(09-24-2026 10:53 PM)thrill_house Wrote:  

(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.

It would be incredibly hard to argue that the Big Ten has looked better than the SEC this year. But last year? The Big Ten clearly had a higher quality of play last year, despite in-season rankings, and yet lost the viewing war considerably.

SEC Oct. 10 Speculation Update:

ABC noon: South Carolina at Florida
ESPN 7pm: LSU at Kentucky
SECN: Texas A&M at Missouri, Tennessee at Arkansas, Mississippi at Vanderbilt

I would expect windows to be assigned but networks TBD.

Oct. 17 Speculation (Early since we've got a blockbuster lineup):

FOX Big Nooner: Ohio State at Indiana
CBS Big Time 3:30pm: Penn State at Michigan
NBC Big Saturday Night: Nebraska at Oregon (Last two could switch)

ABC: Florida at Texas, Tennessee at Alabama, Notre Dame at BYU

Florida-Texas is locked into an early window. I'd have to believe ESPN has the rights to Notre Dame-BYU. Ideally they'd want to have Tennessee-Alabama but would they be allowed to go with a non SEC game at 3:30pm? They aired Alabama-Florida State at 3:30pm last year but Alabama was the road team. Maybe they can go to the SEC and get an exception, the only other possibility is they would have to put Tennessee-Alabama at 3:30pm.

The decision as to who gets Penn State-Michigan will depend on whether CBS or NBC gets priority (and who knows, maybe they will want Nebraska-Oregon now the way both PSU and UM played yesterday). Now as a PSU fan would I rather face off against Notre Dame-BYU or Alabama-Tennessee? Probably Alabama-Tennessee. Notre Dame draws nationally but probably more in the Midwest and Northeast where Penn State also draws while Alabama-Tennessee, while also of national interest, is primarily more a Southern game.

Mississippi State-LSU is also locked as an early game. I'm pretty sure Florida-Texas goes to ABC but Mississippi State-LSU most likely goes to ESPN and the SECN noon window is canceled. Florida State-Miami will have to settle for ESPN, there's no other place for it on ABC. Same for Auburn-Georgia, which is locked into an afternoon window.

ESPN: Mississippi State-LSU, Auburn-Georgia, Florida State-Miami (This would be a decent ABC lineup but this is ESPN's Oct. 17 lineup!)

Week 6 Official:

Big Ten:



SEC:



Big 12:



ACC:

https://theacc.com/news/2026/9/28/acc-fo...unced.aspx

(09-27-2026 12:10 PM)schmolik Wrote:  Oct. 17 Speculation (Early since we've got a blockbuster lineup):

FOX Big Nooner: Ohio State at Indiana
CBS Big Time 3:30pm: Penn State at Michigan
NBC Big Saturday Night: Nebraska at Oregon (Last two could switch)

ABC: Florida at Texas, Tennessee at Alabama, Notre Dame at BYU

Florida-Texas is locked into an early window. I'd have to believe ESPN has the rights to Notre Dame-BYU. Ideally they'd want to have Tennessee-Alabama but would they be allowed to go with a non SEC game at 3:30pm? They aired Alabama-Florida State at 3:30pm last year but Alabama was the road team. Maybe they can go to the SEC and get an exception, the only other possibility is they would have to put Tennessee-Alabama at 3:30pm.

The decision as to who gets Penn State-Michigan will depend on whether CBS or NBC gets priority (and who knows, maybe they will want Nebraska-Oregon now the way both PSU and UM played yesterday). Now as a PSU fan would I rather face off against Notre Dame-BYU or Alabama-Tennessee? Probably Alabama-Tennessee. Notre Dame draws nationally but probably more in the Midwest and Northeast where Penn State also draws while Alabama-Tennessee, while also of national interest, is primarily more a Southern game.

Mississippi State-LSU is also locked as an early game. I'm pretty sure Florida-Texas goes to ABC but Mississippi State-LSU most likely goes to ESPN and the SECN noon window is canceled. Florida State-Miami will have to settle for ESPN, there's no other place for it on ABC. Same for Auburn-Georgia, which is locked into an afternoon window.

ESPN: Mississippi State-LSU, Auburn-Georgia, Florida State-Miami (This would be a decent ABC lineup but this is ESPN's Oct. 17 lineup!)

Alabama-Tennessee is typically a top 5 ratings draw for the entire season for the SEC. ND-BYU is a 5-6m game, Alabama Tennessee can and often does double that number. No way you want to go up against that game.

Yes. The SEC and ESPN locks in early games in June.

In all respect to Mississippi State I'm not sure the SEC and ESPN expected this to be as big a game as it turned out to be, I believe all SEC teams are expected to play at least one SEC conference game early, and if you had to pick one Alabama conference game to play early back in June Mississippi State probably would've been the game you would've picked. Alabama this year doesn't play Arkansas or Kentucky and the only other team that would be close would be Vanderbilt who was coming off a 10-2 season. Now last week's Texas-Tennessee game being picked as an early game? Back in June I thought that was crazy.

Should the SEC just forget locking in early games in the future? It seems like the SEC schools like it and it spreads out the "undesirable" games. They just need to not pick Texas-Tennessee's.

Or do they? They still got 9.75 million for Texas-Tennessee and it certainly helped Ole Miss-Florida to a higher than expected rating. I think FOX's biggest fear would be if ESPN/ABC starts airing good noon SEC games, they want all noon games to be "bad". If ESPN was able to schedule their games Week 2 and aired their "weakest" game at noon, going by their ratings, Texas-Tennessee probably gets over 10 million in prime time but Texas A&M-LSU probably gets less than 5 million at noon with no lead in while Illinois-Ohio State gains some viewers and Ole Miss-Florida also drops. There is some merit to not always having your best game in prime time.

I usually strategize in the Big Ten's favor but if I were strategizing in the SEC's favor, we know the Big Ten is strongest at noon with FOX. Why not attack them there knowing CBS and NBC are weaker? quo vadis calls this "sacrificing queens". FOX's big strategy was to avoid ABC's (and then CBS's when they had the SEC) big games. What if ESPN/ABC and the SEC went after FOX? FOX can't move Big Ten games to prime time or 3:30pm, they'd be screwed (outside of Michigan-Ohio State).

Week 7 Official:

Big Ten:


3:30pm CBS and 7:30pm NBC slots TBD

SEC:


Alabama-Tennessee was scheduled in the 3:30pm window but not given a network. You would think it would air on ABC but I thought Oklahoma-Georgia would air on ABC too and it didn't. There are 3 SEC games scheduled at 3:30pm, Alabama-Tennessee, Auburn-Georgia, and Missouri-Ole Miss. Auburn-Georgia is a pretty big SEC rivalry too and it wouldn't be the first time ESPN dumped a blue blood battle for an Ole Miss game.

ABC's noon game is TBD, it is between Florida-Texas and Mississippi State-LSU.

Big 12:


Key here is Notre Dame at BYU gets the SNF slot. It might lead to Gameday going to Provo although that has not been announced. The last time Gameday went to BYU was October 24, 2009.

ACC:
https://theacc.com/news/2026/10/5/acc-fo...unced.aspx

Florida State-Miami gets dumped to ESPN. It's what happens when there's a loaded slate on ESPN.

Clay Travis comments about the Oct. 17 schedule:

https://sportandstate.com/2026/10/05/cla...time-slot/

SEC schedule:
noon ET: Florida/Texas, Mississippi State/LSU
3:30pm ET: Alabama/Tennessee, Auburn/Georgia, Missouri/Mississippi
Night: Arkansas/Vanderbilt, Kentucky/Oklahoma

Travis says the "best" SEC games are forced to go head to head against each other and the "two worst SEC games" are at night while Notre Dame/BYU and Florida State/Miami, also at night, are being "protected" from the SEC.

Well Florida/Texas and Mississippi State/LSU were locked in early games back in June and Auburn/Georgia as an "afternoon" game back in June. I forget if any of the other games were locked ahead of time. I know Alabama/Tennessee was not locked in. We know that the debate was that Alabama/Tennessee was going to be at night but of course ESPN wanted Notre Dame/BYU on ABC and I assume they couldn't put it at 3:30pm since it's the SEC's slot and noon would be too much of an inconvenience so they put it in prime time and reserved 3:30pm for Alabama/Tennessee (not official but probable). Had Auburn/Georgia not been locked to mid afternoon, ESPN probably puts that game in prime time on ESPN but because that game was locked they have no choice but to keep it there. ESPN could have also moved Florida/Texas or even Mississippi State/LSU to prime time on ESPN but again had no choice. With two good SEC games at noon and at 3:30pm for ESPN, the only logical place to put FSU/Miami on ESPN is prime time.

I don't see ESPN's schedule as a conspiracy against the SEC but as a lack of flexibility from prior scheduling. The early noon scheduling is a season wide thing. If anything, scheduling Auburn-Georgia early was the problem. Had Auburn-Georgia been flexible, that game is in prime time while Miami-Florida State is at 3:30pm. Or if Alabama-Tennessee really wanted prime time, give Notre Dame-BYU the 3:30pm slot. Everyone knew Notre Dame-BYU was going to be played this week and it was pretty reasonable ABC/ESPN had the rights to it. Why wouldn't ESPN want Notre Dame/BYU on ABC? So either give up the 3:30pm or prime time slot, pick your poison.

But this will make Tennessee fans angry.

How did this happen? Most of the Tennessee-Alabama games were under the old CBS contract.

2025: Alabama - SNF/ABC
2023: Alabama - 3:30pm/CBS
2021: Alabama - 7pm/ESPN - CBS game was LSU-Mississippi
2019: Alabama - 7pm/ESPN - CBS game was LSU-Mississippi State
2017: Alabama - 3:30pm/CBS
2015: Alabama - 3:30pm/CBS

2019 was Joe Burrow. I can't explain 2021. LSU was ranked #12 while Alabama was #4 while neither Mississippi nor Tennessee were ranked.

2026: Tennessee - 3:30pm/TBD - SNF game will be Notre Dame-BYU
2024: Tennessee - 3:30pm/ABC - SNF game was Georgia-Texas
2022: Tennessee - 3:30pm/CBS
2020: Tennessee - 3:30pm/CBS
2018: Tennessee - 3:30pm/CBS
2016: Tennessee - 3:30pm/CBS
2020: Tennessee - 3:30pm/CBS

A good pickup by Matt...

Penn State-Michigan is set for 3:30pm but the network hasn't been set. It looks like CBS hasn't decided on a game yet. It looks like they are deciding between Penn State-Michigan, Nebraska-Oregon, and Wisconsin-UCLA. One of Nebraska-Oregon and Wisconsin-UCLA will be NBC'S Saturday Night game but Penn State-Michigan will not be the prime time game. I have no idea whether CBS or NBC is picking next.

I thought I was the only one who thinks about things like this...

If Penn State wants to improve their popularity they need to schedule their White Out for practically any other week! Of course right now popularity isn't Penn State's biggest issue right now.

This is a game changer...

Oct. 24 Speculation:

ABC: LSU at Auburn, noon (locked in time), Texas A&M at Alabama, 3:30pm, Mississippi at Texas, SNF

FOX: Indiana at Michigan, Big Nooner
CBS: USC at Wisconsin, 3:30pm
NBC: Iowa at Minnesota, 7:30pm

No Ohio State or Penn State, Oregon is at Illinois and will likely be Oregon's BTN game.

I have no idea who has first pick but when in doubt just give it to FOX.

(10-05-2026 06:31 PM)schmolik Wrote:  Penn State-Michigan is set for 3:30pm but the network hasn't been set. It looks like CBS hasn't decided on a game yet. It looks like they are deciding between Penn State-Michigan, Nebraska-Oregon, and Wisconsin-UCLA. One of Nebraska-Oregon and Wisconsin-UCLA will be NBC'S Saturday Night game but Penn State-Michigan will not be the prime time game. I have no idea whether CBS or NBC is picking next.

The selections should be a no-brainer as PSU-Michigan is fixed at 3:30 PM.

Nebraska-Oregon gets Noah Eagle'd, the "blue bloods" are on CBS, and Wisconsin-UCLA gets thrown behind a paywall / red eye FOX slot.

Ain't no way are you selecting a matchup featuring a 65% empty stadium for one of your 3 premium nationally televised slots.

- I don't care what the records are.
- I don't care who's ahead of who in the power rankings.
- I don't care how competitive the game might be.
- I don't care about the stakes.

It's bad optics to advertise a product at a venue where there's 2 empty seats for every 1 occupied one.

(10-09-2026 12:45 PM)thrill_house Wrote:  

(10-05-2026 06:31 PM)schmolik Wrote:  Penn State-Michigan is set for 3:30pm but the network hasn't been set. It looks like CBS hasn't decided on a game yet. It looks like they are deciding between Penn State-Michigan, Nebraska-Oregon, and Wisconsin-UCLA. One of Nebraska-Oregon and Wisconsin-UCLA will be NBC'S Saturday Night game but Penn State-Michigan will not be the prime time game. I have no idea whether CBS or NBC is picking next.

The selections should be a no-brainer as PSU-Michigan is fixed at 3:30 PM.

Nebraska-Oregon gets Noah Eagle'd, the "blue bloods" are on CBS, and Wisconsin-UCLA gets thrown behind a paywall / red eye FOX slot.

Ain't no way are you selecting a matchup featuring a 65% empty stadium for one of your 3 premium nationally televised slots.

- I don't care what the records are.
- I don't care who's ahead of who in the power rankings.
- I don't care how competitive the game might be.
- I don't care about the stakes.

It's bad optics to advertise a product at a venue where there's 2 empty seats for every 1 occupied one.

Well I know last year UCLA did host a 3:30pm CBS game vs. Penn State. It was one of the two games that did in James Franklin (the Northwestern game finished him off).

(10-06-2026 04:01 PM)schmolik Wrote:  I thought I was the only one who thinks about things like this...

If Penn State wants to improve their popularity they need to schedule their White Out for practically any other week! Of course right now popularity isn't Penn State's biggest issue right now.

We don't make the schedule, we don’t set the start times. In 2026 its white out this week or skip it. Because if you really want to kill the white out's utility you make it non-special by using it on non-special opponents.

(10-09-2026 01:55 PM)The Beaver Wrote:  

(10-06-2026 04:01 PM)schmolik Wrote:  I thought I was the only one who thinks about things like this...

If Penn State wants to improve their popularity they need to schedule their White Out for practically any other week! Of course right now popularity isn't Penn State's biggest issue right now.

We don't make the schedule, we don’t set the start times. In 2026 its white out this week or skip it. Because if you really want to kill the white out's utility you make it non-special by using it on non-special opponents.

Well the 2026 SEC schedule came out December 11, 2025 and the Big Ten schedule came out January 27, 2026. That game the Big Ten and Penn State a month and a half to schedule USC-Penn State a week without a top SEC game. Georgia-Alabama was the absolute worst week to schedule the White Out. It was the exact game that beat Oregon-Penn State in 2025 in the ratings!

(10-09-2026 02:35 PM)schmolik Wrote:  

(10-09-2026 01:55 PM)The Beaver Wrote:  

(10-06-2026 04:01 PM)schmolik Wrote:  I thought I was the only one who thinks about things like this...

If Penn State wants to improve their popularity they need to schedule their White Out for practically any other week! Of course right now popularity isn't Penn State's biggest issue right now.

We don't make the schedule, we don’t set the start times. In 2026 its white out this week or skip it. Because if you really want to kill the white out's utility you make it non-special by using it on non-special opponents.

Well the 2026 SEC schedule came out December 11, 2025 and the Big Ten schedule came out January 27, 2026. That game the Big Ten and Penn State a month and a half to schedule USC-Penn State a week without a top SEC game. Georgia-Alabama was the absolute worst week to schedule the White Out. It was the exact game that beat Oregon-Penn State in 2025 in the ratings!

Unfortunately the SEC has enough top teams that there's always a danger game. Was Georgia-Alabama going to be a bigger deal than Texas-Tennessee? There's no way to know going in. If anything this week with the hurricane gives us a better shot than, say, next week where we already know Penn State is bad and they're up against Alabama-Tennessee or Florida-Texas.

(10-09-2026 04:02 PM)The Beaver Wrote:  

(10-09-2026 02:35 PM)schmolik Wrote:  

(10-09-2026 01:55 PM)The Beaver Wrote:  

(10-06-2026 04:01 PM)schmolik Wrote:  I thought I was the only one who thinks about things like this...

If Penn State wants to improve their popularity they need to schedule their White Out for practically any other week! Of course right now popularity isn't Penn State's biggest issue right now.

We don't make the schedule, we don’t set the start times. In 2026 its white out this week or skip it. Because if you really want to kill the white out's utility you make it non-special by using it on non-special opponents.

Well the 2026 SEC schedule came out December 11, 2025 and the Big Ten schedule came out January 27, 2026. That game the Big Ten and Penn State a month and a half to schedule USC-Penn State a week without a top SEC game. Georgia-Alabama was the absolute worst week to schedule the White Out. It was the exact game that beat Oregon-Penn State in 2025 in the ratings!

Unfortunately the SEC has enough top teams that there's always a danger game. Was Georgia-Alabama going to be a bigger deal than Texas-Tennessee? There's no way to know going in. If anything this week with the hurricane gives us a better shot than, say, next week where we already know Penn State is bad and they're up against Alabama-Tennessee or Florida-Texas.

Georgia-Alabama got 10 million or more viewers two years in a row. They got almost 12 million in 2024. Last year in the SEC Championship they got 16 million! In the CFP era they've combined for 5 of the 12 national championships and 5 of the 6 national championships among SEC members. With the exception of Joe Burrow, they've won every SEC Championship Game and played each other in 4 of the 12 SEC Championship Games vs. each other.

Georgia-Alabama isn't just a danger game, it's THE danger game. Sure, other SEC games could outdraw it in a given year. But Georgia-Alabama is the surest bet of a big draw for the SEC as long as the two remain at the top of their games. And this year? Both teams are still undefeated and the only other undefeated SEC team is Texas.

(10-09-2026 12:45 PM)thrill_house Wrote:  

(10-05-2026 06:31 PM)schmolik Wrote:  Penn State-Michigan is set for 3:30pm but the network hasn't been set. It looks like CBS hasn't decided on a game yet. It looks like they are deciding between Penn State-Michigan, Nebraska-Oregon, and Wisconsin-UCLA. One of Nebraska-Oregon and Wisconsin-UCLA will be NBC'S Saturday Night game but Penn State-Michigan will not be the prime time game. I have no idea whether CBS or NBC is picking next.

The selections should be a no-brainer as PSU-Michigan is fixed at 3:30 PM.

Nebraska-Oregon gets Noah Eagle'd, the "blue bloods" are on CBS, and Wisconsin-UCLA gets thrown behind a paywall / red eye FOX slot.

Ain't no way are you selecting a matchup featuring a 65% empty stadium for one of your 3 premium nationally televised slots.

- I don't care what the records are.
- I don't care who's ahead of who in the power rankings.
- I don't care how competitive the game might be.
- I don't care about the stakes.

It's bad optics to advertise a product at a venue where there's 2 empty seats for every 1 occupied one.

Wisconsin UCLA should be on a Friday night if it’s in California. Maybe even a Tuesday or Wednesday. It really doesn’t matter..

(10-09-2026 05:43 PM)billybobby777 Wrote:  Wisconsin UCLA should be on a Friday night if it’s in California. Maybe even a Tuesday or Wednesday. It really doesn’t matter..

Saturday is the preferred date by far.

For every Big Ten fan, the Rose Bowl will forever be viewed as the Cathedral of College Football and bucket list destination. It was one of the biggest selling points for adding UCLA to the conference. This is precisely why in Year 1 of entry, the Big Ten put Indiana (last trip to the Rose Bowl was 1968) and Minnesota (1962) in Pasadena.

Fans fly out on Friday (or Thursday night), spend the next 2 days in LA, watch the game on Saturday, and fly home on Sunday. If you move their games to a weeknight, you're asking fans to take multiple days off work to watch their school play.