{"id":92717,"date":"2025-05-31T07:47:33","date_gmt":"2025-05-31T07:47:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/92717\/"},"modified":"2025-05-31T07:47:33","modified_gmt":"2025-05-31T07:47:33","slug":"predicting-the-first-3-weeks-of-the-2025-college-football-tv-schedule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/92717\/","title":{"rendered":"Predicting the first 3 weeks of the 2025 college football TV schedule"},"content":{"rendered":"

Conferences reveal their complete kickoff time and network placement schedules for the first three weeks of the college football<\/a> season Thursday. At The Athletic, it has become an annual, if semi-futile, exercise to project at what time and on which network those games appear. Like an NFL mock draft, if we pick one incorrect time or network, it implodes much of the entire lineup. But nobody will (or should) remember this mini-mock draft once the full slate is unveiled.<\/p>\n

Before reading the rundown, here\u2019s a refresher on each league\u2019s television contract. This is the second season the ESPN family of networks (ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and SEC Network) has exclusive rights to the SEC\u2019s home games and in-conference matchups. The ACC has a similar rundown (subbing out SEC Network for ACC Network) with a weekly game on The CW. The Big 12 continues its partnerships with ESPN and Fox and has added TNT, which will show 13 games featuring conference members this fall.<\/p>\n

This is the Big Ten\u2019s second full year split among Fox, NBC and CBS, which conducted a draft earlier this spring. Fox largely broadcasts Big Ten football at noon ET, while CBS commands the 3:30 p.m. ET time slot and NBC airs games in primetime. FS1 and BTN also broadcast Big Ten games, and Peacock streams around nine contests each year. Notre Dame has an exclusive contract with NBC for its home games, and the network previously announced those start times. For the Irish\u2019s three primetime kickoffs, NBC will shuffle its Big Ten time slot.<\/p>\n

Among the other conferences, the Mountain West has deals with Fox, TNT and CBS, while the American appears on ESPN\u2019s family of networks. In their second and final year as the Pac-2, Oregon State and Washington State have agreements with The CW, ESPN and CBS. The Sun Belt airs exclusively on ESPN, while the MAC and Conference USA compete on ESPN and CBS Sports Network.<\/p>\n

We chose to focus on Weeks 1-3 rather than incorporating Week 0 (Aug. 23), which contains just one power-conference matchup: Iowa State versus Kansas State in Dublin, Ireland (noon ET, ESPN). For this exercise, we included games that appear on Fox, CBS, NBC, ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and FS1, or games already set on The CW or other networks. TNT has kickoff windows all over the place, so the three Big 12 games here are more network-based projections. All times Eastern.<\/p>\n

Week 1<\/p>\n

The season\u2019s first full weekend includes several games with times and networks already released. The SEC traditionally opens the season with powerhouse nonconference matchups, and this year is no different. On the season\u2019s first Saturday, the SEC scheduled three games against the ACC, and all three have been unveiled in primary viewing windows: Tennessee versus Syracuse in Atlanta (noon, ABC), Alabama at Florida State (3:30 p.m., ABC) and LSU at Clemson (7:30 p.m., ABC). ESPN also announced California at Oregon State (9:30 p.m.) in a meeting of former Pac-12 North Division foes.<\/p>\n

ABC\/ESPN also announced a Thursday doubleheader (Boise State at USF, 5:30 p.m., ESPN; Nebraska versus Cincinnati in Kansas City, 9 p.m., ESPN) and standalone games on Friday (Georgia Tech at Colorado, 8 p.m., ESPN) and Sunday (South Carolina versus Virginia Tech in Atlanta, 3 p.m., ESPN; Notre Dame at Miami, 7:30 p.m., ABC) plus Bill Belichick\u2019s North Carolina debut Monday against TCU (7:30 p.m., ESPN). With the remaining SEC and ACC games a hodgepodge of matchups against non-power programs, there\u2019s little room for projection. Plus, U.S. Open tennis coverage could impact ESPN\u2019s time selections Saturday.<\/p>\n

The Big Ten has one power-packed matchup (which Fox already has claimed) with Ohio State opening against Texas in a College Football Playoff semifinal rematch. It seems likely the Big Ten will announce this kickoff time in conjunction with a future night game or two to pacify an agitated Buckeyes fan base that has grown weary of noon kickoffs. But Fox, which airs primetime baseball on the first two college football Saturdays, has too much equity invested in the noon window, which is where we project this matchup. As for the remaining games, the Big Ten\u2019s media partners are left to just one power-conference clash, and that features former Pac-12 foes Utah and UCLA. We\u2019ll project NBC will air the Bruins\u2019 debut of quarterback Nico Iamaleava at the Rose Bowl in primetime, and CBS will pick up Penn State\u2019s season opener against Nevada.<\/p>\n

Of the Big 12\u2019s unannounced kickoff times and networks, Auburn at Baylor<\/a> on the opening Friday is the best game available by far. This is a perfect spot for Fox to go head-to-head with Georgia Tech at Colorado. The Big Ten also has discussed moving a game to Labor Day Sunday, but we\u2019ll avoid placing it in this projection.<\/p>\n

Week 1 predicted programming<\/p>\n

MatchupTimeNetwork<\/p>\n

Thursday, Aug. 28<\/p>\n

Boise State at USF <\/p>\n

5:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

ESPN<\/p>\n

Ohio at Rutgers <\/p>\n

7 p.m.<\/p>\n

FS1<\/p>\n

Miami (Ohio) at Wisconsin <\/p>\n

8 p.m.<\/p>\n

Fox<\/p>\n

Nebraska vs. Cincinnati (Kansas City) <\/p>\n

9 p.m.<\/p>\n

ESPN<\/p>\n

Friday, Aug. 29<\/p>\n

Georgia Tech at Colorado <\/p>\n

8 p.m.<\/p>\n

ESPN<\/p>\n

Auburn at Baylor <\/p>\n

8 p.m.<\/p>\n

Fox<\/p>\n

Western Michigan at Michigan State <\/p>\n

8 p.m.<\/p>\n

FS1<\/p>\n

Saturday, Aug. 30<\/p>\n

Tennessee vs. Syracuse (Atlanta)<\/p>\n

Noon<\/p>\n

ABC<\/p>\n

Texas at Ohio State<\/p>\n

Noon<\/p>\n

Fox<\/p>\n

Georgia State at Ole Miss<\/p>\n

Noon<\/p>\n

ESPN<\/p>\n

Northwestern at Tulane<\/p>\n

Noon<\/p>\n

ESPN2<\/p>\n

Old Dominion at Indiana<\/p>\n

Noon<\/p>\n

FS1<\/p>\n

Alabama at Florida State<\/p>\n

3:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

ABC<\/p>\n

Nevada at Penn State<\/p>\n

3:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

CBS<\/p>\n

Marshall at Georgia<\/p>\n

3:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

ESPN2<\/p>\n

New Mexico at Michigan<\/p>\n

4 p.m.<\/p>\n

FS1<\/p>\n

LSU at Clemson<\/p>\n

7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

ABC<\/p>\n

Utah at UCLA<\/p>\n

7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

NBC<\/p>\n

UTSA at Texas A&M<\/p>\n

7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

ESPN<\/p>\n

Mississippi State at Southern Miss<\/p>\n

7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

ESPN2<\/p>\n

Colorado State at Washington<\/p>\n

7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

FS1<\/p>\n

Idaho at Washington State<\/p>\n

10 p.m.<\/p>\n

CW<\/p>\n

California at Oregon State<\/p>\n

10:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

ESPN<\/p>\n

Hawaii at Arizona<\/p>\n

10:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

TNT<\/p>\n

Georgia Southern at Fresno State<\/p>\n

10:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

FS1<\/p>\n

Sunday, Aug. 31<\/p>\n

South Carolina vs. Virginia Tech (Atlanta)<\/p>\n

3 p.m.<\/p>\n

ESPN<\/p>\n

Notre Dame at Miami<\/p>\n

7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

ABC<\/p>\n

Monday, Sept. 1<\/p>\n

TCU at North Carolina<\/p>\n

7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

ESPN<\/p>\n

Week 2<\/p>\n

The Big Ten needs to make some scheduling changes to avoid this situation every other year. The league controls just five nonconference games against power-conference opponents all season, and only two are set for this week. In Week 2, the Big Ten\u2019s three best nonconference games are under the opposing conference\u2019s control. With three major networks paying to show Big Ten games, that\u2019s an issue. Perhaps one future solution is to start conference action earlier to ensure more early matchups of sufficient quality for Big Ten rightsholders.<\/p>\n

Although Fox controls many of the top selections in the Big Ten\u2019s annual draft, this seems like a week it wouldn\u2019t mind selecting third. We\u2019ll give CBS the top choice with top-10 Oregon hosting Oklahoma State (3:30 p.m.) and NBC picking Boston College at Michigan State for primetime. On Fox, highly ranked Penn State at home against Florida International for Big Noon. We predict Fox will make up for its soft opening in Week 2 with the heated Cy-Hawk rivalry between Iowa and Iowa State in the late afternoon.<\/p>\n

The SEC has the rights to the week\u2019s top game, Michigan at Oklahoma (7:30 p.m., ABC). We also project ABC to air the return of the Kansas-Missouri blood feud (3:30 p.m.) and Ole Miss at Kentucky, providing the perfect curtain raiser to conference play (noon, ABC). On ESPN, Illinois-Duke is a sneaky-good start to the day alongside the \u201cnonconference\u201d game between longtime ACC foes Virginia and NC State<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With ESPN airing the women\u2019s U.S. Open final at 4 p.m., Texas quarterback Arch Manning\u2019s 2025 home debut against San Jose State shifts to ESPN2. The ESPN\/ESPN2 primetime slate opposite Michigan-Oklahoma involves multiple College Football Playoff teams, with SMU hosting Baylor and defending Big 12 champion Arizona State traveling to Mississippi State.<\/p>\n

Week 2 predicted programming<\/p>\n

MatchupTimeNetwork<\/p>\n

Ole Miss at Kentucky<\/p>\n

Noon<\/p>\n

ABC<\/p>\n

Florida International at Penn State<\/p>\n

Noon<\/p>\n

Fox<\/p>\n

Illinois at Duke<\/p>\n

Noon<\/p>\n

ESPN<\/p>\n

Virginia at NC State<\/p>\n

Noon<\/p>\n

ESPN2<\/p>\n

Akron at Nebraska<\/p>\n

Noon<\/p>\n

FS1<\/p>\n

Kansas at Missouri<\/p>\n

3:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

ABC<\/p>\n

Oklahoma State at Oregon<\/p>\n

3:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

CBS<\/p>\n

San Jose State at Texas<\/p>\n

3:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

ESPN2<\/p>\n

Fresno State at Oregon State<\/p>\n

3:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

CW<\/p>\n

Iowa at Iowa State<\/p>\n

4 p.m.<\/p>\n

Fox<\/p>\n

Army at Kansas State<\/p>\n

4 p.m.<\/p>\n

TNT<\/p>\n

Michigan at Oklahoma<\/p>\n

7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

ABC<\/p>\n

Boston College at Michigan State<\/p>\n

7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

NBC<\/p>\n

Baylor at SMU<\/p>\n

7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

ESPN<\/p>\n

Arizona State at Mississippi State<\/p>\n

7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

ESPN2<\/p>\n

UCLA at UNLV<\/p>\n

7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

FS1<\/p>\n

San Diego State at Washington State<\/p>\n

10:15 p.m.<\/p>\n

CW<\/p>\n

Stanford at BYU<\/p>\n

10:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

ESPN<\/p>\n

Georgia Southern at USC<\/p>\n

10:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

Fox<\/p>\n

Sacramento State at Nevada<\/p>\n

10:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

FS1<\/p>\n

Week 3<\/p>\n

The SEC again takes center stage in Week 3 with defending league champion Georgia traveling to Tennessee in a battle of 2024 CFP participants. Florida at LSU is the SEC\u2019s second-best matchup, but whenever Death Valley is involved, there\u2019s a tug-of-war between time slot and network. For us, the night atmosphere on ESPN wins over ABC in the midday. ABC then opts for a Big Ten-SEC midday clash in Tuscaloosa featuring Wisconsin-Alabama. Arkansas-Ole Miss opens the day on ABC.<\/p>\n

The Big Ten\u2019s weak early slate continues, but at least it has two conference games. When the matchups appear uneven in the Big Ten, it\u2019s a good rule to bet on the most marketable or highest-ranked team for national exposure. In this case, we have Fox with the first selection, and it picks up Oregon at Northwestern at noon while CBS takes USC at Purdue at 3:30. NBC has already announced Texas A&M at Notre Dame in prime time, so that shifts its Big Ten game to the afternoon. None of the Big Ten\u2019s other games include a power-conference opponent, so when in doubt, go with Ohio State.<\/p>\n

Should Fox land the Big 12\u2019s top choice this week, look for the Backyard Brawl to air either mid-afternoon or in the evening. ESPN snags a spunky ACC pseudo-rivalry with Clemson at Georgia Tech, which has the potential to impact the CFP race. ESPN picks up Minnesota at California, and although it could become an after-dark kickoff, a power-conference matchup between two 2024 bowl teams has more value in the middle of the afternoon than late at night.<\/p>\n

Week 3 predicted programming<\/p>\n

MatchupTimeNetwork<\/p>\n

Arkansas at Ole Miss<\/p>\n

Noon<\/p>\n

ABC<\/p>\n

Oregon at Northwestern<\/p>\n

Noon<\/p>\n

Fox<\/p>\n

Vanderbilt at South Carolina<\/p>\n

Noon<\/p>\n

ESPN<\/p>\n

Duke at Tulane<\/p>\n

Noon<\/p>\n

ESPN2<\/p>\n

Central Michigan at Michigan<\/p>\n

Noon<\/p>\n

FS1<\/p>\n

Wisconsin at Alabama<\/p>\n

3:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

ABC<\/p>\n

USC at Purdue<\/p>\n

3:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

CBS<\/p>\n

Ohio at Ohio State<\/p>\n

3:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

NBC<\/p>\n

Clemson at Georgia Tech<\/p>\n

3:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

ESPN<\/p>\n

Minnesota at California<\/p>\n

3:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

ESPN2<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh at West Virginia<\/p>\n

4 p.m.<\/p>\n

Fox<\/p>\n

Western Michigan at Illinois<\/p>\n

4 p.m.<\/p>\n

FS1<\/p>\n

Georgia at Tennessee<\/p>\n

7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

ABC<\/p>\n

Texas A&M at Notre Dame<\/p>\n

7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

NBC<\/p>\n

Florida at LSU<\/p>\n

7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

ESPN<\/p>\n

USF at Miami<\/p>\n

7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

ESPN2<\/p>\n

Oregon State at Texas Tech<\/p>\n

7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

FS1<\/p>\n

Boston College at Stanford<\/p>\n

10:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

ESPN<\/p>\n

Texas State at Arizona State<\/p>\n

10:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

Fox<\/p>\n

Utah at Wyoming<\/p>\n

10:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

FS1<\/p>\n

(Photo: Jason Mowry \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Conferences reveal their complete kickoff time and network placement schedules for the first three weeks of the college…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":92718,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[9436,4715,4707,843,331,4706,7643,4709,4713,7,4716,5042,4728,4725,1286,4720,4719,4722,577,1868,3364,2972,2549,71,22805,4727,4712,49,48,4604,4714,4717,8243,69,1787,4723,2743,3861,4729,4726,4710,4431,156,3862,4724,5041,1078,4721,4711,22804,4708,4718,3863,3201,1300,2785],"class_list":{"0":"post-92717","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-baylor-bears","9":"tag-boston-college-eagles","10":"tag-cincinnati-bearcats","11":"tag-clemson-tigers","12":"tag-college-football","13":"tag-connecticut-huskies","14":"tag-duke-blue-devils","15":"tag-east-carolina-pirates","16":"tag-florida-state-seminoles","17":"tag-football","18":"tag-georgia-tech-yellow-jackets","19":"tag-houston-cougars","20":"tag-illinois-fighting-illini","21":"tag-indiana-hoosiers","22":"tag-iowa-hawkeyes","23":"tag-iowa-state-cyclones","24":"tag-kansas-jayhawks","25":"tag-kansas-state-wildcats","26":"tag-louisville-cardinals","27":"tag-maryland-terrapins","28":"tag-memphis-tigers","29":"tag-miami-hurricanes","30":"tag-michigan-state-spartans","31":"tag-michigan-wolverines","32":"tag-middle-tennessee-blue-raider","33":"tag-minnesota-golden-gophers","34":"tag-navy-midshipmen","35":"tag-ncaa","36":"tag-ncaa-football","37":"tag-nebraska-cornhuskers","38":"tag-north-carolina-state-wolfpack","39":"tag-north-carolina-tar-heels","40":"tag-northwestern-wildcats","41":"tag-ohio-state-buckeyes","42":"tag-oklahoma-sooners","43":"tag-oklahoma-state-cowboys","44":"tag-penn-state-nittany-lions","45":"tag-pittsburgh-panthers","46":"tag-purdue-boilermakers","47":"tag-rutgers-scarlet-knights","48":"tag-smu-mustangs","49":"tag-south-florida-bulls","50":"tag-sports-business","51":"tag-syracuse-orange","52":"tag-tcu-horned-frogs","53":"tag-temple-owls","54":"tag-texas-longhorns","55":"tag-texas-tech-red-raiders","56":"tag-tulane-green-wave","57":"tag-tulsa-golden-hurricane","58":"tag-ucf-knights","59":"tag-virginia-cavaliers","60":"tag-virginia-tech-hokies","61":"tag-wake-forest-demon-deacons","62":"tag-west-virginia-mountaineers","63":"tag-wisconsin-badgers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}