First Down Kentucky: Early Kickoff Times Provide a Taste of College Football
We are more than 100 days away from a week zero edition of College GameDay in Dublin, Ireland, which means it’s the perfect time to dream about college football Saturdays. For some odd reason, today is the day that kickoff times were released for the most attention-grabbing games of the early college football season.
In news that will surprise no one, Kentucky’s week one matchup with Southern Miss was not included in the press releases. The Big Blue Nation will have to wait until Thursday, May 30 for all of the early kickoff times to be announced.
This year we may get treated to more than the first three weeks of the season. Now that ESPN holds exclusive rights to every SEC football game, the league will be able to provide more than two week’s notice for every kickoff time. We must be patient a little longer, but for now, imagine a world of warm Saturdays next to an ice-cold cooler accompanied by a full slate of exciting college football games.
Aug. 24
Florida State vs. Georgia Tech, Noon, ESPN, Ireland
Florida A&M vs. Norfolk State, 7:30 pm, ABC
Thursday, Aug. 29
North Dakota State at Colorado, 8 pm EST, ESPN
Friday, Aug. 30
Temple at Oklahoma, 7 pm, ESPN
TCU at Stanford, 10:30 pm, ESPN
Aug. 31
Clemson vs. Georgia, Noon, ABC, Atlanta
Miami at Florida, 3:30 pm, ABC
Colorado State at Texas, 3:30 pm, ESPN
Western Kentucky at Alabama, 7 pm, ESPN
Notre Dame at Texas A&M, 7:30 pm, ABC
Sept. 1
USC vs. LSU, 7:30 pm, ABC, Las Vegas
Sept. 2
Boston College at Florida State, 7:30 pm, ESPN
A Sad State of Affairs in the Pac-12
The Pac-12 doesn’t have to worry about national broadcasters creating specific timeslots for games. The league fell apart after it failed to provide a competitive long-term TV contract. Oregon State and Washington State are all that’s left. They didn’t want to get left behind on this newsy day, so they shared a very sad schedule update for games this fall on the CW. Imagine cheering for the Cougars or the Beavers. It’s so depressing.
Marquee Games for Fox, NBC
NBC got this ball rolling earlier this week by announcing the first two games for its Saturday night broadcasts. The second year of “Big Ten Saturday Night” kicks off with defending champion Michigan vs. Fresno State on Aug. 31, followed by Coach Prime a week later who is taking Colorado to Nebraska, renewing an old Big 12 rivalry.
Michigan is getting the Big Noon spotlight in week two when the Wolverines host Texas. Fox is diversifying its Big Ten portfolio with another interesting non-conference matchup a week later with Alabama at Wisconsin. Fox also felt the need to tell us that Big Noon Kickoff will be there for the Michigan-Ohio State because nobody saw that coming from 700 miles away.
Fox sucks. They’re the worst and I will stand by that until they change the name of their broadcast to Big Noon-Thirty because that’s how long it takes for them to actually kick the ball off on that network.
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