(10-09-2026 04:58 PM)schmolik Wrote:  

(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.

Well I don't think Alabama has been on the top of their game since Saban left. Texas-Georgia would be the bigger game, had it been scheduled. As is, I think Texas-LSU in November is likely to be just as big as it. Though Alabama has played a pitifully weak schedule so far so I suppose we all shouldn't be suprised by them coming in undefeated.

(10-03-2026 09:52 AM)schmolik Wrote:  

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).

I think that locking in the early games in June is considered a significant benefit of our too long and undervalued contract. May as well capitalize on it while we can. Come 2034…everyone better hold on to their hats. When you get all the money then your network partner(s) expect to have games on Fridays and have all the latitude in the world for Saturday start times. Fair enough, as long as the pain gets spread around and people in Austin, Columbia, Knoxville, etc etc don’t feel unfairly singled out, we’ll all happily cash those bigger checks.

Some actual scheduling news: Do you know what FOX is airing tonight in prime time? Wisconsin vs. Nebraska WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL! I mean I get that FOX would rather show MLB than college football, especially playoffs and the World Series. But if FOX would show a women's volleyball match instead of a Big 12 college football game on a Saturday window tells you how much (or how little) they think of the Big 12.

People think the Big 12 is going to get paid in their next contract? If this is any indication, don't expect FOX to spend big. ESPN doesn't need them.

Wisconsin @ UCLA on NBC next week.

Eh, Nebraska and Oregon lost their statement games today. I get it.

I just have no faith in UCLA fans showing up.

Come watch two terrible teams!

Based on rankings they definitely got shafted. But the alternative is putting the #1 team on SEC Network ... or Alabama/Tennessee, never going to happen.

(10-09-2026 08:15 PM)The Beaver Wrote:  

(10-09-2026 04:58 PM)schmolik Wrote:  

(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:  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.

Well I don't think Alabama has been on the top of their game since Saban left. Texas-Georgia would be the bigger game, had it been scheduled. As is, I think Texas-LSU in November is likely to be just as big as it. Though Alabama has played a pitifully weak schedule so far so I suppose we all shouldn't be suprised by them coming in undefeated.

Really? They beat # 16 Miss St by 33 and #15 Kentucky by 28, both on the road. Is there a big 10 with 2 top 16 road wins this season, or another SEC team for that matter? Heck, road or home. I can't imagine that there could be, since the teams ranked higher than Kentucky and Miss St have combined for only 5 total losses, one of which was Alabama's 3 point loss to now #1 Georgia the other day.

Do you even watch football?

(10-11-2026 02:39 PM)schmolik Wrote:  Based on rankings they definitely got shafted. But the alternative is putting the #1 team on SEC Network ... or Alabama/Tennessee, never going to happen.

Georgia-Auburn and Alabama-Tennessee are both big rivalry games that regularly pump out solid ratings, it would have required something weird to dump either of them off of ABC. I do find it strange that Ole Miss - Missouri got shunted to the SECN, however. They couldn't fit them in on ESPN? I know the schools will hate this, but I really hope in 2034 that our network partners are able to flex games to get them OTA. Ole - Missouri is a big game between 2 teams that have proven capable of pulling solid ratings, especially when they're good like they both are now. That's 5-7m eyeballs that ESPN is basically just flushing down the toilet b/c of scheduling issues. If they could flex games then they at least get on at Noon on ABC, providing a credible SEC alternative to Indiana-OSU.

Oh, I see. FSU-Miami is on ESPN at 6:30, Georgia-Auburn is already on ESPN, and Tennessee-Alabama is correctly on ABC.

That ND-BYU game might hit 10m. Should easily eclipse any game that Big 12 teams hit last year. And if BYU can pull out a win, they're set up to spend a lot more time on ABC and ESPN the rest of the year, too.

Auburn-Georgia and Missouri-Mississippi were locked into mid-afternoon windows back in June. In order to make room for Notre Dame-BYU in prime time on ABC, they had no choice but to put Alabama-Tennessee at 3:30pm which put all three SEC games at the same time and one of them had to be on SECN.

Scheduling games into windows other than the early window in June was rare. Could both Auburn-Georgia and Missouri-Mississippi be Homecoming games and they wanted a locked in window?

Week 8 (Oct. 24) Official:

Big 10:



CBS game TBD.

SEC:



ABC 3:30pm/SNF games official. All other times official but networks TBD. The last few weeks SEC games are 3:30pm and 7:30pm as opposed to 12:45pm, 4:15pm, and 7:45pm (on 10/17 and 10/24 there will not be a 12:45pm game which might explain the 3:30pm as opposed to 4:15pm). This allows the SEC to lock in start times as opposed to 3:30pm if ESPN and 4:15pm if on SECN.

ACC:

https://theacc.com/news/2026/10/12/acc-f...unced.aspx

Big 12 only has West Virginia at TCU, noon, ESPN2. All other games will be six day selections.

USC will have 4 straight games on NBC

Also, 5 out of their first 7 games would have been on NBC.


Their rival, Notre Dame, has 7 games on NBC this year and 1 on Peacock; is there a chance USC can match that by the end of the year?

(10-12-2026 06:15 PM)Glenn360 Wrote:  USC will have 4 straight games on NBC

Also, 5 out of their first 7 games would have been on NBC.


Their rival, Notre Dame, has 7 games on NBC this year and 1 on Peacock; is there a chance USC can match that by the end of the year?

I know that most of us have no skin whatsoever in that game, but this just makes me mad all over again that USC/Riley figured out a way to take a few years off of the ND-USC rivalry.

(10-12-2026 06:15 PM)Glenn360 Wrote:  USC will have 4 straight games on NBC

Also, 5 out of their first 7 games would have been on NBC.


Their rival, Notre Dame, has 7 games on NBC this year and 1 on Peacock; is there a chance USC can match that by the end of the year?

Good catch Glenn360.

I keep track of this over at the Big Ten board...

(09-13-2026 01:39 PM)schmolik Wrote:  Keeping track of speculations and official announcement of game times and networks for the Big Ten.

https://www.mattsarzsports.com/contract/big-ten/2026

FOX Big Nooners:
Sept. 5: North Texas at Indiana
Sept. 12: Oklahoma at Michigan
Sept. 19: Kent State at Ohio State
Sept. 26: Ohio State at Illinois
Oct. 3: Michigan at Minnesota
Oct. 10: Indiana at Nebraska
Oct. 17: Ohio State at Indiana
Oct. 24: Indiana at Michigan
Nov. 28: Michigan at Ohio State
OSU: 4, Mich: 4, Ind: 4, Ill: 1, Minn: 1, Neb: 1

CBS 3:30pm:
Sept. 5: Boise State at Oregon
Sept. 12: Mississippi State at Minnesota
Sept. 19: USC at Rutgers
Sept. 26: Iowa at Michigan
Oct. 3: Ohio State at Iowa
Oct. 10: UCLA at Oregon
Oct. 17: Penn State at Michigan
Iowa: 2, Ore: 2, Mich: 2, OSU: 1, Minn: 1, USC; 1, Rut: 1, UCLA: 1, PSU: 1

NBC 7:30pm:
Sept. 5: Western Michigan at Michigan
Sept. 12: Iowa State at Iowa
Sept. 19: No Big Ten Game (Michigan State at Notre Dame)
Sept. 26: Oregon at USC
Oct. 3: Washington at USC
Oct. 10: USC at Penn State
Oct. 17: Wisconsin at UCLA
Oct. 24: USC at Wisconsin
USC: 4, Wisc: 2, Ore: 1, Mich: 1, Iowa: 1, Wash: 1, PSU: 1, UCLA: 1

FOX Fri: NW: 2, Ill: 2, Wash: 2, USC: 1, Ind: 1, PSU: 1, Iowa: 1, Pur: 1, Neb: 1, UCLA: 1, Ore: 1, MSU: 1
CBS Other: Neb: 1, Iowa: 1 (Black Fri)
NBC Other: USC: 1 (Week 0), Wash: 1 (Labor Day Sun), Minn: 1, Wisc: 1 (Black Fri)
FOX Other: Wash: 1, Minn: 1

Ill: FOX (OSU, Neb, UCLA)
Ind: FOX (NTex, NW, Neb, OSU, Mich)
Iowa: NBC (ISU), CBS (Mich, OSU, Neb)
Md:
Mich: FOX (Okl, Minn, Ind, OSU), CBS (Iowa, PSU)
MSU: FOX (Ore)
Minn: CBS (Miss St), NBC (Wisc), FOX (Wash, Mich)
Neb: FOX (Ill, Ind)
NW: FOX (Ind, PSU)
OSU: FOX (Kent, Ill, Mich, Ind), CBS (Iowa)
Ore: NBC (USC), FOX (MSU), CBS (Boise, UCLA)
PSU: FOX (NW), CBS (Mich), NBC (USC)
Pur: FOX (Wash)
Rut: CBS (USC)
UCLA: FOX (Ill), CBS (Ore), NBC (Wisc)
USC: CBS (Rut), NBC (San Jose St, Ore, Wash, PSU, Wisc), FOX (Fres)
Wash: FOX (Minn, Iowa, Pur), NBC (USC)
Wisc: NBC (UCLA, USC, Minn)

It helps USC's case that they aren't allowed to host Big Nooners.

USC's remaining games are Ohio State, at Indiana, Maryland, at UCLA.

Big Ten teams are required to play at least on conference game on BTN so I can't believe Maryland-USC won't be USC's BTN game.

USC-Indiana looks like it could be a Big Nooner being at Indiana, counting future games Indiana has played or will play in a Big Nooner four times this year. FOX hasn't had USC as a Big Nooner (just a Friday night non conference vs. Fresno State), I'd imagine they'd want them once this year.

Ohio State-USC looks like a prime candidate for NBC although I'm sure CBS will want the game, it depends on who has first pick. Georgia-Florida is on Halloween so it makes more sense for the Big Ten that NBC gets OSU/USC. It's also hard to imagine NBC not getting one Ohio State game all season. NBC gets the top pick at least a few weeks this year. Who knows, maybe NBC gets 1st pick the week of USC-Indiana?

The USC-UCLA game can go either way between CBS and NBC and with both Washington and Oregon down and UCLA was up it looks like USC-UCLA will be the 2nd most attractive game.

I will say it does help NBC (as well as CBS) to have the same team multiple weeks in a row to build an audience. If a team's fans know what time and network to watch each week it does help. Of course the team has to be worth watching. USC choked vs. Oregon although they won the last two weeks. I remember last year CBS had several Oregon games in a row and it did help CBS get better ratings in 2025 than it did in 2024. Of course FOX regularly features Ohio State and while their fans may hate the Big Nooner they're "used" to it.

By comparison, last week Penn State/Michigan had their game time locked in at 3:30pm even though their network wasn't determined because it was/is their Homecoming game. I believe the Big Ten does have a rule that Homecoming game times can't be subject to six day holds.

I'll admit I'm not a Big 12 fan but couldn't ESPN and FOX at least bargain for this one? If they can agree on West Virginia at TCU, why can't they agree on this game? Why couldn't they have put Arizona-Iowa State on ESPN2 at noon and made West Virginia-TCU in the six day pool (unless that game is also a Homecoming)?

I get that when multiple networks are involved the need for them to want to get the "better" games. But to hold some games hostage is crazy. In the Big Ten this upcoming Saturday is the annual Rutgers-Maryland game. Can anyone at FOX, CBS, or NBC have told me back in May when they did their schedule draft that there was a 2% chance that they would pick this game? Why not just give them a time back in May? Who knows, maybe if Maryland fans knew the start time in May they might be more likely to buy tickets and they can certainly use help in selling tickets.

There was a 95% chance Ohio State-Indiana was going to be the top pick this week but since Penn State-Michigan was also this week I can see FOX holding back before making it official (although I think it's fair to Ohio State and Indiana to say it before 12 days if you "know" you're picking it).

(10-12-2026 08:17 PM)schmolik Wrote:  

By comparison, last week Penn State/Michigan had their game time locked in at 3:30pm even though their network wasn't determined because it was/is their Homecoming game. I believe the Big Ten does have a rule that Homecoming game times can't be subject to six day holds.

I'll admit I'm not a Big 12 fan but couldn't ESPN and FOX at least bargain for this one? If they can agree on West Virginia at TCU, why can't they agree on this game? Why couldn't they have put Arizona-Iowa State on ESPN2 at noon and made West Virginia-TCU in the six day pool (unless that game is also a Homecoming)?

I get that when multiple networks are involved the need for them to want to get the "better" games. But to hold some games hostage is crazy. In the Big Ten this upcoming Saturday is the annual Rutgers-Maryland game. Can anyone at FOX, CBS, or NBC have told me back in May when they did their schedule draft that there was a 2% chance that they would pick this game? Why not just give them a time back in May? Who knows, maybe if Maryland fans knew the start time in May they might be more likely to buy tickets and they can certainly use help in selling tickets.

There was a 95% chance Ohio State-Indiana was going to be the top pick this week but since Penn State-Michigan was also this week I can see FOX holding back before making it official (although I think it's fair to Ohio State and Indiana to say it before 12 days if you "know" you're picking it).

I’m not sure what you’re arguing here. If the conferences want certain restrictions such as not changing the times of homecoming games, then those need to be negotiated upfront. Otherwise, it’s the classic Don Draper quote with respect to 6-day holds or other TV priorities: “That’s what the money is for!” If schools don’t like it, then they can return a requisite portion of their TV payout. Conferences can certainly come into TV negotiations and put in all types of strings attached to when games can be scheduled, but then expect to be paid less than what they would have been paid in those circumstances - these networks are paying for a product and if that means that there’s a 2% chance that Rutgers-Maryland is going to be an important game, then they want to preserve that 2% chance of taking that game.

Heck, Indiana’s rise proves the point. Imagine if the Big Ten’s network partners couldn’t adjust their games over the past couple of seasons because they predetermined that Indiana wasn’t going to be a contender back in May. This is sports. Surprise teams DO happen. If such surprises didn’t happen, then what would be the point of watching sports at all? The whole allure of watching sports in the first place is that it is *not* scripted television where the outcome is predictable.

In this case, Fox has the World Series in prime time on 10/24. They’re paying the Big 12 for flexibility because they have conflicts of that nature. ESPN has even more conflicts with all of the different packages that they have. It’s simply business.

I wonder if the better scheduling solution would be the NFL solution. Schedule all games in May and then allow the networks to flex games 12 days in advance. Would ticket paying fans hate that a game regularly scheduled for noon gets moved to a night game or vice versa? Of course they would. Do ticket paying fans hate that in the NFL? Of course they do. But in a typical season the number of flex games in a season is limited.

In the 2025 NFL season, taking out the final week where no games have a set time, Wikipedia lists: Week 6 a 1:00pm and 4:25pm game swapped, Week 14 a 1:00pm and 4:25pm game swapped, Week 16 two games scheduled for Saturday had their game times set, a 1:00pm and 8:20pm game swapped, Week 17: two games moved from Sunday to Saturday while three games that had the option from moving from Sunday to Saturday remained on Sunday, one game changed networks but game time stayed the same. Flexing is supposed to be a big deal in the NFL contract and yet the number of games that actually changed times was very limited. Throwing out Week 18, the only Eagles game that got moved was the Saturday game which the NFL didn't even set a start time in the first place. Not one Sunday game moved. In their Sunday Night Football game in which NBC is supposed to have the most flexibility and in which the NFL originally designed flex schedules for, NBC switched out their game ONCE the entire season not counting the final week of the season. This is in the NFL where turnover is way more likely than college football where sure you can say Indiana's happen but it is way more predictable than the NFL.

If you're say an Illinois fan what's better? Being told in May the game time of every game and then having one or two games each season (potentially no games) changed 12 days in advance or being told just the first few games in May and having to wait until 12 days in advance the others? The Ohio State's and Alabama's will sell out season ticket packages even if their fans don't know when their games are until 12 days in advance. Do you think the bottom feeder Big Ten and SEC fans could use help selling their games or at least those against fellow bottom feeders or G6/FCS teams?

Rather than say screw the fan, why not work towards solutions that help both parties? The SEC seems to have scheduling policies that benefit the schools the most (all Saturday games with the exception of Thanksgiving week and the first week, noon games scheduled in advance). Did they have to give up money for that privilege? The only conference that makes more than them is the Big Ten. It helps that the SEC is only working with one broadcast partner but why doesn't the ACC get the same scheduling policies and make the same demands? Shouldn't the ACC get more money because they're more flexible? Of course not. The SEC gets more money because they're more valuable and can make more demands because they're more valuable. Who plays games in the least convenient slots (not Friday but midweek)? The conferences that get paid the MOST or the conferences that get paid the LEAST? This tells you it's not the networks controlling the shots but the conferences and schools.

(10-12-2026 06:21 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  

(10-12-2026 06:15 PM)Glenn360 Wrote:  USC will have 4 straight games on NBC

Also, 5 out of their first 7 games would have been on NBC.


Their rival, Notre Dame, has 7 games on NBC this year and 1 on Peacock; is there a chance USC can match that by the end of the year?

I know that most of us have no skin whatsoever in that game, but this just makes me mad all over again that USC/Riley figured out a way to take a few years off of the ND-USC rivalry.

I think that BYU/ND has replaced two of those "lost" USC games very well on ND's schedule.

In fact, I would love to see ND ink a long-term annual deal with BYU, similar to the deal with Clemson.

(10-13-2026 04:47 AM)schmolik Wrote:  I wonder if the better scheduling solution would be the NFL solution. Schedule all games in May and then allow the networks to flex games 12 days in advance. Would ticket paying fans hate that a game regularly scheduled for noon gets moved to a night game or vice versa? Of course they would. Do ticket paying fans hate that in the NFL? Of course they do. But in a typical season the number of flex games in a season is limited.

In the 2025 NFL season, taking out the final week where no games have a set time, Wikipedia lists: Week 6 a 1:00pm and 4:25pm game swapped, Week 14 a 1:00pm and 4:25pm game swapped, Week 16 two games scheduled for Saturday had their game times set, a 1:00pm and 8:20pm game swapped, Week 17: two games moved from Sunday to Saturday while three games that had the option from moving from Sunday to Saturday remained on Sunday, one game changed networks but game time stayed the same. Flexing is supposed to be a big deal in the NFL contract and yet the number of games that actually changed times was very limited. Throwing out Week 18, the only Eagles game that got moved was the Saturday game which the NFL didn't even set a start time in the first place. Not one Sunday game moved. In their Sunday Night Football game in which NBC is supposed to have the most flexibility and in which the NFL originally designed flex schedules for, NBC switched out their game ONCE the entire season not counting the final week of the season. This is in the NFL where turnover is way more likely than college football where sure you can say Indiana's happen but it is way more predictable than the NFL.

If you're say an Illinois fan what's better? Being told in May the game time of every game and then having one or two games each season (potentially no games) changed 12 days in advance or being told just the first few games in May and having to wait until 12 days in advance the others? The Ohio State's and Alabama's will sell out season ticket packages even if their fans don't know when their games are until 12 days in advance. Do you think the bottom feeder Big Ten and SEC fans could use help selling their games or at least those against fellow bottom feeders or G6/FCS teams?

Rather than say screw the fan, why not work towards solutions that help both parties? The SEC seems to have scheduling policies that benefit the schools the most (all Saturday games with the exception of Thanksgiving week and the first week, noon games scheduled in advance). Did they have to give up money for that privilege? The only conference that makes more than them is the Big Ten. It helps that the SEC is only working with one broadcast partner but why doesn't the ACC get the same scheduling policies and make the same demands? Shouldn't the ACC get more money because they're more flexible? Of course not. The SEC gets more money because they're more valuable and can make more demands because they're more valuable. Who plays games in the least convenient slots (not Friday but midweek)? The conferences that get paid the MOST or the conferences that get paid the LEAST? This tells you it's not the networks controlling the shots but the conferences and schools.

The SEC still has most of its game times determined by a TV deal that was signed during the first term of the Obama administration. They’re not playing games on Friday nights or other off nights because they’re not getting paid for them, not out of a love of high school football or the member colleges have some sort of principles regarding time slots. They’re simply not getting paid. They would be getting paid even more if they could have gone out to market like the Big Ten did and signed with multiple networks.

I get it when there’s a particular week such as homecoming week where the game time is locked in. Otherwise, though, I think fans simply whine too much. They’re never happy. They don’t like too many noon games, but then they don’t want night games when it’s too cold out in the North or they don’t have enough night games when it’s too hot in the South, or they want one specific rivalry game played at one specific time, or whatever else they want to complain about. You can never make all 60,000-100,000 fans in attendance happy.

You know who *can* be made happy, though? The millions and millions of people watching TV at home. This also where the *real* money comes in. So, it’s not an accident that this is what is prioritized. I guess we’ll disagree on this here - whatever you want to say about the TV networks, they aren’t stupid when it comes to maximizing their revenue. It’s pretty rare that they make some type of big mistake when it comes to picking which game ends up being the most attractive option that is available to them contractually at any given time. College football is getting paid like a professional sport, so you can expect treatment as such as opposed to the mom-and-pop shop days. When leagues willingly take hundreds of millions and even billions of dollars per year from the TV networks, I have *zero* sympathy for complaints when you take that money.

Not to be harsh, but Iowa State was on the cusp of getting left out of the P4 entirely multiple times since 2010. So, if they want to complain about a TV deal that *saved* the Big 12 that *directly* enabled them to poach from the Pac-12 as opposed to the other way around, then they can see what it’s like in the American or MWC where they get a whole lot less money and still have little to no control over their time slots. Because that’s where Iowa State would be today without that Big 12 TV deal that they’re complaining about. Once again, I have *zero* sympathy for any complaints on TV scheduling from any P4 league.

(10-13-2026 02:48 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(10-12-2026 08:17 PM)schmolik Wrote:  

By comparison, last week Penn State/Michigan had their game time locked in at 3:30pm even though their network wasn't determined because it was/is their Homecoming game. I believe the Big Ten does have a rule that Homecoming game times can't be subject to six day holds.

I'll admit I'm not a Big 12 fan but couldn't ESPN and FOX at least bargain for this one? If they can agree on West Virginia at TCU, why can't they agree on this game? Why couldn't they have put Arizona-Iowa State on ESPN2 at noon and made West Virginia-TCU in the six day pool (unless that game is also a Homecoming)?

I get that when multiple networks are involved the need for them to want to get the "better" games. But to hold some games hostage is crazy. In the Big Ten this upcoming Saturday is the annual Rutgers-Maryland game. Can anyone at FOX, CBS, or NBC have told me back in May when they did their schedule draft that there was a 2% chance that they would pick this game? Why not just give them a time back in May? Who knows, maybe if Maryland fans knew the start time in May they might be more likely to buy tickets and they can certainly use help in selling tickets.

There was a 95% chance Ohio State-Indiana was going to be the top pick this week but since Penn State-Michigan was also this week I can see FOX holding back before making it official (although I think it's fair to Ohio State and Indiana to say it before 12 days if you "know" you're picking it).

I’m not sure what you’re arguing here. If the conferences want certain restrictions such as not changing the times of homecoming games, then those need to be negotiated upfront. Otherwise, it’s the classic Don Draper quote with respect to 6-day holds or other TV priorities: “That’s what the money is for!” If schools don’t like it, then they can return a requisite portion of their TV payout. Conferences can certainly come into TV negotiations and put in all types of strings attached to when games can be scheduled, but then expect to be paid less than what they would have been paid in those circumstances - these networks are paying for a product and if that means that there’s a 2% chance that Rutgers-Maryland is going to be an important game, then they want to preserve that 2% chance of taking that game.

Heck, Indiana’s rise proves the point. Imagine if the Big Ten’s network partners couldn’t adjust their games over the past couple of seasons because they predetermined that Indiana wasn’t going to be a contender back in May. This is sports. Surprise teams DO happen. If such surprises didn’t happen, then what would be the point of watching sports at all? The whole allure of watching sports in the first place is that it is *not* scripted television where the outcome is predictable.

In this case, Fox has the World Series in prime time on 10/24. They’re paying the Big 12 for flexibility because they have conflicts of that nature. ESPN has even more conflicts with all of the different packages that they have. It’s simply business.

Great post. One other thing I will add is that Yormark moved Heaven and Earth to sneak in front of the Pac 12 back in 2022, he was in no position whatsoever to negotiate over the homecoming game 4 years down the road of a school that was still in the Pac 12 at the time. And, guess what? He's going to need to get every single dime he can in 2031, so the Big 12 schools should get used to this. Is the tradeoff of still being a Power Conference worth it? If not, then Arizona or any of the rest can slide on over to the Pac 12 or American and see how they like $7m a year.

(10-13-2026 06:57 AM)TerryD Wrote:  

(10-12-2026 06:21 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  

(10-12-2026 06:15 PM)Glenn360 Wrote:  USC will have 4 straight games on NBC

Also, 5 out of their first 7 games would have been on NBC.


Their rival, Notre Dame, has 7 games on NBC this year and 1 on Peacock; is there a chance USC can match that by the end of the year?

I know that most of us have no skin whatsoever in that game, but this just makes me mad all over again that USC/Riley figured out a way to take a few years off of the ND-USC rivalry.

I think that BYU/ND has replaced two of those "lost" USC games very well on ND's schedule.

In fact, I would love to see ND ink a long-term annual deal with BYU, similar to the deal with Clemson.

You're not wrong. In fact, I predict that this game will out-draw most ND-USC games. Having said that, we both know that USC will eventually turn things around, and a #2 vs #8 matchup of ND-USC would be one of the biggest events of the entire season. Hopefully, you guys end up doing both; USC for another 90 years and BYU for a 12 year contract like with Clemson.