2024 college football season TV schedule projections: Week 1, 2, 3

As I learned last year, trying to predict kickoff times comes with the potential for major backfire — getting one game wrong (say, a noon ESPN game) can have major ripple effects. Still, I wanted to give it another go for educational purposes.

The lineups for weeks 1-3, which the networks will announce on Thursday, will be different from previous years. First, ESPN owns all rights to the SEC and will begin airing the conference on ABC. The network gave a glimpse of that earlier this month when it announced it would air afternoon/primetime doubleheaders of the SEC in the first three weeks. Second, CBS will air its first full season Big Ten Conference schedule in the SEC's old slot, but it won't be the first choice most weeks, with that slot rotating between Fox (noon ET most weeks), CBS (3:30 ET) and NBC (7:30 ET). Third, the Pac-12 will be gone. This will be most noticeable in ESPN's “After Dark” slot, which could feature a lot of four teams: Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah, all of which currently compete in the Big 12.

Only games on ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, ESPN, ESPN2, and FS1 are predicted. NBC will air some Big Ten games on Peacock but it is impossible to predict which ones will be on there. We are not predicting whether ACC games will be on The CW. All times are Eastern Time.

Week 1

The SEC's opening weekend is packed with action, with nearly every game announced, including a three-game series on ABC: Clemson vs. Georgia in Atlanta (noon), Miami vs. Florida (3:30 p.m.), and Notre Dame vs. Texas A&M (7:30 p.m.). ESPN will also broadcast Colorado State vs. Texas (3:30 p.m.) and Western Kentucky vs. Alabama (7:30 p.m.). There's not much room for predictions, but Virginia Tech vs. Vanderbilt deserves a slot, so I'll put it on ESPN at noon.

Four big-name football programs will be in the Big Ten this fall, but only one of the league's 18 teams will play a Power 4 opponent at home and none of the games will be played on a Saturday. Luckily for Fox, which also has a contract with the Big 12, they were able to get a quality Big Noon matchup with Penn State traveling to West Virginia. The Minnesota State Fair traditionally broadcasts the Gophers' season opener on a Thursday night, with the University of North Carolina playing that night. Fox has aired the Big Ten season opener on Thursday night each of the past three seasons, two of which were at home with Minnesota. This could become an annual tradition.

The Big Ten is in a draft between Fox (the primary rights holder), CBS and NBC. Fox will be able to air the 3:30 p.m. game alongside CBS this week. NBC announced that defending national champion Michigan will play Fresno State in its usual 7:30 p.m. time slot. The rest of the schedule is as follows: very Given the disappointment, we'll assume Ohio State will default and Fox will take the No. 2 pick. For CBS, Nebraska would provide a great atmosphere for the likely highly-touted debut of rookie quarterback Dylan Raiola.

As for the Big 12, 11 teams will play FCS opponents. The most anticipated unannounced game is when two-time defending FCS champion South Dakota State visits Oklahoma State. We're sure we can find a good home for this game somewhere. We'll be showing it in prime time on FS1.

Week 2

The Big Ten announced that nine of its Friday night games will air on Fox, while the other five will air on FS1 or the Big Ten Network, and we decided that Duke vs. Northwestern would be one of them, and Michigan State vs. Maryland is another possibility, but we made it a Saturday afternoon game on FS1.

Fox has already announced Texas vs. Michigan as this week's Big Noon game, and NBC has also announced Colorado vs. Nebraska. In the Big Ten games, CBS has chosen Iowa State vs. Iowa. Fox aired a rare 10:30 pm ET game in Week 2 last season. Assuming they do so again this year, Boise State vs. Oregon would be the obvious choice.

In the SEC, we already know that ABC will air South Carolina vs. Kentucky at 3:30 p.m. and Tennessee vs. North Carolina State (Charlotte) at 7:30 p.m. Houston vs. Oklahoma will air on ABC at noon. California vs. Auburn (noon, ESPN) and USF vs. Alabama (7 p.m., ESPN) could easily be flipped.

The top Big 12 game is scheduled to air on Fox at 3:30 p.m. most weeks, with this week's likely matchup featuring SEC rival Arkansas visiting Oklahoma State. Pittsburgh vs. Cincinnati was assigned a primetime slot on ESPN2 because of its regional popularity.

NBC's Notre Dame package starts this week with the Irish hosting NIU, which could be Notre Dame's only Peacock game, but they also have a home game against Miami vs. OH in Week 4.

The Mountain West television deal includes some games on CBS, mostly for early-season non-conference games — last year it aired the UCLA-San Diego State game in prime time, and this year it aired the Aztex-Oregon State game.

Week 3

A combination of early conference games, rekindled rivalries and the remaining financial juggling of non-conference games makes Week 3 a strange mix of intrigue and shrug-off.

Fox seems to have made the best choice to have Alabama take on Wisconsin at Camp Randall for the Big Noon. CBS jumped on the relaunch of the Notre Dame-Purdue rivalry. For the evening coverage, NBC will choose between Washington State-Washington or Indiana-UCLA in Seattle. The Apple Cup rivalries are too intense to miss, and the Bruins' Big Ten opener seems like a good fit for primetime on FS1.

Last year, Maryland hosted old ACC rival Virginia on Friday, and it seems only natural that the Cavaliers would give back on ESPN this year.

Two SEC games are already scheduled for ABC: Texas A&M vs. Florida (3:30 p.m.) and Georgia vs. Kentucky (7:30 p.m.). The most interesting debate is whether ESPN will still air the SEC game (LSU vs. South Carolina) in prime time or move it to ABC's noon slot, in which case ESPN would keep the SEC game and ABC would air the Backyard Brawl (West Virginia vs. Pittsburgh) earlier.

We've debated at length the rankings of Tulane vs. Oklahoma, Memphis vs. Florida State, Ole Miss vs. Wake Forest, and Boston College vs. Missouri. These games include two Power 4 games and two matchups between big Power 4 teams and AAC powerhouses. Ask us again tomorrow and they might all be ranked differently.

Fox also has the rights to the Oregon-Oregon State game, and their deal with the Mountain West Conference gives them a Colorado team led by Deion Sanders. Civil War drew 4.12 million viewers on Black Friday last year, and Colorado-Colorado State drew 9.3 million viewers with a late kickoff last year on ESPN. While the Big Ten and Fox make sure Oregon-Oregon State doesn't compete with Washington-Washington State, keep your eyes peeled for primetime.

Notable weeks in the second half of the season

Starting with Week 4, networks have primarily adopted a 12-day schedule designation, with some six-day options. During the draft process, networks typically choose weeks over specific games, with the exception of Fox's No. 1 overall selection, Michigan vs. Ohio State, and special days such as Black Friday.

For the Big Ten, the most attractive weekend is November 2nd, which is why Fox chose the date instead of the game. Ohio State will be on the road to Penn State and Michigan State will be hosting Oregon, both of which are worthy of being ranked No. 1. As Michael Mulvihill (President of Data and Analytics for Fox Sports) said on Joel Klatt's podcast, “It's not just a matchup. It's the weekend before the presidential election and it has swing states at stake.” That means big advertising dollars will flow into the Big Noon selections. Other games that will have competitive and advertising implications for CBS, NBC/Peacock and FS1 include Wisconsin vs. Iowa and Indiana vs. Michigan State, both of which are trophy rivalries. There are also games involving branded programs, such as UCLA vs. Nebraska and USC vs. Washington.

ABC/ESPN owns all of the SEC rights and most of the ACC rights, but the Oct. 5 game shows why a 12-day broadcast window is so important to the schedule. Clemson vs. Florida State tops the ACC allocation, while Auburn vs. Georgia is the hottest in the SEC. Which one deserves prime time or noon? And how do Tennessee vs. Arkansas, Ole Miss vs. South Carolina, Missouri vs. Texas A&M and UCF vs. Florida compare to Pittsburgh vs. North Carolina? No one knows what will happen in September, which is why flexible scheduling is so important to the networks — and to all of us.

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