(10-13-2026 07:43 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  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.

And fans at home are "never" unhappy? Have you been reading this thread? Is it all just you and me debating back and forth? Are all the Big Ten fans complaining about "Big Nooners" just tailgate fans going to games are a lot of them who just watch at home? I'm not saying Big Nooners aren't a good strategy, it absolutely is. If the OSU, UM, and PSU fans really want to end Big Nooners, they need to speak with their remote and then Big Nooners will end. I won't count on it. As long as they draw better than CBS and NBC Big Ten games, of course the Big Ten will want their games at noon.

At least TV fans have a brain in some cases, Viewership for Friday games may be higher than in previous years but they still trail Saturday games for the most part and graveyard shift games still get a fraction of most other games. As long as those things happen the networks won't cut their noses to spite their faces. Networks can't just put games on whenever they want, fans still have to decide when to watch. If Penn State-Washington is during the graveyard shift, I'm not watching. And if their ratings go down, they'll think twice before doing it again.

(10-13-2026 01:55 PM)schmolik Wrote:  

(10-13-2026 07:43 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  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.

And fans at home are "never" unhappy? Have you been reading this thread? Is it all just you and me debating back and forth? Are all the Big Ten fans complaining about "Big Nooners" just tailgate fans going to games are a lot of them who just watch at home? I'm not saying Big Nooners aren't a good strategy, it absolutely is. If the OSU, UM, and PSU fans really want to end Big Nooners, they need to speak with their remote and then Big Nooners will end. I won't count on it. As long as they draw better than CBS and NBC Big Ten games, of course the Big Ten will want their games at noon.

At least TV fans have a brain in some cases, Viewership for Friday games may be higher than in previous years but they still trail Saturday games for the most part and graveyard shift games still get a fraction of most other games. As long as those things happen the networks won't cut their noses to spite their faces. Networks can't just put games on whenever they want, fans still have to decide when to watch. If Penn State-Washington is during the graveyard shift, I'm not watching. And if their ratings go down, they'll think twice before doing it again.

There is no reason that Friday evening games can't compete with Saturday games, other than the fact that the best teams just never play on Fridays. The only "good" teams I can think of in recent years to play on a Friday happened by accident with UVA-FSU last season, and that season was far and away UVA's highest rated game all year in the best or perhaps 2nd best season in their entire history.

It won't happen now, but as we round into the 2030s with new tv deals for everybody, I fully expect to see Fridays developed into premium broadcast windows. Probably starts with 7:30 for the big guys, but 6 pm and 9 pm would be better. I sure know I wouldn't complain if my Aggies ended up on ABC twice more every year, at the cost of having a home and an away Friday night tilt. I wonder how much the Mouse would pay to prevent logjams like they have this weekend, with Georgia-Auburn, Ole Miss-Missouri, and Tennessee-Alabama all stuck on the same time, then FSU-Miami and ND-BYU both on at 6:30? So much better if more games were spread out across more days/times, and we're still legally protected from the NFL starting at 6pm on Fridays.

(10-13-2026 07:43 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(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.

While I think you describe the mechanics of it perfectly, I see it slightly differently. The networks aren't paying fans anything and indirectly maximizing revenue costs fans. I personally hope the Big Ten takes less for greater flexibility whenever it can. If I was cashing the checks I would probably feel differently, but when schools/conferences make decisions disregarding what some of the paying fans want, they need to expect a little complaining even if the decision might be the right one and it should at least be factored in. For the Big 12 it certainly was the right case to chase the dollars.

Side note: I care far less about game times than most. I've even mellowed on the OSU Michigan game a tad (although want it at noon I wouldn't raise a huge ruckus if it's occasionally a bit later). I prefer no Fridays still, but if end up with one every other year so be it

(10-13-2026 02:16 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  There is no reason that Friday evening games can't compete with Saturday games, other than the fact that the best teams just never play on Fridays. The only "good" teams I can think of in recent years to play on a Friday happened by accident with UVA-FSU last season, and that season was far and away UVA's highest rated game all year in the best or perhaps 2nd best season in their entire history.

It won't happen now, but as we round into the 2030s with new tv deals for everybody, I fully expect to see Fridays developed into premium broadcast windows. Probably starts with 7:30 for the big guys, but 6 pm and 9 pm would be better. I sure know I wouldn't complain if my Aggies ended up on ABC twice more every year, at the cost of having a home and an away Friday night tilt. I wonder how much the Mouse would pay to prevent logjams like they have this weekend, with Georgia-Auburn, Ole Miss-Missouri, and Tennessee-Alabama all stuck on the same time, then FSU-Miami and ND-BYU both on at 6:30? So much better if more games were spread out across more days/times, and we're still legally protected from the NFL starting at 6pm on Fridays.

6pm Eastern on Fridays? 5pm in Texas and 3pm in California? What kind of national TV audience is that going to bring in? Even 8pm ET games start at 5pm PT on the West Coast which cuts into the early audience. There's a reason when the Pacific Time Zone teams host Friday night FOX games they traditionally begin at 9pm ET instead of 8 (and that opens up problems on the other end for East Coast viewers). This is why Saturday works better, you don't have to deal with the working crowd. I'm old enough to remember when Monday Night Football was the "game of the week". The NFL then decided to move it to Sunday night. It allowed them to move the start time to 8pm/8:30pm without sacrificing the West Coast crowd.

(10-13-2026 04:11 PM)ohio1317 Wrote:  

(10-13-2026 07:43 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(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.

While I think you describe the mechanics of it perfectly, I see it slightly differently. The networks aren't paying fans anything and indirectly maximizing revenue costs fans. I personally hope the Big Ten takes less for greater flexibility whenever it can. If I was cashing the checks I would probably feel differently, but when schools/conferences make decisions disregarding what some of the paying fans want, they need to expect a little complaining even if the decision might be the right one and it should at least be factored in. For the Big 12 it certainly was the right case to chase the dollars.

Side note: I care far less about game times than most. I've even mellowed on the OSU Michigan game a tad (although want it at noon I wouldn't raise a huge ruckus if it's occasionally a bit later). I prefer no Fridays still, but if end up with one every other year so be it

But we all know that the Big Ten isn’t ever realistically taking less, right? Neither will the SEC when it gets a new contract or anyone else. The Big Ten commissioner is a literal TV executive. His main motivation for a 24-team playoff wasn’t about the playoff itself, but rather that a game like last week’s Iowa-Washington game on a Friday night goes from being a solid game for college football sickos to a really important game with playoff implications at a national level. Multiply that dozens of times over many more teams over the course of a season and the *last* thing that you want to do is just pile all of those games into the same 2 or 3 standard time slots on Saturday.

That money doesn’t go into the pocketbooks of fans, but if you want the best players, then you need that financial backing. That much is clear.

And look, I understand that there is a balance. For instance, I understand if Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State don’t want to *host* Friday night games. No issue from me there. What I don’t really understand is why Penn State seems to at least be fine with playing a Friday night game annually on the *road*, but Ohio State and Michigan refuse to do even that. Why do they care if, say, Rutgers wants to host their Michigan game on a Friday night for a national Fox audience as opposed to being buried on Peacock on Saturday? Particularly if that raises revenue for everyone in the league, including themselves, in the process? If several million more people watch that Rutgers-Michigan game because it’s on Fox on Friday compared to being on Peacock or BTN on Saturday, then that is helping the *fans* by providing them that non-conflicted time slot where they aren’t having to choose between that game versus another Big Ten game or a competing SEC game.

I know people get sick of me harping on the NFL, but they clearly know how to maximize revenue without even having to increase the number of games being played by understanding that each new TV window is another opportunity and they don’t just put their subpar product there. If college football didn’t care about maximizing revenue, then feel free to ignore the lessons of the NFL… but we all know full well that college football is going under every seat cushion hunting for revenue. Even Ohio State runs an athletic budget deficit! Even the wealthiest schools of them all can’t pass up any additional revenue at this point.

Halloween Speculation:

Big Ten:
Big Nooner: Minnesota at Indiana
CBS Big Time: Northwestern at Oregon
NBC Big Saturday Night: Ohio State at USC

NBC hasn't had one Ohio State game all season. You'd have to think NBC gets first pick at least a few times this year. This is probably one of the best weeks for them to get. FOX isn't going to have it when OSU-USC is the obvious top pick. CBS would want the game but it's Florida-Georgia week and everyone knows that game's always 3:30pm. Seems like an obvious Saturday night game.

Remaining Halloween games: Washington/Nebraska, Purdue/Penn State, Wisconsin/Iowa, Michigan/Rutgers, Illinois/Maryland, and Nevada/UCLA (non conference). A few of the games might top Northwestern/Oregon or even Minnesota/Indiana although I think FOX would take IU even if they lose to OSU with PSU down.

ABC: Auburn at Mississippi (locked into early slot), Florida vs. Georgia at Atlanta (locked, time, network, everything), Mississippi State at Texas (locked into night slot)

Remaining SEC games: South Carolina at Oklahoma, Missouri at Arkansas (both games are flex, noon games are out).

One game/matchup to watch for is Miami at North Carolina. I can see ESPN wanting to get that game on ABC in either the noon or prime time slot bumping the SEC to ESPN. Clemson at Florida State could get an ESPN slot although FSU getting spanked by Louisville doesn't help FSU's case (at least the game isn't an FSU road game).

The real fun comes November 7th...

Nov. 7 Speculation:

Big Ten:
Big Nooner: Iowa at Northwestern
CBS Big Time: Oregon at Ohio State

(NBC will have Miami at Notre Dame)

Remaining Big Ten games: Michigan State at Michigan, Penn State at Washington, UCLA at Minnesota, Maryland at Purdue, Rutgers at Wisconsin

If UCLA keeps winning they'd have some value to FOX but that also depends on Minnesota who just got pantsed by Purdue. Wisconsin could keep winning but Rutgers???? MSU/Mich is a rivalry game but neither team has a Big Ten win at this point.

SEC:

ABC: Texas at Missouri (locked into early slot), Georgia at Mississippi, LSU at Alabama

The dilemma here is Notre Dame/Miami is going to be huge. Does ABC/ESPN just protect LSU/Alabama and put it on at 3:30pm and throw Georgia/Mississippi against Notre Dame/Miami?

Other SEC games: Arkansas at Auburn (early window), Texas A&M at South Carolina (afternoon window), Kentucky at Tennessee (night window), Oklahoma at Florida (flex), Vanderbilt at Mississippi State (flex)

Arkansas-Auburn, Texas A&M-South Carolina, and Vanderbilt-Mississippi State look like the perfect SECN lineup. Kentucky-Tennessee doesn't look like it'll get onto ABC despite both teams ranked but would make for a good ESPN prime time game. Oklahoma-Florida probably looks like an ESPN 3:30pm game.

The elephant in the room is BYU at Utah. Who has it and where does it go? If I'm ESPN, it should be in their top four choices. But would you put it on over LSU/Alabama or even Georgia/Mississippi? Doubtful. Noon ET/10am MT might work. If it has to be on ESPN the graveyard shift is 8:30pm local time which is decent for both schools but cuts into the national audience. Do you just let them have an earlier ESPN slot as a compromise? If you're BYU/Utah and had to choose between 10am or 8:30pm what would you take?

If FOX gets it, you can easily justify it as the Big Nooner over Iowa/Northwestern or any Big Ten game that day.

Updated Oct. 31/Halloween:

ABC: Auburn at Mississippi, Florida vs. Georgia at Atlanta (locked), Miami at North Carolina
ESPN: Clemson at Florida State, Big 12?, Mississippi State at Texas (likely 6 day hold with South Carolina at Oklahoma)

Undefeated Miami + Belicheck > reeling Texas.

(10-13-2026 07:43 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(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.

To be fair, it seems the complaints are coming mainly from home team Arizona as opposed to Iowa State.

A scheduling blunder ...

Then again the alternatives that week were pretty bad. CBS is airing Michigan State at UCLA and there was a legitimate chance the Dodgers could've come back. Assuming FOX had locked up Indiana/Michigan, what else is out there?

(10-19-2026 07:08 AM)schmolik Wrote:  A scheduling blunder ...

Then again the alternatives that week were pretty bad. CBS is airing Michigan State at UCLA and there was a legitimate chance the Dodgers could've come back. Assuming FOX had locked up Indiana/Michigan, what else is out there?

Iowa-Minnesota was really the only other realistic option as a rivalry game choice for NBC. Oregon-Illinois was earmarked for BTN since Oregon needed a BTN conference game and their games the rest of the year are committed to or otherwise likely going to over-the-air networks. Ultimately, though, USC and Wisconsin are both bigger TV brand names than Iowa and Minnesota. They’d rather have the LA audience even if it means losing much of the Wisconsin audience.

This does bring up the point that the Big Ten region (both core Midwest and the expansion regions) has waaaaaaay more MLB fans than the SEC region and this regularly becomes a conflict virtually every year. There was a USC game on NBC that conflicted with a Dodgers World Series game last year. 17 MLB teams (over half) are in the Big Ten footprint compared to only 7 in the SEC footprint (with the Braves really being the only core SEC region team as there are 2 teams each in Texas, Missouri, and Florida). Plus, most of the Big Ten region MLB teams have much more intense fandom. Even if the Rays make the World Series, that would have far less impact in conflicting with a UF or FSU game compared to the Guardians in the World Series conflicting with an Ohio State game (and OSU is at the very top of the food chain for college football).

Every once in a while, it does work out like when Fox had Rutgers at USC scheduled to play a late night game after the World Series 2 years ago before the season started and that MLB matchup ended up being Dodgers-Yankees. That was an instance where the fact that the markets of the MLB and Big Ten teams overlapped helped the Big Ten game. Otherwise, though, just by the sheer number of MLB teams in the Big Ten footprint, it’s much more likely to create a conflict with the MLB postseason in general in any given year. Plus, the pro sports fan bases are generally just much stronger in the Midwest and then add on the Northeast and West Coast fan bases.

Happy Halloween!

Big Ten:



The Big Nooner? Wisconsin at Iowa! I'm gonna go out on a limb and say FOX didn't have first pick this week.

SEC:



Auburn-Mississippi relegated to SECN after Auburn's huge win over Georgia last Saturday? SECN must have wanted the game. Makes no sense.

Big 12:



So instead of Auburn-Mississippi, ABC/ESPN will air Arizona/Texas Tech. Arizona is ranked #25 in the AP poll. ESPN could just air Arizona/Texas Tech at 3:30pm ET on ESPN and dump Utah/Cincinnati to another slot to make room for Auburn-Mississippi.

How about a 2pm ET game? Be curious to see how that works out for them.

ACC:

https://theacc.com/news/2026/10/19/acc-f...unced.aspx

It's possible the ACC could get SNF again. Miami is ranked #1 and facing off against Bill Belicheck's UNC while Texas is free falling having lost two in a row. Will Kamario Taylor play for Mississippi State?

All I know is whatever ABC airs NBC (Ohio State at USC) should be favored to win its first Saturday window since Ohio State at Oregon back in 2024. Even better the Dodgers aren't in the World Series so piggy backing off Frank's World Series point that works out even better just in case the World Series goes seven games Game 7 would be on Halloween. On the other hand, Cleveland is still alive ! Could you imagine Cleveland fans having to choose between Game 7 of the World Series which practically no one has seen or a huge OSU game?

I think the SEC might have scheduled light this week because of both Halloween and the World Series Game 7 outside of Florida-Georgia. Since Alabama and LSU are playing the following week they're both off. Texas and Oklahoma are playing perennial bottom feeders.

Is NBC the Notre Dame network or the ... USC network?

USC's NBC games:
Aug. 29 vs. San Jose State (3pm ET)
Sept. 26 vs. Oregon
Oct. 3 vs. Washington
Oct. 10 at Penn State
Oct. 24 at Wisconsin
Oct. 31 vs. Ohio State

And they still have at Indiana on Nov. 14 and at UCLA Nov. 28. We know at UCLA can't be the Big Nooner so likely 50-50 it would be on NBC. USC-Indiana can be a Big Nooner and if FOX has first pick I'd favor that game to be their pick...

So who's CBS getting most often?

(10-19-2026 04:04 PM)schmolik Wrote:  Is NBC the Notre Dame network or the ... USC network?

So who's CBS getting most often?

Oregon x 2
Iowa x 2
Michigan x2

(10-19-2026 03:26 PM)schmolik Wrote:  Happy Halloween!

Big Ten:



The Big Nooner? Wisconsin at Iowa! I'm gonna go out on a limb and say FOX didn't have first pick this week.

SEC:



Auburn-Mississippi relegated to SECN after Auburn's huge win over Georgia last Saturday? SECN must have wanted the game. Makes no sense.

Big 12:



So instead of Auburn-Mississippi, ABC/ESPN will air Arizona/Texas Tech. Arizona is ranked #25 in the AP poll. ESPN could just air Arizona/Texas Tech at 3:30pm ET on ESPN and dump Utah/Cincinnati to another slot to make room for Auburn-Mississippi.

How about a 2pm ET game? Be curious to see how that works out for them.

ACC:

https://theacc.com/news/2026/10/19/acc-f...unced.aspx

It's possible the ACC could get SNF again. Miami is ranked #1 and facing off against Bill Belicheck's UNC while Texas is free falling having lost two in a row. Will Kamario Taylor play for Mississippi State?

All I know is whatever ABC airs NBC (Ohio State at USC) should be favored to win its first Saturday window since Ohio State at Oregon back in 2024. Even better the Dodgers aren't in the World Series so piggy backing off Frank's World Series point that works out even better just in case the World Series goes seven games Game 7 would be on Halloween. On the other hand, Cleveland is still alive ! Could you imagine Cleveland fans having to choose between Game 7 of the World Series which practically no one has seen or a huge OSU game?

I think the SEC might have scheduled light this week because of both Halloween and the World Series Game 7 outside of Florida-Georgia. Since Alabama and LSU are playing the following week they're both off. Texas and Oklahoma are playing perennial bottom feeders.

Cleveland sports fans are diehards in everything. I hate all of their teams, but their fans are super loyal. Game 7 of the World Series for the team with the longest current championship drought in baseball is priority #1 no matter how big of an Ohio State game there would be. I think that would be the case in every Big Ten market that overlaps with an MLB team. Like I’ve said, we’re pretty much all strong MLB markets across the board.

(10-19-2026 03:26 PM)schmolik Wrote:  Could you imagine Cleveland fans having to choose between Game 7 of the World Series which practically no one has seen

Ummmmm…

Nov. 7 Update:

BYU won over Notre Dame (In the Straight Up Pick Contest only 2 pickers picked BYU to win and I believe Notre Dame was a double digit favorite) while then #1 Georgia lost at home to Auburn (I believe they were favored by at least 20).

Now there's a better chance both BYU and Utah will both be undefeated come Nov. 7 (BYU plays at UCF and at home to Arizona State, both 3-3 while Utah hosts 6-1 Houston and is at 4-2 Cincinnati who hasn't lost at home all season).

The question comes whether ESPN or FOX has the rights to the game. Last year FOX did but I can't believe there are four more valuable Big 12 games than this one (Notre Dame/BYU is one but can you name three others, especially since Texas Tech's schedule was incredibly weak)? Assuming ESPN has the rights, it's hard to justify putting BYU/Utah on ABC in either the 3:30pm or prime time slot over either Georgia/Mississippi (both ranked in the top 7) or Alabama/LSU. Now the noon ET slot on ABC is a possibility and would make the most sense. Both Georgia/Mississippi and Alabama/LSU are flex by the SEC so they can't be noon ET games. As I mentioned before, if FOX has the rights it's a given it will be the Big Nooner.

One thing that might happen Nov. 7 is FOX could air a Big Ten game in prime time in addition to the Big Nooner. We did see it Week 3 when FOX aired Colorado/Northwestern on top of Kent State/Ohio State as the Big Nooner. Last year FOX aired Nebraska at UCLA opposite Navy at Notre Dame on NBC although the start time for Nebraska-UCLA was 9pm ET instead of the usual 7:30pm (Colorado-Northwestern did air at 7:30pm). Could the new trend be FOX airing Big Ten games in prime time when NBC airs Notre Dame games? I would like to see it. It would give the Big Ten their third OTA Saturday game that week and could open Penn State-Washington to an OTA slot (assuming FOX wants it of course). If FOX has the rights to BYU-Utah and airs it as the Big Nooner they can just air a Big Ten game in prime time instead of noon then.

(10-20-2026 02:46 AM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  

(10-19-2026 03:26 PM)schmolik Wrote:  Could you imagine Cleveland fans having to choose between Game 7 of the World Series which practically no one has seen

Ummmmm…

OK, I meant no one has seen WIN.

I found a tweet saying LSU got more night games than others. This goes all the way back to 2001.



The old SEC contract had the CBS 3:30pm slot being the top slot each week so it prevented the idea of "prime time's the best". LSU getting the most night games has definitely been a long trend.

But it's interesting to see who's on the bottom and it's pretty significantly ahead (or behind) the others. Georgia! Is that a choice for them to not play home games at Sanford Stadium? For many years they were in the SEC East who doesn't play Alabama so I can see the SEC West Division schools playing Alabama more often and getting more night games as a result. Georgia hasn't played Florida in Athens since 1995 so no Georgia-Florida games are included in this list.

When it came to Alabama games, Alabama-LSU was fairly often CBS's annual prime time game. I believe most Iron Bowls were not prime time but were 3:30pm ET kickoffs. Meanwhile Mississippi State only appeared on CBS 15 times so my guess is many Alabama-Mississippi State games in Starkville were not on CBS but there's a good chance a lot of them were on ESPN in prime time. Mississippi appeared 27 times (by comparison Texas A&M appeared 24 times after joining the SEC in 2012) so there's a decent chance a lot of Alabama-Mississippi games in Oxford were night ESPN games as well.

Since ABC took over SEC rights, Georgia has hosted just four night games out of 18 total home games to date: 2024 Tennessee and Georgia Tech and 2025 Alabama and Texas. In 2026 Georgia has yet to play a night home game this season. They're the ONLY SEC team that hasn't played a night home game this season. Now a lot of SEC teams play a home night game vs. a cupcake. SECN+ games are usually flexible since you don't have to fit ESPN or even SECN's schedule. Georgia's SECN+ game was opening week vs. Tennessee State. I'd have to believe if UGa wanted to play that game at night they would have. They played at 3pm ET.

(10-19-2026 06:34 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(10-19-2026 03:26 PM)schmolik Wrote:  Happy Halloween!

Big Ten:



The Big Nooner? Wisconsin at Iowa! I'm gonna go out on a limb and say FOX didn't have first pick this week.

SEC:



Auburn-Mississippi relegated to SECN after Auburn's huge win over Georgia last Saturday? SECN must have wanted the game. Makes no sense.

Big 12:



So instead of Auburn-Mississippi, ABC/ESPN will air Arizona/Texas Tech. Arizona is ranked #25 in the AP poll. ESPN could just air Arizona/Texas Tech at 3:30pm ET on ESPN and dump Utah/Cincinnati to another slot to make room for Auburn-Mississippi.

How about a 2pm ET game? Be curious to see how that works out for them.

ACC:

https://theacc.com/news/2026/10/19/acc-f...unced.aspx

It's possible the ACC could get SNF again. Miami is ranked #1 and facing off against Bill Belicheck's UNC while Texas is free falling having lost two in a row. Will Kamario Taylor play for Mississippi State?

All I know is whatever ABC airs NBC (Ohio State at USC) should be favored to win its first Saturday window since Ohio State at Oregon back in 2024. Even better the Dodgers aren't in the World Series so piggy backing off Frank's World Series point that works out even better just in case the World Series goes seven games Game 7 would be on Halloween. On the other hand, Cleveland is still alive ! Could you imagine Cleveland fans having to choose between Game 7 of the World Series which practically no one has seen or a huge OSU game?

I think the SEC might have scheduled light this week because of both Halloween and the World Series Game 7 outside of Florida-Georgia. Since Alabama and LSU are playing the following week they're both off. Texas and Oklahoma are playing perennial bottom feeders.

Cleveland sports fans are diehards in everything. I hate all of their teams, but their fans are super loyal. Game 7 of the World Series for the team with the longest current championship drought in baseball is priority #1 no matter how big of an Ohio State game there would be. I think that would be the case in every Big Ten market that overlaps with an MLB team. Like I’ve said, we’re pretty much all strong MLB markets across the board.

I could see Wisconsin or Minnesota taking the football. Not counting PA, which is split between two teams (each would take their own over Penn State, of course, but wouldn't even lift a sideways eye at the other being in a World Series.) Ohio is also a special case, as OSU has so many, including multiple in the last decade, that its just not special enough to compete with a Reds or Indians WS.