CFB TV Guesses for 2021 Week 6 (10/9/21)

Here are the games already set for television and/or webcast. Here are the known available telecast windows. 

I have done my best to list what TV windows are out there. Every listing service has a little different schedule for these networks. It is also possible that a window could be eliminated or the time of a window could shift slightly to accommodate a network's needs.

Some considerations you may want to be aware of

* ESPN has preselected the following games but not slotted their network and/or start time:

• Oklahoma vs. Texas (ABC, ESPN, ESPN2)
• Notre Dame at Virginia Tech (ACC Network)

* FOX Sports has preselected the following games but not slotted their network and/or start time:

• Utah at USC (FOX or FS1)
• San Jose State at Colorado State (FOX, FS1 or FS2)
• New Mexico vs. San Diego State (FOX, FS1 or FS2)

* The following Big Ten games have already had their start times set as homecoming games:

• Maryland at Ohio State (12pm)
• Michigan State at Rutgers (12pm)
• Wisconsin at Illinois (3:30pm or 4pm)

* CBS has a SEC doubleheader with a primetime game.  When this occurs, ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU cannot air any primetime SEC games.  Only SEC Network can.

* Speaking of the SEC doubleheader - some TV stations and publications may have given away the games they chose, which aren't surprising choices at all.

* BTN will not have a primetime game as they have women's volleyball scheduled.

* Both ESPN2 and FS1 are carrying the prelim bouts for the Tyson Fury-Deonte Wilder card from 7-9pm ET as it is a joint Top Rank-PBC promoted card, meaning that ESPN and FOX Sports are jointly producing and promoting the PPV card.

* FOX has three Saturday broadcast network windows for the first time since Labor Day Weekend.  They have no MLB postseason commitments on this day as the ALDS has a travel day scheduled.

* When FOX locked in Penn State-Iowa for their mid-afternoon game, it made for interesting slotting of the Maryland-Ohio State, Oklahoma-Texas and West Virginia-Baylor.  An alternative to what I have listed is to have Oklahoma-Texas at 12pm on ABC, Maryland-Ohio State on FOX at 12pm and West Virginia-Baylor on ABC at 3:30pm.  That alternative could also swap WVU-Baylor to ABC's primetime slot with Michigan-Nebraska going to mid-afternoon on ABC.

* FS2 isn't listing any windows, so I slipped both Mountain West games into openings on FS1.

* The top picks from the Big 12 (ESPN), Big Ten (FOX) and Pac-12 (FOX) seemed to be done in advance.

Some early trends to consider:

Big Ten

* ESPN appears to have had the top Saturday selection just once (9/18, Auburn at Penn State), so I would expect them to go on a run of top selections.

* Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Penn State and Wisconsin needs to appear once on BTN against another Big Ten opponent.  In the case of Minnesota, it is once more against a Big Ten school as they did not have any non-conference games on BTN.

* Counting future selections

• ESPN Networks: 11
• Four in primetime (including weeknights) with a minimum of six
• FOX Sports: 16
• Six in primetime (including weeknights) with a max of nine.

Big 12

* More of an even split in terms of top Saturday choice

• ESPN Networks: 9/11, 9/25, 10/9
• FOX Sports: 9/4, 9/18, 10/2

* ESPN Networks has used 13 of their 23 selections.

* At least 15 games have been earmarked for ABC, FOX, ESPN or FS1 out of a minimum of 25 games.

Pac-12

* In terms of Saturday top choice, I think this is the following split, though the Pac-12's use of priority selections where both ESPN and FOX can choose a game in advance of the weekly draft order skews this somewhat

• ESPN Networks:  9/25, 10/2
• FOX Sports: 9/4, 9/11, 9/18, 10/9

* ESPN Networks has used 10 of their 22 selections and must air one more game on ABC that is in primetime on the east coast.

* FOX Sports has used 12 of their 22 selections.  Four more games must air on FOX and of those four, at least two must air in primetime on the east coast.

Now to the guesses.  All times Eastern:

12pm ABC: Maryland at Ohio State

12pm FOX: West Virginia at Baylor

12pm ESPN: Arkansas at Ole Miss

12pm ESPN2: Vanderbilt at Florida

12pm FS1: TCU at Texas Tech

12pm ESPNU: Miami (OH) at Eastern Michigan

12pm SECN: North Texas at Missouri

12pm BTN: Michigan State at Rutgers

12pm ACCN: Notre Dame at Virginia Tech

12:30pm ACC RSN: Wake Forest at Syracuse

3:30pm ABC: Oklahoma vs. Texas

3:30pm CBS: Georgia at Auburn

3:30pm ESPN: Boise State at BYU

3:30pm ESPN2: ECU at UCF

3:30pm FS1: San Jose State at Colorado State

3:30pm ESPNU: Middle Tennessee at Liberty

3:30pm BTN: Wisconsin at Illinois

4pm SECN: South Carolina at Tennessee

4pm ACCN: Virginia at Louisville

6pm Pac-12: Oregon State at Washington State

7pm ESPN: Florida State at North Carolina

7pm ESPNU: South Alabama at Texas State

7:30pm ABC: Michigan at Nebraska

7:30pm SECN: LSU at Kentucky

7:30pm ACCN: Georgia Tech at Duke

8pm CBS: Alabama at Texas A&M

8pm FOX: Utah at USC

9pm ESPN2: Memphis at Tulsa

9pm FS1: New Mexico vs. San Diego State

10:30pm ESPN: UCLA at Arizona

ESPN3 or ESPN+

Georgia Southern at Troy

Georgia State at ULM

Akron at Bowling Green

Ball State at Western Michigan

Buffalo at Kent State

Central Michigan at Ohio