(08-11-2020 05:03 PM)epasnoopy Wrote: Agreed, they should cut the number of games on weekdays. The whole idea of shifting 4 games to Tuesday and Thursday every week of November just for one of them to maybe be selected for ESPN2, while the rest get regulated to ESPNU or ESPN3 is pointless.
The deal to be on ESPN2 is clearly that the MAC schedules 2 so that ESPN can take its preference for ESPN2.
For the MACtion period in 2019, the first week of MACtion was "week 11", with 3 games, 2 on November 5th (Tue), one on ESPN2, one on November 6th (Wed), on ESPN2. (Week 10 was 3 days earlier with the other three conference games).
The second week was week 12, with two Tuesday, two Wednesday, one Thursday and one Saturday game. The two pairs were on ESPN2 and ESPNU, the Thursday game was on CBSSN, and the Saturday game was on CBSSN.
The third week was week 13, with two Tuesday games, two Wednesday games, and one Saturday game. The weeknight pairs were on ESPN2 and ESPNU, and the Saturday game was on ESPN+.
The fourth week was Thanksgiving week, with two on Tuesday and and four on Black Friday. Thanksgiving week was the only one that fit the dismal description above, with the Tuesday pair on ESPNU and ESPN+ and the Black Friday games on ESPNU, CBSSN, and two on ESPN+.
Thanksgiving is just a killer. In 2019, the Egg Bowl was played on Thursday, Virginia vs Virginia Tech and the Apple Cup on Friday, just because there's no oxygen on Saturday with The Game, the Iron Bowl, Bedlam, Louisville at Kentucky, Georgia at Georgia Tech, Notre Dame / Stanford, Florida State / Florida, UNC / NCSU, Arizona at Arizona State.
But aside from Thanksgiving Week, it seems like the picture you are painting is fictitious. When four were scheduled for Tuesday/Wednesday, two were on ESPN2 and two were on ESPNU.
One thing the MAC
should be doing is scheduling its Rivalry Week in the 3rd Saturday in October, with Toledo/Bowling Green, Ohio/Miami, and Kent/Akron locked on that weekend.
If the Battle of Michigan games rotate, since EMU might not be onboard with the CMU/WMU game being singled out as "the" Michigan rivalry game, then in turn the 1st game of the Battle for Michigan would be before "MAC Rivalry Week" and the finale the following week, so all three schools are guaranteed their home "Battle of Michigan" game is before MACtion starts.