Pac-10 TV Schedule, Week 3

Several big games this week means national cable/satellite network coverage for some, but none for others. And the difference in promotion and visibility between the ACC, which has made an organized push to compete with the SEC for media coverage, and the Pac-10, which hopes TV and viewers will show up, couldn't be more noticeable.

Still, the most important things you can do are schedule good opponents, and win. Not having to talk about how many tickets haven't been sold is a good thing too.

Saturday morning starts off golden, with the #7 California Golden Bears making their first road trip, playing at the Minnesota Golden Gophers, in their new stadium, and ESPN will carry the game.

ESPN will also be in Eugene for the 12:30 game between the #16 Utah Utes and the Oregon Ducks.

And at 3:45 FSN will have the #21 Cincinnati Bearcats' visit to Corvallis, against the #24 Oregon St. Beavers, with coverage nationally, via all their regional networks.

The rest of the conference is a mixed bag of channel surfing, depending on where you are watching from.

The #3 USC Trojans visit the Washington Huskies for the Steve Sarkisian/Nick Holt reunion with Pete Carroll, and will be the 12:30 west coast (but not Arizona) ABC regional game, but available nationally only for those with the ESPN 360 premium package.

In the same time slot Arizona is at Iowa, and is also an ABC regional game, for the Big-10 area, and Arizona, and also available nationally to those with the ESPN 360 package.

In the evening, 7:15 period, the Kansas St. Wildcats' visit to the Rose Bowl to play the UCLA Bruins will be carried almost nationally, by most of the FSN regional networks, but not Fox Sports Northwest, who will carry a Yankees-Mariners game instead, and FSAZ, which will have the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks at Arizona St. Sun Devils game.

So depending on where you are, who your provider is, and how much extra you pay for what package, you might still be able to get a scouting look at ASU or UCLA.

What you won't be able to do is see the 2:00 game from Pullman, where the SMU Mustangs are playing the Washington St. Cougars, or the 6:00 game from the farm, between the bay area rivals, the San Jose St. Spartans and the Stanford Cardinal. File both of those under the "don't win" tab as part of the reason, but why the south bay shouting match isn't at least on the Bay Area Fox Sports Network is mystifying. And should be VERY concerning to the Pac-10, given the size of the bay area market.

The most notable other area game is Friday night, at 6:00. Those headed out to take in a high school game might well want to set the recorder for the ESPN national game, as the #10 Boise St. Broncos visit the Fresno St. Bulldogs in the WAC opener. We all remember what Boise did a couple of weeks ago, and Fresno, who just happens to be Cincinnati's next opponent, came within a whisker of beating Wisconsin on national TV last week, before losing 34-31 in double overtime.

Interesting that the Pac-10 doesn't consider Boise St. or Fresno St. as candidates for expansion, not because they couldn't compete, but because they wouldn't extend the conference's media impact. Yet they both have a better TV presence already than most of the current members of the conference.