Weekly Viewer's Guide

My weekly guide to what games are on TV and which games you should be watching in each time slot.


Morning Games - Kickoff at 9 AM PT
Kansas St. vs Oklahoma St. - FSN
Illinois vs Purdue - ESPN2
Cincinnati vs Syracuse - ESPNU
South Carolina vs Tennessee - SEC Network/ESPN Gameplan
Boston College vs Clemson - ACC Network/ESPN Gameplan
Virginia vs Miami - ESPN
Indiana vs Northwestern - Big Ten Network

For those on the West Coast, this is a good sleep in day. While there are a lot of games and the Kansas St./Oklahoma St. has some significance because of Oklahoma St. still controlling its destiny in the Big 12 South, the rest is average at best. For the most part this is the reality in the ABC Saturday Night Football era. There just isn't much in this time slot with the extra night games.

Afternoon Games - Kickoff at 1230 PM PT
Nebraska vs Missouri - ABC/ESPN
Iowa vs Michigan St. - ABC/ESPN
Florida vs Georgia - CBS
UCLA vs Arizona - FSN
Notre Dame vs Tulsa - NBC
Maryland vs Wake Forest - ESPNU
Navy vs Duke - CBS College Sports

Since it is obvious what the two best games are and what every non-SEC fan should be watching, please allow me to rant for a second. Why are the two ABC games split with the rest getting the game on ESPN. While this is normally noble and I normally support it, with only two games it causes a big problem. Notably, it means that much of the country including my current location of Las Vegas will not have access to the Michigan St./Iowa game in HD. This is ridiculous. With only two games, just televise one nationally on ABC and the other on ESPN and make everyone happy.

Afternoon Snack - 3PM PT Kickoff
Ole Miss vs Auburn - ESPN2

Obviously Auburn is appointment viewing for me and with Cam Newton, any Auburn game is worth a look. Check in after the afternoon games are done but before turning attention completely to the primetime games and stick with this one if it is close (a distinct possibility).

Primetime Games - 4-5PM PT Kickoff
USC vs Oregon - ABC Regional/ESPN Gameplan
Texas vs Baylor - FSN
Washington vs Stanford - Versus
Air Force vs Utah - CBS College Sports
Penn St. vs Michigan - ESPN
Mississippi St. vs Kentucky - ESPNU
Arkansas vs Vanderbilt - FSN Regional/ESPN Gameplan
Minnesota vs Ohio St. - ABC Regional/ESPN Gameplan

The top game is once again obvious, but good luck to those of you in Big Ten country that don't have espn3 or ESPN Gameplan. You people are getting screwed. Not only do you not get the USC/Oregon game that is among the biggest of the week, you get the ultimate booby prize with Ohio St. traveling to coachless, hapless, inept Minnesota. The rest of the country has sympathy for you.

Late Night Games - 6PM PT or later start
Oklahoma vs Colorado - ESPN2
UNLV vs TCU - CBS College Sports
Nevada vs Utah St. - ESPNU

For those on the East Coast, you may go to bed rather than watch this. There is no entertaining looking shootout happening in this time slot in the Pac-10. No there are just probable blowouts the likes of which probably shouldn't be shown on tv because they will ugly beatdowns. Its a win if any of the underdogs keep this within three touchdowns.