It’s finally here! The first week of NCAA Football explodes this week with 111 games available for viewing on the major TV networks, local outlets, and the Internet. Never has there been more access to game content for such a low cost. For example, there are 26 games that are currently on the Internet streaming platform from ESPN(3). Even if a few of these games get added to the ESPN College Extra slate, it’s still an amazing number of games available, including teams like Miami (FL), VA Tech, Kansas and Syracuse. This doesn’t even include the 20 or so games on other streaming services.
As referenced above, the ESPN College Extra schedule has yet to be released. It will be included on the Saturday SportsTV Guide you will receive on Friday morning. Until then, a word on that package:
Since the demise of ESPN Gameplan, many of you have asked us our opinion on the new NCAA Football offering. To be frank, it’s not the value it was previously. This is due mainly to the advent of the conference networks like Big Ten, SEC, and PAC12. They previously contributed games that are now exclusively on their signature networks, thus bleeding off good or moderate games. The ACC and Big 12 still contribute some, but otherwise, the ESPN College Extra is populated by second, third and really sometimes fourth tier games. However, even with this indictment, we recommend you have access to every game that is televised because it will win you guests and build loyalty.
So, check out this week’s schedule for your time zone for the games that matter to your location.
You’ll see, this week’s schedule includes games every night (and day) from Thursday to Labor Day Monday. For early risers, there is even a 7:30 AM ET game between Georgia Tech and Boston College from Dublin Ireland. Yes, the first week includes plenty of cream puff starts for major college teams, but there are also several ranked teams playing each other with Oklahoma at Houston 12 PM ET on Saturday and a big match-up between USC and Alabama in Tuscaloosa at 8 PM ET on Saturday night. So enjoy this first week where every team is still in contention for the National Championship and ride that momentum straight through to Thanksgiving.