama at Mississippi State, 3:30, Notre Dame at North Carolina, 7, Florida at Missouri, 10:15 (Moved up) Texas Tech at Colorado
FOX Big 12: 7:30: BYU at TCU, 11pm: Baylor at Arizona State

FOX scheduled a graveyard shift game as part of a doubleheader after a midafternoon game. The only Big 10 game on the West Coast would be Washington at USC and there's no chance that falls to fourth pick. One possible scenario is FOX took that as its top three pick and is using that as a graveyard shift game and giving the Big 12 the Big Nooner (maybe they have Texas Tech at Colorado in mind). If I were FOX I would've used Ohio State/Iowa or Michigan/Minnesota (before Minnesota embarrassed themselves at home to Mississippi State as that decision was made last spring) as a Big Nooner over Washington/USC as a graveyard shift game and back last spring they could've made that game a Friday night game and made Northwestern/Indiana a Big Nooner. What would make sense to me would be if CBS and NBC had taken the Ohio State and Michigan games and FOX was stuck with Washington-USC or a lesser game and even then I would've made it a Friday game over a graveyard shift game.

Assuming Washington/USC is not the graveyard game, that leaves the two Arizona games from the Big 12 (I assume they wouldn't be allowed to put Texas Tech-Colorado in the slot since it would be 9pm in Colorado, ESPN often moves Colorado and Utah school games up to 10:15pm ET).

As for the SEC, yikes. Texas and Oklahoma have the week off before the Red River Rivalry and Georgia and Alabama are both locked in the "early" slot. It would make more sense for one of their games to be in the 3:30pm or prime time slots (yes, even if Alabama is playing Mississippi State) as the rest of the SEC slate is that bad. Undefeated Mississippi is also off and LSU is playing McNeese (locked into SECN's prime time window). I'd be more interested in watching Notre Dame-North Carolina and Miami-Clemson than any other SEC game not involving Alabama or Georgia. Compare that to this upcoming week when you have Oklahoma-Georgia, Tennessee-Texas, and Texas A&M-LSU (before both teams lost), no teams are on byes, and the two teams playing non conference games are Arkansas and Kentucky. And in Week 6 you have Texas-Oklahoma and Georgia-Alabama! You would think the SEC would want to spread their top games out more and not have a week full of dud games.

But then again, look at the Big Ten. The games are decent but not spectacular. If I'm the Big Ten, I want Oregon-Ohio State on CBS against Auburn-Tennessee. The SEC schedule came out in mid December and the Big Ten schedule didn't come out until January. The Big Ten had a whole month to find the holes in the SEC schedule and exploit them. Week 5 was the perfect time to stick it to the SEC and embarrass them. The SEC wants Missouri-Florida to win against the Big Ten and laugh, it's the Big Ten's job not to let them.

Obviously Big Ten schools have schedule parameters I have to work around but if I were in charge of Big Ten scheduling I'd do a way better job at attacking the SEC's weaknesses and making sure our top games don't run into the SEC's. I can't do any worse than the Big Ten has done. Last year NBC didn't win one time against SNF. ZERO. CBS won ONE TIME. ABC won time slots with games involving teams that didn't even go to bowls. Meanwhile NBC's 8.5 million viewer Oregon at Penn State lost. If Oregon-Ohio State can't even win its time slot this year it'll be an embarrassment to the Big Ten. CBS and NBC are likely going to get good Big Ten games but they can't keep running into Georgia/Alabama. ABC and the SEC want that to happen because they'll still win (quo vadis called it sacrificing queens). CBS and NBC should want their top Big Ten games to go against the SEC week 5 games.

Official Week 5:

Big Ten:


SEC:


Big 12:


ACC:
https://theacc.com/news/2026/9/21/footba...unced.aspx

ABC's and ESPN's schedules for the most part are subject to the dreaded six day hold. The big losers are Miami/Clemson and Notre Dame/North Carolina which don't have times locked in.

Minnesota has never hosted a Big Nooner before. Other than the Pacific 4, the only Big Ten schools to not host a Big Nooner are Rutgers and Purdue, both who were the road team in Big Nooners at Ohio State.

Another "LSU gets all night games"

Believe it or not, LSU is scheduled for three "early" games, vs. Mississippi State, Auburn, and Arkansas. Their game at Kentucky is already scheduled at night although I'm guessing there isn't as much complaints since it's away.

Their remaining games are home to Alabama, home to Texas, and at Tennessee. Sorry haters, they all look like night games.

What is ABC airing at night since its seemingly not football?

(09-21-2026 05:29 PM)The Beaver Wrote:  What is ABC airing at night since its seemingly not football?

According to Matt Sarznyiak, either Miami/Clemson or Notre Dame/North Carolina.

https://mattsarzsports.blogspot.com/

(09-21-2026 05:37 PM)schmolik Wrote:  

(09-21-2026 05:29 PM)The Beaver Wrote:  What is ABC airing at night since its seemingly not football?

According to Matt Sarznyiak, either Miami/Clemson or Notre Dame/North Carolina.

https://mattsarzsports.blogspot.com/

A reminder that the SEC isn’t actually contractually guaranteed to have a prime time game on ABC. ABC may choose them most of the time, but it’s at their week-to-week discretion.

(09-21-2026 05:58 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(09-21-2026 05:37 PM)schmolik Wrote:  

(09-21-2026 05:29 PM)The Beaver Wrote:  What is ABC airing at night since its seemingly not football?

According to Matt Sarznyiak, either Miami/Clemson or Notre Dame/North Carolina.

https://mattsarzsports.blogspot.com/

A reminder that the SEC isn’t actually contractually guaranteed to have a prime time game on ABC. ABC may choose them most of the time, but it’s at their week-to-week discretion.

Last year Miami at Florida State was a SNF game. So were LSU at Clemson and Florida at Miami (ACC hosted but SEC road team). Actually Alabama at Florida State aired in the 3:30pm slot so ESPN/ABC must've found a loophole for that (maybe the SEC accepted it since the SEC was a road team?)

The SEC games Week 5 are all lousy, that's why the ACC will get the prime time slot. Week 4 is loaded, why not take one of those Week 4 games and move it to Week 5? Texas and Oklahoma wanted byes before they played each other, Alabama and Georgia wanted easier opponents before they played each other. Why not move Texas A&M-LSU to Week 5? That game is prime time Week 5 and one of the other big SEC games is SNF Week 4.

(09-20-2026 05:15 AM)schmolik Wrote:  By records Mississippi-Florida is the better game but the idea of Oklahoma-Georgia on ESPN seems shocking. If ESPN had the ability after yesterday, they probably would have demoted Texas A&M-LSU to ESPN. I originally had Oklahoma-Georgia on SNF and never even had Mississippi-Florida as an option for ABC at all.

It's not that unusual for the better game to be at 3:30 instead of 7:30, though LSU and A&M both had better ratings than either Ole Miss or Florida last year. I'd say that it will matter how competitive each game is. The weird one to me is having Texas-Tennessee, the BY FAR best game on paper this week, dumped in the noon time slot. That game should be the first #1 rated game of the week that ABC has had at noon in years. I'm pretty sure they didn't have any in 2025 or 2024, though there might have been one that snuck in one of those years.

ABC dropped the ball by not putting that game at 7:30 or at least 3:30. I know they have to decide a while in advance on that, but still, that game had potential to be huge from the minute the schedule came out. Perhaps they were hoping it would be like this and they'd get a clean sweep of the ratings in week 3?

Will be interesting to see how OU-Georgia does. Everyone forgets about that Michigan loss if OU wins, and if OU keeps it close then that game could get better ratings than the ABC Ole Miss-Florida tilt at the same time.

(09-20-2026 06:05 AM)schmolik Wrote:  Obviously Big Ten schools have schedule parameters I have to work around but if I were in charge of Big Ten scheduling I'd do a way better job at attacking the SEC's weaknesses and making sure our top games don't run into the SEC's. I can't do any worse than the Big Ten has done. Last year NBC didn't win one time against SNF. ZERO. CBS won ONE TIME. ABC won time slots with games involving teams that didn't even go to bowls. Meanwhile NBC's 8.5 million viewer Oregon at Penn State lost. If Oregon-Ohio State can't even win its time slot this year it'll be an embarrassment to the Big Ten. CBS and NBC are likely going to get good Big Ten games but they can't keep running into Georgia/Alabama. ABC and the SEC want that to happen because they'll still win (quo vadis called it sacrificing queens). CBS and NBC should want their top Big Ten games to go against the SEC week 5 games.

The Big Ten will never win this war. They don't have the firepower / schools.

The only solution is for the top of the ACC and the top of the Big Ten to abandon their conferences and do business with each other + Notre Dame.

Only then do you have a shot at "wins".

(09-22-2026 01:27 PM)thrill_house Wrote:  

(09-20-2026 06:05 AM)schmolik Wrote:  Obviously Big Ten schools have schedule parameters I have to work around but if I were in charge of Big Ten scheduling I'd do a way better job at attacking the SEC's weaknesses and making sure our top games don't run into the SEC's. I can't do any worse than the Big Ten has done. Last year NBC didn't win one time against SNF. ZERO. CBS won ONE TIME. ABC won time slots with games involving teams that didn't even go to bowls. Meanwhile NBC's 8.5 million viewer Oregon at Penn State lost. If Oregon-Ohio State can't even win its time slot this year it'll be an embarrassment to the Big Ten. CBS and NBC are likely going to get good Big Ten games but they can't keep running into Georgia/Alabama. ABC and the SEC want that to happen because they'll still win (quo vadis called it sacrificing queens). CBS and NBC should want their top Big Ten games to go against the SEC week 5 games.

The Big Ten will never win this war. They don't have the firepower / schools.

The only solution is for the top of the ACC and the top of the Big Ten to abandon their conferences and do business with each other + Notre Dame.

Only then do you have a shot at "wins".

Never say never. The Big Ten generally had higher ratings than the SEC overall up until 2020. Heck, just look back at the ratings of Michigan’s national championship year. When Ohio State and Michigan are rolling at the same time while adding in some competent Penn State and USC teams, then you have a formula for higher viewership. And I know people don’t seem to like hearing this, but not all viewers are worth equal to the TV networks. Viewers in the largest markets like NYC, LA, Chicago, and Philly are worth more for advertising rates than small town or rural viewers, which is why college football fans always seem to be shocked every time that the Big Ten keeps getting paid more than the SEC for media rights.

Now, to be clear, I’m not one of those people that thinks that Big Ten can do no wrong. Quite to the contrary. There are a couple of issues right off the bat that artificially depresses Big Ten ratings.

First, Fox gets the top 3 games of the year before CBS and NBC gets any picks. This is a pretty major deal: think of how much better the CBS and NBC packages look where if Fox always takes Michigan-Ohio State, then CBS and NBC get the next 2 best games (e.g. one of them would have gotten Michigan-Oklahoma instead of Fox and that trickles down the line) as opposed to them getting no better than the 4th or 5th best game. When NBC is getting no better than the 4th or 5th best Big Ten game of the year in prime time (and that is the *best* game that MBC is receiving) while ABC is getting the very best game of the week every week at its complete discretion among all of the SEC and ACC games available, of course Saturday Night Football is getting better ratings. At the same time, the 3 best Big Ten games of the year now all end up at Big Noon as opposed to the mid-afternoon and prime time slots that simply have a larger access to viewers, so that depresses things even further. We seem to have short memories, but up until the current Big Ten TV deals, half of the Big Ten games were on ABC/ESPN and shared with Fox on an equal basis and they got huge ratings on Saturday Night Football and other ABC time slots, too. Big Ten games used to be pretty efficiently split between Fox and ABC/ESPN, but the league weirdly gave Fox even more preferences even while expanding the number of national over-the-air TV time slots. I think that should be backtracked in the next TV contracts (and I think they will be if only because the TV networks will insist upon it).

Next, and I have frankly been harping on this for years, but there should be absolutely ZERO reason for any of the national over-the-air time slots for the Big Ten to *ever* feature anything less than a P4 vs. P4 game during the first 3 weeks of the season. It doesn’t even have to be a marquee game - Penn State vs. Rutgers is honestly fine at this point - but they have GOT to ensure at least a P4 vs. P4 game in all of those slots (whether it’s a conference game or non-conference game). I’m honestly flabbergasted that the networks didn’t insist upon this, particularly when the Big Ten actually *had* been playing conference games during the first week of the season in the prior TV contracts. I am at a loss as to why they regressed on this while adding 2 more national over-the-air partners. Every team should need to play a conference game during the first 3 weeks of the season and have them spread out so each week has a critical mass of P4 games for the networks to choose from.

Well I posted this in another thread but since you brought it up...

https://awfulannouncing.com/college-foot...-2027.html

"The SEC is treating college football’s new Week 1 as a dumping ground for its weakest games, per The Athletic’s Scott Dochterman. The conference polled its schools earlier this year about which matchups they’d be willing to shove into the new opening week, and assistant commissioner Matt Evans, who oversees SEC football scheduling, said the answers skewed almost entirely toward Group of 6 and FCS opponents.

“If we have schools that would like to play conference games in new Week 1, we could try to figure that out,” Evans said, “but for right now, at least for ’27, it looks like it’ll be mostly Group of 6 and FCS opponents.”"

"Not every league is content to let the new week function as a repository for its leftovers. The Big 12 wants the inverse. Six of its schools have already secured opponents for the new week, and three more, Texas Tech and TCU among them, remain in active pursuit, targeting fellow power-conference programs rather than the overmatched, sacrificial opponents the SEC seems intent on hoarding."

"“I think everything’s on the table,” Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark told the New York Times-owned outlet. “We’re looking at lots of different options. We’re in that process of adjusting the calendars right now. So nothing definitive yet, but excited for the change and making the necessary changes in order to make sure that we get off on the right foot in that first week of the season.”

But getting off on the right foot means something different depending on which conference you ask, and we’ll find out soon enough what it means to the Big Ten and ACC too."

If I had to bet money? The Big Ten will do what the SEC will do, mostly cupcakes in Week 1. As recently as 2023 Big Ten teams played conference games Week 1. The first ever Big Ten game on CBS played? Ohio State at Indiana! Yet the last three years I don't believe one Big Ten conference game was played Week 1. Texas at Ohio State was played Week 1 last year. This year it was Week 2. Now that was scheduled in advance but I did notice in 2026 a lot fewer marquee games this year Week 1 than last year.

The thing about college football fans is they want every game to go down to the wire but they also want THEIR team to be undefeated. So to please their own fans coaches schedule to please their own fans' desires not college football's. Do Ohio State and Texas care to put the best product on Week 1 or do they care more to maximize their wins? That's why few good Week 1 games are played. Who wants to start their season off with a loss? The networks would really have to throw a ton of money down schools' throats to change that. I'm surprised the Big 12 would even think of scheduling tough games Week 1 but I'll bet after a few early losses they'll change their minds in future years.

And the idea of every game P4 vs. P4? Kent State-Ohio State, as poor as I criticized it, still got 2.72 million viewers, more than Iowa State-Iowa, USC-Rutgers, and Mississippi State-Minnesota, all P4 vs. P4, none who went over 2 million viewers. You may have this P4 criteria but fans don't, they'll literally rather see OSU play Kent State than see an all Big Ten conference battle involving USC or an SEC-Big Ten battle.

(09-23-2026 06:00 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  Never say never. The Big Ten generally had higher ratings than the SEC overall up until 2020. Heck, just look back at the ratings of Michigan’s national championship year. When Ohio State and Michigan are rolling at the same time while adding in some competent Penn State and USC teams, then you have a formula for higher viewership.

The issue isn't the schools you listed. It's the ones you didn't and their "competitiveness" against the aforementioned schools.

Since 2000, Ohio State is 147-19 against the Little 8, Nebraska, Rutgers, and Maryland with an average margin of victory of 20.6 points.

In the same timeframe, Ohio State is 48-17 against the Pac-4, Michigan, and Penn State (which is also awful), but at least the average margin of victory is down to 9.09 points.

To summarize...

- 13/17 of Ohio State's conference opponents produce non-competitive games.
- These 13 schools consist of roughly 67% of Ohio State's Big Ten schedule (Michigan protected, other 16 are rotated)
- Non-competitive games aren't worth watching on television.

Until the Big Ten fixes the Little 8 vs. Ohio State problem, their product is just isn't worth watching outside of a handful of matchups unless someone has a mental illness.

This conference should have been nuked 25 years ago, now it's an unfixable abomination that produces garbage matchups on a weekly basis that are televised nationally which hinders the sports growth (but is great for the state of Ohio).

Meanwhile Nick Saban was 117-18 vs. the SEC.

Georgia's won two national championships and hasn't beaten Alabama in the regular season since 2007.
Auburn is 3-12 in their last 15 vs. Alabama and hasn't won since 2019.
LSU is 2-13 in their last 15 vs. Alabama.
Tennessee is 2-13 in their last 15 vs. Alabama.

Georgia, Auburn, and LSU won national championships since 2010 (but so has Michigan). But they've been just as bad against Alabama as Michigan and Penn State have been against Ohio State. Why is a Georgia-Arkansas blowout any better than an Ohio State-Rutgers blowout? SEC bias!

(09-24-2026 03:24 PM)schmolik Wrote:  Meanwhile Nick Saban was 117-18 vs. the SEC.

Georgia's won two national championships and hasn't beaten Alabama in the regular season since 2007.
Auburn is 3-12 in their last 15 vs. Alabama and hasn't won since 2019.
LSU is 2-13 in their last 15 vs. Alabama.
Tennessee is 2-13 in their last 15 vs. Alabama.

Georgia, Auburn, and LSU won national championships since 2010 (but so has Michigan). But they've been just as bad against Alabama as Michigan and Penn State have been against Ohio State. Why is a Georgia-Arkansas blowout any better than an Ohio State-Rutgers blowout? SEC bias!

Those Alabama games weren't all blowouts, Iron Bowl always very competitive. I don't think that was the case with OSU, Penn State and especially Michigan can play them close but how often do the others? I think the switch away from divisions and addition of the Pac-4 has helped but its still early going. Would be great if some non-OSU teams continue making waves this year.

(09-24-2026 03:24 PM)schmolik Wrote:  Meanwhile Nick Saban was 117-18 vs. the SEC.

Georgia's won two national championships and hasn't beaten Alabama in the regular season since 2007.
Auburn is 3-12 in their last 15 vs. Alabama and hasn't won since 2019.
LSU is 2-13 in their last 15 vs. Alabama.
Tennessee is 2-13 in their last 15 vs. Alabama.

Georgia, Auburn, and LSU won national championships since 2010 (but so has Michigan). But they've been just as bad against Alabama as Michigan and Penn State have been against Ohio State. Why is a Georgia-Arkansas blowout any better than an Ohio State-Rutgers blowout? SEC bias!

Alabama vs. the SEC (excluding Texas and Oklahoma) in their last 15 matchups...

Georgia: 10-5 (+3 Margin of Victory)
Florida: 11-4 (+10.8)
South Carolina: 12-3 (+11.3)
Auburn: 12-3 (+14)
Missouri: 7-2 (+14)
LSU: 13-2 (+14.1)
Texas A&M: 12-3 (+14.1)
Vanderbilt: 14-1 (+19.3)
Ole Miss: 13-2 (+21.1)
Kentucky: 14-1 (+21.5)
Tennessee: 13-2 (+22.1)
Mississippi State: 15-0 (+25.1)
Arkansas: 15-0 (+25.5)

Total in the last 15: 161-28 (+16.68)

Ohio State vs. the Big Ten (excluding the Pac-4) in their last 15 games...

Michigan: 10-5 (+7.4)
Penn State: 13-2 (+11.6)
Iowa: 13-2 (+13.5)
Purdue: 11-4 (+15.5) <-- shockedpikachu.png
Wisconsin: 14-1 (+16.1)
Illinois: 13-2 (+18.1)
Michigan State: 12-3 (+20.6)
Minnesota: 14-1 (+20.9)
Indiana: 14-1 (+21.1)
Nebraska: 10-1 (+21.6)
Northwestern: 14-1 (+23.2)
Maryland: 9-0 (+33.1)
Rutgers: 11-0 (+39.2)

Total in the last 15: 158-23 (+19.25)

Both are problems, Ohio State is a worse problem.

(09-24-2026 08:24 PM)thrill_house Wrote:  

(09-24-2026 03:24 PM)schmolik Wrote:  Meanwhile Nick Saban was 117-18 vs. the SEC.

Georgia's won two national championships and hasn't beaten Alabama in the regular season since 2007.
Auburn is 3-12 in their last 15 vs. Alabama and hasn't won since 2019.
LSU is 2-13 in their last 15 vs. Alabama.
Tennessee is 2-13 in their last 15 vs. Alabama.

Georgia, Auburn, and LSU won national championships since 2010 (but so has Michigan). But they've been just as bad against Alabama as Michigan and Penn State have been against Ohio State. Why is a Georgia-Arkansas blowout any better than an Ohio State-Rutgers blowout? SEC bias!

Alabama vs. the SEC (excluding Texas and Oklahoma) in their last 15 matchups...

Georgia: 10-5 (+3 Margin of Victory)
Florida: 11-4 (+10.8)
South Carolina: 12-3 (+11.3)
Auburn: 12-3 (+14)
Missouri: 7-2 (+14)
LSU: 13-2 (+14.1)
Texas A&M: 12-3 (+14.1)
Vanderbilt: 14-1 (+19.3)
Ole Miss: 13-2 (+21.1)
Kentucky: 14-1 (+21.5)
Tennessee: 13-2 (+22.1)
Mississippi State: 15-0 (+25.1)
Arkansas: 15-0 (+25.5)

Total in the last 15: 161-28 (+16.68)

Ohio State vs. the Big Ten (excluding the Pac-4) in their last 15 games...

Michigan: 10-5 (+7.4)
Penn State: 13-2 (+11.6)
Iowa: 13-2 (+13.5)
Purdue: 11-4 (+15.5) <-- shockedpikachu.png
Wisconsin: 14-1 (+16.1)
Illinois: 13-2 (+18.1)
Michigan State: 12-3 (+20.6)
Minnesota: 14-1 (+20.9)
Indiana: 14-1 (+21.1)
Nebraska: 10-1 (+21.6)
Northwestern: 14-1 (+23.2)
Maryland: 9-0 (+33.1)
Rutgers: 11-0 (+39.2)

Total in the last 15: 158-23 (+19.25)

Both are problems, Ohio State is a worse problem.

There's something wrong with these numbers, despite playing an extra conference game each year OSU is reported as having significantly fewer relevant games than Alabama. Its not the CCG either, that only adds three to Bama's total.

(09-24-2026 08:24 PM)thrill_house Wrote:  

(09-24-2026 03:24 PM)schmolik Wrote:  Meanwhile Nick Saban was 117-18 vs. the SEC.

Georgia's won two national championships and hasn't beaten Alabama in the regular season since 2007.
Auburn is 3-12 in their last 15 vs. Alabama and hasn't won since 2019.
LSU is 2-13 in their last 15 vs. Alabama.
Tennessee is 2-13 in their last 15 vs. Alabama.

Georgia, Auburn, and LSU won national championships since 2010 (but so has Michigan). But they've been just as bad against Alabama as Michigan and Penn State have been against Ohio State. Why is a Georgia-Arkansas blowout any better than an Ohio State-Rutgers blowout? SEC bias!

Alabama vs. the SEC (excluding Texas and Oklahoma) in their last 15 matchups...

Georgia: 10-5 (+3 Margin of Victory)
Florida: 11-4 (+10.8)
South Carolina: 12-3 (+11.3)
Auburn: 12-3 (+14)
Missouri: 7-2 (+14)
LSU: 13-2 (+14.1)
Texas A&M: 12-3 (+14.1)
Vanderbilt: 14-1 (+19.3)
Ole Miss: 13-2 (+21.1)
Kentucky: 14-1 (+21.5)
Tennessee: 13-2 (+22.1)
Mississippi State: 15-0 (+25.1)
Arkansas: 15-0 (+25.5)

Total in the last 15: 161-28 (+16.68)

Ohio State vs. the Big Ten (excluding the Pac-4) in their last 15 games...

Michigan: 10-5 (+7.4)
Penn State: 13-2 (+11.6)
Iowa: 13-2 (+13.5)
Purdue: 11-4 (+15.5) <-- shockedpikachu.png
Wisconsin: 14-1 (+16.1)
Illinois: 13-2 (+18.1)
Michigan State: 12-3 (+20.6)
Minnesota: 14-1 (+20.9)
Indiana: 14-1 (+21.1)
Nebraska: 10-1 (+21.6)
Northwestern: 14-1 (+23.2)
Maryland: 9-0 (+33.1)
Rutgers: 11-0 (+39.2)

Total in the last 15: 158-23 (+19.25)

Both are problems, Ohio State is a worse problem.

Oh wow, less than 3 points/game per team difference? Alabama has dominated the SEC just as much as Ohio State dominated the Big Ten. If you're going to say why watch the Big Ten because OSU always wins then why not say why watch the SEC because Alabama always wins?

(09-21-2026 07:38 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  

(09-20-2026 05:15 AM)schmolik Wrote:  By records Mississippi-Florida is the better game but the idea of Oklahoma-Georgia on ESPN seems shocking. If ESPN had the ability after yesterday, they probably would have demoted Texas A&M-LSU to ESPN. I originally had Oklahoma-Georgia on SNF and never even had Mississippi-Florida as an option for ABC at all.

It's not that unusual for the better game to be at 3:30 instead of 7:30, though LSU and A&M both had better ratings than either Ole Miss or Florida last year. I'd say that it will matter how competitive each game is. The weird one to me is having Texas-Tennessee, the BY FAR best game on paper this week, dumped in the noon time slot. That game should be the first #1 rated game of the week that ABC has had at noon in years. I'm pretty sure they didn't have any in 2025 or 2024, though there might have been one that snuck in one of those years.

ABC dropped the ball by not putting that game at 7:30 or at least 3:30. I know they have to decide a while in advance on that, but still, that game had potential to be huge from the minute the schedule came out. Perhaps they were hoping it would be like this and they'd get a clean sweep of the ratings in week 3?

Will be interesting to see how OU-Georgia does. Everyone forgets about that Michigan loss if OU wins, and if OU keeps it close then that game could get better ratings than the ABC Ole Miss-Florida tilt at the same time.

This could be something to watch when it comes to the ratings. Could the ESPN SEC game actually beat out the ABC SEC game? In 2025, ESPN won the noon time slot beating ABC and FOX's Big Nooner. Neither was SEC vs. SEC though. Oklahoma-Georgia is a battle of two blue bloods but last week Mississippi had a big win which could help them.

The other thing is if you got two SEC games head to head that could split the SEC fan base down the middle and the viewership of both games. If you're the SEC you want neutral SEC fans to choose one game and watch it. If SEC fans split 50-50 the ratings for both games are both decent but neither peaks. Meanwhile, Big Ten fans only have one main game. Could this be a chance the Big Ten/CBS actually wins the time slot not because their game is better but because the SEC fanbase is split between two games? This past week Florida State-Alabama got 7.01M and Kentucky-Texas A&M got 5.36M but the Ky/A&M game was inflated because it started on ABC while FSU/Bama was delayed and some FSU/ACC fans added to the total plus the CBS/Big Ten game had Buttgers (1.72M). I think 10 million viewers between both Okl/Ga and Miss/Fla is reasonable, the question is whether it's 5 million each or 7 million vs. 3 million. If each gets 5 million, Michigan-Iowa has a decent chance at getting 5 million themselves.

(09-24-2026 09:34 PM)schmolik Wrote:  Oh wow, less than 3 points/game per team difference? Alabama has dominated the SEC just as much as Ohio State dominated the Big Ten. If you're going to say why watch the Big Ten because OSU always wins then why not say why watch the SEC because Alabama always wins?

Point spreads by conference games in Week 4...

Texas vs. Tennessee: 4.5
Oklahoma vs. Georgia: 13.5
Ole Miss vs. Florida: 3.5
Vanderbilt vs. Auburn: 9.5
South Carolina vs. Alabama: 12.5
Texas A&M vs. LSU: 9.5
Missouri vs. Mississippi State: 6

Average spread: 8.43
Average ESPN FPI rating: 21.38

Northwestern vs. Indiana: 20.5
Illinois vs. Ohio State: 27.5
UCLA vs. Maryland: 1.5
Iowa vs. Michigan: 5.5
Wisconsin vs. Penn State: 10
Nebraska vs. Michigan State: 5.5
Oregon vs. USC: 3
Minnesota vs. Washington: 10

Average spread: 10.43
Average ESPN FPI Rating: 36.77

Ohio State conference games in 2025 with a 20+ point spread: 5 (Rutgers, UCLA, Purdue, Wisconsin, Minnesota)

The entire SEC conference games in 2025 with a 20+ point spread: 1 (Kentucky @ Georgia)

The games are more competitive and feature better teams in the modern day SEC than the Big Ten.

This is why they are winning the viewership war and it's not going to change.

Last year Ohio State byed Indiana and Oregon in the regular season and Penn State was down. This year Ohio State plays both Indiana and Oregon (of course Oregon's probably down this year, sigh)

Meanwhile the Big Ten has ONE annual conference opponent, the team that they're 10-5 against and have the closest margin of victory against. Alabama has an annual game against an opponent they're 15-0 against and has the second biggest margin of victory against. Yeah they're good this year. What happens after he leaves and they go back to being their usual selves like Vanderbilt after Pavia left?

Week 6 Big Ten Speculation:

Friday: Iowa at Washington, 9 (Announced)

FOX Big Nooner: Indiana at Nebraska
CBS Big Time 3:30: UCLA at Oregon
NBC Big Saturday Night: USC at Penn State (USC, PSU, and the Big Ten confirm this, NBC has not)

BTN: Ball State at Northwestern, 12:30, Maryland at Ohio State, 4:15, Minnesota at Purdue, 8
FS1: Illinois at Michigan State, 3:30 (FS1 is showing horse racing at noon but also has a 7pm window)

After UCLA stomped over Maryland, it makes sense for Maryland-Ohio State to be OSU's BTN game. The one snag would be if CBS picks ahead of FOX and takes Indiana-Nebraska. FOX would probably be forced to take Maryland-Ohio State for its Big Nooner and then Northwestern-Ohio State likely has to go to BTN later this season. Maybe they force CBS to take UCLA-Oregon then.

Week 6 SEC Speculation:

Early Games: Texas A&M at Missouri, South Carolina at Florida
3:30: Texas vs. Oklahoma at Dallas
Night Games: Georgia at Alabama, LSU at Kentucky
Flex: Mississippi at Vanderbilt, Tennessee at Arkansas

ABC: 3:30: Texas vs Oklahoma at Dallas, SNF: Georgia at Alabama

Rest will depend on today's games