Week 4 - six day options

Here are the games that got selected for the six day option in week 4 (9/26) -- Meaning we won't know until 9/20 when and where they will be broadcast.

Let's see if we can figure out what week 3 games will help determine the time or channel.


Georgia Tech at Duke – Noon, ESPN2 or ESPNU
UCF at South Carolina – Noon, ESPNU or ESPN2

These are probably dependent on GT/Notre Dame and Georgia/SC.  I think a GT win over ND would guarantee them the ESPN2 slot.   But then again, the ACC seems to get a lot more ESPNU slots ever since the SEC Network started.

LSU at Syracuse – Noon, ABC or ESPN
BYU at Michigan – Noon, ABC/ESPN/2

I don't know why they list ESPN2 as an option for BYU/Michigan, as that channel already has two options, unless they were going to reverse mirror, and they didn't list that above.  Since ABC can't show SEC home games, I would think they'd want LSU/Syracuse.  Maybe it's dependent on how BYU and Michigan do this week?

Virginia Tech at East Carolina – Noon or 3:30pm, TV TBA
Navy at UConn – Noon or 3:30pm, TV TBA

This is the wildcard of the bunch.  It's says TV TBA, but the only slots available based on TV rights and other schedules are Noon on CBS Sports Network or 3:30 on ABC/ESPN/ESPN2.  More than likely, the time slots/networks are dependent on the winner of ECU/Navy in week 3, where the winner gets the "better" slot.  If it was just a matter of timeslot, I would pick the winner to get 3:30.  But the different networks (CBS vs. ESPN) make it a bit more complicated.  Maybe I'm being a homer, but I have to imagine that VT/ECU is more attractive to ESPN.  Besides, Navy/UConn just screams CBS Sports.

Oklahoma State at Texas – 3:30pm, ABC/ESPN/2
Western Michigan at Ohio State – 3:30pm, ABC/ESPN/2

Ohio State and Texas are good national brands right now (sort of), which is probably what ABC is looking for.  Texas has a conference matchup, which might give them the edge.  The third game in the rotation would be either VT/ECU or Navy/UConn, neither of which I see getting ABC.  However, the reverse mirror could throw a monkey wrench in the plans.

Arkansas vs. Texas A&M – 7 or 7:30pm, ESPN/2 or SECN
Mississippi State at Auburn – 7 or 7:30pm, ESPN/2 or SECN
Missouri at Kentucky – 7 or 7:30pm, ESPN/2 or SECN

All of these are SEC conference games, so it's just a matter of what those teams do in week three.  At the moment, four of the teams are 2-0, and two are 1-1, so I imagine it's just a matter of how they separate themselves in week 3.

My predictions:
LSU at Syracuse – Noon, ABC
BYU at Michigan – Noon, ESPN

Georgia Tech at Duke – Noon, ESPN2

UCF at South Carolina – Noon, ESPNU

Navy at UConn – Noon, CBS Sports Network

Oklahoma State at Texas – 3:30pm, ABC
Western Michigan at Ohio State – 3:30pm, ESPN

Virginia Tech at East Carolina – 3:30pm, ESPN2

(hedging my bets a bit, if there's a reverse mirror, I would say VT/ECU gets ESPN, and the other two games split ABC/ESPN2)

And the three SEC games are such a toss up, that it's all interchangeable.